In the Current of the Revolution 319 



the settlement, also described the pioneers 'as being 

 a lawless, narrow-minded, unpolished, and utterly 

 insubordinate set, impatient of all restraint, and 

 relying in every difficulty upon their individual 

 might; though he grudgingly admitted that they 

 were frank, hospitable, energetic, daring, and pos- 

 sessed of much common-sense. Of course it was 

 hopeless to expect that such bold spirits, as they 

 who conquered the wilderness, would be content 

 to hold it even at a small quit-rent from Henderson. 

 But the latter's colony was toppled over by a thrust 

 from without before it had time to be rent in sunder 

 by violence from within. 



Transylvania was between two millstones. The 

 settlers revolted against its authority, and appealed 

 to Virginia; and meanwhile Virginia, claiming the 

 Kentucky country, and North Carolina as mistress 

 of the lands round the Cumberland, proclaimed the 

 purchase of the Transylvanian proprietors null and 

 void as regards themselves, though valid as against 

 the Indians. The title conveyed by the latter thus 

 inured to the benefit of the colonies ; it having been 

 our policy, both before and since the Revolution, 

 not to permit any of our citizens to individually 

 purchase lands from the savages. 



Lord Dunmore denounced Henderson and his 

 acts ; and it was in vain that the Transylvanians ap- 

 pealed to the Continental Congress, asking leave 

 to send a delegate thereto, and asserting their de- 

 votion to the American cause; for Jefferson and 

 Patrick Henry were members of that body, and 



