negotiator, and even the president, were virulently censured, and warmly defended, in a debate which has seldom been equalled for its intemperance, its eloquence, or its duration. On the final question, a majority of three voted in favor of the appropriation necessary to carry it into effect. The subsequent prosperity of American commerce demonstrates the wisdom of the president's decision.

55. The conduct of Spain towards the United States, had ever been cold and unfriendly. She feared lest the principles of liberty, and the desire of independence should find their way into her contiguous American provinces. During the negotiations at Paris, which resulted in peace, she secretly exerted her influence to cause the western boundaries of the new republic, from the great lakes to Florida, to be fixed two or three hundred miles east of the Mississippi. To the repeated offers, which were afterwards made, to form with her a commercial treaty, and to make arrangements respecting the mutual navigation of that river, she pertinaciously declined to accede.

56. When the inhabitants beyond the Alleghany mountains had become numerous, she denied them access to the ocean by the medium of that river, the mouth of which was within her province of Louisiana. She intended, perhaps, to show them the importance of that privilege by withholding it, and to allure them, by the promise of restoring it, to submit to her authority, The people of Kentucky, indignant at the deprivation, laid their complaints before congress. In bold and forcible language they asserted their rights, by the laws of God and of nature, to the free use of that noble river, and demanded that, at any cost, the acknowledgment of that right should be obtained.

57. At length Spain became involved in a war with France. Embarrassed at home, and intimidated by the unauthorized preparations which, under the auspices of Genet, were making in Kentucky to invade Louisiana, she intimated her readiness to conclude a satisfactory treaty, should a minister be sent to Madrid for that purpose. Thomas Pinkney was accordingly appointed. In October, 1795, a treaty was signed, securing to the citizens of the United States the free navigation of the Mississippi to the ocean, and the privilege of landing and depositing cargoes at New-Orleans.

58. Thus were adjusted all controversies with two European powers, which, while they existed, retarded the prosperity, and disturbed the tranquillity of the country; and from which, at different periods, even war was seriously apprehended. In 1795, a treaty was also concluded with the regency of Algiers, with which the republic was previously at war. It stipulated

that the United States, in conformity with the practice of other nations, should, as the price of peace, pay an annual tribute to the sovereign of that country.

59. Within the last two or three years, several changes took place in the important offices of the nation. On the first day of the year 1794, Mr. Jefferson resigned the office of secretary of state. He had performed the duties of that office with extraordinary ability, and to the entire satisfaction of the president. Having been minister to France at the commencement of the revolution there, he became acquainted with its prime movers, and, anticipating from their exertions the diffusion of the principles of liberty and the renovation of the government, was, in the early stages of its progress, its enthusiastic and undisguised defender. Of the republican party, he was considered the leader, enjoying their highest confidence and warmest attachment. He was succeeded by Edmund Randolph, of Virginia.

60. On the last day of January, 1795, Mr. Hamilton retired from the office of secretary of the treasury. He possessed distinguished talents, and had exerted those talents to establish order where all was confusion, and to raise from the lowest depression the credit of the country. His complete success greatly exalted his reputation, and to him the federalists felt a sincer ity of attachment equalled only by that entertained for Washing ton. With him he had served in the revolutionary war, and had then acquired his confidence and affection, which he ever afterwards retained. Being the advocate of an energetic government, and averse to intrusting much power with the people, he was peculiarly obnoxious to the republican party. He was accused of partiality to England, and of misconduct in office. After the closest scrutiny, his official character was acknowledged, by his enemies, to be without stain. He was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut.

61. At the close of the year 1794, general Knox resigned the office of secretary of war, and colonel Pickering, of Massachusetts, was appointed in his place. In August Mr. Randolph, having lost the confidence of the president, and having in consequence retired from the administration, Mr. Pickering was appointed his successor in the department of state, and James M'Henry, of Maryland, was made secretary of war. No republican being now at the head of any of the departments, many of the leaders of that party withdrew their support from the administration; and licentious individuals, in their abusive attacks, dared to charge even the president with corruption. But the confidence of the people in his integrity and patriotism experienced not the slightest abatement.

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62. The conduct of France towards the American republic continued to be a source of increasing trouble and vexation Mr. Fauchet, the successor of Genet, bore, from those by whom he was deputed, the strongest assurances of friendship; but en couraged and supported by a numerous party, ardently attached to his nation, he gradually assumed towards the administration the tone of remonstrance and reproach. He charged it with sentiments of hostility to the allies of the United States, with partiality for their former foes, and urged the adoption of a course more favorable to the cause of liberty.

