Chapter XX: ――history (13)

The Indians at the southern extremity of the Union had imbibed the same hostile spirit as those at the north-western. They had been visited by Tecumseh, and by his eloquence had been persuaded that the Great Spirit required them to unite and attempt the extirpation of the whites. In the fall of 1812, a cruel war was carried on by the Creeks and Seminoles against the frontier inhabitants of Georgia. General Jackson, at the head of two thousand five hundred volunteers from Tennessee, marched into the country of the Indians. Overawed by his presence, they desisted for a time from hostility; but, after his return, their animosity burst forth with increased and fatal violence. Dreading their cruelty, about three hundred men, women, and children, sought safety in fort Mimms, in the Tensaw settlement. Although frequent warnings of an intended attack had been given them, yet, at noonday, on the 30th of August, they were surprised by a party of six hundred Indians, who, with axes, cut their way into the fort, and drove the people into the houses which it inclosed. To these they set fire. Many persons were burnt, and many killed by the tomahawk. Only seventeen escaped to carry the horrid tidings to the neighboring stations. The whites resolved on vengeance.

Again general Jackson, at the head of three thousand five hundred militia of Tennessee, marched into the southern wilderness. A detachment under general Coffee encountering at Tallushatchie a body of Indians, a sanguinary conflict ensued. The latter fought with desperation, neither giving nor receiving quarter, until nearly every warrior had perished. Yet still was the spirit of the Creeks unsubdued, and their faith in victory unshaken. With no little sagacity and skill they selected and fortified another position on the Tallapoosa, called by themselves Tohopeka, and by the whites Horseshoe Bend. Here nearly a thousand warriors, animated with a fierce and determined resolution, were collected. Three thousand men, commanded by general Jackson, marched to attack this post. To prevent escape, a detachment under general Coffee encircled the Bend. The main body advanced to the fortress; and for a few minutes the opposing forces were engaged muzzle to muzzle at the port-holes; but at length the troops, leaping over the walls, mingled in furious combat with the savages. When the Indians, fleeing to the river, beheld the troops on the opposite bank, they returned and fought with increased fury and desperation. Six hundred warriors were killed; four only yielded themselves prisoners; the remaining three hundred escaped. Of the whites, fifty-five were killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded.

It was deemed probable that further resistance would be made by the Indians at a place called the Hickory-ground; but on general Jackson’s arriving thither in April, 1814, the principal chiefs came out to meet him, and among them was Wetherford, a half-blood, distinguished equally for his talents and cruelty. ‘I am in your power,’ said he; ‘do with me what you please. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. There was a time when I had a choice; I have none now, even hope is ended. Once I could animate my warriors; but I cannot animate the dead. They can no longer hear my voice; their bones are at Tallushatchie, Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. While there was a chance of success I never supplicated peace; but my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation and myself.’ Peace was concluded, and general Jackson and his troops enjoyed an honorable but short repose.

It was the declared intention of the British to lay waste the whole American coast, from Maine to Georgia. Of this intention demonstration was made by their descent upon Pettipauge, and the destruction which followed in that harbor. Early in April, a number of British barges, supposed to contain about two hundred and twenty men, entered the mouth of Connecticut river, passed up seven or eight miles, and came on shore at a part of Saybrook called Pettipauge, where they destroyed about twenty-five vessels. Guards of militia were placed without delay at nearly all the vulnerable points on the seaboard, and where troops could not be stationed patrols of videttes were constantly maintained.

On the 25th of April, admiral Cochrane declared, in addition to the ports and places blockaded by admiral Warren, all the remaining ports, harbors, bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands, and sea-coasts of the United States, from Black Point, on Long Island sound, to the northern and eastern boundaries between the United States and the British province of New Brunswick, to be in a state of strict and rigorous blockade. On the other hand, the president of the United States issued a proclamation, declaring that the blockade proclaimed by the British of the whole Atlantic coast of the United States, nearly two thousand miles in extent, being incapable of execution by any adequate force actually stationed for the purpose, formed no lawful prohibition or obstacle to such neutral and friendly vessels as may choose to visit and trade with the United States; and strictly ordered and instructed all the public armed vessels of the United States, and all private armed vessels commissioned as privateers, or with letters of marque and reprisal, not to interrupt, detain, or molest any vessels belonging to neutral powers, bound to any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States; but, on the contrary, to render all such vessels all the aid and kind offices which they might need or require.

The pacification in Europe offered to the British a large disposable force, both naval and military, and with it the means of giving to the war in America a character of new and increased activity and extent. The friends of the administration anticipated a severer conflict, and prepared for greater sacrifices and greater sufferings. Its opposers, where difficulties thickened and danger pressed, were encouraged to make more vigorous efforts to wrest the reins of authority from men who, they asserted, had shown themselves incompetent to hold them. The president deemed it advisable to strengthen the line of the Atlantic, and therefore called on the executive of several states to organize and hold in readiness for immediate service a corps of ninety-three thousand five hundred men.

