the triumph of New Orleans, made him the popular candidate, though at first his nomination excited much ridicule; Henry Clay, whose high standing as a diplomatist, and in Congress, justified his claims to the first office in the nation; William H. Crawford, William Lowndes, (who died in this year, 1822,) and John C. Calhoun, who represented sectional feelings, and personal or local politics, rather than party preference, or national renown. Adams, by virtue of his name alone, and Clay, by reason of his course, and as an opponent of the new democratic party, received the support of the federalists, or of those who had been federalists. Jackson received that of the democrats universally. It was also observed, that New England rallied round Adams, not unnaturally; the south mostly affected Crawford and Calhoun; while Jackson and Clay divided the supremacy of the western states. All of the candidates, it is worth noting, belonged to the old republican party.

In the month of June, a commercial convention was entered into with France. Its terms were considered favorable, and it was to continue for two years. The American and British commissioners under an article of the treaty of Ghent, ran the northern boundary line between the United States and the British possessions. The retaliatory course pursued in reference to the West India trade was loudly complained of by the British islands, and the English government felt compelled finally to agree to a reciprocal trade between its colonies in America and the United States. The president issued a proc

lamation on this subject on the 24th of August.

On the 2d of December, Congress reassembled, and the president's message was sent in on the following day. Various and important topics 1822. were spoken of in the message, and a promising aspect of foreign and domestic affairs was presented; but no measure of special moment was recommended, none probably being deemed necessary, in the then position of the country. The receipts into the treasury for the first three quarters of the year had been more than $14,745,000. The payments during the same period had exceeded $12,279,000, leaving in the treasury $4,128,000. The gross amount of duties for the whole year was estimated at $23,000,000.

Few acts of note were passed during the present session, nor was any stirring political question obtruded upon the attention of the legislature. Government proceeded with the tranquility which characterizes a period of general prosperity, or one in which the energies of the people are not roused by any exciting topic. No increase of the duty on woolen goods could be effected; nor could imprisonment for debt be abolished; neither were the proposals to survey various canal routes (chiefly in the north) received; but an appropriation for the repair of the Cumberland Road passed, and received Monroe's signature, as he had intimated his willingness to co-operate to this extent in the cause of internal improvementsthe right of exercising jurisdiction and sovereignty over the route not being assumed by the federal government..

CH. IV.]

An attempt was made to effect a settlement on the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River, Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, being very active in the matter; but the majority a the members of Congress deemed it visionary to 1823. pay attention to a region so distant and so inaccessible. An additional force was authorized for the suppression of piracy; the state of Ohio had certain grants of land made to it for aiding in constructing a road from the rapids of the Miami to the western boundary of the Connecticut reserve; an act was passed relative to the mode of doing business in the custom-houses, etc. Charges were made against Mr. Crawford, secretary of the treasury, of having mismanaged the public funds, violated the law, and the like; but after a full and thorough investigation, he was honorably and entirely acquitted. The accusations against Mr. Crawford having come from Ninian Edwards, who used the signature A. B., in a Washington newspaper, this affair was stigmatized as "the A. B. plot."

A rather singular question came before Congress at this session, viz., respecting the state of Vice-president Tompkins's accounts. In accordance with a bill passed in the preceding session, the payment of his salary was suspended, as it appeared that he was in arrear, in respect of the payments due by him to the treasury. He had in fact become involved in his private affairs, in consequence of advances he had made for the defence of New York in the late war, and of default in the payment of public moneys by his subordinate agents. In the trial before

339

the circuit court, however, he claimed to be in advance, in his account with government, to the amount of nearly $136,800; and a committee of the House of Representatives, who investigated the circumstances of the case, reported a sum of $35,190 actually due to him; the payment of his salary was, therefore, resumed, and the arrears due to him, paid. "He had performed," said the committee, "all that was required, and more than was promised or expected. The protection of the city of New York, and the successful issue of the campaign of 1814, on the frontier, was owing in a great measure to his exertions."

This being the short session, the seventeenth Congress finished its career on the 3d of March, 1823.

