LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 ALEXANDER JAMES DALLAS. 
 
 BY HIS SON, 
 
 GEORGE MIFFLTN DALLAS. 
 
 UNI M3.RSIT7 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 1871. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
 
 ^ 9. ^/ ^ 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
I THINK it right, in giving this volume to the world, to say 
 
 that it was fully prepared for the press by my father in 1862, 
 
 two years before his decease, and that its publication has 
 been delayed by circumstances over which I had no control. 
 
 JULIA DALLAS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 15 February, 1871. 
 
 (iii) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A DELAY of forty-five years in issuing this publication can 
 be ascribed with justice only to the exigencies of professional, 
 and the duties of public life. 
 
 Nor do I regret the delay. Numerous changes in the plan 
 first formed have been calmly considered and adopted. Im 
 mense piles of correspondence were subjected to repeated win 
 nowing. The desire to simplify and compress as much as a 
 distinct development of character could authorize, increased 
 with the lapse of time. 
 
 Some of the letters to and from Mr. Dallas are incorporated 
 in the text, furnishing, as they do, the best possible insights 
 into particular periods of his life, and connected, as they are, 
 with events of the day. Those of Mr. Madison and Mr. Du- 
 ponceau are set apart as entitled to separate preservation, be 
 cause they were revised and returned to me by their respective 
 writers with that view. 
 
 So also, as illustrating argumentative and oratorical powers, 
 extracts are made from certain speeches, more or less ample,, 
 as perspicuity or the importance of the subject seemed to re 
 quire ; but no formal collection of innumerable and brilliant, 
 displays at the bar is attempted. Such a collection, while it 
 could have but little general interest, would necessarily lead, 
 into a labyrinth of detail. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 In the effort to avoid, as far as possible, the seductions to 
 frequent eulogy, I tremble under the apprehension lest there 
 may have been too stern an adherence to cold facts and in 
 contestable records. My personal feelings, however, could not 
 be allowed to intrude themselves on the reader ; and I have 
 never doubted that plain, unexaggerated truth, as respects 
 my father s life, character, and services, would constitute the 
 noblest monument to his memory. 
 
 G. M. D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 10 July, 1862. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE ........... T. 
 
 MEMOIR 9-146 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 No. 1. Letters from the Executive of Pennsylvania to the Ex 
 ecutive of the United States 1794 .... 149-159 
 
 No. 2. Features of Mr. Jay s Treaty 160-210 
 
 No. 3. Memorial to Legislature against calling a Convention, 
 and Address to the ^Republicans of Pennsylvania 
 1805 210-233 
 
 No. 4. Official Letters to the Committee of "Ways and Means 
 
 1814-1815-1816 234-299 
 
 No. 5. An Exposition of the Causes and Character of the War 
 
 1815 299-367 
 
 No. 6. Organization of the Military Peace Establishment of 
 
 the United States 1815 367-377 
 
 Letters of Mr. Duponceau to Mr. Dallas, revised and corrected 
 
 by himself 1814-1815-1816 . . . . . 377-397 
 
 Letters between the President and the Secretary 1815 . . 397-449 
 
 Letters between the President and the Secretary 1816 . . 449-482 
 
 (vii) 
 
THE 
 
 0? T 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 ALEXANDER JAMES DALLAS. 
 
 THE subject of tins sketch was born in the Island of 
 Jamaica, on the 21st of June, 1759. His father, Robert 
 Charles Dallas, had emigrated from Scotland, and, after 
 a career of much reputation and success as a physician, 
 returned from the West Indies, for the double purpose of 
 benefiting his own health and of educating his children, 
 first to Edinburgh and subsequently to London. 
 
 The family name would appear to have originated on 
 the verge of the Scottish Highlands, to have gradually 
 extended through various shires, and, from remote times, 
 to have stood in high credit. Its derivative meaning is 
 Dal and uisg, "the house in the dale." In a rich and 
 beautiful quarto volume, " The Book of the Thanes of 
 Cawdor," printed in 1859 by the present earl, it often 
 recurs, as early as the fourteenth century, associated with 
 important transactions, and undergoing the transitions of 
 "Dolace, Dollcs, Dales, and Dalace," springing from variety 
 of pronunciation. 
 
 While a pupil of the celebrated Elphinston, whose 
 academy was at Kensington, in the immediate vicinity of 
 London, Alexander became distinguished for his pro 
 ficiency, so much so as to attract the kind attention of 
 two illustrious visitors of his teacher, Dr. Benjamin 
 Franklin and Dr. Samuel Johnson, the former often in 
 viting him to his house, and the latter sending him, as a 
 testimony of approbation, a copy of his "Rambler." 
 
 His progress and prospects were interrupted and 
 clouded by the death of his father, whose estates in 
 Jamaica, greatly reduced in productive value by their 
 
 2 (9) 
 
10 LIFE OF A J. DALLAS. 
 
 owner s absence, passed finally into the hands of testa 
 mentary trustees, and were, as usual, neglected. 
 
 His mother, a lady of Irish descent, and originally 
 called "Camac," married Captain Sutherland, of the 
 British navy, after a short widowhood ; and, aware of 
 the nature and probable treatment of their distant prop 
 erty, encouraged her sons to look to other sources for 
 support and independence. Of these there were three 
 besides the subject of this memoir: two older, Robert 
 and Stuart, and one younger, Charles. There were also 
 two daughters, Charlotte and Elizabeth. 
 
 Alexander, in his fifteenth year, was without the hope 
 or the means of completing the course of study he had 
 advantageously begun. Hurried by parental solicitude 
 to seek active occupation, he at first enrolled his name at 
 the Temple as a candidate for professional life, but was 
 soon induced to take what was considered a safer and 
 shorter path and to engage as clerk and accountant in ar 
 ranging the business of a merchant of the name of Gray, 
 who had married the sister of his mother, and whose con 
 cerns were alike extensive and embarrassed. It was 
 during this trying period of early, unlooked-for, and in 
 cessant drudgery that he contracted the powers and habits 
 of industry for which he was ever afterwards remarkable, 
 and that he exhibited, even while excessive toil and con 
 finement undermined his strength, his well-known unsub 
 dued buoyancy of spirit and great versatility of talent. 
 
 At the expiration of about two years, Mr. Gray sud 
 denly left his pursuits and his country, and Mr. Dallas 
 rejoined his parent and sisters, then residing in Devon 
 shire. Once more relieved from compulsory labor, he 
 renewed, with unabated ardor, his application to ancient 
 and modern literature, and hastened, with the aid of a 
 private instructor, to acquire that portion of scholarship 
 and learning seen judiciously displayed in his speeches, 
 writings, conversation, and amusements. Here, too, 
 borne aw r ay by the fashion of the place and of the day, 
 he combined the soldier with the poet, procuring a com 
 mission for the one, and for the other successfully appeal 
 ing to the tastes of his friends and the public. And here 
 he formed that attachment ^p Arabella Maria, daughter 
 of Major George Smith, of the British army, to which he 
 has ascribed, in his will, all the happiness and prosperity 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 11 
 
 he subsequently enjoyed. Their union was solemnized at 
 Alphington church, in Devonshire, on the 4th of Septem 
 ber, 1780, himself being then but just turned of one-and- 
 twenty, and his bride scarcely sixteen years of age. 
 
 Mrs. Sutherland having recently gone to Jamaica, the 
 youthful couple proceeded to London, in order to follow 
 her, in the fleet then preparing to sail ; and, after residing 
 some months with their elder sister, Charlotte, shortly 
 before married to Captain George Anson Byron, of the 
 navy, they finally quitted England. On landing in the 
 West Indies, they were welcomed by all the members of 
 their family, among whom was Major Smith, whose con 
 stant absence from home on military duty had prevented 
 his seeing his daughter since her infancy, but who, with 
 many friends, greeted them w r ith the utmost affection and 
 cordiality. Inducements were offered to Mr. Dallas to 
 make his stay permanent Governor Dalling appointed 
 him a Master in Chancery. Lucrative business was 
 promised, and promotion in fortune and honors con 
 fidently predicted. He soon perceived, however, that 
 the climate disagreed with his wife; that the patrimonial 
 estate had been fatally involved by mismanagement; that 
 the most painful and irreconcilable of all controversies, 
 domestic ones, had arisen among those whom he loved 
 best, and that the place of his nativity was the least 
 auspicious to his happiness or his ambition. 
 
 While meditating a return to England, and half tempted 
 by the frank offer of a curacy in Ireland, to devote him 
 self to the church, a casual incident sufficed to kindle his 
 enthusiasm, to confirm his enterprise, and to fix his future 
 destinies. At the country residence of Major Smith, he 
 met Mr. Lewis Hallam, who had lived for several years 
 in the united colonies prior to their revolution, whose lit 
 erary tastes and talents were congenial with his own, who 
 had personally witnessed the causes and progress of the 
 great struggle then terminating, and who delineated in 
 terms of animated eulogy the social condition, free prin 
 ciples, and high hopes of the American people. His 
 resolution was formed, and remained inflexible. Collect 
 ing as rapidly as possible what of his father s special be 
 quest to him could be rescued from the general wreck 
 a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars and with but 
 two letters of introduction and of credit to Mr. William 
 
12 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 Bingham and Mr. Robt. Morris, he embarked for the 
 States on the 10th of April, and on the 7th of June, 1783, 
 after a voyage of much peril and extreme tediousness, 
 reached New York. He immediately proceeded to Phil 
 adelphia, and, on the tenth day after landing, took the 
 prescribed oath of allegiance to the Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 At this epoch the war for independence had closed. 
 A cessation of hostilities had been proclaimed on the 19th 
 of April, although the definitive treaty of peace between 
 his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America 
 was not signed till the 3d of September, 1783, and Sir 
 Guy Carleton lingered in garrison with his troops at New 
 York, which he did not finally evacuate before the 25tk 
 of November following. 
 
 At the age of four-and-twenty, with a wife whom he 
 tenderly loved, with scanty provision for an uncertain 
 future, but with dauntless moral energies and large intel 
 lectual resources, Mr. Dallas found himself the citizen of 
 a new world, in the midst of strangers, and without any 
 definite pursuit. He had placed an ocean between him 
 and all his past associations. The refuge of kindred, the 
 encouragement of friends, the sustaining and soothing 
 consciousness of being known and appreciated, the thou 
 sand aids and alleviations which, in places of birth and 
 continued residence, give certainty as well as sweetness 
 to exertion, he had voluntarily and sternly abandoned. 
 A vigorous hope never deserted him. Prepared for every 
 sort of mental activity, he felt assured of attaining at last, 
 however slowly, the success rarely denied to willing per 
 severance. 
 
 His personal exterior and accomplishments were fitted 
 to attract and conciliate. To a figure at once tall and 
 erect was united a deportment alike frank and graceful. 
 His complexion was florid, his nose aquiline, his eyes 
 large and blue, his forehead high and open, and his mouth 
 formed with uncommon distinctness and delicacy. Vi 
 vacity, candor, and cordiality were blended in the general 
 expression of his countenance. These traits, embellished 
 by the freshness of youth, and a ready colloquial talent, 
 could not but constitute an ample passport in ordinary 
 intercourse. 
 
 On entering the city of Philadelphia, as utterly friend- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 13 
 
 less as unknown, a happy chance led him for lodgings to 
 a boarding-honse in Front Street, above Arch, the prin 
 cipal rooms of which were occupied as offices by Mr. 
 Jonathan Burrall, commissioner for settling the accounts 
 of the Commissary and Quartermaster s Departments of 
 the revolutionary army. An acquaintance with this gen 
 tleman was immediately formed, which rapidly ripened 
 into mutual esteem, and ultimately into a friendship that 
 no circumstances afterwards, in the slightest degree, in 
 terrupted or impaired. It is due to the basis and ardor 
 of this attachment, prolonged and uniform for thirty- 
 three years, to add that its parties were, from first to last, 
 with equal sincerity and almost equal warmth, of opposite 
 sentiments in politics. 
 
 At the outset of his American life, Mr. Dallas encoun 
 tered an obstacle as wholly unexpected as it was serious. 
 He left Jamaica under the impression that he could, with 
 little delay, on his arrival here, act upon his long-cher 
 ished preference for the legal profession, and find in the 
 profits of an attorney an adequate security against want. 
 For this purpose he had sedulously prepared himself. 
 The rules of the courts, however (modified, as peace ap 
 proached, under the dread of interfering immigration), 
 exacted, as a qualification for admission to practice, a 
 residence in the State of two years, and he was thrown, 
 at the most critical moment, upon expedients and projects 
 to which he had not before thought of appealing. He 
 bore the disappointment patiently, improved the interval 
 by closely studying the statutes of provincial, congres 
 sional, and State legislation, and cheerfully gave himself 
 to any honest exercise of his faculties for compensation. 
 
 Mr. Burrall, in the course of an intimacy of a few 
 weeks, perceived in his fellow-lodger the rare sagacity 
 and accuracy in explaining and adjusting matters of ac 
 count which he had acquired in the service of his uncle, 
 Mr. Gray. He was invited, at a moderate salary, to a 
 desk in the commissioner s office, and, speedily confirming 
 the trust reposed in his skill and industry, soon enlarged 
 his reputation, and with it his employments and means. 
 Before the year was out, his confidence in his prospects 
 was such as to justify his forming his own establishment 
 in a neighboring house, which he rented from Mr. James 
 C. Fisher. 
 
14 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 Early, too, in the spring of 1784, be enlisted with zeal 
 and ingenuity in a project with which Mr. Lewis Hallam 
 returned from Jamaica, the introduction of the regular 
 drama into Philadelphia. Theatres were, as yet, little 
 known and much reprobated in the United States. Pub 
 lic opinion and prohibition had been strongly and steadily 
 opposed to them. The private performances at Boston 
 in 1750, the fitful efforts of a strolling company of players 
 at Providence and at New York in 1758 and 1762, and the 
 languid pretensions of Mr. Hallam himself as a manager, 
 before the war, had only confirmed the general dislike. 
 Economical habits and strict principles recoiled from an 
 amusement which, in its then rude and imperfect con 
 dition, could manifest none of its ameliorating and in 
 structive tendencies, and seemed chiefly dangerous to sim 
 plicity of manners and purity of life. During the contest 
 with the mother-country, men had neither leisure nor 
 wish for diversion of any kind, and perhaps the known 
 fact that dramatic representations were a favorite pastime 
 among the officers of the invading army deepened still 
 more the prejudices of those whose sufferings and wrongs 
 appeared to be mocked by such ill-timed frivolities. In 
 Pennsylvania, they were explicitly proscribed under the 
 statutory classitication of "vice and immorality;" and 
 were, besides, the objects of a condemnation even more 
 impressive and uncompromising than that of law, from a 
 ^religious society whose numbers, virtues, and wealth ex 
 ercised an almost irresistible influence. Nevertheless, 
 the memorial of Mr. Hallam to the local legislature was 
 drawn by Mr. Dallas, soliciting the exemption of his plan 
 from the operation of the act of Assembly; and, during 
 the pendency of that application, instantly, loudty, and 
 ably opposed, though ultimately granted, Mr. Dallas de 
 vised a mode of, in some measure, disarming the repug 
 nance and inoculating the taste of the community. The 
 dexterity of the contrivance and of its execution was re 
 paid by complete triumph. Obtaining the written opin 
 ion of Mr. Jared Ingersoll on the lawfulness of the pro 
 ceeding, Mr. Hallam opened his " Lectures upon Heads and 
 other subjects," in the course of which, himself the only 
 actor, he personated many characters, and adroitly, by 
 recitation or mimicry, refined the feelings or provoked 
 the merriment of his audience. His "Long-room" was 
 
LIFE OF A. J, DALLAS. 15 
 
 always thronged. The utmost industry of Mr. Dallas 
 and his best talent at various composition were taxed to 
 mould and diversity the "lectures." Their effect more 
 than met the expectations of the author or the performer ; 
 to the one the profits were ample, to the other they 
 brought an enlargement of reputation as a writer, and 
 finally the success of a good cause in the reconciliation 
 of popular sentiment to a regular theatre. 
 
 A fondness for dramatic exhibitions in their higher 
 grades, is inseparable from cultivated intellect. To see 
 brought as near to present reality as possible the incidents 
 of history, the moral combinations of fiction, the delin 
 eations of peculiarities, whether national or individual, 
 the tendencies of uncontrolled passions, the alleviating 
 sallies of wit, and the native glories of virtue, is a diver 
 sion the zest of which augments with every increase of 
 reading, reflection, or experience. Perverted and debased 
 as it sometimes is, like every other human art or faculty, 
 it can never fail to be alike instructive and ennobling in 
 its true condition. It was thus that Mr. Dallas appre 
 ciated the stage, and ardently sought its establishment. 
 His memory was laden with the pages of Shakspeare, of 
 whom he was an enthusiastic admirer, and familiar with 
 the choice productions of the later English dramatists. 
 He witnessed several performances of David Garrick, at 
 Drury Lane, during the closing years of that great re 
 former of the art. And having essentially contributed to 
 the popularity and success of the theatre in Philadelphia, 
 he regarded it as, in a measure, his own creation, with a 
 partiality which the toils of law-practice, the solicitudes 
 of politics, or the cares of state, could never damp or 
 repress. An autograph fragment found among his man 
 uscripts indicates his having prepared the plot of a sen 
 timental comedy, seemingly to conciliate public sympathy 
 towards a certain class of American loyalists, and its 
 beauty, purity, and point, short as it is, make us regret 
 that he should have left his design unfinished. At times, 
 and for special occasions, he wrote unacknowledged ad 
 dresses, prologues, and epilogues, for the benefit of those 
 whom he esteemed as actors or cherished as friends. He 
 habitually, during a series of years, repaired from the 
 court- room, as soon as its business was adjourned in the 
 evening, to the theatre, where he remained for about half 
 
16 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 an hour, in the farthest corner of a distant box, giving 
 himself wholly to the relaxation, and enjoying his favor 
 ite department of criticism. 
 
 Mr. Dallas displayed, while young, and never ceased to 
 possess one rare faculty, often remarked by those who 
 knew him intimately, and which eminently conduced to 
 his own happiness and to the happiness of all around him. 
 Most persons of vigorous and disciplined understandings 
 are competent to severe and protracted exertion. Intense 
 thought and study seem in some the natural course of 
 existence. Others achieve wonders by temporary seclu 
 sion and labor. It falls to the lot of very few, however, 
 to be able to reconcile the most effective throes of mind 
 with the readiest social intercourse ; to exert the power 
 of compressing instantly the intellect to its utmost force, 
 and of as instantly unbending into ease and vivacity. 
 The effects of abstraction are seldom dispelled by mere 
 volition ; they cling to the animal spirits, shade the coun 
 tenance, benumb the organs of speech, and are slow in 
 yielding to external exigencies. Hence they whose sta 
 tions or pursuits exact profound meditation gradually 
 cease to be what are termed men of the world, and, at 
 home or abroad, are incapable of that prompt and light 
 communion so fertile of domestic endearment and so 
 graceful in general society. It was otherwise with him 
 of whom we are treating. He would retire to his office, 
 grapple at once with the most abstruse question of law, 
 arrange an entangled mass of facts, or resume a current 
 of original composition, without any apparent effort: 
 when, too, thus involved, he was regardless of interrup 
 tion, and at the call of affection or of frolic would break 
 off* with joyous abruptness, and betray not the slightest 
 symptom of preoccupation. How constantly did these 
 transitions surprise and delight his friends ! Most fre 
 quently they were manifested when his children, heedless 
 of his labors, invoked his enlivening presence, always 
 finding him in their fireside sports of " Musical panto- 
 mime/ "How do you like it," "So does the mufti," and others, 
 their gayest companion. During his most arduous pro 
 fessional toils, which day after day attested at the bar the 
 devotion of his zeal and the elaborateness of his prepara 
 tion, he would mingle, with unclouded freshness, in scenes 
 of conviviality and amusement. A single instance may 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 17 
 
 adequately illustrate this trait of character. Late in the 
 evening he was busily engaged in methodizing notes for 
 his argument in the morning before Judge Washington 
 in the celebrated " Olmstead case," while his family circle 
 in the adjoining parlor were equally intent on framing a 
 set of original " conversation cards." The youthful party 
 undertook to write on one side of each blank card an 
 emphatic or leading word, and on the other side an ap 
 propriate couplet. A burst of boisterous mirth drew 
 him from his office, and being immediately apprised of 
 the nature of the pastime, and called upon to assist, he 
 remained for about fifteen minutes absent from his^pap.Qrs, 
 and endorsed several of the cards with lines of poetry: 
 
 0? T^ 
 
 MISS LIVINOSIONE. JJfl J y. * 
 
 O er lifeless marble let Pygmalion 
 We hail the graces of a Living-stone" 
 
 FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 4&Ss,l 
 
 The delusions of life will teach you ere long 
 To compound for no good, if you suffer no wrong ; 
 For friendship romantic in search while you go, 
 Every man is my friend, sir, who is not my foe. 
 
 HOME. 
 
 That home is home I can t agree ; 
 
 For let me with my Mary roam 
 Through ev ry land, o er ev ry sea, 
 
 I still will find myself at home. 
 The spot of birth, the seat of fame, 
 
 The cottage thatch, or palace dome, 
 May mark an era, give a name, 
 
 But Mary s bosom is my home. 
 
 The term of probation having expired, Mr. Dallas was 
 admitted as attorney and counsellor in the Supreme Court 
 of Pennsylvania, on the 13th of July, 1785. At that 
 period, the law was "rudis indigestaque moles;" but happily 
 its administration and practice were in the hands of men 
 fitted by strength of mind, integrity of principle, and 
 untiring energies to settle the foundations of a system in 
 harmony with the real wants of the people and their new 
 political institutions. If some errors were committed 
 which subsequently demanded bold remedies, it is never- 
 
18 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 theless scarcely possible to exaggerate the services ren 
 dered to the Commonwealth of which they were citizens 
 by the McKeans, the Wilsons, the Bradfords, the Inger- 
 solls, the Rawles, the Lewises, and the Tilghmans of that 
 day. The individual fame of lawyers is not often wide, 
 and seldom outlives, except in the ranks of the profes 
 sion, the generation to which they belong; but the 
 good they do as a body constituted of bench and bar, 
 when learned, patriotic, and indefatigable, remains, per 
 haps forever, operative and imperishable. In a young 
 and free country, where impulse and consistency are to 
 be given to the maxims of liberty and the rules of right ; 
 where constitutional injunctions are to be rigidly enforced, 
 and property to be acquired, transmitted, and protected, 
 conformably to fresh modifications of legislation and un 
 tried structures of jurisdiction ; no class of intellectual 
 laborers produces results equally permanent and exten 
 sive. I Becoming the agents of every other class in suc 
 cession, to advise, vindicate, or redress, the general 
 tendency of their united influence is to impart confidence 
 to truth, boldness to freedom, and stability to order. The 
 epoch of 76, especially as delineated by the doctrines 
 of the Declaration of Independence, required social as 
 the necessary adjunct of political change. It was obvious 
 that the pyramid, alleged to be an appropriate emblem 
 of monarchy, could not be converted into the republican 
 cube without resettling the base and altering the bearings 
 of all the parts. ISTo two citizens could thereafter have 
 precisely their former relations to each other, without 
 imperfection in the substituted code. Rank, privilege, 
 primogeniture, entail, freehold, coercive church, tithes, 
 and the countless other minute props of aristocratic organ 
 ization were destined to be practically met and demol 
 ished wherever found lurking. The spirit, as well as the 
 letter, of recognized truths was to be carried out in all 
 the channels of men s business; and the great idea 
 equality, at all times, with all persons, and under all cir 
 cumstances, to receive its just application. For the exe 
 cution of these high objects, our lawyers offered, besides 
 their abilities and virtues, the guarantees of mutual watch 
 fulness and public discussion. Very few years elapsed 
 before Mr. Dallas ranged himself among the foremost to 
 whom we have referred ; and his professional exertions 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 19 
 
 were often made on occasions of extreme public and 
 political interest. 
 
 His spare time was employed in superintending several 
 literary periodicals, among which The Columbian Maga 
 zine attracted most regard. This miscellany appears to 
 have been assigned by its proprietors to his management 
 in 1787, after having been under the direction of the 
 justly-celebrated Francis Hopkinson, whose merit as a 
 writer was established by a number of effective satires, in 
 prose and in poetry, as well as by essays of a severer cast. 
 The circumstance of bis superseding this veteran author, 
 at so early a period, as editor of the publication, is strong 
 proof of the respect which he had already inspired for his 
 attainments and qualities, a respect in which his prede 
 cessor, the Admiralty Judge of Pennsylvania, very frankly 
 united. 
 
 To the labors of law and of literature Mr. Dallas soon 
 added the distractirig ones of politics. To a generous and 
 enlightened mind no field of public action could be more 
 attractive than that presented by the United States. A 
 people accustomed to the enjoyment and exercise of liberty 
 in their social relations had begun the experiment of self- 
 government, whose foundations were laid in an independ 
 ence proclaimed upon the broadest principles and consum 
 mated with unrivalled wisdom and acknowledged valor. 
 Their country was extensive, their products and resources 
 were abundant and various; their habits of life were unen- 
 feebled by luxury and wealth : as detached communities, 
 each of their Commonwealths was a scene of progressive 
 activity, intelligence, and happiness; while as a confed 
 eracy their combined power had been proved adequate at 
 least to the purpose of common defence. Still, however, 
 nothing political was settled save great maxims. Amid 
 the absorbing dangers of a first war, the Union, by which 
 alone it could be waged, was imperfectly organized ; the 
 separate sovereignties, actuated by a wholesome jealousy 
 of central power, had been too sparing in the faculties 
 they conferred upon their common agent, the General 
 Congress; and the return of peace, bringing into view 
 other objects besides those of battle, soon disclosed the 
 expediency of replacing the existing Articles of Confed 
 eration by some scheme of government less slow, compli 
 cated, arid uncertain. The local constitutions of the 
 
20 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 States, hastily arranged at the epoch of 76, were also 
 unsatisfactory, and even that matured by the sage Frank 
 lin was destined to early abandonment. The sources, 
 distribution, and restriction of authority became subjects 
 of universal interest and discussion. With no ambitious 
 chief to propitiate, with no conterminous jealousy to 
 dread, and as yet with no faction to inflame or obscure, 
 the minds of men were everywhere exploring the forms 
 and arrangements best adapted to pure and permanent 
 republicanism. Differences of opinion naturally prevailed, 
 which grew wider and more distinct as the period for 
 movement ripened. Correspondence, conversation, the 
 public journals, the halls of legislation, and voluntary 
 associations, all contributed to swell and elucidate the 
 theme on whose solution so much in future of freedom, 
 peace, prosperity, and glory depended. It seems to have 
 been a special allotment of Providence that America 
 should teem, at her great crisis, with master-spirits, whose 
 philosophical temperament and discriminating sagacity 
 were only surpassed by the singleness and expansion of 
 their patriotism. Debate, though protracted and adorned 
 by the development of countless theories, was enriched 
 by the fruits of profound study and sobered by the lessons 
 of experience. Human society cannot hope to witness a 
 region more congenial, a time more propitious, or a race 
 more fitted for the trial of a democracy as simple and as 
 thorough as physical causes will permit. The call for a 
 convention to deliberate on trade and commerce, made 
 by Virginia in January, 1786, and the meeting of such a 
 body at Annapolis in September following, were only pre 
 fatory to that extraordinary assemblage which opened its 
 sessions at Philadelphia on the first Monday of May, 1787, 
 and concluded them by submitting to the confederated 
 republics, for adoption or rejection by their respective 
 peoples, the existing Constitution of the United States; 
 and this bright national creation, at every step of whose 
 formation and in every subsequent scene of whose amend 
 ment prior to final confirmation floods of light were shed 
 on the nature of American institutions, led directly to 
 similar organic improvements in several of the narrower 
 but perhaps more vital spheres of State polity, and earliest 
 in that of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The politics of Mr. Dallas were formed in the progress 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 21 
 
 of these events, and were exclusively of American growth. 
 In England, whether from youth, distaste, or other cause, 
 he had been led no farther than may be implied in a pro 
 found veneration for Franklin and a warm admiration of 
 the parliamentary eloquence of Charles James Fox. He 
 had never ranged as Whig or Tory, and it would be a 
 mistake to suppose that, like several of the prominent 
 men with whom he subsequently associated and sympa 
 thized, he had fled to the NQW World as a retreat from 
 the factious furies of the Old. His choice of a home was 
 voluntarily made, almost as soon as he attained manhood. 
 For the pursuit of happiness, independence, and honor, 
 he selected the American soil ; allured, no doubt, by the 
 bright future then opening upon it, but impelled by no 
 past persecution or prejudice. His indefatigable studies 
 preparatory to professional practice imbued his mind with 
 the spirit and character of our legislation, customs, opin 
 ions, and manners ; his convictions and his feelings har 
 monized with the most liberal doctrines ; and he attached 
 himself to the first germ of the Democratic Party of the 
 United States. 
 
 The origin of the two permanent American parties is 
 distinct as matter of history, and honorable in all its inci 
 dents. It preceded national organization. The principles 
 destined to agitate the government by their collision were 
 enunciated before that government existed. Power was 
 yet unknown ; no court to propitiate, no club to terrify, 
 no treasure to covet, ambition was without an object, 
 avarice without temptation, and servility without an idol. 
 The substitution of republicanism for monarchy had been 
 almost an act of unanimity, and the subsequent ripening 
 of the Federal Constitution was an intellectual process, 
 during which the wise and the virtuous differed as to the 
 means of attaining the same end, without for one instant 
 subjecting themselves to the ordinary and odious imputa 
 tions of intrigue, faction, interest, or fear. Mind was at 
 work, not on what already was, with countless complicated 
 and contradictory influences, but on what was to be; and, in 
 advance of every selfish motive, and of every bias inimical 
 to pure and honest patriotism, leading statesmen promul 
 gated with rare ability their respective schemes of polity, 
 developing in their differences the struggle which must 
 unavoidably precede the creation of the new system, as 
 
22 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 well as forever accompany its administration. The ob 
 vious integrity and transcendent talent with which oppos 
 ing views were sustained inspired universal forbearance, 
 and the very compromises made in order to achieve some 
 definite result attest the existence of principles in them 
 selves irreconcilable. It may be said, indeed, that what 
 was thus early yielded has only tended to give to both 
 the parties greater identity of character and more precision 
 of purpose, and that each, in a natural course of action, 
 avails itself of every opportunity to reclaim in practise 
 the concessions it originally made to theory. 
 
 The new government of the Union went into operation 
 on the 4th of March, 1789 ; the new form for the Common 
 wealth of Pennsylvania in December, 1790. Mr. Dallas 
 acquired and exercised all the rights of American citizen 
 ship six or seven years before either of these events, and 
 largely participated in the public discussions and agita 
 tions by which they were preceded. His ability in trans 
 actions of business, his strength and eloquence as a lawyer, 
 displayed in all the courts, federal or State, and the 
 power of his pen, rapidly made him conspicuous. On the 
 1st of May, 1790, he issued from the press the first volume 
 of a series of reports of cases argued and decided in the 
 courts of Pennsylvania before and since the Revolution, 
 which he afterwards extended to four volumes. This pub 
 lication was most cordially welcomed by the bench and 
 the bar. Dedicated, in terms of warm but just acknowl 
 edgment, to Chief Justice Mclvean, that eminent and 
 remarkable man transmitted a copy of the work to Lord 
 Mansfield, who, in reply, spoke of the compilation and of 
 the judicial learning it embodied in language of high and 
 polished praise. General Thomas Mifflin, elected the 
 first governor under the new Constitution of Pennsyl 
 vania of 1790, on being apprised that he was the author 
 of certain attractive essays then publishing, sent his friend 
 Mr. Edward Fox to invite a visit and acquaintance, and 
 immediately offered him the post of Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth. The commission, which bears date early 
 in 1791, was unsought and wholly unexpected ; but it was 
 accepted in a spirit^of friendship as frank and lasting as 
 its presentation was generous and graceful. Reappointed 
 in 1793 and in 1796, at the subsequent re-elections of 
 Governor Mifflin, he remained the principal adviser and 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 23 
 
 aid of that popular and patriotic chief magistrate during 
 all the three official terms to which the constitution and 
 that alone restricted his eligibility. 
 
 In this manner, at the age of thirty-one, Mr. Dallas 
 began a career of public life which he can scarcely be said 
 to have intermitted until very shortly before his death. 
 At that time such a career w r as peculiarly genial to his 
 varied acquirements, conciliatory manners, and cultivated 
 tastes. [Philadelphia was far the most imposing and prom 
 ising city of the continent. It was the capital of two 
 freshly formed governments; the abode of much, if not 
 all, of the best literary and philosophical intelligence in 
 the country, of Franklin, Rush, Rittenhouse, Logan, 
 Hopkinson ; the most active mart of commerce, and the 
 point of socija] comfort and repose sought by strangers 
 and travellers. Though ardent and firm in preferring the 
 most populaf ^principles in politics, he indulged no^pro- 
 scriptive sentiment: fond of society, and gifted with 
 uncommon powers of making it agreeable, he pursued 
 genius, learning, wit, merit, and accomplishment, of what 
 ever party and wherever he could find them, and threw 
 the doors of his domestic hospitality wide open for their 
 indiscriminate reception. In this essentially, and not in 
 the mere office he held, however important as an accessary 
 that certainly was, consisted the real publicity of his life. 
 His profession, to which he always clung as to a sheet- 
 anchor, uninterrupted by the routine of administrative 
 duties, expanded in its range and increased in its emolu 
 ment, and thus sustained the expensive buoyancy of his 
 spirits and rewarded an unflagging industry. 
 
 The nine years of Governor Mifflin were marked by a 
 wise course of local policy and by incidents of national 
 moment. While the General Assembly showed every 
 disposition to advance the prosperity of the State, and 
 energetically led the way to important improvements in 
 its laws, trade, intercourse, and institutions, there were 
 referred to, and dependent upon, the talent, vigor, and 
 management of the executive many subjects at once novel 
 and embarrassing in character. Of the five hundred and 
 seventy-four acts of Assembly passed during this periodQ 
 a number were necessary to adapt the operations of the 
 government to the provisions of the new constitutions; 
 the great body of them related to the ordinary objects of 
 
24 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 legislation ; but many indicated enlarged and sound views 
 of the true policy and interests of the Commonwealth, and 
 still remain in operation to attest the wisdom of their 
 authors. As illustrative of the last description, we would 
 briefly refer to the acts providing for the construction of 
 the Lancaster turnpike and other roads; for opening and 
 improving navigable waters; for building the permanent 
 bridge over the Schuylkill and various other bridges; for 
 incorporating associations for literary, charitable, and 
 religious purposes; for regulating the descent of intestate 
 estates; for abolishing the punishment of death in many 
 cases and graduating the crime of murder ; for facilitating 
 the barring of entails; for regulating writs of partition, 
 and for regulating county rates and levies. The gov 
 ernor, a man of revolutionary patriotism and service, 
 the first aid-de-camp of Washington in 1775, who had 
 long acted as a member of the old Congress and for a 
 period as its president, reposed unlimited confidence in 
 his secretary; and they two, harmonious always in senti 
 ments and views, fulfilled at every juncture their high 
 trpst with uniform and signal success. 
 
 /The position occupied by Mr. Dallas in the arena of 
 politics, when invited by Governor Mifflin into his coun 
 cils, was a conspicuous one. Notwithstanding his pro 
 fessional and literary exertions, he had for several years 
 devoted much time to associations and arrangements of a 
 party character, that were gradually assuming shape and 
 taking deeper root. The leading men in the various sec 
 tions of Pennsylvania were personally known to him ; and 
 with those whose public sentiments he shared, such as 
 Gallatin, Findley, Smilie, Addison, he maintained an 
 active correspondence. In the city he was the efficient 
 and stirring spirit of a republican phalanx distinguished 
 by learning, purity of life, and patriotism. His consulta 
 tions with these gave authenticity and weight to what the 
 promptness of his writing disseminated through the in 
 terior; and the influence he acquired, which his adver 
 saries endeavored to make odious by exaggerating, was 
 the legitimate consequence of an enlightened and perse 
 vering zeal in spreading and consolidating the founda 
 tions of a party which, though then in a minority, was 
 destined soon to take and long to hold the direction of 
 affairsT] It would greatly embellish this biography were 
 
LIFE OF A. J DALLAS. 
 
 its author able to sketch the lives and characters of 
 in unison with whom Mr. Dallas thus acted. More, aye, 
 much more of gratitude and fame is due to them than has 
 yet been awarded. /Contemporaneous malice and heredi 
 tary prejudice have"Tabored, and yet labor hard to mis 
 represent their principles and underrate their work; but 
 an unassailable monument to Dr. James Hutchinson, 
 Thomas Mifflin, Jonathan Sergeant, George Bryan, David 
 Rittenhouse, Peter S. Duponceau, Dr. Samuel Jackson, 
 Thomas McKean, Edward Fox, John Barclay, Thomas 
 Leiper, J. Swanwick, and others of their associates may 
 be found in the simple fact that the doctrines for which 
 they struggled and were denounced are now inseparable 
 from the being and exercise of government in America. 
 They were the doctrines adjudged to have their truest 
 representative in Mr. Jefferson. That morbid bigotry of 
 opinion is surely deserving of nothing but reproof, which 
 can rake among the ashes of extinguished contests in the 
 hope of rekindling detraction against men whose wisdom 
 and sincerity are affirmed by sixty years of positive 
 history. 
 
 It was much less easy at that inexperienced epoch than 
 it now is to perceive and to preserve the true relations 
 between the States, and between them and the general 
 government, with the boundaries of their respective 
 spheres. Yet it is curious and gratifying to record some 
 instances of original and clear sagacity on this critical 
 subject which lapse of time has at least not improved. 
 The very first year of its operation had hardly closed 
 when, on a point in respect to which much sensitiveness 
 has always existed and must long continue, the executive 
 of Pennsylvania officially proclaimed, and enforced with 
 irresistible power of argument, a construction of the Con 
 stitution of the United States, of great importance to its 
 duration. It arose out of a criminal prosecution insti 
 tuted in Washington County, where an indictment was 
 found by a grand jury, at a court of oyer and terminer, 
 against several persons for forcibly carrying off a free 
 negro with intent to sell him as a slave in another State, 
 in violation of a highly penal act of Assembly. Governor 
 Mifflin received authentic information that these offend 
 ers had taken refuge in Virginia, and he immediately 
 applied to the chief magistrate of that State for their 
 
 3 
 
26 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 delivery np as fugitives from justice. His application 
 was refused. It was repeated, with more emphasis and 
 formality. A correspondence ensued which displayed 
 considerahle ability on the part of the authorities of Penn 
 sylvania, and proved them to be signally " regulated by a 
 due regard to the dignity and rights of the Common 
 wealth," as well as by "a sincere respect for the senti 
 ments of a sister State," and a disciplined anxiety "to 
 avoid all invidious and unprofitable altercation." The 
 controversy was prolonged for several months. In ad 
 dressing the legislative body on the 25th of January, 1792, 
 the message made the following lucid exposition of the 
 stand which had been taken : 
 
 " This representation from the State of Virginia appears, in 
 some respects, to be founded upon misinformation as to the facts, 
 and, in others, upon a misconception as to the law. In the case 
 of the demand for delivering up the persons who had forcibly 
 carried off a free negro, it is indeed avowed that the fact was 
 committed ; but the authority of this State to render it criminal, 
 the circumstances which constitute a flight in the offenders, and 
 the operative sanction given to the demand by the present Con 
 stitution of the Union, are still doubted and denied. I trust, 
 however, that it will not be thought necessary at this day to 
 assert the sovereignty of the State within her own territory upon 
 matters of internal policy. She had the unalienated power to 
 legislate upon the subject which has produced the controversy: 
 her law defined and declared the offence ; and it is the duty of 
 her officers, if they cannot prevent, to punish every violation. 
 The offence, it is true, can only be committed or punished within 
 the jurisdiction of the government by whose authority the law 
 was enacted ; but when committed, whether by citizens or 
 strangers, the federal obligation of the States expressly provides 
 against that impunity which flight into another country might 
 otherwise afford. The documents that have been transmitted by 
 the executive of Virginia, proving that the citizens of that State 
 made an irruption into Pennsylvania, with the immediate pur 
 pose of carrying off the negro in question, the moment that the 
 act was committed, those persons became offenders in the con 
 templation of law ; and the moment that they retired from the 
 jurisdiction of this State, they became fugitives from justice 
 within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States. 
 Nor can it be of any importance to the inquiry whether the cir 
 cumstances stated respecting the original condition of the negro 
 are true or not, since the laws of Pennsylvania, though they will 
 not permit violence or injustice, supply an adequate remedy for 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 27 
 
 every wrong. If the negro was not lawfully emancipated, he 
 would hav r e been restored to his master upon a peaceable appli 
 cation to a competent tribunal ; but if by the benevolent operation 
 of an act of the General Assembly (which has long been es 
 teemed an honor and an ornament to our code) he has obtained 
 his freedom, it is surely incumbent on the power that bestowed 
 the blessing to protect him in the enjoyment of it. Thus the 
 claim to the services of the negro, if just, did not require force to 
 maintain it ; and if unjust, force can never alter its nature, or 
 expiate the injury which, in effect, it perpetrates. 
 
 " But, independent of these considerations, it will be remem 
 bered that in the case of the negro who was deprived of his 
 liberty, as well as the case of the Indians who lost their lives on 
 Beaver Creek, the grand inquest of the proper county have 
 brought the several accusations against the persons that were 
 named in the respective requisitions presented to the executive 
 of Virginia. The investigation of the facts, therefore, rests with 
 another tribunal, and ought not to be unnecessarily discussed 
 in an extra-judicial manner ; but if the facts stated in those 
 several presentments amount to crimes, or, in other words, if our 
 laws have any force even within the boundaries of the Common 
 wealth ; and if strangers, who having wilfully committed an 
 offence against the municipal law of Pennsylvania retire to a 
 neighboring State, may be denominated fugitives from justice, 
 then every member of the section of the Federal Constitution 
 which authorizes the demand as a preliminary to the trial of the 
 offenders is amply satisfied on the present occasion ; and neither 
 policy, justice, nor candor will admit a construction of that con 
 stitution which, at the time of the ratification, shall place the 
 citizens of the Union in a state of nature, and declare the ante 
 cedent period to be now free from every federal compact or obli 
 gation." 
 
 The grounds on which the executive of Virginia de 
 clined complying with the requisition as originally made, 
 were, first, that the offence described in the indictment 
 was not a felony or other crime within the meaning of the 
 constitution ; second, that, as a trespass, the violence com 
 plained of was equally cognizable in Virginia as in Penn 
 sylvania, and, therefore, no removal of the accused was 
 necessary or proper ; third, that it did not appear that the 
 accused had fled from justice; fourth, that there was no 
 legal evidence of their having been found in Virginia; 
 &ud) fifth, if all the prior objections failed, there remained 
 the insurmountable one that Congress had not prescribed 
 the manner in which the constitutional injunction should 
 
28 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 be fulfilled, or, in other words, through whose agency and 
 by what sort of authorization the delivery and removal* 
 were to be made. We must not say that the first four 
 excuses for inaction were uucandid and frivolous, for they 
 had weight with some strong and independent minds; 
 but it was the fifth only which appears to have suspended 
 the interposition of President Washington, to whom Gov 
 ernor MifHin submitted what in his judgment constituted 
 a dangerous disregard of one of the most delicate and 
 salutary guarantees of the national compact. Out of this 
 case, and in consequence of the resolute attitude assumed 
 in vindicating the rights of the State, sprung the act of 
 Congress of the 12th of February, 1793, which has since 
 furnished the rule of action on all such cases. Fugitives 
 from justice, and persons escaping from the service or. 
 labor to which they have been held, are equally embraced 
 by that act. It is impossible to repress a regret that, on 
 a point like the extradition of persons, whether culprits 
 or slaves, which has become one of such extreme tender 
 ness, the authors of the constitution were not more pre 
 cise, or that the legislature, when the embarrassment first 
 came under notice, had not devised a single plan of pro 
 ceeding less liable to disturb the natural sympathies of 
 men, and more effective to secure the covenanted rights. 
 Some subjects do not seem to admit of their being dis 
 posed of in a manner unusually summary ; they, in fact, 
 are facilitated and fortified by the ordinary dilatory pro 
 cess ; and, among a people so sensitive on matters of per 
 sonal freedom and safety as are the American people, they 
 can only be successfully regulated under the sanction of 
 high and paramount authority. 
 
 Many provisions in the constitution contemplate and 
 require legislative enactment before they could be carried 
 into execution ; but to rank among these the two clauses 
 of the second section of the fourth article is a mistaken 
 refinement, and might subject them to an ordeal not 
 originally intended, namely, the uncertain inclination 
 of a congressional majority. They enunciate distinctly 
 enough the purposes of the convention and of the people, 
 criminals to be surrendered on executive demand and 
 slaves to be surrendered on claim of the owner; and both 
 purposes, thus- sanctioned, are easily attainable with known 
 forms, and upon established principles of social action, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 29 
 
 without the slightest additional direction. They were 
 riot to be rendered nugatory by the neglect of Congress, 
 nor could it be designed to leave them liable to be frus 
 trated by complicated or cumbersome devices. It is strange 
 to find their dependence upon mere legislation first asserted 
 from the State of Virginia, a State that would now be reluc 
 tant to acknowledge that a repeal of the act of February, 
 17i$, could take from them all practical efficiency. 
 
 (Jrhe solicitudes and labors of Mr. Dallas s office were 
 greatly enhanced by disturbances which had been gradu 
 ally fomenting in the western parts of Pennsylvania, and 
 which, ultimately assuming an insurrectionary character, 
 made the interposition of military force necessary to the 
 maintenance of order and the enforcement of law. 
 
 At the first Congress under the new constitution it 
 became evident that, to supply the public wants, an in 
 crease of national revenue must be provided. After the 
 assumption of the revolutionary debts of the several 
 States, estimated as an aggregate of twenty-one millions 
 of dollars, the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Alexander 
 Hamilton, recommended an excise upon domestic distilled 
 spirits and stills as the best means of paying the augmented 
 annual interest. A clamor immediately arose. The very 
 name of excise was odious and inflammatory. The citi 
 zens assembled in many places, listened approvingly to 
 angry harangues, adopted resolutions denouncing the 
 project, and forwarded their remonstrances to the legis 
 lature of the Union. This quick outcry seemed partially 
 successful, and the bill failed on its first trial. Yet, not 
 withstanding a vigorous and excited opposition, both in 
 and out of Congress, the scheme became a law on the 3d 
 of March, 1791; and resistance to its execution, at once, 
 and in Pennsylvania particularly, proclaimed itself loudly 
 and boldly. The population of four large western coun 
 ties of this State Washington, Fayette, Alleghany, and 
 Westmoreland among whom the distilleries were numer 
 ous and profitable, exhibited great exasperation. Meetings 
 gathered at Redstone and Pittsburg in July and September; 
 and in the early part of the latter month one of the col 
 lectors of the excise and persons entrusted with the service 
 of judicial process connected with the matter were as 
 saulted, tarred and feathered, and otherwise cruelly 
 treated. Similar and worse outrages continued to be 
 
30 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 perpetrated during the whole recess of Congress, which 
 again convened, agreeably to a special law, on the 24th of 
 October, 1791. A reduction of the unpopular duties, by 
 an act passed in May following, accompanied by modifi 
 cations of a conciliatory character as to the manner of 
 assessing them, produced no other effect upon the discon 
 tented than a belief that their proceedings had intimidated 
 the government and that farther displays of violence 
 would soon extort an absolute repeal. Combinations of 
 disguised and armed men made their appearance through 
 out the extensive districts already mentioned, overawing 
 and silencing the friends of order, and visiting with fire 
 and sword the revenue officers who failed, on being sum 
 moned, to surrender their papers and resign their com 
 missions. 
 
 There were, indeed, many distinguished men who, 
 though hostile to the excise, were yet more hostile to 
 forcible and lawless attempts to obstruct its collection. 
 These, particularly William Findley, David Reddick, 
 Albert Gallatin, Hugh Brackenridge, and Alexander 
 Addison, while unable to arrest the torrent raging round 
 them, exposed their persons to danger and their charac 
 ters to suspicion by efforts to assuage its fury and to 
 direct its course into safe and constitutional channels. As 
 is usual, the spirit of party recklessly confounded them 
 with the general body of disorganizes; and as they 
 ranked high for ability and usefulness among the minor 
 ity, composed of Democratic Republicans, unsparing 
 obloquy was for a time heaped upon their names. 
 
 Before President Washington would consent to regard 
 the outrages of conspirators and rioters in the light of 
 insurrection or treason, demanding the interposition of 
 military force, he required to be satisfied that they were 
 formidable enough, not merely to impede the execution 
 of an obnoxious law, but to defy the power of the judi 
 ciary and to endanger the peace of the country. Governor 
 Mifflin and Mr. Dallas were extremely reluctant, and so 
 expressed themselves in conference with the President 
 and his advisers, to believe the civil authorities of Penn 
 sylvania incapable of maintaining the ascendency of the 
 laws. On this, and on this alone, turned a difference of 
 opinion which prevailed as to the most expedient course 
 of action for suppressing the disorders. In the estimation 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 31 
 
 of the executive of the State, the incompetency of the 
 judiciary department of the government to vindicate the 
 violated laws had not been made sufficiently apparent ; 
 and the military power of the government ought not to 
 be employed, until its judicial authority, after a fair ex 
 periment, had proved incompetent to enforce obedience 
 or to punish violations of the law. There was, up to a 
 certain period of time, just foundation for this view of 
 the subject. If judicial inefficiency existed, it was not 
 discernible by or in the courts of Pennsylvania; that it 
 might be seen and felt by the federal judges, in their 
 steps to pursue and punish offenders, was other matter, 
 out of the cognizance of the State functionaries. No one 
 could doubt that the mass of the people of Pennsylvania, 
 and all her magistracy, were conscious both of the right 
 to disapprove the policy of the excise and of the crimi 
 nality of resisting its collection. As in various other 
 places, in the county of Chester the riotous abuse of an 
 exciseman acting under that law had been prosecuted, a 
 verdict of conviction obtained, and an exemplary punish 
 ment inflicted; and on that occasion the foreman of the 
 grand jury by whom the indictment was found, addressing 
 himself to the attorney-general, declared that he was " as 
 much or more opposed to the excise law than the rioters, 
 but would not suffer violations of the law to go unpun 
 ished." Nor was it a violent presumption to suppose 
 that, bad as matters really were in our trans-alleghany 
 section, their enormity was somewhat highly colored by 
 those who either could not tranquilly bear to see a favor 
 ite system thwarted, or eagerly imputed every crime 
 committed as a necessary consequence of political doc 
 trines opposed to their own. 
 
 When President Washington, therefore, invited Gov 
 ernor Mifflin to say whether he deemed the circumstances 
 to be such as would warrant his calling out a portion of 
 the militia of his State, a correspondence sprung up be 
 tween the two executives, which was conducted with 
 striking ability on both sides, and was considered of great 
 interest and moment. (Appendix, No. 1.) It treated elab 
 orately, and with exclusive relation to the suggested 
 movement, of the responsibilities of the highest officers 
 of the Union and the Commonwealth, of the boundaries 
 which both separate and connect thejr respective spheres 
 
B2 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 of public duty, and of the incompetency of the judiciary to 
 fulfil its purposes, an incompetency affirmed by the one 
 to be manifest and denied by the other to be sufficiently 
 shown. The act of Congress of the 2d of May, 1792, 
 providing for " calling forth the militia to execute the laws 
 of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel inva 
 sions," furnished a plain and practical rule of proceeding 
 to the President ; but the governor had no such chart by 
 which to steer, and if he invoked the physical power of 
 his State without legislative sanction, and upon the in 
 herent vigor of his office only, he would naturally first 
 desire to see that the emergency was such and so recog 
 nized as to justify him under any result. Both these pa 
 triots were, however, relieved from all the embarrassment 
 that might have followed upon a contrariety of impres 
 sions by a notification addressed, under the date of the 
 5th of August, 1794, to the President, by James Wilson, 
 an associate justice of the supreme court of the United 
 States, and of the circuit embracing Pennsylvania, certi 
 fying, as prescribed by the second section of the act of 
 1792, that there existed in the counties of Washington 
 and Alleghany combinations too powerful to be sup 
 pressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. 
 The proclamation of the President was at once issued; 
 requisitions for quotas of militia were addressed to the 
 four States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
 Virginia; and before the close of September an over 
 whelming army of fifteen thousand men were put in 
 motion to concentrate in the region of disaffection. No 
 portion of this force was more prompt or more faithful 
 than that from Pennsylvania, attesting the sincerity of 
 Governor Mifflin when, at the conclusion of the leading 
 letter in the series referred to, he said: "It is proper, 
 under the impression of my federal obligations, to add a 
 full and unequivocal assurance that whatever requisition 
 you may make, whatever duty you may impose, in pur 
 suance of your constitutional and legal powers, will on 
 my part be promptly undertaken and faithfully dis 
 charged." 
 
 Mr. Dallas accompanied Governor Mifflin on this expe 
 dition as his aid-de-carnp ; and perhaps it would now be 
 impossible to portray its characteristic features with as 
 much distinctness and authenticity as they appear in some 
 

 OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 letters written by him to Mrs. Dallas, which lie before me. 
 As illustrating, too, his own views of the insurgents and 
 of the measures in progress to disperse and punish them, 
 and as unfolding his character generally, they are the best 
 materials for biography, and could not, without injustice, 
 be withheld from the reader. 
 
 "READING, 23 Sept/1794. 
 
 "After a jaunt of great fatigue and filled with fifty eccentric 
 incidents, we reached Pottsgrove at half-past 11 o clock last 
 night. This day we dined at Reading; and the governor de 
 livered his address in a Presbyterian church to a very numerous 
 audience. At least two-thirds of them were Germans, and did 
 not understand a word of what he spoke. The effect, however, 
 has been very great, although this county is greatly disinclined 
 to the present exertions." 
 
 2. 
 
 "WRIGHT S FERRY, 28 Sept. 94. 
 
 "I must reserve a general detail of our journey till I have 
 reached Carlisle. It has been successful as to its principal 
 object, but certainly not a pleasant one. There is an inconceiv 
 able degree of confusion in every department, and you know the 
 necessary consequence my being harassed with everybody s 
 business. Colonel Gurney s regiment leaves Lancaster to-mor 
 row. McPherson s Blues left it yesterday. The military rage 
 is completely inflamed, and the whole country seems in motion." 
 
 3. 
 
 " YORK-TOWN, 29 Sept. 94. 
 
 " We have travelled through a delightful country for two days 
 past. The roads are bad, but our journeys are short, from the 
 capital of one county to the capital of another. The governor 
 acquits himself with great address, and has everywhere been 
 received with the highest respect and applause. He certainly 
 surpasses every expectation that I had formed of his manage 
 ment in conciliating the troops. The want of supplies has given 
 ample occasion for that kind of exertion." 
 
 4* 
 
 " CARLISLE, 4 Oct. 94. 
 
 " The soldier s life has fairly commenced. The change which 
 the dress has made in the appearance of all our acquaintance is 
 trifling compared with the change which their duties seem to 
 have made in their dispositions and manner. Thus we prove 
 ourselves the creatures of habit. My habit has hitherto been a 
 
34 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 love of my family and of business ; it has afforded me so much 
 satisfaction that I never shall be tempted to change it. Every 
 call to the camp-scene I resist as a snare ; and, unless when forced 
 by business, I pass my time at my quarters in Carlisle. 
 
 " The President arrived here to-day. He was introduced with 
 considerable state, and expressed great satisfaction at the ap 
 pearance of the troops. He and Mr. Hamilton, the governor 
 and myself, dined with a number of others at Mr. Montgomery s. 
 The President s toast was, A happy issue to the business before 
 us ; and his sentiments respecting it are so elevated, so firm, 
 and yet so prudent and humane, that I am charmed with his 
 determination to join us. Two men have been killed, one by 
 the Jersey line, and one by the Pennsylvania line. I believe 
 that both either provoked or deserved their fate ; but the events 
 are calculated to excite alarm, particularly when exaggerated, as 
 they have been, by the enemies to the measures of government. 
 The President, in a candid and manly manner, regretted that the 
 deaths had happened, and observed that men who are engaged 
 in the duty of supporting the law should be the last to violate it. 
 This declaration was, fortunately for me, made in the presence of 
 several who thought me lukewarm for inculcating a similar doc 
 trine a day or two before the President s arrival. I enjoyed the 
 triumph. 
 
 "When shall we return ? I have asked myself, I have asked 
 everybody around me, the question ; but every attempt at an 
 answer, applied to the whole army, is in vain. In the case of 
 the President, however, we may calculate his return to be on the 
 first of November, because at that time Congress will meet. In 
 the case of the governor (if questions of rank do not shorten the 
 period), we may calculate his return in the course of November, 
 because at the beginning of next month the legislature will meet. 
 In my case, unless particular business of a public nature detaches 
 me sooner, you may calculate as in the case of the governor. 
 But in the case of the army at large, I can furnish no rule of 
 calculation. The western counties are overrun with banditti. 
 If they are uncontrolled during the winter, they will acquire 
 strength ; and it will be difficult, by a similar exertion of the 
 militia, to overawe them hereafter. Hence I conclude that at 
 least a part of the troops will be stationed in that quarter for 
 several months ; and, in order to evince the determination as well 
 as the power of the government to support itself, I think it 
 probable that the whole will be marched to Pittsburg. An 
 opinion partially prevails that an abject submission is contem 
 plated by the western insurgents ; and a meeting is appointed, 
 we are told, to take the critical state of their affairs into consider 
 ation, with a view of coming to that result. I wish the case may 
 be so ; but, after what has happened of violence and deception, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 35 
 
 I confess that I am at a loss to fix any criterion by which the 
 sincerity of such overtures could be ascertained. The terror, 
 excited by the approach of the army and the deaths of the two 
 men who have been killed, is universal and excessive ; but, as 
 there is no reason to suppose that one convert has been made, 
 remove the cause of that terror and you revive the spirit of oppo 
 sition. In this very town we daily pass and repass the most 
 violent abettors of the insurgents ; nay, the most active partisans 
 in raising the whiskey pole in the high street parade, without 
 insult, through the camp. The pole has been taken down ; but 
 it is obvious that the disposition which set it up has not been 
 subdued." 
 
 5. 
 
 "CARLISLE, 6 Oct. 94. 
 
 " The President gave a dinner to-day to the governors of 
 Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and their families. He seemed 
 in excellent humor, free and full of conversation. I believe 
 Wayne s success, the appearance of the camp, and a greater fa 
 cility in settling the questions of rank among the leading officers 
 than was expected, have raised his spirits. Lee will probably 
 command ; but the governor says he will serve in the humblest 
 capacity rather than not serve at all. This is not the case with 
 General Irvine ; nor, it is hinted, will it be the case with the 
 principal officers of the Jersey line, who claim a superior rank 
 in the army to that occupied by the proposed commander during 
 the war. There are about four thousand men encamped here. 
 They are in high spirits and eager for the fray ; but for my own 
 part, if I dared to indulge a pacific wish in so warlike a scene, it 
 would be for the restoration of order without the further display 
 of the power of the government, or the indulgence of a vindic 
 tive spirit. A meeting was to be held by the insurgents on the 
 second instant, which may lead to that event." 
 
 "CARLISLE, 9 Oct. 94. 
 
 " The great secret of arrangement is at last divulged. Gov 
 ernor Lee first in command, Governor Mifflin second, and 
 Governor Howell third. Mifflin commands the Pennsylvania 
 and Jersey lines, till the two columns unite at Bedford. General 
 Hand is appointed adjutant-general for the whole army. The 
 march is to be commenced on Friday, the tenth, and the Presi 
 dent expects that we shall reach Bedford on the sixteenth. 
 
 " I mentioned to you that a meeting would be held by the 
 insurgents on the second instant. The result has been a declara 
 tion of submission, and the appointment of Mr. Findlay and Mr. 
 Reddick as commissioners to entreat that the army may not 
 enter their country. The general opinion spurns at this puny 
 
36 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 expedient, suggested by mere panic ; but I cannot help regarding 
 it as a favorable symptom of a short campaign, at least of a 
 bloodless one. The commissioners are expected this day, and 
 it is not improbable that they will arrive in time to meet the 
 President before his departure for Fort Cumberland. The best 
 consequence that I expect from the visit is the President s ex 
 planation of the evidence of submission that will be satisfactory 
 to him ; and I think that a general declaration of obedience to 
 the excise system, and an immediate surrender of their leaders, 
 will be among the essential conditions. 
 
 "The accounts continue to be various from various quarters 
 with respect to the probability of an opposition. One fact, how 
 ever, seems well authenticated. Bradford, having himself sub 
 scribed the terms of pardon originally proposed, recommends 
 submission to his followers on this avowed footing, that they 
 may take time for better preparation to effect their object; and 
 one Hamilton (a man who has hitherto acted under Bradford s 
 auspices) has bound five hundred insurgents, in the neighbor 
 hood of Washington, by a solemn oath to support each other or 
 die in the attempt, if the army should offer to seize or injure any 
 of them. Notwithstanding this, and a thousand other reports 
 of a disposition for resistance, I believe the troops will march in 
 perfect safety to Pittsburg and back again. Some accidents may 
 happen in parties sent out to apprehend particular characters, 
 but I am confident there will be no general encounter of hostile 
 bodies." 
 
 7. 
 
 "CARLISLE, 13 Oct. 94. 
 
 " Never was there so narrow an escape ! As I was passing 
 down the main street towards the Jersey camp, in company with 
 Mr. Hoge, of the State Senate, and Mr. Brown, a ball passed 
 within three inches of my back, and shattered a stone in the wall 
 of a stable about five yards on my left. B. had stopped at the 
 door of the post-office, ten yards behind, and Hoge had advanced 
 about two yards before me. We started at the report of the gun. 
 For a moment I suspected design, and looked anxiously around 
 to discover the person who had fired. It proved to be a gun 
 smith, trying a rifle for an officer of one of the corps, and in his 
 great wisdom he had placed his mark in a direction that crossed 
 the principal road within point-blank shot. The accident has 
 cost me some reflection, and I may be the safer for it in future. 
 
 " Though a very small part of the Pennsylvania quota had 
 reached the rendezvous on the arrival of the President, the state 
 of preparation obviously exceeded his expectations. He spoke 
 publicly in terms of encomium ; and Mr. Hamilton did not hesi 
 tate to tell me that the exertions of the governor had been suc 
 cessful beyond the most sanguine hopes of the friends of the 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 37 
 
 government. Notwithstanding, indeed, the flashes of the other 
 States, particularly of New Jersey, the Pennsylvania militia 
 have been the most numerous and the most expeditious in assem 
 bling ; and, I will add, they are as well arrayed and as well 
 disciplined as any body of troops that were ever collected on a 
 similar occasion. The only counties that have failed materially 
 in turning out their quotas are Northampton and Bucks. The 
 deficiency, however, is amply supplied by volunteers from coun 
 ties not included in the requisition and from counties that have 
 furnished more than their quotas. All the Pennsylvania militia 
 have reached the rendezvous. The Maryland arid Virginia 
 militia, who are to rendezvous at Fort Cumberland, about twenty- 
 five miles from Bedford, had not reached that station a few days 
 ago, but were marching rapidly towards it. Some troops of 
 horse and a volunteer corps of infantry, under General Freling- 
 huysen, are still expected at Carlisle from New Jersey. It 
 appears to me, however, that every corps which arrives after this 
 time will be too late to participate in the business of the cam 
 paign. But it is certain that a sufficient force for the purposes 
 of government has already proceeded towards Bedford, there to 
 unite with the column of Virginia and Maryland troops. On 
 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday about seven thousand five hun 
 dred men took up the line of march. Friday was the first day 
 that my lame leg suffered me to limp abroad, and I went to view 
 the departure of the army. The sight was inconceivably awful 
 and interesting. The cause of the expedition, the characters 
 engaged in it, and the doubts that hang upon the catastrophe 
 were calculated to produce the most affecting sensations ; and 
 when I saw the President lift his hat to the troops as they passed 
 along, I thought I caught a glimpse of the revolutionary scene. 
 " When I speak of doubts that hang on the catastrophe of this 
 expedition, I do not mean to excite the least doubt of the success 
 of the government, but how long it will take to restore order ; 
 whether any resistance will be made, and to what extent ; how 
 many accidents may occur; who will be treated as delinquents; 
 and, to sum up all, what atonement will expiate the offences of 
 the western counties and appease the resentments of the army, 
 are questions painful to conceive and difficult to decide. Messrs. 
 Findlay and Reddick have repeatedly conferred with the Presi 
 dent. They report, in the warmest language, the manly, candid, 
 and firm though moderate complexion of his conduct and dis 
 course, and express the greatest solicitude that he should accom 
 pany the army. This, however, he stated to be impracticable ; 
 but assured them that he would take every precaution to preserve 
 discipline, and to insure safety to those who had acceded to the 
 propositions for submission, as well as to the uniform friends of 
 government. It is evident, notwithstanding this assurance, that 
 
38 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 they are dejected and fearful. They were anxious to ascertain 
 the evidence of submission that would be satisfactory. From 
 the nature of the inquiry, he could not give an explicit answer ; 
 but he stated a variety of facts that had recently occurred, and 
 observed that to any man of common sense and reflection the 
 principal means of evincing a restoration to order must readily 
 occur. They have promised to do everything that men can do ; 
 but they have not authority, and they do not seem to possess 
 confidence to pledge themselves for a general acquiescence in the 
 excise laws ; nay, at the very moment of their negotiation, they 
 acknowledged that General Xeville could not return to his deso 
 lated farm with safety. Findlay asked my opinion ; I gave it 
 as I believe I have already given it to you, that a surrender of 
 the leaders, an entry of the stills, and a renewal of the oath of 
 allegiance to the United States were indispensable before any 
 specific overtures from the insurgents could be attended to. 
 Both the commissioners, with apparent sincerity, have declared 
 that they are not acquainted with any man who can be denom 
 inated a leader that has not saved himself under the propositions 
 for an amnesty. David Bradford wrote a letter by them to the 
 governor, in which he not only pleads his submission in time, 
 but alleges that he has acted with a view to befriend the govern 
 ment from the commencement of his diabolical career. This 
 state of things, however, only serves to perplex and irritate the 
 troops. It strengthens the necessity of their march, and I have 
 no doubt that the commander-in-chief will be prepared on the 
 spot to designate the objects of seizure and punishment. It is 
 in cases of detachments sent to apprehend such characters that 
 I principally fear the effusion of blood. A desperate man will 
 be disposed to fortify his house or barn and muster all his 
 friends to defend it. Before that effect is produced, however, I 
 expect that another will be generated by the approach of the 
 army. The friends to government, who have hitherto been 
 awed into silence and inactivity, will unfurl their standard. 
 The disaffected or the lukewarm, who have not mingled in the 
 riots, will endeavor by striking actions to secure themselves 
 from suspicion and danger. All who have made themselves 
 obnoxious to punishment will either attempt to excite the popu 
 lace to resistance or fly from the country. In this fermented 
 state of things the insurrection may work itself pure without 
 any aid from our military chemists, but the process will be 
 dreadful. The arm of government, uplifted against the insur 
 gents, may be interposed to prevent the waste of property and 
 the destruction of life among them. A war conducted as such 
 a war would be, under the influence of personal enmities, cannot 
 be contemplated without horror." 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 39 
 
 8. 
 
 11 BEDFORD, 19 October, 1794. 
 
 " The uninterrupted march of six days has precluded me from 
 all opportunity of writing to you. If that pleasure could be 
 supplied by any other, the sublime scenes which have been ex 
 hibited from the summits of the loftiest mountains that I have 
 ever viewed would go far to compensate me. Two days after 
 we left Carlisle the army encamped at a small village called 
 Strasburg, at the foot of the North Mountain, which rises in a 
 bold and awful manner to an amazing perpendicular height. At 
 first the mountain seemed inaccessible ; but, winding through a 
 narrow gap, we formed an excellent road, which left nothing for 
 complaint but what could not be remedied, the steepness of the 
 ascent. The journey was overpaid by the prospects. Before 
 us lay a valley of immeasurable depth and extent. Behind us, 
 the horizon, at the distance of many leagues, was bounded by 
 the eastern ranges of the mountains in the neighborhood of Car 
 lisle. Every object was upon a large and striking scale. The 
 change of the scene had a wonderful effect upon our feelings and 
 vision. I saw nothing that could excite the common sensations 
 of pleasure, no rich vales, no cultivated farms, no populous set 
 tlements. One vast pile of mountain upon mountain, or one 
 continued range of wilderness and forest, alternately fixed the 
 attention. But my mind was overcome by awe. I felt at one 
 time an inclination to weep ; at another, I stopped my horse to 
 indulge in a fit of laughter. When I gazed across the valley, I 
 experienced an insurmountable solicitude, something like what 
 occurs when a man cannot comprehend a subject that is pro 
 posed to him ; and when I advanced to catch a glance of the 
 precipices that bounded the road upon either side, I felt terrors 
 and propensities that I can only compare to the terrors of guilt 
 and the propensities of madness. I wish to give you an idea of 
 the scene from its effects ; but the hand which created can alone 
 describe it. Nature and Nature s God were everywhere visible 
 to the eye and sensible to the heart. You know that our sight 
 is the most deceitful of our senses ; in truth, it communicates 
 nothing to us exactly in the light in which it is received. The 
 army, while we continued in the low-lands, appeared astonish 
 ingly numerous ; the men that composed it appeared, from their 
 port and equipments, gigantic ; and every horse moved with the 
 solemnity and stature of an elephant. The moment these objects 
 came in contact with the mountains and the forests, they dimin 
 ished in the apparent size and number. On the top of the Tus- 
 carora, our army appeared like a race of dwarfs, and our cavalry 
 like a race of mules. 
 
 "Judge Peters afforded us considerable mirth on the road. 
 He strings puns as well and as closely as your old friend Ad- 
 
40 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 miral La Forey. I observed to him, after having slept tog-ether 
 at a petty tavern, near the crossings of the Juniata, in a room 
 which had little covering above and was open to the cold wind 
 on every side, that I had no idea of the existence of so rude, so 
 uncultivated, so barren, so uninhabitable a country within the 
 boundaries of Pennsylvania. I differ from you, cried he; I 
 think it the most hospitable country that I ever travelled through, 
 for all the inhabitants keep open house! 1 
 
 "You would suppose that on the mountain s top the goddess 
 of Health had raised her temple. The air, too, appeared fresh 
 and clear; but, throughout the country, intermitting, remitting, 
 and ague fevers have made dreadful havoc ; and even on the 
 summit of the Tuscarora a numerous family presented themselves 
 as objects of charity, depressed with poverty and emaciated by 
 disease. Taking into view all that has passed before us, one 
 would imagine that the army is the only healthy body of men 
 in the State. The sickly region seemed to commence before 
 we reached the Susquehanna ; and we are told that it will ter 
 minate when we have scaled the Alleghany. Besides the per 
 manent inhabitants who are afflicted, the road is crowded with 
 itinerants, who are flying from the feverish swamps of Maryland 
 and Delaware to Westmoreland or Kentucky. A small, ill-con 
 trived wagon, drawn by a single, old, and meagre horse, was met 
 yesterday ascending a hill, after having disgorged ten passengers, 
 who were of ages from eighty years to three months. Every 
 one of them was worn down with fever and ague. I expressed 
 to the grandfather of the brood my surprise at their undertaking 
 a journey in such circumstances. Providence is very kind, says 
 the old man (and he shook with age and ague as he spoke), 
 Providence is very kind ; he does not suffer the fever to attack 
 us all on the same day; and so we take it by turns ^o drive the 
 wagon and to nurse the sick. But what can tempt you to 
 transplant yourself at your time of life into so rough and remote 
 a country? Fifty years, man and boy, he replied, I have 
 been afflicted with this cruel fever ; it has become constitutional 
 with me. I do not expect to get rid of it by the journey ; and 
 old age is a disease which may be increased but cannot be cured 
 by a change of residence. As I have suffered, however, I know 
 the extent of the calamity. It has soured every morsel I have 
 eaten and embittered every drop that I have drank. My labor 
 produced no profit, and my family no delight. When, therefore, 
 I beheld my sons and their children exposed to the same blight, 
 I resolved to lead them forth and to make a last effort to preserve 
 the life which I had given them. We are poor, the road is 
 rough, and our asylum is remote ; but the very hope of acquiring 
 health supports and exhilarates us in every step we take. The 
 wagon had by this time reached the top of the hill ; the wretched 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 41 
 
 family again entered it ; and you will join me in wishing them 
 success in their search for health. 
 
 " If I were less interested in our correspondence, I had the 
 means of gratifying an indolent, or an indifferent, disposition 
 presented to me yesterday. A coarse-looking fellow, with a red 
 woollen cap on his head and a shaggy beard on his chin, was 
 writing, in an affected posture, while a dozen soldiers sat round 
 him, with countenances expressive of great attention, admira 
 tion, and pleasure. I wondered what could be the nature of the 
 business. The amanuensis soon satisfied me. Having finished 
 a sentence, he began to read his composition to his audience in 
 the following words : My dear wife, we have had a long and 
 troublesome march. It made me very unhappy to go so far from 
 you ; but, my dear wife, my country called me. When we have 
 thrashed the whiskey-boys, I shall return with rapture to your 
 arms. Till then, don t make yourself uneasy on my account. 
 My dear wife, I hope the children are well, as I am at this 
 writing, etc. The person for whom the letter was written could 
 hardly restrain his ecstasy while it was half spelled and half 
 read, a la mode de Darby. At the close of the reading the 
 group united in one burst of applause, and each man begged 
 that a copy of the letter might be made for him. One, however, 
 asked if it could not be so altered as to serve for a sweetheart 
 as well as a wife ; and another wished the part about children to 
 be left out, if it would not hurt the composition, as he had not 
 been married long enough to do more than lay the foundation 
 for being called a father. The cost of each letter was two-pence ; 
 and you now perceive how easily and how cheaply I might keep 
 up our correspondence in this mechanical mode. 
 
 " The President is expected hereto-day. The right column, 
 said to be six thousand strong, under General Morgan s com 
 mand, have marched from Fort Cumberland, by the way of Brad- 
 dock s road, into the revolted counties. We expect our column 
 will be put in motion on Wednesday next. Before then I will 
 write to you by an express." 
 
 9. 
 
 " BEDFORD, 23 October, 1794. 
 
 " Every idea of resistance has vanished, and the entrance of 
 the army into the western counties can only be with a view 
 to manifest the power of the government. That will be accom 
 plished by the march through the country, and we now understand 
 that it will only take six or seven days to carry us to the ulti 
 mate point of our route. It is said that Parkynson s Ferry will 
 be the place of general rendezvous. From that to Fort Pitt is 
 a distance of about twenty-five miles. 
 
 " If ever I leave my home again for a soldier s life, but I will 
 
 4 
 
42 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 make no protestations. I have, indeed, no reason to complain, 
 comparatively with others, of my accommodations and treat 
 ment. Our stores have lasted admirably, and cannot fail for the 
 period which I have mentioned. I have never slept in a tent, 
 but must do it to-night. With respect to the rest, I shared at 
 first in the odium of certain imprudences, but my sequestration 
 from head-quarters restored me to full credit. The incessant 
 scene of business in which I have been engaged has afforded the 
 opportunity to acquire the friendship of some, to command the 
 approbation of all, and to remove the prejudices of many members 
 of the army. 
 
 " The army took up their line of march yesterday. The rear is 
 at this moment leaving- the town. I viewed the parade of their 
 departure from a lofty hill. It was grand. The infantry, about 
 six thousand ; the cavalry, about two thousand ; and the bag 
 gage wagons, about seven hundred. The expense and waste of 
 such an army are inconceivable ; but I think the government 
 will be amply compensated by the effect which the prompt ap 
 pearance of such a force upon such an occasion must produce 
 throughout the continent and throughout Europe. 
 
