CHAPTER III.

Having passed over these pleasant and exciting histories of personal adventure, the reader now returns to the soberer chronicles of general history. In the spring of 1783 it became known in Kentucky that peace had been declared, and this joyous news could not have arrived at a more opportune time. The people had been harrassed by war until they were sick and disheartened, and although the news of peace did not drive off all fear of attack from the Indians, yet the consciousness that the posts formerly held by the British, which had been the chief depot of supplies for the Indians, would now fall into the possession of their countrymen, and consequently, that, although not yet arrived, the time would come when even the Indian hostility would cease; all this put a new life into the settlements of Kentucky.

Peace with Great Britain having been declared, the necessity for an army on the borders of Virginia no longer existed; and as that State was pressed for means, this army was disbanded, and the commission of Gen. Clark withdrawn, with many thanks to this gentleman "for his very great and singular services." This was soon followed by a much more substantial testimony of the favor in which he was held by his native State, for during the same year he and his soldiers received a grant of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land lying

north of the Ohio, to be located where they chose. They selected the region opposite to the falls, and thus was founded the town of Clarksville, which still remains in a state scarcely more improved than it then was.

Something like security and confidence was now established, and consequently the immigration here was constant and large. Factories for supplying the necessities of the household were established, schools were opened, the products of the soil were carefully attended to, and abundant crops were collected; several fields of wheat were gathered near Louisville, and the whole country changed its character from that of a series of military outposts to the more peaceful and more attractive one of a newly settled, but rich and fruitful territory, where industry met its reward, and where every one could live who was not too proud or too indolent to work. It was during this year that a new era was opened to the citizens of Louisville. A lot of merchandise, all the way from Philadelphia, arrived at the falls, and Daniel Brodhead opened there a retail store. The young ladies could now throw aside all the homely products of their own looms, take the wooden skewers from their ill-bound tresses, and, on festive occasions, shine in all the glories of flowered calico and real horn combs. It is not known whether it was this worthy Mr. Brodhead who was the first to introduce the luxury of glass windowlights, but it is certain that previous to this time such an extravagance was unknown; and there is an incident connected with the first window pane which deserves a place here, and which is recorded in the words of an author who is not more celebrated for his many pub

lic virtues, than for his unceasing and incurable exercise of the private vice of punning. After referring to the introduction of this innovation, this gentleman says: "A young urchin who had seen glass spectacles on the noses of his elders, saw this spectacle with astonishment, and running home to his mother exclaimed, 'O, Ma! there's a house down here with specs on!" "This," he adds, "may be considered a very precocious manifestation of the power of generalization in the young Kentuckian."

Another curious incident of the times will close the record of this year. The notorious Tom Paine had written a book ridiculing the right of Virginia to this State, and urging Congress to take possession of the whole territory. Among the disciples of this absurd production were two Pennsylvanians, named Galloway and Pomeroy. The latter of these came to the falls and produced considerable annoyance to some of the landholders there by the dissemination of his doctrines, which induced others to pay no respect to the titles of their neighbors. This was an exigency which the laws had never contemplated, and although it was everywhere admitted that the man deserved punishment, it was difficult to find a law bearing upon his case. Legal investigation, however, soon drew to light an old law of Virginia which enforced a penalty in tobacco upon "the propagation of false news, to the disturbance of the good people of the colony." Under this law, in May of the next year, Pomeroy was tried and sentenced to pay 2,000 pounds of tobacco, and had also to give security for his good behavior in the sum of £3,000, pay costs, &c. A

similar fate awaited Galloway, who had gone to Lexington and had there advocated these same doctrines. It was impossible for either of these men to procure the amount of tobacco required; and accordingly, when it was hinted to them that they would not be pursued if they left the country, they gladly embraced the offer and departed. And thus perished the effects of Mr. Paine's wonderful book.

The next year, 1784, does not present in its annals anything of much importance in relation to Louisville. It was at this time that the first convention was held at Danville, where the subject of the separation of Kentucky and its erection into an independent State was first broached. It was not, however, thought advisable by this convention to make any serious movement in this matter until the following year, inasmuch as the people generally had not heard of the proposed separation, or had had no time to debate upon its feasibility. As yet no press had been established in the territory, and oral news was not readily or speedily disseminated through the State. On these accounts no action was had by the convention at this time, but a new convention was appointed for the following May, at which this subject was to be seriously considered.

We find by the report of a traveler in this year, that Louisville contained "63 houses finished, 37 partly finished, 22 raised but not covered, and more than 100 cabins.

In the year 1785 the convention again met, first on the 23d of May, and afterwards on the 8th of August, to take action in relation to the formation of the new State. An address to Virginia and another to Ken

tucky, together with resolutions in favor of the proposed separation, were unanimously passed in the earlier of these meetings. These addresses, however, were not deemed strong enough by the third or August convention, and that meeting accordingly changed them to a new and still stronger form of petition or remonstrance, and sent them forward for the action of the parent State. Accordingly in January of 1786, Virginia passed a law allowing independence to Kentucky, on this, among other conditions, that the separation should not take place until Congress should assent thereto, which assent of Congress was not gained until 1791.

In January of this year the county of Nelson was erected out of all that part of Jefferson county south of Salt river.

In the early part of 1785 Gen. Clark, together with Messrs. Lee and Butler, had held a treaty with the Western Indians at Fort McIntosh; but later in the year an Indian council of a hostile character had also been held on the Wabash, and the Indians had annoyed the settlers greatly during the latter part of the year. It was therefore thought advisable to enter into another treaty with the Indians on the Wabash, and accordingly Gen. Clark and Messrs. Butler and Parsons met those tribes at the mouth of the Great Miami in January of 1786. It was with great difficulty that the various tribes could be brought to treat at all, and, but for Gen. Clark's knowledge of their character, and for the high estimation in which he was held by them, these commissioners would have been murdered outright. Judge Hall, of Cincinnati, has given a glowing and vivid description