measure was of little avail; and after fourteen months the embargo act was repealed.* Meanwhile, in November of 1808, the British government outdid all previous proceedings by issuing an "order in council," prohibiting all trade with France and her allies. And Napoleon, not to be outdone, issued his famous "Milan decree," forbidding all commerce with England and her colonies. Between these outrageous acts of foreign nations and the American embargo, the commerce of the United States was well-nigh crushed out of existence.

While the country was distracted with these troubles Robert Fulton was building THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. This event exercised a vast influence on the future development of the nation. It was of the first importance to the people of the inland States that their great rivers should be enlivened with rapid and regular navigation. This, without the application of steam, was impossible; and this Fulton successfully accomplished. Indeed, the steamboat was the harbinger of a new era in civilization. Fulton was an Irishman by descent and a Penn

ROBERT FULTON.

sylvanian by birth. His education was meagre and imperfect. In his boyhood he became a painter of miniatures at Philadelphia. His friends sent him to London to receive instruction from Benjamin West; but his tastes led him to the useful rather than to the fine arts. From London he went to Paris, where he became acquainted with Chancellor Livingston; and there he conceived the project of applying steam to the purposes of navigation. Returning to New York, he began the construction of a steamboat in East River. When

*The embargo act was the subject of much ridicule. The opponents of the measure spelling the word backward, called it the O Grab me act.

the ungainly craft was completed and brought around to the Jersey side of the city, Fulton invited his friends to go on board and enjoy a trip to Albany. It was the 2d of September, 1807. The incredulous crowds stood staring on the shore. The word was given, and the boat did not move. Fulton went below. Again the word was given, and this time the boat moved. On the next day the happy company reached Albany. For many years this first rude steamer, called the Clermont, plied the Hudson. The old methods of river navigation were revolutionized.

But the inventive genius of Fulton was by no means satisfied with the great achievement. For years his thoughts had been busy with another project which was considered by himself of greater value and importance to the future interests of mankind than the steamboat. His object was to produce some kind of an engine, so destructive to ships as to banish naval warfare by making it possible for any one to destroy the most formidable vessels which could be constructed. Finally his plans were matured, and the result was the invention of that submarine bomb, called THE TORPEDO, which has played so important a part in the bay and river battles of modern times. This terrible machine is as distinctly and certainly the fruit of Fulton's brain as is steam navigation itself; but the result has hardly met the expectations of the inventor. As early as 1804, having completed the invention at Paris, he offered it successively to the governments of France, Holland, and Great Britain; but neither nation would accept the patronage of so dangerous an engine. In England a public demonstration of its destructive effects was given in the presence of British statesmen and men of science.* On the 15th of October, in Walmer Roads, within sight of the residence of William Pitt, the Danish brig Dorothea, which had been given by the government for that purpose, was blown to atoms on the first trial. But, although the success of the torpedo was manifest, the English ministry refused to accept the invention on the ground that Great Britain, already mistress of the seas, did not need torpedoes, and that their use by other nations would destroy her supremacy. Logic of habitual selfishness! In 1807, and again in 1810, Fulton offered his invention to the United States, and in the latter year received an appropriation of five thousand dollars for further experiments. Such was the terror inspired by the torpedo that, although it was not very successfully used in the war that ensued, the British cruisers were notably shy of the American coast, and many a sea-port town was saved from destruction.

* Colonel Congreve, inventor of the "Congreve Rocket," was present on the occasion.

Jefferson's administration drew to a close.

The territorial area of the United States had been vastly extended. Burr's wicked and dangerous conspiracy had come to naught. Pioneers were pouring into the valley of the Mississippi. Explorers had crossed the mountains of the great West. The woods by the river-shores resounded with the cry of steam. But the foreign relations of the United States. were troubled and gloomy. There were forebodings of war. The President, following the example of Washington, declined a third election, and was succeeded in his high office by James Madison of Virginia. For Vice-President George Clinton was re-elected.

JAME

CHAPTER XLIX.

MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION, AND WAR OF 1812.

