the contest being whether a small portion of the United States shall dictate to the whole Union, and, at the expense of those who desire peace, indulge a desperate ambition. Now, therefore, I, George Washington, President of the United States, in obedience to that high and irresistible duty consigned to me by the Constitution, "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," deploring that the American name should be sullied by the outrages of citizens on their own government; commiserating such as remain obstinate from delusion; but resolved, in perfect reliance on that gracious Providence which so signally displays its goodness towards this country, to reduce the refractory to a due subordination to the law, do hereby declare and make known that, with a satisfaction which can be equalled only by the merits of the militia summoned into service from the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, I have received intelligence of their patriotic alacrity in obeying the call of the present, though painful, yet commanding necessity; that a force, which according to every reasonable expectation is adequate to the exigency, is already in motion to the scene of disaffection; that those who have confided, or shall confide in the protection of government, shall meet full succor under the standard and from the arms of the United States; that those who, having offended against the law, have since entitled themselves to indemnity, will be treated with the most liberal good faith, if they shall not have forfeited their claim by any subsequent conduct, and that instructions are given accordingly. And I do moreover exhort all individuals, officers, and bodies of men, to contemplate with abhorrence the measures leading directly or indirectly to those crimes which produce this resort to military coercion; to check, in their respective spheres, the efforts of misguided or designing men to substitute their misrepresentations in the place of truth, and their discontents in the place of stable government; and to call to mind, that, as the people of the United States have been permitted, under the Divine favor, in perfect freedom, after solemn deliberation, and in an enlightened age, to elect their own government, so will their gratitude for this inestimable blessing be best distinguished by firm exertions to maintain the Constitu

tion and the laws. And, lastly, I again warn all persons whomsoever and wheresoever, not to abet, aid, or comfort the insurgents aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril; and I do also require all officers and other citizens, according to their several duties, as far as may be in their power, to bring under the cognizance of the law all offenders in the premises.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia, the twenty-fifth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth.

In the absence of the Secretary of War, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letters to his department, of the 5th, 19th, and 30th of August, and to reply to such parts as are the most pressing, referring the others to the return of that officer.

Among the posts which have been established, that of Doctor's Town creates a question, in consequence of Lieutenant Colonel Gaither's information that it is within the Indian boundary.

This is a matter which ought to be unequivocally ascertained, and if found to be within the Indian line, or if it be even doubtful whether that be the case, the post must be immediately removed. It is deemed essential that no encroachment should

take place. And your excellency is relied upon for a strict and scrupulous adherence to this principle.

Under the circumstances which led to it, the President has thought proper to authorize the adoption by the United States, of the new troop ordered by you into service, from the time of its commencement, and to continue until the first of November ensuing, when it is to be disbanded.

And you are at liberty, if the state of things shall render it, in your judgment, essential, to substitute at that time a company of infantry for the same service. Corps of horse, upon the terms on which that in question is engaged, are expensive in the extreme; and in a much greater proportion, compared with infantry, than any supposable superiority of usefulness can justify. Indeed, it would require a treasury much better supplied than that of the United States, to support the expense of a multiplication or extension of such corps. Consequently, that multiplication or extension would tend to defeat its own object; for our instruments of defence, to be durable, must be relative to our means of supporting them. And when we find, as in the instance of the insurrection now existing in the western parts of Pennsylvania, that those for whose immediate benefit the objects of military expenditure occur, are among the first to resist, even to violence, the necessary means of defraying them, it is easy to appreciate the perplexing dilemma to which the government is reduced, between the duty and the means of affording protection, and the necessity, consequently, of economy in the modes of effecting it.

Your excellency is pleased to express your concern, at being so repeatedly compelled to solicit protection for the State of Georgia.

This is not understood as implying any want of due disposition on the part of the Executive of this government, to afford all the protection which is within the compass of the means placed within its power, having regard to all the objects which, along a very extended frontier, equally demand attention. It is not doubted that you render justice, in this respect, to the views of the Executive.

But the observation you have made in this particular, naturally leads to another, which calls for the most serious attention of the governments of the States, exposed to Indian depredations. It is this, that there is a reciprocal duty in the case. The obligation upon the United States, to afford adequate protection to the inhabitants of the frontiers, is no doubt of the highest and most sacred kind. But there is a duty no less strong upon those inhabitants, to avoid giving occasion to hostilities, by an irregular and improper conduct; and upon the local governments, sincerely and effectually to punish and repress instances of such conduct, and the spirit which produces them. If these inhabitants can, with impunity, thwart all the measures of the United States for restoring or preserving peace; if they can, with impunity, commit depredations and outrages upon the Indians, and that, in violation of the faith of the United States, pledged not only in their general treaties, but even in the special (and among all nations, peculiarly sacred) case of a safe conduct, as in the instance of the attack upon the Indians, while encamped within our protection, on the 10th of May last; can it be surprising if such circumstances should abate the alacrity of the national councils to encounter those heavy expenses, which the protection of the frontiers occasions, and of the readiness of the citizens of the United States, distant from the scenes of danger, to acquiesce in the burdens they produce? It is not meant, by these remarks, to diminish the force of the excuse within due limits, which is drawn from the conduct of the Indians towards the frontier inhabitants. It cannot be denied, that frequent and great provocations to a spirit of animosity and revenge are given by them; but a candid and impartial survey of the events, which have from time to time occurred, can leave no doubt that injuries and provocations have been too far mutual; that there is much to blame in the conduct of the frontier inhabitants, as well as in that of the Indians. And the result of a full examination must be, that, unless means to restrain, by punishing the violences which those inhabitants are in the habit of perpetrating against the Indians, can be put in execution, all endeavors to preserve peace with them must be for ever frustrated.

An example, worthy of imitation, in its spirit, has lately been given, by the surrender to Governor Blount of some Indians who lately committed a murder upon one John Ish, an inhabitant of the south-western territory, and who have been tried and executed. The record of such an example of justice and fair dealing, will give occasion to us to blush, if we can cite no instance of reciprocity, amidst the numerous occasions which are given for the exercise of it.

These reflections, your excellency may be assured, are merely designed to present to consideration some very important truths -truths, a due attention to which is of the most serious concern to those States which have an exposed frontier. To give full weight to their claims, upon the exertions of the Union to afford the requisite protection, it is of great moment to satisfy the United States, that the necessity for them has not been created, or promoted by a culpable temper, not sufficiently restrained, among those to whom the protection is immediately to be extended.

The President learns, with great pleasure, the measures your excellency had begun, and was about to pursue, for the removal of the settlers under General Clarke. It is impossible to conceive a settlement more unjustifiable in its pretexts, or more dangerous in its principle, than that which he is attempting. It is not only a high-handed usurpation of the rights of the General and State governments, and a most unwarrantable encroachment upon those of the Indians; but, proceeding upon the idea of a separate and independent government, to be erected upon a military basis, it is essentially hostile to our republican systems of government, and is pregnant with incalculable mischiefs. It deeply concerns the great interests of the country that such an establishment should not be permitted to take root, and that the example should be checked by adequate punishment; in doing which, no time is to be lost: for, such is the nature of the establishment, that it may be expected rapidly to attain to a formidable magnitude, involving great expense and trouble to subvert it.

The President, therefore, depends absolutely upon measures, equally prompt and efficacious, to put an end to it.