outrage both on sea and land.  This masterly policy had perhaps reasons for its existence which pass beyond the average understanding, but, so far as any one can now discover, it seems to have had no possible motive except to feed an ancient grudge and drive the country into the arms of France.  Carried on for a long time in secret, this Indian intrigue came to the surface in a speech made by Lord Dorchester to the western tribes, in which he prophesied a speedy rupture with the United States and urged his hearers to continue war.  It is worth remembering that for five years, covertly or openly, England did her best to keep an Indian war with all that it implied alive upon our borders,—­the borders of a friendly nation with whom she was at peace.

But while Washington persistently negotiated, he as persistently prepared to fight, not trusting overmuch either the savages or the English.  Wayne, with similar views, moved his army forward in the autumn of 1793 to a point six miles beyond Fort Jefferson, and then went into winter quarters.  Early in the spring of 1794 he was in motion again and advanced to St. Clair’s battlefield, where he built Fort Recovery, and where he was attacked by the Indians, whom he repulsed after two days’ fighting.  He then marched in an unexpected direction and struck the central villages at the junction of the Au Glaize and Maumee.  The surprised savages fled, and Wayne burned their village, laid waste their extensive fields, and built Fort Defiance.  To the Indians, who had retreated thirty miles down the Maumee to the shelter of a British post, he sent word that he was ready to treat.  The reply came back asking for a delay of ten days; but Wayne at once advanced, and found the Indians prepared for battle near the English fort.  The ground was unfavorable, especially for cavalry, but Wayne made good arrangements and attacked.  The Indians gave way before the bayonet, and were completely routed, the American loss being only one hundred and seven men.  The army was not averse to storming the English fort; but Wayne, with unusual caution, contented himself with a sharp correspondence with the commandant, and then withdrew after a most successful campaign.  The next year, strengthened by his victory and by the surrender of the British posts under the Jay treaty, Wayne made a treaty with the western tribes by which vast tracts of disputed territory were ceded to the United States, and peace was established in that long troubled region.

On the southern frontier there were no such fortunate results.  While Washington was negotiating and fighting in the north and west, all his patient efforts were frustrated in the south by the conduct of Georgia.  The borderers kept assailing the Indians, peaceful tribes being generally chosen for the purpose; and the State itself broke through and disregarded all treaties and all arrangements made by the United States.  The result was constant disquiet and chronic war, with the usual accompaniments of fire, murder, and pillage.