bsist between people so different in all respects, moral and
political. The wisdom of that system has been exemplified in having
uniformly been acted upon to this time, and though it may perhaps be
questioned as to its abstract principles, it would be perhaps difficult
if not impossible to devise a better. Our ancestors came to this country
under the sanction of a principle at that time universally acknowledged
among civilized nations, and when once here, the first law of nature,
self-defence, furnishes their only justification. While weak, they were
obliged to defend themselves, and when they became strong they were
probably too apt to remember their former sufferings.

The policy of Washington, with regard to these unfortunate people, was
successful in quieting, if not conciliating many of the Indian tribes;
but others remained refractory and continued their atrocities. After
defeating two American armies with great slaughter, they were at length
brought to terms by the gallant Wayne, who gave them so severe a beating
in a great general action that they sued for peace. This was concluded
at Greenville; and the cession of a vast territory not only relieved the
frontier from savage inroads, but paved the way for the progress of
civilization into a new world of wilderness.

He was equally successful at a subsequent period in his negotiations
with Spain. His high character for veracity and honor gave him singular
advantages in his foreign intercourse. He proceeded in a
straightforward, open manner, stated what was wanted, and what would be
given in return; relied on justice, and enforced its claims with the
arguments of truth. He disdained to purchase advantages by corruption,
or to deceive by insincerity. As in private, so in public life, he
proceeded inflexibly upon the noble maxim, whose truth is every day
verified, that "Honesty is the best policy." The conviction of a man's
integrity gives him far greater advantages in his intercourse with the
world than he can ever gain by hypocrisy and falsehood. The right of
navigating the Mississippi was finally conceded by Spain.

The settlement of the controversies growing out of the treaty with
England proved even more difficult than those with Spain. The wounds
inflicted on both nations by a war of so many years were healed, but the
scars remained, to remind the one of what it had suffered, the other of
what it had lost. Time and mutual good offices were necessary to allay