Louisiana and Aaron Burr 231 



for the time being in the Northwest, and our boun- 

 daries in that direction took the fixed form they 

 still retain. 27 



In dealing with the British the Americans some- 

 times had to encounter bad faith, but more often 

 a mere rough disregard for the rights of others, of 

 which they could themselves scarcely complain with 

 a good grace, as they showed precisely the same 

 quality in their own actions. In dealing with the 

 Spaniards, on the other hand, they had to encounter 

 deliberate and systematic treachery and intrigue. 

 The open negotiations between the two governments 

 over the boundary ran side by side with a current of 

 muddy intrigue between the Spanish Government 

 on the one hand, and certain traitorous Americans 

 on the other; the leader of these traitors being, as 

 usual, the arch scoundrel Wilkinson. 



The Spaniards trusted almost as much to Indian 

 intrigue as to bribery of American leaders; indeed 

 they trusted to it more for momentary effect, though 

 the far-sighted among them realized that in the long 

 run the safety of the Spanish possessions depended 

 upon the growth of divisional jealousies among the 

 Americans themselves. The Spanish forts were 

 built as much to keep the Indians under command 

 as to check the Americans. The Governor of 

 Natchez, De Lemos, had already established a fort 

 at the Chickasaw Bluffs, where there was danger of 

 armed collision between the Spaniards and either the 



27 American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, p. 573 ; Foreign 

 Relations, I, passim, etc., etc. 