 "Judge Peters and Mr. Rawle accompany us in our march. 
 The President took his leave of the troops in a manly, judicious, 
 and affectionate letter, in which he recognizes, in strong terms 
 of praise and gratitude, their patriotic exertions, and warns them 
 against any excesses that can sully the reputation which they 
 have already acquired. He adds a declaration (a very neces 
 sary and a very beneficial one) that it is intended to employ the 
 military in strict subordination to the civil authority. Upon that 
 principle our campaign has already opened. The judge and 
 attorney have been incessantly engaged in issuing warrants to 
 apprehend the principal rioters in this county, and the process is 
 regularly executed by the marshal, under an escort of cavalry. 
 In this" way Filson, Lucas, Husband, and Wisecarver, four 
 notorious rioters, have been seized, and are on their way to 
 Philadelphia jail, with a guard of twelve troopers. We shall 
 collect the group of leading insurgents in other counties by 
 similar exertions, if they stand their ground. But we receive 
 daily accounts of numbers that are endeavoring to save them 
 selves by flight. Boats loaded with fugitives are constantly 
 passing down the Ohio. Bradford hugs himself in an imaginary 
 indemnity, and ******* seems to think that he has per 
 suaded government into the belief of his having acted under a 
 mask with a view to facilitate the restoration of order. These 
 men have been delinquent, and merit the punishment that awaits 
 them. But there are others who, without having participated in 
 the violences of the opposition to the law, are inconceivably 
 obnoxious as the original propagators of the doctrines which 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 43 
 
 have eventually produced these violences. The names of Find- 
 ley, Smilie, and Gallatin are at the head of this catalogue. I 
 never undertake to defend any man s conduct at this season and 
 upon this subject, but I am persuaded that these gentlemen are 
 safe in point of law." 
 
 10. 
 
 "PREATOR S, at the top of the Alleghanv 
 Mountain, 26 October, 1794. 
 
 " The march from Bedford has been inexpressibly tedious, but 
 I think a day more unfortunate could not happen than yesterday. 
 We had a march of ten miles to encounter, in order to gain the 
 summit of the celebrated Alleghany Mountain. The preceding 
 evening was cloudy, and during the night the whole country was 
 deluged with rain. When the signal for taking the line of march 
 was given, a heavy fog covered the face of the earth, which 
 occasionally assumed the appearance and effect of a cold, pene 
 trating sleet. At the place from which I am now writing, the 
 army divided, the Jersey line pursuing the route to a solitary 
 tavern, called Black s, and the Pennsylvania line proceeding to a 
 small Dutch village, called Berlin. The roads, upon every 
 rational calculation, seemed impassable, but the troops reached 
 their stations about dusk. The baggage wagons, however, were 
 all detained till midnight, and many of them were overset, broken, 
 etc. The Pennsylvanians in general were accommodated in the 
 village churches, houses, and barns, but the Jersey troops could 
 not find the least covering to shelter themselves from the most in 
 clement night that I ever witnessed. The order was issued for 
 renewing the* march this morning, but the officers declared that 
 the situation of the men rendered it impracticable. The frequent 
 recurrence of such scenes will at least try the zeal and patriotism 
 of the troops. The strongest constitutions and the firmest pa 
 tience will hardly bear them out. The language of discontent 
 has already been heard. There is no enemy to encounter, no 
 object evident to common optics to be attained by transporting 
 such a force, at such a time, into such a country. Why, then, 
 proceed ? Or, if you will proceed, why expose the men to 
 weather and to want in a way which many say was never known 
 during the Revolutionary war, and which I say no European 
 general would attempt in conducting a disciplined army into the 
 field ? Such are the present ideas upon the subject. I shall be 
 happy if they continue so temperate throughout the march ; but 
 I am already prepared to join a soldier who, in a tent adjoining 
 mine, kept me awake all night with singing, A soldier s life s a 
 lazy life, a drunken life, a slavish life, a blackguard life. 
 
 " The song was sung the only night that I slept in a tent, 
 which was the one preceding the storm that I have described. 
 
44 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 Not pleased with the experiment, and warned by the clouds that 
 hung upon the mountain, Mr. Brown and myself hastened a few 
 miles ahead of the army to shelter ourselves under the roof of a 
 wretched tavern. In this asylum we have escaped being drenched 
 and frozen, and therefore it would be ungrateful to note the 
 smaller inconveniences which we encountered. Under auy other 
 circumstances, however, I should have found even those insup 
 portable. Little to eat, only whiskey to drink, bad cooks, noisy 
 companions, a wet room, and stinking beds are not pleasant sub 
 jects to brood upon ; and yet, as long as the weather continues 
 as it is, I shall cheerfully accept them in lieu of colds, fevers, 
 agues, pleurisies, etc., and the catalogue of calamities to which 
 the army is constantly exposed. I am not in pursuit of military 
 fame, and the value which you place on my life increases the 
 natural anxiety to preserve it. 
 
 "I wrote thus far without knowing how I should send my 
 letter. An express has just stopped at the door of the tavern, 
 and tells me he goes with letters from the camp (about five 
 miles off) to the President. The tempestuous weather contin 
 ues ; and I think it probable that the object of the present ex 
 press is to procure authority for altering our route. At all events, 
 I shall leave the army, on my return to Philadelphia, on the fifth 
 or sixth of November. Notwithstanding the storm, there seems 
 to be a disposition to order the troops to march at nine o clock 
 to-morrow morning. If so, I must go." 
 
 11. 
 
 " CAMP, at Bonnet s, near Cherry Mill, 
 81 October, 1794. 
 
 "I have at length the pleasure, by way of paradox, to decline 
 any further correspondence with you. I shall certainly leave 
 the army on or before the fifth of November. That I should be 
 tired of the jaunt is not extraordinary, for I never promised my 
 self much gratification in commencing or pursuing it ; but the 
 same solicitude for its termination prevails among the most frol 
 icsome and the most patriotic heroes of the army. The effect is 
 easily traced to its cause. With many the expedition was under 
 taken during the effervescence of a transient resentment, pro 
 duced by the popular clamor against the insurgents. With some 
 it was entered into as a frolic. Most people thought it would 
 not carry us beyond Carlisle ; no one imagined it would trans 
 port us across mountains and precipices into this rude and almost 
 unexplored region. Every calculation being erroneous, no won 
 der the calculators are dissatisfied. The disappointment, how 
 ever, might have been subjected to the rules of a philosophic ac 
 quiescence, if any object could be discovered for the perseverance 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 45 
 
 of those who have led us sometimes into the clouds, and some 
 times into the depths of the earth ; but fifteen thousand men 
 have been marched three hundred miles without a symptom of 
 opposition, and they are, at this moment, in the heart of the 
 enemy s country, with plenty around them of everything but 
 avowed enemies. The fact is so farcical that it would excite 
 laughter, did we not reflect upon the public expense and the 
 waste of private happiness which it has produced. I do not 
 mean to say that the expedition was impolitic or improper; but 
 that it has been protracted in a manner that appears to me 
 wantonly extravagant." 
 
 is. 
 
 " BEDFOKD, 8 November, 1794. 
 
 "As it is possible that the post may pass us on the road, I 
 have taken the chance to apprise you of our arrival at Bedford 
 on our way home. Mr. Ingersoll and myself were equally eager 
 in prosecuting our journey ; and I think I shall have the pleasure 
 of seeing you on Thursday or Friday next. The first will be 
 our object ; but if we attain the other, it will bring us within 
 my old precept: attempt the impossible and you will achieve 
 the extremely difficult. 
 
 " We left the army as soon as its ultimate point of march was 
 fixed. The main body of our column will remain on the east 
 bank, at Budd s Ferry, and the main body of Governor Lee s 
 column will remain on the west bank of the Youghiogeny, till 
 the line of march for returning to their respective homes shall 
 be taken up. This will be in the course of a week. The light 
 troops of both columns will form a junction, and be employed in 
 sending out detachments to scour the country, seize whiskey-boys, 
 etc. during the residue of the campaign. It is probable, because 
 indeed it appears necessary, that a competent force will be left 
 in the refractory counties to keep them in awe during the winter; 
 but this measure must originate in Congress, as the existence 
 of the present army expires, agreeably to the limitation of the 
 act which authorized its being raised, in thirty days after the 
 meeting of that body. It does not appear to me that any trust 
 can be put in the principles or remorse of the rioters ; there is 
 nothing but fear and coercion that will insure their submission. 
 Many of them have fled, it is said, into the woods ; of those 
 that remain, several have been hardy enough to threaten a re 
 newal of their violences as soon as the army is removed ; and 
 the smilmg countenances which others assume are not sufficient 
 to conceal the hypocrisy at their hearts." 
 
 These letters, without entering into minute details, 
 enable the reader to form a fair judgment respecting the 
 
46 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 military expedition to suppress the outbreak commonly 
 called the Whiskey Insurrection. While the Union was 
 yet in its infancy and unconscious of its herculean ener 
 gies, it was the part of wisdom to permit its safety to be 
 placed as little as possible at hazard. No one can ques 
 tion the prudent and humane policy which actuated the 
 President in determining to relieve the nation at once 
 from every possible danger by a demonstration of irre 
 sistible strength. At this day, however, we should look 
 with a smile, or with alarm, upon an executive requisition 
 for an army of fifteen thousand men, to quell an agita 
 tion so local and limited as the one that has been depicted. 
 Our present confidence is the offspring of experience, 
 springing from an ascertained certainty that the form of 
 the government is deeply rooted in the affections and 
 veneration of the people. We rely upon their nearly 
 unanimous attachment to the constitution, that on all 
 occasions of civil discord thins the ranks of disaffection 
 more surely than artillery. No troops additional to those 
 already in garrison were deemed necessary, in 1831, to 
 maintain the laws of the Union, vehemently disclaimed 
 and subverted as they seemed to be by a State at once 
 united and inflamed. A single regiment, legally put in 
 motion, would, in any part of our country, be more than 
 sufficient to disperse and destroy an ephemeral rebellion 
 against a mere act of Congress. It is, indeed, not ex 
 travagant to say that such a single regiment, especially if 
 employed as aids and agents of judicial authority, might 
 more rapidly, quite as effectually, and at comparatively 
 no cost, have overcome and banished every symptom of 
 the insurrection to encounter which fifteen thousand 
 militia concentrated in the western settlements of Penn 
 sylvania. That we are able to entertain this supposition 
 upon a full after-knowledge of the facts, and at the expira 
 tion of sixty-eight years, implies no censure of the mea 
 sures actually pursued by those on whom the occasion 
 broke with the force of novelty, at a critical juncture of 
 political experiment, and under exaggerations wlvMa could 
 neither be detected nor fail to stir a panic. No general 
 proposition is more true than the one stated by Chief 
 Justice Marshall in his Life of Washington, that "when 
 the mind, inflamed by supposititious dangers, gives a full 
 loose to the imagination, and fastens upon some object 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 47 
 
 with which to disturb itself, the belief that the danger 
 exists seems to become a matter of faith, with which 
 reason combats in vain." 
 
 All insurrectionary symptoms having been dispelled, 
 Mr. Dallas was furnished an opportunity by the legisla 
 ture, at its next session, to place upon record a clear and 
 unanswerable exposition of the patriotic conduct of the 
 government of Pennsylvania. He seized with avidity the 
 occasion of a mere letter of inquiry addressed to him by 
 a committee, and framed his answer in the shape of an 
 elaborate report.* Nothing could be more authentic in 
 its details of facts, nothing more cogent in reasoning, and 
 nothing more conclusive as vindication. In thus silencing 
 forever the calumnious assaults too readily indulged in 
 against Governor Mifflin and his associates, he exhibited 
 a power only surpassed by a similar effort twenty years 
 afterwards, in his justly-celebrated pamphlet delineating 
 " the Causes and Character of the War" of 1812. 
 
 This disproportionately huge military movement against 
 the western malcontents had an unforeseen tendency to 
 augment the bitterness of political strife. Although the 
 jealous friends of liberty could rejoice in the bloodless 
 restoration of order, they perceived, for the first time, with 
 amazement and alarm, the immense power placed by the 
 federal constitution practically in the hands of the lead 
 ing advisers of the executive. Such a power was unsafe 
 while lodged with men, some of whom were believed to 
 incline towards a rule of force, rather than one of opinion ; 
 of rank and wealth, rather than of simplicity and equality. 
 Candid observers remarked how eagerly were filled from 
 adjoining States the files of an army destined to avenge 
 and enforce a favorite measure of a favorite secretary in 
 those districts of Pennsylvania supposed and represented 
 to be peculiarly averse to his policy. The patriarchal 
 presence of Washington seemed the only guarantee against 
 the excesses of a vindictive and licentious soldiery. It 
 was the fashion of the day also to retail the exaggerated 
 accounts given by English newspapers of every revolu 
 tionary excess in France; to invoke a vigorous support 
 of government by all the delineated terrors of Parisian 
 clubs and mobs; to stigmatize every association formed 
 
 * See Wharton s State Trials of the United States, page 161. 
 
48 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 for political vigilance, information, and criticism as Jaco 
 binical ; and to ascribe the insurrection, not to the un 
 necessary, abrupt, and unexpected harshness of the law 
 it resisted, nor to the criminal passions of individuals, but 
 to the decried and destructive principle of democracy. 
 Unfortunately, this restive impatience of obstacle received 
 countenance from the highest quarters, and came to be 
 considered as essential among the supporters of the ad 
 ministration. Under ordinary circumstances it might 
 have passed by without much result, as an expedient 
 substitution, on a party emergency, of cant and clamor 
 for argument ; but at a moment of martial demonstration, 
 while swords and bayonets were being handled by the 
 partisans of power, it assumed the character of a menace, 
 and instantly awakened to fresh and fiercer activity the 
 very spirit it was designed to paralyze. 
 
 The strength of the opposition had been gradually 
 growing. Denunciation is at once the very feeblest and 
 the most exasperating weapon with which differences of 
 opinion can be combated. The Democrats, among whom 
 no one was more conspicuous than Mr. Dallas, stood their 
 ground. The effort to crush them with the odium of 
 having caused or stimulated the insurrection, and of being 
 disciples of Robespierre and Marat, was defeated and 
 rebuked by a vote in the popular branch of Congress; 
 and very soon, a measure of executive policy absorbing 
 public attention, their ability and energy were concen 
 trated against it from all parts of the country, in a manner 
 equally signal and impressive. 
 
 At this distant day it is difficult to realize the excite 
 ment which sprung up on the occasion of " JAY S THEATY," 
 sent by the President for consideration to the Senate of 
 the United States, on the 8th of June, 1795. The nego 
 tiator had been withdrawn the year before from his office 
 of chief justice of the supreme court, and commissioned 
 as minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, at a moment 
 when projects of a retaliatory nature against that nation 
 were actually pending in the House of Representatives. 
 His appointment naturally arrested those projects, al 
 though his known political predilections precluded the 
 hope that the sentiment or purpose in which they were 
 founded would receive his attention. He was welcomed 
 at the court of London with open arms ; and, giving to the 
 

 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 49 
 
 objects of his mission and his instructions both assiduity 
 and ability, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, 
 of unusual length and complexity, was signed by Lord 
 Grenville and himself on the 19th of November, 1794. A 
 feverish and impatient solicitude prevailed among the 
 agricultural and commercial classes of America while the 
 negotiation was in progress; and as the result did not 
 reach our government before the seventh of March, and 
 was not submitted to the specially-called Senate for more 
 than three months afterwards, ample time was afforded to 
 allow that feeling to become intense and universal. It 
 was our "coup d essai" since the era of independence, at 
 diplomatic arrangement with England, and there were 
 various topics of which both our interest and our honor 
 exacted a definite and just settlement. The vehemence 
 with which the friends and journals of the administration 
 had, during all the operations for extinguishing the whis- 
 key insurrection, fulminated against everything French, 
 inspired a general distrust that shameful and injurious 
 concessions were being made to a partiality for everything 
 British; and the secrecy of senatorial consultations, pro 
 tracted for weeks, though ultimately broken through, did 
 but sharpen to the utmost the public curiosity and appre 
 hension. When it was found that even the Senate could 
 assent only to a qualified or conditional ratification, and 
 that the Republican minority of that body had deemed 
 the treaty extremely defective and objectionable, suspense 
 gave place to widespread popular agitation. In the course 
 of July, and in rapid succession, meetings were held in 
 all the principal cities, apparently with the expectation of 
 inducing General Washington to withhold his final ap 
 proval. In BOSTON, the instrument was declared to " be 
 highly injurious to the commercial interests of the United States, 
 derogatory to their national honor and independence, and dan 
 gerous to the peace and happiness of their citizens" In PORTS 
 MOUTH, New Hampshire, the citizens desired " to express 
 their most hearty disapprobation thereof," because it rigor 
 ously enforced debts due to British subjects, but forgot the 
 claims of our own citizens; because it involved " direct 
 invasion of the rights of individual States;" because " its regu 
 lations of trade, commerce, and navigation must prove destructive 
 to those American interests;" because "the list of articles 
 contraband of war was extended, to the injury of France, Hoi- 
 
50 LIFE OF A. J, DALLAS. 
 
 land, and Sweden" and because it was " not conducive to the 
 interest, honor, and lasting peace of our country." In NEW 
 YORK it was pronounced, with a long detail of reasons, 
 "injurious to the agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of 
 the United States, derogatory from their national honor, and 
 dangerous to their welfare, peace, and prosperity. " In 
 CHARLESTON, after a selection from "many well-founded 
 objections," it was apprehended " that great evils would result 
 to these States from this treaty." In BALTIMORE "a disappro 
 bation of said treaty" was briefly expressed. In TRENTON 
 it was condemned as u degrading to the national honor, dan 
 gerous to the public interest, and destructive of the commercial 
 and agricultural views of the United States." In PHILADEL 
 PHIA, then our commercial and political, our national and 
 State metropolis, repugnance was stronger, keener, and 
 more emphatic than elsewhere. Mr. Dallas took a leading 
 and effective part against it, as well in writing as in public 
 speaking. With zeal and labor he analyzed and explained 
 the whole subject, the omissions, ambiguities, latent 
 dangers, and obvious errors of the treaty were vividly 
 depicted, and the practical operation of many portions 
 shown almost conclusively to jeopard the material inter 
 ests of the American people, or to impair their character 
 by striking covertly at their best revolutionary friend and 
 ally. Embodying his views, at once methodically and 
 eloquently, in a paper of some length, under the title of 
 " FEATURES OF JAY S TREATY" (Appendix No. 2), they were 
 actively disseminated, in pamphlet form and through a 
 daily journal. While, according to the invariable practice 
 of the writer in his deliberated productions, the language 
 and tone towards the persons implicated in manufacturing 
 the treaty was respectful and measured, the argument for 
 its condemnation was pressed with a perspicuity and force 
 wholly unanswerabfe. The effect was immediate and 
 powerful. A numerous assemblage of " citizens of Phila 
 delphia, the Northern Liberties, and the District of 
 Soutliwark," held in Independence Square on the 25th of 
 July, 1795, adopted a memorial addressed to the President, 
 and confided it for transmission to a committee composed 
 of the following gentlemen, most of whom were then and 
 for many years subsequently eminently distinguished, viz.: 
 Alexander J. Dallas, Thomas McKean, John Swanwick, 
 Charles Pettit, John Hunn, Moses Levy, Abraham Coats, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 51 
 
 William Coats, Stephen Girard, John Barker, William 
 Shippen, Jr., Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Blair McClena- 
 han, and Thomas Lee Shippen. As this memorial was 
 penned by Mr. Dallas, and contained a comprehensive 
 epitome of the grounds upon which he and his Republican 
 associates were strenuously opposing the consummation 
 of a measure of executive policy, it may be appropriately 
 inserted here at length : 
 
 " To George Washington, President of the United States. 
 
 " The Memorial of the citizens of Philadelphia, the Northern 
 Liberties, and the District of Southwark, in the State of Penn 
 sylvania, respectfully sheweth : 
 
 " That your memorialists, sincerely and affectionately attached 
 to you, from a sense of the important services which you have ren 
 dered to the United States, and a conviction of fhe purity of the 
 motives that will forever regulate your public administration, do, 
 on an occasion in which they feel themselves deeply interested, 
 address you as a friend and patriot, as a friend who will never 
 take offence at what is well intended, and as a patriot who will 
 never reject what may be converted to the good of your country. 
 
 " That your memorialists entertain a proper respect for your 
 constitutional authority ; and whatever may be the issue of the 
 present momentous question, they will faithfully acquiesce in the 
 regular exercise of the delegated powers of the government ; but 
 they trust that, in the formation of a compact \vhich is to ope 
 rate upon them and their posterity, in their most important in 
 ternal as well as external relations, which, in effect, admits an 
 other government to control the legislative functions of the Union ; 
 and which, if found, upon experience, to be detrimental, can only 
 be repealed by soliciting the assent, or provoking the hostilities, 
 of a foreign power, you will not deem it improper or officious in 
 them thus anxiously, but respectfully, to present a solemn testi 
 monial of their public opinion, feelings, and interest. 
 
 " That, under these preliminary acknowledgments of the duty 
 and of the design of your memorialists, the following objections 
 to the ratification of the treaty lately concluded between Lord 
 Grenville and Mr. Jay, are submitted, with implicit confidence, 
 to your consideration : 
 
 " The treaty is objected to, 
 
 " 1. Because it does not provide for a fair and effectual settle 
 ment of the differences that previously subsisted between the 
 United States and Great Britain, inasmuch as it postpones the 
 surrender, and affords no compensation for the detention, of the 
 western posts; inasmuch as it cedes without any equivalent an 
 indefinite extent of territory to the settlers under British titles, 
 
52 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 within the precincts and jurisdiction of those posts ; inasmuch 
 as it waves a just claim for the value of the negroes who were 
 carried off at the close of the war, in violation of positive com 
 pact ; and inasmuch as it refers all hope of indemnity, for the 
 recent spoliations committed on the commerce of the United 
 States, to an equivocal, expensive, tedious, and uncertain process. 
 
 "2. Because by the treaty the federal government accedes to 
 restraints upon the American commerce and navigation, internal 
 as well as external, that embrace no principle of real reciprocity, 
 and are inconsistent with the rights and destructive to the interests 
 of an independent nation, inasmuch as it unreasonably fetters 
 the intercourse with the West Indies, with India, and with the 
 American lakes, by means of navigable rivers belonging to the 
 British ; inasmuch as, in many instances, it circumscribes the 
 navigation of the United States to a particular voyage ; and 
 inasmuch as some of our staple commodities (exempted by the 
 treaties with France, Holland, Prussia, and Sweden) it makes 
 liable to confiscation as contraband ; and others (exempted by 
 the law of nations) it makes liable to seizure, upon payment of an 
 arbitrary price, as articles useful to the enemies of Great Britain. 
 
 " 3. Because the treaty is destructive to the domestic inde 
 pendence and prosperity of the United States, inasmuch as it 
 admits aliens, professing a foreign allegiance, to the permanent 
 and transmissible rights of property peculiarly belonging to a 
 citizen, and inasmuch as it enables Great Britain to draw an 
 invidious and dangerous line of circumvallation round the terri 
 tory of the Union by her fleets on the Atlantic, and by her set 
 tlements from Nova Scotia to the mouth of the Mississippi. 
 
 " 4. Because the treaty surrenders certain inherent powers of 
 an independent government, which are essential in the circum 
 stances of the United States, to their safety and defence, and 
 which might, on great emergencies, be successfully employed to 
 enforce the neglected claims of justice, without making the last 
 dreadful appeal to arms, inasmuch as the right of sequestration, 
 the right of regulating commerce, in favor of a friendly and 
 against a rival power, and the right of suspending a commercial 
 intercourse with an inimical nation are voluntarily abandoned. 
 
 " 5. Because the treaty is an infraction of the rights of friend 
 ship, gratitude, and alliance which the republic of France may 
 justly claim from the United States, and deprives the United 
 States of the most powerful means to secure the good will and 
 good offices of other nations, inasmuch as it alters, during a 
 war, the relative situation of different nations, advantageously to 
 Great Britain and prejudicially to the French republic ; inas 
 much as it is in manifest collision with several articles of the 
 American treaty with France; and inasmuch as it grants to 
 Great Britain certain high, dangerous, and exclusive privileges. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 53 
 
 "And your memorialists, having thus, upon general ground, 
 concisely but explicitly, avowed their wishes and opinions ; and, 
 forbearing a minute specification of the many other objections 
 that occur, conclude with an assurance that by refusing to ratify 
 the projected treaty j r ou will, according to their best information 
 and judgment, at once evince an exalted attachment to the prin 
 ciples of the Constitution of the United States, and an undi- 
 minished zeal to advance the prosperity and happiness of your 
 constituents. "\ 
 
 Few things are more difficult to determine than the 
 positive merit of treaties; and certainly no one can feel 
 the slightest disposition to underrate Mr. Jay s. Agree 
 ably to his own representation, the compact, imperfect 
 and unsatisfactory as it might be, was the most favorable 
 one for his country which the British ministry would 
 consent to make. Undoubtedly learned, patriotic, labo 
 rious, and faithful, he was, nevertheless, not suited to cope, 
 on such questions of trade and international policy as it 
 involved, with the practiced officials of London. A re 
 markable proof of this was furnished by the twelfth ar 
 ticle, the extraordinary character of which could scarcely 
 be palliated by the subsequently ascertained fact that Mr. 
 Jay was, unhappily, wholly ignorant of the commercial 
 importance then assuming by the great southern staple. 
 lie was hurried, too, in his work, by the consciousness 
 that it w r as wanted for cabinet purposes at home. Nor 
 can it be said that, tested by experiment and time, the 
 treaty either fulfilled the promises of those who applauded, 
 or verified the forebodings of those who condemned its 
 terms. It constituted, however, one of the early battle 
 grounds of political party. [The principles upon which it 
 was assailed, and the men w r ho assailed it, were of the 
 Democratic opposition; and those principles and those 
 men, invigorated by every exercise, and steadily ad 
 vancing, as they were, to the direction of national affairs, 
 are entitled to be understood. It is especially wished that 
 Mr. Dallas may be understood; and that his just fame, in 
 connection with this particular subject, .may not be im 
 paired by rash expressions even from pens of imposing 
 authority.* The "FEATURES OF JAY S TREATY" and the 
 
 * i( With this course of passionate declamation were connected the most 
 strenuous and unremitting exertions to give increased energy to the love 
 
54 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 memorial cited exhibit the platform on which he took his 
 stand, and to which he rallied "an immense party in Amer- 
 / >." They cannot be read witli care and candor, without 
 communicating the impression that their author had per 
 fect mastery of his subject, and handled it with consum 
 mate ability. 
 
 It is possible that the rapid spread and harmonious 
 activity of the Republican party, as attested in the agita 
 tions against the treaty, can be, in some measure, ascribed 
 to proceedings which were soon made the objects of special 
 and unmeasured animadversion by those in power. Since 
 that period, similar proceedings have become so universal, 
 and are now esteemed such legitimate modes of incul 
 cating and uniting opinions, that modern politicians can 
 scarcely understand, much less approve, the grave cen 
 sure with which they were at first received. I allude to 
 the voluntary associations or societies formed to diffuse 
 favored doctrines of government, to secure co-operation 
 against the progress of errors, and to be ever on the watch 
 to detect covert encroachments upon public liberty or 
 right. These agencies of popular sentiment were ex 
 tremely odious to all official functionaries and depend 
 ents : and, perhaps, a prophetic instinct as to their ultimate 
 tendencies exaggerated their capacity for mischief and 
 colored their dangers too highly. No doubt they were 
 liable to abuse, and might be perverted into instruments 
 of disorder; but in this they shared with the constituted 
 authorities themselves the essential fallibility of every 
 human arrangement. 
 
 We must not forget, however, that the tales wafted 
 over the Atlantic from London and Paris were ill calcu 
 lated to recommend these political unions to American 
 adoption. British ministers, judges, and parliamentary 
 committees could find no language sufficiently strong to 
 
 which was openly avowed for France, and to the detestation not less openly 
 avowed for England. 
 
 " But an immense party in America, not in the habit of considering 
 national compacts, without examining the circumstances under which that 
 with Britain had been formed, or weighing the reasons which induced it ; 
 without understanding the instrument, and in many places without reading 
 it, rushed impetuously to its condemnation, and seemed to expect that 
 public opinion would be surprised by the suddenness or stormed by the 
 fury of the assault; and that the Executive would be compelled to yield 
 to its violence. 1 MarshaWs Life of Washington. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 55 
 
 convey their abhorrence of "The London Corresponding 
 Society" " The Society for Constitutional Information^ anil 
 u The Society of the Friends of the People ;" whose conspicu 
 ous members, the Hardys, the Muirs, the Palmers, the 
 Gerralds, the Margarets, the Sinclairs, the Skirvings, and 
 the Home Tookes, were undergoing prosecution and 
 transportation. At the same time, the excesses into which 
 ran the saturnalia of the French factions, inflamed and 
 misled by Marat, Danton, Robespierre, Collot D Herbois, 
 and Billaucl Varennes, threw discredit as well upon mere 
 forms of organization as upon the bold bad men who 
 made them means of insurrection and terror. 
 
 .Contented with the liberties, constitutions, and laws of 
 the country, no Republicans of the United States could 
 entertain a desire beyond that of seeing them confided to 
 those by whom they would be administered in the pre 
 ferred spirit of democratic strictness, simplicity, and 
 economy. Instead of wishing, they deprecated, change; 
 for the change they most feaied was that retrograde one 
 into which the supposed monarchical theories and habits 
 of certain eminent statesmen might gradually glide. 
 What, therefore, in Europe was represented as subversive 
 could here be in reality only progressive and conservative. 
 The great jeopardy of the newly-established freedom is 
 to be found, as very recent, like former events, on the 
 eastern continent, have shown, in the reactionary inclina 
 tions for the abolished system. It is unnecessary, and 
 would be painful, to speculate upon the consequences that 
 might have ensued, had any of the precautionary and 
 honorable steps been omitted which peacefully and per 
 suasively paved the way for the election of Mr. Jefferson 
 in 1801. 
 
 At least, such were the views that swayed the enlight 
 ened and patriotic citizens by whom the principles, arti 
 cles, and regulations of "The Democratic Society of Penn 
 sylvania" were adopted and publicly proclaimed on the 
 4th of July, 1793. Among these gentlemen, Mr. Dallas 
 was undoubtedly foremost. His associates were eminent 
 for their attainments, their public spirit, and their irre 
 proachable standing. The astronomer, David Ritten- 
 house, was President ; and Mr. Dallas headed the com 
 mittee, on whose abilities and labors devolved the task 
 of achieving the objects of the association. The consti- 
 
56 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 tution, first circular, and other explanatory papers, were 
 drafted by him; and he energetically opened and perse- 
 veringly maintained a correspondence coextensive with 
 the Union and everywhere salutary and effective. 
 
 As the establishment of this the leading society has, as 
 I have said, been authoritatively censured, it may not be 
 amiss to seek a just appreciation of its impulse and de 
 signs in the original documents that frankly and distinctly 
 developed them. 
 
 The following is extracted from the statement prelimi 
 nary to the principles, articles, and regulations: 
 
 " At this propitious period, when the nature of Freedom and 
 Equality is practically displayed, and when their value (best un 
 derstood by those who have paid the price of acquiring them) is 
 universally acknowledged, the patriotic mind will naturally be 
 solicitous, by every proper precaution, to preserve and perpetuate 
 the blessings which Providence hath bestowed upon our country; 
 for, in reviewing the history of nations, we find occasion to lament 
 that the vigilance of the people has been too easily absorbed in 
 victory, and that the prize which has been achieved by the wisdom 
 and valor of one generation, has often been lost by the ignorance 
 and supineness of another." 
 
 The following are enumerated as " the fundamental 
 principles of the association:" 
 
 I. 
 
 " That the people have the inherent and exclusive right and 
 power of making and altering forms of government; and that for 
 regulating and protecting our social interests a REPUBLICAN 
 GOVERNMENT is the most natural and beneficial form which the 
 wisdom, of man has devised. 
 
 II. 
 
 " That the republican Constitutions of the United States and 
 of the State of Pennsylvania, being framed and established by 
 the people, it is our duty as good citizens to support them. And 
 in order effectually to do so, it is likewise the duty of every free 
 man to regard with attention and to discuss without fear the con 
 duct of the public servants in every department of government. 
 
 III. 
 
 " That in considering the administration of public affairs, men 
 and measures should be estimated according to their intrinsic 
 merits ; and, therefore, regardless of party spirit or political con- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 57 
 
 nection, it is the duty of every citizen, by making the general 
 welfare the rule of his conduct, to aid and approve those measures 
 which have an influence in promoting the prosperity of the Com 
 monwealth. 
 
 IT. 
 
 " That in the choice of persons to fill the offices of government, 
 it is essential to the existence of a free republic that every citizen 
 should act according to his own judgment, and therefore any at 
 tempt to corrupt or delude the people in exercising the rights of 
 suffrage, either by promising the favor of one candidate, or 
 traducing the character of another, is an offence equally injurious 
 to moral rectitude and civil liberty. 
 
 That the people of Pennsylvania form but one indivisible 
 community, whose political rights and interests, whose national 
 honor and prosperity, must, in degree and duration, be forever 
 the same ; and, therefore, it is the duty of every freeman, and 
 shall be the endeavor of the Democratic Society, to remove the 
 prejudices, to conciliate the affections, to enlighten the under 
 standing, and to promote the happiness of all our fellow-citizens." 
 
 The Circular. 
 
 " FELLOW-CITIZEN, We have the pleasure to communicate to 
 you a copy of the constitution of The Democratic Society, in 
 hopes that after a candid consideration of its principles and objects, 
 you may be induced to promote its adoption in the county of 
 which you are an inhabitant. 
 
 "Every mind capable of reflection must perceive that the 
 present crisis in the politics of nations is peculiarly interesting to 
 America. The European confederacy, transcendent in power 
 and unparalleled in iniquity, menaces the very existence of free 
 dom. Already its baneful operation may be traced in the tyran 
 nical destruction of the constitution, and the rapacious partition 
 of the territory of Poland ; and should the glorious efforts of 
 France be eventually defeated, we have reason to presume that, 
 for the consummation of monarchical ambition and the security 
 of its establishments, this country, the only remaining depository 
 of liberty, will not long be permitted to enjoy in peace the honors 
 of an independent and the happiness of a republican government. 
 
 " Nor are the dangers from foreign sources the only causes at 
 this time of apprehension and solicitude. The seeds of luxury 
 appear to have taken root in our domestic soil ; and the jealous 
 eye of patriotism already regards the spirit of freedom and equality 
 as eclipsed by the pride of wealth and the arrogance of power. 
 
 "This general view of our situation has led to the institution 
 
 5 
 
58 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 of The Democratic Society. A constant circulation of useful in 
 formation, and a liberal communication of republican sentiments, 
 were thought to be the best antidotes to any political poison with 
 which the vital principles of civil liberty might be attacked. For, 
 by such means, a fraternal confidence will be established among 
 the citizens, every symptom of innovation will be studiously 
 marked, and a standard will be created to which, in danger and 
 distress, the friends of liberty may successfully resort. 
 
 " To obtain these objects, then, and to cultivate on all occasions 
 the love of peace, order, and harmony, an attachment to the con 
 stitutions and a respect to the laws of our country, will be the aim 
 of The Democratic Society. Party and personal considerations 
 are excluded from a system of this nature ; for, in the language 
 of the articles under which we are united, men and measures will 
 only be estimated according to their intrinsic merits and their in 
 fluence in promoting the prosperity of the State. 
 
 " From you, fellow-citizen, we hope to derive essential aid in 
 extending the society and maintaining its genuine principles. 
 We request, therefore, an early attention to the subject, and 
 solicit a constant correspondence." 
 
 The current occupations of a practising lawyer are 
 scarcely to be esteemed worthy, under any circumstances 
 or for any object, of patient analysis or consideration. 
 They are toils applied to the shifting and fading vicissi 
 tudes of life and the emergencies of business, very limited 
 in their influence, really interesting to those only who are 
 parties to them, and passing so rapidly and numerously 
 as to fix no attention. On the surface of this general 
 stream, however, there may sometimes be discerned, by 
 careful discrimination, buoys or beacons which mark the 
 anchorage of some great principle or some historical in 
 cident. The professional position of Mr. Dallas attracted 
 to him, during a series of years, beside the ordinary 
 causes of litigation, a number, both civil and criminal, 
 having their origin in public measures and feeling, and 
 connected more or less intimately with the constitution 
 and government of the country. Some of these last 
 demand notice. As he never became a member of the 
 legislature, either State or federal, and very seldom par 
 took in popular meetings, these controversies of mind and 
 opinion may furnish important though certainly not the 
 only means of accurately appreciating the originality, 
 powers, resources, and integrity of his intellect. Perhaps 
 we shall find, on recurring to the most conspicuous among 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 59 
 
 them, that, notwithstanding the continued torrent of de 
 traction he breasted while living, but could not silence 
 when in his grave, his devotion to equal rights and well- 
 ordered liberty shone forth in the construction of every 
 law ; that his sympathies were invariably enlisted and 
 fearlessly expressed against oppression or usurpation ; 
 that having carefully \vatched the progress of the conven 
 tion of 1787, he profoundly reverenced as he thoroughly 
 comprehended the Union it prescribed, and that he 
 brought to the aid of what may be called his uniform 
 forensic democracy, extensive learning, quick ingenuity, 
 vigorous reasoning, and a rhetoric which, disdaining to 
 be figurative, was alike polished and perspicuous. 
 
 I. It was by a simple but sound reference to the true 
 characteristics of the constitution that, on the trial of 
 Robert Worrall, in 1798, for an attempt to bribe a commis 
 sioner of the revenue, he led or confirmed Judge Chase 
 in the authoritative and important declaration that the 
 United States, as a federal government, have no common 
 law, and that consequently no indictment can be main 
 tained in their courts for offences merely at the common 
 law. His course of argument was briefly as follows : 
 
 " All the judicial authority of the federal courts must be de 
 rived either from the Constitution of the United States or from 
 the acts of Congress made in pursuance of it. To maintain the 
 jurisdiction of the court it was therefore necessary to show that 
 an offer to bribe a commissioner of the revenue is a violation of 
 some constitutional or legislative provision. The constitution 
 contains express provisions in certain cases, designated by defini 
 tions of the crimes, by a reference to the characters of the parties 
 offending, or by the exclusive jurisdiction of the place where the 
 offences were perpetrated ; but the crime of attempting to bribe, 
 the character of a federal officer, and the place wherein the present 
 offence was committed, do not form any part of the constitutional 
 express provisions for the exercise of judicial authority in the 
 courts of the Union. The judicial power, however, extends not 
 only to all cases in law and equity arising under the constitution, 
 but likewise to all such as shall arise under the laws of the 
 United States; and besides the authority specially vested in 
 Congress to pass laws for enumerated purposes, there is a gen 
 eral authority given to make all laws which shall be necessary 
 and proper for carrying into execution all the powers vested by 
 the constitution in the government of the United States or in 
 any department or office thereof. Whenever Congress think a 
 
60 LIFE OF A. J. ^ DALLAS. 
 
 provision necessary to effectuate a constitutional power of the 
 government, they may establish that provision by law ; and 
 whenever it is so established a violation of its sanctions will 
 come within the jurisdiction of this court, which, by the eleventh 
 section of the judicial act, has exclusive cognizance of all crimes 
 and offences cognizable under the authority of the United States. 
 But in the case of the commissioner of the revenue the act 
 constituting the office does not create or declare the offence ; it 
 is not recognized in the act under which proposals for building 
 the lighthouse were invited, and there is no other act that has 
 the slightest relation to the subject. 
 
 " Can the offence, then, be said to arise under the constitution 
 or the laws of the United States ? and if not, what is there to 
 render it cognizable under the authority of the United States? 
 A case arising under a law must mean a case depending on the 
 exposition of a law, in respect to something which the law pro 
 hibits or enjoins. There is no characteristic of that kind in the 
 present instance. But it may be suggested that, the office being 
 established by a law of the United States, it is an incident natu 
 rally attached to the authority of the United States to guard the 
 officer against the approaches of corruption in the execution of 
 his public trust. It is true that the person who accepts an office 
 may be supposed to enter into a compact to be answerable to 
 the government which he serves for any violation of his duty, 
 and having taken the oath of office, he would unquestionably be 
 liable, in such case, to a prosecution for perjury in the federal 
 courts. But because one man, by his own act, renders himself 
 amenable to a particular jurisdiction, shall another man, who has 
 not incurred a similar obligation, be implicated? If, in other 
 words, it is sufficient to vest a jurisdiction in this court that a 
 federal officer is concerned ; if it is a sufficient proof of a case 
 arising under a law of the United States to affect other persons 
 that such officer is bound by law to discharge the duty with 
 fidelity, a source of jurisdiction is opened which must inevitably 
 overflow and destroy all the barriers between the judicial author 
 ities of the State and the general government. Anything which 
 can prevent a federal officer from the punctual as well as from an 
 impartial performance of his duty an assault and battery or the 
 recovery of a debt, as well as the offer of a bribe may be made 
 the foundation of the jurisdiction of this court; and, considering 
 the constant disposition of power to extend the sphere of its 
 influence, fictions will be resorted to when real cases cease to 
 occur. A mere fiction that the defendant is in the custody of the 
 marshal has rendered the jurisdiction of the king s bench uni 
 versal in all personal actions. Another fiction, which states the 
 plaintiff to be a debtor of the crown, gives cognizance of all kinds 
 of personal suits to the exchequer ; and the mere profession of 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 61 
 
 an attorney attaches the privilege of suing and being sued in his 
 own court. If, therefore, the disposition to amplify the jurisdic 
 tion of the circuit court exists, precedents of the means to do so 
 are not wanting, and it may hereafter be sufficient to suggest 
 that the party is a federal officer in order to enable this court 
 to try every species of crime and to sustain every description of 
 action. 
 
 " But another ground may, perhaps, be taken to vindicate the 
 present claim of jurisdiction : it may be urged that, though the 
 offence is not specified in the constitution nor denned in any act 
 of Congress, yet that it is an offence at common law, and that 
 the common law is the law of the United States in cases that 
 arise under their authority. The nature of our federal compact 
 will not, however, tolerate this doctrine. The twelfth article of 
 the amendments stipulates that the powers not delegated to the 
 United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
 States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. 
 In relation to crimes and misdemeanors, the objects of the dele 
 gated power of the United States are enumerated and fixed. 
 Congress may provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the 
 securities and current coin of the United States, and may define 
 and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and 
 offences against the law of nations : and so likewise Congress 
 may make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for car 
 rying into execution the powers of the general government. But 
 here is no reference to a common law authority, every power is 
 matter of definite and positive grant, and the very powers that 
 are granted cannot take effect until they are exercised through 
 the medium of a law. Congress had undoubtedly a power to 
 make a law which would render it criminal to offer a bribe to 
 the commissioner of the revenue ; but, not having made the law, 
 the crime is not recognized by the federal code, constitutional or 
 legal, and consequently is not a subject on which the judicial 
 authority of the Union can operate." 
 
 It is impossible not to observe with what cogency and 
 clearness this short argument of the professional advocate 
 sustains the cardinal principle of constitutional construc 
 tion on which the political party of his preference had 
 taken its stand. No latitude, and hardly liberality, of 
 interpretation. " The constitution is a federal compact:" 
 "every power is matter of definite and positive grant:" "the 
 objects of the delegaied power of the United States are enumer 
 ated and fixed:" and though Congress may make all laws 
 necessary and proper for carrying into execution the 
 powers of the general government, and so might, by adop- 
 
62 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 tion, bit by bit, legislate the common law into the federal 
 code, yet, until that be done, it could not be appealed to 
 in maintenance of the jurisdiction of the federal courts. 
 That this reasoning met persevering opposition which has 
 now become nearly obsolete ; that its truth and weight 
 have long since given it an impregnable lodgment in the 
 American mind, under the force of amplifications in every 
 sphere of discussion, are unquestionable facts: yet it 
 should be recollected that at the date of Worrall s trial 
 it was comparatively fresh, the distinctive feature of a 
 political organization in a minority, and in direct conflict 
 with the theories and inculcations of those who made and 
 administered the laws. 
 
 II. The impeachment of William Blount, a senator of 
 the United States from Tennessee, resolved upon by the 
 House of Representatives in the summer of 1797, gave 
 rise to proceedings of equal novelty and interest. The 
 crimes and misdemeanors imputed to the accused were 
 substantially a conspiracy to wrest Louisiana and Florida 
 from Spain, then at war with England, in violation of our 
 treaty obligations ; and acts of bribery or intimidation 
 connected with our Indian agents, in order to excite the 
 Cherokees and Creeks to hostilities against the neighbor 
 ing subjects of the Spanish crown. 
 
 The members of the House of Representatives charged 
 with the management of this impeachment were distin 
 guished for parliamentary and professional ability. Among 
 them the three most prominent were Samuel Sitgreaves, 
 of Pennsylvania, Robert Goodloe Harper, of Maryland, 
 and James A. Bayard, of Delaware. The first-named 
 gentleman is believed to have drafted the articles. The 
 counsel of William Blount were Mr. Dallas and Mr. Jared 
 Ingersoll, of the bar of Philadelphia. Necessarily, the 
 sphere of action was the most august of American judi 
 catures, the Senate of the United States. On the 24th 
 of December, 1798, that tribunal, through the lips of its 
 presiding officer, Thomas Jefferson, the Vice-President, 
 permitted a plea to be filed on behalf of the defendant : and 
 the matter alleged in that plea proved fatal to the prose 
 cution. 
 
 The substantial averments of the plea were, jrs, that 
 William Blount was not then a senator (he had been ex 
 pelled the body by resolution on the 8th of July, 1797); 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 63 
 
 and second, that although he was a senator at the periods 
 referred to in the articles of impeachment, he was not a 
 civil officer of the United States; that he was not charged 
 with any crime or misdemeanor, or any malconduct, or 
 any abuse of public trust, in the execution of any civil office ; 
 and that by the constitution, no persons but the President, 
 Vice-President, and civil officers of the United States are 
 liable to impeachment. 
 
 Let it not be supposed that any one could be insensible 
 to the fruitful ingenuity and close logic with which the 
 managers encountered this plea, nor unmindful of the 
 impressive and copious learning of Mr. Ingersoll ; but 
 our specially assigned purpose, the illustration of the 
 course of Mr. Dallas, forbids expansive deviation. In 
 repelling the arguments with which the plea was assailed 
 by Mr. Bayard, he took three general positions under 
 which to arrange his remarks, and maintained them with 
 a power altogether conclusive. Again he was obliged to 
 resist, at the outset, an impetuous effort to establish the 
 English common law as the source whence to deduce, in 
 the administration of federal jurisprudence, the rule of 
 right. 
 
 " As the honorable manager had contended that the constitu 
 tional grant of a power to institute and to try impeachments 
 extends, ex vi termini, to every description of offender, and to 
 every degree of offence, a just respect for the high authority 
 which he represents, as well as for the talents he has displayed, 
 compels the defendant s counsel to follow him into the wide field 
 of controversy that he has unexpectedly chosen. A claim of juris 
 diction so unlimited, embracing every object of the penal code, 
 annihilating all discriminations between civil and military cases, 
 and overthrowing the boundaries of federal and State authority, 
 ought surely to have been supported by an express and unequivo 
 cal delegation: but, behold, it rests entirely on an arbitrary im 
 plication from the use of a single word; and while the stream 
 is thus copious, thus inundating, the source is enveloped (like 
 the sources of the Nile) in mystery and doubt. The constitution 
 declares that the House of Representatives shall have the sole 
 power of impeachment^ and that the Senate shall have the sole 
 power to try all impeachments: hence it has been urged that 
 as there is no description of the offenders or the offences in the 
 constitution itself, where the power is vested, every offender arid 
 every offence, impeachable according to the common law of Eng 
 land, must be deemed impeachable here ; and it is alleged, that 
 
64 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 the common-law power of impeachment extends to every crime 
 or misdemeanor that can be committed by any subject, in or out 
 of office. Such a doctrine is contrary to the principles of our 
 federal- compact ; is contrary to the general policy of the law of 
 impeachments ; and is contrary to a fair construction of the very 
 terms of the constitution." 
 
 And Mr. Dallas proceeded under these three subdi 
 visions into extended argument. 
 
 That it was contrary to the principles of the federal compact, 
 he deduced from the design with which the government 
 of the United States was established. 
 
 "Although it is in some of its features federal, in others it is 
 consolidated ; in some of its operations it affects the people as 
 individuals ; in others, it applies to them in the aggregate as 
 States : yet, in every view, all the powers and attributes of the 
 national government are matter of express and positive grant 
 and transfer: whatever is not expressly granted and transferred 
 must be deemed to remain with the people, or with the respective 
 States ; and as the motive for establishing the federal constitution 
 arose from the want of a competent national authority in cases 
 in which it was essential for the people inhabiting the different 
 States to act as a nation, so far the people gave power to the 
 federal government : but the delegation of that power is evidently 
 limited by the reason which produced it. Thus, in the creation 
 of a national judiciary, we find that in criminal as well as in 
 civil cases, no authority is vested in the courts but upon the 
 appropriate subjects of national jurisprudence. Crimes and mis 
 demeanors, which have no connection with national objects, are 
 left to be prosecuted and punished under the laws of the State 
 in which they are committed. And yet it is asserted that for 
 any crime or misdemeanor which could only be thus the object 
 of State jurisdiction, which could not be tried upon an indictment 
 in any federal court, a State officer or a private citizen may be 
 impeached before the Senate of the United States ! The mere 
 investment of a power to impeach and to try impeachments is 
 considered as an instrument destined to carry the government 
 beyond its natural sphere, and to give to the censorship of the 
 Senate a scope and efficacy of which the general judicial authority 
 of the Union does not partake." 
 
 The manager having referred to the English common 
 law for an exposition of the import and operation of the 
 power of impeachment, Mr. Dallas contended that 
 
 " The United States, as a federal government, had no common 
 law in relation to crimes and punishments. The crimes punish- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 65 
 
 able under the authority of the United States can only be such 
 as the constitution defines or acts of Congress shall create, in 
 order to effectuate the general powers of the government. How 
 did the government of the United States acquire a common-law 
 jurisdiction in the case of crimes, and by what standard is the 
 jurisdiction to be regulated ? When the colonies of America 
 were first settled, each colony brought with it as much of the 
 common law as was applicable to its circumstances and it chose 
 to adopt ; but no colony adopted all the common law of England, 
 and there was a great diversity, owing to local and other circum 
 stances, in the objects and extent of the common law which the 
 different colonies adopted. The common law is, therefore, the 
 law of each State so far as each State has chosen to adopt it; 
 but the United States did not bring the common law with them. 
 There are no express words of adoption in the constitution; and 
 if a common law is to be assumed by implication, is it to be the 
 common law of the individual States, and of which State ?- or 
 is it to be the common law of England, and at what period ? 
 Are we to take it from the dark and barbarous pages of the 
 common law, with all the feudal rigor and appendages ? or is it 
 to be taken as it has been ameliorated by the refinements of 
 modern legislation ? Would it not be absurd to refer us to the 
 ancient common law of England ? And, if we are referred to 
 its improved state, do we not rather adopt the statutes than the 
 common law of that country? And is the common law to 
 fluctuate forever here as it may fluctuate there ?" 
 
 Continuing his line of argument, Mr. Dallas urged 
 that the doctrine of the managers was also inconsistent 
 with the general policy of impeachments, and with a fair 
 construction of the terms of the constitution. 
 
 " To suppose that these terms include a jurisdiction over all 
 persons, for all offences, is to annihilate the trial by jury where a 
 punishment more severe than death, to an honorable mind, may 
 be inflicted ; it is to overthrow all the barriers of criminal juris 
 prudence ; for every petty rogue may be tried by impeachment 
 before this high court for every offence within the indefinite 
 classification of a misdemeanor." 
 
 The chief point of his subsequent reasoning went to 
 prove that a senator was not embraced by the constitu 
 tional phrase " civil officer;" that the verbal criticism which 
 drew a distinction between civil officers of and civil 
 officers under the United States was unfounded ; and that 
 no man is an officer of the United States, in the sense of 
 those clauses of the constitution which vest the power of 
 
66 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 impeachment, unless be has been appointed and commis 
 sioned by the President. 
 
 " The President and Yice-President have their commissions 
 from the constitution itself; and the Speaker of the House of 
 Representatives is emphatically an officer of the House not of 
 the United States. As the President does not commission him 
 self and the Vice-President, and as it was intended to affect them 
 by the impeachment power, therefore they are expressly named. 
 The President does not commission senators and representatives, 
 but it was not intended to affect them by the impeachment 
 power; therefore they are not named." 
 
 Legislation is a trust, not an office. This distinction is 
 not a novelty ; it is drawn in the articles of confedera 
 tion, in the federal constitution, in many of the State 
 constitutions, and in acts of Congress. But, independent 
 of all precedent and authority, this distinction is founded 
 upon the very nature of a free government. 
 
 " The legislature is, in theory, the people ; they do not them 
 selves assemble, but they depute a few to act for them ; and the 
 laws which are thus made are the expressions of the will of the 
 people. Over their representatives the people have a complete 
 control, and if one set transgress they can appoint another set, 
 who can rescind and annul all previous bad laws. But the 
 power of the people is only to make the laws ; they have nothing 
 to do with executing them ; they have nothing to do with ex 
 pounding them; and hence arises the diversity in the modes 
 of remedying any grievance which they may suffer from the 
 conduct of their representatives or agents. If a legislator acts 
 wrong, he may be expelled before the term for which he was 
 chosen has expired ; he may be rejected at the next periodical 
 election ; and the laws which he has sanctioned may be repealed 
 by a new representation. But if an executive or judicial magis 
 trate acts wrong, the people have no immediate power to correct, 
 prosecution and impeachment are the only remedies for the evil. 
 Then it is manifest that, by the power of impeachment, the people 
 did not mean to guard against themselves, but against their agents ; 
 they did not mean to exclude themselves from the right of reap- 
 pointing or pardoning, but to restrain the executive magistrate 
 from doing either with respect to officers whose offices were held 
 independent of popular choice. The subject is made more plain 
 by two considerations: first, that, although either house may 
 expel a member, they cannot (on the principles of the constitu 
 tion, without any express prohibition) expel him twice for the 
 same cause ; second, that the President is not empowered to par- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 67 
 
 don in cases of impeachment. In the case of expulsion, the mem 
 ber is sent to the people ; but if they choose to return him again 
 he has a perfect right to his seat. In the case of an impeach 
 ment, the delinquent officer is dismissed ; on the general power 
 of the executive, he might be reappointed ; but. to guard against 
 the abuse of that power, the constitution superadds a sentence 
 of perpetual disqualification." 
 
 There can be no certainty in ascribing to any given 
 causes or reasons the conclusion reached by tbe Senate on 
 this memorable occasion. Tbe course, however, of the 
 debate in that body after the professional discussion had 
 closed, would seem to indicate that, in tbe convictions of 
 the majority, a senator was not an officer of the United 
 States, in the constitutional sense, liable to impeachment, 
 and that, at all events, after having been expelled, no such 
 proceeding could be entertained against him for crimes 
 and misdemeanors alleged to have been committed while 
 he was a senator. The court deliberated during a period 
 of live days. Two affirmative propositions, in tbe form 
 of a resolution, were submitted on the first day for adop 
 tion, in substance that a senator was a civil officer of the 
 United States, and that the articles imputed offences to 
 William Blount committed while a senator. On the fourth 
 day of discussion, these propositions were negatived by a 
 majority of fourteen to eleven, and on the sixth day, all 
 parties being convene^ for the purpose, MR. JEFFERSON 
 pronounced judgment as follows: 
 
 " Gentlemen, managers of the House of Representatives, and 
 gentlemen, counsel for William Blount, the court, after having 
 given the most mature and serious consideration to the question, 
 and to the full and able arguments urged on both sides, has come 
 to the decision which I am now about to deliver. The court is 
 of opinion that the matter alleged in the plea of the defendant 
 is sufficient in law to show that this court ought not to hold juris 
 diction of the said impeachment, and that the said impeachment 
 is dismissed." 
 
 This was the first case of impeachment under the exist 
 ing government, and there have been but three since, 
 namely, those of John Pickering, Samuel Chase, and 
 James II. Peck, all judges of the United States. The 
 lapse of more than half a century without a single ad 
 ditional attempt to apply the power of impeachment to a 
 
68 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 legislator, countenances the impression that the reasoning 
 of Mr. Dallas has been accepted as in harmony with the 
 principles of our polity and conclusive on the true reading 
 of the constitution. Such a result must be esteemed for 
 tunate. Had the opposite view prevailed, had the mys 
 teries and incongruities of English common law received 
 recognition as an exhaustless fountain of federal authority, 
 and every delegate or agent of the people been held amen 
 able to this process of official disqualification, the mischiefs, 
 especially at times of high political excitement, must have 
 been endless and intolerable. It is practical wisdom to 
 remove, in advance, from the reach of contending parties 
 the means of mutual injury. A magnanimous adversary 
 in a mere trial of strength puts aside the dangerous weapon 
 to whose use he might be tempted by the sudden heats of 
 rivalry. Mr. Dallas pressed with admirable spirit the 
 great inconveniences incident to the construction he re 
 sisted, by destroying the independence of both branches 
 of the legislature, by arming a majority with instruments 
 of vengeance, and by rendering senators the judges in 
 their own cause. 
 
 III. A trial which, at about the same period of time, 
 awakened much local interest, and produced a strong and 
 wide effect upon public opinion and sentiment, took place 
 in the superior criminal court, held at the State House, in 
 Philadelphia, upon the indictment of William Duane, then 
 editor of a political newspaper called The Aurora, and 
 several others, charging them jointly with an ordinary 
 riot. 
 
 It will be recollected that the act of Congress, passed 
 on the 6th of July, 1798, known as the Alien Law, vested 
 in the President of the United States an immense discre 
 tion over persons resident here but born abroad, and not 
 yet actually naturalized, giving him the power to appre 
 hend, restrain, secure, and remove them, and to establish 
 any regulations he deemed necessary respecting their treat 
 ment. This was one of those ultra and utterly inexcusable 
 devices by which inflamed factions sometimes fancy they 
 can intimidate or coerce their opponents, but which really 
 betray their own unworthiness and prepare their own 
 downfall. It aroused the utmost jealousy and resentment, 
 kindled a generous sympathy for those who were consid 
 ered unconstitutionally oppressed by vindictive rulers, and 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 69 
 
 was greeted everywhere, except in the presence of official 
 authority, with clamorous condemnation. 
 
 The defendants in the prosecution were conspicuous and 
 resolute in denunciations of this law. To a great extent its 
 enactment may be ascribed to the exasperating stream of 
 bold and energetic attack upon the federal administration 
 which flowed, without ebb, through the columns of The 
 Aurora ; and the editor of that print, with his known asso 
 ciates, were watched, with a corresponding zeal, as likely 
 to commit themselves, under a galling sense of wrong, by 
 some breach of the public peace. They had determined 
 to obtain, if possible, such a pressure upon Congress by 
 means of popular petition, as would lead to a repeal of 
 the act ; and in pursuance of this plan they caused a placard 
 to be posted on the exterior wall of the church at which, 
 on a particular Sabbath, the numerous congregation to 
 which they belonged, assembled. This placard was the 
 following short invitation : " Natives of Ireland who worship 
 at this church are requested to remain in the yard after divine ser 
 vice, until they have affixed their signatures to a memorial for the 
 repeal of the Allen Bill." That a matter in itself so simple and 
 harmless, so entirely within the sphere of constitutional 
 right and order, even supposing the locality and the day 
 unreflectingly chosen, should meet resistance and occasion 
 violence, is a strong proof of the diseased and sensitive state 
 of the public passions. Some took fire at the proceeding as 
 Jacobinical, some termed it a profanation of the consecrated 
 edifice, others a desecration of the neighboring graves, and 
 many an insult upon the pious attendants at the altar ! The 
 impulse to all this indignant invective, however, was obvi 
 ously the party spirit then hotly raging. It is difficult to 
 repress a smile at the extravagance of the honest chief 
 magistrate of the city of Philadelphia, who, officially re 
 porting the outrage for prosecution, described it as an act 
 " done with intent to subvert the government of the United States /" 
 The utmost extent to which the evidence carried the dis 
 order of the scene was, that one of the implicated, while 
 being pushed from the churchyard, exhibited, without 
 using, a pistol he had in his pocket to protect himself 
 against a totally different and unconnected assault ! 
 
 Mr. Dallas addressed the jury : 
 
 " These gentlemen who have been, with sonorous emphasis, 
 charged with a design to subvert the government, were relieved, 
 
70 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 by the very evidence adduced to criminate them, from every im 
 putation or even suspicion of having been guilty of the commonest 
 casual affray. But you have heard them called Jacobins! And 
 has it already been settled that an exercise of the invaluable 
 right to petition for a redress of grievances is Jacobinism ? Are 
 forms of proceeding, expressly recognized and warranted by the 
 constitution, thus early after its adoption, converted by the judg 
 ment of reckless faction into criminal acts ? Is it possible to 
 treat the defendants as lawless outcasts of society because they 
 received, from those who were willing to give them, signatures to 
 a memorial whose contents do honor to its author ? And is it 
 possible that for this they are additionally asserted to have for 
 feited all privilege of counsel on their trial, with open threats that 
 he who undertakes to represent and defend them shall himself 
 be denounced and victimized? 
 
 " There can be no doubt that this is a party case, a party 
 question altogether. Look abroad, is not party marshalled, nay 
 armed, for violence ? Has not party entered into the recesses of 
 private intercourse, poisoned its roots, and destroyed the possi 
 bility of its existence among those who differ on political princi 
 ples ? Is not the population of the whole country almost equally 
 divided by the spirit of party? Where is the hope of safety, 
 where the expectation of retaining even the soothing civilities of 
 society, if these furious passions are to be introduced upon all, 
 the slightest, occasions before a court of justice ? I appeal to 
 you, gentlemen of the jury, is this picture overdrawn ? is it not 
 strictly true ? 
 
 "And what object had these defendants in view? Was it a 
 legal and meritorious one, or a lawless and culpable one ? I can 
 not conceive it possible that, in a city so populous and enlightened 
 as this, a seat of government, where the written constitution is 
 in the hands of every man, and the exposition of its principles 
 undergoing constant emanation from the chambers of Congress, 
 that to solicit signatures to a memorial for the redress of griev 
 ances, in its tone and character so dignified and decent, should be 
 esteemed criminal. If it be a crime, who is he, on one side or 
 the other, that is guiltless? Is a proceeding which all citizens are 
 bound to encourage and promote, a proceeding dear to every 
 one who values the liberties and constitution of our country, 
 a proceeding positively recognized by the constitution itself, and 
 which all men and all parties should support at every hazard ; is 
 such a proceeding to be stigmatized as riotous ? 
 
 I will not consume your time by reading this memorial ; its 
 perfect propriety is universally conceded : wherever read, by 
 whomsoever spoken of, whether by the friends or by the enemies 
 of the act of Congress, none have denied that it was honorable 
 to its writer, respectful in its language, and a fair exposition of 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 71 
 
 the sufferings inflicted by the law upon those against whom it 
 was enacted. It is neither my intention nor my purpose to dis 
 cuss that law itself, or to arraign any measure of the honorable 
 body which passed it ; I may be allowed, however, merely to 
 remark that it was adopted when a special policy seemed in 
 flexibly to trample down every obstacle in its path : and this I 
 will say, without fear of contradiction, that if its passage was 
 within the constitutional competency of Congress, equally indis 
 putable is the right of the people to complain of its operation 
 as a grievance and petition for its repeal. Ah ! but these peti 
 tioners are aliens ! Be it so. But citizens, in all quarters of the 
 country, and many of the national representatives in both houses 
 of Congress, remonstrated against the law as of doubtful consti 
 tutionality and of exceeding severity ; why, then, should the 
 memorialists, the very sufferers themselves, be condemned as 
 criminal, for adopting and imitating, with unexceptionable words, 
 the example thus set them ? Let it not be pretended that by 
 petitioning for a repeal, they meant violently to resist the law; 
 to overturn the constitution and the government : such an idea 
 is too preposterous to be entertained for a moment by this court 
 or jury. Disobedience to the statute was not contemplated; and 
 as long as the judiciary sanctioned it, they, in common with all 
 good citizens, were bound to submit to it. But this orderly 
 acquiescence did not, and cannot, preclude them from seeking its 
 repeal in the strictly constitutional mode to which they resorted. 
 Or, gentlemen, are we to be told, that aliens resident in this 
 country have no rights, no claims to freedom or to justice ? Is it 
 true that men are invited, by the most flattering views of our 
 independence, liberty, and social security, sustained by an ad 
 mirable constitution and by equal laws, to come and enjoy with 
 us these American blessings ; and that when they do come, with 
 all the ties of family affection around them, bringing their industry 
 and talents and gratitude to their new asylum and their per 
 manent home, they are destined to suffer the bitterest disappoint 
 ment, to find these beckoning promises illusory, and to feel their 
 hopes crushed ? They fly from tyranny, they quit oppression, 
 exaction, and persecution, allured by the glorious prospect and 
 the loud promise of liberty and protection here ; but they are 
 suddenly told You are subject to the mandates of an indi 
 vidual ; you may be forced to leave your home and occupation 
 at his bidding; your treatment is what his will may prescribe. 
 Far be it from me to say that their treatment will be tyranny ; 
 but it depends upon the character of one man, as fallible as all 
 other men ; and I solemnly ask whether in the shelter and safe 
 guard of the judicial tribunals, in the confrontment of accuser 
 and accused, in the ordeal of a jury, and in the publicity of trial, 
 aliens are not substantially outlawed by this legislative ordinance ? 
 
72 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The individual on whose discretion they are dependent may him 
 self be wise, virtuous, honorable, and just ; but, of necessity, he 
 acts upon information derived through others who may possess 
 none of these qualities." 
 
 The indictment had been framed with several counts, 
 in the expectation that a conviction might be obtained on 
 some one of the phases of offence imputed. It was 
 ardently and eloquently pressed by Mr. Joseph Hopkin- 
 son, author of "Hail Columbia," and subsequently emi 
 nent as a member of Congress and as judge of the federal 
 district court. But it signally failed ; the jury, after a 
 brief consultation, pronouncing a verdict of not guilty as 
 to each and every shade of the accusation. 
 
 Some of the remarks we have cited as made by Mr. 
 Dallas on this trial, so temporary in its interest and im 
 portance, more than half a century ago, are not inappli 
 cable to the leading doctrine zealously inculcated by a 
 party organization which the circling course of events 
 indicated within a few years back, as on the eve of as 
 suming the management of public affairs. If there be 
 in reality a trait peculiarly characteristic of American 
 polity, it is the very great facility with which foreigners, 
 discontented with their homes from whatever cause, 
 political oppression, classified social inferiority, eccle 
 siastical intolerance, unappreciated talents, or adversity, 
 have been admitted into the equalizing sanctuary of our 
 citizenship. The Republicans who, at the instant of its 
 passage, condemned the Alien Act and perseveringly pro 
 longed an opposition to it as unconstitutional, unjust, and 
 irrational, until repeal was accomplished and its victims 
 or their families were indemnified, never could, and their 
 disciples probably never will, predicate patriotism or fit 
 ness for public service from nativity alone. Their sense 
 of the history, spirit, and institutions of each State and 
 of the Union rejected, as inconsistent and derogatory, 
 every sort of exclusiveness not essential to the main 
 tenance of order, liberty, and law. Such exclusiveness 
 had prevailed for ages, and had been plausibly cherished 
 and fortified, in Europe, when they cut the ties that bound 
 them to that continent; but it was never American. They 
 welcomed the immigrant as a fellow-being. They frankly 
 accepted his regenerating oath of allegiance and abjura 
 tion. They felt no fear that the blessings of a country so 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 73 
 
 free as theirs could be voluntarily assailed by those in full 
 enjoyment of them. They advanced no discriminating 
 claim to special gratitude, because by what they did they 
 acquired as much as they gave, a worker in the common 
 hive, a defender of the common safety, a contributor to 
 the common treasury. Making their system of govern 
 ment an object of affection, as the offspring of all, and of 
 pride, as the protector of all, instead of a standing usurpa 
 tion and a perpetual menace, they believed that, whatever 
 might be the conflict of opinions and the change of ad 
 ministrations, sedition and treason had become almost 
 impossible crimes, certainly crimes little to be dreaded. 
 It might be that, as a security to the immigrant himself 
 against sudden misdirection, or even to the State, a pro 
 bationary period had best be defined ; but, in general 
 theory, all men of mature years, sound in mind and in 
 morals, were competent to assume the responsibilities 
 and exercise the rights of citizens; and, indeed, the 
 locality of the cradle in which they were first unconsciously 
 rocked had as little to do with the political philosophy of 
 the question as the texture of their first wrappers, the 
 properties of the air they first inhaled, or the wholesome- 
 ness of the nutriment of which they first partook. The 
 title to accredited manhood is that of actual possession, 
 requiring no backward tracing, and is independent of 
 birth here, there, or elsewhere. It is not amiss to remem 
 ber that in a frame of government, adopted in 1776 under 
 the direct auspices of Franklin and in the fresh and full 
 vigor of revolutionary reconstruction, the forty-second 
 section expressly provided that every foreigner, having 
 taken the oath of allegiance, " shall, after one year s resi 
 dence, be deemed a free denizen, and entitled to all the 
 rights of a natural-born subject of the State, except that 
 he shall not be capable of being elected a representative 
 until after two years 1 residence." 
 
 They who esteemed native birth an essential civil quali 
 fication quit the hard rules of logic, and rested upon the 
 persuasive suggestions of sentiment. They asked the 
 Democrats of 98, and they appealed to the immigrants 
 themselves, whether it was possible wholly to release the 
 mind from its youthful convictions, to extinguish in the 
 heart the fond attachment for early scenes and associates, 
 and inflexibly, for the sake of the new, to sacrifice all 
 
74 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 remembrance of the old country ? If upright nature could 
 give but one reply, then was there not a practical, though it 
 might seem to be an illogical, necessity for guarding our 
 institutions against the operation of these latent influences 
 on human conduct? Did they not at least exact such a 
 term of precautionary novitiate as would hold out a prom 
 ise that purely American ideas and affections would spring 
 up and effectually acquire ascendency? Unfortunately, 
 this view of the subject, in reality a narrow and delusive 
 one, catches promptly the unreflecting ear ; and it was, 
 moreover, strengthened by the frequency with which the 
 foreign born of our population, French, Irish, Scotch, 
 English, or German, formed, sometimes for purposes of 
 benevolence, sometimes for military tuition and parade, 
 sometimes for conviviality, and sometimes for political 
 conference, associations, contradistinguished from Ameri 
 can fellowship, and of a tone and a ceremonial exclusively 
 transatlantic. These associations were construed as living 
 and ostensible proofs of a wish and a determination on 
 the part of immigrants themselves to keep up the dis 
 tinction between the native and adopted citizens, to avoid 
 sinking into a homogeneous mass, and to transplant hither 
 antipathies, tastes, practices, and prejudices, which had 
 not found a natural growth on our soil. The question 
 could not easily be answered, why are w r e to overlook the 
 locality of birth and to ignore it as unimportant, while 
 they, in whose favor we should do so, insist thus upon 
 retaining it as a link of concert, a shibboleth, and a 
 pride ? 
 
 A great organic principle, once and with unanimous 
 sanction deposited as the corner-stone of a free and just 
 and beneficent structure of government, cannot be trimmed 
 and fashioned anew to suit every light and transient jeal 
 ousy. It is there for universal and perpetual use, not 
 to be shaken by partial evils or casual incongruities, but 
 to outlive the errors and excitements of centuries and of 
 generations. If there be in the Constitution of the United 
 States an unwise or even hazardous contempt as to the 
 personal genealogies of those for whose protection, pros 
 perity, and happiness it was formed, if, among the vast 
 discoveries of modern genius, it has suddenly been found 
 that " there is much virtue in blood" and more in na 
 tivity, if that which the noblest assemblage of sages 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 75 
 
 ever convened embalmed in their work as an essential 
 feature of American republicanism the baptismal effi 
 cacy of naturalization be wrong and suicidal, the people 
 may ultimately resort at least to the power of amendment. 
 It would be discreet, however, to avoid defacing one of 
 the fundamental originalities of our sense and system of 
 human liberty, until its dangerous tendencies were estab 
 lished by something more palpably true than sentimental 
 casuistry, something less flimsy and fugitive than party 
 strife. In the constitutional enumeration of the powers 
 of Congress, the fourth is "to establish a uniform rule of 
 naturalization" a phrase whose import requires no com 
 ment; and, in the entire instrument, eligibility to office, 
 as a civil right, is restricted to the natural-born citizens, 
 or to citizens at the time of its adoption, only in the cases 
 of President and Vice-President. Every other legislative, 
 executive, or judicial functionary, superior or subordinate, 
 may be law-born instead of natural-born. When the expe 
 diency of extending or contracting the period of residence 
 as a qualification in members of the Senate or of the 
 House of Representatives was discussed in the convention 
 of 1787, the truly American doctrine, in utter scorn and 
 hostility of the admitted European one, broke forth. MR. 
 MADISON " thought any restriction unnecessary and im 
 proper. Improper, because it will give a tincture of illiberality 
 to the constitution.^ DR. FRANKLIN was not against a reason 
 able time, but should be very sorry to see anything like illibe 
 rality inserted." "We found in the course of the Revo 
 lution that many strangers served us faithfully , and that many 
 natives took part against their country." " When foreigners, 
 after looking about for some other country in which they 
 can obtain more happiness, give preference to ours, it is a 
 proof of attachment which ought to excite our confidence and 
 affection." MR. EDMUND RANDOLPH u reminded the con 
 vention of the language held by our patriots during the Revolu 
 tion and the principles laid down in all our American constitu 
 tions. Many foreigners may have fixed their fortunes 
 among us under the faith of these invitations." MR. JAMES 
 WILSON " rose, with feelings which were perhaps peculiar, 
 mentioning the circumstance of his not being a native, and 
 the possibility, if the ideas of some gentlemen should be 
 pursued, of his being incapacitated from holding a place under 
 the very constitution which he had shared in the trust of making ! 
 
76 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 He remarked the illiberal complexion which the motion 
 would give, to the system, and the effect a good system would 
 have in inviting meritorious foreigners among us, and the 
 discouragement and mortification they must feel from the 
 degrading discrimination proposed" No one can doubt that 
 Americans should govern America, Americans law-born 
 or naturalized as well as natural born. There is but one 
 real calamity to dread, and that is that Americans may 
 undertake to govern America upon principles wholly 
 un-American, not reconcilable to the genius of the Revo 
 lution nor to the import of the constitution. 
 
 Perhaps no more appropriate occasion than the present 
 will occur, in the progress of this sketch, for referring to 
 an incident by which the composure and candor with 
 which Mr. Dallas regarded this matter of foreign birth 
 may be appreciated. He was, like Alexander Hamilton, 
 born on an island in the West Indies ; but he came to the 
 United States as early as 1783, was a citizen at the time 
 of the adoption of the federal constitution, and was 
 therefore eligible to the office of President. In 1816, 
 when his energy and ability in retrieving the almost 
 hopeless bankruptcy of our national finances had inspired 
 an ardent admiration, several of the representatives in 
 Congress from Kentucky requested permission to put his 
 name forward as their candidate for the chief magistracy. 
 He declined, without hesitating, and on two grounds : 
 one, as the fast friend of James Monroe, and the other, 
 because, although undoubtedly embraced by what may 
 be called the temporary reservation of the fourth clause 
 in section 1, article 3, he deemed it most suitable and 
 respectful that, as regards that eminent station, the policy 
 designed as the permanent one should at once be frankly 
 adopted and pursued. While he could eloquently insist 
 upon the legitimate and lineal fruits of naturalization in 
 its countless but inferior bearings, he thought it by no 
 means unbecoming or harsh, and clearly involving no 
 breach of plighted faith, though it might not be strictly 
 logical, that the American people should prefer depositing 
 their executive power in native hands. 
 
 IV. The impeachment of Alexander Addison, president 
 judge of the court of common pleas for the circuit com 
 posed of the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Wash 
 ington, and Alleghany, before the Senate of Pennsylvania, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 77 
 
 furnished another occasion for the striking professional 
 displays to which we are cursorily adverting. 
 
