LIBRARY
NIVEftSITY C*
CALIFORNIA
SANTA CRUZ
THE HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY RICHARD HILDRETH
3&ebf*rt»
IN SIX VOLUMES
VOL. V.
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS
FRANKLIN SQUAUK
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.
Copyright, 1879, by ARTHUR HILDRETH.
£
/7Z
THE HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Secontt Series
FROM THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL
CONSTITUTION TO THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH
CONGRESS, 1788—1821
VOL. II. : JOHN ADAMS AND JEFFERSON
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND -VOLUME.
[A complete Analytical Index will be found at the end of the third volume.]
CHAPTER X.
RETROSPECT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. INAU-
GURATION OF THE NEW PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRES-
IDENT. RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. CALLED SESSION
OF THE FIFTH CONGRESS. EXTRAORDINARY MISSION
TO FRANCE.
Page
Jefferson's Views of the State of Affairs 25
Proposed Coalition with Adams 27
Jefferson's Ideas on that Subject 28
Contrast of Character in Jefferson and Adams 29
Adams's Letters pending the Presidential Election 30
Political Views of the new President 33
Inaugural Ceremonies 35
Adams's inaugural Speech 36
Retirement of Washington ; Exultation of the Aurora ... 43
Course of that Paper toward Washington and Adams ... 44
Policy of Adams ... , 45
Pinckney's Dispatches 46
French Compliments to Monroe. 48
Affairs of France ; Departure of Pinckney 49
French Depredations on American Commerce 50
Congress called together ; Change in public Opinion 52
Jefferson's Mazzei Letter 53
New Decree against American Commerce 55
Alarming Position of the United States 56
Views of Hamilton as to a new Mission 57
Views of Wolcott 59
Hamilton's Reply to Wolcott 59
Views of the Opposition 62
Viil CONTENTS.
Page
Apology for Cobbett 172
Cobbett, Rush, and the Yellow Fever 173
Second Session of the Fifth Congress 174
Accounts from France 175
President's Message 175
Answer of the House ; Lyon 177
Quaker Anti-slavery Petition 177
Debate thereon 178
Mississippi Territory — Slavery therein 181
Private Bills — Relief to the Daughters of De Grasse 186
French Immigrants — La Fayette 186
Foreign Intercourse ; Blount's Impeachment 187
Griswold and Lyon ; Breach of Decorum 187
Motion for Lyon's Expulsion 189
Griswold's Revenge 190
Messages from the President 191
Policy of Jefferson and the Opposition 193
Position of the Federalists 194
Movements in Philadelphia 195
Measures for Defense 1 95
Sprigg's Resolution ; Debate thereon 196
Communication of the Dispatches 202
Effect of their Publication 203
Triumph of the Federalists ; Acts passed 205
Apologies for France 207
Addresses ; the Black Cockade ; Patriotic Songs 207
New York Election ; Political Excitement 208
President's Replies to addresses ; Fast 209
The Opposition wavers 209
Presses of the Opposition ; Callender 210
State of Parties in the House ; Gallatin 211
Provisional Army 212
Authority to capture depredating armed Vessels 213
Character of the Immigration from Europe 213
Suspected Intrigues by Aliens 215
Amendment of the Naturalization Law ; Alien Acts 216
CONTENTS. IX
Pago
Suspension of Commercial Intercourse with France . . . . 217
Return of Marshall; Declaration of the President 217
Extra Copies of Dispatches 217
Talleyrand and the Aurora 218
Logan's Visit to France ; United Irishmen 219
Motives of the Opposition 219
Sentiments of the Federalists towards Great Britain 220
Views taken of Gerry's Conduct 221
Merchant Vessels authorized to resist Search or Seizure . . 22
Additional Ships of War 22
French Treaties declared void 222
Authority to capture armed French Vessels 222
Additional Naval Armament; Marine Corps; Navy 222
Increase of the Army 223
Finance ; Land Tax ; Loan 224
Sedition Law 225
American Newspapers 228
Criminal Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts 230
Policy of, and Reasons for, the Sedition Law 231
Party Violence ; Jefferson on the Union 232
Rising Spirit of Support to the Administration 235
Debtors of the United States 236
Hospital Money ; Marine Hospitals . . 236
Presents to Ministers abroad ; . . . 237
Revised Constitution of Georgia ; Slavery 237
Miranda and his projects ... 238
CHAPTER XIII.
ARMY APPOINTMENTS, INTERNAL AFFAIRS. PROSECU-
TIONS UNDER THE SEDITION LAW. GERRY AND LO
GAN, AMERICAN SQUADRONS IN THE WEST INDIES.
NULLIFICATION. RESOLUTIONS OF KENTUCKY AND
VIRGINIA, THIRD SESSION OF THE FIFTH CONGRESS.
NEW MISSION TO FRANCE,
Washington Commander-in-Chief 240
Subordinate Army Appointments 240
X CONTENTS.
Pag«
Adams and his Cabinet 241
Rank of the Major Generals ; Hamilton and Knox 242
Failures 244
Defense of New York 245
Yellow Fever ; Duane, of the Aurora . . . . 245
New'Treaty with the Cherokees 246
Mississippi Territory 247
Eastern Boundary of the United States 247
Prosecution of Lyon ; his Re-election to Congress 247
Maryland Election 250
Gerry's Correspondence with Talleyrand 250
The X, Y, Z Explosion 253
Concluding Correspondence between Gerry and Talleyrand 253
Departure of Gerry ; Further Concessions by France . . . 259
Logan at Paris ; Communication opened with Murray. . . 261
Various Views as to Gerry's Conduct 261
Return of Pinckney ; Military Arrangements 264
Return of Logan ; his Interview with Washington 265
Honors to the President 267
American Cruisers — their Collisions with the British. . . . 267
Affairs of St. Domingo 269
Squadrons in the West Indies; Private armed Vessels. . 270
Affairs of Gaudaloupe ; Capture and Release of Bainbridge 270
Secret History of the Kentucky Resolutions 272
Jefferson's original Draught 273
Kentucky Resolutions as adopted 275
Virginia Resolutions 276
Third Session of the Fifth Congress ; President's Speech. 277
Secret History of this Speech 279
Answer thereto ; Logan Act 280
Blount's Impeachment 281
Documents laid before Congress 282
Bills passed ; Navy and Army 283
Nomination of Murray as Minister to France 284
Occasion of that Nomination . . . 284
CONTENTS. XI
Pag«
The President's Motives therefor 287
Made without the Privity of the Cabinet 290
Dissatisfaction at it 291
Ellsworth and Henry nominated as Colleagues to Murray 291
Negotiations with Russia, Turkey, and Toussaint 292
Davie appointed in place of Henry 292
Activity of Jefferson 292
His Letters to Gerry, Pendleton, and Madison 293
Lyon in the House — Motion for his Expulsion 295
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions not responded to .... 296
Attempt to repeal the Alien and Sedition Laws 297
Ground of Opposition to the Sedition Law 298
General Considerations on the Law of Libel 298
Narrowness of the Objections taken to the Sedition Law. 301 '
Rules for the Navy ; Navy Hospitals 302
Quarantine ; Increase of Salaries 302
Finances; Revolutionary Balances 303
Capture of a French Frigate 304
Reopening of the Trade with St. Domingo 304
CHAPTER XIV.
VIRGINIA, NEW YOEK, PENNSYLVANIA. REVISION OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. JUDICIAL DECISIONS.
NULLIFICATION. EMBARKATION OF THE ENVOYS TO
FRANCE. DIVISION OF THE FEDERAL PARTY. COM-
MISSIONS UNDER THE BRITISH TREATY SUSPENDED.
FIRST SESSION OF THE SIXTH CONGRESS. DEATH OF
WASHINGTON. INDIANA TERRITORY. NAVAL AFFAIRS.
Election Canvass in Virginia 306
Washington's Letter to Patrick Henry 306
Washington's estimate of the Opposition 309
Elections in Virginia and the Southern States 310
Abolition of Slavery in New York 310
Manhattan Company 311
Connecticut Settlers in Pennsylvania 312
CONTENTS
Fries's lasorrcctJOT. .............................. 812
Assault upon Duane of the Aurora .................. 313
Gubernatorial Election in Pennsylvania .............. .14
Revised Constitution of Kentucky ................... 315
Slavery- in Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania ..... 316
Case of Nash, or Jonathan Bobbins .................. 316
Case of Isaac Williams— Doctrine of Expatriation ...... 317
Criminal Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts ........... 319
Doctrine of Nullification ............ I .............. 319
Kentucky Resolutions of 1799 ...................... 319
Madison's Report on State Rights ................... 320
Monroe Governor of Virginia ....................... 321
The new Mission to France ......................... 321
Instructions to the Envoys ......................... 322
Reverses of the French Republic .................... 323
The President directs the departure of the Envoys ...... 323
Breach between the President and his Cabinet ......... 324
Objections to the Renewal of the Negotiation .......... 325
Reaction against France ........................... 326
Good Policy of the Course pursued by the President ____ 3-27
Imputations occasioned by it ....................... 328
True Character of that Transaction ; Parallel of Adams
and Dickinson ................................. 32^
Commission under Jay's Treaty suspended ............ 331
State of the Finances .............................. 332
Members of the Sixth Congress ..................... 333
President's Speech ............................... 334
Wolcott's Account of the State of Parties ............. 335
Answer to the Speech ............................. 336
Death of Washington ; his Character ................ 337
Great Loss to the Federal Party ................... 338
Honors to his Memory .......................... 339
Petition to Congress from colored Men .............. 341
Nicholas's Resolution ; John Randolph ............... 342
His Letter to the President , , 343
CONTENTS.
The President's Message thereon .................... 344
Proceedings in the House .......................... 344
Appropriations ; Loans and Taxes ................... 345
Bankrupt Law ................................... 346
Connecticut Reserve ; Connecticut Gore .............. 347
Territory of Indiana ............................... 348
Sales of public Lands ............................. 348
Amendment of the Land System .................... 349
Government of Indiana ............................ 349
Mississippi Territory .............................. 350
Act against Tampering with the Indians .............. 350
Unsuccessful Attempt to repeal the Sedition Law ...... 350
Action on the Case of Nash or Bobbins .............. 351
Privileges of the Senate ; Duane .................... 352
Growing Differences among the Federalists ........... 353
Dissatisfaction with Adams ........................ 354
Intrigue against him .............................. 355
Prospects of the Presidential Election ................ 355
Plans of the ultra Federalists ....................... 357
Caucus Nominations .............................. 357
Reduction of the Army ; Navy ..................... 358
Truxtun engages another French Frigate ............. 358
CHAPTER XV.
PENNSYLVANIA, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW YORK. STATE
TRIALS. CHANGES IX THE CABINET. STRUGGLE BE-
TWEEN ADAMS AND HIS FEDERAL OPPONENTS, CON-
VENTION WITH FRANCE. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS.
REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT TO WASH-
INGTON. SECOND SESSION OF THE SIXTH CONGRESS.
JUDICIARY ACT. PROJECT FOR MAKING BURR PRES-
IDENT. DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERAL PARTY.
Politics of Pennsylvania ; Governor M^Kean 960
Massachusetts Election
New York Election ; Governor Jay
CONTENTS.
Trials of Holt and Cooper ......................... 365
Second Trial of Fries; his Pardon ................... 367
Trial of Callender ................................ 367
Rush's Verdict against Cobbett ..................... 368
Cobbett's Revenge ; his English Career ............... 369
Changes in the Cabinet ; Character of Pickering ........ 370
Wolcott ; Reconstruction of the Cabinet .............. 372
The Dismissals justified ........................... 373
Progress of the Intrigue against Adams ............... 373
Retort of Adams ; the Essex Junto .................. 375
Qualified Truth of Adams's Charges ................. 376
The Tench Coxe Letter; Adams and the Pinckneys ..... 378
Hamilton's Pamphlet against Adams ...... > .......... 383
Envoys to France ; their cordial Reception ............ 386
Obstacles to the Negotiation ........................ 387
Convention as agreed to ........................... 388
Presidential Electors .............................. 389
Removal of the Seat of Government to Washington .... 391
Burning of public Offices .......................... 395
Second Session of the Sixth Congress — President's Speech 395
Resignation of Wolcott ; State of the Treasury ......... 396
Poverty of Wolcott and Pickering ............ ...... 896
Monument to Washington ......................... 397
Modified Ratification of the French Convention ........ 398
Captures of French Cruisers ........................ 398
French Convention as finally Ratified ................ 399
New Judiciary Act ............................... 400
Appointment of Judges ............................ 401
Tie between Burr and Jefferson in the Electoral Colleges 402
State of Parties in the House of Representatives ....... 402
Project for making Burr President .................. 403
Hamilton's opposition to it ......................... 404
The Project persevered in ............... . .......... 405
Protracted Balloting in the House ................... 406
Great Excitement . , .407
CONTENTS. XV
Page
Federal Caucus ; Terms secured from Jefferson 407
Election of Jefferson 407
Expiration of the Sedition Act 408
Organization of the District of Columbia 408
Navy 409
Reports of Congressional Debates; Sedgwick and Smith. 410
Ex-president Adams 412
Retirement of Jay 414
Causes of the Fall of the Federal Party 415
CHAPTER XVI.
INAUGURATION OF JEFFEKSON. STATE ELECTIONS. AP-
POINTMENTS AND EEMOVALS. HOSTILITIES WITH
TRIPOLI. SEVENTH CONGRESS. CENSUS AND APPOR-
TIONMENT. RETRENCHMENTS. REPEAL OF THE JU-
DICIARY ACT. TERRITORIES. CESSION OF LOUISIANA
TO FRANCE. CALLENDER. JEFFERSON AND THE
CLERGY. REPUBLICAN DIVISIONS IN NEW YORK.
SECOND SESSION OF THE SEVENTH CONGRESS. STATE
OF OHIO.
Fortunate Crisis of Jefferson's Accession 419
Inaugural Ceremonies 420
Jefferson's Inaugural Address 421
Newspaper Organ — National Intelligencer 421
Cabinet and Diplomatic Appointments 422
Politics of the States ; New York 424
New Jersey; the Southern States ; New England 425
Removals and Appointments 426
Case of the New Haven Collectorship 429
Statistics of Office-holding 431
Levees and Speeches abolished 431
Circular to the Cabinet Officers 432
Relations with the Barbary Powers ; Bainbridge 433
Squadron seit to the Mediterranean 434
Members of the Seventh Congress 435
President's Message 437
XVI CONTENTS.
Pag€
Census and Reapportionment of Representatives 438
Reductions, Civil and Military 438
Navy and Mint 439
Repeal of Adams's Judiciary Act 440
Reorganization of the Federal Courts 441
Repeal of the Internal Taxes; French Claims 442
Naturalization Act 444
Territory Northwest of the Ohio ; Land Grants 445
City of Washington 446
British Debts ; Revolutionary Balances 44<
Pennsylvania Intrusion Act 446
Compact with Georgia ; Indian Treaties 447
aitercourse with the Indians 448
New Squadron sent to the Mediterranern ; Truxton 448
Retrocession of Louisiana to France 449
Jefferson's View of the State of Public Affairs 450
Congressional Attack on the late Administration 451
Wolcott's Reply ; Federal Newspapers 453
Callender attacks Jefferson 453
Proceedings against Callender ; Boston Palladium 455
Attacks upon Jefferson's religious Opinions 456
Free-thinking in America 456
Jefferson's Relations to the religious Sects of the South. . 458
Political Grounds of the New England Church Establish-
ments 459
Jefferson's Hatred of the New England Clergy 460
Uasis of their political Influence 460
No more intolerant than Jefferson himself. 461
Strongly inclined to Conservatism 461
Safeguard against Fanaticism 46*2
Religious Enthusiasm in the South and West 463
Co-operation of Free-thinkers and Enthusiasts 464
Decline of political Enthusiasm 465
Progress and Effects of religious Enthusiasm 465
The Republican Party in New England 466
CONTENTS.
Page
Republican Dissensions ; Politics of New York 466
French Colonies— Louisiana 468
Withdrawal of the right of Deposit at New Orleans 470
Second Session of the Seventh Congress — Message 470
Proceedings respecting the right of Deposit 471
Other Proceedings of Congress 473
Mississippi Lands ; Yazoo Claims 473
State of Ohio 475
New York Politics; Banks 476
CHAPTER XVII.
PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA. TRIPOLITAN WAR. EIGHTH
CONGRESS, FIRST AND SECOND SESSIONS. COMMIS-
SION ON BRITISH SPOLIATIONS. TERRITORIES OP '-OB-
LEANS, LOUISIANA, AND MICHIGAN. SLAVERY AND
THE SLAVE TRADE. IMPEACHMENTS. PENNSYLVA-
NIA, NEW YOAK, AND NEW ENGLAND. BURR AND
HAMILTON. RE-ELECTION OF JEFFERSON. IMPRESS-
MENTS. DIFFICULTIES WITH SPAIN JEFFERSON'S
SCHEME OF DEFENSE. YAZOO CLAIMS. INDIAN SES-
SIONS.
Livingston at Paris 478
Instructions to Livingston and Monroe 479
Bonaparte's Offer to sell Louisiana '.....' 479
The Sale as arranged 480
Monroe succeeds King at London 481
Constitutional Scruples 481
Cession by the Indians of Southern Illinois 482
Tripolitan War ; the Philadelphia taken 482
Members of the Eighth Congress 484
President's Message 486
Ratification of the French Treaty 486
Proceedings of the House in relation thereto 487
Close of the commission under Jay's Treaty 488
Sum of Money recovered by Maryland 489
Question as to the Boundaries of Lo lisiana 490
V— B
CONTENTS.
Tag.
Delivery of New Orleans to the Americans 492
Independence of Hay ti 493
Opinions as to the Acquisition of Louisiana 494
Territory of Orleans; Edward Livingston. . . 495
District of Louisiana 497
New Surveys and Land Offices . . 497
Cession by the Northwestern Indians 498
Mississippi Territory ; Lewis and Clarke 498
Attempt to -introduce Slavery into Indiana 499
Slavery in Louisiana 499
Kevival of the Slave Trade by South Carolina 500
Proposed Tax on Slaves imported 500
Abolition of Slavery by New Jersey 505
New England Mississippi Company 506
Amendment of the Constitution proposed 506
Mediterranean Fund 506
Exploit of Decatur '. 507
Repeal of the Bankruptcy Act 509
Impeachment of a District Judge. . . 510
Proposed Impeachment of Chase 511
This Proceeding imitated from Pennsylvania 512
Impeachment of. Addison in that State 512
Impeachment of. the Pennsylvania Judges 514
Division of the Pennsylvania Republicans 515
Projects in relation to. the Seat of Government 516
Jeflferson nominated for Re-election 517
Politics of New York ; Burr .'. 515
Freedom of the Press jn New York 518
Result of the Gubernatorial Election „ 520
Disappointment of Burr . . 520
He forces a Quarrel on Hamilton 521
Correspondence on that Occasion 521
Challenge and Duel 523
Sentiment at his Death ; his Funeral 526
His Character . 527
CONTENTS, XiX
Page
Indignation against Burr ; his Flight. 527
Bombardment of Tripoli ... 529
Discontent at the Virginia Ascendency 530
Amendment of the Constitution adopted. 531
Republican Triumph in Massachusetts and New Hamp-
shire , * 531
Politics of Connecticut 53]
Of Delaware and Maryland 532
Jefferson's triumphant Re-election.... v 533
Public Prosperity 533
Belligerent Insolences 534
Impressment ; Negotiations respecting it 534
Attempted Legislation thereon 536
Difficulties with Spain 536
Collision with Yrujo . . . 537
Jefferson's Plan of Sea-board Defense; Gun-boats . . 538
Second Session of the Eighth Congress 539
Articles of Impeachment against Chase 540
Debate on the Yazoo Claims ; Dissatisfaction with Ran-
dolph 541
Trial and Acquittal of Chase 543
Disappointment of his Prosecutors 543
Duane ; the public Printing 544
Effect of the Proceedings against Chase 544
Territory of Orleans 544
Territories of Louisiana and Michigan 545
Territorial Governors 545
District of Columbia ; Slavery therein. 546
Trade with St, Domingo 546
Act respecting Foreign Ships of War 547
V^ote of the electoral Colleges ; Jefferson's inaugural Speech 548
Politics of New York — Bank Charters ; Merchants' Bank 548
New Breach in the Republican Party 550
New York School Fund r 551
Livingston and Humphreys ; Steam-boats ; Plaster of
Paris ; Merinoes. 55]
XX CONTENTS.
Page
Joel Barlow. . . . . . • 551
Acquittal of the Pennsylvania Judges 552
Proposed Convention to remodel the Constitution of Penn-
sylvania •• • • ' • 552
Conservative Alarm 553
New Arrangement of Parties in Pennsylvania 553
Criminations and Recriminations . . . 554
Liberty of the Press ; Dennie ; Thomas Paine 555
Gubernatorial Election 556
Affairs of Virginia 556
Cession by the Indians . 556
CHAPTER XVIII.
EATON AND HAMET. CARRYING TRADE. FIRST SESSION
OF THE NINTH CONGRESS. SECRET APPROPRIATION FOR
THE PURCHASE OF FLORIDA. SCHEME FOR COERCING
GREAT BRITAIN. MIRANDA'S EXPEDITION. QUESTION
OF THE SUCCESSORSHIP. AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA,
NEW YORK, CONNECTICUT, AND MASSACHUSETTS.
Eaton and Hamet ... 558
Their Plan of a Land Attack on Tripoli. . . . . 550
Their Arrival near Derne 560
Capture of Derne .". . ... ........ 561
Peace with Tripoli. ; 561
Relations with Tunis. . .... 562
American carrying Trade ; Belligerent Annoyances 563
Great Extension of the carrying Trade ; British Envy. . . 563
New Doctrines of the. British Admiralty Courts 564
Outcry in America against these Doctrines 565
Members of the Ninth Congress 565
Contest for Speaker ; John Randolph 566
President's Message 566
Changes in the Cabinet 567
Cabinet Project for purchasing Florida ; Secret Session . . 568
Randolph's Report 569
CONTENTS. XX'
Pag,
Debate thereon ; Bill passed 570
Open War between Randolph and the Administration. . . 571
Collision with Yrujo 571
Miranda's Expedition 572
Spanish Negotiation ; Encroachments 575
Madison's Correspondence with Liston ; Impressments . . 576
Neutral Rights ; Non-importation 576
Origin of this Scheme . 577
Smith's Project 578
Views of Randolph 578
War not intended by the Administration 579
Germ of a War Party 579
Randolph's Reply to Crowninshield 580
Other Points urged by Randolph 581
Non-importation Act as passed 581
Views of the Federalists 582
Fortifications ; Gun-boats ; the Navy 582
Internal Improvements ; Cumberland Road 584
Tax on Slaves imported 584
Return of Eaton ; Relief to Hamet 585
Tunisian Embassador ; Mediterranean Fund 586
Secret Sittings ; Suspected Intention to bribe France .... 587
Trade with Hayti prohibited 587
Jefferson's View of Affairs 587
Pinckney joint Minister to England 588
Jefferson's Account of the Composition of Congress 588
Question as to the Succession ; Richmond Enquirer. .... 589
Rival Claims of Monroe and Madison 590
Randolph's Attack upon the Administration 590
Affairs of Pennsylvania ; Prosecutions for Libel 591
j Indictments for Libel in Connecticut 592
Politics of Massachusetts and New York 592
British Emissaries j Case of Captain Pierce 593
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
BURR'S MYSTERIOUS ENTERPRISE. AFFAIRS OF KEtf
TUCKY. SECOND SESSION OF THE NINTH CONGRESS.
ABOLITION OF THE FOREIGN SLAVE TRADE. BON A-
PARTE'S CONTINENTAL SYSTEM. BERLIN DECREE.
REJECTION OF THE TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
BURR'S TRIAL. AFFAIR OF THE CHESAPEAKE. ALARM-
ING STATE OF FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Pago
Position of Burr 594
His Projects and Movements 595
Voyage down the Ohio 500
Visits to Nashville and New Orleans 597
Interview with Wilkinson at St. Louis 599
Return to Philadelphia . 590
Communications to Eaton 600
Eaton's Interview with the President. 602
Burr's Applications to Truxtun, Decatur, and others 602
His second Western Journey 603
His Purchase of the Bastrop Grant 603
Preparations for an Expedition 604
Burr's Letter to Wilkinson 605
Wilkinson's Determination 607
Swartwout's Communications. 608
Wilkinson's Express to the President 609
His Orders sent to New Orleans 610
Arrangement with the Spaniards 610
More Letters ; Wilkinson at Natchez 611
His Letter to Governor Claiborne 612
Proceedings at New Orleans ; Arrests 612
Excitement in Kentucky 613
Spanish Pensioners 614
Rumors against Wilkinson ; Jackson's Letter 615
State Of Opinion in Kentucky 616
Proceedings against Burr ; his Triumph 616
Mission of Graham . 617
CONTENTS. XX1U
Page
Ohio Legislature ; Seizure of Burr's Boats. . 618 ,
Tyler's Flotilla 619
Kentucky Legislature 619
Burr at the Mouth of the Cumberland 620
His Voyage down the Mississippi 620
Arrival near Natchez 621
His Arrest ; Proceedings against him 622
His Flight and second Arrest 623
State of Affairs and Proceedings at New Orleans 624
Second Session of the Ninth Congress ; Habeas Corpus . . 625
Case of Bollman and Swartwout 625
Adair ; Revulsion of Feeling 626
Discussion in the House; Habeas Corpus act passed 927
Abolition of the Slave Trade ; Discussion thereon 628
Provisions of the Act 639
Randolph's Bravadoes 640
Number of Africans recently Imported 641
Subsidence of the Anti-slavery Sentiment 642
Reaction in the South ; Free Negroes. 643
Coast Survey . , 644
Prosecutions for Libel 644
Judicial Appointments 645
Suspension of the Non-importation Act 645
Relations with Spain ; Yrujo and Turreau 646 \
Bonaparte's Continental System 646
Berlin Decree ; British Order of May 16, 1806 647
Explanations by Champagny to Armstrong 648
Measures of Defense; Opposed by the Administration. . 649
Appropriations for Indian Treaties „ 651
Gun-boat Appropriation defeated 651
Jefferson's Letter to Nicholas 652
Composition of Congress 652
Negotiation at London 653
The Question of Impressment 653
The Treaty as agreed to 657
CONTENTS.
British Protest against the Berlin Decree ............. 658
Order in Council respecting the Coasting Trade ........ 658
Reasons for Ratifying the Treaty .................... 659
Its Rejection notwithstanding ....................... 661
Reasons given for that Rejection .................. . . 662
Monroe's Answer thereto ----- .......... .......... . . 662
Pacific Intentions of Jefferson. . . .................... 663
Suspicions as to his Motives ........................ 663
Probable Grounds of his Conduct ................... 664
Politics of New England ........................... 665
Politics of Pennsylvania ........................... 666
Politics of New York ............................. 666
Proceedings against Burr .......................... 668
Subsequent Fortunes of Burr ..................... . . 673
The Driver Sloop of War .......................... 674
British Naval Deserters ........................... 674
Admiral Berkeley's Circular ........................ 676
Search of National Ships. .......................... 677
Affair of the Chesapeake. . . ........................ 679
Measures taken in consequence ...................... 681
Obstacles in the Way of an Arrangement ......... .... 683
Proclamation for the recall of British Seamen. . . ....... 684
Canning's Reply to the Proposition for remodeling the
late Treaty .................................... 685
Threatening State of British Relations ................ 685
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTEE X.
RETROSPECT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. INAUG-
URATION OF THE NEW PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESI-
DENT. RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. CALLED SESSION OF
THE FIFTH CONGRESS. EXTRAORDINARY MISSION TO
FRANCE.
W HILE the result of the presidential election still re- CHAPTER
mained in doubt, Jefferson had written to Madison sig-
j O -.....'• .-
nifying his desire, that should he and Adams have an 1796.
equal vote, Adams might be president. " He has al- ^ec* 1&>
ways been my senior, from the commencement of our
public life, and the expression of the public will being
equal, this circumstance ought to give him the prefer-
ence." Such haste to provide against a double contin-
gency, an equal vote in the electoral colleges, and an
equal vote in the House of Eepresentatives, without
which Jefferson's declination in favor of Adams could
not come into play, might seem a little premature. The
offer was perfectly safe, since there was not the least
danger that Jefferson's political friends would incline to
indulge him in this amiaWo modesty ; yet there is reason
to believe that on this occasion Jefferson, for once at
least, was sincere. "I am really anxious," the letter
adds, "to see the speech" — meaning "Washington's
speech at the opening of the session of Congress. " It
must exhibit a very different picture of our foreign af-
26 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER fairs from that presented in the adieu" — Wasliingtcn's
_ Farewell Address — " or it will not correspond with my
1 79^ views of them. I think they never wore so gloomy an
aspect since the year 1783. Let those come to the helm
who think they can steer clear of difficulties. I have
no confidence in myself for the undertaking."
Deo. St. In a letter to Edward Eutledge, some ten days later,
and when the result of the election was better known,
after denying, " on his salvation," his having anything
to do with the votes cast for him as president, dexterous-
ly hinting that Eutledge, had he chosen to take part in
public affairs, might himself have been the candidate —
he protests " before his God" his joy at not having been
chosen. "I have no ambition," he adds "to govern
men, no passion which would lead me to delight to ride
in a storm. The newspapers will permit me to plant my
corn, peas, &c., in hills or drills, as I please (and my
oranges, by-the-by, when you send them), while our
Eastern friend will be struggling with the storm which
is gathering over us, perhaps be shipwrecked in it. This
is certainly not a moment to covet the helm."
Had Jefferson been chosen president, he could not
but have found himself in a most embarrassing situa-
tion ; more perplexing even than that of which, in his
intercourse as Secretary of State with Genet, he had
already had a bitter experience. To have satisfied, con-
sistently with his own honor and that of his country, the
expectations of the ultra French faction in the United
States, and of the French government itself, which liad
taken so affectionate an interest in his election, would
have been difficult indeed. A crisis had occurred, which
might well make a bolder man quail, especially consider
ing Jefferson's peculiar situation in reference to it ; and
he might reasonably prefer to leave the helm to A lams,
EETP.OSPECT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 27
a man not accustomed to quail at anything ; especially CHAPTER
if matters could be so arranged as to destroy the in- '
fluence of Hamilton with the administration, and to 1795.
bring Adams to depend for congressional support, in
part at least, on the late opposition. That such an in-
trigue was really on foot appears from two letters, one to
Adams himself, the other to Madison, sketches of which,
written out from memory, as he had omitted to retain
copies, are published in Jefferson's Correspondence. The
letter to Adams, dated the day after that to Eutledge Dec 28.
already quoted, and containing a repetition of many of
the same sentiments, makes the following side-thrust at
Hamilton: "It is possible, indeed, that even you may
be cheated of your succession by a trick worthy the
subtlety of your arch-friend of New York, who has
been able to make of your real friends tools for defeat-
ing their and your just wishes. Probably, however, he
will be disappointed as to you, and my inclinations put
me out of his reach." The letter to Madison enclosing
that to Adams, which Madison was authorized to deliver
or not, according to his discretion, developed Jeffer-
son's plan of operations. . " If Mr. Adams," said this
letter, " could be induced to administer the government
on its true principles, quitting his bias for an English
constitution, it would be worthy of consideration whether
it would not be for the public good to come to a good
understanding with him as to his future elections. He
is the only sure barrier against Hamilton's getting in."
Madison thought it best not to deliver the letter to
Adams — why, we are left to conjecture. Jefferson had
stated, in his letter, as a reason why hitherto he had de-
layed writing to Adams, " a despair to make him believe
me sincere." Perhaps Madison shared the same dis-
couragement ; perhaps he was not so sanguine as Jeffer-
28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES*
CHAPTER son of being able to divide the Federal party ; or, if
_ that could be accomplished, of reconciling the opposi-
1797 tion to the support of Adams, so long held up to their
abhorrence as an Anglo-man and a monarchist. Pos-
sibly he thought that any arrangement which might se-
cure Adams's re-election and the succession of Jefferson,
would not only look a little too much like taking things
out of the hands of the people, but might be putting off
his own hopes of preferment to a period almost too in-
definite.
Whatever might have been the reasons for keeping
back the letter, oral advances were made to Adams,
which, so far as compliments were concerned, he seemed
well disposed to reciprocate ; and this, perhaps, was the
real reason why Jefferson's letter was not delivered, the
object of it having been otherwise and more safely ac-
Jan. 22. complished. " My letters," so Jefferson wrote soon after
to Madison, " inform me that Mr. Adams speaks of me
with great friendship, and with satisfaction in the pros-
pect of administering the government in concurrence
with me. I am glad of the first information, because,
though I saw that our ancient friendship was affected by
a little leaven, produced partly by his constitution, partly
by the contrivance of others, yet I never felt a diminu-
tion of confidence in his integrity, and retain a solid af-
fection for him. His principles of government I know to
be changed, but conscientiously changed. As to my par-
ticipating in the administration, if by that he means the
executive cabinet, both duty and inclination will shut that
door to rne. I cannot hare a wish to see the scenes of
1793 revived as to myself, and to descend daily into the
arena like a gladiator, to suffer martyrdom in every con-
flict." Warned by a bitter experience, Jefferson de-
cidedly preferred, if he were to act at all the part of
CONTRAST BETWEEN ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 29
counselor to the new administration, the post of back- CHAPTER
stairs adviser, a position which according to his estimate '
of Adams's character, could not but be very powerful. 1797,
UI sincerely deplore," adds the same letter. uthe situa-
tion of our affairs with France. "War with them, and
consequent alliance with Great Britain, will completely
compass the object of the executive council from the
commencement of the war between France and Eng-
.and, taken up by some of them from that moment, by
others more latterly. I still, however, hope it will be
avoided. I do not believe Mr. Adams wishes war with
France, nor do I believe he will truckle, to England as
servilely as has been done. If he assumes this front at
once, and shows that he means to attend to self-respect
and national dignity with both nations, perhaps the dep-
redations of both on our commerce may be amicably ar-
rested. I think we should begin first with those who first
began with us, and, by an example on them, acquire a
right to redemand the respect from which the other party
has departed."
To the affectation of indifference to office, iijtra Ke-
publican prudery, and maiden reluctance, of which Jef-
ferson's above-quoted letters make such a display, the
correspondence of John Adams, on the same subject, af-
fords a most refreshing contrast, Adams indeed wrote
to his wife, who seems to have been his sole confidant,
to whom he unbosomed himself without restraint, while
Jefferson wrote to political co-operators, in many of
whom he saw or feared political rivals, and with all of
whom he had an object to accomplish. Yet, with all
due allowance for this difference, and though Adams's
letters show him self-deceived no less than Jefferson,
they still exhibit in a strong light the contrast between
his character and that of his rival.
80 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Applying to the approaching presidential election a
_ quotation from Necker, Adams adds, in illustration of
1796. i*> " a man w^°' like mJse^> nas been manJ m°re years
Feb. 10. than Mr. Necker ever was at the center of affairs, and
that in a young country which has ever boasted of
its simplicity, frugality, integrity, public spirit, pub-
lic virtue, disinterestedness, &c., can judge from his
own experience of the activity of private interest, and
perceive in what manner the human heart is influenced,
irritated, and soothed by hope. Neglects and sacrifices
of personal interest are oftener boasted than practiced.
The parade, and pomp, and ostentation, and hypocrisy
have been as common in America as in France. When
I hear these pretensions set up, I am very apt to say to
myself, this man deceives himself, or is attempting to
deceive me.
" The various elections of the United States will soon
call forth these personal interests in all their vigor, and
all the arts of dissimulation to conceal them. I am
weary of the game, yet I don't know how I could live
out of it. I don't love slight, neglect, contempt, dis-
grace, nor insult more than others, yet I believe I have
firmness of mind enough to bear it like a man, a hero,
a philosopher. I might groan like Achilles, and roll
from side to side abed sometimes at the ignorance, folly,
injustice, and ingratitude of the world, but I should be
resigned, and become more easy and cheerful, and enjoy
myself and my friend better than ever I did." Lam-
entable indeed it was, that in this latter estimate of
himself Adams proved so entirely mistaken, and that,
when the time of trial came, his manliness, heroism, and
Feb. 16. philosophy so totally failed him. In another letter a
few days after, in reply to some suggestions on the part
of his wife of apprehensions for the government if
CONTRAST BETWEEN ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 31
Washington should retire, and of the violence of oppo- CHAPTER
sition, to which, if himself chosen president, he might be '
exposed, Adams writes, — not without exhibiting a little 1796.
anxiety and trepidation lest, after all, "Washington might
yet be persuaded to stand for a third term,— " In my
opinion, there is no more danger in the change than
there would be in changing a member of the Senate, and
whoever lives to see it will own me to be a prophet. If
Jay or even Jefferson (and one or the other it certainly
will be, if the succession should be passed over) should
be the man, the government will go on as well as ever.
Jefferson could not stir a step in any other system than
that which is begun. Jay would not wish it. The
votes will run for three persons. Two I have mention-
ed; the third, being heir-apparent, will not probably be
wholly overlooked. If Jefferson and Jay are president
and vice-president, as is not improbable, the other re-
tires without noise, or cries, or tears to his farm. If
either of these two is president and the other vice-presi-
dent, he retires without murmur or complaint to his
farm forever. If this other should be president, and Jef-
ferson or Jay vice-president, four years more of resi-
dence in Philadelphia will be his and your portion, after
which we shall probably be desirous of imitating the ex-
ample of the present pair ; or if, by reason of strength
and fortitude, eight years should be accomplished, that
is the utmost limit of time that I will ever continue in
public life at any rate.
:; Be of good courage, therefore, and tremble not. I
see nothing to appal one, and I feel no ill forebodings
or faint misgivings. I have not the smallest dread of
private life or of public. If private life is to be my
portion, my farm and my pen shall employ the rest of
my days."
32 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
OH AFTER But though Adams professed a readiness to retire with
_ a good grace to private life, he did not affect to represent
1796 that retirement as a matter of choice : " I hate to live in
March i. 'Philadelphia in summer, and I hate still more to relin-
quish my farm. I hate speeches, messages, addresses
and answers, proclamations, and such affected, studied,
constrained things. I hate levies and drawing-rooms.
I hate to speak to a thousand people to whom I have no-
thing to say. Yet all this I can do. But I am too o Id
to continue more than one, or, at most, more than two
heats, and that is scarcely time enough to form, conduct,
and complete any very useful system." The debate on
Jay's treaty being then fully under way, we find him
exhibiting, a few days after, the spirit of an old war-
horse, pawing the ground and panting for the battle:
iiarch 13, " There are bold and daring strides making to demolish
the president, Senate, and all but the House, which, as
it seems to me, must be the effect of the measures which
many are urging." • " I sometimes think that if I were
in the House of Eepresentatives, and could make speeches
there, I could throw some light upon these things. If
Mr. Jefferson should be president, I believe I must put
up as a candidate for the House. But this is my vanity
I feel sometimes as if I could speechify among them ;
but, alas I alas I I am too old. It would soon destroy
my health. I declare, however, if I were in that House,
I would drive out of it some demons that haunt it. There
are false doctrines and false jealousies predominant thero
at times that it would be easy to exorcise." As to the
office of vice-president, which Jefferson professed to find
so well suited to his wishes and his temper, Adams never
lost an opportunity of expressing his disgust at its tedi-
ous and insipid insignificance.
With respect to foreign relations, the opinions and
POLITICAL VIEWS OF THE NEW PRESIDENT. 38
feelings of Adams were precisely such as to place him CHAPTER
beyond all possibility of foreign influence, and to fit him
for carrying out with energy and impartiality the sys- 1797,
tern of exact neutrality which Washington had adopted.
Whatever might be his admiration for the British Con-
stitution, his feelings were altogether too warm and un-
yielding to have entirely subsided from that high pitch
of indignation against the British government to which
the Kevolutionary struggle had raised them, and which
his experience as minister to England, baffled as he had
been, had not tended to allay. These feelings, indeed,
had lately received a fresh impulse from a slight, or im-
agined slight, to John Quincy Adams, then minister to
Holland, during a temporary visit to England, in rela-
tion to which the elder Adams wrote : " I am glad of April 9
it, for I would not have my son go so far as Mr. Jay,
and affirm the friendly disposition of that country to
this. I know better. I know their jealousy, envy,
hatred, and revenge, covered under pretended contempt."
Yet on the other hand, he was entirely free from that
political fanaticism which had so run away with Giles,
Monroe and others, and had so distorted the judgment
of Jefferson as to make him, keenly as he felt any wrong
or imagined wrong from Great Britain, perfectly supple
under the chidings and the lash of the French Directory ;
leading him, as in his letter above quoted, to denounce
Washington's neutral policy as a servile truckling to
England. Adams did not believe in French politics.
He had predicted from the beginning the failure of the
French in their attempts to establish a free government :
and however his residence abroad might have inspired
him with esteem for that people as individuals, he had
brought home with him very little confidence in French
political sincerity. In a letter to his wife, written on his
V,— C
34 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER way to Philadelphia, and before the result of the. e.!ec-
_ tion had been finally determinedr he had expressed, with
1797 a calm intrepidityy in striking contrast to Jefferson's
timid apprehensions, his views of the posture of affairs .
No%-. 27. " At Hartford I saw Mr. Adet's note to our Secretary
of State" — the same already quoted in the preceding
chapter, and in which was announced the termination of
Adet's mission — " and I find it an instrument well cal-
culated to reconcile me to private life. It will purify m«
from all envy of Mr. Jefferson, or Mr. Pinckney, or Mr
Burr, or Mr. anybody else who may be chosen president
or vice-president. Although, however, I think the mo-
ment a dangerous one, I am not scared. Fear takes no
hold of me, and makes no approaches to me that I per-
ceive ; and if my country makes just claims upon me, I
will be, as I ever have been, prompt to share fates and
fortunes with her. I dread not a war with France or
England, if either forces it upon us, but will make no
aggression upon either with my free will, without just
and necessary cause and provocation." " Nothing mor-
tifies me more than to think how the English will be
gratified at this French flight. John Bull will exult and
shrug his shoulders like a Frenchman, and, I fear, show
us some cunning, insidious sort of kindness on the oc-
casion. I should dread his kindness as much as French
severity, but will be the dupe of neither. If I have
looked with any accuracy into the hearts of my fellow-
citizens, the French will find, as the English have found,
that feelings may be stirred which they never expected to
find there, and which, perhaps, the American people them-
selves are not sensible are within them." Such were the
sentiments in relation to foreign affairs with which Adams
assumed the administration of the government.
In conformity with a notification issued by Washing-
INAUGURAL CEREMONIES. 35
ton just before the expiration of his period of office, the CHAPTER
Senate of the United States assembled in special session ; _
on the first day of the new presidential term. No new 1797.
senators appeared at this session. Schuyler, chosen in March 4
Nuw York to succeed Burr, was too sick to take his seat.
Most of the other senators whose term had expired had
been rechosen. The vice-president elect, having written
to his friends in Congress not to allow, in his case, the
ceremony of a special messenger, upon a mere notice
through the mail had hastened to Philadelphia. But
he could not escape a ceremonious reception by a com-
pany of artillery, composed of his political friends, who
greeted the auspicious occasion with a salvo of cannon
displaying a flag having for motto, " Jefferson, the friend
of the people." On taking his seat as president of the
Senate, Jefferson delivered a short and modest address.
It contained a declaration of zealous attachment to the
Constitution and the Union, and concluded with a high
compliment to the " eminent character" who had preced-
ed him in his present station, whose talents and integrity
lie had known and revered through a long course of
years, the foundation of a cordial and uninterrupted
friendship, and whom he declared to have been justly
preferred to himself for the higher office.
This ceremony concluded, the Senate adjourned to
the chamber of the Representatives, where a brilliant as-
sembly, including many ladies, had already collected to
witness the inauguration of the new president. In front
of the speaker's chair sat the chief justice, with three
other judges of the Supreme Court. The new vice-presi-
dent and the secretary of the Senate took seats on their
right ; on their left sat the speaker and clerk of the
iate House. The doors being opened, a crowd filled the
galleries with a rush. When Washington entered the
36 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER hall, shouts of applause broke forth from all sides. Be-
• ing now a private citizen, he took a seat in front of the
1797 judges. The president elect came in soon after, attend-
ed by the heads of departments and the marshal of the
district. As he ascended to the chair, he also was
received with shouts. Having been seated for a few mo-
ments, he rose, and delivered an inaugural address, very
elaborately prepared, and quite unrivaled in that line
of composition. Sketching with a few bold strokes the
origin of the Federal Constitution, and declaring his
original and continued approval of it, he emphatically
denied — no doubt with a view to the political heresies
which had been charged upon him — that it had ever
been any objection in his mind that the executive and
Senate were not more permanent, or that he had ever
entertained a thought of promoting any alterations "but
such as the people themselves, in the course of their
experience, should see and feel to be necessary or expe-
dient, and by their representatives in Congress and the
State Legislatures, according to the Constitution itself,
adopt and ordain."
" Eeturning to the bosom of my country after a pain-
ful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to
be elected to a station under the new order of things,
and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious
obligations to support the Constitution. The operation
of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its
friends ; and from an habitual attention to it, satisfac-
tion in its administration, and delight in its effects upon
the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation,
I have acquired an habitual attachment to it, and ven-
eration for it.
" What other form of government, indeed, can so well
deserve our esteem and love ?
ADAMS'S INAUGURAL SPEECH. 37
" There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that CHAPTER
congregations of men into cities and nations are the most
pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences ; 1797*'
but this is very certain, that, to a benevolent human
mind, there can be no spectacle presented by any nation
more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august than an
assembly like that which has often been seen in this and
the other chamber of Congress, of a government in which
the executive authority, as well as that of all the branch-
es of the Legislature, is exercised by citizens selected, at
regular periods, by their neighbors to make and execute
laws for the general good. Can any thing essential, any
thing more than mere ornament and decoration, be add-
ed to this by robes and diamonds ? Can authority be
more amiable and respectable, when it descends from
accidents, or institutions established in remote antiquity,
than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments
of an honest and enlightened people ? For it is the peo-
ple only that are represented ; it is their power and maj-
esty that is reflected, and only for their good, in every
legitimate government, under whatever form it may ap-
pear. The existence of such a government as ours, for
any length of time, is a full proof of a general dissemina-
tion of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body
of the people. And what object or consideration more
pleasing than this can be presented to the human mind ?
If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable, it is
when it springs not from power or riches, grandeur or
glory, but from conviction of national innocence, in-
formation, and benevolence.
" In the midst of these pleasing ideas, we should be
unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of
the danger to our liberties, if any thing partial or extra-
neous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous,
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
and independent elections. If an election is to be de-
termined by a majority of a single vote, and that can
1797 k6 procured by a party through artifice or .corruption,
the government may be the choice of a party for its own
ends, not of the nation for the national good. If that
solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by
flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, in-
trigue, or venality, the government may not be the choice
of the American people, but of foreign nations. And
candid men will acknowledge that, in such cases, choice
would have little advantage to boast of over lot 01
chance.
" Such is the amiable and interesting system of gov-
ernment (and such are some of the abuses to which it
is exposed) which the people of America have exhibited
to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous
of all nations, for eight years, under the administration
of a citizen, who, by a long course of great actions, reg-
ulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude,
conducting a people inspired with the same virtues, and
animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of
liberty, to independence and peace, to increased wealth
and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude
of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of
foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with pos*
terity.
" In that retirement, which is his voluntary choice,
may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of
his services, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits
of them to himself and the world which are daily increas-
ing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of
his country which is opening from year to year ! May
his name be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he
lives a bulwark against all open or secret enemies of his
ADAMS'S INAUGURAL SPEECH. 39
country 's peace i This example has been recommended CHAPTER
to the imitation of his successors by both houses of Con-
gress, and bj the voice of the Legislatures, and of the 1797.
people throughout the nation,
" On this subject it might become me better to be si-
lent, or to speak with diffidence ; but as something maj
be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an
apology if I venture to say that, if a preference upon
principle, of a free republican government, formed upon
long and serious reflection, after a diligent and impartial
inquiry after truth - if an attachment to the Constitu-
tion of the United States, and a conscientious determi-
nation to support it until it shall be altered by the judg-
ment and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode pre-
scribed in it - if a respectful attention to the Constitu-
tions of the individual states, and a constant caution and
delicacy toward the state governments ; if an equal and
impartial regard to the rights, interests, honor, and hap-
piness of all the states in the Union, without preference
or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or west-
ern position, their various political opinions on unessen-
tial points, or their personal attachments ; if a love of
virtuous men of all parties and denominations ; if a love
of science and letters, and a wish to patronize every ra-
tional effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities,
academies, and every institution for propagating knowl-
edge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the peo-
ple, not only for their benign influence on the happiness
of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all
its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Con-
stitution from ite natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry,
the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy
of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence,
which is the angel of destruction to elective govern-
4:0 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER roents ; if a love of equal laws, of justice and humanity
_ in the interior administration ; if an inclinati Dn to im-
1797 Pr°ve agriculture, commerce, and manufactures for ne-
cessity, convenience, and defence ; if a spirit of equity
and humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America,
and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining
them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens to be
more friendly to them ; if an inflexible determination to
maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and
that system of neutrality and impartiality among the bel-
ligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by
this government, and so solemnly sanctioned by both
houses of Congress, and applauded by the Legislatures of
the states and the public opinion, until it shall be other-
wise ordained by Congress ; if a personal esteem for the
French nation, formed in a residence of seven years chiefly
among them, and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship
which has been so much for the honor and interest of both
nations ; if, while the conscious honor and integrity of
the people of America, and the internal sentiment of their
own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest
endeavor to investigate every just cause, and remove
every colorable pretense of complaint ; if an intention to
pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation for the in-
juries that have been committed on the commerce of our
fellow-citizens, by whatever nation, and if success cannot
be obtained, to lay the facts before the Legislature, that
they may consider what further measures the honor and
interest of the government and its constituents demand ;
if a resolution to do justice, as far as may depend upon
me, at all times and to all nations, and o maintain
peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world ; if
an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources
ot" the American people, on which I hav« so aften haz
ADAMS'S INAUGURAL SPEECH. 41
arded my all, and never been deceived ; if elevated ideas CHAPTER
of the high destinies of this country, and of my own ,
duties towards it, founded on a knowledge of the moral 1797.
principles and intellectual improvements of the people,
deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not ob-
scured, but exalted by experience and age ; and with
humble reverence I feel it to be my duty to add, if a
veneration for the religion of a people who profess and
call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to con-
sider a decent respect for Christianity among the best
recommendations for the public service, can enable me
in any degree to comply with your wishes, it shall be
my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction
of the two houses shall not be without effect.
*' With this great example before me, with the sense
and spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest of
the same American people, pledged to support the Con-
stitution of the United States, I entertain no doubt of
its continuance in all its energy, and my mind is pre-
pared, without hesitation, to lay myself under the most
solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my
power.
" And may that Being who is supreme over all, the
Patron of order, the Fountain of justice, and the Pro-
tector, in all ages of the world, of virtuous liberty, con-
tinue his blessing upon this nation and its government,
and give it all possible success and duration consistent
with the ends of his Providence !"
This elaborate address, as we learn by a letter o*
Adams to his wife, was intended as "an appeal to
foreign nations and posterity," " so strangely used as he
had been, so hated and so undefended." Yet it seems
also to have been an appeal to the present, a disavowal
of the anti-Kepublican doctrines which had been so freely
42 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER imputed to him during the late presidential canvass, and
, a holding out to the opposition of the hand of recon-
1 797. ciliation by way of public answer to the private over
tures already made to him by some of the leaders.
Adams's profession of respect and veneration for the
Christian religion, though no doubt perfectly sincere on
his part, had yet much the appearance of a reflection on
Jefferson. That, however, was a delicate point, since
Adams's own opinions, verging closely on Socinianisrn,
might seem to many almost as objectionable as the free-
thinking of which Jefferson was accused.
The allusions to Washington drew out floods of tears,
rather too copiously, indeed, for the jealous temper of
Adams, who seems, from the same letter already quoted,
to have entertained disagreeable doubts whether some
of those tears might not have been as much for his ac-
cession as for Washington's retirement.
The speech ended, the oath was energetically admin-
istered by the chief justice, and as energetically repeated
by Adams. This ceremony over, the new president took
his seat, but rose shortly after, bowed to all around, and
retired. He was soon followed by the vice-president,
not, however, without ceremonious efforts on his part to
induce Washington to take the precedence. This was
the last time that Jefferson and Washington ever met.
As Washington followed the vice-president, the shouts
were redoubled both in and out of the House. He was
sumptuously entertained that same evening by the mer-
chants and other citizens of Philadelphia,* and. having
been the first person to pay his respects to the new pres-
ident, by waiting upon him at his own house, he de-
parted a few days after for Mount Yernon, receiving on
his way every mark of attention and regard.
This homage to Washington, and the strong hold
LIBELS ON WASHINGTON. 48
which he still maintained on the affections of the Ameri- CHAPTER
x
can people, were gall and wormwood to the Aurora and
the more violent Democrats ; if indeed the open coun- 1797
tenance and support which the Aurora received from
Jefferson and other leaders of the Eepublican party, did
not make them, in a certain degree at least, the endorsers
of its sentiments. These sentiments were strongly ex-
pressed in an article which appeared in that paper of the
6th of March, believed to be from the pen of Dr. Michael
Leib, a young member of the Pennsylvania Assembly,
whose maiden speech the year before had called out from
Jefferson, in a letter to Giles, warm congratulations that
" honest republicanism" had made such an acquisition,
and expressions of high hopes from a career which began
on such elevated ground. " 'Lord, now lettest thou thy
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy
salvation,' was the pious ejaculation of a man who be»
held a flood of happiness rushing in upon mankind. If
ever there was a time which would license the reitera-
tion of this exclamation" — so wrote this correspondent
of the Aurora — " that time is now arrived, for the man
who is the source of all the misfortunes of our country
is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-citizens,
and is no longer possessed of power to multiply evils
upon the United States. If ever there was a period for
rejoicing, this is the moment. Every heart in unison
with the freedom and happiness of the people ought to
beat high with exultation that the name of Washington
from this day 'ceases to give a currency to political in-
iquity and to legalized corruption. A new era is now
opening upon us — an era which promises much to the
people, for public measures must now stand upon their
own merits, and nefarious projects can no longer be sup-
ported by a name. When a ret7x>spect is taken of the
44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Washingtonian administration for eight years, it is a
_ subject of the greatest astonishment that a single indi-
1797. vidual should have conquered the principles of repub-
licanism in an enlightened people just emerged from the
gulf of despotism, and should have carried his designs
against the public liberty so far as to have put in jeop-
ardy its very existence. Such, however, are the facts,
and, with these staring us in the face, this day ought to
be a jubilee in the United States I"
Not content with this article and others in the same
strain, and provoked by Washington's formal denuncia-
tion of the forged letters which political hatred had re-
vived and published as his, the Aurora, no doubt with
French assistance, gave a new specimen of its spite, by
reproducing the old calumny of Washington's " assassin-
ation" of Jumonville at the commencement of the war
of 1753. Shortly after these attacks on Washington,
the editor and publisher of the Aurora, having paid a
visit with a party of friends to the frigate United States,
then on the stocks at Philadelphia, and being recognized
by the son of the contractor, received at his hands a very
severe beating, which many thought was no more than
he deserved. Even the moderate Webster had remarked
in his Minerva, that however such libels on Washington
might be tolerated in Philadelphia, their publisher would
hardly be able to visit New England without danger of
a coat of tar and feathers. And, indeed, Bache found it
necessary to appease the public clamor against him by
calling attention to the fact that the article above quoted
was not written by him, but came from a correspondent.
While thus furious against Washington, the Aurora
conformed to the policy of the Republican leaders, and
to the signal thrown out by Jefferson in his inaugural
address, by treating the new president with great court-
POLICY OF AEAMS.
esy. It found in his speech, much to admire ; and ex- CHAPTER
pressed great satisfaction that neither he nor Jefferson .
had been "tricked out of their election" by the "vile 1797.
and detestable artifices" of Hamilton.
However well pleased the new president might be
with these signs of relaxation on the part of the opposi-
tion, he was by no means inclined to separate himself
from those who had supported Washington's adminis-
tration, and to whom he was indebted for the successor-
ship. Wolcott certainly, and probably also the other
cabinet officers, had tendered their resignations ; but
Adams had declined to accept them, and the cabinet
remained as "Washington left it. At the same time,
Adams was well disposed to avail himself of the aid of
the leaders of the opposition in meeting the crisis with
respect to France which was now evidently approach
ing. Pinckney's despatches were still behind-hand, but
rumors had arrived that the Directory had refused to re-
ceive him, and the president already entertained the idea
of another and a more solemn mission. Indeed, the
same thing was suggested to him the very morning after
his inauguration by Ames and Tracy, acting on the part
of Hamilton and his special friends. Adams had thought
of employing Jefferson on this mission ; but the doubts
recurred which Washington had formerly entertained in
Adams's own case, if, being vice-president, he could
properly accept it. He waited on Jefferson, told him as
much, and mentioned Madison as a proper envoy, to be
• joined by a colleague or two. As Madison had con-
stantly refused all appointments under Washington's
administration, Jefferson gave no encouragement that
he would accept ; indeed, it is stated that Madison posi-
tively refused. But, before this refusal, Adams had en-
countered such opposition from Wolcott, the only mem-
46 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ber of his cabinet whom he consulted as to this matter,
x.
_ as to induce him to draw back from the offer. Accord-
1797 ing to Adams's account, given many years after, the
person he had thought of as a colleague for Madison was
Hamilton himself; according to Jefferson, he mentioned
Gerry.
This was the end, for the present at least, of all con-
sultations between Adams and Jefferson as to public af-
fairs. Pinckney's despatches arrived a few days after ;
and the very different views taken by the president and
the vice-president as to the conduct of the French Di-
rectory, and the policy to be adopted, made any co-opera-
tion between them impossible.
1796 It appeared from these despatches that, the next day
Dec. 9. ^j. pinckney's arrival, he and Monroe had waited to-
gether on De la Croix, the French minister of Foreign
Affairs, agreeably to an intimation previously given to
Monroe, and had delivered Pinckney his letters of
credence, and Monroe his letters of recall. The min-
ister received them with great stiffness ; but, relaxing a
little, promised to lay these documents before the Direct
ory, and to send Pinckney and his secretary " letters of
hospitalit}7," without which no stranger could remain at
Paris. Pinckney's letter of credence declared him to be
sent " to maintain that good understanding which, from
the commencement of the alliance, had subsisted between
the two nations, and to efface unfounded impressions,
banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was
at once the evidence and pledge of a friendly union."
0^ la Three days after, De la Croix, without taking any
further notice of Pinckney, sent to Monroe a written
notification that the Directory would not receive another
minister from the United States till after that redress of
grievances which they had a right to expect. Yet
PINCKNEY AT PAKIS. 47
withstanding this break with the American government CHAPTER
there might still subsist between the French republic _
and the American " people" "the affection founded upon . ^79^
former benefits and reciprocal interests — an affection,"
so the note concluded, " which you yourself have taken
a pleasure in cultivating by every means in your power."
The next morning Pinckney wrote to De la Croix, Dec. 13.
lo know if it were the wish of the Directory that he
should quit the territories of the republic immediately,
or whether he might remain till he heard from America.
At the same time he expressed his regret at the deter-
mination of the Directory — for the knowledge of which,
as he had received notice of it himself, he acknowledged
his indebtedness to the politeness of Mr. Monroe, who
had not even been asked to make the communication.
To Pinckney's private secretary, by whose hand this
note was sent, De la Croix stated that, since the recall
of Monroe, the Directory knew no American minister.
As to Pinckney's going or staying, he would obtain
orders from the Directory, and then send an answer. A Dec. »6
secretary of De la Croix's informed Pinckney, two or
three days after, that, as the Directory did not intend to
acknowledge him as minister, and did not mean to give
him leave to stay, he would fall under the general law
forbidding strangers to reside at Paris without special
permission ; but upon Pinckney's suggesting that his
baggage had not yet arrived from Bordeaux, and desir-
ing to be informed whether he might wait for it, the
secretary promised that the Directory should be consult-
ed The answer he said would probably be given through
the minister of police. But to this Pinckney decidedly
objected. He insisted upon his diplomatic character
made known to the French government by his letters
of credence delivered to and received by their Secretary
48 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHATTER of State ; and that though ordered to quit the French
. 1 territories, he was still entitled to a passport and let-
1796. ters °f sa^e conduct, granted to ministers even in case of
war, and to which his claim was so much the stronger
as the two nations were still at peace. Here the matter
rested for some time, the French government waiting
probably to hear the result of the presidential election
Dec. 26 "When Pinckney sent his secretary again to De la Croix,
he disavowed the promise made by his messenger to
consult the Directory ; expressed great surprise that
Pinckney was not satisfied ; and intimated that, if he
did not depart soon, the minister of police would be in
formed of the fact. He declined however to give any
order in writing for Pinckney's departure, who resolved
to remain till his passports were sent, or some other un-
equivocal step were taken.
While Pinckney was thus treated with studied neg-
lect and insult, the facile Monroe was made to figure in
a new scene — an epilogue fitly corresponding to the pro-
logue of his fraternal reception. His recall had wiped
away all the temporary suspicions against him, and had
satisfied the Directory that he really was, what he had
ever professed to be, enthusiastically devoted to France.
It was hardly, however, as a personal compliment to
Monroe that the present scene was got up, but rather
as a direct insult to the American government and their
new minister, and as a signal thrown out to the French
uec. 'jo party in the United States. Honored with a formal re-
ception by the Directory to present his letters of recall
and to take his leave, Monroe struck an agreeable note
by warmly acknowledging " the important services
rendered by France to America." He congratulated the
republic on her victories, and on "the dawn of pros-
perity under the auspices of a wise and excellent (Jon
COMPLIMENTS TO MONROE. 49
stitution ;" expressing his earnest wishes for that " close CHAP FIR
union and perfect harmony" between France and Ameri- _
ca, the promotion of which had been his sole object in
accepting the mission, and, since his acceptance of it, the
object of his "utmost exertions."
Monroe had been so unfortunate as to have fallen un-
der the displeasure of Washington, from whom he had
derived his appointment ; but for this he found com-
pensation in the approval and applause of Barras, presi-
dent of the Directory. " Mr Minister Plenipotentiary
of the United States of America"— such was the reply
of Barras — " in presenting this day to the Executive Di-
rectory your letter of recall, you offer a very strange
spectacle to Europe. Kich in her freedom, surrounded
by the train of her victories, strong in the esteem of her
allies, France will not stoop to calculate the consequences
of the condescension of the American government to the
wishes of its ancient tyrants. The French republic ex-
pects, however, that the successors of Columbus, Haleigh,
and Penn, always proud of their liberty, will never for-
get that they owe it to France. They will weigh in
their wisdom the magnanimous friendship of the French
people with the crafty caresses of perfidious men, who
meditate to bring them again under their former yoke.
Assure the good people of America, Mr. Minister, that,
like them, we admire liberty ; that they will always
possess our esteem, and find in the French people that
republican generosity which knows how to grant peace
as well as how to cause its sovereignty to be respected.
As for you, Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary, you have ever
battled for principles ; you have known the true interest
of your country. Depart with our regret We restore
in you a representative to America; we preserve the
V.— I)
50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
remembrance of a citizen whose personal qualities did
honor to that title."
1797 While Monroe was dismissed in these flattering
terms, the position of Pinckney was uncomfortable
enough. The insolence of the French republic grew
with its victories. While Hoche was preparing t«> invade
Ireland, where the United Irishmen were ready to join
him, Bonaparte in Italy was overwhelming the Austrians
with repeated defeats. Thirteen foreign ministers had
been already sent off. The republic of Genoa had been
obliged to renounce its neutrality, and to purchase pardon
for having attempted to preserve it by the payment of
nearly a million of dollars. Talleyrand, late a refugee
in America, but recently returned to France, had told the
Directory, so Pinckney was informed, that the United
States were of no greater consequence and need be
treated with no greater ceremony than Genoa. News
having reached Paris of Bonaparte's great victory at
Bivoli, securing, by the repulse of Alvinzi, the surrender
of Mantua and the possession of all Northern Italy ; and
Washington's speech at the opening of the late session
of Congress, having also arrived, together with the an-
Jan. 25. swer of the Senate ; De la Croix, in the name of the Di-
rectory, notified Pinckney that, having already resided
in Paris nearly two months without special permission, he
had become amenable to the law. Having thus- obtained
that dismissal in writing which he deemed essential,
Pinckney wrote the next day for passports, and having
F*b. 3. obtained them, speedily departed for Holland.
Meanwhile the French cruisers were busily employed
in giving new proofs of that u republican generosity" of
which Barras had boasted in his farewell to Monroe.
Constant captures were made of American vessels, OD
the ground of having enemy's property on board. When
FRENCH DEPREDATIONS* 51
carried into France tlie validity of these prize? was de- CHAPTER
termined, in the first instance, by a new set of local tri-
bunals lately erected, and principally composed of mer- 1797.
cantile men, many of whom were themselves interested
in privateers, and who made it a point to condemn, on
some pretext or other, almost every vessel brought in.
If an appeal were taken to the High Court of Cassation,
the law officer of the Directory was authorized to refer
the whole case to the minister of justice, in order that
the opinion of the government might be taken. Thus
the final decision depended, not upon any treaty provis-
ions or established rules of international law, nor upon
any principles of justice or equity, but upon the policy
of the government for the time being. Pretenses, in-
deed, had been lately set up sufficient to insure the con-
demnation of every American vessel. An old ante-
.Revolutionary ordinance authorized French ships of war
to arrest and bring in as pirates all vessels not having a
role $ equipage, that is, articles containing a list of the
crew, signed by the seamen, and countersigned by some
public officer. But as no such counter-signature was re-
quired by the American law, no American vessel had it.
Another of these old ordinances required, as a necessary
proof of neutrality, a national sea-letter, a document lit-
tle known in America, and with which vessels were never
provided except when bound upon some new voyage
among barbarous nations. The treaty between France
and the United States had, indeed, specified the form of
a passport to serve in time of war as proof of the na-
tionality of French and American vessels ; but to pass-
ports in that form it was now objected, that as the treaty
had been set aside, the Americans must conform to the
standing French law above referred to. Merlin, minis-
ter of justice, the same who, as president of the Conven-
62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tion, had given to Monroe the fraternal embrace, and
who was believed to be himself largely interested as a
1797. secret partner in privateers, wrote a treatise, of which
the object was to show that the want of a sea-letter was
good ground of capture. What was most mortifying of
all, several of the privateers by which the most import-
ant captures were made had been fitted out and were
commanded by Americans, sharers in the enthusiasm of
citizens Monroe and Barney for the French republic, and
who, in their eagerness to punish and plunder the ene-
mies of France, were constantly stimulating the Direct-
ory to new extravagances and new decrees. The French
consuls at Malaga and Cadiz, who exercised the authori-
ty of courts of admiralty, and the special agents of the
Directory in the "West Indies, outdid even the domestic
tribunals. Of these vessels thus condemned, the crews
were placed in confinement, and treated with all the
harshness of prisoners of war.
Mar 25. Upon the receipt of Pinckney's despatches, a proclama-
tion was immediately issued convening a special session
of Congress. The outrages and insults of the French Di-
rectory were not without their effect upon public opinion.
The Aurora, and the more zealous partisans of France,
still labored to throw all the blame of the French captures,
and of the insults to Pinckney and the American gov-
ernment, on Jay's treaty ; but among the more moderate
and rational part of the community enthusiastic par-
tiality for France began to decline. It could not but
have a certain effect upon the merchants that, almost
simultaneously with the increase of French captures,
commenced the issue, by the commissioners under Jay's
treaty, of decrees of compensation for former British
captures. The French and American flags intertwined,
which, cut in tin, had ornamented for three years the
JEFFERSON'S MAZZEI LETTER. . -53
coffee- rooms in New York where the merchants were CHAPTER
accustomed to assemble, after having been the occasion .._..
of several quarrels, were now finally removed by a
formal vote of the proprietors.
This change of sentiment was perceptible, also, in the
congressional election going on in Virginia, as well as in
the state election of Massachusetts. Induced by increas-
ing age and waning popularity, Samuel Adams had de-
clined a re-election as governor, and Increase Sumner,
the candidate of the Federalists, was elected by a- decided April
majority. The opposition vote was divided between
Gill, the late lieutenant governor, and James Sullivan,
the attorney general, a brother of the late General Sul-
livan, of New Hampshire, one of the few New England
men of distinguished talents and social eminence who
arranged themselves on the so-called Eepublican side.
Nor was the cause of the opposition much aided by
the appearance in print just at this moment of Jeffer- May
son's famous letter to Mazzei, of which that gentleman
had published an Italian translation in a newspaper at
Florence, whence the Moniteur, the omcial paper of the
French government, had given a version in French, as
proof that the views of the Directory were shared by
some of the most virtuous and enlightened citizens of
America, and as affording ground to hope that the late
vigorous proceedings of the French government might
give rise to discussions leading to a triumph of "the
party of good Eepublicans, the friends of France." This
letter to Mazzei, the material parts of which there has
been already occasion to quote, amounted, in fact, to a
general endorsement, under Jefferson's own hand, of all
the charges against "Washington and his administration,
lately urged in the Aurora, Argus, Chronicle, and other
Democratic organs ; and its publication brought to a
54 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
t-
c.u AFTER final end the hitherto friendly, though of late somewhat
. ceremonious intercourse between Washington and Jef-
1797 ferson. Professions of friendship to his face, and secret
aspersions behind his back, were what Washington
could not endure. It has even been reported and exten-
sively believed — though when this report, at the end of
some twenty-seven years, finally got into print, Jeffer-
son, in a letter to Mr. Yan Buren (June 29, 1824,) most
strenuously denied it — that the publication of the letter
to Mazzei drew out from Washington a very sharp re-
buke, and from Jefferson a humble and submissive apol-
ogy ; letters, so it was alleged, which disappeared mysteri-
ously from among Washington's papers by the supposed
agency of Tobias Lear, his private secretary, with whom
Jefferson appears to have maintained a confidential inter-
tercourse, and to whom he gave a foreign diplomatic
appointment shortly after his accession to the presidency.
Even apart from Jefferson's positive denial, the evidence
of the above story is wholly insufficient ; yet Jefferson's
attempt, in the letter in which that denial was made, to
show that the letter to Mazzei contained no allusions to
Washington ; that the reference to " the Samsons in the
field and the Solomons in the council, whose heads had
been shorn by the harlot England," was meant for the
Cincinnati generally ; and that Washington must have
perfectly understood that those phrases could not have
any application to himself, must be pronounced a palpable
after-thought. Such was not Jefferson's opinion at the
A.ug. 3. time of the publication ; for, in a cotemporaneous letter
to Madison, he gave as reasons for his entire silence in
public as to the Mazzei letter, that he could not deny il
to be his, because, though badly translated, it was his in
substance, while to avow it, so the letter continued,
"would render proofs of the whole necessary, and dravz
DECREE AGAINST AMERICAN COMMERCE. 55
me at length into a publication of all, even the secret CHAPTER
transactions of the administration while I was of it, and
embroil me personally with every member of the execu- 1797.
tive, with the judiciary, and others still ;" nor could it
be avowed without bringing on, such is Jefferson's ex-
press statement, " a personal difference between General
Washington and myself, which nothing before the pub-
lication of this letter had ever done. It would embroil
me, also, with all those with whom his character is still
popular, that is to say, nine-tenths of the people of the
United States," Had it been only the Cincinnati who
were aimed at — a subterfuge not then thought of — it
could hardly have been necessary for Jefferson to have
labored so hard as he did to convince Madison that it
could not justly be inferred from his silence that he was
afraid to avow the general sentiments of the letter.
The Directory had signified their disgust at the fail-
ure of Jefferson to be elected president by the issue, so
soon as that information had been received, of a decree March 2.
against American commerce, purporting to define the
authority granted to the French cruisers by the decree
of July 2, 1796. By this decree which reached the May 10
United States just before the meeting of Congress, the
treaty with America was declared to be so far modified
as to leave American vessels and their cargoes liable to
capture for any cause recognized as lawful ground of
capture by the British treaty. By an additional and
most extraordinary provision, any Americans found
serving on board hostile armed vessels were to be treated
as pirates, even although they might plead compulsion
in excuse. In other words, American citizens impressed
by the British were made liable to be hanged by the
French. Violent as the Democratic papers were, and
justly enough too, against British impressment, they
56 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAFFER had not a word to say against this most extraordinary
__ '_ _ French offset to that practice. This decree, in its prac-
1797 ^cal application, proved much more fatal to American
commerce than might have been supposed from its terms,
it being construed by the French tribunals into a justifi-
cation of the capture of American vessels for not having
a role d'equipage. " It was intended" so, some time after
its issue, wrote Barlow to his brother-in-law Baldwin,
" to be little short of a declaration of war." " The gov-
ernment here," such was the statement of this recreant
American, " was determined to fleece you to a sufficient
degree, to bring you to your feeling in the only nerve
in which your sensibility lay, which was your pecuniary
interest."
The idea, indeed, of a war with France was far from
being agreeable to anybody. Though, among the more
reflecting part of the community, enthusiasm in her favor
had greatly subsided, fear and dread had replaced it.
France at this time was terrible alike to her friends and
her enemies. The so-called patriotic or Eepublican
party in Holland, having called in the French to help
in overturning the old government, had become their
submissive tools, compelled to register their edicts, and
to find them money whenever called upon. Spain, since
her alliance with France, was hardly more independent.
Both Spain and Holland, as appeared from the papers
laid before Congress along with Pinckney's despatches,
taking their cue from France, had already begun to com
plain of the provisions of the British treaty on the sub-
ject of contraband and the seizure of enemy's goods in
American vessels, as infractions of their rights under
their treaties with the United States, of which the pro-
visions on these subjects were similar to those of the
treaty with France. In delaying to give up the posts on
VIEWS OF HAMILTON. 57
the Mississippi, and in postponing the joint survey of CHAPTER
the Florida boundary, Spain was believed to act by the '
instigation of the French Directory, suspected of intend- -\^^\
ing to obtain for themselves a cession of Louisiana and
the Floridas, as they already had done of the eastern
part of Hispaniola. A French agent had lately been
arrested in Kentucky, sent thither, as was believed, by
Adet, to renew the former intrigue for the separation of
the Western country from the American Union, and its
junction with Louisiana. Implacable towards England,
France had required Hamburg to break off all commerce
with her ; and the same demand had been extended to
Bremen and to Denmark. The fate of Genoa, in being
compelled to relinquish her neutrality, has already been
referred to. Hoche's expedition against Ireland had
failed ; but Bonaparte was pressing hard upon the last
remaining ally of Great Britain, and Austria, it was
plain, would soon be forced to a peace. Discouraged
by the bad success of her allies, Great Britain herself
had for some time been attempting to negotiate. What
might be the fate of the United States if, with a violent
French faction in their own bosom, a general peace
should be concluded in Europe, leaving the American
difficulties with France unsettled, and the sister republic
at liberty to send thither a fraternizing army under
Hoche or Bonaparte ?
How moderate were the views of the leading Federal-
ists, is apparent from a letter of Hamilton to Wolcott, March 3C
written some six weeks before the meeting of Congress,
and very shortly after the arrival of Pinckney 's despatch-
es : u It has been a considerable time my wish," so reads
this letter, " that a commission extraordinary should be
constituted to go to France. I was particularly anxious
that the first measure of the new president's administra-
68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tion should have been that ; but it has not so happened.
'_ I still continue to wish earnestly that the same measure
1 797 may go into effect, and that the meeting of the Senate
may be accelerated for that purpose. Without opening
a new channel of negotiation, it seems to me the door of
accommodation is shut, and rupture will fallow if not
prevented by a general peace. Who, indeed, can be cer-
tain that a general pacification of Europe may not leave
us alone to receive the law from France ? Will it be
wise to omit anything to parry, if possible, these great
risks ? But the Directory have declared that they will
not receive a minister till their grievances shall have been
redressed. This can hardly mean more than that they
will not receive a resident minister. It cannot mean
that they will not hear an extraordinary messenger, whc
may even be sent to know what will satisfy. But sup-
pose they do. It will still be well to convince the peo-
ple that the government has done all in its power, and
that the Directory are unreasonable. But the enemies
of the government call for the measure. To me, this is
a very strong reason for pursuing it. It will meet them
on their own ground, and disarm them of the plea that
something has been omitted. I ought, my good friend,
to apprize you, for you may learn it from no other, that
a suspicion begins to dawn among the friends of the gov-
ernment that the actual administration (ministers) is not
averse from a war with France. How very important
to obviate this. As in the case of England, so now, my
opinion is to exhaust the expedient of negotiation, and,
at the same time, to prepare vigorously for the worst.
This is sound policy. Any omission or deficiency either
way will be a great error."
Wolcott, whose remonstrances, as we have seen, had
contributed to prevent the institution of such a mission
VIEWS OF WOLCOTT. ¥
as Hamilton wished, was hardly ready to yield to these CHAPTER
suggestions. He was not satisfied that the government
had not already done all that the occasion justified. The 1797.
demands of France required, so he thought, a surrender
of national independence, not to be yielded except to the
most extreme necessity. " The idea," so he wrote in March 31,
reply, "of a commission consisting of Mr. Madison, or
any one like him, I must own to you, is one which I can
never adopt without the utmost reluctance. I have no
confidence in Mr. Madison ; he has been a frequenter of
Adet's political parties. I have just been informed that
Adet has suggested the idea of sending this gentleman.
We know that the French count upon the support of a
party in this country, and so shameless is the faction
grown, that positive proof of a devotion to French views
is with many no injury to a man's popularity. If the
government suffers France to dictate what description of
men shall be appointed to foreign courts, our country is
undone. From that moment the confidence of all the
old-fashioned, honorable, and virtuous men of the interior
is irrevocably lost." "I have no objection to sending a
man of neutral politics, if he is a man of sincere firmness
and integrity. General Pinckney is of this description.
If a commission is generally preferred, it is a point, per-
haps, not to be contested ; but how can the commission
be composed ? From what was on the point of being
done, I presume Mr. Cabot can not be brought forward.
If a man of his principles were to be associated with Mr.
Madison, either nothing would be done, or something
worse than nothing. Mr. Madison would insist upon a
submission to France; or would obstruct a settlemen
and throw the disgrace of failure upon the friends of gov
ernment. • The present is a moment of apparent tran-
quillity, but I conjecture it is a calm which forebodes a
60 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER hurricane. The executive will either find a strong and
___J steady gale from one point, or be assailed with a tornado
1 797 which will throw every thing into confusion. I predict
that no treaty, no compromise, no concession will afford
security , Bevenue is essential, and there will, I fear, be
insuperable objections started by the friends and ene-
mies of government. Credit has been abused and ex-
hausted in senseless speculations.
"You know that I am accustomed to respect your
opinions, and, at any rate, I am not so ignorant of the
extent of your influence with the friends of government
as not to be sensible that if you are known to favor the
sending of a commission, either nothing will be done, or
your opinion will prevail. In this case, what will be
the objection of sending Mr. Ingersoll of this city, or
some such character, to be united with General Pinckney
and John Quincy Adams, or with Mr. Murray, to ren-
dezvous at Amsterdam until the consent of France to
renew negotiations can be obtained ? Is a direct mission
to France, of which Madison is to be a member, in your
view indispensable ?
" I should be sorry if the friends of government should
consider me, or any of the public officers, as desirous of
producing a war with France, because I should consider
this as evidence that our affairs are desperate. If the
public pulse does not beat higher than that of govern-
ment, all is over. So far as individual characters are
affected, public opinion is of no consequence ; but the
public opinion in regard to measures is of the utmost
consequence. There ought to be a zeal for strenuous
measures, and this zeal ought to be an engine in the
hands of the executive for preserving peace. I think I
can assure you that the movements of our political ma-
chine can not be adjusted to a minute scale, and that if
YIEWS OF HAMILTON. 61
the direction is attempted to be varied, its future course CHAPTER
will be nearly opposite to the present." This last para- '
graph is well worthy of notice as a remarkable specimen 179 7.
of political sagacity.
"I hope nothing in my last letter," wrote Hamilton April 6.
in reply, " was misunderstood. Could it be necessary, I
would assure you that no one has a stronger conviction
than myself of the purity of the motives which direct
your public conduct, or of the good sense and judgment
by which it is guided. If I have a fear (you will excuse
my frankness), it is lest the strength of your feelings, the
companion of energy of character, should prevent that
pliancy to circumstances which is sometimes indispens-
able.
" The situation of our country is singularly critical.
There is too much reason to apprehend that the Emperor
of Germany, in danger from Eussia and Prussia, and
perhaps from -the Porte, maybe compelled to yield to
the views of France. England, standing alone, may be
compelled to yield also. It is certain that great con-
sternation in court and country attends the intelligence
of Bonaparte's last victories. To be in rupture with
France, united with England alone, or singly as is pos-
sible, would be a most unwelcome situation. Divided
as we are, who can say what would be hazarded by it ?
In such a situation, it appears to me, we should rather
err on the side of condescension than on the opposite
side. We ought to do every thing to avoid rupture
without unworthy sacrifices, and to keep in view, as a
primary object, union at home. No measure can tend
more to this than an extraordinary mission. To fulfill
the ends proposed, it is certain that it ought to embrace
a character in whom France and the opposition have full
reliance. What risk car attend sending Madison, if
02 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER combined, as I propose, with Pinckney, or Cabot, or
' such, a man ? Pinckney is a man of honor, and loves
1 797 his country. Cabot we both know. Besides, there ought
to be certain leading instructions from which they may
not deviate. I agree with you that we have nothing to
retract; that we ought to risk every thing before we
submit to dishonorable terms. But we may remold our
treaties. We may agree to put France on the same foot-
ing with Great Britain by our treaty with her. "We may
also liquidate, with a view to future wars, the import of
the mutual guarantee in the treaty of alliance, substitut-
ing specific succors, and defining the casus fcederis. This
last may or may not be done, though, with me, it is a
favorite object. Ingersoll will not answer the purpose ;
but I had rather have him than do nothing. If Madison
is well coupled, I do not think his intrigues can operate
as you imagine. Should he advocate dishonorable con
cessions to France, the public opinion will not support
him. His colleagues, by address, and showing a dis-
position to do enough, may easily defeat his policy and
maintain the public confidence. Besides, it is possible
that too much may be taken for granted with regard to
Mr. Madison."
While the sending of a new mission to France was
thus zealously urged in his private correspondence by
Hamilton, a similar course was warmly recommended
by the leaders of the opposition, to whom the news of
Pinckney's expulsion from France had given a certain
March 30. shock. An article in the Aurora, very different from
the usual ribald style of that journal, and which, from
internal evidence, was ascribed to Madison, apologized
for the refusal to receive Pinckney on the ground that,
as the Directory had suspended their ordinary minister
here, they could not receive an ordinary minister from
FIFTH CONG-RESS. 63
the United States. It was therefore urged that what CHAPTER
was done in the case of Great Britain should be imitated ~
now, and that, "suitably to the solemnity of the occa- 1797,
sion," an envoy extraordinary should be appointed, to
carry with him the " temper and sensibilities of the
country."
Though the president had already made up his mind
10 send an extraordinary mission, he still conformed to
the practice of "Washington in taking the written opin-
ions of his cabinet. Wolcott retained his original opin-
ion as to the expediency. of a new mission, and Pick-
ering coincided with him. Pickering, indeed, from his
naturally inflexible temper, was liable, even more than
Wolcott, to the danger suggested by Hamilton, that the
strength of his feelings might prevent that pliability to
circumstances which is sometimes indispensable in poli-
tics. They consented, indeed, to the appointment of
ministers, but were of opinion that they should not enter
France without a passport previously obtained, and a
formal agreement of the French government to a renewal
of negotiations.
On the day fixed by the president's proclamation, a May ia
full quorum of both houses of Congress assembled at
Philadelphia. The Senate, which, during the greater
part of Washington's administration, had been so equally
divided that many important measures had been carried
by the casting vote of the vice-president, had now a de-
cided Federal majority. What would be the character
of the House was considered uncertain. That body had
undergone considerable changes. Ames had retired on
account of his health. Madison, also, had declined a re-
election, but his retirement was the less felt by his party,
inasmucn as the superior promptitude and audacity of
Gallatin had completely taken the leadership out of his
64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER hands — a circumstance, possibly, which had contributed
' to his retirement. Page, also, had ceased to be a mem-
1797 ber. Among the old members on the Federal side were
Goodrich and Griswold, of Connecticut ; Dayton, of New
Jersey ; Hartley, Kittera, and Sitgreaves, of Pennsylva-
nia ; and Harper and Smith, of South Carolina. Among
the new members on this side were Harrison Gray Otis,
the successor of Ames, and Isaac Parker and Samuel
Sewall, both afterwards chief justices of Massachusetts,
of whom the former had superseded Dearborn ; James
A. Bayard, of Delaware, and John Eutledge, Jr., of
South Carolina. That Kutledge should vote with the
Federalists, and thus make an equal division of the dele-
gation from South Carolina, was very disagreeable to
Jefferson. General Morgan, distinguished in the Kevo-
lutionary war, one of the new members from Virginia,
after a little wavering finally joined the Federalists.
The opposition could count of old members, Yarnum,
of Massachusetts ; Livingston, of New York ; Gallatin.
Findley, and Swan wick, of Pennsylvania ; Samuel Smith,
of Maryland, who had now finally settled down on the
Eepublican side ; Giles, Nicholas, Parker, and Yenable,
of Virginia ; Macon, of North Carolina ; and Baldwin,
of Georgia. Sumter, of South Carolina, who had been
a member of the first and second Congress, now also
again reappeared in the ranks of the opposition. Among
the new opposition members were Matthew Lyon, of
Yermont, and Blair M'Clenachan, of Pennsylvania.
Neither party could be said to have a majority. Every-
thing depended upon a few wavering individuals, to
gain over whom both sides made every exertion. Day-
ton, a very ambitious man, who strove as far as possible
to please both sides, was re-elected speaker. The old
clerk Bexley, a warm partisan of the opposition, and
PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. 65
saspected, on good grounds, of having furnished ma- CHAPTER
terials for some of the bitter personal newspaper attacks
on Washington, was, much to the delight of the Federal- 1797.
ists, superseded by a single vote.
The president's speech began with what has since be-
come the regular formula for the commencement of such
documents — devout congratulations on the public pros-
Derity ; after which followed an account of the treatment
experienced by Pinckney. " As it is often necessary,"
so the speech continued, " that nations should treat for
the mutual advantage of their affairs, and especially to
accommodate and terminate differences, and as they can
treat only by ministers, the right of embassy is well
known and established by the law of nations. The re-
fusal on the part of France to receive our minister is,
then, the denial of a right; but the refusal to receive
him until we have acceded to their demands, without dis-
cussion and without investigation, is to treat us neither
as allies nor as friends, nor as a sovereign state.'7
" With this conduct of the French government, it will
be proper to take into view the public audience given to
the late minister of the United States on his taking leave
of the Executive Directory. The speech of the president
discloses sentiments more alarming than the refusal of a
minister, because more dangerous to our independence
and union, and, at the same time, studiously marked with
indignities toward the government of the United States.
It evinces a disposition to separate the people from the
government, to persuade the people that they have differ-
ent affections, principles, and interests from those of theii
fellow-citizens, whom they themselves have chosen to
manage their common concerns, and thus to produce
divisions fatal to our peace. Such attempts ought to be
repelled with a decision which shall convince France and
V—E
66 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the world that we are not a degraded peopler humiliated
L under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fit-
1797 ted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence,
and regardless of national honor, character, and interest,"
Yet notwithstanding these injuries, a desire was ex-
pressed, in which Congress and the people were presumed
to concur, to preserve peace and friendship with all na-
tions; and in the belief that neither the honor nor the
interest of the United States absolutely forbade the rep-
etition of advances to France, the intention was stated
to send thither a new mission. At the same time the
president pressed upon Congress the creation of a navy?
as, " next to the militia, the natural defense of the United
States ;" the fortification of harbors ; the passage of laws
authorizing, under proper regulations, the arming of mer-
chant vessels in their own defense — a practice hitherto
not permitted, except in case of vessels bound to the East
Indies. It was also recommended to enact severe pun-
ishments against the " unnatural and iniquitous practices"
of building privateers in the United States to cruise against
American commerce, and against the serving of Ameri-
can citizens on board of such privateers.
" For myself," the speech concluded, " having never
been indifferent to what concerned the interest of my
country ; devoted the best part of my life to obtain and
support its independence ; and having constantly wit-
nessed the patriotism, fidelity, and perseverance of my
fellow-citizens on the most trying occasions, it is not for
me to hesitate, or to abandon a cause in which my heart
has been so long engaged.
" Convinced that the conduct of the government has
been just and impartial to foreign nations; that those
internal regulations which have been established by law
for the preservation of peace are in their nature proper,
ANSWERS TO THE SPEECH. 6V
and that they have been fairly executed, nothing will CHAPTER
ever be done by me to impair the national engagements ; '
to innovate upon principles which have been so deliber- 1797.
ately and uprightly established ; or to surrender in any
manner the rights of the government. To enable me
to maintain this declaration, I rely, under God, with en-
tire confidence on the firm and enlightened support of
the national Legislature, and upon the virtue and patriot-
ism of my fellow-citizens."
This declaration of fixed purpose to persevere in the
policy of the late administration dashed at once the hopes
of the opposition of separating the new president from
the Federal party ; and forthwith the Aurora, lately so
full of compliments, commenced to assail him as "presi-
dent by three votes."
The Senate found no difficulty in agreeing to an an-
swer, which, on the whole, notwithstanding some soft
sentences, was fully responsive to the speech. A mo-
tion to strike out a clause of it, declaring the Senate's
perfect union with the president, was lost by the deci-
sive vote of eleven to sixteen, and vice-president Jefferson May ».
thus found himself obliged to put his signature to a doc-
ument to which his own sentiments by no means corre-
sponded. The arrival of additional senators increased
the Federal majority by two or three votes. Even the
waverers in the House did not escape the influence of
the president's firm and decided tone, and the answer, as
originally reported, echoed back the sentiments of the
speech with tolerable distinctness. This, however, was
a tone in which the opposition did not desire to speak ;
and Nicholas moved a number of amendments, of which May 2?
the object was to avoid any express approval of the policy
hitherto pursued by the government, or the use of any
strong expressions, such % might increase the anger of
68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
•CHAPTER the offended Directory. One of these amendments con
' tained a suggestion that an offer should be made to place
1797. France, as to contraband and enemies' goods, upon the
same ground conceded to Great Britain in the late treaty,
and the expression of a hope that this offer might prove
satisfactory.
Those same gentlemen of the opposition who, twelve
months before, in arguing for the rejection of Jay's
treaty, had spoken so lightly of a war with Great Brit-
ain, seemed now to be exceedingly impressed with the
calamities which must attend a war with France. Sen-
sitive as they had been to injury or insult from Great
Britain, toward France they exhibited a most saint-like
patience. Nicholas, so he said, felt the insult to Pinck-
ney ; but he thought it very necessary to get rid of that
irritation which injury produces, and to proceed in the
most calm and dispassionate manner. He argued at
length to show that the insult to Pinckney was not so
great after all; that the real causes of his rejection were
that his letters of credence made no special mention of
the complaints recently urged by the French, and his
being invested with no extraordinary powers to negotiate
on that subject. " It might, perhaps, be the opinion of
some that he was improperly influenced by party zeal in
favor of the French — a zeal which had been blazoned
forth as existing in an immoderate degree in this coun-
try. But where was the proof of this charge ? For his
own part, he had no intercourse with the French but
of the commonest kind. On his first coming into this
House the French were embroiled with all their neigh-
bors, who were endeavoring to tear them to pieces.
Knowing what had been the situation of this country
when engaged in a similar cause, he was anxious for
their success. And was there not reason for anxiety
HOUSE DEBATE ON THE ANSWER. 6fl
when a nation, contending for the right of self-govern- CHAPTER
ment, was thus attacked ? especially since it was well .
known that if the powers engaged against France had 1797.
proved successful, this country would have been their
next object. Had they not the strongest proof, in the
declaration of one of the British colonial governors, that
it was the intention of England to declare war against
America, in case of the successful termination of the war
against France ? He would mention another reason for
his sensibility in favor of the French cause, and that was
because he found so much indifference to it in this part
of the Union. He could not tell how it was that a dis-
position unfavorable to republicanism had arisen here.
He shuddered for his country when he found such a dis-
position prevailing in any part of it ; and it was to coun-
teract this disposition that he opposed a contrary zeal,
though he was not conscious of having been over-zealous.J;
"While allowing all due weight to this defence against
the charge of belonging to a French faction, we ought,
at the same time, in justice to the Federalists, to recol-
lect the grounds on which Nicholas and his friends had
maintained the existence, in the United States, of an
English anti-Republican faction, controlling, as they al-
leged, the policy of the government. The slightest dis-
play of moderation toward Great Britain had sufficed
with them as foundation for the charge of being under
British influence. To have opposed Madison's resolu-
tions for discriminations against British commerce — to
have been in favor of Jay's treaty, were, in their eyes,
proofs entirely sufficient to establish this imputation.
But if British influence could thus be proved, was not
the argument equally good, and ten times as strong, for
the existence of a French influence, especially against a
man like Nicholas, who proceeded to argue, in the con-
70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER elusion of his speech, in the very track of Adet and the
French Directory, that, by ratifying Jay's treaty, the
1797 United States had abandoned the position of neutrality,
and had given to France just cause of complaint ?
In reply to Nicholas, Smith, of South Carolina, main*
tained " that the insult to Pinckney was plainly a stud-
ied one. The French government were resolved to use
this country as an instrument for ruining the commerce
of Great Britain — an object on which they had set theii
hearts as the only means of bringing that country to
terms. The French were attempting to make the same
use of all the neutral nations; and this object they
hoped to accomplish here as elsewhere, by establishing
among us a secret predominating influence more danger
ous than invasion, because more insidious. The treaty
with Great Britain was but a pretext. The Directory
had been led to believe that the government and the
peopfle of the United States were at odds, and that, could
they succeed in overturning the existing administra-
tion, it was in their power to demand and to obtain any
terms they chose. To adopt, in this state of things, a
weak, timid, hesitating address, would strengthen this
belief, and invite to a perseverance in the present course
of insults and injuries. He valued unanimity as much
as any body. He was sensible of its peculiar importance
at the present juncture. But it might be purchased at
too dear a sacrifice, and he would rather have only a bare
majority for the address as reported, than its unanimous
adoption as it was proposed to be amended. If that was
all the gentlemen on the other side proposed doing at
this extraordinary session, the calling of Congress to-
gether would prove the most humiliating, the most ca-
lamitous measure ever adopted. Better, indeed, had the
members remained at home, and there, in secret silence,
HOUSE DEBATE ON THE ANSWER. 71
smothered their resentments and mourned over the dis- CHAPTER
v
honor of their country, than to be thus collected from all '
parts of the Union as fellow-witnesses to their own shame, 1797,
and to the indignities offered to their country, without
the power or even the spirit to resent them, A course
so pregnant with humiliation he could not regard as
possible, and he confidently hoped that as our country
had always displayed her justice, so both sides of the
House would unite to exhibit her as not inferior in for-
titude and in firmness."
Rutledge opposed the amendments, because, by under-
taking to dictate the course of the new negotiation, they
interfered with the rights of the executive. Griswold in-
sisted that the substance of them was an apology for the
conduct of France, and a reliance entirely on her spirit of
conciliation for an adjustment of the existing differences.
Baldwin had always been in favor, so he said, of ad- May 23.
dresses as ambiguous as possible, making a decent an-
swer to the president, but not committing the House ;
and it was on this ground that he based his support of
the amendments. He was entirely opposed to these ad-
dresses at the commencement of a session, by which the
House was prematurely committed to a special course
of policy.
Otis (the successor of Ames, and a nephew of the fa-
mous James Otis, of the Stamp Act times) " agreed that,
on ordinary occasions, such ambiguous addresses might
be very proper. But this was not an ordinary case.
What we now wanted was a new declaration of inde-
pendence, not less endangered by the pretensions of the
French Directory than it had been in former times by
the pretensions of Lord North.
" The injuries we endured were atrocious — the cap-
ture of our vessels, depredations on the persons and prop-
72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER erty of our citizens, indignity offered to our minister, re-
__^1__ fusal to treat further, unless the complaints of the Direc-
1797. t°ry> without exception and without explanation, should
first be redressed — in other words, unless we would vio-
late treaties, repeal statutes, and do what the Constitu-
tion would not allow vacate solemn judgments of the
courts of law.
" He regretted that old party questions had been drag-
ged into this debate. He called upon members to forget
old party differences, and to unite in defense of the rights
of America. That the French had once been our friends,
or because the commencement of their Eevolution had
been a struggle for liberty, was no reason for foregoing
the assertion of our rights, or for smothering a just and
dignified expression of our sensibility to insult. There
was a time when he himself had been filled with enthu-
siasm for the French Eevolution. While civil liberty
appeared to be its object, he had cherished it. But that
object of the Ke volution he considered now to be com-
pletely achieved. The war was continued, not for liber-
ty, but for conquest and aggrandisement, to which he
did not believe that it was our interest to contribute.
Though the measure of defense recommended by the
president did* not look necessarily to war, nor tend to
produce it, as had been argued on the other side, yet,
considering the policy of conduct adopted by France,
and the uncertainty of negotiation, it was necessary to
be ready. The Southern gentlemen would do well to
bear in mind that no part of the country stood so much
in need of defense as their own. A hostile invasion,
bringing the seeds of revolution with it, might excite
there a war of the most dreadful kind— a war of slaves
against their masters, thereby endangering that union
of the States so dear to all, and the preservation of which,
HOUSE DEBATE ON THE ANSWER. 73
by toe creation of a national character, ought to be the CHAPTER
great object of all." __!
Swanwick and Livingston, indeed most of the speak- 1797.
ers of the opposition, were inclined to throw all the blame May 24.
of the existing difficulties with France on those who had
voted to sustain Jay's treaty. Livingston, of whom
Goodrich, of Connecticut, wrote in a private letter that
he lived at Philadelphia like a nabob, "though in the
memorable era of scrip," designating thereby a late pe-
riod of speculation, " he committed a fraudulent bank-
ruptcy with others of his family and dignified ]ine of
ancestry" — ran off upon his favorite topic of impress-
ment. Thousands of American seamen, he declared, the
victims of that wrong, were now serving on board Brit-
ish ships. He was checked, however, by Harper, who
reminded him that, as chairman of the Committee on
Impressments in the last Congress, he had been able, with
all his zeal, to produce evidence of only forty -two cases
of impressment during the six months preceding the first
of January, 1796 ; nor did it appear that so many as a
hundred had occurred during the past year that Living-
ston's act for recording all such cases had been in opera-
tion. But Smith, of Maryland, came to Livingston's aid
with renewed declamations on the subject of impressment,
and the assertion that the recorded cases gave but a very
imperfect idea of the extent to which that aggression was
carried. That assertion was probably true ; at the same
time, it was no less true that authentic evidence had been
received of the imprisonment, by the French, of not less
than nine hundred American sailors, some two hundred
of wnom the British had relieved by exchanging them
for French prisoners of war.
Giles insisted that not only the recent French spoila- May 26
tions, but also the late fall in the price of agricultural
74 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER produce, ascribed by others to the abundant harvests in
' Europe, grew out of Jay's treaty, of which he declared
1797 his detestation to be unalterable.
May 29. To all these complaints against that treaty, and tc
the proposal of Nicholas to place France, as to belli ger-
ent rights, on the same footing with .Great Britain, Har-
per emphatically replied that the real ground of French
dissatisfaction was not this or that article of the treaty,
but any treaty, any peace with Great Britain.
It was the policy of France to use us as an instrument
against England, whose naval and commercial greatness
had been, for a century and upward, objects of French
jealousy and hatred. Such being her policy, he never
could believe that it was the intention of her rulers to
drive us into a war with herself, the idea of which was
so alarming to some. France had too much to lose and
too little to gain by such a contest. He had observed in
her councils great wickedness, but no folly ; and to com-
pel this country to become her enemy would be the height
of folly. "We possessed more ships and seamen than any
other nation except Great Britain ; and were we driven
to co-operate with Great Britain, such a union would be
fatal, so far as the American seas were concerned, to the
interests of France and her allies. The Americans, in
such a case, as the French well knew, could and would
lay hold of New Orleans and the Floridas, and they
might even find out the road to Mexico. The object of
the French Directory was not war, but to compel us to
renounce the British treaty, and to renew all our differ-
ences with Great Britain under circumstances of irritation
which must speedily end in rupture. In this scheme the
Directory had been encouraged by the persuasion, erro-
neous indeed, but favored by many appearances, that we
were a weak, pusillanimous people, too much devoted to
HOUSE DEBATE ON THE ANSWER. 75
gam to regard our honor ; too careful of our property to CHAPTER
risk it in support of our rights ; too much divided to ex-
ert our strength ; too distrustful of our government to 1797.
defend it ; too much devoted to France to repel her ag-
gressions at the risk of quarrel ; and tou much exasper-
ated against England to consent to that co-operation
with her which must of necessity grow out of resistance
to France. They had seen us patiently submit to the
insults and outrages of three successive French ambas-
sadors— insults and outrages, for the very least of which
they would have sent out of their country, if not to the
guillotine, the minister of any nation. The conduct of
gentlemen on this floor had confirmed them in the erro-
neous persuasion of a party existing in the very bosom
of our government devoted to their interests. He did
not mean to charge gentlemen with acting under French
influence, but he would ask if the course which they had
pursued was not calculated to impress France with that
belief ? When she saw them making it a constant ground
of opposition to measures proposed, that such measures
might be hurtful or displeasing to her; when she saw
them constantly supporting that course of which she
was desirous ; constantly opposing all she opposed, how
could she but infer that they were a party^ devoted to her
views? Knowing their number and importance, and
having these apparently strong reasons for relying on
their attachment, how could she help concluding that,
though they might not succeed in directing the govern-
ment according to her wishes, they would still be ready
and able to clog its operations, and so to prevent it from
adopting or pursuing any vigorous measures against her?
She no doubt believed, and she had reasons for believ-
ing, nothing less, in fact, than the assurances of our late
minister in that country, that she had nothing to do but
76 HISTOHY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER to press Lard on the government in order to lay it 'aound,
hand and foot, at the feet of this party friendly to her,
1797 by means of which she might then govern the country.
In this belief she was further confirmed by the conduct of
our people, their warm partiality for her, their enthusias-
tic exultation in her victories, and the fond, sympathiz-
ing sorrow with which they mourned over her disasters.
Mistaking the source of these generous emotions, she
saw in them nothing but proofs of a slavish devotedness,
such as to render us incapable of asserting our rights
when it must be done at the risk of her displeasure.
She did not understand that what inspired this enthusi-
asm was the cause of liberty in which she was thought
to be struggling, and that, should she abandon the prin-
ciples which she professed, these same generous well-
wishers would be among the firmest of her opponents.
Supposing resentment against England to be far more
deeply rooted, more prevalent, and more permanent than
it really was, she relied upon that to prevent any co-op-
eration between us and the British, however it might be
recommended by policy or even required by necessity.
She was confirmed in all these delusions by the conduct,
the speeches, the writings of persons in this country, both
our citizens and hers ; by the information of some of hei
own citizens, who, after a limited residence here, had car-
ried home with them erroneous opinions, such as foreign-
ers generally form about countries which they visit ; and
it was to be feared, by the behavior, too, of some of our
own citizens abroad, who, forgetting the trust reposed in
them and the situations in which they were placed, had al-
lowed themselves to persevere in a course of conversation
and conduct calculated to confirm France in all her un-
founded and injurious impressions. Supposing the people
of this country to be unwilling to oppose her, and the gov«
HOUSE DEBATE ON THE ANSWER. 77
eminent unable ; imagining that we should prefer peace, CHAPTER
with submission, to the risk of war ; believing that a strong
party devoted to her would hang upon the government
and impede all its measures, and that, should she place
us, by her aggressions, in a situation where the choice
would seem to lie between a war with England and a
war with her, our hatred to England, joined to the other
causes above mentioned, would force us to adopt the
former alternative ; entertaining these views, she had
taken the course she was now pursuing, the object of
which was to make us renounce the treaty with Eng-
land, and to enter into a quarrel with that nation ; in
fine, to effect by aggression and force what for four years
she had attempted in vain by a course of intrigues and
insidious policy.
" Such being her objects, could she be induced to re-
nounce them by trifling concessions of this, that, or the
other article of a treaty, this, that, or the other advan-
tage in trade ? To suppose that she was to be thus sat-
isfied seemed a delusion equally unaccountable and fatal.
It seemed an unaccountable and fatal delusion, that
could render gentlemen blind to the projects of France
— to the Herculean strides of her overwhelming ambi-
tion, which so evidently aimed at nothing less than uni-
versal empire or universal influence ; blind to her having
fixed on our country as one instrument for the accom-
plishment of her plans. It was against this dangerous
Delusion that he wished to warn the House and the na-
tion. They ought not to deceive themselves by the vain
and fallacious expectation that the concessions suggested
in the proposed amendment would satisfy the wishes or
arrest the measures of France. Still, he did not dissuade
from these concessions; far from it; he wished them
to be offered, and in the way most likely to give weight
rb HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTER to the offer. It was a bridge which he was most willing
__ to build for the pride of France to retreat over. But
1797 what he wished to warn the House against was the rest-
ing satisfied with building the bridge, to the neglect of
those measures by which France might be induced to
march over it. He wished to negotiate, and he relied
much on success in that way. But success in negotia-
tion could only be secured by adopting on this floor firm
language and energetic measures, such as might con-
vince France that the opinions respecting this country
on which her system was founded were wholly errone-
ous ; that we were neither a weak, a pusillanimous, nor
a divided people ; that we were not disposed to barter
honor for quiet, nor to save our money at the expense
of our rights — measures which would convince her that
we understood her projects, and were determined to op-
pose them with all our resources, and at the hazard of
all our possessions. Unless success were secured by such
support, negotiation was vain, weak, and delusive. See-
ing us prepared, France, instead of attacking us, would
listen to our peaceable proposals, and would accept the
concessions we meant to offer. He should vote against
the amendment, not because he was for war, but because
he was for peace ; and because he saw in this amend-
ment, and more especially in the course to which it
pointed, a means of impeding instead of promoting our
pacific endeavors."
The idea thus inculcated with so much warmth and
ability, that the French republic, so far from being the
champion of liberty and the rights of man, was but a re-
vival, under a new form, of the dreams of Louis XIV.
about a universal empire, could not but make a profound
impression on the House, contrary as that idea was to
prevailing notions ; nor could Gallatin, who exerted aU
HOUSE DEBATE ON THE ANSWER. 79
his sophistical art in reply, entirely neutralize the effect CHAPIER
of Harper's speech. Yet the proposed amendment was _
lost only by a vote of forty-eight to fifty-two. Even 1797,
some of the Federalists were afraid of making the ad-
dress too pointed. Coit, of Connecticut, proposed to
modify a paragraph referring to Barras's offensive speech,
so as to strike out all personal reference to the director,
and his motion to that effect, after some sharp debate, May 30.
was carried by the casting vote of the chairman.
Dayton, the speaker, then proposed an amendment,
giving additional emphasis to the satisfaction expressed
by the House at the proposed renewal of negotiations,
and declaring a hope " that a mutual spirit of concilia-
tion, and a disposition on the part of the United States to
place France on grounds as favorable as other countries,
would produce an accommodation compatible with our
rights, honor, and engagements." The objection being
taken to this amendment, that it was in substance the
same as that of Nicholas, already rejected, these objectors
were denounced by the opposition orators as unfriendly
to peace and enemies of France. Dayton, alluding to
Harper's speech, deprecated the idea of arraigning the
French republic like a criminal at the bar of the House,
charged not only with acts against the interests and rights
of the United States, but with crimes said to have been
committed against the different nations of Europe. He
was willing to express a becoming spirit of resentment,
but objected to employing the rage of a madman. It
jvas not necessary to crouch to any nation, but he wish-
ed the House to act as if they wished for peace, not to
stand in the position of gladiators and to sound the trum-
pet of defiance. In the course of this debate, some very
sharp words passed between Gallatin and Smith of South
Carolina. Gallatin declared himself unable to believe
80 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER that Smith was really desirous of peace, and Smith, in
' his turn, could not believe that Gallatin, even if' the
1797 terms it was now proposed to offer should be rejected,
would be ready to go to war.
By the help of some waverers, Dayton's amendment,
after some modifications, was carried in committee, fifty-
two to forty -seven. But the House, before agreeing to
June 2. it, modified it still further by adding the expression of
an expectation that France would be ready to make
compensation for any violation she may have committed
of American neutral rights.
What might be considered as the test question of the
strength of parties was an effort made by the opposition
to strike out that clause of the address approving the
policy of the government as "just and impartial to for-
eign nations," and pledging the House to support it. This
motion was lost, forty-five to fifty-three ; after which the
address, having been debated for two weeks, was finally
agreed to, sixty -two to thirty-six.
June 3. Upon the usual motion that the House wait upon the
president with the address, Matthew Lyon, a new mem-
ber from the western district of Yermont, took occasion
to make a display of his special democracy. An Irish^
man by birth, Lyon, then very young, had been brought
to New York, some years previous to the breaking out
of the Revolutionary war, as a redemptioner, and being
sold to pay his passage, had been carried by his master
to the new settlements in Yermont, of which, after serv-
ing out his time, he became a citizen. During the Brit-
ish invasion under Sir Guy Carleton in 1776, he had
acted as lieutenant of a company of militia stationed to
guard an advanced post on Lake Champlain. Sent to
headquarters to report the abandonment of this post,
Lyon had been treated with great indignity, pronounced
MATTHEW LYON. 8]
a coward, and placed under a guard ; and, with, the CHAPTER
other officers of the detachment, had been cashiered on
a charge of cowardice and desertion, or, rather, of per- 1797.
suading the men to desert as an excuse for abandoning
the post. But he always insisted that he had opposed
the course taken by the other officers ; and it is certain
that, notwithstanding this previous disgrace, -he served
afterward, for a short time, during Burgoyne's invasion,
as a commissary in the army. Being a man of energy
and ingenuity, subsequently to the peace he had estab-
lished iron works and other manufactures near the foot
of Lake Champlain, had acquired property, had become
a colonel of militia, and had married a daughter of Gov-
ernor Chittenden, who, notwithstanding his official dig-
nity, continued, according to the simple state of man-
ners prevalent in Vermont, to follow his old vocation
of a farmer and tavern -keeper. Self-conceited and im-
petuous, with the characteristic faults as well as virtues
of his countrymen, Lyon entered with great zeal into
politics. To advocate ultra Democratic views, he estab-
lished a newspaper at Castleton, entitled " Scourge of
Aristocracy and Depository of Important Political Truth,"
which he edited himself, and printed with types of his
own casting, on paper manufactured also by himself,
from the bark of the bass wood ; and by the help of
this organ, after a very warm contest, he had been elect-
ed to Congress over several competitors.
Taking the present opportunity to make his debut,
after a long speech denouncing and ridiculing the prac-
tice of waiting upon the president as anti-Eepublican
and slavish, and setting forth his own merits and ser-
vices in the cause of democracy, he offered a motion that
he, personally, should be excused from compliance with
the standing order of the House in that respect. He had
V.—F
82 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER indeed been told — so he stated in his speech — that he
_ might absent himself and no notice would be taken of
1797 it; but he professed great reverence for the standing
rules and orders, and preferred to have express authority
for his absence. This speech was not very agreeable to
the rest of the opposition, over whose heads Lyon seem-
ed disposed to exalt himself as a special Democrat. By
the Federalists it was heard with contemptuous smiles.
Dana, of Connecticut, declared that for his part he was
by no means specially desirous of the gentleman's com-
pany. He believed that the president would as readily
forego it, and he expressed a hope that the leave asked
for would be unanimously granted, which it according-
ly was. Such was the first introduction to the House
of one who subsequently became a political martyr, and
who, during a membership of several years, often display-
ed, especially towards the close of it, a practical good sense
hardly to have been expected from such a beginning.
Notwithstanding the tone of the address> the House,
was but slow in taking any steps of a very decided char-
acter. The news which continued to arrive from Europe
was of a kind to inspire fresh alarm. The stoppage of
specie payments by the Bank of England threatened de-
struction to the commercial and financial power of Great
Britain. The mutiny at the Nore seemed to shake the
very basis of British naval ascendency. Bonaparte had
appeared under the walls of Vienna, and Austria had
been compelled to make peace. The opposition were de-
lighted with the opening prospect of the downfall of Great
Britain ; and they urged with greater zeal than ever the
necessity of cautiously avoiding a rupture with France.
The Federalists, on the other hand, watched the progress
of events, not without alarm for their own country should
England realty succumb. The letters of King, American
MEASURES ADOPTED. 83
ambassador at London, to Ms Federal friends, strongly CHAPTER
urged the impolicy of any involvement in the European
war. Even England herself, alarmed at the terrible mil- 1797.
itary power called into existence by the ill-considered at-
tempt from abroad to suppress the outbreak of Demo-
cratic enthusiasm in France, was now seeking, with in-
creased anxiety, to negotiate a peace.
The House, however, still adhered, though by a very
small majority, to the policy set forth by the Federal
leaders in the debate on the address. In a session of
eight weeks, acts were passed apportioning to the states
a detachment of eighty thousand militia, to be ready to
march at a moment's warning ; appropriating $115,000
for the further fortification of harbors ; prohibiting the
exportation of arms and ammunition, and encouraging
their importation ; authorizing the equipment of the
three frigates and their employment, together with an
increased number of revenue cutters, in defending the
coast. Another act subjected to a fine of $10,000 and
ten years imprisonment any citizen of the United States
who might be concerned in fitting out, or be any wa}7"
connected with any private armed vessel intended to
cruise against nations with whom the United States were
at peace, or against the vessels and property of their fel-
low-citizens. To meet the expenses that might be incur-
red, a loan of $800,000 was authorized, and the revenue
was re-enforced by an addition of eight cents per bushel
to the duty on salt, and by stamp-duties of ten dollars on
licenses to practice law in the courts of the United States,
five dollars on certificates of naturalization, four dollars
on letters patent of the United States, two dollars on
copies of the same, and one dollar on charter parties and
bottomry bonds. A motion to raise the duty on certif-
icates of naturalization, which stood in the bill as re-
84 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ported at twenty cents, to twenty dollars, brought on a
lively debate as to the policy of encouraging immigration.
1797. The high duty was advocated by several Federalists as
a check on the facility of acquiring the right of citizen-
ship. Gallatin, Swanwick, and Lyon opposed it as ex-
cessive, and it was finally fixed at the amount above
mentioned. A stamp-tax, varying in amount with the
value of the subject matter, was also imposed on receipts
for legacies, policies of insurance, bonds, promissory notes,
bank-notes, bills of exchange, protests, letters of attor-
ney, inventories, bills of lading, and certificates of de-
benture. The Committee of Ways and Means, hitherto
composed of one member from each State, was reduced
at this session to seven members taken from the House
at large, a number at which it has ever since remained.
To most of the above measures a very decided opposi-
tion was made. The equipment of the frigates was spe-
cially opposed, under the apprehension that the president
might employ them as convoys to the American trade
in the West Indies. The numerous French cruisers in
those seas made prize of every American vessel which
they met, except when those vessels had licenses granted
by the French consuls, or were known to belong to zeal-
ous advocates of the French interest. Some partial pro-
tection had been obtained from convoy granted by Brit-
ish ships of war, but the idea of employing armed vessels
of our own for that purpose was earnestly deprecated by
the opposition, and even by some of the Federalists, as
little less than a declaration of war against France. Gal-
latin admitted that depredations without number were
committed in the West India seas by vessels under the
French flag, but he suggested that they were chiefly
by pirates, without any commissions or authority ; to
which it was well answered that it was hard indeed if
MEASURES DEFEATED. 86
the frigates could not be employed to protect our vessels CHAPTER
against pirates, for fear of giving offence to France ! _______
Giles, Macon, Gallatin, and Smith of Maryland, labored 1797
very hard, and prevailed upon the House to insert into
the bill, among other restrictions, a provision that the
president should not send the frigates out of the jurisdic-
tion of the United States ; but as the Senate refused to
concur, this and the other restrictions were afterward
struck out. The more zealous Federalists urged the im-
mediate purchase of nine additional vessels, to be armed
and equipped for purposes of convoy. Doubtful what
the consequences might be of armed collision, at the dis-
cretion of individuals, the president had issued a circular
to the custom houses, renewing and confirming the rule
hitherto acted upon, to grant no clearances to armed ves-
sels except such as were bound to the East Indies or
the Mediterranean. The legality of this circular was
called in question, and it was proposed to authorize by.
an express act the arming of merchant vessels in their
own defense. But both these measures, the arming of
merchant vessels and the additional ships of war, were
defeated by the opposition, with the aid of Dayton and the
waverers, on the ground that it would be better to await
the results of the new mission. Yarnum, in the course
of this debate, declared that he could see nothing in the
conduct of France like a wish to injure the citizens of
the United States. He wondered that such an outcry
should be raised because three or four American ships
ha.: been captured and carried into France. Smith, of
Maryland, believed the merchants would submit to any
loss sooner than go to war ; while Swan wick boldly as-
serted that more captures were made in the West Indies
by the British than by the French.
'• A bill, originating in the House, for raising an addi-
£6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tional corps of artillerists and engineers, failed to pass
' A Senate bill for a provisional army of fifteen thousand
1797 men was defeated even in that body. The opposition
raised a great outcry against every thing that involved
expense, on the ground that the treasury was empty ;
but they also opposed, with no less zeal, every attempt
to fill it, seeming to regard, as the only security for the
peace of the country, the depriving the government of
all means to defend it. Another bill was also brought
in (designed to meet the case of such patriots as Barney),
to prevent citizens of the United States from entering
into the service of foreign powers, but with a clause, de
fining a method whereby citizens, either native or adopt-
ed, might relinquish their connection with the United
States, and transfer their allegiance to a foreign power,
thereby avoiding the penalties of the bill. This clause
led to a curious debate on the subject of perpetual alle-
.giance and voluntary expatriation — a question which
was found to be surrounded by so many difficulties that
the entire bill was finally dropped. It seemed to be
going too far formally to allow citizens of the United
States to abandon their own country and to make war
upon it. Yet how could that be avoided, should any act
on the subject of foreign service be passed, so long as the
United States, in the impressment controversy with
Great Britain, claimed for naturalized foreigners all the
rights and immunities of native-born citizens ?
July 3. The president, in the course of the session, transmitted
papers, from which it appeared that the Spanish authori-
ties in Louisiana were opposing serious obstacles to the
survey of the southern boundary line of the United
States, as provided for by the recent treaty, and that they
hesitated also to deliver up the posts north of the thirty-
first degree of north latitude. Various pretenses of de»
SPANISH INTRIGUES. 87
lay were urged, such as apprehension of a British inva CHAPTER
sion from Canada, to resist which these posts might be
necessary, and uncertainty whether the fortifications 1797:
were to be destroyed or left standing. The real reason,
no doubt, was the expectation of a breach between the
United States and France, which might furnish an ex-
cuse for the non-fulfillment of the treaty. The fact, in-
deed, came to light some years afterward, that the Baron
De Carondelet, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, had
even gone so far as to dispatch one Thomas Power as a
secret agent to Kentucky, to renew with the old Spanish
partisans in that region the intrigue for the separation
of the Western country from the Union, and its ejection
into an independent state, in close alliance with Spain ;
the late disputed territory on the east bank of the Mis-
sissippi to be divided between them, Sebastian, one of
the judges of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, seems
have entered zealously into this new project, but his
old coadjutors, with whom he communicated on the sub-
ject, Innis, judge of the Federal District Court, and
George Nicholas, late district attorney, and at present
attorney general of the state, thought it would be a very
dangerous project, since the "Western people, being se-
cured by the Spanish treaty in the navigation of the Mis-
sissippi, had lost all inducement for such a movement.
When testifying as to this matter some ten years after-
ward before a committee of the Kentucky Legislature,
Innis gave as a reason why he and Nicholas had kept
this intrigue to themselves, that as they were opposed
to the Federal administration, and believed that the pres-
ident kept a watchful eye over their actions, to have
made any communication on the subject would have had
•the appearance of courting his favor. They gave as an-
other reason for saying nothing about an intrigue from
88 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER which they apprehended no danger, their belief that the
' president was disposed, on the slightest pretext, to send
1797 an army -into Kentucky, which they conceived would be
a grievance upon the people. There were, doubtless,
other still weightier reasons, which Innis did not give :
unwillingness to damage the party to which they belong-
ed by this new proof of foreign influence, attempted and
exercised over some of its leaders ; and the danger of
provoking an investigation which might unravel former
intrigues, and which certainly would cut short the pay
ment of any further Spanish pensions — a favor enjoyed
by Sebastian at least, if not by some of the others.
Alojig with the papers transmitted to Congress in re-
lation to the Spanish business was the copy of a letter
from William Blount, late governor of the Territory south
of the Ohio, and now one of the senators from Tennessee,
addressed to a recently-appointed Indian agent among
the Cherokees, by whom it had been communicated to
the president. It appeared from this letter, as well as
from information furnished by Liston, the new British
minister, of whom explanations had been asked, that
Blount was engaged in an intrigue for transferring New
Orleans and the neighboring districts to the British by
means of a joint expedition, Britain to furnish a naval
force, and a co-operating corps of backwoodsmen and In-
dians to be raised on the western frontier of the United
States. Desperately involved in extensive land specula-
tions in Tennessee, and wishing to relieve himself by
getting up an English company for the purchase of his
lands, Blount dreaded the consequences of a retransfer
to the French, a military and not a commercial nation, of
the outlet of the Mississippi, a transfer expected, and in-
deed supposed by some to be already made. Conceiving
that it would be for the interest of the Western people,
CHARGES AGAINST BLOUNT. 89
as well as for his own private benefit as a land specula- CHAPTER
tor, that Louisiana should pass into the hands of the .
English, he relied upon his influence with the back- 1797.
woodsmen of Tennessee and with the Southern Indians,
among whom he had long acted as agent, to raise the
necessary force. He had engaged as his chief co-operator
one Chisholm, a wild backwoodsman, well acquainted
with the Spanish posts, and who had conceived against
the Spanish authorities, from some collisions with them,
a bitter hatred and an ardent desire of revenge, and in
his letter, laid before Congress, he had sought to engage
in his schemes the Indian agent to whom it was addressed.
Upon the evidence of this letter the House voted to
impeach Blount, of which they sent up notice to the Sen- July 7.
ate. The Senate thereupon required him to give secu-
rity for his appearance to answer such articles as might
be exhibited against him, himself in $20,000, and two
sureties in $15,000 each, and the House having requested
that, till the impeachment should be decided, he might
be " sequestered from his seat," after hearing counsel in
his behalf, the Senate proceeded to expel him, Tazewell July \
only voting in the negative. Thereupon his two sure-
ties, his brother, a member of the House, and Butler of
the Senate, surrendered him into custody, and were dis-
charged from their bond. But Blount was presently re-
leased on recognizing himself in $1000, with two securi
ties in $500 each, to appear and answer to the articles,
which, however, were not exhibited till the next session.
The Aurora strove anxiously to make out of this af-
fair a case of the employment of " British gold" for the
purpose of involving the United States in difficulties with
Spain and France. But the scheme had originated, not
with Great Britain, but with Blount and his associates,
most of whom strongly sympathized with the politics of
yO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the Aurora ; nor did it appear that the British ministei
_ had given to it any other countenance beyond yielding
179^ to Chisholm's earnest requests to be sent to England to
'ay the project before the British ministry, by whom it
was rejected on the very ground that it might interfere
with the neutrality of the United States.
Though expelled from the Senate, Blount by no means
lost the confidence of his constituents. On his arrival
•it Knoxville, he was received there with great cere-
mony, and was presently elected to the State Senate,
of which he was chosen president.
July i?. With the proceedings against Blount terminated a
session in which party spirit had reached a sharpness
and bitterness exceeding any thing hitherto known.
Many warm repartees had been exchanged. Blount, of
the House, brother of the senator of that name, and who
had already immortalized himself by calling for the yeas
and nays on the complimentary address to Washington
at the last session, took great offense at a retort by
Thacher, of Massachusetts, which he construed into a
charge that he belonged to a French faction, in conse-
quence of which he sent Thacher a challenge. Thacher,
besides declining to receive it, read to Macon, by whose
hand it had been sent, a very pointed lecture on the folly
of dueling, which he presently sent to the newspapers by
way of offset to the publication by Blount of his letter
of challenge — a document which exhibited a good deal
too much of the backwoods bully and blackguard. No
notice, however, was taken in the House of this breach
of privilege by a challenge for words spoken in debate.
June 24. " You and I," wrote Jefferson to Edward Eutledge,
" have formerly seen warm debates and high political
passions. But gentlemen of different politics would then
speak to each other, and separate the business of the
JEFFERSON'S VIEWS. 91
Senate from that of society. It is not so now. Men CHAPTER
who have been intimate all their lives cross the streets _
to avoid meeting, and turn their heads another way lest 1797.
they should be obliged to touch their hats. This may
do for young men, with whom passion is enjoyment ; but
it is afflicting to peaceable minds." Another letter to
Burr, professedly written for the purpose of " recalling June D
himself to the memory of," and " evincing his esteem
for" that political coadjutor, sheds a strong light on the
ideas entertained by the opposition ; many of them, as
appears from the previous part of this chapter, very mis-
taken ones, especially the notion that the administration
was anxious to plunge the country into a war with
France. " You well know," says Jefferson in his letter,
" how strong a character of division had been impressed
on the Senate by the British treaty. Common error,
common censure, and common efforts of defense had
formed the treaty majority into a common band, which
feared to separate even on other subjects. Toward the
close of the last Congress it had been hoped that their
ties began to loosen, and their phalanx to separate a lit-
tle. This hope was blasted at the very opening of the
present session by the nature of the appeal which the
president made to the nation, the occasion for which had
confessedly sprung from the fatal British treaty. This
circumstance rallied them again to their standard, and
hitherto we have had pretty regular treaty votes on all
questions of principle, and, indeed, I fear that so long as
the same individuals remain, we shall see traces of the
same division. In the House of Kepresentatives the Re-
publican body has also lost strength. The non-attend-
ance of five or six of that description has left the major-
ity very equivocal indeed A few individuals of no fixed
system at all, governed by the panic or the prowess of
92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the moment, flap, as the breeze blows, against the l\e-
' publican or the aristocratic bodies, and give to the one
1797 or the other a preponderance entirely accidental. Hence
the dissimilar aspect of the address, and of the proceed-
ings subsequent to that. The inflammatory composition
of the speech excited sensations of resentment which had
slept under British injuries, threw the wavering into the
war scale, and produced the war address. Bonaparte's
victories and those on the Ehine, the Austrian peace,
British bankruptcy, mutiny of the seamen, and Mr.
King's exhortations to pacific measures, have cooled them
down again, and the scale of peace preponderates. The
threatening propositions, therefore, founded on the ad-
dress, are abandoned one by one, and the cry begins now
to be that we have been called together to do nothing.
The truth is, there is nothing to do, the idea of war be
ing scouted by the events of Europe ; but this only proves
that war was the object for which we were called. It
proves that the executive temper was for war, and that
the convocation of the representatives was an experi-
ment of the temper of the nation, to see if it was in uni-
son. Efforts at negotiation, indeed, were promised, but
such a promise was as difficult to withhold as easy to
render nugatory. If negotiation alone had been meant,
that might have been pursued without so much delay,
and without calling the representatives ; and if strong and
earnest negotiation had been meant, the additional nom-
ination would have been of persons strongly and earnest
ly attached to the alliance of 1778. War, then, was
intended. Whether abandoned or not, we must judge
from future indications and events, for the same secrecy
and mystery are affected to be observed by the present
which marked the former administration. I had always
hoped that the popularity of the late president being once
JEFFERSON'S VIEWS 93
withdrawn from active effect, the natural feelings of the CHAPTER
people toward liberty would restore the equilibrium be-
tween the executive and legislative departments which 1797,
had been destroyed by the superior weight and effect of
that popularity, and that their natural feelings of moral
obligation would discountenance the ungrateful predilec-
tion of the executive in favor of Great Britain. But,
unfortunately, the preceding measures had already alien-
ated the nation who were the object of them, had excited
reaction from them, and this reaction has on the minds
of our citizens an effect which supplies that of the Wash-
ington popularity. The effect was sensible in some of
the late congressional elections, and this it is which has
lessened the Eepublican majority in Congress. "When it
will be reinforced must depend on events, and these are
so incalculable that I consider the future character of our
republic as in the air ; indeed, its future fortune will be
in the air if war is made on us by France, and if
Louisiana becomes a Gallo- American colony.
