the other hand, at the swagger, bluster, and loud words of some of the militia officers against the whisky rebels, whose insolent resistance to the laws had made necessary so long and fatiguing a march.

The President treated Findley and his brother ambassador with courtesy, and admitted them to several interviews; but did not see fit, from any evidence which they exhibited, to countermand the march of the troops. They hastened back, therefore, to procure more general and unequivocal assurances, which they hoped to transmit to Bedford, where Washington was again to meet the right wing, after inspecting the troops on the left. The Parkinson Ferry Convention, augmented by many discreet citizens, was again called together for the third time. Resolutions were passed declaring the competency of the civil authorities to enforce the laws, recommending all delinquents who had not already secured an indemnity to surrender for trial, and expressing the conviction that offices of inspection might be opened with safety, and that the excise duties would be paid. Findley hastened back with these resolutions, but before he reached the army the president had already returned to Philadelphia. Hamilton, however, remained behind, and was believed to act as the Presidents deputy.

The troops crossed the Alleganies in a heavy rain, up to their knees in mud, and not without severe suffering, which occasioned in the end a good many deaths. The two wings formed a junction at Union Town, and, as they advanced into the disaffected counties, the reestablishment of the authority of the law became complete. Having ar

rived at Parkinson's Ferry, Lee issued a proclamation confirming the amnesty to those who had entitled themselves to it, and calling upon all the inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

A few days after, arrangements having been previously made for it, there was a general seizure, by parties detached for that purpose, of persons supposed to be criminally concerned in the late transactions. But as those against whom the strongest evidence existed had either fled the country or taken advantage of the amnesty, this seizure fell principally on persons who, without taking an active part, had been content with encouraging and stimulating others. Many were dismissed at once for want of evidence; and of those who were bound over for trial at Philadelphia, the greater part were afterward acquitted.

The

Shortly after the seizure of prisoners, the greater part of the troops were withdrawn; but a body of twenty-five hundred men, under Morgan, remained through the winter encamped in the district. advances necessary to sustain the troops in the field had been made out of a sum in the treasury of about $800,000, the unexpended balance of the foreign loans, Congress being trusted to for making good the deficiency.

The vigor, energy, promptitude, and decision with which the federal authority had been vindicated; the general rally in its support, even on the part of many who had leaned more or less to the opposition; the reprobation everywhere exprest against violent resistance to the law; and the subdued tone, especially of the Democratic societies, made a great addition to the strength of the gov

ernment. The Federalists exulted in this energetic display of authority, and Hamilton declared that proof at last had been given of the capacity of the government to sustain itself. In that point of view, both he and Washington considered the outbreak, however much to be lamented in other respects, as a fortunate occurrence.

ANTHONY WAYNE AND THE OHIO

INDIANS

(1793-1794)

BY RICHARD HILDRETH1

Affairs on the Indian frontier still continued in an unsettled state. The commissioners appointed to negotiate with the hostile Northwestern tribes, accompanied by the missionary Heckewelder and by a deputation of Quakers, as the Indians had desired, on arriving at Fort Niagara, had been kindly received by Colonel Simcoe, commander, during the Revolutionary war, of a famous partizan corps in the British army, and just appointed governor of the newly erected province of Upper Canada. Embarking at Fort Erie, they landed presently at the entrance of the River Detroit, where they were met by a deputation from a preliminary council of the confederate Indians, then in session at the Maumee Rapids. These deputies desired to know if "their brothers the Bostonians," for so they designated the commissioners, were empowered to consent to the Ohio as a boundary. The commissioners replied that this was impossible, as settlements had been commenced north of the Ohio, which could not be abandoned; but they

1 From Hildreth's "History of the United States." Edition of 1852. Published by Harper & Brothers. After the Revolution Wayne, the hero of Stony Point, became Commander-in-Chief of the army (1792), and departed for the West, where he built Fort Wayne, and, having defeated the Indians, negotiated the peace of 1795.

offered, if the Indians would confirm the limits established by the treaties of Forts McIntosh and Harmer, a larger present, in money and goods, than ever had been given at any one time since the white men sat foot in the country. They were authorized, in fact, to offer $50,000 down, and, in addition, annual presents forever to the amount of $10,000 a year. This answer of the commissioners having been reported to the Indian council, the question of accepting it was debated with a great deal of vehemence. The result was exprest in a written document sent to the commissioners, in which it was contended that the treaties of Forts McIntosh and Harmer, having been made by a few unauthorized chiefs, could not be considered as valid. As to confirming those treaties for money, that was of no value to them, while the land would afford means of subsistence to themselves and their children. This same money might better be employed in persuading the settlers north of the Ohio to remove. Since it was refused to concede the Ohio as a boundary, the negotiation was declared to be at an end.

The commissioners, much chagrined at this abrupt termination of their mission, without their having been admitted into the presence of the Indian council, ascribed the result to British influence. Very probably the inclination of the Indians was seconded by the advice of the Canadian traders and the British agents. Simcoe, however, had expressly denied having advised the Indians not to surrender any of their lands. He had also offered to act as mediator, but this offer the instructions of the commissioners would not allow them to accept.