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V.

in a state of agitation since St. Clair's defeat, and were CHAPTER only restrained by great exertions on the part of the friendly chiefs from open hostilities. According to Blount, 1792. horse-stealing was one principal source of trouble with the Southern tribes. Under the management of certain refugee whites who resided among them, this had been reduced to a complete system. The Indians were instigated to steal the horses, which were conveyed to a distance, and in a short time to the sea-board for sale. Upon this subject the backwoodsmen were very sore, and it was impossible to restrain them from taking satisfaction, as they called it, by now and then killing an Indian. This led to murders on the other side, not to mention occasional encounters in cases of fresh pursuit.

To raise the army voted for the Northwestern campaign, to which was given the name of the Legion of the United States, was a work of time and difficulty. The small rate of wages allowed to the soldiers held out no great encouragement to engage in so hard and dangerous a service. Among those enlisted were many improper persons, mere boys or vagabonds, one consequence of which was that desertions were very numerous. The demoralization of the recruits was completed by the bands of whisky-traders by whom they were surrounded. The support of these troops, as they were sent forward to the scene of operations, grew more and more expensive, as all supplies had to be transported a great distance.

While preparations were going on, with as much energy as circumstances would permit, for subduing the Northwestern Indians by force, attempts were also made to open a negotiation which might lead to pacific arrangements. Major Trueman, who carried a conciliatory speech from the president, and Colonel Hardin, who volunteered on this dangerous service, both perished by

CHAPTER the hands of the Indians while employed on these mis. sions of peace.

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1792.

Attempts were also made to procure auxiliaries from among the Creeks and other Southern tribes; and for this and other objects, General Pickens and Governor Aug. Blount, commissioners for that purpose, held a treaty with the Chickasaws and Choctaws, among whom the Spaniards of Louisiana were intriguing, with the design to engage them in the Spanish interest. With the help of the missionary Heckewelder, General Putnam sucSept. ceeded in arranging a treaty of peace with some bands of the Delawares, Wyandots, and Miamis, dwelling on the Miami and Sandusky rivers, the nearest of the Northwestern Indians to the Ohio settlements. Not long after, a grand council, at which were present delegations from almost all the Northern tribes, was held at Au Glaize, for the purpose of considering the relations in which they stood to the American government; but no white man was allowed to be present except Simon Girty, whom the Indians considered as one of themselves. The Six Nations, whom the other tribes addressed as "Eldest brother," were represented at this council by Corn-planter, Red Jacket, and upward of forty principal chiefs, who seem to have attended, under the leadership of Hendricks, at the express desire of the United States. They counseled peace and a treaty; and, though they were warmly opposed by the Shawanese, who took the lead for war, the belligerent Indians finally agreed to suspend hostilities during the coming winter, and, "at the time when the leaves were fully on," to meet the United States in council at the Rapids of the Miami. But they demand. ed, as a condition of this armistice, that the American troops should retire south of the Ohio, which river they still persisted in claiming as the true Indian boundary

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a claim in which even the friendly chiefs of the Six Na- CHAPTEL tions were strongly inclined to concur. "We now de

sire you, brother," said the chiefs of the Six Nations, in 1792. giving to the president an account of their mission, "to send forward agents who are men of sincerity, not proud land-jobbers, but men who love and desire peace. Also, we desire they may be accompanied by some Quakers to attend the council." Appointments were subsequently made in conformity to this request; but as the garrisons were still maintained north of the Ohio, the proposed armistice did not prevent some skirmishing in the course of the winter.

By the close of the season, the troops in service, old and new, amounted to about thirty-six hundred men. The head-quarters were at Pittsburg, where Wayne commanded in person, and here the main body remained encamped during the winter. A small detachment was stationed in Georgia, to keep the peace on the Creek frontier, and others at Marietta and Fort Washington, on the Ohio, with garrisons at Vincennes, Fort Jefferson, and other interior posts. But Washington discouraged the formation of new posts, except such as were necessary to constitute lines of communication.

Washington's personal reasons for desiring a release from the burdens of office had been lately increased by the mortal illness of a nephew on whom he had hitherto relied for the chief management of his affairs at Mount Vernon. It was, however, sufficiently evident that the public wish demanded his continuance, and there was reason to believe even the public safety also. Under these circumstances he laid aside his intention of withdrawing; and the struggle between the two parties now beginning to be distinctly formed in the nation-opposition to the funding system being substituted for opposi

CHAPTER tion to the Constitution-was confined to the question V. of the vice-presidency and the majority in Congress un1792. der the new apportionment. The opposition concentra. ted their votes on George Clinton as vice-president. The Federalists supported John Adams, not because they approved all his political theories, but because they believ ed him an honest and capable friend of the Constitution. Washington again received the unanimous vote of the electors, the number being increased under the new ap portionment, and by the admission of new states, to a hundred and thirty. Of the votes for the second candidate, Adams received seventy-seven and Clinton fifty. All the votes of the New England States, including Rhode Island and Vermont, which had not voted at the former election, and the entire vote of Connecticut, which had then been divided, were given to Adams. Instead of one vote in New Jersey and eight out of ten in Pennsylvania, given to him at the first election, he now ob tained the entire support of those two states, except onc vote in Pennsylvania given to Clinton. He received, also for the first time, the entire vote of Delaware and Maryland, with six out of the seven votes of South Carolina; but the five Virginia votes given to him at the first election were now withheld. Clinton received the entire vote of New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. The Kentucky electors voted for Jefferson as their second candidate. One of the South Carolina votes was given to Burr.

Nov. 5

The second Congress, meanwhile, had reassembled for its second and concluding session. In his opening speech the president dwelt at length on the state of Indian relations, his unsuccessful efforts to re-establish peace in the Northwest, and the necessity of an efficient Indian Department to regulate a fairs on the frontiers in a spirit

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of justice and humanity, as the only means of security CHAPTER against perpetual Indian wars. The measures taken in consequence of opposition to the excise were recited, and 1792. the president's firm intention was expressed to enforce the collection of the tax. The prosperous condition of the revenue formed a topic of congratulation, and the adoption was recommended of a systematic and effectual arrangement for the regular redemption of the public debt as fast as the terms of the Funding Act would allow. An account was given of the progress of the mint, which had already commenced operations by the coinage of half dimes. In consequence of projects believed to be on foot for establishing settlements on the Mississippi within the territory claimed by Spain, under color of the Georgia Yazoo grants, attention was called to the means of preventing aggressions by citizens of the United States on the territory of foreign nations.

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The report of the committee on St. Clair's defeat, made just at the conclusion of the late session, in exculpating that commander, had thrown a good deal of blame on the quartermaster general, the contractor for supplies, and, by implication also, on the Departments of War and the Treasury, the report implying that the army had not been properly provided for, or money duly furnished to meet its wants. This report had excited a good deal of feeling on the part of the officers implicated, who desired an opportunity to vindicate themselves. The report being under consideration in Committee of the Whole, Dayton Nov 1 moved that the Secretaries of War and the Treasury be directed to attend the House, and to give such information as might be required. This motion roused at once into action the jealousy of executive influence felt by the opposition. It was vehemently resisted as unconstitutional, a dangerous precedent, and threatening to subject

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