Eventually Washington himself went to Federal Hall in his coach of state
and in all the trappings of official dignity, to sign the treaty concluded
with the Indians. The treaty, which laid down the pattern subsequently
followed by the government in its dealings with the Indians, recognized
the claims of the Creek nation to part of the territory it claimed, and
gave compensation for the part it relinquished by an annuity of fifteen
hundred dollars for the tribe, and an annuity of one hundred dollars for
each of the principal chiefs.

For his part in the transaction McGillivray was commissioned an agent of
the United States with the rank of brigadier-general, a position which he
sustained with dignity. He was six feet tall, spare in frame, erect in
carriage. His eyes were large, dark, and piercing; his forehead, wider at
the top than just above the eyes, was so high and broad as to be almost
bulging. When he was a British colonel, he wore the uniform of that rank;
when in the Spanish service, he wore the military dress of that country;
and after Washington appointed him a brigadier-general he sometimes wore
the uniform of the American army, but never in the presence of Spaniards.
In different parts of his dominions he had good houses where he practised
generous hospitality. His influence was shaken by his various political
alliances, and before he died in 1793 he had lost much of his authority.

In the course of these negotiations Washington had an experience with the
Senate which thereafter affected his official behavior. The debates of the
constitutional convention indicated an expectation that the Senate would
act as a privy council to the President; and Washington--intent above all
things on doing his duty--tried to treat it as such. In company with
General Knox he went to the Senate chamber, prepared to explain his
negotiations with the Indian chiefs, but he forthwith experienced the
truth of the proverb that although you may lead a horse to water you