George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 6, 10th edition.

[228] of Stuart's treaty. Had it stopped there, the Indian

Chap. XXXVIII} 1768. Nov.

frontier would have been marked all the way from northern New-York to Florida. But instead of following his instructions, Sir William Johnson, pretending to recognise a right of the Six Nations to the largest part of Kentucky, continued the line down the Ohio to the Tennessee River, which was this constituted the western boundary of Virginia.¹

While the Congress of Fort Stanwix was in session, Botetourt, the new Governor of Virginia, arrived on the James River, just in the delicious season of the Fall of the Leaf, when that region enjoys a clear but many-tinted sky, and a soft but invigorating air. Bringing a love of rural life, he was charmed with the scenes on which he entered; his house seemed admirable; the grounds around it, well planted and watered by beautiful rills. Every thing was just as he could have wished.² Hospitality is the hereditary common law of Virginia; the new Governor, who came up without state to an unprovided residence, was asked abroad every day; and being welcomed as a guest, gave pleasure and was pleased. He thought nothing could be better than the present disposition of the Colony; and he augured well of every thing that was to happen. Received with frankness, he dealt frankly with the people to whom he was deputed. He did not flatter Hillsborough that they would ever willingly submit to being taxed by the mother country; the reverse he