Her most experienced admirals assailed us upon the ocean-her generals, who had conquered in Spain, Portugal, and France, attacked us upon land. From Castine to New-Orleans, upon the seaboard-from New Orleans to Plattsburgh, upon the western frontier the Republic was encountered by an implacable foe, Death, ravishment and conflagration, with all their appalling horrors, had been witnessed upon many parts of the seaboard and the frontier, and Washington had been subjected to the torches of the Vandal warriors. At this disastrous period, Mr. MONROE was called upon to head the department of war, and at the same time, to conduct the department of state.

Although the war had raged sometime, the fact will authorize the assertion, that the departments were not only in a deficient state, but in a state of almost inextricable disorder. The Commissary, the Quartermaster, and the Hospital departments needed a radical reform. Mr. MONROE devoted himself with such unceasing assiduity to the arduous duty now devolved upon him, that he nearly became a victim to death. He saw the enemy, repelled in almost every section of the union, directing all their forces by land and sea against the great key of the country, New Orleans. The Mississippi, which Mr. Monroe may almost be said to have acquired for his country, was now in danger of becoming the highway for its enemy into the bosom of the Republic. But what was acquired by the wisdom of the Statesman, was defended by the judicious arrangement of the Soldier.

From the conclusion of peace in 1815, to the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe continued in the Depart

ment of State, at which time he was raised to the highest station at this time, upon earth, that of PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

The great principles upon which he will conduct his administration, are contained in his Inaugural Speech and First Message to Congress.

In the summer and autumn of 1817, Mr. Monroe made his first Tour through the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New-Jersey, New York, and New England and was every where received with those demonstrations of attachment and respect which all the potentates of the Eastern world may justly envy, but cannot hope to enjoy.

In December, 1817, Mr. Monroe met the first Congress that was assembled under his administration. Never, since the immortalized and sainted WashingTON first appeared at the head of that august body, has any President been received with more marked tokens of sincere respect, and deserved admiration. The great councillors of the nation reposed in him a confidence almost unlimited. Not that confidence which is enforced; and which induced an eminent English statesman to declare, (when called upon to place it in “ the ministry,")" Necessary confidence is at best but a necessary evil." It was a confidence arising from cordial approbation and that approbation was founded upon deserved merit.

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His first Message is in the hands of all, and by all, admired. It evinces a familiar knowledge of the great principles of our admirable Constitution, and of the great interests of our expanding Republic.

Soon after the close of the session of Congress in

1818, the President commenced his Second Tour, which was rendered very limited by the pressing necessity of his presence at the seat of government,

The appalling horrours of Indian warfare, were exhibiting its tragical scenes upon the borders of the states and territories bounding upon Florida. Aided and abetted by foreign emissaries, more destitute of mercy and principle, if possible, than the Seminoles themselves, these wretched and barbarous outcasts, even from savage, society, were spreading consternation, havoc, torture and death, amongst the defenceless, and then undefended citizens upon the frontiers.

The President, assisted by the councils of a Cabinet of profound and patriotic statesmen, resorted to measures calculated to meet the emergency.

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In ANDREW JACKSON, cOMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOUTH, the President found a man fit for any emergency,- -a Statesman, cool and dispassionate a Soldier, terrible in battle and mild in victory-a Patriot, whose bosom swelled with love of country-in fine a man, "whose like we scarce shall look upon again."

The war with the Seminoles and their diabolical instigators, ended in the complete discomfiture of both ; and the measures of JAMES MONROE in the Cabinet, and of ANDREW JACKSON in the Field, have met with the approbation of an immense majority of the American people.

Mr. Monroe, ever keeping in view the rights and the interests of the Republic, and fully determined that neither should be wantonly invaded, was determined that the controversy, so long pending between the go

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vernment over which he now so happily presides, and that of Spain, over which the imbecile and tyrannical Ferdinand VII. wields the sceptre of despotic power, should be adjusted, caused a negociation to be entered into, which has terminated in the cession of the Floridas to the American government.

The advantages of this cession can scarcely now be duly appreciated. It relieves an extensive frontier from a civilized and barbarous foe-it gives to us almost the complete command of the Gulf of Mexicoit increases our national resources-it invites the never ending enterprise of our citizens to extend the settlement of our immense Republic-and in short, it is an acquisition, second only to that of Louisiana, for which the nation is indebted to JAMES MONROE.

The President is now, (July 1819) upon his Third Tour through the Southern and Western States.

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THE

ELECTION, INAUGURATION, AND

INAUGURAL SPEECH,

OF

JAMES MONROE,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

IN an hereditary government, the standing axiom is the king never dies-and when the prince who wears the diadem, pays the great debt of nature, it is called the demise of the crown. It passes from the head of the deceased monarch to that of the heir apparent; and the operation of the royal prerogative is never suspended. It has, indeed, often occurred, that crowns. have been wrested from the heads of legitimate monarchs, placed upon the brows of an usurper, and the line of royal succession broken. The violent death of princes in despotic governments is often a part of their blood-stained histories. From the perilous elevation upon which they are placed, to the gulf of destruction yawning beneath them, there is often but one step, and that is-assassination. The throne of a strangled Paul, is now occupied by Alexander, his imperious Sometimes thrones have been voluntarily or coercively abdicated by one line of princes, and assumed by another. The house of Stuart, of England, in this

son.