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INDIAN HOSTILITIES.

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The consequence of this measure was soon felt in the revival of public credit and commercial prosperity. Public paper, which had before been at a very great discount, rapidly rose to par, and property which had previously suffered great depreciation, now rapidly increased in value. Every department of industry was invigorated and enlivened by the establishment of a convenient and uniform currency.

While the financial system of the United States was thus acquiring permanence and diffusing prosperity under the directing genius of Hamilton, a cloud of war made its appearance among the Indian nations on the frontier. Of these, the Creeks in the south kept Georgia on the alert; whilst on the north-west beyond the Ohio, certain tribes, cherishing vengeance for past hostilities against them, carried on a desultory warfare; plundering and ravaging detached settlements. The president directed his attention first towards the Creeks, with whom adjustment was rendered difficult by their connection with Spain. The first attempt to bring about an accommodation failed, but, in 1790, Gillivray, their chief, was induced to proceed to New York, and conclude a treaty.

Similar overtures made to the Indians beyond the Ohio, were not attended with any good result. Washington regarding the employment of a regular force as necessary, pressed on congress the increase of the army, which did not at that time exceed 1,200 men. But his recommendation was unavailing; and the settlers of the west were left for a time to their own defence.

At length, in 1790, some funds and troops were voted; and in the autumn of that year, an expedition of 1,500 men under General Harmer was sent up the river Wabash, where he succeeded in burning some Indian villages; but in the end retreated with little honour and much loss. This check procured for Washington permission to raise a greater number of troops. Two expeditions were undertaken in the following year, both without success.

Finally a considerable force under General St. Clair suffered a most disastrous defeat. He was surrounded by the Indians; and unable either to dislodge them or sustain their fire, the Americans were driven in disorderly flight a distance of 30 miles in four hours. They lost 60 officers, amongst whom was General Butler, and upwards of 800 men, more than half their force; and yet the Indians were not supposed to outnumber their enemies.

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WASHINGTON RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT.

This disaster gave rise to a proposal from the president to raise the military force of the country to 5,000 men, which, after some opposition in congress, was finally agreed to.

The state of Vermont, which having been formerly claimed by New York and New Hampshire, had, in 1777, refused to submit to either, and declared itself independent, applied in 1791 to be admitted into the Union, and was accordingly received. Kentucky, which had hitherto been a part of Virginia, was also admitted by an act which was to take effect on the 1st of June in the succeeding year.

In order to determine the ratio of representation according to the population, a census was required by the constitution to be taken every tenth year. The first was completed in 1791; by which it appeared that the whole number of inhabitants was 3,921,326, of whom 695,655 were slaves.

In the spring of 1791, Washington made a tour through the southern states, on which occasion, stopping upon the Potomac, he selected, according to the powers intrusted to him, the site for the capital of the union. He was greeted throughout his progress with affectionate welcome; nor was a murmur allowed to reach his ear, although the odious excise law was, just about that period, brought into operation.

A new congress met at Philadelphia in the latter end of October; and, in his opening speech, the president principally alluded to the great success of the bank scheme, the shares for which had all been subscribed for in less than two hours after the books were opened; to the operations of the excise law, and the obstinate resistance of the Indians.

Washington's first term of office being about to expire, he was, in the autumn of 1792, elected a second time to the office of president, for another term of four years, commencing March 4th, 1793. Mr. Adams was again elected vicepresident.

Washington accepted the presidency at a moment when the country was about to stand most in need of his impartial honesty and firmness. The French revolution had just reached its highest point of fanaticism and disorder; and the general war which it occasioned in Europe put it out of the power of the president and the people of the United States to remain indifferent spectators of what was passing.

The French republic was about to appoint a new envoy to the United States; and questions arose as to whether he should be received, and whether the treaty concluded with

PROCEEDINGS OF CITIZEN GENET.

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the monarch of France, stipulating a defensive alliance in case of an attack, upon the part of England, was now binding on America.

These, and other questions arising out of them, being submitted by the president to his cabinet, after much discussion, in which Hamilton and Knox were for breaking with the new government of France, and Jefferson and Randolph were for recognising it, they agreed that, for the sake of preserving neutrality, a proclamation should be issued, forbidding the citizens of the United States from fitting out privateers against either power. The president resolved to receive the envoy, and it was agreed that no mention should be made of the treaty, or of its having been taken into consideration.

The new envoy, M. Genet, an ignorant and arrogant individual, instead of sailing to Philadelphia, the seat of government, and communicating immediately with the president or ministers, landed at Charleston in South Carolina, and there remained six weeks superintending and authorising the fitting out of cruisers to intercept British vessels. The en

thusiasm with which he was welcomed by the people, both at Charleston and during his land journey to Philadelphia, induced citizen Genet to believe that the envoy of France must be as powerful as its name was revered. He deemed that, relying on the popular support, he might set himself above the cautious scruples of the existing government.