An expedition under Decoudray, a Swiss adventurer, was illegally fitted out in New York, during 1822, for the purpose of seizing upon Porto Rico. It failed, however, entirely, and was soon forgotten. But the system of privateering, which was extensively carried on in the West India seas, compelled attention and called loudly for redress. During the contest between Spain and her revolted provinces, in consequence of the weakness and poverty of both sides, every species of atrocity was resorted to, and piracy, under the name of privateering, was eagerly pursued. The northern coast of Cuba was the chief haunt of the buccaneers, and Congress caused a part of the fleet to be stationed in those seas, for the 1823. protection of American commerce, which had suffered greatly from the attacks of these corsairs. In 1823

Commodore Porter, once of the Essex -whose exploits in the Pacific we have narrated in a previous chapter was appointed to the command of this squadron. His vigorous measures speedily freed the navigation of those seas from such dangers; but it was at a great sacrifice of life, principally in consequence of yellow fever.

Porter at last, having barely escaped death from yellow fever himself, returned home; and as he had received no orders to do so, was ordered back immediately. Returning to his post in October, 1824, he acted with such imprudent energy against Foxardo, a town of Porto Rico, where one of his officers, who had gone on an unauthorized errand, had been insulted, that he was superseded; and being tried by a courtmartial, was suspended for six months. Upon which he entered the Mexican service, although it was illegal, as to his own government, to do so, and was made commander-in-chief of the naval forces of Mexico, with a salary of $25,000 a year. In his new capacity, he treated the United States and their neutrality very curtly and unceremoniously.* Captain Warrington was appointed to the command in the West Indies, and actively watched the interests of American commerce in that quarter.

The eighteenth Congress assembled on the first day of December, 1823. The approaching contest for the presi

*Porter remained in the Mexican service, until 1829, when he returned to the United States. He was subsequently consul-general at Algiers, and minister to the Turkish court. He died at Pera, on the 28th of March, 1843.

dency exercised, as was to be expected, considerable influence in the elections to the House of Representatives; for it was believed by many, that in consequence of the number of candidates, that branch of the legislature would in the end be charged with the choice of the executive, and the friends of the various aspirants exerted themselves to the utmost to secure a return favorable to their hopes.

1823.

Rufus King, Southard, Van Buren, W. R. King, Macon, and others, were still in the Senate; and Hayne, of South Carolina, and Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, were among the new appointments. In the House, Henry Clay was returned for Kentucky once more; Daniel Webster took his seat again, but it was for Massachusetts now; and there were also sent for the first time to this Congress, Samuel A. Foot, John Forsyth, William C. Rives, and Edward Livingston. As was customary, the first trial of strength took place on the election of a speaker; and the predominant influence of Clay was manifest, when he was returned at the first ballot, by a majority of nearly a hundred, over Philip P. Barbour.

CH. IV.] national work, provided the jurisdiction were left in the hands of the states through which the canal should pass. The chief interest, however, connected with the message, was in relation to foreign powers and their course of policy as respected the continent of America. Naturally, the United States took a deep interest in the condition and progress of the people of South America, and, as we have seen, there was an earnest desire manifested for their success in their struggles for liberty, and in their steadfast determination to throw off the yoke of foreign masters and rulers. European powers, on the other hand, viewed this matter with very different feelings; and Spain made urgent application to the allied sovereigns to assist her in subduing her rebellious colonies, promising extensive and valuable commercial privileges in return. Probably, they would have interfered in behalf of Spain, had not Great Britain opposed, in part at least, any such course of action. The president, in his message, states, that amicable negotiations were in progress with Russia and England, to settle their respective rights and interests on the north-west coast. "In the discussions to which this interest has given rise," he adds, "and in the arrangements by which they may terminate, the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects of future colonization by any European powers."

341

1823.

Towards the close of the message, beside expressing warm sympathy with the heroic struggles of the Greeks, the president adverts to the efforts which had been made in Spain and Portugal, to improve the condition of the people of those nations, and goes on to say, in words which deserve to be weighed carefully by the student of history; "Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments. And to the defence of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to can

is