" I have been much pleased to see a dawn of change
in the spirit of your state. The late elections have indi
cated something which, at a distance, we do not under
stand. However, what with the English influence in
the lower, and the Patroon influence in the upper parts
of your state, I presume little is to be hoped. If a pros-
pect could be once opened upon us of the penetration of
truth in the Eastern States ; if the people there who
are unquestionable Kepublicans could discover that they
have been duped into the support of measures calculated
to sap the very foundation of [Republicanism, we might
still hope for salvation, and that it would come, as of old,
from the East. But will that region ever awake to the
true state of things ? Can the Middle, Southern, and
Western States hold on till they awake? These are
94 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER painful and doubtful questions ; and if, in assuring me
' of your health, you can give me a comfortable solution
1797 of them, it will relieve a mind devoted to the preserva-
tion of our republican government in the true form and
spirit in which it was established, but almost oppressed
with apprehensions that fraud will at length effect what
force could not, and that, what with currents and coun-
ter-currents, we shall in the end be driven back to the
land from which we launched twenty years ago. In-
deed, my dear sir, we have been but a sturdy fish on the
hook of a dexterous angler, who, letting us flounce till
we have spent our force, brings us up at last."
" I am tired of the scene, and this day se'nnight shalJ
change it for one where to tranquillity of mind may be
added pursuits of private utility, since none public are
admitted by the state of things."
The selection of the envoys to France had been, since
the commencement of the session, a subject of great in-
terest both in and out of the cabinet. The president, as
we have seen, had been of opinion, and the same view
had been taken by Hamilton, that one of the envoys ought
to be selected from that party in the country regarded by
the French as their especial friends. Madison had been
thought of as the proper person for that purpose both by
Hamilton and Adams ; but, besides his unwillingness to
accept the mission, already intimated by Jefferson, the
feeling in the cabinet was so strong against him that the
president had early laid aside the idea of his nomination.
Madison, indeed, was altogether too cautious to risk his
political prospects in any such doubtful enterprise, or to
come out in so turbulent a crisis from that retirement
into which, with his newly -married wife, he had lately
withdrawn. John Marshall, of Kichmond, formerly an
officer in the Revolutionary army, now a leading advo
ENVOYS TO FRANCE. 95
cate at the Virginia bar, a Federalist, but a man of great CHAPTER
moderation, was selected in Madison's place. As Pinck- .
ney was to make one of the new embassy, if the opposi- 1797.
tion were to have any representative at all, it must be
the third and Northern member, two from the South hav-
ing been already selected. The president proposed Ger-
ry, of whose abilities as a compatriot in the Kevolution-
ary struggle he entertained a high opinion, and who had
recently given what must have seemed, to the president
at least, pretty good proof of the soundness of his judg-
ment, by omitting to throw either of his votes as a Mas-
sachusetts elector of president and vice-president for his
friend Jefferson, lest it might endanger, as it would have
done, the election of Adams. As Pickering and Wol-
cott in the cabinet, and a number of the most zealous
Federalists out of it, were decidedly opposed to a mixed
embassy, and very strenuous for three Federalists, Adams
so far yielded to them as to nominate, instead of Gerry,
his old associate in the diplomatic service, Francis Dana,
at that time chief justice of Massachusetts. But Dana
having declined the appointment on the plea of ill health,
the president returned again to Gerry. Besides the gen-
eral reasons against a piebald commission, some personal
objections were made to Gerry as a man at once whim-
sical and obstinate, with whom his colleagues might on
that account find it difficult to co-operate. The presi
dent, however, insisted upon him ; and the nomination
was accordingly made, and confirmed a day or two after
Jefferson's letter to Burr. Even in the captious and sus-
picious judgment of Jefferson himself, the commission as
thus constituted was one with which little fault could be June 2j
found. In a letter to Gerry congratulating him on his
appointment, and urging his acceptance of it, he declared
that Gerry's nomination gave him " certain assurance
96 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER that there would be a preponderance in the mission sin-
' cerely disposed to be at peace with the French govern-
1797. ment and nation."
The existing treaty with Prussia being about to ex-
pire, John Quincy Adams, to whom "Washington had
given the mission to Lisbon, but who had not yet en-
tered on that service, was appointed minister to Berlin.
This appointment, the second in order of time made by
the new president, could not, however, be ascribed to pa-
ternal partiality ; for Washington, while expressing the
decided opinion that John Quincy Adams was the most
valuable, and would prove himself to be the ablest of the
American diplomatic corps, had strongly urged that mer-
ited promotion should not be withheld merely because he
was the president's son. The post at Lisbon was given
to Smith, of South Carolina, hitherto so conspicuous as a
Federal leader in the House of Representatives. Galla-
tin, Nicholas, and others of the opposition had made very
earnest efforts to defeat the appropriation necessary for
the support of these two ministers. Opposed as they
were to armies and navies, they seemed also to think a
diplomatic establishment unnecessary. The consulships
at Algiers and Tripoli, which possessed a certain diplo-
matic character, were given to O'Brien and Cathcart, two
of the lately released Algerine prisoners, thus supersed-
ing Barlow, who had obtained, on Monroe's recommend-
ation, a commission to treat with those two regencies.
The consulship at Tunis was given to William Eaton, of
Massachusetts, lately a captain in the United States army,
and who afterward made himself very conspicuous in
the affairs of that regency
MONROE'S RETURN.
CHAPTER XL
UONROE'S RETURN. SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON.
ADVENTURES OF THE SPECIAL MISSION TO FRANCE.
VvHILE the newly-appointed envoys to France were CHAPTER
preparing for their departure, and shortly before the ad- > '__
journment of Congress, Monroe, the recalled minister, ar- 1797.
rived at Philadelphia. The opposition received him with •
open arms. He was entertained at a public dinner, at
which Chief-justice M'Kean presided, Yice-president
Jefferson, and a large number of the members of both
houses — among others, Dayton, the speaker — being pres-
ent. In warmth of applause and approval, M'Kean's
speech of welcome fell only short of the eulogies to which
Monroe had listened from Merlin and Barras, models
whom M'Kean seemed desirous to imitate.
By the same ship that brought Monroe came the an-
swer of Merlin, now minister of Justice, to the complaint
of the consul general of the United States of the condem-
nation of two American vessels on the newly -invented
ground that they had no roles $ equipage. This answer
openly avowed the policy stated by Barlow in his letter,
already quoted, as that of the Directory — the plunder of
private merchants, under false and frivolous pretences, as
a means of compelling the government of the United
States to conform to the wishes of France. "Let your
government," writes this minister of justice, who was
also, at the same time, a speculator in privateers, " return
to a sense of what is due to itself and its true friends,
become just and grateful, and let it break the incompre-
V.— G
98 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER hensible treaty which it has concluded with our most im-
' placable enemies, and then the French republic will cease
1797 to take advantage of this treaty which favors England at
its expense, and no appeals will then, I can assure you,
be made to any tribunal against injustice."
Immediately after his arrival at Philadelphia, Monroe
July 6. addressed a letter to the Department of State in curious
contrast with the subdued and very urbane style of his
correspondence with the French minister of Foreign Af-
fairs. In this letter, he requested, or rather demanded,
and that, too, in pretty decided terms, to be informed of
the grounds of his recall, not as a matter of favor, but of
July 7. right. Pickering suggested, by way of reply, that the
president might well be possessed of facts and informa-
tion such as might justify the recall of a minister, or the
dismissal of a public officer, though not such as to fur-
nish grounds for impeachment or other legal proceedings ;
and that, in trusting the matter of recall or dismissal to
his discretion, the Constitution never contemplated that
the propriety of the exercise of that discretion in partic-
ular cases should be tested either by a formal trial or a
July 19. public discussion. Monroe, in his answer, taking upon
himself the character of an abused and injured individual,
expressed his astonishment that, after being denounced to
the public, by deprivation of his office, as a person guilty
of some great act of misconduct, the government, when
called upon for a statement of the charge and the facts
to support it, should be disposed to evade the demand,
and to shrink from the inquiry. In reply to this indig-
24. nant note, Pickering calmly insisted upon the right of
the president to remove from office without giving any
reasons for it. Communications might be received enti-
tled to credit but under restrictions not permitting a dis-
closure. To admit the principle insisted upon by Mon-
MONROE AND PICKERING.
roe would be to shut the door to intelligence of the in- CHAPTER
fidelity of public officers, especially of diplomatic agents
in foreign countries, far removed from the immediate ob- -j 797.
servation of their own government. Mere want of con-
fidence, from whatever cause arising, furnished reason
enough for recalling a minister. If he were found, on
trial, to be deficient in judgment, skill, or diligence, or
.f circumstances inspired a reasonable doubt of his sin-
cerity, he ought to be removed. While his official com-
munications had a fair appearance, a diplomatic agent
might hold intimate and improper correspondence on po-
litical subjects with men known to be hostile to the gov-
ernment he represented, and whose actions tended to its
subversion. He might, from mistaken views, even go so
far as to countenance and invite a conduct on the part of
the nation to which he was accredited, derogatory to the
dignity of his own country and injurious to its interests.
But a removal from office did not necessarily imply actual
misconduct ; it might imply merely want of ability, or
a change in the state of political affairs such as to render
the substitution of another person proper. It might also
happen, and such was Monroe's case, that a president
just retiring from office might remove, in which case
no member of the succeeding administration could under-
take to assign the motives of the removal. " There is
no disposition," the letter concluded, " to treat you or any
other man with injustice ; but the government can not,
for the sake of indulging your sensibility, sacrifice a
great national principle. I agree with you that the pres-
ident, in using that pleasure with which the Constitution
has invested him, is bound to exercise it with discretion ;
but I deny that he is bound on every occasion to explain
and justify his conduct to the individual removed from
office, which, besides other objections, would expose the
100 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER executive to perpetual altercations and controversies with
' the officers removed." Along with this official letter, as
1797 conclusive as it was sarcastic, and which has settled for-
ever the practice of the government, Pickering sent a
note in his private capacity, offering to communicate in
that same capacity, if Monroe desired it, the reasons
which had induced him, when officially consulted by the
late president, to advise Monroe's removal, and tendering
also, on behalf of the other cabinet officers, a similar com-
munication.
Monroe could hardly have expected that any official
communication would be made to him of the reasons
of his removal, though the demand for it, and the idea
which that demand implied, that he held his appointment
independently of the executive, were sufficiently in ac-
cordance with the system on which he had acted through-
out. The real object of his application was to get up
some excuse for a publication on his part, without the
authority or consent of the government, of the correspond-
ence which had passed between himself, the French offi-
cials, and the Department of State. Considering the
refusal of his demand as satisfying that object, he reject-
ed with insult the very reasonable offer made by Pick-
ering on behalf of himself and the other members of the
cabinet. " I have yet to learn," he insolently wrote,
" what your pretensions are to confidence as an individ-
ual citizen, or the weight which your opinion ought to
have as such, especially in* the present case ; " and he
proceeded to arraign the late administration, including
Washington, the responsible head of it, as destitute of
candor, and as seeking, by every possible artifice which
interest or ingenuity could suggest, to disguise the real
motives of their conduct, of which the present corre
spondence was, in his opinion, a fresh proof. His letter
MONKOE'S POLITICAL VIEWS. 101
concluded bj demanding to know whether Pickering, CHAPTER
in stating in his official letter the reasons which might
justify the recall of a minister, had intended to insinuate 1797.
that he, Monroe, was the tool and partisan of another
country against the honor and interest of his own.
As if to save the necessity of an answer to this ques-
tion, which, considering the insolent tone of the whole let-
ter, Pickering could hardly have given without compro-
mitting his self-respect, Monroe proceeded to make an un-
authorized, irregular, and, in the delicate state in which
affairs then stood, a very impudent and unjustifiable pub-
lication of his entire diplomatic correspondence ; thereby
putting into a permanent form authentic and unquestion-
able proofs of his own folly, and of the superior wisdom
and prudence of the government. It was the object of
this publication, of the more material parts of which a
pretty full abstract has already been given, to make
manifest to the public, and especially to the French-
American party, that by repudiating the British treaty,
and silently putting up with such breaches of the French
treaty as the exigencies of the war might make conve-
nient to that nation, the friendship of the Directory might
have been and might still be preserved ; and even their aid
against England purchased by supplying their pecuniary
necessities. That Monroe should have been willing to
purchase friendship and assistance at such a price ; that
ne should have been anxious to aid in reducing the
United States to a degradation like that of Holland and
Spain — a position of helpless dependence on France,
did certainly expose him to the charge of having been
" the tool and partisan of another country against the
honor and interests of his own ;" nor is it wonderful that
many Federalists of that day should have sought to ex-
plain his excessive zeal in this matter by the supposition
102 HISTOKY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER that, like other American residents in France, his politics
had been influenced by pecuniary considerations. In
1797. fact) hints ka(* ^>een Cropped — indeed, the charge had been
openly made on the floor of Congress, and that by no less
a person than Harper — that Monroe had been bribed ;
a circumstance which will serve to explain, and which
ought also partially to excuse, the excessive acrimony of
his letters to Pickering. These gross insinuations were
totally baseless. The time had not yet come when Amer-
/ ican statesmen were to be purchased with money. How
perfectly sincere Monroe was in his opinions is manifest
throughout the whole correspondence, which no purchased
tool of France — none but a man blinded by enthusiastic
passion, could ever have written, and still less would
have published. Nor were such views of the honor and
interest of the United States, strange as they may seem
at this day, at all confined to Monroe. They were shared,
to a greater or less extent, by most of the leaders, and
by the great mass of the opposition party, the result of
two powerful co-operating passions, hatred of England
and excessive admiration of the new French politics, too
strong in many minds for sober judgment.
Hatred of England, which, during the progress of the
Ee volution, had struck so deep a root in the popular
mind, had been aggravated during recent years not only
by British insolence and aggression on the frontiers and
the seas,. but by that stern and suspicious domestic pol-
icy, the natural reaction against French excesses, by
which, in Great Britain itself, all Eepublican tendencies-
and indications had been suppressed ; a policy which,
by driving those inclined to Republicanism into an exile
more or less involuntary, had served to transfer to Amer-
ica, there to germinate in a fruitful soil, many roots of
bitterness against the British government. Any breach
PARTIALITY FOR FRAKUE. 103
with France would lead, it was feared, to an intimate CHAPTER
union with Great Britain, whence new support to the _
monarchical and aristocratic tendencies charged upon the 1797.
existing administration ; a further infusion of British sen-
timents and institutions ; and an indefinite postponement
of those happy times in which Jefferson, " the friend of
the people," placed at the head of the government, was
to snatch it from the grasp of monarchists and aristocrats,
and to restore it to its native republican simplicity. In-
timacy with Great Britain, fraught with such conse-
quences, was to be avoided, it was thought, at almost any
hazard.
Nothing is so gratifying to the human mind as sim-
plicity and instant completion. The idea of a short cut
to liberty and equality by killing off kings and aristo-
crats was quite too fascinating to be easily abandoned.
Though born and baptized amid horrible outrages ;
though, in spite of all its paper constitutions, consisting
practically in nothing more .or less than the seizure of
absolute political authority by a few enthusiastic and au-
dacious individuals, exercised, indeed, in the name of the
people, but constantly trampling, without scruple or hes-
itation, on those rights of man on which it professed to
be founded ; the old despotism, in new hands, bent like
that on universal dominion, but inspired with tenfold en-
ergy and ferocity ; in spite of this its real character, the
French republic continued to be regarded by multitudes,
both in America and elsewhere, as actually a free and
democratic government erected, on the ruins of an an-
cient tyranny, the commencement of a political millen-
nium whence liberty, peace, and happiness were to flow
forth on Europe and the world. The unscrupulous and
mostly unprincipled politicians, whoever they might be,
who controlled for the moment the course of French af-
L04: HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER fairs, now the Girondins, now Danton, now Robespierre,
' now the Thermadoreans, and now the Directors, were all
1797 looked up to alike, and in turn, as the chosen high
priests of liberty, raised by their very position above all
tests of private character ; and insults and injuries which,
coming from Great Britain, would have set the whole
country on fire, were submitted to with all the patience
and even pleasure with which an over-fond lover some-
times allows himself to be trampled upon and plundered
by an imperious and profligate mistress. It was, indeed,
only from a community greatly deluded b}r such mis-
taken sentiments that any applause could have been
hoped for from the publication which the ex-minister
hastened to make.
Hardly had Monroe concluded his correspondence
with Pickering, when he became involved in another,
somewhat more private in its character, but a curious il
lustration of the politics of the times.
One John Thomas Callender, having fled from Scot-
land to avoid prosecution for a pamphlet entitled " The
Political Progress of Great Britain," written very much
in the Democratic vein, had become a reporter of con-
gressional debates for one of the Philadelphia news-
papers ; had been encouraged by Jefferson to print an
American edition of his Scotch pamphlet ; and had after-
ward published, under the title of " American Annual
Register," a great quantity of libels against Washington's
administration. His writings exhibited no particle of
talent. It was chiefly their falsehoods and abuse which
gave them a sale. Just after Monroe's return from France,
Callender came out with a new book, " The History of
the United States for 1796," made up, like his former
publications, of an undigested and garrulous collection of
libels, but containing also some documents, public and
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. 105
private, well calculated to stimulate curiosity, and which. CHAPTER
could only have come into his hands by a breach of con-
lidence. Of this sort was a singular collection of papers, 1797.
a part of them bearing the signatures of Monroe, of Yen-
able, member of the House of Representatives from Vir-
ginia, and of Muhlenburg, the late speaker, the publication
of which remarkably evinced the pitch to which party and
personal hatreds had risen, and the sort of means which
some were willing to resort to for the gratification of
their hatred and the injury of their adversaries.
It appeared from the papers contained in Callender's
book, and from other documents on the subject afterward
published, that toward the end of the year 1792, one
Clingman, arrested on a charge of participation with one
Reynolds in subornation of perjury for the purpose of
getting out letters of administration in order fraudulently
to obtain payment from the Treasury Department of a
debt due from the United States, had applied to Muhlen-
burg, then speaker of the House, in whose service he had
formerly been, for his aid and assistance in compromising
the prosecution. With this object in view, Muhlenburg
called on Hamilton in company with Burr, and after-
ward had several interviews with Wolcott, then Con-
troller of the Treasury, upon whose complaint the pro-
ceedings had been commenced. At first Wolcott was
disinclined to interfere; but finally, after considerable
negotiation, the culprits were set at liberty, having first
pai I back the money fraudulently received, and given
up a list of balances due on old accounts from the United
States to individuals, which might be used as an assist-
ance toward similar frauds, also the name of the person
by whose improper connivance that list had been surrep-
titiously obtained.
Pending this negotiation, and with a view, no doubt,
106 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER to stimulate the zeal of Muhlenburg, Clingmau had
' dropped frequent hints that his confederate Eeynolds had
1797 it in his power very seriously to injure Hamilton, with
whom Eeynolds, as Clingman alleged, had been deeply
concerned in buying up old claims against the United
States, and for that purpose had received frequent ad-
vances of money. These seeds of suspicion were scat-
tered on fertile ground, the heads of the opposition being
employed at this very time in getting up those charges
against Hamilton's official character, of which Giles be-
came the mouth-piece, and of which a full account has
already been given. Nothing could have pleased them
better than to have fixed upon Hamilton the charge of
speculating in public securities, from which he was spec-
ially prohibited by the act constituting the Treasury
Department. Muhlenburg having communicated to his
friends, Venable of the House, and Monroe of the Sen-
ate, this agreeable information, they proceeded to pay
a visit to Eeynolds while he was yet confined in prison.
He talked mysteriously about having a certain high of-
ficer very much in his power, but refused to give them
any precise information till after his discharge, which
was to take place in a day or two. Being discharged,
he left the city or kept out of the way. In default of
finding Eeynolds, Muhlenburg and Monroe paid a visit
to Eeynolds's wife, who, in answer to their inquiries, told
them that she had formerly burned, at Hamilton's re-
quest, a number of letters from him to her husband, but
that Clingman still had three or four letters without sig-
natures, written, as she believed, by Hamilton. Ham-
ilton, so she told them, had offered to assist her in going
to her friends, and had urged also the departure of her
husband, in which case he promised to give him " some-
thing clever," not, as she believed, out of friendship, but
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. 107
because lie could tell something " that would make some CHAPTER
of the heads of departments tremble." She stated, also,
that Wadsworth, then a member of Congress from Con- 1797.
necticut, under whom Eeynolds's father had been an of-
ficer in the,Commissary Department of the Eevolution-
ary army, had been active in her behalf, at first at her
request, but, as she believed, with the knowledge and
approbation of Hamilton, whose friend he professed to
be. He had been at her house the day before, and hav-
ing told her that two gentlemen of Congress had been at
the jail to confer with her husband, had inquired if she
knew what it was about. She also showed two notes in
Hamilton's handwriting, both of quite recent date, ex-
pressing a desire to relieve her. After this interview
with Mrs. Reynolds, Muhlenburg and Monroe hastened
to Clingman, who told them that he had once met Ham-
ilton at Reynolds's house in the night, on which occasion
he appeared unwilling to be seen ; that Mrs. Eeynolds
had told him that Hamilton had assisted her husband
with money to the amount of upward of eleven hundred
dollars ; that Eeynolds had said that Hamilton had been
concerned with one Duer, a speculating clerk in the
Treasury Department, who had failed, and had been dis-
missed in consequence ; also, that Hamilton had made
thirty thousand dollars by speculation, and that he, Eey-
nolds, had it in his power to hang him, and could always
get money from him when he wanted it. These state-
ments, with many others of less importance relating to
the arrest and discharge of Eeynolds, were carefully com-
mitted to writing, and signed by Clingman, who also de-
livered to Muhlenburg and Monroe two or three brief
anonymous notes said to have been addressed by Hamil-
ton to Eeynolds, but written in a disguised hand, con-
sisting each of a line or two, and about as significant as
i.08 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the similar notes which, formed so main a part of the
' evidence in the celebrated trial of Mr. Pickwick for
1797. breach of promise of marriage. They also made and
signed memoranda — Muhlenburg of his first interviews
with Clingman ; Monroe and Yenable of tbeir visit to
Keynolds ; and Monroe and Muhlenburg of their inter-
view with Mrs. Eeynolds. Armed with these various
documents, the three hastened to confront the secretary,
and to demand his explanation of these suspicious ap-
pearances previous to laying the matter before the presi-
dent. Hamilton at once acknowledged the anonymous
notes to be his, and appointed a time for a second inter-
view, at which Wolcott was present. He then stated to
the gentlemen whose patriotic zeal had induced them to
incur so much trouble, that he had been unfortunately
entrapped into an amour with Mrs. Keynolds, and that
her husband, whom he suspected to have been all along
privy to the affair, having made a real or pretended dis-
covery of it, had received, on his own proposition, a thou-
sand dollars as a salve to his wounded honor. Every ar-
tifice had afterward been used by Eeynolds and his wife,
who pretended to be desperately in love with Hamilton,
to protract the intercourse between them by playing upon
Hamilton's passions and sympathies ; a profitable opera-
tion on their part, since, to keep the matter quiet, and
so to avoid injuring the feelings of his wife, whom, not-
withstanding this amour, he tenderly loved, Hamilton
was obliged to respond oftener than was convenient to
his limited finances to Reynolds's applications to borrow
money. The connection having finally been broken off,
and Reynolds's recent applications for money refused, he
appears to have turned his thoughts toward revenge, re-
lying upon Clingman as his chief co-operator, and upon
the political enemies of Hamilton as his dupes and in-
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. 109
strumeiits. All this was made perfectly apparent by a CHAPTER
large collection of letters from Keynolds and his wife, '
which Hamilton produced and read to the three inquisi- 1797,
tors. Indeed, he had not gone far with this rather deli-
cate correspondence before the ridiculous position in which
they had placed themselves as spies upon the secretary's
amours flashed upon the minds of Tenable and Muhlen-
burg. and they begged him to stop, as further explana-
tions were quite unnecessary. Nothing, hardly, but the
blindness of party hatred, could have prevented men of
their ample worldly experience from suspecting, long be-
fore, the nature of the affair of which they had under-
taken the investigation. Even the grim and unsophis-
ticated Monroe, though not sharing the confusion and
embarrassment of his two colleagues, joined with them,
after the reading of the correspondence had been finished,
in professing himself perfectly satisfied, and his regret at
the impertinent intrusion into Hamilton's personal affairs
of which they had unintentionally been guilty. The
next day Hamilton wrote them a note, requesting copies
of the papers exhibited to him ; of the several statements,
that is, signed respectively by Muhlenburg, by Monroe
and Yenable, and by Muhlenburg and Monroe, and of his
own unsigned notes to Reynolds ; requesting also that
those notes might be detained from the parties of whom
they had been originally obtained, so that it might not
be in their power to make use of them for future mis-
chief. " Considering of how abominable an attempt they
have been made the instrument," so the note concluded,
" I trust you will feel no scruples about this detention."
Copies were accordingly furnished to Hamilton, and the
originals were detained in the possession of Monroe, who
declared in his answer that every thing desired by Ham-
ilton " should be strictly complied with," an express prom-
110 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ise of what, indeed, without any promise, might have
' been expected of men making any pretensions to justice
1797 or h°nor — tnat tne PaPers should be so disposed of as to
be no longer in any danger of being used to trump up
false charges against Hamilton. Yet it was these very
papers which were now published in Calender's book,
and along with them two others, drawn up about the
same time, but of which no copies were ever furnished to
Hamilton, and which can not but throw a cloud of sus-
picion over the parties concerned in making them — in
the case of Monroe a very deep one indeed. It appeared
that after their return from the visit to Hamilton above
mentioned, Monroe and his two friends had signed a mem-
orandum, in which, after stating the fact of the visit, with
a brief account of Hamilton's explanations, they ambig-
uously added, " "We left him under an impression our sus-
picions were removed." The other memorandum, of a
still more equivocal character, signed by Monroe alone,
and dated a fortnight after the first one, purported to
state a conversation with Clingman, who was represented
to have said that he had communicated the substance of
Hamilton's explanations to Eeynolds's wife, who wept
immoderately, denied the imputation, and declared that
her husband had confessed to her that the whole had been
a fabrication got up between him and Hamilton, he hav-
ing written letters and given receipts for money so as to
countenance Hamilton's pretenses ; and that he, Cling-
man, was of opinion that she was innocent, and the de-
fense an imposition. Of the spirit in which this mem-
orandum was made and preserved we can only judge
from the circumstance that no copy of it was communi-
cated to Hamilton, from the use ultimately made of
it, and from Monroe's general conduct in the affair both
before and after Callender's publication. All the pa-
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. Ill
pers, the two secret memoranda included, remained in CHAPTER
Monroe's hands till his departure for France, when, ac-
cording to his account, he deposited them in the hands 1797.
of a friend, " a respectable character in Virginia, " with
whom they were said still to remain. The originals,
then, were not stolen. Copies must have been furnished
to Callender ; and by whom ? Callender declared in his
pamphlet that he made the publication in revenge for the
recent attacks on the patriotism and honesty of Monroe ;
and the statement which he gave respecting the copies
furnished to Hamilton were such as could hardly have
been derived except from Monroe and his associates,
either at first or second hand. It would seem, then, that
Callender must have been furnished with copies either by
Monroe himself, or by " the respectable character in Vir-
ginia " to whom the originals had been intrusted. Mon-
roe expressly denied any agency in the publication, or
knowledge of it till after it had taken place — a denial to
which additional force was given by the fact that the
printing must have been finished prior to his arrival from
France. It would seem, then, that the copies must have
been furnished, directly or indirectly, by " the respectable
character in Virginia," and it deserves to be noticed that
in none of Monroe's numerous letters upon the subject is
there any denial that such was the case. "Who was this
" respectable character " ? That also is a subject upon
which Monroe's letters afford no light. Hamilton ap-
pears to have suspected Jefferson, and certainly there was
nobody with whom Monroe would have been more likely
to make such a deposit. What a relishing tit-bit these
papers would have furnished for Jefferson's Ana ! In-
deed, Jefferson's relations to some of Callender's subse-
quent publications were such as may serve to strengthen
the suspicion. If, in fact, these papers had been put
112 HISTORY OF THJil UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER into Jefferson's hands, it was a very fortunate circum-
J stance that the publication was made while Hamilton
] 797< still lived to explain and refute the imputation intended
to be founded upon them.
It was not Callender's object, in publishing these pa-
pers, to show that Hamilton had been guilty of an adul-
terous amour. The far more aggravated charge urged
against him was that, having been concerned with Key-
nolds in illicit speculations, he had attempted to avoid de-
tection by forging letters and receipts falsely implicat-
ing his own chastity and that of Keynolds's wife ; and
this charge rested not alone on Clingman's alleged asser-
tions and the argument of Callender, but seemed to re-
ceive a certain countenance from the two ambiguous
memoranda, the one signed by Monroe and his associates,
the other by Monroe alone.
Though it would have been a thing hardly to be sup-
posed that, really believing or seriously suspecting the
truth of such a charge, Yenable, Monroe, and Muhlen-
burg had suffered the matter to rest quietly for four years
or more, to be at last surreptitiously brought out in a
libelous pamphlet, Hamilton still deemed it proper, im-
mediately on the appearance of Callender's " History,"
to address to each of the three persons thus apparently
July 5. vouched in to substantiate the charge, a separate letter,
reminding them of what had passed at their interviews
with him, and requesting from them declarations equiv-
alent to those made at that time, "especially as you
must be sensible," he added, " that the present appearance
of the papers is contrary to the course which was under-
stood between us to be proper, and includes a dishonor-
able infidelity somewhere." This infidelity he did not at-
tribute to either of the three, yet suspicion, he remarked,
must naturally fall on some agent of theirs. His atten-
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. 113
tion being shortly after called to the ambiguity of expres- CHAPTER
sion in the memorandum signed by the three, giving an '
account of their interviews with Hamilton, and which
he had seen for the first time in print, he wrote a second
time to inquire if that memorandum were authentic, and
what its intention and proper interpretation might be.
Muhlenburg and Tenable denied any concern in or
knowledge of the publication, or that they had ever had
copies of the papers. "I avoided taking copies," wrote
Venable, in the true spirit of an honorable man, " be-
cause I feared that the greatest care I could exercise in
keeping them safely might be defeated by some accident,
and that some person or other might improperly obtain
an inspection of them." Both declared that at the in-
terview in question they had been entirely satisfied with
Hamilton's explanations. In answer to Hamilton's sec-
ond note in reference to the joint memorandum, Muhlen-
burg and Monroe, Venable having previously left Phila-
delphia on his return to Virginia, stated, in a joint letter,
that the impression left on their minds by the interview
corresponded with that which the memorandum staged
them to have left on his, namely, that their suspicions
were unfounded. Hamilton judged it, however, to be
still necessary to demand of Monroe an explanation of
the memorandum signed by him alone, the tendency of
which was, and for that purpose it had been used by
Callender, to countenance a suspicion that the papers ex-
hibited by him were forgeries, in which he falsely charged
himself with a . breach of matrimonial duty in order to
ward off a charge of official misconduct.
This demand placed Monroe in a very awkward posi-
tion. He could not say that he recorded the alleged
statement of Clingman because he believed or thought
it might be true, since, in that case, to have confined it
V.— H
114 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER to his own private repository or to that of his " respect
_ able friend in Virginia " would have been a scandalous
1797 dereliction of duty, wholly inconsistent with that patri-
otic zeal by which the original investigation purported to
have been prompted. To have admitted, on the other
hand, that he recorded Clingman's statement believing
it to be false, and yet without any intimation on his
part to that effect, would be to confess himself an acces-
sory to an outrageous and wicked slander, reduced to
writing, thus preserved, and finally published through
his means, if, indeed, it had not been entirely manufac-
tured by him. Yainly struggling to escape from this
most discreditable dilemma, Monroe replied to Hamilton's
demand in the following terms : " Although I was sur-
prised at the communication given, I meant neither to
give nor to imply any opinion of my own as to its con-
tents. I simply entered the communication as I received
it, reserving to myself the liberty of forming an opinion
upon it at such future time as I found convenient, pay-
ing due regard to all the circumstances connected with
it." Hamilton, however, was not to be put off with so
poor an evasion ; and after another letter, giving Monroe
a second chance to explain himself, which drew out
another answer, substantially the same with that just
July 20. quoted, he thus expressed his opinion of MonroeTs behav-
ior. " The having any communication with Clingman
after that with me ; receiving from him and recording
information depending on the mere veracity of a man
undeniably guilty of subornation of perjury, and whom
the very documents which he himself produced showed
sufficiently to be the accomplice of a vindictive attempt
upon me ; the leaving it in a situation where it mighl
rise up at a future and remote day to inculpate me, with
out the possibility, perhaps, from the lapse of time, oi
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. 115
establishing the refutation, was, in my opinion, in a high CHAPTER
degree indelicate and improper. To have given or in- '_
tended to give the least sanction or credit, after all that 1797.
was known to you, to the mere assertion of either of the
three persons, Clingman, Keynolds, or his wife, would
have betrayed a disposition toward me which, if it ap-
peared to exist, would merit epithets the severest I could
apply."
This temperate but cutting rebuke drew out from July si.
Monroe a long argumentative answer in support of the
delicacy and propriety of the joint proceedings of himself
and his associates, and of his own separate interview with
Clingman. But the delicacy and propriety of reducing
Clingman's statement to writing, in terms implying no
doubt of its truth, and placing that record in a position
to be used, as it actually had been, as foundation for a
charge against Hamilton the most serious and deroga-
tory, this, the very gist of the matter, was passed over
without the slightest notice except what might be im-
plied in the following concluding sentence : " Whether
the imputations against you as to speculations are well
or ill founded, depends upon the facts and circumstances
which appear against you. If you show that they are
ill founded, I shall be contented, for I have never under-
taken to accuse you since our interview, nor do I now
give any opinion on it, reserving to myself the liberty
to form one after I see your defense, being resolved, how-
ever, so far as depends upon me, not to bar the door to
free inquiry, or to the merits of the case in either view."
In his reply to this note, Hamilton noticed Monroe's July ja
evident design to drive him to a formal and public de-
fense against the charges of Clingman and Callender}
which, from its delicate nature, must be exceedingly dis-
agreeable. He also reminded Monroe that he had been
116 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the cause, against the intent of a confidence reposed in
_ him, of the affair assuming its present shape. " It wag
1797. incumbent upon you," he added, " as a man of honesty
and sensibility, to have come forward in a manner that
would have shielded me completely from the unpleasant
effects brought upon me by your agency. This you have
not done. On the contrary, by the affected reference of
this matter to a defense which I am to make, and by
which you profess your opinion is to be decided, you im-
ply that your suspicions are still alive. And as nothing
appears to have shaken your original conviction but the
wretched tale of Clingman which you have thought fit
to record, it follows that you are pleased to attach a de-
gree of weight to that communication which can not be
accounted for on any fair principles. The result in my
mind is, that you have been, and are, actuated by mo-
tives toward me malignant and dishonorable ; nor can I
doubt that this will be the universal opinion when the
publication of the whole affair, which I am about to
make, shall be seen." To this manly and direct impu-
tation upon him as a man of honor, candor, and truth,
July 25. Monroe made a wiffling and confused reply. He at-
tempted, by some further explanations, to withdraw the
endorsement given by his preceding letter to Clingman's
statement as something which required an answer and
defense ; but he still found himself in the old dilemma.
He did not dare to say that the statement of Clingman
had made, at the time, any impression upon his mind,
for if so, how explain his total silence concerning it for
so many years ? He was resolved not to say that he re-
garded it as false when made, for if so, why was it re-
corded and so carefully preserved ? Stigmatized as he
was with being a malignant and dishonorable plotter
against Hamilton's refutation, with the certain prospect
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. 117
oefore him of being exhibited as such to the public, Mon- CHAPI ER
roe found no other resource except the vulgar one of in-
timating his readiness to fight — if challenged. If Ham- 1797.
ilton wished to make it a personal affair, he " might be
more explicit, since you well know," so this letter con-
cluded, " if that is your disposition, what my determina-
tion is, and to which I shall firmly adhere."
Hamilton, in his answer, declared himself at a loss July 28.
to know what could be the determination on Monroe's
part so mysteriously referred to as known to him. As
to making the affair a personal matter, it would, on
his part, be as unworthy to seek as to shun such an is-
sue. *' It was my earnest wish," the letter added, " to
have experienced a conduct on your part such as was,
in my opinion, due to me, to yourself, and to justice.
Thinking as I did, on the coolest reflection, that this had
not been the case, I did not hesitate to convey to you
the impression which I entertained, prepared for any
consequences." As to Monroe's additional explanations,
they were pronounced wholly unsatisfactory. Monroe
replied that he could give no further explanations, unless July 31. .
called upon in a way which, for the illustration of truth,
he wished to avoid, but which he was ever ready to
meet. To this Hamilton answered, that, as the affair Aug. 3.
stood, if there was to be any challenge, it ought to come
from Monroe. If his last note was intended as such,
Hamilton's friend, Colonel Jackson, was authorized to
receive any further communications in relation to it.
Again Monroe found himself in a very uncomfortable
position. Unquestionably, according to what is called
the code of honor, if there was to be a challenge, it should
have come from him, distinctly charged as he was with,
betrayal of confidence, and behavior, in other respects,
-not only indelicate and improper, bat malignant and clis-
118 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER honorable. It is no imputation, however, upon Monroe's
' personal courage, that, to his other sins against Ham-
1797 ilton, he did not wish to add that of a duel with him.
But to avoid it, after having himself introduced the sub-
ject, he found it necessary to withdraw from the posi-
tion of partial defiance which he had assumed. " Seeing
Aug. 6. no adequate cause," so he wrote, " bj any thing in our
late correspondence, why I should give a challenge to
you, I own it was not my intention to give or even tc
provoke one by any thing contained in these letters. 3
meant only to observe that I should stand on the defense,
and receive one in case you saw fit to give it. If, there-
fore, you were under a contrary impression, I frankly
own you are mistaken." If, however, Hamilton's last
note was intended as a challenge, Colonel Burr was au-
thorized, on Monroe's part, to make the necessary ar-
Aug. 7. rangements. Hamilton stated, in reply, that the inten-
tion of his note was very plain, namely, to meet and
close with an advance toward a personal interview,
which appeared to have been made by Monroe. As any
such advance was now disclaimed, any further step on
his (Hamilton's) part would be inconsistent with the
ground he had hitherto taken, and improper.
This extraordinary correspondence thus closed, Hamil-
ton proceeded to do what the countenance given by Mon-
roe to the charges of Clingman and Callender had made
necessary. To cut up by the roots all possible suspicion
that, in order to cover up the offense of illegal specula-
tion, he had falsely charged himself with adultery and
forged letters to prove it, he did not hesitate to publish
the entire correspondence, and a very curious one, too,
between himself and the Reynoldses, husband and wife,
with certificates as to the handwriting of the letters, of
which the originals were deposited, so as to be open, tc
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON HAMILTON. US
public inspection. Hamilton's numerous political ene- CHAPTER
mies, at least tlie baser part of them, consoled themselves
for the total failure of this new attempt against his repu- 1797,
tation as a public officer by exulting over the pain and
mortification which he must have suffered in being driven
to the disclosures which he thought it necessary to make ;
and they even insinuated — insinuations which have been
often since repeated, that he had at least outraged pro
priety in venturing to defend his official integrity at the
expense of so indecorous a confession. But it was not
he, it was his rancorous and malignant enemies who had
dragged his secret amours before the public ; and few
who have a spark of generous feeling will be able to
read, without emotion, his own excuse, in the introduc-
tion to his pamphlet, for defending his reputation as a
public officer by telling the whole story without reserve.
• ' This confession is not made without a blush. I can
not be the apologist of any vice because the ardor of pas-
sion may have made it mine. I can never cease to con-
demn myself for the pang which it may inflict on a bos-
om eminently entitled to all my gratitude, fidelity, and
love ; but that bosom will approve that, even at so great
an expense, I should effectually wipe away a more seri-
ous stain from a name which it cherishes with no less
elevation than tenderness. The public too, I trust, will
excuse the confession. The necessity of it to my de-
fense against a more heinous charge could alone have
extorted from me so painful an indecorum."
This matter has been gone into at greater length, not
only as very illustrative of character, and because the
circumstances attending it have been often misrepresent-
ed, but also as showing the desperate and outrageous
kind of warfare to which some, at least, of the leaders of
the opposition were willing to resort. Under these as-
120 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER saults, which had, of late, begun to fall thick and heavy
' upon all the principal supporters of Washington's policy,
1 797- the Federalists were by no means passive. The princi-
pal writers on the side of the opposition were recent im-
migrants from abroad, of whom there were several be-
sides Callender. The Federalists were not without
assistance from the same quarter. In the afterward so
celebrated William Cobbett they had found a formidable
champion. After an eight years' tour of duty in the
British army, commencing just at the close of the Amer-
ican war, and passed principally in New Brunswick, dur-
ing which he had risen from the ranks to be sergeant
major of his regiment, and had improved his leisure to
acquire a familiar knowledge of the French and a com*
plete mastery of the English tongue, together with no
inconsiderable stock of general information, Cobbett had
emigrated to America in 1792. Of ardent feelings and
most determined spirit, he had, as is not uncommonly the
case with young men of that character, a traditionary
reverence for the institutions of his native country — a
reverence proportioned, as he himself confessed at a later
day, and as such feelings are very apt to be, to his igno-
rance of what those institutions practically were. His
patriotism and his hatred of the French, which he had
imbibed in the army, were inflamed instead of being cow-
ed by the detestation of England and partiality for France
which he found so prevalent in America ; and under the
influence of those feelings, he wrote and published, in
1794, a bitter satirical pamphlet on Priestley's emigration
to America, and the demonstrations with which he had
been welcomed at New York and Philadelphia. This
pamphlet was favorably received by the Federalists, and
was followed up by several others, principally relating to
the British treaty, and published under the name, of Peter
PORCUPINES GAZETTE. 121
Porcupine, in which some very sharp thrusts were made CHAPTER
at the Democratic opposition. Such, in fact, was the .
success of these writings, that Cobbett resolved to adopt 1797.
that profession of a popular political writer, for which Na-
ture had specially designed him. Having first set up a
shop at Philadelphia for the publication and sale of his
own writings — for he complained of having been a good
deal fleeced by the printers and publishers for whom he had
hitherto written — he commenced, simultaneously with
Adams's administration, the publication of a daily paper
called Porcupine's Gazette. In this, the eighth daily
paper then published in Philadelphia (a greater number
than in all the rest of the country), he handled the oppo-
sition with very little mercy. His pointed wit, cutting
sarcasm, and free command, of the plainest and most
downright English, made him, indeed, a formidable ad-
versary. But the ultra and uncompromising Toryism in
which he gloried, and the entire freedom which he claimed
and exercised in expressing his opinions, rendered him
even more dangerous to the party he had espoused than
to that which he opposed. Though publishing an Amer-
ican paper professedly in support of the administration,
he did not profess to be any the less a Briton in his
allegiance and his heart, and he came into collisions hard-
ly more violent with Bache's Aurora than with the Mi-
nerva, the leading Federalist paper of New York, edited
by Noah "Webster, the afterward celebrated lexicographer.
It was vainly attempted to silence him by threats of
violence ; he grew daily more formidable ; to Monroe he
showed no mercy ; and perhaps it was the sting of some
of his sharp squibs that had stimulated to the recent at-
tack upon Hamilton.
That attack was presently followed up by a very re-
markable experiment on Washington, with abuse of whom
122 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER and of his administration, to which the Aurora and othei
XL
more violent opposition- prints clamorously responded,
1797. Callender's book had been filled. For the purpose, ap-
parently, of ascertaining the effect of these attacks upon
Washington's mind, and of drawing from him something
of which advantage might be taken, a letter was address-
Sept. 23. ed to \ im, dated Warren, Albemarle county, and signed
John Langhorne, condoling with him on the aspersions
on his character, but suggesting that he ought not to al-
low them to disturb his peace. Without any suspicion
that his correspondent was a fictitious person, but sup-
posing him, as he afterward expressed it, to be " a pedant
desirous of displaying the flowers of his pen," Washing-
Oct. 15. ton, with his accustomed courtesy, made a short reply,
declaring that on public account he felt as much as any
man the calumnies leveled at the government and its sup-
porters, but that as to himself personally he had a con-
solation within which protected him against the venom
of these darts, and which, in spite of their utmost malig-
nity, kept his mind perfectly tranquil. It having acci-
dentally become known to John Nicholas, who lived in
that vicinity, that there was a letter in the Charlottes-
vine post-office, directed, in Washington's handwriting,
to John Langhorne, a name unknown in the county, and
his suspicions having been excited by other facts that
had come to his knowledge, as it would seem, through his
political intimacy with Jefferson, he took measures to
learn what became of the letter, and ascertained that it
was taken from the office by a political opponent of the
administration, it would appear by a messenger from Mon-
ticello. Nicholas was a very zealous member of the op-
position ; but, whether instigated by regard for Washing-
ton, by personal dislike and distrust of Jefferson, or by a
Nov. 18 mixture of motives, he presently wrote, warning Wash-
WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON. 123
ington against what had the appearance of a snare,- CHAPTER
Washington thereupon sent Hm a copy of the Langhorne 1_
letter and of his answer to it ; and, some months after, 1793
Nicholas communicated, as Washington had requested, Feb. 22.
the result of his investigations. That letter of Nicholas
has never yet been published, but its tenor may be judged
of from Washington's reply. " Nothing short of the evi-
dence you have adduced," so Washington wrote, "cor- March a
oborative of intimations which I had received long before
through another channel, could have shaken my belief in
the sincerity of a friendship which I had conceived was
possessed for me by the person " — this person was Jef-
ferson— uto whom you allude. But attempts to injure
those who are supposed to stand well in the estimation
of the people, and are stumbling blocks in the way, by
misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby to destroy
all confidence in them, are among the means by which
the government is to be assailed and the Constitution de-
stroyed. The conduct of this party is systematized, and
everything that is opposed to its execution will be sacri-
ficed without hesitation or remorse, if the end can be an-
swered by it.
" If the person whom you suspect was really the au-
thor of the letter under the signature of John Langhorne,
it is not at all surprising to me that the correspondence
should have ended where it did, for the penetration of
that man would have perceived by the first glance at the
answer that nothing was to be drawn from that mode of
attack. In what form the next insidious attempts may
appear, remains to be discovered. But as the attempts
to explain away the Constitution and weaken the gov-
ernment are now become so open, and the desire of plac-
ing the affairs of this country under the influence and
control of a foreign nation is so apparent and strong, it
124 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAFFER is hardly to be expected that a resort to covert means to
_ effect these objects will be longer regarded."
1798. It would seem from a correspondence between Wash-
ington and his nephew Bushrod, presently a judge of the
Supreme Court of the United States, that Nicholas was
desirous of bringing before the public the circumstances
respecting this Langhorne letter, and had consulted with
the nephew for that purpose. Washington left the mat-
ter entirely to their discretion, observing that if the let-
ter could be indubitably proved a forgery, " no doubt
would remain in the mind of any one that it was writ-
ten with a view to effect some nefarious purpose ;" and
that if the person whom Nicholas suspected was the real
author or abettor, " it would be a pity not to expose him
to public execration for attempting in so dishonorable a
way to obtain a disclosure of sentiments of which some
advantage could be taken. But," he added, " Mr. Nich-
olas will unquestionably know that if the proofs fail the
matter will recoil, and that the statement must be a full
and not a partial one that is given to the public ; noi
only as the most satisfactory mode of bringing it before
that tribunal, but the shortest in the result, for he will
have a persevering phalanx to contend against." It
would be necessary, also, for Nicholas, so Washington
suggested, to disclose his own motives in the business,
and to run the risk of being himself accused of having
got up a plot. Nicholas, who still preserved his political
standing with his party, hesitated to encounter so great
a risk ; the whole affair remained buried in obscurity till
brought to light by the recent publication of Washing-
ton's writings ; and it was in ignorance that his double
dealing, if not worse, had been fully exposed to Wash-
ington by one of his own warmest .political partisans,
that Jefferson, in his old age, wrote the famous letter to
ENYOYS TO FRANCE. 125
Mr. Van Buren already referred to, in wnich lie attempt- CHAPTER
ed to make out that he had retained Washington's con- .
ndence to the last. 1798.
Apart from all other evidence, there are sufficient in-
dications even in Jefferson's writings, as prepared by
himself for publication, that he rated Washington as low
and hated him with as much energy as he did all the
other distinguished Federalists who had stood in his
way. But dreading that great man's towering and inde-
structible popularity, made more solid by time, as a rock
on which his own crumbling reputation might be dashed
to pieces should he venture to assail it, and cringing, as
he always did, to popular opinion, whether right or wrong,
he has attempted the same course with posterity which
he so long successfully practiced with Washington him-
self; he has assumed in his published writings the char-
acter of that great man's admirer, eulogist, and friend,
while many passages of those same writings covertly hold
him up to contempt as a mere tool in the hands of abler
men, who took advantage of his monarchical predilec-
tions and decaying faculties to make him the cover and
the instrument of their criminal projects.
But it is time to return from these dark intrigues to
affairs of a more public nature.
The two new envoys, not long after their appointment, 1797.
had separately embarked for Europe, there to join Pinck-
ney, and to unite with him in a new attempt to arrange
matters with the French republic. Their letters of cre-
dence and full powers declared them to have been ap-
pointed for terminating all differences, and restoring har-
mony, and good understanding, and commercial and
friendly intercourse between the two republics. That
the negotiation might not be interrupted by the death or
disability of one or two of the envoys, these powers were
126 HISTDRY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER conferred upon them jointly and severally. Their very
L elaborate and explicit instructions commenced by vin-
1797. dicating the neutral position of the United States, as-
sumed, as was alleged, with the full concurrence of the
French government ; and by defending what had been
done in support of that neutrality, as u pure in principle,
impartial in operation, and conformable to the indispen-
sable rights of sovereignty." The ministers were direct-
ed to seek, as an important object of their mission, com-
pensation for the various injuries inflicted by France,
both the more recent depredations on American com-
merce, and the older ones, of which a series existed from
the very commencement of the existing war ; but, though
this was to be pressed with the greatest earnestness, it
was not to be insisted upon as indispensable to a treaty.
These claims, however, were in no event to be renounced ;
nor was the payment of them to be assumed by the
United States as a loan to France.
Though the Directory had no pretensions to it as a
matter of right, yet, should they make that a point, the
treaty of commerce might be so modified as to allow the
seizure of enemies goods in neutral vessels, and the in-
grafting into it of regulations, to last during the present
war, on the subject of provisions and other articles not
usually deemed contraband, similar to those contained in
the British treaty.
The mutual renunciation of the guarantee contained
in the treaty of alliance, and which was assumed to ap
ply only to defensive wars, was also suggested as very
desirable for the United States ; or, if that could not be
obtained, a specification of the succors to be mutually
rendered — those from the United States to be in money
or provisions, and those from France in money, military
stores, or clothing — the total amount not to exceed
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ENVOYS. 127
$200,000 in any one year. Special care was to be CHAPTER
taken not to recognize the existence of any claim under
the guarantee, so far as related to the present war, nor 1797.
to make any admission that the present war came within
the purview of the treaty. Indeed, the precaution was
suggested of not referring to the guarantee at all, unless
the subject were first introduced on the other side. Par-
ticular instructions were also given as to the consular
convention, and to such articles of the treaty of com-
merce as had been differently understood by the two
governments.
In any arrangement that might be made, the envoys
were to insist that no blame for any past transactions
should be either directly or indirectly imputed to the
United States. Exceptionable as the conduct of France
had been, the United States, on the other hand, were
willing to pass it over without comment. The envoys
were expressly forbidden to stipulate any aid to France
during the pending war ; any engagement inconsistent
with any existing treaty with other nations ; any restraint
upon lawful commerce with other nations ; .any stipula-
tions under color of which French tribunals of any sort
might be established in the United States ; or any per-
sonal privileges to be claimed by Frenchmen resident in
the United States incompatible with complete sovereignty
and independence in matters of internal polity, com-
merce, and government.
.As it was the object of the mission to obtain and to do
justice, and to preserve jceace. the style and manner of
the proceeding were to be of the sort most directly tend-
ing to that end. If such changes had taken place in the
French government as would render it politic, strong
language was to be used ; but if there appeared a de-
termination to frustrate the negotiation, any warmth or
128 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER harshness which might furnish the Directory with a pre-
' tense for breaking it off was to be carefully avoided. la
1797 the representation to be made to the French government,
a style was recommended uniting, as much as possible,
" calm dignity with simplicity, and force of sentiment
with mildness of language," but calculated, at the same
time, to convey the idea of " inflexible perseverance."
Oct. 4. Having joined each other in Paris, the three envoys
sent notice of their arrival to the French minister for
Foreign Affairs, requesting him to appoint a time for re-
ceiving copies of their letters of credence. The events
which had transpired in France between the appointment
of the envoys and their arrival were by no means en-
couraging. A favorable change had been hoped, and
not without reason, from the periodical renewal, as pro-
vided for by the French Constitution of the year Three.
of one of the Directors and two thirds of the Councils.
But this infusion of popular sentiment into the govern-
ing machinery of the French republic had been promptly
met and speedily extinguished. Two of the Directors,
the least exposed to suspicion of personal corruption, with
seventy members of the Councils, including Pichegru,
president of the Council of Five Hundred, and Pastoret
and Segur, who had ably exposed from the tribune the
wrongs inflicted upon the United States, had been seiz-
ed by their colleagues, and, under the old pretense of
Royalism, had been shipped off to Cayenne. Of the
two new Directors since appointed, one was Merlin, the
same who, as president of the Convention, had given the
fraternal hug to Monroe, and who, as minister of Jus-
tice, had sustained the condemnation of American ves-
sels under the frivolous pretense of the want of a role
d'equipage, that is, a certified list of the crew — a ser-
vice which the privateers were believed to reciprocate by
UNOFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS. 129
allowing Merlin a share in the proceeds of their captures. CHAPTER
The new minister of foreign affairs to whom the envoys
addressed themselves proved to be no other than Talley- 1797.
rand, lately a proscribed exile in the United States, whose
visits, like those of other French emigrants, "Washington
had declined to receive, lest such acts of courtesy might
have been added to the long list of complaints on the part
of the French republic. But by one of those rapid trans-
mutations so common in French politics, this late exile
had now become the trusted and confidential agent of
the Directory. The contemptuous observations as to the
United States in which he indulged, as already reported
in Pinckney's dispatches, afforded no very favorable
omens for the success of the present mission.
The envoys were informed by Talleyrand that he was
then engaged upon a report to the Directory on Ameri-
can affairs. When that was finished,, he would let them
know what was to be done. To authorize their residence
in Paris, meanwhile, he sent them permits, known at
that time as " cards of hospitality."
After an interval of ten days, the envoys were informed Oct. 11
by a gentleman to whom the information had been given
by Talleyrand's private secretary, that the Directory
were very much exasperated by some parts of the presi-
dent's speech at the opening of Congress, and that no
audience would probably be granted until the conclusion
of the negotiation, which would, it was likely, be carried
on by persons appointed for that purpose, and who would
report to Talleyrand, to whom the management of he
matter would be intrusted.
Shortly after, a gentleman well known to the envoys, Oct. 18.
a partner in a noted mercantile house at Paris, which
bad already volunteered to answer their drafts for any
sum they might need, called on Pinckney, and stated
V.— I
130 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER that a Mr. Hottingrier, to whom Pinckney had alicaly
~ been introduced, a gentleman of credit and reputation in
1797 whom the utmost confidence might be placed, had some
important communications to make to them. Hottinguer
himself called on Pinckney the same evening, and after
chatting a while with the company that chanced to be
present, whispered to Pinckney that he had a message
from Talleyrand. Having withdrawn together to a pri-
vate room, Hottinguer remarked that he had a plan to
propose, by means of which Talleyrand thought a recon-
ciliation might be brought about between France and
the United States. The Directory, particularly two
members of it, were very much irritated at some expres-
sions in the president's speech, and, previous to a recep-
tion of the envoys, those expressions must be softened.
A loan to the republic would also be insisted on ; and a
sum of money for the private pockets of the Directors
must be placed at Talleyrand's disposal. The amount
of the private douceur required was 1,200,000 livres,
about $240,000. As to the amount of the loan to the
republic, or what particularly were the objectionable
passages in the president's speech, Hottinguer could give
no information. He stated, in fact, that what he knew
was not directly from Talleyrand, but from another gen-
tleman very much in that minister's confidence.
As there seemed to be no other means of getting at
the intentions of the French government, the envoys, after
consulting together, agreed to extract from this unofficial
°Pt- 19- source all the information they could, and in an inter-
view the next day, at which all the envoys were pres-
ent, Hottinguer reduced his suggestions to writing. It
was stated in the memorandum thus furnished that the
French government would be willing to agree to a board
of commissioners to decide upon American claims on
(INOFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS. 131
France for depredations and debts due ; but the sums CHAPTER
awarded, as well as those hitherto admitted to be due,
but not yet paid, must be advanced by the American 1797.
government, and that, too, under an agreement on the ,
part of the recipients that the amounts thus paid should
be reinvested in additional supplies to the French colo-
nies. First, however, there was to be deducted from
this masked loan " certain sums," to wit, the 1,200,000
livres, " for the purpose of making the distributions cus-
tomary in diplomatic affairs."
Encouraged, it would seem, by the attention paid to
his suggestions, and having first demanded and received
a promise that in no case should his own name or that
of the other gentleman be made public, Hottinguer re-
turned the day after, this time bringing with him for Oct. 20.
further explanations that other gentleman, the alleged
particular friend of Talleyrand, who proved to be a Mr.
Bellamy, a citizen of Hamburg. After premising that
he had no diplomatic authority, but was only a friend
of Talleyrand's, trusted by him, and, like him, well dis-
posed toward the United States, Bellamy pointed out the
comments on Barras's farewell speech to Monroe, as well
as several other paragraphs in the president's speech at
the opening of Congress, of which as seeming to imply
that France had acted injuriously toward the United
States, a formal disavowal in writing would be required.
That done, a new treaty would be agreed to, placing the
matter of neutral rights in the same position as that es-
tablished by the British treaty ; but with a secret ar-
ticle for a loan. On the absolute necessity of the dis-
avowal required, and also of paying a great deal of
money, Bellamy dwelt with much emphasis : but the
amount once agreed upon, care would be taken to con-
sult the interest of the United States as to the best means
132 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER of furnishing it, so as to avoid complaints on the part of
_ Great Britain.
1797 The two agents came the next day to breakfast, Bel-
Oct 21. lamy, as he stated, fresh from Talleyrand, with whom he
had passed the morning. Tl j e apology demanded by the
Directory, however painful the making of it might be,
was, he said, an indispensable preliminary to the recep
tion of the envoys, unless, indeed, they could find some
means to change that determination. Those means he
was not authorized to state ; but he suggested, as his
own private opinion, that money would answer. The
Directors, he said, insisted upon the same respect for-
merly paid to the King of France, and the reparation
required could only be dispensed with in exchange for
something still more valuable. The Directory had on
hand thirty-two millions of florins in Dutch inscriptions
(obligations extorted from that dependant republic),
worth at the present moment, in the market, according
to Bellamy's account, one half their nominal value. On
the payment of their full value, $12,800,000, the Direc-
tory would assign them to the American government.
It would, in fact, be only an advance on good security,
for after the war was over they would undoubtedly rise
to par. To a question on that point, Bellamy replied
that the douceur of $240,000 must be a separate and ad-
ditional sum.
To all this the envoys answered that the proposition
for a loan went beyond their instructions. They offered,
however, that one of their number should return home
to consult the government on that point, provided the
Directory would agree to suspend, in the interval, all
further captures of American vessels, and all proceedings
on captures already made, and in case of prizes already
condemned and sold, ths payment over to the captors of
the prize money.
UNOFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS 183
This answer seems to have taken the agents quite by CHAPTER
surprise. Bellamy complained that the proposal about '
money had been treated as though it had come from the 1797.
Directory, whereas it did not even come from the minis-
ter, having been merely suggested by himself as a substi-
tute for the apology which the Directory required. But
to this the envoys replied, that from the circumstances
under which their intercourse with Bellamy had origin-
ated (a thing not sought by them), they had conversed
with him and his associate as they would have done with
Talleyrand himself. It was true that no credentials had
been exhibited, but, relying upon the respectable charac-
ters of Messrs. Hottinguer and Bellamy, the envoys had
taken it for granted that they were in fact what they
purported to be. As to the form of their answer, Mr.
Bellamy could give it what shape he pleased. After all
the depredations which the United States had suffered,
they were astonished at the demands made upon them,
as though America had been the aggressing party. On
all points that could have been anticipated, they were
fully instructed, but this matter of a loan was beyond
their powers.
Bellamy, in return, expressed himself with great ener-
gy as to the resentment of the Directory, and as the en-
voys seemed disinclined to accept his proposed substitute
of a loan, he recalled their attention to his original prop-
osition of an apology and recantation. But this, the en-
voys told him, was wholly out of the question ; indeed,
they did not suppose that it had been seriously urged.
The Constitution of the United States authorized and re-
quired the president to communicate to Congress his ideas
on the affairs of the nation. He had done so, and, in
doing so, had stated facts with which all America was
familiar. Over the president's speech tin envoys had no
134 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER power, and any attempt to exercise such power wo aid
' not only be absurd in itself, but would lead to their im-
1797, mediate disavowal and recall. After much conversation,
the two agents departed, apparently much alarmed at
the audacity of the envoys — certain to result in their not
being received.
The very next day after the failure of this first at-
tempt upon them, the envoys were approached from an-
Oct 22. other quarter. M. Hauteval, a respectable French gen-
tleman who had formerly resided in Boston, informed
Gerry, who had been well acquainted with him, that
Talleyrand professed himself very well disposed toward
the United States, and had expected to have frequently
seen the American envoys in their private capacity, and
to have conferred with them individually on the subject
of their mission. Neither Pinckney nor Marshall had
ever had any previous acquaintance with Talleyrand ;
but, after conferring together, it was agreed by the en-
voys that Gerry, who had known the French minister of
Foreign Affairs during his residence in America, might,
upon the strength of that acquaintance, properly enough
Oct. 23. call upon him ; which he did the next day, in company
with M. Hauteval. Talleyrand not being then at his of-
fice, the twenty-eighth of the month was appointed for
an interview.
Oct. 27. The day before that interview Hottinguer again called
upon the envoys, and urged with much vehemence the
policy of propitiating the Directory by a loan, since they
were determined that all nations should aid them, or
be considered and treated as enemies. Even if a loan
might not be within their special authority, would it
not be prudent to interest an influential friend in their
favor ? The character of the directors ought to be con-
sidered. Believing that America could do them no
UNOFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS. 18n
harm, they would pay no regard to her claims, nor to CHAPTER
any reasoning in support of those claims. Interest could
be acquired with them only by a judicious application of 1797,
money ; and the envoys ought to consider whether the
situation of their country did not require the use of such
means. Both the loan and the douceur were pressed with
great pertinacity and with a variety of arguments, but
without making any impression on the envoys.
At the interview the next day between Gerry and Ocr,. 2*
Talleyrand, Hauteval acted as interpreter. Talleyrand
stated that the Directory had passed a decree, which he
offered for perusal, requiring an explanation of some parts
of the president's speech, and reparation for other parts
of it. This, he was sensible, must be a troublesome
thing to the envoys, but by an offer of money on their
part he thought the operation of the decree might be pre-
vented. Gerry objected that the envoys had no such
powers; to which Talleyrand replied, "Then assume
them, and make a loan." Gerry thereupon reiterated to
Talleyrand the statements already made to Hottinguer
and Bellamy. The envoys had ample powers for the dis-
cussion and adjustment of what, in their view, were the
real points of difference between the two nations ; but
they did not consider the president's speech as coming
within the range of diplomacy ; they had no powers as
to a loan, and any agreement of theirs to make one would
be a deception on the Directory. Still, if the other points
in controversy could be adjusted, they might, if it were
deemed expedient, send home one of their number for in-
structions on that head. Talleyrand replied that this mat-
ter of the money must be settled at once without sending
to America, and that, to give time for it, he would keep
back the decree for a week. Even if the difficulty about
the president's speech were settled, application would still
136 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
cu AFTER go to the United States for a loan. Hauieval, having
_ been requested by Talleyrand to repeat to Gerry and his
1797 colleagues what he had said, accompanied Gerry to his
lodgings, and the other two envoys being present, a min-
ute was made of Talleyrand's propositions. This having
been certified by Hauteval as correct, he was desired by
Pinckney and Marshall to inform that minister that as
Gerry had fully expressed their sentiments, they had
nothing to add, and that it was not necessary to delay the
decree on their account.
Oct. 29 The next day Hottinguer called again on the envoys
with new assurances of Talleyrand's anxiety to serve
them. After dwelling afresh on the power and haughti-
ness of France, he suggested a new proposition. If the
envoys would pay by way of fees, as he expressed it, the
sum demanded for the private use of the Directory, they
might be suffered to remain in Paris till they could con-
sult their government on the subject of a loan. In that
case, though not received by the Directory, they would
be recognized by Talleyrand. On being asked if the Di-
rectory would also suspend the capture of American ves-
sels, and restore those already taken, but not condemned,
he said they would not, but Talleyrand had observed
that the winter was approaching, and that few prizes
would be made during that season. To the question why
they should pay twelve hundred thousand livres for the
mere privilege of spending the winter in Paris, he replied
that they might in that way postpone hostilities, and that
in the interval a change might take place. To this the
envoys replied, that if they saw any prospect of an ad
justment, or any real good to be gained, they should not
stand for a little money, such as was stated to be usual ;
but that, so long as the depredations on American
commerce continued, they would not give a cent, nor
UNOFIIAL COMMUNICATIONS. 137
would they even consult their government as to the loan. CHAPTER
Hottinguer's answer was, that unless they paid this money . .
they would be obliged to quit Paris ; that the vessels al- 1797
ready captured would be confiscated, and all American
ships in French ports embargoed. He expressed a wish
that the envoys would see Bellamy once more, and this
being assented to, Hottinguer and Bellamy called togeth-
er the next morning. Bellamy argued, at great length, Oct. 21.
that in case of a war between France and the United
States, no help could be expected from England, al-
ready so reduced as to be under the necessity of making
peace with France. It was even hinted that the United
States might in that case experience the fate of Venice,
which, by the late treaty of peace between France and
Austria, had been stripped of her independence, and an-
nexed to the Austrian dominions. Eecent events, he
stated, had given Talleyrand new strength and greater
influence, and he was now able to go much further on
behalf of America than he could have done but a short
time before. What was now suggested must be offered,
however, as coming from the envoys themselves; nor
would Talleyrand be responsible for the success of any
of the propositions ; all he could promise was to use his
influence in their favor. The propositions thus suggest-
ed for the envoys to make were : First, that a commis-
sion should be named to decide on American claims,
which, as fast as they should be authenticated and al-
lowed, should be paid, as also the amount of claims al-
ready admitted to be due by the American government
as an advance to the French republic ; this advance to be
repaid as might be agreed : Second, that one of the envoys
should immediately proceed to America to obtain the
necessary powers — in case a treaty should be finally con-
cluded, negotiations for which were meanwhile to proceed
138 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER — to purchase for cash the thirty-two millions of Dutch
inscriptions ; all cases involving the question of the role
1797. ^equipage to remain suspended till an answer as to this
purchase could be obtained from America. To these
might be added a third proposition — that during the six
months to be allowed for a reference to America, there
should be a cessation of captures and of all proceedings
in the prize courts against American property ; but this
Bellamy said was merely his own suggestion, for he did
not know that Talleyrand would even consent to lay it
before the Directory. Bellamy strongly urged upon the
envoys the expediency of any accommodation to which
France would agree. Such, he said, was her diplomatic
skill, and so great her influence in America, that she
could easily throw the blame of a rupture upon the
American government, and upon its Federal, or, as they
were called in France, its British supporters.
At a detailed answer attempted by the envoys to this
long discourse, Bellamy manifested great impatience.
He did not come, he said, to hear eloquent harangues.
Here were certain propositions, which, if the envoys
would request it, the minister would make for them to
the Directory. He had just stated what they were, and
all the answer wished for was yes or no. Did the en-
voys, or did they not, request the minister to make these
propositions on their behalf? Bellamy left the proposi-
tions in writing, and Hottinguer stated that Talleyrand
would not consent even to lay them before the Directory
unless the 1,200,000 livres, or the greater part of that
sum, were first paid. To these propositions the envoys
gave a written answer, in substance, that they would
not stand on etiquette, and that they were ready for the
appointment of a commission of claims, but they would
assume no French debts, even though the money were
UNOFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS. 139
to be paid to the use of American citizens. They were CHAPTER
ready to enter upon the discussions of a new treaty, and, .
if necessary, to consult their government as to a loan ; 1797.
but, at this season of the year, six months would hardly
suffice for that purpose. No diplomatic gratification
could precede the ratification of the treaty.
It was now resolved by the envoys to have no more Nov. i.
of this indirect negotiation, the attempt at which was re-
garded as degrading to the United States. Information
to that effect was given to Hottinguer when he applied^
two days after, for another interview between the envoys Nov. 3.
and Bellamy ; but that same day he called again, and
showed and read a draft of a letter to the envoys, pre-
pared, as lie said, by Talleyrand, requesting an explana-
tion of parts of the president's speech. This letter, of
which he would allow no copy to be taken, would be
sent, he stated, unless the envoys came into the proposal
already made to them. Intelligence, he remarked, had
been received from the United States that, had Burr and
Madison been sent as envoys, the dispute might have
been settled before now ; and he added that Talleyrand
was about to send a memorial to America complaining
of the envoys as unfriendly. To this the envoys replied
that the correspondents of the minister in America ven-
tured very far when they undertook to pronounce how,
in certain contingencies, the Directory would have acted.
They were not afraid of Talleyrand's memorial, and he
might rest assured that they would not be driven by the
apprehension of censure to deserve it. They relied for
support on the great body of honest and candid men in
America. Their country had taken a neutral position,
and had sought faithfully to preserve it. A loan to one
of the belligerent powers would be taking part in the
war ; and for the United States to do that against their
140 HISTORY OF THJ) UNITED STATES
CHAPTER own judgment and at the dictation of France, would oe
J to surrender their independence.
17-97- Having first transmitted to America a full account in
cipher of the above unofficial negotiations — of which, to
escape the interruptions to which communications across
the Atlantic were at that time exposed, no less than six
copies were sent by as many different vessels — the en-
Nov. 11. voys presently addressed a note to Talleyrand reminding
him of his promise, when informed of their arrival, to
communicate to them, within a few days, the decision of
the Directory on the report he was preparing on Ameri-
can affairs. In again soliciting his attention to their
mission, they took occasion to express their earnest de-
sire to preserve for the United States the friendship of
France, and to re-establish harmony and friendly inter-
course between the two republics.
Nov. 21. Ten days having passed without any notice being
taken of this letter, the private .secretary of one of the
envoys was sent to inquire whether it had been laid be-
fore the Directors, and when an answer might be expect
ed. Talleyrand replied that he had laid the letter be-
fore the Directory, and that they would instruct him
what steps to pursue, of which due notice would be given
to the envoys. A month passed without any such infor-
mation. Meanwhile the condemnation of American ves-
sels not only went on, but a report spread that the Di-
rectory intended to order all Americans out of Paris at
twenty -four hours' notice. Hottinguer and Bellamy at-
tempted also, in the interval, to inveigle the envoys into
farther discussions. These attempts were repulsed ; but
eager advantage was taken of a suggestion of Gerry's,
that he should like to wait on Talleyrand for the purpose
of reciprocating that minister's personal civilities to him-
self by an invitation to dinner, on which occasion lie pro-
GERRY'S INTERVIEW WITH TALLEYRANI. 141
posed to ask his colleagues also, in hopes that the way CHAPTER
might be smoothed toward a better understanding; espe- .
cially as he intended to remonstrate with the minister on 1797.
the precarious and painful position in which the envoys
stood. Bellamy at once volunteered to accompany Gerry 3ec. n
to Talleyrand's. Having called on Gerry for that pur-
pose, and finding Marshall present, he stated that a good
understanding between the two nations might be imme-
diately restored by adopting two measures, of which one
was the gratuity of 1,200,000 livres, and the other the
purchase of 16,000,000 of Dutch rescriptions — half the
amount formerly proposed. Some suggestions were made
as to paying the gratuity, or, rather, as to covering it
up, by a deduction to an equal amount from a claim held
by M. Beaumarchais against the State of Virginia for
supplies furnished during the Eevolutionary war, in the
prosecution of which Marshall had acted as the counsel
of Beaumarchais, The purchase money of the Dutch
rescriptions would amount to only $6,400,000, half of
which might be borrowed in Holland on a pledge of the
paper, while the other half might also be obtained on loan,
under an easy arrangement for payment by installments.
If these propositions were not accepted, steps would be
immediately taken to ravage the coasts of the United
States by frigates from St. Domingo. This conversa-
tion over, Gerry accompanied Bellamy to Talleyrand's
office. During the conversation there Gerry mentioned
that Bellamy had that morning stated some proposi-
tions as coming from Talleyrand; on those proposi-
tions he would give no opinion, his present object being
to invite the minister to fix a time for dining with him,
in company with his colleagues, though, considering
the position in which they relatively stood, he did not
wish to subject Talleyrand to any embarrassment by
142 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER accepting the invitation. He then alluded to the awk-
' ward position of himself and his colleagues, and to the
1797 reported intention to order all Americans to leave Paris.
So far as respected themselves, the envoys were ready
to leave at any time. Indeed, they would prefer to re-
side out of the French jurisdiction till the question of
their reception should be settled. Talleyrand seemed a
little startled at this remark, but, without noticing it,
observed that the information given by Bellamy was
correct, and might always be relied upon, and that he
himself would reduce it to writing ; and he immediately
made and showed to Gerry a memorandum, which he
afterward burned, containing the proposal for the pur-
chase of the Dutch rescriptions, but without any men-
tion of the gratuity, that being a subject too delicate for
Talleyrand to make any direct reference to it. He then
accepted the invitation to dine, and as he was engaged
on the first day of the following decade (those days of
leisure being usually selected for ceremonious dinner
parties), he fixed the time ten days later.
Dec. 19 A day cr two after Gerry's interview with Talleyrand,
the envoys resolved to persist rigidly in their determina-
tion, previously taken, to enter into no negotiations with
persons not formally authorized to treat ; and also to pre-
pare a letter to the minister, stating the objects of their
mission, and discussing at length the matters of differ-
ence between the two nations, exactly as if the envoys
had been formally received — this letter to close with a
request that a negotiation might be opened or their pass-
Dec. 24. ports be sent to them. This intention was expressed in
their letters to their own government giving an account
of their adventures thus far, and in which they stated
their opinion that, were they to remain six months longer,
they could accomplish nothing without promising to pay
MEMORIAL OF THE ENVOYS. 143
money, and a great deal of it too ; unless, indeed, the CHAPTER
proposed invasion of England, to be commanded by Bo-
naparte, should prove a failure, or a total change should 1797.
take place in the administration of the French govern-
ment.
Gerry's diplomatic dinner, in spite of all his efforts to Dec. 30.
get up a little cordiality, proved, as he afterward com-
plained— principally, as he would seem to intimate, by
the fault of his colleagues — a very cold and stiff affair.
But, though he failed to draw them into any social inter-
course with Talleyrand, he continued his visits, and by
that means was drawn into a continuation, by himself,
of those unofficial negotiations which he had been the
first and most earnest to protest against.
The paper on which the envoys had agreed, containing
a full and elaborate statement of the grievances of the
United States, and an answer to the various complaints
which had been urged at different times on behalf of the
French government, was prepared by Marshall ; and af-
ter being somewhat softened at the suggestion of Gerry, 1793
it was signed by the envoys ; but as it was their custom Jan. 17
to send their memorials accompanied by an accurate
French translation, a fortnight elapsed before it was ready
to send. It concluded with a request that, if no hope
remained of accommodating the differences between the
two nations by any means which the United States had
authorized, the return of the envoys to their own coun-
try " might be facilitated ;" in which case they would
depart with the most deep-felt regret that the sincere
friendship of the government of the United States for
"the great French republic," and their earnest efforts
to demonstrate the purity of that government's conduct
and intentions, had failed to bring about what a course
so upright and just ought to have accomplished.
144 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Before this document was sent, the very day, indeed,
' after its signature, a new decree was promulgated, for
1798 some time under discussion in the French legislative
Jan. is. body, and a draft of which had been forwarded to the
United States with the last dispatches of the envoys.
This decree, of a more sweeping and outrageous charac-
ter than any yet issued, never paralleled, indeed, except
by Bonaparte's subsequent imitations of it, while it for-
bade the entrance into any French port of any vessel
which at any previous part of her voyage had touched
at any English possession, declared good prize all vessels
having merchandise on board the produce of England
or her colonies, whoever the owner of the merchandise
might be.
Feb. 6. A letter was speedily prepared remonstrating against
this decree, and concluding with an explicit request for
passports ; but, even after it had been redrafted to ac-
Feb. is. commodate it to Gerry's taste, he still refused to sign it.
This separation of Gerry from his colleagues grew out of
Feb. 4, a recent interview to which Talleyrand had specially in-
vited him, and at which he had consented to receive
communications under a promise to keep them secret —
a promise wholly unwarrantable, since, by the very terms
of their commission, in all that related to the embassy the
envoys were to act jointly. Having obtained this prom-
ise of secrecy, Talleyrand had stated that the Directory
were not satisfied with Gerry's two colleagues, and would
have nothing to do with them, but that they were ready
to treat with Gerry alone ; adding, that his refusal would
produce an immediate declaration of war. Since Gerry's
commission was several as well as joint, he had full pow-
ers, so Talleyrand argued, to treat independently of his
colleagues. But however flattering this preference might
be to a vanity which Talleyrand had no doubt discover-
INTERVIEWS WITH TALLEYRAND. 145
ed to be a weak point in Grerry's character, he had too CHAPTER
much sense to be taken in by so transparent a sophism, ^_
though it was warmly urged upon him at two separate 1793.
interviews. Nor, indeed, was the prospect of a separate
negotiation very inviting.
Gerry's colleagues soon became aware of his secret in-
terviews with Talleyrand; nor were they long in conjec-
turing what might be their subject-matter, ifj indeed, they
were not actually put upon the track by some of Talley-
rand's secret agents.
Near a month passed away, and no notice had been
taken of Marshall's long memorial on the claims and
rights of the two republics. Indeed, Talleyrand's pri-
vate secretary had intimated that nobody had yet taken
the trouble to read it, such long papers not being to the
taste of the French government, who desired to come to
the point at once.
To come to some point as speedily as possible was the
very thing which the envoys wished, and, to that end,
it was agreed to ask a joint interview with the minister, Feb. 27.
a request to which Tallyrand readily acceded. Pinck- March 2
ney opened the conversation by observing that the en-
voys had received various propositions through Bellamy,
to which they found it impossible to accede, and that
their present object was to ascertain if no other means
of accommodation could be devised. Talleyrand, in re-
ply, reverted at once to the old idea of a loan. As to
want of power, envoys at such a distance from their own
government, and possessing, as they did, the public con-
fidence, must often use their discretion, and exceed their
powers for the public good. In almost all the treaties
made of late, this had been done, though the negociators
in those cases were so much nearer to their own govern-
ments than the American envoys. Express instructions
VV -K
146 HISTORY 01 THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER might, indeed, be a fetter, but he argued on the presump-
'_ tion, into which the former communications of the en-
1798 voys had tended to lead him, that their instructions were
merely silent on the subject. A loan, he said, was ab-
solutely necessary to convince the Directory that the
United States were really friendly. A thousand ways
might be found to cover it up so as not to expose them
to the charge of a breach of neutrality.
To these observations Marshall replied, that the friend-
ship of the United States for France. might seem to have
been sufficiently exhibited by the appointment of the
present mission, and by the patience with which the enor-
mous losses of property inflicted by French captures had
so long been borne. A loan to France would be wholly
inconsistent with that neutrality so important to the
United States, and which they had struggled so hard to
maintain. If America were actually leagued with France,
it could only be expected of her to furnish money ; so
that to furnish money would be, in fact, to make war.
Under the American form of government, a secret loan
was entirely out of the question.
March 6. At a second interview a few days after, the con-
versation was opened with a remark that Talleyrand's
proposal seemed to be the same in substance with
the suggestions of Hottinguer and Bellamy. To put an
end to that matter, he was distinctly informed that any
loan, even the assumption of debts due to American
citizens, was expressly prohibited by the instructions
of the envoys. Talleyrand then reverted to a proposition
suggested through his secretary a few days before to
Gerry, and which Gerry had then seemed disposed to
entertain — a loan to take effect after the conclusion of
the pending war. Upon this there was much argument,
the envoys insisting that their present instructions were
TALLEYRAND'S EEPLT TO THE MEMORIAL. 147
as much against such a loan as any other. What CHAPTER
their government might think about it they could not .
tell. If Talleyrand desired it, Marshall and Gerry would 1793.
go home for further instructions, or they would wait
in expectation of answers to their communications al-
ready made.
Some two weeks after this interview, it being now March 1 8.
supposed, as it would seem, that Gerry was prepared to
act the part expected of him, Talleyrand made a long re-
ply to the elaborate memorial of the envoys. Throughout
that memorial it had been tacitly assumed that the Uni-
ted States had been fully justified in taking a position of
neutrality, an assumption which the former admissions
of the French government would seem to warrant, and
upon which the whole argumentation of the memorial
depended. While discussing separately and minutely
all the specific complaints made by the French govern-
ment, there had been no reference in that paper to the
subject of the guarantee contained in the treaty of al-
liance. Avoiding equally any direct discussion, Tal-
leyrand tacitly assumed, on the other hand, that the
treaty of alliance did impose a certain duty of assisting
France inconsistent with a rigid neutrality ; and he com-
plained that the envoys, ''reversing the known order of
facts," had passed over in silence "the just motives of
complaint of the French government," and had endeav-
ored to show, by " an unfaithful and partial exposition,"
that the French republic had no real grievance, the
United States being alone entitled to complain and to
demand satisfaction ; whereas the first right of complaint
was on the side of the French, who had real and numer-
ous grounds for it, long before the existence of any of
the facts on which the envoys dilated with so many de-
tails. All the depredations on the part of France (ex-
HISTO2T OF TEE UXITED STATES.
bf tfck tine to tae Tatae of
United States. Haiiag laid
cftkc
JistoG«efa*LuigiiMiof Ihe right of the United
so TaHcrraad dated it,tnan merel T to
•e provided ftr
" „ . . " _ "
._ -. . :_ . ~ : . - - - - • _ . „ - ..-; : . -.-> • .
r— tins poof of Ae
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. - '-• '.I. .'- ':...- .'--• ._-;•;_'- -
/' To the fria^lj dnpostioo^
lad girea to Monroe, Ae United State*
aH the whfle with the idea
:- ---;-..;-.: :: v-.i:->: v.
TALLEYRAND'S REPLY TO THE MEMORIAL. 149
a minister should, to the policy of those for whom he CHAPTER
acts. " When the agents of the republic complained of m
this mysterious conduct," such were Talleyrand's com- 1793.
mente, "they were answered by an appeal to the inde-
pendence of the United States, solemnly sanctioned in the
the treaties of 1778 — a strange manner of contesting a
grievance, the reality of which was demonstrated by the
cMaamulation to which recourse was had ; an insidious
subterfuge, which substitutes for the true point in ques-
tion a general principle which the republic can not be
supposed to dispute, and which destroys, by the aid of a
sophism, that intimate confidence which ought to exist
between the French republic and the United States."
Having referred to the small majorities by which the
British treaty had been sanctioned, and to " the multi-
tude of imposing wishes expressed by the nation against
it," as confirming the views of the French government,
Talleyrand proceeded to denounce the treaty as calculat-
ed in every thing to turn the neutrality of the United
States to the disadvantage of the French republic and to
the advantage of England, making concessions to Great
Britain " the most unheard o£ the most incompatible
with the interests of the United States, and the most de-
rogatory to the alliance between the said states and the
•French republic," hi consequence of which the republic
became perfectly free " to avail itself of the preservative
means with which the law of nature, the law of nations,
and prior treaties furnished it" Such were the reasons
which had produced the decrees of the Directory, and the
conduct of the French agents in the West Indies com-
plained of by the United States ; measures alleged to be
founded on that article of the commercial treaty which
provided that in matters of navigation and commerce the
French should always stand with respect to the United
150 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER States on the footing of the most favored nation. If, in
_ the execution of this "provisional clause of the treaty,"
1798. soine inconvenience had resulted to the United States,
the Directory could not be responsible for that. As to
any abuses attendant upon the execution of the late de-
crees, those Talleyrand was ready to discuss " in the
most friendly manner." The extraordinary doctrine sug-
gested by Adet, and now formally set forth by Talley-
rand, was simply this : If other nations were not willing
to make with the United States certain stipulations as
' to maritime rights, out of the common course, such as
France and the United States had mutually made,
France, under the above-cited provision, was entitled to
a release from her special stipulations. Nay, further;
if any other nation wrongfully depredated, on American
commerce, France was at liberty, under the treaty, to
depredate equally !
But, according to Talleyrand, the grievances of France
did not end with the negotiation of Jay's treaty. The
Federal courts had since expressly decided that French
cruisers should no longer be permitted to sell their prizes,
as they had done, in American ports. Nor was this all.
" The newspapers known to be under the indirect con-
trol of the cabinet have, since the treaty, redoubled their
invectives and calumnies against the republic, her prin-,
ciples, her magistrates, and her envoys. Pamphlets open-
ly paid for by the British minister have reproduced, in
every form, those insults and calumnies;" an allusion, no
doubt, to some of Cobbett's pamphlets, particularly the
"Bloody Buoy," setting forth the horrors of the French
Revolution — " nor has a state of things so scandalous
ever attracted the attention of the government, which
might have repressed it. On the contrary, the govern-
ment itself has been intent upon encouraging this scan-
TALLEYRAND'S REPLY TO THE MEMORIAL 151
dal in its public acts. The Executive Directory has seen CHAPTER
itself denounced, in a speech delivered by the president,
as endeavoring to propagate anarchy and division within 1793.
the United States. The new allies which the republic
has acquired, and which are the same that contributed to
the independence of America, have been equally insulted
in the official correspondences which have been made
public. In fine, one can not help discovering, in the tone
of the speech, and of the publications which have just
been pointed out, a latent enmity, which only waits an
opportunity to break forth."
The instructions to the present ministers, so Talley-
rand proceeded to charge, had been prepared, not with the
view of effecting a reconciliation with France, but for the
purpose of throwing upon the French republic the blame
of a rupture, being plainly based on a determination "of
supporting at every h&zard the treaty of London, which
is the principal grievance of the republic ; of adhering to
the spirit in which that treaty was formed and executed,
and of not granting to the republic any of the repara-
tions" which had been proposed through the medium of
Talleyrand. Chiming in with the tone of the opposition
in America, this extraordinary manifesto proceeded as
follows: "Finally, it is wished to seize the first favorable
opportunity to consummate an intimate union with a
power toward which a devotion and partiality is pro-
fessed, which has long been to the Federal government a
principle of conduct." " It was probably with this view
that it was thought proper to send to the French repub-
'lie persons whose opinions and connections are too well
known to hope from them dispositions sincerely concilia-
tory. It is painful to be obliged to make a contrast be-
tween this conduct and that which was pursued, under
similar circumstances, towards the cabinet of St. James,
152 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER An eagerness was then felt to send to London ministers
_ well known for sentiments corresponding with the ob-
1 798 Jects °f their mission. The republic, it would seem, might
have expected a like deferencer and if the same propriety
has not been observed with regard to it, it may with
great probability be attributed to the views above alluded
to." Upon this specious paragraph it may be observed
that the present envoys hady in point of fact, been select-
ed, the one for his pronounced attachment to France, the
others from their known freedom from any prejudice 01
warmth of feeling against her. Jefferson's endorsement
of the mission has already been recorded. There had
been already experience enough in Monroe's case of leav-
ing the negotiation entirely in the hands of envoys des-
titute of any sympathy for the government which they
represented.
" The undersigned," so the document proceeds, " does
not hesitate to believe that the American nationr like the
French nation, sees this state of things with regret. The
American people, he apprehends, will not be deceived
either as to the prejudices with which it is sought to in-
spire them against an allied people, nor as- to the engage-
ments into which it is sought to seduce them to the detri-
ment of an alliance which so powerfully contributed to
place them in the rank of nations and to support them
in it, and that they will see in these new combinations
the only dangers their prosperity and importance can in-
cur." " Penetrated with the justice of these reflections
and their consequences, the Executive Directory has au-
thorized the undersigned to express himself with all the
frankness that becomes the French nation. It is indis-
pensable that, in the name of the French Directory, he
should dissipate those illusions with which, for five years,
the complaints of the ministers of the republic at Phi la*
TALLEYRAND'S REPLY TO THE MEMORIAL. 153
delphia have been incessantly surrounded, in order to CHAPTER
weaken, calumniate, or distort them. It was essential,
in fine, that, by exhibiting the sentiments of the Direc- 1793
tory in an unequivocal manner, he should clear up all
the doubts and all the false interpretations of which
they might be the object."
After these lengthened preliminaries, intended, as he
said, oaly to smooth the way for discussions, Talleyrand
came at last to the point. " Notwithstanding the kind
of prejudices which had been entertained with respect to
the envoys, the Executive Directory were disposed to
treat with that one of the three whose opinions, presumed
to be more impartial, promised, in the course of the ex-
planations, more of that reciprocal confidence which was
indispensable." This overture, it was hoped, would be
met without any serious difficulty ; the more so, as the
powers of the envoys were several as well as joint, " so
that nothing but the desire of preventing any accommo-
dation could prqduce any objection." This method was
only " pointed out" to the commissioners, not imposed
upon them, and it evidently could have no other object,
so Talleyrand asserted, " than to assure to the negotia-
tion a happy issue, by avoiding at the outset anything
which might awaken, on either side, in the course of the
negotiation, sentiments calculated to endanger it.' '
It might seem strange that the Directory, unless they
really intended to drive America into a war, should have
ventured to put forth a manifesto like this. To preserve
peace with France, the United States were required to
repudiate the treaty with Gieat Britain, after having
secured in the Western posts one of the great objects of
that negotiation, and, like unfortunate Holland, " liberat-
ed," as it was termed, by the French arms, to become a
forced lender to the French republic, perhaps presently,
154 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER when drained of cash and credit, to supply :; inscriptions/'
' like those of Holland, to be palmed off in the same way
1798 uP°n some new victim of French rapacity. These dis-
graceful concessions would naturally be followed by an
open engagement on the side of France in the pending
war with Great Britain — a ruinous entanglement, to
avoid which had been the great object of Washington's
policy during the five years past. Talleyrand had been
encouraged to venture upon these outrageous demands,
by what he believed to be the sentiments, if not of a
majority of the American people, at least of a minority
so large as effectually to embarrass, if not to control, the
action of the government. To judge by most of the
Americans then or lately residents in France — not merely
those infamous persons ready to enrich themselves by any
means, even by privateering against their own country-
men, but by such men as Monroe, as Skipwith the con
sul general, as Barlow, who, having accumulated a for-
tune by commercial speculations, had lately purchased
at Paris one of the confiscated palaces of the old nobility
— the body of the American people wanted nothing bet-
ter than to throw themselves headlong into that French
embrace, so deadly to all whom it encircled ; an opinion
which might derive confirmation from the tone of the
opposition leaders and opposition newspapers in America,
claiming, as they did, to be the true representatives of
the American people, while, as they alleged, the admin*
istration was sustained only by a few monarchists, aris-
tocrats, speculators, old Tories, and merchants trading on
British capital. From his residence in America, Talley-
rand must have known that these representations were
greatly exaggerated. But he also knew well the strength
and bitterness of the opposition, and the fierce hatred of
Great Britain which so extensively prevailed ; and he
REJOINDER TO TALLEYRAND'S MANIFESTO. 155
calculated with, confidence that, under these circum- CHAPTER
stances, it would be impossible for the government to '___
take any steps hostile to France. Of the feebleness of the ^793
government ample proof had, indeed, been exhibited. A
solemn embassy of three envoys had been appointed to
supply the place of a minister rejected with insult ; and
depredations on American commerce, to the amount of
millions of dollars, had hitherto been patiently borne.
So far, this system of insult and injury had answered
well, and the Directory seem to have thought that it
was only necessary to persist in it to carry every point.
After due deliberation, the envoys made a detailed and April 7.
elaborate rejoinder to Talleyrand's manifesto — a power-
ful, and, for the most part, a conclusive reply as to all .
the alleged special breaches of treaty, whether before
Jay's mission, by the negotiation of the British treaty,
or subsequently to it. The attempted justification of
the recent hostile decrees under that clause of the treaty
of commerce securing to France the privileges of the
most favored nation, was fully exploded ; to which the
envoys dryly added, that the provisions of those decrees
most complained of, particularly the authorization of cap-
tures for want of a role d'equipage, could have no pos-
sible relation to any thing conceded or pretended to be
conceded to any other nation, as the British had made
no captures on any such pretense. The late outrageous
decree, intended to cut off all intercourse between Great
Britain and other nations, was made the subject of an
energetic remonstrance, as totally inconsistent with neu-
tral rights and the law of nations, to acquiesce in which
would be to establish a precedent for national degrada-
tion, such as would never cease to authorize any meas-
ures which power might be disposed to adopt. The
president's strictures on Barras's speech were justified,
156 HISTORY OF THE UNITET STATES.
CHAPTER not as a denunciation of the Directory, but as the state-
]_' ment of a highly important fact, fully within the scope
1 79g of the president's duty. Talleyrand's attempt to hold the
American government responsible for the freedoms of
the American press was well touched. But the main point
of the manifesto — assumed, indeed, in that document
rather than argued — the binding force of the guarantee,
and the consequent inability of the United States to as-
sume a neutral position, were passed over in silence.
The only decisive evidence of feeling which the en-
voys suffered to escape them was in reference to the
charge of duplicity in the matter of Jay's negotiation
urged against the American government, and to which
• the conduct of Monroe had contributed to give a certain
color. In reference to the imputation of hostility to
France and devotion to England, they declared them-
selves "purely American, unmixed with any particle
of foreign tint," and anxious to manifest their attach-
ment to their country by effecting a sincere and real
accommodation with France, not inconsistent with the
independence of the United States, and such as might
promote the interest of both nations. They denied that
Jay could have been any more desirous to bring the Brit-
ish negotiation to a successful issue than they were of
an honorable accommodation with France; and they
pointedly asked whether, supposing Jay's demands for
reparation of past injuries and security for the future tc
have been met only by requisitions to comply with which
would have involved the nation in evils of which even
war would, perhaps, not be the greatest ; supposing all
his attempts to remove unfavorable impressions to have
failed, and all his offers to make explanations to have
been rejected ; supposing Jay himself to have been or-
dered out of England, would other ministers have been
REJOINDER TO TALLEYRAND'S MANIFESTO. 157
sent to supply his place ? or, if sent, would they have CHAPTER
X.I*
waited six months unaccredited, soliciting permission to
display the upright principles on which their govern- 1798.
ment had acted, and the amicable sentiments by which
it was animated?
As to the proposition to treat with one of the envoys,
selected by the French government, to the exclusion of
the other two, they regretted that even that proposal
vras unaccompanied with any assurance of an abandon-
ment of those demands for money hitherto proposed as
the only condition on which a stop would be put to the
depredations daily carried on against American com-
merce ; demands which the envoys had no power to ac-
cede to, and which the United States would find it very
difficult to comply with, since such a compliance would
violate their neutrality, and involve them in a disastrous
war with which they had no proper concern. Yet to
this, as to every other proposition of the Directory, they
had given the most careful and respectful consideration,
and the result of their deliberations was, that no one of
the envoys " was authorized to take upon himself a nego-
tiation evidently intrusted, by the tenor of their powers
and instructions, to the whole ; nor were there any two
of them who would propose to withdraw from the trust
committed to them by their government while there re-
mained a possibility of performing it." The present pa-
per, they hoped, might suffice to dissipate the prejudices
which had been conceived against them ; but if not, and
if it should be the will of the Directory to order passports
for the whole, or any of them, it was expected that such
passports would be accompanied by letters of safe-con-
duct amply sufficient to give to their persons and prop-
erty as against French cruisers, that perfect security to
which the laws and usages of nations entitled them.
158 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Anxious as Talleyrand was to get rid of Pinckney and
'_ Marshall, he desired their departure to have the appear-
1793 ance of being their own act. With this object in view, on
the very day on which was presented the joint memorial
above quoted, he addressed a note to Gerry, intended, as
the secretary who delivered it said, to be shown to his
colleagues, and in which — presuming that Pinckney and
Marshall, in consequence of the intimations already given
to them, and of "the obstacles which their known opin-
ions had opposed to the desired reconciliation," " had
thought it proper and useful to quit the territory of the
republic " — he proposed the resumption of their recipro-
cal communications upon the interests of the French
republic and of the United States. Gerry had consent-
ed to remain, notwithstanding the expulsion of his col-
leagues, terrified, so he afterwards alleged in excuse, by
Talleyrand's repeated threats of an immediate declara-
tion of war if he left Paris, and flattering himself, no
doubt, that the personal preference expressed for him,
and his superior tact in accommodating himself to the
humors, not to say insolences, of the French government,
might, notwithstanding all that had passed, open the way
to a reconciliation. But he peremptorily declined to be
employed as the instrument of any indirect attempt to
drive his colleagues out of France, or to do anything
painful to their feelings, or to refrain from rendering
them all the assistance in his power. The conditional
demand for passports contained in their last joint note
of the envoys made any further hints about their depar-
ture unnecessary. As to Talleyrand's proposition to him
to go on singly with the negotiation, he still adhered to
the opinion that, under his instructions, he had no power
to treat independently of his colleagues ; but he would
confer informally, and wo ild communicate the result to
GEEET ALONE AT PAEIS. 159
his government, and every measure in his power, and in CHAPTER
conformity with his duty to his country, should be zeal- '__
ously pursued to restore harmony and cordial friendship 1793.
between the two republics.
It was not without much caviling, and after experienc-
ing many indignities, that Marshall obtained passports
and a safe-conduct. Talleyrand even went so far as to
dispute, on the ground that he had not been received, his
character of envoy, and his right to the protection of that
character. At last, however, the safe-conduct was sent, April ie
and Marshall hastened to leave Paris on his way to
America. Pinckney, not without great difficulty, ob-
tained leave, on account of his daughter's health, to re-
main a few months in the south of France. Thus was
Talleyrand left in possession of the field with Gerry in
his claw. But, before pursuing further the history of this
extraordinary negotiation, it is necessary to recur to what
was passing in Arnerisa.
160 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XII,
FEDERALISM IN VIRGINIA YRUJO, M'KEAN AND COBBETT.
LAW OF LIBEL. SECOND SESSION OF THE FIFTH CON-
GRESS. MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY. PREPARATIONS FOR
DEFENSE. ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. FOURTH CON
STITUTION OF GEORGIA.
CHAPTER 1 HAT vehement and virulent party spirit, and close
drawing of party lines, which had of late displayed itself
1797, in Congress, rapidly spreading throughout the whole
country, had made itself conspicuously felt in the elec-
tions which succeeded the adjournment of the called
session. The opposition had greater hopes of Vermont
than of any other New England State. Chittenden, so
long the governor, had leaned to their side. But on his
declining a re-election, the Federalists succeeded, by a
Sept very close vote, in choosing Isaac Tichenor. The oppo-
sition, however, obtained a majority in the lower house
of the Legislature, and it was only by one vote that
Oct. Nathaniel Chittenden, the Federal candidate, was chosen
to supply Tichenor's place in the United States Senate.
In Maryland, in the choice of John Henry, late a sen-
Jan- ator in Congress, to be governor of that state, the oppo-
sition had triumphed; but James Lloyd, the Federal
candidate, had been chosen senator in Henry's place by
a majority of one vote.
In all the states south of the Potomac, South Carolina
included, the opposition was* predominant. Yet even
in Virginia some signs of the existence of a Federal
paity begun to show themselves. A grand jury of the
FEDERALISM IN VIRGINIA. 161
federal Circuit Court held at Eiehmond, after a pretty CHAPTER
warm charge from Judge Iredell, in which something of
politics had been mingled, presented as " a real evil the 1797.
circular letters of several members of the late Congress, May
and particularly' letters with the signature of Samuel J,
Cabell," li endeavoring, at a time of real public danger,
to disseminate unfounded calumnies against the happy
government of the United States, and thereby to sepa-
rate the people therefrom, and to increase or produce a
foreign influence ruinous to the peace, happiness, and
independence of the United States." Cabell made a
very warm retort to this presentment, accusing the grand
jury of going out of their province. But the political
leaders of Virginia were not disposed to let the matter
rest there. This incipient germ of Federalism was to
foe . repressed with a strong hand. It was proposed to
bring the matter before the House of Representatives as
a breach of privileges ; but, unluckily, the opposition ma-
jority in that body, if, in fact, there was any, was too
uncertain to be depended upon. In this emergency, Jef-
ferson pressed upon Monroe to have the matter brought
before the State Legislature. Monroe had his doubts
whether it came within the province of state jurisdiction.
Jefferson, strict eonstruetionist as he was in all that re-
lated to the powers of the Federal government, made up
for it by a very liberal construction of the powers of the
states. Free correspondence between citizen and citi-
zen, on their joint interests, whether public or private,
was, according to his statement to Monroe, a natural
right, and as no jurisdiction over that right had been
given to the Federal judiciary, either by the Constitution
or by any law of Congress, it therefore remained under
the protection of the state courts. Jefferson's project
seems to have been to bring the subject of the present-
V.— L
162 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER ment before the General Assembly, and ultimately, by
' gome legal process, whether against Iredell or the grand
1797 jurymen does not appear, before the state tribunals.
•The reasons for this course which he urged upon Mon-
roe will contribute to explain his connection with cer-
tain other proceedings of state Legislatures, to which our
attention will presently be called. "Were the ques-
tion even doubtful," so he wrote, " that is no reason for
abandoning it. The system of the general government
is to seize all doubtful ground. We must join in the
scramble, or — get nothing. Where first occupancy is to
give right, he who lies still loses all."
As happens too often with champions of natural rights,
in his eagerness to protect Gabell and the opposition rep-
resentatives Jefferson seems quite to have forgotten the
rights of every body else. The presentment of the grand
jury, which had so excited his indignation, was either an
official act within their provincB, or it was extra-official ;
in other words, a joint expression of opinion by so many
individuals. If a proper official act, then it could not
be questioned either in the Virginia General Assembly or
in any state court. Suppose, on the other hand, that it
was extra-official, yet surely the gentlemen composing
the grand jury had as good a natural right to correspond
with their fellow-citizens on their joint interests as Mr.
Cabell or any other opposition representative.
Another proposition, still more extraordinary, was con-
tained in the same letter. " It is of immense import-
ance that the states retain as complete authority as possi-
ble over their own citizens. The withdrawing them-
selves under the shelter of a foreign jurisdiction" — mean
ing thereby the jurisdiction of the Federal courts — " is
BO subversive of order and so pregnant of abuse, that it
may not be amiss to consider how far a law of prewu
SUGGESTIONS OF JEFFERSON, 163
nire should be revived and modified, against all citizens CHAPTER
XII
who attempt to carry their causes before any other than ...
the state courts in cases where those other courts have 1797.
no right to their cognizance. A plea to the jurisdiction
of the courts of their state, or the reclamation of a foreign
jurisdiction, if adjudged valid, would be safe, but if ad-
judged invalid, should be followed by the punishment
ofpremunire for the attempt."
A premunire, by the English law, was a contempt of the
king's authority by the introduction of a foreign power
into the land, a crime invented for the restraint of the
papal authority attempted to be exercised in England :
and the punishments of it were, banishment, forfeiture
of lands and goods, and pain of life or member. This
offense and these punishments, or some modification of
them, Jefferson proposed to revive as a safeguard against
Federal usurpations, to be exercised by the state courts
against every person who, in their judgment, should dis-
pute their authority without cause; thus sacrificing to
the maintenance of state rights the individual right of
every suitor to test the authority of the tribunal before
which he appears ; a procedure well enough suited to
such a republic as France, and to such ministers as Dan-
ton and Merlin, but a little odd in such an American
friend of the people and of the Federal Constitution as
Jefferson professed to be, holding, as he did, also, at the
same time, the office of vice-president of the United
States.
Shortly after the date of the above quoted letter, there
occurred in Pennsylvania another noticeable attack upon
the " natural right of free correspondence between citi-
zen and citizen," proper to be noticed here, as having a
direct bearing upon a celebrated act of the ensuing ses-
sion of Congress on the subject of seditious libels. Yrujo,
164: HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the Spanish minister, following in the French wake, had
__!__ warmly remonstrated against the British treaty as unfair
1797. toward Spain, and inconsistent with the late Spanish
treaty. Among other comments on this remonstrance,
Cobbett's Gazette had dwelt on the subserviency in which
Spain had been held by France ever since the Bourbon
occupation of the Spanish throne, and had reprobated
in severe terms the conduct of Charles IV., king of Spain,
in making an ignoble peace with the murderers, of his
kinsman, Louis XYI^ and so becoming " the supple tool
of their most nefarious politics." " As the sovereign is
at home/' Cobbett continued, " so is the minister abroad ;
the one is governed like a dependent by the nod of the
five despots at Paris, the other by the directions of the
French agents in America. Because their infidel tyrants
thought proper to rob and insult this country and its
government, and we have thought proper, I am sorry to
add, to submit to it, the obsequious imitative Bon must
attempt the same, in order to participate in the guilt and
lessen the infamy of his masters." To this and to two or
three other similar articles, one of which spoke of Yrujo
as "half Don, half sans culotte," it is probable that Tal-
leyrand had alluded when he complained, as we have
seen, of the newspaper attacks upon France and "her
allies" which the government of the United States suffered
to be made without any attempt to suppress them. Yrujo
himself also complained, and the government so far
listened to him as to direct the attorney general to lay
the matter before the grand jury of the Federal Circuit
Court; and Cobbett, in consequence, was bound over by
the district judge of Pennsylvania to appear at the en-
suing term. But the Spanish minister much preferred
to bring the matter before the state courts of Pennsylva-
nia, not only as a speedier process, but because he relied
YRUJO, M'KEAN, AND COBBETT. 165
with more confidence on the justice or the favor of the CHAFFER
XII.
state bench. Chief-justice M'Kean, whose daughter Yrujo .
soon after married, had not himself entirely escaped Cob- 1797.
bett s shafts. Not willing to run the risk of a suit for
damages, or even to hazard the result of an indictment,
since in Pennsylvania the truth might be given in evi-
dence, M'Kean adopted a contrivance for the punishment
of Cobbett, founded on some old English precedents, but
the legality of which was excessively doubtful. It was,
indeed, sustained as legal by a decision of the Pennsyl-
vania Court of Appeals some four years afterward ; but
no where else, by any formal decision of any court of com-
mon law, has any such doctrine ever been recognized ;
and even in Pennsylvania it was tacitly set aside by
Chief-justice Tilghman within five or six years after the
decision was made. In pursuance of this contrivance,
about the same time that Cobbett was bound over in the
United States Court, M'Kean issued a warrant against
him, a copy of which he would not allow him to have,
in which he was charged generally with having libeled
M'Kean himself, Miffiin, Dallas, Jefferson, Monroe, GaLa-
tin, and a number of other persons, and on which ne was
not only bound over to appear at the next criminal court,
but was compelled to give security in four thousand dol-
lars to keep the peace and be of good behavior in
the mean time. Having thus put Cobbett under bonds,
M'Kean with a view to their subsequent forfeiture took
care to have a collection made of all articles obnoxious
to the charge of being libelous, which, in the interval ap-
peared in his paper. He also took up Yrujo's case with
much warmth, and speedily issued a second warrant, NOV. is,
charging Cobbett with having published certain infamous
libels on the King of Spain and his minister, and the
Spanish nation, " tending to alienate their affections and
166 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
QKAPTER regard from the government and citizens of the United
' States, and to excite them to hatred, hostilities, and war."
If 97. ^"° *ke gran(l JurJ assembled at the criminal sessions held
shortly after, M'Kean gave a remarkable, and, like all
his judicial performances — for as a lawyer he has had
but few rivals — a very able charge, almost exclusively
devoted to the subject of libels. " When libels are print-
ed," so he informed the jury, " against persons employed
in a public capacity, they receive an aggravation, as they
tend to scandalize the government by reflecting on those
who are intrusted with the administration of public af-
fairs, and thereby not only endanger the public peace,
as all other libels do, by stirring up the parties immedi-
ately concerned to acts of revenge, but have also a direct
tendency to breed in the people a dislike of their gov-
ernors, and to incline them to faction and sedition."
" These offenses are punishable either by indictment, in-
formation, or civil action ; but there are some instances
where they can be punished by a criminal prosecution
only, as where the United States in Congress assembled,
the Legislature, judges of the Supreme Court or civil mag-
istrates in general, are charged with corruption, moral
turpitude, base partiality, and the like, when no one in
particular is named." " By the law of Pennsylvania, the
authors, printers, and publishers of such libels are pun-
ishable by fine, and also a limited imprisonment at hard
labor and solitary confinement in jail, or imprisonment
only, or one of them, as to the court in its discretion
shall seem proper, according to the heinousness of the
crime and the quality and circumstances of the offender."
" By this law and these punishments the liberty of the
press (a phrase much used, but little understood) is by
no means infringed or violated. The liberty of the press
IB indeed essential to the nature of a free state, but this
LAW OF LIBEL. 167
consists in laying no previous restraints apon publica- CEIAPTER
tions, and not in freedom from censure for criminal mat-
ter when published. Every freeman has an undoubted 1797.
right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the pub-
lic ; to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press ;
but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or
illegal, he must take the consequences of his temerity.
To punish dangerous and offensive writings, which, when
published, shall, on a fair and impartial trial, be adjudged
of a pernicious tendency, is necessary for the preserva-
tion of peace and good order, of government and relig-
ion, the only solid foundation of civil liberty. Thus
the will of individuals is still left free ; the abuse only of
that free will is the object of legal punishment. Our
presses in Pennsylvania are thus free. The common law
in this respect is confirmed and established by the Con-
stitution, which provides ' that the printing-presses shall
be free to every person who undertakes to examine the
proceedings of the Legislature or any part of govern-
ment.' Men, therefore, have only to take care of their
publications that they are decent, candid, and true ; that
they are for the purpose of reformation and not of def-
amation, and that they have an eye solely to the public
good. Publications of this kind are not only lawful, but
laudable. But if they are made to gratify envy or malice,
and contain personal invectives, low scurrility, or slan-
derous charges, that can answer no good purposes for
the community, but, on the contrary, must destroy the
very ends of society — were these to escape with impuni-
ty, youth would not be safe in its innocence, nor ven-
erable old age in its wisdom, gravity, and virtue ; digni-
ty and station would become a reproach, and the purest
and best characters that this or any other country ever
produced would be vilified and blasted, if not ruined.
168 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER "If any person, whether in a public or private sta-
tion, does injury to individuals or to society, ample re-
1797 dress can be had by having recourse to the laws and the
proper tribunals, where the parties can be heard person-
ally or by council, the truth can be fairly investigated,
and justice be fully obtained ; so that there can be no
necessity nor reason for accusing any one of public or
private wrongs in pamphlets or newspapers, or of appeals
to the people under feigned names or by anonymous scrib-
,•' biers." " Every one who has in him the sentiments of
either a Christian or a gentleman can not but be highly
offended at the envenomed scurrility that has raged in
pamphlets and newspapers printed in Philadelphia for
several years past, insomuch that libeling has become
a kind of national crime, and distinguishes us not only
from all the states around us, but from the whole civil-
ized world. Our satire has been nothing but ribaldry
and Billingsgate ; the contest has been who could call
names in the greatest variety of phrases, who could man-
gle the greatest number of characters, or who could excel
in the magnitude and virulence of their lies. Hence the
honor of families has been stained, the highest posts ren-
dered cheap and vile in the sight of the people, and the
greatest services and virtue blasted. This evil, so scan-
dalous to our government and detestable in the eyes of
all good men, calls aloud for redress. To censure the
licentiousness is to maintain the liberty of the press."
With the above statement of law and facts little fault
is to be found. They were both sufficiently correct, and
are quoted here for future reference. But it was a little
strange that, while the above state of things had existed
for several years past, especially in Philadelphia, Chief-
justice M'Kean had seen no occasion till now to inter-
fere. For years past this licentiousness of the press, so
LAW OF LIBEL. lt)9
vigorously painted and denounced, Tiad been dhected CHAPTER
without remorse against Washington, against Hamilton, _____
against Jay, Adams, and the Federal leaders generally, 1797.
against the Federal administration, against the British
government, the British nation, and the British ambas-
sador. But Paine's letter to Washington, Callender's at-
tacks upon Hamilton, the daily libels vomited forth by
the Aurora, the labors of that paper week after week to
excite against the British nation hatred, hostilities, and
war, had called out no action on the part of the judge.
All this time he had been silent ; but within less than
eight months after the establishment of a newspaper for
the avowed purpose of retorting these libels by the publi-
cation of disagreeable and scandalous truths as to their
authors and favorers, the publisher of that paper, by a
most extraordinary, not to say illegal stretch of power,
had been compelled to give securities to be of good be-
havior ; and now this same partisan chief justice was strain-
ing every nerve to stimulate a grand jury to indict him for
libel ; not for libels, be it observed, against Mifflin, whom
he charged with being a drunkard, a debauchee, and an
insolvent debtor, who had fraudulently overdrawn to a
large amount his account with the Bank of Pennsylvania ;
not for libels against M'Kean himself, accused of being
engaged in constant brawls with his wife, going to the
extent of blows given and returned, and so habitual a
drunkard that, according to a memorial said to have been
signed by most of the members of the Philadelphia bar,
persons and property were not safe in Pennsylvania after
dinner; not for libels against Dallas, Swan wick, M'Glena-
chan, Monroe, or Barney, or any other of the opposition
leaders held up in various ways to contempt and ridicule
—for all these charges had a foundation in fact too easily
proved to make a prosecution expedient — but for a libel
170 HISTOET OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER against his Catholic majesty, the King of Spain> and his
* minister Yrujo, accused of being tools of the French.
1797. " At a time," he tells the jury, " when misunderstand-
ings prevail between the republics of the United States
and France, and when our general government have ap-
pointed public ministers to endeavor their removal and
restore the former harmony, some of the journals or news-
papers in the city of Philadelphia have teemed with the
most irritating invectives, couched in the most vulgar
and opprobrious language, not only against the French
nation and their allies, but the very men in power with
whom our ministers are sent to negotiate. These pub-
lications have an evident tendency not only to frustrate a
reconciliation, but to create a rupture and provoke a war
between the sister republics, and seem calculated to vilify,
nay, to subvert, all republican government whatsoever."
Kemarkable tenderness for the characters of Barras
and Merlin in a chief justice who had seen Washington,
Jay, Hamilton, and Adams most shamefully abused with-
out any public expression of feeling, if not, indeed, with
a secret exultation ! Eemarkable anxiety lest Cobbett's
publications should hazard the success of the negotia-
tions then pending with France, in one who had seen
with such perfect composure the efforts of the Aurora
and kindred prints to defeat, not Jay's negotiation only,
but the treaty itself after it had been made and ratified,
and who had himself assisted in a proceeding on that
occasion which had ended in burning the treaty before
the British ambassador's door, not without great dangei
of a riot !
We come now to not the least remarkable part of this
charge, the direct attack upon Cobbett personally. " Im-
pressed with the duties of my station, I have used some
endeavors for checking these evils by binding over the
M'KEAN AND COBBETT. 171
editor and printer of one of them, licentious and vdru- CHAPTER
lent beyond all former example, to his good behavior, but _____
he still perseveres in his nefarious publications; he has 1797,
ransacked our language for terms of reproach and insult,
and for the basest accusations against every ruler and
distinguished character in France and Spain with whom
we chance to have any intercourse, which it is scarce in
nature to forgive ; in brief, he braves his recognizance
and the laws. It is now with you, gentlemen of the
jury, to animadvert on his conduct ; without your aid
it can not be corrected. The government that will not
discountenance may be thought to adopt it, and be deem-
ed justly chargeable with all the consequences. Every
nation ought to avoid giving any real offense to another.
Some medals and dull jests are mentioned and represent-
ed as a ground of quarrel between the English and
Dutch in 1672, and likewise caused Louis XI Y. to
make an expedition into the United Provinces of the
Netherlands in the same year, and nearly ruined that
commonwealth." It is worthy of remark how, in this
part of his charge, M'Kean anticipated the complaints
of Talleyrand, if, indeed, it was not this very charge by
which those complaints were suggested. " We are sorry
to find," the learned judge concluded, " that our endeav-
ors in this way have not been attended with all the good
effects that were expected from them ; however, we are
determined to pursue the prevailing vice of the times
with zeal and indignation, that crimes may no longer ap-
pear less odious for being fashionable, nor the more secure
from punishment for being popular."
In a long life of political warfare with his pen, Cob-
bett, by facing, at his own proper risk and cost, Lynch
law and law of other kinds, assaults, mobs, actions, and
indictments, did as much as any other man who ever
172 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER lived, to vindicate, on both sides the Atlantic, " the nat-
XI L
ural right of free correspondence between citizen and cit-
1797 izen, on their joint interests, whether public or private f
and to such a man it is but a piece of justice to say that
M'Kean's charge against him of being "licentious and
virulent beyond all former example" was itself a false, if
not a malicious libel. Between Cobbett and the Callen-
ders, Baches, and other "scribblers," of whose produc-
tions for several years past the chief justice gave a de-
scription so disgusting, but, at the same time, so just,
there was this remarkable difference — there was nothing
about Cobbett of sneaking malice. He dealt in no dam-
nable innuendoes, no base insinuations of charges which
he did not dare to state openly, and which he himself
knew to be false. Like all zealous men, he was often
too precipitate in giving credit and circulation to inju-
rious charges against those whom he hated; but he evi-
dently relied on being able to substantiate the truth of
all he published. His statements were made in clear and
plain terms, with the names at length of all the parties
concerned, so that if the charge were false, refutation
was easy. If his language was frequently without any
touch of politeness, and his allusions to private matters
often impertinent, he did in all this but follow a fashion
which Chief-justice M'Kean had allowed to establish it-
self in Philadelphia by a usage of several years ; and in
these very particulars Callender and Bache went as far be-
yond Cobbett as they fell short of him in vigor of under-
standing, keenness of sarcasm, loftiness of spirit, manly
self-respect, and unflinching courage. And so the grand
jury seems to have thought ; for, in spite of M'Kean's
charge, and his appearance before them as one of the
witnesses, they returned ignoramus on the indictment
laid before them — a fate presently shared by the in
COBBETT, RUSH, AND THE YELLOW FEVER. 178
dictments laid before the grand jury of the Circuit CHAPTER
AUi
Court.
It was not entirely to politics that Cobbett confined
himself. Another subject which he handled with cutting
severity was Dr. Rush's method of treating the yellow
fever. That singular disorder, which had made such
ravages in Philadelphia in 1793, had appeared the next
year in New Haven. In 1795 it broke out in New York,
Baltimore, and Norfolk. In 1796 it visited Boston, New-
buryport, and Charleston, in South Carolina. After an
interval of four years, it reappeared again the present
season with great virulence, in Philadelphia. A warm
dispute had arisen among the doctors as to its origin.
One party supposed it to be infectious, and to be brought
from the "West Indies. Rush and his partisans main-
tained that it was of local origin, produced by the accu-
mulation of filth in the water-side streets of maritime
towns. The locality of its origin seems to be now pretty
generally agreed upon among medical men, though what
its precise cause may be remains as doubtful as ever.
Rush's opinion as to its origin, maintained, also, by
Webster in an elaborate treatise on the history of pesti-
lential disorders, was not without good results in a greater
attention to cleanliness and ventilation. The Boston,
system of underground drainage, which contributes so
much to the comfort and wholesomeness of that city,
dates from the visitation of the yellow fever, which also
furnished the occasion of the first attempts to supply
Philadelphia with water from the Schuylkill for wash-
ing and cleansing the streets as well as for domestic use
— a kind of enterprise in which that city preceded all
other Anglo-American towns.
Rush's method of treating the disease was far more
questionable than his theory of its origin. He recom-
174 HISTORY OF THE UKITED STATES.
CHAPTER mended and adopted what physicians call an heroic treat-
^_ '_ ment — making very free use of calomel and the lancet.
X797. Political prejudice — for Eush was reckoned to be some-
what of a French Democrat, or, at least, a political trim-
mer— had undoubtedly something to do with the unspar-
ing ridicule with which Cobbett and Fenno attacked this
method of practice, and which led first to a brutal assault
by one of Bush's sons upon an aged physician, falsely
suspected as the author of some of the articles ; secondly,
to a not very creditable attempt on the part of Ku'sh
himself to get up a prosecution, under the Pennsylvania
statute on the subject of dueling, against this medical
brother, because, while declining to accept a challenge
from Bush's son, he sent one instead to the father, whom
he regarded as the instigator of the assault ; and, finally,
to a libel suit on the part of Dr. Bush for damages, the
result of which, two years after, drove Cobbett from
America. It would seem, indeed, that Bush's practice
had suffered from these assaults or from some other
causes, since, in addition to his professorship in the med-
ical school, he solicited, obtained from Adams, and held
for the rest of his life the semi-sinecure office of Treas-
urer of the Mint.
The reappearance of the yellow fever produced quite a
panic at Philadelphia. At one time the sickness was so
great that the president proposed to exercise the power
vested in him by an act passed shortly after the former
visitation of the fever, of calling Congress together at
ffov. is. some other place. But with the first frosts, and before
the time appointed for the commencement of the session,
the disorder had ceased. Some time elapsed, however,
before a quorum of members ventured to make their ap-
pearance. Several vacancies in both houses had been
filled by new members, among whom were Andrew
SECOND SESSION OF THE FIFTH CONGRESS. 175
Jackson, of Tennessee, in the Senate, and in the House. CHAPTER
XII.
Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, chosen from the ___L_
Charleston district to fill the place of Smith, appointed 1797.
minister to Portugal.
Shortly before the meeting of Congress, news had ar-
rived in America of the change of the French government
by the expulsion of Carnot and Barthelemy from the
Directory, and the banishment of Pichegra and some six-
ty other members of the Legislature, thus confirming the
authority of Barras, and of the party at once the most
violent and the most corrupt. It was also known, through
the French newspapers, that the American envoys had
reached Paris ; but no letters had been received from
them since their arrival in that city ; nor was there any
definite information as to their probable reception, ex-
cept that the Aurora already gave out that reconciliation
with France could only be obtained by money, or, at
least, by an abandonment of all claims for indemnity.
The president's speech to Congress expressed his trust Nov. 23.
as to the mission to France, that nothing compatible with
the safety, honor, and interests of the United States had
been omitted, which might tend to bring the negotiation
to a successful issue. Nothing, however, in the presi-
dent's opinion, would tend so much to the preservation of
peace and the attainment of justice as to make manifest
that energy and unanimity, of which, on former occa-
sions, the United States had given such memorable proof,
by the exertion of those resources for national defense
which a beneficent Providence had placed within their
power. He therefore renewed his recommendations made
at the opening of the preceding session. If a system of
defensive measures was prudent then, it was still more
prudent now that increasing depredations had strength-
ened the reasons for adopting it. Nor was the expedi-
176 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ency of such a system to be estimated by the probable issue
' of the present negotiation, or the likelihood oi a tempo-
1797 rary peace in Europe. Permanent tranquillity, he held
it certain, would not soon be obtained ; and in the present
confusion of the sense of obligation and the excited vio-
lence of passion, no reasonable ground remained on which
to raise an expectation, that a commerce without protec-
tion or defense would not be plundered. "The com-
merce of the United States," so the speech stated, "is es-
sential, if not to their existence, at least to their comfort,
their growth, prosperity, and happiness. The genius,
character, and habits of the people are highly commer-
cial ; their cities have been formed and exist upon com
merce ; our agriculture, fisheries, arts, and manufactures
are connected with and depend upon it. In short, com-
merce has made this country what it is, and it cannot be
destroyed or neglected without involving the people in
poverty and distress. Great numbers are directly and
solely supported by navigation ; the faith of society is
pledged for the preservation of the rights of commercial
and seafaring no less than that of the other citizens. Under
this view of our affairs, I should hold myself guilty of a
neglect of duty if I forbore to recommend that we should
make every exertion to protect our commerce ar.d to
place our country in a suitable posture of defense, as the
only sure means of preserving both."
Objections, he informed Congress, were still opposed by
the Spaniards in Louisiana to the surrender of the posts
on the Mississippi and the running of the boundary line ;
and Earnest efforts had been made to shake the attachment
of the neighboring Indian tribes, and to entice them into
the Spanish interest. The commission under the Spanish
treaty was in session ; also the three commisions under
the British treaty, of which the one on spoliations had
QUAKER ANTI-SLAVERY PETITION. 177
already made several awards for the benefit of American CHAPTER
XII.
merchants. Attention was also called to some provision _
for detecting and preventing the forgery of American 1797
papers, a contrivance by which foreign and belligerent
vessels sought to avail themselves of the advantages of
American neutrality, and which had the evil effect of
exposing all American vessels to suspicion and seizure.
A somewhat ambiguous and general answer to the pres-
ident's speech was reported in the House, which passed
without much of opposition or debate. Lyon again made
lik motion to be personally excused from waiting on the
(president ; but even his brother Democrats were some-
what piqued at the reflection thus implied on their re-
publicanism or their consistency, and this time his mo-
tion was peremptorily voted down by a large majority.
While all were anxiously waiting for further news
from France, the earlier part of the session passed off
very quietly. For a moment, indeed, this quiet was ruf-
fled by the presentation of a petition from the yearly NOT. ao
meeting held at Philadelphia of " the people called Quak-
ers," in which they complained of the increase of dissipa-
tion and luxury in the United States, and of the coun-
tenance and encouragement given to stage-players, cock-
fighting, horse-racing, and other vain amusements, not-
withstanding the resolutions of the old Congress of 1774
to discourage all such extravagance and dissipation — a
solemn covenant with the Almighty, made in the hour of
distress, the fulfilment of which he was now calling tor
by the -awful calamity of the yellow fever. This memo-
rial further complained — and, indeed, that was its princi-
pal object — that certain persons of the African race, to
the number of one hundred and thirty-four, set free by
members of the religious society of Quakers, besides
others whose cases were not so particularly known, had
V— M
178 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER been reduced again into cruel bondage under the author*
'_ ity of an ex post facto law passed for that purpose by
1797. tne State of North Carolina in 1777 (the same of which
mention is made in a former volume of this history), au-
thorizing the seizure and resale as slaves of certain eman-
cipated negroes.
Any action upon this petition was vehemently opposed
by Harper, who complained that this was not the first,
second, nor third time that the House had been troubled
by similar applications, which had a very dangerous ten-
dency. This and every other Legislature ought to set
their faces against memorials complaining of what it was
impossible to alter.
Thacher, of Massachusetts, suggested in reply, that
where persons considered themselves injured, they would
not be likely to leave off petitioning till the House took
some action upon their petitions. If the Quakers con-
sidered themselves aggrieved, it was their right and their
duty to present their memorial, not three, five, or seven
times only, but seventy times seven, until redress was
obtained; therefore, gentlemen who wished not to be
troubled again ought to be in favor of reading and a
reference.
Lyon observed that a grievance was complained of
which ought to be remedied, namely, that a certain num-
ber of black people who had been set at liberty by their
masters were now held in slavery contrary to right ; he
thought that ought to be inquired into.
Eutledge would not oppose a reference if he were sure
the committee would report as strong a censure as the
memorial deserved ; such a censure as a set of men ought
to meet who attempt to seduce the servants of gentlemen
traveling to the seat of government, and who are inces-
santly importuning Congress to interfere in a business
DEBATE ON THE QUAKER PETITION. i 79
with which, by the Constitution, they have no concern. CHAPTER
At a time when other communities were witnesses of the B .
most horrid and barbarous scenes, these petitioners were 1797.
endeavoring to excite a certain class to the commission
of like enormities here. Were he sure that this conduct
would be reprobated as it deserved, he would cheerfully
vote for a reference ; but not believing that it would be,
he was for laying the memorial on the table or under the
table, that the House might have done with the business,
not for to-day, but forever.
Gallatin, by whom the memorial had been offered,
maintained that it was the practice of the House, when-
ever a petition was presented, to have it read a first and
second time, and then to commit, unless it were express-
ed in such indecent terms as to induce the House to re-
ject it, or related to a subject upon which it had been
recently determined by a large majority not to act. It
was not best to decide under the influence of such passion
as had just been exhibited, and that furnished an addi-
tional reason for a reference. He also vindicated the
character of the Quakers against the aspersions in which ,
Eutledge had very freely indulged.
Sewall suggested a third case, applicable, as he thought,
to the present memorial, in which petitions might be re-
jected without a commitment, and that was when they
related to matters over which the House had no cogni-
zance, especially if they were of a nature to excite dis-
agreeable sensations in a part of the members possessed
of a species of property held under circumstances in
themselves sufficiently uncomfortable. The present me-
morial seemed to relate to topics entirely within the
jurisdiction of the states.
Macon declared that there was not a man in North
Carolina who did not wish there were no blacks in the
180 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
sit AFTER country. Negro slavery was a misfortune : he consider-
' ed it a curse ; "but there was no means of getting rid of
1 797 it. And thereupon he proceeded to inveigh against the
Quakers, whom he accused not only of unconstitutional
applications to Congress, but of continually endeavoring
to stir up in the Southern States insurrection among the
negroes.
Against these assaults on the petitioners Livingston
warmly protested. There might be individuals such as
had been described ; but as against the body of the Quak-
ers these charges were false and unjust. The scruples
of the Quakers on the subject of war were relied upon
as a help toward blocking the administration and pre-
venting any .hostile demonstrations against France, and
that circumstance may in part explain the zeal of Liv-
ingston and others in their behalf.
