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CH. V.]

FULTON AND STEAM NAVIGATION.

with the continuance of slavery in our southern states, nevertheless, the United States, in 1820, were the first to declare the slave-trade to be piracy, and punishable accordingly.

1807.

Congress also repealed the tax on salt, continued the Mediterranean fund, and made a liberal compensation to Captains Lewis and Clarke and their companions, in donations of lands for their services in the Pacific enterprise. "The votes in both Houses," according to Mr. Tucker, "showed, that if the president had lost a small number of his former supporters, he had the undiminished confidence and attachment of the rest, constituting the great body of the republican party." On the 3d of March, the ninth Congress closed its second session. It deserves to be put on record here, that Robert Fulton, in the summer of the year 1807, demonstrated to his countrymen and the world, the practicability of propelling vessels by the agency of steam. Some three or four years previously, he had, in conjunction with Chancellor Livingston, American minister to France, made a successful experiment with a boat built by him on the Seine. On returning to the United States, in 1806, Fulton constructed the "Clermont," which was launched from a ship-yard in New York, in the spring of 1807, and prepared for use in August of the same year. Despite the defects and difficulties, despite the sneers of the incredulous and the contemptuous disregard of the self-opinionated and conceited, Fulton persevered, and the Clermont made her first voyage from New York

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to Albany in thirty-two hours, and returned again in thirty hours. "In the midst of the most prolific creations of American industry," says Professor Renwick, "the services rendered by Fulton are, at length, admitted to be superior to those of any other, with the sole exception of Whitney. This rank is now awarded to him, not only by the tardy justice of his own countrymen, but by the almost universal suffrage of the whole civilized world, the bonds of whose union are daily drawn closer and closer, by an invention which, however long sought and nearly attained by others, was at last introduced into usc by his talent and perseverance."*

The death of Mr. Fox, in September, 1806, brought about a change in the British government which was far from favorable to the views and policy of the United States. The president had counted upon the good offices of Mr. Fox towards settling existing difficulties and effecting a commercial treaty on more advantageous terms than those of Mr. Jay's treaty. Mr. Canning now became the head of the British ministry, and the president, early in February, deemed it advisable to furnish Mr. Monroe and his colleague at London, with more explicit instructions on the subject of impressments, neutral commerce, blockades, the India trade, and indemnification. On the point of impressments, they were directed to en ter into no treaty which did not secure the American citizen against any and every exercise of this odious claim of Great Britain. The dispatches were,

*Renwick's "Life of Robert Fulton,” p. 208.

however, too late; for on the 31st of December, 1806, a treaty was concluded between the American envoys and the British commissioners appointed to treat with them.

Previously to this, the deadly struggle between England and France had led to measures which seemed calculated to force the United States from their position of neutrality. Ever since the annihilation of the navies of Spain and France by the decisive victory at Trafalgar, Great Britain had strenuously exerted her gigantic powers to retain in her own hands solely, the trade of Europe. In May, 1806, she had declared the whole coast of Europe, from the Elbe in Germany, to Brest in France, (about a thousand miles of seacoast,) to be in a state of blockade, which subjected American vessels attempting to enter the continental ports, to capture and condemnation.* Napoleon, on his part, having by his deadly blows, at Austerlitz and Jena, laid the continental powers prostrate, perceived no way of securing and extending his conquests, especially against the one nation that had successfully resisted his might, except that which he entitled the "Continental System," the first ef

* "Of the excitement and agitation raised in our country by this inroad upon the laws of nations, and upon neutral commerce, an adequate idea can now scarcely be conceived. The complaints, the remonstrances, the appeals for protections to Congress, from the plundered merchants, rung throughout the Union. A fire spreading from Portland to New Orleans would have scarcely been more destructive. Memorial upon memorial, from all the cities of the land, loaded the tables of the legislative halls, with the cry of distress

and the call upon the national arm for defence, restitu

tion, and in lemnity.”—J. Q. Adams's "Life of James Monroe," p. 266.

fort to realize which was the renowned "Berlin Decree," issued on the 21st of November, 1806.

1806.

