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 Plow The United States Grew. 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting House, Boston. 
 1902. 
 
THE 
 
 OLD SOUTH LEAFLETS. 
 
 TWENTIETH SERIES. 
 
 1902, 
 
 DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE, BOSTON. 
 
 1902. 
 
^^ii 
 
 "i 0^ 2- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Old South Leaflets were prepared primarily for circulation 
 among the attendants upon tV>e Old South Lectures for Young People. 
 The subjects of the Leaflets are immediately related to the subjects of the 
 lectures, and they are intended to supplement the lectures and stimulate 
 historical interest and inquiry among the young people. They are made 
 up, for the most part, from original papers of the periods treated in the 
 lectures, in the hope to make the men and the public life of the periods 
 more clear and real. 
 
 The Old South Lectures for Young People were instituted in the sum- 
 mer of 1883, as a means of promoting a more serious and intelligent atten- 
 tion to historical studies, especially studies in American history among the 
 young people of liJoston. The success of the lectures has been so great as 
 to warrant the hope that such courses may be sustained in many other 
 cities of the country. 
 
 The Old South Lectures for 1883, intended to be strictly upon subjects 
 in early Massachusetts History, but by certain necessities somewhat modi- 
 fied, were as follows: "Governor IJradford and Governor Winthrop," 
 by Edwin D. Mead. "Plymouth," by Mrs. A. ^L Dla.z. "Concord," 
 by Frank B. Sanborn. " The Town-meeting," by Prof. James K. 
 HosMER. " Franklin, the Boston Boy," by George M. Towle. "How 
 to study American History," by Prof. G. Stanley Hall. " The Year 
 1777," by John Fiske. "History in the Boston Streets," by Edward 
 Everett Hale. The Leaflets prepared in connection with these lectures 
 consisted of (i) Cotton Mather's account of Governor Bradford, from the 
 " Magnalia"; (2) the account of the arrival of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod 
 from Bradford's Journal; (3) an extract from Emerson's Concord Address 
 in 1835; (4) e.xtracts from Emerson, Samuel Adams, De Tocqueville, and 
 others, upon the Town-meeting; (5) a portion of P'ranklin's Autobiogra- 
 phy; (6) Carlyle on the Study of History; (7) an extract from Charles 
 Sumner's oration upon Lafayette, etc.; (8) Emerson's poem, "Boston." 
 
 The lectures for 1884 were devoted to men representative of certain 
 epochs or ideas in the history of Boston, as follows: " Sir Harry Vane, in 
 New England and in Old England," by Edward Everett Hale, Jr. 
 " John Harvard, and the Founding of Harvard College," by Edward 
 Channing, Ph.D. "The Mather Family, and the Old Boston Ministers," 
 by Rev. Samuel J. Barrows. " Simon Bradstreet, and the Struggle for 
 the Charter," by Prof. Marshall S. Snow. " Samuel Adams and the 
 Beginning of the Revolution," by Prof. James K. Hosmer. " Josiah 
 Quincy, the Great Mayor," by Charles W. Slack. "Daniel Webster, 
 the Defender of the Constitution," by Charles C. Coffin. " John A: 
 Andrew, the great War Governor," by Col. T. W. Higginson. The 
 Leaflets prepared in connection with the second course were as follows : 
 (i) Selections from Forster's essay on Vane, etc. ; (2) an extract from 
 Cotton Mather's "Sal Gentium"; (3) Increase Mather's "Narrative of 
 the Miseries of New England"; (4) an original account of " The Revolu- 
 tion in New England" in 16S9; (5) a letter from Samuel Adams to John 
 
Adams, on Republican Government ; (6) extracts from Josiah Quincy's 
 Boston Address of 1830; (7) Words of Webster; (8) a portion of Gover- 
 nor Andrew's Address to the Massachusetts Legislature in January, 1861. 
 
 The lectures for 1885 were upon " The War for the Union," as follows : 
 "Slavery," by William Lloyd Garrison, Jr. "The Fall of Sumter," 
 by Col. T. W. Higginson. "The Monitor and the Merrimac," by 
 Charles C. Coffin. "The Battle of Gettysburg," by Col. Theodore 
 A. Dodge. "Sherman's March to the Sea," by Gen. William Cogswell. 
 " The Sanitary Commission," by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. " Abraham 
 Lincoln," by Hon. John D. Long. "General Grant," by Charles C. 
 CoFFi.N. The Leaflets accompanying these lectures were as follows : (i) 
 Lowell's " Present Crisis," and Garrison's Salutatory in the Liberator of 
 January i, 1831 ; (2) extract from Henry Ward Beecher's oration at Fort 
 Sumter in 1865; (3) contemporary newspaper accounts of the engagement 
 between the Monitor and the Merrimac; {4) extract from Edward Everett's 
 address at the consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, with 
 President Lincoln's address; (5) extract from General Sherman's account 
 of the March to the Sea, in his Memoirs ; (6) Lowell's " Commemoration 
 Ode"; (7) extract from Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, the Emanci- 
 pation Proclamation, and the Second Inaugural Address; (8) account of 
 the service in memory of General Grant, in Westminster Abbey, with Arch- 
 deacon P'arrar's address. 
 
 The lectures for 1886 were upon " The War for Independence," as 
 follows: "Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry," by Edwin D. Mead. 
 "Bunker Hillj and the News in England," by John Fiske. "The Declara- 
 tion of Independence," by James MacAllister. "The Times that tried 
 Men's Souls," by Albert B. Hart, Ph.D. " Lafayette, and Help from 
 France," by Prof. Marshall S. Snow. "The Women of the Revolu- 
 tion," by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. " Washington and his Generals," 
 by George M. Towle. "The Lessons of the Revolution for these 
 Times," by Rev. Brooke Herford. The Leaflets were as follows: (i) 
 Words of Patrick Henry; (2) Lord Chatham's Speech, urging the removal 
 of the British troops from Boston ; (3) extract from Webster's oration on 
 Adams and Jefferson ; (4) Thomas Paine's " Crisis," No. i ; (5) extract 
 from Edward Everett's eulogy on Lafayette ; (6) selections from the Letters 
 of Abigail Adams; (7) Lowell's "Under the Old Elm"; (S) extract from 
 Whipple's essay on " Washington and the Principles of the Revolution." 
 
 The course for the summer of 1887 was upon "The Birth of the 
 Nation," as follows : " How the men of the English Commonwealth planned 
 Constitutions," by Prof. James K. Hosmer. " How the American Colo- 
 nies grew together," by John Fiske. " The Confusion after the Revolu- 
 tion," by Davis R. Dewey, Ph.D. " The Convention and the Constitu- 
 tion," by Hon. John D. Long. " James Madison and his Journal," by 
 Prof. E. B. Andrews. " How Patrick Henry opposed the Constitution," 
 by Henry L. Southwick. "Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist." 
 " Washington's Part and the Nation's First Years," by Edward Everett 
 Hale. The Leaflets prepared for these lectures were as follows: (i) 
 Extract from Edward Everett Hale's lecture on " Puritan Politics in 
 England and New England"; (2) "The English Colonies in America," 
 extract from De Tocqueville's " Democracy in America " ; (3) Wash- 
 ington's Circular Letter to the Governors of the States on Disbanding 
 the Army; (4) the Constitution of the United States; (5) "The Last Day 
 of the Constitutional Convention," from Madison's Journal; (6) Patrick 
 
Henry's First Speech against the Constitution, in the Virginia Convention; 
 (7) the Federalist, No. IX.; (8) Washington's First Inaugural Address. 
 
 The course for the summer of iS88 had the general title of " The Story 
 of the Centuries," the several lectures being as follows : " The Great Schools 
 after the Dark Ages," by Ephraim Emerton, Professor of History in 
 Harvard University. "Richard the Lion-hearted and the Crusades," by 
 Miss Nina Moore, author of " Pilgrims and Puritans." " The World 
 which Dante knew," by Shattuck O. Hartwell, Old South first prize 
 essayist, 1883. "The Morning Star of the Reformation," by Rev. Philip 
 S. MoxoM. " Copernicus and Columbus, or the New Heaven and the 
 New Earth," by Prof. Edward S. Morse. "The People for whom 
 Shakespeare wrote," by Charles Dudley Warner. " The Puritans and 
 the English Revolution," by Charles H. Levermore, Professor of His- 
 tory in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. " Lafayette and the 
 Two Revolutions which he saw," by George Makepeace Towle. 
 
 The Old South Lectures are devoted primarily to American history. 
 But it is a constant aim to impress upon the young people the relations of 
 our own history to English and general European history. It was hoped 
 that the glance at some striking chapters in the history of the last eight 
 centuries afforded by these lectures would be a good preparation for the 
 great anniversaries of 18S9, and give the young people a truer feeling of 
 the continuity of history. In connection with the lectures the young 
 people were requested to fix in mind the following dates, observing that in 
 most instances the date comes about a decade before the close of the cen- 
 tury. An effort was made in the Leaflets for the year to make dates, 
 which are so often dull and useless to young people, interesting, significant, 
 and useful. — nth Century: Lanfranc, the great medieval scholar, who 
 studied law at Bologna, was prior of the monastery of Bee, the most famous 
 school in France in the nth century, and archbishop of Canterbury under 
 William the Conqueror, died 1089. 12th Cent.: Richard I. crowned 
 1189. .13th Cent. : Dante, at the battle of Campaldino, the final overthrow 
 of the Ghibellines in Italy, 1289. Mth Cent.: Wyclif died, 1384. 15th 
 Cent.: America discovered, 149a. i6th Cent.: Spanish Armada, 1588. 
 17th Cent. : William of Orange lands in England, 1688. iSth Cent. : 
 Washington inaugurated, and the Bastile fell, 1789. The Old South 
 Leaflets for i888, corresponding with the several lectures, were as follows : 
 (i) " The Early History of Oxford," from Green's " History of the English 
 People,"; (2) "Richard Coeur de Lion and the Third Crusade," from the 
 Chronicle of Geoffrey de Vinsauf; (3) "The Universal Empire," passages 
 from Dante's De Monarchia ; (4) "The Sermon on the Mount," Wyclif 's 
 translation ; (5) " Copernicus and the Ancient Astronomers," from Hum- 
 boldt's " Cosmos " ; (6) " The Defeat of the Spanish Armada," from Cam- 
 den's "Annals"; (7) "The Bill of Rights," 1689; (S) " The Eve of the 
 French Revolution," from Carlyle. The selections are accompanied by 
 very full historical and bibliographical notes, and it is hoped that the 
 series will prove of much service to students and teachers engaged in 
 the general survey of modern history. 
 
 The year 1889 being the centennial both of the beginning of our own 
 Federal government and of the French Revolution, the lectures for the 
 year, under the general title of " America and France," were devoted en- 
 tirely to subjects in which the history of America is related to that of 
 France as follows : " Champlain, the Founder of Quebec," by Charles 
 C. Coffin. " La Salle and the French in the Great West," by Rev. 
 
W. E. Griffis. " The Jesuit Missionaries in America," by Prof. James 
 K. HOSMER. " Wolfe and Montcalm : The Struggle of England and 
 France for the Continent," by John Fiske. " Franklin in France," 
 by George M. Towle. " The P'riendship of Washington and Lafayette," 
 by Mrs. Abba Goold Woolson. " Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana 
 Purchase," by Robert Morss Lovett, Old South prize essayist, 1888. 
 "The Year 1789," by Rev. Edward Everett Hale. The Leaflets for 
 the year were as follows : (i) Verrazzano's account of his Voyage to Amer- 
 ica ; (2) Marquette's account of his Discovery of the Mississippi; (3) Mr. 
 Parkman's Histories; (4) the Capture of Quebec, from Parkman's " Con- 
 spiracy of Pontiac"; (5) selections from Franklin's Letters from France ; 
 (6) Letters of Washington and Lafayette; (7) the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence ; (S) the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, 17S9. 
 
 The lectures for the summer of 1890 were on "The American Indians," 
 as follows : " The Mound Builders," by Prof. George H. Perkins. " The 
 Indians whom our Fathers Found," by Gen. H. B. Carrington. " John 
 Eliot and his Indian Bible," by Rev. Edward G. Porter. " King Philip's 
 War," by Miss Caroline C. Stecker, Old South prize essayist, i88g. 
 "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," by Charles A. Eastman, M.D., of the 
 Sioux nation. " A Century of Dishonor," by Herbert Welsh. " Among 
 the Zunis," by J. Walter Fewkes, Ph.D. " The Indian at School," by 
 Gen. S. C. Armstrong. The Leaflets were as follows: (i) extract from 
 address by William Henry Harrison on the Mound Builders of the Ohio 
 Valley ; (2) extract from Morton's " New English Canaan " on the Manners 
 and Customs of the Indians ; (3) John Eliot's " Brief Narrative of the Prog- 
 ress of the Gospel among the Indians of New England," 1670; (4) extract 
 from Hubbard's " Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians" (1677) on 
 the Beginning of King Philip's War; (5) the Speech of Pontiac at the 
 Council at the River Ecorces, from Parkman's " Conspiracy of Pontiac " ; 
 (6) extract from Black Hawk's autobiography, on the cause of the Black 
 Hawk War; (7) Coronado's Letter to Mendoza (1540) on his Explorations 
 in New Mexico; (8) Eleazar Wheelock's Narrative (1762) of the Rise and 
 Progress of the Indian School at Lebanon, Conn. 
 
 The lectures for 1891, under the general title of " The New Birth of the 
 World," were devoted to the important movements in the age preceding 
 the discovery of America, the several lectures being as follows : " The 
 Results of the Crusades," by F. E. E. Hamilton, Old South prize essay- 
 ist, 1883. " The Revival of Learning," by Prof. Albert B. Hart. " The 
 Builders of the Cathedrals," by Prof. Marshall S. Snow. " The Changes 
 which Gunpowder made," by Frank A. Hill. "The Decline of the 
 Barons," by William Everett. " The Invention of Printing," by Rev. 
 Edward G. Porter. " When Michel Angelo was a Boy," by Hamlin 
 Garland. " The Discovery of America," by Rev. E. E. Hale. The 
 Leaflets were as follows: (i) "The Capture of Jerusalem by the Cru- 
 saders," from the Chronicle of William of Malmesbury ; (2) extract from 
 More's "Utopia"; (3) " The Founding of Westminster Abbey," from 
 Dean Stanley's " Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey " ; (4) " The 
 Siege of Constantinople," from Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire"; (5) ".Simon de Montfort," selections from Chronicles of the 
 time ; (6) " Caxton at Westminster," extract from lilade's Life of William 
 Caxton; (7) "The Youth of Michel Angelo," from Vasari's "Lives of the 
 Italian Painters"; (8) " The, Discovery of America," from Ferdinand Colum- 
 bus's life of his father. 
 
The lectures for 1892 were upon "The Discovery of America," as fol- 
 lows : " What Men knew of the World before Columbus," by Prof. 
 Edward S. Morse. " Leif Erikson and the Northmen," by Rev. Edward 
 A. HoRTON. "Marco Polo and his Book," by Mr. O. W. Dimmick. 
 "The Story of Columbus," by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. " Americus 
 Vespucius and the Early Books about America," by Rev. E. G. Porter. 
 "Cortes and Pizarro," by Prof. Chas. H. Levermore. " De Soto and 
 Ponce de Leon," by Miss Ruth Ballou Whittemore, Old South prize 
 essayist, 1891. " Spain, France, and P^ngland in America," by Mr. John 
 Fiske. The Leaflets were as follows : (i) Strabo's Introduction to Geog- 
 raphy; (2) The Voyages to Vinland, from the Saga of Eric the Red; (3) 
 Marco Polo's account of Japan and Java; (4) Columbus's Letter to 
 Gabriel Sanchez, describing his First Voyage; (5) Amerigo Vespucci's 
 account of his First Voyage; (6) Cortes's account of the City of Mexico; 
 (7) the Death of De Soto, from the " Narrative of a Gentleman of 
 Elvas " ; (S) Early Notices of the Voyages of the Cabots. 
 
 The lectures for 1S93 were upon " The Opening of the Great West," as 
 follows: "Spain and Prance in the Great West," by Rev. Willi.a.m 
 Elliot Griffis. "The North-west Territory and the Ordinance of 1787," 
 by John M. Merriam. " Washington's Work in Opening the West," by 
 Edwin D. Mead. "Marietta and the Western Reserve," oy Miss Lucy 
 W. Warren, Old South prize essayist, 1S92. " How the Great West was 
 settled," by Ch.\rles C. Coffin. " Lewis and Clarke and the Explorers 
 of the Rocky Mountains," by Rev. Thomas V.\n Ness. " California and 
 Oregon," by Prof. Josiah Royce. " The Story of Chicago," by Mrs. 
 Mary A. Livermore. The Leaflets were as follows: (i) De Vaca's 
 account of his Journey to New Mexico, 1535; (2) Manasseh Cutler's De- 
 scription of (Jhio, 1787 ; (3) Washington's Journal of his Tour to the Ohio, 
 1770; (4) Garfield's Address on the North-west Territory and the Western 
 Reserve ; ( 5) George Rogers Clark's account of the Capture of Vincennes, 
 1779! (6) Jefferson's Life of Captain Meriwether Lewis; (7) Fremont's 
 account of his Ascent of Fremont's Peak ; (8) Father Marquette at Chi- 
 cago, 1673. 
 
 The lectures for 1894 were upon "The Founders of New England," as 
 follows : " William Brewster, the Elder of Plymouth," by Rev. Edward 
 Everett Hale. " William Bradford, the Governor of Plymouth," by 
 Rev. William Elliot Griffis. " John Winthrop, the Governor of 
 Massachusetts," by Hon. Frederic T. Greenhalge. "John Harvard, 
 and the Founding of Harvard College," by Mr. William R. Thayer. 
 " John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians," by Rev. James De Normandie. 
 " John Cotton, the Minister of Boston," by Rev. John Cotton Brooks. 
 " Roger Williams, the Founder of Rhode Island," by President E. 
 Benjamin Andrews. "Thomas Hooker, the Founder of Connecticut," 
 by Rev. Joseph H. Twichell. The Leaflets were as follows : (i) Brad- 
 ford's Memoir of Elder Brewster; (2) Bradford's First Dialogue; {3) 
 Winthrop's Conclusions for the Plantation in New England ; (4) New 
 England's First Fruits, 1643; (5) John Eliot's Indian Grammar Begun; 
 (6) John Cotton's "God's Promise to his Plantation"; (7) Letters of 
 Roger Williams to Winthrop; (8) Thomas Hooker's "Way of the 
 Churches of New England." 
 
 The lectures for 1895 were upon " The Puritans in Old England," as 
 follows: "John Hooper, the First Puritan," by Edwin D. Mead; " Cam- 
 bridge, the Puritan University," by William Everett; "Sir John Eliot 
 
and the House of Cotnmons," by Prof. Albert B. Hart; "John Hamp- 
 den and the Ship Money," by Rev. F. W. Gunsaulus; "John Pym and 
 the Grand Remonstrance," by Rev. John Cuckson ; " Oliver Cromwell 
 and the Commonwealth," by Rev. Edward Everett Hale; "John 
 Milton, the Puritan Poet," by John Fiske ; " Henry Vane in Old England 
 and New England," by Prof. James K. Hosmer. The Leaflets were as 
 follows: (i) The English Bible, selections from the various versions; (2) 
 Hooper's Letters to Bullinger ; (3) Sir John Eliot's " Apology for Soc- 
 rates"; (4) Ship-money Papers ; (5) Pym's Speech against Strafford; (6) 
 Cromwell's Second Speech ; (7) Milton's " Free Commonwealth " ; (8) Sir 
 Henry Vane's Defence. 
 
 The lectures for 1896 were upon " The American Historians," as follows : 
 "Bradford and Winthrop and their Journals," by Mr. Edwin D. Mead; 
 "Cotton Mather and his ' Magnalia,' " by Prof. Barrett Wendell; 
 " Governor Hutchinson and his History of Massachusetts," by Prof. 
 Charles H. Levermore ; "Washington Irving and his Services for 
 American History," by Mr. Richard Burton; "Bancroft and his His- 
 tory of the United States," by Pres. Austin Scott; " Prescott and his 
 Spanish Histories," by Hon. Roger Wolcott; " Motley and his History 
 of the Dutch Republic," by Rev. William Elliot Griffis; " Parkman 
 and his Works on France in America," by Mr. John Fiske. The Leaflets 
 were as follows: (i) Winthrop's " Little Speech " on Liberty; (2) Cotton 
 Mather's " Bostonian Ebenezer," from the " Magnalia " ; (3) Governor 
 Hutchinson's account of the Boston Tea Party; (4) Adrian Van der 
 Donck's Description of the New Netherlands in 1655; (5) The Debate in 
 the Constitutional Convention on the Rules of Suffrage in Congress ; (6) 
 Columbus's Memorial to Ferdinand and Isabella, on his Second Voyage ; 
 (7) The Dutch Declaration of Independence in 1581; (S) Captain John 
 Knox's account of the Battle of Quebec. The last five of these eight 
 Leaflets illustrate the original material in which Irving, Bancroft, Prescott, 
 Motley, and Parkman worked in the preparation of their histories. 
 
 The lectures for 1897 were upon "The Anti-slavery Struggle," as 
 follows : " William Lloyd Garrison, or Anti-slavery in the Newspaper," by 
 William Lloyd Garrison, Jr.; "Wendell Phillips, or Anti-slavery on 
 the Platform," by Wendell Phillips Stafford; "Theodore Parker, 
 or Anti-slavery in the Pulpit," by Rev. Edward Everett Hale ; " John 
 G. Whittier, or Anti-slavery in the Poem," by Mrs. Alice Freeman 
 Palmer ; " Harriet Beecher Stowe, or Anti-slavery in the Story," by Miss 
 Maria L. Baldwin ; " Charles Sumner, or Anti-slavery in the Senate," 
 by Moorfield Storey ; " John Brown, or Anti-slavery on the Scaffold," 
 by P'rank B. Sanborn; "Abraham Lincoln, or Anti-slavery Trium- 
 phant," by Hon. John D. Long. The Leaflets were as follows: (i) The 
 First Number of The Liberator ; (2) Wendell Phillips's Eulogy of 
 Garrison ; (3) Theodore Parker's Address on the Dangers from Slavery ; 
 (4) Whittier's account of the Anti-slavery Convention of 1S33; (5) Mrs. 
 Stowe's Story of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; (6) Sumner's Speech on the 
 Crime against Kansas; (7) Words of John Brown; (8) The First Lincoln 
 and Douglas Debate. 
 
 The lectures for 1898 were upon " The Old World in the New," as 
 follows: "What Spain has done for America," by Rev. Edward G. 
 Porter ; " What Italy has done for America," by Rev. William Elliot 
 Griffis ; " What France has done for America," by Prof. Jean Charle- 
 
Magne Bracq ; " What England has done for America," by Miss Kath- 
 arine CoMAN ; " What Ireland has done for America," by Prof. F. 
 Spencer Baldwin; "What Holland has done for America," by Mr. 
 Edwin D. Mead; "What Germany has done for America," by Miss 
 Anna B. Thompson; "What Scandinavia has done for America," by 
 Mr. Joseph P. Warren. The Leaflets were as follows: (i) Account of 
 the Founding of St. Augustine, by Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales ; 
 (2) Amerigo Vespucci's Account of his Third Voyage; (3) Champlain's Ac- 
 count of the Founding of Quebec; (4) Barlowe's Account of the First 
 Voyage to Roanoke; (5) Parker's Account of the Settlement of London- 
 derry, N.H. ; (6) luet's Account of the Discovery of the Hudson River; 
 (7) Pastorius's Description of Pennsylvania, 1700: (8) Acrelius's Account 
 of the Founding of New Sweden. 
 
 The lectures for 1899 were upon "The Life and Influence of Washing- 
 ton," as follows : "Washington in the Revolution," by Mr. John Fiske; 
 "Washington and the Constitution," by Rev. Edward Everett Hale; 
 "Washington as President of the United States," by Rev. Albert E. 
 WiNSHiP; "Washington the True E.xpander of the Republic," by Mr. 
 Edwin D. Mead ; " Washington's Interest in Education," by Hon. 
 Alfred S. Roe; "The Men who worked with W'ashington," by Mrs. 
 Alice Freeman Palmer; "Washington's Farewell Address," by Rev. 
 Franklin Hamilton; "What the Worid has thought and said of 
 Washington," by Prof. Edwin A. Grosvenor. The Leaflets were as 
 follows: ([) Washington's Account of the Army at Cambridge in 1775; 
 (2) Washington's Letters on the Constitution; (3) Washington's Inaug- 
 urals; (4) Washington's Letter to Benjamin Harrison in 17S4 ; (5) Wash- 
 ington's Words on a National University; (6) Letters of Washington and 
 Lafayette; (7) Washington's Farewell Address; (8) Henry Lee's Funeral 
 Oration on Washington. 
 
 The lectures for 1900 were upon "The United States in the Nine- 
 teenth Century," as follows: "Thomas Jefferson, the P'irst Nineteenth- 
 century President," by Edwin D. Mead; "The Opening of the Great 
 West," by Rev. William E. Barton ; " Webster and Calhoun, or the 
 Nation and the States," by Prof. S. M. Macvane; "Abraham Lincoln 
 and the Struggle with Slavery," by Rev. Charles G. Ames ; " Steam and 
 Electricity, from Fulton to P^dison," by Prof. F. Spencer Baldwin ; 
 "The Progress of Education in the Nineteenth Century," by Mr. Frank 
 A. Hill; "The American Poets," by Mrs. May Alden Ward; "America 
 and the World," by Hon. John L. Bates. The Leaflets were as follows : 
 (i) Jefferson's Inaugurals; (2) Account of Louisiana in 1803; (3) Calhoun 
 on the Government of the United States ; (4) Lincoln's Cooper Institute 
 Address; (5) Chancellor Livingston on the Invention of the Steamboat; 
 
 (6) Horace Mann's Address on the Ground of the Free School System ; 
 
 (7) Rufus Choate's Address on the Romance of New England History; 
 
 (8) Kossuth's First Speech in Faneuil Hall. 
 
 The lectures for 1901 were upon "The English Exploration of America," 
 as follows : " John Cabot and the First English Expedition to America," 
 by Prof. Charles H. Levermore; "Hawkins and Drake in the West 
 Indies," by Mr. Joseph P. Warren; "Martin Frobisher and the Search 
 for the North-west Passage," by Prof. Marshall S. Snow ; " Sir Hum- 
 phrey Gilbert and his Expedition to Newfoundland," by Mr. R_\y Greene 
 Huling; "Sir Walter Raleigh and the Story of Roanoke," by Rev. 
 Edward Everett Hale ; " Bartholomew Gosnold and the Story of 
 
Cuttyhuiik," by Rev. William Elliot Griffis ; "Captain John Smith 
 in Virginia and New England," by Hon. Alfred S. Roe ; " Richard liak- 
 luyt and his Books about the Enghsh Explorers," by Mr. Milan C. Ayres. 
 The Leaflets were as follows: (i) John Cabot's Discovery of North 
 America; (2) Sir Francis Drake on the Coast of California; (3) Frobish- 
 er's First Voyage ; (4) Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Expedition to Ne\\-found- 
 land; (5) Raleigh's First Roanoke Colony; (6) Gosnold's Settlement at 
 Cuttyhunk ; (7) Captain John Smith's Description of New England; 
 (8) Richard Hakluyt's Discourse on Western Planting. 
 
 The lectures for 1902 were upon " How the United States Grew," as 
 follows : " The Old Thirteen Colonies," by Hon. John D. Long ; " George 
 Rogers Clark and the North-west Territory," by Prof. Albert B. Hart; 
 " How Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon," by Rev. George 
 Hodges ; "The Story of Florida," by Rev. William Elliot Griffis; 
 " The Lone Star State," by Hon. John L. Bates; "The Oregon Country," 
 by Rev. Samuel A. Eliot ; " The Mexican War and W^hat Came of It," by 
 Prof. F. Spencer Baldwin ; " Alaska in 1867 and 1902," by Mr. George 
 G. WoLKiNS. The Leaflets were as follows : (i) Brissot's Account of 
 Boston in 1788 ; (2) The Ordinance of 1784 ; (3) The Cession of Louisiana ; 
 (4) Monroe's Messages on Florida ; (5) Captain Potter's Account of the 
 Fall of the Alamo; (6) Porter's Account of the Discovery of the Colum- 
 bia River; (7) Sumner's Report on the War with Mexico; (8) Seward's 
 Address on Alaska. 
 
 The Old South Leaflets, which have been published during the years 
 since 1883 in connection with these annual courses of historical lectures 
 at the Old South Meeting-house, have attracted so much attention and 
 proved of so much service that the Directors have entered upon the pub- 
 lication of the Leaflets for general circulation, with the needs of schools, 
 colleges, private clubs, and classes especially in mind. The Leaflets are 
 prepared by Mr. Edwin D. Mead. They are largely reproductions of im- 
 portant original papers, accompanied by useful historical and bibliographi- 
 cal notes. They consist, on an average, of twenty pages, and are sold at 
 the low price of five cents a copy, or four dollars per hundred. The aim 
 is to bring them within easy reach of everybody. The Old South Work, 
 founded by Mrs. Mary Hemenway, and still sustained by provision of her 
 will, is a work for the education of the people, and especially the education 
 of our young people, in American history and politics ; and its promoters 
 believe that few things can contribute better to this end than the wide cir- 
 culation of such leaflets as those now undertaken. It is hoped that pro- 
 fessors in our colleges and teachers everywhere will welcome them for use 
 in their classes, and that they may meet the needs of the societies of young 
 men and women now happily being organized in so many places for his- 
 torical and political studies. Some idea of the character of these Old 
 South Leaflets may be gained from the following list of the subjects of 
 the numbers which are now ready. It will be noticed that most of 
 the later numbers are the same as certain numbers in the annual series. 
 Since 1890 they are essentially the same, and persons ordering the Leaflets 
 need simply observe the following numbers. 
 
 No. 1. The Constitution of the United States. 2. The Articles of 
 Confederation. 3. The Declaration of Independence. 4. Washington's 
 Farewell Address. 5. Magna Charta. 6. Vane's " Healing Question." 
 7. Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629. 8. Fundamental Orders of Con- 
 
necticut, 163S. 9. Franklin's Plan of Union, 1754. 10. Washington's 
 Inaugurals. 11. Lincoln's Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation. 
 12. The Federalist, Nos. i and 2. 13. The Ordinance of 1787. 14. The 
 Constitution of Ohio. 15. Washington's Circular Letter to the Govern- 
 ors of the States, 1783. 16. Washington's Letter to Benjamin Harrison, 
 1784. 17. Verrazzano's Voyage, 1524. 18. The Constitution of Switz- 
 erland. 19. The Bill of Rights, 1689. 20. Coronado's Letter to Men- 
 doza, 1540. 21. Eliot's Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel 
 among the Indians, 1670. 22. Wheelock's Narrative of the Rise of the 
 Indian School at Lebanon, Conn., 1762. 23. The Petition of Rights, 1628. 
 24. The Grand Remonstrance. 25. The Scottish National Covenants. 
 26. The Agreement of the People. 27. The Instrument of Government. 
 28. Cromwell's First Speech to his Parliament. 29. The Discovery of 
 America, from the Life of Columbus, by his son, Ferdinand Columbus. 
 30. Strabo's Introduction to Geography. 31. The Voyages to Vinland, 
 from the Saga of Eric the Red. 32. Marco Polo's Account of Japan and 
 Java. 33. Columbus's Letter to Gabriel Sanchez, describing the First 
 Voyage and Discovery. 34. Amerigo Vespucci's Account of his First 
 Voyage. 35. Cortes's Account of the City of Mexico. 36. The Death 
 of De Soto, from the " Narrative of a Gentleman of Elvas." 37. Early 
 Notices of the Voyages of the Cabots. 38. Henry Lee's Funeral Oration 
 on Washington. 39. De Vaca's Account of his Journey to New Me.xico, 
 1535- *0. Manasseh Cutler's Description of Ohio, 1787. 41. Wash- 
 ington's Journal of his Tour to the Ohio, 1770. 42. Garfield's Address on 
 the North-west Territory and the Western Reserve. 43. (George Rogers 
 Clark's Account of the Ca])ture of Vincennes, 1779. 44. Jefferson's Life 
 of Captain Meriwether Lewis. 45. Fremont's Account of his Ascent of 
 Fremont's Peak. 46. Father Marquette at Chicago, 1673. ^^- Washing- 
 ton's Account of the Army at Cambridge, 1775. ^^- Bradford's Memoir 
 of Elder Brewster. 49. Bradford's First Dialogue. 50. Winthrop's " Con- 
 clusions for the Plantation in New England." 51. " New England's First 
 Fruits," 1643. ^2. John Eliot's "Indian Grammar Begun." 53. John 
 Cotton's " God's Promise to his Plantation." 54. Letters of Roger Will- 
 iams to Winthrop. 55. Thomas Hooker's " Way of the Churches of New 
 England." 56. The Monroe Doctrine : President Monroe's Message of 
 1823. 57. The English Bible, selections from the various versions. 58. 
 Hooper's Letters to Bullinger. 59. Sir John Eliot's " Apology for Soc- 
 rates." 60. Ship-money Papers. 61. Pym's Speech against Strafford. 
 62. Cromwell's Second Speech. 63. Milton's "A Free Commonwealth." 
 64. Sir Henry Vane's Defence. 65. Washington's Addresses to the 
 Churches. 66. Winthrop's " Little Speech " on Liberty. 67. Cotton 
 Mather's " Bostonian Ebenezer," from the " Magnalia." 68. Governor 
 Hutchinson's Account of the Boston Tea Party. 69. Adrian Van der 
 Donck's Description of New Netherlands in 1655. 70. The Debate in 
 the Constitutional Convention on the Rules of Suffrage in Congress. 71. 
 Columbus's Memorial to Ferdinand and Isabella, on his Second Voyage. 
 72. The Dutch Declaration of Independence in 1 58 1. 73. Captain John 
 Knox's Account of the Battle of Quebec. 74. Hamilton's Report on 
 the Coinage. 75. William Penn's Plan for the Peace of Europe. 76. 
 Washington's Words on a National University. 77. Cotton Mather's 
 Lives of Bradford and Winthrop. 78. The First Number of T/w Liber- 
 ator. 79. Wendell Phillips's Eulogy of Garrison. 80. Theodore Par- 
 ker's Address on the Dangers from Slavery. 81. Whittier's Account of 
 
the Anti-slavery Convention of 1833. 82. Mrs. Stowe's Story of " Uncle 
 Tom's Cabin." 83. Sumner's Speech on the Crime against Kansas. 84. 
 The Words of John Brown. 85. The First Lincoln and Douglas Debate. 
 86. Washington's Account of his Capture of Boston. 87. The Manners 
 and Customs of the Indians, from Morton's " New English Canaan." 88. 
 The Beginning of King Philip's War, from Hubbard's History of Phihp's 
 War, 1677. 89. Account of the Founding of St. Augustine, by Francisco 
 Lopez de Mendoza Grajales. 90. Amerigo Vespucci's Account of his 
 Third Voyage. 91. Champlain's Account of the Founding of Quebec. 
 92. Barlowe's Account of the First Voyage to Roanoke. 93. Parker's 
 Account of the Settlement of Londonderry, N.H. 94. Juet's Account 
 of the Discovery of the Hudson River. 95. Pastorius's Description of 
 Pennsylvania, 1700. 96. Acrelius's Account of the Founding of New 
 Sweden. 97. Lafayette in the American Revolution. 98. Letters of 
 Washington and Lafayette. 99. Washington's Letters on the Constitu- 
 tion. 100. Robert Browne's " Reformation without Tarrying for Any." 
 101. Grotius's " Rights of War and Peace." 102. Columbus's Account 
 of Cuba. 103. John Adams's Inaugural. 104. Jefferson's Inaugurals. 
 105. Account of Louisiana in 1803. 106. Calhoun on the Government 
 of the United States. 107. Lincoln's Cooper Institute Address. 108. 
 Chancellor Livingston on the Invention of the Steamboat. 109. Plorace 
 Mann's Address on the Ground of the Free School System. 110. Rufus 
 Choate's Address on the Romance of New England History. 111. Kos- 
 suth's First Speech in Faneuil Hall. 112. King Alfred's Description of 
 Europe. 113. Augustine in England. 114. The Hague Arbitration 
 Treaty. 115. John Cabot's Discovery of North America. 116. Sir 
 Francis Drake on the Coast of California. 117. Frobisher's First Voy- 
 age. 118. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Expedition to Newfoundland. 119. 
 Raleigh's First Roanoke Colony. 120. Gosnold's Settlement at Cutty- 
 hunk. 121. Captain John Smith's Description of New England. 122. 
 Richard Hakluyt's Discourse on Western Planting. 123. Selections from 
 Dante's " Monarchia." 124. Selections from More's " Utopia." 125. 
 Wyclif's English Bible. 126. Brissot's Account of Boston in 1788. 
 127. The Ordinance of 1784. 128. The Cession of Louisiana. 129. 
 Monroe's Messages oh Florida. 130. Captain Potter's Account of the 
 Fall of the Alamo. 131. Porter's Account.^f the Discovery of the 
 Columbia River. 132. Sumner's Report on the War with Mexico. 133. 
 Seward's Address on Alaska. 
 
 The leaflets, which are sold at five cents a copy or four dollars per 
 hundred, are also furnished in bound volumes, each volume containing 
 twenty-five leaflets : Vol. i., Nos. 1-25 ; Vol. ii., 26-50 ; Vol. iii., 51-75 ; 
 Vol. iv., 76-100; Vol. v., 101-125. Price per volume, $1.50. Title- 
 pages with table of contents will be furnished to all purchasers of the 
 leaflets who wish to bind them for themselves. Annual series of 
 eight leaflets each, in paper covers, 50 cents a volume. 
 
 Address DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, Old South 
 Meeting-house, Boston. 
 
 It is hoped that this list of Old South Lectures and Leaflets will meet 
 the needs of many clubs and classes engaged in the study of history, as 
 
13 
 
 well as the needs of individual students, serving as a table of topics. The 
 subjects of the lectures in the various courses will be found to have a 
 logical sequence; and the leaflets accompanying the several lectures can 
 be used profitably in connection, containing as they do full historical notes 
 and references to the best literature on the subjects of the lectures. 
 
OLD SOUTH ESSAYS, 1S81-1901, 
 
 The Old South prizes for the best essays on subjects in American his- 
 tory were first offered by Mrs. Hemenway in iS8i, and they have been 
 awarded regularly in each successive year since. The competition is open 
 to all graduates of the various Boston high schools in the current year and 
 the preceding year. Two subjects are proposed each year, forty dollars 
 being awarded for the best essay on each of the subjects named, and 
 twenty-five dollars for the second best, — in all, four prizes. 
 
 The first prize essay for iSSi, on "The Policy of the early Colonists of 
 Massachusetts toward Quakers and Others whom they regarded as In- 
 truders," by Henry L. Southwick, and one of the first-prize essays for 
 1889, on " Washington's Interest in Education," by Miss Caroline C. 
 Stecker, have been printed, and can be procured at the Old South Meeting- 
 house. Another of the prize essays on " Washington's Interest in Educa- 
 tion," by Miss Julia K. Ordway, was published in the New England Maga- 
 zine, for May, 1890; one of the first-prize essays for 1890, on "Philip, 
 Pontiac, and Tecumseh," by Miss Caroline C. Stecker, appeared in the 
 New England Magazine for September, 1891 ; one of the first-prize essays 
 for 1891, on " Marco Polo's Explorations in Asia and their Influence upon 
 Columbus," by Miss Helen P. Margesson, in the number for August, 1892; 
 one for 1893, on "The Part of Massachusetts Men in the Ordinance of 
 1787," by Miss EHzabeth H. Tetlow, in March, 1895; and one for 1898, 
 on " The Stmggle of France and England for North America," by Caro- 
 line B. Shaw, in January, 1900. 
 
 The Old South essayists of these years now number over two hun- 
 dred; and they naturally represent the best historical scholarship of their 
 successive years in the Boston high schools. They have been organized 
 into an Old South Historical Society, which holds monthly meetings for 
 the reading of papers and general discussion. The meetings of the society 
 for the season of 1896-97 were devoted to the study of the Anti-slavery 
 Struggle. The general subject for the season of 1897-98 was "The Heri- 
 tage of Slavery," taking up reconstruction, the education of the freedmen, 
 etc. The subject for 189S-99 was " The History of the Spanish Power in 
 America." The 1899-1900 studies were of " Ecoiiomic and Social Forces 
 in Massachusetts to 1800." The courses for 1900-1901 and 1901-1902 
 were on "The Puritan Movement." 
 
 The society has also instituted annual historical pilgrimages, in which it 
 invites the young people of Boston and vicinity to join. Its first pilgrim- 
 age, in 1896, was to old Rutland, Mass., " the cradle of Ohio." Its second 
 pilgrimage, June, 1897, in which six hundred joined, was to the homes of 
 Whittier by the Merrimack. The third pilgrimage, June, 1S98, joined in 
 by an ecjual number, was to the King Philip Country, Mount Hope, R.I. 
 The 1899 i^ilgrimage was to Plymouth. The 1900 pilgrimage was to New- 
 buryport. The 1901 pilgrimage was to Newport. The 1902 pilgrimage 
 was to Portsmouth. 
 
 The subjects of the Old South essays from 1881 to 1902 are given below, 
 in the hope that they will prove suggestive and stimulating to other stu- 
 dents and societies. It will be observed that the subjects of the later 
 essays are closely related to the subjects of the lectures for the year. 
 
 1 88 1. What was the policy of the early colonists of Massachusetts toward 
 Quakers and others whom they regarded as intruders ? Was this policy in 
 any respect objectionable, and, if so, what excuses can be offered for it ? 
 
15 
 
 Why did the American colonies separate from the mother country? 
 Did the early settlers look forward to any such separation, and, if not, how 
 and when did the wish for it grow up? What was the difference between 
 the form of government which they finally adopted and that under which 
 they had before been living ? 
 
 1SS2. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain boys; or, the early history 
 of the New Hampshire grant, afterward called Vermont. 
 
 The town meeting in the Old South Meeting-house on July 22 and 28, 
 
 1774- 
 
 1883. The right and wrong of the policy of the United States toward 
 the North American Indians. 
 
 What were the defects of the "Articles of Confederation" between the 
 United States, and why was the "Constitution of the United States" sub- 
 stituted ? 
 
 1S84. Why did the Pilgrim Fathers come to New England? 
 
 The struggle to maintain the Massachusetts charter, to its final loss in 
 1684. Discuss the relation of the struggle to the subsequent struggle of 
 the colonies for independence. 
 
 1885. Slavery as it once prevailed in Massachusetts. 
 
 The " States Rights" doctrine in New England, with special reference to 
 the Hartford Convention. 
 
 1886. The Boston town meetings and their influence in the American 
 Revolution. 
 
 English opinion upon the American Revolution preceding and during 
 the war. 
 
 18S7. The Albany Convention of 1754, its history and significance, 
 with reference to previous and subsecjuent movements toward union in the 
 colonies. 
 
 Is a Congress of two houses or a Congress of one hoiise the better? 
 What was said about it in the Constitutional Convention, and what is to 
 be said about it to-day ? 
 
 1888. England's part in the Crusades, and the influence of the Crusades 
 upon the development of English liberty. 
 
 The political thought of Sir Henry Vane. Consider Vane's relations to 
 Cromwell and his influence upon America. 
 
 1889. The influence of French political thought upon America during 
 the period of the American and French Revolutions. 
 
 Washington's interest in the cause of education. Consider especially his 
 project of a national university. 
 
 1890. Efforts for the education of the Indians in the American colonies 
 before the Revolution. 
 
 King Philip, Pontiac, and Tecumseh : discuss their plans for Indian 
 union and compare their characters. 
 
 1891. The introduction of printing into England by William Ca.xton, 
 and its effects upon English literature and life. 
 
 Marco Polo's explorations in Asia, and their influence upon Columbus. 
 
 1592. The native races of Mexico, and their civilization at the time of 
 the conquest by Cortes. 
 
 English explorations in America during the century following the dis- 
 covery by Columbus. 
 
 1593. The part taken by Massachusetts men in connection with the 
 Ordinance of 1787. 
 
 Coronado and the early Spanish explorations of New Mexico. 
 
i6 
 
 1894. The relations of the founders of New England to the Univer- 
 sities of Cambridge and Oxford. 
 
 The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and their place in the history 
 of written constitutions. 
 
 1895. New England politics as affected by the changes in England 
 from 1629 to 1692, the dates of the two Massachusetts charters. 
 
 The character of Cromwell as viewed by his contemporaries. Consider 
 especially the tributes of Milton and Marvell. 
 
 1S96. Early historical writings in America, from Captain John Smith to 
 Governor Hutchinson. 
 
 The Harvard historians, and the services of Harvard University for 
 American history. 
 
 1897. The history of slavery in the Northern States and of Anti-sla- 
 very Sentiment in the South before the Civil War. 
 
 The Anti-slavery movement in American literature. 
 
 1898. The Struggle of France and England for North America, from 
 the founding of Quebec by Champlain till the capture of Quebec by 
 Wolfe. 
 
 The History of Immigration to the United States from the close of the 
 Revolution to the present time. Consider the race and character of the 
 immigrants in the earlier and later periods. 
 
 1899. The American Revolution under Washington and the English 
 Revolution under Cromwell : Compare their Causes, Aims, and Results. 
 
 Washington's Plan for a National University : The Argument for it a 
 Hundred Years Ago and the Argument To-day. 
 
 1900. The Monroe Doctrine: Its History and Purpose. 
 Longfellow's Poetry of America: His Use of American Subjects and his 
 
 Services for American History. 
 
 1 90 1. The Explorations of the New England Coast previous to the 
 landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, with special reference to the early maps. 
 
 The Services of Richard Hakluyt in promoting the English coloniza- 
 tion of America. 
 
 1902. The Political History of the Louisiana Territory, from the Treaty 
 of Paris in 1763 to the Admission of Louisiana as a State in 181 2. 
 
 Explorations beyond the Mississippi, from the Discovery of the Colum- 
 bia River by Captain Gray to the Last Expedition under Fremont. 
 
No. 126. 
 
 Boston 
 
 in 1788. 
 
 JEAN PIERRE BRISSOT. 
 
 From "New Travels in the United States of America," by 
 
 Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville, published in 
 
 Paris in itqi- 
 
 Boston, July 30, 17SS. 
 
 With what joy, my good friend, did I leap to this shore of 
 Uberty ! I was weary of the sea ; and the sight of trees, of 
 towns, and even of men, gives a dehcious refreshment to eyes 
 fatigued with the desert of the ocean, I flew from despotism, 
 and came at last to enjoy the spectacle of liberty among a peo- 
 ple where nature, education, and habit had engraved the equality 
 of rights, which everywhere else is treated as a chimera. With 
 what pleasure did I contemplate this town, which first shook 
 off the English yoke ! which, for a long time, resisted all the 
 seductions, all the menaces, all the horrors of a civil war ! How 
 I delighted to wander up and down that long street whose 
 simple houses of wood border the magnificent channel of 
 Boston, and whose full stores offer me all the productions of the 
 continent which I had quitted 1 How I enjoyed the activity of 
 the merchants, the artisans, and the sailors 1 It was not the 
 noisy vortex of Paris ; it was not the unquiet, eager mien of my 
 countrymen; it was the simple, dignified air of men who are 
 conscious of liberty, and who see in all men their brothers and 
 their equals. Everything in this street bears the marks of a 
 town still in its infancy, but which, even its infancy, enjoys 
 a great prosperity. I thought myself in that Salentum of which 
 the lively pencil of Fe'nelon has left us so charming an image. 
 But the prosperity of this new Salentum was not the work of 
 
one man, of a king, or a minister ; it is the fruit of liberty, that 
 mother of industry. Everything is rapid, everything great, 
 everything durable with her. A royal or ministerial prosperity, 
 like a king or a minister, has only the duration of a moment. 
 Boston is just rising from the devastations of war, and its com- 
 merce is flourishing ; its manufactures, productions, arts, and 
 sciences offer a number of curious and interesting observa- 
 tions. 
 
 The manners of the people are not exactly the same as de- 
 scribed by M. de Crevecoeur. You no longer meet here that 
 Presbyterian austerity which interdicted all pleasures, even 
 that of walking ; which forbade travelling on Sunday ; which 
 persecuted men whose opinions were different from their own. 
 The Bostonians unite simplicity of morals with that French 
 politeness and delicacy of manners which render virtue more 
 amiable. They are hospitable to strangers, and obliging 
 to friends. They are tender husbands, fond and almost 
 idolatrous parents, and kind masters. Music, which their 
 teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolic art, begins to make 
 part of their education. In some houses you hear the forte- 
 piano. This art, it is true, is still in its infancy ; but the young 
 novices who exercise it are so gentle, so complaisant and so 
 modest, that the proud perfection of art gives no pleasure equal 
 to what they afford. God grant that the Bostonian women may 
 never, like those of France, acquire the malady of perfection 
 in this art ! It is never attained but at the expense of the do- 
 mestic virtues. 
 
 The 3'oung women here enjoy the liberty they do in England, 
 that they did in Geneva when morals were there, and the republic 
 existed ; and they do not abuse it. Their frank and tender 
 hearts have nothing to fear from the perfidy of men. Ex- 
 amples of this perfidy are rare ; the vows of love are believed ; 
 and love always respects them, or shame follows the guilty. 
 
 The Bostonian mothers are reserved. Their air is, however, 
 frank, good and communicative. Entirely devoted to their 
 families, they are occupied in rendering their husbands happy, 
 and in training their children to virtue. 
 
 The law denounces heavy penalties against adultery, such as 
 the pillory and imprisonment. This law has scarcely ever 
 been called into execution. It is because families are happy ; 
 and they are pure because they are happy. 
 
Neatness without luxui'}- is a characteristic feature of this purity 
 of manners ; and this neatness is seen everywhere at Boston, 
 in their dress, in their houses, and in their churches. Nothing 
 is more charming than an inside view of a church on Sunday. 
 The good cloth coat covers the man ; caUcoes and chintzes 
 dress the women and children, without being spoiled by those 
 gewgaws which whim and caprice have added to them among 
 our women. Powder and pomatum never sully the heads of 
 infants and children: I see them with pain, however, on the 
 heads of men : they invoke the art of the hair-dresser ; for, un- 
 happily, this art has already crossed the seas. 
 
 I shall never call to mind, without emotion, the pleasure I 
 had one day in hearing the respectable Mr. Clarke, successor to 
 the learned Dr. Chauncey, the friend of mankind. His church 
 is in close union with that of Dr. Cooper, to whom every good 
 Frenchman, and every friend of liberty, owes a tribute of grati- 
 tude for the love he bore the French, and the zeal with which 
 he defended and preached the American independence. I re- 
 marked in this auditory the exterior of that ease and content- 
 ment of which I have spoken ; that collected calmness, resulting 
 from the habit of gravity, and the conscious presence of the 
 Almighty ; that religious decency which is equally distant from 
 grovelling idolatry, and from the light and wanton airs of those 
 Europeans who go to a church as to a theatre. 
 
 Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsre. 
 
 But, to crown my happiness, I saw none of those livid 
 wretches, covered with rags, who in Europe, soliciting our com- 
 passion at the foot of the altar, seem to bear testimony against 
 Providence, our humanity, and the order of society. The dis- 
 course, the prayer, the worship, everything, bore the same sim- 
 plicity. The sermon breathed the best morality, and it was 
 heard with attention. 
 
 The excellence of this morality characterizes almost all the 
 sermons of all the sects through the Continent. The minis- 
 ters rarely speak dogmas : universal tolerance, the child of 
 American independence, has banished the preaching of dogmas, 
 which always leads to discussion and quarrels. All the sects 
 admit nothing but morality, which is the same in all, and the 
 only preaching proper for a great society of brothers. 
 
 This tolerance is unlimited at Boston, a town formerly wit- 
 
 3 
 
ness of bloody persecutions, especially against the Quakers, 
 where many of this sect paid with their life for their persever- 
 ance in their religious opinions. Just Heaven ! how is it pos- 
 sible there can exist men believing sincerely in God, and yet 
 barbarous enough to inflict death on a woman, the intrepid Dyer, 
 because she t/iee''d and thou'd men, because she did not believe 
 in the divine mission of priests, because she would follow the 
 Gospel literally ? But let us draw the curtain over these scenes 
 of horror ; they will never again sully this new continent, des- 
 tined by Heaven to be the asylum of hberty and humanity. 
 Every one at present worships God in his own way, at Bos- 
 ton. Anabaptists Methodists, Quakers, and Catholics profess 
 openly their opinions ; and all offices of government, places, 
 and emoluments are equally open to all sects. Virtue and 
 talents, and not religious opinions, are the tests of public con- 
 fidence. 
 
 The ministers of different sects live in such harmony that 
 they supply each other's places when any one is detained from 
 his pulpit. 
 
 On seeing men think so differently on matters of religion, and 
 yet possess such virtues, it may be concluded that one may be 
 very honest, and believe, or not beheve, in transubstantiation, 
 and the word. They have concluded that it is best to tolerate 
 each other, and that this is the worship most agreeable to God. 
 
 Before this opinion was so general among them they had estab- 
 lished another ; it was the necessity of reducing divine worship 
 to the greatest simplicity, to disconnect it from all its supersti- 
 tious ceremonies, which gave it the appearance of idolatry ; 
 and, particularly, not to give their priests Tnormous salaries, to 
 enable them to live in luxury and idleness ; in a word, to restore 
 the evangelical simplicity. They have succeeded. In the 
 country, the church has a glebe ; in town, the ministers live on 
 collections made each Sunday in the church, and the rents of 
 pews. It is an excellent practice to induce the ministers to be 
 diligent in their studies, and faithful in their duty ; for the pref- 
 erence is given to him whose discourses please the most, and 
 his salary is the most considerable ; while, among us, the igno- 
 rant and the learned, the debauchee and the man of virtue, are 
 always sure of their livings. It results, likewise, from this that 
 a mode of worship will not be imposed on those who do not 
 believe in it. Is it not a tyranny to force men to pay for the 
 support of a system which they abhor ? 
 
5 
 
 The Bostonians are become so philosophical on the subject 
 of religion that they have lately ordained a man who was re- 
 fused by the bishop. The sect to which he belongs have in- 
 stalled him in their church, and given him the power to preach 
 and to teach ; and he preaches, and he teaches, and discovers 
 good abilities ; for the people rarely deceive themselves in their 
 choice. This economical institution, which has no example 
 but in the primitive church, has been censured by those who 
 believe still in the tradition of orders by the direct descendants 
 of the Apostles. But the Bostonians are so near believing that 
 every man may be his own preacher that the apostolic doctrine 
 has not found very warm advocates. They will soon be, in 
 America, in the situation where M. d'Alembert has placed the 
 ministers of Geneva. 
 
 Since the ancient puritan austerity has disappeared, you are 
 no longer surprised to see a game of cards introduced among 
 these good Presbyterians. When the mind is tranquil, in the 
 enjoyment of competence and peace, it is natural to occupy it in 
 this way, especially in a country where there is no theatre, 
 where men make it not a business to pay court to the women, 
 where they read few books, and cultivate still less the sciences. 
 This taste for cards is certainly unhappy in a republican state. 
 The habit of them contracts the mind, prevents the acquisition 
 of useful knowledge, leads to idleness and dissipation, and gives 
 birth to every malignant passion. Happily, it is not very con- 
 siderable in Boston : you see here no fathers of families risking 
 their whole fortunes in it. 
 
 There are many clubs at Boston. ]M. Chastellux speaks of a 
 particular club held once a week. I was at it several times, 
 and was much pleased with their politeness to strangers, and 
 the knowledge displayed in their conversation. There is no 
 coffee-house at Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. One house 
 in each town, that they call by that name, serves as an ex- 
 change. 
 
 One of the principal pleasures of the inhabitants of these 
 towns consists in little parties for the country among families 
 and friends. The principal expense of the parties, especially 
 after dinner, is tea. In this, as in their whole manner of living, 
 the Americans in general resemble the English. Punch, warm 
 and cold, before dinner ; excellent beef, and Spanish and Bor- 
 deaux wines, cover their tables, always solidly and abundantly 
 
 5 
 
served. Spruce beer, excellent cider, and Philadelphia porter 
 precede the wines. This porter is equal to the English : 
 the manufacture of it saves a vast tribute formerly paid to the 
 English industry. The same may soon be said with respect to 
 cheese. I have often found American cheese equal to the best 
 Cheshire of England, or the Rocfort of France. This may 
 with truth be said of that made on a farm on Elizabeth Island, 
 belonging to the respectable Governor Bowdoin. 
 
 After forcing the English to give up their domination, the 
 Americans determined to rival them in everything useful. 
 This spirit of emulation shows itself everywhere ; it has erected 
 at Boston an extensive glass manufactory, belonging to M. 
 Breck and others. 
 
 This spirit of emulation has opened to the Bostonians so 
 many channels of commerce, which lead them to all parts of 
 the globe. 
 
 Nil mortalibus arduum est ; 
 Audax Japeti genus. 
 
 If these Hues could ever apply to any people, it is to the free 
 Americans. No danger, no distance, no obstacle, impedes 
 them. What have they to fear ? All mankind are their 
 brethren : they wish peace with all. 
 
