'.'■'.ri'.''. t r f ■ '^•^•■;''*v' ■■■" ■ ';.('•. • rih M : ■ ' , .. 1 I ' I.I I " ■ ■■ii Class E\^^ Gopyriglitl^°_ COPnUGHT DEFOSIC HIAWATHA, FOUNDER OF THE IROQUOIS LEAGUE The Iroquois League was composed of the Mohawk, Oneida. Onondaga, Cayuga. Seneca |and Tuscarora nations who founded in the New York wilderne>s :i barbaric republic. ffor tbe Unstruction an^ Entertainment of tbe Hmcrican Mome U-ITf 7i_Lilira,riJ m i^AJliFl trtili ' • i Containing all that is Best and Most Inspiring in the History of Our Country, and in the Literature of Our Favorite Authors, together with the Lives of Our Illustrious Statesmen, Soldiers, Authors and Men of Achievement Bb HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, Lit.D. WILLIAM WILFRED BIRDSALL, A.M. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, LL.D. • «i > > > • • rROriSI!I,Y II.llSTKATED WITH Half-Tone Kngravings Printed in Color and Special Drawings MADr; roK this vohk by th^ most noted x.mekican aktists THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. PHILADEI PHIA CHICAGO TORONTO V ^ 1« ■2^ LIBRARY ** CONiiRESS Two Capiae Received MAR 29 1904 "l Copyng"! tntry CLASS a. ' XXc. No. Entered according to Act of Corvgress in the year 1904 by W. E. SCVLL. In the office of the Librarian of Congress , at Washington. P. C. All Rights Reserved -Xibrar^ of Hmericam IHistor^, Xiteratuve aub BloGtapb^ COMPUETE IN ^ONE VOLUME American History THE MARVELOUS RECORD or FOUR HUNDRED YEARS EMBRACING THE HISTORY, GROWTH AND ACHIEVE- MENTS OF OUR COUNTRY FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS OF DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME .3QH- Mamilton Mri^bt flnabic, Xit.2). Editor of "The Outlook;" Author of "Backgrounds of Literature;" "My Study Fire," etc., etc. ^sststcO by Jdotc^ Hutborities in Special Departments INCLUDING FRANCIS NEWTON THORPE, Ph.D. Professor of American History University of Pennsylvania COL. MARSHALL H. BRIGHT Author of "Life of Columbus" ALBERT SHAW, LL.D. Editor of the "Review of Reviews*' PROFESSOR CHARLES MORRIS Author of "Decisive Events in American History," etc., etc. AND OTHERS PROFUSELY EMBELLISHED AND ILLUSTRATFD BY HALF-TONE ENGRAVINGS AND ARTISTIC DRAWINGS OF MEN AND EVENTS CONNECTED KITH OLR COUNTRY'S HISTORY American History Copyrighted 1892, 1898, 1904 ^■-*'y?CV'YT T'TTy'fftX^'^'^*''''''fT''''^^ ^1 lOXXXXXJXCOOOCOCKXXOOOCQXiOOQglyCOOOC O C O CO INTRODUCTION. T is more than four hundred years since Columbus caught his first glimpse of the western world, but it is only about two hundred and seventy-five years since the work of making this continent habitable began. From Jamestown and from Plymouth the streams of ex- ploration and colonization flow steadily westward and southward, gathering volume and momentum until they unite the great oceans and cover the continent. The story of this vast unfolding of life under new conditions is told in this volume by different pens, but with one controlling idea — to show how and by what means a great nation grew out of the few and scattered seeds of a small emigration from beyond the sea. The great English statesman, Burke, has said somewhere that to be a statesman one must not only master the different conditions and occupations of a people, but must so realize them througfh his imaofination that he sees in them one unbroken life. This volume has been prepared in the hope that it will present the life of the American people so clearly, vividly and comprehensively that the unity and magnitude of that life will be more evident than they have ever been before. A great people in a great country has so many occupations, so many kinds of wealth, such differences of condition, that it loses at times the consciousness of its family ties and affections. There are so many kinds of Americans, they are vi THE STORY OF AMERICA. so widely scattered, and they are busy with such manifold interests, that the homestead is in great danger of being neglected by the children, and the sense of kinship is likely to be lost in the diversity of interests. We talk a great deal about our power but we do not realize it ; we cannot realize it until we understand what it is which gives us power. We use a great many figures to convey an impression of our acreage and crops ; but it is the farmer, the mechanic and the merchant who are the real capital of the country. Their character, energy, intelligence, thrift and practical sagacity constitute our real wealth ; the wealth which is not subject to the fluctuations of the market or the untimely conditions of the weather. This volume tells the story of material growth as fully and more comprehensively than most books ; but it tells also the story of America as it is written in the life, character and habits of the American man and woman. To knov/ the American you must know his ancestry and how he came where he now is ; that record is made here with a broad completeness which brings out the immense variety and volume of race force and character behind the people on this continent. To know the American you must know what religious, social and political influences shaped and moulded the lives of his forefathers ; those influences are all marked and traced here. To know the American of to-day you must know what experiences have befallen him on this side the ocean, how he has fared and what he has accomplished ; accordingly his history is fully spread out in these pages, and his explorations, settlements, wars, growth are told, not in detail but so as to cover the ground strongly and effectively. To know the American you must know what he is doing to-day ; where his work is and how he does it ; how he travels ; what inventions he uses ; what mechanical genius he displays ; what books he reads ; what church he attends ; what schools he maintains ; what his pleasures are ; and how he employs his wealth. This volume answers these questions. It is at once a history, a story, an encyclopaedia of national information, and a text-book of national character. It reports travels, describes settlements, gives account of wars, traces political ideas and growth, follows the lines of trade and of national prosperity, pictures what is going on in the shop, the office, the church, the school, the mine, the garden, the grain field, the home. It supplies the historic background of American life, and against this background it spreads out that life in broad, clear lines of growth and activity. It is the story of America, but it is still more the story of the American, Well- done or ill-done, it aims at nothing less than to show the American as he lives and works on the continent which he has conquered by sheer force of energy and intelligence. There is no romance so marvelous as this record of fact ; none so full of incident, adventure, heroism, and human vicissitude. From the voyages of the earliest Spanish, French, and English explorers to the inventions and discoveries INTRODUCTION. vii of Edison the story never fails of thrilling interest. It is a romance of humanity written by the hand of Providence on the clean, broad page of a new continent. It is a Bible for new illustration of the old laws of right and wrong which underlie all history ; but it is a modern version of The Arabian Nights for marvels and miracles of human skill and achievements. The building of Aladdin's palace was a small affair compared with the building of some of our States ; and the rubbing of Aladdin's lamp was but a faint burnishing compared with the glow of prosperity which hard work has brought out on the face of this continent. There is no romance so wonderful as the story of life told, not by novelists of varying degrees of skill, but by great multitudes of eager, ener- getic men and women. It is doubtful if any country has ever developed greater energy of spirit or greater variety of character than this ; and this is the chief reason why our history has such significance and such fruitage of achievement. To know this history is a duty and a delight. A man whose brave ancestors have carried the name he bears far, and made it a synonym for courage and honor, is rightly proud of his descent and gets from it a new impulse to bear as brave a part in his own day. Americans can honestly cherish such pride ; it is justified by what lies behind them. No man can be truly patriotic who does not know something of the nation to which he belongs, and of the country in which he lives. Such knowledge is a part of intelligent citizenship. In this country, where the government rests on the intelligence and virtue of the entire popula- tion, such a knowledge is a duty and a necessity. Men who reach eminence in their professions invariably have large ideas of those professions ; they know the history of the profession and the names of those who have advanced its influence and secured its honors. A man of business who takes the lead in his particular line of trade is uniformly distinguished by his superior knowledge of business problems and conditions. He studies his business in its large relations to the business of the country ; he looks at it with the eyes of a statesman. The intelligent American cannot be ignorant of the great history in which he has had so vital an interest, or of the life of his country to-day. Not to know these things is to miss a noble and inspiring landscape which we might see simply by the lifting up of the eyes. It is for the family that this volume was primarily prepared. America is pre-eminently the country of homes ; that is the country which, by its free institutions and its large social and industrial conditions, makes comfortable homes possible to its entire population. These homes are not only the sources of happiness and the nurseries of purity and prosperity ; they are also the schools of citizenship. From these schools are graduated year after year, in unbroken and never-ending classes, the men and women who continue and .enlarge the work and the influence of the nation. The Bible has been and will viii THE STORY OF AMERICA. remain the great text-book in these schools ; but other books are needed, and this book aims to take its place as an indispensable book of instruction and entertainment. The history of a race is the best possible material for the educa- tion of the children of that race. We know this by instinct, and we act by instinct when we hold up constantly the lives and achievements of our great men as illustrations of honor, honesty and capacity. No teaching is so effective as that which flows from persons and characters rather than from abstract principles and statements. Few boys care for patriotism as a quality of character, but every boy knows on the instant what patriotism means when the names of Washington and Lincoln are spoken in his hearing. These great men render through character an even higher service than they render through sacrifice and action. They embody great virtues, they stand for great principles, they illustrate noble qualities. Being dead they still speak with voices whose range and power are denied to teachers who impart truth but do not live it on a great scale. Alfred the Great has been and still is one of the most persuasive and inspiring teachers England has ever had. His name brings instantly to mind the noblest traits of English manhood, the grandest type of English citizenship. To tell his story to a boy is to teach him the deepest lessons of life while he does not suspect anything more enduring than the entertainment of an hour. History is summed up in great men, and every virtue, every vice, every decisive popular movement is identified with or incarnated in some great man. The name of Washington is a most familiar name for truthfulness and integrity, that of Arnold for baseness and treachery, that of Jefferson for the democratic idea, the rule of the people. These names are always in the air because they have their general and enduring meanings ; and no man can estimate their educational value to the country. They are heard on every political platform, but they are heard still more frequently in the school room, and they are of more use there than most text-books. It was the custom among some nations of antiquity to repeat to each fresh generation the noble deeds of their ancestors, thus making history a great oral tradition, and turning it from a dead record into a living romance. Real educa- tion is not knowledge of books but knowledge of life, and books are useful only so far as they lead us to this kind of knowledge. What men have been and have done is the best material for the education which trains one in cour- age, honesty, and energy as well as in mental quickness and skill. The Athenian boys learned Homer by heart; the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" took the place of the pile of books which the school-boy of to-day carries under his arm when he sets his " morning face " schoolward. In this way boys learned beauty and eloquence of speech, and imbibed the spirit of art while they were yet at their games. But they learned even greater things than these ; they grew up with the heroes of their race and took part in their great deeds. The bravest and mfRODUCTION. ix most poetic, things which their race had done were familiar and became dear to them while their natures were most receptive and responsive. The past was not dim and obscure to them as it is to too many Americans ; it was a living past, full of splendid figures and heroic deeds. To boys so bred in the very arms and at the very heart of their race it was a glorious privilege to be an Athenian ; to share in a noble history, to be a citizen of a beautiful city, to have the proud consciousness of such place and fame among men. It is not surpris- ing that as the result of such an education the small city of Athens produced more great men in all departments in the brief limits of a century than most other cities have bred in the long course of history. There was a vital, inspir- ing education behind that splendid flowering of art, literature, philosophy and statesmanship. The American boy and girl ought to have the same education. Too many grow up with the most indefinite ideas of their own country. They do not know what has been done here ; they do not even know how people live in other parts of the broad land. They know something of their own commu- nities, but they are ignorant of the greater community to which they belong. The story of the country's birth and growth, of its struggles and achievements, of its wonderfully diversified life, of its heroic men and noble women, ought to be familiar to every boy and girl from earliest childhood. This knowledge is the A B C of real education. It is to furnish this knowledge that this volume has been largely prepared. The home is never isolated and solitary ; it is one of a great community of homes stretching across the continent. To get the best and the most out of its beautiful relations and its manifold opportunities, each home must develop the sense of kinship with other homes, and the con-, sciousness of common responsibility. Every child must fill a place in the nation and the world as well as in the home. He must know, therefore, what the nation is and what it demands of him. He must feel the deep and wonder- ful life, active and powerful over a whole continent, in which he shares and to which he contributes. This is the age o.' community feeling ; the sense of brotherhood among men of all races has never before been so pervasive and so real. A famine on the banks of the Volga brings quick response from the prosperous fields about the Mississippi. Nothing that happens in the remotest corner of the world is with- out interest. To know how the other half lives is not only a universal desire, but a universal duty. This volume not only makes the present acquainted with the past and so gives its historic background, but it brings to each occupation and profession the work and condition of every other occupation and profession, and it lays before each section of the country the aspects and habits of every other section. It is a national book ; it describes the West to the East and the North to the South. It tells the merchant how the farmer lives ; it gives the X THE STORY OF AMERICA. mechanic a picture of the miner's Hfe ; it furnishes the planter a glimpse of the herdsman. It unfolds a map of the whole country, not in the hard and fast lines of geography, but in the streaming, rushing life of an inmense and energetic people. It supplies a clear and comprehensive view of ^the government in all its functions of administration ; it describes the great cities ; it follows and pictures the countless channels and instrumentahties of travel and commerce ; it delineates the work of the farmer, the mechanic, the miner, the merchant ; it has something to say about churches, colleges, schools, literature, charities. It is, in a word, a national chart, text-book, history and romance for the home. In the preparation of this volume we have had the assistance of a number of experienced writers specially qualified to present the subjects assigned to them. This co-operation of knowledge and work was not only necessitated by the magnitude and comprehensiveness of a book covering a period of four hun- dred years and embracing all the aspects, — historical, religious, industrial, social, and intellectual, — of the nation's life, but was deliberately chosen because it en- sured greater variety, interest, and thoroughness than any single author could give such a work. Its advantages were recognized as counterbalancing the additional expense involved. We have, however, planned the entire work, and, with the exception of the chapters which are signed by their writers, have outlined and thoroughly revised every part we have not ourselves written, thus securing unity of aim and purpose throughout. Hamilton W. Mabie. Marshal H. Bright. ■* Model op U.S. /^AN OP War •BuiLt- fon- c;(hiBi7- at- Woi^Los-FaiA. iccs AMERICAN HISTORY FROM THE TIMES OF THE NORSEMEN TO THE PRESENT DAY, INCLUDING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT PAOB INTRODUCTION 5 CHAPTER I. FINDING THE NEW COUNTRY Discovery and Discoverers — The Norsemen — Did They Discover America ? — The Evi- dence — Conclusions — Columbus — Early Years — Characters of His Time — Leaves Italy for Portugal — His Plan — Sees the King — The King's Indifference — Visits Spain — A True Friend — Disappointment and Delay — Ferdinand — His Coolness to Columbus' Project — Isabella — Exorbitant Terms — At Last Success — The Expedi- tion from Palos — Mutiny — Columbus' Firmness — Mistaken Signs — Land at Last — A New World Found — Returns to Spain — Voyages and Discoveries — Humiliation —His Death at Valladolid 17 CHAPTER II. SETTLING THE NEW COUNTRY Beginnings of Immigration — Condition of Europe — First Attempt at Colonization — The Thirty Years' War — First Roanoke Colony — Women and the Colonists — Raleigh Assigns His Patent — Acadie — The Virginia Charter — Laziness and 111 Feeling — Obtaining a New Charter — The Pocahontas Myth — ^John Smith — His Character — The Plymouth Colony — A Cruel Winter — Miles Standish — Picturesque Charters — Massachusetts Bay Colony — Indian Wars — ^Boundary Disputes — Two Meetings — Hendrick Hudson — New Amsterdam — Penn — The Friends — Rapid Success of the Quakers 43 CHAPTER III. MAKING THE NEW PEOPLE The Colonists' New Condition — Land and Labor — The Rice Swamps of Carolina — The Plantation — The Farm — Forcing a Staple — A Mulberry Tree Law — Manorial Rights in Virginia — The Feudal System — The Origin of the Virginia Parish — The County LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS and the Court — Caste— The American Baron — White Trash — Equality in New England — White Slaves — Religious Freedom — Character of the Puritans — Early Histories of Massachusetts — Cotton Mather and the Witches — New York's Auto Da Fe — Symbolism — The Quaker and the Puritan — A Protest Against Persecution — The Blue Laws — The Hudson River Estates — Schools North and South — The Spread of Intelligence 6i CHAPTER IV. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE Character of the War — The British Plan of Campaign — Bunker Hill — Ticonderoga — The Declaration of Independence — Battle of Long Island — Harlem Heights — Washington Crossing the Delaware — Trenton and Princeton — Burgoyne's Expe- dition — Surrender of Burgoyne — Howe at Philadelphia — Battle of Germantown — Washington at Valley Forge — The French Alliance — Monmouth Court House — Invasion of Georgia and South Carolina — Gates' Failure — Greene's Strategy — Benedict Arnold's Treachery — Paul Jones and the Serapis — At Yorktown — Wash- ington's Decisive Move — Surrender of Comwallis — Independence Acknowledged . 75 CHAPTER V. STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY AND GOVERNMENT BY FRANCIS NEWTON THORPE, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF SCHOOL OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND INSTITDTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Colonization — Some Results — Popular Rights — New England — The Struggle for Liberty — Limitations — The English Idea — Colonial Legislatures — The Money Question — Governing Outside of Charter Limitations— Taxation — Those Tea Chests — The Struggle for Independence — Confederation — The Franchise — Property Qualification • — That Star of Empire — ^Its Westward Course — ^Then and Now, Etc 95 CHAPTER VI. THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, OR THE WAR OF I8J2 Meaning of the War — Its Causes — Neutral Rights — Impressing American Sailors — Insults and Outrages — The Chesapeake and the Leopard — Injury to American Commerce — Paper Blockades — The Orders in Council — Embargo as Retaliation — Our Naval Glory in this War — Failure of the Campaign against Canada — Hull's Surrender at Detroit — Splendid Victories at Sea — The Co7istitution and the Guerriire — The Wasp and the Frolic — Other Sea Duels — American Privateers — On the Lakes — Perry's Great Victory — Land Operations — Battle of the Thames — Wilkinson's Fiasco — The Shamion and the Chesapeake — English Reinforcements — Lundy's Lane and Platts- burg — The Burning of Washington — Baltimore Saved — General Jackson at New Orleans — The Treaty of Peace — The Hartford Convention 115 LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS xui PAOB CHAPTER VII. THE STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR Secession — Not Exclusively a Southern Idea — An Irrepressible Conflict — Coming Events — Lincoln — A Nation in Arms — Sumter — Anderson — McClellan — Victory and De- feat — Monitor and Merrimac — Antietam — Shiloh — Buell — -Grant — George H. Thomas — Rosecrans — Porter — Sherman — Sheridan — Lee — Gettysburg — A Great Fight — Sherman's March— The Confederates Weakening — More Victories — Appo- mattox — Lee's Surrender — From War to Peace — Etc., Etc 131' CHAPTER VIII. OUR FLAG AT SEA The Origin of the American Navy — ^John Paul Jones and his Famous Victory — Sights on Guns and What They Did — Suppressing the Barbary Pirates — Opening Japan — Port Royal — Passing the Forts — The Monitor and the Merrimac — In Mobile Bay — The Kearsarge and the Alabama — Naval Architecture Revolutionized — ^The Samoan Hurricane — Building a New Navy 153 CHAPTER IX. THE NORTHWEST BY ALBERT SHAW, LL.D. SDITOR OF REVIEW OF REVIEWS. A Shifting, Uncertain Designation — A Great, Arable Wedge — Prairies Peopled as if by Magic — Railroads the Pioneers and Colonizers — The Bleak, Scorching Prairies and "Claim Shanties" of 1870 — Transformed into a Garden-like Landscape — The Dairy and Live-Stock Farms of To-day, with their Fragrant Meadows and Ample Groves — The Rapid Destruction of the Vast White-Pine Forests — Its Resultant Development of the Country — The Hardships that Preceded Iron Rails in the Treeless Region — The Schoolhouse of Turf— -The Industrial Life Based Solidly upon Agriculture — Who is the Western Farmer ? — Conflicts between the Transportation Corporations and the Farmers Developing the Principle of Public Regulation of Rates — Other Industries — The "Twin Cities" — The Capital — The Northwestern Educational Sys- tem — Radicalism and the Temperance Movement — The Spirit of Action Intense — The Race Problems — The Large Scandinavian Element of Population — Progress of the Northwestern Social and Intellectual Life 173 CHAPTER X. DIFnCULTIES WITH FOREIGN POWERS Perpetual Peace Impossible — The Barbary States— Buying Peace — Uncle Sam Aroused — Thrashes the Algerine Pirates — A Splendid Victory — King Bomba Brought to Terms — Austria and the Koszta Case — Captain Ingraham — His Bravery — " Deliver or I'll Sink You ' ' — Austria Yields — The Paraguayan Trouble — Lopez Comes to Terms — The Chilian Imbroglio — Balmaceda — The Insult to the United States — American Seamen Attacked — Matta's Impudent Letter — Backdown — Peace — All's Well That Ends Well, Etc 185 xiv LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS FAGB CHAPTER XI. HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES BY ANNA L. DAWES The National Government — Congress — How Composed — Duties — Executive — Election of President — Cabinet — Judiciary — Powers of Supreme Court — Federal System — Relation of States to Nation — The Rights and Duties of Citizens 203 CHAPTER XII. OUR PRESIDENTS The Statesmen Who Have Occupied the Presidential Chair — Brief Sketches of Their Lives — The Memorable Events of Their Administrations — The Important Facts of Our Political, Commercial, and Social History Since the Adoption of the Constitution 214 CHAPTER XIII. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR Opening Incidents — Bombardment of Matanzas — Dewey's Wonderful Victory at Manila — Disaster to the Winslow at Cardenas Bay — The First American Loss of Life — Bombardment of San Juan, Porto Rico — The Elusive Spanish Fleet — Bottled-up in Santiago Harbor — Lieutenant Hobson's Daring Exploit — Second Bombardment of Santiago and Arrival of the Army — Gallant Work of the Rough Riders and the Regulars — Battles of San Juan and El Caney — Destruction of Cervera's Fleet — General Shafter Reinforced in Front of Santiago — Surrender of the City — General Miles in Porto Rico — Conquest of the Philippines — Peace Negotiations and Signing of the Protocol — Its Terms — The Peace Commission in Paris — Conclusion of Its Work — Terms of the Treaty — Ratified by the Senate 239 CHAPTER XIV. THE CLOSING EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BY PROFESSOR CHARLES MORRIS Affairs in Cuba and Porto Rico — Dewey's Promotion and Return — The Philippine Situa- tion — Aguinaldo's Insurrection — The War in Luzon — ^The Philippine Commission — Amnesty Proclaimed — Presidential Nomination in 1900 — Party Platforms — Affairs in China — The Boxer Outbreak — The Census of 1900— Pan-American Exposition — The Death of President McKinley 273 CHAPTER XV. TWENTIETH CENTURY EVENTS BY PROFESSOR CHARLES MORRIS President Roosevelt — Opening of his Administration — The Nicaragua Canal Route — The Pan-American Congess — Exposition at Charleston, South Carolina — The Presi- dent's First Message — The Settlement of the Alaskan Boundary Dispute — Ratifica- tion of Reciprocity Treaty with Cuba — The New Republic in Panama — Preparations for the St. Louis Exposition 288 KING PHILIPS \VAR— DEATH OF THE KING In 1B7.5 this famous Indian enliiled in his service nearly all the New Knglanil tribes in a war against the settlers. Drawn t^v A, R. Wani GALLUPS RECAPTURE OF OLDHAMS BOAT, 1636 " Steer straight for the vessel," cried Gallup, and stationing himself at the bow he opened fire on the I iidians. Every time his gun flashed some one was hit. Thi^ incident was the beginning of the Peqiiot War. THE MARRIAGE OF POCHAHONTAS. CHAPTER I. KINDINQ XHE NEW COUNTRY. HILE Discovery, whether disclosing unknown lands beyond untried seas, or revealing the method of subduing and utilizing to man's service some one of the mighty forces of Nature, has startled the world more than Conquest, scarcely less surprising than some discoveries is the fact that the world has so often and for so long a time seemed to call for a discoverer in vain. Notably this is the case with the two most important discoveries that have ever been made, and both in the fifteenth century — that of the art of printing of a new world. For thousands of years the world had lought into permanent legible characters by means of the stylus, the stalk of the papyrus, or the chisel. Slow and laborious were these methods, yet the splendid civilizations of the great Eastern Empires, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and the Medo-Persian, had produced their literature without the aid of the printing press, while the later civilizations of Greece* and Rome — countries that gave to all corhing time the noblest litera- tures — transcribed them by the painful process of the pen. The wonderful brain of the Greek could construct a Parthenon, the wonder of the age ; and the Roman reared that pile, so noble in its simplicity — the Pantheon ; yet neither could discern the litde type that should make the rapid 3 17 and the finding transcribed its t 1 8 THE STORY OF AMERICA. multiplying of letters easy, nor place in relief upon a block of wood the tracery of a single leaf ; and the wonder is no less, but increases as we consider the fact that two vast continents, the half of an entire planet, had for so many centuries eluded the gaze of men who went down to the sea in ships, who for centuries had navieated an inland sea for two thousand miles, while from Iceland and Jutland intrepid mariners and Buccaneers had plowed the ocean with their keels. For nearly three centuries before the angels sung at Bethlehem, Aristotle, following the teachings of the Pythagoreans, had asserted the spheroidicity of the earth, and had declared that the great Asiatic Empire could be reached by sailing westwardly, a view that was confirmed by Seneca, the Spaniard, who affirmed that India could be reached in this way ; and all down the centuries the probability of discovery, as we now look back upon those times, seems to be increasing ; but, somehow, Discovery still refused to enter the open gate leading to the New World, and this, notwithstanding the fact that the Canary and Madeira Islands had been discovered some years before, and the Portuguese navigators had followed the coast of Africa for thousands of miles, as far as the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus himself having skirted the coast to the Cape of Storms. The spheroidicity of the earth was generally accepted by enlightened men, though the Copernican system was not known, and it was believed that there must be a large unknown continent to the west. There was such a continent — two of them indeed — and they were nearer the African coast, along which Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian navigators had coursed, than the distance they had covered from the Pillars of Hercules to the Cape of Good Hope. Yet, though the times wanted a discoverer, he was not to be found. WAS AMERICA DISCOVERED BY THE NORSEMEN ? This has long been a disputed question. Norse scholarship has always insisted upon the discovery ; scholars looking upon the matter from the outside have disputed the claim. One of the principal chains of evidence offered here- tofore has been supplied by the Norse Sagas — stories of mingled fact, romance and myth ; but they have been distrusted, and up to recent time the preponderance of evidence has rather been against the Icelandic claim. But latterly new evidence has been brought to light, which seems to fully establish the fact of the discovery of America by the Norsemen from Iceland, about A. D looo- To cite the testimony of the Sagas, one must suffice for evidence in that direction. The Eyrbyggia Saga — the oldest extant manuscript, remains of which date back to about the year 1300 — has the following: "After the recon- ciliation between Steinhor and the people of Alpta-firth, Thorbrand's sons, Snorri and Thorleif, went to Greenland. Snorri went to Wineland the Good with WAS AMERICA DISCOVERED BY THE NORSEMEN? 19 Karlsefni ; and when they were fighting with the Skrellings there in Wineland, Thorbrand Snorrason, a most valiant man, was killed." In the Icelandic Annals, also, the oldest of which is supposed to have been written in the south of Iceland about the year 1280, mention is made of Vineland. In the year 1121 it is recorded that " Bishop Eric Uppsi sought Wineland." The same entry is found in the chronological lists. These would seem to supply historical references to the Norse discovery of America, set down in such a manner as to indicate that the knowledge of the fact was widely diffused. One of the most interesting accounts taken from the Norse records is that found in a parchment discovered in a Monastery library of the Island of Flato, ON THE COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA. and which was transferred to Copenhagen and submitted to the inspection of Professor Rafn and other noted Icelandic scholars. Professor Rafn reproduces the record in his "Antiquities." The story is as follows: "In the year 996, while sailing from Iceland to Greenland, Biarne Heriulfson was driven southward by a storm, when they came in sight of land they had never before seen. Biarne did not try to land, but put his ship about and eventually reached Greenland, Four years after, in A. D. 1000, Leif the son of Eric the Red, sailed from Brattahlid in search of the land seen by Biarne. This land Leif soon discovered; he landed, it is supposed, on the coast of Labrador, which he named Helluland, because of the numerous flat stones found there, from the word hella, a flat stone. Finding the shore inhospitable, he again set sail and soon reached a coast 20 THE STORY OF AMERICA. corresponding to Nova Scotia. This he called Markland (Woodland). Leif put to sea a third time, and after two days' buffeting landed, it is supposed, in Mount Hope Bay, in Rhode Island. Here the adventurers wintered, and noted that on the shortest day the sun rose at 7.30 a. m., and set at 4.30 p. m. After naming the newly discovered land Vineland, on account of the profusion of wild grapes, he returned in the following spring to Greenland." But it is only just to cite opinions on the other side. In his History Me. Bancroft denies that the alleged discovery of the North American mainland is established by any clear historical evidence. He admits, indeed, that there is nothing intrinsically improbable in the notion that the colonizers of Greenland (and the early colonization of Greenland is admitted) may have explored the coast to the South. But the assertion that they actually did so rests, he says, on narratives "mythological in form, obscure in meaning, ancient, yet not contemporary." Mr. Justin Winsor, the well-known historian, seems unwilling to admit the trustworthiness of the epical accounts of the voyages of the Northmen to the so-called Vineland. But a recent writer, Mr. Arthur Middleton Reeves, well versed in Scandi- navian and Icelandic literature, has lately come forward to maintain the reality of the discovery ascribed to the Northmen, and has set forth an imposing array of evidence and argument in support of his belief Mr. Reeves finds his proofs not in the Sagas alone, which Bancroft and Winsor reject, .but he has also gathered together the preceding references to the Vineland voyages, which are scattered through the early history of Iceland. From these last mentioned data it seems clearly demonstrable that the discovery of the American mainland took place, as has been claimed, about A. D. 1000, and was well known in Greenland and Iceland long before any of the three Sagas dealing with the theme were penned, for there is documentary proof reaching so far back as about the year 1 1 10. Among the proofs brought forward, is the story as told by the Icelandic scholar, Ari the Learned, who was born in Iceland in the year 1067, and who died in 1148. In Ari's book, narrating the colonization of Greenland, he says that the settlers perceived, from the dwellings, the fragments of boats, and the stone implements, that the people had been there who inhabited Wineland, and whom the Greenlanders called " Skrellinofs." Furthermore, in the Collectanea of Middle-age Wisdom, a manuscript written partly in Icelandic and partly in Latin, between the years 1400 and 1450, it is stated that "southward from Greenland is Helluland ; thence is Markland ; thence it is not far to Wineland the Good. Leif the Lucky first found Greenland." In another historical vellum document it is stated that "from Greenland to the southward lies Helluland, then Markland, thence it is not far to Wineland ;" and in another vellum of the year 1400, it is said "south from Greenland lies Helluland, then Markland, WILLIAM PENN, THE GOOD AND WISE RULER lnll>82lienegnlialed his famous treaty with the Indians, and r.nmded the Comninnwealih .,f rrnnsyU aiiia. THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS. 21 thence it is not far to Vineland." Still again — and the evidence must end with this citation — in an old manuscript, written according to the Icelandic scholar Dr. Vigfasson, as early as 1 260-1 280, referring to the date A. D. 1000, the manu- script records : " Wineland the Good found. That summer King Olaf sent Leif to Greenland, to proclaim Christianity there. He sailed that summer to Green- land. He found in the sea men upon a wreck, and helped them. There found he also Wineland the Good, and arrived in the autumn at Greenland." It is objected to the discovery of America from Greenland that no runic (Scandinavian) inscriptions have been found in any part of the North American continent. But the answer to this objection is that the Northmen never pretended that they had colonized Vineland ; they simply recounted their discovery of the country and their unsuccessful attempts to colonize it. Runic inscription^, therefore, and other archaeological remains, are not to be expected in a region where no perma- nent settlements were made. Besides, as Mr. Reeves points out, the rigorous application of the test would make the discovery of Iceland itself disputable. In conclusion, as to this matter, we have only to add that the statements put forth seem not only to confirm what we meet with in the Sagas, but, taken by themselves alone, they seem to fully establish the fact of the discovery of America by the Icelanders, even had the Sagas never been written. And now leaving the Norsemen and their dis' coveries we come to THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS. It was the glory of Italy to furnish the greatest of the discoverers of the New World. Not only Columbus, but Vespucci (or Vespucius), the Cabots, and Verazzani were born under Italian skies ; yet singularly enough the country of the Caesars was to gain not a square foot of territory for herself w^here other nations divided majestic continents between them. So, too, in the matter of Columbus biography and investigation, up to the present time but one Italian, Professor Francesco Tarducci, has materially added to the sum of the world's knowledge in a field pre-eminently occupied by Washington Irving, Henry Harrisse, and Roselly de Lorgues, a Frenchman, — these comprising the powerful original writers in Columbian biography. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 22 THE STORY OF AMERICA. In treating our subject we naturally begin at the starting point of "biography, the birthplace. The generally accepted statement has been that Columbus was born at Genoa, especially as Columbus begins his will with the well-known declaration, "I, being born in Genoa." But it has been asserted by numerous writers that in this Columbus was mistaken, just as for a long time General Sheridan was mistaken in supposing himself to have been born in a little Ohio town, when he learned. within a year or two of his death, that he was born in Albany, N. Y. But passing this, it remains to be said that the evidence of the Geno- ese birth of Columbus may now be considered as fully established. As to the time of his birth there has been not a little question. Henry Harrisse, the American scholar al- ready referred to, placed it between March 25 th, 1446, and March 20th, 1447. This, however, we can hardly accept, especially as it would make Columbus at the time of his first naval venture only thirteen years of age. Tarducci gives 1435 or 1436 as the year of his birth. This is also the date given by Irving, and it would seem to be the most proba- ble. This is the almost decisive testimony of Andres Bernaldoz, bet- ter known as the Curate of Los Palacios, who was most intimate with Columbus and had him a great deal in his house. He says the death of Columbus took place in his seven- tieth year. His death occurred May 20th, 1506, which would make the year of his birth probably about 1436. And now starting with Genoa as the birthplace of Columbus and about the year 1435 or 1436 as the time of his birth, we proceed with our story. Christopher Columbus (or Columbo in Italian) was the son of Dominico Columbo and Susannah Fontanarossa his wife. The father was a wool carder, a business which seems to have been followed by the family through several generations. He was the oldest of four children, having two brothers, MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS AT GENOA. COLUMBUS AT PORTUGAL. 23 Bartholomew and Giacomo (James in English, in Spanish, Diego), and one sister. Of the early years of Columbus Httle is known. It is asserted by some that Columbus was a wool comber — no mean occupation in that day — and did not follow the sea. On the other hand, it is insisted — and Tarducci and Harrisse hold to that view — that, whether or not he enlisted in expeditions against the Venetians and Neapolitans (and the whole record is misty and uncertain), Columbus at an early age showed a marked inclination for the sea, and his education was largely directed along the lines of his tastes, and included such studies as geography, astronomy, and navigation. Certain it is that when Columbus arrived at Lisbon he was one of the best geographers and cosmographers of his age, and was accustomed to the sea from infancy.* Happily his was an age favorable for discovery. The works of travel were brought to the front. Pliny and Strabo, sometime forgotten names, were more than Sappho and Catullus, which a later but not a better age affected. The closing decade of the fifteenth century was a time of heroism, of deeds of daring, and discovery. Rude and unlettered to some extent, it m.ay be conceded it was ; yet it was far more fruitful, and brought greater blessings to the world than are bestowed by the effeminate luxury which often character- izes a civilization too daintily pampered, too tenderly reared. Life then was at least serious. Right here it may be in place to state how invention promoted Columbian discovery. The compass had been known for six hundred years. But at this time the quadrant and sextant were unknown ; it became necessary to discover some means for finding the altitude of the sun, to ascertain one's distance from the equator. This was accomplished by utilizing the Astrolabe, an instrument only lately used by astronomers in their stellar work. This inven- tion gave an entirely new direction to navigation, delivering seamen from the necessity of always keeping near the shore, and permitting the little ships — small vessels they were — to sail free amidst the immensity of the sea, so that a ship that had lost its course, formerly obliged to grope its way back by the uncertain guidance of the stars, could now, by aid of compass and astralobe, retrace its course with ease. Much has justly been ascribed to the compass as a promoter of navigation ; but it is a question if the astralobe has not played quite as important a part. The best authorities place the arrival of Columbus at Lisbon about the year 1470. It is probable Columbus was known by reputation to Alfonso V, King of Portugal. It is unquestionable that Columbus was attracted to Portugal by the spirit of discovery which prevailed throughout the Iberian peninsula, fruits of which were just beginning to be gathered. Prince Henry of Portugal, * Tarducci, I, 41. 24 THE STORY OF AMERICA. who was one of the very first of navigators, if not the foremost explorer of his day, had established a Naval College and Observatory, to which the most learned men were invited, while under the Portuguese flag the greater part of the African coast had been already explored. Having settled in Lisbon, at the Convent of All Saints, Columbus formed an acquaintance with Felipa Monis de Perestrello, daughter of Bartholomew de Perestrello, an able navigator but poor, with whom and two others Prince Henry had made his first discovery. The acquaintance soon ripened into love, and Columbus made her his wife. Felipa's father COLOMBUS PROPODNDING THE PROBLEM OF THE EGG TO THE WISE COnNClr.I.ORS OF THE KING. soon died, and then with his wife and her mother Columbus moved to Porto Santo, where a son was born to them, whom they named Diego. Felipa hence- forth disappears from history ; there is no further record of her. At Porto Santo Columbus supported his family and helped sustain his aged father, who was living poorly enough off at Savona, and who was forced to sell the little property he had, and whose precarious living led him to make new loans and incur new debts. CULUMBUS AND THE KING OF PORTUGAL. 25 Meanwhile Columbus was imbibing to the full the spirit of discovery so widely prevalent. It was not his wife who materially helped him at this time, as has been asserted, but his mother-in-law, who, observing the deep interest that Columbus took in all matters of exploration and discovery, gave him all the manuscripts and charts which her husband had made, which, with his own voyages to some recently discovered places, only renewed the burning desire for exploration and discovery. The leaven was rapidly working. But the sojourn at Portugal must be briefly passed over. The reports that came to his ears while living at Porto Santo only intensified his convictions of the existence of an empire to the West. He heard of great reeds and a bit of- curiously carved wood seen at sea, floating from the West ; and vague rumors reached him at different times, of "strange lands" in the Atlantic — most if not all of them mythical. But they continued to stimulate interest as they show the state of public thought at that time respecting the Atlantic, whose western regions were all unknown. All the reports and all the utterances of the day Columbus watched with closest scrutiny. He secured old tomes for fullest information as to what the ancients had written or the moderns discovered. All this served to keep the subject fresh in his mind, nor would it " down," for his convictions were constantly ministered to by contemporary speculators. Toscanelli, an Italian mathematician, had written, at the instance of King Alfonso, instructions for a western route to Asia. With him Columbus entered into correspondence, which greatly strengthened his theories. Now they came to a head. Constant thought and reflection resulted in his conception of an especial course to take, which, followed for a specific time, would result in the discovery of an empire. And the end ! He would subdue a great trans-Atlantic empire, and from its riches he would secure the wealth to devote to expeditions for recovering the Holy Land, and so he would pay the Moors dearly for their invasion of the Iberian peninsula, — a truly fanciful but not a wholly unreasonable conception, as the times were. COLUMBUS AND THE KING OF PORTUGAL. At last he found means to lay his project before the King of Portugal. But the royal councillors treated the attempt to cross the Atlantic as rash and dangerous, and the conditions required by Columbus as exorbitant. The adventurous King, John II, — Alfonso had died in 1481 — had more faith in his scheme than his wise men, and, with a dishonesty not creditable to him^ attempted at this time to reap the benefit of Columbus' studies and plans by sending out an expedition of his own in the direction and by the way traced in his charts. But the skill and daring of Columbus were wanting, and at the first mutterings of the sea the expedition sought safety in flight. It turned back to the Cape de Verde islands, and the officers took revenge for their 26 THE STORY OF AMERICA. disappointment by ridiculing the project of Columbus as the vision of a day dreamer. O, valiant voyagers ! — New Worlds are not discovered by such men as you ! Columbus's brother Bartholomew had endeavored about this time to interest the British monarch in the project, but the first of the Tudors had too much to do in quelling insurrection at home, and in raising revenues by illegal means, to spend any moneys on visionary projects. Henry III would have none of him. Meantime, indignant at the infamous treatment accorded him, and with his ties to Portugal already sundered by the death of his wife, he determined to shake the dust of Portugal off his feet, and seek the Court of Spain. He would start at once for Cordova, where the Spanish Court then was. Leaving Lisbon secretly, near the close of 1484, he chose to follow the sea coast to Palos, instead of taking the direct inland route, and most happily so ; for, in so doing he was to gain a friend and a most important ally ; this circumstance the unthinking man will ascribe to chance, but the believer to Providence. Weary and foot-sore, on his journey, he finally arrived at Palos, then a small port on the Atlantic, at the mouth of the Tinto, in Andalusia ; here hunger and want drove him to seek assistance from the charity of the Monks, and ascending the steep mountain road to the Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria de La Rabida, he met the pious prior. Father Juan Perez, who, struck with his imposing presence, despite his sorry appearance, entered into conversation with him. As the interview grew in interest to both the parties, Columbus was led to impart to the prior his great project, to the prior's increasing wonder, for in Palos the spirit of exploration was as regnant as in Lisbon. Columbus was invited to make the Convent his place of sojourn, an invitation he was only too glad to accept. Then Father Perez sent for his friend, a well known geographer of Palos, and, deeply interested in all that related to exploration and the discovery of new lands, the three took the subject into earnest consideration, thorough discussion of the question being had. It was not long before Father Perez — all honor to his name ! — became deeply interested in the plans of Columbus. To glorify God is the highest aim to which one can address himself ; of that feeling Father Perez was thoroughly possessed ; and how could he more fully glorify him than by aiding in the discovery of new lands and the spreading of Christianity there ? Impelled by this feeling, he urged Columbus to proceed at once to Cordova, where the Spanish Court then was, giving him money for his journey, and a letter of commendation to his friend, the father prior of the monastery of El Prado Fernando de Talavera, the queen's Confessor, and a person of great influence at Court. There was hope and there was a period of long and weary waiting yet before him. COLUMBUS AT THE SPANISH COURT ' 2/ Arriving at Cordova, Columbus found the city a great military camp, and all Spain aroused in a final effort to expel the Moors. Fernando, the Confessor, was a very different man from Perez, and instead of treating Columbus kindly, received him coolly, and for a long while actively prevented him from meeting the king. The Copernican theory, though held by some, was not at this time established, and the chief reason why the Confessor opposed Columbus's plan was unquestionably because he measured a scientific theory by appeal to the Scriptures — just as the Sacred Congregation did in Galileo's case a century and a half later — just as some well-meaning but mistaken souls do to-day. At length, through the friendship of de Ouintanilla, Comptroller of the Castilian Treasury, Geraldini, the Pope's nuncio, and his brother, AUessandro, tutor of the children of Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus was made known to Cardinal Mendoza, who introduced him to the king. Ferdinand listened to him patiently, and referred the whole matter to a council of learned men, mostly composed of ecclesiastics, under the presidency of the Confessor. Here again dogma supplanted science, and controverted Columbus's theories by Scriptural texts, and caused delay, so it was not till 1491 — Columbus had now been residing in Spain six years — that the Commission reported the project "vain and impossible, and not becoming great princes to engage in on such slender ©■rounds as had been adduced." The report of the Commission seemed a death-blow to the hopes of Columbus. Disappointed and sick at heart, and disgusted at six years of delay, Columbus turned his back on Spain, "indignant at the thought of having been beguiled out of so many precious years of waning existence." Deter- mined to lay his project before Charles VIII, of France, he departed, and stopped over at the little Monastery of La Rabida, from whose Prior, Juan Perez, six years before, he had departed with such sanguine hopes, for Cordova. The good friar was greatly mov'ed. Finally he concluded to make another and final effort. Presuming upon his position as the queen's Confessor, Perez made an appeal direct to Isabella, and this time with the result that an inter- view was arranged, at which Isabella was present. His proposals would have at once been accepted but that Columbus demanded powers* which even * His principal stipulations were (i) that he should have, for himself during his life, and his heirs and successors forever, the office of 'admiral in all the lands and continents which he might discover or acquire in the ocean, with similar honors and prerogatives to those enjoyed by the high admiral of Castile in his district. (2) That he should be viceroy and governor-general over all the said lands and continents, with the privilege of nominating three candidates for the government of each island or province, one of whom should be selected by the sovereigns. (3) That he should be entitled to reserve for himself one-tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver. 28 THE STORY OF AMERICA. de Talavera pronounced "arbitrary and presumptuous," though they were of like character with those conceded by Portu- gal to Vasco de Gamba. Angered and in- dignant at the rejection of his terms, which were conditioned only upon his success, Columbus impulsively left the royal presence, and taking leave of his friends, set out for France, determined to offer his services to Louis XII. ISABEIXA HAS A SOBER SECOND THOUGHT. But no sooner had Columbus gone, than the queen, who we may believe regretted the loss of possible glory of discovery, hastily despatched a messen- ger after him, who overtook him when two leagues away and brought him back. Although Ferdinand spices, and 4II other articles and merchan- dises, in whatever manner found, bought, bartered, or gained within his admiralty, the cost being first deducted. (4) That he, or his lieutenant, should be the sole judge in all causes and disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain, provided the high admiral of Castile had similar jurisdiction in his district. COLUMBUS AND THE MESSENGER. t= ^^ ■ 1. f TftM prawn bv (^ KendricT;. -^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^w- - DARING DESERTION OF JOHN CAMPE an In the English ranks, for the purpose of associating him-^elf with the traitor Benediit Arnold, sei/ine him and getting him alive into the hands of the Americans, From the American FITTING OUT THE EXPEDITION. 29 was opposed to the project, Isabella concluded to yield to Columbus his terms and agreed to advance the cost, 14,000 florins, about $7,000, from her own revenues, and so to Spain was saved the empire of a New World. On May 12 Columbus took leave of the king and queen to superintend the fitting out of the expedition at the port of Palos. The hour and the man had at last met FITTIN'G OUT THE EXPEDITION. What thoughts and apprehensions filled the heart and mind of Columbus as he at last saw the yearning desires of years about to be met, may be to some extent conceived ; they certainly cannot be expressed. Not a general at the head of his great army who, at a critical moment in battle, sees the enemy make the false move which insures him the victory, could feel more exultant than Columbus must have felt when he left the pres- ence of the Spanish Court, and, after seven years of weary and all but hopeless waiting at last saw the possibilities of the great unknown opening up before him, and beheld, in a vision to him as clear and radiant as the sun shining in the heavens, a New World extending its arms and welcoming him to her embrace. It would seem as if everything now conspired to atone for the disappointing past. His old tried friend, Perez, prior of the La Rabida monastery, near Palos, received him with open arms, and well he might, for had not his kind offices made success possible ? And the authorities, as if to make good the disappointments of seven years, could not now do too much. All public officials, of all ranks and conditions in the maritime borders of Andalusia were commanded to furnish supplies and assistance of all kinds. Not only so, but as superstition and fear made ship owners reluctant to send their vessels on the expedition, the necessary ships and men were to be provided, if need be, by impressment, and it was in this way vessels and men were secured. In three, months the expedition was ready to sail. The courage of Columbus in setting sail in untried waters becomes more evident when we consider the size of the ships comprising the little expedition. They were three in number ; the largest of them, the Santa Maria, was only ninety feet long, being about the size of our modern racing yachts. Her smaller consorts, the Pinta and the Nina, were little caravels, very like our fishing smacks, without any deck to keep the water out. The Santa Maria had four masts, of which two were square rigged, and two fitted with lateen sails like those CARAVELS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. {A/ifr an engraving pubiished in 15S4.) 30 THE STORY OF AMERICA. used on the Nile boats ; this vessel Columbus commanded. Martin Alonzo Pinzon commanded the Pinta, and his brother, Vincente Yanez Pinzon, the Nina. The fleet was now all ready /or sea; but before setting sail Columbus and most of his ofificers and crew confessed to Friar Juan Perez, and partook of the Sacrament. Surely such an enterprise needed the blessing of heaven, if any did ! It was before sunrise on Friday morning, August 3, 1492, that Columbus, with 30 officers and adventurers and 90 seamen, in all 120 souls, set sail, "in the name of Christ," from behind the little island of Saltes. Those inclined to be superstitious regarding Friday will do well to note that it was on a Friday Columbus set sail from Palos ; it was on Friday, the 12th of October, that he landed in the New World ; on a Friday he set sail homeward ; on a Friday, again, the 15th of February, 1493, land was sighted on his return to Europe, and that on Friday, the 15th of March, he returned to Palos. The story of that eventful trip has never ceased to charm the world, nor ever will so long as the triumphs of genius, the incentives of religion, and the achievements of couraofe- have interest for mankind. It was Columbus's intention to steer southwesterly for the Canary Islands, and thence to strike due west — due to misconception occasioned by the very incorrect maps of that period. On the third day out the Pinta's rudder was found to be disabled and the vessel leaking, caused, doubtless, by her owner, who did not wish his vessel to go, — the ship having been impressed — and thinking to secure her return. Instead of this, Columbus continued on his course and decided to touch at the Canaries, which he reached on the 9th. Here he was detained for some weeks, till he learned from a friendly $ail that three Portuguese war vessels had been seen hovering off the island Gomera, where he was taking in wood, water, and provisions. Apprehensive, and probably rightly so, that the object was to capture his fleet, Columbus lost no time in putting to sea. AND NOW FOR THE NEW WORLD. It was early morning on the 6th of September that Columbus again set sail, steering due west, on an unknown sea. He need fear no hostile fleets, and he was beyond the hindrance of plotting enemies on shore ; and yet so far from escaping trouble it seemed as if he had but plunged into deeper tribulations and trials than ever. As the last trace of land faded from view the hearts of the crews failed them. They were going they knew not where ; would they ever return ? Tears and loud lamentings followed, and Columbus and his officers had all they could do to calm the men. After leaving the Canaries the winds were light and baffling, but always from the East. On the iith of September, when about AN ASTRONOMIC DISCOVERY. 31 450 miles west of Ferro, they saw part of a mast floating by, which, from its size, appeared to have belonged to a vessel of about 120 tons burden. To the crew this meant the story of wreck ; why not pro- phetic of their own ? The discovery only added to their fears. And now a remark- able and unprecedented phenomenon pre- sented itself "As true as the needle to the f-- ■jf': trt WHnia ST • pole" may be a pretty I '""f^HJ^wSBB^Hr*^*^ simile, but it is false in hW«9ra!Biiiiflinj^ fact. For, on the 13th of September, at night-* fall, Columbus, for the first time in all his experience, discovered that the needle did not point to the North star, but varied about half a point, or five and a half degrees to the northwest. As he gave the matter close attention Columbus found the variation THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, AS PREDICTED BY COLUMBUS. ' 32 THE STORY OF AMERICA. to increase with every day's advance. This discovery^ at first kept secret, was early noticed by the pilots, and soon the news spread among the crews, exciting their alarm. If the compass was to lose its virtues, what was to become of them on a trackless sea ? Columbus invented a theory which was ingenious but failed wholly to allay the terror. He told them that the needle pointed to an exact point, but that the star Polaris revolved, and described a circle around the pole. Polaris docs revolve around a given point, but its apparent motion is slow, while the needle does not point to a definite fixed point. The true expla- nation of the needle variations — sometimes it fluctuates thirty or forty degrees — - is to be found in the flowingr of the electrical currents through the earth in different directions, upon which the sun seems to have an effect. Columbus took observations of the sun every day, with an Astrolabe, and shrewdly kept two logs every day. One of these, prepared in secret, contained the true record of the daily advance ; the other, showing smaller progress, was for the crew, by which means they were kept in ignorance of the great distance they were from Spain. INDICATIONS OF LAND. On the 14th of September the voyagers discovered a water-wagtail and a heron hovering about the ships, signs which were taken as indicating the nearness of land, and which greatly rejoiced the sailors. On the night of the 15th a meteor fell within five lengths of the Santa Maria. On the i6th the ships entered the region of the trade winds ; with this propitious breeze, directly aft, the three vessels sailed gently but quickly over a tranquil sea, so that for many days not a sail was shifted. This balmy weather Columbus constantly refers to In his diary, and observes that "the air was so mild that it wanted but the song of nightingales to make it like the month of April in Andalusia." On the i8th of September the sea, as Columbus tells us, was "as calm as the Guadalquiver at Seville." Air and sea alike continued to furnish evidences of life and indications of land, and Pinzon, on the Pinta, which, being the fastest sailer, generally kept the lead, assured the admiral that indications pointed to land the following day. On the 19th, soundings were taken and no bottom found at two hundred fathoms. On the 20th, several birds visited the ships ; they were small song birds, showing they could not have come a very long distance ; all of which furnished cause for encouragement. But still discontent was growing. Gradually the minds of the men were becoming diseased through terror, even the calmness of the weather increasing their fears, for with such light winds, and from the east, too, how were they ever to get back ? However, as if to allay their feelings, the wind soon shifted to the southwest. A little after sunset on the 25th, Columbus and his officers were examining INDICATIONS OF LAND. 33 their charts and discussing the probable location of the island Cipango,* which the admiral had placed on his map, when from the deck of the Pinta arose the cry of "Land ! Land ! " At once Columbus fell on his knees and gave thanks to Heaven. Martin Alonzo and his crew of the Pinta broke out into the "Gloria in Excelsis," in which the crew of the Santa Maria joined, while the men of the Nina scrambled up to the masthead and declared that they, too, saw land. At once Columbus ordered the course of the vessels to be changed toward the supposed land. In impatience the men waited for the dawn, and when the morning appeared, lo ! the insubstantial pageant had faded, the cloud-vision, for such it was, had vanished into thin air. The disappoint- ment was as keen as the enthusiasm had been intense ; silently they obeyed the admiral's order, and turned the prows of their vessels to the west again. A week passed, marked by further variations of the needle and flights of birds. The first day of October dawned with such amber weather as is common on the Atlantic coast in the month of "mists and yellow fruitfulness." The pilot on Columbus's ship announced sorrowfully that they were then 520 leagues, or 1560 miles, from Ferro. He and the crew were little aware that they had accomplished 707 leagues, or nearly 2200 miles. And Columbus had a strong incentive for this deception ; for, had he not often told them that the length of his voyage would be 700 leagues ? — and had they known that this distance had already been made, what might they not have done ! On the 7th of October the Nina gave the signal for land, but instead of land, as they advanced the vision melted and their hopes were again dissipated. The ship had now made 750 leagues and no land appeared. Possibly he had made a mistake in his latitude ; and so it was that, observing birds flying to the southward, Columbus changed his course and followed the birds, recalling, as he says in his journal, that by following the flight of birds going to their nesting- and feedingf grounds the Portusfuese had been so successful in their discoveries. On Monday, the 8th, the sea was calm, with fish sporting ever}''- where in great abundance ; flocks of birds and wild ducks passed by. Tuesday and Wednesday there was a continual passage of birds. On the evening of» this day, while the vessels were sailing close together, mutiny suddenly broke out. The men could trust to signs no longer. With cursing and imprecation * Cipango was an imaginative island based upon the incorrect cosmography of Toscanelli, whose map was accepted in Columbus's time as the most nearly correct chart of any extant. The Ptolemaic theory of 20,400 geographical miles as the Equatorial girth was accepted by Columbus, which lessened his degrees of latitude and shortened the distance he would have to sail to reach Asia. The island Cipango was supposed to be over 1000 miles long, running north and south, and the distance placed at 52 degrees instead of the 230 degrees which actually separates the coast of Spain from the eastern coast of Asia. The island was placed in about the latitude of the Gulf of Mexico. 