The administration of the Spanish governors had been very lax, but it had been popular. There were no prisons in the territory when Sargent came thither, a fact which Claiborne adduces to prove the high grade of morals then prevalent, but which really recommend the territory no more than the further fact that there were no judges and no courts. Three persons had been named as territorial judges at the same time the executive appointment was made, but one of these only, Judge Bruin, was a resident of the territory. Judge Tilton did not arrive until January 10, 1799, and Judge McGuire delayed his coming until the following September. How the absence of these officials embarrassed the governor in his efforts to organize his administration becomes plain when we remember that the enabling act of the territory rested all legislative authority in the governor and these judges. They and they only were empowered to draw up a code of laws for the territory. These laws were imperatively needed, and upon Sargent, harassed with a thousand tasks and cares at once, rested the sole responsibility for their suitable nature and correct form. Bruin was not a lawyer, nor was Tilton; only McGuire, who did not appear upon the scene until the hard task was completed, possessed the necessary legal knowledge therefor. As soon as Tilton arrived in January, the legislative work of the government was begun, and the first law of Mississippi Territory bears date of February 28, 1799; others followed as soon as they could be properly framed. Though the governor had declared, truthfully enough, in December, when writing to the Secretary of State, that the want of laws kept territorial affairs in a condition of absolute anarchy, yet no sooner was the code drawn up than it was violently attacked by the governor’s political opponents. They declared the laws to be unconstitutional, a charge which Claiborne’s “History of Mississippi” reiterates. But he also charges Tilton and McGuire with aiding the governor in this concoction of laws in conflict with the Constitution of the United States; whereas, McGuire did not arrive in the territory until nearly all of these laws had been enacted. And it is worthy of note, that notwithstanding all the outcry against them, only two of the Sargent laws were set aside, subsequently, by Congress.