demonstrated to foreign nations, the moderation and firmness which govern our councils, and to our citizens the necessity of uniting in support of the laws and the rights of the country; and thus long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations, which, if resisted, involved war; if submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle of our national independence."

The other topics referred to in the President's message at this time, were the failure of the negotiations with Great Britain, relating to the attack on the frigate Chesapeake, and to disputes of an older date, concerning the rights of neutrals, the doctrine of blockades, and the British orders of council, so injurious to the navigation and commerce of the United States. But no new matter on these subjects was communicated to Congress.

The condition of the Indians within the United States, was also noticed in the message; and it was stated that no difficulties or disputes of a serious nature had then recently occurred. The President informed Congress that he had not deemed it necessary to call for detachments of the militia, as he had been authorized; but he expressed an opinion, that in the following year it might be proper to have them in readiness for effective service. He had, however, given orders for raising an additional military force, and had appointed as many officers for that object as appeared to be necessary. The seacoast had also been fortified in several places, as Congress had authorized, and one hundred and three gunboats had been built during the year 1808.

This was the last annual message of President Jefferson to the national legislature; and closed with the following paragraph:

Availing myself of this last occasion, which will occur, of addressing the two Houses of Congress at their meeting, I cannot omit the expression of my sincere gratitude, for the repeated proofs of confidence manifested to me by themselves and their predecessors, since my call to the administration, and the many indulgences experienced at their hands and the same grateful acknowledgements are due to my fellow-citizens generally; whose support has been my great encouragement under all embarrassments. In the transaction of their business, I cannot have escaped error; it is incident to our imperfect nature. But I may say, with truth, my errors have been of the understanding not of intention and that the advancement of their rights and interests has been the constant motive for every measure.

On these considerations, I solicit their indulgence; looking forward with anxiety to their future destinies, I trust, that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty, obedience to the law, and support of public authorities, I see a sure guarantee of the permanence of our republic; and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm pursuasion, that Heaven has in store for our beloved country, long ages to come of prosperity and happiness."

The general policy and measures of President Jefferson were disapproved by a large portion of the people; and among them were some of the most intelligent, and patriotic citizens in the United States. The principal charges made against him were, an early dislike to the federal Constitution; an undue attachment to France, during the war between that nation and Great Britain: an imprudent censure on the political conduct of his predecessors; an opinion that settled maxims and rules should yield to the popular will, or popular clamor under excitement; an unfriendly disposition towards commerce and a navy; and a dangerous theory respecting the judicial department of the government, as if it should not be independent of the chief magistrate, or of an accidental and temporary majority in the legislature. Perhaps his political opponents sometimes charged him unjustly or uncandidly. But before he came into office, as President, he had given an opinion, that the Constitution was defective, and the government under it too closely assimilated to monarchy; and that the measures of his predecessors were impolitic, if not indicative of antirepublicanism. He had thus exposed himself to the criticisms of a portion of the people; and prejudice, therefore, might have had some influence in the severe strictures made on his leading measures. It cannot be denied that his views and policy differed, in some respects, from his illustrious predecessors. Nor can it be any more justly doubted, that his political opinions and conduct served to lessen, in some measure, the stability and permanency of the republic; by emboldening visionary and unprincipled men, many of whom were aliens, and who could vociferate most loudly for liberty, but had not a due respect for law or the Constitution. His appointments and removals from office, in many cases, justified the belief, that he had no particular sympathy for the officers of the revolution; while Washington, who was the first president, after the formation of the federal government, selected most of them to fill offices of honor and profit.

CHAPTER VIII.

James Madison elected President. Foreign Relations Embarrassed. Arbitrary Measures both of French and English Government. Interruptions of American Commerce. Difficulties of the Period. Embargo. Non-intercourse with Great Britain. Unsuccessful Attempts at Negotiation. Indications of War. Conduct both of British and French Justify Resistance. Opposition or Reluctance to War. A War Party, and a Peace Party. War declared. Small Majority in Favor. President disposed to Avoid it.