3 34 LAND, HO! they declared they would not run on to destruction, and insisted upon returning to Spain. Then Columbus showed the stuff he was made of. He and they, he said, were there to obey the commands of their Sovereigns ; they must find the Indies. With unruffled calmness he ordered the voyage continued. On Thursday, the nth, the spirit of mutiny gave way to a very different feeling, for the signs of the nearness of land multiplied rapidly. They saw a green fish known to feed on the rocks, then a branch with berries on it, evidently recently separated from a tree, floated by them, and above all, a rudely carved staff was seen. Once more gloom and mutiny gave way to sanguine expectation. All the indications pointing to land in the evening, the ships stood to the west, and Columbus, assembhng his men, addressed them. He thought land might be made that night, and enjoined that a vigilant lookout be kept, and ordered a double watch set. He promised a silken doublet, in addition to the pension guaranteed by the Crown, to the one first seeing land. LAND, HO ! That night, the ever memorable night of Thursday, opening into the morning of Friday, the 1 2th of October, not a soul slept on any vessel. The sea was calm and a good breeze filled the sails, moving the ships along at twelve miles an hour ; they were on the eve of an event such as the world had never seen, could never see again. The musical rippling of the waves and the creaking of the cordage were all the sounds that were audible, for the birds had retired to rest. The hours passed slowly by. It was just past midnight when the admiral, with restless eye, sought to penetrate the darkness. Then a far-off light came to his vision. Calling Guiterrez, a court officer, he also saw it. At two in the morning a gun from the Pinta, which led the other boats, gave notice that land was at last found. A New World had indeed been discovered. The hopes of years had attained their fruition. It was Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman, who first saw land — though, alas ! he received neither promised doublet nor pension. Friday, the 12th of October, 1492, corresponding to the 2 1st of October, 1492, of the present calendar, was the ever memorable day. The morning light came, and, lifting the veil that had concealed the supreme object of their hopes, revealed a low, beautiful island, not fifty miles long, and scarcely two leagues away. Columbus gave the signal to cast anchor and lower the boats, the men to carry arms. Dressed in a rich costume of scarlet, and bearing the royal standard, upon which was painted the image of the crucified Christ, he took the lead, followed by the other captains, Pinzon and Yanez. Columbus was the first to land ; and as soon as he touched the shore he fell down upon his knees and fervently kissed " the blessed ground " three times, returning thanks to God for the great favor bestowed upon him. The others followed his example ; and then, recognizing the Providence which had THE NEWLY FOUND LAND. 35 crowned his efforts with success, he gave the name of the Redeemer — San Salvador — to the discovered island, which was called by the natives "Guana- hani." * And now the crews, who but a few days previously had reviled and cursed Columbus, gathered around, asking pardon for their conduct and prom- ising complete submission in future. Columbus supposed at last he had reached the opulent land of the Indies, and so called the natives Indians. But it was an island, not a continent or an Asiatic empire, he had found; an island "very large and level, clad with the freshest trees, with much water in it, a vast lake in the middle, and no mountains." The natives dwelling on the island were found to be a well-proportioned people with fine bodies, simple in their habits and customs, friendly, though shy in manner, and they were perfectly naked. They thought the huge ships to be monsters risen from the sea or gods come down from heaven. Presents were exchanged with them, including gold bracelets worn by the natives. Inquiry was made as to where the gold came from. For answer the natives pointed by gestures to the southwest. Columbus tried to induce some of the natives to go with him and show where the land of gold was to be found. But this they refused to do; so on the next day (Sunday, the 14th), taking along by force seven natives, that he might instruct them in Spanish and make interpreters of them, he set sail to discover, if possible, where gold was to be had in such abundance, and which, he thought, must be Cipango. * It is simply impossible to say which one of that long stretch of islands, some 3000 in number, extending from the coast of Florida to Haiti, as if forming a breakwater for the island of Cuba, Guanahani is. Opinion greatly varies. San Salvador, or Cat Island, was in early favor ; Humboldt and Irving — the latter having the problem worked out for him by Captain A. S. Mackenzie, U. S. N. — favored that view. The objections are that it is not "a small island" as Columbus called it, and it does not answer to the description of having "a vast lake in the middle" as Columbus says of Guanahani in his journal. Navette advocates the Grand Turk Island which has the lake. Watling's Islancf was first advocated by Munoz and accepted by Captain Beecher, R. N., in 1856, and Oscar Perchel in 1858. Major, of the British Museum, has taken up with Watling's Island, as did Lieutenant J. B. Murdoch, U. S. N., after a careful examination in 1884. This view is accepted by C. A. Schott of the U. S. Coast Survey. On the other hand. Captain G. V. Fox, U. S. N., in 1880, put forth an elaborate claim for Samana, based upon a very careful e.xamination of the route as given in Columbus's journal. This claim, with careful consideration of other conditions, has been very carefully examined by Mr. Charles H. Rockwell, an astronomer, of Tarrytown, N. Y. Mr. Rockwell assents to Captain Fox's view, which he finds confirmed by the course Columbus took in bringing his ship to land. He also traverses Captain Beecher's claim for Watling's Island, which he finds to be inconsistent with Columbus's narrative. As we have said, the problem is beset with difficulties, both as relates to the sailing course, and the extent and topography of the island ; and at the present time it appears to be well-nigh insoluble. Where the external conditions are met, the internal conditions, including the large lake, seem wanting; the difficulties in the case seem to be irresistible. 36 THE STORY OF AMERICA. He was, of course, in the midst of the Bahama group, and did not have to sail far to discover an island. On the 15th he discovered the island Conception. On the third day he repeated the forms of landing and took possession, as he did also on the 1 6th, when he discovered an island which he called Fernandina, known to be the island at present called Exuma. On the 19th another island was discovered, which Columbus named Isabella, and which he declared to be "the most beautiful of all the islands" he had seen. The breezes brought odors as spicy as those from Araby the Blest ; palm trees waved their fringed banners to the wind, and flocks of parrots obscured the sky. It was a land where every prospect pleased and Nature bestowed her largesse, from no stinted hand. But no — it was not a land of gold. Leaving Isabella after a five days' sojourn, on Friday, the 26th of October, he entered the mouth of a beautiful river on the northeast terminus of the island of Cuba, where sky and sea seem to conspire to produce endless halcyon days, for the air was a continual balm and the sea bathes the grasses, which grow to the water's edge, whose tendrils and roots are undisturbed by the sweep of the tides. Upon the delights that came to Columbus in this new-found paradise we cannot dwell ; admiration and rapture mingled with the sensations that swept over the soul of the great navigator as he contemplated the virgin charms of a new world won by his valor. But the survey of succeeding events must be rapid. From the 28th of October till November 12th Columbus explored the island, skirting the shore in a westerly direction. He discovered during that time tobacco, of which he thought little, but which, singularly enough, proved more productive to the Spanish Crown than the gold which he sought but did not find. On the 20th of November Columbus was deserted by Martin Pinzon, whose ship, the Pinta, could outsail all the others. Martin would find gold for himself This was a kind of treachery which too often marred the story of Spanish exploration in the New World. For two weeks after the Pinta's desertion Columbus skirted slowly along the coast of Cuba eastwardly till he doubled the cape. Had he only kept on what was now a westerly course he would have discovered Mexico. But it was not to be. Before sailing he lured on board six men, seven women, and three children, a proceeding which nothing can justify. Taking a southwesterly course, on Wednesday, December 5th, Columbus discovered Haiti and San Domingo, which he called Hispaniola, or Little Spain. The next day he discovered the island Tortuga, and at once returned to Haiti, exploring the island ; there, owing to disobedience of orders, on Christmas morning, between midnight and dawn, the Santa Maria was wrecked upon a sand-bank, near the present site of Port au Paix. A sorry Christmas for Columbus, indeed ! The situation was now critical. The Pinta, with her mutinous commander COLUMBUS RETURNS TO SPAIN. 37 and crew, was gone ; the Santa Maria was a wreck. But one little vessel remained, the little, undecked Nina. Suppose she should be lost, too ? — how would Spain ever know of his grand discoveries ? Two things were necessary : he must at once set out on his return voyage, and some men must be left behind. The first thing he did was to build, on a bay now known as Caracola, a fort, using the timbers of the wrecked Santa Maria. In this he placed thirty- nine men. Nature would surely give them all the shelter and provisions they needed. COLUMBUS RETURNS TO SPAIN. It was not until Friday, January 4, 1493, that the weather was sufficiently favorable so that Columbus could hoist sail and stand out of the harbor of the Villa de Navidad, as he named the fort, because of his shipwreck, which occurred on the day of the Nativity. Two days later the ship Pinta was encoun- tered. Pinzon on the first opportunity boarded the Nina, and endeavored, but unsuccessfully, to explain his desertion and satisfy the admiral. The two vessels put into a harbor on the island of Cuba for repairs, and continued to sail along the coast, now and then making a harbor. On Wednesday, the i6th day of January, 1493, they bade farewell to the Queen of the Antilles, and then the prows of the Nina and the Pinta, the latter the slower sailer because of an unsound mast, were turned toward Spain, 1450 leagues away. It is not possible within the limits of this chapter to follow Columbus from day to day as he sails a sea now turbulent and tempestuous, as if to show its other side, in marked contrast to the soft airs and smooth waters that had greeted the voyagers when their purpose held — "To sail beyond the sunset and the baths Of all the western stars." Nor can we follow with minuteness Columbus in his subsequent career. He had made the greatest discovery of his or any other age : he had found the New World, and this, more than anything else, has to do with " The Story of America." It was on Friday, March 15, 1493, just seven months and twelve days after leaving Palos, that Columbus dropped anchor near the island of Saltes. It was not until the middle of April that he reached Barcelona, where the Spanish Court was sitting. As he journeyed to Court his procession was a most imposing one as it thronged the streets, his Indians leading the line, with birdf? of brilliant plumage, the skins of unknown animals, strange plants and orna- ments from the persons of the dusky natives shimmering in the air. When he reached the Alcazar or palace of the Moorish Kings, where Ferdinand and Isabella were seated on thrones, the sovereigns rose and received him standing. Then they commanded him to sit, and learned from him the story of his discovery. Then and there the sovereigns confirmed all the dignities previously bestowed. 38 THE STORY OF AMERICA. The rejoicing over, the good news spread everj'where, and Columbus was the hero of the civilized world. Ferdinand and Isabella at once addressed themselves to the task of preserving and extending their conquests, and a fleet of seventeen vessels and fifteen hundred men was organized to prosecute further discovery. It was on September 25, 1493, that Columbus set sail with his fleet. On the 3d of November he sighted land, a small, mountainous island, which Columbus called Dominica, after Sunday, the day of discovery. Then again they set sail, and in two weeks discovered several islands in the Caribbean waters. It was not till November 27th that Columbus arrived in the harbor of La Navidad. He fired a salute, but there was no response. On landing the next morning, he found the fortress gone to pieces and the tools scattered, with evidences of fire. Buried bodies were discovered — twelve corpses — those of white men. Of the forty who had been left there, not one was present to tell the tale. But all was soon revealed, and a harrowing, sorrowful tale it was. From a friendly chief Guacanagari — whom Columbus at first suspected of treachery, and was never quite satisfied of his innocence — it was learned that mutiny, perfidy, and lust had aroused resentments and produced quarrels, resulting in a division into two parties, who, separating and wandering off, were easily overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the incensed natives. Having discovered the Windward Islands, Jamaica, and Porto Rico, he founded a new colony in Hispaniola (Haiti or San Domingo), which he named Isabella, in honor of his queen. The place had a finer harbor than the ill-fated port of the Nativity. He named his brother Bartolommeo lieutenant governor, to govern when he should be absent on his explorations. On February 2, 1494, Columbus sent back to Spain twelve caravels under the command of Antonio de Torres, retaining the other five for the use of the colony, with which he remained. The vessels carried specimens of gold and samples of the rarest and most notable plants. Besides these, the ships carried to Spain five hundred Indian prisoners, who, the admiral wrote, might be sold as slaves at Seville — an act which places an indelible stain upon the brilliant renown of the great admiral : that one inhuman act admits of no palliation whatever. Of the troubles that ensued it is impossible to give any account in detail. Men returning; disappointed at not finding themselves enriched, complained of Columbus as a deceiver, and he was charged with cruelty, and, indeed, there was scarcely a crime that presumably was not laid at his door. Then troubles broke out in the colony ; the friar, incensed at Columbus, excommunicated him, and the admiral, in return, cut off his rations. Then the men, in the absence of Columbus, off on trips of exploration, gave way to rapine and passion, and the poor natives had no other means than flight to save their waves and daughters. Matters proceeded from bad to worse, the colony growing weaker through dissension. COLUMBUS SETS FORTH ON A THIRD EXPEDITION. 39 Finally four vessels from Spain arrived at Isabella, in October, 1495, laden with welcome supplies. These were in charge of Torres, who was accompanied by a royal commissioner, Aquado, who was empowered to make full investigation of the charges brought against Columbus. It was evident to the admiral that he should take early occasion to return to Spain and make explanation to his sovereigns. Accordingly, in the spring of 1496, Columbus set sail for Cadiz, where he arrived on June 11, 1496. He was well received, and was successful in defending himself against the many charges and the clamor raised against him. Ships for a third voyage 7SSJ: .Ss were promised him, but it was not until the late spring of 1498 that the expedition was ready for sailing. COLUMBUS SETS FORTH ON A THIRD EXPEDITION. On May 30, 1498, with six ships, carrying two hundred men, besides sailors, Columbus set out on his third expedition. Taking a more southerly course, Colum- bus discovered the mouth of the Orinoco, which he imagined to be the great river Gihon, men- tioned in the Bible (Genesis ii, 13) as the second river of Paradise; so sadly were our admiral's geo- graphy and topography awry ! Columbus also discovered the coast of Para and the islands of Trinidad, Margarita, and Cabaqua, and then bore awayforHispaniola. It was the old story told over again, with sickening disappointment. He found the colony was more disorganized than ever. For more than two years Columbus did his best to remedy the fortunes of the colony. At last an insurrection broke out. It was necessary to act promptly and decisively. Seven ringleaders were hanged and five more were sentenced to death. At this time the whole colony was surprised by the arrival at Sl Domingo of Francisco de Bobadilla, sent out by Ferdinand and Isabella as governor, and bearing authority to receive from Columbus the surrender of all fortresses and public property. Calumny had done its work ! Bobadilla then released the five HAYTIAN INDIAN GIRL SPINNING. 40 THE STORY OF AMERICA. men under sentence of death, and finally, when Columbus and Bartholo- mew arrived at St. Domingo, Bobadilla caused them both to be put in chains, to be sent to Spain. Seldom has a more touching, more cruel, more pathetic picture been presented in the world's sad history of cruelty and wrong ! Shocked as the master of the ship was at the spectacle of Columbus in irons, he would have taken them off, but Columbus would not allow it ; those bracelets should never come off but at the command of his Sovereigns ! It was early in October, 1500, that the ships with the three prisoners, Columbus and l;i-i\ii.is in irons. his brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, left Isabella. On the 25th of November, after an unusually comfortable passage, the vessels entered the harbor of Cadiz. The sight of the venerable form of Columbus in chains as he passed through the streets of Cadiz, where he had been greeted with all the applause of a conqueror, was more than the public would suffer. Long and loud were the indignant protests that voiced the popular feeling. The news of the state of affairs coming to Isabella, a messenger was dispatched with all haste to Cadiz, commanding bis instant release. When the poor broken-hearted admiral came into the queen's presence Isabella could not keep the tears back — while he. HIS LAST VOYAGE. 41 affected at the sight, threw himself at the feet of his sovereigns, his emotion bursting out in uncontrollable tears and sobs — and this was Columbus's reward for discovering a new world ! HIS LAST VOYAGE. The rest is soon told. The acts of the miserable creature, Bobadilla, were instantly disapproved, and he was recalled, but was drowned on his way home. Columbus, however, was not allowed to return to Hispaniola, but after two years' waiting sailed from Cadiz, May 9, 1502, with four vessels and a hundred and fifty men, to search for a passage through the sea now known as the Gulf of Mexico. It was the middle of June when Columbus touched at San Domingo, where he was not permitted to land. He set sail, and was dragged by the currents near Cuba. Here he reached the little island of Guanaja, opposite Honduras, and voyaged along the Mosquito coast, having discovered the mainland, of which he took possession. After suffering from famine and many other forms of hardship, he went to Jamaica and passed a terrible year upon that wild coast. In June, 1504, provision was made for returning to Spain, and on November 7th of that year, after a stormy voyage and narrow escape from shipwreck, Columbus landed at San Lucar de Barrameda, and made his way to Seville. He found himself without his best friend and pro- tector, for Isabella was then on her death-bed. Nineteen days later she breathed her last. Ferdinand would do nothing for him. A year and a half of poverty and disappointment followed, and then his kindliest friend, Death, came to his relief and his sorrows were at an end. Columbus died on Ascension Day, May 20, 1506, at Valladolid, in the act of repeating. Pater, in maims tuas dcpoiw spiritiim maim, — " Lord, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." Death did not end his voyages. His remains, first deposited in the Monastery of St. Francis, were transferred, in 15 13, to the Carthusian Monastery, of Las Cuevas. In 1536 his body, with that of his son, Diego, was removed to Hispa- niola and placed in the cathedral of San Domingo, where ir is believed, and pretty nearly certain, they were recently discovered. There seems no sufficient evidence that they were ever taken to Havana. Thus passed away the greatest of all discoverers, a man noble in purpose, ' daring in action, not without serious faults, but one inspired by deep religious feeling, and whose character must be leniently measured by the spirit of the age in which he lived. He received from his country not even the reward of the flattering courtier, for he was deprived of the honors his due, and for which the royal word had gone forth ; and in the end, when the weight of years was upon him and there was nothing more he could discover, he was allowed by Ferdinand to die in poverty, "with no place to repair to except an inn." But if Ferdinand was not a royal giver Columbus was more than one. For the world will never 42 THE STORY OF AMERICA. forget the inscription that, for very shame, was placed upon a marble tomb over his remains — he was now seven years dead — and which reads : — " A Castilla y a Leon Nuevo mundo dio Colon." To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new world. As to the character of Columbus, there is wanting space here for consider- ing the subject at any length ; nor does it at all seem necessary. Time has given the great navigator a character for courage, daring, and endurance, which no modern historian can take from him — least of all can the statement, that the falsification of the record of his voyage was reprehensible, stand. It was no more reprehensible than the act of Washington in deceiving the enemy at Princeton ; and in Columbus's case his foes were the scriptural ones "of his own household." Living in an age when buccaneering was honorable and piracy reputable, it will not do to gauge Columbus by the standard of our day. It is sufficient to say that he was great, in the fact that he put in practice what others had only dreamed of Aristotle was sure of the spheroidicity of the earth, and was certain that " strange lands " lay to the west : Columbus sailed and found ; — he went, he saw, he conquered. And these pages cannot better be brought to a close than by quoting what one of the most thoughtful of recent poets, Arthur Hugh Clough, has expressed in his lines, prompted no doubt by his visit to this country' : — " What if wise men had, as far back as PxoLEjri', Judged that the earth like an orange was round. None of them ever said, ' Come along, follow me, Sail to the West and the East will be found ' Many a day before Ever they'd come ashore. From the 'San Salvador,' Sadder and wiser men, They'd have turned back again; And that he did not, but did cross the sea, Is a pure wonder, I must say, to me. ' ' ^I. IT. B. CHAPTER II. SETTLING THE NEW COUNTRY. THE MARIGNY HOUSE, NFW oKLF.ANS, WHERE LuUB PHILIPPE bluPPED IN I79S. A FEW years cover the be- ginnings of westward migration from Europe and the British Isles. Great impulses seem to be epidemic. The variety of causes which led to the planting of the American colonies be- came operative under diverse national and race conditions, so that they appear in history as the synchronous details of a common plan. As the reader follows these pages and appro- priates all the wonderful and inspiring details of this une- qualed record of four centuries, his interest will deepen and his amazement will keep pace with his interest. Finding a barren shore, broken only by the roar of the surf, the cries of birds and animals, and the whoop of the Indian, he will lay down the volume, having discovered that civilization has followed the sun until the two oceans have met — connected by an unbroken tide of humanity ebbing and flowing from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and westward the Star of Empire still takes its way ! A minute account of the social and political situations in the various king- doms of Europe during the sixteenth century is not within the scope of this work, but it will be well to make a very brief statement of the questions that agitated Christendom at this time, and to notice the temper of the times. Cupidity and a love of adventure led the Spaniard to the conquest of the New World. Spain was then paramount in Europe, most powerful as well as most Catholic ; and the controlling motive of her sovereigns was conquest. It was not reformation nor revolution that sent her people over seas, but 43 44 THE STORY OF AMERICA. the love of power and wealth. In France, on the contrary, the spirit of revolt against established dogmas had led to persecution, so that the Hugue- nots were glad to find an asylum in the wilderness of the New World. Under these conditions the first colonies were attempted in the middle of the sixteenth century. Thirty years later a second planting, more general and more effectual, was begun. At that time Protestant England had a Catholic king. Henry of Navarre was upon the throne of France, which he had gained by his apostacy. Holland, the mighty little republic, was, under the wise leadership of John of Barne- veld and the States General, keeping Catholic Europe in check. Spain had been for years planning the conquest of England "as a stepping- stone to the recovery of the Netherlands." It will be seen that the very causes which led emigrants to colonize the new continent forbade friendship or common interests between those of different races, the animosities of the Old World being very carefully transplanted to the new along with other possessions. France made the first attempt at colonization in 1555. One of the leaders in the enterprise was Coligny, the Huguenot admiral ; John Ribault and Laudoniere were masters of successive expeditions, seeking first the Florida coast and afterward establishing a settlement in Carolina. The French have seldom made good colonists, and those of Carolina were no exception to the general rule. It is probable that their quarrelsome dispositions would have destroyed them in time had not the Spanish claimants of the country, led by Menendez, hastened the event. This expedition of the Spaniards was not only noteworthy because of the cruel massacre of Ribault and his Huguenot followers, but also as the occasion of the founding of the most ancient of North American cities, St. Augustine. This occurred in 1564. The settlement of St. Augustine was followed by a hiatus in which nothing was done toward the colonization of America. This was due to the great religious war which was then raging in Europe. But in the interval the mis- sionary expeditions of the Spanish Franciscans, Ruyz and Espejio, in 1582, resulted in the building of Santa Fe in New Mexico. There had also been the establishment by adventurers of various fishing and trading stations, notably the one on the island of New Foundland. During the interval England had been steadily growing as a marine power, and her navigators had directed men's eyes anew towards the land where so many of their countrymen should find refuge. Finally Raleigh, following in the footsteps of his famous half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth, by the terms of which he should become pro- prietor of six hundred miles radially from any point which he might discover or take, provided he did not encroach upon territory otherwise granted by any THE STORY OF AMERICA. 45 Christian sovereign. As an auxiliary to this grant the queen gave her favorite a monopoly of the sale of sweet wines, by the profits of which business he was soon enabled to fit out what was known as the Lane expedition, that sailed under the command of Grenville in 1585, and landed at Roanoke, in Virginia. THE ROANOKE COLONY. Grenville's first act upon landing was to rouse the animosity of the Indians by burning one of their villages and some cornfields, after which he left Lane, the Governor, with only an hundred and ten men and returned to England. Scarcity of provisions, a constant quarrel with their Indian neighbors, and a general feeling of discouragement led these first Virginia colonists to hail the navigator, Drake, who ap- peared on the coast a few months after, as a deliverer, and rejecting his offers of a vessel and provi- sions, they insisted upon returning with him to the mother country. Their departure was almost imme- diately followed by the arrival of reinforcements and supplies from Raleigh, brought by Grenville, who, when he found the place deserted, left fifteen men to guard it and himself proceeded southward to pillage the Spaniards of the West Indies. A second expedition, dis- patched by Raleigh, included many women, that families might be formed on the new soil and the colonists be satisfied to remain. This enter- prise was led by John White and eleven others, having a company charter. Upon arrival in Virginia White found only a skeleton to show where the former settlement had been. Indian treachery was assigned as the reason for its disappearance. Actuated probably by a nervous anxiety. White massacred some friendly Indians, under the impression that they were hostiles, and in August of 1587 returned to England for supplies, leaving behind him eighty- nine men, seventeen women, and eleven children, the youngest being his own granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first white child born in America. White arrived in England to find the nation preparing for a struggle with Spain. His return to the colonies was therefore delayed. Raleigh, finding i- " - '" ,, /-" '"' pi'.- INDIAN VILLAGE ENCLOSED WITH PALISADES. {From the original drawing' in the British Museuvi, made hy John White in 1583.) 46 THE FRENCH ATTEMPT COLONIZATION. himself impoverished by the former expeditions, which had cost him $200,000, made an assignment, under his patent, to a company which included White and one Thomas Smith. A new fleet was procured, though with considerable trouble, and again the adventurers sought the Virginia coast, in 1590, only to find that the unfortunate settlement of three years before had been utterly wiped out of existence. So ended the first English attempt to settle America. THE FRENCH ATTEMPT COLONIZATION. About the same time de La Roche, a Marquis of Brittany, obtained from Henry IV of France a commission to take Canada. His company consisted largely of convicts and criminals. Following him came Chauvin de Chatte, but he accomplished little of permanent value. For some years following the last attempt of Raleigh to colonize Virginia, a desultory trade with the Indians of the coast was pursued, the staples being sassafras, tobacco, and furs. Richard Hakluyt, one of the assignees of Raleigh, was most active in promoting this traffic ; and among others employed was Bartholomew Gosnold, who, taking a more northerly course than the one usually followed, discovered Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard, and the Elizabeth Islands. Following Gosnold, in 1603, came Martin Pring, exploring Penobscot Bay, tracing the coast thence as far south as Martha's Vineyard. A French grant of the same year gave to Sieur de Monts, a Protestant, the whole of North America between the 40th and 46th parallels of north latitude. This domain was named Acadie. De Monts looked for a monopoly of the fur trade on what is now the New England and Canadian coast. His Lieutenants in the expeditions which he soon commenced, were Poutrincourt and Champlain, of whom the latter became famous for several discoveries, but in particular for the lake which bears his name. So it will be noticed that both the French and English were stretching out their hands to acquire the same territory. De Monts and Champlain settled their colony at St. Croix, but soon shifted, trying various points along the coast, and even attempted to inhabit Cape Cod, but were driven away by the savages. At last they transferred the settlement to Port Royal (Annapolis), where it endured for about a year. De Monts' commission or patent was recalled in 1606, and but a little while previously Raleigh's grant was forfeited by attainder, he having been imprisoned by King James on a charge of treason. The frequent failures to effect a permanent settlement in America did not discourage adventurers, whose desire to possess the new world seemed to grow stronger every year. Soon two new companies were incorporated under Royal charter, to be • known as the First and Second Colonies of Virginia. The THE STORY OF AMERICA. 47 former was composed of London men, and the latter of Plymouth people principally. The charter authorized the Companies to recruit and ship colonists, to engage in mining operations and the like, and to trade ; their exports to be free of duties for seven years and duties to be levied by themselves for their own use for a period of twenty years. They might also coin money and pro- tect themselves against invasion. Their lands were held of the King. HARD TIMES COME AGAIN. Hardly had the charter been granted when James began to make regu- lations or instructions for the government of the colonies, which gave a shadow of self-rule, established the church of England, and decreed, among other things, that the fruits of their industries were to be held in common stock by the colonists for five years. These instructions, along with the names of the " Council " appointed by James for the government of the settlement, were carried, sealed in a tin box, by Captain Christopher Newport, who commanded the three vessals which constituted the initial venture of the London Company. An ill-chosen band landed at last at Old Point Comfort, after a stormy voyage. Of the one hundred and five men there were forty-three "gentlemen," twelve laborers, half a dozen mechanics and a number of soldiers. These quarreled during the voyage, so that John Smith, who it afterward appeared was one of the Coun- cillors appointed by the Crown, entered Chesapeake Bay a prisoner, charged with conspiracy. As might have been expected, this company did not fare well. They were consumed with laziness and jealousy ; there were cabals in the council and bickerings outside of it. Repeatedly the men tried to desert ; deaths were frequent and want stared them in the face. During this time it is hardly too much to say that the energy and wisdom of John Smith held the discouraCTed adventurers together. New arrivals of the same sort as the first added to, rather than diminished, the difficulties of the situation, so that at length Smith wrote that thirty workmen would be worth more than a thousand of such people as were being sent out. Not till the third lot of emigrants arrived did any women visit the new settlement, and then only two. The Indians became more and more troublesome, and the London Company, dis- satisfied at receiving no returns from their investment, threatened to leave the settlers to shift for themselves. In 1609 the London Company succeeded in obtaining a new charter, by the terms of which it organized as a stock company, with officers chosen for life, a governor appointed by the Company's Council in England, and a territory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific in a strip four hundred miles in width. During the interval between the granting of thecharterand the organization 48 POCAHONTAS. of the new government anarchy reigned in Virginia. Smith did everything possible to restore order, but was at last wounded by an accidental explosion of powder and forced to return to England. At this time Jamestown, which was the name of the settlement, contained five hundred men, sixty dwellings, a fort, ■'^ ■ " " "^ ?/ ' store and church. The people possessed ' / \ a little live stock and about thirt)' acres of cultivated land, but as this was all AN INDI.\N COUNCIL OF WAR inadequate to their support there followed what is known in the annals of the colony as the " Starving time." These earlier days in Virginia, while historically valuable only as a warning, have afforded an unusual share of romance, much of which centres about the unromantic name of Smith. The historian gladly concedes to this remarkable man his full share of credit for the survival of one of the most ill assorted THE STORY OF AMERICA. 49 parties that ever attempted to settle a new land. But, added to what is known of Smith's adventures, struggles and escapes, is a great deal that rests solely upon his own authority, and much of this is probably apocryphal. One hesitates, for instance, to e.xamine the Pocahontas legend too closely. There is no doubt of the existence of that aboriginal princess, of her marriage to the Englishman, Rolfe, of her enthusiastic reception by English society, or of the fact that some of her proud descendants live to-day in Virginia. But the pretty story of her devotion in saving the life of John. Smith by protecting him with her own person when the club of the executioner was raised by chief Powhatan's order may be questioned. The account was not given in Smith's first narratives, and was subsequently written by him several years after the death of the lady in question. The multitude of hairbreadth escapes and marvelous adventures of which Smith made himself the centre, have laid him open to the suspicion of drawing- a longer bow than Powhatan himself. I JOHN SMITH. Clearing away the romance, and allowing all that is necessary to one who is so often the hero of his own narrative, it may not be uninteresting to briefly note some of the unquestioned services that John Smith performed for the struggling colony. We have seen how he arrived under suspicion and arrest, landing on the site of the little settlement which was destined to owe so much to him, like a felon. The opening of the hitherto secret instructions given under the broad seal of England, disclosed the fact that he was one of the Councillors named in ^hat document. But it was his own clear head and strong courage rather than any royal appointment which won him the leadership in the affairs of the settle- ment. The quarrels and incompetency of the two governors, Wingfield and Ratcliffe, acted as a foil to display his superior quality. Although believing to the full in the common creed of his time, that the inducements of wealth were the only ones which would lead men to sacrifice home and comfort for the wilderness, yet he evinced a genius for hard work and a contempt for hard knocks worthy of a nobler purpose. It was in his first extended exploration of the Chickahominy that the Poca- hontas affair is supposed to have occurred. That he was taken prisoner then, and by some means escaped from his captors, is undeniable. And in passing, we may observe the curious misapprehension regarding the width of the Amer- ican continent which Smith's journey up the Chickahominy betrayed. He was actually looking for the Pacific ocean ! In keeping with this error is that clause in the American charters which would make the land grants like long, narrow ribbons reaching from ocean to ocean. In 1608 Smith ascended Chesapeake Bay and explored the larger rivers emptying into it. In an open boat, he traveled over two thousand miles on fresh 4 50 THE STORY OF AMERICA. water. He parleyed with the Mohawks, and returned to subdue the much more unmanageable colonists at Jamestown. When the half-starved and wholly discouraged adventurers became mutinous, his methods of dealing with them were dictatorial and effectual. As already stated, Smith, upon his departure from Virginia, left nearly five hundred people there. In six months there remained only sixty. Many had died, some thirty or more seized a small vessel and sailed South on a piratical expedition, and a number wandered into the Indian country and never came back. Sick and disheartened, the remainder resolved to abandon Virginia and seek Newfoundland. Indeed, they had actually made all preparations and were starting upon their voyage, when they were met by the new governor from England, Lord De La War, with ships, recruits and provisions. The charter under which De La War assumed the government of Virginia was sufficiently liberal. It was that granted to Raleigh. But in the years that followed, the colony began to be prosperous and to excite the jealousy of the king — the same base, faithless king that had beheaded Raleigh. James began to conspire against the Virginia charter. It was too liberal : he dreaded the power it conferred. By 1620 colonists were pouring into Jamestown at the rate of a thousand a year, and thence being distributed through the country. To try to condense the early colonial history of Virginia to the limits of our space would result in a bare recital of names, or a repetition of the narrative of ignorance, vice, and want, occasionally relieved by some deed of devotion or daring. At first, in spite of the liberal provisions of the charter, the conditions were, to a large extent, those of vassalage. In 1623 James ordered the Com- pany's directors to surrender their charter, a demand which they naturally refused. He then brought suit against the Company, seized their papers so that they should have no defence, and finally, through foul means obtained a decision dissolving the Company. After that the government of the colony consisted in a governor and two councils, one of which sat in Virginia and the other in London. The governor and councils were by royal appointment. bacon's rebellion. Here we must be allowed to digress a little, to give the part played by one Nathaniel Bacon in the affairs of Virginia. It was the year 1676, when Bacon became the leader of a popular movement instituted by the people of Kent Count}\ whose purpose was twofold — first, to protect themselves against the Indians, which the Government failed to do ; and, secondly, to resist the unjust taxes and the oppressive laws enacted by the existing legislative assembly, and also to recover their liberties lost under the arbitrary proceedings of Sir William Berkeley, then Governor. Bacon, a popular, quiet man, who had come over from England a year before, was selected as their leader by the people, who. GOVERNOR BERKELEY REMOVED. 51 enrolling themselves 300 strong, were led by Bacon against the Indians. Bacon's success increased the jealousy of Sir William, who, because of Bacon's irregular leadership, — he having no proper commission, — proclaimed Bacon a rebel. Finally, the people rose en masse, and demanded the dissolution of the old assembly, whose acts had caused so much trouble. Berkeley was forced to yield, and a new assembly was elected, who, condonine Bacon's irreeular leader- ship, promised him a regular com- mission as General. This commission Berkeley refused to issue, whereupon Bacon, assembling his forces, at the head of 500 men, appeared before BURNING OF lAMESTCVVN. Berkeley and demanded his commission, which Berkeley, who was a real coward, made haste to grant. But, as if repenting of his concession, Berkeley determined to oppose Bacon by force. In this he was unsuccessful, and in July of that year, Bacon entered Jamestown, the Capital, and burned the town. A little later, in October, Bacon died, and with him the " rebellion," or " popular uprising " as it had been variously called, subsided. Shortly afterward Berkeley was removed, for oppression and cruelty^ — a cruel, bloodthirsty man he was — and, sailing for England, died soon after his arrival, and the world's population of scoundrels was lessened by just one. While the curious mixture of cavalier and criminal was working out the 52 THE STORY OF AMERICA. early destinies of Virginia, a deeply religious element in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, England, were being educated by adversity for an adventure of a very different sort. At Scrooby, in 1606, a congregation of Separatists or Bronnists, who were ultra Puritans, used to meet secretly for worship at the house of their elder, William Brewster. King James, like most renegades, was a good persecutor, and he finally drove the Scrooby church to flee. Led by their^ pastor, that wisest and gentlest of the Puritans, John Robinson, the little com- pany escaped to Holland. The history of their ten years of sorrow and hard- ship in Amsterdam and Leyden is too well known to require repetition here. It is impossible to overestimate the influence of such a man as Robinson, or to question the permanency of the impression which his character and teaching made upon his flock. Procuring a patent from the London company, the Scrooby-Leyden Sepa- ratists prepared for their adventure.. Only about half the Holland company could get ready, and it fell to the pastor's lot to stay with those who were left behind. Embarking on the Speedwell, at Delft Haven, the colonists bade good-by to their friends and directed their course to England, where they were joined by the Mayflower. ARRIVAL OF THE MAYFLOWER. The Speedwell was found to be unseaworthy, so at length most of her passengers were transferred to the Mayflower, which proceeded on the voyage. To those who know how small a vessel of 180 tons is, the fact that one hundred souls, besides the crew, were upon a stormy ocean in her for more than sixty days, will be as eloquent as any description of their discomforts could be. The objective point was far to the southward of the land that they finally fell upon, which was not within the limits of their patent from the Virginia Company. But they dropped anchor in Cape Cod harbor, sick and weary with the voyage, and landed, giving thanks for their dehverance. With wisdom and frugality the plans for the home in the wilderness were made. Being too far North to be bound or protected by the provisions of the Virginia charter, the Pilgrims, as they called themselves, made a compact which was mutually protective. The terms of the contract foreshadowed republican institutions. Thus in character, purpose and outward surroundings the Puritan of Plymouth and the Cavalier of Jamestown differed essentially. The after development of the two settlements followed logically along these lines, empha- sizing these differences. Of the hundred souls left in Plymouth only fifty per cent, remained alive when the supplies from England came, a year later. Scurvy, famine and exposure to the severe climate had killed most of the weakest of them. Not a household but had suffered loss. Yet not one offered to go back. Men and THE PILGRIMS OF THE "MAYFLOIVER." 53 women alike stood to their posts with a heroism that has never been excelled in the world's history. We read how they planted their corn in the graveyard when planting time came, so that the Indians might not discover the greatness of their loss. Cotton Mather, in writing of this dark time says, with that provoking, cold-blooded philosophy that can bear other people's troubles with equanimity: "If disease had not more easily fetched so many away to heaven," all must have died for lack of provisions. The Indians were at first very hostile, owing to depredations com- mitted by a previous navi- gator, but they were too few in number to be very trouble- some. Squanto, who became the interpreter, and Samoset, a sagamore from the east- ern coast, were their first friends among the red men. Squanto was their tutor in husbandry and fishing. Then, too, came Hobba- mock, whom Longfellow has immortalized as the "friend of the white man." The names of those who formed this little colony have be- come household words all over the land. Miles Stan- dish, John Alden, Priscilla, Elder Brewster, Bradford, — where are these names not known ? Frugal as the Pilgrims were, and industrious, they found that their inexperience in planting maize, together with other drawbacks, kept them on the edge of starvation for several years. Clams became at one time the staple diet, and were about all that the settlers had to regale thier friends with, when a new ship-load of those that had been left behind in Leyden, arrived. A description of Plymouth, given in 1626, shows the situation of the town : A broad street, "about a cannon shot of eight hundred yards long," bordered ARMOR WORN KY THE PILGRIMS IN 162O. 54 THE STORY OF AMERICA by the houses of hewn planks, followed by a brook down the hillside. A second road crossed the first, and at the intersection stood the Governor's house. Upon the mound known as ' burial hill " was a building which served the double purpose of a fort and a church. A stockade surrounded the whole. At first the agricultural and other labors of the people had been communistic, in accordance with the conditions of the London Company's charter. But in 1624 this plan was done away with and the lands thereafter held separately. Still the people unlike those of Virginia, continued to dwell in towns, and their habits in this respect descended to their children. MILES STANDISH HOLDS A COUNCIL WITH THE INDHNS. BOUNDARY DISPUTES AND INDIAN WARS. 55 The second New England colony was that of Massachusetts Bay, which was sent out by a company provided with a charter ver)' much like that of Vir- ginia. The provisions of this patent allowed for the appointment of officers by the company, but it was not stated where the headquarters of the company were to be. This important oversight allowed the transplanting of the company, with officers, elective power, and other democratic rights, to New England. The company, which pretended to be a commercial organization, was really composed of Puritans, who, though not Separatists, were strict to the point of fanaticism. The leader of the first emigrants was John Endicott. His followers numbered less than a hundred souls, with which little force he planted Salem. The Salem colonists, though they had known less persecution and hardship than those of Ply- mouth, or perhaps for that reason, yet were more intol- erant and Quixotic in their rules for self government, in social observances, and especially in their dealings with people of other reli- gious sects. The transfer- ence of the government of the company, together with the addition of over eight hundred new colonists, was made in 1630. As the Massachusetts colonies grew they excited the jealousy or animosity of two very different classes of people. These were their Dutch neighbors and the Indians. The most serious of the early difficulties with the aborigines was, in fact, the effect of Dutch interference. These people had purchased the Connecticut river lands from the Pequots. The Pequots only held the territory by usurpation and the original owners obtained the Puritan protection, giving them a rival title. The enraged Pequots com- menced hostilities which were promptly resented by the Puritan Governor, Endicott, who led his men into the Indian country, punishing the assailants severely. This act, however necessary it may have been, laid the colony open A PIONEER FLEEING FROM ENRAGED PEQUOTS. 56 THE STORY OF AMERICA. to all the cruelty of a long-continued war, which lasted until the final rem- nant of the Pequot tribe had been extinguished. A PEQUOT MASSACRE. The war with Philip, Massasoit's son, occurred in 1675, when the col- ony was stronger and better able to bear the tax upon its vigor, but during the year in which it lasted the settle- HENDRICK HUDSON. 57 merits were frightfully crippled. Six hundred houses had been burned, the fighting force of the English had been decimated, and the fruits of years of labor wasted. The whole difficulty arose from the Puritans' " lust for inflicting justice," and might have been avoided. One of the most significant, as well as beneficial, of early New England institutions was the "town meeting," which ranked next to " the meeting house worship " in importance to the colonist ; for while in one he indulged liberty of conscience, the other allowed him liberty of speech. Having both his speech and his conscience under control, the Puritan took a sober delight in their indulgence. The town meeting was in the New Englander's blood, and it needed only the peculiar conditions of his new life to bring it out. His ancestors had had their Folkmotes where all questions of public policy and government were freely discussed. So it came natural to him to sfather in unsmiling; earnestness with his neighbors, and attend to their plans or suggest others for their mutual guidance and safety. This ventilation of grievances and expression of views did more, in all probability, to prepare for the part which New England should take in future political movements than any other one agency. HENDRICK HUDSON. The discovery of the Hudson River, and that of Lake Champlain occurred at nearly the same time, each discoverer immortalizing himself by the exploit. That of Hudson has, however, been of vastly more importance to America and the world than that of his French contemporary. Hudson was known as a great Arctic explorer prior to his discovery of the site of America's metropolis. He had previously sailed under English patronage, but now he and his little " Half-Moon " were in the service of the Dutch East India Company, and in search of a northwest passage, which he essayed to find by way of Albany, but failed. At the same time Smith was searching the waters of the Chesapeake. In 1614, the charter granting all of America between Virginia and Canada was received by the " Company of the New Netherlands " from the lately formed States General of Holland. The command of so magnificent a river system as that of the Hudson and its tributaries established almost at once the status and success of the Dutch colony. The States General held complete control of their American dependency. They appointed governors and councillors and provided them with laws. Ordinarily, the people seemed to care as little to mix with politics as does the modern average New Yorker, a good deal of bad government being considered better than a little trouble. Once in a while a governor got in some difficulty over the Indian question, and called a council of citizens to help him, but ordinarily he was despotic 58 . THE STORY OF AMERICA. The colonists were content to wax fat without kicking. They were honest, shrewd, crood-natured, tolerant bodies, as different from the New Englander as from the Virginian, or as either of these neighbors was from the other. Primarily traders, they found themselves in one of the best trading grounds in the world, with nothing serious to prevent them from growing rich and multiplying. This they proceeded to do with less noise and more success than either of the other contemporary settlements. In the fifty years of Dutch rule, the population of New Amsterdam reached eight thousand souls. The character of the city was so cosmopolitan that it has been estimated that no less than twelve languages were spoken there. Free trade obtained, in contrast to the policy of New England and Virginia. The boundary' difficulties with the Puritan colonies were a constant irritation, but were allowed to slumber when it was necessary to make common cause against the Indians. THE DUTCH LOSE NEW AMSTERDAM. In the time of Petrus Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch governors, the rivalry which existed between the English and Dutch nations regarding the trade of the new world led the treacherous Charles II of England to send an armament in a time of profound peace to take the colony of a friendly nation. Colonel Richard Nichols commanded the expedition. His orders caused him to stop at the Massachusetts Bay for reinforcements. The colonists there were reluctant to aid him, but those of Connecticut joined eagerly with the expedition, and Governor Winthrop took part in it. The colony passed, without a blow, with hardly a murmur on the part of the people, though considerably to the rage of Governor Stuyvesant, into the hands of the English, to be known thenceforth as New York. Notwithstanding the success of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, it was unquestionably a most important advantage in the after history of America that it should have fallen into the hands of the English. As a conservative element, the peaceful, prosperous Friend was of immense value in colonial development. The grant which William Penn obtained in 1681 gave him a tract of forty thousand square miles between the estates of York and Baltimore. Penn's charter was in imitation of that granted to Marjdand, with important differences. With the approval of Lord Baltimore, laws passed by the Maryland Assembly were valid, but the king reserved the right to approve the laws of Pennsylvania. The same principle was applied to the right of taxation. There was about fifty years between the two charters. The settlement of New Jersey by Quakers was that which first drew Penn's attention to America. In drawing up the plans for his projected State he did so in accordance with Quaker ideas, which in point of humanity were far in advance of the times. The declaration that governments exist for the sake of the 6o THE STORY OF AMERICA. governed, that the purpose of punishment is reformation, that justice to Indians as well as to white men should be considered, were starding in their novelty. The success of this enterprise was instant and remarkable. In three years the colony numbered eight thousand people. The applications for land poured in and the affairs of the colonists were wisely administered, and before the death of her great founder, Pennsylvania was firmly established. Education was a matter of care from the very start in Philadelphia, although throughout the rest of the state it was neglected for many years. Indian troubles were scarcely known. The great blot on the scutcheon of the Quaker colony was the use of white slaves, for whom Philadelphia became the chief market in the new world. Not less remarkable than the unity of time which characterized the planting of several American settlements was the unity of race into which they all finally merged, with few and slight exceptions, so that in after years all of the various lines of development which have been indicated in this chapter should combine to form a more complete national life. Penn made a treaty with the Indians, and kept it ; and herein lies the secret of his success. If only all treaties had been kept, what bloodshed might not have been avoided ! CHAPTER III MA-KINQ THE NE^Ar PEOPLE. A NEW ENGLAND WEAVER WINDING THE SPOOLS. AFTER the colonists had forced the issue with fortune and had got more in touch with their new surroundings, they began to discover the fallacy of most of their first notions and to adjust themselves to the new problems as best they could. The day when the settlement of a new world could be regarded as an experi- ment with possible fabulous results was over. They had come to stay, and they understood that staying meant winning and winninof meant working. The early notion that great fortunes were waiting to be picked up In the New Land, and that gold and silver and precious stones were almost to be had for the asking, had given place to a settled convictien that intelligent labor only would enable the settler to retain his foothold. Aid from the mother countries could not be depended upon, precarious as it was, nor was it to be desired. There were object lessons in frugality and industry taat the colonist had set before him every day ; lessons that he finally learned by heart. As has been very wisely said, the problem which confronted the new people was one of changed conditions. Whereas in England harvests were reckoned at their cost per acre, in America they were counted at their cost per man, because in the old country labor was plentiful and land scarce, and in the new it was just the reverse. So he who cultivated the soil after old country methods must, of necessity, find want oppressing him and starvation lurking with the wolves and bears in his forests. Successful farming must be " skim ming " the plentiful new land. To cut and burn wood-land, cultivate grain between the stumps, and abandon old holdings for new, was the necessity of the hour. Elsewhere we will speak of the influence of a staple upon the social and 6i I 62 THE STORY OF AMERICA. political life of Virginia. The first staple was tobacco. The growth of rice in the south did not begin till some years after the establishment of tobacco ; and cotton culture was never really begun, except in a small way for domestic demands, till after independence was achieved, when the invention of Whitney's cotton gin had made it possible to minimize the immense labor of hand-cleaning. The cultivation of rice, which had previously been grown in Madagascar, began in South Carolina in 1696, when a planter named Thomas Smith got from the captain of a brigantine a bag of rice for seed. Smith had been in Madagascar, and the appearance of some black wet soil in his garden suggested to him the soil of the rice plantations on that island. The experiment was a complete and instant success. Smith's rice grew luxuriantly and multiplied so that he was able to provide his neighbors with seed. This at first they attempted to grow upon the higher ground, but shortly found that the swamps were better adapted for the staple. In three years from the time of the first distribution of seed Thomas Smith had been made Governor of the colony. The people of South Carolina who had borrowed a staple for years and who had not made the advance in pros- yerity that other colonists had, at last were blessed with a product all their own, one which was perfectly adapted to the soil. They learned to husk the rice, at first by hand but afterwards by horse power and tide mills. Then rice culture began to spread to Georgia, to Virginia, even as far North as New Jersey, but nowhere did it succeed as well as in the Carolinas. Even to-day the people of that section have cause to bless the forethought of Smith and the head winds that blew the brigantine with her rice cargo into a harbor on that coast. Carolina also tried indigo growing, which became profitable about the middle of the iSth century. Miss E.'iza Lucan, afterwards Mrs. Pinckney, mother of General Pinckney, deserves th^ credit of its introduction. The Northern farmer, from the first, (-ultivated only a few acres compared with the large Southern plantations. His efforts were confined to the produc- tion of wheat and corn. Indian corn was grown from the very earliest New England days ; the Indians had taught the white men their own method of manuring the corn hills by putting in each a codfish. Rye, little used as a food grain, was cultivated by certain Scotch and Irish settlers as a basis for whiskey. New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were the great bread producers. In the year 1770, or thereabouts, the value of flour and bread exports reached $3,000,000. This was the result of a century and a half of patient, intelligent labor. All along the northern coast the importance of the fisheries was felt, from the early French settlements on Newfoundland, that antedated any successful planting of colonists on the main land of North America, till the development of the great fisheries of New England. The astonishment of those who described THE STAPLES. the country at an early period was occasioned by the teeming life, the marvelous fertility, of all creatures, either in the ocean or on the land. The immense schools of cod gave to the inhabitants of the coast employment which soon rose to the dignity of an industr)^ From Salem, Cape Cod and many other points, fleets of small vessels went and returned, till a generation of sailors who should accomplish more important voyages and adventures was bred on the fishing banks. One of the most curious chapters in the history of husbandry in the New World is that of the attempt to force a staple. Some one conceived the idea ,fsM^ FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE — A TYPICAL VIRGINIA COURT HOUSE. that the heavy duties that made the silk of France and Southern Europe so ' expensive might be avoided by raising the silk-worm and manufacturing the fabric in the British colonies. About 1623 the silk-worm was brought to Virginia, and a law was enacted making the planting of mulberry trees, the food of the silk-worm, compulsory. The House of Burgesses passed resolutions of the most exacting character. It also offered premiums for the production of silk, and in other ways endeavored to foster the new industry. It was required that every citizen should plant one mulberry tree to every ten acres of ground. Among the rewards offered was one of ten thousand pounds of tobacco for 64 THE STORY OF AMERICA. fifty pounds of silk. This was in 1658. That seemed to be a generous year with the Burgesses, for they also offered the same amount of tobacco for the production of a certain small quantity of wine from grapes grown in the colony. The silk laws were withdrawn in Virginia in 1666. Georgia, too, had a silk craze, and Pennsylvania and Delaware also went heavily into the production. Charles II wore a complete court dress of Amer- ican silk, which, it is said, must have cost its weight in gold to produce. The efforts to revive the silk industry were several times attempted, but without success. Except that we occasionally hear that some member of the British AN OLD TIME COLONIAL HOUSE. {BuUt in ib34, Bedford, Mass.) royal family was clad in American silk, we might almost doubt the existence of the industry. Vine planting and wine making were among the "encouraged " industries. All of these Utopian schemes for the acquisition of sudden wealth failed because they were not based upon any true appreciation of natural conditions in the New World. Fruits and vegetables were grown very early In the seventeenth century. In the latter part of the century' a fresh impetus was given to horticulture by John Bartram, the Quaker, at Philadelphia. FEUDALISM IN AMERICA. 