The War in the Northwest 225 



shows that the priest at least acquiesced in the de- 

 cision. The blame justly resting on the Puritans 

 of seventeenth-century New England must likewise 

 fall on the Catholic French of eighteenth-century 

 Illinois. 



Early in the spring of 1780 Clark left the coun- 

 try; he did not again return to take command, for 

 after visiting the fort on the Mississippi, and spend- 

 ing the summer in the defence of Kentucky, he 

 went to Virginia to try to arrange for an expedition 

 against Detroit. Todd also left about the same 

 time, having been elected a Kentucky delegate to the 

 Virginia Legislature. He afterward made one or 

 two flying visits to Illinois, but exerted little in- 

 fluence over her destiny, leaving the management of 

 affairs entirely in the hands of his deputy, or lieu- 

 tenant-commandant for the time being. He usually 

 chose for this position either Richard Winston, the 

 Virginian, or else a Creole named Thimothe Demun- 

 brunt. 



Todd's departure was a blow to the country; 

 but Clark's was a far more serious calamity. By 

 his personal influence he had kept the Indians in 

 check, the Creoles contented, and the troops well 

 fed and fairly disciplined. As soon as he went, 

 trouble broke out. The officers did not know how 

 to support their authority ; they were very improvi- 

 dent, and one or two became implicated in serious 

 scandals. The soldiers soon grew turbulent, and 

 there was constant clashing between the civil and 

 military rulers. Gradually the mass of the Creoles 



