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FIRST UNITED STATES MINT, 37 AND 39 NORTH SEVENTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA.

Washington was so indignant that he could not restrain himself. "Here," he exclaimed, "in this very room, I took leave of General St. Clair. I wished him success and honor. I said to him: 'You have careful instructions from the secretary of war, and I have only a word to add-beware of a surprise! You know how the Indians fight us. Beware of a SURPRISE!' He went off with my warning ringing in his ears. And yet he has allowed that army to be cut to pieces by a surprise-the very thing I cautioned him against! How will he answer to his country? The blood of the slain is upon him-the curse of widows and orphans!"

Washington seemed afterward to regret his wrathful outburst, and declared that General St. Clair should be received without displeasure, and should have full justice.

A committee of Congress acquitted St. Clair, but he was so overwhelmed with public censure that he resigned his command, and was succeeded by General Anthony Wayne, who, you remember, was called Mad Anthony. He was made a major-general in 1792, and given command in the West, with power to raise three more regiments of infantry, and two thousand dragoons for a term of three years. He began to collect troops at Fort Washington early in 1793, but recruiting was so slow that it was not until September that he set out on his advance. Going northward about eighty miles, he built Fort Greenville and went into winter quarters. It may seem that he moved slowly, but he was simply cautious, intending to make no mistake.

The Indians along the Maumee were on the watch all through the winter, and, whenever they saw a chance, attacked the Americans. Numerous skirmishes took place, in which little advantage was gained on either side. The red men, seeing that a decisive battle must take place, kept gathering their warriors. Quotas were sent thither from all the leading tribes within many miles. Governor Simcoe marched from Detroit with a detachment of British troops, and built a British post at the rapids of the Maumee. In some of the collisions with the Indians, the Americans saw British officers encouraging the savages.

In the month of July, Wayne received a re-enforcement of sixteen hundred mounted Kentuckians under the dashing General Charles Scott. This raised the army to about four thousand, and Wayne started for the Indian towns on the Auglaize. He took every possible precaution to guard against surprise while on the march. He always went into camp about the middle of the afternoon, in a hollow square, which was inclosed by a rampart of logs. Wayne had received the minutest instructions from Washington, and did not forget one of them.

On the 2d of August he reached the St. Mary's, where he erected Fort Adams and left a garrison. He then crossed the Auglaize and marched down that stream through deserted villages and fields to its junction with the Maumee, where he erected Fort Defiance. Passing down the Maumee to the head of the rapids, he built Fort Deposit. With his splendid force of two thousand regulars and eleven hundred mounted riflemen, he marched on the morning of August 20th, against the Indians and Canadians, who expected to defeat him with the same ease that they had destroyed the previous expe ditions sent into their country.

Wayne advanced in three columns. The Indians and Canadians were formed in

1795.]

THE TREATY AT FORT GREENVILLE.

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three lines, their left resting on the river, and their right extending to a thicket two miles away. The American cavalry set out to turn their flanks, while the infantry charged with trailed arms against the center. Nothing could surpass the impetuosity of the Americans, who carried every thing before them, and drove the terrified enemy for shelter to the British Fort Maumee, several miles distant. Great loss was inflicted on them, while that of the Americans was only forty-four killed, and about a hundred wounded. The confederation of Indians was overthrown, and their punishment was so severe that they did not recover from it for a score of years. The Indian country was laid waste by Wayne on his return, and his name became such a terror to the savages that their British friends could never overcome their fear of him.

On the 3d of August, 1795, eleven hundred chiefs and warriors met the United Commissioners at Fort Greenville, where a treaty of peace was signed, by which they ceded to the government a large tract of land lying in the present states of Michigan and Indiana. As a consequence, western emigration increased and was scarcely interrupted for many years.

Wayne's great victory over the Indians is known as the battle of Fallen Timber. Just ninety-one years later, that is August 20, 1885, a concourse of over five thousand people from Michigan Indiana and Ohio met on the site of the battle ground to celebrate the triumph of General Wayne. It was decided that a monument should be built on the spot where the famous chief Turkey Foot was shot. This place is known by a large gray rock, on the top of which have been rudely cut by the tomahawks of his braves large tracks of turkey feet, to represent the name of their chief.

Secretary Hamilton succeeded in getting through Congress a bill doubling the duty on imported spirits, and taxing spirits distilled in this country. This caused much dissatisfaction, especially in North Carolina and western Pennsylvania. The law was modi. fied, but that did not end the trouble. The officers sent by Congress to enforce the reg ulations in the western districts of Pennsylvania were resisted, and threatened with violence. The insurrection spread rapidly; buildings were burned, and mails robbed, about seven thousand rioters being under arms. The local militia sympathized with the mob, as is often the case, some of them openly joining the rioters. The rebellion would have spread further, had not President Washington sent a large body of the militia of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey into the district. They appeared on the ground in October, under the command of General Richard Henry Lee, Governor of Virginia, and soon restored order. The ringleaders were afterward tried and found guilty of treason, but upon expressing sorrow for their crimes were pardoned.

I must tell you about the visit of Edward Charles Genet to this country. The French Revolution, one of the bloodiest wars in history, broke out during the adminis tration of Washington. The king, Louis XVI., was beheaded, and dreadful scenes of violence took place in the streets of Paris. When the revolutionists were able to form something like a government, they sent Genet as their minister to the United States. He landed at Charleston, South Carolina, in April, 1793, and was warmly welcomed. Instead of hastening to Philadelphia to present his credentials, he stayed for a long time in the South. Of course he was an ardent republican (as they were called in his own

country) and the chief object of his coming to this country was to gain our help in advancing French republican designs. France was at war with England, Austria, Frussia, Sardinia and Holland, and it would have aided her greatly could she have made an alliance with the United States.

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While "Citizen Genet," as his brother revolutionists called him, lingered in the South, the government discussed the manner in which his country should be treated. Hamilton and Knox thought the democratic government of France should be openly frowned upon by a refusal to receive its minister, or by giving him the least cordial reception possible. Jefferson and Randolph took the opposite view, insisting that the United

1793-]

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CITIZEN GENET."

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States had no right to criticise the internal government of a country with which she was on terms of friendship. We must all agree that the latter view was the true one.

It was decided, however, that, in order to preserve neutrality, a proclamation should be issued, forbidding the citizens of the United States to equip vessels to carry on hostilities against any of the belligerent powers. This was done April 22, 1793.

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Despite the proclamation of the president, Genet spent six weeks in Charleston, fitting out cruisers to prey upon English commerce. He even sanctioned the capture of British vessels in American waters by French cruisers. These prizes were taken into American ports, and sold by authority of the French consuls. All this was done too,

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