65 Horses and cattle, especially in the South, were allowed to run wild in the woods till the forests were full of them, and hunting this large game became a favorite amusement. Horses were so numerous in some places as to be a nuisance. New England adopted an old English custom, and the people herded their live stock in common, appointing general feeding places and overseers for it. The laws of England were such as to discourage sheep raising in the New World, and the wolves seconded the laws, but the farmers persisted, neverthe- less, though they were not so successful in this as in some other pursuits. As soon as the immediate necessity for the guns and stockades of the town were removed, those of the more favored colonists of Virginia who had obtained land grants began to separate, forming manorial estates and engaging in the production of staples, principal among which was tobacco. The tenants were practically serfs at first, and the introduction of slave labor made the proprietor even more independent, if possible, than he had been before, giving him authority almost absolute within his own domains, even to the power over human life. It has been truly said that " that which broke down representation by boroughs and made the parish a vast region with very little corporate unity, was the lighting upon a staple." Tobacco and rice were the responsible agents for Virginia's social and political conditions, which resulted in the production of strong, self-reliant, and brave, though impetuous and uncontrollable men. From the first, none of the great colonies bore so close a resemblance to England in the development of a feudal system as Virginia. The ownership of what would be to us vast tracts of land, was due to the way in which Virginia was settled. Men of no especial note held estates of ten, twenty, or thirty thou- sand acres. This was the result of the very rapid increase in the cultivation of the great staple. For a great many years the white servants were much more numerous than the blacks, and with indentured servitude, which was equal to slavery in all points but that of perpetuity ; then arose the great class distinctions, which were almost unknown in the New England colonies, although originally the rural Virginia land-owner and the New England settler were of the same class. The effect of environment on social development can nowhere be traced more distinctly than in the first two great English colonies in America. Town life, as remarked elsewhere, was not known in Virginia. Up to the time of the war for independence her largest towns numbered only a very few thousand souls — not more than many a Northern village. There were very few roads and very many water-ways, so that the trading vessels could reach the individual plantation much more easily than the plantations could reach each other. The English custom of entail was early transplanted to Virginia, with some adaptations to suit the new conditions. The abolition of this system was due to Thomas Jefferson, as late as 1776. 5 66 THE STORY OF AMERICA. The Virginia substitute for the New England town meeting, committees, etc., was the vestry and parish system, modeled in part after the English parish. The vestrymen in each parish, however, were twelve representatives chosen by the people of the parish. This at least was the case at first, till by obtaining power to fill vacancies they became practically self-elective. The vestrymen were apportioners and collectors of taxes, overseers of the poor, and governors of the affairs of the church. Their presiding officer was the minister. Mr. John Fiske, in his admirable text-book, "Civil Government in the United States," makes this observation: "In New England, the township was the unit of representation, but in Virginia the parish was not the unit of repre- sentation ; the county was that unit. In the colonial legislature of Virginia the representatives sat not for parishes but for counties." The county was arbitrarily OLD SPANISH HOUSE ON BOURBON STREET, NEW ORLEANS. defined as to physical limits, nor were any particular number of parishes required to constitute it. There might be one parish or a dozen. The machinery of county government consisted principally of a court which met once a month in some central place, where a court-house was erected. There it tried minor criminal offences and major civil actions. The court also was one of probate, and had the supervision of highways, appointing the necessary servants and officials. Like the parishes, the county courts, in course of time, became self-elective. The taxes, like many other obligations, were paid in tobacco, of which the sheriff was the collector and custodian. He also presided at elections for representatives to the colonial assembly. There were eight justices of the peace in each county. These were WHITE SLAVERY. 67 nominated by the court (/. e., by their own body), and appointed by the Governor. The election, or rather appointment of the sheriff was conducted in the same way practically, so that we see how little voice the people really had in either parochial or county government. On July 30, 1619, Virginia's first General Assembly convened; as the English historian said, "A House of Burgesses broke out in Virginia." These Burgesses were at first the representatives of plantations, of which each chose two. The duty of the Assembly was to counsel the Governor ; or, more nearly in accordance with the facts, to keep him in check and make his life miserable. In 1634 the Burgesses first sat for counties, upon the new political formation. So it will be seen that the earliest form of representative government in the Colonies began in Virginia; and that it was not government by the voice of the people, is apparent. The poor whites, or "white trash," as they were called at a later day, had little or no voice. The riehts and liberties that were contended for were those of the rich and powerful. As in England, civil liberty began with the barons and did not extend to those in the humbler walks of life, so in Virginia, it was the planter, the proprietor of acres, the owner of slaves, who first guarded his own rights against despotism. In New England, on the contrary, such a thing as caste was hardly known. Town life induced a development very different from that of plantation life. Perhaps the individual was less aggres- sively independent. Perhaps the long course of bickering and obstruction on the part of Virginia's Burgesses against her governors, was as good a school as possible for future essays — the direction of national liberty ; but it is certain that New England cquld show a high level of intelligence all along the line. She had no "poor whites." While the distinctly influential class was not so prominently developed, each man had influence. He counted one, always. The practice of sending criminals and the offscouring of England to the Colonies under articles of bondage became established. Men were sold, some voluntarily, and others by force, for a term of years. The broken-down gentlemen, soldiers, and adventurers who composed the bulk of the inhabitants, found this system of white slavery to their temporary advantage, and the AN OLD VIRGINIA MANSION. 68 THE STORY OF AMERICA. exodus of those creatures from London was doubtless a relief to the authorities there. Sandys, the Treasurer of the Virginia Company, sent, in 1619, thirty young women, whose moral characters were vouched for, who were bought as wives iby the colonists upon their arrival ; the price of passage being the value set upon each damsel. As the years went by, the evil of this system of bondage became more and more apparent, and spread to other parts of the country. Philadelphia, the THE JAMES RIVER AND COUNTRY NEAR RICHMOND. Quaker refuge, was a white slave mart. Such terms as "Voluntary sales," "Redemptioners," "Soul Drivers," "Kids," "Free Willers," "Trepanning," etc., were familiar throughout the new land. Kidnapping in England, for the Colonies, was so common that it became the cause of violent agitation. Even yOuth of rank were not exempt from the danger and degradation. Those who carried on the business of trepan- ning were known as " Spirits." Criminals under sentence of death, might have the sentence commuted to seven years' servitude. Artisans and laborers COTTON MATHER AND THE WITCHES. 69 who were unemployed could be "retained" by force, under certain conditions. Of course, these bond-servants were a source of moral and social trouble and danger to the colonists. The usual impression regarding the Puritans is that they were austere, unsmilinpf men, with much hard fanaticism and little of the milk of human kindness. That they did suffer much and cause others to suffer for conscience sake is undoubtedly true, but no special pleading should be required to convince those who read the early history of New England carefully, that the highest of Christian virtues flourished quite as much in the Boston of the seventeenth century as in the Boston of the eighteenth or nineteenth. The good John Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts, who was firm and even severe in his administration of the government, so that he frequently felt the results of unpopularity, was, as one writer calls him, "most amiable" in his private character. A neighbor, accused of stealing from Winthrop' s wood- pile, was brought before him. The Governor had announced that he would take such measures that the thief should never be able to rob him again, so, of course, the case attracted attention. " You have taken my wood," said Winthrop, in effect ; " You have my permission to keep on doing so. Help yourself as long as the winter lasts." We can imagine the scene when his servant, who used to be sent with messages to the poorer neighbors about dinner time, returned from one of his visits. The Governor's interest quickened as he listened to the details of the meals at which the servant had acted as a spy. Mr. So-and-so was without meat, this one lacked bread, and that other ate his bread dry. The good man expressed his sympathy in the best possible way, by sharing his larder. The man who had been one of Winthrop's angry opponents owned himself vanquished when he received from the object of his animosity a cow, in his time of need. In a quaint fashion he expressed himself: "Sir, by overcoming yourself you have overcome me." The best early history of the colony of Massachusetts is that written by Governor Winthrop. Next to that work in value is Cotton Mather's Magnalia Cliristi Americana, which is a history of the colony in all its interests and affairs, from the year 1620 to 1689. COTTON MATHER AND THE WITCHES. Cotton Mather's name is perhaps most widely known as the great instigator of persecution in the time of the witchcraft terror. A man of great and varied learning, he was singularly devoid of common sense, and allowed himself to be swayed by opinions that bear a close resemblance to those of insanity. Unfortunately, through his great influence, and perhaps by virtue of that quality which we have learned to call "personal magnetism," he succeeded in inoculat- 70 THE STORY OF AMERICA. ing a majority of the most influential people of Massachusetts with his singular craze. There had been executions for witchcraft in New England before Doctor Mather's time, but in the revival of persecution he was most prominent. Especially severe have som.e New York writers of later years been, in com- menting upon this reign of terror in New England, yet New York's history has had a darker chapter of cruelty. Twenty hangings for witchcraft occurred in Salem; nearly double that number of persons were burned at the stake in New York City, upon the ground until recently known as the " Five Points." Both of these occurrences were in the same generation, but the one was the result of delusion, while the other resulted from abject terror, caused by one Mary A PROTEST AGAINST PERSECUTION. "ji Burton, a criminal cliaracter, who pretended to have information of a negro insurrection, and then for a few pounds swore away forty hves. Virginia, too, had her witch trials, though not carried to the lengths that those of Salem were, and even tolerant Maryland has her record of witch hanging. And surely none can fail to honor Samuel Sewell, of Massachusetts, whose public expression of sorrow for the part he had taken in the witch executions was one of the first signs of recovery from the popular delusion. In like manner the persecutions of the Friends were due to the same sombre, sadly mistaken views of religious duty. Undoubtedly the New England Quakers were guilty of some actions which must have greatly annoyed the Puritans. The gentlest, kindliest, and, in some respects, the most enlightened people in the New World showed sometimes a most exasperating obstinacy in doing things which should shock the strict ideas of propriety which the Pilgrims possessed. For instance, in New London Pastor Mather Byles was greatly annoyed by having Quaker men sit with their hats on and women with their spinning wheels in the aisles, industriously working during service on the Lord's day. As soon as the Quakers were settled, when no one opposed them the aggressive side of their character, as shown in symbolic acts of an exaggerated kind, does not seem to have manifested itself at all. A PROTEST AGAINST PERSECUTION. In the middle of the century the beginning of the protest against Quaker persecution began to be felt. Nicholas Upsall, pastor of the Boston Church, first opposed it. He was promptly fined twenty pounds and banished. He was refused a home in Plymouth and returned to Cape Cod, where he succeeded in inoculating a number of other people with his views. Robinson, son of the Leyden pastor, was sent by the General Court of Massachusetts to visit the Quakers and expostulate with them. He decided that there was no harm in them and made an able defence of them, for which he was disfranchised. The prejudice, once started, took years to eradicate. Perhaps a few lines from Cotton Mather on this subject may not be out of place. He says : — "It was also thot that the very Quakers themselves would say that, if they had got into a corner of the world and with immense toyl and change made a wilderness habitable in order there to be undisturbed in the exercise of their worship, they would never hear to have New Englanders come among them and interrupt their public worship, endeavor to seduce their children from it, yea, and repeat such endeavors after mild entreaties first and then just banishment." It is probable that in an age when we are more fond of finding causes for things than of suffering for conscience sake we will blame neither party in this obsolete quarrel. It was incompatibility of temper. Another of the matters about which the public is apt to be severe upon the 72 THE STORY OF AMERICA. Puritans is the code known as " Blue Laws," concerning which a great deal has been said by people who value themselves upon their "liberal " views. Rules relating to Sabbath observances are quoted. We are told indig- nantly that the Puritan could not kiss his wife or children on the Sabbath, nor walk in his garden, nor do any one of a number of things that are innocent and proper. There is just one answer to these strictures. The Blue laws were wholly unknown to the Puritans. They were invented by that Tory wag, Dr. Samuel Peters, whose humorous " History of Connecticut" was as seriously taken by some folks as was Washington Irving's " Knickerbocker " a generation later. It is not probable that Dr. Peters ever supposed that they would be taken seriously. Of Puritans, Quakers, and other religionists of the olden time we are apt to think as though they were separate varieties of the human race, not to be under- stood by the light of any common experience of human nature, while in fact they were very human — and (perhaps in consequence) very much lied about. THE HUDSON RIVER ESTATES. Washington Irving has humorously dwelt upon facts in his relation of the differences which occurred between the Dutch Government in New Amsterdam and the Patroons whose little principalities were further up the Hudson River. The grants to the patroons were such as to insure to them almost absolute con- trol upon their estates, with only the shadow of allegiance. The fact that the great patroons allowed a semblance of subserviency to the metropolitan governor was rather a question of their advantage than of their necessity. The holdings were immense. The Livingstone estate was sixteen by twenty-eight miles in extent ; the Van Courtlandts owned eight hundred square miles ; the Rensselaer manor contained five hundred and seventy-five square miles. Sir Vredryk Flypse, the richest man in the colony, possessed the fairest portion of the river from Spuyten Duyvel Creek to the Croton River. From the mill on his manor he shipped grain and other commodities direct to Holland and to the West Indies, and received rum and other exchanges from those countries, without either clearing or entering at the port of New Amsterdam (or New York as it afterwards was called). Flypse, Van Courtlandt, and Bayard were keen politicians as well as successful traders. To them is credited the hanging of Governor Zeisler, and they were hotly charged with receiving from Kidd, whose privateering commission they had procured, a share of his piratical booty. Upon the great estates, the exactions of the lords proprietors drove many tenants out of the colony. Some of the patroons even went to the length of asserting their right to eject tenants and reassume the land at will. This course of procedure retarded the growth and development of the Hudson River SCHOOLS IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH 73 Settlements for many years tion of feudal authority in New York were very much like the monopolies of land and power in the South. But in one thing New Am- sterdam differed very much from Virginia ; that was in the possession of a thriving, busy city that should coun- In some respects the great estates and assump- terbalance the spirit of feudalism by its democratic disposi- tion. y How can we close this chapter better than by refer- ence to the beofinninofs of what we hold most precious of all the legacies which the fore- fathers of the American people left to their descendants ? In Virginia Governor Berkeley, in 1671 thanked God that there were no free schools, nor were likely to be for a hundred years. But less than twenty years afterward, a different feeling began to prevail. William's and Mary's College was founded by James Blair in 1692. But already a university was in rHE ATTACK c iN KMIKRS AT STKlNiU lELD, MASS., IN I786. 74 THE STORY OF AMERICA. existence in the North, and the first common-school system, probably, that the world had ever known, had been established half a century in Massachusetts. Salem's free-school dates back to 1640, and the state adopted a general plan for common schools seven years later ; a plan, the purpose of which was set forth in language so remarkable, that it should be preserved through all time — a few sentences we can give: "That learning may not be buried in the grave of our faith in the church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors, — It is therefore ordered, that every township in this jurisdiction after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to write and to read, . . . and it is further ordered that where any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families they shall set up a grammar-school to instruct youth so far that they may be fitted for the university." Maryland was nearly a century in following this lead. Rhode Island, beginning where Massachusetts did, fell from grace in educational matters till 1800. Philadelphia had good schools at a very early date, and New Amsterdam, or New York, moved very slowly, doubtless feeling confident that, whatever their attitude toward letters, her children would instinctively learn the use of figures. But we cannot pursue this matter widiout trenching upon another chapter. It is difficult to conceive that from the various forma- tive elements in the lives of the early colonists, a single one could have been well spared in the making of the new people. But Virginia was not the only State troubled with insurrection. Massachu- setts had a like experience. It was in 1786 that the movement broke out, Daniel Shay, a Revolutionary captain, havifig been rather forced to the head as leader, so that it became known as Shay's Rebellion. The pretext of the rebellion was the high salar)' paid the Governor, the aristocratic character of the Senate, the extortions of lawyers, and the oppressive taxation. In December, 1786, he led a considerable force of rioters to Worcester, where he prevented the holding of the U. S. Court, and with 2000 men traveled to Springfield, Mass., January, 1787, to capture the arsenal [see engraving], but was repulsed by the militia under General Shepard. Finally, defeated, he fled the State, but he was pardoned the following year by Governor Bowdoin. Ultimately he received a pension for Revolutionary services. He died September 29th, 1825, at Sparta, N. Y., whither he had removed. CHAPTER IV. THE WA.R KOR INDEPENDENCE. A WITTY foreigner, watching the course of the American Revolution, wrote to Benjamin Franklin that Great Britain was undertaking the task "of catching two millions of people in a boundless desert with fifty thousand men." This was a crude and inaccurate way of putting it, but it expresses suc- cinctly the magnitude and difficulty of the campaign that lay before the British generals. When Parliament rather reluc- tandy authorized the raising of twenty-five thousand men for the war, Great Britain was still forced to obtain most of this number by subsidizing German mercenaries J^ from the small principalities, who were indiscrimi- nately called Hessians by the colonists, and the em- ployment of whom did much to still further provoke bitterness of feeling. At one time in the Revolution Great Britain had over three hundred thousand men in arms, the world over, but of this number not more than one-tenth could be sent to America. But the greatest obstacle to British success lay in the fact that the English leaders, military and civil, constantl7 underrated the courage, endurance, and earnestness of their opponents. That raw militia could stand their ground against regulars was a hard lesson for the British to learn ; that men from civil life could show such aptitude for strategy, as did Washington, Schuyler, and Greene, was a revelation to the profes- sional military men, the significance of which they grasped only when it was too late. Above all, the one thing that made the colonists the victors was the indomitable energy, self-renuncia- tion, and strategic ability of George Washington. We are so accustomed to think of Washington's moral qualities, that it is only ;s THE MONUMENT ON BUNKER HILL, 76 THE STORY OF AMERICA. when we come close to the history of the war that we fully recognize how great was his military genius — a genius which justly entitles him to rank with the few truly great soldiers of his- tory, such as Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, and Von Moltke. Almost alone among the American gen- erals of the Revolution, he was always willing to subor- dinate his own personal glory to the final success of his deep laid and com- prehensive plans. Again and again he risked his standing with Congress, and ran the danger of being superseded by one or another jealous general of lower rank, rather than yield in a particle his de- liberate scheme of cam- paign. Others received the popular honors for bril- liant sino^le movements while he waited and plan- ned for the final result. What the main lines of his strategy were we shall en- deavor to make clear in the following sketch : — When the news of the running fight from Con- cord to Lexington spread through the country, the militia hurried from every direction toward Boston. Israel Putnam literally left his plough in the field ; John Stark, with his sturdy New Hampshire volunteers, reached the spot in three days ; Nathaniel Greene headed fifteen hundred men from Rhode Island ; Benedict Arnold led a band THE STORY OF AMERICA. 77 of patriots from Connecticut ; the more distant colonies showed equal eager- ness to aid in the defense of American liberties. Congress displayed deep wisdom in appointing George Washington Commander in Chief, not only because of his personal ability and the trust all men had in him, but because it was politically an astute measure to choose the leader from some other State than Massachusetts. But before Washington could reach the Con- tinental forces, as they soon began to be called, the battle of Bunker Hill had been fought. And before that, even, Ethan Allen, with his Green Moun- tain Boys, had seized Fort Ticonderoga " in the name of Jehovah and the Con- tinental Congress " — which Congress, by the way, showed momentarily some reluctance to sanction this first step of aggressive warfare. The occupation by Allen and Arnold of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, at the southern end of Lake Champlain, was of great military importance, both because of the large quantities of ammunition stored there, and because these places defended the line of the Hudson River valley against an attack from Canada. The battle of Bunker Hill, looked at from the strictly military point of view, was a blunder on both sides, astonishing as was its moral effect. The hill, properly named Breed's Hill, but to which the name of Bunker Hill is now forever attached, rises directly back of Charlestown, on a peninsula con- nected with the main land by a narrow isthmus. The American forces seized this on the night of June i6th, 1775, and worked the night through intrenching themselves as well as they could. With the morning came the British attack. The position might easily have been reduced by seizing the isthmus, and for this reason the Americans had hardly shown military sagacity in their occupation of the hill. But the British chose rather to storm the works from the front. Three times the flower of the English army in battle line swept up the hill ; twice they were swept back with terrible loss, repulsed by a fire which was reserved until they were close at hand ; the third time they seized the position, but only when the Americans had exhausted their ammunition, and even then only after a severe hand to hand fight. The British loss was over a thousand men ; the American loss about four hundred and fifty. When Washington heard of the battle he instantly asked if the New England militia had stood the fire of the British regulars, and when the whole story was told him he exclaimed, "The liberties of the country are safe." The spirit shown then and thereafter by our sturdy patriots is well illustrated by the story (chosen as the subject of one of our pictures) of the minister, who when in one battle there was a lack of wadding for the guns, brought out an armful of hymn books and exclaimed " Give them Watts, boys ! " The next clash of arms came from Canada. General Montgomery led two thousand of the militia against Montreal, by way of Lake Champlain, and easily captured it (November 12, 1775). Thence he descended the St. Lawrence to 78 THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. Quebec, where he joined forces with Benedict Arnold, who had brought twelve hundred men through the Maine wilderness, and the two Generals attacked the British stronghold of Quebec. The attempt was a failure ; Arnold was wounded, Montgomery was killed, and though the Americans fought gallantly they were driven back from Canada by superior forces. Meanwhile the siege of Boston was syste- matically carried on by Wash« ington, and in the spring of 1776 the American General gained a commanding position by seizing Dor^ chaster Heights (which bore much the same relation to Boston on the South that Breed's Hill did on the North) and General Howe found himself forced to evacuate the city. He sailed with his whole force for Halifa.x, taking with him great numbers of American sym- pathizers with British rule, together with their property. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 79 The new Congress met at Philadelphia in May. During the first month of its sessions it became evident that there had been an immense advance in pub- lic opinion as to the real issue to be maintained. Several of the colonies had expressed a positive conviction that National independence must be demanded. Virginia had formally instructed her delegates to take that ground, and it was on the motion of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, seconded by John Adams, of Massachusetts, that Congress proceeded to consider the resolution "That these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved." This bold utterance was adopted on July 2d by all the colo- nies except New York. The opposition came mainly from Pennsylvania and New York, and was based, not on lack of patriotism, but on a feeling that the time for such an assertion had not yet come, that a stronger central government should first be established, and that attempts should be made to secure a for- eign alliance. It should be noticed that the strongest opponents of the measure, John Dickinson and Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania, were among the most patriotic supporters of the Union. To Robert Morris in particular, whose skill as a financier steered the young Nation through many a difficulty, the country owes a special debt of gratitude. The Declaration of Independence, formally adopted two days later, was written mainly by the pen of Thomas Jefferson. It is unique among State papers — a dignified though impassioned, a calm though eloquent, recital of injuries inflicted, demand for redress, and avowal of liberties to be maintained with the sword. Its adoption was hailed, the country through, as the birth of a new Nation. Never before has a country about to appeal to war to decide its fate put upon record so clear-toned and deliberate an assertion of its purposes and its reasons, and thus summoned the world and posterity to witness the justice and righteousness of its cause. Thus far in the war the engagements between the opposing forces had been of a detached kind — not related, that is, to any broad plan of attack or defense. Of the same nature also was the British expedition against South Carolina, led by Sir Henrj' Clinton and Lord Cornwallis. Their fleet attacked Charleston, but the fort was so bravely defended by Colonel Moultrie, from his palmetto-log fortifications on Sullivan's Island, that the fleet was forced to aban- don the attempt and to return to New York. But the British now saw that it was imperative to enter upon a distinct and extensive plan of campaign. That adopted was sagacious and logical ; its failure was due, not to any inherent defect in itself, but to lack of persistency in adhering to it. Washington under- stood it thoroughly from the first, and bent all his energies to tempting the enemy to diverge from the main object in view. The plan, in brief, was this : New York City was to be seized and held as a base of supplies and centre of 8o THE BRITISH PLAN FEASIBLE. operations ; from it a stretch of country to the west was to be occupied and held, thus cutting off communication between New York and the New England States on the one side and Pennsylvania and the Southern States on the other. Meanwhile a force was to be pushed down from Canada to the head of the Hudson River, to be met by another force pushed northward up the Hudson. In this way New England would be practically surrounded, and it was thought that its colonies could be reduced one by one, while simultaneously or later an army could march southward upon Philadelphia. The plan was quite feasible, but probably at no time did the British have sufficient force to carry it out in detail. They wofully over-estimated, also, the assistance they might receive from the Tories in New York State. And they still more wofully under-esti- mated Washington's ability as a strategist in blocking their schemes. General Howe, who was now Commander-in-Chief of the British army, drew his forces to a head upon Staten Island, combining there the troops which had sailed from Boston to Halifax, with Clinton's forces which had failed at Charleston, and the Hessians newly arrived. In all he had over thirty thousand soldiers. Washington, who had transferred his headquarters from Boston to the vicinity of New York after the former city had been evacuated by the British, occupied the Brooklyn Heights with about twenty thousand poorly equipped and undrilled colonial troops. To hold that position against the larger forces of regulars seemed a hopeless task ; but every point was to be contested. In point of fact, only five thousand of the Americans were engaged in the battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776) against twenty thousand men brought by General Howe frpm Staten Island. The Americans were driven back after a hotly contested fight. Before Howe could follow up his victory Washington planned and executed one of those extraordinary, rapid movements which so often amazed his enemy ; in a single night he withdrew his entire army across the East River into New York in boats, moving so secretly and swiftly that the British first found out what had happened when they saw the deserted camps before them on the following morning. Drawing back through the city Washington made his next stand at Harlem Heights, occupying Fort Washing- ton on the east and Fort Lee on the west side of the Hudson, thus guarding the line of the river while prepared to move southward toward Philadelphia if occasion should require. In the battle of White Plains the Americans suffered a repulse, but much more dispiriting to Washington was the disarrangement of his plans caused by the interference of Congress. That over-prudent body sent special orders to General Greene, at Fort Washington, to hold it at all odds, while Washington had directed Greene to be ready on the first attack to fall back upon the main army in New Jersey. The result was the capture of Fort Washington, with a loss of three thousand prisoners. To add to the misfortune, General Charles Lee, who commanded a wing of the American RECKONED WITHOUT HIS HOST. 8i army on the east side of the river, absolutely ignored Washington's orders to join him. Lee was a soldier of fortune, vain, ambitious, and volatile, and there is little doubt that his disobedience was due to his hope that Washington was irretrievably ruined and that he might succeed to the command. Gathering his scattered troops together as well as he could, Washington retreated through New Jersey, meeting ever^^where with reports that the colonists were in despair, that many had given in their allegiance to the British, that Congress had fled to Baltimore, and that the war was looked on as almost over. In this crisis it was an actual piece of rare good fortune that Charles Lee should be captured by soldiers while spending the night at a tavern away from his camp, for the result was that Lee's forces were free to join Washington's command, and at once did so. Altogether some six thousand men were left In the army, and were drawn into something like coherence on the other side of the Delaware River. General Howe announced that he had now nothing to do but wait the freezing of the Delaware, and then to cross over and "catch Washington and end the war." But he reckoned without his host. Choosing, as the best time for his bold and sudden movement, Christmas night, when revelry in the camp of the enemy might be hoped to make them careless, Washington crossed the river. Leading in person the division of twenty-five hundred men, which alone suc- ceeded in making the passage over the river, impeded as it was with great blocks of ice, he marched straight upon the Hessian outposts at Trenton and captured them with ease. Still his position was a most precarious one. Corn- wallis was at Princeton with the main British army, and marching directly upon the Americans, penned them up, as he thought, between Trenton and the Delaware. It is related that Corn wallis remarked, "At last we have run down the old fox, and we will bag him in the morning." But before morning came Washington had executed another surprising and decisive mancEuvre. Main- taining a great show of activity at his intrenchments, and keeping camp-fires brightly burning, he noiselessly led the main body of his army round the flank of the British force and marched straight northward upon Princeton, capturing as he went the British rear guard on its way to Trenton, seizing the British post of supplies at New Brunswick, and in the end securing a strong position on the hills in Northern New Jersey, with Morristown as his headquarters. There he could at last rest for a time, strengthen his army, and take advantage of the prestige which his recent operations had brought him. Let us turn our attention now to the situation further north. General Burgoyne had advanced southward from Canada through Lake Champlain and had easily captured Ticonderoga. His object was, of course, to advance in the same line to the south until he reached the Hudson River ; but this was a very different matter from what he had supposed it. General Schuyler was in com- 8a THE STORY OF AMERICA. mand of the Americans, and showed the highest mihtary skill in opposing Bur- goyne's progress, cutting off his sup- plies and harassing him generally. An expedition to assist Burgoyne had been sent down the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, thence to march eastward to ' the head of the Hudson, gathering aid as it went from the Indians and Tories. % SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE. This expedi- tion was an utter failure ; a t Oriskany the Tories and British were defeated in a fiercely fought battle, in which a greater proportion SURRENDER OF GENERAL BURGOYNE. 83 of those engaged were killed than in any other battle of the war. Disheart- ened at this, and at the near approach of Benedict Arnold, St. Leger, who was at the head of the expedition, fled in confusion back to Canada. Meanwhile Burgoyne had sent out a detachment to gather supplies. This was utterly routed at Bennington by the Vermont farmers under General Stark. Through all the country round about the Americans were flocking to arms, their patriotism enforced by their horror at the atrocities committed by Burgoyne's Indian aUies and by the danger to their own homes. Practically, Burgoyne was surrounded, and though he fought bravely in the battles of Still- water (September 19, 1777) and Bemis's Heights (October 7th), he was over- matched. Ten days after the last-named battle he surrendered with all his forces to General Gates, who was now at the head of the American forces in that vicinity and thus received the nominal honor of the result, although it was really due rather to the skill and courage of General Schuyler and General Arnold. Almost six thousand soldiers laid down their arms, and the artillery, small arms, ammunition, clothing, and other military stores which fell into Gen- eral Gates's hands were immensely valuable. Almost greater than the prac- tical gain of this splendid triumph was that of the respect at once accorded throughout the world to American courage and military capacity. General Burgoyne had every right to lay the blame for the mortifying failure of his expedition upon Howe, who had totally failed to carry out his part of the plan of campaign. It was essential to the success of this plan that Howe should have pushed an army up the Hudson to support Burgoyne. In leaving this undone he committed the greatest blunder of the war. Why he acted as he did was for a long while a mystery, but letters brought to light eighty years after the war was over show that he was strongly influenced by the traitorous arguments of his prisoner, Charles Lee, who for a time, at least, had decided to desert the American cause. While in this frame of mind he convinced Howe that there was, plenty of time to move upon and seize Philadelphia and still come to Burgoyne's aid in season. Howe should have known Washington's methods better by this time. At first the British General attempted a march through New Jersey, but for nearly three weeks Washington blocked his movements, out-manceuvred him in the fencing for advantage of position, and finally compelled him to withdraw, bafiled, to New York. Though no fighting of consequence occurred in this period, it is, from the military standpoint, one of the most interesting of the entire war. The result was that Howe, unwilling to give up his original design, transported his army to the mouth of the Delaware by sea, then decided to make his attempt by way of Chesapeake Bay, and finall3^ after great delay, landed his forces at the head of that bay, fifty miles from Philadelphia. Washington interposed his army between the enemy and the city and for several weeks delayed its inevitable 84 THE STORY OF AMERICA. capture. In the Battle of Brandywine the Americans put eleven thousand troops in the field against eighteen thousand of the British, and were defeated, though by no means routed (September ii, 1777). After Howe had seized the city he found it necessary to send part of his army to capture the forts on the Delaware River, and this gave the Americans the opportunity of an attack with evenly balanced forces. Unfortunately, the battle of Germantown was, by reason of a heavy fog, changed into a confused conflict, in which some American reofiments fired into others, and which ended in the retreat of our forces. Washington drew back and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. Con. gress, on the approach of the enemy, had fled to York. Howe had accomplished his immediate object, but at what a cost ! The possession of Philadelphia had not appreciably brought nearer the subjugation of the former colonies, while the opportunity to co-operate with Burgoyne had been irretrievably lost, and, as we have seen, a great and notable triumph had been gained by the Americans in his surrender. The memorable winter which Washington spent at Valley Forge he often described as the darkest of his life. The course of the war had not been altogether discouraging, but he had to contend with the inaction of Congress, with cabals of envious rivals, and with the wretched lack of supplies and food. He writes to Congress that when he wished to draw up his troops to fight, the men were unable to stir on account of hunger, that 2898 men were unfit for duty because they were barefooted and half naked, that " for seven days past there has been little else than a famine in the camp." Meanwhile an intrigue to supersede Washington by Gates was on foot and nearly succeeded. The whole country also was suffering from the depreciated Continental currency and from the lack of power in the general government to lay taxes. What a contrast is there between Washington's position at this time and the e.nthusiasm with which the whole country flocked to honor him in the autumn ot the first year of his Presidency (1789), when he made a journey which was one long series of ovations. An idea of the character of these is given in the accom- panying picture of his reception at Trenton, where the date on the triumphal arch recalled that famous Christmas night when he outwitted the British. But encouragement from abroad was at hand. Perhaps the most im- portant result of Burgoyne's surrender was its influence in procuring us the French Alliance. Already a strong sympathy had been aroused for the Amer- ican cause in France. The nobility were influenced in no small degree by the sentimental and philosophical agitation for ideal liberty which preceded the brutal reality of the French Revolution. Lafayette, then a mere boy of eighteen, had fitted out a ship with supplies at his own expense, and had laid his services at Washington's command. Our Commissioners to France • — ^John Adams, Arthur Lee, and Benjamin Franklin — had labored night and LJ Drawn i'\ I ^Iceplcr Davis. THE CAPTURE OF MAJOR ANDRE His three captors, Pauling, Van Wart and Williams, were honored with medals and i200.00 a year for life, and monuments were erected to thtrir mem-trie- by our ' iovernmenl. CLINTON ABANDONS PHILADELPHIA. 85 day for the alliance. Franklin, in particular, had, by his shrewd and homely wit, his honesty of purpose and his high patriotism, made a profound im- pression upon the French people. We read that on one occasion he was made to embrace the role of an Apostle of Liberty at an elegant fete where " the most beautiful of three hundred women was designated to go and place on the philosopher's white locks a crown of laurel, and to give the old man two kisses on his cheeks." Very " French " this, but not without its significance. But after all, the thing which turned the scale with the French Govern- ment was the partial success of our armies. France was only too willing, under favoring circumstances, to obtain its revenge upon Great Britain for many recent defeats and slights. So it was that in the beginning of 1778 the independence of the United States was recognized by France and a fleet was sent to our assistance. During the winter, meanwhile, the thirteen States had adopted in Congress articles of confederation and perpetual union, which were slowly and hesitatingly ratified by the legislatures of the several States. The news of the reinforcements on their way from France, led Sir Henry Clinton, who had now succeeded Howe in the chief command of the British, to abandon Philadelphia, and mass his forces at New York. This he did in June, 1778, sending part of the troops by sea and the rest northward, through New Jersey. Washington instantly broke camp, followed the enemy, and overtook him at Monmouth Court House. In the battle which followed the forces were equally balanced, each having about fifteen thousand men The American attack was entrusted to Charles Lee, who had been exchangfed, and whose treachery' was not suspected. Again Lee disobeyed orders, and directed a retreat at the critical minute of the fight. Had Washington not arrived, the retreat would have been a rout ; as it was he turned it into a victory, driving the British from their position, and gained the honors of the day. But had it not been for Lee, this victory might have easily been made a crushing and final defeat for the British army. A court-martial held upon Lee's conduct expelled him from the army. Years later he died a disgraced man, though it is only in our time that the full extent of his dishonor has been understood. The scene of the most important military operations now changes from the Northern to the Southern States. But before speaking of the campaign which ended with Cornwallis's surrender, we may characterize the fighting in the North, which went on in the latter half of the war, as desultory and unsystem- atic in its nature. The French fleet under Count d'Estaing was unable to cross the New York bar on account of the depth of draught of its greatest ships ; and for that reason the attempt to capture New York City was aban- doned. Its next attempt was to wrest Rhode Island from the British. This also was defeated, partly because of a storm at a critical moment, partly throuofh a misunderstanding- with the American allies. After these two failures. 86 THE STORY OF AMERICA. the French fleet sailed to the West Indies to injure British interests there. The assault on the fort at Stony Point by " Mad Anthony " Wayne has importance as a brilliant and thrilling episode, and was of value in strengthening our position on the Hudson .,,,^ River. All alonaf the border the Tories were »; inciting the Indians to barbarous attacks. The ■ ii most important and ^ 'deplorable of these at- ''^^-■- ^>^r^-\ ^,.v**'«:<^ WASHINGTON REPROVING LEE AT MONMOUTH. tacks were those which ended in the massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley. Reprisals for these atrocities were taken by General Sullivan's expedi- tion, which defeated the Tories and Indians combined, near Elmira, with great slaughter. But all these events, like the British sudden attacks on the Connecticut ports of New Haven, BRITISH CONCESSION REPELLED. 87 Fairfield, and Norwalk, were, as we have said, ratlier detached episodes than related parts of a campaign. We should also note before entering upon the final chapter of the war, that Great Britain had politically receded from her position. Of her own accord she had offered to abrogate the offensive legislation which had provoked the colonies to war. But it was too late ; the proposition of peace commissioners sent to America to acknowledge the principle of taxation by colonial assemblies NEGRO VILLAGE IN GEORGIA. was not for a moment considered. The watchword of America was now Independence, and there was no disposition in any quarter to accept anything less than full recoenition of the rights of the United States as a Nation. The second and last serious and concerted effort by the British to subjugate the American States had as its scene of operations our Southern territory. At first it seemed to succeed. A long series of reverses to the cause of independ- ence were reported from Georgia and South Carolina. The plan formed by 88 THE STORY OF AMERICA. Sir Henry Clinton and Cornwallis was, in effect, to begin at the extreme South and overpower one State after another until the army held in reserve about New York could co-operate with that advancing victoriously from the South. Savannah had been captured in 1778, while General Lincoln, who commanded our forces, was twice defeated with great loss — once at Brier Creek, in an advance upon Savannah, when his lieutenant. General Ashe, was actually routed with very heavy loss ; and once when Savannah had been invested by General Lincoln himself by land, while the French fleet under d'Estaing besieged the city by sea. In a short time Georgia was entirely occupied by the British. They were soon reinforced by Sir Henry Clinton in person, with an army, and the united forces moved upward into South Carolina with thirteen thousand men. Lincoln was driven into Charleston, was there besieged, and (May 12, 1780) was forced to surrender not only the city but his entire army. A desultory but brilliant guerrilla warfare was carried on at this time by the Southern militia and light cavalry under the dashing leadership of Francis Marion, "the Swamp Fox," and the partisan, Thomas Sumter. These men were privateers on horseback. Familiar with the tangled swamps and always well mounted, even though in rags themselves, they were the terror of the invaders. At the crack of their rifles the pickets of Cornwallis fled, leaving a score of dead behind. The dreaded cavalry of Tarleton often came back from their raids with many a saddle emptied by the invisible foes. They were here, they were everywhere. Their blows were swift and sure ; their vigilance sleepless. Tarleton had been sent by Cornwallis with a force of seven hundred cavalry to destroy a patriot force in North Carolina, under Bu- ford, which resulted in his utterly destroying about four hundred of the patriots at Waxhaw, the affair being more of a massacre than a battle. Thus the name of Tarleton came to be hated in the South as that of Benedict Arnold was in the North. He was dreaded for his celerity and cruelty. As illustrative of the spirit of the Southern colonists, we may be pardoned for the digression of the following anecdote. The fighting of Marion and his men was much like that of the wild Apaches of the southwest. When hotly pursued by the enemy his command would break up into small parties, and these as they were hard pressed would subdivide, until nearly every patriot was fleeing alone. There could be no successful pursuit, therefore, since the subdivision of the pursuing party weakened it too much. "We will give fifty pounds to get within reach of the scamp that galloped by here, just ahead of us," exclaimed a lieutenant of Tarleton's cavalry, as he and three other troopers drew up before a farmer, who was hoeing in the field by the roadside. The farmer looked up, leaned on his hoe, took off his old hat and mopping his forehead with his handkerchief looked at the angry soldier and said : — AN INTERESTING ANECDOTE. 89 ■AmT^- "Fifty pounds is a big lot of money." "So it is in these times, but we'll give it to you in gold, if you'll show us where we can get ....=.^==v5»,.:=,??ss-= a chance at the rebel ; - did you see him ? " "He was all alone, was he? And TARLETON'S LIEUTENANT AND THE FARMER (JACK DAVIS). he was mounted on a black horse with a white star in his forehead, and he was going like a streak of lightning, wasn't he ?" 90 THE STORY OF AMERICA. "That's the fellow!" exclaimed the questioners, hoping they were about to get the knowledge they wanted. "It looked to me like Jack Davis, though he went by so fast that I couldn't get a square look at his face, but he was one of Marion's men, and if I ain't greatly mistaken it was Jack Davis himself" Then looking up at the four British horsemen, the farmer added, with a quizzical expression : — 'T reckon that ere Jack Davis has hit you chaps pretty hard, ain't he? " " Never mind about that," replied the lieutenant ; "what we want to know is where we can get a chance at him for just about five minutes." The farmer put his cotton handkerchief into his hat, which he now slowly replaced, and shook his head : 'T don't think he's hiding round here," he said ; "when he shot by Jack was going so fast that it didn't look as if he could stop under four or five miles. Strangers, I'd like powerful well to earn that fifty pounds, but I don't think you'll get a chance to squander it on me." After some further questioning, the lieutenant and his men wheeled their horses and trotted back toward the main body of Tarleton's cavalry. The farmer plied his hoe for several minutes, gradually working his way toward the stretch of woods some fifty yards from the roadside. Reaching the margin of tlie field, he stepped in among the trees, hastily took off his clothing, tied it up in a bundle, shoved it under a flat rock from beneath which he drew a suit no better in qualit}^ but showing a faint semblance to a uniform. Putting it on and then plunging still deeper into the woods, he soon reached a dimly-marked track, which he followed only a short distance, ^when a gentle whinney fell upon his ear. The next moment he vaulted on the back of a bony but blooded horse, marked by a beautiful star in his forehead. The satin skin of the steed shone as though he had been traveling hard, and his rider allowed him to walk along the path for a couple of miles, when he entered an open space where, near a spring, Francis Marion and fully two hundred men were encamped. They were eating, smoking and chatting as though no such horror as war was known. You understand, of course, that the farmer that leaned on his hoe by the roadside and talked to Tarleton's lieutenant about Jack Davis and his exploits was Jack Davis himself Marion and his men had many stirring adventures. A British officer, sent to settle some business with Marion, was asked by him to stay to dinner. Marion was always a charming gentleman, and the visitor accepted the invitation, but he was astonished to find that the meal consisted only of baked sweet potatoes served on bark. No apology was made, but the guest could not help asking his host whether that dinner was a specimen of his regular bill of fare. "It is," replied Marion, "except that to-day, in honor of your presence, we have more than the usual allowance." CAMPAIGN IN THE SOUTH. 91 North Carolina was now in danger, and it was to be defended by the overrated General Gates, whose campaign was marked by every in- ^ dication of military incapacity. His - "- --" -^^ .- attacks were invariably made reck- lessly, and his positions were ill- chosen. At Camden he ESCAPE OF BENEDICT ARNOLD. was utterly and disgracefully defeated by Lord Cornwallis (August 16, 1780). It seemed now as if the British forces could easily hold the territory already won and could advance safely into Virginia. This was, indeed, one of the darkest periods in the history of our war, and even Washington was inclined to despair. 92 THE STORY OF AMERICA. To add to the feeling of despondency came the news of Benedict Arnold's infamous treachery. In the early part of the war he had served, not merely with credit but with the highest distinction. Ambitious and passionate by temper, he had justly been indignant at the slights put upon him by the promotion over his head of several officers who were far less entitled than he to such a reward. He had also, perhaps, been treated with undue severity in his trial by court- martial on charges relating to his accounts and matters of discipline. No doubt he was greatly influenced by his marriage to a lady of great beauty, who was in intimate relations with many of the leading Tories. It is more than probable, still further, that he believed the cause of American independence could never be won. But neither explanations nor fancied wrongs in the least mitigate the baseness of his conduct. He deliberately planned to be put in command of West Point, with the distinct intention of handing it over to the British in return for thirty thousand dollars in money and a command in the British army. It was almost an accident that the emissary between Arnold and Clinton, Major Andre was captured by Paulding and his rough but incorruptible fellows. Andre's personal charm and youth created a feeling of sympathy for him, but it cannot be for a moment denied that he was justly tried and executed, in accor- dance with the law of nations. Had Arnold's attempt succeeded, it is more than likely that the blow dealt our cause would have been fatal. His subse- quent service in the British army only deepened the feeling of loathing with which his name was heard by Americans ; while even his new allies distrusted and despised him, and at one time Cornwallis positively refused to act in concert with him. A bright and cheering contrast to this dark episode is that of the glorious victories at sea won by John Paul Jones, who not only devastated British com- merce, but, in a desperately fought naval battle, captured two British men-of-war, the "Serapis" and the "Countess of Scarborough," and carried the new American flag into foreign ports with the prestige of having swept everything before him on the high seas. Here was laid the foundation of that reputation for intrepidity and gallantry at sea which the American navy so well sustained in our second war with Great Britain. As the year 1780 advanced, the campaign in the South began to assume a more favorable aspect. General Greene was placed in command of the American army and at once began a series of rapid and confusing movements, now attacking the enemy in front, now cutting off his communications in the rear, but always scheming for the advantage of position, and usually obtaining it. He was aided ably by " Light Horse Harry " Lee and by General Morgan. Even before his campaign began the British had suffered a serious defeat at King's Mountain, just over the line between North and South Carolina, where a body of southern and western backwoodsmen had cut to pieces and finally >♦ / r '\ w" ■'•*; ■' ' /M M .... Drawn by H. A. O^^den. THE SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH AT YORKTOWN, OCTOBER 19th, 1781 The number of British who surrendered was 7,247 soldiers and 840 seamen. This event marked the ..lose ot the Revolutionary War, and the end of British sovereignty in the (_ oionies. Drawn l,y C Kendrii.k. •'I AM READY FOR ANY SERVICE THAT I CAN GIVE MY COUNTRY" In 1798 our Government was about to declare war against France. Congress appointed Washington cummaiider- In-chief of the American Army. The Sccretarv of War carried the commission in person to Mt. Vernon. The I'id hero, sitting on his horse in the harvest field, accepted in the above patriotic word';. THE END APPROACHING. 93 captured a British detachment of twelve hundred men. Greene followed up this victory by sending Morgan to attack one wing of Cornwallis's army at Cowpens, near by King's Mountain, where again a large body of the enemy were captured with a very slight loss on the part of the Americans. Less decisive was the battle of Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781), which was contested with great persistency and courage by both armies. At the end of the day the British held the field, but the position was too perilous for Corn- wallis to maintain lono^, and he retreated forthwith to the coast. General Greene continued to seize one position after another, driving the scattered bodies of the British through South Carolina and finally meeting them face to face at Eutaw Springs, where another equally contested battle took place ; in which, as at Guilford, the British claimed the honors of the day, but which also resulted in their ultimately giving away before the Americans and intrenching themselves in Charleston. Now, indeed, the British were to move into Virginia, not as they had originally planned, but because the more southern States were no longer tenable. It seemed almost as if Greene were deliberately driving them northward, so that in the end they might lie between two American armies. But they made a strong stand at Yorktown, in which a small Bri-tish army under Benedict Arnold was already in possession and had been opposed by Lafayette. Washington, who had been watching the course of events with the keen eye of the master strategist, saw that the time had come for a decisive blow. The French fleet was sent to the Chesapeake, and found little difficulty in re- ducing the British force and approaching Yorktown by sea. Washington's own army had been lying along the Hudson, centered at West Point, ready to meet any movement by Sir Henry Clinton's army at New York. Now Washington moved southward down the Hudson into the upper part of New Jersey. It was universally believed that he was about to attack the British at New York. Even his own officers shared this belief But with a rapidity that seems astonishing, and with the utmost skill in handling his forces, Washington led them swiftly on, still in the line toward the south, and before Clinton had grasped his Inten- tion he was well on his way to Virginia. Cornwallis was now assailed both by land and by sea ; he occupied a peninsula, from which he could not escape except by forcing a road through Washington's united army of sixteen thousand men. The city of Yorktown was bombarded for three weeks. An American officer writes : "The whole peninsula trembles under the incessant thunderings of our infernal machines." General Rochambeau who had been placed in com- mand of the French forces in America, actively co-operated with Washington. The meeting of the two great commanders forms the subject of one of our illustrations. Good soldier and good general as Cornwallis was, escape was impossible. On October 19, 1781, he suffered the humiliation of a formal sur 94 THE STORY OF AMERICA. render of his army of over seven thousand men, with two hundred and forty cannon, twenty-eight regimental standards, and vast quantities of military stores and provisions. When Lord North, the English Minister, heard of the surrender, we are told, he paced the floor in deep distress, and cried, " O God, it is all over ! " And so it was, in fact. The cause of American independence had practi- tically been won. Hostilities, it is true, continued in a feeble and half-hearted way, and it was not until September, 1783, that the Treaty of Peace secured by John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin was actually signed — a treaty which was not only honorable to us, but which, in the frontier boundaries adopted, was more advantageous than even our French allies were inclined to approve, giving us as it did the territory westward to the Mississippi and southward to Florida. Great Britain as a nation had become heartily sick and tired of her attempt to coerce her former colonies. As the war progressed she had managed to involve herself in hostilities not only with France, but with Spain and Holland, and even with the native princes of India. Lord North's Ministry fell, the star of the younger Pitt arose into the ascendency, and George the Third's attempt to establish a purely personal rule at home and abroad was defeated beyond redemption. As we read of the scanty recognition given by the American States to the soldiers who had fought their battles ; as we learn that it was only Wash- ington's commanding influence that restrained these soldiers, half starved and half paid, from compelling that recognition from Congress by force ; as we perceive how many and serious were the problems of finance and of govern- ment distracting the State Legislatures ; a.s, in short, we see the political disintegration and chaotic condition of affairs in the newly born Nation, we recognize the fact that the struggle which had just ended so triumphantly was but the prelude to another, more peaceful but not less vital, struggle — that for the founding of a strong, coherent, and truly National Government. The latter struggle began before the Revolution was over and lasted until, in 1787, by mutual concession and mutual compromise was formed the Constitution of the United States. CHAPTER V. THE STRXJGQLE FOR LIBERTY AND GOVERNNIENT BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION. BY FRANCIS NEWTON THORPE, Ph. D., Professor of American Constitutional History, University of Pennsylvania. prn principal rights At the time of the colonization of America the land of Great Britain was controlled, if not owned, by not more than a hundred men, and political ivileees were exercised by less than a thousand times as many. The of the masses were of a civil nature. The jury trial was an ancient right guaranteed by Magna Charta, but by the union of church and state, the thought and the activities of the English people were authoritatively uniform, and any departure from traditional belief, either in matters ecclesiastical or civil, was viewed with disapproval. But a people of so diversified a genius for good government as are the people of Anglo-Saxon stock could not long- remain subject to serious limitations on their prosperity. America was the opportunity for liberty, the first opportu- nity for the diversification of Anglo-Saxon energies, and for the realization of the hopes of mankind. There is a uniformity in the development of human affairs. Agriculture is improved in means and methods by improvements in manufactures, and a larger conception of the nature of the State always finds response in the home comforts of the people. The opportunities of America caused greater comfort and happiness among the English people who stayed at home. The colonization of America by the English was after two systems, that of the 95 FRANCIS NEWTON THORPE, Ph.B. 96 THE STORY OF AMERICA. commercial enterprise, that of the religious undertaking : the commercial system was illustrated in the Virginia enterprise, the religious undertaking, in the New England. Sir Walter Raleigh had conceived of planting a colony in the Carolinas, but his colony, had it succeeded, would have been a repetition of an English shire, continuing the limitations on the common life, the limitations of property and condition incident to English life at the close of the sixteenth century. Providence saved America for larger undertakings, and though the ideas of Raleigh were at the foundation of the first Virginia adventure, the charter of 1606 gave larger privileges to the adventurers than had the charter to Raleigh or to Gilbert of nearly a quarter of a century before ; and the first adventure to Virginia demonstrated that a new age had come, for the conditions of life in the wilderness would not permit the transplanting of the feudal system, and the enterprise failed because it lacked men and women who were willing to work and to make homes for themselves. The second charter of three years later gave larger inducements to embark in the undertaking, but little guarantee of privilege to individuals who might seek their fortunes in Virginia. It was yet two years before King James granted the third charter empowering the little colony at Jamestown to enter upon the serious undertaking of local self-government. As soon as the instincts of the Anglo-Saxon could have room in America for the exercise of those persistent ideas which make the glory of the race, the winning of American liberty was assured. A little Parliament was called in Virginia, and this assembly of a score of men began the long history of free legislation, which, in spite of many errors, has given expression to the wishes of millions of men in America who have toiled in its fields, worked in its fac- tories, instructed in its schools, directed its finances, controlled its trade, devel- oped its mines, and spread its institutions westward over the continent. But the first victory of liberty was in the forum, not in the field. The ancient and undoubted rights of the people of England gave to the inhabitants of each borough the right to representation in Parliament, and the plantations in Virginia, becoming the first shires of the New World, became also the first units of civil jurisdiction. The planters claimed and exercised the right to choose deputies to meet in General Court in the colony for the purpose of considering the wants of the various plantations, and particularly for the pur- pose of levying such taxes as might be required for the general welfare. The long struggle for liberty in America began when the House of Burgesses in Virginia asserted and assumed its right to levy the taxes of the colony, to vote the supplies to the governor, and to control the financial affairs of the plantations. The New England settlements from Plymouth to Portland, following hard after the settlements in Virginia, began local government after the same model. