of Kentucky might be exterminated for the want of a supply which he, a
private individual, had at so much hazard and hardship, sought for their
relief, and that when this frontier bulwark was thus destroyed, the fury
of the savages would burst like a tempest upon the heads of their own
citizens.

To these representations, however, the Council remained inexorable; the
sympathy for the frontier settlers was deep, but the assistance already
offered was a stretch of power, and they could go no further. The keeper
of the public magazine was directed to deliver the powder to Clark; but
having long reflected on the situation, prospects, and resources of the
new country, his resolution to reject the assistance, on the proposed
conditions, was made before he left the Council chamber.

He determined to repair to Kentucky, as he had at first contemplated, to
exert the resources of the country for the formation of an _independent
State_. He accordingly returned the order of the Council in a letter,
setting forth his reasons for declining to accept their powder on these
terms, and intimating his design of applying for assistance elsewhere,
adding "that a country which was not worth defending was not worth
claiming." On the receipt of this letter the Council recalled Clark to
their presence, and an order was passed on the 23d of August, 1776, for
the transmission of the gunpowder, to Pittsburg, to be there delivered
to Clark, or his order, for the use of the people of Kentucky. This was
the first act in that long and affectionate interchange of good offices
which subsisted between Kentucky and her parent State for so many years;
and obvious as the reflection is, it may not be omitted, that on the
successful termination of this negotiation hung the connection between
Virginia and the splendid domain she afterward acquired west of the
Alleghany Mountains.

At the fall session of the Legislature of Virginia, Messrs. Jones and
Clark laid the Kentucky memorial before that body. They were, of course,
not admitted to seats, though late in the session they obtained, in
opposition to the exertions of Colonels Henderson and Campbell, the
formation of the territory, which now comprises the present State of
that name, into the County of Kentucky. The first efficient political
organization of Kentucky was thus obtained through the sagacity,
influence, and exertions of George Rogers Clark, who must be ranked as
the earliest founder of that Com