as to afford the material facts for his patent or grant, devolved wholly on the holder of the warrant. Under this vicious system, so fruitful of inaccuracy, and so encouraging to fraud, the market was glutted with wild lands; much of which being embraced in several different patents, could not be obtained but by a long and expensive course of litigation, and much too was utterly worthless when obtained. The spirit of speculation which was thus engendered, not only lessened the sum of useful industry and profitable enterprise, but greatly weakened the sense of justice and private integrity; and the tendency of these sudden acquisitions of wealth, by speculations, whether fair or fraudulent, and the hopes they would naturally excite in others, begat a taste for luxury and expense that greatly counteracted' the extraordinary sources of prosperity which the nation then enjoyed.

One of the measures taken by the National Assembly of France to encourage their navigation gave great cause of complaint to the United States. This was a discriminating duty of 621 livres per hogshead between their ships and ours, by the operation of which, our vessels must necessarily be excluded from their ports; and the measure was the more objectionable, as the whole shipping of France being inadequate to the wants of her foreign commerce, and this discrimination giving their vessels a monopoly of the commerce with the United States, a void would be left in other branches of their trade which would be filled by the English, Dutch and Swedes, so that the policy would have the effect of injuring us without benefitting themselves. The illiberality and impolicy of this course were pointed out by Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Short. It seems to have been meant as a retaliation on our tonnage duty on foreign vessels; but this was represented by Mr. Jefferson, as merely equivalent to certain port charges in France, under the specific forms of fees for anchorage, buoys and beacons, or of fees to measurers, weighers and gaugers.

In speaking of the French West Indies, he requests Mr. Short, while he disclaims all views of conquest on the part of the United States, to intimate with caution and delicacy, the natural

claim which every nation seems to have to trade with its neighbours. "In casting our eyes over the earth," he writes, "we see no instance of a nation forbidden as we are, by foreign powers, to deal with neighbours, and obliged by them to carry into another hemisphere the mutual supplies necessary to relieve mutual wants. This is not merely a question between the foreign power and our neighbour. We are interested in it equally with the latter, and nothing but moderation, at least with respect to us, can render us indifferent to its continuance." He thus concludes his remarks: "In policy, if not in justice, they should be disposed to avoid oppression, which falling on us as well as on their colonies, might tempt us to act together." This part of the letter was suggested, as he says in a note which presented it to the consideration of General Washington, by the "ill humour into which the French colonies were getting; and the little dependence on the troops sent thither, may produce a hesitation in the National Assembly as to the conditions they will impose in their constitution. In a moment of hesitation, small matters may influence their decision. They may see the impolicy of insisting on particular conditions, which, operating as grievances on us, might produce a concert of action." The President seems to have consented to the suggestions, especially as Mr. Short was to exercise his discretion, how he should make them known, and whether he should communicate them or not.

In a letter to General Knox, the Secretary of War, which noticed the claim of the South Carolina Yazoo company, Mr. Jefferson thus speaks of the territorial rights of the Indians: "I am of opinion that government should firmly maintain this ground;that the Indians have a right to the occupation of their lands, independent of the states within whose chartered lines they happen to be; that until they cede them by treaty, or other transaction equivalent to a treaty, no act of a state can give a right to such lands; that neither under the present constitution, nor the ancient confederation, had any state or person a right to treat with the Indians, without the consent of the general government; that that consent has never been given to any

treaty for the cession of the lands in question; that the government is determined to exert all its energy for the patronage and protection of the rights of the Indians, and the preservation of peace between the United States and them; and that if any settlements are made on lands not ceded by them, without the previous consent of the United States, the government will think itself bound, not only to declare to the Indians that such settlements are without the authority or protection of the United States, but to remove them also by the public force."