The hostile movements on the northern frontier were now becoming vigorous and interesting. In the beginning of July, general Brown, who had been assiduously employed in disciplining his troops, crossed the Niagara with about three thousand men, and took possession, without opposition, of fort Erie. In a strong position at Chippewa, a few miles distant, was intrenched an equal number of British troops, commanded by general Riall. On the 4th, general Brown approached their works; and the next day, on the plains of Chippewa, an obstinate and sanguinary battle was fought, which compelled the British to retire to their intrenchments. In this action, which was fought with great judgment and coolness on both sides, the loss of the Americans was about four hundred men, that of the British was upwards of five hundred. Soon afterwards, general Riall, abandoning his works, retired to the heights of Burlington. Here lieutenant-general Drummond, with a large reinforcement, joined him, and assuming the command, led back the army towards the American camp. On the 25th was fought the battle of Bridgewater, which began at four in the afternoon and continued until midnight. After a desperate conflict the British troops were withdrawn, and the Americans left in possession of the field.

The loss on both sides was severe, and nearly equal. Generals Brown and Scott having both been severely wounded, the command devolved upon general Ripley. He remained a few hours upon the hill, collected the wounded, and then returned unmolested to the camp. This battle was fought near the cataract of Niagara, whose roar was silenced by the thunder of cannon and the din of arms, but was distinctly heard during the pauses of the fight. The American general found his force so much weakened, that he deemed it prudent again to occupy fort Erie. On the 4th of August it was invested by general Drummond with five thousand troops. In the night between the 14th and 15th, the besiegers made a daring assault upon the fort, which was repelled with conspicuous gallantry by the garrison, the former losing more than nine hundred men, the latter but eighty-four. The siege was still continued. On the 2d of September, general Brown, having recovered from his wounds, threw himself into the fort, and took command of the garrison. For their fate great anxiety was felt by the nation, which was, however, in some degree, removed by the march from Plattsburgh of five thousand men to their relief. After an hour of close fighting they entered the fort, having killed, wounded, and taken one thousand of the British. The loss of the Americans was also considerable, amounting to more than five hundred. On the 21st of September, the forty-ninth day of the siege, general Drummond withdrew his forces.

The march of the troops from Plattsburgh having left that post almost defenceless, the enemy determined to attack it by land, and, at the same time, to attempt the destruction of the American flotilla on lake Champlain. On the 3d of September, Sir George Prevost, the governor-general of Canada, at the head of fourteen thousand men, entered the territories of the United States. On the 6th they arrived at Plattsburgh. It is situated near lake Champlain, on the northern bank of the small river Saranac. On their approach, the American troops, who were posted on the opposite bank, tore up the planks of the bridges, with which they formed slight breastworks, and prepared to dispute the passage of the stream. The British employed themselves for several days in erecting batteries, while the American forces were daily augmented by the arrival of volunteers and militia. Early in the morning of the 11th, the British squadron, commanded by commodore Downe, appeared off the harbor of Plattsburgh, where that of the United States, commanded by commodore M’Donough, lay at anchor prepared for battle. At nine o’clock the action commenced. Seldom has there been a more furious encounter than the bosom of this transparent and peaceful lake was now called to witness. During the naval conflict the British on land began a heavy cannonade upon the American lines, and attempted at different places to cross the Saranac; but as often as the British advanced into the water they were repelled by a destructive fire from the militia. At half-past eleven the shout of victory heard along the American lines announced the result of the battle on the lake. Thus deprived of naval aid, in the afternoon the British withdrew to their intrenchments, and in the night they commenced a precipitate retreat. Upon the lake the American loss was one hundred and ten; the British, one hundred and ninety-four, besides prisoners. On land, the American loss was one hundred and nineteen; that of the British has been estimated as high as two thousand five hundred.

The inhabitants of the middle and southern states, anticipating a great augmentation of the English force, and uncertain where the blow would fall, made exertions to place every exposed position in a posture of defence. About the middle of August, a British squadron of between fifty and sixty sail arrived in the Chesapeake, with troops destined for the attack of Washington, the capital of the United States.

