ian, Innes, and their friends were also promised a hundred
thousand dollars for their good offices; and Carondelet, who had no more
hesitation in betraying red men than white, also offered to help the
Westerners subdue their Indian foes; these Indian foes being at the
moment the devoted allies of Spain.

Failure of their Efforts.

The time had gone by, however, when it was possible to hope for success
in such an intrigue. The treaty with Spain had caused much satisfaction
in the West, and the Kentuckians generally were growing more and more
loyal to the Central Government. Innes and his friends, in a written
communication, rejected the offer of Carondelet. They declared that they
were devoted to the Union and would not consent to break it up; but they
betrayed curiously little surprise or indignation at the offer, nor did
they in rejecting it use the vigorous language which beseemed men who,
while holding the commissions of a government, were proffered a hundred
thousand dollars to betray that government. [Footnote: American State
Papers, Miscellaneous, I., 928; deposition of Harry Innes, etc.] Power,
at the close of 1797, reported to his superiors that nothing could be
done.

Confusion at Natchez.
The Posts Surrendered

Meanwhile Carondelet and De Lemos had persisted in declining to
surrender the posts at the Chickasaw Bluffs and Natchez, on pretexts
which were utterly frivolous. [Footnote: American State Papers, Foreign
Relations, II., pp. 20, 70, 78, 79; report of Timothy Pickering, January
22, 1798, etc.] At this time the Spanish Court was completely
subservient to France, which was hostile to the United States; and the
Spaniards would not carry out the treaty they had made until they had
exhausted every device of delay and evasion. Andrew Ellicott was
appointed by Washington Surveyor-General to run the boundary; but when,
early in 1797, he reached Natchez, the Spanish representative refused
point blank to run the boundary or evacuate the territory. Meanwhile the
Spanish Minister at Philadelphia, Yrujo, in his correspondence with the
Secretary of State, was pursuing precisely the same course of subterfuge
and delay. But these tactics could only avail for a time. Neither the
Government of the United States, nor the Western people would consent to
be balked much longer. The negotiations with Wilkinson and his
associates had come to nothing. A detachment of American regular
soldiers came down the river to