finding Whitley could not be frightened away, and that he renewed his demand for the negroes, replied, that he could not get them; they were under the protection of the United States; "and your law say, prove your property." Whitley told him he would go home and bring a thousand witnesses, with every man his gun to swear by. "Ugh," replied Jack, "too many! too many! After a pause he added, there were three white prisoners, two girls and a boy, that would be given up; but the negroes could not, until the Little Turkey, a principal chief, returned.

When the latter came back, which was in a day or two, he summoned the chiefs to meet him at Turkey town, and it was there decided to surrender the negroes to Whitley, without troubling him to prove his property by the rifle.

Otter Lifter, on whose word Whitley had reposed with so much confidence, was a remarkable man. He had raised himself to renown as a warrior without ever having killed women, or children, or prisoners. His friend, his word, and his rifle were all he cared for. He said the Great Spirit, when he made all the rest of the animals, created men to kill and eat them, lest they should consume all the grass; that to keep men from being proud he suffered them to die also, or to kill one another and make food for worms: that life and death were two warriors always fighting; with which the Great Spirit amused himself.

WILLIAM WHITLEY.

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The veteran pioneer, William Whitley, of whom the previous incidents have been recorded, was born in August, 1749, in Augusta county, Virginia. He was among the very first settlers of the then almost unknown region called Kentucky. In 1775, having married Esther Fuller, and commenced housekeeping in an humble way, with health and labour to season his bread, he told his wife he had heard a fine report of Kentucky, and he thought they could get their living there with less hard work. Her reply was, "Then, Billy, if I was you, I would go and see." In two days he was on his way, with axe and plough, and gun and kettle.

As the scenes witnessed by him are similar to those witnessed by others, the details are unnecessary. Suffice it to say, he was in the expeditions of Bowman and Clark, and after passing an eventful life, which was rewarded by an independent fortune, he fell in the sixty-fifth year of his age at the battle of the Thames, while fighting as a private soldier in the ranks of the Kentucky militia. There is no monument raised to the memory of the brave and gallant patriot, William Whitley; but the state has honoured the good old pioneer by giving his name to one of her counties.

CHAPTER XVI.

Final ratification of the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States-Spain agrees to grant the navigation of the Mississippi-Intrigues with Kentucky-Power, the Spanish agent, confers with Judge Sebastian-Baron Carondelet's proposition-Views of Sebastian, Innis, and Nicholas -Power visits General Wilkinson at Detroit-His reception -Reply of Wilkinson-Views of Sebastian-Power's own opinion-Power sent to Fort Massac under an escortReaches New Madrid-Subsequent revelation concerning Sebastian-Adams elected President of the United StatesHis unpopularity in Kentucky-Meeting of the legislature— Proposition to revise the constitution-Votes for and against a convention-Decision of the legislature.

LATE in the year 1794, the long-pending treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between the United States and Great Britain, was signed at London. On the 7th of March, 1795, it was received at the office of the secretary of state in Philadelphia, and was ratified soon after by the president and senate. The surrender of the north-western posts, so long withheld by the British until their own commercial claims should be adjusted, followed as a matter of course; and the Indians, no longer protected by the power of their ancient ally, had neither the inclination to commence a war, nor the ability to successfully sustain one. Peace, therefore, continued for a

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long time among the north-western tribes, while the progress of Kentucky, both in population and wealth, was steady and uninterrupted.

To add to the gratification of the Kentuckians, the treaty with Spain, which had been for some time in the course of negotiation, ended in settling satisfactorily the long-disputed questions of the Spanish boundaries, and the navigation of the Mississippi.

By this treaty, Spain ceded to the United States the right to navigate the Mississippi to the ocean together with a right of deposit at New Orleans, for three years, at the end of which period, either this privilege was to be continued, or an equivalent establishment was to be assigned them at some other convenient point on the bank of the lower Mississippi.

But while this negotiation with Spain was pending, Carondelet, the Spanish governor at New Orleans, sought by various ways to detach Kentucky from the Union. In July, 1795, he sent a certain Thomas Power to Kentucky, with a letter to Benjamin Sebastian, then a judge of the court of appeals. In this communication, Carondelet expressed the willingness of his Catholic majesty to open the Mississippi to the western country, and requested Sebastian to have agents chosen by the people of Kentucky to negotiate a treaty upon that and other matters. These delegates were directed to meet Colonel

Gayoso at New Madrid, for the purpose of adjusting the provisions of the treaty.

Sebastian, having shown this letter to Judge Innis, George Nicholas, and William Murray, they all agreed that Sebastian should meet Gayoso at New Madrid, and hear what he had to propose.

The meeting accordingly took place, and the outline of a treaty was agreed upon; but intelligence of the treaty concluded between Spain and the United States being received nearly about the same time, the negotiation was broken off, though much to the dissatisfaction of Sebastian.

That several persons, high in authority in Kentucky, were at this period, and had been for several years, partisans and pensioners of Spain, scarcely admits of a doubt.

The year previous to this, six thousand dollars were sent to General Wilkinson from New Orleans, on board of a public galley. The charge of this money was intrusted to Captain Richard Owens, a gentleman of broken fortune, whose residence in Kentucky was near that of Judge Innis. The latter, who had on other occasions furnished Wilkinson with agents for Spanish intercourse, on this recommended Owens for that service.

When the galley reached the mouth of the Ohio River, the money was taken from it and