A body of five thousand of them having landed, an action was fought at Bladensburg, six miles from Washington. General Winder commanded the whole American force; commodore Barney the flotilla. The British were commanded by major-general Ross and rear-admiral Cockburn. The Americans were repulsed, and the British advanced towards the capital. A body of militia had been assembled in this emergency; but the president and heads of departments, on reviewing the force brought out for defence, despaired of success, and dispersed. General Ross, at the head of about seven hundred men, took possession of Washington, and burned the capitol, or senate-house, the president’s house, and public offices, the arsenal, the navy yard, and the bridge over the Potomac. The loss of the British in this expedition was nearly a thousand men, in killed, wounded, and missing; the loss of the Americans was ten or twelve killed, and thirty or forty wounded. Commodore Barney’s horse was killed under him, and himself wounded in the thigh and taken prisoner; but he was parolled on the field of battle for his bravery. The capture of Washington reflected no credit upon those by whom it ought to have been defended; but the destruction of the national edifices was still more disgraceful to the character of the invaders. The whole civilized world exclaimed against the act, as a violation of the rules of modern warfare. The capitals of most of the European kingdoms had lately been in the power of an enemy; but in no instance had the conqueror been guilty of similar conduct. The act was also as impolitic as it was barbarous; it naturally excited an indignant spirit throughout the republic, and led its inhabitants to vie with each other in exerting all their faculties to overcome the ravagers of their country.

After the capture of Washington, the British army re-embarked on board the fleet in the Patuxent, and admiral Cockburn moved down that river, and proceeded up the Chesapeake. On the 29th of August the corporation of Alexandria submitted to articles of capitulation, and the city was delivered up to the British. On the 11th of September the British admiral appeared at the mouth of the Patapsco, fourteen miles from Baltimore, with a fleet of ships of war and transports amounting to fifty sail. The next day six thousand troops were landed at North point, and commenced their march towards the city. In this march, when the foremost ranks were harassed by a brisk fire from a wood, major-general Ross was mortally wounded. A battle was fought on this day. The American forces, the militia, and the inhabitants of Baltimore, made a gallant defence, but were compelled to retreat; the British, however, abandoning the attempt to get possession of the city, retired to their shipping during the night of the 13th of September.

On the ocean, the Essex, commanded by captain Porter, after a bloody combat, struck to a British frigate and sloop of war, whose united force was much superior. The American sloop Peacock captured the Epervier, of equal force. The sloop Wasp, commanded by captain Blakely, captured the Reindeer, and afterwards, in the same cruise, sunk the Avon, both of superior force. She made several other prizes, but never returned into port; she probably foundered at sea.

The closing scene of this unnecessary and disgraceful war, the more detestable when contemplated as a series of human sacrifices for the preservation of a commercial system, was creditable to the genius and bravery of the American republic. The operations of the British in Louisiana were commenced by a small expedition, the naval part under the command of captain Percy, and the troops under colonel Nicholls. They landed and took forcible possession of Pensacola, and were aided by the Spaniards in all their proceedings; they collected all the Indians that would resort to their standard; and colonel Nicholls then sent an officer to the piratical establishment at Barataria to enlist the chief, Lafitte, and his followers in their cause; the most liberal and tempting offers were made them.

These people, however, showed a decided preference for the American cause; they deceived the English by delay; conveyed intelligence of their designs to the governor at New Orleans, and offered their services to defend the country. Disappointed in securing their aid, the expedition proceeded to the attack of fort Bowyer, on Mobile point, commanded by major Lawrence, with one hundred and thirty men. The result, however, was a loss to the besiegers of more than two hundred men; the commodore’s ship was so disabled that they set fire to her, and she blew up, and the remaining three vessels, shattered and filled with wounded men, returned to Pensacola. While the British thus sheltered in this place, where they were busily occupied in bringing over the Indians to join them, general Jackson formed an expedition of about four thousand men, regulars and militia, to dislodge them. He summoned the town, was refused entrance by the Spanish governor, and his flag of truce was fired upon; the British soldiers being in the forts, where their flag had been hoisted, in conjunction with the Spanish, the day before the American forces appeared. Preparations were immediately made to carry the place; one battery having been taken by storm, with slight loss on either side, the governor surrendered, the English having previously retired on board their ships. The forts below, which commanded the passage, were blown up, and this enabled the English fleet to put to sea.

General Jackson then evacuated the Spanish territory, and marched his troops back to Mobile and New Orleans, which he reached on the second day of December. Having reviewed a corps of volunteers the day of his arrival, he immediately proceeded to visit every post in the neighborhood, to give orders for adding fortifications, and establishing defensive works and outposts in every spot where the enemy might be expected, as there was the greatest uncertainty where a landing would be made; he mingled with the citizens, and infused into the greater part his own spirit and energy. By his presence and exhortations they were animated to exertions of which before they were not supposed to be capable. All who could wield a spade, or carry a musket, were either put to work upon the fortifications, or trained in the art of defending them. The Mississippi, upon the eastern bank of which New Orleans stands, flows to the ocean in several channels; one, leaving the main stream above the city, runs east of it, and forms in its course lake Pontchartrain and lake Borgne. Early in December, the British entered this channel, with a force of about eight thousand men, a part of whom had just left the shores of the Chesapeake, the remainder having arrived direct from England.

