252 The Winning of the West 



backwoodsmen now developed a diplomat in the per 

 son of one William Cocke. To him they intrusted 

 the memorial, together with a certificate, testifying, 

 in the name of the State of Franklin, that he was 

 delegated to present the memorial to Congress and 

 to make what further representations he might find 

 "conducive to the interest and independence of this 

 country." The memorial set forth the earnest de 

 sire of the people of Franklin to be admitted as a 

 State of the Federal Union, together with the wrongs 

 sure to be brought about by such lawless secession 

 with particular bitterness upon the harm which had 

 resulted from her failure to give the Cherokees the 

 goods which they had been promised. It further re 

 cited how North Carolina's original cession of the 

 western lands had moved the Westerners to declare 

 their independence, and contended that her subse 

 quent repeal of the act making this cession was void, 

 and that Congress should treat the cession as an ac 

 complished fact. However, Congress took no action 

 either for or against the insurrectionary common 

 wealth. 



The new State wished to stand well with Vir 

 ginia, no less than with Congress. In July, 1785, 

 Sevier wrote to Governor Patrick Henry, unsuc 

 cessfully appealing to him for sympathy. In this 

 letter he insisted that he was doing all he could to 

 restrain the people from encroaching on the Indian 

 lands, though he admitted he found the task diffi 

 cult. He assured Henry that he would on no ac 

 count encourage the Southwestern Virginians to 



