ington
County, on the charge of high treason. He was handcuffed and
borne off, first to Jonesborough and later to Morganton. But his
old friends and former comrades-in-arms, Charles and Joseph
McDowell, gave bond for his appearance at court; and Morrison,
the sheriff, who also had fought at King's Mountain, knocked the
irons from his wrists and released him on parole. Soon afterward
a number of Sevier's devoted friends, indignant over his arrest,
rode across the mountains to Morganton and silently bore him
away, never to be arrested again. In November an act of pardon
and oblivion with respect to Franklin was passed by the North
Carolina Assembly. Although Sevier was forbidden to hold office
under the state, the passage of this act automatically operated
to clear him of the alleged offense of high treason. With affairs
in Franklin taking this turn, it is little wonder that Gardoqui
and Miro paid no further heed to Sevier's proposal to accept the
protection of Spain. Sevier's continued agitation in behalf of
the independence of Franklin inspired Governor Johnston with the
fear that he would have to be "proceeded against to the last
extremity." But Sevier's opposition finally subsiding, he was
pardoned, given a seat in the North Carolina assembly, and with
extraordinary consideration honored with his former rank of
brigadier-general.

When Dr. White reported to Miro that the leaders of "Frankland"
had eagerly accepted Gardoqui's conditions for an alliance with
Spain, he categorically added: "With regard to Cumberland
district, what I have said of Frankland applies to it with equal
force and truth." James Robertson and Anthony Bledsoe had but
recently availed themselves of the good offices of Governor
Johnston of North Carolina in the effort to influence Gardoqui to
quiet the Creek Indians. The sagacious and unscrupulous half
breed Alexander McGillivray had placed the Creeks under the
protection of Spain in 1784; and shortly afterward they began to
be regularly supplied with ammunition by the Spanish authorities.
At first Spain pursued the policy of secretly encouraging these
Indians to resist the encroachments of the Americans, while she
remained on outwardly friendly terms with the United States.
During the period of the Spanish conspiracy, however, there is
reason to believe that Miro endeavored to keep the Indians at
peace with the borderers, as a friendly service, intended to pave
the way for the establishment of