Treaty of Greeneville.

This was followed in the summer of 1795 by the formal Treaty of Greeneville, at which Wayne, on behalf of the United States, made a definite peace with all the Northwestern tribes.  The sachems, war chiefs, and warriors of the different tribes began to gather early in June; and formal proceedings for a treaty were opened on June 17th.  But many of the tribes were slow in coming to the treaty ground, others vacillated in their course, and unforeseen delays arose; so that it was not until August 7th that it was possible to come to a unanimous agreement and ratify the treaty.  No less than eleven hundred and thirty Indians were present at the treaty grounds, including a full delegation from every hostile tribe.  All solemnly covenanted to keep the peace; and they agreed to surrender to the whites all of what is now southern Ohio and south eastern Indiana, and various reservations elsewhere, as at Fort Wayne, Fort Defiance, Detroit, and Michilimackinac, the lands around the French towns, and the hundred and fifty thousand acres near the Falls of the Ohio which had been allotted to Clark and his soldiers.  The Government, in its turn, acknowledged the Indian title to the remaining territory, and agreed to pay the tribes annuities aggregating nine thousand five hundred dollars.  All prisoners on both sides were restored.  There were interminable harangues and councils while the treaty was pending, the Indians invariably addressing Wayne as Elder Brother, and Wayne in response styling them Younger Brothers.  In one speech a Chippewa chief put into terse form the reasons for making the treaty, and for giving the Americans title to the land, saying, “Elder Brother, you asked who were the true owners of the land now ceded to the United States.  In answer I tell you, if any nations should call themselves the owners of it they would be guilty of falsehood; our claim to it is equal; our Elder Brother has conquered it.” [Footnote:  American State Papers, IV., 562-583.]

    Wayne’s Great Achievement.

Wayne had brought peace by the sword.  It was the first time the border had been quiet for over a generation; and for fifteen years the quiet lasted unbroken.  The credit belongs to Wayne and his army, and to the Government which stood behind both.  Because it thus finally stood behind them we can forgive its manifold shortcomings and vacillations, its futile efforts to beg a peace, and its reluctance to go to war.  We can forgive all this; but we should not forget it.  Americans need to keep in mind the fact that as a nation they have erred far more often in not being willing enough to fight than in being too willing.  Once roused, they have always been dangerous and hard-fighting foes; but they have been over-difficult to rouse.  Their educated classes, in particular, need to be perpetually reminded that, though it is an evil thing to brave a conflict needlessly, or to bully and bluster, it is an even worse thing to flinch from a fight for which there is legitimate provocation, or to live in supine, slothful, unprepared ease, helpless to avenge an injury.