Thus successful with the Creeks, they were much less so with the western Indians, who encouraged, it was said, by the British in Canada, insisted on making the Ohio their boundary, and infested the banks of the river, attacking the emigrant boats, which descended it, and carrying their ravages far into Kentucky. Pacific overtures having been made in vain by the president to these hostile Indians, General Harmar was sent from Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, with a force of 1,400, to reduce them to terms. He succeeded in destroying the Indian villages and their harvests, but in two engagements near the confluence of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s in Indiana, successive detachments of the army were defeated with considerable loss. Congress during this present session passed an act “for the encouragement of learning,” which secured a copyright to authors for fourteen years, and if living at the end of that term, for fourteen years longer. During the session of 1791, a National Bank was proposed by Hamilton, which met with the most vigorous opposition from the republican party, who considered that congress had no constitutional power for such a measure. The supporters of the bill maintained it to be constitutional and necessary for the operations of government. The president required the opinions of the cabinet in writing, and after mature deliberation, gave the bill his signature, and the bank was established at Philadelphia, with a capital of 10,000,000 dollars. The dissentions on the subjects of the funding system and the bank, originating in the heart of the republic, extended themselves to the extremities, and were a signal for the people to range themselves under two parties. Hamilton and Jefferson were the leaders of these factions, and Washington in vain endeavoured, by his practical wisdom and affectionate remonstrances, to reconcile the two parties. But we have not space to enter at large into the struggles and bitternesses of this party strife. We pass, therefore, on to events. New York having relinquished her claim to Vermont, though not without the purchase of a release for 30,000 dollars, and the Green Mountain Boys, having adopted the Constitution, were in February admitted into the Union.