Clark Commissioned as a French Major General.

Genet immediately commissioned Clark as a Major General in the service of the French Republic, and sent out various Frenchmen—­Michaux, La Chaise, and others—­with civil and military titles, to co-operate with him, to fit out his force as well as possible, and to promise him pay for his expenses.  Brown, now one of Kentucky’s representatives at Philadelphia, gave these men letters of introduction to merchants in Lexington and elsewhere, from whom they got some supplies; but they found they would have to get most from Philadelphia. [Footnote:  Draper MSS., Michaux to George Rogers Clark, undated, but early in 1793.] Michaux was the agent for the French Minister, though nominally his visit was undertaken on purely scientific grounds.  Jefferson’s course in the matter was characteristic.  Openly, he was endeavoring in a perfunctory manner to carry out Washington’s policy of strict neutrality in the contest between France and England, but secretly he was engaged in tortuous intrigues against Washington and was thwarting his wishes, so far as he dared, in regard to Genet.

    Jefferson’s Double-dealing.

It is impossible that he could have been really misled as to Michaux’s character and the object of his visits; nevertheless, he actually gave him a letter of introduction to the Kentucky Governor, Isaac Shelby. [Footnote:  State Department MSS., Jefferson Papers, Series I., Vol.  V., p. 163.] Shelby had shown himself a gallant and capable officer in warfare against both the Indians and the Tories, but he possessed no marked political ability, and was entirely lacking in the strength of character which would have fitted him to put a stop to rebellion and lawlessness.  He hated England, sympathized with France, and did not possess sufficient political good sense to appreciate either the benefits of the Central Government or the need of preserving order.

Clark at once proceeded to raise what troops he could, and issued a proclamation signed by himself as Major General of the Armies of France, Commander in Chief of the French Revolutionary Legions on the Mississippi.  He announced that he proposed to raise volunteers for the reduction of the Spanish posts on the Mississippi and to open the trade of that river, and promised all who would join him from one to three thousand acres of any unappropriated land in the conquered regions, the officers to receive proportionately more.  All lawful plunder was to be equally divided according to the customs of war. [Footnote:  Marshall, II., page 103.] The proclamation thus frankly put the revolutionary legions on the footing of a gang of freebooters.  Each man was to receive a commission proportioned in grade to the number of soldiers he brought to Clark’s band.  In short, it was a piece of sheer filibustering, not differing materially from one of Walker’s filibustering attempts in Central America sixty years later, save that at this time Clark had utterly lost