The Indian Wars, 1784-1787 117 



to Congress the same chiefs had been engaged in 

 negotiations with the settlers themselves, who ad 

 vanced radically different claims. The fact was 

 that in this unsettled time the bond of Governmental 

 authority was almost as lax among the whites as 

 among the Indians, and the leaders on each side 

 who wished for peace were hopelessly unable to 

 restrain their fellows who did not. Under such 

 circumstances, the sword, or rather the tomahawk, 

 was ultimately the only possible arbiter. 



The treaties entered into with the Northwestern 

 Indians failed for precisely the opposite reason. 

 The treaty at Hopewell promised so much to the 

 Indians that the whites refused to abide by its 

 terms. In the councils on the Ohio the Americans 

 promised no more than they could and did perform ; 

 but the Indians themselves broke the treaties at 

 once, and in all probability never for a moment 

 intended to keep them, merely signing from a 

 greedy desire to get the goods they were given as 

 an earnest. They were especially anxious for spir 

 its, for they far surpassed even the white borderers 

 in their crazy thirst for strong drink. "We have 

 smelled your liquor and it is very good; we hope 

 you will give us some little kegs to carry home," 

 said the spokesmen of a party of Chippewas, who 

 had come from the upper Great Lakes. 5 These 

 frank savages, speaking thus in behalf of their far 

 northern brethren, uttered what was in the minds of 

 most of the Indians who attended the councils held 



1 Do., Letters of H. Knox, No. 150, Vol. I, p. 445. 