 It is this spirit of emulation which multiplies and brings to 
 perfection so many manufactories of cordage in this town ; 
 which has erected filatures of hemp and flax, proper to occupy 
 young people, without subjecting them to be crowded together 
 in such numbers as to ruin their healtk. and their morals ; 
 proper, likewise, to occupy that class of women whom the long 
 voyages of their seafaring husbands and other accidents reduce 
 to inoccupation. 
 
 To this spirit of emulation are owing the manufactories of 
 salt, nails, paper and paper-hangings, which are multiplied in 
 this state. The rum distilleries are on the decline since the 
 suppression of the slave trade, in which this liquor was em- 
 ployed, and since the diminution of the use of strong spirits by 
 the country people. 
 
 This is fortunate for the human race ; and the American in- 
 dustry will soon repair the small'loss it sustains from the decline 
 of this fabrication of poisons. 
 
 Massachusetts wishes to rival, in manufactures, Connecticut 
 6 
 
and Pennsylvania ; she has, like the last, a society formed 
 for the encouragement of manufactures and industry. 
 
 The greatest monuments of the industry of this state are the 
 three bridges of Charles, Maiden, and Essex. 
 
 Boston has the glory of having given the first college or 
 university to the new world. It is placed on an extensive 
 plain, four miles from Boston, at a place called Cambridge ; the 
 origin of this useful institution was in 1636. The imagination 
 could not fix on a place that could better unite all the conditions 
 essential to a seat of education ; sufficiently near to Boston to 
 enjoy all the advantages of a communication with Europe and 
 the rest of the world, and sufficiently distant not to expose the 
 students to the contagion of licentious manners common in 
 commercial towns. 
 
 The air of Cambridge is pure, and the environs charming, 
 offering a vast space for the exercise of the youth. 
 
 The buildings are large, numerous, and well distributed. 
 But, as the number of the students augments every day, it 
 will be necessary soon to augment the buildings. The library, 
 and the cabinet of philosophy, do honor to the institution. 
 The first contains 13,000 volumes. The heart of a Frenchman 
 palpitates on finding the works of Racine, of Montesquieu, and 
 the Encyclopredia where 150 years ago, arose the smoke of 
 the savage calumet. 
 
 The regulation of the course of studies here is nearly the 
 same as that at the university of Oxford. I think it impossible 
 but that the last revolution must introduce a great reform. 
 Free men ought to strip themselves of their prejudices, and to 
 perceive that, above all, it is necessary to be a man and a 
 citizen ; and that the study of the dead languages, of a fastidious 
 philosophy and theology, ought to occupy few of the moments 
 of a life which might be usefully employed in studies more 
 advantageous to the great family of a human race. 
 
 Such a change in the studies is more probable, as an academy 
 is formed at Boston, composed of respectable men, who culti- 
 vate all the sciences ; and who, disengaged from religious 
 prejudices, will doubtless very soon point out a course of 
 education more short, and more sure in forming good citizens 
 and philosophers. 
 
 Mr. Bowdoin, president of this academy, is a man of uni- 
 versal talents. He unites with his profound erudition the 
 
8 
 
 virtues of a magistrate and the principles of a republican 
 politician. His conduct has never disappointed the confidence 
 of his fellow-citizens ; though his son-in-law, Mr. Temple, has 
 incurred their universal detestation for the versatility of his 
 conduct during the war, and his open attachment to the British 
 since the peace. To recompense him for this, the English 
 have given him the consulate-general of America. 
 
 But to return to the university of Cambridge, superintended 
 by the respectable President Willard. Among the associates 
 in the direction of studies are distinguished Dr. Wiggles- 
 worth and Dr. Dexter. The latter is professor of natural phi- 
 losophy, chemistry, and medicine ; a man of extensive knowl- 
 edge, and great modesty. He told me, to my great satisfaction, 
 that he gave lectures on the experiments of our school of chem- 
 istry. The excellent work of my respectable master, Dr. Four- 
 croy, was in his hands, which taught him the rapid strides that 
 this science has lately made in Europe. 
 
 In a free country everything ought to bear the stamp of pa- 
 triotism. This patriotism, so happily displayed in the founda- 
 tion, endowment, and encouragement of this university, appears 
 every year in a solemn feast celebrated at Cambridge in honor 
 of the Sciences. This feast, which takes place once a year in 
 all the colleges of America, is called the conwiencement ; it re- 
 sembles the exercises and distribution of prizes in our colleges. 
 It is a day of joy for Boston ; almost all its inhabitants assemble 
 in Cambridge. The most distinguished of the students displa}" 
 their talents in the presence of the public ; and these exercises, 
 which are generally on patriotic subjectsy-are terminated by a 
 feast, where reign the freest gayety and the most cordial fra- 
 ternity. 
 
 It is remarked, that in countries chiefly devoted to commerce 
 the sciences are not carried to any high degree. This remark 
 applies to Boston. The university certainly contains men of 
 worth and learning; but science is not diffused among the in- 
 habitants of the town. Commerce occupies all their ideas, turns 
 all their heads, and absorbs all their speculations. Thus you 
 find few estimable works, and few authors. The expense of the 
 first volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of this town is not 
 yet covered ; it is two years since it appeared. Some time 
 since was published the History of the late Troubles in Massa- 
 chusetts ; it is very well written. The author has found much 
 8 
 
difficulty to indemnify himself for the expense of printing it. 
 Never has the whole of the precious history of New Hampshire, 
 by Belknap, appeared, for want of encouragement. 
 
 Poets, for the same reason, must be more rare than other 
 writers. They speak, however, of an original but lazy poet, 
 by the name of Allen. His verses are said to be full of 
 warmth and force. They mention, particularly, a manuscript 
 poem of his on the famous battle of Bunker Hill ; but he will 
 not print it. He has for his reputation and his money the 
 carelessness of La Fontaine. 
 
 They pubhsh a magazine here, though the number of 
 gazettes is very considerable. The multiplicity of gazettes 
 proves the activity of commerce, and the taste for pohtics and 
 news ; the merits and multiplicity of literary and political 
 magazines are signs of the culture of the sciences. 
 
 You may judge from these details that the arts, except those 
 that respect navigation, do not receive much encouragement 
 here. The history of the planetarium of Mr. Pope is a proof 
 of it. Mr. Pope is a very ingenious artist, occupied in clock- 
 making. The machine which he has constructed, to explain 
 the movement of the heavenly bodies, would astonish you, 
 especially when you consider that he has received no succor 
 from Europe, and very little from books. He owes the whole 
 to himself ; he is, like the painter Trumbull, the child of 
 nature. Ten years of his life have been occupied in perfecting 
 this planetarium. He had opened a subscription to recompense 
 his trouble ; but the subscription was never full. 
 
 This discouraged artist told me one day that he was going 
 to Europe to sell this machine, and to construct others. This 
 country, said he, is too poor to encourage the arts. These 
 words, this country is too poor, struck me. I reflected that, if they 
 were pronounced in Europe, they might lead to wrong ideas of 
 America ; for the idea of poverty carries that of rags, of hunger ; 
 and no country is more distant from that sad condition. When 
 riches are centred in a few hands, these have a great super- 
 fluity ; and this superfluity may be applied to their pleasures, 
 and to favor the agreeable and frivolous arts. When riches are 
 equally divided in society, there is very little superfluity, and 
 consequently little means of encouraging the agreeable arts. 
 But which of these two countries is the rich, and which is the 
 poor ? According to the European ideas, and in the sense of 
 
lO 
 
 Mr. Pope, it is the tirst that is rich ; but to the eye of reason it 
 is not, for the other is the happiest. Hence it results that the 
 abiUty of giving encouragement to tlie agreeable arts is a symp- 
 tom of national calamity. 
 
 Let us not blame the Bostonians ; they think of the useful 
 before procuring to themselves the agreeable. They have no 
 brilliant monuments ; but they have neat and commodious 
 churches, but they have good houses, but they have superb 
 bridges, and excellent ships. Their streets are well illuminated 
 at night ; while many ancient cities of Europe, containing proud 
 monuments of art, have never yet thought of preventing the 
 fatal effects of nocturnal darkness. 
 
 Besides the societies for the encouragement of agriculture 
 and manufactures, they have another, known by the name of the 
 Humane Society. Their object is to recover drowned persons. 
 It is formed after the model of the one at London, as that is 
 copied from the one at Paris. They follow the same methods 
 as in Europe, and have rendered important succors. 
 
 The Medical Society is not less useful than the one last 
 mentioned. It holds a correspondence with all the country 
 towns ; to know the symptoms of local diseases, propose the 
 prop'er remedies, and give mstruction thereupon to their fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 Another estabUshment is the almshouse. It is destined to 
 the poor who, by age and infirmity, are unable to gain their 
 living. It contains at present about 150 persons. 
 
 Another, called the workhouse, or house of correction, is not 
 so much peopled as you might imagine. J^n a rising countr}^, 
 in an active port, where provisions are cheap, good morals 
 predominate, and the number of thieves and vagabonds is 
 small. These are vermin attached to misery ; and there is no 
 misery here. 
 
 The state of exports and imports of this industrious people, 
 to prove to you how many new branches of commerce they 
 have opened since the peace, I refer to the general table of the 
 commerce of the United States, which I propose to lay before 
 you. 
 
 An employment which is, unhappily, one of the most lucra- 
 tive in this state, is the profession of the law. They preserve 
 still the expensive forms of the English practice, which good 
 sense, and the love of order, ought to teach them to suppress ; 
 10 
 
II 
 
 they render advocates necessary : they have likewise borrowed 
 from their fathers, the Enghsh, the habit of demanding ex- 
 orbitant fees. But, notwithstanding the abuses of law proceed- 
 ings, they complain very little of the lawyers. Those with 
 whom I have been acquainted appear to enjoy a great reputa- 
 tion for integrity, such as Sumner, Wendell, Lowell, Sullivan. 
 
 They did themselves honor in the affair of the Tender Act, 
 by endeavoring to prevent it from being enacted, and after- 
 wards to diminish as much as possible its unjust effects. 
 
 It is in part to their enlightened philanthropy that is to be 
 attributed the law of the 26th of March, 1788, which condemns 
 to heavy penalties all persons who shall import or export 
 slaves, or be concerned in this infamous traffic. 
 
 Finally, they have had a great part in the Revolution, by 
 their writings, by their discourses, by taking the lead in the 
 affairs of Congress, and in foreign negotiations. 
 
 To recall this memorable period is to bring to mind one of 
 the greatest ornaments of the American bar, the celebrated 
 Adams, who from the humble station of a schoolmaster has 
 raised himself to the first dignities, whose name is as much 
 respected in Europe as in his own country for the difficult em- 
 bassies with which he has been charged. He has finally re- 
 turned to his retreat, in the midst of the applauses of his 
 fellow-citizens, occupied in the cultivation of his farm, and for- 
 getting what he was when he trampled on the pride of his king, 
 who had put a price upon his head, and who was forced to re- 
 ceive him as the ambassador of a free county. Such were the 
 generals and ambassadors of the best ages of Rome and Greece ; 
 such were Epaminondas, Cincinnatus, and Fabius. 
 
 It is not possible to see Mr. Adams, who knows so well the 
 American constitutions, without speaking to him of that w'hich 
 appears to be taking place in France. I don't know whether 
 he has an ill-opinion of our character, of our constancy, or of 
 our understanding; but he does not believe that we can estab- 
 lish a liberty even equal to what the English enjoy ; he does 
 not believe even that we have the right, Uke the ancient States- 
 General, to require that no tax should be imposed without the 
 consent of the people. I had no difficulty in combating him, 
 even by authorities, independent of the social compact, against 
 which no time, no concessions, can prescribe. 
 
 Mr. Adams is not the only man distinguished in this great 
 
12 
 
 revolution who has retired to the obscure labors of a country 
 life. General Heath is one of those worthy imitators of the 
 Roman Cincinnatus , for he likes not the American Cincitinati ; 
 their eagle appears to him a gewgaw, proper only for children. 
 On showing me a letter from the immortal Washington, whom 
 he loves as a father, and reveres as an angel, this letter, says 
 he, is a jewel which, in my eyes, surpasses all the eagles and all 
 the ribbons in the world. It was a letter in which that general 
 had felicitated him for his good conduct on a certain occasion. 
 With what joy did this respectable man show me all parts of his 
 farm ! What happiness he enjoys on it ! He is a true farmer. 
 A glass of cider, which he presented to me with frankness and 
 good humor painted on his countenance, appeared to me 
 superior to the most exquisite wines. With this simplicity, men 
 are worthy of liberty, and they are sure of enjoying it for a 
 long time. 
 
 This simplicity characterizes almost all the men of this state 
 who have acted distinguished parts in the revolution : such, 
 among others, as Samuel Adams, and Mr. Hancock, the present 
 governor. If ever a man was sincerely an idolater of re- 
 publicanism, it is Samuel Adams ; and never a man united 
 more virtues to give respect to his opinions. He has the 
 excess of republican virtues, untainted probity, simplicity, mod- 
 esty,* and, above all, firmness : he will have no capitulation 
 with abuses ; he fears as much the despotism of virtue and 
 talents as the despotism of vice. Cherishing the greatest love 
 and respect for Washington, he voted to take from him the 
 command at the end of a certain term ; he recollected that 
 C;t;sar could not have succeeded in overturning the republic 
 but by prolonging the command of the army. The event has 
 proved that the application was false ; but it was by a miracle, 
 and the safety of a country should never be risked on the faith 
 of a miracle. 
 
 Samuel Adams is the best supporter of the party of Gov- 
 ernor Hancock. You know the great sacrifices which the 
 latter made in the revolution, and the boldness with which he 
 declared himself at the beginning of the insurrection. The 
 same spirit of patriotism animates him still, A great gen- 
 
 * When I compare our legislators, with their airs of importance, always fearing they shall 
 not make noise enough, that they shall not be sufficiently praised, — when I compare them to 
 these modest republicans, 1 fear for the success of the revolution. The vain man can never 
 be far from slavery. 
 
13 
 
 erosity, united to a vast ambition, forms his character : he has 
 the virtues and the address of popularism ; that is to say, that 
 without effort he shews himself the equal and the friend of all. 
 I supped at his house with a hatter, who appeared to be in 
 great familiarity with him. Mr. Hancock is amiable and 
 polite when he wishes to be ; but they say he does not always 
 choose it. He has a marvellous gout, which dispenses him 
 from all attentions, and forbids the access to his house. Mr. 
 Hancock has not the learning of his rival, Mr. Bowdoin ; he 
 seems even to disdain the sciences. The latter is more es- 
 teemed by enlightened men ; the former more beloved by the 
 people. Among the partisans of the governor, I distinguished 
 two brothers, by the name of Jarvis : one is comptroller-general 
 of the state ; the other, a physician, and member of the 
 legislature. The first has as much calmness of examination 
 and profundit}' of thought as the latter has of rapidity in his 
 penetration, agility in his ideas, and vivacity in his expression. 
 They resemble each other in one point, that is, in simplicity- — 
 the first of republican virtues : a virtue born with the Americans, 
 and only acquired with us. If I were to paint to you all the 
 estimable characters which I found in this charming town, my 
 portraits would never be finished. 1 found everywhere that 
 hospitality, that affability, that friendship for the French which 
 M. Chastellux has so much exalted. I found them especially 
 with Messrs. Breck, Russel, Gore, Barrett, t*tc. 
 
 The parts adjacent to Boston are charming and well culti- 
 vated, adorned with elegant houses and agreeable situations. 
 Among the surrounding eminences you distinguish Bunker Hill, 
 This name will recall to your mind the famous Warren, one of 
 the first martyrs of American, liberty. I owed an homage to his 
 generous manes ; and I was eager to pay it. You arrive at 
 Bunker Hill by the superb bridge at Charlestown, of which I have 
 spoken. This town was entirely burnt by the English in their 
 attack of Bunker Hill. It is at present rebuilt with elegant 
 houses of wood. You see here the store of Mr. Gorham, for- 
 merly president of Congress. This hill offers one of the most 
 astonishing monuments of American valor ; it is impossible to 
 conceive how seven or eight hundred men, badly armed, and 
 fatigued, having just constructed, in haste, a few miserable in- 
 trenchments, and who knew nothing, or very little, of the use of 
 arms, could resist, for so long a time, the attack of thousands 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 of the English troops, fresh, well-disciplined, succeeding each 
 other in the attack. But such was the vigorous resistance of 
 the Americans that the English lost 1200 men, killed and 
 wounded, before they became master of the place. Observe 
 that they had two frigates, which, crossing their fire on Charles- 
 town, prevented the arrival of succor to the Americans. Yet it 
 is very probable that the English would have been forced to 
 retire, had not the Americans failed in ammunition. 
 
 While the friend of liberty is contemplating this scene, and 
 dropping a tear to the memory of Warren, his emotions of en- 
 thusiasm are renewed on viewing the expressive picture of the 
 death of that warrior, painted by Mr. Trumbull, whose talents 
 may equal, one day, those of the most famous masters. 
 
 I must finish this long, and too long, letter. Many objects 
 remain still to entertain you with in this state, such as the con- 
 stitution, debts, taxes ; but I refer them to the general table 
 which I shall make of them for the United States. The 
 taxable heads of this state are upwards of 100,000, acres of 
 arable land 200,000, pasturage 340,000, uncultivated 2,000,000, 
 tons of shipping at Boston 60,000. 
 
 VISIT TO MT. VERNON. 
 
 I hastened to arrive at Mt. Vernon, the seat of General 
 Washington, ten miles below Alexandria on the same river. 
 On this route you traverse a considerable wood ; and, after 
 having passed over two hills, you discoverji country house of 
 an elegant and majestic simplicity. It is preceded by grass 
 plats. On one side of the avenue are the stables, on the other 
 a green-house and houses for a number of negro mechanics. 
 In a spacious back yard are turkeys, geese, and other poultry. 
 This house overlooks the Potomac, enjoys an extensive pros- 
 pect, has a vast and elevated portico on the front next the 
 river, and a convenient distribution of the apartments within. 
 The general came home in the evening, fatigued with having 
 been to lay out a new road in some part of his plantations. 
 You have often heard him compared to Cincinnatus. The 
 comparison is doubtless just. This celebrated general is noth- 
 ing more at present than a good farmer, constantly occupied 
 in the care of his farm and the improvement of cultivation. 
 14 
 
IS 
 
 He has lately built a barn, one hundred feet in length and 
 considerably more in breadth, destined to receive the produc- 
 tions of his farm, and to shelter his cattle, horses, asses, and 
 mules. It is built on a plan sent him by that famous English 
 farmer, Arthur Young. But the general has much improved 
 the plan. This building is in brick. It cost but three hun- 
 dred pounds. I am sure in France it would have cost three 
 thousand. He planted this year eleven hundred bushels of 
 potatoes. All this is new in Virginia, where they know not 
 the use of barns, and where they lay up no provisions for their 
 cattle. His three hundred negroes are distributed in differ- 
 ent log houses in different parts of his plantation, which in 
 this neighborhood consists of ten thousand acres. Colonel 
 Humphreys, that poet of whom I have spoken, assured me 
 that the general possesses, in different parts of the country, 
 more than two hundred thousand acres. 
 
 Everything has an air of simplicity in his house. His table 
 is good, but not ostentatious ; and no deviation is seen from 
 regularity and domestic economy. Mrs. Washington super- 
 intends the whole, and joins to the qualities of an excellent 
 housewife that simple dignity which ought to characterize a 
 woman whose husband has acted the greatest part on the 
 theatre of human affairs, while she possesses that amenity, 
 and manifests that attention to strangers which render hos- 
 pitality so charming. The same virtues are conspicuous in 
 her interesting niece ; but unhappily she appears not to enjoy 
 good health. 
 
 M. de Chastellux has mingled too much of the brilliant in 
 his portrait of General Washington. His eye bespeaks great 
 goodness of heart, manly sense marks all his answers, and 
 he sometimes animates in conversation ; but he has no char- 
 acteristic features, which renders it difficult to seize him. 
 He announces a profound discretion and a great diffidence in 
 himself, but at the same time an unshaken firmness of char- 
 acter when once he has made his decision. His modesty is 
 astonishing to a Frenchman. He speaks of the American war 
 and of his victories as of things in which he had no direction. 
 
 He spoke to me of M. de Lafayette with the greatest 
 tenderness. He regarded him as his child, and foresaw, with 
 a joy mixed with inquietude, the part that this pupil was going 
 to act in the approaching revolution of France. He could not 
 
 15 
 
i6 
 
 predict, ■with clearness, the event of this revolution. If, on the 
 one side, he acknowledges the ardor and enthusiasm of the 
 French character, on the other he saw an astonishing venera- 
 tion for their ancient government and for those monarchs 
 whose inviolability appeared to him a strange idea. 
 
 After passing three days in the house of this celebrated man, 
 who loaded me with kindness, and gave me much information 
 relative to the late war and the present situation of the United 
 States, I returned to Alexandria. 
 
 THE WESTERN TERRITORY. 
 
 I have not the time, my friend, to describe to you the new country 
 of the west ; which, though at present unknown to the Europeans, 
 must, from the nature of things, very soon merit the attention of 
 every commercial and manufacturing nation. I shall lay before you 
 at present only a general view of these astonishing settlements, and 
 refer to another time the details which a speculative philosopher 
 may be able to draw from them. At the foot of the Alleghanies, 
 whose summits, however, do not threaten the heavens, like those of 
 the Andes and the Alps, begins an immense plain, intersected with 
 hills of a gentle ascent, and watered everywhere with streams of all 
 sizes; the soil is from three to seven feet deep, and of an astonish- 
 ing fertility: it is proper for every kind of culture, and it multiplies 
 cattle almost without the care of man. 
 
 It is there that those establishments are formed whose prosperity 
 attracts so many emigrants; such as Kentucky, Frankland, Cumber- 
 land, Holston, Muskingum, and Scioto. 
 
 The oldest and most flourishing of these is Kentucky, which 
 began in 1775, had 8,000 mhabitants in 1782, 50,000 in 1787, and 
 70,000 in 1790 [?]. It will soon be a state. 
 
 Cumberland, situated in the neighborhood of Kentucky, contains 
 8,000 inhabitants, Holston 5,000, and Frankland 25,000. 
 
 On beholding the multiplication and happiness of the human spe- 
 cies in these rapid and prosperous settlements, and comparing them 
 with the languor and debility of colonies formed by despots, how 
 august and venerable does the aspect of liberty appear! Her power 
 is ecpial to her will : she commands, and forests are overturned, 
 mountains sink to cultivated plains, and nature prepares an asylum 
 for numerous generations ; while the proud city of Palmyra perishes 
 with its haughty founder, and its ruins attest to the world that 
 nothing is durable but what is founded and fostered by freedom. It 
 appears that Kentucky will preserve its advantage over the other 
 16 
 
17 
 
 settlements on the soutli : its territory is more extensive, its soil more 
 fertile, and its inhabitants more numerous ; it is situated on the 
 Ohio, navigable at almost all seasons : this last advantage is equally 
 enjoyed by the two settlements of which I am going to spealv. The 
 establishment at Muskingum was formed in 1788, by a number of 
 emigrants from New England, belonging to the Ohio Company. 
 The Muskingum is a river which falls into the Ohio from the west. 
 These people have an excellent soil, and every prospect of success. 
 
 From these proprietors is formed another association, whose name 
 is more known in France ; it is that of the Scioto Company,* a name 
 taken from a river which, after having traversed the two millions of 
 acres which they possess, falls into the Ohio. 
 
 This settlement would soon rise to a high degree of prosperity if 
 the proper cautions were taken in the embarkation and the necessary 
 means employed to solace them, and to prepare them for a kind of 
 life so different from that to which they are accustomed. 
 
 The revolution in the American government will, doubtless, be 
 benelicial to the savages; for the government tends essentially to 
 peace. But, as a rapid increa.se of population must necessarily be 
 the consequence of its operations, the savages must either blend 
 with the Americans, or a thousand causes will speedily annihilate 
 that race of men. 
 
 There is nothing to fear, that the danger from the savages will 
 ever arrest the ardor of the Americans for extending their settle- 
 ments. They all expect that the navigation of the Mississippi be- 
 coming free will soon open to them the markets of the islands and 
 the Spanish colonies for the productions with which their country 
 overflows. But the question to be solved is, whether the Spaniards 
 will open this navigation willingly or whether the Americans will 
 force it. A kind of negotiation has been carried on, without effect, 
 for four years ; and it is supposed that certain States, fearing to lose 
 their inhabitants by emigration to the west, have, in concert with the 
 Spanish minister, opposed it; and that this concert gave ri.se to a 
 proposition that Spain should shut up the navigation for twenty-five 
 years, on condition that the Americans should have a free commerce 
 with Spain. Virginia and Maryland, though they had more to fear 
 from this emigration than the other States, were opposed to this 
 proposition as derogatory to the honor of the United States; and 
 a majority of Congress adopted the sentiment. 
 
 A degree of diffidence, which the inhabitants of the west have 
 shewn relative to the secret designs of Congress, has induced many 
 people to believe that the union would not exist a long time between 
 the old and nev/ States ; and this probability of a rupture, they say, 
 
 *Tlie writer in a note here defends the Scioto Company from certain criticism and 
 commends its lands to the poor of Europe contemplating emigration. — Editor. 
 
 17 
 
is strengthened by some endeavors of the English in Canada to at- 
 tach the western settlers to the English government. 
 
 But a number of reasons determine me to believe that the present 
 union will forever subsist. A great part of the property of the west- 
 ern land belongs to people of the east ; the unceasing emigrations 
 serve perpetually to strengthen their connections ; and as it is for the 
 interest both of the east and west to open an extensive commerce 
 with South America, and to overleap the Mississippi, they must, and 
 will, remain united for the accomplishment of this object. 
 
 The western inhabitants are convinced that this navigation cannot 
 remain a long time closed. They are determined to open it by good 
 will or by force ; and it would not be in the power of Congress 
 to moderate their ardor. Men who have shook off the yoke 
 of Great Britain, and who are masters of the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi, cannot conceive that the insolence of a handful of Span- 
 iards can think of shutting rivers and seas against a hundred thou- 
 sand free Americans. The slightest quarrel will be sutficient to throw 
 them into a flame; and if ever the Americans shall march towards 
 New Orleans it will infallibly fall into their hands. The Spaniards 
 fear this moment; and it cannot be far off. If they had the policy 
 to open the Mississippi, the port of New Orleans would become the 
 centre of a lucrative commerce. But her narrow and superstitious 
 policy will oppose it; for she fears, above all things, the communica- 
 tion of those principles of independence which the Americans preach 
 wherever they go, and to which their own success gives an additional 
 weight. 
 
 In order to avert the effects of this enterprising character of the 
 free Americans, the Spanish government has adopted the pitiful 
 project of attracting them to a settlement on the west of the Missis- 
 sippi,* and by granting to those who shall establish themselves there 
 the exclusive right of trading to New Orleans. This colony is the 
 first foundation of the conquest of LouisianaTand of the civilization 
 of Mexico and Peru. 
 
 How desirable it is for the happiness of the human race that this 
 communication should extend ! for cultivation and population here 
 will augment the prosperity of the manufacturing nations of Europe. 
 The French and Spaniards, settled at the Natches, on the most fertile 
 soil, have not for a century cultivated a single acre ; while the 
 Americans, who have lately made a settlement there, have at present 
 three thousand farms of four hundred acres each, which furnish the 
 greater part of the provisions for New Orleans. O Liberty, how 
 great is thy empire! thou Greatest industry, which vivifies the dead. 
 
 I transport myself sometimes in imagination to the succeeding 
 century. 1 see this whole extent of continent, from Canada to Quito, 
 
 * Colonel Morgan is at tlie head of this settlement. 
 i8 
 
19 • 
 
 covered with cultivated fields, litde villages, and country houses.* I 
 see Happiness and Industry smiling side by side. Beauty adorning 
 the daughter of Nature, Liberty and Morals rendering almost useless 
 the coercion of Government and Laws, and gentle Tolerance taking 
 place of the ferocious Inquisition. I see Mexicans, Peruvians, men 
 of the United States, Frenchmen, and Canadians embracing each 
 other, cursing tyrants, and blessing the reign of Liberty, which leads 
 to universal harmony. But the mines, the slaves, what is to become 
 of them? The mines will be closed, and the slaves will become the 
 brothers of their masters. As to gold, it is degrading to a free coun- 
 try to dig for it, unless it can be done without slaves; and a free peo- 
 ple cannot want for signs to serve as a medium in exchanging their 
 commodities. Gold has always served more the cause of despotism 
 than that of liberty ; and liberty will always find less dangerous 
 agents to serve in its place. 
 
 Our speculators in Europe are far from imagining that two revolu- 
 tions are preparing on this continent, which will totally overturn the 
 ideas and the commerce of the old : the opening a canal of com- 
 munication between the two oceans, and abandoning the mines of 
 Peru. Let the imagination of the philosopher contemplate the con- 
 sequences. They cannot but be happy for the human race. 
 
 In studying the general condition of the United States at the period of the beginning of 
 our independent national life, we find much interesting and illuminating material in the books 
 of foreign travellers, visitors from England and elsewhere. References to many such works, 
 written just before or after the close of the Revolution, will be found in the " Narrative and 
 Critical History of America," viii. 489-491. Tlie accounts of books of travel in the " Litera- 
 ture of American History," edited by J. N. Lamed for the American Library Association, 
 should also be consulted. See, too, H . T. Tuckerman's " America and her Commentators." 
 Among such records of American experience and observation are several by intelligpnt 
 P'renchmeu, the most important of which is tlie well-known work by Brissot, of which two 
 chapters are given in the present leaflet. A few years earlier came the works of Crevecoeur 
 and the Marquis de Chastellu.x. 
 
 Jean Pierre Krissot was born near Chartres in 1754, and educated for the bar. He was 
 an eager student of history and politics, earned a literary reputation while still very young, 
 spent much time in England, and had important journalistic experience in London as well as 
 in Paris. He became a republican, and took prominent part in the early movements of the 
 French Revolution. He was deeply interested in our own Revolution, defended us from 
 various hostile critics, and came over here in 1788 to study our social and political conditions, 
 writing his book for the purpose of commending our republican experiment to the French 
 people. His general estimate may be inferred from the following passage from his preface : 
 
 " O Frenchmen, who wish for this valuable instruction, study the Americans of the 
 present day. Open this book. You will here see to what degree of prosperity the blessings 
 of freedom can elevate the industry of man : how they dignify his nature, and dispose him 
 to universal fraternity. Vou will here learn by what means liberty is preser\'ed ; that the 
 great secret of its duration is m good morals. It is a truth that the observation of the present 
 
 ♦America will never have enormous cities, like London and Paris, which would absorb 
 the means of industry and vitiate morals. Hence it will result that property will be more 
 equally divided, population greater, manners less corrupted, and industry and happine.ss 
 more universal. 
 
 19 
 
20 
 
 state of America demonstrates at every step. Thus you will see, in these Travels, the prodig- 
 ious effects of liberty on morals, on industry and on the amelioration of men. You will see 
 those stern Presbyterians, who, on the first settlement of their country, infected with the 
 gloomy superstitions of Europe, could erect gibbets for those who thou<.'ht differently from 
 themselves,— you will see them admitting all sects to equal charity and brotherhood, rejecting 
 those superstitions which, to adore the Supreme Being, make martyrs of part of the human 
 race. Thus you will see all the Americans, in whose minds the jealousy of the mother 
 country had disseminated tlie most absurd prejudices against foreign nations, abjure those 
 prejudices, reject every idea of war, and open the way to a universal confederation of the 
 human race. You will see independent America contemplatingr no other limits but those of 
 the universe, no other restrain! but the laws made by her representatives. You will see them 
 attempting all sorts of speculations ; opening the fertile bosom of the soil, lately covered by 
 forests ; tracing unknown seas ; establishing new communications, new markets ; naturalizing, 
 in their own country, those precious manufactures which England had reserved to herself ; 
 and by this accumulation of the means of industry they change the balance that was formerly 
 against America, and turn it to their own advantage. You will see them faithful to their 
 engagements, while their enemies are proclaiming their bankruptcy. You will see them 
 invigorating their minds, and cultivating their virtues ; reforming their government, employ- 
 ing only the language of reason to convince the refractory ; multiplying ever\'where moral 
 institutions and patriotic establishments ; and, above all, never separating tlie idea of public 
 from private virtues. Such is the consoling picture which these Travels will offer to the 
 friend of liberty." 
 
 The time of Brissot's visit was just after the Constitutional Convenrion and while the 
 ratification of the new Constitution was before the different States. Massachusetts had 
 ratified it just before his arrival in Boston. Boston is the first place which he describes. His 
 whole chapter on Boston is here given, as one of the most interesting and representative in 
 the book. He went as far north as Newburyport and Portsmouth, travelled through Massa- 
 chusetts to Springfield, greatly enjoying the agricultural life and the little villages, visited the 
 principal places in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and spent considerable time in New York 
 and Philadelphia, to which latter place especially he devotes much space. He met Madison, 
 Hamilton, and Jay in New York. He devotes an enthusiastic chapter to his visit to Franklin. 
 He spent three days at Mt. Vernon with Washington, to whom Lafayette had given him an 
 introduction. He writes about the Quakers, who especially appealed to him, about slavery 
 and the condition of the negroes, about prisons, hospitals, education, trade, and agriculture. 
 He talked with men who had been to the Ohio country; and his closing chapter in the 
 volume devoted to his travels, upon the Western Territory, given in the present leaflet, in 
 which he speculates concerning the future great western expansion of the republic, is one of 
 the most interesting in the book 
 
 Brissot's work was published in Paris in 1791. The first English edition was published 
 in London in 1792 ; the second, revised, in I7q4. The first American edition was published in 
 Boston in 1797. This was four years after Brissot s deattir The years after his return to 
 Paris from America had been crowded with political activities, accounts of w-hich may be 
 found in the various histories of the French Revolution. With twenty other Girondists, he 
 suffered death under the guillotine, October 30, 1793. A full account of his various writings 
 may be found in the second volume of the 1794 edition of his " Travels in the United States." 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 
No. ,.7. 
 
 The Ordinance 
 of 1784 
 
 AND JEFFERSON'S SERVICES 
 
 FOR THE NORTHWEST 
 
 TERRITORY. 
 
 Report on Government for Western Territory.* 
 
 [March i, 1784.] 
 
 The Committee appointed to prepare a plan for the tem- 
 porary Government of the Western territory have agreed to the 
 following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved that the territory ceded or to be ceded by Individ- 
 ual States to the United States whensoever the same shall have 
 been purchased of the Indian Inhabitants & offered for sale by 
 the U.S. shall be formed into distinct States bounded in the 
 following manner as nearly as such cessions will admit, that is 
 to say; Northwardly & Southwardly by parallels of latitude so 
 that each state shall comprehend from South to North two 
 degrees of latitude beginning to count from the completion of 
 thirty-one degrees North of the equator, but any territory 
 Northwardly of the 47''^ degree shall make part of the state — 
 next below, and Eastwardly & Westward ly they shall be 
 bounded, those on the Mississippi by that river on one side 
 and the meridian of the lowest point of the rapids of Ohio on 
 the other ; and those adjoining on the East by the same me- 
 udian on their Western side, and on their eastern by the 
 meridian of the Western cape of the mouth of the Great Kan- 
 haway. And the territory eastward of this last meridian 
 
 * Endorsed : "Report of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Chase, Mr. Howell. Temporary Gov- 
 ernmt of Western County Delivered i March 17S4. Ent<l — Read. — March 3. Monday 
 next assigned for the consideration of this report. March 17. 17S4. recommitted." This re- 
 port is entirely in Jefferson's handwriting. 
 
 21 
 
between the Ohio, Lake Erie &: Pennsylvania shall be one 
 state. 
 
 That the settlers within the territory so to be purchased & 
 offered for sale shall, either on their own petition, or on the 
 order of Congress, receive authority from them, with appoint- 
 ments of time and place for their free males of full age to 
 meet together for the purpose of establishing a temporary 
 government, to adopt the constitution & laws of any one of 
 these states, so that such laws nevertheless shall be subject to 
 alteration by their ordinary legislature, and to erect, subject to 
 a like alteration counties or townships for the election of mem- 
 bers for their legislature. 
 
 That such temporary government shall only continue in 
 force in any state until it shall have acquired 20,000 free in- 
 habitants, when, giving due proof thereof to Congress, they 
 shall receive from them authority with appointments of time 
 and place to call a Convention of representatives to establish 
 a permanent Constitution & Government for themselves. 
 
 Provided that both the temporary & permanent Governments 
 be established on these principles as their basis, i, That they 
 shall forever remain a part of the United States of America. 
 2, That in their persons, property & territory, they shall be 
 subject to the Government of the United States in Congress 
 assembled and to the articles of confederation in all those 
 cases in which the original states shall be so subject. 3, That 
 they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts con- 
 tracted or to be contracted to be apportioned on them by Con- 
 gress, according to the same common rule and measure by 
 which apportionments thereof shall b^made on the other 
 states. 4, That their respective Governments shall be in re- 
 publican forms, and shall admit no person to be a citizen, who 
 holds any hereditary title. 5, That after the year 1800 of the 
 Christian a;ra, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary 
 servitude in any of the said states, otherwise than in punish- 
 ment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
 victed to have been personally guilty. 
 
 That whenever any of the sd states shall have of free inhabi- 
 tants as many as shall then be in any one the least numerous 
 of the thirteen original states, such state shall be admitted by 
 it's delegates into the Congress of the United States, on an 
 equal footing with the said originaJ states : After which the 
 
assent of two thirds of the United States in Congress as- 
 sembled shall be requisite in all those cases, wherein by the 
 Confederation the assent of nine States is now required. Pro- 
 vided the consent of nine states to such admission may be 
 obtained according to the eleventh of the Articles of Confed- 
 eration. Until such admission by their delegates into Con- 
 gress, any of the said states, after the establishment of their 
 temporary Government, shall have authority to keep a sitting 
 Member in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of 
 voting. 
 
 That the territory Northward of the 45''' degree, that is to 
 say of the completion of 45° from the Equator & extending to 
 the Lake of the Woods, shall be called SYLVANIA. 
 
 That of the territory under the 45^'^ & 44''^ degrees that 
 ■which lies We^tward of Lake Michigan shall be called MICH- 
 IGANIA, and that which is Eastward thereof within the 
 peninsula formed by the lakes &: waters of Michigan, Huron, 
 St. Clair and Erie, shall be called CHERRONESUS, and shall 
 include any part of the peninsula which may extend above the 
 45th degree. 
 
 Of the territory under the 43*^ & 42^^ degrees, that to the 
 Westward thro' which the Assenisipi or Rock river runs shall 
 be called ASSENISIPIA, and that to the Eastward in which 
 are the fountains of the Muskingum, the two Miamis of Ohio, 
 the Wabash, the Illinois, the Miami of the lake and Sandusky 
 rivers, shall be called METROPOTAMIA. 
 
 Of the territory which lies under the 41^* &: 40*^ degrees the 
 Western, thro which the river Illinois runs, shall be called 
 ILLINOIA; that next adjoining to the Eastward SARATOGA, 
 and that between this last & Pennsylvania & extending from 
 the Ohio to Lake Erie shall be called WASHINGTON. 
 
 Of the territory which lies under the 39*'^ & ;^S^^^ degrees to 
 which shall be added so much of the point of land within the 
 fork of the Ohio & Missisipi as lies under the 37th degree, 
 that to the Westward within & adjacent to which are the con- 
 fluences of the rivers Wabash, Shawanee, Tanisse, Ohio, 
 Illinois, Missisipi & Missouri, shall be called POLYPOTAMIA, 
 and that to the Eastward farther up the Ohio otherwise called 
 the PELISIPI shall be called PELISIPIA. 
 
 That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of 
 Compact, shall be duly executed by the President of the U. S. 
 
in Congress assembled under his hand and the seal of the 
 United States, shall be promulgated, and shall stand as funda- 
 mental constitutions between the thirteen original States, & 
 those now newly described unalterable but by the joint consent 
 of the U. S, in Congress assembled and of the particular 
 state within which such alteration is proposed to be made. 
 
 Report of Government for the Western Territory.* 
 
 [March 22, 1784.] 
 
 The Committee to whom was recommitted the report of a 
 plan for a temporary government of the Western territory 
 have agreed to the following resolutions. 
 
 Resolved, that so much of the territory ceded or to be ceded 
 by individual states to the United States as is already pur- 
 chased or shall be purchased of the Indian inhabitants & 
 offered for sale by Congress, shall be divided into distinct 
 states, in the following manner, as nearly as such cessions will 
 admit; that is to say, by parallels of latitude, so that each 
 state shall comprehend from South to North two degrees of 
 latitude beginning to count from the completion of thirty-one 
 degrees North of the Equator ; and by meridians of longitude, 
 one of which shall pass thro' the lowest point of the rapids of 
 Ohio, and the other through the Western Cape of the mouth 
 of the Great Kanhaway, but the territory Eastward of this last 
 meridian, between the Ohio, Lake Erie, & Pennsylvania shall 
 be one state, whatsoever may be its comprehension of latitude. 
 That which may lie beyond the completion of the 45*'' degree 
 between the sd. meridians shall make part of the state adjoin- 
 ing it on the South, and that part of the Ohio which is be- 
 tween the same meridians coinciding nearly with the parallel of 
 39" shall be substituted so far in lieu of that parallel as a 
 boundary line. 
 
 That the settlers on any territory so purchased & offered for 
 sale shall, either on their own petition, or on the order of Con- 
 gress, receive authority from them with appointments of time 
 & place for their free males of full age, within the limits of 
 
 * Endorsed " Report on Western Territory. Delivered 22 March, 1784. Read. Wednes- 
 day 24 assigned for consideration." The original report of a temporary ordinance not 
 satisfying Congress, it was recommitted to the original committee for amendment, and the 
 above was by them reported to Congress. It was considered on April 19, 21, and 23, 1784, 
 when, after amendment, it was adopted, by the vote of every state but one. 
 
5 
 
 their state to meet together for the purpose of establishing a 
 temporary government, to adopt the constitution and laws of 
 any one of the original states, so that such laws nevertheless 
 shall be subject to alteration by their ordinary legislature ; 
 tS: to erect, subject to a like alteration, counties or townships 
 for the election of members for their legislature. 
 
 That such temporary government shall only continue in 
 force in any state until it shall have acquired 20,000 free 
 inhabitants, when giving due proof thereof to Congress, they 
 shall receive from them authority with appointment of time & 
 place to call a convention of representatives to establish a per- 
 manent Constitution cS^: Government for themselves. Provided 
 that both the temporary & permanent governments be estab- 
 lished on these principles as their basis, i. That they shall 
 forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States 
 of America. 2. That in their persons, property iS: territory 
 they shall be subject to the Government of the United States 
 in Congress assembled, & to the articles of Confederation in 
 all those cases in which the original states shall be so subject. 
 
 3. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts 
 contracted or to be contracted, to be apportioned on them by 
 Congress, according to the same common rule & measure, by 
 which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states. 
 
 4. That their respective Governments shall be in republican 
 forms and shall admit no person to be a citizen who holds any 
 hereditary title. 5. That after the year 1800 of the Christian 
 ajra, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 
 in any of the sd states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes 
 whereof the party shall have been convicted to have been 
 personally guilty. 
 
 That whensoever any of the sd states shall have, of free 
 inhabitants, as many as shall then be in any one the least 
 numerous of the thirteen original states, such state shall be 
 admitted by it's delegates into the Congress of the United 
 States on an equal footing with the said original states : pro- 
 vided nine States agree to such admission according to the 
 reservation of the ii^'^ of the articles of Confederation ; and in 
 order to adopt the s'^ articles of confederation to the state of 
 Congress when it's numbers shall be thus increased, it shall 
 be proposed to the legislatures of the states originally parties 
 thereto, to require the assent of two thirds of the United 
 
 25 
 
States in Congress assembled in all those cases wherein by 
 the said articles the assent of nine states is now required ; 
 which being agreed to by them shall be binding on the new 
 states. Until such admission by their delegates into Congress, 
 any of the said states after the establishment of their tem- 
 porary government shall have authority to keep a sitting mem- 
 ber in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting. 
 
 That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of 
 compact, shall be duly executed by the president of the United 
 States in Congress assembled, under his hand & the seal of 
 the United States, shall be promulgated & shall stand as fun- 
 damental constitutions between the thirteen original states and 
 each of the several states now newly described, unalterable 
 but by the joint consent of the United States in Congress 
 assembled, & of the particular state within which such altera- 
 tion is proposed to be made. 
 
 That measures not inconsistent with the principles of the 
 Confedn. & necessary for the preservation of peace & good 
 order among the settlers in any of the said new states until 
 they shall assume a temporary Government as aforesaid, may 
 from time to time be taken by the U S in C. assemble<^. 
 
 Jefferson's Letter, as Governor of Virginia, to General 
 George Rogers Clark. 
 
 Richmond. December 25th 17S0. 
 
 Sir, — A powerful army forming by our enemies in the 
 South renders it necessary for us to reserve as much of our 
 militia as possible free to act in that quarter. At the same 
 time we have reason to believe that a very extensive combina- 
 tion of British & Indian savages is preparing to invest our west- 
 ern frontier. To prevent the cruel murders and devastations 
 which attend the latter species of war, and at the same time to 
 prevent its producing a powerful diversion of our force from 
 the southern quarter in which they mean to make their princi- 
 pal effort and where alone success can be decisive of their 
 ultimate object, it becomes necessary that we aim the first 
 stroke in the western country and throw the enemy under the 
 embarrassments of a defensive war rather than labor under 
 them ourselves. We have therefore determined that an expe- 
 dition shall be undertaken under your command at a very 
 26 
 
early season of the approaching year into the hostile country 
 beyond the Ohio, the principal object of which is to be the 
 reduction of the British post at Detroit and incidental to it the 
 acquiring possession of Lake Erie. The force destined for 
 this enterprise is the Ilinois battalion, Colo Crocket's bat- 
 talion, Maj Slaughter's corps, with detachments of militia from 
 the Counties of Fayette, Lincoln, Jefferson, Ohio, Monongalia, 
 Hampshire, Berkeley, Frederic and Greenbrier, making in the 
 whole 2000 men. necessary garrisons only to be deducted. 
 Our desire is that the execution of this may be so timed as 
 that you may have the advantage of that interval of time which 
 intervenes between the breaking up of the ice in the Wabache 
 and in the lake so as that you may avail yourself of the 
 navigation of the former the moment it is open for the trans- 
 portation of your men and baggage and still find the latter 
 blocked up and the vesels of the enemy therein of course 
 liable to be destroyed. That you may be fully possessed of 
 the means which are to be in your hands for the purposes 
 beforementioned, you are furnished with copies of the orders 
 given to the Lieutenants, Commissaries (S: Quarter Masters in 
 the Counties before mentioned. The substance of them is as 
 follows — Mr. Rowland Madison is employed to carry looo of 
 rifle powder from New- London and 1500 lbs of lead from the 
 lead mines to Montgomery Court house. To purchase 300 
 pack horses with pack saddles, Halters and Bells ready and to 
 lay in subsistence for them and 137 militia from Greenbrier 
 County, who by orders given to the Lieutenant of that County 
 are to rendezvous at Montgomery Court House by the 20th of 
 February, these to take under their escort the ammunition and 
 pack horses before mentioned and to be with them at the falls 
 of Ohio by the 15th day of March. Mr. Madison is furnished 
 with money to purchase the horses and furniture and to lay in 
 subsistence and forage from Montgomery Court House to the 
 falls of Ohio where his duties cease. 
 
 Forty bell tents, 40 common tents, a chest of medicine, some 
 summer clothing will be sent from this place ; 1000 '^ of Rifle 
 powder from Staunton, 400 campkettles from Fredericksburg 
 to the County Lieutenant of Frederick, who is ordered to send 
 them with 285 of his militia to Pittsburg at which place they 
 are to be the first day of March. 
 
 The County Lieutenants of Berkeley and Hampshire are 
 
 27 
 
8 
 
 ordered to send the former 275 and the latter 255 of their 
 respective miUtias to be at Pittsburg by the first day of March. 
 Proper instructions are prepared for such persons as each of 
 the county Lieutenants of Frederick^ Berkeley & Hampshire 
 shall appoint to act in the joint offices of Commissary and 
 Quarter Master to Pittsburg where their offices determine, and 
 money is sent to each for the purposes of subsistence and 
 transportation. 
 
 The County Lieutenants of Monongalia and Ohio are 
 ordered to rendezvous one fourth of their militia at Pittsburg 
 by the first day of March. All these militia are ordered to go 
 under proper officers well armed with Arms suitable to western 
 service and to serve during the continuance of the expedition 
 as herein described. Colo Crocket is ordered to be with his 
 battalion at Pittsburg by the same day and money to enable 
 him to proceed is sent to him. 
 
 An agent is sent to Baltimore and Philadelphia to purchase 
 four tons of canon powder and to send it to Pittsburg by the 
 ist day of March. 
 
 Application is made to Genl Washington to lend us of the 
 Contmental stores at Pittsburg 4 canon six pounders mounted 
 on field carriages with ball suitable, a mortar with shells, 2 
 Howitz, grape shot and other necessary furnitures, 1000 spades, 
 200 pick axes, 500 axes, a travelling forge, ship carpenter's 
 tools, and boats for transportation down the river should we 
 fail in having a sufficient number in readiness and to send us 
 skilful persons to manage the mortars. 
 
 John Francis Moore, who was some time ago sent to purchase 
 in the vicinities of Fort Pitt provisions for the Western Posts, is 
 now ordered to extend his purchases to 200,000 rations of beef 
 and flour, and to provide 100 light Barges fit for transporting 
 men and stores either down or up stream. These to be all in 
 readiness by the ist of March; as we are not certain whether 
 he may not be gone down the river, these powers were directed 
 to himself, or in case of his absence to any Agent he should 
 have appointed, and if he appointed none, then to Mr William 
 Harrison of Monongalia. 
 
 At Pittsburg we depend on orders to be given by you for 
 the removal of men and stores to the Falls of Ohio by the 15 
 of March. 
 
 The County Lieutenants of Fayette, Lincoln and Jefferson 
 2S 
 
are ordered to rendezvous at the falls of Ohio by the 15 of 
 March 500 of their militia, to be furnished between those 
 Counties in Proportion to their numbers, & have ready at the 
 same place and by the same day 50 canoes each: Aloney is 
 sent to pay for these. In those counties you inform us you 
 expect 1 0000 rations will be provided for you; you will of 
 course order them to the falls of Ohio. 
 
 All the preceding orders (except as to the number of men 
 from each county) are submitted to any alterations you may 
 think necessary, and you are authorized to supply any de- 
 ficiencies in them. The Staff Officers are submitted absolutely 
 to you, and on removal of any of them by you or their death, 
 resignation or declining to act you are to appoint others. The 
 County Lieutenants are desired to keep up a constant cor- 
 respondence with you & the Staff Officers to inform you from 
 time to time of their progress and to receive your orders. 
 Thus you will perceive that we expect all to be in readiness at 
 the Falls of Ohio by the isth of March. 
 
 What number of men and whether of Regulars or Militia 
 you shall leave to garrison the Posts at the falls & Mouth of 
 the Ohio is left to yourself. As the latter however is exposed 
 to attack from an enemy against whom this expedition will be 
 no diversion of force, and as it is distant from succour, it is 
 recommended to you to leave it surely garrisoned and to take 
 measures for its being supported from the Spanish side of the 
 Mississippi should it be necessary. 
 
 You will then with such part of your force as you shall not 
 leave in garrison proceed down the Ohio and up the Wabache 
 or along such other route as you shall think best against 
 Detroit. By the construction of a fort or forts for retreat at 
 such place or places as you shall think best, and by such other 
 cautions as you find necessary you will provide for the ultimate 
 safety of your men in case of a repulse. Should you succeed 
 in the reduction of fort Detroit and a hopeful prospect open to 
 you of acquiring possession of Lake Erie, or should such pros- 
 pect open during the investiture of the fort, you are to pursue 
 it. As soon as you have accomplished both objects of the fort 
 and lake, or shall have accomplished the one and find the 
 other impracticable, or as soon as you shall find that neither 
 is practicable, you are to consider your expedition as ended 
 and to withdraw your whole force. If you attain neither 
 
 29 
 
lO 
 
 object, or, if you acquire one or both of them, to retain 
 for a garrison at Detroit so many of the Illinois & Crocket's 
 battalions as you may think necessary and to send the rest 
 back across the Ohio ; in the event indeed of declining to 
 attempt the reduction of Detroit you are at liberty to consider 
 whether some enterprise against the hostile nations of Indians 
 may not be undertaken with your force, and if you think it 
 can, and that it will be expedient for the public good, and 
 eligible on view of all circumstances, you will undertake it and 
 detain your force until you shall have finished it : In every 
 event, the militia on their return are to be marched back 
 to their Counties under their own officers and there to be 
 discharged. 
 
 Should you succeed in the reduction of the Post, you are to 
 promise protection to the Persons & property of the French 
 and American inhabitants, or of such at least as shall not on 
 tender refuse to take the Oath of fidelity to the Common-' 
 wealth. You are to permit them to continue under the laws 
 & form of Government under which they at present live, only 
 substituting the authority of this Commonwealth in all in- 
 stances in lieu of that of his British Majesty, and exercising 
 yourself under that authority till further order those powers 
 which the British Commandant of the Post or his principal in 
 Canada hath used regularly to exercise. To the Indian neigh- 
 bours you will hold out either fear or friendship as their dis- 
 position and your actual situation may render most expedient. 
 
 Finally, our distance from the scene of action, the impossi- 
 bility of foreseeing the many circumstances which may render 
 proper a change of plan or direction of object, and above all 
 our full confidence in your bravery, discretion & abilities 
 induce us to submit the whole of our instructions to your own 
 judgment, to be altered or abandoned whenever any event shall 
 turn up which may appear to you to render such alteration or 
 abandonment necessary : remembering that we confide to you 
 the persons of our Troops & Citizens which we think it a duty 
 to risque as long as & no longer than the object and prospect 
 of attaining it may seem worthy to risque. If that Post be 
 reduced we shall be quiet in future on our frontier and thereby 
 immense Treasures of blood and money be saved : we shall be 
 at leisure to turn our whole force to the rescue of our eastern 
 Country from subjugation ; we shall divert through our own 
 
 30 
 
1 1 
 
 Country a branch of commerce which the European States 
 have thought worthy of the most important struggles and 
 sacrifices ; and in the event of peace on terms which have been 
 contemplated by some powers we shall form to the American 
 union a barrier against the dangerous extension of the British 
 Province of Canada and add to the Empire of liberty an 
 extensive and fertile country, thereby converting dangerous 
 enemies into valuable Friends. 
 
 Jefferson's Letter, as Governor of Virginia, to the 
 President of Congress, Transmitthig the resolution 
 adopted yan. 2, 1781, ceding to the United States the lands 
 claimed by Virginia north-west of the Ohio^ 07i conditio Ji that 
 the States ratified the Articles of Confederation. 
 
 Rich MONO Jany. 17, 17S1. 
 
 Sir, — I do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excel- 
 lency a resolution of the General Assembly of this Common- 
 wealth entered into in consequence of the resolution of 
 Congress of September 6th, 1780, on the subject of the Con- 
 federation. I shall be rendered very happy if the other States 
 of the Union, equally impressed with the necessity of that 
 important convention, shall be willing to sacrifice equally to 
 its completion. This single event could it take place shortly 
 would overweigh every success which the enemy have hitherto 
 obtained, & render desperate the hopes to which those suc- 
 cesses have given birth. 
 
 Draft of Deed of Cession of Northwest Territory.* 
 
 [March i, 17S4.] 
 
 To all who shall see these presents we [here name the dele- 
 gates] the underwritten delegates for the Commonwealth of Vir- 
 ginia in the Congress of the United States of America send 
 greeting. 
 
 Whereas the general assembly of the Commonwealth of Vir- 
 ginia at their sessions begun on the 20"' day of Octob. 17S3, 
 passed an Act entituled ' An act to authorise the delegates &*= ' — 
 
 *The deed as finally executed is in the Journals of Cotigress for March i, 1784. This 
 rough draft is in Jefferson's handwriting. 
 
12 
 
 in these words following to wit ' Whereas the Congress &:c.' 
 [reciting the act verbatim.] 
 
 And whereas the sd General Assembly by their Resolution of 
 June 6^'^ 1783) had constituted & appointed us the sd A. B. C. 
 &'^ delegates to represent the sd Commonwealth in Congress 
 for one year from the first Monday in November then next fol- 
 lowing, which resolution remains in full force. 
 
 Now therefore know ye that we the sd A. B. C. &:<^ by virtue 
 of the power & authority committed to us by the act of the sd. 
 General Assembly of Virginia before recited, and in the name 
 & for & on behalf of the sd Commonwealth do by these pres- 
 ents convey, transfer, assign, & make over unto the United 
 States in Congress assembled for the benefit of the sd States, 
 Virginia inclusive, all right, title & claim as well of soil as of 
 jurisdiction which the sd. Commonwealth hath to the territory 
 or tract of country within the limits of the Virginia charter, 
 situate, lying & being to the Northwest of the river Ohio to 
 and for the uses & purposes and on the conditions of the sd 
 recited act. 
 