 Mr. Dallas was of counsel to aid the managers appointed 
 by the House of Representatives. Although the proceed 
 ing hinged upon incidents in themselves of slight dignity 
 and importance, the legislative body could not well abstain 
 from its institution. The freedom with which Judge 
 Addison, exercising his functions before juries, habitually 
 indulged in allusions to topics of a political bearing, had 
 given much offence, and provoked one of his associate 
 colleagues on the bench, Judge Lucas, to counteracting 
 efforts. The president of the court bore with restless im 
 patience what he regarded as a sort of mutiny among his 
 subordinates or staff. Possessed of fine abilities, and ad 
 mirably qualified as a lawyer, he was nevertheless prone 
 to unnecessary assumptions of power, was fond of irrel 
 evant dissertation in his official addresses, and probably 
 believed that the rapid and ominous advance of the demo 
 cratic element in the social state excused, if it did not 
 imperiously exact, a check from all persons in authority. 
 Judge Lucas, a plain, uneducated man, of sterling integrity 
 of purpose, inexperienced in the forms of legal tribunals, 
 but keenly alive to every encroachment, no matter how 
 plausible, upon popular rights, was at first overawed ; and 
 when he at last undertook to dissent, found himself in 
 capable of a successful stand against contemptuous arro 
 gance, loud menace, or dexterous management, He was 
 publicly, from the seat of justice, sneered at as one whose 
 opinion was not worth hearing; silenced, on attempting to 
 speak to a jury ; and finally, when prepared with written 
 remarks, he was ordered to abstain from reading them 
 under an intimated penalty of imprisonment. Many 
 citizens, who witnessed the circumstances which thus re 
 duced one of their magistrates to the unmerited condition 
 of a cypher or pageant, addressed themselves, for inquiry 
 and vindication, to the legislature. The personal treat 
 ment of Judge Lucas, though it effectually disabled and 
 depreciated him as a public officer, was frivolous and un 
 accompanied by actual violence ; yet it was apparent that 
 the engrossing pretensions of Judge Addison involved 
 principles of considerable nicety and importance ; that he 
 obstinately and perseveringly pushed those pretensions ; 
 and that, if the established system of associates, in judica- 
 
78 LIFE OF A. J DALLAS. 
 
 ture, was to be maintained, their independence must be 
 vindicated by the only competent authority. 
 
 It has been said that in America, the judiciary, of all 
 the departments of government, is the most open to attack 
 and the least capable of resistance. The remark may be 
 just; but it would be uncandid to omit adding that this 
 exposure and this weakness w r ere, at the time of which 
 we are writing, greatly aggravated by the rash manner in 
 w T hich judicial functionaries had frequently drawn into 
 doubt their impartiality or purity of motive. In this re 
 spect time has ripened a change in the highest degree 
 honorable to the spirit of our institutions and the whole- 
 someness of public opinion. Judges are now, as well in 
 State as in federal spheres of action, not merely learned 
 and laborious, but inaccessible to corruption of any sort, 
 and as little liable as human agents can be to the suspicion 
 of bias. Certainly, on questions connected with the con 
 stitutions, or involving principles of construction, decisions 
 must be expected to conform to that school of politics to 
 which the judge belongs and from which he was inten 
 tionally selected; but in the ordinary administration of 
 justice, touching the enforcement of contracts, the pre 
 vention or redress of wrongs, and the execution of the 
 criminal code, we are free to doubt, even in presence of 
 the illustrations of France and England, whether the rule 
 of right has, in any country or at any time, been fulfilled 
 by legal tribunals, more wisely and virtuously than it now 
 is throughout our republics. 
 
 The speech, in maintenance of the impeachment, was 
 remarkable for its clear development of constitutional 
 law, its compact and forcible reasoning, and its singular 
 aptness of illustration. Nearly two days were occupied 
 in its delivery. Let it be observed that although the 
 amendments adopted in convention, in 1838, were in 
 teresting and important, especially in the tenure of the 
 judicial office, the remarks of Mr. Dallas are as just com 
 mentaries upon the present as upon the former constitu 
 tion of Pennsylvania. We will refer to such portions 
 only of this deservedly celebrated address as include 
 matter of general and permanent interest and as seem to 
 us particularly replete with the manner of thought and 
 diction which characterized its author. 
 
 The prosecution was supported under three points of 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 79 
 
 view: 1, that it is the right and the duty of an associate 
 judge to address a grand jury, as well as a petit jury, upon 
 subjects judicially before the court; 2, that by depriving 
 Mr. Lucas of his right, and preventing his performance 
 of this duty, Judge Addison has been guilty of an illegal, 
 unjust, and unconstitutional misdemeanor in office ; and 
 3, that for an offence of this description, an impeachment 
 is the appropriate remedy. 
 
 After reading the entire section of the constitution re 
 specting the judicial power, Mr. Dallas said : 
 
 "I lay it down as a general result to be deduced from this 
 article, that the president and associate judges of the courts of 
 common pleas, in their powers and duties as judges are placed 
 on a strict footing of equality, and have equal coextensive 
 authority. This equality arises, indeed, not only from the con 
 stitution of the office, but from the very nature of the judicial 
 character. 
 
 " Here then is no distinction made in the constitution between 
 the powers of the president and associate ; and if the constitution 
 recognizes no distinction, the legislature can make no distinction; 
 and certainly no act of the judges themselves can possibly over 
 leap the constitution and the law, to create a distinction by bar 
 tering or surrendering rights, which they possess for the public 
 benefit. We must not be misled by words or names. A president 
 does not mean a person who is to direct, influence, control, and 
 command the court; but in this, as in all public bodies, from 
 necessity, there must be an organ to declare its sense. Thus, in 
 the supreme court there is a chief justice, in the senate a speaker, 
 and on the grand jury there is a foreman ; they all mean the 
 same thing, and nothing more. 
 
 " Nor are we to be misled on account of a distinction made in 
 the act of Assembly for organizing our courts, by which a profes 
 sional character is required to be placed as president of a court 
 of common pleas. The president does not by this distinction ac 
 quire any additional power, nor is he raised to any greater degree 
 of eminence. You find nothing in the constitution that prescribes 
 that the president shall be a legal character, though the act of 
 Assembly enjoins it ; and, although it might be a question, whether 
 the legislature had the power under the constitution to place this 
 restraint on the appointments of the executive, it has nothing to 
 do with the present discussion. In point of convenience, how 
 ever, the introduction of a law character on the bench might be 
 well, he may unquestionably be useful ; but he cannot be sup 
 posed entitled on this account to abridge the rights, or to prevent 
 a performance of the duties of his associates, as declared in the 
 constitution. 
 
80 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 " This constitutional inquiry is necessary, because, I think, 
 after establishing that the constitution gives equal power and 
 equal rights, and imposes equal duties on the president and asso 
 ciate judges, we shall require something more than an outdoor 
 agreement of the judges to destroy this constitutional equality, 
 not only as to the parties to the agreement, but as to their suc 
 cessors forever. 
 
 "The first idea of the judicial character which presents itself 
 is that a judge only exists in the exercise of his own judgment. 
 A judge cannot act by deputy, for he cannot delegate the powers 
 of his judgment to another ; he cannot, for the purposes of judg- 
 merit, receive information through the eyes, ears, or understand 
 ing of another. The very nature of the judicial character, I 
 repeat, requires that he should see, hear, and understand for 
 himself. He violates the trust if he substitutes the judgment of 
 another for his own, or even if, by his silence, he permits a jury 
 to infer that he is satisfied with the opinion of another, at whose 
 opinion he revolts; nay, he is more bound to give his opinion 
 and to assign the reasons for it if he is dissatisfied, or even doubts, 
 than when he concurs in the sentiments of a colleague. What 
 sort of a judge would he be that should suffer it to be understood 
 that he agreed in a charge from which in fact he dissented ? No 
 man will assert that such conduct would furnish the mind with 
 an idea of the judicial character. Different circumstances, says 
 the defendant, will strike the minds of different persons in a 
 different manner. True, it is so in the moral and in the physical 
 world, and emphatically it is true in the science of the law, 
 which is a department of the moral world. There is scarcely a 
 topic of legal investigation which does not produce contrariety 
 of sentiment and sometimes of decision. It is not a difference 
 among lawyers merely ; but you scarcely find an argument at 
 any bar that does not occasion a diversity of opinion on the 
 bench. But this very view of the subject leads to the conclusion 
 that every one ought to assign his reasons, whether he agrees or 
 dissents ; and we ought not to say to an associate judge that you 
 may think, but you shall not utter your thoughts ; you may form 
 an opinion, but you shall not deliver it ; you may sit as a judge, 
 but you shall never display your own judgment, unless it coincides 
 with the judgment of the majority of the bench. Alas ! would 
 this be consistent with the judicial character ? Further, we know 
 from our own times, as well as from the history of ancient days, 
 that a majority of the judges in courts of law have been capable 
 of delivering illegal, unconstitutional, and even criminal opinions. 
 On such occasions were the minority bound to silence ? What 
 ever may have been the rule of the day, in the case of the ship- 
 money and the case of the seven bishops, mankind have since 
 consecrated to everlasting fame the names of those who honorably 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 spurned the slavish doctrine. Let the doctrine prevail, and I 
 see not why a puppet or a China mandarin Avould not form as 
 good an associate for the honorable president as a Coke or a 
 Mansfield, a judge who may agree in silence, but cannot dissent 
 in speech ; who may ruminate, but dare not divulge his senti 
 ments ; who shall be considered in law a party to the judgment 
 of the court, and yet cannot in fact declare that he thinks the 
 opinion of the court either erroneous or criminal. The powers 
 created by the constitution, the rights inherent in the judicial 
 character, point at equality and independence among the judges. 
 In every court, whether superior or inferior, the maxim prevails, 
 Inter pares non est potestas. 
 
 11 From every source of judicial authority, from the constitu 
 tion, from the acts of Assembly, from the maxims of the common 
 law, and from daily practice and experience, the same undevi- 
 ating result is deduced. A brother justice cannot be bound even 
 to his good behavior for using such expressions in court as 
 would authorize the commitment of a private person. But let 
 me appeal, likewise, to any member of the Senate at all acquainted 
 with proceedings of courts, whether his sense of decorum would 
 not be wounded if, seeing a division of three to two judges upon 
 a case before them, he should hear the majority declare that the 
 minority might think, but should not speak ? And what would 
 be his indignation if this threat was added, If you of the minority 
 are not silent, we of the majority will send you to jail ! But is 
 this the extent to which the mischief leads ? May not the 
 majority of every public body act upon the same principle with 
 equal right ? and shall we not in the end encourage a usurpation 
 by which all the independence of individuals, of minorities in 
 public assemblies, and even of the departments of the government, 
 may be undermined and destroyed? Carry it one step further, 
 and if the judges divide two against two, mere manual strength 
 or brutal force must decide the judicial conflict." 
 
 The following passage cannot fail to be specially im 
 pressive. Uttered in the presence of a numerous au 
 dience, the description of the partisan habits of judges 
 has the weight of contemporaneous testimony, and exposes 
 one of the greatest evils of those days. Such bold and 
 eloquent condemnation could not come from the lips of 
 an eminent public man before a court of impeachment 
 without the warrant of notorious and incontestable facts: 
 
 "Inquiring more particularly, however, whether there is any 
 difference in the authority of the several judges constituting the 
 same court to address grand juries (their other official powers 
 
82 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 being clearly equal), we are to look for the origin of charges 
 to the English courts. I have not the books here to refer to ; 
 but, if my recollection be correct, the practice originated with 
 the justices in Eyre and Assize, who, in the course of their judi 
 cial circuits and visitations, collected a number of persons com 
 petent to inquire into the state of the country, for the purpose of 
 discovering the offences that had been committed and bringing 
 the offenders to trial and punishment. The selected inquest 
 usually assembled at the chambers of the judges, where the 
 principal judge delivered to them an abstract of the crimes and 
 offences of which they were to inquire, comprising nothing more 
 than a short definition of the several offences and the punishment 
 annexed to the perpetration of them. The length of the charge 
 naturally increased with the increase of offences and the exten 
 sion of the penal code to new objects ; but still it long preserved 
 its original character of a mere abstract of crimes and punish 
 ments, and consequently no opportunity could occur on this part 
 of a judge s duty for a diversity of sentiment. From the useful 
 simplicity of this practice, however, it has been the passion of 
 modern judges greatly to depart, but in no country has the de 
 parture been more bold or pernicious than in our own. Even 
 in the judicial history of England, where the spirit of party 
 has sometimes raged with the most dreadful consequences, you 
 will find it difficult to trace any instance to countenance the 
 political declamations, the party invectives, which have of late 
 become a sort of prelude to the commencement of every session 
 of our courts of justice. The moment the original ground was 
 left, from that moment a new series of consequences ensued. We 
 entered our courts, not as to a scene of administrative law, but 
 to a scene of political speculation, in which no precise object was 
 presented to the mind ; but, instead of a definition of crimes and 
 punishments, the attention was engaged by theoretical declama 
 tions or the feelings were exasperated by the forensic denuncia 
 tions, and every mind drew different conclusions from the display, 
 having different prejudices and opinions to indulge. 
 
 " In every instance of a charge to a grand jury relative to their 
 duties, it is admitted that there is a concurrent right in the asso 
 ciate judge to address them, but it is said by a witness, that as 
 to all extra matter, it was left exclusively to the president, under 
 a chamber agreement of three of the associate judges and the 
 president, to say and do as he pleased. Extra matter! But 
 though the definition has not been given by the defendant, or 
 his witness, there are materials before us from which to form 
 a tolerable idea of the meaning of those who used the term. 
 It is then, I presume, matter delivered to a jury, with which 
 they have nothing to do. It is matter to dissuade them from 
 the impartial discharge of their duty, on the score of party 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 83 
 
 animosity. It is matter to excite in their breasts a spirit of per 
 secution against their neighbors who differ with them in political 
 or religious opinions. It is extra matter to inculcate doctrines 
 to the people, from the bench, in favor of the party to which 
 the presiding judge has attached himself. We will put a case 
 (authorized by the testimony) of a political discussion in which 
 is brought into view that farrago of absurdity, falsehood, and 
 wickedness that glares in the pages of Barreul and Robertson ; 
 or which is portrayed in the Bloody Buoy with all the filth of 
 Porcupine ; and we will suppose the presiding judge to declare 
 that the evil spirit which appears in those works to have de- 
 stro} 7 ed Europe, has extended its baneful influence to this coun 
 try, and already corrupted and diseased the very heart of the 
 body politic ; if, in proof of such assertions, he would refer to 
 the legislative proceedings of our sister States, Virginia and 
 Kentucky, and point emphatically to the result of our own 
 elections ; and if he should lead to the conclusion that every 
 man participating in those reprobated acts was an enemy to re 
 ligion, good order, and civil government ; an object fit for general 
 execration, and meriting to be banished from the social world ; 
 I ask, whether any judge sitting on the bench, hearing this 
 wild, irrational, unfounded, and dangerous invective, ought to 
 be expected to pass it over in silence ; and by that very silence 
 to expose himself to the suspicion of approving and assenting ? 
 Grant this, and the effect would be dreadful ! A president of a 
 court of common pleas having the exclusive right to detail all 
 extra matter according to the dictates of his own taste and 
 passions, would soon pass from general declamation to personal 
 denunciation ; consigning his fellow-citizens, one after another, 
 to popular hatred and fury, as the partisans of a faction, Jacobins, 
 and Illuminati ; or as members of the Middle Creek Secret Asso 
 ciation, till all security of the laws in relation to persons, repu 
 tation, and fortunes would be annihilated. If, at least, this 
 extensive mischief was not produced, it would be owing more 
 to the mild temperament, the happy manners of our citizens, 
 than to the conciliatory disposition of the judge. 
 
 " Let us again put a case, hypothetically. Suppose the presi 
 dent and three associate judges, being of the same political party, 
 make an agreement that the president shall deliver all extra 
 matter to a grand jury ; and, in pursuance of this agreement, he 
 eulogizes one party at the expense of the other ; shall a judge 
 belonging to that other party be doomed to sit in silent anguish, 
 while he, his friends, and copatriots are vilified and traduced 
 without just cause? Must he listen patiently to the commenda 
 tion of measures which he condemns, and to the arraignment of 
 motives which he approves ? In short, must he exhibit, from 
 time to time, the culprit, and not the judge, upon the bench ; 
 
84 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 while the political charges of the president, acting uniformly and 
 constantly on the public mind, like drops of water continually 
 falling on the same spot, work a deep impression ? or like the 
 influence of a stone upon the smooth surface of a lake, extending 
 circle beyond circle from the jury and auditors to their families, 
 their neighbors, and their distant acquaintances, until the whole 
 community is affected by the political tendencies of the judicial 
 politician ? 
 
 "It is said by Lord Bacon, that the best law is that which 
 leaves the least liberty to the judge; and he is the best judge 
 who takes the least liberty to himself. True, -in the present 
 instance, the law left no liberty to the judge to address grand 
 juries on points foreign to the ends of their institution ; but it is 
 equally true that the judge assumed more power than was ever 
 contemplated to be given to a court, much less to an individual 
 magistrate." 
 
 On this particular topic, we will restrict ourselves to 
 a single other extract. It is not alone condemnatory of 
 "judicial politicians;" it manifestly, though covertly, 
 exults in the success of the very cause which the defend 
 ant had desecrated the bench by repeatedly assailing; 
 and, avoiding a revulsion of feeling which might he pro 
 voked by too much triumph, it brings, with equal brevity 
 and skill, the whole weight of that cause to bear upon the 
 minds of the senators whom he addressed. 
 
 "We will not go into a detailed examination of Mr. Addison s 
 charges to grand juries ; but it is evident that in the best of 
 them he largely indulged himself in speculative points. In those 
 instances, however, let us be satisfied in reflecting that if he did 
 no good, he did no harm ; except, indeed, by a waste of that 
 public time, of which he was so parsimonious, when a brother 
 judge wished to share a part. Yet, if the system of Mr. Addi 
 son s charges was to elevate one set of citizens and to depress 
 another, fair play required that both sides of the question should 
 be heard; and in relation to the extra matter, or political por 
 tions of his judicial lectures, it was unjust and dishonorable to 
 deny to Mr. Lucas, for himself and his friends, the opportunity 
 of vindication and reply. If Mr. Addison enjoyed a superior 
 degree of learning, and a more extensive sphere of influence, his 
 delinquency was proportionably greater in the abuse of his 
 official trust, to disseminate party politics, and to excite domestic 
 animosity. Nay, the topics of the president s charges were often 
 treason against the vital principle of our government. A repre 
 sentative republic must languish and expire if the source of its 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 85 
 
 life and duration, the right of election, shall be poisoned, or cut 
 off, or brought into contempt. When, therefore, the presiding 
 judge inveighed against the issue of the general elections, as 
 symptoms of popular corruption, he attempted in effect to under 
 mine the confidence and attachment of the citizens in the repub 
 lican institution^ which they had established ; and as far as in 
 him lay sought to subvert what he had sworn to support. When 
 such an attempt is made by an allusion to the influence of the 
 Illuminati, Jacobins, Democrats, and secret societies upon our 
 elections, he ought to be corrected, and the manner in which 
 Judge Lucas attempted to correct him was certainly not too 
 severe for the occasion. We have heretofore heard the tocsin of 
 alarm sounded ; tales of plots and conspiracies have been anx 
 iously fabricated and circulated by the friends of order and good 
 government ; and our women and children have been terrified 
 with the impending horrors of taylors, tubs, clues ! Nay, the 
 very letters of the alphabet have been marshalled against the 
 peace of the community ; and X, Y, and Z were, for awhile, 
 the symbols of corruption and outrage, of foreign hostility, and 
 of domestic discord. But these bubbles have vanished into air, 
 thin air ; the mask has been torn from the face of the impostor, 
 and the triumphs of the republicans have produced nothing which 
 patriotism or humanity can deprecate or deplore. But if the 
 State of Pennsylvania deserved to be denounced by Mr. Addison 
 for the result of the elections of 1799, which only gave a majority 
 of five thousand votes in opposition to his wishes, what must be 
 the depravity and degradation to which her citizens have since 
 sunk, when we find that the majority in 180^ has swelled to the 
 unprecedented amount of thirty thousand 1" 
 
 One of the difficulties in this impeachment, and prac 
 tically that which required much dexterity to surmount, 
 lay in the really light and colloquial circumstances which 
 constituted the overt acts of wrong. To give gravity to 
 these incidents, to magnify their import, and so to pre 
 vent their being dismissed as trivialities, called for more 
 than ordinary effort and tact. How Mr. Dallas managed 
 this portion of his task will be seen more distinctly than 
 it has yet been seen in the fragment we next introduce. 
 The picture with which the orator closes is masterly in its 
 coloring and in its minute details. It is impossible not 
 to see, as if actually occurring, the humiliation and ex 
 pulsion of the associate, the chuckling audience, and the 
 contemptuous and victorious president; we sympathize 
 with the wounded, and we follow his dejected figure as 
 he steps down from the bench and slowly retreats to the 
 
86 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 door; and then, as he disappears, we are roused to the 
 consciousness that, in a sneer, a taunt, and a smile, the 
 temple and the votaries of justice have been degraded by 
 lawless arrogance and outrage. 
 
 " I have reached that stage of the discussion which calls for 
 some caution to prevent a departure from the moderation that I 
 have prescribed to myself. We have seen a judge degraded and 
 a court violently dissolved; but it remained, to stimulate an 
 honest indignation, that a magistrate s functions, duties, and 
 rights should be superseded and annihilated, under the terrors of 
 a threat, delivered in open court, by his brethren of the bench ! 
 The lumber of our professional libraries contains, we know, much 
 absurdity; but this affords no ground for reflection on the law 
 itself, which is a system of refined common sense, adapted to the 
 various conditions, situations, and pursuits of mankind. Thus 
 the difference of time and place makes often, in law and reason, 
 an essential difference in the delinquency and punishment of an 
 offensive act. The giving the lie in a street, or a tavern, is a 
 breach of good manners, and generally terminates in a personal 
 rencontre, yet it is not an offence in the law ; but if the same 
 indecorous expression be pronounced within the precincts of a 
 court of justice, its consequences are highly penal. A blow 
 given in the highway is a mere misdemeanor ; but if given in 
 Westminster Hall it has been regarded as a species of treason. 
 Let us apply the principle of this determination to the present 
 case. If a private citizen, in a private room, were to threaten 
 a judge for any part of his conduct in court, such a threat, all 
 will agree, would be greatly reprehensible ; and yet how venial 
 it is compared with the fact that one judge has threatened an 
 other judge sitting on the same bench, in open court, for an 
 attempt to exercise what is now an acknowledged right ! State 
 the defence of Mr. Addison as involving a proposition, that two 
 judges of the court may lawfully commit the third judge to 
 prison for attempting to express an opinion on any subject be 
 fore the court, and what mind can yield its assent ? Then, where 
 is the distinction between the actual commitment which removes 
 the judge from the bench, and the menace of the commitment 
 which awes him into silence while he remains there ? Hardly 
 would it appear a greater outrage to me if, instead of sending 
 the judge to jail, or threatening to send him thither, the president 
 had boldly struck him from his seat. 
 
 " It is true, sir, that the terms of the threat uttered by Mr. 
 Addison were not expressly that he would send Mr. Lucas to 
 jail ; but this was its natural and necessary import. The wit 
 nesses use different words, but they concur in substance that 
 Mr. Addison ordered Judge Lucas to be silent, and declared that 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 87 
 
 if he did not desist from the attempt to speak the court would 
 find means to make him. What are the coercive instruments of 
 a court in any instance of contempt of its authority ? Fine and 
 imprisonment. It would be a pitiful subterfuge to say that the 
 president intended merely to direct the grand jury to withdraw, 
 for he might, with equal effect, have done so in the morning ; 
 and certainly, if nothing more was intended, he might then have 
 given the direction at once without the addition of the threat. 
 The pride, if not the candor, of the defendant will prevent his 
 resorting to so palpable an evasion. Nor will it answer his pur 
 pose to allege that he meant to coerce Mr. Lucas by the imposi 
 tion of a fine only ; that would be as unlawful as a commitment 
 to prison, and the means would not be suited to the end, since 
 a fine might operate as a punishment for speaking, but could 
 not operate as a gag to make him hold his tongue. The com 
 mitment to jail, therefore, was the threat. Such was the in 
 terpretation of the words in the mind of Judge Lucas, and the 
 effect upon his conduct was in perfect correspondence with it. 
 He sunk, mortified, dejected, and confused upon his seat; he 
 paused for a moment s reflection and self-collection ; he trembled 
 at the disgraceful and injurious conflict which must inevitably 
 ensue if he longer asserted his rights ; he saw his character and 
 usefulness as a judge completely destroyed. With shame and 
 affliction he retired from the court, and the bench and the bar, 
 the jury and the audience, united in a laugh of triumph, a sar 
 castic smile, in which (says Mr. Gazzan) I was sorry to observe 
 the president take a conspicuous part !" 
 
 Judge Addison replied in person, with much ability 
 and force. He was answered briefly by Mr. Joseph B. 
 McKean in support of the impeachment. The trial began 
 on the 17th of January, and consumed an entire week. On 
 the 26th of January, the question was taken in the Senate 
 on the articles jointly in the following form: " Is Alex 
 ander Addison guilty or not guilty of the charges con 
 tained in the articles of accusation and impeachment 
 exhibited against him by the House of Representatives?" 
 Twenty members replied "Guilty," and four Not 
 guilty." 
 
 Mr. Dallas had, with a just forbearance, argued that the 
 terms of the constitutional provision prescribing that " the 
 judgment shall not extend further than removal from 
 office and disqualification to hold any office of honor, 
 trust, or profit under this Commonwealth," amounted to 
 a limitation, and not to a grant of power ; that the Senate, 
 
88 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 therefore, possessed a discretion to apportion the punish 
 ment to the degree of the offence, and might modify their 
 sentence, on conviction, either to a simple removal or to 
 a removal and a disqualification to hold any judicial office. 
 This view was embraced by Mr. Addison, and by him re 
 called to the mind of the Senate, in a letter addressed to 
 that body immediately after they had voted ; and accord 
 ingly, on the succeeding day, was formally pronounced by 
 the Speaker a judgment of removal and also a disqualifica 
 tion " to hold and exercise the office of judge in any court 
 of law within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." 
 
 V. Perhaps a still greater detail of the professional 
 exertions of Mr. Dallas" might enable some readers of this 
 sketch to form a fuller and more accurate conception of 
 his legal attainments, and of his ability and attractiveness 
 as a forensic speaker. The occasions were numberless, 
 and their features infinitely various. Bat as this is not 
 the aspect of his character which interests the present 
 age or posterity, further elaboration upon it would proba 
 bly be unwelcome. Let us restrict ourselves, therefore, 
 to one or two additional cases; and first, that of the im 
 peachment of Edward Shippen, Chief Justice, Jasper Yeates 
 and Thomas Smith, Assistant Justices of the Supreme Court 
 of Pennsylvania; which, after the loss of three years in 
 preliminary movements before the House of Representa 
 tives, reached the stage of trial in the Senate, sitting at 
 Lancaster, on the 7th"of January, 1805. 
 
 The public functionaries formally arraigned by the 
 popular branch of the government for misdemeanor in 
 office were universally known in the State, were advanced 
 in years, were of acknowledged learning, and of unques 
 tioned purity of life. They were charged with a single 
 "arbitrary and unconstitutional" act, to wit, sentencing 
 Thomas Passmore to imprisonment for thirty days and a 
 fine of fifty dollars for a " supposed contempt" in libellously 
 posting at a frequented coffee-house, in the city of Phila 
 delphia, one of several defendants, against whom he had 
 previously instituted an action within their judicial cogni 
 zance. The article of impeachment briefly set forth the 
 facts on which it was founded, but abstained from any 
 imputation whatever, direct or inferential, of corruption, 
 venality, cruelty, or malice. It is quite clear that the 
 irritated complainant must have failed in his appeal to 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 89 
 
 the legislature for redress or revenge, had he not fortu 
 nately, and perhaps even to himself unexpectedly, fallen 
 upon a condition of speculative and party politics in that 
 body auspicious to his aim. The occurrence for which 
 he claimed the infliction of punishment might possibly 
 be regarded as an error of judgment : that alone, however, 
 could not sanction a proceeding by impeachment: but it 
 presented nevertheless a distinct occasion for parading 
 certain theories or prejudices warmly urged ana rapidly 
 advancing to the controlling influence they subsequently 
 exercised. 
 
 Many of the most active and prominent politicians of 
 Pennsylvania conceived that the revolutionary principles 
 which achieved a separation from the British crown were 
 yet imperfectly carried out. They wished for more 
 thorough and practical changes in every department of 
 public agency. The constitutions of 1776 and 1790 were 
 half-way measures, halting under the interpretations given 
 them by courts and counsel. The broad substratum of 
 the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth was still in fact, 
 to their disquiet and disgust, the common law of England. 
 Their independence was incomplete or illusory. They 
 ascribed to judges and lawyers a spiritless inability to 
 quit the routine of precedents set in Westminster Hall, 
 and push the new and elevating doctrines to their logical 
 results. Judges and lawyers, therefore, had become tar 
 gets at which to aim: compulsory suits were if possible 
 to be superseded by arbitration : and the citation of Brit 
 ish adjudications, made subsequent to the 4th of July, 
 1776, was to be peremptorily forbidden. 
 
 The trial opened with due solemnity by a speech from 
 Mr. Nathaniel B. Boileau, the principal manager on the 
 part of the House of Representatives, a gentleman of 
 French descent, of considerable adroitness and talent, 
 who was rising fast on the political horizon, and after 
 wards became secretary of the Commonwealth under Gov 
 ernor Snyder. The prosecution had the aid of Mr. Caesar 
 A. Rodney, an eminent member of the Delaware bar, at 
 that time the Attorney-General of the United States, by 
 selection of President Jefferson. Mr. Dallas and Mr. 
 Jared Ingersoll were enlisted by the accused to conduct 
 the defence. Twenty days, as well afternoon as morning, 
 were consumed in the examination of witnesses and the 
 
 f 
 
90 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 arguments on both sides. On the 28th of January, 1805, 
 the Speaker of the Senate announced from the chair to 
 the chief justice and his associates that they were 
 acquitted: the vote previously taken on the question, 
 "Are the judges guilty or not guilty as charged in the 
 impeachment?" having stood 13 for guilty and 11 for not 
 guilty, and the constitution requiring for conviction the 
 concurrence of two-thirds. 
 
 The junior counsel for the venerahle accused made on 
 this occasion what cannot but be considered, notwith 
 standing the imperfection of the stenographic report 
 which has brought it down to us, one of his most power 
 ful addresses. During four entire days he pressed with 
 unfaltering vigor upon the tribunal, a majority of whose 
 members he knew to be unfavorable, a copiousness of 
 learning, an aptness of illustration, and a directness of 
 reasoning, altogether overwhelming. Even his legislative 
 adversary, Mr. Boileau, in replying, exclaimed, <k \Vhen I 
 behold the mass of books under which the floor of the 
 house groans, I am reminded of the giants of old, piling 
 mountains upon mountains in order to reach the skies 
 and hurl Jupiter from his throne." 
 
 The line of argument boldly and justly confronted the 
 political prepossessions which have been adverted to. 
 
 1. A contempt of court is technically an offence, not 
 against personal feeling, but against the administration 
 of justice, and exacts summary process. 
 
 2. This summary process is derived from the common 
 law, every country has its common law. 
 
 3. The common law of England was brought over with 
 them by the original settlers of Pennsylvania, as far as 
 it was applicable to their new situation, and is our birth 
 right and inheritance. It is declared to be a part of our 
 law by legislative acts and judicial decisions. 
 
 " I repeat, that in Pennsylvania, we should have no security 
 for our persons, our property, our reputation, and the regular 
 proceedings of courts of justice, without the common law. The 
 constitution of Pennsylvania, sir, would be a dead letter with 
 out the expository power of the common law. That constitu 
 tion says that every man for injury done him in his property, 
 person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law : 
 and I aver with confidence that this provision can never be of 
 any avail without the auxiliary of the common law. All wants 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 91 
 
 are to be supplied, all grievances redressed, but how ? Unless it 
 be left to the common law to expound, it is utterly unintelligible 
 and impracticable. Suppose a man attempts to put you out of 
 your estate by due course of law, hoiv is he to attempt it ? by 
 the common law. How are you to defend your estate ? by the 
 common law. How are you to get satisfaction for an assault and 
 battery ? by the common law. Suppose a man libels my repu 
 tation, the dearest thing in life : nay, the man who does it does 
 something worse than take from me my life: how am I to seek 
 for redress? by the common law. There is no act of Assembly 
 for it: the common law alone entitles me to redress." 
 
 4. How are we to acquire a knowledge of this common 
 law? by the books, or, as Mr. Jefferson called them, 
 " usual monuments," wherein it is registered. 
 
 5. These books view the act of Passmore, although 
 committed out of court, as a contempt at common law, 
 punishable by attachment, fine, and imprisonment. 
 
 6. Neither of the constitutions of 1776 or 1790 contains 
 anything in letter or spirit incompatible with or annulling 
 this current of legislation and judicial decision. "Trial 
 by jury as heretofore," and "No man can be deprived of 
 his liberty or property without the judgment of his peers 
 OR the law of the land," are fundamental maxims, in no 
 degree violated by the summary treatment of contempts. 
 
 These propositions were severally elucidated with great 
 research, and enforced by all the power of argumentative 
 ability and eloquence. They rescued the clients of Mr. 
 Dallas from a painful and perilous predicament; and it 
 may confidently be said that they established, in relation 
 to the source, composition, and character of the law of 
 Pennsylvania, a conviction never since shaken. 
 
 The impeachment, however, though formally a failure, 
 in reality attained the objects of those by whom it had 
 been planned. It was a means of ventilating and incul 
 cating certain extreme doctrines. In truth, there was 
 very little sympathy for Thomas Passmore, though much 
 was loudly professed; and as to the fate -of the judges, 
 indifference prevailed. The rising malcontents had their 
 field-day, exhibited an imposing ascendency in both legis 
 lative chambers, and, through the speeches of Messrs. 
 Rodney and Boileau, spread an ad captandum gloss over 
 their peculiar views. The trial had scarcely closed, when 
 they felt themselves strong enough to summon a caucus, 
 
92 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 to scheme an attack upon "the stern Trojan," Thomas 
 McKean, the actual chief magistrate, to systematize serious 
 changes in the existing constitution, to clamor against 
 the sophistries and pretensions of lawyers, and to nomi 
 nate as their candidate for the office of governor, to he 
 supported at the election in October following, Mr. Simon 
 Snyder, then Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 
 To counteract so bold and threatening a movement, it 
 was thought necessary to arouse and organize for com 
 bined action all the citizens of Pennsylvania, without 
 regard to their established party lines, who deprecated 
 ultra and illiberal measures. Hence sprung our " TERTIUM 
 QUIDS," or, for brevity s sake, the Quids, a phalanx, 
 self-named Constitutional Republicans, composed equally 
 of Democrats and Federalists, united for a short campaign 
 only and for a single object of common interest. 
 
 As soon as the association was formed in Philadelphia, 
 about the beginning of March, 1805, resolutions preparing 
 the way for an explanation of their motives and purposes 
 were adopted, and a numerous committee of correspond 
 ence appointed, whose names conciliated respect and 
 confidence. They were " Alexander James Dallas, Wil 
 liam Jones, George Logan, Richard Bache, Sr., Peter 
 Muhlenberg, Samuel Miles, Samuel Wetherill, Sr., Jona 
 than Bayard Smith, Peter S. Duponceau, Guy Bryan, 
 Chandler Price, Edward Ileston, James Gamble, and 
 Manuel Eyre, Sr." These gentlemen were instructed, 
 " in order to ascertain fairly the deliberate and authori 
 tative sense of the majority of the people of Pennsylvania, 
 to prepare and publish a memorial and remonstrance to 
 the legislature against the existing project of calling a 
 State convention, and to express only such sentiments 
 and language in that memorial, directed to that single 
 object, as may be honorably subscribed by every citizen 
 of the State, who is opposed to the project, whatever may 
 be his party attachments, prejudices, or principles." 
 
 Mr. Dallas, as chairman of this committee, discharged 
 its duties with indefatigable perseverance, transmitting a 
 memorial to the legislature without loss of time, address 
 ing, in the early part of June, his fellow-citizens at great 
 length in a paper esteemed to be one of the happiest and 
 most forcible productions of his pen (Appendix JVo. 3), and 
 maintaining with every town and count}^ of the State 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 93 
 
 an unremitting and vigorous correspondence daring the 
 whole of that summer. He was earnestly seconded by 
 popular meetings in all directions, and his labors were 
 amply rewarded by the abandonment of the project of a 
 convention and by the re-election of McKean. 
 
 The circumstances just recited seemed so linked with 
 the impeachment of the judges that it has been thought 
 best to overlook the irregularity of their being told slightly 
 in advance of the narrative. 
 
 Mr. Dallas had accepted from Mr. Jefferson the ap 
 pointment of District Attorney of the United States on the 
 10th of March, 1801. He was then secretary of the Com 
 monwealth, recommissioned as such by Governor McKean 
 in 1799. On his withdrawal from the secretaryship, de 
 layed only by an embarrassment as to his successor, two 
 mutually kind and respectful notes were interchanged, 
 which, as attesting what he depicts to be a an interesting 
 act of his life," are entitled to a place here. 
 
 To Ms Excellency, Thomas McKean, Governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
 April 24, 1801. 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR, The business of the attorney of the Eastern 
 District has so increased that I was ashamed to trouble Mr. 
 Ingersoll with it, and consequently I heard with pleasure that 
 you had fixed upon a successor to me in the office of secretary 
 of the Commonwealth. Mr. Trimble will probably be here on 
 Tuesday, and I mean to enter on the duties of my new appoint 
 ment next Monday or Tuesday. Be so good, therefore, as to 
 consider this letter a resignation of the commission which I have 
 had the honor to hold under your administration. The records 
 and accounts of the executive department are left with Mr. 
 Trimble in complete order. 
 
 " There are many considerations that render this an interesting 
 act of my life. The flattering manner in which the office of 
 secretary was originally conferred on me by Governor Mifflin, 
 the cordiality with which you continued me in the station, the 
 consciousness of having endeavored, for a period of eleven years, 
 faithfully to discharge an important public trust, and the reflec 
 tion that the fury of party, while it assailed me in every other 
 quarter, has never found or fabricated a pretext to arraign my 
 official conduct, are sources of pride and pleasure that will 
 enliven the success, or alleviate the disappointment, of every 
 future scene. 
 
 " Though our official separation is at this time unavoidable, be 
 
94 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 assured, sir, that I never can feel indifferent to your honor and 
 your happiness. As a professional man, as a public man, and as 
 a private man, my respect and attachment have been uniform, 
 disinterested, and unequivocal ; and I claim from you, as the 
 best proof of a reciprocal sentiment, frequent opportunities to 
 evince the sincerity of these declarations. 
 
 " I am, dear sir, your faithful friend and servant, 
 
 "A. J. DALLAS." 
 
 REPLY. 
 Alexander James Dallas, Esq. 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, April 26, 1801. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, I received your favor of to-day, expressing 
 your resignation of the office of secretary of the State of Penn 
 sylvania. 
 
 " When I reflect on your assiduous, able, and faithful discharge 
 of that arduous trust for the last eleven years, years teeming 
 with difficulties, tumults, and anxieties that have rarely been 
 exceeded in this or any other country ; that you have passed over 
 ground before untrodden, and have finished your career with 
 honor to yourself and reputation to the governors with whom 
 you have acted : when I reflect on your disinterested attach 
 ment to my person and your avowed regard for my public and 
 private character: when I consider the loss Pennsylvania will 
 sustain by your relinquishment of this office, and am perfectty 
 sensible that I cannot supply the post with an equal, it cannot 
 be concealed that I part with you not only with reluctance but 
 the greatest regret. 
 
 " Your affectionate expressions of friendship and that your as 
 sistance on occasion will not be wanting, notwithstanding our 
 official separation for the present, the advancement of your hap 
 piness which I profess to have at heart, and a sincere wish for 
 the advancement of justice and to promote the ease and honor of 
 Mr. Jefferson s administration, impress it as a duty upon me to 
 acquiesce in the loss of such a coadjutor. From my soul I wish 
 you comfort and prosperity in your new station, and every other 
 to which your merit may raise you. 
 
 "Accept the friendship and a tender of the best services of, 
 dear sir, your most obliged and obedient humble servant, 
 
 " THOS. McKEAN." 
 
 VI. The only other illustration of professional ability and 
 skill which it is deemed necessary not wholly to overlook, 
 occurred several years after Mr. Dallas had assumed the 
 office of District Attorney of the United States, and but five 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 95 
 
 years before his entry into the Treasury Department at 
 Washington at the invitation of President Madison. This 
 controversy was very ancient and complicated, had as 
 sumed many shapes successively, and in the end found its 
 way into the circuit court of the United States on the trial 
 of a criminal indictment. It ranged, unsettled, from the 
 revolutionary epoch of 1778 to the constitutional one of 
 1809, and finally, by furnishing occasion to sweep through 
 its channel of progress, elicited a discussion of extreme 
 interest on conflicting principles of fundamental politics. 
 
 During the war certain prisoners, captured by the 
 British, were placed on board of a sloop called the Active, 
 and were ordered to be transported from Jamaica to New 
 York. Among these was Gideon Olmstead. On the 
 voyage, the prisoners rose, and, headed by Olmstead, took 
 command of the vessel, confined the officers, crew, and 
 passengers in her cabin, and steering for a friendly port, 
 had nearly reached one, when a Penns}4vania brig, Cap 
 tain Houston, overhauled them, seized the sloop as prize, 
 took her to Philadelphia, and there libelled her in admi 
 ralty under a statute of the Commonwealth. Olmstead and his 
 companions filed their claims for both vessel and cargo, 
 resisting the pretension that they had not completely sub 
 dued the enemy when Houston came up. The jury who 
 tried the cause found a general and unexplained verdict, 
 giving to Olmstead and his associates only one-fourth, and 
 the remaining three-fourths to their opponents. On ap 
 peal to the court of appeals established by Conr/ress, this sen 
 tence was reversed, the entire prize decreed to Olmstead 
 and his associates, and the court of admiralty directed to 
 effect sale and to pay the proceeds accordingly. 
 
 The competency of the superior jurisdiction thus exer 
 cised, that is to say, in setting aside the verdict of a jury 
 and in prescribing a wholly different judgment and dis 
 tribution, was disputed by the court below. The judge 
 of that tribunal, instead of conforming to the mandate 
 from above, disregarded it, received himself the proceeds 
 of the marshal s sale, and paid over to the treasurer of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. David Rittenhouse, so much thereof as 
 had been originally awarded to the Commonwealth by the 
 jury, taking a bond of indemnity in which the obligor was 
 described as treasurer, and as accepting the fund for the 
 use of the State. This fund was in fact in the form of 
 
96 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 loan office certificates, which, upon the death of Mr. Eit- 
 tenhouse, came into the possession of his representatives 
 Mrs. Sergeant and Mrs. Waters, and were libelled for exe 
 cution by Olmstead under the decree of the higher court. 
 This libel, too, was determined in his favor, in January, 
 1803. It was shortly after this that the legislature of 
 Pennsylvania took part in the controversy ; but it was not 
 until the 27th of February, 1809, that Governor Snyder, 
 watching the course of judicial action, deemed it his duty 
 to maintain the rights and honor of the State by executing 
 the enactment and calling out a portion of the militia to 
 protect Mrs. Sergeant and Mrs. Waters from any process in 
 the hands of any officer under the direction of any court 
 of the United States. 
 
 Amid very great local excitement, the marshal, with 
 his writ of attachment in his hand, and anxious peacefully 
 to execute it according to the principle of forbearance 
 advised by Mr. Dallas, was nevertheless forcibly obstructed 
 and repelled by a numerous military guard, which sur 
 rounded the residence of the ladies, under the command 
 of General Michael Bright. With some firmness, much 
 composure, and great address, he penetrated to the inte 
 rior of the house and effected the arrest. 
 
 An indictment, founded on a penal act of Congress, 
 against Michael Bright and eight others being presented 
 and returned by the grand jury, came up for trial in the 
 circuit court of the United States on the 28th April, 1809, 
 before judges J3ushrod Washington and Richard Peters. 
 
 Occasional collisions, in federative systems of govern 
 ment, between the local and the general authorities are 
 shown by all history to be unavoidable. The lines which 
 divide the spheres of action are on the borders so narrow, 
 and, under the fading influences of time become so indis 
 tinct, that they are constantly in danger of being practi 
 cally overstepped. Such, too, is the infirmity of human 
 Intellect and virtue, that an aggression, once committed, 
 never lacks defenders or apologists; and an error which 
 quiet good sense might at the outset have rectified, rapidly 
 swells into a noisy and impracticable shibboleth of party. 
 The stand taken by the legislature of Pennsylvania against 
 the rights of Olmstead, and the course of judicial appeal, 
 was untenable ; and yet it was perseveringly bolstered by 
 legal provisions and executive conduct for many years, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 97 
 
 until it finally took an alarming and critical aspect. In 
 opening the evidence, Mr Dallas said : 
 
 " When the grand jury found this indictment a true bill, what 
 was the spectacle exhibited in the streets of Philadelphia, what 
 were the consequences that menaced the peace of the city, and 
 what were the feelings that agitated every patriotic heart ? An 
 armed force, raised under the orders of the governor of the State 
 to resist and defeat the judicial authority of the Union; a mar 
 shal officially compelled to summon a part of his fellow-citizens 
 to oppose with force another part ; and the authority of the 
 United States in action, leading to the result of arraying the 
 whole power of the confederation, if necessary, in arms, against 
 the whole power of one of its members ! Not only the inhab 
 itants of Philadelphia, but every citizen of every State, nay, 
 every friend of republican liberty throughout the world must be 
 appalled in contemplating so momentous a crisis. It was not 
 simply a question of property, a question of jurisdiction, or a 
 question of State sovereignty that was involved ; but the great 
 questions which are so interesting to mankind seemed to be at 
 issue, whether a free government, established and administered 
 by the people themselves, can possess sufficient energy for its 
 own preservation ; whether the republican representative sys 
 tem is constructed of materials fitted for stability and duration, 
 and whether liberty, driven from the regions of Europe, Asia, 
 and Africa, shall find a dwelling-place on the face of the terra 
 queous globe." 
 
 The solemnity of this exordium was neither exaggerated 
 nor misplaced. Let us remember that, though the Con 
 stitution of the Union had been in operation but twenty 
 years, the tendency to disregard its provisions was already 
 thrice and seriously manifested in Pennsylvania. In 1794, 
 an insurrection to resist an excise on whiskey stills; in 
 1799, another to resist a mistakenly-called window-tax; 
 and now a threatened rebellion to secure for State preten 
 sions a supremacy .expressly conferred upon the national 
 jurisdiction. This last was far the most formidable and 
 dangerous; it rested vaguely upon the popular and undis- 
 criminating doctrine of State rights ; the sovereignty of 
 the Commonwealth seemed enlisted; the executive and 
 both branches of the legislature gave it countenance ; it 
 preceded by a quarter of a century the discontents of 
 South Carolina, and yet bore all the worst features of 
 nullification. 
 
98 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS 
 
 The eloquent and patriotic counsel who, as we are 
 aware, had profoundly explored the origin and structure 
 of the American Union, and reverenced it as the wisest 
 of human works, could not resist this suitable opportunity 
 to press its excellence upon a public tribunal. During 
 the subsequent fifty years we have rejoiced in many able 
 commentaries and vindications; but the lucid, just, com 
 prehensive and powerful exposition given by Mr. Dallas, 
 in advance of all these, merits special preservation. No 
 thing can do equal justice to the purity of his love of 
 country, the soundness of his judgment, and the clear 
 richness of his elocution ; and nothing at the present 
 epoch of strife is worthier of analysis and study. We 
 may venture on extracts of unusual length. 
 
 " In the management of the prosecution I shall not step aside 
 to arraign the policy of the State of Pennsylvania, nor to dero 
 gate from the character of her magistrates. To assert the au 
 thority and jurisdiction of the United States it may be necessary 
 to question the constitutionality of the course that has been 
 pursued in Pennsylvania and to demonstrate the errors that have 
 been committed by her public functionaries ; but it can never be 
 necessary to ascribe an improper motive to human actions when 
 the fallibility of human judgment will fairly account for whatever 
 is or seems to be wrong; and it is in the capacity of a private 
 citizen, not in the office of a public prosecutor, that I permit 
 myself to deplore and to deprecate the policy of the State gov 
 ernment. Even under the opinion that Pennsylvania has erred, 
 I shall speak of her with reverence and attachment. My remarks 
 will be confined to the evidence, the law, and the principles of 
 the case. And I confidently hope that the event of the discus 
 sion, so far from disgracing Pennsylvania, will be the instrument 
 of her vindication, restoring her to the high and merited rank 
 which she has hitherto enjoyed among the sister States. 
 
 " The offence charged against the defendants is of a nature as 
 serious as any that can be charged against the citizens of a free 
 government. I do not except treason as it operates against the 
 government, nor murder as it respects an individual. In its 
 first aspect, indeed, it differs from those crimes ; but it gradually 
 assumes the front of treason, and murder naturally follows in its 
 train. Even, however, this tendency to accumulate guilt is not 
 the great evil and danger of the offence to which I now advert. 
 The open, bold, and ostensible movements of treason for in 
 stance, the levying of war to subvert the government, or to sever 
 the territory of the Union by the range of the Alleghany or the 
 western waters will always present an object which the vigi- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 99 
 
 lance of our administration may readily detect and the power of 
 the nation will certainly defeat ; but if a resistance to the regular 
 operation of the laws, administered through the medium of the 
 courts of justice, shall pass with impunity till the offence becomes 
 habitual among the people, the disease will not be perceived till 
 it is incurable ; the foundations of the government will be under 
 mined before the approach of danger is suspected, and the fabric 
 of civil liberty which the valor and wisdom of your patriots have 
 raised will, in a sudden and tremendous fall, overwhelm you with 
 destruction and dismay. Remember, then, I pray you, that the 
 existence of the government depends essentially upon the exist 
 ence of all its departments, and that treason in arms against the 
 executive and legislative departments cannot be more certainly 
 fatal to the vital principle of the government than habitual oppo 
 sition or popular contempt manifested toward the judicial author 
 ity. This is, in some degree, the case in every form of government, 
 but in monarchical governments the ready assistance of military 
 force may always be obtained to execute the judgments of the 
 law. It is under a free government, constituted by the people, 
 and forever dependent upon their good will, under which the 
 civil authority is declared to be supreme, while military force is 
 designated as an object for jealousy and control, that the dominion 
 of the laws must in a peculiar manner be held sacred, for other 
 wise (as it has been already said) the government itself must 
 cease to exist. When the decrees of justice can no longer be 
 enforced by the marshal and the writ, you must resort to the 
 soldier and the bayonet; and, whatever you may choose to call 
 your government, depend upon it you will no longer continue 
 to be a free people. A resort to arms in obstructing the opera 
 tion of the laws must inevitably lead to a resort to arms in 
 maintaining them. Nor can it make any difference in principle 
 whether the execution of an act of Congress or the judgment of 
 a court be resisted, whether the resistance is attempted by an 
 individual or by a multitude, in the rage of wanton violence or 
 under color of spurious authority. 
 
 " But opinions have been scattered abroad in pamphlets, in 
 newspapers, and in declamatory harangues, which are, I confess, 
 well calculated to pervert the public mind, and to excite the 
 public feelings on the peculiar subject of the present prosecution. 
 It is weakly, if not wickedly, said that an opposition to the judi 
 cial process of our courts is not an opposition to the laws ; and 
 that persons who act under the authority of the State in making 
 such opposition are guilty of no offence. Against a doctrine so 
 radically vicious it is a duty most solemnly to protest : nor can 
 I safely approach the immediate ground of the prosecution with 
 out first endeavoring to rescue your judgment from its baneful 
 influence. I claim, therefore, the attention of the jury for a 
 
100 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 short, but, I hope, a satisfactory development of the principles 
 of our social compact in its federal as well as in its State char 
 acteristics. 
 
 " There is no truth more certain, none to which I more sin 
 cerely subscribe, than that the sovereignty of the nation resides 
 essentially and everlastingly in the people. From this sove 
 reignty emanates the powers of government, whether they are 
 vested in the federal or in the State system ; and whether in 
 either system, they are assigned to the legislative, the executive, 
 or the judicial department. The institution of government is 
 thus an exercise of the sovereignty of the people, in their own 
 way, and for their own good. The people acting as the creator, 
 assign to the subject of their creation, the form, attributes, and 
 operation necessary to its use. In dividing the powers of 
 government into federal and State, the sovereignty of the people 
 is displayed, not surrendered : and in dividing the government 
 into departments, the separation is made for the preservation of 
 each in its legitimate sphere, and not with a view to render any 
 one department superior to the others. Hence, while the sove 
 reignty resides inherently and inalienably in the people, it is a 
 perversion of language to denominate the State, as a body poli 
 tic or government, sovereign and independent. If, indeed, the 
 word State is used as a collective for the people of the State 
 (in which sense, and in a sense descriptive of territorial jurisdic 
 tion, it is sometimes used), there is no objection to the phrase: 
 but a State, meaning the government of the State, is never itself 
 sovereign, though it may discharge those functions of sovereignty 
 which the people have assigned to it ; nor can it ever be inde 
 pendent while the people possess the right and power to change, 
 modify, or abolish it. The federal and State governments, in 
 this point of view, are alike possessed of sovereign powers ; but 
 the State government can no more be denominated sovereign and 
 independent in relation to the powers vested in the federal 
 government than the latter can be so denominated in relation to 
 the powers vested in the former, or reserved to the people. The 
 truth is (a political truth that ought never to be overlooked in 
 the collisions that may arise between State and federal authori 
 ties) that the constitutions of the Union and of the State must 
 be regarded and construed as instruments formed and executed 
 by the same party, the sovereign people, delegating powers to 
 different agents, but upon the same trusts and for the same uses. 
 The instruments manifest the powers of the constituent and pre 
 scribe the duties of the representative. And thus you hear the 
 mighty voice of the people announcing in a solemn and formal 
 preface to the work that THEY (not that the sovereign and inde 
 pendent States) ordain and establish the federal, as well as the 
 State, constitution for their government. The people of Perm- 
 
LIFE OF A. J, DALLAS. 101 
 
 sylvania, acting as a portion and in concert with all the rest of 
 the people of the United States, ordained and established the 
 federal constitution in the year 1787 for their national govern 
 ment ; and, subject to the plighted faith of that compact, the 
 people of Pennsylvania, acting for themselves alone, ordained 
 and established the State constitution in the year 1790 for their 
 territorial government. To the national government they gave 
 all the national attributes of judicial as well as of executive and 
 legislative power ; and on the State government they devolved 
 the exercise of every other power necessary for the public wel 
 fare, with the exceptions and qualifications contained in the 
 declaration of rights. 
 
 <l Upon this basis, I trust it will be perceived that, without 
 derogating from the dignity of organized governments or impair 
 ing their legitimate authority, the sovereignty of the people, the 
 federal jurisdiction, and the State rights may harmoniously and 
 securely rest. But to assert an absolute sovereignty and inde 
 pendence in a State, is either to deny any sovereignty and inde 
 pendence in the Union, or to contend for the existence of a 
 solecism in the science of politics the existence of two absolute, 
 sovereign, and independent governments in the same nation! 
 Nor is it possible that the subject should have been misunder 
 stood by the people when they adopted the federal constitution ; 
 for General Washington, in the letter of the convention which 
 accompanied the proposed constitution, proclaimed the effect of 
 its adoption upon State jurisdiction in these memorable words : 
 It is obviously impracticable, in the federal government of 
 these States, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to 
 each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all. In 
 dividuals entering into society give up a share of liberty to 
 preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must depend 
 as well on situation and circumstances as on the object to be ob 
 tained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the 
 line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those 
 which may be reserved ; and, on the present occasion, this diffi 
 culty was increased by a difference among the several States as 
 to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests. 1 
 
 " That the constitution, adopted with this knowledge of its 
 design and operation, was indispensable to the duration of the 
 Union, to the harmony of the States, to the prosperity of the 
 people, and to the character of the nation, every man will admit, 
 who saw or felt, who has read or heard, what was the situation 
 of the country at the crisis of the adoption. That the practical 
 blessings of the constitution have surpassed all that its most 
 zealous advocates predicted, even its once jealous opponents 
 gratefully see and candidly avow. For all know that the in 
 firmities of the old confederation were so extreme, that the Union 
 
102 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 had scarcely consummated its independence, when it seemed to 
 touch the period of its dissolution. The necessity of resorting 
 to some principle of resuscitation agitated every heart and ex 
 ercised every head. Let the Union be dissolved, and what was 
 then to dissipate the gloom that hung over the internal and ex 
 ternal prospects of America ! In a foreign view, where was the 
 resource of population, or of revenue, to enable a single State to 
 command the respect of the world, to reciprocate the benefits 
 of commerce, or to repel the violence of other nations ! In a 
 domestic view, where was the common umpire to reconcile the 
 jarring interests of the rival States, to regulate the terms of 
 social intercourse, to avert the calamities of civil ivar, to destroy 
 the hydra of anarchy, or to subdue the efforts of despotism! 
 But, turning from those lamentable views of the subject, let us 
 ask what, under the auspices of the federal constitution, is now 
 wanting to our honor abroad or to our prosperity at home ? 
 The rights, the interests, the treasure, and the power of all the 
 States constitute an inheritance and a name, a shield and a sword, 
 for each State, in all the pursuits of its enterprise and industry 
 abroad; while a uniform system of national legislation, and an 
 impartial administration of national justice, serve to produce and 
 perpetuate equality, confidence, and concord at home. 
 
 " At all times, and under all circumstances, from the dawn of 
 American independence to the splendor of its meridian, the 
 sovereignty of the people has been displayed in the formation 
 of our political compacts. 
 
 " The latent sovereignty of the American people was kindled 
 into action so early as the year 1TT4. Under a sense of wrong 
 (not perhaps of actual oppression, but of meditated usurpation) 
 the Congress of the colonies was formed. The sublime idea of 
 national independence had not then been conceived, or it was 
 carefully repressed. The object of the association w r as simply 
 petition and remonstrance ; and for that object the people, through 
 their colonial representatives, delegated to Congress all the ne 
 cessary powers of deliberation and agency. But petitions were 
 neglected, remonstrances were despised, insult was added to in 
 jury, and upon the preparation of an invading military force to 
 compel obedience to the usurped authority of the British par 
 liament, nothing remained for America but to encounter arms 
 with arms. (MR. INGERSOLL : Then the people, or a colony of 
 the people, may resist by force the encroachments of the para 
 mount government upon their rights ? MR. DALLAS : If you can 
 find an analogy in the situation of the country now, and then ; 
 if you can find in the conduct of the federal government acts of 
 usurpation, contumely, and outrage such as Britain exhibited 
 at that time ; and if you conceive that the extreme case of lawful 
 resistance to the constituted authorities of the Union has oc- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 103 
 
 curred, you are welcome to all the benefit of the question. But 
 let it be well considered whether the conflict is likely to ter 
 minate in rebellion or revolution. ) Even, therefore, before 
 independence was the object, the people had delegated to Con 
 gress the powers of resistance and war, and a civil war was 
 actually waged under their authority. It is true, there existed 
 no formal, written compact among the colonies, but each delega 
 tion carried to Congress the authority of their immediate con 
 stituents to deliberate and to act for the success of the common 
 cause ; and if the maintenance of the common cause required 
 the existence of any particular power of government, the invest 
 ment of that power in Congress was necessarily implied in the 
 object of the association, without more. Hence it is that the 
 powers of peace and war were derived in the first instance ; 
 and the principal powers carried with them all their incidents. 
 Still, although the Congress regularly possessed the powers, 
 there would have been a difficulty, if not an impossibility, to 
 appty them, had not the patriotism and the good faith of that 
 memorable epoch proved an efficient substitute for all the means 
 of coercion enjoyed by the strongest and oldest political estab 
 lishments. At length, however, the opposition of subjects to 
 the tyranny of their government suddenly taken up (without a 
 disciplined force, without arms, ammunition, or any military 
 supply, and without a common treasury) became too severe and 
 too hazardous to be sustained ; and it was necessary to change 
 the cause into the cause of freemen contending for independence, 
 in order to rivet the pride, the valor, and the hope of the people 
 to the glorious object of the war, as well as to inspire confidence 
 in those nations of Europe who had already manifested a desire 
 to espouse the interests of America. With these motives the 
 Declaration of Independence was suggested and announced to 
 the world as the solemn and deliberate act of the American 
 people. It has been erroneously alleged that the Declaration of 
 Independence was the act of the individual States ; but the 
 character of the States was first created by that celebrated in 
 strument, under the authority of the people at large, who, if 
 they did not form it originally, voluntarily adopted and con 
 firmed it. It has been erroneously alleged that there was no ex 
 press, written compact between the people of the different States 
 until the ratification of the articles of confederation ; but the 
 Declaration of Independence is an express and written compact 
 of union for every national purpose. Here, however, let the 
 declaration speak emphatically for itself: We, the representa 
 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
 appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude 
 of our intentions, do, in the name and ~by the authority of the 
 good people of these colonies, solemnly declare that these united 
 
104 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent 
 States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British 
 crown, and that all political connection between them and the 
 State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved ; and 
 that as free and independent States they have full power to levy 
 war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and 
 do all other acts which independent States may of right do. 
 And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on 
 the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
 other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
 
 " Thus, it is perceived, that the Declaration of Independence 
 was made, not in the corporate capacity of States/ or of colonies, 
 but in the name and by the authority of the people ; and in de 
 claring the freedom and independence of the States, no idea of 
 individuality is introduced, but the declaration is applied to the 
 united colonies in their collective and national character. Thus 
 also it is perceived that, in their collective or national character, 
 the United States are declared to have full power to levy ivar, 
 conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, etc. AH 
 objects of national policy, which it ivill not be pretended an indi 
 vidual State could fiursue for the whole, nor even for herself, 
 upon the express and implied conditions of the compact. 
 
 11 The Declaration of Independence having provided for the 
 national character and the national powers, it remained in some 
 mode to provide for the character and powers of the States indi 
 vidually as a consequence of the dissolution of the colonial sys 
 tem. Accordingly the people of each State set themselves to 
 work, under a recommendation from Congress, to erect a local 
 government for themselves ; but in no instance did the people of 
 any State attempt to incorporate into their local system any of 
 those attributes of national authority which the Declaration of 
 Independence had asserted in favor of the United States. From 
 this conclusive evidence, as well as from every other concomi 
 tant and cotemporaneous occurrence, it is obvious that the people 
 approved and ratified the distribution of powers between the 
 federal and the State government ; so that, from this period at 
 least, the people of America were bound to each other by an ex 
 press, written compact, recognizing nothing more, however, in 
 favor of Congress than was necessarily, as I contend, implied in 
 the principle and object of the previous voluntary association of 
 the colonies. 
 
 " But the investment of power in Congress, from the gener 
 ality of the terms of the Declaration of Independence, was soon 
 found inconvenient in practice ; and hence arose the necessity of 
 the organization, arrangement, and details contemplated by the 
 articles of confederation, which were proposed to the individual 
 States so early as the 9th of July, 1778, but were not finally rat- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 105 
 
 ified by all the States until the 1st day of March, 1781. These 
 articles, however, can only be considered as declaratory of the 
 pre-existing national authority on the great subjects of war and 
 peace, of treaties and commerce, with all their natural and neces 
 sary incidents. The States and the people of the States so con 
 sidered them, for the exercise of the authority (which in such a 
 case is some evidence of its legitimate existence) continued with 
 out opposition, complaint, or denial, throughout the whole of the 
 most interesting period of the revolution that passed between 
 the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the arti 
 cles of confederation. The struggle of the revolution was indeed 
 almost over before the articles were ratified ; treaties of alliance 
 and commerce had been formed with France and other nations ; 
 British armies had been beaten and captured, and the day of 
 peace rapidly approached. And no sooner were the articles rat 
 ified than it was discovered that they were miserably defective 
 in all the energies requisite to an efficient system of government. 
 
 " The termination of the war did not terminate the labors or 
 solicitudes of your patriots. The debts of the nation were to 
 be paid ; but Congress had neither the money to pay them nor 
 the means to exact an equitable contribution from the States. 
 The dignity of a national character, acquired by the noble ex 
 ertions of a seven years battle, was to be maintained ; but Con 
 gress was without the power to attract or to command respect 
 at home or abroad. The harmony of the States was to be pre 
 served under the most trying diversity of habits and interests ; 
 but Congress could not dictate, and the day of persuasion had 
 fled. The appeal to the gratitude, the justice, and the policy of 
 the States for empowering Congress, under these circumstances 
 of federal obligation, to levy a trifling impost was rendered 
 abortive by the negative of a single (almost of the smallest) 
 member of the Union. And, in short, every feeling of triumph 
 for the past glories of America was superseded in the minds of 
 the good and the wise, by a sense of shame and alarm, at the 
 dreadful prospect of her future destiny. But a ray of hope at 
 length darted through the gloom of the political horizon. The 
 active patriotism of Virginia led to a partial convention of dele 
 gates at Annapolis to consider the state of the nation ; and, al 
 though the deliberations of that body did not produce an imme 
 diate remedy for the evils that were suffered, it is enough for the 
 fame and honor of its members that the general convention, from 
 which we eventually received the Constitution of the United 
 States, was assembled upon their recommendation. 
 
 " The general convention, it must be allowed, was not com 
 posed of delegates elected by the people themselves, but of dele 
 gates appointed by the legislatures of the respective States. The 
 important fact, however, in relation to the adoption of their great 
 
 8 
 
106 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 work, is that it was not reported to the State governments; but 
 that, on the express recommendation of the convention, it was 
 submitted to the people of the States respectively for their assent 
 and ratification. The people accordingly assembled, deliberated, 
 assented, and ratified ; and in that way alone the Constitution of 
 the United States acquired all its authority as a social compact, 
 as a bond of confederation, and as an instrument of government. 
 The people, perfectly apprised of the nature and operation of 
 the act, were, above alt things, anxious that it should not be 
 annulled or evaded. Hence, it is provided not only that the 
 officers of the federal government, but that the members of the 
 several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers 
 of the several States shall be bound by oath or affirmation to 
 support the constitution^ Nay, that no doubt or ambiguity 
 should rest upon the claim of paramount allegiance for the 
 federal government, it is imperatively declared in this act of the 
 people themselves, that the constitution and the laws of the 
 United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all 
 treaties made or which shall be made under the authority of the 
 United States, shall be the supreme law of the land, and the 
 judges in every State shall be bound thereby, ANYTHING IN THE 
 
 CONSTITUTION OR LAWS OF ANY STATE TO THE CONTRARY NOT 
 WITHSTANDING. Whether you contemplate the federal or State 
 institutions, the judicial or the legislative and executive depart 
 ment of government, you have hitherto seen the work come uni 
 formly from the hand of the people ; and now (I pray you, gen 
 tlemen, to listen, with particular attention, to this authoritative 
 expression of the public will), you hear the direct and unequivocal 
 declaration of the people that the constitution and laws of the 
 United States shall be supreme ; that in every collision between 
 the constitution and laws of the United States and the consti 
 tution and laws of an individual State, the latter shall yield, the 
 former shall prevail, and that every State functionary shall, by 
 the most solemn pledge of fidelity, undertake, before his God and 
 his country, to support the supremacy of the constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 " It is not, however, by general declarations alone that the peo 
 ple, in establishing the federal constitution, have chosen to limit 
 and restrain the jurisdiction of the individual States. It would 
 be tedious, and is not necessary, to enter into the details ; but, 
 by way of illustration, I will suggest two subjects intimately 
 connected with the present trial : 1. The people have limited 
 and restrained the State jurisdiction in matters of war and peace. 
 By a direct investment of power, Congress can alone declare 
 war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, raise and support 
 armies, provide and maintain a navy, make rules for the regula 
 tion of the land and naval forces, provide for calling forth the 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 107 
 
 militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, 
 and repel invasions, and provide for organizing, arming, and 
 disciplining the militia. And, by a positive prohibition, no State 
 can enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation, grant letters 
 of marque and reprisal, keep troops or ships of war in time of 
 peace, nor engage in war unless actually invaded, or in such im 
 minent danger as will not admit of delay. Now, if it shall ever 
 appear that Massachusetts or Virginia, Pennsylvania or Con 
 necticut, have kept troops in time of peace, without the consent 
 of Congress, the act will be a flagrant violation of the constitu 
 tion ; and, if the force thus unconstitutionally kept shall be ar 
 rayed against the constituted authorities of the Union, it must, 
 upon every rational principle of jurisprudence, be an offence in 
 every agent, civil or military, who is engaged in the opposition. 
 2. The people have also limited and restrained the State juris 
 diction in matters of judicial cognizance. By a direct investment, 
 the judicial power of the United States embraces (with various 
 other objects) all cases in law and equity arising under the con 
 stitution, laws, and treaties (other than suits by individuals 
 against a State}, all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdic 
 tion, all controversies between citizens of different States, between 
 citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants from 
 different States, and between foreigners and citizens. And by 
 the act of Congress which distributes this mass of judicial power 
 among the several courts of the Union, it is expressly declared 
 that the district court shall have exclusive original cognizance 
 of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. 
 Now, if it shall ever appear that the legislative, executive, or 
 judicial department of a State government, or that a combination 
 of all the departments has attempted to divest or defeat the 
 jurisdiction of a federal court in a controversy between citizens 
 of different States, or has attempted to control the federal courts 
 in a case of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, it will be an 
 act of complicated usurpation, notoriously unconstitutional, and 
 utterly void ; it can never create a right for itself, nor confer an 
 authority upon others." 
 
 At the close of this masterly development of the principles 
 of our social compact in its federal and State characteristics, the 
 district attorney opened the particular facts he contem 
 plated proving against the prisoners, and examined his 
 witnesses. The evidence was unexceptionable, clear, and 
 conclusive. Nothing to rebut it was attempted. " There 
 is no dispute" said Judge Washington in charging the jury, 
 " about the facts." The defence, however, was taken upon 
 two general positions of law : 1. The district court, whose 
 
108 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 writ was resisted, had no jurisdiction, because the court 
 of appeals established by Congress having no authority to 
 determine the case, the decree of that appellate tribunal 
 was a nullity which the district court could not enforce. 
 The court of appeals could not reverse the verdict of the 
 jury. 2. The district court had no jurisdiction because 
 the State of Pennsylvania was a party in interest and the 
 court was therefore prohibited by the constitution from 
 deciding it. The defendants acted in obedience to the 
 laws of the State and the orders of her governor. The 
 argument on these grounds was conducted with great 
 ability by Mr. Walter Franklin, the attorney-general of 
 Pennsylvania, and by Mr. Jared Ingersoll, specially retained 
 by the Commonwealth to assist him. They were elabo 
 rately answered in conclusion by Mr. Dallas. 
 
 As we have deemed the only interest and importance 
 of the trial to have been the relation it bore to the colli 
 sion between the national and local authorities, it may be 
 well to refer to what was said by Judge WASHINGTON on 
 that score. 
 
 " Tfte governor of Pennsylvania had no power to order the 
 defendants to array themselves against the United States, acting 
 through its judicial tribunals ; and the legislature of the State 
 was equally incompetent to clothe him with such a power, had it 
 so intended. The defendants were bound by a paramount duty 
 to the government, of the Union, and ought not to have obeyed the 
 mandate. There were but two modes Irr which the general 
 government could assert the supremacy of its power on this oc 
 casion : by the peaceful interference of the civil authority, or by 
 the sword. The first has been tried, and the defendants are now 
 called to answer for their conduct before a jury of their country. 
 Will any man be found bold enough to condemn this mode of 
 proceeding, or complain that this alternative has been chosen ? 
 But, if the accused can plead the orders of the governor, as a 
 justification of their conduct, and if the sufficiency of such a plea 
 is established, the civil authority is done away, its means are 
 inadequate to its end, and force must be resorted to. Are we 
 prepared for such a state of things ? The doctrine appears to us 
 monstrous, the consequences of it terrible. We regret that it 
 was broached. It was contended that in a case where a State 
 government authorizes resistance to the process of a federal court, 
 though in a cause wherein the court had competent jurisdiction, 
 the only remedy in such an emergency is negotiation. If there 
 were no federal, no common head, this position might be admitted, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 109 
 
 and on the failure of the negotiations, the ultima ratio must be 
 resorted to. But under our constitution of government which 
 declared the laws of the United States made in pursuance of 
 that instrument the supreme law of the land, and which vests in 
 the courts of the United States jurisdiction to try and decide 
 particular cases, I am altogether at a loss to conceive how, in 
 the case stated, negotiations between the general and paramount 
 government, in relation to the powers granted to it, and a State 
 government, can be necessary and could ever be proper." 
 
 There was much and prolonged difficulty among the 
 jurors in determining the form of their verdict. They 
 would not assent to a general one, and were obviously 
 anxious to shield the defendants, if possible, b} 7 specially 
 finding that in obstructing and resisting the marshal, the 
 accused had acted under the orders of the constituted 
 authorities of the Commonwealth. They attempted to 
 put this impression on paper, but when examined it was 
 thought to be somewhat contradictory and irregular, 
 whereupon the three counsel agreed each to draft a finding 
 which would exactly convey the conclusion attained by 
 the jury, leaving its effect to be decided by subsequent 
 argument. The draft made by Mr. Dallas was preferred, 
 adopted, and tiled as the verdict, and Judge Washington 
 directed the discussion as to its legal character to proceed 
 on the morrow. But when called upon in the morning to 
 proceed, Mr. Ingersoll observed, " for our parts, we shall 
 say nothing upon it ;" and the district attorney added 
 that "the discussion had been already so extensive and the 
 attention of the court so intent," that he submitted the 
 point with entire confidence. The judge then ordered 
 judgment for the United States and "that the defendants 
 and every of them are GUILTY." 
 
 In calling for sentence, the prosecuting officer made a 
 few remarks, from among which, as illustrative of his 
 temperate disposition and the novelty of his attitude, the 
 folio win ff are extracted : 
 
 O 
 
 "In all the vicissitudes of a public life (not short in duration 
 nor free from difficulty) I have hitherto been able to discharge 
 the duty of my station, without grief of heart or personal repug 
 nance. But while performing the last act of the present prosecu 
 tion, while calling upon the court to pronounce the sentence of the 
 law against General Bright and his companions, I confess that 
 I feel a regret the most sincere, a pang the most acute. It would 
 
110 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 be useless at this time to dwell upon the pernicious nature of 
 the offence, or to urge the necessity and benefit of the example. 
 
 " It has been often said by the counsel for the defendants that 
 this was not to be regarded as a common case, and they have 
 endeavored to make a deep impression of its importance on our 
 minds by reiterated appeals to the power and dignity of the 
 constituted authorities of Pennsylvania! It is indeed an ex 
 traordinary case ; but while I distinguish it, in its nature and 
 importance, from every other prosecution which has occurred, I 
 can only perceive in that distinction additional motives for a firm 
 and energetic course of conduct on the part of all (judges, jurors, 
 and prosecution) who are intrusted with a share in the adminis 
 tration of justice. If it shall be deemed sufficient for the pur 
 poses of impunity, in the commission of offences against the laws 
 of the United States, to obtain or to allege the sanction of a State 
 law, or a State magistrate, the national authority and the national 
 independence will be no more. 
 
 "But I am still willing to admit that when the jury placed, 
 for the first time, the fact judicially upon the record that the de 
 fendants had committed the offence with which they are charged 
 under the direction of the constituted authorities of the Common 
 wealth, a fair occasion occurred to reciprocate those offices of 
 kindness and respect which are so well calculated to promote 
 and to preserve harmony between governments as well as indi 
 viduals. I should therefore have listened with eagerness to the 
 first overture from the defendants, acknowledging and regretting 
 the error that has been committed ; or even at this moment I 
 would most cheerfully assume the responsibility of abstaining, 
 without the previous authority of the federal government, from 
 demanding the sentence of the court, if the attorney-general, 
 who represents the constituted authorities of Pennsylvania, would 
 intimate the slightest wish that this should be done. But, alas! 
 the defendants seem rather to exult than to grieve at their situa 
 tion ; and all the solicitude that I have expressed, in public or in 
 private, for an amicable arrangement has been treated by the 
 law officer of Pennsylvania with cold and constant indifference. 
 
