and seized certain lands under treaties which she alleged had been made, whereupon the Creeks denied the validity of these treaties and went to war, in which they were highly successful.  The Georgians had already asked assistance from their neighbors, and they now demanded it from the new general government.  Thereupon, under an act of Congress, Washington appointed as commissioners to arrange the difficulties General Lincoln, Colonel Humphrey, and David Griffin of Virginia, all remote from the scene of conflict, and all judicious selections.  The Creeks readily met the new commissioners, but when they found that no lands were to be given up, they declined to treat further, and said they would await a new negotiation.

Washington attributed this failure, and no doubt correctly, to the intrigues and influence of Spain.  On the day the report of the commissioners went to Congress, he wrote to Governor Pinckney of South Carolina:  “For my own part I am entirely persuaded that the present general government will endeavor to lay the foundations for its proceedings in national justice, faith, and honor.  But should the government, after having attempted in vain every reasonable pacific measure, be obliged to have recourse to arms for the defense of its citizens, I am also of opinion that sound policy and good economy will point to a prompt and decisive effort, rather than to defensive and lingering operations.”  “Lingering” had been the curse of our Indian policy, and it was this above all things that Washington was determined to be rid of.  Whether peace or war, there was to be quick and decisive action.  He therefore, in this spirit, at once sent southward another commissioner, Colonel Willett, who very shrewdly succeeded in getting McGillivray and his chiefs to agree to accompany him to New York.  Thither they accordingly came in due time, the Scotch half-breed and twenty-eight of his chiefs.  They were entertained and well treated at the seat of government, and there, with Knox acting for the United States, they made a treaty which involved concessions on both sides.  The Creeks gave up all claims to lands north and east of the Oconee, and the United States, under a recent general act regulating trade and intercourse with the Indians, gave up all lands south and west of the same river, and agreed to make the tribes an annual present.  Then Washington gave them wampum and tobacco, and shook hands with them, and the chiefs went home.  There was grumbling on both sides, especially among the Georgians, but nevertheless the treaty held for a time at least, and there was peace.