he enterprise.
The recall of Genet was demanded, the French party went to pieces,
the project collapsed, and Elijah Clarke was left without resources,
surrounded by a considerable force of men who had come at his bidding
to take part in the attack on the Spanish possessions. These men were on
his hands, expecting the fulfillment of promises that had been made to
them. What was to be done? It was at this critical period that the eyes
of General Clarke turned to the Indian reservation west of the Oconee.
He marched his men to these lands, and took possession. He, and those
who engaged in the movement for settling the lands, had risked their
lives for their country on a hundred battlefields. They thought that
the lands that had been claimed by the King belonged to those who had
conquered the King's armies. They were right in principle, but wrong
in action. The lands that had belonged to the King now belonged to
the people, not as individuals, but as a corporate body,--to the whole
people represented by the State government. These principles had not
been made as clear by discussion in General Clarke's day as they have
been made since. He engaged in no speculation. He boldly settled the
lands, and was prepared to boldly hold his position. The settlement was
made in 1794. On the 28th of July, Governor George Matthews issued a
proclamation forbidding the settlement, and likewise directed one of
the judges to issue a warrant for the general's arrest. At the Superior
Court of Wilkes County, Clarke surrendered himself to the judge, who
referred the case to the county justices. These judges made a decision,
setting forth the fact that Elijah Clarke had surrendered himself into
custody; that, being desirous to do speedy justice to the State as well
as to the party charged, they had proceeded to maturely consider the
case; and that after examining the laws of the State, and the treaties
made and laws passed by the United States, they gave it as their
"decided and unanimous opinion that the said Elijah Clarke be and
is hereby discharged." Encouraged by this decision, General Clarke
returned to his settlement with the intention of holding the lands; but
finally both the Federal and the State governments moved against
him, and he abandoned the enterprise. The policy that Clarke began in
settling the Indian lands without regard to the rights of the savage has
since become the policy of the government. It is not a wholesome
policy, nor is