d readily obtain arms and ammunition in
exchange for their furs; and thus, in point of strength, they were the
most formidable enemies to the United States among the Indian nations.

Good policy caused the United States government to send commissioners to
treat with the Creeks; and in the autumn of 1789, General Lincoln,
Colonel Humphries, and David Griffin--a commission appointed by
Washington--met deputies of that confederacy on the Oconee, to hold a
treaty. M'Gillivray was at the head of the deputation. He received the
American commissioners kindly, and expressed a desire for friendship;
but when he found that they did not propose to restore to the Creeks
their lands about which they had disputed with the Georgians, he
abruptly ended the conference, promising, however, to remain peaceable
until further negotiations could be had.

In March, 1790, Washington despatched Colonel Marinus Willett on a new
mission to the Creeks. He succeeded in persuading M'Gillivray to go to
New York, to carry on negotiations there. Attended by twenty-eight
sachems, chiefs, and warriors, he arrived at the federal capital on the
twenty-third of June, having been received with much attention at the
principal towns on the line of his journey. The members of the Tammany
society of New York, arrayed in Indian costume, escorted M'Gillivray and
his party into the city; and the Creek chief, being the son of a
Scotchman, was made an honorary member of the St. Andrew's society.

These attentions, and the gracious manner in which he was received by
the president, made a deep impression on M'Gillivray's mind. General
Knox, the secretary of war, was appointed to negotiate with him. A
satisfactory treaty, founded upon mutual concessions, was made; and one
of the last acts of Washington during the second session of the first
Congress was the approval of that treaty. It was signed by the
contracting parties on the seventh of August, and was ratified on the
thirteenth, the day after Congress adjourned.

Meanwhile, the aspect of Indian affairs in the country northwest of the
Ohio, into which a stream of emigration was rapidly flowing, claimed the
serious consideration of the government. A territorial government for
that region had been ordained in 1787, and the domain was called the
northwest territory. General Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor. As
we have observed, the Indians in that vicinity had shown much hostility
to the Americans ever since t