63. The American government was in fact desirous of ful filling all its duties to France, and of conciliating her friendship. Mr. Morris, the minister to Paris, having incurred the displeasure of those in power, was recalled at their request, and his place supplied by Mr. Monroe of Virginia. This gentleman was a republican, and had embraced with ardor the cause of the French republic. He was received in the most respectful manner by the convention, who decreed that the flags of the two republics, intwined together, should be suspended in the legislative hall, as a mark of their eternal union and friendship.

64. Mr. Adet was appointed soon after, to succeed Mr. Fauchet. He brought with him the colors of France, which he was instructed; by the convention, to present to the congress of the United States. They were received by the president with extraordinary ceremonies, transmitted to congress, and afterwards deposited in the national archives. In the house of representatives, a resolution was unanimously adopted, expressing the lively sensations which were excited by this testimony of the existing sympathy of the two republics, and their hope, that the brilliant and glorious victories of the French people, would lead to the perfect establishment of their liberty and happiness.

65. But France required of the United States more than professions and hopes, and more than by treaty she was entitled to claim. She wished to make them a party in the war she was waging with the despots of Europe. Failing in this, and jealous of the more timate relations contracted with her enemy, she adopted regulations highly injurious to American commerce, directing her cruisers to capture, in certain cases, the vessels of the United States. In consequence of these regulations, several hundreds, loaded with valuable, cargoes, were, while prosecuting a lawful trade, taken and the whole confiscated.

66. Believing that the rights of the nation were not asserted and vindicated with sufficient spirit by Mr Monroe, the presi

dent recalled him, and Charles C. Pinkney, of South Carolina, was appointed in his stead. In the summer of 1796, he left the United States, instructed to use every effort compatible with national honor, to restore the amicable relations which had once subsisted between the sister republics.

67. General Washington, having at the sacrifice of his own predilections, devoted a great portion of his life to his country; having successfully conducted its armies through an arduous conflict for existence; and having since directed its course through the most critical period of an experiment under a free constitution, determined to retire to the enjoyment of domestic happiness and rural quiet. In September, he announced this determination to his fellow citizens, and feeling for them all the solicitude of a father for his children, he published at the same time a farewell address.

68. From long experience, he had acquired an intimate acquaintance with the dangers to which the liberties of the repub lic were exposed. These he deprecated, and warned his countrymen to shun, with all the impressive energy of conviction, and all the ardor of parental affection. He besought them, especially, to frown indignantly, upon the first dawning of any attempt at a separation of the union; to discard local attachments and sectional animosities; to guard against the excessive indulgence of the spirit of party, and against cherishing a hatred of particular nations, and an affection for others.

69. This address was read with sentiments of profound veneration in every part of the union. Some of the state legislatures directed it to be inserted at large in their journals, and most of them passed resolutions expressing their respect for the author, their high sense of his exalted services, and the emotions with which they contemplated his retirement from office.

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70. To fill the station from which the father of his country had resolved to retire, the two great political parties brought forward their chiefs. The federalists, desiring that the system of measures adopted by Washington should continue to be sued, and dreading the influence of French sentiments and principles, made the most active efforts to elect John Adams. The republicans, believing their opponents less friendly than themselves to the maxims of liberty, and too much devoted to the British nation and, to British institutions, made equal exertions to elect Thomas Jefferson.

71. The result was the choice of Mr. Adams to be president, and Mr. Jefferson to be vice-president. Released from public cares, Washington hastened to Mount Vernon. Having estab

lished his fame as the greatest hero and most distinguished statesman of the age, he there, devoting his time to the cultiva tion of an extensive farm, added to his titles of renown that of the most industrious and intelligent agriculturist of his country.

CHAPTER XXV

MR. ADAMS'S, MR. JEFFERSON'S, AND PART OF MR. MADISON'S ADMINIS TRATION.---DECLARATION OF WAR.

MR. ADAMS, soon after the commencement of his presidential term, received from Mr. Pinkney despatches of a most disagreeable and alarming nature. The Directory, then exercising the executive authority in France, had refused to accredit him, declaring their determination not to receive another minister from the United States, until they had fully complied with the demands which had been made. He was moreover ordered, by a written mandate, to quit the territories of the republic.

2. Congress were immediately convened, and the despatches laid before them. Their proceedings indicated a love of peace, but also a firm determination to yield to no unjust demand. Laws were passed authorizing the president, whenever he should deem it necessary, to detach eighty thousand men from the militia of the United States, providing for an increase of the navy, and for augmenting the revenue of the nation. To display to France, and to the world, his desire of peace, and to leave no means unattempted to preserve it, the president resolved to institute another and more solemn mission. General Pinkney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were accordingly appointed envoys to the French republic, and were instructed, as the first had before been, to seek a reconciliation as the representatives of a people dreading war much, but the sacrifice of honor more. 3. These also the directory refused to receive. They were, however, addressed by persons verbally instructed, by Talleyrand, the minister of foreign relations, to make them proposals. In explicit terms, these unofficial agents demanded a large sum