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 97 The town-meeting was the local democracy which examined and discussed freely all matters of local interest. In the town-meeting assembled the free- men who wrote and spoke as they thought; elected "men of their own choos- ing," and made laws to please themselves ; chose both servants to execute and to administer the laws, and held their representatives responsible for their public service. But the local communities in New England, — the several towns, —soon applied the representative principle in government, and each town chose its deputies to meet with the deputies of other towns in General Assembly for the purpose of taking into consideration the affairs of the colony. The settlers in Salem and Boston, when they arrived with John Winthrop, had brought with them a Great Charter, transferring the gov- ernment from old England to Massachusetts, and there they enlarged the member- ship of the Company of Massachusetts Bay.and trans- formed the government into a representative republic. The inhabitants of Virginia had not authority to elect their own governor, save for a short time during the days of the Commonwealth in England, but for more than half a century the people of Massachusetts chose all their public officers and instructed them at their pleasure. The immediate responsi- bility of the representative of the town to the townsmen was the fundamental notion in the New England idea of government. But the representative republic, the commonwealth, of New England, was not composed of freemen only, for there were many inhabitants of Massachu setts who were excluded from participation in the political life of the colony. During the half century of government under the old charter, the people of Massachusetts comprised both church members and non-church members, THE LIBERTY BELL, AS EXHIBITED AT THE NEW ORLEANS EXPOSITION. 98 THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. but only the churcK members were eligible to public ofifice. ^Persons dis- jtenting from the congregational polity in church and state, persons not communicants in the orthodox establishment, were excluded from direct participation in the government ; they could not vote, they could not hold office, their children could not be baptized. When Charles II caused the forfeiture of the Massachusetts charter in 1684, although the liberty of Massachusetts seemed greatly endangered, yet a nearer approach to the definition of liberty was made ; for the careless King, in order to win approval of his procedure among the colonists, had already intimated his desire to enlarge the franchise in Massachusetts, and to open the privileges of freedom more liberally to the inhabitants of the colony. This proposition to enlarge the liberties of the inhabitants met with disfavor among the conservatives, and the voice of the established church in the colony was raised against the in- novation. In spite, however, of the limitations on the political rights of the inhabitants of Massachusetts, their civil rights were carefully guarded and freely exercised. It should be observed that throughout the history of America the ancient civil rights under Anglo-Saxon institutions have generally been carefully observed. The winning of liberty in America has been largely the liberty of exercising political rights, until it has become common to estimate all privileges in America by the standard of political freedom. We should not forget that there are other rights than those political ; there are moral, civil, and industrial rights, whose exercise is as important for the welfare of the citizen as is the exercise of rights political. The winning of civil independence is the glory of the barons of 1215 ; for It was impossible for them to win civil rights for themselves without winning civil rights for the whole nation, and the application of the principle for which they struggled was necessarily universal, so that the humble tenant of the landed estate must participate in the privileges of civil liberty. The New England colonists, moving westward and southwestward over the domain which we call New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, spread the customs of civil privilege and carried with them the constitution of government to which they had been accustomed. Williams, in Rhode Island, attempted a pure democracy, which in its early days was a tumultuous assem blage, but taught by experience became a happy and prosperous community. Connecticut, differing but slightly in its colonial ideas from those of Massachu- setts, was empowered by its liberal charter of 1663 to become almost an independent commonwealth. The whole spirit of the New England people in government was to exercise liberty in civil affairs and a qualified liberty in political affairs. The civil rights of the inhabitants of New England down to the time of the Revolution were quite uniform, but their political rights were THE STORY OF AMERICA. 99 determined by qualifications of property, of religious opinion, of sex, of age, and of residence. The old English idea of political right carried with it similar qualifications, and the conservative Virginians, like the conservative people of New England, could not conceive of citizenship apart from a landed estate and established re- ligious opinions. Were we to use the language of our day we should say that the voter in colonial times was required, whether citizen of a northern or of a southern colony, to subscribe to a creed and to possess an acreage. At a time when land was to be had without cost, save of labor and cultivation, the qualifica- tion of real property was not a heavy burden, and so long as the earnest judg- ment of the majority of the inhabitants favored the supremacy of any ecclesiasdcal system, conformity to that system was equally easy ; but as soon as free investi- gation of the questions of church and state became the spirit of the age, there would necessarily follow modification in the requirements for citizenship, and the qualifications for an elector would necessarily change. In all the charters establishino- colonial o-overnments there was inserted a provision that the legislation permitted to the colonial Assemblies created by the charters should be as nearly as may be according to the laws of England. This provision recognized the necessity for a liberal interpretation of legislative grants to the colonial Assemblies. Isolated from the home government and left to themselves, the colonists learned the habits of self-government and they made most liberal interpretations of their charters. The House of Burgesses in Vir- ginia and its successors throughout the land construed the privileges of legisla- tion practically as the admission of their independence, and colonial legislation was a departure from parliamentary control. The local American Assemblies, the colonial legislatures, were composed of two branches : the upper, consisting of the governor and his council ; the lower, of the representatives, or delegates, from the counties or towns. The latter, after the manner of the English burgesses, the representatives of the counties and towns in the colony, took control of the taxing power in America. England, by her navigation laws, compelled the colonies to transport all their productions in English ships, manned by Englishmen and sailing to English ports ; no manufacturing was allowed in the colonies, and inter-colonial trade was discouraged. The immediate consequence of the navigation acts, which to the number of about thirty were passed from time to time in the British Parliament, was to keep the colonies in an agricultural condition, to strip then\ of gold and silver coin, and to leave them to their own devices to find substi- tutes for money ; for, unable to manufacture the articles they needed, they were obliged to buy these articles principally in England, and to pay for them either with the raw productions which they exported or with coin, and the exportation of coin from the colonies was relatively as great as the exportation of produce. L.ofC. lOO THE STORY OF AMERICA. Money is the instrument of exchange and the means of association ; the colonists were compelled to exchange, and to seek that economic association which is the assurance and the health of civil life. MEETING OF WASHINGTON AND ROCHAMBEAU. The people were constantly clamoring for more money and for the issuing of a circulating medium. Massachusetts, in the middle of the seventeenth century had set up a mint, which coined a small quantity of shillings ; but the ISSUE OF PAPER MONEY. loi mint was a trespass upon the- sovereign right of the king and had no leo-al standing in the kingdom. The colonists, therefore, soon entered upon the experiment of making substitutes for money. Paper money, in a great variety of forms, was issued by the colonial Assemblies, and the issues were made chiefly for local circulation. The paper money of New Jersey circulated in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and to a less amount as the distance from New Jersey increased. New England money was little known in the southern colonies, and the paper issues of the Carolinas were rarely seen in New York. There was no acquaintance, no public faith common to the colonies, and although sanguinary laws were made to maintain the value of paper issues, there is evidence that counterfeits were almost as common as the original bills. So long as the issue of paper money was limited, and the colony which is- sued it had perfect faith in its value, the issue circulated, though its value con- stantly tended to depreciate throughout the colony ; but there was no unit of measure, no fixed standard of values, and it was quite impossible to fix the value of the issue in one colony by that of any issue in another colony. By the time the American Revolution was passed, the over-Issue of paper moneys was evident to all thoughtful people, but there was no production of gold or silver ; there was little export of commodities which brought in coin, and the Legislatures of the various States — for so the General Assemblies of the colonies had now become — were compelled to enter upon a course of legislation, having in view the maintenance of a truly valuable circulating medium. Another great question had meantime been brought forward : the relation of the local communities to the common or general government. As early as 1643 the New England colonies, comprising committees of "like membership in the church," had consolidated for the purpose of defense and general wel- fare, and the principle which led to the union was the principle which led to the "more perfect union" of a hundred and thirty years later. If any change should come over the colonies by which the people should become like minded, as were the inhabitants of the New England colonies in 1643, then a union of the people of the colonies could be made. One of the causes which led to the American Revolution was this latent but powerful tendency in the colonies toward a common understanding of their character, conditions, and wants. The local Assemblies of the colonies had assumed unto themselves gradu- ally what may be called the prerogatives of legislation. They enacted laws on the whole range of subjects political, industrial, social, and ecclesiastical. They did not hesitate to attempt to solve any of the questions which arose from time to time, and as they attempted the solution of the economic questions of the colonies, they departed further and further from the strict interpretation of their charters, and made laws less and less "as near as may be conformable to the laws of England." But the Assemblies were uniform in claiming and in exercis- I02 THE STORY OF AMERICA. ing the right of levying taxes. As delegates of the people, they assumed the exclusive right of distributing the burden of the State upon the inhabitants. This assumption was never acknowledged by the King or by Parliament ; for it was an assumption which denied the sovereignty of the King, and the su- premacy of Parliament in legislation. The liberty to levy taxes was the greatest privilege in practical government claimed by the Americans of the colonial era, and the winning of colonial independence was the victory of freedom in taxation. While the latent tendency in the colonies was undoubtedly toward union, it may be said that there never existed colonies which exhibited stronger tendencies to diversity than the English colonies in America. The whole range of American life was toward individualism, and the freedom from those restrictions which ever characterize older communities favored the tendency. As the New England people went into the west, planting civil institutions in New York and along the southern shores of the Great Lakes, the individualistic tendencies in religion, in politics, in education, and invention strengthened with every wave of population. As the Virginians and the Carolinians passed over the mountains, they also were strengthened in their individualistic .otions, and the founders of Kentucky and of Tennessee, while following theit instincts and the customs of the tide-water region whence they came, enlarged upon their notions, and organized government under more liberal provisions than those which prevailed eastward over the mountains. While the continental troops were winning the victories of the Revolution, the settlers in the State of Franklin were claiming independence. It is an error to suppose that the people of the colonies were unanimous in demanding independence, or that the majority of them supported the idea or, it may be said, ever understood its true meaning. The thirteen Colonies entered upon the struggle at a time when the United Kingdom was unable to compel them to submit to the legislation of Parliament. England possessed no great soldiers who could direct her armies in America ; the colonies were therefore free to convert all the advantages of their isolation into a strong self-defense. Colonial legislation had isolated them, the imperfect facilities in transportation isolated them, and the whole tendencies of colonial institu- tions strengthened them in this isolation. The assumption of the taxing power by the Lower House in the several (colonies, and its persistent exercise for more than a century and a half, neces- sarily brought Parliament and the local Assemblies into collision. The Navi- gation Acts and the Stamp Act were financial measures of Parliament for the purpose of raising an imperial revenue in the colonies. A clearer idea is gained of the reasons for the hostility against this Parlimentar)'^ measure when we reflect that no common taxing power was known to the colonists ; the THE STORY OF AMERICA. 103 local Legislature of each colony was supreme within its jurisdiction ; a propo- sition for a continental power which could levy a tax for continental pur- poses had never been entertained by the colonists and they would have resented a proposition emanating from among themselves for continental tax- ation quite as quickly as they resented the proposition in Parliament to levy a tax on tea. The continuous legislation of tl]e local Assemblies had taught the Americans to believe that local interests were supreme. It can now be seen that the Stamp Act and the Tea Tax operated to compel the colonies toward the union which they would in all probability never have made of themselves without this external pressure. The throwing overboard of the tea in Boston harbor is a picturesque ■incident in American history, because it stands for the fundamental idea of American right — the right of the taxpayer to levy taxes through his represent- ative. As soon as Parliament closed the port of Boston, a latent tendency in American affairs was displayed in various parts of the country, and nowhere ■more clearly than in Virginia, where Patrick Henry, in an address to the Con- vention of delegates, with vision enlarged by the tendency of affairs, declared the relations of the colonies to the home government. Petitions, remonstrances, supplications, and prostrations before the throne had been in vain; "the inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending," the privi- leges of independent colonial taxation and of choosing delegates to levy the taxes, could be preserved only by war ; "three millions of people armed in the iioly cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us." For the first time Massachusetts and Virginia were united in a common sense of danger, and the danger consisted chiefly in the denial of the right of the local legisla- ture, chosen by qualified electors, to levy a tax, and the assumption of the exclusive right of the British Parliament to levy a continental tax directly, ignoring the popular branch of the colonial Legislatures. From a consideration of colonial finances it seems clear that the Americans were not so unwilling to pay a trifling duty on tea, on legal papers, and on painters' material, as they were to admit the right of the British Parliament itself to levy the tax. Had the proposition to tax America embodied a provision that the tax should be levied by the local Legislatures, the American Revolution would have been long delayed. It cannot be said that the Americans would have accepted representation in Parliament as a compensation for the tax. The first Declaration of Rights, in 1 765, had settled that point. The American colonists were English subjects, and entitled to all the rights and liberties of natural born ■subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain, and, exercising the undoubted •rights of Englishmen they insisted " that no tax be imposed on them but with I04 THE CRITICAL PERIOD OF OUR HISTORY their own consent, given personally or by their representatives," and " that the people of these colonies are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Commons in Great Britain," and "that the only representatives of the people of these colonies are persons chosen therein by themselves, and that no taxes ever have been or can be constitutionally imposed on them but by their respective Legislatures." All supplies to the crown were "the free gifts of the people." The claim of the Americans at that time might be illustrated if the people of the United States should now insist that the revenue for the National Government should be collected through the lower branch of the State Legislatures, but to make the illustration go on all fours we should have to suppose that the people of the several States were not represented and did not care to be represented in Congress. The objection to an imperial tax involved the whole issue of the war, for it involved the fundamental idea of government in America, the Idea of represen- tative government. It was not representation of the Americans in the British parliament, it was the representation of the Americans in their own Legislatures. One of the tests of independence is the possession of the right to levy taxes ; if England withdrew her claim to levy a continental tax directly through Parlia- ment, the independence of the colonies was at once acknowledged. It is evident then that the question of taxation goes to the foundation of American institu- tions, and from the time of the calling of the House of Burgesses In 1619 unto the present hour, the definition of liberty in America has depended upon the use or the abuse of the ta.xing power. As soon as the Continental Congress attempted to levy a tax, it became unpopular. The time from the revolt against the stamp duties in 1775 to the inaugura- tion in 1 789 of the National Government under which we live has been called the critical period of American history. It was a period which displayed all the inaptitude of the Americans for sound financiering. There Is hardly an evil in finances that cannot be illustrated by some event in American affairs at that time. The Americans began the war without any preparation, they conducted it on credit, and at the end of fourteen years three millions of people were five hundred millions of dollars or more in debt. The exact amount will never be known. Congress and the State Legislatures issued paper currency in unlimited quantities and upon no security. The Americans were deceived themselves in believing that their products were essential to the welfare of Europe, and all European nations would speedily make overtures to them for the control of American commerce. It may be said that the Americans wholly over-estimated their importance in the world at that time ; they thought that to cut off England from American commerce would ruin England ; they thought that the bestowal of their commerce upon France would enrich France so much THE STORY OF AMERICA. i05 that the French King, for so inestimable a privilege, could well afford to loan them, and even to give them, money. The doctrine of the rights of man ran riot in America. Paper currency became the infatuation of the day. It was thought that paper currency would meet all the demands for money, would win American independence. Even so practical a man as Franklin, then in France, said: "This effect of paper cur- rency is not understood on this side the water ; and, indeed, the whole is a mystery even to the politicians, how we have been able to continue a war four years without money, and how we could pay with paper that had no previously fixed fund appropriated specifically to redeem it. This currency, as we manage it, is a wonderful machine : it performs its office when we issue it ; it pays and clothes troops and provides victuals and ammunition, and when we are obliged to issue a quantity excessive, it pays itself off by depreciation." If the taxing power is the most august power in government, the abuse of the taxing power is the most serious sin government can commit. No one will deny that the Americans are guilt}^ of committing most grievous financial offenses during the critical period of their history. They abused liberty by demanding and by exercising the rights of nationality, and at the same time by neglecting or refusing to burden themselves with the taxation necessary to support nationality. It has long been the custom to describe the American Revolution as a righteous uprising of an abused people against a cruel despot ; we were taught in school that taxation without representation was tyranny, and that our fathers fought the war out on this broad principle. Much of this assumption is true, but it is also true that the winning of American independence was not complete until Americans had adequately provided for the wants of nationality by authorizing their representatives in State Legislatures and in the Congress of the United States to support the dignity which liberty had conferred, by an adequate system of common taxation. We now consider the American Revolu- tion as the introduction to American nationality. The hard necessities which brought the Americans to a consciousness of their obligations, led to the calling of the Constitutional Convention in Phila- delphia in 1787. If the liberty of self-government was won by the war, it was secured by the Constitution ; for the first effort toward a national government, the old Confederation, utterly failed, for lack of a Supreme Legislative, a Supreme Executive, and a Supreme Judiciary. The government under the Articles of Confederation broke down wholly in its effort to collect money. This collapse of the Confederation emphasized the difference between the theory and the admin- istration of government, for the articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence emanated from two committees appointed the same day: the report of one committee was the Declaration of Independence, which was io6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. debated but little and universally adopted a few days after it was reported ; the report of the other committee, the Articles of Confederation, was debated in Congress for more than a year and in the State Legislatures for nearly five years, and when at last adopted, it was found that the Articles were wholly inadequate for the wants of the people. The reason for the different fate of these two instruments is clear ; the Declaration formulated a theory of gov- ernment, it created no officers, it called for no taxes, it stated in a pleasing form opinions common to thoughtful men in the country', it formulated a pleasing theory for the foundation of government. On the other hand the Articles attempted to provide for the administration of government, it estab- lished offices and it called for taxes, and necessarily provoked support and hostility ; for while men might agree as to the common theory of government in America, they speedily fell to differing about the methods of civil administration. The inability of the Congress of the Confederation to legislate under the provisions of the Articles compelled their amendment ; for while the exigencies of war had forced the colonies into closer union, — a " perpetual league of friend- ship," they had also learned additional lessons in the theory and administration of local government, for each of the colonies, with the exception of Connecticut and Rhode Island, had transformed colonial government into government under a constitution. The people had not looked to Congress as a central power, they considered it as a central committee of the States. The individualistic tendencies of the colonies strengthened when the colonies transformed them- selves into commonwealths. The struggle, which began between the thirteen colonies and the imperial Parliament, was now transformed into a struggle between two tendencies in America : the tendency toward sovereign commonwealths and the tendency toward nationality. The first commonwealth constitutions did not acknowledge the supreme authority of Congress ; there was yet lacking that essential bond between the people and their general government, the power of the general government to address itself directly to individuals. Interstate relations in 1787 were scarcely more perfect than they had been fifteen years before. The understanding of American affairs was more common, but intimate political association between the commonwealths was yet unknown. The liberty of nationality had not yet been won. A peculiar tendency in American affairs from their beeinnine is seen in the succession of written constitutions, instru- ments peculiar to America. The commonwealths of the old Confederation demonstrated the necessity for a clearer definition of their relations to each other and of the association of the American people in nationality. A sense of the necessity for commercial integrit^f led to the calling of the Philadelphia Convention to amend the old Articles, but when the Convention assembled it was found that an adequate solution of the large problem ol STRUGGLE BETWEEN NATIONAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS. 107 nationality compelled the abandonment of the idea of amending the Articles and the formulation of a new constitution. As the Convention proceeded to frame the Supreme Law of the land, it moved in accord with the whole tendency of American affairs, establishing a National Government upon the representative idea, organizing a tripartite government, a Supreme Executive, a Supreme Legislative, and a Supreme Judiciary. In the organization of the legislative department the representative idea was expressed in the Congress ; the Upper House of which represented the commonwealths as corporations ; the Lower House representing the people as individuals. Liberty in America received a more perfect definition in this arrangement ; for had representation been based wholly on that which created the Senate or on that which created the House of Representatives, representation would not have been equitable. But the equities of representation were preserved by establishing two houses. In creating two houses, however, the peculiar power of the lower branch of the colonial Legislatures was con- tinued by giving to the national House of Representatives the sole power " to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, and to pay the debt, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States." The complaint against the tea tax can never be raised against any tax levied by Congress, for the members of the House of Representatives are elected directly by the taxpayers, and the right of individual representation was forever secured. Not only does the National Constitution guarantee this individual immu- nity, — the right of representation, but it also guarantees all the civil rights now known to civilized society. The " rights of man " so frequently on the^ips of Americans of the Revolutionary period are defined in our National Constitution, particularly in the amendments which forever warrant to the citizens of the United States all that range of constitutional liberty which assures the largest definition of civil life. Freedom of speech and of conscience, the right of jury trial, exemption from unreasonable searches and seizures, the reservation to the people of all powers not delegated by them, the sovereignty of freedom as universally declared in the abolition of slavery, and the exercise of the franchise, show how the definition of liberty has become more and more perfect in the United States during the century. But the people who were capable of receiving a National Constitution like our own would not long endure the constitutions of commonwealths which fixed unreasonable limits on the rights of citizens. The first State consti- tutions were less liberal in their provisions than the National Constitution ; nearly all of them limited the electorate in the commonwealth to a small body whose holdincr of real estate and whose religious notions were in accord with the conserv^ative ideas of the colonial time. At the time of the making of the National Constitution, the property required of an elector varied in the dif- io8 THE STORY OF AMERICA. ferent commonwealths. In New Jersey he must have property to the value of fifty pounds, in Maryland and the Carolinas an estate of fifty acres, in Delaware a freehold estate of known value, in Georgia an estate of ten dollars or follow a mechanic trade ; in New York, would he vote for a member of Assembly he must possess a freehold estate of twenty pounds, and if he would vote for State Senator, it must be a hundred. Massachusetts required an elector to own a freehold estate worth sixty pounds or to possess an annual income of three pounds. Connecticut was satisfied that his estate was of the yearly value of seven dollars, and Rhode Island required him to own the value of one hundred and thirty-four dollars in land. Pennsylvania required him to be a freeholder, but New Hampshire and Vermont were satisfied with the payment of a poll-tax. The number of electors was still further affected by the religious opinions required of them. In New Jersey, in New Hampshire, in Vermont, in Connecticut, and in South Carolina, no Roman Catholic could vote ; Maryland and Massa- chusetts allowed "those of the Christian religion" to exercise the franchise, but the "Christian religion" in Massachusetts was of the Congregational Church. North Carolina required her electors to believe in the divine authority of the Scriptures ; Delaware was satisfied with a belief in the Trinity and in the inspiration of the Bible ; Pennsylvania allowed those, otherwise qualified, to vote who believed " in one God, in the reward of good, and the punishment of evil, and in the inspiration of the Scriptures." In New York, in Virginia, in Georgia, and in Rhode Island, the Protestant faith was predominant, but a Roman Catholic, if a male resident, of the age of twenty-one years or over, could vote in Rhode Island. The property qualifications which limited the number of electors were higher for those who sought office. Would a man be governor of New Jersey or of South Carolina, his real and personal property must amount to ten thou- sand dollars ; in North Carolina to one thousand pounds ; in Georgia an estate of two hundred and fifty pounds or of two hundred and fifty acres of land ; in New Hamsphire of five hundred pounds ; in Maryland of ten times as much, of which a thousand pounds must be of land ; in Delaware he must own real estate ; in New York it must be worth a hundred pounds ; in Rhode Island, one hundred and thirty-four dollars ; and in Massachusetts a thousand pounds. Connecticut required her candidate for governor to be qualified as an elector, as did New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In all the com- monwealths the candidate for office must possess the religious qualifications required of electors. From these thinofs it followed that the suffrao-e in the United States was limited when, after the winning of American Independence, the Constitution of the United States was framed and the commonwealths had adopted their first THE STORY OF AMERICA. i09 constitutions of government. It may be said that in 1787 the country was bankrupt, America was without credit, and that of a population of three million souls, who, by our present ratio, would represent six hundred thousand voters, less than one hundred and fifty thousand possessed the right to vote. African slavery and property qualifications excluded above four hundred thousand men from the exercise of the franchise. It is evident then, at the time when American liberty was won, American liberty had only begun ; the offices of the country were in the possession of the few, scarcely any provision existed for common education, the roads of the country may be described as impassable, the means for transportation, trade, and commerce were feeble. If the struggle for liberty in America was not to be in vain, the people of the United States must address themselves directly to the payment of their debts, to the enlarge- ment of the franchise, to improvements in transportation, and to the creation, organization, and support of a national system of common taxation. It is these great changes which constitute the history of this country during the present century. By 1830 the people had moved westward, passing over the Appalachian mountains whose forests had so long retarded the movements of population, and having reached the eastern edge of the great central prairie, they rapidly spread over the Northwest Territory, successively founding the five great com- monwealths which were created north of the river Ohio. This vast migration of not less than five millions of people carried westward the New England idea of government modified by the ideas prevailing in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, and in New York. Along the highway which extends from Boston to Chicago sprang up a cordon of thriving towns which have since become prosperous cities. The school-house, the church, and the printing-press were at the foundation of the civil structure. The forests of western New York, in the first decade of the century, were burned in order to clear the land, and from the ashes were made the pearlash or " salts," which, after great labor, were delivered in Canada or at Pittsburgh, and the silver money in payment was returned as taxes and for payment of the homestead. A generation later and the pine forests of New York were no longer burned, but among them were built innumerable mills which speedily transformed them into lumber which, floated down the Genesee, found an outlet In the Erie Canal, and a market in New York. The great canal of 1826 be^ tween Albany and Buffalo brought the Northwest to the market of the Atlantic Seaboard, and raised the value of land, of labor, and of all productions through- out the northern States. By this time too the children of the Old Dominion had passed over the mountains and had located plantations in Kentucky and in Missouri, and the territory south of the river Ohio had become a region of prosperous communities. no SUFFRAGE QUALIFICATION. About the time of the building of the Erie Canal, property qualifications had disappeared from nearly all the American commonwealths. It was in 1829, in the Convention of Virginia, called to frame a new Constitution for the people THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IN NEW YORK HARBOR. {Presented to the United States by Barthotdi.) of that commonwealth, that one of the last debates in America discussed the retention of the property qualification. It was said in that Convention, by President Monroe, " My object is to confine the elective franchise to an interest in land : to some interest of moderate value in the territory of the Common- THE STORY OF AMERICA. "i wealth. What is our country ? Is it anything more than our territory ; and why are we attached to it ? Is it not the effect of our residence in it, either as the land of our nativity or the country of our choice, our adopted country ; and of our attachment to its institutions ? And what excites and is the best evidence of such attachment ? Some hold in the territory, which is some interest in the soil, something that we own, not as passengers or voyagers who have no prop erty in the State and nothing to bind them to it ; the object is to give firmness and permanency to our attachment, and these (the property qualification) are the best means by which it may be accomplished." The conservative opinions of the distinguished Monroe were supported by the Convention and the Constitution framed for Virginia at that time required of the elector that he should be a white male citizen of the Common- wealth, twenty-one years of age and upward, and possess "an estate of freehold in land of the value of twenty-five dollars." By the middle of the century public opinion had changed the provisions in the State Constitutions and abolished the property qualification of the elector : this limitation on citizenship disappeared about thirty years after the disappear- ance of the religious qualifications. From the introduction of government into the colonies these two qualifications had been intimately associated together. But liberty was not complete so long as the right to vote was limited to "free male white citizens." The history of the winning of universal suffrage is the history of the United States till the thirtieth of March, 1870, when the right of citizens of the United States to vote, a right that cannot be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was proclaimed in force by Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State in the administration of President Grant. With this provision inserted in the Constitution of the United States, all commonwealth constitutions at once, as subordinate to the Supreme Law of the land, were made to conform, and although the National Constitution did not give the right to vote, it led practically to the admission of male persons of any race or color or from a previous condition of servitude to the body of the American electorate. Universal suffrage, against which' earnest patriots like Monroe had at one time raised their voices, at last became the common condition of American political life. The struggle for liberty of 1776 was not ended as an effort to realize the "political rights of man " until 1870. Within recent years the Union has become a Union of forty-four States. The stream of population which has developed this Union has moved in three great currents. The northern current is from New England, New York, and Pennsyl- vania, along the line of the forty-second parallel. In the early years of the century this course was a convergence of smaller streams from various parts of New England at Albany, thence westward along the bridle path to Utica, Syracuse, 112 WESTWARD STREAM OF POPULATION. Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, and Chicago. The " main road " from Boston to Chicago is the original line of this current, which by reason of the increase in travel and transportation has been paralleled successively by the Erie Canal, by sail-boat and steam-boat lines on the Great Lakes, and later by several railroad lines ; the New York Central, the West Shore, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the Canada Southern, and their connecting lines at Chicago, with the Trunk lines of the Northwest, have given to the entire northern half of the United States a uniform and distinct character in their customs and laws. The width of this northern stream is plainly marked by the northern boundary of the United States, and by the varying line of settlements on the southern edge, of which the principal are from Trenton, New Jersey, to Franklin in Pennsylvania ; Columbus, Ohio ; Indianapolis, Indiana ; Springfield, Illinois ; the southern boundary of Iowa, Kansas City, and thence westward in scattered settlements, including a portion of northern California, northern Oregon, and northern Washington. All the States within this area have been settled by people from the older eastern States, especially from New England, New York, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The second current of population, which may be called the Virginia current, moved westward and southwestward over the area extending from the Potomac river and the northern boundary of North Carolina on the east, and widening as it coursed westward to the Ohio river on the north, including the State of Missouri, the southern portion of Kansas and Colorado, and thence to the Pacific, excluding the greater part of northern California. The southern boundary of this stream extended from the Carolinas southwestward, but in- cluded the greater part of Georgia, Alabama, and the States and Territories directly west of the eighty-third meridian (Pittsburg) and from the thirty-first to the forty-first parallel. Within this area the States as settled have con- tributed to the population of the States immediately west of them, imparting uniformity to the government and institutions of the States and Territories within this zone of settlements. The third and more recent line of movement has been along the Atlantic seaboard, beginning at various ports on that hne, but especially at ports re- ceiving large numbers of immigrants ; continuing from town to town along that line from Portland Maine, to New Orleans and the eastern towns of Florida, and also Galveston and Austin, Texas, and thence westward into the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, into southern California, and thence northwest ward into Oreeon, Washingfton and Montana. This line of the movement of population has been marked since 1865 and has been Intensified and widened by the rapid construction of railroads. Along the northern or New England line of settlements have also moved the millions of immigrants from European countries in the corresponding latitude: THE STORY OF AMERICA. "3 from Germany, from Scandinavia, from Austria, from Russia, and from the British Isles. Along the middle or Virginia line moved a native population, chiefly from the older southern States, which spent its force at the foot of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. The Virginia stream has been second in size to that of New England. The recent coast stream has combined Northern and Southern and foreign elements, and reaching Washington and Montana by a backward flow, it presents for the first time in our national history a meeting of northern and of southern elements north of the latitude of Kansas. With the westward movements of the millions of human beings who have occupied the North American continent have gone the institutions and constitu- tions of the east, modified in their journey westward by the varying conditions of the life of the people. The brief constitutions of 1776 have developed into extraordinary length by successive changes and additions made by the more than seventy Constitutional Conventions which have been held west of the original thirteen States. These later constitutions resemble elaborate legal codes rather than brief statements of the fundamental ideas of government. But these constitutions, of which those of the Dakotas and of Montana and Washingrton are a type, express very clearly the opinions of the American people in govern- ment at the present time. The earnest desire shown in them for an accurate definition of the theory and the administration of government proves how anxiously the people of this country at all times consider the interpretation of their liberties, and with what hesitation, it may be said, they delegate their powers in government to Legislatures, to Judges, and to Governors. The struggle for liberty will never cease, for with the progress of civilization new definitions of the wants of the people are constantly forming in the mind. The whole movement of the American people in government, from the simple beginnings of representative government in Virginia, when the little Parliament was calle4, to the present time, when nationality is enthroned and mighty Com- monwealths are become the component parts of the "more perfect union," has been toward the slow but constant realization of the rights and liberties of the people. Education, for which no Commonwealth made adequate provision a century ago, is now the first care of the State. Easy and rapid transportation, wholly unknown to our fathers, is now a necessary condition of daily life. Trade has so prospered that "in the year 1891 the loan and trust corApanies, the State savings and private banks loaned in personal securities alone two bill, ions and sixty millions of dollars," and the accumulated wealth of the country is sixty billions of dollars. Newspapers, magazines, books and pamphlets are now so numerous as to make it impossible to contain them all in one library, and the American people have become the largest class of readers in the world. A century ago there were but six cities of more than eight thousand 8 114 MATERIAL GROWTH. people in this country ; the number is now four hundred and forty-three. Three millions of people have become seventy millions. The area of the original United States has expanded from eight hundred and thirty thousand square miles to four times that area. With expansion and growth and the ameliora- tion in the conditions of life, the earnest problems of government have been brought home to the people by the leaders in the State, by the clergy, by the teachers in schools and colleges, and by the press. But though we may be proud of these conquests, we are compelled in our last analysis of our institutions to return to a few fundamental notions of our government. We must continue the representative idea based upon the doc- trine of the equality of rights and exercised by representative assemblies founded on popular elections ; and after our most pleasing contemplation of the institutions of America, we must return to the people, the foundation of our government. Their wisdom and self-control, and these alone, will impart to our institutions that strength which insures their perpetuity. Francis Nfwton Thorpe- A PALM GROVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. CHAPTER VI. THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, OR THE "WAR OE 1812. Y their first war with Great Britain our forefathers asserted and maintained their right to independent national existence; by their second war with Great Britain, they claimed and obtained equal consideration in international affairs. The War of i8ia was not based on a single cause ; it was rather undertaken from mixed motives, — partly political, partly commercial, partly pa- triotic. It was always unpopular with a great number of the American people ; it was far from logical in some of its posi- tions ; it was perhaps precipitated by party clamor. But, despite all these facts, it remains true that this war established once for all the position of the United States as an equal power among the powers. Above all — clearing away the petty political and partisan aspects of the struggle — we find that in it the United States stood for a strong, sound, and universally beneficial principle — that of the rights of neutral nations in time of war. "Free ships make free goods" is a maxim of international law now universally recognized, but at the opening of the century it was a theory, supported, indeed, by good reasoning, but practically disregarded by the most powerful nations. It was almost solely to the stand taken by the United States in 1812 that the final settlement of the disputed principle was due. The cause of the War of 181 2 which appealed most strongly to the patriotic feelings of the common people, though, perhaps, not in itself so intrinsically im- portant as that just referred to, was unquestionably the impressment by Great Britain of sailors from American ships. No doubt great numbers of English sailors did desert from their naval vessels and take refuge in the easier service and better treatment of the American merchant ships. Great Britain was strain- ing every nerve to strengthen her already powerful navy, and the press-gang was constantly at work in English sea-ports. Once on board a British man-of- war, the impressed sailor was subject to overwork, bad rations, and the lash. That British sailors fought as gallantly as they did under this regime will always remain a wonder. But it is certain that they deserted in considerable numbers "5 ii6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. and that they found in the rapidly-growing commercial prosperity of our carry- ing trade a tempting chance of employment. Now, Great Britain, with a large contempt for the naval weakness of the United States, assumed, rather than claimed, the right to stop our merchant vessels on the high seas, to examine the crews, and to claim as her own any British sailors among them. This was bad enough in itself, but the way in which the search was carried out was worse. Every form of insolence and overbearing was exhibited. The pretense of claim ingf British deserters covered what was sometimes barefaced and outrageous kidnaping of Americans. The British officers went so far as to lay the burden of proof of nationality in each case upon the sailor himself; if he were without papers proving his identity he was at once assumed to be a British subject. To such an extent was this insult to our flag carried that our Government had the record of about forty-five hundred cases of impressment from our ships between the years of 1803 and 18 10; and when the War of 181 2 broke out the number of American sailors serving against their will in British war vessels was variously computed to be from six to fourteen thousand. It is even recorded that in some cases American ships were obliged to return home in the middle of their voyages because their crews had been so diminished in number by the seizures made by British officers that they were too short-handed to proceed. In not a few cases these depredations led to bloodshed. The greatest outrage of all, and one which stirred the blood of Americans to the fighting point, was the capture of an Ameri- can war vessel, the "Chesapeake," by the British man-of-war, the "Leopard." The latter was by far the more powerful vessel, and the "Chesapeake" was quite unprepared for action ; nevertheless, her commander refused to accede to a demand that his crew be overhauled in search for British deserters. Thereupon the "Leopard" poured broadside after broadside into her until the flag was struck. Three Americans were killed and eighteen wounded ; four were taken away as alleged deserters ; of these, three were afterwards returned, while in one case the charge was satisfactorily proved and the man was hanged. The whole affair was without the slightest justification under the law of nations and was in itself ample ground for war. Great Britain, however, in a q.uite ungrace- ful and tardy way, apologized and offered reparation. This incident took place si.x years before the actual declaration of war. But the outrage rankled all that time, and nothing did more to fan the anti-British feeling which was already so strong in the rank and file, especially in the Democratic (or, as it was often called then, Republican) party. It was such deeds as this that led Henry Clay to exclaim, "Not content with seizing upon all our property which falls within her rapacious grasp, the personal rights of our countrymen — rights which must forever be sacred — are trampled on and violated by the impressment of our seamen. What are we to gain by war? What are we not to lose by peace .■* Commerce, character, a nation's best treasure, honor ! " "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP' These were ihe lasi words .pf Captain James Lawrence, who was mortally wounded in theeneagemeiU between the American ship Chesapeake^ and the British ship Shannon, War of 1812. "PAPER BLOCKADES." 117 The attack on American commerce was also a serious danger to peace. In the early years of the century Great Britain was at war not only with France, but with other European countries. Both Great Britain and France adopted in practice the most extreme theories of non-intercourse between neutral and hostile nations. It was the era of "paper blockades." In 1806 England, for instance, declared that eight hundred miles of the European coast were to be VIEW OF .\ COTTON-CHUTE. considered blockaded, whereupon Napoleon, not to be outdone, declared the entire Islands of Great Britain to be under blockade. Up to a certain point the interruption of the neutral trade relations between the countries of Europe was to the commercial advantage of America. Our carrying trade grew and pros- pered wonderfully. Much of this trade consisted in taking goods from the colo- nies of European nations, bringing them to the United States, then trans-ship- pino- them and conveying them to the parent nation. This was allowable under li8 THE STORY OF AMERICA. the international law of the time, although the direct carrying of goods by the neutral ship from the colony to the parent nation (the latter, of course, being at war) was forbidden. But by her famous " Orders in Council " Great Britain ab- solutely forbade this system of trans-shipment as to nations with whom she was at war. American vessels engaged in this form of trade were seized and con- demned by English prize cojrts. Naturally, France followed Great Britain's example and even went further. Our merchants, who had actually been earning 'double freights under the old system, now found that their commerce was wofully restricted. At first it was thought that the unfair restriction might be punished by retaliatory measures, and a quite illogical analogy was drawn from the effect produced on Great Britain before the Revolution by the refusal of the colonies to receive goods on which a tax had been imposed. So President Jefferson's Administration resorted to the most unwise measure that could be thought of — an absolute embargo on our own ships. This measure was passed in 1807, and its immediate result was to reduce the exports of the country from nearly fifty million dollars' worth to nine million dollars' worth in a single year. This was evidently anything but profitable, and the act was changed so as to forbid only commercial intercourse with Great Britain and France and their colonies, with a proviso that the law should be abandoned as regards either of these countries which should repeal its objectionable decrees. The French Government moved in the matter first, but only conditionally. Our non-intercourse act, however, was after 18 10 in force only against Great Britain. That our claims of wrong were equally or nearly equally as great against France in this matter cannot be doubted. But the popular feeling was stronger against Great Britain ; a war with England was popular with the mass of the Democrats ; and it was the refusal of England to finally accept our conditions which led to the declaration of war. By a curious chain of circumstances it happened, however, that between the time when Congress declared war (June 18, 181 2) and the date when the news of this declaration was received in England, the latter country had already revoked her famous "orders in council." In point of fact, President Madison was very reluctant to declare war, though the ' Federalists always took great pleasure in speaking of this as " Mr. Madison's war." The Federalists through- out considered the war unnecessary and the result of partisan feeling and un- reasonable prejudice. It is peculiarly grateful to American pride that this war, undertaken in defense of our maritime interests and to uphold the honor of our flag upon the high seas, resulted in a series of naval victories brilliant in the extreme. It was not, indeed, at first thought that this would be chiefly a naval war. Presi- dent Madison was at one time greatly inclined to keep stricdy in port our war vessels ; but, happily, other counsels prevailed. The disparity between the Amer- ican and British navies was certainly disheartening. The United States had OUR NAVAL GLORY LN THLS WAR. 119 seven or eight frigates and a few sloops, brigs, and gunboats, while the sails of England's navy whitened every sea, and her ships certainly outnumbered ours by fifty to one. On the other hand, her hands were tied to a great extent by the European wars of magnitude in which she was involved. She had to defend her commerce from formidable enemies in many seas, and could give but a small part of her naval strength to the new foe. That this new foe was despised by LOADING A COTTON STEAMER. the great power which claimed, not without reason, to be the mistress of the seas was not unnatural. But soon we find a lament raised in Parliament about the reverses, " which English officers and English sailors had not before been used to, and that from such a contemptible navy as that of America had always been held." The fact is that the restriction of our commerce had made it possible for our navy officers to take their pick of a remarkably fine body of native American seamen, naturally brave and intelligent, and thoroughly well trained in all sea- I20 THE STORY OF AMERICA. manlike experiences. These men were in many instances filled with a spirit of resentment at British insolence, having either themselves been the victims of the aggressions which we have described, or having seen their friends compelled to- submit to these insolent acts. The very smallness of our navy, too, was in a measure its strength ; the competition for active service among those bearing commissions was great, and there was never any trouble in finding officers of proved sagacity and courage. At the outset, however, the policy determined on by the Administration was not one of naval aggression. It was decided to attack England from her Canadian colonies. This plan of campaign, however reasonable it might seem to a strategist, failed wretchedly in execution. The first year of the war, so far as regards the land campaigns, showed nothing but reverses and fiascoes. There was a long and thinly settled border country, in which our slender forces struggled to hold their own against the barbarous Indian onslaughts, making futile expeditions across the border into Canada and resisting with some success the similar expeditions by the Canadian troops. It was one of the complaints which led to the war that the Indian tribes had been incited against our settlers by the Canadian authorities and had been promised aid from Canada. It is certain that after war was declared English officers not only employed Indians as their allies, but in some instances, at least, paid bounties for the scalps of American setders. The Indian war planned by Tecumseh had just been put down by General, afterward President, Harrison. No doubt Tecumseh was a man of more elevated ambition and more humane instincts than one often finds in an Indian chief His hope to unite the tribes and to drive the whites out of his country has a certain nobility of purpose and breadth of view. But this scheme had failed, and the Indian warriors, still inflamed for war, were only too eager to assist the Canadian forces in a desultory but bloody border war. The strength of our campaign against Canada was dissipated in an attempt to hold Fort Wayne, Fort Harrison, and other garrisons against Indian attacks. Still more disappointing was the complete failure of the attempt, under the command of General Hull, to advance from Detroit as an outpost, into Canada. He was easily driven back to Detroit, and when the nation was confidently waiting to hear of a bold defense of that place it was startled by the news of Hull's surrender without firing a gun, and under circumstances which seemed to indicate either cowardice or treachery. Hull was, in fact, court-martialed, condemned to death, and only pardoned on account of his services in the war of 1776. The mortification that followed the land campaign of 181 2 was forgotten in joy at the splendid naval victories of that year. Pre-eminent among these was- the famous sea-duel between the frigates " Constitution " and " Guerriere." Every one knows of the glory of " Old Ironsides," and this, though the greatest, was only one of many victories by which the name of the " Constitution " THE "CONSTITUTION" AND THE "GUERRIERE." i2r became the most famed and beloved of all that have been associated with Amer- ican ships. She was a fine frigate, carrying forty-four guns, and though English journals had ridiculed her as " a bunch of pine boards under a bit of striped ,,„.-jKsife bunting," it was not long before they i*t^ were busily engaged in trying to prove || 1^ that she was too large a vessel to be prop- erly called a frigate, and that she greatly out-classed her opponent in metal and im 339 BURNING OF WASHINGTON. men. It is true that the " Constitution " carried six more guns and a few more men than the " Guerriere," but, all allowances being made, her victory was yet a naval triumph of the first magnitude. Captain Isaac Hull, who commanded her, had just before the engage- ment proved his superior seamanship by escaping from a whole squadron of British vessels, out-sailing and out-manceuvring them at every point. It was on August 19 when he 122 THE STORY OF AMERICA. descried the " Guerriere." Both vessels at once cleared for action and came together with the greatest eagerness on both sides for the engagement. Though the battle lasted but half an hour, it was one of the hottest in naval annals. At one time the " Constitution " was on fire, and both ships were soon seriously crippled by injury to their spars. Attempts to board each other were thwarted on both sides by the close fire of small arms. Here, as in later sea- fights of this war, the accuracy and skill of the American gunners were some- thing marvelous. At the end of half an hour the " Guerriere " had lost both mainmast and foremast and floated helplessly in the open sea. Her surrender was no discredit to her officers, as she was almost in a sinking condition. It was hopeless to attempt to tow her into port, and Captain Hull transferred his prisoners to his own vessel and set fire to his prize. In the fight the American frigate had only seven men killed and an equal number wounded, while the British vessel had as many as seventy-nine men killed or wounded. The con- duct of the American seamen was throughout gallant in the highest degree. Captain Hull put it on record that " From the smallest boy in the ship to the oldest seaman not a look of fear was seen. They all went into action giving three cheers and requesting to be laid close alongside the enemy." The effect of this victory in both America and England was extraordinary. English papers long refused to believe in the possibility of the well-proved facts, while in America the whole country joined in a triumphal shout of joy, and loaded well-deserved honors on vessel, captain, officers, and men. The chagrin of the English public at the unexpected result of this sea battle was changed to amazement when one after another there followed no less than six combats of the same duel-like character, in which the American vessels were invariably victorious. The first was between our sloop, the "Wasp," and the English brig, the " Frolic," which was convoying a fleet of merchantmen. The fight was one of the most desperate in the war ; the two ships were brought so close together that their gunners could touch the sides of the opposing vessels with their rammers. Broadside after broadside was poured into the " Frolic " by the " Wasp," which obtained the superior position, but her sailors, unable to await the victory which was sure to come from the continued raking of the enemy's vessel, rushed upon her decks without orders and soon overpowered her. Again the British loss in killed and wounded was large ; that of the Ameri. cans very small. It in no wise detracted from the glory of this victory that both victor and prize were soon captured by a British man-of-war of immensely supe- rior strength. Following this action, Commodore Stephen Decatur, in our frigate, the " United States," attacked the "Macedonian," a British vessel of the same kind, and easily defeated her, bringing her into New York harbor on New Year's Day, 1 813, where he received an ovation equal to that offered Captain Hull. The same result followed the attack of the " Consdtution," now under the command OTHER SEA-DUELS. 