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ceived commissions in the provisional army, were C. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, H. Knox, of Massachusetts, H. Lee, of Virginia, J. Brooks, of Massachusetts, W. Washington, of South Carolina, Jon. Dayton, of New Jersey, Eben. Huntington, of Connecticut, W. R. Davie, of North Carolina, A. W. White, of New Jersey, John Sevier, of Tennessee, and W. North, of New York.

Two Acts passed by Congress, in 1798, called the Alien, and Sedition laws, met greater opposition than any other measures adopted at that time. The objection to the sedition law was, that it restricted the liberty of speech and of the press; which was an arbitrary interference with the right of the citizens to express freely their opinions on all public and political measures. It was said, in justification of the law, that the grossest falsehoods were uttered and published, tending to deceive the people and to excite their prejudices unduly, to the danger of the peace of the nation; that those in power, and the majority in Congress were anti-republican, and in favor of high taxes and an arbitrary government: And the government ought to take measures to protect its rightful authority, and maintain the peace of the republic: And, that the law expressly provided, in mitigation of the common law on libels, that the truth, if proved, should be a justification of the publication. It was afterwards doubted, whether the law was politic in a free country, where some instances of licentiousness in the press were to be expected. And it was judged that the common law would have been sufficient to prevent the evils which existed, which were undeniably great and extensive, and might have been resorted to in extreme cases of falsehood and abuse of the government.

The law empowering the President to order Aliens, who were found or supposed to be conspiring against the peace and authority of the United States, to depart its territories, was severely condemned, as it gave power to the executive to judge and decide, without the usual process of law, and without what might be considered strict legal proof in the case. The power was thought extremely liable to abuse, and such as might easily be exercised in a capricious and arbitrary manner. This was a strong objection; but the apology for the law was,-that the persons thus liable to be required to leave the country, were not citizens, -had no just claims to a continuance here, and that their residence, with the views they had, and the opinions they published, endangered the welfare of the nation, for which it was the imperious duty of Congress to provide. The

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opposition to these laws was very great, not to say intemperate, in some parts of the country. In Virginia and Kentucky, the legislature declared them to be direct and gross infractions of the Constitution, and appealed to the other States to join in opposition to them. At the next session of Congress, numerous petitions were presented for a repeal; but without avail at that time.

In his speech to Congress, at the beginning of the session, in December, 1798, the President referred to the political relations of the United States with the French government; and while he recommended the continuance of measures for national defence, he declared his desire for reconciliation and peace with France, and a hope that negotiations might be recommended for that purpose. To attain an honorable treaty, he said, it was necessary to be prepared for war, and to show the world that we were not a degraded nor a divided people. The speech was dictated by a truly patriotic spirit, manifesting alike a desire for peace, and a resolution to maintain the rights and interests of the nation.* He referred also to the report of commissioners, who had been appointed to ascertain the bounds of the United States and the British Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They had "fixed on the Schoodic, as the true St. Croix intended in the treaty of 1783; as far as its great fork, where one of its streams come from the westward, and the other from the northward; and that the latter was the continuation of the St. Croix to its source. This decision (he said) would preclude all contention between persons claiming that the Schoodic and its northern branch bound the grants of lands, which have been made by the respective adjoining governments."

The sentiments expressed by the President, in his speech to Congress, relating to France, were fully approved by the Senate, and by the majority of the Representatives; though some members of the House discovered a determination to oppose any further measures for the defence of the country, on account, as they said, of preventing an increase of taxes on the people, and being in expectation of a speedy restoration of good will on the part of the French government. It was ordered by Congress, however, that the provisional army should be filled up, and the naval force augmented

General Washington, was present on this occasion, in the Representatives room, accompaned by Generals Pinckney and Hamilton. They were then at the seat of the federal government, to consult with the President on further arrangements respecting the provisional army.

by building or purchasing more vessels to be armed for the service of the nation. The direct tax was ordered to be collected, for replenishing the public treasury; and other measures were adopted, with a wise precaution, to meet any danger which might arise. Citizens found holding correspondence with foreign governments or their agents, on political subjects, and designed to influence their conduct to the injury of the United States, were declared liable to a heavy fine, and to imprisonment; but at the same time individual rights were guarded from infringement. And an additional Act was passed for suspending commercial intercourse between the United States and France, but limited to the period of one year.

The proposition for increasing the naval force of the United States, now met with more favor in Congress, than at any former period. The President was authorized to build six large ships of war, of seventy-four guns; and six sloops of war, of eighteen guns; and one million of dollars was appropriated for the purpose. The Secretary of State was directed to make an annual report, respecting American seamen, impressed and detained on board foreign vessels, as he might be able to ascertain by consulting the collectors of imposts through the United States. And if any acts of cruelty or severity were known to be committed on American citizens, so impressed, or captured, the President was empowered and requested to cause due retaliation to be made on subjects of other nations, who were taken warring upon the vessels of the United States.

