intimate relations between Spain
and the dwellers in the trans-Alleghany. Yet his efforts cannot
have been very effective; for the Cumberland settlements
continued to suffer from the ravages and depredations of the
Creeks, who remained "totally averse to peace, notwithstanding
they have had no cause of offence"; and Robertson and Bledsoe
reported to Governor Caswell (June 12, 1787): "It is certain, the
Chickasaws inform us, that Spanish traders offer a reward for
scalps of the Americans." The Indian atrocities became so
frequent that Robertson later in the summer headed a party on the
famous Coldwater Expedition, in which he severely chastised the
marauding Indians. Aroused by the loss of a number of chiefs and
warriors at the hands of Robertson's men, and instigated, as was
generally believed, by the Spaniards, the Creeks then prosecuted
their attacks with renewed violence against the Cumberland
settlements.

Unprotected either by the mother state or by the national
government, unable to secure free passage to the Gulf for their
products, and sorely pressed to defend their homes, now seriously
endangered by the incessant attacks of the Creeks, the Cumberland
leaders decided to make secret overtures to McGillivray, as well
as to communicate to Miro, through Dr. White, their favorable
inclination toward the proposals of the one country which
promised them protection. In a letter which McGillivray wrote to
Miro (transmitted to Madrid, June 15, 1788) in regard to the
visit of Messrs. Hackett and Ewing, two trusty messengers sent by
Robertson and Bledsoe, he reports that the two delegates from the
district of Cumberland had not only submitted to him proposals of
peace but "had added that they would throw themselves into the
arms of His Majesty as subjects, and that Kentucky and Cumberland
are determined to free themselves from their dependence on
Congress, because that body can not protect either their
property, or favor their commerce, and they therefore believe
that they no longer owe obedience to a power which is incapable
of protecting them." Commenting upon McGillivray's communication,
Miro said in his report to Madrid (June 15, 1788): "I consider as
extremely interesting the intelligence conveyed to McGillivray by
the deputies on the fermentation existing in Kentucky, with
regard to a separation from the Union. Concerning the proposition
made to McGillivray by the inhabitants of Cumberland to become
the vassals of