1790-95, Call for the Militia by the President. 451 its operation, or if unwilling to do this they were to refuse distinctly to sign any such promise. This trial of popular sentiment was to take place on the 11th of September, in the presence of persons who had been at the Parkinson ferry meeting, or of magistrates; and the result of the vote was to be by them certified to the Commissioners. It would have been well to have given a longer time that the good disposition of the leaders might have had an opportunity of spreading among the people, but as the President in his proclamation had required a dispersion by the 1st of September, it was thought impossible to wait. On the 11th a vote was taken, but very imperfect and unsatisfactory.* In some portions of the country men openly refused obedience to the law; in some they were silent; in some they merely voted by ballot for and against submission; and upon the whole gave so little proof of a disposition to support the legal officers that the judges of the vote did not feel willing to give certificates that offices of inspection could be safely established in the several counties, and the Commissioners were forced to return to Philadelphia without having accomplished their objects. On the 24th of September they reported their proceedings and failure to the President; who, upon the 25th, called the militia of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, into the field under the command of Henry Lee, Governor of the State last named. || Washington himself visited the troops and met some deputations from the western counties, but was unable to accompany the army to Pittsburgh, whither, however, General Hamilton went to represent the Executive. No resistance was offered to the army, although the soldiers in many cases showed a spirit as bad as that of the rebels, and most needless cruelty was in some cases practiced.** Bradford, and a few of the most prominent friends of violence fled to the American State Papers, xx. 96-89.-United States Gazette, September 22 and 26.— Findley, 130.-Boston Independent Chronicle, October 2. † American State Papers, xx. 90.-United States Gazette. September 5th and 6th. Josiah Harmar was Adjutant General to the militia of Pennsylvania. (United States Gazette, September 12th, &c., &c.) American State Papers, xx. 97.-Sparks' Washington, x. 439. Sparks' Washington, x. 441, note.-Findley the historian of the insurrection was the deputy referred to; see in his history an account of his mission, &c. See parts of his journal in Sparks' Washington, x. 450, note. ** American Pioneer, i. 213.—Brackenridge, ii. 79, &c. 452 Ending of the Whiskey Riots. 1790-95. Spanish provinces of the southwest.* To prevent a renewal of the insurrection and secure obedience to the law an armed force under General Morgan remained through the winter west of the mountains. Thus, at a cost of 669,992. 34 dollars, the whiskey riots were ended.|| But there is reason to think the money was well spent ; and that the insurrection was a wholesome eruption. It served several good purposes; it alarmed the wiser portion of the Democratic party, who saw how much of Jacobin fury lay hidden in the American people; it proved to the wiser part of the friends of the Administration that the societies they so much hated, even if they originated the evil feelings prevalent in the west, would not countenance the riotous acts that followed; the unruly portion of the western people was awed by the energy of the Executive, and to those who loved order the readiness of the militia to march to the support of the Government was evidence of a much better disposition than most had hoped to find.§ In addition to these advantages, we may name the activity of business caused by the expenditure of so large a sum in the west, and the increase of frontier population from the ranks of the army.¶ Turning to the region north of the Ohio, we have to notice, 1st, the settlement of Galliopolis, commonly called Gallipolis. In May or June, 1788, Joel Barlow left this country for Europe, "authorized to dispose of a very large body of land" in the west.** In 1790, this gentleman distributed proposals in Paris, for the sale of lands, at five shillings per acre, which promised, says Volney, "a climate healthy and delightful; scarcely such a thing as frost in winter; a river called by way of eminence, "The Beautiful,' abounding in fish of an enormous size; magnificent forests of a tree from which sugar flows, and a shrub which yields candles; Brackenridge and Findley.-Marshall's Washington, v. 589. In 1806 Bradford was at Baton Rouge; see testimony of John Morgan, American State Papers, xx. 501. † American State Papers, xx. 112. + American State Papers, vii. 661. See Washington's speech of November 19th, in Sparks, xii. 44 to 52. § Sparks' Washington, x. 446. 454. xii. 50. Among those who deserve to be remembered in connection with the whiskey riots, is Judge Addison, whose support of the law was marked and temperate: see his charge to the Grand Jury of Alleghany county, on the 1st of September; it is in the United States Gazette of September 13th. The Jury did not, probably dared not, respond to its views. See a letter by Brackenridge in United States Gazette, September 29th. ¶ American Pioneer, ii. 214. **Sparks' Washington, vol. ix. p. 386. 1790-95. Settlement of Galliopolis. * 453 venison in abundance; without foxes, wolves, lions or tigers; no taxes to pay; no military enrolments; no quarters to find for soldiers. Purchasers became numerous, individuals and whole families disposed of their property; and, in the course of 1791, some embarked at Havre, others at Bordeaux, Nantes, or Rochelle," each with his title-deed in his pocket. Five hundred settlers, among whom were not a few carvers and gilders to his Majesty, coachmakers, friseurs, and peruke-makers,† and other artizans and artistes equally well fitted for a backwoods life, arrived in the United States in 1791-92; and, acting without concert, travelling without knowledge of the language, customs or roads, they at last managed to reach the spot designated for their residence, after expending nearly or quite, the whole proceeds of their sales in France. They reached the spot designated, but it was only to learn, that the persons whose title-deeds they held did not own one foot of land, and that they had parted with all their worldly goods merely to reach a wilderness, which they knew not how to cultivate, in the midst of a people, of whose speech and ways they knew nothing, and