 In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our 
 names and afiixed our seals in Congress the day of 
 
 in the year of our lord 1784, and of the independance 
 of the United States the eighth. 
 
 Signed, sealed and 
 delivered in presence of 
 
 From Jefferson's Letter to the Governor of Virginia. 
 (benjamin harrisonTJ 
 
 Annapolis, Mar. 3. 1784. 
 
 On receiving the act of assembly for the Western cession, 
 our delegation agreed on the form of a deed ; we then de- 
 livered to Congress a copy of the act, and the form of the 
 deed we were ready to execute whenever they should think 
 proper to declare they would accept it. They referred the act 
 & deed to a committee, who reported the act of assembly to 
 comport perfectly with the propositions of Congress, and that 
 the deed was proper in its form, and that Congress ought to 
 accept the same. On the question to agree to the report of the 
 Committee 8 states being present, Jersey was in the negative 
 32 
 
13 
 
 & S. Carolina & Pennsylvania divided (being represented each 
 by 2 members). Of course there were 5 ayes only «& the 
 report fell. We determined on consultation that our proper 
 duty was to be still ; having declared we were ready to execute, 
 we would leave it to them to come forward and tell us they 
 were ready to accept. We medled not at all therefore, & 
 shewed a perfect indifference. N. Hampshire came to town 
 which made us g states. A member proposed that we should 
 execute the deeds & lay it on the table, which after what had 
 been done by Congress would be final, urging the example of 
 N. York which had executed their deed, laid it on the table, 
 where it remained 18 months before Congress accepted it. We 
 replied, no, if the lands are not offered for sale the ensuing 
 spring, they will be taken from us all by adventurers ; we will 
 therefore put it out of our power by the execution of a deed to 
 sell them ourselves, if Congress will not. A member from 
 Rhode Island then moved that Congress should accept. An- 
 other from Jersey proposed as an amendment a proviso that it 
 should not amount to an acknowledgement of our right. We 
 told them we were not authorised to admit any conditions or 
 provisions, that their acceptance must be simple, absolute & 
 unqualified or we could not execute. On the question there 
 were 6 ayes, Jersey no, S. Carolina & Pennsylvania divided. 
 The motion dropped & the house proceeded to other business. 
 About an hour after the dissenting Pennsylvania asked & 
 obtained leave to change his no into aye ; the vote then passed 
 & we executed the deed. We have desired an exemplification 
 of it under the seal of the states which we shall transmit you 
 by the post if no safer opportunity occurs. This shows the 
 wisdom of the assembly in not tacking any new conditions, 
 which would certainly have defeated their accomodating in- 
 tentions. 
 
 Report on Cession of Western Territory.* 
 
 March 22, 1784. 
 
 The Report of a Committee on the Subject of Western terri- 
 tory having been referred to the Grand committee they have 
 had the same under their consideration and agreed to the 
 following report. 
 
 * Written by Jefferson. Endorsed "Report of grand Comee delivered March 22, 1784. 
 Monday 2q assigned for consideration." 
 
 33 
 
14 
 
 Congress by their resolution of Sep. 6. 1780, having thought 
 it advisable to press upon the states having claims to the 
 Western country a liberal surrender of a portion of their terri- 
 torial claims, by that of the lo*'^ of Oct. in the same year hav- 
 ing fixed conditions to which the Union should be bound on 
 receiving such cessions : and having again proposed the same 
 subject to those States in their address of April 1783, 
 
 wherein, stating the National debt & expressing their reliance 
 for its discharge on the prospect of vacant territory, in aid of 
 other resources, they, for that purpose, as well as to obviate 
 disagreeable controversies & confusions included, in the same 
 recommendation a renewal of those of Sep. the 6^'^ & of Oct. 
 the 10*'^ 1780. which several recommendations have not yet 
 been finally complied with. 
 
 Resolved, that the same subject be again presented to the 
 attention of the said states, that they be urged to consider that 
 the war being now brought to a happy termination by the 
 personal services of our souldiers, the supplies of property by 
 our citizens, & loans of money from them as well as from 
 foreigners, these several creditors have a right to expect that 
 funds shall be provided on which they may rely for indemni- 
 fication ; that Congress shall consider vacant territory as a 
 capital resource ; that this too is the time when our Con- 
 federacy with all the territory included within it's limits should 
 assume it's ultimate and permanent form ; & that therefore the 
 sd states be earnestly pressed by immediate & liberal cessions 
 to forward these necessary ends, & to remove those obstacles 
 which disturb the harmony of the Union, which embarrass it's 
 councils & obstruct its operations. 
 
 Jefferson to Washington. 
 
 Annapolis, Mar. 15. 1784. 
 
 D"" Sir, — Since my last nothing new has occurred. I sup- 
 pose the crippled state of Congress is not new to you. We 
 have only 9 states present, 8. of whom are represented by two 
 members each, and of course on all great questions not only 
 an unanimity of States but of members is necessary, — an unan- 
 imity which never can be obtained on a matter of any im- 
 portance. The consequence is that we are wasting our time 
 & labour in vain efforts to do business. — Nothing: less than 
 
the presence of 13. States, represented by an odd number of 
 delegates will enable us to get forward a single capital point. 
 The deed for the cession of \\'estern territory by Virginia was 
 executed & accepted on the 1=^' instant. I hope our country will 
 of herself determine to cede still further to the meridian of 
 the mouth of the great Kanhaway. Further she cannot gov- 
 ern ; so far is necessary for her own well being. The reasons 
 which call for this boundary (which will retain all the waters 
 of the Kanhaway) are i. That within that are our lead mines. 
 2. This river rising in N. Carola traverses our whole latitude 
 and offers to every part of it a channel for navigation & com- 
 merce to the Western Country, but 3. It is a channel which 
 can not be opened but at immense expense and with every 
 facility which an absolute power over both shores will give. 
 4. This river & it's waters forms a band of good land passing 
 along our whole frontier, and forming on it a barrier which 
 will be strongly seated. 5. For 180 miles beyond these waters 
 is a mountainous barren which can never be inhabited & will 
 of course form a safe separation between us cv: any other 
 State. 6. This tract of country lies more convenient to receive 
 it's government from Virginia than from any other State. 7. 
 It will preserve to us all the upper parts of Yohogany & Cheat 
 rivers within which much will be done to open these which are 
 the true doors to the Western commerce. The union of this 
 navigation with that of the Patowmac is a subject on which I 
 mentioned that I would take the liberty of writing to you. 
 I am sure it's value and practicability are both well known to 
 you. This is the moment however for seizing it if ever we 
 mean to have it. All the world is becoming commercial. Was 
 it practicable to keep our new empire separated from them we 
 might indulge ourselves in speculating whether commerce con- 
 tributes to the happiness of mankind. But we cannot separate 
 ourselves from. them. Our citizens have had too full a taste of 
 the comforts furnished by the arts & manufactures to be de- 
 barred the use of them. We must then in our defence en- 
 deavour to share as large a portion as we can of this modern 
 source of v.ealth & power. That offered to us from the West- 
 ern Country is under a competition between the Hudson, the 
 Patowmac & the Missisipi itself. Down the last will pass all 
 heavy commodities. But the navigation through the gulf of 
 Mexico is so dangerous, & that up the Missisipi so difficult 
 
i6 
 
 & tedious, that it is not probable that European merchandize 
 will return through that channel. It is most likely that flour, 
 lumber & other heavy articles will be floated on rafts which 
 will be themselves an article of sale as well as their loading, 
 the navigators returning by land or in light batteaux. There 
 will therefore be a rivalship between the Hudson & Patowmac 
 for the residue of the commerce of all the country \\'estward 
 of L. Erie, on the waters of the lakes, of the Ohio & upper 
 parts of the Missisipi. To go to N. York, that part of the 
 trade which comes from the lakes or their waters must first be 
 brought into L. Erie. So also must that which comes from the 
 waters of the Missisipi, and of course must cross at some 
 portage into the waters of the lakes. When it shall have 
 entered L. Erie it must coast along it's Southern Shore on 
 account of the number & excellence of it's harbours, the North- 
 ern, tho' shortest, having few harbours & these unsafe. Having 
 reached Cuyahoga, to proceed on to N. York will be 970 miles 
 from thence & five portages, whereas it is but 430 miles to 
 Alexandria, if it turns into the Cuyahoga & passes through 
 that, Big Beaver, Ohio, Yohogany (or Monongahela & Cheat) 
 & Patowmac, «& there are but two portages. For the trade of 
 the Ohio or that which shall come into it from it's own waters 
 or the Missisipi, it is nearer to Alexandria than to New York 
 by 730 miles, and is interrupted by one portage only. Nature 
 then has declared in favour of the Patowmac, and through 
 that channel offers to pour into our lap the whole commerce of 
 the Western world. But unfortunately the channel by the 
 Hudson is already open & known in practice ; ours is still to 
 be opened. This is the moment in which the trade of the 
 West will begin to get into motion and to take i''s direction. 
 It behoves us then to open our doors to it. I have lately 
 pressed this subject on my friends in the General assembly, 
 proposing to them to endeavor to have a tax laid which shall 
 bring into a separate chest from five to ten thousand pounds a 
 year, to be employed first in opening the upper waters of the 
 Ohio & Patowmac, where a little money & time will do a great 
 deal, leaving the great falls for the last part of the work. To 
 remove the idea of partiality I have suggested the propriety 
 (S: justice of continuing this fund till all the rivers shall be 
 cleared successively. But a most powerful objection always 
 arises to propositions of this kind. It is that public under- 
 36 
 
i7 
 
 takings are carelessly managed and much money spent to little 
 purpose. To obviate this objection is the purpose of my 
 giving you the trouble of this discussion. You have retired 
 from public life. You have weighed this determination ts; it 
 would be impertinence in me to touch it. But would the 
 superintendence of this work break in too much on the sweets 
 of retirement & repose ? If they would I stop here. Your 
 future time & wishes are sacred in my eye. If it would be 
 only a dignified amusement to you, what a monument of your 
 retirement would it be ! It is one which would follow that of 
 your public life and bespeak it the work of the same great 
 hand. I am confident that would you either alone or jointly 
 with any persons you think proper be willing to direct this 
 business, it would remove the only objection the weight of 
 which I apprehend. Tho' the tax should not come in till the 
 fall, it's proceeds should be anticipated by borrowing from 
 some other fund to enable the work to be begun this summer. 
 When you view me as not owning, nor ever having a prospect 
 of owning one inch of land on any water either of the Patow- 
 mac or Ohio, it will tend to apologize for the trouble I have 
 given you of this long letter, by showing that my zeal in this 
 business is public &: pure. The best atonement for the time 
 I have occupied you will be not to add to it longer than while 
 I assure you of the sincerity cSc esteem with which I have the 
 honour to be D'' Sir Your most obedient & most humble 
 servt. 
 
 P. S. The hurry of time in my former letter prevented my 
 thanking you for your polite & friendly invitation to Mount 
 Vernon. I shall certainly pay my respects there to Mrs Wash- 
 ington (Sc yourself with great pleasure whenever it shall be in 
 my power. 
 
 Washington to Jefferson. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 29 March, 17S4. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 It was not in my power to answer your favor of the 15th by 
 the last post, for the reason then assigned. I wish I may be 
 able to do it to your satisfaction now, as I am again obliged to 
 pay my attention to the other company, the Governor being 
 gone, 
 
 37 
 
My opinion coincides perfectly with yours respecting the 
 practicabiUty of an easy and short communication between the 
 waters of the Ohio and Potomac, of the advantages of that 
 communication and the perference it has over all others, and 
 of the policy there would be in this State and Maryland to 
 adopt and render it facile. But I confess to you freely, I have 
 no expectation, that the public will adopt the measure ; for, be- 
 sides the jealousies which prevail, and the difficulty of pro- 
 portioning such funds as may be allotted for the purposes you 
 have mentioned, there are two others, which, in my opinion, will 
 be yet harder to surmount. These are (if I have not imbibed 
 too unfavorabale an opinion of my countrymen) the impractica- 
 bility of bringing the great and truly wise policy of the measure 
 to their view, and the difficulty of extracting money from them 
 for such a purpose, if it could be done ; for it appears to me, 
 maugre all the sufferings of the public creditors, breach of 
 public faith, and loss of public reputation, that payment of the 
 taxes, which are already laid, will be postponed as long as 
 possible. How then are we to expect new ones for purposes 
 more remote .-' 
 
 I am not so disinterested in this matter as you are ; but I 
 am made very happy to find that a man of discernment and 
 liberality, who has no particular interest in the plan, tliinks as 
 I do, who have lands in that country, the value of which would 
 be enhanced by the adoption of such a measure. 
 
 More than ten years ago I was struck with the importance 
 of it ; and, despairing of any aid from the public, I became a 
 principal mover of a bill to empower a number of subscribers 
 to undertake at their own expense, on conditions which were 
 expressed, the extension of the navigation from tide water to 
 Will's Creek, about one hundred and fifty miles ; and I de- 
 voutly wish that this may not be the only expedient by which 
 it can be effected now. To get this business in motion, I was 
 obliged even upon that ground to comprehend James River, in 
 order to remove the jealousies, which arose from the attempt 
 to extend the navigation of the Potomac. The plan, however, 
 was in a tolerably good train, when I set out for Cambridge in 
 1775, and would have been in an excellent way, had it not been 
 for the difficulties, which were met with in the Maryland As- 
 sembly from the opposition which was given (according to re- 
 port) by the Baltimore merchants, who were alarmed, and per- 
 3S 
 
19 
 
 haps not without cause, at the consequence of water transpor- 
 tation to Georgetown of the produce, which usually came to 
 their market by land. 
 
 The local interest of that place, joined to the short-sighted 
 politics or contracted views of another part of that Assembly, 
 gave Mr. Thomas Johnson, who was a warm promoter of the 
 scheme on the north side of the Potomac, a great deal of 
 trouble. In this situation I left matters when I took command 
 of the army. The war afterwards called men's attention to 
 different objects, and all the money they could or would raise 
 was applied to other purposes. But with you I am satisfied 
 that not a moment ought to be lost in recommencing this busi- 
 ness, as I know the Yorkers will delay no time to remove 
 every obstacle in the way of the other communication, so soon 
 as the posts of Oswego and Niagara are surrendered ; and I 
 shall be mistaken if they do not build vessels for the naviga- 
 tion of the lakes, which will supersede the necessity of coast- 
 ing on either side. 
 
 It appears to me, that the interest and policy of Maryland 
 are proportionably concerned with those of Virginia, to remove 
 obstructions, and to invite the trade of the western country 
 into the channel you have mentioned. You will have frequent 
 opportunities of learning the sentiments of the principal charac- 
 ters of that State, respecting this matter; and I wish, if it 
 should fall in your way, that you would discourse with Mr. 
 Thomas Johnson, formerly governor of Maryland, on this 
 subject. How far, upon mature consideration, I may depart 
 from the resolution I had formed, of living perfectly at my 
 ease, exempt from every kind of responsibility, is more than I 
 can at present absolutely determine. The sums granted, the 
 manner of granting them, the powers and objects, would merit 
 consideration. The trouble, if my situation at the time would 
 permit me to engage in a work of this sort, would be set at 
 nought; and the immense advantages, which this country 
 would derive from the measure, would be no small stimulus to 
 the undertaking, if that undertaking could be made to comport 
 with those ideas, and that line of conduct, with which I meant 
 to glide gently down the current of life, and it did not interfere 
 with any other plan I might have in contemplation. 
 
 I am not less in sentiment with you, respecting the impolicy 
 of this State's grasping at more territory than they are compe- 
 
 39 
 
20 
 
 tent to the government of; and, for the reasons you assign, I 
 very much approve of a meridian from the mouth of the Great 
 Kenhawa as a convenient and very proper line of separation, 
 but I am mistaken if our chief magistrate will coincide with us 
 in this opinion. 
 
 I will not enter upon the subject of commerce. It has its 
 advantages and disadvantages ; but which of them preponder- 
 ates, is not noM' the question. PYom trade our citizens will not 
 be restrained, and therefore it behoves us to place it in the 
 most convenient channels under proper regulations, freed as 
 much as possible from those vices, which luxury, the conse- 
 quence of wealth and power, naturally introduces. 
 
 The incertitude, which prevails in Congress, and the non-at- 
 tendance of its members, are discouraging to those, who are 
 willing and ready to discharge the trust, which is reposed in 
 them ; whilst it is disgraceful in a high degree to our country. 
 But it is my belief, that the case will never be otherwise, so 
 long as that body persist in their present mode of doing busi- 
 ness, and will hold constant instead of annual sessions ; against 
 the former of which my m.ind furnishes me with a variety of 
 arguments ; but not one, in times of peace, in favor of them. 
 
 Annual sessions would always produce a full representation, 
 and alertness in business. The delegates, after a separation of 
 eight or ten months, would meet each other with glad counte- 
 nances. They would be complaisant; they would yield to each 
 other all, that duty to their constituents would allow ; and they 
 would have better opportunities of becoming acquainted with 
 their sentiments, and removing improper prejudices, when 
 they are imbibed, by mixing with them during the recess. 
 Men, who are always together, get tired of each other's com- 
 pany; they throw off that restraint, whidris necessary to keep 
 things in proper tune ; they say and do things, which are per- 
 sonally disgusting ; this begets opposition ; opposition begets 
 faction ; and so it goes on, till business is impeded, often at a 
 stand. I am sure (having the business prepared by proper 
 boards or a committee) an annual session of two months would 
 despatch more business than is now done in twelve, and this 
 'by a full representation of the Union. 
 
 Long as this letter is, I intended to be more full on some of 
 the points, and to touch on others ; but it is not in my power, 
 as I am obliged to snatch from company the moments, which 
 40 
 
21 
 
 give you this hasty production of my thoughts on the subject of 
 your letter. With very great esteem and regard, I am, &c. 
 
 " Another service, and one of momentous import, associates Jef- 
 ferson with the famous Ordinance of the Northwestern Territory. 
 That great tract north of the Ohio River, out of which were after- 
 ward carved those live free States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
 and Wisconsin, had been tendered by V'irginia for the benefit of the 
 whole Confederacy in January, 1781, Jefferson, while governor of 
 the State, transmitting the resolution of its legislature to that effect. 
 The formalities of a transfer had been hitherto delayed ; but a deed 
 of cession, bearing date March i, 1784, was now executed by the 
 Virginia delegates in Congress, with Jefferson at the head. The 
 Confederacy accepted the gift, without admitting Virginia's claim to 
 sole ownership of that region, but anxious to encourage by so 
 sisterly an example the relinquishment of all such territorial claims 
 to the unsettled West for the benefit of the whole Union. 
 
 " A few days afterward a committee of Congress, with Jefferson 
 as chairman, prepared a plan for the temporary government of the 
 common Western territory. The draft of their report in Jefferson's 
 handwriting is still among the public archives. The whole wilder- 
 ness of tlie Mississippi basin to the eastern bank of that great river, 
 our remotest barrier, was brought into contemplation. This report 
 proposed, accordingly, that whatever domain might vest in the 
 United States at any time by the cession of individual States and by 
 Indian purchase should be formed into distinct States, subject each 
 to a temporary government, until the population sufficed for estab- 
 lishing a permanent local constitution on the basis of self-govern- 
 ment ; after which, upon the assent of Congress, given as the articles 
 of Confederation required, such State, with not less than twenty 
 thousand inhabitants, should be admitted on an equal footing with 
 the original States. 
 
 " Ten temporary States, by a single division of this great area 
 betv/een the thirty-first and forty-seventh parallels, with names and 
 boundaries ready made, made too much for immediate legislation. 
 And one may smile at some of the fanciful appellatives which 
 Jefferson's report labored to bestow so prematurely upon these 
 unborn daughters of the Union. Usage, to be sure, had already 
 dignified such sentimental names as Virginia, Carolina, and even 
 Pennsylvania; but American citizens of our own later time will 
 agree that Michigan sounds better than Michigania, Illinois than 
 Illinoia; and as for Assenisipia, Metropotamia, Polypotamia, and 
 Pelisipia, one willingly consigns them to classical lore and the 
 apothecary shop. In most respects, however, the scheme proposed 
 
 41 
 
22 
 
 for these future States was only crude in having to conform to the 
 imperfect plan of union which then existed. Canada or other 
 external colonies might have joined the old thirteen, to be surp, on 
 terms prescribed ; but for new States erected from within, these 
 early Articles of Union made no distinct provision. In Jefferson's 
 plan one traces, therefore, the first lines of the method upon which 
 the sublime experiment of State propagation has since proceeded, — 
 at this early date almost a usurpation, but sanctioned and fully 
 provided for in our ampler charter of 1787. 
 
 " In each of the new States to be thus erected from the common 
 soil the government was to be republican in form, and slavery was 
 not to exist in any of them after the year 1800. This last funda- 
 mental article was the historical one. In all other material portions, 
 except for the romantic names, Jefferson's report was adopted in 
 April ; but the clause which ordained freedom was stricken out for 
 want of a majority of States in its favor. Every member from the 
 Northern States voted for it ; all but two from the South (Jeffer- 
 son and Williamson) voted against it. Jefferson's two colleagues 
 arrayed Virginia on the negative side of the question, in spite of 
 him; Williamson divided the vote of North Carolina; New Jersey 
 lost its chance of expression by having but one delegate present; and 
 both Delaware and Georgia, by having no delegates at all. Only 
 six States of the thirteen, in consequence, voted to retain the clause 
 of Jefferson's plan which prohil)ited slavery. 
 
 " Defeat under such qualifying circumstances could not be final 
 and decisive. At a more favorable opportunity, three years later, and 
 while Jefferson himself was abroad, the slavery restriction was 
 renewed in another form, and with reference to the territory north- 
 west of the Ohio alone. That world-renowned Ordinance of 17S7 
 passed, with the aid of Jefferson's Virginia friends, while the 
 framers of a new federal constitution were in session at Philadelphia. 
 The last glorious achievement of the expiring Continental Congress, 
 it was reaffirmed afterward by the first Congress of the new Union, 
 and approved by our first immortal President. No wonder that 
 Nathan Dane and Rufus King, men from anti-slavery States, should 
 have derived lustre from the part they took in preparing and pro- 
 moting a measure so noble. A tier of energetic States thus erected 
 in the Mississippi Valley gave freedom the vital preponderance in 
 due time by their powerful example. But even here, as in the 
 fundamental verities of our Declaration of Independence, Jefferson's 
 name first blazons the record. He gave the earliest impulse to 
 Congressional regulation, in the common domain, for excluding and 
 forever prohibiting slavery. Freedom, which the Ordinance of 1787 
 established as partial only and by way of compromise, his earlier 
 ordinance would have made the boon of our whole territorial juris- 
 diction, south of the Ohio River as well as north. When, about 
 42 
 
23 
 
 midway in this nineteenth century, the struggle of hostile systems 
 began in earnest, the party of freedom marched to political victory, 
 baptized by the name of the national party he had once founded, 
 and organized upon the simple platform of the Ordinance of i 7S7, 
 or territorial exclusion, reafifirmed in its new adaptation as Jefferson's 
 Ordinance. Well would it have been for his own infatuated State 
 and section, in that generation, had they but accepted the instruction 
 of their greatest of political prophets." Schouler. 
 
 "The Ordinance of 1787," says Hon. George F, Hoar, " belonj;s with the Declaration 
 of Independence and the Constitution. It is one of the three title-deeds of American con- 
 stitutional liberty." "I doubt," said Daniel Webster, " whether one single law of any 
 lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked, and lasting 
 character." The Ordinance of 17S7 is printed in Old South Leaflet No. 13 ; and the student 
 of the present leaflet is advised to give that a careful reading in connection. The Ordinance 
 of 1787, on the government of the Northwest Territory, came into existence only as the result 
 of long and varied efforts. The first of tliose efforts was in the Ordinance of 1784, of which 
 Thomas Jefferson was the author; and into that first Ordinance Jefferson inserted a clause 
 forever prohibiting slavery after the year 1800 in the States to be constituted from the North- 
 west Territory. The toleration until iSoo was reported in deference to the situation of a few 
 old families, chiefly French, who already held slaves in the territory, and were protected by 
 treaty stipulation. This provision was struck out by Congress, to be restored and made 
 binding from the time of its passage in 1787; but it is memorable that it was penned in 17S4 
 by the great author of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Jefferson was one of the eailiest and most earnest opponents of slavery. Already in his 
 " Notes on Virginia" he had written : " Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when 
 we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these 
 liberties are the gift of God, that they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I 
 tremble for my countty when 1 reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." 
 He hoped that a way "was preparing, under the auspices of Heaven, for a total emancipa- 
 tion." See the references in the lives of Jefferson by Randall and others to his anti-slavery 
 sentiments and efforts. These were largely what made Abraham Lincoln Jefferson's great 
 disciple. He felt him to be the most eminent political thinker of our historv', declaring that 
 " the principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society." Slavery stood 
 opposed to all of Jefferson's fundamental principles, and he hoped in the Ordinance of 
 J7S4 to deal it a death-blow. His account, written in 1786, before the Ordinance with the 
 anti-slavery clause was finally passed, of the action of Congress which so bitterly disappointed 
 hira, is as follows : — 
 
 " There were ten states present. Six voted unanimously for it, three against it, and one 
 was divided; and seven votes being requisite to decide the proposition affirmatively, it was 
 lost. The voice of a single individual of the state which was divided , or of one of those which 
 were of the negative, would have prevented this abominable crime from spreading itself over 
 the new country. Thus we see the fate of millions unborn hanging on the tongue of one 
 man, — and Heaven was silent in that awful moment ! But it is to be hoped it will not always 
 be silent and that the friends to the rights of human nature will in the end prevail." 
 
 It was largely through Jefferson's efforts that Virginia had ceded to the general govern- 
 ment her claims in the Northwest. The act of cession was passed in 17S1, while Jefferson 
 wasgovernor. Jefferson's interest in the organization of the Northwest, and his efforts to 
 make the territory the home of freedom, were the sequel of years of activity devoted to the 
 securing of the territory for the United States and the opening of it to enterprising settlers 
 from the East. Jefferson, as a member of the Council of Virginia in 177S, was one of the 
 most earnest supporters of George Rogers Clark in his famous expedition into the Ohio 
 country, which led to the overcoming of the British garrisons and the conquest of so large a 
 part of that territory. See Clark's account of the Capture of Vincennes in Old South Leaf- 
 let No. 4T,. It was because, owing to Clark's conquest, the country between the Ohio and 
 the Mississippi was actually held by us at the close of the war that it was possible for us to 
 secure, in the Treaty of Paris, the concession of the Mississippi instead of the Ohio as our 
 western boundary. Clark was a native of Jefferson's own county, and Jefferson held him 
 in high esteem. His Memoirs were written, years afterwards, at Jefferson's request. 
 Clark's account of the capture of Vincennes was sent to Jefferson, who enclosed it to Wash- 
 ington in a letter dated June 19, 1779, Jefferson then having become governor of Virginia. 
 Clark named the fort which he established just below the mouth of the Ohio early in 1780 
 
 43 
 
24 
 
 Fort Jefferson. Jefferson was anxious that Clark should push his conquests still further 
 north, including Detroit ; and he carefully planned the new expedition, which, owing to 
 changes in the campaign, was not carried out. His letters to Washington, dated Sept. 26 
 and IJec. 15, 17S0, soliciting co-operation, should be consulted. His letter of instructions to 
 Clark himself, Dec. 25, 17S0, is included in the present leaflet. One of the closing sentences 
 is a noteworthy revelation of Jefferson's prescience as to the great significance of Clark's 
 activities with reference to the future of the Northwest: "In the event of peace on terms 
 which have been contemplated by some powers, we shall form to the American Union a 
 barrier against the dangerous extension of tlie British Province of Canada and add to the 
 empire of liberty an extensive and fertile country, thereby converting dangerous enemies into 
 valuable friends." Concerning the literature relating to Clark's work, see the references in 
 Leaflet No. 43. See also Roosevelt's " Winning of the West," William H. English's 
 "Conquest of the Northwest," and Winsor's "The Westward Movement," the latter 
 especially containing many references to Jefferson's varied services in the opening of the 
 West. 
 
 An important chapter in the history of Jefferson's services for the Northwest is that to 
 which belongs the correspondence with Washington in 1784, printed in the present leaflet. 
 Washington's own great services in opening up the Ohio country and uniting it with the East 
 are more fully illustrated in his Letter to I^enjamin Harrison and other papers published in 
 Old South Leaflet No. 16. Jefferson's warm interest is expressed in a still earlier letter to 
 Washington than that here given. Just before writing this letter to Washington, he had in 
 a letter to Madison, Feb. 20, 17S4, gone over much the same ground. In this letter, written 
 from the Federal capital, he laments the narrow, local views taken by many of the politcal 
 people in Virginia. " I see the best effects produced by sending our young statesmen here. 
 They see the affairs of the Confederacy from a high ground ; they learn the importance of 
 the Union, and befriend federal measures when they return. Those who never come here 
 see our affairs insulated, pursue a system of jealousy and self-interest, and distract the Union 
 as much as they can." 
 
 Early in his Presidency, Jefferson became the chief agent in what was perhaps a still 
 more important chapter in *,he history of our westward expansion than the opening and 
 organization of the Northwest Territory, — the Louisiana Purcha.se. The papers illustrating 
 his activity in that important transaction are published in Leaflet No. 12S. Immediately 
 afterwards he sent out the famous expedition under Lewis and Clark (a brother of George 
 Rogers Clark), which ascended the Missouri River to its sources and explored the valley of 
 the Columbia to the Pacific, thus strengthening our claim to the Oregon country. Jefferson 
 wrote a brief life of Captain Meriwether Lewis, which is published in Old South Leaflet 
 No. 44. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 44 
 
vDlD J)outl) itcaflctj^. 
 
 The Cession 
 
 of 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Treaty with FrAxVce for the Cession of Louisiana. 
 
 The President of the United States of America, and the First 
 Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French 
 people, desiring to remove all source of misunderstanding rela- 
 tive to objects of discussion mentioned in the second and fifth 
 articles of the convention of the 8th Vendemiaire, an 9 (30th 
 September, 1800) relative to the rights claimed by the United 
 States, in virtue of the treaty concluded at Madrid, the 27th of 
 October, 1795, between his Catholic Majesty and the said 
 United States, and willing to strengthen the union and friend- 
 ship which at the time of the said convention was happily re- 
 established between the two nations, have respectively named 
 their Plenipotentiaries, to wit : the President of the United 
 States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the 
 said States, Robert R. Livingston, Minister Plenipotentiary of 
 the United States, and James Monroe, Minister Plenipotentiary 
 and Envoy Extraordinary of the said States, near the Govern- 
 ment of the French Republic ; and the First Consul, in the 
 name of the French people, Citizen Francis Barbe' Marbois, 
 Minister of the Public Treasury ; who, after having respectively 
 exchanged their full powers, have agreed to the following 
 articles : 
 
 Article L 
 
 Whereas by the article the third of the treaty concluded at 
 St. Idelfonso, the 9th Vende'miaire, an 9 (ist October, 1800,) 
 between the First Consul of the French Republic and His Cath- 
 
 45 
 
olie Majesty, it was agreed as follows : " His Catholic Majesty 
 promises and engages on his part, to cede to the French Re- 
 public, six months after the full and entire execution of the 
 conditions and stipulations herein relative to His Royal High- 
 ness the Duke of -.Parma, the colony or province of Louisiana, 
 with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and 
 that it had when France possessed it, and such as it should be 
 after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and 
 other States." And whereas, in pursuance of the treaty, and 
 particularly of the third article, the French Republic has an in- 
 contestable title to the domain and to the possession of the said 
 territory : The First Consul of the French Republic desiring to 
 give to the United States a strong proof of his friendship, doth 
 hereby cede to the said United States, in the name of the 
 French Republic, forever and in full sovereignty, the said terri- 
 tory, with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the 
 same manner as they have been acquired by the French Re- 
 public, in virtue of the above-mentioned treaty, concluded with 
 His Catholic Majesty. 
 
 Article H. 
 
 In the cession made by the preceding article are included 
 the adjacent islands belonging to Louisiana, all public lots and 
 squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, 
 barracks, and other edifices which are not private property. The 
 archives, papers, and documents, relative to the domain and 
 sovereignty of Louisiana and its dependences, will be left in 
 the possession of the commissaries of the United States, and 
 copies will be afterwards given in due form to the magistrates 
 and municipal officers of such of the said papers and docu- 
 ments as may be necessary to them. 
 
 Article HL 
 
 The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated 
 in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as 
 possible, according to the principles of the Federal constitution, 
 to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities 
 of citizens of the United States ; and in the mean time they 
 shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of 
 their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess. 
 46 
 
Article IV. 
 
 There shall be sent by the Government of France a commis- 
 sary to Louisiana, to the end that he do every act necessary, as 
 well to receive from the officers of His Catholic Majesty the 
 said country and its dependences, in the name of the French 
 Republic, if it has not been already done, as to transmit it in 
 the name of the French Republic to the commissary or agent of 
 the United States. 
 
 Article V. 
 
 Immediately after the ratification of the present treaty by the 
 President of the United States, and in case that of the First 
 Consul shall have been previously obtained, the commissary of 
 the I'rench Republic shall remit all military posts of New Or- 
 leans, and other parts of the ceded territory, to the commissary 
 or commissaries named by the President to take possession ; 
 the troops, whether of France or Spain, who may be there, 
 shall cease to occupy any military post from the time of tak- 
 ing possession, and shall be embarked as soon as possible, 
 in the course of three months after the ratification of this 
 treaty. 
 
 Article VI. 
 
 The United States promise to execute such treaties and arti- 
 cles as may have been agreed between Spain and the tribes and 
 nations of Indians, until, by mutual consent of the ll^nited 
 States and the said tribes or nations, other suitable articles 
 shall have been agreed upon. 
 
 Article VII. 
 
 As it is reciprocally advantageous to the commerce of France 
 and the United States to encourage the communication of both 
 nations for a limited time in the country ceded by the present 
 treaty, until general arrangements relative to the commerce of 
 both nations may be agreed on ; it has been agreed between 
 the contracting parties, that the French ships coming directly 
 from France or any of her colonies, loaded only with the prod- 
 uce and manufactures of France or her said colonies ; and the 
 ships of Spain coming directly from Spain or any of her colo- 
 nies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of Spain or 
 
 47 
 
her colonies, shall be admitted during the space of twelve years 
 in the port of New Orleans, and in all other legal ports of entry 
 within the ceded territory, in the same manner as the ships of 
 the United States coming directly from France or Spain, or any 
 of their colonies, without being subject to any other or greater 
 duty on merchandise, or other or greater tonnage than that paid 
 by the citizens of the United States. 
 
 During the space of time above mentioned, no other nation 
 shall have a right to the same privileges in the ports of the 
 ceded territory; the twelve years shall commence three months 
 after the exchange of ratifications, if it shall take place in 
 France, or three months after it shall have been notified at 
 Paris to the French Government, if it shall take place in the 
 United States ; it is however well understood that the object 
 of the above article is to favor the manufactures, commerce, 
 freight, and navigation of France and of Spain, so far as relates 
 to the importations that the French and Spanish shall make 
 into the said ports of the United States, without in any sort 
 affecting the regulations that the United States may make 
 concerning the exportation of the produce and merchandise 
 of the United States, or any right they may have to make 
 such regulations. 
 
 Article VIII. 
 
 In future and forever after the expiration of the twelve years, 
 the ships of France shall be treated upon the footing of the 
 most favored nations in the ports above mentioned. 
 
 Article IX. 
 
 The particular convention signed this day by the respective 
 ministers, having for its object to provide for the payment of 
 debts due to the citizens of the United States by the French 
 Republic prior to the 30th Septr., 1800, (8th Vendemiaire, an 
 9,) is approved, and to have its execution in the same manner 
 as if it had been inserted in this present treaty ; and it shall be 
 ratified in the same form and in the same time, so that the one 
 shall not be ratified distinct from the other. 
 
 Another particular convention signed at the same date as 
 the present treaty relative to a definitive rule between the con- 
 tracting parties is in the like manner approved, and will be 
 ratified in the same form, and in the same time, and jointly. 
 48 
 
Article X. 
 
 The present treaty shall be ratified in good and due form 
 and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of six 
 months after the date of the signature by the Ministers Pleni- 
 potentiary, or sooner if possible. 
 
 In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed 
 these articles in the French and English languages; declaring 
 nevertheless that the present treaty was originally agreed to in 
 the French language ; and have thereunto affixed their seals. 
 
 Done at J*aris the tenth day of Florcal, in the eleventh year 
 of the French Republic, and the 30th of April, 1803. 
 
 Roi'.T. R. Livingston, [l.s.] 
 J AS. MoNROK. [l.s.] 
 
 F. Barbe Marhois. [i-S-] 
 
 Jefferson to Livingston. 
 
 Wasiiincton, Apr. iS, 1S02. 
 
 Dear Sir, — A favorable and a confidential opportunity offer- 
 ing by Mr. Dupont de Nemours, who is revisiting his native 
 country gives m.e an opportunity of sending you a cipher to be 
 used between us, which will give you some trouble to under- 
 stand, but, once understood, is the easiest to use, the most 
 indecipherable, and varied by a new key with the greatest 
 facility of any one I have ever known. I am in hopes the ex- 
 planation inclosed will be sufficient. . . . But writing by Mr. 
 Dupont I need no cipher. 1 require from him to put this into 
 your own and no other hand, let the delay occasioned by that 
 be what it will. 
 
 The session of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France 
 works most sorely on the U. S. On this subject the Secretary 
 of State has written to you fully. Yet I cannot forbear recur- 
 ring to it personally, so deep is the impression it makes in my 
 mind. It compleatly reverses all the political relations of the 
 U. S. and will form a new epoch in our political course. Of 
 all nations of any consideration France is the one which hitherto 
 has offered the fewest points on which we could have any con- 
 flict of right, and the most points of a connnunion of interests. 
 From these causes we have ever looked to her as our natural 
 
 49 
 
friend, as one with which we never could have an occasion of 
 cUfference. Her growth therefore we viewed as our own, her 
 misfortunes ours. There is on the globe one single spot, the 
 possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is 
 New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our 
 territory must pass to market, and from its fertility it will ere 
 long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain 
 more than half our inhabitants. France placing herself in that 
 door assumes to us the attitude of defiance. Spain might have 
 retained it quietly for years. Her pacific dispositions, her 
 feeble state, would induce her to increase our facilities there, 
 so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us, 
 and it would not perhaps be very long before some circum- 
 stance might arise which might make the cession of it to us 
 the price of something of more worth to her. Not so can it 
 ever be in the hands of France. The impetuosity of her tem- 
 per, the energy and restlessness of her character, placed in a 
 point of eternal friction with us, and our character, which 
 though quiet, and loving peace and the pursuit of wealth, is 
 high-minded, despising wealth in competition with insult or 
 injury, enterprising and energetic as any nation on earth, these 
 circumstances render it impossible that France and the U. S. 
 can continue long friends when they meet in so irritable a 
 position. They as well as we must be blind if they do not see 
 this; and we must be very improvident if we do not begin to 
 make arrangements on that hypothesis. The day that France 
 takes possession of N. Orleans fixes the sentence which is to 
 restrain her forever within her low water mark. It seals the 
 union of two nations who in conjunction can maintain exclusive 
 possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry 
 ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We must turn all our 
 attentions to a maritime force, for which our resources place us 
 on very high grounds : and having formed and cemented 
 together a power which may render reinforcement of her settle- 
 ments here impossible to France, make the first cannon which 
 shall be fired in Europe the signal foiTtearing up any settle- 
 ment she may have made, and for holding the two continents 
 of America in sequestration for the common purposes of the 
 united British and American nations. This is not a state of 
 things we seek or desire. It is one which this measure, if 
 adopted by France, forces on us, as necessarily as any other 
 cause, by the laws of nature, brings on its necessary effect. It 
 
 5° 
 
7 
 
 is not from a fear of France that we deprecate this measure 
 proposed by her. For however greater her force is than ours 
 compared in the abstract, it is nothing in comparison of ours 
 when to be exerted on our soil. But it is from a sincere love 
 of peace, and a firm persuasion that bound to France by the 
 interests and the strong sympathies still existing in the minds 
 of our citizens, and holding relative positions which ensure 
 their continuance we are secure of a long course of peace. 
 Whereas the change of friends, which will be rendered neces- 
 sary if France changes that position, embarks us necessarily as 
 a belligerent power in the first war of Europe. In that case 
 France will have held possession of New Orleans during the 
 interval of a peace, long or short, at the end of which it will be 
 wrested from her. Will this short-lived possession have been 
 an equivalent to her for the transfer of such a weight into the 
 scale of her enemy ? Will not the amalgamation of a young, 
 thriving nation continue to that enemy the health and force 
 which are at present so evidently on the decline .'' And will a 
 few years possession of N. Orleans add equally to the strength 
 of France? She may say she needs Louisiana for the supply 
 of her West Indies. She does not need it in time of peace. 
 And in war she could not depend on them because they would 
 be so easily intercepted. I should suppose that all these con- 
 siderations might in some proper form be brought into view of 
 the government of France. Tho' stated by us, it ought not to 
 give offence ; because we do not bring them forward as a men- 
 ace, but as consequences not controulable by us, but inevitable 
 from the course of things. We mention them not as things 
 which we desire by any means, but as things we deprecate ; 
 and we beseech a friend to look forward and to prevent them 
 for our common interests. 
 
 If France considers Louisiana however as indispensable for 
 her views she might perhaps be willing to look about for arrange- 
 ments which might reconcile it to our- interests. If anything 
 could do this it would be the ceding to us the island of New 
 Orleans and the Floridas. This would certainly in a great 
 degree remove the causes of jarring and irritation between us, 
 and perhaps for such a length of time as might produce other 
 means of making the measure permanently conciliatory to our 
 interests and friendships. It would at any rate relieve us from 
 the necessity of taking immediate measures for countervailing 
 such an operation by arrangements in another quarter. Still 
 
 5i 
 
we sliould consider N. Orleans and the Floridas as equivalent 
 for the risk of a quarrel with France produced by her vicinage. 
 I have no doubt you have urged these considerations on every 
 proper occasion with the government where you are. They are 
 such as must have effect if you can find the means of produc- 
 ing thorough reiiection on them by that government. The idea 
 here is that the troops sent to St. Domingo, were to proceed to 
 Louisiana after finishing their work in that island. If this 
 were the arrangement, it will give you time to return again and 
 again to the charge, for the conquest of St. Domingo will not 
 be a short work. It will take considerable time to wear down 
 a great number of souldiers. Every eye in the U. S. is now 
 fixed on this affair of Louisiana. Perhaps nothing since the 
 revolutionary war has produced more uneasy sensations through 
 the body of the nation. Notwithstanding temporary bickerings 
 have taken place with France, she has still a strong hold on the 
 affections of our citizens generally. I have thought it not amiss, 
 by way of supplement to the letters of the Secretary of State, 
 to write you this private one to impress you with the importance 
 we affix to this transaction. I pray you to cherish Dupont. 
 He has the best dispositions for the continuance of friendship 
 between the two nations, and perhaps you may be able to make 
 a good use of him. Accept assurances of my aftectionate 
 esteem and high consideration. 
 
 Jefferson to Monroe. 
 
 Washington, Jan. 13, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I dropped you a line on the loth informing you 
 of a nomination I had made of you to the Senate, and yester- 
 day I enclosed you their approbation, not then having time to 
 write. The agitation of the public mind on occasion of the 
 late suspension of our right of deposit at N. Orleans is extreme. 
 In the western country it is natural and grounded on honest 
 motives. In the seaports it proceeds from a desire for war 
 which increases the mercantile lottery ; in the federalists gen- 
 erally and especially those of Congress the object is to force us 
 into war if possible, in order to derange our finances, or if this 
 cannot be done, to attach the western country to them, as their 
 best friends, and thus get again into j5ower. Remonstrances 
 memorials &c. are now circulating through the whole of the 
 western country and signing by the body of the people. The 
 52 
 
measures we have been pursuing being invisible, do not satisfy 
 their minds. Something sensible therefore was become neces- 
 sary ; and indeed our object of purchasing N. Orleans and the 
 Floridas is a measure liable to assume so many shapes, that no 
 instructions could be squared to fit them, it was essential then 
 to send a minister extraordinary to be joined with the ordinary 
 one, with discretionary powers, first however well impressed 
 with all our views and therefore qualified to meet and modify 
 to these every form of proposition which could come from the 
 other party. This could be done only in full and frequent oral 
 communications. Having determined on this, there could not 
 be two opinions among the republicans as to the person. You 
 possess the unlimited confidence of the administration and of 
 the western people : and generally of the republicans every- 
 where ; and were you to refuse to go, no other man can be 
 found who does this. The measure has already silenced the 
 Feds. here. Congress will no longer be agitated by them : and 
 the country will become calm as fast as the information extends 
 over it. All eyes, all hopes, are now fixed on you ; and were 
 you to decline, the chagrin would be universal, and would shake 
 under your feet the high ground on which you stand with the 
 public. Indeed I know nothing which would produce such a 
 shock, for on the event of this mission depends the future 
 destinies of this republic. If we cannot by a purchase of the 
 country insure to ourselves a course of perpetual peace and 
 friendship with all nations, then as war cannot be distant, it 
 behooves us immediately to be preparing for that course, with- 
 out, however, hastening it, and it may be necessary (on your 
 failure on the continent) to cross the channel. 
 
 We shall get entangled in European politics, and figuring 
 more, be much less happy and prosperous. This can only be 
 prevented by a successful issue to your present mission. I am 
 sensible after the measures you have taken for getting into a 
 different line of business, that it will be a great sacrifice on 
 your part, and presents from the season and other circum- 
 stances serious difficulties. But some men are born for the 
 public. Nature by fitting them for the service of the human 
 race on a broad scale, has stamped with the evidences of her 
 destination and their duty. . . . 
 
 As to the time of your going you cannot too much hasten it, 
 as the moment in France is critical. St. Domingo delays their 
 taking possession of Louisiana, and they are in the last distress 
 
 53 
 
lO 
 
 for money for current purposes. You should arrange your 
 affairs for an absence of a year at least, perhaps for a long 
 one. It will be necessary for you to. stay here some days on 
 your way to New York. You will receive here what advance 
 you chuse. Accept assurances of my constant and affectionate 
 attachment. 
 
 Jefferson to M. Dupont de Nemours. 
 
 Washington, Feb. i, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have to acknolege the receipt of your favors of 
 Aug 16 and Oct 4. And the latter I received with peculiar 
 satisfaction ; because, while it holds up terms which cannot be 
 entirely yielded, it proposes such as a mutual spirit of accom- 
 modation and sacrifice of opinion may bring to some point of 
 union. While we were preparing on this subject such modifi- 
 cations of the propositions of your letter of Oct 4, as we could 
 assent to, an event happened which obliged us to adopt meas- 
 ures of urgency. The suspension of the right of deposit at New 
 Orleans, ceded to us by our treaty with Spain, threw our whole 
 country into such a ferment as imminently threatened its peace. 
 This, however, was believed to be the act of the Intendant, 
 unauthorized by his government. But it showed the necessity 
 of making effectual arrangements to secure the peace of the 
 two counties against the indiscreet acts of subordinate agents. 
 The urgency of the case, as well as the public spirit, therefore 
 induced us to make a more solemn appeal to the justice and 
 judgment of our neighbors, by sending a minister extraordinary 
 to impress them with the necessity of some arrangement. Mr. 
 Monroe has been selected. His good ^spositions cannot be 
 doubted. Multiplied conversations with him, and views of the 
 subject taken in all the shapes in which it can present itself, 
 have possessed him with our estimates of everything relating to 
 it, with a minuteness which no written communication to Mr. 
 Livingston could ever have attained. These will prepare them 
 to meet and decide on every form of proposition which can 
 occur, without awaiting new instructions from hence, which 
 might draw to an indefinite length a discussion where circum- 
 stances imperiously oblige us to a prompt decision. P^or the 
 occlusion of the Mississippi is a state of things in which we 
 cannot exist. He goes, therefore, joined with Chancellor Liv- 
 ingston, to aid in the issue of a crisis the most important the 
 54 
 
1 1 
 
 U S have ever met since their independence, and which is to 
 decide their future character >S: career. The confidence which 
 the government of France reposes in you will undoubtedl)- give 
 great weight to your information. An equal confidence on our 
 part, founded on your knowledge of the subject, your just views 
 of it, your good dispositions towards this country, and my long 
 experience of your personal faith and friendship, assures me 
 that you will render between us all the good ofiices in your 
 power. The interests of the two countries being absolutely the 
 same as to this matter, your aid may be conscientiously given. 
 It will often perhaps, be possible for you, having a freedom of 
 communication, omvilnis horis, which diplomatic gentlemen will 
 be excluded from by forms, to smooth difficulties by repre- 
 sentations & reasonings, which would be received with more 
 suspicion from them. You will thereby render great good to 
 both countries. For our circumstances are so imperious as to 
 admit of no delay as to our course; and the use of the Missis- 
 sippi so indispensable, that we cannot hesitate one moment to 
 hazard our existence for its maintenance. If we fail in this 
 efifort to put it beyond the reach of accident, we see the des- 
 tinies we have to run, and prepare at once for them. Not but 
 that we shall still endeavor to go on in peace and friendship 
 with our neighbors as long as we can, if our rig/tfs of iiaviga- 
 iion «5n deposit arc respected : but as we foresee that the caprices 
 of the local officers, and the abuse of those rights by our boat- 
 men i.^ navigators, which neither government can prevent, will 
 keep up a state of irritation which cannot long be kept inactive, 
 we should be criminally improvident not to take at once 
 eventual measures for strengthening ourselves for the contest. 
 It may be said, if this object be so all-important to us, why do 
 we not offer such a sum as to insure its purchase ? The answer 
 is simple. We are an agricultural people, poor in money, and 
 owing great debts. These will be falling clue by instalments 
 for 15. years to come, and require from us the practice of a 
 rigorous economy to accomplish their payment ; and it is our 
 principle to pay to a moment whatever we have engaged, and 
 never to engage what we cannot, and mean not faithfully to 
 pay. We have calculated our re'sources, and find the sum to 
 be moderate which they would enable us to pay, and we know 
 from late trials that little can be added to it by borrowing. 
 The country, too, which we wish to purchase, except the por- 
 tion already granted, and which must be confirmed to the pri- 
 
 55 
 
12 
 
 vate holders, is a barren sand 600. miles from east to west, & 
 from 30. to 40. & 50. miles from north to south, formed by 
 deposition of the sands by the Gulf Stream in its circular course 
 round the Mexican Gulf, and which being spent after perform- 
 ing a semicircle, has made from its last depositions the sand 
 bank of East Florida. In West Florida, indeed, there are on 
 the borders of the rivers some rich bottoms, formed by the 
 mud brought from the upper country. These bottoms are all 
 possessed by individuals. But the spaces between river and 
 river are mere banks of sand ; and in East Florida there are 
 neither rivers, nor consequently any bottoms. We cannot then 
 make anything by a sale of the lands to individuals. So that 
 it is peace alone which makes it an object with us, and which 
 ought to make the cession of it desirable to France, \^'hatever 
 power, other than ourselves, holds the country east of the 
 Mississippi becomes our natural enemy. Will such a posses- 
 sion do France as much good, as such an enemy may do her 
 harm } And how long would it be hers, were such an enemy, 
 situated at its door, added to G Britain ? I confess, it appears 
 to me as essential to France to keep at peace with us, as it 
 is to us to keep at peace with her ; and that, if this cannot be 
 secured without some compromise as to the territory in ques- 
 tion, it will be useful for both to make some sacrifices to effect 
 the compromise. 
 
 You see, my good friend, with what frankness I communi- 
 cate with you on this subject; that I hide nothing from you 
 and that I am endeavoring to turn our private friendship to the 
 good of our respective countries. And can private friendship 
 ever answer a nobler end than by keeping two nations at peace, 
 who, if this new position which one oF^them is taking were 
 rendered innocent, have more points of common interest, and 
 fewer of collision, than any two on earth ; who become natural 
 friends, instead of natural enemies, which this change of posi- 
 tion would make them. My letters of April 25, May 5, and 
 this present one have been written, without any disguise, in this 
 view ; and, while safe in your hands they can never do any- 
 thing but good. But you and I are now at that time of life 
 when our call to another state of being cannot be distant, and 
 may be near. Besides, your government is in the habit of 
 seizing papers without notice. These letters might thus get 
 into hands, which, like the hornet which extracts poison from 
 the same Hower that yields honey to the bee, might make them 
 56 
 
13 
 
 the ground of blowing up a tiame between our two countries, 
 and make our friendship and confidence in each other effect 
 exactly the reverse of what we are aiming at. Being yourself 
 thoroughly possessed of every idea in them, let me ask from 
 your friendship an immediate consignment of them to the 
 fiames. That alone can make all safe and ourselves secure. 
 
 I intended to have answered you here, on the subject of your 
 agency in the transacting what money matters we may have at 
 Paris, and for that purpose meant to have conferred with I\Ir. 
 Gallatin. But he has, for two or three days been confined to 
 his room, and is not yet able to do business. If he is out 
 before Mr. Monroe's departure, I will write an additional letter 
 on that subject. Be assured that it will be a great additional 
 satisfaction to me to render services to yourself &: sons by the 
 same acts which shall at the same time promote the public ser- 
 vice. Be so good as to present my respectful salutations to 
 Made. Dupont, & to accept yourself assurances of my constant 
 and affectionate friendship and great respect. 
 
 Jefferson to Livixgston. 
 
 Washi.ncton, Feb. 3, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sir, — ]\Iy last to you was by Mr. Dupont. Since that 
 I received yours of May 22. Mr. Madison supposes you have 
 written a subsequent one which has never come to hand. A 
 late suspension by the Intendant of X Orleans of our right of 
 deposit there, without which the right of navigation is imprac- 
 ticable, has thrown this country into such a flame of hostile 
 disposition as can scarcely be described. The western country 
 was peculiarly sensible to it as you may suppose. Our business 
 was to take the most effectual pacific measures in our power to 
 remove the suspension, and at the same time to persuade our 
 countrymen that pacific measures would be the most effectual 
 and the most speedily so. The opposition caught it as a plank 
 in a shipwreck, hoping it would enable them to tack the West- 
 ern people to them. They raised the cry of war, were intrigu- 
 ing in all the quarters to exasperate the Western inhabitants to 
 arm & go down on their own authority & possess themselves of 
 New Orleans, and in the meantime were daily reiterating, in 
 new shapes, inflammatory resolutions for the adoption of the 
 House. As a remedy to all this we determined to name a min- 
 ister extraordinary to go immediately to Paris & Madrid to 
 
 57 
 
14 
 
 settle this matter. This measure being a visible one, and the 
 person named peculiarly proper with the Western country, 
 crushed at once &: put an end to all further attempts on the 
 Legislature. From that moment all has become quiet ; and 
 the more readily in the Western country, as the sudden alliance 
 of these new federal friends had of itself already began to make 
 them suspect the wisdsm of their own couise. The measure 
 was moreover proposed from another cause. We must know 
 at once whether we can acquire N ( )rleans or not. We are 
 satisfied nothing else will secure us against a war at no distant 
 period ; and we cannot press this reason without beginning 
 those arrangements which will be necessary if war is hereafter 
 to result. For this purpose it was necessary that the negotia- 
 tors should be fully possessed of every idea we have on the 
 subject, so as to meet the propositions of the opposite party, 
 in whatever form they may be offered ; and give them a shape 
 admissible by us without being obliged to awa"it new instruc- 
 tions hence. With this view, we have joined Mr. Monroe to 
 yourself at Paris, & to Mr. Pinkney at Madrid, altho' we be- 
 lieve it will be hardly necessary for him to go to this last place. 
 Should we fail in this object of the mission, a further one will 
 be superadded for the other side of the channel. On this sub- 
 ject you will be informed b}^ the Secretary of State, & Mr. 
 Monroe will be able also to inform you of all our views and 
 purposes. By him I send another letter to Dupont, whose aid 
 may be of the greatest service, as it will be divested of the 
 shackles of form. The letter is left open for your perusal, after 
 which I wish a wafer stuck in it before it be delivered. The 
 official and the verbal communications to you by Mr. Monroe 
 will be so full and minute, that I need not trouble you with an 
 inofficial repetition of them. The future destinies of our 
 country hang on the event of this negotiation, and I am sure 
 they could not be placed in more able or more zealous hands. 
 On our parts we shall be satisfied that what you do not effect, 
 cannot be effected. Accept therefore assurances of my sincere 
 cSc constant affection and high respect. 
 
 58 
 
15 
 
 Jefferson to Horatio Gates. 
 
 Washington, July ii. '03. 
 