 "It would then be derogatory to the government as well as 
 useless any longer to suspend a performance of my duty. Feel 
 ing, as I do (and I derive a satisfaction from the repetition of 
 the sentiment), unaffected good will towards the defendants, and 
 sensible as I am of the great debt of gratitude and reverence 
 which I owe to Pennsylvania, I make undoubtedly a sacrifice of 
 the most interesting personal considerations to the most imperi 
 ous official obligations. But I look to the future with hope and 
 confidence for gratification and reward. Nay, if I do not mis 
 take the character of some of the defendants, connected as they 
 are with society by all the ties of family, of property, and of 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. Ill 
 
 patriotism, the time is not far distant when they will themselves 
 rejoice that they have suffered for the laws : deeming it a day of 
 triumph and not of sorrow on which the principle so dear to 
 every freeman that tfie military shall in all cases and at all 
 times be in strict subordination to the civil power" 1 was practi 
 cally illustrated and permanently established." 
 
 The sentences were then (the 2d of May, 1809) pro 
 nounced: against Michael Bright, an imprisonment for 
 three months and a fine of two hundred dollars; against 
 each of the others, an imprisonment of one month and a 
 tine of fifty dollars. The judge, in addressing the de 
 fendants, had used the phrase "it is obvious that you have 
 mistaken a supposed duty" which being promptly reported 
 to President Madison by Mr. Dallas, A PARDON was at once 
 obtained, and the prisoners were discharged without 
 delay. 
 
 When Congress assembled for the first time at Wash 
 ington, on the^lTth November, 1800, the House of Repre 
 sentatives found devolved upon it by the second article of 
 the constitution the duty to choose* a President. The 
 aggregate votes of the electoral conventions in the several 
 States exhibited the result of 73 for Mr. Jefferson, 73 for 
 Mr. Burr, 65 for Mr. Adams, 64 for Mr. Pinckney, and 1 
 for Mr. Jay. The Republican party had triumphed : but 
 in triumphing, they had not discriminated on their ballots 
 which of their candidates had been voted for as President 
 and which for Vice-President. The clause of the consti 
 tution, shortly afterwards amended, did not require that 
 they should. To be sure everybody knew the universal 
 intention, but the record did not show it, and the equality 
 of the number of votes respectively for Mr. Jefferson and 
 Mr. Burr therefore gave the power of preference between 
 the two to the house. The complication was exceedingly 
 delicate and dangerous; and, taking into view the viru 
 lent condition of party politics, great disaster to the country 
 might well be and was apprehended from factious intrigue 
 and reckless audacity. 
 
 Mr. Albert Gallatin was one of the representatives from 
 Pennsylvania; a warm personal friend of Mr. Dallas, and 
 aware of his constant labors and solicitudes in the field of 
 politics. He kept him advised, by short and rapid notes, 
 
 * Sic in constitution. 
 
112 LIFE OF A, J. DALLAS. 
 
 almost from day to day, of the progress in balloting. Of 
 these notes the following only were preserved : 
 
 "Washington, l\th Feb. 1801, half-past three, afternoon. We 
 have balloted seven times, and no choice is yet made. Eight 
 States for Jefferson, six for Burr, Yermont and Maryland 
 divided. No change in our prospect since my last letter. As 
 to individual votes, we had on the first ballot 55 to 49. We 
 have this minute suspended the ballot for one hour in order to 
 eat a mouthful." 
 
 " Washington, \2th Feb. 1801, three o clock in the morning. 
 We are still sitting: have balloted twenty-two times, and made 
 no choice, the result on every ballot the same. By all means 
 preserve the city quiet. A report is already here that the Dem 
 ocrats have seized the public arms in Philadelphia. Anything 
 which could be construed into a commotion would be fatal to us." 
 
 " Washington, IWi Feb. 1801, twelve o clock. I wrote you 
 yesterday by mail that, after twenty-eight ballots, the house had 
 agreed at one o clock in the afternoon to suspend balloting till 
 this day at eleven, the interval being considered a virtual though 
 not a formal adjournment. To-day we met accordingly, and have 
 balloted once. Result the same. They speak of bringing in a 
 bill in the Senate to appoint a person to administer the govern 
 ment, and of making in this house a motion to rescind that rule 
 which prevents our doing other business than balloting. They 
 appear rather elated than otherwise. An overture was made by 
 
 to stating that the Federalists had proposed to him to 
 
 go over provided New York did. He was, as he said, to give 
 them an answer this morning. The answer from New York 
 was decisive, and so has been his to the other party. This shows 
 a man whom they think they may tamper with. I believe, how 
 ever, he is decided and will not yield. With this exception, I 
 do not apprehend the most distant danger of defection on our 
 side. I do not expect any on their part until they shall have 
 seen the effect of their proposed law on our side in the house, 
 and on the people. The judiciary bill is signed by the President." 
 
 " Same day, 1 o clock. Thirtieth ballot over ; same result. 
 The Senate have adjourned till to-morrow without doing any 
 thing. We have this moment suspended the ballot till to-mor 
 row at 12 o clock. Our expectations of their yielding are better 
 now than one hour ago, from some information we have just 
 received, which I have not time to relate, as the bearer waits." 
 
 " 16 Feb. 1801. We have balloted this day for the 34th time, 
 and the result is still the same. It is said that Mr. Bayard is 
 decidedly iii our favor, but that his vote is delayed in order to 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 attempt to persuade the whole party to come over at once. Th( 
 ballot is suspended till to-morrow." 
 
 "17 Feb. 1801, 2 o clock, afternoon. We have balloted twice 
 to-day. The result was still the same on the 35th ballot ; on the 
 36th Mr. Jefferson was chosen, ten States voting for him, Mary 
 land and Vermont included. Four States voted for Aaron Burr; 
 two, supposed to be South Carolina and Delaware, put in blank 
 ballots. Morris absented himself. The four other Marylanders 
 put in their State ballot-boxes blanks. Mr. Bayard is this mo 
 ment nominated Minister Plenipotentiary to France." 
 
 "18 Feb. 1801. We consider the manner in which the oppo 
 sition to Mr. Jefferson suffered him to be elected as an avowed 
 declaration of war. Not one man of the party voting for him 
 shows a determination that the phalanx ought to remain un 
 broken, and be ready to oppose whenever opportunity shall 
 offer." 
 
 What would probably have been the consequence of 
 Aaron Burr s election ? He had been a gallant and 
 faithful officer in the revolutionary army. He was of 
 New York, a man of acknowledged ability, less culti 
 vated but more practical than his Virginia competitor ; 
 an ardent Republican, persuasive and conciliatory in 
 speech and deportment. His standing was such, on the 
 scores of service, integrity, and talents, as led Mr. Jeffer 
 son to meditate offering him an invitation to undertake 
 the administration of the Department of War, a project 
 only dismissed because of his unexpected nomination as 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Aaron Burr s master-passion was fanned by his disap 
 pointment on this occasion into a consuming fire. It 
 may be said of him as of John C. Calhoun : had he been 
 President, he would have remained and died a sound con 
 servative patriot. Like the great Carolinian, his ambition 
 wanted ballast, became ungovernable, and finally wrecked 
 him. Of the two, the wild schemist for a western empire 
 did his country far less injury than the author of such per 
 nicious sorceries as nullification and secession, seen now 
 to have gradually spell-struck and withered, in a large 
 section, the ligaments of union. 
 
 Mr. Burr suddenly felt himself, by an accidental com 
 plication, within reach of the chief magistracy. The 
 prospect dazzled and shook him. Undoubtedly, as a 
 loyal Republican, it was his duty to refuse promptly and 
 
114 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 firmly to be made the instrument of faction. Unequal to 
 so obvious and just a part, he allowed the known adver 
 saries of his principles to seize him as a weapon and turn 
 him against his friends, thus, and by that alone, entering 
 upon a descent which ultimately precipitated him into 
 crime. Had the Federalists placed him in the chair, he 
 must have commissioned "the midnight judges;" he 
 must have retained in their posts all the prescriptive and 
 implacable appointees of John Adams ; he must have 
 maintained unimpaired, perhaps enlarged, the Hamil- 
 tonian systems of excise and of public debt; he must 
 have retained the fourteen years of novitiate before nat 
 uralization ; he must, in a word, have kept the govern 
 ment on the anti republican tack. They did not succeed in 
 placing him in the chair, but he had voluntarily incurred 
 the odium of this possible course, and his party turned 
 their backs upon him forever. 
 
 The functions of the professional post which he had 
 accepted from Mr. Jefferson in the spring of 1801, grad 
 ually drew Mr. Dallas into close contact with the cabinet 
 at Washington. lie had long been on terms of the 
 kindest intimacy with its chief members, especially 
 during their periodical visits, as public men, to the city 
 of Philadelphia, where his house was their hospitable 
 rendezvous for consultation or enjoyment, lie possessed 
 their unbounded confidence and respect. Mr. Madison, 
 Mr. Gallatin, and Mr. Robert Smith were his warm per 
 sonal friends and admirers, and with them he was in the 
 habit of constant and frank communication. From a 
 few letters interchanged during that period may be col 
 lected the topics which engaged attention and possess in 
 themselves a certain interest. 
 
 We have already referred to the effort made in 1805 to 
 change the constitution of Pennsylvania. On that sub 
 ject Mr. Gallatin, under date of the 30th March, 1805, says : 
 
 " I heard of you by Mr. Nicholson, who arrived here yesterday, 
 and I hear every day by the newspapers. Will both houses 
 agree to the call of a convention ? and if they agree, what will 
 be the consequence? There is certainly a defect in our (State) 
 constitution arising from the omission of a mode to introduce 
 amendments. It is absurd to suppose that any species of laws, 
 whether constitutional or ordinary, ought to be unalterable ; 
 and, when no mode is provided, any mode may be adopted, and 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 115 
 
 the security resulting from written constitutions is at an end. 
 In fact it may become more easy to alter the constitution than a 
 law, since legislative forms and restrictions may be considered 
 as inapplicable to the proceedings of the sovereigns, who, reserv 
 ing to themselves the nominal power of altering the instrument, 
 have neglected to specify the manner in which their will should 
 be ascertained. As the matter stands, I can perceive but two 
 principles to which to resort. The first is to insist that the 
 call of a convention to be legal must be a legislative act. If 
 you depart from this, it must be an invitation, and any self- 
 created meeting of individuals have as much right to make the in 
 vitation as the individuals who compose either or both branches 
 of the General Assembly. If it be an invitation, and not an 
 order in the nature of a law, how can it be ascertained whether 
 the people really want any alteration ? And how are they to 
 act on the day of election? If they or a majority shall refuse 
 to appoint delegates to the convention, and a number of coun 
 ties, or portions of counties, or even a number of individuals, 
 perhaps a few in each county, shall appoint, where shall the 
 criterion be found by which to determine whether the conven 
 tion be a legal body ? or, in other words, whether it shall be the 
 true representation of the majority of the people ? And by 
 what means are we to avoid the confusion and anarchy which 
 must result from such uncertainty ? But if the people, as is 
 probable, will think themselves compelled, in self-defence, and in 
 order to avoid the greater evil, to elect delegates, will not the 
 invitation of the two houses become actual usurpation ? 
 
 " If, however, it is not practicable to persuade the Assembly 
 that they have not a right to call a convention, unless it be by 
 legislative resolution, and that a recommendation is big with 
 danger, there is another principle which perhaps maybe listened 
 to more readily. If the people, reserving the inherent right to 
 amend the constitution, have provided no mode in the instrument 
 itself to introduce amendments, does it not followHhat no amend 
 ment, nor call of a convention with power to amend, can be 
 effected without their actual assent ? If they have not delegated 
 in any manner the power to amend, or to propose amendments 
 to representatives, we must conclude that they intended to re 
 serve the powers to themselves, and that the true and only legal 
 mode of introducing amendments, or of calling a convention, is 
 to submit, in the first instance, the question to them. It is per 
 fectly easy to ascertain the fact; a ticket, headed Convention, 
 and filled on the day of election with Yes or No? will give the 
 result with equal certainty and facility. If a majority shall say 
 they want a convention, they have a right to one ; if a majority 
 shall answer in the negative, ihe friends of the people would not 
 dare to assert that a convention ought to have been called con- 
 
116 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 trary to the wish of the majority. Whether amendments shall be 
 introduced or not, I consider but as a secondary question ; and 
 there are some of the amendments proposed for which I would 
 vote, if that were the question ; although I would live and die 
 perfectly satisfied with the present constitution. But I consider 
 it as of primary importance, both as it relates to myself and 
 posterity, to Pennsylvania, and the cause of republicanism in 
 the United States and elsewhere, that we should have a security 
 against confusion and against the usurpations of a minority. 
 And for that purpose I see no safer remedy than to submit the 
 question to the people by a legislative act, to which I cannot 
 perceive, under existing circumstances, that the governor ought 
 to refuse his assent. This idea, though expressed hastily and 
 loosely, is the result of my most serious reflections. I invite 
 your attention to it, because it seems to me that, as a substitute 
 to the immediate call of a convention, it might have a better 
 chance of succeeding in one of the two houses, than an absolute 
 rejection. But you are on the spot and better able to judge of 
 the question of practicability than I can be." 
 
 Mr. Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy, also wrote to 
 him, three days subsequently, on the 2d of April, 1805, 
 in relation to the same subject: 
 
 "Men of consideration throughout the country view with 
 great solicitude the proceedings of your State. Are they to 
 eventuate in the discomfiture of the Jacobins, and in a union 
 of the sensible, virtuous, and honorable ? If the turbulent fac 
 tion should be able to make head against you, and should ac 
 complish their w r ild projects, then will the United States soon 
 exhibit an additional instance of the incornpetency of men to self- 
 government. God forbid that our efforts should terminate thus 
 ingloriously." 
 
 In answer to Mr. Smith, Mr. Dallas, on the llth of 
 April, 1805, says : 
 
 " I received with great pleasure your letter on the state of our 
 politics. It convinced me that every man of consideration and 
 reflection in the community must be opposed to the ruinous pro 
 jects which, commenced in Pennsylvania, will, sooner or later, 
 overthrow our republican institutions throughout the Union. I 
 had determined to recede from the political scene; but, reflecting 
 on the share I had taken in the successful effort to place the 
 powers of government in Republican hands, it became an affair, 
 of conscience to resist the abuse of those powers by the influ 
 ence of a band of wild and unprincipled zealots on our State 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 117 
 
 legislature. It was equally my wish to prevent anarchy, to 
 avoid a coalition with Federalists, and to preserve the dignity 
 and authority of the administration. The inclosed papers will 
 show you the preliminary means that have been employed ; and 
 I trust that I shall receive the advice and countenance of the 
 wise, the virtuous, and the liberal of the Republican party in 
 every other State as well as in our own. The undertaking is 
 arduous, and the event doubtful. But, after doing all that we 
 can do to save the last hope of republicanism from annihilation, 
 it will be a precious consolation that even defeat cannot be accom 
 panied with disgrace. 
 
 " The movements in Pennsylvania apparently originate with 
 a few notorious characters. But I believe the impulse will 
 eventually be found to proceed from a combination of the disap 
 pointed and the desperate of our party, under the auspices of 
 certain ambitious individuals whose heads and whose hearts 
 gave a better promise. The object is to reduce government to 
 its elements, rendering the immediate agency of the people per 
 petually necessary to every executive, legislative, elective, and 
 judicial purpose. After effecting the object here, it will be en 
 forced by the additional weight of a precedent in the other 
 States ; and we have already seen that the federal constitution 
 is, upon the same ground, the butt of active hostility. It is 
 avowed here, and it will be in practice by the reformers every 
 where, that lawyers, men of talents and education, men of for 
 tune and manners, ought not to participate in the formation, or 
 in the administration of a democratic government. The framers 
 of the federal constitution, as well as of the State constitution, 
 are denounced because they were of that description. And, in 
 short, every occurrence indicates a spirit and a scheme to involve 
 our country in all the revolutionary passions and sufferings of 
 the first convulsive throes of France, which have subsided in the 
 lethargy of despotism. 
 
 " The design of the conventionalists was to persuade the legis 
 lature to call a convention at the last session. This, however, 
 was abandoned when they found that the people were roused 
 to resentment and opposition, and a considerable majority of 
 remonstrants appeared on the files of the House of Representa 
 tives. You will observe that we have never denied the power 
 of the citizens to call a convention, nor the expediency of making 
 the call through the medium of the legislature, when they have 
 decided upon it ; but we object to a clandestine attempt to sub 
 vert the constitution, in the name of the people, before they were 
 consulted or heard upon the subject. Our success is, therefore, 
 so far ascertained ; and although we shall vote against a conven 
 tion, if a majority of the citizens deem it requisite, we shall 
 
118 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 cheerfully acquiesce. The object will then be to elect our best 
 men for so important and so confidential a service." 
 
 Every excess of every kind is more or less injurious and 
 alarming. Excess of liberty breaks through the necessary 
 restraints of law and order, and excess of repression en 
 genders discontent and explosion. The golden mean, 
 which gives ample freedom, and yet preserves peace and 
 justice, is scarcely attained before it is disturbed by human 
 passions. Had the well reasoned reforms with which Mr. 
 Jefferson cured the reactionary and proscriptive tendencies 
 of Mr. Adams s policy been correctly appreciated by all of 
 his party, serious mischiefs would have been avoided, and 
 the last years of his administration remained as unclouded 
 as the first. But the " zealots * were not few who thought 
 their chief tame and hesitating, who looked into the inau 
 gural for something more trenchant than the philosophic 
 phrase, "We are all republicans, we are all federalists," 
 and who, sincerely but unwisely, were for quickly forcing 
 forward changes which could only be safely accomplished 
 gradually and by time. The views of these men were 
 perhaps too strongly sketched in this private letter ; but 
 Mr. Dallas could not write otherwise, for he had obviously 
 no confidence whatever in their public virtue, very little 
 respect for their intelligence, though much dread of their 
 plausibility and zeal. 
 
 During the following year (1806) the public mind was 
 excited by the development of two criminal cases affecting 
 the national interests and relations. These were the cases 
 of Aaron Burr organizing a military expedition against 
 the United States or against Mexico, and of General 
 Miranda, of Caraccas, making a like organization prepara 
 tory to wresting his country from colonial dependence on 
 the crown of Spain. Both involved, if nothing more, 
 misdemeanors or violations of our neutrality statutes, and 
 were attended by circumstances which perplexed the 
 cabinet of Mr. Jefferson. Early in the year the Secretary 
 of the Navy wrote to Mr. Dallas that, " strange as it may 
 seem, Burr is certainly at the head of a military expedi 
 tion. The object is yet not known, and it is probable that 
 he has completely masked his ultimate design. A few 
 days will ascertain whether the measures taken will be 
 sufficient to support the enterprise. This small affair will, 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 119 
 
 I fear, too severely test the energies of the government. 
 There is, indeed, some cause to apprehend that a foreign 
 power has a finger in the business." 
 
 With regard to the proceeding of Miranda, it involved, 
 as agents in his operations, two citizens of New York, 
 William S. Smith and Samuel G. Ogden. They had 
 provided him a vessel, stores, and armament for the enter 
 prise. Upon being prosecuted at the April Sessions, 1806, 
 of the circuit court of the United States, in their defence 
 they alleged the scheme of the Spanish patriot to have 
 been countenanced by President Jefferson and the mem 
 bers of his cabinet, and they took the legal steps necessary 
 to compel Mr. Madison and Mr. Robert Smith, official 
 advisers of the national executive, to attend the trial as 
 witnesses on their behalf. The liability of these constitu 
 tional and confidential functionaries to be drawn away by 
 judicial process from their public duties, and to be made 
 to disclose consultations with their colleagues, was thought 
 open to question. Mr. Robert Smith, on the 29th May, 
 1806, wrote to Mr. Dallas : 
 
 "Yesterday, in great form, the heads of department were sum 
 moned to appear in New York on the fourteenth of July, as 
 witnesses in the cases against Ogden and Smith. These two 
 defendants say they want much the benefit of our testimony. 
 We will be, I suspect, not a little puzzled as to the course proper 
 to be pursued. Ths attorney-general has, I am this moment 
 informed, given to the President an opinion that the members of 
 his cabinet are not amenable to such process, and that we ought 
 not to attend. On the one hand, we see the supremacy of the 
 law; on the other hand, we see the inconveniences and injuries 
 to the nation from the suspension of the operations of govern 
 ment. Will your numerous and important professional engage 
 ments allow you some time to look into the books for cases 
 applicable to the question and to give me the result ? I would 
 not, my good sir, ask you to take for me such trouble if I had 
 here a library.* In your communication you will be pleased to 
 state to me the duties of the marshal of this district, in case he 
 should have an attachment against us, and the legal consequences 
 to him in case he should, from the orders of the President, verbal 
 or written, not execute it." 
 
 * Mr. Smith, in addition to the secretaryship of the navy, had held 
 the office of attorney-general of the United States from March to Decem 
 ber, 1805. 
 
120 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The attorney-general referred to in this letter was John 
 Breckenridge, the grandfather of the recent Vice-President 
 of the United States. He was a lawyer of acknowledged 
 ability and eminence. Mr. Robert Smith says that he 
 had been that moment "informed" that the attorney-gen 
 eral s opinion was that the members of the President s 
 cabinet are " not amenable to such process and that we 
 ought not to attend." This was probably a misappre 
 hension, as to the precise point involved in the inquiry. 
 The attorney-general had undoubtedly as early as the 
 18th of March preceding looked upon the meditated de 
 fence of Smith and Ogden as " wholly inadmissible," or 
 " if admissible, as wholly ineffectual ;" and the informant 
 of Mr. Robert Smith remembering this, erroneously deemed 
 it equivalent to advice against the process and against 
 obedience to it. See Gilpin s Opinions of the Attorneys- 
 General, p. 98. 
 
 Mr. Dallas replied to Mr. Robert Smith by transmitting 
 the following: 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 11 The U. S. vs. Smith & Ogden. 
 
 "I. This is a criminal prosecution under the act of the 5th June, 
 1794. 
 
 "1. In all criminal prosecutions the accused has a right to 
 compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.* 
 
 " 2. The writ of subpoena, with an attachment, if it is personally 
 served and not obeyed, is the compulsory process generally con 
 templated by the law on such occasions ; but it also has been de 
 cided in the circuit court of the Pennsylvania district, that the 
 accused has a right as well as the prosecutor to exact a recogni 
 zance from his witnesses, binding them to appear and testify. 
 
 "3. And subpO3nas for witnesses who may be required to attend 
 a court of the United States, in any district, may run into any 
 other district. 
 
 " 4. There are statute provisions for taking the depositions of 
 witnesses in civil cases instead of compelling their personal at 
 tendance when they reside at certain distances from the proper 
 seat of justice, or are about to leave the United States, or are 
 ancient and infirm. These provisions do not, however, extend to 
 criminal cases. 
 
 " II. This being a criminal prosecution, and the party accused 
 being entitled to a subpoena, it necessarily follows, as a general rule, 
 
 * Am. Const., Art. 8. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 121 
 
 that every person, within the jurisdiction of the court, who is 
 duly served with the process is bound to obey it. 
 
 " 1. Subpoenas for witnesses who may be required to attend 
 a court of the United States in any district, may run into any 
 other district, with a limitation applicable only to civil cases. 
 Every person residing within any district of the United States 
 is, therefore, in criminal prosecutions, amenable by a subpoena 
 to the jurisdiction of every federal court of every district. 
 
 "2. There is a dictum in Mathews vs. Post that witnesses 
 may be examined before a judge by leave of court, as well in 
 criminal cases as in civil, where a sufficient reason appears, as 
 going to sea, etc., and then the other side may cross-examine 
 them ; but tire dictum is not satisfactory in itself, imports the 
 consent of the party who requires the evidence ; and the deposi 
 tions could not be read if the witnesses remained within the 
 jurisdiction of the court at the time of the trial. 
 
 " 3. In Moystin vs. Fabrigas,* Lord Mansfield states the only 
 accommodation that can be afforded in a criminal prosecution 
 where a material witness for the defendant resides out of the 
 jurisdiction of the court. If, says the judge, the defendant 
 wants the testimony of witnesses whom he cannot compel to at 
 tend, the court may do what the court did in the case of the 
 criminal prosecution of a woman who had received a pension as 
 an officer s widow, and it was charged in the indictment that she 
 never was married to him. She alleged a marriage in Scotland, 
 but that she could not compel her witnesses to come up and give 
 evidence. The court obliged the prosecutor to consent that the 
 witnesses might be examined before any of the judges of the 
 court of session, or any of the barons of the court of exchequer in 
 Scotland, and that the depositions so taken should be read at the 
 trial. And they declared that they would put off the trial of the 
 indictment from time to time unless the prosecutor had so con 
 sented. 
 
 " 4. The above shows the remedy for the defendant. A case 
 decided in the circuit court of the Pennsylvania district shows 
 that similar terms will be imposed on a defendant applying for 
 the postponement of his trial. A. B. was indicted for murder on 
 the high seas. He had neglected to bind his witnesses over, and 
 moved for the postponement upon an affidavit of their materiality 
 and their absence. The court granted the motion with the ex 
 press condition that the depositions of the witnesses for the pros 
 ecution (seafaring men) should be taken, to be read at all events 
 in evidence at the trial. 
 
 * Cowp., 174, 175. 
 9 
 
122 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 " III. Such being the general rule, is there any positive privi 
 lege, or implied exemption, which furnishes an exception to it? 
 
 " 1. The senators and representatives of the United States are 
 privileged in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the 
 peace, from arrest during their attendance in Congress. This 
 privilege, however, has never been deemed to operate as a dis 
 pensation from the obligations of a witness. The comity of one 
 department of the government towards another may, indeed, 
 induce a court of justice to send a letter to the speaker or the 
 witness, instead of a subpoena ; and if a collision of public 
 duties should prevent an immediate attendance, the trial would 
 probably for that cause be postponed. But in a criminal prose 
 cution no other expedient could be adopted without the consent 
 of the party accused. The practice in England, and the prac 
 tice in the United States, correspond substantially on this 
 point.* 
 
 " 2. There is not any constitutional or legislative provision de 
 claratory of a similar privilege in favor of the President or the 
 auxiliary officers of the executive department, any more than in 
 favor of the judges. Whether it is not implied on principles of 
 public policy, and on a parity of reasoning, that the President 
 (chosen by the people and constantly occupied with public 
 business which no one else can perform) should be privileged to 
 the same extent as the senators and representatives, is a question 
 not easy, nor necessary, for the present to be decided; but his 
 case is certainly distinguishable from the case of the auxiliary 
 officers whom he voluntarily constituted a cabinet council, and 
 whose places, whether in their own departments or in his coun 
 cil, he can, at pleasure, vacate and supply. On principle, and 
 from experience, such officers cannot be considered as exempted 
 even from the ordinary process of law, in suits for debts or 
 torts. 
 
 " 3. In England there is no such exemption claimed for the 
 privy council or the cabinet of the monarch. From many in 
 stances take the following : In the King vs. Home, for a libel 
 on the government, in the year 1774, Lord George Germaine 
 and other cabinet ministers were subpoenaed by the defendant. 
 In the King vs. Horn Tooke, for high treason, in 1794, Mr. Pitt, 
 the prime minister, was subpoenaed and examined by the de 
 fendant, f 
 
 " In the case of the ship Columbus, the judge of the high court 
 of admiralty, speaking of an order of the privy council dispensing 
 with the operation of a statute (for a copy of which order fre 
 quent applications had been made to government), uses the fol- 
 
 * See United States vs. T. Cooper, pp. 8, 9, 14, 15. 
 t 11 State Trials. 
 
LIFE OF A, J. DALLAS. 123 
 
 lowing strong language applicable perhaps in principle to the 
 present question : In any cause where the crown is a party, it 
 is to be observed that the crown can no more withhold evidence 
 of documents in its possession than a private person. If the 
 court thinks proper to order the production of any public instru 
 ment, that order must be obeyed. It wants no insignia of an 
 authority derived from the crown. The order will enforce itself; 
 for, if a party suing refuses to produce a necessary document, 
 what follows? he shall take nothing by his petition. 
 
 " 4. But in America there is likewise some judicial authority 
 upon the subject. In the United States vs. Cooper, the defend 
 ant issued a subpoena for a number of members of Congress, for 
 Timothy Pickering, then Secretary of State, and for Jacob Wag 
 ner, his chief clerk, who attended in obedience to the process. 
 In the same case, the court refused to issue a subpoena to the 
 President ; but not on the ground of privilege, or exemption. 
 On the contrary, the judge expressly stated: It is not upon the 
 objection of privilege that we have refused this subpoena. This 
 court will do its duty against any man, however elevated his 
 situation may be. You have mistaken the ground. We are of 
 opinion that in the case of a prosecution for a libel to bring the 
 President of the United States into contempt, he cannot be 
 compelled to appear at all. When the clerk of the court applied 
 for advice he was informed that he acted very properly in re 
 fusing the subpoena, and that Mr. Cooper ought to know that the 
 President could not be subpoenaed, he being a party in the 
 cause. 
 
 " IV. Thus, every person within the United States is amena 
 ble, in a criminal prosecution, by subpoena, to the jurisdiction of 
 a federal court, whatever may be his office in the legislative, 
 executive, or judicial departments. But, independent of the re 
 marks already made relative to members of Congress, these 
 considerations must not be omitted : 
 
 " 1. The court issuing the subpoena will exercise its judgment 
 upon any reasons offered for the witnesses not attending at the 
 time of trial, or for their not attending at all. If there exist a 
 temporary collision of public duties, legislative, executive, or 
 judicial, on the information of the attorney of the district, the 
 disobedience would not be regarded as a contempt. If the com 
 petency and materiality of the witnesses on the issue to be tried 
 did not sufficiently appear, the subpoena might be deemed irregu 
 lar, and an attachment would not issue for disobedience. 
 
 " 2. The necessity of obeying the subpoena does not involve a 
 necessity of giving evidence on points of a political and con 
 fidential character, arising from the official relation between the 
 heads of departments and the President. Where the heads of 
 the departments are the political or confidential agents of the 
 
124 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 executive, merely to execute the will of the President, or rather 
 to act in cases in which the executive possesses a constitutional 
 or legal discretion, nothing can be more perfectly clear than that 
 their acts are only politically examinable. But \vhere a specific 
 duty is assigned by law, and individual rights depend upon the 
 performance of that duty, it seems equally clear that the indi 
 vidual who considers himself injured, has a right to resort to the 
 laws of his country for a remedy. " 
 
 These "notes" were highly acceptable to Mr. Smith, 
 who, in a subsequent letter of the 9th of June, 1806, 
 spoke of them as ably supporting the attitude he alone 
 had taken in the cabinet on the question they reviewed. 
 lie seems to have been so much strengthened by their 
 clear and systematic result that he was unable to avoid 
 an additional call upon their author in a series of ques 
 tions respecting other legal points. 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine a state of political 
 party more fierce and unchecked than the one which raged 
 about this time. The intemperance which characterized 
 the epoch of what has been known as our "Reign of Ter 
 ror" at the close of Mr. John Adams s presidency, was 
 augmented by the bitterness always incident to the sud 
 den alienation of former associates. During the struggle 
 to stem the torrent, sustained gallantly by the Constitu 
 tional Republicans, the unbridled licentiousness of the 
 press seems to have spurned all limit or restraint. An 
 audacious wholesale libel, called "The Quid Mirror," set 
 an example of private personal defamation altogether ex 
 ceeding former experience. How r far these malignant 
 slanders affected Mr. Dallas, it is difficult to say. Un 
 doubtedly of a warm temperament and occasionally irri 
 table, he w^as yet never heard to utter an expression of 
 hatred or a wish for revenge. His surprise at the in 
 ventive hardihood of the calumniator was generally the 
 only apparent reception it obtained from him; yet, some 
 times mortification, and sometimes scornful defiance, 
 shaded his countenance. Few men have endured a 
 greater amount of virulent attack, and in relation to very 
 few was it ever less warranted by personal demeanor or 
 official conduct. Although himself incapable of degrading 
 his pen, his speech, or his heart to anything of the sort, 
 he knew well the detraction to which inferior souls were 
 prone to lend their narrow powers. Into his proceedings 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 125 
 
 as a public agent he challenged scrutiny, and was deaf to 
 invective. Yet, though perhaps still brighter in the family 
 circle, he vibrated with acute sensibility at the least in 
 sinuation against his domestic character. This seeming 
 contrariety needs no explanation to generous minds. It 
 is a simple and not an unpleasant task to vindicate official 
 probity and skill ; but no one can, without extreme re 
 luctance, even for the mere purpose of exculpation, osten 
 tatiously parade his own social virtues, or expose the 
 tender privacy of his home. As the servant of the people 
 he could point at once, and with pride, to the vouchers 
 of his purity; but as a husband, father, or friend, the 
 evidences of his value were too delicate to be so treated. 
 Fortunately, he was known and respected in these rela 
 tions so extensively and well, that his unscrupulous assail 
 ants rarely felt encouragement for attacks whose falsity 
 and malice would be glaring. 
 
 Mr. Madison was inaugurated President on the 4th of 
 March, 1809. Although any attempt to delineate the 
 measures of his administration would be misplaced here, 
 and will be avoided, yet, as Mr. Dallas, at a subsequent 
 period, became a member of his cabinet, it would seem 
 indispensable to a just appreciation of that step that at 
 least a cursory recurrence to leading circumstances should 
 be had. 
 
 A very general belief prevailed among the people of 
 the United States that a war with Great Britain had be 
 come necessary to maintain the national interests and 
 honor. Mr. Jefferson had gone, in a policy of forbearance 
 and seclusion, steadily pursued for eight years, as far as 
 the public spirit could bear. He accomplished nothing. 
 The aggressions upon our rights were as numerous and 
 as arrogant as ever. It was time to turn and stand at 
 bay. 
 
 Hence, soon after Congress had convened on the 27th 
 of November, 1809, a calm observer could not fail to note 
 a tendency towards military preparation. The joint legis 
 lative resolution, too, which denounced as " highly indec 
 orous and insolent," and as "a direct and aggravated 
 insult and affront to the American people and their 
 government," certain conduct of the minister plenipoten 
 tiary of his Britannic Majestj-, coupled with a pledge "to 
 call into action the whole force of the nation should it 
 
126 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 become necessary," strongly evinced the universal sensi 
 bility. While the President was directed to announce by 
 proclamation any revocation or modification of the orders 
 in council which violated our neutral commerce, acts were 
 passed to raise more regular forces, to organize fifty 
 thousand volunteers, to equip new vessels of war, to call 
 upon the State executives to hold in readiness an aggre 
 gate of one hundred thousand militia, to enlarge the corps 
 of engineers, and to establish an ordnance department. 
 
 Notwithstanding these manifestations, which in truth, 
 though publicly, were also quietly made, when Congress, 
 on the 18th of June, 1812, declared war to exist, our 
 enemy was measurably taken by surprise. The campaigns 
 of 1813 and 1814, marked by alternations of success and 
 defeat, were on the whole calculated to gratify the pride 
 of our people, and to abate the despondency incident to 
 an empty treasury, aggravated by plots of secession at 
 Hartford. On the ocean, the theatre of our chief griev 
 ances, we had dispelled the pretension of British invinci 
 bility; the Great Lakes had witnessed several signal 
 triumphs of our flag; and the gallantry of our officers 
 and soldiers had ceased to be doubted. In another cam 
 paign, with finances resolutely handled, and means vigor 
 ously applied to the exigencies of the struggle, we might 
 accomplish still more. 
 
 When Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard left the United 
 States, in May, 1813, to associate themselves with Mr. 
 J. Q. Adams in forming a joint embassy at St. Petersburg, 
 having for its purpose the negotiation of a peace under the 
 mediation of the Czar Alexander, the Treasury Depart 
 ment, according to what was then understood to be legally 
 permitted, had been placed in charge of the Secretary of 
 the Navy, in the expectation of Mr. Gallatin s early return 
 to it. His protracted detention abroad, however, led Mr. 
 Madison earnestly to invite Mr. Dallas to that important 
 post by letter dated the 1st of February, 1814. Among 
 other reasons for declining the proffer, he seems to have 
 thought that as yet the measure of delay was not adequate 
 to the delicacy with which Mr. Gallatin might, under all 
 the circumstances, expect to be treated. The resignation 
 of Mr. William Pinkney, attorney-general, was mentioned 
 at the same time, and his choice between the two stations 
 urgently requested. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 127 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR, I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter of the 1st current. I feel with unaffected sensibility the 
 proofs which your letter affords of the President s confidence and 
 kindness; nor could ambition lead me to any higher gratification 
 than that of being associated in public business with Mr. Madi 
 son, Mr. Monroe, and yourself. 
 
 "But, notwithstanding rny disposition to meet a wish so 
 obligingly expressed, by the sacrifice of every personal considera 
 tion, I must at once decline the secretary s office. Many of the 
 reasons which enforce this decision you already know; and you 
 will give me credit for others which it would, perhaps, be im 
 proper to express. 
 
 " In the office of attorney-general I might hope to serve the 
 government, and to indulge my domestic and professional views, 
 if a permanent residence at Washington had not been made in 
 dispensable. Upon that condition it is impossible that I should 
 accept the office. 
 
 " I pray you, therefore, my dear sir, to present an apology for 
 me to the President, and to impress on his mind a conviction of 
 the sincerity of my grateful acknowledgments. 
 
 " You will believe me on all occasions to be 
 
 "Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 
 "A. J. DALLAS. 
 "Hon. W. JONES, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 "3d February, 1814." 
 
 Mr. George W. Campbell was appointed on the 9th of 
 February, 1814; but this gentleman soon desired to be 
 relieved from so arduous and augmenting a responsibility. 
 It was then that Mr. Dallas was apprised, for the second 
 time, that the President was more anxious than ever for 
 his co-operation in the cabinet. lie hesitated. Our 
 finances have, almost without exception, been superin 
 tended by distinguished members of the bar. And yet 
 there is no occupation of civil life more injuriously affected 
 by a prolonged intermission than legal practice. lie had 
 no fortune. His generous hospitality precluded accumu 
 lation even from the profits of his profession, although 
 they exceeded annually twenty thousand dollars. The 
 salary attached to the offered department was compara 
 tively insignificant. He looked around upon his family, 
 and, as has been said, he hesitated. 
 
 But he was too buoyant to continue depressed by per 
 sonal considerations. The national ones weighed heavily 
 and persuasively upon his reflections. He had early 
 
128 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 identified himself with the eminent statesmen of the Re 
 publican party, whose course of measures he upheld; and 
 he was reluctant to disclaim the duty of standing loyally 
 by them on so emergent an occasion. Only two years 
 before, the expediency of invigorating the government by 
 drawing Mr. Jefferson into its circle again had been 
 devised, and he had then written eagerly in approval : 
 
 " 19 September, 1812. 
 
 " The times are critical. Nothing could he more apropos than 
 the appearance of Mr. Jefferson once more upon the field of active 
 politics. The event would demonstrate the highest sense of pa 
 triotism on his part, and on the part of the people would insure 
 confidence and energy. There is at present an evident anxiety 
 among the best friends of the administration ; arid a mere change 
 of men seems to promise relief to our feverish Republicans, as a 
 change of posture flatters the pains of the bedridden patient. 
 The re-election of Mr. Madison is, under any circumstances, cer 
 tain; but, with the aid of Mr. Jefferson s popularity, we shall 
 make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate. I do not, 
 however, relish the retreat of Mr. Monroe from the cabinet He 
 has not only the talents but the good fortune to command gen 
 eral esteem and approbation as a patriot and a statesman. My 
 consolation will be that he continues in the public service, and 
 that when his sword has triumphed his pen will be resumed. 
 Of the other departments of government, you see what is writ 
 ten, but you do not perhaps hear all that is said. Our friends 
 Eustis and Hamilton must do something great and brilliant to 
 meet the public demand, and to redeem the pledges of their own 
 character. If the woods should not soon present us with an 
 antidote for the cowardice or defection of a general, and the 
 waters should not shine with the effects of the glorious example 
 of our naval Hull, depend upon it the people will complain that 
 the capacity to wage war does not correspond with the spirit that 
 declared it. Do think ivell, and think always, on this subject at 
 Washington." 
 
 He was much affected too, in his decision, by discover 
 ing, through a host of correspondents in the chief marts 
 of business, money, and commerce, that, as soon as Mr. 
 Madison s disposition to summon him vfcis rumored, great 
 anxiety prevailed lest he should decline the appointment. 
 Capitalists at that juncture, not numerous but vastly im 
 portant, the Grays, Primes, Astors, Barkers, Girards, 
 Parrishes, Olivers, Buchanans, eagerly expressed their 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 129 
 
 confidence in his character and abilit} T , and augured the 
 most favorable results to the public credit and securities 
 if he entered the treasury. It was impressive to be told, 
 as he was told, by those whose fortunes were at hazard 
 and whose feelings w r ere keenest, that he h?d it in his 
 power to reanimate the federal finances and to rekindle 
 their own inclination to contribute, at that gloomy period, 
 to the support of government. 
 
 He was not blind to the herculean nature of the task. 
 With all its obvious dangers and embarrassments, it was 
 also to him novel and untried. To ward off anticipated 
 bankruptcy ; to satisfy the public creditors, alarmed and 
 clamorous ; to meet the numberless demands of the mil 
 itary establishment, with coffers already drained and a 
 currency depreciated, dishonored, and worthless, seemed 
 to require the attainments and skill of an adept. How 
 was the raw recruit to encounter and overcome terrors 
 which had driven the veteran from the field ? It was, 
 nevertheless, the forlorn-hope, whose hazard and diffi 
 culty faded when contrasted with the glory of possible 
 success ; and on the event of which it seemed a sacred 
 duty of patriotism to risk fame, fortune, and life. 
 
 A few days after he had communicated his determina 
 tion to the President, he wrote to Mr. Rush (then attorney- 
 general) the following letter: 
 
 " 7 October, 1814. 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR, The kindness of my friends affords the only 
 relief from- the consciousness of the very hazardous and per 
 haps indiscreet step which I have consented to take. Those 
 who consider my present situation in the profession, and who 
 know the superlative enjoyments of my domestic scene, will not 
 ascribe to me a motive of interest or ambition. But even they 
 will doubt the correctness of my judgment while they approve 
 the public motives which can alone account for my conduct. 
 There are others who will arraign me in every way from party, 
 possibly from personal excitements. These must be answered by 
 my actions ; and I will not despair, but that with good intentions, 
 and the co-operation of good men, I may, through toil and 
 trouble, perform some service for the State. On your attach 
 ment I implicitly rely. 
 
 "My son George surprised the family last night on his way 
 from Ghent to Washington. We passed only an hour with him ; 
 and he proceeded, if not to surprise, to animate the legislative 
 patriots, who are fortunately assembled on the Potomac. 
 
130 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 " Tell our friend Ingersoll that I expect great comfort and 
 support from him. 
 
 "I am, dear sir, very sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 "A. J. DALLAS." 
 
 His nomination had been confirmed by the Senate on 
 the day of the date of this letter. 
 
 Congress had met on the nineteenth of September, and 
 were engaged in perfecting measures connected with the 
 war. Notwithstanding the conciliatory disposition man 
 ifested by the American cabinet, who had embraced, 
 without hesitation, the proffered mediation of the Rus 
 sian emperor, and who subsequently sent a numerous 
 embassy to Ghent, little or no hope was entertained of 
 an early termination of hostilities. The latest informa 
 tion, indeed, reaching this country immediately prior to 
 the departure of Mr. Dallas for Washington, gave reason 
 to believe that the British ministry were resolved to pro 
 long the strife, in the expectation of ultimately triumph 
 ing through our fomented dissensions or by our fiscal 
 debility. In general opinion, peace seemed farther re 
 moved than ever; and the necessity of raising additional 
 armies and launching additional fleets became as obvious 
 as was the total incapacity of the treasury to supply their 
 wants. The dismal disorder of the currency, the panic of 
 impending bankruptcy pervading our moneyed corpora 
 tions and introducing evils worse than those they desired 
 to avoid, the impracticability of forwarding funds from 
 and to distant points, and the consequent failure on the 
 part of the executive everywhere to meet the public en 
 gagements, inspired a dread that our finances were beyond 
 the reach of extrication, and must soon plunge into cha 
 otic ruin. The solid resources of a rich and patriotic 
 people were as yet undiminished, almost untouched ; but 
 it was evident that circumstances had conspired to ob 
 struct their flow, keeping them stagnant and useless. 
 
 The spirit and practice of economy were fastened upon 
 the federal government under the auspices of Mr. Jeffer 
 son. He strove hard so to reduce the taxation of this 
 republican country that it should be almost insensible to 
 its citizens. For many years the far greater portion of 
 our national income was drawn from the charges upon 
 alien commerce; and while the pacific inclinations of the 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 131 
 
 President were allowed to remain undisturbed, the in 
 dustry and enterprise of the mercantile class made this 
 item of receipt adequate to the wants and objects of our 
 political union. A system, however, founded upon foreign 
 trade, was dependent upon the continuation of peace. 
 This great Democratic statesman took with him into the 
 presidential office theories and plans admirably adapted 
 to the United States at the time of his election. Alike 
 the scrutinizing philosopher and the forecasting patriot, 
 he was inflexible against every expenditure not plainly 
 indispensable, and against the disturbing and impover 
 ishing complications of external Avar. All his financial 
 arrangements bore this stamp. His success was followed 
 by applause and by increased popularity. His Republican 
 disciples perceived in the course adopted the true means 
 for extending and perpetuating their party ascendency, 
 as the people at large could not but feel and own the 
 blessings it diffused. Nevertheless, they who had the 
 wisdom and virtue to inculcate and exemplify such a prin 
 ciple of administration might well depart from it on a 
 coerced change of circumstances, without fearing to be 
 taunted with inconsistency, and without endangering in 
 the least their acquired reputation. History teems with 
 political epochs at which wealth lost its value, or retained 
 it only by being lavished on superior objects. War always 
 creates such an epoch. But the magical results achieved 
 by Mr. Jefferson had produced too deep an impression, 
 and even Mr. Gallatin, whose ability and skill no one 
 doubted or doubts, acknowledged a faltering reluctance, 
 resembling superstitious dread, at every step deviating 
 from his accustomed path. 
 
 The new secretary had reflected and decided upon his 
 course. It was exceedingly at variance with current pre 
 judices and plans. On the 17th of October, 1814, " at 
 the moment," he says, "of entering upon the duties of 
 office," he addressed a letter to the Committee of Ways 
 and Means, of which the son-in-law of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. 
 Eppes, was chairman, and then, at the very start, he 
 unfolded distinctly the scheme of vigorous action he in 
 tended to pursue. (Appendix No. 4.) He told them that 
 the state of the finances could not be ascribed to the 
 want of resources or of integrity in the nation, but arose 
 clearly from inadequate taxation and from an absence of the 
 
132 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 means adapted to anticipate, collect, and distribute revenue; that 
 the wealth of the nation had been untouched by govern 
 ment, and its faith, heretofore relied upon; and that a 
 prompt and resolute application of its resources would 
 relieve every embarrassment. 
 
 "It would be vain to attempt to disguise, and it would be 
 pernicious to palliate the difficulties which are now to be over 
 come. The exigencies of the government require a supply of 
 treasure for the prosecution of the war beyond any amount which 
 it would be politic, even if it were practicable, to raise by an 
 immediate and constant imposition of taxes. There must there 
 fore be a resort to credit for a considerable portion of the supply. 
 But the public credit is at this juncture so depressed that no 
 hope of adequate succor on moderate terms can safely rest upon 
 it. Hence it becomes the object, first and last, in every practi 
 cal scheme of finance, to reanimate the confidence of the citizens, 
 and to impress on the mind of every man, who for the public 
 account renders services, furnishes supplies, or advances money, 
 a conviction of the punctuality as well as of the security of the 
 government." 
 
 He then proceeded to press upon the committee the 
 establishment of a national bank, operating upon credit, 
 combined with capital, as the only efficient remedy for 
 the immensely disordered condition of the circulating 
 medium. And after fully detailing, under six heads of 
 substantive propositions, the specific measures from which 
 relief might be certainly and speedily derived, he strives 
 to remove from the project of a bank the constitutional 
 objection by the following course of remark, subsequently, 
 in one of his messages, adopted and repeated by President 
 Madison as entirely just and satisfactory: 
 
 " In making a proposition for the establishment of a national 
 bank, I cannot be insensible to the higk. authority of the names 
 which have appeared in opposition to that measure upon consti 
 tutional grounds. It would be presumptuous to conjecture that 
 the sentiments which actuated the opposition have passed away; 
 and yet it would be denying to experience a great practical 
 advantage were we to suppose that a difference of times and 
 circumstances would not produce a corresponding difference in 
 the opinions of the wisest as well as of the purest men. But in 
 the present case, a change of private opinion is not material to 
 the success of the proposition for establishing a national bank. 
 In the administration of human affairs there must be a period 
 when discussion shall cease, and decision shall become absolute. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 133 
 
 A diversity of opinion may honorably survive the contest; but 
 upon the genuine principles of a representative government, the 
 opinion of the majority can alone be carried into action. The 
 judge who dissents from the majority of the bench changes not his 
 opinion, but performs his duty, when he enforces the judgment 
 of the court, although it is contrary to his own convictions. An 
 oath to support the constitution and laws is not, therefore, an oath 
 to support them under all circumstances according to the opinion 
 of the individual who takes it, but it is emphatically an oath to 
 support them according to the interpretation of the legitimate 
 authorities. . . . When, therefore, we have marked the existence 
 of a national bank for a period of twenty years, with all the 
 sanctions of the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities; 
 when we have seen the dissolution of one institution, and heard 
 a loud and continued call for the establishment of another ; when, 
 under these circumstances, neither Congress nor the several 
 States have resorted to the power of amendment, can it be 
 deemed a violation of the right of private opinion to consider 
 the constitutionality of a national bank as a question forever 
 settled and at rest? But, after all, I should not merit the confi 
 dence which it will be my ambition to acquire, if I were to sup 
 press the declaration of an opinion that, in these times, the 
 establishment of a national bank will not only be useful in pro 
 moting the general welfare, but that it is necessary and proper 
 for carrying into execution some of the most important powers 
 constitutionally vested in the government." 
 
 This paper, submitted immediately to Congress and the 
 country, produced a powerful impression. Its combined 
 ability, courage, and directness were universally extolled. 
 Some, to be sure, would have wished the weakness of the 
 situation less nakedly exposed, while others deemed that 
 very intrepidity of development a rare official excellence. 
 A few timid Republicans winced under its demand for 
 taxation and a bank, but the great body of their party 
 gave a cheerful adhesion to what was so necessary to the 
 success of the war and the credit of the government. 
 The secretary s position as a financier, full of the resources 
 of talent and of high moral energy, could not, after this 
 act, be shaded by the slightest doubt or misgiving. What 
 was said of William Pitt when, in February, 1781, he 
 made his first speech in the House of Commons, may be 
 thought to apply : "Never were higher expectations formed 
 of any person upon his first coming into Parliament, and 
 never were expectations more completely fulfilled. Not 
 
134 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 only did he please, it may be said that he astonished the 
 House."* 
 
 Having thus taken his attitude, Mr. Dallas hastened to 
 send to Congress a series of admirable papers, facilitating 
 and expediting the measures he had recommended. That 
 usually slow body seems to have been suddenly roused, as 
 by the sound of a trumpet, into activity and confidence, 
 for in six weeks on the second of December he felt 
 himself justified in alluding to the promising change 
 already achieved : 
 
 "I derive great satisfaction in reflecting upon the inevitable 
 and immediate effect of the legislative sanction (even so far as it 
 has already been given) to a settled and productive system of 
 taxes for defraying the expenses of government and maintaining 
 the public credit. This policy, embracing in its course the intro 
 duction of a national circulating medium and the proper facilities 
 for anticipating, collecting, and distributing the public revenue, 
 will at once enliven the public credit, and even the existing re 
 sources of the present quarter must ripen and expand under an 
 influence so auspicious." 
 
 During the months of November and December, 1814, 
 Mr. Dallas gave a remarkable proof of the facility with 
 which he could transfer the powers of his mind from one 
 important subject to another; while he was straining every 
 nerve at the department to secure within his grasp the 
 means indispensable to the military operations of the next 
 campaign, he quietly devoted nearly all the hours of every 
 night at Mrs. Wilson s boarding-house in writing a mani 
 festo or appeal to the world against the conduct of Great 
 Britain. (Appendix No. 5.) This justly celebrated paper 
 obtained the unqualified praise of President Madison, who 
 proposed its adoption by the cabinet as the act of the 
 American government. It would soon have issued under 
 this high sanction (and indeed some copies of it had al 
 ready left the printer s), when, in the early part of Jan 
 uary, 1815, the news that a peace had been signed at 
 Ghent reached the country. Mr. Madison, always pru 
 dent and forbearing, then deemed it wiser to withhold 
 from the publication any official stamp. The, production, 
 now entitled "An Exposition of the Causes and Character of 
 
 * Stanhope s Life of Pitt. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 135 
 
 the War," reviewed, in reference to all the points in con 
 troversy between the two nations, the uniform and con 
 sistent positions and pretensions of the United States, from 
 the administration of Washington through those of his 
 three successors. It is untinged by the slightest coloring 
 of political party ; its statements of fact are verified with 
 exactness by citations at the foot of every page ; its dic 
 tion is of the cairn and clear style of Sir William Tem 
 ple s diplomacy; and its reasoning, though not allowed 
 to stop short of conclusiveness, is never pushed beyond 
 its fair and legitimate limits. Even on the glowing topics 
 of impressment at sea and the barbarities which marked 
 the track of British warfare, on land or water, there is 
 evidently a jealous exclusion of zeal or temper. This 
 great work may be said to have closed in argument, as 
 the battle at New Orleans closed in arms, the war of 1812. 
 No attempt, we believe, has ever been made at refutation. 
 We are told, with what truth we cannot say, that when 
 one of the escaped copies reached London it was read by 
 the author s veteran and inveterate detractor, William 
 Cobbett, who exclaimed, as he threw the pamphlet on his 
 desk, "It is unanswerable; I challenge any British states 
 man or author to answer it." 
 
 Mr. Monroe, the Secretary of State, had been assigned 
 to fill also the Department of War, when General Arm 
 strong withdrew immediate!} 1 - after the defeat at Bladens- 
 burg and the arson of the capitol. As soon as the treaty 
 of peace was ratified by the Senate, on the 17th of Feb 
 ruary, 1815, Congress hastened to invest the President 
 with authority to reduce the army, then consisting of 
 60,000 men, to a peace establishment of 10,000, and to 
 direct that he should so "arrange" the existing officers 
 and privates as out of them to form and complete the new 
 force, discharging all others from the service. This re 
 duction must unavoidably be a matter alike delicate and 
 perplexing. Our soldiers, during two campaigns, had 
 fought their way to popular favor. The nation was proud 
 of the prowess and skill exhibited both north and south. 
 Many of the gallant men were really incapacitated by 
 their wounds from further military duty, and yet would 
 bravely refuse to be so regarded. Conflicts as to rank, 
 lineal and brevet, had to be permanently settled. How 
 ever, be the responsibility what it might, the task must 
 
136 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 be performed. The law had begun to operate on the 4th 
 of March, 1815. In about ten days afterwards, Mr. 
 Monroe left Washington for his residence in Albemarle 
 to recover his impaired health; and on the fifteenth, by 
 appointment of the President, Mr. Dallas formally en 
 tered the War Department, at once and resolutely begin 
 ning the painful operation. 
 
 The generous dispositions with which this new labor 
 was assumed are attested by the following brief prelimi 
 nary notes : 
 
 To the President. 
 
 "DEAR SIR, Conversing with Mr. Monroe and Mr. Crownin- 
 shield,* we agreed that some attention should be paid to our 
 gallant officers, when vacancies in civil stations occurred. 
 
 " I have just suggested to Mr. Monroe that it would be well 
 to offer General Brown the rank in the army and the vacant 
 naval office in New York at the same time. Jf he declines the 
 latter, then to offer it to General Wilkinson as a comfortable re 
 treat. I send Mr. Monroe s answer. Mr. Crowninshield concurs 
 with us. In this course I think your feelings will be gratified, 
 on many occasions, while the organization of the army will be 
 rendered more easy and satisfactory. 
 
 ; The naval officer has nothing to do with money. 
 
 " 1 am very faithfully, sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 "A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 "18 March, 1815." 
 
 To Mr. Dallas. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I approve most cordially your suggestion in both 
 its aspects. By offering both offices to Brown, at the same time, 
 you enlist him in support of the veteran for the naval office, in 
 case he accepts the other. 
 
 " Sincerely your friend, 
 
 " JAMES MONROE. 
 "March 13, 1815. 
 
 "Approved (after conclusion of the court-martial at Troy). 
 
 "J. M. 
 
 With a view to secure the best information as to the 
 merits and services of individuals, and to keep the pro 
 ceeding as far as possible within the line of military action, 
 a board of officers high in rank and character was formed 
 
 * On the resignation of Mr. Jones, he had been appointed Secretary of 
 the Navy the 17th of December, 1814. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 137 
 
 by the secretary. He instructed them as to the points on 
 which they were to confer and investigate; and he re 
 quired from them a full report of their acts and conclu 
 sions in reference to the new organization. The results 
 of these joint labors were made known to the country by 
 publication, on the 23d May, 1815. These documents we 
 have esteemed worthy of preservation (Appendix No. 6), 
 for they best show the skill and justice with which an un 
 gracious but necessary operation was conducted. Some 
 discontent vented itself in clamorous appeals by dis 
 arranged sufferers, that was unavoidable and anticipated; 
 but the sentiment of the nation sympathized with the con 
 siderate delicacy exhibited towards patriotic defenders, 
 and the judgment of the nation was satisfied. Mr. Madison 
 appreciated as it deserved the great public service thus 
 rendered, and used in a letter addressed to Mr. Dallas on 
 the 24th of May, 1815, from Montpelier, language of warm 
 approval. 
 
 " The Military Budget makes its appearance in the National 
 Intelligencer. I cannot refer to it without expressing my obliga 
 tions for the laborious task it has cost you, and my gratification 
 that you are at length relieved from it. Besides the labor, the 
 task has been distinguished by the delicate questions involved in 
 it touching the comparative pretensions of meritorious individuals. 
 That there will be an unanimous approbation of what has been 
 done is not to be expected. But I persuade myself that the can 
 did and reasonable part of the public, taking into view the 
 arduous nature of the duty, and the propriety of blending with a 
 reward for past services a provision for future ones, will be more 
 than merely satisfied with the execution of the law." 
 
 As the summer of 1815 advanced, Mr. Dallas prepared 
 to effect two other official objects of much interest. On 
 the 23d of February, the House of Representatives had 
 called, by an adopted resolution, upon the Secretary of the 
 Treasury to report at the next session a digested tariff of 
 duties upon imported merchandise. He felt too the 
 necessity of great labor in order perfectly to command 
 and methodically to arrange the multifarious subjects for 
 the elaborate view of the national iinances he contem 
 plated taking in his annual report to Congress. These two 
 matters engaged every moment of his time not occupied 
 by the current routine of business. To perfect the first, 
 
 10 
 
138 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 a tariff, he invited and obtained a flood of communications 
 from merchants and manufacturers in all parts of the 
 country, a flood which he discovered to be unmanageable 
 within the period allowed to it, and which he determined, 
 after settling in his own mind its leading deductions, 
 should be postponed for completion to an early day sub 
 sequent to the annual report. The papers* described are 
 among the most eloquent as well as useful ones of his pro- 
 litic pen. The annual report attracted almost unqualified 
 eulogy. One correspondent, an eminent manufacturer, 
 says : " Few papers I have seen are entitled to rank witli 
 the treasury report. It is a perspicuous statement of an 
 immense and intricate subject of primary importance to 
 the nation ; in short, those who read can understand it, 
 and it will receive approbation from minds prone to find 
 fault; indeed, as the good folks say, those who come to 
 scoff will stay to pray. Another correspondent, distin 
 guished for abilities, writes : " I have read and considered 
 with very great pleasure your treasury report. It is the 
 only opportunity I could have had to obtain a clear and 
 distinct idea of the state of the national debt and financial 
 system. I, for one, arn much indebted to you for the full 
 development of an intricate subject, which must have re 
 quired immense labor and great talents to avoid confusion 
 and preserve perspicuity." And a third : " I have studied, 
 I assure you, this last volume of your reports with great 
 pleasure and profit, and I doubt, not to flatter, whether 
 the arid annals of finance can show a production uniting 
 so much style with so much substance." 
 
 In this paper, distinguished not more by beauty of 
 "style" than by distinctness and precision, Mr. Dallas re 
 newed to Congress generally the recommendation he had 
 made by letter to the Committee of Ways and Means the 
 year before for the establishment of a national bank. His 
 prior projet had been displaced by an essentially different 
 scheme, pushed hastily into favor under the ardent elo 
 quence of Mr. Calhoun. For a short time he thought 
 this failure released him from the duty of any further 
 effort to remedy the financial evils incident to the war, 
 and he frankly stated his determination to withdraw from 
 
 * See Niles Register, February 24, 1816, page 437, etc.; December 21, 
 1816, page 261, etc. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 139 
 
 the treasury. But the President had, by message to 
 Congress on the 30th of January, 1815, refused his assent 
 to the measure of Mr. Calhoun ; that measure was not 
 strong enough to enlist a two-thirds vote against the veto ; 
 and when the secretary warmed amid the details of his 
 annual report, he resolved on another trial to accomplish 
 what he had repeatedly declared to be necessary. It will 
 be remembered that the charter of this moneyed corpora 
 tion became a law on the 10th of April, 1816, and ex 
 pired, by its own limitation, on the 4th of March, 1836. 
 A similar success attended the new tariff of duties on 
 imports, which he presented to the consideration of the 
 House of Representatives on the 12th of February, 1816, 
 and which became law on the 27th of April. It is observ 
 able that this act was voted for by all the Southern States, 
 on the ground that, having supported the war, they were 
 under a corresponding obligation to sustain establishments 
 which grew out of it.* 
 
 The election of a President for the eighth term was 
 now approaching. Shortly before the adjournment of 
 Congress on the 30th of April, the then customary caucus 
 of its Republican members was convened, and Mr. Mon 
 roe selected for nomination as the candidate of his party. 
 The choice was in every respect most agreeable to Mr. 
 Dallas, and he drew from it the happy augury for the 
 country suggested by an intimate knowledge of Mr. Mon 
 roe s experience in public affairs, well-balanced judgment, 
 and manly integrity of character. He had, however, de 
 termined to withdraw from public life; perfectly satisfied 
 that peace being restored and all the necessary measures 
 adopted, the tide of prosperity would rapidly swell in. 
 Early in April he conveyed his purpose by letter to Mr. 
 Madison : 
 
 "As it is not my intention to pass another winter in Wash 
 ington, I think it a duty to give you an opportunity to select a 
 successor for the office of Secretary of the Treasury, during the 
 present session of Congress. I will cheerfully remain, however, 
 if you desire it, to put the national bank into motion, presum 
 ing that this object can be effected before the 1st of October next. 
 Permit me, therefore, to tender my resignation, to be accepted on 
 that day, or at any earlier period which you may find more con- 
 
 * Calhoun, in Senate on 15th February, 1833. 
 
140 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 venient to yourself, or more advantageous to the public. With 
 every affectionate wish for your honor, health, and happiness, 
 
 " I am," etc. 
 
 The President s reply was as follows: 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I have received your letter of yesterday, com 
 municating your purpose of resigning the department of the 
 treasury. I need not express to you the regret at such an event 
 which will be inspired by my recollection of the distinguished 
 ability and unwearied zeal with which you have filled a station 
 at all times deeply responsible in its duties, through a period 
 rendering them peculiarly arduous and laborious. Should the 
 intention you have formed be nowise open to reconsideration, I 
 can only avail myself of your consent to prolong your functions 
 to the date and for the object which your letter intimates. It 
 cannot but be advantageous that the important measure in 
 which you have had so material an agency should be put into 
 its active state by the same hands. Be assured, sir, that what 
 ever may be the time of your leaving the department, you will 
 carry from it my testimony of the invaluable services you have 
 rendered your country, my thankfulness for the aid they have 
 afforded in my discharge of the executive trust, and my best 
 wishes for your prosperity and happiness. 
 
 " JAMES MADISON. 
 
 "April 9, 1816." 
 
 Mr. Dallas did not leave his residence on Capitol Hill 
 for his home in Philadelphia until the month of July; 
 nor did he cease his superintendence of the Treasury De 
 partment before the day chosen for assuming it by his 
 successor, Mr. W. II. Crawford, the 20th of October. In 
 deed, even after that date, and until the meeting of Con 
 gress, he was in active correspondence with the President 
 in relation to the finances, and prepared several official 
 papers for his use, especially one, obviously designed to 
 be incorporated in the forthcoming annual message, and 
 another, called "Sketches," of which Mr. Madison says 
 in a letter, "it cannot fail to be acceptable to Congress, 
 useful to the public, and honorable under every aspect; " in 
 truth, it constituted an elaborate and lucid exposition of the 
 actual and gratifying condition of the treasury on the 1st 
 of August, 1816.* During this period he felt himself free 
 
 *.See Niles Kegister, December 16, 1815, page 261, etc. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 141 
 
 to engage once more in professional practice, and he was 
 impelled to do so by considerations too powerful to be 
 resisted. His expenses on " the Hill" had exhausted his 
 means. He had lived with lavish hospitality, without 
 allowing one thought of his private interests to disturb 
 his public preoccupations. He writes to Mr. Kush on the 
 6th of August : 
 
 "I will not disguise from you that I tremble as the period ap 
 proaches for my return to the business of the bar. Two years 
 have produced great changes in the profession, and I feel as if I 
 were about to begin the world again. However, my health and 
 spirits continuing, I must leave the issue to Providence, and con 
 sole myself, whatever it may be, with the consciousness of good 
 motives in the exertion which carried me to Washington." 
 
 To Mr. Madison he wrote, on the llth of September: 
 
 "Of myself I can only speak with care and doubt, when I re 
 flect upon the effect of two years absence from the bar to ob 
 struct and embarrass my return." 
 
 On the 18th of September, finding that he had been 
 nominated by the Democratic conferees for Congress, he 
 says to Mr. Leiper, chairman of that body : 
 
 " Be so good as to express my best thanks for this mark of 
 esteem and confidence, and to inform the conferees that as the 
 acceptance of a seat in Congress will be incompatible with the 
 arrangement which I have made for resuming the practice of my 
 profession, I must respectfully decline being a candidate for that 
 honor." 
 
 His apprehensions were soon proved to be unfounded, 
 for on the 7th of December he was able to tell his corre 
 spondent, the attorney-general, in a tone of revived con 
 fidence: 
 
 "I have once more become the drudge of the bar; and since 
 my arrival in Philadelphia I have been engaged in all the im 
 portant causes tried by Washington and by our supreme court. 
 The German cause,* after a trial of four weeks, ended last night, 
 and this day I take up my pen to salute you." 
 
 Putting the finishing touch to the radiance of a career 
 of enlightened patriotism, the President in his message, 
 
 * Reported in 3 Serg. and Rawle, 29. 
 
142 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 sent to Congress on the 3d of December, 1816, spoke of 
 " the late secretary" as follows: 
 
 " For a more enlarged view of the public finances, with a view 
 of the measures pursued by the Treasury Department previous 
 to the resignation of the late secretary, I transmit an extract 
 from the last report of that officer. Congress will perceive in 
 it ample proofs of the solid foundation on which the financial 
 prosperity of the nation rests ; and will do justice to the distin 
 guished ability and successful exertions with which the duties 
 of ihe department were executed during a period remarkable 
 for its difficulties and its peculiar perplexities. 17 
 
 These few sentences tilled the measure of Mr. Dallas s 
 ambition : they convinced him that he had realized the 
 hope expressed two years before, "I will not despair but 
 that with good intentions and the co-operation of good 
 men, I may, through toil and trouble, perform some ser 
 vice to the State;" and so, in a letter to the same gentle 
 man on the 7th of December, 1816, he exclaims, with 
 warmth : 
 
 " I cannot salute you in terms more grateful to you as well as 
 to myself than by speaking of the generous notice which the 
 President has taken of me in his message. To be so praised by 
 such a man ! upon such an occasion ! I am content. My family 
 are content. And we will say no more of the sacrifice and the 
 slavery of my two years devotion at Washington." 
 
 He had, for many years, been liable to the sudden and 
 severe attacks of a complaint the precise nature of which 
 his two medical advisers failed to penetrate or determine. 
 It would cause immediate and excruciating pain, pros 
 trating as by a resistless blow; and yet, in live or ten 
 minutes, he ceased moaning, accepted an anodyne, and 
 was fully restored. Dr. Wistar, the devoted friend as 
 well as the enlightened physician, conceived it to arise 
 from internal injury referable to the fact of his having 
 been dragged, apparently lifeless, when about seventeen 
 years of age, from the river Thames, and perhaps awk 
 wardly renovated under the auspices of the Humane 
 Society; Dr. Chapman, no less affectionately attached, 
 suspected, but would not pronounce, the disorder to be 
 an irregular form of gout. 
 
 While occupied in arguing an important suit at Tren- 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 143 
 
 ton, before the then governor, and ex-officio chancellor, of 
 Tew Jersey, Mahlon Dickerson, he became conscious of 
 the approach of his old and implacable enemy; asked a 
 short delay, but was obliged to proceed ; and concluding 
 his address, hurriedly drove to his home in Philadelphia, 
 and on the night of his arrival, the 16th of January, 1817, 
 died tranquilly while his two sous watched, unaware of 
 the crisis, at his bedside. 
 
 My recollections of my father are still, after the lapse 
 of near half a century, very vivid, accompanied by the 
 warmest attachment and deepest veneration. All his 
 children regarded him as their most delightful com 
 panion, instructor, and pride. His labors, in scenes of 
 business, professional or political, were arduous and un 
 ceasing ; but his happiness was centred in his domestic 
 circle. Deriving great pleasure from social intercourse, 
 he nevertheless preferred that it should be under his own 
 roof and shared by his family. One of the established 
 institutions of his household was the "cold cut," or frag 
 mentary pretence of supper, which, between ten and 
 eleven, rallied all the inmates for a lively chat and a 
 gay "good-night." 
 
 He had no hatreds, at least none of which I became 
 aware, or of whose existence any evidence can be dis 
 covered in his multitudinous relics. Certainly, there 
 were some men whom he disliked and avoided, whether 
 owing to contrariety of taste, a wrong suffered, or a 
 calumny uttered; but the "odium in longum jacens" was 
 foreign to his nature. His irritations were quick and 
 fugitive. 
 
 His facility of thinking, at command, was remarkable. 
 It did not vary the expression of his countenance, and 
 was undisturbed by present crowds or noises. He pre 
 pared for it by no special posture, no chair of contem 
 plation, no concentrating arrangement of pen, ink, and 
 paper, no choice even of place; he desired to think, and 
 the operations of his mind were at once disembarrassed 
 of all external distraction. He turned from intellectual 
 toil to mere amusement with equal quickness. Mr. Robert 
 C. Dallas, writing to me under date of the 18th of August, 
 1817, mentions an indomitable and perennial vivacity as 
 his peculiar trait. No labors, however prolonged and 
 oppressive, kept down the elasticity of his spirits : 
 
144 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 "He left the pondering brow in his study, and his overpower 
 ing eloquence was reserved for public occasions ; when with 
 his family or friends, he seemed as if he had nothing to do but 
 to amuse himself and others; extremely playful, versifying with 
 great facility, and descending even to the merriment of puns. I 
 have known him writing and making up accounts for his uncle, 
 Mr. Gray, during the holidays and after he left school, for the 
 greater part of the twenty-four hours, often up till five o clock in 
 the morning and getting sleep only by snatches, yet all alive, 
 keeping up the ball of gaiety and mirth throughout the house 
 hold." 
 
 This delightful characteristic never left him. Shortly 
 before his death, in writing to a friend at Washington on 
 a matter of grave import, he yet concludes his letter: 
 "And tell Maria that when we meet I have a budget of 
 conundrums for her!" 
 
 He had a perceptible, though never an obtrusive, pride 
 of personal appearance and movement. To this the fash 
 ions of the day and his own figure contributed. Very 
 little, if at all, short of six feet in height, and erect without 
 stiffness, he patiently underwent every morning the care 
 ful curling of his silvered hair, stiffened with pomatum 
 and white powder, and hanging behind, some eight inches 
 over his coat-collar, in a rose-knotted " club." With such 
 a structure upon the shoulders, though lighted by a bright 
 blue eye, it was impossible to indulge in modern brisk 
 ness and ease; quietude of bearing was alone inculcated, 
 if not compelled. Besides, there were the drab-colored 
 shorts, with small gold knee-buckles ; the white-topped 
 boots, leaving exposed an inch or so of the white silk 
 stocking within ; the white and ample vest, relieved by a 
 gairish crimson roll of velvet forming the edge of an in 
 terior flannel ; and the unvarying white cravat. The 
 close-bodied coat was a deep brown ; the surtout a flow 
 ing drab. He walked lightly, but with a natural dignity, 
 which riveted the inquiring gaze of a stranger. 
 
 My father s written composition was finely wrought. 
 His "style" (for we must remember that we are com 
 menting upon fifty years ago) was liquid, clear, and win 
 ning ; yet he was fastidious in selecting words and turning 
 periods. Erasures and insertions, without stint, defaced 
 his autographs. They sometimes remain quite illegible, 
 until the idea intended for expression is first detected. 
 
LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS. 145 
 
 His vocabulary was little less copious than that of his 
 early applauder, Dr. Johnson; yet this great author mar 
 shalled his diction at once and unalterably, a mental 
 tact as enviable as rare. 
 
 There was something eminently effective in his ad 
 dresses at the bar and before legislative bodies. His 
 elder brother, whom I have just mentioned, a critic of ad 
 mitted authority, came to the United States in 1796, and 
 having heard several of his speeches, was of opinion that 
 in. voice, manner, and general persuasiveness, his elocu 
 tion bore many of the characteristics of Lord Mansfield s. 
 Others have esteemed it somewhat diffuse, marked by 
 repetitions, and clothed in diction too choice for public 
 harangues. He was often fortunate in turning to account 
 the accidents of the moment. On one occasion, in 1&07, 
 greatly excited by the attack of the Leopard upon the 
 Chesapeake, he led an immense crowd of fellow-citizens 
 to a town-meeting at Independence Hall, and, while de 
 nouncing the aggression, let fall inadvertently the invoca 
 tion, "Gentlemen of the jury!" Instantly perceiving a 
 general smile, he exclaimed: "Yes, I say gentlemen of 
 the jury, now empanelled in the presence of your country 
 to hear and determine the issue thus violently forced 
 upon us by Great Britain, 7 etc. So it was that on the 
 trial of General Michael Bright, a pertinent and friendly 
 interruption by the opposite counsel drew from him the 
 prompt, pointed, and appropriate distinction between a 
 causeless rebellion and a defensible revolution. 
 
 The intellectual power and moral firmness always 
 shown by Mr. Dallas in his politics, had unavoidably 
 exposed him to the censure of the party against which, 
 from the birth-hour of his American citizenship, he ar 
 gued, wrote, and acted. It is, however, often said, and 
 is confessedly just, that no man, especially no public man, 
 can be correctly appreciated until he has ceased to live. 
 It is death alone that closes the record alike to flattery 
 and abuse ; and then perhaps it may be that startled can 
 dor momentarily reopens it, to inscribe, as with a sigh of 
 compunction, a hasty memorandum of reality and truth. 
 On the very afternoon of the day upon which he ex 
 pired, the journal which had most persistently assailed 
 him contained the following : 
 
146 LIFE OF A. J. DALLAS, 
 
 i 
 
 " DIED, early this morning, after the short illness of twenty- 
 four hours, the Honorable ALEXANDER JAMES DALLAS. Disap 
 proving, as we have done, the tenor of his public conduct, we 
 have never ceased the less to admire the talents and esteem the 
 private virtues of this distinguished man. As a husband, a pa 
 rent, and a friend, he was confessedly most amiable and exem 
 plary. But it was by the sweet amenity of his disposition, his 
 open hospitality, and the general courtesy of his deportment, 
 that he conciliated, even in the worst times of party contention, 
 so large a portion of the community, and that his death has now 
 covered, as it were, with a pall the spirits of our city." 
 
