The relief afforded by the new court was not complete, for soon came the report: “The people are very impatient to see Gen. St. Clair or some of the judges; in fact, they are very much wanted.”(121) The term of the members of the court expired in April, 1789, and no new members were elected, because the early arrival of Gen. St. Clair was expected.(122) An interregnum occurred, and in November, 1789, Hamtramck wrote to Harmar: “It is high time that government should take place in this country, and if it should happen that the Governor was not to come, nor any of the Judges, I would beg (for the sake of the people) that his Excellency would give me certain powers to create magistrates, a Sheriff and other officers, for the purpose of establishing Courts of Justice—for, at present, there are none, owing to the daily expectation of the arrival of the Governor. Those that had been appointed by the people last year, their authority has been refused in the courts of Kentucky, they declaring that by the resolve of Congress, neither the people of Post Vincennes, or the commanding officer, had a right to appoint magistrates; that the power was vested in the Governor only, and that it was an usurped authority. You see, Sir, how much to the prejudice of the people their present situation is, and how necessary it is that some steps should be taken to relieve them. “The powers of the magistrates may be circumscribed as his Excellency may think proper, but the necessity of having such characters will appear when I assure you that at present no person here, can administer an oath which will be considered legal in the courts of Kentucky—and for the reasons above mentioned.”(123) At last, on June 19, 1790, the judges for the Northwest Territory arrived at Vincennes.(124) The situation at Kaskaskia was even worse than that at Vincennes, because Vincennes had a garrison. To understand the complaints of the time, it is necessary to notice the relations with Spain. On the first day of 1788, Hamtramck wrote: “The Spanish commanding officers of the different posts on the Mississippi are encouraging settlers by giving them lands gratis. A village by the name of Zewapetas, which is about thirty miles above the mouth of the Ohio, and which was begun last summer, consists now of thirty or fifty families.”(125) In the following October, Morgan made flattering offers to persons who would settle at New Madrid.(126) At the same time, the Mississippi was closed to Americans. Joseph St. Marie, of Vincennes, sent his clerk with a load of peltry to be traded to the Indians on the banks of the Mississippi. His goods were seized and confiscated by the Spanish commander at the Arkansas Post. The commander said that his orders were to seize all goods of Americans, found in the Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio. Upon appeal to Gov. Miro, of Louisiana, the governor said that the court of Spain had given orders to send offending traders prisoners to the mines of Brazil.(127)