Defense statement of accused Julien Jérôme Doucet, New Orleans
Description
Attorney Julien Jérôme Doucet herein offered his own defense to the charges filed against him concerning his part in the rebellion of 1768 October 29. To the accusation that he was coauthor with Pierre Caresse, of the memoir presented to the Superior Council demanding the expulsion of Ulloa and the other Spaniards, he denied having had any part in its writing, although Lafrénière and Caresse, under interrogation, had implicated him in the deed. He admitted having assisted with the writing of the ''Memorial of the Inhabitants and Merchants of Louisiana...,'' but he presented a number of arguments to exculpate his participation. He was only drawing up into formal articles, he explained, the generally expressed complaints of the citizenry against Ulloa, and it was not his function to ascertain the veracity of the charges. Furthermore, he was not responsible for additions to his work made afterwards by the printer and others. He presented lengthy justifications for the language used in the memorial. His work, carried out following a request made by the Superior Council eight or nine days after its decree of the 29th, was meant to serve merely as a guide for a delegation going to France. He had not written for publication and distribution. He defended his project to establish a credit bank in the colony as an effort not only completely divorced from the events of the 29th but one that aimed to solve the problems created by the scarcity of specie. He explained how the bank was to have operated. He denied that he armed himself and joined the crowd during the rebellion, but added arguments to excuse his actions should he have done so. He concluded with a summation and a plea for clemency. [The tribunal sentenced Doucet to ten years' imprisonment and barred him from ever returning to Louisiana. O'Reilly ordered him and several of his co-defendants incarcerated in Havana. He remained a prisoner in the Castillo del Morro until he received a pardon from the Crown in 1770 December.]