Parker of Virginia, and Blount of North Carolina,
warmly opposed the reference of the memorial. Nicho-
las felt as much as other Southern gentlemen on this
subject, but as he thought the holders of slaves had noth-
ing to fear from inquiry, he was in favor of a reference.
So, also, was Smith of Maryland. Finally, after a very
warm debate, the reference was carried, and a special
committee was appointed, of which Sitgreaves was chair-
man, Dana, Smith of Maryland, Nicholas, and Schure-
man of New Jersey, being members. This committee,
after hearing the petitions, subsequently reported leave
to withdraw, in which the House concurred, on the
ground, as set forth in the report, that the matter com-
plained of was exclusively of judicial cognizance, and
that Congress had no authority to interfere.
Another debate involving the subject of slavery oc-
curred somewhat later. The president had suggested at
the previous session the expediency of establishing a ter-
MISSISSIPPI TEERITORY. 181
ntorial government over the population on the Lower CHAPTER
Mississippi, hitherto under Spanish authority, but ac- ^
knowledged by the recent treaty with Spain to be within
the limits of the United States. There were in Natchez
and its vicinity five or six thousand inhabitants, most
of them of English origin, remains of the immigration
just before the breaking out of the Kevolutionary war,
or settlers who had come in since upon Spanish invita-
tion. Under a royal proclamation and a cession to her
by South Carolina of the rights of that state under
the Carolina charter, Georgia claimed the whole territory
east of Louisiana, north of Florida, and south of Tennes-
see. The United States claimed, on the other hand, as
the common property of the Union, all the territory south
of an east and west line from the mouth of the Yazoo to
the Chattahoochee ; that territory having been annexed,
prior to the Eevolution, to the British province of West
Florida ; and having been ceded to the United States by
the British treaty of 1783 — a title lately made complete
by the relinquishment, under the late Spanish treaty, of
any claim to it on the part of Spain. Previous to the
Spanish treaty, Georgia had offered to cede her claims to
the southernmost portion of the territory on condition of
being confirmed in possession of the residue ; but the
continental Congress had refused to accept this partial
union, on the ground that Georgia ought to cede — to
place her on a level with other states by which cessions
had been made — all the territory west of the Chattahoo-
chee. Such a cession of that whole wilderness, encum-
bered as it was by the claims of the land companies al-
ready mentioned, Georgia was now ready to make ; but
only on condition of being paid a large sum of money7
and of an undertaking on the part of the United States
to extinguish within a limited time the Indian title, ex-
182 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tending over two thirds or more of her reserved territo-
xn
^_J rj. To facilitate the negotiation of some such arrange-
1797 ment, an act was passed for the appointment of commis-
sioners to adjust the conflicting claims of Georgia and
the United States, and also to receive proposals from
Georgia for the cession of her share of the South-western
Territory, and at the same time to provide a govern-
ment for the settlers on the Mississippi. Provision was
was also made by the same act for erecting all that por-
tion of the late British province of West Florida within
the jurisdiction of the United States — that is, the terri
tory between the thirty-first degree of north latitude
and a due east line from the mouth of the Yazoo to
the Chattahoochee — into a government to be called the
MISSISSIPPI TEEEITORY, to be constituted and regulated
in all respects like the Territory northwest of the Ohio,
with the single exception that slavery would not be pro-
hibited.
1798. While this section of the act was under discussion,
March 23. Thacher having first stated that he intended to make a
motion touching the rights of man, moved to strike out
the exception as to slavery, so as to carry out the origin-
al project of Jefferson, as brought forward by him in the
Continental Congress, of prohibiting slavery in all parts
of the Western Territory of the United States, south as
well as north of the Ohio.
Kutledge hoped that this motion would be withdrawn ;
not that he feared its passing, but he hoped the gentle-
man would not indulge himself and others in uttering
philippics against a usage of most of the states merely
because his and their philosophy happened to be at war
with it. Surely, if his friend from Massachusetts had
recollected that the most angry debate of the session had
been occasioned by a motion on this very subject, he
SLAVERY IN MISSISSIPPI. 188
would not again have brought it forward. Such debates CHAPTER
led to more mischiefs in certain parts of the Union than _
the gentleman was aware of, and he hoped, upon that 1793,
consideration, the motion would be withdrawn. The
allusion, doubtless, was to the advantage taken of these
debates by the opposition to excite hostility against the
Federal government in those Southern States in which
its friends were at best but too weak.
Otis very promptly responded to Eutledge in hoping
that the motion would not be withdrawn; he wanted
gentlemen from his part of the country to have an op-
portunity to show by their votes how little they were
disposed to interfere with the Southern States as to the
species of property referred to.
Thacher remarked, in reply, "that he could by no
means agree with his colleague (Otis). In fact, they
seldom did agree, and to day they differed very widely
indeed. The true interest of the Union would be pro
moted by agreeing to the amendment proposed, of which
the tendency was to prevent the increase of an evil ac-
knowledged to be such by the very gentlemen themselves
who held slaves. The gentleman from Virginia, (Nicho-
las) had frequently told the House that slavery was an
evil of very great magnitude. He agreed with that
gentleman that it was so. He regarded slavery in the
United States as the greatest of evils — an evil in direct
hostility to the principles of our government ; and he be-
lieved the government had a right to take all due meas-
ures to diminish and destroy that evil, even though in
doing so they might injure the property of some individ-
uals ; for he never could be brought to believe that an
individual could have a right in any thing that went to
the destruction of the government — a right in a wrong.
Property in slaves is founded in wrong, and never can
184 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER be right. The government must, of necessity, put a stop
.. " *o this evil, and the sooner they entered upon the busi-
1798. ness *ne better. He did not like to hear much said
about the rights of man, because of late there had been
much quackery on that subject. But because those
rights and the claim to them had been abused, it did not
follow that men had no rights, Where legislators are
chosen from the people and frequently renewed, and in
case of laws which affect the interests of those who pass
them, the rights of man are not likely to be often disre
garded. But when we take upon us to legislate for men
against their will, it is very proper to say something
about those rights, and to remind gentlemen, at other
times so eloquent upon this- subject, that men, though
held as slaves, are still men by nature, and entitled,
therefore, to the rights of man — and hence his allusion
to those rights in making the motion.
" We are about to establish a government for a new
country. The government of which we form a part
originated from, and is founded upon, the rights of man,
and upon that ground we mean to uphold it. With
what propriety, then, can a government emanate from
us in which slavery is not only tolerated, but sanctioned
by law ? It has indeed been urged that, as this, territory
will be settled by emigrants from the Southern States>
they must be allowed to have slaves ; as much as to say
that the people of the South are fit for nothing but
slave-drivers — that, if left to their own labor> they would
starve!
"But if gentlemen thought that those now holding
slaves within the limits of the proposed territory ought
to be excepted from the operation of his amendment, he
would agree to such an exception for a limited pe>
riod."
SLAVERY IN" MISSISSIPPI. 185
No full report of this debate has been preserved. It CHAPTER
would appear, however, that Yarnum and Gallatin said
something in favor of Thacher's amendment, while Giles 1793,
and Nicholas, with Gordon of New Hampshire, opposed
it. Only twelve votes were given in its favor. A large
majority of the opposition were themselves slaveholders,
while the Federal representatives of the North did not
wish to offend their few confederates from Maryland and
South Carolina, or to do any thing to add to the preju-
dices already so generally entertained in the South
against the Federal party.
Yet Thacher's opposition to the further spread of
slavery was not entirely without fruits. A day or two March as
after, Harper offered an amendment which was carried
without opposition, prohibiting the introduction into the
new Mississippi Territory of slaves from without the
limits of the United States.
Notwithstanding a provision that nothing in this act
should operate in derogation of the rights of Georgia, a
vehement opposition was made by the representatives
from that State to the erection of the new territory, un-
less with a proviso that the consent of Georgia should
first be obtained. To this it was answered that the State
of Georgia had never been in possession of this territory ;
that it had remained under the Spanish government
until recently ceded ; that the right of the United States
to it was clear, and that, whether clear or not, it was
their duty to retain possession till the question of title
was disposed of, and to provide, in the mean time, an
efficient government for the settlers, distant, and unpro-
tected, and surrounded by Indian tribes as they were:
views which the House sustained by a vote of forty -six
to thirty-four.*
* This case, it \*ill be seen, had a very direct bearing on the quea-
186 H1STORT OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Much of the earlier part of the session was devoted to
XII
' the consideration of private matters, mostly Kevolution-
1798 ai7 c^aims> which had come by degrees to constitute a
formidable part of the business of the House. An act
was passed authorizing grants of land to the refugees
from Canada and Nova Scotia who had joined and ad-
hered to the American cause during the Eevolution. At
a former session, in spite of a violent opposition, based on
the alleged want of power in Congress for that purpose,
a sum of money had been granted to the daughters of
the Count de Grasse, reduced to poverty by the death of
their father, who had been guillotined during the Eeign
of Terror. That sum had been exhausted, and a new act
was now passed, in further acknowledgment of De Grasse's
^Revolutionary services, granting to his four daughters
an annual pension for the next five years of $400 each.
Numbers of banished Frenchmen continued to arrive in
America, among whom, at this time, were the young
Duke of Orleans, afterward Louis Philippe, king of the
French, and his two younger brothers. The joy was
great in America at hearing of the release of Lafayette
from the Austrian dungeon where he had so long been
confined. By way of pecuniary relief to his family,
Congress had already appropriated to their use the full
amount of his pay as a major general in the American
service.
The bill making provision for foreign intercourse be-
came a sort of party test, and many speeches were made
upon it. The opposition maintained that the regulation
of this matter ought to be with Congress. Instead of
tion a short time since (1850) so violently agitated, of the erection of
the Territory of New Mexico, notwithstanding the claims of Texas ; yet
•o inaccessibly wrapped up in records, pamphlets, and newspapers hna
the history of this period hitherto been, that this case, so exactly in
point, was never referred to in that whole discussion
GRISWOLD AND LYOJT — BREACH CF DECORUM. 1 8 1"
voting a gross sum as heretofore, leaving the application CHAPTER
of it to the president, they wished to limit the number
of missions, and to make a special appropriation for each. 1793.
Much time was consumed in the business of Senator
Blount's impeachment, which was protracted through
the whole session without being brought to any point.
Every obstacle was placed in the way of it by the oppo-
sition, who were not a little alarmed at the idea of the
mpeachment of members of Congress, for which, as they
alleged, the Constitution gave no authority.
During the balloting for managers of this impeach-
ment, a scandalous breach of decorum occurred, the first Jan. 30
ever witnessed in Congress. The speaker, having left
the chair, had taken a seat next the bar ; Griswold and
others were seated near, many members, as is usual on
such occasions, being out of their proper seats. Stand-
ing outside the bar, and leaning upon it, Lyon com-
menced a conversation with the speaker in a loud tone,
as if he desired to attract the attention of those about
him. The subject was the Connecticut members, partic-
alarly their course in reference to the Foreign Inter-
course Bill, which just before had been under discussion.
Those members, Lyon said, acted in opposition to the
opinions and wishes of nine-tenths of their constituents.
As to their advocating salaries of $9000 to the ministers
abroad, on the ground that nobody would accept for
less — that was false. They were all of them ready to
accept any office, were the salary great or small. He
knew the people of Connecticut, and that they were capa-
ble of hearing reason, having had occasion tc fight them
sometimes in his own district, when they came to visit
their relations. " Did you fight them with your wooden
sword?" asked Griswold, in jocular allusion to Lyon's
having been cashiered, and to a story which had got
188 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER into the newspapers since his display of himself at the
previous session, that he had been drummed out of the
1798 army on that occasion, and compelled to wear a wooden
sword. Some other jesting remarks, made by the by-
standers, had been received by Lyon in good part ; Grip
wold's taunt either failed to reach his ear, or he affected
not to hear it, for, without noticing it, he went on in the
same strain as before, declaring that, blinded and deceived
as the people of Connecticut were, if he could only go into
the state, and manage a paper there for six months, he
could open their eyes, and turn out all the present repre-
sentatives. Griswold, meanwhile leaving the seat he had
occupied, had taken a place beside Lyon, outside the bar,
and in reply to this last sally, laying his hand on Lyon's
arm as if to attract his attention, he remarked, with a
smile, " You could not change the opinion of the mean-
est hostler in the state I" Lyon replied that he knew
better ; that he could affect a revolution in a few months,
and that he had serious thoughts of moving into the state
and fighting them on their own ground. " If you come,
Mr. Lyon, I suppose you will wear your wooden sword !"
so Griswold retorted, at which Lyon turned suddenly
about, and spat in his face. Griswold drew back as if
to strike, but, upon the interference of one or two of his
friends, restrained himself and remained quiet. The
speaker instantly resumed the chair, and, after a short
statement of the foregoing facts, Sewall submitted a mo
tion for Lyon's expulsion. This was referred to a com-
mittee of privileges, another resolution being meanwhile
adopted, that if either party offered any violence to the
other before a final decision, he should be held guilty
of a high breach of privilege.
Lyon the next day sent a letter to the speaker, in
Fsb. I- which he stated, that if chargeable with a disregard of
MOTION FOR LYON'S EXPULSION. 189
tne rules of the House, it had grown wholly out of his CHAPTER
ignorance of their extent, and that if through ignorance he
had unwittingly offended, he was sorry to deserve censure. 1798.
This letter was referred, to the committee already ap-
pointed, who reported, the day after, a statement of facts, Feb. 2.
and along with it a resolution for Lyon's expulsion. To
the passage of this resolution Lyon's Democratic friends
made a most obstinate resistance. It was only by forty-
nine votes to forty-four that the House consented to go
into committee on the subject ; and not content with the Feb.* t.
statement reported, it was insisted that the witnesses
should again give their testimony before the Committee
of the Whole. Lyon put in for the consideration of that
committco a long statement in reference to the military
censure to which he had been subjected, in which he
threw upon the other officers, particularly the one in
command, the blame of the desertion of the post for
which he had been cashiered. He repeated the same
thing in a speech against the resolution ; but in defend-
ing his conduct he made use of a very vulgar and inde-
cent expression, which itself, on Harper's motion, and by
the casting vote of the speaker, was referred to the same
Committee of the Whole as a new and separate offense.
Among the witnesses who had given testimony as to the
fact of Lyon's having been cashiered, and his patience at
home under allusions to it, was Chiprnan, the new Ver-
mont senator. By way of rebuttal, Lyon stated in his
speech that he had once chastised Chipman for an insult ;
a statement which drew out from Chipman, in a letter
addressed to the House, a full account of the affair re-
ferred to, placing Lyon in a most ridiculous light.
The adoption of the resolution for expelling Lyon was
vehemently opposed by Nicholas and Gallatin on the
frivolous and unfounded pretense which Lyon himself
190 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER had set up in excuse, that the session of the House was
* suspended at the time, and that expulsion, therefore,
1798 would be too severe a punishment. Though a good deal
ashamed of Lyon's conduct, the opposition, in the close
division of parties, were very unwilling to suffer even
the temporary loss of a single vote. An attempt was
made to substitute a reprimand for expulsion ; but this
Feb. 12. motion was lost, forty -four to fifty -two, the same number
of votes presently given for the original resolution. But
as a two thirds vote was necessary to expel, this resolu-
tion, though sustained by a majority, was lost.
To this very discreditable decision, and to the prece-
dent thus established, may in a great measure be as-
cribed those personal affrays on the floor of the House by
which that body has from time to time been disgraced.
Indeed this action, or rather non-action, very speedily
produced its natural fruits. As the House refused to
avenge him or itself, Griswold took the matter into his
own hands. For two or three days after the decision,
Lyon kept out of the way. The first time that he made
Feb. 15. his appearance in the hall, prayers having been read, and
many of the members being in their seats, but the House
not yet called to order, Griswold walked up to him as he
was reading in his seat, and commenced beating him over
the head with a cane. Lyon also had a cane, but, in
his confusion, instead of seizing it, he attempted to close
with Griswold, who retired slowly before him, keeping
him at arms' length, and still beating him. When, at
length, they had cleared the seats, Lyon rushed to the
fire-place and seized a pair of tongs, with which he ap-
proached Griswold, who now struck him a blow in the
face which blackened tis eye, closed with him, threw
him, fell upon him, and still continued to pommel him
over the head, till the discomfited Democrat was finally
G-KISWOLD'S REVENG-E. 191
relieved by some of his political friends, who seized Gris- CHAPTER
wold by the legs and dragged him off; after which the .
speaker, who had looked calmly on all the while, as- 1793.
sumed his seat and called the House to order. Just as
that was done, Lyon, having been provided with a cane,
approached Griswold, whose cane had slipped from his
hand when he was dragged off of Lyon, and who at this
moment was unarmed. Lyon made a feeble blow, which
Griswold avoided by drawing back, when the call to or
der put an end to this discreditable scene.
That portion of the opposition who had voted for ex-
pelling Lyon now called loudly for the expulsion both
of Lyon and Griswold, and a resolution to that effect was
offered and referred to the committee on privileges, not-
withstanding the opposition of some of the Federalists,
who remarked, with some malice, that it seemed very
hard to include Lyon in this motion, since he had only
been guilty of very quietly taking a severe beating. The
committee reported against the resolution, and their re- Feb. 23
port was sustained, seventy-three to twenty-one. An at-
tempt was then made to obtain a vote of censure, but
this was also lost by a small majority.
Pending this affair, in a message covering certain doc- Feb. 8
uments transmitted by Charles Pinckney, governor of
South Carolina, setting forth the violation of the neu-
trality of the United States by a French privateer, which
had captured and burned a British vessel within the
waters of Charleston harbor, the president had attempt-
ed to stimulate Congress to some measures for the pro-
tection of commerce. The privilege affair having been
disposed of, and the House having resumed the discussion
of the Foreign Intercourse Bill, the president sent an-
other message giving information of the arrival of the
first dispatches from the envoys in France. All these
192 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER dispatches except the latest, dated January 8th, which
_ gave notice of the impending decree for the forfeiture of
1798 all vessels having English merchandise on board, were
March 5. in cipher, and it would take some time to get at their
contents, as to which, however, it was briefly mentioned
in this last dispatch that no hope existed of the reception
of the envoys by the French government, or of their be-
ing able, in any way, to accomplish the object of theii
mission — statements so important that the president
judged it expedient to lay them at once before the
House. As soon as the other dispatches were decipher-
March 1 a ed, the president sent another message, informing Con
gress of the result to which he had arrived from a care
ful consideration of their contents. Though nothing
seemed to have been wanting, either in the instructions
to the envoys or in their efforts, he could see no ground
of expectation that the objects of the mission could be ac-
complished on terms compatible with the safety, honor,
and essential interests of the United States ; or that any
thing further in the way of negotiation could be attempt-
ed consistently with the principles for which the coun-
try had contended at every hazard, and which consti-
tuted the basis of our national sovereignty. He there-
fore reiterated his former recommendations of measures
for the protection of " our seafaring and commercial citi-
zens," " the defense of any exposed portion of our territo-
ry," "replenishing our arsenals, and establishing found-
eries and military manufactories," and the provision of an
efficient supply for any deficiency of revenue which might
be occasioned by depredations on our commerce. He
had himself already taken one step toward defense by
withdrawing the circular instruction to the collectors not
to grant clearances to armed private vessels.
This message, as might naturally be expected, pro
FOL1CY OF JEFFERSON AND THE OPPOSITION.
duced a great excitement. It was the policy of the op- CHAPTER
position, as developed in Jefferson's private correspond-
enee, by keeping the country unarmed, to compel the 1793.
acceptance of such terms as France might choose to dic-
tate. To any humiliation on that score, the opposition
leaders appeared perfectly insensible. Such humiliation
would fall, according to their view, not on them who had
always opposed the policy of the Federal government to-
ward France, nor on the country, but on the administra-
tion alone ; and the more the administration was humbled
and mortified, the more surely would the road to power
be open to the opposition. Jefferson, in a confidential March 21
letter to Madison, denounced the president's message as
identical with war, in favor of which he could find no
reason, " resulting from views either of interest or honor,
plausible enough to impose even on the weakest mind."
He could only explain " so extraordinary a degree of im-
petuosity" by reference to " the views so well known to
have been entertained at Annapolis, and afterward at
the grand Convention by a particular set of men" — =•
meaning, doubtless, the establishment of a monarchy —
" or, perhaps, instead of what was then in contempla-
tion, a separation of the states, which has been so much
the topic of late at the eastward" — a reference to a re-
cent series of articles in the Hartford Courant newspa-
per, under the signature of " Pelham." The president's
former message respecting protection to commerce he had
described as " inflammatory ;" the present message he de-
nounced as "insane." But while thus suspicious and
lenunciatory as to the measures and intentions of his
own government, Jefferson seems to have relied with a
girl-like confidence, equal to that of Monroe himself, un
the good faith and fair intentions of Talleyrand and the
Directory. He proposed to meet the withdrawal of the
V.— N
194 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER executive prohibition of the arming of private vessels by
enacting a legislative one ; and " as to do nothing and to
1798. £a^n time was everJ thing/' that Congress should ad
journ and go home to consult their constituents. u Be-
sides gaining time enough b y this to allow the desceni
upon England to have its effect here as well as there" —
this was Bonaparte's famous descent, threatened but
never made — " it will be a means of exciting the whole
body of the people from the state of inattention in which
they are ; it will require every member to call for the
sense of his district, either by petition or instruction ; it
will show the people with which side of the House theii
safety as well as their rights rest, by showing them which
is for war and which for peace, and their representatives
will return here invigorated by the avowed support of the
American people." Jefferson had complained in a for-
mer letter that Dayton, the speaker, had gone complete-
ly over to the Federal side, enticed, as he said, by hopes
of being appointed Secretary of War. The wavering con-
duct of " other changelings and apostates," as he called
them, was also very unsatisfactory. But, with his nat
urally sanguine temperament, he still hoped that the op-
position might continue to command in the House a ma-
jority of at least one or two over ll the war-hawks."
The Federalists, conscious of their weakness in the
House, had hitherto kept very quiet. Indeed, the larger
part had continued to flatter themselves that the extra-
ordinary envoys might yet succeed in bringing about a
satisfactory arrangement. The news of the proposed
decree authorizing the capture of all vessels of whatever
nation having goods of British origin on board — a decree
totally inconsistent with neutral rights — and the simul-
taneous news from the West Indies of the fitting out of
French privateers to cruise against all American vessels
PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENSE. 195
whateverf had excited their indignation, but without add- CHAPTER'
ing to their strength ; for as the opposition members rep- _
resented constituencies which owned very little ship- 17.93.
ping, they seemed to regard these threatened depreda-
tions with great unconcern. But the president's message,
communicating the total failure of the mission and his
recommendations to arm, struck upon the ear of the
House like the note of a war-trumpet. Jefferson acknowl-
edged that its effect was great ; " exultation upon the one
side and certainty of victory, while the other is petrified
with astonishment."
An attempt was immediately made in the Pennsylva-
nia Legislature, then in session at Philadelphia, to oper- March 20,
ate on Congress by the introduction of resolutions depre-
cating any offensive measures. But these resolutions
were voted down, thirty-eight to thirty-three. Another
attempt, shortly after, to get the Quakers to come for-
ward with a petition for peace, did not meet with much
better success.
The House already had under discussion, previously
to the receipt of the president's message, a bill appro-
priating means for the equipment of the three national
frigates authorized at the late session. This bill was
passed at once, and also another continuing in force the
prohibition of the export of arms. The Senate commit-
tee to which the president's message was referred soon
reported a bill, which passed immediately with only
three votes against it, to enable the president to purchase
or lease one or more cannon founderies. The three
opposers were the two senators from. Tennessee, one of
whom was Andrew Jackson, and Tazewell of Virginia,
who had taken upon himself the leadership of the oppo-
sition in that body. This was followed up by another
bill, authorizing the president to hire or purchase, in ad-
196 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER dition to the three frigates, sixteen vessels, not to carry
' more than twenty-two guns each, and to be armed and
1 790 fitted out as ships of war. The suggestion of a tempo
March 23. rary embargo was made by Marshall, of Kentucky ; but
this was voted down, only five senators rising in its favor.
Meanwhile the opposition members had deliberated on
the unpromising aspect of their affairs, and the result
was, not a motion to adjourn, as Jefferson had proposed,
to which, indeed, the Senate would never have consent-
ed, but three resolutions offered by Sprigg, of Maryland,
If arch 27 when the House went into committee on the president's
message. The first of these resolutions purported that,
under existing circumstances, it was not expedient for the
United States to resort to war against the French repub-
lic; the second, that the arming of merchant vessels
ought to be restricted ; while the third, as if by way of
tub to the whale, admitted that the coast ought to be for-
tified. The first resolution, it was thought, would prove
very embarrassing to the Federalists, and it had there-
fore been offered, as agreed upon in the opposition caucus*,
in Committee of the "Whole, to avoid the previous ques-
tion (by which, according to the then existing usage, it
might have received a quietus -without any direct vote
upon it) ; and in Committee of the Whole on the State
of the Union, lest it might be got rid of by the rising
of the committee without leave asked to sit again.
Harper suggested that this resolution might be agreed
to unanimously. For himself, he was quite willing to
declare that it was not expedient to go to war with any
nation. Sitgreaves remarked that, as the existing dis-
putes with France might probably lead to a war, it would
be better to have no resolution on the subject. Until
war was declared, we should remain at peace without
the help of any resolution, to which Baldwin replied —
DEBATE ON SPRIGCTS RESOLUTIONS 197
and tliis was doubtless the position agreed upon in the CHAPTER
preliminary caucus — that as the president and others had •
declared a war inevitable, it belonged to the House, if 1793.
they did not think so. to declare the contrary.
Otis suggested that, if the mover of the resolution
\vould adopt the constitutional phrase " declare war" in-
stead of " resort to war," there would be no difference of
opinion. But to this alteration Sprigg declined to ac-
cede, observing, significantly, that the resolution, as of-
fered, had not been the work of a moment, and that he
was not disposed to allow any change in it. Dayton
moved to strike out the words " against the French repub-
lic." If any resolution were passed, which he thought un-
necessary, why not make it general ? Why specify France
more than any other nation, unless, indeed, the object
was to have peace with France and not with other nations.
Finding it not so easy to turn the enemy's position,
Harper resolved to meet it in front. " Being of opinion,"
he remarked, " that the resolution amounted to nothing,
out of a wish to gratify the mover he had been willing to
let it pass. But he had never said, and would not say
that war was the worst thing that could happen to the
country. Submission to the aggressions of a foreign power
he thought infinitely worse. If by means of this resolu-
tion gentlemen meant to prevent the country from being
put into a state of defense — if they meant by it to effect
an entering wedge to submission, he trusted they would
find themselves mistaken. The question at present was
not one of war, but of defense. No two questions were
more distinct ; and he believed the distinction was wel1
understood by the American people. If gentlemen con
founded these two questions, and were determined to take
no measures of defense lest they should lead to war, let
them say so openly."
108 HISTOllY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Giles and Nicholas insisted, as Baldwin had done, that
_ the president having declared in substance that war ex-
1798 isted, it was the duty of the Legislature, to which the
power of declaring war belonged, to set the matter right
by means of the present resolution.
Brooks, of New York, wished gentlemen to distinguish
between the two kinds of war, offensive and defensive.
He was ready to declare against offensive war, and to
submit to small injuries rather than make defensive war.
At the same time, he was unwilling to say that he was
not ready to defend his country against the attacks of
any foreign power whatever. Eutledge took the same
ground. Sewall insisted that the present state of things
ought to be considered a state of war, not declared by us,
but declared against us by the French republic. ' ' Though
we lack spirit to defend ourselves, let us not say so!
Though we refrain from acting, let us not make a for-
mal declaration that we receive injuries with thankful-
ness ! The proposed resolution goes even further. Its
declared object is, in this moment of danger, to separate
this House from the president. The mover considers the
president's message a declaration of war, and this resolu-
tion is to be a declaration of peace ! As to the presi-
dent, this is an assumption altogether false. He h?^
neither declared war himself, nor called upon Congress
to declare it. To agree to this resolution would be to
give countenance to the assertion of the French that we
are a people divided from our government. Since we
are not equal to offensive measures — he wished to God
we were ! — he was in favor of defensive measures. Our
weakness and the divisions which had appeared in our
councils, had invited these attacks, and he trusted we
should now unite to repel them;."
Gallatin admitted that the conduct of France furnished
DEBATE ON SPRIGQ'S RESOLUTIONS. 199
justifiable ground of war, but tie denied that it amounted CHAPTER
to war in fact, and therefore it became necessary to say
whether we would go to war or not. We must expect, 1798.
if we went to war, to encounter all its expenses and other
evils. If we would remain at peace, we must, in a cer-
tain sense, submit — that is, we must submit to have a
number of vessels taken, but this he thought very differ-
ent from the submission spoken of on the other side.
Gentlemen need not be so much alarmed about French
influence. There had been a great enthusiasm for France,
but that feeling was much diminished in consequence of
her late conduct toward us. What course the interest
and happiness of the country required was a mere matter
of calculation. If he could separate defensive war at sea
from offensive war, he should be in favor of defensive
war ; but as he could not make that distinction, he was
in favor of peace measures. Giles took the same ground. March 2*
He deprecated war of any kind, unless the country were
actually invaded.
"Would to God," said Thomas Pinckney, "it were
in our power, by this or any resolution, to avert war
and maintain peace. In questions of war there are
always two parties, one of whom is generally the ag-
gressor and the other passive. In the present case this
country is the passive party, and any declaration, there-
fore, on our part, could have but little effect. Individ-
uals or nations, led by interest or passion to pursue cer-
tain measures, are not easily diverted from their object ;
and if the French are actuated by either of these motives,
no declaration of ours will prevent a war. A resolution
like the present would rather accelerate the evil. If
declarations could have availed, they have not been
wanting. Indeed, too much had been rested on such
declarations, nothing having been done for defense.
200 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER •" How different was- the course now proposed from
XII
' that adopted in 1794, during the misunderstanding with
1798 England. Abundant measures were then suggested and
carried into effect for countervailing the losses which
our citizens experienced and for bringing Great Britain
to reason. He had expected something similar now ; he
should not have been surprised had some member, fired
with the injuries we have received, proposed a declara-
tion of war. Instead of that, smarting as we are under
injuries, our commerce bleeding at every pore, and our
country deeply humiliated, we are called upon to say to
France, * You have done every thing to injure, insult,
and degrade us, but we have deserved it, and will not
resist. Whatsoever injuries you may inflict, we will not
go to war.' "
. Giles was convinced that if we carried our prepara-
tions for defense beyond our own limits, instead of gain-
ing glory or honor, we should meet with nothing but
disgrace. If any object was to be subserved by naval
preparations, it was the protection of our commerce with
Great Britain; but two acts of Parliament, recently
passed, were likely to take that trade, in a great measure,
from us. The allusion here was to the passage of certain
acts, under the right reserved in Jay's treaty, for coun-
teracting the American differential duties in favor of
American shipping, acts over which the opposition some-
what prematurely exulted, as likely, so soon as peace
took place in Europe, to prove ruinous to the American
ship-owners. Under these circumstances, Giles thought
we had no sufficient object for incurring so much risk.
The apprehension of war already began to cause dis-
agreeable effects in his part of the country. Produce had
fallen in price, and the sale was very dull at that. The
proposed resolution, if agreed to, would quiet the public.
DEBATE ON SPRIGG'S RESOLJTTONS. 201
mind. But it would have no good effect, so it was said, CHAPTER
on the French Directory. He did not know that it
would ; but it would have no bad effect, and might have -f 793.
a good one. He did not think that body quite so aban-
doned as some gentlemen represented ; and he proceeded
to apologize for the partition of the Venetian territories,
which Pinckney had just before cited in proof of the in-
exorable rapacity of the French republic, not to be soft-
ened by any humiliation or concession, the very exam-
ple, as it happened, — though neither Pinckney nor Giles
then knew it — which had been held up in France to
frighten the American envoys.
Harper, in a very animated speech, charged home upon
the opposition, and upon Giles in particular, the strange
contrast between their present attachment to peace, and
their eagerness, in 1794, to plunge into a war with Eng-
land, both the one and the other growing out of devo-
tion to France ; and he assailed with great energy that
abject spirit which would abandon all American property
beyond the limits of our territory, all our commerce, from
which was derived five sixths of our revenue, lest, in de-
fending it, we might give offense to the French republic I
Giles, nothing daunted — indeed, he was a person not
to be abashed by any thing — made a labored attempt to
prove himself to have been as much the friend of peace
in 1794 as now. Finding this rather a difficult task,
he soon branched off into a multiplicity of recrimina-
tions on a variety of subjects ; among others, Cobbett's
newspaper, which he denounced with great energy ; the
president's neglect to lay the whole of the recent dia-
patches before the House ; the British ambassador's con-
nection with Blount and his projects ; and an imagined
arrangement for a more intimate connection with Great
Britain, of which country he predicted the total ruin
202 HISTORY OF THE UNITED S1ATES.
CHAPTER and downfall within the space of two years. " Perhaps
gentlemen may ask," he said, " what will you do if
1793 France carries her injuries further? I would have us
draw ourselves within our shell sooner than go to war.
I would, though I do not pledge myself to do it, indem-
nify our commercial fellow-citizens for their losses. I
am now, and always have been, for peace."
March 29. Harper having replied to Giles with great severity,
Nicholas threatened to come to the aid of his suffering
colleague, when the debate, which was growing very
personal and acrimonious, was suddenly cut short, much
to the chagrin of the opposition, by the offer of a reso-
lution by way of answer to Giles' speech, calling upon
the president for copies of the recent dispatches. Thus
somewhat unexpectedly met, Giles and Smith of Mary-
land insisted upon striking out that part of the call which
left it in the president's discretion to withhold any part of
the papers asked for, while Livingston claimed to have
the instructions also. Bayard objected that, as the ne-
gotiation was not yet terminated, it would not be wise,
by insisting on the instructions, to inform the French of
our ultimatum — for secrecy, if the papers were commu-
nicated, would be out of the question. • It was deemed
April 2. best, however, to silence the opposition by modifying the
April 3. call as they had proposed ; and the next day the presi-
dent sent in all the papers called for, and, in addition,
some subsequent dispatches from the envoys, bringing
the history of the negotiation to the beginning of the
year. Nothing was withheld except the names and per-
sonal description of Hottinguer and Bellamy, Talley-
rand's agents, to whom secresy had been promised by
the envoys, and the name also of M. Hauteval, who had
acted as Talleyrand's go-between with Gerry, lest the
mention of it, though he had received no promise of
PUBLICATION OP THE DISPATCHES. 208
secrecy, might lead to the discovery of the other two. CHAPTER
Wherever the names of these persons occurred in the '
dispatches, the letters X, Y, and Z had been substituted. 1793
The president requested that, in the first instance, these
papers might be considered in secret session, but he left
it to the discretion of each house to publish them or not,
as they might see proper. Their publication, which was
very soon agreed to by both houses, produced as power-
ful an effect upon the people as the reading of them had
done upon all the more moderate members of the con-
gressional opposition. Nothing, indeed, could shake the
leaders ; but so soon as it was seBn, what these papers
proved beyond question, that the Directory had demanded
a douceur for themselves, and a sum of money for the
republic, as the only conditions on which they would
treat, the cry of " millions for defense, not a cent for
tribute," spread enthusiastically through the country,
and the opposition both in Congress and without dwin-
dled down at once to an evident minority.
Even Jefferson admitted, in his confidential correspond- AprU a
ence with Madison, that " the first impressions" from
these papers were "very disagreeable and confused," and
that the arguments used by Talleyrand's secret agents
" were very unworthy of a great nation (could they be
imputed to it), and calculated to excite disgust and in-
dignation in Americans generally, and alienation in the
Republicans particularly, whom they had so far mistaken
as to suppose their first passion to be attachment to
France and hatred of the Federal party, and not love of
their country." It was " this little slanderous imputa-
tion" which, in his opinion, had caused the publication
of the dispatches. Still, however, he was not without
consolation. " The first impressions with the people will
be disagreeable, but the last and permanent one will be,
204 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER that the speech in May is now the only obstacle to ac«
' commodation, and the real cause of war, if war takes
1798. place. And how much will be added to this by the
speech in November, is yet to be learned. It is evident,
however, on reflection, that these papers do not offer one
motive the more for our going to war. Yet such is their
effect on the mind of wavering characters, that I fear
that, to wipe off the imputation of being French parti-
sans, they will go over to the war measures so furiously
pushed by the other party. It seems, indeed, as if they
were afraid they should not be able to get into a war till
Great Britain shall be blown up, and the prudence of
our countrymen, from that circumstance, have influence
enough to prevent it. The most artful misrepresenta-
tions of the contents of these papers were published yes-
terday, and produced such a shock in the Kepublican
mind as had never been seen since our independence.
We are to dread the effects of this dismay till their fuller
information." This was written before the dispatches
were published. As to the effect of " fuller information,"
Jefferson found himself very much mistaken. The pe-
rusal of the dispatches made it sufficiently apparent to all
candid men that the French were attempting to take ad-
vantage of the party divisions of the country, and of the
supposed weakness and fears of the administration, to re-
duce the United States to a tributary position ; and that
the president's speech was only made use of as a pre-
tense, for which something else would have equally served
had that speech never been delivered. Even of those
who were ready, with Giles and Gallatin, to surrender
the whole shipping of the nation an unresisting prey to
French privateers, many were hardly willing to go the
length of paying an additional tribute in money, or, for
the sake of avoiding a breach with France, to abandon
TRIUMPH OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 20fl
the position of neutrals, to break the English treaty, and CHAPTER
to risk a war in that quarter. Nor did everybody be- '
lieve, with Giles and Jefferson, that the British govern- 1793.
ment would certainly be overthrown within two years.
"The public mind," wrote Jefferson a week afterward, AprU 12.
" appears still in a state of astonishment. There never
was a moment in which the aid of an able pen was so
important to place things in their just attitude. On this
depends the inchoate movement in the Eastern mind,
and the fate of the elections in that quarter, now begin-
ning, and to continue through the summer. I would not
propose to you such a task on any ordinary occasion ;
but be assured that a well -digested analysis of these
papers would now decide the future turn of things, which
are at this moment on the careen." This was the sec-
ond urgent appeal to Madison to come forward as the
apologist of the French Government and the assailant of
his own. " You will see in Fenno," Jefferson had writ-
ten a week before, " two numbers of a paper signed Mar- April a.
cellus. They promise much mischief, and are ascribed,
without any difference of opinion, to Hamilton. You
must, my dear sir, take up your pen against this cham-
pion. You know the ingenuity of his talents, and there
is not a person but yourself who can foil him. For
Heaven's sake, then, take up your pen, and do not de-
sert the public cause altogether."
Strong evidence was speedily exhibited, in the action
of Congress, of that reflux of opinion and feeling of which
Jefferson so bitterly complained. Sprfgg's resolutions
were abandoned in despair, and the bills already men-
tioned for the purchase or lease of cannon founderies
and the procuring of additional armed vessels were speed-
ily passed, the former with an amendment appropriating
$800,000 for the purchase of cannon, small arms, and
7.06 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER additional military stores. For the purchase of vessels
under the other bill, $950,000 were appropriated; and
1793. for the management of naval affairs, a separate naval
department was now first established. A second regi-
ment of artillery was added to the military establishment,
and $250,000 were appropriated for harbor fortification.
It was also provided that any of the states from which
[Revolutionary balances were due should be credited with
so much toward those balances as they might expend,
under the president's direction, in erecting fortifications
within their own limits. To aid in the defense of har-
bors, the president was further authorized to purchase
and equip ten galleys. The Senate, meanwhile, had
passed and sent to the House a bill for raising a provis-
ional army of twenty thousand men. Unable to make
any effectual combined resistance to these measures of
defense, the baffled and astonished leaders of the opposi-
tion each did what he could after his own fashion. Liv-
ingston and Nicholas, in hopes to frighten the people by
the expense, adopted the policy of voting for the highest
sums proposed for whatever military objects. Gallatin
took the opposite ground. His eyes had been suddenly
opened to the dependence of the revenue on commerce.
A war would dry up that resource, and he insisted that,
before voting money, the House ought to provide the
necessary ways and means.
Once, indeed, the opposition rallied, and succeeded in
reducing the number of additional armed vessels from
sixteen to twelve ; but another motion that these vessels
should not be employed as convoys, failed after a warm
debate, by the decisive vote of fifty to thirty- two ; after
which the Federalists had every thing much their own
way.
Out of doors, the Aurora and other organs of the op-
ADDRESSES. THE BLACK COCKADE. 207
position argued that it was better to pay the money de- CHAPTER
manded, the douceur included — the odium of which it \
was attempted to shift from the Directory to Talleyrand 1793.
• — than to run the risk of a war. "Why* not purchase
peace of France as well as of the Indians and Algerines ?
In Congress, nobody dared to lisp such a proposal,
though some of the opposition did complain that the
peace of the country had been hazarded by the indiscreet
publication of the dispatches. Some petitions, also,
were got up out of doors against arming or any hostile
measures. But the impulse the other way was over-
whelming. The grand jury of the Federal Circuit Court
for Pennsylvania set the fashion of an address to the
president, applauding his manly stand for the rights and
dignity of the nation — an example speedily followed in
every direction. Philadelphia was suddenly converted
once more, as during the first and second Congress, to
friendship for the Federal administration. All the neu-
tral newspapers, and several others which had leaned
strongly to the opposition, came out in support of tho
president's policy. Besides an address from five thou-
sand of the citizens, presented to the president, the young
men adopted a separate address of their own, and went
in a body to carry it, many of them wearing the black May a
cockade, the same which had been worn in the American
army during the War of Independence. This was done
by way of defiance and response to the tricolored cock-
ade worn by all Frenchmen since Adet's famous procla-
mation, and by not a few American citizens also, even
by some companies of militia, who wished to exhibit by
this outward sign their extreme devotion to the French
republic. Hence the origin of the term "Black Cock-
ade Federalist," which became ultimately an epithet of
bitter party reproach. Such was the warmth of party
208 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER feeling, that several who wore this emblem became the
' objects of violent personal assaults. But the zeal lot
1798 mounting it was only increased by the rage which it
inspired in the more violent Democrats — a term re-
stricted at this time to the warm partisans of France,
and as yet chiefly employed by the Federalists, along
with the term Jacobin, as an epithet of reproach. The
song of "Hail, Columbia!" written by the younger Hop-
kinson, had, under the excitement of the moment, a tre«
mendous run, and, though totally destitute of poetical
merit, is still kept in existence by the force of patriotic
sentiment. " Adams and Liberty," written by Paine of
Boston, the son of another signer of the Declaration of
Independence, though now almost forgotten, enjoyed,
like " Hail, Columbia !" an immense popularity, both
songs being sung at the theatres and elsewhere with
rapturous encores.
In the midst of this excitement occurred the election
April 23- in New York for state officers and members of Congress.
' . Jay was re-chosen governor by a majority of upward
of two thousand over Chancellor Livingston ; but in the
election of members of Congress the opposition was
more successful. They succeeded in choosing six out
of the ten members, including Edward Livingston, re-
elected from the city of New York by a majority nearly
as large as that given for Jay throughout the state. The
*k»y 7. young men of the city of New York, following the
example of Philadelphia, having met to concert an ad
dress to the president, an unfortunate event which grew
out of this meeting added new fury to party excitement.
In the Argus, the opposition organ, edited by Greenleaf
— the same printer whose office had been mobbed ten
years before on account of his opposition to the adoption
of the Federal Constitution — Brockholst Livingston uu
THE OPPOSITION WAVERS. 209
dertook to ridicule the persons concerned in getting up CHAPTER
the meeting, selecting, among other objects of his satire, .
a Mr. Jones, who happened not to have been present. 1793.
Jones gave him a caning in consequence, which led to a
challenge and duel, in which that unfortunate gentleman
was killed — a result which occasioned a great excite-
ment at the time, and which left on Livingston's mind
a gloom from which he never recovered, though after-
ward rewarded for his party services by high political
preferment,
Nor was it to Philadelphia and New York that these
testimonies of zeal were confined. Addresses poured in
from every side, and the spirited replies of the president,
who was now in his element, served, in their turn, to
kindle and sustain the blaze of patriotic indignation.
Appealing, as in the days of the Eevolution, to religious
feeling, he issued a proclamation for a day of national May 8.
fasting and prayer, and, much to the chagrin of the lead-
ers of the opposition, the appointment was very general-
ly observed.
Protected against the responsibility of voting by his
fortunate position as president of the Senate, in which
the Federalists had a decided majority, Jefferson could
afford to be firm in his private correspondence. But
the Virginia members of the House begun to waver,
and several of them to seek safety in flight under pre-
tence of attending to their private affairs. " Giles, Clop-
ton, Cabell, and Nicholas have gone," so Jefferson wrote April 2t
to Madison, " and Clay goes to-morrow. Parker has
completely gone over to the war party. In this state of
things, they will carry what they please. One of the war
party, in a fit of unguarded passion, declared some time
ago that they would pass a citizen bill, an alien bill, and
Q sedition bill. Accordingly, some days ago, Coit laid a
V
210 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER motion on the table for modifying the citizen law. Their
^ threats pointed at Gallatin, and it is believed they will
1798. endeavor to mark him by this bill. Yesterday Hill-
house laid on the table of the Senate a motion for giving
power to send away suspected aliens. This is under-
stood to be meant for Yolney and Collot. But it will
not stop there when it gets into a course of execution.
There is now only wanting to accomplish the whole dec-
laration before mentioned, a sedition bill, which we shall
certainly soon see proposed. The object of that is the
suppression of the Whig presses. Bache has been par-
ticularly named. That papery and also Carey^s, totter
for want of subscriptions. We should really exert our-
selves to procure them, for if these papers fall, Eepub-
licanism will be entirely brow-beaten." "The popular
movement in the Eastern States is checked as we ex-
pectedy and war addresses are showering in from New
Jersey and the great trading towns. However, we still
trust that a nearer view of war and a land tax will
oblige the great mass of the people to attend. At pres
ent the war-hawks talk of Septembrizing, deportation,
and the examples for quelling sedition set by the French
executive. All the firmness of the human mind is now
in a state of requisition."
Bache's paper, for which Jefferson expressed so much
anxiety, was at this moment,, during Bache's temporary
absence, under the editorial charge of Gallender, whc
filled it with all sorts of falsehoods and slanders against
the leading Federalists. His personal adventures, not
long after, gave occasion to much sport among the Fed-
eral editors. Though quite disgusting in his manners
and habits, he was invited by Mason, the Virginia sen
ator, to honor him with a visit at his house, near Alex
andria,. which he accordingly. did shortly after the term
PROVISIONAL ARMY 211
mation of the session of Congress. Soon after his ai CHAPTER
rival there, he was taken up in the purlieus of a neigh- ..
boring distillery, drunk and dirty, and carried before two
justices of the peace, under the Virginia vagrant act, on
suspicion of being a runaway from the Baltimore penal
wheelbarrow gang ; nor could he obtain his release till
Mason, his host, produced before the justices the letters
of naturalization which the terrors of the alien law had
induced Gallender to take out, testifying, also, that he
was a person of good character. Not long after, under
the patronage of some leading Virginia politicians, Cal-
lender established at Richmond an opposition paper called
the Examiner, Sufficient reasons will shortly appear for
having been thus particular as to his personal history.
The present Federal majority in the House was not
so much owing to any accession of their numbers,— though
some .few, like Parker, did change their politics, while
others, like Smith of Maryland, voted occasionally with
the Federalists, — as to absence or inaction on the other
side, several opposition members omitting to vote. But
while most of the other leaders thus surrendered at dis-
cretion or retired from the field, Gallatin still stood firm,
resisting, by all the arts and manoeuvres of an adroit
politician, everything proposed by the Federalists, and .
maintaining to its fullest extent the policy recommended
by Jefferson of patiently submitting to the insults and
injuries of France without the least effort at resistance
or defence.
The Senate bill for raising a provisional army under-
went some modifications to meet the objections of the
opposition in the House, In the shape in which it was
finally passed, it authorized the president, at any time
within three years, in the event of a declaration of war
against the United States, or of actual invasion of their
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER territory by a foreign power, or imminent danger of
' such invasion before the next session of Congress, to en
1703 list ten thousand men (half the number originally pro-
posed), to serve for a term not exceeding three years, and
to be entitled to a bounty of ten dollars, half of it on en
listing, and the other half on joining their corps. As a
substitute for the other ten thousand, the president was
authorized to accept the services of such volunteer corps
as might offer, the whole to be organized AS cavalry, ar-
tillery, and infantry, according to the exigencies of the
service, with a suitable number of major generals con-
formably to the existing military establishment. He
was also authorized to appoint a lieutenant-general, and
an inspector with the rank of major-general. No officer
was to have any pay except while in actual service, and
all might be discharged, together with the soldiers, when-
ever the president might deem the public safety to per-
mit it.
The opposition complained loudly of the vast discre-
tion thus given to the president, and they denied that any
danger of invasion existed. It was argued, on the other
side, that Victor Hugues, the French commissary in the
Carribee Islands, might land at any time on the coast of
the Southern States with five or six thousand of his en
franchised black soldiers from Gruadaloupe, thereby en-
dangering a servile insurrection. Indeed, who knew how
soon a detachment of the fleet and army collected at Bor-
deaux and Brest, nominally for the invasion of England,
might suddenly appear, perhaps under Bonaparte him-
self, on the American coast ?
The bill for a provisional army was speedily followed
up by another, which was strongly opposed as placing
the country in an actual state of war, and by which the
president was authorized to instruct the commanders of
IMMIGRANTS PEOM EUROPE.
the sMj s of war of the United States to seize and bring CHAPTER
into port, to be proceeded against according to the law .,/'
of nations, any armed vessel which might have com-
mitted depredations on American ships, or which might
be found hovering on the American coast for the pur-
pose of committing such depredations, and to retake any
American ship taken by such vessels.
Meanwhile the House had under discussion a bill for
amending the naturalization law, the "citizen's bill"
alluded to in the above-quoted letter of Jefferson's. The
greater part of the immigrants to the United States since
the adoption of the Federal Constitution had been either
Frenchmen whom political troubles had driven from
home, and most of whom, even those who had been
obliged to fly because they had been charged with being
aristocrats, still remained warmly attached to their na-
tive country, — the military glory and victories of the
French republic having served, even in their minds, to
veil its injustice and its crimes, — or else Englishmen,
Scotchmen, and Irishmen, who had espoused ultra Ke-
publican opinions, and who, in flying from the severe
measures of repression adopted against them at home,
brought to America a furious hatred of the government
and institutions of Great Britain, and warm admiration
and hearty good wishes for Eepublican France. Many of
them, in fact, had been engaged in schemes more or less
illegal, such as that of the United Irishmen, for co-oper-
ating with expected aid from France in the overturn of
the British government. There were some among these
immigrants, such, for example, as Priestley, of unblem-
ished character and noble aims, however enthusiastic
Jiey might be, and, on some points, mistaken in their
politics ; but a large number were desperate and violent
men, whose idea of freedom seemed to be the unrestrain-
214 HISTORY OF TfiE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ed indulgence of their own fierce passions and hatreda
" Many were persons of considerable literary qualifications ;
1793 indeed, several of them had fled, like Callender. to escape
punishment for alleged seditious libels against the British
government. Having been journalists or pamphleteers
at home, they found employment here in that capacity,
and a very large proportion of the journals in the Middle
and Southern States were edited by persons of this de-
scription. In admiration for France and hatred of
Great Britain, they strongly sympathized with the ultra
Democratic party, whose passions their writings contrib-
uted not a little to embitter and inflame ; and having
obtained "by naturalization the rights of citizenship, they
led off among the fiercest opponents of the national ad-
ministration, all as voters, and some as candidates. 1ST©
objection was made by any body to the enjoyment by
foreigners of all rights except "political ones ; but the
government of the country, it was thought by many,
ought to be in the hands of the native citizens. Harper
wished to provide that none except natives should enjoy
the rights of citizenship. Otis suggested that the ob-
ject in view might be sufficiently obtained by depriving
naturalized citizens of the right to hold office. But to
both these propositions the decisive objection was made,
that the naturalization of foreigners and their holding
office were things contemplated in and provided for by
the Federal Constitution, so that nothing remained ex
cept to diminish the facility with which immigrants from
abroad might obtain the character of citizens.
In addition to restraints upon the facility of naturali-
zation, it was also thought necessary, as a part of the
system of defense then under consideration, to vest a
power somewhere to send out of the country such foreign
residents as might reasonably be suspected of co-opera-
INTKIGUES. 215
ting with external enemies. Alarm on this score was CHAPTER
by no means entirely groundless. Talleyrand was be- '
iieved to have acted during the latter part of his resi- 1798.
dence in the United States as a spy for the French gov-
ernment, and others of the exiled French were objects of
a similar suspicion. The late attempts to set on foot
French expeditions in Georgia and the West were not
forgotten. Davis, the representative from Kentucky,
stated that the commissions issued on that occasion were
yet in existence, and that a certain Frenchman, resi-
dent in Kentucky, through whose hands they had pass-
ed, was still very busy in alienating the affection of the
people from the United States. Indeed, it was strongly
suspected, and probably not without reason, that Vol-
ney had not been engaged in exploring the Western coun-
try solely with scientific views. Like Mieheaux, the
botanist, a few years before, he had, perhaps, been em-
ployed as a French government agent to obtain informa-
tion ; and possibly too in forming connections of which
advantage might be taken in case of a rupture with the
United States, to procure a dismemberment from the
Union of the trans- Alleghany settlements, and their
junction with Louisiana, which it was believed that
France already had or soon would re-acquire. Along
<with the late wide additions to her European borders,
might not France wish again to re-establish her Amer-
ican empire ? thus finally carrying out those projects
of French dominion in America indulged in for a cen-
tury or more preceding the treaty of 1763, but of which
the fortune of war had compelled an abandonment.
On this subject of aliens three bills were passed. The
first was an amendment of the Naturalization Act, extend-
ing the necessary previous residence to fourteen years,
and requiring five years previous declaration of intention
216 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER to become a citizen, instead of the former and present
XII
^__ requirements of five years in the one case and three
1798 years m the other. Alien enemies could not become
citizens at all. A register was to be kept of a]l aliens
resident in the country, who were to report themselves
under certain penalties ; and in case of application to be
naturalized, the certificate of an entry in this register
was to be the only proof of residence whenever that
residence commenced after the date of this act.
A second act> of which the continuance was limited
to two years, gave the president authority to order out
of the country all such aliens as he might judge danger-
ous to the peace and safety of the United States, or sus-
pect to be concerned in any treasonable or secret machi-
nations.
By a third act, in case of war declared, or an invasion
of the United States, all resident aliens, natives or citi-
zens of the hostile nation, might, upon a proclamation
to that effect, to be issued at the president's discretion,
be apprehended and secured, or removed.
To the first and third of these acts no concerted op-
position seems to have been made. The second, which
became familiarly known as the Alien Act, was vigor-
ously opposed as an unconstitutional interference with
the right secured to the existing states to admit, prior to
1808, the importation or emigration of any such persons
as they might think proper ; and also as an unconstitu-
tional interference with the right of trial by jury. But,
notwithstanding this opposition, the bill passed the House
forty-six to forty.
Neither this act nor the other respecting alien enemies
was ever actually carried into effect, the president seeing
no occasion to exercise the discretion intrusted to him.
But several Frenchmen took the hint, Volney among the
MAESHALL'S RETURN. 217
rest, and two or three ship-loads of them speedily left CHAPTER
the country.
Before the final passage of either of these acts, another 1793.
step had been taken toward an open rupture by an act June 12.
suspending all commercial intercourse with France and
her dependencies.
Simultaneously with the passage of this act, Marshall June 16.
landed at New York on his return from France. He
proceeded at once to Philadelphia, where he was received
with great eclat. The Secretary of State and many pri-
vate carriages, escorted by the city cavalry, went out to
meet him. On his reaching the city, the bells rang, and
an immense procession collected to escort him through
the streets. Shortly after, he was entertained by the Fed-
eral members of Congress at a public dinner. A message Tune 21.
from the president communicated to Congress the return
of Marshall, also Talleyrand's letter to Gerry request-
ing him to renew the negotiation, Gerry's refusal to do
so, his official letter to the State Department, stating his
intention to remain at Paris, and the letters of recall in-
stantly dispatched to him ; and it concluded with the fol-
lowing emphatic declaration : " I will never send another
minister to France without assurances that he will be re-
ceived, respected, and honored as the representative of a
great, free, independent, and powerful nation."
By a usage, now introduced for the first time, ten
thousand extra copies of these dispatches, and of the pa-
pers before communicated, including the instructions to
the ministers and their whole correspondence, were or-
dered to be printed for distribution among the people.
For this innovation there was, however, a particular rea-
son. Talleyrand's letter to the envoys, in reply to their
long memorial on ^he wrongs of the United States — that
letter in which he assumed for France the place of the
218 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER injured party, and offered to treat with that one of the
envoys supposed to be most favorable to the French re
1798 puWic — had been transmitted to the United States, and
had actually appeared in print in Bache's Aurora before
a copy of it or of the envoys' reply to it had been re-
ceived by the American government. The publication
in America of the previous dispatches, giving an account
of the unofficial intercourse with Talleyrand's private
agents, Hottinguer and Bellamy, seems not to have been
at all anticipated in France ; and the project in forward-
ing Talleyrand's letter to the Aurora evidently was to
preoccupy the public ear by an appeal to the American
people, in continuation of those already made by Genet
and Adet, and in Monroe's lately published book, against
the obstinacy, ingratitude, and hostility toward France
of the American government, and of two, at least, of the
three envoys.
In the publication of this dispatch, and the circum-
stances attending it, the Federalists saw fresh proof, not
only that Bache and his paper, the most accredited organ
of the opposition, were mere tools — perhaps purchased
tools — of France, but also of a secret correspondence and
intercourse between the French Directory and a faction
in the United States, relied upon by the French as a means
of forcing the American government to submit to their
exactions. Another incident which happened about this
time gave new force to those suspicions. Dr. Logan, of
Philadelphia, grandson of the famous Secretary Logan,
who had been the friend and confidential agent of Penn,
a Quaker, a benevolent visionary, an enthusiastic admirer
of the French republic, whose zeal, influence, and large
inherited city property had contributed not a little to
carry Philadelphia over to the opposition, departed sud-
denly and mysteriously for France. He seems to have
LOG-AN'S VISIT TO FKANCE. 219
gone pretty much on his own suggestion, under the idea CHAPTER
2CII«
that he might somehow contribute to the preservation _
of peace ; but as he chose to take letters of introduction 1793.
. from Jefferson instead of passports from the Department
of State, and as he affected a deal of secresy and mys-
• tery, strong suspicions arose that he had gone to France
not merely on his own responsibility, but as the author*
ized envoy of the leaders of the opposition, perhaps to
solicit a French force to aid in overturning the existing
government, and in placing authority in the hands of
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Burr, Gallatin, and the rest
of the patriots.
Very small matters at such times of excitement are
sufficient to produce a great effect ; and still another
alarm was created by the discovery, or alleged discovery,
of a lodge of United Irishmen in Philadelphia, the object
of whose secret machinations was imagined to be the
overthrow of the government of the United States.
Patient and quiet submission to what they deemed
injuries and injustice were virtues of which the opposi-
tion had made but a faint exhibition whenever the con-
duct of Great Britain or of their own government had
been in question. Hence the exceeding meekness of spir-
it which they displayed in submitting to the aggressions
of France seemed to the Federalists not very explicable
on any theory consistent with their patriotism or even
with their integrity. But for us, who coolly view mat-
ters at a distance, it is sufficiently easy to explain the
conduct of the opposition without any such derogatory
suppositions. That hatred of Great Britain, the funda-
mental principle of the ^Republican party, and a natural
horror of any intimate connection with her, such as was
almost sure to result from a war with France ; the mis-
taken idea, very much cherished among the opposition,
220 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CFTAPTER that, after all. it was the British manufacturers who were
XII.
'__ _ the main sufferers by the French depredations, joined, it
1798. i8 probable, to a little envy on the part of the Southern
members, who composed the bulk of the opposition, at
the rapid accumulation of commercial wealth at the
North — these motives are quite enough to account for
their conduct ; especially when we add the well-known
obstinancy of party spirit, which did not readily admit
of retraction by those so deeply pledged to the side of
France, as well by their passions as by their political
interests.
This antipathy to Great Britain, the main foundation
upon which the one party stood, was by no means with-
out its influence on the feelings and conduct of the
other. The idea of an intimate alliance with Great
Britain, though it began to be favorably entertained by a
small portion of the Federalists, was yet exceedingly dis-
tasteful to the great mass of the party, and received but
little encouragement from those members of it who saw
Great Britain from the nearest point of view. King,
minister at the court of London, doubted the stability,
and disliked the spirit of the British government. " Be
assured," wrote John Trumbull, late secretary to Jay,
and now umpire of the commission on British spolia-
tions, " there exists in this country no cordial esteem for
ours. There are those in whose bosoms still rankle the
memory of former disappointments — men still in power,
who detest the principles of our Eevolution, and lament
its success ; who look upon that event as the great cause
of the present dissolution of the ancient systems of Eu-
rope, and who rejoice to see us in a quarrel with those
whom they regard as the only supporters we had, look-
ing, perhaps, to the happy day when the two sister re-
publics shall sting each other to death."
QUASI WAR AGAINST PRANCE.
The opposition professed to Iiope great things from CHAPTER
Gerry's remaining at Paris. Indeed, they had private __L_
dispatches of their own. Barlow, in a confidential let- 1795.
ter to his brother-in-law Baldwin, filled with abuse of
Washington, Adams, Gouverneur Morris, and the late
envoys, including even Gerry himself, who was spoken
of in terms by no means respectful, had yet held out the
hope that Gerry alone, without the others, by not stand-
ing on etiquette, and by consenting to pay a round sum
of money, might be able to appease the terrible republic.
The Federalists, on the other hand, saw in Gerry's re-
maining in Paris only new proof of the dangerous arts
of French diplomacy ; and the minister who had thus
been influenced to separate himself from his colleagues
was denounced, in no measured terms, as little short of
a traitor.
The president's message was immediately followed up
by the passage of an act authorizing merchant vessels — June 25,
until such time as the conformity of the French to the
law of nations should be announced by instructions is-
sued by the president — to defend themselves by force
against any search, seizure/ or restraint on the part of
any vessel under French colors ; and to subdue and cap-
ture, as good prize, any vessel attempting such search or
seizure ; and to retake any vessel seized by the French,
with benefit of salvage.
A subscription having been opened in the principal
towns towards building or purchasing additional ships of
war, the president was authorized to accept such vessels, June sa
and to issue six per cent, stock to indemnify the sub-
scribers. Stock was subsequently issued under this act
to the amount of $711,700. Even in the infant city
of Cincinnati, a sum was subscribed toward equipping a
galley for the defense of the Mississippi River
222 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Another act soon followed, declaring the French treat-
. ies void, those treaties, as the preamble set forth, having
1798. been " repeatedly violated on the part of the French gov-
July 6. ernment, and the just claims of the United States for rep-
aration of the injuries so committed having been refused,
and their attempts to negotiate an amicable adjustment
of all complaints between the two nations repelled with
indignity."
July 8. Two days after, the president was authorized to give
instructions to the commanders of the public armed ves-
sels, and to grant commissions to private armed vessels,
to capture any French armed vessels anywhere met
with ; but these instructions were not to extend to the
capture of unarmed merchant ships, of which, indeed,
there were but very few afloat under the French flag.
The three frigates, the Constitution, the United States,
and the Constellation, so long fitting out, were now at
length equipped and ready for sea. One or two sloops
of war of the additional armament, with several armed
cutters, had already sailed for the protection of American
commerce against French privateers hovering on the
coast. %
July 16. A further sum of $600,000 was appropriated towastl
equipping three new frigates, as a part of the additional
naval armament, which, by another act, had been in-
creased from twelve to twenty-four vessels, to include six
frigates, twelve sloops of war, and six smaller vessels,
The enlistment of a marine corps of about nine hundred
men, officers included, was also authorized.
The place of Secretary of the Navy, declined by George
Cabot, was given to Benjamin Stoddert, of Maryland.
The officers for the infant navy had been selected from
the merchant service. Among those already appointed,
and afterward greatly distinguished, were Charles Stew-
NAYY. INCREASE OF THE ARMY. 223
art, Isaac Hull, John Kodgers, William Bainbridge, and CHAPTER
the younger Decatur. To the elder Decatur had been
given the command of the sloop of war Delaware, and 1798.
having put to sea, he soon returned with the first prize
captured from the French, a privateer mounting twenty
guns, which just before had been plundering an Amer-
ican vessel.
While these preparations were made for defense on the
sea, further precautions were deemed necessary against
the danger of a French invasion and a slave insurrection.
The president was authorized to appoint and commission June 22.
forthwith such officers of the provisional army as he
might deem necessary ; also field officers to organize,
train, and discipline such volunteer corps as might offer
their services under the provisional army act ; but no
officers were to be entitled to pay till actually employed.
An appropriation was made of $400,000 for the pur- Julys,
chase of thirty thousand stand of arms, to be deposited at
suitable points, and sold to the state governments for the
use of the militia, or to the militia-men themselves.
By another act, the regiments of the existing regular July 10
army, two of artillery (including the additional one au-
thorized at the present session), and four of infantry,
were augmented to seven hundred men each ; and the
president was further authorized to enlist twelve addi-
tional regiments of infantry, with six troops of dragoons,
to serve, unless sooner discharged, during the existing
difficulties with France. This would raise the regular
army to about thirteen thousand men, to be commanded
by two major generals, an inspector general with the
rank of major general, and four brigadier generals.
These preparations for defense would require large
sums of money. A statement made by the Secretary of
the Treasury to the Committee of Ways and Means, es-
224 HiSTour OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER timated the ordinary annual expenses of the government,
' including interest on the debt, at seven millions of dol-
1793 lars, and the accruing revenue, after an allowance for a
falling off in consequence of French depredations, at
eight millions; but of this surplus half would be re-
quired to meet a loan of $100,000, granted early in
the session to the commissioners of the Federal city,
and two temporary loans about to fall due to the United
States Bank. The present emergency seemed to justify
a direct tax, a method of raising revenue always strongly
July 1. insisted upon by the opposition ; and the House resolved
thus to raise two millions of dollars. The act, as finally
passed, after much discussion as to the details, directed
that the amount assigned to each State, should be levied
on slaves between the ages of twelve and fifty, to be
taxed half a dollar each, and on dwelling-houses, ar-
ranged in nine classes, according to value, the rate of
taxation to increase from one dollar each, on those not
exceeding $500 in value, to three hundred dollars, on
those valued at upward of $30,000 ; so much of the pro-
portion of any State as might not be satisfied by these
two taxes to be levied on lands. The necessary valua-
tions were to be made by commissioners, the States
being divided for that purpose into convenient districts ;
and the amount was to be collected by the existing col-
lectors of internal revenue. The president was author-
ized to anticipate the receipts from this tax by borrow-
ing two millions on the credit of it, at a rate 01 interest
not exceeding six per cent. ; and as still more money
might be needed, he was further authorized to borrow
five millions more, on the best terms he could, the right
of repayment not to be postponed for a longer term than
fifteen years.
To provide against internal as well as external foes,
SEDITION LAW. 225
Lloyd of Maryland, pending the progress of these war- CHAPIEK
like measures, obtained leave in the Senate to bring in a '
bill to define more precisely the crime of treason, and to 1793.
define and punish the crime of sedition. The first sec- June 20
tion of this bill, as originally introduced, declared the
people of France enemies of the United States, and ad-
herence to them, giving them aid and comfort, to be
treason, punishable with death. The second section re-
lated to misprison of treason. The third section did not
materially differ from the first section of the act as finally
passed, of which an analysis will presently be given. By
the fourth section of this bill of Lloyd's any person who,
by writing, printing, publishing, or speaking, should at-
tempt to justify the hostile conduct of the French, or to
defame or weaken the government or laws of the Uni-
ted States by any seditious or inflammatory declarations
or expressions, tending to induce a belief that the gov-
ernment or any of its officers were influenced by motives
hostile to the Constitution, or to the liberties or happiness
of the people, might be punished by fine or imprisonment,
the amount and time being left blank in the draft.
Hamilton no sooner saw this bill in print than he
wrote at once a letter of caution. It seemed to him
exceedingly exceptionable, and such as, more than any
thing else, might endanger civil war. "Let us not es-
tablish tyranny," so he continued : " energy is a very
different thing from violence. If we make no false step
we shall be essentially united, but if we push things to
extremes we shall then give to faction body and solidity."
The bill did not pass the Senate, where it was carried
by twelve votes to six, without undergoing considerable
alterations. The two first sections were struck out en
tirely. The others were modified, but without any very
essential change
v— p
226 HISTORY OF THE TTNTtfflD STATES.
CHAPTER When the bill came down to the House, Livingston
' attempted to cut the matter short by moving its rejec-
1793 tion. This led to a very warm and acrimonious de-
July 5. bate, in which the character of the press was freely dis-
July 10. cussed, many extracts from the Aurora being cited by
way of example. Livingston's motion was rejected, for-
ty-seven to thirty-six ; but in Committee of the "Whole,
on motion of Harper, and by the casting vote of the
speaker, an entirely new section was substituted for the
second (the fourth of the original draft), by which the
character of the bill was essentially changed. Bayard
then proposed a section allowing the truth to be given
in evidence, and this, too, was carried, as was also a limit-
ation of the act to the end of the next Congress. These
amendments did not prevent a very warm struggle on
the third reading of the bill. Nicholas, who had now
resumed his seat, Macon, Livingston, and Grallatin, spoke
against it, Otis. Dana, and Harper for it. It was finally
carried, forty-four to forty-one.
The first section of this act, presently so famous as
the Sedition Law, made it a high misdemeanor, pun-
ishable by fine not exceeding $5000, imprisonment from
six months to five years, and binding to good behavior
at the discretion of the court, " for any persons unlaw-
fully to combine and conspire together, with intent to
oppose any measures of the government of the United
States, directed by proper authority, or to impede the
operation of any law of the United States, or to intim-
idate or prevent any person holding office under the gov-
ernment of the United States from executing his- trust,"
or with like intent "to commit, advise, or attempt to
procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly, or com-
bination." The second section subjected to a fine not
exceeding $2000. and imprisonment not exceeding two
SEDITION LAW, 227
years, the printing or publishing " any false, scandalous, CHAPTER
and malicious writings against the government of the
United States, or either house of the Congress, or the 1793.
president, with intent to defame them, or to bring them
into contempt or disrepute, or to excite against them the
hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir
up sedition, or with intent to excite any unlawful com-
bination for opposing or resisting any law of the United
States, or any lawful act of the president, or to excite
jyenerally to oppose or resist any such law or act, or to
aid, abet, or encourage any hostile designs of any foreign
nation against the United States ;" but in all prosecu-
tions under this section, the truth of the matter stated
might be given in evidence, as a good defense, the jury
to be judges both of law and fact. The act was to con-
tinue in force till the fourth of March, 1801.
Gallatin's opposition to this law was natural enough,
since he would certainly have been held responsible, un-
der the first section, had it then been in. force, for his
share in stirring up that resistence to the excise law
which had ended in producing the Whisky Insurrection,
Yet against that part of the law no very weighty objec-
tions were urged. It was against the second section —
that for punishing the publication of seditious libels —
that the arguments of the opposition were chiefly di-
rected. The weight due to these arguments will be
considered in another place ; it is sufficient to suggest
here that the act was a temporary one, passed at a mo-
ment of threatened war, and while the government was
assailed in print with a malice and ferocity scarcely par-
alleled before or since ; publications principally made by v
foreign refugees — as to whom it was not wonderful if
they cared nothing for the country except to use it as
an instrument of the political passions which they had
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER brought with, them from Europe — or, if emanating from
. natives, then from men whom devotion to Franco and
1798. rancorous party spirit had carried to a pitch of fanati-
cism careless of truth, decency, or reason, and of the re-
spect due to those intrusted under the Constitution with
the government of the country.
The press, and particularly the newspaper press, had
rapidly attained a -degree of influence such as hitherto
had never been known. At the commencement of the
Revolution there had been in the United States less than
forty newspapers, and between that period and the adop-
tion of the Federal Constitution the number had rather
diminished. The precise number when the Sedition Law
was passed there is no means of ascertaining, but it ex-
ceeded a hundred. Philadelphia had eight daily papers,
the first of which (Poulson's Daily Advertiser) had been
established in 1784 ; New York had five or six dailies,
Baltimore two or three. Boston, at this time, and for
several years after, was content with semi- weeklies and
weeklies, of which there were five or six ; one attempt
had been made to support a daily paper ; but, after a
short trial, it had been abandoned. It was a rare thing
that any of the papers, even in the cities, had an editor
distinct from the printer and publisher. One of the first
papers established on that plan was the Minerva of New
York, a daily paper set up in 1794, of which the name
had lately been changed to that of Commercial Advertis-
er. This, the ablest paper in the country on the Federal
side, was edited with equal talent and moderation by
Noah Webster, the afterward distinguished lexicographer.
Out of New England, the publishers of newspapers were
principally foreigners, and such was especially the case
with the opposition prints.
Whatever might be their defects and deficiencies in
AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS.
other respects, the newspapers of the day had one re- CHAPTER
deeming feature in able essays communicated to their __
columns by such men as Hamilton, Madison, Ames, 1793.
Cabot, and many others, who took that method of oper-
ating on the public mind. In the half century from
1765 to 1815, the peculiar literature of America is to be
sought and found in these series of newspaper essays,
some of them of distinguished ability, and as character-
istic of that period as the Spanish ballads are of the time
and country in which they were written. Eich jewels
now and then glittered on the dung-heap, but the edi-
torial portion of the papers, and no small part of the
communications also, consisted, too often, of declamatory
calumnies, expressed in a style of vulgar ferocity. The
epithets of rogue, liar, scoundrel, and villain were bandied
about between the editors without the least ceremony.
For a graphic character of the American press at that
time, reference may be had to the already quoted charge
of that distinguished Republican, Chief-justice M'Kean ;
to which may be added, what he does not mention, that
the government and officers of the United States had
been for years the objects of full seven-eighths of the
outrageous ribaldry of which he complained.
Yet the newspapers of that day exercised an individ-
ual influence over the minds of their readers very far
beyond that of the so much abler journals of our times.
The power and influence of the press as a whole, and its
importance as a political agent, has very greatly in-
creased, but the effect which any individual journal can
produce has in an equal degree diminished. In those
days the Aurora, for instance, penetrated to many local-
ities in which no other printed sheet ever made its ap-
pearance. There were many who never saw any other
newspaper ; and its falsehoods and calumnies produced
230 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER all the effect natural to an uncontradicted statement of
' fact. At present the mischief that can be done by false-
1798. hood and misrepresentation is comparatively limited, de
tection and exposure following too close.
Another circumstance, also, should be taken into con-
sideration before deciding too peremptorily upon the
policy of the Sedition Law. That act was not supposed,
by those who enacted it, to create any new offenses, or
to impose any new punishments. Though the point had
not yet come before the full bench of the Supreme Court,
and though at a subsequent period, and after a complete
change of judges, it was decided the other way, the opin-
ion had been expressed on circuit, and was understood
to be held by all the judges, Chase only excepted, that,
independently of any authority expressly conferred by
statute, the Federal courts possessed a common law juris-
diction over offences against the United States, corre-
sponding to the common law jurisdiction exercised by
the state courts. The criminal jurisdiction of the state
courts embraced two distinct classes of crimes — statute
offenses, the nature and punishment of which were ex-
pressly defined by some statute, and common law
offenses, as to which no statute provision existed, but
which the courts, notwithstanding, had been accustomed
to punish from time immemorial by fine and imprison-
ment. Now among these common law offenses, punish-
able as such in all the states, were libel and sedition ;
and what the common law as to libel was will be found
stated in M'Kean's charge above referred to. The same
common law jurisdiction had been claimed for the Fed-
eral courts. Upon this claim had been founded the late
attempt to indict Cobbett for a libel on the Spanish min-
ister ; and under the same supposed authority proceed-
ings had been lately commenced against Bache himself
SEDITJJN LAW. 2S1
Had tliis doctrine been well founded — nor was any ex- CHAPTER
v rr
press decision made to the contrary till fourteen years '__„
afterward — the Sedition Act was remedial and allevi- 1798
ative of the rigor of the existing law, since it not only
limited the amount of fine and imprisonment, which by
the common law were discretionary with the court, but
in the case of seditious libels allowed also the advantage
of giving the truth in evidence — a thing not permitted
by the common law, and hitherto introduced only in the
states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Yermont, and that
by special constitutional provision.
Even in that very objectionable shape in which the
bill came down from the Senate, it did but clothe with
the form of law what had been the universal practice of
the Committees of Safety at the commencement of the
.Revolution. There had been at that moment no hestita-
tion in suppressing, by means as prompt as severe, any
opposition, whether by writing or speaking, to the new
revolutionary governments ; and among the earliest en-
actments after the declaration of independence, had been
laws for that purpose — a species of legislation in which
Yirginia had taken the lead, one of her acts of 1776 hav-
ing served in part as a model for the Sedition Law. If
these state acts were to be excused on the ground of ne-
cessity, and of the impossibility of allowing free discuss-
ion at a moment when the existence of the nation was
itself at stake — an excuse very promptly admitted by
the most ultra of the opposition for the severe measures /
of the French Directory in the suppression of anti -Repub-
lican journals — the friends and supporters of the Federal
administration, by whose votes the Sedition Law was
passed, might claim the benefit of a similar apology.
Party spirit was fast rising to the pitch of civil war. To
the excited minds of the Federalists the conduct of the
232 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER opposition began to appear even more reprehensible than
that of the Tories at the commencement of the Revolu-
1798. tion. The Tory opposition of that time did but seek to
maintain a colonial dependence which had long existed,
while the exactions to which they urged submission had
at least some color of constitutional right. The French
Tories, for so the opposition began now to be designated,
seemed bent upon reducing the United States into a de-
pendence on France as new as it was degrading ; and by
their apparent willingness to submit to unrestrained dep-
redations and to forced loans, they seemed ready to sur-
render in substance that very point of exterior taxation
which had caused the revolt from British rule. Com-
pared with the piratical depredations now made under
French authority, what had been the old restrictions of
Great Britain on the commerce of the colonies ? What
was a tax on tea, glass, and paints, compared with req-
uisitions at the pleasure of the Directory ? To the Fed-
eralists it seemed lamentable indeed that the terrible
struggle of the Eevolution should terminate at last, not
in actual independence, but in the mere substitution of
France as the mother country in place of Great Britain.
On the other hand the opposition, not less excited, ve-
hemently retorted the charge of Toryism by accusing
the government of an intention to restore the country
to a state of at least semi-colonial dependence on Great
Britain.
The extent to which the opposition leaders were dis-
posed to push matters, may be judged of by a letter writ-
ten by John Taylor, of Caroline, late one of the Virginia
senators, and since his resignation of that post, the leader
of the dominant majority in the Virginia House of Del-
egates. It was time, so Taylor thought, " to estimate
the separate mass of Virginia and Nor*h Carolina with
JEFFERSON ON THE UNION. 233
a view to their separate existence." Jefferson, to whom CHAPTER
this letter had been shown, suggested to Taylor some _
reasons why the idea should not be pushed. "It is 1793.
true," so he wrote, " that we are completely under the June i
saddle of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that they
ride us very hard, cruelly insulting our feelings as well
as exhausting our strength and our substance. Their nat-
ural friends, the three other Eastern states, join them
from a sort of family pride, and they have the art to di-
vide certain other parts of the Union, so as to make use
of them to govern the whole. This is not new ; it is the
old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep
the rest in order ; and those who have once got an as-
cendency, and possessed themselves of all the resources
of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense
means for retaining their advantage. But our present
situation is not a natural one. The Eepublicans through
every part of the Union say that it was the irresistible
influence and popularity of General "Washington, played
off by the cunning of Hamilton, which turned the gov-
ernment over to anti-Republican hands, or turned the
Republicans chosen by the people into anti-Republicans.
He delivered it over to his successor in this state, and
very untoward events since, improved with great arti-
fice, have produced on the public mind the impressions
we see. But still, I repeat, this is not the natural state.
Time alone would bring round an order more correspond-
snt to the sentiments of our constituents. But are there
nr events impending which will do it within a few
months — the crisis with England, the public and au-
thentic avowal of sentiments hostile to the leading prin-
ciples of our Constitution, the prospect of a war in which
we shall stand alone, land tax, stamp tax, increase of
public debt, &c. ? Be this as it may, in every free and
234 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER deliberating society there must, from the nature of man,
' be opposite parties, and violent dissensions and discords,
1798. and one of these, for the most part, must prevail over
the other for a longer or shorter time. Perhaps this
party division is necessary to induce the one party to
watch and to delate to the people the proceedings of the
other. But if, on a temporary superiority of the one par-
ty, the other is to resort to a scission of the Union, no
Federal government can ever exist. If to rid ourselves
of the present rule of Massachusetts and Connecticut we
break the Union, will the evil stop there ? Suppose the
New England States cut off, will our natures be changed ?
Are we not men still to the south of that, and with all
the passions of men ? Immediately we shall see a Penn-
sylvania and a Virginia party arise in the residuary con-
federacy, and the public mind will be distracted with the
same party spirit. What a game, too, will the one party
have in their hands by eternally threatening the other
that unless they do so and so they will join their North-
ern neighbors ? If we reduce our Union to Virginia and
North Carolina, immediately the conflict will be estab-
lished between the representatives of these two states, and
they will end by breaking into their simple units.
Seeing, therefore, that an association of men who will
not quarrel with each other is a thing which never yet
existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to
a town meeting or a vestry — seeing that we must have
somebody to quarrel with, I had rather keep our New
England associates for that purpose than to see our bick-
erings transferred to each other. They are circum-
scribed within such narrow limits, and their population
is so full, that their number will ever be the minority,
and they are marked, like the Jews, with such a perver-
sity of character as to constitute from that circumstance!
JBFFEKSON ON" THE UNION. 235
the natural division of our parties. A little patience, CHAPTER
and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their _^_
spells dissolved, and the people recovering their true right 17Q&
and restoring their government to its true principles. It
is true that in the mean time we are suffering deeply in
spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war, and long op-
pression of enormous public debt. But who can say
what would be the evils of a scission, and when and
where they would end ? Better keep together as we are,
haul off from Europe as soon as we can, and from all at-
tachments to any portion of it ; and if they show their
powers just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be
the happiest situation in which we can exist. If the
game runs some time against us at home, we must have
patience till luck turns, and then w£ shall have an op-
portunity of winning back the principles we have lost,
for this is a game where principles are at stake. Better
luck, therefore, to us all, and health, and happiness, and
friendly salutations to yourself." Yet in spite of the
good advice contained in this letter — at once a remark-
able specimen of Jefferson's hatred and jealousy of New
England and of his political sagacity — we shall find him
within a few months so carried away by passion as to
be planning and setting on foot a scheme of state resist-
ance to Federal authority, which, if pushed to its natural
results, could only have ended in a scission of the Union.
Simultaneously with the new energy exhibited by
Congress, the spirit of resistance to French aggression
kept on rising out of doors. Addresses to the presi-
dent continued to pour in. Numerous volunteer compa-
nies enrolled themselves as a part of the provisional
army. The Legislatures of the four Eastern states, at
their summer sessions, successively declared their appro-
bation of the president's policy and their resolution to
2SB HISTORY OF THE UNITED STAGES.
CHAPTER support it. The General Court of Massachusetts pro-
\ ' posed so to amend the Constitution of the United States
1798. as to disqualify a^ naturalized citizens from holding of-
fice, a proposal concurred in by five other states. The
fourth of July was every where celebrated by the Fed-
eralists with great enthusiasm. The black cockade was
very generally mounted. There were symptoms of the
same spirit even in Yirginia. Marshall, on his return
to Eichmond, was affectionately received, and the north-
ern part of that state, at least, seemed likely to break,
away from the hitherto absolute control of the opposition.
Indications of the same kind appeared in North Carolina.
Jefferson looked anxiously for an adjournment as afford-
ing the opposition the only chance to rally. " To sepa-
Jone 21. rate Congress now," he wrote, " will be withdrawing the
fire from under a boiling pot." The wished-for adjourn-
16. ment came at last, but it did not immediately produce
all the consequences which Jefferson had hoped.
Among so many measures of merely temporary im-
portance, two acts were passed at this session permanent
in their operation and philanthropic in their character.
Under one of these acts, debtors of the United States held
in execution, on proof to the satisfaction of the Secretary
of State of their inability to pay, and of having attempted
no concealment or fraudulent conveyance of their prop-
erty, were to be discharged from prison ; but the judg-
ment was to remain good .against their property ; nor
was the act to apply to cast's of imprisonment for any
fine, forfeiture, or penalty, or of breach of trust.
The other act authorized the detention of twenty cents
per month from the wages of all seamen, to be paid over
to the collectors of the ports where the ships might enter
on their return voyage, toward a fund for the erection
and support of hospitals for the relief and comfort of mer-
FOURTH CONSTITUTION OP GEORGIA. 237
chant seamen — a fund out of which hospitals have since CHAPTER
been erected at most of the principal ports.
In the course of the session a resolution had passed 1793.
the Senate authorizing Thomas Pinckney to accept the
presents which, according to an old diplomatic usage,
had been tendered to him by the courts of Madrid and
London at the terminations of his missions thither, but
which, on account of the clause in the Constitution re-
specting presents from foreign powers and princes, he
had declined to accept till leave should be given by Con-
gress. Though passed by the Senate, this resolution
was lost in the House — a rejection subsequently as-
cribed, by a unanimous vote, to motives of general policy,
anything in it personal to Pinckney being expressly dis-
claimed. The usage since has been for ministers to re-
ceive the presents tendered, but, on their return, to de-
posit them with the Department of State.
Pending the session of Congress, the Constitution of
Georgia had undergone a new revisal, under the provi-
sion to that effect contained in the Constitution of 1789.
The pecuniary qualification of governor and members of
the Legislature was slightly diminished, but new qual-
ifications of citizenship and of residence in the state
were added ; in case of the governor, six years' residence
and twelve years' citizenship ; in case of members of the
Legislature, three years' residence, with nine years citi-
zenship for senators, and seven years' for representa-
tives. Representation in the House was henceforth to
be regulated by a compound basis of territory and pop-
ulation, including in the count " three fifths of the peo-
ple of color." Three thousand inhabitants, according to
this ratio, were to entitle a county to two members;
seven thousand, to three members ; and twelve thousand,
to four members ; but no county was to have less than
238 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER one member, nor more than four. Following the ex-
xn
' ample already set by the Assembly of the two Carolinas,
the further importation of slaves "from Africa or any
foreign place" was expressly prohibited. By a further
provision, any person maliciously killing or dismember-
ing a slave, was to suffer the same punishment as if the
acts had been committed on a free white person, except
in cases of insurrection, or "unless such death should
happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate cor-
rection." But while these concessions were made to the
sentimental antipathy to slavery, that institution was
sustained by a clause copied from the Constitution of
Kentucky, but still more stringent, by which the Legis-
lature was forbidden to pass laws for the emancipation
of slaves, except with the previous consent of the in-
dividual owners ; nor were immigrants to be prohibited
from bringing with them " such persons as may be deemed
slaves by the law of any one of the United States."
The example of the United States had early inspired
some enthusiastic and scheming minds with the idea of
a Spanish-American revolution. Such was Francis
Miranda, a native of Caracas, in South America, who,
by the influence of his wealthy family, had obtained a
commission in the Spanish- American military service.
He had visited the United States before the close of the
revolutionary war, and had formed many acquaintances
there among the officers of the army. Detected, after
his return, in plotting against the Spanish authority, he
had escaped to Europe, and had proposed to the courts
of England and Kussia, not without encouragement
from England during the Nookta Sound controversy, a
plan for revolutionizing Spanish America. About the
time of the establishment of the French Republic he
went to Paris, and became connected with the Girond-
FOURTH CONSTITUTION OF GEOKGIA. 239
ists, by whom, on the breaking out of the war, he was CHAPTER
appointed a general of division, and sent to serve in the
Netherlands under Dumourier. He was recalled, and 1798.
imprisoned by the Jacobins, who complained of his con-
duct at the siege of Meistricht and the battle of Ner-
winde, and, though liberated in 1794, he was soon after
ordered out of France. - Having returned again, after
the establishment of the Directory, he was accused of
re-actk>nary intrigues against their authority, and was
again sent away in 1797. The hostile disposition of
those now in power in France, not less than the alliance
between Spain and the French Eepublic, having ex-
tinguished his hopes of aid from that quarter, he had
again addressed himself to the English government,
which, rather than have the Spanish -American colonies
fall under the control of France, was disposed to aid in
making them independent. The breach between France
and the United States led Miranda to hope that aid
might also be obtained in America. He opened a cor-
respondence with King, the American minister at Lon-
don, and with his old -acquaintances Hamilton, Knox,
and Pickering, and also addressed a letter to the presi-
dent. His plan was for England to furnish ships, and
the United States troops, to the number of from five to
seven thousand men. Hamilton, who suggested this
arrangement, warmly favored the design ; but he gave
Miranda distinctly to understand that he could take no
personal share in it, except under the authority of his
own government. The compensation to the United
States was to be all the territory claimed by Spain, east
of the Mississippi. But though encouraged by others,
Miranda received no answer from Adams, who ulti-
mately adopted a course of policy inconsistent with
any such project.
240 HISTOET OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XIII.
ARMY APPOINTMENTS. INTERNAL AFFAIRS. PROSECU
TIONS UNDER THE SEDITION LAW. GERRY AND LO
GAN. AMERICAN SQUADRONS IN THE WEST INDIES.
NULLIFICATION. RESOLUTIONS OF KENTUCKY AND VIR-
GINIA THIRD SESSION OF THE FIFTH CONGRESS. NEW
MISSION TO FRANCE.
CHAPTER J UST before the close of the session of Congress, the
_ president had nominated, and the Senate had unani
1798. mously confirmed Washington as lieutenant general
and commander-in-chief of all the armies raised and to
be 'raised for the service of the United States. Wash-
ington's letter of acceptance, which Adams hastened to
July 17. lay before the Senate reassembled for executive pur-
poses the day after the adjournment of Congress, evinced
on the part of that great man a thorough sympathy with
the administration and the Federalists. After express-
ing a wish that the president's choice had fallen on some
one "less declined in years and better qualified to en-
counter the usual vicissitudes of war," and referring to
his extreme reluctance to quit a retirement which he
had hoped might be final, again to enter uupon the
boundless field of public action, incessant trouble and high
responsibility," "it was impossible for me," the letter
adds, " to remain ignorant of or indifferent to recent
transactions. The conduct of the Directory of France
toward our country ; their insidious hostilities to its gov-
ernment ; their various practices to withdraw the affec-
tions of the people from it ; the evident tendency of their
arts, and those of their agents, to countenance and in-
AEMT APPOINTMENTS. 241
vigorate opposition ; their disregard of solemn treaties CHAPTER
and the law of nations ; their war upon our defenceless '
commerce ; their treatment of our minister of peace, and 1793.
their demands amounting to tribute ; could not fail to June 12.
excite in me sentiments corresponding with those which
my countrymen have so generally expressed in their
affectionate addresses to you. Believe me, sir, no one
can more cordially approve of the wise and prudent
measures of your administration. They ought to inspire
universal confidence, and will, no doubt, combined with
the state of things, call from Congress such laws and
means as will enable you to meet the full force and ex-
tent of the crisis. .Satisfied that you have sincerely
wished and endeavored to avert war, and exhausted to
the last drop the cup of conciliation, we can with pure
hearts appeal to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and
may confidently trust the final result to that kind Provi-
dence which has hitherto, and so often, signally favored
the people of these United States."
Washington's acceptance was on the express condition
that he should not be calleli into active service till the
army was in a situation to require his presence, unless
urgency of circumstances should sooner make it neces-
sary. Under the late act for the increase of the army,
Hamilton, Charles C. Pinckney, still detained in France
by his daughter's ill health, and Knox were nominated
and confirmed as major generals, Hamilton being also
appointed inspector general. William North, late a sen-
ator from New York, was appointed adjutant general,
with the rank of brigadier. The president had first nom-
inated his son-in-law, William S. Smith ; but his char-
acter was suffering under his recent failure for a large
amount, under circumstances not very reputable, ard the
Senate refused to confirm the appointment; yet, at a
V.— 0
24:2 .HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER subsequent period, they allowed his nomination as a col«
' onel to pass. Brooks of Massachusetts, Dayton, the late
1798 speaker, and William Washington, a distant relative of
the ex-president, distinguished during Greene's Southern
campaigns as a cavalry officer, and who had settled in
South Carolina, were appointed brigadiers. Nomina-
tions were also made of general officers of the provisional
army, Henry Lee and Hand as major generals, and
Ebenezer Huntington, of Connecticut, Antony White,
of New Jersey, who had served as major general of the
New Jersey militia called out to suppress the Whisky
Insurrection, William R Davie, of North Carolina, and
Governor Sevier, of Tennessee, as brigadier generals.
It was with respect to these nominations, and espe-
cially as to the relative rank to be assigned to Hamil-
ton and Knox, that the first symptoms appeared of want
of cordiality between Adams and his cabinet. Washing-
ton, during his presidential term, appears to have exer-
cised the appointing power, even in very important cases
— such, for instance, as the nomination of Eutledge as
chief justice — without any previous consultation with
his cabinet. In his case, unanimous choice of the peo-
ple as he was, this had been submitted to without mur-
muring. But the cabinet officers did not feel the same
deference for Adams. He had, in fact, been elected as
a party candidate, and they were inclined to think that
all appointments ought to be made with their consent.
Though, in the selection of the envoys to France, Adama
had partially yielded to their remonstrances, he was, how-
ever, the last man in the world to resign a tittle of what
he deemed the rightful prerogative of his office. At the
same time that his position, compared with that of
Washington, furnished special reasons why he should
listen to advice (whether he took it or not)> the charac
WASHINGTON AND ADAMS.
ter of his mind and the jealous irritability of his temper CHAPTER
alike disqualified him to play the part of a serious and _.„
attentive listener, placing him, in that respect, in very
disadvantageous comparison with his predecessor. Ee-
markable as Washington was for the uniform soundness
of his judgment, he was by no means distinguished for
activity of the conceptive faculties ; and perhaps this
uniform soundness could not otherwise have existed. He
arrived at his conclusions by slow steps ; it was, indeed,
almost a necessity with him to be furnished, by sug-
gestions from various quarters, with materials on which
his judgment might operate. Hence his habit of asking
advice — a habit not less flattering to those thus called
upon than it was convenient to himself. Endowed as
Adams was, on the other hand, with a very lively and
vigorous imagination, he formed his conclusions almost
with the rapidity of intuition, and, having the greatest
confidence in his own discernment, he listened to advice
rather as a matter of form than of use, and sometimes
' with evident marks of impatience — a circumstance not
very flattering to his counselors.
Washington had suggested, when first consulted on
the matter, as a condition of his acceptance, that no ap-
pointments should be made of general or staff officers
without his concurrence ; but, from the rapidity with
which Adams hurried on the nomination, no such under-
standing was formally had. Washington was consulted,
however, and the appointments above mentioned had
been suggested by him, with the intention that the officers
should take rank in the order in which they are named.
In the Revolutionary army Pinckney had outranked
Hamilton, being made a brigadier by brevet just at the
close of the war, whereas Hamilton had never ranked
aigher than lieutenant colonel. Knox, as major general,
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER had outranked them both. But the army as now organ-
\iu
* ized had no connection with, or necessary reference to,
1798 *ke ^evolutionary army ; and rank was now to be de-
termined, not by reference to past arrangements, but to
present wants. "Washington explained the matter in a
letter to Knox, who was living at this time in the Dis-
trict of Maine, where he had entered largely into land
speculations, having come into possession of a portion of
the Waldo patent in right of his wife, and having made
other large purchases on his own account. Knox, how-
ever, was by no means inclined to acquiesce in the ar-
rangement proposed ; and Adams, to whom the promotion
of Hamilton was far from agreeable, seemed strongly in-
clined to support Knox's claim, and to give him the rank
of first major general. Nor, in spite of the warm rempn-
strances of the cabinet, was the matter finally settled in
Hamilton's favor, without a decided letter from Washing-
ton, intimating that he should consider the refusal to
give Hamilton the first rank a breach of the understand-
Oct. 13. ing with him, sufficient to justify his own resignation.
In consequence of this decision, Knox declined, somewhat
haughtily, the command proffered to him. Indeed, the
state of his private affairs was such as to demand his en-
tire attention, for about this time he became involved in
severe pecuniary embarrassments in consequence of the
bad success of his land speculations. In this respect he
did not stand alone. Wilson, who had recently died, and
who was succeeded on the bench of the Supreme Court
by Bushrod Washington, a nephew of the general, had be-
come deeply involved by the same means, and more than
once in the last years of his life had been in the hands
of the sheriff. Even Eobert Morris had been entirely
ruined chiefly by speculations in New York lands and
Federal city lots. To these failures, caused by unsuc-
YELLOW FEVER IN PHILADELPHIA.
eessful land speculations, began to be added a host of
others, resulting from rash commercial ventures and the _
depredations of the belligerents, particularly the French, 179§.
among which number were Swan wick and M'Clenachan,
the two opposition members from the city and county of
Philadelphia. The high rate of interest consequent upon
these financial disturbances made it very difficult to fill
up the new loans.
The New York Legislature, called together in special August
session by Governor Jay, had appropriated $1,200,000
to be expended, under the direction of the president, for
fortifying the harbor of New York, and to go, acccording
to the offer of Congress already mentioned, in liquida-
tion of so much of the Kevolutionary balance due from
that state. The further sum of $221,000 was also voted
for the purchase of arms. Partly in consequence of
the difficulty about rank already mentioned, no step had
yet been taken toward the enlistment of the twelve ad-
ditional regiments ; and this matter was still further
delayed by the reappearance of the yellow fever at Phil-
adelphia, where it raged with even greater violence than
during the memorable autumn of 1793. It appeared
also, though with less violence, in New London, New
York, Wilmington, and other towns. Those who were
able almost universally fled from Philadelphia. Many
of the poorer inhabitants left their dwellings and en-
camped in the fields. The public offices of the Federal
government were removed for a month or two to Tren-
ton, in New Jersey. Among the victims was Bache,
editor and publisher of the Aurora ; but another editor,
not less violent and unscrupulous, and decidedly abler,
stepped at once into the vacant seat. This was James
Duane, born of Irish parents somewhere on the shores
of Lake Champlain, but who had left the country in his
2:4*6 HISTORY OF THE UNITEB STATES.
bflAPTER youth, previous to the commencement of the Kevola
~.l_ ___ tion, and having gone to his friends in Ireland, had there
1798. learned the trade of a printer, whence he proceeded tc
Calcutta, where he had set up an English newspaper,
one of the first established in India. It is only within
a recent period that the liberty of the press has been in
troduced into that part of the British dominions. ID
Duane's time no such thing was thought of ; and having
given offense by the insertion of some articles not agree
able to the authorities, his whole establishment had beet
seized, and he himself shipped back to England. Aftei
some attempts to obtain redress for the heavy pecuniary
losses thus inflicted upon him, he had emigrated to
America, and had obtained employment sometimes as
editor, sometimes as reporter for one or other of the Phil-
adelphia papers. Filled, naturally enough, with bittei
hatred of the British government, he entered with great
zeal into the politics of the opposition. Employed, aftei
Bache's death, to edit the Aurora, he soon made himself
master of the establishment by intermarriage with the
widow, and thus suddenly found himself raised to a posi-
tion of no mean influence. Fenno, printer to the Sen-
ate and publisher of the United Scates Gazette, the prin-
cipal Federal organ at the seat of government, was car-
ried off by the same disease a few days after Bache's
death, but the paper was continued by his son.
The running of the lines under the treaty of Houlston,
when at last it was completed, had disclosed the fact that
several considerable tracts in the State of Tennessee, al-
ready occupied by white settlers, fell within the Chero-
kee territory. An attempt to remove these settlers hav-
ing .produced the greatest discontent, the president had
thought it best to buy out the Indians, and commission-
ers for negotiating a treaty with them had been appoint
NOBTHEAB'TEBN BOUNDARY. 247
3d during the late session of Congress. By a new treaty, CHAPTER
signed at Tellico, in consideration of $5000 in goods and
an annual payment of $1000, the Cherokees ceded the 1793.
lands in question, conceding, also, a free passage through Oct. 2.
their lands to all travelers on the road to Kentucky pass-
ing through the Cumberland Gap.
Much about the same time the Mississippi Territory
was organized, under Winthrop Sargent, late secretary
of the Northwest Territory, as governor.
Among other provisions of Jay's treaty had been the
creation of a commission for determining the eastern Oct. 2&
boundary of the United States. Massachusetts had
claimed as the true St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of
1773, the Maguadavick. The British not only claimed
the Passamaquoddy as the true St. Croix, but they in-
sisted upon the western branch of it, called the Schoodie,
as the main stream. The commissioners decided that
the Passamaquoddy was the true St. Croix, of which
the identity was established by the discovery of the
ruins of a fort built on an island at its mouth by the
early French settlers near two hundred years before.
At the same time they decided that the main stream of
the river, from the source of which the boundary was to
proceed in a due northerly direction, was not the Schoo-
die, but the eastern branch. The effect of this decision
was to confirm existing land-grants and to divide the
disputed country between the two nations in nearly equal
proportions. One point, however, was left unsettled,
as not within the powers of the commission, the owner-
ship, namely, of the numerous islands in the Bay of
"^assamaquoddy.
The first victim under the new Sedition Law was no
other than Matthew Lyon, a candidate for re-election to
Congress, but in whose district at the first trial no choice
248 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER had been made, as besides the 'Federal candidate, lie had
'_ a republican competitor of somewhat less violent politics.
1798 One charge against him was founded on a letter written
from Philadelphia while the bill was still pending in
Congress, and published, after its passage, in a Vermont
paper, in which letter Lyon alleged that on the part of
the executive " every consideration of the public wel-
fare was swallowed up in a continual grasp for power,
an unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adula-
tion, and selfish avarice ;" that men of merit were turned
out of office or were refused office for no other cause but
" independency of sentiment," while " mean men" were
preferred for their readiness in advocating measures
about which they knew nothing ; and that the " sacred
name of religion" was employed — an allusion to the late
proclamation for a fast — as " a state engine to make man-
kind hate and persecute each other."
A second count charged him with publishing, by
reading and commenting upon it at public political meet.-
ings, a private letter from Barlow in Paris to his brother-
in-law Baldwin, in which the policy of the administra-
tion was fiercely attacked ; the passage relied upon being
one in which that renegade American had expressed his
surprise that the answer of the House to the president's
speech, of which the Directory had complained, had not
been " an order to send him to the mad-house."
A third count charged him with abetting the publica-
tion in a pamphlet — contrary, it would seem, to his ex-
press agreement with Baldwin, from whom he had re
ceived it in confidence — of the whole of this letter of
Barlow's, a letter not more abusive of Adams than of
Washington, who was accused in it of having sacrificed
the dignity of the nation by "thrusting Jay's treaty
down the throats of the people of America by means
LYON'S TRIAL. 24:9
of a monstrous influence, an inexplicable contrast to CHAPTEB
the weakness of his political talents."
Lyon, who managed his own cause, undertook to prove 1798.
by Judge Patterson, before whom the trial took place, Oct 7.
the truth of a part of his charges. He asked the judge
whether he had not frequently dined with the president,
and observed his ridiculous pomp and parade ; to which
Patterson answered that he had sometimes dined with
the president, but instead of pomp and parade, had seen
only a decent simplicity. Lyon made a long harangue
to the jury ; but they found him guilty, and after a se-
vere lecture from the judge, he was sentenced to four
months' imprisonment and a fine of $1000, the amount
being diminished in consequence of evidence that Lyon
was embarrassed in his circumstances, and not far from
insolvency.
Some of Lyon's friends revenged his cause shortly
after by girdling the apple-trees of the principal witnesses
against him. A numerously-signed petition was sent to
the president, asking Lyon's release from the prison, a
very small, filthy, and uncomfortable one ; but the pres-
ident declined to grant this petition unless Lyon would
signify his repentance by signing it himself. So far from
that, the imprisoned patriot dispatched from his jail a
highly-colored account of his trial, and especially of his
prison accommodations, in a letter addressed to Mason,
the Virginia senator, the friend of Callender ; and indeed
his treatment would seem to have been vindictively harsh
and severe. Mason wrote back a sympathizing reply, in
which he suggested that the amount of the fine might
be made up by subscription. Lyon, meanwhile, to re-
lieve his pecuniary embarrassments, adopted an expedi-
ent which, in the end, Jefferson himself was fain to imi-
tate— that of a private lottery, the prizes to consist of
260 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER houses, lands, and other real property, which it was
'_ _ hoped thus to dispose of at a generous price. But his
1793 friends, by whom this lottery was got up, having made
use of language in their call upon the public in itself in-
dictable, Haswell, the printer of the Vermont Gazette,
in which that call appeared, was himself indicted, and
after a twelvemonths' delay was sentenced to a fine of
$200 and two months' imprisonment. In conformity
with Mason's suggestion a southern subscription was
raised for the discharge of Lyon's fine ; but of this money,
according to Lyon's account, a part was abstracted be-
fore it reached Yermont ; while most of the remainder
was employed in paying Has well's fine and the expenses
of his trial, and also a fine of equal amount, inflicted
under the Sedition Law, upon Holt of the New London
Bee. While Lyon was still a prisoner, a new election
took place in his district, and he had the satisfaction of
being re-chosen to Congress by a very decided majority —
a strong proof of the sympathy excited for him, and a
bad omen of the effects to be expected from prosecutions
under the Sedition Law.
The Maryland election, which shortly followed that
Oct. 4 of Yermont, was very vehemently contested. Smith was
re-elected in the Baltimore District by two hundred ma-
jority, and -throughout the state the Federalists did little
more than to hold their own. They succeeded, however,
at the ensuing session of the Legislature, in electing Ben-
jamin Ogle as governor.
While these various events were occurring in Amer-
ica^ Gerry, alone at Paris, found himself in a somewhat
April 10. awkward situation. Four days after Marshall's depart-
ure, not having heard any thing further from Talley-
rand, he reminded him by a note that nothing but
GERRY AT PARIS.
threats of an immediate rupture, to be prevented only CHAPTER
by his remaining at Paris, had prevented his departure . ,.
at the same time with his colleagues. Although he did 1793.
not feel authorized to continue the negotiation in char-
acter of minister plenipotentiary, as Talleyrand had pro-
posed, he was, however, ready and desirous to receive
from the French government, and to communicate to his
own, a statement of the terms on which the differences
between the two nations might be accommodated — terms,
he doubted not, corresponding to the justice and mag-
nanimity of a great nation. Such a communication, he
hoped, would be promptly made, and a stop be put to
further depredations on American commerce till an an-
swer could be obtained from America, a course which
would at once extinguish all feelings of hostility. He
hoped, at all events, not to be long detained ; the state
of his private affairs demanded his speedy return, and
the residence at Paris of the American consul genera?
would answer every political purpose.
In consequence of this note, Gerry had several interviews
with Talleyrand, who declined to propose any terms of ar-
rangement, alleging that he did not know what the views
of the United States were. Gerry thereupon explained,
what Talleyrand perfectly well understood before, the
nature of the American claims and complaints. Some
conversation was afterward had about sending a French
minister to the United States, and finally, Talleyrand
promised to furnish Gerry with the project of a treaty.
Pending these conversations, a special messenger ar- May 11
rived at Paris with a letter from Pickering, written just
before the publication of the X, Y, Z dispatches, directing
the ministers, if they had not already been admitted to a
formal negotiation, to leave France forthwith. The same
letter contained positive and precise instructions not to
262 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER consent to any loan or douceur, or purchase of peace whh
' money, and a hint that the dispatches on this ' subject
1798 were about to be published. As that publication might
endanger the safety of the ministers were they still in
France, in order to insure them timely notice, this letter
had been sent by a special dispatch boat.
In consideration of " the new state of affairs," such
was his own phraseology, Gerry seems to have held him-
self not bound to any implicit obedience of the instruc
tions thus received. He resolved, indeed, to return in
the dispatch boat, and took the opportunity to notify
Talleyrand that it was necessary to make haste with his
project of a treaty ; but, rather than fail to obtain it, he
determined to detain the vessel for such time as might
seem expedient.
Talleyrand excused his delays by pleading other and
pressing engagements. Several interviews took place
between Gerry and Talleyrand's secretary, who disavowed
any desire on the part of the French government to
break up the British treaty, their demand simply being
that France should be placed on equal ground with
Great Britain. As to payments for spoliations, they
must be macie in the first place by the United States, to
be reimbursed by France ; but this, Gerry told him, was
inadmissible.
lUj 26. Gerry presently had an interview with Talleyrand
himself, who told him that the Directory no longer had
any thoughts of war. The results in America of the
bullying system, of which the first advices began now to
be received, would seem to have led to a change of
tactics. Talleyrand even promised to propose to the
Directory to send a minister to the United States.
So stood matters when the first news of the published
dispatches reached the Directory. This was a stroke
THE X, T, Z EXPLOSION.
•
which Talleyrand had not anticipated. He had hoped, CHAPTER
indeed, as we have seen already, himself to make the __
first appeal to the American people, by publishing in 1793
the Aurora — the joint organ of the French government
and of the American opposition — his reply to the me-
morial of the envoys.
Gerry's first notice that the public dispatches had
reached France, was a call upon him, by one of the Paris
newspapers, to deny their authenticity. " Having rea-
son to suppose," such is his own statement, "that the May 2r>
result of this new embarrassment, if not pacific, would
be very violent," he prepared himself for the worst by
securing his papers. He might well be alarmed, for it
was only a short time before that, on the occurrence of
ruptures with Portugal and the pope, the Portuguese
and Eoman embassadors, instead of being furnished
with passports, had been seized and thrown into prison.
Soon after came a note from Talleyrand, inclosing a Maj 30
London Gazette, in which the dispatches were printed
at length, " a very strange publication," so Talleyrand
wrote. "It is," he added, " with surprise I observe that
intriguers have taken advantage of the insulated con-
dition in which the envoys of the United States have
kept themselves, to make proposals and to hold conver-
sations of which the object evidently was to deceive
you." The letter then proceeded to demand the names
represented by the letters W, X, Y, and Z ; W having
been used to designate the merchant by whom Hottin-
guer (X) had been introduced to the envoys. " I must
rely upon your eagerness," so the letter concluded, "to
enable the government to fathom these practices, of which
I felicitate you on not having been the dupe, and which
you must wish to see cleared up."
After having been frightened by threats of instant war
254 HISTORY or THE UNITED STATES.
into remaining in France against his own better judg-
' ment, and coaxed by the phantom of a promised project
1798 °^ a *reaty in*° remaining still longer in defiance of the
express orders of his government and at the risk of his
personal safety, Gerry was now called upon to assist in
discrediting his own dispatches — a procedure of which
the coolness cannot but be admired, considering that
Talleyrand himself had personally assured Gerry that
full confidence might be placed in whatever Bellamy,
the principal of the alleged intriguers, might state ; and
that both Hottinguer and Bellamy had been present at
dinner parties in company with Talleyrand and Gerry,
got up for the very purpose of forwarding the negotia-
tion. Writhing not a little under this infliction, Gerry
attempted to get off by admitting that the persons in
question did not produce any credentials of any kind,
and that three of them were foreigners, while the fourth
acted only as a messenger and linguist. Being further
,»ime 4 pressed, however, he consented to give up the names,
under an express assurance that they should not be pub-
lished upon his authority ; and he also stated, in reply
to Talleyrand's request, that none of the persons em
ployed in that minister's office had ever said a word hav-
ing the least reference to the " shocking proposition," as
Talleyrand called it, to pay any sum whatever by way
of gratuity to the directors. That, indeed, was the only
suggestion of the secret agents' which it was possible to
disavow ; for the attempt to frighten the envoys into
buying peace with a loan had been repeatedly made by
Talleyrand himself as well as by those agents, whose
names, pretending not to know them, he had so formally
demanded of Gerry.
June 7. There appeared shortly after, in the Pans Eedacteur,
the special organ of Talleyrand, a labored defense of that
THE X, Y, Z EXPLOSION, 255
minister and of the Directory against the implications of CHAPTER
the dispatches. Contrary to Talleyrand's stipulations, „
the letters which had passed between him and Gerry as 1793.
to the names of the agents were published as a part of
this defense — letters in which Gerry, as he had not
judged it safe to suggest any doubts, might seem to ad-
mit the truth of Talleyrand's indignant disavowals, and
of his peremptory assertions that the envoys had been
grossly imposed upon. While openly assailing the other
two envoys, this same paper did not spare even Gerry
himself, attacked, as he expressed it, " under a thin veil
of insidious compliments." Gerry wrote out a full de-
tection of the sophistries of this article, but concluded,
on second thought, that he might as well let the matter
rest as it was. Meanwhile the dispatches were making
a great noise. The British government caused them to
be translated into the principal languages of Europe, and
to be distributed in large quantities, as affording new
proof of the rapacity and profligacy of the French re-
public ; nor was it long before Bellamy, who had escaped
to Hamburg, came out with a defense of his own con-
duct, in which he solemnly asserted, what there is every
reason to suppose the truth, that he had never taken a
step nor said a word in the matter of the American ne-
gotiation except by Talleyrand's express directions.
Having swallowed his vexation the best he could at
the treatment he had received in Talleyrand's news-
paper, Gerry dispatched a note, intimating the necessity June ia
of his speedy departure for America, and of his being
furnished with the promised sketch of a treaty. But
instead of sending that, Talleyrand replied by complaints
against the president's message communicating the dis-
patches, and, as the terms of the note would seem to im-
ply, at the non-communication of his own answer of
256 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER March 18th to the memorial of the envoys, which he
^_ did not doubt they had duly forwarded — the very same
1798 PaPerj by- the- way, for the publication of which he had
himself provided by sending a copy of it to the Aurora ;
— a document quite sufficient, in his opinion, " to efface
from the minds of the American people the ill-founded
uneasinesses they may have been made to entertain."
Asserting the disposition of France for peace on the
basis of a restoration to her rights under the treaties
and of mutual indemnities, he ended with the old invi-
tation to Gerry, so often rejected, to enter upon the ne-
gotiation as minister plenipotentiary.
June 13. Gerry replied, as so often before, that he could not
treat, since he had no powers. It would, however, be
veTy easy for the French government to state their terms,
and to send a minister to America to complete the ne-
gotiation there. As to himself, he must shortly sail in
the government dispatch boat waiting for him at Havre ;
and he reminded Talleyrand that the passports asked for
had not yet been received. Respecting the suppression
of Talleyrand's letter of the 18th of March, so bitterly
complained of, he begged to suggest that a document
dated at Paris on that day could hardly have arrived at
Philadelphia by the third of April, the date of the presi-
dent's message communicating the dispatches. Talley-
rand attempted to escape from this awkward blunder by
denying any reference to that letter ; but the pertinacious
Gerry returned again to the charge ; and Talleyrand
finally explained that all he meant was the suppression
by the president of the fact, apparently well known in
America, since some statements to that effect had ap-
peared in the Aurora, that the Directory were willing
to treat with one of the ministers, but not with thevothei
two.
GERRY AND TALLEYRAND. 257
A very curious correspondence followed, consisting, on CHAPTER
the part of Talleyrand, of new attempts to persuade
Gerry to commence a new negotiation, intermixed with 1793.
various complaints against the Federal government, re-
ferring especially to the president's answers to the ad-
dresses presented to him ; and on the part of Gerry—
for, though he might be frightened or cajoled into con-
cessions, he was not to be argued out of an opinion — of
new refutations of Talleyrand's sophistries, and, finally,
of reiterated, and more and more urgent requests for his
passports.
Pending this singular correspondence, news contin-
ued to arrive of the vigorous measures of defense set on
foot in the United States ; and the effect of this news be-
came sufficiently apparent in Talleyrand's letters. He
was evidently alarmed lest war might result — an event
rendered at once more probable and more formidable by
the total failure of the Irish insurrection, the abandon-
ment of the projected invasion of England, and the pal-
pable evidences given by Great Britain, in spite of the
suspension of specie payments and the late mutinies in
the fleet, of undiminished ability to carry on the war.
It was the evident object of his letters to manufacture,
as Gerry expressed it, material for a manifesto by mak-
ing a plausible show, without committing himself to any
thing in particular, of a desire to preserve peace. Dur-
ing the space of six weeks Talleyrand tried every art to
detain Gerry, no doubt as a guarantee against war.
When at last he yielded to repeated demands, the letter
inclosing Gerry's passports contained reiterated assur- juiy u
ances of peaceful intentions, and strongly urged Gerry
to use his influence to the same end. Not content with
assurances merely, Talleyrand cited as proofs his earnest
efforts to treat ever since the departure of Pinckney and
V.— B
258 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Marshall ; and to enable the opposition in America to use
XIII
'_^ this letter, he caused it to be printed at length in the
1793 Paris newspapers. In a postscript, dated three days after
July ]5, the body of the letter, but published along with it, after
noticing the suspension by Congress of commercial inter-
course with France and the authority given to capture
French cruisers, news of which had meanwhile arrived,
he declared that the " long-suffering of the Directory"
was about to manifest itself " in the most unquestiona-
ble manner, so that perfidy itself would no longer be able
to cast suspicion on their pacific intentions. Though this
fresh provocation wonld appear to leave no honorable al-
ternative but war, the Directory would be content with
imposing a temporary embargo on American vessels in
their ports, giving, at the same time, a promise of indem-
nity, should occasion for it arise." u The Directory is
yet ready, and as much disposed as ever, to terminate by
a united negotiation the differences which subsist between
the two nations. So great is the repugnance of the Di-
rectory to consider the United States as enemies, that,
notwithstanding the recent hostile demonstrations, they
mean to wait till they are irresistibly forced into war by
real hostilities."
To this artful attempt to shift off upon the govern-
ment of the United States and their envoys the failure
inly 2C of the negotiation, Gerry replied with great spirit. He
contended that the late mission had been defeated by in-
admissible demands of loans which would have violated
the neutrality of the United States, and by demands
equally inadmissible of reparation for the president's
speech. He himself had been detained after the depart-
ure of his colleagues, first by threats of war, and then
by a promise which had never been fulfilled, that he
should be furnished with the project of a treaty suoh aa
DEPARTURE OP G-ERRY. 259
would satisfy the Directory. If the French government CHAPTER
were really sincere in their wishes for peace, they might . . .
at least show it by putting some restraint upon the out- 1798.
rageous depredations committed upon American com-
merce by French privateersmen, who were suffered to
go. especially in the West Indies, far beyond what even
the decrees of the French government would justify.
This spirited paper, by far the best of Gerry's diplo-
matic letters, and not unworthy of his Eevolutionary rep-
utation, and which he insisted upon publishing in the
newspapers, since Talleyrand had seen fit to publish the
letter to which it was a reply, had the effect to draw out
from Talleyrand an express disavowal of any claim of Jul7 22-
reparation for the president's speech, or of any demand
for a loan. He also declared that any envoy possessing
Gerry's qualifications, who might be sent to negotiate
at Paris, might be sure of being well received. Indeed,
Gerry thought, and it might have been so, that a French
minister would have been sent to America but for some
apprehension lest the American government might retort
the insults they had endured by refusing to receive him.
After Gerry had obtained his passports and had gone July 26
to Havre, obstacles were still put in the way of his em-
barkation, partly, as he believed, to gain time for forward-
ing by him a decree of the Directory, of which a hint
had been given in Talleyrand's last letter (passed, it
would seem, by way of partial answer to Gerry's com-
plaints), requiring all privateers to give bonds not to
sommit unauthorized depredations, and placing certain
restraints upon the issue of commissions in the West
Indies, and the condemnation there of captured vessels.
Having been furnished with this proof, such as it was,
of the peaceful disposition of the Directory, Gerry was August 8.
at last permitted to sail.
2-60 HISTORY OF ±1E UNITED
CHAPTER No sooner was Gerry gone than the Directory looked
" round for new means of recommencing the negotiation.
1793 Two decrees rapidly succeeded each other ; one for re-
Aug. 11- leasing those American citizens who had been impris-
16' oned under the embargo recently imposed on American
shipping, and a second raising that embargo — a thing,
however, of little consequence, as there were at this
time few American ships in French ports. By a circu*
lar letter of the same date with the decree rescinding the
embargo, the minister of Marine gave directions to the
French cruisers that no injury should be done to the of-
ficers or crews of American vessels found to be " in 01*
der," nor to the passengers or crew, if citizens of the Uni-
ted States, and properly provided with passports or pro-
tections. Use was also made of the ready agency of
Fulwar Skipwith, the American consul general at Paris,
. 22. the protege of Monroe, to convey assurances to the
American government, founded, however, on no more
trustworthy evidence than consul Skipwith's private
opinion, that the Directory intended to urge upon the
legislative body a revision of the maritime laws, with a
view to the organization of a system such as would se-
cure " the most important rights of neutrality on the
seas." Skipwith seemed to think that, owing to particu-
lar circumstances, it would require some considerable
time to dispose the French Legislature to make such
changes in the laws as would cause the privateers and
the tribunals "to respect neutrals in general, and the
flag of the United States in particular ;" yet he was hap-
py to add that the High Court of Cassation, before which
appeals were pending as to most of the vessels cap-
tured, were disposed to procrastinate, so as to give time
for the passage of the new laws. Until those laws were
passed, it would be impossible for the Directory, how
ever well disposed, to alter the course of the tribunals.
VIEWS AS TO GERRY'S CONDUCT. 261
&ome consolation was found for the departure of CHAPTER
xin. .
Q-erry, in the arrival, just afterward, of Dr. Logan, whose _
departure from the United States has been already men- 1793.
tioned, and who was represented in the Paris newspapers,
particularly one edited by citizen Paine, as the envoy,
not, indeed, of the Federal government, but of those states
favorable to the French interest. Logan was received
and feasted with great eclat by Talleyrand and Merlin,
and he soon departed on his homeward voyage with new
and reiterated assurances, not, however, in writing, of
the desire of the French government to treat. Indeed,
an attempt to re-establish diplomatic communication
with the United States, on ground much more moderate
than any hitherto insisted upon, was, as we shall presently
see, already on foot, through the agency of the French
secretary of legation at the Hague, who had been author-
ized to communicate on that subject with Murray, the
American minister to the Batavian republic.
Though Gerry's intentions in entering into a secret
correspondence with Talleyrand apart from his col-
leagues, and in remaining at Paris after their departure,
were doubtless patriotic, originating in his extreme anx-
iety for the preservation of peace, and in the hope that
he might become the instrument for bringing about a
reconciliation between the two nations, his efforts in the
matter, as is apt to be the case with unsuccessful experi-
ments, do not appear to have given much satisfaction to
any body. His colleague Pinckney had written home
" that he had never met with a man so destitute of can-
dor and full of deceit." Talleyrand, with a juster ap-
preciation of Gerry's weak points — a virtuous weakness
which he could not be persuaded to overcome — declared
that " he wanted decision at a moment when he might
have easily adjusted every thing ; that he was too irres-
262 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER olute : and that the correspondence between them was a
xin. .. .. .
curious monument of advances on his part, and evasions
1793 on Gerry's." Skipwith, in a letter to Jefferson, written
before the departure of the other two envoys, speaking
for himself and the other renegade Americans at Paris,
of whom Barlow, Burney, and Thomas Paine appear to
have been the chief, informed that head of the oppo-
sition that " they could perceive in Gerry but the shadow
of what they had presumed he was. "We learn in secret
whispers from this good old gentleman (for I venerate
the chastity of his moral character, while I regret that
he has not courage to shape a political course congenial
to the crisis here) that he has a hard and cruel task to
think and act with his two associates, and that, were he
alone, he would be able to stop the frightful breach be-
tween the two countries. But I am apprehensive that
his paralytic mind would prove too weak to invent, and
his arm too feeble to apply the remedy which the disease
demands. In fact, no one but a pronounced Republican
and friend of the French Eevolution, and a man unfet-
tered by the forms and school-readings of Adams and
Pickering, could stand a chance to heal the wounds which
are now bleeding."
The means of healing these bleeding wounds recom-
mended by this patriotic consul general were simply
these : " "Pis to confess some of our errors, to lay their
sins heavily upon the shoulders of a few persons who
have perpetrated them, to modify or break the English
treaty with Jay, and to lend France as much money,
should she ask it, as she lent us in the hour of distress.
I am aware that the pride of some, the knavery of many,
and the ignorance of others, would pretend to execrate
the act ; but imperious necessity commands, and the
genius of republican liberty would sanction it." With
VIEWS AS TO G-ERRY'S CONDUCT. 263
such a consul general in close communion and sympathy CHAPTER
with the French government on the one hand, and on .
the other with the leaders of the American opposition,, 1793.
who, it was believed, would soon rise to the head of
affairs, what need have we to wonder at the insolence of
Talleyrand and the Directory? Barlow had written,
about the same time, a similar letter to his brother-in-
law Baldwin, some extracts from which have been already
quoted in giving an account of Lyon's trial.
But, if Gerry's conduct gave no satisfaction abroad,
whether to his fellow-envoys, to the French government,
or to the American partisans of France, it found hardly
more favor at home. The Federalists execrated his sep-
aration from his colleagues and his delay in France as
acts of timidity and weakness, if not of treachery. So
high was the indignation of his immediate neighbors
against him, that his wife and young family, then resi-
dent at Cambridge, near Boston, became, as his bi-
ographer complains, the object of some of those dis-
graceful annoyances which it had been customary to
play off at the commencement of the Revolution against
some of the old Tories, and to which, at that time, per-
haps, Gerry himself had not much objected. "Letters,
anonymous or feigned, were sent to Mrs. Gerry, imput-
ing his continuance in France to causes most distressing
to a wife and mother. Yells were uttered and bonfires
were kindled at night about the house, and on one oc-
casion a guillotine was erected under the window,
smeared with blood, and bearing the effigy of a head-
less man,"
But if the Federalists were indignant, the opposition,
on the other hand, were no better satisfied ; for in finally
leaving France without making any treaty, or bringing
with him any definite proposals, he seemed to have fur-
264 HISTORY or THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER nished unanswerable proofs of the falsehood and perfidy
of the French government.
1793. The president, upon whom he waited at Braintree with
Oct 8. a report of his mission, received him with kindness, and
seemed disposed, by apologies for him in private conver-
sation, to justify himself in having insisted upon Gerry's
appointment. And yet he allowed Pickering, at the en-
suing session of Congress, to send in a report, pruned,
indeed, somewhat by the president's hand, but in which
Gerry's conduct was very sharply criticised. Even Jef-
ferson, in a long letter of what seemed to be condolence
and sympathy, though it had, in fact, quite another ob-
ject, which will presently appear, could not refrain from
the insulting insinuation that Gerry and his colleagues
had been completely duped by the agents, X, Y, and Z,
there being neither " proof nor probability" that the
French government had any thing to do with -their cor-
rupt proposals.
Within a few days after Gerry reached Boston, his
colleague Pinckney, who had been residing for some
months, on account of his daughter's health, in the south
of France, arrived at New York. He accepted with alac-
rity the military rank assigned him, approved with
warmth the appointment of Hamilton to the first place
next to Washington, and declared his readiness to give
way to Knox also, did the good of the service seem to
demand it.
fw. The yellow fever having disappeared with the first
frost, Washington, Hamilton, and Pinckney soon after
met at Philadelphia, and, in conjunction with the Secre-
tary of War — the President being still at Braintree,
whither he had retired shortly after the close of the ses-
sion of Congress — matured the arrangements for organ-
izing the twelve new regiments, and selected proper per*
sons for regimental officers.
RETUKN OF LOG-AN. 266
Gerry aiid Pinckney were soon, followed across the CHAPTEB
Atlantic by Logan, the account of whose mission, given
by the French papers, had greatly inflamed the suspicions 1793.
against him. He was received by the Federalists with
shouts of execration as the treasonable envoy of a poli-
tical party which had undertaken to carry on a corre-
spondence of its own with a foreign and hostile power.
The good Quaker hastened to present himself at the De-
partment of State, but he brought no papers except du
plicates of some old letters of Skipwith, and his recep-
tion by Pickering was not very gracious. Nor was he
much better received by Washington, upon whom he wait-
ed shortly after, and who has left, in his own handwrit-
ing, a curious memorandum of the interview. Though
received standing, and with a repulsive coldness and dis-
tance which no man knew better than Washington how
to assume toward an unwelcome visitor, Logan would
persist in giving an account of his mission ; to which
Washington replied that it was something very singular
that he, a mere private individual, unprovided with pow-
ers, and it was to be presumed unknown in France,
should suppose that he could effect what three gentlemen
of the first respectability in the country, and specially
charged under the authority of government, had been
unable to do. At first the good doctor seemed a little
disconcerted ; but he soon recovered himself, and stated,
by way of answer to the suspicions afloat concerning his
mission, that not five persons knew of his going, that
Jefferson and M'Kean had furnished him with certificates
of citizenship, and that Merlin, the president of the Di-
rectory, had evinced the greatest desire that the two re-
publics should be on the best terms. To which Wash-
ington dryly answered that the doctor had been decided-
ly more fortunate than our envoys, since they could nei-
266 HISTORY or THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ther be received nor heard by Merlin or the Directory.
