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28 the great system of rivers pouring their waters to the Gulf should be pointed to as the natural avenue of their trade. But Spain owned all the western bank of the Mississippi, and the eastern bank to 31° of north latitude, and guarded with jealous care the traffic on the great western highway. There was good reason to believe that the western possessions of the Federation had a right of use, but this was denied, and Spain had the power to enforce her claims. The sense of the importance of this outlet to Kentucky commerce grew rapidly, and was studiously fostered by those over hasty in their desire for independence, and it was not long till this question became the most important one before the people. The man who was to be the chief promoter of this idea in all its phases, and through it to become a most conspicuous figure in the history of the United States, now first appears upon the scene in Kentucky. This man was General James Wilkinson. He was possessed of that precocious genius so common to extraordinary times. He was a captain in the Continental army at eighteen, had several opportunities of distinguishing himself, was an aide-de-camp to General Gates at Saratoga, and finally left the army as Brevet Brigadier-General. He came to Kentucky in 1784 as agent of a Philadelphia trading company, and opened a store in Lexington, it being the third dry-goods store in Kentucky. He was short of stature, but slender in build, elegant in manners, easy in his address, and, although already in the most straightened circumstances, dispensed a free-handed hospitality that gained him many friends.