VIL CHAPTER Connections you have described and they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence, and that, 1796. if I would listen more to some other opinions, all would be well. My answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered any thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of his insincerity; that, if he would retrace my public conduct while he was in the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him that truth and right decisions were the sole objects of my pursuit; that there were as many instances within his own knowledge of my having decided against as in favor of the opinions of the person alluded to [Hamilton]; and, moreover, that I was no believer in the infallibility of the politics or measures of any man living. In short, that I was no party man myself, and that the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them. "To this I may add, and very truly, that until within the last year or two I had no conception that parties would or could go the length I have been witness to; nor did I believe until lately that it was within the bounds of probability, hardly within those of possibility, that, while I was using my utmost exertions to establish a national character of our own, independent, as far as our obligations and justice would permit, of every nation on the earth, and wished, by steering a steady course, to preserve this country from the horrors of a desolating war, I should be accused of being the enemy of one nation and subject to the influence of another; and, to prove it, that every act of my administration would be tortured, and the grossest and most insidious misrepresentations of them be made, by giving one side only of a subject, and that, too, in such exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied to a Nero, a no VIII. torious defaulter, or even to a common pickpocket. But CHAPTER enough of this I have already gone further in the expression of my feelings than I intended." Coming thus 1796. to an abrupt conclusion, without any reference to the paper which Jefferson had asked for, Washington did not withhold his customary expressions of regard and esteem; but this was the last letter, so far as now appears, that ever passed between him and Jefferson. They had, indeed, reached a point where their views of the public interest became fundamentally different, while their ideas appear to have differed not less fundamentally as to the honorable method and lawful weapons of political warfare. Washington thought positive proof necessary to sustain political accusations, especially when they involved the charges of corruption and treason; Jefferson was ever ready to proceed upon surmise, conjecture, and the promptings of suspicion and hatred.. Washington was no believer in the political infallibility of any man; while Jefferson, in the true spirit of party fanaticism, never hesitated to denounce as fools, dupes, or knaves all who presumed to differ from that varying view of political affairs which the passions, the prejudices, the interests of the moment led him to take. The great question of the British treaty having been disposed of, and a peaceful and profitable intercourse with Great Britain for ten years longer thus secured, it only remained for Congress to mature and pass the bills under discussion during the previous part of the session. Meanwhile, the necessary appointments were made for carrying the treaty into effect. Knox, and, on his declining, Howell of Rhode Island, was made commissioner for ascertaining the true St. Croix; Fitzsimmons and James Innes, the latter succeeded presently by Sitgreaves, were appointed commissioners on the subject of British CHAPTER debts; and Christopher Gore, late district attorney of VIII. Massachusetts, and William Pinckney of Maryland, 1796. commissioners on the matter of British spoliations. Thomas Pinckney had returned from Spain to England, but, as he desired a recall, Rufus King was appointed to succeed him. Humphreys was appointed minister to Spain in place of Carmichael, who was dead, Short being recalled at his own request. J. Q. Adams being appointed to succeed Humphreys at Lisbon, his place at the Hague was presently given to Murray. An act regulating intercourse with the Indians established a boundary-line along the whole extent of the Western frontier, beyond which no white man was to be allowed to go either for hunting or pasturage, nor, south of the Ohio, for any purpose whatever, without a passport from the governor of some state, from the officer of the nearest post on the frontier, or from some other person authorized by the president to grant passports. Commencing on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, where the town of Cleveland now stands, this line followed the Indian boundary of Wayne's treaty to a point on the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. Thence it descended the Ohio (including, however, Clarke's grant on the north bank, opposite Louisville) to the promontory formed by the extremity of the dividing ridge between the rivers Cumberland and TenTurning there to the southeast, it followed that ridge to a point forty miles above Nashville. Thence, striking off northeast to the Cumberland River, it ascended that stream to the Kentucky crossing, not far from the southwesternmost point of the State of Virginia. Thence in a general southerly, but zigzag direction, the Cherokee boundary was followed to the head of the main south branch of the Oconee River, called the Appalachee, nessee. VIII. Descending the Oconee to its junction with the Altama- CHAPTER ha, from the lower part of that river the line extended, by the Creek boundary, south to the St. Mary's. The 1796. establishment of this line secured to the Indians a good half of the territory between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, divided, however, into a northern and a southern portion by the intervention of Kentucky. The president might remove by force any persons attempting to settle west of the Indian boundary. Intrusion beyond it, for making surveys or for any other illegal purpose, was made punishable by fine and imprisonment, and by forfeiture of the title under which the surveys were made. In case of robbery or any other trespass on the person or property of Indians, besides the punishment of the offender, there was to be a pecuniary reparation to the sufferer, to be made by the United States if the offender had no property. But this pecuniary reparation was to be withheld in case of any attempt by the sufferer or his tribe at private revenge or satis faction by force or violence. The murder of Indians was made punishable by death. In case of injuries committed by Indians in the territories belonging to the whites, application for redress was to be made through the Indian agents, or other persons appointed for that purpose, to the president, who was to demand, and, after waiting a proper time, to take such means as he saw fit for enforcing reparation. Indemnity, meanwhile, was to be made to the sufferers by the United States out of the Indian annuities, if it were judged expedient, but only on consideration that no attempt were made to obtain private revenge or redress by crossing the Indian boundary. Any Indian caught within the white limits in the commission of crime might be tried and punished by the local tribunals. All white violators of VIII. CHAPTER the act might be arrested in the Indian territory by the military force of the United States, to be carried within 1796. ten days for trial to the federal civil authorities in some one of the three next adjoining states or districts. None could trade with the Indians without license, under penalty of forfeiture of their goods, fine, and imprisonment; nor were traders allowed to purchase from the Indians any gun, instrument of husbandry, cooking. utensils, or articles of clothing, except skins or furs, nor horses, except by special license. All conveyances, sales, and leases of Indian lands, except by public treaty with the United States, were declared void.. The president was also authorized to furnish the Indians with domestic animals, implements of husbandry, or other useful articles at his discretion, and to appoint temporary agents to reside among them for their comfort and instruction, at an expense not exceeding $15,000 annually. By another act, the president's plan of pub. lic trading-houses was carried out, $150,000 being appropriated for that purpose, the goods to be sold at such prices as to keep up the capital. As this was an experiment, the appropriation was limited to two years; but the scheme, on trial, proved so beneficial as to be adopted as a regular part of the Indian system. Under the strict enforcement of these judicious provisions, the barbarous predatory war which had prevailed on the frontiers for twenty years past was finally brought to an end, and several of the Indian tribes, especially the Southern ones, began to make a certain advance in civilization. This act did not extend to the Six Nations and other smaller tribes living on reservations east of the line above described, and within the jurisdiction of particular states. The peace with the Indians having opened the way for the sale and settlement of the public lands north of |