the beginning of what he termed the continental system, the chief object of which was the ruin of Great Britain. The latter, by another order [January 7, 1807], prohibited all coast trade with France; and thus the gamesters played with the world's peace and prosperity. In spite of pacific attempts to put an end to these ungenerous measures, American vessels were seized by both English and French cruisers, and American commerce dwindled to a domestic coast trade.' The United States lacked a navy to protect her commerce on the ocean, and the swarms of gun-boats' which Congress, from time to time, had authorized as a substitute, were quite inefficient, even as a coast-guard.

The American merchants and all in their interest, so deeply injured by the "orders" and "decrees" of the warring monarchs, demanded redress of grievances. Great excitement prevailed throughout the country, and the most bitter feeling was beginning to be felt against Great Britain. This was increased by her haughty assertion and offensive practice of the doctrine that she had the right to search American vessels for suspected deserters from the British navy, and to carry away the suspected without hinderance. This right was strenuously denied, and its policy vehemently condemned, because American seamen might be thus forced into the British service, under the pretense that they were deserters. Indeed this had already happened."

3

Clouds of difficulty now gathered thick and black. A crisis approached. Four seamen on board the United States frigate Chesapeake, were claimed as deserters from the British armed ship Melampus. They were demanded, but Commodore Barron, of the Chesapeake, refused to give them up. The

1 In May, 1806, James Monroe [page 447] and William Pinkney, were appointed to assist in the negotiation of a treaty with Great Britain, concerning the rights of neutrals, the imprisonment of seamen, right of search, &c. A treaty was finally signed, but as it did not offer security to American vessels against the aggressions of British ships in searching them and carrying off seamen, Mr. Jefferson refused to submit it to the Senate, and rejected it. The Federalists condemned the course of the President, but subsequent events proved his wisdom. Mr. Pinkney, one of the special envoys, was a remarkable man. He was born at Annapolis, Maryland, in March, 1764. He was admitted to the bar, at the age of twenty-two years, and became one of the most profound statesmen and brilliant orators of the age. He was a member of the Maryland Senate, in 1811, when President Madison appointed him Attorney-General for the United States. He was elected a member of Congress, and in 1816 was appointed United States minister to St. Petersburg. After a short service in the Senate, his health gave way, and he died in February, 1822, in the fifty-ninth year of his age.

These were small sailing vessels, having a cannon at the bow and stern, and manned by fully armed men, for the purpose of boarding other vessels.

England maintains the doctrine that a British subject can never become an alien. At the time in question, she held that she had the right to take her native-born subjects wherever found, and place them in the army or navy, even though, by legal process, they had become citizens of another nation. Our laws give equal protection to the native and adopted citizen, and would not allow Great Britain to exercise her asserted privilege toward a Briton who had become a citizen of the United States.

During nine months, in the years 1796 and 1797, Mr. King [page 395], the American minister in London, had made application for the release of two hundred and seventy-one seamen (a greater portion of whom were Americans), who had been seized on the false charge of being deserters, and pressed into the British service.

A small British squadron, of which the Melampus was one, was lying in Lynn Haven Bay, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, at this time. It was commanded by Admiral Berkeley.

Chesapeake left the capes of Virginia on a cruise, on the 22d of June, 1807, and on the same day she was chased and attacked by the British frigate Leopard. Unsuspicious of danger and unprepared for an attack, Barron surrendered his vessel, after losing three men killed and eighteen wounded. The four men were then taken on board the Leopard, and the Chesapeake returned to Hampton Roads.' Investigation proved that three of the seamen, who were colored men, were native Americans, and that the fourth had been impressed into the British service, and had deserted.

