quate to the conquest of their towns, and the destruction of their villages. This, he conceived, policy, economy, and humanity dictated. But Congress, in their military establishment, did not meet his views, and at the moment he gave his sanction to the bill, he entered in his private journal, that he did not conceive the military establishment was adequate to the exigence of the government, and to the protection it was intended to afford.

For the sake of a connected view of Indian affairs, we will in this place give a narrative of subsequent transactions, although we shall be carried out of the order of time in which events took place.

The attempt to negotiate with the Indians northwest of the Ohio having proved abortive, the President conceived himself bound to use the means Congress had put into his hands to protect the frontiers; and accordingly General Harmar was sent in Septenber 1791, into the Indian territories with a force, consisting of about three hundred regular troops and eleven hundred militia of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, with orders to bring the Indians if possible to action, and to destroy their settlements on the waters of the Scioto and Wabash.

The Savages avoided an engagement with the main body of the American army, but with great spirit attacked a strong detachment which had pursued them, and killed several valuable officers. Harmar destroyed their settlements, but afforded no protection to the frontiers. Several smaller expeditions with various success were made into the Indian country, and in the autumn of 1791 Major General St. Clair marched a force of near two thousand effective men into their territories, and on the fourth of November was attacked and totally defeated by them.

The President, apprehending that the success of the Indians, and the booty they had gained, would have influence to bring other tribes into the war, conceived

that the honour of the nation was concerned to retrieve the American losses, and to afford protection to the frontiers. St. Clair resigning his commission, General Wayne was appointed his successor. The President lost no time in laying before Congress an estimate of such a military force, as he thought would be adequate to the object; and they at length acceded to his proposal. While these preparations were ripening, much complaint was made of the war, and the President was induced, rather from a desire to convince the country that successful warfare was the only means of peace, than from any expectation of success in the mission, to send Colonel Harden and Major Trueman, two valuable officers and worthy men, into the Indian country, to attempt negotiation; but they were both murdered. On the 20th of August, 1794, General Wayne brought the Indians to an engagement, totally defeated them, and destroyed their country on the Miamis.

This action was decisive: it deterred other tribes from entering into the war, and induced the Miamis themselves to treat for peace. On the 3d of August, a treaty was entered into by General Wayne with the Indians northwest of the Ohio, which ended all hostilities, quieted the fears of the frontiers, and gave universal satisfaction.

As early as 1789, the President received authentick intelligence, that Spanish agents were intriguing with the inhabitants of the Western country, to seduce them from their allegiance to the United States. Representations were made them in the name of the government of Spain, that while they were connected with the Atlantick States, the navigation of the Mississippi would be denied them; but if they would assume an independent government, the river should be opened, and their independence supported.

In 1794, Spain, suffering herself the evils of war, was inclined to treat with the United States. She

intimated by her ministers, that the etiquette of her court forbid her to treat with Mr. Short, the American resident at Madrid, yet a higher diplomatick character would be accredited, and negotiations immediately opened with him. The President placed full confi dence in Mr. Short, but he thought it policy to meet the friendly propositions of Spain, and in November nominated Mr. Pinckney to be the American Minister at that Court. In the course of the next summer, Mr Pinckney repaired to Madrid, and on the 20th of October, 1795, a treaty was signed between him and the Spanish commissioners, which happily terminated the controversy respecting boundary lines, and the navigation of the Mississippi to the satisfaction of the nation. On the 8th of January, 1790, the President met Congress at their second session.

In his speech he congratulated them on the success of their measures, and recommended a variety of national objects to their serious attention. Among these, the following are the principal. Provision for national defence; the means of holding intercourse with foreign nations; establishing a rule of naturalization ; uniformity in the currency, weights, and measures of the United States; and the promotion of science and literature.

Knowledge," he observed, " is in every country the surest basis of publick happiness. In one, in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours, it is proportionably essential." And he concluded with the following assurances.

"I shall derive great satisfaction in co-operating with you in the pleasing though arduous task of ensuring to our fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect from a free, efficient, and equal govern

ment."

The answers of the Senate and the House of Representatives were cordial and respectful, and promised VOL. II.

10

a continuance of harmony between the Executive and Legislature.

In this session of Congress, the Secretary of the Treasury first reported those fiscal arrangements in support of publick credit, which, in their progress to establishment, were the occasion of warm and animated debates in the Legislature, fully displayed the discordance of political opinion among the members, and excited that party spirit which has since convulsed the United States.

The President readily gave his sanction to these fiscal establishments of the Legislature, yet by this act he seemed not to lose the good opinion of the opposition; the blame and odium fell upon the Secretary of the Treasury, and upon the northern federal members of Congress.

The incessant application to business had a visible effect upon the constitution of the President, and at this period he was for a second time attacked with a violent disease, which put his life in imminent danger. At the close of the session, therefore, he determined to give himself a short relaxation in a visit to Mount Vernon. He first made a tour to Rhode-Island, which not being then in the Union, had not been included in his visit to New-England; and at Newport and Providence he received every attention which affection and respect could dictate.

This retirement was of essential service to his health, and at the close of autumn he returned to Philadelphia to meet the Legislature; to which place Congress had adjourned, at the close of the year 1790. At this time the President noticed the rising disturbances in Europe, and advised to those precautionary measures, which had a tendency to secure to the United States the benefit of their commerce. tioning to the House the sufficiency of the established revenue to the purposes to which it was appropriated, he expressed his hope" that it would be a favourite

Men

policy with them not merely to secure the interest of the debt funded, but as far, and as fast as the growing resources of the country will permit, to exonerate it of the principal itself." The address was closed in the following impressive manner.

"In pursuing the various and weighty business of the present session, I indulge the fullest persuasion that your consultations will be marked with wisdom, and animated by the love of country. In whatever belongs to my duty, you shall have all the co-operation which an undiminished zeal for its welfare can inspire It will be happy for us both, and our best reward, if by a successful administration of our respective trusts, we can make the established government more and more instrumental in promoting the good of our fellow citizens, and more and more the object of their attachment and confidence."

The respect and confidence of the Legislature in the Executive appeared on this occasion without diminution; although one of the measures of the Presi Ident was for the first time condemned. A member from Georgia pronounced the treaty with the Creek Indians to be a violation of the rights of that state.

In this session of Congress the Bank of the United States was established. Its constitutionality had been deeply argued in the Legislative body, and came before the Executive as a question involving the highest national interest. It was reviewed in the Cabinet with the deliberation it merited. The Council, on this occasion, as on most others, were divided. Messrs. Jef ferson and Randolph expressed as their decided opi nion that the law was unconstitutional. Messrs Hamilton and Knox were fully convinced of its constitutionality. The President called upon each member of his Council for the reasons of his opinion in writing. These he maturely weighed, and being convinced himself that the law was constitutional, put his signature to it.