can be extended; our pretensions to the country they inhabit have been
made known to them in so unequivocal a manner, and the consequences are
so certain and so dreadful to them, that there is little probability of
there ever being any cordiality between us. The idea of being ultimately
obliged to abandon their country rankles in their minds, and our
British neighbors, at the same time that they deny the cession of the
country made by them, suffer them not to forget for a moment the claim
that is founded upon it."

The first attempt of the government in 1788, to form a treaty ended in
disaster. In order to mollify the tribes, it was proposed to hold the
negotiations at the falls of the Muskingum river, in what the Indians
were pleased to term "their own country" and "beyond the guns of any
fort." General Josiah Harrnar was instructed to erect a council house
there, and appropriate buildings in which to house the goods to be
distributed among the Indians. On the night of July 12th, some Ottawas
and Chippewas attacked the sentries and attempted to steal the goods
they were guarding. Two soldiers were killed and two wounded. Friendly
Delawares who arrived identified an Indian who was slain in the fight,
as an Ottawa. It was learned that both the Chippewas and Ottawas were
opposed to a treaty, "and in favor of war, unless the whites would agree
to the Ohio as a boundary line." Who set on these wild tribes from the
north may well be imagined. General St. Clair now determined to hold the
treaty at Fort Harmar at the mouth of the Muskingum, and sent a message
to the tribes now collecting on the Detroit river, to that effect.

The machinations of the British agents at Detroit in the summer and
autumn of 1788, while involved in some degree of mystery, seem to have
been about as follows: Lord Dorchester was apprehensive that the
Americans contemplated the taking of the posts and thereby uprooting
the British influence. In order to avoid such action, it might be the
safer policy to make certain concessions and advise the Indians to give
up a small portion of the territory north of the Ohio, rather than to
bring on an armed conflict. But all the tribes must be kept together, if
possible, and under the direction of the authorities at Detroit. No
single tribe must be allowed to negotiate a separate treaty, for that
might result in the cultivation of friendly relations with the United
States, and if one tribe could be brought under th