 Dear General, — I accept with pleasure, and with pleasure 
 reciprocate your congratulations on the acquisition of Louis- 
 iana : for it is a subject of mutual congratulations as it inter- 
 ests every man of the nation. The territory acquired, as it 
 includes all the waters of the Missouri «S: Mississippi, has more 
 than doubled the area of the U. S. and the new part is not 
 inferior to the old in soil, climate, productions & important 
 communications. If our legislature dispose of it with the 
 wisdom we have a right to expect, they may make it the means 
 of tempting all our Indians on the East side of the Mississippi 
 to remove to the West, and of condensing instead of scattering 
 our population. I find our opposition is very willing to pluck 
 feathers from Monroe, although not fond of sticking them into 
 Livingston's coat. The truth is both have a just portion of 
 merit and were it necessary or proper it could be shewn that 
 each has rendered peculiar service, & of important value. 
 These grumblers too are very uneasy lest the administration 
 should share some little credit for the acquisition, the whole of 
 which they ascribe to the accident of war. They would be 
 cruelly mortified could they see our files from April 1801, the 
 first organization of the administration, -but more especially 
 from April 1802. They would see that tho' we could not say 
 when war would arise, yet we said with energy what would take 
 place when it should arise. We did not, by our intrigues, pro- 
 duce the war : but we availed ourselves of it when it happened. 
 The other party saw the case now existing on which our repre- 
 sentations were predicted, and the wisdom of timely sacrifice. 
 But when these people make the war give us everything, they 
 authorize us to ask what the war gave us in their day ? They 
 had a war. What did they make it bring us .'' Instead of 
 making our neutrality the grounds of gain to their country, 
 they were for plunging into the war. And if they were now in 
 place, they would not be at war against the Alliests 6c disor- 
 ganizers of France. They were for making their country an 
 appendage to England. We are friendly, cordially and con- 
 scientiously friendly to England, but we are not hostile to 
 France. We will be rigorously just and sincerely friendly to 
 both. I do not believe we shall have as much to swallow from 
 them as our predecessors had. 
 
 59 
 
i6 
 
 With respect to the territory acquired, I do not think it will 
 be a separate government as you imagine. I presume the 
 island of N. Orleans and the settled country on the opposite 
 bank, will be annexed to the Mississippi territory. We shall 
 certainly endeavor to introduce the American laws there & that 
 cannot be done but by amalgamating the people with such a 
 body of Americans as may take the lead in legislation & gov- 
 ernment. Of course they will be under the Governor of Mis- 
 sissippi. The rest of the territory will probably be locked up 
 from American settlement, and under the self-government of 
 the native occupants. 
 
 Jefferson to J. C. Breckenridge. 
 
 MONTICELLO, Aug. 12, '03. 
 
 Deat Sir, — The enclosed letter, tho' directed to you, was 
 intended to me also, and was left open with a request, that 
 when perused, I would forward it to you. It gives me occasion 
 to write a word to you on the subject of Louisiana, which being 
 a new one, an interchange of sentiments may produce correct 
 ideas before we are to act on them. 
 
 Our information as to the country is very incompleat; we 
 have taken measures to obtain it in full as to the settled part, 
 which I hope to receive in time for Congress. The boundaries, 
 which I deem not admitting question, are the high lands on the 
 western side of the Missisipi enclosing all it's waters, the 
 Missouri- of course, and terminating in the line drawn from the 
 northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods to the nearest 
 source of the Missipi, as lately settled between Gr Britain and 
 the U S. We have some claims, to eictend on the sea coast 
 Westwardly to the Rio Norte or Bravo, and better, to go East- 
 wardly to the Rio Perdido, between Mobile ct Pensacola, the 
 antient boundary of Louisiana. These claims will be a subject 
 of negociation with Spain, and if, as soon as she is at war, we 
 push them strongly with one hand, holding out a price in the 
 other, we shall certainly obtain the Floridas, and all in good 
 time. In the meanwhile, without waiting for permission, we 
 shall enter into the exercise of the natural right we have always 
 insisted on with Spain, to wit, that of a nation holding the 
 upper part of streams, having a right of innocent passage thro' 
 them to the ocean. We shall prepare her to see us practise on 
 this, & she will not oppose it by force. 
 60 
 
17 
 
 Objections are raising to the Eastward against the vast ex- 
 tent of our boundaries, and propositions are made to exchange 
 Louisiana, or a part of it, for the Floridas. But. as I have 
 said, we shall get the Floridas without, and I would not give 
 one inch of the waters of the Mississippi to any nation, because 
 I see in a light very important to our peace the exclusive right 
 to it's navigation, & the admission of no nation into it, but as 
 into the Potomak or Delaware, with our consent & under our 
 police. These federalists see in this acquisition the formation 
 of a new confederacy, embracing all the waters of the Missipi, 
 on both sides of it, and a separation of it's Eastern waters from 
 us. These combinations depend on so many circumstances 
 which we cannot foresee, that I place little reliance on them. 
 We have seldom seen neighborhood produce affection among 
 nations. The reverse is almost the universal truth. Besides, 
 if it should become the great interest of those nations to sep- 
 arate from this, if their happiness should depend on it so 
 strongly as to induce them to go through that convulsion, why 
 should the Atlantic States dread it ? But especially why should 
 we, their present inhabitants, take side in such a question ? 
 When I view the Atlantic States, procuring for those on the 
 Eastern waters of the Missipi friendly instead of hostile neigh- 
 bors on it's Western waters, I do not view it as an Englishman 
 would the procuring future blessings for the French nation, 
 with whom he has no relations of blood or affection. The 
 future inhabitants of the Atlantic (S: Missipi States will be our 
 sons. We leave them in distinct but bordering establishments. 
 We think we see their happiness in their union, & we wish it. 
 Events may prove it otherwise ; and if they see their interest in 
 separation, why should we take side with our Atlantic rather 
 than our Missipi descendants ? It is the elder and the younger 
 son differing. God bless them both, & keep them in union, if 
 it be for their good, but separate them, if it be better. The 
 inhabited part of Louisiana, from Point Coupee to the sea, will 
 of course be immediately a territorial government, and soon a 
 State. But above that, the best use we can make of the coun- 
 try for some time, will be to give establishments in it to the 
 Indians on the East side of the Missipi, in exchange for their 
 present country, and open land offices in the last, tSc thus make 
 this acquisition the means of filling up the Eastern side, instead 
 of drawing off it's population. When we shall be full on this 
 side, we may lay off a range of States on the Western bank 
 
 6i 
 
i8 
 
 from the head to the mouth, tS: so, range after range, advancing 
 compactly as we multiply. 
 
 This treaty must of course be laid before both Houses, be- 
 cause both have important functions to exercise respecting it. 
 They, I presume, will see their duty to their country in ratifying 
 iS: paying for it, so as to secure a good which would otherwise 
 probably be never again in their power. But I suppose they 
 must then appeal to the }iation for an additional article to the 
 Constitution, approving & confirming an act which the nation 
 had not previously authorized. The constitution has made no 
 provision for our holding foreign territory, still less for incor- 
 porating foreign nations into our Union. The Executive in 
 seizing the fugitive occurrence which so much advances the 
 good of their country, have done an act beyond the Constitu- 
 tion. The Legislature in casting behind them metaphysical 
 subtleties, and risking themselves like faithful servants, must 
 ratify & pay for it, and thrown themselves on their country for 
 doing for them unauthorized what we know they would have 
 done for themselves had they been in a situation to do it. It 
 is the case of a guardian, investing the money of his ward in 
 purchasing an important adjacent territory ; & saying to him 
 when of age, I did this for your good ; I pretend to no right to 
 bind you : you may disavow me, and I must get out o£ the 
 scrape as I can : I thought it my duty to risk myself for you. 
 But we shall not be disavowed by the nation, and their act of 
 indemnity will confirm iS: not weaken the Constitution, by more 
 strongly marking out its lines. 
 
 Jefferson to John Dickinson. 
 
 MoNTICELLO, Aug. 9, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sir, — ^ Your friendly favor of the ist inst. is received 
 with that welcome which always accompanies the approbation 
 of the wise i^ good. The acquisition of New Orleans would 
 of itself have been a great thing, as it would have ensured to 
 our western brethren the means of exporting their produce : 
 but that of Louisiana is inappreciable, because, giving us the 
 sole dominion of the Mississippi, it excludes those bickerings 
 with foreign powers, which we know of a certainty would have 
 put us at war with France immediately : and it secures to us 
 the course of a peaceable nation. 
 
 The unquestioned bounds of Louisiana are the Iberville eV' 
 62 
 
19 
 
 Mississippi on the east, the Mexicana, or the Highlands east 
 of it, on the west ; then from the head of the Mexicana gain- 
 ing the highlands which include the waters of the Mississippi, 
 and following those highlands round the head springs of the 
 western waters of the Mississippi to its source where we join 
 the English or perhaps to the Lake of the Woods. This may- 
 be considered as a triangle, one leg of which is the length of 
 the Missouri, the other of the Mississippi, and the hypothenuse 
 running from the source of the Missouri to the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. I should be averse to exchanging any part of 
 this for the Floridas, because it would let Spain into the Missis- 
 sippi on the principle of natural right; we have always urged & 
 are now urging to her, that a nation inhabiting the upper part 
 of a stream has a right of innocent passage down that stream 
 to the ocean : and because the Floridas will fall to us peaceably 
 the first war Spain is engaged in. We have some pretensions 
 to extend the western territory of Louisiana to the Rio Norte 
 or Bravo ; and still stronger the eastern boundary to the R o 
 Perdido between the rivers Mobile vS: Pensacola. These last 
 are so strong that France had not relinquished them iv our 
 negotiator expressly declared we should claim them; by properly 
 availing ourselves of these with offers of a price, and our 
 peace, we shall get the Floridas in good time. But in the 
 meantime we shall enter on the exercise of the right of passing 
 down all the rivers which rising in our territory, run thro' the 
 Floridas. Spain will not oppose it by force. But there is a 
 difficulty in this acquisition which presents a handle to the 
 malcontents among us, though they have not yet discovered it. 
 Our confederation is certainly confined to the limits established 
 by the revolution. The general government has no powers 
 but such as the constitution has given it ; and it has not given 
 it a power of holding foreign territory, & still less of incorpo- 
 rating it into the Union. An amendment of the Constitution 
 seems necessary for this. Li the meantime we must ratify &: 
 pay our money, as we have treated, for a thing beyond the 
 constitution, and rely on the nation to sanction an act done for 
 its great good, without its previous authority. With respect to 
 the disposal of the country, we must take the island of New 
 Orleans and west side of the river as high up as Point Coupee, 
 containing nearly the whole inhabitants, say about 50,000, and 
 erect it into a state, or annex it to the Mississippi territory : 
 and shut up all the rest from settlement for a long time to 
 
 63 
 
20 
 
 come, endeavoring to exchange some of the country there un- 
 occupied by Indians for the lands held by the Indians on this 
 side the Mississippi, who will be glad to cede us their country 
 here for an equivalent there : and we may sell out our lands 
 here Os: pay the whole debt contracted before it comes due. 
 The impost which will be paid by the inhabitants ceded will 
 pay halt the interest of the price we give : so that we really 
 add only half the price to our debt. I have indulged myself 
 in these details because the subject being new, it is advan- 
 tageous to interchange ideas on it and to get our notions all 
 corrected before we are obliged to act on them. In this idea 
 I receive & shall receive with pleasure anything which may 
 occur to you. Accept my afifectionate salutations & assurances 
 of my constant (^ great esteem i.\: respect. 
 
 From Jefferson's Third Annual Message to Congress. 
 October 17, 1803. 
 
 To the Senate atid House of Representatives of the United 
 States : — 
 
 In calling you together, fellow-citizens, at an earlier day than 
 was contemplated by the act of the last session of Congress, 
 I have not been insensible to the personal inconveniences 
 neccessarily resulting from an unexpected change in your 
 arrangements. But matters of great public concernment have 
 rendered this call necessary, and the interest you feel in these 
 will supersede in your minds all private considerations. 
 
 Congress witnessed, at their last session, the extraordinary 
 agitation produced in the public mind by the suspension of our 
 right of deposit at the port of New Orleans, no assignment of 
 another place having been made according to treaty. They 
 were sensible that the continuance of that privation would be 
 more injurious to our nation than any consequences which 
 could flow from any mode of redress, but reposing just confi- 
 dence in the good faith of the government whose officer had 
 committed the wrong, friendly and reasonable representations 
 were resorted to, and the right of deposit was restored. 
 
 Previous, however, to this period, we had" not been unaware 
 of the danger to which our peace would be perpetually exposed 
 while so important a key to the commerce of the western 
 64 
 
21 
 
 country remained under foreign power. Difficulties, too. were 
 presenting ttiemselves as to the navigation of other streams, 
 which, arising within our territories, passed through those 
 adjacent. Propositions had, therefore, been authorized for 
 obtaining, on fair conditions, the sovereignty of New Orleans, 
 and of other possessions in that quarter interesting to our 
 quiet, to such extent as was deemed practicable ; and the pro- 
 visional appropriation of two millions of dollars, to be applied 
 and accounted for by the president of the United States, 
 intended as part of the price, was considered as conveying the 
 sanction of Congress to the acquisition proposed. The en- 
 lightened government of France saw, with just discernment, 
 the importance to both nations of such liberal arrangements as 
 might best and permanently promote the peace, friendship, and 
 interests of both ; and the property and sovereignty of all 
 I^ouisiana, which had been restored to them, have on certain 
 conditions been transferred to the United States by instruments 
 bearing date the 30th of April last. When these shall have 
 received the constitutional sanction of the senate, they will 
 without delay be communicated to the representatives also, for 
 the exercise of their functions, as to those conditions which 
 are within the powers vested by the constitution in Congress. 
 While the property and sovereignty of the Mississippi and its 
 waters secure an independent outlet for the produce of the 
 western States, and an uncontrolled navigation through their 
 whole course, free from collision with other powers and the 
 dangers to our peace from that source, the fertility of the 
 country, its climate and extent, promise in due season impor- 
 tant aids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posteritv, 
 and a wide-spread field for the blessings of freedom and equal 
 laws. 
 
 With the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take those ulte- 
 rior measures which may be necessary for the immediate occu- 
 pation and temporary government of the country ; for its 
 incorporation into our Union ; for rendering the change of 
 government a blessing to our newly-adopted brethren ; for 
 securing to them the rights of conscience and of property ; 
 for confirming to the Indian inhabitants their occupancy and 
 self-government, establishing friendly and commercial relations 
 with them, and for ascertaining the geography of the country 
 acquired. Such materials for your information, relative to its 
 affairs in general, as the short space of time has permitted me 
 
 65 
 
to collect, will be laid before you when the subject shall be in 
 a state for your consideration. 
 
 Jefferson to Gallatin. 
 
 Nov. 9, 1803. 
 
 The memoranda you enclosed me from Mr. Clarke deserve 
 great attention. Such articles of them as depend on the execu- 
 tive shall be arranged for the next post. The following articles 
 belong to the legislature. 
 
 The administration of justice to be prompt. Perhaps the 
 judges should be obliged to hold their courts weekly, at least 
 for some time to come. 
 
 The ships of resident owners to be naturalized, and in gen- 
 eral the laws of the U. S., respecting navigation, importation, . 
 exportation ivc, to be extended to the ports of the ceded terri- 
 tory. 
 
 The hospital to be provided for. 
 
 Slaves not to be imported, except from such of the U. S. as 
 prohibit importation. 
 
 Without looking at the old territorial ordinance, I had im- 
 agined it best to found a government for the territory or terri- 
 tories of hnucr Louisiana on that basis. But on examining it, 
 I find it will not do at all ; that it would turn all their laws 
 topsy turvy. Still I believe it best to appoint a governor & 
 three judges, with legislative powers ; only providing that the 
 judges shall form the laws, & the governor have a negative 
 only, subject further to the negative of a national legislature. 
 The existing laws of the country being now in force, the new 
 legislature will of course introduce thejrial by jury in cnminal 
 cases, first ; the habeas corpus, the freedom of the press, free- 
 dom of religion cScc., as soon as can be, and in general draw 
 their laws and organization to the mould of ours by degrees as 
 they find practicable without exciting too much discontent. In 
 proportion as we find the people there riper for receiving these 
 first principles of freedom, congress may from session to session 
 confirm their enjoyment of them. 
 
 As you have so many more opportunities than I have of free 
 confidence with individual members, perhaps you may be able 
 to give them these hints to make what use of them they please. 
 Affectionate salutations. 
 
 P.S. My idea that upper Louisiana should be continued 
 
 66 
 
2 3 
 
 under its present form of government, only making it subordi- 
 nate to the national government, and independent of lower 
 Louisiana. No other government can protect it from in- 
 truders. 
 
 Jefferson to LiviNGSTt)N. 
 
 Washington, Nov. 4, 1S03. 
 
 . . . Your treaty has obtained nearly a general approbation. 
 The federalists spoke cS: voted against it, but they are now so 
 reduced in their numbers as to be nothing. The question on 
 its ratification in the Senate was decided by 24 against 7, 
 which was 10 more than enough. The vote in the H. of R. 
 for making provision for its execution was carried by 8g against 
 23, which was a majority of 66, and the necessary bills are 
 going through the Houses by greater majorities. Mr. Pichon, 
 according to instructions from his government, proposed to have 
 added to the ratification a protestation against any failure in 
 time or other circumstances of execution, on our part. He was 
 told, that in that case we should annex a counter protestation, 
 which would leave the thing exactly where it was. That this 
 transaction had been conducted, from the commencement of the 
 negotiation to this stage of it, with a frankness & sincerity 
 honorable to both nations, and comfortable to the heart of an 
 honest man to review ; that to annex to this last chapter of the 
 transaction such an evidence of mutual distrust, was to change 
 its aspect dishonorably for us both, and contrary to truth as to 
 us ; for that we had not the smallest doubt that France would 
 punctually execute its part ; «S: I assured Mr. Pichon that I 
 had more confidence in the word of the First Consul than in 
 all the parchment we could sign. He saw that we had r-atified 
 the treaty ; that both branches had passed, by great majorities, 
 one of the bills for execution, t*v would soon pass the other two; 
 that no circumstance remained that could leave a doubt of our 
 punctual performance ; \: like an able iS: an honest minister, 
 (which he is in the highest degree,) he undertook to do what he 
 knew his employers would do themselves, were they here spec- 
 tators of all the existing circumstances, and exchanged the 
 ratifications purely and simply : so that this instrument goes to 
 the world as an evidence of the candor (I^ confidence of the 
 nations in each other, which will have the best effects. This 
 was the more justifiable, as Mr. Pichon knew that Spain had 
 entered with us a protestation against our ratification of the 
 
 67 
 
24 
 
 treaty, grounded ist, on the assertion that the First Consul 
 had not executed the conditions of the treaties of cession ; & 
 2ly, that he had broken a solemn promise not to alienate the 
 country to any nation. We answered, that these were private 
 questions between France & Spain, which they must settle to- 
 gether ; that we derived our title from the First Consul, & did 
 not doubt his guarantee of it; and we, four days ago, sent off 
 orders to the Governor of the Mississippi territory & General 
 Wilkinson to move down with the troops at hand to New Or- 
 leans, to receive the possessif)n from Mr. Laussat. If he is 
 heartily disposed to carry the order of the Consul into execu- 
 tion, he can probably command a voluntary force at New Or- 
 leans, and will have the aid of ours also, if he desires it, to take 
 the possession, & deliver it to us. If he is not so disposed, 
 lac shall take the possession, & it will rest with the government 
 of France, by adopting the act as their own, & obtaining the 
 confirmation of Spain, to supply the non-execution of their 
 stipulation to deliver, (S: to entitle themselves to the compleat 
 execution of our part of the agreements. In the meantime, 
 the Legislature is passing the bills, and we are preparing every- 
 thing to be done on our part towards execution ; and we shall 
 not avail ourselves of the three months' delay after possession of 
 the province, allowed by the treaty for the delivery of the stock, 
 but shall deliver it the moment that possession is known here, 
 which will be on the i8th day after it has taken place. . . . 
 
 Jefferson to Joseph Priestley. 
 
 Washington, January 29, 1804. 
 
 ... I very early saw that Louisiana was indeed a speck in 
 our horizon which was to burst in a tornado ; and the public 
 are unai)prised how near this catastrophe was. Nothing but a 
 frank iv: friendly development of causes & effects on our part, 
 and good sense enough in Bonaparte to see that the train was 
 unavoidable, and would change the face of the world, saved us 
 from that storm. I did not expect he would yield till a war 
 took place between France and England, and my hope was to 
 palliate and endure, if Messrs. Ross, Morris, &C. did not force 
 a premature rupture, until that event. I believed the event 
 not very distant, but acknolege it came on sooner than I had 
 expected. Whether, however, the good sense of Bonaparte 
 might not see the course predicted to be necessary iS: unavoid- 
 68 
 
25 
 
 able, even before a war should be imminent, was a chance 
 which we thought it our duty to try ; but the immediate pros- 
 pect of rupture brought the case to immediate decision. 'I'he 
 dhi()U))iciit\\z.s been happy ; and I confess I look to this duplica- 
 tion of area for the extending a government so free and eco- 
 nomical as ours, as a great achievement to the mass of happi- 
 ness which is to ensue. Whether we remain in one confed- 
 eracy, or form into Atlantic and Mississippi confederacies, I 
 believe not very important to the happiness of either part. 
 Those of the western confederacy will be as much our children 
 & descendants as those of the eastern, and I feel myself as 
 much identified with that country, in future time, as with this; 
 and did I now foresee a separation at some future day, yet I 
 should feel the duty iv the desire to promote the western inter- 
 ests as zealously as the eastern, doing all the good for both 
 portions of our future family which should fall within my 
 power. . . . 
 
 Jefferson to Madison. 
 
 July 14, 04. 
 
 The enclosed reclamations of Girod cV- Chote against the 
 claims of Bapstropp to a monopoly of the Indian commerce 
 supposed to be under the protection of the 3d article of the 
 Louisiana Convention, as well as some other claims to abusive 
 grants, will probably force us to meet that question. The 
 article has been worded with remarkable caution on the part of 
 our negociators. It is that the inhabitants shall be admitted as 
 soon as possible, according to the principles of our Constn., 
 to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens, and, in the mecm 
 iimc, en attendant, shall be maintained in their liberty, property 
 lV' religion. That is that they shall continue under the protec- 
 tion of the treaty, until the principles of our constitution can 
 be extended to them, when the protection of the treaty is to 
 cease, and that of our own principles to take its place. But as 
 this could not be done at once, it has been provided to be as 
 soon as our rules will admit. Accordingly Congress has begun 
 by extending about 20. particular laws by their titles, to Louis- 
 iana. Among these is the act concerning intercourse with the 
 Indians, which establishes a system of commerce with them ad- 
 mitting no monopoly. That class of rights therefore are now 
 taken from under the treaty & placed under the principles of 
 our laws. I imagine it will be necessary to express an opinion 
 
 69 
 
26 
 
 to Gov^ Claiborne on this subject, after you shall have made up 
 one. Affect''-' salutations. 
 
 Jefferson to Madison. 
 
 MoNTICELLO, Aug. 7, '04. 
 
 ... In order however to lessen the causes of appeal to the 
 Convention, I sincerely wish that Congress at the next session 
 may give to the Orleans territory a legislature to be chosen by 
 the people, as this will be advancing them quite as fast as the 
 rules of our government will admit ; and the evils which may 
 arise from the irregularities which such a legislature may run 
 into, will not be so serious as leaving them the pretext of call- 
 ing in a foreign umpire between them & us. . . . 
 
 From Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address. 
 
 March 4, 1805. 
 
 ... I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disap- 
 proved by some, from a candid apprehension that the enlarge- 
 ment of our territory would endanger its union. But who can 
 limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate 
 effectively ? The larger our association, the less will it be 
 shaken by local passions ; and in any view, is it not better that 
 the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our 
 own brethren and children, than by strangers of another family ? 
 With which shall we be most likely to live in harmony and 
 friendly intercourse ? . . . 
 
 The purchase .of the Louisiana territory in 1S03 constituted the first great chapter in the 
 history of our national expansion. This purchase doubled the area of tlie United States, 
 adding over goo,ooo square miles. It comprised almost the^niire re.nion between the Missis- 
 sippi River and the Rocky Mountains, north of Texas,— the territory out of which have 
 siTice been formed the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, NeLiraska, 
 Wyomins, Montana, North and South Dakota, with a great part of the States of Minnesota 
 and Colorado, and also the Indian Territory, including Oklahoma. " The original domain 
 of the Republic was equal to 102 States as large as Massachusetts. This addition was et|ual 
 to 147, or .(5 more than the original." 
 
 r.y a secret C(mvention in 1762, confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France had 
 given this vast territory to Spain; and the control which Spain thus had of the mouth of the 
 Missi.ssii>pi became, as years went on, a matter of more and more serious concern to our West- 
 ern people, for whom the Mississippi and its tributaries were the great avenues of travel and 
 of trade Our sagacious statesmen saw early what serious consequences might be involved in 
 the situation. Franklin said to Jay in 17S4: " I would rathfer agree with the Spaniards to buy 
 at a great price the whole of their right on the Mississippi than sell a droj) of its waters. 
 A neighbor miglit as well ask me to se'.l my street door." Jefferson devoted his earnest 
 thought to tlie subject years before 1803. As Secretary of State in 1790, when there seemed 
 to be some danger of Great Hritain seizing New Orleans, lie expressed to Washington his 
 o]nutou that, rather than see Louisiana and Florida added to tlie British Empire, we should 
 take part in the general war which then seemed impending; and at the same time lie warned 
 the French to let the territory alone. Seealso his vigorotis letter to Carmichael, our represen- 
 tative at the court of Madrid, in August, 17^0. Jefferson's thought was constantly upon our 
 
27 
 
 fortunes at the mouth of the Mississippi : and he succeeded in negotiating the treaty 
 which for the dozen years before the Louisiana Purchase secured for us peaceful relations 
 with Spain. It was in direct contravention of the treaty stipulations that Spain, in Ocober, 
 1802, cut short our privilege of deposit at Xew Orleans. 
 
 In 1801 Spain, by a secret treaty, ceded the territory back to France. Napoleon planned 
 a great expedition and colony for Louisiana, and had ambitious thoughts of the restoration in 
 America of the French power which fell before England at Quebec. The intimations of the 
 cession from Spain to France created much disturbance and alarm in America. " Kentucky 
 was in a flame. The President was deeply stirred. The Spaniards had retained Louisiana 
 on sufferance : the United States could have it at any time from them. But the French 
 would be likely to hold their ancient possessions with a tighter clutch, and not content them- 
 selves with two or three trading-posts in a fertile territory large enough for an empire. Jef- 
 . ferson, from the hour when the intelligence reached him, had only this thought : The French 
 must not have New Orleans. No one but ourselves must own our own street door."' He 
 addressed urgent instructions and suggestions to Mr. Livingston, our minister at Paris, em- 
 bodying considerations which he knew wonld find their way to Napoleon. To his French 
 friend, M. Dupont de Nemours, he also presented the American argument in a shrewd and 
 sagacious letter, which he knew would have its weight in official circles. The L'nited States 
 could not let the French control the mouth of the Mississippi, and a conflict about it might 
 finally necessitate an alliance of some sort between ourselves and Great Britain. In his 
 annual message to Congress in December, 1802, he said, " The cession of the Spanish 
 province of Louisiana to France, which took place in the course of the late war, will, if car- 
 ried into effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations which will doubtless 
 have just weight in any deliberations of the legislature connected with that subject.'' 
 
 Early in 1S03 Jefferson sent Mr. Monroe, as a special .imbassador, to join Mr. Livingston 
 in Paris, charged with the fullest instructions, and authorized to give two million dollars, if 
 he could do no better, for the island of New Orleans alone. The desire was to secure also 
 
 — ten million dollars, if necessary, being authorized for all — such portion of the P'rench ter- 
 ritory as lay east of the Mississippi. The acquisition of the immense tract west of the Missis- 
 sippi was not at the time contemplated. Monroe went, howtver, carrying with him the 
 feeling of the e.xcited nation and Jefferson's own full views, and was doubtless sure that the 
 boldest action which contingencies might dictate would have sanction and approval. " Mon- 
 roe well knew," says Morse in his Life of Jefferson, " that he had only fulfilled Jefferson's 
 real wishes." "The entire credit — or discredit, if such there were — of the achievement," 
 he adds, "belonged exclusively to Jefferson." Jefferson himself would have insisted that 
 the credit was shared by those who so ably and tactfully represented him. Madison, then 
 Secretary of State, upon receiving the report of the cession from Livingston and Monroe, 
 wrote immediately (see his letter, July 2.5, 1S03) to express to them Jefferson's "entire appro- 
 bation" of their course : and Randall, in his Life of Jefferson (iii. 61-63), shows by various 
 references how accordant it was with thoughts long in Jefferson's mind. 
 
 But it was a sudden and unexpected move of Napoleon which really determined the 
 matter Monroe arrived in Paris to find France on the eve of war with England, and Na- 
 poleon in negotiations with Livingston for the transfer to the United States of the whole of 
 Louisiana. Napoleon knew that the British fleet could easily keep French forces away from 
 the Mississippi; and, rather than have Great Britain seize Louisiana, he would sell it to the 
 United States, getting what money he could out of it for use in the impending war. " I know 
 the full value of Louisiana," he said, "and I have been desirous of repairing the fault of the 
 French negotiators \vho abandoned it in 1763. But, if it escapes from me, it shall one day cost 
 dearer to those who oblige me to strip myself of it than to those to whom 1 wish to deliver it. 
 The English have successively taken from France Canada, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, 
 Nova Scotia, and the richest portions of Asia. They shall not have the Mississippi, which 
 they covet. ... I already consider the colony as entirely lost : and it appears to me that, in 
 the hands of this growing power, it will be more useful to the policy and even to the com- 
 merce of France than if I should attempt to keep it." " I have given to England," he said 
 afterward, " a maritime rival that will, sooner or later, humble her pride." The terms of 
 the sale — " probably the largest transaction in real estate which the world has ever known "" 
 
 — were agreed upon after considerable bickering, the sum paid by the United States being 
 fifteen million dollars. The treaty contained a positive provision that " the inhabitants of the 
 ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon 
 as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all 
 the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the l'nited States." M. Marbois. the 
 French minister, relates that, as soon as the three negotiators had signed the treaties, they all 
 rose, and shook hands; and Mr. Livingston gave utterance to the joy and satisfaction of them 
 all, saying: — 
 
 " We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives. The treaty which 
 we have just signed has not been obtained by art nor dictated by force, and is equally advan- 
 tageous to the two contracting parties. It will change vast solitudes into flourishing dis- 
 tricts. From this day the L'nited States take their place among the powers of the first rank. 
 The L'nited .States will re-establish the maritime rights of all the world, which are now 
 usurped by a single nation. The instruments which we have just signed will cause no tears 
 
 71 
 
28 
 
 to be shed : they prepare ages of happiness for innumerable generations of Iiuman creatures. 
 The Mississippi and the Missouri will see them succeed one another and multiply, truly 
 worthy of the regard and care of Providence, in the bosom of equality, under just laws, freed 
 from the errors of superstition and bad government." 
 
 This is almost the only prophetic word touching the acquired territory which has come 
 down to us from the time ; and even Livingston was writing to Madison at the same moment 
 that perhaps only New Orleans and the country east of it need be kept, in which .case the 
 western territory might be sold to some European power, to get back our purchase money. 
 Jefferson for two years thought it not impossible that as a result of this enlargement 
 of our territory a new nation might be born beyond the Mississippi. But in his "second 
 inaugural (March 4, 1S05) he exclaimed: "But who can limit the extent to which the fed- 
 erative principle may operate effectively? The larger our association, the less will it be 
 shaken by local passions ; and, in any view, is it not better that the opposite bank of the 
 Mississippi .should be settled by our own brethren and children than by strangers of another 
 family? " 
 
 The great West and its exploration had long been subjects of commanding interest with 
 Jefferson. Old South Leaflet No. 127 is devoted to illustrations of his many services for the 
 North-west. In Paris, in 17S6, he met John Ledyard, the adventurous Connecticut traveller ; 
 and he writes in his diary (May 17, 17S6) : " I suggested to him the enterprise of exploring 
 tlie western part of our continent, by passing through St. Petersburg to Kamschatka, and 
 procuj-ing a passage thence in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka Sound, whence he 
 might make his way across the continent to America; and 1 undertook to have the permis- 
 sion of the Empress of Russia solicited. He eagerly embraced the proposition." See also 
 in relation to Ledyard, whose effort failed, Jefferson's letters to Ezra Stiles, Sept. i, 1786 : 
 Charles Thomson, Sept. 20, 1787 ; and William Carmichael, March 4, 1789. In 1793 Jeffer- 
 son was the leading promoter of a movement, to be undertaken under tlie auspices of the 
 American Philosophical Society, for the exploration of the far North-west to the Pacific by 
 Andre Michaux. The plan miscarried ; but Jefferson's instructions to Michaux (January, 
 1793) are interesting as the expression of an idea later realized in the expedition of Lewis 
 and Clark. That expedition is memorable. It was determined on by Jefferson just as he 
 sent Monroe to Paris to push the Louisiana negotiations. See his message to Congre.ss, 
 Jan. iS, 1S03; and his instructions to Lewis, June 20. On July 15, on the eve of Lewis's 
 departure, Jefferson writes to him, " Last night we received the treaty from Paris ceding 
 Louisiana." Jefferson's Life of Captain Meriwether Lewis is printed in (Jld South Leaflet 
 No. 44. Jefferson s varied services for the exploration and opening of the West are graph- 
 ically summarized in Curtis's "The True Thomas Jefferson," p. 370. The account of 
 Louisiana which Jefferson had prepared for Congress in 1.S03 from the best available sources, 
 to clear up the general ignorance concerning the territory, is published in Old South Leaflet 
 105. See his queries concerning Louisiana in letters to Ephrairn Kirby and William Dunbar, 
 July, 1S03. 
 
 The best general account of the purchase of Louisiana and of the debates and legislation 
 incident to it is that by Henry Adams in his Histor\' of the United States during'the Admin 
 istration of Thomas Jefferson, vol. ii. See also Cooley's "Acquisition of Louisiana," Hos- 
 mer's " The Louisiana Purchase," and Barbe Maibois's History of Louisiana. See arti 
 cle on Annexations in Lalor's Cyclopedia, the chapter on " The Six Growths of the 
 United States" in William Barrows's "The United States of Yesterday and To-day." 
 and the paper on " The Louisiana Purchase," by Kev. C. F. Robertson, in the .Amer- 
 ican Historical Association's Papers, I. The subject has prominent place in all the 
 biographies of Jefferson. There is an excellent brief account in Oilman's Life of Monroe, 
 in the American Statesmen Series : and the bibliography of~~fhe subject, by Professor J. F, 
 Jameson, in the appendix to that volume, is very complete. See also the references in the 
 valuable chapter on "Territorial Acquisitions and Divisions," by Justin Winsor and Pro- 
 fessor Edward Channing, in the Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. vii. The 
 place, however, to which the thorough and first-hand student will go is the American State 
 Papers, Foreign Relations, II. Pages 506-66 of this volume should be carefully read, as 
 here are all the official communications which passed between Washington and Paris. The 
 two conventions signed in connection with the treaty of cession appear here : and the student 
 will give special attention to the memoirs prepared by Livingston for Napoleon, Madison's 
 general instructions to Livingston and Monroe, March 2, 1803, Livingston's letters to Madi- 
 son, April 13 and 17, 1S03, giving account of the purchase, and Livingstcn and Monroe's 
 letter to Madison, ISIay 13, 1803. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 
 72 
 
0lh ^outb ttcnflftsf 
 
 Monroe's 
 
 Messages on 
 
 Florida. 
 
 From Monroe's Second Annual Message to Congress, 
 November i6, i8i5. 
 
 Our relations with Spain remain nearly in the state in which 
 they were at the close of the last session. The convention of 
 1802, providing for the adjustment of a certain portion of the 
 claims of our citizens for injuries sustained by spoliation, and 
 so long suspended by the Spanish Government, has at length 
 been ratified by it, but no arrangement has yet been made for 
 the payment of another portion of lil^e claims, not less exten- 
 sive or well founded, or for other classes of claims, or for the 
 settlement of boundaries. These subjects have again been 
 brought under consideration in both countries, but no agree- 
 ment has been entered into respecting them. In the meantime 
 events have occurred which clearly prove the ill effect of the 
 policy which that Government has so long pursued on the 
 friendly relations of the two countries, which it is presumed is 
 at least of as much importance to Spain as to the United States 
 to maintain. A state of things has existed in the Floridas the 
 tendency of which has been obvious to all who have paid the 
 slightest attention to the progress of affairs in that quarter. 
 Throughout the whole of those Provinces to which the Spanish 
 title extends the Government of Spain has scarcely been felt. 
 Its authority has been confined almost exclusively to the walls 
 of- Pensacola and St. Augustine, within which only small garri- 
 sons have been maintained. Adventurers from every country, 
 fugitives from justice, and absconding slaves have found an 
 asylum there. Several tribes of Indians, strong in the number 
 of their warriors, remarkable for their ferocity, and whose set- 
 tlements extend to our limits, inhabit those Provinces. These 
 
 73 
 
different hordes of people, connected together, disregarding on 
 the one side the authority of Spain, and protected on the other 
 by an imaginary Hne which separates f'lorida from the United 
 States, have violated our laws prohibiting the introduction of 
 slaves, have practiced various frauds on our revenue, and com- 
 mitted every kind of outrage on our peaceable citizens which 
 their proximity to us enabled them to perpetrate. The invasion 
 of Amelia Island last year by a small band of adventurers, not 
 exceeding 150 in number, who wrested it from the inconsider- 
 able Spanish force stationed there, and held it several months, 
 during which a single feeble efifort only was made to recover it, 
 which failed, clearly proves how completely extinct the Spanish 
 authority had become, as the conduct of those adventurers 
 while in possession of the island as distinctly shows the perni- 
 cious purposes for which their combination had been formed. 
 
 This country had, in fact, become the theater of every species 
 of lawless adventure. With little population of its own, the 
 Spanish authority almost extinct, and the colonial governments 
 in a state of revolution, having no pretension to it, and suffi- 
 ciently employed in their own concerns, it was in a great 
 measure derelict, and the object of cupidity to every adventurer. 
 A system of buccaneering was rapidly organizing over it which 
 menaced in its consequences the lawful commerce of every 
 nation, and particularly of the United States, while it presented 
 a temptation to every people, on whose seduction its success 
 principally depended. In regard to the United States, the 
 pernicious effect of this unlawful combination was not confined 
 to the ocean ; the Indian tribes have constituted the effective 
 force in Florida. With these tribes these adventurers had 
 formed at an early period a connection_with a view to avail 
 themselves of that force to promote their own projects of 
 accumulation and aggrandizement. It is to the interference of 
 some of these adventurers, in misrepresenting the claims and 
 titles of the Indians to land and in practising on their savage 
 propensities, that the Seminole war is principally to be traced. 
 Men who thus connect themselves with savage communities 
 and stimulate them to war, which is always attended on their 
 part with acts of barbarity the most shocking, deserve to be 
 viewed in a worse light than the savages. They would cer- 
 tainly have no claim to an immunity from the punishment 
 which, according to the rules of warfare practiced by the 
 savages, might justly be inflicted on the savages themselves. 
 
 74 
 
If the embarrassments of Spain prevented her from making 
 an indemnity to our citizens for so long a time from her treas- 
 ury for their losses by spoliation and otherwise, it was always in 
 her power to have provided it by the cession of this territory. 
 Of this her Government has been repeatedly apprised^ and the 
 cession was the more to have been anticipated as Spain must 
 have known that in ceding it she would in effect cede what had 
 become of little value to her, and would likewise relieve herself 
 from the important obligation secured by the treaty of 1795, 
 and all other compromitments respecting it. If the United 
 States, from consideration of these embarrassments, declined 
 pressing their claims in a spirit of hostility, the motive ought at 
 least to have been duly appreciated by the Government of 
 Spain. It is well known to her Government that other powers 
 have made to the United States an indemnity for like losses 
 sustained by their citizens at the same epoch. 
 
 There is nevertheless a limit beyond which this spirit of 
 amity and forbearance can in no instance be justified. If it 
 was proper to rely on amicable negotiation for an indemnity 
 for losses, it would not have been so to have permitted the in- 
 ability of Spain to fulfill her engagements and to sustain her 
 authority in the Floridas to be perverted by foreign adventurers 
 and savages to purposes so destructive to the lives of our fel- 
 low-citizens and the highest interests of the United States. 
 The right of self-defense never ceases. It is among the most 
 sacred, and alike necessary to nations and to individuals, and 
 whether the attack be made by Spain herself or by those who 
 abuse her power, its obligation is not the less strong. The in- 
 vaders of Amelia Island had assumed a popular and respected 
 title under which t-hey might Approach and wound us. As their 
 object was distinctly seen, and the duty imposed on the Execu- 
 tive by an existing law was profoundly felt, that mask was not 
 permitted to protect them. It was thought incumbent on the 
 United States to suppress the establishment, and it was accord- 
 ingly done. The combination in Florida for the unlawful pur- 
 poses stated, the acts perpetrated by that combination, and, 
 above all, the incitement of the Indians to massacre our fellow- 
 citizens of every age and of both sexes, merited a like treat- 
 ment and received it. In pursuing these savages to an imaginary 
 line in the woods it would have been the height of folly to have 
 suffered that line to protect them. Had that been done the 
 war could never cease. Even if the territory had been exclu- 
 
 75 
 
sively that of Spain and her power complete over it, we had a 
 right by the law of nations to follow the enemy on it and to subdue 
 him there. lUit the territory belonged, in a certain sense at 
 least, to the savage enemy who inhabited it ; the power of 
 Spain had ceased to exist over it, and protection was sought 
 under her title by those who had committed on our citizens hos- 
 tilities which she was bound by treaty to have prevented, but had 
 not the power to prevent. To have stopped at that line would 
 have given new encouragement to these savages and new vigor 
 to the whole combination existing there in the prosecution of 
 all its pernicious purposes. 
 
 In suppressing the establishment at Amelia Island no un- 
 friendliness was manifested toward Spain, because the post was 
 taken from a force which had wrested it from her. The meas- 
 ure, it is true, was not adopted in concert with the Spanish 
 Government or those in authority under it, because in transac- 
 tions connected with the war in which Spain and the colonies 
 are engaged it was thought proper in doing justice to the 
 United States to maintain a strict impartiality toward both the 
 belligerent parties without consulting or acting in concert with 
 either. It gives me pleasure to state that the Governments of 
 Buenos Ayres and Venezuela, whose names were assumed, have 
 explicitly disclaimed all participation in those measures, and 
 even the knowledge of them until communicated by this Govern- 
 ment, and have also expressed their satisfaction that a course 
 of proceedings had been suppressed which if justly imputable 
 to them would dishonor their cause. 
 
 In authorizing Major-General Jackson to enter Florida in 
 pursuit of the Seminoles care was taken not to encroach on the 
 rights of Spain. I regret to have to addjthat in executing this 
 order facts were disclosed respecting the conduct of the officers 
 of Spain in authority there in encouraging the war, furnishing 
 munitions of war and other supplies to carry it on, and in other 
 acts not less marked which evinced their participation in the 
 hostile purposes of that combination and justified the confidence 
 with which it inspired the savages that by those officers they 
 ■would be protected. A conduct so incompatible with the 
 friendly relations existing between the two countries, particu- 
 larly with the positive obligation of the fifth article of the treaty 
 of 1795, by which Spain was bound to restrain, even by force, 
 those savages from acts of hostility against the United States, 
 could not fail to excite surprise. The commanding general was 
 76 
 
5 
 
 convinced that he should fail in his object, that he should in 
 effect accomplish nothing, if he did not deprive those savages 
 of the resource on which they had calculated and of the pro- 
 tection on wliich they had relied in making the war. As all 
 the documents relating to this occurrence \vill be laid before 
 Congress, it is not necessary to enter into further detail 
 respecting it. 
 
 Although the reasons which induced Major-General Jackson 
 to take these posts were duly appreciated, there was neverthe- 
 less no hesitation in deciding on the course which it became 
 the Government to pursue. As there was reason to believe 
 that the commanders of these posts had violated their instruc- 
 tions, there was no disposition to impute to their Government 
 a conduct so unprovoked and hostile. An order was in conse- 
 quence issued to the general in command there to deliver the 
 posts — Pensacola unconditionally to any person duly author- 
 ized to receive it, and St. Marks, which is in the heart of the 
 Indian country, on the arrival of a competent force to defend 
 it against those savages and their associates. 
 
 In entering Florida to suppress this combination no idea 
 was entertained of hostility to Spain, and however justifiable 
 the commanding general was, in consequence of the miscon- 
 duct of the Spanish officers, in entering St. Marks and Pensa- 
 cola to terminate it by proving to the savages and their asso- 
 ciates that they should not be protected even there, yet the 
 amicable relations existing between the United States and 
 Spain could not be altered by that act alone. By ordering the 
 restitution of the posts those relations were preserved. To a 
 change of them the power of the Executive is deemed incom- 
 petent ; it is vested in Congress only. 
 
 By this measure, so promptly taken, due respect was shown 
 to the Government of Spain. The misconduct of her officers 
 has not been imputed to her. She was enabled to review with 
 candor her relations with the United States and her own situa- 
 tion, particularly in respect to the territory in question, with the 
 dangers inseparable from it, and regarding the losses we have 
 sustained for which indemnity has been so long withheld, and 
 the injuries we have suft'ered through that territory, and her 
 means of redress, she was likewise enabled to take with honor 
 the course best calculated to do justice to the United States 
 and to promote her own welfare. 
 
 Copies of the instructions to the commanding general, of his 
 
 77 
 
correspondence with the Secretary of War, explaining his 
 motives and justifying his conduct, with a copy of the proceed- 
 ings of the courts-martial in the trial of Arbuthnot and Am- 
 bristie, and of the correspondence between the Secretary of 
 State and the minister plenipotentiary of Spain near this Gov- 
 ernment, and of the minister plenipotentiary of the United 
 States at Madrid with the Government of Spain, will be laid 
 before Congress. 
 
 The civil war which has so long prevailed between Spain and 
 the Provinces in South America still continues, without any 
 prospect of its speedy termination. The information respect- 
 ing the condition of those countries which has been collected 
 by the commissioners recently returned from thence will be 
 laid before Congress in copies of their reports, with such other 
 information as has been received from other agents of the 
 United States. 
 
 It appears from these communications that the Government 
 at Buenos Ayres declared itself independent in July, 1816, 
 having previously exercised the power of an independent gov- 
 'ernment, though in the name of the King of Spain, from the 
 year 18 10; that the Banda Oriental, Entre Rios, and Paraguay, 
 with the city of Santa Fee, all of which are also independent, 
 are unconnected with the present Government of Buenos 
 Ayres: that Chili has declared itself independent and is closely 
 connected with Buenos Ayres ; that Venezuela has also declared 
 itself independent, and now maintains the conflict with various 
 success ; and that the remaining parts of South America, ex- 
 cept Monte Video and such other portions of the eastern bank 
 of the La Plata as are held by Portugal, are still in the posses- 
 sion of Spain or in a certain degree under her influence. 
 
 By a circular note addressed by the ministers of Spain to 
 the allied powers, with whom they are respectively accredited, 
 it appears that the allies have undertaken to mediate between 
 Spain and the South American Provinces, and that the manner 
 and extent of their interposition would be settled by a congress 
 which was to have met at Aix-la-Chapelle in September last. 
 From the general policy and course of proceeding observed by 
 the allied powers in regard to this contest it is inferred that 
 they will confine their interposition to the expression of their 
 sentiments, abstaining from the application of force. I state 
 this impression that force will not be applied with the greater 
 satisfaction because it is a course more consistent with justice 
 78 
 
and likewise authorizes a hope that the calamities of the war 
 will be confined to the parties only, and will be o£ shorter 
 duration. 
 
 From the view taken of this subject, founded on all the in- 
 formation that we have been able to obtain, there is good cause 
 to be satisfied with the course heretofore pursued by the United 
 States in regard to this contest, and to conclude that it is 
 proper to adhere to it, especially in the present state of affairs. 
 
 From Monroe's Third Annual Message to Congress, 
 December 7, 1819. 
 
 Having informed Congress, on the 27th of February last, that 
 a treaty of amity, settlement, and limits had been concluded in 
 this city between the United States and Spain, and ratified by 
 the competent authorities of the former, full confidence was en- 
 tertained that it would have been ratified by His Catholic Maj- 
 esty with equal promptitude and a like earnest desire to 
 terminate on the conditions of that treaty the differences which 
 had so long existed between the two countries. Every view 
 which the subject admitted of was thought to have justified this 
 conclusion. Great losses had been sustained by citizens of 
 the United States from Spanish cruisers more than twenty years 
 before, which had not been redressed. These losses had been 
 acknowledged and provided for by a treaty as far back as the 
 year 1802, which, although concluded at Madrid, was not then 
 ratified by the Government of Spain, nor since, until the last 
 year, when it was suspended by the late treaty, a more satis- 
 factory provision to both parties, as was presumed, having been 
 made for them. Other differences had arisen in this long in- 
 terval, affecting their highest interests, which were likewise 
 provided for by this last treaty. The treaty itself was formed 
 on great consideration and a thorough knowledge of all circum- 
 stances, the subject-matter of every article having been for 
 years under discussion and repeated references having been 
 made by the minister of Spain to his Government on the points 
 respecting which the greatest difference of opinion prevailed. 
 It was formed by a minister duly authorized for the purpose, 
 who had represented his Government in the United States and 
 had been employed in this long-protracted negotiation several 
 years, and who, it is not denied, kept strictly within the letter 
 of his instructions. The faith of Spain was therefore pledged, 
 
 79 
 
under circumstances of peculiar force and solemnity, for its 
 ratification. On the part of the United States this treaty was 
 evidently acceded to in a spirit of conciliation and concession. 
 The indemnity for injuries and losses so long before sustained, 
 and now again acknowledged and provided for, was to be paid 
 by them without becoming a charge on the treasury of Spain. 
 For territory ceded by Spain other territory of great value, to 
 which our claim was believed to be well founded, was ceded by 
 the United States, and in a quarter more interesting to her. 
 This cession was nevertheless received as the means of indem- 
 nifying our citizens in a considerable sum, the presumed amount 
 of their losses. Other considerations of great weight urged 
 the cession of this territory by Spain. It was surrounded by 
 the Territories of the United States on every side except on 
 that of the ocean. Spain had lost her authority over it, and, 
 falling into the hands of adventurers connected with the sav- 
 ages, it was made the means of unceasing annoyance and 
 injury to our Union in many of its most essential interests. 
 By this cession, then, Spain ceded a territory in reality of no 
 value to her and obtained concessions of the highest import- 
 ance by the settlement of long-standing differences with the 
 United States affecting their respective claims and lipiits, and 
 likewise relieved herself from the obligation of a treaty relating 
 to it which she had failed to fulfill, and also from the responsi- 
 bility incident to the most flagrant and pernicious abuses of her 
 rights where she could not support her authority. 
 
 It being known that the treaty was formed under these cir- 
 cumstances, not a doubt was entertained that His Catholic 
 Majesty would have ratified it without delay. I regret to have 
 to state that this reasonable expectation has been disappointed ; 
 that the treaty was not ratified within t4re time stipulated and 
 has not since been ratified. As it is important that the nature 
 and character of this unexpected occurrence should be dis- 
 tinctly understood, I think it my duty to communicate to you 
 all the facts and circumstances in my possession relating to it. 
 
 Anxious to prevent all future disagreement with Spain by 
 giving the most prompt effect to the treaty which had been 
 thus concluded, and particularly by the establishment of a 
 government in Florida which should preserve order there, the 
 minister of the United States who had been recently appointed 
 to His Catholic Majesty, and to whom the ratification by his 
 Government had been committed to be exchanged for that of 
 So 
 
Spain, was instructed to transmit the latter to the Department 
 of State as soon as obtained, by a pubUc ship subjected to his 
 order for the purpose. Unexpected delay occurring in the 
 ratification by Spain, he requested to be informed of the cause. 
 It was stated in reply that the great importance of the subject, 
 and a desire to obtain explanations on certain points which 
 were not specified, had produced the delay, and that an envoy 
 would be dispatched to the United States to obtain such expla- 
 nations of this Government. The minister of the United States 
 offered to give full explanation on any point on which it might 
 be desired, which proposal was declined. Having communi- 
 cated this result to the Department of State in August last, he 
 was instructed, notwithstanding the disappointment and sur- 
 prise which it produced, to inform the (Government of Spain 
 that if the treaty should be ratified and transmitted hete at any 
 time before the meeting of Congress it would be received and 
 have the same effect as if it had been ratified in due time. This 
 order was executed, the authorized communication was made to 
 the Government of Spain, and by its answer, which has just 
 been received, we are ofificially made acquainted for the first 
 time with the causes which have prevented the ratification of 
 the treaty by His Catholic Majesty. It is alleged by the min- 
 ister of Spain that this Government had attempted to alter one 
 of the principal articles of the treaty by a declaration which 
 the minister of the United States had been ordered to present 
 when he should deliver the ratification by his Government in 
 exchange for that of Spain, and of which he gave notice, ex- 
 planatory of the sense in which that article was understood. 
 It is further alleged that this Government had recently tolerated 
 or protected an expedition from the United States against the 
 Province of Texas. These two imputed acts are stated as the 
 reasons which have induced His Catholic Majesty to withhold 
 his ratification from the treaty, to obtain explanations respect- 
 ing which it is repeated that an envoy would be forthwith dis- 
 patched to the United States. How far these allegations will 
 justify the conduct of the Government of Spain will appear on 
 a view of the following facts and the evidence which supports 
 them : 
 
 It will be seen by the documents transmitted herewith that 
 the declaration mentioned relates to a clause in the eighth 
 article concerning certain grants of land recently made by His 
 Catholic Majesty in Florida, which it was understood had con- 
 Si 
 
lO 
 
 veyed all the lands which till then had been ungranted ; it was 
 the intention of the parties to annul these latter grants, and 
 that clause was drawn for that express purpose and for none 
 other. The date of these grants was unknown, but it was 
 understood to be posterior to that inserted in the article ; in- 
 deed, it must be obvious to all that if that provision in the 
 treaty had not the effect of annulling these grants, it would be 
 altogether nugatory. Immediately after the treaty was con- 
 cluded and ratified by this Government an intimation was 
 received that these grants were of anterior date to that fixed 
 on by the treaty and that they would not, of course, be affected 
 by it. The mere possibility of such a case, so inconsistent 
 with the intention of the parties and the meaning of the article, 
 induced this Government to demand an explanation on the 
 subject, which was immediately granted, and which corresponds 
 with this statement. With respect to the other act alleged, 
 that this Government had tolerated or protected an expedition 
 against Texas, it is utterly without foundation. Every dis- 
 countenance has invariably been given to any such attempt 
 from within the limits of the United States, as is fully evinced 
 by the acts of the Government and the proceedings of the 
 courts. There being cause, however, to apprehend, in the 
 course of the last summer, that some adventurers entertained 
 views of the kind suggested, the attention of the constituted 
 authorities in that quarter was immediately drawn to them, and 
 it is known that the project, whatever it might be, has utterly 
 failed. 
 
 These facts will, it is presumed, satisfy every impartial mind 
 that the Government of Spain had no justifiable cause for de- 
 clining to ratify the treaty. A treaty concluded in conformity 
 with instructions is obligatory, in good faith, in all its stipula- 
 tions, according to the true intent and meaning of the parties. 
 Each party is bound to ratify it. If either could set it aside 
 without the consent of the other, there would be no longer any 
 rules applicable to such transactions between nations. By this 
 proceeding the Government of Spain has rendered to the 
 United States a new and very serious injury. It has been 
 stated that a minister would be sent to ask certain explanations 
 of this Government; but if such were desired, why were they 
 not asked within the time limited for the ratification ? Is it 
 contemplated to open a new negotiation respecting any of the 
 articles or conditions of the treaty ? If that were done, to 
 
1 1 
 
 what consequences might it not lead ? At what time and in 
 what manner would a new negotiation terminate ? By this pro- 
 ceeding Spain has formed a relation between the two countries 
 which will justify any measures on the part of the United States 
 which a strong sense of injury and a proper regard for the 
 rights and interests of the nation may dictate. 
 
 In the course to be pursued these objects should be con- 
 stantly held in view and have their due w^eight. Our national 
 honor must be maintained, and a new and a distinguished 
 proof be afforded of that regard for justice and moderation 
 which has invariably governed the councils of this free people. 
 It must be obvious to all that if the United States had been 
 desirous of making conquests, or had been even willing to 
 aggrandize themselves in that way, they could have had no 
 inducement to form this treaty. They would have much cause 
 for gratulation at the course which has been pursued by Spain. 
 An ample field for ambition is open before them, but such a 
 career is not consistent with the principles of their Government 
 nor the interests of the nation. 
 
 From a full view of all circumstances, it is submitted to the 
 consideration of Congress whether it will not be proper for 
 the United States to carry the condidons of the treaty into effect 
 in the same manner as if it had been ratified by Spain, claiming 
 on their part all its advantages and yielding to Spain those 
 secured to her. By pursuing this course we shall rest on the 
 sacred ground of right, sanctioned in the most solemn manner 
 by Spain herself by a treaty which she was bound to ratify, 
 for refusing to do which she must incur the censure of other 
 nations, even those most friendly to her, while by confining our- 
 selves within that limit we can not fail to obtain their well- 
 merited approbation. We must have peace on a frontier where 
 we have been so long disturbed ; our citizens must be indem- 
 nified for losses so long since sustained, and for which 
 indemnity has been so unjustly withheld from them. Accom- 
 plishing these great objects, we obtain all that is desirable. 
 