AMES MADISON, fourth President of the United States, was born at King George, Virginia, on the 16th of March, 1751. He was educated first in a private school and afterwards at Princeton College, where he was graduated at the age of twenty. Devoting himself to the profession of the law, he found time for extensive reading and a profound study of morals, metaphysics, and polite literature. From these pursuits, so congenial to his disposition, his sterling patriotism called him to take an active part in the struggles of the Revolution. In the councils of his own State and afterwards in the Continental Congress his influence was marked and powerful. But of all the patriot leaders Madison had the calmest and least aggressive spirit. Not by oratory and vehemence of passion, but by philosophy and cogent argument, did he mould the opinions of his fellow-men. It was he who, in 1786, secured the passage by the legislature of Virginia of the resolution, suggested by Washington, calling for a convention of the States at Annapolis-a work which resulted in the formation of the Federal Constitution. Afterwards, with Hamilton and Jay, he defended that great instrument in the Federalist; but with the new division of parties, his views underwent a change and he joined himself with the Jeffersonian school of statesmen. For eight years he held the office of secretary of state; and on the 4th of March, 1809, was inaugurated as Jefferson's successor in the presidency. He owed his election to the Democratic party, whose sympathy with France and hostility to the policy of Great Britain were well known. Three

days before the new administration came into power, the embargo act was repealed by Congress; but another measure was adopted instead, called the non-intercourse act. By its terms American merchantmen were allowed to go abroad, but were forbidden to trade with Great Britain. Mr. Erskine, the British minister, now gave notice that by the 10th of June the "orders in council," so far as they affected the United States, should be repealed. But the British government disavowed the act of its agent; and the orders stood as before.

In the following spring the emperor of the French issued a decree authorizing the seizure of all American vessels that might approach the ports of France

JAMES MADISON.

or other harbors held by his troops. But in November of the same year the hostile decree was reversed, and all restrictions on the commerce of the United States were removed. If Great Britain had acted with equal liberality and justice, there would have been no further complaint. But that government, with peculiar obstinacy, adhered to its former measures, and sent ships of war to hover around the American ports and enforce the odious orders issued in the previous years. It was only a question of time when such insolence would lead to retaliation and war.

The affairs of the two nations were fast approaching a crisis. It became more and more apparent that the wrongs perpetrated by Great Britain against the United States would have to be corrected by force of arms. That England, after such a career of arrogance, would now make reparation for the outrages committed by her navy was no longer to be hoped for. The ministry of that same George III. with whom the colonies had struggled in the Revolution still directed the affairs

of the kingdom; from him, now grown old and insane, nothing was to be expected. The government of the United States had fallen completely under control of the party which sympathized with France, while the Federal party, from its leaning toward British interests and institutions, grew weaker year by year. The American people, smarting under the insults of Great Britain, had adopted the motto of FREE TRADE AND SAILORS' RIGHTS, and for that motto they had made up their minds to fight. The elections, held between 1808 and 1811, showed conclusively the drift of public opinion; the sentiment of the country was that war was preferable to further humiliation and disgrace.

In the spring of 1810 the third census of the United States was completed. The population had increased to seven million two hundred and forty thousand souls. The States now numbered seventeen, and several new Territories were preparing for admission into the Union. The resources of the nation were abundant; its institutions deeply rooted and flourishing. But with the rapid march of civilization westward the jealousy of the Red man was aroused, and Indiana Territory was afflicted with an Indian war.

The Shawnees were the leading tribe in the country between the Ohio and the Wabash. Their chief was the famous Tecumtha, a brave and sagacious warrior; and with him was joined his brother Elkswatawa, called the Prophet. The former was a man of real genius; the latter, a vile impostor who pretended to have revelations from the spirit-world. But they both worked together in a common cause; and their plan was to unite all the nations of the North-west Territory in a final effort to beat back the whites. When, therefore, in September of 1809, Governor Harrison met the chiefs of several tribes at Fort Wayne, and honorably purchased the Indian titles to three million acres of land, Tecumtha refused to sign the treaty, and threatened death to those who did. In the year that followed he visited the nations as far south as Tennessee and exhorted them to lay aside their sectional jealousies, in the hope of saving their hunting-grounds.

Governor Harrison from Vincennes, the capital of the Territory, remonstrated with Tecumtha and the Prophet, held several conferences with them, and warned them of what would follow from their proceedings. Still, the leaders insisted that they would have back the lands which had been ceded by the treaty of Fort Wayne. The governor stood firm, sent for a few companies of soldiers and mustered the militia of the Territory. The Indians began to prowl through the Wabash Valley, murdering and stealing. In order to secure the country