A small squadron of gun-boats, under lieutenant Jones, was despatched to oppose their passage into the lake. These were met by a superior force, and after a spirited conflict, in which the killed and wounded of the British exceeded the whole number of the Americans, they were compelled to surrender. The loss of the gun-boats left no means of watching the movements of the enemy, or of ascertaining where the landing would be made. Orders were given for increased vigilance at every post; the people of color were formed into a battalion; the offer of the Baratarians to volunteer, on condition of a pardon for previous offences, if they conducted themselves with bravery and fidelity, was accepted. General Jackson, after applying to the legislature to suspend the act of _habeas corpus_, and finding that they were consuming these extreme moments in discussion, proclaimed martial law, and from that moment his means became more commensurate with the weight of responsibility he had to sustain.

On the 22d the British, having landed, took a position near the main channel of the river, about eight miles below the city. In the evening of the 23d, general Jackson made a sudden and furious attack upon their camp. They were thrown into disorder; but they soon rallied, and fought with a bravery at least equal to that of the assailants. Satisfied with the advantage first gained, he withdrew his troops, fortified a strong position four miles below New Orleans, and supported it by batteries erected on the west bank of the river. On the 28th of December, and the 1st of January, vigorous but unsuccessful attacks were made upon these fortifications by the English. In the mean time both armies had received reinforcements; and general Sir E. Packenham, the British commander, resolved to exert all his strength in a combined attack upon the American positions on both sides of the river. With almost incredible industry, he caused a canal, leading from a creek emptying itself into lake Borgne to the main channel of the Mississippi, to be dug, that he might remove a part of his boats and artillery to that river. On the 7th of January, from the movements observed in the British camp, a speedy attack was anticipated. This was made early on the 8th. The British troops, formed in a close column of about sixty men in front, the men shouldering their muskets, all carrying fascines, and some with ladders, advanced towards the American fortifications, from whence an incessant fire was kept up on the column, which continued to advance, until the musketry of the troops of Tennessee and Kentucky, joined with the fire of the artillery, began to make an impression on it which soon threw it into confusion.

For some time the British officers succeeded in animating the courage of their troops, making them advance obliquely to the left, to avoid the fire of a battery, every discharge from which opened the column, and mowed down whole files, which were almost instantaneously replaced by new troops coming up close after the first; but these also shared the same fate, until at last, after twenty-five minutes’ continual firing, through which a few platoons advanced to the edge of the ditch, the column entirely broke, and part of the troops dispersed, and ran to take shelter among the bushes on the right. The rest retired to the ditch where they had been when first perceived, four hundred yards from the American lines. There the officers with some difficulty rallied their troops, and again drew them up for a second attack, the soldiers having laid down their knapsacks at the edge of the ditch, that they might be less encumbered. And now, for the second time, the column, recruited with the troops that formed the rear, advanced. Again it was received with the same galling fire of musketry and artillery, till it at last broke again, and retired in the utmost confusion. In vain did the officers now endeavor, as before, to revive the courage of their men; to no purpose did they strike them with the flat of their swords, to force them to advance; they were insensible of every thing but danger, and saw nothing but death, which had struck so many of their comrades.

The attack had hardly begun, when the British commander-in-chief, Sir Edward Packenham, fell a victim to his own intrepidity, while endeavoring to animate his troops with ardor for the assault. Soon after his fall, two other generals, Keane and Gibbs, were carried off the field of battle, dangerously wounded. A great number of officers of rank had fallen; the ground over which the column had marched was strewed with the dead and wounded. Such slaughter on their side, with scarcely any loss on the American, spread consternation through the British ranks, as they were now convinced of the impossibility of carrying the lines, and saw that even to advance was certain death. Some of the British troops had penetrated into the wood towards the extremity of the American line, to make a false attack, or to ascertain whether a real one were practicable. These the troops under general Coffee no sooner perceived, than they opened on them a brisk fire with their rifles, which made them retire. The greater part of those who, on the column’s being repulsed, had taken shelter in the thickets, only escaped the batteries to be killed by the musketry. During the whole hour that the attack lasted, the American fire did not slacken for a single moment. By half after eight in the morning, the fire of the musketry had ceased. The whole plain on the left, as also the side of the river, from the road to the edge of the water, was covered with the British soldiers who had fallen. About four hundred wounded prisoners were taken, and at least double that number of wounded men escaped into the British camp; and a space of ground, extending from the ditch of the American lines to that on which the enemy drew up his troops, two hundred and fifty yards in length, by about two hundred in breadth, was literally covered with men, either dead or severely wounded.[147] Perhaps a greater disparity of loss never occurred; that of the British in killed, wounded, and prisoners, in this attack, which was not made with sufficient judgment, and which, besides, was embarrassed by unforeseen circumstances, was upwards of two thousand men; the killed and wounded of the Americans was only _thirteen_.