123 of Commodore Bain- "Java;" the latter had her about one hundred wound- that it was decided to blow tion" suffered so Httle that Ironsides," a name now been in every school-boy's resulted, in the great ma- jority of cases in the same way — in all unstinted praise was awarded by the bridge, upon the English captain and fifty men killed and ed, and was left such a wreck her up, while the " Constitu- she was in sport dubbed " Old ennobled by a poem which has moiith. Other naval combats whole world, even including England herself, to the admira- ble seamanship, the wonderful gunnery, and the constant per- sonal intrepitude of our naval forces. When the second year of the war closed our little navy 124 THE STORY OF AMERICA. had captured twenty-six war-ships, armed with 560 guns, while it had lost only seven ships, carrjqng 1 19 guns. But, if the highest honors of the war were thus won by our navy, the most serious injury materially to Great Britain was in the devastation of her commerce by American privateers. No less than two hundred and fifty of these sea guerrillas were afloat, and in the first year of the war they captured over three hundred merchant vessels, .sometimes even attacking and overcoming the smaller class of war-ships. The privateers were usually schooners armed with a few small guns, but carrying one long cannon mounted on a swivel so that it could be turned to any point of the horizon, and familiarly known as Long Tom. Of course, the crews were influenced by greed as well as by patriotism. Privateering is a somewhat doubtful mode of warfare at the best ; but international law permits it ; and though it is hard to dissociate from it a certain odor, as of legalized piracy, it is legitimate to this day. And surely if it were ever justifiable it was at that time. As Jefferson said, there were then tens of thousands of seamen forced by war from their natural means of support and useless to their country in any other way, while by " licensing private armed vessels the whole naval force of the nation was truly brought to bear on the foe." The havoc wrought on British trade was widespread indeed ; altogether between fifteen hundred and two thousand prizes were taken by the privateers. To compute the value of these prizes is impossible, but some idea may be gained from the single fact that one privateer, the " Yankee," in a cruise of less than two months captured five brigs and four schooners with cargoes valued at over half a million dollars. The men engaged in this form of warfare were bold to recklessness, and their exploits have furnished many a tale to Ameri- can writers of romance. The naval combats thus far mentioned were almost always of single vessels. For battles of fleets we must turn from the salt water to the fresh, from the ocean to the great lakes. The control of the waters of Lake Erie, Lake Onta- rio, and Lake Champlain was obviously of vast importance, in view of the con- tinued land-fighting in the West and of the attempted invasion of Canada and the threatened counter-invasions. The British had the great advantage of being able to reach the lakes by the St. Lawrence, while our lake navies had to be con- structed after the war began. One such little navy had been built at Presque Isle, now Erie, on Lake, Erie. It comprised two brigs of twenty guns and sev- eral schooners and gunboats. It must be remembered that everything but the lumber needed for the vessels had to be brought through the forests by land from the eastern seaports, and the mere problem of transportation was a serious one. When finished, the fleet was put in command of Oliver Hazard Perry, Watching his time (and, it is said, taking advantage of the carelessness of the I I Ilr..iv.i by H. A. (Jgdrii. BATTLE OF RESACA DE LA PALMA, MAY 9, 1846 (General Zacbarv Taylor, with an army of 2,000 men. defeated liie Mexican General Arista, with 5,0t)0 men. PERRY'S GREAT VICTORY. 125 British commander in going on shore to dinner one Sunday, when he should have been watching Perry's movements), the American commander drew his fleet over the bar which had protected it while in harbor from the onslaughts of the British fleet. To get the brigs over this bar was a work of time and great difficulty; an attack at that hour by the British would certainly have ended in the total destruction of the fleet. Once accomplished, Perry, in his flagship, the " Lawrence," headed a fleet of ten vessels, fifty-five guns, and four hundred men. Opposed to him was Captain Barclay .with six ships, sixty-five guns, and also VIEW ON LAKE ONTARIO. about four hundred men. The British for several weeks avoided the conflict, but in the end were cornered and forced to fight. It was at the beginning of this battle that Perry displayed the flag bearing Lawrence's famous dying words, " Don't give up the ship ! " No less famous is his dispatch announcing the result in the words, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." The victory was indeed a complete and decisive one ; all six of the enemy's ships were captured, and their loss was nearly double that of Perry's forces. The complete control of Lake Erie was assured ; that of Lake Ontario had already been gained by Commodore Chauncey. 126 THE STORY OF AMERICA. Perry's memorable victory opened the way for important land operations by General Harrison, who now marched from Detroit with the design of invading Canada. He engaged with Proctor's mingled body of British troops and Indians, and by the Battle of the Thames drove back the British from that part of Canada and restored matters to the position in which they stood before Hull's deplorable surrender of Detroit — and, indeed, of all Michigan — to the British. In this battle of the Thames the Indian chief, Tecumseh, fell, and about three hundred of the British and Indians were killed on the field. The hold of our enemies on the Indian tribes was greatly broken by this defeat. Previous to this the land cam- paigns had been marked by a succession of minor victories and defeats. In the West a force of Americans under General Winchester had been captured at the River Raisin ; and there took place an atrocious massacre of large numbers of prisoners by the Indians, who were quite beyond restraint from their white allies. On the other hand, the Americans had captured the city of York, now Toronto, though at the cost of their leader, General Pike, who, with two hundred of his men, was destroyed by the explosion of a magazine. Fort George had also been captured by the Americans and an attack on Sackett's Harbor had been gal- lantly repulsed. Following the battle of the Thames, extensive operations of an aggressive kind had been planned looking toward the capture of Montreal and the invasion of Canada by way of Lakes Ontario and Champlain. Un- happily, jealousy between the American Generals Wilkinson and Hampton resulted in a lack of concert in their military operations, and the expedition was a complete fiasco. One turns for consolation from the mortifying record of Wilkinson's ex- pedition to the story of the continuous successes which had accompanied the naval operations of 1813. Captain Lawrence, in the "Hornet," won a complete victory over the English brig " Peacock ;" our brig, the " Enterprise," captured the "Boxer," and other equally welcome victories were reported. One distinct defeat had marred the record — that of our fine brig, the "Chesapeake," com- manded by Captain Lawrence, which had been captured after one of the most hard-fought contests of the war by the British brig, the " Shannon." Lawrence himself fell mortally wounded, exclaiming as he was carried away, "Tell the men not to give up the ship but fight her till she sinks." It was a paraphrase of this exclamation which Perry used as a rallymg signal in the battle on Lake Erie, Despite his one defeat. Captain Lawrence's fame as a gallant seaman and high- minded patriot was untarnished, and his death was more deplored throughout the country than was the loss of his ship. In the latter part of the war England was enabled to send large reinforce- ments both to her army and navy engaged in the American campaigns. Events in Europe seemed in 18 14 to insure peace for at least a time. Napoleon's power was broken ; the Emperor himself was exiled at Elba ; and Great Britain at last LUNDY'S LANE AND PLATTSBURG. 127 had her hands free. But before the reinforcements reached this country, our army had won greater credit and had shown more military skill by far than were evinced in its earlier operations. Along the line of the Niagara River active WEATHERSFORD AND GENERAL JACKSON. fighting had been going on. In the battle of Chippewa, the capture of Fort Erie, the engagement at Lundy's Lane, and the defense of Fort Erie the troops, under the command of Winfield Scott and General Brown, had held their own, and more, against superior forces, and had won from British officers the admission that they 128 THE STORY OF AMERICA. fought as well under fire as regular troops. More encouraging still was the total defeat of the plan of invasion from Canada undertaken by the now greatly strengthened British forces. These numbered twelve thousand men and were supported by a fleet on Lake Champlain. Their operations were directed against Plattsburg, and in the battle on the lake, usually called by the name of that town, the American flotilla under the command of Commodore Macdonough completely routed the British fleet. As a result the English army also beat a rapid and undignified retreat to Canada. This was the last important engagement to take place in the North. Meanwhile expeditions of considerable size were directed by the British against our principal Southern cities. One of these brought General Ross with five thousand men, chiefly the pick of the Duke of Wellington's army, into the Bay of Chesapeake. Nothing was more discreditable in the military strategy of our Administration than the fact that at this time Washington was left unprotected, though in evident danger. General Ross marched straight upon the Capital, easily defeated at Bladensburg an inferior force of raw militia — who yet fought with intrepidit}^ for the most part — seized the city, and carried out his intention of destroying the public buildings and a great part of the town. Most of the public archives had been removed. Ross' conduct in the burning of Washington was probably within the limits of legitimate warfare but has been condemned as semi- barbarous by many writers. The achievement gave great joy to the English papers, but was really of less importance than was supposed. Washington at that time was a straggling town of only eight thousand inhabitants ; its public buildings were not at all adequate to the demands of the future ; and an optimist might even consider the destruction of the old city as a public benefit, for it enabled Congress to adopt the plans which have since led to the making of perhaps the most beautiful city of the country. A similar attempt upon Baltimore was less successful. The people of that city made a brave defense and hastily threw up extensive fortifications. In the end the British fleet, after a severe bombardment of Fort McHenry, were driven off. The British Admiral had boasted that Fort McHenry would yield in a few hours ; and two days after, when its flag was still flying, Francis S. Key was in- spired by its sight to compose the "Star Spangled Banner." A still larger expedition of British troops landed on the Louisiana coast and marched to the attack of New Orleans. Here General Andrew Jackson was in command. He had already distinguished himself in this war by putting down with a strong hand the hostile Creek Indians of the then Spanish territory of Florida, who had been incited by English envoys to warfare against our Southern settlers; and in April, 1814, William Weathersford, the half-breed chief, had surrendered in person to Jackson (see illustration). General Packenham, who commanded the five thousand British soldiers sent against THE HARTFORD CONVENTION. 120 New Orleans, expected as easy a victory as that of General Ross at Washington, But Jackson had summoned to his aid the stalwart frontiersmen of Kentucky and Tennessee — men used from boyhood to the rifle, and who made up what was in effect a splendid force of sharp-shooters. Both armies threw up rough fortifications ; General Jackson madp great use for that purpose of cotton bales, Packenham employing the still less solid material of sugar barrels. Oddly enough, the final battle, and really the most important of the war, took place after the treaty of peace between the two countries had already been signed. The British were repulsed again and again in persistent and gallant attacks on our fortifications. General Packenham himself was killed, together with many officers and seven hundred of his men. One British officer pushed to the top of our earthworks and demanded their surrender, whereupon he was smilingly asked to look behind him, and turning saw, as he afterward said, that the men he supposed to be supporting him " had vanished as if the earth had swallowed them up." The American losses were inconsiderable. The treaty of peace, signed at Ghent, December 24, 18 14, has been ridiculed because it contained no positive agreement as to many of the questions in dis- pute. Not a word did it say about the impressment of American sailors or the rights of neutral ships. Its chief stipulations were the mutual restoration of ter- ritory and the appointing of a commission to determine our northern boundary line. The truth is that both nations were tired of the war; the circumstances that had led to Ensfland's asfgfressions no lonofer existed ; both countries were suffering enormous commercial loss to no avail ; and, above all, the United States had emphatically justified by its deeds its claim to an equal place in the council of nations. Politically and materially, further warfare was illogical. If the two nations had understood each other better in the first place ; if Great Britain had treated our demands with courtesy and justice instead of insolence ; if, in short, international comit)' had taken the place of international ill-temper, the war might have been avoided altogether. Its undoubted benefits to us were incidental rather than direct. But though not formally recognized by treaty, the rights of American seamen and of American ships were in fact no longer infringed upon by Great Britain. One political outcome of the war must not be overlooked. The New Eng- land Federalists had opposed it from the beginning, had naturally fretted at their loss of commerce^ and had bitterly upbraided the Democratic administration for currying popularity by a war carried on mainly at New England's expense. When in the latter days of the war New England ports were closed, Stonington bombarded, Castine in Maine seized, and serious depredations threatened every- where along the northeastern coast, the Federalists complained that the adminis- tration taxed them for the war but did not protect them. The outcome of all this discontent was the Hartford Convention. In point of fact it was a quite 9 I30 THE STORY OF AMERICA. harmless conference which proposed some constitutional amendments, protested against too great centralization of power, and urged the desirability of peace with honor. But the most absurd rumors were prevalent about its intentions ; a regi- ment of troops was actually sent to Hartford to anticipate treasonable outbreaks ; and for many years good Democrats religiously believed that there had been a plot to set up a monarchy in New England with the Duke of Kent as king. Harmless as it was, the Hartford Convention proved the death of the Federalist party. Its mild debates were distorted into secret conclaves plotting treason, and, though the news of peace followed close upon it, the Convention was long an object of opprobrium and a political bugbear. I A I'LANTtR S HOUSE IN GEORGIA. CHAPTER VII. THE STORY OK THE CIVIL WAR. IT would be a mistake to suppose that secession sentiments originated and were exclusively maintained in the Southern States. Ideas of State sovereignty and of the consequent right of a State to withdraw from the Union, or at least to resist the acts and laws of Congress on adequate occasion, were held by many states- men in the North as well as in the South. Thus the " Essex Junto," which had openly advocated a dis- solution of the Union and the for- mation of an Eastern Confederacy, were foremost in assembling a con- vention of the Federalists on De- cember 15, 1 81 4, at Hartford, Con- necticut, at which resolutions were passed recommending the State Legislatures to resist Congress in conscripting soldiers for carrying on the war then being waged against England. Threats of disunion were again heard in 182 1, but this time from the South, in case Missouri should be denied admission to the Union on account of her unwillingness to surrender the institution of slavery. Once more, in 1832, a South Carolina convention proceeded to declare the tariff of the United States null and void within her own borders ; but, owing to the decisive action of President Jackson, the State authorities did not venture into an actual collision with Congress. But the agitation in favor of disunion reached culmination under the aggressive efforts by the South to extend slavery into new Territories, and the determination by the North to confine it strictly within the States where it already existed. With the formation of anti-slavery societies in the North, the 131 A SKIRMISHER. 132 THE STORY OF AMERICA. nomination of anti-slavery candidates for the Presidency from 1840 onward, the passage of the "Wilmot Proviso" in 1846, the repeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854, the Dred-Scott decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1857, the adoption of the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas in 1859, and the raid by John Brown at Harper's Ferry in 1859, it became painfully evident that Mr. Seward's prediction of an "irrepressible conflict" between the North and South on the subject of slavery was becoming, had already become, a reality. As to John Brown's raid we liave only to recount that on the i6th of Octo- ber, 1859, he took an armed force to Harper's Ferry, capturing the arsenal and armory and killing the men on guard. He was then endeavoring to secure arms for operating against the South. He was, however, captured and executed December 2, 1859. The expedition, it is unnecessary to say, was foolhardy and wholly without justification, and Brown paid for his misguided zeal with his life. But it must be said of him that he was conscientious, and that by his reckless daring he helped to crystallize sentiment on both sides of the slavery question. The election in i860 of Abraham Lincoln as President, on the platform of resistance to all further extension of slavery, was the signal for the previous disunion oratory and menaces to crystallize themselves into action. Seven States, in the following order, viz. : South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, seceded, and by a Congress held at Montgomery, Ala., February 4, 1861, formed a Confederacy with* Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, as President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, as Vice- President. The reasons avowed for this perilous course were, "the refusal of fifteen of the States for years past to fulfill their constitutional obligations, and the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." After Mr. Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, the Confederacy was increased by the addition of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee ; Kentucky and Missouri, being divided in opinion, had representatives and armies in both sections. The eleven "Confederate States of America" took from the Union nearly one-half of its inhabited area, and a population of between five and six millions of whites and about four millions of slaves. Their entire force capable of active service numbered 600,000 men. The twenty-four States remaining loyal to the Union had a population of 20,000,000, and the army at the close of the war numbered 1,050,000 ; but as the majority of these were scattered on guard duty over a vast region, only 262,000 were in fighting activity. Whilst the North was more rich and powerful, it was, nevertheless, more inclined to peace. The South was of a military spirit, accustomed to weapons, and altogether eager for Drawn bv J. Sieepie Davis. GENERAL LEE'S INVASION OF THE NORTH General Lee's first invasion was brought to a disastrous end by the Battle of Anlietam. September 17, 1862. The second invasion ended with greater disaster at Gettysburg, July 1-3, 18ti3. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 133 the fray. The soldiers of both sides were equally brave, resolute, heroic, and devoted to what they respectively deemed a patriotic cause. The Confederates had the advantage in the outset, because Mr. Floyd, the Secretary of War under President Buchanan, had dispersed the regular army, com- prising 16,402 officers and men, to distant parts of the country where they were not available, and had sent off the vessels of the navy to foreign stations. Many of the old army offi- cers had passed over to the ate service, and vast quantities pons and ammunition had been ed from Northern to -^ . arsenals now in pos- ■ ''^ the seceded States, the army at Indian- been surrendered on %> ^Vc THE ARTS OF PEACE AND THE ART OF WAR, Confeder- of wea- transferr- Southern session of A part of ola had February 18, 1861, bj' General Twiggs, to the Confederates, and other soldiers guarding our Mexi- can and Indian fron- tiers were captured, besides several na- tional vessels and fortresses. The South was, in short, much better prepared for the great conflict, and during the first year the preponderance of success was in its favor. The Confederates opened the war on April 1 2, 1 86 1, by bombarding Fort Sumter, which had been occupied by Major Robert Anderson and a company of eighty men. This fort, 134 McCLELLAN. although fiercely pounded by cannon balls and shells and set on fire several times, was gallantly held for two days, when it was obliged to surrender ; but its brave defenders were allowed to march out saluting the old flag, and to depart for the North without being regarded as prisoners of war. The attack on Sumter created the wildest excitement throughout the entire land, and it opened the eyes of the North to the amazing fact of a civil war. A wave of patriotism, as mighty as it was sudden, swept over the United States. President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers for three months, and soon after another call for 64,000 men for the army and 18,000 for the navy, to serve during the war. The need for these calls was urgent enough. On April 20th the Confederates easily captured the great Norfolk Navy Yard, with three or four national vessels, including the frigate " Merri- mac," which subsequently wrought such fearful havoc at Hampton Roads, 2000 cannon, besides small arms, munitions, and stores of immense value, all of which were given up without a shot in defense. The arsenal at Harper's Ferry, with millions of dollars' worth of arms and ammunition, was also in their possession ; and before the end of April 35,000 of their soldiers were already in the field, whilst 10,000 of these were rapidly marching northward. General R. E. Lee had been appointed Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of Virginia, and the 6th Regiment of Massachusetts militia had been savagely mobbed in the streets of Baltimore whilst going to the protection of Washington. A Unionist attack on the Confederates at Big Bethel, Va., was repulsed, but the Confederates were driven out of Western Virginia by General G. B. McClellan. Then came, on July 21, the engagement at Bull Run, known also as that of Manassas Junction, one of the most significant battles of the war. General Irwin McDowell, acting under instructions of General Scott, marched against the Confederate army under General Beauregard, and in the outset met with encouraging success ; but just as the Unionists imagined the victory theirs they were vigorously pressed by reinforcements that had come hurriedly up from Winchester under the leadership of General Johnston ; and being ex- hausted from twelve hours of marching and fighting under a sultry sun, they began a retreat which was soon turned into a panic, attended with wild disorder and demoralization. Had the Confederates, among whom at the close of the day was President Davis himself only known the e.xtent of their triumph, they might have followed it and possibly have seized Washington. About 30,000 men fought on each side. The Confederate loss was 378 killed, 1489 wounded, and 30 missing. The Unionists lost 481 killed, loii wounded, and 1460 missing, with 20 cannon and large quantities of small arms. From this moment it was understood that the struggle would be terrible, and that it might be long, not to say doubtful. Congress, then in extra session, authorized the enlistment of 500,000 men and the raising of $500,000,000. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 'i5 Many of the States displayed intense patriotism, New York and Pennsylvania, for example, appropriating each $3,000,000, whilst Massachusetts and other New England States sent regiments fully equipped into the field. General McClellan was summoned to reorganize and discipline the multitudes of raw recruits that were thrown suddenly on his hands. His ability and thoroughness were of immense value in preparing them for their subsequent effective service, and he was soon after made Commander-in-chief in place of General Scott, retired. The South was also laboring with tremendous zeal and energy in the endeavor to enlist 400,000 men. FORT MOULTRIE, CHARLESTON, WITH FORT SUMTER IN THE DIST.^NCE. Early in August the death of General Nathaniel Lyon whilst attacking the Confederate General Ben. McCulloch at Wilson's Creek, and the retreat of his army, threw all Southern Missouri into the hands of the enemy. A few days after, General Buder took Forts Hatteras and Clark, with 700 prisoners, 1000 muskets, and other stores. But victories alternated, for now General Sterling Price surrounded and captured the Unionist Colonel Mulligan and his Irish brigade of 2780, at Lexington, Mo. Worse, however, than this was the near annihilation, October 21st, of a Unionist force of 1700 under General C. P. Stone and Colonel E. D. Baker at Ball's Bluff. The noble Baker and 300 of the men 136 VICTORY AND DEFEAT. were slain and over 500 taken prisoners. Ten days later Commodore S. F. Dupont, aided by General T. W. Sherman with io,ocx) men, reduced the Confederate forts on Hilton Head and Phillips' Island and seized the adjacent Sea Islands. General Fremont, unable to find and engage the Confederate General Price in the West, was relieved of his command of 30,000 men ; but General U. S. Grant, by capturing the Confederate camp at Belmont, Mo., checked the advance of General Jeff Thompson. On the next day, November 8th, occurred a memorable event which imperiled the peaceful relations between BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING. the United States and Great Britain. Captain Wilkes of the United States frigate, "San Jacinto," compelled the British mail steamer, "Trent," to give up two of her passengers, the Confederate Commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who were on their way respectively to England and France in the interest of the South. A foreign war might have resulted had not Mr. William H. Seward, the astute Secretary of State, promptly disavowed the act and returned the Commissioners to English keeping. General E. O. C. Ord, commanding the Third Pennsylvania Brigade, gained a victory on December 20th at Dranesville over the Confederate THE STORY OF AMERICA. i37 brigade of General J. E. B. Stuart, who lost 230 soldiers, and during the same month General Pope reported the capture of 2500 prisoners in Central Missouri^ with the loss of only 100 men ; but 1000 of these were taken by Colonel Jeff. C. Davis by surprising the Confederate camp at Milford. The year 1862 was marked by a series of bloody encounters. It opened with a Union army of 450,000 against a Confederate army of 350,000. The fighting began at Mill Spring, in Southern Kentucky, on January 19th, witn an assault by the Confederates led by General F. K. ZoUicoffer, acting under General G. B. Crittenden. They were routed by General George H. Thomas, ZoUicoffer being killed and Crittenden flying across the Cumberland River, leaving ten guns and 1 500 horses. This victory stirred the heart of the nation, and brought at once into brilliant prominence the great soldier and noble character whose greatnes blazed out like a sun at the close of the war. Another blow was soon struck. Brigadier General Grant, with 15,000 troops, supported by Commodore A. H. Foote with seven gunboats, reduced Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and took its commander, General L. Tilghnian, prisoner, but could not prevent the greater portion of the garrison from escaping to Fort Donelson, twelve miles to the east. This stronghold, com- manding the navigation of the Cumberland River and containing 15,000' defenders under General J. B. Floyd, was regarded as impregnable. It fell, however, on February i6th, under a combined attack of Grant and Foote, surrendering 12,000 men and 40 cannon. Generals Floyd and Buckner, with a few of their command, managed to escape across the river by night, and General N. B. Forrest, with 800 cavalry, also got away. This splendid achievement threw Nashville and all Northern Tennessee into possession of the Unionists, and caused the immediate evacuation of the Confederate camp at Bowling Green, Kentucky. In the East, about the same time. General Burnside and Commodore Goldsborough, with 1 1,500 men on 31 steamboats, captured, with a loss of 300, Roanoke Island, N. C, and 2500 Confederates. On March 14th they carried New Bern by assault, losing 600 but taking 2 steamboats, 69 cannon, and 500 prisoners ; and next they seized Fort Macon, with its garrison of 500 and stores. But the Unionist Generals Reno and Foster were repulsed, respectively, at South Mills and Goldsborough. One of the most notable of naval engagements took place on March 8th and 9th, when the Confederate ironclad, " Virginia," known better by her original name, the " Merrimac," steamed out from Norfolk attended by two gunboats. She plunged her iron ram into the Union frigate, "Cumberland," causing her to sink and to carry down part of her crew ; she blew up the " Congress," another Union frigate, destroying more than half of her crew of 434, drove the frigate " Lawrence " under the guns of Fortress Monroe, and bombarded until dusk with terrific energy, aided also by her gunboats, the "138 STORY OF THE CIVIL WAR. Union steam frigate " Minnesota," which had got aground. She seemed destined on the next day to work immeasurable and unimpeded havoc. But, providentially, during the night the Union "Monitor," looking like "a cheese box on a raft," which had been built by Captain Ericsson and was commanded with consummate skill by Lieutenant J. L. Worden, steamed into the roadstead on her trial trip from New York. When, therefore, the " Merrimac " approached for new conquests the following morning her surprise was tremendous upon meeting such a strange craft. An unwonted and dramatic naval duel now ANTIETIM BRIDGE. occurred, from which the Confederate ram retired badly crippled and was soon afterward blown up to prevent her being captured. The "Monitor" was, unfortunately, lost some months afterward, in a storm off Hatteras. The smoke had not vanished from Hampton Roads before news came of an assault at Pea Ridge by from 16,000 to 18,000 Confederates, including 5000 Indians, under General E. Van Dorn, on 10,500 Unionists under General S. R. Curtis, supported by Generals Asboth and Sigel. After three days of severe fighting, in which 1351 Unionists fell, the Confederates fled with precipitation. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 13^ leaving Generals B. McCulloch and Mcintosh dead and having Generals Price and Slack among their wounded. General McClellan having raised his 200,000 or more men to a high degree of efficiency, transferred considerably more than half of them to Fortress Monroe for the purpose of advancing on Richmond by way of the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. He left General Banks with 7000 soldiers to guard the Virginia Valley. This force, at that time under the command of General James Shields, because Banks had gone temporarily to Washington, was fiercely assailed at Kernstown by "Stonewall" Jackson at the head of 4000 men. Jackson was repulsed with a loss of 1000, whilst Shields lost 600. McClellan's advance was checked for a month by Confederate batteries at Warwick Creek and again at Williamsburg by General Magruder's works. Here General Hooker's division fought well for nine hours with heavy losses. Magruder, flanked by Hancock, whose two brigades fought bravely, was obliged to retreat, leaving 700 of his wounded. The Unionists lost altogether 2228, whilst the Confederates lost not quite so many. In the meantime, on April 6th, General Grant, with an army of 40,000, was surprised at Pittsburg Landing by 50,000 Confederates under General A. S. Johnson. General Grant, instead of being with his troops, was on a boat near Savannah, seven miles below. The Union forces were completely surprised. No intrenchments or earthworks of any kind had been erected — there were no abattis. The Union forces, surprised, were rapidly driven back with heavy loss in guns, killed, wounded, and prisoners, from Shiloh Church to the bluffs of the Tennessee, under which thousands of demoralized men took refuge. General Albert S. Johnson had been killed in the midst of the battle and General Beauregard succeeded to the command. Had General Johnson been alive the result might have been different ; but Beauregard was in command, and he missed the one opportunity of his Hfe in resting on his arms when he should have pressed the enemy to the river and forced a surrender. But relief was at hand, and under a leader who was a master general on the field. Sunday night General Don Carlos Buell arrived on the scene with a part of the Army of the Ohio. Moving General Nelson's division across the Tennessee in boats, he had them in position by seven o'clock in the evening, ready for the onset in the morning. Two more divisions were crossed early in the morning. At seven o'clock the attack was begun. General Buell leading his troops in person and General Grant advancing with his troops, yesterday overwhelmed by defeat, to-day hopeful and confident. The result is well known. Buell's fresh troops, handled in a masterly manner, were irresistible. By four o'clock the enemy lost all they had gained and were in full retreat, and the day was won, General Buell receiving unstinted praise for his victory. The Union loss was 1735 killed, 7882 wounded, and 3956 missing; total, 13,573. I40 THE STORY OF AMERICA. The Confederates' loss was 1728 killed, 8012 wounded, 957 missing; totals 10,699. About the same date General Pope and Commodore Foote captured Island No. 10, with 6700 Confederates under Brigadier General Makall ; and soon after Memphis surrendered to the Unionists, and on April nth Fort Pulaski fell before a bombardment by General O. A. Gilmore. This same month was notable for naval victories. Admiral Farragut with a fleet of forty-seven armed vessels and 310 guns stormed the Confederate Forts St. Philip and Jackson, destroyed various fire-rafts and gunboats, and after a series of brilliant actions compelled the Confederate General Lovell with 3000 defenders to withdraw from New Orleans, leaving -it to be occupied by 15,000 Unionists under General Butler. In the words of another, this "was a contest between iron hearts in wooden vessels, and iron clads with iron beaks, and the iron hearts prevailed." McClellan's army — a part of which had been thrown across the Chicka- hominy — was savagely attacked on May 28th, at Fair Oaks, by General Joseph E. Johnston, now Commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces. Although Johnston was badly wounded and his troops after a day of hard fighting were obliged to retire, yet the Union loss was 5739, including five colonels killed and seven generals wounded. McClellan was now reinforced until he had altogether 156,828 men, of whom 1 15,162 were in good condition for effective service. Noth- ing, however, was accomplished until General Lee, who had succeeded the dis- abled Johnston, forced the fighting on June 26th that led to six horrible battles on as many successive days, known as those of Oak Grove, Mechanicsville, Gaines's Mills, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill. In the last one the Confederates were signally defeated by McClellan with a loss of 10,000, while the Union loss was about 5000. During those six battles the Union loss was 1582 killed, 7709 wounded, and 5958 missing, making a total of 15,249. The Confederate loss was perhaps double ; General Griffith and three colonels killed. Nevertheless, McClellan's campaign was unsuccessful ; Richmond was not taken ; and by order of the President he retreated to the Potomac. General Halleck now became Commander-in-chief and a vigorous campaign was opened by the Unionist General Pope. He was met in several stubbornly fought actions by the Confederates under Generals Lee, Jackson, and Long- street, and was badly routed. '■' In this bloody affair, known as the second battle of Bull Run, the Unionists lost 25,000, including 9000 prisoners ; the Con- * In accounting for his defeat General Pope attempted to fix the blame upon General Fitz John Porter, a very able and successful commander, charging that he failed to support him, and a court- martial convened in the heat of the discussion cashiered the General. But later, in deference to public opinion, the case was reopened, the previous unjust verdict was set aside, and General Porter's good name was cleared, his conduct being fully justified — an acquittal in entire accord with the riper second thought of public opinion. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS In June, 18fi5, three Commissioners from the Confederacy suggestincj terms of peace, met President Lincoln and Secretary Seward in Fortress Monroe. LEE. X\T federates lost 15,000. General Lee, on September 8th, invaded Maryland, where at South Mountain he was worsted by McClellan, who lost heavily of his own men, but took 1500 prisoners. A few days later Harper's Ferry, with 11,583 Unionists, ']2) guns, and immense quantities of war munitions, was surrendered to Stonewall Jackson. McClellan, with 80,000 men at- tacked Lee, posted with 70,000 on a ridgfe facincr Antie- tam Creek. This determined battle •ended in Lee's de- feat and retreat. McClellan lost 2010 men killed, 941 6 wounded, and 1043 missing ; a total of 12,469. Lee lost 1842 killed, 9399 wounded, and 2292 missing ; to- tal 13.533- This is regarded as the bloodiest day in the histor)' of America. There is little doubt that had Mc- Clellan followed up his magnificent victory he could have entered Rich- mond. Here was his mistake ; but this did not justify the Government in retiring him as it did. Surely McClellan's great victory entided him to the further command ; but the opposition, especially that of Secretary Stanton, was too powerful, and he was retired. General Burnside, having succeeded McClellan, assailed Lee at Fredericks- burg, December 13th, but was disastrously beaten. His loss was 1152 killed. GENERAL ROBERT EDMUND LEE. •142 THE STORY OF AMERICA. 9101 wounded, 3234 missing ; total, 13,771. The Confederate loss was about 5000. General Burnside was relieved in favor of General Hooker in January, 1863, who — having received reinforcements until his army amounted to 100,000 infantry, 13,000 cavalry, and 10,000 artillery — assumed the offensive against Lee on May 2d, 1863, at Chancellorsville, but was terribly defeated. He lost 17,197 men. His defeat was due to a brilliant rear and flank movement executed by Stonewall Jackson, who thus demolished the Eleventh Corps but was himself slain. Jackson's death might well be regarded as an irreparable disaster to the Confederate cause. Lee, with nearly 100,000 men, again marched northward, taking 4000 prisoners at Winchester. He was overtaken, July ist, by the Union army, numbering 100,000, now under the command of General George G. Meade, at Gettysburg ; where a gallknt and bloody battle was fought, lasting three days and ending in a great victory for the Unionists. One of the features of the battle was a gallant charge of Pickett's Confederate Brigade, when they faced a battery of 100 guns and were nearly annihilated. But it was all American bravery. They lost 2834 killed, 13,709 wounded, 6643 missing; total, 23,186. The total Confederate loss was 36,000. Had Meade known the extent of his triumph he might have followed and destroyed the retreating Lee, whose army in this campaign dwindled from 100,000 to 40,000. On the same memorable day, July 3d, Vicksburg, after having resisted many and determined assaults, and after finding its defenders on the south surprised and beaten in detail by Grant's army aided by Commodore Porter's naval operations, surrendered, closing a campaign in which Grant had taken 37,000 prisoners, with arms and munitions for 60,000 men. His own loss was 943 killed, 7095 wounded, and 537 missing; a total of 8515. These two notable victories were the turning points in the war. Meantime, in the West the war had been pursued during the year with varying fortunes. The Confederate General Forrest had captured 1500 men at Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Kirby Smith had captured 5000 Unionists at Richmond, Ky. ; General Bragg had captured 4000 prisoners at Mumfordsville, Tenn. ; Generals McCook and Rousseau, having attacked the enemy without the orders of General Buell, and thinking, as General Buell said, to win a victory without his assistance, were defeated by General Bragg at Perryville, whose loss was 2300 : our loss was 4340. General Rosecrans, with a loss of 782, whipped the Confederate General Price, at luka. Miss., whose loss was 1000 men. Rose- crans repulsed again the Confederates on September 17th at Corinth, inflicting a loss of 1423 killed and taking 2248 prisoners. His own loss was 2359 men. A brigade of 2000 Unionists was captured by John Morgan. A campaign of 46,910 men under Rosecrans culminated in the battle of Stone River, January 2d, 1863, against Bragg, who was beaten and forced to retreat. The Unionist THE STORY OF AMERICA. 143 losses were 1533 killed, 7245 wounded, 2800 missing; a total of 11,578. Bragg's loss was 9000 killed and wounded and over 1000 missing. The Con federate Van Dorn surprised and took prisoners 2000 men at Holly Springs, and at the same time took ^4,000,000 worth of stores. General Sherman was repulsed at Chickasaw Bayou with a loss of 2000 men ; but General J. A. Mc- Clernand reduced Fort Hindman, capturing 5000 prisoners and 1 7 guns, while his loss was only 977. Colonel Grierson made a famous raid with 1700 cavalry to Baton Rouge, cutting Confederate communications and taking 500 prisoners. At Milliken's Bend the Unionist General Dennis, having 1400, repelled an attack of the Confederate General H. McCulloch, the loss on either side being 500. At Helena, Arkansas, the Unionist General B. M. Prentiss, with 4000, also repulsed General Holmes with 3646, of whom 1636 were lost. The Con- federate raider, Morgan, with a mounted force of 4000 men, invaded Ohio, July 7th, but was caught by gunboats and obliged to surrender. General Burnside, early in September, at Cumberland Gap, captured General Frazier with fourteen guns and 2000 men. Then came, on September 19th, the great battle of Chickamauga, between Rosecrans and Thomas with 55,000 men on one side, and Bragg and Longstreet with about the same number on the other side. Longstreet annihilated Rosecrans' right wing ; but Thomas by his firmness and skill saved the day. The Confederates lost 18,000, while the Union loss was 1644 killed, 9262 wounded, 4945 missing ; total, 15,581. Our army fell back on Chattanooga. Longstreet's attempt, Nov. 28th, to dislodge Burnside from Knox- ville resulted in his own loss of 800 and retreat. The Unionists lost 100 men. On September 2 2d to 24th the forces of General George H. Thomas, rein- forced by General Sherman, under the command of Grant, assaulted Bragg's army on Mission Ridge, facing Chattanooga. General Sherman crossed the Tennessee to attempt a flank movement but was repulsed. General Hooker moved up Lookout Mountain and drove the Confederates before him, capturing men and gruns. Then General G. H. Thomas, in accordance with his origrinal plan of battle, moved his army by the front directly up the heights of Mission Ridge, assailing the enemy in the very teeth of his batteries. The fight was desperate, but Thomas's forces won, driving the enemy, making many prisoners and capturing many guns. The Union losses were 757 killed, 4529 wounded, 330 missing ; total, 5616. There were 6142 prisoners captured from the enemy. During this time Charleston, which had inaugurated the Rebellion, pluckily resisted all attempts to take it. For example, her defenders beat back 6000 Unionists with a loss of 574 men at Secessionville June i6th. Again, they dis- abled two of the blockading gunboats on January ist, 1863 ; again, they forced nine bombarding iron-clads under Commodore Dupont to retire ; again, they repulsed from Fort Wagner a storming party under General Gilmore, inflicting a loss of 1500, while their loss was but 100 men ; again, while obliged to evacuate 144 A GREAT FIGHT. Fort Wagner, leaving i8 guns there, and seven guns in Battery Gregg, they re- pulsed the Unionists' attempt to scale Fort Sumter and slew 200 men. Nor did the Unionists fare better in Florida. They lost under General T. Seymour 2000 of his 6000 troops at Olustee, where the Confederates lost 'but 730 men. The Unionists again lost 1600 out of ^000 men under Gen. ^ =-*• '*. B.ETREAT OF LEE S ARMY. Wessels at Plymouth, North Caro- lina, when the Confed- erate General Hoke's loss was but 300 men. In the Southwest, however, the Unionists' cause had gained con- siderable advantages un- der General Banks, having a command of 30,000 men. Aided by Commodore Farragut, at Alexandria, La., he drove General R. Taylor and captured 2000 prisoners, several steam- boats, and 22 guns. His assault, however, on Port Hudson, in June, was re- pelled with a loss of 2000 THE STORY OF AMERICA. I4S men, while the Confederates lost but 300 men. But Port Hudson, as it was about to be cannonaded by the gunboats set free by the fall of Vicksburg, was surren- dered, July 6th, by the Confederate General Gardener, with his garrison of 6408 men. Banks' effective force had been reduced to 10,000. His total captures during the campaign were 10,584 men, 73 guns, and 6000 small arms. But Brashear City had some days before been surprised and captured by General R. Taylor (Confederate) with a Union loss of 1000 men and 10 guns. The Unionist General Dudley lost near Donaldsonville 300 prisoners, and again, the Unionist General Franklin with a fleet and 4000 men was repelled with a loss of two gun- boats, 15 guns, and 250 men, by less than that number within the fort at Sabine Pass, and at Teche Bayou the 67th Indiana Regiment was captured entire. The Red River expeditions in March and April, 1864, toward Shreveport under General Banks, from New Orleans, with a force of 40,000, and under General Steel, from Litde Rock, with 12,000, were disastrous failures. The former had to retreat with a loss of about 5000, and the latter was also beaten back with a loss of 2200; but at Jenkins Ferry he repulsed the Confederate attack led by General Kirby Smith, with a loss of 2300. In August of this year (1864) Commodore Farragut executed one of the fiercest and most heroic naval combats on record. Having lashed himself to the mast of the Hartford, he advanced with a fleet of 14 wooden steamers and gunboats and four iron-clad monitors against Forts Morgan and Gaines, at the entrance of Mobile Bay, He ran the bows of his wooden vessels full speed against the rebel iron-clad Tennessee, gaining a notable victory, which ended in the fall of the forts and the city of Mobile. General Grant was appointed Commander-in-chief of all the Union armies on March i, 1864. Having sent Sherman to conduct a campaign in the West, he himself on May 4 and 5, crossed the Rapidan for a direct southerly advance to Richmond. A campaign of 43 days followed, in which more than 100,000 men, frequently reinforced, were engaged on either side. He was met by Lee in the Wilderness, where, after two days of terrible slaughter, the battle ended without decided advantage to either side. Among the Unionists, General J. S. Wads- worth was killed and seven generals were wounded, the entire loss amount- ing to 20,000 men. The Confederates lost 8000 men, with Longstreet badly wounded. Finding Lee's position impregnable. Grant advanced by a flank movement to Spottsylvania Court House. Here, on May nth, Hancock, by a desperate assault, captured Generals Johnson and E. H. Stewart, with 3000 men and 30 guns, while Lee himself barely escaped. But no fighting, however desperate, could carry Lee's works. Sheridan with his cavalry now made a dashing raid toward Richmond. He fought the Confederate cavalry, killed their General, J. E. B. Stuart, and returne;,d, having suffered little damage, to Grant. General 10 146 A GREAT FIGHT. Butler with 30,000 men steamed up the James River and seized City Point, with the view of seizing Petersburg. He was, however, too slow, and in a fight with Beauregard, near Proctor's Creek, lost 4000 men, while the Confederates lost but 3000. General Grant reached, May 17th, the North Anna, where he gained some advantage, but as Lee was strongly intrenched, he moved on again to Cold Harbor. Here an assault on Lee ended with a Union loss of 1705 killed, 9072 wounded and 2406 missing. Sheridan again raided Lee's rear, tore up rail- roads, and burnt stores, and after having lost 735 men he returned to Grant with 370 prisoners. Grant now pressed on toward the James River ; assaults were ENTRANCE TO GETTYSBURG CEMETERY. made on Petersburg with a loss of many killed and 5000 prisoners. 1 he Unionist General Wilson, with 8000 cavalry, while tearing up the Danville railroad, lost 1000 prisoners. Another attempt to take Petersburg by a mine explosion resulted in a Unionist loss of 4400 and Confederate loss of 1000. A series of gallant attacks by the Unionists were as gallantly repulsed. Thus Hancock assailed Lee's left wing below Richmond, losing 5000 men. Warren seized the Weldon Railroad, at the expense of 4450, while the Confederates lost but 1 200. Han- cock's attempt to seize Ream's Station ended in his being driven back and THE STORY OF AMERICA. 147 losing 2400 men. Warren grasped the Squirrel Level Road at a cost of 2500 men. Butler, however, took Port Harrison, with 115 guns, but failed to take Fort Gilmore after a loss of 300. The Confederates, attempting to retake Fort Harrison, were beaten back with a heavy loss. The Union cavalry under Gen- eral Kautz advanced within five miles of Richmond, but were driven back with a loss of 9 guns and 500 men. Hancock tried to turn the Confederate flank and took 1000 prisoners, but had to retire with a loss of 1500. Thus this campaign of 1864 closed with a loss in the aggregate of 87,387 men from the Army of the Potomac. In West Virginia Sigel was routed at New Market by J. C. Breckinridge with a loss of six guns and 700 men. Hunter, succeeding Sigel, beat the Con- federates, June 8th, at Piedmont, killing General Jones and taking 1500 men, but was himself, with 20,000 men, soon after beaten at Lynchburg, and forced to a disastrous retreat over the Alleghanies to the Potomac. This opened the way for the Confederate, Early, with 20,000 veterans, to march northward. With a loss of but 600 he defeated General Lew Wallace near Frederick, killing and capturing 2000 men. After threatening Baltimore and Washington he retreated South with 2500 captured horses and 5000 cattle. He also defeated at Winchester General Crook, whose loss was 1200. Shortly after the Unionist General Averill defeated B. F. Johnson's cavalry and took 500 prisoners. Not long after, on September 19, 1864, Early, after a brilliant attack by Sheridan at Winchester, was routed, losing 6000 men, while the Unionists lost 1000 less. At Fisher's Hill Sheridan again routed him, taking 16 guns and 1 100 prisoners; at Cedar Creek, while Sheridan was absent at Washington, Early made a sudden and determined assault, throwing the Unionists into a panic- stricken mob, capturing 24 guns and 1200 prisoners. Sheridan, by his famous ride of twenty miles, met his beaten army. He reorganized it, inspired it to make a general and magnificent attack, and won a great victory, recapturing his 24 guns, taking 23 more, and 1500 prisoners. The loss on either side was about 3000. In the Southwest General Sturgis (Union) with 12,000 men routed General Forrest at Guntown, Miss., killing and capturing 4000. In East Tennessee the Confederate raider Morgan captured 1600 L^nionists at Licking River, but was himself soon after chased away with a loss of half his force. During these operations General Sherman advanced (May 18, 1864) with 100,000 men from Chattanooga. He was stubbornly resisted by General J. E. Johnston with an army of 54,000. At Kenesaw Mountain Sherman lost 3000 men while the Confederates lost 442. He, however, kept flanking and fighting the Confed- erates until he reached Atlanta, during which two months the enemy had lost 14,200 men ; but reinforcements kept their numbers up to 51,000. During 148 SHERMAN'S MARCH. these movements the Confederate General Polk, who on accepting his coinmis- sion in the army had not resigned his position as a Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was killed by a cannon ball while reconnoitring on Pine Mountain, a few miles north of Marietta. Hood succeeded Johnston, and aimed a heavy blow at Thomas, on Sherman's right, losing 4000 and inflicting LONGSTREET REPORTING AT BRAGG'S HEADQUARTERS. a loss of but 1500. On the 2 2d occurred another great battle in which McPherson, a very superior Union general, was killed, and ^000 Unionists were lost. The Confederate loss was, however, not less than 8000. General Stoneman whilst raiding Hood's rear was captured, with 1000 of his cavalry. Hood, after suffering a heavy repulse by Logan, and another at Jonesboro by Howard, in the latter of which he lost 2000, and still another by ]. C. c p THE STORY OF AMERICA. i49 Davis, when Jonesboro and many guns and prisoners wei*- calcen from him, retreated eastward, leaving Atlanta, September ist, to the Union victors. Being reinforced, however, so as to have about 55,000 troops, he returned for an invasion of Tennessee. At Franklin, November 30th, he made a desperate onset against Schofield, and was baffled, at an expense of 4500 men to himself and of 2320 to the Union. At Nashville, to which he laid siege, he was struck by Thomas, December 15th, with great skill and determination during a two days' battle, and broken to pieces, having lost more than 13,000, besides seventy- two pieces of artillery. The Union loss was 10,000 during the campaign. In November and December Sherman at the head of 65,500, including the cavalry protection of Kilpatrick, executed his famous march to the sea, i.e., from Atlanta to Savannah. His reward was 167 guns and 1328 prisoners and a demoralized South. The Confederate General Hardee, who had already evacuated Savan- nah, was obliged by a new advance of Sherman northward, February, 1:863, to evacuate Charleston also, with 12,000 men. A cavalry engagement took place near the north line of South Carolina, between Kilpatrick and Wade Hampton, in which the former was surprised, but the Utter finally beat him. Near Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 15th, he was attacked without success by Hardee, now acting under Joseph Johnston, having 40,000 men under his command ; and three days after at Bentonville by Johnston himself. Sherman lost 1643, t>'it forced Johnston to retire, leaving 267 dead and 1625 prisoners and wounded. Fort Fisher, that protected the blockade runners at Wilmington, N. C, was bombarded by Commodore Porter and carried by assault by General A. H. Terry, January 16, 1865. This victory, purchased at a cost of 410 killed and 536 wounded, threw into the Union hands 169 guns and 2083 prisoners. And Wilmington itself fell about one month later, under an attack by Schofield. General James H. Wilson, with 15,000 cavalry from the armies of Grant and Thomas, routed General Forrest at Selma, Ala., April 2d, capturing 22 guns and 2700 prisoners and burning 125,000 bales of cotton. Soon after, he captured at Columbus, Ga., 52 guns and 1200 prisoners, besides burning a gunboat, 250 cars, and 115,000 cotton bales. He took Fort Tyler by assault, but ceased operations at Macon, Ga., because by that time the rebellion was crushed. General Grant resumed operations February 6, 1865, when he repulsed at Hatcher's Run, at a cost of 2000 troops, the Confederates, who lost 1000. General Sheridan with 10,000 cavalry routed Early, on March 2d, from Waynes- boro, taking 11 guns and 1600 prisoners, and joined Grant at Petersburg after having passed entirely around Lee's army. An attack by Lee against Fort Stedman was repelled with a loss of 2500 to the Unionists and 4500 to the Confederates. I50 LEE'S SURRENDER. Grant, fearing that Lee might attempt to evacuate Richmond, threw Warren's corps and Sheridan's cavalry to the southwest of Petersburg. Warren, after having his divisions broken by Lee but re-formed by the aid of Griffin, united with Sheridan, who had been foiled the day before, April ist, at Five Forks. Warren and Sheridan now charged the Confederates' works, which were taken, along with 5000 prisoners. A general assault was made by the Union army at daylight, April 2d, when Ord's Corps (Union) carried Forts Gregg and Alexander by storm. A. P. Hill, a brilliant Confederate general, was shot dead. That night Lee evacuated Richmond, burning his warehouses filled with stores. General Weitzel, at 6 a.m. April 3d, entered the city with his men and was soon followed by President Lincoln. Petersburg was at the same time abandoned. Lee halted his army, now dwindled to 35,000 men, at Amelia Court House. Grant rapidly pursued. Ewell was severed from Lee's rear and became one among 6000 prisoners. Lee heroically pushed on to Appomattox Court House, where his flight was intercepted by Sherman marching from the South. Lee was inclined to renew the fisfhting- agfainst Sherman, but his weary and famished army stood no chance against the fearful odds around them. And Lee, to prevent further useless bloodshed, surrendered his army to Grant on April 9, 1865, within three days of four years after the rebellion had been opened by the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Bell ringing, triumphant salutes, and boundless joy throughout the United States hailed this event as the close of the war. Johnston surrendered his army to Sherman at Raleigh, N. C, April 26th, and Dick Taylor his, to Canby at Citronville, Ala., May 4th. The terms of the surrender were magnanimous : " Each officer and man was allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authority so long as they observed their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside." Jefferson Davis, the president of the now destroyed Confederacy, fled from Richmond at the time of its evacuation. Attended at first with a cavalry escort of 2000, which soon dwindled mostly away, he was making his way toward the coast, with his family and "a few faithful followers " when he was captured near Irwinsville, Georgia. After an imprisonment of two years in Fortress Monroe, he was released, and allowed to live without molestation,' mourning the lost cause, until he died, December 6, 1889. The Union soldiers numbered during the war 2,666,999, ^f which 294,266 were drafted, the rest being volunteers. The deaths on the field or from wounds amounted to 5221 officers and 90,868 men, while 2321 officers 182,329 men died from disease or accident. The Confederate armies enrolled were 600,000 men, of whom they lost more than one-half The Confederate cruisers, the "Alabama," "Florida," "Georgia," "Sumter," and "Tallahassee," most of THE STOKY OF AMERICA. 151 which were fitted out in British ports, well nigh destroyed American commerce. The "Alabama," commanded by Raphael Semmes, went down off the French coast, June 19, 1864, in a memorable action with the U. S. S. " Kearsarge," commanded by Captain Winslow. The greatest act of Abraham Lincoln was his Emancipation Proclamation, issued January i, 1863, giving freedom to 4,000,000 of slaves. And so ended the great internecine conflict, which has made us a strong, consolidated, free nation, never again, let us hope, to be given over to fraternal strife. LINCOLN'S GRAVE. 152 VIEW OF THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON. CHAPTER VIII. OUR KLAQ AT SEA. Prior to the break- ing out of the Revolution- "^ ary War, America had no navy. The colonists had before this time looked to the mother country for protection on the seas. But in the fall of 1775, when war seemed im- minent, the building of \ thirteen war-cruisers was •' begun. Only one of these ships-of-the-line was built — the "America" — and she was given to France before she was launched. During the whole war, a total of twenty small frigates and twenty-one sloops flew the American flag ; and fifteen of the former and ten of the latter were either captured or de- stroyed. What cockle-shells they were, and how slight in armament, compared with the floating fortresses of to-day, may be reckoned from the fact that twelve- pounders were their heaviest guns. Beside these, of course, there were many privateers, sent out to prey upon the enemy's commerce. These swift fishing craft ventured even to cruise along the very coast of England, and down to the time of the French alliance captured more than six hundred English vessels. In the annals of the regular navy, there are but three great captains' names: Wickes, Conyngham, and Jones. It was Lambert Wickes who, on his little sixteen-gun "Reprisal," first bore the American war-flag to the shores of Europe, . .153 RICHARD AND SERAPIS. 154 ■ THE STORY OF AMERICA. and made it a terror to the great power that claimed to "rule the waves." After a brilliant cruise the " Reprisal " went down, with all hands, in the summer of 1777, on the treacherous banks of Newfoundland. Then Gustavus Conyngham took up the work, with his "Surprise" and "Revenge," and that very summer so scourged the might of England in the North Sea and in the British Channel itself, that the ports were crowded with ships that dared not venture out, and the rates of marine insurance rose to fabulous figures. But the one splendid name of that era was that of a canny young Scotch man, John Paul Jones. Eighteenth he stood on the list of captains commissioned by the Congress, but on the scroll of fame, for those times, first — and there is no second. Coming to Virginia in boyhood, he entered the mercantile marine. When the war broke out he offered his services to the Congress, and was made a captain. And in 1778 he was sent with the "Ranger," of eighteen guns, to follow where Wickes and Conyngham had led. He swept with his tiny craft up and down the Irish Channel, entered Whitehaven and burned the shipping at the docks ; captured off Carrickfergus the British war-sloop " Drake," larger than his own ship, and then made his way to Brest with all his prizes in tow. Next year he set out on his immortal cruise, with a squadron of five ships. His flagship was an old merchantman, the "Duras," fitted up for fighting and renamed the " Bon Homme Richard," in honor of Franklin and his " Poor Richard's Almanac." She was a clumsy affair, armed with thirty-two twelve- poi-nders and six old eighteen-pounders not fit for use, and manned by 380 men of every race, from New Englanders to Malays. The "Pallas" was also a merchantman transformed into a thirty-two gun frigate. The " Vengeance " and the "Cerf" were much smaller; quite insignificant. The "Alliance" was a new ship, built in Massachusetts for the navy, but unhappily commanded by a Frenchman named Landais, half fool, half knave. Indeed, all the vessels save the flagship were commanded by Frenchmen, who were openly insubordinate, refusing half the time to recognize the commodore's authorit}', and often leaving him to cruise and fight alone. Yet the motley squadron did much e.xecution along the shores of Britain. It all but captured the city of Leith, and entered H umber and destroyed much shipping. But the crowning glory came on September 23, 1779. On that immortal date Jones espied, off Flamborough Head, a fleet of forty British merchantmen, guarded by two frigates, bound for the Baltic. At once he gave chase. He had, besides his own ship, only the " Pallas " and the "Alliance," but they would be sufficient to capture the whole fleet. But the miserable Landais refused to obey the signal, and kept out of the action. So the fight began, two and two. Jones, with the " Bon Homme Richard," attacked the "Serapis," Captain Pear- son, and the " Pallas" engaged the " Countess of Scarborough." The "Sera- pis " had fifty guns and was much faster and stronger than Jones's ship. The JOHN PAUL JONES AND HIS FAMOUS VICTORY. "Countess of Scarborough," on the other hand, was much inferior to the "Pallas" and proved an early victim. It was growing dark, on a cloudy evening, and the sea was smooth as a mill-pond, when the " Bon Homme Richard " and the " Serapis " began their awful duel. Both fired full broadsides at the same instant. Two of Jones's old eicfhteen-pounders burst, killing twelve men, and the others were at once aban- doned. So all through the fight, after that first volley, he had only his thirty-two twelve-pounders against the fifty guns — twenty of them eighteen-pounders, twenty nine-pounders, and ten six- pounders — of the " Serapis." For an hour they fought and manoeuvred, then came to- gether with a crash. An instant, the firing ceased. " Have you struck your colors?" demanded Pearson. " I have not yet begun to fight!" replied Jones. Then with his own hands Jones lashed the two ships together, and inseparably joined, their sides actually touching, they battled on. Solid shot and canister swept through both ships like hail, while musket- men on the decks and in the rigging exchanged storms of bullets. For an hour and a half the conflict raged. Then Landais came up with the "Alliance" and began firing equally on both. Jones ordered him to go to the other side of the " Serapis" and board, and his answer was to turn helm and go out of the fight altogether. Now the fighting ships were both afire, and both leaking and sinking. Most of the guns were disabled, and three-fourths of the men were killed or wounded. The gallant Pearson stood almost alone on the deck of the doomed "Serapis," not one of his men able to fight longer. Jones was as solitary on the "Bon Homme Richard." all his men still able-bodied being at the pumps, striving to keep the ship afloat. With his own hands he trained a gun upon PAUL JONES. 