 After all, amid the endless controversies of speculative 
 opinion, there is nothing more persuasive, and oftener 
 triumphant, than the practical argument of a good, inde 
 fatigable, intelligent, and honorable life. Everything else 
 is capable of perversion, and is therefore questionable. 
 It is the best light that can shine before men, approach 
 ing the widest disagreements to mutual concession, and 
 cementing, without confounding, the tessellations of honest 
 diversities of judgment. As perhaps in religion, so it 
 may be in politics. 
 
 "For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight; 
 His can t be wrong whose life is in the right." 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 No. 1. 
 COMMUNICATIONS 
 
 FROM MR. DALLAS, IN THE NAME OF GOVERNOR MIFFLIN, TO THE PRESI 
 DENT OF THE UNITED STATES, RESPECTING THE WESTERN INSURREC 
 TION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 5 August, 1794. 
 
 SIR, The important subject which led to our conference on 
 Saturday last, and the interesting discussion that then took place, 
 having since engaged my whole attention, I am prepared, in com 
 pliance with your request, to state with candor the measures 
 which, in my opinion, ought to be pursued by the Common 
 wealth of Pennsylvania. The circumstances of the case evi 
 dently require a firm and energetic conduct on our part, as well 
 as on the part of the general government ; but, as they do not 
 preclude the exercise of a prudent and humane policy, I enjoy 
 a sincere gratification in recollecting the sentiment of regret with 
 which you contemplated the possible necessity of an appeal to 
 arms ; for I confess that in manifesting a zealous disposition to 
 secure obedience to the constitution and laws of our country, I 
 too shall ever prefer the instruments of conciliation to those of 
 coercion, and never, but in the last resort, countenance a dere 
 liction of judiciary authority for the exertion of military force. 
 
 Under the influence of this general sentiment, I shall proceed, 
 sir, to deliver my opinion relatively to the recent riots in the 
 county of Alleghany, recapitulating in the first place the actual 
 state of the information which I have received. It appears, 
 then, that the marshal of the district having, without molesta 
 tion, served certain process that issued from a federal court on 
 various citizens who reside in the county of Fayette, thought it 
 proper to prosecute a similar duty in the county of Alleghany, 
 with the assistance and in the company of General Neville, the 
 
 ( 149) 
 
150 APPENDICES. 
 
 inspector of the excise for the Western District of Pennsylva 
 nia ; that, while thus accompanied, he suffered some insults and 
 encountered some opposition ; that considerable bodies of armed 
 men having, at several times, demanded the surrender of Gen 
 eral Neville s commission and papers, attacked and ultimately de 
 stroyed his house ; that the rioters (of whom a few were killed 
 and many wounded) having taken the marshal and others pris 
 oners, released that officer, in consideration of a promise that he 
 would serve no more processes on the western side of the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains ; that, under the apprehension of violence, 
 General Neville, before his house was destroyed, applied to the 
 judges of Allegheny County for the protection of his property, 
 but the judges, on the 17th day of July, the day on which his 
 house was destroyed, declared that they could not, in the present 
 circumstances, afford the protection that was requested, though 
 they offered to institute prosecutions against the offenders ; and 
 that General Neville and the marshal, menaced with further out 
 rage by the rioters, had been under the necessity of withdrawing 
 from the country. To this outline of the actual information 
 respecting the riots, the stoppage of the mail may be added as 
 matter of aggravation, and the proposed convention of the inhab 
 itants of the neighboring counties of Pennsylvania and Virginia 
 as matter of alarm. 
 
 Whatever constructions may be given, on the part of the 
 United States, to the facts that have been recited, I cannot hesi 
 tate to declare, on the part of Pennsylvania, that the incompe- 
 tency of the judiciary department of her government to vindicate 
 the violated laws, has not at this period been made sufficiently 
 apparent, and that the military power of the government ought 
 not to be employed until its judiciary authority, after a fair ex 
 periment, has proved incompetent to enforce obedience or to 
 punish infractions of the law. 
 
 The law having established a tribunal and prescribed a mode 
 for investigating every charge, has likewise attached to every 
 offence its proper punishment. If an opponent of the excise 
 system refuses or omits to perform the duty which that system 
 prescribes to him, in common with his fellow-citizens, his refusal 
 or omission exposes him to the penalty of the law ; but the pay 
 ment of the penalty expiates the legal offence. If a riot is com 
 mitted in the course of a resistance to the execution of any law, 
 the rioters expose themselves to prosecution and punishment ; 
 but the sufferance of their sentence extinguishes their crime. In 
 either instance, however, if the strength and audacity of a law 
 less combination shall baffle and destroy the efforts of the judi 
 ciary authority to recover a penalty or to inflict a punishment, 
 that authority may constitutionally claim the auxiliary interven 
 tion of a military power ; but still the intervention cannot com- 
 
THE WESTERN 1NSUEEEGTION. 151 
 
 mence until the impotency of the judicial authority has been 
 proved by experiment, nor continue a moment longer than the 
 occasion for which it was expressly required. That the laws of 
 the Union are the laws of the State, is a constitutional axiom 
 that will never be controverted ; that the authority of the State 
 ought to be exerted in maintaining the authority of the Union, 
 is a patriotic position which I have uniformly inculcated ; but 
 in executing the laws, or in maintaining the authority of the 
 Union, the government of Pennsylvania can only employ the 
 same means by which the more peculiarly municipal laws and 
 authority of the State are executed and maintained. Till the 
 riot was committed, no offence had occurred which required the 
 aid of the State government. When it was committed, it became 
 the duty of the State government to prosecute the offenders as 
 for a breach of the public peace and the laws of the Common 
 wealth ; and if the measures shall be precisely what would have 
 been pursued had the riot been unconnected with the system of 
 federal policy, all, I presume, will be done which good faith and jus 
 tice can require. Had the riot been unconnected with the system 
 of federal policy, the vindication of our laws would be left to the 
 ordinary course of justice, and only in the last resort, at the 
 requisition, and as an auxiliary of the civil authority, would the 
 military force of the State be called forth. 
 
 Experience famishes the strongest inducements to my mind 
 for persevering in this lenient course. Riots have heretofore 
 been committed in opposition to the laws of Pennsylvania, but 
 the rioters have invariably been punished by our courts of jus 
 tice. In opposition to the laws of the United States, in oppo 
 sition to the very laws now opposed, and in the very counties 
 supposed to be combined in the present opposition, riots have 
 likewise formerly occurred ; but in every instance, supported by 
 legal proof, the offenders have been indicted, convicted, and pun 
 ished before the tribunals of the State. This result does not 
 announce a defect of jurisdiction a want of judicial power or 
 disposition to punish infractions of the law a necessity for an 
 appeal from the political to the physical strength of the nation. 
 
 But another principle of policy deserves some consideration. 
 In a free country it must be expedient to convince the citizens 
 of the necessity that shall, at any time, induce the government 
 to employ the coercive authority with which it is invested. To 
 convince them that it is necessary to call forth the military power 
 for the purpose of executing the laws, it must be shown that the 
 judicial power has in vain attempted to punish those who violate 
 them; and therefore thinking, as I do, that the incompetency of 
 the judicial power of Pennsylvania has not yet been sufficiently 
 ascertained, I remarked, in the course of our late conference, that 
 I did not think it w^ould be an easy task to embody the militia on 
 
152 APPENDICES. 
 
 the present occasion. The citizens of Pennsylvania (however a 
 part of them may for awhile be deluded) are the friends of law 
 and order; but when the inhabitants of one district shall be re 
 quired to take arms against the inhabitants of another, their gen 
 eral character does not authorize me to promise a passive obe 
 dience to the mandates of government. I believe that, as freemen, 
 they would inquire into the cause and nature of the service pro 
 posed to them ; and I believe that their alacrity in performing, 
 as well as in accepting it, would essentially depend on their 
 opinion of its justice and necessity. 
 
 Upon great political emergencies, the effect of every measure 
 should be deliberately weighed. If it shall be doubted whether 
 saying that the judicial power is yet untried, is enough to deter 
 us from the immediate use of military force, an anticipation of 
 the probable consequences of that awful appeal will enable us 
 perhaps satisfactorily to remove or overlook the doubt. Will not 
 the resort to force inflame and cement the existing opposition ? 
 Will it not associate, in a common resistance, those who have 
 hitherto peaceably as well as those who have riotously expressed 
 their abhorrence of the excise ? Will it not collect and combine 
 everv latent principle of discontent arising from the supposed 
 oppressive operations of the federal judiciary, the obstruction of 
 the western navigation, and a variety of other local sources? 
 May not the magnitude of the opposition, on the part of the ill- 
 disposed, or the dissatisfaction at a premature resort to arms on 
 the part of the well-disposed citizens of this State, eventually 
 involve the necessity of employing the militia of other States ? 
 And the accumulation of discontent which the jealousy engen 
 dered by that movement may produce, who can calculate, or who 
 may be able to avert? Nor, in this view of the subject, ought 
 we to omit paying some regard to the ground for suspecting that 
 the British government has already, insidiously and unjustly, 
 attempted to seduce the citizens on our western frontier from 
 their duty ; and we know that in a moment of desperation and 
 disgust men may be led to accept that as an asylum which, under 
 different impressions, they would shun as a snare. It will not, I 
 am persuaded, sir, be presumed, from the expression of these sen 
 timents, that I am insensible to the indignation which the late 
 outrages ought to excite in the mind of a magistrate intrusted 
 with the execution of the laws. My object at present is to 
 demonstrate that, on the principles of policy as well as of law, 
 it would be improper in me to employ the military power of the 
 State while its judiciary authority is competent to punish the 
 offenders. But should the judiciary authority prove insufficient, 
 be assured of the most vigorous co-operation of the whole force 
 which the constitution and laws of the State intrust to me, for 
 the purpose of compelling a due obedience to the government ; 
 
THE WES TEEN INSURRECTION. 153 
 
 and in that unfortunate event, convinced that every other expe 
 dient has been resorted to in vain, the public opinion will sanctify 
 our measures, and every honest citizen will willingly lend his aid 
 to strengthen and promote them. 
 
 The steps which under my instructions were taken, as soon as 
 the intelligence respecting the riots was received, will clearly 
 indeed manifest the sense that I entertain upon the subject. To 
 every judge, justice, sheriff, brigade inspector, in short, to every 
 public officer residing in the western counties, a letter was ad 
 dressed expressing my indignation and regret, and requiring an 
 exertion of their influence and authority to suppress the tumults 
 and punish the offenders. 
 
 The attorney-general of the State was likewise desired to in 
 vestigate the circumstances of the riot, to ascertain the names 
 of the rioters, and to institute the regular process of the law for 
 bringing the leaders to justice. In addition to these preliminary 
 measures, I propose issuing a proclamation, in order to declare 
 (as far as I can declare them) the sentiments of the government ; 
 to announce a determination to prosecute and punish the offend 
 ers ; and to exhort the citizens at large to pursue a peaceable and 
 patriotic conduct. I propose engaging three respectable citizens 
 to act as commissioners for addressing those who have embarked 
 in the present combination, upon the lawless nature and ruinous 
 tendency of their proceedings, for inculcating the necessity of an 
 immediate return to the duty which they owe to their country ; 
 and for promising (as far as the State is concerned) a forgiveness 
 of their past transgressions, upon receiving a satisfactory assur 
 ance that in future they will submit to the laws : and I propose, 
 if all these expedients should be abortive, to convene the legis 
 lature, that the ultimate means of subduing the spirit of insurrec 
 tion, and of restoring tranquillity and order, may be prescribed 
 by their wisdom and authority. 
 
 You will perceive, sir, that throughout my observations I have 
 cautiously avoided any reference to the nature of the evidence 
 from which the facts that relate to the riots are collected, or to 
 the conduct which the government of the United States may 
 pursue on this important occasion. I have hitherto, indeed, only 
 spoken as the executive magistrate of Pennsylvania, charged 
 with a general superintendence and care that the laws of the 
 Commonwealth be faithfully executed, leaving it, as I ought, im 
 plicitly to your judgment to choose, on such evidence as you 
 approve, the measures for discharging the analogous trust which 
 is confided to you in relation to the laws of the Union. But, 
 before I conclude, it is proper, under the impression of my federal 
 obligations, to add a full and unequivocal assurance that what 
 ever requisition you may make, whatever duty you may impose, 
 
 11 
 
154 APPENDICES. 
 
 in pursuance of your constitutional and legal powers, will, on my 
 part, be promptly undertaken and faithfully discharged. 
 
 I have the honor to be, etc. 
 
 II. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 12 August, 1794. 
 
 SIR, The Secretary of State has transmitted to me, in a letter 
 dated the 7th of August (but only received yesterday), your re 
 ply to my letter of the 5th instant. 
 
 For a variety of reasons, it might be desirable at this time to 
 avoid an extension of our correspondence upon the subject to 
 which those letters particularly relate; but the nature of the re 
 marks contained in your reply, and the sincerity of my desire to 
 merit, on the clearest principles, the confidence which you are 
 pleased to repose in me, will justify, even under the present cir 
 cumstances of the case, an attempt to explain any ambiguity, and 
 to remove any prejudice that may have arisen, either from an 
 inaccurate expression, or an accidental misconception of the sen 
 timents and views which I meant to communicate. 
 
 That the course which I have suggested as proper to be pur 
 sued, in relation to the recent disturbances in the western parts of 
 Pennsylvania, contemplates the State in a light too separate and 
 unconnected, is a position that I certainly did not intend to sanc 
 tion in any degree that could wound your mind with a sentiment 
 of regret. In submitting the construction of the facts, which 
 must regulate the operation of the general government, implicitly 
 to your judgment; in cautiously avoiding any reference to the 
 nature of the evidence from which those facts are collected, or to 
 the conduct which the government of the United States might- 
 pursue ; in declaring that I spoke only as the executive magis 
 trate of the State charged with the general superintendence and 
 care that its laws be faithfully executed ; and above all, in giving 
 a full and unequivocal assurance that whatever requisition you 
 might make, whatever duty you may impose, in pursuance of 
 your constitutional and legal powers, would, on my part, be 
 promptly undertaken and faithfully discharged, I thought that I 
 had manifested the strongest sense of my federal obligations ; and 
 that, so far from regarding the State in a separate and uncon 
 nected light, I had expressly recognized the subjection of her 
 individual authority to the national jurisdiction of the Union. 
 
 It is true, however, sir, that I have only spoken as the execu 
 tive magistrate of the State ; but in that character it is a high 
 gratification to find that, according to your opinion likewise, 
 " the propriety of the course which I suggested would, in most 
 
THE WESTERN INSURRECTION. 155 
 
 if not in all respects, be susceptible of little question." Permit 
 me, then, to ask in what other character could I have spoken, or 
 what other language did the occasion require to be employed? 
 If the co-operation of the government of Pennsylvania was the 
 object of our conference, your constitutional requisition, as the 
 executive of the Union, and my official compliance as the execu 
 tive of the State, would indubitably insure it ; but if a preliminary, 
 a separate, an unconnected conduct was expected to be pursued 
 by the executive magistrate of Pennsylvania, his separate and 
 unconnected power and discretion must furnish the rule of pro 
 ceeding; and by that rule, agreeably to the admission which I 
 have cited, " the propriety of my course would, in most if not in 
 all respects, be susceptible of little question." It must, there 
 fore, in justice, be remembered, that a principal point in our con 
 ference related to the expediency of my adopting, independent of 
 the general government, a preliminary measure (as it was then 
 termed), under the authority of an act of the legislature of Penn 
 sylvania, which was passed on the 22d of September, 1783, and 
 which the attorney-general of the United States thought to be 
 in force, but which had in fact been repealed on the llth of 
 April, 1793. 
 
 Upon the strictest ideas of co-operative measures, however, I 
 do not conceive, sir, that any other plan could have been sug 
 gested consistently with the powers of the executive magistrate 
 of Pennsylvania, or with a reasonable attention on my part to a 
 systematic and energetic course of proceeding. The complicated 
 nature of the outrage which was committed upon the public peace 
 gave a jurisdiction to both governments ; but in the mode of prose 
 cuting, or in the degree of punishing the offenders, the circum 
 stance could not, I apprehend, alter or enlarge the powers of 
 either. The State, as I observed in my last letter, could only 
 exert itself in executing the laws or maintaining the authority of 
 the Union by the same means which she employed to execute 
 and maintain her more peculiarly municipal laws and authority; 
 and hence I inferred, and still venture to infer, that if the course 
 which I have suggested is the same that would have been pur 
 sued had the riot been unconnected with the system of federal 
 policy, its propriety cannot be rendered questionable merely by 
 taking into our view (what I never have ceased to contemplate) 
 the existence of a federal government, federal laws, federal judi 
 ciary, and federal officers. But would it have been thought more 
 consonant with the principle of co-operation had I issued orders 
 for an immediate, a separate, and an unconnected call of the mi 
 litia under the special authority which was supposed to be given 
 by a law, or under the general authority which may be presumed 
 to result from the constitution ? Let it be considered that you 
 had already determined to exercise your legal powers in drafting 
 
156 APPENDICES. 
 
 a competent force of the militia ; and it will be allowed, if I had 
 undertaken not only to comply with your requisition, but to em 
 body a distinct corps for the same service, a useless expense 
 would have been incurred by the State, an unnecessary burthen 
 would have been imposed on the citizens, and embarrassment 
 and confusion would probably have been introduced instead of 
 system and co-operation. Regarding it in this point of light, 
 indeed, it may be natural to think that, in the judiciary as well 
 as the military department, the subject should be left entirely to 
 the management either of the State or of the general govern 
 ment ; for "the very important difference which is supposed to 
 exist in the nature and consequences of the offences that have 
 been committed, in the contemplation of the laws of the United 
 States and of those of Pennsylvania," must otherwise destroy 
 that uniformity in the distinction of crimes and the apportion 
 ment of punishments which has always been deemed essential 
 to a due administration of justice. 
 
 But let me not, sir, be again misunderstood. I do not mean 
 by these observations to intimate an opinion or to express a wish 
 that "the care of vindicating the authority or of enforcing the 
 laws of the Union should be transferred from the officers of the 
 general government to those of the State ;" nor, after expressly 
 avowing that I had cautiously avoided any reference to the con 
 duct which the government of the United States might pursue 
 on this important occasion, did I think an opportunity could be 
 found to infer that I was desirous of imposing a suspension of 
 your proceedings for the purpose of waiting the issue of the 
 process which I designed to pursue. If, indeed, " the govern 
 ment of the United States was at that point, where it was ad 
 mitted, if the government of Pennsylvania was, the employment 
 of force by its authority would be justifiable," 1 arn persuaded 
 that, on mature consideration, you will do more credit to my can 
 dor than to suppose I meant to condemn or to prevent the adop 
 tion of those measures on the part of the general government 
 which, in the same circumstances, I should have approved and 
 promoted on the part of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The extracts that are introduced into the letter of the Secre 
 tary of State, in order to support that inference, can only be justly 
 applied to the case which was immediately in contemplation the 
 case of the State of Pennsylvania, whose judiciary authority 
 had not then, in my opinion, been sufficiently tried. They ought 
 not surely to be applied to a case which I had cautiously excluded 
 from .my view the case of the United States, whose judiciary 
 had, in your opinion, proved inadequate to the execution of the 
 laws and the preservation of order. And if they shall be thus 
 limited to their proper object, the justice and force of the argu- 
 meat wJaLch flows from them can never be successfully contro- 
 
THE WESTERN INSURRECTION. 157 
 
 verted or denied. While you, sir, were treading in the plain 
 path designated by a positive law, with no other care than to 
 preserve the forms which the legislature had prescribed, and re 
 lieved from a weight of responsibility by the legal operation of a 
 judge s certificate, I was called upon to act not in conformity to 
 a positive law, but in compliance with the duty which is sup 
 posed to result from the nature and constitution of the executive 
 office. 
 
 The legislature had prescribed no forms to regulate my course, 
 no certificate to inform my judgment; every step must be dic 
 tated bv my own discretion ; and every error of construction or 
 conduct would be charged on my own character. Hence arose 
 an essential difference in our official situations; and I am con 
 fident that on this ground alone you will perceive a sufficient 
 motive for my considering the objection, in point of law, to for 
 bear the use of military force till the judiciary authority has been 
 tried, as well as the probable effects, in point of policy, which that 
 awful appeal might produce. For, sir, it is certain that, at the 
 time of our conference, there was no satisfactory evidence of the 
 iricompetency of the judicial authority of Pennsylvania to vin 
 dicate the violated laws ; I therefore could not, as executive 
 magistrate, proceed upon a military plan ; but, actuated by the 
 genuine spirit of co-operation, not by a desire to sully the dig 
 nity or to alienate the powers of the general government, I still 
 hoped and expected to be able, on this as on former occasions, to 
 support the laws of the Union, to punish the violators of them, 
 by an exertion of the civil authority of the State government, 
 the State judiciary, and the State officers. This hope prompted 
 the conciliatory course which I determined to pursue, and which, 
 so far as respects the appointment of commissioners, you have 
 been pleased to incorporate with your plan. And if, after all, 
 the purposes of justice could be attained, obedience to the laws 
 could be restored, and the horrors of a civil war could be averted 
 by the auxiliary intervention of the State government, I am per 
 suaded you will join me in thinking that the idea of placing the 
 State in a separate and unconnected point of view, and the idea 
 of making a transfer of the powers of the general government, 
 are not sufficiently clear and cogent to supersede such moment 
 ous considerations. 
 
 Having thus generally explained the principles contained in 
 my letter of the fifth instant, permit me (without adverting to 
 the material change which has since occurred in the state of our 
 information relatively to the riots, and which is calculated to 
 produce a corresponding change of sentiments and conduct) to 
 remark that many of the facts that are mentioned by the Secre 
 tary of State, in order to show that the judiciary authority of the 
 Union, after a fair and full experiment, had proved incompetent 
 
158 APPENDICES. 
 
 to enforce obedience or punish infractions of the laws, were, be 
 fore that communication, totally unknown to me. But still, if it 
 shall not be deemed a deviation from the restriction that I have 
 determined to impose upon my correspondence, I would offer 
 some doubts which, in that respect, occurred to my mind on the 
 evidence as it appeared at the time of our conference. When I 
 found that the marshal had, without molestation, executed his 
 office in the county of Fayette, that he was never insulted or 
 opposed till he acted in company with General Neville, and that 
 the virulence of the rioters was directly manifested against the 
 person and property of the latter gentleman, and only incident 
 ally against the person of the former, I thought there was ground 
 yet to suppose (and as long as it was reasonable I wished to sup 
 pose) that a spirit of opposition to the officers employed under 
 the excise law, and not a spirit of opposition to the officers em 
 ployed in the administration of justice, was the immediate source 
 of the outrages which we deprecate. It is true that these sources 
 of opposition are equally reprehensible, and that their effects are 
 alike unlawful ; but on a question respecting the power of the 
 judiciary authority to enforce obedience or to punish infractions 
 of the law, it seemed to be material to discriminate between the 
 cases alluded to, and to ascertain with precision the motives and 
 the object of the rioters. Again : as the associate judge had not 
 at that time issued his certificate, it was proper to scrutinize with 
 strict attention the nature of the evidence on which an act of 
 government was to be founded. The Constitution of the Union, 
 as well as of the State, had cautiously provided, even in the 
 case of an individual, that "no warrant should issue but upon 
 probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly 
 describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to 
 be seized." And a much higher degree of caution might rea 
 sonably be exercised in a case that involved a numerous body 
 of citizens in the imputation of treason or felony, and required 
 a substitution of the military for the judicial instruments of 
 coercion. The only affidavits that I recollect to have appeared 
 at the time of our conference were those containing the hear 
 say of Colonel Mentges and the vague narrative of the post- 
 rider. The letters that had been received from a variety of 
 respectable citizens, not being written under the sanction of an 
 oath or affirmation, could not acquire the legal force and validity 
 of evidence from a mere authentication of the signatures of the 
 respective writers. Under such circumstances, doubts arose, 
 not whether the means which the laws prescribe for effectuating 
 their own execution should be exerted, but whether the existence 
 of a specific case, to which specific means of redress were ap 
 propriated by the laws, had been legally established ; not whether 
 the laws, the constitution, the government, the principles of social 
 
THE WES TEEN INSURRECTION. 159 
 
 order, and the bulwarks of private right and security should be 
 sacrificed, but whether the plan proposed was the best calculated 
 to preserve those inestimable blessings. And recollecting a 
 declaration which was made in your presence that "it would 
 not be enough for a military force to disperse the insurgents and 
 to restore matters to the situation in which they were two or 
 three weeks before the riots were committed, but that the force 
 must be continued for the purpose of protecting the officers of 
 the revenue and securing a perfect acquiescence in the obnoxious 
 law," I confess, sir, the motives to caution and deliberation 
 strike my mind with accumulated force. I hope, however, that 
 it will never seriously be contended that a military force ought 
 now to be raised with any view but to suppress rioters ; or that 
 if raised with that view, it ought to be employed for any other. 
 The dispersion of the insurgents is, indeed, obviously the sole 
 object for which the act of Congress has authorized the use of 
 military force on occasions like the present ; for, with a generous 
 and laudable precaution, it expressly provides that even before 
 that force may be called forth a proclamation shall be issued 
 commanding the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to 
 their respective abodes within a limited time. 
 
 But the force of these topics I again refer implicitly to your 
 decision, convinced, sir, that the goodness of your intentions 
 now, not less than heretofore, merits an affectionate support from 
 every description of your fellow-citizens. For my own part, I 
 derive a confidence from the heart-felt integrity of my views, the 
 sincerity of my professions, which renders me invulnerable by 
 any insinuation of practising a sinister or deceitful policy. 
 
 I pretend not to infallibility in the exercise of my private judg 
 ment, or in the discharge of my public functions ; but in the 
 ardor of my attachment and in the fidelity of my services to our 
 common country I feel no limitations. And your Excellency, 
 therefore, may justly be assured that in every way which the 
 Constitution of the United States and of Pennsylvania shall au 
 thorize and present, or future exigencies may require, you will 
 receive my most cordial aid and support. 
 
 I am, with perfect respect, etc. 
 
160 APPENDICES. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 (FROM THE AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER.) 
 
 " MESSRS. DUNLAP & CLAYPOLK, The following sketch of The Feat 
 ures of Mr. Jay s Treaty was made, originally, with a view to ascertain 
 for private satisfaction the principles and operation of an instrument 
 which has excited such extensive curiosity and is calculated to produce 
 such important effects. It is published, however, at the instance of several 
 persons, who think that the subject should be placed in every possible 
 light; and that no citizen can be justified at this crisis in suppressing 
 his opinions, or in withholding his share of information from the common 
 stock. But while it is committed to the press, I wish it to be considered 
 merely as a text, which may hereafter be extended by commentary or 
 explained by illustration ; and though it will give me pleasure (since my 
 sole object on this occasion is the investigation of political truth) to see i t 
 become a source of candid animadversion, I trust it will not, according 
 to the custom of contending parties, be regarded as an instrument of faction, 
 nor be made the foundation of slander and abuse." 
 
 FEATURES OF MR. JAY 1 S TREATY, 
 
 TO WHICH IS ANNEXED A VIEW OF THE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED 
 STATES AS IT STANDS AT PRESKNT AND AS IT IS FIXED BY MR. 
 JAY S TREATY. 
 
 I. The origin and progress of Ike negotiation for the treaty 
 are not calculated to excite confidence. 
 
 1. The administration of our government have, seemingly at 
 least, manifested a policy favorable to Great Britain and adverse 
 to France. 
 
 2. But the House of Representatives of Congress, impressed 
 with the general ill conduct of Great Britain towards America, 
 were adopting- measures of a mild, though retaliating nature, to 
 obtain redress and indemnification. The frijuries complained of 
 were, principally, 1st, the detention of the western posts ; 2dly, 
 the delay in compensating for the negroes carried off at the close 
 of the war ; and 3dly, the spoliations committed on our commerce. 
 The remedies proposed were, principally, 1st, the commercial 
 regulations of Mr. Madison ; 2dly, the non-intercourse proposi 
 tion of Mr. Clarke ; 3diy, the sequestration motion of Mr. 
 Dayton ; 4thly, an embargo ; and 5thly, military preparation. 
 
 3. Every plan of the legislature was, however, suspended, or 
 rather annihilated, by the interposition of the executive authority ; 
 and Mr. Jay, the chief justice of the United States, was taken 
 from his judicial seat to negotiate with Great Britain, under the 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S T*T>fiw *. 
 
 influence of the prevailing sentiment of the people, for the redress 
 of our wrongs. Query Are not his commission and the exe 
 cution of it at variance ? Is any one of our wrongs actually 
 redressed ? Is not an atonement to Great Britain, for the in 
 juries she pretends to have suffered, a preliminary stipulation ? 
 
 4. The political dogmas of Mr. Jay are well known ; his pre 
 dilection, in relation to France and Great Britain, has not been 
 disguised, and even on the topic of American complaints, his 
 reports, while in the office of secretary for foreign affairs, and his 
 adjudications while in the office of chief justice, were not calcu 
 lated to point him out as the single citizen of America fitted for 
 the service in which he was employed. Query Do not personal 
 feelings too often dictate and govern the public conduct of minis 
 ters ? But whatever may have been his personal disqualifications, 
 they are absorbed in the more important consideration of the 
 apparent violence committed by Mr. Jay s appointment, on the 
 essential principles of the constitution. That topic, however, has 
 already been discussed, and we may pass to the manner of nego 
 tiating the treaty in England, which was at once obscure and 
 illusory. We heard of Mr. Jay s diplomatic honors ; of the 
 royal and ministerial courtesy which was shown to him, and of 
 the convivial boards to which he was invited ; but, no more ! 
 Mr. Jay, enveloped by a dangerous confidence in the intuitive 
 faculties of his own mind, or the inexhaustible fund of his diplo 
 matic information, neither possessed nor wished for external aid ; 
 while the British negotiator, besides his own acquirements, 
 entered on the points of negotiation fraught with all the auxiliary 
 sagacity of his brother ministers, and with all the practical 
 knowledge of the most enlightened merchants of a commercial 
 nation. The result corresponds with that inauspicious state of 
 things. Mr. Jay was driven from the ground or" an injured, to 
 the ground of an aggressing party ; he made atonement for im 
 aginary wrongs before he was allowed justice for real ones ; he 
 converted the resentments of the American citizens (under the 
 impressions of which he was avowedly sent to England) into 
 amity and concord ; and seems to have been so anxious to rivet a 
 commercial chain about the neck of America that he even forgot, 
 or disregarded, a principal item of her own produce (cotton), in 
 order to make a sweeping sacrifice to the insatiable appetite of 
 his maritime antagonist. But the idea of the treaty, given by 
 Mr. Pitt in answer to Mr. Fox, who, before he had seen, ap 
 plauded it as an act of liberality and justice towards America, 
 was the first authoritative alarm to our interests and our feelings. 
 " When the treaty is laid before the Parliament (said the minis 
 ter), you will best judge whether any improper concession has 
 been made to America!" 
 
 5. The treaty being sent here for ratification, the President 
 
162 APPENDICES. 
 
 and the Senate pursue the mysterious plan in which it was ne 
 gotiated. It has been intimated that, till the meeting of the 
 Senate, the instrument was not communicated even to the most 
 confidential officers of the government ; and the first resolution 
 taken by the Senate was to stop the lips and ears of its members 
 against every possibility of giving or receiving information. 
 Every man, like Mr. Jay, was presumed to be inspired. In the 
 course of the discussion., however, some occurrences flashed from 
 beneath the veil of secrecy ; and it is conjectured that the whole 
 treaty was, at one time, in jeopardy. But the rhetoric of a 
 minister (not remarkable for the volubility of his tongue) who 
 was brought post-haste from the country ; the danger of exposing 
 to odium and disgrace the distinguished American characters 
 who would be aifected by a total rejection of the treaty ; and 
 the feeble, but operative, vote of a member transported from the 
 languor and imbecility of a sick-room to decide in the Senate a 
 great national question, whose merits he had not heard discussed, 
 triumphed over principle, argument, and decorum ! 
 
 6. But still the treaty remains unratijied ; for, unless the 
 British government shall assent to suspend the obnoxious twelfth 
 article (in favor of which, however, many patriotic members 
 declared their readiness to vote), the whole is destroyed by the 
 terms of the ratification ; and if the British government shall 
 agree to add an article allowing the suspension, the whole must 
 return for the reconsideration of the Senate. But the forms of 
 mystery are still preserved by our government ; and attempts to 
 deceive the people have been made abroad upon a vain presump 
 tion that the treaty could remain a secret till it became obligatory 
 as a law. 
 
 For instance, in Fenno s paper of the 25th of June, it is 
 unequivocally declared, " the treaty of amity, commerce, and 
 navigation was ratified yesterday by the Senate of the United 
 States ;" and, even while he corrects that mistake in the paper of 
 the following day, he commits an error of a more extraordinary 
 kind (particularly when we consider that he is the confidential 
 person who printed the treaty for the use of the Senate) by 
 asserting that, in the twelfth article, "the United States are 
 prohibited from exporting to Europe from the said States sugar, 
 coffee, cotton, and cocoa, the produce of any of the West India 
 Islands." The fact must have been known to Mr. Fenno that 
 the prohibition operates universally, whether the prohibited 
 articles are the produce of the West India Islands, of the East 
 Indies, of the United States, or of any other part of the world. 
 The next essay to render the envelopments of the treaty still more 
 opaque, appeared in the American Daily Advertiser of the 27th 
 of June. The writer (who is said to be a member of the Senate) 
 likewise regards the ratification, in his introduction, as a perfect 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 163 
 
 one ; and, after giving a gloss to the general texture of the 
 treaty, he ascribes the obnoxious principle of the twelfth article 
 to an error which, it appears, has been inadvertently introduced. 
 An error inadvertently introduced into an instrument which was 
 under the consideration of the chief justice of the United States 
 and the British minister for a term of eight months ! and intro 
 duced, too, into a part of that very article which is made the sole 
 foundation of the whole commercial superstructure ! Whenever 
 the twelfth article ceases, the treaty declares every other article, 
 except the ten first articles, shall also cease ! But the author of 
 that sketch proceeds one step further, he says " that every cause 
 of offence or collision towards the French seems to have been 
 studiously avoided in the progress of the negotiation ;" for, " no 
 article oAhe treaty clashes in the smallest degree with the obli 
 gations and engagements contracted with that gallant nation !" 
 Let the treaty speak for itself, it is more to be hoped than ex 
 pected, that the voice of France should not likewise be heard in 
 opposition to so bold an assertion. 
 
 II. Nothing is settled by the treaty. 
 
 1. The western posts are to be given up. 
 
 2. The northern boundary of the United States is to be ami 
 cably settled. 
 
 3. The river meant by St. Croix River in the treaty, is to be 
 settled. 
 
 4. The payment for spoliations is to be adjusted and made. 
 
 5. The ultimate regulation of the West India trade is to de 
 pend on a negotiation to be made in the course of two years after 
 the termination of the existing war. 
 
 6. The question of neutral bottoms making neutral goods is 
 to be considered at the same time. 
 
 t. The articles that may be deemed contraband are to be set 
 tled at the same time. 
 
 8. The equalization of duties laid by the contracting parties 
 on one another is to be hereafter treated of. 
 
 9. All the commercial articles depend on the existence of the 
 twelfth article, which may continue twelve years, if it is so agreed 
 within two years after the expiration of the war ; but if it is not 
 so agreed, it expires, and with it all the dependent parts of the 
 treaty. Query Does not the Senate s suspension of the twelfth 
 article bring us to the same ground ? 
 
 10. The whole business of Mr. Jay s negotiation is left open 
 by the twenty-eighth article, for alteration, amendment, and ad 
 dition, by new articles, which, when agreed upon and ratified, 
 shall become a part of this treaty. 
 
 Query Does not the history of treaties prove that whenever 
 commissioners have been appointed by the parties, to take all 
 
164 APPENDICES. 
 
 the subjects of their dispute ad referendum, for the sake of 
 getting vid of an immediate pressure, and patching up a peace, 
 the matter terminates in creating, not in settling, differences ? 
 
 III. The treaty contains a colorable, but no real, reciprocity. 
 
 1. The second article provides for the surrender of the western 
 posts in June, 1796 ; but it stipulates that, in the mean time, the 
 citizens of the United States shall not settle within the precincts 
 and jurisdiction of those posts; that the British settlers there 
 shall hold and enjoy all their property of every kind, real and 
 personal ; and that when the posts are surrendered, such settlers 
 shall have an election either to remain British subjects or to be 
 come American citizens. Query Were not the western posts, 
 and all their precincts and jurisdiction, the absolute property of 
 the United States by the treaty of peace ? Query What 
 equivalent is given for this cession of the territory of the United 
 States to a foreign power? Query How far do the precincts 
 and jurisdiction of the posts extend ? Query Does not the 
 treaty give an implied assent to Major Campbell s claim, by 
 adopting its language, as far as the falls of the Miami, and to the 
 northern claim upon the territories of New York and Vermont ? 
 
 2. The third article stipulates that the two contracting parties 
 mav frequent the ports of either party on the eastern banks of 
 the Mississippi. Query What ports has Great Britain on the 
 eastern banks of the Mississippi ? 
 
 3. The third article likewise opens an amicable intercourse on 
 the lakes; but excludes us from their seaports and the limits of 
 the Hudson s Bay Company; and excludes them from navigating 
 our Atlantic rivers higher than the highest port of entry in each. 
 Query What are the limits of the Hudson s Bay Company? 
 Query What equivalent do the United States obtain for the 
 general freedom of navigation, portage, and passage ? For it 
 must be remembered that the British rivers penetrate the heart 
 of the country, but of those we can take no advantage; while 
 Great Britain is in fact admitted to all the advantages of which 
 our Atlantic rivers are susceptible. 
 
 4. The sixth and seventh articles provide for satisfying every 
 demand which Great Britain has been able, at any time, to make 
 against the United States (the payment of the British debts due 
 before the war, and the indemnification for vessels captured 
 within our territorial jurisdiction) ; but the provision made for the 
 American claims upon Great Britain is not equally explicit or 
 efficient in its terms, nor is it coextensive with the object. 
 Query Why is the demand for the negroes carried off by the 
 British troops suppressed, waived, or abandoned ? The preamble 
 to the treaty recites an intention to terminate the differences 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TEE AT Y. 165 
 
 between the nations : was not the affair of the negroes a differ 
 ence between the nations ? and how has it been terminated ? 
 
 5. The ninth article stipulates that the subjects of Great 
 Britain and the citizens of the United States, respectively, who 
 now hold lands within the territories of either nation, shall hold 
 the lands in the same manner as natives do. Query What is 
 the relative proportion of lands so held ? Query The effect to 
 revive the claims of British subjects who, either as traitors or 
 aliens, have forfeited their property within the respective States ? 
 Query The operation of such a compact on the internal policy 
 of the Union, combined with the solemn recognition of a colony 
 of British subjects, professing and owing allegiance to the British 
 crown, though settled within the acknowledged territory of the 
 United States, by virtue of the second article? 
 
 6. The tenth article declares that neither party shall sequester 
 or confiscate the debts or property in the funds, etc. belonging to 
 the citizens of the other in case of a war or of national differ 
 ences. Great Britain has fleets and armies: America has none. 
 Query Does not this, supported by other provisions, which 
 forbid our changing the commercial situation of Great Britain, or 
 imposing higher duties on her than on other nations, deprive the 
 United States of their best means of retaliation and coercion ? 
 Query Is it not taking from America her only weapon of de 
 fence ; but from Great Britain the least of two weapons which 
 she possesses? What is the relative proportion held by the 
 citizens of the contracting nations, respectively, in the funds, etc. 
 of each other ? 
 
 7. The twelfth article opens to our vessels, not exceeding 
 seventy tons, an intercourse with the British West India Islands 
 during the present war, and for two years after; but it prohibits 
 our exporting from the United States, molasses, sugar, cocoa, 
 coffee, or cotton to any part of the world, whether those articles 
 are brought from British, French, or Spanish islands, or even 
 raised (as cotton is) within our own territory. Query Are 
 vessels of seventy tons equal to maintain the most beneficial part 
 of our trade with the West Indies, the transportation of lumber, 
 etc. ? Query Do we not in the time of war (and the continu 
 ance of the privilege for more than two years after the war 
 depends on the situation in which his Majesty of Great Britain 
 shall then find himself in relation to the islands) enjoy a greater 
 privilege, under the temporary proclamations of the colonial 
 governors, than this article admits ? Query Have not the 
 articles which we are prohibited from exporting formed, of late, 
 a valuable part of our trade ? Is not cocoa chiefly cultivated by 
 the Spaniards ? Is not cotton a staple of America ? Is our own 
 consumption equal to our importation or growth of the prohibited 
 articles? Will not the want of a vent for any surplus quantity 
 
166 APPENDICES. 
 
 affect the other branches of our commerce, diminish the demand 
 for ship-building, and injure our agriculture ? If we are now 
 thrown out of this branch of the carrying trade, shall we be ever 
 able to recover it ? and, in short, will not the loss be of lasting 
 detriment to all our maritime exertions? 
 
 8. The thirteenth article admits us to trade in the British 
 settlements in the East Indies ; but it excludes us from any 
 share in the coasting trade of that country ; it forbids our pene 
 trating the interior of the country, or holding an intercourse with 
 the natives, unless under a license from the local British govern 
 ment ; and it compels us to land all the articles that are there 
 shipped in the United States. Is not China the independent 
 territory of the emperor ? Is not Canton an open port accessible 
 to all nations? Do we not obtain there, and at independent 
 places in the East Indies with which we have, at present, an un 
 interrupted communication, tea, porcelain, nankeens, silk, etc., 
 upon the principles of a free trade ? Does not a very advanta 
 geous part of the trade in that quarter of the globe consist in the 
 exchange of the products and manufactures of the East Indies 
 for those of China, and vice versa? Do not our importations of 
 East India goods far exceed our consumption ? Is not the trade 
 which we carry on with those goods in Europe, highly beneficial ? 
 Are not sugar and coffee a part of our importations from India? 
 and does not the twelfth article prohibit our re-exporting them ? 
 Does our trade to Europe, founded on the previous intercourse 
 with India, depend on the British license ? and can it be main 
 tained under the disadvantage of a double voyage? Are we 
 not, every voyage, making favorable impressions on the natives 
 of China? Do we not participate, at present, in the carrying 
 trade of that country? Does not our interest in it increase 
 rapidly ? 
 
 9. The several articles that regulate the rights and privileges 
 of the contracting parties within their respective territories, in 
 case either of them is engaged in a war, may cease in two years 
 after the present war is terminated, and cannot be protracted 
 beyond twelve years. Query Are not all these advantages, in 
 effect, exclusively favorable to Great Britain, a principal mari 
 time power of Europe, often engaged in wars, and interested 
 to obtain for her ships, her colonies, and herself the ports and 
 supplies of this extensive continent? 
 
 Is it probable that, during the longest possible existence of 
 this treaty (twelve years), America will be engaged in maritime 
 wars, will want English ports as a refuge for men-of-war or as a 
 retreat for prizes ? Or, that it will, during that period, be of im 
 portance to her objects, to prevent her enemies from arming in 
 English ports or selling their prizes there ? 
 
 10. The twenty-second article provides for ships of war being 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 167 
 
 hospitably treated in the ports of the respective contracting 
 parties ; and that officers shall be treated with the respect that 
 is due to the commissions which they bear. Query Could not 
 the principle of reciprocity, as well as humanity, suggest to 
 Mr. Jay that some provision should be made to protect our citi 
 zen-sailors from the fangs of British press-gangs in England, 
 and from the horrors of their prison-ships in the West Indies ? 
 Were the commissions of his Britannic Majesty of more regard 
 than the liberties of American freemen? Or, was it unknown 
 that thousands of our sailors have been occasionally enslaved by 
 the impress tyranny of the British government ? Or, that thou 
 sands have lost their lives in noxious prisons, while their vessels 
 were carried into British ports for " LEGAL ADJUDICATION?" 
 
 11. The fourteenth article provides for a perfect liberty of 
 commerce and navigation, and for the accommodation of traders ; 
 but subject always to the laws and statutes of the two countries 
 respectively. Query Are not the laws and statutes of England 
 infinitely more rigid, on the subjects of this article, than the laws 
 and statutes of America ? 
 
 IY. The treaty is an instrument of party. 
 
 1. The discussions, during the session of Congress in which 
 Mr. Jay s mission was projected, evinced the existence of two 
 parties upon the question, whether it was more our interest to 
 be allied with the republic of France than with the monarchy of 
 Great Britain. Query Does not the general complexion of the 
 treaty decide the question in favor of the alliance with Great 
 Britain ? Query Whether that complexion does not manifestly 
 arise from the provisions, for admitting a British colony within 
 our territory, in the neighborhood of the western posts ; for ad 
 mitting the whole British nation, without an equivalent, into a 
 participation of our territory on the eastern bank of the Missis 
 sippi ; for naturalizing all the holders of lands ; for opening a 
 general intercourse with their traders on the lakes, in the interior 
 of our country, rendering (as it is idly said) the local advantages 
 of each party common to both ; for regulating the external trade 
 of the two nations with each other; for admitting citizens to be 
 punished as pirates who take commissions, etc. from a belliger 
 ent power adverse to either contracting party ; for fettering the 
 operations of our treaty with France ; for surrendering crimi 
 nals, etc. etc. etc. 
 
 2. The measures proposed by one party to retaliate the injuries 
 offered by Great Britain to our territorial, commercial, and politi 
 cal rights, were opposed by the other, precisely as the treaty 
 opposes them. For instance : 
 
 (1) Mr. Madison projects a regulation of our commerce with 
 Great Britain, by which the hostile spirit of that nation might 
 
168 APPENDICES. 
 
 be controlled on the footing of its interest. The treaty legiti 
 mizes the opposition, which was given to the measure in Con- 
 press, by declaring, in article- fifteen, "that no other or higher 
 duties shall be paid by the ships or merchandise of the one party 
 in the ports of the other than such as are paid by the like vessels 
 or merchandise of all other nations; nor shall any other or higher 
 duty be imposed in one country on the importation of any articles 
 of the growth, produce, or manufactures of the other than are, 
 or shall be, payable on the importation of the like articles of the 
 growth, etc. of any foreign country." 
 
 (2) Mr. Clarke proposes to manifest and enforce the public 
 resentment by prohibiting all intercourse between the two na 
 tions. The treaty destroys the very right to attempt that species 
 of national denunciation by declaring, in the same article, that 
 " no prohibition shall be imposed on the exportation or importa 
 tion of any articles to or from the territories of the two parties, 
 respectively, which shall not equally extend to all other nations." 
 
 (3) But Mr. Dayton moves, and the House of Representatives 
 supports his motion, for the sequestration of British debts, etc., 
 to insure a fund for paying the spoliations committed on our 
 trade. The treaty (without regarding the respect due to the 
 commission which is borne by our members of Congress) not 
 onlv despoils the government of this important instrument to 
 coerce a powerful, yet interested adversary into acts of justice, 
 but enters likewise into a commentary, which, considering the 
 conduct of one of the brandies of our legislature, Lord Gren- 
 ville, consistently with decorum, could not have expressed, or 
 at least, Mr. Jay, for the sake of our national dignity, ought not 
 to have adopted. The tenth article declares, that " neither the 
 debts due from individuals of the one nation to individuals of the 
 other, nor shares nor moneys which they may have in the public 
 funds, or in the public or private banks, shall ever, in any event 
 of war or national difference, be sequestered or confiscated, it 
 being unjust and impolitic that debts and engagements contracted 
 and made by individuals having confidence in each other and in 
 their respective governments, should ever be destroyed or im 
 paired by national authority on account of national differences 
 and discontents." The terms are very similar to those that gave 
 Mr. Dayton offence in a speech pronounced by Mr. Ames ; and 
 certainly it will be deemed no mitigation that the charge of com 
 mitting "an unjust and impolitic act," has been wantonly en 
 grafted upon the most solemn of all instruments a public 
 treaty ! Query Would Lord Grenville have consented to brand 
 his royal master with the title of Great Sea Bobber if Mr. Jay s 
 urbanity could have permitted him to borrow the epithet from 
 another member of Congress, in order to insert it in the article 
 that relates to the British spoliations on our trade ? But perhaps 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 169 
 
 Mr. Jay forgot that the commentary operated as a reflection on 
 the government of the United States, and only meant it as a 
 reproach to Great Britain, for sequestering, during the late war, 
 and retaining at this moment, the property belonging to Mary 
 land lying in the Bank of England. It might, likewise, be in 
 tended as a satire upon the parliamentary sequestration of French 
 property in the famous "Intercourse Act;" or perhaps Mr. Jay 
 anticipated the revolution in Holland, and designed his com 
 mentary as a warning against the seizing of Dutch property, 
 public and private; which, however, has since taken place, in spite 
 of his solemn admonition. 
 
 3. The trials that had occurred relative to the equipment of 
 French privateers in our ports, and the enlistment of our citizens 
 in the service of the republic, had produced some embarrassment 
 in the course of party pursuits. These are obviated by the 
 treaty. The British nation, by which the empress of Russia has 
 always been supplied with naval officers, and whose fleets and 
 armies are always crowded with volunteers from other nations, 
 consents that her subjects shall not serve against us, and stipu 
 lates that our citizens shall not serve against her. This contract 
 is made with a power actually engaged in a war and seldom 
 more than seven years clear of one by a power at peace, not 
 liable, from her local position and political constitution, to be in 
 volved in war, and in strict alliance with the nation against 
 whom the stipulation will immediately operate Captain Barney 
 and the other Americans who have joined the arms of France, 
 are thus involved in the most serious dilemma. If they expa 
 triate themselves they may possibly escape the vengeance of the 
 American government ; but will that save them from the ven 
 geance of Great Britain, whose concessions on the doctrine of 
 expatriation are not quite so liberal ? By-the-by, it may here 
 be seasonably repeated, that while Mr. Jay was so willing to 
 prevent American citizens from entering into the service of 
 France, he might surely have taken some pains to secure them 
 from being pressed into the service of England. He would have 
 found, on inquiry, that the instances of the latter kind are infi 
 nitely more numerous than of the former. But it is enough that 
 the measure will be introductory of a law favorable to the view 
 of a party which reprobates every idea of assisting the French, 
 and cultivates every means of conciliating the British. 
 
 4. It has, likewise, been thought by some politicians that the 
 energies of our executive department require every aid that can 
 be given to them, in order more effectually to resist and control 
 the popular branches of the government Hence we find the 
 treaty-making power employed in that service ; and Congress 
 cannot exercise a legislative discretion on the prohibited points 
 
 12 
 
170 APPENDICES. 
 
 (though it did not participate in making the cession of its au 
 thority) without a declaration of war against Great Britain. 
 George the Third enjoys by the treaty a more complete negative 
 to bind us as States than he ever claimed over us as colonies. 
 
 Y. The treaty is a violation of the general principles of neu 
 trality, and is in collision with the positive previous engagements 
 which subsist between America and France. 
 
 1. It is a general principle of the law of nations that during 
 the existence of a war neutral powers shall not, by favor or by 
 treaty, so alter the situation of one of the belligerent parties as to 
 enable him more advantageously to prosecute hostilities against 
 his adversary. If, likewise, a neutral power shall refuse or evade 
 treating with one of the parties, but eagerly enter into a treaty 
 with the other, it is a partiality that amounts to a breach of 
 neutrality. These positions may be supported by the authority 
 of the most esteemed writers on the subject; but it will be suf 
 ficient in the present case to cite the conduct of Great Britain 
 herself. Thus, it has been adjudged by Lord Mansfield " that 
 if a neutral ship trades to a French colony, with all the privileges 
 of a French ship, and and is thus adopted and naturalized, it 
 must be looked upon as a French ship liable to be taken." (See 
 Judge Blackstone^s Reports, vol. i. pp. 313, 314.) According to 
 the principle on which this judgment was given, the act of issuing 
 the memorable orders of the 6th of November, 1793, and the 
 consequent seizure of all our vessels, are attempted to be justi 
 fied. Great Britain alleges (when it is injurious to France) 
 that trading with the French islands, on a footing not allowed 
 before the war, is a breach of neutrality, and cause of confis 
 cation; and therefore Great Britain must also admit, at least 
 America will not deny, that trading with the British Islands, on 
 a footing not allowed before the war ; or, in different words, 
 altering and enlarging the commercial relations of the two coun 
 tries, is equally a breach of our neutrality towards France. 
 When the sword is found to cut both ways, the party who uses 
 it has no right to complain. 
 
 2. That we have, on the one hand, evaded the overtures of a 
 treaty with France, and on the other hand, solicited a treaty from 
 Great Britain, are facts public and notorious. Let us inquire, 
 then, what Great Britain has gained on the occasion, to enable her 
 more advantageously to prosecute her hostilities against France. 
 
 (1) Great .Britain has gained time. As nothing is settled by 
 the treaty, she has it in her power to turn all the chances of the 
 war in her favor, and, in the interim, being relieved from the 
 odium and embarrassment of adding America to her enemies, the 
 current of her operations against France is undivided, and will 
 ,of course flow with greater vigor and certainty. We have been 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 171 
 
 for so many years satisfied with the promises of the treaty of 
 peace that Great Britain has cause to expect, at least, an equal 
 period of credit for the promises of the treaty of amity. If, 
 indeed, it is true that the reasons assigned by Lord Grenville to 
 Mr. Jay for declining an immediate surrender of the posts were, 
 first, that the British traders might have time to arrange their 
 outstanding business, a privilege that is expressly granted by 
 the treaty, and could not, therefore, furnish a real excuse for delay ; 
 and secondly, that the British government might be able to 
 ascertain what would be the probable effect of the surrender, on 
 the Indians, a reservation that demonstrates an intention to be 
 governed by events ; we can very well account for the late ex 
 tensive shipment of artillery and ammunition to Canada ; and 
 may easily calculate the importance of gaining time, in order to 
 promote the American, as well as European, objects of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 (2) Great Britain gains supplies for her West India colonies ; 
 and that for a period almost limited to the continuance of the 
 war, under circumstances which incapacitate her from furnishing 
 the colonial supplies herself; and, indeed, compel her to invite 
 the aid of all nations in furnishing provisions for her own domes 
 tic support. The supplies may be carried to the islands either 
 in American bottoms not exceeding seventy tons, or in British 
 bottoms of any tonnage. 
 
 (3) Great Britain gains an advantage over France by pro 
 hibiting the exportation of sugar, etc., in consequence of which 
 the colonies of France must, in a great measure, remain unsup- 
 plied with provisions, etc., as they can only in general pay for 
 them in those articles whose use is confined to the American 
 consumption. It will be remembered that the produce of the 
 French islands has of late constituted a great part of our Euro 
 pean remittances. If, therefore, that trade is cut off, and at the 
 same time, besides employing our own small craft of seventy 
 tons, Great Britain is allowed, to any extent of tonnage, to be our 
 West India factor, it is obvious that our consumption of sugar, 
 coffee, etc. etc. will be abundantly supplied, without maintaining 
 an intercourse with the French, or even with the East Indies, to 
 procure any of those articles. Perhaps this method, though less 
 bold, will be more effectual to prevent our furnishing the French 
 islands with provision, than declaring them to be in a state of 
 blockade, and seizing the vessels that attempt to visit them. 
 
 (4) It is another important gain to Great Britain (which 
 might likewise have been adverted to under feature of recip 
 rocity), that to any extent of tonnage her vessels may carry on. 
 the West India trade for us, either to supply our domestic con 
 sumption or European engagements, subject to no other or 
 higher duties than our own vessels ; while our own vessels are 
 
172 APPENDICES. 
 
 restricted to a pitiful size, and circumscribed to a particular 
 voyage. But whatever may be thought of the benefit of acquir 
 ing for America even this scanty participation in the West India 
 trade, no one (after the rejection of the twelfth article) will deny 
 that the whole measure changes the relative situation of the two 
 countries avowedly in favor of Great Britain and operatively 
 injurious to France ; and every such change is derogatory to our 
 boasted neutral character. 
 
 (5) The admission of Great Britain to all the commercial ad 
 vantages of the most favored nation, and the restraints imposed 
 upon our legislative independence, as stated in the party feature 
 of the treaty, are proofs of predilection and partiality in the 
 American government which cannot fail to improve the resources 
 of Great Britain and to impair the interests as well as the at 
 tachments of France. 
 
 (6) The assent to the seizure of all provision ships, and that, 
 in effect, upon any pretext, at a period when Great Britain is 
 distressed for provisions as well as France, and when the system 
 of subduing by famine has been adopted by the former against 
 the latter nation, is clearly changing our position as an independ 
 ent republic in a manner detrimental to our original ally. That 
 our merchants will be paid a reasonable profit for their cargoes, 
 etc. may render the measure more palatable to us, even under 
 the loss of the return cargo, the derangement of the voyage, and 
 the destruction of the spirit of commercial enterprise ; but that 
 consideration cannot render it less offensive to France. It may 
 properly be here remarked, that Sweden and Denmark have ob 
 tained, by a spirited resistance, an actual indemnification for the 
 seizures which have heretofore taken place, and an exemption 
 from all such outrages in future ; while America has only put 
 those which are past in a train of negotiation, and has given a 
 legitimate effect to those which are to come. The order which, 
 the English gazettes say, has recently been issued for seizing 
 American provision ships on their passage to France, ought not, 
 therefore, to be complained of, as it is merely an exercise, by 
 anticipation, of the right granted by the treaty. 
 
 (T) Great Britain has gained the right of preventing our 
 citizens from being volunteers in the armies or ships of France. 
 This is not simply the grant of a new right to Great Britain, 
 but is, at the same time, a positive deprivation of a benefit 
 hitherto enjoyed by France. Neither the laws of nations, nor 
 our municipal constitution and laws, prohibited our citizens from 
 going to another country, and there, either for the sake of honor, 
 reward, or instruction, serving in a foreign navy or army. 
 Colonel Oswald and many others have done it ; Captain Barney 
 and many others are doing it. But a proclamation must issue 
 to recalJ all such volunteers, and punishment must follow dis- 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 173 
 
 obedience, if the twenty-first article of the treaty is to be effect 
 uated as the supreme law of the land. 
 
 (8) Great Britain has gained a right to treat and punish as 
 pirates any of our citizens who shall accept, even while they 
 are in France, any commission to arm a privateer or letter of 
 marque. It is true that a similar provision is contained in other 
 treaties; but we are now only considering the alterations which 
 are made by the treaty under discussion in favor of Great 
 Britain and injurious to France. How far there exists a power 
 to define piracy, by treaty, will be remarked in delineating 
 another feature of Mr. Jay s diplomatic offspring. 
 
 (9) Great Britain has doubly gained, by obtaining in our 
 ports an asylum for her ships of war, privateers, prizes, etc., 
 stipulating for an exclusion of those of her enemies other (it 
 is admitted) than France. The twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth 
 articles of the projected treaty are nearly copied from the sub 
 sisting treaty with France. It would be curious, however, to 
 reflect on the very different motives which must justify (if the 
 idea of justification could, in the late instance, be at all admissi 
 ble) these analogous grants. The concession to France was 
 made ivhen we were at war and she was not ; it was made upon 
 a certainty of reciprocal advantage ; and it was made as a, price 
 for obtaining the aid of that gallant nation in the establishment 
 of our independence. The concession is made to Great Britain 
 when she is at ivar and we are not ; without any rational pros 
 pect of deriving any reciprocal advantage from it; and under 
 such circumstances of injury and insult as might have admon 
 ished us to reserve it as the price for obtaining aid from other 
 nations in resisting her hostilities, instead of p.aying it for 
 smiles without affection, and promises without sincerity. When 
 we were making treaties with Holland, Prussia, etc., did we not 
 expressly exclude them from such important, and, as we have 
 already seriously experienced, such dangerous privileges ? 
 
 But it will be asked, perhaps, what mighty benefit has Great 
 Britain gained, in this case, at the expense of France, since the 
 prior similar privileges of France are exclusive? Answer: 
 That as the privilege of Great Britain will operate against every 
 other nation, it will immediately affect the French republic s al 
 liance, offensive and defensive, with the United Provinces, which 
 preceded the ratification, at least, of the treaty ; and it may, 
 eventually, have the same pernicious influence in relation to 
 Prussia, Spain, and Portugal, whose disposition to change sides, 
 in the present war, has been unequivocally expressed. Thus, 
 though Holland and Prussia made treaties with us long before 
 Great Britain would admit the idea of a negotiation, and though 
 Spain and Portugal are the only customers who furnish us with 
 the ready money balance for the very purpose of paying our 
 
174 APPENDICES. 
 
 annual accumulation of debt to Britain, the harbors of America 
 are open to their vessels as prizes, but shut to them as friends. 
 They may be brought hither and sold by their enemies; but if 
 they have captured their enemy, all but common necessaries 
 shall be denied to them ! The habits, bias, and opinions of a 
 people ought not to be altogether disregarded in making a treaty. 
 What honest, feeling American could patiently see an English 
 man, our sunshine ally, bringing into our ports, as prizes, the 
 ships of Holland, our ally in the times that tried men s souls ; 
 a republic, indissoluble united with France, that earliest, latest, 
 best of friends ? What honest, feeling American, even submit 
 ting to a scene so painful, would willingly assist in expelling 
 from our ports the ships of Holland, which had merely retal 
 iated by the capture of their foe ? 
 
 3. But it is time to advert to the cases of collision between 
 the two treaties ; and these are of such a nature as to produce a 
 violation of the spirit, though not a positive violation of the 
 words, of the previous engagements that subsist between France 
 and America, they are causes of offence, and clash in the 
 highest degree. 
 
 (1) By the ninth article of the treaty of alliance with 
 France we guarantee the possessions of that nation in America. 
 It is true that our situation is such as to incapacitate, and of 
 course to excuse us, from a direct fulfilment of this guarantee ; 
 but it is equally true that we violate our faith whenever we do 
 anything that will, either directly or indirectly, endanger those 
 possessions. Query Whether facilitating the means of sup 
 plying the British forces in the West Indies will not be the effect 
 of the arrangements relative to the trade with the British Islands ? 
 Query Whether restraining our intercourse with the French 
 islands, as a consequence of the treaty already predicated, will 
 not expose them to want, and of course to the necessity of yield 
 ing to their enemies ? Does not every such advantage given to 
 Great Britain clash with our engagements to France ? 
 
 (2) By our treaty with France, and, indeed, with several other 
 nations, it is expressly stipulated that free vessels shall make 
 free goods. At the time of entering into the stipulation, and 
 even at this moment, the maritime strength of France (always 
 superior to that of Denmark and Sweden, which has, under simi 
 lar circumstances, been successful) could command the respect of 
 the world for her engagements. It is true America neither was, 
 nor is, in a situation to produce the same complaisance; and, on 
 the ground of that weakness, France has, hitherto, candidly dis 
 pensed with a strict performance of the treaty. But though 
 America cannot enforce, she ought not to abandon her engage 
 ments ; she may submit to imperious necessity, but she cannot 
 voluntarily bring into question the right of protecting, as a neu- 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 175 
 
 tral power, the property of France ; while France is not only 
 ready and able to afford her property the stipulated protection, 
 but, in conformity to the stipulation, actually allows the property 
 of Great Britain to pass free, under the sanction of the Ameri 
 can flag. When, therefore, the treaty with Great Britain agrees 
 that within two years after the termination of the existing war 
 it shall be discussed, "whether in any, and in what cases, neu 
 tral vessels shall protect enemies property," does it not clash 
 with our previous promise to France that free ships shall make 
 free goods? And when the treaty with Great Britain, in formal 
 and explicit terms, further agrees, " that in all cases where ves 
 sels shall be captured or detained, on suspicion of having on 
 board enemies property, etc., the part which belongs to the enemy 
 shall be made prize," is not this an evident collision with our 
 previous agreement with France, and with the security which 
 British property enjoys in consequence of it ? While France 
 adheres to her treaty, by permitting British goods to be protected 
 by American bottoms, is it honest, honorable, or consistent on our 
 part to enter voluntarily into a compact with the enemies of 
 France for permitting them to take French goods out of our 
 vessels ? We may not be able to prevent, but ought we to agree 
 to the proceeding ? Let the question be repeated Does not 
 such an express agreement clash with our express, as well as 
 implied, obligations to France ? 
 
 (3) By enumerating, as contraband articles, in the treaty with 
 Great Britain, certain articles which are declared free in the 
 treaty with France, we may, consistently with the latter, supply 
 Great Britain ; but, consistently with the former, we cannot sup 
 ply France. 
 
 Thus, our treaty with France (and, indeed, every treaty which 
 we have) expressly declares that, " in general, all provisions 
 which serve for the nourishment of mankind and sustenance of 
 life ; furthermore, all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes, 
 cables, sail cloths, anchors, and any part of anchors, also ships, 
 masts, planks, boards, and beams of what trees soever, and all 
 other things proper either for building or repairing ships, and all 
 other goods whatever, which have not been worked into the form 
 of any instrument for war, by land or by sea, shall not be reputed 
 contraband." 
 
 The treaty with Great Britain expressly declares, "that timber 
 for ship-building, tar, or rosin, copper in sheets, sails, hemp, and 
 cordage, and generally whatever may serve directly to the equip 
 ment of vessels, un wrought iron and fir planks only excepted, 
 shall be objects of confiscation whenever they are attempted to be 
 carried to an enemy." 
 
 Whether this stipulation can be considered as founded on a 
 principle of reciprocity, since the articles declared to be contra 
 band are among our principal exports, but among the principal 
 
176 APPENDICES. 
 
 imports of Great Britain, might have been adverted to in tracing 
 a former feature of the treaty; but let it be now candidly an 
 swered, whether it is not in collision with our previous engage 
 ments with France ? The right to make such a stipulation is 
 not, at present, controverted ; but only the assertion that exer 
 cising the right does not clash in any degree with the terms and 
 spirit of the French treaty. France exempts those important 
 materials of our commerce from confiscation in favor of all the 
 world; Great Britain condemns them to confiscation whenever 
 they shall be carried to her enemies ; and the compact is made 
 while France is one of her enemies ! 
 
 YI. The treaty with Great Britain is calculated to injure the 
 United States in the friendship and favor of other foreign na 
 tions. 
 
 1. That the friendship and favor of France will be affected by 
 the formation of so heterogeneous an alliance with her most im 
 placable enemy cannot be doubted, if we reason upon any scale 
 applicable to the policy of nations or the passions of man. From 
 that republic, therefore, if not an explicit renunciation of all con 
 nection with the United States, we may at least expect an 
 alteration of conduct ; and, finding the success which has flowed 
 from the hostile treatment that Great Britain has shown towards 
 us, she may be at length tempted to endeavor at extorting from 
 fear what she has not been able to obtain from affection. She 
 will probably declare Great Britain in a state of blockade, for 
 the purpose of seizing our vessels in Europe; and she may in 
 stitute courts for "legal adjudication," in order to confiscate our 
 vessels in the West Indies. Great Britain will then chuckle at 
 the scene. No one can doubt that our embarrassments will 
 gratify not only the avowed objects, but the latent resentments 
 of that nation. Even if she could obliterate the memory of our 
 Revolution, she cannot, with pleasure, behold the successful ex 
 periment of a republican system of government, nor the rapid 
 advances of a commercial competitor. The moment she has 
 produced a quarrel between America and France she may ex 
 claim, " Delenda est Carthago!" America is again a colony! 
 How different were the interests and dispositions of our tried 
 friend ! That our government should preserve its purity and 
 independence that our commerce and agriculture should attain 
 their zenith were views once congenial with the policy and 
 affections of the French nation; heart, head, and hand she would 
 have joined in promoting them against the arts and enmities of 
 all the rest of the world ! What a change, then, have we made I 
 
 " Look on this picture, and on that : 
 The counterfeit presentment of two allies ! 
 Who would on this fair mountain leave to feed, 
 To batten on that moor!" 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JATB TREATY. 177 
 
 2. During the war we, likewise, formed a seasonable and ser 
 viceable treaty with the United Netherlands ; and shortly after 
 the War treaties were established with Sweden, Prussia, etc. But 
 in order to avoid even the appearance of clashing or collision 
 with the French treaty, the powers thus early in courting our 
 alliance were not allowed those privileges of asylum for them 
 selves, and of excluding their enemies from our ports, which are 
 conceded in the projected treaty to Great Britain. Have those 
 nations no cause for jealousy and reproach ? What principle of 
 policy or justice can vindicate the partiality and predilection that 
 has been thus shown ? 
 
 3. But the projected treaty (after an affected recognition of pre 
 existing public treaties) declares that while Great Britain and 
 America continue in amity, no future treaty shall be made in 
 consistent with the articles that grant the high and dangerous 
 privileges that have been mentioned. Every nation of the earth 
 (except France) is thus sacrificed to the pride and interest of 
 Great Britain. And with what motive, or upon what consider 
 ation, is the sacrifice made ? It has been stated in a former, and 
 will be more fully shown in a future, feature of Mr. Jay s treaty, 
 that the United States do not enjoy any equivalent for this, nor 
 for any other, concession, which is made to Great Britain. But 
 the mischief does not end with the folly of a lopsided bargain. 
 By granting these exclusive privileges to Great Britain, by de 
 claring that no commercial favor shall be conferred on other 
 nations without her participating in them, we have thrown away 
 the surest means of purchasing, on any emergency, the good will 
 and good offices of any other power. We cannot even improve 
 the terms of our old treaty with France. For all the advantages 
 of trade that Spain, Portugal, Holland, etc. might, and probably 
 would, upon a liberal footing of reciprocity, have given us, what 
 have we now left to offer as the basis of negotiation and com 
 pact? 
 
 4. The alteration which the treaty makes in the relative situa 
 tion of several nations with America, and the conduct that is 
 likely to be pursued by those nations, in order to counteract its 
 effect, merit serious reflection. Will Spain see, without some 
 solicitude, the partition which we have made with Great Britain 
 of our territory on the eastern bank of the Mississippi ? How 
 would our projected treaty work if France should recover Pon- 
 dicherry, etc., in the East Indies, should subdue and retain the 
 West India Islands, should stipulate with Spain for the cession 
 of Louisiana, and should conquer Nova Scotia ? The curious 
 cordon with which we have allowed Great Britain to circum 
 vent us (and of which more will be said hereafter) being thus 
 broken, how are we to calculate the consequences ? 
 
 5. Considering the Indians as a foreign nation, is not the 
 
178 APPENDICES. 
 
 treaty calculated to exalt the character of Great Britain, and to 
 depreciate the character of America, throughout the savage 
 world ? What right has Great Britain to negotiate for Indians 
 within the limits of our jurisdiction? Suppose the existing 
 western posts surrendered, may not Great Britain establish other 
 posts in a contiguous or more advantageous station ? Is she 
 not left at liberty to pursue the fur trade in our territory as well 
 as her own ? Will not her enterprise in traffic, superior capital, 
 and experience enable her to monopolize that trade? And will 
 she not in future have the same motives and the same means to 
 foment Indian hostilities, that have hitherto been indulged and em 
 ployed at the expense of so much American blood and treasure ? 
 
 YII. The treaty with Great Britain is impolitic and per 
 nicious in respect to the domestic interests and happiness of the 
 United States. 
 
 I. If it is true, and incontrovertibly it is true, that the interest 
 and happiness of America consist, as our patriotic President, in 
 his letter to Lord Buchan, declares, " in being little heard of in 
 the great world of politics ; in having nothing to do in the po 
 litical intrigues or the squabbles of European nations ; but, on 
 the contrary, in exchanging commodities, and living in peace 
 and amity with all the inhabitants of the earth, and in doing 
 justice to and in receiving it from every power we are con 
 nected with ;" it is likewise manifest that all the wisdom and 
 energy of those who administer our government should be con 
 stantly and sedulously employed to preserve or to attain for the 
 United States that enviable rank among nations. To refrain 
 from forming hasty and unequal alliances, to let commerce 
 flow in its own natural channels, to afford every man, whether 
 alien or citizen, a remedy for every wrong, and to resist, on the 
 first appearance, every violation of our national rights and inde 
 pendence, are the means best adapted to the end which we con 
 template. It may be objected that we are already involved in 
 some alliances that have had a tendency rather to destroy our 
 public tranquillity than to promote our public interest. But a 
 difference of circumstances will require and justify a difference 
 of conduct. For instance, it was necessary and politic, in the 
 state of our affairs at the commencement of the Revolution, to 
 pay a premium for the friendship and alliance of France; we 
 could not have insured success without the co-operation of that 
 nation ; and, as the price that we paid for it was not greater than 
 the benefit that we derived from it, we cannot now with justice 
 cavil at our bargain. But was the inducement to form an alliance 
 with Great Britain of a nature equally momentous ? Is the ad 
 vantage flowing from the sacrifices that are made equally com 
 pensatory? Why should we, at this auspicious season of our 
 
FEATURES OF MB. JAY S TEEATY. 179 
 
 affairs, venture to undermine the fundamental maxim of our do 
 mestic happiness by wilfully obtruding on the great world of 
 politics, or wantonly involving ourselves in the political intrigues 
 and the squabbles of European nations ? Suppose, as it is often 
 alleged and sometimes proved, that our treaty with France is 
 productive of inconveniences, will it happen in the political any 
 more than in the physical or moral world that, by multiplying 
 the sources of evil, we shall get rid of the evil itself? If, accord 
 ing to the quondam opinion of the friends of a British alliance, 
 our commerce has been restrained in its operations, or if our 
 government has been menaced in its peace and stability by a 
 practical development of the terms of our treaty with France, 
 shall we better our situation because we make another treaty 
 upon the same terms with Great Britain, and furnish two nations 
 instead of one with an opportunity to perplex and distress us in 
 pursuing our natural and laudable policy the policy of ex 
 changing commodities and living in peace and amity with all 
 the inhabitants of the earth, doing justice to and in receiving 
 it from every power we are connected with? 
 
 2. But even if the question was at large, and we were now 
 under a necessity of deciding, for the first time, whether we 
 would be allied to the monarchy of Great Britain or to the re 
 public of France, how would a rational estimate of the interests 
 and happiness of the United States (the true and only touch 
 stone for solving, in the mind of an American, such an inquiry) 
 lead us to decide ? To those members of the Senate who could 
 regard the twelfth article of the treaty as a mark of parental 
 care and wisdom, by which Great Britain was fondly desirous 
 of restraining the excesses of our commercial ardor ; excesses 
 that might eventually and prematurely debilitate and destroy us ! 
 to those members of the Senate who could, with filial gratitude, 
 declare that an alliance with Great Britain was natural ; that 
 an alliance with France was artificial ; since, although we were 
 partially indebted to France for our independence, we were en 
 tirely indebted to Great Britain for our being ! to all who can 
 cherish such ideas, or utter such language, these strictures will be 
 ungracious and unprofitable ; but they claim a candid attention 
 from the patriot, who remembers that when the parent sought to 
 destroy, the friend interposed to save; and from the statesman, 
 who possesses too much wisdom to be influenced by prejudice, 
 and too much fortitude to be controlled by fear. 
 
 Are the interests and happiness of the United States involved 
 in the permanent establishment of a republican government ? 
 Yes. Then she ought rather to cultivate the friendship of a re 
 public, actuated by a fellow-feeling, than the alliance of a mon 
 archy impressed with jealousy and apprehension. Are the 
 interests and happiness of the United States connected with her 
 
180 APPENDICES. 
 
 territorial and political independence ? Yes. Then she ought 
 rather to fortify herself by an alliance with a nation whose 
 territorial jurisdiction and physical characteristics preclude the 
 possibility of collision, than attach herself to a nation whose 
 language, manners, and habits facilitate the execution of every 
 attempt to encroach, and whose territorial possessions are in an 
 irritating and dangerous contact with our own. Are the interest 
 and happiness of America to be promoted by an active employ 
 ment of the vast store of materials of the first necessity which 
 nature has bestowed on her, by the extension of her commerce, 
 and by the freedom of her navigation ? Yes. Then she ought 
 rather to court the countenance and protection of a nation whose 
 occasions of envy are comparatively few ; whose temptations 
 are to foster, not to counteract, our schemes of commercial opu 
 lence and enterprise ; and whose imperial glory and existence 
 do not depend upon a claim of universal maritime superiority ; 
 rather than consent to bask beneath the baneful shade of an 
 alliance with a nation whose very existence is, probably, the 
 tremendous stake in opposition to our prosperity ; and whose 
 embraces, like the embraces of the tyrant s image, may be ren 
 dered the most effectual instruments of torture and destruction. 
 Are the interest and happiness of the United States dependent 
 on the cordiality of their union and the permanency of their 
 government ? And again Do that cordiality and that perma 
 nency depend upon the confidence and mutual good understand 
 ing which subsist between the people who formed the government 
 and the officers whom the people have appointed to" administer 
 it ? Yes. Then it would be the part of duty, as well as policy, 
 in those officers to follow the unanimous sentiment of the people, 
 by preferring a liberal and faithful alliance with France to a con 
 strained and hypocritical alliance with Great Britain. 
 