The events of the day on the west side of the river present a striking instance of the uncertainty of military operations. There the Americans were thrice the number of their brave assailants, and were protected by intrenchments; but they ingloriously fled. They were closely pursued, until the British party, receiving intelligence of the defeat of the main army, withdrew from pursuit, and recrossed the river. They then returned and resumed possession of their intrenchments. General Lambert, upon whom the command of the British army had devolved, having lost all hopes of success, prepared to return to his shipping. In his retreat he was not molested; general Jackson wisely resolving to hazard nothing that he had gained in attempting to gain still more.

The Americans naturally indulged in great joy for this signal victory. Te Deum was sung at New Orleans, and every demonstration of gratitude manifested by the inhabitants of the Union generally. The state of Louisiana passed votes of thanks to several of the officers concerned in the defence, and omitted general Jackson, in consequence of his having set aside the action of the civil authorities and proclaimed martial law.

Although the results of the war had been honorable to the American arms, a large portion of the inhabitants of the New England states were unceasingly opposed to the measures of the administration. The governor of Massachusetts convoked the general court of that state; the legislature of Connecticut was about to hold its usual semi-annual session; and the legislature of Rhode Island also assembled. When these several bodies met, what should be done in this unexampled state of affairs became a subject of most solemn deliberation. To insure unity of views and concert in action, the legislature of Massachusetts proposed a ‘conference,’ by delegates from the legislatures of the New England states, and of any other states that might accede to the measure. Their resolution for this purpose, and the circular letter accompanying it, show, that the duty proposed to be assigned to these delegates was merely to devise and recommend to the states measures for their security and defence, and such measures as were ‘not repugnant to their federal obligations as members of the Union.’

The proposition was readily assented to by several states, and the delegates appointed in pursuance of it met at Hartford, on the 15th of December following. The convention recommended, 1. That the states they represent take measures to protect their citizens from ‘forcible draughts, conscriptions, or impressments, not authorized by the constitution of the United States.’ 2. That an earnest application be made to the government of the United States, requesting their consent to some arrangement, whereby the states separately, or in concert, may take upon themselves the defence of their territory against the enemy, and that a reasonable portion of the taxes collected within the states be appropriated to this object. 3. That the several governors be authorized by law to employ the military force under their command in assisting any state requesting it, to repel the invasions of the public enemy. 4. That several amendments of the constitution of the United States, calculated in their view to prevent a recurrence of the evils of which they complain, be proposed by the states they represent for adoption either by the states’ legislatures, or by a convention chosen by the people of each state. Lastly, That if the application of these states to the government of the United States should be unsuccessful, and peace should not be concluded, and the defence of these states be still neglected, it would, in their opinion, be expedient for the legislatures of the several states to appoint delegates to another convention, to meet at Boston, in June, with such powers and instructions as the exigency of a crisis so momentous may require. The effect of these proceedings upon the public mind in the aggrieved states was alike seasonable and salutary. The very proposal to call a convention, and the confidence reposed in the men delegated to that trust, served greatly to allay the passions, and to inspire confidence and hope. Nor was the influence of this body upon the national councils less perceptible. Within three weeks after the adjournment of the convention and the publication of their report, an act passed both houses of the national legislature, and received the signature of the president, authorizing and requiring him to ‘receive into the service of the United States any corps of troops which may have been or may be raised, organized, and officered, under the authority of any of the states,’ to be ‘employed in the state raising the same, or an adjoining state, and not elsewhere, except with the consent of the executive of the state raising the same.’ Before the commissioners who were sent to confer with the government could reach Washington, a bill passed the senate, providing for the payment of the troops and militia already called into service under the authority of the states. The arrival of the treaty of peace at this juncture rendered all farther proceedings unnecessary.

During the preceding year the British government had declined to treat under the mediation of Russia, and a direct negotiation had been agreed on. Ghent was ultimately determined as the place of meeting; and in the autumn of 1814 the commissioners prosecuted their labors, but at first with very doubtful success. By the 24th of December a treaty was agreed upon and signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective powers at Ghent; and in February of the following year it received the ratification of the president.[148]