 But His Catholic Majesty has twice declared his determina- 
 tion to send a minister to the United States to ask explanations 
 on certain points and to give them respecting his delay to ratify 
 the treaty. Shall we act by taking the ceded territory and pro- 
 ceeding to execute the other conditions of the treaty before this 
 minister arrives and is heard ? This is a case which forms a 
 strong appeal to the candor, the magnanimity, and the honor of 
 
 83 
 
12 
 
 this people. Much is due to courtesy between nations. By a 
 short delay we shall lose nothing, for, resting on the ground of 
 immutable truth and justice, we can not be diverted from our 
 purpose. It ought to be presumed that the explanations which 
 may be given to the minister of Spain will be satisfactory, and 
 produce the desired result. In any event, the delay for the 
 purpose mentioned, being a further manifestation of the sincere 
 desire to terminate in the most friendly manner all differences 
 with Spain, can not fail to be duly appreciated by His Catholic 
 Majesty as well as by other powers. It is submitted, therefore, 
 whether it will not be proper to make the law proposed for car- 
 rying the conditions of the treaty into effect, should it be 
 adopted, contingent; to suspend its operation, upon the re- 
 sponsibility of the Executive, in such manner as to afford an 
 opportunity for such friendly explanations as may be desired 
 during the present session of Congress. 
 
 I communicate to Congress a copy of the treaty and of the 
 instructions to the minister of the United States at Madrid re- 
 specting it ; of his correspondence with the minister of Spain, 
 and of such other documents as may be necessary to give a 
 full view of the subject.- 
 
 In the course which the Spanish government have on this 
 occasion thought proper to pursue it is satisfactory to know 
 that they have not been countenanced by any other European 
 power. On thecontrary, the opinion and wishes both of France 
 and Great Britain have not been withheld either from the United 
 States or from Spain, and have been unequivocal in favor of 
 the ratification. There is also reason to believe that the senti- 
 ments of the Imperial Government of Russia have been the 
 same, and that they have also been made known to the cabinet 
 of Madrid. 
 
 In the civil war existing between Spain and the Spanish 
 Provinces in this hemisphere the greatest care has been taken 
 to enforce the laws intended to preserve an impartial neutrality. 
 Our ports have continued to be equally open to both parties 
 and on the same conditions, and our citizens have been equally 
 restrained from interfering in favor of either to the prejudice 
 of the other. The progress of the war, however, has operated 
 manifestly in favor of the colonies. Buenos Ayres still main- 
 tains unshaken the independence which it declared in iSi6, 
 and has enjoyed since i8io. Like success has also lately 
 attended Chili and the Provinces north of the La Plata border- 
 ing on it, and likewise Venezuela. 
 84 
 
13 
 
 This contest has from its commencement been very interest- 
 ing to other powers, and to none more so than to the United 
 States. A virtuous people may and will confine themselves 
 within the limit of a strict neutrality; but it is not in their 
 power to behold a conflict so vitally important to their 
 neighbors without the sensibility and sympathy which naturally 
 belong to such a case. It has been the steady purpose of this 
 Government to prevent that feeling leading to excess, and it is 
 very gratifying to have it in my power to state that so strong 
 has been the sense throughout the whole community of what 
 was due to the character and obligations of the nation that 
 very few examples of a contrary kind have occurred. 
 
 The distance of the colonies from the parent country and 
 the great extent of their population and resources gave them 
 advantages which it was anticipated at a very early period 
 would be difficult for Spain to surmount. The steadiness, con- 
 sistency, and success with which they have pursued their 
 object, as evinced more particularly by the undisturbed sov- 
 ereignty which Buenos Ayres has so long enjoyed, evidently 
 give them a strong claim to the favorable consideration of other 
 nations. These sentiments on the part of the United States 
 have not been withheld from other powers, with whom it is 
 desirable to act in concert. Should it become manifest to the 
 world that the efforts of Spain to subdue these Provinces will 
 be fruitless, it may be presumed that the Spanish Government 
 itself will give up the contest. In producing such a determina- 
 tion it can not be doubted that the opinion of friendly powers 
 who have taken no part in the controversy will have their 
 merited influence. 
 
 From Monroe's Special Message to Congress, May 9, 
 
 1S20. 
 
 In regard to the stipulation proposed, as the condition of the 
 ratification of the treaty, that the United States shall abandon 
 the right to recognize the revolutionary colonies in South 
 America, or to form other relations with them when in their 
 judgment it may be just and expedient so to do, it is mani- 
 festly so repugnant to the honor and even to the independence 
 of the United States that it has been impossible to discuss 
 it. In making this proposal it is perceived that His Catholic 
 Majesty has entirely misconceived the principles on which this 
 
 85 
 
14 
 
 government has acted in being a party to a negotiation so long 
 protracted for claims so well-founded and reasonable, as he 
 likewise has the sacrifices which the United States have made, 
 comparatively, with Spain in the treaty to which it is pro- 
 posed to annex so extraordinary and improper a condition. 
 
 Instigated by the English emissaries Nichols and Woodbine, 
 the Seminoles, with scattering bands from other tribes, con- 
 tinued to annoy the border settlements in Georgia, and several 
 times attacked transports on the Apalachicola River, in one 
 instance mustering twelve hundred men and continuing the 
 fight for several days. In January, 1818, General Jackson 
 made a tready with the Creeks, and engaged them to join him 
 in attack upon the Seminoles of Florida. In the spring of the 
 same year, with a force of one thousand militia, five hundred 
 regulars, and nearly two thousand Indians, he started on an 
 expedition against the Seminoles, with the purpose of destroy- 
 ing their power and putting an end to their depredations. 
 
 Marching rapidly upon the Miccosukee towns of East 
 Florida, he destroyed them, and soon afterwards attacked and 
 destroyed the Fowl towns, the Indians making but a feeble re- 
 sistance. General Jackson then marched upon St. Mark's, 
 which was strongly fortified and had twenty guns mounted. 
 The fort surrendered without resistance, and Prophet Francis 
 and another Indian chief fell into the hands of the Americans, 
 and were immediately hanged. 
 
 At Miccosukee, General Jackson found three hundred scalps 
 of men, women, and children, most of them fresh, and which 
 had evidently been recently exhibited with triumph. From 
 St. Mark's, General Jackson marched to Suwanee, where he 
 dispersed a large number of Indians, and took many prisoners, 
 among them two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who 
 were accused of being the chief agents in supplying the 
 Indians with arms and ammunition and directing their opera- 
 tions against the whites. A court-martial was held to try them, 
 and both being found guilty were sentenced to suffer death, 
 one by hanging, the other to be shot, and the sentence was 
 promptly executed. This action of General Jackson was 
 severely criticised, both at the time, and subsequently in the 
 political contests in which he became engaged. General Jack- 
 son afterwards marched against Pensacola, having been in- 
 86 
 
15 
 
 ' formed that the Spanish government, while furnishing arms to 
 ' the Indians who were hostile to the United States, refused to 
 allow provisions to pass up the Escambia for the American 
 troops. Upon the approach of General Jackson, the Spanish 
 governor retired to Fort Barrancas, which, being menaced by 
 the United States troops, was surrendered after a slight show 
 of resistance. 
 
 A treaty of peace, consisting of sixteen articles, was con- 
 cluded between Spain and the United States on the 22d of 
 I February, 1819, ceding the Floridas to the United States. 
 ; The sixth article of this treaty provided that " the inhabitants 
 I of the territories ceded to the United States should be in- 
 I corporated into the Union of the United States, as soon as 
 I might be consistent with the principles of the Federal Con- 
 !j stitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the privileges, 
 i' rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States." 
 j! The eighth article provided "that all the grants of land 
 [i made before the 24th of January, 18 18, by Spain, should be 
 [, ratified and confirmed to the same extent that the same grants 
 ! would be valid if the territories had remained under the 
 dominion of Spain." 
 
 The ninth article provided that "the United States would 
 
 !: cause satisfaction to be made for the injuries, if any, which by 
 
 I process of law should be established to have been suffered by 
 
 I the Spanish officers and individual Spanish inhabitants by the 
 
 late operations of the American army in Horida." 
 
 These articles of the treaty have given validity to what are 
 
 now known as Spanish grants and claims for losses, in which 
 
 so many of the people of Florida were interested. 
 
 I The treaty was finally ratified on the 19th of February, 
 
 182 1. The change of flags in East Florida took place at St. 
 
 Augustine, loth of July, 1821, under Governor Coppinger on 
 
 the part of Spain, and Colonel Robert Butler on the part of 
 
 j the United States; in West Florida, at Pensacola, on the 21st 
 
 of July, 182 1, Governor Callava representing the Spanish 
 
 government, and General Jackson that of the United States. — 
 
 j J^rom Fairbanks' s History of Florida. 
 
 The best general history of Florida is that by George R. Fairbanks, which covers the 
 whole period from the discovery by Ponce de Leon in 1512 to the close of the Florida War 
 in 1842. The brief section giving an account of the military proceedings, in which General 
 Jackson was the leader of our own forces, just preceding the cession of Florida to us by 
 Spain, is printed above. It is with the situation immediately after these proceedings that the 
 
 87 
 
i6 
 
 passage in Monroe's message o( 1818, which stands first in the present leaflet, deals. This 
 situation and the general subject of the cession by Spain are discussed in Oilman's Life of 
 Monroe, Morse's Lite of John Quincy Adams, the lives of Jackson by Sumner and Parton 
 (in the latter with special fulness), as well as in the general histories of tlie period. 
 
 " The Acquisition of Florida " is the subject of a special essay in the appendix to J. L M. 
 Curry's " Constitutional Government in Spam," which is particularly recommended to the 
 student. See also article on Annexations in Laylor's Cyclopa-dia. For information concern- 
 ing the early history of Florida, see John Gihnary Shea's chapter on Ancient Florida, in the 
 Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. ii., with its full bibliographical notes. A 
 section of the famous " Narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas," giving an account of De 
 Soto's explorations, is printed in Old South Leaflet No. 36. 
 
 The whole of Monroe's special message of May 9, 1S20, a single paragraph of which is 
 printed above, sliould be read by the careful student, who will also note the brief references 
 in the annual messages of 1S17 and 1S20, and read the special messages of January 13 and 
 March 26, 1818. Finally, in February, 1821, the ratification of the treaty by the Spanish 
 government was received; and, in his second inaugural address the next month, Monroe 
 said : — 
 
 " Great confidence is entertained that the late treaty with Spain, which has been ratified 
 by both the parties, and the ratifications whereof have been exchanged, has placed the rela- 
 tions of the two countries on a basis of permanent friendship. The provii^ion made by it for 
 such of our citizens as have claims on Spain of the character described will, it is presumed, 
 be very satisfactory to them, and the boundary which is established between the territories 
 of the parties westward of the IMLssissippi, Iieretofore in dispute, has, it is thought, been 
 settled on conditions just and advantageous to botli. But to tlie acquisition of F'lorida too 
 much importance can not be attached. It secures to the United States a territory .important 
 in itself, and whose importance is much increased by its bearing on many of the highest inter- 
 ests of the Union. It opens to several of the neighboring States a free passage to the ocean, 
 through the province ceded, by several rivers, having their sources high up within their 
 limits. It secures us against all future annoyance from powerful Indian tribes. It gives us 
 several excellent harbors in the Gulf of Mexico for ships of war of the largest size. It covers, 
 by its position in the gulf, the Mississippi and other great waters within our extended limits, 
 and thereby enables the United States to afford complete protection to the vast and very 
 valuable productions of our whole Western country which find a market through those 
 streams." 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 
 88 
 
Ihe Fall of 
 the Alamo. 
 
 CAl'TAIN K. M. PUTTER. 
 
 The fall of the /Manio and the massacre of its garrison, which 
 in 1S36 opened the campaign of Santa Ana in Texas, caused a 
 profound sensation throughout the United States, and is still 
 remembered with deep feeling by all who take an interest in the 
 history of that section ; yet the details of the fmal assault have 
 never been fully and correctly narrated, and wild exaggerations 
 have taken their place in popular legend. The reason will be 
 obvious when it is remembered that not a single combatant of 
 the last struggle from within the fort survived to tell the tale, 
 while the official reports of the enemy were neither circumstan- 
 tial nor reliable. When horror is intensified by mystery, the 
 sure product is romance. A trustworthy account of the assault 
 could be compiled only by comparing and combining the ver- 
 bal narratives of such of the assailants as could be relied on 
 for veracity, and adding to this such lights as might be gath- 
 ered from military documents of that period, from credible 
 local information, and from any source more to be trusted than 
 rumor. As I was a resident at Matamoros when the event 
 occurred, and for several months after the invading army re- 
 treated thither, and afterwards resided near the scene of action, 
 I had opportunities for obtaining the kind of information re- 
 ferred to better perhaps than have been possessed by any per- 
 son now living outside of Mexico. I was often urged to publish 
 what I had gathered on the subject, as thereby an interesting 
 passage of history might be preserved. I consequently gave to 
 the San Antonio Herald \n i860 an imperfect outline of what 
 is contained in this article, and the communication was soon 
 after printed in pamphlet form. Subsequently to its appearance, 
 however, I obtained many additional and interesting details, 
 mostly from Colonel Juan N. Seguin of San Antonio, who had 
 
 89 
 
been an officer of the garrison up to within six days of the 
 assault. His death, of which I have since heard, no doubt 
 took away the last of those who were soldiers of the Alamo 
 when it was first invested. I n^w offer these sheets as a revi- 
 sion and enlargement of my article of iS6o. 
 
 Before beginning the narrative, however, I must describe 
 the Alamo and its surroundings as they existed in the spring 
 of 1836. San Antonio, then a town of about 7,000 inhabi- 
 tants, had a Mexican population, a minority of which was well 
 affected to the cause of Texas, while the rest were inclined to 
 make the easiest terms they could with whichever side might 
 be for the time being dominant. The San Antonio River, 
 .which, properly speaking, is a large rivulet, divided the town 
 fronr the Alamo, the former on the west side and the latter on 
 the east. The Alamo village, a small suburb of San Antonio, 
 was south of the fort, or Mission, as it was originally called, 
 .which bore the same name. The latter was an old fabric, 
 built during the first settlement of the vicinity by the Span- 
 iards; and having been originally designed as a place of safety 
 for the colonists and their property in case of Indian hostility, 
 with room sufficient for that purpose, it had neither the 
 strength, compactness, nor dominant points which ought to 
 belong to a regular fortification. The front of the Alamo 
 Chapel bears date of 1757, but the other works must have 
 been built earlier. As the whole area contained between two 
 and three acres, a thousand men would have barely sufficed to 
 man its defenses ; and before a regular siege train they would 
 soon have crumbled. Yoakum, in his history of Texas, is not 
 only astray in his details of the assault, but mistaken about the 
 measurement of the place. Had the works covered no more 
 ground than he represents, the result of the assault might have 
 been different. 
 
 From recollection of the locality, as I viewed it in 1S41, I 
 could in i860 trace the extent of the outer walls, which had 
 been demolished about thirteen years before the latter period. 
 The dimensions here given are taken from actual measure- 
 ment then made ; and the accompanying diagram gives correct 
 outlines, though without aiming at close exactitude of scale. 
 The figure A in the diagram represents the chapel of the 
 fort, 75 feet long, 62 wide, and 22^ high, with walls of solid 
 masonry, four feet thick. It was originally of but one story, 
 and if it then had any windows below, they were probably 
 90 
 
3 
 
 walled up when the place was prepared for defense. B locates 
 a platform in the east end of the chapel. C designates its 
 door; and D marks a wall, 50 feet long and about 12 high, 
 connecting the chapel with the long barrack, R E. The latter 
 
 "H \i^:\^\ 
 
 °[ L n n 
 
 
 L ^ 
 
 -r 
 
 PICKET f ENCr. 
 
 P 
 
 CATTLE 9ZU. 
 
 SMALL AREA. 
 
 ^ 
 
 NOOK 
 COVERED SY Q 
 
 ENTRENCHMENT 
 
 F 
 
 ■•>?-^-o 
 
 - < '"'v,'^'' >>''"'""' PLAN 
 
 <;«), j^S^„>"""" OF THE 
 
 Br 
 CA PT.f{MPo T TE Fs,U.SA. 
 
 was a stone house of two stories, 1S6 feet long, 18 wide, and 
 18 high, i^/^is a low, one-story stone barrack, 114 feet long 
 and 17 wide, having in the centre <i pojic-rflc/iere, S, which 
 passed through it under the roof. The walls of these two 
 houses were about thirty inches thick, and they had flat 
 terrace roofs of beams and plank, covered with a thick coat 
 
 91 
 
of cement. G If / K were flat-roofed, stone-walled rooms built 
 against the inside of the west barrier. L L L L L denote bar- 
 rier walls, enclosing an area, 154 yards long and 54 wide, with 
 the long barrack on the. east and the low barrack on the south 
 of it. These walls were 2^ feet thick, and from 9 to 12 high, 
 except the strip which fronted the chapel, that being only four 
 feet in height. This low piece of wall was covered by an 
 oblique intrenchment, marked A', and yet to be described, 
 which ran from the southwest angle of the chapel to the east 
 end of the low barrack. J/ marks the place of a palisade gate 
 at the west end of the intrenchment. The small letters (;/) 
 locate the doors of the several rooms which opened upon the 
 large area. Most of those doors had within a semicircular 
 parapet for the use of marksmen, composed of a double cur- 
 tain of hides, upheld by stakes and filled in with rammed earth. 
 Some of the rooms were also loopholed. O O mark barrier 
 walls, from 5 to 6 feet high and 2^ thick, which enclosed a 
 smaller area north of the chapel and east of the long barrack. 
 P designates a cattle yard east of the barrack and south of the 
 small area ; it was enclosed by a picket fence. Q shows the 
 locality of a battered breach in the north wall. 
 
 The above-described fort, if it merited that name, was, when 
 the siege commenced, in the condition f )r defense in which it 
 had been left by the Mexican general, Cos, when he capitu- 
 lated in the fall of 1835, The chapel, except the west end and 
 north projection, had been unroofed, the east end being occu- 
 pied by the platform of earth B, 12 feet high, with a slope for 
 ascension to the west. On its level were mounted three pieces 
 of cannon. One (i), a T2pounder, pointed east through an 
 embrasure roughly notched in the wall; another (2) was aimed 
 north through a similar notch ; and another (3) fired over the 
 wall to the south. High scaffolds of wood enabled marksmen 
 to use the top of the roofless wall as a parapet. The intrench- 
 ment (A') consisted of a ditch and breastwork, the latter of 
 earth packed between two rows of palisades, the outer row 
 being higher than the earthwork. Behind it and near the gate 
 was a battery of four guns (4 5 6 7), all 4-pounders, pointing 
 south. The porte-cochhe through the low barrack was covered 
 on the outside by a lunette of stockades and earth, mounted 
 with two guns (8 9). In the southwest angle of the large area 
 was an i8-pounder (10), in the centre of the west wall a twelve- 
 pound carronade (i i), and in the northwest corner of the same 
 92 
 
5 
 
 area an S-pounder (12), and east of this, within the north wall, 
 two more, guns of the same calibre (13 14). All the guns of 
 this area were mounted on high platforms of stockades and 
 earth, and tired, over the walls. ■ The several barriers were cov- 
 ered, on the outside with a ditch, except where such guard was 
 afforded by the irrigating canal, which flowed on the east and 
 west sides of the fort and served to fill the fosse with water. 
 
 Thus the works were mounted with fourteen guns, which 
 agrees with Yoakum's account of their number, though Santa 
 Ana in his report exaggerates it to twenty-one. The number, 
 however, has little bearing on the merits of the final defense, 
 with which cannon had very little to do. These guns were in 
 the hands of men unskilled in their use, and owing to the con- 
 struction of the works most of them had little width of range. 
 Of the buildings above described, the chapel and the two bar- 
 racks are probably still standing. They were repaired and 
 newly roofed during the Mexican war for the use of the United 
 States Quartermaster's department. 
 
 In the winter of 1835-6 Colonel Neill, of Texas, was in 
 command of San Antonio, with two companies of volunteers, 
 among whom was a remnant of New Orleans Greys, who had 
 taken an efficient part in the siege and capture of the town 
 about a year before. At this time the Provisional Government 
 of Texas, which, though in revolt, had not yet declared a final 
 separation from Mexico, had broken into a conflicting duality. 
 The Governor and Council repudiated each other, and each 
 claimed the obedience which was generally not given to either. 
 Invasion was impending, and there seemed to be little more 
 than anarchy to meet it. During this state of affairs Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Wm. B. Travis, who had commanded the scouting 
 service of the late campaign, and had since been commissioned 
 with the afoiv^said rank as an officer of regular cavalry, was 
 assigned by the Governor to relieve Colonel Neill of the com- 
 mand of his post. The volunteers, who cared little for either 
 of the two governments, wished to choose their own leader, 
 and were willing to accept Travis only as second in command. 
 They were, therefore, clamorous that Neill should issue an 
 order for the election of a Colonel. To get over the matter 
 without interfering with Travis' right, he prepared an order for 
 the election of a Lieutenant-Colonel, and was about to depart, 
 when his men, finding out what he had done, mobbed him, and 
 threatened his life unless he should comply with their wishes. 
 
 93 
 
He felt constrained to yield, and on the amended order James 
 Bowie was unanimousl}' elected a full Colonel. He had been 
 for several years a resident of Texas, and had taken a promi- 
 nent part in the late campaign against Cos. His election 
 occurred early in February, 1836, about two weeks before the 
 enemy came in sight ; and Travis, who had just arrived or 
 came soon after, found Bowie in command of the garrison, and 
 claiming by virtue of the aforesaid election the right to com- 
 mand him and the re-enforcement he brought. They both had 
 their headquarters at the Alamo, where their men were 
 quartered, and there must have been a tacit understanding on 
 both sides that conflict of authority should as far as possible 
 be avoided. This, however, could not have continued many 
 days but for the common bond of approaching peril. 
 
 Travis brought with him a company of regular recruits, en- 
 listed for the half regiment of cavalry which the Provisional 
 Government had intended to raise. J. N. Seguin, a native of 
 San Antonio who had been commissioned as the senior Cap- 
 tain of Travis' corps, joined him at the Alamo and brought 
 into the garrison the skeleton of his company, consisting of 
 nine Mexican recruits, natives, some of the town aforesaid and 
 others of the interior of Mexico. The aforesaid company and 
 squad of enlisted men and the two companies of volunteers 
 under Bowie formed the garrison of the Alamo, which then 
 numbered from a hundred and fifty-six to a hundred and 
 sixty. Of these the volunteers comprised considerably more 
 than half, and over two-thirds of the whole w^ere men w^ho had 
 but recently arrived in the country. Seguin and his nine re- 
 cruits were all that represented the_Mexican population of 
 Texas. Of that nine, seven fell in the assault, the Captain and 
 two of his men having been sent out on duty before that crisis. 
 David Crocket, of Tennessee, who had a few years before rep- 
 resented a squatter constituency in Congress, where his oratory 
 was distinguished for hard sense and rough grammar, had 
 joined the garrison a few weeks before, as had also J. B. Bon- 
 ham, Esq., of South Carolina, who had lately come to volunteer 
 in the cause of Texas, and was considered one of the most 
 chivalrous and estimable of its supporters. I pair them, a 
 rough gem and a polished jewel, because their names are 
 among the best kno\vn of those who fell ; but I am not aware 
 that either of them had any command. 
 
 The main army of operation against Texas moved from 
 94 
 
Laredo upon San Antonio in four successive detachments. 
 This was rendered necessary by the scarcity of pasture and 
 water on certain portions of the route. The lower division, 
 commanded by Brigadier-General Urrea, moved from Mata- 
 moros on Goliad by a route near the coast, and a short time 
 after the fall of the Alamo achieved the capture and massacre 
 of Fannius' command. 
 
 The advance from Laredo, consisting of the dragoon regi- 
 ment of Delores and three battalions of infantry, commanded 
 by Santa Ana in person, arrived at San Antonio on the after- 
 noon of February 22. No regular scouting service seems to 
 have been kept up from the post of Bowie and Travis, owing 
 probably to division and weakness of authority, for, though the 
 enemy was expected, his immediate approach was not known 
 to many of the inhabitants till the advance of his dragoons was 
 seen descending the slope west of the San Pedro. A guard 
 was kept in town with a sentinel on the top of the church, yet 
 the surprise of the population was so nearly complete that one 
 or more American residents engaged in trade fled to the 
 Alamo, leaving their stores open. The garrison, however, 
 received more timely notice, and the guard retired in good 
 order to the fort. The confusion at the Alamo, which for the 
 time being was great, did not impede a prompt show of resist- 
 ance. In the evening, soon after the enemy entered the town, 
 a shot from the i8-pounder of the fort was answered by a shell 
 from the invaders ; and this was followed by a parley, of which 
 different accounts have been given. According to Santa 
 Ana's official report, after the shell was thrown, a white flag 
 was sent out by the garrison with an offer to evacuate the fort 
 if allowed to retire unmolested and in arms, to which reply was 
 made that no terms would be admitted short of an uncondi- 
 tional surrender. Seguin, however, gave me a more reliable 
 version of the affair. He related that after the firing a parley 
 was sounded and a white flag raised by the invaders. Travis 
 was not inclined to respond to it ; but Bowie, without consulting 
 him, and much to his displeasure, sent a flag of truce to de- 
 mand what the enemy wanted. Their General, with his usual 
 duplicity, denied having sounded a parley or raised a flag, and 
 informed the messenger that the garrison could be recognized 
 only as rebels, and be allowed no other terms than a surrender 
 at discretion. When informed of this, Travis harangued his 
 men and administered to them an oath that they would resist 
 to the last. 
 
 95 
 
8 
 
 The officers obtained a supply of corn, and added to their 
 stock of beef after the enemy entered the town. On the same 
 day a well, which a fatigue party had been digging within the 
 walls, struck a fine vein of water. This was fortunate ; for the 
 irrigating canal, which flowed past the foot of the wall, was 
 shortly after cut off by the enemy. The investment had not 
 3'et commenced, nor was the firing, I think, renewed that even- 
 ing, and the few citizens who had taken refuge in the fort 
 succeeded in leaving it during the night, if not earlier. 
 
 On the night of the 2 2d of February the enemy planted two 
 batteries on the west side of the river, one bearing west and 
 the other southwest from the Alamo, with a range which no 
 houses then obstructed. They were the next day silenced by 
 the fire of the iSpounder of the fort, but were restored to 
 activity on the following night. On the 24th another body of 
 Mexican troops, a regiment of cavalry and three battalions of 
 infantry arrived ; and then the fort was invested and a regular 
 siege commenced, which, counting from that day till the morn- 
 ing of the 6th of March, occupied eleven days. By the 27th 
 seven more besieging batteries were planted, most of them on 
 the east side of the river, and bearing on the northwest, south- 
 west, and south of the fort ; but there were none on the east. 
 As that was the only direction in which the garrison would be 
 likely to attempt retreat, Santa Ana wished to leave a tempta- 
 tion to such flitting, while he prepared to intercept it by form- 
 ing his cavalry camp on what is now called the Powder House 
 Hill, east of the Alamo. 
 
 During the first few days occasional sallies were made by 
 the garrison to obstruct the enemy's_movements and burn 
 houses which might cover them. The operations of the siege, 
 which, omitting the final assault, are probably given correctly 
 in Yoakum's History of Texas, consisted of an active but 
 rather ineffective cannonade and bombardment, with occasional 
 skirmishing by day and frequent harassing alarms at night, 
 designed to wear out the garrison with want of sleep. No 
 assault was attempted, though it has been so asserted, till the 
 final storming took place. The enemy had no siege train, but 
 only light field pieces and howitzers ; yet a breach was opened 
 in the northern barrier, Q, near the northeast angle, and the 
 chapel was the only building that withstood the cannonade 
 firmly, as the balls often went clean through the walls of the 
 others. Yet, when I saw them unrepaired five years later, they 
 seemed less battered than might have been expected. 
 96 
 
9 
 
 The stern resistance which had sprung up in the demoral- 
 ized band within, and the comparative unity and order which 
 must have come with it, were ushered in by a scene which 
 promised no such outcome. The first sight of the enemy 
 created as much confusion with as little panic at the Alamo as 
 might be expected among men who had known as little of dis- 
 cipline as they did of fear. Mr. Lewis, of San Antonio, in- 
 formed me that he took refuge for a few hours in the fort when 
 the invaders appeared, and the disorder of the post beggared 
 description. Bowie with a detachment was engaged in break- 
 ing open deserted houses in the neighborhood and gathering 
 corn, while another squad was driving cattle into the enclosure 
 east of the long barrack. Some of the volunteers, who had 
 sold their rifles to obtain the means of dissipation, were clam- 
 oring for guns of any kind ; and the rest, though in arms, 
 appeared to be mostly without orders or a capacity for obedi- 
 ence. No " army in Flanders " ever swore harder. He saw 
 but one officer, who seemed to be at his proper post and per- 
 fectly collected. This was an Irish Captain named Ward, who, 
 though generally an inveterate drunkard, was now sober, and 
 stood quietly by the guns of the south battery, ready to use 
 them. Yet amid the disorder of that hour no one seemed to 
 think of riight ; the first damaging shock, caused by the sight 
 of the enemy, must have been cured by the first shell that he 
 threw ; and the threat conveyed by Santa Ana's message seems 
 to have inspired a greater amount of discipline than those men 
 had before been thought capable of possessing. The sobered 
 toper who stood coolly by his guns w^as the first pustule which 
 foretold a speedy inoculation of the whole mass with that 
 qualification. 
 
 The conflict of authority between Bowie and Travis, owing 
 probably to the caution in which neither was deficient, had 
 luckily produced no serious collision ; and it was perhaps as 
 fortunate that, at about the second day of the siege, the rivalry 
 was cut short by a prostrating illness of the former, when 
 Bowie was stricken by an attack of pneumonia, which would 
 probably have proved fatal, had not its blow been anticipated 
 by the sword. This left Travis in undisputed command. 
 
 The investment was not too rigid to admit of the successful 
 exit of couriers by night, and one or two had been sent out, 
 since the enemy appeared, with letters to Colonel Fannin at 
 Goliad, asking for aid. On the 29th of February it was re- 
 
 97 
 
lO 
 
 solved to send an officer, who, in addition to bearing despatches, 
 might make his own mfluence and information available to 
 accomplish the object of his mission. Captain Seguin was 
 recommended by most of the officers ; for, as he was of Spanish 
 race and language, and well acquainted with the surrounding 
 country, it was thought that he would be more likely than any 
 one of his rank to succeed in passing the enemy's lines. 
 Travis wished to retain him in the garrison ; but at a council of 
 war, held on the night of the 29th, he yielded to the wishes of 
 the majority. That night Seguin and his orderly, Antonio 
 Cruz Oroche, prepared for the sally. Another of his Mexican 
 recruits, named Alexandro de la Garza, had already been sent 
 as a courier to the Provisional Government. Having no horse 
 or equipments for himself, the Captain requested and obtained 
 those of Bowie, who was already so ill that he hardly recog- 
 nized the borrower. To him and the rest Seguin bade what 
 proved to be a last adieu, and sallying from the postern on the 
 northern side, took the high road to the east. As might be 
 expected, the rank and file had begun to look with jealousy on 
 any departure from within, though of but one or two ; and 
 when Seguin produced the order which was to pass him and 
 his orderly out, the sentinel at the postern began a rude com- 
 ment ; but a few words from the Captain, intimating that his 
 errand was one which might bring safety, at once soothed the 
 rough soldier, who bade him God-speed. 
 
 The road which the two horsemen took passed near the 
 cavalry camp of the enemy, and where it crossed their lines 
 was stationed a guard of dragoons, who were then resting, dis- 
 mounted. Seguin and his man rode leisurely up towards them, 
 responding in Spanish to the hail of their sentinel that they 
 were countrymen. They were doubtless taken for Mexican 
 rancheros of that neighborhood, and seemed to be riding up to 
 report; but, when near enough for a bold start, they dashed past 
 the guard at full speed. The hurried fire of the troopers was 
 ineffective, and before they were in the saddle the fugitives, 
 who v/ere both well mounted, were far ahead. The latter then 
 took to the bush and made good their escape. The next day 
 Seguin met an officer from Fannin's post, who informed him 
 that his mission would be wholly unavailing, and advised him 
 to join the camp then forming at Gonzales, which he did. 
 
 On the following night, the ist of March, a company of 
 thirty-two men from Gonzales made its way through the 
 98 
 
II 
 
 enemy's lines, and entered the Alamo never again to leave it. 
 This must have raised the force to i88 men or thereabout, as 
 none of the original number of 156 had fallen. 
 
 On the night of the 3d of March, Travis sent out another 
 courier with a letter of that date to the government, which 
 reached its destination. In that last despatch he says : " With 
 a hundred and forty-five men I have held this place ten days 
 against a force variously estimated from 1,500 to 6,000, and I 
 shall continue to hold it till I get relief from my countrymen, 
 or I will perish in the attempt. We have had a shower of 
 bombs and cannon-balls continually falling among us the whole 
 time, yet none of us have fallen. We have been miraculously 
 preserved." As this was but two days and three nights before 
 the final assault, it is quite possible that not a single defender 
 w^as stricken down till the fort was stormed. At the first 
 glance it may seem almost farcical that there should be no more 
 result from so long a fire, which was never sluggish ; but if so, 
 this was a stage on which farce was soon to end in tragedy, 
 and those two elements seem strangely mingled through the 
 whole contest. But the fact above referred to was not really 
 farcical, however singular, and it serves merely to illustrate the 
 mysterious doctrine of chance. It must have tended to uphold 
 the determination of men in a situation where the favor of luck 
 is so apt to be accepted as the shielding of Providence. Travis, 
 when he said, " We have been miraculously preserved," no 
 doubt expressed a sincere feeling, in which his companions 
 shared ; for such fancies are apt to take a strong contagious 
 hold of men who stand day after day unharmed within a step 
 of death. It is a time when the fierce, profane, and dissolute 
 often begin for the first time to look upward. It is worthy of 
 note that, although the readiness of couriers to go out indicates 
 a consciousness that the chance of life was at least as good with- 
 out as within, we know not of a single case of night flitting. 
 Brute bravery or reckless despair would hardly have produced 
 this without some exceptions. The incident of the sentinel at 
 the postern probably showed what were prevailing traits, — 
 scorn of desertion with readiness for hope. In many a rough 
 bosom that hope had probably a new and half-comprehended 
 faith under it. Though the hope was disappointed, I trust 
 that the faith was not all in vain. 
 
 In stating the force of the garrison during the previous ten 
 days, Travis did not include the little re-enforcement which had 
 
 99 
 
12 
 
 come in only two days before ; yet, as he mentions but 145, 
 while the garrison is known to have numbered 156 when the 
 enemy appeared, he must have rated eleven as ineiTective or 
 absent. A part of them may have been counted out as de- 
 parted couriers, and the rest had perhaps sunk under the 
 fatigue of duty. Had there been any wounded, he would 
 probably have referred to them. 
 
 On the 4th of March Santa Ana called a council of war, and 
 fixed on the morning of the 6th for the final assault. The be- 
 sieging force now around the Alamo, comprising all the Mexi- 
 can troops which had yet arrived, consisted of the two dragoon 
 regiments of Dolores and Tampico, which formed a brigade, 
 commanded by General Andrade, two companies or batteries 
 of artillery under Colonel Ampudia, and six battalions of 
 infantry, namely, Los Zapadores (engineer troops), Jimenes, 
 Guerrero, Matamoros, Toluca, and Tres Villas. These six 
 battalions of foot were to form the storming forces. The 
 order for the attack, which I have read, but have no copy of, 
 was full and precise in its details, and was signed by General 
 Amador, as Chief of Staff. The infantry were directed at a 
 certain hour between midnight and dawn to form at convenient 
 distances from the fort in four columns of attack and a reserve. 
 These dispositions were not made by battalions, for the light 
 companies of all were incorporated with the Zapadores to form 
 the reserve, and* other transpositions were made. A certain 
 number of scaling ladders, axes, and fascines were to be 
 borne by particular columns. A commanding officer, with a 
 second to replace him in case of accident, was named, and 
 a point of attack designated for each column. The cavalry 
 were to be stationed at suitable points around the fort 
 to cut off fugitives. From what I have -learned from men en- 
 gaged in the assault, it seems that these dispositions were 
 modified before it was carried out so as to combine the five 
 bodies of infantry, including the reserve, into only three col- 
 umns of attack, thus leaving no actual reserve but the cavalry. 
 The immediate direction of the assault seems to have been 
 intrusted to General Castrillon, a Spaniard by birth and a brill- 
 iant soldier. Santa Ana took his station, with a part of his 
 staff and all the bands of music, at a battery about five hun- 
 dred yards south of the Alamo and near the old bridge, from 
 which post a signal was to be given by a bugle-note for the 
 columns to move simultaneously at double-quick time against 
 
13 
 
 the fort. One, consisting of Los Zapadores, Toiuca, and the 
 light companies, and commanded by Castrillon, was to rush 
 through the breach on the north ; another, consisting of the 
 battaUon of Jimenes and other troops, and commanded by- 
 General Cos, was to storm tlie chapel ; and a third, whose 
 leader I do not recollect, was to scale the west barrier. Cos, 
 who had evacuated San Antonio a year before under capitula- 
 tion, was assigned to the most difficult point of attack, probably 
 to give him an opportunity to retrieve his standing. By the 
 timing of the signal it was calculated that the columns would 
 reach the foot of the wall just as it should become sufficiently 
 light for good operation. 
 
 When the hour came, the south guns of the Alamo were 
 answering the batteries which fronted them ; but the music 
 was silent till the blast of a bugle was followed by the rushing 
 tramp of soldiers. The guns of the fort opened upon the mov- 
 ing masses, and Santa Ana's bands struck up the assassin note 
 of deguello, or no quarter. But a few and not very effective 
 discharges of cannon from the works could be made before the 
 enemy were under them, and it was probably not till then that 
 the worn and wearied garrison was fully mustered. Castrillon's 
 column arrived first at the foot of the wall, but was not the first 
 to enter. The guns of the north, where Travis commanded in 
 person, probably raked the breach, and this or the fire of the 
 riflemen brought the column to a disordered halt, and Colonel 
 Duque, who commanded the battalion of Toiuca, fell danger- 
 ously wounded ; but, while this was occurring, the column from 
 the west crossed the barrier on that side by escalade at a point 
 north of the centre, and, as this checked resistance at the 
 north, Castrillon shortly after passed the breach. It was prob- 
 ably while the enemy was thus pouring into the large area that 
 Travis fell at his post, for his body, with a single shot in the 
 forehead, was found beside the gun at the northwest angle. 
 The outer walls and batteries, all except one gun, of which I 
 will speak, were now abandoned by the defenders. In the 
 mean time Cos had again proved unlucky. His column was 
 repulsed from the chapel, and his troops fell back in disorder 
 behind the old stone stable and huts that stood south of the 
 southwest angle. There they were soon rallied and led into 
 the large area by General Amador. I am not certain as to his 
 point of entrance, but he probably followed the escalade of the 
 column from the west. 
 
14 
 
 This all passed within a few minutes after the bugle 
 sounded. The garrison, when driven from the thinly manned 
 outer defences, whose early loss was inevitable, took refuge in 
 the buildings before described, but mainly in the long barrack ; 
 and it was not till then, when they became more concentrated 
 and covered within, that the main struggle began. They were 
 more concentrated as to space, not as to unity of command ; for 
 there was no communicating between buildings, nor, in all 
 cases, between rooms. There was little need of command, 
 however, to men who had no choice left but to fall where they 
 stood before the weight of numbers. There was now no re- 
 treating from point to point, and each group of defenders had 
 to fight and die in the den where it was brought to bay. From 
 the doors, windows, and loopholes of the several rooms around 
 the area the crack of the rifle and the hiss of the bullet came 
 fierce and fast; as fast the enemy fell and recoiled in his first 
 efforts to charge. The gun beside which Travis fell was now 
 turned against the buildings, as were also some others, and 
 shot after shot was sent crashing through the doors and barri- 
 cades of the several rooms. Each ball was followed by a storm 
 of musketry and a charge ; and thus room after room was car- 
 ried at the point of the bayonet, when all within them died 
 fighting to the last. The struggle was made up of a number 
 of separate and desperate combats, often hand to hand, be- 
 tween squads of the garrison and bodies of the enemy. The 
 bloodiest spot about the fort was the long barrack and the 
 ground in front of it, where the enemy fell in heaps. 
 
 Before the action reached this stage, the turning of Travis' 
 gun by the assailants was briefly imitated by a group of the 
 defenders. " A small piece on a high platform," as it was 
 described to me by General Bradburn, \vas wheeled .by those 
 who manned it against the large area after the enemy entered 
 it. Some of the Mexican officers thought it did more execu- 
 tion than any gun which fired outward ; but after two 
 effective discharges it was silenced, when the last of its can- 
 noneers fell under a shower of bullets. I cannot locate 
 this gun with certainty, but it was probably the twelve- 
 pound carronade which fired over the centre of the west 
 wall from a high commanding position. The smallness 
 assigned to it perhaps referred only to its length. Ac- 
 cording to Mr.- Ruiz, then the Alcalde of San Antonio, who, 
 after the action, was required to point out the slain leaders to 
 
Santa Ana, the body of Crocket was found in the west battery 
 just referred to; and we may infer that he either commanded 
 that point or was stationed there as a sharpshooter. The 
 common fate overtook Bowie in his bed in one of the rooms of 
 the low barrack, when lie probably had but a few days of life 
 left in him ; yet he had enough remaining, it is said, to shoot 
 down with his pistols more than one of his assailants ere he 
 was butchered on his couch. If he had sufficient strength and 
 consciousness left to do it, we may safely assume that it was 
 done. 
 
 The chapel, which was the last point taken, was carried by a 
 coup dc vtain after the fire of the other buildings was silenced. 
 Once the enemy in possession of the large area, the guns of the 
 south could be turned to fire into the door of the church, only 
 from fifty to a hundred yards off, and that was probably the 
 route of attack. The inmates of this last stronghold, like the 
 rest, fought to the last, and continued to fire down from the 
 upper works after the enemy occupied the floor. A Mexican 
 officer told of seeing one of his soldiers shot in the crown of 
 the head during this mele'e. Towards the close of the struggle 
 Lieutenant Dickenson, with his child in his arms, or, as some 
 accounts say, tied to his back, leaped from the east embrasure 
 of the chapel, and both were shot in the act. Of those he left 
 behind him, the bayonet soon gleaned what the bullet had left ; 
 and in the upper part of that edifice the last defender must 
 have fallen. The morning breeze which received his parting 
 breath probably still fanned his flag above that fabric, for I 
 doubt not he fell ere it was pulled down by the victors. 
 
 The Alamo had fallen ; but the impression it left on the 
 invader was the forerunner of San Jacinto. It is a fact not 
 often remembered that Travis and his band fell under the 
 Mexican Federal flag of 1S24, instead of the Lone Star of 
 Texas, although Independence, unknown to them, had been 
 declared by the new Convention four days before at ^^'ashing- 
 ton, on the Brazos, They died for a Republic of whose exist- 
 ence they never knew. The action, according to Santa Ana's 
 report, lasted thirty minutes. It was certainly short, and pos- 
 sibly no longer time passed between the moment the enemy 
 entered the breach and that when resistance died out. The 
 assault w^as a task which had to be carried out quickly or fail. 
 Some of the incidents which have to be related separately 
 occurred simultaneously, and all occupied very little time. The 
 
i6 
 
 account of the assault which Yoakum and others have adopted 
 as authentic is evidently one which popular tradition has based 
 on conjecture. By a rather natural inference it assumes that 
 the enclosing walls, as in the case of regular forts, were the 
 principal works, and that in storming these the main contiict 
 took place. The truth was, these extensive barriers formed 
 in reality nothing more than the outworks, speedily lost, while 
 the buildings within constituted the citadel and the scene of 
 sternest resistance. Yoakum's assertion that Santa Ana, 
 during the height of the conflict, was under the works, urging 
 on the escalade in person, is exceedingly fabulous. Castrillon, 
 not Santa Ana, was the soul of the assault. The latter re- 
 mained at his south battery, viewing the operations from the 
 corner of a house which covered liim, till he supposed the 
 place was nearly mastered, when he moved up towards the 
 Alamo, escorted by his aids and bands of music, but turned 
 back on being greeted by a few shots from the upper part of 
 the chapel. He, however, entered the area towards the close of 
 the scene, and directed some of the last details of the butchery. 
 It cannot be denied that Santa Ana in the course of his career 
 showed occasional fits of dashing courage, but he did not 
 select this field for an exhibition of that quality. About the 
 time the area was entered, a few men, cut off from inward " 
 retreat, leaped from the barriers, and attempted flight, but 
 were all sabred or speared by the cavalry except one, who 
 succeeded in hiding himself under a small bridge of the irrigat- 
 ing ditch. There he was discovered and reported a few hours 
 after by some laundresses engaged in washing near the spot. 
 He was executed. Half an hour or more after the action was 
 over a few men were found concealed in one of the rooms 
 under some mattresses. General Houston,"TTi his letter of the 
 nth, says as many as seven; but I have generally heard them 
 spoken of as only four or five. The officer to whom the dis- 
 covery was first reported entreated Santa Ana to spare their 
 lives ; but he was sternly rebuked, and the men ordered to be 
 shot, which was done. Owing to the hurried manner in which 
 the mandate was obeyed, and the confusion prevailing at the 
 moment, a Mexican soldier was accidentally killed with them. 
 A negro belonging to Travis, the wife of Lieutenant Dickenson, 
 who at the time was enceinte^ and a few Mexican women with 
 their children were the only inmates of the fort whose lives 
 were spared. The massacre involved no women and but one 
 104 
 
child. Lieutenant Dickenson commanded the gun at the east 
 embrasure of the chapel. His family was probably in one 
 of the small vaulted rooms of the north projection, which will 
 account for his being able to take his child to the rear of the 
 building when it was being stormed. An irrigating canal ran 
 below the embrasure, and his aim may have been to break 
 the shock of his leap by landing in the mud of that waterless 
 ditch, and then try to escape, or he may have thought that so 
 striking an act would plead for his life ; but the shower of 
 bullets which greeted him told how vain was the hope. The 
 authenticity of this highly dramatic incident has been ques- 
 tioned, but it was asserted from the first, and was related to 
 me by an eye-witness engaged in the assault.* 
 
 It was asserted on the authority of one of the women that, 
 while the church was being stormed, Major Evans, the Master 
 of Ordnance, rushed with a torch or burning match towards the 
 magazine of the fort to fire it, when he was shot down before 
 his object was accomplished. It may seem unlikely that any 
 of the women would be in a position to witness such an inci- 
 dent, but they may have been put into the magazine as a place 
 most sheltered from the enemy's shots. The powder was 
 probably stored in the little vaulted room on the north of the 
 chapel which I have just referred to. t 
 
 There were two officers of the name just mentioned in the 
 garrison of the Alamo, Major Robert Evans, Master of Ord- 
 nance, an Irishman, and Captain J. B. Evans, of Texas, a nephew 
 of General Jacob Brown, who formerly commanded the United 
 States army. 
 
 I must now endeavor to approximate as nearly as can be 
 done by inference, for I have no direct data, to the number of 
 troops engaged in the assault and the amount of their loss, — 
 
 * I had for several years in Texas as a servant one of the Mexican soldiers captured at 
 San Jacinto, Sergeant Becero, of the battalion of Matamoros. He was in the assault, and 
 witnessed Dickenson's leap. He also saw the body of Bowie on his bed, where he had been 
 killed, and witnessed the execution of the few men who were found in concealment after the 
 action was over. He did not know the names of Bowie or Dickenson, and related the cir- 
 cumstances, n-ot in replv to inquiries, but in a natural way as recollections in narrating his 
 experience. Many absurd stories about the admissions made by Mexicans touching the 
 force of the assailants and the amount of their lo.ss at the Alamo are based on sycophantic 
 statements, drawn by leading questions from prisoners of the lower class. 
 
 t In 1841 the husband of one of the Mexican women who were with the garrison during 
 the siege and assaults pointed out to me the vaulted room referred to, and observed, " During 
 the tight and massacre five or six women stood in that room all in a huddle." He was an 
 intelligent man, but so given to embellishing whatever he related that I did not then rely 
 much on his information ; but I have since called it to mind in connection with what is above 
 said. This man did not refer to Evans' attempt, nor did he say that the cell referred to was 
 used for stormg powder, but, according to my recollection, it was the most fitting place for a 
 magazine which I saw about the Alamo. 
 
 10=; 
 
i8 
 
 matters which have been the subject of absurd perversion on 
 both sides. The old popular tale of Texas that the Alamo was 
 stormed by ten thousand men, of whom a thousand or more 
 were killed, shows how rapidly legend ma}?^ grow up even in 
 this age, and the belief which has been given to it is worthy of 
 an era when miracles were considered frequent. The entire 
 force with which Santa Ana invaded Texas in 1836, and which 
 after his defeat he rated at 6,000 men, probably amounted to 
 7,500 or 8,500, as it consisted of seventeen corps; viz., three 
 regiments of horse and fourteen battalions of foot. It is proper 
 here to observe that the Mexicans apply the term regiment 
 only to cavalry corps, a Colonel's command of infantry being 
 always called a battalion. The nominal complement of a regi- 
 ment or battalion is 1,500; but I never heard of one that was 
 full, and seldom saw one during my long residence in Mexico 
 that contained as much as a third of that number. I doubt if 
 it is considered convenient ever to swell one to over 500 men ; 
 for the host of officers who have sufficient influence to obtain 
 commands can be supplied only by keeping up the number of 
 corps at the expense of their fulness. I saw all the corps com- 
 posing the said army when it retreated from Texas to Mata- 
 moros after the campaign of 1836, and from the size of those 
 which had not been in action, as well as from the remaining bulk 
 of those which had suffered, after allowing for probable loss, 
 I am convinced that their average strength when they entered 
 Texas was short of 500 men each, and that the smaller of the 
 two amounts I have assigned to the aggregate is most likely to 
 be true. 
 
 This estimate applies especially to the six battalions of in- 
 fantry which formed the assaulting force of the Alamo. They 
 may possibly have numbered 3,000 men ; tmt from the best in- 
 formation and inference I have been able to gather, I believe 
 that their aggregate did not exceed and may have fallen short 
 of 2,500. Santa Ana's invariable practice was to exaggerate 
 his force before an action, by way of threat, and to underrate 
 it after, whether to excuse defeat or magnify victory ; and in 
 accordance with this trickery, in his report of the taking of the 
 Alamo, he sets down his storming force at 1,400, his loss of 
 60 killed and 300 wounded, and the number of the garrison all 
 told and all killed at 600. Where the slaughter was wrought 
 by good fire-arms in good hands at close quarters there would 
 hardly be such disparity between the number of killed and 
 106 
 
19 
 
 wounded. The probability is that he struck off an even thou- 
 sand from the round numbers of the assauhers and a hundred 
 or two from the number of his killed, while he made out as 
 big a butchery of rebels as Mexican credulity would swallow. 
 If we correct his falsification on this assumption, he had in the 
 assault 2.400, and lost in killed and wounded 460 or 560. 
 Anselmo Borgara, a Mexican, who first reported the fall of the 
 Alamo to General Houston, at Gonzales, having left San 
 Antonio the evening after it occurred, stated that the assault- 
 ing force amounted to 2,300 men, of whom 521 were killed and 
 as many wounded. He had probably found means of ascer- 
 taining with approximate correctness the number of infantry at 
 San Antonio ; but his report of the loss has evidently acquired 
 its bulk by the process of doubling. Neither Mexican troops 
 nor any others are apt to take forts with a loss of more than 
 two-fifths of their number. He had probably heard of 521 as 
 the total of killed and wounded, and then converted the whole 
 into the former and supposed an equal amount of the latter. 
 The odd numbers attached to the hundreds, and the limits 
 which probability would assign to a large loss, favor the belief 
 that he had heard the result of an actual count of the whole 
 deficit. This analysis of falsehood may not be a very sure way 
 of finding out truth, but it is not without value when it 
 has some corroboration. The Mexican officers captured at 
 San Jacinto, including Santa Ana's secretary, as I was told by 
 Colonel Seguin, were generally of the opinion that the loss at 
 the Alamo in killed and wounded was about 500. Some rated 
 it lower, and others higher ; and one, but only one, went as high 
 as 700. The opinions of such enlisted men as I have con- 
 versed with were about the same as those of the officers, rang- 
 ing from four to six hundred. Nothing is more apt to make 
 an exaggerated impression on the casual view than a field of 
 slaughter, and I think that the higher of the above estimates 
 may be errors of that kind. General Bradburn, who w-as at the 
 scene of action soon after it occurred, believed that the eventual 
 loss to the service (killed and disabled for life) would be 300. 
 This I consider equivalent to 500 killed and wounded, and it 
 is my opinion that the Mexican loss at the Alamo dilTered little 
 from that number. 
 
 Now, if 500 men were bullet-stricken by 180 in half an hour 
 or little more, it was a rapidity of bloodshed which needs no 
 exaggeration ; but it may require strong proofs to save it from 
 
 107 
 
20 
 
 the imputation of fiction, for defenders of better forts than the 
 Alamo seldom slay many times more than their own number, 
 unless they possess extraordinary means or opportunities for 
 destruction. The slaughter was not in this case the carnage 
 of unresisted pursuit, like that of San Jacinto, nor the sweeping 
 havoc of cannon under favorable circumstances, like that of 
 Sandusky. The main element of defence was the individual 
 valor and skill of men who had few advantages of fortification, 
 ordnance, discipline, or command. All their deficiencies, which 
 were glaring, serve only to enhance the merit of individuality, 
 in which no veterans could have excelled them. It required 
 no ordinary bravery, even in greatly superior numbers, to over- 
 come a resistance so determined. The Mexican troops dis- 
 played more of it in this assault than they have done on almost 
 any other occasion ; but it must be remembered that better 
 troops than those of Santa Ana always fail under loss as heavy 
 as romance often assigns to the assailants of the Alamo. 
 
 If we owe to departed heroes the duty of preserving their 
 deeds from oblivion, we ought to feel as strongly that of de- 
 fending their memory against the calumnious effect of false 
 eulogy, which in time might cause their real achievements to 
 be doubted.* 
 
 Santa Ana, when he marched on Texas, counted on finding 
 a fortified position at or near San Antonio, but supposed it 
 would be at the Mission of Concepcion, an old church, two 
 miles below the town. That strong building, with the aid of 
 obedience and labor, might have been converted into a tenable 
 
 * A brief account of the fall of the Alamo, related in legendary style by Francisco Ruiz, 
 who lived at San Antonio when the event occurred, was published in the Texas Almanac of 
 iS6o. The narrator shows total ignorance of the details of the assault, which he blends with 
 a cannonade between batteries that went before it, and, if the printer has not blundered for 
 him, imagines that the storming of the fort began at 3 p.m. on the Oth. This is so contrary 
 to the recollection of old residents, that it began at dawn, and was soon over, that I think 
 "p.m." must have been printed in place of a.m. He asserts that, after a long attack and 
 repeated repulses, it ended witli the scaling of the outer wall, which formed the final success. 
 He has no knowledge of the speedy loss of the outward barriers, or of the main conflict inside. 
 He rates the besieging forces at 4,000, which would be correct if the eight corps, including 
 two of cavalry, niunbered 500 each. He sets down Santa Ana's loss at j,6oo, and in a way 
 to imply that this was the number of killed. Now, estimating the force at 4.000, and leaving 
 out 1,000 cavalry for outside service, the storming masses would consist of 3,000 infantry. 
 If 1,600 were killed, the wounded would cover the remainder, and the total of assailants as" 
 well as of defenders must have gone down. If he means that the loss was 1,600 killed and 
 wounded, it was heavy enough to render success impossible, and to cripple the army too 
 much for the prompt and active campaigning on which it immediately entered. The batialion 
 of Toluca, he says, numbered 800, of whom only 130 men were left alive. If 670 were killed, 
 the small remainder must have been disabled. The whole corps went to the graveyard and 
 hospital ; yet eight weeks after a part of it was killed and taken at San Jacinto, and a small 
 remnant retreated to Matamnros. So absurd a narrative would not be worth referring to, 
 had it not been quoted in a San Antonio newspaper of i860 as a testimony of an eye-witness 
 conflicting with my former publication. 
 
 loS 
 
21 
 
 fort, not too large to be mnnned by the garrison of the 
 Alamo. An assault made there by even a larger force than 
 that which captured the other fort might have met with a 
 bloody repulse, which would have led to the rescue of the 
 garrison and changed the character of the campaign, which in 
 that event would probably have been terminated west of the 
 Guadalupe. But such a transfer of garrison and armament 
 was impossible in the state of discijiline and command which 
 the foregoing narrative shows to have existed. 
 
