have talked also a great deal about pre-emption, and your exclusive right to purchase our lands, ceded to you, as you say, by the king, at the treaty of peace. We never made any agreement with the king to that effect, and we declare ourselves free to make any bargain or cession of lands whenever, and to whomsoever we please." They said further, that at their general council at the Glaise, last fall, they agreed to meet Commissioners from the United States, provided they consented to acknowledge and confirm the Ohio to be the boundary line, and on no other condition. They affirmed, that their only demand was the peaceable possession of the small part of their once great country, which remained to them. They entreated the Commissioners to look back upon the lands, from which they had been driven. They alledged that they could retreat no farther; because the country behind, hardly afforded food for its present inhabitants; and that they had therefore resolved to leave their bones, in the small space to which they were then confined.

In conclusion, they said: "Brothers! We shall be persuaded that you mean to do us justice, if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary line between us. If you will not consent to that, our meeting will be altogether unnecessary. This is the great point, which we hoped would have been explained before you left your homes, as our message, last fall, was principally directed to that subject."

This communication was signed by the Wyandots, Seven Nations of Canada, Delawares, Shawanees, Miamies, Ottawas, Chippewas, Senecas of the Glaise, Pottawatamies, Connoys, Munsees, Nantikokees, Mohicans, Creeks, and Cherokees.

The Commissioners immediately dispatched the following reply, to the chiefs and warriors of the Indian nations, assembled at the foot of the Miami rapids:

"Brothers! We have just received your answer to our speech of the 31st of last month. You say it was interpreted to all your nations, and we presume it was fully understood. We therein explicitly declared, that it was impossible to make the Ohio river the boundary, between your lands and the lands of the United States. Your answer amounts to a declaration, that you will agree to no other boundary than the Ohio. The negotiation is therefore at an end."

"Brothers! We sincerely regret that peace is not the result, but knowing the liberal and upright views of the United States, which, as far as you gave us an opportunity, we have explained to you; we trust that impartial judges will not attribute the continuance of the war to us, or our country."

On the next morning, the Commissioners sent information, by their own runners, to the chiefs of the Six Nations, of what had been done, expressing their regret at the failure of the negotiation, and furnishing them with copies of the proceedings, which they might not otherwise obtain. They assured the Six Nations, that they came with the most sincere desire to make a peace, that would be beneficial to both parties; and that, if such a peace had been established, not only the justice and humanity of the United States, would have been continued to the tribes, but their beneficence would have been extended to them; and peace would have been rendered as lasting as the hills. But having failed in this object, they should return home, and report their proceedings to the President.

Thus ended in disappointment, a tedious negotiation of three months, conducted on the part of the United States, with great prudence and talent. Only a few days before its termination, the reports from the great council, at the foot of the Rapids, authorised the expectation of a successful result.

From a review of the whole affair, it is manifest, that the

grounds taken by the American Commissioners, in regard to the obligatory character of the treaties between the United States and the Indians, from the second, negotiated at Fort Stanwix, in 1784, to that of Fort Harmar, in 1789, were sound and unanswerable. From the same examination, it will also be evident, that a treaty, satisfactory to both parties, would have been made, but for the influence, steadily and successfully exerted on the minds of the savages, by the agents of the British government; and it will also appear, that every tribe represented in the great council, except the Wyandots, Shawanees, Delawares, and Miamies, were willing, and most of them anxious to make a treaty, and put an end to the war.

On the 23d of August the Commissioners arrived at Fort Erie, on their way home; from whence they wrote to Major Craig, Deputy Quartermaster, at Pittsburgh, enclosing letters for General Wayne, which they directed to be conveyed to him with the utmost speed, and that no expense should be spared to effect it.

To guard against disappointment, copies of those letters were multiplied, and sent by four or five different conveyances. Their chief object was to advise the Commanderin-chief of the failure of the treaty-to put him on his guard-to let him know that the embargo laid on his movements was taken off, and that he was then at liberty to renew hostilities against the Indians, without delay. One of them, written at Fort Erie, on the 23rd of August, closed with the following remark:-" Although we did not effect a peace, yet we hope that good may hereafter arise from the mission. The tranquillity of the country, northwest of the Ohio, during the continuance of the treaty, evinced your care of our safety, and we cannot leave this quarter, without returning you our unfeigned thanks."

The Commissioners, on their way from the mouth of the Detroit river, wrote to the Secretary of War, giving him a

detailed account of the progress and close of the negotiation, and informing him of the means taken to communicate to General Wayne, and the different agents of the government in the western country, the failure of the treaty, and the course they had pursued to conciliate the Six Nations, who were openly and decidedly in favor of the United States, and who exerted all their influence in the grand council, to induce them to make peace.

CHAPTER VII.

Condition of the Western Army in 1793.-Encampment at Hobson's Choice. -Discipline of the army.-Order of march.-Fortifications at Greenville. -Indians attack Fort Recovery.-Repulsed with very heavy loss.-Proofs of British influence over the Indians.-Lieutenant Lowery attacked.-Defeated.-Killed.

ALL prospects of peace being now at an end, the attention of the War Department was directed to the completion of the army; which was to consist of five thousand one hundred and twenty, rank and file, and to the arrangements necessary to sustain it. In answer to a call, for a statement of the number of non-commissioned officers and privates, then in service, General Knox reported, that exclusive of the small detachments at West Point, and in the South, which were not considered as belonging to the Western army, there were, on paper, three thousand five hundred and ninety-four-showing a deficiency of fifteen hundred and twenty-six.

That report was accompanied by a statement from General Wayne, made in October, from which it appeared that the entire force for the expedition, independent of those reported sick, and in garrison, and including ten hundred and twenty-nine mounted volunteers, to be raised by General Scott, but not yet in camp, amounted to three thousand six hundred and twenty-nine. There was, of course, at that time, a deficiency, of fourteen hundred and ninety-one. In addition to this, the influenza was prevailing with great severity, in all parts of the country, by which a large propor