While the people of the United States were rejoicing at the return of peace, their attention was called to a new scene of war. By a message from the president to the house of representatives, with a report of the secretary of state, it appeared that the dey of Algiers had violently, and without just cause, obliged the consul of the United States, and all the American citizens in Algiers, to leave that place, in violation of the treaty then subsisting between the two nations; that he had exacted from the consul, under pain of immediate imprisonment, a large sum of money, to which he had no just claim; and that these acts of violence and outrage had been followed by the capture of at least one American vessel, and by the seizure of an American citizen on board of a neutral vessel; that the captured persons were yet held in captivity, with the exception of two of them, who had been ransomed; that every effort to obtain the release of the others had proved abortive; and that there was some reason to believe they were held by the dey as means by which he calculated to extort from the United States a degrading treaty. The president observed, that the considerations which rendered it unnecessary and unimportant to commence hostile operations on the part of the United States were now terminated by the peace with Great Britain, which opened the prospect of an active and valuable trade of their citizens within the range of the Algerine cruisers; and recommended to congress the consideration of an act declaring the existence of a state of war between the United States and the dey of Algiers, and of such provisions as might be requisite for the prosecution of it to a successful issue. A committee of congress, to whom was referred a bill ‘for the protection of the commerce of the United States against the Algerine cruisers,’ after a statement of facts, concluded their report by expressing their united opinion, ‘that the dey of Algiers considers his treaty with the United States as at an end, and is waging war with them;’ and in March war was declared against the Algerines.

An expedition was immediately ordered to the Mediterranean, under the command of commodore Bainbridge. The squadron in advance on that service, under commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy, then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in capturing two of his ships, one of them commanded by the Algerine admiral. The American commander, after this demonstration of skill and prowess, hastened to the port of Algiers, where he readily obtained peace, in the stipulated terms of which the rights and honor of the United States were particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment, on the part of the dey, of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions thus made, strengthened by subsequent transactions with the regencies of Tunis and Tripoli, by the appearance of the larger force which followed under commodore Bainbridge, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements left by him in that quarter, afforded a reasonable prospect of future security for the valuable portion of American commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary cruisers.

President Madison, in his message to the congress of 1816, having adverted to the peace of Europe and to that of the United States with Great Britain, said, he had the ‘satisfaction to state, generally, that they remained in amity with foreign powers.’ He proceeded to say, that the posture of affairs with Algiers at that moment was not known; but that the dey had found a pretext for complaining of a violation of the last treaty, and presenting as the alternative war or a renewal of the former treaty, which stipulated, among other things, an annual tribute. ‘The answer,’ says the president, ‘with an explicit declaration that the United States preferred war to tribute, required his recognition and observance of the treaty last made, which abolishes tribute, and the slavery of our captured citizens. The result of the answer had not been received. Should he renew his warfare on our commerce, we rely on the protection it will find in our naval force actually in the Mediterranean. With the other Barbary states our affairs have undergone no change. With reference to the aborigines of our own country,’ he continues, ‘the Indian tribes within our limits appear also disposed to remain in peace. From several of them purchases of lands have been made, particularly favorable to the wishes and security of our frontier settlements as well as to the general interests of the nation. In some instances, the titles, though not supported by due proof, and clashing those of one tribe with the claims of another, have been extinguished by double purchases, the benevolent policy of the United States preferring the augmented expense to the hazard of doing injustice, or to the enforcement of justice against a feeble and untutored people, by means involving or threatening an effusion of blood. I am happy to add that the tranquillity which has been restored among the tribes themselves, as well as between them and our own population, will favor the resumption of the work of civilization, which had made an encouraging progress among some tribes; and that the facility is increasing for extending that divided and individual ownership, which exists now in movable property only, to the soil itself; and of thus establishing, in the culture and improvement of it, the true foundation for a transit from the habits of a savage to the arts and comforts of social life.’

The doubtful state of the relations between the United States and the dey of Algiers, to which the president alluded in his message, arose either from a strong impulse of the love of extortion in the dey, or from the influence of some foreign personages; the rising differences were, however, settled by the prudent management of the American consul, Mr. Shaler, and peace has not since been broken on the part of the Algerines.

Among the incidents of domestic interest which indicate the rapid growth and increasing prosperity of the republic, we may notice the formation of the territory of Indiana into a state, and its admission into the Union; the progress of canals in various states; the institution of a national bank; and the arrival of many thousand emigrants, chiefly from Great Britain. Treaties were, during this year, negotiated with the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Cherokee Indians, ceding large portions of their respective territories to the United States, and acknowledging their tribes to be under the protection of the republic.

ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MONROE.

The term of Mr. Madison’s administration having expired in the year 1817, James Monroe was inaugurated president, and Daniel D. Tompkins vice-president. In his speech to congress on his inauguration, the president expresses sentiments in which every true friend to the human race will fully concur. ‘It is particularly gratifying to me,’ says Mr. Monroe, ‘to enter on the discharge of these official duties at a time when the United States are blessed with peace. It is a state most consistent with their prosperity and happiness. It will be my sincere desire to preserve it, so far as depends on the executive, on just principles, with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of any, and rendering to each what is its due.’

