he close of the Revolution. They were
encouraged by Sir John Johnson, then Indian agent on that frontier, and
by Sir Guy Carleton, who was again governor of Canada, to insist upon
re-establishing the Ohio as the Indian boundary. They swarmed upon the
banks of that river, waylaid the boats of emigrants, and even crossed
the stream and made incursions into Kentucky, to attack frontier
stations there. The president was convinced, by long experience with the
Indians, that on the failure of negotiations with them, sound policy and
true economy, not less than humanity, required the immediate employment
of force, which should go as a scourge into the very heart of their
country. Such were now the relations between the northwestern tribes and
the United States; and in the autumn, a military force eleven hundred
strong, under the command of General Harmer, was directed by the
president to march against the Miami village on the Scioto, where
Chilicothe now stands. After some successes and defeats the Americans
withdrew, and the Indians became more insolent and bold.

At this time a general European war appeared inevitable. A long-pending
controversy between Spain and Great Britain remained unsettled. It was
believed that France would side with Spain; and it was thought to be a
favorable time for the United States to press upon Great Britain the
necessity of complying with the yet unfulfilled articles of the treaty
of 1783. Accordingly, as early as January, 1790, Gouverneur Morris, then
in Paris, was commissioned by Washington to proceed to London, as
private agent of the United States, to sound the British ministry on the
subject. At that time there was no diplomatic intercourse between the
United States and Great Britain. Mr. Adams had returned home, and the
court of St. James had never sent a minister to the United States.
Morris opened a communication with the English minister for foreign
affairs, but was unable to make much satisfactory progress for some
time. As late as the first of July, Washington made the following record
in his diary:

"Having put into the hands of the vice president of the United
States the communication of Mr. Gouverneur Morris, who had been
empowered to make informal inquiries how well disposed the British
ministry might be to enter into commercial relations with the
United States, and to fulfil the articles of peace respecting our
western posts, and the slaves which had