' If the authorities of France were serious in their profess
1798 i°ns °^ a Desire f°r peace, there was a very plain and ef-
fectual way to show it, the repeal, namely, of the obnox-
ious decrees by which the commercial rights of Amer-
ica had been so seriously invaded ; the putting a stop to
further depredations ; and the making restitution for the
injuries already inflicted. On a suggestion of Logan's
that the Directory had regarded the American govern-
ment and the envoys as disposed to hostilities, "Washing-
ton asked, what better evidence could be given in refu-
tation of such an opinion than the long-suffering of our
government under the outrageous conduct of France, and
the dispatching thither three gentlemen of unquestiona-
ble worth, with ample powers to reconcile all difficulties,
even though it might require great sacrifices on our part ?
Did the Directory look upon us as worms not even al-
lowed to turn when trod upon ? It was evident to all
the world that we had borne and forborne beyond what
even common respect for ourselves permitted. Logan
stated that the Directory had taken off the embargo, and
were making restitution of property, and he mentioned
one instance of it. To which Washington answered,
that taking off the embargo or keeping it on was of very
little consequence, as there were but very few of our
vessels in France. The self-appointed Quaker envoy
then began to magnify the power of France and the dan-
ger of the United States if they persisted in holding a
hostile attitude, to which Washington rejoined that we
were driven into these measures in self-defense, and that
he hoped the spirit of the country never would suffer
injuries to be inflicted with impunity by any nation un-
der the sun — a sentiment to which Logan so far re-
sponded as to state that he had told Citizen Merlin that,
STATE OF PUBLIC FEELING. 26?
if the United States were invaded by France, they would CHAPTER
unite to a man to oppose the invaders. So ended this _
conversation, which is given at length, not only as re- 1793
markably illustrating the characters of the speakers, but
as exhibiting in a striking light the views of the parties
to which they respectively belonged. What Washing-
ton had said was in every Federalist's mouth, while the
more moderate of the opposition talked like Logan.
Not discouraged by these rebuffs, Logan waited soon
after upon the president, who arrived about this time at
Philadelphia, and upon whom, as it would seem, his
visit was not without impression. As well on his return
from Braintree as in going thither, the president had
been received at New York and elsewhere on the road
with great enthusiasm. It was even proposed to cele-
brate his birth-day, which occurred about this time ; but
this does not seem to have been done The opposition,
indeed, were quite enough vexed at tne keeping up of
the custom of celebrating Washington's birth - day ;
though Jefferson, with his usual sanguine view of
things, found consolation in the proof thus afforded
that it was the general's, not the president's birth-day,
which the people had celebrated.
The news of the capture of Bonaparte's fleet in the
battle of the Nile was received in America with open
joy on the part of the Federalists — first of English vic-
tories so welcomed for a quarter of a century — and with
ill-concealed vexation on the part of the opposition. The
Federal papers chronicled with triumph the bringing
in from time to time of captured French cruisers. Al-
ready there were at sea, of American public armed ves-
sels, besides the three frigates, twelve sloops of war of
from twenty -eight to twenty-four guns, and eight armed
cutters. The entrances of the American harbors were
268 HISTORF OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER no longer safe cruising ground for picaroon vessels, nou\-
' inallj French privateers, but very often little better than
1798. pirates. Not content with driving them from the coast,
the American squadron had pursued them to the West
Indies, where a serious check was already given to the
depredations, so long committed without resistance, on
American commerce. Orders had been issued by the
British naval commander on the "West India station to
treat the American ships of war with all courtesy ; but
even at this important and interesting moment it was
impossible to put a complete check upon that insuffera-
ble insolence of British naval officers which had already
bred so much ill blood between the two nations, and was
destined to breed more. The commander of a British
squadron of heavy ships, cruising off the Havana — of
which the commerce, since the late alliance between
France and Spain, had been opened for the first time, as
well as that of Yera Cruz and other Spanish- American
ports, to other than Spanish vessels — had the impertinence
NDV. 18. to intercept and detain a part of a convoy of American
merchantmen sailing to that port under escort of the sloop
of war Baltimore ; and even to send on board that vessel
and to take out five or six of her crew, under claim that
they were British subjects. This affair, which became
.*c. 2a presently the occasion of a motion in Congress, caused
the issue of an order by the Navy Department, that no
commander of any American ship of war should ever
allow his ship to be searched or detained, or any of her
men to be taken from her, under any pretense whatever ;
but to resist to the uttermost, and if overpowered by su-
perior force, to strike his flag and yield up vessel as well
as men, but never men without the vessel. Bepresenta-
tions on this subject were immediately made to the
British government, by whom the outrage was promptly
NA.VAL OPERATIONS. FRENCH ST. DOMINGO. 269
disavowed; but that could net prevent the ill effects CHAPTER
xm.
which such an occurrence could not but produce upon
minds as sensitive to British as they were callous to 1798.
French insults.
The commander of the Baltimore had submitted to a
force which did not admit of the idea of resistance. Cap-
tain Tingley, in the Ganges sloop of war, while cruising
in the same seas, being inquired of by a boat from a
British frigate whether he had among his men any Brit-
ish subjects, returned for answer that the American flag
was a sufficient protection to any man in his ship — an
answer with which the captain of the frigate judged it
prudent to be content.
The two points whence the French privateers had
chiefly issued were the island of Guadaloupe and the
coasts of French St. Domingo. The English, after vain-
ly struggling for several years to obtain possession of the
latter colony, had at last judged it expedient, in hopes
of thus detaching it from France, to resign the French
part of the island into the hands of the blacks, by whom
it had been so long and so bravely defended. There was
a large and well-organized black army under Toussaint,
a man as distinguished for civil as for military talents,
remarkable, though born and bred a slave, for an equity,
moderation, and justice, exhibited toward whites and
blacks alike, of which the French Revolutionary annals
afford but very few examples. The English finding it
impossible to conquer the island, and perceiving that the
actual control of things was in Toussaint's hands, had
entered into negotiations with him, and had withdrawn
their troops with an understanding that he should as-
sume the government and keep the island neutral during
the war. Toussaint, on his part, had compelled Hedon-
ville, the commissioner of the Directory, to depart with
270 HISTOKY OF THE UNITMD STATES.
CHAPTER his few white troops. The mulattoes in the southern
XIII.
" district of the colony, under Kigaud, were disposed to
1793 maintain the connection with France ; but that chief waa
obliged to submit to the superior genius and power of
Toussaint. This expulsion of the French led to a great
diminution in the number of privateers issuing from the
ports of that island ; and Toussaint, desiring to renew
commercial intercourse with America, sent an agent to
the United States for that purpose.
The American naval force was divided into four squad-
rons ; one of nine vessels, under Commodore Barry, the
senior officer of the navy, cruised to the eastward, as far
south as Tobago ; a second of five vessels, under Com-
modore Truxton, had its rendezvous at St. Kitt's, its
business being to watch the island of Guadaloupe ; two
smaller squadrons guarded, the one the passage between
Cuba and St. Domingo, the other the neighborhood of the
Havana, whence a number of privateers were accus-
tomed to issue under French colors. Each of these
squadrons captured several French privateers. The mer-
chants had eagerly availed themselves of the permission
to arm ; and by an official return at the end of the year,
it appeared that, besides the public ships, there were
commissioned not less than 365 private armed vessels,
mounting together 2733 guns, and manned by 6874 sea-
men. This armament was chiefly for defense, the com-
missions, whether in the case of public or private ves-
sels, authorizing only the capture of armed ships.
The French corvette captured by Decatur. having been
refitted and named the Ketaliation, had been placed un-
der the command of Bainbridge. While cruising off
N K-. 20 the island of Guadaloupe, she fell into the hands of two
French frigates, which came unexpectedly upon her, and
was carried into that island. On board one of these
AFFAIRS AT GUADALOUPE. 271
frigates was Desforneaux, appointed to supersede Yictor CHAPTER
Hugues as commissioner of the Directory for that is- '
land. Hugues, who had so long exercised despotic pow 1793.
er, and whose unscrupulous vigor and energy had made
him the terror of those seas — a terror felt by Ameri-
can ship-owners no less than by the inhabitants of the
neighboring British islands — was presently arrested and
sent a prisoner to France. Yet it was only by urgent
and repeated remonstrances that Bainbridge could obtain
of the new commissioner some relaxation of the extreme-
ly harsh and cruel treatment of numerous American pris-
oners at Guadaloupe, the crews of vessels captured and
condemned. Bainbridge stated that while he remained
in the island American prizes were brought in to a val-
ue far exceeding that of the Eetaliation. There is rea-
son, however, to believe that the greater part of these cap-
tures were collusive, the vessels having approached Gua-
daloupe for the very purpose of being nominally cap-
tured, and in that way evading the penalties of the act
forbidding commercial intercourse with France and her
possessions. Guadaloupe had suffered severely from this
non-intercourse, and the new commissioner, anxious to
bring it to an end, declared to Bainbridge, who, as a
means of relieving his countrymen, had suggested an ex-
change of prisoners, that he did not consider the Ameri-
cans in that light, but as friends, and that he would send
them all home under a flag. Yet this did not prevent
some twenty of them being pressed, in spite of Bain-
bridge's remonstrances, to complete the complement of
the frigate in which Yictor Hugues was sent to France.
Finally, the Eetaliation, of which Bainbridge, much,
against hfs will, was compelled to assume the command,
was sent to the United States, with two other vessels
filled with the late prisoners, and carrying, also, an agent
of Desforneaux's to solicit a renewal of trade.
272 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
His plan was to seem to have restored the Retaliation
YTTT
' in a friendly spirit, and great use was made of this in-
1798 cident, especially by Jefferson in his private correspond-
ence, as a fresh proof of the anxiety of the French gov-
ernment for a reconciliation. But the American gov-
ernment refused to regard the restored prize in any other
light than as a cartel, and she was presently sent back
with a number of French sailors taken in the captured
privateers. Meanwhile, however, the change of admin-
istration in St. Domingo and Guadaloupe, the presence
of American as well as of British cruisers in the West
India Seas, and the protection they afforded by way of
convoy, gave comparative security to American com-
merce. Bates of insurance, which had been as high, on
an average, as twenty per cent., fell about one half, thus
affording unquestionable evidence of the efficiency of
• the protection afforded.
Meanwhile the great leader of the opposition was very
busy in constructing machinery for the overthrow of the
administration, to accomplish which he seemed willing
to risk, notwithstanding his late judicious advice to Tay-
lor, the destruction even of the Union itself. The pitch
of excitement to which he had risen may be judged of
Nov. 26. from another letter to the same correspondent, in which
he declares it to be u a singular phenomenon, that while
our state governments are the very best in the world,
without exception or comparison, our general govern-
ment has, in the rapid course of nine or ten years, be-
come more arbitrary, and has swallowed up more of the
public liberty than even that of England." It must have
been while under the influence of feelings like these that
Jefferson had prepared, after consultation with George
Nicholas of Kentucky, Wilson C. Nicholas of Virginia
(both brothers of John Nicholas), and probably with Mad
KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS. 273
ison, and under a pledge of that profound secrecy with CHAPTER
which he so scrupulously shrouded all his movements,
the original draft of those famous resolutions which had 1793,
just been offered in the Legislature of Kentucky ; reso- Nov. 10
lutions which revived the anti- Federal spirit in all its
early virulence, and threatened to reduce the existing
government to something no better than the old con-
federation, if so good. Indeed, had Jefferson's pro-
gramme been entirely followed out, the State of Ken-
tucky would have placed itself in a position of open re-
bellion against the authority of the Federal government.
The original draft, as still preserved in Jefferson's
handwriting, began with a resolution that the Federal
Constitution is a compact between the states as states,
by which is created a general government for special pur-
poses, each state reserving for itself the residuary mass
of power and right; and " that, as in other cases of com-
pact between parties having no common judge, each party
has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infrac-
tions as of the mode and measure of redress." This
resolution involves two very questionable doctrines;
first, that the Constitution, instead of being a form of
government as it purports to be, is simply a compact or
treaty ; and, secondly, that the parties to it are not, as
the Constitution itself declares, " the people of the United
States," but only the states as political corporations.
Then followed five resolutions practically applying to
three acts of the last Congress this alleged right of the
states to judge of infractions and their remedy, not mere-
ly as matter of opinion, but officially and constitution-
ally, as parties to the compact, and as the foundation
of important legislation. These three acts were, one to
punish counterfeiters of the bills of the United States1
Bank, the Sedition Law, and the Alien Law : all of
V.—S
274 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER which, for various reasons assigned, were successive!}
J pronounced " not law, but altogether void and of no
1793 force." The seventh resolution postponed "to a time
of greater tranquillity" the "revisal and correction" of
sundry other acts of Congress, alleged to have been
founded upon an unconstitutional interpretation of the
right to impose taxes and excises to provide for the
common defense and general welfare, and to make all
laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution
the powers vested in the government of the United
States. The right to act, and cases for immediate aa
well as prospective action being thus laid down, the
eighth resolution directed the appointment (as was done
at the commencement of the Revolutionary quarrel with
Great Britain) of a " committee of conference and cor-
respondence," to communicate the foregoing resolutions
to the several states, and to inform them that the com-
monwealth of Kentucky, with all her esteem for her
" co-states" and for the Union, was determined " to sub-
mit to undelegated, and, consequently, unlimited powers
in no man or body of men on earth ; that, in cases of
an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the
general government being chosen by the people, a
change by the people would be the constitutional
remedy ; but where powers are assumed which have not
been delegated, a nullification of the act is the right
remedy ; and that every state has a natural right, in
cases not within the compact, to nullify, of their own
authority, all assumptions of power by others within
their limits." After many arguments to show that such
is the only doctrine consistent with liberty, and that tc
appeal in such a case tD Congress would be quite out
of place, Congress being not a party to the compact, but
merely its creature, the eighth resolution proceeded to
KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS. 275
authorize and instruct the committee of correspondence CHAPTER
to call upon the co-states "to concur in declaring these
acts void and of no force, and each to take measures of 1798,
its own for providing that neither these acts, nor any
other of the general government not plainly and inten-
tionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exer-
cised within their respective territories." The ninth
resolution of Jefferson's draft gave to this same com-
mittee a power to correspond with other like commit-
tees, to be appointed by the " co-states," and also re-
quired a report of that correspondence at the next ses-
sion of the Legislature.
Carefully covered up under promises of secrecy, Jef-
ierson was very bold with his pen ; and if other writings
of his were of this questionable character, we need not
be so much surprised, especially now that the Sedition
Act was in force, at the nervous anxiety which many
of his letters exhibited lest his seals should be broken
open by Federal spies in the post-offices. The present
dose, indeed, was rather too strong even for George
Nicholas, who had undertaken to present the resolutions
for adoption by the Kentucky Legislature ; and in his
hand they underwent a change, much to be approved
on the score of discretion, but which caused them to
present a somewhat ludicrous contrast between boldness
of preamble and tameness of conclusion. Nicholas
adopted the first seven resolutions entire ; but for the
eighth and ninth he substituted two drawn by himself,
of which the purport was that the preceding resolutions
be laid before Congress by the Kentucky senators
and representatives, who were "to use their best en-
deavors to procure at the next session a repeal of the
aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts ;" the
governor meanwhile to transmit copies to the Legis-
276 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER latures of the several states, to whom an earnest ar-
' gumentative appeal was addressed, borrowed partly
1793 from Jefferson's eighth resolution, for an expression of
opinion as to the Alien and Sedition Laws, and for their
concurrence with Kentucky in declaring those laws void
and of no force, and in requesting their repeal at the next
session of Congress. In this shape the resolutions passed
Nov. 14. the Kentucky Legislature with only two or three dis-
senting votes.
A few weeks after, the same doctrine of nullification,
nearly or quite to the full extent of Jefferson's original
draft, its virulence, however, somewhat disguised by the
Dec. 24. generality of the terms, was re-echoed by the Legislature
of Yirginia in a series of resolutions, drafted by Madison,
and offered by that same John Taylor who had suggested
but a few months before the idea of a separate confed-
eracy, to be composed of Yirginia and North Carolina
These resolutions began with expressing a warm attach-
ment to the Constitution and the Union, after which they
proceeded to assert that the powers of the Federal gov-
ernment result only from a compact to which the states
are the parties, "and that in case of a deliberate, palpa-
ble, and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted
by the said compact, the states who are the parties there-
to have the right and are in duty bound to interpose for
correcting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining
within their respective limits the authorities, rights, and
liberties appertaining to them." Next came an expres-
sion of " deep regret at a spirit in sundry instances man*
ifested by the Federal government to enlarge its powers
by forced constructions of the constitutional charter, and
of indications of a design to expound certain general
phrases so as to destroy the meaning and effect of the
particular enumeration which necessarily explains and
VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS 277
limits the general phrases," and " so to consolidate the CHAPTER
XIII
states, by degrees, into one sovereignty, the obvious tend- .._ .
ency and inevitable result of which would be to trans- 1793,
form the present republican system of the United States
into an absolute, or, at best, a mixed monarchy."
The resolutions then wound up with a protest against
the 'Alien and Sedition Laws, which, for certain reasons
set forth, were pronounced " palpable and alarming in-
fractions of the Constitution ;" a protest in which the
other states were called upon to join, and each " to take
the necessary and proper measures for co-operating in
each state in maintaining, unimpaired, the authorities,
rights, and liberties reserved to the states respectively, or
to the people." These resolutions were passed, after a
warm debate, by a vote of one hundred to sixty -three in
the House of Delegates, and of fourteen to three in the
Senate. But, in order to get them through, it was found
necessary to strike out their most significant clauses as
originally proposed, by which the obnoxious acts were
pronounced " null, void, and of no force or effect." About
a month after, they were sent out with an address, drawn
probably by Madison, very able and adroit, containing
the entire case of the opposition as against the Federal
administration ; to which an answer, not less able, was
soon put forth, signed by fifty-eight of the minority.
In the midst of these formidable preparations for
bringing the state authorities into direct conflict with
the Federal government, the fifth Congress came togeth-
er for its third session. The president's speech began
with some allusions to the yellow fever, and the proprie-
ty of establishing, in aid of the health laws of the states,
gome general system of quarantine compatible with the
interests of commerce and the safety of the revenue. It
next suggested, as an addition to the ordinary objects of
278 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER " our annual oblation of gratitude," that spirit which ha ?
arisen against the menaces and aggressions of a foreign
nation ; a manly sense of national honor, dignity, and
independence, which, if encouraged and invigorated by
every branch of the government, would " enable us to
view undismayed the enterprises of any foreign power,
and become the sure foundation of national prosperity
and glory."
The information as to the relations of France and the
United States, received during the recess, and which he
promised to communicate in a special message, went,
in the president's view, to confirm the failure of all
attempts at an amicable arrangement. These papers
would, indeed, show the French government apparently
solicitous to avoid a rupture ; and they even contained
an expression of willingness to receive a minister from
the United States. But that willingness was unfortunate-
ly expressed in terms which might seem to imply the in-
admissible pretension to prescribe the minister's qualifi-
cations, and even to question the sincerity of the United
States in their often-expressed and repeated wishes for
peace. The late decree requiring French privateers to
conform to the laws could give no effectual relief, since
those very laws were among the chief things complain-
ed of; especially the one subjecting to capture all vessels
having British products on board — a decree in itself an
act of war, presenting the French government as a pow-
er regardless of the independence, sovereignty, and es-
sential rights of neutral nations, and only to be met,
consistently with the interest and honor of such neutral
nations as had the means to make it, by a firm resistance.
Nothing, in his opinion, was discoverable in the conduct
of France " which ought to change or relax our meas-
ures of defense." On the contrary, it would be true
policy to extend and invigorate them.
FIFTH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. 279
"An efficient preparation for war can alone secure CHAPTER
XIII.
peace. It is peace that we have uniformly and perse-
veringly cultivated, and harmony between us and France
may be restored at her option. But to send another
minister, without more determinate assurances that he
would be received, would be an act of humiliation to
which the United States ought not to submit. It must,
therefore, be left with France, if she is indeed desirous
of accommodation, to take the requisite steps. The
United States will steadily observe the maxims by which
they have hitherto been governed. They will respect
the sacred rights of embassy ; and, with a sincere dispo-
sition on the part of France to desist from hostility, to
make reparation for the injuries hitherto inflicted, and
to do justice in future, there will be no obstacle to the
restoration of a friendly intercourse."
But while giving this public pledge of readiness to meet
tiny sincere advance on the part of France toward peace,
the president still urged, as the only sure means of ob-
taining an equal treaty and insuring its observance, prep-
arations for war, and, particularly, attention to the naval
establishment. " Perhaps no more sudden and remark-
able advantages had ever been experienced from any
measure than those derived from arming for maritime
defense. A foundation ought to be laid, without loss of
time, for giving an increase to the navy, sufficient to guard
our coasts and protect our trade," and he recommended
to the attention of Congress " such systematic efforts of
prudent forethought as would be required for this object."
Adams had been accustomed, after "Washington's ex-
ample, to consult his cabinet ministers as to the contents
of his speeches, and, like him, to make free use of the
drafts which they furnished. A large portion of that
part of the speech relating to France had been taken
280 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER from a draft furnished by Wolcott ; but on one important
' point there had been a deviation. Wolcott's draft had
1798, expressly declared, and, in so doing, had expressed the
opinion of at least a majority of the cabinet, that to send
another minister to France would be an act of humilia-
tion not to be submitted to except under the pressure of
an extreme necessity, which did not exist. Yery much
against the will of Pickering, Wolcott, and M 'Henry,
Lee and Stoddert seeming also to incline the same way,
though much less decisively, the president gave to this
passage the turn above stated, so as still to leave him-
self the conditional liberty of sending a minister, upon
the withdrawal of the offensive pretensions to dictate the
selection, and more positive assurances as to a respectful
reception.
The sentiments of the speech were fully re-echoed by
the House as well as the Senate ; and, what had not. hap-
pened for several sessions, the answers were carried in
both Houses without a division. The answer of the
Senate, referring to Logan's recent mission, complained
of an intercourse carried on by France, through " the
medium of individuals without public character or au-
thority, designed to separate the people from their gov-
ernment, and to bring about by intrigue that which open
force could not effect ;" to which Adams responded by a
suggestion whether such " temerity and impertinence on
the part of individuals affecting to interfere in public af-
fairs, whether by their secret correspondence or other-
wise, and intended to impose on the people and to sepa-
rate them from their government, ought not to be in«
quired into and corrected ?"
This suggestion gave rise to the first act of the ses-
sion, known as the " Logan Act," which made it a high
misdemeanor, subject to a fine not exceeding $5000
BLOUNT'S IMPEACHMENT. 281
and to imprisonment from six months to three years, CHAPTER
for any citizen of the United States to carry on, without ______
permission or authority from the Federal government, 1793.
any correspondence, verbal or written, with the officers
of a foreign government, with intent to defeat the meas-
ures of the government of the United States, or in any
controversy in which the United States were concerned,
to influence the conduct of a foreign government.
Not being able to meet this bill in the face, the op-
position, led by Gallatin, Nicholas, and Macon (for Giles
had resigned his seat), made the most strenuous efforts
to neutralize it by amendments. A very sharp discus-
sion ensued, in the course of which Harper, now the ac-
knowledged leader of the Federalists in the house, made
a severe attack upon Logan, as well as upon those heads
of the opposition in concert with whom he was supposed
to have acted. This drew out from Logan a letter, pub-
lished in the Aurora, in which he gave the history of his
mission, and denied the concern in it of any body but
himself. Since his return Logan had been chosen, after
a very severely contested election, a member of the
Pennsylvania Legislature.
The early part of the session was chiefly occupied with
the impeachment of Blount, left undisposed of at the
close of the last session. The preliminary questions
having at last been arranged, the Senate resolved itself Dec. 24
into a High Court of Impeachment. More agreeably
occupied as president of the Senate of Tennessee, Blount
disregarded the summons sent him, and did not person-
ally appear. But Dallas and Ingersoll, who acted as his
counsel, filed a plea, in which they denied the jurisdic-
tion of the court, on the double ground that senators
were not " officers" liable to be impeached, and that, if
they were, Blount's expulsion from the Senate left him
282 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER no longer a senator. To the elaborate argument of
Dallas and Ingersoll, an equally elaborate reply was
1798, made by Harper and Bayard, two of the managers ap-
pointed on behalf of the House. But the Senate sus-
tained the plea, whether on both grounds or on which
of them did not appear, and so this long process came
to an end. By these proceedings against him, Blount's
popularity in Tennessee had been rather increased than
otherwise, and nothing but his sudden death prevented
his being elected governor over Sevier's head.
1799. It was not till the session of Congress was half gone,
Jan. is. and after divers urgings from Gallatin, who objected
otherwise to go on with the several bills reported by the
standing committees on defense, that the president laid
before Congress the promised documents, including
Gerry's correspondence with Talleyrand, and also the
letters from Consul-general Skipwith, who, however, as
well as all the consuls under him, appointed by Monroe's
suggestion, had already been removed from office.
One cause of the president's delay became apparent in
Jan. 23. the transmission, a few days afterward, of a very elabor-
ate report from Pickering, which it must have taken
some time to prepare, and in which, though it had been
somewhat trimmed down by the president's hand, Talley-
rand, the Directory, and Gerry himself were very sharply
criticised. The main argument of this report was, that
as the several outrageous French decrees against Ameri-
can commerce remained unrepealed (whatever little re-
pealing there had been being but illusory), Talleyrand's
expressions of readiness to treat ought to be regarded
only as a deceptive lure, intended to keep the United
States quiet, while France, in the continued plunder of
American commerce, enjoyed all the benefits without
experiencing hardly any of the evils of war.
WARLIKE PREPARATIONS. 283
Pickering's report was presently followed by another CHAPTEB
message, communicating a new decree, extending to neu- .
trals generally, found serving on board hostile vessels, that 1799.
penalty already some time before denounced against Jan. 28
Americans in particular, of being treated as pirates, even
though they might allege having been forced into the
service. This sort of impartiality did not satisfy ; and a
bill was soon brought in by the Committee of Defense,
authorizing, on proof of the execution of this decree
against any American citizen, a retaliation, in like kind,
upon any French prisoners in the hands of the United
States. Before this bill had time to pass, news arrived
that, owing to threats of retaliation by England, the late
decree had been repealed ; but as the former decree, em*
bracing American citizens only, still remained in force,
the bill was persevered with, and became a law.
Into the bill which passed the House, continuing for
a year the non-intercourse with France and her depend-
encies, a clause was inserted, in spite of the efforts of the
opposition, designed to facilitate the renewal of com-
mercial intercourse with St. Domingo, the president
being authorized, whenever he might deem it expedient,
to discontinue this restraint by proclamation, either with
respect to the entire French republic, or to any port or
place belonging to it.
Three bills from the naval committee were carried
through the House, one appropriating a million of dol-
lars toward the construction of six ships of the line and
six sloops of war ; a second appropriating $200,000 for
the purchase of timber ; and a third granting $50,000
toward the establishment of two dock- yards.
The Senate, meanwhile, had passed a bill, authorizing
the president to raise, in case of war or imminent danger
of invasion, besides the troops voted at the last session.
284 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the recruiting for which, had but just commenced,
twenty -four additional regiments of infantry, three regi-
1799 ments of cavalry, a regiment and a battalion of riflemen,
and an additional battalion of artillery, making a total
force of regulars, should these and the other new regi-
ments be filled up, of upward of forty thousand men ;
and also to organize such volunteers as might offer their
services under the act of the last session, to the number
of seventy-eight thousand men, distributed in certain
quotas among the states. To carry these provisions into
effect, should the emergency arise, two millions of dollars
were appropriated.
In the midst of the progress of these vigorous meas-
ures, great was the astonishment of the Federalists, and
not less the exultation of the opposition, at a message
Feb. 18. sent by the president to the Senate, nominating William
Van Murray, resident minister at the Hague, as minister
plenipotentiary to the French republic. There was sent
to the Senate along with this message, and as the occa-
sion of it, the copy of a letter from Talleyrand to Pichon,
the French secretary of legation at the Hague — a letter
intended, so it seemed to the president, as a compliance
with the condition set forth in his message of June pre-
ceding, in which the return of Marshall had been noti-
fied, as that on which alone he would ever send anothel
minister to France — " assurance that he would be re»
ceived, respected, and honored as the representative of
a great, free, independent, and powerful nation." Being
always disposed to embrace " every plausible appearance
of probability" of preserving peace, he had thought
proper, so he stated in his message, to meet this advance
by making the present nomination.
Duly to understand the exact position of affairs, and
the occasion of the above-mentioned letter of Talley-
NEW MISSION TO FEANCE. 285
rand's and of the nomination of Murray, it will be nee- CHAPTER
essary to go back for a moment to Europe, and to the _ ^__
attempt on the part of Talleyrand at the renewal of dip- 1799.
lomatic relations with the United States, already men-
tioned as set on foot at the Hague.
Very shortly after Gerry's departure, M. Pichon, for-
merly a resident in America, lately a clerk in Talley-
rand's office, and at this moment secretary of the French
egation at the Hague, had opened a communication, no
doubt by Talleyrand's direction, with Murray, the Ameri-
can resident there. For Murray's satisfaction on cer-
tain points, Talleyrand not long after addressed (August
28, 1798) a letter to Pichon, in which, after many com-
pliments to Murray personally, and admitting, also, that
the Directory might have been mistaken (as Murray had
asserted to Pichon) in ascribing to the American govern-
ment a design to throw itself into the arms of England,
a formal disavowal was made of any wish on the part of
the Directory to revolutionize the United States, or any
intention to make war upon them. " Every contrary
supposition," said this letter, " is an insult to common
sense ;" though Talleyrand himself, not six months be-
fore, had frightened Gerry into remaining at Paris by
threats of instant war if he departed.
After complaining, in terms already quoted, of Ger-
ry's diplomatic incapacity, this letter went a step beyond
the offer to treat contained in Talleyrand's closing letter
to Gerry himself, and which the president at the open-
ing of the session had pronounced inadmissible, clogged,
as it was, by the proviso of an envoy " who should
unite Gerry's advantages." Talleyrand expressly dis-
avowed, in this letter to Pichon, any disposition to dic-
tate as to the selection of an envoy. He had only in-
tended to intimate, in a friendly way, that the Directory
'286 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER would have more confidence in an envoy who had not
'_ manifested a predilection for England, and who did not
1799 profess hatred or contempt for the French republic.
The letter finally closed with a strong hint that Murray
himself would be perfectly acceptable.
After some further communications from Pichon, of
interviews between him and Murray, Talleyrand had
written again (September 28) — and this was the letter
communicated by the president as the basis of his nomi-
nation of Murray — giving his express sanction to a
declaration which Pichon had taken it upon himself to
make, that, whatever plenipotentiary the government of
the United States might send to France, " he would un-
doubtedly be received with the respect due to the repre-
sentative of a free, independent, and powerful nation."
Both these letters had been communicated to Murray for
transmission to the United States, but only the second
was laid before the Senate, and that as a secret communi-
cation. When it had been received, or why the other
was kept back, does not appear. The letter communi-
cated had probably reached the State Department not
long before the nomination was made. Possibly the other,
though prior in date, had not yet arrived ; or, more like-
ly, the president did not care, by communicating it, to
show how much his choice of a minister had been guid-
ed by Talleyrand's selection. The first letter, however,
having probably been sent by Talleyrand himself for
publication in America, made its appearance in print in
the course of the following summer in Callender's new
paper at Richmond ; Callender, since the death of Bache,
disputing with Duane the editorial leadership of the op-
position. In making the nomination, the president ex-
pressly pledged himself that Murray should not enter
France without having first received direct and un-
NEW MISSION TO FRANCE. 28?
equivocal assurances from the French minister of For- CIIAPTEB
virr
eign Eelations that he should be received in character,
and that a minister of equal grade would be appointed ] 79 9^
to treat with him.
The motives which might have operated on Adams's
mind for making this nomination are sufficiently obvi-
ous, The almost universal anxiety for peace with France,
for which the opposition seemed willing to sacrifice every
ihing; while even the Federalists professed a willingness
to sacrifice every thing short of independence, national
honor, and neutral rights, had prompted the mission of
Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry, in face of an express
declaration of the Directory that they would not receive
another minister from America till their alleged griev-
ances had first been redressed. If true policy had re-
quired the institution of an embassy in face of a declar-
ation like that, how was it possible entirely to disregard
the assurances of Talleyrand, communicated through
Pichon and Murray ? assurances the most explicit and
direct that could be made, short of the appointment
of a French minister to America — a stretch of conde-
scension hardly to be expected from the " terrible repub-
lic" toward a nation so weak as the United States, and
rendered almost helpless by internal dissensions. There
had no doubt been a great change in public sentiment
since the appointment of the late rejected embassy. All
the earnest -efforts of Jefferson and his coadjutors had
been unable to extinguish in their partisans the sense of
national degradation ; and many, especially in the South-
ern States, who had hitherto vehemently opposed the
Federal administration, had come manfully forward to
join in defending the national independence. But hoYir
far could this new-born seal be relied upon ? "Would
these new recruits to the Federal ranks, would the bulk
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER even of the old Federal party support the administra
' tion in standing out against the advances of France,
1799. when they came to feel the burden of the new direct tax,
for the collection of which the preliminary arrangements
had been nearly completed, and of other taxes which
must be imposed ? This standing on the defensive was
an expensive business. There was now no resource of
bills of credit, as at the commencement of the Revolution,
and to raise the five million loan it had been necessary
to promise an interest of eight per cent. The costly
naval and military establishments already on foot, and
which it was proposed to enlarge, would require a great
deal more of money ; and Adams could foresee as well
as Jefferson how this increase of expenses and taxes was
likely to operate on public opinion. The zeal and en-
thusiasm kindled by the publication of the X, Y, Z dis-
patches was already subsiding. The opposition, though
cowed and weakened, was by no means discouraged.
The late nullifying resolutions of Kentucky and Virginia
showed the extent to which the leaders in those states
and their prompters behind the scene were ready to go-
It was even threatened to introduce bills into the Vir-
ginia Assembly, such as the spirit of their resolutions
demanded, nullifying the Alien and Sedition Laws, and
authorizing resistance to them by the force of the state,
and to that end to reorganize the militia.
It was plain, from Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt, to
what a romantic pitch the military ardor of the French
was carried. Should they attempt an expedition to
America, against which the present naval predominance
of England seemed the only security, who could tell
what the result might be ? "Was it perfectly certain
that the many devoted partisans of the French — was it
certain that such men as Giles and Monroe, Gallatin
NEW MISSION TO FRANCE. 289
and Burr, even Jefferson himself, might not look on a CHAPTER
XIIL
French army more as liberators than as enemies, whose _,
aid might lawfully be employed to put down a govern- 1799.
ment denounced by Jefferson as having become more ar-
bitrary and more dangerous to liberty than even that of
England ? Even if this foreign force were not availed
of to overturn at once the government and the Constitu-
tion, it might still be employed to transfer the adminis-
tration of it into new and so-called Kepublican hands ;
and the saving the country from the dangers of mon-
archy and British alliance might seem to a large faction
to justify the risk of a subserviency to France, as piti-
ful and helpless as that of the. Batavian republic, whose
inscriptions Talleyrand had offered to the American en-
voys.
What might have added to the weight of these con-
siderations was a letter which Adams had lately receiv-
ed from Washington, inclosing one from Barlow to him-
self of very nearly the same date (October 2, 1798), with
Talleyrand's second letter to Pichon. In terms more
decent and respectful toward his country than Barlow
had of late been accustomed to use, and taking for his
text the appointment of Washington as commander-in-
chief of the American armies, he attempted to represent
the present difficulties between France and the United
States as growing out of a misunderstanding of each
other's intentions. He insisted with emphasis on the
desire of France for peace, as evinced not only by acts
already done, but by intentions alleged by Barlow to be
known to himself; and he ended with suggesting the
appointment of another minister by the United States,
as, under the circumstances, not inconsistent with the
national honor.
In transmitting this letter to the president, which Feb. i
V.— T
290 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Washington did immediately on receipt of it, Le re-
g marked that this was the only comnranic ution he had1
1799 ever received from the writer, and that it must have
been made either with a very good or a very bad design,
the president could best judge which. * ' From the known
abilities of that gentlemen, such a letter could not be the
result of ignorance in him, nor, from the implications
which are to be found in it, has it been written without
the privity of the French Directory." " Should you be
of opinion that his letter is calculated to bring on nego-
tiations npon open, fair and honorable grounds, and to
merit a reply, and will instruct me as to the tenor of it,
I shall, with pleasure and alacrity, obey your orders,
more especially if there is reason to believe that it would
become a means, however small, of restoring peace and
tranquillity to the United States upon just, honorable,
and dignified terms, which I am persuaded is the ardent
desire of all the friends of this rising empire."
Butr however strong might be the motives prompting
to Murray's nomination, there was one remarkable cir-
cumstance about it which exposed the president subse-
quently to many injurious suspicions and imputations.
With that strong self-reliance and readiness to assume
responsibility for which he was distinguished, and re-
solved to vindicate his personal prerogative as president
even at the hazard of giving great dissatisfaction to many
of the leading men who supported him, he made the
nomination, not only without any consultation with hia
cabinet, and against what he knew to be the opinions of
a majority of its members as well as of many leading
Federalists out of doors, but without any forewarning to
any body of what he intended ; and from this moment
a breach commenced between him and a section of the
Federalists, which rapidly tecarae complete and final
NEW MISSION TO PRANCE 291
His reason for anticipating by action any knowledge of CHAPTER
his intention was, his certainty of the decided opposition ,
of his cabinet to the course which he was just as decid- 1799.
edly determined to take, and his wish to escape, as to
this matter, what Fisher Ames had noted as a peculiar-
ity of our government, that other governments found op-
position after their measures were taken, ours in their
very inception and commencement. The same policy,
adopted by Adams on this occasion, of anticipating op-
position by surprise, was afterward imitated in the cases
of the embargo, the war with Great Britain, and the
Mexican war, instances quite sufficient to raise the grav-
est doubts as to its propriety. There was this difference,
however, between the cases, that Adams's surprise was
upon his own counsellors and leading partisans, while
the surprise in the other cases was upon the opposition
and the body of the people.
The nomination of Murray being referred by the Senate
to a committee, of which Sedgwick was chairman, that
committee took the unusual, and, as Adams esteemed it,
unconstitutional course of attempting to persuade him to
withdraw the nomination. Out of doors, also, a loud
clamor was raised (the fact of the nomination having at
once leaked out), the louder because, Talleyrand's letter
to Pichon not being yet published, the public had no
means whatever of perceiving that any change of cir-
cumstances had occurred since the president had declared
in his speech at the opening of the session, but a few
weeks before, that to send another minister to France
without more determinate assurances that he would be
received would be an act of humilitiation to which the
United States ought not to submit.
Though Adams refused tc withdraw the nomination,
yet, in consequence of the representations of the com-
292 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER mittee, and of their expressed intention to report against
_ confirming it, he sent another message, nominating Chief-
1799 justice Ellsworth and Patrick Henry, jointly with Mur-
ray, envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary
to the French republic, the two former not to embark for
France until authentic and satisfactory assurances should
be received as to their reception.
Thus modified, the nomination was confirmed, sorely
against the inclination of a number of the Federal sena-
tors. But to reject it was a responsibility which they
had not the courage to assume, leading, as it certainly
would, to an immediate break up of the Federal party.
In consequence of suggestions from the Eussian min-
ister at London to the American minister there, the
president had previously nominated, and the Senate had
confirmed, King the minister at the British court, to
negotiate at London a treaty of commerce with Kussia,
and Smith, the minister at Lisbon, to form a similar
treaty with the Turks, both of those nations being at
war with France ; but the negotiations thus authorized
were not pushed to any result. A consul general — a
sort of embassador to Toussaint — was also appointed for
the island of St. Domingo, the French part of which
was now wholly under the dominion of that famous
negro chief.
The age and increasing infirmities of Henry obliged
him to decline the appointment of embassador to France ;
which he did in a letter, declaring that nothing short of
absolute necessity could have induced him to withhold
his little aid from "an administration deserving of grat-
itude and reverence for abilities and virtue." General
Davie, who had been chosen, a few months before, gov-
ernor of North Carolina, was appointed in his place.
Jefferson meanwhile continued to labor for the over
EFFORTS OF JEFFERSON". 293
throw of the administration with that same persevering, CHAPTER
/unhesitating zeal which had prompted the nullifying res- .
olutions of Kentucky and Virginia ; but as in that mat- 1799,
ter, so now, according to his usual custom, he carefully
avoided any exposure of himself, by any public use of
his tongue or pen, to the dreaded quills of Porcupine and
other Federal critics. Yet he was not, on that account,
any the less busy, according to his established method,
in stimulating others to the risk which he himself so
sensitively shunned.
In a letter of seeming sympathy and condolence, the Jan. 17.
same one already quoted for another purpose, Gerry was
most earnestly pressed — and that, indeed, seems to have
been the sole object of the letter — to imitate Monroe's
example, and to attack the administration and his late
colleagues u by full communication and unrestrained de-
tails, postponing motives of delicacy to those of duty."
" It rests with you," so the writer went on, " to come
forward independently, to make your stand on the high
ground of your own character, to disregard calumny, and
to be borne above it on the shoulders of your grateful
fellow-citizens, or to sink into the humble oblivion to
which the Federalists, self-called, have secretly con-
demned you, and even to be happy if they will indulge
you with oblivion, while they have beamed on your col-
leagues meridian splendor." But while thus urging the
aged Gerry, by this and many other like appeals to his
pride, ambition, and revenge, to a course which could
hardly fail to expose him to the most bitter personal at-
tacks, we find in this same letter striking marks not only
of Jefferson's constitutional timidity and exceeding care
for his own comfort and safety, but also of that trans-
parent simplicity with which he so often betrays him-
self in a manner almost incredible in one so artful and
294 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER shrewd. " My trust in you," so the letter concludes
^ " leaves me without a fear that this letter, meant as a
1799. confidential communication of my impressions, may ever
go out of your own hand, or be suffered in any wise to
commit my name. Indeed, besides the accidents which
might happen to it, even under your care, considering
the accident of death to which you are liable, I think it
safest to pray you, after reading it as often as you please,
to destroy at least the second and third leaves. The
first contains principles only, which I fear not to avow ;
but the second and third contain facts stated for your in-
formation, and which, though sacredly conformable to
my firm belief, yet would be galling to some, and expose
me to illiberal attacks. I therefore repeat my prayer to
burn the second and third leaves. And did we ever ex-
pect to see the day when, breathing nothing but senti-
ments of love to our country, and its freedom and hap-
piness, our. correspondence must be as secret as if we
were hatching its destruction ? Adieu, my friend ! and
accept my sincere and affectionate salutations. I need
not add my signature."
IKC. 26, Three days after the date of this letter to Gerry, Jef-
ferson wrote to urge the superannuated Pendleton — now
upward of eighty, and who, since the days of the Vir-
ginia Convention, in which the ratification of the Feder
al Constitution had been discussed, seems completely to
have changed positions with Patrick Henry — to take up
his pen to expose, in a manner "short, simple, and level
to every capacity," the wicked use made of the French
negotiation, particularly the X, Y, Z dish cooked up by
Marshall, where " the swindlers are made to appear as
the French government." Of this exposition, having
for its object to show the sincerity and good will of the
French Directory, and the " dupery" practiced en the
EFFORTS OF JEFFERSON. 295
late envoys, it was proposed to print ten or twelve thou- CHAPTEB
sand in handbills, to be dispersed over the Union under |_
^he franks of members of Congress — a work to which 1799.
Pendleton was urged by many compliments on the weight
of his character and his happy talent at that sort of com-
position. In a second letter, a fortnight afterward, Pen- Feb. 14
dleton was again pressed to the same undertaking, and
furnished with additional suggestions toward it.
Meanwhile, this indefatigable prompter addressed a
letter to Madison, urging him also into the field. " The Feb. 5-
public sentiment being now on the careen, and many
heavy circumstances about to fall into the Eepublican
scale, we are sensible that this summer is the season for
systematic exertions and sacrifices. The engine is the
press. Every man must lay his purse and his pen under
contribution. As to the former, it is possible I may be
obliged to assume something for you. As to the latter,
let me pray and beseech you to set apart a certain por-
tion of every post-day to write what may be proper for
the public. Send it to me while here, and when I go
away, I will let you know to whom you may send, so
that your name shall be sacredly secret. You can ren-
der such incalculable services in this way as to lessen
the effect of our loss of your services here." The discord
in the ranks of the Federalists, occasioned by the nom-
ination of a new embassy to France, became at once
perceptible to Jefferson's watchful eye, and nothing could
exceed the delight with which he communicated to his
political friends this new omen of victory.
In the midst of the excitement occasioned by the
nomination of new embassadors to France, Lyon, having
served out the term of his imprisonment and paid his
fine, appeared in the House and took his seat. Harper Feb. 2$
immediately offered a resolution for his expulsion, alleg-
296 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ing for cause "that lie had been convicted of being a
XIII
' malicious and seditious person, of a depraved mind and
1799 wicked and diabolical disposition, guilty of publishing
libels against the president, with design to bring the gov-
ment of the United States into contempt." Nicholas
warmly objected to the introduction into the resolution
of what he insisted to be the mere formal and technical
language of the indictment ; to which Bayard replied
that the resolution stated nothing but what a jury had
Feb. 22. found to be true. The resolution was carried forty -nine
to forty -five ; but as it required two thirds to expel,
Lyon still kept his seat. But when the session closed,
he did not venture to return to Yermont, where not only
more indictments, but pecuniary difficulties also, hung
over his head. Since he had ventured into politics, his
affairs had fallen into confusion, and he was now insol-
vent. Instead of returning home, he took refuge with
his friend Senator Mason, of Virginia, Callender's late
host, and, in a letter to the governor of Kentucky, pro-
claimed his intention of emigrating to that state at the
"head of a thousand families from Yermont.
It does not appear that either the senators or the rep-
resentatives of Kentucky had ventured to lay before their
respective houses the nullifying resolutions of that state,
notwithstanding the injunction contained in them to
that effect ; nor had the resolutions either of Kentucky
or Virginia found any favor with the state Legislatures.
Those of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jer-
sey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachu-
setts, New Hampshire, and Vermont already had, or did
soon after, expressly disavow the pretense set up of a
right in the state Legislatures to decide on the validity
of acts of Congress. The elaborate and argumentative
reply of Massachusetts maintained, in addition, the con-
ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. 297
stitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Laws — the Alien CHAFFER
\ i ir
Law being justified under the express power given to .
Congress to provide for the common defense against ex- ^799.
ternal enemies, and the Sedition Law under the power
necessarily implied to sustain the officers of the govern-
ment in the discharge of their duty against combinations
and misrepresentations tending to interrupt the execu-
tion of the laws, if not, indeed, to the overthrow of the
government.
But, though the resolutions of Kentucky and Virginia
met with no countenance from the sister states, and seem
not even to have been laid before Congress, many pe-
titions from private individuals had been presented in
the course of the session, praying for a repeal of the
Alien and Sedition Laws, and, indeed, of all the late acts
for augmenting the army, navy, and revenue. These
petitions had been referred to a special committee, Good-
rich being chairman, by whom a very elaborate report
had been made, maintaining both the constitutionality
and the expediency of the laws in question.
When this report came up for discussion, the Feder Z«e 26.
alists, satisfied with the argument of their committee,
were for taking the question at once, especially as the
session was so near its close, and so many important
matters remained to be disposed of. " They held a cau-
cus," so Jefferson wrote, " and determined that not a
word should be spoken on their side in answer to any
thing which should be said on th other. Gallatin took
ap the Alien, and Nicholas the Sedition Law, but after
a little while of common silence they began to enter into
loud conversations, laugh, cough, &o., so that for the
last hour of these gentlemen's speaking, they must have
had the lungs of a vendue-master to have been heard,
Livingston, however, attempted to speak, but after a few
298 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER sentences the speaker called him to order, and told him
XIII
* that what he was saying was not to the question It was
1799 impossible to proceed. The question was taken, and car-
ried in favor of the report, fifty -two to forty-eight. The
real strength of the two parties is fifty-six to fifty, but
two of the latter have not attended during this session."
Though the opponents of the Sedition Law talked a
great deal about the liberty of the press, of which they
even paraded themselves as the champions, it would be
a great mistake to suppose that they placed their argu-
ment against that act upon any such broad and compre-
hensive ground as true regard for liberty of the press
would require. They did not attack the principle of
government prosecutions for libels, but only the exer-
cise of any such power by the Federal government.
The criminal ]aw of libel was good law enough when
administered by the states, but in the general govern-
ment it was an unconstitutional assumption of power.
The common law on the subject of libel, as laid down
in M'Kean's charge in the case of Cobbett, and as recog-
nized in all the states, made and still makes a great and
remarkable distinction between written and spoken slan-
der ; that is, between the license allowed to the tongue
and that allowed to the pen. Spoken words are not in-
dictable under any circumstance, nor can they be made
the subject even of a private civil suit, unless some spe-
cial damage can be shown to have resulted from them,
or unless they contain the imputation of some crime, or
imply professional incapacity on the part of the person
implicated — thus assailing his life, his liberty, or his
livelihood ; and in all cases of spoken words, their truth
constitutes a complete defense.
With respect to written words the law is vastly more
severe. Any written words containing any disreputable
SEDITIOUS LIBELS. 291'
imputation of any sort, or though they merely tend to
make a person ridiculous, may not only be made the sub- ___
ject of a private suit for damages, but the writer and 1799.
publisher are also liable to be indicted for a crime against
the public. Nor, at the time of which we are speaking,
in case of such criminal prosecutions, could even the
truth of the matters charged be given in evidence, by
way of justification, except in the states of Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and Yermont, which had inserted a provision
to that effect into their recently-adopted Constitutions.
The traditional reason for this distinction given by the
law books is, that written libels tend to breaches of the
peace. But do not spoken slanders have the same ten-
dency? Do they not, in fact, give rise to frequent
breaches of the peace, ending often in homicide ? Then,
again , as to the evil produced ; it is true that written or
printed libels, between which the law makes no distinc-
tion — though there is practically a much greater distinc-
tion between them than between written libels and words
spoken — may have a wider circulation and a more per-
manent endurance, and so may produce a greater injury.
But, on the other hand, written and printed libels exist
in a definite shape, in which they may be met and re-
futed. If printed in newspapers or pamphlets, they can
hardly fail to come to the speedy notice of the party con-
cerned ; whereas spoken slanders circulate privately be-
hind a man's back, and may do irretrievable injury be-
fore their existence is known ; and even when it is
known, the fleeting and changing shape of all merely
oral declarations may often occasion great difficulty in
grasping them for refutation.
But, whatever may once have been the propriety of
this distinction, (libels In writing or print showing greater
malice and deliberation and tending to inflict a more
300 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER permanent injury,) now that newspapers have become a
necessary of life — a means, as it were, of carrying on an
1799. extended conversation between all the members of the
community, the same indulgence and impunity which
have been found necessary for the safety and comfort of
verbal intercourse ought to be extended to this new
method of talking, and the same means, and they only,
relied upon for suppressing its abuses.
With respect, in particular, to political discussions and
political newspapers, a freedom as wide as this, however
it may often degenerate into license, seems quite indis-
pensable. In all free states it has been found necessary
to guarantee to the members of the Legislature perfect
impunity for any thing said in their legislative character.
This impunity is liable to be greatly abused, and it often
is greatly abused by bad and malicious men ; but with-
out it, nothing like freedom of discussion, or the detect-
ing and ferreting out of political abuses, could be ex-
pected. And why not grant a similar impunity — at
least to the extent of freedom from criminal prosecu-
tions— to those by whom politics are discussed before
the tribunal of the whole people ? Falsehood thus dis-
seminated may be exceedingly grievous to the party be-
lied ; but being thus made to assume a distinct form,
those parties have the advantage of detecting and expos-
ing it. Very seldom, indeed, can it do them any per-
manent injury (in which case they have their remedy
by private suit), while the dread of being publicly de
nounced, acts upon the less honest with tremendous
force. The existence of one such fearless paper as the
Aurora, however objectionable in many respects that
paper might be, operated, beyond all question, as a
greater check to misconduct on the part of the Federal
officials than all the laws put together.
SEDITIOUS LIBELS. 301
But it may be asked, why object to criminal prDsecu- CHAPTER
tions when the truth may be given in evidence ? Be- __
cause this is a concession in many cases, such as that of 1799
Lyon, for example, much more showy than substantial.
Even when the facts charged are of such a nature as to
admit of distinct proof, to bring witnesses might often
be difficult, and would always be expensive. There is
another objection, much more serious. What in politi-
cal prosecutions for libel is charged as false allegation,
very often is but mere statement of opinion, matter of
inference, as to which testimony is out of the question ;
and often too these charges are made, like similar charges
in a bill of equity, for the very purpose of driving the
party accused to confess or deny the allegations.
As all popular governments rest for support, not upon
force, but upon opinion, assaults upon them limited to
words ought to be repelled by words only. The press is
open to the government also. To convict those who as-
sail it of falsehood and malice by a candid exposition of
facts, is the most certain means to destroy their influ-
ence. To appeal to the law will always expose to the
charge of being driven by conscious guilt to silence by
force, in default of reason, the complaints and criticisms
of the people, part of whose right and liberty it is to
complain and to criticise — a right and liberty of too del-
icate a nature, and too much intertwined with the first
principles of freedom, to be rashly interfered with.
Such are some of the arguments by which the wisdom
and expediency of that part of the Sedition Law relating
to libels, as well as of the whole system of criminal pros-
ecutions for libels in the state courts, might have been
plausibly, if not, indeed, convincingly assailed. But noth-
ing of this sort proceeded from the mouths of the oppo-
sition. They confined themselves very strictly to the
302 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER constitutional argument. It was a special restriction of
m '_^ the powers of the general government, not the general
1799 liberty of the press for which they contended. Not a
word was uttered against the exercise of that same pow-
er by the states, the exercise of which by the Federal
government was denounced as fatal to liberty. The op-
position argued, not like liberal statesmen and wise legis-
lators, but only like violent anti-Federal politicians.
While the nomination of envoys to France was still
pending, the bills for the increase of the navy had be-
come laws. Two others relating to the same subject
were passed shortly after, one embracing a code of rules
for the naval service, the other creating a fund for navy
hospitals by a reservation out of the monthly wages of
seamen employed in the navy, similar to that authorized
at the last session in case of merchant seamen. By a
third act the marine corps was increased to a regiment
of a thousand men. The Senate bill for a conditional
increase of the army was also passed, as was another in-
creasing the regiments of the standing force to a thou-
sand men each.
The laws relating to intercourse with the Indians, to
the post-office, and to the collection of the revenue, were
revised and re-enacted, and, in compliance with the rec-
ommendation of the president in his opening speech, the
officers of the United States were required to assist ir
the enforcement of the local quarantine laws. By an
act for increasing their salaries the secretaries of state
and of the treasury wero henceforth to receive $5000
each ; the other two secretaries, $4500 ; the attorney
general, controller, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of
the revenue, and postmaster general, $3000 each ; the
registrar of the treasury, $2400 ; the accountants of the
war and navy departments, $2000 each ; the assistant
FINANCES. REVOLUTIONARY BALANCES. 303
postmaster general, $1700. The salaries of the clerks CHAPTER
in the executive department were also increased, and a _.
new tariff of fees was established for the officers, wit- 1799.
nesses, and attorneys in the United States courts. This
increase of salaries was most violently opposed, and a
great clamor was raised against it out of doors. But
no reduction was made when these very opposers came,
soon after, to have the majority and the offices.
The appropriations for the services of the current year,
exclusive of the interest on the public debt and the con-
ditional two millions for the augmentation of the army,
but including some unexpended balances of former ap-
propriations, amounted to nine millions, half of which was
for the navy alone. The whole amount of means re-
quired for the service of the year exceeded thirteen mill-
ions of dollars. The resources for meeting this heavy
expenditure consisted, in addition to the ordinary rev-
enue, of the two million direct tax, the preparations for
collecting which were now nearly completed, and of the
five million loan lately filled at an interest of eight per
cent.
In this time of need, the balances due from the states
on the settlement of their Eevolutionary accounts were
again called to mind, and an act was passed offering to
discharge all such debtor states as within a year would
pass laws for paying within five years, or to expend with-
in that time, in fortifications, a sum in stocks of the
United States at their then market value, equal, at par
value, either to the balance due or to the whole amount
of the state debt which the United States had assumed.
This latter alternative was intended to meet the case of
New York, the balance due from which very considerably
exceeded the amount of the debt of that state assumed by
the general government, the United States being content
304 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER to relinquish the surplus of their claim, if they could but
' get back the amount thus unadvisedly advanced. New
1799 York availed itself of this and the former act on the sub-
ject to make a partial payment by expenditures on for-
tifications ; but nothing was got, or has been, to this
day, from any of the other debtor states.
Meanwhile a naval action of some importance had oc-
curred in the West Indies. Of the two French frigates
by which. Bainbridge had been captured, one had re-
turned to France, manned in part, as we have seen, by
impressed American sailors. The other, LTnsurgente,
one of the very vessels with which the renegade Barney
had blustered in the Chesapeake two years before, fell
in with the Constitution, one of Barry's squadron, from
which, however, she succeeded in escaping, the Consti-
tution having carried away one of her top-masts in the
chase. Though reckoned the best sailer in the French
navy, L'Insurgente did not fare so well with the Con-
stellation, the flag-ship of Truxtun's squadron, by which
she was chased off the island of St. Kitt's, and brought
into close action after a three hours' pursuit, during
/eb. 9, which the French frigate carried away her main top-mast.
As to number of guns, the ships were about equal ;
but the Constellation's heavier metal gave her a decided
advantage ; and, after an action of an hour and a quar-
ter, L'Insurgente struck her colors, having lost twenty
killed and forty-six wounded. The Constellation had
only three men wounded and one killed, but her rigging
was considerably cut to pieces. The prize was manned
and sent to the United States. The news, which arrived
tf arch 12. in America shortly after the adjournment of Congress,
of this first action between French and American nation-
al ships, filled the Federalists with delight, while the
ST. DOMINGO. 305
other party received it with dejection, as another obsta- CHAPTER
xm»
cle in the way of peace.
The newly-appointed consul general for St. Domingo 1799.
had already sailed thither, and, soon after, General Mait- ApriL
land, lately in command of the English forces there, ar-
rived at Philadelphia from England, with whom, in con-
junction with Liston, the English embassador, an ar-
rangement was entered into as to the trade of the island.
Information having been received that Toussaint had
complied with the conditions required, the president is-
sued his proclamation reopening commerce. A civil
war, which had broken out between Toussaint and Ei-
gaud, rendered this trade at first less profitable than had
been hoped; but an order from France presently re-
moved Eigaud from his command, and the Spanish part
of the island having submitted also to Toussaint's au-
thority, he became sole governor of the whole. He still
acknowledged, in name, the authority of the French re-
public, but acted in all things as an independent chief.
During eight years of civil war the island had suffered
severely, but a considerable number of the old white
proprietors still remained in it, to whom Toussaint ex-
tended every protection. He even invited back those
who had fled to the United States and elsewhere, an in-
vitation which several accepted. Many of the late slaves
were willing to work for wages or on shares ; and, un-
der Toussaint's judicious rule, the agriculture of the is-
land began to revive.
V.— U
506 HISTOEY OF THE tJNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XIV.
VIRGINIA, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA. REVISION OF
CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. JUDICIAL DECISIONS.
NULLIFICATION. EMBARKATION OF THE ENVOYS TO
FRANCE. DIVISION OF THE FEDERAL PARTY. COMMIS-
SIONS UNDER THE BRITISH TREATY SUSPENDED. FIRST
SESSION OF THE SIXTH CONGRESS. DEATH OF WASH-
INGTON. INDIANA TERRITORY. NAVAL AFFAIR],
CHAPTER PENDING the session of Congress, a warm canvass
XIV
' had been going on in Virginia preliminary to the March
1799 elections. The Federal party now, for the first time,
had become strong enough, in that state, to offer battle to
the opposition. Though much occupied in correspond-
ing with the Secretary of War and others as to the or-
ganization of the additional regiments and of the army
generally, Washington entered with great zeal into this
Jan. 15. canvass. In a letter to Patrick Henry, urging him to
offer, if not as a candidate for Congress, at least for the
Assembly, he very fully expressed his sentiments. " It
would be a waste of time," he wrote, "to attempt to
bring to the view of a person of your observation and dis-
cernment the endeavors of a certain party among us to
disquiet the public mind with unfounded alarms, to ar-
raign every act of the administration, to set the people
at variance with their government, and to embarrass all
Nov. 20. its measures. Equally useless would it be to predict
what must be the inevitable consequences of such a pol-
icy, if it can not be arrested.
"Unfortunately, and extremely do I regret it, the
WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL VIEWS. 307
State of Virginia has taken the lead in this opposition, CHAPTER
I have said the state, because the conduct of its Legis- _ _.
lature, in the eyes of the world, will authorize the ex- 1799
pression, and because it is an incontrovertible fact that
the principal leaders of the opposition dwell in it, and
that, with the help of the chiefs in the other states, all
the plans are arranged and systematically pursued by
their followers in other parts of the Union ; though in no
state except Kentucky, that I have heard of, has legis-
lative countenance been obtained beyond Virginia.
" It has been said that the great mass of the citizens
of this state are well affected, notwithstanding, to the
general government and the Union ; and I am willing
to believe it — nay, do believe it ; but how is this to be
reconciled with their choice of representatives, both to
Congress and their state Legislature, who are opposed
to the general government, and who, by the tendency
of their measures, would destroy the Union ? Some
among us have endeavored to account for this inconsist-
ency ; but, though convinced themselves, they are un-
able to convince others, unacquainted with the internal
Dolicy of the State.
" One of the reasons assigned is, that the most re-
spectable and best-qualified characters among us will
not come forward. Easy and happy in their circum-
stances at home, and believing themselves secure in their
liberties and property, they will not forsake their occu-
pations, and engage in the turmoil of public business, or
expose themselves to the calumnies of their opponents,
whose weapons are detraction.
" But at such a crisis as this, when everything dear
and valuable to us is assailed ; when this party hangs
upon the wheels of government as a deadweight, oppos-
ing every measure that is calculated for defense and self-
308 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER preservation, abetting the nefarious views of other na
tions upon our rights, preferring, as long as they dare
1799 contend openly against the spirit and resentment of the
people, the interest of France to the welfare of their
own country, justifying the former at the expense of the
latter ; when all the acts of their own government are
tortured, by constructions they will not bear, into at-
tempts to infringe and trample upon the Constitution,
with a view to introduce monarchy ; when the most un-
ceasing and the purest exertions which were made to
maintain a neutrality, proclaimed by the executive, ap-
proved unequivocally by Congress, by the state Legisla-
tures, nay, by the people themselves in various meet-
ings, and to preserve the country in peace, are charged
with being measures calculated to favor Great Britain
at the expense of France, and all those who had any
agency in it are accused of being under the influence of
Great Britain and her pensioners ; when measures are
systematically and pertinaciously pursued which must
eventually dissolve the Union or produce coercion ; I
say, when these things have become so obvious, ought,
characters who are best able to rescue their country from
the pending evil to remain at home ? Eather, ought
they not to come forward, and by their talents and in-
fluence stand in the breach which such conduct has
made on the peace and happiness of this country, and
oppose the widening of it ?
" Vain will it be to look for peace and happiness, or
for the security of liberty or property, if civil discord
should ensue. And what else can result from the poli-
cy of those among us who, by all the measures in their
power, are driving matters to extremity, if they can not
be counteracted effectually? The views of men can
only be known or guessed at by their words 01 actions.
WASHINGTON'S POLITICAL VIEWS. 309
Can those of the leaders of the opposition be mistaken CKAPTEK
if they are judged by this rule ? That they are followed ''
by numbers who are unacquainted with their designs, 1790
and suspect as little the tendency of their principles, I
am fully persuaded. But if their conduct is viewed with
indifference ; if there are activity and misrepresentation
on one side, and .supineness on the other, their numbers
accumulated by intriguing and discontented foreigners
under proscription, who were at war with their own gov-
ernments, and the greater part of them with all govern-
ments, they will increase, and nothing short of Omnis-
cience can foretell the consequences." " There are, I
have no doubt, very many sensible men who oppose
themselves to the torrent, that carries away others who
had rather swim with than stem it, without an able pilot
to conduct them; but these are neither old in legislation
nor well known in the community. Your weight of
character and influence in the House of Eepresentatives
would be a bulwark against such dangerous sentiments
as are delivered there at present. It would be a rally-
ing-point for the timid and an attraction for the waver-
ing. In a word, I conceive it to be of immense import-
ance, at this crisis, that you should be there ; and I
would fain hope that all minor considerations will be
made to yield."
This letter of "Washington's, it is curious to observe,
was written almost simultaneously with those of Jeffer-
son, already quoted, to Gerry, Pendleton, and Madison,
stimulating them to new attacks on the administration.
Of the leaders of the opposition referred to in it, and of
whom Washington, in a previous letter to his nephew
Bushrod, had remarked that " they had points to carry .
from which no reasoning, no inconsistency of conduct,
DO absurdity can divert them," Jefferson was undoubt-
BIO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER edly the chief; and this letter alone is quite sufficient to
. settle the mooted, but in no respect doubtful question
1799, °f Washington's final opinion of his once-trusted Secre-
tary of State.
The aged patriot to whom Washington addressed him
self did not turn a deaf ear to the appeal. Few are in-
sensible to personal motives, and, besides those political
considerations urged by "Washington, Henry had strong
personal reasons for thinking well of, and giving his sup-
port to, that system of government which he had once
so vehemently opposed. Within a few years past he had
entered extensively into the prevailing land speculations,
and, more judicious and fortunate than many others, had
been made wealthy by the appreciation of his landed
property. He offered himself as a candidate for the
House of Delegates, and was elected, as usual, by a large
majority. But he did not live to take his seat; and the
Federal party thus unfortunately lost, at this critical
moment, the much-needed support of his influence and
eloquence.
Of the Federal candidate for Congress in his own dis-
trict Washington was a zealous supporter, and he rode
ten miles on the day of election in order to deposit his
vote. Of the nineteen members to which Virginia was
entitled, the Federalists carried eight, including Henry
Lee and Marshall, the latter chosen from the Eichmond
district. Of the ten North Carolina members, the Fed-
eralists carried seven, also five out of six in South Car-
olina, and the two of Georgia.
The Legislature of New York, of which state the seat
of government had been transferred to Albany two years
ApriL before, had enacted, at its session lately terminated, two
laws of historical importance. One was an act for the
gradual extinguishment of slavery, a measure which
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IK NEW YORK. 311
Governor Jay had much at heart, and which, after three CHAPTER
previous unsuccessful attempts, was now at last carried.
Those who were slaves at the passage of the act were to 1799.
continue so for life ; but all their children born after the
4th of July then following were to be free, to remain,
however, with the owner of the mother as apprentices,
males till the age of twenty-eight, and females till the
age of twenty-five. The exportation of slaves was for-
bidden under a pecuniary penalty, the slave upon whom
the attempt was made to become free at once. Persons
removing into the state might bring with them slaves
whom they had owned for a year previously ; but slaves
so brought in could not be sold.
The other act was of a very different character. It
established the Manhattan Company, with a perpetual
charter, and a capital of two millions — -a scheme con-
cocted by Chancellor Livingston and other leading mem-
bers of the opposition, and carried through the Assem-
bly by the address of Burr, who was this year a mem-
ber ; the object being to strengthen the hands of the op-
position by establishing a bank of which they should have
the control, the other two banks in the city of New York,
the New York Bank and the United States Branch Bank,
being in the hands of the Federalists. Had this design
been suspected, it never could have been carried into
execution ; but Burr contrived to get the bill through
without any hint of its actual intention, except to a few
of his brother members, who he knew could be relied
upon, Taking advantage of the discussions which the
yellow fever had occasioned as to the necessity of pro-
curing a supply of pure water for the city of New York,
the object of the Manhattan Company purported to be
the procuring such a supply. But the Company was
only bound to furnish water within ten years to such
312 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER citizens as might choose to take it. on such terms as the
XIV.
J company might prescribe ; and under a clause author-
1799. izing the employment of the company's surplus capital
in the purchase of stocks " or any other moneyed trans-
actions or operations," a right of banking was claimed
as soon as the charter was granted, and was avowed as
the great object of the company, to which the water was
only a cover. In its immediate operation, at least, this
piece of trickery did not much strengthen the opposition,
April. for in the state election which followed the close of the
session, the Federalists obtained a decided victory.
The Legislature of Pennsylvania, during their session,
had passed an important act for quieting the New Eng-
land settlers under Connecticut grants prior in date to
the Trenton decision. The state undertook to indemni-
fy the claimants of the same lands under Pennsylvania
grants by paying them certain sums per acre, according
to the quality of the lands arranged for that purpose
into four classes ; but a part of this indemnity was to be
contributed by the Connecticut holders. Thus at last
was an effectual step taken toward a settlement of this
protracted and troublesome controversy.
Shortly after the adjournment of Congress, one of the
natural results of the late violent assaults on the author-
ity of the Federal government made its appearance in
Pennsylvania. The direct tax was to be levied, among
other things, on houses, arranged in certain classes ; and
among other prescribed means for making that classifica-
tion was a measurement of the windows. In the coun-
ties of Northampton, Bucks, and Montgomery, a violent
opposition had been made to this measurement, princi-
pally on the part of the German inhabitants, so much
so that those employed in it had been obliged to desist
Warrant? were issued from the District Court of Penn-
PEIE'S INSURRECTION. 313
Bylvania against the rioters, and the marshal arrested CHAPTER
some thirty persons ; but in the village of Bethlehem he
was set upon, and his prisoners were rescued by an armed 1799.
party of fifty horsemen, headed by one Fries. The pres- March 7.
ident immediately issued a proclamation requiring sub- March 1 2.
mission to the laws. He called upon the governor of
Pennsylvania for a detachment of militia ; and some
troops of light horse detailed for this purpose, being
joined by several companies newly enlisted for the ad-
ditional regiments, marched at once into the disturbed
counties. The commanding officer put forth an address
to the inhabitants, showing how little reason they had
to complain, as the money was wanted for national de-
fense, and the law was so arranged as to favor the poor,
the ratio of the tax to the worth of the house increasing
largely with the increase of value. No opposition was
made to the troops, and Fries and some thirty others
were secured and carried to Philadelphia. Fries was
indicted for treason, and in spite of the efforts of Dallas,
aided by Lewis, a Federal lawyer, among the ablest in
the state, who argued that his offense amounted only to
riot, he was found guilty. The court held that to resist
a law by force, with intent to defeat its execution alto-
gether, amounted to levying war. But as it appeared
after verdict that one of the jury, previous to being em-
panneled, had expressed his opinion that Fries ought to
be hung, a new trial was granted. Several of Fries7
companions were found guilty of misdemeanor. While
these trials were going on, the Aurora continued to be
filled with unfounded aspersions on the officers and sol-
diers employed to arrest Fries. They were charged with
living at free quarters on the inhabitants, and with chain-
ing their prisoners in a manner so negligent or vindictive,
that some old men had their wrists worn to the bone b
314 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the handcuffs. As the editor, when called upon for that
XIV
purpose by a deputation of the officers, refused to fix the
1799 imputation on any particular corps, thus leaving it
doubtful if there were any remedy at law, two or three
of them were deputed to give him a sound beating,
which was administered accordingly on his own pren>
ises, a chief actor in the affair being a son of Chief-
justice M'Kean, who had commanded one of the militia
troops of horse. A similar castigation had been previ-
ously inflicted upon the editor of a German paper at
Beading, which had been filled with still more scanda-
lous libels on the conduct of the troops, accused of beat-
ing women and children, and other like outrages. This
attempt of the officers to revenge themselves was at
once seized upon by all the opposition papers as the
first fruits of incipient military despotism. Not satisfied
with the trifling fines inflicted for this breach of the
peace, Duane commenced a civil suit against young
M'Kean; and this affair, in the end, was not without an
important influence on the politics of Pennsylvania.
Already a very vigorous canvass was going on for the
chief magistracy of that state. Mifflin's third term of
office was now about to expire, and the Constitution
would not allow of his re-election, for which, indeed, his
habitual drunkenness and declining health but very ill
qualified him. The administration of the government,
for some time past, had been almost entirely controlled
by Secretary Dallas and Chief-justice M'Kean, and with
a view to continue power in the same hands, M'Kean was
brought forward as the Eepublican candidate by a sort
of caucus or meeting of some active politicians. The
Federalists nominated Senator Boss, and the canvass be-
gun to be carried on in a very bitter spirit. Two ob-
jections were principally urged against Koss, both rather
REVISED CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY. 815
curious as coming from a party of which Jefferson was CH APTI r
the great leader, and Gallatin a principal champion. One .. t ...
was a suspicion that Boss' religious views were not or- 1799
thodox, he having voted in convention against that clause
of the Constitution of Pennsylvania which required all
office-holders to acknowledge " the being of a God, and
a future state of rewards and punishments," whereas
M'Kean was a very orthodox Presbyterian, and had
voted for that clause, without which, as he had remarked,
the state might have atheists in office. The having con-
tributed, by his avowed hostility to the Excise Law, to
bring about the Whisky Insurrection, constituted a sec-
ond objection to Eoss. Yet in all this there was not
wanting a sort of wily policy. The Eepublicans were
sure to vote against Eoss at any rate, because he was
not of their party, and these objections were only in-
tended for weak-minded Federalists.
Somewhat later in the season a convention met in August
Kentucky to revise the Constitution of that growing
state. George Nicholas, the draughtsman of the former
Constitution, and the nominal author of the late nullify-
ing resolutions, was recently dead. Of the present As-
sembly, John Breckenridge, a lawyer of eminence, who
had been president of the Democratic Society of Lexing-
ton, was the leading spirit. The chief change in the
Constitution related to the choice of senators and govern-
or, which were given directly to the people, the coun-
ties to be arranged into as many districts as there were
senators, one fourth of the number to vacate their seats
annually, the senatorial term, as under the first Consti-
tution, to be four years. Some attempt was made to in-
troduce a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery,
an attempt supported by Henry Clay, a recent immigrant
from Virginia, a young lawyer, who commenced a po
316 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER litical career of half a century, "by holding a seat in this
'VIV'
^_ Convention. The attempt met, however, with very
1799 feeble support, and, so far as related to the subject of
slavery, the Constitution underwent no change.
A similar proposition for the gradual abolition of slav-
ery had been introduced a short time before into the
Maryland Assembly, but it found so little encourage-
ment there as to be withdrawn by the mover. Even in
Pennsylvania, a proposition introduced into the Assem
bly for the immediate and total abolition of slavery,
though supported by the earnest efforts of the Pennsyl-
vania Abolition Society, failed of success. The contem-
poraneous act of the state of New York for the gradual
abolition of slavery, has been already mentioned.
Two judicial decisions, made in the course of the sum-
mer, furnished the opposition to the general government
with new topics of bitter complaint. In the year 1797
a mutiny had occurred on board the British frigate Her-
mione, then in the "West Indies ; several of the officers
had been killed, and the vessel, having been carried into
La Guayra, on the Spanish Main, had there been sold by
the mutineers. In the course of the present summer,
one Thomas Nash, former boatswain of the Hermione,
and an active leader in the mutiny, had made his appear-
ance at Charleston, in South Carolina, under the name
of Nathan Bobbins, and having betrayed himself by
imprudent boastings, had been arrested at the instance
of the British consul, under that clause of Jay's treaty
which provided for the mutual surrender of forgers and
murderers. Application having been made to the presi-
dent on the subject, he wrote to Bee, the district judge,
to give the prisoner up on proof of identity and the pro-
duction of such further evidence as would justify his
apprehension and commitment for trial had the c ffense
CASES OF BOBBINS AND "WILLIAMS. 317
occurred within the jurisdiction of the United States. CHAPTER
X.1 V .
The ground taken by the president was, that a national
ship of war on the high seas formed a part of the juris- 1799.
diction of the nation under whose flag she sailed.
To avert his impending fate, the fugitive mutineer as-
sumed the name of Jonathan Eobbins, produced a nota-
rial certificate or " protection" granted in New York, in
1795, to a person of that name, and also made an affi-
davit that he was born in Danbury, in Connecticut, and
that two years before he had been pressed into the Brit-
ish service. In spite, however, of these documents, his
identification as the Thomas Nash of the Hermione be-
ing complete, he was delivered up, and, being carried to July-
Halifax, was tried by a court martial, found guilty, and
hanged. He confessed at his execution that he was an
Irishman, and it appeared by the Hermione's books that
he had entered the service at the beginning of the war,
being entered as born at Waterford. But before the re-
sult of this investigation had become known, a great clam -
or had been raised against the president and Jay's treaty,
Charles Pinckney, lately chosen a senator from South
Carolina, of which state he had just ceased to be govern-
or, and who had acted as counsel for the prisoner, tak-
ing a very active part in it. The president was charged
with having given up an American citizen to be tried
for a mutiny, in which, if he really did join it, he was
justifiable enough, since he had been pressed into the
British service ; and even after the result of the Halifax
court martial was known, the same accusation was still
continued, the proof adduced on the trial being repre-
sented as manufactured for the occasion.
The other case was that of Isaac Williams, one of those
American renegadoes who, under color of being natural-
ized as French citizens, had enriched themselves by pri-
318 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER vateering, under the French flag, against American as
' well as British commerce. After making himself rich
1799. and notorious by this discreditable means, Williams had
Sept 28. the audacity to return to Connecticut, his native state,
there to enjoy his ill-gotten gains. But he was speedily
arrested and indicted under that clause of Jay's treaty
which prohibited privateering by American citizens
against British commerce. The trial came on before
Chief-justice Ellsworth — one of the last cases on which
he ever sat — and he instructed the jury that Williams,
notwithstanding the French letters of naturalization pro-
duced in his defense, was still subject to American law,
it not being in the power of any man to throw off by his
own volition the allegiance to the country in which he
had been born. Under this doctrine — held at the pres-
ent day, by the decided weight even of American au-
thority, to be good law, and never questioned in any
other country — Williams was found guilty, and fined
and imprisoned ; very much to the dissatisfaction of the
ultra Republican sympathizers with France, and advo-
cates of the right and power of expatriation.
Another point of law which furnished still further oc-
casion for clamor and alarm was the claim, since aban-
doned, but then vigorously maintained, of a common
law criminal jurisdiction in the Federal courts — the
right, that is, without any special statute, to punish by
fine and imprisonment, such acts as, without any special
statute, were indictable by the common law of England
and the states, whenever committed under such circum-
stances as would bring them within the general range
of Federal jurisdiction. Edmund Randolph, who, since
his dismissal by Washington, had remained in perfect
political obscurity, though enjoying an extensive practice
as a lawyer, attempted to recall attention to himself by
DOCTRINE OF NULLIFICATION. 319
a pamphlet against this doctrine, — a work in which he CHAFFER
was strenuously encouraged by Jefferson.
Nor did Jefferson exhibit any disposition to give up 1799.
his own doctrine of nullification, notwithstanding the re-
pudiation of it by so many states. After a consultation
between him, Madison, and Wilson C. Nicholas, it was
agreed that Madison, who had now again come actively
forward, (having been chosen to the House of Delegates
on purpose to oppose Patrick Henry,) should draw up a
report in answer to the various objections urged against
the resolutions of the last session. To make this report
as palatable as possible, it was to express great attach-
ment to the Union, and indisposition to break it for slight
causes. Jefferson wished, indeed, a positive reservation
of the right to make the recent alleged violations of the
compact, should these violations be continued or re-
peated, "the ground of doing hereafter what might
rightfully be done now ;" but the more cautious and
moderate Madison preferred to argue the abstract point
of mere right, without going so far as to suggest any ac-
tual exercise of it, either present or future. And, in-
deed, if sijch a right really existed, Jefferson's proposed
reservation was quite superfluous, since any violation of
the contract, continued or renewed, would, without any
reservation, itself afford ground enough for action.
The management of matters in Kentucky was intrust-
ed to Wilson C. Nicholas, then about to make a journey
thither to look after the affairs of his deceased brother.
He employed as the active agent John Breckenridge, al-
ready mentioned, on whom, since the death of George
Nicholas, the political leadership of that state had de-
volved. " To avoid suspicions, which were pretty strong
in some quarters on the late occasion,1' so he himself
tells us, Jefferson omitted to prepare any thing in writ-
820 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ing ; yet, except a preamble complaining of the terms
' in which, in some of the states, the former resolutions
1799 had been denounced as incompatible with the Federal
Nov. 14. Union, but declining argument, the material part of the
resolutions brought forward and adopted was mainly
copied from such portions of Jefferson's original draft as
Nicholas had omitted ; especially the famous declaration
that, in cases of violations of the Constitution, " the
several states who formed that instrument, being sover-
eign and independent, have the unquestionable right to
judge of the infraction, and that a nullification by those
sovereignties of all unauthorized acts, under color of that
instrument, is the rightful remedy." But the Kentucky
politicians, for all these bold words, were even less dis
posed than at the former session to commit themselves
to any positive action. Content with asserting the gen
eral principles in the abstract, even the verbal nullifica
tion of the Alien and Sedition Laws was not repeated,
the Legislature being satisfied instead with a mere pro-
test against their constitutionality.
Madison performed his part of the programme by bring
ing forward, a few weeks after, in the Virginia Assembly,
a long and elaborate report, assuming to justify the reso
lutions of the preceding session as " founded in truth, con-
sonant with the Constitution, and conducive to its preser-
vation ;" but winding up, in the same inconclusive man-
ner as the Kentucky resolves, with a mere protest against
the unconstitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Laws.
In spite of the stimulus of party spirit, Madison had not
so far forgotten his large share in framing the Constitu-
tion and procuring its adoption, as to be willing to sanc-
tion, as a right reserved to and vested in the states, a
veto upon the laws of the Union wholly incompatible
with any quiet exercise of the federal authority ; and his
EELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 321
report, while pretending to justify the resolutions, in fact CHAPTER
abandoned them in their essential part. The assertion _
in the Virginia resolutions of '98 of a right in the indi- 1799,
vidual states, in cases of palpable violations of the Con-
stitution, "to interfere for arresting the progress of the
evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits,
the authorities, liberties, and rights appertaining to the
states," was now explained to mean nothing more than
a general right of resistance, not the right of the states
particularly, or at all growing out of their federal rela-
tions, but that general right of human nature fully ad-
mitted on all sides to resist, and when other means should
fail, to attempt to rectify by force, intolerable grievances
and oppressions— a right which no American ever thought
of disputing, and which it was hardly necessary to set
forth in legislative resolutions.
The same Legislature which adopted this report ex-
pressed their confidence in Monroe and approval of his
policy by electing him governor of the state.
Immediately after the confirmation by the Senate of
the new envoys to France, a letter had been written to
Murray, at the Hague, directing him to convey informa-
tion of that appointment to the French government, to
which was to be added that the other two envoys would
not embark for Europe without direct and unequivocal
assurances from the Directory, previously given through
their minister for foreign affairs, that the new embas-
sadors would be received and admitted to an audience
in their official character, and a minister of equal grade
be appointed to treat with them. At the same time,
Murray was directed to have no more informal commu-
nications of any kind with any French agents.
In answer to Murray's communication, Talleyrand
had hastened to give assurances, in the terms required, Maj 5
V.— X
322 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER not without expressions of regret that the negotiation
' should be so long delayed for the mere confirmation of
1799 what he had so repeatedly declared to Gerry.
August. Upon the arrival in America of these assurances, in
spite of the known reluctance of the majority of his cab-
inet, the president, who had been at Braintree since the
close of the session, directed orders to be sent to the en-
voys to prepare for immediate embarkation ; and that the
Secretary of State, with the assistance of the other heads
of departments, should immediately draw up and send to
him for approval a draft of instructions. The two prin-
cipal points of these instructions, indemnity for the spoli-
ations heretofore committed on American commerce, and
freedom for the future from any obligation to guarantee
any part of the French dominions, had been agreed upon
previous to the president's leaving Philadelphia ; but
the preparation of the instructions in detail, including
a draft of a new treaty as a substitute for the present
ones, had been delayed, perhaps, by the reluctance of
Pickering, but partly, also, by the reappearance of the
yellow fever, which had again compelled the removal of
the public offices to Trenton.
As finally agreed to, th'e instructions directed that, if
Talleyrand's assurances were not promptly fulfilled, and
the negotiation commenced within twenty days after the
arrival of the envoys at Paris, and continued in good
faith, they should at once demand their passports and
leave France without listening to any fresh overtures ;
nor, unless for special reasons, were they to allow the
negotiation to be protracted beyond the first of the en-
suing April. Indemnity for spoliations and release from
the guarantee, indeed from all the obligations of the old
treaty of alliance and commerce and of the consular con-
vention, were to be insisted upon as had previously been
RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 323
agreed ; also the repeal of the French decree for confis- CHAPTER
eating neutral vessels having English merchandise on (
board. In other respects, the instructions corresponded 1799.
with those given to the former envoys.
Bj the time these instructions were nearly ready,
news arrived of the Eevolution in France of the 30th Sept. IL
Prarial (June 18th), by which the whole Directory, ex-
cept Barras, had been changed — a consequence of the
severe reverses which the arms of the Eepublic had late-
ly experienced. Accounts of these reverses, arriving
from time to time in America, had increased the disin-
clination felt from the beginning by many of the active
Federal leaders for any renewal of diplomatic intercourse
with France ; and they eagerly insisted upon the recent
change as a reason for further delay. Who could tell
if the new Directors would hold themselves bound by the
assurances of the old ones ? Further revolutions were
also foreseen. Such, of late, had been the rapid successes
of the allies, the Arch-duke Charles triumphant on the
Ehine, and the French quite driven out of Italy by the
arms of Suwarrow, and Bonaparte absent and unsuccess-
ful, perhaps already slain in the East, that even the Ee-
public itself seemed in danger. Indeed, the restoration
of the Bourbons began to be talked of as an event by no
means improbable ; Murray's recent dispatches were all
in that strain ; and the whole cabinet concurred in a let-
ter to the president suggesting the suspension of the mis-
sion. Ellsworth also wrote to him to the same effect.
Before coming to a final decision, the president re-
solved to proceed to Trenton. When he reached that
place he found Davie already there. Ellsworth, whom
the president had seen and talked with on the way, ar-
rived a day or two after. Hamilton, accompanied by
3eneral Wilkinson, happened also to be present on af-
324 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER fairs of the army ; but Adams strongly suspected his
' real business to be, to overlook the deliberations of a cab
17-99 inet, of which he afterward vehemently complained that
it was more Hamilton's than his. Well knowing, from
many conversations with its separate members, what
their opinions would be, and the instructions having
been at last finally arranged, the president, as on the for-
mer occasion of the nomination of Murray, issued direc-
tions, without any special cabinet consultation, that the
envoys should embark as speedily as possible in the
frigate United States, then lying at Newport ready to
receive them.
This second slight put upon their opinions, and disre
gard of what they seem to have esteemed their right to
be consulted, made a final and permanent breach between
the president and three of his secretaries. Stoddert, the
Secretary of the Navy, who had exhibited great energy
and ability in that department, and Lee, the Attorney
General, were by no means so strenuous in opposing the
departure of the envoys, being inclined to defer to the
president's judgment in that matter. The three offended
secretaries complained, in addition, of what they seemed
to consider an unjustifiable finesse, and which did, in-
deed, show a certain adroitness on the part of the presi-
dent, his obtaining their concurrence in the instructions,
without giving them an opportunity to protest against
the mission itself, which, by agreeing to the instructions,
they might even seem to have approved. But, though all
confidence between them and the president was now at
an end, they still continued to hold their places. Their
position in Adams's cabinet bore a certain resemblance
to Jefferson's in that of "Washington. They appear to
have been influenced by the hope of availing themselves
of their official position to secure a successor to Adams
RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 325
whose policy might more conform to theirs, and of act- CHAPTER
ing, meanwhile, as far as might be, as a clog upon those ,
measures which they did not approve ; while Adams, on 1799.
his part, hesitated to widen the already alarming breach
in the Federal party by actually turning them out of
office.
The objections on the part of Pickering, Wolcott, and
M 'Henry, to a renewal of diplomatic relations with France
— objections in which Hamilton and a large number of
the more zealous Federalists concurred — were ostensibly
based upon doubts as to the sincerity of the French gov-
ernment ; the impossibility of relying with confidence
upon any stipulations made by Talleyrand ; and the idea
that the honor of the country did not allow any further
advances on our part, while the piratical French de-
crees against American commerce remained unrepealed.
"Washington himself was strongly disposed to this view,
though, with his usual candor and caution, he declined
to express a definitive opinion as to a matter the whole
of which did not lie before him.
But, while such were the objections openly urged,
what, no doubt, had quite as much real weight, whether
the parties so influenced were perfectly conscious of it or
not, was the effect which the resumption of negotiations
might have and would be likely to have on the domestic
politics of the country.
The manly resistance made by the Federalists to the
insults and aggressions of France seemed to give them
a hold upon the public mind such as they had never pos-
sessed before. The self-styled Eepublican party, having
come forward as advocates of submission, had withered
and wasted iinder the meridian blaze of an excited patri-
otism ; and, as a means of keeping up that feeling, and
raising it to a still higher pitch, many of the more ardent
326 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Federalists were ready and anxious for open war ; espe-
_ cially now that the declining fortune of the French re-
1799 public made her much less formidable as an adversary
than she had seemed to be a year or two before.
The late wrongs and insults of the French rankled
deeply in ardent bosoms. A large part of the more in-
telligent and better-educated people — and of such the
Federal party was composed — had lost all that attach-
ment for France which, cotemporaneously with the
French alliance, had sprung so suddenly into existence,
and which the early progress of the French Revolution
had raised to a high pitch of enthusiasm. That short-
lived attachment was now, on their part, replaced by a
feeling compounded of old traditional prejudices against
the French, and of that horror, dread, and detestation
which the atrocities of the Revolution, the overbearing
insolence of the Republic, and, in particular, the aboli-
tion of the Christian worship, had combined to excite.
It began to be argued, and with a good deal of plausi-
bility, that the French alliance had never been of any
advantage to America ; that, so far from having secured
our independence, as the French and their partisans al-
leged, it had, by arousing in Great Britain a bitter spiril
of national jealousy, operated to protract a contest which,
but for the interference of France, would have been
much sooner ended, and without leaving behind it such
deep traces of anger and hate. France, so it was argued,
had originally espoused our cause, not from any love to
us, but from desire to injure Great Britain. Proofs of
her selfishness in this respect, derived from the French
archives, had been brought over by Genet, and had been
made public with the very view of showing that Amer
ica owed no debt of gratitude to the fallen monarchy.
These documents had served to give new strength to the
RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 327
old suspicions that, in the negotiation of the treaty of CHAPTER
peace, France had played us false in the matter of the _____
fisheries and the Western boundary ; and it was even 1799.
endeavored to reflect back the recent insolence and bad
faith of Talleyrand and the Directory upon Yergennes
and Louis XVI., who seem (however some might have
thought otherwise) to have always conducted toward the
United States with candor and generosity. In the same
spirit an attempt was made to trace back that French
influence, so conspicuous in the United States within the
last few years, to a still earlier period. The journals of
the old confederation were quoted to show that the in-
structions, to submit themselves in all things to the di-
rection of France, given to the American commissioners
for negotiating peace, had been carried against New
England by the votes of Virginia and the South. Sub-
serviency to France, which it was thus attempted to fix
upon Virginia even at that early day, lay at the bottom,
so it was argued, of the whole opposition to the Federal
government, and to counteract and destroy it nothing
would so effectually serve as war with the French re-
public ; or, if the people could not be brought to that,
a continuance in the existing position of commercial
non-intercourse and resistance to aggressions.
This, as must be evident at a single glance, was a very
different position from that occupied by Adams and the
Federal party at the commencement of his administra-
tion. It was going quite as far against France, and for
very similar reasons too, as the opposition had been in-
clined to go against England ; a complete abandonment
of that system of neutrality which "Washington had pro-
claimed, and upon which Adams had insisted, as at once
the right and the true policy of America. Because a
portion of the Federalists had changed their views, was
328 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Adams obliged to change with them? Was he, as a
'____ party political expedient, to assume the terrible respon-
1799 sibilitj of plunging the nation into all the sufferings, ex-
penses, arul dangers of a war ? Even as a party expe-
dient, was the policy of protracting the dispute with
France so certain ? All the considerations already sug-
gested as motives for the nomination of Murray would
weigh equally strong in favor of proceeding with the
mission. How little to be relied upon the recent outbursts
of Federal feeling really were, was apparent in the re-
sult of the Pennsylvania election, just concluded, in
which M'Kean had been elected governor by twenty-
eight thousand votes to twenty-three thousand for Eoss,
the Federal candidate. Nor did there seem any great
force in the reasons urged for delaying the mission. The
harder pressed the Directory were, the more likely they
would be to treat. And even in case the Republic should
fall, there would be no harm, as Adams suggested, to
have envoys present on the spot to welcome the restora-
tion of the ancient monarchy. So fluctuating were the
chances of war, that before the envoys reached France,
the fortunes of the Eepublic had begun again to ascend;
and had negotiation been unprovided for, the speedy
European peace that followed would have left America
to fight alone ; or, that being out of the question, as it
would have been, to accept such terms as France might
choose to dictate.
The wisdom of the mission thus justified, as well on
general considerations as by the actual result, it will not
take long to dispose of the imputations against its au-
thor, freely thrown out at the time, and since so often
reiterated. The principal of these imputations are, jeal-
ousy of Hamilton, to whom a war would be likely to
bring great addition of influence and reputation, arid the
JUSTIFICATION OP THE PRESIDENT. 329
hope, by appeasing the hostility of the opposition, to se- CHAPTER
cure his own re-election. Give to these motives all the .
force which, under the circumstances, they can be pre- 3 799.
sumed to have had — and that Adams was quite accessi-
ble to such motives is not to be denied — yet they prompt-
ed to no sacrifice of the country's interest or honor ; at
the most, they only tended to confirm a resolution wise
and good in itself. Making due allowance, then, for the
natural infirmities of humanity — the more necessary in
the case of a man like Adams, the ungovernable vehem-
ence and incautiousness of whose temper, a most strik-
ing contrast to Jefferson's, made his weaknesses but too
patent to the world — and in spite of the somewhat mis-
placed sneers of Jefferson and others, who profited by
his fall ; in spite of what he himself felt infinitely more,
the anger and obloquy of many of his former political
supporters — an obloquy which clouded the long remain-
der of his life, souring his temper, embittering his heart,
and making him, as to certain persons, excessively un-
just— it is yet impossible to discover, in the institution
of this second mission to France, anything to conflict
with that character for honesty and independence which
Franklin and Jefferson, neither of them partial judges,
had united to bestow upon Adams ; and in which the
general voice of his country, including even his politi-
cal opponents, had, down to this moment, almost unani
mously concurred.
!Nor will a due sense of historical justice allow us to
stop here. Whatever, on this memorable occasion, might
have been the mixture of personal motives in Adams's
conduct, no reason appears to esteem it so great as ma-
terially to detract from the merits of an action of the
highest and noblest class which it ever falls to the lot of
statesmen to perform ; that of boldly risking their own
330 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER personal popularity to secure to their country an honoi-
able peace. Adams seems, in fact, to have been right,
1799. when, long after (1809), in the freedom of confidential
correspondence, he asserted that this, the most ques-
tioned of all his actions, was " the most disinterested, the
most determined, prudent, and successful of his whole
life." " I was obliged," he added, "to give peace and
unexampled prosperity to my country for eight years —
and if it is not of longer duration it is not my fault—
against the advice, entreaties, and intrigues of all my
ministers, and all the leading Federalists in both houses
of Congress." In the agony of present suffering, groan-
ing like the chained Prometheus or the mountain-buried
Titan under the " intolerable load of obloquy and inso-
lence" heaped upon him by the " eternal reviling" of the
Federal newspapers — revilings renewed at that moment
in consequence of the political course adopted by his
son — he despaired of and almost spurned at the justice
of history. " Too many falsehoods are already trans-
mitted to posterity that are irrevocable. Eecords them-
selves are often liars. No human being but myself can
do me justice ; and I shall not be believed. All I can
say will be imputed to vanity and self-love." Yet, jus-
tice, there can be little doubt, he will ultimately obtain,
as the party mist which has hitherto enveloped our post-
revolutionary history rises and lets in the clear light of truth.
None, at least, can deny to his conduct in renewing the
negotiation a moral courage of which there are but few
instances in our history. Washington's ratification of
Jay's treaty furnishes one ; perhaps almost the only other
is to be sought in the opposition of Dickinson to what
he esteemed the premature declaration of independence —
a reminiscence which can not but suggest a very curious
and instructive parallel. Adams, in fact, now occupied,
COMMISSIONS UNDER JAY'S TREATY. 331
in relation to the more ardent Federalists, very much the CHAPTER
same position which Dickinson had occupied a quarter _ _
of a century before in relation to himself. On that oc- 1799.
casion, in his youthful ardor, he had been ready to set
down Dickinson as a " piddling genius" because he hes-
itated at a step quite in advance of any thing originally
contemplated, and of which the ultimate consequences,
though all agreed they must be very serious, could not
be foreseen. And now that Adams hesitated in his turn
at a like tremendous responsibility, there were not want-
ing among his late political adherents those ready to de-
nounce him as a " piddling genius" not up to the emer-
gency, and too much concerned about his own interests
to merit the title of a patriot. Dickinson occupied in
both cases the same ground. As he was then opposed
to a war with England, so he was now opposed to a war
with France. He had long since retired from public life,
but his last published essays were on this topic.
About the time of the departure of the envoys, the
proceedings of the commission sitting under Jay's
treaty encountered a serious interruption. The com-
mission sitting at London, under the sixth article, of
which John Trumbul] was the umpire, had made consid-
erable progress, and damages to the amount of near half
a million of dollars had already been awarded and paid
for illegal captures of American vessels, for which the
ordinary course of law furnished no remedy. The com-
mission sitting at Philadelphia under the seventh article,
the appointment of the fifth commissioner or umpire of
which had fallen to the British, was by no means so har-
monious. Claims of all sorts had been filed, including
many by expatriated Tories, for the value of their con-
fiscated property, to the amount, in the whole, of twenty-
four millions of dollars ; and the grour.d taken by the
832 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER maiority of the commission was such as threatened a
XIV
' very heavy burden to the United States. There was a
1799 difference in the commission both as to the allowance of
interest while the war continued, and as to the classes of
persons entitled to claim under the treaty. The British
majority of the commissioners were disposed to hold the
United States responsible, in the first place, for all un-
paid debts, and to throw upon them the burden of prov-
ing that, had due diligence been used, those debts might
have been collected. The American commissioners
maintained, on the other hand, that as the United States
were only responsible for those debts the recovery of
which had been prevented by legal impediments, it rested
on each claimant to show that due diligence had been
used, and that the recovery of his debt had been pre-
vented by legislative obstacles, or by the debtor's be-
coming insolvent during the continuance of such ob-
stacles. After much discussion, some of it very warm,
and before any one claim had been definitely adjudicated,
the American commissioners, with the approbation of
their government, prevented any awards by withdraw-
ing. When this became known in England, the British
government withdrew their members from the board sit-
ting there ; and both commissions thus came to a full stop.
But, notwithstanding this interruption, both governments
expressed their anxiety to carry out the treaty in good
faith ; and Sitgreaves was soon after dispatched to England
to co-operate with King in obtaining, if possible, some
explanatory article on the subject of the British debts.
From a statement made by Wolcott preliminary to the
meeting of Congress, it appeared that for the year end-
ing the 30th of September, there had been a falling off
in the customs, the main source of revenue, of near a mill-
ion of dollars, occasioned in part by the interruptions to
FINANCES. SIXTH CONGKESS. 333
rrade, the whole produce being $7,117,000. The inter- CHAPTER
nal duties, including the Stamp Act, had produced $773,- '_
000 — a considerable increase upon any former annual 1799.
amount. The preliminaries for the collection of the
direct tax had been mostly arranged, but the collection
had not yet been begun. The total income of the year, in-
cluding about four millions received on the eight per cent,
loan, amounted to $12,770,000 ; the expenditures had
been $10,356,000. This left a balance in the treasury (in-
cluding that part of the five million loan outstanding) of
near three millions and a half; but as the existing estab-
lishments called for an expenditure exceeding the stand
ing revenue by five millions, new loans or taxes would
be necessary to meet the expenses of the ensuing year.
This was not a very agreeable state of affairs to lay
before the sixth Congress, which came together, soon af-
ter, for its first session. In the Senate several new mem-
bers appeared — Dexter, of Massachusetts, known to us al-
ready as a former member of the House, in place of Sedg-
wick, and William H. Willes, of Delaware,' in place of
Vining, whose terms had expired. Dayton, late speaker
of the House, and Baldwin, so long a member of that
body, appeared also among the new senators. From
Virginia, in place of Tazewell, who had resigned, came
Wilson C. Nicholas, the confidential friend of Jefferson,
but inferior in ability to either of his two brothers.
Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, appointed to fill a
vacancy just at the close of the last Congress, was also a
member of this. Near the end of the session, Gouver-
ueur Morris took his seat from New York, to fill a va-
cancy occasioned by Watson's resignation.
Still more extensive changes had taken place in the
House, where the Federalists were now, for the first time
since 1793, in a decided majority. Of former members,
334 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the most distinguished were Otis, Sewall, Thacher, Var
' num. and Sedgwick, of Massachusetts — the latter, on the
1799 expiration of his senatorial term, having been again elect-
ed to the House ; Dana, Chauncey Goodrich, and Gris-
wold, of Connecticut ; Livingston, of New York ; Galla-
tin, Hartley, Kittera, Smilie, and Peter Muhlenburg, of
Pennsylvania ; Bayard, of Delaware ; Smith, of Mary
land ; John Nicholas, and Parker, of Virginia, of whom
the former had carried his election only by a few votes,
while the latter had gone over to the Federalists ; Ma-
con, of North Carolina; Harper, Eutledge, Thomas Pinck-
ney, and Sumter, of South Carolina. The most remark-
able of the new members were Dr. Michael Leib, already
known to us as a very fierce Democrat, from Pennsyl-
vania ; Joseph H. Nicholson, of similar politics, from
Maryland ; John Marshall, Henry Lee, and the eccentric
and afterward celebrated John Eandolph, from Virginia.
William Henry Harrison, afterward president of the
United States, appeared as a delegate from the Territory
northwest of the Ohio, skirted then by a few feeble and
scattered settlements, but counting while I now write,
at the end of only fifty years, five states, and near five
millions of inhabitants. Sedgwick was elected speaker
over Macon by forty-four votes to thirty -eight.
Dec The president's speech, after noticing the Northamp-
ton insurrection (Fries's), the revival of trade with St.
Domingo, the departure of the envoys for France, and
the suspension of the commissions under the British
treaty, devoted itself principally to two topics ; first, a
re-organization of the Federal judiciary, already more
than once suggested by the judges, and repeatedly brought
by Washington to the notice of Congress ; and, secondly,
a steady perseverance in a system of national defense,
commensurate with the resources, and corresponding
SIXTH CONGRESS. 335
with the situation of the country. The president ex- CHAPTER
pressed his decided opinion that, in the present dis-
turbed state of the world, remote as the United States 1799
were from the seat of war, and desirous as they might
be, by doing justice to all, to avoid offense to any ; noth-
ing short of the power and means of repelling aggres-
sions would secure a rational prospect of escaping war,
or national degradation, or both.
Though the Federalists had a decided majority in the
House, that majority was by no means homogeneous.
" The following may be considered," so Wolcott wrote to Dec. 29
Ames, " as a tolerably correct outline of the state of the
public councils. The Federal party is composed of old
members who were generally re-elected in the Northern,
with new members from the Southern States. New
York has sent an anti-Federal majority, Pennsylvania
nas done the same. Opposition principles are gaining
ground in New Jersey and Maryland, and in the present
Congress the votes of these states will be fluctuating
and undecided. A number of distinguished men appear
from the southward, who are not pledged by any act to
support the system of the late Congress. These men
will pay great respect to the opinions of Marshall. He
is doubtless a man of virtue and distinguished talents,
but he will think much of the State of Virginia, and is
too much disposed to govern the world according to rules
of logic. He will read and expound the Constitution as
though it were a penal statute, and will sometimes be
embarrassed with doubts of which his friends will not
perceive the importance.
" The Northern members can do nothing of themselves,
and circumstances have iniDOsed uuon them the necessity
of reserve. The president will be supported by many
from personal considerations ; some believe he has acted
336 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
;H AFTER wisely, others consider it impolitic and unjust to with
J ' draw their support, though they admit that he has com-
1799. mitted a mistake. The president's mind is in a state
which renders it difficult to determine what prudence
and duty require from those about him. He considers
Colonel Pickering, Mr. M 'Henry, and myself as his en-
emies ; his resentments against General Hamilton are
excessive ; he declares his belief of the existence of a
British faction in the United States. In some unguard-
ed moment he wrote a letter to Tench Coxe, attributing
the appointment of Mr. Pinckney, as minister to Lon-
don, to British influence, and suggesting that, if he (Mr.
Adams) were in an executive office, he should watch the
progress of that influence. Coxe has perfidiously dis-
closed this letter, and copies are circulating among the
suspicious and malignant. This state of. things has
greatly impaired the confidence which subsisted among
men of a certain class in society. No one knows how
soon his own character may be assailed. Spies and in-
formers carry tales to the president with the hope of pro-
ducing changes in the administration. Mr. Otis, your
successor, is suspected of aspiring to the office of Secre-
tary of State. Cunning half Jacobins assure the presi-
dent that he can combine the virtuous and moderate men
of both parties, and that all our difficulties are owing to
an oligarchy which it is in his power to crush, and thus
acquire the general support of the nation. I believe that
I am not mistaken in any of the facts which I have stated.
It is certain that confidence is impaired. But no man
can be certain that, when many are interested in pro-
moting dissension, he may not himself be the dupe of ar-
tifice, and possibly this is my own case."
" Considering the state of the House," says this same
lively, candid, and sagacious letter, "it was necessary
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 337
and proper that the answer to the speech should be pre- CHAPTEB
pared by Marshall. He has had a hard task to perform,
and you will see how it has been executed. The object 1799.
was to meet all opinions, at least of the Federalists. It
was, of course, necessary to appear to approve the mis-
sion, and yet to express the approbation in such terms
as, when critically analyzed, should amount to no ap-
probation at all. No one individual was really satisfied,
but all were unwilling to encounter the danger and heat
which a debate would produce, and the address passed
with silent dissent. The president doubtless understood
the intention, and in his response has expressed his sense
of the dubious compliment in terms inimitably obscure."
The standing committees had been appointed, and
some commencement of business had been made, when
the proceedings of Congress were interrupted, and the
whole nation was shocked by the sudden death of Gen-
eral Washington. He was carried off, after a few days'
sickness, by an inflammation of the windpipe, brought
on by exposure to wet in a ride about his farm, and of
which the fatal effect, it is to be feared, was hastened,
if not, indeed, produced, by the excessive bleeding to
which, according to the fashionable practice of that time,
he was subjected by his attendant physicians.
Washington's sudden death almost entirely swept away,
at least for the moment, those feelings of suspicion with
which a portion of the Republican party, especially of
the leaders, had begun to regard him. Now that he waa
dead, all zealously united to do him honor.
Bare man indeed he was among actors on the mil-
itary and political stage, possessing in the highest de-
gree the most imposing qualities of a great leader — de-
liberate and cautious wisdom in judging, promptitude
and energy in acting, a steady, firm, indomitable spirit^
V,— Y
338 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER such as men love to cling to and rely upon ; more Jian
' all, an unsullied integrity, and a sincere and disinterest-
1799 6^ devotion to his country's cause, such, indeed, as many
public men, or their followers for them, pretend to, yet
the credit of which very few get and still fewer deserve.
History records many names that dazzle the imagination
with a greater brilliancy, but few, indeed, that shine
with a light so pure, steady, permanent, penetrating, and
serene. ~Washingtonrs character and reputation, as con-
trasted with those of many other famous men, seem to re-
semble in effect the Doric in architecture as compared with
the Gothic and Oriental styles. Those styles often ex-
cite, especially in minds peculiarly liable to vivid im-
pressions, the most enthusiastic pitch of admiration, ap-
pealing, as they do, not alone nor chiefly to the senti-
ment of the beamiful, but to the powerful emotions, also,
of surprise and wonder, growing out of novelty, variety,
complication, and vastness. But these are emotions, es-
pecially if we take into account the mass of men ancl
succeeding generations, liable to great fluctuations, often
subsiding into indifference, sometimes sinking into con-
tempt ; while the serener sentiments, always and every-
where inspired by majesty, order, proportion, grace, and
fitness, are not less steady, universal,, and enduring than!
the perceptions from which they spring.
The loss of this great man, especially at thi» critical
moment, was a terrible blow to the Federal party, of
which he had always been the main pillar and support.
The confidence almost universally reposed in his virtue
and his wisdom had been a tower of strength against
which the furious waves of the opposition had dashed
harmless ; and in the present unhappy divisions among
the Federal leaders, many eyes had begun to turn again
toward him, as called upon for further labors and sacri
DEATH OF WASHINGTON. 339
fices. As he had consented again to gird on his sword CHAPTER
to repel the foreign enemies of his country, many had s
begun to think that he ought also to permit himself to 17 9 £
be raised a third time to the presidency, in order to still
once more the contests of party, and to save the country
from the internal dangers that threatened it
All such thoughts were now vain. Nothing remained
but to testify, by due honors, the feeling of his worth.
Immediately, on the first report of his death, both houses Dee. 19
adjourned. The next day Marshall announced the con-
firmation of this afflicting intelligence, and after giving
a brief but comprehensive sketch of Washington's pub-
lic life and services, he moved that the House wait upon
the president to condole with him over the national loss ;
that its members and officers go into mourning ; and that
the House proceed toward the appointment of a joint
committee to consider of some suitable honors to the
memory of the man " first in war, first in peace, and first
in the hearts of his countrymen,"
The Senate addressed a letter of condolence to the
president, and concurred in the appointment of the joint
committee ; upon whose report a funeral ceremony was Dec. 23.
resolved upon, an oration to be pronounced before the
two houses by a member of Congress ; the sympathies
of Congress to be conveyed to the widow ; the president
to be requested to recommend to the people of the Uni-
ted States to wear badges of mourning for thirty days ;
and that a suitable monument be erected by the United
States in the Capitol at the new Federal city, and de-
signed to commemorate the great events of Washington's
military and political life, beneath which, with the per-
mission of his family, his* remains should be deposited.
The oration before Congress was pronounced by Hen- Deo is
ry Lee, who had enjoyed the intimate personal friend-
340 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ship of "Washington. Another resolution was shortly
' after adopted, recommending that the people generally
i799 assemble on the approaching anniversary of Washing
Dec. so. ton's birth publicly to testify their grief for his death
1800. " by suitable eulogies, orations, and discourses, or by pub-
Feb. 22. lie prayers." That day was accordingly solemnly ob-
served throughout a great part of the Union ; Hamilton,
Ames, and many orators of less fame standing forth as
spokesmen of the people's grief. Nowhere was that
grief more deep than in New England, where "Washing-
ton's lofty virtue and practical good sense had struck a
more responsive chord than even in his native state.
To New England, indeed, he had ever looked, and never
in vain, for his steadiest support, whether in war or in
peace, whether as general or as president.
Nor was it in America alone that Washington's vir-
tues were acknowledged and his death lamented. On
hearing the sad news, the great British fleet of sixty
ships of the line, employed to guard the English Chan-
nel, then lying in Torbay under the command of Lord
Bridport, lowered their flags to half mast. Bonaparte,
by this time first consul of France, paid also a tribute to
Washington's memory in an order of the day to the
French army ; after which a funeral oration was pro-
nounced before the first consul and the civil and military
authorities.
Yet, in the midst of this universal mourning, scoffers
and malcontents were not wanting. Some of those
newspapers which had slandered Washington while
alive, Callender's among the number, complained, in
the very spirit of Judas Iscariot, that the honors be-
stowed upon his memory were idolatrous — and too ex-
pensive. Why was not this spikenard sold and the
proceeds given to the poor.
PETITION FROM COLORED MEN. 341
Scarcely was the business of Congress resumed, w'aen CHAPTER
the equanimity of the Southern members was not a little '
disturbed by a petition from certain free colored inhabit- 1800.
ants of the city and county of Pljladelphia, presented by Jan. a
Wain, the city representative, setting forth that the slave
trade to the coast of Guinea, for the supply of foreign
nations, was clandestinely carried on from various ports
of the United States ; that colored freemen were seized,
fettered, and sold as slaves in various parts of the coun-
try ; and that the Fugitive Law of 1793 was attended
in its execution by many hard and distressing circum-
stances. The petitioners, knowing the limits to the au-
thority of the general government, did not ask for the
immediate emancipation of all those held in bondage ; yet
they begged Congress to exert every means in its power
to undo the heavy burdens, and to prepare the way for
the oppressed to go free. Attention had recently been
drawn to slavery and the slave trade, not only by alleged
violations of the act forbidding American vessels to assist
in the supply of foreign slave-markets, but much more
forcibly by a recent conspiracy, or alleged conspiracy, in
Virginia, which had produced a great alarm, resulting in
the execution of several slaves charged as having been
concerned in it. A great clamor was excited by Wain's
motion to refer this petition to a committee already raised
on the subject of the slave-trade ; a reference vehemently
opposed, not only by Kutledge, Harper, Lee, Eandolph,
and other Southern members, on the ground that the
petition intermeddled with matters over which Congress
had no control, but also by Otis of Boston, and Brown of
Rhode Island, whose vehemence was even greater, if pos-
sible, than that of the members from the South. Wain,
Thacher, Smilie, Dana, and Gallatin argued, on the
other hand, that, as parts of the petition were certainly
342 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
•ai AFTER within the jurisdiction of Congress, it ought to be re-
— /__ ceived and acted upon. The particulars of this debate
4800. are V6I7 imPerfec% preserved ; but, as usual on this sub
ject, it was a very warm one. • Eutledge called for th
yeas and nays, wishing, as he said, to show by how de
cisive a majority all interference had been declined, ana
so to allay any fear that the matter would ever again be
agitated in Congress. Wain, however, anticipated the
vote by withdrawing his motion, and substituting anoth-
er, for the reference of such parts of the petition as re-
lated to the laws of the United States touching fugitives
from service, and the supply of foreign countries with
slaves. Rutledge raised a point of order as to the ref-
erence of a part of a petition ; but the speaker decided
against him. Gray, of Virginia, then moved to amend
by adding a declaration that the unreferred parts of the
petition, inviting Congress to legislate on subjects over
which the general government has no jurisdiction, " have
a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought,
therefore, to receive the pointed disapprobation of this
House." Objections being stated to this amendment by
Dana and Thacher, Gray agreed to modify it by sub-
stituting for the last clause, ' 'ought therefore to receive
no encouragement or countenance from this House."
Against the amendment thus modified but one vote was
given in the negative, that of Thacher, who had repre-
sented the District of Maine ever since the adoption of
the Constitution, and who had lost no opportunity to
signalize his hostility to slavery. In the course of the
session, the committee to whom the petition was referred
May 10. brought in a bill which passed to be enacted, restricting,
by more stringent provisions, the supply of slaves to
foreign countries by ships of the United States.
The opposition had already commenced the campaign
FIEST APPEARANCE OF JOHN EANDOLPH. 343
by a resolution, offered by Nicholas, in the House, for the CHAPTER
repeal of all the late laws authorizing an increase of the
military and naval establishments. To this it was ob- 1300.
jected that it was necessary to keep up a good show of
defense as a support to the negotiation lately recom-
menced, but of the success of which no accounts had yet
been received ; and the motion, after a three days' debate,
was rejected fifty -nine to thirty-nine. Among the speak- Jan. 10
ers in this debate was John Randolph, a very young
man, scarcely of age, a singular mixture of the aristo-
crat and the Jacobin — an aristocrat by birth, education,
and temperament ; a Jacobin, at this time, out of enthu-
siasm for France, and during all his life out of a sort of
Ishmaelitish opposition to the exercise of authority by
any body but himself. In jealousy, envy, caprice, and
passion, he ever exhibited the familiar characteristics of
that unhappy neutral sex sufficiently common in East-
ern countries, though rare among us, but to which he
was said to belong.
In his speech upon this occasion, with that insolence
which *ever forsook him, Eandolph spoke of the officers
of the army and navy as u a handful of ragamuffins," who
consumed the fruits of the people's labor under pretext of
protecting them from a foreign yoke. Being at the theater
a night or two after with some other members of Con-
gress, two or three young officers entered the box where
he sat, jostled against him, repeating the word " raga-
muffin," and when, in order to avoid a quarrel, he rose
to leave, they pulled him by the coat and otherwise in-
sulted him. The next day Randolph addressed a letter
to the president not less characteristic than his speech.
On the ground that his application required no preface
of apology, since he claimed to hold, in common with
Adams, " the honorable station of servant of the same
344 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER sovereign people," he proceeded, " without the circumlo-
i \ ' cution of compliment," to set forth his case as one in
1800 "which the independence of the Legislature had been at-
tacked, the majesty of the people insulted, and the presi-
dent's authority contemned; demanding action on the
president's part " commensurate with the evil, and cal-
culated to deter others from any future attempt to intro-
duce the Eeign of Terror.' >
Eandolph perhaps expected to place the president in
a dilemma between sympathy for the officers and respect
for the rights of a representative ; but, if so, he found the
tables very quietly turned upon him. A message from
the president to the House inclosed Kandolph's letter, as
to which he observed that, as it related to the privileges
of the House — a matter not proper to be inquired into
except by the House itself — he had sent it to them with-
out any further comments either on its matter or style ;
but as no gross improprieties on the part of persons hold-
ing commissions in the service of the United States
ought to be passed over without due animadversion, he
had directed an investigation into the matter complained
of, for the purpose of obtaining a statement of facts such
as might enable him to decide on the course which duty
and justice might demand.
It was proposed to refer this message, with its inclo
sure, to a select committee — a step which Eandolph vehe-
mently opposed. Adhering to the doctrine maintained
by his party in the case of Lyon — whom he seems also
to have taken as a model of Eepublican plainness and
simplicity in manners — he insisted that the House had
no jurisdiction in the matter, and that to assume it on
this occasion might prove a bad precedent. He wished,
as in his letter, to shift off the whole responsibility of in-
quiry and punishment upon Adams, who, as commander
QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE, 345
in-chiefj had, so lie maintained, abundant authority in CHAPTER
the matter. But the House were almost unanimously \
of opinion that, in a question so serious as that of their
privileges — and that certainly was one of the grounds on
which Eandolph's letter had placed the matter — the
president had acted with great discretion in referring the
whole subject to them. A special committee was ac-
cordingly appointed, by which a report was soon made
severely censuring not the style only, but object also, of
Randolph's letter to the president. "Whatever might
have been the writer's intentions, this letter was pro-
nounced by the committee to be in itself little short of a
breach of the privileges of the House, being an attempt
to transfer to the president the jurisdiction over a matter
of which the House itself was the peculiar and exclusive
judge. As to the alleged insult witnesses had been ex-
amined. The officers implicated had denied any knowl-
edge that Randolph was in the box ; and the whole tes-
timony as to what was said and done was so contradic-
tory, that, in the committee's opinion, no case appeared
requiring any action. In spite of the earnest efforts of
Randolph's party friends, this report was adopted ; and
he was thus obliged not only to put up with the retort
which his own insolence had provoked, but himself to
submit to the censure of Congress, while no punishment
of the officers could be obtained — for, of course, after
this, the president took no further steps in the matter.
This was a lesson by which a wiser man might have
profited ; but a peevish, sneering, and quarrelsome inso-
lence was so ingrained a part of Randolph's sickly na-
ture, that not even the severest lessons of experience
could restrain it.
Though the proposal to return to the former peace es-
tablishment had been rejected, great anxiety was felt by
346 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER a part of the Federalists on the score of the national ex
XIV
_____'__ penses, which had, indeed, been the great argument on
1800 the part of the opposition. From a statement submitted
by the Secretary of the Treasury, it appeared that if the
additional twelve regiments were completed to the es-
tablishment— as yet only 3400 men had been enlisted,
though all the officers had been appointed — and if the
building of the seventy-fours were 3ontiuued, a new loan
of five millions would be necessary to meet the expenses
of the year. Under these circumstances, though not will-
Jan. 15. ing to go quite the length of the opposition, a bill was
introduced by the Committee of Defense, which presently
Feb, 20. became a law, suspending farther enlistments for the ad-
ditional regiments, but empowering the president, in case
war broke out during the recess, to order their renewal
at his discretion. No additional appropriation was made
for the seventy -fours, thus reducing the loan required to
three millions and a half, which amount the president
May 7. was authorized to borrow.
To pay the interest on this and the previous five mill-
May 13. ion loan, additional duties were imposed of two cents
and a half per pound on sugar-candy, and of half a cent
per pound on brown sugar, raising the entire duty on
the latter article to two cents and a half per pound. Two
and a half per cent, additional was also imposed on all
goods hitherto paying ten per cent, ad valorem, including
woolens, linens, and silks, which were thus made to pay
the same twelve and a half per cent, as manufactures of
cotton. The duties on wines were also increased so as
to range from twenty-three cents to fifty-eight cents per
gallon, Madeira still standing at the head of the list.
The numerous insolvencies produced by the rage of
land speculation and by the uncertainties of commerce,
aggravated as they had been by the conduct of the del-
BANKRUPT LAW. CONNECTICUT RESERVE. 84:4
ligerents, had made evident the necessity of laws for the CHAPTER
discharge of insolvent debtors. The impolicy as well as __,
cruelty of imprisonment for debts occasioned by the flue- 1$00,
tuations of trade and the uncertainties of speculation had
begun to be felt ; and several of the states had already
tried their hands at the enactment of insolvent laws.
More than once, at preceding sessions of. Congress, the
project had been brought forward of a general bankrupt
law for the Union. Such a law was now passed, modeled April 4
after the English bankrupt law, and, like that, extend-
ing only to merchants and traders. But another act
gave to all persons imprisoned on executions for debt
issued out of .the Federal courts the right to discharge
themselves from imprisonment on taking an oath of
poverty — their future property, should they acquire any,
still however to be liable for their debts ; and this oath
might also be taken with the same effect, even though
no execution had issued, at any time after thirty days
from the rendition of judgment.
The tract of territory in the northeastern corner of
the present State of Ohio, reserved by Connecticut out
of her cession to the United States, and thence known
as the " Connecticut Keserve," had, as already has been
mentioned, been sold by Connecticut, jurisdiction and
all, to a company of speculators. They had surveyed it
into townships, and, under their auspices, a thousand
settlers or more were already established on it. To these
speculators the jurisdiction was of no pecuniary value,
and was even likely to prove a serious embarrassment ;
while it was much for their interest to obtain from the
United States a direct confirmation of the Connecticut
title, hitherto only inferentially acknowledged, and the
more so as Connecticut, avoiding all risks, had given
them only a quit-claim deed. On the other hand, it was
348 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER an object for the United States to extinguish the c:aim
' of jurisdiction ; and in this mutuality of interests origin-
1800. ate(* an act of Congress authorizing the issue of letters
April 28 patent conveying the title to the lands to the Governor
of Connecticut, for the benefit of those claiming under
her ; similar letters patent to be executed by Connecti-
cut, relinquishing all claim to jurisdiction. This act, in
obtaining from Connecticut a relinquishment of all her
claims to jurisdiction west of her present boundary, had
also the effect to extinguish a controversy long pending
between her and New York as to a strip of land along
the southwestern boundary of the latter state, known as
the "Connecticut Gore," and which Connecticut had
claimed as within her charter, on the same principles on
which she had formerly claimed the northern portion of
the State of Pennsylvania, as well as the Connecticut
Eeserve itself, and the ceded district west of it.
The assistance toward the extinction of the public
debt expected from the sale of the public lands, had
hitherto entirely failed to be realized. There was, in
fact, a powerful and influential body of men interested
in keeping those lands out of the market, including the
speculators in military land warrants, and those who had
purchased up such immense tracts in New York and
Pennsylvania, as well as in the Territory northwest of
the Ohio, on which tracts alone had any settlements as
yet been commenced. The act of 1796 had effectually
prevented purchases direct from the United States by
actual settlers of small means, who were thus obliged to
obtain their lands at second-hand from the speculators. It
provided for the sale of public lands only at the treasury,
at Cincinnati, and at Pittsburg ; at the two latter places
at vendue only, and in sections, as the smallest quantity ;
and during the four years that this act had been in force,
PUBLIC LANDS. INDIANA TERRITORY. 849
the total receipts under it, speculative purchases included, CHAPTER
had scarcely amounted to $100,000. Principally through m
the urgency of Harrison, the delegate from the Territory ISQQ.
northwest of the Ohio, and in hopes, also, of improving
the revenue, this method of sale was considerably modi-
fied, and the substance of the existing land system intro-
duced. The new act made provision for the opening of May 10
four land offices within the territory itself at Cincinnati.
Marietta, Chilicothe, and Steubenville, each with its
register and receiver. The lands, subdivided into half
sections of 320 acres each, after being offered at public
auction, if not sold, might be entered at any time at the
minimum price of two dollars per acre, besides the ex-
pense of survey, one quarter to be paid in forty days
after the entry, and the remainder in three installments
spread over four years. A joint resolution had already
been adopted, authorizing the president to appoint an
agent to collect information as to the copper mines on
the south side of Lake Superior. But the^e mines,
though their existence had been known for more than a
century past, were destined to remain un wrought for
near half a century longer,
The rising Connecticut settlement on the Eeserve be-
ing merged into the Territory northwest of the Ohio, an
act was passed dividing that territory into two jurisdic- May t.
tions, the region west of a line drawn from the mouth
of the Kentucky Kiver to Fort Eecovery, and thence
due north to the Canada line, being erected into a sepa-
rate territory, called INDIANA, after one of the old anti-
Kevolutionary land companies, which had claims in that
region.
The new Territory of Indiana, vast as its extent was,
contained only a few isolated spots to which the Indian
title had been extinguished, and on which alone any set-
3oQ HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tlements existed. A Territorial Assembly was to be al-
' lowed whenever a majority of the freeholders should de-
1800 s^re ^' ^' "Vincent's, otherwise known as Vincennes.
was fixed upon as the capital. The appointment of
governor was given to Harrison, who had both family
and personal claims to it. His father had been a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, and afterward gov-
ernor of Virginia ; while he had been himself first a lieu-
tenant in the army and an aid-de-camp to "Wayne dur-
ing his campaign against the Indians, then secretary of
the Northwestern Territory, and finally delegate of that
territory to Congress.
Mav 10. The immediate privilege of a Territorial Assembly was
also extended to the Territory of Mississippi, where great
dissatisfaction had arisen with the administration of Gov-
ernor Sargent. By the same act, the commissioners for
adjusting with Georgia her claims to that territory, were
vested with full powers to arrange the whole matter ; with
the restriction, however, that no money was to be paid
to Georgia except oat of the proceeds of the lands.
Another act, designed to meet such cases as Blount's,
ftp. 10. had already passed, subjecting to fine and imprisonment
any attempt, on behalf of any foreign power, to tamper
with any of the Indian tribes, or the soliciting them to
break the laws, infract the treaties, or disturb the peace
of the United States.
The repeal of the Sedition Law, at least of that part
of it relating to seditious libels, was early proposed by
Macon in a committee of the whole, to which several
petitions on that subject had been referred. Several of
the Southern Federalists, and Marshall among the num-
ber, had admitted the impolicy of the law, and, as a
means of securing their election, had pledged themselves
to vote for its repeal. Macon relied on their assistance,
CASE OF NASH OR BOBBINS. 351
but he was effectually counterworked by Bayard, who CHAPTER
offered a resolution for the repeal of the section relating
to libels, " the offenses therein provided for to remain pun- 1800.
ishable at common law," but the truth to be a defense. Jan. 23
A division being called for, that part of the resolution go-
ing for repeal was carried fifty to forty-eight. The other
part was also carried fifty-one to forty-seven, Gray of
Virginia, and Nbtt of South Carolina, who had voted for
the first clause, voting also for this. Tending, in the
shape in which it had been adopted, to establish the doc-
trine of common law offenses against the United States
— a doctrine far more alarming than the Sedition Law,
which, by its own limitation, would expire in a year, —
the bulk of the Federalists were now assisted in voting
down the resolution by the whole opposition. The vote
stood eighty-seven to eleven, those in the minority being
mostly Southern Federalists, who thus redeemed their
pledge of voting for repeal.
The matter of the surrender of Thomas Nash, or Jon- Feb. 5.
athan Bobbins, as he had chosen to call himself, was
brought before the House by a motion of Livingston's
to call upon the president for the papers in the case.
These papers were accordingly sent ; whereupon Living- Feb. 20
ston offered resolutions charging the president with a
dangerous interference in that affair, with the rights and
duties of the judiciary. These resolutions were vehe-
mently supported by Livingston, Nicholas, and Gallatin,
to whom Bayard, Harper, Otis, and Dana replied. The
debate was closed by a most conclusive argument by
Marshall, which settled the principle, not for this case
only, but for the future practice of the government.
The Committee of the Whole, to whom the subject had March 19
been referred, was discharged from its further considera-
tion by the decisive vote of sixty-two to thirty-five.
352 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Such was the method resolved upon to get rid of this
. inflammable question as quietly as possible, it not being
1800. considered politic to press a vote upon a counter-resolu-
tion of approval offered by Bayard.