 3. The first striking effect of the treaty to endanger the inte 
 rests and disturb the happiness of the United States may be 
 detected by a geographical sketch of the cordon, or line of cir- 
 cumvallation, with which it enables Great Britain to fetter and 
 inclose us. The proximity of Canada and the western posts 
 has heretofore been a cause of great uneasiness ; but that is a 
 trifling source of vexation compared with what we shall have in 
 future to encounter. Suppose ten thousand radii were drawn 
 diverging from the centre of the United States ; not one of them 
 could escape the conventional circle of British territory, jurisdic 
 tion, and occupancy. Has an American occasion to travel to the 
 east or the north, the barriers of Nova Scotia and Canada pre 
 sent themselves. Is it his wish to penetrate the great western wil 
 derness, a new set of British posts will intercept his progress, 
 even if he shall be allowed peaceably to pass the British colony 
 within the precincts and jurisdiction of Detroit. Does business 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 181 
 
 require him to cross, or float down, the Mississippi, he may 
 evade the vigilance of the Spaniard, but he will find the eastern 
 bank of the river monopolized by British traders, and probably 
 protected by British gunboats. He is in hopes, however, to avoid 
 all difficulty by a passage on the ocean. Alas ! our Atlantic 
 harbors are crowded with prizes to British privateers, and our 
 seacoast is lined with British cruisers ! Yet let us for a moment 
 imagine that this ill-fated traveller has surmounted his domestic 
 obstacles, whither can he fly to be emancipated from the foreign 
 jurisdiction of Great Britain ? In the West Indies, his cock-boat 
 is measured and steered according to the scale and course pre 
 scribed by the treaty. In the East Indies, he can hardly exchange 
 a commodity, or make a single acquaintance, without the British 
 license. In Europe, if, during a British war, he carries goods 
 belonging to an enemy of Great Britain, they will be seized as 
 prize ; if he takes ship-timber, tar, rosin, etc., they are liable to 
 be confiscated as contraband ; and if his cargo consists of pro 
 visions, the British may take it, by treaty, at their own market 
 price ! 
 
 One idea more about the boundary of the United States. 
 Before the Revolution, Great Britain had projected that general 
 arrangement and division of her colonial possessions in America 
 which she has since, upon a smaller scale, carried into execution 
 with respect to Canada. The territory then intended to be 
 allotted to the government of the Canadas was extended by a 
 line running along the northern boundaries of the eastern colonies, 
 along the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and along the 
 courses of the Ohio, into the Mississippi. Since we are left at a 
 loss for a positive definition of the precincts and jurisdiction of 
 the western posts as ceded by the treaty to the settlers under 
 British titles, may we not conjecture that Great Britain contem 
 plates the territorial extent of her original project ? Does not 
 Major Campbell s unexpected pretension, and the constant claim 
 of the Indians, at the instigation of the British, to establish the 
 Ohio as a boundary between them and the United States, give 
 some countenance to such a conjecture ? 
 
 4. But should an American, not stimulated by the desire of 
 travelling into foreign countries, be content to prosecute the 
 objects of his honest industry within the British territorial circle 
 bounding and constituting his own home, will his condition be 
 much better than the condition of his itinerant fellow-citizen? 
 What with the establishment of British colonies and British ware 
 houses, the naturalization of British landholders, and, in short, 
 the unqualified admission of Englishmen, owing allegiance to 
 the British crown, throughout our lakes, rivers, and territory, 
 while we are excluded from their seaports, company-lands, etc., 
 an American will hardly be able to find elbow-room for himself 
 
182 APPENDICES. 
 
 and family. Their pecuniary capital being larger ; their means 
 being easier ; their experience being greater, they must, inevi- 
 tabty, under such circumstances, become our merchants, manu 
 facturers, farmers, etc. etc. They will import for us, in their 
 vessels, all the products and fabrics of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
 They will export for us, in their vessels, every article that our 
 soil can furnish ; our merchants will dwindle into clerks ; our 
 husbandmen will degenerate into the condition of the feudal 
 villienage; and thus, in a short course of years, America will 
 probably exhibit the astonishing spectacle of a, country possessed, 
 cultivated, and enjoyed by aliens! The ancient inhabitants of 
 Great Britain, in a similar manner, invited those Saxons to their 
 island as friends and allies who soon afterwards became their 
 conquerors and masters. 
 
 5. In such a state of things the interest and happiness of the 
 United States must languish and expire I At first the American 
 mind will be corroded, by contrasting the elevation of the guest 
 with the depression of the host. A struggle will probably ensue ; 
 but the influence of wealth, and the patronage of extensive com 
 mercial and manufactural institutions, etc. will even divide the 
 Americans themselves ; and, by dividing, capacitate the British 
 settlers to rule them. Is this an idle phantom, a visionary 
 suggestion ? No ! For, is not a great part of our trade, at this 
 moment, monopolized by British subjects, under the mask of 
 American citizenship? Has not the influence of British credits 
 and British politics already formed a considerable party in our 
 government and among our merchants? Disguise it as you 
 will, let pride deny and shame suppress the sentiment, still, it 
 is too evident to every candid and discerning observer, that the 
 only subsisting difference in the opinions and conduct of the 
 citizens of America arises from this fatal cause. Why, at the 
 moment of reprobating self-created societies for civil purposes, 
 do we gladly see the formation of self-created societies for mili 
 tary purposes, the city cohorts and Pra3torian bands ? Why 
 are our merchants, who so anxiously called forth the voice of their 
 fellow-citizens in applauding the proclamation of neutrality, so 
 circumspect and so torpid in giving their testimony about the 
 treaty ? How comes it that amidst the acclamations of the 4th 
 of July the treaty is toasted in the little circle of English manu 
 facturers on the banks of the Passaic, and at the convivial tables 
 of the English emigrants on the plains of the Genesee ? How 
 comes it that every man who prefers France to Great Britain 
 republicanism to monarchy is denominated anti- Federalist, 
 Jacobin, Disorganize! , Miscreant, etc., while men of another hu 
 mor arrogantly and exclusively assume the titles of Federalists, 
 Friends to Order, etc. etc. ? But let every honest American 
 reflect seriously and seasonably upon the means of promoting the 
 
FEATUBES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 183 
 
 interest and happiness of the United States, and he will disdain, 
 as well as dread, to augment, by the adventitious force of treaties, 
 that paramount interest which Great Britain has already insidi 
 ously acquired in our commerce, navigation, manufactures, terri 
 tory, and government. 
 
 6. Besides the injury eventually to be apprehended from these 
 causes, the treaty is calculated to impair the interest and happi 
 ness of the United States by producing an immediate and vio 
 lent concussion in the federal atmosphere. For, 
 
 It ransacks the archives of our revolutionary transactions, and 
 rejudges the solemn judgments of our courts of justice. 
 
 It condemns individuals to the payment of debts from which 
 they had previously been discharged by law. 
 
 ft makes the government of the Union responsible for the con 
 tracts of private citizens and the defalcations of bankrupts. 
 
 It disregards the freedom of our commerce and navigation, 
 and it restrains the use of our staple commodities. 
 
 It does not exact a just indemnification for the detention of the 
 western posts. 
 
 It does not require the payment, stipulated by the preceding 
 treaty, for the value of the negroes carried off at the close of the 
 war. 
 
 It does not provide for the freedom and safety of our seamen 
 in their intercourse with the British dominions. 
 
 Let any one of these propositions be separately analyzed, and 
 sufficient cause will be found to excite arid justify popular dissat 
 isfaction ; but view them combined, and the mind is shocked with 
 an apprehension that the ratification of the treaty may be the 
 death-warrant of the Union ! 
 
 VIII. The British treaty and the Constitution of the United 
 States are at war with each oilier. 
 
 1. Self-preservation is the first law of society as well as of 
 individuals; it is the radical principle of all political compacts. 
 Nations, says Vattel, are bound to guard their own preserva 
 tion and to pursue their own perfection. We have incessant 
 opportunities, indeed, of observing the operation of this universal 
 rule in animals of instinct as well as in animals of reason; in 
 the world of things as well as in the world of beings. 
 
 2. Self-preservation, however, is a relative idea ; it relates to 
 the nature of the animal to the constitution of the society. A 
 man may lose his human character without destroying his vital 
 existence; and a government may be changed in its essence 
 without being subverted in its forms. 
 
 3. So likewise, without open assault or positive violence, the 
 sources of animal life may be poisoned by the imperceptible con 
 taminations of a luxurious habit ; so, without the aid of terror 
 
184 APPENDICES. 
 
 or force, the legitimate foundations of government may be under 
 mined by the insidious encroachment of the rulers, and by the 
 sedative acquiescence of the people. Governments, indeed, have 
 too generally proved to be a kind of political chrysalis, passing, 
 by progressive transmutations, from the grub of pure democracy 
 to the butterfly of absolute monarchy. 
 
 4. But it will not yet be denied in America that, as the people 
 have the sole right to constitute their government, the rule 
 of self-preservation requires that the government should be 
 maintained in practice as well as in theory, such as they have 
 constituted it. To render it, by any construction of the written 
 articles of our social compact, other than a republican govern 
 ment, would be as fatal a subversion as daring usurpation or 
 military conquest could achieve. For what real difference does 
 it make to a nation whether its constitution is seized upon by an 
 enterprising individual, as in the Swedish revolution of 1770, or 
 overthrown by a triumphant warrior, as in the recent extinction 
 of the Polish monarchy, or voted out of doors, as in the disorgan 
 izing edicts of the Long Parliament of England ? Thus, like 
 wise, for one department of the government to assume the au 
 thority of another, or, by constructive amplifications of its own 
 jurisdiction, so to monopolize the attributes of government as to 
 render the other departments useless and inefficient, must ever 
 be deemed an effectual subversion of any constitution. The 
 mode of distributing and organizing the powers of government, 
 as well as the consideration of the nature and extent of the 
 powers to be delegated, essentially belongs to the people ; and, 
 in the body politic as well as in the body natural, whenever any 
 particular member absorbs more than its allotted portion of the 
 aliment that is destined to vivify and invigorate the whole, de 
 bility and disease will infallibly ensue. After the emperors had 
 usurped the functions, privileges, and powers of the Senate, and 
 of the popular magistrates of Rome, they preserved the formali 
 ties of the commonwealth, but they trampled on the liberties of 
 the people. Though the parliaments of France had long been 
 deprived of every deliberative faculty as the representatives of 
 the people, they were summoned to the last as the ministerial 
 officers of the monarch for the purpose of registering his edicts. 
 
 5. The government of the United States being, then, theoreti 
 cally a republican government, and with great propriety denomi 
 nated a government of departments, let us proceed to examine how 
 far the principles of self -preservation, and the duty of pursuing 
 the perfection of our political system, are involved in the ratifi 
 cation of the projected treaty with Great Britain. 
 
 The second section of the second article of the constitution 
 says that "the President shall have power, by and with the 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 185 
 
 advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two- 
 thirds of the senators present concur." 
 
 To the exercise of this power no immediate qualification or 
 restriction is attached ; but must we, therefore, suppose that the 
 jurisdiction of the President and Senate, like the jurisdiction 
 ascribed to the British Parliament, is omnipotent ? To place the 
 authority of our President and Senate on the same footing with 
 the prerogative of the king of Great Britain will not be com 
 mensurate with the objects to which the treaty extends. It must 
 be remembered that the treaty of peace, by which the rights of 
 sovereignty and soil were ceded by the king of Great Britain to 
 the United States, was negotiated and ratified under the positive 
 sanction of an act of Parliament; and it is expressly stated in 
 Vattel that the king of Great Britain cannot, by treaty, confer 
 the rights of citizenship on an alien. (B. i. c. 19, f. 214.) Now, 
 Mr. Jay s treaty does both these things (as will be hereafter de 
 monstrated) without the intervention of the legislative authority 
 of the Union. 
 
 6. The consequence of admitting this unqualified claim to om 
 nipotence, in transacting the business of the nation, would be so 
 hostile to the principle and preservation of our government that 
 it is an indispensable duty (obsta principiis} to controvert and 
 resist it. Whenever the President and two-thirds of the Senate 
 shall be desirous to counteract the conduct of the House of Re 
 presentatives ; whenever they may wish to enforce a particular 
 point of legislation; or whenever they shall be disposed to cir 
 cumscribe the power of a succeeding Congress, a treaty with a 
 foreign nation, nay, a talk with a savage tribe, affords the ready 
 and effectual instrument for accomplishing their views ; since the 
 treaty or the talk will constitute the supreme law of the land. 
 That such things may happen, let the history of Mr. Jay s mis 
 sion and negotiation testify. 
 
 7. If the extraordinary treaty-making power is paramount to 
 the ordinary legislative power, supersedes its exercise, and 
 embraces all its objects, let us endeavor to trace whither the pro 
 position will carry us. 
 
 The fifth article of the constitution vests a power in two-thirds 
 of both houses of Congress to propose amendments to the con 
 stitution. 
 
 Let us suppose that a defect in our judiciary, or in any other 
 department, operated injuriously to a foreign nation, could the 
 Senate and President, uniting with that foreign nation, and ex 
 cluding the House of Representatives, propose an amendment 
 upon the subject ? If they could by these means originate, 
 might they not by other means effectuate, alterations in the 
 fundamental points of our government, and make, in fact, a new 
 constitution for us ? 
 
 13 
 
186 APPENDICES. 
 
 By the eighth section of the first article, Congress is empow 
 ered to borrow money on the credit of the United States. 
 
 Suppose it was deemed expedient to subsidize Portugal, in 
 stead of building frigates, to keep the Algerines within the straits 
 of the Mediterranean, could two-thirds of the Senate and the 
 President either borrow, or guarantee, a loan for that purpose 
 by treaty ? 
 
 The same section empowers Congress to establish uniform laws 
 on the subject of bankruptcies. 
 
 Suppose Great Britain had remarked that, as her subjects were 
 constantly the creditors of the citizens of the United States, she 
 was deeply interested in our system of bankrupt laws, had the 
 President and two-thirds of the Senate a right to incorporate 
 such a system with the projected treaty ? 
 
 The same section empowers Congress to coin money, to regu 
 late the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standards 
 of weights and measures. 
 
 Suppose the Birmingham manufacturers offered, on a cheap 
 plan, to supply us with coin ; suppose Great Britain were 
 pleased to insist upon our receiving her guineas at their English 
 value, and upon our promising not to sweat, deface, or clip them, 
 according to the current practice of the Union ; suppose France 
 were desirous that we should adopt the fanciful project of that 
 republic respecting weights and measures; could all, or any, of 
 these propositions be acceded to and established by treaty ? 
 
 The ninth section of the same article declares " that the mi 
 gration or importation of such persons as the States now existing 
 shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Con 
 gress prior to the year eighteen hundred and eight." 
 
 Suppose Mr. Wilberforce had negotiated on the part of Great 
 Britain, instead of Lord Grenville, and had made the prohibition 
 of the importation of slaves into the United States, in the year 
 eighteen hundred and eight, sine qua non, could the President 
 and two-thirds of the Senate admit and legitimize the stipulation 
 by treaty ? 
 
 By the constitution, Congress has the power to constitute tri 
 bunals inferior to the supreme court. 
 
 Suppose Great Britain desired, for the future, as well as for 
 the past, to establish a tribunal of her own judges in America, 
 for deciding controversies between British subjects and American 
 citizens, could this be accomplished through the medium of a 
 treaty ? 
 
 By the constitution, Congress is endowed with the power of 
 declaring war. 
 
 Suppose Lord Grenville had insisted, and Mr. Jay had ap 
 proved, that the treaty should be an offensive and defensive alli 
 ance, and that we should forthwith join Great Britain in her 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 187 
 
 hostilities against France, could the President and Senate thus 
 negotiate us into a war ? 
 
 By the constitution it is declared "that no person holding 
 any office, etc. under the United States shall, without the con 
 sent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or 
 title, of any kind whatsoever, from any king, prince, or foreign 
 state." 
 
 Suppose our envoy had been offered a present or a title by the 
 British monarch, would the consent of the treaty be tantamount 
 to the consent of Congress for the purpose of approving and 
 justifying his acceptance ? 
 
 By the constitution it is provided that all bills for raising reve 
 nues shall originate in the House of Representatives, and that 
 no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence 
 of appropriations made by law. 
 
 Suppose Great Britain had stipulated that, as soon as the 
 commissioners had fixed the sum due to her subjects for old 
 debts, the President should draw a warrant for the amount, and 
 that the same should be paid out of all public moneys in the 
 treasury of the United States prior to the payment of any ante 
 cedent appropriation by law, would this be the proper subject 
 for a treaty or for an impeachment ? 
 
 8. But, fatigued and disgusted with displaying thus hypotheti- 
 cally the monstrous consequences which will inevitably flow from 
 the jurisdiction claimed on behalf of the President and Senate 
 to bind the United States by any treaty, and in all cases whatso 
 ever, let us particularly examine the numerous and extravagant 
 infractions of the constitution which the projected treaty actually 
 commits. Recent as is the establishment of the federal constitu 
 tion, it is, indeed, to be lamented that the possibility of violating 
 it, is not a matter of floating and fluctuating popular opinion, 
 but a matter susceptible of fixed and positive proof. For, who 
 does not recollect that a bill touching the fundamental principle 
 of the government (its representative quality), after having 
 passed both houses of Congress, was declared by the President 
 to be unconstitutional, and therefore undeserving of his offi 
 cial approbation and signature? Who can forget that a law 
 touching the essential properties of the judicial department of our 
 government, after being ratified by every organ of legislative 
 authority (the President, Senate, and House of Representatives), 
 was declared by Chief Justice Jay and his associate judges to be 
 unconstitutional, and therefore incapable of being executed and 
 enforced? With such authoritative precedents (and there are 
 many others that might be adduced from the transactions of 
 individual States) of the possibility of deviating from the rule 
 and meaning of our constitution, are we to be damned for politi 
 cal heresy merely because we doubt, or deny, the infallibility of 
 
188 APPENDICES. 
 
 Mr. Jay s negotiating talents 1 And must every man be accursed 
 (to use, for a moment, the intolerant language of the late Secre 
 tary of the Treasury, in his character of the New York Camillus) 
 who thinks that the American envoy and the British minister 
 were at least as likely to mistake, or misconstrue, the constitutional 
 boundaries of the American government as the President, 
 Senate, and House of Representatives of the United States ? It 
 is certainly, upon the whole, more candid and more convincing 
 to put " the defence" of the treaty upon the true trading ground 
 taken by the New York Chamber of Commerce ; to wit " That 
 we have made as good a market as such pedlars had a right to 
 expect on the royal exchange ; and that we cannot afford to fight, 
 though we must submit to be plundered." 
 
 9. Let us proceed, however, in examining the points on which 
 the British treaty is at war with the American constitution. 
 
 (I) By the Constitution of the United States, the JUDICIAL 
 POWER is vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts 
 as the Congress may from time to time establish ; and its juris 
 diction embraces, among other things, " controversies between a 
 state, or citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects." 
 
 By the treaty, a tribunal other than the supreme court, or any 
 inferior court established by Congress, is erected, with a juris 
 diction to ascertain the amount of any losses or damages sustained 
 " by divers British merchants and others, his Majesty s subjects, 
 on account of debts, etc. that still remain owing to them by 
 citizens or inhabitants of the United States ;" and it is agreed, 
 "that in all such cases, where full compensation for such losses 
 and damages cannot, for whatever reason, be actually had and 
 received by the said creditors, in the ordinary course of justice, 
 the United States will make full and complete compensation for 
 the same to the creditors," etc. 
 
 Remarks. 1. It is the right of every independent nation to 
 establish and maintain a judicial authority coextensive with its 
 territorial possessions. The principle is indisputable, and it is 
 incidentally recognized by Lord Mansfield and other great law 
 yers in the celebrated controversy between the king of Prussia 
 and Great Britain relative to the Silesia Loan. 2. The consti 
 tutional tribunals of the United States were adequate to the 
 administration of complete justice in the very cases for which 
 the treaty provides a special tribunal. 3. If it is possible in any 
 case, with any nation, and at any time, to stipulate, by treaty, for 
 the erection of a tribunal, in order to ascertain and liquidate 
 debts due from citizens to foreigners, may it not be done in every 
 case, with every nation, and at every time ? 4. Is not the court 
 of commissioners, in effect, an high court of errors and appeals 
 for the United States, with power to revise and reverse every judg 
 ment that has been given since the year 1783, either in a federal 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 189 
 
 or State court, in every cause between a British subject and an 
 American citizen ? 5. Wherever the recovery of the principal 
 debt has been protracted by the forms of law wherever there 
 has been an abatement of interest, by the compromise of the 
 parties, or the verdict of a jury wherever the debtor has become 
 insolvent, this high court of commissioners may sustain an 
 appeal, and can award damages for the detention or loss of the 
 debt. It is true, the treaty adds that this " provision is to extend 
 to such losses only as have been occasioned by lawful impedi 
 ments ;" but the extent of the discretion of the commissioners, in 
 adjudging what constitutes a lawful impediment, is without 
 limitation or control; and the nature of the evidence, by which 
 their minds are to be informed, is without rule or definition ; 
 since (in the language of the treaty) it may be "either according 
 to the legal forms now respectively existing in the two countries, 
 or in such other manner as the said commissioners shall see 
 cause to require or allow." Thus not only erecting a court 
 unknown to our constitution, but admitting a species of proof 
 not recognized by the legal forms of our country. 6. Let us 
 appeal to Mr. Jay himself upon the constitutionality of such 
 proceedings. By an act of Congress, the judges of the circuit 
 courts were required to take, and report to the Secretary at War, 
 certain proofs in the case of invalids and pensioners. The 
 judges refused (as we have already noticed) to execute the act, 
 declaring it to be unconstitutional, as well on account of the 
 nature of the duty imposed upon them as on account of the re- 
 visionary power which was vested in the Secretary at War. By 
 the treaty, the President and Senate will appoint commissioners, 
 in conjunction with the king of Great Britain, to hold a court of 
 appeals from every court in the Union ; and to determine judicial 
 questions, upon private controversies, between British subjects 
 and American citizens. Now, let us ask, whether it is more un 
 constitutional/or the legislature to impose new and extraordinary 
 duties upon a court, existing according to the constitution, than 
 for the executive to create a new and extraordinary tribunal, 
 incompatible with the constitution, inasmuch as it can only act 
 upon the alienation of the jurisdiction previously and exclusively 
 vested in our domestic courts : the jurisdiction of hearing and 
 deciding judicial questions, upon private controversies, between 
 British subjects and American citizens? 7. But this is not the 
 only infraction of the constitution involved in the arrangement 
 alluded to the obligation of private contracts is transferred 
 from individuals to the public. The framers of the constitution, 
 in declaring that " all debts contracted, and engagements entered 
 into, before its adoption, shall be as valid against the United 
 States under the constitution as under the confederation," could 
 hardly anticipate that they charged the treasury of the Union 
 
190 APPENDICES. 
 
 with the payment of all the outstanding debts of the individual 
 citizens of America! And when Congress was vested with a 
 power "to lay and collect taxes, to pay the debt*, and provide for 
 the common defence and general welfare of the United States," 
 it certainly never was contemplated that the government of 
 America became the insurer of every British merchant against 
 litigious delays and fraudulent or accidental bankruptcies ! It 
 cannot be suggested that Great Britain acts in a similar manner 
 upon our complaints of the spoliations on our trade. For the 
 injury that we have sustained originated in an act of govern 
 ment, the injured individuals are, in the first instance, bound to 
 apply to the British courts of justice, and the public are only 
 responsible in the last resort for the individual aggressors. 
 
 (2) By the Constitution of the United States, Congress is 
 empowered to establish "an uniform rule of naturalization," 
 and that power has accordingly been exercised in an act that 
 provides, among other things, that " no person heretofore pro 
 scribed by any State shall be admitted a citizen except by an 
 act of the legislature of the State in which such person was 
 proscribed." 
 
 By the treaty, all the British settlers and traders within the 
 precincts or jurisdiction of the western posts are allowed an elec 
 tion either to remain British subjects or to become citizens of 
 the United States; and it is agreed "that British subjects who 
 now hold lands in the territories of the United States may hold, 
 grant, sell, or devise the same to whom they please in like man 
 ner as if they were natives ; and that neither they nor their 
 heirs or assigns shall, so far as may respect the said lands and 
 the legal remedies incident thereto, be regarded as aliens. 17 
 
 Remarks. Is not the treaty at war with the constitution in 
 this great and delicate point of naturalization ? A British col 
 ony is ip so facto, by the magic of Mr. Jay s pen, converted into 
 an American settlement ! Every British subject who now holds 
 lands (and when we recollect the recent speculations for the sale 
 of lands, how can we calculate the extent of the adoption?) is, 
 without ordeal or restraint, endowed with all the rights of a 
 native American ! If it is possible by treaty to give the rights 
 of propert}^ to aliens, may not the civil rights of the community 
 be disposed of by the same potent instrument? If it is possi 
 ble by treaty to confer citizenship on the British garrison at 
 Detroit and its contiguous settlers, why may we not by treaty 
 also confer an instantaneous citizenship on every flight of emi 
 grants that shall hasten to our shores from Germany or Ireland? 
 It may not be amiss here to intimate a doubt of the power of 
 the federal government to regulate the tenure of real estates ; it 
 is nowhere expressly given, and therefore cannot be constitu 
 tionally implied ; and it seems to be among the necessary and 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 191 
 
 natural objects of State legislation. But let us presume (what 
 is highly probable) that there are amongst the settlers within 
 the precincts or jurisdiction of the western posts certain pro 
 scribed persons, can the treaty, in spite of the law, restore them 
 to the rights of citizenship without the authoritative assent of 
 the State that proscribed them ? Again : is every man whose 
 estate was liable to confiscation as a traitor or as an alien, in 
 consequence of the Revolution, entitled now to hold lands as a 
 native? The Fairfax claim in Virginia, the claim of the Penns 
 in Pennsylvania, and the claims of Galloway, Allen, etc., may 
 hence derive a dangerous principle of resuscitation. Look to it 
 well, 
 
 (3) By the constitution, Congress is empowered to regulate 
 commerce with foreign nations. 
 
 By the treaty, the commerce of the United States, not only 
 directly with Great Britain, but incidentally with every foreign 
 nation, is regulated. 
 
 Remarks. There is not a source of legislative jurisdiction 
 upon the subject of commerce which is not absorbed by this ex 
 ecutive compact. The power of regulating commerce with for 
 eign nations is expressly and specifically given to Congress. 
 Can a power so given to one department be divested by implica 
 tion in order to amplify and invigorate another power given in 
 general terms to another department ? But more of that here 
 after. 
 
 (4) By the constitution, Congress is empowered to regulate 
 commerce with the Indian tribes. 
 
 By the treaty, it is agreed that " it shall at all times be free to 
 British subjects, etc.. and also to the Indians dwelling on either 
 side of the boundary line of the United States, freely to pass 
 and repass by land or inland navigation into the respective terri 
 tories and countries of the two parties on the continent of Amer 
 ica, etc., and freely to carry on trade and commerce with each 
 other." The treaty likewise provides that "no duty of entry 
 shall ever be levied by either party on peltries brought by land 
 or inland navigation into the said territories respectively; nor 
 shall the Indians, passing or repassing with their own proper 
 goods and effects of whatever nature, pay for the same any impost 
 or duty whatever 
 
 Remarks. It is easy to perceive that the stipulations in favor 
 of the Indians were introduced at the instance of Great Britain ; 
 and her motives are not even attempted to be disguised. Her 
 traders will boast of the favor and security which she has com 
 pelled America to grant to the Indians, and so engage their 
 confidence and attachment ; while the privilege of free passage 
 and the exemption from duties will inevitably throw the whole 
 fur-trade into the hands of the British. The surrender of the 
 
192 APPENDICES. 
 
 western posts under such circumstances can produce no loss to 
 Great Britain, and will certainly be of no advantage to America: 
 it will not add a shilling to the profits of our Indian traffic, nor 
 insure us a moment s suspension of Indian hostilities ! But, to 
 prosecute our constitutional inquiry, what right is there, by 
 treaty, to regulate our commerce with the Indian tribes ? When 
 ever a treaty of peace and amity has heretofore been concluded 
 with the Indians, it has been the constitutional practice of the 
 President to call on Congress to regulate the commerce with 
 them. Such calls were totally unnecessary, if the same thing 
 might as well and as lawfully be done by treaty ; and if it could 
 not be done by treaty in the case of the Indians, neither could it 
 be done by treaty in the case of a foreign nation ; for both are 
 expressed in the same terms, and included in the same member 
 of the section. " Congress shall have power (says the consti 
 tution) to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among 
 the several States, and with the Indian tribes." What right is 
 there, by treaty, to declare that no duty of entry shall ever be 
 levied by either party on peltries, etc. (and a similar promise is 
 made in cases that more immediately affect Great Britain), since 
 Congress has the sole power to lay and collect taxes, duties, etc, 
 to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and gen 
 eral welfare of the United States? If we may, negatively, say, 
 by treaty, that certain duties shall not be laid, may we not 
 affirmatively say, by treaty, that certain other duties shall be 
 laid ? And then, what becomes of that part of our constitution 
 which declares "that all bills for raising revenue shall originate 
 in the House of Representatives?" But let us imagine for a 
 moment that it is in the power of the President and Senate to 
 regulate our commerce with the Indian tribes, ought not the 
 regulation to be made with the Indians themselves ? Why suffer 
 Great Britain to negotiate and stipulate for Indians actually re 
 siding within the territory of the United States? Is such a 
 concession consistent with the dignity and independence of our 
 government with the peace and interest of the nation ? Let 
 Mr. Randolph s letter to Mr. Hammond, on the conduct of Gen 
 eral Simcoe and Major Campbell, be referred to as an answer to 
 this question. It is not, at present, within reach to be quoted ; 
 but iis contents were too important to have already escaped the 
 memory of any reflecting American. 
 
 (5) By the constitution, Congress is empowered " to define and 
 punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and 
 offences against the law of nations." 
 
 By the treaty, the definition and punishment of certain offences 
 not known by any law of the Union, are declared and permitted ; 
 to wit: 1st. For accepting commissions or instructions from any 
 foreign prince or state to act against Great Britain. 2d. For 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 193 
 
 accepting any foreign commission or letter of marque for arming 
 any privateer, etc., Great Britain may punish an American citizen, 
 as a pirate. 3d. For not treating British officers with that re 
 spect which is due to the commissions they bear, and for offering 
 any insult to such officers, the offenders shall be punished as dis- 
 turbers of the peace and amity between America and Great 
 Britain. 4th . For making a prize upon the subjects of Great 
 Britain, the people of every other belligerent nation (except 
 France) shall be punished "by a denial of shelter or refuge in 
 our ports. 
 
 Remarks. To define crimes and apportion punishments is 
 the peculiar province of the legislative authority of every free 
 government; but it is obvious, from the foregoing recapitu 
 lation, that the executive authority has likewise encroached upon 
 that province, by the instrumentality of its treaty-making power. 
 Can a citizen be surrendered by treaty to all the pains and pen 
 alties of piracy? Then, by treaty, he might be subjected to all 
 the pains and penalties of treason. It is true that the consti 
 tution reserves to itself the exclusive rig/rf of declaring what 
 shall constitute treason; but it is equally true that it bestows 
 on Congress the exclusive right to define and punish piracy: 
 and the invasion of the right to define in one case, is as uncon 
 stitutional as the invasion of an actual definition in the other. 
 But what legitimate authority can a treaty suggest in order to 
 justify the restraint upon that right of expatriation which Con 
 gress itself has not ventured to restrain while legislating on 
 subjects of a similar class ? It is not intended to convey the 
 slightest doubt of the power and propriety of controlling our 
 citizens in their conduct towards foreign nations while they are 
 within the reach of domestic coercion ; but to prohibit an Ameri 
 can freeman from going whither he pleases in quest of fortune 
 and happiness, to restrict him from exercising, in a foreign 
 country and in a foreign service, his genius, talents, and indus 
 try ; to denounce him for seeking honor, emolument, or instruc 
 tion, by enlisting within the territory, and under the banners, of 
 another nation to do such things, is to condemn the principle of 
 our own policy, by which we invite all the world to fill up the 
 population of our country: to do such things is, in fact, to pros 
 trate the boasted rights of man. It is hardly worth a pause to 
 ask, what proportion of respect is due to the commission of a 
 British officer? and what degree of punishment the refusal or 
 neglect to pay it may deserve ? 
 
 (6) By the constitution, it is declared "that no tax or duty 
 shall be laid on articles exported from any State." 
 
 By the treaty, " it is expressly agreed and declared, that the 
 United States will prohibit and restrain the carrying any mo 
 lasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or cotton, in American vessels, either 
 
194 APPENDICES. 
 
 from his Majesty s islands or from tlie United States, to any part 
 of the world." " 
 
 Remarks. This is an extract, it is true, from the twelfth article 
 of the treaty ; but it equal! v serves to show the probability of 
 attempts to violate the constitution. Besides, the advocates for 
 the treaty are hasty and premature when they desire to throw 
 the twelfth article entirely out of consideration ; for, by that 
 proposition, though they should save the treaty, they effectually 
 destroy its author. They are hasty and premature for another 
 reason : the twelfth article is to be suspended for the declared 
 purpose of negotiating something as a substitute ; and therefore 
 we must consider its principle in order to ascertain how far any 
 modification of it could be rendered palatable. But, on consti 
 tutional ground, when it is declared that no duty shall by law be 
 laid on articles exported from any State, is it not absurd, or 
 wicked, to suppose that by treaty the exportation of the articles 
 themselves can be prohibited ? The obvious intention of the 
 constitution is to encourage our export trade; the immediate 
 effect of the treaty is to obstruct and annihilate it. 
 
 (7) There are many other points in w r hich a collision occurs be 
 tween the constitution and the treaty, but to which the scope and 
 nature of these strictures will not admit a full attention. It may 
 be cursorily remarked, however, that a cession of territory, which 
 will, probably, be the consequence of settling anew the boundaries 
 of the United States, and even the actual cession of the precincts 
 of the western posts, though in favor of individuals, are subjects 
 for serious reflection. If a part of the United States may be 
 ceded, if a whole State may be ceded, what becomes of the 
 guarantee of a republican form of government to every State? 
 The propriety of presenting this consideration to the public mind 
 will be allowed by those who know that, in the course of the 
 senatorial debate, the right of ceding by treaty a whole State, 
 nay, any number of the States sliort of a majority, was boldly 
 asserted and strenuously argued ! ! ! 
 
 (8) It may not be amiss, likewise, to add that our government 
 has no more right to alienate powers that are given than it has to 
 usurp powers that are not given. For instance, an act of Con 
 gress could not (and can a treaty?) surrender the right of seques 
 tering the property of a hostile nation, the right of giving 
 commercial preferences to a friendly nation, and the right 
 of suspending a ruinous intercourse with any nation. Great 
 clamors have been raised against the exercise of these rights; 
 and, undoubtedly, they should only be used in the last resort ; 
 but they are rights recognized by the law of nations; and 
 they are" rights often essential to the duties of self-preservation, 
 and sometimes necessary to the accomplishment of reciprocal 
 justice. 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 195 
 
 10. Having taken this review of the actual warfare between 
 the constitution and Mr. Jay s diplomatic work, and of the de 
 structive consequences of the claim of the executive to bind the 
 United States, in all cases whatsoever, by treaty, let us recur to 
 the position with which the present feature was introduced, 
 namely, the duty of preserving the constitution, such as it was 
 made "and intended by the people, and we shall find, by a faithful 
 comparison of theory with practice, that the government of the 
 United States may be transformed, through the medium of the 
 treaty-making power, from a republic to an oligarchy, from a 
 free government of several departments, legislative, judicial, and 
 executive, to the simple aristocratical government of a President 
 and Senate. 
 
 11. This fatal effect, however, of converting our government 
 from the system which the people love to a system which they 
 abhor, from what it was made in theory, to what it was never 
 intended to be made by practice, can only proceed from error 
 or corruption. It would ill become the writer of these strictures, 
 who so freely, but, it is hoped, so fairly, expresses an opinion, to 
 impute to any man, or set of men, a sinister and traitorous design 
 against the constitution of our common country. The denun 
 ciations fulminated by the New York Camillas and his small 
 circle of coadjutors, harmlessly expend themselves in the violence 
 of their explosion ; like the denunciations of the Tiara, they 
 spring from an arrogant claim of infallibility ; and like them, 
 too, will only excite the derision or the disgust of an enlight 
 ened nation. Is it credible that every citizen of the United 
 States, from Georgia to New Hampshire, who reprobates Mr. 
 Jay s treaty must either be an enemy to our government or a 
 rancorous incendiary ? Is it to be presumed that no man can 
 utter a sentence of disapprobation respecting the principles of 
 the treaty, without feeling a sentiment of animosity respecting 
 the person of the negotiator ? Are we really such slaves to 
 faction, so trammelled with party, so insensible to virtue, truth, 
 and patriotism, that every thought which we conceive, every 
 expression which we use, on this momentous occasion, must be 
 connected with the possible (but, it is ardently hoped, the distant) 
 event of electing a successor to the present chief magistrate of 
 the Union ? Yet such are the base and sordid motives passion 
 ately and wantonly ascribed by Camillus, and the scanty troop 
 of advocates who follow him in supporting the treaty, to the 
 great host of the American people, rising (as it were) in mass 
 to condemn it. 
 
 If it could be thought a convenient, a reputable, or a necessary 
 task, how successfully might the argument of recrimination be 
 employed ! Who, it could be asked, are the persons that sup 
 port the treaty ? What are the motives that actuate them ? Is 
 
196 APPENDICES. 
 
 it surprising that the men who advised the treaty, or that THE 
 MAN who composed it, should endeavor, by the force of ingenuity, 
 art, or defamation, to rescue it from general malediction and im 
 pending ruin ? Was it not to be expected that a faction, uni 
 formly eager to establish an alliance tvith Great Britain at the 
 expense of France, would strenuously attempt to procure the 
 ratification of any instrument calculated to accomplish that ob 
 ject ? Does not consistency require from him who openly pro 
 jected in the federal convention, and from those who secretly 
 desire, in the execution of public offices, the establishment of an 
 aristocracy under the insidious title of an energetic scheme of 
 government, that they should approve and countenance every 
 practical application of any medium by which the barriers that 
 separate our constitutional departments may be overthrown, and 
 the occasions for interposing the popular sanction of the legis 
 lature may be superseded or avoided ? Is it not natural that 
 British merchants and British agents, is it not necessary that 
 British debtors and British factors, should clamorously unite 
 or tacitly acquiesce in the applause bestowed upon a compact 
 which, however detrimental to America, is beneficial to Great 
 Britain, the nation of chief importance to the allegiance and 
 affections of some of those characters, and to the opulence and 
 subsistence of all ? Or, if the paltry idea of an electioneering 
 plan must be forced upon our consideration, is it not at least as 
 likely that the party which aims at making a President of Mr. 
 Jay will, on that ground alone, exert itself in "The Defence" 
 of the treaty as that the party which is desirous of conferring 
 the same elevated office on Mr. Jefferson will, for no other reason, 
 attempt to blast the fruits of his competitor s negotiation ? Con 
 sidering, indeed, that Gamillus himself, by confining his " De 
 fence " to the treaty as advised to be ratified by the Senate, vir 
 tually abandons the treaty as negotiated and concluded by Mr. 
 Jay ; and also considering that a part of Gamillus ] s defence of the 
 present treaty arises from the ambiguity that Mr. Jay had left 
 in the former treaty with Great Britain (upon which, however, 
 his character as a negotiator was founded), we might be led to 
 suppose that Mr. Jay s pretensions to the wisdom of a statesman 
 and to the station of a President were not deemed, even by his 
 own party, to be any longer tenable; but that Camillus still con 
 descends, on the obvious presumption of a subsisting rivalship, 
 to impeach the ministerial character and to depreciate the official 
 performances of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 But why should we arbitrarily abuse, instead of endeavoring 
 rationally to convince, each other ? We all have the same right, 
 from natural and from social law, to think and to speak. It is 
 true that we do not all possess the same powers of reason, nor 
 the same charms of eloquence ; but when men are on an equality 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TEEATY. 197 
 
 in the possession as well as in the right of exercising those en 
 dowments, there can be no amicable way of adjusting a differ 
 ence of opinion but that which is adopted for adjusting all the 
 other differences of a free people an appeal to the voice of the 
 majority! Now, let it be allowed (and so far ought it to be 
 allowed, but no farther) that Mr. Jay who negotiated the treaty, 
 the twenty members of the Senate who assented to a conditional 
 ratification, and Mr. Hamilton and the New York Chamber of 
 Commerce who have appeared in support of it (an enumeration 
 that comprises, it is believed, all that have hitherto avowed a 
 perfect approbation), are in the possession of as great a propor 
 tion of information, integrity, and talents as a like number of cit 
 izens selected for their approved wisdom, virtue, and patriotism 
 from the aggregate of those who have publicly condemned the 
 treaty, and then let it be candidly answered which scale in the 
 balance must of right preponderate. After such a selection 
 there will still remain the great body of the community in oppo 
 sition to a ratification, and as members of that community thou 
 sands of individuals who honorably served during the late war in 
 the field and the cabinet, and many of whom at this moment 
 serve with zeal, fidelity, and wisdom in the various departments 
 of government. Is it not, then, the symptom of an arrogant 
 vanity, of a tyrannical disposition, to stigmatize such an oppo 
 sition to a projected measure with the name of "Faction ?" The 
 violence ottered to Mr. Hamilton s person in New York and to 
 Mr. Bingham s house in Philadelphia has justly excited the 
 indignation of every sincere Republican ; but even that repre 
 hensible and odious conduct is not to be compared to the enor 
 mous guilt of endeavoring to force the opinion of &few individ 
 uals upon the people as the ultimate test of political truth, and 
 to cast an odium, upon the late conventions in which, according to 
 the language of the constitution, " the people were peaceably as 
 sembled to petition the government for the redress (or rather 
 the prevention) of a grievance." 
 
 But let the pardon of the reader be granted for this digres 
 sion, and we will return to a delineation of the feature that lies 
 before us. 
 
 12. Declining, then, either to create or to follow a bad exam 
 ple, let us ascribe the deviation from the principles of our consti 
 tution to an erroneous construction rather than to a wilful per 
 version, and let us exert our skill in averting the evil that threatens 
 rather than indulge our resentment in convicting those who labor 
 to produce it. 
 
 Our government, therefore, being a government of depart 
 ments, it is, as we have already observed, inconsistent with the 
 duty of self -preservation ; or, in other words, it must proceed 
 from an error in construction, that one department shall assume 
 
198 APPENDICES. 
 
 and exercise all or any of the powers of all or any of the other 
 departments. " The departments of government (to adopt the 
 elegant figure used by an excellent judge in a late admirable 
 charge to a Philadelphia jury) are planets that revolve each in 
 its appropriate orbit round the constitution as the sun of our po 
 litical system." Thus, if the legislative, executive, or judicial 
 departments shall encroach one upon the orbit of the other, the 
 destruction of the order, use, and beauty of the political system 
 must as inevitably ensue as the destruction of the order, use, 
 and beauty of the planetary system would follow from a sub 
 version of the essential principles of attraction, repulsion, and 
 gravity. 
 
 13. It was necessary, however, that the power of making 
 treaties with foreign nations should be vested in one of the de 
 partments of the government; but the power of making treaties 
 is not, in its nature, paramount to every other power ; nor does 
 the exercise of that power naturally demand an exclusive juris 
 diction. A nation may carry on its external commerce without 
 the aid of the treaty-making power, but it cannot manage its 
 domestic concerns without the aid of the legislative power; 
 the legislative power is, consequently, of superior importance 
 and rank to the treaty-making power. Again: the legislative 
 power, exercised conformably to the constitution, must be direct, 
 universal, and conclusive in its operation and force upon the 
 people ; but the treaty-making power is scarcely in any in 
 stance independent of legislative aid to effectuate its efforts and 
 to render its compacts obligatory on the nation. A memorable 
 occurrence in English history will serve to illustrate both of 
 these positions. It is the fate of the commercial part of the 
 famous treaty of Utrecht, concluded between France and Eng 
 land in the year 1712. " The peace," says Russell in his His 
 tory of Modern Europe, vol. iv. p. 457, "was generally disliked 
 by the people, and all impartial men reprobated the treaty 
 of commerce with France as soon as the terms were known. 
 Exception was particularly taken against the 8th and 9th arti 
 cles, importing that Great Britain and France should mutually 
 enjoy all the privileges in trading with each other which either 
 granted to the most favored nation; that all prohibitions should 
 be removed, and no higher duties imposed on the French com 
 modities than on those of any other people." The ruinous tend 
 ency of these articles was perceived by the whole trading part 
 of the kingdom. It was accordingly urged, when a bill was 
 brought into the House of Commons for confirming them, that 
 the trade with Portugal, the most beneficial of any, would be lost 
 should the duties on French and Portuguese wines be made 
 equal, etc. These and similar arguments induced the more mod 
 erate Tories to join the Whigs, and the bill was rejected by a ma- 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 199 
 
 jority of nine votes. In relating the same transaction, Smollett s 
 History of England, vol. ii. pp. 242, 246, contains some passages 
 too remarkable to be omitted on the present occasion : "Against 
 the 8th and 9th articles," says the historian, "the Portuguese 
 minister presented a memorial declaring that should the duties 
 on French wines be lowered to the same level with those that 
 were laid on the wines of Portugal, his master would renew the 
 prohibition of the woollen manufactures and other products of 
 Great Britain. Indeed all the trading part of the nation ex 
 claimed against the treaty of commerce, which seems to have 
 been concluded in a hurry, before the ministers fully understood 
 the nature of the subject. This precipitation was owing to the 
 fears that their endeavors after peace would miscarry, from the 
 intrigues of the Whig faction and the obstinate opposition of the 
 confederates." "Another bill," continues the same writer in a 
 subsequent page, " being brought into the House of Commons 
 for rendering the treaty of commerce effectual, such a number 
 of petitions were delivered against it, and so many solid argu 
 ments advanced by the merchants who were examined on the 
 subject, that even a great number of Tory members were con 
 vinced of the bad consequence it would produce to trade, and 
 voted against the minister on this occasion." 
 
 Perhaps there cannot, in the annals of all the nations of the 
 earth, be found two cases more parallel than the one which 
 is thus recorded in English history, and the one which at 
 present agitates the American nation. 1. All impartial men 
 reprobated both treaties as soon as the terms were known. 2. 
 The admission of the opposite contracting party to an unqualified 
 participation in trade with the most favored nation is, in both 
 cases, a principal source of complaint. 3. The removal of all 
 prohibitions, and the surrender of the right to impose higher 
 duties on the commodities of the opposite contracting party than 
 on those of any other people, are, in both cases, condemned. 4. 
 The good and the intelligent of all parties have united their 
 influence in both cases to prevent a confirmation of articles of so 
 ruinous a tendency. 5. The whole nation, in both cases, have 
 exclaimed against the treaty. 6. Both treaties were concluded 
 in a hurry, before the ministers fully understood the nature of 
 the subject. 7. Innumerable petitions (and who will NOW deny 
 the propriety of exercising the American right to petition?) were 
 delivered against both treaties. 8. And the Portuguese minister 
 declared, in effect, of the treaty of Utrecht (mutatis mutandis) 
 what the minister of France will, probably, declare of the treaty 
 of London (but what America surrenders the right of saying at 
 any time to Great Britain), " If you ratify your alliance with the 
 British, you must surrender your alliance with France." If such 
 a wonderful similarity of circumstances concur in the negotiation, 
 
200 .APPENDICES. 
 
 terms, and reception of these memorable instruments, let us hope 
 that the guardian angel of American liberty and prosperity has 
 also doomed them finally to experience a merited similarity of 
 fate ! 
 
 14. But having thus shown that, even in Great Britain the 
 treaty-making prerogative is neither paramount nor exclusive 
 (though the generality of Judge Blackstone s expressions on the 
 subject would, perhaps, lead to that preposterous conclusion), 
 we might be satisfied to presume, on general principles, that so 
 high a claim of jurisdiction could not be maintained, at least, on 
 the part of our President and Senate. Yet let us endeavor, by 
 the infallible test of the constitution, to put the matter, if possible, 
 beyond doubt and controversy ; and having established that 
 each department of the government should be confined to its 
 proper orbit, let us endeavor to ascertain what that orbit is in 
 relation to the treaty-making power. 
 
 (1) The power of the President and Senate to make treaties 
 is given (as we have already stated) in general and unrestricted 
 terms. 
 
 But the powers given to Congress (except in an instance to be 
 hereafter noticed) are definite in their terms and appropriated 
 in their objects. 
 
 Let us ask, then, by what rule of construction a power pri 
 marily and specifically given to one body can be assumed and 
 exercised by another to which, in a subsequent clause, a mere 
 general authority is given ? 
 
 Upon the common-law principles of construction, the specific 
 powers would clearly, in such a case, be deemed a reservation 
 and exception out of the general grant. But even according to 
 a rule furnished by the constitution itself, the same result will be 
 produced. Thus, the twelfth ratified amendment declares " that 
 the powers not delegated to the United States by the constitu 
 tion, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." 
 Now, if the general power granted for the purpose of making 
 treaties can set at naught the jurisdiction specifically given to 
 Congress for the purpose of making laws, may it not, with equal 
 propriety and effect, overleap the boundary thus interposed be 
 tween popular rights and constituted powers ? In the one case, 
 the reservation is expressly declared, in the other, it is neces 
 sarily implied. 
 
 (2) But if the delegation of a general power does, ipso facto, 
 convey a right to embrace, in the exercise of that power, every 
 authority not incompatible with its objects, the consequence will 
 be that Congress may enter into treaties as well as the President 
 and Senate ; for Congress is vested with a jurisdiction "to make 
 all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into 
 execution their own powers ;" and what laws are, in that respect, 
 
FEATURES OF ME. JAY S TREATY. 201 
 
 necessary and proper, they must, from the nature of the thing, 
 be the judge. 
 
 Suppose, therefore, that Congress was desirous of forming an 
 alliance, offensive and defensive, with France, but could not 
 obtain the constitutional number of two-thirds of the Seriate for 
 accomplishing the measure by treaty, an act of Congress, in 
 order to regulate commerce with that nation, would afford as 
 effectual a mode (according to the new doctrine), since the act, 
 on the pretext of an equivalent for commercial advantages, might 
 legislate us into the coveted alliance. The temptation and fa 
 cility of proceeding in this way is obvious, the passing of a law 
 requiring but a majority of the Senate ; whereas the ratification 
 of a treaty requires the concurrence of two-thirds of the members 
 of that body. 
 
 (3) It is not, however, necessary to mingle and confuse the 
 departments of our government, contrary to the first principles 
 of a free republic ; nor to make a part of our political system 
 equal to the whole, contrary to the soundest axioms of demon 
 strative philosophy, in order to give a just, efficient, and salutary 
 effect to the treaty-making power of the President and Senate. 
 For although, 
 
 In the first place, the treaty-making power cannot bind the 
 nation by a decision upon any of the subjects which the constitu 
 tion expressly devolves upon the legislative power ; 
 
 Yet, in the second place, the treaty-making power may nego 
 tiate conditionally respecting the subjects that constitutionally 
 belong to the decision of the legislative power ; 
 
 And, in the third place, every other subject, proper for the 
 national compact of a republic, may be negotiated and absolutely 
 concluded by the treaty-making power. 
 
 (4) That such a distinction was intended by the framers of our 
 present excellent constitution, the reasons that have been glanced 
 at must, it is thought, sufficiently prove to every ingenuous mind. 
 But let one argument more be adduced. 
 
 By the ninth article of the old confederation, it was declared 
 " that the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole 
 and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war. " 
 
 By the existing constitution of the United States, it is pro 
 vided "that Congress shall have power to declare war, grant 
 letters of marque and reprisal," etc. 
 
 Now, it is evident that by omitting to deposit with Congress 
 the power of making peace, in addition to the power of declaring 
 war, the framers of our present government had in full view the 
 division of its department and the corresponding distribution of 
 its powers. 
 
 Congress, under the confederation, was a single body, and 
 
 14 
 
202 APPENDICES. 
 
 therefore necessarily possessed of all the little legislative, execu 
 tive, and judicial authority which the States had been pleased to 
 delegate to the Union. 
 
 The government of the United States, on the contrary, is a 
 compound system, of which the Congress is only the legislative 
 department ; and. therefore, the executive and judicial functions 
 are elsewhere to be sought for and exercised. 
 
 Hence it is that although the power of declaring war is (as it 
 ought to be) left with Congress, the power of making peace is 
 (as it ought to be) transferred to the executive; being a natural 
 appendage of the general power of making treaties. 
 
 This deduction serves likewise to demonstrate that the framers 
 of the constitution did not intend to leave the powers that are 
 specifically given to Congress at the mercy of the power that is 
 generally given to the President and Senate. By expressing a 
 positive jurisdiction in favor of the former, it excludes a claim of 
 jurisdiction in favor of the latter. 
 
 (5) Nor is it in the power of making treaties only that the 
 constitution has abridged the executive department of its cus 
 tomary attributes in order to augment the sources of legislative 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 In Great Britain (for instance), the executive possesses the 
 power of making peace ; of granting letters of marque and re 
 prisal ; of regulating weights and measures ; of coining money, 
 regulating the value thereof, and of foreign coins ; of erecting 
 courts of judicature ; of conferring the rights of denizenship on 
 aliens, etc. etc. 
 
 In the United States, the power for all those purposes is abso 
 lutely vested in the legislature. 
 
 15. On reviewing the various positions that have been taken 
 in the course of these strictures, a desire is felt to exhibit the 
 corroborative opinions of men who have been justly valued by 
 the public. It will be useful to the reader, as well as pleasing to 
 the writer, to indulge the disposition in a few instances and in a 
 brief manner. 
 
 (1) It has been said that the power of regulating commerce 
 belonged to Congress. 
 
 The report of Mr, Mason (a member of the federal convention) 
 on that subject was delivered in the convention of Virginia as 
 follows: "With respect to commerce and navigation, I will give 
 you, to the best of my information, the history of that affair. 
 This business was discussed (in the convention) at Philadelphia 
 for four months, during which time the subject of commerce and 
 navigation was often under consideration ; and I assert that eight 
 out of twelve, for more than three months, voted for requiring 
 two-thirds of the members present in each house to pass com 
 mercial and navigation laws. True it is that afterwards it was 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 203 
 
 carried by a majority as it stands. If I am right, there was a 
 great majority for two-thirds of the States in this business, till a 
 compromise took place between the northern and southern States ; 
 the northern States agreeing to the temporary importation of 
 slaves, and the southern States conceding, in return, that navi 
 gation and commercial laws should be on the footing in which 
 they now stand." 
 
 (2) It has been said that the treaty-making power could not 
 cede a part of the Union, nor surrender a citizen to be punished 
 as a pirate. 
 
 The opinion of Mr. Randolph (a member of the federal con 
 vention, and now Secretary of State), delivered in the same con 
 vention, contains the following passage : " I conceive that neither 
 the life nor the property of any citizen, nor the particular right 
 of any State, can be affected by a treaty." 
 
 Mr. Madison, also, justifying and recommending the adoption 
 of the constitution to his fellow-citizens, says, with respect to the 
 treaty-making power: "I am persuaded that when this power 
 comes to be thoroughly and candidly viewed it will be found 
 right and proper. Does it follow, because this power is given to 
 Congress, that it is absolute and unlimited? I do not conceive 
 that power is given to the President and Senate to dismember 
 the empire or to alienate any great, essential right. I do not 
 think the whole legislative authority have this power. The ex 
 ercise of the power must be consistent with the object of the 
 delegation." 
 
 (3) It has been said the right of suspending a commercial 
 intercourse with any nation, and the right of sequestering an 
 enemy s property, etc., were rights essential to an independent 
 government and recognized by the law of nations. 
 
 Vattel contains the following, among many other passages, 
 on those subjects : 
 
 "Every state has a right to prohibit the entrance of foreign 
 merchandise, and the people who are interested have no right to 
 complain of it as if they had been refused an office of humanity." 
 (B. i. c. 8, f. 90.) 
 
 "It depends on the will of any nation to carry on commerce 
 with another, or to let it alone. "" (Ibid., f. 92.) 
 
 " The goods even of the individuals in their totality ought to 
 be considered as the goods of the nation in regard to other states. 
 From an immediate consequence of this principle, if one nation 
 has a right to any part of the goods of another it has a right in 
 differently to the goods of the citizens of that part till the dis 
 charge of the obligation." (Ibid., f. 81, 82.) 
 
 " It is not always necessary to have recourse to arms in order 
 to punish a nation : the offended may take from it, by way of 
 punishment, the privileges it enjoys in his dominions ; seize, if 
 
204 APPENDICES. 
 
 he has an opportunity, on some of the things that belong to it, 
 and detain them till it has given him a just satisfaction." (B. ii. 
 c. 28, f. 340.) 
 
 " When a sovereign is not satisfied with the manner in which 
 his subjects are treated by the laws and customs of another na 
 tion, he is at liberty to declare that he will treat the subjects of that 
 nation in the same manner that his are treated." (Ibid., f. 841.) 
 
 (4) It has been said that the constitution ought to be pre 
 served such as the people have made it ; that, of course, the de 
 partments of government ought to be kept separate and distinct, 
 each revolving in its proper orbit, and that no other judicial tri 
 bunal could be erected by a law of the legislative power, much 
 less by a treaty of the executive power than what the consti 
 tution prescribes or expressly permits. 
 
 On this interesting subject we fortunately possess the opinions 
 of the judges of the supreme court and of the judges of some of 
 the district courts in the case of the act of Congress (already 
 more than once alluded to), which they have unanimously ad 
 judged to be unconstitutional and void. 
 
 Extract from the opinion of Judges IREDELL and SITGREAVES : 
 
 "First. That the legislative, executive, and judicial depart 
 ments are each formed in a separate and independent manner, 
 and that the ultimate basis of each is the constitution only, 
 within the limits of which each department can alone justify 
 any act of authority. 
 
 "Secondly. That the legislature, among other important powers, 
 unquestionably possesses that of establishing courts in such a 
 manner as to their wisdom shall appear best, limited by the terms 
 of the constitution only; and to whatever extent that power may 
 be exercised, or however severe the duty they may think proper to 
 require, the judges, when appointed in virtue of any such estab 
 lishment, owe implicit and unreserved obedience to it. 
 
 "Thirdly. That at the same time such courts cannot be war 
 ranted, as we conceive, by virtue of that part of the constitution 
 delegating judicial power, for the exercise of which any act of 
 the legislature is provided in exercising (even under the author 
 ity of another act) any power not in its nature judicial, or, if 
 judicial, not provided for upon the terms the constitution requires. 
 
 "Fourthly. That whatever doubts may be suggested, whether 
 the power in question is properly of a judicial nature, yet, inas 
 much as the decision of the court is not made final, but may be 
 at least suspended in its operation by the Secretary at War, if 
 he shall have cause to suspect imposition or mistake, this sub 
 jects the decision of the court to a mode of revision which we 
 consider to be unwarranted by the constitution. For, though 
 Congress may certainly establish, in instances not yet provided 
 
FEATURES OF MR. JAY S TREATY. 205 
 
 for, courts of appellate jurisdiction, yet such courts must consist 
 of judges appointed in the manner the constitution requires, and 
 holding their offices by no other tenure than that of their good 
 behavior, by which tenure the office of Secretary at War is not 
 held; and we beg leave to add, with all due deference, that no 
 decision of any court of the United States can, under any cir 
 cumstances, in our opinion, agreeably to the constitution, be liable 
 to a reversion, or even suspension, by the legislature itself, in 
 whom no judicial power of any kind appears to be vested but the 
 important one relative to impeachments." 
 
 Extract from the opinion of Judges WILSON, BLAIR, and PETERS : 
 
 "The people of the United States have vested in Congress all 
 legislative powers granted in the constitution. 
 
 " They have vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior 
 courts as the Congress shall establish, the judicial power of the 
 United States. 
 
 "It is worthy of remark that in Congress the whole legis 
 lative power of the United States is not vested ; an important 
 part of that power was exercised by the people themselves when 
 they ordained and established the constitution. 
 
 "This constitution is the supreme law of the land. This 
 supreme law all judicial officers of the United States are bound 
 by oath or affirmation to support. 
 
 " It is a principle important to freedom that, in government, 
 the judicial should be distinct from and independent of the legis 
 lative department. To this important principle the people of the 
 United States, in forming their constitution, have manifested the 
 highest regard. 
 
 " They have placed their judicial power not in Congress, but in 
 court* 1 . They have ordained that the judges of those courts 
 shall hold their offices during good behavior; and that during 
 their ontinuance in office their salaries shall not be diminished. 
 
 " Congress have lately passed an act to regulate (among other 
 things) the claims to invalid pensions. 
 
 "Upon due consideration, we have been unanimously of 
 opinion that, under this act, the circuit court, held for the 
 Pennsylvania district, could not proceed: 
 
 " First. Because the business directed by this act is not of a 
 judicial nature. It forms no part of the power vested by the con 
 stitution in the courts of the United States; the circuit court must, 
 consequently, have proceeded without constitutional authority. 
 
 " Secondly. Because if, upon that business, the court had pro 
 ceeded, its judgments (for its opinions are its judgments) might, 
 under the same act, have been revised and controlled by the 
 legislature and by an officer in the executive department. Such 
 revision and control we deemed radically inconsistent with the 
 
206 APPENDICES. 
 
 independence of that judicial power which is vested in the 
 courts; and, consequently, with that important principle which 
 is so strictly observed by the Constitution of the United States." 
 
 Extract from the opinion of Chief Justice JAY, and Judges 
 GUSHING and DUANE : 
 
 "The court were unanimously of opinion, 
 
 " First. That by the Constitution of the United States, the 
 government thereof is divided into three distinct and independent 
 branches ; and that it is the duty of each to abstain from and 
 oppose encroachments on either. 
 
 " Secondly. That neither the legislative nor the executive 
 branches can constitutionally assign to the judicial any duties, 
 but such as are properly judicial, and to be performed in a 
 judicial manner. 
 
 " Thirdly. That the duties assigned to the circuit court by 
 the act in question are not of that description ; and that the act 
 itself does not appear to contemplate them as such ; inasmuch as 
 it subjects the decision of these courts, made pursuant to those 
 duties, first to the consideration and suspension of the Secretary 
 at War, and then to the revision of the legislature ; whereas, by 
 the constitution, neither the Secretary at War nor any other 
 executive officer, nor even the legislature, are authorized to sit 
 as a court of errors on the judicial acts or opinions of this court." 
 
 SUCH, upon the whole, are " THE FEATURES OF MR. JAY S 
 TREATY." It was not intended to protract this sketch of them 
 to so great a length ; and yet more circumstances are recollected 
 that might have been inserted than could, upon a fair reconsid 
 eration, be retrenched. If it shall, in any degree, serve the pur 
 poses of truth, by leading, through the medium of a candid 
 investigation, to a fair, honorable, and patriotic decision, the 
 design with which it was written will be completely accom 
 plished, whether RATIFICATION or REJECTION is the result. 
 
 But before the subject is closed, let the citizens of the Union 
 be warned from too credulous an indulgence of their prejudices 
 and their fears. The discordant cry of party is loud ; and the 
 phantoms of war assail the imagination ; yet, let us not be de 
 luded by stratagem nor vanquished by terror. The question is 
 not a question between party and party, but between nation and 
 nation; it is not a question of war or peace between military 
 powers, but a question of policy and interest between commercial 
 rivals. The subject is too momentous to be treated as the football 
 of contending factions, it appeals from the passions to the judg 
 ment, from the selfishness to the patriotism, of every citizen ! 
 
 That the British treaty, or a British war, is a necessary al 
 ternative, will be more fully controverted if the writer s present 
 
COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 207 
 
 intention of delineating " FEATURES OF THE DEFENCE" shall be 
 carried into effect. But, in the mean time, let a few self-evident 
 propositions contribute to relieve the public mind from the weight 
 of that apprehension. 
 
 1. The disposition of Great Britain, manifested by the order 
 of the 6th of November, 1793, by the speech of Lord Dorchester 
 to the Indians, and by the repeated invasions made, under Gen 
 eral Simcoe s authority, upon our territory, is naturally hostile to 
 the United States. 
 
 2. Even if the United States could, by any means, soothe and 
 convert that disposition into amity and peace, the projected 
 treaty is too high a price to pay for such a change. 
 
 3. The refusal to enter into the projected treaty with Great 
 Britain is not a just cause of war ; and if a pretence only is 
 wanting, it may be found in the toasts at our festivals as well as 
 in the acts of our government. 
 
 4. But the ratification of the treaty will assuredly give um 
 brage to another nation to an ancient ally. 
 
 5. If war is inevitable either with Great Britain or with 
 France, it would be more politic for the state, more congenial to 
 the sentiments of the people, to engage the former than the latter 
 power. 
 
 6. In case of a war with Great Britain, we have assurance 
 that France will aid us with all the energy of her triumphant 
 arms. 
 
 7. In case of a war with France, we ought not to count upon 
 the affections, and we cannot rely upon the power, of Great 
 Britain to befriend us. 
 
 (FROM THE PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE.) 
 
 View of the Commerce of the United States as it stands at 
 present and as it is fixed by Mr. Jay s Treaty. 
 
 1. ACTUAL STATE. American ships from Europe enjoy a pro 
 tecting duty of ten per cent, on the amount of duties on goods, 
 wares, and merchandises imported into the United States in 
 foreign bottoms from Europe, and of 30 to 50 per cent, on teas 
 imported in foreign bottoms from Asia or Europe, paid by for 
 eign bottoms more than is paid on such goods imported in our 
 own vessels. Foreign bottoms pay also 44 cents a ton on every 
 voyage more than is paid by American shipping ; all which had 
 been allowed by the federal government to encourage American 
 ship-builders, mariners, mechanics, merchants, and farmers. 
 
 1. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty America cedes to Great 
 
208 APPENDICES. 
 
 Britain the right of laying duties on our ships in Europe, the 
 West Indies, and Asia to countervail these, and engages not to 
 increase her duties on tonnage on this side so as to check the 
 exercise of this right ; in consequence British ships may be put, 
 at the discretion of the British government, on exactly the same 
 footing as American ships in the carrying trade of Europe and 
 Asia. 
 
 2. ACTUAL STATE. American ships of any size now go freely 
 to all the British West Indies, sell their cargoes, and bring re 
 turns, as it suits them. 
 
 2 STATE BY TREATY. By treaty American ships are to be 
 reduced to seventy tons, in order to be admitted in the British 
 West Indies. 
 
 3. ACTUAL STATE. American ships may now freely load mo 
 lasses, sujrar, coffee, cocoa, or cotton to any part of the world 
 from the United States. 
 
 3. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty American ships are to be 
 totally prohibited this commerce, which is to be carried on under 
 any flag but theirs. 
 
 4. ACTUAL STATE. American citizens can now go supercar 
 goes to India, settle and reside, and do their business there. 
 
 4. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty no American citizen can 
 settle or reside in these ports, or go into the interior country, 
 without special license from the local government, who may, 
 under color of this, impose what obstacles they please to the 
 commerce. 
 
 5. ACTUAL STATE. America now enjoys the right of regu 
 lating commerce, so as to encourage one nation and discourage 
 another, in proportion to benefits received or injuries felt re 
 spectively. 
 
 5. STATE BY TREATY. All this abandoned by the treaty so 
 far as respects Great Britain ; no duties can be laid on British 
 goods but what must apply to all other nations from whom we 
 import goods; no embargoes on exports to British ports but 
 what must apply to all nations alike. 
 
 6. ACTUAL STATE. American ships now freely navigate to 
 the British dominions in India, and from thence proceed with 
 cargoes to any part of the world. 
 
 6. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty American ships are admitted 
 as usual into the British ports of India, but prohibited carrying 
 any return cargoes except to the United States ; prohibited also 
 from the coasting trade in the British ports of India, from which 
 they were not, that I know of, before excluded. 
 
 7. ACTUAL STATE. Timber for ship-building, tar or rosin, 
 copper in sheets, sails, hemp, cordage, and generally whatever 
 may serve directly to the equipment of vessels not contraband 
 by former treaties of the United States. 
 
OP 
 tJNIVERS 
 
 COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STAT 
 
 *T. STATE BY TREATY. All these articles made contraband by 
 this treaty. 
 
 8. ACTUAL STATE. American ships carrying- provisions, by 
 America claimed as having a free right of passage to the ports 
 of their destination. 
 
 8. STATE BY TREATY. This claim now apparently waived ; 
 such American ships, when taken, to be allowed indemnity of 
 freight, demurrage, and a reasonable mercantile profit, the amount 
 whereof not ascertained. 
 
 9. ACTUAL STATE. American ports open to prizes made on 
 Britain by France, and America possessed of the liberty to grant 
 similar douceurs to other nations, as she sees fit in future com 
 pacts with them. 
 
 9. STATE BY TREATY. American ports now opened to prizes 
 taken by Britain from any nation except France, but shut to 
 prizes taken from Britain by Spain, or any other power not 
 favored in this way by treaties already made; of course discour 
 aging to our future negotiations with all powers, France and 
 Britain excepted. 
 
 10. ACTUAL STATE. American ships allowed at present freely 
 to enter British ports in Europe, the West Indies, and Asia, but 
 shut out from the seaports of Nova Scotia and Canada, 
 
 10. STATE BY TREATY. American ships allowed to go into 
 these ports, but under new restrictions of size in the West 
 Indies, and of latitude of trade in the East Indies; the ports 
 of Halifax, Quebec, etc. still shut to America. 
 
 11. ACTUAL STATE. American ships thus partially allowed 
 entrance into British ports. 
 
 11. STATE BY TREATY. British ships allowed universal en 
 trance into all our ports. 
 
 12. ACTUAL STATE American ships now sail, though not 
 under naval protection, under guarantee of all the British effects 
 possessed here, which might be made answerable for our floating 
 property, if unjustly seized on by Great Britain in case of a war, 
 so much apprehended by the Chamber of Commerce of New 
 York. 
 
 12 STATE BY TREATY. By treaty American ships deprived 
 of this guarantee ; sequestrations or confiscations being declared 
 impolitic and unjust when applied to stocks, or banks, or debts, 
 though nothing said about them when applied to ships or cargoes. 
 
 13. ACTUAL STATE. British debts now recoverable in the 
 federal courts of the United States, but reposing on the solvency 
 of the debtors only. 
 
 13. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty a new court of commis 
 sioners opened on this subject, with immense power and guar 
 antee of the United States, who must meet, indeed, at Phila 
 delphia, but may adjourn where they please. Nothing said of 
 
210 APPENDICES. 
 
 debts due to Americans in England, if, by legal impediments, 
 prevented from recovery there. 
 
 14. ACTUAL STATE America sends Mr. Jay to recover re 
 dress for spoliations on our commerce actually sustained. 
 
 14. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty a court of commissioners 
 opened, who are to sit in London, without power of adjournment, 
 as in the case of the commission for debts. Americans must, 
 therefore, transport themselves and claims to London, and em 
 ploy counsel there, to recover what the commissioners shall think 
 fit to allow them. Admirable compensation, indeed ! 
 
 15. ACTUAL STATE American ships much plagued by British 
 privateers. 
 
 15. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty the privateersmen are to 
 give 1500 to 3000 sterling security for their good behavior. 
 
 16. ACTUAL STATE American citizens may now expatriate 
 and serve in foreign countries. 
 
 16. STATE BY TREATY. By treaty they are declared pirates 
 if serving against Great Britain ; but no provision made to guard 
 American seamen from being forced to serve in British ships. 
 
 17. ACTUAL STATE. America possesses claims to a large 
 amount on account of negroes carried off, and the western posts 
 detained in violation of the treaty of 1783. 
 
 17. STATE BY TREATY. These claims all waived by the treaty, 
 without reference to the merits of these pretensions. 
 
 The casting up of the above is submitted to the Chamber of 
 Commerce of New York. 
 
 Errors, outstandings, and omissions excepted. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, July 27, 1795. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 MEMORIAL TO LEGISLATURE AGAINST CALLING 
 A CONVENTION. 
 
 To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the memorial of the sub 
 scribers, citizens of the said Commonwealth, most respectfully 
 represents : 
 
 That your memorialists have seen with alarm and regret pro 
 posals recently and suddenly sent forth and pressed upon your 
 consideration for calling a convention with the avowed intention 
 of altering the constitution of this State. 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 211 
 
 Your memorialists who, in common with their fellow-citizens, 
 have for nearly fifteen years enjoyed the benefits resulting from 
 our present system of government, framed by the wisdom, adopted 
 by the choice, and suited to the character of the people, are un 
 able to discover what new or formidable evils have arisen to 
 require even deliberation or a change. 
 
 We now enjoy personal liberty ; freedom of religion, of speak 
 ing, and of writing; property and reputation are protected. Some 
 inconveniences may exist ; but they are within the reach of 
 remedy from the constitutional power of the legislature. 
 
 Believing the constitution to be so composed and organized as 
 fully to secure all the objects of good government, and seeing no 
 prospect but of danger in a project of innovation which, when 
 required by no evident necessity, can lead to no useful end, your 
 memorialists, solemnly protesting against a measure the perni 
 cious consequences of which they sincerely deprecate, rely on the 
 virtue and patriotism of the Senate and House of Representatives 
 to preserve their country from the impending evil, and confidently 
 hope they will firmly reject whatever application may be made for 
 assembling a convention having for its object any change in the 
 Constitution of Pennsylvania. 
 
 And your memorialists, etc. 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS, After an arduous contest in 
 support of those principles of civil liberty to which the Revolu 
 tion gave birth, during the first period of a triumph that con 
 ferred the executive and legislative authority of the nation upon 
 patriots of our own choice, while the character of the American 
 people and of their government is rising, with unrivalled lustre, 
 in the estimation of the wise and the good throughout the world, 
 and in the ripe season of domestic prosperity, presenting its bless 
 ings as the reward of virtue and industry, without distinction of 
 persons, places, and pursuits, who can hear without surprise the 
 cry of social discontent, or view without apprehension a spirit of 
 political innovation ? But the painful crisis has arrived ! Amidst 
 all our inducements to preserve harmony and peace, the standard 
 of discord has been wantonly unfurled. By specious tales of 
 imaginary wrongs, you have been urged to doubt the reality of 
 the happiness you enjoy. In the hope of substituting the glitter 
 of impracticable theories for the steady light of experience, the 
 fundamental laws and constitutions of the kind are assailed. The 
 
212 APPENDICES. 
 
 wreath of honor placed by yourselves upon the brow of sages 
 and of chiefs is rudely violated by strange and obtrusive hands. 
 And the Republican party of Pennsylvania, outrunning the op 
 probrious predictions of its enemies, seems eager to become the 
 speedy instrument of its own destruction. 
 
 The evil, thus distinctly traced, is great ; but, fellow-citi 
 zens, it is not incurable. Reflecting upon the origin and process 
 of the schemes to subvert our government and to degrade our 
 patriots ; the motives, the means, and the number of its authors 
 and supporters; the very nature of the influence which has be 
 guiled some honest and respectable citizens to its aid ; and the 
 irresistible force of reason and truth in developing the fatal con 
 sequences with which it teems, you will be convinced that there 
 is yet safety by an appeal to the virtue, intelligence, and power 
 of the people. In countries whose overgrown population is 
 tainted with crimes and enervated by want, where the inequali 
 ties of property and of rank produce envy on the one hand and con 
 tumely on the other, where labor has no excitement for its move 
 ments nor any security for its accumulations, and where, in a 
 struggle to be emancipated from oppression, the end is deemed a 
 sufficient sanction for all the means that can be employed to at 
 tain it, the smallest spark of political enthusiasm naturally kin 
 dles into a blaze, and the public tranquillity is forever held at 
 the mercy of individuals sanguine, bold, and aspiring. Far dif 
 ferent, however, is the condition of Pennsylvania, where no ma 
 terial change can be projected without involving the hazard of a 
 material injury; and the people, neither insensible to the boun 
 ties of Providence nor regardless of the dictates of prudence, 
 will hear, examine, and decide for themselves. Encountering 
 this ordeal, the clamor which has been suddenly raised must as 
 rapidly pass away, and, like a summer s storm, serve only, by its 
 concussion, to purify and enliven the political atmosphere. 
 
