The prestige of Wayne was still further increased
when the news came that John Jay had negotiated a treaty at
London under which the British posts on United States soil were
finally to be given up; and on August 3rd Wayne was able to
announce a great treaty wherein the natives ceded all of what is
now southern Ohio and southeastern Indiana, and numerous tracts
around posts within the Indian country, such as Fort Wayne,
Detroit, and Michilimackinac--strategic points on the western
waterways. "Elder Brother," said a Chippewa chief in the course
of one of the interminable harangues delivered during the
negotiation, "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." The United States duly recognized the Indian title
to all lands not expressly ceded and promised the Indians annual
subsidies. The terms of the treaty were faithfully observed on
both sides, and for fifteen years the pioneer lived and toiled in
peace.
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