The only proceedings of the Senate at this session
which excited much public attention were those connect-
ed with an alleged breach of their privileges by Duane
of the Aurora. A bill had been introduced by Eoss,
prescribing the mode of deciding disputed elections of
president and vice-president, of which the principal fea-
ture was the appointment by ballot of a joint committee
of both houses, with power to decide absolutely on the
validity of any objections to any of the electoral votes.
Feb. 19. In reference to this bill Duane had stated in the Aurora,
and that in very abusive terms, that it was got up by a
secret caucus of Federal senators, who controlled all the
proceedings of that body, with the design to deprive
Pennsylvania of her vote at the ensuing presidential ele6-
tion ; and how the bill might have had that operation will
March 20. presently appear. The Senate, upon the report of a com-
mittee of privileges, to whom this publication had been
referred, resolved that it contained " assertions and pre-
tended information respecting the Senate and their pro-
ceedings" " false, defamatory, scandalous, and malicious,
tending to defame the Senate, and to bring them into
contempt and disrepute, and to excite against them the
hatred of the good people of the United States, and that
the said publication was a high breach of the privileges
March 24. of the Senate." Having appeared at the bar in obe-
dience to a summons, Duane asked permission to be as
sisted by counsel, which was granted with the limitation
that they should be heard only as to such questions of
fact as might arise, or in excuse or extenuation of his
March 26. offense. But instead of appearing at the time appointed1
DUANE'S CONTEMPT OF THE SENATE. 35$
Duane sent copies of a correspondence between himself CHAPTER
and his intended counsel, Dallas and Thomas Cooper, '___
the latter of whom we shall soon find defending a libel 1800.
case of his own. In somewhat insolent terms toward
the Senate, these two lawyers had declined to act, since
they were not to be allowed to dispute the constitution-
ality of the proceeding ; to which Duane himself added,
that, being deprived, under the restrictions which the
Senate had seen fit to adopt, of all professional assist-
ance, he thought himself "bound by the most sacred
duties to decline any further voluntary attendance, upon
that body, and to leave them to pursue such measures in
this case as in their wisdom they may deem meet" — the
word wisdom being, by way of sneer, underscored. The
Senate retorted by voting Duane guilty of a contempt Mar& 27.
in refusing to appear, and a warrant, signed by his friend
the vice-president, was issued, directing the sergeant-at-
arms to arrest him, and to hold him in custody till fur-
ther orders. He evaded an arrest, and meanwhile two
or three petitions were got up by his friends in Philadel-
phia, praying the Senate to reconsider their recent votes ;
but instead of doing so, they adopted a resolution on the May 1*.
last day of the session requesting the president to in-
struct the proper law officers to commence a prosecution
against Duane for a libel on the Senate.
The bill out of which these proceedings grew was
greatly modified in the House by depriving the proposed
joint committee of the right of final decision, and other-
wise ; and, in the end, it was lost by disagreement be-
tween the two houses.
The dissatisfaction which the president had given to
a portion of the Federal party, first by the proposal of a
new embassy to France, and next by persisting in send-
ing the envoys, had continued to grow and increase dur-
V.—Z
854: . HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ing the session. Though there was now for the first
. time since the divisions of party became marked, a de-
1800. cided Federal majority in "both houses, yet, as Jefferson
May 12. exultingly wrote, they had not "been able to carry a single
strong measure in the Lower House. Not only was there
a faltering ,in Congress, but out of doors a visible abate-
ment also appeared of the zeal and ardor lately evinced
in support of the administration. All this was ascribed
by the more ardent Federalists to the conduct of Adams,
who was said to have thrown cold water on the public
feeling by the renewal of negotiations with France, and
in thus playing into the hands of the opposition, to have
seriously damaged, if not rained, the Federal party. No-
thing could be more unreasonable or unjust than these
complaints. Those who had seen in a war with France
the prospect of the complete prostration of Jefferson and
his party, were disposed, in their disappointment, quite
to lay out of account that ebb of zeal which always takes
place after every sudden excitement, an ebb which the
appointment of the new mission to France tended rather,
perhaps, to delay and to lessen than to hasten or aug-
ment. The moderation of the new Southern Federal
members had not been infused into them by Adams. It
did but indicate the highest pitch to which the feeling
of resistance to French aggressions had risen in the
South — a disposition to repel insults, but still to avoid
war by all tolerable means ; and undoubtedly this was
the disposition, also, of the great body of the Federal
party throughout the Union, however a few might have
thought and felt otherwise.
But, whatever opinion might be formed of the policy of
Adams, his course of proceeding had made one thing evi-
dent. He could not be depended upon as the instrument
of a party As president, he was determined to exercise
BREACH OF THE FEDERAL PARTY
his own judgment, and of course such a president could CHAPTER
not be satisfactory to those who, as heads and leaders ,
of the Federal party, claimed to dictate, or at least sub-
stantially to control, an administration raised to power
through their influence. With such men, conscious of
their own integrity and confident in their own wisdom,
the conjecture was natural enough that the different
views of policy taken by Adams must have originated
in certain by-ends and selfish objects of his own ; in
jealousy of Hamilton and a disposition to secure his
own re-election, no matter at what sacrifice of principle
or at what risk to the party which had originally raised
him to office.
Already a scheme was on foot, in which Pickering,
Wolcott, and M 'Henry took a leading part, to contrive
some means for getting rid of Adams at the close of his
present term of office, and for substituting in his place a
more reliable party man. Such, however, was the weight
of Adams's personal character, and the respect and con-
fidence with which he was regarded by the Federalists
generally, and especially in New England, that to have
attacked him openly would have risked the triumph of
the opposition even in that (Stronghold of Federal influ-
ence. On the other hand, Adams, though well aware
of the intrigue going on against him, and not a little em-
bittered against its authors, did not dare, by any open
breach with them, to risk the loss to the Federalists of
those exceedingly doubtful Middle States, which had all
along been the great battle-field of the two parties, and
upon whose votes the final result of the presidential
election must depend. Indeed, by a very current cal-
culation, that result was made to rest upon the vote of
New York alone, and even upon the choice of members
of Assembly to be made by the city of New York at
356' HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAFFER the spring election. Supposing the votes of Maryland
_ and North Carolina — in which latter state the Federal
1800. PartJ had greatly increased of late, and in both of which
the electors were chosen by districts to be equally di-
vided, New England and the states south of Pennsyl-
vania, according to this calculation, would balance eacr
other. The result would depend then upon New York
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The old law of Penn-
sylvania for a choice of electors by general ticket had
expired, and the Federalists who controlled the state
Senate refused to revive it. Should a choice by districts
be agreed upon, each party might safely calculate on
about half the electors. It was whispered, indeed, that
Governor M'Kean meant to order an election under the
expired law ; or should the Republicans, at the approach-
ing election for members of Assembly, obtain a sufficient
majority, to call the Legislature together for a choice by
joint ballot. But the state Senate might still refuse to
concur in this proceeding ; and it was to counteract any
irregular projects of this sort that Ross's bill for canvass
ing the electoral votes — the occasion of the proceedings
against Duane — had been introduced into the United
States' Senate. Supposing Pennsylvania not to vote or
to be pretty equally divided, the electors of New Jersey,
a state exceedingly doubtful, would not be numerous
enough to decide the question either way against the
state of New York, with which the decision would thus
ultimately rest. In that state the choice of electors was
to be by the Assembly in joint ballot ; and such was
the known strength of parties in the rest of the counties,
that the majority in the Assembly was sure to be de-
cided by the result in the city of New York, where
twelve members were to be chosen on a single ticket,
While so much depended on the state, and even upon the
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 357
city of Hew York, the very focus of Hamilton's influ- CHAPTER
ence, policy would not allojvv, by the rupture of the cab-
inet, the betrayal to the public of any internal dissen- 1800.
sions.
The same motives which operated with Adams to pre-
vent the dismissal of his now hostile secretaries, had op-
erated also with them to prevent their resignation. The
success of their plans, as well as of Adams's, required a
Federal majority in the electoral colleges ; and the great-
est caution was necessary lest any blow aimed at Ad-
ams personally might result in the defeat of the Fed-
eral party. The man upon whom the ultra Federalists
had fixed their eyes as on the whole their most reliable
and available candidate, was Charles C. Pinckney, the
late envoy to France, whose conduct in that mission, at
once spirited and discreet, and whose patriotic behavior
respecting military rank, had brought him conspicuously
before the public, while his Southern citizenship might,
perhaps, secure votes not attainable by any Northern man.
The method, as the Constitution then stood, of voting
for two candidates, without distinction as to the office for
which they were intended, the one receiving the highest
number of votes to be president, furnished peculiar facil-
ities for quietly displacing Adams without seeming to
make any open attack upon him ; and even without the
necessity that more than a limited number of influential
politicians should be in the secret. The names of Adams
and Pinckney being brought forward in a private caucus
ol the Federal members of Congress, held for the purpose
of agreeing upon candidates to be supported by the par-
ty, it was recommended, pretty unanimously, that both
should be voted for equally ; but the opponents of Adama
secretly hoped that means might be found to secure for
Pinckney the larger vote.
S.5S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER A similar caucus of the opposition members selected
XIV
. as their candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
1 800 w^ the distinct understanding, however, that Jefferson
was the choice of the party for president. Both these
caucuses were held with profound secrecy, this sort of
dictation being not yet recognized as a part of the insti-
tutions of the country. Their proceedings, instead of
being formally reported and published in the newspapers,
according to our present usage, were only diffused among
the local leaders by personal communication and private
correspondence.
News having been received, toward the end of the ses-
sion, of the arrival of the new envoys in Europe, and of
aj 10. the prospect of a favorable result, an act was passed for
the discharge, with three months' extra pay, of all tho
officers of the additional regiments, and of the men so far
as they had been enlisted. But, though warlike prepa-
rations by land were thus abandoned, the commercial
non-intercourse, and the arming of merchant vessels,
were still adhered to, and acts were passed for their con-
tinuance. The navy afloat, increased to nine frigates and
twenty -five smaller vessels, still kept the seas in two
principal squadrons, one on the St. Domingo station, the
other, under Truxtun, off Guadaloupe ; but, from the ne-
cessities of the service, the vessels were generally scatter-
ed. Truxtun, in the Constellation, while cruising alone
Feb. h off Guadaloupe, discovered a large vessel, to which he
gave chase. It was the French frigate La Vengeance,
of fifty guns, with from four to five hundred men, bound
for France, with a large quantity of specie and of other
valuable goods on board, which made her lay very deep
in the water. The Frenchman attempted to escape, but
after a two days' chase, Truxtun succeeded, about eight
o'clock in the evening, in bringing on an action. The
AFFAIRS. 359
two ships, running side by side, kept up the contest till CHAPTER
near one o'clodk the next morning, by which time the ,
Frenchman's fire being completely silenced, he hauled 1800.
off and drew out of the combat. While attempting
again to get alongside, Truxtun discovered that the
braces of his mainmast were all shot away, and before
they could be supplied the mast went by the board, thus
giving the Frenchman a chance of escape, which he
hastened to improve. The Constellation, having lost
thirty-nine men killed and wounded, bore up for Jamaica
for repairs. The French frigate, almost a wreck, and
with upward of a hundred and fifty men killed or dis-
abled, succeeded in getting into Curaeoa, where she was
condemned as unfit for further service. Truxtun's gal-
lantry in this action, the news of which arrived before
the adjournment of Congress, was acknowledged by the
vote of a gold medaL
360 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XY.
PENNSYLVANIA, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW YORK. STATE TRL
ALS.. CHANGES IN THE CABINET. STRUGGLE BETWEEN
ADAMS AND HIS FEDERAL OPPONENTS. CONVENTION
WITH FRANCE. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS. REMOVAL OF
THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT TO WASHINGTON. SECOND
SESSION OF THE SIXTH CONGRESS. JUDICIARY ACT.
PROJECT FOR MAKING BURR PRESIDENT. DOWNFALL OP
THE FEDERAL PARTY.
CHAPTER NOTWITHSTANDING the constitutional ardor with
\ V
_ which M'Kean espoused the politics of the opposition,
1799 the Federalists had hoped, knowing how conservative
Dec. he was in most of his opinions, that, after having secur-
ed his election as governor of Pennsylvania, he would
abate somewhat of that party vehemence by which he
had been distinguished as a candidate. But the current
which had set so fiercely in the new governor's mind
against all who had opposed his election, could not be
so suddenly stopped. In reply to the addresses of con-
gratulation which his partisans poured in upon him, he
stigmatized those who had voted against him as either
enemies to the principles of the American Kevolution,
emissaries of foreign governments, or office-holders or
expectants of office under the Federal government ; and
Dec. it. no sooner was he inducted into office, than, to punish his
enemies and reward his friends, he made a vigorous use
of the extensive powers of removal and appointment
vested in him as governor — a system which he was the
first to introduce into American politics, at least upon
an extensive and sweeping scale. Governor Mifflin, who
POLITICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 361
died shortly after the accession of M'Kean, in filling up CHAPTER
the civil offices under the new state Constitution, at a '
time when party lines were not yet distinctly drawn, and 1799
while he himself was a Federalist, had naturally enough
made his selections, to a very great extent, from among
his fellpw-soldiers in the Eevolutionary army ; and of
these a very large proportion had taken the Federal
side, and had voted and electioneered in favor of Eoss.
In the eyes of M'Kean, this was a crime more than suffi-
cient to counterbalance any merits or services, however
great ; and almost all those so guilty were speedily re-
moved from office, and their places filled by M'Kean 's
own partisans. Some of his appointments occasioned
great surprise, especially that of Brackenridge, who had
been so much implicated in the Whisky Insurrection, to
a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court. But, while
thus sacrificing to party with the one hand, he paid a
tribute to legal learning on the other, in raising to the
place of Chief Justice bes late associate Shippen. Dur-
ing the Revolution Shippen had remained quiescent, be-
ing personally inclined to the British side. Upon the re-
organization of the courts under the new Constitution,
he had been appointed a judge by Mifflin. Even Brack-
enridge, whatever his eccentricities as a man or a poli-
tician, proved, in his judicial character, no disgrace to
the bench.
The Assembly met at Lancaster, whither, by an act of
the preceding session, the seat of government had been
removed. The Senate, in which the Federalists had a 1800.
majority, after taking a month to consider M'Kean's cau- Jan. 1*
tious inaugural address, briefly expressed in their answer
their satisfaction at the sentiments announced in it. But
they took the same opportunity to read the governor a
lecture on the denunciatory style of his answers to ad-
862 HISTOET OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAJ-TER dresses, and his prescriptive system of removals from
' office — to which, the governor made a long and caustic
1800. replication, denying with his usual force of argument the
Jan. 28. right of the Senate to intermeddle, under the form of an
address, with his appointments, a matter over which the
Constitution had given them no control, except in .case
of an impeachment for misbehavior in office. Such in-
deed was the tone of these papers, that they might al-
most seem to have been drawn from the old archives of
the struggles between the proprietary governors and the
provincial assemblies.
In the House, where the governor's friends had a
small majority, party spirit ran very high, giving rise to
some singular scenes. The Eepublican members had
introduced a new election act, by one section of which
they proposed to deprive of the right of voting all citi-
zens of Pennsylvania enlisting into the military service
Feb. 20. of the United States. Pending the debate on this bill,
the pacific Logan, who had volunteered a voyage across
the Atlantic to preserve peace between France and Amer-
ica, while leaving the House just after an adjournment,
got into a bout of fisticuffs with a Federal member,
whose speech against this disfranchising provision the
doctor had chosen to pronounce " d — n nonsense" — a
criticism answered by a blow, which Logan's Quakerism
did not prevent him from returning.
In Massachusetts the opposition had brought forward
Gerry as their candidate for governor. Sumner had died
in office, and Strong was elected by the Federalists to
succeed him. The election was very warmly contested.
April 7. Strong was chosen by 19,600 to 17,000 votes ; but the
support given to Gerry was quite enough to prove that,
even in Massachusetts, the predominancy of the Feder-
alists was not entirely secure.
AFFAIRS OF NEW YORK.
Already, before- the adjournment of Congress, the irn-
portant election had taken place in New York, on which 1.,.nt1_-.
so much depended. Hamilton on the one side, and Burr igQ^
on the other, had made every possible exertion. The April 30-
opposition Assembly ticket for the city of New York
was very skilfully drawn up. At the head of it was
placed ex- Governor Clinton ; it bore also the names of
Brockholst Livingston as the representative of the Liv-
ingston interest, and of General Gates, who, having sold
his plantation and emancipated his slaves in Virginia,
had resided for the last ten years in New York and the
vicinity, and who was known as the warm political
friend of Burr. It was only, however, by great efforts
on Burr's part that either Clinton or Livingston had con-
sented to this use of their names. Clinton considered
his own pretensions to the presidency to have been un-
reasonably overlooked in favor of Jefferson, whom he
regarded as a trickster and trimmer ; nor was Livingston
particularly anxious to promote the success of the presi-
dential ticket agreed on. Burr went beyond every body
in all the arts of electioneering intrigue. The year be-
fore, upon the question of sustaining the Federal gov-
ernment against the insolence of the French Directory,
the Federalists had carried the city by five hundred ma-
jority ; now, upon the question of the next presidency,
the opposition had a majority nearly as great.
There was, however, one resource left. The political
year of New York commenced with July. There was
time, therefore, to call the present Federal Assembly to-
gether, and to pass an act similar to one proposed at the
late session, but rejected by the combined votes of the
more ardent of both parties, for an election by districts.
Should such a bill pass, the Federalists might secure at
least five out of the twelve votes to which New York
364 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER was entitled. A letter was accordingly written to Jay
_ " by one of the most distinguished and influential Fed-
1800. era^sts in tne United States" — such was Jay's endorse-
Maj 7. ment on the back of the letter, which probably came
from Hamilton — suggesting an extra session of the Leg-
islature, to consider the expediency of such an act. Such
a procedure, the letter admitted, might be esteemed to
transcend the ordinary forms of delicacy and decorum ;
but the community's substantial interests ought not to
be sacrificed to mere scruples of delicacy, while all means
not contrary to good morals or to law ought to be em-
ployed to save the government from falling into the
hands of a dangerous party, which itself never scru-
pled to take every advantage of its opponents that the
most strained construction of the law could be made to
justify.
This reasoning might seem conclusive, as, indeed, it
often has done, to warm party politicians, who identify,
in their own minds, beyond the power of separation, the
success of their own party and the salvation of the state.
But to Jay, who, after a long experience, had finally
made up his mind to retire from public life, it did not
seem so certain that the welfare of the state would be
permanently promoted by a precarious party triumph
secured by means open to cavil, and which might serve
as provocation to procedures of a character still more
questionable. He therefore endorsed the letter as "pro-
posing a measure for party purposes, which he did not
think it became him to adopt ;" and, with a magnanim-
ity very contrary to what he himself had experienced
at the hands of those who called themselves Republicans,
while they stigmatized him as a monarchist, he declin-
ed to take any step toward defeating the popular will,
as so recently expressed.
HOLT AND COOPER. 36-5
The spring circuit of the Federal courts, which, com- CHAPTER
xv.
menced about the time of the Massachusetts election,
furnished new matter of clamor to the opposition. Holt, 1800.
who had removed from New York to become publisher
of the Bee, an opposition newspaper recently established
at New London, in Connecticut, and who had been in-
dicted, at a former term, under the Sedition Law, was April 17.
now found guilty of a libel tending to defame the presi-
dent and to discourage enlistments into the army, and
was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a fine
of $200.
A trial which excited greater attention was that of
Thomas Cooper, already mentioned as one of Duane's in-
tended counsel in the question of breach of the privileges
of the Senate. An Englishman by birth, Cooper had
been educated a barrister ; but, not restricting himself
to the law, in which he was well read, he had also turned
his attention to metaphysics, politics, and the sciences,
especially the then new science of chemistry, in experi-
menting in which he had spent a considerable part of
his inherited fortune. Having embraced the new doc-
trine of the rights of man with great zeal, he had ren-
dered himself obnoxious in England, and^in consequence,
had emigrated to America at the same time with his
friend Priestley. Not meeting with much success in the
practice of the law, for which, notwithstanding his tal-
ents and learning, his irritable and supercilious temper-
ament and speculative turn of mind but ill qualified him,
he had applied, through Priestley, to Adams for an office.
Failing in that application, he had established a news-
paper in one of the back counties of Pennsylvania, and
had advocated in it, with great zeal, the election of
M'Kean. The whole current of Cooper's sentiments at
that time made him sympathize with the opposition,
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER though probably his own private disappointment some-
' what sharpened his resentment against Adams in par-
1800. ticular, whom he had charged, in the article for which
he was indicted, with having saddled upon the nation,
in time of peace, by the unnecessary and unbecoming
violence of his official communications, such as might
justly have provoked a declaration of war, the expense
of a permanent navy, and threatened it with that of a
permanent army, to be supported by loans at eight per
cent. He had also charged the president, in the same
article, with having interfered to influence a court of
justice " in the melancholy case of Jonathan Bobbins,
a native citizen impressed by the British, and delivered
up, at the president's request, to a mock trial by a Brit-
ish court martial" — " an interference without precedent,
against law, and against mercy ;" " a stretch of power
which the monarch of Great Britain would have t shrunk
from."
The indictment found against Cooper for this article
was very likely intended to punish him for his late aid
to Duanc in insulting the Senate. Cooper set up the
truth in defense, and summoned a great number of wit
nesses, chiefly members of Congress, none of whom, how-
ever, were examined. What he principally relied upon
was a number of extracts from the president's answers,
collected in a printed volume, to the various addresses
which he had received. The court told him that being
unauthenticated, they could not be received as evidence ;
but he claimed to put in the printed volume on the
ground, that having applied to the president for authen-
ticated copies of these answers, a note had been received
from the president's secretary declining to afford him
any information on the subject. The jury found him
guilty, and Chase, who presided at the trial, and who
SECOND TRIAL OP FRIES. 367
treated Cooper throughout with much delicacy, sentenced CHAPTER
him to six months' imprisonment and a fine of $400. , . „
Before this same court came on the second trial of 1BOO.
Fries for high treason. At the former trial the council
for Fries had argued at great length to the jury that the
offense was not treason, but riot ; and they had cited a
great number of English cases to support that distinc-
tion. Considering those cases as irrelevant, the definition
of treason depending not on English cases, but on the
express terms of the Constitution of the United States,
Chase reduced his view of the law to writing, and handed
it to the prisoner's counsel, as that by which the course
of the trial must be governed. Having no hope of the
acquittal of Fries, and wishing to lay a foundation for
an appeal to executive clemency, the prisoner's counsel
put on an air of great indignation at this restriction on
their right to argue the law to the jury, and though
Chase immediately withdrew the obnoxious paper, they
refused to appear any further in the case, and secretly
advised their client to procure no other counsel. Fries
was again found guilty, but was presently pardoned by
the president, as well as two others convicted of the
same offense — an act of clemency very much clamored
at by some of the ultra Federalists as having been dic-
tated by a mean desire of popularity, in a case where a
stern example was needed. But surely, at this day,
none will be inclined to complain at Adams's unwilling-
ness to be the first president to order an execution for
treason — an act of authority which, thank God ! none of
his successors have yet found occasion to exercise.
Having finished the Pennsylvania circuit, Chase, who
was a great partisan of Adams's, and who was accus-
tomed to mingle a good deal of politics in his charges to
grand juries, proceeded to Eichmond. There he pro-
368 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER cured the indictment of Callender for certain passages
' of a recent publication, called the "Prospect before us,7'
1800 filled with abuse of Washington as well as of Adams.
It was afterward proved by autograph letters, produced
by Callender himself, that Jefferson, in spite of his dis-
claimers to Madison and others, not only contributed
money toward the publication of this miserable election-
eering pamphlet, but actually saw and approved a part
of the proof-sheets. Callender was defended by three
young lawyers, one of whom was the afterward dis-
tinguished William Wirt. Not having any defense on
the facts, they wished to argue to the jury the constitu-
tionality of the Sedition Law ; but this Chase would not
allow. He checked them with no very great ceremony ;
and they, seeing no other resource, followed the recent
example of Fries's counsel, by throwing down their
briefs and walking out of court. Callender was found
guilty, and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, a
fine of $200, and to give securities for his good behav-
ior for the term of two years. The details of these
trials are given with the more particularity, as Chase's
conduct in those of Fries and Callender was made the
principal ground, several years after, of an impeachment
against him. Callender's was one of the last trials under
the Sedition Act, of which the whole number did not
exceed five or six. Perhaps there were as many cases
more in which prosecutions were commenced, but not
brought to trial.
While the opposition smarted under these applications
of the law, and used them, too, with great effect for elec-
tioneering purposes, they found great comfort in the judg-
ment which had overtaken Cobbett in the already-men-
tioned libel suit brought against him by Dr. Eush. This
suit had been brought to trial on the very day of Wash-
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST COBBETT. 369
mgton's death ; singular coincidence, as Cobbett remark- CHAPTER
ed, that while the father of his country was perishing "
under the lancet, he, Cobbett, should be mulcted in a 1800.
verdict of $5000 for having exposed and ridiculed the
dangerous practice of excessive bleeding. Shippen, who
presided at the trial, certainly pushed the law, in his
charge to the jury, to the utmost extreme ; and Cobbett
insisted that it was for this charge that Shippen was re-
warded with the post of chief justice.- In anticipation,
it would seem, of what was to happen, Cobbett had
stopped his paper, which, notwithstanding its circulation,
having but few advertisements, had never proved profit-
able, and had removed to New York. His property at
Philadelphia was seized and sold on execution, and an
attempt was made to imprison him at New York. But
he easily found bail, and Bush's judgment against him
was afterward paid by a subscription among the British
residents in America. Another suit was also pending
upon the recognizances for his good behavior already
mentioned, which M'Kean, by an exceedingly doubtful
stretch of his legal authority, had required him to give.
Upon this suit, also, judgment of forfeiture was present-
ly obtained, and the sureties were obliged to pay, but
were subsequently indemnified by Cobbett. Meanwhile,
this indefatigable pamphleteer was not idle. He issued
at New York a series of pamphlets called the " Eush
Light," in which he took ample vengeance upon all par-
ties concerned in his prosecution. Before the end of the
year he returned to England, whence he hurled another
quiver full of arrows at his American enemies, in ten
octavo volumes, which had a large circulation on both
sides of the Atlantic, containing a collection of his
American pamphlets, with the spiciest of his Porcupine
editorials. With that untiring energy for which he was
V.— A A
370 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER remarkable, availing himself of his American experience;
'__ he soon commenced the first complete report of British
1800 Parliamentary debates ever published, at the same time
conducting a political journal of wide circulation. But
under that experience which a change of position afford-
ed, he changed somewhat rapidly from a most vehement
Tory to a most vehement Kadical ; for to be moderate
in anything was not in - his nature. His departure from
the country was hardly less a relief to the Federalists
than to the opposition. He had attacked Adams and
the peace policy with great violence ; and even the
most ultra of the war party, much as they enjoyed his
sharp hits, could not but feel that his pen did them more
hurt than good. The opposition charged that Cobbett
was hired by the British government. It is true that
Liston, the English embassador, a sagacious Scotchman,
far better adapted to the position than his predecessor,
took care to flatter Cobbett's vanity by showing him
some attentions. But he was of a spirit far too proud
and of a temper too stubborn to be bought with money,
or to enlist as a mere mercenary into the service of any
government or any party.
The result of the New York election removed a great
part of the reasons which had thus far induced the presi-
dent to temporize with his political enemies in the cab-
inet. That result, indeed, left him, as the only chance
of his re-election, the securing of Southern votes — an
object not likely to be accomplished by retaining as his
political advisers a majority of ultra Federalists. Even
apart from any views of that sort, now that the restraints
of policy were removed, he had abundant reasons for de-
siring a change. It had been his custom, in which he
had followed and somewhat exaggerated the example of
Washington, to retire, shortly after the adjournment oi
CHANGES IN THE CABINET. 371
Congress, to his own private residence at Braintree, leav* CHAPTER
ing the routine of business to be conducted by the cat- .___
met ministers, who, however, in more important cases, 1$OG.
consulted him by letter. He could hardly wish to con-
fide so confidential a trust to a cabinet of which the ma-
jority were his political, if not his personal enemies.
He began with M 'Henry, who, in the letter of Wolcott's May 5.
already quoted, giving an account of the opening of the
session, is described as a man of honor and entirely trust-
worthy, also a man of sense, who delivered correct opin-
ions when required ; but at the head of a difficult and
unpopular department, without being skilled in the de-
tails of executive business, which he exposed to delays
by his diffidence in himself, and in which he sometimes
committed mistakes, which his enemies employed to im-
pair his influence. According to a letter of M 'Henry's,
written very shortly afterward, Adams spoke first of
some matter of business. That disposed of, under the
vexation which the recent news of the loss of New York
might naturally inspire, he entered into a general criti-
cism of M 'Henry's conduct; charged him with personal
hostility; "became indecorous, and at times outrage-
ous ;" and finally told him that he must resign, which
he did the next morning. M 'Henry succumbed like a
willow before the blast — -a blast, indeed, which he recol-
lected for the rest of his life. Pickering, was made of
sterner stuff. When called upon to resign, he refused
to do so, and Adams then dismissed him. Some eight May 32,
years after (1808), the ex-president's anger being reviv-
ed anew by Pickering's collisions at that time with John
Quincy Adams, he drew, in a private letter, a sketch of
that gentleman's character, not, perhaps, without like-
ness, but which certainly would have suited quite as
well, if not better, either Adams, father or son. ' ; He
372 HISTORY O.F THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER is, for anything I know, a good son, husband, father;
' grandfather, brother, uncle, and cousin. But he is a
1800. man in a mask, sometimes of silk, sometimes of iron, and
sometimes of brass, and he can change them very sud-
denly, and with some dexterity." " He is extremely sus-
ceptible of violent and inveterate prejudices, and yet,
such are the contradictions to be found in human char-
acters, he is capable of very sudden and violent transi-
tions from one extreme to an opposite. Under the sim-
ple appearance of a bald head and straight hair, and un-
der professions of profound Bepublicanism, he conceals
an ardent ambition, envious of every superior, and im-
patient of obscurity. He makes me think of a coal-pit
covered over with red earth, glowing within, but unable
to conceal the internal heat for the interstices which let
out the smoke, and now and then a flash of flame."
This indeed was not so much the character of an indi-
vidual as of that whole class of athletic, energetic, pas-
sionate men, born for action, and hardly comfortable ex-
cept in the midst of a tumult, to which John Adams,
M'Kean, Chase, Pickering, and John Q. Adams alike be-
longed. But surely Pickering's use of the mask, whether
of silk, iron, or brass, and his facility of sudden and vio-
lent transitions, was far less than that of either of the
others. Indeed, it was the want of sufficient flexibility
which was the greatest defect in Pickering's political
character. John Adams and his son, as well as Chase
and M'Kean, had also the advantage of profound and
varied learning, while Pickering had little to rely upon
beyond his naturally vigorous intellect, and the multi-
plied experiences of a very active life. Yet the pieces
which came from his pen during the controversy with
France rank high in that collection of state papers
which, with the series of political essays already referred
FEDERAL INTRIGUE AGAINST ADAMS. -373
to, constitute the only valuable and distinctive American CHAPTER
literature during the half "century from 1765 to 1815. _..
Wolcott was not less decisive in his political opinions
than either of the other secretaries. But he had pre-
served toward the president great courtesy of manner ;
he was an excellent Secretary of the Treasury, whose
place it might not be so easy to fill ; and perhaps the
president considered it politic to allow to the ultra sec-
tion of the Federal party a representation, though not a
majority in the cabinet. The places of the dismissed
secretaries were very ably filled by Marshall as Secretary
of State, and Dexter as Secretary of War.
In desiring to make their position in the cabinet a van-
tage-ground from which to carry on an intrigue to de-
feat the president's re-election, and in considering them-
selves as suffering a political martyrdom in being re-
moved, M 'Henry and Pickering by no means correctly
appreciated the true and proper relation in which a cabi-
net officer ought to stand. The president, being solely
responsible for the executive administration, has an un-
questionable right to the unshackled selection of his polit-
ical advisers and executive assistants ; and after so well
expounding the matter, as he formerly had done to Mon-
roe, Pickering ought never to have put the president to
the necessity of dismissing him.
These dismissals increased the anxiety of the ultra
Federalists to substitute Pinckney as president in the
place of Adams. But this was a matter in which they
could not move without the greatest risk of burying
themselves as well as Adams in one common ruin.
Should they openly attempt to deprive him of any Fed
eral votes in order to give the majority to Pinckney, it
could not be doubted that the same policy would be re-
torted upon Pinckney, so that the result might be to
374 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER place them both behind the two opposition candidates
__ ' _ The mass of the Federals remained ignorant of the bit-
1300. ter feu(^ which nad sprung up among the leaders. That
feud was still a political secret into which few were in
itiated, and but very slightly alluded to in the public
prints. The feeling against Adams was confined, in a
great measure, to a few active politicians. The attempt
to diffuse their feeling among the mass could only give
rise to dissensions in a party whose united force was
hardly able to withstand the external pressure against
it. Yet there were some so embittered against Adams
as to be ready to operate for his defeat, even at the risk
of bringing in Jefferson. Such was the feeling of Wol-
cott, who seems to have been chief engineer for the dis-
satisfied. Other cooler heads perceived that by no means
whatever could the Federal leaders oppgsed to Adams
more effectually destroy themselves in the public estima-
tion than by following out a plan of impotent resentment,
and thus bringing about the election of a man whom
they had so long combined to hold up as devoid of every
good principle, religious or political. In what a ridicu-
lous position would they place themselves, after lauding
Adams for four years as the wisest and firmest of men,
to turn about and denounce him as one whose weakness,
caprices, selfishness, and vanity made him unfit to be
the head of a party or a nation !
The painful and almost helpless position of these in-
fajy 22, triguers is graphically portrayed in a letter from M 'Hen-
ry to Wolcott. " Have our party shown that they pos-
sess the necessary skill and courage to deserve to be con-
tinued to govern ? What have they done ? They did
not (with a few exceptions), knowing the disease, the
man, and his nature, meet it, when it first appeared, like
wise and resolute politicians ; they tampered with it. and
COUNTER OPERATIONS OF ADAMS. 375
thought of palliations down to the last day of the late CHAPTER
session of Congress. Nay, their conduct even now, not-
withstanding the consequences fall in view, should the 1800.
present chief be re-elected, in most, if not in all of the
states, is tremulous, timid, feeble, deceptive, and coward-
ly. They write private letters. To whom ? To each
other. But they do nothing to give a proper direction to
the public mind. They observe, even in their conversa-
tion, a discreet circumspection, ill calculated to diffuse
information, or to prepare the mass of the people for the
result. They meditate in private. Can good come out
of such a system ? If the party recover its pristine en-
ergy and splendor, shall I ascribe it to such cunning, pal-
try, indecisive, back-door conduct?" The Federal lead-
ers in New England, dreading the weight of Adams's
name and influence, desired that the first open demon-
stration against him, if any was to be made, as to which
they verj- much doubted, should come from Maryland or
New Jersey. But the Federalists of these two states, ac-
customed to look to New England for leadership, did not
think it at all expedient to place themselves at the head
of so serious a movement.
Fully aware of the intrigues going on against him,
Adams was not the man to remain quietly on the de-
fensive. He freely denounced his Federal opponents
under the appellation of the " Essex Junto" — several of
their chief leaders in Massachusetts being residents in or
connected with that maritime county — as a faction de-
voted to England, and whose real ground of complaint
against him was that he had refused to involve the na-
tion in an unnecessary war with France. Thus, both
personally and through his partisans, he appealed to that
spirit of animosity against England, deeply rooted in his
own breast, and still operating with great force on the
376 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER popular mind. The men thus struck at thought it hard
, indeed that this imputation of subserviency to England
1800. — a long-standing accusation of the opposition as against
the whole Federal party, and of which Adams himself
had been a special mark — should now be caught up by
him and pointed exclusively against them ; nor could
they see any thing in it but a mere electioneering trick,
a dishonest appeal to the passions and prejudices of the
Aog 3. multitude. " You will at length," so Ames wrote to
"Wolcott, " clearly discern in the gazettes the whole plan
of a certain great man. It is by prating about impartial-
ity, Americanism, liberty and equality, to gull the weak
among the Feds. Half the wealthy can be made to re-
pine that talents without wealth take the right hand of
them. Purse-pride works in Boston. They are vexed
that an Essex Junto should be more regarded than the
men whose credit in money matters so far outweighs
them. The Federalists hardly deserve the name of a
party. Their association is a loose one, formed by acci-
dent, and shaken by every prospect of labor or hazard."
Yet this charge of devotion to England, though some
what exaggerated, was not by any means without foun
dation. Though, when first brought forward against the
whole Federal party, it had been a mere chimera, the
offspring of that unsatiated hatred which saw in any
thing approaching to moderation and candor symptoms
of a culpable attachment, it had come now in the course
of events to describe something that actually existed — a
counterpart, though comparatively a very modest one, to
that French faction which had exercised so powerful an
influence upon the national politics. Sympathy for rev-
olutionary France, regarded as the champion of political
and social reforms as against the ancient despotisms of
Europe, had created a faction in the United States, the
VIEWS OF THE ESSEX JUNTO. 377
object of which seemed to be to throw America headlong CHAPTER
into the arms of France — an object supported and en- ,
couraged, to a very considerable extent, by the general 1800.
opposition of which this faction formed a part. At first
these enthusiasts had found their principal resistance in
the firmness of Washington, the sagacity of Hamilton,
and especially from that inertia which always opposes it-
self to any great and sudden movement. But those ex-
cesses of the French Revolution which, at the moment
of their happening, had seemed to strike the public at-
tention as little more than a horrible dream, had begun,
in the minds of a large portion of the community, to as-
sume the character of terrible realities, and to be brooded
over, without any very nice analysis of their real causes,
as the necessary consequences of the practical application
of those principles which the leaders of the French Rev-
olution had proclaimed — principles held up to execration
under what had now become the odious name of Jacob-
inism. As developed in practice, whatever it might be
in theory, the system of Jacobinism had turned out to
be nothing more than the violent seizure of power by suc-
cessive factions of audacious, enthusiastic, and turbulent
men, impatient of all control and greedy of authority,
who, as the pretended agents of the people, and in the
name of the rights of man, had successively exercised a
horrible despotism, not to be paralleled except by the
v? orst passages in the history of the worst times. A nat-
iral reaction against the admirers and would-be imita-
tors of such a system and such men, joined to the late
outrageous conduct of France, and to the fact that Eng-
land seemed to be the only power capable of offering to
her any effectual resistance, had in many bosoms extin-
guished the Revolutionary antipathy to Great Britain,
and had gradually brought her to be regarded as the great
378 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTEB champion of law, order, religion and property, against
'_ _ what seemed the demoniac fury of the French Revolu-
1800 tionists. Of those entertaining these feelings there were
many ready and anxious to join England in the war
against France, as the only means of saving the United
States from French influence and Jacobin triumph. Nat-
urally enough, they had been greatly displeased at the
renewal of negotiations with the Directory ; and these
were the men whom Adams denounced, and not alto-
gether without reason, as constituting an English faction.
With the same degree of truth with which they had
charged French influence as operating on Jefferson and
his associates, they might be now said to be themselves
acting under English influence. French sympathies and
English sympathies, would, in either case, have been
the more accurate expression ; but the language of po-
litical passion, always greatly exaggerated, makes, at
the best, only a certain approach toward the truth.
Yery unfortunately for Adams, as to this point of
British influence, his enemies of both parties were en-
abled, just at this moment, to put him to a mortifying
disadvantage. An old letter of his, made public by a
gross breach of confidence — the same referred to in Wal-
cott's account of the opening of the late session of Con-
gress, quoted in the preceding chapter — displayed in a
striking light some of the weakest points of his charac-
ter. Like all persons of his impulsive temper, always
too ready to betray himself by his tongue or his pen,
Adams had been inveigled, during Washington's first
term of office, into a confidential correspondence with
Tench Coxe, a mousing politician and temporizing busy-
body, though a man of considerable financial knowledge
and ability, who held at that moment the place of Assist-
ant Secretary of the Treasury. The insignificance of
ADAMS'S LETTER TO COXE. 379
Adams's position as vice-president was, as we have had CHAPTER
occasion to notice, far from agreeable to his active tern-
perament. He had even expressed a readiness to return
to England as embassador — an appointment, however,
which Washington did not think consistent with the
position of vice-president, which Adams desired to re-
tain. It was perhaps in a fit of ill humor at this disap-
pointment, that Adams had written a letter to Coxe
(May, 1792) in which was contained the following pas-
sage : " The Duke of Leeds once inquired of me, very
kindly, after his classmates at Westminster school, the
two Mr. Pinckneys, which induces me to conclude that
our new embassador has many powerful old friends in
England. Whether this is a recommendation of him
for the office or not, I have other reasons to believe that
his family have had their eyes fixed upon the embassy to
St. James for many years, even before I was sent there,
and that they contributed to limit the duration of my
commission to three years, in order to make way for
themselves to succeed me. I wish they may find as much
honor and pleasure in it as they expected, and that the
public may derive from it dignity and utility ; but know-
ing as I do the long intrigues, and suspecting as I do
much British influence in the appointment, were I in
any executive department, I would take the liberty to
keep a vigilant eye upon them." Subsequently to this
correspondence, under the new arrangement, of parties
which grew out of the French [Revolution and Jay's
treaty, Coxe, who made some pretensions to speculative
science, became, like almost all persons of that descrip-
tion, a zealous partisan of France, and, of course, a mem-
ber of the American opposition. Being dismissed from
the office of Supervisor of the Eevenue, shortly after
Adams's accession to the presidency for gross misbe-
3$0 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER havior, as the Secretary of the Treasury alleged, but aa
' Coxe would have it, on account of his political princi-
1800 Ples — in fact> *°r carrjiQg stories about the treasury to
the Aurora, where they were detailed with great exag-
geration and a very false coloring — he waited his oppor-
tunity for revenge. Nor did he have occasion to wait
long. An indictment, under the Sedition Law, having
been found against Duane, the editor of the Aurora, and
part of the matter charged as libelous relating to this
very subject of British influence, Coxe furnished Duane
with Adams's letter, as a piece of evidence toward proving
the truth of the charge. The district attorney, to whom
the letter was shown, perceiving the delicate position in
which Adams would be placed by it, was induced to let
the prosecution drop. But this was not the end of it.
Coxe's letter, handed about in manuscript, had contrib-
uted greatly, according to Wolcott's statement already
quoted, to impair the confidence in each other formerly
existing among the leaders of the Federalists. So long
as it remained in manuscript, Pinckney, though well
aware of its existence, had not deemed himself called
upon to notice it. Subsequently to the adjournment of
Aug. 28. Congress it was printed in the Aurora, to which Coxe,
about that time, became a principal contributor ; where-
upon Pinckney wrote from Charleston, in a tone not
only respectful but friendly, calling the president's at-
tention to .it as probably a forgery. Adams, in his
reply, which he caused at once to be published in the
newspapers, while strongly expressing his obligations to
Oct. 27. Pinckney for the tone in which he had addressed him,
acknowledged the authenticity of the letter, at least as to
its substance, and gave the following explanation of it.
He had been told in London, shortly after his arrival
there as embassador, that it had been said there by a Mr
ADAMS'S LETTER TO CCXE. 381
Pinckney, a member of the Continental Congress, that CHAPTER
the limitation of three years, inserted into his commission ._
as minister (which had struck his attention as something 1300.
new), had been placed there for the purpose of getting
rid of him at the end of that period ; and that, .as soon
as that happened, a Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina,
would be appointed in his place. Bearing in mind this
old piece of gossip, when he understood that a Mr.
Pinckney had been appointed embassador to England,
he had concluded at once that the intrigue set on foot
eight years before had at last been brought to a success-
ful conclusion. It is a striking proof, among many
others, how little, in the early days of the Federal ad-
ministration, remote states knew of each other, that
Adams, when he wrote his letter to Coxe, was ignorant
how many Mr. Pinckney s had attained to political con-
sideration in South Carolina, or in what relations they
stood to each other, and was thus led to confound Charles
Pinckney, now one of the South Carolina senators, and
who had been a member of the Continental Congress in
1785, with Thomas Pinckney, and his brother Charles
C. Pinckney ; or, at least, to suppose between them a
political sympathy and co-operation which did not exist
Notwithstanding this ignorance, if, instead of listening
to mischief-making tattlers and the hasty suggestions of
his own jealousy, Adams had examined the printed
Journal of the Continental Congress, he would have
found that the limitation of three years, though moved
by Charles Pinckney, had been introduced prior to the
nomination of Adams to England, had been extended
to all foreign missions alike, had been seconded by
Howell of Ehode Island, the very member by whom
Adams was afterward nominated, had been supported
by Gerry, always Adams's friend, and had been voted
382 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTER for by all the New England states ; so that the idea of
' any blow aimed at him in particular was evidently a
1300. mere chimera.
As to the suggestion of British influence, Adams at-
tempted to put this gloss upon it. Taking the friendly
inquiries of the Duke of Leeds as proof that the Pinck-
ney family had influential acquaintances in England,
he had been led to suppose that an intimation, in which
there was nothing unusual or improper, had been given
to the American government that one of the Mr. Pinck-
neys would be favorably received by the British court ;
and he averred that in alluding to British influence, he
had intended no more than that.
Having thus explained away, as far as he could, the
letter to Coxe, Adams proceeded to make the best rep-
aration in his power, by expressing in strong terms his
high opinion of both Thomas Pinckney and his brother
Charles 0. Pinckney — now the joint Federal candidate
with Adams, and, in fact, his rival for the presidency.
Since his letter to Coxe, he had enjoyed ample opportu-
nities, so he stated, for knowing the conduct of both ;
and, so far as had come to his knowledge, they had dis-
played minds candid, able, independent, and wholly
free from any improper bias toward Great Britain or any
other country. Both had rendered important public
services, nor did he know any two gentlemen more de-
serving of public confidence. " I can not conclude,"
such was the closing paragraph of his letter, " without
observing that we are fallen on evil times ; on evil times,
indeed, are we fallen, if every piece of private conver-
. sation is immediately to be betrayed and misrepresented
in the newspapers, and if every frivolous and confiden-
tial letter is to be dragged by the hand of treachery from
its oblivion of eight years, add published by malice and
HAMILTON'S PAMPHLET AGAINST ADAMS. 383
revenge for the purpose of making mischief." The al- CHAPTER
lusion in this last paragraph to unguarded conversations
betrayed and misrepresented was no doubt intended to l^OQ
apply, not to Coxe, but to a remarkable pamphlet of
Hamilton's, which had then just issued from the press,
and extracts from which had already been surreptitiously
published in the Aurora and in Holt's New London Bee.
The reiterated charge made by the president in pri-
vate conversations against his Federal opponents, and
now beginning to be repeated by his partisans in the
newspapers, that they were a British faction, rankled
deeply in their bosoms. Hamilton, especially, was very
indignant ; and learning that the president had repeat-
edly mentioned him by name as acting under British
influence, he had written a respectful letter requesting Aug. i.
explanations. The president took no notice of this or
of a subsequent letter on the same subject, and his Oct 1
silence, while it aggravated the feelings of Hamilton,
confirmed him in a resolution, as to which Cabot and
Wolcott in vain discouraged him, to finish and print,
with his own name to it, a pamphlet to be privately cir-
culated among the leading Federalists, vindicating him-
self against the insinuations of Adams and his partisans,
and also setting forth the reasons why Pinckney ought
to be preferred for president.
That Hamilton had abundant personal provocation
to the writing and circulation of this pamphlet can not
be denied. In the then existing state of the public feel-
ing, the charge of subserviency to Great Britain was
terrible indeed ; and, unless satisfactory explanations
were given, he and his friends were in danger of po-
litical ruin from Adams's charges. Besides, he had the
best reasons for believing that, with respect to himself
in particular, Adams had repeatedly indulged in the
384 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER most virulent and indecent abuse, not only stigmatizing
\ him as the leader of a British faction, but assailing even
1800. -his private character, and holding him up as a man des-
titute of every moral principle; charges afterward re-
peated in that famous Cunningham correspondence of
Adams's, from which we have already made several
quotations — and which continue to be cited as testimony
by writers who would have us believe that in his rela-
tions with women Hamilton was as profligate as Miffliri,
Burr, or Edwards ; a slander mainly founded on the
case of Mrs. Keynolds, and upon which, in the absence
of other matter of attack, Adams's austere Puritanism
seized with an eagerness quite rabid.
It was the great object of Hamilton's pamphlet to
show, without denying Adams's patriotism and integrity,
and even talents of a certain kind, that he was not
adapted to the administration of government, there
being in his character great and intrinsic defects which
unfitted him for the office of chief magistrate. The
chief of these defects were stated to be "an imagination
sublimated and eccentric, propitious neither to the regu-
lar display of sound judgment, nor to steady persever-
ance in a systematic plan of conduct ;" "a vanity with-
out bounds ;" " a jealousy capable of discoloring every
object ;" " disgusting egotism and ungovernable indis-
cretion." This was, to be sure, a somewhat strong pre-
sentation of the dark side of Adams's character, yet, in
the main, it was correct — for his was a character not to
be faithfully portrayed, whether as to its lights or its
shadows, except in pretty strong colors. In proof of
its correctness, Hamilton added a sketch of Adams's po-
litical career, especially of his late official acts, inter-
spersed with a number of authentic anecdotes, which
showed, indeed, how little control Adams often had over
ADAMS AND HAMILTON. 385
nis tongue and his pen, and how, in moments of excite- CHAPTER
ment, he gave vehement and unguarded expression to '
his feelings. But all this "Was very far from proving — 1£00
what was charged, not in this letter only, but in the pri-
vate correspondence as well of Jefferson as of Wolcott^-
that Adams acted without any settled plan, without any
fixed system or theory, and much more under the guid-
ance of caprice and passion than of judgment. Passion-
tossed, and sometimes transformed, undoubtedly he was,
as all persons of his hot temperament and vivacious
imagination always must be. His, indeed, was a char-
acter hardly comprehensible by the serene and mag-
nanimous Hamilton, the steady, sagacious Wolcott, or
the crafty, secretive, dissembling Jefferson. Yet Adams's
excitable temperament was qualified, and as to all his
most important public actions, overmastered and con-
trolled, by a vigorous judgment, penetrating and prompt,
of which, in the great events of his life, " his sublimated
and eccentric imagination" was, as results proved, not
so much the master, as the useful and ready servant.
As to himself — a subject on which he dwelt but brief-
ly— Hamilton might well declare, as he formerly had
done in answer to Jefferson's assaults, that " in the car-
dinal points of public and private rectitude — above all,
in pure and disinterested zeal for the interest and service
of the country," he " shrank not from a comparison with
any arrogant pretender to superior and exclusive merit."
In reply to the charge of being the leader of a British
faction, he denied having ever advised any connection
with Great Britain other than a commercial one, or the
giving to her any commercial privilege not granted to
other nations ; nor had he ever been able to make up
his mind as to the expediency of even a temporary alli-
ance in case of a rupture with France.
V.— BB
386 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Although, as between themselves personally, Hamilton
. had ground enough for his pamphlet ; though the tone
1800. °f i*i a^ things considered, was exceedingly candid ; and
though his placing his name to it was in honorable con-
trast to Adams's silent evasion of charges which, however
he might reiterate them, he did not venture to avouch
under his own hand ; yet the expediency of the publi-
cation at this particular crisis was somewhat more than
doubtful. Such, indeed, was the position of affairs, that
Hamilton was obliged to stultify himself, as it were, by
declaring, in conclusion, that he did not recommend the
withholding from Adams of a single vote ! He express-
ed his intention so to regulate the circulation of the
pamphlet that it might not operate in that way to
Adams's disadvantage, and his wish, also, to confine it
within narrow limits. But, whatever might have been
his intentions or wishes — and the expectation of making
a secret of such a printed pamphlet was chimerical at the
best — they were defeated at the outset by the watchful
and artful Burr, who obtained one of the earliest copiesr
arid sent off extracts, as already mentioned, to the Aurora
and Holt's New London Bee. This made the appearance
of an authentic edition necessary ; and it issued from the
press cotemporaneously with the publication of Adams's
letter to Pinckney.
It is now time to take a look at the embassy to France,
the immediate cause of these bitter and ominous dissen-
sions among the Federal leaders. As, at the moment of
Ellsworth's and Davie's embarkation, the French gov-
ernment was evidently on the eve of one of its periodi-
cal revolutions, it had been thought best that the frigate
in which they sailed should touch at Lisbon for informa-
tion On arriving at that port they heard of the KevO"
NEGOTIATIONS AT PAEIS. 387
lutioa of Brumaire (November 8, 1799), which some CHAPTER
three weeks before had placed Bonaparte at the head of *__
the state. The frigate then made sail for L'Orient, but, 1800.
after being tossed for a fortnight in the stormy Bay of
Biscay, was obliged to put into Corunna. Thence the
commissioners wrote to Talleyrand, who still remained, Jan. 11.
under the new administration, at the head of foreign af-
fairs, asking passports for themselves, and that one might
also be sent to Murray at the Hague ; and inquiring if
the circumstance that their letters of credence were ad-
dressed to the Directory, now passed away, would make
any difference in the matter of their reception.
Talleyrand replied that the ministers were waited for
with impatience, and would be received with warmth.
Thus encouraged, they proceeded to Paris, where they
found their colleague Murray, who had arrived three March 5
days before them, A few days after, they were formally
received by the first consul ; and three plenipotentiaries,
Joseph Bonaparte at the head, were appointed to treat
with them.
But a serious obstacle soon appeared which threatened
to defeat the negotiation. The American commissioners
were peremptorily instructed to insist on the renuncia-
tion of the old treaties, which had been declared void by
Congress, and also upon indemnity for spoliations on
American commerce. The French commissioners were
unwilling to relinquish the old treaties, especially the
provisions relating to the admission of French privateers
and prizes into American ports, the more so as this priv-
ilege, lost to the French, would, under Jay's treaty, be
exclusively vested in the English so long as the present
war continued. They were still more unwilling to pay
any indemnities, for which they insisted there could be
no claim except upon the assumption that the treaties
388 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER continued in force. After a good deal of delay for ad
xv
' ditional instructions, caused by Bonaparte's absence from
1800e Pai>is» tneJ finally offered this alternative : the old trea-
Aug. 11. ties, with stipulations for mutual indemnities, or a new
treaty on equal terms, but without indemnities. After
a good deal of correspondence, the American envoys sug-
gested a renewal of the old treaties, but with a reserva*
tion to the United States of a right to buy off their ob-
ligations by the payment of certain fixed sums ; but the
French commissioners were not inclined to adopt this
suggestion, which would still have thrown the balance
of payments against France. They frankly acknowledged
that, as France had no money, it was a great object with
her to avoid the payment of indemnities at all ; and they
were, no doubt, the more encouraged to insist upon this,
as the instructions of the former envoys, laid before Con-
gress and published, had allowed of such a settlement.
As the instructions of the present envoys, more strin-
gent than those of the former mission, did not allow them
to accept either of the French offers, the alternative was
either to abandon the negotiation, or to make a tempo-
rary arrangement, subject to rejection or approval by
the American government, such as might relieve the
United States from that position of semi-hostility in
which they stood toward France — a position rendered
every day more dangerous by the successes of Bonaparte
and the growing prospect of a general European peace
— an arrangement which, should the war continue, might
secure American commerce, as far as possible, against
those abuses of belligerent rights, on the part of the
French, under which it had suffered so much ; saving
also the great amount of captured American property
on which the French Council of Prizes had not yet pass-
ed definitive sentence.
CHOICE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS. 389
On this basis a convention was presently concluded ; CHAITER
referring to future negotiation, as well the indemnities '
mutually claimed as the binding force of the old treaties, 1800.
which, meanwhile, were to remain inoperative ; provid- Oct. i.
ing for the mutual restoration of public ships taken by
either party, and indeed of all captured property, French
or American, not already condemned ; also for the mu-
tual payment of all debts due, whether by the govern-
ments or by individuals ; the commerce, and the public
and private ships of either party, to enjoy in the ports
of the other the privileges of the most favored nation.
The remaining articles were principally devoted to the
security of American commerce against those multiplied
vexatious pretenses hitherto set up by the French cruis-
ers, and countenanced by the government and the tri-
bunals. The provision of the old treaty that free ships
should make free goods was still retained in the new
convention.
Meanwhile, in America, the grand struggle destined
to decide, for years to come, the policy and conduct of
the Federal government, was fast approaching its crisis.
Three, or, rather, four different modes of choosing elect-
ors of president and vice-president had been hitherto in
use ;. a choice by the Legislature, either by joint ballot
or concurrent vote ; an election by the people, by gen-
eral ticket the whole number of electors being voted for
on one ballot throughout the state ; or a choice by dis-
tricts. The latter method was evidently that which gave
the fairest expression of public opinion, by approaching
nearest to a direct vote. But those states which adopt-
ed it were placed at the disadvantage of being exposed
to a division of their strength and neutralization of their
vote ; while the electors chosen bv either of the other
390 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER methods voted in a body on one side or the other, rnak
xv
' ing the voice of the state decisively felt. This con
1800 sideration had induced the two leading states of Massa-
chusetts and Virginia to abandon the district system,
In Virginia, where the party in opposition to the Fed-
eral government was overwhelmingly predominant, the
choice had been given to the people by general ticket ;
in Massachusetts, where paities were more equally di-
vided, it had been retained by the Legislature. In Mary-
land the Federalists controlled the state Senate, and, had
they succeeded in carrying the House, they would also
have adopted a choice by the Legislature ; but in the
Oct. 6. election for members of the House, which had just taken
place, the opposition had obtained a majority, and the
choice by districts remained as before. Similar causes
produced a similar result in North Carolina. In Penn-
sylvania, also, the opposition succeeded to their wishes
Oct. 14. in electing a majority of the Lower House of Assembly ;
but the Federalists still retained their majority in the
Nov. 5. Senate, and when M'Kean called the Assembly together
for the choice of electors, it was not so easy to arrange
how it should be made. The Kepublicans were very
eager for a choice by joint ballot, which would have
given them the whole ; but to this the Senate would not
consent, except on terms such as would secure to the
Federalists a share of the electors. They proposed that
eight out of the fifteen might be the nominees of the
House, the other seven to be nominated by the Senate.
This offer, made in various shapes, was several times
peremptorily rejected ; but as, in the very close division
of parties, one vote might determine the election, it was
Dec. i. agreed to at the last moment, and a bill was passed, by
the provisions of which each house was to nominate
eight candidates, from whom, by joint ballot, the fifteen
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS. 391
electors were 'o be chosen. Pennsylvania, of course, CH AFTER
stood eight opposition to seven Federal electors. A
similar neutralization of political forces had taken place 1800.
in the other states where the district system was main-
tained. Maryland was equally divided ; North Carolina
elected eight Eepublican electors to four Federalists.
The Federal ticket prevailed entire in the four New
England states ; also in New Jersey and Delaware. Op-
position electors were chosen in New York, and in all
the states south of the Potomac, the four Federalists in
North Carolina excepted. In South Carolina, where the
choice was by the Legislature, in which were many mem-
bers of doubtful politics, the result had been regarded as
very uncertain. The opposition offered to compromise
on Jefferson and Pinckney ; but, after consideration, the
Federalists resolved to stand by their own ticket ; which
was lost, however, by from fifteen to eighteen votes in a
house of one hundred and fifty-one members. This gave
a majority of eight opposition electors in the colleges ;
but, even after this was known, the result still hung in
suspense. It was not certain that the electors on either
side would strictly conform to the party nominations, for
the original intention of the Constitution was still so far
respected that public opinion, as yet, conceded to the
electors a certain private liberty of choice. Pinckney and
Burr might be so far dropped, and the names of Jefferson
and Adams substituted, as to bring in again the present
incumbents, though, perhaps, with a change of position.
Jefferson seems, with his usual dissimulation, still to
have flattered Adams^-easily imposed upon by such an
appeal to his vanity — with the idea of having no higher
ambition than to continue to serve under him. But the
game did not lie entirely between Jefferson and Adams.
Pinckney might get some Southern votes withheld from
892 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER them both, and so, possibly, might be president ; or, if
.', all the electors conformed strictly to party nominations,
1800. wna* was to decide between Jefferson and Burr ?
The removal, under the provisions of the act of the
first Congress, of the seat of government to the new Fed-
eral city on the Potomac, which took place in the course
of the summer, might seem a sort of forerunner of the
transfer of Federal control from the North to the South ;
and a fanciful mind might also discover, in the contrast
between Philadelphia and the new City of Washington,
a symbolization of the difference between Federal poli-
tics and those of the opposition. Looking merely to the
accommodations already prepared, the removal might
seem somewhat premature. Only the north wing of the
Capitol was finished. That, however, had been fitted up
so as to accommodate both houses of Congress. The
president's house was completed externally, but the in
ternal finishing was quiet behindhand.
July 4. " There is one good tavern," so Wolcott wrote shortly
after his arrival there, " about forty rods from the Capi-
tol, and several other houses are built or erecting ; but
I do not see how the members of Congress can possibly
secure lodgings, unless they will consent to live like
scholars in a college or monks in a monastery, crowded
ten or twenty in one house, and utterly secluded from
society. The only resource for such as wish to live com-
fortably will be found in Georgetown, three miles dis
tant, over as bad a road in winter as the clay grounds
near Hartford. I have made every exertion to secure
good lodgings near the office, but shall be compelled to
take them at the . distance of more than half a mile.
There are, in fact, but few houses in any one place, and
most of them small, miserable huts, which present an
awful contrast to the public buildings. The people are
CITY OF WASHINGTON. 393
poor, and, as far as I can judge, they live like nsries, CHAPTER
by eating each other. All the ground for several miles
around the city, being, in the opinion of the people, too 1800.
valuable to be cultivated, remains unfenced. There are
but few inclosures, even for gardens, and those are in bad
order. You may look in almost any direction, over an
extent of ground nearly as large as the city of New York,
without seeing a fence or any object except brick-kilns
and temporary huts for laborers. Mr. Law" — a brother
of the subsequent Lord Ellenborough, who had trans-
ferred to America, and had vested to a large extent in
Washington City lots, a great fortune acquired in India
— " and a few other gentlemen live in great splendor,
but most of the inhabitants are low people, whose ap-
pearance indicates vice and intemperance, or else ne-
groes. All the lands which I have described are valued
at fourteen to twenty-five cents the superficial foot.
There appears to be a confident expectation that this
place will soon exceed any city in the world. Mr.
Thornton, one of the commissioners, spoke of a popula-
tion of 160,000 as a matter of course in a few years.
No stranger can be here a day, and converse with the
proprietors, without conceiving himself in the company
of crazy people. Their ignorance of the rest of the
world, and their delusions with respect to their own
prospects, are without parallel. Immense sums have
been squandered in buildings which are but partly fin-
ished, in situations which are not, and never will be, the
scenes of business, while the parts near the public build-
ings are almost wholly unimproved. On the whole, I
must say that the situation is a good one, and I perceive
no reason for suspecting it to be unhealthy ; but I had
no conception, till I came here, of the folly and infatua-
tion of the people who have directed the settlements.
394 HISTOKT OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Though five times as much money has been expended
' as was necessary, and though the private buildings are
1800 in number sufficient for all who will have occasion to
reside here, yet there is nothing convenient and nothing
plenty but provisions ; there is no industry, society, or
business."
Mrs. Adams's account of matters when she came to
take possession of the presidential mansion, since famil-
iarly known as the "White House, was hardly more flat-
Nov. 21. tering. " Woods are all you see from Baltimore until
you reach the city, which is only so in name. Here and
there is a small cot, without a glass window, interspersed
among the forests, through which you travel miles with-
out seeing a human being. In the city there are build-
ings enough, if they were compact and finished, to ac-
commodate Congress and those attached to it; but as
they are, and scattered as they are, I see no great com-
fort for them.
" The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requir-
ing about thirty servants to attend and keep the apart
ments in proper order, and perform the ordinary business
of the house and stables ; an establishment," she ironic-
ally adds, " very well proportioned to the president's sal
ary. The lighting the apartments from the kitchen to
parlors and chambers is a tax indeed ; and the fires we
are obliged to keep to secure us from daily agues is an-
other cheering comfort." "If they will put me up some
bells — there is not one hung through the whole house,
and promises are all you can obtain — and let me have
wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased. I
could content myself almost any where three months ;
but, surrounded with forests, can you believe that wood
is not to be had, because people can not be found to cut
and cart it I Briesler entered into a contract with a
SECOND SESSION OF THE SIXTH CONGRESS. 395
man to supply him with wood. A small part — a few CHAPTER
cords only, has he been able to get. Most of that was
expended to dry the walls of the house, before we came } 390.
in, and yesterday the man told him it was impossible to
procure it to be cut and carted. He has had recourse
to coals ; but we can not get grates made and set. We
have indeed come into a new country"
The public offices had hardly been established at
Washington, when the War Office took fire and was
burned, occasioning the destruction of many valuable
papers. In the course of the winter a like accident hap-
pened to the Treasury Department, though there the
destruction of papers was less. In the rabid party fury
of the times, Pickering's dismissal from office had been
ascribed by the Aurora, which all the other opposition
papers copied, to great pecuniary defalcations ; and now,
in the same spirit, these fires were attributed to design
on the part of certain public officers, who, it was said,
hoped thus to destroy the evidence of their deficiencies.
Before the choice of electors in South Carolina was
yet known, and while the event seemed to depend on
that state, Congress came together at the new city. The Nov. 22,
president's speech announced the prospect of an arrange-
ment with France ; but, at the same time, suggested that
the United States could not, without dangerous impru-
dence, abandon the means of self-defense adapted to
their situation, and to which, notwithstanding their pa-
cific policy, the violence and injustice of other nations
might soon compel them to resort. Considering the ex-
tent of the American sea-coast, the vast capital engaged
in trade, and the maritime resources of the country, a
navy seemed to be the most effectual instrument of de-
fense. Seasonable and systematic arrangements for that
purpose, so that, in case of necessity, a naval armament
396 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER might be quickly brought into use, appeared to be as
'___ much recommended by a wise and true economy as by
1800 regard for future peace and security. Perseverance in
the fortification of the principal sea-ports was recom-
mended as a subsidiary means of defense, and attention
also to the manufacture of arms. These, with a reor-
ganization of the judiciary establishment, and the neces-
sary legislation for the District of Columbia, constituted
the chief topics of the speech.
Ever since the dismissal of his colleagues, "Wolcott had
felt his position in the cabinet very uncomfortable ; but
the urgency of his friends, and the desire to leave the
affairs of his department on a good footing, had hitherto
induced him to remain. He had fixed, however, on the
end of the year as a period for retiring, of which he no-
tified the president and the House, asking, at the same
time, an investigation into his official conduct. He left
the treasury in a flourishing condition. The duties on
imports had exceeded those of the year preceding by
nearly two millions and a half; the sum of $734,000
had been received from the direct tax ; the internal du-
ties produced near a million ; and as the disbanding of
the additional regiments had diminished the expenses be-
low the estimates, the treasury contained, when Wolcott
left it, a balance of $2,623,000, a greater amount than
at the close of any previous year. The larger part of
the loan of $3,500,000, authorized at the last session,
had been taken up, but repayments had been made near-
ly to an equal amount. The total receipts of the year,
loans included, came to $12,451,000, very nearly the
same with those of the previous year. The total ex-
penditures amounted to about twelve millions, near
a million more than those of the year preceding.
The balance in the treasury was mainly derived from
WOLCOTT AND PICKETING. &97
the balance on hand at the commencement of the CHAPTER
xv.
year.
Dexter was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1800,
Woloott's place. The War Department, after two or three
unsuccessful attempts to find a successor for Dexter, re-
mained without a head. Neither Wolcott nor Picker-
ing, however they might be denounced by their Virginia
rivals as monarchists and aristocrats, had, like Jefferson,
Madison, and so many other Southern democrats, hered-
itary plantations to retire to, where they might play the
patriarch, and live in aristocratic leisure on the unpaid
labors of a numerous family of slaves. After twelve
years of laborious and important public service, Wolcott
left office with not six hundred dollars in his pocket.
His ideas extended no farther than to the purchase of a
small farm in his native Connecticut on which to support
his family. Pickering had no property except some
wild lands in the Wyoming settlements of Pennsylvania,
purchased after his retirement from the army, but not
yet paid for. Thither he had retired with his numerous
young family, to cut a farm out of the wilderness. But
his Massachusetts friends of the Essex Junto, unwilling
to see his services thus lost to the public, bought his
lands at a generous price, and so enabled him to pur-
chase a small farm near his native Salem, where he lived
for a quarter of a century in the extremest republican
simplicity, but not without, as we shall presently see, an
active participation in public affairs.
Among the first subjects of discussion in Congress
was the erection of a monument to Washington, in con-
formity with the resolves adopted at his death. A bill
had been introduced and partially discussed at the last
session for building a marble mausoleum of a pyramidal
shape, with a base of a hundred feet. This was violent-
898 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Ij opposed by many Republican members, who thought
. ' a plain slab of marble quite enough. History and his
1800. country's gratitude would serve, they said, as his true
monument. In the course of the debate, attention was
called to an unexecuted resolve of the Continental Con-
gress, adopted on Washington's resigning his military
command, for an equestrian statue. This would be
cheaper than the pyramid, yet not quite so plain and sim-
ple as the slab. The bill for a mausoleum finally passed
the House, with an appropriation of $200,000. The
Senate reduced the appropriation to $150,000, and pro-
posed a board of commissioners to agree upon a proper
monument. The House proposed other amendments ;
and, finally, in the hurry at the close of the session, the
whole subject was postponed. The next Congress, in
which the opponents of Washington's policy had an over-
whelming majority, found other subjects more interest-
ing than his memory and honor ; and, after a lapse of
some fifty years, the erection of a monument has at
length been undertaken by private subscription.
Dec. 11. Shortly after the opening of the session, Davie arrived
at Norfolk, bringing with him the convention with
Dec. 15. France. When it was laid before the Senate, those Fed-
eral members who had opposed the mission raised a
loud complaint that no indemnity had been secured for
the spoliations committed on American commerce, and
that the old treaties with France had not been definitive-
ly dissolved. Out of distrust, probably, of what the in-
coming administration might do,, they refused to ratify
the article referring those two subjects to future negotia-
tion ; proposing, as a substitute for it, a limitation of the
3onvention to eight years. A strong effort was also
made to expunge the provision for the mutual restora-
tion of public vessels — a provision solely for the benefit
CONVENTION WITH FRANCE. 399
of the French. But this failed, out of fear lest the French CHAPTEB
might insist, in their turn, upon retaining all captured ,
vessels and property — a provision principally beneficial 1800.
to America.
During the summer, quite a number of French priva-
teers had fallen into the hands of the American cruisers,
amounting, with those previously taken, to about fifty
sail. There were also numerous recaptures of merchant
vessels previously taken by the French. Lieutenant
Charles Stewart, in the schooner Experiment, of twelve
guns, being chased by a French brig and a schooner, the Nor.
one of eighteen and the other of fourteen guns, had the
address to separate the hostile vessels, after which he
engaged and carried the schooner, on board of which
was the mulatto general Eigaud, who had been deprived
of his command in St. Domingo, and ordered to France.
Later in the season, Stewart engaged and captured a
British letter of marque, which, on being chased and
brought to action, had refused to show her colors, or to
answer repeated hails. Of course, on discovering her
national character, she was immediately set at liberty.
Fortunately, no lives had been lost, except one on board
the Experiment. About the same time, the French na-
tional corvette Berceau, of twenty-four guns, after a
sharp action of two hours, struck to the Boston sloop of
war Captain Little, and, though very much cut up, was
brought safely into port.
Adams would decidedly have preferred the convention
as it originally stood, so he informed the Senate ; but he
ratified it, nevertheless, as it had been altered, and ap- 1801.
pointed Bayard, as minister, to carry out the ratification Feb. \t
to France. Bayard,- however, declined the appointment,
and, without any further nomination, Adams left the
matter to the incoming administration. By the terms
1:00 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER of the act, the non-intercourse of France expired at the
XV
_ termination of the session.
1801 When the amended convention was afterward present-
ed to Bonaparte, he added a proviso that the expunging
of the article respecting future negotiations should be
understood as an abandonment of the claims set up on
both sides, thus bringing it to correspond to one of the
rejected proposals of the French commissioners — a new
treaty without indemnities. It was in this shape that the
convention was finally ratified, the result of the Senate's
amendment being a relinquishment of all claims for
spoliations, in consideration of an absolute release from
the French guarantee. Had the treaty been ratified in
its original shape, the sufferers by the spoliations of the
French might, perhaps, before now, have obtained that
indemnity from the French government which they have
ever since been asking of their own, but which has hith-
erto been unjustly withheld.
The great act of the session was the reorganization of
the judiciary, so long in contemplation, and so warmly
recommended by the president. The requiring the cir-
cuit courts to be held by the judges of the Supreme
Court had not only tended to the delay of justice by the
insufficiency in the number of judges — making due al-
lowance for unavoidable absences occasioned by sickness
or otherwise ; but the keeping the judges constantly on
the road, at a time when there were few facilities for trav-
elling, rendered their office laborious and undesirable
and consumed time which might have been better be-
stowed in the study of the various new and difficult
questions which they were called upon to decide. In
fact, the constitutional power of Congress to require the
judges of the Supreme Court to act as circuit judges had
been called in question by Chief-justice Jay.
NEW JUDICIARY* ACT. 401
By the new act, the judges of the Supreme bench, to CHAPTER
be reduced to five whenever a vacancy occurred, were .
released from all circuit duty. The number of district 1801.
courts was increased to twenty-three by the subdivision Feb. is.
of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee,
each into two districts, and the erection of a new dis-
trict northwest of the Ohio. Those twenty -three dis-
tricts were arranged into six circuits, the first composed
of Massachusetts, including Maine, with New Hamp-
shire and Ehode Island ; the second, of Connecticut and
New York ; the third, of New Jersey, Delaware, and
Pennsylvania; the fourth, of Maryland and Virginia,;
the fifth, of the two Carolinas and Georgia ; and the
sixth, of Kentucky, Tennessee, and the territories north
of the Ohio ; to have each a bench of its own, composed
of a chief judge and two puisne judges, to hold two courts
annually in each district of the circuit.
The effect of this act was to create twenty -three new
judicial officers, besides attorneys, marshals, and clerks
for the additional districts, at an annual expense of about
$30,000. The necessity of some change was so obvious,
taking into account, especially, the increase of business
likely to grow out of the new Bankruptcy Act, that no
very vehement resistance was made in Congress ; and,
though the opposition voted in a body against it, not im-
probably, had the appointment of the judges been left to
the incoming administration, the act might never have
been disturbed. But, as Adams proceeded at once to fill
up the offices, and that, too, by the appointment of dis-
tinguished Federalists, a loud clamor was immediately
raised, the effects of which will presently appear.
The president showed a magnanimity which took "Wol-
cott quite by surprise, and which, indeed, he had little
reason to expect, in appointing him one of the judges of
V— Co
£OiJ BISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the second district. He had also taken an early oppor-
' tunity, after M'Henry's retirement, to express to Wolcott
1S01. n*s respect and his esteem for that gentleman, and his
satisfaction that M'Henry's ample private fortune made
the holding of office a matter, in his case, of no pecuniary
importance. Ellsworth, who was still detained in Eu-
rope by ill health, had sent in his resignation of the office
of chief justice, and, previous to the passage of the new
Judiciary Act, the president had conferred that capital
post on Marshall, his secretary of state. Jay had been
first nominated, but he declined, having made up his
mind to retire from public life. Marshall still continued,
notwithstanding his new office, to discharge the duties
of Secretary of State.
Pending these proceedings, the returns of the electoral
votes gradually came in, from which, at length, it be-
came certain not only that the Republican ticket had
triumphed, as had been generally expected, but, what
was far from being so agreeable to most members of the
Republican party, that Jefferson and Burr had both re-
ceived the same number of votes. The understanding
among the Federalists to vote equally for Adams and
Pinckney had been faithfully carried out, except in
Rhode Island, where one vote had been withheld from
Pinckney and given to Jay, leaving Pinckney sixty-four
in the whole to Adams's sixty -five. Jefferson and Burr
had each seventy -three votes, and the decision between
them devolved, under the Constitution, upon the House
of Representatives voting by states.
Though the Federalists had a decided majority of
members, they could not command, for the purposes of
this election, a majority of states ; but neither could the
other party. The single Federal representative on whom,
by the deatli of his colleague, the vote of Georgia had
PROJECT FOR MAXItfG BURR PRESIDENT. 403
devolved, also Dent, one of the Fedeml representatives CHAPTER
' from Maryland, had decided to conform to the wishes of _____
their constituents by voting for Jefferson. This gave
Georgia to the Republicans, and equally divided the vote
of Maryland, North Carolina was also equally divided ;
but one of the Federal members took the same view with
the above-mentioned members from Maryland and Geor-
gia. The friends of Jefferson were thv:s sure of eight
votes. But there still remained two other states equally-
divided, Maryland and Vermont ; which, added to South
Carolina, Delaware, and the four maritime New England
states, prevented a majority,
In this state of things, the idea was conceived by the
Federalists of disappointing Jefferson and the body of the
opposition by giving the first office to Burr. Before the
equality of votes was precisely ascertained, Burr had writ-
ten a letter disclaiming any competition for the first of-
fice, and constituting Smith, of Maryland, to whom the
letter was addressed, his proxy so to state, if occasion
should happen. But it was not supposed that this com-
mitment would at all deter Burr, should a promising oc-
casion present itself, from exerting all his skill and art
to secure his own promotion over Jefferson's head ; and
it was thought that the two divided states, with New
York and New Jersey, and perhaps Tennessee, of which
the vote was held by a single representative, C. C. Clai-
borne, might furnish the requisite voices.
Bayard, of Delaware, Morris, of Yermont, or Craik,
Baer, Dennis, or Thomas, of Maryland, all Federalists,
might at any time, by their single votes, give to Jef-
ferson an additional state, and so decide the election in
his favor. On the other hand, Bailey and Livingston,
of New York, neither of whom were thought specially
favorable to Jefferson, with Lynn, of New Jersey, and
404 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
c FT AFTER Dent, of Maryland, the former a half Federalist, the lat-
» ter entirely one, might, by their united votes, give Burr
1800 three additional states, sufficient to elect him ; or the vote
of Lyon or Claiborne, by giving him Yermont or Tennes-
see, might supply the lack of one of the others.
Burr, being a Northern man, was on that account
preferred by the Federalists, whose strength lay in that
quarter of the Union. It was also hoped that his eleva-
tion to the first office might produce such a split in the
opposition ranks as would still leave the control of affairs
substantially in the hands of the Federalists, to whom
Burr himself would owe a debt of gratitude. This idea
had been suggested early in the session, and before the
result of the election was certainly known. As soon as
it came to Hamilton's knowledge, he entered a vigorous
Dw, i& protest against it. "I trust New England, at least,"
so he wrote to "Wolcott, " will not so far lose its head as
to fall into the snare. There is no doubt that, upon
every prudent and virtuous calculation, Jefferson is to be
preferred. He is by far not so dangerous a man, and
he has pretensions to character. As to Burr, there is
nothing in his favor. His private character is not de-
fended by his most partial friends. He is bankrupt be-
yond redemption, except by the plunder of his country.
His public principles have no other spring or aim than
his own aggrandizement. If he can, he will certainly
disturb our institutions to secure himself permanent
Doc.it power, ^and with it wealth." "Let it not be imagined
that Burr can be won to Federal views. It is a vain
hope. Stronger ties and stronger inducements will im-
pel him in a contrary direction. His ambition will not
be content with those objects which virtuous men of
either party will allot to it, and his situation and his
habits will oblige him to have recourse to corrupt expe-
PROJECT FOR MAKING- BURR PRESIDENT. 4-05
dients, from which lie will be restrained by no moral
X. V*
scruples. To accomplish his ends, he must lean upon __
unprincipled men, and will continue to adhere to the 1801*
myrmidons who have hitherto surrounded him. To
these he will no doubt add able rogues of the Federal
party ; but he will employ the rogues of all parties to
overrule the good men of all parties, and to promote
projects which wise men of every description will disap-
prove. These things are to be inferred with moral cer-
tainty from the character of the man. Every step in
his career proves that he has formed himself on the
model of Catiline, and he is too cold-blooded and de-
termined a conspirator to change his plan."
Subsequent events sufficiently proved Hamilton's just
appreciation of Burr's character ; but his warning voice,
though he wrote similar letters to others besides "Wol-
cott, was not listened to. Personal collisions with Burr
in the party contests of New York were supposed to have
created in his mind undue prejudices. In a private con-
sultation among themselves, a majority of the Federal
members in Congress resolved on an effort to elect Burr,
and in this decision the majority acquiesced. There were
some so rash and violent, and so obstinately prejudiced
against Jefferson, as to advocate his exclusion, even
though the offices of president and vice-president should
remain unfilled, thus exposing the whole Federal system
to dissolution. Such ideas, rashly thrown out by a few,
met, however, with little countenance, and, perhaps, were
not seriously entertained by any. On the other hand,
Bayard, Morris, Craik, and Baer, four out of the six
Federal members, any one of whom might, at any time,
by his single voice, decide the election in Jefferon's
favor, came to a mutual resolution that the attempt to
exclude him, after its feasibility had been fairly tested,
should not be carried beyond a certain point.
4<>6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CBAFTER Before meeting the Senate to count the electoral votes,
_ the House resolved — with the intent, according to John
\801. Randolph, to starve or worry the doubtful members into
Feb. 9. voting for Burr, though it might be easy to conjecture a
more justifiable reason — that in case no candidate should
have a majority of electoral votes, they would forthwith
return to their own chamber, and there continue in ses
sion, without proceeding to any other business, till a
president should be chosen. Seats were to be provided'
on the floor for the president and the senators ; but dur-
ing the act of balloting, the galleries were to be cleared
and the doors closed. Questions of order that might
arise were to be decided without debate, the House vot-
ing by states.
Feb. 11, Upon the first ballot, eight states voted for Jefferson,
including all those south of New England except Dela-
ware, Maryland, and South Carolina. The four mari-
time New England States, with Delaware and South
Carolina, voted for Burr ; Vermont and Maryland were
divided. Two or three members were so sick as to be
brought to the House on their beds. Twenty-nine bal-
lots were had at longer or shorter intervals, occupying
the House till the next day at noon — all with the same
result. The House remained in session, nominally with-
out adjournment, for seven days ; but, after sitting out
the first night, the resolution not to adjourn was substan-
tially evaded by substituting a recess. During the next
four days the actual sessions were very short, only five
ballotings being had.
Ample time had been allowed to Burr to bring over,
if he could, any of the opposition votes ; and that offers
on both sides had been made to the doubtful members,
subsequent developments left little doubt. A part of the
evils which Hamilton had anticipated began already to
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 407
to be felt. The public mind was much agitated by the CHAPTER
delay. Eximors had been and continued to be circulated, .
charging the Federalists with the most desperate and 1801.
revolutionary intentions, Jefferson himself, in the high-
est state of nervous agitation, wrote to Monroe that no- Feb. 15.
thing but threats on the part of the opposition that the
Middle States would rise in arms, and call a convention
for framing a. new Constitution, prevented the Federal-
ists from passing an act to- vest the executive authority,
in default of any election of president, in the chief jus-
tice or some other high officer. Had Congress been sit-
ting in Philadelphia instead of Washington, it would
have ran no small risk of being invaded by a mob.
Thinking that the time had arrived for terminating
the struggle — in the exercise of a discretion intrusted t6
him by the other three Federalists with whom he co-
operated— Bayard called a general meeting of the Fed- Feb. la
eral members ; and, though some were still very reluc-
tant to yield, it was finally agreed that Burr had no
chance, and that Jefferson must be chosen.
But the Federalists did not surrender entirely at dis-
cretion, nor without something like an approach to terms.
Application had been made by Dayton and Parker to
Smith of Maryland, who was intimate with Jefferson,
and lived in the same house with him, to ascertain his
intentions as to the public debt, commerce, and the navy.
Bayard had also applied to Smith, not only as to these
points, but also touching removals from office. As to
the public debt, commerce, and the navy, Smith, so he
said, had frequently heard Jefferson express his opinions,
.and he gave satisfactory assurances that no serious
changes of policy would be attempted. As to the mat-
ter of removals from office, he promised to make inqui-
;ries, and the next day reported to Bayard that Jefferson
4:08 . HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER coincided in the opinion already expressed by himself,
' that meritorious subordinate officers ought not to be re-
1801 moved merely on account of their political opinions.
Feb. 17. The thirty -fifth ballot, taken at noon, the seventh day
of the protracted sitting, and the day after the Federal
caucus, resulted like the former ones. On the thirty-
sixth ballot, after an hour's interval, Morris, of Vermont,
was absent, and the two Maryland Federalists, Craik
and Baer, put in blank ballots, thus giving two more
states to Jefferson, which, added to the eight that had
always voted for him, made a majority. The vice-presi-
dency, of course, devolved on Burr. Committees were
appointed to inform the Senate and the president elect.
To this notification Jefferson made a short reply, in which
his satisfaction at the result and his entire devotion to
the proper discharge of his important trust were emphat-
ically expressed.
The obnoxious Sedition Act would expire, by its own
Jan. 26 limitation, at the close of the present Congress. A bill,
ordered to be brought in by the casting vote of the
speaker, for the continuing that law in force, would seem
to prove that its friends had been influenced in its orig-
inal enactment by other motives than a mere desire to
silence their opponents. Fortunately, however, for the
Feb. 21. Federalists, this bill failed, on its third reading, by a
considerable majority. Even the first section of it,
aimed against combinations to impede the execution of
the laws, however theoretically unexceptionable, might
have proved, in the hands of a violent and tyrannical
government, backed by an unscrupulous majority, and in
the case of unjust laws, a terrible instrument of tyranny.
Fob. 27. The District of Columbia, erected into two counties,
as divided by the Potomac, was placed under the juris-
diction of a circuit court, composed of a chief justice
NAVY. 409
and two assessors; the judgment of tnis court to be final CHAPTER
in criminal cases, but in civil cases, where the amount '__
in dispute exceeded one hundred dollars in value — 1801.
since increased to one thousand dollars — a writ of error
to lie to the Supreme Court of the United States. By a
subsequent enactment, the chief justice of the Circuit Nov' 10'
Court was made sole judge of the District Court, hav-
ing a jurisdiction like that of the other Federal District
Courts. All matters relating to probate of wills, admin-
istration of intestate estates, and guardianships, were
made cognizable in the first instance by an Orphan's
Court, composed of a single judge, with a registrar.
Justices of the peace were to be appointed at the discre-
tion of the president. Instead of providing a homoge-
neous code for the district, the laws of Maryland and
Virginia, as they stood at that moment, were continued
in force on the north and south sides of the Potomac re-
spectively.
As there was now every prospect of a peace with
France, there seemed no longer the same necessity for
keeping so many public vessels afloat. Several of those
vessels, purchased for immediate use or built of unsea-
soned materials, were hardly proper for the service, and,
upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy,
the president was authorized to sell all except thirteen March a
of the largest and best, six of which were to be kept
constantly in commission. All the officers were to be
discharged except nine captains, thirty -six lieutenants,
and a hundred and fifty midshipmen ; those retained to
receive only half pay except when in active service. It
appeared from the report of the Secretary of the Navy
that materials had been collected for the construction of
the six seventy-fours, and grounds purchased or con-
tracted for on which to build them — the sites of the
410 HISTOET OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER present navj yards at Portsmouth, Boston, New York,
f '__'_ Philadelphia, Washington, and Norfolk. The secretary
1801. Presse(i w^h great earnestness the policy of annual ap-
propriations toward a naval force of twelve seventy-fours
and twice as many heavy frigates ; or, at least, of pro-
viding the materials, so that the vessels might be set up
at any time. The Navy Bill, as passed, appropriated half
a million toward the completion of the six seventy -fours.
A collision in the course of the session between the
speaker and the reporters of Congressional debates is not
unworthy of notice. At the first session of Congress,
held in New York, reporters had been admitted to the
floor of the House, and the debates had not only been
published from day to day in the newspapers, but, at the
close of the session, were collected in two octavo volumes,
called the Congressional Register. These reports, how-
ever, had failed to give entire satisfaction to all the mem-
bers. They had been vehemently attacked as fall of
misrepresentations, distortions, and omissions, by Burke
of South Carolina. He had even proposed to withdraw
from the reporters the privilege of the floor, and though
the motion was not pressed to a vote, the reporters, in
consequence of it, retired to the gallery. The revival
of the question at the next session resulted in the tacit
admission of a discretionary power in the speaker to ad-
mit to the floor or to the gallery such stenographers as
he might think proper. The Congressional Register did
not reach beyond a third volume, breaking down in the
middle of the second session of the first Congress. After
the removal of Congress to Philadelphia, the country
was mainly indebted for reports of Congressional pro-
ceedings to the enterprise of Mr. Brown, the publisher
of the Philadelphia Gazette, who employed a stenog-
rapher or two for that purpose, and from whose col-
REPORTS OF CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES. 413
amns the other papers mostly copied, though the more CHAPTER
important speeches then, as now, were frequently writ '
ten out by the speakers. The Aurora also gave occa-
sional reports of its own. In 1796, a scheme was brought
forward to employ a reporter as an officer of the House,
at a salary of $4000, of which Brown offered to pay a
part ; but this was thought exorbitant, and was not car-
ried. After the removal to "Washington, an application
to the speaker by two reporters for seats on the floor was
refused on the plea that no such seats could be assigned
consistently with the convenience of the House. Per-
haps, however, the fact that one of these applicants was
editor of the National Intelligencer, and that the reports
of both were intended for that new organ of the opposi-
tion, might have influenced Sedgwick's decision. The
reporters then applied to the House by memorial ; but
the speaker was sustained by his own casting vote, and
the reporters were obliged to accommodate themselves
in the area outside the bar. Not long after, the editor
of the Intelligencer took an opportunity to report some
proceedings on a question of order in a way not very
complimentary to Sedgwick's knowledge or fairness.
The speaker denounced this report from his place as
grossly incorrect ; but the Intelligencer,- notwithstand-
ing, still insisted on its correctness ; in consequence of
which the speaker instructed the sergeant-at-arms to ex-
pel the editor of that paper first from the area outside
the bar, and then from the gallery, to which he had re-
tired. Though the same course had been taken with
Duane, in 1797, for alleged misrepresentations which he
refused to retract, this expulsion was brought before the
House .as a usurpation of authority. It was contended
that the speaker had no right to exclude any citizen from
the gallery except for disorderly conduct. A vote of,
4:12 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER censure was moved, but this motion was decided to he
XV.
' out of order, and so was got rid of. Gallatin then mov-
1801. e(^ an amendment to the rules, the effect of which would
have been to restore the reporter to the gallery, and to
deprive the speaker of the power to remove him ; but
upon this motion, also, a direct vote Avas avoided, and
by mean.s of the previous question it received the go-by.
On the subject of giving publicity to the proceedings of
Congress and affording facilities to reporters, the opposi-
tion, for obvious reasons, had always taken the liberal side
The sixth Congress terminated, late at night, on the
March 4. third of March. Early the next morning, without wait-
ing to attend the inauguration of his successor, ex-Pres-
ident Adams left Washington for his residence in Mas-
sachusetts, carrying with him, as the only acknowledg-
ment of his past services, the privilege granted to Wash-
ington on his retirement from office, and afterward to
his widow, and bestowed likewise on all subsequent ex-
presidents and their widows, of receiving his letters free
of postage for the remainder of his life. This abrupt
departure, and the strict non-intercourse kept up for
thirteen years between Adams and Jefferson, notwith-
standing some advances, then and subsequently, on Jef-
ferson's part — till finally the parties were reconciled by
the intervention of Dr. Rush, and their common sym-
pathy as to the second war against Great Britain — indi-
cates, on the part of Adams, a sense of personal wrong,
of the exact nature of which we possess at present no
means of judging, except indeed from the charge brought
against Jefferson in Adams's confidential correspondence
(1804), of " a want of sincerity, and an inordinate ambi-
tion," as well as of " a mean thirst of popularity."
The ex-president retired to Braintree in a state of
mind little to be envied. Delighting as he did in dis-
ADAMS IN RETIREMENT.
tinction, and anxious for leadership and applause, had he CHAPTER
still remained the head and champion of the Federalists, ^
his proud spirit might have borne up with equanimity, 1801.
if not with exultation, against the hatred of the opposi-
tion, the taunts and shouts of triumph with which they
greeted his retirement, and the personal responsibility
to which he was held for the Alien and Sedition Laws,
and every other obnoxious procedure of the past four
years. But when to all this were added the curses,
deeper, if not so loud, of the Essex Junto, responded to
by a large part of the Federal leaders throughout the
country, denouncing him as a traitor, who had sacrificed
the good cause in a vain and foolish attempt to secure
the votes and favor of the opposition by unworthy con-
cessions, the ex-president's philosophy was completely
overthrown. Eight years after, when time had some-
what fleshed over these wounds, they broke out afresh
with new malignancy by reason of renewed attacks upon
him in consequence of John Quincy Adams's abandon-
ment of the Federal party. The celebrated Cunningham
letters — a repetition, on a larger scale, of the Tench Coxe
correspondence already referred to — most of which were
written at that time, and from which we have already
had occasion to quote, present' a striking proof how the
most powerful judgments become incapable of discern-
ing the truth through the disturbing mediums of jeal-
ousy and anger, and how little of candor or justice is to
be expected when hate and vindictive passions hold the
pen. Even the old man's last hours, when past the verge
of ninety, were disturbed by the publication, through
another gross breach of confidence, of these same Cun-
ningham letters, as a part of the electioneering machinery
against John Quincy Adams's elevation to the presi-
dency, provoking, as they did, a bitter cnticism from
Pickering, then, also, in extreme old age.
414 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER To Adams's unwilling and ungraceful retirement and
' troublous unrest, John Jay, his compatriot and fellow-
1801. laborer in so many trying scenes for a quarter of a cen-
tury, exhibited a striking contrast. Having refused to
become again chief justice, and declining to be longer a
candidate for the governorship of New York, consider-
ing his debt to the public discharged, though ten years
younger than Adams, he simultaneously withdrew into
a voluntary retirement, protracted through a still longer
period, and presenting, in its peacefulness, and the uni-
versal respect which it attracted, a contrast to Adams's
as strong as that between the ex-chief justice's mild but
steady firmness, apparently forgetful of self, and the ir-
ritable vehemence and ever-active egotism, such marked
traits in the ex-president's character.
Contemporaries, especially if engaged in the heat of
political struggles, are almost always led to ascribe to
trivial, temporary, and personal accidents a large part of
those effects which are properly due to causes more re-
mote, general, permanent, and inevitable. While the
Essex Junto imputed to Adams the downfall of Federal
ascendency, he bitterly retorted by imputing to their in-
trigues to defeat him, not that defeat only, but the ruin
of the party also.
It was not, however, the unfortunate divisions among
themselves — and, though mere party politicians then and
since may have thought so — it was not the Alien and
Sedition Laws, the surrender of the pretended Jonathan
Bobbins, the additional army, the large naval expendi-
tures, the eight per cent, loan, and the direct tax, the
collection of which was going on during the presidential
canvass on the one hand, nor, on the other, the renewal
of negotiations with France, that really lost to the Fed-
,ralists the administration of the government. Those
RETROSPECT OF PARTIES. 415
neasures might, and no doubt did, contribute to deter- CHAPTER
mine the precise moment of that event ; but, under any s
circumstances, it could not have been long deferred. 1801.
From the first moment that party lines had been dis-
tinctly drawn, the opposition had possessed a numerical
majority, against which nothing but the superior energy,
intelligence, and practical skill of the Federalists, backed
by the great and venerable name and towering influence
)f Washington, had enabled them to maintain for eight
years past an arduous and doubtful struggle. The Fed-
eral party, with Washington and Hamilton at its head,
represented the experience, the prudence, the practical
wisdom, the discipline, the conservative reason and in-
stincts of the country. The opposition, headed by Jef-
ferson, expressed its hopes, wishes, theories, many of them
enthusiastic and impracticable, more especially its pas-
sions, its sympathies and antipathies, its impatience of
restraint. The Federalists had their strength in those
narrow districts where a concentrated population had pro-
duced and contributed to maintain that complexity of in-
stitutions and that reverence for social order, which, in
proportion as men are brought into contiguity, become
more absolutely necessaries of existence. The ultra
democratical ideas of the opposition prevailed in all that
more extensive region in which the dispersion of popu-
lation, and the despotic authority vested in individuals
over families of slaves, kept society in a state of imma-
turity, and made legal restraints the more irksome .in
proportion as their necessity was the less felt. Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut stood at the head of the one
party, supported, though not always without some wav-
ering, by the rest of New England. The other party
was led by Virginia, by whose finger all the states south
and west of the Potomac might be considered to be
416 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER guided. The only exception was South Carolina, in the
'_ tide-water district of which state a certain number of the
1801 wealthier and more intelligent planters, led by a few
men of talents and probity who had received their edu-
cation in England, were inclined to support the Federal
policy, so ably upheld in Congress by Smith, Harper,
Pinckney and Kutledge. But even in South Carolina
.he mass of the voting population felt and thought other-
wise ; nor could the influence of a few individuals long
resist a numerical preponderancy so decided. As for
the states of Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and ex
cept for a brief moment, North Carolina, they followed
without doubt or hesitation in the wake of Virginia ; and
the rapidly-increasing backwoods settlements of all these
states constantly added new strength to the opposition.
Of the five states intervening between Virginia and New
England, little Delaware alone adhered with unflinching
firmness to the Federal side. Maryland and New Jersey,
though wavering and undecided, inclined also the same
way. The decision between Federalism and the so-
called Eepublican party, depended on the two great and
growing states of Pennsylvania and New York; and
from the very fact that they were growing, that both of
them had an extensive backwoods frontier, and that both
were constantly receiving accessions of political enthusi-
asts from Europe, they both inclined more and more to
the Republican side.
Scarcely a session of Congress had passed that some
new expense had not been authorized and some new tax
imposed. A just regard to the welfare of the country
had obliged Washington and the Federalists to throw
themselves into the gap against the national hatred of
England kindled in the Revolutionary war and aggra-
vated since by new aggressions and insolence, in the very
DOWNFALL OF THE FEDERAL PARTY.
spirit, it would seem, of those ministers by whom the CHAPTEI&
Revolution had been provoked. On the other hand, they ,,
had been obliged to oppose that ardent zeal for France 1801.
which gratitude for French assistance and enthusiasm
for liberty combined to inspire. During the last six
years of Washington's administration, there had always
been in the House a majority against him ; while the
vice-president's casting vote in the Senate had often been
needed to secure a majority even there. On Washing-
ton's retirement, Jefferson had been kept out of the sue-
cessorship only by two chance votes, given for Adams
as well as for him, in the decidedly anti-Federal states
of Virginia and North Carolina. It so happened, in-
deed, during Adams's administration, that all the doubtful
states were represented by senators of the Federal party,
thus giving to the Federalists, for the first time, the cer-
tain control in that body. Adams's spirited resistance
to the insults of France, by kindling a flash of patriotic
Federalism in the Southern States, which glimmered,
however, only to expire again, secured, also, the first
and last House of Representatives in which the Federal-
ists had a decided majority. But upon Pennsylvania
and New York, even patriotism itself, invoked to stand
up against French insolence, produced little or no effect,
while the indefatigable and unscrupulous ambition of
M'Kean in the one state, and of Burr in the other, sec-
onded as Burr was by the influence of the Clintons and
the wealth of the Livingstons, precipitated that inevitable
triumph of the opposition which nothing could very long
have delayed. The Federal party, never strong, ex-
pired at last by reason of that exhaustion, the natural
result, by the laws of reaction, of extraordinary efforts
to arouse and prepare the country to resist the aggresn-
ons of France. The party for a moment rose majestic,
V.— Dn
4:18 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER as if with new strength, trampling under foot those wTio
" hesitated to vindicate their country's honor and inde-
1801 pendence. But this very effort exhausted and destroyed
it. It was in vain that Adams sought to avert the effect
by renewing, at the earliest possible moment consistent
with the honor of the country, pacific relations with
France. The force of the party had been expended in
the desperate effort to repel French insolence, and there
was not now vitality enough left effectually to resist the
opponents, who rose dexterously out of the dust in which
they had been trodden, and, as if refreshed by the hu-
miliation, re-entered the contest with new vigor.
But though the Federal party thus fell never to rise
again, it left behind it permanent monuments. The
whole machinery of the Federal government, as it now
operates, must be considered as their work. With every
individual part of that machinery, as those parts were
successively brought into operation, the opposition, firy';
as anti-Federalists, then as [Republicans, and then 33
Democrats — for so the more ultra began now to call
themselves — had found most critical and pertinacious
fault. We shall soon see how, themselves in power,
notwithstanding all their former criticisms, they at once
adopted, without essential change, the greater part of
this very machinery, and how they were ultimately
driven again to restore, with hardly an exception, al)
those portions of it with which, in conformity to theii
own theories, they had at first attempted to dispense •<
testimony as irrefragable as it was reluctant, that how
ever the so-called Kepublican leaders might excel the
Federalists in the arts of popularity, the best thing they
could do, in the constructive part of politics, was humbly
to copy the models they had once calumniated.
INAUGURATION OF JEFFERSON.
CHAPTER XVI.
INAUGURATION OF JEFFERSON. STATE ELECTIONS. AP-
POINTMENTS AND REMOVALS. HOSTILITIES WITH TRIP-
OLI. SEVENTH CONGRESS. CENSUS AND APPORTION-
MENT, RETRENCHMENTS. REPEAL OF THE JUDICIARY
ACT, TERRITORIES. CESSION OF LOUISIANA TO FRANCE.
CALLENDER, JEFFERSON AND THE CLERGY. REPUBLIC-
AN DIVISIONS IN NEW YORK, SECOND SESSION OF THE
SEVENTH CONGRESS, STATE OF OHIO.
J EFFEKSON had reached the presidential chair at a CHAPTER
XVI
most fortunate moment. The storm which, four years _
before, had threatened so alarmingly as to make him
willing to shrink into the position, comparatively obscure,
but free from all responsibility, of vice-president, had
now quite blown over. The prospect of a speedy peace
in Europe promised effectual and permanent relief from
those serious embarrassments to which, during war on
the ocean, American commerce was ever exposed from
the aggressions of one or of all the belligerents. The
treasury was fuller, the revenue more abundant than at
any previous period. Commerce was flourishing, and
the pecuniary prosperity of the country was very great
All the responsibility of framing institutions, laying
taxes, and providing for debts, had fallen on the ousted
administration. Succeeding to the powers and the means
of the Federal government without sharing any of the
unpopularity at the expense of which they had been at-
tained, and ambitious not so much of a splendid as of a
quiet and popular administration, the new president
seemed to have before him a plain and easy path.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Among other Federal pomps, Jefferson had condemn-
ed with strong emphasis, as savoring of monarchy, any
1801. pu"Wic ceremony at the swearing in of the president.
March 4 Yet, on the morning of his accession to office, not to disap-
point the multitude of his friends and partisans who had
assembled to pay him honors, and, perhaps, now that his
own turn had come, looking at the matter in a somewhat
different light, escorted by a body of militia and a pro-
cession of citizens, he proceeded to the Capitol, where
the Senate had met in special session in obedience to a
call issued by Adams some weeks before. Burr, already
sworn in as vice-president, gave up the chair to Jeffer-
son, taking a seat at his right hand. On his left sat
Chief-justice Marshall, ready to administer the oath of
office. The chamber was well filled, a large number of
the members of the late House being present, to which
body, just before its adjournment, Jefferson had sent no
tice of his intended public inauguration. But the ab-
sence of the late speaker, as well as of the late president,
did not fail to excite remark.
Before taking the oath, Jefferson delivered an inau-
gural address, a piece of studied and very elaborate com-
position, in many points strongly characteristic of its au-
thor. Elevated at last to the height of his political am-
bition, he seemed anxious to quell the rage of that po-
litical storm on the wings of which he had ridden into
office. Desirous to still the heavings of that "tempest
uous sea of liberty," on which, as a member of the op-
position, he had navigated so adventurously, he warmly
urged the restoration of that " harmony and affection,"
without which, as he had now discovered, "liberty and
even life itself are but dreary things." "Every dif-
ference of opinion," so he suggested, " is not a differ-
ence of principle. Brethreu of the same principle, we
JEFFERSON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
are called by different names. "We are all Kepublicans, CHAPTER
we are all Federalists." He announced as the sum of
good government " a wise frugality, which does not take 1801.
.from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned, and
which, restraining men from injuring one another, leaves
them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits ;" a
paraphrase of the favorite idea of his party, that the
goodness of government is in proportion to the smallness
of its quantity. Yet, in descending to particulars, he
did not avoid the gross inconsistency of enumerating as
" essential principles of government," not only " the ar-
raignment of all abuses at the bar of public opinion,"
but " the diffusion of information," and the " encourage-
ment of agriculture and of commerce as its handmaid."
The Federalists having accused him of hostility to the
Federal Constitution, undue partiality for France, and
of doctrines which tended to a repudiation of the public
debt, he added to his list of essentials "the preservation
of the Federal government in its whole constitutional
vigor;" "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with
all nations, entangling alliances with none;" and "the
prompt payment of our debts, and sacred preservation
of the public faith."
Simultaneously with the removal of the public offices
to Washington, two* newspapers, the National Intelli-
gencer and the Washington Federalist, had been estab-
lished there ; of which the former became, as it was orig-
inally intended to be, the official organ of the new ad-
ministration, The editor, selected probably by Jeffer-
son, was Samuel Harrison Smith, who had formerly pub-
lished at Philadelphia the Universal Gazette, a miscella-
neous journal of some pretensions. The new organ, sub
sequently known among the Federalists as the " national
sinootlrng-plane," affected an almost prudish regard to
422 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER decency and correctness of statement — qualities in which
_ _ '___ all its Republican predecessors had been sadly deficient ;
1801 an(^ so ^ar ^e comParison was much in its favor. But
in point of spirit and talent it fell far short of the old
organ, the Aurora, by which its editor was presently
spoken of with some contempt as " silky, milky Smith"
—epithets, like that employed by the Federalists, de-
scriptive enough of the ever-ready adulation with which
all the acts of the administration and its supporters were
somewhat nauseously glossed over. Toward the Feder-
alists, however, very little either of milkiness or of silk-
iness was displayed. The long, formal, pedantic disqui-
sitions in which the editor delighted to indulge, exhib-
ited, indeed, a cold, clammy, political rancor, altogether
more detestable and less easy to forgive than the pas-
sionate hate and vindictive malice of the Aurora.
How Jefferson would fill up the executive departments
had been a matter of a good deal of curiosity to the Fed-
eralists. Fitzsimmons had insisted, in a letter to Wol-
cott, that there were not among the Republicans men of
sufficient talents and activity to carry out their own
plans, and he repeated, as corresponding with his own
experience, a saying of Steuben's, that he had known
but two persons in Virginia fit to execute public busi-
ness. In fact, all the appointments requiring much in-
dustry or labor were given to Northern men. To the
offices of Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury,
5. and Attorney General, left vacant by the resignation of
the late incumbents, Jefferson nominated James Madi-
son. Henry Dearborn, and Levi Lincoln, the latter an
early leader of the opposition in Massachusetts, who had
taken a seat in Congress just prior to the close of the
late session, having been chosen, after a warmly -contested
election, to fill a vacancy in the Worcester district. The
NEW APPOINTMENTS. 423
Senate still containing, as it did, of the members present CHAPTER
a majority of Federalists, Jefferson did not think proper _
to make any farther cabinet nominations ; but, soon after 1391.
the adjournment, he appointed as Secretary of the Treas- May 15.
ury, Albert Gallatin, all along the financial member of the
opposition, and who had come out, pending the presiden-
tial canvass, with a new pamphlet, in which he had un-
dertaken to show an alarming increase of debt and expen-
diture. The Navy Department, refused by Chancellor July 22
Livingston, who having reached the age of sixty, had been
obliged, under a Constitutional provision, to vacate the
chancellorship of New York, was given to Eobert Smith,
brother of the Baltimore member of Congress. Living-
ston, however, consented to accept the embassy to France,
to which he was nominated and confirmed previous to
the adjournment of the Senate ; but he did not embark
till after the ratifications of the late convention had been
exchanged. Meanwhile Dawson, one of the Virginia
members of Congress, familiarly known as " Beau Daw-
son," was dispatched to France in the sloop of war Mary-
land with the amended convention. He also carried a
very gracious letter from Jefferson to Thomas Paine, of-
fering him a passage to America on the return of the
Maryland — a security against British capture which Paine
had for some time been anxious to get. Shortly after
Dawson's departure, Pichon, already well known to us
as secretary of the French legation at the Hague, arrived
at Washington as French charge des affaires.
Habersham was continued as post-master general for
some six months, under an injunction to employ " no
printer, foreigner, or Eevolutionary Tory in any of his
offices ;" but he presently gave way to Gideon Granger,
a leader of the Connecticut Eepublicans, who had of late
begun to show, for the first time, some decided signs of
4:24 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER activity, and whom it was thought specially necessary
'__ to encourage and reward.
1801 With the change in the administration of the Federal
government, a change not less important and not less de-
cided took place in the hitherto doubtful and contested
states, thus greatly strengthening the hands of Jefferson
and his cabinet.
The triumph of the Republicans in the New York
state election of 1800 had given them a majority in the
Council of Appointment ; and Jay, unable otherwise to
withstand the claim on their part to appoint to offices
independently of his nomination, had been obliged to ad-
journ the council, thus leaving the offices unfilled. At
April, the ensuing gubernatorial election, George Clinton, again
the Republican candidate, was chosen over Van Rensse-
laer, and the Federalists of New York were reduced to
nearly the same insignificance as those of Pennsylvania.
Oct. A convention, called to settle the question as to the
powers of the Council of Appointment, of which Burr was
the president, decided, against the letter of the Consti-
tution and the opinion of Governors Clinton and Jay, to
reduce the governor to a mere fifth member of the coun-
cil, with no greater power than any other member, ex-
cept the right to preside. By this same convention, the
number of senators, which under the provisions of the
Constitution had increased from twenty -four to forty-
three, was fixed at thirty -six. Among the members of
the council in office at Clinton's accession, the same
whose proceedings Jay had stopped by adjournment,
was Be Witt Clinton, the governor's nephew, also Am-
brose Spencer, down to the end of the year 1799 a warm
Federalist, but now just as warm a Republican, both
very able and ambitious young men, and afterward
greatly distinguished in the politics of New York. Be-
STATE POLITICS. 425
fore the decision of the convention, and in spite of the CHAPTER
XVI
governor's protests, they had already commenced, with _
the help of a third ^Republican member, a system of re- igOL
movals and appointments similar to that introduced by
M'Kean into the politics of Pennsylvania. Nor was
this proscription confined to Federalists merely. Already
a furious struggle had commenced between the Clintons
and the Livingstons on the one hand, and Burr and his
partisans on the other, which soon began to be carried
on with the utmost bitterness. The friends and parti-
sans of Burr were excluded from office not less scru-
pulously than Federalists, the appointments being made
exclusively from those belonging to the Clinton and
Livingston factions. But in this distribution the Liv-
ingstons came in for. the lion's share. Not to mention
inferior posts, the bench of the Supreme Court was main
ly in their hands. The chancellorship having been
given to Lansing, Morgan Lewis, connected by marriage
with the Livingstons, was made chief justice, having for
colleagues Brockholst Livingston and Smith Thompson,
the latter also connected by marriage with the Living-
ston family.
The New Jersey Federalists, having the control of the
state Legislature, had adopted a general ticket system of
choosing representatives to Congress, expecting to secure
a delegation entirely Federal ; but the election had re-
sulted in the triumph of the Democratic ticket by from January,
five hundred to a thousand majority out of 29,000 votes.
The state election, some nine months after, gave to the October,
same party a majority in both branches of the Legisla-
ture, and secured the election of Joseph Bloomfield, the
Kepublican candidate for governor. The Eepublicans
had triumphed, also, in Maryland, obtaining a sufficient
majority in the House to overcome the Federal majority
426 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER in the Senate, and to elect John F. Mercer as governor.
m '__ and they soon succeeded in obtaining a majority in the
1801 Senate also. The election of representatives to Congress
.April, resulted in the choice of five Eepublicans and three Fed-
Sept, eralists. From Virginia only a single Federalist was
elected to Congress. That party lost also, though not so
badly, in the two Carolinas. Georgia, of course, went
October, back to the Republicans ; and the election of David
Hall, the Republican candidate for governor in the State
of Delaware, left the Federalists neither governor nor
Legislature out of New England, the Legislature of Del-
April, aware alone excepted. Even in New England, Rhode
Island was lost, the election having resulted in the
choice of Republican members of Congress, and also of
a Republican General Assembly. Vermont was exceed-
ingly doubtful, while Massachusetts seemed to be shaken.
Strong, indeed, was rechosen governor ; but. the Repub-
lican ticket triumphed in Boston ; and out of the four-
teen representatives to Congress five Republicans were
chosen, including Eustis from the Boston District.
But while thus triumphant throughout the states, a
somewhat troublesome subject pressed upon the new ad-
ministration— the conduct to be observed respecting re-
movals from office. The more violent partisans wished
Jefferson to make a clean sweep of all his opponents.
Feb. 20. M'Kean very early gave him a pointed hint on that
head. Jefferson, as well as his partisans, had been ex-
ceedingly annoyed by the pertinacity of Adams in pro-
ceeding to fill *up all vacancies, down to the very close
of his administration ; and a great clamor had been raised
against these " midnight appointments," as, by a some-
what free figure of speech, they were called. Yet to
adopt the prescriptive system of Pennsylvania and New
York would not only give the lie to opinions expressed
REMOVALS AND APPOINTMENTS. 427
previously to his election, under circumstances which CHAPTER
gave to that expression a near approach to a positive '
pledge ; it would also be contrary to Jefferson's policy 1801.
of conciliating the more moderate Federalists, who would
hardly fail to consider such removals, if made for no other
cause than political opinions, as but instances of that
very "political intolerence" against which he had so en-
ergetically protested in his inaugural address.
There were some cases, however, as to which no scru-
ples were felt. In accordance with the Republican scheme
of economy, especially in the matter of foreign inter-
course, Murray, Smith, and John Q. Adams, the minis-
ters to Holland, Portugal, and Prussia, were recalled,
without the appointment of any successors. Humphreys
was recalled from Spain, on account, as the letter of re-
call informed him, of long absence from the United
States, and Charles Pinckney, the exceedingly embar-
rassed state of whose pecuniary affairs made some such
office very convenient, was appointed in his room. Skip-
with, Monroe's protege, was named commercial agent at
Paris, and a corresponding restoration was made of the
other French consuls displaced by Adams. Winthrop
Sargent, whose term of office as governor of the Missis-
sippi Territory had expired, was superseded, contrary to
an express promise made to him, as he alleged, by 0. C.
Claiborne, late representative from Tennessee ; merely,
as the president averred, for the sake of peace, and with-
out intending at all to sustain the charges urged against
Sargent at the last session of Congress, of having extort-
ed illegal fees, and of having usurped, in conjunction
with the judges, an unwarrantable legislative authority.
But other and more special reasons were afterward sug-
gested as having occasioned Claiborne's appointment.
The Federal attorneys and marshals of the United
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER States courts were mostly replaced by Kepublicans.
' Alexander J. Dallas and Edward Livingston were both
1801. tnus richly provided for, the one as attorney for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the other as attorney
for the Southern District of New York. Livingston had
already been rewarded at home by the still more lucra-
tive office of mayor of the city of New York, a post at
that time not elective, but in the gift of the Council of
Appointment, including among its duties that of chief
judge for the city, and enjoying a revenue from fees said
to amount to $10,000 a year.
Dallas was also very desirous to hold, in conjunction
with his office of United States district attorney, that
of recorder of «the city of Philadelphia, given to him by
Governor M'Kean. It had been one of Dallas's first of-
ficial acts to discontinue, by the president's order, the
prosecution instituted against Duane, at the request of
the Senate of the United States, for a libel on that body.
But this did not prevent Duane from attacking, with a
good deal of severity, the anti-Kepublican conjunction,
in the person of Dallas, of two lucrative offices, state and
national ; and, finally, Dallas was obliged to resign his
recordership, by a special act of the Legislature to that
effect, passed in spite of the governor's veto.
Duane himself was presently admitted to a share of
pecuniary emolument by a contract given to him for the
public printing, and for supplying the public offices with
stationery.
In a number of cases, including some judicial offices,
though Adams's appointments had been confirmed, the
commissions had not yet issued when his term expired.
In these cases the commissions were withheld, and new
appointments were made The legality of this proceed-
ing, even in the case of judicial appointments, was sub
REMOVALS ANI> APPOINTMENTS. 429
sequently sustained by the Supreme Court, on a process CHAPTER
of mandamus sued out against the Secretary of State to
compel him. to issue commissions to certain persons nom 180L
inated by Adams and connrmel by the Senate as jus-
tices of the peace for the District of Columbia. But,
notwithstanding this decision, ,] efferson was greatly out-
raged that the court should have presumed even to en-
tertain such a suit.
All this was quietly submitted to as a matter of course,
but some removals and appointments of officers of the
customs and excise raised a loud clamor on the part of
the Federalists. One of the most noticeable of these
cases was the removal of Elizur Goodrich, lately a rep-
resentative in Congress from Connecticut^ who had re-
signed his seat to accept the office of collector of New
Haven, In his place was appointed Samuel Bishop, a
respectable old man of seventy -seven, but so nearly blind
that he could hardly write his name, and with no particu-
lar qualifications for the office, or claim to it, except
being the father of one Abraham Bishop, a young Demo-
crat, a lawyer without practice, for whom the appoint-
ment was really intended. The claims of the younger
Bishop consisted in two political orations which he had
recently delivered, one of them by a sort of surprise, be-
fore a literary society of Yale College — an occasion upon
which all the dignitaries of the state were collected.
This was a vehement, flippant, but excessively shallow
declamation, yet suited to alarm the popular mind, the
burden of it being that by commercial, military, clerical,
and legal delusions, a monarchy and aristocracy were
just on the point of being saddled on the country. To
this oration, already in print before it had been deliv-
ered, and which was at once distributed as an election-
eering document (the choice of presidential electors being
4:30 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER then about to take place), Noah Webster had immedi-
X Vi
^ ' _ atel y published a cutting reply, entitled, "A Kod for
]801 tne Fool's Back." The younger Bishop's second ora-
tion, delivered at a festival to celebrate the Kepublican
triumph, was a parallel drawn at great length, between
Jefferson and Jesus Christ, " the illustrious chief who,
once insulted, now presides over the Union, and Him
who, once insulted, now presides over the universe."
To a remonstrance against this removal and appoint-
ment, made by the merchants of New Haven, who quot-
ed the inaugural promise " to promote the general wel-
fare, without regarding the distinctions of party," the
July 12. president replied, that the example of Franklin, still an
ornament to human nature, when past the age of the
new collector, as well as the offices of town clerk, jus-
tice of the peace, mayor of New Haven, and chief judge
of the Common Pleas for that county, held by Bishop at
the time of his appointment, furnished abundant proof
of his ability, notwithstanding his age, to perform, with
such assistance as he might see fit to employ, the duties
of his office. As to Goodrich, he was displaced, to be
sure, but it could not properly be called a removal, for he
ought not to have accepted the office, not knowing if
those whose agent he was to be would have confidence
in him. Besides, the Federalists had all the offices ;
while a due participation in office by those who now con-
stituted a majority of the nation was no more than a
matter of right. Few died, and none resigned ; and how
could this participation be brought about except by re-
moval. That was a painful duty, in which he should
proceed with deliberation and inquiry, so as to inflict
the least private distress, and to throw, as far as possible,
such as could not be avoided, on delinquency, oppress-
PKESIDENTIAL LEYEES. 431
ion, intolerance, and anti-Kevolutionary adherence to CHAPTER
Great Britain. _.
This, however, did not satisfy. The Federalists enu- 1801.
merated with emphasis an Aquila Giles, marshal of the
Eastern District of New York ; a Joshua Sands, collector
of that port ; a James "Watson, navy agent ; a Nicholas
Fish, supervisor for New York of the internal revenue ;
and a Henry Miller, supervisor for Pennsylvania, all of
them meritorious officers of the Eevolution, and falling
within none of Jefferson's rules, yet all removed to make
room for political partisans, in one case for an old Tory.
To these complaints the partisans of Jefferson replied,
that out of two hundred and twenty-eight attorneys,
marshals, supervisors, collectors, naval officers, and sur-
veyors, appointments held at the pleasure of the presi-
dent, one hundred and ninety-eight were still in the
hands of the Federalists ; and to these might "be added
the subordinate stations in the executive departments, in
which few changes had been made, partly from the dif-
ficulty of finding Eepublicans competent to fill them — a
large proportion of the active men on that side being bet-
ter at declamation than at business. Besides the above-
mentioned offices in the gift of the president, there were
about a thousand deputy post-masters, but only a few
of these post-masterships were lucrative enough to make
them objects of desire.
Jefferson had been greatly alarmed lest the presiden-
tial levees introduced by Washington might impercepti-
bly lead to the ceremonials of a court, if not, indeed, to
monarchy itself. He, therefore, solemnly announced, in
a letter to Macon, that for the future there were to be
no more levees. The removal of the seat of govern-
ment to "Washington, then a little village in the midst
of the woods, and the fact, also, that Jefferson was a
4:32 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER widower, were favorable to that ultra Republican sim
XVI
'__ - plicitj which he sought to introduce. What occasion
1301. f°r levees in such a wilderness, where nobody came ex-
cept on public business ? Eight years after, Mrs. Mad-
ison revived a usage exceedingly convenient, and ever
since continued,
Another change announced also in the same letter,
from the alarming monarchical style of the former ad-
ministrations, was the disuse of speeches and answers at
the opening of the session, and the substitution of a writ-
ten message, to be sent in manuscript and read by the
clerk, to which no special answer would be expected ; a
change to which Jefferson was perhaps the more inclined,
at least so the Federalists maliciously suggested, by rea-
son of his tall, ungainly figure, comparing but ill with
"Washington's or Adams's, and his total destitution of
gifts as a public speaker. The change thus introduced
has not only been retained, but has been gradually cop-
ied in most of the states ; one cause perhaps of that in-
tolerable prolixity into which executive communications
have tended more and more to run.
But while thus giving up the forms, Jefferson clung
with instinctive tenacity to the substance of power. A
Nov o. circular addressed to his cabinet ministers, though filled
with flattering declarations of " unlimited, unqualified,
and unabated confidence," very plainly evinced that the
new president had no intention to tolerate any of the
pretensions set up by Adams's ministers, or to allow the
government to be parceled out, as he expressed it, among
four independent heads, drawing sometimes in opposite
directions. Deferring for once to the example of Wash-
ington, he very properly claimed, since the people had
imposed the responsibility upon him, the unrestrained
right of final decision.
BAEBAKY STATES.
Though the late administrations had been forced into CHAPTER
XVI
fche purchase of treaties of peace with the Barbarj pow- _'
ers mainly by the clamor of the opposition, who dreaded 1801.
the expense of coercion, yet the large sum expended in
presents (near two millions of dollars) had formed a fa-
vorite topic of electioneering declamation, more especial-
ly as it had not entirely answered its purpose. The
treaty with Tripoli, the last of the series, had been pur-
chased by the payment of a gross sum down. But the
Bey, when he compared his case with that of Algiers,
naturally grew dissatisfied with this arrangement ; and
on various pretenses of quarrel, he threatened war
against the United States. The building of national
ships had first been commenced for the restraint of the
Barbary pirates ; and one of Jefferson's first acts was to
dispatch Commodore Dale, with four out of the six ves-
sels still retained in commission, to watch the proceedings
of the Bey, and, if necessary, to repel hostilities.
The insolence of these piratical states, fostered by an
almost unaccountable submission to their pretensions by
the Christian nations of Europe, had been strikingly ex-
hibited in the conduct of the Dey of Algiers toward Cap- 1800.
tain Bainbridge, on his arrival there in the frigate George Sept
Washington with the annual tribute. The frigate which
came to anchor under the guns of the castle, and which
could hardly attempt to depart without danger of de-
struction, was pressed into the Dey's service for the pur-
pose of carrying presents and an embassador to Con-
stantinople, under threats, in case of refusal, of an im-
mediate renewal of hostilities against the United States.
To Bainbridge's remonstrances and those of the consul
O'Brien, the Dey replied, ' ' You pay me tribute, by which
you become my slaves, and therefore I have a right to
order you as I think proper." All the tributary nations
V.— E E
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER of Europe submitted, so he added, to render him like sei-
XVI.
J vices. " I hope," wrote Bainbridge, in his account of this
1300. matter to the Navy Department, " I shall never again
be sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am authorized
to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon." Under
the advice of O'Brien, and understanding that English,
French, and Spanish ships of war had submitted to the
same thing, Bainbridge at last yielded to the Dey's de-
mands, and his ship was the first to display the Ameri-
can flag — though not under the most agreeable circum-
Nov. 9. stances — before the ancient city of Constantinople. The
Turkish officers had never heard of the United States,
but when, at length, they were made to understand thai
Bainbridge came from the New Western "World which
Columbus had discovered, he was received with greal
courtesy. Indeed, the sultan drew omens especially fa-
vorable to the future friendship of the two nations from
the fact that the American flag was emblazoned with the
stars and his with the crescent, indicative, as he imag-
ined, of a certain similarity in their institutions. With
1801. tne Capudan Pasha, the Turkish admiral, Bainbridge be-
Jan. 2L came a great favorite, and received from him a firmanj
which, on his return to Algiers, protected him from any
further insolences on the part of the Dey, and enabled
him to render essential services to the French residents,
exposed to great danger by a declaration of war by Al-
giers against France. The pasha was anxious that an
American ernbassador should be sent to Constantinople,
and a treaty made ; but the recall of Smith, the minister
to Portugal, who held also a commission to treat with
the Porte, prevented any thing being done.
July. Dale, on arriving at Gibraltar, found two Tripolitan
cruisers lying there, on the watch for American vessels,
the Bey having already declared war. These were block-
SQUADRON IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. 435
aded by tlie Philadelphia frigate, while Bainbridge, who CHAPTER
now commanded the Essex frigate, was employed in giv- '
ing convoy to the American Mediterranean trade. Dale 1801.
himself sailed in the President, followed by the schooner
Experiment, to cruise off Tripoli. The Experiment, on
her passage thither, fell in with, and, after three hours'
hard fighting, captured a Tripolitan cruiser of fourteen
guns. The prize had twenty killed and thirty wounded, Aug. 6.
while the Experiment lost not a man. As there was
yet no formal declaration of war against Tripoli, the cap-
tured vessel was dismissed with the survivors of the
crew, being first completely dismantled, her masts cut
away, and her guns thrown overboard. The appear-
ance of Dale's squadron in the Mediterranean was very
seasonable ; for already Algiers and Tunis, as well as
Tripoli, were demanding additional presents.
The seventh Congress, on coming together, showed a Dec. f.
decided administration majority in both branches. The
Senate stood eighteen administration members to four-
teen Federalists ; the House, thirty -six Federalists to
sixty-nine for the administration. On the administra-
tion side in the Senate there were, of former members of
note, "Wilson Gary Nicholas and Baldwin ; of new mem-
bers, John Armstrong, of New York, the author of the
Newburg letters, and brother-in-law of Chancellor Liv-
ingston, but who resigned his seat before the end of the
session, and was succeeded by De Witt Clinton ; Dr.
Logan, of Pennsylvania; Sumter, of South Carolina;
Jackson of Georgia, an active member of the first and
the third Congress, lately governor of that state, where
he had been succeeded by Josiah Tatnall ; and John
Breckenridge, of Kentucky. On the Federal side were
Chipman, of Vermont; Dwight Foster and Jonathan
Mason, of Massachusetts, who had taken their seats dur-
4:3~6 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ing the last Congress as successors to Dexter and Good
' hue; Tracy and Hillhouse, of Connecticut; Foster, of
1801. Rhode Island ; Grouverneur Morris, of New York ; Day
ton, of New Jersey ; Eoss, of Pennsylvania ; and Willes,
of Delaware. Of the new members only three were Fed-
eralists, Samuel White, of Delaware, and James Sheafe
and Simeon Olcott, of New Hampshire, in place of Liver-
more, who had resigned, and of Langdon whose term
i had expired. Langdon had long been the only Eepub-
lican senator for New England, but his single vote was
now replaced by those of Bradley, of Yermont, and El-
lery, of Ehode Island.
In the House, on the administration side, there were,
of former members, Yarnum, of Massachusetts ; Gregg.
Smilie, and Leib, of Pennsylvania ; Smith and Nichol-
son, of Maryland ; Macon, of North Carolina ; Giles,
again re-elected after an interval of one Congress, and
John Eandolph, of Yirginia. Among the new members
on the same side were Dr. William Eustis, representing
the Boston District, and Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, a better
chemist than politician, from the city of New York. The
Federalists had, of old members who had made them-
selves known, Griswold, Dana, Davenport, and John
Cotton Smith, of Connecticut; Bayard, of Delaware;
John Stanley, of North Carolina ; and Eutledge and
Thomas Lowndes, of South Carolina. Of the new mem-
bers, there were few on that side, and none of them dis-
tinguished. Thacher, of Massachusetts, a member dur-
ing the whole of the two preceding adminstrations, and
remarkable for his zeal against slavery, had accepted a
seat on the Massachusetts Supreme bench, where he
found his late colleague Sewall, and was soon joined by
Sedgwick. Of the leading members of former Con-
gresses, Hartley, of Pennsylvania, was lately dead ; Petei
SEVENTH CONGRESS. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. 437
Muhlenburg had received office as supervisor for Perm- CHAPTER
sylvania ; John Nicholas had removed from Virginia to '
Western New York, and henceforth disappears from the
political arena ; Harper, the late Federal leader in the
House, had married a daughter of John Carroll, of Car-
rollton, and had removed from South Carolina to Mary-
land.