From the terms of this decree, it was evident that the neutral trade of America would be affected, (to the full extent of Napoleon's power to enforce so prodigious an edict,) quite as injuri ously as it had been by the imperious maxims of Great Britain. And although Armstrong, the American minister at Paris, obtained from the French minister of marine and colonies, what seemed to be an express statement, that the terms of the treaty of 1800 would still determine the rela tions of France to American commerce, it was too evident that Mr. Jefferson's view, that the flag should cover the goods, would not be allowed in the internecine warfare that the emperor of France was now waging with England.

The treaty just concluded, consisted of twenty-six articles; by which the permanent and unexpired provisions of Mr. Jay's treaty were confirmed, and the same stipulations made respecting the East India trade, rights of neutrals and belligerents, the appointment of consuls, the surrender of criminals, the equalization of duties, and the regulation of privateers. In addition to these conditions, it was agreed that the United States should have a circuitous trade with colonies of nations at war with Britain, during the existing hostilities; that the limits of maritime jurisdiction were extended to five miles from the coast; that care should be taken of the shipwrecked of each nation; that advantages in trade or navigation granted by either party to any nation, should

CH. V.]

THE TREATY WITH ENGLAND REJECTED.

be conferred upon the other; and that all laws relating to the African slavetrade should be communicated to each other.

Smaller advantages for the United States, than those secured by Mr. Jay's treaty, were proposed respecting the India trade, and illegal captures; but in several important particulars, this treaty was more favorable than the former one. There was an amicable spirit evinced by the article in which Britain consented to the trade of the United States with her enemies' colonies, for a time and under certain restrictions. And the concession made by Britain, who had the power to enforce the regulations regarding commerce, was far greater than that of the American commissioners, who merely gave up, in part, a claim which they had never been able to enforce. And there was an omission noted concerning provisions, which the United States agreed might be stopped as contraband, whilst Great Britain consented to waive the forfeiture, and to indemnify the neutrals for stopping them. On the subject of impressment, the British commissioners refused to give any satisfactory assurances; yet the American envoys, under all the circumstances, deemed it most advisable to put their names to the treaty, which they did as above stated. News of the "Berlin Decree"* having reached London before the treaty was completed, a note was addressed to the

* Early in January, 1807, only a few days after the conclusion of this negotiation, an "order in council"

was issued by the British in reply to Napoleon's "Berlin Decree," and all coast trade with France was prohibited.

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American ministers, in which was reserved to Great Britain the right to adopt countervailing regulations, in case Napoleon should execute that decree and neutrals submit to it.

The day before the close of the ses

sion of Congress, the president 1807. received from Mr. Erskine, the English minister at Washington, a copy of the treaty, and "it fell so far short of what he conceived to be the just claims of the United States, as well as of his instructions, that he decided at once on not submitting it to the Senate, but to try the effect of further negoti ation. Besides other objections, there were two that were insuperable. These were, that the treaty contained no provision whatever on the subject of impressment; and because it was accompanied with a note from the British ministers, by which the British government reserved to itself the right of releasing itself from the stipulations in favor of neutral rights, if the United States submitted to the Berlin Decree, or other invasions of those rights by France."*

This procedure on the part of the president, was looked upon as rather high-handed, and gave rise to much excitement in the United States. The commercial classes condemned the rejection of the treaty, which was deemed so much the better for their interests than Mr. Jay's, as the times were more troubled, and the indications of a friendly spirit to America more desirable in England. The federalists loudly complained of the unconstitutionality

*Tucker's "Life of Jefferson," vol. ii., p. 224.

of the course chosen by the president. He had done that of his own motion, they said, which only with the Senate's concurrence he was competent to do. "Was this honest or wise in Mr. Jefferson?" they exclaimed; "Does 1807. it, or not, show that he was resolved, the parade of negotiation notwithstanding, to keep open the means of contention with Great Britain? And was not his motive to contribute to the universal dominion of Napoleon in Europe, including prostrate England? And was it wise for a republic to extinguish, if it could, the only power that then stood between the hopes of liberty and one universal despotism?" But the republicans stood by the president manfully, and justified his course as eminently wise and fitting in the emergency; for, they urged, had the treaty been ratified, on the condition which was affixed to it, it would have pledged the United States to such a co-operation with Great Britain against France, as must have ended in hostilities with the one and alliance with the other. Mr. Jefferson liked England too little to be concerned in any movement of that kind.