 Behold, then, fellow-citizens, in the history of the existing 
 crisis, as well the ground of consolation as the source of your 
 affliction. During the memorable period in which the Repub 
 lican party strove to rescue our civil institutions from danger, 
 and to enforce the right of participation in the service and honors 
 of our country, a principle of concert and conciliation gave life 
 and confidence and effect to all our plans and operations. But 
 no sooner were the stations of power and patronage occupied by 
 distinguished Republicans; scarcely had the auspicious inaugu 
 ration of 1801 been celebrated, nor indeed had the toils of the 
 recent conflict ceased to require relaxation and repose, when 
 symptoms of ambition and intrigue, of jealousy and discontent, 
 of disunion and disorder, awakened the patriotic mind to a sense 
 of new troubles and new sorrows. The distinction, then, became 
 obvious between those Republicans who had fought for the cause 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 213 
 
 and those who had only fought for themselves. With some 
 merit, on the score of service, but with more pretension, from the 
 desire of remuneration, a small but active combination of mal 
 contents was formed to influence or control the measures of gov 
 ernment; and these men (in their career presumptuous, intrepid, 
 and persevering) have deemed no claim too extravagant to be 
 advanced ; no artifice too mean to be employed ; no obstacle too 
 great to be surmounted. While they have marked, for popular 
 scorn and suspicion, every other citizen in public employment, 
 their business and pleasure and pride have been the designa 
 tion of offices for themselves and the hungry circle of their ad 
 herents. The highest have not been above the soarings of their 
 vanity, nor are the lowest beneath the cravings of their indi 
 gence. The cabinet of state and the direction of a bank, the 
 desk of the customs and the bench of a court, the magistracy 
 of a city and the clerkships of a department, contracts for pub 
 lic supplies and agencies for charitable institutions, military com 
 missions and medical appointments, have been alike the aim, the 
 hope, or the solace of their labors. 
 
 Although the objects of the combination which we deprecate 
 may be thus regarded as single (the self-aggrandizement of its 
 members), the arts that have been practised to accomplish it have 
 been numerous and diversified. When the issue of our elections 
 had destined the reins of government for Republican hands, it was 
 seen and felt by the genuine friends of the rising administration 
 that a dignified execution of the trust would be embarrassed by 
 expectations which justice could not warrant, by solicitations which 
 reason was unable to satisfy, and by suggestions which an en 
 lightened policy could not fail to condemn. The indications of 
 this perturbed and prowling spirit preceded the first official act 
 of the new administration ; and measures to be adopted were 
 delineated by a bold and specious anticipation, that offered, in the 
 form of a conjecture, what was meant to be prescribed as a task. 
 While the great body of the Republicans, aware that their po 
 sition did not afford a view of the whole of the political ground, 
 left the arrangements of state and the work of reformation im 
 plicitly to their illustrious chief and his associates, the malcon 
 tents pressed with increasing vehemence on the councils of the 
 nation. Sometimes they endeavored to attract attention by florid 
 representations of their own personal worth and civic popularity. 
 At other times they have sought to elevate themselves by depre 
 ciating the character of every real or supposed competitor. On 
 one occasion you have seen them magnify the hasty opinion of a 
 few inhabitants of a few wards of the city into a deliberate ex 
 pression of the wish of the people. On another occasion they 
 have been detected in divulging plots which were never conceived, 
 and in branding as conspirators against the fame and fortunes of 
 
214 APPENDICES. 
 
 the chief magistrate men who would cheerfully expose their lives 
 for the vindication of his principles and the advancement of his 
 happiness. The whole machinery of confidential letters, essays 
 upon the state of parties, anonymous hints, admonitions, and 
 accusations has been set in motion. The petty incidents of pri 
 vate life and the momentary asperities of private altercation, 
 mutilated scraps of conversation and sudden ebullitions of passion 
 have been obtruded, from the recesses of a malignant memory, 
 upon the public ear ; and indeed it was once vainly thought that 
 favor might be achieved by an attempt to sow the seeds of dis 
 union, even within the hallowed precincts of the capitol. 
 
 But, baffled in every scheme and disappointed in every wish, 
 mortified with contempt and exasperated by despair, the mal 
 contents resolved to coerce whom they could not persuade, and 
 to ruin what they could not enjoy. They quickly, therefore, ex 
 changed the arts of solicitation and deception for the weapons of 
 denunciation and terror, transferring their principal scene of action 
 from Washington to Philadelphia, where the Press, which had 
 obtained a matchless celebrity under the guidance of its able and 
 upright founder, was devoted by its present proprietor to all 
 their passions and projects. A few leading members of the 
 General Assembly, honest perhaps, fascinated by the mischiev 
 ous and glowing speculations of Godwin, were also enlisted in 
 their cause, and undertook sometimes to act in the name of the 
 legislature, just as the malcontents themselves have always 
 presumed to act in the name of the people. The plausible 
 pretext of redress of grievances and a reformation of abuses 
 naturally operated upon weak though worthy men in a small 
 degree to augment their numbers, while the desperate and the 
 dissolute (to whom any change is preferable to the continuance 
 of order) listened with delight to the sound of the revolutionary 
 tocsin. 
 
 Thus composed and thus prepared, the malcontents commenced 
 the work of devastation upon our public characters and public in 
 stitutions, boasting, without shame or compunction, that in the 
 prosecution of their designs the merit of past services should be 
 obliterated ; the hope of future usefulness should be blighted ; every 
 feeling of friendship, every claim of gratitude, every tie of domestic 
 affection, should be disregarded and subdued. Although they 
 still wore a mask of respect towards the chief magistrate of the 
 Union, the members of his cabinet (the inmates of his heart as well 
 as the partners of his toil) have been successively libelled by their 
 newspaper squibs or stigmatized in their toasts at a festival. 
 They have sentenced a Republican majority in Congress to the 
 grossest imputations of corruption. In terms of unequivocal 
 import they have charged eleven Republican senators of Penn 
 sylvania with perjury while deciding in a judicial capacity. An 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 215 
 
 opposition to the candidate whom they delight to honor, or to a 
 measure which they are pleased, without consultation, to propose, 
 has never failed to open the sluices of scurrility and defamation 
 upon veterans of the Revolution and Republicans of the day of 
 trial. In the lust of power, in the rage of proscription, the ex 
 ercise of the equal right of opinion at political meetings has 
 either been overawed by boisterous menaces or frustrated by 
 clandestine combinations. The essential rules of discipline have 
 been violated in the military corps to which they belong ; while 
 men wearing the garb and claiming the name of soldiers have 
 refused obedience, on a political pretext, to the orders of their 
 commander, leaving him no refuge from intolerable disgrace but 
 an indignant resignation of his commission. For maintaining 
 the freedom of election (that vital principle of a republican gov 
 ernment guaranteed by the constitution and laws against every 
 species of influence and outrage) Republicans have been de 
 prived of petty offices under the city corporation. Nay, de 
 scending to the humble sphere of persecution, a long list of tried 
 and inflexible Republicans have been expelled without a hearing 
 from a popular society, charged with the inexplicable crime of 
 suspicion or attainted of a contumacious opposition to the elec 
 tion of the member of Congress presiding at their expulsion. In 
 short, who has not felt, or does not fear to feel, the goad and the 
 lash of the present usurpation ? To the elevation of bad men, 
 the prostration of good men has always been found a necessary 
 prelude. The Gironde of Brissot formed a base for the mount 
 ain of Robespierre. The worst views of faction, too, are gen 
 erally pursued under professions of the best. And the citizens 
 of America begin at length to perceive that advantage has been 
 taken of their just veneration for the liberty of the press to 
 shackle them with the tvranny of printers. 
 
 But it early occurred to the malcontents that this system of 
 denunciation could not be supported by the mere weight of their 
 own authority. Many citizens who were the objects of their 
 enmity bore honorable marks of service in the war of independ 
 ence ; many had grown gray with the solicitudes of public council ; 
 most of them were attached to the soil by the ties of parentage, 
 of offspring, or of property ; and all of them had contributed to 
 the triumph of republicanism. A generous people may be vigi 
 lant, but they cannot be suspicious ; before they decide they will 
 examine ; before they inflict punishment they must be convinced 
 that there exists guilt. It was natural, therefore, to expect an 
 inquiry why men who had been firm and faithful throughout the 
 gloomy season of privation and suffering, should abruptly aban 
 don their principle and their party when all was sunshine, hilarity, 
 and enjoyment. To escape from the difficulty of answering this 
 question, the malcontents dexterously raised the phantom of a 
 
216 APPENDICES. 
 
 third party ! It is obvious, however, that while the rapid pro 
 gress of their denunciation presents numbers sufficient to con 
 stitute an independent political corps, their ingenuity has been 
 exerted in vain to assign an adequate motive for its formation ; 
 nor has their zeal been more successful in discovering any proofs 
 of its existence. For though the public have been long amused 
 by a succession of promises to unveil "treasons, stratagems, and 
 spoils," what has been heard in performance of those promises 
 except the ravings of ambition and the ribaldry of nicknames ? 
 Thus to oppose a candidate pertinaciously nominated by the lead 
 ing malcontents has been deemed an inexpiable heresy, although 
 a Republican was his competitor. A refusal to acquiesce in the 
 decision of the malcontents at a popular meeting has been ar 
 raigned as apostasy, although the decision was surreptitiously 
 obtained. A verdict for the acquittal of judges whom the mal 
 contents had foredoomed to conviction has been stigmatized as 
 political defection, although it was delivered in favor of innocence 
 under the solemnity of an oath. In short, every freeman who 
 was unwilling to yield passive obedience to the mandates of a 
 secret tribunal and to sacrifice substantial benefits for airy nov 
 elty ; who would not applaud characters that he did not approve, 
 nor vindicate measures that he never advised; who disdained to 
 carry the prejudices of party into the circles of social life, or to 
 declare all learning, learned men, and good manners hostile to 
 the dignity of republican virtue, the malcontents have arbitrarily 
 enrolled as a Quid or a Federalist, a traitor or a Tory ; involving 
 them all at last (under the auspices of General Steele and Mr. 
 Mitchell) in a comprehensive proscription of " the Constitutional 
 Republicans. 1 But here let it be explicitly announced, that if 
 to differ at this period in opinion and feeling, in theory and prac 
 tice, from the malcontents can furnish the foundation of a third 
 party, we shall rather boast than blush at the imputation of be 
 longing to it. For, as the malcontents have widely wandered 
 from the political ground on which we once acted together, our 
 last great hope (repeating the sentiment of 1801) is "an union 
 of honest men on the principles which led Washington to the field 
 and placed Jefferson in the cabinet." 
 
 Having traced the malcontents through the windings of sinis 
 ter intrigue and personal detraction, we proceed, with increasing 
 indignation, to review their daring and sacrilegious efforts against 
 the civil institutions of our country. On a vain presumption 
 that the establishment of their own influence had been the neces 
 sary consequence of undermining the influence of others, it was 
 thought easy to consummate the work of destruction by employ 
 ing the same arts to decry principles which they had hitherto 
 employed to disgrace men. Resorting, therefore, to all that 
 could excite passion or rivet prejudice ; to all that could stimu- 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 217 
 
 late fear or attract credulity, they have exposed the form and 
 substance of our government, the code of our laws, the system 
 of our jurisprudence, and the administration of justice, through a 
 false and deceptive medium, to the scorn and detestation of the 
 world. Whatever was prepared for us by our venerable ancestors 
 is ridiculed as obsolete; whatever is the production of cotcmporary 
 wisdom is branded with corruption. The patriots of America 
 are supposed to have been ignorant of the true interests of their 
 country, and her statesmen are reproached with a treacherous 
 contempt of the rights of man ; while the impious and visionary 
 standard of human perfectibility is proclaimed to be the only 
 rational guide in the formation of a free government, and the mal 
 contents themselves to be the only qualified rulers of a free people. 
 
 Under the impulse of these dogmas, and with a view to the 
 introduction of wild, pernicious, and unheard-of schemes of legis 
 lation and politics, 
 
 The malcontents have endeavored to deprive us of the inesti 
 mable right of the trial by jury in cases of trespass and damages, 
 as well as in cases of debt and contract. 
 
 They have endeavored to deprive us of the security of inde 
 pendent judges; of judges independent of popularity and perse 
 cution, as well as of power and patronage. 
 
 They have endeavored to deprive us of the sanctuary of the 
 courts of justice where publicity will always insure impartiality ; 
 substituting the private chamber of an individual justice where 
 secrecy too often encourages oppression and begets impunity. 
 
 They have endeavored to deprive us of the freedom of election 
 by a display of the terrors of denunciation and proscription, 
 threatening the good man with the loss of character, and the poor 
 man with the loss of office. 
 
 They have endeavored to deprive us of the liberty of the press 
 by denying to Republicans the usual channels of public commu 
 nication. 
 
 They have endeavored to deprive us of the honors of a well- 
 organized militia by flagrant examples of disobedience, contu 
 macy, and disorder. 
 
 They have endeavored to deprive us of the benefits of the 
 common law of Pennsylvania, as recognized, approved, and con 
 firmed by the Whigs of 1776. 
 
 They are endeavoring to overthrow the State constitution, 
 involving in its ruins the order of society and the principle of 
 republicanism. 
 
 And finally, they are endeavoring, through the influence and 
 example of Pennsylvania, to subvert the federal constitution at 
 the hazard of civil war and a dissolution of the Union. 
 
 Such, fellow-citizens, is the crisis at which your decision is re 
 quired upon the great questions 
 
 15 
 
218 APPENDICES. 
 
 Whether a convention shall be called ? and whether the present 
 governor shall be re-elected ? 
 
 The inalienable right of the people to assemble for the altera 
 tion or abolition of their form of government, and the absolute 
 authority of the citizens to select whom they please for their 
 chief magistrate, have never been denied, and ought not to be 
 resisted. But the possession of the right and the authority 
 bespeaks discretion and justice in using them ; and it would be dis 
 graceful as well as destructive to yield that obedience to the cry of 
 faction which is due alone to the legitimate voice of the people. 
 
 Here, then, let us ask what is the evidence of the public senti 
 ment, what is the test of the public interest, on the important sub 
 jects before you? As the late session of the General Assembly 
 was drawing to a close, the ultimate plot to subvert the consti 
 tution of the State was deemed mature for execution, and meas 
 ures were accordingly taken to obtain signatures to a petition for 
 the call of a convention. But this petition (and we appeal to the 
 inhabitants of every county for a corroboration of the fact) did 
 not originate with the people in thought, word, or deed ; nor has 
 any individual been yet bold enough to avow himself the pre 
 sumptuous author. Issuing, however, from the secret tribunal 
 of the malcontents, it was clandestinely and partially circulated 
 in the remote districts of Cumberland, Washington, Franklin, 
 Northumberland, and Mifflin; while in the city and the populous 
 middle counties it was seen only by a few confidential persons, 
 until the publication of the eighteenth of February last made a 
 full disclosure of its contents to the astonished and insulted com 
 munity. The object being merely to catch the semblance of a 
 popular wish for a convention, and the snare for that purpose 
 being thus artfully set, the malcontents seemed for awhile to be 
 devoid of every apprehension of a defeat, and openly made ar 
 rangements for the enjoyment of a victory. In the House of 
 Representatives a grand committee was appointed to receive the 
 solicited petitions. Before a single petition was presented, legis 
 lative business of great moment (particularly a bill to alter the 
 law respecting contempts of court) was laid aside, under the 
 declaration of a leading character that " the approaching conven 
 tion superseded the necessity of acting upon it." The correspond 
 ence of the members in favor of a convention invited support 
 from their friends, evidently contemplating an immediate call, 
 and forgetting that their sacred trust was conferred to preserve, 
 not to destroy, the constitution ; while the correspondence of 
 their opponents anxiously claimed an expression of the sense of 
 their constituents to avert the danger of an immediate dissolu 
 tion of the government. The press likewise prematurely con 
 sidered the event as realized ; for there the time of assembling the 
 convention was actually referred to the month of August, the 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 219 
 
 place of meeting was designated at Harrisburg, and merchants 
 and lawyers, men of education and men of wealth, were indis 
 criminately excluded from the honors of the sitting. 
 
 But these visions of disturbed and sickly imaginations were 
 suddenly dispelled. Our fellow-citizens, of every political de 
 scription, feeling, at length, the necessity of a prompt interpo 
 sition, hastened to rally round the constitution as the ark of their 
 common safety; and now the malcontents beheld, with terror and 
 dismay, the people, whose name they had craftily assumed and 
 whose indignation they had justly excited, rising in the native 
 majesty of their power and their virtue to vindicate the dominion 
 of the laws. In the course of a few days, by a spontaneous 
 subscription, the list of remonstrants considerably exceeded the 
 list of names which had been collected during a long, industrious, 
 and secret circulation of the petition ; and when the report of the 
 grand committee was discussed, the comparative numbers were 
 4944 petitioners and 5590 remonstrants, exhibiting to the actual 
 view of the legislature a majority of 646 against the call of a 
 convention, independent of thousands who could not transmit 
 their remonstrances to the seat of government before the termi 
 nation of the session. 
 
 Though the malcontents had themselves appealed to the com 
 munity, though they had loudly deprecated every species of re 
 sistance to the sense of a majority, and though they did not dare, 
 under such circumstances, to summon a convention upon their 
 own responsibility or under the authoritative name of the people, 
 yet they could not patiently acquiesce in a result so fatal to their 
 personal and political speculations. The recent expression of 
 the public sentiment could not be revoked or suppressed, but 
 they thought it might be evaded. The freemen of Pennsylvania 
 did not wish to alter their government as a benefit to themselves, 
 but it was thought that they might be induced to alter it as a 
 favor to their friends. The gratitude, as well as the policy of 
 the State, forbade the degradation of her chief magistrate ; but 
 it was thought that the inconstancy and credulity of human na 
 ture would furnish instruments to accomplish it. To these and 
 similar suggestions can alone be ascribed the extraordinary trans 
 actions which succeeded the failure of the project for an imme 
 diate call of a convention. The same principle that commands 
 obedience to the sovereignty of the people must always insure 
 respect towards the depositaries of their authority ; but we can 
 no more regard a few members of the legislature as the legis 
 lature itself than we can regard a few malcontents as the body 
 of the nation. We saw, therefore, with regret but, we repeat, 
 without apprehension that even some men, who wore the legis 
 lative honors of their country, appeared at that time to under 
 take the direction of the revolutionary engine. The House of 
 
220 APPENDICES. 
 
 Representatives, too, under their influence, assumed a tone of su 
 periority, and eventually monopolized the legislative character 
 of the State ; for the memorials, recommending- as well as op 
 posing the call of a convention, were addressed to both branches 
 of the General Assembly (to the Senate as well as to the House 
 of Representatives); but the House of Representatives alone 
 received and considered, approved or condemned, denying to the 
 Senate all information upon the subject and all participation in 
 the decision. In this paroxysm of revolutionary zeal, the report 
 of the grand committee was produced, bearing indelible marks of 
 the disappointment and chagrin of its authors. Contrary to the 
 approved maxims of republican legislation, and in contempt of the 
 exclusive right of the people to originate every change in their 
 government, the report controverts and derides the sentiments of 
 the majority, applauds and enforces the sentiments of the minority, 
 propounds abstract principles which no honest man will dispute, 
 draws practical conclusions which no wise man can admit, repu 
 diates the constitution for supposititious abuses or imaginary de 
 fects, and finally, solicits the agency of a convention to organize a 
 political millennium upon the ideal scale of human perfectibility ! 
 
 But here let us pause for awhile to recapitulate the various 
 pretexts which have been used as a cover for the real designs of 
 the malcontents, and as an excuse for the unauthorized inter 
 position of a majority of one of the legislative chambers. 
 
 1. It has been said, in general terms of reprobation, that the con 
 stitution is defective ; but as it would be idle to expect a perfect 
 work from the hands of imperfect man, the remark carries with it 
 neither censure nor information. It may certainly be applied to 
 every other form of government, past or present; and we shall 
 only indulge a pernicious vanity if we suppose that it will not be 
 equally applicable to every future effort of human invention. But 
 the Constitution of Pennsylvania was constructed on the model of 
 the Constitution of the United States, and has itself become a 
 model for the constitutions of several of our sister States. Its basis 
 and its superstructure are, however, pre-eminently democratic ; 
 for, while other constitutions exact the qualification of property 
 from electors as well as candidates, and transfer the choice of a 
 governor from the people to a department of the government, 
 the Constitution of Pennsylvania establishes the right of univer 
 sal suffrage, declares every freeman eligible to every office, and 
 reserves for the people themselves the appointment of their chief 
 magistrate. It embraces, likewise, every principle of liberty, 
 every security for life, reputation, and property, every means of 
 knowledge by the freedom of the press, and every guard against 
 the encroachments of delegated power upon popular rights or 
 co-ordinate departments which the wisest statesmen could devise 
 and the most anxious patriots could desire. Still, the Coristitu- 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 221 
 
 tion of Pennsylvania may be defective ; but are the defects such 
 as demand the corrective of a convention? Have they generated 
 calamity, oppression, or disorder? Is there a coincidence of 
 opinion on the points of defect or the modes of reparation? and 
 do we not incur the risk of losing a constitution positively good 
 for the mere chance of obtaining a constitution hypothetically 
 better ? The formation of every social compact depends upon 
 mutual deference and conciliatory sacrifices of individual opinion. 
 No system of government was ever approved in all its parts by 
 those who framed or by those who adopted it. And we venture 
 to affirm that no system of government, no scheme of modification 
 or amendment, will ever unite so great a portion of public senti 
 ment and attachment in its favor as are united in favor of the 
 constitution under which the people of Pennsylvania DOW live 
 and flourish 
 
 2. It has been said in the indefinite expressions of jealousy and 
 alarm, that the delegated powers of the constitution may be per 
 verted and abused ; but this also is a remark so general (em 
 bracing equally the legislative, the executive, and the judicial 
 power) that it strikes at the very existence of civil government. 
 In truth, the use of power is essential to the order and peace of 
 society; and the hazard of its being abused must therefore be 
 encountered. But every well-regulated system, while it confers 
 power, exacts responsibility; and no government can, consistently 
 with the other important objects and operations of its institution, 
 be more efficient in this respect than the government of Pennsyl 
 vania. Thus the members of the House of Representatives must 
 annually account to their constituents. The Senate annually 
 sends one-fourth of its members in regular rotation to the ordeal 
 of an election. The executive magistrate undergoes a triennial 
 investigation of his conduct at the bar of the people ; nor can he 
 enjoy the favors of popularity beyond a limited period. The 
 judges are constantly subject to the censorial power of impeach 
 ment and to legislative addresses for their removal; while the 
 subordinates of the State are amenable to the governor, and (in 
 common with himself and the judges) may be impeached and 
 dismissed for misconduct in office. If, with such precautions, 
 there is not safety in the delegation of power, to what substitutes 
 can we more confidently resort? Let it not be answered to the 
 direct and constant agency of the people; for that is impractica 
 ble. Let it not be answered to the exclusive authority of the 
 legislative agents of the people; for we know that legislative 
 agents may feel power and forget right as well as executive and 
 judicial magistrates. But, rather let us bow with reverence to 
 the decrees of Providence, thus mingling with all its bounties to 
 mankind a portion of bitterness and alloy. 
 
 3. It has been said, in terms of indignation and disgust, that 
 
222 APPENDICES. 
 
 the constitution tolerates the common law, and is, therefore, in 
 consistent with true liberty and genuine republicanism. On no 
 occasion has the declamation of the malcontents betrayed more 
 ignorance or more wickedness than in the attempt to despoil this 
 venerable code of the affections and confidence of the people. In 
 depicting the common law they have ransacked the cells of 
 monks; they have pillaged the lumber of colleges; they have 
 revived the follies of a superstitious age; and they have bran 
 dished the rigors of a military despotism ; but in all this rage of 
 research they have forgotten or concealed that such things enter 
 not into the composition of the common law of Pennsylvania; 
 for the constitution tolerates only that portion of the common law 
 which your ancestors voluntarily brought with them to the wil 
 derness as a birthright, and which the patriots of the Revolution 
 bestowed upon us as a charter of privilege and benevolence. Let 
 us not, therefore, be ensnared by prejudices nor be deceived by 
 the mere similitude of names. Every nation has its common 
 law. The common law of every nation is the accumulated wis 
 dom of its best men through a succession of ages settled into 
 known rules, maxims, and precedents. The common law of 
 England, stripped of its feudal trappings, is the admiration of 
 the world. The common law of Pennsylvania is the common 
 law of England as stripped of its feudal trappings ; as originally 
 suited to a colonial condition ; as modified by acts of the Gen 
 eral Assembly, and as purified by the principles of the consti 
 tution. For the varying exigencies of social life, for the com 
 plicated interests of an enterprising nation, the positive acts 
 of the legislature can provide little ; and, independent of the 
 common law, rights would remain forever without remedies and 
 wrongs without redress. The law of nations, the law of mer 
 chants, the customs and usages of trade, and even the law of 
 every foreign country in relation to transitory contracts origina 
 ting there but prosecuted h-jre, are parts of the common law of 
 Pennsylvania. It is the common law, generally speaking, not 
 an act of Assembly, that assures the title and the possession of 
 your farms and your houses, and protects your persons, your 
 liberty, your reputation from violence ; that defines and punishes 
 offences*; that regulates the trial by jury ; and (in a word, com 
 prehending all its attributes) that gives efficacy to the funda 
 mental principles of the constitution. If such are the nature and 
 the uses of the common law, is it politic;, or would it be practicable, 
 to abandon it? Simply because it originated in Europe cannot 
 afford a better reason to abandon it than to renounce the English 
 and the German languages, or to abolish the institutions of 
 property and marriage, of education and religion, since they, too, 
 were derived from the more ancient civilized nations of the world. 
 Messrs. Jefferson, Wythc, and Pendleton declared, in reference to 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 223 
 
 a revision of the code of Virginia (for all our sister States have 
 adopted the common law of England, differing only in the degree 
 and the manner of the adoption), that " the common law of Eng 
 land, by which is meant that part of the English law which was 
 anterior to the date of the oldest statutes extant, is made the basis 
 of the work. It was thought dangerous to attempt to reduce it 
 to a text ; it was therefore left to be collected from the usual 
 monuments of it." (Notes on Virginia, p. 220.) How chimeri 
 cal, then, must be the project of calling a convention to reduce 
 the common law, not to a statutory detail, but to a constitutional 
 text ! How superfluous the trouble and the expense, since the 
 legislature itself already possesses a competent authority to re 
 form every abuse, to remedy every defect, and to control every 
 operation of the common law ! 
 
 4. It has been said that the judges, "under color of the com 
 mon law, have exercised the most daring tyranny and violated 
 the constitution and laws of the State," and hence the necessity 
 of a convention has also been inferred. This assertion appears 
 under the signature of Mr. Stecle, the president of the Senate. It 
 involves eleven of his fellow-senators (Republicans of inflexible 
 political and personal integrity) in the imputation of perjury in 
 voting in favor of the impeached judges ; and it charges those 
 judges with a crime for which they had been fairly tried, and of 
 which they had been lawfully acquitted. But we will not enter 
 into a discussion of the question to which the charge refers, 
 whether the judges of the supreme court have a constitutional 
 power to punish contempts of court by the summary process of 
 attachment, nor will we even state the essential distinction be 
 tween a wilful violation of the constitution, which could alone be 
 criminal, and an honest error in judgment, which cannot be impu- 
 table or punished upon impeachment as a crime. These might 
 be proper grounds of inquiry in estimating the truth as well as 
 the decency of Mr. Steele s publication ; but in the abstract 
 inquiry, whether the conduct of the judges furnishes an adequate 
 cause for calling a convention, it is sufficient to observe, that if 
 contempts of court ought no longer to be punished by attach 
 ment, the legislature may, by their own authority, modify or 
 abolish the process without any additional sanction from a con 
 stituent assembly ; and we presume that the malcontents will not 
 avow the design to render a bare majority of the Senate compe 
 tent to a conviction on impeachment, lest it should be seen that 
 the unanimity of a jury in other criminal prosecutions is also 
 obnoxious to their views and equally the object of revolutionary 
 reform. 
 
 5. It has been said that the constitutional power of appoint 
 ment to office bestows on the executive the means of acquiring 
 a dangerous influence, and that the constitutional negative of the 
 
224 APPENDICES. 
 
 governor, upon legislative propositions, has been employed to 
 retard the progress of political improvement. But the power of 
 appointment to office can only produce a dangerous influence 
 when those who enjoy it may be served by gratitude, yet cannot 
 be injured by resentment. In a free, republican government, the 
 power of appointment to office can never be made a dangerous 
 instrument of personal ambition ; since those who exercise it are 
 as dependent upon the candidates whom they reject as upon the 
 candidates whom they accept, and the number and activity of 
 the former will forever exceed the number and activity of the 
 latter. The transactions of the day evince the truth/ of this 
 political position. The clamor of discontent is loud and virulent 
 against the present distribution of offices, and an exercise of the 
 power of appointment, in opposition to particular interests, has 
 obviously furnished a signature for invective, and a certificate 
 for imposture. But when it is said that the executive ought to 
 be deprived of this power, we should likewise be told where it 
 can more safely, more usefully, be deposited. The secret has 
 not yet been divulged ; but, fellow-citizens, beware ! there is not 
 an honest politician who, hearing the cabals of elections for 
 federal senators, for State treasurer, for bank directors, will 
 readily consent to endanger the purity of the legislative character, 
 by enlarging the sphere of its patronage, in the appointment to 
 office. 
 
 Nor can the qualified negative, upon legislative proceedings, 
 however beneficial to the public, advance the popularity or influ 
 ence of the chief magistrate. It is a power wisely created as 
 an additional security for the preservation of the constitution 
 from the encroachments of a popular assembly, whose numbers 
 serve at once to abate caution and to diminish responsibility; for 
 the protection of the co-ordinate departments of government from 
 the absorbing tendencies of legislative authority ; and for the pre 
 vention of sudden and dangerous innovations upon the laws and 
 habits of the community. For all these purposes you have seen 
 a firm arid honorable interposition of the power during the present 
 administration; but you have also seen that (raising a host, in 
 opposition to an individual) no respect for the power, as vested 
 by the constitution ; no deference for the claims of conscience, as 
 involved in exercising it; no consideration of personal wisdom 
 and worth, as due to the magistrate himself; nor any sense of 
 decorum, as inspired by his constituents, could deter the mal 
 contents from resorting to this ground as the stronghold of their 
 operations against the official reputation of the governor. Let 
 it be asked, however, in what instance the power has been 
 found injurious or inconvenient to the rights and interests of the 
 people ? It has, indeed, sometimes suspended an important deci 
 sion till the sense of the people could be ascertained. It has 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 225 
 
 sometimes embarrassed an attack upon the principles of the con 
 stitution. It has often produced useful deliberation ; and once, 
 at least, it has prevented the disgrace of legislating upon sub 
 jects that belong exclusively to the jurisdiction of another country. 
 But are these effects of a constitutional power that we should 
 approve and encourage ? or, on the contrary, that we should de 
 mand a convention to condemn and to prohibit ? Let the honest 
 and intelligent freemen of Pennsylvania reflect and determine. 
 
 These, then, fellow-citizens, are the pretexts for raising an 
 artificial tempest in a season of calm and fruitful prosperity. 
 With these pretexts, men deranged by Utopian theories or cor 
 rupted by foreign arts; men formed turbulent by nature, or 
 become so from necessity; men who delight in confusion, and 
 subsist upon defamation; idlers, without social attachments; 
 and politicians by trade gathering their scanty numbers into a 
 malignant circle, have scattered envy and malice, fear and sus 
 picion, throughout the land. It was not to be expected that 
 indulging a more than Gothic fury for the demolition of our 
 public institutions, the malcontents would permit the venerable 
 McKean (who had long labored for their establishment and pre 
 servation) to close his patriotic life in peace. His services and his 
 renown are indeed coeval with the dawn of American independ 
 ence ; for he is among the few (the lamentably few) surviving 
 members of the illustrious Congress of 1765; and in every vicis 
 situde of the war of 1776 he was the firm and efficient servant of 
 his country. But neither these testimonials, nor all the assiduity 
 since displayed by an enlightened mind for the public good, nor 
 the gratitude which bounty should command, have furnished a 
 shield to protect him from obloquy the most unjust, or from insult 
 the most cruel. A new order of things required a new character 
 of men. Those who had contributed to rear the fabric of civil 
 government could never sincerely be beloved by those who seek 
 to undermine and destroy it. The first election of Governor 
 McKean was espoused with a zeal that graced the noblest mo 
 tives, and the second election was distinguished by an unprece 
 dented majority of the suffrages of a free people. In these 
 movements, however, the malcontents (as far as their co-operation 
 extended) contemplated their own interests, and not the interests 
 of the community. The well-known name of the patriot gave 
 assurance of success on the day of election, and it was imagined 
 the unsuspecting nature of the man would render him an easy 
 victim to the arts of solicitation and intrigue. For awhile, too, 
 the malcontents seemed to reap the fruits of their speculation. 
 Much was obtained for personal gratification, but no more to 
 indulge the vanity of a reflected patronage. To prove the first 
 part of our assertion we refer to the evidence of commissions 
 and contracts, of petitions and testimonials, on the public files of 
 
226 APPENDICES. 
 
 the secretary s office ; and as to the second part, the lapse of time 
 is too short to have impaired the recollection of the pains which 
 were taken to create a popular opinion that the recommendation 
 of the leading malcontents was a certain, but an indispensable, 
 passport to executive favor. During that period, every act that 
 the governor performed, every sentiment that he uttered, fur 
 nished a theme for adulation and applause. But. the pressure 
 of incessant importunity, the insatiable thirst for place and 
 patronage, could not be forever tolerated or supplied. The lead 
 ing malcontents were often here, as at Washington, solicitors for 
 the same office, or advocates for different candidates; all could 
 not succeed, and all, by alternate disappointment, became dis 
 contented and hostile. Under these impressions, the designs 
 against the fundamental institutions of our country were con 
 ceived ; and at length the governor had no other alternative 
 but openly to renounce the favor of the malcontents, or tacitly 
 to permit the constitution to be violated and supplanted by suc 
 cessive acts of unauthorized legislation. The decision, prompt 
 and unequivocal, was worthy of the chief magistrate of Penn 
 sylvania; but, from that moment, his downfall was deemed by 
 the malcontents to be a necessary concomitant of the downfall 
 of our government. The proper instruments for so ungracious 
 an undertaking were speedily put into operation. Because bills 
 have been sometimes presented for his approbation which he 
 could not, in his conscience, approve, they have endeavored to 
 provoke an unwarrantable rupture between the legislative and 
 executive departments. Because the execution of the laws has 
 been sometimes difficult, and the administration of justice has 
 long been obstructed, they have endeavored to involve him in the 
 odium of such defects, concealing that the legislature alone can 
 supply an adequate reined}". Those who before extolled him are 
 now industrious to debase him, and without enjoying the merit 
 of invention or feeling the shame of inconsistency, they assail 
 him with a repetition of the very slanders which, on a former 
 occasion, they had themselves refuted and condemned. He has 
 been surrounded with spies and informers, who, crossing him m 
 his walks of exercise, or obtruding upon his hours of domestic 
 retirement, distort all his actions and falsify all his words. In 
 this progressive course, the malcontents finally reached the 
 ground of action ; and the borough of Lancaster witnessed in 
 the same week the invocation for a convention to abolish our 
 constitution and the cabal of a ballot to degrade our governor! 
 It must be remembered that before the re-election of Governor 
 McKean, in 1802, the malcontents had actually calculated the 
 chances in favor of another candidate; but, however sanguine 
 and bold they are in their political temperament, nothing, at that 
 time, had occurred which could afford the slightest encourage- 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 227 
 
 ment for the attempt. Nor can it be precisely stated when their 
 confidence had so increased as to produce a determination to 
 make an experiment at the ensuing election; since, in the vary 
 petition for calling* a convention, they accompany their general 
 objections to the executive power with these remarkable declara 
 tions: "We wish not to be understood as insinuating, in the 
 remotest degree, that this power has been abused by the present 
 executive magistrate, etc. All we mean is that this dangerous 
 power does exist, and may be exercised when a less upright and 
 virtuous governor is in office," etc. It was manifest, however, 
 as soon as the malcontents were defeated in the scheme for 
 an immediate call of a convention, that their leaders, in a con 
 clave at Lancaster, had resolved upon the opposition to Governor 
 McKean. After the resolution was taken, the members of the 
 legislature, who were also members of the cabal, appeared "more 
 than usually solicitous to procure justices commissions for their 
 friends and partisans; and it maybe fairly presumed, that the 
 visit of Messrs. McKennoy, Montgomery, Steele, etc., of the 
 21st March (to which the public are indebted for the exploded 
 tale of the clodhoppers), was connected with the secret plot to 
 supersede^the executive magistrate. But the first open display 
 of hostility is to be found in the extraordinary spectacle which 
 almost instantaneously followed the adjournment of the General 
 Assembly. The legislature had acquired a habit of electing 
 some of its own body to the offices of federal senator, State 
 treasurer, and bank director; and now the members, who had 
 conspired with the malcontents on the present occasion (being 
 repulsed in their repeated applications for permission to use the 
 respectable name of Muhlenberg or of Iliester), boldly deter 
 mined likewise to make one of themselves a governor, an exam 
 ple more dangerous to the rights of the people, more destructive 
 to the purity and independence of the legislature, than all the 
 imputed imperfections of the constitution. A meeting of the Re 
 publican members generally was accordinglv called. Several of 
 the friends of Governor McKean had previously left Lancaster, 
 but many of them attended the meeting. A request was urged, 
 on their part, for information of the cause and design of the 
 meeting, but none was communicated. It was suggested that 
 an open nomination of candidates should be made, but the sug 
 gestion was disregarded. It was proposed that the vote should 
 be taken viva voce, and not by ballot, but the proposition was 
 overruled. The truth is that the members who were parties to 
 the conspiracy went to the meeting with their tickets prepared; 
 and although they intended to give to the proceeding the influ 
 ence of their legislative character, they were so ashamed of the 
 act, or so fearful of its consequences, that they could not be 
 induced to add to it the pledge of their legislative responsibility. 
 
228 APPENDICES. 
 
 The body of Governor McKean s friends retired in disgust from 
 this mockery and usurpation; this premeditated outrage upon 
 legislative decorum and the freedom of election. Though reason, 
 as well as constitutional authority, requires that every vote given 
 in a representative capacity should be openly given; and though 
 the vote on this occasion is described as the vote of forty-two 
 representatives of the people, the members who remained de 
 livered a prepared and secret ballot for a new candidate to fill 
 the executive chair; leaving their constituents little more than a 
 conjecture to designate by whom the injury and the insult had 
 been given. 
 
 Having furnished this insidious instrument for promoting the 
 designs of the malcontents, the members dispersed; but the 
 sanction of the legislative character was still necessary to com 
 plete the spell for ruin and detraction. A libel was* prepared 
 under the specious title of "An Address of the Members of the 
 General Assembly," and circulated in the form of a pamphlet, 
 subscribed only by John Steele and Jacob Mitchell. It was 
 accompanied, too, with certificates of a conversation, noted the 
 very day that it occurred, with a view to the present use; but 
 both of the certificates are inaccurate, and one of them is of 
 doubtful authenticity, as it purports to be written and signed by a 
 member of the House of Representatives, though it contains a 
 material variance from another representation of that member 
 (asserting here, that the governor said he would consult "his 
 own convenience, 1 while it is asserted elsewhere that the governor 
 said, "he would consult his own conscience"); and as the certifi 
 cate itself presents no character of similitude with the signature, 
 or style, of a general letter from the same member now in posses 
 sion of the public. On the 20th of May, 1805, this libel was 
 ushered into public notice by a Philadelphia newspaper, with a 
 preface declaring "that it had been reported and unanimously 
 agreed to on Thursday evening," the 4th of April last; and 
 plainly intending to convey the idea that it had been so unani 
 mously agreed to at a second meeting of the persons assembled 
 the preceding day, when General John Steele was appointed 
 chairman, and Presley Can* Lane (who, as a senator, voting for 
 the acquittal of the impeached judges, is himself an object of the 
 very slander which, it is alleged, he approved) and Jacob Mitchell 
 were appointed tellers. But we beseech you, fellow-citizens, to 
 peruse this extraordinary composition with attention, in order to 
 be convinced, from the profligacy of its principles and the scur 
 rility of its language (as well as from the notoriety of other 
 opposing facts), that it ought not to be deemed the work of any 
 association of your representatives. In the face of the recent 
 declaration of the malcontent petition, that there was no fault to 
 be found with the official conduct of the governor, the jaundiced 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 229 
 
 author has represented his whole administration as a tissue of 
 tyranny, favoritism, and error. In contempt of a majority of 
 ;(0, 000 free suffrages, which gave the stamp of merit and appro 
 bation to his first period, nay, in immediate contradiction to the 
 concession of the address itself, "that the administration of that 
 period promised upon the whole to be beneficial to the State," the 
 governor s transactions, from the first to the last day, are brought 
 into a faithless and malignant review, to decorate the black book 
 of the malcontents. Not only important facts have been sup 
 pressed, but the reasons assigned for his conduct on particular 
 occasions have been garbled, perverted, and misconstrued. Not 
 only his public agency, but his private honor, has been im 
 peached. Not only his distribution of public offices, but his 
 intercourse in social life, has been invidiously scrutinized. The 
 temper of his mind, and the habit of his manners (long fixed, 
 and known and respected by his fellow-citizens), have been made 
 topics of public discussion and reproach. Nay, epithets have 
 been formed, and words have been selected, for the inhuman 
 purpose of torturing his sensibility as a parent and a friend, till, 
 in fine, the address of the malcontents has doomed the veteran 
 patriot to lament (and others are yet doomed to feel) that, 
 although the carcass of Callander is no more, his spirit, ungrate 
 ful and vindictive, still survives ! 
 
 We emphatically repeat, fellow-citizens, that such a composition 
 ought not, without an express and individual avowal, to be 
 ascribed to any set of men who are honored with the con 
 fidence of the people. We believe that the address never was 
 seen or read, before it was published, by twenty members of the 
 legislature ; we believe that there never were ten members 
 assembled at any meeting which approved and adopted it ; and 
 we are confident that there is not one member who is prepared to 
 substantiate the criminal charges which it contains. We speak 
 not here of charges which impute to the governor as a crime 
 the conscientious exercise of a constitutional power. We speak 
 not of charges which, on the presumption, as it would seem, that 
 the legislature has already absorbed all the powers of government, 
 treat as a menace against legislative authority the simple decla 
 ration that the judgment of the supreme court upon a point of 
 law would be an authoritative decision. We speak not of charges 
 which convert a deference for legislative opinion into a contempt 
 of legislative dignity, where the governor has tacitly acquiesced 
 in the enactment of a law, though he could not positively affix 
 the signature of approbation. We speak not here of charges 
 which arraign the executive for not returning bills with his 
 approbation or dissent, where the bills were only presented for 
 his consideration on the eve of an adjournment of the legislature. 
 We speak not of charges which decry a wish to transmit the 
 
230 APPENDICES. 
 
 constitution unimpaired to bis successor as a symptom of aris 
 tocracy and despotism. We speak not of charges which clamor 
 ously condemn the distribution of offices, manifestly because the 
 authors of the charge were not the persons appointed. We speak 
 not of charges which (forgetting that to be a governor is not to 
 lose the affections of a man, nor to be the relation of a governor 
 a forfeiture of the equal rights of a citizen) stigmatize as extrav 
 agant the grant of three commissions to connexions by blood 
 and marriage, out of the unbounded patronage which the execu 
 tive, for another purpose, is idly said to possess. We speak not 
 of charges in which Messrs. McKinney and Montgomery appear 
 as arbiters of elegant mariners and polite conversation. But we 
 speak of gross charges of official delinquency and corruption, 
 for which we trust the libellous authors will be compelled, at a 
 proper time and in a proper place, to answer to the offended 
 laws and justice of their country. 
 
 1. It is alleged that an election-ticket " was distributed from 
 the governor s coach by two officers of executive appointment, 
 who accompanied him, and daily held him up as the patron of 
 faction. The attempt was frustrated by the force of popular 
 suffrage, and he was driven to disavow, only after a defeat, what 
 he had really taken pains to promote without success." The 
 charge is denied. W 7 e demand the informer and the proof. 
 
 2. It is alleged that the author and abettors of the address 
 have seen the governor "employing the whole weight of his 
 opinion and the influence of the officers of his appointment, 
 besides an interference with private citizens, to procure the extri 
 cation of three judges of the supreme court from an impeachment, 
 w r ho had, under color of the common law, exercised the most daring 
 tyranny, and violated the constitution and laws of the State." 
 The charge is denied. We demand the informer and the proof. 
 
 3. It is alleged that the governor asserted that " he would not 
 suffer a convention to take place ;" and it is insinuated that he 
 meant " to employ arms or corruption to prevent it." The 
 charge is denied. Let it be said that the honorable and en 
 lightened informers, Messrs. Montgomery and McKinne} r , seem 
 to prove that he reprobated (as most honest men do) the call of 
 a convention, and that he said (as every citizen has a right to 
 say) he would firmly resist it ; but still we demand the proof 
 that, as an executive magistrate, he threatened the use of arms 
 or corruption. 
 
 4. It is alleged that " an address for the removal of Judge 
 Brackenridge from office was presented by more than two-thirds 
 of each branch of the legislature, and that the executive has 
 not even deigned to make any communication in reply. 7 The 
 charge is unfounded ; for we answer : 
 
 1. That the extraordinary nature of the case merited a very 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 231 
 
 serious consideration. Judge Brackenridge informed the House 
 of Representatives that he had concurred in the punishment of 
 the offender (who had complained to the House) for a contempt 
 of court, and observed that it might be thought an effect of the 
 bias of party by others (not that he thought so himself) if his 
 name was not comprehended with the names of other judges in 
 the meditated impeachment. The House of Representatives 
 considered the letter of Judge Brackenridge on this subject as a 
 contempt. They admitted his own acknowledgment as sufficient 
 proof to involve him in the only punishment which could follow 
 on a conviction on impeachment, the removal from office; but 
 they would not admit it to be sufficient to give him the oppor 
 tunity of explanation or defence, which, upon impeachment, they 
 could not refuse. At the very time, therefore, that the House of 
 Representatives was instituting a prosecution against the judges 
 of the supreme court for punishing a private individual s con 
 tempt of court by attachment, after a full defence, with a small 
 fine and a short imprisonment, the Senate and the House of Rep 
 resentatives concurred in the design to punish Judge Bracken 
 ridge without a notice or a hearing, or a trial by jury, or a trial 
 by impeachment, for a contempt of the legislature, degrading him 
 from office, stripping an aged man and his family of their sub 
 sistence, and fining him to the amount of two thousand dollars 
 per annum during his life! Let Mr. Steele or Mr. Mitchell, or 
 all or any of the authors of the address, who have called the 
 conduct of the supreme court "the most daring tyranny and 
 violation of the constitution and laws of the State," find out a 
 precedent or a name for such an act as this ! But let us not be 
 surprised, fellow-citizens, that Governor McKean, who had long 
 administered justice upon the maxim "that no man should be 
 condemned unheard/ deliberated before he would acquiesce in 
 an address under such circumstances for the removal of a judicial 
 officer 
 
 2. That the governor possesses a constitutional discretion 
 whether he will comply with an address for the removal of a 
 judge, and is no more responsible to the legislature for the exer 
 cise of that discretion than the legislature is responsible to him 
 for the motives of the application. 
 
 3. That the application for the removal of Judge Brackenridge 
 was not constitutionally made, and therefore could not be law 
 fully granted. It is true that the address asserts the application 
 to have been made ~by two-thirds of each branch of the legis 
 lature ; and it is also true that the constitution requires the ap 
 plication to be so made ; but, in point of real fact, two-tliirds of 
 each branch of the legislature did not make the application. 
 Two-thirds of a house and two-thirds of a branch of the legis 
 lature are distinct things in the language of the constitution and 
 
232 APPENDICES. 
 
 in the meaning of the convention, as conveyed by their own 
 journals. The branch is composed of all its members ; but a 
 majority of the members of a branch constitutes a house for the 
 ordinary branches of legislation. For special purposes, how 
 ever (an impeachment or an address for removal from office), the 
 branch, and not the house, is appealed to, and for this plain reason, 
 that the rule of decision should be uniform. For instance, two- 
 thirds of the Senate, considered as a branch of the legislature, 
 will invariably amount to sixteen ; but two-thirds of the Senate, 
 considered as a house, may vibrate from nine, which is two-thirds 
 of the quorum of thirteen, to sixteen, which is two-thirds of the 
 whole branch of twenty-four members. In the case of Judge 
 Brackenridge, the votes for his removal amounted to two-thirds 
 of each house, but did not amount to two-thirds of each branch 
 of the legislature. The governor could not, therefore, violate 
 the constitution to gratify the wishes, or to resent the injuries, 
 which occasioned the address. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens, it is a more laudable, a more just, a more sal 
 utary task, to turn your attention from this loathsome and ungrate 
 ful scene of defamation to a contemplation of the important services 
 of the executive magistrate. It was not manly or decent to break 
 open the tomb of departed worth and to repudiate the memory of a 
 patriot to whose honor the legislature itself had decreed a public 
 funeral and" monument. But if it is true that the governor suc 
 ceeded to a chair shattered, tottering, and feeble from the indis 
 cretion of his predecessor, to whom are we to ascribe its present 
 efficient and impressive character ? There is no State that boasts 
 a more prompt, faithful, and beneficial execution of its laws ; 
 while, as a member of the Union, Pennsylvania has maintained, 
 through the medium of its executive, with exemplary dignity, the 
 principles of federate harmony and confidence. The militia has 
 been an object of our governor s most assiduous and successful 
 attention. The discipline, the supplies of artillery, of arms, and 
 of other military equipments, which render our militia pre-emi 
 nently respectable and efficient, may be ascribed to his indefati 
 gable zeal for the preservation of an institution on which he well 
 knows the people can alone safely rely for their peace, liberty, 
 and independence. By his care the Wyoming controversy, which 
 has so long annoyed the peace of Pennsylvania, will, probably, 
 be soon terminated to the satisfaction of all the parties and to 
 the honor of the State. The actual settlers on the western frontier 
 owe much to his sympathy and protection during the litigation 
 of their claims. Agriculture has received his aid in exertions to 
 extend our roads and improve our navigable communication. 
 Commerce has been advanced by his assiduity in employing the 
 best means to preserve the health of our capital. Of mechanics 
 and manufacturers he has been the unaffected friend and patron, 
 
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF PENN A. 233 
 
 and, feeling himself all the blessings of knowledge, he inces 
 santly labors to disseminate the means of education. Bat why 
 should we advance in this pleasing, though superfluous, delinea 
 tion of his merit? After fifty years of public life, you must 
 understand the value of such a man ; and you will not easily 
 submit to be deprived of his services, to see his virtues unjustly 
 obscured, or his honors ungratefully despoiled. 
 
 We have now, fellow-citizens, traced the original of the present 
 crisis. We have developed the motives, plans, and operations 
 of the malcontents. The trespass upon your time has been 
 great ; but the importance of the occasion must be our excuse. 
 It is an effort to preserve institutions and men we know and ap 
 prove against projects which we cannot comprehend, proposed 
 by men whom we cannot trust, whose object cannot be good, 
 since the means that they employ are evidently bad. It is a 
 cause of principle independent of party. Every man has an 
 interest in the issue, and every man is bound to bear a part in 
 the contest. For ourselves, we think that it is time to evince to 
 the world that a democratic republic can enjoy energy without 
 tyranny, and liberty without anarchy. It is time to brush from 
 the skirts of the Republican party the moths that stain the purity 
 of its color and feed upon the consistency of its texture. It is 
 time to convince the malcontents that their machinations are 
 detected, that their influence is lost, and that their denunciations 
 are despised. For these purposes the Society of Constitutional 
 Republicans was formed, and when these purposes shall be ac 
 complished, the society will cheerfully cease to exist. 
 
 The epoch of their accomplishment, we confidently refer to the 
 next general election. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, implore your 
 co-operation. Prepare with vigilance and act with firmness. 
 Re-elect our venerable governor. Exclude from the legislature 
 all who have avowed a disposition hostile to the constitution. 
 Circulate and transmit to the secretary s office remonstrances in 
 opposition to a convention. Communicate your information on 
 the crisis of our public affairs in repeated meetings and in every 
 private conversation. Rescue your country from the impending 
 evil, and deserve to be happy. 
 
 GEORGE LOGAN, President. 
 ISRAEL ISRAEL, Vice-President. 
 SAMUEL WETHERILL, Secretary. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, 
 
 I. B. SMITH, 
 
 ISAAC WORRELL, j> Corresponding Committee. 
 
 SAMUEL WETHERILL, 
 
 BLAIR MCCLENACHAN, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, June 10, 1805. 
 
 16 
 
234 APPENDICES. 
 
 No. 4. 
 OFFICIAL LETTERS 
 
 TO THE COMMITTEE OF WAYS AND MEANS. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 1814. 
 
 SIR, The Committee of Ways and Means have had under their 
 consideration the support of public credit by a system of taxation 
 more extended than the one heretofore adopted. They have de 
 termined to suspend proceeding on their report at present before 
 the House of Representatives, with a view to afford you an op 
 portunity of suggesting any other or such additional provisions 
 as may be necessary to revive and maintain unimpaired the public 
 credit. 
 
 I have the honor to be your most obedient, 
 
 JOHN W. EPPES. 
 
 Honorable Mr. DALLAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, October 17, 1814. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter dated the 14th inst., and aware of the necessity for an early 
 interposition of Congress on the subject to which it relates, I 
 proceed, at the moment of entering upon the duties of office, to 
 offer to the consideration of the Committee of Ways and Means 
 an answer on the several points of their inquiry. 
 
 Contemplating the present state of the finances, it is obvious 
 that a deficiency in the revenue and a depreciation in the public 
 credit exist from causes which cannot in any degree be ascribed 
 either to the want of resources or to the want of integrity in the 
 nation. Different minds will conceive different opinions in rela 
 tion to some of those causes ; but it will be agreed on all sides 
 that the most operative have been the inadequacy of our system 
 of taxation to form a foundation for public credit ; and the ab 
 sence even from that system of the means which are best adapted 
 to anticipate, collect, and distribute the public revenue. 
 
 The wealth of the nation in the value and products of its soil, 
 in all the acquisitions of personal property, and in all the va 
 rieties of industry, remains almost untouched by the hand of 
 government ; for the national faith and not the national wealth 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 235 
 
 has hitherto been the principal instrument of finance. It was 
 reasonable, however, to expect that a period must occur in the 
 course of a protracted war when confidence in the accumulating 
 public engagements could only be secured by an active demon 
 stration both of the capacity and the disposition to perform them. 
 In the present state of the treasury, therefore, it is a just conso 
 lation to reflect that a prompt and resolute application of the 
 resources of the country will effectually relieve from every pe 
 cuniary embarrassment and vindicate the fiscal honor of the 
 government. 
 
 But it would be vain to attempt to disguise, arid it would be 
 pernicious to palliate, the difficulties which are now to be over 
 come. The exigencies of the government require a supply of 
 treasure for the prosecution of the war beyond any amount which 
 it would be politic, even if it were practicable, to raise by an im 
 mediate and constant imposition of taxes. There must, therefore, 
 be a resort to credit for a considerable portion of the supply. But 
 the public credit is at this juncture so depressed that no hope of 
 adequate succor on moderate terms can safely rest upon it. Hence 
 it becomes the object first and last in every practical scheme of 
 finance to reanimate the confidence .of the citizens, and to impress 
 on the mind of every man who, for the public account, renders 
 services, furnishes supplies, or advances money, a conviction of 
 the punctuality as well as of the security of the government. It 
 is not to be regarded, indeed, as the case of preserving a credit 
 which has never been impaired, but rather as the case of rescuing 
 from reproach a credit over which doubt and apprehension (not 
 the less injurious, perhaps, because they are visionary) have cast 
 an inauspicious shade. In the former case the ordinary means 
 of raising and appropriating the revenue will always be sufficient; 
 but in the latter case no exertion can be competent to attain the 
 object which does not quiet in every mind every fear of future 
 loss or disappointment in consequence of trusting to the pledges 
 of the public faith. 
 
 The condition of the circulating medium of the country pre 
 sents another copious source of mischief and embarrassment. 
 The recent export at ion 8 of specie have considerably diminished 
 the fund of gold and silver coin ; and another considerable por 
 tion of that fund has been drawn by the timid and the wary from 
 the use of the community into the private coffers of individuals. 
 On the other hand, the multiplication of banks in the several 
 States has so increased the quantity of paper currency that it 
 would be difficult to calculate its amount, and still more difficult 
 to ascertain its value with reference to the capital on which it 
 has been issued. But the benefit of even this paper currency is 
 in a great measure lost, as the suspension of payments in specie at 
 
236 APPENDICES; 
 
 most of the banks has suddenly broken the chain of accommoda 
 tion that previously extended the credit and the circulation of the 
 notes which were emitted in one State into every State of the 
 Union. It may in general be affirmed, therefore, that there exists 
 at this time no adequate circulating medium common to the citi 
 zens of the United States. The moneyed transactions of private 
 life are at a stand, and the fiscal operations of the government 
 labor with extreme inconvenience. It is impossible that such 
 a state of things should be long endured ; but, let it be fairly 
 added, that with legislative aid it is not necessary that the endu 
 rance should be long. Under favorable circumstances and to a 
 limited extent an emission of treasury notes would probably afford 
 relief; but treasury notes are an expensive and precarious sub 
 stitute either for coin or for bank-notes, charged as they are 
 with a growing interest productive of no countervailing profit or 
 emolument, and exposed to every breath of popular prejudice or 
 alarm. The establishment of a national institution operating 
 upon credit combined with capital and regulated by prudence and 
 good faith is, after all, the only efficient remedy for the disordered 
 condition ol our circulating medium^ While accomplishing that 
 object, too, there will be found under the auspices of such an in 
 stitution a safe depository for the public treasure and a constant 
 auxiliary to the public credit. But whether the issues of a paper 
 currency proceed from the national treasury or from a national 
 bank, the acceptance of the paper in a course of payments and 
 receipts must be forever optional with the citizens. The ex 
 tremity of that day cannot be anticipated when any honest and 
 enlightened statesman will again venture upon the desperate 
 expedient of a tender law. 
 
 From this painful but necessary development of existing evils 
 we pass with hope and confidence to a more specific consideration 
 of the measures from which relief may be certainly and speedily 
 derived. Remembering always that the objects of the govern 
 ment are to place the public credit upon a solid and durable 
 foundation ; to provide a revenue commensurate with the demands 
 of a war expenditure, and to remove from the treasury an imme 
 diate pressure, the following propositions are submitted to the 
 committee with every sentiment of deference and respect : 
 
 PROPOSITIONS. 
 
 I. It is proposed that during the war, and until the claims 
 contemplated by the proposition are completely satisfied or ex 
 tinct, there shall be annually raised by taxes, duties, imposts, and 
 excises, a fund for these purposes : 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 237 
 
 1. For the support of government $1,500,000 
 
 2. For the principal and interest of the public debt existing 
 
 before the declaration of war and payable according to 
 
 the contract 3,500,000 
 
 3. For the interest of the public debt contracted and to be 
 
 contracted by loans or otherwise from the eommence- 
 ment to the termination of the war, calculated upon an 
 annual principal of $72,000,000 4,320,000 
 
 4. For the payment of treasury notes, with the accruing in 
 
 terest 7,400,000 
 
 5. For the payment of debentures to be issued (as is herein 
 
 after proposed) for liquidated balances due to individu 
 als on account of services or supplies authorized by law, 
 but either not embraced by a specific appropriation or 
 exceeding the sum appropriated 280,000 
 
 6. For a current addition to the sums raised by loan or issues 
 
 of treasury notes towards defraying the general ex 
 penses of the war 2,000,000 
 
 7. For the gradual establishment of a sinking fund to extin 
 
 guish the debt incurred during the war 500,000 
 
 8. For a contingent fund to meet sudden and occasional de 
 
 mands upon the treasury 1,500,000 
 
 $21,000,000 
 
 II. It is proposed that during the war, and until the claims 
 contemplated by the preceding proposition are completely satis 
 fied, or other adequate funds shall be provided and substituted 
 by law, there shall be annually raised by the means here speci 
 fied the following sums : 
 
 1. By the customs (which cannot be safely estimated during 
 
 the war at a higher product) $4,000,000 
 
 2. By the existing internal duties 2,700,000 
 
 3. By the existing direct tax 2,500,000 
 
 4. By the sales of public lands (which cannot be safely esti 
 
 mated during the war at a higher product) 800.000 
 
 5. By an addition to the existing direct tax of 100 per cent. 2,850.000 
 
 6. By an addition of 100 per cent on the present auction 
 
 duties 150,000 
 
 7. By an addition of 100 per cent, on the existing duties 
 
 upon carriages 200,000 
 
 8. By an addition of 50 per cent, on the existing duties on 
 
 licenses to retail wines, spirituous liquors, and foreign 
 merchandise 300,000 
 
 9. By an addition of 100 per cent, on the existing rate of 
 
 postage 500,000 
 
 10. By the proceeds of the new duties specified in the an 
 nexed schedule, marked A, making in the aggregate... 7,000,000 
 
 $21,000,000 
 
 III. It is proposed that a national bank shall be incorporated 
 for a term of twenty years, to be established at Philadelphia, 
 with a power to erect offices of discount and deposit elsewhere, 
 upon the following principles : 
 
238 APPENDICES. 
 
 1. That the capital of the bank shall be $50,000,000, to be 
 divided into 100,000 shares of $500 each. Three-fifths of the 
 capital, being 60,000 shares, amounting to $30,000,000, to be sub 
 scribed by corporations, companies, or individual^ ; and two-fifths 
 of the capital, being- 40,000 shares, amounting to $20,000,000, 
 to be subscribed by the United States. 
 
 2. That the subscriptions of corporations, companies, and indi 
 viduals shall be paid for in the following- manner: 
 
 One-fifth part, or $6,000,000, in gold or silver coin. 
 
 Four-fifth parts, or $24,000,000, in gold or silver coin, or in six 
 per cent, stock issued since the declaration of war, and treasury 
 notes, in the proportion of one-fifth in treasury notes and three- 
 fifths in six per cent, stock. 
 
 3. That the subscriptions of corporations, companies, and in 
 dividuals shall be paid at the following periods: 
 
 $20 on each share, to be paid at the time of subscribing, in 
 
 gold or silver coin $1,200,000 
 
 40 on each share, to be paid in gold or silver coin one 
 
 month after the subscription 2,400,000 
 
 40 on each share, in two months after the subscription, 
 
 in gold or silver coin 2,400,000 
 
 $100 specie $P,000,000 
 
 100 on each share, in gold or silver coin, or in six per cent. 
 
 stock, or in treasury notes, according to the preceding 
 
 apportionment, to be paid at the time of subscribing.... 6,000,000 
 150 on each share, to be paid in like manner in two months 
 
 after subscribing 9,000,000 
 
 150 on each share, to be paid in like manner in three months 
 
 after subscribing 9,000,000 
 
 $500 $30,000,000 
 
 4. That the subscription of the United States shall be paid in 
 six per cent, stock, at the same periods and in the same propor 
 tions as the payments of private subscriptions in stock and 
 treasury notes. 
 
 5. That the United States may substitute six per cent, stock 
 for the amount of the treasury notes subscribed by corporations, 
 companies, and individuals, as the notes respectively become 
 due and payable. 
 
 6. That the bank shall loan to the United States $30,000,000, 
 at an interest of six per cent., at such periods and in such sums 
 as shall be found mutually convenient. 
 
 7. That no part of the public stock, constituting a portion of 
 the capital of the bank shall be sold during the war, nor at any 
 subsequent time, for less than par ; nor at any time to an amount 
 exceeding one moiety, without the consent of Congress. 
 
 8. That provision shall be made for protecting the bank-notes 
 
OFFICIAL LETTEES. 239 
 
 from forgery ; for limiting the issue of bank-notes ; and for re 
 ceiving them in all payments to the United States. 
 
 9. That the capital of the bank, its notes, deposits, dividends, 
 or profits (its real estate only excepted), shall not be subject to 
 taxation by the United States or by any individual State. 
 
 10. That no other bank shall be established by Congress 
 during the term for which the national bank is incorporated. 
 
 11. That the national bank shall be governed by fifteen direc 
 tors, being resident citizens of the United States and stockhold 
 ers. The President of the United States shall annually name 
 five directors, and designate one of the five to be the president of 
 the bank. The other directors shall be annually chosen by the 
 qualified stockholders, in person or by proxy, if resident within 
 the United States, voting upon a scale graduated according to 
 the number of shares which they respectively hold. The cashier 
 and other officers of the bank to be appointed as is usual in 
 similar institutions. 
 
 12. That the directors of the national bank shall appoint 
 seven persons, one of whom to preside, as the managers of each 
 office of discount and deposit, and one person to be the cashier. 
 
 13. That the general powers, privileges, and regulations of the 
 bank shall be the same as are usual in similar institutions ; but 
 with this special provision, that the general accounts shall be 
 subject to the inspection of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 IV. It is proposed that, after having thus provided for the 
 punctual payment of the interest upon every denomination of 
 public debt ; for raising annually a portion of the annual expense 
 by taxes ; for establishing a sinking fund, in relation to the new 
 debt as well as in relation to the old debt; and for securing to 
 the public the efficient agency of a national bank, the only re 
 maining object of supply shall be accomplished by annual loans 
 and issues of treasury notes, if, unexpectedly, such issues should 
 continue to be necessary or expedient. 
 
 1. The amount of annual expenditure during the war exceed 
 ing the sums provided for, does not admit of a prospective esti 
 mate beyond the year 1815 ; but for that year it may be estimated 
 with sufficient accuracy for the general purposes of the present 
 communication, at $28,000,000. 
 
 2. Then for the year 1815 an additional provision must be 
 made, authorizing a loan and the issue of treasury notes to an 
 equal amount, $28,000,000. 
 
 V. It is proposed that the accounts for authorized expenses 
 being duly stated and settled, a certificate or debenture shall 
 issue to the accountant specifying the balance ; and that in all 
 cases where there has been no specific appropriation, or the 
 claim exceeds the amount of the sum appropriated, the balance 
 shall bear an interest of three per cent, until provision is made by 
 law for paying the amount. 
 
240 APPENDICES. 
 
 VI. And finally, it is proposed to relieve the treasury from 
 an immediate pressure upon the principles of the following state 
 ment : 
 
 1. The amount of demands upon the treasury (exclusively 
 
 of balances of appropriations for former years unsat 
 isfied) was stated in the report of the late Secretary 
 of the Treasury of the 28d of September, 1814, to 
 be on the 30th of June $27,576,391 19 
 
 2. The accounts of the third quarter of 1814 are not yet 
 
 made up, and the precise sums paid during that 
 quarter cannot now be ascertained ; but they 
 amount to nearly 8,400,000 00 
 
 Leaving to be paid in the 4th quarter of 1814 $19,176,391 19 
 
 3. This balance payable during the 4th quarter of 1814 
 
 consists of the following items : 
 Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous ex 
 penses, about $353,292 99 
 
 Military, about 8,792,688 00 
 
 Naval, about 2,382,010 97 
 
 Public debt, about 7,648,419 23 
 
 $19,176,391 19 
 
 4. The existing provisions by law for the payment of this 
 
 balance of $19,176,391 19, may be stated as follows: 
 The act of the 24th of March, 1814, authorized a loan for $25,000,000 00 
 The act of the 4th of March, 1814, authorized an issue 
 
 of treasury notes for 5,000,000 00 
 
 $30,000,000 00 
 Under these authorities there have been 
 
 borrowed on loan about $10,895,000 
 
 There has been sent to Europe in six per 
 
 cent, stock 6,000,000 
 
 There has been issued in treasury notes, 3,504,000 
 
 20,399,000 00 
 
 $9,601,000 00 
 
 There remains therefore an unexecuted 
 
 authority to borrow $8,105,000 
 
 To issue treasury notes 1,496,000 
 
 9,601,000 00 
 
 The demands of the fourth quarter 
 
 being then 19,176,391 19 
 
 There may be applied to meet them the 
 revenue accruing during the quarter 
 from all sources, about $2,900,000 
 
 Also, payments to be made on account 
 of loans already contracted for, ac 
 cording to the authority above stated, 
 
 about 2,500,000 
 
 5,400,000 00 
 
 Leaving a balance to be provided for $13,776,391 19 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 241 
 
 By the authority remaining to borrow. $8,105,000 00 
 
 By the authority remaining to issue 
 treasury notes 1,496,000 00 
 
 By an additional authority to be granted 
 by law, to borrow and to issue treasury 
 
 notes 4,175,391 19 
 
 $13,776,391 19 
 
 These estimates, however, it will be observed, are made with 
 a view, simply, to the appropriations by law for the expenses of 
 the year 1814, and do not embrace a provision to satisfy balances 
 of appropriations made for the expenses of preceding years which 
 have not been called for at the treasury. But it will, probably, 
 be deemed expedient to make such provision by extending the 
 new authority to borrow from the above balance, to $6,000,000. 
 If the six per cent, stock which has been sent to Europe should 
 be there disposed of, it will form an item in the estimates of the 
 ensuing year. 
 
 As a portion of the amount to be provided during the present 
 quarter consists of treasury notes which will soon be due, it will 
 be advisable to make them receivable in subscriptions to the loan. 
 
 It is proper to accompany these propositions with a few ex 
 planatory remarks : 
 
 1. The first proposition contemplates a permanent system ; 
 but the estimate of the particular items of claims and demands 
 upon the public must be regarded as immediately applying to the 
 year 1815. In every subsequent year there will necessarily be 
 some variation ; as, for instance, the item of interest on the old 
 debt will annually sink, while the item of interest on the new 
 debt will annually rise, during the continuance of the war. 
 
 The items for annually raising a portion of the public expenses 
 by taxes, and for applying to the new debt a sinking fund (grad 
 ually increasing, until it becomes commensurate to its object) 
 are essential features in the plan suggested with a view to the 
 revival and maintenance of public credit. The extinguishment 
 of the old debt is already in rapid operation by the wise precau 
 tion of a similar institution. 
 
 2. The second proposition will, doubtless, generate many and 
 very various objections. The endeavor has been, however, to 
 spread the general amount of the taxes over a wide surface with 
 a hand as light and equal as is consistent with convenience in 
 the process and certainty in the result. 
 
 All the opportunities of observation, and all the means of 
 information that have been possessed, leave no doubt upon the 
 disposition of the people to contribute generously for relieving the 
 necessities of their country; and it has been thought unworthy 
 of that patriotic disposition to dwell upon scanty means of 
 supply, or short-lived expedients. Whenever the war shall be 
 
242 APPENDICES. 
 
 happily terminated in an honorable peace, and the treasury 
 shall be again replenished by the tributary streams of commerce, 
 it will be at once a duty and a pleasure to recommend an allevia 
 tion, if not an entire exoneration, of the burthens which neces 
 sarily fall at present upon the agriculture and manufactures of 
 the nation. 
 
 3. In making a proposition for the establishment of a national 
 bank, I cannot be insensible to the high authority of the names 
 which have appeared in opposition to that measure upon consti 
 tutional grounds. It would be presumptuous to conjecture that 
 the sentiments which actuated the opposition have passed away; 
 and yet it would be denying to experience a great practical ad 
 vantage, were we to suppose that a difference of times and 
 circumstances would not produce a corresponding difference in 
 the opinions of the wisest as well as of the purest men. But in 
 the present case a change of private opinion is not material to 
 the success of the proposition for establishing a national bank. 
 In the administration of human affairs, there must be a period 
 when discussion shall cease and decision shall become absolute. 
 A diversity of opinion may honorably survive the contest ; but, 
 upon the genuine principles of a representative government, the 
 opinion of the majority can alone be carried into action. The 
 judge who dissents from the majority of the bench changes not 
 his opinion, but performs his duty, when he enforces the judg 
 ment of the court, although it is contrary to his own convictions. 
 An oath to support the constitution and the laws is not, therefore, 
 an oath to support them under all circumstances, according to the 
 opinion of the individual who takes it, but it is, emphatically, an 
 oath to support them according to the interpretation of the legiti 
 mate authorities. For the erroneous decisions of a court of law 
 there is the redress of a censorial as well as of an appellate 
 jurisdiction. Over an act founded upon an exposition of the 
 constitution made by the legislative department of the govern 
 ment, but alleged to be incorrect, we have seen the judicial de 
 partment exercise a remedial power. And even if all the depart 
 ments legislative, executive, and judicial should concur in the 
 exercise of a power which is either thought to transcend the 
 constitutional trust or to operate injuriously upon the community, 
 the case is still within the reach of a competent control, through 
 the medium of an amendment to the constitution, upon the 
 proposition not only of Congress but of the several States. 
 When, therefore, we have marked the existence of a national 
 bank for a period of twenty years, with all the sanctions of the 
 legislative, executive, and judicial authorities ; when we have 
 seen the dissolution of one institution, and heard a loud and 
 continued call for the establishment of another ; when, under 
 these circumstances, neither Congress nor the several States 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 243 
 
 have resorted to the power of amendment, can it be deemed a 
 violation of the right of private opinion to consider the constitu 
 tionality of a national bank as a question forever settled and at 
 rest ? 
 
 But, after all, I should not merit the confidence which it will 
 be my ambition to acquire, if I were to suppress the declaration 
 of an opinion that, in these times, the establishment of a national 
 bank will not only be useful in promoting the general welfare, 
 but that it is necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
 some of the most important powers constitutionally vested in the 
 government. 
 
 Upon the principles and regulations of the national bank it 
 may be sufficient to remark that they will be best unfolded in the 
 form of a bill, which shall be immediately prepared. A com 
 pound capital is suggested, with a design equally to accommodate 
 the subscribers and to aid the general measures for the revival 
 of public credit ; but the proportions of specie and stock may be 
 varied, if the scarcity of coin should render it expedient, yet not 
 in so great a degree as. to prevent an early commencement of 
 the money operations of the institution. 
 
 4. The estimates of receipts from established sources of reve 
 nue and from the proposed new duties, and the estimates of 
 expenditures on all the objects contemplated in the present com 
 munication, have been made upon a call so sudden, and upon 
 materials so scattered, that it is not intended to claim a perfect 
 reliance on their accuracy. They are, however, believed to be 
 sufficiently accurate to illustrate and support the general plan for 
 the revival of the public credit, the establisment of a permanent 
 system of revenue, and the removal of the immediate pressure 
 on the treasury. 
 
 Upon the whole, sir, I have freely and openly assumed the 
 responsibility of the station in which I have the honor to be 
 placed. But, conscious of the imperfections of the judgment 
 that dictates the answer to the important inquiries of the Com 
 mittee of Ways and Means, I derive the highest satisfaction from 
 reflecting that the honor and safety of the nation, for war or for 
 peace, depend on the wisdom, patriotism, and fortitude of Con 
 gress during times which imperiously demand a display of those 
 qualities in the exercise of the legislative authority. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most 
 obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 J. W. EPPES, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
 
 Means. 
 
244 APPENDICES. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE, 
 
 To whom was recommitted, on the twenty-fifth instant, the bill, entitled 
 "An Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United 
 States of America," to the Secretary of the Treasury, requesting his 
 opinion on the provisions of the said bill, particularly thoir effects upon 
 the prospects of a loan for 1815, with the answer of the Secretary of 
 the Treasury. 
 
 WASHINGTON, November 27, 1814. 
 
 SIR, The committee of the House of Representatives, to 
 which the bank bill was recommitted on Friday last, have directed 
 me to request you to communicate your opinion in relation to the 
 effect which a considerable issue of treasury notes (to which 
 should be attached the quality of being receivable in subscriptions 
 to the bank) might have upon the credit of the government, and 
 particularly upon the prospects of a loan for 1815. 
 
