f his time. [Footnote: Clay MSS., Blount
to Hart, March 13, 1799, etc., etc.] He felt that he had not been well
treated by the United States authorities, and, like all other
Westerners, he also felt that the misconduct of the Spaniards had been
so great that they were not entitled to the slightest consideration.
Moreover, he feared lest the territory should be transferred to France,
which would be a much more dangerous neighbor than Spain; and he had a
strong liking for Great Britain. If he could not see the territory taken
by the Americans under the flag of the United States, then he wished to
see them enter into possession of it under the standard of the British
King.

In 1797 he entered into a scheme which was in part one of land
speculation and in part one of armed aggression against Spain. He tried
to organize an association with the purpose of seizing the Spanish
territory west of the Mississippi, and putting it under the control of
Great Britain, in the interests of the seizers. The scheme came to
nothing. No definite steps were taken, and the British Government
refused to take any share in the movement. Finally the plot was
discovered by the President, who brought it to the attention of the
Senate, and Blount was properly expelled from the Upper House for
entering into a conspiracy to conquer the lands of one neighboring power
in the interest of another. The Tennesseeans, however, who cared little
for the niceties of international law, and sympathized warmly with any
act of territorial aggression against the Spaniards, were not in the
least affected by his expulsion. They greeted him with enthusiasm, and
elected him to high office, and he lived among them the remainder of his
days, honored and respected. [Footnote: Blount MSS., letter of Hugh
Williamson, March 3, 1808, etc., etc.] Nevertheless, his conduct in this
instance was indefensible. It was an unfortunate interlude in an
otherwise honorable and useful public career. [Footnote: General Marcus
J. Wright, in his "Life and Services of William Blount," gives the most
favorable view possible of Blount's conduct.]

CHAPTER V.

THE MEN OF THE WESTERN WATERS, 1798-1802.

Rapid Growth of the West.

The growth of the West was very rapid in the years immediately
succeeding the peace with the Indians and the treaties with England and
Spain. As the settlers poured into what had been the Indian-haunted
wilderness it speedily became necessary to cut it i