The gallant General, as well as some other well informed officers, appears to have been conscious of the real character of these Exiles, as will have been noticed in his last remark, assuring the court, that they were _never captured from the white people_ "in the present, or in _any former war_." The ground which he assumed, that the captives were prisoners of war, subject to the orders of the Executive, was so self-evidently true that it could not be met or overthrown, by reason or by argument. His honor the Judge, in delivering his opinion discharging the rule, disregarded all claims to right on the part of the Exiles. They being black, under the laws of Louisiana, were presumed to be slaves to some person; and he spoke with exultation of the fact, that neither General Gaines nor the United States had claimed them as _slaves_; and he declared it would be infinitely more wise and natural for the United States to hold them as lawful _prize_ to the captors, than it would be to send them with the Indians to cultivate their lands in time of peace, and swell the number of our enemies in times of war; but, on this motion, he thought the court bound to regard the facts set forth in the plaintiff's claim as true, and he therefore discharged the rule, and made the order of sequestration absolute. There now appeared no hope of escape for these people; they seemed to be the sport of fortune. For more than a century they and their ancestors had set at defiance the efforts of slaveholders, assisted by Government, to reënslave them; but they now appeared to be within the power of those who were anxious to consign them to bondage. On the fifteenth of May, Lieutenant Reynolds, having returned to New Orleans, wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, saying, "I arrived at this place from Tampa Bay yesterday; was detained longer than I expected to be, in consequence of the absence of General Jessup from Fort Brooke. Arrangements are made for the embarkation of the party for 'Fort Gibson,' with the exception of sixty-seven of the negroes, who are claimed by persons from Georgia. The civil authorities, I understand, require that these negroes be not removed. It appears that General Gaines presented himself as defendant, and contended, that as the negroes were _prisoners of war_, the civil authority had no right to wrest them from the Government's hands. The court however decided contrary, acknowledging the Indians alone as _prisoners_, and the negroes as the _property_ of the Indians. The case will not come on for some time, and, deeming (from all that I can learn) that the claim is fraudulent, it will be necessary that they remain."