During this year the republic received another accession by the erection of the territory of Mississippi into a state, and its admission into the Union. By the act of admission it is provided, that the public lands, while belonging to the United States, and for five years from the day of sale, shall be exempted from all taxes; that lands belonging to the citizens of the United States residing without the state shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing within the state; and that the river Mississippi, and the navigable rivers and waters leading into it, or into the gulf of Mexico, shall be common highways, and forever free of toll or duty to all the citizens of the United States. In return for this concession, congress provided, that, after paying a debt to Georgia and indemnifying certain claimants, five per cent. of the net proceeds of the public lands lying within the state shall be devoted to the making of roads and canals for the benefit of the state.

In the summer of this year an expedition was undertaken against East Florida by persons claiming to act under the authority of some of the revolted Spanish colonies. The leader of this expedition styled himself ‘Citizen Gregor M‘Gregor, brigadier-general of the armies of the united provinces of New Grenada and Venezuela, and general-in-chief, employed to liberate the provinces of both the Floridas, commissioned by the supreme governments of Mexico and South America.’ The persons that combined for this purpose took possession of Amelia island, at the mouth of St. Mary’s river, near the boundary of the state of Georgia. The president, apprized of this transaction, ordered an expedition, consisting of naval and land forces, to repel the invaders, and to occupy the island. A squadron, under the command of J. D. Henley, with troops under the command of James Banhead, arrived off Amelia island on the 22d of December, and the next day took possession of it, hoisting the American flag at Fernandina. The president, in a message to congress relative to the capture, observed: ‘In expelling these adventurers from these posts it was not intended to make any conquest from Spain, or to injure, in any degree, the cause of the colonies.’ The real reason of the measure seems to have been, that the invasion interfered with endeavors which were then making on the part of the United States to obtain the cession of the Floridas from the Spaniards.

In the following year the Union received the accession of another state, that of Illinois. At the time of its admission, the government of the United States granted to the state one section or thirty-sixth part of every township for the support of schools, and three per cent. of the net proceeds of the United States’ lands lying within the state for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part must be exclusively bestowed on a college or university. The constitution happily provides that no more slaves shall be introduced into the state. In 1819, the Alabama territory was admitted as a state into the Union; and the Arkansaw territory was, by an act of congress, erected into a territorial government. In the following year the district of Maine was separated from Massachusetts, formed into a distinct state, and admitted into the Union.

During this year the American congress did themselves honor by providing more effectually against carrying on the slave-trade. The enactment declared, that if any citizen of the United States, being of the ship’s company of any foreign ship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person whatever being of the crew or ship’s company of any ship or vessel owned by, or navigated for, any citizens of the United States, shall on foreign shore seize any negro or mulatto, not held to service or labor by the laws either of the states or territories of the United States, with intent to make him a slave, or shall decoy or forcibly bring or receive him on board with such intent, he shall be adjudged a pirate, and on conviction shall suffer death.

A treaty for the cession of the Floridas was concluded at Washington, February 22, 1819, between Spain and the United States. In the year 1821, it was reluctantly ratified by the king of Spain, and possession was taken of those provinces according to the terms of the treaty. On the 1st of July, general Jackson, who had been appointed governor of the Floridas, issued a proclamation, declaring ‘that the government heretofore exercised over the said provinces under the authority of Spain has ceased, and that that of the United States of America is established over the same; that the inhabitants thereof will be incorporated in the union of the United States, as soon as may be consistent with the principles of the federal constitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States; that in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion they profess; that all laws and municipal regulations which were in existence at the cessation of the late government remain in full force, and all civil officers charged with their execution,’ with certain exceptions and limitations, ‘are continued in their functions.’ On the 7th of July, the colonel commandant, Don Jose Gallava, commissioner on the part of his Catholic majesty, made to major-general Jackson, the commissioner of the United States, a delivery of the keys of the town of Pensacola, of the archives, documents, and other articles, mentioned in the inventories, declaring that he releases from their oath of allegiance to Spain the citizens and inhabitants of West Florida who may choose to remain under the dominion of the United States. On the same day, colonel Joseph Coppinger, governor of East Florida, issued a proclamation to the inhabitants, announcing that, on the 10th day of this month, ‘possession will be given to colonel Robert Butler, the commissioner legally authorized by the United States.’ The American authorities were accordingly put in possession of the Floridas.

During this year Missouri was admitted as a state into the Union, forming the eleventh state added to the thirteen confederated states which signed the declaration of independence, making the present number of the United States twenty-four. The proposition for the admission of this state, which was brought forward in the session of 1819, produced vehement discussion in the congress, and excited an intense interest throughout the whole Union. The inhabitants of Missouri, the territory having been considered as a part of Louisiana, had derived from their connection with the Spaniards and French the custom, which they deemed equivalent to the right, of possessing slaves; it was proposed, however, in admitting the territory to the privileges of a state, to prevent the increase and to insure the ultimate abolition of slavery, by the insertion of the following clause: ‘Provided, that the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and that all the children born within the said state after the admission thereof into the Union shall be free at the age of twenty-five years.’ Judging from the previous views and measures of the general government, in similar and analogous cases, it could hardly have been conjectured, that the result of proposing such a limited and qualified restriction would be doubtful. The house of representatives, after a short but animated debate, refused to pass the bill without the restriction; but the senate refused to pass the bill with it; consequently the bill itself was lost, and Missouri still continued under her former territorial government.