 A military lesson, though not a new one, may be derived 
 from the fall of the Alamo. Among the essential qualities of 
 a soldier we must consider not only the discipline and subordi- 
 nation that blends him with the mass in which the word of 
 command moves him, but also the individual self-reliance and 
 efficiency which may restore the battle even after the mass is 
 broken. From the lack of the former quality the men of the 
 Alamo were lost: by their possession of the latter they became 
 in the last struggle as formidable as veterans, and died glori- 
 ously ; and in a better position they would have been saved by 
 it. Though the latter quality depends more on nature than 
 the former, it admits of development, and the perfection of 
 training neglects neither. 
 
 Neither Travis nor Bowie had much of the experience or in- 
 struction of the soldier, and they were the reverse of each 
 other in certain antecedents an 1 outward traits. The latter in 
 his youth had been noted for daring in bloody personal feuds, 
 and his name has attached to it; a characteristic memento in 
 the designation of a homicidal knife, whose pattern he origi- 
 nated. Travis, though ambitious and not backward in revolu- 
 tionary movements, had been in civil life habitually cautious in 
 avoiding broils and personal collisions, so much so that the 
 rougher class of his contemporaries took for signs of timidity 
 what I believe merely indicated a cool temper and guarded 
 deportment. That he was deficient in courage is contradicted, 
 not only by the closing scenes of his life and his heroic death, 
 but by the testimony of one who had the best opportunity of 
 judging. Colonel Seguin, who was frequently with him under 
 tire, not only on the works, but in the early sallies of the siege, 
 was convinced that Travis possessed a high degree of constitu- 
 tional bravery. 
 
 The garrison of the Alamo, in personal character, was made 
 up of diverse elements, whose relative proportions cannot now 
 
 109 
 
22 
 
 be ascertained. The ruffian, filibuster type, men whose death 
 alone redeemed their life, of course comprised no small part 
 of it, but with them stood also those who, like the band 
 from Gonzales, were fighting for near homes, where their 
 kindred dwelt: and among the newcomers was perhaps an 
 equal number of honorable men, who, like Bonham and 
 Crocket, had an honest faith and generous zeal in the cause 
 they espoused. There were probably few among the lowest of 
 that garrison who lacked the redeeming trait of bravery, and 
 among men of that character common danger is sure to bring 
 out the better qualities in all who share it. When no enemy 
 was in sight, the bad element showed its numerical strength ; 
 but when peril came over all, the good asserted its power, and 
 the evil in a measure assimilated to it. It requires no stretch 
 of charity, then, to believe that many a rough wight whose 
 highest as;(3irations had heretofore been for plunder felt a thrill 
 akin to that of the patriot when he died for a land which he 
 could not yet claim as his own. 
 
 Of the details contained in my former brief publication 
 and in this article, I obtained many from (General Bradburn, 
 who arrived at San Antonio, 1 think, two days after the action, 
 and gathered many of its particulars from officers who were in 
 it, one of whom went over the ground with him.* A few inci- 
 dents I had through a friend from General Amador. Others I 
 received from three intelligent sergeants, one of whom, Sergeant 
 Becero, I have already mentioned. They were men of fair 
 education, and, I think, truthful witnesses. From men of their 
 class I could generally get more candid statements as to loss 
 and relative strength than from commissioned officers. I also 
 gathered some minor particulars from local tradition of a 
 reliable kind, preserved among the resiidents of San Antonio. 
 When some of the details earliest learned were acquired, I had 
 not seen the locality ; and hence I afterwards had to locate 
 some of the occurrences by inference, which I have done as 
 carefully as possible. After my publication of i860, as already 
 mentioned, 1 obtained some additional information from Colonel 
 
 * General Bradhurn was a Virc;inian, vvlio liad been in tlic service of Mexico since flie 
 time of Mina's expedition, in winch lie lieUl tlie rank of I.icutenant-Coloncl and took a dis- 
 tinsiiislied part. In iSjfi, when he was on the retired list of the Mexican army, he was 
 ordered, much against his wishes, to join Santa Ana in his campaijjn against Texas. Me 
 reported in Santa .Ana .soon after the fall of the Alamo, and at his own request was assigned 
 to an iniimportant post (Copano landingl where he would not he likely to come into contact 
 with the forces of Texa.s. Kradhurn had a few years before commanded in Texas, and had 
 come unpleasantly into contact with a revolutionary clement which did not then culminate in 
 revolution. 
 
 1 10 
 
23 
 
 Seguin * and Mr. Lewis, of San Antonio. The former had had 
 better faciHties than any one else in the service of Texas for 
 obtaining and comparing the statements of Mexican oificers 
 captured at San Jacinto. These new Hghts enabled me to cor- 
 rect some errors and many omissions in regard to the fort, its 
 armament and garrison, as well as the siege and assault. 
 
 The stranger will naturally inquire where lie the heroes of 
 the Alamo, and Texas can reply only by a silent blush. A few 
 hours after the action the bodies of the slaughtered garrison 
 were gathered by the victors, laid in three heaps, mingled with 
 fuel, and burned, though their own dead were interred. On 
 the 25th of February, 1837, the bones and ashes of the de- 
 fenders were, by order of General Houston, collected, as well 
 as could then be done, for burial by Colonel Seguin, then in 
 command at San Antonio. The bones were placed in a large 
 coffin, which, together with the gathered ashes, was intrrred 
 with military honors. The place of burial was a peach orchard, 
 then outside of the Alamo village and a few hundred yards 
 from the fort. When I was last there, in 1861, it was still a 
 large enclosed open lot, though surrounded by the suburb which 
 had there grown up ; but the rude landmarks which had once 
 pointed out the place of sepulture had long since disappeared. 
 Diligent search might then have found it, but it is now densely 
 built over, and its identity is irrecoverably lost. This is too 
 sad for comment. 
 
 A small but hnely executed monument, made from the stones 
 of the Alamo in 1841 by an artist named Nangle, was subse- 
 quently purchased by the State of Texas, and now stands in the 
 vestibule of the Capitol at Austin ; but neither at the Alamo 
 itself, nor at the forgotten grave of its defenders, does any 
 legend or device, like the stone of Thermopyloi, remind the 
 passer by of those who died in obedience to the call of their 
 adopted country. 
 
 * Colonel Sequin served gallantly as a ('ai)tain under General Houston at San Jacinto, and 
 siibsequently connnanded a regiment. H is zealous adherence to the cause of Texas throughoiil 
 the campaign of iSs'i. and for some yeais alter, is undoubted ; and his subsequent defection from 
 that cause may be palliated by the popular harshness, endangering life, to which he became sub- 
 ject, and which in a manner drove him to a step of which he evidently repented. I have no reason 
 to doubt the candor and correctness of anything which he related in matters whereon 1 have 
 cited his authority. He had no motive to misrejiresent anything which was not personal to 
 himself, nor did he seem to color unduly what was. A man may be a correct narrator in 
 spite of political errors. 
 
24 
 
 On tlie 2d of'Maich, 1836, the delegates of the people of Texas in general convention 
 at Washington on the Brazos declared their independence of Mexico. Their Declaration of 
 Independence may be read in the appendix to Kennedy's History of Texas, vol. ii., and 
 elsewhere. On the same day General Samuel Houston, the Texan commander-in-chief, 
 issued a proclamation announcing that war was waging on the frontier, and Bexar besieged 
 by 2,000 of the enemy, while the garrison was only 150 strong. " The citizens of Texas must 
 rally to the aid of our army, or it will perish. Independence is declared: it must be main- 
 tained, hnmediate action, united with valor, alone can achieve the great work." But the 
 immediate action was too late. Already Santa Anna and his forces were closing in around 
 the latcd little band in the Alamo at San Antonio ; and between midnight and dawn on the 
 morning of March 6 came the terrible assault described in the leaflet, from which not one of 
 the iSoTe.\ans escaped alive, although before the last man died 500 of their assailants had 
 fallen. No fiercer or more heroic tight was ever seen in America or in the world. The Texan 
 force was under the command of William Barrett Travis, whose last letter, to the president 
 of the convention at Washington, dated March 3, is given in Kennedy, vol. ii., p. 1S4. Its 
 last words were : " The bearer of this will give your honorable body a statement more in de- 
 tail, should he escape through the enemies' lines. God and 'J'c.iits ! Victory or Death!" 
 Extracts from Almonte's Journal, on the Mexican side, are also given in Kennedy. Cer- 
 tain details ol the massacre were supplied by Mrs. f>ickenson, the wife of one of the mas- 
 sacred men, who along with a negro servant was spared. 
 
 The account of the battle in Yoakum's History of 'I'c.vas should be consulted. In 
 the large new History of Texas by Wooten a speciil chapter on the ".Siege and Fall of 
 the Alamo " is contributed by Seth Shepard, and this is of great value. Judge Shepard pro- 
 nounces Captain Potter's account, printed in the present leatlet, " the most accurate account 
 that has yet appeared." Captain Potter was, at the time of the siege, a resident of Mata- 
 inoros. He knew many of the leading Mexican officers personally, and his critical investi- 
 gations were of such a nature that his paper has the value of an original document. It was 
 first printed in the Magazine of A inerkan History, January, 1S78, and is reprinted here by 
 the permission of the publishers, Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co. 
 
 On the capitol grounds at Austin, Tex., stands a monument to the heroes of the Alamo, 
 erected in iScji, with the inscription: " Thermopylce had her messenger of defeat: the 
 Alamo had none." 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 
 1X2 
 
ODID .*>outl) itcaflcti^ 
 
 No 
 
 The Discovery 
 
 of the 
 Columbia River. 
 
 EDWARD G. PORTER* 
 
 I. The First Voyage of the Columbia. 
 
 Few ships, if any, in our merchant marine, since the organi- 
 zation of the Repub ic, have acquired such distinction as the 
 " Columbia." 
 
 By two noteworthy achievements a hundred years ago she 
 attracted the attention of the commercial world, and rendered 
 a service to the Unit d States unparalleled in our history. 
 She was the first American vessel to carry the stars and stripes 
 around the globe ; and, by her discovery of " the great river 
 of the West," to which her name was given, she furnished us 
 with the title to our possession of that magnificent domain, 
 which to-day is represented by the flourishing young States of 
 Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 
 
 The famous ship was well known and much talked about at 
 the time; but her records have mostly disappeared, and there 
 is very little knowledge at present concerning her. 
 
 The committee for the centennial observance, at Astoria, of 
 the " Columbia's " exploit having applied to the writer for in- 
 formation upon the subject, in which they are naturally so 
 much interested, he gladly responds by giving an outline of 
 the facts, gathered mainly from private sources and illustrated 
 by original drawings made at the time on board the ship and 
 hitherto not known to the public. 
 
 * Tliis paper was first printed in the Nnv England Magazijie, June, 1892, the Oregon 
 centennial year, under the title of " The Ship ' Columbia ' and the Discovery of Oregon,' ' illus- 
 tialod by original drawings made at the time on board the ship. Many of the facts were 
 sjatliered by Mr. Porter from private sources, giving his account, the most careful and valuable 
 which exists, a high original value. — Editor. 
 
 "3 
 
The publication in 1784 of Captain Cook's journal of his 
 third voyage awakened a wide-spread interest in the possibility 
 of an important trade on the northwest coast. In Boston 
 there were a few gentlemen who took up the matter seriously, 
 and determined to embark in the enterprise on their own 
 account. The leading spirit among them was Joseph Barrell, 
 a merchant of distmction, whose financial ability, cultivated 
 tastes, and wide acquaintance with affairs gave him a position 
 of acknowledged influence in business and social circles. 
 
 Associated with him in close companionship was Charles 
 Bulfinch, a recent graduate of Harvard, who had just returned 
 from pursuing special studies in Europe. His father, Dr. 
 Thomas Bulfinch, lived on Bowdoin Square, and often enter- 
 tained at his house the friends who were inclined to favor the 
 new project. They read together Cook's report of an abun- 
 dant supply of valuable furs offered by the natives in exchange 
 for beads, knives, and other trifles. These sea-otter skins, 
 he said were sold by the Russians to the Chinese at from ^16 
 to ^20 each. " Here is a rich harvest," said Mr. Barrell, "to 
 be reaped by those who go in first." 
 
 Accordingly, in the year 1787, they made all the necessary 
 arrangements for fitting out an expedition. The other partners 
 were Samuel Brown, a prosperous merchant ; John Derby, a 
 shipmaster of Salem ; Captain Crowell Hatch, a resident of 
 Cambridge ; and John Marden Pintard, of the well-known New 
 York house of Lewis Pintard ^: Co. 
 
 These six gentlemen subscribed over $50,000, dividing the 
 stock into fourteen shares, and purchased the ship " Colum- 
 bia," or, as it was after this often called, the "Columbia Re- 
 diviva." She was built in 1773 by James Briggs at Hobart's 
 Landing, on the once busy little stream_Jjnown as North River, 
 the natural boundary between Scituate and Marshfield. One 
 who sees it to-day peacefully meandering through (juiet 
 meadows and around fertile slopes would hardly believe that 
 over a thousand sea-going vessels have been built upon its 
 banks. 
 
 The " Columbia " was a full-rigged ship, 8;^ feet long, and 
 measured 212 tons. She had two decks, a figure-head, and 
 a square stern, and was mounted with ten guns. A con- 
 sort was provided for her in the "Washington" or "Lady 
 Washington " as she was afterwards called, a sloop of 90 
 tons, designed especially to collect furs by cruising among the 
 114 
 
islands and inlets of the coast in the expected trade with the 
 Indians. These vessels seem ridiculously small to us of the 
 present day, but they were stanchly built and manned by skilful 
 navigators. 
 
 As master of the " Columbia," the owners selected Captain 
 John Kendrick, an experienced officer of about forty-five 
 years (jf age, who had done considerable privateering in the 
 Revolution, and had since been in charge of several vessels in 
 the merchant service. His home was at Wareham, where he 
 had built a substantial house and reared a family of six chil- 
 dren. The venerable homestead may still be seen, shaded by 
 trees which the captain planted. For the command of the 
 sloop a man was chosen who had been already in the service 
 of two of the owners, Messrs. Brown and Hatch, as master of 
 their ship " Pacific " in the South Carolina trade. This was 
 Captain Robert Gray, an able seaman, who had also been an 
 officer in the Revolutionary navy, and who was a personal 
 friend of Captain Kendrick. Gray was a native of Tiverton, 
 R.I., and a descendant of one of the early settlers at Plym- 
 outh. After his marriage, in 1794, his home was in Boston, 
 on Salem Street, where he had a family of five children. His 
 great-grandson, Mr. Clififord Gray Twombly, of Newton, has 
 inherited one of the silver cups inscribed with the initials 
 " R. G." which the captain carried with him around the world. 
 His sea-chest is also in good condition, and is now presented 
 by his grand-daughter, Miss Mary E, Bancroft, of Boston, to 
 the Oregon Pioneer and Historical Society for preservation 
 among its relics. 
 
 Sea Letters were issued by the federal and state govern- 
 ments for the use of the expedition, and a medal was struck to 
 commemorate its departure. Hundreds of these medals — in 
 bronze and pewter — ^were put on board for distribution among 
 the people whom the voyagers might meet, together with a 
 much larger number of the new cents and half-cents which the 
 State of Massachusetts had coined that year. Several of 
 these medals and coins have since been found on the track of 
 the vessels, among Indians, Spaniards, and Hawaiians. A few 
 in silver and bronze are preserved in the families of some of 
 the owners. 
 
 Neither pains nor expense were spared to give these vessels 
 a complete outfit. The cargo consisted chiefly of the necessary 
 stores and a good supply of hardware — useful tools and uten- 
 
 "5 
 
sils — to be exchanged for furs on the coast. There were also 
 numerous trinkets to please the fancy of the natives, such as 
 buttons, toys, beads, and necklaces, Jew's-harps, combs, ear- 
 rings, looking-glas>es, snuff, and snuffboxes. 
 
 The writer has full lists of the officers and crew. Kendrick's 
 first mate was Simeon Woodruff, who had been one of Cook's 
 officers in his last voyage to the Pacific. The second mate 
 was Joseph Ingraham, who was destined, later on, to be a con- 
 spicuous figure in the trade which he helped to inaugurate. 
 The third officer was Robert Haswell, the son of a lieutenant 
 in the British navy, who for some years had lived at Nantasket 
 (now Hull). 
 
 Haswell was an accomplished young officer and kept a care- 
 ful record of the expedition, from which much of our most 
 accurate information is derived. He was also a clever artist 
 and made some of the sketches of the vessels, which are here 
 reproduced for the first time. Next to him was John B. Cordis, 
 of Charlestown. Richard S. Howe was the clerk ; Dr. Roberts, 
 the surgeon ; and J. Nutting, the astronomer — or schoolmaster, 
 as he was sometimes called. Mr. Treat shipped as furrier, and 
 Davis Coolidge as first mate on the sloop. 
 
 On the 30th of September, 1787, the two vessels started on 
 their long voyage. Many friends accompanied them down the 
 harbor, and bade them farewell. 
 
 The owners had given each commander minute instructions 
 as to the route and the manner of conducting their business. 
 They were to avoid the Spaniards, if possible, and always treat 
 the Indians with respect, giving them a fair compensation in 
 trade. The skins, when collected, were to be taken to Canton 
 and exchanged for teas, which were to form the bulk of the 
 cargo back to Boston. 
 
 They had a good run to the Cape Verde Islands, where they 
 remained nearly two months for some unexplained cause. The 
 delay occasioned much discontent among the officers, and 
 Woodruff and Roberts left the ship. At the Falkland Islands 
 there was no wood to be had, but plenty of geese and ducks, 
 snipe and plover. They lingered here too long, and Kendrick 
 was inclined to wait for another season before attempting the 
 passage around Cape Horn, but he was induced to proceed ; 
 and on th'e 28th of February, 1788, they resumed their voyage, 
 Haswell having been transferred to the sloop as second mate. 
 They soon ran into heavy seas ; and for nearly a month they 
 n6 
 
5 
 
 encountered severe westerly gales, during which the " Colum- 
 bia " was thrown upon her beam ends, and the little " Washing- 
 ton " was so completely swept by the waves that all the beds 
 and clothing on board were completely drenched, with no op- 
 portunity to dry them. 
 
 Early on the morning of April i the vessels lost sight of 
 each other in latitude 57^ 57' south and longitude 92° 40' west. 
 It was intensely cold, and a hurricane was raging. The crews 
 were utterly exhausted, and hardly a man was able to go 
 aloft. 
 
 At last, on the 14th, the skies brightened, and they had their 
 first welcome to the Pacific ; but they could no longer see any- 
 thing of each other, and so each vessel proceeded indepen- 
 dently the rest of the way. The sloop lay to off the island of 
 Masafuero, but the surf was so heavy that they could not land. 
 At Ambrose Island they sent a boat ashore, and found plenty 
 of fish and seals, but no fresh water, so they were obliged to 
 put themselves on a short allowance. Almost every day they 
 saw dolphins, whales, sea-lions, and grampuses. In June they 
 caught the northeast trade-wind ; and on the 2d of August, to 
 their inexpressible joy, they saw the coast of New Albion in 
 latitude 41°, near Cape Mendocino. A canoe came off with 
 ten natives, making signs of friendship. They were mostly 
 clad in deerskins. Captain Gray gave them some presents. 
 
 And now for a time our mariners enjoyed a little, well-earned 
 rest, and feasted their eyes upon the green hills and forests as 
 they cruised leisurely along the coast. The large Indian pop- 
 ulation was revealed by the camp-fires at night and by the 
 columns of smoke by day. Many of them came paddling after 
 the sloop, waving skins and showing the greatest eagerness to 
 get aboard. Others were evidently frightened, and fled to the 
 woods. 
 
 In latitude 44° 20' they found a harbor which they took to 
 be " the entrance of a very large river, where great commer- 
 cial advantages might be reaped." This was probably the Al- 
 seya River in Oregon, which is not as large as they thought. 
 The natives here were warlike, and shook long spears at them, 
 with hideous shouts and an air of defiance. Near Cape Look- 
 out they '' made a tolerably commodious harbor," and anchored 
 half a mile off. Canoes brought out to them delicious berries 
 and crabs, ready-boiled, which the poor seamen gladly bought 
 for buttons, as they were already suffering from scurvy. 
 
 117 
 
The next day seven of these men were sent ashore in the 
 boat with Coolidge and Haswell to get some grass and shrubs 
 for their stock. The captain's boy, Marcos, a black fellow 
 who had shipped at St. lago, accompanied them ; and, while 
 he was carrying grass down to the boat, a native seized his cut- 
 lass, which he had carelessly stuck in the sand, and ran off with 
 it toward the village. Marcos gave chase, shouting at the top of 
 his voice. The officers at once saw the peril, and hastened to 
 his assistance. But it was too late. Marcos had the thief by 
 tlie neck ; but the savages crowded around, and soon drenched 
 their knives in the blood of the unfortunate youth. He re- 
 laxed his hold, stumbled, rose again, and staggered toward his 
 friends, but received a flight of arrows in his back, and fell in 
 mortal agony. The officers were now assailed on all sides, 
 and made for the boat as fast as possible, shooting the most 
 daring of the ringleaders with their pistols, and ordering the 
 men in the boat to fire and cover their retreat. One of the 
 sailors who stood near by to help them was totally disabled by 
 a barbed arrow, which caused great loss of blood. They man- 
 aged, however, to get into the boat and push off, followed by 
 a swarm of canoes. A brisk fire was kept up till they neared 
 the sloop, which discharged several swivel shot, and soon scat- 
 tered the enemy. It was a narrow escape. Captain Gray had 
 but three men left aboard ; and, if the natives had captured 
 the boat's crew, as they came so near doing, they could easily 
 have made a prize of the sloop. Murderers' Harbor was the 
 appropriate name given to the place. Haswell thought it must 
 be " the entrance of the river of the West," though it was by 
 no means, he said, " a safe place for any but a very small 
 vessel to enter." This was probably near Tillamook Bay. 
 Some of the maps of that time had vague-suggestions of a sup- 
 posed great river, whose mouth they placed almost anywhere 
 between the Straits of Fuca and California, When Gray was 
 actually near the river which he afterward discovered, he had 
 so good a breeze that he "passed a considerable length of 
 coast" without standing in: otherwise the Centennial of Ore- 
 gon might have been celebrated in i8S8 instead of 1S92. How 
 slight a cause may affect the whole history of a nation ! 
 
 Farther north they saw " exceeding high mountains, covered 
 with snow" (August 21), evidently Mount Olympus. A few 
 days later the painstaking mate writes, " I am of opinion that 
 the Straits of Juan de Fuca exist, though Captain Cook posi- 
 iiS 
 
lively asserts it does not." Passing up the west shore of the 
 island now bearing Vancouver's name, they found a good, shel- 
 tered anchorage, which they named Hancock's Harbor for the 
 governor under whose patronage they had sailed. This was in 
 Clayoquot Sound, where, on their next voyage, they spent a 
 winter. 
 
 At last, on the i6th of August, 1788, the sloop reached its 
 destined haven in Nootka Sound. Two English snows from 
 Macao, under Portuguese colors, were lying there, — the 
 " Felice " and the " Iphigenia," — commanded by Captains 
 Meares and Douglas, who came out in a boat and offered their 
 assistance to the little stranger. The acquaintance proved to 
 be friendly, although there were evidences later on of a dis- 
 guised jealousy between them. 
 
 Three days later the English launched a small schooner 
 which they named " Northwest America," the first vessel ever 
 built on the coast. It was a gala-day, fittingly celebrated by 
 salutes and festivities, in which the Americans cordially joined. 
 The "Washington " was now hauled up on the ways for grav- 
 ing, and preparations began to be made for collecting furs. 
 
 One day, just a week after their arrival, they saw a sail in 
 the ofting, which, by their glasses, they soon recognized as the 
 long-lost " Columbia." Great was their eagerness to know 
 what had befallen her. As she drew nearer, it became evident 
 that her crew were suffering from scurvy, for her topsails were 
 reefed and her topgallant masts were down on deck, although 
 it was pleasant weather. Captain Gray immediately took the 
 long boat and went out to meet her, and shortly before sunset 
 she anchored within forty yards of the sloop. She had lost 
 two men by scurvy, and many of the crew were in an advanced 
 stage of that dreaded disease. After parting off Cape Horn, 
 they encountered terrific gales, and suffered so much damage 
 that they had to put in at Juan Fernandez for help. They were 
 politely received by the governor, Don Bias Gonzales, who 
 supplied them with everything they needed. The kind gov- 
 ernor had to pay dearly for this ; for, when his superior, the 
 captain-general of Chile, heard of it, poor Gonzales was de- 
 graded from office ; and the viceroy of Peru sanctioned the 
 penalty. Jefferson afterward interceded for him at Madrid, but 
 he was never reinstated. Who would have believed that a ser- 
 vice of simple humanity to a vessel in distress would cause 
 such a hubbub ? By her cruel censure of an act of mercy 
 
 119 
 
toward the first American ship that ever visited her Pacific 
 dominions, Spain seems to have been seized with a kind of 
 prophetic terror, as if anticipating the day when she would 
 have to surrender to the stars and stripes a large share of her 
 snpremacy in the West. 
 
 After tarrying at Juan Fernandez seventeen days, the " Co- 
 lumbia " continued her voyage without further incident to 
 Nootka. Captain Kendrick now resumed the command of the 
 expedition. In a few days occurred the anniversary of their 
 departure from Boston, and they all observed it heartily. The 
 officers of all the vessels were invited to dine on board the 
 "Columbia"; and the evening was spent in festive cheer, — a 
 welcome change to those homesick exiles on that dreary shore. 
 
 It was decided to spend the winter in Friendly Cove, Nootka 
 Sound ; and a house was built large enough for the entire crew. 
 They shot an abundance of game, prepared charcoal for their 
 smiths, and worked their iron into chisels which were in good 
 demand among the natives. To their surprise one morning 
 they found that the Indians had landed and carried off fifteen 
 water-casks and five small cannon which Captain Douglas 
 had given them. This was a heavy loss ; and, as the mis- 
 creants could not be found, the coopers had to go to work and 
 make a new set of casks. 
 
 In March, 1789, the "Washington " was painted and sent on 
 a short cruise, while the " Columbia " was removed a few miles 
 up the Sound to a place which they named Kendrick's Cove, 
 where a house was built with a forge and battery. In May the 
 sloop started out again for furs, and met the Spanish corvette 
 " Princesa," whose commander, Martinez, showed great kind- 
 ness to Gray, giving him supplies of brandy, wine, hams, and 
 sugar ; but he said he should make a pfiztj of Douglas if he 
 found him. 
 
 At one place a large fleet of canoes came off in great pa- 
 rade, and offered their sea-otter skins for one chisel each. 
 Our men readily bought the lot, — two hundred in number, — 
 ■worth from six to eight thousand dollars. This was the best 
 bargain they ever made, as they could seldom get a good skin 
 for less than six or ten chisels. An average price was one 
 skin for a blanket ; four, for a pistol ; and six, for a musket. 
 Gray then stood southward and went into Hope Bay, and 
 later into a place called by the natives Chickleset, where there 
 was every appearance of a good harbor. He then visited the 
 
islands of the north, and gave names to Cape Ingraham, 
 Pintard Sound, Hatch's Island, Derby Sound, Barrell's Inlet, 
 and Washington's Islands (now known as Queen Charlotte's), 
 whose mountain tops were covered with snow, even in sum- 
 mer. It is a pity that most of the names given by our ex- 
 plorers in that region have been changed, so that it is not easy 
 to identify all the places mentioned by them. 
 
 Returning to Nootka, they found the Spaniards claiming 
 sovereignty over all that region, detaining the English vessels 
 and sending the "Argonaut" with her officers and crew as 
 prisoners to San Bias. The schooner " Northwest America," 
 which Meares had built, was seized and sent on a cruise under 
 command of Coolidge, and her crew and stores were put on 
 the " Columbia " to be taken to China. Serious complications 
 between England and Spain grew out of these high-handed 
 proceedings, resulting in the "Nootka Convention," as it was 
 called, — the famous treaty of October, 1790, by which war 
 was averted and a new basis of agreement established between 
 the two powers. 
 
 Another important change now took place. Captain Ken- 
 drick concluded to put the ship's property on board the sloop, 
 and go on a cruise in her himself, with a crew of twenty men, 
 while Gray should take the " Columbia," reinforced by the 
 crew of the prize schooner, to the Sandwich Islands, and get 
 provisions for the voyage to China, and there dispose of the 
 skins. Ingraham and Haswell decided to go with Gray, 
 while Cordis remained with Kendrick. And so the two ves- 
 sels parted company. 
 
 The "Columbia" left Clayoquot July 30, 1789, and spent 
 three weeks at the Hawaiian Islands, laying in a store of fruits, 
 yams, potatoes, and hogs. They were kindly received there ; 
 and a young chief, Attoo (sometimes called the crown prince), 
 was consigned to Captain Gray's care for the journey to 
 Boston, under the promise that he should have an early op- 
 portunity to return. They had a good run to China, and 
 reached Whampoa Roads on the i6th of November. Their 
 agents at Canton were the newly established Boston firm of 
 Shaw &: Randall, who also attended to consular duties. It 
 was an unfavorable season for trade, and their thousand sea- 
 otter skins had to be sold at a sacrifice. The ship was re- 
 paired at great expense and made ready for a cargo of teas. 
 
 The following bill of lading should have a place here : — 
 
lO 
 
 Shipped by the Grace of God, in good order and condition, by Shaw 
 and Randall, in and upon the good Ship called the " Columbia," whereof is 
 Master under God for this present Voyage Robert Gray, and now Riding at 
 Anchor at Wampoa, and by God's Grace bound for Boston in America — 
 
 to say, 220 chests bohea Tea, 170 Half chests do, 144 quarter chests do 
 
 to be delivered unto Samuel Parkman Esquire, or to his as- 
 signs and so God send the good Ship to her desired Port in Safety 
 
 — Amen. Dated in Canton Feb. 3, 1790. 
 
 (signed) Robert Gray. 
 
 Kendrick reached Macao January 26, with his sails and rig- 
 ging nearly gone ; and, being advised not to go up to Canton, 
 he went over to " Dirty Butter Bay," — a lonely anchorage near 
 the " outer waters," — and there waited for an opportunity to dis- 
 pose of his five hundred skins, and perhaps also to sell the 
 sloop. 
 
 The "Columbia" passed down the river, February 12, on 
 her homeward voyage ; but a gale of wind prevented her seeing 
 her old consort. 
 
 Between Canton and Boston the "Columbia" took the usual 
 route by the Cape of Good Hope, calling only at St. Helena 
 and Ascension Islands. She reached her destination on the 
 loth of August, 1790, having sailed, by her log, about 50,000 
 miles. Her arrival was greeted with salvos of artillery and re- 
 peated cheers from a great concourse of citizens. Governor 
 Hancock gave an entertainment in honor of the officers and 
 owners. A procession was formed ; and Captain Gray walked 
 arm in arm with the Hawaiian chief, the first of his race ever 
 seen in Boston. He was a fine-looking youth, and wore a hel- 
 met of gay feathers, which glittered in the sunlight, and an ex- 
 quisite cloak of the same yellow and scarlet plumage. The 
 governor entertained the company with fitting hospitality, and 
 many were the congratulations extended mi all sides to the men 
 who had planned and to those who had executed this memo- 
 rable voyage. 
 
 It must be said that, financially, the enterprise was not of 
 much profit to the owners, two of whom sold out their interest 
 to the others ; but, nevertheless, it was an achievement to be 
 proud of, and it prepared the way for a very large and remun- 
 erative trade in subsequent years. Indeed, so hopeful were the 
 remaining owners regarding it that they immediately projected 
 a second voyage. 
 
1 1 
 
 II. The Second Voyage. 
 
 No sooner had the " Columbia " discharged her cargo than 
 she was taken to a shipyard and thoroughly overhauled, and 
 furnished with new masts and spars and a complete outfit as ex- 
 peditiously as possible. 
 
 An important sea-letter was granted by the President and 
 another by Governor Hancock, and still others by the foreign 
 consuls resident in Boston. The owners prepared specific 
 instructions for Captain Gray, directing him to proceed with 
 all despatch, to take no unjust advantage of the natives, to 
 build a sloop on the coast during the winter, to visit "Japan 
 and Pekin,'" if possible, for the sale of his furs. He was not 
 to touch at any Spanish port nor trade with any of the subjects 
 of his Catholic majesty "for a single farthing." He was 
 charged to offer no insult to foreigners, nor to receive any 
 "without showing the becoming spirit of a free, independent 
 American." And he was to be as a father to his crew. He 
 was not to stop till he reached the Falkland Islands, and then 
 only for a short time. 
 
 The officers under Captain Gray were assigned in the fol- 
 lowing order : Robert Haswell, of whom we have heard much 
 already; Joshua Caswell, of Maiden; Owen Smith; Abraham 
 Waters, who had served as seaman on the previous voyage ; 
 and John Boit. The clerk was John Hoskins who had been 
 in the counting-house of Joseph Barrell, and who afterward 
 became a partner of his son. George Davidson, of Charles- 
 town, shipped as painter ; and that he was an artist as well is 
 evident from the interesting drawings which he made on the 
 voyage, and which, through the kindness of his descendants 
 and those of Captain Gray, are given with this narrative, 
 though of necessity somewhat reduced in size. The Hawaiian, 
 Jack Attoo, went back as cabin-boy. The sturdy carpenter of 
 the ship was Samuel Yendell, of the old North End of Boston. 
 He had served in the frigate "Tartar" when a mere boy, and 
 he helped to build the famous " Constitution." He lived to 
 be the last survivor of the " Columbia's " crew, dying at the 
 ripe age of ninety-two years in 1861. He was always known 
 as an upright, temperate, and industrious man. The present 
 governor of Massachusetts, William Eustis Russell, is his 
 great-grandson, and evidently inherits the faculty of building 
 the ship — of State. 
 
 123 
 
12 
 
 The " Columbia " left Boston on the 28th of September, 
 1790, calling only at the Falkland Islands, and arrived at 
 Clayoquot June 4, 1791, — a quicker passage by nearly four 
 months than the previous one. Obedient to his instructions, 
 the captain soon went on a cruise up the coast, passing along 
 the east side of Washington's Islands (Queen Charlotte's) and 
 exploring the numerous channels and harbors of that pictur- 
 esque but lonely region. 
 
 On the 12 th of August he had the great misfortune to lose 
 three of his men — Caswell, Barnes, and Folger — who were 
 cruelly massacred by the savages at a short distance from the 
 ship in the jolly-boat. He succeeded in recovering the boat 
 and the body of Caswell, which he took over to Port Tempest 
 and buried with fitting solemnity. It was a sad day for the 
 " Columbia's " crew. They named the spot Massacre Cove, 
 and the headland near by Murderers' Cape. 
 
 Another instance of the treacherous character of the natives 
 occurred while Captain Kendrick was trading with the " Wash- 
 ington " in this same region. Knowing their pilfering habits, 
 he took care to keep all portable articles out of sight when 
 they were around ; and he had a rule that more than two of 
 them should never be allowed on board at once. He kept a 
 large chest of arms on deck, near the companion-way, and 
 wore a brace of pistols and a long knife conspicuously in his 
 belt ; and then he would fire a gun to let the Indians know 
 that he was ready to trade. On this occasion they did not 
 seem disposed to come any nearer; and so he went into the 
 cabin, to talk with his clerk. While there, he suddenly heard 
 a native laugh on deck. He sprang up, and found a whole 
 row of them crouching all around the sides of the vessel. 
 Turning to the arms-chest, he saw the-^tey was gone, and at 
 once demanded it of the nearest Indian, who said in reply, 
 " The key is mine, and the ship is mine, too ! " Kendrick, 
 without further ceremony, seized the fellow and pitched him 
 overboard. A moment more, and the whole set had disap- 
 peared. They all jumped into the water without waiting for 
 the captain's assistance. 
 
 It was near this shore, also, while cruising in the " Washing- 
 ton," that Kendrick's son Solomon was killed by the natives. 
 The father demanded redress of the chief, who denied all 
 knowledge of the deed. Meanwhile Kendrick's men found 
 the son's scalp with its curly sandy hair, and there was no 
 124 
 
13 
 
 mistake abou'- its identity. The chief relented, and gave up 
 the murderer to Kendrick, who, in his indignation, was 
 prompted to shoot him on the spot. But pausing a moment, 
 the captain wisely concluded that the future safety of white 
 men would be better promoted by a different course. He, 
 therefore, handed over the culprit to be punished by the 
 chief in the presence of a large assembly of his tribe. There 
 was a well-known song, commemorating this event, quite popu- 
 lar with sailors. It was afterward printed, and bore the title 
 "The Bold Nor'westman." It gave very pathetically the story 
 of the murder and of the father's grief. The first lines were, — 
 
 " Come, all ye noble seamen, 
 Who plough the raging main." 
 
 After the burial of Caswell the " Columbia " sailed around 
 to the north side of Washington's Islands, and found a fine 
 navigable stream, which they called Hancock's River. The 
 native name was Masset, which it still bears. Here they were 
 glad to meet the Boston brig " Hancock," Captain Crowell, 
 with later news from home. 
 
 Returning to Clayoquot, they found Kendrick in the harbor, 
 and gave him three cheers. He told them that after the tedious 
 sale of his skins at Macao he began to make the sloop into a 
 brig. This took so much time that he lost the season on the 
 coast, and stayed at Lark's Bay till the spring of '91, when he 
 sailed in company with Douglas and touched at Japan, and was 
 the first man to unfurl the American flag in that land. He 
 sought to open a trade, but was ordered off, as might have 
 been expected, had he known the rigidly exclusive policy of the 
 Japan of that time. Kendrick had called at Nootka, where, he 
 said, the Spaniards treated him kindly, and sent him daily sup- 
 plies of " greens and salads." He had come down to Clayoquot 
 to haul up the "Lady Washington," now a brigantine, to grave 
 at a place which he had fortified and named Fort Washington. 
 
 During this sojourn, Kendrick purchased of the principal 
 chiefs several large tracts of land, for which he paid mostly in 
 arms and ammunition. The lands were taken possession of 
 with much ceremony, the United States flag hoisted, and a 
 bottle sunk in the ground. Kendrick sailed for China, Sep- 
 tember 29, taking with him the deeds, which were duly regis- 
 tered, it was said, at the consulate in Canton. Duplicate 
 copies were prepared, one of which was sent to Jefferson and 
 
 125 
 
14 
 
 filed in the State Department at Washington. The originals 
 were signed by the chiefs (as documents are signed by people 
 who can only make their " mark "), and witnessed by several 
 of the officers and crew of the vessel. These deeds ran some- 
 what as follows : — 
 
 In consideration of six muskets, a boat's sail, a quantity of powder, 
 and an American flag (they being articles which we at present stand in need 
 of, and are of great value) we do bargain, grant, and sell unto John Ken- 
 drick of Boston, a certain harborinsaid Ahasset, in which the brig " Wash- 
 ington" lay at anchor on the 5th of August, 1791, Latitude 49° 50' . . . 
 with all the lands, mines, minerals, rivers, bays, harbors, sounds, creeks, 
 and all islands . . . with all the produce of land and sea being a territorial 
 distance of eighteen miles square ... to have and to hold, etc. 
 
 The names of some of the signing chiefs were Maquinna, 
 Wicananish, Narry Yonk, and Tarrasone. 
 
 It was Captain Gray's intention to go into winter quarters at 
 Naspatee, in Bulfinch Sound, and he hastened that way ; but, 
 bejng thwarted by contrary winds, they put in at Clayoquot, 
 and, finding excellent timber for the construction of the pro- 
 posed sloop, he decided to remain there. The ship was made 
 as snug as possible in a well-sheltered harbor, which they 
 called Adventure Cove. The sails were unbent, the topgallant, 
 topmasts, and yards were unrigged and stowed below. A space 
 was cleared on shore, and a log-house built, the crew all work- 
 ing with a will. One party went out cutting plank, another 
 to shoot deer and geese. The carpenters soon put up a very 
 substantial building to accommodate a force of ten men, con- 
 taining a chimney, forge, workshop, storeroom, and sleeping- 
 bunks. It served, also, the purpose of a fort, having two 
 cannon mounted outside and one inside through a porthole. 
 All around there were loopholes for small arms. 
 
 This they called Fort Defence, and here they lived like 
 civilized and Christian men. The log reports : " On Sunday 
 all hands at rest from their labors. Performed divine ser- 
 vice." 
 
 The keel of the sloop was soon laid, and the work went 
 bravely forward. The sketch of this scene shows Captain 
 Gray conferring with Mr. Yendell about the plan of the 
 sloop. 
 
 The days grew short and cold, the sun being much obscured 
 by the tall forest trees all around them. Some of the men 
 were taken ill with colds and rheumatic pains, and had to be 
 126 
 
15 
 
 removed aboard ship. The natives of the adjoining tribe be- 
 came quite familiar. The chiefs and their wives visited the 
 fort and the ship almost every day, coming across the bay in 
 their canoes. The common Indians were not allowed to land, 
 a sentinel being always on guard, night and day. Captain 
 Gray was disposed to be very kind to the natives. He often 
 visited their villages, carrying drugs, rice, bread, and mo- 
 lasses for their sick people. Going one day with his clerk, 
 Hoskins, they persuaded a woman to have her face washed, 
 when it appeared that she had quite a fair complexion of red 
 and white, and " one of the most delightful countenances," 
 says Hoskins, " that my eyes ever beheld. She was indeed a 
 perfect beauty!" She got into her canoe, and soon after re- 
 turned with her face as dirty as ever. She had been laughed 
 at by her companions for having it washed. It was a common 
 practice among some of the tribes for both sexes to slit the 
 under lip and wear in it a plug of bone or wood, fitted with 
 holes from which they hung beads. 
 
 On the 1 8th of February, several chiefs came over as usual, 
 among them Tototeescosettle. Alas for poor human nature ! 
 he was detected stealing the boatswain's jacket. Soon after 
 he had gone, Attoo, the Hawaiian lad, informed the captain 
 of a deep-laid plot to capture the ship. The natives, he said, 
 had promised to make him a great chief if he would wet the 
 ship's fire-arms and give them a lot of musket-balls. The) 
 were planning to come through the woods and board the ship 
 from the high bank near by, and kill every man on board ex- 
 cept Attoo. Gray's excitement can be easily imagined. All 
 his heavy guns were on shore ; but he ordered the swivels 
 loaded at once, and the ship to be removed away from the 
 bank. Haswell put the fort in a good state of defence, re- 
 loaded all the cannon, and had the small arms put in order. 
 The ship's people were ordered aboard. At dead of night the 
 war-whoop was heard in the forest. The savages had stealthily 
 assembled by hundreds ; but, finding their plan frustrated, they 
 reluctantly went away. On the 23d of February the sloop 
 was launched, and taken alongside the " Columbia." She was 
 named the " Adventure," and reckoned at 44 tons. Upon 
 receiving her cargo and stores, she was sent northward on a 
 cruise under Haswell. She was the second vessel ever built 
 on the coast, and proved to be a good seaboat^ and could even 
 outsail the " Columbia." 
 
 127 
 
i6 
 
 Gray soon after took his ship on a cruise which was destined 
 to be the most important of all, — one that will be remembered 
 as long as the United States exist. On the 29th of April, 1792, 
 he fell in with Vancouver, who had been sent out from England 
 with three vessels of the Royal Navy as commissioner to execute 
 the provisions of the Nootka Treaty, and to explore the coast. 
 Vancouver said he had made no discoveries as yet, and in- 
 quired if Gray had made any. The Yankee captain replied 
 that he had; that in latitude 46° 10' he had recently been off 
 the mouth of a river which for nine days he tried to enter, but 
 the outset was so strong as to prevent. He was going to try it 
 again, however. Vancouver said this must have been the open- 
 ing passed by him two days before, which he thought might be 
 "a small river," inaccessible on account of the breakers extend- 
 ing across it, the land behind not indicating it to be of any 
 great extent. " Not considering this opening worthy of more 
 attention," wrote Vancouver in his journal, "I continued our 
 pursuit to the northwest." What a turn in the tide of 
 events was that ! Had the British navigator really seen the 
 river, it would certainly have had another name and another 
 history. 
 
 Gray continued his "pursuit" to the southeast, whither the 
 star of his destiny was directing him. On the 7th of May he 
 saw an entrance in latitude 46° 58' "which had a very good 
 appearance of a harbor " ; and, observing from the masthead a 
 passage between the sand bars, he bore away and ran in. This 
 he called Bulfinch Harbor, though it was very soon after called, 
 as a deserved compliment to him, Gray's Harbor, — the name 
 which it still bears. Here he was attacked by the natives, and 
 obliged in self-defence to fire upon them with serious results. 
 Davidson's drawing gives a weird view of the scene. 
 
 On the evening of May 10 Gray resumed his course to the 
 south; and at daybreak, on the nth, he saw "the entrance of 
 his desired port " a long way off. As he drew near about eight 
 o'clock, he bore away with all sails set, and ran in between the 
 breakers. Td his great delight he found himself in a large river 
 of fresh water, up which he steered ten miles. There were 
 Indian villages at intervals along the banks, and many canoes 
 came out to inspect the strange visitor. 
 
 The ship came to anchor at one o'clock in ten fathoms of 
 water, half a mile from the northern shore and two miles and 
 a half from the southern, the river being three or four miles 
 1 28 
 
17 
 
 wide all the way along. Here they remained three days busily 
 trading and taking in water. 
 
 On the 14th he stood up the river some fifteen miles farther, 
 "and doubted not it was navigable upwards of a hundred." 
 He found the channel on that side, however, so very narrow 
 and crooked that the ship grounded on the sandy bottom; but 
 they backed off without difficulty. The jolly-boat was sent out 
 to sound the channel, but, finding it still shallow, Gray decided 
 to return ; and on the 15th he dropped down with the tide, go- 
 ing ashore with his clerk "to take a short view of the country." 
 
 On the 1 6th he anchored off the village of Chenook, 
 whose population turned out in great numbers. The next 
 day the ship was painted, and all hands were busily at work. 
 On the 19th they landed near the mouth of the river, and for- 
 mally named it, after the ship, the Columbia, raising the 
 American flag and planting coins under a large pine-tree, thus 
 taking possession in the name of the United States. The con- 
 spicuous headland was named Cape Hancock, and the low 
 sandspit opposite, Point Adams. 
 
 The writer is well aware that the word " discovery " may be 
 taken in different senses. When it is claimed that Captain 
 Gray discovered this river, the meaning is that he was the first 
 white man to cross its bar and sail up its broad expanse, and 
 give it a name. Undoubtedly, Carver — to whom the word 
 "Oregon" is traced — may have heard of the river in 1767 
 from the Indians in the Rocky Mountains; and Heceta, in 
 1775, '^'^^ near enough to its mouth to believe in its existence; 
 and Meares, in 1788, named Cape Disappointment and Decep- 
 tion Bay. But none of these can be properly said to have 
 discovered the river. Certainly, Meares, whose claim England 
 maintained so long, showed by the very names he gave to the 
 cape and the " bay " that he was, after all, deceived about it ; 
 and he gives no suggestion of the river on his map. D'Aguilar 
 was credited with finding a great river as far back as 1603; 
 but, according to his latitude, it was not this river ; and, even 
 if it was, there is no evidence that he entered it. 
 
 The honor of discovery must practically rest with Gray. His 
 was the first ship to cleave its waters ; his, the first chart ever 
 made of its shores ; his, the first landing ever effected there by 
 a civilized man ; and the name he gave it has been universally 
 accepted. The flag which he there threw to the breeze was the 
 first ensign of any nation that ever waved over those unexplored 
 
 129 
 
banks. And the ceremony of occupation, under such circum- 
 stances, was something more than a holiday pastime. It was 
 a serious act, performed in sober earnest, and reported to the 
 world as soon as possible. 
 
 And when we remember that as a result of this came the 
 Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-5, and the settlement 
 at Astoria in 181 1, — to say nothing of our diplomatic acquisi- 
 tion of the old Spanish rights, — then we may safely say that the 
 title of the United States to the Columbia River and its tribu- 
 taries becomes incontestable. Such was the outcome of the 
 "Oregon Question" in 1846. 
 
 On leaving the river, May 20, the '' Columbia " sailed up to 
 Naspatee, where she was obliged to use her guns to check a 
 hostile demonstration of the savages. And soon after, in going 
 up Pintard's Sound, she was again formidably attacked by war 
 canoes, and obliged to open fire upon them with serious re- 
 sults. 
 
 In a cruise soon after, the ship struck on a rock and was so 
 badly injured that she returned to Naspatee and underwent 
 some repairs and then sailed for Nootka, and on July 23 re- 
 ported her condition to the governor, Don Quadra, who gener- 
 ously offered every assistance, allowed them his storehouses 
 for their cargo, gave up the second-best house in the settlement 
 for the use of Captain Gray and his clerk, and insisted upon 
 having their company at his own sumptuous table at every 
 meal. Such politeness was, of course, very agreeable to the 
 weary voyagers, and was held in such grateful remembrance in 
 subsequent years that Captain Gray named his first-born child, 
 Robert Don Quadra Gray, for the governor as well as himself. 
 It was during this visit that Gray and Ingraham wrote their 
 joint letter to the governor, which was— often quoted in the 
 course of the Anglo-Spanish nego iations. In September 
 Gray sold the little sloop " Adventure " to Quadra for seventy- 
 five sea-otter skins of the best quality, and transferred her offi- 
 cers and crew to the " Columbia." 
 
 As he sailed away, he saluted the Spanish flag with thirteen 
 guns, and shaped his course for China. As the season was 
 late and the winds unfavorable, he abandoned the project of 
 visiting Japan, which the owners had recommended. Great 
 was the joy of the crew when they found themselves homeward 
 bound. They had an easy run to the Sandwich Islands, where 
 they took in a supply of provisions and fruit, sailing again No- 
 
 130 
 
19 
 
 vember 3, and reaching Macao Roads December 7, in a some- 
 what leaky condition. The skins were sent up to Canton, and 
 the ship was repaired near Whampoa, and duly freighted \yith 
 tea, sugar, chinaware, and curios. 
 
 On the 3d of February the " Columbia " set sail for Boston. 
 While at anchor, near Bocca Tigris, her cable was cut by the 
 Chinese, and she drifted slowly ashore, almost unobserved by 
 the officer of the watch. This proved to be the last of her 
 tribulations, as it was also one of the least. In the Straits of 
 Sunda they met a British fleet escorting Lord Macartney, the 
 ambassador, to Pekin, for whom Captain Gray took despatches 
 as far as St. Helena. 
 
 At last, after all her wanderings, the good ship reached Bos- 
 ton, July 29, 1793, and received another hearty welcome. Al- 
 though the expectations of the owners were not realized, one 
 of them wrote "she has made a saving voyage and some 
 prrfit." But in the popular mind the discovery of the great 
 river was sufficient " profit " for any vessel ; and this alone will 
 immortalize the owners as well as the ship and her captain, far 
 more, indeed, than furs or teas or gold could have done. 
 
 It remains only to add that in a few years the ship was worn 
 out and taken to pieces, and soon her chief officers all passed 
 away. Kendrick never returned to America. After opening a 
 trade in sandalwood, he was accidentally killed at the Hawaiian 
 Islands, and the " Lady Washington " was soon after lost in the 
 Straits of Malacca. His Nootka lands never brought anything 
 to the captain or his descendants or to the owners of the ship. 
 In fact, the title was never confirmed. Gray commanded sev- 
 eral vessels after this, but died in 1S06 at Charleston, S.C. 
 Ingraham became an officer in our navy, but went down with 
 the ill-fated brig " Pickering " in 1800. The same year David- 
 son was lost on the "Rover" in the Pacific. Haswell sailed 
 for the last time in 180 1, and was also lost on the return voyage. 
 
 Their names, how^ever, will always be associated with the 
 ship they served so well; and, as long as the broad "river of 
 the West" flows on in its course, so long will the "Columbia" 
 be gratefully remembered by the people of America. This 
 [1892] is the year of Oregon's first Centennial, and the enthu- 
 siasm it has awakened clearly shows that the highest honor on 
 that coast will hereafter be given to the heroic discoverers who 
 prepared the way for the pioneers and settlers, and thus added 
 a fine group of States to our federal Union. 
 
 13? 
 
20 
 
 Extract from the second Voluvte of the Log-book of the Ship Cohtmbia, 
 of Boston^ co)iniiaiided by Robert Gray, containing the Account of 
 her Ent?-ance into the Columbia River, in May, \ 792.* 
 
 May jth, 1792, A.M. — Being within six miles of the land, saw an 
 entrance in the same, which had a very good appearance of a harbor ; 
 lowered away the jolly-boat, and went in search of an anchoring- 
 place, the ship standing to and fro, with a very strong weather cur- 
 rent. At one P.M., the boat returned, having found no place where 
 the ship could anchor with safety; made sail on the ship; stood in 
 for the shore. We soon saw, from our mast-head, a passage in 
 between the sand-bars. At half-past three, bore away, and ran in 
 north-east by east, having from four to eight fathoms, sandy bottom; 
 and, as we drew in nearer between the bars, had from ten to thirteen 
 fathoms, having a very strong tide of ebb to stem. Many canoes 
 came alongside. At five P.M., came to in five fathoms water, 
 sandy bottom with a safe harbor, well sheltered from the sea by 
 long sand-bars and spits. Our latitude observed this day was 46 
 degrees 58 minutes north. 
 
 May loth. — Fresh breezes and pleasant weather; many natives 
 alongside; at noon, all the canoes left us. At one P.M., began to 
 unmoor, took up the best bower-anchor, and hove short on the small 
 bower-anchor. At half-past four (being high water), hove up the 
 anchor, and came to sail and a beating down the harbor. 
 
 May wth. — At half-past seven, we were out clear of the bars, 
 and directed our course to the southward, along shore. At eight 
 P.M., the entrance of Bulfinch's Harbor bore north, distance four 
 miles; the southern extremity of the land bore south-south-east half 
 east, and the northern north-north-west; sent up the main-top-gallant- 
 yard, and set all sail. At four A.M., saw the entrance of our de- 
 sired port bearing east-south-east, distance six leagues ; in steering 
 sails, and hauled our wind in shore. At eight A.M., being a little 
 to windward of the entrance of the Harbor, bore away, and run in 
 east-north-east between the breakers, having from five to seven, 
 fathoms of water. When we were over the bar, we found this to 
 be a large river of fresh water, up which we steered. Many canoes 
 came alongside. At one P.M., came to with the small bower, in 
 ten fathoms, black and white sand. The entrance between the bars 
 bore west-south-west, distant ten miles ; the north side of the river a 
 half mile distant from the ship ; the south side of the same two and 
 a half miles' distance; a village on the north side of the river west 
 by north, distant three quarters of a mile. Vast numbers of natives 
 
 *This extract was made in 1816, by Charles Bulfinch, of Boston, one of the o\\-ners of 
 the Cohimbia. from the second volume of the log-book, which was then in the possession of 
 Captain Gray's lieirs, but has since disappeared. It has been frequently published, accom- 
 panied by the affidavit of Mr. Bulfinch to its exactness. It is reprinted here from Greenhow's 
 History of Oregon. 
 
 132 
 
21 
 
 came alongside ; people employed in pumping the salt water out of 
 our water casks, in order to fill with fresh, while the ship floated in. 
 So ends. 
 
 AT ay izth. — Many natives alongside; noon, fresh wind; let go 
 the best bower-anchor, and veered out on both cables ; sent down 
 the main-top-gallant-yard ; filled up all the water-casks in the hold. 
 The latter part, heavy gales, and rainy, dirty weather. 
 
 May \'^th. — P>esh winds and rainy weather; many natives along- 
 side ; hove up the best bower-anchor ; seamen and 'tradesmen at 
 their various departments. 
 
 May \\th. — Fresh gales and cloudy ; many natives alongside; at 
 noon, weighed and came to sail, standing up the river north-east by 
 east; we found the channel very narrow. At four P.M., we had 
 sailed upwards of twelve or fifteen miles, when the channel was so 
 very narrow that it was almost impossible to keep in it, having from 
 three to eighteen fathoms water, sandy bottom. At half-past four, 
 the ship took ground, but she did not stay long before she came off, 
 without any assistance. We backed her off, stern foremost, into 
 three fathoms, and let go the small bower, and moored ship with 
 kedge and hawser. The jolly-boat was sent to sound the channel 
 out, but found it not navigable any farther up ; so, of course, we 
 must have taken the wrong channel. So ends, with rainy weather; 
 many natives alongside. 
 
 May I'^fh. — Light airs and pleasant weather ; many natives from 
 different tribes came alongside. At ten A.M., unmoored and 
 dropped down with the tide to a better anchoring-place ; smiths and 
 other tradesmen constantly employed. In the afternoon. Captain 
 Gray and Mr. Hoskins, in the jolly-boat, went on shore to take a 
 short view of the country. 
 
 May iGt/i. — Light airs and cloudy. At four A.M., hove up the 
 anchor and towed down about three miles, with the last of the ebb- 
 tide ; came into six fathoms, sandy bottom, the jolly-boat sounding 
 the channel. At ten A.M., a fresh breeze came up river. With 
 the first of the ebb-tide we got under way, and beat down river. At 
 one (from its being very squally) we came to, about two miles from 
 the village {C/iinoit/c), which bore west-south-west; many natives 
 alongside ; fresh gales and squally. 
 
