Louisiana and Aaron Burr 137 



case with any other man, and that he was able 

 to get them to adhere to the principles of order 

 and to support the laws by his influence in a way 

 which it was hopeless to expect from their own 

 respect for governmental authority. Blount was 

 felt by the frontiersmen to be thoroughly in sym- 

 pathy with them, to understand and appreciate them, 

 and to be heartily anxious for their welfare; and 

 yet at the same time his influence could be counted 

 upon on the side of order, while the majority of the 

 frontier officials in any time of commotion were apt 

 to remain silent and inactive, or even to express their 

 sympathy with the disorderly element. 4 



No one but a man of great tact and firmness 

 could have preserved as much order among the 

 frontiersmen as Blount preserved. He was always 

 under fire from both sides. The settlers were con- 

 tinually complaining that they were deserted by the 

 Federal authorities, who favored the Indians, and 

 that Blount himself did not take sufficiently active 

 steps to subdue the savages; while on the other 

 hand the National Administration was continually 

 upbraiding him for being too active against the 

 Indians, and for not keeping the frontiersmen suf- 

 ficiently peaceable. Under much temptations, and 

 in a situation that would have bewildered any one, 

 Blount steadfastly followed his course of, on the 

 one hand, striving his best to protect the people 

 over whom he was placed as governor and to repel 



4 American State Papers, IV; Daniel Smith to the Secre- 

 tary of War, Knoxville, July 19, 1793. 