MR. JEFFERSON retired from the Presidency the fourth of March, 1809, having held the office of chief magistrate of the Union for eight years; and James Madison, of Virginia, was chosen to succeed him. The former was not a candidate, at this time, for a re-election; the reason offered for declining was, to conform to the precedent made by Washington, who did not think it proper for one person to hold the office beyond two terms of four years each. Mr. Madison had been several years a member of Congress; one of the Convention which framed the federal Constitution, and Secretary of State, during the presidency of Mr. Jefferson; whose policy he approved and followed. Congress met in May, 1809, agreeable to a law passed in the month of January previous. The critical state of the nation was considered a sufficient reason for fixing on so early a day. War was then apprehended with England or France; and the disputes, of long standing, were attended with as great difficulties as at any former period; and seemed to be hastening on an important crisis. At this session, the act interdicting commercial intercourse between the United States, and Great Britain and France, passed in March, 1809, was continued, with some modifications. The first act was adopted soon after the embargo had been repealed; and extended to vessels belonging to France, as well as to England; the armed ships of the latter only having been prohibited by the proclamation of the President, issued in July, 1807, on the occasion of the attack of the British ship of war on the frigate Chesapeake. No very material alterations, however, made in the former law, so as to restore the intercourse which had existed before the decrees and orders of the two European belligerents, were adopted; or to permit the entrance of their vessels into the harbors of

the United States, except in particular cases, and under specific restrictions. This extra session was short, and terminated on the 28th of June.

Soon after the departure of the British Envoy, who had been sent to the United States to declare the attack on the frigate Chesapeake unauthorized by his government, and to tender reparation for the indignity, in which he did not succeed, under the instructions and powers given him; the resident minister of that Court at Washington made a proposition to the American administration, which was favorably and promptly received, and gave a strong hope of an amicable settlement of the protracted disputes between the two nations, relating to commercial rights and pursuits. It was of the following purport-"That the British Orders in Council, issued and repeated in 1807, should be withdrawn in June then ensuing, so far as affected the United States, provided the intercourse should be renewed between America and Great Britain." The President issued a proclamation on the 19th of April to that effect; to be in operation after the first of June, following; as he was empowered by a previous act of Congress. The British minister, also, offered reparation for the attack on the Chesapeake; and further stated, that an Envoy would be sent to the United States with full power to treat on all the subjects which were in dispute between the two governments. But this auspicious hope, so cordially welcomed, was soon destroyed, by a refusal of the British government to sanction the overture; with a declaration, that no such authority or instructions had been given to their minister. And the President thereupon issued another proclamation, in August, declaring the act of non-intercourse to be revived and in full force. The British government had the justice to issue a particular order, to prevent the seizure of American vessels which had sailed after the first proclamation. But the feelings of the American people were greatly irritated by this transaction; and a war with England, if proposed, would have been more popular than at any former period.

It could not, however, be denied that the British minister had exceeded the authority given him in his instructions; and he admitted that he had done so, when he said, in a letter to his government soon after, "That nothing would have induced me to deviate, in any degree, from the orders I had received, but a thorough conviction, that by so doing I should accomplish the object, which his majesty had in view; when, by too strictly adhering to the letter of my instructions, I might lose the opportunity of promoting es

sentially his majesty's interests and wishes." The Envoy was soon recalled, and another appointed in his stead.

The promptness with which the administration met the proposition of the British Envoy, served to remove the suspicion of its being averse from pacific purposes towards England; and that government was now generally censured, though its conduct after the affair of the Chesapeake, was admitted friendly and honorable. Its policy was too injurious to the American commerce, under the revival of the arbitrary rule of 1756, which it adopted towards neutrals, to find many willing to apologize for the depredations committed; and the plea of retaliating on France for the arbitrary decrees of the Emperor, did not appear a sufficient justification. There was probably no desire on the part of the Court of Great Britain to provoke a war with the United States; but in the situation that nation then was, surrounded with difficulties and dangers on every side, and struggling, as it were, for existence, it was natural to resort to extreme measures for defence, where former practice and precedents afforded a plausible pretext for the course pursued. With the avowed design of destroying or weakening the power of the other, each of the belligerents inflicted great injury and great injustice on the American commerce, and called forth the feelings of resentment to such a degree, that the most expensive measures for defence would have been approved; though war might not have been justified, without further attempts at negotiation.

Another Envoy, appointed by the British government, arrived at Washington in the latter part of the year 1809. He was directed to state the reasons for a refusal to confirm the agreement made by his predecessor with the American government in April; and authorized to form a Convention on commercial subjects with the United States. But he displayed less of a mild and conciliating spirit than the former ambassador from that court; and was so anxious to vindicate the honor of his own government, that he made insinuations on the character of the American cabinet, unusual in a diplomatic correspondence. He appeared disposed not to make concessions, but to deal in censure and criminations. His principal charge was, that the President and his Secretaries must have known that his predecessor had deviated from his instructions, and exceeded his powers, when he made the agreement which was afterwards disapproved by the British government, and that the President, therefore, could not justly complain of