 May ij/h. — -Fresh winds and squally; many canoes alongside; 
 calkers calking the pinnace ; seamen paying the ship's sides with 
 tar; painter painting ship; smiths and carpenters at their depart- 
 ments. 
 
 May 18//1. — Pleasant weather. At four in the morning, began to 
 heave ahead ; at half-past, came to sail, standing down river with 
 the ebb-tide; at seven (being slack water and the wind fluttering,) 
 we came to in five fathoms, sandy bottom ; the entrance between the 
 bars bore south-west by west, distant three miles. The north point 
 
 »33 
 
22 
 
 of the harbor bore north-west, distant two miles ; the south bore 
 south-east, distant three and a half miles. At nine, a breeze sprung 
 up from the eastward ; took up the anchor and came to sail, but the 
 wind soon came fluttering again; came to with the kedge and 
 hawser ; veered out fifty fathoms. Noon, pleasant. Latitude ob- 
 served, 46 degrees 17 minutes north. At one came to sail with the 
 first of the ebb-tide, and drifted down broadside, with light airs and 
 strong tide ; at three-quarters past, a fresh wind came from the 
 northward ; wore ship, and stood into the river again. At four, 
 came to in six fathoms; good holding-ground about six or seven 
 miles up ; many canoes alongside. 
 
 May \()th. — Fresh wind and clear weather. Early a number of 
 canoes came alongside; seamen and tradesmen employed in their 
 various departments. Captain Gray gave this river the name of 
 Columbia' s Ri'ver, and the north side of the entrance Cape Hancock ; 
 the south, A darns'' s Point. 
 
 May 7.0th. — Gentle breezes and pleasant weather. At one P.M. 
 (being full sea), took up the anchor, and made sail, standing down 
 river. At two, the wind left us, we being on the bar with a very 
 strong tide, which set on the breakers ; it was now not possible to 
 get out without a breeze to shoot her across the tide ; so we were 
 obliged to bring up in three and a half fathoms, the tide running five 
 knots. At three-quarters past two, a fresh wind came in from sea- 
 ward ; we immediately came to sail, and beat over the bar, having 
 from five to seven fathoms water in the channel. At five P.M., we 
 were out, clear of all the bars, and in twenty fathoms water. A 
 breeze came from the southward ; we bore away to the northward ; 
 set all sail to the best advantage. At eight, Cape Hancock bore 
 south-east, distant three leagues ; the north extremity of the land in 
 sight bore north by west. At nine, in steering and top-gallant sails. 
 Midnight, light airs. 
 
 May 21 St. — At six A.M., the nearest land in sight bore east- 
 south-east, distant eight leagues. At seven, set top-gallant-sails and 
 light stay-sails. At eleven, set steering-sails fore and aft. Noon, 
 pleasant, agreeable weather. Tiie entrance^ of Iiulfinch's Harbor 
 bore south-east by east half east, distant five leagues. 
 
 Captain Robert Gray'.s Sea Letter. 
 
 " To all Emperors, Kings, SoTcreio/i princes, State and Regents and 
 to their respective officers, civil and military and to all others 
 wliom it may concern. 
 " I, Cieorge Washington, President of the United States of Amer- 
 ica do make known that Robert (iray. Captain of a ship called the 
 Columbia, of the burden of about 230 tons, is a citizen of the 
 United States and that the said ship which he commands belongs 
 
 134 
 
23 
 
 to the citizens of the United States • and as I wish that the said 
 Robert Gray may prosper in his lawful affairs, I do request all the 
 before mentioned, and of each of them separately, when the said Rob- 
 ert Gray shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they will be 
 pleased to receive him with kindness and treat him in a becoming 
 manner &c. and thereby I shall consider myself obliged. 
 " September 16, 1790 — New York City 
 [Seal U. S.] 
 
 "Geo. Washington, 
 
 President. 
 " Thomas Jefferson, 
 
 " Secy, of State.'''' 
 
 " When in 1826 the rights of the United States in regard to Ore- 
 gon were formulated and made the subject of consideration by pleni- 
 potentiaries on the parts of Great Britain and the United States, 
 the claims of the latter were urged on three grounds, the most im- 
 portant or first being from their own proper right, which was founded 
 on Gray's discovery of the Columbia River. If Vancouver had 
 discovered the Columbia prior to Gray, it is impossible to say what 
 complications and results would have arisen in connection with the 
 extension and development of the United States. It is therefore a 
 source of endless gratification that Captain Robert Gray, by his 
 courage, enterprise and seamanship, in discovering and entering 
 the Columbia, ultimately secured to the United States this fertile 
 territory, almost twice as extensive in area as Great Britain. With 
 its six hundred and sixty thousand of inhabitants [i^S93], its great 
 cities, its enormous accumulations of wealth, the young empire 
 added to the United States through Robert Gray is fast shaping into 
 substance the golden visions of the enthusiastic Kendrick." — Gen- 
 eral A . W. Greely. 
 
 Rev. Edward G. Porter, for so many years tlie warm friend of tlie Old South Work, an 
 indefatigable worker in many fields of Amarican history, and especially in whatever related 
 to the history of Boston, gave us in the paper here reprinted the best connected account of 
 the important event which so closely links Boston and New England, the extreme northeast 
 of the country, with its extreme northwest. It was with the exjieditions of Kendrick and 
 Gray that " the ' Bostons' came into rivalry with the ' King George men' as explorers and 
 traders " on the Oregon coast. Much information concerning these expeditions, with full 
 references to original authorities, may be found in Bancroft's History of the Pacific States, 
 vol. xxii. 185-264. Bancroft had in his hands and frequently quotes manuscript narratives 
 of the two voyages by Haswell, "given me by Captain Hasvvell's daughter, Mrs. John J. 
 Clarke, of Roxbury, Mass." The first diary (C15 pages) covers 1788-S9 ; the second, 1791-92. 
 Of the latter Bancroft says: " It is a document of great interest and value, and includes a 
 number of charts. The original contains also views of several places, the author having 
 
24 
 
 much skill with the pencil." Several of Haswell's drawings were reproduced in connection 
 with Mr. Porter's paper when it originally appeared. 
 
 The letter of Gray and Ingraham to the Spanish commandant, written at Nootka Sound, 
 Aug. 3, 1792, referred to in the leaflet, is printed in the appendix to Greenhow's History of 
 Oregon and California, which contains much besides of value in the general connection. 
 W. H. Gray's History of Oregon begins with an account of Captain Gray's discovery. 
 There are various histories of Oregon by Dunn, Thornton, Hines, Twiss, Wilkes, and 
 others. The most interesting is that by William Barrows, in the American Commonwealths 
 Series. The chapter on " The Claims of the United States to Oregon " deals specifically 
 with the subject of the leaflet. The list of authorities given by Barrows is very full ; and in 
 this connection reference should be made to W. E. Foster's " Bibliography of Oregon," in 
 the Magazine of American History, \i\. 461. The first chapter of Bulfinch's " Oregon 
 and Eldorado" is a description of Gray's voyage: the second chapter is upon Lewis and 
 Clark's expedition. There is a capital chapter on Gray, in General A. W. Greely's " Ex- 
 plorers and Travellers," also followed by one on Lewis and Clark. Irving's " Astoria" is 
 well known. T. J. Farnham's History of Oregon Territory (1S44) is "a demonstration 
 of the title of the United States to the same." Captain Gray's discovery naturally plays an 
 important part in this, as also in W. A. Mowry's pamphlet on " Our Title to Oregon." Mr. 
 Mowry has taken prominent part in the controversy as to the extent of Marcus Whitman'.s 
 services in "saving Oregon," in which Nixon, Marshall, Bourne, and others have partici- 
 pated. Full references relating to the Oregon boundary disputes may be found in Chanring 
 and Hart's " Guide to American History." 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 136 
 
<D!D c^outJ) Heafict^* 
 
 No. 
 
 Report on 
 
 the War with 
 
 Mexico 
 
 PREPARED BY CHARLES SUMNER. 
 
 ComviomvealtlL of Massachusetts, House Bill No. iSj, April, 184"/. 
 
 In an age when peace prevails over a larger surface of the 
 globe than has ever before confessed its benign presence, our 
 country finds itself involved in war. The general harmony is 
 broken by our discord with a neighbor and sister republic. 
 Enormous appropriations of money are diverted from purposes 
 of usefulness and beneficence. Life, which a refined Christian 
 civilization daily regards with new reverence, is squandered 
 in bloody death on the field of battle. Many, after sinking 
 under the privations and hardships of the camp, and the per- 
 nicious mfluences of an unaccustomed climate, have laid their 
 uncoffined bones far away from their homes. Families are 
 made desolate. Wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters are 
 now mourning husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers whose 
 faces they shall never again behold, whose dying agonies were 
 relieved by no voice of kindness, no solace of prayer. The 
 spirit of war, so adverse to the interests of republicanism and 
 the spirit of the gospel, now predominates in the councils of 
 our country, summoning all its energies to the contest. 
 
 It becomes important, then, to inquire into the nature of the 
 contest and the duties of citizens in regard to it. Is this un- 
 seasonable discord — this sacrifice of treasure and life, this lac- 
 eration of sacred ties, this invocation of the demon of war — 
 necessary and unavoidable ? Is it in a just cause ? Is it in 
 a cause which can challenge the benediction of good men and 
 patriots, and the countenance and succor of Heaven? If it be 
 
 137 
 
not, how can the mighty evil be redressed, and its continuance 
 and recurrence be prevented? 
 
 Origin and Cause of the War, 
 
 To answer these inquiries, it will be proper, in the first place, 
 to consider the origin and cause of the war. History and offi- 
 cial documents have already placed these in a clear light. 
 They are to be found in two important acts of our government, 
 both of which were in flagrant violation of the Constitution 
 of the United States. The first is the annexation of the for- 
 eign State of Texas, and its incorporation into our Union, by 
 joint resolutions of Congress. This may be called the remote 
 cause. The immediate cause was the order from the President, 
 bearing date January 13, 1846, to General Taylor, to break 
 up his camp at Corpus Christi, the extreme western point of 
 the territory actually possessed by Texas, and march upon the 
 Rio Grande. This, which was in itself an act of war, took 
 place during the session of Congress, but without its knowledge 
 or direction. Let us endeavor to comprehend the character 
 and consequences of these acts. 
 
 The Annexation of Texas. 
 
 The history of the annexation of Texas cannot be fully un- 
 derstood without reverting to the early settlement of that prov- 
 ince by citizens of the United States. Mexico, on achieving 
 her independence of the Spanish crown, by a general ordinance, 
 worthy of imitation by all Christian nations, had decreed the 
 abolition of human slavery within her dominions, embracing 
 the Province of Texas. She had declared expressly "that no 
 person thereafter should be born a slave, or introduced as 
 such, into the Mexican States ; that all slaves then held should 
 receive stipulated wages, and be subject to no punishment but 
 on trial and judgment by the magistrate," At this period, cit- 
 izens of the United States had already begun to remove into 
 Texas, hardly separated, as it was, by the River Sabine from 
 the slaveholding State of Louisiana. The idea was early pro- 
 mulgated that this extensive province ought to become a part 
 of the United States. Its annexation was distinctly agitated 
 in the Southern and Western States in 1829 ; and it was urged 
 on the ground of the strength and extension it would give to 
 138 
 
the " Slave Power," and the fresh market it would open for the 
 sale of slaves. 
 
 The suggestion of this idea had an important effect. A 
 current of emigration soon followed from the United States. 
 Slaveholders crossed the Sabine, with their slaves, in defiance 
 of the Mexican ordinance of freedom. Restless spirits, dis- 
 contented at home, or feeling the restraint of the narrow con- 
 fines of our country, joined them ; while their number was 
 swollen by the rude and lawless of all parts of the land, who 
 carried to Texas the love of license which had rendered a 
 region of justice no longer a pleasant home to them. To such 
 spirits, rebellion was natural. 
 
 It soon broke forth. At this period the whole population, 
 including women and children, did not amount to twenty thou- 
 sand ; and, among these, most of the older and wealthier 
 inhabitants still favored peace. A Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, a farcical imitation of that of our fathers, was put forth, 
 not by persons acting in a Congress or in a representative 
 character, but by about ninety individicals^ — - all, except two, 
 from the United States,— actmg for themselves, and recom- 
 mending a similar course to their fellow-citizens. In a just 
 cause the spectacle of this handful of adventurers, boldly 
 challenging the power of Mexico, would excite our sympathy, 
 perhaps our admiration. But successful rapacity, which seized 
 broad and fertile lands, while it opened new markets for slaves, 
 excites no sentiment but that of abhorrence. 
 
 The work of rebellion sped. Citizens of the United States 
 joined its fortunes, not singly, but in numbers, even in armed 
 squadrons. Our newspapers excited the lust of territorial rob- 
 bery in the public mind. Expeditions were openly equipped 
 within our own borders. Advertisements for volunteers sum- 
 moned the adventurous, as to patriotic labors. Military com- 
 panies, with officers and standards, directed their steps to the 
 revolted province. During all this period the United States 
 were at peace with Mexico. A proclamation from our govern- 
 ment, forbidding these hostile preparations within our borders, 
 is undeniable evidence of their existence, while truth compels 
 us to record its impotence in upholding the sacred duties of 
 neutrality between Mexico and the insurgents. The Texan 
 flag waved over an army of American citizens. Of the six or 
 eight hundred who won the battle of San Jacinto, scattering 
 the Mexican forces and capturing their general, not more than 
 
 139 
 
fifty were citizens of Texas, having grievances of their own to 
 redress on tliat field. 
 
 This victory was followed by the recognition of the indepen- 
 dence of Texas by the United States ; while the new State 
 took its place among the nations of the earth.* Its Mexican 
 rulers were succeeded, not by people nurtured on the soil, but 
 by citizens of our country. As, in the story of Baron Mun- 
 chausen, the bear devoured the horse between the very shafts 
 of the carriage, until he found himself in its place, drawing 
 the vehicle, so did the greedy adventurers from our country, 
 with an unprecedented rapacity, eat themselves into the posses- 
 sion of this rich province of Mexico. 
 
 Certainly our sister republic might feel aggrieved by this con- 
 duct. It might justly charge our citizens with disgraceful rob- 
 bery, while, in seeking the extension of slavery, they repudiated 
 the great truths of American freedom. Meanwhile Texas 
 slept on her arms, constantly expecting new efi^orts from Mexico 
 to regain her former power. The two combatants regarded 
 each other as enemies. Mexico still asserted her right to the 
 territory wrested from her, and refused to acknowledge its 
 independence. Texas turned for favor and succor to England. 
 The government of the United States, fearing it might pass 
 under the influence of this power, made overtures for its 
 annexation to our country. This was finally accomplished by 
 joint resolutions of Congress, in defiance of the Constitution, 
 and in gross insensibility to the sacred obligations of amity 
 with Mexico, imposed alike by treaty and by justice, " both 
 strong against the deed." The Mexican minister regarded it 
 as an act offensive to his country, and, demanding his passport, 
 returned home. 
 
 Objects of Annexation. 
 
 To appreciate fully the character of this act, it will be proper 
 to consider briefly the objects contemplated by it, or, in other 
 words, the reasons which induced it. These are placed be- 
 yond question by authentic public documents, and by the con- 
 fessions of a leading statesman in open debate. It is not to be 
 disguised that there were some considerations, of less impor- 
 tance, which operated on certain minds ; but the grand impel- 
 ling motive was the desire to extend the institution of slavery, 
 
 *" Nothing is more true or more extensively known," said l\Ir. Van Buren, in 1844, 
 "than that Texas was wrested from Mexico, and her independence estabUshed, through tlie 
 instrumentality of citizens of the United States." 
 
 140 
 
and to strengthen the political combination and power which 
 are founded upon it. At the time it took place, England was 
 supposed to be exerting her influence to induce Texas to abol- 
 ish slavery. This excited the alarm of the government of the 
 United States. Mr. Secretary Upshur, by a letter dated 
 August 8, 1843, addressed to Mr. Murphy, our charge' at 
 Texas, says, "The establishment, in the very midst of our 
 slavcholding States, of an independent government, forbidding 
 the existence of slavery, and by a people born, for the most 
 part, among us, reared up in our habits and speaking our lan- 
 guage, cannot fail to produce the most unhappy effects upon 
 both parties." — '■'■ J^ew calamities could befall this country more to 
 be deplored than the establishment of a predominant British 
 influence, and the abolition of domestic slavery, in Texas." By 
 his letter to Mr. Murphy, dated January 16, 1844, he says: 
 " If Texas should refuse to come into our Union, measures 
 will instantly be taken to fill her territory with emigrants from 
 Europe. . . . The first measure of the new emigrants, as soon 
 as they shall have sufficient strength, will be to destroy that 
 grand domestic institution upon which so much of the pros- 
 perity of our frontier country depends. I will add that, if 
 Texas should not be attached to the United States, she cannot 
 maintain that institutio/i ten years, and probably not half that 
 time.'" 
 
 Similar views were expressed, with his accustomed frankness, 
 by Mr. Calhoun, when Secretary of State. Without quotmg 
 these at length, as they appear in his dift'erent communications 
 to Mr. Green and Mr. Pakenham, it will be sufficient to present 
 the following passage from his letter to the latter, bearing date 
 April 27, 1844 : " The treaty of annexation was made neces- 
 sary, in order to preserve domestic institutions, placed under the 
 guaranty of their respective constitutions, and deemed essential 
 to their safety and prosperity." And recently, on the floor of 
 the Senate at Washington, he has avowed the same motiv^e, 
 adding that he thoughr. there was danger that the institution of 
 slavery might be abolished in Texas, and that he had seized 
 the golden moment for the purpose of giving it perpetuity. 
 
 Consequences of Annexation. 
 
 Such was the character of this act, and the object proposed 
 by it. A republic, whose animating principle is freedom, here 
 
 141 
 
appears as the pander of slavery. But the act of annexation 
 did not pass in silence. It was earnestly and eloquently 
 opposed, in its different stages, on the express ground that it 
 would extend slavery, and entail upon the country a war with 
 Mexico. And these direful consequences are now upon us. 
 The flag of the American Union waves over a new State, 
 whose unfortunate slaves look to it in vain for the protection 
 which is implied in the Declaration of Independence. And 
 war now rages between the United States and Alexico. One of 
 the senators of Texas, Mr. Houston, who owes his seat in the 
 national councils to this itnconsii/utiona/ 2.ct, now declares that 
 " the present war with Mexico is but a continuation of the 
 Texan war, and that, when we took Texas, we took the war as 
 by inheritance." Such have been the consequences of that 
 act. 
 
 The Western Boundary of Texas. 
 
 Texas was annexed; and the question arises, What was the 
 territory which had thus been torn from Mexico and incorpo- 
 rated into our republic ? What were its metes and bounds .-' 
 Look first at the resolutions of annexation. By these, it is pro- 
 vided as follows : " First, Congress doth consent that the ter- 
 ritory /w/^r/)' included within, and rightfully belonging to, the 
 republic of Texas, may be erected into a new State, to be 
 called the State of Texas, with a republican form of govern- 
 ment." And again, " The said State to be formed subject to 
 the adjustment by the government of all questions of boundary that 
 may arise 7vith other govern^ncnts.^'' These terms were ac- 
 ceded to by Texas. The introduction to her constitution, 
 which has been approved by our Congress, expressly declares, 
 that it is formed "in accordance with~the joint resolutions 
 annexing Texas the United States." The constitution sets 
 forth no boundary, while it follows the resolutions of annexa- 
 tion in excluding all territory not properly included within, and 
 rightfully belonging to, the republic of Texas. 
 
 The absence of any express designation of the territory, by 
 metes and bounds, as occurs in the treaty of 1783, acknowl- 
 edging the independence of the United States, is a sutificient 
 proof that they were still undetermined, while the language of 
 the resolutions recognizes "questions of boundary," which 
 notoriously related to the western frontier, or the line between 
 Texas and Mexico. 
 142 
 
The question recurs, What territory was properly included 
 within, and rightfully belonging to, Texas ? There are some 
 persons who, adverting to the early history of this territory, 
 assert that it was once a part of Louisiana, and that, as such, 
 its western boundary was the Rio Grande. This position has, 
 however, been assailed by an overwhelming array of authori- 
 ties and illustrations, which leave it little more than a hollow 
 assertion.* But, whatever may be the conclusions with regard 
 to it, it will not be questioned that Texas, first as a Spanish 
 province, and afterwards as one of the States of the Mexican 
 confederacy, was bounded by the River Nueces (Walnut 
 River). This is an important geographical and historical fact, 
 in itself almost conclusive upon the question, in the absence 
 of countervailing proofs. 
 
 Prominent leaders of the now dominant party of our coun- 
 try have solemnly declared that the boundary was not further 
 west than the great desert between the Nueces and the Rio 
 Grande. Mr, Benton, a senator of the United States, in his 
 speech of May i6, 1844, denounced the attempt to claim the 
 Rio Grande, sometunes called the Rio del Norte and the Rio 
 Bravo, as the boundary, which is one hundred and fifty miles 
 farther west. He embodied his opinions in the following reso- 
 lution : — 
 
 " Resolved, That the incorporation of the left bank of the Rio 
 del Norte into the American Union, by virtue of a treaty with 
 Texas, comprehending, as the said incorporation would do, a 
 part of the Mexican departments of New Mexico, Chihuahua, 
 Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, would be an act of direct aggression 
 on Mexico, for all the consequences of which the United States 
 would stand responsible." 
 
 In the House of Representatives the chairman of the Com- 
 mittee of Foreign Affairs (Mr. C. J. Ingersoll), on the 3d of 
 February, 1845, I'nade his remarkable declaration to the same 
 effect. He said : — 
 
 " The stupendous deserts between the Nueces and the Bravo 
 Rivers are the natural boundaries between the Anglo-Saxon and 
 the Mauritanian races. There ends the valley of the west. 
 There Mexico begins. Thence, beyond the Bravo, begin the 
 Moorish people, and their Indian associates, to whom Mexico 
 properly belongs ; who should not cross that vast desert if they 
 
 *See the able and learned speech of Mr. Severance, of Maine, which contains an elaborate 
 examination of the question of boundary. 
 
 143 
 
8 
 
 could, as we, on our side, too, ought to stop there, because 
 interminable conflicts must ensue our going south, or their com- 
 ing north, of that gigantic boundary. While peace is cherished, 
 that boii/idary will be sacred. Aud till the spirit of conquest 
 rages will the people on either side molest or mix with each 
 other ; and, whenever they do, one or the other race must be 
 conquered, if not extinguished." 
 
 These authorities would seem to be conclusive. But other 
 considerations add weight to them. Texas was a child of 
 revolution. Her title to territory cannot depend upon formal 
 designation of boundaries in maps or books, although these 
 are against her present claim, but upon the sword. Her right 
 was coextensive with her might. Just so far as she had been 
 able to hold possession, and no further, would her title reach. 
 This conclusion flows from admitted principles of public law. 
 It was recognized by Mr. Donaldson, our charge' there, who, 
 by his letter to Mr. Buchanan, of July ii, 1845, after stating 
 the claim of Texas to the Rio Grande as " an open question," 
 says that "we should regard only as zvithin the limits of our 
 protection that portion of territory actually possessed by Texas, 
 and which she did not consider subject to Negotiation.^' 
 
 It is clear, from the correspondence laid before Congress by 
 the President, that Texas had never acquired possession to the 
 Rio Grande; nor, with the exception of a few small posts, be- 
 yond the Nueces. The inhabitants west of the valley of the 
 Nueces spoke the language of Mexico ; they obeyed her laws, 
 and were governed by her officers and magistrates. Our trad- 
 ers and merchants there paid duties at Mexican custom- 
 houses. Everywhere were the signs of Mexican sovereignty ; 
 nowhere, of the sovereignty of Texas. Mr, Donaldson, by a 
 letter of June 28, 1845, to General Taylor, says: "Corpus 
 Christi is said to be as healthy as Pensacola ; a convenient 
 place for supplies, a>id the most ivesteni point now occupied by 
 Texas'' 
 
 Whatever, then, may have been the claim of Texas, she had 
 never practically extended her power beyond the valley of the 
 Nueces. The vast territory, embracing a large part of the 
 Mexican provinces of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and New Mexico, 
 and comprehended between the Nueces and the long north- 
 western sweep of the Rio Grande, was not in the possession 
 of Texas or of the United States. And the very resolutions 
 of annexation, and other official documents, recognized the 
 144 
 
western boundary as an open question, which was to be 
 determined by future negotiation. 
 
 Peace still continues between Mexico and the United 
 
 States. 
 
 The act of annexation, pregnant with war, did not at once 
 bring forth its hateful offspring. Mexico was inactive. Peace 
 still hovered over the borders of the two countries, not yet 
 driven away by the rude appeal of arms. 
 
 Mr. Peiia y Pena, the Mexican minister of foreign affairs, 
 wrote to Mr. Black, our consul, on the 31st of October, 1845, 
 thus : " The government of Mexico has given its orders for 
 the purpose of suspending for the present any act of hostility 
 against the United States, and limits itself to the defensive, await- 
 ing the issue of the negotiation proposed by the government of 
 the United States, through the consul," etc. This is an 
 authentic expression of the intentions of Mexico. But we have 
 other evidence. Mr. Marks, formerly United States consul at 
 Matamoras, in a letter to General Taylor, dated at China, in 
 Mexico, September 23, 1845, and enclosed to the Secretary 
 of State on the 28th October following, says : " I have the 
 honor to inform you that I have had several conferences at 
 Monterey with General Mariano Arista, commander-in-chief of 
 the Mexican forces on the frontier of the Rio Grande, in rela- 
 tion to the differences at present existing between the United 
 States and Mexico, and am pleased to state to you that, from 
 the opinion and views he made known to me, the cabinet of 
 Mexico is disposed to enter into an amicable arrangement with 
 the United States in relation to the boundary, and all other 
 momentous questions. . . . 
 
 " General Arista pledged his honor to me that no large body 
 of Mexican troops should cross the left bank of the Rio Grande ; 
 that only small parties, not to exceed two hundred men, should 
 be permitted to go as far as the Arrayo Colorado, (twenty 
 leagues from the Rio Grande), and that they would be 
 strictly ordered only to prevent Indian depredations and illicit 
 trade." . . . 
 
 The conduct of Mexico, it will appear, continued to be in 
 harmony with these declarations. 
 
 General Taylor was stationed, with the American army, at 
 Corpus Christi, three miles beyond the River Nueces. By a 
 
 145 
 
10 
 
 letter to the war department, dated September 6, 1845, he 
 says : " I have the honor to report that a confidential agent 
 despatched to Matamoras, has returned, and reports that no 
 extraordinary preparations are going forward there ; that the 
 garrison does not seem to have been increased, and that our 
 consul is of opinion there will be no ivary By another letter, 
 dated October 11, he writes: "Recent arrivals from the 
 Rio Grande bring no news of a different aspect from what I 
 repeated in my last. The views expressed in previous com- 
 munications, relative to the pacific disposition of the border people 
 on both sides of the river, are continually confirmed.''^ January 
 7, he writes: "A recent scout of volunteers from San 
 Antonio struck the river near Presidio, Rio Grande ; and the 
 commander reports every thitig quiet in that quarter y 
 
 Movement of General Taylor from Corpus Christi to 
 THE Rio Grande. 
 
 This was the state of things when, by an order bearing date 
 13th January, 1846, during the session of Congress, and with- 
 out any consultation with that body, General Taylor was 
 directed, by the President of the United States, to occupy the 
 east bank of the Rio Grande, being the extreme western part 
 of the territory claimed by Texas, the boundary of which had 
 been designated as an "open question," to be determined by 
 " negotiation." General Taylor broke up his quarters at 
 Corpus Christi on the nth March, and, proceeding across 
 this disputed territory, established his post, and erected a 
 battery, directly opposite the Mexican city of Matamoras, and, 
 under his directions, the mouth of the Rio Grande was block- 
 aded, so as to cut off supplies from the— Mexican army at 
 Matamoras. 
 
 War ensues. 
 
 These were acts of war, accomplished without bloodshed ; 
 but they were nevertheless acts of unquestioned hostility 
 'gainst Mexico. Blockade ! and military occupation of a dis- 
 puted territory ! These were the arbiters of the " open ques- 
 tion " of boundary. These were the substitutes for "negotia- 
 tion." It is not to be supposed that the Mexican army should 
 quietly endure these aggressive measures, and regard with 
 indifference cannon pointed at their position. Recent confes- 
 146 
 
1 1 
 
 sions in the Senate show that the fatal order of January 13th 
 was known at the time to certain senators, who saw its hostile 
 character, but felt unable to interfere to arrest it. They prog- 
 nosticated war. On the 26th of April a small body of Ameri- 
 can troops, under the command of Captain Thornton, encoun- 
 tered Mexican troops at a place twenty miles north of General 
 Taylor's camp. Here was the first collision of arms. The 
 report of this was hurried to Washington. Rumor, with hun- 
 dred tongues, exaggerated the danger of the American army 
 under General Taylor, and produced an insensibility to the 
 aggressive character of his movement. All concurred in a 
 desire to rescue him from the perilous position which, with the 
 unquestioning obedience of a soldier, he had fearlessly occu- 
 pied. It was under the influence of this feeling that the 
 untoward act of May 13th was pressed through Congress, by 
 which it was declared that "war exists by the act of Mexico "; 
 and an appropriation of ten million dollars was made, and 
 authority given to the President to employ the military and 
 naval forces of the United States, and to receive the services 
 of 50,000 volunteers, in order to prosecute it to a successful 
 conclusion. The passage of this act placed the whole country 
 in hostile array against Mexico, and impressed upon every 
 citizen of the United States the relation of enemy of every 
 citizen of Mexico. This disastrous condition still continues. 
 War is still waged ; and our armies, after repeated victories 
 achieved on Mexican soil, are still pursuing the path of 
 conquest. 
 
 Apologies for the War. 
 
 The review which has now been attempted, and which is 
 fully sustained by unquestioned authorities, conducts us to the 
 important question as to the character of the war in which the 
 country is now engaged. It has found partisans, who have 
 adduced various reasons and apologies for it. These all 
 assume acts of wrong on the part of Mexico, justifying the 
 appeal to arms. They may be resolved into three different 
 heads : — 
 
 Alleged Invasion of the United States by Mexico. 
 
 The first alleges that Mexico passed the boundary of the 
 United States, invaded our territory, and shed American blood 
 
 147 
 
12 
 
 upon American soil. This is completely refuted by the facts 
 already adduced, showing that the collision took place upon 
 territory in dispute between the two governments, and in the 
 actual possession of Mexico. It was the army of the United 
 States that played the part of invaders. 
 
 Debts of Mexico. 
 
 The second apology pleads the failure of Mexico to pay cer- 
 tain claims of our citizens, founded on alleged outrages during 
 a long succession of years. But these claims, many of which 
 were of a most equivocal character, were liquidated by treaty 
 in 1839, by which Mexico undertook to satisfy them, when 
 allow-ed by commissioners appointed by the two governments. 
 The commissioners, after a protracted inquiry, allowed claims 
 amounting to the sum of $2,026,139.68. This amount became 
 a debt from Mexico to the United States. The early outrages 
 which have been adduced were all absorbed and satisfied in 
 this sum total. A debtor and creditor account took their 
 place. It was the unquestioned duty of Mexico to pay this 
 sum ; and it is much to her credit that, though vexed by civil 
 war, disordered finances, and the aggressive conduct of our 
 country, she has never followed the example set by some of 
 our own States, in repudiating it. Nor did our own govern- 
 ment regard her failure to pay as a ground of war, until after 
 the collision on the Rio Grande. It is evident that this apol- 
 ogy is an afterthought, which is abhorrent to the spirit of 
 modern civilization. It is not in any degree calculated to 
 relieve this war of the odium with which it is justly regarded. 
 
 Refusal to receive Mr. Slidell. 
 
 The third and only remaining apology is found in the refusal 
 to receive Mr. Slidell. We may well shrink from any detailed 
 inquiry into the circumstances of this act. Is it not unworthy 
 a magnanimous and Christian republic to plead a failure in a 
 matter of international etiquette as an excuse for an extensive 
 and bloody war? Such an apology might, in former ages, 
 have found favor with an irritable prince, in whom the punc- 
 tilio of honor was the substitute for Christian duty; but it 
 should be disowned by a people who profess to regard substance 
 rather than/6'/'-///, and who recognize the golden rule of doing 
 148 
 
13 
 
 unto others as they would be done unto. But the facts show 
 that, while Mexico refused to receive Mr. Slidell, who was sent 
 as " Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary," she 
 expressed a willingness to receive a commissioner specially 
 appointed to treat of the matters which had interrupted the 
 diplomatic relations of the two countries, particularly of the 
 "open question" of boundary. It seems that on the i6th of 
 December, 1845, ^^^- Peha y Peha, the Mexican minister of 
 foreign affairs, answered Mr. Slidell's note, declaring that the 
 delay in his reception had arisen from difficulties occasioned by 
 the nature of his credentials, as compared with the proposition 
 made by the United States, to treat peacefully upon the affairs 
 of Texas. On the 20th December, 1845, ^^^- Slidell's mission 
 was annulled by an official note from Mr. Pena y Peha, requir- 
 ing the production of special powers ad Vi.oQ, for the settlement 
 of the Texas question expressly and exelusive/y, before he could be 
 recognized as juiiiister plenipotentiary, as otherwise the honor, 
 dignity, and interests of the Mexican republic would be put in 
 jeopardy. It is doubtful if Mexico, in pursuing this course, 
 departed from the usages of nations. Great Britain once sent 
 to the United States a minister specially authorized to treat of 
 the affair of the Chesapeake. It did not, however, suit the 
 policy of our government to enter into any negotiation with 
 him, unless his instructions extended to other matters. The 
 minister then declared his mission terminated ; but no offence 
 was taken on either side, nor, when at a later day war ensued 
 between Great Britain and the United States, was this question 
 of etiquette thrown by either party into the bloody scales. 
 
 Real Objects of the War. 
 
 The origin and cause of the war have been set forth ; and 
 the apologies for it have been shown to be futile. Why, then, 
 is it waged ? This leads to the consideration of the real 
 objects of the war. Whatever may have been the question on 
 this head in the early stages of the contest, they are now estab- 
 lished beyond reasonable doubt, if not beyond controversy, by 
 the express declarations of prominent advocates of the war, 
 and by important votes of both houses of Congress. 
 
 149 
 
14 
 
 It is a War of Conquest. 
 
 It can no longer be doubted that this is a war of conquest. 
 The first confession of this fact which startled the public mind 
 appeared in the letter of the Secretary of War to Colonel Steven- 
 son, dated June 26, 1846, with reference to a regiment of 
 volunteers to be raised in New York. The Secretary says : — 
 
 "The President expects, and indeed requires, that great care 
 should be taken to have it composed of suitable persons ; I 
 mean, of good habits ; as far as practicable, of various pur- 
 suits, and such as would be likely to re7)iain, at the e?id 0/ the war, 
 either in Oregon, or in any other territory in that regio?i of the 
 globe 7ohich may then be a part of the United States. The act 
 of the 13th of May last authorizes the acceptance of volunteers 
 for twelve months, or during the war with Mexico. The con- 
 dition of the acceptance in this case must be a tender of 
 service during the war, and it must be explicitly understood 
 that they may be discharged, without a claim for returning home, 
 wherever they may be serving at the termination of the war, pro- 
 7!ided it is in the then territoty of the United States, or may be 
 taken to the nearest or most convenient territory belonging to 
 the United States, and there discharged." 
 
 In a letter to Commodore Sloat, dated June 8, the Secre- 
 tary says, " You will take such measures as will render that 
 vast region [California] a desirable place of residence for emi- 
 grants from our soil." In a letter to Colonel Kearny, dated June 
 3, the conquest of Ne\v Mexico is also foreshadowed. He 
 says: "Should you conquer and take possession of Nciv Mex- 
 ico ajid Upper California, you will establish civil governments 
 therein. You may assure the people of these provinces that it 
 is the wish and design of the United States to provide for them 
 a free government with the least possible delay, similar to that 
 which exists iti our territories.^^ Other passages from the official 
 correspondence might be adduced to the same point. 
 
 Prominent supporters of the war, in Congress, have not hes- 
 itated to avow conquest as their object. The chairman of the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Senate (Mr. Sevier) has 
 said that " no one thought of getting less than New Mexico and 
 California " ; and the chairman of the same committee in the 
 House (Mr. C, J. Ingersoll), after having once defended the 
 war, " not as the means of ambition, or for the sake of con- 
 quest," has more recently declared that " everybody knew — 
 150 
 
15 
 
 yes, everybody knew — that this was to be a war of invasion, 
 a war of territorial conquest, although it was now spoken of in 
 terms of condemnation in that respect. But it cannot be other- 
 wise than a war of conquest. That was the only use that 
 could be made of all the power granted by Congress, and by 
 Congress commanded to be employed." 
 
 In disagreeable harmony with these declarations have been 
 the recent votes in the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 by which they have expressly refused to sanction resolutions 
 against the acquisition of foreign territory and the dismember- 
 ment of the Mexican republic. 
 
 It is a War for the Extension of Slavery. 
 
 A war of conquest is bad ; but the present war has darker 
 shadows. It is a war for the extension of slavery over a terri- 
 tory which has already been purged, by Mexican authority, 
 from this stain and curse. Fresh markets of human beings are 
 to be established; further opportunities for this hateful traffic 
 are to be opened ; the lash of the overseer is to be quickened 
 in new regions ; and the wretched slave is to be hurried to 
 unaccustomed fields of toil. It can hardly be believed that 
 now, more than eighteen hundred years since the dawn of the 
 Christian era, a government, professing the law of charity and 
 justice, should be employed in war to extend an institution 
 which exists in defiance of these sacred principles. 
 
 It has already been shown that the annexation of Texas 
 was consummated for this purpose. The Mexican war is a 
 continuance, a prolongation, of the same efforts ; and the 
 success which crowned the first emboldens the partisans of 
 the latter, who now, as before, profess to extend the area of 
 freedom, while they are establishing a new sphere for slavery. 
 
 The authorities already adduced in regard to the objects of 
 annexation illustrate the real objects of the Mexican war. 
 Declarations have also been made, upon the floor of Congress, 
 which throw light upon it. Mr. Sims, of South Carolina, has 
 said that " he had no doubt that every foot of territory we 
 ' shall permanently occupy, south of thirty-six degrees thirty 
 minutes, will be slave territory " ; and, in reply to his colleague, 
 Mr. Burt, who inquired whether this opinion was " in conse 
 quence of the known determination of the Southern people 
 that their institutions shall be carried into that country, if ac- 
 
 151 
 
i6 
 
 quired," said, in words that furnish a key to the whole project, 
 *' It is founded on the known determination of the Southern people 
 that their institutions shall be carried thef'e ; it is founded in the 
 laws of God, zvritten on the climate and soil of the country : noth- 
 ing but slave labor can cultivate, profitably, that region of country.'''' 
 The recent rejection, in both houses at Washington, of the 
 Wilmot proviso, by wliich slavery was to be excluded from all 
 new territorial acquisitions, reveals to the world the fixed de- 
 termination of a majority of Congress to make the war an 
 instrument for the extension of slavery, and the establishment 
 in new regions of what Mr. Upshur called " the grand domestic 
 institution." 
 
 It is a War to strengthen the " Slave Power." 
 
 But it is not merely proposed to open new markets for 
 slavery : it is also designed to confirm and fortify the " Slave 
 Power." Here is a distinction which should not fail to be 
 borne in mind. Slavery is odious as an institution, if viewed 
 in the light of morals and Christianity. On this account alone 
 we should refrain from rendering it any voluntary support. 
 But it has been made the basis of a political combination, to 
 which has not inaptly been applied the designation of the 
 "Slave Power." The slaveholders of the country — who are 
 not supposed to exceed 200,000 or at most 300,000 in num- 
 bers — by the spirit of union which animates them, by the 
 strong sense of a common interest, and by the audacity of 
 their leaders, have erected themselves into a new "estate," as 
 it were, under the Constitution. Disregarding the sentiments 
 of many of the great framers of that instrument, who notori- 
 ously considered slavery as temporary, they proclaim it a per- 
 manent institution ; and, with a strange inconsistency, at once 
 press its title to a paramount influence in the general govern- 
 ment, while they deny the right of that government to interfere, 
 in any way, with its existence. According to them, it may 
 never be restrained or abolished by the general government, 
 though it may be indefinitely extended. And it is urged that, 
 as new free States are admitted into the Union, other slave 
 States should be admitted, in order to preserve, in the Senate, 
 what is called the " balance of power " ; in other words, the 
 equipoise between slavery and freedom, though it might, with 
 more propriety, be termed the preponderance of slavery. The 
 152 
 
^7 
 
 bare enunciation of this claim discloses its absurdity. Is it 
 not a mockery of tlie principles of freedom, which moved the 
 hearts and strengthened the hands of our fathers, to suppose 
 that they contemplated any such perverse arrangement of 
 political power ? 
 
 It cannot be doubted that His Excellency is entirely right 
 when he says, in his message, that " at the time of the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution of the United States the final extinc- 
 tion of the institution of slavery was looked for at no very dis- 
 tant day," and that " so carefully was the Constitution formed 
 that, when the event took place, not one word or phrase of it 
 would require to be altered, and no expression in it would give 
 notice to posterity that such an institution ever existed"; and, 
 further, that "the Constitution leaves slavery where it found 
 it, a State institution; and though, as a compromise, it did con- 
 fer political power upon States which had slaves, by reason of 
 their slaves, // loas fiot intended that that power should be 
 extended beyond the States ivho ^vere parties to the compromise.'''' 
 
 But the slave power has triumphed over the evident inten- 
 tions of the framers of the Constitution. It appears that only 
 one new free State has been formed out of territory acquired 
 by treaty, while four new slave States have been established, 
 and the foreign slave State of Texas has been incorporated 
 into the Union by joint resolutions of Congress. 
 
 The object of the bold measure of annexation was not only 
 to extend slavery, but to strengthen the " Slave Power." The 
 same object is now proposed by the Mexican war. This is 
 another link in the gigantic chain by which our country and 
 the Constitution are to be bound to the " Slave Power." This 
 has been proclaimed in public journals. The following passage 
 from the Charleston (S.C.) Courier avows it : " Every battle 
 fought in Mexico, and every dollar spent there, but insures the 
 acquisition of territO'V which must widen the field of Southern 
 efitef prise and power in future. And the final result will be to 
 readjust the balance of power in tke confederacy, so as to give 
 us control over the operations of government in all time to come.'' 
 
 It is a War against the Free States. 
 
 Regarding it as a war to strengthen the "Slave Power," we 
 are conducted to a natural conclusion, that it is virtually, and 
 in its consequences, a war against the free States of the Union. 
 
 153 
 
Conquest and robbery are attempted in order to obtain a polit- 
 ical control at home ; and distant battles are fought, less with 
 a special view of subjugating Mexico than with the design of 
 overcoming the power of the free States, under the Constitution. 
 The lives of Mexicans are sacrificed in this cause; and a 
 domestic question, which should be reserved for bloodless 
 debate in our own country, is transferred to fields of battle in 
 a foreign land. 
 
 Horrors of the War. 
 
 Such is the origin of this war, and such are its objects. But 
 there are other points of view in which it has not yet been re- 
 garded. In estimating its character, we cannot be blind to the 
 sufferings which it has caused, not only in Mexico, but in our 
 own country. No hostile footstep has pressed any portion of 
 our soil ; no smoke of our enemy's camp has been seen within 
 our borders. But sorrow unspeakable has visited many homes. 
 Brave officers have been cut down in the flower of life ; the 
 wounded and the dead have been left together on the battle- 
 field. But climate has been more fatal even than the bullet 
 and the sword. Many who left their homes in all the pride of 
 hope and health now sleep the last sleep, in the foreign soil 
 which they had invaded, without having met a foe. Many, 
 also, have shrunk from the service. It appears, from a commu- 
 nication of the adjutant-general of the army of the United 
 States, that, of the 703 ofticers, and 15,995 non-commissioned 
 officers and privates, making an aggregate of volunteer forces 
 under General Taylor of 16,698 men, there had been discharged, 
 up to the 7th of December, 5,079. 
 
 It is sad to know that demoraliza'ion of all kinds has crept 
 into the camp ; though it could not be expected that such con- 
 siderable bodies of men, away from the restraints of civil soci- 
 ety and stimulated by vicious companionship, could escape 
 this condition. Murder, assassination, and rapine have oc- 
 curred among our own soldiers, who, like the armed men that 
 sprang from the dragon's teeth, in the classical fable, have 
 more than once striven in deadly quarrel with each other. 
 
 The warring elements have also mingled with the bad pas- 
 sions of men, and shipwreck has added to the losses and suffer- 
 ings of our people, — relieved, however, by the precious sympa- 
 thies which, in this time of peril, were extended by strangers. 
 
 But who can measure the trials of the unfortunate Mexicans ? 
 •54 
 
19 
 
 Battle has raged in tneir corn-fields, on the banks of their riv- 
 ers, and in their streets. Not soldiers only, — steeled to the 
 hardships of war, — but women and children, have felt its 
 aggravated horrors. Houses, in whose shelter should live only 
 the domestic virtues, have been converted into castles, and 
 attacked and defended with fatal ferocity. American cannon 
 have been pointed at a bishop's palace ; shells filled with 
 death have been sprinkled among the innocent inhabitants of 
 more than one Mexican city ; while the brutal lusts and unre- 
 strained lawlessness of soldiers have added to the miseries of 
 battle and siege. 
 
 Cost of the War. 
 
 Nor should we be indifferent to the enormous expenditures 
 which have already been lavished upon the war, and the accu- 
 mulating debt which will hold in mortgage the future resources 
 of the country. It is impossible to estimate the exact amount 
 of these. At this moment the cost of the war cannot be less 
 than seventy millions. It may be a hundred millions. 
 
 This sum is so vast as to be beyond easy comprehension. It 
 may be estimated, partly, by reference to the cost of other 
 objects of interest. It is far more than all the funds for com- 
 mon schools throughout the United States. It is ample for the 
 endowment of three or more institutions like Harvard College 
 in every State. It would plant churches in all the neglected 
 valleys of the land. It would bind and interlace every part of 
 the country by new railroads. It would make our broad and 
 rude soil blossom like a garden. And if, in an auspicious 
 moment, it were diverted from the work of destruction in 
 Mexico to the noble charity of succoring distressed Ireland, it 
 would carry certain comfort to a whole people, now in the 
 pangs of famine. 
 
 Unconstitutionality of the War. 
 
 The war should not fail, also, to be regarded in the light of 
 the Constitution. And here we must be brief. The stages by 
 which the country has reached it have been as unconstitu- 
 tional as its objects. First, Texas was annexed, by joint 
 resolutions of Congress, in violation of the Constitution. Sec- 
 ond, the President, in undertaking to order General Taylor, 
 without the consent of Congress, to march upon territory in 
 
 155 
 
20 
 
 possession of Mexico, assumed a power which belongs to Con- 
 gress alone. To Congress has been committed the dread 
 thunderbolt of war. " Congress shall have power to declare 
 war," are the words of the Constitution. But the President 
 has usurped its most terrible authority. His order to General 
 Taylor was an unauthorized act of war. Third^ as a war of 
 conquest, and for the extension of slavery, it is contrary to the 
 principles of our Constitution, which, according to the words of 
 the preamble, was formed " to provide for the common defence, 
 promote the general welfare, and secure t/ie b/essings of liberty 
 to ourselves and our posterity.'''' Such a war as that in which 
 we are now engaged can find no sanction in these words : it is 
 7iot for the common defence, nor to secure the blessings of liberty. 
 Fourth, as a war to strengthen the " Slave Power," it is also 
 unconstitutional. Thus it may be branded as a fourfold infrac- 
 tion of the fundamental law of the land. 
 
 Criminality of the War. 
 
 And it is also a violation of the fundamental law of Heaven, 
 of that great law of Right which is written by God's own 
 finger on the heart of man. His Excellency said nothing be- 
 yond the truth when, in his message, he declared that " an 
 offensive and unnecessary war was the highest crime which 
 man can commit against society." It is so ; for all the demons 
 of Hate are then let loose in mad and causeless career. Mis- 
 rule usurps the place of order, and outrage of all kinds stalks 
 " unwhipt of justice." An unjust and unnecessary war is the 
 dismal offspring of national insensibility, sie.e.^'xngt'he. conscience 
 in forgetfulness, and unkennelling the foul brood of murder, 
 rapine, and rape. How, then, must wejegard the acts in the 
 present war ? Have they any extenuation beyond the sanction 
 of mortals, like ourselves, who have rashly undertaken to direct 
 them ? The war is a crime, and all who have partaken in the 
 blood of its well-fought fields have aided in its perpetration. 
 It is a principle of military law that the soldier shall not ques- 
 tion the orders of his superior. If this shall exonerate the 
 army from blame, it will be only to press with accumulated 
 weight upon the government, which has set in motion this 
 terrible and irresponsible machine. 
 
 156 
 
21 
 
 The True Honor of the Country. 
 
 It is certainly more than doubtful whether any true honor 
 can be achieved, even in the successful prosecution of such a 
 war. The victories of injustice can never be sources of grat- 
 ulation or pride. The sympathies of good men cannot be sur- 
 rendered to acts of wrong. The hearts of all Americans beat 
 responsive to the brave but vain efforts of the Poles to save 
 their unhappy country from dismemberment ; nor can we dwell 
 with satisfaction upon Russian valor triumphant in a war of 
 spoliation. Perhaps the partialities of patriotism may prevent 
 us from applying to our own conduct the stern judgment which 
 we award to foreign aggression ; but we cannot hesitate in 
 recognizing justice, whether in individuals or nations, as an 
 essential element in every act worthy of true honor. Nor can 
 perseverance in wrong be a duty, under any circumstances, 
 either with individuals or nations. Its abandonment may 
 sometimes cost a struggle of worldly pride, but it is required 
 by considerations alike of justice and magnanimity. In re- 
 treating from positions of error, true honor is to be earned, 
 greater far than any by success in unjust war. 
 
 Duty to arrest the War. 
 
 Such an opportunity of honor is now open to the country 
 by earnest efforts to arrest the present war. It is unbecoming 
 a Christian people to plunge farther in crime ; nor can any 
 just sentiment of patriotism sanction what Christianity dis- 
 owns. We have been told " to seek an honorable peace by 
 the sword." Our true course should be to stay the havoc of 
 the sword, and to strive not to conquer a foreign people, but 
 the dangerous spirit of conquest which rages in the bosoms of 
 our own citizens. We are the aggressors from the beginning. 
 We have invaded Mexico as much as Great Britain invaded 
 our own country in the war of the Revolution. " I say again," 
 said Lord Chatham, in bringing forward a motion, in 1776, to 
 put a stop to American hostilities, " this country has been the 
 aggressor. You have made descents upon their coasts ; you 
 have burnt their towns, plundered their country, made war 
 upon the inhabitants, confiscated their property, proscribed 
 and imprisoned their persons. I do therefore affirm that, 
 
 157 
 
instead of exacting unconditional submission from the colonies, 
 we should grant theni unconditional redress." 
 
 Withdrawal of the Forces. 
 
 We should not fail to insist upon the withdrawal of our 
 forces from Mexico, within the acknowledged limits of the 
 United States, so soon as the same can be done, with due 
 regard to the well-being of the troops. Let them return home, 
 nor longer continue as the agents of injustice. Such a retreat 
 will be an act of truer lustre than any victory in such a war. 
 
 Duty to stop the Supplies. 
 
 Another duty, of great practical importance, is to withhold 
 all supplies, or voluntary contribution, to the further prosecu- 
 tion of the war. This is particularly incumbent upon Con- 
 gress, in whom is vested by the Constitution the power to 
 declare war. Every new vote of supplies is a fresh sanction of 
 the war; it is another "declaration." The propriety of with- 
 holding supplies has been sometimes questioned under our Con- 
 stitution. It has been said that, when the country finds itself 
 in war, no matter how, it is the province of Congress to furnish 
 the means for carrying it on. But this assertion confounds the 
 opposite duties in wars of offence, and of defence. In the latter 
 alternative, Congress would be heartily sustained by the people 
 in any appropriations ; but it cannot be just or proper to supply 
 the means of offence against a neighbor. The objection also 
 assumes, for the President, powers beyond any ordinary con- 
 trol. If Congress must blindly vote supplies, without judging 
 of the justice or necessity of the war in-which they are to be 
 employed, then may the President, when the war-power has 
 once been put in motion, push his aggressions without hin- 
 drance. Who can stop his march of conquest, if the bare 
 existence of war be a sufficient excuse for an unquestioning 
 vote of means for its maintenance or its vigorous prosecution ? 
 
 It is sometimes said that Congress must vote the supplies, 
 and then hold him responsible ! Where is the gauge and meas- 
 ure of responsibility for an unjust war t Who can estimate 
 the responsibility for all the accumulated deaths and sorrows 
 of the present contest ? Where is the scale by which it can 
 be determined } Hold him responsible ! Thus may the dogs 
 158 
 
of war be let loose, provided only that their keeper is held to 
 strict account for all their havoc ! But the life of the humblest 
 soldier in the camp is precious beyond any human accounta- 
 bility ! 
 
 The Constitution of our country is not obnoxious to any 
 interpretation so inconsistent with liberty and humanity. Its 
 framers were familiar with the conduct of those stanch Whigs 
 of the British Parliament who refused to sanction the unjust 
 war against the colonies, and sought to withhold supplies for 
 its prosecution. "I would," said Lord Chatham, "sell my 
 shirt off my back to assist in proper measures, properly and 
 wisely conducted ; but I wou/d not part with a single shilling to 
 the present ministers. Their plans are founded in destruction 
 and disgrace. It is, my lords, a ruinous and destructive war ; 
 it is full of danger ; it teems with disgrace, and must end in 
 ruin." In these bold words are indicated the true course of 
 parliamentary opposition to an outrageous policy. Mr. Burke 
 declared that he " would be ever ready to support a just war, 
 whether against subjects or alien enemies; but where justice, or 
 a color of justice, was wanting, he should ever be the jirst to 
 oppose it.''^ And Mr. Fox said " he could not conscientiously 
 agree to grant any money for so destructive, so ignoble a pur- 
 pose as the carrying on a war commenced unjustly and sup- 
 ported with no other view than to the extirpation of freedom 
 and the violation of every social comfort. This he co?iceived to 
 be the strict line of conduct to be observed by a member of Paj-lia- 
 ment.'^ These expressions apply with singular force to the 
 present war and to the duties of Congress. 
 
 The record of the debates at the formation of our own na- 
 tional Constitution show that these high examples of constitu- 
 tional opposition to an unjust war had not been forgotten. 
 While the convention were considering the provision which 
 authorizes the President, with the advice and consent of the 
 Senate, to make treaties, " Mr. Madison moved to authorize 
 two-thirds of the Senate to make treaties of peace, without the 
 concurrence of the President." " The President," he said, 
 "would necessarily derive so much power and importance from 
 a state of war that he might be tempted, if authorized, to 
 impede a treaty of peace." " Mr. Gorham thought the security 
 unnecessary, as the means of carrying on the war would not be 
 in the hands of the Executive, but of the Legislature." (See 
 Elliott's Debates, vol. v. p. 524.) Here is a distinct recognition 
 
 1 59 
 
24 
 
 by Mr. Gorham, who was a delegate from Massachusetts, of 
 the principle that Congress would have the power to refuse 
 supplies, and thus control the Executive in time of war ; and 
 this opinion is supposed to have influenced the convention in 
 rejecting Mr. Madison's amendment as unnecessary. 
 
 The propriety of withholding supplies is sanctioned, then, 
 not only by its intrinsic reasonableness as a mode of restraint, 
 but by opinions expressed in the British Parliament, and in the 
 very convention which framed our Constitution. 
 
 Congress having the power, the present occasion eminently 
 requires its exercise. At the same time, it cannot be expected 
 that they should refuse to the soldiers, who have already been 
 called into this unwelcome service, the reasonable support 
 which their comfort requires. No new sanction should be 
 given to the war, and no supplies should be afforded for its 
 further prosecution. It were better to construct a bridge of 
 gold for the retreat of our army than to vote a man, or a dol- 
 lar, for further conquest. A war, which has been denounced 
 as the President's, and which was made in defiance of the 
 Constitution, and for unjust purposes, should be left to him, 
 and to the minions of his will. The true lovers of their coun- 
 try, and defenders of the Constitution, will leave no measure 
 unattempted by which he may be restrained. As, in ancient 
 Rome, under the decree of banishment, the criminal was de- 
 nied "fire and water," thus cutting him off absolutely from all 
 sources of support, so, according to the genius of our Constitu- 
 tion, should a President, waging an unrighteous contest, be 
 deprived of all means of its prosecution. His murderous plans 
 should be starved. Plis dishonorable and unchristian war 
 should be left without fuel for its flames. 
 
 Further Duty of the Free States. 
 