These doctrines are repugnant not only to the claims set up by the state of Georgia to the Indian lands within its limits, but also to the doctrines of exclusive sovereignty which have been asserted by South Carolina, and which, it deserves to be remarked, Mr. Jefferson's authority is mainly relied upon to support. But an abstract doctrine will appear very different to most men when it is resorted to for the purpose of upholding the claims of a private company, which originated in corruption, and when it is asserted by a sovereign state, whose citizens know themselves injured, and believe themselves oppressed; and the argument which seems very satisfactory, when used to disappoint the rapacity of those who had succeeded in buying up the majority in a state legislature, appears quite illogical when urged against Kentucky for resisting an unconstitutional law, or South Carolina for vindicating the supposed rights and interests of all the southern states; so true is it that, even in questions purely speculative, circumstances which, in the eye of reason, cannot effect the argument, do often entirely control our decisions.

Governor Pinckney, of South Carolina, had this summer proposed that our government should, by a compact with the Governor of Florida, agree that each party should surrender to the other all fugitives from justice. Mr. Jefferson, while he admits that the perpetrators of acknowledged crime ought to be surrendered, suggests the difficulty of drawing the line between offences of that character, and those which are "rendered criminal by tyrannical laws only;" and, expressing his doubts whether the Legislature of the United States would sanction a convention for this subject, he thought that we ought

not to give the Governor of Florida grounds to expect that we would deliver up fugitives from his government.

It may be here remarked, that at every step in the earlier part of our history, as on the present occasion, we meet with some obstacle or difficulty which has since disappeared, and which has yielded either to our growing power, or improvement in legislation, or to some fortunate incident. By the subsequent acquisition of Louisiana and Florida, those countries can no longer afford an asylum to our runaway slaves, which was the chief evil against which the proposition of Governor Pinckney meant to guard.

In consequence of the insurrection of the blacks in St. Domingo, the Assembly of that colony sent a deputy to the United States to obtain the aid of military stores and provisions, and which Mr. Ternant, the French minister, succeeded in obtaining of the secretaries of the treasury and war; the president and secretary of state being then in Virginia. Before these supplies arrived, the Colonial Assembly sent two other deputies with yet larger demands. They applied to Mr. Jefferson, with the consent of Mr. Ternant, and proposed that the required supplies should be furnished, either on account of the money which we owed to France, or of the bills of exchange which they were authorized to draw on France; or lastly, that we should guarantee their bills, so that they could dispose of them to merchants, and make the purchase for themselves. They were told that the two last were beyond the power of the executive, and that the first could be done only with the consent of the minister of France. This consent having been obtained, a small supply was afforded.

It seems that the application was an object of jealousy of the French minister and consul-general, who considered it as indicating a desire of independence on the part of the colony. Mr. Jefferson states to Mr. Short that this would be neither desirable nor attainable on their parts, and that it would be repugnant to the interests of the United States; and he suggests, as a probability, that if the colonies should become disgusted either with France or the United States, they might put themselves under the protection of Great Britain.

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CHAPTER XV.

Third session of the first Congress. The commerce of the United States with France and England compared. St. Clair's defeat. Apportionment bill. Mr. Jefferson advises the President to negative it. Conversation with the President on his proposed retirement. Causes of the public discontents. The power to promote the general welfare. Collision between Jefferson and Hamilton. Official correspondence with Mr. Hammond, the British minister-Pagan's case-tampering with the Creek Indians—complaints of each government. Mr. Jefferson's answer to Mr. Hammond's charges. The Post-office. Surrendering of foreign fugitives. Relative powers of the legislative and executive branches. Negotiation with Algiers. Paul Jones.

1791-1792.

Congress met on the 24th of October, according to adjournment, and proceeded to carry into execution other important powers on which they had not previously acted, or acted only by resolution; as in establishing the post-office and post roads, establishing a mint and regulating the coins, and providing a uniform militia system throughout the United States.

In December, Mr. Jefferson laid before the President a comparative table of the extent and value of the commerce of the United States with France and England, which he had prepared with unwearied industry. His motive is thus stated in his note* to the president: "As the conditions of our commerce with the French and British dominions are important, and a moment seems to be approaching when it may be useful that both should be accurately understood, I have thrown a representation of them into

* Jeff. Cor. III. p. 142.