Accordingly, when expostulated with upon his licensing privateers, and upon the captures made by his countrymen in the very rivers of the United States, Genet replied, that the treaty between France and this country sanctioned such measures, and that any obstructions put upon them would not only be infractions of the treaty, but treason against the rights of man.

The government, however, arrested two individuals who had entered on the privateering service, and when Genet demanded their release, he was countenanced and supported by a set of adherents who gave him fêtes, and formed societies in favour of his opposition to the constituted authorities of the country. This emboldened him still further to insult the government, by sending out a privateer from Philadelphia during Washington's absence from that city, after having promised to detain her till his return.

Whilst the government was consulting its law officers, to decide how best they might deal with the refractory and inso

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lent French envoy, the latter made it a ground of complaint that the British were in the habit of taking French property out of American vessels, contrary to the principles of neutrality avowed by the rest of Europe. Jefferson himself, although favourable to French interests, was obliged to tell Genet, on this occasion, that the British were right. But the latter would yield to neither authority nor reason; he replied in the most insulting tone, and would appeal, he said, from the president to the people.

This expression sealed his fate. The people at once abandoned the spoiled favourite, when he talked of insulting their beloved chief in this manner. The well-earned popularity of Washington could not be shaken by the blustering of this insolent foreigner. He was deserted by his warmest admirers, and when the government, determined on preserving its neutrality, had demanded and obtained his recall, the envoy, not daring to return to a country where it might be considered one of the rights of man to take off his head, quietly retired into obscurity and oblivion, and lived for many years under the protection of the very government which he had dared to insult.

Although the conduct of this individual disgusted the federal party, and perhaps added to its numbers by detaching many from the opposite ranks, the republicans still continued to cherish a grateful recollection of the services rendered to this country by France, during the revolutionary war, and a strong sympathy for those who were struggling for liberty against a powerful league of European monarchs who seemed bent on the utter destruction of the French republic. The warfare between the parties in the United States, respectively favouring England and France, was carried on with considerable spirit on both sides; and it required all the firmness and integrity of Washington to restrain them from breaking out into dangerous excesses.

General Wayne, who had been appointed to carry on the Indian war, after the defeat of St. Clair, marched against them at the head of 3,000 men, and in an action fought on the banks of the Miami, August 20th, 1794, totally routed them and destroyed their forts and villages. This action was followed by a treaty which gave security to the north-western frontier, and soon occasioned a rapid increase in the population of that favoured region.

The excise law was highly unpopular in many parts of the

INSURRECTION IN PENNSYLVANIA.

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country. The inquisitorial character of such regulations always renders them obnoxious to popular hatred. În Pennsylvania, particularly, the dislike rose to forcible resistance, which soon assumed an organised form, and set all law and legal order at defiance. A proclamation was at first issued, but proved of no avail. The federal members of the cabinet urged the necessity of assembling the militia of the neighbouring states, and marching them to intimidate or crush the insurrectionary force of Pennsylvania. This was a bold step, and much decried and disputed at the time. But it completely succeeded. A militia force, under the command of Governor Lee, and accompanied by Secretary Hamilton, marched across the Alleghany mountains, and such was their imposing number, that the insurgents shrunk from a contest with their armed brethren, and dispersed without offering any resistance. The result was most important, and, as producing it, the insurrection itself proved beneficial, since it showed to the lover of anarchy that there did exist a force in the country sufficient to put down any unconstitutional attempt.

Mr. Jefferson had already retired from the office of secretary of state, and been succeeded by Mr. Randolph. Hamilton and Knox now retired from the departments of the treasury and war, giving place to Mr. Wolcott and Colonel Pickering.

Mr. Jay, who had been sent envoy to England, had concluded a treaty with Lord Grenville, the minister of that country, which was now received. By this treaty, England stipulated to evacuate the posts hitherto occupied by her within the boundary line of the United States; the Americans, on the other hand, allowing British subjects every facility for the recovery of past debts. Indemnification was promised on both sides for illegal captures. Freedom of trade was agreed on to a certain extent. Americans were allowed to trade with the West Indies in vessels under twenty tons, provided they carried their produce to their own ports only, and exported no such produce to Europe. This last stipulation was hard, as it prohibited the American from sending to Europe the cotton or sugar of its own production. This had escaped Mr. Jay, and the president refused to ratify the treaty till this mistake was rectified. The other grievance of the treaty was, the right of England, still allowed, to take out of American ships contraband articles, and to be in some measure the judge of what was contraband. This, which, when Mr. Jefferson was secretary of state, had been loudly

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