tucky should be elected by "the free male inhabitants" and Smith italicizes these four words, not having the fear of the suffragettes before his eyes. It seems that the women of Kentucky were deemed equal to bringing water to the besieged inmates of Bryan's station from a spring surrounded by painted savages, but in the matter of a separation of the district from Virgiina, they had no part, not being "free male inhabitants."

It will be observed in the order for an election that the number of counties in the district had been increased by the erection of Bourbon and Mercer counties the number thus reaching seven. These seven counties were thus brought into a prominence which they have ever since maintained in the excellence of their soil and the intelligence and integrity of their inhabitants.

It will be recalled that the constitution of the United States was adopted by the Convention September 17, 1787, and the application of Kentucky for the permission of Virginia to make formal application for admission into the Union, was therefore made before the organic bond of union had been adopted and accepted by the original states. The constitution was to become effective when ratified by nine of the states. On the 26th of June, 1788, Virginia by a vote of eighty-eight to seventyeight ratified the instrument. New York followed the example of Virginia at a later date; North Carolina hesitated for two years and Rhode Island for three but finally all the states had acquiesced and the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" adopted November 15, 1777, by the Continental congress, were succeeded by a new Charter of Liberty, the Constitution of the United States, under the wise provisions of which the fringe of states along the Atlantic border have been expanded until it reaches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and forty-eight stars now adorn the flag which originally bore but thirteen. May that majestic galaxy never again be dis

turbed by internecine strife, nor a star removed by attack from enemies without.

Kentucky's appeal did not at once secure responsive action from the congress. George Washington had become president; old things were passing away; new ones were taking their place when the congress met March 4, 1789. The eastern states were free from war and its alarms and so enjoyed the era of peace, after long years of strife, that ears which should have been keen of hearing were dulled to the dire tidings coming from the westward of the mountain ranges where the hardy pioneers were still the victims of savage atrocities. The people to the eastward were not callous; they were simply quiescent, and Kentucky seemed so far away that they were unable to appreciate the dangers and sufferings of the gallant spirits, the men and women, who, hourly taking their lives in their hands, were carving out of a savage wilderness a new commonwealth which was to add glory and honor to the Union in the near-by years. Colonel Smith, in his history, sums up the situation in this condensed and potent form: "The neglect and indifference shown but repeat the almost unbroken examples of folks bearing with patience and composure the ills and misfortunes of neighbors, provided those neighbors will bear all the griefs and privations of the same." Another philosopher has said, in effect, that we enjoy a certain degree of pleasure in hearing of the misfortunes of our friends. It is to be hoped that this latter philosopher is in error, but as this is an attempt at history and not a philosophical treatise, no attempt will be made to controvert the assertion.

Though the treaty of peace with Great Britain had been negotiated and signed in 1783, the English government had steadily refused to evacuate the posts held on the northwestern frontier, thus giving aid and comfort to their former savage allies, who, using these posts as bases of supplies, made frequent forays

upon the settlements west of the Appalachian. range. Spain had looked with longing eyes upon Kentucky, hoping to add it to her domain upon the western continent. Her Machiavelian efforts to attain the desired end having failed of effect, the Indians to the south, no longer dreading Spanish restraint, renewed their attacks upon the whites. Thus Kentucky, as in later years, lay between two fires, each destructive, and against each of which she must battle alone, unaided by the newlyerected Federal government. Her people did battle and they won alone. It is now and has ever been a characteristic of the Kentuckian that he never knows when he is whipped. To a youthful Confederate soldier who came back to his Kentucky home after the surrender, his father said: "Well, my son, I told you before you went into the army that Mr. Lincoln would whip you."

"I beg your pardon, father, but Mr. Lincoln never whipped us; he simply beat us. Nobody can whip us."