at the very moment when the Indians were carrying destruction to every white man's hearth. Without food, without land, with little money, no experience, and with want and danger closing around them, they were in a position that none but Frenchmen could be in without despair. Who brought them to this pass? Volney says, the Scioto Company which had bought of the Ohio Company; Mr. Hall says in his Letters from the West (p. 137,) a company who had obtained a grant from the United States; and, in his Statistics of the West (p. 164,) the Scioto Company, which was formed from or by the Ohio Company, as a subordinate. Barlow, he says, was sent to Europe by the Ohio Company; and by them the lands in question were conveyed to the Scioto Company. Kilbourn says, "the Scioto Land Company, which intended to buy of Congress all the tract between the western boundary of the Ohio Company's purchase and the Scioto, directed the French settlers to Gallipolis, supposing it to be west of the Ohio Company's purchase, though it proved not to be." The Company, he tells us, failed to make * View of the climate and soil of the United States, &c. The sugar-tree was the maple, and the wax-bearing myrtle the shrub that yielded candles. + Brackenridge's Recollections, p. 42. 454 Sufferings of Galliopolis Settlers. 1790–55. their payments, and the whole proposed purchase remained wit government.* The truth undoubtedly is, that those for whom Barlow acted were the persons referred to by Doctor Cutler, who joined with the Ohio Company in their purchase to the extent of three and onehalf millions of acres; among whom, he says, were many of the principal characters of America. These characters, however, never paid for their lands, and could give no title to the emigrants they had allured across the ocean. Their excuse was that their agents had deceived them, but it was a plea good neither in morals or law. Who those agents were, and how far they were guilty, and how far the company was so, are points which seem to be still involved in doubt. But, whatever doubt there may be as to the causes of the suffering, there can be none as to the sufferers. The poor gilders, and carvers, and peruke-makers, who had followed a jack-a-lantern into the literally howling wilderness, found that their lives depended upon their labor. They must clear the ground build their houses, and till their fields. Now the spot upon which they had been located by the Scioto Company was covered in part with those immense button-wood or Sycamore trees, which are so frequent along the rivers of the west, and to remove which is nO small undertaking even for the American woodman. The coachmakers were wholly at a loss; but at last, hoping to conquer by a coup-de-main, they tied ropes to the branches, and while one dozen pulled at them with might and main, another dozen went at the trunk with axes, hatchets, and every variety of edged tool, and by dint of perseverance and cheerfulness at length overcome the monster; though not without some hair-breadth escapes; for when a mighty tree, that had been hacked on all sides, fell, it required a Frenchman's heels to avoid the sweep of the wide-spread branches. But, when they had felled the vast vegetable, they were little better off than before; for they could not move or burn it. At last a good idea came to their aid; and while some chopped off the limbs, others dug, by the side of the trunk, a great grave, into which, with many a heave, they rolled their fallen enemy. Their houses they did not build in the usual straggling American Kilbourn's Gazeteer, 1831. + See ante, p. 289. This appears to be demonstrated by the fact that Colonel Duer, who applied to Dr. Cutler "to take in another company," did, as the agent of the Scioto Company, receive the French and send them to Galliopolis. (American State Papers, xvi. 30.) + M. Meulette, one of the settlers, in American Pioneer, ii. 185. 1790-95. Settlements in Virginia Reserve. 455 style, but made two rows or blocks of log cabins, each cabin being about sixteen feet square; while at one end was a larger room, which was used as a council-chamber and ball-room. In the way of cultivation they did little. The land was not theirs, and they had no motive to improve it; and, moreover, their coming was in the midst of the Indian war. Here and there a little vegetable garden was formed; but their main supply of food they were forced to buy from boats on the river, by which means their remaining funds were sadly broken in upon. Five of their number were taken prisoner by the Indians; food became scarce; in the fall, a marsh behind the town sent up miasmata that produced fevers; then winter came, and, despite Mr. Barlow's promise, brought frost in plenty; and, by and by, they heard from beyond seas of the carnage that was desolating the fire-sides they had left. Never were men in a more mournful situation; but still, twice in the week, the whole colony came together, and to the sound of the violin danced off hunger and care. The savage scout that had been lurking all day in the thicket, listened to the strange music, and, hastening to his fellows, told them, that the whites would be upon them, for he had seen them at their war dance; and the careful Connecticut man, as he guided his broad-horn in the shadow of the Virginia shore, wondered what mischief "the red varmint" were at next; or, if he knew the sound of the fiddle, shook his head, as he thought of the whiskey that must have been used to produce all that merriment. But French vivacity, though it could work wonders, could not pay for land. Some of the Gallipolis settlers went to Detroit, others to Kaskaskia; a few bought their lands of the Ohio Company, who treated them with great liberality; and, in 1795, Congress, being informed of the circumstances, granted to the sufferers twenty-four thousand acres of land opposite Little Sandy River, to which, in 1798, twelve hundred acres more were added; which tract has been since known as French Grant. The influence of this settlement upon the State was unimportant; but it forms a curious little episode in Ohio history, and affords a strange example of national character.* During this period, however, other settlements had been taking place in Ohio, which, in their influence upon the destinies of the State were deeply felt; we mean that of the Virginia Reserve be See the communication of Mr. Meulette referred to above. We have something from oral communications. Also American Pioneer, i. 94. 95. American State Papers, xvi. 29. |