Forbearance was no longer a virtue. The outrage upon the Chesapeake aroused the nation, and provoked retaliatory measures. All parties joined in one loud voice of indignation, and many were very anxious for a declaration of war with England. The President, however, proposed a pacific course, as long as any hope for justice or reconciliation remained. He issued a proclamation, in July [1807], ordering all British armed vessels to leave the waters of the United States immediately, and forbidding any one to enter until full satisfaction for the present insult, and security against future aggressions, should be made. Although the British government understood the attack on the Chesapeake as an outrage, yet diplomacy, which is seldom honest, was immediately employed to mistify the plain question of law and right.' In the mean while, France and England continued to play their desperate game, to the detriment of commerce, unmindful of the interests of other nations, or the obligations of international law. A British order in council' was issued on the 11th of November, 1807, forbidding neutral nations to trade with France or her allies, except upon payment of tribute to Great Britain. Napoleon retaliated, by issuing, on the 17th of December, a decree at Milan, forbidding all trade with England or her colonies; and authorizing the confiscation of any vessel found in his ports, which had submitted to English search, or paid the exacted tribute. In other words, any vessel having goods upon which any impost whatever should have been paid to Great Britain, should be denationalized, and subject to seizure and condemnation. These edicts were, of course, destructive to the principal part of the foreign commerce of the United States. In this critical state of affairs, the President convened Congress several weeks [Oct. 25, 1807] earlier than usual; and in a confidential message [December 18], he recommended to that body the passage of an act, levying a commercial embargo. Such an act was passed [December 22], which provided for the detention of all vessels, American and foreign, at our ports; and ordered American vessels abroad to return home immediately, that the seamen might be

1 Page 297.

The President forwarded instructions to Mr. Monroe, our minister to England, to demand immediate satisfaction for the outrage, and security against similar events in future. Great Britain thereupon dispatched an envoy extraordinary (Mr. Rose) to the United States, to settle the difficulty in question. The envoy would not enter into negotiations until the President should withdraw his proclamation, and so the matter stood until November, 1811 (more than four years), when the British government declared the attack on the Chesapeake to have been unauthorized, and promised pecuniary aid to the families of those who were killed at that time. But Britain would not relinquish the right of search, and so a cause for quarrel remained.

Note 1, page 400.

trained for the inevitable war. Thus the chief commerce of the world was brought to a full stop.

The operation of the embargo law was the occasion of great distress, especially in commercial communities, yet it was sustained by the great body of the

John Randolph

American people. It put patriotism and firmness to a severe test. It bore extremely hard upon seamen and their employers, for it spread ruin throughout the shipping interest. It was denounced by the Federal party, chiefly for political effect; and as it failed to obtain from England and France any acknowledgment of American rights, it was repealed on the 1st of March, 1809, three days before Mr. Jefferson retired from office. Congress, at the same time, passed [March 1, 1809] a law which forbade all commercial intercourse with France and England, until the "orders in council" and the "decrees" should be repealed.

1 Mr. Jefferson truly wrote to a friend: "The Federalists are now playing a game of the most mischievous tendency, without, perhaps, being themselves aware of it. They are endeavoring to convince England that we suffer more from the embargo than they do, and that, if they will hold out awhile, we must abandon it. It is true, the time will come when we must abandon it; but if this is before the repeal of the orders in council, we must abandon it only for a state of war." John Quincy Adams, who had resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States, because he differed from the majority of his constituents in supporting the measures of the administration, wrote to the President to the effect, that from information received by him, it was the determination of the ruling party (Federalists) in Massachusetts, and even throughout New England, if the embargo was persisted in, no longer to submit to it, but to separate themselves from the Union; and that such was the pressure of the embargo upon the community, that they would be supported by the people. This was explicitly denied, in after years, by the Federalist leaders.

