Louisiana and Aaron Burr 227 



French army, though the French Consul denied hav- 

 ing any connection with him. He established for 

 the time being a little independent government, with 

 block-houses and small wooden towns, in the middle 

 of the unceded hunting grounds, and caused great 

 alarm to the Spaniards. The frontiersmen sympa- 

 thized with him, and when he was arrested in Wilkes 

 County the Grand Jury of the county ordered his 

 discharge, and solemnly declared that the treaty of 

 New York was inoperative and the proclamation of 

 the Governor of Georgia against Clark, illegal. This 

 was too much for the patience of the Governor. He 

 ordered out the State troops to co-operate with the 

 small Federal force, and Clark and his men were 

 ignominiously expelled from their new government 

 and forced to return to Georgia. 24 



In such a welter of intrigue, of land speculation, 

 and of more or less piratical aggression, there was 

 imminent danger that the West would relapse into 

 anarchy unless a firm government were established, 

 and unless the boundaries with England and Spain 

 were definitely established. As Washington's ad- 

 ministration grew steadily in strength and in the 

 confidence of the people the first condition was met. 

 The necessary fixity of boundary was finally ob- 

 tained by the treaties negotiated through John Jay 

 with England, and through Thomas Pinckney with 

 Spain. 



Jay's treaty aroused a perfect torrent of wrath 

 throughout the country, and nowhere more than in 



* Stevens' "Georgia," II, 401. 