156 THE STORY OF AMERICA. the mainmast of the "Serapis," and cut it down; and then Pearson surren- dered. The "Pallas" and "Alliance" came up and took off the men, and in a few hours the two ships sank, still bound together in the clasp of death. This was not only one of the most desperate and deadly naval battles in history. Its moral effect was epoch-making. John Paul Jones was the hero of the day, and Europe showered honors upon him. The American flag was hailed as a rival to that of England on the seas, and all Europe was encouraged to unite against England and force her to abate her arrogant pre- tensions, and to accede to a more just and liberal code of international maritime law than had before prevailed. In view of this latter fact, this battle must be ranked among the three or four most important in the naval history of the world. It was this battle that inspired Catharine of Russia to enunciate the doctrine of the rights of neutrals in maritime affairs ; and the tardy acquiescence of England, eighty years later, in that now universal principle, was brought about by the blow struck by John Paul Jones off Flamborough Head. There were no other naval operations of importance during the Revolution, save those of the French fleet at Yorktown. But soon after the declaration of peace, new complications arose, threatening a war at sea. England and France were fighting each other, and commerce was therefore diverted to the shipping of other nations. A very large share of Europe's carrying trade was done by American vessels. But these were between two fires. England insisted that she had a right to stop and search American ships and take from them all sailors of English birth ; actually taking whom she pleased ; and France made free to seize any American ships she pleased, under the pretext that there were English goods aboard ; and when she captured an English ship and found on board an American seaman who had been impressed, instead of treating him as a prisoner of war, like the others, she hanged him as a pirate. Naturally indignation rose high, and preparations were made for war with France. In July, 1 798, the three famous frigates, the "Constellation," the "United States," and the "Constitution," best known as "Old Ironsides," were sent to sea, and Congress authorized the navy to be increased to include six frigates, twelve sloops, and six smaller craft. Among the officers commissioned, were the illus- trious Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur, Rodgers, and Stewart. Actual hostilities soon began. French piratical cruisers were captured, and an American squadron sailed for the West Indies to deal with the- French privateers that abounded there, in which work it was generally successful. In January, 1 799, Congress voted a million dollars, for building six ships of the line and six sloops. Soon after, on February 9, occurred the first engagement between vessels of the American and French navies. The " Constellation," Captain Truxton, over- hauled " L'Insurorente," at St. Kitts, in the West Indies, and after a figrht of an hour and a quarter forced her to surrender. The " Constellation " had three SUPPRESSING THE BARBARY PIRATES. 157 men killed and one wounded ; " L'Insurgente " twenty killed and forty-six wounded. Again, on February i, 1800, Truxton with the " Constellation " came up, al Guadeloupe, with the French Frigate " La Vengeance." After chasing her two days he brought on an action. The two ships fought all night. In the morning, "La Vengeance," completely silenced and shattered, drew away and [escaped to Curacoa, where she was condemned as unfit for further service. The "Constellation " was little injured save in her rigging. For his gallantry, Truxton received a gold medal from Congress. Later in that year there were some minor enofag-ements, in which Americans were successful. By the spring of 1801, friendly relations with France were restored. The President was accordingly authorized to dispose of all the navy, save thirteen ships, six of which were to be kept constantly in commission, and to dismiss from the service all ofiicers save nine captains, thirty-six lieutenants, and one hundred and fifty midshipmen. At about this time ground was purchased and navy-yards established at Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Wash- ington and Norfolk, and half a million dollars was appropriated for the completion of six seventy-four gun ships. Now came on real war. For many years the pirate ships of the Barbary States, Algeria and Tripoli, had been the scourge of the Mediterranean. The commerce of every land had suftered. European powers did not venture to suppress the evil, but some of them basely purchased immunity by paying tribute to the pirates. America, too, at first followed this humiliating course, actually thus paying millions of dollars. In September, 1800, Captain Bainbridge went with the frigate " George Washington " to bear to the Dey of Algeria the annual tribute. The Dey took the money, and then impressed Bainbridge and his ship into his own service for a time, to go on an errand to Constantinople, l^ainbridge reported this to Congress, adding, " I hope I shall never again be sent with tribute, unless to deliver it from the mouth of our (;annon." However, Bainbridge was received courteously at Constantinople, and his ship was the first to display the American flag there. Captain Dale was sent with a squadron to the Mediterranean in 1801, to repress the pirates of Tripoli. One of his ships, the schooner "Experiment," captured a Tripolitan cruiser, and this checked for a time the ardor of the pirates. But open war was soon declared between the two countries, and Congress authorized the sending of a larger fleet to the Mediterranean. The gallant Truxton was offered the command of it, but declined because the cheese-paring Administration was too parsimonious to allow him a proper staff" of subordinates. Thereupon he was dismissed from the service, and Captain Morris sent in his place. But false economy had so enfeebled the navy that the fleet was able to do little. One Tripolitan ship was captured, however, and another destroyed. 158 THE STORY OF AMERICA. Then the Government woIcq up, and began building new ships, and sent another rquadron over, led by Preble with the "Constitution." He went first to Morocco, whose Sultan at once sued for peace ; and then proceeded to Tripoli. Here he found that the frigate " Philadelphia," with Bainbridge and three hundred men aboard, had been captured and was being refitted by the Tripolitans for their own use. Decatur, commanding the " Enterprise," under Preble, determined upon a bold counter-stroke. Taking a small vessel, the "Intrepid," which he had captured from Tripoli, he sailed boldly into the harbor, flying the Tripolitan flag and pretending to be a merchant of that country. Running alongside the " Philadelphia," he boarded her, set her afire, and sailed away in safety, though amid a storm of shot and shell. The " Phila- delphia " was burned to the water's edge. Nothing more was done at the time, however, save to keep up a blockade, and Bainbridge and his men remained in captivity. In August, 1804, Preble and Decatur made a vigorous attack upon the harbor, and destroyed two and captured three vessels. A few days later other attacks were made. Then a new squadron under Commodore Barron came to the scene, and Preble was [>uperseded. No other naval operations of importance occurred, and peace was finally concluded in 1S05. Troubles with England now grew more serious. That country persisted in searching American ships and taking from them all whom she chose to call deserters from the British service. And so the two powers drifted into the war of 181 2. In that struggle, the Americans were badly worsted on land, but won victories of the first magnitude on the lakes and ocean. America had only nine frigates and a score of smaller craft, while England had a hundred ships of the line. Yet the honors of the war on the sea rested with the former. Her triumphs startled the world. The destruction of the "Guerriere" by the "Constitution," Captain Hull, marked an epoch in naval history. Then the " United States," Captain Decatur, vanquished the " Macedonian ;" the "Wasp," Captain Jones, the "Frolic ;" the "Constitution," Captain Bainbridge, the "Java;" and the " Hornet " the "Peacock." On Lake Erie, Commodore Perry won a great victory, which he announced in the famous message, " We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Equally brilliant was the victory of MacDonough on Lake Champlain. The most 'deplorable reverse was the destruction of the "Chesapeake" by the British ship " Shannon," the "Chesa- peake's " commander, Lawrence, losing his life, but winning fame through his dying words, " Don't give up the ship !" The conflicts of this war are more fully detailed elsewhere in this volume. It is needful here only to mention them briefly, as we have done. The cause of the surprising successes of the Americans may well be explained, however. It was due to that very inventive ingenuity? that has made the history of the THE STORY OF AMERICA. 159 world's industrial progress so largely a mere chronicle of "Yankee notions." The Americans had invented and were using sights on their cannon. That was all. But the result was that their aim was far more accurate and their fire far more effective than that of their opponents. This advantage, added to courage and skill in seamanship equal to any the world had known, gave them their victory. This war was ended in February, 181 5, and a month later another was begun. This was against the Dey of Algeria, who had broken the peace anr" seized an American ship, despite the fact that America had continued down to this time to pay tribute to him. It was now determined to make an end of the business ; so Bainbridge was sent, as he had requested, to deliver the final tribute from his cannons' mouths. Before he got there, however, Decatur, did the work. He captured an Algerine vessel ; sailed into port and dictated an honorable peace ; and then imposed like terms on Tripoli and Tunis, thus ending the tyranny of the Barbary States over the commerce of the world. Thereafter for many years the navy had not much to do. Some vessels were used for purposes of exploration and research, and much was thereby added to the scientific knowledge of the world. During the Mexican war, naval opera tions were unimportant. But in 1846 complications with Japan were begun. In that year two ships were sent to the Island empire, on an errand of peaceful negotiation, which proved fruitless. Three years later another went, on a sterner errand, and rescued at the cannon's mouth a number of shipwrecked American sailors who had been thrown into captivity. Finally the task of "opening japan" to intercourse with the rest of the world, a task no other power had ventured to assume, was undertaken by America. On November 24, 1852, Commodore Perry set sail thither, with a powerful fleet. His commission was to "open Japan "; by peaceful diplomacy if he could, by force of arms if he must. The simple show of force was sufficient, and in 1854, he returned in triumph, bearing a treaty with Japan. The most extended and important services of the United States navy were performed during the War of the Rebellion At the outbreak of that conflict, in 1 86 1, the whole navy comprised only forty-two vessels in commission. Nearly all of these were scattered in distant parts of the world, where they had been purposely sent by the conspirators at Washington. Most of those that remained were destroyed in port, so that there was actually for a time only one serviceable war-ship on the North Atlantic coast. But building and purchase soon increased the navy, so that before the end of the year it numbered two hundred and sixty-four, and was able to blockade all the ports of the Southern Confederacy. They were a motley set, vessels of every imaginable type, ferry- boats and freight steamers, even, being pressed into use ; but they served. The first important naval action was that at Hatteras Inlet, in August, 186 1. i6o PASSING THE FORTS. There Commodore Stringham, with a fleet of steam and saiUng craft, bombarded a series of powerful forts and forced them to surrender, without the loss of a single man aboard the ships. Next came the storming of Port Royal. At the end of October Commodore Dupont and Commander Rodgers went thither with a strong squadron. They entered the harbor, and formed with their ships an ellipse, which kept constantly revolving, opposite the forts, and constantly pouring in a murderous fire. It was earthworks on land against old-fashioned wooden ships on the water ; but the ships won, and the forts surrendered. A small flotilla of rebel gunboats came to the assistance of the forts, but were quickly repulsed by the heavy fire from the ships. The next year saw much naval activity in many quarters. The blockade of all Southern ports was rigorously maintained, and there were some exciting engagements between the national ships and blockade runners. On the Cumberland, Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers the gunboats of Foote and Porter greatly aided the land forces, in the campaigns against Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, at Island No. lo, and Vicksburg. Roanoke Island and New Berne, on the Carolina coast, were taken by a combined naval and military e.xpedition. One of the most striking events of the war was the entrance of the Mississippi and capture of New Orleans by Admiral Farragut. He had a fleet of forty vessels, all told. Opposed to him were two great and strong land forts, Jackson and St. Philip, one on each side of the river, mounting two hundred and twenty- five guns. From one to the other stretched a ponderous iron chain, completely barring the passage, and beyond this was a fleet of iron-clad gun-boats, fire- ships, etc. Military and naval authorities scouted the idea that Farragut's wooden ships could ever fight their way through. But Farragut quietly scouted the authorities. Making his way up to within range of the forts he began a bombardment. On the first day his guns threw 2000 shells at the enemy. A huge fire-raft was sent against him, but his ships avoided it and it passed harmlessly by. Another was sent down that night, a floating mountain of flame. But one of Farragut's captains deliberately ran his ship into it, turned a hose upon it, and towed it out of the way ! For a week the tremendous bombardment was kept up, 16,800 shells being thrown at the forts. Then Farragut cut the chain, and started to run the fiery gauntlet of the forts with his fleet. Before daylight one morning the mortar- boats opened a furious fire, under cover of which the ships steamed straight up the river. The forts opened on them with every gun, a perfect storm of shot and shell, and the ships replied with full broadsides. Five hundred cannon were thundering. One ship was disabled and dropped back. The rest swept on In a cloud of flame. Before they were past the forts, fire-ships came down upon them, and iron-clad gunboats attacked them. The "Varuna," Captain THE STORY OF AMERICA. i6r Boggs, was surrounded by five rebel gunboats, and sank them all. As the last of them sank, a sixth, a huge iron-clad ram, came rushing upon the "Varuna." Boggs saw he could not escape it, so he turned the " Varuna " so as to receive the blow squarely amidships. The ram crushed her like an egg-shell, and in a few minutes she sank. But her fearful broadsides, at such close range, riddled the ram, and the two went down together. In an hour and a half, eleven rebel gunboats were sent to the bottom, and the fleet was past the forts. Next CUbHINGS I..\SX SHOT. A stirring incident of the Civil War that happened during Pickett's famous charge at Gettysburg, when Lieutenaot Gushing, being mortally wounded, reached up, fired his gun, and then expired. morning Farragut raised the national flag above the captured city of New Orleans. This tremendous conflict was not, however, the most significant of that year. There was another which, in a single hour, revolutionized the art of naval warfare. When, at the outbreak of the war, the Norfolk Navy-yard had been destroyed to keep it from falling into rebel hands, one ship partially escaped the flames. This was the great frigate " Merrimac," probably the finest ship in II i62 THE ''MONITOR" AND "MERRIMAC" the whole navy. The Confederates took her hull, which remained uninjured, and covered it completely with a sloping roof of iron plates four inches thick, backed with heavy timbers, put a great iron ram at her bow, and fitted her with large guns and powerful engines. Then, to protect her further, she was coated thickly with tallow and plumbago. She was regarded as entirely invulnerable to cannon-shot, and her builders believed she would easily destroy all ships sent against her and place New York and all Northern seaports at the mercy of hei guns. At the same time a curious little craft was built, hurriedly enough, in New York. It was designed by John Ericsson, and was called the " Monitor." It consisted of a hull nearly all submerged, its flat iron deck only a few inches above the water, and upon this a circular iron tower, which was turned round and round by machinery and which carried two large guns. Naval experts laughed at the "cheese-box on a plank," as they called it, and thought it unworthy of serious consideration. A REVOLUTION IN NAVAL WARFARE. At noon of Saturday, March 8, the mighty " Merrimac," a floating fortress of iron, came down the Elizabeth River to where the National fleet lay in Hampton Roads. The frigate " Congress " fired upon her, but she paid no attention to it, but moved on to the sloop-of-war " Cumberland," crushed her side in with a blow of her ram, riddled her with cannon-balls, and sent her to the bottom. The solid shot from the " Cumberland's " ten-inch guns glanced from the " Merrimac's " armor, harmless as so many peas. Then the monster turned back to the " Congress " and destroyed her. Next she attacked the frigate " Minnesota " and drove her aground, and then retired for the night, intending the next day to return, destroy the entire fleet, and proceed northward to bombard New York. That night the " Monitor " arrived. She had been hurriedly completed. She had come down from New York in a storm, and was leaking and her machinery was out of order. She was not in condition for service. But she was all that lay between the " Merrimac " and the boundless destruction at which she aimed. So she anchored at the side of the " Minnesota " and waited for daylight. It came, a beautiful Sunday morning ; and down came the huge " Merrimac" to continue her deadly work. Out steamed the tiny "Monitor" to meet her. The " Merrimac " sought to ignore her, and attacked the " Minne- Ota." But the "Monitor" would not be ignored. Captain Worden ran hef alongside the "Merrimac," so that they almost touched, and hurled his i6o-lb. shot at the iron monster as rapidly as the two guns could be worked. Those shots, at that range, told, as all the broadsides of the frigates had not. The "Merrimac's" armor began to yield, while her own firing had no effect upon the " Monitor." It was seldom she could hit the little craft at all, and when she did the shots glanced off without harm. Five times she tried to THE STORY OF AMERICA. 163 ram the "Monitor," but the latter eluded her. A sixth time she tried it, and the "Monitor" stood still and let her come on. The great iron beak that had crushed in the side of the "Cumberland " merely glanced on the "Moni- tor's " armor and glided upon her deck. The " Merrimac " was so lifted and tilted as to expose the unarmored part of her hull to the "Monitor's" deadly fire, while the "Monitor" quickly slid out from under her, uninjured. Then the " Merrimac " retreated up the river, and her career was ended. She was a mere wreck. But the " Monitor," though struck by twenty-two heavy shots, was practically uninjured. The only man hurt on the "Monitor" was the gallant Captain Worden. He was looking through the peep-hole when one of the " Merrimac's" last shots struck squarely just outside. He was stunned by the shock and half-blinded by splinters ; but his first words on regaining consciousness were, " Have we saved the ' Minnesota ' ? " The "Monitor" had saved the "Minnesota," and all the rest of the fleet, and probably many Northern cities. But, more than that, she had, in that grim duel, revolutionized naval warfare. In that hour England saw her great ships of the line condemned. The splendid frigates, with their tiers of guns, were thenceforth out of date and worthless. The "cheese-box on a plank" in a single day had vanquished all the navies of the world. The success of Farragut in passing the Mississippi forts led Dupont, in April, 1863, to attempt in Hke manner to enter Charleston harbor ; but in vain. The fire from the forts was too fierce, and his fleet was forced to fall back with heavy losses. But in August, 1864, Farragut repeated his former exploit at Mobile. Forming his ships in line of battle, he stood in the rigging of the " Hartford," glass in hand, and directed their movements. As Dupont had done at Port Royal, he swept round and round in a fiery ellipse. At a critical point in the battle the lookout reported, "Torpedoes ahead !" A cry arose to stop the ship. "Go ahead! Damn the torpedoes!" roared the great Admiral, and the ship went on. Then the huge iron ram "Tennessee" came forward, to crush them as the "Merrimac" had crushed the "Cumberland." But Farragut, with sublime audacity, turned the bow of his wooden ship upon her and ran her down. Thus the Mobile forts were silenced and the harbor cleared. Nor must the storming of Fort Fisher be forgotten. The first attack was made in December, 1864. Admiral Porter bombarded the place furiously, and then General Butler attempted to take it with land forces. He failed, and returned to Fortress Monroe, saying the place could not be taken. But Porter thought otherwise, and remained" at his post with his fleet. General Terry then went down with an army. Porter renewed the bombardment, the fort was captured, and the last port of the Confederacy was closed. While the National navy was thus carrying all before it along the coast, the Confederates were active elsewhere. Their swift, armed cruisers, fitted out I > I^ra^^^ l.y \\ . i:. Davis. PICKETT'S RETURN FROM HIS FAMOUS CHARGE At (Gettysburg, (ieneral Pi. ke(t, atler his fanntus charL^e. which cunuTiaiided I lie admiration of bdth sides, reported m ( Ieneral Let, •' (ieneral, rny noble divisiun is swept away." ",v,j •■< y-^t^^m^ B: ■>%Ji^ Drawn b\' J. Steeple Davis SHERMAN'S THREE SCOUTS ' Setting out at night they paddled continuously down the river until daylight, when they ran the boat among the reeds and remained in hiding until night came again.'' THE STORY OF AMERICA. 165 in English ports, scoured the seas and preyed upon American commerce every- where, until the American merchant flag was almost banished from the ocean. The most famous of all these cruisers was the "Alabama," commanded by Raphael Semmes. During her career she destroyed more than ten million dollars' worth of American shipping. For a long time her speed and the skill and daring of her commander kept her out of the hands of the American navy. But at last, in June, 1864, Captain Winslow, with the ship " Kearsarge," came up with her in the neutral harbor of Cherbourg, France. Determined to make an end of her, he waited, just outside the harbor, for her to come out. Semmes soon accepted the challenge, and the duel occurred on Sunday, June 19. The shore was crowded with spectators, and many yachts and other craft came out, bearing hundreds anxious to see the battle. The vessels were not far from equal in strength. But the "Kearsarge" had two huge eleven-inch pivot guns, that made awful havoc on the "Alabama." The "Alabama," on the other hand, had more gruns than the " Kearsarge." But the famous cruiser's time had come. As the two ships slowly circled round and round, keeping up a constant fire, every shot from the " Kearsarge " seemed to find its mark, while those of the "Alabama" went wide. And soon the "Alabama" sank, leaving the "Kearsarge " scarcely injured. A volume might be filled with accounts of notable exploits of the navy which there is not room even to mention here. But one more must be named, so daring and so novel was it. In April, 1864, the great iron-clad ram, "Albe- marle," was completed by the Confederates and sent forth to drive the Nadonal vessels from the sounds and harbors of the North Carolina coast. She came down the Roanoke River and boldly attacked the fleet, destroying one ship at the first onset and damaging others, while showing herself almost invulnerable. It was feared that she would actually succeed in raising the blockade, and extraordinary efforts were made to destroy her, but without avail. At last the job was undertaken by a young officer, Lieutenant Cushing, who had already distinguished himself by his daring. He took a small steam launch, manned by himself and fifteen others, armed with a howitzer, and carrying a large torpedo. The "Albemarle" was at her dock at Plymouth, some miles up the river, and both banks of the narrow stream were closely lined with pickets and batteries. ■ On a dark, stormy night the launch steamed boldly up the river and got within a short distance of the " Albemarle " before it was seen by the pickets. Instantly the alarm was given, and a hail of bullets fell upon the launch, doing, however, little harm. Cushing headed straight foi the huge iron-clad, shouting at the top of his voice, in bravado, " Get off the ram ! We're going to blow you up ! " Running the launch up till its bow touched the side of the "Albemarle," he thrust the torpedo, at the end of a pole, under the latter and fired it. The explosion wrecked the "Albemarle" 1 66 NAVAL ARCHITECTURE REVOLUTIONIZED. and sank her. The launch was also wrecked, and the sixteen men took to the water and sought to escape by swimming. All were, however, captured by the Confederates, save four. Of these, two were drowned, and the other two — one of them being Gushing himself — reached the other shore and got safely back to the fleet. We have said that in the spring of 1861 there were only 42 vessels in com mission in the navy. There were also 27 serviceable ships not in commission, and 2 1 unserviceable, or 90 in all. During the four years of the war there were built and added to the navy 125 unarmored and 68 armored vessels, most of the latter being of the "Monitor" type. A few figures regarding some of the en- gagements will give a vivid idea of the manner in which the ships fought. In the futile attack of the iron-clads on the forts in Charleston harbor, April 7, 1863, nine vessels took part, using 23 guns and firing 139 times, at from 500 to 2100 yards range. They hit Fort Wagner twice, Fort Moultrie 12 times, and Fort Sumter 55 times, doing little damage. Against them the forts used ']'] guns, firing 2229 times, and. hitting the vessels 520 times, but doing little damage except to one monitor, which was svmk. In the second bombardment of Fort Fisher 21,716 projectiles, solid shot and shell, were thrown by the fleet. But the most important thing achieved was the entire transformation effected in naval science. Hitherto the war-ship had been simply an armed merchant- ship, propelled by sails or, latterly, by steam, carrying a large number of small guns. American inventiveness made it, after the duel of the "Monitor" and '■'■ Merrimac," a floating fortress of iron or steel, carrying a few enormously heavy guns. The glory of the old line-of-battle ship, with three or four tiers of guns on each side and a big cloud of canvas overhead, firing rattling broadsides, and manoeuvring to get and hold the weather-gauge of the enemy — all that was relegated to the past forever. In its place came the engine of war, with little pomp and circumstance, but with all the resources of science shut within its ugly, black iron hull. John Paul Jones, with his "Bon Homme Richard," struck the blow that made universal the law of neutrals' rights. Hull, with the " Constitution," send- ing a British frigate to the bottom, showed what Yankee ingenuity in sighdng guns could do. Ericsson and Worden, with the " Monitor," sent wooden navies to the hulk-yard and ushered in the era of iron and steel fighting-engines. These are the three great naval events of a century. One of the most thrilling events in naval history occurred in a time of peace. It was in the harbor of Apia, Samoa, in March, 1889. A great storm struck the shipping and destroyed nearly every vessel there. Three German war-ships were wrecked. One English war-ship, by herculean efforts, was saved. Two American war-ships were wrecked, and one was saved after being run on the beach. This was the " Nipsic." The wrecked vessels were the THE STORY OF AMERICA. 167 "Trenton " and the " Vandalia." The combined strength of their engines and anchors was not enough to keep them from being driven upon the fateful reefs. The "VandaHa" was already stranded and pounding to pieces, and the "Trenton" was drifting down upon her. "Suddenly," says a witness of the scene, "the Stars and Stripes were seen flying from the gaff of the 'Trenton.' Previous to this no vessel in the harbor had raised a flag, as the storm was raging so furiously at sunrise that that ceremony was neglected. It seemed now as if the gallant ship knew she was doomed, and had determined to go down with the flag of her country floating above the storm. Presently the last faint ray of daylight faded away, and night came down upon the awful scene. The storm was still raging with as much fury as at any time during the day. The poor creatures who had been clinging for hours to the rigging of the ' Vandalia ' were bruised and bleeding, but they held on with the desperation of men who hang by a thread between life and death. The ropes had cut the flesh of their arms and legs, and their eyes were blinded by the salt spray which swept over them. Weak and exhausted as they were, they would be unable to stand the terrible strain much longer. They looked down upon the angry water below them, and knew that they had no strength left to battle with the waves. Their final hour seemed to be upon them. The great black hull of the ' Trenton ' could be seen through the darkness, almost ready to crush into the stranded * Vandalia ' and grind her to atoms. Suddenly a shout was borne across the waters. The 'Trenton' was cheering the ' Vandalia.' The sound of 450 voices broke upon the air and was heard above the roar of the tempest. ' Three cheers for the " Vandalia ! " ' was the cry that warmed the hearts of the dying men in the rigging. The shout died away upon the storm, and there arose from the quivering masts of the sunken ship a response so feeble that it was scarcely heard on shore. The men who felt that they were looking death in the face aroused themselves to the effort and united in a faint cheer to the flagship. Those who were standing on shore listened in silence, for that feeble cry was the saddest they had ever heard. Every heart was melted to pity. ' God help them ! ' was passed from one man to another. The sound of music next came across the water. The ' Trenton's ' band was playing ' The Star Spangled Banner.' The thousand men on sea and shore had never before heard strains of music at such a time as this." And so the good ships went to wreck, and many a life was lost ; but a standard of endurance and of valor was there set up that shall command the reverence and wonder of the world as long as time shall endure. During fifteen years of peace, following the War of the Rebellion, the navy was much neglected. No new ships were built, and the old ones fell into decay. In 1881, however, William H. Hunt, Secretary of the Navy appointed an Advisorv Board to plan the building of a new navy adequate to the needs of the i68 THE STORY OF AMERICA. nation. From the deliberations of this Board and its successor, appointed by Secretary Chandler, sprang the splendid new fleet. The Board recom- mended the construction of four steel vessels : the "Chicago," of 4500 tons displacement; the "Boston" and "Atlanta," of 3189 tons displacement each, and the "Dolphin," of 1485 tons displacement. The dates of the acts author- izing these vessels were August 5, 1882, and March 3, 1883, and the contracts were taken for all four vessels by John Roach & Sons in July, 1883. The pioneer of the new steel navy was the " Dolphin." Although classed as a " dispatch boat " in the Navy Register, she has well earned the title of a first-class cruiser, and would be so classed if she had the tonnage displacement, since she made a most successful cruise around the world, traversing 52,000 miles of sea without a single mishap. The " Dolphin" was launched April 21, and she was finished in November, 1884, and although no material changes were made in her she was kept in continuous service for nearly six years. After her trip around Cape Horn, and after ten months hard cruising, she was thoroughly surveyed, and there was not a plate displaced, nor a rivet loosened, nor a timber strained, nor a spar out of gear. At the end of her cruise around the world she was pronounced "the stanchest dispatch-boat in any navy of the world." The "Dolphin" is a single-screw vessel of the following dimensions: Length over all, 265^ feet; breadth of beam, 32 feet; mean draught, 14^ feet; displacement, 1485 tons. Her armament consists of two four-inch rapid- firing guns ; two six-pounder rapid-firing guns ; four forty-seven-millimeter Hotchkiss revolving cannon, and two Catling guns. She is also fitted with torpedo tubes. Her cost, exclusive of her guns, was $315,000. Her comple- ment of crew consists of 10 officers and 98 enlisted men. The first four vessels were called the "A, B, C, and D of the New Navy," because of the first letters of their names — the " Atlanta," " Boston," " Chicago," and "Dolphin." The "Atlanta" and "Boston" are sister ships — that is, they were built from the same designs and their plates, etc., were moulded from the same patterns and they carry the same armament — hence a description of one is a description of the other. They followed the "Dolphin" in service, the "Atlanta " being launched on October 9, 1884, and the " Boston " on December 4, 1884. The "Atlanta" cost $619,000 and the "Boston" $617,000. The official description of these vessels is that they "are central superstructure, single-deck, steel cruisers." Their dimensions are : Length over all, 283 feet; breadth of beam, 42 feet ; mean draught, 1 7 feet ; displacement, 3 1 89 tons ; sail area, 10,400 square feet. The armament of each consists of two eight-inch and six six-inch breech-loading rifles ; two six-pounder, two two-pounder, and two one-pounder rapid-firing guns ; two 47-millimeter and two 37-millimeter Hotch- kiss revolving cannon, two Catling guns, and a set of torpedo-firing tubes. BUILDING A NEW NAVY. 169 Larger and finer still is the " Chicago," the flagship of the fleet, which was launched on December 5, 1885. She was the first vessel of the navy to have heavy guns mounted in half turrets, her four eight-inch cannon being carried on the spar-deck in half turrets built out from the ship's side, the guns being twenty-four and a-half feet above the water and together commanding the entire horizon. There are six six-inch guns in the broadside ports of the gun-deck and a six-inch gun on each bow. There are also two five-inch guns aft in the after portion of the cabin. Her secondary battery is two Catlings, two six- pounders, two one-pounders, two 47-milHmeter revolving cannon, and two 37-millimeter revolving cannon. This auspicious start being made, the work of building the new navy went steadily on. Next came the protected cruisers "Baltimore," "Charleston," " Newark," " San Francisco," and " Philadelphia," big steel ships, costing from a million to nearly a million and a half dollars each. Much smaller cruisers, or gunboats, were the "Yorktown," "Concord," and "Bennington," and, smallest of all, the " Petrel." All these ships, though varying in size, are of the same general type. They are not heavily armored, and are not regarded as regular battle-ships, yet could doubtless give a good account of themselves in any conflict. They are chiefly intended, however, as auxiliaries to the real fighters, and as cruisers, commerce destroyers, etc. The "Vesuvius," launched in April, 1888, is a "dynamite cruiser," a small, swift vessel, carrying three huge guns, each of fifteen inches bore, pointing directly forward and upward. From these, charges of dynamite are to be fired by compressed air. The " Cushing " is a swift torpedo boat, with three tubes for discharging the deadly missiles. It was launched in 1890, and named after the intrepid destroyer of the "Albemarle," whose feat has already been described. The "Stiletto" is a very small, wooden torpedo boat, of very great speed. The new navy also contains a number of vessels intended for coast-defense, heavily armored for hard fighting. The "Monterey" is a vessel of the "Monitor" type invented by Ericsson. It has two turrets, or barbettes, each carrying two twelve-inch guns, and protected by from eleven to thirteen inches of armor. The bow is provided with a ram. The " Puritan " is a vessel of similar design, with fourteen inches of armor. Besides the four big guns there is a secondary battery of twelve rapid-firing guns, four Hotchkiss revolving cannon, and four GatHnsf mms. The " Miantonomah " is another double- turreted monitor. Her four ten-inch rifles have an effective range of thirteen miles, and she has a powerful secondary battery. Her big guns can send a five hundred-pound bolt of metal through twenty inches of armor, and she is herself heavily armored. This is a singularly powerful battle-ship, and would probably 170 THE STORY OF AMERICA. prove a match for any waf ship in the world. In 1897 the Navy Department officials decided to paint these and every cruiser and battle-ship olive green in case of war. The illfated " Maine," Ipst in Havana harbor February, 1898, was a heavily- armored cruiser, and, while intended for seagoing, was really a battle-ship. She had eleven inches of armor and carried four ten-inch riHes, besides numerous smaller guns. The " Texas " is a similar ship. The " Detroit," " Montgomery," and " Marblehead" are small, partially armored cruisers. The " New York" is a mighty armored cruiser, of 8,150 tons displacement, and is built on the most "CHICAGO," U. S. N., ONE OF THE "WHITE SQUADRON" WAR SHIPS. approved pattern for offensive and defensive power, endurance and speed. She is 380 feet 6^ inches long; steams 20 knots per hour; can go 13,000 miles without coaling ; has from six to eight inches of armor, and carries six eight-inch and twelve four-inch rifles, and numerous smaller guns. The " Brooklyn," like the "New York," has 16,500 indicated horse power, is armored and designed on the same lines, with 1,000 tons more displacement. The "Raleigh" and "Cincinnati" are protected cruisers of 3,183 tons dis- placement, and 10,000 horse power; while the "Olympia," of similar construction, has 5,500 tons displacement and 13,500 horse power. THE ADVANCE OF NAVAL SCIENCE. 171 The " Iowa" is an armored battle-ship of i i-i296 tons displacement ^nd 1 1,000 indicated horse-power, and of the same class are the "Oregon," " Massachusetts " and "Indiana," each of 10,200 tons displacement and 9,000 horse-power. RECENT GROWTH OF OUR NAVY. To our fleet of nineteen torpedo boats and destroying crafts were added, in 1897, three torpedo boats with a speed of thirty knots an hour, and six of lesser speed. Among the coast-defense vessels the ram " Katahdin," with a particularly ugly beak at the bow, deserves to be noted. Beyond a small secondary battery, she depends for offensive force upon her ability to ram a foe ; to accomplish this purpose she can be submerged until only her turtle-back, funnel and ventilating shafts, all of which are armored, remain above water. In 1898 the growth of our navy was greatly enhanced by the war with Spain. Early in April at Newport News the "Kearsarge " and the "Kentucky," the largest battle-ships in our navy, each of 11,525 tons displacement, were launched, and in May the "Alabama," a sister ship of the two just mentioned, was launched at Cramps' ship-yard. Two other battle-ships of the same size and pattern — namely, the "Illinois" and "Wisconsin" — are in course of construction at Newport News and San Francisco respectively. Our Government purchased in April from Brazil the two excellent cruisers, the "Amazonas" and "Abrouill," which names were changed to " New Orleans " and "Albany." The "Amazonas" was delivered to the United States Battle-ship "San Fran- cisco" on March 18, 1898, but the "Abrouill," which is a duplicate of the "Ama- zonas," was not completed until several months later. These foreign sisters are armed with guns in all respects of the best modern type. Their length is 330 feet; 43 feet 9 inches beam ; draft 1 6 feet 10 inches, with a displacement of 3450 tons ; and a speed of about nineteen knots per hour. They are both built of steel, sheathed with teak and coppered, and enjoy the distinction of being the first sheathed ships in our navy. The cost to our Government for the two ships was $2,500,000. Numerous other ships of lesser importance were added, including the armored mercantile cruisers into which the magnificent ocean greyhounds "St. Paul," "St. Louis," "Paris" and others were transformed. Many private yachts were tendered by wealthy citizens and accepted. Congress also made appropriations for the building of several new battle-ships, torpedo boats and torpedo-boat destroyers, on which work was promptly begun. All the great nations of the earth are increasing their navies as never before, and it is safe to say the United States is rapidly awakening to the importance of placing itself among the great naval powers of the earth. In truth, the war with Spain has already placed us among the first. The battles of Manila and Santiago stand as marvels of naval warfare ; they entitle American seamen to the highest rank for marksmanship, intelligence and bravery. 172 REVIEW OF UNION ARMIES AT WASHINGTON. AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. MRS. GRANT VISITING GENERAL GRANT This incident orcurred a( City Point, below Kichni.Mui, near tlie c!o-.e of the War, in 1H64. CHAPTER IX. THE QREAT IMORXHWEST. BY ALBERT SHAW, PH.D., Editor " Untiew of Reviews," formerly editor of " Minneapolis Tribune' "Northwest" is a shifting, uncertain designation. The term has been used to cover the whole stretch of country from Pittsburg to Puget Sound, north of the Ohio River and the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude. Popularly it signified the old Northwestern Territory — including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin — until about the time of the Civil War. In the decade following the war, Illinois and Iowa were largely in the minds of men who spoke of the Northwest. From 1870 to 1880, Iowa, Kansas, North- ern Missouri, and Nebraska constituted the most stirring and favored region — the Northwest par excellence. But the past decade has witnessed a remarkable devel- opment in the Dakotas ; and Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Montana, with Iowa and Nebraska, are perhaps the States most familiarly comprised in the idea of the Northwest. These States are really in the heart of the continent — midway between oceans ; and perhaps by common consent the term Northwest will, a decade hence, have moved on and taken firm possession of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming, while ultimately Alaska may succeed to the designation. But for the present the Northwest is the great arable wedge lying between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, and between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. It is a region that is pretty clearly defined upon a map 173 AUERT SHAW, PH.D. 174 THE STORY OF AMERICA. showing physical characteristics. For the most part, it is a region of great natural fertility, of regular north-temperate climate, of moderate but sufficient rainfall, of scant forests and great prairie expanses, and of high average altitude without mountains. In a word, it is a region that was adapted by nature to the cultivation of the cereals and leading crops of the temperate zone without arduous and time-consuming processes for subduing the wilderness and redeem- ing the soil. This "New Northwest," in civilization and in all its significant character- istics, is the creature of the vast impulse that the successful termination of the war gave the nation. No other extensive area was ever settled under similar conditions. The homestead laws, the new American system of railroad build- ing, and the unprecedented demand for staple food products in the industrial centres at home and abroad, peopled the prairies as if by magic. Until 1870, fixing the date very roughly, transportation facilities followed colonization. The railroads were built to serve and stimulate a traffic that already existed. The pioneers had done a generation's work before the iron road overtook them. In the past two decades all has been changed. The railroads have been the pioneers and colonizers. They have invaded the solitary wilderness, and the population has followed. Much of the land has belonged to the roads, through subsidy grants, but the greater part of the mileage has been laid without the encouragement of land subsidies or other bonuses, by railway corporations that were willing to look to the future for their reward. It would be almost impossible to overestimate the significance of this method of colonization. Within a few years it has transformed the buffalo ranees into the world's most extensive fields of wheat and corn. A region comprising northern and western Minnesota, and the two Dakotas, which con- tributed practically nothing to the country's wheat supply twelve or fifteen years ago, has, by this system of railroad colonization, reached an annual production of 100,000,000 bushels of wheat alone — about one-fourth of the crop of the entire country. In like manner, parts of western Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, that produced no corn before 1875 or 1880, are now the centre of corn-raising, and yield many hundreds of millions of bushels annually. These regions enter as totally new factors into the world's supply of foods and raw materials. A great area of this new territory might be defined that was inhabited in 1870 by less than a million people, in 1880 by more than three millions, and in 1890 by from six to seven millions. Let us imagine a man from the East who has visited the Northwestern states and territories at some time between the years 1870 and 1875, and who retains a strong impression of what he saw, but who has not been west of Chicago since that time, until, in the World's Fair year he determines upon a new exploration of Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. THE DAIRY AND LIVE-STOCK FARMS OF TO-DAY. 175 However well informed he had tried to keep himself through written descrip- tions and statistical records of Western progress, he would see what nothing but the evidence of his own eyes could have made him believe to be possible. Iowa in 1870 was already producing a large crop of cereals, and was inhabited by a thriving, though very new, farming population. But the aspect of the country was bare and uninviting, except in the vicinity of the older com- 'munities on the Mississippi River. As one advanced across the State the farm- houses were very small, and looked like isolated dry-goods boxes ; there were few well-built barns or farm buildings ; and the struggling young cottonwood and soft-maple saplings planted in close groves about the tiny houses were so slight an obstruction to the sweep of vision across the open prairie that they only seemed to emphasize the monotonous stretches of fertile, but uninteresting, plain. Now the landscape is wholly transformed. A railroad ride in June through the best parts of Iowa reminds one of a ride through some of the pleasantest farming districts of England. The primitive " claim shanties " of thirty years ago have given place to commodious farm-houses flanked by great barns and hay-ricks, and the well-appointed structures of a prosperous agricul- ture. In the rich, deep meadows herds of fine-blooded cattle are grazing. What was once a blank, dreary landscape is now garden-like and inviting. The poor little saplings of the earlier days, which seemed to be apologizing to the robust corn-stalks in the neighboring fields, have grown on that deep soil into great, spreading trees. One can easily imagine, as he looks off in ever}'^ direc- tion and notes a wooded horizon, that he is — as in Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky — in a farming region which has been cleared out of primeval forests. There are many towns I might mention which twenty-five years ago, with their new, wooden shanties scattered over the bare face of the prairie, seemed the hottest place on earth as the summer sun beat upon their unshaded streets and roofs, and seemed the coldest places on earth when the fierce blizzards of winter swept unchecked across the prairie expanses. To-day the density of shade in those towns is deemed of positive detriment to health, and for several years past there has been a systematic thinning out and trimming up of the great, cluster- ing elms. Trees of from six to ten feet in girth are found everywhere by the hundreds of thousands. Each farm-house is sheltered from winter winds by its own dense groves. Many of the farmers are able from the surplus growth of wood upon their estates to provide themselves with a large and regular supply of fuel. If I have dwelt at some length upon this picture of the transformation of the bleak, grain-producing Iowa prairies of thirty years ago into the dairy and live-stock farms of to-day, with their fragrant meadows and ample groves, it is because the picture is one which reveals so much as to the nature and meaning of Northwestern progress. Not a little has been written regarding the rapid destruction of the vast 176 THE STORY OF AMERICA. white-pine forests with which Nature has covered large districts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It is true that this denudation has progressed at a rate with which nothing of a Hke character in the history of the world is com- parable. It is also true, doubtless, that the clearing away of dense forest areas has been attended with some inconvenient climatic results, and particularly with some objectionable effects upon the even distribution of rainfall and the regu- larity of the flow of rivers. But most persons who have been alarmed at the rapidity of forest destruction in the white-pine belt have wholly overlooked the great compensating facts. It happens that the white-pine region is not espe- cially fertile, and that for some time to come it is not likely to acquire a pros- perous agriculture. But adjacent to it and beyond it there was a vast region of country which, though utterly treeless, was endowed with a marvelous richness of soil and with a climate fitted for all the staple productions of the temperate zone. This region embraced parts of Illinois, almost the whole of Iowa, South- ern Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and parts of Montana, — a region of imperial extent. Now, it happens that for every acre of pine land that has been denuded in Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and Northern Minnesota there are somewhere in the grreat treeless reo^ion further south and west two or three new farm-houses. The railroads, pushing ahead of settlement out into the open prairie, have carried the white-pine lumber from the gigantic sawmills of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries ; and thus millions of acres of land have been brought under cultivation by farmers who could not have been housed in comfort but for the proximity of the pine forests. The rapid clearing away of timber areas in Wisconsin has simply meant the rapid settlement of North and South Dakota, Western Iowa, and Nebraska. And the settlement of these treeless regions means the successful growth on every farm of at least several hundred trees. Without attempting to be statis- tical or exact, we might say that an acre of Northern Minnesota pine trees makes it possible for a farmer in Dakota or Nebraska to have a house, farm buildings, and fences, with a holding of at least one hundred and sixty acres upon which he will successfully cultivate several acres of forest trees of different kinds. Even if the denuded pine lands of the region south and west of Lake Superior would not readily produce a second growth of dense forest, — which, it should be said in passing, they certainly will, — their loss would be far more than made good by the universal cultivation of forest trees in the prairie States. It is at least comforting to reflect, when the friends of scientific forestry warn us aeainst the ruthless destruction of standino- timber, that thus far at least in our Western history we have simply been cutting down trees in order to put a roof over the head of the man who was invading treeless regions for the purpose of planting and nurturing a hundred times as many trees as had been destroyed for his benefit 1 There is something almost inspiring in the contemplation of EXPANSION OF OUR RAILWA Y SYSTEMS. 177 iTiillions of families, all the way from Minnesota to Colorado and Texas, living in the shelter of these new pine houses and transforming the plains into a shaded and fruitful empire. The enormous expansion of our railway systems will soon have made it quite impossible for any of the younger generation to realize what hardships were attendant upon such limited colonization of treeless prairie regions as pre- ceded the iron rails. In 1876 I spent the summer in a part of Dakota to which a considerable number of hardy but poor farmers had found their way and taken up claims. They could not easily procure wood for houses, no other ordinary' building material was accessible, and they were living in half-underground "dug-outs," so-called. There was much more pleasure and romance in the pioneer experiences of my own ancestors a hundred years ago, who were living in comfortable log houses with huge fireplaces, and shooting abundant supplies of deer and wild turkey in the deep woods of Southern Ohio. The pluck and industry of these Dakota pioneers, most of whom were Irishmen and Norwe- gians, won my heartiest sympathy and respect. Poor as they were, they main- tained one public institution in common — namely, a school, with its place of public assemblage. The building had no floor but the beaten earth, and its thick walls were blocks of matted prairie turf its roof also being of sods sup- ported upon some poles brought from the scanty timber-growth along the margin of a prairie river. To-day these poor pioneers are enjoying their reward. Their valley is traversed by several railroads ; prosperous villages have sprung up ; their lands are of considerable value ; they all live in well-built farm- houses ; their shade trees have grown to a height of fifty or sixty feet ; a bust- ling and ambitious city, with fine churches, opera houses, electric illumination, and the most advanced public educational system, is only a few miles away from them. Such transformafions have occurred, not alone in a few spots in Iowa and South Dakota, but are common throughout a region that extends from the British dominions to the Indian Territory, and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, — a region comprising more than a half million square miles. Naturally the industrial life of these Northwestern communities is based solidly upon agriculture. There is, perhaps, hardly any other agricultural region of equal extent upon the face of the earth that is so fertile and so well adapted for the production of the most necessary articles of human food. During the past decade the world's markets have been notably disturbed and affected, and profound social changes and political agitations have occurred in various remote parts of the earth. It is within bounds to assert that the most potent and far-reaching factor in the altered conditions of the industrial world during these recent years, has been the sudden invasion and utilization of this great new farming region. Most parts of the world which are fairly prosperous do not produce staple food supplies in appreciable surplus quantities. Several 1 78 THE STORY OF AMERICA. regions which are not highly prosperous sell surplus food products out of their poverty rather than out of their abundance. That is to say, the people of India and the people of Russia have often been obliged, in order to obtain money to pay their taxes and other necessary expenses, to sell and send away to prosperous England the wheat which they have needed for hungry' mouths at home. They have managed to subsist upon coarser and cheaper food. But in our Northwestern States the application of ingenious machinery to the cultiva- tion of fertile and virgin soils has within the past twenty-five years precipitated upon the world a stupendous new supply of cereals and of meats, produced in quantities enormously greater than the people of the Northwestern States could consume. These foodstuffs have powerfully affected agriculture in Ire- land, England, France, and Germany, and in fact in every other part of the accessible and cultivated globe. So much has been written of late about the condition of the farmer in these regions that it is pertinent to inquire who the Western farmer is. In the old States the representative farmer is a man of long training in the difficult and honorable art of diversified agriculture. He knows much of soils, of crops and their wise rotation, of domestic animals and their breeding, and of a hundred distinct phases of the production, the life, and the household economics that belong to the traditions and methods of Anglo-Saxon farming. If he is a wise man, owning his land and avoiding extravagance, he can defy any condition of the markets, and can survive any known succession of adverse seasons. There are also many such farmers in the West. But there are thousands of wheat- raisers or corn-growers who have followed in the wake of the railway and taken up Government or railroad land, and who are not yet farmers in the truest and best sense of the word. They are unskilled laborers who have become speculators. They obtain their land for nothing, or for a price ranging from one dollar and fifty cents to five dollars per acre. They borrow on mortgage the money to build a small house and to procure horses and implements and seed grain. Then they proceed to put as large an acreage as they can manage into a single crop — wheat in the Dakotas, wheat or corn in Nebraska and Kan- sas. They speculate upon the chances of a favorable season and a good crop safely harvested ; and they speculate upon the chances of a profitable market. They hope that the first two crops may render them the possessor of an unin- cumbered estate, supplied with modest buildings, and with a reasonable quan- tity of machinery and live stock. Sometimes they succeed beyond their antici- pations. In many instances the chances go against them. They live on land, and the title is invested in them ; but they are using borrowed capital, use it unskillfuUy, meet an adverse season or two, lose through foreclosure that which has cost them nothing except a year or two of energy spent in what is more nearly akin to gambling than to farming, and finally help to swell the great IV//0 IS THE WESTERN FARMER? 179 chorus that calls the world to witness the distress of Western agriculture. It cannot be said too emphatically that real agriculture in the West is safe and prosperous, and that the unfortunates are the inexperienced persons, usually without capital, who attempt to raise a single crop on new land. For many of them it would be about as wise to take borrowed money and speculate in wheat in the Chicago bucket-shops. The great majority, however, of these inexperienced and capital-less wheat and corn producers gradually become farmers. It is inevitable, at first, that a country opened by the railroads for the express purpose of obtaining the largest possible freightage of cereals should for a few seasons be a " single-crop coun- try." Often the seed-grain is supplied on loan by the roads themselves. They charge " what the traffic will bear." The grain is all, or nearly all, marketed through long series of elevators following the tracks, at intervals of a few miles, and owned by some central company that bears a close relation to the railroad. Thus the corporations which control the transportation and handling of the grain in effect maintain for their own advantage ?.n exploitation of the entire regions that they traverse, through the first years of settlement. Year by year the margin of cultivation extends further West, and the single-crop sort of farming tends to recede. The wheat growers produce more barley and oats and flax, try corn successfully, introduce live stock and dairying, and thus begin to emerge as real farmers. Unless this method of Western settlement is comprehended, it is not pos- sible to understand the old Grano^er movement and the more recent lesfislative conflicts between the farmers of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, on the one hand, and the great transportation and grain-handling cor- porations on the other. It was fundamentally a question of the division of profits. The railroads had "made" the country : were they entitled to allow the farmers simply a return about equal to the cost of production, keeping for themselves the difference between the cost and the price in the central markets, or were they to base their charges upon the cost of their service, and leave the farmers to enjoy whatever profits might arise from the production of wheat or corn ? Out of that protracted contest has been developed the principle of the public regulation of rates. The position of these communities of farmers with interests so similar, forming commonwealths so singularly homogeneous, has led to a reliance upon State aid that is altogether unprecedented in new and sparsely settled regions, where individualism has usually been dominant, and governmental activity relatively inferior. But agriculture, while the basis of Northwestern wealth, is not the sole pursuit. Transportation has become in these regions a powerful interest, because of the vast surplus agricultural product to be carried away, and of the great quantities of lumber, coal, salt, and staple supplies in general, to be dis- i8o THE STORY OF AMERICA. tributed throughout the new prairie communities. The transformation of the pine forests into the homes of several million people has, of course, developed marvelous sawmill and buildinsf industries ; and the furnishing- of millions of new homes has called into beinsf great factories for the making of wooden furniture, iron stoves, and all kinds of household supplies. In response to the demand for agricultural implements and machinery with which to cultivate five hundred million acres of newly utilized wild land, there have come into exist- ence numerous oreat establishments for the makinof of machines that have been especially invented to meet the peculiarities and exigencies of Western farm life. Through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, Indian corn has become a greater product in quantity and value than wheat ; while in Wisconsin, Minne- sota, and North and South Dakota the wheat is decidedly the preponderant crop. Although in addition to oats and barley, which flourish in all the Western States, it has been found possible to increase the acreage of maize in the north- ern tier, it is now believed that the most profitable alternate crop in the latitude of Minneapolis and St. Paul is to be flax. Already a region including parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas has become the most extensive area of flax culture in the whole world. The crop has been produced simply for the seed, which has supplied large linseed oil factories in Minneapolis, Chicago, and various Western places. But now it has been discovered that the flax straw, which has heretofore been allowed to rot in the fields as a valueless product, can be utilized for a fibre which will make a satisfactory quality of coarse linen fabrics. Linen mills have been established in Minneapolis, and it is somewhat confidently predicted that in course of time the linen industry of that ambitious city will reach proportions even greater than its wonderful flour industry, which for a number of years has been without a rival anywhere in the world. The railroad system of the Northwest has been developed in such a way that no one centre may be fairly regarded as the commercial capital of the region. Chicago, with its marvelous foresight, has thrown out lines of trave] that draw to itself much of the traffic which would seem normally to belong to Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth on the north, or to St. Louis and Kansas City on the south. But in the region now under discussion, the famous " twin cities," Minneapolis and St. Paul, constitute unquestionably the greatest and most distinctive centre, both of business and of civilization. They are beauti- fully situated, and they add to a long list of natural advantages very many equally desirable attractions growing out of the enterprising and ambitious fore- thought of the inhabitants. They are cities of beautiful homes, pleasant parks, enterprising municipal improvements, advanced educational establishments, and varied industrial interests. Each is a distinct urban community, although they RADICALISM AND THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. i8i lie so near together that they constitute one general centre of commerce and transportation when viewed from a distance. Their stimulating rivalry has had the effect to keep each city alert an4 to prevent a listless, degenerate local administration. About the Falls of St. Anthony, at Minneapolis, great manu- facturing establishments are grouping themselves, and each year adds to the certainty that these two picturesque and charming cities have before them a most brilliant civic future. The tendency to rely upon united public action is illustrated in the growth PASS IN THE MOUNTAINS. of Northwestern educational systems. The universities of these common wealths are State universities. Professional education is under the State auspices and control. The normal schools and the agricultural schools belong to the State. The public high school provides intermediate instruction. The common district school, supported jointly by local taxation and State subven- tion, gives elementary education to the children of all classes. As the towns grow the tendency to graft manual and technical courses upon the ordinary public school curriculum is unmistakably strong. The Northwest, more than i82 THE STORY OF AMERICA. any other part of the country, is disposed to make every kind of education a public function. RadicaHsm has flourished in the homogeneous agricultural society of the Northwest. In the anti-monopoly conflict there seemed to have survived some of the intensity of feeling that characterized the anti-slavery movement; and a tinge of this fanatical quality has always been apparent in the Western and Northwestern monetary heresies. But it is in the temperance movement that this sweep of radical impulse has been most irresistible. It was natural that the movement should become political and take the form of an agitation for prohibition. The history of prohibition in Iowa, Kansas, and the Dakotas, and of temperance legislation in Minnesota and Nebraska, reveals — even better perhaps than the history of -the anti-monopoly movement — the radicalism, homogeneity, and powerful socializing tendencies of the Northwestern people. Between these different agitations there has been in reality no slight degree of relationship ; at least their origin is to be traced to the same general conditions of society. The extent to which a modern community resorts to state action depends in no small measure upon the accumulation of private resources. Public or organized initiative will be relatively strongest where the impulse to progress is positive but the ability of individuals is small. There are few rich men in the Northwest. Iowa, great as is the Hawkeye State, has no large city and no large fortunes. Of Kansas the same thing may be said. The Dakotas have no rich men and no cities. Minnesota has Minneapolis and St. Paul, and Nebraska has Omaha; but otherwise these two States are farming communities, without large cities or concentrated private capital. Accordingly the recourse to public action is comparatively easy. South Dakota farmers desire to guard against drought by opening artesian wells for irrigation. They resort to State legisla- tion and the sale of county bonds. North Dakota wheat growers are unfortu- nate in the failure of crops. They secure seed-wheat through State action and their county governments. A similarity of condition fosters associated action, and facilitates the progress of popular movements. In such a society the spirit of action is intense. If there are few philoso- phers, there is remarkable diff'usion of popular knowledge and elementary •education. The dry atmosphere and the cold winters are nerve-stimulants, and life seems to have a higher tension and velocity than in other parts of the country. The Northwest presents a series of very interesting race problems. The ifirst one, chronologically at least, is the problem that the American Indian pre- sents. It is not so long ago since the Indian was in possession of a very large portion of the region we are now considering, A number of tribes were gradu- ally removed further West, or were assigned to districts in the Indian Territory. THE LARGE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT OF POPULATION. 