In the midst of the excitement on account of the foreign relations of the United States, another Presidential election was held. Who should be the Democratic candidate? was a question of some difficulty, the choice lying between Messrs. Madison and Monroe, of Virginia. For some time, a portion of the Democratic party in that State, under the leadership of the eminent John Randolph,' of Roanoke, had differed from the Administration on some points of its foreign policy; yet, while they acted with the Federalists on many occasions, they studiously avoided identification with that party. Mr. Madison was the firm adherent of Jefferson, and an advocate and apologist of his measures, while Mr. Monroe' rather favored the views of Mr. Randolph and his friends. The strength of the two candidates was tried in a caucus of the Democratic members of the Virginia Legislature, and also in a caucus of the Democratic members of Congress. Mr. Madison, having a large majority on both occasions, was nominated for the office of President, and George Clinton for that of Vice-President. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus King were the Federalist candidates. Madison and Clinton were elected. At the close of eight years' service, as Chief Magistrate of the United States, Mr. Jefferson left office [March 4, 1809], and retired to his beautiful Monticello, in the bosom of his native Virginia.

CHAPTER IV.

MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION. [1809—1817.]

WHEN James Madison, the fourth President of the Republic, took the chair of state, the country was overspread with gloom and despondency. Although somewhat highly colored, the report of a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature, in January, 1809, gives, doubtless, a fair picture of the condition of affairs. It said: "Our agriculture is discouraged; the fisheries abandoned; navigation forbidden; our commerce at home restrained, if not

1 John Randolph was seventh in descent from Pocahontas [page 66], the beloved daughter of the emperor of the Powhatans. He was born at Petersburg, in Virginia, in June, 1773. He was in delicate health from infancy. He studied in Columbia College, New York, and William and Mary College, in Virginia. Law was his chosen profession; yet he was too fond of literature and politics to be confined to its practice. He entered public life in 1799, when he was elected to a seat in Congress, where he was a representative of his native State, in the lower House, for thirty years, with the exception of three intervals of two years each. During that time he was a member of the Senate for two years. He opposed the war in 1812. His political course was erratic. Jackson appointed him minister to St. Petersburg in 1830. His health would not permit him to remain there. On his return he was elected to Congress, but consumption soon laid him in the grave. He died at Philadelphia, in May, 1833. Mr. Randolph was a strange compound of moral and intellectual qualities. He was at times almost an atheist; at others, he was imbued with the deepest emotions of piety and reverence for Deity. It is said that, on one occasion, he ascended a lofty spur of the Blue Ridge, at dawn, and from that magnificent observatory saw the sun rise. As its light burst in beauty and glory over the vast panorama before him, he turned to his servant and said, with deep emotion, "Tom, if any body says there is no God, tell them they lie!" Thus ho expressed the deep sense which his soul felt of the presence of a Great Creator.

2 Page. 447.

annihilated; our commerce abroad cut off; our navy sold, dismantled, or degraded to the service of cutters, or gun-boats; the revenue extinguished; the course of justice interrupted; and the nation weakened by internal animosities and divisions, at the moment when it is unnecessarily and improvidently exposed to war with Great Britain, France, and Spain." This was the language of the opponents of the administration, and must be taken with some allowance. That party was strongly opposed to Mr. Madison, because they

believed that he would perpetuate the policy of Mr. Jefferson. But when, dressed in a suit of plain black, he modestly pronounced his inaugural address [March 4, 1809], the tone and sentiment of which fell like oil upon the troubled waters, those of his most implacable political enemies who heard him, could not refrain from uttering words of approbation; and hopes were entertained by the whole nation, that his measures might change the gloomy aspect

of affairs.

To all unbiassed minds, no man appeared better fitted for the office of Chief Magistrate of the Republic, at that time of general commotion, than Mr. Madison. He had been Secretary of State during the whole administration of Mr.

James Madison was born in Virginia, in March, 1751. He was educated at Princeton, New Jersey, and was diverted from the intended practice of the law by the charms and excitements of political life. He assisted in framing the first Constitution of Virginia, in 1776. He was a member of his State Legislature and of the Executive Council, and in 1780 was a delegate in the Continental Congress. In public life, there, and in his State councils, he was ever the champion of popular liberty. As a member of the Federal Convention, and supporter of the Constitution, he