ery undesirable national
qualities, for it showed that we were loud in claiming rights which we
lacked the resolution and foresight to enforce. Nevertheless, as these
undesirable qualities existed, it was the part of a wise statesman to
recognize their existence and do the best he could in spite of them. The
best course to follow under such circumstances was to do nothing until
the national fibre hardened, and this was the course which Washington
advocated.

Wilkinson Rises to Prominence.

In this summer of 1787 there rose to public prominence in the western
country a man whose influence upon it was destined to be malign in
intention rather than in actual fact. James Wilkinson, by birth a
Marylander, came to Kentucky in 1784. He had done his duty respectably
as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, for he possessed sufficient
courage and capacity to render average service in subordinate positions,
though at a later date he showed abject inefficiency as commander of an
army. He was a good-looking, plausible, energetic man, gifted with a
taste for adventure, with much proficiency in low intrigue, and with a
certain address in influencing and managing bodies of men. He also spoke
and wrote well, according to the rather florid canons of the day. In
character he can only be compared to Benedict Arnold, though he entirely
lacked Arnold's ability and brilliant courage. He had no conscience and
no scruples; he had not the slightest idea of the meaning of the word
honor; he betrayed his trust from the basest motives, and he was too
inefficient to make his betrayal effective. He was treacherous to the
Union while it was being formed and after it had been formed; and his
crime was aggravated by the sordid meanness of his motives, for he
eagerly sought opportunities to barter his own infamy for money. In all
our history there is no more despicable character.

He Trades to New Orleans.

Wilkinson was a man of broken fortune when he came to the West. In three
years he made a good position for himself, in matters commercial and
political, and his restless, adventurous nature, and thirst for
excitement and intrigue, prompted him to try the river trade, with its
hazards and its chances of great gain. In June, 1787, he went down the
Mississippi to New Orleans with a loaded flat-boat, and sold his cargo
at a high profit, thanks to the understanding he immediately established
with Miro. [Footnote: Wilkinson's Memoirs, ii., 112.]