183 But most of them were concentrated in large reservations in Minnesota. Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. The past few years have witnessed the rapid reduction of these reservations, and the adoption of a policy which, if carried to its logical conclusion with energy and good faith, will at an early date result in the universal education of the children, in the abolition of the system of reservations, and in the settlement of the Indian families upon farms of their own, as fully enfranchised American citizens. The most potent single element of population in the Northwest is of New England origin, although more than half of it has found its way into Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, by filtration through the inter- THE FALLS OF ST mediate States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. But there has also been a vast direct immigration from abroad ; and this element has come more largely, by far, from the northern than from the central and southern races of Europe. The Scandinavian peninsula and the countries about the Baltic and North Seas have supplied the Northwest with a population that already numbers millions. From Chicago to Montana there is now a population of full Scandinavian origin, which, perhaps, may be regarded as about equal in numbers to the population that remains in Sweden and Nor- way. In Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, as well as in Northern Iowa and in some parts of Nebraska, there are whole counties where the population is almost entirely Scandinavian. Upon all this portion of i84 THE STORY OF AMERICA. the country for centuries to come the Scandinavian patronymics will be as firmly fixed as they have been upon the Scotch and English coasts, where the North- men entrenched themselves so numerously and firmly about nine hundred or a thousand years ago. The Scandinavians in the Northwest become Americans with a rapidity unequaled by any other non-English-speaking element. Their political ambition is as insatiate as that of the Irish, and they already secure offices in numbers far beyond the proportion to which their qualifications would entitle them ; for the great majority now come from the lowest classes of unskilled labor in Sweden and Norway, rather than from the ranks of the pro- fessional classes, the substantial farmers, and the skilled mechanics. But their devotion to the American school system, their political aptitude and ambition, and their enthusiastic pride in American citizenship are thoroughly hopeful traits, and it is generally believed that they will contribute much of strength and sturdiness to the splendid race of Northwestern Americans that is to be developed in the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Valleys. The Northwestern Germans evince a tendency to mass in towns, as in Milwaukee, and to preserve intact their language and national traits. The large towns of the Northwest are notable for the great numbers of the brightest and most energetic of the young business and professional men of the East that they contain. While they lack the leisure class and the traditions of culture that belong to older communities, they may justly claim a far higher percentage of college-bred men and of families of cultivated tastes than belong to Eastern towns of like population. The intense pressure of business and absorption of private pursuits are, for the present, seeming obstacles to the progress of Western communities in the highest things ; but already the zeal for public improvements and for social progress in all that pertains to true culture is \&ry great. Two decades hence no man will question the quality of Northwestern civilization. If the East is losing something of its distinctive Americanism through the influx of foreign elements and the decay of its old- time farming communities, the growth of the Northwest, largely upon the basis o( New England blood and New England ideas, will make full compensation. Every nation of the world confronts its own racial or climatic or industrial problems, and nowhere is there to be found an ideal state of happiness or virtue or prosperity; but all things considered it may well be doubted whether there exists any other extensive portion, either of America or of the world, in which there is so little of pauperism, of crime, of social inequality, of ignorance, and of chafing discontent, as in the agricultural Northwest that lies between Chicago and the Rocky Mountains. Schools and churches are almost everywhere flour- ishing in this reeion, and the necessities of life are not beyond the reach of any element or class. There is a pleasantness, a hospitality, and a friendliness in the social life of the Western communities that is certainly not surpassed. CHAPTER X. DIKKICULXIES WITH FOREIGN POWERS. ^•j^N a bright spring morning, the date, April 30, 1789, amid the booming of cannon, the plaudits of the multitude, and the general rejoicing of the people of the whole country, Washington had been inaugurated President of the United States. That day saw one of the most significant events accomplished in the history of the world ; for there in the city of New York, where the inauguration took place, a nation was born in a day. The old Confederacy was gone : the new nation stood forth "like a giant ready to run a race." And what a race it has run since that time History has told. It would be strange indeed if the peace that then brooded over the country was to become unbroken, perpetual. No nation up to that time had made such a record, which might well be considered as heralding the Millennium ; and the United States was destined to prove no exception to the course marked out by all other empires since the government of the State had supplanted that of the tribe and clan. The fact is, the seeds of conflict were already sown and were destined to bear fruit, both in civil and foreign war. THE DIFFICULTY WITH THE BARBARY STATES. If the reader will look at any map of Africa he will see on the northern coast, defining the southern limits of the Mediterranean, four States, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, running east and west a distance of 1800 miles. These powers had for centuries maintained a state of semi-independency by paying tribute to Turkey. But this did not suit Algeria, the strongest and most warlike of the North African States; and in the year 1710 the natives overthrew the rule of the Turkish Pasha, expelled him from the country, and united his office to that of the Dey. The Dey thus governed the country by means of a Divan or Council of State chosen from the principal civic function- aries. The Algerians, with the other " Barbary States," as the piratical States were called, defied the Powers of Europe. France alone successfully resisted 185 i86 THE STORY OF AMERICA. these depredations, but only partially, for after she had repeatedly chastised the Algerians, the strongest of the northern piratical States, and had induced the Dey to sign a treaty of peace, they would bide their time, and after a time return to their bloody work. It was Algiers which was destined to force the United States to resort to arms in the defense of its persecuted countrymen ; the result is a matter of history. The truth is, this conflict was no less irrepressible than that greater conflict which a century later deluged the land in blood. For, before the Constitution had been adopted, two American vessels flying the flag of thirteen stripes and only thirteen stars, instead of the forty-four which now form our national con- stellation, while sailing the Mediterranean had fallen a prey to the swift, heavily armed Algerian cruisers. The vessels were confiscated and the crews, to the number of twenty-one persons, had been held for ransom, for which an enormous sum was demanded. This sum our Government had been unwilling to pay, as to do so would be to establish a precedent not only with Algeria, but with Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco as well, for each of these African piratical States was in league with the others, and all had to be separately conciliated. But, after all, what else could the Government do ? The country had no navy. It could not undertake in improvised ships to go forth and fight the swift, heavily armed cruisers of the African pirates — States so strong that the commercial nations were glad to win exemption from their depredations by annual payments. Why not, then, ransom these American captives by the payment of money and construct a navy sufficiently strong to resist their en- croachments in the future ? This feeling on the part of the Government was shared by the people of the country, and so it was, Congress finally authorized the building of six frigates, and by another act empowered President Washing- ton to borrow a million of dollars for purchasing peace. Eventually the money was paid to all the four Powers, and it was hoped all difficulty was at an end. The work of constructing the new war-ships was pushed with expedition, and as will be seen, it was well that it was so. We are now brought to the year 1800. Tripoli, angry at not receiving as much money as was paid to Algiers, declared war against the United States ; but now circumstances had changed for the better. For our new navy, a small but most efficient one, was completed, and a squadron consisting of the frigates "Essex," Captain Bainbridge, the "Philadelphia," the "President," and the schooner " Experiment," was in Mediterranean waters. Two Tripolitan cruisers lying at Gibraltar on the watch for American vessels, were blockaded by the " Philadelphia." Cruising off Tripoli the " Experiment" fell in with a Tripolitan cruiser of fourteen guns, and after three hours' hard fighting captured her. The Tripolitans lost twenty killed and thirty wounded; this brilliant-, result had a marked effect in quieting the turbulent pirates. A SPLENDID VICTORY. 187 But peace was not yet assured. In 181 5, while this country was at war with England, the Dey of Algiers unceremoniously dismissed the American Consul and declared war against the United States ; and all because he had not received the articles demanded under the tribute treaty. This time the Government was well prepared for the issue. The population of the country had increased to over eight millions. The military spirit of the nation had been aroused by the war with Great Britain, ending in the splendid victory at New Orleans under General Jackson. Besides this, the navy had been increased and made far more effective. The Administration, A RAILROAD BATTERY. Vrith Madison at its head, decided to submit to no further extortions from the Mediterranean pirates, and the President sent in a forcible message to Congress on the subject, taking high American ground. The result was a prompt acceptance of the Algerian declaration of war. Events succeeded each other in rapid succession. Ships new and old were at once fitted out. On May 15, 18 15, Decatur sailed from New York to the Mediterranean. His squadron comprised the frigates "Guerriere," " Macedonian," and " Constellation," the new sloop of •War "Ontario," and four brigs and two schooners in addition. On June 17, the second day after entering the Mediterranean, Decatur i88 THE STORY OF AMERICA. captured the largest frigate in the Algerian navy, having forty-four guns. 'I'ht: next day an Algerian brig was taken, and in less than two weeks after his first capture Decatur, with his entire squadron, appeared off Algiers. The end had come ! The Dey's courage, like that of Bob Acres, oozed out at his fingers* ends. The terrified Dey sued for peace, which Decatur compelled him to sign on the quarter-deck of the " Guerriere." In this treaty it was agreed by the Dey to surrender all prisoners, pay a heavy indemnity, and renounce all tribute from America in the future. Decatur also secured indemnity from Tunis and Tripoli for American vessels captured under the guns of their forts by British cruisers during the late war. This ended at once and forever the payment of tribute to the piratical States of North Africa. All Europe, as well as our'own country, rang with the splendid achievements of our navy ; and surely the stars and stripes had never before floated more proudly from the mast-head of an American vessel, and they are flying as proudly to-day. KING BOMBA BROUGHT TO TERMS. It was seventeen years later, in 1832, under the administration of General Jackson, that one of the most interesting cases of difficulty with a foreign power arose. As with Algeria and Tripoli, so now, our navy was resorted to for the purpose of exacting reparation. This time the trouble was with Italy, or .rather that part of Italy known at that time as the Kingdom of Naples, which had been wrested from Spain by Napoleon, who placed successively his brother Joseph and Murat, Prince, Marshal of France, and brother-in-law of Napoleon, on the throne of Naples and the two Sicilies. During the years 1809-12 the Neapolitan Government under Joseph and Murat successively had confiscated numerous American ships with their cargoes. The total amount of the American claims against Naples, as filed in the State Department, when Jackson's Administration assumed control, was ^1,734,994. They were held by various insurance com- panies and by citizens, principally of Baltimore. Demands for the payment of these claims had from time to time been rnade by our Government, but Naples had always refused to settle them. Jackson and his Cabinet took a decided stand, and determined that the ^ Neapolitan Government, then in the hands of Ferdinand II — subsequently nick- named Bomba because of his cruelties — should make due reparation for the losses sustained by American citizens. The Hon. John Nelson, of Frederick, Maryland, was appointed Minister to Naples and ordered to insist upon a settlement. Commodore Daniel Patterson,* who aided in the defense of New * Daniel T. Patterson was born on Long Island, New York, March 6, 1786; was appointed midshipman in the navy, 1800 ; was attached to the frigate " Philadelphia" when she ran upon a reef near Tripoli ; was captured and a prisoner until 1805 ; was made lieutenant in 1807 and KING BO MB A BROUGHT TO TERMS. 189 Orleans in 181 5, was put in command of the Mediterranean squadron and ordered to cooperate with Minister Nelson in enforcing his demands. But Naples persisted in her refusal to render satisfaction, and a warlike demonstra- tion was decided upon, the whole matter being placed, under instructions, in the hands of Commodore Patterson. The entire force at his command consisted of three fifty-gun frigates and three twenty-gun corvettes. So as not to precipitate matters too hastily, the plan was for three vessels to appear in the Neapolitan waters, one at a time, and UNITED STATES MILITARY TELEGRAPH WAGON. instructions were given accordingly. The " Brandywine," with Minister Nelson on board, went first. Mr. Nelson repeated the demands for a setdement, and they were refused : there was nothing in the appearance of a Yankee envoy and a single ship to trouble King Bomba and his little kingdom. The "Brandy- master-commandant in 1813. In 1814 he won great credit as commander of naval forces at New Orleans, and received the thanks of Congress. He commanded the flotilla which destroyed the fort and defenses of Lafitte, the pirate. He was made captain in 1815 ; Navy Commissioner, 1828 t<» 1832, and commanded the Mediterranean Squadron, 1832-1835. He died on August 15, 1839, being then in command of the Washington Navy Yard- igo THE STORY OF AMERICA. wine " cast anchor in the harbor and the humbled Envoy waited patiently foi a few days. Then another American flag appeared on the horizon, and the frigate "United States" floated into the harbor and came to anchor. Mr. Nelson repeated his demands, and they were again refused. Four days slipped away, and the stars and stripes again appeared off the harbor. King Bomba, looking out from his palace windows, saw the fifty-gun frigate "Concord" sail into the harbor and drop her anchor. Then unmistakable signs of uneasiness began to show themselves. Forts were repaired, troops drilled, and more cannon mounted on the coast. The demands were reiterated, but the Neapolitan Government still refused. Two days later another war-ship made her way into the harbor. It was the "John Adams." When the fifth ship sailed gallantly in, the Bourbon Government seemed almost on the point of yielding ; but three days later Mr. Nelson sent word home that he was still unable to collect the bill. But the end was not yet. Three days later, and the sixth sail showed itself on the blue waters of the peerless bay. It was the handwriting on the wall for King Bomba, and his Government announced that they would accede to the American demands. The negotiations were promptly resumed and speedily closed, the payment of the principal in installments with interest being guaranteed. Pending negotiations, from August 28 to September 15 the entire squadron remained in the Bay of Naples, and then the ships sailed away and separated. So, happily and bloodlessly, ended a difficulty which at one time threatened most serious results. AUSTRIA AND THE KOSZTA CASE. Another demonstration, less imposing in numbers but quite as spirited, and, indeed, more intensely dramatic, occurred at Smyrna in 1853, when Captain Dun- can N. Ingraham, with a single sloop-of-war, trained his broadsides on a fleet of Austrian war-ships in the harbor. The episode was a most thrilling one, and "The Story of America " would indeed be incomplete were so dramatic an affair left unrecorded on its pages. And this is the record : — When the revolution of Hungary against Austria was put down, Kossuth, Koszta, and other leading revolutionists fled to Smyrna, and the Turkish Gov- ernment, after long negotiations, refused to give them up. Koszta soon after came to the United States, and in July, 1852, declared under oath his intention of becoming an American citizen. He resided in New York city a year and eleven months. The next year Koszta went to Smyrna on business, where he remained for a time undisturbed. He had so inflamed the Austrian Government against him, however, that a plot was formed to capture him. On June 21, 1853, while he was seated on the Marina, a public resort in Smyrna, a band of Greek mercen- aries, hired by the Austrian Consul, seized him and carried him off to an Austrian ship-of-war, the Huzzar, then lying in the harbor. On board the vessel CAPTAIN INGRAHAM. 191 Archduke John, brother of the Emperor, was said to be in command. Koszta was put in irons and treated as a criminal. The next day an American sloop-of-war, the "St. Louis," commanded by Capt. Duncan N. Ingraham, * sailed into the harbor. Learn- ing what had happened, Capt. Ingraham immediately sent on board the " Huzzar " and courteously asked permission to see Koszta. His request was granted, and Captain Ingraham assured himself that Koszta was entitled to the protection of the Ameri- can flag. He demanded Koszta's release of the Aus- trian commander. When it was refused he communi- cated with the nearest United States official. Consul Brown, at Constantinople. While he was waiting for an answer six Austrian war-ships sailed * Duncan Nathaniel Ingraham was born December 6, 1802, at Charleston, South Carolina. He entered the United States Navy in 1812 as midshipman, and became a captain September 14, 1855. In March, 1856, he was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hy- drography of the Navy Department, a position which he held until South Carolina passed her ordinance of secession in i860. He then resigned his commission in the navy and took service under the Confederate States, in which he rose to the rank of Commodore. He died in 1891. 192 THE STORY OF AMERICA into the harbor and came to anchor in positions near the " Huzzar." On June 29th, before Captain Ingraham had received any answer from the American Consul, he noticed unusual signs of activity on board the "Huzzar," and before long she began to get under way. The American Captain made up his mind immediately. He put the "St. Louis" straight in the " Huzzar's " course and cleared his guns for action. The "Huzzar" hove to, and Captain Ingraham went on board and demanded the meaning of the " Huzzar's " action. "We propose to sail for home," repHed the Austrian. "The Consul has ordered us to take our prisoner to Austria." " You will pardon me." said Captain Ingraham, " but if you attempt to leave this port with that American on board I shall be compelled to resort to extreme measures." The Au'itrian glanced around at the fleet of Austrian war-ships and the single American sloop-of-war. Then he smiled pleasantly, and intimated that the " Huzzar " would do as she pleased. Captain Ingraham bowed and returned to the "St. Louis." He had no sooner reached her deck than he called out : " Clear the guns for action ! " The Archduke of Austi-ia saw the batteries of the "St. Louis" turned on him, and he realized that he was in the wrong. The " Huzzar" was put about and sailed back to her old anchorage. Word was sent to Captain Ingraham that the Austrian would await the arrival of the note from Mr. Brown. The Consul's note, which came on July ist, commended Captain Ingraham's course and advised him to take whatever action he thought the situation demanded. At eight o'clock on the morning of July 2d, Captain Ingraham sent a note to the commander of the " Huzzar," formally demanding the release of Mr. Koszta. Unless the prisoner was delivered on board the "St. Louis" before four o'clock the next afternoon. Captain Ingraham would take him from the Austrians by force. The Archduke sent back a formal refusal. At eight o'clock the next morning Captain Ingraham once more ordered the decks cleared for action and trained his batteries on the "Huzzar." The seven Austrian war vessels cleared their decks and put their men at the guns. At ten o'clock an Austrian officer came to Captain Ingraham and began to temporize. Captain Ingraham refused to listen to him. "To avoid the worst," he said, "I will agree to let the man be delivered to the French Consul at Smyrna until you have opportunit}'' to communicate with your Government. But he must be delivered there, or I will take him. I have ■stated the time." At twelve o'clock a boat left the " Huzzar " with Koszta in it, and an houi later the French Consul sent word that Koszta was in his keeping. Theft several of the Austrian war-vessels sailed out of the harbor. Long negotiations AUSTRIA YIELDS. '93 between the two Governments followed, and in the end Austria admitted that the United States was in the right, and apologized. Scarcely had the plaudits which greeted Captain Ingraham's intrepid course died away, when, the next year, another occasion arose where our Government was obliged to resort to the force of arms. This time Nicaragua was the country involved. Early in June, 1854, after repeated but unsuccessful attempts at a settlement had been made by the United States, our Government — Franklin Pierce was then President — determined to secure a settlement by appeal to arms. \^arious outrages, it was the contention of our Government, had been committed on the persons and property of American citizens dwelling in Nicaragua. The repeated demands for redress were not complied with. Commander Ho 11 ins, proceed to the town of coast of Nicaragua, and Peaceful negotiations having failed, in June, 1854. with the sloop-of-war ' Cyane," was ordered to San Juan, or Greytown, which lies on the .Mosquito to insist on favorable action from the Nica- raguan Government. Captain Hollins came to anchor off the coast and placed his de- mands before the authorities. He waited patiently for a response, but no satis- factory one was offered him. After waiting in vain for a number of days he made a final appeal and then proceeded to carry^ out instructions. On the morning of July 13th he directed his batteries on the town of San Juan and opened fire. Until four o'clock in the afternoon the cannon poured out broadsides as fast as they could be loaded. By that time the greater part of the town had been destroyed. Then a party of marines was put on shore, and they completed the destruction of the place by burning the houses. A lieutenant of the British na\y commanding a small vessel of war was in the harbor at the time. England claimed a species of protectorate over the settle- ment, and the British ofiiicer raised violent protest against the action taken by America's representative. Captain Hollins, however, paid no attention to the interference and carried out his instructions. The United States Government 13 LATEST MODEL OF CATLING FIZIX) GUN. 194 THE STORY OF AMERICA. later sustained Captain Hollins in everything that he did, and England thereupon thought best to let the matter drop. In this they were unquestionably wise. At this time the United States seems to have entered upon a period of international conflict. For no sooner had the difficulties with Austria and Nicaragua been adjusted, than another war-cloud appeared on the horizon. Here again but a year from the last conflict had elapsed, for in 1855 an offense was committed against the United States by Paraguay. We now have to go back three years. In 1852 Captain Thomas J. Page,* commanding a small light-draught steamer, the "Water Witch," by direction of his Government started for South America to explore the river La Plata and its large tributaries, with a view to opening up commercial intercourse between the United States and the interior States of South America. We have said the expedition was ordered by our Government ; it also remains to be noted that the expedition was undertaken with the full consent and approbation of the countries having jurisdiction over those waters. Slowly, but surely, the little steamer pushed her way up the river, making soundings and charting the river as she proceeded. All went well until February i, 1855, when the first sign of trouble appeared, It was a lovely day in early summer — the summer begins in February in that latitude — and nothing appeared to indicate the slightest disturbance. The little "Water Witch" was quietly steaming up the River Parana, which forms the northern boundary of the State of Corrientes, separating it from Paraguay, when suddenly, without a moment's warning, a battery from Fort Itaparu, on the Paraguayan shore, opened fire upon the little steamer, immediately killing one of her crew who at that time was at the wheel. The "Water Witch " was not fitted for hostilities ; least of all could it assume the risk of attempting to run the batteries of the fort. Accordingly, Captain Page put the steamer about, and was soon out of range. It should here be explained that at that time President Carlos A. Lopez was the autocratic ruler of Paraguay, and that he had previously received Captain Page with every assurance of friendship. A few months previous, however, Lopez had been antagonized by the United States Consul at Ascencion, who, in addition to his official position, acted as ao-ent for an American mercantile company, of which Lopez disapproved and went so far as to break up the business of the company. He also issued a decree forbidding foreign vessels of war from navigating the Parana or any of the waters bounding Paraguay, which he clearly had no right to do, as half the stream belonged to the State bordering on the other side. * Thomas Jefferson Page was born in Virginia in 1815. He entered the navy as midshipman in October, 1827, and was promoted to a lieutenancy in June, 1833. In September, 1855, he became a commander. In 1861, his State having passed the ordinance of secession, he resigned from the United States Navy, joining that of the Confederate States, where he attained the rank oi Commodore. THE PARAGUAYAN TROUBLE. 195 Captain Page, finding it impracticable to prosecute his exploration any further, at once returned to the United States, giving the Washington authori- ties a detailed account of the occurrence. It was claimed by our Government that the "Water Witch" was not subject to the jurisdiction of Paraguay, as the channel was the equal property of the Argentine Republic. It was further claimed that even if she were within the jurisdiction of Paraguay she was not properly a vessel of war, but a Government boat employed for scientific pur- poses. And even were the vessel supposed to be a war vessel, it was contended that it was a gross violation of international right and courtesy to fire shot at the vessel of a friendly power without first resorting to more peaceful means. At that time William L. Marcy, one of the foremost statesmen of his day, was Secretary of State. Mr. Marcy at once wrote a strong letter to the Paraguayan Government, stating the facts of the case, declaring that the action of Paraguay in EIGHT-INCH GUN AND CARRIAGE OF THE "BALTIMORE." {Built at the IVaskington Navy-Vard, of American Steei.) firing upon the " Water Witch " would not be submitted to, and demanding ample apology and compensation. All efforts in this direction, however, proved fruit- less. Lopez refused to give any reparation ; and not only so, but declared no American vessel would be allowed to ascend the Parana for the purpose indicated. The event, as it became known, aroused not a little excitement ; and while there were some who "deprecated a resort to extreme measures" — a euphemistic phrase frequently resorted to by those who would neither resent an insult nor take umbrage at an intended offense — the general sentiment of the country was decidedly manifested in favor of an assertion of our rights in the premises. Accordingly, President Pierce sent a message to Congress stating that a peace- ful adjustment of the difficulty was impossible, and asking that he be authorized to send such a naval force to Paraguay as would compel her arbitrary ruler to give the full satisfaction demanded. To this request Congress promptly and almost unanimously gave assent, and one of the strongest naval expeditions ever fitted out by the United States up 195 THE STORY OF AMERICA. to that time was ordered to assemble at the mouth of La Plata River. The fleet was a most imposing one and comprised nineteen vessels, seven of which were steamers specially chartered for the purpose, as our largest war vessels were of too deep draught to ascend La Plata and Parana. The entire squad- ron carried 200 guns and 2500 men, and was commanded by Flag Officer, afterward Rear Admiral, Shubrick,* one of the oldest officers of our navy, and one of the most gallant men that ever trod a quarter deck. Flag Officer Shu- brick was accompanied by United States Commissioner Bowlin, to whom was intrusted negotiations for the settlement of the difficulty. Three years and eleven months had now passed since the "Water Witch " was fired upon, and President Buchanan had succeeded Franklin Pierce. The winter of 1 859 was just closing in at the North ; the streams were closed by ice, and the lakes were ice-bound, but the palm trees at the South were displaying their fresh green leaves, like so many fringed banners, in the warm tropical air when the United States squadron assembled at Montevideo [Montevideo]. As has been said, the force was an imposing one. There were two United States frigates, the "Sabine" and the "St. Lawrence;" two sloops-of-war, the "Falmouth" and the " Preble ; " three brigs, the " Bainbridge," the " Dolphin," and the " Perry ;" six steamers especially armed for the occasion, the " Memphis," the " Cale- donia," the "Atlanta," the "Southern Star," the " Westernport," the " M. W. Chapin," and the " Metacomet ; " two armed storeships, the " Supply" and the "Release;" the revenue steamer, "Harriet Lane;" and, lastly, the little "Water Witch" herself no longer defenseless, but all in fighting trim for hos- tilities. On the 25th of January, 1859, within just one week of four years from the firing upon the "Water Witch," the squadron got under way and came to anchor off Ascencion, the capital of Paraguay. Meanwhile President Urquiza, of the Argentine Republic, who had offered his services to mediate the diffi- culty, had arrived at Ascencion in advance of the squadron. The negotiations were reopened, and Commissioner Bowlin made his demand for instant repara- tion. All this time Flag Officer Shubrick was not idle. With such of our vessels as were capable of ascending the river, taking them through the diffi- culties created by the currents, shoals, and sand bars of the river, he brought * William Branford Shubrick was one of the most illustrious mart whose name has appeared on the roll of United States naval officers. He was born in 1790; appointed midshipman United States Navy June 20, 1806; joined the sloop-of-war "Wasp" 181 2; a year later was transferred to the frigate "Constellation;" aided in the capture of the British vessels " Cyane " and " Levant ; " and in 1815 was awarded a sword by his native State. In 1820 was made commander ; in 1829 commanded the "Lexington; " in 1846 commanded the Pacific squadron, and filled various prominent positions extending over a period of sixty-one years, till May 12, 1876, when he died. LOPEZ COMES TO TERMS. 197 them to a chosen position, where they made ready in case of necessity to open fire. The force within striking distance of Paraguay consisted of 1 740 men, besides the officers, and 78 guns, including 23 nine-inch shell guns and one shell gun of eleven inches. Ships and guns proved to be very strong arguments with Lopez. It did not take the Dictator-President long to see that the United States meant business, and that the time for trifling had passed and the time for serious work had indeed begun. President Lopez's cerebral processes worked with remarkable and encouraging celerity. By February 5th, within less than two weeks of the starting of the squadron from Montevideo, Commissioner Bowlin's demands were all acceded to. Ample apologies were made for firing on the " Water ONE OF THE " MIANTONOMAH'S " FOUR TEN-INCH BREECH-LOADING RIFLES. Witch" and pecuniary compensation was given to the family of the sailor who had been killed. In addition to this, a new commercial treaty was made between the two countries, and cordial relations were fully restored between the two governments. When the squadron returned the Secretary of the Navy expressed the satisfaction of the government and the country in the follow- ing terms : — "To the zeal, energy, discretion, and courteous and gallant bearing of Flag-officer Shubrick and the officers under his command, in conducting an expedition far into the interior of a remote country, encountering not only great physical difficulties, but the fears, apprehensions and prejudices of numerous States; and to the good conduct of the brave men under his command, is the country largely indebted, not only for the success of the enterprise, but for the friendly feeling towards the United States which now prevails in all that part of South America." igS THE STORY OF AMERICA. To such a happy and peaceful conclusion were our difficulties with Paraguay finally brought. A period of thirty years elapsed before any serious difficulty occurred with any foreign powers. It was in 1891 that a serious difficulty threatened to disrupt our relations with Chili and possibly involve the United States in war with that power. Happily the matter reached a peaceful settlement. In Januarj', 1891, civil war broke out in Chili, the cause of which was a contest between the legislative branch of the government and the executive, for the control of affairs. The President of Chili, General Balmaceda, began to assert authority which the legislature, or "the Congressionalists," as the opposing party was called, resisted as unconstitutional and oppressive, and they accord- ingly proceeded to interfere with Balmaceda's Cabinet in its efforts to carry out the despotic will of the executive. Finally matters came to a point where appeal to arms was necessary. On the 9th of January the Congressional party took possession of the greater part of the Chilian fleet, the navy being in heart)^ sympathy with the Congression- alists, and the guns of the war-ships were turned against Balmaceda, Valparaiso, the capital, and other ports being blockaded by the ships. For a time Balma- ceda maintained control of the capital and the southern part of the countr)'. The key to the position was Valparaiso, which was strongly fortified, Balma- ceda's army being massed there and placed at available points. At last the Congressionalists determined to attack Balmaceda at his capital^ and on August 2 1 st landed every available fighting man at their disposal at Concon, about ten miles north of \^alparaiso. They were attacked by the Dic- tator on the 2 2d, there being twenty thousand men on each side. The Dictator had the worst of it. Then he rallied his shattered forces, and made his last stand at Placillo, close to Valparaiso, on the 28th. The battle was hot, the car- nage fearful ; neither side asked or received quarter. The magazine rifles, with which the revolutionists were armed, did wonders. The odds were against Balmaceda ; both his generals quarreled in face of the enemy ; the army marched against the foe divided and demoralized. In the last battle both Balmaceda's generals were killed. The valor and the superior tactics of General Canto, leader of the Congressional army won the day. Balmaceda fled and eventually com- mitted suicide, and the Congressionalists entered the capital in triumph. Several incidents meantime had conspired, during the progress of this war, to rouse the animosity' of the stronger party in Chili against the United States. Before the Congressionalists" triumph the steamship Itata, loaded with American arms and ammunition for Chili, sailed from San Francisco, and as this was a violation of the neutrality laws, a United States war vessel pursued her to the harbor of Iquique, where she surrendered. Then other troubles arose. Our minister at Valparaiso, Mr. Egan, was charged by the Congressionalists, now AMERICAN SEAMEN ATTACKED. 199 In power, with disregarding international law in allowing the American Legation to become an asylum for the adherents of Balmaceda. Subsequently these refugees were permitted to go aboard American vessels and sail away. Then Admiral Brown, of the United States squadron, was, in Chili's opinion, guilty of having acted as a spy upon the movements of the CongressionaHsts' fleet at Ouinteros, and of bringing intelligence of its movements to Bal- maceda at Valparaiso. This, however, the Admiral stoutly denied. AN ATTACK UPON AMERICAN SEAMEN. The strong popular feeling of dislike which was engendered by this news culminated on the i6th of October, in an attack upon American seamen by a mob in the streets of the Chilian capital. Captain Schley, com- mander of the United States cruiser, B a 1 1 i- more, had given shore- leave to a hundred and UNITED STATES 12-INCH BREECH-LOADING MORTAR, OR HOWITZER. seventeen petty officers and seamen, some of whom, when they had been on shore for several hours, were set upoii by Chilians. They took refuge in a street car, from which, however, they were soon driven and mercilessly beaten, and a subordinate officer named Riggen fell, apparently lifeless. The American sailors, according to Captain Schley's testimony, were sober and conducting themselves with propriety when the attack was made. They were not armed, even their knives having been taken from them before they left the vessel. The assault upon those in the street car seemed to be only a signal for a general uprising ; and a mob which is variously estimated at from one thousand to two thousand people attacked our sailors with such fury that in a little while these men, whom no investigation could find guilty of any breach of the peace, were fleeing for their lives before an overwhelming crowd, among which were a 200 THE STORY OF AMERICA. number of the police of Valparaiso. In this affray eighteen sailors were stabbed, several dying from their wounds. Of course, the United States Government at once communicated with the Chilian authorities on the subject, expressing an intention to investigate the occurrence fully. The first reply made to the American Government by Signor Matta, the Chilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, was to the effect that Chili would not allow anything to interfere with her own official investigation. An examination of all the facts was made on our part. It was careful and thorough, and showed that our flag had been insulted in the persons of American seamen. Yet, while the Chilian Court of Inquiry could present no extenuating facts, that country refused at first to offer apology or reparation for the affront. In the course of the correspondence Minister Matta sent a note of instruc- tion to Mr. Montt, Chilian representative at Washington, in which he used most offensive terms in relation to the United States, and directed that the letter be given to the press for publication. After waiting for a long time for the result of the investigation at Valpa- raiso, and finding that, although no excuse or palliation had been found for the outrage, yet the Chilian authorities seemed reluctant to offer apology, the Presi- dent of the United States, in a message to Congress, made an extended state- ment of the various incidents of the case and its legal aspect, and stated that on the 2 1 St of January he had caused a peremptory communication to be presented to the Chilian Government, by the American Minister at Santiago, in which severance of diplomatic relations was threatened if our demands for satisfac- tion, which included the withdrawal of Mr. Malta's insulting note, were not complied with. At the time that this message was delivered no reply had been sent to this note. Mr. Harrison's statement of the legal aspect of the case, upon which the final settlement of the difficulty was based was, that the presence of a war-ship of any nation in a port belonging to a friendly power is by virtue of a general invitation which nations are held to extend to each other ; that Commander Schley was invited, with his officers and crew, to enjoy the hospitality of Valpa- raiso ; that while no claim that an attack which an individual sailor may be subjected to raises an international question, yet where the resident population assault sailors of another country's war vessels, as at Valparaiso, animated by an animosity against the government to which they belong, that government must show the same enquiry and jealousy as though the representatives or flag of the nation had been attacked ; because the sailors are there by the order of their government. Fmally an ultimatum was sent from the State Department at Washington, on the 25th, to Minister Egan, and was by him transmitted to the proper Chilian authorities, It demanded the retraction of Mr. Matta' s note and suit- MATTA'S IMPUDENT LETTER. 20I able apology and reparation for the insult and injury sustained by the United States. On the 28th of January, 1892, a dispatch from Chili was received, in which the demands of our Government were fully acceded to, the offensive letter was withdrawn and regret was expressed for the trouble. In his relation to this particular case Minister Egan's conduct received the entire approval of his Government. While the United States looked for a peaceful solution of this annoying international episode, the proper preparations were made for a less desirable HARPER S FERRY. outcome. Our naval force was put in as efficient a condition as possible, and the vessels which were then in the navy yard were gotten ready for service with all expedition. If the Chilian war-scare did nothing else, it aroused a whole- some interest in naval matters throughout the whole of the United States, and by focusing attention upon the needs of this branch of the public service, showed at once how helpless we might become in the event of a war with any first-class power. We can thank Chili that to-day the United States Navy, while far from being what it should be, is in a better condition than at any time in our history. 202 THE STORY OF AMERICA. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. On the 25th day of April, 1898, war was declared by the United States Government against the Kingdom of Spain. The causes which led to the dec- laration of hostilities were, first, the inhuman treatment of the Cubans by the Spanish Government ; and, second, the destruction of the United States Battle- ship " Maine " in the harbor of Havana. In 1895 a revolution began in Cuba, led by the brave Generals Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo. Within three years Spain had sent an army of nearly quarter of a million soldiers to the island but had failed to quell the re- bellion. The country was laid waste by fire and sword, and the Spanish, under the guise of protection, gathered the non-combatant Cubans into towns. The news soon flashed over the wires that these reconcentrados, as those in the garrisoned towns were called, were dying by thousands from starvation. United States Consul-General Fitz-Hugh Lee reported also that American citizens of the island had suffered greatly. Accordingly on January 25th the Battle-ship " Maine " was dispatched to Havana, with the consent of the Spanish Government, on a friendly visit, it being arranged that the Spanish Battle-ship " Vizcaya " should visit New York in return. On the evening of February 15th, 1898, between nine and ten o'clock, the "Maine," while lying at anchor in Havana harbor, was blown to pieces and 266 of her crew were killed. The belief prevailed throughout the country that Spanish officials knew of or participated in the plans for destroying our battle-ship, and the official inquiry seemed to justify this belief. In the meantime Senators Proctor, Thurston and others visited Cuba, and, returning, delivered speeches in the United States Senate which revealed a most shocking condition of affairs. They deemed it impossible for Spain to subdue the island except by practically exterminating its population, by starving the women and children which seemed to be their policy. These reports were confirmed by Consul-General Lee, and he also shared the belief that the "Maine" had been destroyed through Spanish treachery. The whole nation was intensely aroused. On March 8th, ^50,000,000 had been voted to strengthen our coast defenses. Heated debates in Congress followed. On April 19th a joint resolution was passed by both Houses and signed by the President, declaring " that the people of the island of Cuba are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent," The Government of Spain was ordered to release its authority and withdraw its land and naval forces from the island. The Spanish Minister, Polo, requested and was given his passport and departed for Canada, and United States Minister Woodford, at Madrid, was promptly dismissed by that Government before he could present the President's ultimatum to Spain. Friday night, April 2 2d, the United States fleet blockaded Havana and a call vas promptly made by the United States for 125,000 volunteers. CHAPTER XI. HOW WEi QOVERN OURSELVES*. BY MISS ANNA L. DAWES, Author of Life of Sumner, etc. The Government of the United States is unique in three respects : It is the larsfest and most successful de- mocracy that has ever existed, it is a federal system, and it has a written Constitution. Perhaps it may be called unique in its methods also, for no other government is made up of three separate and yet equal branches, each in some sense the Government, but all necessary to any complete action of the nation ; and still again those de- partments, the Legislative, the Execu- tive, and the Judiciary, have each their own peculiar and distinctive features. Legislation is representative and not democratic. The Executive has not only the duty of executing the laws, but a power of veto over them, and the Supreme Court stands alone in all the world in its place and importance. The Government of the United States, in the expressive phrase of Abraham Lincoln, is "A government by the people, of the people, and for the people." It is often claimed that England is more democratic in fact, Germany more at- tendve to the needs of the people ; but Briton and German alike hold that power comes from the throne and its reserved rights remain with the throne. But every American believes that power comes from the people, the Executive is in some sense an agent, and the reserved rights remain with the people. The difference is not only fundamental, but there result from it doctrines and relations which run through all our system and our methods as well. No amount of super- ficial flexibility, as in England, or of temporary advantage, as in Germany, can at all compensate for this great and far-reaching distincdon, this confidence in and dependence upon the people. Again, we have two kinds of law — that made by Congress as the needs of the time require, law which may be altered according to 203 THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON. 2o^ THE STORY OF AMERICA. occasion, and the great permanent Constitution, which only the people and the States acting together can alter, and that after long and careful process, and to which all other law must conform. This Constitution is truly enough the bulw ark of our liberties ; no sudden whims or changing passions can deprive us of tl.e fundamental rights guaranteed by it ; the storm of battle has proved it strong enough to stand against all assaults, and the stress of unequaled growth has shown it broad enough for all demands. It seems, indeed, as if a superhuman wis Jom was given to the forefathers. Molded by Hamilton, and Franklin, and the Adamses, and Madison, and Ellsworth, and many another great man, it drew its inspiration from French philosophers and Dutch methods, and the mingled love and hate for English practice. The government of a little Baptist church in Pennsylvania, and the Connecticut town-meeting, and the conflicting interests of different sections, and many other elements entered in to make th's great instrument what it is. Under it we have lived for one hundred years, and have stretched our boundaries from one ocean to the other, from the f/ozen seas of the Arctic Circle to the tropical waters of the Gulf. We have endured three wars, and are grown so strong that the great governments of Europe hesitate to encounter us, and sit by our side in equal honor ; we have be- come sixty million people, and our riches are matched with imperial treasuries, but our doors are ever open to the laborer and we give him all opportunity, until he shall stand at the top if it pleases him. Side by side the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, the chief among us and the least of all, hold the great gift of governing, and we count them each a man ; and the whole great and glorious structure rests on the firm and enduring rock of the Constitution. The Government is carried on, according to the terms of this Constitution and under its provisions, by three great branches : Congress, which makes the laws ; the Judiciary, which interprets these laws and decides whether they agree with the Constitution ; and the Executive, which carries them out. And since this is a government of the people. Congress, which represents the people and expresses their will, is the centre around which the whole government turns. Congress is composed of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is elected every two years, and each member of it represents somewhat more than 150,000 people. Each State sends as many Congressmen as are necessary to represent its whole population, being divided into districts containing each a population of 150,000, from among which the members of Congress are chosen. The requirement that the representative shall live within the State is an important distinction between our system and that of England. An English district or borough may elect a member of Parliament from any part of the nation, and thus it is believed the House of Commons will be composed of the best men in the country ; but it is our purpose to have every part of the country represented, and, therefore, I/O IV CONGRESS IS COMPOSED. 205 by an unwritten law, never disregarded, we require that each Congressman shal'. reside in the district which chooses him. Thus, so far as possible, every man in the country is represented. It must always be remembered, however, that the government of the United States is not a pure democracy, but a republic. It is first and foremost a representative government. In every possible way endeavor is made that each man shall be represented, but he must act through a representative. The short term of service insures that these representatives shall reflect the changing will of the people, and furnishes a remedy for aU unjust or foolish action. He shows an entire ignorance of our system who complains of the tyranny of government in the United States. The House, of Representatives is its chief governing power, and, remade as it is by the people themselves once in two years, it is constantly controlled by the will of the people. This verv fact, the fact that the House of Representatives can be altered so readily, and always will reflect every passing change of public sentiment, made it necessary and highly desirable to add some more permanent element to Congress. For this, among other reasons, a Senate was created. Senators are elected once in six years, and represent the people of a whole State. Thus, because he is more permanent, and because he is chosen by a larger constituency, a senator represents the more stable elements of political thought, not so much the passing feeling of the moment, but the deep underlying opinions and wishes of a large number of people. Moreover, as the Senate is so arranged that only one senator from a State is elected at a time, and only one-third of the senators go out of office on any given year, it becomes in some sense a stable body, and acts as a check upon the excitements and lack of wisdom natural to such a body as the House. Still another reason, and that of great importance, marks the value of the Senate to the people. It is, in fact, more necessary to the preservation of our system than the House itself. The senators represent the States directly, and each State has two senators, no more and no less. This places each State on an equal footing with every other,, a result obviously an important element in our political system, and of the greatest practical importance to our liberties. By reason of this provision in our Constitution, Delaware or Rhode Island are of equal power in the Senate with Texas or New York, furnishing a check upon the unregulated control of any one section. If the Senate, like the House, JAMES G. BLAINE, EX-SECRETARY OF STATt 206 THE STORY OF AMERICA. represented the population and not the States, shortly enough Congress would be controlled by the great cities, or, perhaps, by the great States. The tyranny of New York or Chicago would be replaced by the tyranny of California or Texas. The immense mass of their people would always control the country, and we should be at the mercy of a practical monarchy. The equal power of the small States in the Senate goes far to prevent this result and to preserve the rule of the whole people, an actual as well as a nominal democracy. The Senate is altogether necessary to the country, and he is a false friend who would persuade the country to undermine it or destroy its relations to the States by making it a popular body. So thoroughly was this understood by the men who made the Constitution that a unique provision was inserted forbid- ding any amendment which should deprive the States of their equal representa- tion in the Senate without their own consent, practically a- prohibition of such an amendment. Congress has power to raise funds for our necessities by taxes, to borrow money, if necessary, to establish postal facilities, to coin or print our money, to regulate our foreign affairs, to make war, to control many other matters, and to make all the laws relative to these concerns. It requires both houses of Congress to pass the laws that govern us. A bill originates in the House or the Senate, according to its nature, is debated and passed by that body, sent to the other, debated and passed by that, and then sent to the President, who signs it, and thereby it becomes a law. If any of these conditions fail it falls to the ground. Either branch can refuse to pass a measure, and the President may refuse to sign, or veto it. But in this latter case, since the will of the people is the supreme power, the vetoed bill may be passed again, over the head of the President, as the phrase goes, if two-thirds of each house of Congress can be thereafter induced to vote for it. All bills for fur- nishing money must originate in the House of Representatives, that the people, by controlling the purse strings, may still more thoroughly control the Government. The Senate, on the other hand, has the power to consider and pass upon our treaties, and has also the duty of confirming or refusing all appointments of any importance. The officers of the House of Representatives are a Speaker, elected from among its members, who presides over its deliberations, a Clerk, a Sergeant-at- Arms, a Doorkeeper, and several smaller officers necessary to carry on it& business. The Senate is presided over by the Vice-President of the United States, and in his absence by one of the senators, chosen by themselves for that duty, and known as the President pro tempore. This body has also a Clerk and Sergeant at-Arms and minor officials. The business of Congress is largely done by its committees, which consider all important subjects before they are brought to the attention of either house. These committees are appointed by DUTIES OF THE CONGRESS. 