Macon was chosen speaker by fifty -three votes to twen-
ty-six for Bayard. Bexley, the old Republican clerk,
whom the Federalists had ousted, was reinstated by a sim-
ilar vote. The House met in a room, temporarily frfted
up, in the basement of the south wing of the Capitol then
in progress of erection. By an addition to the rules, re-
porters were henceforth to be entitled to seats within the
bar, to be assigned to them by the speaker. The Sen-
ate now, also, for the first time, and against the vote of
all the Federal members, admitted a stenographer on their
floor ; but years were yet to elapse before any connected
reports of their debates were published. John Randolph,
appointed chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means,
and whose fluency, promptitude of retort, and acrimoni-
ous wit, though without method or logical order, made
him a formidable debater, became leader for the adminis-
tration. Griswold and Bayard were leaders on the part
of the Federalists.
The president's message, after congratulations on the
peace in Europe and the quiet on the frontiers, and a
statement as to the existing hostilities with Tripoli, ad-
verted to the reduction of expenditure already made by
disbanding a part of the marine corps, by curtailing the
diplomatic establishment, and by a reduction in the num-
ber of officers employed in collecting the internal reve-
nue. The army, the navy, the fortifications in progress,
and the Federal offices generally, were pointed out as
438
HISTORY OF .THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER fit subjects for further retrenchments, necessary in ordei
_. to justify a repeal of the internal taxes. The new ju-
1802, diciary system was also mentioned as a subject which,
of course, would attract attention. A modification was
recommended in the Naturalization Law, favorable to
foreigners seeking to become citizens.
One of the first subjects which engaged the attention
of the House was a reapportionment of representation,
Jan. 14. in accordance with the new census recently completed.
The old ratio of one representative to each thirty -three
thousand in federal numbers was still retained. The
result of the new census, and of the new apportionment
founded upon it, will appear in the following table :
STATES.
Free Whites.
Slaves.
All others.
Totals.
Reps.
Virginia ....
518,674
346,968
20,507
886,149
22
Pennsylvania . .
586,278
1,706
14,564
602,548
18
New York . . .
555,063
20,613
10,374
586,050
17
Massachusetts, )
with Maine )
567,194
7,370
574,564
17
North Carolina . .
337,864
133,196
7,043
478,103
12
Maryland ....
221,998
107,707
19,987
349,692
9
South Carolina . .
196,259
146,151
3,181
345,591
8
Connecticut . . .
237,374
951
5,300
251,002
7
Kentucky . . .
179,875
40,343
741
2-JO,959
6
New Jersey . . .
194,325
12,422
4,402
211,149
6
New Hampshire .
182,995
8
855
183,858
5
Georgia ....
101,068
59,699
1,919
162,686
4 I
Vermont ....
153,908
557
154,465
4 !
Tennessee . . .
91,705
13,584
309
105,602
3 i
Rhode Island . .
65,438
380
3,304
69,122
2
Delaware ....
49,852
6,153
8,268
64,273
1
Northwest Ter. (Ohio)
45,022
337
45,365
Indiana Territory .
5,453
135
163
5,641
Mississippi "
5,289
3,489
182
8,850
i
District of Columbia
10,076
3,244
783
14,093
i
TOTAL . . .
4,309,656
896,749
111,146
5,319,762
141
In conformity to the suggestions of the president, the
emoluments of collectors of the customs, surveyors, and
naval officers, were limited, by an act still in force, to
$5000, $3500, and $3000 respectively. Some other sal-
aries were also reduced, but the late increase of pay to
the cabinet officers was retained. The army reduced to
the peace establishment of 1796, was to consist of threo
ARMY AND NAVY. RETRENCHMENTS. 439
regiments, one of artillery of twenty companies, and two CHAPTER
of infantry of ten companies each, amounting in the .
whole to 3000 men. There was also retained a corps of 1802.
engineers, to consist of seven officers and ten cadets, to
have their head-quarters at West Point, there to consti-
tute a military academy, under the superintendence of
the senior officer, and having for students forty cadets,
two being annexed to each of the twenty companies of
artillery. A professor of French and drawing was after-
ward added ; but this paltry establishment, the superin-
tendence of which was quite incompatible, with the
proper duties of the engineers, who were needed else-
where, was very far short of the elaborate plan which
M 'Henry had drawn up just before his resignation, from
notes furnished by "Washington, and which ultimately
became the basis of the present West Point Academy.
Under the act of the last session, the navy, by sell-
ing the supernumerary ships, had been already reduced
to thirteen vessels. The appropriations for improvement
and increase were limited to a quarter of a million, and
the building of the six seventy-fours, for which timber
had been collected, was thus brought to a stand still ; nor
were they, in fact, ever completed, the timber being cut
up for smaller vessels, or allowed to go to decay. The
purchase of sites for navy yards by the late Secretary of
the Navy was attacked by a committee of the House as
having been made without authority ; and nothing saved
the yards, or part of them, from being sold, except the
circumstance that to remove the timber there deposited
would cost more than the yards would sell for. The
expenditures by the late Secretary of the Navy, under
this head, for land and improvements, had amounted to
about $200,000; an expense which he fully justified
against the cavils of the committee by reminding them
440 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER that as Congress had directed the seventy-fours to be
built, and had appropriated money for that purpose, yards
1802. must of necessity be hired or purchased, and that experi-
ence in building the frigates had proved that to purchase
was altogether the cheaper. It was attempted, also, to
abolish the Mint, but that did not succeed. Another
small saving was made by the repeal of the late Judi-
ciary Act, which formed, indeed, the great measure of
the session. It was early brought forward by Brecken-
. ridge in the Senate, and the speeches upon it constitute
Jan. 6. the earliest reported debates of that body. Gouverneur
Morris took the lead for the Federalists, and greatly dis
tinguished himself. Before the debate was over, the
greater part of the senators had spoken.
The Judiciary Act, and especially the appointments
made under it, had been held up to popular odium from
the moment of its passage as an unworthy maneuver,
having no other object except to plunder the treasury
for the beneft of the Federal leaders, ousted by the pub-
lic voice from the control of the other departments of
the government Several of the state Legislatures bad in-
structed their senators and representatives in Congress to
urge the immediate repeal of the act. Keturns of the
business hitherto transacted by the Federal courts were
moved for and obtained, from which it was argued thai
the late change was entirely unnecessary, especially as
the Sedition Law had expired, while the proposed repeal
of the internal duties, and the dimunition of suits ~by
British creditors, would still farther diminish the busi-
ness of the courts.
It was maintained, on the other side, that the new
system had become necessary through the exigencies of
justice ; and even admitting that the provision made by
it was somewhat more ample than was necessary, thai
EEPEAL OF THE JUDICIARY ACT. 44}
was an error on the right side, and would save to suitors. CHAPTER
in the prompt decision of cases, vastly more than the new
system would cost. Besides, those superfluities might 1802.
be retrenched without repealing the act. Indeed, a re-
establishment of the old system was quite out of the
question. It was also urged, and with great positive-
ness, that, whether the act was good or bad, as the new
judges had been appointed for life, that appointment
amounted in substance to a contract on the part of the
public, which, consistently with the spirit of the Consti- •
tution, could not be set aside. To none of these argu-
•ments would the Eepublicans listen ; and the bill for re-
pealing the late act finally passed the Senate, sixteen to Feb. 3.
fifteen — one of the administration members being absent,
and another (Ogden, of New Jersey) voting in the nega-
tive.
In the House the debate was renewed with still great- Feb. is.
er earnestness. Giles, in the course of it, made a furious
onslaught upon the whole judiciary system, and, indeed,
upon the entire policy of the late administrations. At
length, by means of a midnight session, now first resort-
ed to for such a purpose, the Committee of the Whole
was forced to report the bill, which presently passed the March l
House, fifty-nine to thirty -two. Eustis, the Boston rep- March a
resentative, was the only administration member who
voted against it.
Jefferson appears to have been very doubtful, at least
previous to the meeting of Congress, whether the judges
Lad not a freehold in their offices of which they could
not constitutionally be deprived. But he did not hesi-
tate to sign the act. Nor, indeed, whatever might be
thought of the expediency of the repeal, could there be
any solid doubt of the power of Congress in the matter,
the repeal being, as it was, a bona fide one, and not a
4:42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER mere trick to deprive the judges of their offices, with
XVI
__ '_ intent to establish those offices anew and to give them
1802. to
Having thus destroyed the work of the Federalists, a
AprU 29. bill was brought in and presently passed by which the
terms of the Supreme Court were reduced to one annu-
ally, which a majority of the judges was authorized to
hold. Instead of three circuits as formerly, six were
constituted, but somewhat differently from those of the
repealed act, Maine, Kentucky, and Tennessee not being
included in the arrangement. A single judge of the Su-
preme Court was to be assigned to each of these circuits;
to hold semi-annual courts in each district, with the dis-
trict judge for an associate. In case they differed on a
point of law, the matter was to go up by certificate to
the Supreme Court. This system, with some addition to
the number of Supreme Court judges, and an increase
of circuits and districts, remains in force to the present
day (1851). It answered well enough for a certain pe-
riod, but its inadequacy has long since become fully ap-
parent ; and the almost hopeless accumulation for years
past of business before the Supreme Court gives but too
abundant occasion, at least to the unfortunate suitors, to
lament that the act of 1801 was ever repealed.
While the Senate were busy with the repeal of the
Judiciary Act, the House attacked the internal taxes, in-
cluding the duties on domestic distilled spirits, and on
licenses to retail them, the stamp duties, and the excises
on refined sugar, sales af auction, and pleasure carriages.
The gross produce of these taxes was about a million
annually ; but, deducting the cost of collection, and the
stamp duties, just about to expire, the nett revenue
Would be about $600,000, of which $500,000 was deriv-
ed from the tax on distilled spirits. The objection urged
REPEAL OF THE INTERNAL TAXES. 443
to these taxes was the expensiveness of the collection in CHAPTER
proportion to the product — the principal burden of a
treatise by Gallatin published several years before — to 1802.
which were added the old arguments as to their anti-
republican character, and the system of espionage which
they made necessary.
Griswold insisted that, before repealing these taxes,
the House ought first to take up a resolution which he
had offered for indemnifying the sufferers by French
spoliations whose claims on France had been given up
under the convention with that country, as modified first
by the Senate and then by Bonaparte, and lately ratified
by the president in its modified form, the consideration
being the release of the United States from the obliga-
tions of the former French treaties. But, without com-
mitting themselves as to the validity of this claim, or
stopping to inquire into it, the House refused to be thus
diverted from their predetermined course.
It was next suggested that, if a reduction of taxes were
practicable, it ought to be made, not on distilled spirits,
a pernicious luxury, but on tea, coffee, sugar, and salt,
articles of necessary consumption, taxed under the ex-
isting tariff fifty per cent, on their foreign cost. Special
reasons were also urged why the system of internal rev-
enue should not be abolished. That revenue was a sure
resource, and in the fluctuations to which foreign trade
was exposed, the country might yet be driven to rely
upon it. After much experience, the machinery for its
collection had been brought into good working order,
and it would be well to keep it up against time of need,
since to reconstruct it anew would be an affair of labor
and delay. But this argument also, the force of which
became evident enough some ten or twelve years after,
now passed unheeded.
444 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Of all subjects of taxation, there seemed to be none
XVI
' fitter than distilled spirits. The other internal taxes
1802. produced but little, and might be repealed ; but this, it
was urged, ought to be retained for moral as well as
financial reasons Weighty as this argument was, the
majority well understood, though they did not say so,
that no greater boon could be conferred upon a very zeal-
ous and noisy portion of the Eepublican party than the
repeal of this same tax, which Jefferson himself had pro-
nounced " execrable," and to which Gallatin and others
had stimulated a passive resistance, resulting at length
in actual insurrection. The repeal, also, had the addi
tional recommendation of getting rid of another batch
March 21. of obnoxious office-holders. It had been decided upon
as a party measure, and was carried sixty-one to twenty-
four, several of the Federalists being absent or omitting
March 31. to vote. It passed the Senate soon after by a like party
division. By a very unusual practice, several calls for
information, without being objected to or debated, were
silently voted down by the majority, whom the Feder-
alists stigmatized in consequence as the " dumb Legisla-
ture."
A fourth recommendation of the president was carried
April is. out by the passage of an act repealing the late impedi-
ments placed in the way of the naturalization of foreign-
ers, and re-enacting the provisions of the act of 1795,
which still continue in force.
The retrenchments recommended by the president and
adopted by Congress had in view not only the repeal of
the internal taxes, but the provision of means for the
prompt reduction of the public debt, always a great bug-
bear to Jefferson. Gallatin, who aspired to rival Ham-
ilton as a financier, but whose best claims in that respect
Lad thus far been exhibited in a strict adherence to the
NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 445
system of his predecessors, suggested to Congress, and CHAPTER
they adopted, some new arrangements on that head.
Somewhat more simple than those previously in force, 1802.
these arrangements, however, were only feasible with a April 28>.
full treasury, such as Grallatin anticipated, but which his
predecessors had never enjoyed. Hamilton's Sinking
Fund Act had appropriated a variety of funds out of
which to meet the annual interest and installments of
the public debt ; to which were to be added such sur-
pluses as might remain after paying the current expenses.
Gallatin proposed to pledge absolutely, toward the inter-
est and discharge of the debt, the round annual sum of
$7,300,000, exceeding by $1,200,000 the sum absolute-
ly appropriated by Hamilton's act. leaving the current
expenses to be met out of such surplus of revenue as
might remain after this annual payment.
As the Territory northwest of the Ohio appeared by
the census to have a population entitling it to admis-
sion into the Union, the people residing within the pres-
ent limits of Ohio in accordance with many petitions to
that effect, were authorized to organize themselves as a April 30,
state, a convention to meet at Chilicothe in November
to form a constitution. The remainder of the territory
was to be annexed to Indiana. In consideration of the
passage by the new state of an irrepealable ordinance
exempting from taxation for four years all lands newly
purchased of the United States, Congress proposed to
grant, in return, one township in each section for the
support of schools, being one thirty-sixth part of all the
lands in the state ; besides five per cent, of the proceeds
of all lands sold, to be laid out for the construction of
roads ; three per cent, of it, by a subsequent act, to be
expended within the state, and two per cent, upon roads
leading to the state from the eastward.
446 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER The Board of Commissioners which hitherto had man-
xvi.
' aged the affairs of the City of "Washington was dissolved
1800. by an ac* °f this Congress, and a superintendent appoint
ed in their place. Means were also provided by the
same act for paying the loan due to the State of Mary-
land. Another act provided a municipal government
for the city.
Just before the close of the late administration, the
renewed negotiation with England on the subject of Brit-
ish debts had been brought to a conclusion by an agree-
ment on the part of the United States to pay, in discharge
of the liabilities assumed by Jay's treaty, the sum of
$2,664,000 in three annual installments. A bill was ac-
cordingly passed at this session appropriating the means
for this payment, being, in substance, so much added to
the assumption of state debts, the larger part of it on ac-
count of Virginia.
The subject of the balances due from certain states
was again brought up. As no payment could be got,
except a partial one made by New York in expenditures
on fortifications, a bill was introduced discharging the
debt. That bill failed to pass ; but though the claim of
the United States was thus kept alive, it never produced
any thing to the treasury.
One of the results of the recent Eepublican triumph in
Pennsylvania was an Intrusion Act, so called, subject-
ing to very severe punishment, by fine and imprisonment,
the Connecticut settlers on Wyoming lands, under pre-
tended Susquehanna Company grants of date subsequent
to the Trenton decision. These unfortunate squatters
thereupon appealed to Congress for the transfer of all
such prosecutions to the Federal courts, and a trial out
of Pennsylvania. Apart from constitutional difficulties
in the way, the fact that they were New En glanders and
CESSION BY GEORGIA. 447
mostly Federalists left them no hope from this Congress ; CHAPTER
and, after a twenty years7 struggle, which had bred not a
little of ill blood between New England and Pennsylva- 1802.
nia, they found themselves at length obliged to succumb,
and to mate such compromises and settlements as they
could.
A few days before the close of the session, the presi- April 26
dent communicated to Congress the compact as to the
ierritory between the Mississippi and the Chattahoochee,
*vhich, under the full powers granted for that purpose,
had been entered into by the commissioners of Georgia
on the one part, and those of the United States on the
other ; the latter being the Secretary of State, the Secre-
tary of the Treasury, and the Attorney General. By
this compact, to remain in full force unless rejected by
one party or the other within six months, Georgia ceded
to the United States all her claims to territory west of
what now constitutes her western boundary, on condi-
tion of receiving out of the first nett proceeds of the lands
sold the sum of $1,250,000, and of what ultimately
proved of far higher cost, an undertaking on the part of
the United States to extinguish, at the expense of the
Federal treasury, the Indian title to the lands reserved
by Georgia " as early as the same could be peaceably
obtained on reasonable terms ;" especially the Indian title
to that tract between the Oconee and Ocmulgee, so long
and so perseveringly sought by the Georgians. It was
also provided, by the terms of the compact, that when-
ever the population of the territory thus ceded should
amount to 60,000, or earlier at the option of Congress,
the ceded territory should be erected into a state, on the
same terms and conditions contained in the ordinance
of 1787 for the government of the Territory northwest
448 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER of the Ohio, "that article only excepted which prohibits
XVI. _ ..
__ slavery."
1802. ®f *^e hundred thousand square miles of territory of
.which the United States thus acquired the jurisdiction,
all except a very small portion was still in the hands of
the Indians ; the Creeks and Cherokees toward the east,
the Chickasaws and Choctaws toward the west. The
only portion to which the Indian title had been extin-
guished by the former French possessors, and on which
any white settlements existed, were two tracts of nearly
three thousand square miles each, one extending along
the Mississippi from the Florida line to the mouth of the
Yazoo, the other between the waters of the Pascagoula
and the Tombigbee, its southern limit being fifty miles
north of the Florida line, from which, as well as from
the tract on the Mississippi, it was separated by an inter-
vening wilderness. An immediate cession of a part of
the much-coveted tract between the Oconee and Ocmul-
gee, obtained from the Creeks by a considerable expen-
June 16. diture of presents at a treaty held with them in the
course of the summer, induced the State of Georgia to
allow this compact to go into force. The Choctaws and
Chickasaws, by previous treaties (October and Decem-
ber, 1801), had already conceded the right to open a road
through their territory from Nashville to Natchez.
Whatever may be thought of Jefferson's politics, he
was undoubtedly a philanthropist ; he entered with zeal
into the benevolent policy of "Washington toward the In-
dians ; and at his recommendation, an act was passed for
regulating intercourse with them on the system already
existing, and for sustaining the public trading-houses for
supplying them with goods.
Congress having recognized the existence of war with
RETROCESSION OF LOUISIANA TO FRANCE. 449
Tripoli, authorized the fitting out of such a naval force CHAPTER
as the president might see fit. A squadron, manned and
equipped for two years' service, consisting of three large 1802.
and two smaller frigates, to which was added the schoon-
er Experiment, was accordingly got ready to relieve
Dale's ships. The command was offered to the gallant
Truxtun, who declined because, with the characteristic
parsimony of the administration, he was refused a cap-
tain for his flag-ship. To punish him for thus presum
ing to differ from the executive, his letter of declination
was construed, contrary to his intention, as a resigna-
tion of his commission, and under that pretense he was
struck from the navy list. The command of the squad-
ron was then given to Morris. Tripoli could only be
brought to terms by a vigorous blockade or by a bom-
bardment. But a close blockade required a number of
small vessels, while for a bombardment the armaments
of the frigates were not well adapted.
Ever since the alliance between France and Spain, it
had been strongly suspected that France intended to ob-
tain the retrocession of Louisiana, perhaps with the ad-
dition of Florida also. These rumors increasing as the
negotiations for the peace of Amiens proceeded, Living-
ston at Paris, Charles Pinckney at Madrid, and King at
London, had been specially instructed to endeavor to de-
feat that cession ; which, however, by a secret treaty, had
been already made (October 1, 1800), to take effect within
six months after the complete execution of another
treaty, by which Tuscany, then a republic, had been as-
sured as an hereditary dominion to the Duke of Parma,
the King of Spain's son-in-law.
Even for Spain to command the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi, thus holding at mercy the trade of the Western
country, now in so rapid progress of settlement, was a
V— FF
HISTOKT OF THE U3TITKD STATES.
Outof this circumstance had
oattofpt
of die leading politicians of Kentucky, to break
ist of the moprolaMP^ and to
or less intimate, with Spain.
Should aa enterprising nation like the French— one, too,
oftke Western watess* who could teH what might hap-
it, pen? This ante of things, wrote Jefferson to living-
sioo, ^completely rcver^s all the political relations of
the United States, and wul form a new epoch in our
political course. We have ever looked to France as our
friend — one with whom we could never have an
of difference; but there is one spot on the globe
the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy.
spot is > e w Orleans. France, placing herself in
day that France takes poosesBion seals the union of two
exclusive pos-
of the ocean. From that moment we must marry
owselves to the British fleet and nation. We must torn
to a marH"rE force, and Tn«tr<* the first
fired in Europe the signal for tearing np any set-
hare made.9 Much was added to
efiect as rranfmn why the French government
to the transfer of Louisiana, or, at least*
of the island of (Means, to the United State*— sugges-
tions which Livingston was instructed to make in a way,
not to give olfciiHP;
A letter, some days before, to KnnrinBko, who had
to inquire whether some country men of his could
in the United States, expressed,
Iting tone, Jcflencn's view of the state
The session ol the first Congress coo-
STATE 0* PUBLIC FEELING. ; 451
vened since Republicanism has recovered its ascendency CHAPTER
will pretty completely fulfill all the desires of the people. .
They have reduced the army and navy to what is barely
necessary. They keep in service no more than men
enough to garrison the small posts, dispersed at great
distances on our frontiers, which garrisons will generally
consist of a captain's company only, in no case of more
than two or three, and in not one of a sufficient number
to require a field officer; and no circumstances what-
ever can bring these garrisons together, because it would
be an abandonment of their posts. They are disarming
executive patronage and preponderance by putting down
one half the offices of the United States which are no
longer necessary. These economies have enabled them
to suppress all the internal taxes, and still to make such
provision for the payment of the public debt as to dis-
charge it in eighteen years. They have lopped off a par-
asite limb planted by their predecessors on the judiciary
body for party purposes ; they are opening the door of
hospitality to fugitives from the oppressions of other
countries ; and we have suppressed all those public forms
and ceremonies which tended to familiarize the public
eye to the harbingers of another form of government.
The people are nearly all united. Their quondam lead-
ers, infuriated with the sense of their impotence, will
soon be seen or heard only in the newspapers, which
serve as chimneys to carry off noxious vapors and
smoke, and all is now tranquil, firm, and well, as it
should ba"
Yet many symptoms already, or soon after, appeared,
of an internal agitation and a party bitterness not very
consistent with Jefferson's boasts of political tranquillity
and a united people. Early in the session a committee
had been appointed, of which Nicholson and Giles were
HISTORY OF THE UNITEE STATES.
CHAPTER principal members, to investigate the past expenditures
of the government, and to inquire whether moneys drawn
1802. fr°m the treasury had been properly accounted for. This
committee grew out of charges freely indulged in by the
Democratic newspapers, by reason of certain defaults
which had happened among some of the disbursing
agents in the latter part of Adams's administration, and
which had been seized upon as proofs of a general and
widespread corruption. Perhaps, also, it was intended
as a sort of counter-blast to the outcry of the Federal
newspapers respecting a very profuse expenditure, as
they alleged, without any appropriation having been
made for it, in refitting the Berceau, one of the captured
vessels restored under the French treaty — a subject to
which attention had been called on the floor of the House,
The report on past expenditures was deferred till three
days before the close of the session, when a very one-sided
statement, drawn up by the administration majority of
the committee, with the aid of Grallatin, and without the
knowledge of the Federal members, was laid before the
House — a miserable electioneering document, under the
disguise of a Congressional report ; the first instance of
the sort in our history, but of which too many, the
usual consequence of bad precedents, have since occurred.
The studied intention of this report was, by a partial
statement of facts, which the committee well knew to be
capable of complete explanation, to convey the impression
to the public that the pecuniary transactions of the late
administration had been conducted in the loosest man-
ner ; that many large sums of public money remained
unaccounted for ; and that many large expenditures had
been habitually made without any lawful authority.
Though any direct assertion of that sort was carefully
avoided, the report pointed distinctly to a conclusion
FEDERAL NEWSPAPERS. CALLENDER.
that, w'hen the accounts came to be finally settled, very QHAPIER
large deficiencies would appear. _____
To this attack upon the late secretaries, made in an
official shape, under circumstances which had allowed,
neither to them nor to their friends in Congress, any op-
portunity of explanation, and which too plainly evinced
malignity of intention, Wolcott presently made a reply
in the form of a pamphlet, not less remarkable in those
days of excitement, for its perfect decorum, than for
its conclusive exposures of the party fraud attempted by
the committee.
The repeal of the Judiciary Act denounced by the
Federalists as the first step toward the overthrow of the
Constitution itself (which they still charged to be the se-
cret object of the Eepublican leaders), and followed up
by a report like this, and by new removals from office,
tended but little to the subsidence of political feeling.
Wolcott having lost his office as judge, his friends in
New York gladly availed themselves of his financial tal-
ents as president of the Merchants' Bank, established in
that city about this time, at first under articles of asso-
ciation, without a charter. Two new journals, on the
ultra Federal side, had recently made their appearance,
the Evening Post, at New York, edited by Colman, and
understood to express the sentiments of Hamilton (Web-
ster's Commercial Advertiser adhering to the more mod-
erate section of the party), and the Palladium, at Bos-
ton, to which Ames made large contributions, but the
aid of whose pen was presently transferred to a still
xiewer journal, called the Eepertory.
In their renewed attacks upon the president, the Fed-
eralists found an unexpected ally in that zealous Demo-
crat, Callender, who, at the time of Jefferson's accession,
had just served out his term of imprisonment under the
454 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
«
CHAPTER sentence against him for seditious libel. He had even
been able, by the assistance of political friends, to pay
1802. *nto ^e hands °f the marshal the fine imposed upon
him, which, however, Jefferson, by a somewhat doubtful
exercise of power, ordered to be returned by virtue of a
pardon which he hastened to grant. Not satisfied with
this mere remission of his fine, Callender applied to be
appointed post-master of Richmond ; but his libelous pen
being no longer needed, Jefferson sent him fifty dollars
and a civil refusal. Indignant at this treatment, Callen-
der availed himself of the columns of the Richmond Re-
corder, of which he became an editor, to charge upon
Jefferson's encouragement and aid in, and responsibility
for, the libels which he had published, especially " The
Prospect before us," that scandalous pamphlet which had
given rise to his prosecution under the Sedition Law.
This " base ingratitude" on the part of Callender, whom
Jefferson denounced as a " lying renegade," touched
him to the quick ; and he wrote to Governor Monroe,
authorizing a public statement, which was accordingly
made, that his connection with Callender had been only
that of a generous patron to a distressed man of letters,
to whom, out of pure charity, he had made occasional
donations. He promised to send copies of all the letters
he had ever written to Callender ; but from this he after-
ward excused himself on the plea that he could not find
them. Callender, however, had preserved the originals^
and he hastened to print them ; whereby it appeared
that Jefferson had not only contributed fifty dollars to-
ward the publication of the " Prospect before us," but
that he had furnished information for it, and had seen and
highly approved of a part, at least, of the proof-sheets.
Nor did Callender stop with the publication of these
letters. Assisted with information from Jefferson's Fed
CALLENDEft. 455
eral neighbors, lie entered into the history of his private CHAPTER
life ; and it is a striking instance of retributive justice ,
that the very man who had been instigated and assisted, 1802.
if not by Jefferson himself, by some one or other of the
Virginia clique, to bring before the public the amours of
Hamilton, should now, to Jefferson's infinite annoyance
— for his temperament was so sensitive that he blushed
like a woman at any such allusions — have done the same
kind office for him. It was from this source that origin-
ated, among other things, the story of Jefferson's attempt
to seduce a neighbor's wife, and of his semi- African con-
cubine— by the father's side a sister, it was said, of his
more lawful spouse, and the mother, by him, of a large
family of unrecognized colored children — stories told with
minute circumstances, never contradicted, and which, ac-
quiring general credit, formed the sting of many a polit-
ical pasquinade.
In this emergency, George Hay, late one of Callen-
der's counsel on his trial for libel, and now, by Jefferson's
appointment, district attorney of Virginia, procured Cal-
lender to be arrested and carried before two magistrates,
with the intent- to play off upon him that same piece of
legal tyranny lately exercised by M'Kean over Cobbett,
in compelling him to give security to publish no libels.
But this attempt appears to have excited some misgi\
ings among some of the Virginians who had raised such
clamors against the Sedition Law, and Hay found him-
self obliged to defend his conduct in a pamphlet. Jef-
ferson was speedily relieved from his troublesome ac-
complice, who was accidentally drowned not long after
while bathing in James River. But the stories which
he had put in circulation did not die with him ; they
continued to be kept alive in the Federal newspapers,
and some three years after (1805) received additional
456 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER confirmation through an unlucky movement of Jeffer
_ son's friends in the Massachusetts Legislature, by whom
a motiop was made to deprive the publishers of the Pal-
ladium of the state printing, on the ground of its abuse
of the president in the republication of, or allusion to,
these stories ; in consequence of which motion, an affi-
davit was presently obtained from Virginia, and pub-
lished in the Palladium, from a person who professed
himself a neighbor of Jefferson's and personally cog-
nizant of the facts.
Nor was his association with Callender the only one
by which Jefferson was exposed to obloquy. The egre-
gious vanity of Thomas Paine had led him to publish in
Paris Jefferson's letter containing the offer of a passage
to America in a public vessel. But Paine, instead of
being esteemed as formerly as a lover of liberty, whose
vigorous pen had contributed to hasten the Declaration
of Independence, was now detested by large numbers as
the libeler of Washington and the scoffing assailant of
the Christian religion ; and this maiked piece of courtesy
extended to him, coupled with Paine's return to America
soon after, occasioned a renewal of the attacks upon Jef-
ferson's religious opinions, which had, indeed, been a good
deal urged pending the presidential canvass.
The first American Free-thinker who went so far aa
to deny the supernatural origin of the Christian religion
appears to have been Jeremiah Dummer, for many years
colonial agent of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and
celebrated for his " Defense of the New England Char-
ters." Though grandson of one of the Puritan fathers,
and himself a theological student, Dummer had imbibed
from personal intercourse the religious opinions of Bo
lingbroke. But as he was careful to keep them to him-
self, and as he lived the greater part of his life and died
FREE-THINKING IN AMERICA. 457
in England, his views could have had little or no influ- CHAPTER
XVI»
ence in America. Yet converts were not wanting there ,
to the same opinions, of whom Franklin was the most
illustrious. He, however, at least in his maturer age,
was no propagandist. He thought religion necessary
for restraining the ignorant and viciously inclined ; and
considering it highly dangerous " to unchain the tiger,"
he ostensibly adhered to the Church of England, and
seems not to have favored any attacks upon current re-
ligious ideas. The first work of that kind published in
America was Ethan Allen's " Oracles of Eeason," which
appeared in 1786. That Jefferson entertained similar
opinions was evident from several passages in his " Notes
on Virginia," published in London in 1787.
The renunciation of the Christian religion by the
French republic, and the publication of Paine's u Age
of Keason," the first part in 1794, the second part in
1796, a work extensively circulated in America, not only
made a considerable number of converts to Deistical opin-
ions, but emboldened many openly to avow ideas long
secretly entertained. Still, the impression was very slight.
Of the comparatively small number able and inclined to
reason on the topic of religion, by far the greater part
stopped short with denying, doubting, or explaining
away the divinity of Christ, and, along with it, the doc-
trines, one or all, of the Trinity, the atonement, total de-
pravity, the new birth, and eternal punishments. A
considerable proportion of the Congregational clergy of
New England, with a certain number of the more intel-
ligent laymen, secretly rejected these dogmas, or doubt-
ed with respect to them. But, knowing themselves to
be far in advance of the masses, like the Armenians of
the times preceding the great revival of 1740, they ob-
served a discreet silence in public.
458 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Jefferson's relations to the religious opinions of his
_ _^ country were somewhat peculiar. He believed, like
1802 Paine, in a personal God and a future life, but, like him,
regarded Christianity, in the supernatural view of it, as
a popular fable, an instrument for deluding, misgovern-
ing, and plundering mankind ; and these opinions he en-
tertained, as he did most others, with little regard to any
qualifying considerations, and with an energy approach-
ing to fanaticism. But he was no more inclined than
were the New England nationalists to become a martyr
to the propagation of unpopular ideas. That he left to
Paine and others of less discretion or more courage than
himself. He found a safer and more popular way of in-
dulging his sentiments in an avowed and active hostility
to all public establishments for the support of religion,
and especially to the establishment which, during colonial
times, the Church of England had enjoyed in Virginia
and the other Southern States. By the act of Virginia
of 1776 suspending the collection of parish rates, con
firmed and extended by the Keligious Freedom Act of
1785, in both of which enactments Jefferson had a large
share, and which had been carried by means of the co-
operating jealousy and hatred of the Baptists and Pres-
byterians, he struck a blow at the Church of England in
Virginia from which it has never since recovered. But,
even in this disabled state, that church still continued an
object of jealousy alike to the Free-thinkers, of whom
there was a considerable number among the educated
planters, and to the Baptists and other sectaries ; and a
recent act (1799) had repealed all the laws passed since
JRTI the Revolution which seemed to acknowledge a corpo-
rate character in that church. Still more recently the
favorite point had been carried of forfeiting the glebes
as fast as they became vacant, to be sold for such pur-
RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS. 4:59
pose, ll not religious," as a majority of the parishioners CHAPTER
should elect.
This zeal against church establishments having ac- l$02
complished its end in the Southern States, and having
tended, so far as the Dissenters, the majority of the pop-
ulation, were concerned, to promote Jefferson's popular-
ity there, was now directed against the system of the
New England churches ; furnishing also a strong point
of sympathy between Jefferson and the New England
sectaries. This hostility to the support of religion by
public authority might be consistent enough on the part
of Jefferson and of those who agreed with him in regard-
ing the religion of the country as no better than a mis-
chievous delusion. It might also be consistent enough
on the part of those sectaries who, disregarding human
means, relied on God's miraculous support. But upon
what logical basis this movement could find favor with
those who entertained different views, it is not so easy
to explain.
The result of the French Kevolution had tended to
confirm the opinion that something more than a procla-
mation of the rights of man, to wit, general intelligence,
virtue and good morals, public and private, afforded the
foundation upon which alone a republican government
could be sustained. It was also generally admitted, then
.as now, that religion furnished the only solid support for
morality. Such being the case, was it not the bounden
duty of the government to provide for public instruction
in religion, just as much as for public instruction in let-
ters ? Nor did this necessarily imply any infringement
upon the rights of conscience, since in New England
every one enjoyed, at least to a certain extent, the right
of choosing what church he would support. The New
England system of common schools had in its origin been
intimately connected with the religious establishment.
460 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Both grew out of theocratic views. These views, how
^_ ever, had been long since abandoned ; and the public
1802 support both of education and religion had been alike
placed on mere grounds of human policy, the interest,
to wit, which the community has in the intelligence and
good morals of its members. And it was significantly
remarked that, as out of New England there was no
church establishment, so out of New England there was
no extensive system of public education.
But it was not merely or chiefly in their character of
a priesthood that Jefferson detested the New England
clergy. The steady front which the Federal opposition
continued to present in the states of Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and especially of Connecticut, he ascribed
almost entirely to clerical influence ; and he held up
those states in his private correspondence as unfortunate
priest-ridden communities, led by the nose by a body of
men " who had got a smell of union between church and
state," the natural enemies of science and truth associ-
ated together in a conspiracy against the liberties of the
people ; opinions publicly reiterated by the grateful Bish-
op in a long series of articles, addressed to the Eepubli-
cans of New England, on the conspiracy of church and
state against Christianity and the government of the
United States.
The clergy of New England, from the commencement
of the Revolution, had taken a very active part in poli-
tics ; and so they continued to do throughout the admin-
istration of Jefferson and his successor. This part they
took, not in their character of clergymen merely, but
rather as men of superior education and intelligence, and
of high moral character, placed, by the life-tenure of
their parishes, in a position of comparative leisure and
independence ; circumstances which made them, in con-
junction with the lawyers, with whom their relations
JEFFEKSON AND THE CLERGY. 461
were intimate and harmonious, as much the natural lead- CHAPTER
XVI
ers of New England as the slave-holding planters were
natural leaders in Virginia. In the general justice of 1802.
their views on political affairs, they had no reason to fear
comparison with their Virginia rivals ; and there is still
room for reasonable doubt (the course of events, aided
by quarrels among themselves, having deprived them of
their establishment, and stripped them of all political
power) whether the transfer of the entire guardianship
of our politics into the hands of office-seekers and politi-
cians by profession has resulted in any special benefit to
the community, however the calling it Eepublican and
Democratic may delight our ears.
Jefferson seems to have considered himself excessively
ill treated by the clergy, who were constantly twitting
him with his infidel opinions. But it does not very dis-
tinctly appear in what respect the religious bigotry of the
clergy was at all worse than Jefferson's political bigotry.
They seem, in fact to have been but varieties of the very
same thing. While he took advantage of popular preju-
dices to hold them up to odium as enemies of popular
rights, and thereby to strip them of their power and their
position, was it any thing more than a fair retort for them
to appeal, in their turn, to popular prejudices, and to
hold him up as the enemy of religion, and consequently
the enemy of that upon which good morals and social
order can alone be securely based, and therefore not fit
to be trusted with political power ?
In that freedom resulting not from mere thoughtless-
ness or impatience of restraint, but founded upon reflec-
tion and investigation, New England then, as now, was
very far before the rest of the country ; but, however
freely some of the New England clergy might speculate
in their closets, in matters of practice the great body of
them were inclined to carry their conservatism, or what
i62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER they called the maintenance of " steady habits," consid-
' erably further than was consistent with the just and nat-
1802. ura>l progress of society. This disposition, always strong
enough in such bodies, had been, of late, greatly re-en-
forced by that powerful reaction, felt in America as well
as in Europe, against the rage for innovation, without
stopping to consider to what it would lead, which had
made the French Ee volution appear, to cotemporary eyes,
so strange a mixture of the terrible and the ridiculous.
The story of Barruel and Eobinson, ascribing the origin
of that revolution to a conspiracy of free-thinkers, as
sociated, with Voltaire at their head, for the overthrow
of the Christian religion, and having affiliated branches
in America as well as in Europe, had found extensive
credence ; while the result of that revolution, after twelve
years of such ardent aspirations, impassioned hopes, wild
commotions, desperate struggles, and civil bloodshed, in a
mere military despotism, served to confirm hostility to
change, however plausible in theory ; and to inspire the
idea that the salvation of the country against the horrors
of Jacobinism depended upon preserving from rash in-
novation those venerable institutions under which, thus
far, it had grown and prospered.
So far, indeed, as related to a public provision for re-
ligious teachers — the great instance, according to Jeffer-
son, of the political benightedness of New England —
there was something plausible to be said in defence of it,
even upon Jefferson's own views. Grant that religion
is but another name for superstition, a thing in itself
unprofitable and pernicious ; yet religion the people will
have ; and by abolishing all public provision for religious
teaching, you are but opening the door to a flood of ex-
travagant fanaticism, the surest safeguard against which
is to be found, after all, in a well-educated clergy, from
intellectual necessity keeping up, to a great degree, with
.RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM. 463
the- progress of the times, and secured by decent and per- CHAPTER
manent salaries against the perpetual temptation to pur- t
chase a precarious support by playing upon the supersti- 1802.
tions, and constantly applying fresh stimulus to the ex-
cited fancies of their flocks.
Such a view of the case, taken by numbers of Feder-
alists who made no pretensions to be themselves religious
men, and who indulged personally in great latitude of
opinion, was very much strengthened by events already
taking place in the South and West, where the abolition
of religious establishments had by no means proved an
extinguisher to religious fanaticism. At this very mo-
ment one of those revivals was in progress in Kentucky
and the other Western settlements which, in the last
fifty years, have produced such remarkable results in
America ; building up, in place of the religious establish-
ments once supported by law, new volunteer sectarian
organizations, certainly in no respect more favorable to
freedom of opinion, to reason, or to learning, however
they may have exceeded in warmth of piety and glow
of feeling. In those Western settlements, where there
were very few educated preachers, and little regular pro-
vision for public worship, the same religious excitement
which had produced in ancient times the passionate or-
gies with which the worship of Bacchus and Cybele used
to be celebrated, displayed itself now, in excesses, under
the names of religion, not a whit less extraordinary.
Among other things of the like sort, during the two or
chree years that this excitement was kept up, it was not un-
common to find companies assembled in the woods, some
praying and others barking like dogs, employed, to use
their own back woods phraseology, in "treeing the devil."
The decent and moderate religionists of New England,
where latitudinarian views at this time were extensively
prevalent, if not decidedly predominant, were hardly less
464 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAFFER shocked by these excesses than by Paine's unceremoni-
_ ous treatment of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures.
1802. Between enthusiastic sectaries on the one side and scoff-
ers on the other, their patience was not a little tried,
On the other hand, the Free-thinkers and the sectaries
were able to co-operate politically without much diffi
culty ; and many of Jefferson's greatest admirers were to
be found among the latter class. Appeals to the reason,
like those of Paine, gave but little trouble to men who
relied, as most of the sectaries did, upon the visible con-
verting presence of the Holy Spirit ; while both extremes
had a strong bond of sympathy in their common hostility
to the established clerical order, by which the Free-think-
ers expressed their dislike to all priesthoods, while the
sectaries not only indulged the bitterness of theological
rivalry, but signified also their confidence that their own
worship, being the true one, would be upheld by Divine aid,
without need of a legal support, only necessary for a dead
and formal religion — one of the head, and not of the heart.
There was also a still deeper and more permanent
bond of sympathy, not consciously perceived by either
party. Enthusiasm in religion is, in its ultimate anal-
ysis, but a species of free thinking — that form which
free thinking takes when developed in minds in which
imagination and the feelings predominate over the rea
son. Free-thinkers denounce prevailing opinions, and
appeal to first principles, and religious enthusiasts do
the same thing. Free-thinkers had united with Luther
against the Church of Eome ; Free-thinkers had united
with the Puritans against the Church of England ; Free-
thinkers had united with the Church of England against
the Congregational Church establishments of Massachu-
setts and Connecticut ; and Free-thinkers now, through-
out the United States, united with the various enthusi-
astic sects against any public provision for the clergy.
RELIGIOUS ENT.HUSIASM 460
Political enthusiasm discouraged by the results of the CHAPTER
X VI«
French Revolution, was already dying out, without hav-
ing produced hardly any modifications of laws or consti- 1802
tutions. In Maryland, indeed, where such a change was
necessary to secure the permanent ascendancy of the Re-
publican party, the triumphant Democrats brought in
and presently carried an amendment of the Constitution
abolishing the property qualification of voters. But in
Virginia, in spite of the theoretical democracy of which
that state was the fountain-head, all attempts failed to
liberalize a constitution, as to the right of suffrage one
of the most exclusive in the Union. We shall see here-
after with how little success the Pennsylvania Democrats
attempted to throw off the yoke of the lawyers.
But while political enthusiasm was thus expiring,
religious enthusiasm ran on for many years a vigorous
course ; suppressing free thinking on the one hand and
legal provision for the clergy on the other, and building
up great and powerful religious establishments on the
principle of free association and voluntary contributions.
Nor did it stop there. Descending, in our day, from the
heavens to the earth, and, with the more general diffu-
sion of intelligence, taking on, among the better inform-
ed, a more practical shape, it has pushed, and is push-
ing, with all its native energy, many great questions of
social reform ; and even dashing with fury against the
very religious establishments it had formerly built up,
whenever it finds in them obstacles to its present career ;
at times assailing even the fundamental dogmas of all
formal religions with a species of artillery infinitely more
dangerous than any that Paine or Jefferson ever used.
Yet, as all general statements are to be taken with
some allowance, so there were to be found among the
New England Republicans a certain number of as zeal*
V— Go
466 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ous sticklers for the New England system of religious
' establishments as any of the Federalists ; including even
1802, two or three eminent clergymen, the secret of whose
politics is to be sought either in very hopeful views of
the improvability of human nature, or, if their creed
was more orthodox, in an inextinguishable hatred against
England, kindled in the Kevolution.
The great mass, however, of the New England Be*
publican party was made up of secret or open, latitu-
dinarian, free thinking, or fanatical dissenters from the
religious establishment, who now sought support against
that establishment, and aid to overthrow it, from the
general government, just as, in the times of the first
Massachusetts charter, a similar party had done from
the government of England ; while the New England
Federalists, on the other hand, presently came to regard
the general government, the infancy of which they had so
carefully nursed, with much the same jealous and hostile
spirit formerly exhibited toward the mother country.
Nor was that political millenium, of which Jefferson
so fondly hoped to become the high priest, delayed only
by the execrations of the Federalists. Alarming symp-
toms appeared of growing divisions in the Democratic
ranks. In Pennsylvania, where M'Kean was re-elected
governor by forty-five thousand out of sixty thousand
votes, with an overwhelming Kepublican majority in
both branches of the Legislature, these dissensions,
though already visible, were still kept in check ; but in
New York a decided breach had already occurred.
Greenleaf's Argus, the former organ of the Kepubli-
cans of New York, had been succeeded by the American
Citizen, established by Dennison, a relation of the Clin-
tons, and warmly devoted to their interests. Dennison
having no ability as a writer, the editorship of the paper
had been given to James Cheetham, a man. of superior
POLITICS OP NEW YORK. BURR.
talents, an immigrant from Birmingham, in England, a CHAPTER
disciple of Paine's, though ultimately his unfriendly
biographer. This paper, simultaneously with the ad- 1802.
journment of Congress, began to attack Yice-president
Burr with great vehemence, charging him with having
forfeited his position in the Eepublic-an party by his se-
cret intrigues and co-operation with the Federalists, on
occasion of the late election of president. Of this, indeed,
there was no very positive proof; for in cautious secre-
tiveness and silent activity Burr was a match for Jeffer-
son himself. Yet circumstances were cited going to
show efforts on the part of Burr and his friends to op-
erate on the New York and New Jersey members.
This attack did not grow out of any special regard en-
tertained by the Clintons and Livingstons for Jefferson.
But it furnished a plausible and popular ground on
which to assail Burr, and might help them to engross
through the favor of the president, to whom, not less
than to themselves, Burr was an object of jealous sus-
picion, the control of the Federal executive patronage
in New York. It was further alleged against Burr, that,
with a view to the next presidential election, he still
kept up with the Federalists a secret intrigue. He was
charged with having been opposed to the late repeal of
Adams's Judiciary Act, and with having influenced Og-
den and Eustis, the only two Kepublicans who had voted
against it. He had attended at "Washington a Federal
celebration of Washington's birth-day, and had given
for his toast " the union of all honest men ;" and a fur-
ther proof urged against him was the paying a sum of
money to suppress a history of John Adams's adminis-
tration, compiled chiefly from the Aurora and Callen-
der's pamphlets by one John "Wood, a recent Scotch
immigrant. This suppression had been attempted, as
Cheetham said, on account of the developments con-
468 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tained in the book respecting Dayton and other of Burr's
' Federal friends, but, as Burr himself alleged, on account
1802. °f tne disgrace which its numerous libels and blunders
would have reflected on the Republican party.
To counteract these attacks, Burr and his friends es-
tablished the Morning Chronicle, edited by Dr. Irving ;
and besides newspaper articles, several virulent pam-
phlets were published on both sides. As to the alleged
intrigues on occasion of the presidential election, Burr's
friends suggested in whispers, which presently, however,
found their way into print, not a little to Burr's injury,
that since his election Jefferson had given offices to Dent
Linn, Livingston, and Claiborne, four of the six persons
whom it had been expected might vote for Burr, and in
fulfillment, as it was hinted, of promises made to secure
their fidelity. Lyon's son had also received a clerkship ;
and Bailey, who alone remained unprovided for, was soon
added to the list as post-master of New York.
Nor was the controversy confined to print. John
Swartwout, who had obtained, through Burr's interest,
the office of marshal for the district of New York, chal-
lenged De Witt Clinton for having called him " a liar,
a scoundrel, and a villain." Five shots were exchanged.
Though twice wounded, Swartwout still kept his ground,
and demanded to go on ; but Clinton, after consulting
with his seconds, threw down his pistol, and refused to
fire again. In this excited state of political feeling, sev-
eral other political duels occurred, some of them fatal.
The re-establishment of the colonial empire of France
was a favorite project of Bonaparte's, and with that view
the cession of Louisiana had been obtained. But these
American projects had met with some checks. Tous-
saint had followed up his treaty with the British, for the
neutrality of St. Domingo bv taking possession of the
ST. DOMINGO, GUABALOUPE, LOUISIANA. 469
Spanish part of the island (January, 1801), which he CHAPTER
claimed for France under the treaty of Basle. He lad ,
also caused a code and a new constitution to be pro- 1802.
claimed (July 1), under which he was declared president
for life. This example was presently imitated by the
black and colored population of Guadaloupe, who,
headed by Pelagie, seized the governor sent out by Bona-
parte, forced him on board a Danish vessel in the harbor,
and established a provisional government (October 21,
1801.) But before this rising took place, the preliminary
articles of the peace of Amiens had been signed (Octo-
ber 1) ; and towards the end of the year, a great fleet and
army, under Le Clerc, Bonaparte's brother-in-law, had
been sent to subdue the rebellious negroes of St. Domingo.
This army, regarded with great suspicion by Toussaint
and his black generals, only effected a landing by force,
and a new civil war ensued, subjecting that unhappy Feb.
country to new desolations. A momentary peace was
patched up, by false assurances on the part of Le Clerc May i.
that he did not intend to re-establish slavery, and by
promises of liberty and equality to the inhabitants with-
out regard to color. Guadaloupe submitted about the May 7- •
same time, though not without resistance, to the fleet and
army sent against it. A simultaneous decree of the
French legislative body, for the re-establishment of West May n
Indian slavery and the slave trade as they had stood in
1789, gave the lie to Le Clerc's assurances, and afforded
undeniable evidence that the dream of liberty and equal-
ity was over. On suspicion of intending a new revolt
in St. Domingo, Toussaint was treacherously seized ani Juno,
sent to France, where he died in confinement. But the
arms of the negroes led by Christophe and Dessalines,
and greatly aided by the diseases of the climate, rapidly
thinned the ranks of the French army, which, being thus July-
employed in St. Domingo, was unable to carry out Bon a-
470 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATE?.
.CHAPTER parte's original plan for the detachment of a force to take
__J possession of New Orleans,
1802 Notwithstanding this disappointment, the occupation
of Louisiana was still kept in view by Bonaparte, by this
time consul for life, and, in spite of the forms of a con-
stitution, already managing every thing at his own will
and pleasure. All Livingston's long memoirs to prove
how useless the territory would be to the French made
no impression, and that minister found himself obliged to
Nov. write home that a special expedition was about sailing to
take possession of New Orleans, and that the greatest op-
pressions of American commerce on the Mississippi, and
even attempts to seize Natchez and corrupt the Western
people, might be expected ; whence he argued the neces-
sity of " strengthening ourselves by force and ships at
home and alliance abroad" — -recommendations not much
in consonance with Jefferson's favorite policy, or with
the doings of the late session of Congress.
Before this letter of Livingston's was written, the Span-
ish intendant of Louisiana, as if to anticipate the wishes
Ost. 16. of the French, had issued a proclamation interdicting the
privilege secured by the treaty of 1785, of depositing
American merchandise at New Orleans. This privilege
as respected that very spot, had indeed been limited to
three years ; but the treaty also provided, in a clause
overlooked or disregarded by the intendant, that if the
Americans were deprived of the use of New Orleans,
some other convenient place of deposit should l>e pro-
vided for them somewhere else on the banks of the Mis-
sissippi. This interruption to their commerce, produced
a great commotion in the "Western country. It led to
emphatic remonstrances from the governor and Legisla-
ture of Kentucky, and threatened to drive the adminis-
tration to a speedy use of force.
In this excited state of the public mind, the seventh
SEVENTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION. 471
Congress came together for its second session. The pres- CHAPTER
ident's message called attention to a proposal, on the part
of Great Britain, to abolish the discriminating duties 1392.
mutually allowed by the treaty of 1794. Mention was Decs. 6
made of the ratification by Georgia of the recent con-
vention respecting the territory west of the Chattahoo-
chee ; of the cession of Louisiana to France ; and of the
continuance of hostilities with Tripoli, for the more ef-
fectual prosecution of which the building of some small
vessels was proposed. The message also alluded, with
much exultation, to the paying off within the year of
five millions and a half of the public debt, toward which,
however, one million had been obtained by the sale of
a part of the bank stock belonging to the government —
a procedure by no means satisfactory to the Federalists.
Surveys and plans were submitted for constructing a dry
dock at Washington, in which the public vessels not in
use could be laid up, under cover from the sun — a scheme
which exposed the president to not a little ridicule.
The most interesting proceedings of the House related
to the cession of Louisiana to France, and the interrup-
tion, by the Spanish governor, of the navigation of the
Mississippi, for information as to which Griswold pro- 1803.
posed to call upon the president. But this motion was jau. §.
zealously opposed by Kandolph, and was voted down by Tan. 7.
the majority, as likely to interfere with pending nego-
tiations. The same fate attended another resolution of-
fered by Griswold, asserting the right of the people of
the United States to the navigation of the Mississippi,
and proposing an inquiry as to the proper means to
maintain it. The House could only be induced to ex-
press their " great sensibility" at the interruption of the
navigation, occasioned, they presumed, by unauthorized
misconduct of the Spanish officers ; at the same time de-
claring their " perfect confidence in the wisdom and vig-
£72 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER ilance of the executive," and " their unalterable determina-
XVI.
' tion to maintain the rights of commerce and navigation
1303. on *ne Mississippi, as established by existing treaties."
Jefferson ascribed the interest taken in this matter by
the Federal members to a desire to force the country
into- a war in order to derange the finances ; or, if they
failed of that, at least, to gain the favor of the Western
States by an appearance of zeal on their behalf. Such
were the suggestions made to Monroe, whom the presi-
dent informed, in the same letter, of his appointment to
proceed to Paris to co-operate with Livingston in a ne-
gotiation for the purchase of New Orleans and the adja-
cent territory. Monroe's constitutional term of office as
governor of Virginia had lately expired — his successor
in that office being John Page, the same amiable enthu-
siast formerly one of the Virginia representatives in Con-
gress— and it was the more necessary to provide for him
in some way, as his pecuniary circumstances were rather
involved.
Feb. is. The ferment in the Western country continuing to in-
crease, somewhat later in the session, Ross brought for-
ward in the Senate a series of resolutions, authorizing the
president — in retaliation for the violation of the rights
of the United States by the neglect to provide a place
of deposit on the Mississippi — to take possession of New
Orleans, and for that purpose to call out 50,000 militia,
toward which the resolutions proposed to appropriate
five millions of dollars. But, instead of these resolu-
March 3 tions, a substitute was adopted, and made the foundation
of an act, by which the whole matter was intrusted to
the discretion of the president, with authority to direct
the governors of the states, should he see occasion for it,
to detach and hold in readiness 80,000 volunteers. Two
Feb. 2* millions of dollars were also appropriated, at the presi-
dent's request, under the head of foreign intercourse, as
MISSISSIPPI LANDS 473
a fund toward the proposed purchase. Ross's motion CHAPTEH
had been supported by the Federal senators on the .
ground that the hopes of purchase were chimerical. 1503.
The abolition of the discriminating duties on British
ships was opposed by the navigating interest, and failed
to pass. Jefferson's dry dock scheme, after a short de
bate in Committee of the Whole, notwithstanding the
support of Dr. Mitchill, was suffered to drop in silence.
Four small vessels, to aid in the blockade of Tripoli, not
to exceed sixteen guns each, were added to the navy, for
which an appropriation was made of $96,000 ; and with
a view tq possible operations on the Mississippi, $50,000
were appropriated for fifteen gun-boats. In consequence
of loud complaints from South Carolina of the illegal im-
portation not only of slaves from Africa, but of slaves
and free people of color from the French West Indies,
at the risk of the importation of revolutionary principles;
a fine of a thousand dollars for each person so imported
contrary to the laws of any state, was imposed on the
captain, with forfeiture of the vessel. Since 1798, all
the states had united in prohibiting the import of slaves
from abroad.
The compact with Georgia for the cession of the Mis-
sissippi country confirmed and declared valid all British
and Spanish grants, and the grants by Georgia, under an
act passed in 1785, surveyed and in the hands of resident
settlers. It also provided that not above five millions
of acres of the ceded territory or their proceeds might be
appropriated to the satisfaction of other claims; but no
such appropriation was to be made unless Congress acted
upon the subject within a year from the ratification of
the compact. This provision had in view the vast sales,
commonly known as Yazoo claims, made in 1789, and
especially those of 1795, covering almost the entire ter-
ritory, and which had produced such an excitement in
474 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Georgia, those sales having been declared void, and sol-
XVI
' emnly repudiated by the Legislature.
1803. ^ne same commissioners, Madison, Gallatin, and Liii-
co.n, who had negotiated with Georgia the cession of the
Mississippi country, had been authorized to inquire as to
the various private claims to lands in that territory.
Fob. 16. They reported in favor of liberal grants to all actual set-
tlers prior to the Spanish evacuation, however imperfect
their titles might be. They also reported the facts as to
the Georgia grants of 1789 and 1795, of which a -sketch
has been given already under those dates. The claims
based on the grants of 1789 the commissioners deemed
wholly invalid, the bargain having been rescinded for
non-performance on the part of the grantees. As to the
grants of 1795, whatever grounds of invalidity there
might be as between Georgia and the original grantees,
and even though the contracts might not be legally
binding as between Georgia and the present holders, yet,
as those holders claimed to stand, and, to a certain ex-
tent, did stand, in the position of innocent purchasers
without notice, theirs seemed to be a proper case for a
compromise. These claimants had put in an offer to
surrender their claims at the rate of twenty -five cents the
acre, amounting, as it was calculated, in the whole, to
not less than eight millions of dollars ; it being, how-
ever, a part of the proposition that the sum to be paid
should not exceed the price obtained for that five mil-
lions of the Mississippi lands which should sell the dear-
est. This the commissioners thought too much ; and
they suggested instead the offering to the claimants cer-
tificates bearing interest to the amount of two millions
and a half of dollars, or certificates without interest for
twice that amount, payable out of the earliest receipts
for Mississippi lands, after the stipulation to Georgia
should be satisfied.
MISSISSIPPI LANDS. 475
Upon this report was founded an act confirming the CHAPTER
titles guaranteed by the compact, and creating two boards
of commissioners for their adjudication ; granting, also, 1803.
to settlers prior to the Spanish evacuation, whose titles March •*
might prove defective, lots not exceeding six hundred
and forty acres each ; and to all persons who had settled
in the territory without any valid title prior to the pas-
sage of this act, a right of pre-emption to the lands in
their possession, the price payable in the customary in-
stallments, without interest. Whatever, after these de-
ductions, might remain of the five millions of acres re-
served by the compact, was appropriated for the quieting
of such other unconfirmed claims as might be exhibited
and recorded in the office of the Secretary of State be-
fore the close of the year, and for which Congress might
see fit to make a provision ; the same commissioners be-
ing reappointed to receive proposals from the claimants,
and to submit them to the next Congress.
The same act extended to the Mississippi Territory
the system for the surveys and sales of public lands al-
ready in operation in Ohio. But these surveys and
sales, as well as the confirmations and donations provid-
ed for in the act, were, of course, limited to the two
small tracts, containing together not more than three
millions of acres, to which the Indian title had been ex-
tinguished, the one on the Mississippi, the other on the
Tombigbee, erected by the Territorial Legislature into
the two counties of Adams and Washington, the one
the nucleus of the present State of Mississippi, the other
of the present State of Alabama.
Just as the session closed, the new State of OHIO took
upon itself the exercise of self-government, under a con-
stitution framed during the preceding autumn. This
constitution, one of the most democratic yet adopted,
gave the right of suffrage to all male white inhabitants
4-76 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER above the age of twenty-one, residents for a year in the
state, and on whom any tax had been assessed. The
1803 representatives in the General Assembly, not fewer than
seventy- two nor more than seventy-six, were to be ap-
portioned among the counties according to the number
of their voters, and to be elected annually. The sena-
tors, not to be fewer than one third, nor more numerous
than half the representatives, were to be apportioned on
the same principle, and were to be elected for two years.
The governor was to be chosen by the people for the
same term, but could not hold office more than six years
out of eight. His power was limited to granting re-
prieves and pardons, calling extra sessions of the Legis-
lature, and temporarily filling such vacancies in state
offices as might occur during its non -session. The judi-
cial power was vested in a Supreme Court, courts of
Common Pleas, consisting of a president judge and
county judges, and in justices of the peace ; the judges
to be elected by joint ballot of both houses for periods
of seven years, and the justices of the peace by the town-
ships for three years. All other officers, civil and mil-
itary, were to be appointed by joint ballot of the Legis-
lature ; except sheriffs and coroners, elected by the peo-
ple of their respective counties for terms of five years.
St. Clair, the territorial governor, had been a candidate
for governor of the state, but received very few votes,
the nearly unanimous choice falling upon Edward Tif-
fin. All the northwestern part of this new state, to the
extent of half its territory or more, was still in possess-
ion of the Indians.
In New York the contest between Burr and the Clin-
tons and Livingstons continued to rage with great fury.
Burr, however, was fast losing ground. After hanging
for some time in the balance, the Albany Kegister, and
most of the other country papers of the Republican
POLITICAL BANKS IN NEW YORK. 477
party, came out on the Clinton side ; and it had by this CHAPTEP
time become evident that the aid of the Federalists could .
alone secure Burr from political annihilation. Mean- 1303.
while the Clintons and Livingstons proceeded to strength-
en themselves by creating a new bank, to be called the
State Bank, and located at Albany. The ground taken March is
in its favor was, that the only three banks in the state
out of New York — the Bank of Columbia, at Hudson,
the Bank of Albany, and the Farmers' Bank, near
Troy — were all in the hands of the Federalists. The
Eepublican character of this new bank was secured, and
at the same time the passage of its charter, by admitting
all the Clintonian members of the Legislature to sub-
scribe for a certain number of shares. The petitioners
also came very near securing, at a mere nominal rent,
the monopoly of the Salina salt-springs, the value of
which was then but imperfectly known. Such was the
first instance .of that corrupt practice, subsequently car-
ried so far in New York, of making the grant of bank
charters dependent on the politics of the applicants, and
of offering to members of the Legislature shares in the
stock by way of securing their votes. While thus
strengthening themselves, the prevailing party in the
Legislature refused a charter to the Merchants' Bank,
already in operation under articles of copartnership, and
also to a moneyed corporation applied for by the friends
of Burr. Hopes, indeed, were held out, so long as the
charter of the State Bank hung in doubt, in order to
secure additional votes ; but, this object accomplished,
the other two applications were voted down without
ceremony.
478 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XVII.
PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA. TRIPOLITAN WAR. EIGHTH
CONGRESS— FIRST AND SECOND SESSIONS. COMMISSION
ON BRITISH SPOLIATIONS. TERRITORIES OF ORLEANS,
LOUISIANA, AND MICHIGAN. SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE
TRADE. IMPEACHMENTS. PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK,
AND NEW ENGLAND. BURR AND HAMILTON. RE-ELEC-
TION OF JEFFERSON. IMPRESSMENTS. DIFFICULTIES
WITH SPAIN. JEFFERSON'S SCHEME OF DEFENSE. YA
ZOO CLAIMS. INDIAN CESSIONS.
CHAPTER \J PON his first arrival in France, Livingston had found
himself regarded with great suspicion as no better than
1803. a Jacobin, the representative of a Jacobin government,
inclined, perhaps, to connect himself with the democrat-
ic enemies of the first consul and the new Constitution.
Livingston's democracy seems, however, to have been
limited to a hatred of England. He understood well
how to play the arts of a courtier ; and, notwithstanding
the neglect with which his first memorials had been treat
ed, he soon ingratiated himself into Bonaparte's favor.
Before Monroe had left the United States, Livingston,
though he labored under a good deal of embarrassment
in having, as yet, no authority to offer any particular
sum, had opened a negotiation for the purchase of New
Orleans and the adjacent tracts on the Mississippi. Find-
ing that nobody had any special influence with Bona-
parte, or pretended to entertain any opinions different
from his, he had managed to bring the matter directly
to Bonaparte's personal notice, without the intervention
PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA. 479
of any minister. By way of additional motive to sell,
he pressed the old claims of American citizens, recog-
nized by the recent convention, for supplies furnished to 1803.
France, but upon which nothing had yet been paid.
There seemed, however, to be little prospect of success
till the application began to be seconded by the evident
approach of a new European war. That made a great
difference ; and shortly before Monroe's arrival at Paris,
Livingston was requested by Talleyrand to make an of- April
fer for the whole of Louisiana. That was an extent of
purchase which had not been contemplated either by Liv-
ingston or by the administration which he represented.
It had been supposed that the cession by Spain to France
either included, or would be made to include, the Flori-
das as well as Louisiana ; and the purchase contempla-
ted by the joint instructions to Livingston and Monroe
was that of the Floridas, or the western part of them,
with the island of Orleans. The highest amount author-
ized to be offered was fifty millions of livres, or about ten
millions of dollars. Should France obstinately refuse to
sell, the ministers were authorized to enter into negotia-
tions with Great Britain, with the view of preventing
France from taking possession of Louisiana, and of ulti-
mately securing it to the United States.
Bonaparte presently suggested, as the price of Louisi-
ana, a hundred millions of livres, about twenty millions
of dollars, in cash or stocks of the United States, to which
was to be added the payment, out of the American treas-
ury, of all the claims of American merchants recognized
by the late convention. This offer was made through
Marbois, the same who had been formerly secretary to
the French embassy to America, and who was now at
the head of the French treasury. Talleyrand ha,d been
dropped, as Livingston conjectured, because Bonaparte,
4:80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER recollecting the X, Y, Z affair, was not willing to trust
' him in any matter where money was concerned.
1803. Livingston and Monroe, after consulting together,
concluded to offer fifty millions of livres, subject, how-
ever, to the deduction of enough to pay the American
claims, estimated at from twenty to twenty -five million
livres. Marbois offered to take sixty million livres, the
American government undertaking in addition, to dis-
charge the claims of the merchants to the extent of twen-
ty millions of livres should they amount to so much.
30. On this basis the treaty was finally concluded, in three
separate parts, all dated the same day — a treaty of ces-
sion, and two conventions regulating the payment of the
consideration. The treaty, after setting forth the title
of France as acquired from Spain, transferred that title
to the United States, with a proviso that the inhabitants
should be secure in their liberty, property, and religion,
and should be admitted, as soon as possible, according to
the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjojr-
ment of all the rights of citizens of the United States.
The ships of France and Spain, laden with the produce
of those countries or their colonies, were, during the next
cwelve years, to be admitted at the port of New Orleans
on the same terms as American vessels, and French ships
ever afterward on the footing of the most favored nation.
The first of the two conventions stipulated that the pay-
ment of the sixty millions of livres should be made in six
per cent, stock of the United States to the amount of
$11,250,000, the interest to be payable in Europe, and
the stock to be redeemable after fifteen years in annual
installments of not less than three millions of dollars.
Under the second convention, the claims of citizens, of the
United States on France were to be paid at the Amer-
ican treasury to the amount of $3,750,000, on orders
PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA. 48)
of the American minister in France, such orders to be CHAPTER
XVII
based on the joint determinations of the French bureau .
to which these claims had been referred, acting in con- 1803,
junction with three American commissioners to be ap-
pointed for that purpose ; the ultimate decision, should
any difference of opinion arise, to be with the French
minister of Finance. This negotiation completed, Mon-
roe proceeded to London, to take the place of King, who
had asked to be recalled.
The news of this arrangement was received with great
exultation by the president and his cabinet. The as-
sumption of power by the ministers in bargaining for
the whole of Louisiana was cordially approved, and a
good deal of pains was taken to soothe Livingston, who
evinced no little dissatisfaction that Monroe should have
been sent out to wrest from him, as it were, the honors
of the treaty. In one respect, however, this treaty placed
Jefferson in an awkward predicament. He had always
been a great stickler for a strict construction of the Con-
stitution, and had strenuously denied to the general gov-
ernment any powers not specifically conferred upon it.
But no clause of the Constitution gave Congress any ex-
press power to appropriate money to purchase additional
territory. Such a power could only be maintained un-
der that general clause by which Congress was author-
ized to lay and collect taxes to pay the debts and pro-
vide for the common defense and general welfare of the
United States. But Jefferson had always warmly main-
tained, and had charged the contrary opinion on Hamil-
ton as a most pernicious heresy, that this general clause
gave no power beyond the powers afterward specifically
enumerated, and among these the acquisition of territory
was not included. In his private correspondence he fully
admitted this difficulty, and proposed to get over it by
V.— HH
482 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER amending the Constitution. But as the treaty required
' a mutual exchange of ratifications within six months,
1803. n*s plan was *kat Congress should grant the money, not-
withstanding its want of power, and trust to a confirma-
tion of their act under an amendment to the Constitution
to be subsequently made. To hasten the matter, he is-
sued a proclamation calling Congress together ; but aa
the elections were not yet completed, the day fixed did
but just precede the expiration of the six months.
Meanwhile, a large extinguishment was made of the
Indian title to the region north of the Ohio. At a treaty
Aag. 13. held with Governor Harrison, in consideration of the
protecting care of the United States, of $580 in cash, of
an increase of their annuity to $1000, of $300 toward
building a church, and of an annual payment for seven
years of $100 to a Catholic priest (who, perhaps, had no
inconsiderable part in bringing about the treaty), the
little tribe of Kaskaskias, reduced to a few hundred in-
dividuals, but claiming to represent the once considerable
confederacy of the Illinois, ceded to the United States,
except a small reservation, all that great tract included
within a line beginning at the mouth of the Illinois, de-
scending the Mississippi to its junction with the Ohio,
ascending the Ohio to the Wabash, and from a point up
the "Wabash west again to the Mississippi, embracing all
the southern part of the present State of Illinois — & val-
uable tract, but not equal to many other districts of the
Western country, a large part of it being prairie, portions
of which were but ill supplied with good water.
The squadron employed against Tripoli, reduced by
the departure of several vessels, had been able to accom-
plish nothing. Yet the blockade was not altogether use-
less. The John Adams, while cruising alone off thai
TEIPOLITAN WAR. 183
port, engaged and captured the Meshouda, one of the CHAPTER
Tripolitan cruisers lately blockaded at Gibraltar, but _
which, under pretense of having been sold to the Em- 1393.
peror of Morocco, was endeavoring to get home. Not May.
long after, another Tripolitan ship of war, the largest be- June,
longing to the Bey, was attacked and blown up while
attempting to get into the harbor.
The four new vessels authorized at the late session,
the Argus and Siren, brigs of eighteen guns, the Nau-
tilus and Vixen, schooners of fourteen guns, were rap-
idly completed, and were dispatched as fast a,s they were
ready. The frigates Constitution and Philadelphia were
also sent out to relieve the other vessels, all of which
except the Enterprise were ordered home. The com-
mand of the new squadron was given to Edward Preble,
who hoisted his flag on board the Constitution.
Both Algiers and Morocco had lately shown signs of
hostility, in consequence of which the blockade of Trip-
oli had been abandoned, in order that the ships might be
employed in giving convoy. The Philadelphia, Captain
Bainbridge, on her passage out, encountered and cap-
tured, just within the Straits of Gibraltar, a cruiser of
Morocco, the Mirboha, of twenty-two guns, having an Aug. 2«,
American brig in company, of which she had made
prize. Some weeks after, Preble arrived at Gibraltar,
whither Bainbridge had sent his prizes, and finding how
the case was, lie stood across to Tangier, accompanied
by the Nautilus and the frigates New York and John
Adams, which he met with at Gibraltar on their way
home. Upon the appearance of this fleet, the Emperor
of Morocco disavowed any orders to commit hostilities, o* &
and matters were arranged upon Preble's agreeing to
restore the Mirboha, and also the Meshouia, the same
vessel taken off Tripoli, but claimed by the emperor as
purchased by him.
484 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTER Preble then sailed for Tripoli ; but, before his arrival,
XVII
' a serious accident had occurred. The Philadelphia, pro-
1803. ceeding thither, had recommenced the blockade of that
port, but while standing close in shore, under a heavy
press of sail, in pursuit of a vessel attempting to enter
Oct. 31. the harbor, had run with great force upon a sunken rock,
upon which, in spite of all efforts to set her free, she re-
mained immovably fixed. "While her crew were engaged
in attempts to get her off, she was attacked by a flotilla
of Tripolitan gun-boats, and as she lay much upon one
side, they easily took a position in which not a gun of
the frigate could be brought to bear upon them. Most
of the guns were thrown overboard, and her anchors and
foremast were cut away, but still she remained fast.
Holes were then bored in her bottom and her pumps
choked, after which, having stood the fire of the gun-
boats all day, Bainbridge submitted to the disagreeable
necessity of striking his flag. The Tripolitans, after
great exertions, no American cruiser being there to mo-
lest them, succeeded in getting off the Philadelphia and
towing her into the harbor. In Bainbridge and his crew
of three hundred men, they held valuable prisoners for
whom to demand ransom. The officers were treated
with comparative indulgence, but the men were all re-
duced to slavery.
Oct. n. In the new Congress, called together by proclamation,
the administration, strong enough before, had large acces-
sions. In the Senate the Federalists had but nine mem-
bers against twenty-five. Tracy and Hillhouse still rep-
resented Connecticut. Sheafe, of New Hampshire, had
been succeeded by William Plumer. In place of the
late senators from Massachusetts came Timothy Picker
ing and John Quincy Adams, representing the two seo-
EIGHTH CONGRESS. 485
tions of the Federal party in that state. Since his re- CHAPTER
turn from abroad, John Quincy Adams had opened a ._,
law-office in Boston. Both he and Pickering had been 1803.
brought forward at the late election as candidates for the
House of Kepresentatives, but had been beaten, though
by very small majorities, Pickering by Crowninshield,
and Adams by Eustis. Besides the six Federal sena-
tors from these states, there were two from Delaware,
and one (Dayton) from New Jersey. The administra-
tion had all the rest, including those from Ehode Island
and Yermont, and those also from the new State of Ohio.
The leading members on that side were De Witt Clinton,
of New York, who resigned early in the session in order
to accept the office of mayor of New York, being suc-
ceeded by Armstrong, lately his predecessor ; Logan, of
Pennsylvania ; Samuel Smith, of Maryland, so long an
active member of the other house ; Wilson C. Nicholas,
of Virginia; Sumter, of South Carolina; Baldwin and
Jackson, of Georgia ; and Breckenridge, of Kentucky.
In the other house the majority was not less over-
whelming. The new apportionment, by increasing the
number of backwoods members both positively and rela-
tively, had increased, at the same time, the administra-
tion majority. The live representatives from New Hamp-
shire and the seven from Connecticut were all Federal-
ists, also two of the four from Yermont, and ten out of
the seventeen from Massachusetts. Out of the seventeen
members from the State of New York, there were five
Federalists, including Joshua Sands, the ex -collector,
chosen as one of the two members to which, under the
new apportionment, the city became entitled. From
Maryland there were three Federalists out of nine ; from
Virginia, four out of twenty-two ; from North Carolina,
one out of twelve; from South Carolina, two out of
486 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER eight — in all thirty-nine, while the administration had
_ ninety-six, raised presently to one hundred and two by
1803, tne members from New Jersey, whose election, on ac-
count of the expiration of the state law to regulate it,
did not take place till near the end of the year. Bayard,
the late leader of the Federalists, had lost his election,
being defeated by Caesar A. Eodney, nephew of Caesar
Kodney of the Revolution. Griswold, Dana, Davenport,
and John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, still retained their
seats, and were the leading members on the Federal side.
Of old Democratic members there were Yarnum and
Eustis, of Massachusetts ; Dr. Mitchell, of New York ;
Leib, Grregg, Smilie, and Findley, of Pennsylvania;
Nicholson, of Maryland ; John Randolph, of Yirginia ;
Macon, of North Carolina. Matthew Lyon, late of Yer-
mont, now also re-appeared as a representative from
Kentucky. Among the new members on that side were
James Elliot, of Yermont; Jacob Crowninshield, of
Massachusetts, from the Salem district — both the Boston
and the Salem districts being now represented by Repub-
licans; Oliver Phelps, the noted land speculator, and
Erastus Root, of New York ; James Sloan, of New Jer-
sey ; Joseph Clay, representing with Leib, the city and
county of Philadelphia ; and from Yirginia, John W.
Eppes and Thomas M. Randolph, sons-in-law of the
president. Of the whole House considerably more than
half were new members. Macon was chosen speaker,
most of the Federalists, and some of the Northern Re-
publicans, voting for Yarnum.
The chief subject of the president's message was the
cession of Louisiana. In announcing the recommence-
ment of war between France and England, a determina-
tion was avowed to preserve the strictest neutrality.
The treaty and conventions with France were immo-
DEBATE ON $HB LOUISIANA TREATY.
diately laid before the Senate, and after two days' dis-
cussion, their ratification was advised by that body. Of
the Federal senators, only Dayton voted for it. John Q. 1803.
Adams had not yet taken his seat. Bonaparte's ratifica- Oct. 20.
tion was already in the hands of Pichon, the French charge
des affaires, and, the ratifications being exchanged, the
bargain became complete. The ratified conventions
were immediately communicated to the House for con-
sideration in their legislative capacity, with an intimation
from the president that the co-operation of the House was
needed to carry them into effect, and that time pressed
for instant action. Grriswold moved a call upon the pres-
ident for a copy of the treaty between Spain and France
upon which the title of France depended, and for any
evidence he might have that Spain, in whose hands the
ceded district still remained, was ready to deliver it
over. Griswold urged that the treaty before the House
recited only a provisional agreement on the part of Spain
to cede Louisiana to France. There was no evidence
that the cession had really taken place. Griswold's mo-
tion having failed by a majority of two votes, Eandolph
offered a resolution that provision ought to be made for
carry irg the treaty and conventions into effect. Upon
this resolution a spirited debate arose. The Federalists
denied any authority under the Constitution for receiv-
ing into the Union, whether by treaty or otherwise, a
foreign people. They also criticised the special pro-
visions as to the trade of France and Spain with Louisi-
ana, as introducing an unconstitutional discrimination
between different parts of the Union. The constitution-
ality of the treaty was zealously sustained by Kandolph
and others ; but the question as to the power of Congress
to vote money for the purchase was not mooted. It did
not lay in the mouths of the Federalists to deny that
488 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
i<
CHAPTER power, and the Democratic leaders thought it best to
__ '__ keep their doubts to themselves. The resolution was
1803. adopted ninety to twenty-five, and the necessary bills
Oct 25 were speedily passed. Nothing was ever said about any
amendment of the Constitution to sanction this proceed-
ing ; and Jefferson's silence on that head must be con-
sidered as amounting to a recantation of the doctrine he
had so zealously maintained against Hamilton — a recan-
tation in which the whole Republican party joined, and
which they reiterated by many subsequent votes.
An act, originating in the Senate while the House
was debating Randolph's resolution, authorized the pres-
ident to take possession of the ceded territory, and to em-
ploy for that purpose the army of the United States, and
such portions of the militia as might be found necessary.
He was also authorized, till Congress should otherwise
provide, to vest in such person as he might appoint all
the authority appertaining, under the Spanish laws, to
the officers of government, to be exercised under the
June 16. presi(Jent's direction, for maintaining the inhabitants in
their freedom, property, and religion. A second act,
originating in the House, authorized the creation of the
stocks to be given to France, and appropriated toward
the interest and principal an annual sum of $700,000,
thus raising the annual appropriation for the public debt
to eight millions. A third act appropriated toward pay-
ing the merchants' claim the two millions voted at the
last session toward the purchase of New Orleans, the re-
mainder to be raised by a temporary loan.
Simultaneously with this provision for the claimants
against the French government, the commissioners on
illegal captures, sitting under the British treaty— the
temporary articles of which just now expired — closed
their labors, having awarded to American merchants about
MARYLAND CLAIM. 489
six millions of dollars, all of which was duly paid by the CHAPTER
British government. Deduct from this the amount at .
which the British debts were liquidated, also some small 1803.
awards to British claimants for captures made by French
privateers in American waters, and there still remained
a balance of upward of three millions secured to the
country by Jay's treaty ; to which might be added other
large sums recovered in the British courts by way of
damages for illegal captures ; also the restoration of
many captured vessels and cargoes by the British Ad-
miralty Court of Appeals. Add to these amounts the
sum allowed by France as a deduction from the payment
for Louisiana, and also the vessels and cargoes released
under the convention of 1800, and we have an amount
of from fifteen to twenty millions of dollars recovered,
by the policy of the Federal party, from the clutch of
the belligerents. What success the Eepublican party
had in this same line we shall presently see.
The State of Maryland derived a special pecuniary
advantage from Jay's treaty in the recovery of upward
of $800,000 invested in Bank of England shares and
ether British stocks, and claimed to belong to the state
as successor to the late province of Maryland. This
fund originated in a deposit, long prior to the Kevolution,
in the hands of three London merchants as trustees of
the interest received on certain loans of colony paper
money, appropriated toward an accumulating fund for
the redemption of that paper. No such redemption was
ever made ; and the paper, being continued in circulation
by successive acts, finally depreciated to nothing, and
disappeared in the general wreck of paper money toward
the conclusion of the Eevolutionary war. The fund
meanwhile continued to accumulate by the addition of
the interest on the stocks in which it was invested.
490 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Shortly after the peace of 1783, a bill in behalf of the
__ 1_ State of Maryland had been filed in the English Conn
1803. °f Chancery against the trustees of the fund, one of
whom set up as an offset a claim for private property of
his, forfeited by the State of Maryland on the ground of
absenteeism and adherence to the state's enemies. After
fifteen years' litigation, the chancellor gave an informal
opinion that the present suit, being brought in the name
of an independent state, over which he had no jurisdic-
tion, could not be sustained ; that the stock had belong-
ed to the province of Maryland, a corporation created
by the crown ; but that, as this corporation had been
dissolved, the property escheated to the sovereign. Sub-
sequently to this decision, claims were put forward by
Harford, the late proprietary of Maryland, and others,
who alleged themselves to have suffered on account of
their loyalty by the confiscating acts, indemnification for
which they claimed out of this fund. But as they had
already received their share of the very generous sum
voted by Parliament for the relief of the American Loy-
alists, the restoration of the whole amount to the State
of Maryland was finally ordered — an instance of upright
dealing rare enough as between man and man, and as
between nations not easy to be paralleled.
Already, before the ratification had been exchanged,
doubts and discussions had arisen as to the extent of
territory embraced in the treaty with France. Was it
Louisiana as claimed and held by the French prior to
1763, or was it Louisiana as that name had been under-
stood subsequently to the Spanish possession? The
words of the treaty, by no means precise, allowed room
for either interpretation, the cession being described as
including " the colony or province of Louisiana, with
the same extent as it now has in the hands of Spain, and
BOUNDARY OF LOUISIANA. 49S
that it had when France possessed it, and such as it should CHAPTER
be after the treaties subsequently entered into between .
Spain and other states." As France originally possessed 1393.
it, Louisiana included both banks of the Mississippi, ex-
tending east to the Eiver Perdido, by which it had been
separated from the Spanish province of Florida. As re-
ceived by Spain, it was bounded on the east by the Lakes
Pontchartrain and Borgne and the Mississippi Eiver, the
more eastern portions having been previously yielded up
to Great Britain, under whose authority they had been
erected, along with the country about Pensacola, ceded
at the same time by Spain, into the English province of
West Florida. By the treaty of 1783, the Floridas had
been restored to Spain ; but the division into an eastern
and western province, first made by the English, had
been still kept up ; and West Florida, at the date of the
late treaty of cession, still embraced all that territory
south of the thirtieth degree of north latitude, and east
of the Mississippi and the two lakes, which in former
times had appertained to Louisiana. To allow this por-
tion of the original Louisiana to remain in the hands of
the Spaniards would be attended with many embarrass-
ments ; indeed, the obtaining of this very tract, together
with the island of Orleans — thus securing the entire com-
mand of the Lower Mississippi, with a land communica-
tion between New Orleans and Natchez, and opening to
the settlers on the Tombigbee an access to the Gulf
through the port of Mobile — had been the only purchase
contemplated by the American government.
Livingston, who had negotiated the treaty, strenuous-
ly argued that the cession included all Louisiana as orig-
inally claimed and possessed by France, except such
parts, if any, as Spain might, by subsequent treaties,
have yielded to other nations ; and he strongly urged
4:92 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
D&APTKR upon Jefferson to act upon this interpretation by taking
' , possession at once of the disputed territory. But such
1808. an interpretation was sure to be resisted by Spain. In-
deed, any cession of any sort to the United States had
been very disagreeable to that Court, as bringing the
Americans too near to the Mexican provinces ; so much
so that Yrujo, the Spanish minister at Washington, had
entered a solemn protest against the entire treaty. To
employ force would be to adopt the policy recommend-
ed by the Federalists at the late session of Congress ;
and besides leading to embroilment with Spain, it might
also operate to prevent the peaceable yielding up of New
Orleans, still in possession of the Spaniards.
Jefferson was therefore content to accept the formal
*><* '0. delivery of the island and city of Orleans, made by Cit-
izen Lausat, who had, as commissioner of France, receiv-
ed possession a few days before from the Spanish author-
ities, leaving the east bank of the lakes and of the river
above in possession of the Spaniards. The commission-
ers on the part of the United States were General Wil-
kinson, since the disbandment of the additional regiments
again the commander-in- chief of the army, and C. C.
Claiborne, governor of the Mississippi Territory, ap-
pointed under the late act of Congress to the supreme
and sole government of the new province. Wilkinson
had with him several companies of Mississippi volun-
teers, also two or three companies of regulars, drawn
from Fort Adams, just at the southwestern corner of the
Mississippi Territory. A considerable militia force of
volunteers from Tennessee had marched near four hun
dred miles along the new road through the Indian coun-
try from Nashville as far as Natchez ; but as there prov
ed to be no occasion for their services at New Orleans,
they were stopped there, wheeled about, and marched
INDEPENDENCE OF HAYTI. 493
home. An early exercise of the absolute authority with CHAPTER
which he was intrusted was the charter by Claiborne of _...
the 'Bank of Louisiana, with a capital of $600,000. 1803.
Almost simultaneously with this emancipation of Lou-
isiana from dependence on Europe, France lost her hold
on Western St. Domingo, which thus became the second
independent state in America. Eochambeau, with the
remnant of the French, amounting to eight thousand
men, driven into the town of Cape Frangais, was com-
pelled to capitulate to the insurgent negroes, now com-
manded by Dessalines and Christophe. But Eocham-
beau having failed to comply with his stipulations, his
people were only saved from total destruction by flying
on shipboard, and throwing themselves into the hands
of the English blockading squadron. The independence
of Hayti was proclaimed ; but protection was still prom- Nov. 29
ised to the white proprietors and inhabitants, and even
to absentees who might return and behave in a peaceable
manner. As the whites showed their sense of this
clemency only by new intrigues against the black gov-
ernment, a new massacre and a new flight presently en-
sued, under a proclamation issued by Dessalines, upon
whom the negro and mulatto generals had conferred the 1804.
governor-generalship, and who presently declared him- April 2*
self emperor. The French authorities continued, how-
ever, to maintain themselves for some time longer in tne
eastern, the late Spanish part of the island, where the
larger part of the population was white.
The peaceful acquisition of Louisiana for so trifling a
sum, securing to the rising settlements on the Western
waters an uninterrupted river communication with the
sea, the fear of losing which had been heretofore the oc-
casion of so many jealousies and such serious embarrass-
ments, was celebrated at Washington by a public dinner,
494 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER given by the administration members of Congress to the
' president, vice-president, and "beads of departments, and
1804 ky similar festivals among the Republicans in different
parts of the Union. This peaceful annexation, so char-
acteristic of Jefferson's policy, was exultingly contrast-
ed with the violent method of seizing New Orleans by
force, recommended by the Federalists. The Federalist*,
however, were prompt to reply that the sum paid for
Louisiana was just so much money thrown away, 01
rather, was an unjustifiable douceur to France — tht
same in substance, with that for which Monroe, during
his first embassy to that country, had been so zealous — -
since Bonaparte sold what he could not keep, and what
the breach ol the Spanish treaty as to the right of de-
posit, and other claims on that nation for spoliations on
our commerce, would well have justified the United States
in seizing without any payment at all. It was, they
averred, no policy of Jefferson's, but the war in Europe,
that had brought about the cession. The idea of ob-
taining the whole tract west of the Mississippi was, in
fact, altogether too vast for Jefferson. Bonaparte had
forced it upon him. Such an acquisition of territory
seemed, indeed, to many, and Jefferson himself had se-
rious doubt on the subject, to tend directly to the dis-
solution of the Union. The settlers west of the moun-
tains had already more than once threatened to separate
themselves from their Atlantic brethren, and to form an
independent republic. Such threats, which had been
very rife in Kentucky, and even in "Western Pennsylva-
nia during the Whisky Insurrection, had made a deep
impression on Jefferson's mind. The Federalists fore-
told, and he feared, that the removal of all external pres-
sure on the side of the Mississippi would precipitate this
danger — an apprehension which time has completely fal-
TERRITORY OF ORLEANS. 495
sified, the crack having been proved to run in quite a CHAPTER
different direction. Another objection, was seriously
felt by many, and especially by the New England Fed- 1804
eralists, the throwing open to emigration of such new
and vast territories tending to increase an evil already
sufficiently felt ; the stripping of the old states of their in-
habitants, and the dwarfing them, in political importance.
Nor were these considerations without their weight in
the arrangements adopted for the newly-acquired terri-
tory. By an act originating in the Senate, that terri-
tory was divided by a line drawn along the thirty -third
parallel of north latitude, into two provinces. The
province south of this parallel, named the Territory of
Orleans, already possessed a population of 50,000 per-
sons, of whom more than half were slaves. Within the
last ten years the cultivation of the sugar-cane had been
successfully introduced, in part by refugee planters from
St. Domingo, and that, together with cotton, had already
superseded the production of indigo, formerly the chief
staple. So lucrative were these new branches of indus-
try— the decreased product of St. Domingo making an
opening in the sugar market, and cotton, under the in-
creased demand for it by the English manufacturers,
bringing to the producer twenty -five cents per pound —
that the richer planters enjoyed incomes hardly known
to American landed proprietors any where else north of
the Gulf of Mexico. Of the white inhabitants the great-
er part were French Creoles, descendants of the original
Fiench colonists, but with an admixture of French, Span-
ish, and British immigrants. Under France the colo-
nists had possessed hardly any political power ; under
Spain, none at all. With a cautious imitation of these
models, which in Federalists would have been denounced
as exceedingly anti-republican, the president was author
496 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ized not only to appoint the governor and secretary of
'_ the new Territory, but annually to nominate the thir-
1804. fceen members who were to compose the legislative coun-
cil. This provision, though strongly objected to, and
struck out by the House as contrary to Democratic prin-
ciples, was reinstated by the Senate, and, on the report,
of a committee of conference, was finally agreed to.
The laws of Louisiana, down to the period of the ces-
sion to Spain, had been, like those of Canada, the custom
of Paris and the royal ordinances of France. The Span-
ish governor, on taking possession, among other very ar-
bitrary acts, had issued a proclamation substituting the
Spanish code, and such remained the law of the colony
when it passed into the hands of the United States. This
Spanish code, so far as it was not repugnant to the Con-
stitution and laws of the United States, was continued
in force, subject to such alterations as the new territorial
Legislature might make. Under the Spanish system,
the governor had been sole judge, being bound, however,
to consult an assessor learned in the laws. The present
act established, besides a District Federal Court, a Su-
perior Territorial Court, to consist of three judges. The
organization of inferior tribunals was left to the local
Legislature. Trial was to be by jury in all capital cases ;
also in all other cases, civil as well as criminal, at the
demand of either party. The writ of habeas corpus was
secured to the inhabitants, and the privilege of giving
bail, except in capital cases where a strong presumption
of guilt appeared. Claiborne was still continued as gov-
ernor of this new territory, the administration of his gov-
ernment of Mississippi being temporarily intrusted to
the secretary. To New Orleans, already a city of seven
or eight thousand inhabitants, a considerable immigra-
tion at once began. Among others who resorted thither
DISTRICT OP LOUISIANA. 497
was Edward Livingston, who had lately become a de- CHAPTER
faulter to the government to a large amount, through the '
failure of a speculating friend, perhaps a partner, to whom 1304,
he had inconsiderately trusted government money in his
possession as attorney for the District of New York.
The hope, finally realized, of finding, by new specula-
tions in this wealthy and promising country, means for
discharging his liabilities to the government, had induced
his removal to this new territory, of which he ultimately
became the legislator, or rather the codifier.
All that region west of the Mississippi and north of
the Territory of Orleans, was constituted by the same
act into the District of Louisiana. It included one lit-
tle village on the Arkansas, and several on or near the
Mississippi, the principal, of which was St. Louis. The
white population of this region, embracing the present
states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa, had been some-
what augmented of late by immigrants from the old
French, villages on the other side of the Mississippi, and
by Anglo-American adventurers, who already outnum-
bered the French inhabitants. But the increase of this
population, which did not exceed three or four thousand,
was not considered desirable. It was proposed to reserve
this region for the Indians ; and the president was autho-
rized to propose to the tribes east of the Mississippi an
exchange of lands, and a migration on their part across
the river — a policy since extensively carried out. Mean-
while the jurisdiction over the few white inhabitants, and
nominally over the whole district, was annexed to the
Territory of Indiana, thus made to include the whole
region, west of the State of Ohio, and north of the Ohio
River and the thirty -third degree of north latkude.
With the view of facilitating at the same time settle-
ments east of the Mississippi, all those tracts to which
V.— IT
4:98 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the Indian title had been extinguished were directed,
by another act, to be surveyed, and land-offices to be
1804. established at Detroit, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia. The
public lands were henceforth to be offered for sale in
quarter sections of a hundred and sixty acres, and, in
case the installments of the price were punctually met,
no interest was to be charged. Besides the reservation
of salt-springs, and the sixteenth section in each town-
ship for the use of schools, an entire township was to
be reserved in each district of survey toward a seminary
Aug. 18- of learning. By two treaties made at Yincennes some-
Nov. 3. what later in the season with the Delawares and Pianke-
shaws, and a third at St. Louis with the Sacs and Foxes,
ITarrison, governor of Indiana and Indian commissioner,
extinguished the Indian title to large additional tracts
in that region. The Delawares and Piankeshaws, in
consideration of some small additional annuities, ceded
all the country south of a line from Yincennes to the
falls of the Ohio at Louisville. The Sacs and Foxes, in
consideration of an annuity in goods to the value of one
thousand dollars, ceded a great tract on both sides of
the Mississippi, of near eighty thousand square miles,
extending on the east bank from the mouth of the Illi-
nois to the head of that river, and thence to the Wis-
consin ; and including on the west a considerable part
of the present State of Missouri, from the mouth of the
Gasconade northward.
By another act, relating to the public domain, all the
region south of the State of Tennessee was annexed to
the Territory of Mississippi, which, as originally consti
tuted, had been bounded on the north by a line stretch-
ing due east from the mouth, of the Yazoo. Into this
act an appropriation was inserted for exploring the new-
ly-acquired Territory of Louisiana, and under it the ex-
pedition of Lewis and Clarke was presently undertaken
SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES. 499
At the preceding session of Congress a memorial had CHAPTER
been presented, accompanied by the proceedings of a con-
vention of the people of Indiana, held at Vincennes. of 1S04.
which the object was to obtain a suspension, as to that
territory, of the article of compact of the ordinance of
1787, prohibiting slavery north of the Ohio. A com-
mittee, to whom the memorial had been referred, and
of which Eandolph was chairman, had deemed it " highly
dangerous and inexpedient to impair a provision wisely
calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of
the North- western country, and to give strength and se-
curity to that extensive frontier*" and they had declared
their belief that, " in the salutary operation of this sa-
gacious and benevolent restraint, the inhabitants of In-
diana would, at no distant day, find ample remuneration
for a temporary privation of labor and immigration."
This report, made just at the close of the late session,
was referred at the present session, together with the
papers on which it had been founded, to a new commit-
tee, of which Rodney, the new democratic representative
of Delaware was chairman. That committee reported
in favor of the qualified suspension of the prohibition
of slavery, so as to admit, for ten years, the introduc-
tion of slaves born within the United States, their de-
scendants to be free, males at the age of twenty -five, and
females at twenty-one. On this report no action was
had; but the subject, as we shall presently see, was not
allowed to rest here, being repeatedly urged on Con-
gress by the inhabitants of Indiana ; and had the decision
rested with them, both Indiana and Illinois would have
come into the Union as slave states.
Early in the session, the annual convention of dele-
gates from the various state societies for promoting the
abolition of slavery, and improving the condition of the
500 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER African race, then in session at Philadelphia, had pre-
sented a memorial praying Congress to prohibit the fur«
1804. *ker imP°rtation of slaves into the newly-acquired re-
gion of Louisiana. This proposal bore a striking resem-
blance to the suggestions of Jefferson in his report to the
Continental Congress on the western territory, embodied
afterward in a somewhat more stringent shape into the
ordinance of 1787. Consistency, and that special regard
for the abstract rights of man which Jefferson always so
loudly professed, might indeed have made it proper
enough that this suggestion, instead of being left to the
abolition societies, should have come from the president
himself. But if Jefferson loved the rights of man, he
loved popularity more ; and he had early found that op-
pOSition to slavery was not the road to popularity. Ever
since his return from Europe, he had observed on this
point a cautious silence ; and his efforts toward ridding
his country of the curse which he had so eloquently de-
nounced in his Notes on Virginia (not originally intend-
ed for publication, but for distribution among his Euro-
pean friends), had been limited to a few slight intima-
tions in his confidential correspondence, of a hope that
something to bring it about might some time be done by
somebody. The memorial of the abolition convention
was not, however, entirely without effect. It was re-
ferred to the Committee on the government of Louisiana,
and a provision was inserted into the act organizing the
Territory of Orleans, that no slaves should be carried
thither except from some- part of the United States, by
citizens removing into the territory as actual settlers,
this permission not to extend to negroes introduced into
the United States since 1798.
The intention of this latter provision was to guard
against the effect of a recent act of South Carolina re-
REVIVAL OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 501
viving the African slave trade, after a cessation of it, as OHAPTEB
XVII.
to that state, for fifteen years, and of six years as to the
whole Union. Such a result of the triumph of demo- 1804.
cratical principles in South Carolina was rather shock-
ing to some sincere Northern advocates of the rights of
man ; especially as it might open the way to the intro-
duction of an indefinite number of slaves from Africa
into the new territories of Mississippi and Orleans j and,
to limit the evil as far as might be, and at the same time
to express the sense of the nation upon it, Bard of Penn-
sylvania introduced a resolution to impose a tax of ten
dollars on e,very slave imported.
In opposing this resolution in Committee of the Whole,
Lowndes apologized for the conduct of his state on the
ground of an alleged impossibility of enforcing the pro-
hibition. Such was the nature of their coast, deeply
penetrated by navigable rivers, that the people of South
Carolina, especially as they had stripped themselves of
means by giving up to the general government the du-
ties on imports, could not restrain their " Eastern breth-
ren," who, in defiance of the authority of the general
government, allured by the excitement of gain, had been
engaged in this trade. The repeal had become necessary
to remove the spectacle of the daily violation of the law.
All this was very ingenious ; but when we consider
that Congress, at its very last session, had inflicted ad-
ditional and severe penalties of fine and confiscation on
the persons and vessels employed in this trade, the effect
of which there had not yet been time to test, there must
have been, it would seem, other reasons besides mere
disgust at the success of the smugglers, for this sudden
triumph in South Carolina of the favorers of the African
slave trade. And perhaps the increasing value of slave
labor consequent on the increasing demand for cotton,
502 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER bj which the culture of indigo had been generally sus-
. pended, and the expectation that Charleston might be-
come the entrepot for supplying slaves to the new ter-
ritories of Mississippi and Orleans, had quite as much
weight.
Lowndes added that, personally, he was opposed to
the slave trade, and that he wished the time were already
arrived when it might be constitutionally prohibited by
act of Congress ; but the imposition of the proposed tax,
so far from checking the traffic, would, he thought, rather
tend to its increase, by seeming to give to it a Congress-
ional sanction. Another effect of the duty would be to
lay so much additional and special taxation on South
Carolina, which he thought very unjust.
Bard defended his resolution on two grounds. The
proposed tax was a constitutional and fair source of rev-
enue. Since the African slave trade made men articles
of traffic, they must be subject to impost like other mer-
chandise. The value of an imported slave being $400,
a duty of ten dollars was only two and a half per cent,
on the value. "While this duty would add to the reve-
nue, it would also accomplish a more important end, by
showing the world that the general government was op-
posed to slavery, and ready to exercise its powers as far
as they would go for preventing its extension. u We
owe it indispensably to ourselves," said Bard, " and to
the world whose eyes are upon us, to maintain the re-
publican character of our government." As additional
reasons in favor of his resolution, he dwelt at length on
the cruelty and immorality of the slave trade, and the
danger of slave insurrections, of which St. Domingo had
furnished so striking an example, and two or three
alarms of which had recently occurred in Virginia.
Mr. Speaker Macon expressed the opinion that tta
PROPOSED TAX ON SLAVES IMPORTED. 503
morality or immorality of the slave trade had nothing to CHAPTER
XVII.
do with the question before the House. " The question .
is not whether we shall prohibit the trade, but whether 1804.
we shall tax it. Gentlemen think that South Carolina
has done wrong in permitting the importation of slaves.
That may be, and still this measure may also be wrong.
Will it not look like an attempt in the general govern-
ment to correct a state for the undisputed exercise of its
constitutional power ? It appears to be something like
putting a state to the ban of the empire." Here was the
germ of the argument afterward so zealously urged by
Mr. Calhoun, and still in many mouths, but pushed much
farther than Macon ventured to go. For we are now
gravely told not only that the states, so long as they
confine themselves to the exercise of constitutional rights,
are to be secure from any direct interference, which no-
body denies, but also that they are entitled to the direct
countenance and support of the general government in
everything which they are constitutionally entitled to do,
even though they may see fit to adopt or to persevere in
an obsolete, retrograde, barbarous course of policy, alike
disastrous to themselves and disgraceful to the nation.
Lucas, of Pennsylvania, denied that South Carolina
had any right to complain of the proposed duty. If she
had the right, under the Constitution, to permit the im-
portation, Congress, under the same Constitution, had
the right to impose the tax. If she chose to exercise
her constitutional authority, why complain of a like ex-
ercise of it on the part of Congress ? If she wished to
avoid paying the tax, let her prohibit the importation.
Nor did he admit that, by taxing the importation, Con-
gress legalized or countenanced the traffic. The impor-
tation was not legalized by Congress, but by South Ca-
rolina, Congress not yet having the power to prohibit it
504 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER The tax would tend to check a traffic which, in fouf
XVII
' years, might add a hundred thousand slaves to those al-
1804. ready in tf16 Union. The thirst for gain was more alive
in the country than ever, and the opening of the trade
by South Carolina would virtually amount to a general
opening; for, African slaves once introduced into one
state, would find their way into all others in which
slavery was allowed.
Smilie wished to steer clear of the question of moral-
ity ; at the same time, he could not but think that the
whole Union had a direct interest in the measure
adopted by South Carolina, inasmuch as it tended to
weaken the common defense of the country. Every
slave brought in must be regarded in the light of an im-
ported enemy.
Stanton, of Khode Island, insisted strenuously on the
tax. Nor did he confine his reprobation to the foreign
slave trade merely ; he described, in very strong terms,
his emotions at meeting, on his way to the seat of gov-
ernment, twenty or thirty negroes chained together and
driven like mules to market.
The resolution was also supported by Findley, Dr.
Mitchill, and Southard of New Jersey. The Southern
members exhibited in this debate decidedly less of over-
bearing arrogance than on any former occasion on which
the subject of slavery had come into discussion. Every
body, even her own representatives, seemed to be ashamed
of the conduct of South Carolina. But on this, as on
most former occasions, the anti-slavery speeches came
principally from the Pennsylvania members. Griswold,
the leader of the Federalists, opposed the resolution on
the old ground formerly taken by Sherman and Ames,
and already suggested by Lowndes, that to derive a rev«
enue from the African slave trade might seem to be giv-
PROPOSED TAX ON SLATES IMPORTED. 505
ing it a certain countenance. But there is too much
reason to believe, both in Griswold's case and that of his
"New England predecessors — since neither he nor they 1804.
were at all fettered, in general, by captious scruples —
that this was a mere decent pretext for not giving offense
to South Carolina, which, perhaps, he might still hope to
lure back to the Federal ranks. It was suggested, on
the other side, by way of palliating this objection, that
all the proceeds of the tax might be specially appropri-
ated to purposes of humanity, such as might tend to al-
leviate the evil of slavery itself.
Eandolph, the leader of the Virginia Democrats, in
deed the acknowledged leader of the administration party
in the House, was silent. Eppes, the son-in-law of Jef
ferson, zealously supported the resolution; and, notwith
standing an attempt at postponement, on the ground that
perhaps South Carolina would re-enact her old prohibi-
tory law, it was finally agreed to by the House, and was
referred to a committee to bring in a, bill. That bill was
reported, read twice, and referred to a Committee of the
Whole. But the entreaties of the South Carolina mem-
bers, and their promises of what the state would do, ar-
rested any further action.
Just previous to the commencement of this debate,
New Jersey, the seventh and the last of the old confed-
eration to do so, had joined the circle of the free states,
by an act, passed by an almost unanimous vote, secur- Feb i&
ing freedom to all persons born in that state after the
fourth of July next following ; the children of slave pa-
rents to become free, males at twenty -five, and females at
twenty-one — a law which gave great satisfaction to Gov-
ernor Bloomfield, who had been from the beginning a
zealous member of the New Jersey society for the aboli-
tion of slavery. A new effort was also made in Penn-
606 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER sylvania to hasten the operation of the old act for grad
_ ual abolition, by giving immediate freedom to all slaves
1804. above the age of twenty-eight years ; but this attempt
failed as before.
The New England Mississippi Company, successors,
by purchase, to the Georgia Mississippi company, one
of the four great companies to which the famous Yazoo
sales of 1795 had been made, now appeared, by its
agents, to solicit a settlement. These agents had been
judiciously selected, one being Granger, the postmaster
general, and the other Perez Morton, a leading Demo-
crat of Massachusetts. This claim, however, encoun-
tered a virulent, and, for the present, a successful oppo-
sition from John Eandolph. Having happened to be in
Georgia on a visit during the agitation for the repeal of
the Mississippi grants, he had espoused that side of the
question with all the natural vehemency of his tempera-
ment. The corrupt means alleged to have been em-
ployed in obtaining the grants furnished a most congenial
theme for his vituperative eloquence. The fact that a
large share in these grants had ultimately passed, though
• at a very great advance, into the hands of New England-
ers, his hatred toward whom was not less bitter than Jef-
ferson's, furnished to his vindictive and spiteful soul am-
ple reason, notwithstanding a claim equitable if not
legal, why the government should never pay a farthing ;
in which Randolph was very warmly supported by
Duane of the Aurora ; for however far Randolph might
be separated from Duane on the aristocratical side of his
character, on the Jacobinical side there was a perfect
sympathy and a very great similarity between them.
The proposal to amend the Constitution so as to give
to the electors of president and vice-president the right
of designating the candidates for those offices, though
EXPLOIT OF DECATUE. 507
supported by the legislative resolutions of several states, CHAPTER
had failed to obtain in the last Congress the requisite
majority of two- thirds. In this Congress it succeeded 1804
better ; though it required the speaker's vote to carry it
through the House. The opposition was based on the
alleged constitutional rights of the small states, whose
weight in presidential elections would, it was thought,
be diminished by the change. One of the Massachusetts
members suggested, pending the debate, that if any
Change were to be made in the Constitution, the first
thing to be done ought to be to strike out that provision
which allowed slave property to be represented, thus
adding eighteen extraneous members to the House, and
eighteen to the number of presidential electors.
The news of the capture of the Philadelphia by the
Tripolitans having reached "Washington, it led to an act
by which all goods subject to ad valorem duties were to
pay an additional two and a half per cent, during the
continuance of hostilities in the Mediterranean, to consti-
tute a fund to be exclusively applied to expenses occa-
sioned by the Barbary powers. Two additional cruisers,
of not more than sixteen guns each, were to be procured,*
and the president was also authorized to accept on loan,
from any Mediterranean power, as many gun-boats as he
might think proper ; toward which expenses, in addition
to the produce of the new Mediterranean fund, a million
of dollars were appropriated. The means thus provided,
preparations were made for fitting out several additional
frigates.
Simultaneously, almost, with the passage of this act,
a bold exploit had somewhat repaired the credit of the
American navy. Shortly after the loss of the Philadel-
phia, Preble, in the Constitution, accompanied by the En-
terprise, commanded by Lieutenant Decatur, reconnoitred
508 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the harbor of Tripoli, and having communicated with
' Bainbridge, had put across to Syracuse. The capture
1804 ky the Enterprise, on this passage, of a small Tripolitan
vessel bound to Constantinople with a present of female
slaves for the sultan, facilitated the execution of a project
which Bainbridge had suggested, and which Preble had
readily adopted, for destroying the Philadelphia, then re-
fitting in the harbor of Tripoli. The immediate conduct
of this operation was intrusted to Decatur, who assumed
it with great zeal. The captured vessel was taken into
service, and named the Intrepid. Manned by volunteers
from the Enterprise, she sailed from Syracuse, escorted
by the Syren, which had recently joined the squadron.
The two vessels having made the Tripolitan offing, the
Fefc. 16. Intrepid, as evening came on, favored by a light breeze,
stood directly into the harbor. About midnight she be-
gan to approach the Philadelphia, directly toward which
she steered, all but two or three of her crew lying flat
upon the deck. Being hailed, the linguist answered
that they were from Malta, on a trading voyage ; and
that, having lost their anchors in a late gale, they beg-
•ged permission to make fast to the frigate's side for the
night. This was agreed to, and the breeze meanwhile
having died away, a boat was lowered, which assisted the
Intrepid's boat in running lines to the frigate. So far all
had passed without exciting the slightest suspicion ; but
just as the Intrepid touched the side of the Philadelphia,
an alarm was raised by the Turks. The Americans, how-
ever, boarded in an instant, and the frigate's guard, after
a moment's resistance, were driven over her opposite side.
a few being killed, but most of them jumping into the
water. With equal promptitude, combustibles, ready
prepared, and of which the distribution had been ar-
ranged beforehand, were hurried on board, and in less
REPEAL OF THE BANKRUPTCY ACT. 509
than half an hour the frigate was in a light blaze. Dried CHAPTER
as she was by exposure to the sun, she burned with _
such rapidity that it was not without difficulty and dan- 1304
ger that the Intrepid and her crew got themselves clear.
As the men put out their sweeps, it being a perfect calm,
they raised a shout, which was answered by the guns
of the batteries on shore and by the armed vessels at
anchor inside. The burning frigate lighted up the whole
harbor like day ; and as the heat increased, her gunsi
which were loaded and shotted, began to explode. But
ohe Intrepid swept on unharmed, till she reached the
mouth of the harbor, where she found the boats of the
Syren ready to aid in towing her off. A breeze soon
sprung up, and both vessels sailed for Syracuse, where
they were received by the American squadron with
great exultation, shared also by the people of the town,
the two Sicilies being then at war with Tripoli.
Almost the only important measure in which both
sides of the House seemed heartily to concur was the
repeal of the Bankruptcy Act. That act had been pro-
duced by the acknowledged necessity of some relief to a
large number of embarrassed persons, including many
men of energy and capacity, irretrievably involved by
over- venturous commercial hazards, by a course of des-
perate speculations in wild lands, by the depredations of
the belligerents, or by the great commercial fluctuations
which had attended the closing years of the late Euro-
pean war. But when the immense amount of debts
thus contracted came to be exhibited, the nominal sum
greatly swelled by the amounts due from one speculator
to another, but not representing any real value; and
when this vast sum of debts was contrasted with the
very small amount of assets to meet it, a loud cry was
510 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATED
CHAPTER raised against the law, as if that, somehow, had led to
XVII
' this discrepancy, or, at least, as if it held out an encour •
1804. agement to rasn speculation and fraudulent bankruptcy.
Hence it was repealed by almost unanimous consent be-
fore there had been any chance to test its ordinary and
regular operation. It is curious to remark that another
Bankruptcy Act, which originated, many years after, un-
der like circumstances, suffered precisely the same fate
But both had at least the advantage of sweeping off a
great mass of hopeless debts, and of assimilating nominal
to real values, much resembling, in that respect, some
laws for the abolition of debts recorded in ancient history,
which have proved great stumbling-blocks to many mod-
ern inquirers. It was one effect of the present repeal tc
throw back the subject of insolvency upon the state Leg-
islatures. But state legislation upon this difficult sub-
ject was found hardly more satisfactory than that of
Congress. It is, indeed, very hard to make up by legis-
lation for the lack of individual honesty or judgment,
or to furnish out of the empty coffers of bankrupts any
liquidation of debts satisfactory to creditors.
Just at the close of the preceding Congress, the judge
of the District Court of New Hampshire had been im-
peached before the Senate by order of the House. At
the present 'session articles of impeachment were sent up,
charging him with a willful sacrifice of the rights of the
United States in a certain revenue case tried before him,
and also, generally, with drunkenness and profanity on
the bench. The judge did not appear ; but his son pre-
sented a petition, setting forth that his father was insane,
and praying to be heard by counsel. This was granted,
not without opposition, and several depositions were put
in going to establish the fact of insanity. The reply was,
that if insanity did exist, it had been occasioned by ha.
IMPEACHMENT OF CHASE. 511
bitual drunkenness. The impeachment was sustained by CHAPTER
a pure party vote, all the Federal senators in the nega- _
tive, and the judge was removed from his seat. 1804.
What excited a much greater interest was the im-
peachment against Judge Chase, of the Supreme Court,
which, after a good deal of discussion and the taking of
evidence, had been resolved upon by the Democratic ma-
jority of the House. Chase, notwithstanding the defeat
of the Federal party, of which, of late years, he had been
a very zealous member, was by no means disposed to
forego the privilege of appending to his charges to the
grand juries of his circuit such political disquisitions as
the posture of affairs might seem to call for — a privilege
claimed after the fashion of the English judges, and the
exercise which, in Drayton's famous charge to the grand
juries of South Carolina, just on the eve of the American
Ee volution, had elicited no little applause from the Amer-
ican patriots. In a recent charge to a Maryland grand
jury, Chase had dwelt with indignant eloquence on the
repeal by Congress of the late Judiciary Act, a proceed-
ing, in his opinion, not consistent with the constitutional
independence of that department. Thence he had passed
to the late change in the Constitution of Maryland, dis-
pensing with the property qualification of voters, which
he thought likely to affect the security of property. He
deprecated, also, certain other proposed amendments in
relation to the state judiciary as tending to shake its in-
dependence. While very decided in the expression of
his opinions, Chase, like M'Kean and John Adams,
whom in many respects he much resembled, was also
exceedingly able, and, of course, an object of terror as
well as of hatred to his opponents. In hopes to get rid
of him, a committee was appointed, on Eandolph's mo-
tion, to investigate his official conduct. An impeach-
512 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ment had been resolved upon ; but to find plausible mat-
' ter on which to rest it, five years had to be retraced, his
1804. conduct in the cases of Callender and Fries being se-
lected by the committee as the most vulnerable points
in his judicial administration.
The Federalists opposed the whole proceeding as a
mere piece of party spite and vengeance. They alleged
that, not content with the regular course of things, which
had already given to the party in power one judge on the
Supreme bench — "William Johnson, of South Carolina,
having been appointed in place of Moore, who had re-
signed— the design was prematurely to remove at least
a majority of the present Federal incumbents. There
were also some among the Kepublicans who thought that,
however Chase's conduct might have been somewhat
precipitate and overbearing, there existed no grounds for
any formal proceedings against him. The majority,
however, led by Kandolph, decided otherwise ; an im-
peachment was voted ; and preparations were made for
its prosecution at the next session.
This idea of impeachment for frivolous or insufficient
causes, with a reliance upon party prejudice to make up
any deficiency in the evidence, thus clearing the bench
of obnoxious judges, was by no means original with Kan-
dolph. Like the proscription of office-holders for polit-
ical opinions, to which it was the natural supplement, it
had been derived from Pennsylvania, an example having
lately been set there in the impeachment and removal
from office of Addison, president judge of the Common
Pleas for the Western District of that state. There
were five such Common Pleas districts, for each of which
there was a president judge, learned in the law, holding
office under the state Constitution during good behavior,
who held stated courts in all the counties of his district,
IMPEACHMENT OF ADDISON. 613
assisted in each county by a number of local associates,
generally not lawyers. Of «ourse. the leadership and
management of business devolved mainly on the president 1804.
judge. In one of the counte of Addison's district a
certain Lucas had been appointed by M'Kean as county
judge, an ignorant and self-sufficient man, who seemed
to think that the vindication of Democratic principles
rested on his shoulders. In charging a grand jury short-
•? ly after Lucas's appointment, Addison had seen fit to ap-
pend to his charge certain observations about the alleged
conspiracy of the Illuminati. Lucas felt called upon to
reply ; but his right to do so being questioned by Addi-
son, he had at that time desisted. Having consulted
with Breckenridge, who resided in the county, and who
had an old feud with Addison, as, indeed, he seems to
have had with most of the noted men on both sides of
politics in that quarter, Lucas, at the next court, though
Addison had then confined himself to mere matters of
taw, rose with a long written protest in his hand against
the politics of the former charge, which, however, he was
prevented from reading by Addison, with whom the
other judges concurred. After attempting in vain to
bring the matter before the Supreme Court, as if he had
been illegally deprived of his right to address the jury,
Lucas had complained to the Legislature, and out of this
matter was made an article of impeachment against Ad-
dison. A second article was insolence toward his Demo-
cratic colleague, in having observed to a jury which
Lucas had addressed in opposition to a previous charge
given by Addison, that he, Addison, differed in opinion
with that judge, and probably often should do so.
Whether this remark had been volunteered, or whether
it was not naturally drawn out by something which Lu-
cas had previously said, the evidence left very doubtful.
V.—KK
514 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Upon these two charges Addison was impeached. The
... trial came on before a Senate in which the Kepublicans
1804. **a(^ f°r *ke ^rs* time' an overwhelming majority (Jan-
uary, 1803). Incapable of conducting the prosecution
themselves, the managers had the assistance of Dallas,
and of the attorney -general, M'Kean, the governor's son.
The respondent was constantly tripped up by the sharp-
est rules of evidence. Dallas displayed his usual talent
in an artful appeal to the political prejudices of the sena-
tors. Addison replied with great ability, dignity, and
pathos. His high qualifications, his integrity and devo-
tion to the duties of his office, were confessed by the
most respectable residents in the district, of both parties ;
but the certificates offered to that effect the Senate re-
fused to hear read, even as a part of Addison's argu-
ment, though they had driven him to that resort by de-
clining to allow him to bring witnesses at the public ex-
pense. They even refused to take the vote on the char-
ges separately — the one amounting, at most, to an error
of judgment, in which the other judges had concurred,
and the other to a breach of politeness — but, lumping
them together, found him guilty of both by a strict party
vote, the sentence being removal from office, with inca-
pacity to sit as a judge in any Pennsylvania court.
Such was the precedent which Eandolph followed,
and which was almost simultaneously acted upon by the
Pennsylvania Assembly itself — in both branches of
which there remained but six Federalists, one in the Sen-
ate and five in the House. This was an impeachment
of three out of the four judges of the Supreme Court of
that state, for alleged arbitrary conduct in committing to
prison for contempt of court, one of the parties to a suit
pending before them, who had made an abusive publi-
cation in the newspapers against the opposite party.
POLITICAL STRUGGLE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 351
Breckenridge, the fourth, judge, happened to be absent CHAPTER
at the time of the committal, and so was not embraced ....... ; ^
in the impeachment. Choosing, however, not to sepa- ££04.
rate himself from his brethren, he sent a letter to the
Assembly declaring his full concurrence in the course
taken by the other judges, and desiring to share their
fate ; to which the House replied by addressing the gov-
ernor for his removal on a charge of insolence to them,
and neglect of his duty by frequent absence from the
bench. The harmony between M'Kean and the Demo-
cratic majority of the Legislature having by this time
come to an end, he neglected to comply with their re-
quest. He by no means concurred with their projects
for legal reforms, sufficiently needed, but which they did
not well understand how to make. They seemed to en-
tertain the idea that if trials by jury could be got rid of,
lawyers might also be dispensed with ; and with that
view they had passed an act substituting referees in civil
cases instead of juries, and prohibiting the employment
of counsel M'Kean had put his veto on this act as un-
constitutional, as well as upon another, which was passed
in spite of him, giving a greatly extended jurisdiction
to justices of the peace ; from which moment there
sprang up between him and the Assembly a violent
quarrel, which presently reached a great height, and in-
the course of which the governor found himself bitterly
assailed by his late ally, Duane.
The chief supporter of Duane in this foray upon
M'Keau was Dr. Leib, always intimately connected with
the Aurora, To meet it, a new paper was set up, called
the Freeman's Journal, in which Tench Coxe, once a
large contributor to the Aurora, took up the pen for the
governor. The battle was carried on with great fury,
the combatants principally urging against each other
HISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES.
charges which, when formerly brought forwaid by the
'. ^ . Federalists, they had seemed to think of little weight.
Coxe was charged with having been a Tory in the Kev
olution, and with piloting the British army into Phila-
delphia ; with having betrayed Hamilton's confidence
when in office under him ; with being " a snake in the
grass, a Jesuit whom every one doubted and no one could
trust." Leib was accused of disgraceful fraud in a pri-
vate pecuniary affair — an accusation brought forward by
the Federalists several years before, but which the Dem-
ocrats then thought of no great consequence. As Coxe
held the office of Purveyor of Supplies under the Treas-
ury Department, Gallatin came in for his share of abuse
as prostituting the patronage of the treasury "to the es-
tablishment of a third party on the ruins of the Eepub-
lican interest." A very earnest effort was made by the
new paper to defeat Leib's re-eiection to Congress, but
this totally failed of success.
. Ever since the removal ol the seat of government to
Washington, the members of Congress had found them-
selves very uncomfortably situated. The public build-
ings were separated from each other by "magnificent
distances," while accommodations for domestic comfort
continued very few, and those for social intercourse still
fewer. The project of removing somewhere else till the
infant city had reached a greater maturity, started in
the last Congress, much to the alarm of the proprietors
of city lots, was renewed in this. A majority were
ready enough to remove ; but the question where to go
proved an insurmountable difficulty. A concentration
of the public buildings was also proposed, by taking the
president's house for the accommodation of Congress, and
building him another near by, on a more economical and
republican plan. This sensible proposition, which would
POLITICS OF NEW YORK. 51
Lave added so much to the public comfort and conven- CHAPTKB
TtVll.
ience by creating at once a compact little town, failed to _^___
be adopted ; and $50,000 were appropriated toward the 18Q4.
completion of the south wing of the Capitol, much of the
work on which already done was so imperfect that it had
to be taken down and rebuilt. Such was the commence-
ment of a series of annual appropriations, gradually in-
creasing in amount, for the completion and sustentation
of the public buildings at Washington.
Just at the close of the session, at a caucus of the Feb. 29
administration members, about which, now for the first
time, no secret was made, Jefferson was unanimously
nominated as a candidate for re-election. The principal
object of the caucus was to select a candidate for the
vice-presidency. Burr never had much political strength
out of New York, and even there he had been denounced
as a traitor by the more influential Republican leaders
and presses. Indeed, he had all along been an object of
suspicion and terror to the Virginia politicians, as a man
whose energy, enterprise, and audacity would never al-
low him to rest content with a subordinate position. For
him, by a private arrangement among a few leaders, was
substituted George Clinton, now very willing to accept
the second station as a stepping-stone to the first, while
the Virginia aspirants saw in him a rival far less danger-
ous than Burr. The selection, however, was not unan-
imous, nor was it brought about without considerable
maneuvering. Already a cry was raised against Vir-
ginia dictation. Clinton received in the caucus sixty-
seven votes ; twenty were given for Breckenridge,
mostly by members from the West ; nine for Lincoln,
the attorney general ; seven for Langdon ; four for
Granger, the post-master general ; and one for M'Clay,
of Pennsylvania.
618 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
Of course it would be necessary for the administra
tion party, at the approaching election for governor of
1804 New York, to find a new candidate in Clinton's place.
At a caucus of Eepublican members of the Legislature,
Chancellor Lansing had been nominated. He accepted ;
but a few days after declined, having found out, as he
subsequently stated, that it would be expected of him,
as governor, to be the mere tool of the Clintons. The
candidate named in his place was Chief-justice Lewis,
not so remarkable for talent that he would have been
likely, but for his connection with the Livingston family,
to have attained to much political eminence.
Though proscribed by his political rivals, Burr was
not without adherents, most of them young men, ardent
and ambitious, many of them unscrupulous like himself,
and all impatient of the domination of the Clintons and
Livingstons, and anxious to come in for their share of
political honors and profits. This was Burr's last chance
Not only were his political fortunes in a very doubtful
condition, but his pecuniary affairs had been reduced to
a state of great disorder and ruin by unsuccessful specu-
lations. Yet he was not altogether without prospect of
success. In the interval between Lansing's declination
and Lewis's nomination, he was brought forward, by pub-
lic meetings of his friends held at New York and Albany,
as an independent candidate. The Federalists were too
much broken to have any reasonable prospect of choos
ing a candidate of their own, and, could they be induced
to vote for him, he might be elected.
While these political intrigues were in progress, a case
came on for argument before the Supreme Court of New
York, then sitting at Albany, in which the rights and
freedom of the press were deeply involved. Ambrose
Spencer, as attorney general, had instituted a prosecu-
HAMILTON AN& BUKK. 519
tion for libel against a Federal printer for having assert- CH.A^TER
ed that Jefferson had paid Callender for traducing Wash- __.
ington and Adams. The case had been tried before Chief- 1804.
justice Lewis, who had held, among other things, that
in a criminal trial for libel the truth could not be given
in evidence, and that the jury were merely to decide the
fact of publication, the question belonging exclusively to
the court whether it were a libel or not. These points
coming on for a rehearing before the Supreme Court on
a motion for a new trial, Spencer maintained with great
zeal the arbitrary doctrines laid down by Lewis. Ham-
ilton, a volunteer in behalf of the liberty of the press,
displayed, on the other side, even more than his wonted
eloquence and energy, denouncing the maxim " the
greater the truth the greater the libel," at least in its re-
lation to political publications, as wholly inconsistent
with the genius of American institutions. The court,
after a long deliberation, was equally divided, Kent and
Thompson against Lewis and Livingston. The opinion
of the chief justice stood as law ; but Hamilton's elo-
quence was not lost. A declaratory bill, conforming to
the doctrine maintained by him, was introduced into the
Assembly, then sitting, by a Federal member. The Re-
publicans shrank from this implied censure on their can-
didate for governor, and the matter was postponed to
the next session. An act allowing the truth to be given
in evidence, was then passed, but was defeated by the
Council of Revision, composed of the judges and chan-
cellor. The act, however, with some modifications, be-
came law the next year ; and such, either by constitu-
tional provisions, legislative enactment, or the decisions
of the courts, is now the law throughout the United
States.
Hamilton's opinion of Burr, so emphatically expressed
620 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER three years before, had undergone no alteration. At a
' Federal caucus held at Albaay, he warmly opposed the
1804. project, favored by a large portion of the party, of giving
him support. He took no active part himself in the can-
vass, but his opinions were freely quoted by those who
did. Burr carried the city of New York, by a small ma-
April, jority, but failed in the state, having received but 28,000
votes to 35,000 for Lewis. The chief-justiceship, which
became vacant by the promotion of Lewis, was given to
Kent, the senior associate justice — a departure from
party discipline not agreeable to Clinton nor to Spencer,
appointed to Kent's seat ; for Kent, though very learned
as a lawyer, was a Federalist.
