The Court of Appeals of Kentucky. plans would have placed the entire country west of the Alleghenies completely at the mercy of a foreign power. The thirteen original States seemed indif ferent to the fate of the struggling young commonwealth of Kentucky and it was left to protect itself from the obvious dangers of Indian warfare and the insidious wiles of Spanish diplomats who sought to detach its citizens from their loyalty to the United States. It was proposed that Kentucky and the Northwest Territory (now comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wis consin) should withdraw from the Union and establish a new empire or republic west of the mountains, in alliance with the Spanish Crown which undertook to defend them against attacks from the Indians and the British. The scheme proved very inviting to many ambitious men and to some patriots as well. It would be out of place here to record the names of those who abetted this " Spanish Conspiracy " as it is now called but suffice it to say that Benjamin Sebastian, one of the first judges of the Kentucky Court of Ap peals was accused of being a paid emissary of Spain while holding his high judicial posi tion. The charge was investigated by the legislature and Sebastian was proven guilty. In disgrace he resigned his office to avoid impeachment. The same legislature passed resolutions asking congress to investigate Judge Innés, who was a friend and supposed adviser of Sebastian. The investigation was had. It resulted in the acquittal of Judge Innés and the " incident was closed." For ten years more until his death in 1816 he served on the bench of the Federal Court and further criticism was silenced, though many yet sus pected him of " guilty knowledge." The story of the whole affair is as long as it is inter esting but any attempt to further vindicate Judge Innés from these unproven charges would be a needless and unprofitable digres sion
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GEORGE MUTER.
While Judge Innés was the first appointee George Muter was in fact the first chief jus tice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. He had been the first chief justice of the Su preme Court, established by Virginia for the district of Kentucky before its erection into a separate State, and on December 7, 1792, he was by Governor Shelby commissioned chief justice of the new State in lieu of Judge Innés who had declined the honor. Judge Muter accepted the appointment, and though quite old and infirm he continued to preside over the court until December, 1806, when he resigned. During the period of his sen-ice he was absolutely untainted by any suspicion of dis loyalty to his country and that too at a time when disloyalty had, if possible, some miti gating features. He was closely associated with Col. Thomas Marshall, father of the famous Chief Justice John Marshall, in ex posing and breaking down the dangerous "Spanish Conspiracy " already mentioned. He was one of the original subscribers to the fund for founding Transylvania University. While on the bench, Judge Muter did much to clear away the confusion incident to the settlement of a new country where in accurate surveys and defective registration laws had brought countless disputes in their train. In his honest efforts to discharge his duty, he aroused some enmities and in the winter of 1794-1795, he and a colleague incurred the displeasure of the legislature which sought to address them out of office. "Their crime," says one historian "was a decision in an important land suit, flagrantly illegal and which would have been most mis chievous in its consequences if adhered to." The attempt failed and for twelve years more Judge Muter held his office without further assault upon his reputation or his official posi tion. • He resigned as chief justice in 1806 with the understanding, or rather promise, that, as he had given nearly all of his life to the ser