Such was the rapidity with which the several proceedings passed in the two houses of congress, that it was scarcely known beyond its walls that such a question was agitated, before it was decided. When, however, it came to be generally known what principles had been advanced, what votes had been given, with what ardor and vehemence the advocates of slavery had urged their demands, not merely upon the justice, the reason, and good sense of congress, but upon their interests, their prejudices, and their fears, by how slender a majority a measure had been checked, which, in the estimation of many of the best friends of American liberty, would have been productive of incalculable and interminable mischiefs, it excited a feeling of universal surprise and alarm. It is instructive to observe that many of the staunchest advocates of liberal ideas, who delighted in appropriating to themselves exclusively the name of republicans, suffered their jealousy of the interference of the congress in the internal government of an individual state to engage them on the side of the perpetuators of slavery. Jefferson, who prided himself in being the devoted friend of liberty, thus expresses himself: ‘The real question, as seen in the states afflicted with this unfortunate population, is, are our slaves to be presented with freedom and a dagger? For, if congress has the power to regulate the conditions of the inhabitants of the states within the states, it will be but another exercise of that power to declare that all shall be free. Are we then to see again Athenian and Lacedemonian confederacies? to wage another Peloponnesian war to settle the ascendency between them? Or is this the tocsin of merely a servile war? That remains to be seen; but not, I hope, by you or me. Surely they will parley awhile, and give us time to get out of the way.’[149] The consequence of this combination was the passing of the bill for the admission of Missouri in the next session of the congress, without the restricting clause.

No circumstances of particular interest in the transactions of the general government occurred till the year 1824, when articles of a convention between the United States of America and Great Britain for the suppression of the African slave-trade were subscribed at London by plenipotentiaries appointed for that purpose. By the first article, the commanders and commissioned officers of each of the two high contracting parties, duly authorized by their respective governments to cruise on the coasts of Africa, America, and the West Indies, for the suppression of the slave-trade, are empowered, under certain restrictions, to detain, examine, capture, and deliver over for trial and adjudication by some competent tribunal, any ship or vessel concerned in the illicit traffic of slaves, and carrying the flag of the other.

In the spring of this year a convention was also concluded between the United States of America and the emperor of Russia. By the third article of this convention it was agreed, ‘that, hereafter, there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under the authority of the said states, any establishment upon the northern [north-west] coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude; and that, in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel.’

This year is signalized in American history by the visit of the venerable la Fayette, on the express invitation of congress. He arrived in the harbor of New York on the 13th of August, and proceeded to the residence of the vice-president at Staten island. A committee of the corporation of the city of New York, and a great number of distinguished citizens, proceeded to Staten island to welcome him to their capital. A splendid escort of steam-boats, decorated with the flags of every nation, and bearing thousands of citizens, brought him to the view of assembled multitudes at New York, who manifested their joy at beholding him, by acclamations and by tears. At the city hall the officers of the city and many citizens were presented to him; and he was welcomed by an address from the mayor. While he was at New York, deputations from Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Haven, and from many other cities, arrived with invitations for him to visit them. After remaining a few days at New York, he proceeded to Boston, where he met with the same cordial reception. The general soon after returned to New York, visited Albany and the towns on Hudson’s river, and afterwards passed through the intermediate states to Virginia. He returned to Washington during the session of congress, and remained there several weeks. Congress voted him the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and a township of land, as a remuneration, in part, of his services during the war of the revolution, and as a testimony of their gratitude.

In the year 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated president of the United States, and John C. Calhoun, vice-president. In his speech to congress the president took a retrospective view to the epoch of the confederation. ‘The year of jubilee since the first formation of our union,’ observed Mr. Adams, ‘has just elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. Since that period, a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. New states have been admitted to the Union, in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce, have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings.’ Having noticed the progress of agriculture and of settlements, of commerce and arts, of liberty and law, Mr. Adams thus sketches the features of the administration of the preceding president: ‘In his career of eight years, the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the revolution; the regular armed force has been reduced, and the constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific ocean; the independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognised, and recommended, by example and by counsel, to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defence of the country, by fortifications and the increase of the navy; towards the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves; in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind; in exploring the interior regions of the Union; and in preparing, by scientific researches and surveys, for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my predecessor, the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated. To pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our common condition instituted or recommended by him, will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations.’