Burr, disappointed, and all his hopes blighted, as he
believed, by Hamilton's instrumentality, became eager
for vengeance. Humiliating was the contrast between
himself and Hamilton, to whom, in his anger, he was
ready to ascribe, not his political defeat merely, but his
blasted character also. Hamilton, though fallen from
his former station of commanding influence in the con-
duct of affairs, still enjoyed the unbounded confidence
of a party, outnumbered, indeed, but too respectable to
be despised ; while, of his bitterest opponents, none, with
any pretensions to character or candor, doubted his hon-
or or questioned his integrity. Burr, on the other hand,
saw himself distrusted and suspected by every body,
and just about to sink alike into political annihilation
and pecuniary ruin. Two months' meditation on this
desperate state of his affairs wrought up his cold, im-
placable spirit to the point of risking his own life to
take that of his rival. He might even have entertained
the insane hope — for, though cunning and dexterous to
a remarkable degree, he had no great intellect — that,
Hamilton killed or disgraced, and thus removed out of
the way, he might yet retrieve his desperate fortunes.
HAMILTON AND BURR. 521
Among other publications made in the course of the CHAPTER
late contest were two letters by a Dr. Cooper, a zealous ^___.
partisan of Lewis, in one of which it was alleged that 1804.
Hamilton had spoken of Burr as a " dangerous man, who
ought not to be trusted with the reins of government."
In the other letter, after repeating the above statement,
Cooper added, " I could detail to you a still more des-
picable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed
of Mr. Burr." Upon this latter passage Burr seized as
the means of forcing Hamilton into a duel. For his
agent and assistant therein he selected William P. Van
Ness, a young lawyer, one of his most attached parti-
sans, and not less dark, designing, cool, and implacable
than himself. Yan Ness was sent to Hamilton with a June 18.
copy of Cooper's printed letter and a note from Burr,
insisting upon " a prompt and unqualified acknowledg-
ment or denial of the use of any expressions which would
warrant Cooper's assertions."
Perfectly well acquainted both with Burr and Van
Ness, and perceiving as well from Yan Ness's conversa-
tion as from Burr's note a settled intention to fix a quar-
rel upon him, Hamilton declined any immediate answer,
promising a reply in writing at his earliest convenience.
In that reply he called Burr's attention to the fact that June 20
the word l£ despicable," however in its general significa-
tion it might imply imputations upon personal honor as
to which explanations might be asked, yet, from its con-
rection, as used in Dr. Cooper's letter, it apparently re-
lated merely to qualifications for political office, a sub-
ject, as nothing was said about the more definite state-
ment referred to in the same letter, as to which it seem-
ed to be admitted that no explanation was demandable.
He expressed a perfect readiness to avow or disavow
any specific opinion which he might be charged with
622 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER having uttered ; but added that lie never would consent
XVII
_ '__ to be interrogated generally as to whether he had ever
1804 sa*d anything in the course of fifteen years of political
competition to justify inferences which others might have
drawn, thus exposing his candor and sincerity to injuri-
ous imputations on the part of all who might have mis-
apprehended him. " Mqre than this," so the letter con-
cluded, "can not fitly be expected from me ; especially,
it can not be reasonably expected that I shall enter into
any explanations upon a basis so vague as that you have
adopted. I trust, on more reflection, you will see the
matter in the same light. If not, I can only regret the
circumstance, and must abide the consequences."
June 21. Burr's curt, rude, and offensive reply began with in-
timating that Hamilton's letter was greatly deficient in
that sincerity and delicacy which he professed so much to
value. The word despicable, in the common understand-
ing of it, implied dishonor. It having been affixed to
Burr's name upon Hamilton's authority, Hamilton was
bound to say whether he had authorized it, either direct-
ly, or by uttering expressions or opinions derogatory to
Burr's honor. From this letter, it was apparent, and it
was subsequently distinctly stated by Van Ness, that
what Burr required was a general disavowal on the part
of Hamilton of any intention, in any conversation he
might ever have held, to convey impressions derogatory
to the honor of Burr.
Granting Burr's right to make this extraordinary in-
quisition into Hamilton's confidential conversations and
correspondence, it would have been quite out of the
question for Hamilton to make any such disavowal. His
practice as a lawyer had given him full insight into
Burr's swindling pecuniary transactions, and he had long
regarded him, in his private as well as his political char
HAMILTON A.ND BUKR.
acter, as a consummate villain, as reckless and unprinci- CHAPTER
xv IT*
pled as he was cool, audacious, and enterprising — an
opinion which he had found frequent occasion to express 1804.
more or less distinctly while warning his Federal friends
against the arts of Burr. Desirous, however, to deprive
Burr of any possible excuse for persisting in his mur-
derous intentions, Hamilton caused a paper to be trans-
mitted to him, through Pendleton, a brother lawyer,
who acted as his friend in this matter, to the effect that,
if properly addressed — for Burr's second letter was con-
sidered too insulting to admit of a reply — he should be
willing to state that the conversation alluded to by Dr.
Cooper, so far as he could recall it, was wholly in rela-
tion to politics, and did not touch upon Burr's private
character; nor should he hesitate to make an equally
prompt avowal or disavowal as to any other particular and
specific conversation as to which he might be questioned.
But as Burr's only object was to find a pretext for a
challenge, since he never could have expected the gen-
eral disavowal which he demanded, this offer was pro-
nounced unsatisfactory and a mere evasion ; and again,
a second time, disavowing in the same breath the charge
made against him of predetermined hostility, Burr re-
quested Yan Ness to deliver a challenge. Even after its
delivery, Hamilton made a farther attempt at pacific ar-
rangement in a second paper, denying any attempt to
evade, or intention to defy or insult, as had been insinu-
ated, (with particular reference to the closing paragraph
of Hamilton's first letter,) in Burr's observations, through
Yan Ness, on Hamilton's first paper. But this second
paper Yan Ness refused to receive, on the ground that
a challenge had been already given and accepted. It
was insisted, however, on Hamilton's part, as the Feder-
al Circuit Court was in session, in which he had many
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER important cases, that the meeting should be postponed till
_ the court was over, since he was not willing, by any act of
1804. h^ to exPose hig clients to embarrassment, loss, or delay.
It was not at all in the spirit of a professed duellist, it
was not upon any paltry point of honor, that Hamilton
had accepted this extraordinary challenge, by which it
was attempted to hold him answerable for the numerous
imputations on Burr's character bandied about in con-
versation and the newspapers for two or three years past.
The practice of duelling he utterly condemned ; indeed, he
had himself already been a victim to it in the loss of his
eldest son, a boy of twenty, in a political duel some two
years previously. As a private citizen, as a man under
the influence of moral and religious sentiments, as a hus-
band loving and loved, and the father of a numerous and
dependent family, as a debtor honorably disposed, whose
creditors might suffer by his death, he had every motive
for avoiding the meeting. So he stated in a paper which,
under a premonition of his fate, he took care to leave
behind him. It was in his character of a public man ;
it was in that lofty spirit of patriotism, of which exam-
ples are so rare, rising high above all personal and pri-
vate considerations — a spirit magnanimous and self-sac-
rificing to the last, however in this instance uncalled
for and mistaken — that he accepted the fatal challenge.
"The ability to be in future useful," such was his own
statement of his motives, "whether in resisting mischief.
or effecting good in those crises of our public affairs which
seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable
from a conformity with prejudice in this particular."
With that candor toward his opponents by which Ham-
ilton was ever so nobly distinguished, but of which so
very seldom, indeed, did he ever experience any return,
he disavowed in this paper, the last he ever wrote, anv
DEATH OF HAMILTON. 525
disposition to affix odium to Burr's conduct in this par
ticular case. He denied feeling toward Burr any per-
sonal ill will, while he admitted that Burr might nat
urally be influenced against him by hearing of strong
animadversions in which he had indulged, and which, as
usually happens, might probably have been aggravated
in the report. Those animadversions, in some cases,
might have been occasioned by misconstruction or mis-
information ; yet his censures had not proceeded on light
grounds nor from unworthy motives. From the possi-
bility, however, that he might have injured Burr, as well
as frtfm his general principles and temper in relation to
such affairs, he had come to the resolution which he left
on record, and communicated also to his second, to with-
hold and throw away his first fire, and perhaps even his
second ; thus giving to Burr a double opportunity to
pause and reflect.
The grounds of Weehawk, on the Jersey shore, oppo-
site New York, were at that time the usual field of these
single combats, then, chiefly by reason of the inflamed
state of political feeling, of frequent occurrence, and very
seldom ending without bloodshed. The day having been July n,
fixed, and the hour appointed at seven o'clock in the
morning, the parties met, accompained only by their sec-
onds. The barge-men, as well as Dr. Hosack, the sur-
geon mutually agreed upon, remained, as usual, at a dis-
tance, in order, if any fatal result should occur, not to
be witnesses. The parties having exchanged saluta-
tions, the seconds measured the distance of ten paces ;
loaded the pistols ; made the other preliminary arrange-
ments ; and placed the combatants. At the appointed
signal, Burr took deliberate aim, and fired. The ball en-
tered Hamilton's side, and as he fell his pistol too was un-
consciously discharged. Burr approached him apparent-
521 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ly somewhat moved ; but on the suggestion of his seo
' ond, the surgeon and barge-men already approaching, he
1304.. turned and hastened away, Van Ness coolly covering him
from their sight by opening an umbrella. The surgeon
found Hamilton half lying, half sitting on the ground,
supported in the arms of his second. The pallor of death
was on his face. " Doctor," he said, " this is a mortal
wound ;" and immediately fainted, as if overcome by the
effort of speaking. As he was carried across the river
the fresh breeze revived him. His own house being in
the country, he was conveyed at once to the house of a
friend, where he lingered for twenty-four hours in great
agony, but preserving his composure and self-command
to the last,
The news of his death, diffused through the city, pro-
duced the greatest excitement. Even that party hostil-
ity of which he had been so conspicuous an object was
quelled for the moment. All were now willing to admit
that he was not less patriotic than able, and that in his
untimely death — for he was only in his forty -eighth year
— the country had suffered an irreparable loss. The
general feeling expressed itself in a public ceremony, the
mournful pomp of which the city had never seen equalled.
A funeral oration was delivered in Trinity Church by
Gouverneur Morris, at whose side, on the platform erect-
ted for the speaker, stood four sons of Hamilton, between
the ages of sixteen and six. Morris briefly recapitulated
Hamilton's public services and noble virtues — his puri-
ty of heart, his rectitude of intention, his incorruptible
integrity. "I charge you to protect his fame I" he add-
ed; "it is all that he has left — all that these orphan
children will inherit from their father. Though he was
compelled to abandon public life, never for a moment did
he abandon the public service. He never lost sight of
DEATH OF HAMILTON. 527
your interests. In his most private and confidential con- CHAPTER
XVII.
versations, the single objects of discussion were your free- .
dom and happiness. You know that he never courted 1804.
your favor by adulation or the sacrifice of his own judg-
ment. You have seen him contending against you, and
saving your dearest interests, as it were, in spite of your-
selves. And you now feel and enjoy the benefits result-
ing from the firm energy of his conduct. He was charged
with ambition, and, wounded by the imputation, he de-
clared, in the proud independence of his soul, that he
never would accept of any office unless, in a foreign war,
he should be called on to expose his life in defense of his
country. He was ambitious only of glory ; but he was
deeply solicitous for you. For himself he feared noth-
ing ; but he feared that bad men might, by false profes-
sions, acquire your confidence, and abuse it to your ruin."
In Hamilton's death the Federalists and the country
experienced a loss second only to that of Washington.
Hamilton possessed the same rare and lofty qualities,
the same just balance of soul, with less, indeed, of Wash-
ington's severe simplicity arid awe-inspiring presence, but
with more of warmth, variety, ornament, and grace. If
the Doric in architecture be taken as the symbol of
Washington's character, Hamilton's belonged to the same
grand style as developed in the Corinthian — if less im-
pressive, more winning. If we add Jay for the Ionic,
we have a trio not to be matched, in fact, not to be ap-
proached in our history, if, indeed, in any other. Of
earth-born Titans, as terrible as great, now angels, and
now toads and serpents, there are every where enough.
Of the serene and benign sons of the celestial gods, how
few at any time have walked the earth !
When the correspondence which preceded the duel
came to be published, the outburst of public indignation
528 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAITER against Burr was tremendous. He was regarded as no
_ better than a deliberate murderer, who had artfully con-
1804 frived to entrap his victim. The desperate duel, two
years before, between John Swartwout and De "Witt
Clinton ; another duel, the last year, between Eobert
Swartwout, a brother of John, and Eichard Kiker, an
active Clintonian partisan, in which Biker had been se-
verely wounded, were coupled with the challenge to Ham-
ilton as parts of one connected system of cool-blooded and
murderous intimidation. Burr was charged by Cheet-
ham, of the American Citizen, with having practised pis-
tol-shooting for three months before the challenge, with
having gone to the field clothed in silk, as a partial sort
of armor, and with having, while Hamilton lay on the
bed of death, mirthfully apologized to his intimates for
not having shot him through the heart.
Astonished at the torrent of indignation which poured
down upon him, and fearing an arrest, after concealing
himself in New York for two or three days, he passed
stealthily through New Jersey, and sought refuge in Phil-
adelphia, where he found shelter and hospitality from the
district attorney, Dallas. The coroner's inquest, after a
long sitting and some difficulty in obtaining evidence —
some of Burr's friends allowing themselves to be impris-
oned rather than to testify — returned a verdict of willful
murder by the hand of Aaron Burr. A bill of indict-
ment for that crime was found against him in New Jer-
sey, where the duel had been fought ; while the grand
jury of New York found bills as well against him as
against the two seconds for being concerned in sending
and receiving a challenge — an offense punishable, by a
recent act of that state, with disfranchisement and inca-
pacity to hold office for twenty years. Apprehending
that his person might be demanded of the governor of
BOMBARDMENT OF TRIPOLI 529
Pennsylvania, Burr privately embarked for Georgia, CHAPTER
" merely," so he wrote to his daughter, who was married '_
to a South Carolina planter, " to give a little time for 1804.
passions to subside, not from any apprehensions of the
final effects of proceedings in courts of law." But the
impression made upon the public mind by this fatal duel
did not subside so easily ; the absurdity of the sacrifice
of a life like Hamilton's to the " honor" of a profligate
like Burr was too gross ; and a strong impulse was thus
given to that growing sentiment of civilized common
sense which has nearly extirpated the practice of duel-
ling throughout the free states of America.
The blockade of Tripoli was kept up during the ear-
lier part of the summer by the smaller vessels of the
squadron, and one or two captures were made. Later .
in the season, having borrowed two bomb-ketches and
several gun-boats of the Neapolitan government, Preble
attacked the harbor of Tripoli, which was well defended Ang-. s.
by heavy batteries, and by gun-boats and small armed
vessels. After some very desperate fighting, hand to
hand, in which Decatur figured conspicuously, two of
the Tripolitan gun-boats were sunk, and three others
taken. The attack was renewed a few days after, but Aug. 8
on the arrival of the John Adams, fitted out as a store-
ship, with news that a squadron from America might
be immediately expected, it was suspended to wait for
these fresh ships. Meanwhile a negotiation was entered
into with the Bashaw ; but as he still demanded $500
per head for his captives, no arrangement could be made.
As the expected squadron failed to appear, two more at- Aug.. 2g,
tacks were made by Preble, the Constitution ranging Sept. 5
alongside the batteries, and bombarding them and the
town with good effect. The Intrepid was also fitted as
V.-LL.
530 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER a fire-ship and sent into the harbor, in the hopes of blow*
' ing up some of the enemy's ships ; but this proved a fail-
1804. ure> tk6 explosion taking place prematurely, and result-
ing in the loss of Lieutenant Somers and the crew who
had volunteered on this desperate service. Shortly after,
Sept. 10. the new squadron arrived, under the command of Com-
modore Barron, by whom Preble was superseded. Bar-
ron was now in command of five frigates and five small-
er vessels, besides several armed prizes, two thirds the ef-
fective force of the American navy ; but new alarms of
hostilities on the part of Morocco made it necessary for
a part of the fleet to cruise near Gibraltar ; and at Tri-
poli nothing was done during the autumn and winter
beyond keeping up the blockade.
In the choice of electors of president and vice-presi«
dent, the Democrats — for by that name the Kepublican
party, at least throughout the Northern States, began
now very generally to be called — succeeded even beyond
April 16. their hopes. A letter of Jefferson's to Granger intimates
that early in that year, some scheme was contemplated
for a coalition between the Federalists and [Republicans
of the seven Eastern States (such as took place twenty
years later), to shake off the Virginia ascendancy, of
which bitter complaints began to be uttered by some of
the Democrats ; a feeling extending also to Kentucky,
as appeared from Matthew Lyon's publication in the
Kentucky Palladium. This ascendancy was the burden
of many able articles in the Boston Repertory, the chief
organ of the Essex Junto ; and the Massachusetts Legis-
lature had recently shown their sense of the matter by
proposing for the consideration of the sister states an
amendment of the Federal Constitution — the same sug-
gested in the House by a Massachusetts member in the
MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT.
debate on the amendment respecting electors of presi- CHAPTER
xvir.
dent — to deprive slave property of any representation on .
the floor of Congress. 1804.
This projected coalition, of which Burr's attempt to
be chosen governor of New York was no doubt a part,
had no result. The idea of it was probably based, in
part, on the expected failure of the proposed amendment
in relation to the election of president and vice-president ;
and it was therefore rendered doubly hopeless, as well by
the defeat and total prostration of Burr, as by the adop-
tion of that amendment by precisely the constitutional
number of states — Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
Hampshire, and Delaware in the negative. Among
other objections urged in these states was this: that the
amendment ought to have been recommended by two
thirds of all the members of both houses, whereas the
recommendation came in fact from a bare two-thirds of
those present and voting.
The hold of the Federalists even on New England
seemed about to part. The Republican party in Mas-
sachusetts had strenuously insisted on a choice of presi-
dential electors by the people and by districts. The
Federalists, who had a small majority in the Legislature,
consented to give the choice to the people, but they in-
sisted on a general ticket, hoping thus to secure the
whole. To their infinite mortification, and greatly to
the surprise even of the Republicans themselves, the
Jeffersonian electorial ticket triumphed by a small ma*
jority. The same thing happened in New Hampshire,
where the Republicans at the spring election had carried
both branches of the Legislature, though Gilman, the
Federal governor, had been re-elected by a majority of
forty-four votes out of twenty-four thousand.
Connecticut still stood firm ; but the Republican mi-
532 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER nority, upheld by the patronage of the general government,
' had greatly increased in numbers, and was exceedingly
1804. kusy 5 so mllch so as to excite no little alarm among the
friends of " steady habits." At the head of the Repub-
licans in that state was Pierrepont Edwards, lately ap-
pointed district judge, a son of the celebrated theologian,
and maternal uncle of Burr, whom he resembled as well
in accomplishments and address as in profligacy of private
character, at least in whatever related to women. The
favorite project of the Connecticut Republicans was a
Convention to frame a Constitution. The old charter of
Charles II., in accordance with which the government
continued to be carried o$, was, according to them, no
Constitution at all. Candor, at the same time, would
have demanded the admission, that in no other state ex-
cept Vermont, which had copied largely from Connecti-
cut, and Rhode Island, of which the government rested
on a similar royal charter, was the appeal to the popular
vote so often and so generally made. A convention of
Republican delegates at New Haven, called together bj
May. 29. Edwards, had put forth an address to the people, whict
intimated that the existing government was a mere usur-
pation, and in which the necessity of framing a Constitu-
tion was warmly urged. The General Court of Con-
necticut took fire at this attack on their authority, and
removed from office five of the signers, who, as justices
of the peace, held their places at the pleasure of the As-
sembly— an act denounced by the Democratic papers
throughout the country as a great piece of intolerance
characteristic of Federalism and Connecticut. Yet why
more intolerant than the removal of Federalists from
office, so thoroughly carried out in all the Democratic
states, does not very distinctly appear.
The Federalists had also regained their ascendency
JJEFFERSON'S RE-ELECTION. PROSPERITY. 583
in Delaware, where Nathaniel Mitchell had been chosen
governor. Besides the Federal electors in this state and ..
Connecticut, two more were chosen in Maryland, where 1804,
the district system was still maintained. Such was the
whole of the lean minority, fourteen in all, which the
Federalists were able to muster.
Conformity to Jefferson's own principles, and to his
opinions repeatedly expressed, would have required him
to retire at the close of his first term ; and, as things
turned out, far better would it have been for his reputa-
tion to have done so. But he found a ready excuse for
a second term in the " unbounded calumnies of the Fed-
eral party/' which obliged him " to throw himself on the
verdict of his country for trial." That verdict, as de-
clared by the result of the election, was enough to flatter
any man's vanity.
The peaceful acquisition of Louisiana ; the curtail-
ments in the public expenses ; the prosperous state of
the finances leaving every year an increasing surplus ;
the vast extension, since the renewal of hostilities be-
tween France and England, of American trade, as yet
but little disturbed by the belligerents, seemed palpably
to give the lie to the gloomy predictions of the Federal-
ists that the new administration and the Democratic party
were not competent to carry on the government with
credit and success. The country had reached a pitch
of pecuniary prosperity never known before. The num-
ber of banks, which in 1802 was thirty-three, or thirty-
nine, including the six branches of the United States
Bank, with capitals amounting to twenty-four millions,
had since considerably increased. The Bank of Phila-
delphia, the third state bank in that city, had lately been
chartered, with a capital of two millions, paying the state
$135,000 in cash as a bonus for the charter, besides
584 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
c»*PT£R othei pecuniary inducements. Even Virginia had intro
__ l__ duced the banking system by the charter of the Bank of
18(14. Virginia at Richmond. Many insurance companies had
been formed, and others for the construction of roads and
bridges. Since the adoption of the Federal Constitu-
tion, the export of domestic produce had tripled in value,
having reached the amount of forty -two millions. A
trade to a much greater nominal amount, and rapidly in-
creasing, was carried on in the import and export of for-
eign produce, exclusively for the supply of foreign na-
tions, on which very large profits were made. With all
this Jefferson's policy had nothing to do. But as govern-
ments are often held responsible for pecuniary distresses
over which they have no control, so they often get credit
for a public prosperity growing entirely out of extra-
neous causes. Already, however, a dismal cloud, no
bigger at this moment than a man's hand, began to
lower in the eastern horizon.
Though few depredations, as yet, had been committed
by the belligerents, some of the inconveniences necessa-
rily attending a war on the ocean began to be felt. The
presence of English and French ships of war in the har-
bors of the United States, and the angry collisions to
which their hostility to each other and their interferences
with American shipping gave rise, called loudly for some
effectual means of keeping them in order, especially as
the commanders of these vessels did not hesitate to set
the civil powers of the states at defiance. On the part
of the British, the practice had been renewed with the
war of impressment from American vessels on the high
seas, in foreign harbors, and even on the very coast of
the United States. Professedly these impressments were
limited to British seamen serving on board American
vessels ; and generally it was so. But it was not on that
IMPRESSMENT. 535
account any the less annoying to the prevalent party in CHAPTER
America, influential with which were so many persons
of foreign origin, who insisted upon it as a point of na- 1804.
tional honor that American letters of naturalization
should supersede and extinguish all other obligations.
Toward the close of Adams's administration, Mar-
shall, as Secretary of State, had very seriously pressed
upon the British ministry an arrangement of this sub-
ject, so fruitful of irritation. After the peace of Amiens
the negotiation had flagged ; but when a new war was
seen to approach, King had again brought it up, and
with a flattering prospect of success. The outrage of
seizing native-born American seamen and compelling
them to serve in British ships of war was too flagrant to
be palliated ; yet this was constantly liable to happen, so
long as careless and unscrupulous press-gangs, and cap-
tains of ships of war eager to fill up their crews, possess-
ed the right to take any body from American vessels.
Such a practice, giving occasion, as it did, to constant
and cruel wrongs and irritating collisions, was utterly
inconsistent with solid peace and friendship between the
two nations. Just before leaving London on his return
to America, King so far prevailed with Admiral Lord
St. Vincent (Sir John Jar vis), then at the head of the
British Admiralty, that he consented to an agreement
for five years that neither nation should take any sea-
men out of the ships of the other on the high seas, both
nations contracting to prohibit, under heavy penalties,
the carrying away from the ports of the other seamen
not natives of the country to which the ship belonged.
But, when the agreement came to be signed, not content
with the right thus left of visitation and impiessment as
to all American vessels in any British harbor, St. Yin-
cent claimed to except the narrow seas also, that is, the
636 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER seat surrounding England, "they having been imrae
morially considered to be within the dominion of Great
1804 Britain." Such a pretension had indeed been set up
in former times, and the Dutch, on sundry occasions,
had been compelled to submit to it. But, rather than
sanction any such obsolete pretense, or submit to such
a curtailment of the original agreement, King preferred
to let the whole matter drop. Destitute as the United
States then were of means of compulsion short of the
total sacrifice of their whole foreign commerce, which
alone made the question of impressment of any conse-
quence, it would, perhaps, have been the better policy
to secure what was obtainable. But, well knowing that
Jefferson would ratify no such agreement, King did not
choose to expose himself to the obloquy of making it.
There had been some attempts to legislate on this sub-
ject at the last session, bills in relation to it having been
introduced into both houses of Congress. But, now that
the responsibility rested upon the Democratic leaders,
they readily perceived the impossibility of settling such
a question by legislation merely, and the bills had been
allowed to drop.
Besides the unsettled controversies with Great Brit-
ain, symptoms also began to appear of serious difficul-
ties with Spain. Claims had been made on the Spanish
court for compensation not only for spoliations commit
ted on American commerce previous to the peace of
Amiens by Spanish cruisers, but also for similar depre-
dations on the part of cruisers under the French flag,
issuing from and harbored in Spanish ports, where the
prizes taken had been condemned by French consuls
pretending to admiralty jurisdiction. For depredations
by vessels under the Spanish flag a liability had been
admitted ; and, by a convention negotiated in 1802, a
DIFFICULTIES WITH SPAIN. 537
joint board of commissioners was to be established for CHAPTER
XVJI
adjudicating such claims. But the acquisition of Lou-
isiana, the claim to a part of Florida growing out of it, 1804.
and especially an act of the last session of Congress, es-
tablishing a port of entry on the Eiver Tombigbee, above
Mobile, had given great offense to Spain. This act was
looked upon as indicating a determination to take forcible
possession of the part of Florida in dispute, and Spain,
in consequence, had refused to ratify the convention for
indemnities. Monroe, the lately- commissioned minister
to Great Britain, whom Jefferson seems to have regarded
as alone capable of any delicate foreign negotiation, was
sent to Madrid to assist Charles Pinckney, the resident
minister at that court. Assurances having been given
that no intention was entertained of seizing the disputed
territory by force, the Spanish court withdrew the ob-
jections hitherto urged to the acquisition of Louisiana
by the United States. But the ratification of the con-
vention of indemnities was still declined. No progress
was made in settling the bounds of Louisiana. Spain
denied any liability for depredations committed by
French cruisers from her ports, maintaining that France
alone was responsible, and that all claims on her had
been relinquished by the convention of 1800. An offer
by the American ministers to make the Colorado the
western boundary of Louisiana, and to relinquish their
demands on account of the violation of the right of de-
posit, and of spoliations both French and Spanish, in
exchange for the disputed territory east of the Mississip-
pi, was rejected with disdain. According to the Span-
iards, Louisiana, as ceded to the United States, was
bounded on the east by the Mississippi, Pass Manshac,
Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, and on the west by
the Mermentau, a stream about half way from New Or-
538 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER leans to the Sabine ; and in this view of the recent
xvii. .-,-,. ,
French cession, as including only a narrow strip of ter-
1804. ritory along the west bank of the Mississippi, as well as
of the non-liability of Spain for French depredations,
that court was sustained by Talleyrand, Bonaparte's
minister for foreign affairs.
Besides these difficulties abroad, the American gov-
ernment came into disagreeable collision with Yrujo, the
Spanish minister, the son-in-law of M'Kean, and who
was accused by the editor of a newly-established Federal
paper at Philadelphia of attempting to buy him over to
the support of the Spanish view of the pending contro
versies. Yrujo's attention being called to this subject,
he maintained, in a long letter, that he had no object
except to make the rights of Spain apparent to the
American people, and that he had a perfect right to of-
fer pay to the proprietor of a newspaper for inserting
articles of that sort. This was not deemed satisfactory,
and his recall was asked of the Spanish government.
To obtain such command of our own harbors and
waters as would afford security against the insolence of
foreign ships of war and privateers, and to enable us, if
necessary, to resist attack by sea, Washington had re-
commended, and Adams had zealously urged, the double
means of harbor fortifications and a respectable navy,
the same plan which, for the last five-and-thirty years,
has formed the basis of our maritime policy. But to
the thrifty Jefferson this plan seemed altogether too ex-
pensive. He was frightened at the idea of spending
fifty millions of dollars on a scheme of fortifications
which would require, even in time of peace, two thou-
sand men, and fifty thousand in time of war ; and which,
in his opinion, would, after all, be of no use. He pro-
posed, as a substitute, heavy cannon on travelling car-
GUN-BOAT SCHEME OF DEFENSE.
riages, to be brought, when needed, to any point of the CHAPTBR
beach or coast, or the bank of any navigable river, most .
convenient for annoying an approaching enemy ; a sum- 1804.
cient number of these cannon to be lent to each sea-port
town, and their militia to be trained to use them.
Ships of war, were no less terrible to Jefferson on the
score of expense than fortifications ; and he proposed to
replace them by gun-boats, to be manned by the seamen
and militia of the maritime towns, and to be kept hauled
up under sheds, ready to be launched at a moment's no-
tice— a situation, as he complacently added, in which a
boat " costs nothing but an inclosure, or a sentinel to see
that no mischief is done her." A few, however, might
be kept afloat against any very sudden emergencies,
some with men enough to navigate them in harbor, and
others fully manned. There were, in Jefferson's opinion,
about fifteen harbors in the United States which ought
to be in a state of substantial defense. For these would
be needed, according to his estimate, two hundred and
fifty gun-boats, to cost a million of dollars. As no im-
mediate hurry seemed to him to be necessary, ten years
might be taken in which to complete them, at the rate
of twenty -five a year.
Such was the president's scheme of defense, as sug-
gested in his message at the opening of the second ses- NOV 8.
sion of the eighth Congress, and more particularly after-
ward in a letter to Nicholson, chairman of a committee
to which that part of the message had been referred.
Under the appropriation already made, ten gun-boats
had been commenced, after a diligent study of Spanish
and Neapolitan models, those being the only nations
which placed much dependence on this species of force.
Two or three had been completed, but from their total
incapacity either to sail, or to use their guns with effect,
540 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER these boats had become the laughing-stock of all nauti»
" cal men, a few navy officers excepted, who found it con •
1804 venient to flatter executive fancies. But the president
was not to be laughed out of his economical system of
defense ; and he assured the committee that, if fifteen
more boats were added to those already in progress, he
should be able to put every harbor into a " respectable
condition," so as to preserve the dignity of the country
from insult. This whole gun-boat system was severely
criticised by several of the Federal members ; but the
House appropriated $60,000 toward the twenty-five boats
as requested.
The great subject of interest was the impeachment of
Judge Chase, determined upon at the last session. Eight
articles of impeachment, one founded on his conduct at
the trial of Fries, five on the trial of Callender, and two
on his late charge to the Maryland grand jury, were
agreed to, most of them by a strict party vote. John
Eandolph, the administration leader in the House, took
a very active part, as at the former session, and was ap-
pointed, along with Nicholson, Kodney, and others of less
note, a manager on the part of the House. Having ap-
1805. peared at the summons of the Senate, Chase asked for
fUL 2* delay till the next session. This was refused ; but a
month was given him in which to prepare his defense.
In consideration of his age and infirmities, he was allowed
to be seated in the center of the area of the Senate cham-
ber, in front of the presiding ofiicer. It was, indeed, a
remarkable scene. The aged judge had been among the
most active and efficient of those by whom the Declara-
tion of Independence had been brought about, the con-
currence of hesitating Maryland in that declaration hav-
ing been, in a great measure, owing to his exertions.
For sixteen years, as he stated to the Senate> he had sus
DEBATE ON THE YAZOO CLAIMS. 541
tained high judicial offices, state or national, during which CHAPTEK
whole period his official conduct had never been arraigned '_
except in the cases of Cooper, Fries, and Callender ; nor j 805
had his private or professional probity or honor ever
otherwise been called in question. Of the tribunal be-
fore which Chase appeared, the presiding officer was
Vice-president Burr. Having returned from his flight
southward, he had taken his seat in the Senate just at
the opening of the session, over which body, blasted
though his prospects and reputation were, and with an
indictment for murder hanging over his head, he never-
theless presided with all his accustomed self-possession,
dignity, and grace.
During the judge's interval for preparation, a debate
came on in the House which seemed to threaten very
seriously the harmony of the administration party,
shaken already by the impeachment of Chase. To a
proposition for a settlement of the Mississippi claims, Kan-
dolph, as at the former session, moved as an amendment
a series of resolutions excluding from any compensation
the claimants under the Georgia Yazoo grants of 1795.
Quite a number of the Democrats, of whom the lead-
ers were Matthew Lyon, of Kentucky, Elliot, of Ver-
mont, Findley, of Pennsylvania, and Bidwell, of Massa-
chusetts, had, even at the last session, become totally dis-
gusted at the caprices, eccentricities, and insolent, over-
bearing demeanor of Kandolph, whom it had been cus-
tomary to toast as " the man who speaks what he thinks,"
but whose excessive freedom in expressing his contempt
for his Northern party associates was by no means so
agreeable as had been his virulent abuse of the Federal-
ists. The idea of throwing off the Virginia ascendency,
though it had produced no effect upon the presidential
election, was not abandoned. All were willing to put
542 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER up with the fair-spoken Jefferson ; but the petulant and
___J waspish, the insolent and acrid Kandolph, who had in-
1805. volved himself, during the late session, in several vio-
lent personal quarrels, was not to be endured.
Yet declamation against the frauds of land speculators
was well suited to a certain class of minds. Almost all
the Southern members — the Yazoo claims being chiefly
held at the North — went with Kandolph, as did some of
the Northern ones, especially Leib and Clay, of Philadel-
phia, and Philip Sloan, of New Jersey, a wealthy butch-
er employed in the supply of the Philadelphia market,
whose oddity of appearance, incorrectness of language,
ultra Jeffersonian democracy, and tediously pertinacious
harangues exposed him to much ridicule, though he was
by no means destitute of sense, and was unquestionably
honest and sincere. Randolph, more outrageous than
ever, did not hesitate to insinuate that all who opposed
him were interested in the claims, or bribed by those
who were. They retorted with the courteous epithets
of calumniator, madman, despotic demagogue, popular
tyrant. He poured out a torrent of abuse on Granger,
agent of the claimants, whom he accused of bribing mem-
bers ; nor did Madison, Gallatin, and Lincoln, who, as
commissioners, had recommended a compromise of the
claims, entirely escape. Granger thought it necessary
Feb. i to send a letter to the House, asking an investigation into
his conduct — a request which was got rid of by a post-
ponement. With the help of the Federalists, the oppo-
nents of Randolph voted down his resolution by a ma-
jority of five ; but Randolph, on his side, succeeded in
defeating the passage of the bill. He complained bitterly
— and it was a curious instance of political mutation —
that Lyon and Griswold, who had once come into such
fierce collision, should now be united against the leader
of the Republicans in the House
TRIAL OP CHASE. 543
This violent struggle was not yet entirely over when CHAPTER
Chase appeared at the bar of the Senate with his coun-
sel, of whom the most eminent were Luther Martin, like 1805
Chase himself, originally opposed to the Constitution,
but who had long since become a warm Federalist,
Charles Lee, late Attorney General of the United States,
and Kobert Goodloe Harper, the former distinguished
Federal leader in the House.
For these, the ablest advocates in the Union, to take
no account of Chase, who was a host in himself, the man-
agers on the part of the House were no match. Martin's
massive logic, and Lee's and Harper's argumentative
eloquence, directed always to the point, stood in strik-
ing contrast to the tingling but desultory surface strokes
of Kandolph, upon whom the main burden of the pro-
secution fell. A great number of witnesses were exam-
ined on both sides. Chase's counsel admitted that he
might have fallen into some casual heats and indiscre-
tions, but they totally denied the proof of any thing that
would at all justify an impeachment ; and in spite of the
strong administration majority in the Senate, he was ac-
quitted on five out of the eight charges against him by Mai nh
decided majorities — on one of them unanimously. Of
three other articles, two relating to Callender's trial and
the third to his charge to the Maryland grand jury, a
majority of the senators present held him guilty ; but as
this majority did not amount to two thirds, his acquittal
was pronounced on all the charges.
This acquittal of Chase was deemed by the Federalists
a great triumph, tending to show that there were limits
even to the power of party discipline. The managers
and chief instigators of the prosecution were excessive-
ly mortified. Kandolph proposed, after a speech full of
intemperate and indecent reflections on the Senate, in
544: DISTORT OF THE UNITED STATES-
CHAPTER which he spoke of Chase as " an acquitted felon,7' to
amend the Constitution so as to make judges removable
1805. by joint resolution of the two houses. Nicholson, on his
part, desired to give to the state Legislatures the power
to vacate at pleasure the seats of their senators. These
splenetic ebullitions came to nothing ; but even the ma-
jority of the House were guilty, under Eandolph's lead
ership, of the contemptible meanness of refusing to pay
Chase's witnesses. The Senate, to their honor, insisted
unanimously that, as Chase had been acquitted, all the
witnesses should be paid alike. The House refused to
yield, and this disagreement caused the loss of the bill.
It was then attempted, on the last day of the session, to
pay the witnesses for the prosecution out of the contin-
gent fund of the House ; but this failed for want of a
quorum, and the whole business went over to the next
Congress. In that Congress provision was made, though
not without very serious opposition from Eandolph and
his followers, for the payment of all the witnesses alike.
Both in the matter of the Mississippi claims and in
his other controversies with the more moderate Demo-
crats, Kandolph had been warmly supported by the Au-
rora. But the violent assaults of Duane upon several
of his late political associates did not go unpunished.
He was deprived of the public printing and of the sta-
tionery contract, which, by the help of the Federal votes,
were offered to the lowest bidder.
Though the proceedings against Chase were -no doubt
dictated by violent party spirit, without sufficient foun-
dation in fact or law, yet they were not entirely without
good results. They served to check that overbearing and
insolent demeanor on the bench, handed down from co-
lonial times, which many judges seemed to have thought
it essential to the dignity of their office to exhibit.
ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, MICHIGAN. 545
Early in the session, a very vehement petition, drawn CHAPTER
by Edward Livingston, had been presented to Congress __^__
from the inhabitants of the territory of Orleans, com- 1805.
plaining of the arbitrary government established over
them, and claiming, under the treaty of cession, the priv-
ilege enjoyed by the other citizens of the United States,
of choosing their own legislators ; in fact, immediate or-
ganization as an independent state. This was not grant-
ed ; but an act was passed giving to the Territory of
Orleans the same government in every respect with that
of Mississippi — the government, that is, of a territory of
the first class, having a Legislature chosen by the inhab-
itants, with the privilege, when they should reach the
number of 60,000, of erecting themselves into a state, form-
ing a constitution, and claiming admisssion into the Union.
The District of Louisiana, hitherto annexed to Indi-
ana, was now erected into a separate territory of the sec-
ond class, the power of legislation being, vested in the
governor and judges. A section of this act, by continu-
ing in force, until altered or repealed by the Legislature,
all existing laws and regulations, gave a tacit confirma-
tion to the system of slavery already established in the
settlements on the Arkansas and Missouri.
The territory of Indiana underwent a further curtail-
ment in the erection of MICHIGAN into a new and sepa-
rate territory of the second class. The Indian title had
been extinguished to only a small tract, formerly ceded
to the French, about the ancient town of Detroit, with
another like tract on the main land opposite Mackinaw ;
and the total white population of this new territory did
not exceed four thousand. But their wide separation, by
impassable swamps, from the other settled districts of
Indiana, made a separate government expedient.
The government of the Orleans Territory had all along
V.— MM
546 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER been reserved for Monroe ; but as lie was now otherwise
XVII.
' provided for, Claiborne was continued as governor, his
1805. otuer government of Mississippi being given to Eobert
Williams. The government of Michigan was given to
"William Hull, of Massachusetts, who had served with
honor in the Revolutionary army, having specially dis-
tinguished himself in the storming of Stony Point. Gene-
ral Wilkinson, the commander-in-chief of the Americaa
army, was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory.
The condition of the District of Columbia gave rise to
considerable debate. More than half the time of Con-
gress, at a great expense to the nation, was taken up
with the affairs of that district, and yet its system of
laws was left in the most heterogeneous state, two differ-
ent codes being in force on the opposite sides of the Poto-
mac. It being thought contrary to Republican princi-
ples that the people should be governed by Congress,
without any Legislature of their own, it was proposed to
Jan. 18. retrocede the whole district except the City of Washing-
ton ; but this did not prevail. A proposition brought
forward by Sloan, of New Jersey, that all children born
of slaves within the District after the ensuing fourth of
July should become free at an age to be fixed upon, was
refused reference to a committee of the whole sixty -five
to forty-seven, and was then rejected seventy-seven to
thirty -one. The thirty-one were mainly Democrats from
Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. Only five
Federalists voted with them, two from New Hampshire,
two from Massachusetts, and one from New York
The practice of arming for their own defense, so
generally adopted by American vessels during the diffi-
culties with France, was still kept up in certain branches
of trade, especially that with the revolted island of St.
Domingo, where Dessalines, in imitation of Bonaparte*
HAYTIAN TRADE. FOREIGN SHIPS OF WAB. £47
bad assumed the title of emperor. Very strict prohibi-
tions against this trade had been issued by the French ; __
and General Turreau, who had lately arrived from France l$0o
as envoy extraordinary to the United States, had very
warmly protested against its allowance. The compli-
ant Jefferson, dreading the interference of France in the
dispute with Spain, had pointedly called the attention of
Congress to this trade, " as an attempt to force a com-
merce into certain ports and countries in defiance of the
laws of those countries, tending to produce aggression on
the laws and rights of other nations, and to endanger the
peace of our own." Upon this hint, Logan brought a
bill into the Senate to prohibit altogether the trade with
the new empire of Hayti. But as the blacks, beyond
all question, were de facto an independent nation, this
was thought to be carrying complaisance toward France
a little too far. The most that could be obtained, and
that not without a great deal of opposition, was an act
requiring armed vessels to give bonds not to use their
armaments for any unlawful purpose, but only for resist-
ance and defense in case of involuntary hostilities ; and
to bring them back to the United States.
Another topic of the president's message had been the
infringements against our laws and rights without our
own waters by armed ships of the belligerents. To meet
this difficulty, an act was passed authorizing the use of
the regular troops of the United States, as well as of the
militia, to aid in the service of criminal process, whether
state or Federal, against persons taking refuge on board
foreign armed ships within the waters of the United
States. But in all such cases a demand was first to be
made for the surrender of those against whom the pro-
cess ran. The president was also authorized, as a fur-
ther means of preserving the authority of the laws, to
548 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER permit or interdict at pleasure the entrance of foreign
' armed vessels into the waters of the United States ; and,
1805. *n case °^ disobedience, to prohibit all intercourse with
them, and to use force to compel them to depart. He
might also forbid, by proclamation, the coming within
the jurisdiction of the United States of any officer of a
foreign armed vessel who might, upon the high seas, have
committed any trespass upon, or spoliation of, any Ameri-
can ship, the disregard of such proclamation to be pun-
ishable by fine and imprisonment.
Fefc. 13. When the votes for president and vice-president came
to be opened and counted, there appeared for Jefferson,
as president, one hundred and sixty-two, and the same
number for Clinton as vice-president. The fourteen Fed-
eral electors voted for C. C. Pinckney, and Kufus King.
March 4. Re-chosen by this flattering majority, Jefferson entered
on his second term of office with an inaugural address
filled with congratulations to his supporters on the suc-
cess of their policy thus far ; on the extent to which that
policy had found favor with an intelligent people ; and
on the prospect that all remaining doubters would at
length succumb to truth, reason, and a just view of their
own interest, and especially to the magnanimous gener-
osity with which he proposed to treat them ; and that
being thus gathered " into the fold of their country,"
they would " complete that entire union of opinion which
gives to a nation the blessing of harmony and the benefit
of all its strength."
In these somewhat premature congratulations on union
and harmony, the president seems to have quite over-
looked the deep schisms and bitter feuds by which the
Republican party was itself divided in the two great
states of New York and Pennsylvania. The Burr fac-
tion in New York might now be considered as out of
POLITICS OF NEW YORK.
the field ; but that field was hardly left in the quiet pos- CHAPTER
session of the Livingstons and the Clintons before a very ..
bitter quarrel broke out between them. The Merchants' 1805.
Bank of New York, disappointed of a charter in 1803,
had continued to go on under its articles of association.
A fresh application for a charter had been made in 1804 ;
but instead of granting one, the Legislature of that year
had passed an act prohibiting all unincorporated com-
panies, under severe penalties, from issuing notes to pass
as money, and giving the Merchants' Bank one year in
which to wind up its affairs. Similar acts for the re-
straint of private banking had recently been passed in
Massachusetts, copied from the old act of Parliament of
1741, the first enforcement of which in New England
had almost produced a rebellion. These acts had been
obtained by the existing banks upon the plausible
ground that such prohibitions were essential to the se-
curity of the public. But, besides their squint toward
monopoly, a most hateful thing in every trading coun-
try, they were attended, in the end, by two other evil
consequences very fully developed in New York ; the
making the grant of bank charters a matter of political
favoritism and a reward for political services, and the
opening a wide door to bribery and corruption.
The stockholders of the Merchant's Bank, not discour-
aged, again made their appearance at Albany the present
year. The leading Democrats, from their concern in the
Manhattan and State banks, were not only deeply inter-
ested in keeping up a monopoly, but they also consid-
ered it quite intolerable that an association of Federal-
ists should presume to ask a Democratic Legislature for
a bank charter. An agent from the city of New York
was dispatched to Albany to oppose the grant ; but that
agent, by some means or other, was soon silenced, bought
550 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER over, it was alleged, by the other side. After very hot
_.'• debates and a violent altercation, in which two senators,
1805. "both having the title of judge, came to actual fisticuffs
within the senatorial precinct, the bill of incorporation
passed the Senate by a majority of three votes. A cry
was immediately raised by the Clintonians of treachery
on the part of the Livingston faction, and of bribery by
the applicants. A committee of investigation, appointed
by the House, laid evidence before that body that certain
agents of the bank, one of them a senator, who presently
resigned in order to escape expulsion, had endeavored to
secure the votes of certain Democratic members by offer
ing them shares in the stock, with a guarantee, did the
members not choose to pay up the assessments, of pur-
chase after the charter was granted at twenty -five per
cent, advance. It was also proved that two of the sen-
ators had accepted such offers. The apparent horror of
the Clintonians at this discovery would have seemed more
real, had not similar, if not the very same, expedients
been employed but two years before in obtaining the
April, charter of the Democratic State bank. As it was, their
clamor produced but little effect, and the bill passed the
House by a decided majority.
The treacherous Democrats in the Legislature were
at once attacked with great fury in the Albany Regis-
ter and the American Citizen-, in the latter paper by the
pen of Tunis Wortman, as rancorous as it was fluent.
An appeal was made by the Council of Revision to de-
feat the bill ; and Judge Spencer, as a member of that
body, exerted his utmost efforts against it, maintaining,
first, that the bank was not needed, and, secondly, thai
the charter had been obtained by corruption Governor
Lewis, Chancellor Lansing, Chief-justice Kent, and Judg-
es Livingston and Thompson, gave it their approval, and
LIVINGSTON, HUMPHREYS, AND BARLOW. 551
it becime a law. But from that moment was formed, CHAPTER
XVII
on the part of the Clintonians, a settled and violent op-
position to the administration of Governor Lewis. 1805.
Another measure adopted at this session, on the recom-
mendation of the governor, admits of no difference of
opinion. This was the appropriation of the proceeds of
the remaining state lands, amounting to about a million
and a half of acres, toward constituting the existing
school fund of the State of New York.
Chancellor Livingston, having resigned his embassy to
France, in which he was succeeded by his brother-in-law
Armstrong, withdrew thenceforth from public life, for
which his increasing deafness quite incapacitated him.
Yet he still displayed the vigor and enterprise characteris-
tic of his family. At Paris he had become acquainted
with Fulton, and presently entered with him upon a se-
ries of expensive experiments, for which his ample estates
furnished the means, resulting finally in bringing into
practical use that magnificent invention of steam navi-
gation. Livingston's attention was also much given to
agriculture, and he aided in introducing the use of plaster
of Paris as a manure. Humphreys, the late minister to
Spain, who had secured a fortune by marrying the daugh-
ter of a wealthy English merchant at Lisbon, had, since
his return to America, given his attention to the im»
provement of the native flocks by the importation of me-
rinoes, and to the manufacture of fine broad cloths, now
for the first time produced in America. Livingston took up
the same idea, and he too imported merinoes from Spain.
Joel Barlow, whose republican dreams had received
a severe check in the elevation of Bonaparte to an im-
perial throne, returned to America about the same time
with Livingston. He had left Connecticut, some fifteen
years before, a poor adventurer, but now brought back
552 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER with him an ample fortune, acquired by commercial spec-
' ulations. Barlow's reception in New England was ex-
1805. ceedinglj cool. Having paid a visit to Boston, the news-
papers there republished his famous fourth-of-July song
of " The Guillotine/' and they also threw in his teeth his
discipleship of Paine, whom, indeed, he had assisted in
publishing the first part of his " Age of Reason," besides
himself having translated and published Yolney 's " Ruins
of Empires." Having established himself in a magnifi-
cent residence in the District of Columbia, Barlow
presently put forth, with a splendor of typography hith-
erto unknown in America, and in a new and enlarged
edition, under the title of the "Columbiad," his "Vision
of Columbus," originally published before his embarka-
tion for France. It is, however, on his vigorous prose
that Barlow's claims as a writer must principally rest.
Before the termination of Chase's trial, the impeach-
ment of the Pennsylvania judges had reached a similar
end. The judges had shown their sagacity in retaining
Dallas for their defense. All the other eminent lawyers
of the state were Federalists, and when applied to by
the managers they all refused to take a fee in the case.
The managers themselves were quite inadequate to so
serious a business. Hence the necessity of employing
Rodney, from the neighboring State of Delaware, undei
circumstances which might call to mind M'Kean's orig-
inal appointment as chief justice of Pennsylvania. A
majority of the senators pronounced the judges guilty ;
but as that majority was short of two thirds, the result
was an acquittal.
The anger, at this result, of the Aurora and the ultra
Democrats, knew no bounds. The project was imme-
diately started for a convention to remodel the state Con-
stitution, and a memorial to that effect was got up and
POLITICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 563
presented to the Legislature. A large number of the CHAPTER
more moderate Democrats, including all the advocates '__
of M'Kean's vetoes and the opponents of Leib and Du- 1Q05.
ane, were by no means willing to go this length ; and
they prepared and presented a counter memorial.
The propositions for altering the constitution of the
national judiciary and Senate, brought forward by Ean-
dolph and Nicholson ; the semi-Kevolutionary step, or ap-
proach to it, taken by the Democratic convention which
Pierrepont Edwards had called together in Connecticut ;
and now this proposition for a new constitution for Penn-
sylvania, together with the violence of the Clintonians
in New York, excited general alarm, as evidences of the
existence in the country of an ultra radical and Eevolu-
tionary party. Yet the memorial for a convention in
Pennsylvania only proposed to make the election of sen-
ators annual ; to reduce the patronage of the governor ;
and to limit the term of office of the judges — a thing al-
ready existing in Connecticut, Yermont and Ohio, and
since substantially carried into effect, not in Pennsylva-
nia only, but in New York and many other states ; and
which (in spite of conservative objectors) may be con-
sidered as now coincident with the prevailing political
ideas of intelligent men in America. Longer experience
has tended to produce the conviction that all select bodies
in which the appointing power may be vested, -while
they are hardly less liable to delusion than the mass of
the voters, are far more likely to be managed by intrigue
and warped by private interests. It is also to be borne
in mind that the improved political education of the peo-
ple, the multiplication of newspapers, and the immense
and increasing diffusion of intelligence, has made piac-
ticable for us an infusion of democracy into the admin-
istration of public affairs which half a century ago might
have been at least questionable, if not dangerous
554 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER The moderate Democrats took the name of Constitu-
XVII
' tionalists ; and, as a central point for operations, they
1805. organized what they called " The Constitutional Socie-
ty." The other section of the party constituted them-
selves into a rival club, called " the Friends of the Peo
pie." The Federalists looked on and enjoyed the strife ;
yet not altogether without alarm ; for the violence of the
factions seemed almost to threaten a civil war. M'Kean,
having put his veto upon some further acts for increas-
ing the power of the Assembly and for regulating the
administration of justice, was openly denounced by " the
Friends of the People;" and at a legislative caucus, Si-
mon Snyder, late speaker of the House, whose German
name and lineage would attract, it was hoped, many
votes, was nominated as the ultra Democratic candidate
for the office of governor. The Constitutionalists, on
the other hand, rallied about M'Kean, among them that
" plausible, elastic, extraordinary man" Dallas, for so the
Aurora described him — and it charged him, too, with
having pocketed $6598 for three months' services as
state pay-master during the Whiskey Insurrection. Lo-
gan also adhered to M'Kean, as did Cooper, the Sedition
Law martyr, lately appointed president judge of one of
the Common Pleas districts.
In their address to the Democratic citizens, the friends
of Snyder represented M'Kean as a demagogue 'ready to
purchase preferment by making a display of the most ex-
travagant republican zeal, but, at the same time, by ed-
ucation, sentiment, and habit, a domineering and over-
bearing aristocrat, who, having first obtained office and
secured his re-election by Democratic votes, had finally
attempted, with Federal aid, to set up a third party of
his own, and had always treated the Democratic Legisla-
ture with distant sullenness, prvate virulence, and pub-
lic disrespect. The biting lash of the Aurora was now
POLITICS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 555
most bitterly felt by many who had formerly stimulated
its application to others ; so much so that the friends of __
M'Kean complained in their address " that the citizens 1806,
might at length perceive that advantage had been taken
of their just veneration for the liberty of the press to
shackle them with the tyranny of printers."
How far the Democrats of Pennsylvania, whether Con-
stitutionalists or Friends of the People, could make any
just pretensions to "veneration for the liberty of the
press," may be judged of by a prosecution which, before
their schism, they had jointly promoted against Joseph
Dennie, the able editor of the Port Folio, published at
Philadelphia, in which journal had appeared a general
diatribe against Democracy, setting forth the evils of
that form of government as exhibited in Greece, Kome,
and elsewhere, but without any direct allusions to Amer-
ica, though the application was obvious. Upon this ar?
tide an indictment had been found (July, 1802), charg-
ing Dennie with the publication of a seditious libel, with
the design to bring the government of the United States
into contempt ! Chief-justice Shippen, who presided at
the trial, which came on toward the end of the current
year, instructed the jury that if the publication had been
made with the intent charged, the indictment would lie.
But the jury settled the matter by a verdict of not guilty.
The veteran but now somewhat superannuated Thom-
as Paine, having returned to America, had taken up his
residence on a farm in New York, the forfeited property
of a refugee Tory, given him by that state for his Kev-
olutionary services. His pen was enlisted on the side
of " the Friends of the People ;" but, by those same sup-
porters of M'Kean who had admired the letter to Wash-
ington in 1797, Paine was now denounced as " a pol-
luted monster, infamous and execrated."
There was some difference of opinion among the Fed-
556 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER eralists as to what course they ought to take. Such was
XVII .
_ the bitterness against M'Kean of the more ardent mem-
1805. bers °f ^at Par*J> ^at ^ey were even ready to give
their votes to Snyder. But the bulk of the Federalists
determined to support M'Kean as the least of two evils
— an aid which the Constitutionalists gladly accepted,
though they guarded carefully against any actual amal-
gamation, strenuously contending with the Friends of
October, the People for the title of " genuine Kepublicans." In
the end M'Kean triumphed by a majority of upward of
5000 votes; and, what was still more important, the
Constitutionalists obtained majorities in both branches
of the Legislature.
While the Democratic party in New York and Penn-
sylvania was shaken by these violent internal struggles,
Virginia remained quite tranquil. Even there, however,
a more radical and a more moderate party existed, of
which the latter triumphed in the election of William H.
Cabell to succeed Page as governor.
In the course of the summer large additional cessions
July 4. of lands were obtained from the Indians. By a treaty
held at Fort Industry, on the Maumee, between Gov
ernor Harrison and the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas,
Munsees, Delawares, Shawanees, and Potawatomies,
those tribes, in consideration of a perpetual annuity of
$1000, relinquished all claim to the tract in the State
of Ohio known as the Connecticut Eeserve. This was
in addition to $16,000 already paid or secured to some
of these tribes by the Connecticut Land Company, the
purchasers from Connecticut of that tract. By another
treaty, shortly after, with the Delawares. Potawatomies,
Miamis, Eel Kiver Indians, and Weas, the Indian title
was extinguished to all that part of the present State
of Indiana within fifty miles of the Ohio, except a narrow
tract along the west bank of the Wabash ; and thus, in
INDIAN CESSIONS. 651
connection with former cessions, was opened to settlement CHAPTER
the whole northern bank of the Ohio, from its sources
to its mouth. The consideration to the Indians was 1805.
$4000 in cash, an annuity of $500 for ten years, and a ^ug. 21
permanent annuity of $1100.
On the south of the Ohio, also, cessions of no less im-
portance were obtained. The introduction of the arts
and habits of civilized life among the Indian tribes, origi-
nated by Washington, and zealously followed up by Jef-
ferson, proved a measure no less politic than humane.
The recent progress of the Cherokees in husbandry and
the rearing of cattle made them the more ready to cede
a part of their lands, now no longer needed as hunting
grounds. For $14,000 in cash, and a perpetual annuity
of $3000, they yielded up, of that wide, intervening tract
by which hitherto the settlements of East and "West
Tennessee had been divided, the portion north of Duck
Biver. They also conceded the opening of several roads
and the passage of the mail through their territory.
The Georgians too succeeded at last in obtaining that
object of their ardent wishes, the tract, or the greater
part of it, between the Oconee and Ocmulgee. A treaty
nad been made the year before, by which the Creeks had
agreed to cede this tract for the sum of $200,000, in irre-
deemable six per cent, stock of the United States. But
this treaty the Senate had refused to ratify, both because
they thought the price exorbitant, and because they ap-
prehended that the stock might soon pass out of the
hands of the Indians into those of cunning traders and
speculators. By a new treaty the Creeks agreed to ac-
cept instead an annuity of $12,000 for eight years, to be Nor. l*
followed by an annuity of $11,000 for ten years.
553 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XVIII.
EATON AND HAMET. CARRYING TRADE. FIRST SESSI05
OF THE NINTH CONGRESS. SECRET APPROPRIATION FOR
THE PURCHASE OF FLORIDA. SCHEME FOR COERCING
GREAT BRITAIN. MIRANDA'S EXPEDITION. QUESTION
OF THE SUCCESSORSHIP. AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA,
NEW YORK, CONNECTICUT, AND MASSACHUSETTS.
CHAPTER AT the commencement of the difficulties with Tripoli,
1C V 1 1 F
Cathcart, the late consul there, had suggested to Eaton,
at Tunis, the idea of an attack on Tripoli by land, in
concert with Hamet, then resident at Tunis, elder bro-
ther of Jessuff, the reigning bashaw of Tripoli, and for-
merly bashaw himself, but who had been deprived of
his sovereignty by JessufF, and driven into exile several
years before. Eaton was a person of romantic temper
and great enterprise. At the age of sixteen he had left
his father's house in Connecticut without leave, and had
enlisted into the Eevolutionary army. Having served
through the war, and risen to be a sergeant, he had re-
turned home, and, gaming a support meanwhile as a
teacher, had prepared himself to enter Dartmouth Col-
lege, and in the same way had made his way through
it. He was shortly after appointed a captain in the
army ; and having served in the Northwest undei St.
Clair and Wayne, besides doing garrison duty in Georgia,
had finally received from Adams the consulship at Tunis.
He caught eagerly at Cathcart's suggestion, and opened
a communication with Hamet. But, after incurring an
expense of some $22,000, though countenanced to a cer
tain extent by the authorities at home, he could not en-
EATON AND HAMET. 559
gage the naval commanders on the station to co-operate CHAPTEB
with him. The next year (1803) Baton went to Amer- _ '
ica, and, by urgent representations, succeeded in obtain-
ing a vague sort of authority to carry out, in conjunc-
tion with Hamet, his scheme of a land attack upon Tri-
poli. He returned to the Mediterranean in Barren's
squadron (1804), and proceeded to Egypt in pursuit of
the exiled bashaw, who — after attempting, at the head
of a body of mercenaries hired for the purpose, an attack
upon Derne, the Tripolitan port and settlement nearest
to Egypt, but separated from it by a wide desert— had
been reduced to the necessity of joining the Mamelukes
in Upper Egypt, where such of them as had escaped the
French invaders and the still more destructive massacre
of the famous Ali Pasha still maintained a predatory war
against the Turkish authorities. By indefatigable zeal,
and by the friendly assistance of the English agents at
Cairo and Alexandria, and in spite of obstacles placed
in his way by the French consul, Eaton succeeded in
obtaining from Ali Pacha, by whom he was very courte-
ously received, a letter of amnesty for Hamet, and per-
mission for him to pass the Turkish armies, and to leave
Egypt unmolested. Messengers were sent to Upper
Egypt to seek Hamet out and to detach him from the
Mamelukes ; and he and Eaton at length met near Alex- peb. n
andria, and concerted measures for an expedition against
Derne. The force mustered for this invasion consisted
of about four hundred men, one hundred of them Chris-
tians, adventurers of various nations, picked up in Egypt,
including nine Americans. The rest were partly Tri-
politan exiles, adherents of Hamet, and partly Arab
cavalry, any number of whom it would have been easy
to collect had there been means to feed them. While
this force commenced its march through the desert, with
560 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER a caravan of camels and asses for the conveyance of
XVIII.
t '__ provisions, the Argus, which had carried Eaton to Egypt,
1805. sailed to Syracuse for supplies, with which she was to
meet the forces of Hamet and Eaton at Bomba, a road-
stead not far from Derne. The whole expenses of the
expedition thus far were about $20,000, for the repay-
ment of which Hamet pledged the tribute of Sweden,
Denmark, and Holland.
After infinite trouble with his camel-drivers fearful
of not being paid, and a constant struggle against the
hesitation and timidity of his allies, Eaton succeeded, at
15. last, in reaching Bomba just as the last of his provisions
were consumed. But Bomba was an arid beach, with-
out the vestige of a human being. Nothing could be
seen of any wells, nor was the expected vessel in sight
From rage the Musselmen passed into despair ; but a
signal-fire having been kindled, by Eaton's orders, on a
neighboring hill, it was seen by the Argus, which was
off the coast, and she presently stood in. The Hornet
arrived a day or two after, laden with provisions ; and
meanwhile ample cisterns of water had been found at a
little distance inland. Thus replenished, the little army
pushed on for Derne, the approach to which was pres-
ently indicated by signs of vegetation. As that town
came in sight, Eaton's motley forces were greatly fright-
ened by a report that the Tripolitan troops were ap-
proaching. He persuaded them, however, to seize upon
a hill overlooking the town. Hamet was joined by some
additional partisans. Two of the three quarters which
made up the town were well disposed toward him ; but
as the governor had a force of eight hundred men, these
friends were not able, at present, to render any assist-
ance. In a few days the Argus and Hornet, joined
meanwhile by the Nautilus, made their appearance off
ATTACK ON DEftNE. PEACE WITH TRIPOLI. 561
Derne. To a proposal to the governor that he should CHAPTER
XVJII.
acknowledge Hamet as bashaw, the laconic answer was
returned, '; Your head or mine." An attack was imme- 1805.
diatelj resolved upon. The main defense was a water
battery of nine guns. There were also some temporary
breastworks ; and the houses of the hostile quarter were
loop-holed for musketry. The ships of war, having April 2t
taken up a position as near in shore as possible, opened
a fire on the battery and the town. Eaton, with his little
band of Christians, aided by a field-piece and a few ma-
rines from the shipping, attacked a body of the enemy
stationed behind the temporary breastwork ; while Ha-
met, with his cavalry, took up a threatening position on
the opposite side of the town. The battery having been
silenced by the shipping, Eaton and his party made a
rush and obtained possession of it. The guns were
turned upon the town, the ships renewed their fire, and
the enemy were soon completely driven out. Thus
Derne fell into Hamet's hands. Eaton was soon after May 13
attacked there by the forces of Jessuff, sent to the relief
of the garrison ; but, assisted by the vessels, he succeed-
ed in repelling them. He pressed hard for further sup-
plies, to enable him and Hamet to march against Tripoli
itself. But Barren, who knew the exceedingly econom-
ical spirit of the government, and who had no great
faith in Eaton's project, doubted whether he was author-
ized to grant any thing more. Indeed, a negotiation
was already on foot, conducted by Lear, who had suc-
ceeded O'Brien as consul at Algiers, which soon result-
ed in a treaty of peace.
This treaty provided for an exchange of prisoners, man June 3.
for man, as far as they would go. But as Jessuff had a
surplus of about two hundred prisoners, $60,000 was to
be paid by way of ransom for them No further aid was
V— NN
562 HISTORY OP THE CTNITED STATES.
CHAPTER to be furnished to Hamet, Jessuff stipulating, however, to
_ give up his wife and children, who had been detained at
1805 Tripoli. When Eaton and his Christian troops were
withdrawn from Derne, that unhappy adventurer him-
self embarked also, as having no other refuge either from
the revenge of his brother or the despair of his own ad-
herents. This abrupt termination of the war was by no
means agreeable either to Hamet or Eaton, both of whom
considered themselves very badly treated. And there
were those in America to whom the peace seemed some-
what hasty ; especially as pains had been taken to send
to the Mediterranean nine of Jefferson's gun -boats, with
their guns stowed in their holds, also two bomb-ketches,
built at Preble's suggestion, re-enforcements to Barren's
fleet, which arrived just after peace was concluded. It
seemed singular to many that a peace should have been
made just as the American squadron had learned the true
method of attack, and had been provided with proper
means for it, possessing, also, an opportunity for a land
co-operation — a peace including the concession of paying
ransom for the prisoners, which had all along been the
great point of dispute.
Loud threats of war had recently been uttered by Tu-
nis, in consequence of the capture of two or three vessels
of that regency which had attempted to evade the block-
ade of Tripoli. But Barron's appearance with his whole
fleet off that port soon brought the Bey to terms. He
retracted his threats of war, and asked permission to send
an embassador to the United States to solicit the restora-
tion of his captured vessels.
Since the recommencement of the European war, the
carrying trade of the United States had reached an im-
mense extension, never known before or since> and pro
AMERICAN CARRYING TRADE. 5,63
ductive of vast profits. The vessels employed in this CHAPTER
XVI1L
trade, and especially their valuable cargoes, were tempt- .
ing objects of spoliation to the cruisers of the "belliger- 18Q5'
ents, of whom, since the beginning of the year, Spain
Lad become one, and already many disagreeable annoy-
ances and interruptions began to be experienced. The
trade with St. Domingo, at least the old French part of
it, was carried on by armed ships, and in spite of the
French cruisers, who did their best to break it up. Many
French and Spanish cruisers made captures without the
shadow of a cause, often robbing vessels of which they
could not hope to obtain the condemnation, and mal-
treating the passengers and crews. The whole southern
coast of the United States, and the very entrances ,of the
harbors, were annoyed by these half pirates. But what cre-
ated by far the most alarm was a new view of the rights
of neutrals taken by the British Admiralty Court, going
greatly to curtail the neutral trade of the United States.
According to the modification of the rule of the war of
1756, hitherto recognized by the British orders in coun-
cil, the Americans might lawfully trade to and from the
colonies of the belligerents in produce and goods of all
kinds. They might trade also in the same way with
the mother countries of those colonies, and with Europe
generally. The consequence was, that the carrying to
Europe of the produce of the colonies of France and Hol-
land, and, since the recent accession of Spain to the
French, alliance, of the vast colonies of that country also,
most of them now opened for the first time to foreign
vessels, and the supplying of those colonies with Euro-
pean goods, had fallen almost entirely into American
hands. The only other neutral maritime powers were
Sweden, Denmark, and the Hanse towns ; all of whom,
as well as the United States, were fast growing rich by
564 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
OHAFTER this most profitable business. The colonial produce, or
_J the manufactured goods, as the case might be, were first
'1805 transported to the neutral country and landed there, and
then transhipped to the place of consumption, thus giv-
ing to the neutral a double freight, at rates fixed almost
by himself. The British merchants regarded with envy
the vast profits of this growing commerce. The British
privateersmen and navy officers complained that there
were no longer any prizes to take. The belligerents had
ceased to have merchant vessels or other property aficat
All their colonial produce and manufactured goods were
protected from capture by transportation as neutral
property and under neutral flags. Thus, it was alleged,
was the rule of the war of 1756 wholly evaded. The
commerce between France, Holland, and Spain, and their
respective colonies, was carried on, with some enhance-
ment, indeed, of expense, but in other respects with as
little interruption as in time of the most profound peace ;
while these hostile nations, no longer needing convoys
for their commerce, were enabled to employ all their
ships of war in cruising against British trade, or to con-
centrate them for the invasion of England.
In this state of things, the British courts of admiralty
began to listen to suggestions that this allegation of neu-
tral property was in many, indeed in most cases, a mere
fraud, intended to give to belligerent property a neutral
character ; that it was impossible that the neutral mer-
chants, whether Americans or others, lately possessed of
so little capital, could suddenly have become so immense-
ly rich as to be the real owners of such valuable and
numerous cargoes; that even a landing and tranship-
ment in a neutral country, did not break the continuity
of the voyage, when the goods thus transhipped con-
tinued to belong to the same person, especially when other
MEMBEES OF THE NINTH CONGRESS. 56'5
circumstances tended to show that the property tad been CHAPTER
imported to a neutral country for the very purpose of __
being exported again to a belligerent one. 18.05.
The condemnation, on these grounds, of several Ameri-
can vessels with very valuable cargoes, as soon as it be-
came known in America, led to a series of public meet- Sept
ings in all the principal sea-ports, in which the national ^ov.
government was very loudly called upon for protection
and redress.
These proceedings of the British admiralty courts,
and the by no means friendly disposition evinced by
France and Spain, caused the coming together of the
ninth Congress to be looked forward to with great anxiety.
In both branches of that body the Democrats had an Dec. 2
overwhelming majority. In the Senate the Federalists
were reduced to seven : Plumer, of New Hampshire ;
Pickering and J. Q. Adams, of Massachusetts ; Tracy
and Hillhouse, of Connecticut ; and Bayard and White,
of Delaware. The other twenty-three members were
Democrats, of whom Smith, of Maryland, and Giles, of
Virginia, might be esteemed the leaders. Giles, how-
ever, was absent during most of the session. The other
Democratic members of note were Baldwin and Jackson,
of Georgia, and Dr. Mitchill, of New York. The new
member from New Hampshire was Nicholas Gilman,
brother of the Federal governor, but himself a Democrat.
The Federalists were equally weak in the House.
They could not count above twenty-five members, mostly
from New England. Koger Griswold, of Connecticut,
their leader during the four or five last sessions, had re-
tired. But his former colleagues, Dana, John Cotton
Smith, and Davenport, still maintained their seats ; and
in Josiah Quincy, who had superseded Eustis as the
^Boston representative, the Federalists had \ new mem-
566 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ber who soon made himself conspicuous. Out of the
_J _ '___ seventeen Massachusetts members, the Democrats now,
1805. f°r *ne ^rst time> h&ci a majority, ten in number, among
them Varnum, Crowninshield, and Barnabas Bid well.
Elliot, of Vermont ; Mumford, and George Clinton, a
brother of De Wit, but without his talent, from the
city of New York; Sloan, of New Jersey ; Gregg, Find-
ley, Smilie, Leib, and Clay, of Pennsylvania ; John Ean-
dolph, Thomas M. Eandolph, and Eppes, of Virginia ;
and MacoD, of North Carolina, again reappeared. The
larger part of the members, under the system of rotation
in office, were new, of whom only one or two soared
above mediocrity. Nor could the Congress, taken as a
whole, compare in talent with any of its predecessors.
Macon was again elected speaker, but not till after
three trials, and then only by a bare majority. The
Northern Democrats had grown tired of Southern dicta-
tion, and the greater part of them, thinking it was time
to have their turn, voted for Varnum. The Federal-
ists voted for John Cotton Smith. Macon reappointed
John Eandolph as chairman of the Committee of Ways
and Means ; but the bulk of the Northern Democrats re-
fused any longer to acknowledge him as a leader. Dis-
appointe'd at Jefferson's backwardness in supporting his
radical measures, and at the influence over the president
evidently exercised by Granger and other Northern
Democrats, Eandolph was in a very sore and dissatisfied
state, of which palpable indications very soon appeared.
The president was not able to give an account as to
the condition of foreign affairs so flattering as that in his
former messages. Peace, indeed, had been secured with
Tripoli ; but the conduct of Spain in regard to the Louisi-
ana question — not to mention her belligerent aggres-
sions — especially the conduct of her military officers, who
PRESIDENT'S MESSAG-E. 567
had intruded upon territory hitherto in the possession of CHAPTER
the United States, made it necessary to repel force by
force. Determined and effectual resistance was also re- 1805.
quired to the new principles as to the carrying trade, in •
terpolated by Great Britain into the law of nations.
Such being the doubtful state of foreign affairs, Jef-
ferson again pressed his favorite gun-boat project for
the protection of harbors. Whether it would be neces-
sary to increase the regular army, events in the course
of the session would determine. Meanwhile, he recom-
mended a classification of the militia, so that in any sud-
den emergency the younger and more active portion
might be called separately into the field — a thing often
recommended before and since, and several times taken
in hand by Congress ; but never with success.
Attention was also called to the naval force, and to
a provision of the existing law introduced in accordance
with Jefferson's economical principles (but suspended
during the hostilities with Tripoli), that in time of peace
vessels in commission should have but two-thirds their
complement of men — a piece of unreasonable curtail-
ment, which rendered them quite inefficient. It was
also intimated that there were on hand, collected during
Adams's administration, materials for building six ships
of the line ; but as to what ought to be done with those
materials, the president did not venture on a hint.
During the course of the summer, on the resignation
t>y Lincoln of the attorney generalship, an office in which
he had acquired no great distinction, a change had been
attempted in the Navy Department, by giving Lincoln's
place to Smith, and appointing Crowninshield Secretary
of the Navy. But Crowinshield was too busy in the
field of commerce to accept the office, and Smith returned
again to the Navy Department, the attorney general-
568 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ship being given to Breckenridge, of Kentucky, the busy
_ '__ politicians of which growing state were already very un-
1805 eas7 a* no* haying what they esteemed their fair share
in the distribution of office. Smith wanted the seventy-
fours ; but the prejudices of the Southern Democrats
against the navy were inveterate ; and neither he nor
Jefferson dared openly to ask for them.
This little haste to get ready, notwithstanding the ap-
parent prospect of immediate hostilities with Spain, may
be easily explained. The president and his cabinet flat-
tered themselves that a new sum of money, nominally
paid to Spain, but which would redound also to the bene-
fit of France, since France and Spain were now allies,
might induce France to compel Spain to sell the Flori-
das, or, at least, that portion of them bordering on the
Mississippi. But as the trusting great sums of money
in executive hands for uncertain uses had always been
very pointedly condemned both by Jefferson and Galla-
tin, the administration did not wish openly to broach this
project by asking for the money. In order to obtain it,
apparently, by a voluntary offer of Congress, a message,
covering papers relating to the difficulties with Spain,
was sent to the House, ostensibly for the purpose of re-
. ferring to that body the question whether, and to what
extent, force should be used in repelling Spanish aggres-
sions on the side of Louisiana. This message and the
papers were read with closed doors, and referred to a se-
lect committee, of which Eandolph was chairman. He
was informed, first by the president himself, then by
Madison, and finally by Gallatin, who furnished a plan
for raising the money, that what the administration
wanted was not troops, but two millions of dollars, with
which to commence a new negotiation for purchase.
Madison assured him that, as things now stood, France
SPANISH KELATIONS. 569
would not allow Spain to adjust her differences with us ; CHAPTER
that she wanted money, and we must give it to her, or '_
have a Spanish and French war. But in the soured ig05.
state of Kandolph's mind he declined to allow himself to
be thus used, and he gave Madison and Gallatin, as he
afterward stated, a severe private lecture on this indirect
method of asking for money.
The president then sent for Bidwell and Yarnum.
Bidwell, himself a member of the committee, was timid
indeed, but cunning, supple, and sly. Yarnum was hon-
est, downright, and steady, but never suspected of hav-
ing much head. To these two members the executive
wishes were communicated, and Bidwell made some un-
successful attempts to ingraft them into the report of
the committee. He could not prevail, however, against
the influence of Kandolph, and the report was by no 1&Q6
means what the president wanted. It denounced, as am- Jan. a,
pie cause of war, the conduct of Spain in refusing to
ratify the convention of 1802, and to adjust the bound-
aries of Louisiana ; her obstructions to the trade of the
American settlements on the Tombigbee by her claim
to levy a duty on American produce passing down the
Mobile Kiver ; and her late violations of the American
territory. But as it was the policy of the United States
to improve the present season of extended commerce and
great revenue from it to pay off the public debt, war, if
possible, was to be avoided. By concessions on the side
of Mexico, in which direction the United States claimed
as far as the Kio del Norte, Spain might be induced to
consent to a favorable arrangement of the eastern limits
of Louisiana. Yet troops were essential to guard the
territory of the United States from invasion ; and the
committee recommended the raising of as many as the •
president might deem necessary for that purpose ; and
they reported resolutions to that .effect.
570 HISTOET OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Upon this report a very warm debate arose, still with
_ closed doors. Bidwell offered a substitute for the reso
1806. lotions of the committee, placing in the hands of the ex
ecutive, for extraordinary expenses of foreign intercourse,
two millions of dollars ; and, as a means of reimbursing
this money, which the president was to be authorized to
borrow, continuing the two and a half per cent, addition-
al duty imposed under the name of the Mediterranean
Fund, but which, on account of the peace with Tripoli,
was about to expire. To Eandolph's objection that the
president's message did not ask for money, Varnum
rather indiscreetly rejoined that he knew such to be the
" secret wishes " of the president. Those secret wishes,
thus announced to the House, at once prevailed, and the
resolution of the committee was voted down seventy- two
to fifty-eight, mainly by the Northern Democrats, the
Federalists voting with Eandolph and his adherents.
But the matter did not end here. The debate in se-
cret session was kept up for near a fortnight. Kandolph
desired to prefix a preamble and to make certain amend-
ments to Bid well's resolution, restricting the " extraor-
dinary expenses" therein spoken of to the purchase of
the Spanish territory east of the Mississippi ; and this
was at first agreed to. Attempts were also made to limit
the sum to be thus expended; but these failed. Finally,
indeed, the House retraced its steps, struck out Ean-
dolph's amendment, and passed a bill in the vague terms
of Bid well's original proposal, appropriating the two
millions generally for " extraordinary expenses of foreign
Jan. 16. intercourse ;" which bill was presently sent to the Senate
with a message communicating as the object for which
it was passed " the enabling the president to commence
with more effect a negotiation for the purchase of the
Spanish territories east of the Mississippi."
Randolph succeeded in defeating Bidwell's proposal
RANDOLPH AND THE PKESIDENT. 571
for the continuance of the Mediterranean duties, on the CHAPTER
XV I II.
ground that it was an unwarrantable proceeding to vote
supplies in secret session. Means, however, as we shall 1806.
see, were found, before the end of the session, to carry
that measure also.
From this moment it was open war between Eandolph
and the administration, against whose leading members
that eccentric orator henceforth poured out all his viru-
lence. Varnum, Bidwell, and some five or six others,
through whom the executive wishes were conveyed, as
he said, to a supple and obedient majority, were stigma-
tized now as the president's " back-stairs favorites," and
now as " pages of the presidential water-closet." At first
KandolplVs adherents were quite numerous, but they di-
minished from day to day, and before the end of the
session had dwindled to a very few.
During the pendency of these discussions, all of which
were carried on with closed doors, the government re-
ceived a very pointed insult from Yrujo, the Spanish
minister. Having made his appearance at Washington,
Madison wrote to remind him that the Spanish govern- Jan. IB.
ment, in reply to the solicitation for his recall, had de-
sired that, as leave to return had already been asked for
by him, his departure might take place on that footing.
Under these circumstances, Yrujo's presence at Wash-
ington was, so Madison stated, " dissatisfactory to the
president," who, though he did not insist on his leaving
the United States at this inclement season, yet expected
his departure as soon as that obstacle was removed. To
this letter Yrujo made two replies. In the one he insist-
ed on his perfect right, both as an individual and a pub-
lic minister, not engaged in any plots against the United
States, to continue his residence at the City of Washing-
ton, which he intended to do so long as suited his per-
572 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER sonal convenience and the interests of the king his mas-
ter. In the other letter he informed Madison " that the
1806 envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his
Catholic majesty near the United States receives no or-
ders except from his sovereign ;" and to this announce-
ment he added a solemn protest against Madison's inva-
sion of his diplomatic rights ; intimating, also, his inten-
tion to communicate to all the other ministers accredited
to the United States a copy of the correspondence. To
this insolence on the part of Yrujo Jefferson and his
cabinet very quietly submitted ; and, indeed, they were
subjected to still greater humiliation from the same quar-
ter. It was in relation to this affair that John Q. Adams
presently introduced into the Senate a bill to prevent
the abuse of the privileges enjoyed by foreign ministers,
giving to the president authority to order their departure
in certain cases. Nothing, however, came of this bill ;
and, in fact, its passage would have been an implied dec
laration that in the case of Yrujo the president had at-
tempted to exercise an authority which did not belong
to him.
We have had occasion to mention in a previous chap-
ter the scheme of Miranda for liberating the Spanish
American colonies from political dependence on the
mother country. The renewal of friendly relations be*
tween France and the United States, followed as it
speedily had been by the peace of Amiens, had cut short
Miranda's first scheme in which he had hoped to obtain
the joint assistance of Great Britain and the United
States. He returned to Paris in 1804, but, being accused
of intrigues against Bonaparte's government, he was
again sent away. The present position of Spain, espe-
cially the misunderstanding which had arisen between
her and the American government, seemed to favor a
MIRANDA'S EXPEDITION 673
renewal of his projects ; and about the beginning of the CHAPTER
current year, bringing letters of introduction to Mr. Jef- '__
ferson, he had arrived in the United States, with the 1806.
purpose of fitting out an expedition having for its object
to revolutionize the province of Caraccas, the same which
now constitues the republic of Venezuela. Even apart
from a natural feeling of sympathy for Miranda's polit-
ical principles and objects, as things then stood between
Spain and the United States, any such embarrassment
to Spain was not likely to be disagreeable to the Amer-
ican government. Miranda used, indeed, a certain de-
gree of reserve, and carried on his preparations with se-
crecy; but, while those preparations were making at
New York, he resided for some time at Washington, in
habits of intimacy with Jefferson and Madison ; and it
was afterward believed that the act prohibiting the ex-
portation of arms had been dropped for his special con-
venience. It is certain, that a Mr. Ogden, of New York,
whose ship, the Leander, was chartered by Miranda, and
that William S. Smith, John Adams's son-in-law, who
held at this time the lucrative post of surveyor of that
port, and who was engaged in furthering Miranda's pre-
parations, both believed that he was secretly counten-
anced by the government. Presently the Leander sailed
from New York, having on board Miranda, a supply of February
arms, and two or three hundred men enlisted for the
enterprise. Soon after her departure the matter began
to be talked of in the newspapers ; and the government,
alarmed lest they might be compromitted with the Span-
ish, ordered prosecutions to be commenced against Og- March,
den and Smith. They presented memorials to Congress, Apr "i
setting forth that they had entered into the enterprise
having every reason to believe, from the representations
of Miranda, that he was secretly supported und encour-
574 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER aged by the government. The House resolved by a
'__ very large majority, a few of the Federalists in the nega-
1806. tiye> tna* there was no reason to give credit to the im-
Aprfl 21. putations attempted to be cast on the administration by
these memorials, and that they appeared to have been
presented with insidious designs. Another resolution,
that it would be highly improper in the House to take
any step that might influence or prejudice a cause pend-
ing before a legal tribunal, was agreed to unanimously
July. Yet, when the case came on for trial, Ogden and Smith
were acquitted by the jury on this very ground that the
government had countenanced the enterprise ; and the
circumstance that the president, alleging that he needed
their services at "Washington, had interposed his author-
ity to prevent the attendance of his cabinet ministers,
who had been summoned as witnesses by the defendants,
served to assure the public that the verdict was correct.
In consequence of this affair, Smith lost his office, as
did also Swartwout, the marshal, Burr's friend, whose
selection of a jury, and whose testimony in the case, were
by no means satisfactory to the president. The expedi-
tion itself ended, two or three months after, in a com-
plete failure. Miranda obtained some assistance from
the English, and took possession of two or three towns
on the coast of Caraccas. But the inhabitants would
not listen to his proffers of liberty. Two transports, with
some sixty Americans on board, were taken by the Span-
iards. The rest returned to Trinidad, where the expe-
dition dispersed and broke up.
Meanwhile the attempt proceeded to arrange by means
of the two millions appropriated for that purpose the
difficulties with Spain. " A last effort at friendly settle-
ment with Spam is proposed to be made at Paris, and
under the auspices of France ;" so wrote Jefferson to his
SPANISH AGGRESSIONS. 575
confidential friend Wilson C. Nicholas. " For this pur- CHAPTER
XVII1..
pose, General Armstrong and Mr. Bowdoin (both now
at Paris) have been appointed joint commissioners ; but 1806.
such a cloud of dissatisfaction rests on General Arm- March 24
strong in the minds of many persons, on account of a
late occurrence stated in the public papers, that we have
iii contemplation to add a third commissioner, in order
to give the necessary measure of public confidence to the
commission." Bowdoin, a son of the late James Bow-
doin of Massachusetts, but in no respect equal to his
father, had been rewarded for his adherence to Jeffer-
sonian polities' by the mission to Spain, as successor to
Charles Pinckney— the ruinous state of whose private
pecuniary affairs had demanded his presence at home,
where he was soon again chosen governor. The feeling
against Armstrong grew out of his interference, irregu-
lar and. unauthorized, as it was maintained, to prevent
the payment by France of a claim under the Louisiana
treaty, already allowed by the American commission,
but as to which Armstrong entertained suspicions, that
the property was English. The Senate, out of an u un-
just indignation," so Jefferson esteemed it, refused, by a
tie vote, to confirm Armstrong's nomination as joint
commissioner, and in consequence of this refusal the
project of a third commissioner was dropped ; but al-
ready the two millions had been forwarded, by the
sloop of war Hornet, with instructions to Armstrong
and Bowdoin, how to employ it.
The defeat of Trafalgar, by alarming the Spaniards
had delayed an intended transfer of troops from the Ha
vana to operate against Louisiana. But the negotiation
for which the two millions had been voted came to noth-
ing ; and while that negotiation was still pending, the
Spaniard? again resumed a hostile attitude. On the
576 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Bide of Mexico, the American claim extended to the Rio
\ viir
t '_ Grande. The Spaniards, on the other hand, would have
1806 limited Louisiana by the Mermentau and a very narrow
strip along the west bank of the Mississippi. The Sa-
bine had hitherto been regarded, on both sides, as a son
of provisional boundary ; but the Spanish commander in
Texas crossed that river with a body of irregular horse,
and occupied the settlement at Bayou Pierre, on the Eed
River, a few miles above Natchitoches, the westernmost
American military station. It was deemed necessary to
repel this aggression, and orders were sent to General
Wilkinson, at St. Louis, at once commander-in-chief of
the American army and governor of the Louisiana Ter-
ritory, to re-enforce, from the posts in Louisiana, the four
or five hundred regulars in the Territory of Orleans, and
himself to take command there, with the view of driving
back the Spaniards.
These difficulties with Spain, however embarrassing,
were of far less importance than the relations with Great
Britain, which had begun to assume a very dubious char-
acter. During the previous summer, in an earnest cor-
respondence with Merry, successor to Liston as minister
from the British court, Madison had undertaken to main-
tain the doctrine, better sustained by a competent naval
force than by any paper arguments, that a neutral flag
ought to protect from seizure or impressment all those
sailing under it, of whatever nation they might be ; and
Monroe had been instructed to urge the same thing at
London. To these old difficulties about impressment
were now added the new doctrines of the British admi-
ralty courts as to the carrying trade.
The subject of the invasion of neutral rights by the
belligerents had been referred, on the third day of the
session, to the Committee of Ways and Means, against
RELATIONS WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 577
the efforts of Bidwell, who wanted a special committee; CHAPTER
xvui.
but, though this committee early applied to the State De-
partment for facts, they received no answer for several
weeks. Meanwhile a new communication was made to
Congress by the president, under an injunction of secre-
cy, of parts of Monroe's diplomatic correspondence from
London, and also of various memorials from the mari-
time towns remonstrating against the new British doc-
trines. The Committee of Ways and Means also com- Jan. 29.
municated to the House an elaborate report on neutral
rights, which the Secretary of State had drawn up to be
presented to the president, and which he had sent to the
committee by way of answer to their inquiries. All
these documents were referred to a Committee of the
Whole, along with a resolution offered by Gregg, of
Pennsylvania, proposing to retaliate upon Great Britain
for her impressments and invasion of neutral rights by
prohibiting all importations of goods the produce of
Great Britain or any of her colonies.
This was but a revival of Madison's old schemes for
bringing Great Britain to reason by commercial restric-
tions. That it proceeded directly from the cabinet, or
rather from Jefferson and Madison — for the other mem-
bers seem not to have been consulted — may well be con-
jectured from the republication not long previously in
the National Intelligencer of the non-importation, non-
consumption, and non-exportation agreement of 1774,
accompanied by some very grandiloquent observations
in the usual style of that journal, which foreshadowed
the whole course of policy ultimately pursued. " What
would England say to an imposition of heavy duties on
her manufactured fabrics, the want of which we could
supply in other markets ? What would she say to re-
fusing permission to any of her ships to enter our har-
V.— Oo
678 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER bors ? What would she say to withholding all supplies
from her islands ? "What would she say to an embargo ?
1806. What would she say to a prohibition of all intercourse ?
Pacific as the disposition of America is, it may be that
the storm will burst before foreign nations are aware of
it. But let them recollect that the thunder has long
rolled at a distance — that they were long since warned
of the danger of awakening the lion."
?eb. 5. Smith, of Maryland, as chairman of a Senate con>
mittee to whom had been referred the subject of British
aggressions, reported in favor of the imposition of duties
on certain enumerated articles, to take effect within a lim-
ited time, if Britain did not previously give satisfaction.
This system of policy was very warmly opposed by
Eandolph as leading directly to war. As to the impress
ment of our seamen, he suggested that, although it was
now made very much of by certain speakers, being a
grievance well calculated to touch the popular feeling,
yet that the nation had been content to bear it undei
three administrations for twelve years past, not indeed,
without indignant remonstrances, yet without pushing
the matter to extremity ; nor did he see any ground, at
present, for a change of policy in that particular.
His views on the subject of neutral rights will ap-
pear by the following extract from one of his speeche?
" What is the question in dispute ? The carrying trade.
What part of it ? The fair, the honest, the useful trade
which is engaged in carrying our own productions to for-
eign markets and bringing back their productions in ex
change ? No, sir ; it is that carrying trade which covers
enemy's property, and carries, under a neutral flag, cof-
fee, sugar, and other colonial products, the property of
belligerents. If this great agricultural country is to be
governed by Salem and Boston, New York and Phila-
VIEWS Otf KAtfDOLPfl.
delphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk, and Charleston, let gen-
tlemen come out and say so, and let a committee of '
safety be appointed from those towns to carry on the 1806
government. I, for one, will not mortgage my property
and my liberty to carry on this trade. The nation said
so seven years ago. I said so then, and I say so now.
It is not for the honest trade of America, but for this
mushroom, this fungus of war — for a trade which, so
Boon as the nations of Europe are at peace, will no lon-
ger exist — it is for this that the spirit of avaricious traffic
would plunge us into war.
" I will never consent to go to war for that which I
can not protect I deem it no disgrace to say to the le-
viathan of the deep, we are unable to contend with you
in your own element, but if you come within our actual
limits, we will shed our last drop of blood in defense of
our territory. I am averse to a naval war with any na-
tion whatever. I was opposed to the naval war of the
last administration ; I am as ready to oppose a naval
war by the present administration, should they contem-
plate such a measure."
On these questions of going to war in defense of neu-
tral rights, or the rights of seamen, Randolph spoke the
sentiments of the great bulk of the supporters of the ad-
ministration from the Southern and Middle States— ^in-
deed, those of the administration itself. To go to war
with Great Britain was at this time the last thing in
the intention of the government. Madison had always
maintained, from the first Congress downward, that his
scheme of commercial compulsion was pacific in its na-
ture ; and the present bill was advocated in the House,
in opposition to Randolph, by most of the administration
members as an eminently peaceful measure. Yet al-
ready appeared the germ of that war party which ulti-
580 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER matelj got the control of the government, and plunged
' Madison, in spite of himself, into a var which he depre
1806 cated. Crowninshield dwelt with animation, should war
result, upon the ease with which Canada and Nova Sco-
tia might be taken by the militia of Vermont and Mas-
sachusetts alone, and the immense damage which might
be done to British commerce by American privateers.
" Because, during the [Revolutionary war," said Kan
dolph in reply, " at a time when Great Britain was not
mistress of the ocean, privateers of this country trespassed
on her commerce, the gentleman from Massachusetts has
settled it that we are not only capable of contending with
Great Britain on the ocean, but that we are, in fact, her
superior. To my mind, nothing is more clear than that,
if we go to war with Great Britain, Charleston and Bos-
ton, the Chesapeake and the Hudson, will be invested
by British squadrons. "Will you call on the Count de
Grasse to relieve you, or shall we apply to Admiral Gra-
vina, or Admiral Yilleneuve, to raise the blockade ?"
This last question was particularly pointed, news having
just arrived in America of the total defeat of the com*
bined Spanish and French fleets, commanded by these
-two admirals, in the famous battle of Trafalgar, by which
the naval power of Bonaparte was annihilated.
" But not only is there a prospect of gathering glory,
and, what seems to the gentleman from Massachusetts
much dearer, profit from privateering, you will be able
also to make a conquest of Canada and Nova Scotia. In-
deed ! Then, sir, we shall catch a Tartar. I have no
desire to see on this floor representatives of the French
Canadians, or of the Tory refugees of Nova Scotia."
He questioned the policy of throwing the United States,
from any motive, into the scale of France, so as to aid the
views of her gigantic policy, aiming at supreme dominion
VIEWS OF RANDOLPH. 5B1
by sea as well as by land. " Take away the Britisli
navy," he exclaimed, " and France to-morrow is the
tyrant of the ocean." Kandolph had not, like so many
other of his late party associates, transferred to the Em-
peror Napoleon that extravagant attachment which he
had once entertained for the French republic. He had
begun, indeed, so far to agree with the Federalists as to
regard Great Britain, in the struggle going on in Europe,
as the champion of the liberties of the world against an
audacious aspirant to universal empire.
The tameness of the administration toward the Span-
iards, who had actually invaded our territory, and
whom it would be easy to meet, was very sarcastically
contrasted with the administration's readiness to risk a
war with Great Britain; a war which must be mainly
on the ocean, and which there could be no hope of carry-
ing on effectually, except as the ally of France. The
impropriety of taking so hostile a step while negotiations
with England were still pending was also strongly urged ;
especially as news arrived in the course of the debate of
Pitt's death, and the accession to power of Fox, from
whom a more favorable disposition toward America
might reasonably be expected.
After great debates in both houses, this scheme of
policy took its final shape in a law, founded upon a reso- Fdb, 10.
lution offered by Nicholson, prohibiting the importation
from Great Britain or her dependencies, or from any
other country, of any of the following articles of British
production : manufactures of leather, silk, hemp, flax,
tin, or brass ; woolen cloths above the invoice value of a
dollar and a quarter the square yard ; woolen hosiery,
glass, silver or plated wares, paper, nails, spikes, hats,
ready-made clothing, millinery, beer, ale, porter, play-
ing-cards, pictures, or prints. But, to give time for in-
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
termediate negotiations, the commencement of the pro
hibition was postponed till the middle of November.
1806. This act Passed the House by a pure party vote, ninety
March 26. three to thirty-two. The Federalists to a man voted
against it, and along with them six or seven " Quids,"
as they were called — the whole number of partisans that
Kandolph could muster when it came to the question of
separating from the administration.
Whatever may be thought of the general soundness
of Kandolph's judgment, or of the motives of his present
opposition, certain it is that he took in this case the more
statesmanlike view. But, in voting with him, the Fed-
eralists by no means accepted all his opinions. They did
not join in his depreciation of the carrying trade, partly
instigated, perhaps, by envy of the great fortunes which
the Northern merchants were rapidly acquiring by it ;
and borrowed by him from a pamphlet recently pub
lished in England, entitled " War in Disguise ; or, the
Frauds of Neutral Flags," in which the new doctrines
of the British admiralty courts were ably vindicated.
The Federalists were far from considering neutral rights
as not worth contending for, even at the risk of hostili-
ties. Those rights, however, in their opinion, could de-
rive little or no support from commercial restrictions,
themselves a great embarrassment to commerce, and
quite unsupported by any serious measures of prepara-
tion for war — measures which the ruling party seemed
not at all inclined to adopt.
The old empty formality was indeed re-enacted of
authorizing the president to call into service, should he
deem it necessary, a hundred thousand militia or volun-
teers. A bill was also introduced prohibiting the ex-
portation of arms ; but it was dropped before reaching its
final stage. An appropriation was made of $150,000
MILITARY AND NAVAL PREPARATIONS. 583
for the fortification of forts and harbors — an amount CHAPTER
ridiculed by the Federalists as not a quarter enough to |_
fortify New York alone, but defended by the adminis- 1806.
tration party on the ground that the Secretary of War
had asked for no more, and that this sum was needed,
not for new fortifications, but merely to keep the old
ones in repair.
A committee to whom that subject had been referred,
had reported in favor of completing the six ships of the
line. But so far was that measure from being adopted,
that an appropriation was refused even for the repair of
two or three of the frigates which had fallen into decay,
the president being authorized to sell them instead. The
great war measure adopted by Congress at this commence-
ment of a struggle for maritime rights was the appropria-
tion of $250,000 for the building of fifty additional gun-
boats. Under appropriations made during the hostilities
with Tripoli, the Hornet sloop of war had been equipped.
The Wasp was launched about this time. These two
fine sloops were the last additions made to the American
navy for more than six years, during all which time the
prospect of war was imminent ; nor was it till some time
after war had actually broken out that the building of
ships was recommenced. So far from laying up addi-
tional materials ready for use, the frames on hand, of the
six ships of the line, were presently cut up for the addi-
tional gun-boats. Even the few vessels already pos-
sessed were mostly laid up in ordinary, and this at a
time when, according to the president's own statement,
in his opening message to Congress, our principal har-
bors were fairly blockaded, not only by belligerent ships
of war little enough disposed to respect either the neu-
tral rights or the laws of the United States, but by
piratical privateers, which did not hesitate to capture
684 HISTOEY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER American vessels on the flimsiest pretenses, even within
/ American waters. The president, indeed, was nomin-
1806 *^y autnorized to keep in actual service as many public
armed vessels as he might deem necessary ; but the total
number of seamen to be employed was limited to nine
hundred and twenty-five — not enough to man three
frigates, of which two were required for the Mediterranean
service.
The Federal members had remarked, with some in-
dignation, that, however grudging Congress might be of
grants for the protection of commerce and shipping, all
the large sums required for the benefit of the inland
frontier, to carry out the treaties made the preceding
summer with the Indians, were readily voted. To these
were added several appropriations for internal improve-
ments, the sum of $30.000 being appropriated out of the
treasury (but chargeable ultimately upon the two per
cent, fund, under the compact with Ohio, of proceeds
of the public lands) toward laying out a road over the
Alleghany Mountains, from Cumberland in the State of
Maryland, to the Ohio River — commencement of the fa-
mous Cumberland Road. The president was also author-
ized to expend $6,600 in opening a road from Athens,
on the frontier of Georgia, toward New Orleans ; also
the sum of $6000 upon another road from Cincinnati to
the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis, through the territory r
just ceded by the Indians. A like sum was also appro-
priated towards re-opening the old road through the
Chickasaw country from Nashville to Natchez.
The renewed African slave trade of South Carolina
being carried on with great vigor, the question of a tax
on slaves imported was again revived by Sloan. After
some very angry debate, in which the blame of the traf-
fic was bandied about between South Carolina, by which
SLAVE TBADB. 585
tlie importation was allowed, and Ehode Island, accused CHAPTER
of furnishing ships for the business, a bill, in spite of .,,...
all the efforts of the ultra slaveholders, was ordered to 1806.
be brought in by a decided majority. But the subject
was finally allowed to go over to the next session, when
it would be competent for Congress to provide for the
final cessation of the traffic.
General Eaton, returning from the Mediterranean, had
arrived at Hampton Eoads about the commencement of
the session of Congress. He was received with many
compliments at Kichmond, on his way to Washington,
and was honored there, in conjunction with Decatur,
with a complimentary dinner, at which was present,
among other guests, the famous General Moreau, lately
exiled from France. The peace with Tripoli was gener-
ally ascribed to Eaton's enterprise and gallantry in get-
ting up the attack upon Derne. The opinion, indeed,
was entertained by many, that had he been duly sup-
ported, a much more favorable peace might have been
obtained. Eaton freely expressed, especially when heat-
ed with wine, his disgust at what he called the " pusil-
lanimous conduct and sly policy" of the administration ;
and the consequence was, that a resolution, early brought
forward to honor him with a gold medal, was vehement-
ly opposed, postponed, and finally lost. The Legislature
of Massachusetts, in which state Eaton's family resided,
presented him with ten thousand acres of wild land in
the District of Maine ; and he succeeded, though not
without some difficulty and obstructions, in bringing his
accounts with the United States to a settlement. The
whole cost of the Derne expedition was about $40,000.
Congress also voted $2400 for the temporary relief of the
unfortunate Hamet, who had been landed at Syracuse b)
the American fleet, and who sent thence an indignant
586 HISTORY' OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER complaint at the bad faith with which he had been treat-
XVIII.
,. ed, his agreement with Eaton not having been carried
1806. OTltJ an(^ he himself having been left at Syracuse with a
family of thirty persons, totally destitute of means of
support.
The Tunisian embassador, who had arrived about the
same time with Eaton, had been received with much
ceremony. He was entertained at the public expense,
insisting, in fact, upon having the best house in Wash-
ington ; and he visited, at the same expense, the prin-
cipal cities. One advantage, at least, Jefferson derived
from his presence ; for just at the close of the session of
Congress, under pretense of some inadmissible demands
said to have been made by him, which might perhaps
end in war, Congress was prevailed upon to continue the
Mediterranean duties; and thus the whole scheme of
the administration, as originally suggested by Bid well in
secret session, was carried out.
These sittings with closed doors, of which there had
been several during the session, did not fail greatly to
pique the public curiosity. The Federal prints triumph-
antly reminded the Democrats of the clamor which they
had been accustomed to raise about secrecy in public
transactions; and they asserted, not without grounds,
that, ever since Jefferson's accession to office, a mystery
had enshrouded the foreign relations of the country such
as never had existed during the two preceding adminis-
trations. The secret gradually leaked out, and finally
the journal of the secret session was directed to be pub-
lished, though without any removal of the injunction of
secrecy upon the members. Eandolph complained that
the published journal was garbled ; and from his state-
ment of the confidential communications to him by Mad-
ison and Gallatin, first made in one of the sittings with
SECBET SESSIONS. 681
closed doors toward the end of the session, the idea CHAFFER
sprang up that the two millions voted in secret session ^^_
was wanted as a bribe to France, thereby to induce her 1305,
to compel Spain to come to a reasonable arrangement as
to the boundaries of Louisiana. Such a counterpart to
Monroe's old scheme of hiring France to compel Spain
and Great Britain to do us justice, found at once very
ready credence with the Federalists ; and what served
to confirm this belief was the carrying through of Lo-
gan's bill, rejected by the last Congress, for prohibiting
all intercourse with Dessalines and his empire of Hayti
• — a law, however, which it was easier to enact than to
enforce. Turreau and Talleyrand, with very little cere-
mony, had threatened war if such an act were not pass-
ed. Jackson and some other of the Southern members
were inclined to put its passage on the ground of the
general duty of discountenancing negro insurrection.
Jefferson's views of the state of foreign affairs, of the
proceedings of Congress, and of the defection of Kan-
dolph, are apparent from letters written during the ses-
sion. He assured Duane, of the Aurora, that the point
of difference with Eandolph was, that the administration
" were not disposed to join in league with Britain under
any belief that she is fighting for the liberties of man-
kind, and to enter into war with Spain, and, consequent-
ly with France," — an artful appeal to Duane's strong
anti- British antipathies — which feeling, indeed, joined
to a panic terror of the power of France, seemed to form
the key-stone of Jefferson's foreign policy. The battle
of Trafalgar, by its destruction of the French marine,
had completely disabled Bonaparte from any military or
naval enterprises, so far as America was concerned. But,
dazzled by the overthrow of Austria at Austerlitz, soon
followed by the dissolution of the Geiman Empire, and
588 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
OHAJTKR by the battle of Jena and the dismemberment of Prussia,
' Jefferson and his cabinet continued to look to France
'
1806 w^k & fear quite disproportioned to any power she had
left of doing us injury, and with a sympathy, too, not-
withstanding her lapse from republican principles, which
common hostility to Great Britain continued to inspire.
Yet though recent events had contributed to enflame
his hostility to Great Britain, Jefferson's preference of
negotiation to force was by no means confined to the
April 19. case of Spain. An earnest seemed to be given that a
sincere negotiation was intended with the Brittsh also
by the nomination and appointment, just at the close of
the session, of William Pinkney, of Maryland, as joint
commissioner with Monroe for that purpose. Pinkney
had first risen to notice by his earnest advocacy of Jay's
treaty, under which he had been subsequently appoint-
ed one of the commissioners for the adjudication of Am-
erican claims against the British, in which capacity he
had resided for several years at London. Since his re-
turn he had confined himself to the practice of his pro
fession, and in that capacity had risen to the head of the
Maryland bar. It was to strengthen the hands of these
negotiators that the prospective restrictions on importa-
tions from England had been enacted.
But though the administration had succeeded in carry-
ing all their measures through Congress, their weakness
April is. in that body was sensibly felt. " I wish sincerely," so
Jefferson wrote to Wilson C. Nicholas, " you were back
in the Senate, and that you would take the necessary
measures to get yourself there. Perhaps, as a prelimi-
nary, you should go to our Legislature. Giles's absence
has been a most serious misfortune. A majority of the
Senate means well. But Tracy and Bayard are too dex-
terous for them, and have very much influenced the:r
JEFFERSON AND RANDOLPH. 689
proceedings. Tracy has been on nearly every commit- CHAPTER
tee during the session, and for the most part the chair- '
man, and, of course, drawer of the reports. Seven Fed-
eralists voting always in phalanx, and joined by some
discontented Kepublicans, some oblique ones, some ca-
pricious, have so often made a majority as to produce
very serious embarrassment to public operations ; and
very much do I dread the submitting to them, at the
next session, any treaty which can be made either with
England or Spain, when I consider that five joining
the Federalists can defeat a friendly settlement of our
affairs.
" The House of Kepresentatives is as well disposed as
ever I saw one. The defection of so prominent a leader
(.Randolph) threw them into confusion and dismay for a
moment ; but they soon rallied to their own principles,
and let him go off with five or six followers only. One
half of these are from Virginia. His late declaration
of perpetual hostility to this administration drew off a
few others who at first had joined him, supposing his
opposition occasional only and not systematic. The
alarm the House has had from this schism has produced
a rallying together and a harmony which carelessness
and security had begun to endanger."
Randolph's declaration of eternal hostility to the ad-
ministration was not without a strong bearing on the
next presidential election. "Within two or three years
past a new Eepublican paper had been established at
Richmond, called the Enquirer, and edited by Thomas
Ritchie, who was described in a cotemporary Federal
journal as " a young man who seems to have his brain
confused by a jumble of crude and absurd notions, which
he mistakes for philosophy.'7 But a little confusion of
ideas is seldom of any disadvantage to a party politician ;
590 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER and Ritchie wrote in a warm, flowing, gossipy style, and
_J with a degree of tact and ability, and especially of earn-
1806. estness, which soon placed his paper very decidedly at
the head of the Southern journals. Shortly after Jeffer-
son's second inauguration, apprehensions had begun tc
be expressed, both in the Enquirer and the Aurora, that
Jefferson might be pressed to stand for a third term,
against which those papers warmly protested, as leading
directly toward despotism ; very apt to be the result, as
they observed, of too implicit a confidence in their lead-
ers on the part of the people ; and presently the Enquirer
took upon itself to declare, upon what authority does not
clearly appear, that Jefferson would not consent to be a
candidate for a third election.
Madison had long been marked out by Jefferson, at
least so far as their private correspondence went, as his
destined successor. Of course, the president must be
selected from Virginia. But Monroe had warm friends ;
Randolph and all the discontented Southern Democrats
rallied about him, and the Aurora was also inclined to
give him support. Seeing that a serious controversy
was likely to arise, Jefferson at once took up a position
May 4. of apparent neutrality ; but in a letter to Monroe, he
warned him against Randolph as a partisan likely to do
him more harm- than good.
While Jefferson thus confined himself, as usual, to
epistolary correspondence, Randolph presently took the
-August, field in a long communication, published in the Rich-
mond Enquirer (with some apologies on the part of the
editor for this seeming opposition to the administration,
and for violating the Congressional injunction of secre-
cy), in which a full history was given of all th» proceed-
ings in secret session in relation to the appropriation of
the two millions for extraordinary diplomatic expenses.
AFFAIRS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 593
The Aurora, smarting, as its enemies alleged, under the CHAPTER
loss of its printing and stationery contracts, inclined to
support [Randolph's views, and assailed the administra- igo@
tion with a good deal of vigor, but this joint attack failed,
entirely, to produce the effect which its authors seem to
have expected from it.
Meanwhile the local politics of Pennsylvania contin-
ued in a very agitated state. M'Kean having secured
his re-election by the combined votes of the Constitu-
tionalists and the Federalists, had exercised his preroga-
tive by turning out of the offices held at his pleasure all
the active Friends of the People — in other words, all the
more vehement Democrats. As a reward to the Federal-
ists for their aid, the chief justiceship of the state, on
Shippen's resignation, was given to William Tilghman, May.
one of the Federal judges whom the repeal of Adams's
judiciary act had stripped of their offices. A host of li-
bel suits were also commenced by the governor ; and the
Aurora exclaimed that the reign of terror had begun !
Fortunately, however, for Duane, the new chief justice,
while not inferor to M'Kean in legal knowledge, far sur-
passed that Democratic champion in moderation, calm-
ness, sentiment of equity, and sincere regard for the free-
dom of the press. Not long after Tilghman's appoint-
ment, Duane was bound over by the mayor of Philadel-
phia on a criminal charge of libel. Following the prec-
edent established by M'Kean in Cobbett's case, the
mayor required him to give security to keep the peace
in the mean time. But Duane had once already been
caught in that trap. He refused to give security, went
to jail, and was taken thence on habeas corpus before
Chief-justice Tilghman, who, without absolutely declar- July
ing M'Kean's conduct in Cobbett's case illegal, yet refused
to follow it as a precedent, and discharged Duane with-
692 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER out requiring securities ; thus giving a final quietus to
that formidable contrivance for muzzling the press.
1806. Tne sickness of Judge Patterson, leaving Pierrepont
Edwards to sit as sole judge in the Circuit Court for the
District of Connecticut, led to an attempt on his part to
revive, for the benefit of the democratic party, the old
Federal doctrine of a common law criminal jurisdiction
A.priL m the United States courts. Under his instructions, a
grand jury, specially selected by the Democratic mar-
shal, found bills of indictment at common law against
Tappan Eeeve, one of the judges of the Superior Court
of Connecticut, for writing, and against the publisher of
a Litchfield paper for printing, an alleged libel against
Jefferson. A young candidate for the ministry was also
indicted, charged with having spoken disrespectfully of
the president in a Thanksgiving sermon ; and being ar-
rested and carried to New Haven, where he had no ac-
quaintances, he was obliged to lie a week in jail before
he could obtain bail. Other similar indictments were
afterwards found, especially one against the publisher of
the Connecticut Courant, for having charged Jefferson
with sending the two millions to Paris as a bribe to
France. Five years after (1811), this latter case was
finally adjudicated in the Supreme Court of the United
States, upon which occasion the important decision was
first formally made (though the Democratic party had
always held to the doctrine) that the courts of the United
States have no criminal jurisdiction not expressly con-
ferred upon them by statute.
In Massachusetts the Democratic party continued to
gain ground. Governor Strong was re-elected by a very
small majority ; but the Democrats obtained a majority
in both branches of the Legislature, and with it the se-
lection of the governor's council.
ENGLISH AGGRESSIONS. 593
The politics of New York took, in some respects, a CHAPTER
XVIII
course similar to those of Pennsylvania, The Federal-
ists, in those parts of the state where they had no hope 1806.
of electing their own candidates, united with the Liv-
ingstons, or Lewisites, as they began now to be called,
against the Clintonians, whose influence, in consequence,
was pretty much circumscribed to the city of New York.
Shortly after the adjournment of Congress, the citi-
zens of New York were greatly excited by the death of
Peirce, captain of a coasting vessel, killed within the
jurisdiction of the United States by a cannon shot from
the Leander, a British ship of war hovering off that har-
bor. To a request from the Common Council of that April 28.
city for two or three ships to keep these foreign cruisers
in order, the administration could only reply by send-
ing a copy of the act of Congress for the naval peace
establishment, and by an impotent proclamation order-
ing the offending vessel out of the waters of the United
States. And yet, with a singular but characteristic dis-
proportion of means to ends, Jefferson could write to Maj 4
Monroe, " We begin to broach the idea that we consider
the whole Gulf Stream as of our waters, in which hos-
tilities and cruising are to be frowned on for the present,
and prohibited as soon as either consent or force will
permit us. We shall never permit another privateer to
cruise within it, and shall forbid our harbors to national
cruisers."
V.— PP
594 HISTORY" OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER XIX.
BURR'S MYSTERIOUS ENTERPRISE. AFFAIRS OF KENT UCK T
SECOND SESSION OF THE NINTH CONGRESS. ABOLITION
OF THE FOREIGN SLAVE TRADE. BONAPARTE'S CONTI
NENTAL SYSTEM. BERLIN DECREE. REJECTION OF THF
TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN. BURR'S TRIAL. AFFAIR
OF THE CHESAPEAKE. ALARMING STATE OF FOREIGN
RELATIONS.
CHAPTER JL HE late vice-president, Burr, Lad descended from oi'
_ fice an utterly ruined and a desperate man, his passion
1805. ^or distinction, power, and wealth undiminished. but all
March o. regular and legitimate paths thereto wholly closed upon
him. Already the seconds in his late duel with Ham-
ilton had been found guilty, in New York, of being con-
cerned in arrangements for the duel, and, under a re-
cent statute to that effect, had been sentenced to twenty
years' incapacity to hold any civil office. Should Bun
return to New York, he could expect for himself no bet-
ter fate. The New Jersey indictment for murder still
hung over him ; and though Governor Bloomfield had
been his personal friend, in spite of all the urging of Dal-
las and others, he refused to direct a nolle prosequi to
"be entered. Burr's pecuniary were in no better state
than his political affairs. His acceptance of the vice*
presidency had interrupted his business as a lawyer, from
which he had derived large profits ; his creditors had
seized all his property, and he remained overwhelmed
with enormous debts.
April. Yery shortly after the expiration of his term of office,
he departed, with several nominal objects in view, on a
PROJECTS AND MOVEMENTS OF BURR. 595
journey to the West. One was a speculation for a ca- CHAPTER
nal round the Falls of the Ohio, on the Indiana side, .
which he seems to have projected along with Dayton, 1805.
of New Jersey, whose senatorial term had just expired,
and whose extensive purchases of military land warrants
had given him a large interest in the military bounty
lands in that vicinity. Burr had offered a share in this
speculation to General Wilkinson, the commander-in-
chief of the army, and just appointed governor of the
new Territory of Louisiana, including all the region west
of the Mississippi, and north of the present state of that
name. Burr and Wilkinson had known each other in
the Revolutionary army, and being both remarkable for
social qualities and accomplished manners, had long been
on intimate terms, and had carried on a correspondence
occasionally in cypher — a military expedient, to the use
of which, with others as well as Burr, Wilkinson seems
to have been partial, even when the occasion for it was
but slight. Of a very speculative turn, but without tal-
ents for pecuniary business, and with small pecuniary
resources, Wilkinson was a man of ardent ambition, and
large desires ; and Burr seems to have reckoned confi-
dently upon securing his co-operation — a thing of the
utmost importance, as his official position, both civil and
military, would make him a very efficient agent. An-
other nominal object of Burr's Western tour was to pre-
sent himself in Tennessee, where no previous residence
was required, as a candidate for Congress. This idea,
suggested by Matthew Lyon, whose own district bor-
dered upon Tennessee, had been warmly pressed upon
Burr by Wilkinson, under the apprehension, as he after-
ward alleged, that, unless some legitimate position could
be found for him, Burr would be driven into desperate
and illegal enterprises.
596 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER About the time that Burr left Washington, Wilkin-
' son was departing to take possession of his government
1805 °f Louisiana, and he invited Burr to embark with him
at Pittsburg, and to descend the river in his company.
The vessels then chiefly employed in descending the
Ohio were arks — chest-like boats, square at the ends,
which admitted of being fitted up with every comfort
for a small number of passengers, and which floated
down with the current. As Burr's own boat was first
ready, he declined to wait for Wilkinson, and proceeded
alone. He soon overtook Lyon, descending the river
on his way home, and in his company floated down to
Marietta. Lyon proceeded on his voyage, but Burr
stopped at Blennerhasset's Island, nearly opposite Ma-
rietta, and there he acquired a most zealous, devoted,
and enthusiastic partisan. This was Herman Blenner-
hasset, an Irishman, possessing by inheritance a con-
siderable fortune, a man of education and refinement,
who had withdrawn from Europe under the influence
of certain politico-romantic notions, common in Great
Britain toward the close of the eighteenth century — the
same in which Southey and Coleridge had deeply shared.
Ketiring to the frontier settlements, Blennerhasset had
invested a considerable part of his fortune in erecting,
near Marietta, on an island in the Ohio, which soon be-
came known by his name, an elegant mansion surround-
ed by gardens and conservatories — furnished in a style as
yet unknown beyond the mountains, and provided with a
large and valuable library — a little Eden of civilization
in the midst of the wilderness. As if to give complete-
ness to this romantic picture, Blennerhasset had a wife
no less enthusiastic and accomplished than himself ; and
she, even more, if possible, than her husband, appears to
have been captivated by the arts of Burr, whose success
BURR'S FIRST VISIT TO THE WEST. 5.9.7
with tlie fair sex was the very thing on which he most CHAPXKR
prided himself. Blennerhasset had some interest in a
mercantile firm at Marietta, but appears to have had 1805.
no great business capacity, and but little knowledge of
the world. His excitable imagination was at once set
on fire by the grand and splendid projects which Burr
unfolded. Perhaps, too, the insufficiency of his income
for the style of life he had adopted, no less than the
promptings of his own ambition and that of his wife,
made him ready to risk what he had in the hope of
princely returns.
After considerable dela}r at this agreeable spot, Burr
resumed his voyage, and at Louisville, then an unhealthy
and inconsiderable village, he again overtook Lyon,
who had been detained there by business, and by whom
he was told that his delay in pressing forward had ruined
his chance of being elected from Tennessee. Neverthe-
less, he accompanied Lyon to his home at Eddyville, up
the Cumberland River, whence he proceeded on horse-
back to Nashville, where he was honored with a very May 2a
cordial and enthusiastic public reception. After remain-
ing a few days, he returned to Eddyville in a boat fur-
nished by General Andrew Jackson, a resident in the
neighborhood, who had formerly known Burr while
they were both members of Congress, and who had re-
ceived him with great hospitality. Nothing had been
said at Nashville as to his being a candidate for Con-
gress ; but he still urged Lyon to write on the subject to
a gentleman there, from whom he had received great at-
tention— probably Jackson — at the same time observing
that he might be a delegate from the Orleans Territory, but
that he should prefer to enter Congress as a full member.
Having resumed his voyage in his own boat, Burr met
Wilkinson, then on his way to St. Louis, at Fort Mas-
598 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER sac, on the Ohio, nearly opposite the mouth of the Cum-
_ berland. Some of the troops at Fort Massac had been
1805. ordered to New Orleans, and by Wilkinson's influence,
Burr was provided with a barge belonging to one of the
officers, and manned with a crew of soldiers, and in this
good style he set off for that city. Wilkinson also fur-
nished him with letters of introduction ; among others,
one to Daniel Clark, an old resident of that Territory,
an Irishman by birth, with whom, and formerly with his
uncle of the same name, to whose property the younger
Clark had succeeded, Wilkinson had been acquainted
ever since his early trading speculations from Kentucky,
prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution.
June 25. Burr found the Territory of Orleans in a state of great
excitement, such as might well furnish encouragement
to his projects. Governor Clai borne was exceedingly-
unpopular with a part of the inhabitants, of whom Clark
was a leader. The introduction of the English forms
of law proceedings, and the very slight participation in
the administration of affairs allowed to the inhabitants —
for as yet the legislators as well as the governor were all
appointed by the president — had occasioned great dis-
contents. Among the French Creoles and the old set-
tlers of British birth, attachment to the American con-
nection was not likely to be very strong ; while even
the new American immigrants, among whom Edward
Livingston was a leader, were divided and distracted loy
very bitter feuds.
After a short stay at New Orleans, Burr reascended
to Natchez in the Mississippi Territory, whence he trav-
eled by land, along the road or bridle path, through the
Indian Territory, four hundred and fifty miles to Nash-
ville, where he was again entertained for a week by
Aug. 6. General Jackson, " once a lawyer/ so he remarked in
BURR'S FIRST VISIT TO THE WEST. 599
the journal which he kept for the entertainment of his CHAPTER
daughter, "afterward a judge, and now a planter — a man
of intelligence, and one of those prompt, frank, ardent 1805.
souls whom I love to meet." Having been again com-
plimented with a public dinner at Nashville, he proceed-
ed to Kentucky, and after spending a few weeks there,
departed by land, through the Indiana Territory, on his
way to St. Louis, where he took up his residence with a
relation of his, who had been appointed, at his special
request, the secretary of the new Louisiana Territory.
It was during this visit to St. Louis that Burr's al-
tered and mysterious manner, and the unexplained hints
which he threw out of a splendid enterprise, first ex-
cited in Wilkinson's mind, according to his own account,
definite suspicions as to Burr's designs. He spoke, in-
deed, of this enterprise as favored by the government ;
but he spoke, at the same time, of the government it-
self as imbecile, and of the people of the "West as ready
for revolt. So much was Wilkinson impressed, that he
wrote to his friend Smith, the Secretary of the Navy, that
Burr was about something, whether internal or external
he could not discover, and advising to keep a strict watch
upon him ; at least Wilkinson's aid-de-camp afterward
testified that such a letter was copied by him, and, as
he believed, dispatched through the post-office, though
Smith did not recollect having received it.
Burr presently left St. Louis, carrying with him a let- S0?' « ^
ter from Wilkinson to Harrison, governor of the Indiana
Territory, strongly urging the use of his influence to get
Burr chosen a delegate to Congress from that territory —
a letter written, as Wilkinson alleged, under the con-
firmed impression that nothing but the being put into
some legitimate career would save Burr from very dan-
gerous courses. From the Indiana Territory Burr con-
600 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tinued his route eastward, stopping at Cincinnati, Chili-
cothe, and Marietta, whence, toward the end of the year,
1806. he returned to Philadelphia. That winter, and the fol-
lowing spring and summer, he spent partly in Philadel-
phia and partly in Washington. While in Philadelphia,
he resided in a small house in an obscure street, where
he was visited by many persons, apparently on business,
all of whom he received with a certain air of precaution
and mystery, and no two of whom did he see at the
same time.
At Washington, during that winter, Burr sought and
obtained frequent intercourse with Eaton, who had then
lately returned from the Mediterranean, in no very good
humor with the government. He told Eaton that he
had already organized a secret expedition against the
Spanish provinces of Mexico, in which he asked him to
join ; and Eaton, under the impression, as he said, that
the expedition was secretly countenanced by govern-
ment— to which the state of Spanish relations and the
Miranda expedition then on foot, might well give color —
gave him encouragement that he would. Burr then pro-
ceeded to further confidences, such as excited suspicions
in Eaton's mind as to the real character of his intended
enterprise. He seemed anxious to increase to the utmost
Eaton's irritation against the government, which he ac-
cused of want of character, want of gratitude, and want
of justice. Wishing, according to his own account, to
draw Burr out, Eaton encouraged him to go on, till
finally he developed a project for revolutionizing the West-
ern country, separating it from the Union, and establish-
ing a monarchy (it was just at this time that Bonaparte
was making kings of all his family), of which he was to
be sovereign ; New Orleans to be his capital ; and his
dominion to be further expended by a force organized on
HIS PROJECTS AS STATED TO EATON. 601
che Mississippi, so as to include a part or the whole of CHAPTER
Mexico. He assured Eaton that "Wilkinson was a party L^ '
to this enterprise, and would no doubt be able to carry 13Q6.
with him the regular troops on the Western waters, who
might easily be re-enforced by ten or twelve thousand
Western volunteers. He had, besides, so he asserted,
agents in the Spanish provinces, and many persons there
were ready to co-operate. He spoke of the establish-
ment of an independent government west of the Alle-
ghanies as an inherent right of the people, as much so as
the separation of the Atlantic States from Great Britain—
an event which, like that, must sooner or later take place,
and to which existing circumstances were specially favor-
able. There was no energy in the government to be
'dreaded ; in fact, the power of the government was in a
manner paralyzed by the deep and serious divisions in
political opinion prevalent throughout the Union. Many
enterprising men, who aspired to something beyond the
dull pursuits of civil life, would be ready to volunteer in
this enterprise. The promise of an immediate distribu • .
fcion of land, with the mines of Mexico in prospect, woulo
call multitudes to his standard.
Warming up with the subject, he declared that, if he-
could only secure the marine corps — the only soldiers,
stationed at Washington — and gain over the naval com*
manders, Truxtun, Preble, Decatur, and others, he would
turn Congress neck and heels out of doors, assassinate
the president, seize on the treasury and navy, and de-
clare himself the protector of an energetic government
To which Eaton, according to his own statement, re
plied, that one single word, usurper, would destroy him ;
and that, though he might succeed at Washington in the
first instance, within six weeks after he would have his
throat cut by the Yankee militia.
602 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Satisfied that Burr was a very dangerous man. but
XIX
' having no overt act, nor even any writing, to produce
1306 against him, Eaton waited on the president, and suggest-
ed to him the appointment of Burr to some foreign mis-
sion, giving as a reason for it that, if he were not so dis-
posed of, there would be, within eighteen months, an
insurrection, if not a revolution, in the Western country.
The president replied that he had too much confidence
in the attachment of the Western people to the Union to
allow him to entertain any such apprehensions. No ques
tions were asked as to the origin of these fears on Ea-
ton's part ; and as Eaton's relations to the government
at that moment were somewhat delicate, he pressed the
subject no further. He did, however, communicate to
Dana and to John Cotton Smith, members of Congress
from Connecticut, the substance of Burr's conversations.
They admitted that Burr was capable of any thing, but
regarded his projects as too chimerical, and his circum-
stances as too desperate to furnish any ground for alarm.
To Truxtun, who was greatly dissatisfied at the cav-
alier manner in which his name had been dropped from
the navy list, Burr suggested the idea of a naval expe-
dition against the Spanish provinces. He assured Trux-
tun that, in the event of a war with Spain, which seemed
then very probable, he intended to establish an indepen-
dent government in Mexico ; that Wilkinson and many
officers of the army would join in the project ; and that
many greater men than Wilkinson were concerned in it
He several times renewed his invitation, till Truxtun,
understanding that the project was not countenanced by
government, declined to have any thing to do with it.
The same idea was also broached to Decatur, who also
declined to co-operate. To how many others similar ad-
vances may have been made, or what co-operation Burr
BURR'S SECOND JOURNEY TO THE WEST. 603
actually secured, is not distinctly known ; but it is cer- CHAPTER
tain that Jonathan Dayton, who had played so conspic- '_
uous a part as a representative and senator from New 1806.
Jersey, as well as some other persons in New York and
its vicinity, were concerned to a greater or less extent in
the enterprise, and advanced money to forward it.
Toward the end of the summer Burr departed upon a Augusi
second Western j ourney. A rumor had prevailed for more
than a year at the same time in Philadelphia and New
Orleans, and had spread through all the intervening coun-
try, that Burr was at the bottom of a project for effecting
a revolution in Mexico — an idea sufficiently agreeable
to the great body of the "Western people, and, considering
the existing difficulties with Spain and the affair of Miran-
da's expedition, likely enough to be secretly favored by
the government. Under the impression that such was
the fact, Burr and his project seem to have received a
certain degree of countenance from several leading per-
sons in the Western country. But how many, and who,
and, indeed, whether any were fully and distinctly in-
formed of the real character of the enterprise, and, hav-
ing that information, had undertaken to co-operate,
does not appear. Nor, indeed, does any distinct evi-
dence exist as to what was the exact nature and extent
of the enterprise intended, if, indeed, the author of it
himself had any precise and definite plan.