 Such is a concise review of the origin, objects, and character 
 of the present war, and of the duties which are now imposed 
 upon the country. In developing these, we have already been 
 led to consider the influence of slavery and the " Slave Power." 
 We have seen their agency, first in the act of annexing Texas, 
 and now in the war with Mexico, both of which have been 
 conducted with the view of restraining the power of the Free 
 States under the Constitution. This circumstance, no less than 
 the express reference to this committee of so much of His 
 1 60 
 
25 
 
 Excellency's message as relates to slavery, renders it proper 
 to consider, further, what can be done to check and overthrow 
 the evil influences by which the country has been brought into 
 its present condition. It will not be sufficient merely to stay 
 the war with Mexico. That will be only a partial triumph of 
 right. The disturbing cause must be removed. The original 
 evil, so far as possible, must be eradicated. 
 
 The House, by their reference of the subjects of slavery and 
 the Mexican war to the same committee, have shown their 
 sense of the connection between the two. They are closely 
 united, as cause and effect. The great crime of the war is to 
 be traced directly to slavery ; nor can any view of the former 
 be presented, which can claim credit for ordinary candor with- 
 out a distinct development of this connection. The war, in- 
 deed, derives some of its darkest colors from this motive to its 
 prosecution, which is also visible in the annexation of Texas. 
 Our earnest attention is thus directed to an influence so alien 
 to humanity and freedom, so destructive of the true principles 
 of our Constitution, and so hostile to the interests of the Free 
 States. 
 
 And here, again, we notice the distinction between slavery 
 and the " Slave Power." The former is used to denote the 
 institution, and the latter the political influence or organization 
 which is founded upon it. Opposition to the two will be on 
 different grounds. But it cannot be questioned that it is the 
 duty of the Free States to unite in all constitutional efforts for 
 the abolition of the one and the restraint and overthrow of the 
 other. 
 
 The Abolition of Slavery. 
 
 In pressing the duty of abolishing slavery within the limits 
 of the United States, we are met by the difficulty that it is, 
 except in the District of Columbia and in the territories of the 
 United States, a State institution, drawing its vitality from 
 State laws, and not therefore directly within the constitutional 
 legislation of Congress. There are some passages in the 
 writings of Mr. Jefferson leading to the conclusion that, in his 
 opinion. Congress have the power to pass an " act of emanci- 
 pation to operate within the States."* But he is supposed to 
 have been carried, by the known ardor of his opinions in this 
 
 *See Jefferson's Writings. Letter to Mr. Sparks in 1824. 
 
 161 
 
26 
 
 behalf, beyond the strict Hne of constitutional propriety.* It 
 cannot be doubted, however, that an amendment of the Con- 
 stitution may be made, according to the manner prescribed 
 therein, which shall confer upon Congress this extraordinary 
 power. Mr, Sears, in his recent proposition for the emancipa- 
 tion of all slaves by act of Congress, seems to have contemplated 
 such an amendment. But, as this must be ratified by the legisla- 
 tures of three-fourths of the several States, there is a great diffi- 
 culty in its way in the present state of the public mind. The 
 admission of Louisiana and Texas, however, shows that the 
 popular voice is not always careful of forms ; and it is not 
 impossible that these precedents may be considered here- 
 after as a modification of the Constitution in this respect, 
 pointing the way to a triumph of freedom. But the Legisla- 
 ture of Massachusetts has always shown itself steadfast in its 
 adherence to the substance and forms of the Constitution, and, 
 much as it may desire the abolition of slavery within the limits 
 of the United States, it cannot recommend any course incon- 
 sistent with these. 
 
 But it should not hesitate to recommend all constitutional 
 efforts in this cause. On other occasions the Legislature of 
 Massachusetts has borne its testimony against slavery. It has 
 already assumed the responsibility of proposing an amendment 
 of the Constitution, destroying the representation of slave prop- 
 erty in the House of Representatives and the electoral colleges. 
 It has passed resolutions, at different periods, in favor of the 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, also in the 
 territories, also requesting Congress to exercise their con- 
 stitutional power in prohibiting the slave trade between the 
 States, and in insisting upon the exclusion of slavery as a con- 
 dition of the admission of any new State into the Union. 
 
 This course has been sustained by the people of the Com- 
 monwealth, who have united in large numbers in petitioning 
 Congress in behalf of these several measures. The day has 
 now passed when it will be said that they are not a proper 
 subject for petition or public discussion. 
 
 Especially at the present moment, when criminal efforts have 
 been made to extend slavery, it is incumbent upon all good 
 citizens to renew their exertions for its abolition. It is not only 
 a great calamity, destructive of the true interests of labor, and 
 preventing the increase of knowledge, but, viewed in the Hgiit 
 
 * See National Intelligencer, October, 1846, 
 162 
 
27 
 
 of morals, it is a great wrong. Jefferson called it "an enor- 
 mity." It is a violation of the law of God and nature, not 
 less than of the Christian rule of doing unto others as you 
 would have them do unto you. All the considerations against 
 its extensions require, with equal force, the exertion of all con- 
 stitutional means for its abolition. 
 
 This duty is so paramount that it needs no support from the 
 opinions of another generation. But it cannot but strengthen 
 us in our determination to know that the early fathers of the 
 republic did not consider slavery as permanent, — that they 
 looked upon its existence with regret, and that they welcomed 
 efforts for its abolition. Washington in several of his letters 
 expresses his hostility to it ; and to M. Brissot, a French trav- 
 eller, in 1788, the year of the adoption of the federal Constitu- 
 tion, he said " that he rejoiced at what was doing in other 
 States on the subject [of abolition], and that he sincerely desired 
 the extension of it to his own " ; and when M. Brissot, a for- 
 eigner, it will be observed, suggested to him the expediency of 
 forming an " Anti-Slavery Society " in Virginia, and said that 
 " it was worthy the saviour of America to put himself at its 
 head, and open the door of liberty to three hundred thousand 
 unhappy beings of his own 'State," Washington replied that 
 he " desired the foundatioii of such a society, and that he would 
 second it.'" * The sentiments of Franklin did not differ from 
 those of Washington. He likened American slavery to white 
 slavery in Algiers, and was the president of the earliest " Abo- 
 lition Society " in Pennyh^ania, and, only two years after the 
 adoption of the federal Constitution, called upon Congress "to go 
 to the very verge of the power vested in them, to discourage every 
 species of traffic in our fellow-men." Jefferson has borne his 
 testimony on a variety of occasions, to some of which allusion 
 has been already made. In one of his letters he foreshadows 
 the approaching contest for the abolition of slavery, calling it 
 " the interesting spectacle of Justice in conflict with avarice and 
 oppression ; a conflict where the sacred side is daily gaining 
 recruits from the influx into office of young men grown and 
 growing up. These have sucked in the principles of liberty, 
 as it were, with their mother's milk ; and it is to them I look 
 with anxiety to turn the fate of this question."! 
 
 So long as slavery continues in any place, accessible to any 
 constitutional opposition of our citizens which is not made, 
 
 * Brissot" s Travels, Letter 22. 1 Jefferson's Letters, voL i, p. 26S. 
 
 163 
 
2S 
 
 SO long as it may be reached by any influence within our 
 Commonwealth winch fails to be exerted, just so long are the 
 people of Massachusetts, to a certain extent, responsible for 
 its existence. The wrong is at our own doors. We must do 
 all in our power to remove it. Jefferson has well said that " a 
 great number have not the courage to divest their families of a 
 property ivhich, hoiuever, keeps their consciences unquiet ^ Let 
 not these words, in any sense, be applicable to the people of 
 Massachusetts. The " conscience " of the Commonwealth will 
 have good cause to be "unquiet" at the continued recognition 
 of this property in human beings under the national Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Restraint and Overthrow of the " Slave Power." 
 
 The primary and highest motives for the abolition of slavery 
 are of a moral character. Others, of great importance, are de- 
 rived from its injurious influences on material prosperity. It 
 remains now to speak of still other reasons of a political nature, 
 which furnish occasion for opposition, not only to slavery, but 
 to that powerful organization which is founded upon it, and 
 which is called the " Slave Power."' 
 
 A careful examination of the history of our country, exposing 
 the tyranny and usurpation of the " Slave Power," has not yet 
 been attempted. Our object will be to call attention to a few 
 undeniable facts. The " Slave Power " has predominated over 
 the federal government from its first establishment. It has 
 always absorbed to itself a large portion of all offices of honor 
 and profit under the Constitution. It has held the Presidency 
 for fifty-six years, while the free States have held it for twelve 
 years only. It has for several years rejected the petitions of 
 the free States, thus virtually denying the-right of petition. It 
 has denied, to free colored citizens of the free States, the privi- 
 leges secured to them by the Constitution of the United States, 
 by imprisoning them, and sometimes selling them into slavery. 
 It has insulted and exiled, from Charleston and New Orleans, 
 the honored representatives of Massachusetts, who have been 
 sent to those places in order to throw the shield of the Constitu- 
 tion and law over her colored citizens. It first imposed upon 
 the country the policy of protecting domestic manufactures, 
 contrary to the interests of the free States, and now, when 
 those interests have changed, at a later day has defeated the 
 same policy, contrary to the interests of the same States. It 
 164 
 
29 
 
 required the action of the national government to endeavor to 
 secure compensation for certain slaves who, in the exercise of 
 the natural rights of men, had asserted and achieved their free- 
 dom on the Atlantic Ocean, and sought shelter in Bermuda. It 
 instigated and carried on a most expensive war in Florida, 
 mainly to recover certain fugitive slaves. It wrested from 
 Mexico the province of Texas, and finally secured its annexa- 
 tion to the United States. And now it has involved the whole 
 country in a causeless, cruel, and unjust war with Mexico. All 
 these things have been done by the " Slave Power." 
 
 Their bare enumeration, without further argument, furnishes 
 a sufficient reason for calling for the restraint and overthrow of 
 this influence. And here we do not encounter any difficulties 
 arising from constitutional doubts. It is true that slavery is 
 recognized by the Constitution, and a certain political impor- 
 tance is attached to it by the manner in which it is represented 
 in the House of Representatives and the electoral colleges. 
 But the " Slave Power," as such, is an element and influence 
 unknown to the original framers of that instrument. It is not 
 to be supposed that they who anxiously looked for the abolition 
 of slavery could ever have regarded it as the legitimate foun- 
 dation of an association which was to control the counsels and 
 conduct of the country, and dictate its most important meas- 
 ures. There are but two elements in its existence : first, 
 slavery; and, second, combination among all interested in the 
 preservation of slavery. 
 
 The principles of opposition to the " Slave Power " are the 
 natural correlative or complement of these. They are, first, 
 freedom ; and, second, a combination among all interested in 
 the preservation of freedom. If it be right, under the Constitu- 
 tion, for men to combine for slavery, they may surely combine 
 for freedom. The country has suffered much under the " Slave 
 Power." It remains to be seen if it may not be restored by a 
 combination not yet attempted, — the " Freedom Power." 
 
 And here, as in other niovements for the good of the country, 
 Massachusetts must take the lead. She must be true to the 
 spirit of her fathers in the colonial struggles. She must be true 
 to the sentiments of her Bill of Rights. She must be true to 
 the resolutions which she has put forth against the outrages of 
 the "Slave Power" in imprisoning her colored citizens, and in 
 annexing Texas. She must be true to the moral and religious 
 sentiments of her citizens. In one word, she must be true to 
 
 165 
 
30 
 
 her "CONSCIENCE," and not allow it to be longer "unquiet" by 
 submission to the " Slave Power," 
 
 All of which, with the accompanying Resolutions, is respect- 
 fully submitted. 
 
 RESOLVES 
 Concerning the Mexican War, and the Institution of Slavery. 
 
 Resolved, That the present war with Mexico has its primary 
 origin in the unconstitutional annexation to the United States 
 of the foreign State of Texas, while the same was still at war 
 with Mexico ; that it was unconstitutionally commenced by 
 the order of the President, to General Taylor, to take military 
 possession of territory in dispute between the United States 
 and Mexico, atid in the occupation of Mexico ; and that it is now 
 waged ingloriously, — by a powerful nation against a weak 
 neighbor, — unnecessarily and without just cause, at immense 
 cost of treasure and life, for the dismemberment of Mexico, 
 and for the conquest of a portion of her territory, from which 
 slavery has already been excluded, with the triple object of 
 extending slavery, of strengthening the " Slave Power," and of 
 obtaining the control of the Free States, under the Constitution 
 of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That such a war of conquest, so hateful in its 
 objects, so wanton, unjust, and unconstitutional in its origin and 
 character, must be regarded as a war against freedom, against 
 humanity, against justice, against the Union, against the Con- 
 stitution, and against the Free States ; and that a regard for 
 the true interests and the highest honor of the country, not less 
 than the impulses of Christian duty, should arouse all good 
 citizens to join in efforts to arrest this gigantic crime, by with- 
 holding supplies, or other voluntary contributions, for its further 
 prosecution, by calling for the withdrawal of our army within 
 the established limits of the United States, and in every just 
 way aiding the country to retreat from the disgraceful position 
 of aggression which it now occupies towards a weak, distracted 
 neighbor and sister republic. 
 
 Resolved, That our attention is directed anew to the wrong 
 and " enormity " of slavery, and to the tyranny and usurpa- 
 tion of the " Slave Power," as displayed in the history of our 
 country, particularly in the annexation of Texas, and the pres- 
 i66 
 
ent war with Mexico ; and that we are impressed with the un- 
 alterable conviction that a regard for the fair fame of our 
 country, for the principles of morals, and for that righteousness 
 which exalteth a nation, sanctions and requires all constitu- 
 tional efforts for the abolition of slavery within the limits of 
 the United States, while loyalty to the Constitution, and a just 
 self-defence, make it specially incumbent on the people of the 
 free States to co-operate in strenuous exertions to restrain and 
 overthrow the " Slave Power." 
 
 In the spring of 1847 Sumner prepared for a legislative commit- 
 tee an elaborate report, his authorship of which does not seem to 
 have been known at the time, on the Mexican war and the duties and 
 responsibilities of citizens as to the institution of slavery. It re- 
 viewed the events connected with the annexation of Texas and the 
 war, set forth in vigorous language the pro-slavery purposes of their 
 authors, denounced the war as waged •' against freedom, against 
 humanity, against justice, against the Union, against the Constitu- 
 tion, and against the free States," called for the withholding of sup- 
 plies and the withdrawal of our troops from Mexico, and briefly 
 urged strenuous and combined efforts for the restraint and overthrow 
 of the slave power. The four resolutions which accompanied the re- 
 port summarized its conclusions. The majority of the committee, of 
 which Hayden, editor of the Atlas, was chairman, had been dilatory 
 in taking any action, and finally agreed upon a report which was 
 thought to be wanting in spirit and directness. Edward U Keyes, 
 of Dedham, from the minority of the committee, submitted the re- 
 port and resolutions which Sumner had drawn. There was a con- 
 test in the House, attended with considerable excitement and lasting 
 for several days. The resolutions reported by Keyes were, on the 
 motion of C. R. Train, substituted for the majority report by a con- 
 siderable majority, and were then passed by a vote of more than two 
 to one. With a slight amendment, they then passed the Senate with 
 no serious opposition. Sumner's resolutions thus became the de- 
 clared opinions of the State. The anti-slavery Whigs, after their 
 defeat at the State convention in September, took great satisfaction 
 in this result, which, as they felt, put Massachusetts again right on 
 the record. — Life of Suf/iiter, by Edward L. Fierce. 
 
 "My name," wrote Charles Sumner in a certain autobiographical pas-age, "is con- 
 nected somewhat with two questions, which may be described succinctly as those of peace 
 and slavery." He began his public life by what he called a "declaration of war against 
 war," — his great oration m Boston, July 4, 1S45, o" " The True Grandeur of Nations." _ In 
 tliat address there were references to '.he complications in Te.xas and Mexico, already serious 
 and threatening, out of which came so soon afterwards the Mexican war. The political 
 
 167 
 
32 
 
 policies and situations preceding and accompanying the Mexican war furnished, therefore, 
 the first distinct battle-ground in his lifelong war with slavery; because it was as a deliberate 
 movement to expand the slavery area and increase the slave power that the anti-slavery men 
 of the North viewed tlie ^texic3n war, which they felt to be unprovoked and unnecessary. 
 Sumner's first political speeches and letters were in opposition to the war and its pro-slavery 
 purpose. These will be found in the first volume of his collected works. The report 
 printed in the present leaflet, prepared by Sumner for a committee of the Massachusetts 
 legislature, is not there given, hut is here published separately for the first time, copied 
 from the original document. There is no better brief review of the war and its objects 
 from the anti-slavery standpoint. For a complete record of Sumner's course during the 
 Mexican war, see Pierce's Life of Sumner, vol. iii. 
 
 The speeches of Clay, Giddings, and others, as well as of Sumner, in opposition to the 
 war, should be read ; also, opposing it strongly from a quite different standpoint, the 
 speeches of Calhoun (in his Works, iv. , 303, 396, etc.) The biographies and speeches of 
 Webster and Robert C. Winthrop should be consulted ; with Winthrop Sumner had some 
 controversy. See Schurz's Life of Clay and Von Hoist's Life of Calhoun, in the American 
 Statesmen Series. Von Hoist's Constitutional History of the United States, vol. iii., con- 
 tains a very full and searching discussion of the causes and motives of the war, in accord 
 with Sumner's view. Briefer discussions in Schouler's History of the United States, iv. and 
 v., and Henry Wilson's History of the Slave Power, ii. Perhaps the best statements of the 
 administration position concerning the war are President Polk's own messages to Congress, 
 which were most carefully prepared, and should be carefully read. See also George Ticknor 
 Curtis's Life of James Buchanan, i. 579, etc. William Jay's little book on the Mexican 
 War is the eloquent sermon of a pronounced peace man upon what he regarded as one of 
 the wickedest of all wicked wars. Major R. S. Ripley's " War with Mexico," in two vols., 
 is a military history. The live.s of Generals Taylor and Scott give accounts of the campaigns. 
 See also General Grant's Memoirs. Many of the generals ot the Civil War had their first 
 military experience in the war with Mexico. The war stirred most of the anti-slavery orators 
 and poets to significant utterances, which form an important part of the literature of the sub- 
 ject. Most important is Lowell's " Biglow Papers," the first series of which relates 
 entirely to this period. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 
 168 
 
No. 1.^3. 
 
 Seward's 
 
 Address on 
 
 Alaska 
 
 AT SITKA, AUGUST 12, 1869. 
 
 Citizens of Alaska, Felhno-citizens of the United States : You 
 have pressed me to meet you in public assembly once before 
 I leave Alaska. It would be sheer affectation to pretend to 
 doubt your sincerity in making this request, and capriciously 
 ungrateful to refuse it, after having received so many and 
 varied hospitalities from all sorts and conditions of men. It is 
 not an easy task, however, to speak in a manner worthy of 
 your consideration, while I am living constantly on shipboard, 
 as you all know, and am occupied intently in searching out 
 whatever is sublime, or beautiful, or peculiar, or useful. On 
 the other hand, it is altogether natural on your part to say, 
 " You have looked upon Alaska : what do you think of it } " 
 Unhappily, I have seen too little of Alaska to answer the 
 question satisfactorily. The entire coast line of the United 
 States, exclusive of Alaska, is 10,000 miles, while the coast 
 line of Alaska alone, including the islands, is 26,000 miles. 
 The portion of the Territory which lies east of the peninsula, 
 including islands, is 120 miles wide. The western portion, 
 including Aleutian Islands expands to a breadth of 2,200 
 miles. The entire land area, including islands, is 577,390 
 statute square miles. We should think a foreigner very pre- 
 sumptuous who should presume to give the world an opinion 
 of the whole of the United States of America, after he had 
 merely looked in from his steamer at Plymouth and Boston 
 Harbor, or had run up the Hudson River to the Highlands, 
 or had ascended the Delaware to Trenton, or the James River 
 to Richmond, or the Mississippi no farther than Memphis. 
 My observation thus far has hardly been more comprehensive, 
 
 169 
 
I entered the Territory of Alaska at the Portland canal, made 
 my way through the narrow passages of the Prince of Wales 
 Archipelago, thence through Peril and Chatham Straits and 
 Lynn Channel, and up the Chilcat River to the base of Fair- 
 weather, from which latter place I have returned through 
 Clarence Straits, to sojourn a few days in your beautiful bay, 
 under the shadows of the Baranoff Hills and Mount Edge- 
 combe. Limited, however, as my opportunities have been, I 
 will, without further apology, give you the impressions I have 
 received. 
 
 Of course, I speak first of the skies of Alaska. It seems to 
 be assumed in the case of Alaska that a country which extends 
 through fifty-eight degrees of longitude, and embraces portions 
 as well of the arctic as of the temperate zone, unlike all other re- 
 gions so situated, has not several climates, but only one. The 
 weather of this one broad climate of Alaska is severely criti- 
 cised in outside circles for being too wet and too cold. Never- 
 theless, it must be a fastidious person who complains of cli- 
 mates in which, while the eagle delights to soar, the humming- 
 bird does not disdain to flutter. I shall speak only of the 
 particular climate here which I know. 
 
 My visit here happens to fall within the month of August. 
 Not only have the skies been sufficiently bright and serene to 
 give me a perfect view, under the sixtieth parallel, of the total 
 eclipse of the sun, and of the evening star at the time of the 
 sun's obscuration, but I have also enjoyed more clear than 
 there have been cloudy days ; and in the early mornings and in 
 the late evenings peculiar to the season I have lost myself in 
 admiration of skies adorned with sapphire and gold as richly 
 as those which are reflected by the Mediterranean. Of all the 
 moonlights in the world, commend me to-those which light up 
 the archipelago of the North Pacific Ocean. Fogs have some- 
 times detained me longer on the Hudson and on Long Island 
 Sound than now on the waters of the North Pacific. In saying 
 this, I do not mean to say that rain and fog are unfrequent here. 
 The Russian pilot, George, whom you all know, expressed my 
 conviction on this matter exactly when he said to me, " Oh, yes, 
 Mr. Seward, we do have changeable weather here sometimes, as 
 they do in the other States." I might amend the expression 
 by adding the weather here is only a little more changeable. 
 It must be confessed, at least, that it is an honest climate ; for 
 it makes no pretensions to constancy. If, however, you have 
 170 
 
fewer bright sunrises and glowing sunsets than southern 
 latitudes enjoy, you are favored, on the other hand, with 
 more frequent and more magnificent displays of the aurora 
 and the rainbow. The thermometei' tells the whole case when 
 it reports that the summer is colder and the winter is warmer 
 in Alaska than in New York and Washington. It results from 
 the nature of such a climate that the earth prefers to support 
 the fir, the spruce, the pine, the hemlock, and other evergreens 
 rather than deciduous trees, and to furnish grasses and esculent 
 roots rather than the cereals of dryer and hotter climates. I 
 have mingled freely with the multifarious population, — the 
 Tongas, the Stickeens, the Cakes, the Hydahs, the Sitkas, 
 the Kootznoos, and the Chilcats, as well as with the traders, 
 the soldiers, the seamen, and the settlers of various nationali- 
 ties, English, Swedish, Russian, and American, — and I have 
 seen all around me only persons enjoying robust and exuberant 
 health. Manhood of every race and condition everywhere 
 exhibits activity and energy, while infancy seems exempt from 
 disease, and age relieved from pain. 
 
 It is next in order to speak of the rivers and seas of Alaska. 
 The rivers are broad, shallow, and rapid, while the seas are 
 deep, but tranquil. Mr. Sumner, in his elaborate and magnifi- 
 cent oration, although he spake only from historical accounts, 
 has not exaggerated — no man can exaggerate — the marine 
 treasures of the Territory. Besides the whale, which every- 
 where and at all times is seen enjoying his robust exercise, 
 and the sea-otter, the fur-seal, the hair-seal, and the walrus, 
 found in the waters which embosom the western islands, those 
 waters, as -well as the seas of the eastern archipelago, are 
 found teeming with the salmon, cod, and other fishes adapted 
 to the support of human and animal life. Indeed, what I have 
 seen here has almost made me a convert to the theory of some 
 naturalists, that the waters of the globe are filled with stores 
 for the sustenance of animal life surpassing the available 
 productions of the land. 
 
 It must be remembered that the coast range of mountains, 
 which begins in Mexico, is continued into the Territor}', and 
 invades the seas of Alaska. Hence it is that in the islands 
 and on the mainland, so far as I have explored it, we find our- 
 selves everywhere in the immediate presence of black hills, or 
 foot-hills, as they are variously called, and that these foot-hills 
 are overtopped by ridges of snow-capped mountains. These 
 
 171 
 
snow-capped mountains are manifestly of volcanic origin ; and 
 thej' have been subjected, through an indefinite period, to 
 atmospheric abrasion and disintegration. Hence they have 
 assumed all conceivable shapes and forms. In some places 
 they are serrated into sharp, angular peaks, and in other 
 places they appear architecturally arranged, so as to present 
 cloud-capped castles, towers, domes, and minarets. The 
 mountain sides are furrowed with deep and straight ravines, 
 down which the thawing fields of ice and snow are precipated, 
 generally in the month of May, with such a vehemence as to 
 have produced in every valley immense level plains of inter- 
 vale land. These plains, as well as the sides of the mountains, 
 almost to the summits, are covered with forests so dense and 
 dark as to be impenetrable, except to wild beasts and savage 
 huntsmen. On the lowest intervale land the Cottonwood 
 grows. It seems to be the species of poplar which is known 
 in the Atlantic States as the Balm of Gilead, and which is 
 dwarfed on the Rocky Mountains. Here it takes on such 
 large dimensions that the Indian shapes out of a single trunk 
 even his great war canoe, which safely bears over the deepest 
 waters a phalanx of sixty warriors. These imposing trees 
 always appear to rise out of a jungle of elder, alder, crab-apple, 
 and other fruit-bearing shrubs and bushes. The short and 
 slender birch, which, sparsely scattered, marks the verge of 
 vegetation in Labrador, has not yet been reached by the 
 explorers of Alaska. The birch-tree sometimes appears here 
 upon the riverside, upon the level next above the home of the 
 Cottonwood, and is generally found a comely and stately tree. 
 The forests of Alaska, however, consist mainly neither of 
 shrubs, nor of the birch, nor. of the cottonwood, but, as I have 
 already intimated, of the. pine, the cedar, the cypress, the 
 spruce, the fir, the larch, and the hemlock. These forests begin 
 almost at the water's edge, and they rise with regular gradation 
 to a height of two thousand feet. The trees, nowhere dwarfed 
 or diminutive, attain the highest dimensions in sunny expos- 
 ures in the deeper canons or gorges of the mountains. The 
 cedar, sometimes called the yellow cedar, and sometimes the 
 fragrant cedar, was long ago imported in China as an orna- 
 mental wood ; and it now furnishes the majestic beams and 
 pillars with which the richer and more ambitious native chief 
 delights to construct his rude but spacious hall or palatial 
 residence, and upon which he carves in rude symbolical imagery 
 172 
 
5 
 
 the heraldry of his tribe and achievements of his nation. 
 No beam, or pillar, or spar, or mast, or plank is ever required 
 in either the land or the naval architecture of any civilized 
 state greater in length and width than the trees which can be 
 hewn down on the coasts of the islands and rivers here, and 
 conveyed directly thence by navigation. A few gardens, 
 fields, and meadows have been attempted by natives in some 
 of the settlements, and by soldiers at the military posts, with 
 most encouraging results. Nor must we forget that the native 
 grasses, ripening late in a humid climate, preserve their 
 nutritive properties, though exposed, while the climate is so 
 mild that cattle and horses require but slight provision of 
 shelter during the winter. 
 
 Such is the island and coast portion of Eastern Alaska. 
 Klakautch, the Chilcat, who is known and feared by the 
 Indians throughout the whole Territory, and who is a very 
 intelligent chief, informs me that beyond the mountain range 
 which intervenes between the Chilcat and the Yukon Rivers 
 you descend into a plain unbroken by hills or mountains, very 
 fertile, in a genial climate, and, as far as he could learn, of 
 boundless extent. We have similar information from those 
 who have traversed the interior from the shore of the Portland 
 canal to the upper branches of the Yukon. We have reason, 
 therefore, to believe that beyond the coast range of mountains 
 in Alaska we shall find an extension of the rich and habitable 
 valley lands of Oregon, Washington Territory, and British 
 Columbia. 
 
 After what I have already said, I may excuse myself from 
 expatiating on the animal productions of the forest. The elk 
 and the deer are so plenty as to be under\alued for food or 
 skins, by natives as well as strangers. The bear of many 
 families, — black, grizzly, and cinnamon ; the mountain sheep, 
 inestimable for his fleece ; the wolf, the fox, the beaver, the 
 otter, the mink, the raccoon, the marten, the ermine ; the 
 squirrel, — gray, black, brown, and flying, — are among the land 
 fur-bearing animals. The furs thus found here have been the 
 chief element, for more than a hundred years, of the profitable 
 commerce of the Hudson Bay Company, whose mere possessory 
 privileges seem, even at this late day, too costly to find a ready 
 purchaser. This fur-trade, together with the sea fur-trade 
 within the Territory, were the sole basis alike of Russian com- 
 merce and empire on this continent. This commerce was so 
 
large and important as to induce the governments of Russia 
 and China to build and maintain a town for carrying on its 
 exchanges in Tartary on the border of the two empires. It is 
 well understood that the supply of furs in Alaska has not 
 diminished, while the demand for them in China and elsewhere 
 has immensely increased. 
 
 I fear that we must confess to a failure of ice as an element 
 of territorial wealth, at least as far as this immediate region is 
 concerned. I find that the Russian American Company, 
 whose monopoly was abolished by the treaty of acquisition, 
 depended for ice exclusively upon the small lake or natural 
 pond which furnishes the power for your saw-mill in this town, 
 and that this dependence has now failed by reason of the 
 increasing mildness of the winter. The California Ice Com- 
 pany are now trying the small lakes of Kodiac, and certainly I 
 wish them success. I think it is not yet ascertained whether 
 glacier ice is pure and practical for commerce. If it is, the 
 world may be supplied from the glaciers, which, suspended 
 from the region of the clouds, stand forth in the majesty of 
 ever-wasting and ever-renewed translucent mountains upon 
 the banks of the Stickeen and Chilcat Rivers and the shores of 
 Cross Sound. 
 
 Alaska has been as yet but imperfectly explored ; but enough 
 is known to assure us that it possesses treasures of what are 
 called the baser ores equal to those of any other region of the 
 continent. We have Copper Island and Copper River, so 
 named as the places where the natives, before the period of 
 the Russian discovery, had procured the pure metal from which 
 they fabricated instruments of war and legendary shields. In 
 regard to iron the question seems to be not where it can be 
 found, but whether ttiere is any place where it does not exist. 
 Mr. Davidson, of the Coast Survey, invite? me to go up to him 
 at the station he had taken up the Chilcat River to make his 
 observations of the eclipse, by writing me that he had dis- 
 covered an iron mountain there. When I came there. I found 
 that, very properly, he had been studying the heavens so 
 busily that he had but cursorily examined the earth under 
 his feet, that it was not a single iron mountain he had 
 discovered, but a range of hills the very dust of which 
 adheres to the magnet, while the range itself, two thou- 
 sand feet high, extends along the east bank of the river 
 thirty miles. Limestone and marble crop out on the banks 
 174 
 
7 
 
 of the same river and in many other places. Coal-beds, 
 accessible to navigation, are found at Kootznoo. It is said, 
 however, that the concentrated resin which the mineral con- 
 tains renders it too inflammable to be safely used by steamers. 
 In any case, it would seem calculated to supply the fuel 
 requisite for the manufacture of iron. What seems to be 
 excellent cannel coal is also found in the Prince of Wales 
 Archipelago. There are also mines at Cook's Inlet. Placer 
 and quartz gold mining is pursued under many social dis- 
 advantages upon the Stickeen and elsewhere, with a degree of 
 success which, while it does not warrant us in assigning a 
 superiority in that respect to the Territory, does nevertheless 
 warrant us in regarding gold mining as an established and 
 reliable resource. 
 
 It would argue inexcusable insensibility if I should fail to 
 speak of the scenery which, in the course of my voyage, has 
 seemed to pass like a varied and magnificent panorama before 
 me. The exhibition did not, indeed, open within the Territory. 
 It broke upon me first when I had passed Cape Flattery and 
 entered the Straits of Fuca, which separate British Columbia 
 from Washington Territory. It widened as I passed along the 
 shore of Puget Sound, expanded in the waters which divide 
 Vancouver from the continent, and finally spread itself out 
 into a magnificent archipelago, stretching through the entire 
 Gulf of Alaska, and closing under the shade of Mounts Fair- 
 weather and St. Elias. Nature has furnished to this majestic 
 picture the only suitable border which could be conceived, by 
 lifting the coast range mountains to an exalted height, and 
 clothing them with eternal snows and crystalline glaciers. 
 
 It remains only to speak of man and of society in Alaska. 
 Until the present moment the country has been exclusively 
 inhabited and occupied by some thirty or more Indian tribes. 
 I indine to doubt the popular classification of these tribes 
 upon the assumption that they have descended from diverse 
 races. Climate and other circumstances have indeed pro- 
 duced some differences of manners and customs between the 
 Aleuts, the Koloschians, and the interior continental tribes. 
 But all of them are manifestly of Mongol origin. Although 
 they have preserved no common traditions, all alike indulge in 
 tastes, wear a physiognomy, and are imbued with sentiments 
 peculiarly noticed in Japan and China. Savage communities, 
 no less than civilized nations, require space for subsistence, 
 
 175 
 
whether they depend for it upon the land or upon the sea, — in 
 savage communities especially ; and increase of population dis- 
 proportioned to the supplies of the country occupied necessi- 
 tates subdivision and remote colonization. Oppression and 
 cruelty occur even more frequently among barbarians than 
 among civilized men. Nor are ambition and faction less 
 inherent in the one condition than in the other. From these 
 causes it has happened that the 25,000 Indians in Alaska are 
 found permanently divided into so many insignificant nations. 
 These nations are jealous, ambitious, and violent; could in no 
 case exist long in the same region without mutually affording 
 what, in ever}^ case, to each party seems just cause of v.ar. 
 War between savages becomes the private cause of the several 
 families which are afflicted with the loss of their members. 
 Such a war can never be composed until each family which 
 has suffered receives an indemnity in blankets, adjusted ac- 
 cording to an imaginary tariff, or, in the failure of such com- 
 pensation, secures the death of one or more enemies as an 
 atonement for the injury it has sustained. The enemy capt- 
 ured, whether by superior force or strategy, either receives no 
 quarter or submits for himself and his progeny to perpetual 
 slavery. It has thus happened that the Indian tribes of 
 Alaska have never either confederated or formed permanent 
 alliances, and that even at this late day, in the presence of 
 superior power exercised by the United States government, 
 they live in regard to each other in a state of enforced and 
 doubtful truce. It is manifest that, under these circumstances, 
 they must steadily decline in numbers ; and, unhappily, this 
 decline is accelerated by their borrowing ruinous vices from 
 the white man. Such as the natives of Alaska are, they are, 
 nevertheless, in a practical sense, the ortl}' laborers at present 
 in the Territory. The white man comes amongst them from 
 London, from St. Petersburg, from Boston, from New York, 
 from San Francisco, and from Victoria, not to fish (if we ex- 
 cept alone the whale fishery) or to hunt, but simply to buy 
 what fish and what peltries, ice, wood, lumber, and coal the 
 Indians have secured under the superintendence of temporary 
 agents or factors. \\'hen we consider how greatly most of the 
 tribes are reduced in numbers and how precarious their voca- 
 tions are, we shall cease to regard them as indolent or inca- 
 pable ; and, on the contrary, we shall more deeply regret than 
 ever before that a people so gifted by nature, so vigorous and 
 176 
 
energetic, and withal so docile and gentle in their intercourse 
 with the white man, can neither be preserved as a distinct social 
 community nor incorporated into our society. The Indian 
 tribes will do here as they seem to have done in Washington 
 Territory and British Columbia : they will merely serve their 
 turn until civilized white men come. 
 
 You, the citizens of Sitka, are the pioneers, the advanced 
 guard, of the future population of Alaska : and you naturally 
 ask when, from whence, and how soon re-enforcements shall 
 come, and what are the signs and guarantees of their coming ? 
 This question, with all its minute and searching interrogations, 
 has been asked by the pioneers of every State and Territory 
 of which the American Union is now composed ; and the 
 history of those States and Territories furnishes the complete, 
 conclusive, and satisfactory answer. Emigrants go to every 
 infant State and Territory in obedience to the great natural law 
 that obliges needy men to seek subsistence, and invites advent- 
 urous men to seek fortune where it is most easily obtained ; 
 and this is always in the new and uncultivated regions. They 
 go from every State and Territor)', and from every foreign 
 nation in America, Europe, and Asia, because no established 
 and populous state or nation can guarantee subsistence and 
 fortune to all who demand them among its inhabitants. 
 
 The guarantees and signs of their coming to Alaska are 
 found in the resources of the Territory, which I have attempted 
 to describe, and in the condition of society in other parts of 
 the world. Some men seek other climes for health, and some 
 for pleasure. Alaska invites the former class by a climate 
 singularly salubrious, and the latter class by scenery which 
 surpasses in sublimity that of either the Alps, the Apennines, 
 the Alleghanies, or the Rocky Mountains. Emigrants from 
 our own States, from Europe, and from Asia, will not be slow 
 in finding out that fortunes are to be gained by pursuing here 
 the occupations which have so successfully sustained races of 
 untutored men. Civilization and refinement are making more 
 rapid advances in our day than at any former period. The 
 rising States and nations on this continent, the European 
 nations, and even those of Eastern Asia, have exhausted, or 
 are exhausting, their own forests and mines, and are soon to 
 become largely dependent upon those of the Pacific. The 
 entire region of Oregon, Washington Territory, British Co- 
 lumbia, and Alaska, seem thus destined to become a ship- 
 
 177 
 
lO 
 
 yard for the supply of all nations. I do not forget on this 
 occasion that British Columbia belongs within a foreign juris- 
 diction. That circumstance does not materially affect my 
 calculations. British Columbia, by whomsoever possessed, 
 must be governed in conformity with the interests of her 
 people and of society upon the American continent. If that 
 territory shall be so governed, there will be no ground of 
 complaint anywhere. If it shall be governed so as to conflict 
 with the interests of the inhabitants of that territory and of the 
 United States, we all can easily foresee what will happen in 
 that case. You wi^l ask me, however, for guarantees that the 
 hopes I encourage will not be postponed. I give them. 
 
 Within the period of my own recollection, I have seen 
 twenty new States added to the eighteen which before that time 
 constituted the American Union ; and I now see, besides Alaska, 
 ten Territories in a forward condition of preparation for entering 
 into the same great political family. I have seen in my own time 
 not only the first electric telegraph, but even the first railroad 
 and the first steamboat invented by man. And even on this pres- 
 ent voyage of mine I have fallen in with the first steamboat, still 
 afloat, that thirty-five years ago lighted her fires on the Pacific 
 Ocean. These, citizens of Sitka, are the guarantees, not only 
 that Alaska has a future, but that that future has already 
 begun. I know that you want two things just now, when 
 European monopoly is broken down and United States free 
 trade is being introduced within the Territory : these are mil- 
 itary protection while your number is so inferior to that of the 
 Indians around you, and you need also a territorial civil gov- 
 ernment. Congress has already supplied the first of these 
 wants adequately and effectually. I doubt not that it will sup- 
 ply the other want during the comii>g~ winter. It must do 
 this because our political system rejects alike anarchy and 
 executive absolutism. Nor do I doubt that the political society 
 to be constituted here, first as a Territory, and ultimately as a 
 State or many States, will prove a worthy constituency of the 
 Republic. To doubt that it will be intelligent, virtuous, pros- 
 perous, and enterprising is to doubt the experience of Scot- 
 land, Denmark, Sweden, Holland, and Belgium, and of New 
 England and New York. Nor do I doubt that it will be for- 
 ever true in its republican instincts and loyal to the American 
 Union, for the inhabitants will be both mountaineers and sea- 
 faring men. I am not among those who apprehend infidelity 
 17S 
 
1 1 
 
 to liberty and the Union in any quarter liereafter ; but I am 
 sure that, if constancy and loyalty are to fail anywhere, the 
 failure will not be in the States which approach nearest to the 
 North Pole. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, accept once more my thanks, from the heart 
 of my heart, for kindness which can never be forgotten, and 
 suffer me to leave you with a sincere and earnest farewell. 
 
 ALASKA TREATY. 
 
 The United States of America and his Majesty the Emperor of all 
 the Russias, being desirous of strengthening, if possible, the good 
 understanding which exists between them, have, for that purpose, 
 appointed as their plenipotentaries: the President of the United 
 States, William H. Seward, Secretary of State; and his Majesty the 
 Emperor of all the Russias, the privy counsellor Edward de Stoeckl, 
 his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United 
 States. 
 
 And the said plenipotentiaries, having exchanged their full powers, 
 which were found to be in due form, have agreed upon and signed 
 the following articles : — 
 
 Article I. — His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias agrees 
 to cede to the United States, by this convention, immediately upon 
 the exchange of the ratifications thereof, all the territory and domin- 
 ion now possessed Ijy his said Majesty on the continent of America 
 and in the adjacent islands, the same being contained within the 
 geographical limits herein set forth, to wit: the eastern limit is the 
 line of demarcation between the Russian and the British possessions 
 in North America, as established by the convention between Russia 
 and Great Britain, of February 28-16, 1825, and described in Articles 
 III. and IV. of said convention, in the following terms: — 
 
 "Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called 
 Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 
 40 minutes north latitude, and between the 131st and 133d degree of 
 west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line shall ascend to 
 the north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the 
 point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north 
 latitude; from this last-mentioned point the line of demarcation 
 shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the 
 coast as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west 
 longitude (of the same meridian) ; and tinally, from the said point of 
 intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its pro- 
 ' longation as far as the Frozen Ocean. 
 
 " IV. With reference to the line of demarcation laid down in the 
 preceding article, it is understood — 
 
 " 1st. That the island called Prince of Wales Island shall belong 
 wholly to Russia" (now by this cession to the United States). 
 
 179 
 
12 
 
 " 2d. That whenever the summit of the mountains which extend ii 
 a direction parallel to the coast from the 56th degree of north latitud( 
 to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitud( 
 shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine league: 
 from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and th( 
 line of coast which is to belong to Russia as above mentioned (that i: 
 to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this convention) shall bi 
 formed by a line parallel to the winding of the coast, and whicl 
 shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom." 
 
 The western limit within \vhich the territories and dominion con 
 veyed are contained passes through a point in Behring's Straits on thi 
 parallel of 6s degrees 30 minutes north latitude, at its intersection b' 
 the meridian which passes midway between the islands of Krusen 
 stern, or Ignalook, and the island of Ratmanoff, or Noonarbook, anc 
 proceeds due north, without limitation, into the same Frozen Ocean 
 The same western limit, beginning at the same initial point, proceed 
 thence in a course nearly southwest, through Behring's Straits anc 
 Behring's Sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest point 
 the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast point of Cape Choukot 
 ski, to the meridian of 172 west longitude; tlience, from the inter 
 section of that meridian, in a southwesterly direction, so as to pas: 
 midway between the island of Attou and the Copper Island of th( 
 Kormandorski couplet or group in the North Pacific Ocean, to thi 
 meridian of 193 degrees west longitude, so as to include in thi 
 territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian Islands east of tha 
 meridian. 
 
 Article II. — In the cession of territory and dominion made b; 
 the preceding article are included the right of property in all publii 
 lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications 
 barracks, and other edifices which are not private individual property 
 It is, however, understood and agreed that the churches which havi 
 been built in the ceded territory by the Russian government shal 
 remain the property of such members of the Greek Oriental Churcl 
 resident in the territory as may choose to worship therein. An; 
 government archives, papers, and documents relative to the territor; 
 and dominion aforesaid, which may be now existing there, will be lef 
 in the possession of tlie agent of the U nited~ States ; but an authenti 
 cated copy of such of them as may be required will be at all time 
 given by the United States to the Russian government, or to sucl 
 Russian officers or subjects as they may apply for. 
 
 Article III. — The inhabitants of the ceded territory, accordins 
 to their choice, reserving their natural allegiance, may return t( 
 Russia within three years ; but, if thev should prefer to remain in thi 
 ceded territory, they, with the exception of uncivilized native tribes 
 shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, anc 
 immunities of citizens of the United States, and shall be maintainec 
 and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, anc 
 religion. The uncivilized tribes will be subject to such laws anc 
 regulations as the United States may from time to time adopt ii 
 regard to aboriginal tribes of that country. 
 180 
 
13 
 
 Article IV. — His iMajesty the Emperor of ail the Russias shall 
 appoint, with convenient despatch, an agent or agents for the purpose 
 of formally delivering to a similar agent or agents appointed on 
 behalf of the United States the territory, dominion, property, de- 
 pendencies, and appurtenances which are ceded as above, and for 
 doing any other act which may be necessary in regard thereto. But 
 the cession, with the right of immediate possession, is nevertheless 
 to be deemed complete and absolute on the exchange of ratifications, 
 without waiting for such formal delivery. 
 
 Article V. — Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications 
 of this convention, any fortifications or military posts which maj' be 
 in the ceded territory shall be delivered to the agent of the United 
 States, and any Russian troops which may be in the territory shall be 
 withdrawn as soon as may be reasonably and conveniently practicable. 
 
 Article VI. — In consideration of the cession aforesaid the 
 United States agree to pay at the treasury in Washington, within ten 
 months after the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, to 
 the diplomatic representative or other agent of his Majesty the Em- 
 peror of all the Russias, duly authorized to receive the same, seven 
 million two hundred thousand dollars in gold. The cession of ter- 
 ritory and dominion herein made is hereby declared to be free and 
 unencumbered by any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants, or 
 possessions, by any associated companies, whether corporate or in- 
 corporate, Russian or any other, or by any parties, except merely 
 private individual property-holders; and the cession hereby made 
 conveys all the rights, franchises, and privileges now belonging to 
 Russia in the said territory or dominion, and appurtenances thereto. 
 
 Article VII. — When this convention shall have been duly rati- 
 fied by the President of the United States, by and Avith the advice 
 and consent of the Senate, on the one part, and on the other by his 
 Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the ratifications shall be 
 exchanged at Washington within three months from the date hereof, 
 or sooner, if possible. 
 
 In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed this 
 convention, and thereto affixed the seals of their arms. 
 
 Done at Washington, the 30th day of March, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven. 
 
 [l. s.] WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 
 [l. s.] EDOUARD DE STOECKL. 
 
 The purchase of Alaska has often been called Seward's greatest 
 service to his country. A vast territory which Russia acquired by 
 right of discovery and held for considerably more than a century 
 was sold to the United States before hardly a dozen Americans knew 
 that such a proposition was even under consideration. There is a 
 tradition that during Polk's administration something was said to 
 Russia about parting with her possessions in North America. It is 
 
14 
 
 certain that as early as 1859 Senator Gwin and the Assistant Secre- 
 tary of State discussed the question with Stoeclcl, the Russian 
 Minister at Washington, and that as much as five million dollars was 
 offered. The official answer was that this sum was not regarded as 
 adequate, but that Russia would be ready to carry on negotiations as 
 soon as the Minister of Finance could look into the question. There 
 was no occasion for haste ; Buchanan soon went out of ofiice ; and 
 the subject, which was never known to many persons, seems to have 
 been entirely forgotten for several years. 
 
 The interests of a few citizens on the Pacific slope were the main- 
 spring of the little that had been done. For more than a decade San 
 Francisco had annually received a large amount of ice from Russian 
 America, and United States fishermen had been profitably engaged 
 in different parts of the far northern Pacific. Those interests had 
 rapidly increased from year to _vear. At the beginning of 1866 the 
 legislature of Washington Territory sent a petition to President 
 Johnson, saying that an abundance of codfish, halibut, and salmon 
 had been found along the shores of Russian America, and request- 
 ing him to obtain from the Russian government such concessions as 
 would enable American fishing vessels to visit the ports and harbors 
 of that region for the purpose of obtaining fuel, water, and provisions. 
 Sumner says that this was referred to the Secretary of State, who 
 suggested to Stoeckl that some comprehensive arrangement should 
 be made to prevent any difiiculties arising between the United States 
 and Russia on account of the fisheries. About this time several Cali- 
 fornians wished to obtain a franchise to carry on the fur-trade in Rus- 
 sian America. Senator Cole, of California, urged both Seward and 
 Stoeckl to support the request. Seward instructed Cassius M. Clay, 
 the United States Minister at St. Petersburg, to consult the Rus- 
 sian government on the subject. Clay reported in Februar}-, 1S67, that 
 there was a prospect of success. In fact, the time happened to be 
 peculiarly opportune for negotiation. 
 
 Russian America had never been brought under the regular rule of 
 the imperial government. Since the beginning of the century its few 
 thousand civilized inhabitants had been governed by a great monopoly 
 called the Russian-American Company. ItS-^harter had expired with 
 the year 1S61, and had not been renewed ; yet a renewal was expected. 
 This monopoly was so unprofitable that it had sought and obtained 
 special privileges, such as the free importation of tea into Russia. 
 It had even sublet some of its privileges to the Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany. This sublease to Englishmen was to expire in June, 1S67. Bj' 
 the usual means of communication Russian America was from Russia 
 one of the most distant regions on earth. To organize it as a colony 
 would involve great expense and continuous financial loss. To 
 defend it in time of war with Great Britain or the United States 
 would be an impossibility. When the Crimean war broke out com- 
 mon interest led the Russian-American and the Hudson Bay com- 
 panies to induce their respective governments to neutralize the 
 Russian and the British possessions on the northwest coast of America. 
 Otherwise Great Britain might easily have seized the Russian Terri- 
 182 
 
15 
 
 tnry. To the imperial government at the beginning of 1S67 the 
 [iroblem resolved itself into these three questions: Shall the char- 
 ter of the monopoly, with its privileges and unsatisfactory treat- 
 ment of the inhabitants, be renewed? Shall an expensive colonial 
 system be organized ? Shall we sell at a fair price territory that will 
 surely be lost, if it ever becomes populated and valuable ? It was 
 foreseen that unless sold to the most constant and grateful of Rus- 
 sia's friends, it was likely to be taken by her strongest and most 
 inveterate enemy. Stoeckl was spending part of the winter of 1S66- 
 67 in St. Petersburg, and the different questions were talked over 
 V, ith him, for he had long been Minister to the United States. In 
 lebruary, 1867, as he was about to return to Washington, " the Arch- 
 duke Constantine, the brother and chief adviser of the Emperor, 
 lianded him a map with the lines in our treaty marked upon it, and 
 told him he might treat for this cession." 
 
 The following month Stoeckl and Seward began negotiations. One 
 named ten million dollars as a reasonable price; the other offered 
 five millions. Then they took the middle ground — namely, seven 
 million five hundred thousand — as a basis. Seward urged and 
 Stoeckl agreed that the half million should be dropped. The Rus- 
 sian-American Company still claimed privileges and held interests 
 that could not be ignored. Seward saw the objections to assuming 
 any responsibility for matters of this kind; so he offered to add two 
 hundred thousand dollars to the seven millions if Russia would give 
 a title free ffom all liabilities. On the evening of March 29, 1S67. 
 the Russian Minister called at Seward's house and informed him of 
 the receipt of a cablegram reporting the Emperor's consent to tlie 
 ]>roposition, and then he added that he would be ready to take up the 
 final work the next day, for haste was desirable. With a smile of 
 satisfaction at the news, Seward pushed aside the table where he had 
 been enjoying his usual evening game of whist, and said: ''Why 
 wait until to-morrow, Mr. Stoeckl ? Let us make the treaty to-night.'' 
 The needed clerks were summoned; the Assistant Secretary went 
 after Sumner, the chairman of the Senate committee on foreign 
 affairs; the Russian Minister sent for his assistants; and at midnight 
 all met at the Department of State. By four o'clock in the morning 
 the task was completed. In a few hours the President sent the 
 treaty to the Senate. — Life of Williajii H. Seward, bv Frederic 
 Jldiicroft. 
 
 Two great American names are associated with the purchase of Alaska, Sc-ward and 
 Sumner. Seward, as Secretar\- of State negotiated with Stoeckl, tlie Russian minister, tlie 
 treaty, which was signed March 30, 1S67. Sumner, as chairman of the Senate Committee on 
 Foreign Relations, was its chief sponsor before the Senate, delivering on April 9, 1S67, his 
 speech upon the Cession of Russian America to the United States, vvhich was followed the 
 same day bv the vote in favor of ratification. Sumner's speech, which occupies 64 pp. in 
 vol. xi. of his W'orks, is a most thorough study of the boundaries of Alaska, its early history, 
 the negotiations for the cession, the sources of information upon Russian America, the char- 
 acter and value of the territory, and the general problems involved in the transfer : and it re- 
 . mains the greatest speech upon Alaska, a monument to Sumner's erudition and a permanent 
 magazine of information. 
 
 Seward regarded the purchase as of the highest value and significance. " What, Mr. 
 
 1S3 
 
i6 
 
 Seward," asked a friend, "do you consider the most important measure of your political ca- 
 reer? " " The purchase of Alaska," he replied ; " but it will take the people a generation to 
 find it out." Seward was an ardent expansionist. As early as 1S46 he said, '" Our popula- 
 tion IS destined to roll its resistless waves to the icy barriers of the North, and to encounter 
 Oriental civilization on the shores of the Pacific."' At St. Paul in 1S60 he said : — 
 
 " Standing here and looking far off into the northwest, I seethe Russian as he busily 
 occupies liimself in establishing seaports and towns and fortifications on the verge of this 
 continent, as the oucposts of St. Petersburg : and I can say, ' Go on and build up your out- 
 posts all along the coast, up even to the Arctic Ocean — they will yet become the outposts of 
 my own country — monuments of the civilization of the United States in the nortli-west.' So 
 I look off on Prince Rupert's Land and Canada, and see there an ingenious, enterprising, 
 and ambitious people, occupied with bridging rivers and constructing canals, railroads, and 
 telegraphs to organize and preserve great British provinces north of the great lakes, the St. 
 Lawrence, and around the shores of Hudson Bay, and I am able to say, ' It is very well : you 
 are building excellent States to be hereafter admitted into the American Union.' I can look 
 southwest and see amid all the convulsions that are breaking the Spanish-American repub- 
 lics, and in their rapid decay and dissolution, the preparatory stage for their reorganization 
 in free, equal, and self-governing members of the United States of America." 
 
 He believed that the City of Mexico would become ultimately the capital of the United 
 States of America. But he would have expansion only by peaceful means, never by war, 
 which he abhorred. " I would not give one human life for all the continent that remains to 
 be annexed." See Sumner also upon this point in his Alaska speech; " This treaty must 
 not be a precedent for a system of indiscriminate and costly annexation. ... I cannot dis- 
 guise my anxiety that every stage in our predestined future shall be by natural processes with- 
 out war, and 1 would add even without purchase. There is no territorial aggrandizement 
 which is worth the price of blood. . . . Our triumph should be by growth and organic expan- 
 sion in obedience to ' pre-established harmony,' recognizing always the will of those who are 
 to become our fellow-citizens." 
 
 Two years after the purchase, Mr. Seward visited Alaska, with which his name had be- 
 come so closely identified that it was often spoken of as " Seward's Arctic Province." The 
 account of his travels in Alaska (.1869) may be read in his biography by Frederic Bancroft 
 and elsewhere. At Sitka he was called upon to make a public address expressing his impres- 
 sions of Alaska. This is the address given in the present leaflet, reprinted from Seward's 
 Works, vol. V. The address was clearly intended for the people of the United States in 
 general quite as much as for his particular audience ; and it is a memorable fficture of Alaska 
 at the time by the principal agent in its purchase. 
 
 Seward's Autobiography (iSoi-34) has been published, supplemented by Memoirs (1S31- 
 46) by his son, Frederick W. Seward; and the work on ''Seward at Washington,'' by the 
 same, supplements tliis. There is a life of Seward in two vols, by Frederic Bancroft. 
 The volume on Seward in the American Statesmen Series is by Thornton K. Lothrop. 
 Charles Francis Adams's address on Seward should be read, and the essay by Henry Cabot 
 Lodge in his " Historical and Political Essays."' 
 
 The important history of Alaska is that by Hubert Howe Bancroft, — vol. xxviii of his 
 History of the Pacific States: chap, 28 gives the account of the treaty and the transfer. 
 " The area of Alaska," says Bancroft, in his graphic introduction, "is greater than that of 
 the thirteen original States of the Union, its extreme length being more than two thousand 
 miles and its extreme breadth about fourteen hundred : while its coast line, including bays 
 and islands, is greater than the circumference of the earth." The piice paid for this 
 enormous arctic province was about two cents an acre. 
 
 There are many books, historical and descriptive, about Alaska. Among them are William 
 Healv Ball's " Alaska and its Resources " (1870), Henry W. Elliott's "< )ur Arctic Prov- 
 ince " (1S86), and the accounts of travel by M. M. BallouTlfenry Martyn Field, E. R. Scid- 
 more, Alfred P. Swineford, and others. Seethe essay on " Imperial Lessons of Alaska" by 
 David Starr Jordan, in his " Imperial Democracy." The publications concerning Alaska 
 issued by various departments of the government, the Census Office, the Bureau of Educa- 
 tion, the Coast Survey, and the Geological Survey, are of great value. One of these. Bulletin 
 No. 187 of the United .States Geological Survey, is the Geographic Dictionary of Alaska by 
 Marcus Baker. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, 
 Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass. 
 
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