207 the Speaker in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate are selected by a committee of the senators. Each Congress la;ts for two years, although not in session all of the time. Congress meets in the '^apitol at Washington on the first Monday in December of every year. The first year the session lasts until both houses can agree to adjourn, thus giving time for free and ample discus- sion of every subject. These "long sessions" usually continue until July or August, and sometimes until October. On the alternate years Congress is directed by the Constitution to adjourn on the fourth day of March, thus pre- SENATE CHAMBER. venting the attempt to make any one Congress permanent. All Congressmen are paid a salary, in order that poor men may have an equal chance with the rich. This salary is $5000 for both senators and representatives, except in the case of the Speaker and President of the Senate, who each of them receive $8000. No religious tests are allowed, and any man may belong to either house who is a citizen of the United States, who resides in the State which elects him, and who is of suitable age, twenty-five years in the House and thirty years in the Senate. When the laws are made they must be carried out ; and this is the busi* 2o8 THE STORY OF AMERICA. ness of the Executive department of the Government, a co-equal branch with the Legislative department. The President is the chief executive officer of the nation, and as such is prope ly the chief personage and principal officer in the land. It is no x-;istake to Fcvle him the " chief ruler" of the United States, for, although the people are our only rulers, they do this ruling through and by means of the President aid Congress, and thus depute him to rule over them for the time being. The President is only in a limited sense the agent of the people, but he is their chosen, although temporary, ruler, who is to carry out their laws. The President and Vice-President are chosen once in four years and elected HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. by the people, who vote by States and not directly as a nation. The citizens of each State vote for a body of men called electors, equal in number to their Congressmen, who in turn choose the President a few weeks later. As a matter of fact, their choice is always known beforehand, as they are elected on the dis- tinct understanding of their preference. Although the method is somewhat clumsy, the principle is most necessary. In all our affairs, so far as possible, we must continue to act by States. It is only thus that our federal system can be preserved, and in that lies our safety and success. The qualifications for President are that he shall be a native-born Ameri- can, who has resided in the country for fourteen years, and who is thirty-five DUTIES OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 209 years old. He is inaugurated with much pomp and ceremony on the fourth of March, every four years, and resides at the Executive Mansion, or White House, in Washington, during his term of office. He is paid a salary of |j^50,ooo, that he may keep up a suitable state and dignity as our chief ruler. If he is guilty of treason, or other "high crimes and misdemeanors," of such importance that his continuance in office is dangerous to our liberties, he may be impeached by the House of Representatives, tried by the Senate, and, if found guilty, deposed, in which case his office would fall to the Vice-President. An effort was made to impeach President Johnson in 1866, but there being no adequate ground for such action, he was acquitted. THE WHITE HOUSE — MAIN ENTRANCE. The duties of the Executive department are mostly connected with the administration of the laws. The President is Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, and he also represents the nation in matters connected with foreign governments. To that end he sends out foreign ministers to other govern- ments, and consuls, to conduct our business affairs in foreign ports. A large body of foreign ministers sent from other countries for a similar purpose reside at Washington, and throughout our cities are scattered foreign consuls for the transaction of commercial business. The President is assisted in his duties by a body of advisers, known as the 2IO THE STORY OF AMERICA. Cabinet. This consists ^of eight officers of great importance, of his own selec- tion and appointment, each of whom has control of affairs of the Government in his particular department. The Secretary of State conducts oui foreign rela- tions ; the Secretary of the Treasury our financial affairs ; the Secretary of War is over our armies ; the Attorney General is the law officer of the Government ; the Postmaster General superintends the postal service ; the Secretary of thQ Navy commands our navy ; the Secretary of the Interior is concerned with patents, the Indians, the public lands, and many other important matters ; and the Secretary of Agriculture promotes the farming interests of the country. Each of these Secretaries has his office in Washington, where he attends to the enormous business of his department. Under him are an immense number of officers and clerks, all appointed either by the President or the head of the department, to carry on the business of Government. Each department is divided into bureaus, and much of the work is of the highest value and importance. In case of the death or inability of the President, the duties of his office devolve upon the Vice-President, and after him would fall to the Cabinet succes« sively, in the order already named. But should any member of the Cabinet be obliged to take this office, he would fill it only until a new election could be held. We have had a long and remarkable list of Presidents, beginning with George Washington himself There have been in all twenty-three different Presi- dents, by a curious coincidence covering twenty-four terms, and distributed among various political parties. Many of them were men of extraordinary ability. They have been strangely representative, some, like Washington and the Adamses being men of the aristocratic class, while others, like Jackson, and Lin- coln, and Garfield, were proud of their origin from among the poorest of the people. Twice the descendant of a President has filled that high place — John Quincy Adams being the son of John Adams, and Benjamin Harrison the grand- son of Wm. Henry Harrison. Two Presidents have brought beautiful and charm- ing brides to the White House during their term of office — President Tyler, who married Miss Julia Gardner, and President Cleveland, who married Miss Frances Folsom. Many times the people have delighted to honor the heroes of our wars. As one epoch after another passed in our history the laurels of war were placed upon the heads of Washington, of Andrew Jackson, of Wm. Henry Harrison, of Taylor, of Grant, and Hayes, and Garfield, and the second Harrison. Many different States have claimed the honor of the Presidency, but we have never yet had an Executive from the great Western States. Several Presidents have been re-elected, but by an unwritten law no man ever serves but two terms. Four have died in office, two of them, Lincoln and Garfield, having been assassinated. There have been many great men and many wise men in this office, but among them all there are three who stand out beyond their fellowSi POWERS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 211 creators of history — George Washington, who founded the Republic ; Abraham Lincoln, the greatest of all our great men in any time, and Ulysses S. Grant, the chief among our generals. An elaborate system of courts make up our national judiciary, and secure to the citizens protection and justice. In some respects the most extraordinary feature of our Government is the Supreme Court, which is unique in its power and importance. It is the business of this tribunal to construe the laws, to decide whether they agree with the Constitution, to settle any question as to SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. whether the Constitution has been violated in deed, to decide upon suits between the States and the nation, and to determine legal questions between this and other countries. It is co-ordinate with Congress and the Executive, and yet the highest power in the land, for both bow to its decisions. Law and justice are preserved in its keeping, lest either of the other two great branches of the Government usurp the power, or transcend the Constitution. Any law the constitutionality of which is questioned, may be brought before this court, and its decision is final, confirming it against all opposition, or making it null 212 THE STORY OF AMERICA. and void, and thus of no effect whatever. This court consists of nine judges, or justices as they are called, appointed for life or good behavior, by the President, and confirmed by the Senate. They are paid $10,000 a year, with a pension after they become too old for longer service. The head of the court, or the Chief justice, administers the oath to the President on his inauguration, and many times stands next him in rank and position. Certainly no nobler illus- tration of the might and majesty of law can be given than this court, adjusting the affairs of the nation itself to which President and people alike bow, in token that righteousness and justice are greater than power. No account of our Government would be in any sense complete, nor indeed would it be intelligible, that did not take into account our Federal system, The whole country is divided into States, and each State is a separate and dis- tinct government, having control of its local alTairs, and responsible to its own people. In all those larger affairs which concern the whole country, it joins with its fellows in the general Government, but the power of this general Government comes from the States. The States are not given more or less power by the United States, but the States give more or less power to the United States and reserve the other rights to themselves. The United States, however, has supreme control over all matters relating to the nation, and will not allow any State to infringe upon the rights or jeopardize the safety of any other. For that reason it will not permit any State or States to secede, because the cooperation of them all is necessary to the safety of the Union. We are States united into a nation, but we are a nation, one and indissoluble. The history of the country makes plain these relations. Thirteen colonies, settled by different peoples of different origins and for widely different reasons, joined each other for the sake of common safety and national prosperity. Practical necessity and political wisdom alike dictated that local affairs should continue under the control of each colony or State, while matters of general interest were decided by the whole acting together. To this end each colony gave up to the nation its general rights but reserved the power over its internal affairs. It is this federal system which makes it possible for a democratic government to rule such an immense country, and it is only this. Therefore, while we are careful to retain the supreme control to the general Government; we must more and more relegate sectional concerns, however large and import- ant, to the States ; and we mast guard against the centralizing of our affairs in the hands of the national Government, however much to our temporary advan- tage it may be. In the nature of the case we cannot govern territory of such enormous extent, with so various a population and such varying interest, by democratic methods unless we keep strictly to the federal idea. It is our only safety. Each State has a Governor, Legislature, and Supreme Court of its own ; RELATION OF STATES TO THE NATION. 2 the Governor, Legislature, and, in some States, the Supreme Court, being elected by its own people. Different States require different qualifications in their voters ; in some a man must be able to read and write ; in some be pos- sessed of certain property ; in one there is no distinction between men and women ; and various other requirements are found in the different States. Whatever makes a man a voter in his own State allows him to vote in that State in national elections also. The term of office of State officers varies greatly, some States holding their Legislatures annually, and some biennially ; some Governors being elected for one year and some for longer terms. In all these, its own affairs, the State is supreme. Each has its own courts, under its Supreme Court, for the further- ance of justice. Local affairs also are very variously administered, by townships, counties, parishes, and other subdivisions, many of them very ancient, and in like manner cities are governed in different ways. All this diversity in unity serves to make one homogeneous nation of this heterogeneous multitude of sixty million people. The original thirteen States, little as they dreamed of the great territory over which the flag of the United States floats so proudly to-day, had no narrow idea of a nation, and provided for its expansion even better than they knew. The common land belonging to the nation, and as yet largely unsettled, is held by the 'common Government, in Territories. These are governed by officers appointed by the President, and are subject to United States laws only. Their own Legislatures arrange their local affairs, and each sends a delegate to Con- gress to look after its interests, but the law does not allow him to vote. As soon as any Territory contains a population large enough, Congress admits it to the Union as a State, with all the rights and privileges of its older sisters, the President proclaims that fact to the world, and a new commonwealth is added to the sisterhood, marked by the new star in the flag we honor. Thus one after another we have already seen thirty-two new States added to that little band of thirteen, some of them great and rich realms many times as large as the whole nation at its beginning. '/. CHAPTER XII. OUR PRESIDENTS. HEN the office of President was to be filled for the first time, grave problems were to be solved. The hardship and suffering of the struggle for independence were yet present in the minds of all men ; the weakness and failure of the Government instituted by the Articles of Confederation had compelled an attempt "to form a more perfect Union;" the eyes of the civilized world were upon the struggling people, and to men who had not an abiding faith in the prin- ciples for which the battles of the Revolution had been fought, it seemed that the experiment of popular Government was to end in early, complete, and appropriate catastrophe. • In such circumstances it was well that the public needs were so great and so immediate as to make men willing to forget their differences and consider measures for the common good ; and particularly was it well for the future of our country, that there was one man upon whom all could agree as uniting the wisdom, the moderation, the experience, the dignity necessary to the first President of the United States. George Washington was the only man ever unanimously elected President. Of his personal history and of his character, enough has been said in another place. He undertook the duties of the Chief Magistracy with a deep sense of their importance, and their difficulty, but with the courage and devotion which characterized all his conduct. He selected for his Cabinet men of widely different political views, but men whose names were not new to Americans, men whose past services justified the belief that they would find means of leading the country out of its present difficulties, and of setting the affairs of the Government on a sure foundation. Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox and Randolph, might well be trusted to concert wise measures. Washington's second election was, like the first, without opposition, and for four years more he continued to guide the affairs of State. A national bank had been established early in his first term, and also the Philadelphia Mint, and the currency of the country was now oa a fairly satisfactory basis ; a census had 214 JOHN ADAMS. 215 been taken in 1790 and showed that the country had already begun to grow in population, and the outlook was much more favorable than four years earlier. Upon the announcement of Washington's retirement, the two parties, which had been gradually developing an organization, prepared to contest the election of the second President. The Federalists, who advocated ^ strong central Government, favored John Adams, and the Republicans, who " claimed to be the friends of liberty and the rights of man, the advocates of economy, and of the rights of the States," desired the election of Thomas Jefferson. The Federalists were in a sHght majority, and Mr. Adams was elected. He was a native of Massachusetts, and had borne a leading part in the struggle for independence and the development of the Government. He was one of the leaders in Massachusetts in resisting the oppressive measures which brought on the Revolution ; he seconded the resolution for the Declaration of Indepen dence, and assisted in framing that remarkable document ; with Franklin and Jay, he negotiated the treaty which established our independence ; he had represented his country as Minister to France, and to Holland, and was the first United States Minister to England ; he had been Vice President durine Washington's two administrations, and was now to assume ofifice as the second President. His Presidency opened with every prospect of war with the French. That nation had taken offense because we preserved an attitude of neutrality in their contest with Great Britian. They actually began war by capturing our merchant ships, and the French Directory refused to receive the new United States Minister, while three commissioners, who were sent to make one more effort for peace, were insulted. Under the influence of the war spirit thus excited, the Federalists in Congress passed two acts, known as the Alien and Sedition Laws, which resulted in the downfall of their party. The former gave the President authority to order out of the country any alien whom he considered dangerous to its welfare, and the latter was intended to suppress conspiracies and malicious abuse of the government. They excited great opposition and were almost immediately repealed. The war had already been terminated on the accession of Napoleon Bonaparte to power in France. Mr. Adams failed of re-election, largely because of the division of sentiment in regard to the French war. His great patriotism, high moral courage, and his ability as a statesman, were somewhat marred by a strange lack of tact, and a stupendous vanity, which sometimes made him ridiculous, but his countrymen could well afford to forget such minor faults, and remember only his manifold ser\^ices in their common cause. He was succeeded by a man no less great. Thomas Jefferson was the son of a Virginia planter, received his education at William and Mary College, studied law and engaged in its practice. He resolved, on entering public life, never to engage, while in public office, in any kind of 2l6 THE STORY OF AMERICA. enterprise for the improvement of his fortune, nor to wear any other character than that of a farmer. When he came to the Presidency his country already owed him much. As a member of the Continental Congress he wrote the draft of the Declaration of Independence ; returning to Virginia, he inaugurated a reformed system of laws in that State, and becoming its Governor rendered in- valuable aid to the armies during the closing years of the Revolution ; he shared with Gouverneur Morris the credit of devising our decimal system of money; he succeeded Franklin as Minister to France, and on his return from that post, was informed that Washington had chosen him for the first Secretary of State. He wished to decline further public service, but " It is not for an individual," said he to the President, "to choose his post; you are to marshal us as may be best for the public good." A difference of three electoral votes made Adams President and Jef- ferson Vice President, but in 1800, a political revolution re- versed the majority and made him the third President. Although a leader of a party, he exerted himself to allay partisan rancor, and he resolutely refused to make official positions for his political friends, by removing from office men whose only offense was a difference of political opinion. Jefferson was re-elected by a largely increased majority. During his administration, the territory of Louisiana was pur- chased from France ; the famous expedition of Lewis and Clarke set out to explore this new domain ; the importation of slaves was forbidden ; the pirates of Tripoli and Algiers were suppressed ; the first steamboat began to navigate the Hudson, and the growing troubles with Great Britain and France caused the enactment of laws called the Embargo and Non-intercourse Acts, intended, by cutting off our commerce with those countries, to compel them to respect our neutrality. These two measures resulted in little but failure, as they caused great distress at home, and were repealed before they could have much effect abroad. JOHN ADAMS. 1735-1826. One Term, 1 797-1801. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 217 iiliiilllillililllilliiiliPiilfiffiiilll^ When James Madison came to be the fourth President, he found the difficulties with England and France still unsettled. These countries being ancient enemies, and being almost continually at war, it was almost impossible to be on friendly terms with one without making an enemy of the other ; neither would respect our rights as a neutral nation ; each was in the habit of seizing and selling our ships and cargoes bound for the ports of the other, and England, in addition, assumed the right to search our vessels, examine their crews, and compel to enter her service any sailor who had been an English subject. These troubles were not new. Jay's treaty, in 1795, had vainly attempted to adjust a part of them, and as our country grew in strength it gradually became impossible for the people longer to submit. The War of 181 2, the "Sec- ond War for Independence," has been treated in another chapter. It occupied most of Madison's administration, and though not vigorously conducted, it demon- strated the military and naval resources of the country and caused the American flag to be respected all over the world ; and by cutting off the supply of foreign goods it compelled the starting of cotton and woollen mills in this country, and this resulted in the building up of home manufactures. The presidency of Mr. Madi- son is not the portion of his career apon which his fame rests ; his best services to his country were in his work as a constructive statesman. In the shaping of the Constitution and in securing its adoption he shared with Hamilton the chief honors. He was, doubtless, happy when, at the close of his second administration, he could retire to his Virginia estate and spend the remaining twenty years of his life in scholarly ease. Madison was succeeded by another Virginian, a gallant soldier of the Revo- lution, who had laid down his books at William and Mary College to complete his education in the Continental army. James Monroe was eighteen years old when he took part in the battle of Trenton, and his record justified the confi- JAMES MADISON. ■751-1836 Two Tervts, 1809-1817, m 218 JAMES MONROE. dence with which his countrymen universally regarded him. In his inaugural address he took as a symbol of the enduring character of the Union, the foundation of the Capitol, near which he stood to deliver the address, and which had survived the ruins of the beautiful building recently burnt by the British. So popular was President Monroe, and so wisely did he administer the affairs of State that on his re-election there was no opposing <'andidate, and he lacked but one of a unanimous vote in the electoral <;ollege. This vote was cast for John Quincy Adams, simply in order " that no later mortal should stand in Washington's shoes " in being unanimously elected. Monroe's two terms comprise an eventful period in our history ; the Government pensioned its Revolutionary sol- diers and their widows, spending in all sixty-five million dollars in this noble work ; Florida was purchased from Spain ; the Na- tional Road was begun at Cum- berland, Md., finally to extend as far as Illinois, and to be of inestimable service in the open- ing and development of the West ; but the subject which took the deepest hold upon the minds of the people was that of the extension of slavfery. Follow- ing the "Era of Good Feeling" ushered in by Monroe's adminis- tration, came a serious division in public feeling as to whethe slavery should be permitted in the northern part of the territory west of the Mississippi. The question arose so suddenly and was so fiercely debated that Jefferson declared that it terrified him, "like a fire-bell m the night," and he feared serious trouble between the States, the actual outbreak of which was postponed, by a series of compromises, for a period of forty years. Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise quieted the quarrel for some twenty-five years. President Monroe is perhaps most widely renowned as the author of the "Monroe Doctrine "—that no European nation has a right to interfere with the affairs of any American State— a doctrine to which our Government has steadily JA*!ES MONROE. 1758-1831. Tmo Terms, 1817-1825. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 219 adhered. It is interesting to note that the man who had served his country so well in the high position of its Chief Magistrate was willing, after the close of his second term, to accept so humble a post as that of Justice of the Peace, and so continue a public servant ; but it is sad to relate that Mr. Monroe's great generosity and public spirit left him, in his old age, embarrassed by debt, and necessitated the giving up of his residence at Oak Hill, in Virginia, to end his days in the home of a son-in-law, in New York. The "Era of Good Feeling" had left no organized national parties in politics, and there were four candidates voted for to succeed Monroe. This resulted in there being no ma- jority in the electoral college, and the final choice was therefore made by the House of Repre- sentatives, John Ouincy Adams thus becoming the sixth Presi- dent. He was, perhaps, as well equipped for the position, at least in breadth of information, knowl- edge of state-craft, and ence in political affairs, man who has ever filled the age of fifteen he was secre- tary to the Minister to Russia ; after graduating at Harvard, and practicing law for a few years, he became United States Minister at the Hague, and afterwards at Berlin, St. Petersburg and Lon- don ; he had represented Massa- chusettes in the National Senate, and during the Presidency of Mr. Monroe he had been Secretary of State. His administration was not marked by any measure of national importance, but is notable as the era in which a number of projects for the promotion of commercial intercourse met with the success they deserved. We have already mentioned the National Road. It was no more impor- tant than the Erie Canal, "Clinton's Big Ditch," as it was derisively called, which was opened in 1825; and the experiments with "steam wagons" resulted, in 1828, in the opening of a line of railroad which now forms part of the Baltimore & Ohio system. The first spadeful of earth was turned by the venerable Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the only survivor of the signers of the experi- as any it. At JOHN QUIvrV ADAMS. 1767-1848. One Term, 1825-1829. 220 ANDREW JACKSON. Declaration of Independence, who remarked in so doing, that he considered this among the most important acts of his Hfe, " second only to that of signing the Declaration of Independence, if second to that." It is also to be noted that this era marks the beginning of that social move- ment, which in less than seventy years has resulted in so marked a change in the views of Americans regarding the use of intoxicants. Andrew Jackson, the seventh President, was the first who was not a citizen either of Massachusetts or Virginia. He was also the first who was not already known to his countrymen as a distinguished statesman. He was exceedingly popular, however, owing to his military services and to his ener- getic, honest and fearless, though headstrong, character. He had led a strange and eventful life. In his boyhood he had known ali the hardships and privations of absolute poverty ; at the age of fourteen he was a prisoner of war, and nearly starved by his British captors. He studied law and emigrated from North Caro- lina to Tennessee. After that territory became a State he rep- resented it in Congress, and for a short time in the Senate. He was continually involved in quar- rels, fought several duels and made many bitter enemies as well as many warm friends. His success in leading the Tennessee militia against the Indians gained for him the reputation which caused his appointment to command in the Southwest near the close of the war of 1812, and his brilliant defence of New Orleans gave "Old Hickory" a place in the hearts of his countrymen which resulted in their electing him to succeed John Quincy Adams as President, and his ability and integrity were so manifest that he was re-elected in 1832 by the electoral votes of all the States except seven. No period of our history is more interesting than the eight years of Jackson's administration. He was the first President to dismiss large numbers of officials in order to replace them by his own partisans. The anti-slavery ANDREW JACKSON. 1767-1845- Twf Terms, 18^9-1837. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 221 movement took definite shape during this time, and William Lloyd Garrison began the publication of the famous Liberator, and American literature had its be(rinnings. At this time came the first serious danger of a rupture between the States. It grew out of the tariff legislation, which South Carolina, under the lead of John C. Calhoun, undertook to nullify. The payment of the duties was refused, but the President sent General Scott to Charleston to enforce the law, and under the advice of Henry Clay a new and more satisfactory tariff was adopted. This difficulty and Jackson's determined opposition to the United States Bank, his fight against it, resulting in its destruction, are the events of this administration which pro- duced the most marked and last- ing effect upon our national his- tory. After the close of his second term he lived in retire- ment at his home, the famous "Hermitage," near Nashville, until his death, eight years later. Martin Van Buren had hardly entered upon the duties of the presidency when the great panic of 1837 occurred. It re- sulted from a variety of causes, among which may be mentioned the ereat number of worthless banks which sprang up after the discontinuance of the United States Bank ; the prevalence of wild speculation, particularly in land, and the action of the Government in demanding that . One good effect of this great Treasury of the United States, MARTIN VAN BUREN. 1782-1862. One Term, 1837-1841. the banks should repay its deposits in coin, public calamity was the establishment of a independent of any bank or system of banks. It was during this administration that the Mormons formed their settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1840 a regular line of steamships was established between Liverpool and Boston. Mr. Van Buren was a native of New York, had served his State in various offces of trust, including that of Governor, had been its Representative in the United States Senate, had been Minister to England, Secretary of State during 222 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON— JOHN TYLER. most of Jackson's first administration, and Vice-President during his second. He continued, for several years after the close of his terms as President, to take an active part in politics, and in 1848 he was the candidate of the anti- slavery Democrats, or "Free Democracy," for President, after which he took no part in public affairs, though he lived at his native place, in Columbia County, New York, until nearly the middle of the war of the Rebellion. For forty years the Democrats had retained control of the national government, but the administration of Van Buren had not been popular, and the change in public sentiment was so great that in the election of 1 840 he was defeated by General William Henry Harrison, who had been the unsuccessful candi- date four years before. The political campaign was the most exciting that had yet occurred ; the enthusiasm for the Whig candidate was very great, and the " Log-cabin and Hard Cider" campaign will be long remem- bered. The character of the suc- cessful candidate justified high expectations of his administra- tion. Left at an early age to depend upon himself, he liad entered the army and won dis- tinction under General Wayne, in the Indian wars ; he had been long identified with the develop- ment of what is now Indiana and Ohio; had represented Ohio in the United States Senate, and filled several other offices of more or less note, and was living, when elected, on his farm, not far from Cincinnati. He made^ judicious selection of Cabinet officers, but within a month after his ina guration, and before any definite line of policy had been established, he died, after a very brief illness, probably caused by the fatigue and excitement of his inauguration. John Tyler was the first Vice President of the United States to become President. He had been made the Whig candidate largely from motives of policy, as he had been an active Democrat, and as a member of that party had been elected Governor of Virginia, and had represented that State in the WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 1773-1841. One Month, 1841. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 223 United States Senate, He had, however, been opposed to both Jackson and Van Buren, and had for some time been acting with the Whigs. He soon quarreled, however, with the Whig Congress, the subject of contention being the proposed revival of the United States Bank. This quarrel continued throughout the Presidential term, to the great hindrance of public business. Two events which marked a new era, the one in our methods of communication, the other in the relief of human suffering, took place during this time ; they were the invention of the electric telegraph, and the use of ether in surgery. The events of greatest political importance were the settlement, by the Ashburton treaty, of a troublesome dispute with Great Britain, concerning the northeastern boundary of the United States, and just at the close of Tyler's administration, the annexation of Texas. The latter was a step which had for some time been under discus- sion, it being advocated by the South as a pro-slavery measure, and opposed by the anti-slavery party. Texas had made itself independent of Mexico, and asked to be annexed to the United States, a request which was thus finally granted. Mr. Tyler returned to private life at the close of his Presidential term, and took little part in public affairs until the breaking out of the Civil War. At the time of his death he was a member of the Confederate Congress. The Democrats were again successful in 1844, and on March 4th, 1845, James K. Polk became the eleventh President. He was a native of North Carolina, but in boyhood had removed with his father to Tennessee.* He was- well educated, and was unusually successful in his profession of the law. He Was for fourteen years a member of Congress and was Speaker of the House for five consecutive sessions. On his declining a re-election to Congress he was made Governor of Tennessee, and as a candidate for the Presidency in 1844 was successful in uniting the warring factions of the Democrats. He came to the Presidency at a critical time. The annexation of Texas had JOHN TYLER. 1790-1862. One Partial Tertn, 1841-1845. 224 ZACHARY TAYLOR.- involved the country in difficulties with Mexico, and the question of the northern boundary west of the Rocky Mountains threatened to interrupt the cordial relations between the United States and England. The latter question was settled by accepting the parallel of forty-nine degrees of north latitude, thus making the boundary continuous with that east of the mountains, but the trouble with Mexico culminated in war, which resulted, in less than two years, in the complete conquest of that countr)^ California and New Mexico were ceded to the United States on the payment of fifteen millions of dollars and the assumption of certain debts of Mexico. It was just at this time that gold was discovered in California, and the wonderful emigration to that territory began. Mr. Polk survived his Presidential term only some three months. The pendulum of popular !avor had again swung over to the side of the Whigs, and their candidate was elected the twelfth President. General Zachary Tay- lor had grown up amid the pri- vation and difficulties of frontier life in Kentucky. By the in- fluence of Madison, the then Secretary of State, who was a relative of the family, he received an appointment as lieutenant in the United -'States army, and served with great distinction in the Indian wars which then ha- rassed our frontiers. At the time of the annexation of Texas he was in command of the army in the Southwest, with the rank of Brigadier-General. His management of affairs during the time which preceded the Mexican War was marked by great discretion* and his brilliant conduct of the opening campaign brought him great popularity and led to his nomination for the Presidency by the Whigs, to the great chagrin of some of the leaders of the party, who saw in his success the disappointment of their own ambition, and who distrusted a candidate who had no experience in legislative or executive affairs. This distrust, however, has not been shared by the majority of the people, either in the case of General Taylor, or of other Presidential JAMES KNOX POLK. 1795-1849. One Term, 1845-1849. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 22 = candidates ot purely military renown, and such a candidate has usually been sure of success. The question of the extension of slavery was again being fiercely agitated, and seemed once more likely to disrupt the country. General Taylor lived only some sixteen months after his inauguration, dying before the heat of the debate in Congress had abated. The Vice-President who by the death of General Taylor came to be the Chief Magistrate of the country, was Millard Fillmore, of New York. He was an admirable type of the American citizen, owing this high position to his own attainments, and to his own un- aided exertions. He received no pecuniary assistance after his tourteenth year, except a small loan, which he punctually repaid. With exceedingly little previous education, he began, at the age of nineteen, the study of law, which he prosecuted under the most adverse circumstances, but so successfully as to place him in the front rank of the lawyers of the State of New York. He was for several terms a member of the lower house of Congress, where he distinguished himself as a wise, prudent, honest legis- lator. He was Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means which framed the tariff of 1842, and althougrh he claimed no originality for the principles on which it was based, he is justly entitled to be considered its author. His Presidential term is chiefly remembered by the debate in Congress on the extension of slavery in the territory gained by the Mexican War, resulting in the adoption of the compromise measures proposed by Henry Clay, including the Fugitive Slave Law. This law, which gave the owners of runaway slaves the right to call on all citizens to assist in arresting and restoring them to their owners, was exceedingly unpopular in the North, and did much to prevent Mr. Fillmore's renomination, and to increase anti-slavery sentiment in the North. 15 ZACHARY TAYLOR. 1784-1850. One Partial Term, 1849-1850. 226 FRANKLIN PIERCE. Mrs. Stowe's famous story, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was published in 1852, and had a great influence in hastening the impending conflict. At the close of his term Mr. Fillmore retired to Buffalo, where he resided until his death, in 1874. Again the Whigs were retired from control of the national government and a Democratic President elected. Franklin Pierce had been a life-long resident of New Hampshire. He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, was widely known as an able and successful lawyer, and though his name is not especially connected with any great measure, he had represented his State in both Houses of Congress. He expressed in his inaugural ad- dress the belief that all ques- tions concerning slavery should be considered settled by the compromise measures of 1850, and the hope that " no sectional or ambitious, or fanatical excite ment mi^ht agrain threaten the durability of our institutions or obscure the light of our pros- perity." Among- the notable events of his administration may be mentioned the international ex- hibition in the "Crystal Palace" in New York, in 1853, in which the pre-eminence of Americans in the invention of labor-saving machinery was manifested ; the expedition of Commodore Perry to Japan, which resulted in open- ings to American commerce the ports of that interesting country, which no foreigners had previously been allowed to enter ; and the adjustment of a dispute with Mexico concerning the western portion of the boundary between the two countries, resulting in the purchase by the United States of a considerable district, included in the present territories of Arizona and New Mexico. But the facts which chiefly characterize this administration concern the irrepressible conflict about slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise, and made the question of slavery in all the Territories optional with the people of the Territories, as had been done by the Compromise of 1850, for the MILLARD FILLMORE. 18CO-1874. One Partiat Term, 1850-1853. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 227 territory acquired from Mexico. The passage of this law led to much ill- feeling and to great efforts by both Northern abolitionists and Southern slaveholders to encourage the emigration of their sympathizers to Kansas, in order to govern the decision in regard to slavery. The strife of these opposing parties became so serious as to result in much bloodshed, and from 1S54 to 1859 that territory deserved the name of " Bleeding Kansas," and during much of that time it was in a state of civil war. , Mr. Pierce took no prominent part in public affairs after his retirement from the Presidency. The Whig party had now finally disappeared, and in the election of 1856 the Democrats were once more successful. James Buchanan was a Pennsyl- vania lawyer, a graduate of Diclcinson College, and so promi- nent in his profession that his name appears in the " Pennsyl- vania Reports" between 181 2 and 1 83 1 more frequently than that of any other lawyer. He had served ten years in Congress, had represented his country as Minister to Russia and to Eng- land, and as .Secretary of State under President Polk had been called upon to adjust questions of the gravest and most delicate character. At the opening of his Ad- ministration the public strife was greatly allayed by the general confidence in the ability and the high patriotism of the Presidert; but the announcement of the " Dred Scott Decision," which had been deferred so as not to give new cause for excitement during a Presidential campaign, stirred the nation to a degree before unknown. This decision declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, and therefore void, that Congress had no right to forbid the carrying of slaves into any State or Territory, and opened all the Free States to at least a temporary establishment of slavery. This was the beginning of the end of the contest. The attempt of John Brown, a citizen of Kansas, with about twenty men, to liberate the Slaves in Virginia, their seizure of the Government buildings at Harper's FRAXKLIN PIERCE. 1804-186S. One Term, 1853-1857. 228 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ferry, their capture, and the hanging of the leader, with six of his men, only hastened the final conflict. A great business panic occurred in 1857, and the discovery of silver in Nevada and Colorado the following year; the no less important discovery of petroleum and natural gas in Pennsylvania occurred in 1859. After the Presidential election of i860 it became evident that the South would not quietly submit to the defeat which they had received, and South Carolina, followed by six other Southern States, adopted " ordinances of seces- sion," assuminsf to dissolve their union with the other States, and declarino themselves free and independent nations. The President took no action to prevent secession, and most of the forts, arsenals, and other national property with- in these States were seized. Mr. Buchanan retired to private life at the close of his term as Presi- dent. Of all the men, since Wash- ington, who have been Presi- dents of the United States, Abra- ham Lincoln holds the largest share in the affections of the people. His lowly origin, his early poverty and privation, the never-failing kindness with which throuehout his life he met all classes of men, and the homely and genial wit which enlivened his discussion of grave matters of State as well as his casual and friendly conversation, gave him a place in the hearts of the common people not held by , any othef American, while his unequaled knowledge of men, his ability to cope with unforeseen difficulties, his lofty purpose and perfect honesty, together with his practical good sense, not only brought him the respect and esteem of all who came to know him, but place him among the greatest statesmen, not of America alone, but of all countries in all times. Born and reared in the backwoods, with nothing in his surroundings t;c stimulate ambition, chopping wood and splitting rails, learning to read from the spelling-book and the Bible, sitting up half the night to read Pilgrim's Progress JAMES BUCHANAN. 1791-1868. One Term, 1857-1861. THE STORY OF AMERICA. 229 and ^sop's Fables " by the blaze of the logs his own axe had split," he came to manhood with little education, but with perfect health and gigantic strength. At the age of twenty-five he took up the study of law, and early began to take part in the local political movements. He had represented his district in Congress, but at the time of his nomination for President had litUe reputation outside of Illinois. ^ He came to the Presidency amid a multitude of adverse circumstances. With seven States already seceded, the border States apparently ready to follow,' with the capital surrounded by a hostile population, and without the confidence of the leaders of his own party, his would indeed seem a difficult task. His first measures were intended to convince the people of the South, if they were willine to be convinced, that he had no hostile intention, but at the same time diat he proposed to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Union and to main- tain the rights and the authority of the Government. The story of the War of the Rebellion cannot be told here. It is a story the like of which forms part of the history of no other nation — the story of a war engaging at one time 1,700,000 men, the war debt of the North, representing but a part of the cost of the war, amounting to $3,000,000,000, and the expense frequently exceed- ing ^3,500,000 a day. Aside from the essentially military features of the war, the most notable event of Mr. Lincoln's Administration was the freeing of the slaves, which was done as a war measure, by the Emancipation Proclamadon, Januar)- i, 1863, thus finally, after the expiration of nearly a hundred years, making good in our country the words of the Declaration of Independence, that "all men are cre- ated equal." It can be truthfully said that President Lincoln carried the administration of the Government in this troublous time, not only as a load upon his brain, but as a burden in his heart ; a united country was the object of all his efforts, and when, only a month after his second inauguration, he was assassinated by a misguided and mistaken Southern sympathizer, the bullet of the murderer removed as true a friend as the South possessed. The war was already at an end, and had Abraham Lincoln lived to rebuild and reconstruct the Union he had saved, many of the difficulties of the era of reconstrucdon might have been avoided — difficulties whose evil effects have not yet disappeared from our national politics. No fkct in our history demonstrates more fully the perfection of our system of government and the hold which it has upon the confidence of our people than the quiet change of Chief Magistrates at the close of a Presidential term. Four times in our history this change has been caused by death, and now, when the beloved President had been assassinated, when the whole country was excited and alarmed, when grave questions wpre pending and matters of the 23" THE STORY OF AMERICA. utmost delicacy required adjustment, the Vice-President quietly assumed the office, and the routine of government proceeded as before. Andrew Johnson was a native of North Carolina. He was the son of poor parents, and, learning the tailor's trade, he earned his living for a number of vears as a journeyman. He taught himself to read, and after emigrating Lo Tennessee he learned from his wife to write and cipher. He represented his district for several terms in Congress, and was chosen United States Senator in 1857. He was nominated for Vice-President by the Republicans in 1864. mainly to invite votes from the opposite party, as until the war he had been a .consistent Democrat. Unfortu- nately, he differed with the lead- ing Republicans in Congress on the question of the manner in which the States lately in rebel- lion were to resume their places in the Government, and the difference grew into a violent quarrel, which lasted till the close of his term, and resulted, in 1868, in the impeachment of the President by Congress. He was acquitted, however, the vote in the Senate lacking- one of the I' two-thirds necessary to convict. The chief political events of the Administration were the read- mission of si.x: of the seceded States and the adoption of three ■amendments to the Constitution — the Thirteenth, abolishing slavery; the Fourteenth, making the negro a citizen, and the I'^ifteenth, giving him the right to vote. (See Chapter on Negro.) During this time, also, the Government began the payment of the war debt, the first Atlantic cable was laid, and x'Maska was added 10 our national domain. The success which had attended the Union armies after they passed under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant made him the popular idol, and obvi- ously the most available candidate for President. He was a native of Ohio, a graduate of West Point, and had served in the Mexican War, where he war promoted for meritorious conduct in battle. At the opening of the Civil War ANDREW JOHNSON. 1808-1875, One Partial Term, 1865-1869. ULVSSES SIMPSON GRANT. 231 he raised a company of volunteers in Illinois, of which State he was then a citizen, was soon made a brigadier general, and from that point the story of his life is a part of the history of the war. General Grant was the recipient of honors from foreign rulers and govern- ments such as have been bestowed upon no other American President. His fame as a general was recognized throughout the world, and although he had iio experience in civil affairs, he had the tact to call into his Cabinet men of great ability, and while he may have been sometimes misled by designing men, his Administration was so popular that he was re-elected by a greatly-increased majority, and indeed might have been chosen for a third term had not the public feeling been found so strongly opposed to violating the custom inaugurated by Wash- incyton of o-iving to no President more than two terms of office. Durinof these two terms the first Pacific railway was completed ; representatives from all the re- maining seceded States were admitted to Congress ; a treaty was concluded with England ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT (1S'J2-1S8.J.) Two terms, ISIW-ISTT, providing for the arbitration of the Alabama and other claims, Avhich seemed at one time likely to involve the two countries in war ; the great fires in Chicago and Boston destroyed many mil- lions of property ; a panic of almost unprecedented severity occurred (1873), ^^^^ '^'^s Cen- tennial Exhibition took place at Philadelphia. After the close of his term as President, General Grant made a tour of the world, being everywhere received with the greatest honor, after which he resided in New York until acttacked by the disease which ended his life on Mt. MacGregor, in 1885. It has frequently happened that when several rival leaders of the same political party have been candidates for President, the Presidential Convention has found it wisest to nominate some less prominent man, thus avoidmg the loss which might result from the choice of either of the more conspicuous aspirants for the office, and the consequent offense to the supporte-s of the 232 THE STORY OF AMERICA. others. This was the case when a successor to General Grant was to be chosen. While Rutherford B. Hayes had been a Brigadier-general in the Union army, and had twice been elected Governor of Ohio, he was by no means conspicuous aS a national leader. There was great dissatisfaction with the course of the men who had obtained control of the political machinery of the Republican party, and the election depended on the counting of the electoral votes of Louisiana and Florida. To settle the legality of these votes, the famous Electoral Commission was appointed by Congress, and decided in favor of General Hayes as against his competitor, Samuel J. Tilden. The quiet and peaceful solution of this dispute is one of the greatest triumphs of our system of Government. The Republican party had been in office for four Presidential terms, had success- fully conducted the affairs of the nation during the trying and dangerous periods of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Many of the measures which had been during this time adopted as a part of our system had been consistently and strenuously op- posed by the Democrats. Under these circumstances the Repub- licans viewed the possible ac- cession to power of the Demo- cratic party with a degree of alarm, which has since proved to be unjustifiable. Each party claimed, and probably believed, that its candidate had been elected, and each was disposed to insist on its rights under the Constitution. Such a dispute in a country where men's passions are less under the control of their reason, would inevitably have led to civil war. The two Houses of Congress were of different politics, and their agreement upon what seemed an equitable method of adjusting the dispute, together with the acquiescence of all parties in the decision of the tribunal thus created, make it a remarkable instance of the adaptability of our institutions, and go far to justify the most complete faith in their permanence. General Hayes was a successful lawyer, a lifelong citizen of Ohio, and while his administration gave great offense to RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES. 1822 One Term, 1877-1881. /AMES ABRAM GARFIELD. 23.^ many political leaders, it was generally satisfactory to the people. At the close of his term he retired to his native State. The chief events of his Presidency were : his withdrawal of troops from the South, thus leaving the people of that section to settle their own questions in their own way ; the great railroad and coal strikes, during which United States troops had to be employed to suppress violence at Pittsburgh, and the resumption of specie payments, in 1879. (See Chapter on Finance.) The twentieth President was likewise a citizen of Ohio. The early life o( James A. Garfield was somewhat similar to that of Abraham Lincoln. He had, however, the advantage of early contact with cultivated people, and while he at one time drove mules upon the tow-path of a canal, and paid for his tuition by acting as janitor of the school- house, he had opportunities for education of which he availed himself to the utmost, paying his own way through school and finally graduating at Williams College. At the opening of the war he entered the Union army, and was promoted, for his servi- ces at the battle of Chickamauga, to the rank of Major-general. He left the army to enter Con- gress, where he took a leading part, and was chosen Senator for Ohio, but before taking his seat was elected President. He surrounded, himself with able advisers, and high hopes were entertained of a notably successful Administration, when he was shot by a disappointed ofifice-seeker, dying after two months of suffering, during which the public sympathy was excited to an extraordinary degree and was manifested in every possible way. The single event for which the few months of his Presidency are remarkable is the quarrel between the President and Senator Conkling, of New York, as to some of the Federal appointments in that State. The Senator from New York resigned, and the difficulty was not adjusted at the time of the President's death. JAMES A. GARFIELD (1831-1881.) One iiarti.il ti-riu, Issl. 234 THE STORY OF AMERICA. The Vice-President elected witli Garfield was Chester A. Arthur, of New' York. He was not widely known outside his own State before his nomination, and he was made the candidate in order to retain the favor of a large portion of the Republican pafty in New York which had advocated the claims of another candidate, and it was feared would not otherwise assist in the election of Garfield. Mr. Arthur had great experience as a political manager, but little knowl- t ige of the manner in which the Government is conducted ; but he proved a careful, conscientious President, and the country was well satisfied with his administration. As he had been an adherent of the political faction with which President Garfield, at the time of his assassination, was at war, he was placed in an ex- ceedingly delicate position, and grave fears were entertained by many people that backward steps would be taken ; but the new President extricated himself from his difticulties with a dignity anc a tact which astonished even those who knew him best, and which gained for him the respect of the entire country. During the term of President Arthur, Congress passed the Civil Service Act, providing for the appointment of subordinate em- ployees of the Government on the basis of merit rather than that of poHtical influence ; the completion of the great East i<.iver Bridge united the cities of New York and Brooklyn, and the immense growth and prosperity of the New South justified the brightest anticipations for the future of that section. Mr. Arthur died in New York a few months after the close of his term. The Republican part)^ had now held control of the Government for twenty- five years, and Grover Cleveland was the first Democratic President since Buchanan. Although a native of New Jersey, he has been since boyhood a citizen of New York. He began the study of law in Buffalo at the age of eighteen, and early took an active part in politics. Having filled several loca) CHESTER ALAN ARTmm. 1830-1886. One Partial Term, 1S81-1885. GROVER CLFA'ELAND— BENJAMIN HARRISON 235 offices, he was, in 1S82, elected Governor of the State by a phenomenal ma- jority, and in 1884 was the successful candidate for President. The transfer of the Government from the hands of one political party to Its opponent resulted in no disturbance to the business or social relations of the people, and although a large number of officeholders were replaced by men of the opposite political faith, the business of the Government went on as before. During Cleveland's administration laws were enacted providing for the succession to the Presidency of the various members of the Cabinet in case of the death or disability of the ^ President and Vice-President ; . I lavlns: down rules for the count- ing of the electoral votes, thus supplying the strange deficiency of the Constitution in this re- spect; regulating inter-State com- merce, and forbidding Chinese laborers to emigrate to this countrv. Events of crreat Im- portance were the extended labor strikes, which occurred in 1S86, and the Anarchist riot in Chicacfo in May of that year. Although his administration had been very satisfactory to the country at large, Mr. Cleveland failed of re-election, the principal cjues- tion at issue being that of a protective tariff. He left Wash- ington to take up the practice of law in New York cit)-. Mr. Cleveland was suc- ceeded by General Benjamin Harrison who secured 223 electoral votes to 168 cast for Mr. Cleveland. Mr. Harrison, the grandson of the ninth President, and the great-grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence, was a native of Ohio, well educated, and was for many years one of the leading lawyers of Indiana. He entered the Union Army in 1862, and was promoted until, near the close of the war, he reached the rank of Brigadier- general. He was made a United States Senator in 1880, and came to the Presidency well equipped for the discharge of its duties. During his four years of service manj- noted events took place which STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND. 1837 First Term, 1SS5-1S89; Second TV* ;«, 1393-1897. 236 THE STORY OF AMERICA. promise to have great weight in moulding the future of the country. A Con- gress of the American Republics met in Washington, in 18S9, and devised measures which resulted in bringing about a closer commercial union between the Americas ; six new States were also added to the Union. The tariff laws were revised and clauses added granting to such nations as offer us reciprocal advantages free admission for certain of their exports. Several new vessels were built giving us a new and efficient navy ; the longstanding difficulty with England concerning seal fishing in Behring Sea was adjusted by a treaty. providing for arbitration, and an- noying difficulties with Germany, Italy and Cliili were happily settled. The Presidential campaign of 1892 was remarkable in several respects. The leading candi- dates, ex-President Cleveland and President Harrison, were both men of the highest character and integrity, each of whom had served the country with notable ability as I'resident for a term of four \ears. The people were, there- tore, so well acquainted with the I andidates that personalities en- tered little into the campaign, and the canvass was conducted with less popular enthusiasm and ex- citement than ever before. The question most largely discussed was that of the McKinley tariff, but other important questions, such as the free coinage of silver and the revival of State banks, entered largely into the discussion, and had much to do with influencing the result, especially in the Western States, where party lines were very largely broken up! The result of the election was almost a political revolution ex-President Cleveland being elected by an overwhelming majority of 382,956 popular, and 132 electoral votes. The Populists also polled a very large vote. The result of the election was generally accepted as a condemnation of the McKinley tariff For the first time in thirty years the Democratic party had full possession of all branches of the crovernment. b£NJAMIX HARRISON, One Term, 1889-1893. CLEVELAND'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 237 The whole of President Cleveland's second administration was threatening and stormy. One of the first difficulties presented itself in the Hawaiian Question. Early in the year 1S93, by a successful revolution, without bloodshed, the native Queen, Liliuokalani, of the Sandwich Islands, was forced to abdicate and a provisional government established, the chief officers of which were Ameri- cans by birth or parentage. A proposition for annexation was made by them ■ to the United States, and a treaty looking to that end was negotiated under the administration oi President Harrison, and sent to the Senate for ratification. On President Cleveland's accession to office, he was convinced that the revo- ' lution had been accomplished by the active aid of the American minister and troops, and thereupon made a demand that the Queen should be restored. The provisional government ot Hawaii, however, declined to comply, and Congress took no measures to restore the monarchy. In the spring and summer of 1893 the country experienced an unexpected and remarkable stringency in the money market, which was largely attributed to the operations of what is known as the "Sherman Law," by which the Govern- [ ment was compelled to purchase iour and one-half million ounces of silver every ! month. President Cleveland shared the prevailing sentiment as to the cause of ■ the stringency and called an extra session of Congress to meet early in August, for the purpose of repealing the purchasing clause of the "Sherman Law." This appeared to bring some relief in the way of restoring confidence in the east but the west was displeased, the country had already suffered so greatly from the general depression of trade and the withdrawal of credits that a panic was inevitable. Many banks failed and "hard times" prevailed. In July, 1894, T'^^ American Railway Union, an organization of railway employees, ordered a general strike on all roads running Pullman cars, resulting in a great conflict between capital and labor. Railroad tracks entering Chicago were torn up, and cars, freight and property were destroyed. President Cleve- land finally sent troops of the regular army to quell the riot. The state elections in the autumn of 1S94 brought another political revolu- tion, changing the House of Representatives elected in 1892, from 219 Demo- crats and 127 Republicans to 100 Democrats and 245 Republicans in 1894. Mr. Cleveland's course in relation to Cuba while generally unpopular was in accordance with the principles of non-interference promulgated by Washington, and, no doubt kepf us out of a destructive and expensive war with Spain. His bold stand in the defense of the "Monroe Doctrine," which was being disre- , garded by England in the dispute oVer the Venezuelan boundaries, led to the signing of the "Treaty of Arbitration " by the governments of the United States and Great Britain. This has been pronounced by men who speak with calm judgment the greatest event of the century, marking perhaps more than any 238 PRESIDENT Mc KIN LEY. other the progress of civilization, and the growing supremacy of the Anglo Saxon race. The campaign of 1S96 was the most remarkable and hotly contested cam- paio^n in the history of our nation. Both the old parties — Democratic and Repub- lican — were seriously divided over the financial question. Old issues were largely buried and the great batde was fought upon the question of a Bimetallic or a Sino-le Gold Standard as a basis for our national currency. The Democrats favored the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold, at a ratio of six- teen to one, and an immediate establishment of a bimetallic standard. The Republicans favored the mainten- ance of the existing Gold stand- ard, at least until International Bimetallism mieht be effected. William McKinley of Ohio was nominated for President, and Garret A. Hobart of New Jersey for Vice-President by the Repub- lican Convention. The Demo- crats nominated William J. Bryan of Nebraska for President, and Arthur Sewall of Maine for the Vice-Presidency. The Populist Party and the " Silver Wing " of the Republican Party endorsed Mr. Bryan's nomination and gava him their support, the Populists substituting Thomas E. Watson of Georgia for Vice-President. The Gold Standard Democrats met in convention and put out a special ticket headed by Gen- erals Palmer of Illinois and Buckner of Kentucky. But there is litde doubt that more old-time Democrats cast their ballots for McKinley and Hobart than voted the Palmer and Buckner ticket. The result was the largest popular vote, by nearly two millions, ever cast in the country and Mr. McKinley's election by a plurality of 630,745 popular votes and 96 electoral votes over Mr. Bryan. On March 4th, 1897, President McKinley was inaugurated in the presence of an immense assemblage. He immediately called an extra session ol Con- gress, which convened March 15th, 1S97. This Congress passed the Dingley Tariff Bill increasing the duties on imports. On December ist Congress met in regular session. His wise administration during the Spanish-American War established him in the front rank of living statesmen. [See chapter XV.] WILLIAM MtKlNLLY. 1843-1901. One Term, 1897-1901. CHAPTER XI II. THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. Opening Incidents— Bombardment of JMatanzas— Dewey's Wonderful Victory at Manila— Disaster to the Wiitslow at Cardenas Bay— The First American Loss of Life— Bombardment of San Juan, Porto Kico— The Elusive Spanish Fleet— Bottled-up in Santiago Harbor— Lieutenant Hobson's Daring Exploit— Second Bombardment of Santiago and Arrival of the Army— Gallant Work of the Rough Riders and the Regulars— Battles of San Juan and El Caney— Destruction of Cervera's Fleet— General Shafter Reinforced in Front of Santiago— Surrender of the Cit.v— General Miles in Porto Rico— An P^asy Conquest— Conquest of the Philippines— Peace Negotiations and Signing of the Protocol— Its Terms— Members of the National Peace Commission— Return of the Troops from Cuba and Porto Rico — The Peace Commission in Paris— Conclusion of its Work — Terms of the Treaty — Ratified by the Senate. "stripping for the fight. ExouGH has already been stated to show the real cause of the war between the United States and Spain, It was, in brief, a war for humanity, for America could no longer close her ears to the wails of the dead and dying that lay perishing, as may be said, on her very doorsteps. It was not a war for con- quest or gain, nor was it in revenge for the awful crime of the destruction of the Ilaine, though few nations would have restrained their wrath with such sublime patience as did our countrymen while the investigation was in progress. Yet it cannot be denied that this unparalleled outrage intensified the war fever in the United States, and thousands were eager for the opportunity to punish Spanish cruelty and treachery. Congress reflected this spirit when by a unani- mous vote it appropriated $50,000,000 "for the national defense." The War and Navy Departments hummed with the activity of recruiting, the prepara- tions of vessels and coast defenses, the purchase of war material and vessels at homf^. while agents were sent to Eurojie to procure all the war-shij)s in the market 239 240 THE SPANISH-A3IERICAN WAR. Unlimited capital was at their command, and the question of price was never an obstacle. When hostilities impended the United States was unprepared for war, but by amazing activity, energy, and skill the preparations were pushed and completed with a rapidity that approached the marvelous. War being inevitable. President McKinley souglit to gain time for our consular representatives to leave Cuba, where the situation daily and hourly grew more dfingerous. Consul Hyatt remained at Santiago until April 7th, and Consul-Geueral Lee at Havana until April 10th, with the resolu- tion that no American refugees should be left behind, wliei-e very soon their lives would not be worth an hour's purchase. Lee hnuled in Key W'est April 11th, and on the same day President McKinley sent his message upon the situation to Congress. On April 18tli tlu two houses adojtted the following : Whereas, The abhorrent conditions which have existed fi>r more than three years in the island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United .States. have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battle-ship with 206 of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of April 11, 1898, upon which the action of Congress was invited; therefore. Resolved, By the Senate and Hoase of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled — First — That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent. Second — That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the government of the United States does hereby demand, that the government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and govern- ment in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters. Third — That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is. directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service