Difficulties still existing on the western and southern frontiers, between inhabitants of the United States and the Indian tribes, an additional law was passed for regulating trade with the tribes, and maintaining a friendly intercourse with them. Measures were taken for fixing the bounds between lands belonging to the United States, and those in possession of the Indians, or claimed by them, and not formally relinquished to the federal government. The inhabitants were forbid crossing such lines or going into the Indian territory to hunt, &c., on the penalty of imprisonment, or payment of one hundred dollars. And all acts of injustice and trespass, against the Indians, and on their territory, were made punishable in the federal Courts.

Overt acts of opposition to the law for a valuation of lands and houses, were committed in some of the northwestern counties of Pennsylvania; and on representation to the President, he called on the Governor of that State for the militia, to suppress the lawless proceedings. The

Governor promptly complied with the requisition; and the insurrection was soon suppressed.*

The envoys, appointed early in 1799, to the French government, did not leave the United States till November. Satisfactory assurances were not given to the President till October, that they would be received and treated as the agents of an independent and powerful nation; such being the condition stated when he proposed to the Senate to make another attempt to negotiate with France, and to avoid the evils of war. To some extent hostilities had commenced on the ocean between the two nations; though, on the part of the United States, it was entirely defensive. Depredations on the American commerce had been committed for two years, and immense property taken and confiscated. In 1798, several frigates, and some smaller public armed vessels, were fitted out in defence of the mercantile interests, and upwards of three hundred private vessels were armed by permission of the government, for selfdefence, when pursuing their lawful enterprise on the ocean. Several French ships of war were captured by the public vessels of the United States, in 1799. Still war had not been declared by either government, and many in both nations did not fail to cherish hopes of reconciliation, so as to prevent the continuance of such a disastrous state of things. The federal administration was always sincerely desirous of maintaining peace and a friendly intercourse with France; and, in this disposition, the President proposed to institute another embassy to that government, on the first intimation that the proposal on his part would be met in a similar spirit.

But, as already observed, the proposition was considered improper and injudicious, by some of the political friends of the administration, though the majority of the people commended the measure. Some of the opposition also applauded the President for the act, as it afforded full proof of the sincerity of his repeated professions, that he was averse. from war with the French nation. Still the dissatisfaction expressed was so great, on account of the absence of that full and direct assurance which ought to be required, that other envoys would be duly respected, that the President deemed it proper not to direct those who had been ap

There were, at this period, two hundred Newspapers published in the United States; one hundred and seventy-eight or eighty were in favor of the federal administration; about twenty were opposed to most of the leading measures then adopted-and the greater portion of these were under the control of Aliens.

pointed, to proceed to France for several months. If a prompt and friendly consideration of the proposal was judicious in the President, it was equally so to suspend his directions to the Envoys to proceed on the embassy, till he had more unequivocal and official assurances of their favorable and respectful reception. There was a great degree of sensibility manifested on this occasion; and the President was considered as precipitate in his compliance with the proposal of the French Ministry, at the first moment of his knowledge of it. And it was, unhappily, the cause of leading some good citizens to lessen their confidence in the firmness and judgment of the Chief Magistrate. But the great majority of his former friends adhered to him, who believed that public opinion and the political state of the nation justified his conduct. The measures for defence, which had been authorized by Congress, both as to completing the military force on land, and vessels of war for the defence of commerce, were carried into effect by the Executive in the course of the summer. The ships of war constituted a respectable naval force, especially for defence, though not equal to meet the navy of England or France. The provisional army, designed for defence, in the event of an invasion, was duly organized; and the great body of the people were animated with a lofty spirit of patriotism, which was alike honorable to the character of the citizens and to the government. But near the close of the year, the sudden death of the Commander-in-Chief, spread a deep gloom over the whole country. Never did the decease of an individual, in any age or nation, excite so sincere and universal lamentation. And never, perhaps, had the public services and virtues of any man, whose history is on record, so justly entitled him to the gratitude, respect, and admiration of his countrymen.

At the meeting of Congress, in December, 1799, the speech of the President, was received with almost entire approbation by both branches of the national legislature. He referred to the resistance which had been made in some parts of Pennsylvania to an Act of Congress directing a valuation of houses and land preliminary to a direct tax; and to the means used to suppress it-to the removal of restrictions on the commercial intercourse with the island of St. Domingo, in pursuance of authority given him by Congress to proceedings of the commissioners under the late treaty with Great Britain, and to the difficulties attending the full and speedy execution of some parts of it-to the progress made in erecting the public buildings in the

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