other. The national feeling among the separatists was so slight that the
very communities which wished to break off from the Atlantic States were
also quite indifferent to the deeds and fates of one another. The only
bond among them was their tendency to break loose from the Central
Government. The settlers on the banks of the Cumberland felt no
particular interest in the struggle of those on the head-waters of the
Tennessee to establish the State of Franklin; and the Kentuckians were
indifferent to the deeds of both. In a letter written in 1788 to the
Creek Chief McGillivray, Robertson alludes to the Holston men and the
Georgians in precisely the language he might have used in speaking of
foreign nations. He evidently took as a matter of course their waging
war on their own account against, and making peace with, the Cherokees
and Creeks, and betrayed little concern as to the outcome, one way or
the other.

Robertson's Letter to MacGillivray.

In this same letter, [Footnote: Robertson MSS., James Robertson to
Alexander McGillivray, Nashville, Aug. 3, 1788.] Robertson frankly set
forth his belief that the West should separate from the Union and join
some foreign power, writing: "In all probability we can not long remain
in our present state, and if the British, or any commercial nation which
may be in possession of the Mississippi, would furnish us with trade and
receive our produce, there cannot be a doubt but the people on the west
side of the Apalachian mountains will open their eyes to their real
interests." At the same time Sevier was writing to Gardoqui, offering to
put his insurrectionary State of Franklin, then at its last gasp, under
the protection of Spain. [Footnote: Gardoqui MSS., Sevier to Gardoqui,
Sept. 12, 1788.]

British Intrigue.

Robertson spoke with indifference as to whether the nation with which
the Southerners allied themselves should happen to be Spain or Britain.
As a matter of fact, most of the intrigues carried on were with or
against Spain; but in the fall of 1788 an abortive effort was made by a
British agent to arouse the Kentuckians against both the Spaniards and
the National Government, in the interest of Great Britain. This agent
was Conolly, the unsavory hero of Lord Dunmore's war. He went to
Louisville, visited two or three prominent men, and laid bare to them
his plans. As he met with no encouragement whatever, he speedily
abandoned his efforts, and when the people got win