In the seven years from the signing of the treaty of peace, from 1783 to 1790, fifteen hundred men, women and children were murdered by savages in Kentucky; to say nothing, in the face of such dire fatality, of the value of property destroyed. But no man or woman faltered. God bless the memory of the latter, for no nobler beings ever existed. "There were giants in those days." It is Kentucky's proudest boast that there were heroines in those days, and no belted earl of the monarchies of the Old World, can give to his descendants a prouder heritage than these brave women gave their sons who can say: "My mother was of the Kentucky pioneers.' Witness the women of Bryan station; the splendid girls from Boonesborough who in captivity, marked their trail so that those who followed might the more easily discover them! Orders of nobility are of no avail in Kentucky. Every man in whose veins courses the blood of these pioneers, outranks the proudest

duke who wears the Star and Garter. Upon his breast, if he would, he might wear the badge of a duty well performed, of a danger never evaded; of a motherhood never surpassed since the days of the Spartans. Some day, somewhere, in Kentucky, there will be erected a monument, imperishable as the memory of their deeds, to "The Mothers of Kentucky."

Congress hesitated but the savages did not. Their raids grew in number and in violence as they found opposition at certain points. weakened. Colonel William Christian, an accomplished gentleman and soldier, led his troops against them and fell in action, dying a soldier's death; had he lived, the highest honors might have been his. He had served. honorably in the disastrous Braddock campaign, had married paign, had married the sister of Patrick Henry. He was a born soldier. After his honorable service in Virginia and elsewhere he came to Kentucky in 1785 and settled in Jefferson county and was constantly active in all military operations for the defense of the people. It has been suggested that had Colonel Christian not met the fate of a soldier, he would, in all probability, have been the first governor of the new commonwealth.

It is impossible to enumerate here the multiplicity of Indian depredations at this period, as it is equally impossible to give the full meed of praise to those brave spirits who met the savage forays and saved Kentucky to the white man.

As has been stated elsewhere in this work, it was the savage hunting ground and they gave it up only after a struggle which proved that the white man was born to be the Indian's master and would never yield until that mastery had been accepted. Despite the atrocities of savage warfare, it is with a sort of sympathy that one contemplates the efforts of the untutored savage to preserve to himself and his children the heritage that had come down to him from his forefathers. They were here first, so far as the records show, but the

Anglo-Saxon will not be denied; his land hunger must be appeased. Today, he owns from the Atlantic to the Pacific and not yet satisfied, his flag flies in Hawaii, the Philippines and Porto Rico. Whether it will further extend its influence it is not the province of this work to say. It is enough to know that if it wants to go further, it will go.

During these Indian raids, Gen. George Rogers Clark, by authority of the Virginia legislature, led a force against the Indians on the Wabash but was unsuccessful. General Clark was sore in spirit because Virginia, as he thought, had not properly recognized his former successful military exploits. He had also, unfortunately, cultivated personal habits which interfered with his success as a commander.

Colonel Logan was more successful and taught the Shawnees a lesson never forgotten, which kept them ever afterwards away from Kentucky. In this expedition of Colonel Logan's success was dimmed by the loss of Captain Christopher Irvine, of Madison county, whose gallant impetuosity led him to his death at the hands of a savage enemy. While approaching a Shawnee village an old chief, named Moluntha, came out to meet the whites, bedecked in tawdry finery so dear to the savage heart. After passing successfully many of the whites who were amused at his display of finery, Moluntha, who had been at the slaughter at Blue Licks, approached Major McGary, who had, by his rashness, been responsible for the awful results of that battle. McGary asked if he had been at Blue Licks and when the old chief responded "Blue Licks," he drew his tomahawk and ruthlessly murdered him. It would have been well for Kentucky had McGary never entered its borders. He brought not only disaster at Blue Licks but dishonor in the Shawnee country. Kentucky was marking out its destiny with the consent of Virginia: she was protecting her scattered settlements, but the congress,

secure from savage alarms in Philadelphia, was sitting supinely by and doing nothing.

In the meantime, delegates were elected to the fourth convention called to meet at Danville in September, 1786. On assembling, it was found that so many of the delegates were absent on military duty that a quorum could not be obtained. Adjournment was had from day to day until January, 1787, when a sufficient number of delegates was present to proceed to business and a resolution was adopted to the effect that it was expedient for and the will of the good people of the district that the same should become a state separate from and independent of Virginia, upon the terms of the act hitherto referred to.

