The Indian Wars, 1784-1787 231 



granting the lands that they were part of the terri 

 tory in dispute between Spain and the United States, 

 and that the new settlers would hold them under 

 the Spanish King, and would defend them against 

 the Americans. 48 



This country was claimed by, and finally awarded 

 to, the United States, and claimed by the State of 

 Georgia in particular. It was here that the adven 

 turers proposed to erect a barrier State which should 

 be vassal to Spain, one of the chief purposes of the 

 settlement being to arrest the Americans' advance. 

 They thus deliberately offered to do all the damage 

 they could to their own country, if the foreign coun 

 try would give them certain advantages. The apolo 

 gists for these separatist leaders often advance the 

 excuse itself not a weighty one that they at least 

 deserved well of their own section; but Wilkinson 

 and his associates proposed a plan which was not 

 only hostile to the interests of the American nation 

 as a whole, but which was especially hostile to the 

 interests of Kentucky, Georgia, and the other fron 

 tier communities. The men who proposed to enter 

 into the scheme were certainly not loyal to their 

 country , although the adventurers were not actuated 

 by hostile designs against it, engaging in the adven 

 ture simply from motives of private gain. The only 

 palliation there is no full excuse for their offence 

 is the fact that the Union was then so loose and 

 weak, and its benefits so problematical, that it re- 



48 Gardoqui MSS., Gardoqui to Florida Blanca, June 29, 

 1789. 