One of the first things which Burr did on arriving in
Kentucky was to purchase of a Mr. Lynch, for a nominal
consideration of $40,000, of which a few thousand were
paid, an interest in a claim to a large tract of land on
the Washita, under a Spanish grant to the Baron de
Bastrop. Edward Livingston, at New Orleans, had been
speculating on this same grant. His claims to it Lynch
had purchased for $30,000 ; and Burr was to pay th^t
604 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER amount to Livingston, against whom he had demands, as
" part of the purchase money. These lands, situate on
1806. tne uPPer waters of the Washita, were not many miles
distant from the left bank of the Mississippi, just below
the mouth of the Arkansas ; but, owing to the swampy
and often inundated state of the intervening country,
they could not well be approached except by descending
the Mississippi and ascending the Washita — a circuit of
several hundred miles. The pretense of an intention to
settle these lands might serve to cover a very different
enterprise ; and, should that enterprise fail, such a settle-
ment might really be undertaken.
Burr himself, in company with Blennerhasset, entered
into a contract for building fifteen boats on the Muskin-
gum, a few miles above Marietta, toward which $2000
were advanced in a draft on New York. Application
also appears to have been made to John Smith, one of
the Ohio senators, and contractor to furnish supplies to
the troops in the West, to purchase two gun-boats which
Smith was building on the Ohio for the government.
This purchase was not effected ; but there are reasons
for believing that Smith was, to a certain extent at least,
acquainted with and favorable to Burr's projects.
Authority was given to a house at Marietta, the same
in which Blennerhasset had lately been a partner, to
purchase provisions ; and a kiln was erected in Blenner-
hasset's island for drying corn so as to fit it for ship-
ment. Other similar preparations were made elsewhere,
but not, so far as appears, to any great extent. Young
men were also enlisted, in considerable numbers, for an
enterprise down the Mississippi, as to which mysterious
hints were thrown out, but the true nature of which did
not distinctly appeal'.
Wilkinson, meanwhile, in obedience to his orders
BURR'S LETTER TO WILKINSON. 605
mentioned in the preceding chapter, had arrived at CHAPTER
Natchitoches, and had assumed command of the five or
six hundred regular troops collected there to oppose the 1806.
Spanish invasion. A few days after his arrival, and Oct. 8,
while busy in preparations for advancing on the Span-
iards, Samuel Swartwout, brother of Burr's friend, Col-
onel John Swartwout, lately removed from his office of
Marshal of New York, made his appearance in the camp
with a letter of introduction from Jonathan Dayton to
Colonel Cushing, the senior officer next to Wilkinson.
He also had with him another letter, which he took op-
portunity to slip unobserved into Wilkinson's hand, be-
ing a formal letter of introduction from Burr, and in-
closing another, dated July 27th, just before Burr's de-
parture for the West, written principally in cipher.
Since Burr's visit to St. Louis the preceding autumn,
Wilkinson had received from him several short letters,
some of them in cipher, alluding to an enterprise which
he had on foot, the tenor of which would seem to imply
that Wilkinson was privy to the enterprise, if not a
party to it. Wilkinson had also written to Burr; but
of the precise contents of his letters we are ignorant.
Burr afterward, on his trial, intimated that these letters
implicated Wilkinson as privy to all his designs, excus-
ing the non-production of them by alleging that he had
destroyed them. Wilkinson admitted having written,
but merely with the design to draw out Burr. He had
kept no copies, nor did he precisely recollect the tenor
of his letters.
Burr's letter in cipher, brought by Swartwout, which
Wilkinson succeeded in partially deciphering the same
evening, announced, in broken sentences and mysterious
tone, that he had obtained friends ; that detachments
from different points and under different pretenses would
606 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER rendezvous on the Ohio by the first of November; that
_ the protection of England had been secured ; that Trux-
1806, *un nad gone to Jamaica to arrange with the English
admiral on that station: that an English fleet would
meet him on the Mississippi ; that the navy of the United
States was ready to join ; that final orders had been
given to his friends and followers ; that Wilkinson
should be second to Burr only, and should dictate the
rank and promotion of his officers ; that orders had been
already given to the contractor for provisions to forward
supplies for six months to such points as Wilkinson
should designate ; that the people of the country to
which they were going were ready to receive them, their
agents then with Burr having stated that, if protected in
their religion, and not subjected to a foreign power, all
would be settled in three weeks. The letter requested
Wilkinson to send an intelligent and confidential friend
to confer with Burr, and a list of all persons west of the
mountains who might be useful, with a note designating
their characters ; also the commissions of four or five of
his officers, which he might borrow under any pretense,
and which should be faithfully returned. It was stated
to be the plan of operations to move rapidly from the
Falls of the Ohio on the fifteenth of November, with
the first detachment of five hundred or a thousand men,
in light boats already constructing for the purpose, to be
at Natchez in December, there to meet Wilkinson, and
to determine whether it would be expedient to pass or
to seize Baton Rouge, at that time in possession of the
Spaniards as a part of West Florida. The bearer of the
letter was stated to be a man of discretion and honor,
thoroughly informed as to the plans and intentions of
Burr, who would make disclosures so far as he was i a-
quired of, and no further.
BURR AND WILKINSON, 607
Inclosed in the same packet was another letter, also in CHAPTER
X 1CF
cipher, from4 Jonathan Dayton, in which "Wilkinson was .
assured that he would certainly be displaced at the next 1806.
session of Congress ; " But," added the letter, " you are
not a man to despair, or even to despond, especially
when such prospects offer in another quarter. Are you
ready ? Are your numerous associates ready ? Wealth
and glory ! Louisiana and Mexico ! Dayton."
The tenor of these letters, and the previous intimacy
and correspondence between Wilkinson and Burr, have
given occasion to conclude that Wilkinson really was,
in the first instance, a party to Burr's designs ; and that
Burr, when he wrote the ciphered letter of which Svvart-
wout was the bearer, had good reason to rely on Wil-
kinson's co-operation. This was specially urged by Burr
and his counsel during Burr's trial, with the object of
invalidating Wilkinson's testimony ; and the same view
was afterward taken up and urged with great pertinacity
by Wilkinson's numerous enemies in Congress and out
of it. Yet the tone of Burr's and Dayton's letters is
hardly that of one conspirator to another, between whom
a definite plan of co-operation had been arranged. It is
rather like throwing out a lure, making loud boasts and
round assertions, many of them totally and wilfully false,
with the design of attracting a partisan whose hopes and
fears were alike to be operated upon. Besides, an art
ful man like Burr, in writing to one whom he hoped
to gain over, would naturally guard against betrayal by
employing such terms as might expose the recipient to
suspicion, while he avoided implicating himself by any-
thing tangible or specific enough for the law to lay
hold of.
One thing, at least, is certain. Wilkinson, after de-
ciphering the letter so far as to obtain a general idea of
508 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER its contents, did not hesitate a moment as to the course
XIX.
m he should adopt. He communicated the next morning
1806 *° Colonel Gushing, his second in command, the sub-
stance of Burr's letter ; stating also his intention to march
as speedily as possible for the Sabine, and, having made
the best terms he could with the Spanish commander, to
hasten back to New Orleans, to defend that city against
Burr, should he venture to attack it. Meanwhile, he
proceeded to extract from Swartwout all the informa-
tion he could — information which served to raise his
alarm to a very high pitch.
Swartwout stated that, in company with a Mr. Ogden,
he had left Philadelphia while Burr was still in that
city. They had proceeded to Kentucky with dispatches
for General Adair — lately appointed a senator in Con-
gress in place of Breckenridge, made attorney-general —
and a party to the enterprise. Having delivered these
letters, they had hastened across the country from the
Falls of the Ohio to St. Louis in search of Wilkinson ;
but learning at Kaskaskia that he had descended the
river (a circumstance on which Burr had not calculated,
and which served, in the end, effectually to defeat all his
plans), they had procured a skiff, and had followed on
to Fort Adams, nearly opposite the mouth of Ked Kiver.
Being told there that Wilkinson had gone to Natchi-
toches, Ogden kept on down the Mississippi with dis-
patches for Burr's friends in New Orleans, whfle Swart-
wout had ascended Ked Kiver to the camp. He express-
ed surprise that Wilkinson had heard nothing of Dr.
Bollman, another agent of Burr's, who had proceeded
by sea from Philadelphia to New Orleans, and must be-
fore this time have arrived there. He stated that Burr,
supported by a numerous and powerful association, ex
tending from New York to New Orleans, was about
MOVEMENTS OF WILKINSON. 609
levying a force of seven thousand men for an expedi- CHAPTER
tion against the Mexican provinces, and that five hun-
dred, the vanguard of this force, would descend the Mis- 1305.
sissippi under Colonel Swartwout and a Major Tyler.
The territory of Orleans would be revolutionized, for
which ihe inhabitants were quite ready. " Some seiz-
ing," he supposed, would be necessary at New Orleans,
and a forced loan from the bank. It was expected to
embark about the first of February. The expedition
. was to land at Vera Cruz, and march thence to Mexico.
Naval protection would be afforded by Great Britain.
Truxtun and the officers of the navy, disgusted with the
conduct of the government, were ready to join, and, for
the purposes of the embarkation, fast-sailing schooners
had been contracted for, to be built on the Southern
coast of the United States,
Swartwout returned to New Orleans after remaining
in the camp ten days, during which Wilkinson extract-
ed from him all the information he could without giv-
ing any hint of his own intentions. Meanwhile Wil-
kinson had succeeded in procuring transportation for his
baggage, and, having been joined by a body of volunteer
militia from Mississippi, he advanced toward the Sabine. Oct. 22,
But before setting out, he dispatched Lieutenant Smith
as an express, with directions to make the utmost haste,
with two letters to the President of the United States,
one official, the other confidential, in which, without men-
tioning any names, he stated the general outline of the
scheme communicated to him by Swartwout. In his
confidential letter, he gave as a reason for mentioning no
names that, although his information appeared to be too
distinct and circumstantial to be fictitious, yet the mag-
nitude and desperation of the enterprise, and the great
consequences with which it seemed to be pregnant, were
V— QQ
610 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER such as to stagger his belief, and to excite doubts of ito
' reality, even against the conviction of his senses. Ii
1806 was kig desire not to mar a salutary design, nor to in-
jure any body, but to avert a great public calamity ;
and what made him the more cautious was, that among
other allurements held out to him, he was told — though,
considering his own orders to avoid, if possible, any col-
lision with the Spaniards, he could not believe it — that
the government connived at the plan, and that the coun-
try would sustain it. Were he sure that the combina-
tion for attacking Mexico were formed in opposition to
the laws and in defiance of government, he could not
doubt that the revolt and revolutionizing of the Territory
of Orleans would be the first step in the enterprise ; and,
notwithstanding his orders to repel the Spaniards to the
other side of the Sabine, he should not hesitate to make
the best arrangement he could with the Spanish com-
mander, so as to hasten at once to New Orleans. The
defensive works of that city had mouldered away, yet, by
extraordinary exertions, it might in a few weeks be ren-
dered defensible against an undisciplined rabble acting
in a bad cause. As matters stood, however, he deemed
it his first duty to execute his orders against the Span-
iards. Simultaneously with this letter to the president,
Wilkinson sent directions to the commanding officer at
New Orleans to put that place in the best possible con-
dition of defense, and especially to secure, by contract
if possible, but at all events to secure, a train of artillery
belonging to the French government, which the admin'
istration had been too parsimonious to purchase, but
which the French had yet had no opportunity to remove,
and which might now fall into bad hands.
As the American forces advanced upon the Spaniards,
they retired behind the Sabine, leaving a rear guard OB
MOVEMENTS OF WILKINSON. 611
the western bank of that river. A messenger was dis- CHAPTER
JQX*
patched to the Spanish camp ; and, after some negotia-
tion, a temporary arrangement was entered into that the 1806.
Sabine should be, for the present, the line of demarca- Nov. 3,
tion between the two nations. Leaving Gushing to bring
down the troops, Wilkinson hastened back to Natchi-
toches, where he received a letter from Bollman, dated Nov- *
at New Orleans, covering a duplicate of Burr's letter in
cipher, and also a letter, partly in cipher, from Dayton,
different in its precise tenor, but in general substance
much the same with that brought by Swartwout. Just
about the same time he also received a letter from a
gentleman at Natchez, stating the arrival there of a person
from St. Louis in thirteen days, bringing a report that a
plan to revolutionize the Western country was just ready
to explode — Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and
the Territory of Orleans having combined to declare
themselves independent on the 15th of November. This
letter gave new impulse to Wilkinson's alarm. He wrote
to Gushing to hasten down the troops with the greatest
possible dispatch, and to the officer commanding at New
Orleans, to whom he sent a re-enforcement of men and
artificers, to press forward his defenses, but without giv-
ing any signs of alarm, or any indication of his reasons.
Wilkinson himself proceeded with all dispatch to Nat-
chez, whence, in the midst of a severe domestic bereave-
ment in the death of his wife, he dispatched a second
special messenger to the president with duplicates of his
former communications, inclosed in a letter, in which
he declared that all his doubts as to the reality of the
conspiracy were now at an end, mentioning also the in-
sufficiency of the means at his disposal, and the necessity
of putting New Orleans under martial law ; in which
step he trusted to be sustained by the president Wil-
612 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER kinson exhibited to this messenger the ciphered letters
______ he had received, and authorized him to name Burr, Day-
-J306 ton, Truxtun, and others, as apparently engaged in the
. enterprise.
He dispatched, at the same time, a confidential letter
to Governor Claiborne, of the Orleans Territory, inform-
ing him that his government was menaced by a secret
plot, and entreating him to co-operate with the military
commander in measures of defense ; but enjoining se-
crecy till he himself arrived. He also called on the act-
ing governor of the Mississippi Territory for five hundred
militia to proceed to New Orleans. But as he declined
to specify the service for which he required them, the
acting governor declined to answer the requisition.
Xov. 25. Arrived at New Orleans, and being under apprehen-
sions that Burr had many secret partisans in that city —
a thing by no means improbable — and the rumors from
up the river growing more and more alarming, a public
Dec. 9. meeting of merchants was called, before which "Wilkin-
son and Claiborne made an exposition of Burr's suspect-
ed projects. The militia of the Territory was placed by
Claiborne at Wilkinson's disposal ; in addition to a smal]
squadron of gun-boats and ketches in the river, vessels
were armed and fitted out to repel the expected attack
by sea, and a sort of voluntary embargo was agreed
upon by the merchants in order that seamen might be
got to man them. The Territorial legislature was also
called together for a special session.
After consultation with the governor and two of the
Dec. 14. judges, Wilkinson caused Bollman, Swartwout, and Og-
den to be arrested, and confined on board some of the
vessels of the squadron. A writ of habeas corpus hav-
ing been issued in the case of Bollman by the Superior
Court, Wilkinson appeared before the judges in full uni-
WILKINSON'S PROCEEDINGS AT NEW ORLEANS. 6J3.
form, attended by his aids-de-camp, and made a re- CEIAPTER
turn stating that, as a necessary step toward the defense '_
of the city, menaced by a lawless band of traitors, he had 1806.
arrested Bollman on his own responsibility, on a charge
of misprision of treason ; and that he would do the same
with any other person against whom reasonable suspicions
might arise. Indeed, he intimated very strongly that
both Alexander and Livingston, the lawyers at whose
instance the habeas corpus had issued, ought to be ar-
rested. Bollman and Swartwout were sent prisoners by
sea to Washington.
Ogden was released on a writ of habeas corpus,
granted by Judge Wortman, of the County Court, and
directed to the officer in whose custody Ogden was.
But both Ogden and Alexander the lawyer, who had
obtained the writ, were shortly after taken into custody
by Wilkinson's order, and to a new writ Wilkinson
made the same return as in Bollman's case. Wortman
himself was shortly after arrested, but was set at liberty
by the judge of the United States District Court. New
Orleans, thus subjected to martial law, presented a sin-
gular scene of doubts, alarm, and mutual suspicions and
recriminations. The chief ground of suspicion against
Livingston seems to have been that Burr had drawn
upon him, in favor of Bollman, for $1500 ; but this,
Livingston insisted, was merely in discharge of an old
debt. Among those arrested was Bradford, publisher
of the only paper in New Orleans, which was thus
brought to a stop.
While these events were occurring on the Lower Mis-
sissippi, much excitement prevailed on the waters of the
Ohio and its tributaries. About the time of Burr's ar-
rival in the Western country, a series of articles, signed
Querist, had appeared in the Ohio Gazette, one of the
614: HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER four or five newspapers published at that time west oi
' the mountains, arguing strongly in favor of the separa-
1806. fr°n °f tne Western States from the Union. These ar-
ticles were nominally written "by Blennerhasset, but were
believed to have been furnished in substance by Burr.
Articles having the same tendency, though less bold and
decided, had also appeared in the Commonwealth, a
Democratic paper published at Pittsburg.
There had sprung up in Kentucky, on the part of
some aspirants to political power, a great uneasiness at
the existing monopoly of office and influence by the old
^Republican leaders. The circumstance of a draft on the
Spanish government for a considerable amount, signed
by Sebastian, one of those leaders, and now a judge of
the Court of Appeals, and found among the effects of
a Kentucky merchant, who had died during a visit to
New Orleans, had revived the old story of Spanish pen-
sioners in Kentucky — a story zealously seized upon as a
means of destroying the influence of the old monopolists
of political influence. Daviess, the United States Dis-
trict Attorney, had caught very eagerly at this affair,
and early in the year had opened a correspondence with
the president, under an injunction of the strictest secrecy,
implicating, on mere suspicion, rumor, or guess, Wilkin-
son, Brown, late one of the Kentucky senators, and, in
deed, most of the leading politicians of that state, as be
ing, or having been, Spanish pensioners, and therefore
likely, in case of a war with Spain, to play into hei
hands, and perhaps to bring about that separation of the
Union which Spain had formerly instigated, and for
which her partisans had labored, without being then able
to accomplish it. Daviess even went so far as to aban-
don his plantation, and to make a journey of explora-
tion down the Mississippi, for the purpose of unraveling
STATE OF THINGS IN THE WEST. 615
this plot. He went, however, no farther than St. Louis, CHAPTER
and returned without discovering any thing. , .
Meanwhile, there had been set up at Lexington a 1306.
newspaper called the "Western "World, edited by that
same Wood whose History of John Adams's administra-
tion Burr had formerly labored to suppress. By whom
this paper had been started does not distinctly appear.
Daviess denied, in his letters to the president, any
agency in it. But its object evidently was to attack the
alleged , Spanish pensioners, and an able and well-in-
formed correspondent was soon found in Humphrey
Marshall, the former Federal senator, and a bitter ene-
my of the old clique, who took the opportunity to lay
open matters connected with the separation of Kentucky
from Virginia, of which the present inhabitants, consist-
ing to so large an extent of recent immigrants, knew
but little.
The name of Wilkinson, against whom, also, Marshall
entertained a mortal hatred, was freely used in connec- *
tion with these alleged Spanish intrigues, of which he
was represented as having been a chief manager ; and
the fact that certain large sums of money had been at
different times remitted to him from New Orleans was
urged as proof positive of his corrupt connection with
the Spanish government.
The rumors in circulation of a new enterprise on foot
under Burr's leadership, became connected, in the public
mind, with those relating to the old Spanish plot, and
Wilkinson's reputed connection with that gave addi-
tional credibility to the hints of Burr and his confederates
of his being also connected with the new movement.
Some numbers of the Western World, containing im-
putations of this sort, which reached the Lower Missis-
sippi, added not a little to Wilkinson's embarrassments.
616 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER So currently, indeed, were he and Burr connected to
__J ^_ gether by rumor, that General Jackson wrote to (iov
1806 ernor Claiborne, suggesting that an enterprise was on
Nov. 12. foot against his territory, and warning him to be on his
guard against internal as well as external dangers, and
as well against Wilkinson as against Burr. " I hate
the Dons," wrote Jackson ; " I would delight to see Mex-
ico reduced ; but I would die in the last ditch before I
would see the Union disunited." This letter of Jack-
son's having reached Claiborne about the time .of Wil-
kinson's disclosures, made him pay the greater attention
to them. Indeed it was one of the documents, the
name of the writer and some passages of it being sup-
pressed, which had been read at the public meeting in
New Orleans, at which the existence of the plot and the
consequent danger of the city had been first publicly
announced.
In Kentucky, among the leading politicians, die im-
putations against Burr of criminal designs wore very
slow in finding credit. Those, indeed, who believed the
charges in the Western World as to the old Spanish plot,
looked also with very suspicious eyes on Burr's projects ;
but the adherents of those accused ay Spanish pension-
ers were disposed, on the other hand, to treat both sets
of rumors as alike futile and malicious.
Daviess, the district attorney, naturally kept a watch-
ful eye on Burr. He wrote several times to the presi-
dent on the subject, but without eliciting any specific
ftfor 5 directions. Finally, upon an affidavit sworn io by him-
self, that he had good reason to suspect Burr of medi-
tating an unlawful expedition against Mexico, and also
a separation of the Western States from the Union, he
applied to the Federal District Court for process of ar-
rest, and to hold Burr to recognizances for his appear-
PROCEEDINGS IN KENTUCKY. 617
ance to answer these charges, and for his good behavior CHAPTEK
in the mean time. The judge, Harry Innis, himself one __
of the old Spanish intriguers, after argument, refused to igQg
issue process, but directed a grand juiy to be impannel-
ed to inquire into the accusation, and witnesses to be
summoned. Immediately after the announcement of
this opinion, Burr appeared in court with his counsel, Nov. 3.
one of whom was Henry Clay, at that time a rising law-
yer and politician, and just elected to the Senate of the
United States to supply a vacancy of a single session oc-
casioned by Adairs resignation. Great readiness was
professed by Burr and his counsel for an immediate in-
vestigation ; but as the witness chiefly relied upon by
the district attorney — David Floyd, an undoubted parti-
san of Burr, then at Yincennes in his capacity of a mem-
ber of the Indiana Legislature — failed to appear, the grand
jury was discharged without further proceedings.
It was not long, however, before the district attorney
made an application for a new grand jury. This time Nov. 2&
he summoned General Adair as his principal witness ;
but as he too failed to appear at the appointed time, the Dec. 2
attorney was obliged to ask a little delay. Thereupon
Burr, with his counsel, again appeared in court, and
insisted that the business should proceed at once. The
attorney denied Burr's right to appear at all in this stage
of the proceedings, as no bill had yet been found ; but
Burr's counsel pressed the matter with great zeal, and
the judge finally told the attorney that, if he did not
proceed, the grand jury would be dismissed. He also re-
fused to allow the attorney to attend the grand jury and "
to examine the witnesses.
As the main witness was wanting, and as those pres-
ent were all unwilling ones, with nobody to draw them
out, the jury not only failed to find a bill against Burr,
618 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER but they even went so far as to sign a paper, in which
_ they declared their persuasion that nothing was intended
1806. kv him injurious to the United States. Burr's triumph
Dec. 6. was celebrated by a ball at Frankfort ; after which he
suddenly departed for Nashville, in company with Gen-
eral Adair, against whom the district attorney had also
presented a bill of indictment, which the jury refused to
Qnd.
Steps, however, were already in progress at the North,
as well as the South, fatal to Burr's projects, whatever
October they might be. In consequence of various communica-
tions received from the "West, the president had com-
missioned Graham, secretary of the Orleans Territory,
then about to leave Washington on his way thither, to
investigate the origin of the reports about Burr, and, if
they appeared to be well founded, to apply to the govern-
ors of the Western States to take steps to cut short his
enterprise. The matter appeared to the president in a
more serious light in consequence of his being put in
possession now, for the first time, of the communications
which had passed during the previous winter between
Burr and Eaton, and of which Eaton had made a state-
ment to Granger, the post-master general, in consequence
of having seen a letter from Ohio, in which it was stated
that boats for Burr were building on the Muskingum.
This communication from Eaton was followed up by
Wilkinson's dispatches from Natchitoches, two days after
flvr. 27. receiving which the president issued a proclamation, de-
claring that he had been informed of an unlawful scheme
set on foot for invading the Spanish dominions ; warning
all good citizens against any participation therein ; and
calling upon all in authority to exert themselves in
suppressing the enterprise, and arresting all concerned
in it
TYLER'S FLOTILLA. 619
The agent Graham — from conversations with Blenner- CHAPTER
XIX.
hasset, whom he met at Marietta, and who seemed to
take him for one of the confederates, relying, apparently, 1806.
on the statements of Burr to that effect, and expressing
great surprise when the fact was denied — had thought it
necessary, already, before the issue of the president's
proclamation, to apply to the Governor of Ohio for the
seizure of the boats building on the Muskingum, and by
that time about finished. The Legislature of Ohio was Dec. 2
then sitting, and an act was at once passed, with closed
doors, authorizing the seizure, which was immediately
made.
Two or three days after the president's proclamation
reached Marietta, some four or five boats from the neigh-
borhood of Beaver, in Pennsylvania, intended for Burr's
expedition, led by Colonel Tyler, and with a number of
men on board, reached Blennerhasset's island, and post- Dec. 10.
ed sentinels to prevent any communication with the
river banks. Blennerhasset, having received information
that his own boats on the Muskingum had been seized,
and that a body of militia were coming to seize those at
the island, hastily embarked with a few followers, and Dec. 13.
descended the river in Tyler's flotilla. The next day a
mob of militia took possession of the island, committing
great waste and destruction, and not even abstaining
from insolence and insults toward Blennerhasset's accom-
plished wife, who presently succeeded, however, in obtain-
ing a boat and following her husband down the river.
From Chilicothe, the seat of government of Ohio, the,
agent Graham had hastened to Frankfort. The Ken
tucky Legislature was then in session, and an investiga-
tion, which had been ordered into Sebastian's conduct, had
resulted in full proof that he had been for years a Spanish
pensioner. Indeed, he had anticipated the report of the
620 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER committee by a resignation. It was shown that Innis,
' the district judge, George Nicholas, deceased, and others,
1806 kad been concerned in these Spanish intrigues, but no
evidence appeared that any but Sebastian had been paid
agents of the Spanish government. Upon the top of
these startling disclosures, Graham easily prevailed upon
Dec. 24. the Kentucky Legislature to pass an act similar to that
of Ohio, and under it some seizures were made. Bodies
of militia were also posted to intercept such boats as
might be descending the river. Smith, the Ohio sena-
tor, made himself very busy in this business ; but already
Tyler's boats had succeeded in passing the Falls of the
Ohio, whe.re they had been joined by two or three others
under David Floyd.
Burr himself descended from Nashville with two boats
— Adair having proceeded by land to New Orleans —
Dec. 24 and at the mouth of the Cumberland encountered those
which had made good their escape down the Ohio. The
whole flotilla did not exceed ten boats, with about a hun-
dred men. They landed on an island at the mouth of the
Cumberland, and waited for some days, apparently in the
hope that others might yet join them. The men were
drawn up in a sort of square, and Burr was introduced
to them. He had intended, he said, to make here an ex-
position of his designs, but, from circumstances which
had occurred, he should defer it to another opportunity.
Nearly opposite the mouth of the Cumberland, on the
north bank of the Ohio, stood Fort Massac, with a gar-
rison of some forty men, but without cannon. The ru
mors of Burr's projects, so rife throughout the Western
country, do not appear to have reached this secluded
spot. Burr opened a communication with the officer in
command, and, under pretense that he wanted to send a
confidential express from New Madrid to St. Louis, ob
BURR NEAR NATCHEZ. 621
tained, under a furlough, for twenty days, an orderly ser- CHAPTER
geant from the garrison ; which, however, he took care ____^
to pass in the night. This orderly sergeant was per- 18Q6.
suaded to join in the enterprise ; and, according to his
own testimony, Burr urged him to endeavor to influence
some of the soldiers to desert for the same purpose.
The only other military post between the mouth of the
Cumberland and Natchez was at Chickasaw Bluff, now 1807.
Memphis. The boats stopped there ; and Burr made Jan. 3.
great efforts, and not altogether without success, to se-
duce the commanding officer into his service. He would
not, however, join him till he had first visited his friends ;
nor, though efforts were made for it, did Burr succeed in
obtaining any of the soldiers of the garrison. Having Jan. id
reached the first settlement on the left bank of the Mis-
sissippi, Burr, who had gone on ahead of the other boats,
landed at the house of a planter, one of the judges of
the Mississippi Territory. On inquiring for newspapers,
there was handed to him, as it happened, the very New
Orleans journal containing a statement respecting the
condition of affairs made by Wilkinson to the Legisla-
ture of the Orleans Territory, called together in special
session, and annexed to which was a deciphered copy
of Burr's letter to Wilkinson, received through Swart-
wout and Bollman. Perceiving what he had to expect
at New Orleans, and fearful that he might be arrested at
once, Burr directed his boats to withdraw to the west
bank of the river, and there, some thirty miles above
Natchez, but out of the jurisdiction of the Mississippi
Territory, an encampment was established, sentinels
were posted, and a piece of ground was cleared on which
to exercise the men.
The president's proclamation had already reached the
Mississippi Territory, with special instructions also ; and,
622 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER notwithstanding a letter from Burr denying the truth of
__ J '___ current rumors as to his intentions, deprecating civil war,
•[807. and requesting that steps might be taken to appease the
public alarm, the acting governor at once called out a
body of about four hundred militia for the purpose of
arresting Burr. While these troops were collecting at
Coles's Creek, a few miles below Bayou Pierre, opposite
to which was Burr's camp, three or four militia officers,
one of whom was Poindexter, attorney general of the
Territory, were sent to induce Burr to surrender. With
1 them he entered into a written agreement, under a guar-
antee for his personal safety, to meet the governor the
16 next day at Coles's Creek. He came accordingly ; and
being threatened that, immediately after his return to
his boats, the militia would be ordered to advance and
seize the whole party, he made an unconditional sur-
render to the civil authority, and agreed that his boats
should be searched, and that all arms should be seized.
Previously, however, to this search, the boats moved
down toward Coles's Creek, and on the way, during the
night, several chests of arms were thrown overboard, so
that not many were discovered on board.
Meanwhile Burr proceeded to Washington, the seat
of government of the Mississippi Territory, about ten
miles east of Natchez. Poindexter gave it as his official
opinion that there was no evidence to convict Burr of
any offense in the Mississippi Territory, and, moreover,
that the Supreme Territorial Court, being a court of ap-
peals only, could not entertain original jurisdiction of
the matter, and that it would be best to send Burr to
the seat of the national government, where the Supreme
Court of the United States was in session, by which the
proper locality for the trial of Burr might be determin-
ed. But Rodney, the judge before whom Burr was
BURR SENT TO WASHINGTON. 623
brought, thought differently, and he directed a grand
jury to be summoned to attend the approaching term _ '
of the Supreme Territorial Court, and Burr to give re- 1807.
cognizances to appear from day to day. He was not
without sympathizers among the neighboring planters,
and found no difficulty in obtaining sureties. When Feb. 6
the court met, Poindexter took the same ground as be-
fore ; but as the two judges were divided in opinion, his
motion was overruled. The grand jury retired, and no
evidence having been offered against Burr, instead of
indicting him, they presently brought in presentments
against the acting governor for calling out the militia ;
against the manner in which Burr had been compelled
to surrender ; and against the late proceedings at New
Orleans.
Burr withdrew to the house of one of his sureties ;
but, alarmed by the report that some military officers
had been sent from New Orleans by Wilkinson to arrest
him, he disappeared that same evening. He spoke with
much bitterness of Wilkinson as a traitor, and express-
ed a great repugnance to fall into his hands. He re-
turned to his boats, and told the men that he had been
tried and acquitted, but that they were going to arrest
him again, and that he must fly. What property, pro-
visions, and other things there were in the boats, they
might sell and make the most of, and might go and
settle on the Washita lands if they chose. Nothing
more was heard of Burr for some time, except a mes-
sage, believed to be in his handwriting, directed to T. or
F. (Tyler or Floyd), found under the cape of a coat be-
longing to Burr, but worn by a negro boy, in which he
desired his men, if they had not separated, to keep to-
gether, to get their arms ready, and he would join them
the next night — a message which led to several arrests,
624 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER Burr's men. several of whom were afterwards used
XIX
' against him as witnesses, dispersed through the Terri-
IQCfl tory, furnishing it, as Poindexter afterward testified,
with an abundant supply of schoolmasters, singing-mas-
ters, dancing-masters, and doctors. A reward having
been offered for his capture, Burr was arrested some time
Feb 19 after in the Eastern Mississippi settlements, on the Tom-
bigbee, through which he was passing on horseback,
meanly dressed, attended by a single companion, and
whence he was sent, under a guard, to "Washington.
The arrest was made by the register of the land-office,
assisted by Lieutenant Gaines (afterward Major-general
Gaines) with a sergeant and four men from Fort Stoddart.
Just about the time of Burr's arrival near Natchez,
General Adair reached New Orleans by land, but was
immediately taken into custody by Wilkinson, and sent
round by sea to Baltimore. The alarm did not imme-
diately cease upon the stoppage of Burr's boats. As it
was imagined that he had promises of foreign assistance,
confederates in various quarters, and numerous partisans
in the city itself, it was thought that even yet an attack
might be made. There had existed in New Orleans a
society called the Mexican Association, formed for the
purpose of obtaining information respecting the internal
provinces of that viceroyalty, with a view, it was admit-
ted, to some future expedition against them. This so-
ciety, it was said, had some time before dwindled to no-
thing, and had discontinued its meetings ; yet all those
who had once been connected with it were suspected an
Burr's partisans. Not willing to risk further arrests, from
which the prisoners might be discharged on writs of ha-
Feb. 10. beas corpus, Governor Claiborne applied to the Territo-
rial Legislature to suspend that writ ; but though, in oth-
er respects, the majority had supported his and Wilkio
BOLLMAN AND SWARTWOUT. 625
son's measures, they refused to grant this request A CHAPTER
considerable party, both in the Assembly and among the
citizens, was very bitter against what they called the 1807
high-handed and tyrannical proceedings of Wilkinson
and Claiborne. Wortman resigned his office of judge
on the ground that the government was usurped by mil-
itary authority, and Livingston presently came out with
a long vindication against the insinuation which had
been thrown out by Wilkinson to his disadvantage.
In the midst of the excitement occasioned by the issue 1808.
of the president's proclamation, the ninth Congress came Dec. l
together for its second session. In the opening message
some allusions were made to that proclamation ; but it
was six weeks before the proceedings against Burr came
distinctly before the House. To a call for information,
moved by Randolph, and carried against a good deal of
opposition from the president's more particular support-
ers, the president replied by a statement of the steps Jan. 22.
taken by his orders. Though it was not yet known what
had become of Burr, all occasion for alarm had ceased ;
so the president declared, and yet, as if in spite of this
declaration, a bill was at once introduced into the Sen- 1807.
ate, and, by a suspension of all the rules by unanimous Jan. 23.
consent, was passed in secret session without a division,
suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
for three months. This singular movement is best ex-
plained by the legal proceedings then pending in the
case of Bollman and Swartwout, sent prisoners by sea
from New Orleans, and who, having been brought across
the country from Annapolis, had arrived at Washington
that same evening, and had been committed to the cus- «Tan- 24-
tody of the marine corps. Being brought before the
Circuit Court, the principal court of law of the district,
on a charge of treason, the president's message of the
V.— RR
626 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER previous week was relied upon by the counsel for the
' government as conclusive proof of the existence of a trai-
1807. torous plot — a course of reasoning to which two of the
three judges assented. A deposition of Wilkinson,
though being objected to as being ex parte, was also in-
troduced, as well as the testimony of Eaton ; and the
Jan. so. court, on this evidence, two to one. committed the pris-
oners for trial.
But if the suspension of the habeas corpus was intend-
ed for this case, that intention failed of its effect, for the
Jan. 26 House rejected the bill from the Senate by the decisive
Jan. 28 vote of 118 to 16 ; and a day or two after, all alarm was
quieted by the information communicated to Congress
by the president that Burr had passed Fort Massae with
only ten boats, not strongly manned, and without ap-
pearance of military array.
Bollman and Swartwout were soon after brought be-
fore the Supreme Court of the United States on a writ
of habeas corpus, and, after a very elaborate argument
(Harper and Martin appearing as their counsel), first, as
to the right of the court to issue the writ, and then as to
the sufficiency of the cause of commitment, they were
Feb 21. discharged from custody on the ground that they did
not appear to have been in any way connected with the
commission of any overt act of treason. Alexander,
who had also been brought to Washington in custody,
was discharged without any opposition on the part of
the government. Ogden and Adair were discharged at
Baltimore, immediately after which Adair addressed a
long letter to the Kentucky delegation in Congress, io
which he insisted that he had gone to New Orleans only
on a land speculation and commercial business. He af-
terwards commenced in Mississippi a suit against Wil-
kinson for false imprisonment. This suit was not
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 7
brought to a close till 1818, when Adair recovered judg- ct AFTER
ment for $2,500, against which Wilkinson was indem- _____
nified by Congress. By a common revulsion of feeling, f $07; '
the exaggerated rumors as to Burr's force, and the alarm
thereby excited in New Orleans and elsewhere, speedily
became subjects of ridicule. Henry Clay, lately Burr's
counsel in Kentucky, having taken his seat in the senate,
denounced the arrests made by Wilkinson at New Or-
leans as illegal and unconstitutional. Smith, of Mary-
land, of which state Wilkinson was a native, admitted
that Wilkinson's proceedings were not technically legal,
but he justified them as precautions which the general's
position and information had made it necessary for him
to take.
In the House, toward the end of the session, the same
subject was very warmly discussed, on a series of reso-
lutions directing a bill to be brought in more effectually Feb i SL
to secure the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus to
persons in custody under the authority of the United
States, Both sections of the opposition, the Federalists,
and the little party led by Randolph, severely denounced
the conduct of Wilkinson ; and the resolutions were with
difficulty got rid of by a majority of only two votes.
The president had recommended in his opening message
the giving to the executive, in case of enterprises medi-
tated against the government, the same suppressive pow-
ers already possessed in case of enterprises against for-
eign powers. But the Democrats had not yet entirely
forgotten how violently, when in opposition, they had re-
sisted the latter act A bill, in conformity to the pres-
ident's recommendations, was brought into the House ;
but as it could not be so shaped as to suit the majority,
it failed to pass. Another bill on the same subject came
down from the Senate, but the whole was struck out in
#28 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the House except a single section, still in force, authoi
_ izing the president, in all cases in which he has the right
1807, to ca^ out tne militia to suppress insurrection and resist-
ance to the laws, to employ for the same purpose the
naval and military forces of the United States.
Another subject pressed upon the attention of Con-
gress in the president's message, and which occupied a
large share of attention from the beginning to the end
of the session, was the prohibition of the importation of
slaves from and after the 1st of January, 1808. All
concurred in expressing the greatest anxiety that this
traffic should be prohibited from the first moment that
it fell under the cognizance of Congress ; but as to the
details of the measure, very great differences of opinion
arose ; principally as to the punishments to be imposed
upon those who might persist in carrying on the traffic,
and as to the disposal of negroes illegally introduced.
* As originally reported by a committee, of which Ear-
ly, of Georgia, was chairman, the bill provided that all
negroes, mulattoes, and persons of color illegally intro-
1806. duced " should be forfeited and sold for life for the ben-
nee. 17. efit of the United States." Sloan moved to substitute
" shall be entitled to his or her freedom," an amendment
very violently opposed by the Southern members. Early
maintained with great earnestness that the persons so
illegally introduced must not only be forfeited, but must
be sold as slaves and continued as such. " What else can
be done with them ? We of the South consider slavery
a dreadful evil, but the existence of large numbers of free
blacks among us as a greater evil ; and yet you would
by this amendment turn loose all who may be imported !
You can not execute such a law, for no man will inform
who loves himself or his neighbor."
This same view, the impossibility of enforcing the law
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.
if negroes illegally imported were to become free, was CHAPJER
urged by Macon, the speaker. Other arguments were '
added by his colleague, Willis Alston. " Should a state 1306.
by law forbid the freeing of any slaves, Congress could
not contravene such a law." " Slaves being property
by the laws of a state, Congress could not, in opposition
to those laws, consider them otherwise."
On the other hand, Smilie called attention to the in-
consistency of laying severe penalties, as this bill did,
upon all concerned in buying or selling imported slaves,
while, at the same time, the United States set them-
selves up as sellers ! Barker, of Massachusetts, argued
that the United States ought not only to declare all ille-
gally imported Africans free, but to convey them safely
back to their native country. That, Macon thought,
.would be impracticable. Quincy opposed the amend-
ment, because it was not right to say that a certain class
of people should be free, who could not be so according
to the laws of the state where they might be, and whose
freedom might produce a fatal, injurious, or disagreeable
effect. Only nineteen members voted in favor of Sloan's
amendment ; but the next day, Pitkin, of Connecticut, Dec. la
urged some very strong objections against forfeiting im-
ported Africans, and selling them at public auction like
bales of goods. He admitted the inconvenience that
might arise in some of the states from setting them free ;
but that might be obviated by binding them out for
terms of years, and appointing some proper officer to
look after them. As the bill now stood, it authorized
the selling of forfeited slaves even in Massachusetts,
where slavery was totally prohibited. He moved to re-
commit the bill, and after an animated debate, that mo-
tion prevailed.
When the bill came back from the select committee to Dec- 21
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER which it had been referred, some debate arose upon tho
\ix
" punishment of death to be inflicted on those engaged in
1806 the slave trade. This, Early said, had been introduced
to gratify some of the committee, and to test the sense
of the House. He moved to strike it out, with a view
to substitute imprisonment ; and, after some debate, that
motion was carried.
Dec. 29. When the disposal of the forfeited negroes was again
resumed, Findley advocated binding them out for terms
of years. Bidwell strongly opposed the forfeiture, as im-
plicating the United States in the same crime with the
traders. He hoped the statute-book would never be dis-
graced by such a law. This verbal implication of the
United States being, however, avoided, he was quite will-
ing to leave the imported Africans to the laws of the
states, whatever they might be. Quincy, in reply, in-
sisted on the forfeiture, not only because the Southern
gentlemen regarded it as the only means of enforcing
the law, but because it was also the only means by which
the United States could obtain a control over these un-
fortunate creatures, so as to be certain that the best was
done for them that circumstances would admit. It did not
follow that they must be sold because they were forfeited.
" May you not do with them what is best for human
beings in that condition — naked, helpless, ignorant of
our laws, character, and manners? You are afraid to
trust the national government, and yet, by refusing to
forfeit, you will throw them under the control of the
states, all of which may, and some of which will and
must retain them in slavery. The great objection to
forfeiture is that it admits a title. But this does not
follow. All the effect of forfeiture is, that whatever title
can be acquired in the cargo shall be vested in the United
States If the cargo be such that, from the nature of
ABOLITION OP 13E SLAVE TRADE. 631
the tiling, no title can be acquired in it, then nothing CHAPTER
vests in the United States. The only operation of the '
forfeiture is to vest the importer's color of title by the 1§06.
appropriate commercial term, perhaps the only term we
can effectually use, to this purpose, without interfering
with the rights of the states. Grant that these persons
have all the rights of man : will not those rights be as
valid against the United States as against the importer ?
And, by taking all color of title out of the importer, do
we not place the United States in the best possible situ-
ation to give efficiency to the rights of man in the case
'>f the persons imported?
" But let us admit that forfeiture does imply a species
of title lost on one side and acquired on the other, such
as we can not prevent being recognized in those states
into which these importations will most frequently take
place; which is best? which is most humane? to ad-
mit a title, gain it for the United States, and then to
make these miserable creatures free, under such circum-
stances and at such time as the condition into which they
are forced permits, ort by denying the possibility of title,
to leave them to be slaves? But my colleague has a
sovereign specific for this. We do not make them slaves,
he says, we only leave them to the laws of the states.
But if the laws of all the states may, and if some of
them do and will make them slaves, by leaving them to
the operation of the laws of those states, do we not as
absolutely make them slaves as though we voted them to
be so in express terms ? To my mind, if, when we have Feb. jury
the power, we fail to secure to ourselves the means of
giving freedom to them under proper modifications, we
have an agency in making them slaves. To strike out
the forfeiture, as it seems to me, will defeat the very end
its advocates have in view."
Fiske, of Vermont, denied that, in order to give the
632 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER United States the desired control over Africans or others
. illegally imported, any forfeiture was necessary. It was
1806. never thought that shipwrecked people belonged to the
finder. Just so with alleged slaves brought here. It
was our duty to take them into our custody, and, if they
needed assistance, to provide for them ; and this might
be done without seeming to recognize any title in the
importer. He was inclined to the apprenticeship plan.
Clay, of Philadelphia, and Macon strongly urged th^
bill as it stood, on the ground that it was only as a com-
mercial question that Congress had any jurisdiction over
the slave trade. Smilie insisted that this was something
more than a mere commercial question, and that the bill
could not be passed with this clause of forfeiture in it
without damage to the national character. He quoted
the Declaration of Independence ; to which Clay replied
that the Declaration of Independence must be taken with
great qualifications. It declared that men have an in-
alienable right to life — yet we hang criminals ; to liberty
— yet we imprison ; to the pursuit of happiness — and yet
men must not infringe on the rights of others. If that
declaration were to be taken in its fullest extent, it would
warrant robbery and murder, for some might think even
these crimes necessary to their happiness. This cavaliei
treatment of the rights of man, while Jefferson was still
president, was not a little remarkable in one chosen to rep-
resent the ultra radical Democracy of the city of Phila-
delphia. Hastings, of Massachusetts, hoped the general
government would never be disgraced by undertaking to
sell human beings like goods, wares, and merchandise,
D>c. 31. Yet, in spite of all these objections, the House refused to
strike out the forfeiture sixty-three to thirty -six.
The debate then turned upon the punishment to be
inflicted on the masters and owners of vessels engaged
in the slave trade. The substitution, which had been
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 633
adopted in Committee of the Whole, of imprisonment for CHAPTER
death, was warmly opposed by the greater part of the . . . 4
Northern members, a few excepted, who professed sera-
pies at inflicting capital punishments at all. " We have
been repeatedly told," said Mosely, of Connecticut, " and
told with an air of some triumph, by gentlemen from the
South, that their citizens have no concern in this infa-
mous traffic ; that people from the North are the import-
ers of negroes, and thereby the seducers of Southern cit-
izens to buy them. We have a right to presume, then,
that the citizens of the South will entertain no particular
partiality for these wicked traffickers, but will be ready
to subject them to the most exemplary punishment. So
far as the people of Connecticut are concerned, I am sure
that, should any citizen of the North be convicted under
this law, so far from thinking it cruel in their Southern
brethren to hang them, such a punishment of such cul-
prits would be acknowledged with gratitude as a favor."
The Southern members all opposed the punishment of
death as too severe to be carried into execution. " A
large majority of the people in the Southern States," said
Early, " do not consider slaveholding as a crime. They
do not believe it immoral to hold men in bondage. Many
deprecate slavery as an evil — a political evil — but not as
a crime. Keflecting men apprehend incalculable evils
from it at some future day, but very few consider it a
crime. It is best to be candid on this subject. If they
considered the holding men in slavery as a crime, they
would necessarily accuse themselves. I will tell the truth ;
a large majority of people in the Southern States do not
consider slavery even an evil. Let gentlemen go and
travel in that quarter of the Union, and they will find
this to be the fact."
Holland, of North Carolina, gave a similar account of
the public sentiment of the South ; " Slavery is gener-
634 HISTOEY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ally cosnidered a political evil, and, in that point of view,
!___ nearly all are disposed to stop the trade for the future.
1806. But nas capital punishment been usually inflicted on of-
fenses merely political ? Fine and imprisonment are the
common punishments in such cases. The people of the
South do not generally consider slaveholding as a moral
offense. The importer might say to the informer, I have
done no worse than you, nor even so bad. It is true, I
have brought these slaves from Africa ; but I have only
transported them from one master to another. I am
not guilty of holding human beings in bondage ; you are.
You have hundreds on your plantation in that miserable
condition. By your purchase you tempt traders to in-
crease that evil which your ancestors introduced into the
country, and which you yourself contribute to augment.
And the same language the importer might hold to the
judge or jury who might try him. Under such circum-
stances, the law inflicting death could not be executed,
But if the punishment should be fine and imprisonment
only, the people of the South will be ready to execute
the law." Holland, like all the other Southern speakers
on this subject, wished to place the prohibition of the
slave trade on political, and not on moral grounds. The
negroes, he said, brought from Africa were unquestion-
ably brought from a state of slavery. All admitted that,
as slaves, they were infinitely better off in America than
in Africa, How, then, he argued, could the trade be
immoral ?
The infliction of capital punishment was also object-
ed to by Stanton, one of the Democratic members from
Rhode Island. " Some people of my state," he remarked,
" have been tempted by the high price offered for negroes
by the Southern people to enter into this abominable
traffic. I wish the law made strong enough to prevent
the trade in future, but I can not believe that a man
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 635
ought to be hung for only stealing a negro !" — a declara- CHAPTER
tion received by the House with a loud laugh. " Those J
who buy are as bad as those who import, and deserve 1806
hanging just as much."
" We are told," said Theodore Dwight, of Connecti-
cut, "that morality has nothing to do with this traffic;
that it is not a question of morals, but of pclitics. The
president, in his message at the opening of the session,
has expressed a very different opinion. He speaks of
this traffic as a violation of human rights, which those
who regarded morality, and the reputation and best in-
terests of the country, have long been eager to prohibit.
The gentleman from North Carolina has argued that, in
importing Africans, we do them no harm ; that we only
transfer them from a state of slavery at home to a state
of slavery attended by fewer calamities here. But by
what authority do we interfere with their concerns?
Who empowered us to judge for them which is the worse
and which the better state ? Have these miserable be-
ings ever been consulted as to their removal? Who can
say that the state in which they were born, and to which
they are habituated, is not more agreeable to them than
one altogether untried, of which they have no knowledge,
and about which they can not even make any calcula-
tions ? Let the gentleman ask his own conscience
whether it be not a violation of human rights thus forci-
bly to carry these wretches from their home and their
country ?"
Clay insisted that capital punishments under this law
could not be carried into execution even in Pennsylva-
nia, of which state it had been the policy to dispense with
the penalty of death in all cases except for murder in the
first degree. But on this point Findley and Smilie ex-
pressed very decidedly an opposite opinion. This was a
crime, they said, above murder ; it was man-stealing add-
636 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER ed to murder. In spite, however, of all efforts, the sub-
' stitution of imprisonment for death prevailed by a vote
1307. °f sixty -three to fifty -two. -
Jan. 5. Another attempt was afterwards made by Sloan, of
New Jersey, to strike out the forfeiture clause ; but he
could not even succeed in obtaining the yeas and nays
upon it. Three days after, the bill having been engrossed
Jan. 8. and the question being on its passage, the Northern
members seemed suddenly to recollect themselves. Again
it was urged that by forfeiting the slaves imported, and
putting the proceeds into the public treasury, the bill
gave a direct sanction to the principle of slavery, and
cast a stain upon the national character. In order that
some other plan might be devised, consistent at once
with the honor of the Union and the safety of the slave-
holding states, it was moved to recommit the bill to a
committee of seventeen — one from each state. This mo-
tion, made by Bedinger, of Kentucky, was supported
not only by Sloan, Bidwell, Findley, and Smilie, but
also by Quincy, of Boston, and Clay, of Philadelphia,
who seemed at length to have taken the alarm at the
extent to which they had been playing into the hands
of the slaveholders. It was urged, on the other side,
that the bill, as it stood, was satisfactory to nearly or quite
all the members from the Southern States, who alone
were interested in the matter, and that to recommit a bill
at this stage was very unusual. The motion to recom-
mit was carried, however, seventy -six to forty- nine.
With the yeas voted all the Northern members present,
except three Federalists from New Hampshire, and as
many more from New York. But their desertion was
more than made good by three votes from Maryland,
two from Virginia, two from Kentucky, and one from
each of the states of Delaware, North Carolina, and Ten
nessee.
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. $37
The committee of seventeen proposed that all persons CHAPTER
Imported in violation of the act should be sent to such
states as had prohibited slavery, or had enacted laws for 1807.
its gradual abolition, and should there be bound out as Jan. 20.
apprentices for a limited time, at the expiration of which
they were to become free.
"When this report came up for discussion, a very ex- Feb. 9
traordinary degree of excitement was exhibited by sev-
eral of the Southern members. Early declared that the
people of the South would resist this provision with their
lives ; and he moved, by way of compromise, as he said,
to substitute for it a delivery of the imported negroes to
the state authorities, to be disposed of as they might see
fit — the same, in substance, with Bid well's suggestion.
This Smilie pronounced a new scene indeed ! "Was the
House to be frightened by threats of civil war ? Early
denied having made any such threats. He merely meant
to intimate that troops would be necessary to enforce the
act. The whole day, thus commenced, was consumed
in a very violent debate, of which no detailed report has
been preserved.
"While this subject had been under discussion in the
House, the Senate had passed and sent down a bill hav-
ing the same object in view. The House bill, with the
report of the committee, having been laid upon the table,
the Senate bill was taken up. That bill provided that Feb 10
neither the importer, nor any purchaser under him, should
" have or gain" any title to the persons illegally import-
ed, leaving them to be disposed of as the states might
direct. Williams, of South Carolina, moved to substi-
tute the word " retain" instead of the words " have or
gain." The motion to strike out prevailed, but, instead
of " retain," the word " hold" was substituted ; where-
upon Williams declared, in a very vehement speech, that
he considered this word " hold" as leading to the destruc-
638 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER tion and massacre of all the whites in the Southern
XIX.
States ; and he attacked Bid well with great violence as
1307 the author of this calamity. The punishment of death
was also stricken from the bill, and, thus amended, it
was reported to the House. These amendments being
concurred in, the bill was passed, one hundred and thir-
teen to five, and was sent back to the Senate.
But, notwithstanding this concession to the South, the
trouble was not yet over. Among other precautions
against the transportation coastwise of imported slaves,
the Senate bill had forbidden the transport, for the pur-
pose of sale, of any negro whatever on board any vessel
under forty tons burden. A proviso had been added
by the House, excluding from the operation of this sec-
tion the coastwise transportation of slaves accompanied
by the owner or his agent. The refusal of the Senate
to concur in this amendment called out John Eandolph,
who hitherto had hardly spoken. " If the bill passed
without this proviso, the Southern people," he said,
" would set the act at defiance. He would set the first
example. He would go with his own slaves, and be at
the expense of asserting the rights of the slaveholders.
The next step would be to prohibit the slaveholder him-
self going from one state to another. The bill without
the amendment was worse than the exaction of ship-
money. The proprietor of sacred and chartered rights
was prevented from the constitutional use of his prop-
erty."
Other speeches were made in the same high strain,
and finally a committee of conference was appointed, by
which an amended proviso was agreed to, allowing the
transportation of negroes, not imported contrary to the
provisions of the act, in vessels of any sort on any river
or inland bay within the jurisdiction of the United States.
This, however, was far from satisfying the more violent
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TEADE. 639
Southern members. Kandolph still insisted " that the CHAPTER
XIX.
provisions of the bill, so far as related to the coastwise
transportation of slaves, touched, upon the right of pri- 1807.
vate property," and he expressed a fear lest at any future
period this claim of power might be made the pretext
for a general emancipation. He would rather lose all
the bills of the session, every bill passed since the estab-
lishment of the government than submit to such a pro-
vision. It went to blow the Constitution into ruins. If
disunion should ever take place, the line of disseverance
would not be between the East and the West, lately the
topic of so much alarm, but between the slaveholding
and the non-slaveholding states. Early and Williams
joined in these demonstrations ; but the report of the
committee of conference was agreed to, sixty-three to
forty-nine.
The act, as finally passed, imposed a fine of $20,000
upon all persons concerned in fitting out any vessel for
the slave trade, with the forfeiture of the vessel ; likewise
a fine of $5000, with forfeiture also of the vessel, for
taking on board any negro, mulatto, or person of color
in any foreign country, with the purpose of selling such
person within the jurisdiction of the United States as a
slave. For actually transporting from any foreign coun-
try and selling as a slave, or to be held to service or la-
bor within the United States, any such person as above
described, the penalty was imprisonment for not less
than five nor more than ten years, with a fine not ex-
ceeding $10,000 nor less than $1000. The purchaser,
if cognizant of the facts, was also liable to a fine of $800
for every person so purchased. Neither the importer nor
the purchaser were to hold any right or title to such per-
son, or to his or her service or labor ; but all such per-
sons were to remain subject to any regulations for their
disposal, not contrary to the provisions of this act, which
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER might be made by the respective states and territories^
Coasting vessels transporting slaves from one state to
1807. another were to have the name, age, sex, and description
of such slaves, with the names of the owners, inserted
in their manifests, and certified also by the officers of the
port of departure ; which manifests, before landing any
of the slaves, were to be exhibited and sworn to before
the officer of the port of arrival, under pain of forfeiture
of the vessel, and a fine of $1000 for each slave as to
whom these formalities might be omitted. No vessel of
less than forty tons burden was to take any slaves on
board except for transportation on the inland bays and
rivers of the United States ; and any vessel found hov-
ering on the coast with slaves on board, in contravention
of this act, was liable to seizure and condemnation ; for
which purpose the president was authorized to employ
the ships of the navy, half the proceeds of the captured
vessels and their cargoes to go to the captors. The mas-
ters of vessels so seized were liable to a fine of $10,000,
and imprisonment for not less than two nor more than
four years. The negroes found on board were to be de-
livered to such persons as the states might respectively
appoint to receive them, or, in default of such appoint-
ment, to the overseers of the poor of the place to which
they might be brought ; and if, under state regulations,
they should be " sold or disposed of," the penalties of
this act upon the seller and purchaser were not to attach
in such cases. Though coming very near it, the provis-
ions of this warmly-contested enactment did yet, vastly
to the chagrin of the ultra slaveholders, avoid, as the
Constitution of the United States had done, any ac-
knowledgment of the existence, by natural law, of prop-
erty in man, or any national participation in the sale of
human beings.
Randolph's objections to the act, of which the restraint
RANDOLPH'S BRAVADOES. 641
upon the transportation, of slaves by water was made the CHAPTER
pretense, did not cease with the passage of the bill. He __
denounced it the day after in a most vehement speech, 1307.
in which he declared that whatever might be thought Feb. 27.
of alien, and sedition, and excise laws, they were noth-
ing in comparison to this. It laid the axe at the root
of all property in the Southern States, If Congress could
abridge, alter, or modify the right of property in slaves,
they could go a step further and emancipate them. He
asked, therefore, for leave to bring in an explanatory bill.
If the motion was rejected, he doubted if the House would
ever again see any Southern delegates on its floor. He,
for one, would say, let us secede and go home.
This display of insolent bravado, so often since repeat-
ed, did not meet with so much success as it has done on
some subsequent occasions. Smilie declared that he was
not to be frightened by any such scarecrow. He might
lament a secession, but he did not fear it. The North-
ern people could take care of themselves ; it was the
South that would suffer. Leave, however, was granted,
and Kandolph brought in his explanatory bill, disavow-
ing in its preamble any right in Congress to abridge,
modify, or affect the right of property in slaves not ille-
gally imported into the United States, and declaring the
prohibition as to the transportation of slaves in vessels
under forty tons burden not to apply to any masters or
owners, or to their agents, transporting slaves from one
port to another of the United States. Eandolph insist-
ed upon instant action, without the customary reference
to a committee of the whole, as otherwise the bill wo aid
fail to pass at the present session ; in which case he hoped
that the Virginia delegation would wait upon the presi-
dent to remonstrate against his signature of the bill al-
ready passed. In spite, however, of the fury of Eandolpb,
V.— 8*
642 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the bill was referred in the usual way. Of course, it was
XIX.
________ not reached. It slept forever ; yet the Union remained
1807. undissolved.
The importation of Africans into South Carolina dur-
ing the four years from the reopening of the traffic up tc
the period when the law of the United States went intc
effect, amounted to about 40,000, of whom half were
brought by English vessels. A very large proportion of
the remainder seem to have been introduced by Khode
Islanders. The English act for the abolition of the slave
trade, and especially the commercial restrictions which
went into operation simultaneously with the American
act, contributed to give it an efficacy which otherwise
it might not have had. At a subsequent period, after
the re-establishment of freedom of navigation, addition-
al provisions, as we shall see, became necessary.
The convention of delegates from the various abolition
societies had continued, since its institution in 1793, to
meet annually at Philadelphia ; but of late the delega-
tions from the South had greatly fallen off, and the con-
vention of the present year resolved that its future meet-
ings should be only triennial. That spirit, twin-born
with the struggle for liberty and independence, which
had produced in three states (Massachusetts, Vermont,
and Ohio) the total prohibition of slavery, in six others
provisions for its gradual abolition, and, in spite of the
efforts of the people of Indiana for its temporary intro-
duction (efforts renewed again at the present session, but
again, notwithstanding the favorable report of a com-
mittee, without success), its continued prohibition in the
territories northwest of the Ohio, culminating now in
the total prohibition of the foreign slave trade, seems to
have become, for a considerable interval, less active, or,
at least, less marked in its manifestations. The greater
part of the societies whence the delegates came gradual-
REACTION IN THE SOUTH. 643
iy died out, and even the triennial convention presently CHAPTER
XIX.
ceased. Jefferson, having much more about him of the ______
politician than of the martyr, preserved, with all his 1$07.
zeal on this subject, a dead silence. In his private let-
ters he sometimes alluded to the necessity of steps for
getting rid of the evil of slavery ; but he took good care
not to hazard his popularity at the South by any public
suggestions on the subject.
That dread of and antipathy to free negroes which
had been evinced in the debate on the slave trade pro-
hibition act had not been without its influence upon the
legislation of the states. Indeed, it had led to some se-
rious infractions of these alleged rights of property, but
a very distant approach to which by the general govern-
ment had thrown Randolph into such excitement. , In
1796 North Carolina had re-enforced and re-enacted her
law prohibiting emancipation except for meritorious
services and by allowance of the county courts. South
Carolina, in 1800, had prohibited emancipation except
by consent of a justice of the peace and of five indiffer-
ent freeholders. Another South Carolina act of the same
year had declared it unlawful for any number of slaves,
free negroes, mulattoes, or mestizoes to assemble togeth-
er, even though in the presence of white persons, " for
mental instruction or religious worship." The same in-
fluences were felt in Virginia, aggravated, perhaps, by
two successive alarms of insurrection, one in 1799, the
other in 1801. The freedom of emancipation allowed
by the act of 1782 was substantially taken away in 1805,
by a provision that thenceforward emancipated slaves
remaining in the state for twelve months after obtaining
their freedom should be apprehended and sold for the
benefit of .the poor of the county — a forfeiture given
afterward to the literary fund. Overseers of the poor,
binding out black or mulatto orphans as apprentices,
64:4 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTER were forbidden to require their masters to teach them
\ \ X
. reading, writing, or arithmetic. Free blacks coming intc
1807. tne state were to be sent back to the places whence they
came. The Legislature of Kentucky presently (1808)
went so far as to provide that free negroes coming into
that state should give security to depart within twenty
days, and on failure to do so should be sold for a year—-
the same process to be repeated if, twenty days after the
end of the year, they were still found within the state.
" Such is the fate," exclaims Marshall, the historian of
Kentucky, indignant at this barbarous piece of legisla-
tion, " of men not represented, at the hands of law-mak-
ers, often regardless of the rights of others, and even of
the first principles of humanity." Yet this statute remains
in force to the present day, and many like ones, in other
states, have since been added to it. Whether the exces-
sive dread of the increase of free negroes, which still
prevails, and which seems every day to grow more and
more rabid throughout the Southern States, has any bet-
ter foundation than mere suspicion and fear, is not so
certain. In Delaware and Maryland the free colored
population is far greater in proportion than elsewhere ;
yet life and property are more secure in those than in
many other slaveholding states, nor are they inferior in
wealth and industry.
Next to the prohibition of the slave trade, the act of
the session of the greatest permanent importance was
that for a survey of the coasts of the United States — a
great enterprise, continued from that time to this, and
not yet entirely completed. This very important meas-
ure was introduced on the suggestion of Dana, who might
be considered, since Griswold's retirement, as the leader
of the Federalists. The first appropriation was $50,000 ;
but the bill would hardly have passed had the adrainis-
JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS. 645
tration or its supporters entertained the least idea of the CHAPTER
expense which the survey would ultimately involve. ..'.
Dana also called attention to the recent prosecutions 1807.
for libels commenced under Pierrepont Edwards's aus-
pices in the Federal Circuit Court of Connecticut. He
wished that some provision might be made securing to
the defendants the right to give the truth in evidence.
Nothing, however, came of this motion ; nor, taking it •
for granted, as the Eepublican party had always main-
tained, that the Federal Courts had no common law
criminal jurisdiction, did there seem any occasion for
Congress to interfere.
The death of Patterson having caused a vacancy on
the bench of the Supreme Court, Brockholst Livingston
had been appointed to fill it — an appointment not a lit-
tle mortifying to the Clintonians, who, in denouncing the
Livingston or Lewisite party as little better than Fed-
eralists, had professed a very special zeal on behalf of
the administration. An act of this session added a
seventh judge to the Supreme bench of the United
States, and created a seventh circuit, composed of the
states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. This ap-
pointment was given to Thomas Todd, of Kentucky, one
of the secretaries of the Democratic Society at Lexing-
ton at the time Breckenridge had been president. The
place of attorney general, vacant by the death of Breck-
enridge, was given to Caesar A. Kodney, who had acted for
the government in the case of Bollman and Swartwout,
It was not, however, by domestic affairs, interesting
and exciting as they were at this moment, that the pub-
lic attention was entirely engrossed. On the represent-
ation of the president that the pending negotiation with
Great Britain seemed likely to result in a treaty, an act
had passed very soon after Congress came together (Dec.
19), suspending till the following July the operation of
646 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
OS-AFTER the act of the last session prohibiting the import of cer-
' tain descriptions of British merchandise-. All penalties
1807, hitherto incurred were remitted, and the president was
authorized to continue the suspension, should he think
proper, till the meeting of the next Congress.
Of the progress of the negotiation with Spain the pres-
ident was not able to furnish any satisfactory account.
Though the project of buying the Floridas had not suc-
ceeded, the administration had gone so far as to consent,
on the urgent recommendation of Bonaparte, again to
receive as embassador from Spain that same Yrujo by
whom they had been so publicly insulted a few months
before. Turreau, the French embassador, treated the
American government much in the same way, urging
with a rude pertinacity the payment of the claim of the
heirs of Beaumarchais for the million of livres which, on
the settlement of his accounts, had been deducted as hav-
ing been put into his hands by Yergennes for the use of
the United States and as a gift to them. The French
government, which had taken up the patronage, and
probably had obtained an assignment of this claim,
strenuously insisted that the million of livres given to
Beaumarchais had been employed by him in certain se-
cret services, quite distinct from furnishing of military
supplies, for which his claim — so Turreau insisted, and
Eodney seemed to concur in it — was good to the extent
of the supplies furnished. This, however, was but a
trifle compared with certain new steps taken by France,
ftbrnary. information of which arrived during the session
The battle of Trafalgar, by striking a death-blow at
the French and Spanish navies, had given the dominion
of the ocean and the control of the trade of the world to
Great Britain ; and it was evident, from the recent decis-
ion of the English Courts of Admiralty, restricting the
rights of neutrals, that she meant to exercise that power
BERLIN DECKEE. 647
to !aer own advantage, and to derive from the supply of CHAPTER
fch-i Continent with produce from abroad new pecuniary _
means wherewith to prosecute the war. So long as the 1807.
French Revolutionary government, and Bonaparte as its
successor, had been able to contend with Great Britain
for maritime ascendency, they had put themselves for-
ward as the champions and vindicators of the rights of
neutrals and of the freedom of trade. But seeing now
no other way to counteract Great Britain except by put-
ting an end to the foreign trade of Europe, Bonaparte
entered with all his natural promptitude, and with the
blind zeal of a military despot, upon that scheme of pol-
icy, to which he gave the name of the Continental sys-
tem. Having subdued Austria for the third time, and
completely humbled her ; having dissolved the German
Empire, and overturned the kingdom of Prussia at a single-
blow ; confident in his apparent omnipotence, he issued
from the field of Jena (Nov. 21, 1806) the famous Berlin
decreeT the first step in his new anti-commercial career.
Previous to the recent breach between France and
Prussia, under a treaty between those two powers, Han-
over had been occupied by a Prussian army ; shortly
after which a British order in council had been issued,
dated May 16, 1806, embracing within its provision the
whole extensive line of coast from Brest to the Elbe.
This was called an order of blockade, but except as to
the ports from the Seine to Ostand, before which cruis-
ers were stationed, it went no further than to restrain
neutrals from trading from port to port along that coast ;
and even that restriction had been repealed as to the Ger-
man coast by a subsequent order in council of the 27th
of September, previous to the issue of the Berlin Decree.
On the alleged ground of the tyranny established by
England over the seas, and especially of the abuse of de-
claring ports and coasts blockaded before which no ade-
648 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTER quate force was stationed — of which the order of May
_ 16th was relied upon as a flagrant instance — the Berlin
1807 decree retaliated by declaring the British Islands in a
state of blockade, and prohibiting all commerce and in-
tercourse with them. No letters in the English language
were to pass through the French post-offices. All trade
in English merchandise was forbidden. All merchan-
dise belonging to Englishmen, or from England, was de-
clared lawful prize. No vessels directly from England
or the English colonies, or which might have been there
subsequent to the date of this decree, were to be admit-
ted into any French port.
In its terms, this decree applied as much to neutrals
as to Frenchmen, and threatened with seizure all Ameri-
can vessels, wherever bound, having British merchandise
on board, or trading to or from the British Islands. Nor,
in this respect, was the decree original, for the same pro-
visions had been contained in one of the decrees of the
Directory issued during the year 1798. The Berlin de-
cree, by one of its articles, was to be communicated to
the "kings of Spain, Naples, Holland, and Etruria (Tus-
cany), and to the allies of France generally ; and as the
states named were but the humble vassals of Bonaparte,
there was every reason to expect them speedily to adopt
the same policy.
When the news of this decree reached the United
States, it produced the greatest alarm among the mer-
chants. The rates of insurance rose to a ruinous height,
and almost a complete stop was put to commercial enter-
prises. But this alarm was soon appeased by the pub-
lication in the National Intelligencer of a private letter
of Armstrong, the American minister at Paris, stating,
in positive terms, that he had received written assurances
from the French minister of Marine that the decree
would in no respect, so far as the United States were
MEASURES OF DEFENSE. 649
concerned, disturb the existing regulations of commerce CHAPTEB
as settled by the convention of 1800. But Armstrong's __. _
official correspondence, which was presently laid before 1807
Congress by the president, by no means bore out this Feb. 19
agreeable assurance. The French minister of Marine,
had indeed expressed his opinion that American vessels
bound to or from British ports would not be liable to
capture for that reason only. But as to the point of
having British produce on board, embraced also in Arm-
strong's inquiries, the reply was much less definite ; for,
though he expressed a general opinion that the decree
was not intended to contravene the American treaty, he
at the same time referred Armstrong, as to the whole
matter, to the minister of Foreign Affairs as the proper
person to be consulted. The merchants, however, were
disposed to give to these assurances the broadest latitude
of interpretation ; and they received with great satisfac-
tion the additional information communicated in the
same message, that Monroe and Pinkney had agreed in
England on the terms of a treaty, arranging the late dis-
puted points of neutral rights, and which only waited to
be reduced to form.
The few Federalists in Congress, — as well after these
communications as before.' — and several of the Demo-
cratic representatives from commercial parts of the Union
concurred with them — were decidedly of opinion that,
considering the very delicate and uncertain state of the
foreign relations of the country, some preparations for
defense at least were necessary ; but to every proposal
of this sort the special supporters of the administration
were decidedly opposed. A bill from the Senate to in-
crease the regular army was lost in the House. A prop-
osition to put all the ships of the navy into commission,
or; at least, so maiy of them as the president might deem
expedient, failed in the same way. The House would
650 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER go no further than to vote an increase of five hundred
XIX
_ seamen, without which it would be impossible to relieve
1807. tne frigate stationed in the Mediterranean. The presi-
dent reiterated his decided opinion as to the impolicy of
making preparations for war in time of peace — a policy,
he said, which had ruined half the nations of Europe.
All that he deemed necessary was an increase of gun-
boats; and he asked an appropriation of $300,000 to
build sixty more of these boats in addition to the sixty-
nine already completed. A bill was accordingly brought
in, appropriating for that purpose $250,000 ; also $20,000
for fortifications, all that the Secretary of War asked for.
The Federalists attacked this bill with much spirit.
The absurdity of the proposed appropriation for fortifica-
tions was sufficiently obvious, since it would require two
or three millions to fortify New York alone, liable, at
present, to be insulted and plundered by any one or two
ships of war, and, indeed, even by privateers. As for
the gun-boats, they were good for nothing except on
rivers and smooth water. They might, perhaps, answer
at the South, but would be wholly useless on the North
ern coast. To these calls for forts and ships, the admin-
istration members made a somewhat alarming reply.
Nelson, of Maryland, repeated a suggestion thrown out
by Eandolph during the preceding session, that, in case
of war, it would probably be necessary to abandon the
harbors and sea-coast, and to retire to the interior.
Smilie declared that if there were no mode of defending
the country except by a fleet, so fa? as his vote was con-
cerned it should go undefended ! It was only for the
protection of trade that fleets became necessary, and
sooner than build fleets for that purpose, he would give
up all the trade of the country. In the same spirit,
Logan introduced into the Senate a resolution for repeal-
ing the drawback of duties allowed on the exportation
MEASURES OF DEFENSE. 65.1
ot imported produce. As the carrying trade in foreign CHAPTER
.X1,X«
goods threatened to involve us with foreign nations, he • t
thought it best to abandon it altogether. 1807.
The commercial members contrasted, with no little
bitterness, the parsimony of the administration in ex-
penditures for the security of commerce with the sums
lavished for the purchase of Louisiana, and in obtaining
cessions of land from the Indians for the convenience of
the frontier inhabitants, and the readiness evinced to pay
a still further indefinite amount to Spain for the purchase
of the Floridas. At this very session sums had been ap-
propriated to carry into execution three Indian treaties
negotiated in 1805 and 1806. The sum of $1100 in
cash, and an annuity of $300, was voted to the Pianke-
shaws, in consideration of their relinquish ment of a con-
siderable tract along the west bank of the Wabash. To
the Chickasaws $22,000 were voted to be appropriated
to the payment of their debts ; and to the Cherokees
$10,000, in five annual payments, besides the erection
within their territory, and for their use, of a grist-mill,
and a machine for the cleaning of cotton — compensation
to these two nations for their relinquishment of their re-
spective titles to the lands, some small tracts excepted,
hitherto occupied by them, north and west of the waters
of the Elk, a tributary of the Tennessee.
Nor were the complaints and arguments of the oppo-
sition entirely without effect. Notwithstanding a report
from the president, in which he entered into a very elab-
orate defense of the gun -boats, the House cut down the
appropriation under that head to $150,000 ; and they in-
sisted upon voting as mud? more for fortifications, not-
withstanding the fact, to which attention was called, that
of a similar appropriation made at the preceding session,
not a third part had been expended. The Senate went
further, and struck out altogether the appropriation for
652 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER gun-boats, in which, much to Jefferson's mortification,
_. the House acquiesced. A bill for continuing the ad-
1807 ditional two and a half per cent, duty, known as the
Mediterranean Fund, but now diverted to the general
purposes of the treasury, a favorite measure with the
administration, came very near sharing the same fate.
Feeling very acutely the want of some competent per-
Feb. 28. son as leader in the House, Jefferson wrote again to Wil-
son C. Nicholas, pressing him to offer as a candidate.
" Never," he wrote, " did the call of patriotism more
loudly assail you than at this moment. After except-
ing the Federalists, who will be twenty-seven, and the
little band of schismatics, who will be three or four, all
tongue, the residue of the House of Representatives" —
he seems here suddenly to pass back from the new to the
expiring Congress — " is as well disposed a body of men
as I ever saw collected. But there is no one whose tal-
ents and standing taken together have weight enough to
give him the lead. The consequence is, that there is no
one who will undertake to do the public business, and it
remains undone. Were you here, the whole would rally
round you in an instant, and willingly co-operate in what-
ever is for the public good."
Since the complete preponderance of the Democratic
party, there had been a great falling off in talent on both
sides of the House. The Federalists being in a hopeless
minority, a seat in Congress had lost, for their ablest
men, a large part of its charms ; while among the Dem-
ocrats, the idea of Republican equality and rotation in of-
fice had brought forward many very inferior men. Con-
scious of their inferiority, these Democratic members
were, in general, docile enough. Men who had regard-
ed Adams as little better than a traitor sold to the Brit-
ish, and to whom even Washington had been an object
of watchful suspicion, as undo the infiuei ce of very bad
NEGOTIATION AT LONDON.
advice, looked up to Jefferson with the most implicit CIUPT»A
trust and undoubting confidence. They were exceed- .
ingly " well disposed," as Jefferson expressed it ; but 1807.
with such marplots about as John Randolph and the
abler Federalists, a diligent and powerful watch-dog was
much needed to keep the sheep from running astray.
The hopes raised in the minds of the mercantile com-
munity by the president's announcement of a treaty with
Great Britain were destined, and by the president's own
act, to be suddenly and most disastrously dashed. Pre- 1806
vious to Pinkney's arrival in England as joint commis-
sioner, Fox had expressed to Monroe some sensibility
at the passage of the non-importation act, as placing
him in the disagreeable position of seeming to treat un-
der compulsion ; to which Monroe, with a view of smooth-
ing over the matter, had replied, that the bill had been
introduced before knowledge in America of the change
of ministry in England, and that, upon receipt of that
information, its features had been softened and its com-
mencement postponed. About the time of Pinkney's
arrival Fox had been taken sick, which caused a delay
of several wer ks in the commencement of the negotia-
tion. His sukness continuing, Lords Auckland and
Ho wick (afteiward Earl Grey) were appointed to con- Aug. 2
duct the negotiation on the British side. Pinkney's
appointment as joint commissioner had excited at first
some jealoujy in Monroe's mind, which Jefferson took
pains to assuage. Pinkney pursued a judicious course,
and, while he succeeded in obtaining a controlling in-
fluence over the negotiation, he preserved, also, unim-
paired harmony with his colleague.
As the American commissioners were expressly in-
structed to make no treaty which did not secure Ameri-
can vessels on the high seas against the visitation of
654 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER press-gaogs, this naturally became the first topic, upor
' which several earnest, but friendly and candid discus-
1806. sions took place between the commissioners. Monroe
and Pinkney had been instructed by Madison to con-
tend, that as the right of impressment existed by mere
municipal law, it could not be exercised out of the jur-
isdiction of Great Britain. The British commissioners,
on the other hand, produced the opinions of the chief
law-officers to the effect that the king had a right, by his
prerogative, to require, as against his maritime enemies,
the personal services of all his seafaring subjects, and
the right also to seize by force such subjects for that
purpose every where and any where except within the
territorial limits of some other power ; and further, that
the high seas were extra-territorial, and that merchant
vessels navigating thereon did not carry with them any
such foreign jurisdiction as to protect British subjects on
board from this exercise of the king's prerogative. To
give up this prerogative would render American ships
an asylum for British seamen anxious to evade their
country's service, and even for deserters from British
ships of war, and might, in the peculiar existing state
of things, go far toward the overthrow of that naval
power on which the safety of the state essentially de-
pended. The Board of Admiralty and the law-officers
of the Admiralty courts were unanimous as to the right
of the crown, and the impolicy and danger of giving it
up ; and, under such circumstances, so the British com-
missioners stated, the ministry could not give it up,
without taking a responsibility such as no administra-
tion would be willing to assume, however pressing the
emergency.
At the same time, a readiness was avowed to do any
thing to satisfy the United States short of a positive re*
linquishment of the right to impress British seamen on
QUESTION OF IMPRESSMENT. 655
the high seas; and Monroe and Pinkney were called CHAPTER
upon to point out any thing short of such relinquish- m
ment which would be satisfactory ; hut this the Ameri- 1806,
can commissioners professed their inability to do. They
offered, indeed, by way of offset to the relinquishment
upon which they insisted, that the aid of the local au-
thorities in America should be given toward the arrest
and return of deserters from British ships, whether na-
tional or merchant vessels ; but this was not thought
satisfactory by the British commissioners, since little
could be hoped from such interference, even if exercised
in good faith ; the popular feeling in both countries be-
ing in favor of shielding deserters, while their most like-
ly places of refuge would be on board of American ves-
sels, where, by the stipulation asked for, they would be
expressly protected. On their part, the British commis-
sioners proposed that laws should be passed by both na-
tions, making it penal on the one hand for British com-
manders to impress American citizens, and, on the oth-
er, for any officer of the American government to grant
certificates of American citizenship to British subjects ;
but this the American commissioners declared to be in-
admissible ; and indeed, it raised the whole delicate and
disputed question of the right of a subject or citizen to
renounce the allegiance under which he had been born.
In this state of the case, a very important question pre-
sented itself to the American commissioners. Should
they forego the present fair opportunity of settling so
many other grave subjects of dispute, because, as to this
one, they could not obtain all which they were instruct-
ed to ask ? The British negotiators declared that al-
though the ministry could not venture to give up, by
formal treaty, the right of impressment on the high seas,
yet that special instructions should be given and enforced
requiring in the officers of the navy the greatest caution
656 HISTOKY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER not to subject any American-born citizen to molestation
^ '__ or injury, and that, in case of any such injury, upon rep-
1806. resentation of it, the promptest redress should be afford-
ed. These assurances they reduced to writing, suggest-
Nov. 8. ing, at the same time, that while both parties thus re*
served their rights, this stipulation might temporarily
answer all the purposes of a treaty provision. The
American commissioners were, in fact, given to under-
stand, though it was not so expressed in terms, that the
intention of the British government was not to allow im-
pressments from American vessels on the high seas ex-
cept under extraordinary circumstances, such as their
having on board known deserters from the British navy ;
thus gradually and silently abandoning a practice of
which the national sentiment did not allow a specific re-
nunciation, going back as it did to an indefinite antiq-
uity, strongly supported as it was by the national feel-
ing, and thought, at the present crisis of European af-
fairs, essential to the national safety.
Every concession on the subject of impressment short
of a renunciation by the British government of the claim
of right to take British subjects out of American vessels
being thus offered to the American commissioners, and
having thus placed the United States, as to this ques-
tion, on ground short, indeed, of their pretensions, and
perhaps of their rights, but the best which, at present,
there was the slightest prospect of obtaining — especially
considering the total inability of the United States to
enforce by arms their claim to be exempt from maritime
visitation and search, and the total ruin which must en-
sue, from war with Great Britain, of that maritime com-
merce which alone made this question of impressments
of any practical importance : — under these circumstances,
imitating the example of Jay, and of the commission to
France in 1799, Monroe and Pinkney did not deem it
TREATY AGREED TO. 657
consistent either with common prudence or common CHAPTER
XIX»
sense to relinquish the advantage thus within their pow-
er, and, along with it, other advantages in prospect, and, 1806.
by breaking off the negotiation, from a too strict adher-
ence to instructions, to leave the country exposed to
vast maritime losses, to the continuance and aggravation
of present misunderstandings, and to imminent risk of
war. They accordingly resolved to proceed with the
negotiation, having first informed the British commis-
sioners that they did so on their own responsibility, and
with full reserve to the American government of the
privilege to ratify or not, as might be deemed proper.
The stumbling-block of the impressment question thus
remoTed out of the way, the terms of a treaty for ten
years were soon agreed to, based principally on Jay's.
By a slight improvement on the provisions of that treaty,
the trade between the United States and the European
possessions of Great Britain was placed on a basis of en-
tire reciprocity. On the subject of the East India trade
the provision was less favorable than Jay's, American
vessels being limited in terms to the direct voyage to
British India and back. No concessions could be ob-
tained as to the trade to the British West Indies ; that
stood as before, American vessels being excluded from
it. The questions of blockades and of contraband were
arranged as in Jay's treaty, an additional express provis-
ion being inserted that no American vessels were to be
visited or seized within five miles of the American coast.
This provision no doubt grew out of the case of Captain
Pierce, killed, as we have seen, off the harbor of New
York, by a cannon shot from the British ship Leander,
an act for which the commander of that ship had lately
been tried and acquitted by a naval court martial.
On the great poiixt of the carrying trade, as to which
V.— TT
658 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the decisions of the British admiralty courts had causec
' so much excitement, the right was conceded, for the pres-
1806. ent warj to transPort in American vessels, to any bellig-
erent colony not blockaded by a British force, any Eu-
ropean goods except contraband of war, provided the
same were American property, had previously been
landed in the United States, and had paid a duty of at
least one per cent, above the amount drawn back on re-
exportation. In like manner, all the produce of such
colonies the property of American citizens, and not con-
traband of war, might be brought to the United States,
and having been landed, and having paid a duty of at
least two per cent, exclusive of drawback, might be ex-
ported in American vessels to any port of Europe not
blockaded.
The issue of the Berlin decree which reached England
just as this, on the whole, very favorable treaty was
ready for signature, occasioned some hesitation on the
part of the British commissioners. They wanted as-
surances that the United States would not allow their
trade with Great Britain and in British merchandise to
be interrupted and interfered with by France without
1807. taking measures to resent it. Finally, however, they
Jan. 3. consented to sign ; but they presented, at the same time,
a written protest against the Berlin decree, reserving to
the British government the right, should that decree be
actually carried into force as against neutrals, and be
submitted to by them, to take such measures of retalia-
tion as might be deemed expedient. And indeed one
measure of retaliation as against France and her allies
was -immediately taken, by the issue of an order in coun-
cil restraining neutrals from the coasting trade between
one hostile port to another, an extension to all the hos-
tile ports of the principle already applied to the line of
coast from Brest to the Ems, under the order in council
SEASONS FOB BATIFYING THE TBEATY. 659
of May 16, 1806 — an order complained of by Bonaparte CHAPTER
as a flagrant violation of the rights of neutrals, and as
one of the justifications of the Berlin decree, but which 1807,,
the British sustained on the ground that neutrals had no
right to claim participation during war in a trade not
open to them in time of peace.
The same powerful reasons — conclusive to every mind
not disturbed by passion or misled by delusive fancies —
which had induced the American commissioners to com-
plete and sign this treaty, ought to have operated with
Jefferson in favor of its acceptance and ratification. The
mutual relations of the two countries were very much
the same as at the time of Jay's treaty, and now, as then,
the question of ratifying or rejecting was hardly less a
question of peace or war. The arguments in favor of
ratifying now were even stronger than in the case of
Jay's treaty. The president would not have been obliged
to encounter by it any violent popular prejudices or
popular clamor. The merchants would have been per-
fectly satisfied, the treaty having granted all they could
have expected ; while the great body of the back-country
Democrats, looking up to Jefferson with a sort of idola-
trous reverence, were ready to submit implicitly to his
judgment, whatever it might be. It had been a strong
objection to Jay's treaty, at least in the minds of a large
portion of the people, that it tended to infringe the rights
of France ; that it was, in fact, a sacrifice of our only
sympathetic ally, the great champion of liberty and
republicanism, at the shrine of the conspiracy of kings.
No such objection could be urged to the present treaty.
A release from the obligations, whatever they might be,
of the French treaty of alliance, had been purchased at
a heavy price by the relinquishment of a great mass of
private claims for cruel and piratical spoliations ; and
the conduct of France as to that affair, and, more re-
660 HISTOET OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER centlj, as to the Spanish negotiation and the boundaries
' of Louisiana, had extinguished all claims she might ever
}§07 have had on the national gratitude. The French repub-
lic, once the object, with many Americans, of such de-
voted affection, no longer existed. Bonaparte was an
emperor, and two of his brothers had lately been made
kings. He had even ceased to be a republican emperor,
for he had lately surrounded his throne by a whole host
of hereditary nobles. Nobody could any longer pretend
to see in him the champion of liberty. In fact, the
tables were now completely turned, the late kingly and
aristocratic conspirators against the rights of man now
appearing as the champions of national independence
against a terrible military adventurer who evidently
aimed at universal empire.
Nor had Bonaparte any longer any claim to be regard-
ed as the champion of neutral rights and of the freedom
of the seas. The Berlin decree was a deadly blow at
the very existence of neutral commerce, and, in fact, of
international commerce of any kind. Notwithstanding
the correspondence submitted to Congress between Arm •
strong and the French minister of marine, the American
government already had information of the capture, in
the West India seas, of many American vessels, under
the pretense of having British merchandise on board ;
and of the seizure in Europe, under color of the Berlin
decree, of British merchandise belonging to Americans,
put under sequestration, as it was called, to await the
February, emperor's final decision, to an amount so great as to
leave, so Armstrong wrote, very little hope of its release.
Such being the precarious condition of American com-
merce with the continent of Europe, the greater reason
existed for preserving a good understanding with Great
Britain, especially since in case of a breach with the
British, France no longer possessed the power, stripped
REJECTION OF THE TREATY. 661
as she was of her navy, to afford the United States the CHAPTER
J) xix.
least direct assistance. .
Yet, in spite of all these powerful arguments, and ap- 18Q7.
parently without giving them tne least consideration,
Jefferson and Madison — for it does not appear that any
other member of the cabinet was consulted — steadfastly
adhered to the same views which they had so zealously
advocated at the time of Jay's treaty. Monroe's diplo-
matic ideas — thanks, probably, to his protracted resi-
dence in Europe — had greatly expanded ; but Jefferson
and Madison, persisting in their originally narrow and
mistaken views, by which they had once already so seri-
ously risked the peace of the country, had, before the
new treaty arrived in America, made up their minds that
it should not be ratified. Immediately on the receipt of
information from Monroe and Pinkney of the disposi-
tion made of the question of impressment, and of their
determination to go on with the treaty, Madison had dis- Feb. a
patched an official letter to inform them that it did not
comport with the president's ideas of the sentiments of
the nation, popular or legislative, that any treaty should
be entered into with Great Britain in which the question
of impressment was not settled agreeably to their in-
structions ; and directing them, in case such a treaty had
been concluded, at once to notify the British govern-
ment that it could not be ratified, and to propose a re-
commencement of the negotiation.
Considering that Congress was at this time in session ;
tnat in the matter of treaties the Senate is the constitu-
tional adviser of the president ; and that, according to
Jefferson's doctrine, even the House had a right to be
consulted, it is not a little remarkable that, without any
reference to either of those bodies, in fact even without
any cabinet consultation, the president and his Secretary
of State should thus have taken it upon themselves to
662 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER pronounce upon the legislative policy and public senti
t ment of the nation ; and in a case in which not com-
3307; merce only, but peace itself, was at stake, should thus
have made up their minds to reject the treaty upon the
single question of impressment, however it might be in
other respects advantageous.
This precipitate and, as it proved, disastrous resolu-
tion, involving a high exertion of executive authority
without parallel in our history, and which would have
subjected any other president to the charge of monarch-
ical usurpation, was carried out in the same peremptory
March ] 8. spirit in which it had been originally conceived. "Within
three days after the arrival of the treaty, the resolution
not to ratify it was reiterated to the commissioners — a
step placed upon the ground, in another more formal
letter two months afterward, that the president's duty,
and his sensibility "to the sovereignty of the nation,"
would not allow him, even constructively, to recognize
a principle which exposed the liberty of his seafaring
fellow-citizens on the high seas to the interested, at least
the capricious decision of the naval officers of a foreign
government, not entitled by any law or usage to decide
upon the ownership of even the slightest article of prop-
erty. To this statement of the case, so artfully adapted
to touch the popular feeling by a display of great regard
for the personal rights of American citizens, Monroe af-
terward ably replied, that the rejected treaty did by no
means require any such recognition, either actual or con-
structive, as had been assumed. The tacit understand-
ing on the subject of impressments, entered into cotem-
poraneously with the treaty, was not intended to operate
as a bar to future discussions having in view a positive
and distinct arrangement ; on the contrary, by directly
tending to a gradual abandonment of impressments from
American vessels, it highly favored a definite arrange-
REJECTION OF THE TREATY. 663
merit such as the United States desired. The question CH VPTKE
XIX
of impressments having been placed on the best tempo-
rary basis that the conflicting sensibilities and prejudices 1807.
of the two nations would admit, reserving to each its
original claims in the fullest extent, with the right to
push them by negotiation or by any other arbitrament,
nothing, so Monroe conclusively argued, could justify
the refusal to ratify, except a fixed determination, in
case the matter were not speedily arranged by negotia-
tion, to press it to a decision by arms. But Jefferson
was far from avowing or from entertaining any intention
of appealing to arms. Indeed, the very letter in which
it had been first announced to the commissioners that their
conduct on the subject of impressments was not satisfac-
tory, and that the treaty would not be ratified, had also
suggested that the negotiation might be made to termi-
nate without any formal compact, in a mutual under-
standing that the practice of the two nations, with a
view to peace and good neighborhood, should be made
to conform to the stipulations agreed upon as the basis
of the treaty. Thus the very terms which the president
and his Secretary of State could not reconcile it to their
duty — perhaps they might more correctly have said to
their antipathies and their commitments— to accept by
formal stipulation, they were still anxious to secure by
an informal understanding.
The Federalists had long regarded Jefferson with hab-
itual and incurable distrust. They placed no more con-
fidence in his word than the English Eoundheads had
been accustomed to do in that of Charles I. They re-
fused to believe, in spite of his protestations, that either
he or his Secretary of State really wished for any ad-
justment with England. Hatred of England was the
common bond of sympathy that held the discordant ele-
ments of the Democratic party together. Take away
664 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER occasions of clamor against England, and what was
' there to keep up the spirit of the party ? The Federal-
1807. ists were> therefore, inclined to regard the rejection of
the treaty as a deliberate maneuvre for cherishing popu-
lar passions, and thus strengthening the party hold of
the president and his destined successor on the masses ;
to which, in Madison's case at least, there was an addi-
tional temptation in the favor and popularity, at least
among the merchants and the Federalists generally,
which his rival, Monroe, would be certain to secure by
the successful negotiation of a treaty with England.
These motives, unconsciously, perhaps, might have
had a certain degree of influence ; but a less uncharitable
view of the case is probably a juster one. Jefferson and
Madison, especially the latter, as he had shown on many
former occasions, placed very great reliance on the com-
pulsive efficacy, as against Great Britain, of commercial
regulations. They probably flattered themselves that
it was the threat of the non-importation of British manu-
factures which had extorted from the British govern-
ment the concessions made to Monroe and Pinkney;
and they hoped that the continued operation of the same
threat — under a proclamation issued., shortly after the
March, adjournment of Congress, suspending the operation of
the act till the following December — would drive that
government to an unconditional surrender. But if such
was their idea, they found themselves most egregiously
mistaken. Before news arrived in England of the re-
fusal to ratify the treaty, the Fox and Grenville admin-
istration, the most favorable to America of any British
ministry for twenty years before or after, had been su-
perseded, on the death of Fox, by the adherents and
disciples of the younger Pitt, under the leadership of
Liverpool, Percival, Castlereagh, and Canning; and it
was to this new ministry that the refusal to ratify, and
POLITICS OF NEW ENGLAND. 665
the proposition to reopen the negotiation, were commit- CHAPTER
nicated, we shall presently see with what success. The
ratification of Jay's treaty secured to the country thir- 1807
teen years of peace and of unexampled commercial pros-
perity. The rejection of the present treaty was followed
• — as if to demonstrate, by melancholy facts, the supe-
rior political wisdom of Washington and Hamilton, and
to fulfill to the letter the prophecies made at the time of
Jay's treaty, and reiterated on the present occasion — by
four years of vexatious and ruinous commercial restric-
tions, to which succeeded two years and a half of most 1806
disastrous and aimless war, ending in a near approach
to national bankruptcy, and seriously threatening, had
it not been unexpectedly brought to a close, the dismem-
berment of the Union.
Yet this high-handed and most undemocratic step of
rejecting a treaty, involving so seriously the industry and
the peace of the country, without even so far consulting
the public or gratifying a natural curiosity as to let it be
known what that treaty contained, did not in the least
shake the implicit confidence which so large a portion
of the people reposed in the president. Even in New
England the admirers of Jefferson and of his policy con-
tinued to gain ground. Connecticut stood firm for Fed-
eralism and steady habits ; but New Hampshire, since Aug. £
1805, had fallen completely into the hands of the Dem-
ocrats, Langdon, once a merchant, but whose large prop-
erty had long since been vested in real estate, having
been chosen governor in that year. Politics in Massa-
chusetts ran very high. During the preceding year a
rencounter had taken place in Boston, on the public ex-
change, in which Selfridge, a Federal lawyer, had shot
dead a young graduate of Harvard College, son of Ben-
jamin Austin, a conspicuous leader of the Democrats,
the young man having undertaken to give Selfridge a
666 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER public chastisement for an alleged insult to Ms father,
\ ' growing out of political antipathy. This violence, ex •
1807 ceedingly novel in New England, had produced a great
excitement. Selfridge was tried, but was acquitted as
having acted in self-defense ; yet this " Federal murder,"
as the Chronicle called it — the Boston Democratic organ,
in which Austin was a principal writer — no doubt con-
Aprii. tributed to the triumph of the Democrats at the follow-
ing spring election, which resulted in the choice of Sulli-
van as governor.
In Pennsylvania the hopes of the Federalists had been
somewhat roused by the uprising of the Constitutional
party, into whose hands they had contributed to put the
power of the state, as against the ultra Democratic
Friends of the People. But at the fall election of 1806,
the Friends of the People had secured a majority of one
or two in both branches of the Legislature, including
among the number Leib, who had resigned his seat in
Congress for the express purpose of putting himself at
the head of his party in the Pennsylvania Assembly. A
stormy session had ensued, new attempts being made by
the ultra Democrats to simplify the practice of law by
prohibiting the citation of English decisions in the Penn-
sylvania courts, and by some other innovations not ob-
jectionable, perhaps, indeed, desirable in themselves, but
not urged with much temper, judgment, or knowledge.
As M'Kean still continued to interpose his veto, thus de-
feating some favorite measures of the majority, they re-
solved upon extreme steps. A committee of the House
was appointed to investigate the governor's official con-
duct, and preparations were made toward an impeach-
ment— decisive action being referred, however, to the
next Assembly.
Meanwhile, in New York, the party struggle between
the Lewisites and Clintonians raged with almost equal
POLITICS OF NEW YOKE. 667
violence. The Clintonians, in the election of 1806, had CHAPTER
JvlA,
succeeded in securing a decided majority of the Demo- .
cratic members of Assembly ; but the friends of Lewis, 1807
by the aid of the Federalists, had obtained the ascend- February,
ency in the Council of Appointment ; had turned out all
the Clintonian office-holders — De "Witt Clinton himself
from the lucrative place of mayor of New York ; and had
divided the spoils with their Federal allies. But this
appointment of Federalists to office had been held up as
a great piece of political heresy ; and, at the election of
the present year, the tables were completely turned. The
real leaders of the Clintonians were De Witt Clinton, and
his friend and now brother-in-law, Judge Spencer. But
as the grand topic of assault upon Lewis was the over-
bearing influence of the Livingston family, it was judged
expedient not to set up as against him a candidate liable
to similar objections. The Clintonians accordingly nom-
inated as their gubernatorial candidate Daniel D. Tomp-
kins, a young lawyer of the city, distinguished for his
affable manners and pleasing address, chosen a member
of the ninth Congress, but who, before taking his seat,
had been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the
State. Tompkins was elected by a majority of 4000, a May
result, in part, brought about by the aid of a consider-
able number of late Federalists, who despaired of that
crushed and fallen party, and whose assistance in elect-
ing Tompkins was received by the Clintonians as satis-
factory proof of their conversion to Eepublicanism. The
Federalists, indeed, attempted to make a rally in the
city of New York, where they nominated an Assembly
ticket headed by Eufus King. They were beaten, how-
ever, an event which they ascribed, with much bitter-
ness, to the predominating influence of those "imported
patriots" Cheetham, Genet, (who now again appeared on
the political stage,) and Thomas Addis Emmett, a recent
668 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER exile from Ireland, where lie had escaped a prosecution
_ for treason only by consenting to make certain disclos-
1807. ures as to tne conspiracies in which he had been con-
cerned. Emmet had attacked King with great bitter-
ness and no inconsiderable degree of gasconade, for hav-
ing, while minister in England, endeavored to interpose
some obstacles to his migration to America on the ground
that so troublesome a British subject would not be likely
to make a very useful American citizen. It is exceedingly
difficult for us at this day to comprehend the degree of in-
fluence exercised at that time over American politics by a
few immigrant foreigners. The talents and eloquence of
Emmett secured him a decided and growing influence in
New York ; and in the impulse which he gave to the
spirit of war, he did not fail to fulfill the prognostica-
tions of King, The completely successful Clintonians
carried the state as well as the city, not only electing
their governor, but a majority in both branches of the
Legislature, which gave them, prospectively, the Coun-
cil of Appointment, with the whole control of the poli-
tics of the state.
While these various affairs occupied attention, the
eyes of the public were drawn to Kichmond, where Burr,
March 30. shortly after his arrival there from Mississippi, under a
guard, on his way to Washington, had been examined
and held to bail upon a charge of setting on foot, within
the territories of the United States, a hostile expedition
against the Spanish provinces. It had been decided by
the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of
Swartwout and Bollman, that although, by the Federal
Constitution, treason consists only in levying war against
the United States, yet that an overt act of levying war
may be committed not only without the use of any ac-
tual force, but even without the bodily presence of the
party charged. The arrav of an armed force — so the
TRIAL OF BURR. 669
court had expressed their opinion^-with intention to CHAPTER
overthrow the authority or resist the laws of the United
States, amounted to an overt act of levying war, of 1807.
which all those were guilty who had any direct connec-
tion with it, though not actually present. Under this
view of the law, an indictment for high treason was
presently found against Burr by a grand jury for the
District of Virginia, selected by the marshal from among
the most eminent inhabitants. The levying of war relied
upon was the collection of armed men at Blennerhasset's
Island, within the limits of Virginia, of which it was
proposed to prove that Burr, though not personally pres-
ent, had been the cause and instigator, he having been
concerned with Blennerhasset and others in the concoc-
tion of a scheme, in which these men were to co-operate,
for overturning the authority of the Federal government
in the Western country generally, or, at least, in the
Territory of Orleans.
The trial, and also the hearing of several preliminary
and interlocutory motions, took place before Chief-jus-
tice Marshall, who presided with great dignity, ability,
and impartiality, holding the court in conjunction with
Griffin, the district judge. The prosecution was con-
ducted by Eodney, the attorney general, assisted by Dis-
trict attorney Hay, and by William Wirt, already hold-
ing a conspicuous position at the Virginia bar. The
prisoner was defended by Edmund Eandolph, formerly
attorney general and secretary of state, by Luther Mar-
tin, and other eminent council ; and every point, from
the beginning to the end of the proceedings (which, ow
ing partly to the absence of witnesses, were protracted
through the entire summer), was contested with the
greatest keenness, vehemence, and even passion.
The guilt or innocence of Burr, like every thing else
in those times of excitement, had been made a party
670 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER question, and was discussed with exceeding earnestness.
" The Federalists, by way of throwing odium and ridicule
1307 on ^ne administration, were inclined to make light of the
whole affair of Burr's enterprise, and especially of the
charge of treason, as a mere chimera of fear, fancy, ha-
tred, treachery, and revenge. The Democrats, on the
other hand, seemed to regard the conviction of Burr as
necessary to the vindication of the steps taken by the
administration to defeat his enterprise ; and they charged
the Federalists, to whom they were inclined to turn over
Burr, as belonging to them rather than to the Democrat-
ic party, with being apologists for treason, and with
seeking to screen a traitor from the punishment due to
his crimes. Jefferson, who had neither forgotten nor for-
given Burr's interposition between him and the presi-
dential chair, watched the progress of the trial with the
greatest interest. He sent frequent directions to the
prosecuting officers ; nor did he hesitate in his private
correspondence, to throw out insinuations against the
conduct of the chief justice — insinuations re-echoed by
many of the Democratic papers, but wholly unground-
ed. It was, indeed, the impartiality of the chief justice
which made him appear partial to those hot and one-
sided partisans. By an important interlocutory decision
the issue was allowed on the prisoner's motion, of a
summons to the president to produce certain papers
deemed essential to the defense. In the prosecutions
growing out -of the Miranda expedition, Jefferson had
directed his secretaries not to obey the summons of the
court to be present and to testify on behalf of the pris-
oners. The present decision he seemed to consider as a
direct personal insult to himself. Yet Marshall, while
sustaining the prisoner's right to have the summons is-
sued, had declared that the court would not allow such
orocess to be used as a means of personal annoyance ;
TRIAL OP BURR. 671
and had been very cautious about indicating any dispo- CHAPTER
sition to enforce obedience to the process any further _
than the president's own sense of justice, of what might 1397
be due to the prisoner on the one hand, and to the pub-
lic on the other, might induce him to yield it.
The trial on the main question, which did not fairly
commence before the beginning of August, occupied
nearly the whole of that month. The greatest efforts of Aug. 3.
Burr's council were directed to destroy the testimony of
Eaton and Wilkinson ; in the latter case by insinuations
that "Wilkinson was, in fact, an original confederate of
Burr, and that, having betrayed him, he now sought to
add to the importance of his disclosures by attempting
to magnify Burr's guilt. To give additional color to
this charge, it was also insinuated that Wilkinson had
been a Spanish pensioner, engaged of old in intrigues
against the Union. The Federal newspapers eagerly
caught up and repeated these calumnies ; and, being
subsequently urged by John Randolph, and other bitter
and persevering enemies of Wilkinson, they became
matters of investigation by committees of Congress and
military courts. The honorable acquittals of Wilkinson
pronounced by these tribunals, after a thorough sifting
of the facts, seem well sustained by the evidence. Yet
such charges, once made, are with great difficulty wholly
silenced ; and these insinuations against Wilkinson still
continue to float in the public mind, and to be rashly re-
peated to his injury by writers who know very little of
the facts. An effort to break down Eaton by evidence
as to his military conduct while stationed in Georgia,
proved a total failure, rebounding with great force upon
the heads of the witnesses by whom it was attempted.
The evidence being all in, the counsel were heard at
length on the question of its sufficiency to lay the foun-
dation for a charge of treason. Marshall's opinion and
672 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER the charge of the court to the jury was, that the prose.
' cution had failed in two essential points. It was not
1807 proved that there had been any military array on Blen-
Aug. 31. nerhasset's island. Thirty or forty men had assembled
there, but it did not appear that there was more of mili-
tary organization among them, or that more were armed
than was customary among similar companies of boat-
men and emigrants. In the second place, even had a
military array been proved, it was not shown that Burr
or Blennerhasset had any thing to do with the presence
of these men on the island. They came, it appeared,
from up the river ; but no evidence had been given that
Burr had any agency in their enlistment or embarkation.
Sept. i. Under this charge the jury returned a verdict of not
guilty ; whereupon the indictments for treason which
had been found against Blennerhasset, Dayton, Smith of
Sept. 9. Ohio, Tyler, and Floyd, were abandoned. A second
trial followed, on a charge of setting on foot a mili-
tary expedition against the Spanish territories ; but, as
evidence was excluded of all acts which had not occur-
red within the District of Virginia, with which Burr
could not be directly connected, this also resulted in a
Sept. 15. verdict of not guilty. A long examination was then
gone into to show that Burr and Blennerhasset, one or
both, might have committed treason by a military array
with intent to levy war against the United States, at the
island at the moutli of the Cumberland Kiver, or lower
down on the banks of the Mississippi ; or at least that
they might have been guilty of a misdemeanor in set-
ting on foot an expedition against the Spanish provinces ;
and the court was requested to commit them for trial in
any district in which they might seem to have perpe-
0<*. 20. trated either of these offenses. Finally, they were com-
mitted for trial in the district of Ohio upon the charge
of setting on foot a military expedition against the
SUBSEQUENT FORTUNES OF BURR. 678
provinces of Spain, and they accordingly gave bail for CHAPTER
their appearance, each in the sum of three thousand dol-
lars. But they failed to appear, their recognizances were ] 397.
forfeited, and no trial was ever had. The trial of Judge
Wort man and of some others, on similar charges, in the
Territory of Orleans and the State of Ohio, resulted in
acquittals. Floyd, who was tried in the Indiana Terri-
tory, was found guilty of a misdemeanor.
"Withdrawing himself as speedily as possible from pub-
lic observation, Burr presently embarked for Europe,
hoping to engage the English or some other European
nation in his project of revolutionizing Mexico, and
wishing also, no doubt, to escape the immediate pressure
of his creditors. But the sudden turn of Spanish affairs
in consequence of the rising against Bonaparte proved
fatal to his hopes as far as England was concerned. He
soon became an object of suspicion, probably as a French
spy, and, under the alien law, was ordered out of the
country. Thence he proceeded to France ; but Bona-
parte regarded him as a British spy, and he was long
detained in Paris, at times in the deepest poverty, sup-
ported by some scanty remittances from America. Fi-
nally, after long solicitations, he obtained leave to return
home just before the breaking out of the war with Eng-
land. Arriving in New York, he found himself, in his
old age, and still harassed by his creditors, obliged to re-
sume the practice of the law fcr support. The death of
his only daughter, lost at sea on a voyage from Charles-
ton to meet him, left him without family ties. Yet,
amid all this loneliness and embarrassment, his remark-
able equanimity did not desert him ; and he lived twen-
ty-four years longer, shrouding himself with that mys-
tery and obscurity which he so much affected, and dying
at ]ast (1836), after surviving almost all his cotempo-
V— Uu
674 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
CHAPTER raries, at the age of eighty — a remarkable example of
' the mutability of political fortune.
1807. T^6 public attention, at first quite absorbed by the
proceedings against Burr, was soon diverted by two grosa
outrages upon the sovereignty of the United States — one
of the first fruits of the rejection of the late proposed ar-
rangements with Great Britain ; and which served to
make any future accommodation the more hopeless, as
well by exasperating the feelings of the American peo-
ple as by presenting to the British ministry and nation
striking proofs of the helplessness of the American gov-
ernment.
The British sloop of war Driver having been in com-
pany with the Leander at the time of the unfortunate
homicide of Peirce off the port of New York, and within
the waters of the United States, by a cannon-shot from
that vessel, had been forbidden by the president's proc-
lamation, issued on that occasion, ever again to come
within the waters of the United States. The Driver,
however, in the course of the spring, put into Charleston
to fill her water-casks ; and, though informed of the
proclamation, and requested by the authorities to depart,
her commander refused to do so until it suited his own
convenience. This, however, was nothing to what hap-
pened soon after, in the case of the American frigate
Chesapeake.
Congress having granted five hundred additional sea-
men, steps had been taken toward fitting out the Chesa •
peake to relieve the Constitution, then in the Meditei
ranean, and to carry out Commodore Barron, again ap
pointed to coir mand on that station. While the Chesa
peake lay at Washington, getting ready for her cruise,
there entered at the naval recruiting station at Norfolk
three seamen, deserters from the British frigate Melam
pus, and four others, deserters from the Halifax, vessels at
BRITISH NAVAL DESERTERS. 676
tached to a British squadron employed in the Chesapeake CHAPTEE
to watch and blockade certain French cruisers which
had taken refuge at Annapolis. An arrangement for 1807.
the return of British deserters had been held out by the
American commissioners, during the late negotiation, as
one inducement to the British to abandon the practice
of impressment on the high seas. Independently of such
a special arrangement, there was no obligation to deliver
up deserters, and in defect of any law on the subject, in
fact, no authority to do so ; more especially if these de-
serters were, what they always claimed to be, American
citizens who had been pressed into the British service.
A formal demand had been made for the deserters from
the Melampus by Erskine, a son of the celebrated law-
yer of that name, lately appointed, through his father's
interest with the Fox administration, minister to the
United States as Merry's successor. The answer was in April f,
the terms of a former one to a similar application, that
the American government were under no obligation,
and, in fact, possessed no power to surrender deserters ;
yet that, so far from countenancing desertion, general
orders had been given to the recruiting officers to enlist
no British subjects known to be such ; and it appeared,
by an examination of the matter which Commodore
Barron had been directed to make, that these particular
men were, in fact, American citizens, who had, as they
alleged, been pressed into the British service. The de-
serters from the Melampus were all three colored per-
sons, and it was afterward sufficiently proved that two
of them were born in Maryland, the third being a South
American by birth, but brought at an early age to Mas-
sachusetts, where he had been educated. It was stated,
however, by the captain of the American merchant ship
to which they had belonged previous to entering on
board the Melampus, that, so far from being impressed,
676 HISTOET OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER they had deserted his vessel in the port of London, be-
. ing suspected of a theft, and had enlisted voluntarily
into the British service. With respect to the deserters
from the Halifax, the captain of that vessel having him-
self seen them on shore at Norfolk, had demanded
them, through the British consul, of the recruiting offi*
cer and the authorities of Norfolk, "but without effect.
After two months' preparation, the Chesapeake sailed
from Washington, intending to complete her crew and
equipments at Norfolk. She had as part of her crew
the seven men claimed as British deserters, but on the
passage down, three of the deserters from the Halifax
deserted from the Chesapeake, leaving on board of those
claimed by the captain of the Halifax only Wilson or
Ratford, an Englishman by birth, and the three colored
men from the Melampus.
The desertions from the British Chesapeake squadron
had produced a good deal of excitement among the Brit-
ish officers, some of whom complained of having been
insulted while on shore at Norfolk by deserters from
their own ships ; and Admiral Berkeley, commanding
on the North American station, encouraged, perhaps, by
the news of the failure of the American negotiation and
of the change of ministry in England, had taken it upon
himself to issue a circular order, dated at Halifax the
1st of June, and addressed to all the captains and com-
manders on his station. It recited that many seamen,
subjects of his Britannic majesty, and serving in his
majesty's ships an'd vessels, as per margin (to wit, Belle-
isle, Bellona, Triumph, Chichester, Halifax, and Zeno-
bia), had deserted from those vessels, had enlisted on
board the American frigate Chesapeake, and had openly
paraded the streets of Norfolk, in sight of their officers,
under the American colors, protected by the magistrates
of the town and the recruiting officer, who refused to
BRITISH NAVAL DESERTERS. 677
give them up either on the demand of the commanders CHAPTER
XIX.
of the ships to which they belonged or on that of the .
British consul. The captains and commanders to whom 139 7.
this circular was addressed were therefore directed, in
case of meeting the frigate Chesapeake at sea, and with-
out the limits of the United States, to show to her cap-
tain this order, and to require to search his ship for the
deserters, and to proceed to search for them ; and if the
captain of the Chesapeake should make a similar de-
mand, to allow him to search for deserters from the
American service, " according to the customs and usages
of civilized nations on terms of peace and amity with
each other."
Here was a remarkable specimen of naval exposition
of the law of nations, such, however, as are constantly
occurring, especially in times of war, on the part of strong
nations towards weak ones. The " custom and usage"
referred to were a pure figment of Admiral Berkeley's
imagination. The British civilians, whatever might be
their doctrine as to merchant vessels, made no pretense
of the existence of any right to visit foreign ships of war
for the purpose of seizing British seamen, whether de-
serters or others. A ship of war on the high seas was
admitted to carry the national jurisdiction with it; and,
had the whole crew of the Chesapeake been British de-
serters, being on board that national ship, they were as
much under the protection of the national flag as if in
the streets of Baltimore or Norfolk.
The idea, however, of searching foreign ships of war
for deserters was not original with Admiral Berkeley.
Advocates for that practice had appeared in the columns
of the British newspapers and on the floor of Parliament.
Nor was the case of the Chesapeake the first in which it
had been exercised. The instance off Havana, during
the difficulties with France, in the time of John Adams,
678
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STA.TEM.
CHAPTER already recorded in a previous chapter, had occasioned.
XIX^.
______ as has been already mentioned, the issue of a standing
1807. order to all commanders of American ships of war never
to allow their crews to be mustered except by their own
officers. For that affair an apology had been tendered —
more than seems to have been done in a more recent in-
stance, in which one of the American gun-boats sent to
the Mediterranean had been overhauled by one of the
ships of Lord Collingwood's fleet off Cadiz, and robbed
of three of her crew, under pretense that they were Brit
ish subjects; an outrage which does not appear to have
been made even a subject of remonstrance.
June 22. The Chesapeake, having at last completed her arma-
ment and crew, got under weigh from Hampton Eoads,
and wholly unconscious of danger, set sail on her in-
tended voyage. For executing Berkeley's orders, a&
well as for the purposes of general surveillance, there
lay in Lynnhaven Bay three British vessels, the Melam-
pus of thirty -eight guns, one of those from which the
desertions had taken place, the Leopard of fifty guns,
and the Bellona seventy -four. The Leopard got under
way at the same time with the Chesapeake, and stood
out to sea a few miles ahead of her, a proceeding in
which there was nothing to alarm, as the British ships
were constantly changing their stations. When both
vessels were some seven or eight miles outside the Capes
of the Chesapeake, having, as they proceeded to sea, ap-
proached each other, the captain of the Leopard hailed,
and desired to send some dispatches on board. NOT
was there in this anything suspicious, as it was custom-
ary with the British ships of war to avail themselves of
such opportunities for sending letters to England. Bar-
ron accordingly brought the Chesapeake to ; the Leopard
also came to ; and presently a boat was dispatched to the
Chesapeake, with a lieutenant, and a note from Hum-
AFFAIR OF THE CHESAPEAKE 679
phries, captain of the Leopard, inclosing the above- CHAPTER
quoted circular order of Admiral Berkeley's. This note 1_
took Barron entirely by surprise ; and after detaining 1807.
the lieutenant for half an hour, he sent back a reply,
denying any knowledge that any British deserters were
on board the Chesapeake, and stating that the recruiting
officer had been specially instructed not to enlist any.
The note added that his orders did not permit him to
allow his men to be mustered by any body except their
own officers.
Engrossed as his attention had been by the prepara*
tion of his answer to so extraordinary a demand, it does
riot seem yet to have occurred to Barron that there could
be any intention to use force. The officers of the ship
suspecting something wrong, had been busy in attempt-
ing to clear the decks ;• but several hours would have
been needed to prepare the ship for action. "Without
the least thought of encountering an enemy, she had
gone to sea in a very encumbered condition. Her men
had never been exercised at the guns, and though she
had been more than six months in fitting out, her equip-
ments were found to be exceedingly imperfect. The
Leopard lay in a very favorable position for her pur-
pose, within pistol-shot of the Chesapeake's weather-
quarter, with guns pointed and matches lighted. The
idea that force might be used seems first to have struck
Barron, after having dispatched his note, and he ordered
the men to be silently called to quarters, and prepara-
tions for resistance to be hastened. But as soon as Bar-
ron's note was received, the British captain hailed as fol-
lows : " Commodore Barron must be aware that the or-
ders of the vice-admiral must be obeyed ;" and Barron
replying that he did not understand, this was repeated
several times. A shot then came from the Leopard's
880 HISTORY OP THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER gun-deck across the Chesapeake?s bows ; after a minute,
m_ another ; and shortly after, a whole broadside, by which,
1807. besides other injuries, Barron, who was standing in the
gangway, was slightly wounded. Barron then hailed
the Leopard, proposing to send a boat on board ; but
this was regarded by Humphries as a mere feint to gain
time, and was therefore disregarded. Several more
broadsides were poured in, by which three of the Chesa-
peake's crew were killed, and eight severely and ten bad
ly wounded, besides considerable injuries to her masts
and rigging, and twenty round shot in her -hull. The
officers had succeeded in getting the guns loaded and
shotted, but there was a great deficiency of powder-horns
for priming, and no gunlocks, loggerheads, nor match
could be found. All this time, for want of proper fire-
works, not a shot could be returned ; and had the guns
been once discharged, for want of cartridges, wads, and
rammers, they could not have been reloaded. It was
not till just as the flag was lowered by Barren's order,
that a single gun was fired, as if to save the honor of
the ship, by means of a coal brought from the galley.
Two British lieutenants and several midshipmen soon
came on board the Chesapeake, mustered her crew, and,
after a three hours' examination, carried off the three
deserters from the Melampus, and also Wilson or Kat-
ford, the deserter from the Halifax, who was found con-
cealed in the coal-hole. Pending these proceedings, Bar-
ron sent a note on board the Leopard, stating that he re-
garded the Chesapeake as her prize, and offering to de-
liver her up to any officer authorized to receive her.
Humphries replied, that, having fulfilled his instruc-
tions, he desired nothing more ; offering, at the same
time, every assistance, and expressing his regret thai
any lives should have been lost in the execution of 9
service which might have been adjusted more amicably,
AFFAIR OF THE CHESAPEAKE. 681
not only as regarded themselves, but as between the na- CHAPTEB
tions to which they respectively belonged.
This offer of assistance was indignantly rejected, and, 18Q7,
her officers and crew in a state of great bitterness, gloom,
and mortification, the Chesapeake made the best of her
way back to Norfolk. The four men taken from her
were carried to Halifax, and were there tried by court-
martial, and sentenced to death as deserters. Katford or
Wilson, who was proved or confessed himself to be a
British subject, was hanged. The others, whose claim
to be Americans could not be disproved, were reprieved
on condition of re-entering the British service ; not, how-
ever, without a grave lecture from Berkeley on the enor-
mity of their offense, and its tendency to provoke a war
— one of those cases, surely, in which the judge and the
culprits might well have changed places.
No sooner was the return of the Chesapeake known
at Norfolk, and the occasion of it, than a public meeting
was held, at which resolutions were adopted to allow no
further intercourse with British ships of war till the pres-
ident^ pleasure should be known. To these resolutions,
Captain Douglas, commanding the British squadron in
the Chesapeake, made at first a very insolent and threat-
ening response ; and apprehensions were entertained,
from the tenor of his letter, that the British ships might
attempt to make their way up to Norfolk, or might land
at other points, and supply themselves by force. So great
was the alarm, that Cabell, governor of Virginia, ordered
detachments of militia to Norfolk and Hampton. But
Douglas, in a second letter, soon lowered his tone. The
news, as it spread, produced every where the greatest
excitement, the mortification of the insult being aggra-
vated by the Chesapeake's helpless non-resistance to it.
A high degree of anger against Great Britain was kindled
082 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER in the popular mind, mingled, among the more reflect-
ing, especially those directly interested in commerce and
1807. navigation, with alarming anticipations of a war fraught
with mischief, destructive to trade, and from which could
be expected no possible good.
July 2. The president issued a proclamation complaining of
the habitual insolence of the British cruisers ; express-
ing, however, the belief that the present outrage was un-
authorized ; but in the mean time ordering all British
ships of war to quit the waters of the United States ;
and in case they refused — for to compel them the gov-
ernment, unfortunately, had no power — forbidding any
intercourse with them. The money voted at the last
session of Congress for fortifications was expended at
New York, Charleston, and New Orleans, as being the
points most exposed. Most of the gun-boats in commis-
sion were ordered to the same points, and the president
assumed the responsibility of. directing purchases of mil-
itary stores, of which the magazines had been suffered
to become almost entirely empty, and of timber for ad-
ditional gun-boats. A hundred thousand militia were,
ordered to be detached by the different states, ready foi
service, but without pay ; and volunteers were invited
to enroll themselves. Congress was called together by
proclamation some weeks in anticipation of its usual time
of meeting. A court of inquiry was ordered into the
conduct of Barron and his officers ; and finally a vessel
was dispatched for England, with instructions to the
American ministers to demand reparation, and to sus-
pend all other negotiation until it should be granted.
Berkeley had sent from Halifax a dispatch-boat, which
carried to England the first news of this affair ; upon
receipt of which, Canning, on behalf of the British min-
Juiy 25. istry, expressly disavowed the act, and tendered vepara-
AFFAIR OF 1HE CHESAPEAKE. 683
tion for it. He also informed the American ministers CHAPTER
XIX
that orders had been sent out recalling Berkeley from ' '
his command. Thus far every thing was promising ; 1807.
but the instructions sent from "Washington placed serious Sept. 1.
obstacles in the way of a speedy settlement. Not only
was a pecuniary compensation demanded for the families
of the killed, and besides other apologies the restoration
of the four men taken from the Chesapeake, all which
the British government was ready enough to grant (ex-
cept as to the man who had been hanged) ; but it was
attempted to connect the reparation for this attack with
the standing claims of the American government on the
subject of impressments ; it being insisted that, by way
of security for the future, the visitation of American
vessels in search of British subjects should be totally
relinquished.
This demand gave the British government an advan-
tage which they did not fail at once to seize. They com-
plained of it as an attempt to connect two entirely dis- Sep^ tt
tinct subjects, the reparation of a disavowed outrage with
the relinquishment of an unquestionable right of the
British government. They assumed, in their turn, the
position of an injured party, complaining of the presi-
dent's proclamation ordering all British ships of war out
of the American waters as in itself a retaliation, without
first having demanded reparation, as was required by one
of the perpetual articles of Jay's treaty, and as going,
therefore, to diminish the right of the American govern-
ment to voluntary reparation on the part of the British. .
As Jefferson, on his side, had determined to yield no-
thing of what he considered the utmost rights of Amer-
ica, so it became evident that the British government
were resolved, on their side, to take advantage of every
punctilio — a game always sure to redound to the benefit
of the stronger party.
684 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER So far from yielding to the reiterated demands of the
XIX
' American government on the subject of impressments, a
IQQ1 royal proclamation was presently issued, calling upon all
Oct. 17. British mariners employed in the service of foreign na-
tions, whether on board merchant vessels or in ships of
war, forthwith to leave that service and to hasten to the
aid of their native country menaced and endangered, and
her maritime rights, on which her greatness depended,
called in question. All commanders of foreign ships of
war were authorized, by the same proclamation, to seize
and bring away from on board foreign merchant vessels
all British mariners ; but without any unnecessary vio-
lence. A demand was also to be made for all British
mariners serving on board of foreign ships of war, and
should such demand be refused, notice of the refusal was
to be given to the commander-in-chief of the squadron to
which the ship might belong, the same to be transmitted
to the British minister resident with the nation whose
flag was borne by the refusing ship, or to the British
Admiralty, in order that measures for redress might be
Got. 19. taken. Monroe objected to this proclamation that it
seemed to shut the door to negotiation on the subject
of impressments ; to which Canning rejoined, that it was
only a declaration of the existing law and practice neces-
sary for the information of the officers of the British
navy, who might be at a loss, since the affair of the
Chesapeake and its disavowal by the British government,
to know by what rule to regulate their conduct.
As the instructions sent to the American ministers at
London made it impossible for them to bring the affair
of the Chesapeake to a conclusion, the British ministry
thought proper to send to America, for the sole purpose
of arranging that affair, Mr. Rose, son of one of their
cumber, and his departure for the United States was
ALARMING STATE OF BRITISH RELATIONS. 68£
speedily followed by that of Monroe, Pinkney being left CHAPTER
behind as resident minister. '
Just previous to Monroe's departure, Canning made a 18Q7.
formal and final reply, on the part of the British govern- Oct. 22.
ment, to the proposal to renew negotiations on the basis
of the late treaty returned unratified. He protested very
energetically against the privilege sought to be assumed
by the American government of revising and altering
agreements concluded and signed on its behalf by its
duly authorized agents, with a view to retain so much as
might be favorable to itself, and to reject all the rest ; a
practice which, if imitated by the other party, as it nat-
urally would be, tended to protract negotiations indefi
nitely, and to render settlement hopeless. He was
ready to hear any suggestions which the American min-
isters might have to make with a view to the arrangment
of existing differences ; but the proposal to proceed to
negotiate anew on the basis of a treaty already concluded
and signed, and afterwards rejected by one of the parties,
was wholly inadmissible.
Thus fell to the ground all hopes of settling the ex-
isting difficulties with England by negotiation. From
this moment the relations of the two countries took on a
very angry and quarrelsome character. That suspicion
and hatred cf England, so deeply ingrained into Jeffer-
son and his partisans, was fully retorted by suspicion
and dislike on the part of the British Tory ministers and
their supporters, whose prejudices were not less vehe-
ment and bitter ; to which was added a feeling of con-
tempt, naturally inspired by the unwarlike and defense-
less posture of a country so lofty in its tone and so punc-
tilious in its demands — for, practically, it is with nations
as with individuals, a piece of ridiculous folly to insist
strenuously on exact justice unless one has the means to
88$ HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHATTER enforce it. There was, besides, a large and influential
. party in England to whom, upon mere considerations of
1807. P°licy> *ke i^-ea °f a war w^k America was by no means
disagreeable. The United States could add little to that
formidable combination against which the British gov-
ernment had already to contend, while their vast navi-
gation afloat on every sea promised a rich and easy spoil.
The American market might indeed be lost, or partly so ;
but that loss, it was believed, would be more than made
up for by the absorption of the American carrying trade,
and the consequent engrossment by Great Britain of the
ocean commerce of the world.
In the United States, the more intelligent part of the
people, especially those immediately interested in com-
merce, looked upon the state of affairs with no little
alarm. With a navy of gun-boats, and militia for the
principal military force, actual war did not seem very
probable ; at least so long as Jefferson remained presi-
dent. What was rather to be expected was an indirect
war of commercial regulations, so far as commerce was
concerned vastly more harassing than all the impedi-
ments placed in its way by Great Britain ; and which, by
keeping up and increasing irritation, seemed certain,
however those in authority might think and wish other-
wise, to end at last in armed collision.
END OF VOL. IL
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ
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