The legislature of Virginia in the meantime, had taken action on the original memorial and adopted a new measure annulling the first which fact was certified to the president of the Danville convention by a member of the legislature. This created discomfiture in the convention which adjourned, its members returning to their homes to await results.

A letter was received from a member of the Virginia legislature stating the reasons which induced the actions of that body which were in substance as follows:

First-That the original law, requiring at decision on the subject of separation in time, if adopted, for congress to determine on the admission of Kentucky into the Union before the first day of June, 1787, could not, in consequence of delay, be executed.

Second-That the twelve months allowed to the convention for other purposes, might, in the divided state of public opinion, involve difficulties, especially as there did not appear to be in the minority a disposition to submit to the will of the majority.

Third-That the proceedings of the convention would be subject to objections in consequence of defects in the law.

The preamble assigns as reasons for the act, the failure of the convention to meet and

the inpracticability of executing the law for want of time. It further expressed a continued disposition in the legislature to assent to the proposed separation. It enacts that at the August courts of the year 1787, the free male inhabitants of the district, in their respective counties, should elect five members for each county to compose a convention to be held at Danville on the third Monday in the ensuing September.

The 4th of July, 1787, was fixed as the limit within which congress was to express its assent to the admission of the proposed state into the Confederation. This action meant the postponment of the matter for an entire year. By the first act separation might possibly have occurred in 1787; by the second, it was postponed until 1789. The people were disappointed but not hopeless. Under the most favorable circumstances they could not enter the Union for two years and, recognizing the conditions surrounding the newly

formed Union, they realized that there might yet be other years of waiting. They could wait and they could also fight. Congress had made treaties with the Indians; the latter had ruthlessly disregarded them. The United States authorities paid no attention to these violations and the people of Kentucky found themselves neglected but by no means helpless or hopeless. When there was fighting against the Indians necessary, there was no lack of fighting men from Kentucky. Congress might delay the matter of admission; meanwhile Kentucky, as occasion offered, was giving practical demonstrations of its fitness to be a member of the sisterhood of states. The patience with which Kentucky awaited the act of justice was only equalled by the equanimity with which it met every difficulty and the bravery with which, for years, it combatted the savage enemies whose bitter attacks were constantly met with unremitting regularity.

In this hour of doubt and uncertainty, the tempter came to Kentucky. The attempt at self-government was an experiment. Men doubted if a Republican form of government could continue to exist; the constitution was a venture into new fields and was yet to be tested and it is not to be wondered at that there were doubters, some who predicted failure. It will not be forgotten that there were men who wished that Washington should be a king rather than a president. The men who dreamed of a successful republic never despaired. Almost, they believed the Federal constitution to be an inspired instrument; never for a moment did they fail in the belief that Divine Providence was watching over the new land and that, in the end, all would be well with it and them. But, at the same time, they kept their powder dry and were in a constant state of defense against their savage foes.

But they were not without resentment at the delay attendant upon their admission to the Union. With their blood and treasure they had taken the new territory from the savages, had defended it against countless attacks, and could see no good reason why their hopes for statehood should be disappointed. Gen. James Wilkinson, who had sat as a delegate in the Danville convention, boldly and defiantly declared himself in favor of the im

mediate separation of Kentucky from the parent state and the setting up of an independent government for the time being. It is not improbable that when this proposal was made, Wilkinson was already in correspondence with the Spanish authorities in the south or was courting such correspondence and such financial offers as might result therefrom. Wilkinson had served in the war with England; was largely engaged in commercial pursuits and by his plausible manner, had ingratiated himself into the good opinion of far better men than himself, thus giving him perhaps as great an influence as was possessed by any man in Kentucky.

At the time when Wilkinson was sowing the seeds of discord, there was forwarded to Kentucky from a body of men at Pittsburg, styling themselves "A Committee of Correspondence from Western Pennsylvania," a communication stating as follows: "That John Jay, the American secretary for foreign affairs, had made a proposition to Don Gardoqui, the Spanish minister to the United States, to cede the navigation of the Mississippi river to Spain for twenty-five or thirty years, in consideration of some commercial advantages to be granted to the United States, but such as the western country could derive no profit from."