Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-10

ed by Lord Hilsborough, secretary for
the colonies. because of the long-contin-
ued border troubles with the Indians. His
lordship could not understand why the
whites could not remain within their own
districts and the Indians within theirs
He saw no reason for friction. strife or
bloodshed. There was no profit in it for
the king There was profit for the king
in the rich fur trade of the Indians, and
1t was his lordship's desire and intention
TO foster this trade for the benefit of his
royal master. So his lordship drew up
the royal proclamation by which the
white people of North America were for
hidden from taking up any land beyond
the headwaters of rivers which emptied
into the Atlantic ocean from the west
In other words, the subjects OF King
George III were to confine themselves to
the narrow strip along the coast. To go
beyond the Appalachian range was to dis
obey the king.
people TO whom he addressed this proc
lamation in 1853. The French who came
to the new world in the early days were
fred by religious zeal or military artior
TO carry the banner of St. Louis far and
wide. They followed the watercourses
and made of tie st. Lawrence and the
great lakes an avenue to the west. Along
this avenue they built forts and estab
hshed settlements. Down the Mississippi
and up the Missouri they pushed their
work of exploration and conquest. The
English. on the other hand, had chung to
the seacoast. They knew nothing Of tie
land beyond but what they learned from
the French. They were content with the
narrow strip between the mountains and
the sea. They were more gregarious than
the French But their children and their
the population increased the border gradu-
ally was pushed farther inland until they
neared the mountains, and then they
looked beyond The land beyond the
mountains was the domain OF the red
man. To the north. between the Ohio
river and the lakes, was the rich terri
tory OF the Shawnees and the Iroquois.
Far to the south. in what are now Ten
nessee. Alabama and Mississippi, was the
territory Of the Cherokees. Between the
two territories was a beautiful stretch OF
virgin country. claimed by the Indians of
the north and by the Indians OF the south,
but occupied by neither 1t was known
as the dark and bloody ground, for here
they fought whenever their hunting par
ties met. and here for centuries the In
dian of the north and the Indian OF the
south had met in conflict.
The dark and bloody ground was Ken
of buffalo dotted its meadows and deer
and bear roamed its hills and forests.
There was no more beautiful land in all
America.
To the restless, rowing spirits among the
oolonists who had ventured across the
mountains or had heard highly colored
stories from those who had visited the
great hunting region, the dark and bloody
ground was a land OF promise. They had
little respect for the rights of the red
man. They were land-hungry and, feel
ing cramped in the territory east of the
mountains. they looked beyond with long
ing eyes.
Lord Hillsborough did not know the
spirit or the temper of the colonists OF
the bofderland. They were a different
people from the early settlers. They
treated the proclamation with scant re-
xpect. The great land owners OF Vir-
xinta and Carolina we're more polite in
their remarks. but none the less strong
IN their opposition to the royal order.
The virginians were an agricultural peo-
pie and had a wider development and A
larger prosperity than any other colonsts.
TO obey the order OF the king meant a
check Of the growth of Virginia. What
vas the benefit OF the French and Indian