The course adopted by the president and his party was regarded by the British government as indicating an unfriendly spirit, and there is little doubt that it hastened the progress of international difficulties. The American envoys complained of the manner in which their labors were received, and expressed their opinion freely, that the treaty was decidedly advantageous to the United States. They were, however, instructed to renew negotiations

with the English ministry, in order to obtain terms more in accordance with those desired by the president; and Mr. Madison, in March, wrote to them, explaining more fully the ground they were to take on the several points at issue. Towards the close of July, they attempted to open anew the negotiation, in a note addressed to Mr. Canning; but the difficulties connected with the attack on the Chesapeake suspended the correspondence for a considerable time. On the 22d of October, Mr. Canning answered the note of Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, in which he stated that their proposal "for proceeding to negotiate anew, upon the basis of a treaty already solemnly concluded and signed, is wholly inadmissible."*

The British naval officers, on the coast of America, seem to have partaken largely of the unfriendly state of feeling which had been on the increase for some time past, and they were ready to go much beyond the instructions of their government, and to commit acts in violation of the well-understood rights and privileges of neutral nations. The outrage committed on the Chesapeake illustrates this fact very forcibly. This vessel was about to proceed to join the Mediterranean squadron, and on the 23d of June got to sea. She had been preceded by

1807.

* Mr. Monroe, finding that nothing further could be effected at the present juncture, returned to the United

States in the latter part of the year 1807, leaving Mr. Pinckney in charge of his country's interests at the English court. This latter gentleman, after long-con

tinued but fruitless labors, left England in February, 1811, and returned home.

CH. V.]

THE OUTRAGE ON THE CHESAPEAKE,

one of the British cruisers, the Leopard, a fifty-gun ship; she herself being rated as a thirty-eight, but carrying forty-four guns. Outside the Capes of Virginia, and when about six or eight miles from land, the Leopard came up on her weather-quarter, and hailing, informed Commodore Barron that she had dispatches for him. The officer who came from the Leopard, however, only presented Vice-admiral Berkeley's circular order, and demanded several enumerated deserters. A conference of above half an hour ensued, the American officer standing upon his general orders, and the British lieutenant endeavoring to carry his point, apparently by the mere prestige of the superior force of his vessel. At length he returned to the Leopard, without obtaining the men; and without any definite understanding with Commodore Barron respecting the next step.

Not dreaming of a resort to violence, the Chesapeake was in every respect unprepared for action; the Leopard, on the other hand, had made her arrangements for attack, and waited only the word of command. Observing this, Barron and Captain Gordon endeavored hastily to get the gun-deck clear, and ordered the men to their quarters. As soon as the English vessel's boat had returned, the captain hailed the Chesapeake again; and on receiving Barron's reply, that he did not understand the hail, a shot was fired ahead of the Chesapeake, and in a few seconds followed by a whole broadside. The confusion on board the American vessel was increased tenfold by this; the Leopard hailed again and again; the

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Chesapeake returning no answer, but vainly striving to get her batteries into fighting order; and for about a quarter of an hour the Leopard poured a heavy fire into her unresisting antagonist,* doing great execution. Barron repeatedly desired that one gun at least might be fired, and finding it impossible, ordered the colors to be hauled down; just as one of the lieutenants, with a coal, which he took with his fingers from the galley, contrived to discharge a gun from the second division of the ship.

Commodore Barron "immediately sent a boat on board the Leopard, to say that the ship was at the disposal of the English captain, when the latter directed his officers to muster the American crew. The three men claimed to be deserters from the Melampus, and one that had run from the Halifax sloop-of-war, were carried away." And as the English captain declined to take charge of the vessel, she returned immediately to Hampton Roads. 1807. Three of the Chesapeake's men were killed, and eighteen wounded; the commodore being amongst the latter; and the injuries done to hull, masts, and rigging were very great. The single ball fired from her, hulled the Leopard, but did no further harm. The four men

*More than a year before, on the 25th of April,

1806, the British ship Leander had fired upon a coasting vessel, near Sandy Hook, killing one of her crew; and drawing from the president a proclamation forbidding the entrance of that vessel, and two others with her, into the waters of the United States, and calling for the apprehension of the Leander's captain. This had excited a very bitter feeling against the British cruisers; but the outrage upon the Chesapeake raised the spirit of most of the nation to the highest pitch of indignation.

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