 As the bill, as it was referred to the committee, provides for 
 the subscription of forty-four millions of treasury notes to form, 
 with six millions of specie, the capital of the bank, any information 
 which you may think proper to give, either in relation to the 
 practicability of getting them into circulation without deprecia 
 tion, or in regard to their operation on any part of our fiscal 
 system afterwards, will be very acceptable. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. LOWNDES. 
 
 To the Honorable the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 27, 1814. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter, requesting, for a committee of the House of Representa 
 tives, an opinion upon the following inquiries: 
 
 1. The effect which a considerable issue of treasury notes, with 
 the quality of being receivable in subscriptions to a national 
 bank, will have upon the credit of the government, and particu 
 larly upon the prospects of a loan for 1815? 
 
 2. The practicability of getting forty-four millions of treasury 
 notes (forming, with six millions of specie, the capital for a 
 national bank) into circulation without depreciation ? 
 
 The inquiries of the committee cannot be satisfactorily an 
 swered in the abstract ; but must be considered in connection 
 with the state of our finances and the state of the public credit. 
 
 When I arrived at Washington, the treasury was suffering 
 under every kind of embarrassment. The demands upon it were 
 great in amount, while the means to satisfy them were compara 
 tively small; precarious in the collection, and difficult in the 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 245 
 
 application. The demands consisted of dividends upon old and 
 new funded debt, of treasury notes, and of legislative appropria 
 tions for the army, the navy, and the current service, all urgent 
 and important. The means consisted, First, of the fragment of 
 an authority to borrow money when nobody was disposed to 
 lend, and to issue treasury notes which none but necessitous 
 creditors, or contractors in distress, or commissaries, quarter 
 masters, and navy agents, acting, as it were, officially, seemed 
 willing to accept. Second, of the amount of bank credits scat 
 tered throughout the United States, and principally in the southern 
 and western banks, which had been rendered in a great degree 
 useless by the stoppage of payments in specie, and the consequent 
 impracticability of transferring the public funds from one place 
 to meet the public engagements in another place. And third, 
 of the current supply of money from the imposts, from internal 
 duties, and from the sales of public land, which ceased to be a 
 foundation of any rational estimate, or reserve, to provide even 
 for the dividends on the funded debt, when it was found that the 
 treasury notes (only requiring, indeed, a cash payment at the 
 distance of a year), to whomsoever they were issued at the 
 treasury, and almost as soon as they were issued, reached the 
 hands of the collectors in payments of debts, duties, and taxes ; 
 thus disappointing and defeating the only remaining expectation 
 of productive revenue. 
 
 Under these circumstances (which I had the honor to commu 
 nicate to the Committee of Ways and Means), it became the duty 
 of this department to endeavor to remove the immediate pressure 
 from the treasury ; to endeavor to restore the public credit ; and 
 to endeavor to provide for the expenses of the ensuing year. 
 The only measures that occurred to my mind for the accomplish 
 ment of such important objects have been presented to the view 
 of Congress. The act authorizing the receipt of treasury notes in 
 payment of subscriptions to a public loan was passed, I fear, too 
 late to answer the purpose for which it was designed. It 
 promises, at this time, little relief either as an instrument to raise 
 money or to absorb the claims for treasury notes, which are daily 
 becoming due. From this cause, and from other obvious causes, 
 the dividend on the funded debt has not been punctually paid; 
 a large amount of treasury notes has already been dishonored, 
 and the hope of preventing further injury and reproach in trans 
 acting the business of the treasury is too visionary to afford a 
 moment s consolation. 
 
 The actual condition of the treasury, thus described, will 
 serve to indicate the state of the public credit. Public credit 
 depends essentially upon public opinion. The usual test of pub 
 lic credit is, indeed, the value of the public debt. The faculty 
 of borrowing money is not a test of public credit : for a faithless 
 
246 APPENDICES. 
 
 government, like a desperate individual, has only to increase the 
 premium, according- to the exigency, in order to secure a loan. 
 Thus public opinion, manifested in every form, and in every 
 direction, hardly permits us, at the present juncture, to speak of 
 the existence of public credit; and yet, it is not impossible that 
 the government, in the resources of its patronage and its pledges, 
 might find the means of tempting the rich and the avaricious to 
 supply its immediate wants. But when the wants of to-day are 
 supplied, what is the new expedient that shall supply the wants 
 of to-morrow ? If it is now a charter of incorporation, it may 
 then be a grant of land ; but, after all, the immeasurable tracts 
 of the western wild would be exhausted in successive efforts to 
 obtain pecuniary aids, and still leave the government necessitous, 
 unless the foundations of public credit were re-established and 
 maintained. In the measures, therefore, which it has been my 
 duty to suggest, I have endeavored to introduce a permanent 
 plan for reviving the public credit; of which the facility of bor 
 rowing money in anticipation of settled and productive revenues, 
 is only an incident, although it is an incident as durable as the 
 plan itself. The outline seemed to embrace whatever was 
 requisite, to leave no doubt upon the power and the disposition 
 of the government, in relation to its pecuniary engagements ; to 
 diminish, and not to augment, the amount of the public debt in 
 the hands of individuals, and to create general confidence, rather 
 by the manner of treating the claims of the present class of 
 creditors than by the manner of conciliating the favor of a new 
 class. 
 
 With these explanatory remarks, sir, I proceed to answer, 
 specifically, the questions which you have proposed : 
 
 I. I am of opinion, that a considerable issue of treasury notes, 
 with the quality of being receivable in subscriptions to a national 
 bank, will have an injurious effect upon the credit of the govern 
 ment, and also upon the prospects of a loan for 1&15. 
 
 Because, it will confer, gratuitously, an advantage upon a class 
 of new creditors over the present creditors of the government, 
 standing on a footing of at least equal merit. 
 
 Because, it will excite general dissatisfaction among the present 
 holders of the public debt, and general distrust among the capi 
 talists, who are accustomed to advance their money to the govern 
 ment. 
 
 Because, a quality of subscribing to the national bank attached 
 to treasury notes exclusively, will tend to depreciate the value 
 of all public debt not possessing that quality ; and whatever de 
 preciates the value of the public debt, in this way, must neces 
 sarily impair the public credit. 
 
 Because, the specie capital of the citizens of the United States, 
 so far as it may be deemed applicable to investments in the public 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 247 
 
 stocks, has already, in a great measure, been so vested ; the hold 
 ers of the present debt will be unable to become subscribers to 
 the bank (if that object should, eventually, prove desirable) 
 without selling their stock at a depreciated rate, in order to pro 
 cure the whole amount of their subscriptions in treasury notes ; 
 and a general depression in the value of the public debt will 
 inevitably ensue. 
 
 Because, the very proposition of making a considerable issue 
 of treasury notes, even with the quality of being subscribed to a 
 national bank, can only be regarded as an experiment, on which 
 it seems dangerous to rely ; the treasury notes must be pur 
 chased at par, with money ; a new set of creditors are to be 
 created ; it may, or it may not, be deemed an object of specula 
 tion by the money-holders to subscribe to the bank ; the result 
 of the experiment cannot be ascertained until it will be too late 
 to provide a remedy in case of failure ; while the credit of the 
 government will be affected by every circumstance which keeps 
 the efficacy of its fiscal operations in suspense or doubt. 
 
 Because, the prospect of a loan for the year 1815, without the 
 aid of a bank, is faint and unpromising ; except, perhaps, so far 
 as the pledge of a specific tax may succeed; and then, it must 
 be recollected, that a considerable supply of money will be re 
 quired, for the prosecution of the war, beyond the whole amount 
 of the taxes to be levied. 
 
 Because, if the loan for the year 1815 be made to depend upon 
 the issue of treasury notes, subscribable to the national bank, it 
 will probably fail for the reasons which have already been sug 
 gested ; and if the loan be independent of that operation, a con 
 siderable issue of treasury notes, for the purpose of creating a 
 bank capital, must, it is believed, deprive the government of 
 every chance of raising money in any other manner. 
 
 II. I am of opinion, that it will be extremely difficult, if not 
 impracticable, to get forty-four millions of treasury notes (form 
 ing, with six millions of specie, the capital of a national bank) 
 into circulation, with or without depreciation. 
 
 Because, if the subscription to the bank becomes an object of 
 speculation, the treasury notes will probably be purchased at the 
 treasury and at the loan-offices, and never pass into circulation 
 at all. 
 
 Because, whatever portion of the treasury notes might pass 
 into circulation, would be speedily withdrawn, by the speculators 
 in the subscription to the bank, after arts had been employed to 
 depreciate their value. 
 
 Because, it is not believed that, in the present state of the 
 public credit, forty-four millions of treasury notes can be sent 
 into circulation. The only difference between the treasury notes 
 now issued and dishonored and those proposed to be issued, 
 
248 APPENDICES. 
 
 consists in the subscribable quality ; but reasons have been 
 already assigned for an opinion, that this difference does not 
 afford such confidence in the experiment, as seems requisite to 
 justify a reliance upon it, for accomplishing some of the most 
 interesting objects of the government, 
 
 I must beg you, sir, to pardon the haste with which I have 
 written these general answers to your inquiries. But knowing 
 the importance of time, and feeling a desire to avoid every 
 appearance of contributing to the loss of a moment, I have 
 chosen rather to rest upon the intelligence and candor of the 
 committee than to enter upon a more labored investigation of 
 the subject referred to me. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 WILLIAM LOWNDES, Esquire. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 1814. 
 
 SIR, Your letter of the 27th of November has been referred 
 to the Committee of Ways and Means, and I am instructed to 
 ask for the amount of the payments to be made during the pres 
 ent quarter on account of the public debt, the funds prepared to 
 meet those payments, and any other information which may 
 enable the committee to decide as to the necessity of adopting 
 additional measures for meeting the public engagements during 
 the present quarter of the year. 
 
 I have the honor to be your most obedient, 
 
 JOHN W. EPPES. 
 Honorable Mr. DALLAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 2, 1814. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter, dated this morning, stating that mine of the 27th of No 
 vember, addressed to the Committee on a National Bank, has been 
 referred to the Committee of Ways and Means. 
 
 In my communications to the committees of Congress, I have 
 never been disposed to disguise the embarrassments of the treas 
 ury. A frank and full development of existing evils will always, 
 I hope, be best calculated to secure the attention and exertion of 
 the public authorities, and, with legislative aid, I am still con 
 fident that all the difficulties of a deficient revenue, a suspended 
 circulating medium, and a depressed credit may be speedily and 
 completely overcome. My only apprehension arises from the 
 lapse of time, as a remedy which would be effectual to-day will, 
 perhaps, only serve to increase the disorder to-morrow. 
 
 In answering the inquiries of your letter, permit me to state, 
 1st, the amount of the payments which were to be made during 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 249 
 
 the whole of the present quarter on account of the public debt, 
 and the funds prepared, or applicable, to meet those payments ; 
 2d, the payments that remain to be made and the funds that re 
 main to meet them for the residue of the quarter ; and 3d, general 
 information in relation to additional measures for meeting the 
 public engagements. 
 
 FIRST POINT. 
 
 It is respectfully stated, agreeably to an estimate which was 
 formed on the 4th of October, 1814: 
 
 DR. 
 
 1. That, during the quarter commencing the 1st of October, 
 
 1814, and ending the 1st of January, 1815, including 
 both days, there was payable for the principal and 
 interest of treasury notes during the whole quarter, 
 chiefly at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, a sum 
 of $4,457,069 80 
 
 2. That, during the same period, there was payable for the 
 
 principal and interest of temporary loans at Boston, 
 
 Baltimore, and Charleston the sum of 771,125 00 
 
 3. That, during the same period, there was payable in divi 
 
 dends upon the public funded debt at the several loan 
 
 offices the sum of. 1,900,000 00 
 
 $7,128,194 80 
 CR. 
 
 1. That there were bank credits scattered throughout the 
 
 United States, on the 1st of October, 1814, amounting 
 
 by estimate to 2,500,000 00 
 
 2. That there was receivable from the customs during the 
 
 whole quarter the sum of 1,800,000 00 
 
 3. That there was receivable on account of the sales of 
 
 public lands during the same period a sum of 160,000 00 
 
 4. That there was receivable on account of internal duties 
 
 and direct taxes during the same period a sum of 900,000 00 
 
 5. That there was receivable on account of loans during the 
 
 same period a sum of 1,700,000 00 
 
 6. That there might be obtained upon an issue of treasury 
 
 notes during the same period a sum of about 2,500,000 00 
 
 $9,560,000 00 
 From which it results, 
 
 1. That the amount of the whole payments for dividends of 
 public debt for temporary loans and for treasury notes 
 during the whole of the current quarter was 7,128,194 80 
 
 2 That the amount of the whole of the estimated receipts 
 
 of the treasury was 9,560,000 00 
 
 Leavinga surplus of receipts of $2,431,805 20 
 
 It is believed that this estimate, formed upon official facts and 
 experience, would have been substantially realized in the event 
 if the banks had not suddenly determined to suspend their pay- 
 
250 APPENDICES. 
 
 ments in specie. But for that occurrence the dividend on the 
 public debt would have been punctually paid to the individual 
 creditors of Boston on the 1st of October last, the transfer of 
 the public funds from one place to another place, in order to meet 
 the public engagements, would have continued easy and certain, 
 the credit and use of treasury notes (limited to the specified 
 amount) would probably have been preserved, and the revenue 
 arising from duties and taxes would not have been materially in 
 tercepted, if at all, in its passage to the treasury by payments in 
 treasury notes. 
 
 SECOND POINT. 
 DR. 
 
 1. That of the principal and interest of the treasury notes, 
 payable during the present quarter, and which have 
 already fallen due, there remains on this day unpaid at 
 the places mentioned in the schedule A, the sum of... $1,902,080 80 
 
 2 That the principal and interest of the treasury notes, 
 which will become due on or before the 1st of January, 
 1815, at the places mentioned in the schedule B, 
 amount to 1,243,720 00 
 
 3. That the dividends on the public debt, payable on .the 
 
 1st of January, 1815, at the places mentioned in 
 
 schedule C, amount to the sum of 1,873,000 00 
 
 4. That the principal and interest of temporary loans, pay 
 
 able during the present quarter and contracted at the 
 treasury, in part execution of the authority granted by 
 the act of Congress, passed the 14th of March, 1812, 
 and payable at Boston on the 15th and 31st of De 
 cember, amount to 506,875 00 
 
 $5,526,275 80 
 CR. 
 
 1. That on the twenty-eighth ultimo there were bank credits 
 
 in the banks, specified in the schedule D, applicable 
 to the payment of the public debt during the pres 
 ent quarter, deducting the amount of bank credits 
 ($813,000), which, as it could not be transferred for the 
 payment of public debt, has been recently applied to 
 the appropriations for the "War and Navy Departments, 
 amounting to 2,372,287 13 
 
 2. That the amount, receivable during the remainder of the 
 
 present year, on account of the loan of six millions, 
 applicable also to the payment of the public debt, if 
 no failure in payment occurs, will be about 450,000 00 
 
 3. That the estimated amount, receivable during the re 
 
 mainder of the present year, on account of customs, 
 applicable also to the payment of the public debt, sub 
 ject, however, to various contingencies, such as the 
 non-payment of bonds, the payment of bonds in 
 treasury notes, etc., may be stated at 350,000 00 
 
 4. The estimated amount, receivable during the remainder 
 
 of the present year, on account of the sales of public 
 lands, subject, however, to contingent payments in 
 treasury notes, may be stated at 150,000 00 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 251 
 
 5. The estimated amount, receivable during the remainder 
 of the present year, for internal duties and direct tax, 
 subject, however, to contingent payments in treasury 
 notes, may be stated at $450,000 00 
 
 $3,772,287 13 
 
 From this second view of the debit and credit of the account, 
 limited merely to the payment of the public debt, becoming due 
 for the residue of the present quarter, it appears, 
 
 1. That the debt amounts to the sum of 5,526,275 80 
 
 2. That the resources to pay the debt, excluding the sum 
 
 applied to the Army and Navy Departments as before 
 stated, and excluding the possible proceeds of new 
 loans and new issues. of treasury notes, for the single 
 purpose of paying public debt, amount to 3,772,287 13 
 
 $1,753,988 67 
 
 The difference between the results of the statements, under 
 the first and the second points, will be accounted for by the un 
 expected effect of payments in treasury notes on account of duties, 
 taxes, and land ; by the total cessation of the use of treasury 
 notes either to pay the public creditors or to raise money ; and 
 by an unavoidable variance in estimates, depending upon a vari 
 ance in the state of information at the treasury. A priority of 
 payment may be justly claimed by the holders of the funded 
 debt ; and, therefore, it is proper to add, 
 
 1. That the amount of public credits, as estimated in the 
 
 preceding statements, is the sum of $3,772,287 13 
 
 2. That the amount of the dividend on the old and new 
 
 funded debt, payable on the 1st of January, 1815, is 
 
 the sum of 1,873,000 00 
 
 3. And that, consequently, the surplus of the resources, 
 
 after satisfying that single object, is the sum of. $1,899,287 13 
 
 It will be observed that these estimates do not include, as an 
 item of the debt, the dividend on the funded debt, amounting to 
 $200,000, which was not actually paid to the individual credi 
 tors at Boston on the 1st of October last. But it is omitted, 
 because an adequate fund in the State bank was seasonably 
 provided for the occasion, and the usual treasury draft was issued 
 in favor of the commissioner of loans, so as to deduct a corre 
 sponding amount from the bank credits of the government. 
 The State bank declined, for several reasons (which it is un 
 necessary to repeat), paying in coin or in bank-notes, and most 
 of the public creditors refused to accept the treasury notes, which 
 the bank offered to them as an alternative payment. It is not 
 considered that under these circumstances, connected with the 
 general state of the circulating medium (which places the power 
 
252 APPENDICES. 
 
 of the government to meet its engagements on the same footing 
 with the power of the most opulent of its citizens), there can 
 exist any just reproach upon the public credit or resources. But, 
 nevertheless, efforts have been anxiously made by this depart 
 ment, and are still in operation, to satisfy the public creditors 
 independent of the fund which was originally set apart, and 
 which still remains on deposit at the State bank, by all the re 
 maining means, at the disposal of the treasury. 
 
 Nor, on the other hand, have I included in the statement of our 
 resources to pay the public debt the unexecuted authority to 
 borrow upon public loans, and to issue treasury notes. I have 
 only included the items of revenue, which, in ordinary times, 
 would be deemed certain and effective ; reserving any surplus of 
 those items, with the loan and the treasury notes, to meet the 
 general appropriations for the public service. 
 
 THIRD POINT. 
 
 It is respectfully stated that the non-payment of the treasury 
 notes, and the hazard of not being able to pay the dividend 
 on the public debt, according to the respective contracts, was 
 chiefly (I believe entirely) owing to the suspension of specie 
 payments at the banks, and the consequent impracticability of 
 transferring the public funds, from the place in which they were 
 deposited, to the place in which they were wanted. I have 
 endeavored, therefore, to induce the banks, as the performance 
 of an act of justice, not inconsistent with their interest or their 
 policy, to assist in alleviating the fiscal embarrassments of the 
 government, which they have thus contributed to produce. The 
 answers to my last proposition (of which a copy is annexed in 
 schedule E) have not been received. 
 
 But the danger of depending upon gratuitous aids (of depend 
 ing, indeed, upon anything but the wisdom and the vigilance of 
 Congress) makes, with every day s experience, a deeper impres 
 sion upon the mind. In speaking, therefore, of additional meas 
 ures for meeting the public engagements during the present 
 quarter of the year, I derive great satisfaction in reflecting upon 
 the inevitable and immediate effect of the legislative sanction 
 (even so far as it has already been given) to a settled and 
 productive system of taxes, for defraying the expenses of gov 
 ernment and maintaining the public credit. This policy, em 
 bracing in its course the introduction of a national circulating 
 medium, and the proper facilities for anticipating, collecting, and 
 distributing the public revenue, will at once enliven the public 
 credit; and even the existing resources of the present quarter 
 must ripen and expand under an influence so auspicious. But 
 
OFFICIAL LET TEES. 253 
 
 something may be conveniently and usefully added. For in. 
 stance, 
 
 1. A discretionary authority may be given, by law, to issue 
 treasury notes for the amount of the sums now authorized to be 
 raised by law. 
 
 2. An authority may be given, bylaw, to transfer bank credits 
 from one place to another place, in order to meet the public 
 engagements, allowing a reasonable rate of exchange. 
 
 3. Appropriations may be made, by law, to defray the extra 
 expenses of the War and Navy Departments during the present 
 year; and a general authority may be given to borrow or to 
 issue treasury notes, to supply any deficiencies in former appro 
 priations for those departments, and for the payment of the public 
 debt, the treasury notes, and the civil list, 
 
 The present opportunity enables me to assure you, sir, that I 
 arn preparing, with all possible diligence, to report to the Com 
 mittee of Ways and Means upon the subjects which they have 
 been pleased to confide to me. 
 
 1. The tax bills are numerous, new in some of their principles, 
 and complicated in most of their details ; nor are the best sources 
 of information at hand. They will, however, be drafted, and 
 sent to the committee in succession. 
 
 2. The plan for establishing a competent sinking fund is under 
 consideration, and will, probably, be ready to be reported before 
 the tax bills are passed. 
 
 3. The estimates for the expenses of 1815, the annual appro 
 priation bill, and the bills to authorize a loan, and an issue of 
 treasury notes for that year, are also objects of attention. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 JOHN W. EPPES, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Ways 
 and Means. 
 
 A. 
 
 Schedule of Treasury Notes which have already fallen due and remain 
 unpaid this 2<l Day of December , 1814. 
 
 Where Payable. When Payable. Principal. Interest. Total. 
 1814. 
 
 Philadelphia November 1, $269,000 $14,526 00 $283,526 00 
 
 December 1, 366,200 19,774 80 385,974 80 
 
 New York 570,000 30,78000 600,78000 
 
 Boston 600,000 32,400 00 632,400 00 
 
 $1,805,200 $97,480 80 $1,902,680 80 
 
254 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 B. 
 
 Schedule of Treasury Notes becoming due on or before the 1st of January, 
 
 1815. 
 
 "Where Payable. When Payable. Principal. Interest. Total. 
 1814. 
 
 New York December 11, $100,000 $5,4 JO $105,400 
 
 Philadelphia 600,000 32,400 632,400 
 
 Boston December 21, 30,000 1,620 31,620 
 
 1815. 
 
 New York January 1, 400,000 21,600 421,600 
 
 Philadelphia 50,000 2,700 52,700 
 
 $1,180,000 $63,720 $1,243,720 
 
 C. 
 
 Estimated Amount of the Dividends on the Domestic Funded Debt of the 
 United States, Payable on the 1st of January, 1815. 
 
 At Portsmouth, N. H $12,000 
 
 Boston 320,000 
 
 Providence 20,000 
 
 Hartford 37,000 
 
 New York 625,000 
 
 Trenton 8,000 
 
 Philadelphia, includ 
 ing stocks on treas 
 ury books 545,000 
 
 At Wilmington, Del.... $1.000 
 
 Baltimore 125,000 
 
 Richmond 20,000 
 
 Raleigh 5,000 
 
 Charleston 85,000 
 
 Savannah 5,000 
 
 Treasury atWashingt n, 
 exclusive of dividends 
 
 payable at Philad a... 65,000 
 
 $1,873,000 
 
 Note. From the daily transfers of stock from one loan-office 
 to another, it is impossible at this time to estimate with precision 
 the amount which will be payable at each loan-office on the 1st 
 of January next. The above may be considered as near the 
 sums which will be payable, unless the removal of stock should, 
 in the mean time, be unusually large. 
 
 D. 
 
 Cash in the several banks, according to the state of the in 
 formation at the treasury, on the 28th of November, 1814, after 
 deducting moneys in the southern and western banks, assigned 
 to the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, in conse 
 quence of their being transferable from the places of deposit to 
 the places of payment of the public debt, amounting to $813,000. 
 
OFFICIAL LET TEES. 
 
 255 
 
 Bath Bank 
 
 Lincoln Bank, Bath 
 
 Cumberland Bank, Port 
 land 
 
 Portland Bank 
 
 New Hampshire Union 
 Bank 
 
 Saco Bank 
 
 Merchants Bank, Sa 
 lem 
 
 Roger Williams Bank. 
 
 Newport Bank 
 
 New Haven Bank 
 
 New York State Bank, 
 Albany 
 
 Mechanics and Farmers 
 Bank, Albany 
 
 Manhattan Company ... 
 
 Branch Bank of Man 
 hattan Company, at 
 Utica 
 
 Mechanics Bank, New 
 York 
 
 City Ba n k, New York.. 
 
 Bank of Pennsylvania.. 
 
 Farmers and Mechanics 
 Bank, Philadelphia... 
 
 Branch Bank, Pittsburg 
 
 Bank of Baltimore 
 
 Commercial and Far 
 mers B k, Baltimore 
 
 Mechanics Bank, Balti 
 more 
 
 "Washington 
 
 Metropolis 
 
 Columbia 
 
 Farmers and Mechan 
 ics Bank, George 
 town 
 
 $9,723 13 
 5 750 00 
 
 Union Bank, 
 Greoretown 
 
 24 217 79 
 
 Mechanics Bank of 
 
 12,043 18 
 
 Bank of Potomac, 
 Alexandria 
 
 12,807 39 
 1,435 83 
 
 34 376 82 
 
 Bank of Virginia ... 
 Branch of Bank of 
 Virginia, at Nor 
 folk. 
 
 12,365 57 
 42,738 99 
 15 081 12 
 
 State Bank, Raleigh 
 Branch of do. Salis 
 bury . . 
 
 40 730 17 
 
 Branch of do. Wil 
 mington 
 
 i 
 
 18,369 08 
 378,788 46 
 
 Bank of Cape Fear .. 
 Planters and Me 
 chanics Bank, 
 Charleston 
 
 15 433 59 
 
 Bank of South Caro 
 lina ... ... 
 
 222 896 14 
 
 Union Bank, South 
 Carolina ... 
 
 34,254 08 
 94,668 63 
 
 Planters Bank, Sa- 
 vannah 
 
 > 
 
 376 67 
 
 910 59 
 65 288 16 
 
 Bank of Kentucky.. 
 Branch of Bank of 
 Kentucky, at Rus- 
 sellville 
 
 18,212 19 
 
 Branch of Bank of 
 Kentucky, at Lou 
 isville 
 
 628,594 51 
 67,067 82 
 11,609 60 
 241 974 26 
 
 Bank of Chillicothe 
 Miami Exporting 
 Company, Cincin 
 nati ... 
 
 596 48 
 
 Louisiana Bank 
 
 $37,561 45 
 5,000 00 
 
 15,000 00 
 35,020 35 
 
 372 24 
 
 366 93 
 
 6,263 88 
 
 5,502 33 
 
 1,697 26 
 
 101,235 28 
 22,712 50 
 14,028 47 
 
 102 98 
 9,174 70 
 
 1,247 61 
 
 699 01 
 
 1,366 08 
 
 30,110 89 
 66,514 92 
 
 $2,372,287 13 
 
 SCHEDULE E. 
 
 (Circular.) 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 
 
 November 25, 1814. 
 
 SIR, The sudden determination of most of the banks in which 
 the deposits of pub4ic money were made to refuse payment of 
 their notes and of drafts upon them, in specie, deprived the gov 
 ernment of the use of its gold and silver, without any act or 
 assent on the part of the treasury. The equally sudden deter 
 mination of the banks of each State to refuse credit and circula 
 tion to the notes issued in other States, deprived the government, 
 without its participation, of the only means that were possessed 
 for transferring its funds from the places in which they lay inac- 
 
256 APPENDICES. 
 
 tive to the places in which they were wanted for the payment of 
 the dividends on the funded debt and the discharge of treasury 
 notes. It was the inevitable result of these transactions that the 
 bank credits of the government should be soon exhausted in 
 Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc., where the principal loan- 
 offices for the payment of the public debt were established, and 
 that the government should be unable to satisfy its engagements 
 in those cities, unless the public creditors would receive drafts on 
 banks in other States, or would subscribe the amount of their 
 claims to a public loan, or would accept a payment in treasury 
 notes. It was not unreasonable, indeed, to hope that the banks, 
 whose conduct had produced the existing embarrassment, would 
 cheerfully afford some alleviating accommodation to the govern 
 ment ; but every attempt to realize that hope has hitherto failed. 
 Even, however, if the present application should also be unsuc 
 cessful, I think I may rely on the intelligence and candor of our 
 fellow-citizens to vindicate the government from any reproach for 
 a want of good faith or of essential resources to maintain the 
 public credit. The events which have occurred, the government 
 could neither avert nor control. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I have deemed it a duty to the 
 public and to myself to request the attention of the banks which 
 have acted as agents of the treasury in the receipt and distribu 
 tion of public money, to the following propositions: 
 
 1. That the banks shall assist the government with the means 
 of discharging the treasury notes and paying the dividends of 
 public debt during the present quarter at the loan-office of their 
 respective States. A great portion both of the treasury notes 
 and public debt belongs to the banks respectively ; and so far 
 nothing more than a protracted credit will be required. The 
 balance of the demand will be payable, of course, in the notes of 
 the respective banks. 
 
 2. That to secure and satisfy the advances thus to be made by 
 the banks respectively, the banks shall be admitted on reasonable 
 terms to subscribe to the loan of three millions of dollars ; or 
 they shall receive treasury notes, or they shall receive bank-notes, 
 or drafts upon banks in other States. If any bank should prefer 
 accommodating the treasury with a temporary loan on a legal 
 interest, this course may be pursued. 
 
 I will thank you, sir, for an early answer to this proposition, 
 and if it should be accepted I will immediately make the neces 
 sary arrangements to carry it into effect. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
OFFICIAL 
 
 LETTEK 
 
 FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 
 
 To the Chairman of the Committee of "Ways and Means, accompanying 
 the Bill entitled "An Act to prohibit intercourse with the enemy, and 
 for other purposes." 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Nov. 19, 1814. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter requesting, on behalf of the Committee of Ways and 
 Means, " any information which the Treasury Department can 
 furnish as to the defects of the present revenue laws, and the best 
 mode of correcting the evils arising from an intercourse with the 
 enemy." 
 
 Although the expediency of a general revision of the revenue 
 laws, with the view contemplated by the committee, is acknowl 
 edged, I fear it will be impracticable at this time to undertake 
 and to execute satisfactorily so extensive a task The pressure 
 of the current business upon the department is severe, and pre 
 cludes an application of the secretary s time to any object which 
 is not of immediate importance. The inconveniences that are 
 suggested in the documents from Yermont, accompanying the 
 reference of the committee, require, however, an early attention ; 
 and the following views of the subject are respectfully submitted 
 to your consideration : 
 
 I. The representations from Yermont present various causes 
 of complaint : 
 
 1. That smuggling is extensively prosecuted on the northern 
 frontier by citizens of the United States, sometimes with and 
 sometimes without the cover of a neutral character, in the course 
 of which the enemy obtains important intelligence ; he is fur 
 nished with cattle and other essential supplies; and he is enabled 
 to introduce his merchandise surreptitiously into our markets. 
 
 2. That the powers of the revenue officers are inadequate to 
 the detection and prosecution of these offences, because the right 
 of search is not extended to every vehicle that may be employed ; 
 because the prohibitory laws do not sufficiently define and enu 
 merate the subjects of an illicit trade ; because no efficient act of 
 prevention is authorized to be performed even upon the strongest 
 ground of suspicion ; and because there is no force, civil or mili 
 tary, provided to aid the revenue officers in the execution of their 
 duty when cases of violent opposition occur. 
 
 3. That limited as the general powers of the revenue officers 
 appear to be, they are rendered still more inadequate by the 
 terror which the officers now feel of being exposed to suits for 
 damages under the authority of recent decisions in the courts of 
 
258 APPENDICES. 
 
 law ; for it has been adjudged in Vermont that the inspectors of 
 the customs are not authorized in any case to make seizures ; and 
 that actions may be maintained against them to recover the whole 
 value of the property seized, even when the property itself has 
 been duly condemned as forfeited by law. 
 
 II. The actual state of the laws in relation to these subjects of 
 complaint may be sufficiently seen in the following analysis : 
 
 Of the power and privileges of inspectors and other officers of 
 the customs. 
 
 1. The inspectors of the customs are persons employed by the 
 collector, with the approbation of the principal officer of the 
 Treasury Department, and their duties are entirely directed to 
 guard against frauds upon the revenue by smuggling or any other 
 kind of illicit trade. They are described and considered through 
 out the acts of Congress as officers of the customs, though not 
 as chief officers. 
 
 2. On the arrival or the approach of ships or vessels, the in 
 spectors, as well as the chief and other officers of the cus 
 toms, are empowered to go on board (whether in or out of their 
 respective districts) for the purpose of demanding manifests of 
 their cargoes and of examining and searching the ships and ves 
 sels. This act is to be performed ex officio, by way of precaution, 
 without any special deputation from a collector, naval officer, or 
 surveyor. (Vol. iv. 367, s. 54.) 
 
 3. If, however, there be reason to suspect that any goods 
 subject to duty are concealed in any ship or vessel, an inspector 
 cannot enter such ship or vessel to search for, seize, and secure 
 such goods without being specially appointed for that purpose by 
 the collector, naval officer, or surveyor. And if there be cause 
 to suspect a concealment of such goods in any particular dwelling- 
 house, store, building, or other place, a search-warrant must be 
 obtained from a justice of the peace to authorize a search and 
 seizure. The cases here provided for are cases of suspicion 
 only, when probable information has been received of a conceal 
 ment of goods, either on water or on land, with a design to evade 
 the payment of duties. The act to be performed is not in the 
 ordinary course of an inspector s official duty ; it is not an act of 
 precaution, but of detection ; it is not an act authorized for seiz 
 ing goods which are notoriously liable to seizure, but for entering 
 a ship or a house in a doubtful case to ascertain \vhether any 
 goods liable to seizure are there concealed. (Vol. iv. 389, s. 68.) 
 
 4. But any ship or vessel, goods, wares, or merchandise which 
 are liable to seizure by virtue of any act respecting the revenue, 
 it is the duty of the several officers of the customs (including by 
 general description and practical construction the inspectors of 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 259 
 
 the customs) to seize and secure as well without as within their 
 respective districts. The act to be performed in this case is 
 founded on the fact that the property is liable to seizure ; but 
 that it is not necessary to enter either a ship or a house to ascer 
 tain whether such goods are so liable and are there concealed. 
 (Vol. iv. 390, s. TO,) 
 
 5. In the performance of their duties the inspectors, in com 
 mon with the other officers of the customs, are protected by the 
 law when unjustly sued or molested, in actions for damages ; and 
 when any prosecution is commenced on account of the seizure of 
 any ship or goods in which judgment is given for the claimant, 
 the inspectors are released from all responsibility on showing that 
 there was a reasonable cause of seizure. (Vol. iv. 391, s. 71 ; 
 ibid. 429, s. 89.) This last provision, indeed, has been extended 
 generally for the protection of any collector or other officer, under 
 any act of Congress authorizing a seizure of any ship or vessel, 
 goods, wares, or merchandise, where the seizure has been made 
 on probable cause, although restitution should be decreed. (Vol. 
 viii. 255, s. 1.) 
 
 6. The "Act to prohibit any American from proceeding to, or 
 trading with, the enemies of the United States, and for other 
 purposes," declares that " if any person shall transport or attempt 
 to transport, overland or otherwise, in any wagon, cart, sleigh, 
 boat, or otherwise, naval or military stores, arms, or the muni 
 tions of war, or any article of provision from any place of the 
 United States to Upper or Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, or New 
 Brunswick," certain forfeitures and penalties shall be incurred. 
 And authority is given " to the collectors of the several ports of 
 the United States to seize and stop naval or military stores, 
 arms, or the munitions of war, or any articles of provision, and 
 ship or vessel, wagon, cart, sleigh, boat, or thing by which any 
 article prohibited as aforesaid is shipped or transported, or at 
 tempted to be shipped or transported." It seems to be a strained 
 and impracticable construction of the provision to confine the 
 exercise of the authority for stopping and seizing the contraband 
 articles to the personal agency of the collectors. A collector in 
 this case, as in every other case where a positive restriction is 
 not imposed, must act through the vigilance and co-operation of 
 the inspectors and other officers of the customs. 
 
 Of the existing auxiliary means to execute the revenue laws, 
 and the laws prohibiting trade and intercourse with the 
 enemy. 
 
 1. In addition to the means which the preceding statements 
 will suggest, the judges of the supreme court, and of the sev 
 eral district courts of the United States, and all judges and jus- 
 
260 APPENDICES. 
 
 tices of the courts of the several States (having authority, by the 
 laws of the United States, to take cognizance of offences against 
 the constitution and laws thereof), have the like power to hold to 
 security of the peace and for good behavior, in cases arising 
 under the constitution and laws of the United States, as may 
 or can be lawfully exercised, by any judge or justice of the peace 
 of the respective States, in cases cognizable before them. (Vol. 
 iv. 231.) 
 
 2. Whenever the laws of the United States are opposed, or 
 the execution thereof obstructed, in any State by combinations 
 too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial 
 proceedings or the powers of the marshal, the President is 
 authorized to call forth a competent force of the militia to cause 
 the laws to be executed. (Vol iv. 188, s. 2, 9.) And by a sub 
 sequent act, the President is authorized to employ the land or 
 naval force of the United States for the same purpose. (Vol. 
 viii. 311.) 
 
 3. A final judgment or decree, in any suit, in the highest 
 court of law or equity of a State in which a decision of the suit 
 could be had, where is drawn in question the validity of an au 
 thority exercised under the United States (as in the case of an 
 officer of the customs), and the decision is against the validity, 
 may be re-examined, and reversed or affirmed, in the supreme 
 court of the United States, upon a writ of error; but the matter 
 in dispute must exceed the value of two thousand dollars, exclu 
 sive of costs. (Vol. i. s. 61, 63.) 
 
 III. From these views of the subject of complaint, and of the 
 state of the law in relation to them, we are led to consider the best 
 modes of amending the defects and correcting the evils which 
 exist. 
 
 1. An habitual respect for the judicial authority does not 
 permit me to controvert any further the decisions of the courts 
 of law, in the State of Vermont, respecting the official character 
 and powers of the inspectors and other officers of the customs. 
 It is recommended, therefore, that the law should be so amended 
 as to place the inspector upon the footing of officers within the 
 meaning of the revenue laws and laws prohibiting trade and 
 intercourse with the enemy; and that the collectors should be 
 authorized to employ a competent number of inspectors, with 
 authority to stop, search, detain, and seize all cattle, live stock, 
 and other supplies ; all goods and money ; and, generally, all 
 other articles whatsoever, howsoever carried and transported, 
 by land or by water, on the way to or from the British Provinces, 
 subject to such regulations as will secure, with as little embar 
 rassment as possible, the rights of a lawful or neutral trade. 
 
 2. The officers of the customs should be entitled, in proper 
 cases, and on proper proofs, to obtain from any magistrate a 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 261 
 
 warrant to search dwelling-houses and other buildings; to de 
 mand the assistance of the marshal of the district and his depu 
 ties, with the posse of the district, if necessary, for the execution 
 of their duties ; and to hold any person to security for his good 
 behavior, stating, on oath, that they have probable and just 
 cause for believing that such person is carrying on an unlawful 
 trade or intercourse with the enemy. 
 
 3. No citizen, or person, usually residing within the United 
 States, should be allowed to cross the frontier into the British 
 Provinces without a passport from the Secretary of State or 
 from the Secretary of War, or from the officer commanding the 
 military district in which such person usually resides. All 
 persons coming from the British Provinces into the United States 
 should be required to report themselves, within a reasonable 
 time, to the military commander, or the collector, of the district 
 within which they shall, respectively, first arrive. And any 
 person hovering upon the frontier, at a distance from his usual 
 place of residence, without any business requiring his attendance 
 there, and without a passport, should be held to security for his 
 good behavior, as a person suspected, upon probable cause, to be 
 engaged in an unlawful trade or intercourse with the enemy. 
 
 4. The militia and army of the United States on the frontier 
 should be authorized, under proper regulations, to co-operate with 
 the civil magistrates and officers of the customs in seizing and 
 securing persons engaged in an unlawful trade, or intercourse 
 with the enemy, together with the articles and vehicles employed 
 in such trade or intercourse. 
 
 5. A more effectual provision should be made for transferring 
 from the State courts to the federal courts suits brought against 
 persons exercising an authority under the United States, so that 
 such suits may be transferred, as soon as conveniently may be, 
 after they are commenced. 
 
 6. Treason being defined by the constitution, and misprision 
 of treason being an offence which is necessarily founded upon 
 that definition, many practices of a treasonable nature and effect, 
 which cannot be constitutionally classed with treason, are un 
 noticed in our penal code. An act of Congress declaring such 
 practices to be misdemeanors, and punishing them with fine and 
 imprisonment, would, perhaps, be the most effectual mode of 
 correcting the evils arising from an intercourse with the enemy. 
 
 The papers that were received from the committee are now 
 returned; and I embrace the opportunity to repeat the assur 
 ances of the sincere respect with which I have the honor to be, 
 Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 J. W. EPPES, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
 Means. 
 
262 APPENDICES. 
 
 LETTEK 
 
 FROJM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 
 
 To the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, exhibiting a 
 view of the state of the treasury at the close of the year 1814; also a 
 view of the situation of the treasury for the year 1815, with proposi 
 tions relative to the ways and means for the same. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, January 17, 1815. 
 
 SIR, I have deemed it hitherto my duty to wait, with defer 
 ence and respect, for a decision upon the measures which I had 
 the honor to suggest to the Committee of Ways and Means on the 
 17th of October "last. But the rapid approach to the termination 
 of the session of Congress induces me again to trespass upon 
 your attention, earlier, perhaps, than is consistent with a satis 
 factory view of the situation of the treasury, as some important 
 plans are still under legislative discussion. I have now, how 
 ever, the honor to submit to the consideration of the Committee 
 of Ways and Means the following additional statements and 
 propositions: 
 
 STATEMENTS. 
 
 I. Statement of the situation of the treasury at the close of 
 the year 1814. 
 
 1. The charges on the treasury for 1814. 
 
 It appears, that at the close of the year 1813 there was a 
 general balance of the appropriations for that year remaining 
 unsatisfied, and subject to be called for at the treasury in the 
 year 1814, amounting to about $8,131,313 03, and composed of 
 the following items : 
 
 Of the appropriation for the civil department, about $390,499 07 
 
 Of the appropriation for the military department 2,666,230 33 
 
 Of the appropriation for the naval department 3,611,240 75 
 
 Of the appropriation for the diplomatic department 253,846 62 
 
 Of the appropriations for miscellaneous services 1,209,496 26 
 
 $8,131,313 03 
 The annual appropriations for the year 
 
 1814 amounted to the sum of $38,003,691 28 
 
 The sum necessary to meet the engage 
 ments, in relation to the public debt, 
 
 was about 11,560,586 39 
 
 49,563,277 67 
 
 The gross charge on the treasury for the year 1814 was $57.694,590 70 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 263 
 
 2. The ways and means of the treasury for 1814. 
 
 The gross charge upon the treasury for the year 1814, amount 
 ing to $57,694,590 70, included, as above stated, the balance of 
 the appropriations of 1813 remaining unsatisfied at the close of 
 that year. It is, therefore, proper to place to the credit of the 
 treasury the outstanding revenue and resources at the com 
 mencement of the year 1814 ; and these consisted of the follow 
 ing items : 
 
 Of cash in the treasury on the 1st of January, 1814 $5,196,482 00 
 
 Of revenue received at the treasury in the 
 
 1st quarter of 1814 $4,286,062 28 
 
 Of revenue received in the second quarter.. 2,822,108 05 
 Of revenue received in the third quarter.... 2,313,183 20 
 Of revenue received in the fourth quarter, 
 
 by estimate 1,920,000 00 
 
 11,311,353 53 
 
 Of the proceeds of loans contracted for in 
 
 1813, and paid in 1814 $3,592,665 00 
 
 Of the proceeds of treasury notes issued 
 
 under the act of 1813, and received in 
 
 1814 1,070,000 00 
 
 4,662,665 00 
 
 Of the amount of the loan authorized by 
 
 the act of the 24th of March, 1814 $25,000,000 00 
 
 Of the amount of the loan authorized by the 
 
 act of the 15th of November, 1814 3,000,000 00 
 
 28,000,000 00 
 
 Of the amount of treasury notes authorized 
 
 to be issued by the act of the 4th of 
 
 March, 1814 $5,000,000 00 
 
 Of the amount of treasury notes authorized 
 
 to be issued by the act of December 26, 
 
 1814 3,000,000 00 
 
 8,000,000 00 
 
 $57,170,500 53 
 
 From this statement, therefore, it appears, 
 
 That the charges on the treasury for 1814 amounted to... $57,694,590 70 
 That the ways and means of the treasury for 1814 
 
 amounted to 57,170,500 53 
 
 $524,090 17 
 
 And this excess of charges on the treasury, amounting to 
 $524,090 17, beyond the ways and means actually appropriated, 
 will be payable out of the revenue uncollected on the 31st of 
 December, 1814. 
 
 But, independent of the general view thus taken of the exist 
 ing charges on the treasury, and of the ways and means desig 
 nated, by law, for the service of 1814, it is necessary to present 
 
264 APPENDICES. 
 
 a statement of the actual receipts and disbursements for that 
 year. 
 
 The actual receipts at the treasury, during the year 1814, 
 amounted to the sum of $40,007,661 53, and consisted of the 
 following items : 
 
 The cash in the treasury on the 1st of January, 1814, 
 
 amounted, as above stated, to ". $5,196,482 00 
 
 The revenue received at the treasury, during the year 
 
 1814, amounted, as above stated, to 11,311,353 53 
 
 The cash received at the treasury in the year 1814, on ac 
 count of the loans and issues of treasury notes authorized 
 
 in 1813. amounted, as above stated, to 4,662,665 00 
 
 The cash received at the treasury on account 
 of the loans authorized in 1814, amounted, 
 
 in the second quarter, to $6,087,011 
 
 In the third quarter, to 2,815,060 
 
 In the fourth quarter, by estimate 2,707,810 
 
 11,609,881 00 
 
 The cash received at the treasury on account 
 of the issues of treasury notes, authorized 
 in 1814, amounted, in the second quarter, 
 
 to $1,392100 
 
 In the third quarter, to 1,603,900 
 
 In the fourth quarter, to 4,231,280 
 
 7,227,280 00 
 
 $40,007,661 53 
 
 The actual disbursements at the treasury, during 1814 
 (taking a part of the fourth quarter by estimate), amounted 
 to the sum of $38,273,619 28, and consisted of the follow 
 ing payments: 
 
 For the civil department $933,327 97 
 
 For miscellaneous services 1,207,492 30 
 
 For the diplomatic department 206,306 52 
 
 For the military department... 20,510,238 00 
 
 For the naval department 7,312,899 90 
 
 For the public debt 8,103,354 59 
 
 $38,273,619 28 
 
 The estimated balance of cash in the treasury on the 31st 
 
 of December, 1814, being $1,734,042 25 
 
 To these views, however, 1st, of the general charges on the 
 treasury, and of the ways and means designated, by law, for the 
 service of 1814 ; and 2d, of the actual receipts and disburse 
 ments at the treasury, during that year, it is proper to add a 
 statement of the result, showing the condition of the treasury at 
 the end of 1814, in relation to the unsatisfied demands, and to 
 the unexpended ways and means. 
 
 The unsatisfied demands on the treasury, at the close of 1814, 
 amounted to $19,420,971 42, and consisted of the balances of 
 appropriations for the following objects : 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 265 
 
 For the civil department $519,967 11 
 
 For miscellaneous services 1,285,682 36 
 
 For the diplomatic department 230,940 10 
 
 For the military department 9,458,898 33 
 
 For the naval department 4,468,251 72 
 
 For the public debt 3,457,231 80 
 
 $19,420,971 42 
 
 The unexpended amount of the ways and means provided 
 for 1814 was $23,396,881 25, and consisted of the follow 
 ing items : 
 Cash in the treasury on the 1st of January, 
 
 1814, estimated at $1,734,042 25 
 
 Revenue uncollected and outstanding, 
 
 estimated at 4,500,000 00 
 
 Authority to borrow money and to issue 
 treasury notes, not executed, or not yet 
 productive, under acts of the 4th and 
 
 24th of March, 1814 8,162,839 00 
 
 Stock sent to Europe... $3,000,000 
 Under act of November 
 
 15, 1814 3,000,000 
 
 Under act of December 
 
 26, 1814 3,000,000 
 
 9,000,000 00 
 
 $23,396,881 25 
 
 The surplus of ways and means, in refer 
 ence to the service of 1814, including 
 revenue and the unexecuted authority 
 to borrow and to issue treasury notes, 
 is, therefore $3,975,909 83 
 
 The conclusion from this statement of the situation of the 
 treasury at the close of 1814, under the different views which 
 have been presented, would seem to establish, that the ways and 
 means provided for the service of that year were considerably 
 more than the demands on the treasury would require. But it 
 must always be recollected that the demands are positive and 
 urgent ; while a great portion of the ways and means rests upon 
 a precarious foundation. Thus : 
 
 The unsatisfied demands on the treasury for the service 
 
 of 1814, positive and urgent in their nature, amount to $19,420,971 42 
 
 The cash in the treasury and the outstanding revenue, 
 
 only amount to 6,234,042 25 
 
 $13,186,929 17 
 
 And, consequently, the payment of the difference, amounting 
 to $13,186,929 17, for the service of 1814, must depend on the 
 success of raising money by loan, or by issues of treasury notes, 
 under the unexecuted authority constituting the remaining ways 
 and means designated for the same year. 
 
 18 
 
266 APPENDICES. 
 
 II. Statement of the situation of the treasury for the year 
 1815. 
 
 1. The charges upon the treasury for the year 1815, as already 
 ascertained. 
 
 The estimates for the annual appropriations amount to 
 $40,538,889 39, consisting of the following items: 
 
 For civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous 
 
 expenses $1,979,289 39 
 
 For the military department 30,342,238 00 
 
 For the naval department 8,217,362 00 
 
 $40,538,889 39 
 
 The public debt will call for a sum of $15,493,145 30, to 
 answer the following claims: 
 
 For interest and reimbursement of stocks 
 
 existing before the war $3,452,775 46 
 
 For interest on the funded debt created 
 
 since the war 2,922,816 72 
 
 For the interest on loans to be effected in 
 
 1815, by estimate 1,500,000 00 
 
 For the principal and interest of treasury 
 notes falling due in 1815, and on the 1st 
 
 of January, 1816 7,617,553 12 
 
 $15,493,145 30 
 
 $56,032,034 69 
 
 From this view it appears, that ways and means must now be 
 provided for an expenditure of $56,032,034 69, in the year 1815, 
 independent of such additions as may arise from the contemplated 
 establishment of a sinking fund, in relation to the public debt 
 created since the war, and from any other new object of expense, 
 which shall be authorized during the present year. 
 
 2. The ways and means of the treasury for 1815. 
 
 The outstanding and uncollected revenue, at the commence 
 ment of 1815, has been considered as applicable to the payment 
 of the unsatisfied balances of the appropriations for the preceding 
 year; and, consequently, only such parts of the revenue as shall 
 accrue, and be actually received at the treasury, during 1815, 
 can be embraced in the resources for the current service. But it 
 also follows, from that view of the subject, that the treasury is 
 entitled to be credited in 1815 for the excess, in the provision of 
 ways and means, to meet the expenditure of 1814. 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 267 
 
 This excess, consisting of cash, of outstanding revenue, 
 and of an authority to borrow or to issue treasury notes, 
 amounts, as above stated, to the sum of. . $3 975,909 83 
 
 The net sum receivable into the treasury in the year 1815, 
 for duties on goods imported during that year, cannot 
 be safely estimated at a greater sum than 1,000,000 00 
 
 The direct tax will probably give to the treasury during 
 
 the year 1815, a sum of...!! .". 2,000,000 00 
 
 The internal duties, old and new. and postage, on an esti 
 mate which is stated in the schedule A, will probably 
 produce, in the year 1815, a sum of 7,050,000 00 
 
 The sales of public lands will probably produce in the 
 
 year 1815, a sum of 1,000,000 00 
 
 The amount of incidental receipts, from miscellaneous 
 sources, will probably be 100,000 00 
 
 $15,125,909 83 
 
 But it appears, that the single item of public debt will 
 
 require in the year 1815, a sum of. $15,493,145 30 
 
 And that the revenue (independent of the excess of the 
 authority to borrow, etc. brought from the last year s 
 ways and means) will only be..T. ." 11,150,000 00 
 
 Leaving a deficiency, in that respect alone, of $4,343,145 30 
 
 In a more general view, however, it is to be stated, 
 
 That the charges upon the treasury for the year 1815, 
 
 amount to the sum of $56,032,034 69 
 
 That the existing sources of supply amount only to 15,125,909 83 
 
 And that ways and means must be provided to raise 
 
 the deficit of. $40,906,124 86 
 
 It will be readily seen, that the estimates of the product of the 
 direct tax, and of the new internal duties, are applicable only to 
 the present year; and that in every succeeding- year the amount 
 will be greatly augmented. 
 
 It must also be repeated, that in the statements now presented 
 no provision is inserted for the contemplated sinking fund ; nor 
 for the payment of a considerable amount of unliquidated claims 
 upon the government for services and supplies ; as these objects 
 seem to require a distinct consideration. 
 
 PROPOSITIONS. 
 
 I. It is respectfully proposed, that provision be made to raise 
 a sum of $40,906,124 86, in addition to the amount of the exist 
 ing revenue, for the service of the year 1815; partly by taxes, 
 partly by an issue of treasury notes, and partly by an authority 
 to procure money upon loan. 
 
268 APPENDICES. 
 
 II. It is respectfully proposed, that an additional sum be raised 
 by taxes, to the amount of $5,000,000; and that the following 
 objects, or a selection from these objects of taxation, graduated 
 in the amount to produce that sum, to be made equally produc 
 tive, shall form the basis of the additional levy: 
 
 1. A tax upon inheritances and devises, to be paid by the 
 
 heirs or devisees, may be made to produce $900,000 
 
 2. A tax upon bequests, legacies, and statutory distribution, 
 
 to be paid by the legatees or legal representatives, may 
 
 be made to produce 500,000 
 
 3. An auxiliary tax upon all testamentary instruments and 
 
 letters of administration, to be paid by the executors 
 
 or administrators, may be made to produce 200,000 
 
 4. A tax upon legal process and proceedings in the courts of 
 
 the United States, to be paid by the parties at the time 
 of taking out the process or entering the proceedings, 
 may be made to produce 250,000 
 
 5. A tax upon conveyances, mortgages, and leases, to be 
 
 paid by the grantees, mortgagees, and lessees, may be 
 
 made to produce . 300,000 
 
 6. A stamp tax upon bonds, penal bills, warrants of attor 
 
 ney, notarial instruments, policies of insurance, all 
 negotiable notes, protests of bills of exchange, and 
 promissory notes, bills of sale, and hypothecations of 
 vessels, bottomry and respondentia bonds, may be made 
 to produce 400,000 
 
 7. A tax of one dollar upon every barrel of wheaten flour, 
 
 to be paid by the miller, may be made to produce 3,500,000 
 
 8. A tax upon the dividends (other than the dividends of 
 
 banks) and upon the sale and transfer of the stocks of 
 banks, insurance companies, and other corporations, 
 operating for profit, upon a money capital, may be 
 made to produce 600,000 
 
 9. An income tax may easily be made to produce 3,000,000 
 
 III. It is respectfully proposed, that the additional sum to be 
 raised, by the specified taxes, shall be appropriated as follows : 
 
 1. Towards establishing a sinking fund, in relation to the 
 
 public debt, created since the war 
 
 2. Towards the payment of principal and interest of the 
 
 treasury notes, to be issued in the manner hereafter 
 suggested 
 
 3. Towards defraying the expenses of the present year 
 
 IY. It is respectfully proposed, that there shall be an emission 
 of treasury notes, for the service of the year 1815, to the amount 
 of $15,000,000, on the following plan : " 
 
 1. The denominations of the notes shall be such as the Secre- 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 269 
 
 tary of the Treasury, with the approbation of the President, may 
 direct. 
 
 2. The notes of the denomination of $100 and upwards, shall 
 be made payable to order, and shall bear an interest of five and 
 two-fifths per centum per annum. 
 
 3. The notes of a denomination less than $100, and not less 
 than $20, shall be payable to order, and bear an interest at the 
 same rate; or shall be payable to bearer, and bear no interest; 
 as the Secretary of the Treasury, with the approbation of the 
 President of the United States, shall direct. 
 
 4. The notes of a denomination under $20, shall be made 
 payable to bearer, and shall be circulated without interest. 
 
 5. The notes shall be issued, and be made payable at the treas 
 ury only ; but any portion of them may be deposited with the 
 loan officers or banks throughout the United States, for the pur 
 pose of being put into general circulation. 
 
 6. The holders of the treasury notes, not bearing an interest, 
 may, at any time, exchange them, in sums not less than $100, 
 for certificates of public stock, bearing an interest of seven per 
 cent, per annum, and irredeemable for twelve years, from the 
 date of the certificates respectively. 
 
 7. The notes shall be receivable in all payments to the United 
 States ; but, in such cases, they may be reissued. 
 
 8. The notes shall be payable by annual instalment, according 
 to their dates, and in the manner to be notified by the treasury, 
 to wit : 
 
 In 1816, the sum of 
 In 181 7, the sum of ( 
 In 1818, the sum of 
 In 1819, the sum of 
 In 1820. the sum of 
 
 one-fifth) 
 
 $3,000,000 
 
 one-fifth) 
 
 3 000,000 
 
 one- fifth) 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 one-fifth ) 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 one fifth).. . 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 $15,000,000 
 
 9. The reimbursement of the notes shall be effected, according 
 to the instalments, either by the payment of the principal and 
 interest to the holders ; or by taking out of circulation, and de 
 stroying the amount of the instalment, in notes, which have been 
 paid to the United States for duties, taxes, or other demands. 
 
 10. There shall be an appropriation of such a portion of the 
 taxes, above specified, as will be adequate to the payment of the 
 successive instalments of the notes; and the faith of the United 
 States shall be pledged to make good any deficiency. 
 
 11 There shall be no additional issue of treasury notes, ex 
 cept upon a specific pledge of the same taxes, or of other compe 
 tent taxes, to an amount equal to the reimbursement of the notes, 
 according to the stipulated instalments. 
 
 Y. It is respectfully proposed, that authority should be given 
 
270 APPENDICES. 
 
 to the President to borrow the sum of $25,000,000 on the faith 
 of the United States. 
 
 1. The loan to be accepted on the most advantageous terms 
 that can be obtained. 
 
 2. The amount of the loan, for the payment and security of 
 principal and interest, to be placed on the same footing as the 
 rest of the funded debt created since the war. 
 
 If the propositions submitted to the consideration of the Com 
 mittee of Ways and Means should be adopted, the treasury will 
 be placed on the following footing for the year 1815 : 
 
 1. The ascertained demands upon the treas 
 
 ury amount to $56,032,03-1 69 
 
 2. The existing sources of revenue and sup 
 
 ply will produce $11,150,000 00 
 
 3. The excess of outstanding revenue, and 
 
 of authority to borrow money and 
 to issue treasury notes for the service 
 of 1814, beyond the demand, is esti 
 mated at....." 3,975,909 83 
 
 4. The taxes now proposed, are estimated 
 
 to produce for 1815 5,000,000 00 
 
 5. The issue of treasury notes for the ser 
 
 vice of 1815, will produce 15,000,000 00 
 
 6. The authority to raise money bv loan, 
 
 for the service of 1815, extends"to 25,000,000 00 
 
 60,125,909 83 
 
 Surplus of ways and means $4,093,875 14 
 
 The surplus of ways and means for the year 1815 will be ap 
 plicable to the establishment of the contemplated sinking fund, 
 and to the payment of any additional expenses that Congress 
 may authorize 
 
 In making the present communication, I feel, sir, that I have 
 performed my duty to the legislature and to the country; but 
 when I perceive that more than $40,000,000 must be raised 
 for the service of the year 1815, by an appeal to public credit, 
 through the medium of treasury notes and loans, I am not 
 without sensations of extreme solicitude. The unpromising 
 state of the public credit, and the obstructed state of the circu 
 lating medium, are sufficiently known. A liberal imposition of 
 taxes, during the session, ought to raise the public credit, were 
 it not for counteracting causes ; but it can have no effect in re 
 storing a national circulating medium. It remains, therefore, 
 with the wisdom of Congress to decide, whether any other means 
 can be applied to restore the public credit, to re-establish a na 
 tional circulating medium, and to facilitate the necessary antici 
 pations of the public revenue. The humble opinion of this de- 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 
 
 271 
 
 partment on the subject has been respectfully, though frankly, 
 expressed on former occasions, and it remains unchanged. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great consideration, sir, your 
 most obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 J. W. EPPES, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
 Means. 
 
 SCHEDULE A. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, KEVENUE OFFICE, 
 December 16, 1814. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor, in compliance with your request, to 
 submit the annexed estimates of the products of the existing in 
 ternal duties, and of the additional duties proposed to be laid by 
 the bills now before Congress; the first statement exhibiting the 
 products for an entire year after the respective duties shall be in 
 full operation ; and the last statement showing the amounts that 
 may be expected to be received from each duty during the year 
 1815. It may be proper to add that the materials do not exist 
 for forming estimates with regard to the new duties, on which a 
 perfect reliance should be reposed. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. H. SMITH, Commissioner of the Revenue. 
 
 Hon. Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 Estimates of the Products of the existing Internal Duties and of the proposed 
 additional Duties for an entire Year after they shall be in full operation. 
 
 Stamps $510000 
 
 Carriages 300,000 
 
 Sales at auction 300,000 
 
 Keflned sugar 150,000 
 
 Licenses to retailers 900,000 
 
 Licenses for stills with the 
 
 duty on spirits 4,000,000 
 
 Postage 250,000 
 
 Lotteries 150,000 
 
 Furniture 1,238,000 
 
 Horses for the saddle and 
 
 carriage 70,000 
 
 Gold watches 60,000 
 
 Silver watches 170,000 
 
 Boots $75,000 
 
 Saddles and bridles 66,000 
 
 Paper 50,000 
 
 Candles 200,000 
 
 Playing-cards 80,000 
 
 Tobacco and snuff. 200,000 
 
 Hats 400,000 
 
 Iron 350,000 
 
 Nails 200,000 
 
 Beer, ale, and porter 60,000 
 
 Leather 600,000 
 
 $10,379,000 
 
272 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Estimate of the Amounts that may be expected to be received from the fore- 
 going Duties during the Year 1815. 
 
 Stamps $510,000 
 
 Carriages. 
 
 Sales at auction 
 
 Kefined sugar 
 
 Licenses to retailers 
 
 Licenses for stills with the 
 
 300,000 
 210,000 
 150,000 
 875,000 
 
 duty on spirits 2,000,000 
 
 Postage 250,000 
 
 Lotteries 
 
 50,000 
 
 Furniture 1,288,000 
 
 Horses for the saddle and 
 
 carriage 70,000 
 
 Gold watches 60,000 
 
 Silver watches 170,000 
 
 Boots, "] 
 
 Saddles and bridles, 
 
 Paper, 
 
 Candles, 
 
 Playing-cards, 
 
 Tobacco and snuff, }- ... $570,000 
 
 Hats, 
 
 Iron, 
 
 Nails, 
 
 Beer, ale, and porter, 
 
 Leather, 
 
 $7,053,000 
 
 This estimate has been made on the supposition that the bills 
 laying the new duties will be passed previous to the 1st of 
 January next. 
 
 LETTER. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Feb. 20, 1815. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter, dated the 15th instant, which, in consequence of the ter 
 mination of the war, requests, in behalf of the Committee of 
 Ways and Means, "a view of the probable receipts from imports 
 and tonnage during the year 1815, and any other information 
 that may enable the committee to decide on the measures neces 
 sary to meet the unexpected and fortunate change, which peace 
 must produce, in the resources of the United States." It has 
 hitherto been my arduous and painful employment to suggest to 
 your consideration measures for relieving the embarrassments of 
 the treasury with a view to the expenditures of a protracted war. 
 And you will readily believe that, on every account, personal as 
 well as public, I join you most sincerely in rejoicing at an event 
 which brings with it an immediate alleviation of the pressure 
 upon this department, as well as a general assurance of national 
 honor and prosperity. 
 
 The objects which claimed the attention of the committee in 
 my former communications were, 1st, the state of the public 
 credit; 2d, the state of the circulating medium; and 3d, the 
 ways and means to defray the various expenses of the govern 
 ment. 
 
 1. The public credit was depressed during the war, owing to 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 273 
 
 several causes that must now cease to operate All the circum 
 stances, internal and external, which were calculated to excite 
 doubt as to the duration, or as to the issue, of the contest in the 
 minds of the cautious and the timid have passed away, and in 
 their place the proofs of confidence begin already to appear with 
 practical advantage. While it was doubtful to what extent the 
 public exigencies would require the aid of loans, those persons 
 who retained the means of lending, either feared, or affected to fear, 
 the eventual security of the government; and even the exem 
 plary display of the national resources, which has been made 
 during the present session of Congress, for the benefit of the 
 public creditors, was curtailed of its natural effect in the resusci 
 tation of public credit by the countervailing influence of causes 
 which it is unnecessary to specify. But when the whole amount 
 of the public debt incurred during the war is fixed and ascer 
 tained; when it is known that ample provision is made for the 
 punctual payment of the interest, and for the gradual extinguish 
 ment of the principal, of the debt; and when, above all, it is 
 seen that Congress is inflexible in its adherence to the faith and 
 policy of the legislative pledges, the public credit of the United 
 States will stand upon a basis the most durable and the most 
 honorable. 
 
 2. The difficulties of the national circulating medium remain, 
 however, to be encountered under circumstances which the 
 government cannot control. The effects of the peace will cer 
 tainly restore a metallic medium ; but until that result be produced, 
 the only resource for all the pecuniary transactions of the treas 
 ury, as well as of individuals, will be the issues of treasury 
 notes and the notes of the State banks. If, indeed, the State 
 banks were soon to resume their payments in specie, or if they 
 were again to give credit and circulation to the notes of each 
 other throughout the United States ; and if they were, more 
 over, able and willing to accommodate the fiscal views of the 
 government (which I do not permit myself for a moment to 
 doubt), a total dependence upon those institutions, however im 
 politic in the abstract, would be practically safe and beneficial. 
 But if, on the other hand, the notes of the State banks shall con 
 tinue limited in circulation and use to the city, the town, or the 
 State in which they are issued, it must be obvious that they can 
 not answer the purposes of a national medium ; and that the 
 receipt of such notes in payments for duties of import or internal 
 duties, will convert the public revenue, which is destined for 
 general uses abroad as well as at home, into a local fund that 
 may not be wanted where it exists, and cannot be applied where 
 it is wanted. It is, nevertheless, in the power of Congress to 
 obviate, in a considerable degree, this difficulty, by authorizing 
 the payment of a reasonable rate of exchange upon the transfer 
 
274 APPENDICES. 
 
 of its revenue from the places of collection and deposit to the 
 places of demand and employment; and I respectfully recom 
 mend the expedient to the consideration of the Committee of 
 Ways and Means. 
 
 The alternative, or concurrent resource of treasury notes for a 
 national circulating medium, has, on other occasions, been con 
 sidered. The security of the government must always, upon every 
 reasonable and eandid estimate, be deemed superior to the security 
 of any private corporation, and, so far as treasury notes bear an 
 interest and are receivable in the payment of duties and taxes, 
 they are evidently more valuable than bank-notes, which do not 
 possess those characteristics. But the machinery of a bank is 
 calculated to give an impulse and direction to its issues of paper 
 which cannot be imparted by the forms of the treasury, or any 
 merely official institution, to the paper of the government. In 
 the operations of a bank, too, the facilities of bank credits supply 
 the place, in a very important degree, of the issues of notes ; 
 so that a bank loan of $30,000,000, for instance, would prob 
 ably require no greater issue than $6,000,000 in notes. On 
 the contrary, the whole amount of whatever sum is to be 
 raised by an issue of treasury notes must be actually sent, 
 in the form of treasury notes, into the market, through the 
 various channels of credit or demand. It is, however, to be 
 admitted that an issue of treasury notes, not greatly exceeding 
 in amount the demand created for them by the duties and taxes 
 for which they are receivable, can be annually sustained ; but if 
 the amount exceeds, or even equals, the amount of that demand, 
 the revenue will generally be absorbed by the notes before it 
 reaches the treasury ; the holder of the treasury notes being 
 thus paid in preference, and often to the exclusion, of every other 
 public creditor, arid the other branches of the public service being 
 thus deprived of the contemplated means for their support. 
 
 It is proper here to observe that the actual issue of treasury 
 notes on this day (including those due and unpaid, those which 
 are daily becoming due, and those which have been ordered but 
 are not yet signed) amounts to the sum of $18,631,436 80, and 
 the amount will be constantly augmenting. If, therefore, the 
 revenue for the year 1815, enriched by the duty on imports, and 
 by the other beneficial effects of the peace, should amount to 
 $20,000,000, it is still evident that the whole of the revenue 
 might be expended in the single purpose of paying the treasury- 
 note debt, leaving every other object of the government to be 
 provided for by loans, or by new issues of treasury notes. 
 
 Having suggested the difficulty and the danger, I cannot pre 
 sume to dwell upon any expedient for relief which Congress has 
 already refused to adopt ; but I take the liberty, with deference 
 and respect, to renew the recommendation of the plan that was 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 275 
 
 submitted to your consideration in my letter of the 17th of Jan 
 uary last, under a belief that, considering the outstanding amount 
 of treasury notes, any new issue should be made to rest upon a 
 basis that will enable the government to employ it both as a cir 
 culating medium and as the means of raising money in aid of the 
 revenue. How far a power given to fund the treasury notes upon 
 an advanced interest, or to pass them in payment of taxes and 
 duties, will be sufficient for the purposes contemplated, without 
 providing other means of payment by regular instalments, I 
 must submit to the judgment of the committee. 
 
 3. The ways and means to defray the various expenses of the 
 government for 1815, will consist of the revenue which will be 
 actually received at the treasury during that year. It is not 
 intended, on the one hand, to take into view the balances due 
 upon the appropriations of preceding years, nor, on the other 
 hand, to take into view the revenue which will accrue in the 
 present year, but which will not be payable until the year 1816. 
 
 The direct amelioration of the resources of the country, in 
 consequence of the peace, applies principally to the item of the 
 duties on import and tonnage. The effect, however, must be 
 confined, with immaterial exceptions, for 1815, to two-thirds, or 
 the eight concluding months, of the year. The West India trade 
 will produce little, and the European trade nothing, by way of 
 revenue, before the 1st of May next. Some outstanding adven 
 tures beyond the Cape of Good Hope will hardly be brought 
 home, upon the intelligence of peace, before the present year 
 has expired. Considering, therefore, that a credit of eight, ten, 
 and twelve months is allowed for the duties on merchandise im 
 ported from Europe, and that a credit of three and six months is 
 allowed for the duties on merchandise imported from the West 
 Indies, it is evident that, whatever may be the amount accruing 
 on merchandise imported from Europe for the year 1815, the 
 actual receipts at the treasury cannot be great ; that the whole 
 of the duties accruing on merchandise imported from the West 
 Indies before the 1st of July will be actually received at the 
 treasury in the year 1815 ; and that one moiety of the amount of 
 the duties on merchandise imported from the West Indies between 
 the 1st of July and the 1st of October will also be received at 
 the treasury in the year 1815. 
 
 The average of the net revenue of the customs which accrued 
 for the three years 1806, 1807, and 1808, was more than 
 $14,000,000 for each year; and a similar average for the three 
 succeeding years, 1809, 1810, and 1811, was about $9,000,000 
 for each year. But the first period was one of uncommon com 
 mercial prosperity, when the United States were the only neutral 
 nation, and cannot be taken as the basis of an estimate for the 
 present time, when the other nations of the world are also at 
 
276 APPENDICES. 
 
 peace. The second period was embarrassed by commercial re 
 strictions ; but probably the effect of those embarrassments upon 
 the revenue were counterbalanced by the advantages of our neu 
 trality. It is thought, therefore, upon the whole, that in a state 
 of general peace the customs operating upon the single duties 
 would not have produced, before the American war, more than a 
 sum between $9,000,000 and $10,000,000 annually. But the 
 comparatively small quantity of foreign merchandise at present 
 in the American market would probably give rise to an extraor 
 dinary amount of importations during the first year of paace, 
 equal at least to the supply of two years, if the fact that the 
 double duties are limited in their continuance to a year after the 
 termination of the war did not operate as a check upon importa 
 tions beyond what may be requisite for the consumption of the 
 current year. These counteracting causes may, therefore, ^be 
 reasonably supposed to neutralize the force of each other, and, 
 consequently, to refer and confine any estimate of the double 
 duties upon merchandise imported in the year 1815 to the 
 amount of the importations for the consumption of a single 
 year. 
 
 Under these views it is estimated that the produce of the cus 
 toms during the first twelve months of peace will amount, with 
 double duties, to a sum between $18,000,000 and $20,000,000. 
 Of that period, ten months occur in the year 1815; but as 
 the importations can only partially commence for the space of 
 two months, and cannot reach their average extent for three or 
 four months, the fair proportion of time to form the ground of an 
 estimate will be (as already suggested) eight months of the year 
 1815. Upon this scale of computation, the product of the cus 
 toms which will accrue from the 1st of May to the 31st of 
 December, 1815, will, probably, be $13,500,000; but there must 
 be added to that sum the estimated amount of customs ac 
 cruing, independent of the effects produced by the peace, from 
 the first of January to the 1st of May, to wit, $1,500,000; making 
 the aggregate of the revenue of the customs accruing in the 
 year 1815 about $15,000,000. 
 
 It remains, however, to present an estimate of the amount of 
 the customs which will not only accrue but which will be actually 
 received at the treasury in the year 1815. The extent of the 
 commerce which is expected to be opened, and the effect of the 
 credits which are allowed for the payment of duties for the year 
 1815, have been already explained. The estimate, therefore, 
 assumes the following form : 
 
 1. The total revenue of the customs accruing in the year 
 
 1815, being, as above stated . I $15,000,000 
 
 It is estimated that of that sum there will become payable 
 and will actually be received into the treasury, in the 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 277 
 
 year 1815, in the manner exhibited in the annexed 
 
 schedule, marked A, about $3,500,000 
 
 2. That on account of custom-house bonds outstanding at the 
 end of the year 1814, which, in the letter from this de 
 partment, dated the 17th of January, 1815, was reserved 
 to meet the unsatisfied appropriations of that year, there 
 will be received during the year 1815 near....* 3,000,000 
 
 Making the total amount of the actual receipts into the 
 
 treasury from the customs for the year 1815 $6,500,000 
 
 The ways and means of the treasury for 1815, provided and 
 payable during the year, may now be presented in a view essen 
 tially different from that which was necessarily taken in the letter 
 from this department, dated the 17th of January last, while con 
 templating a continuance of the war. 
 
 1. The duties on imports and tonnage will, probably, produce 
 
 a sum, inclusive of that receivable for duties which ac 
 crued prior to the present year, of about $6,500,000 
 
 2. The direct tax, instead of a sum of $2,000,000, will prob 
 
 ably give to the treasury in the year 1815, in conse 
 quence of the facilities of the peace, a sum of about 2,500,000 
 
 3. The internal duties, old and new, and postage, instead of a 
 
 sum of $7,050,000, will probably give to the treasury in 
 the year 1815, in consequence of the facilities of the 
 peace, a sum of about 8,000,000 
 
 4. The sales of the public lands will probably produce in the 
 
 year 1815 1,000,000 
 
 5. The amount of incidental receipts from miscellaneous 
 
 sources will probably be about 200,000 
 
 $18,200,000 
 
 While the revenue is thus materially augmented, the charges 
 upon the treasury will be considerably reduced. It is not in the 
 power of this department at the present time to advert to the 
 estimates of the expenses of the peace establishment for the War 
 and Navy Departments ; but with the aid of the public credit and 
 the legislative sanction for the measures which will be proposed, 
 it is believed that the treasury will be competent in that respect 
 to meet the most liberal views of the government. Independent, 
 therefore, of the estimates of the War and Navy Departments, 
 the charges on the treasury for the year 1815 will consist of the 
 following items : 
 
 1. Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous expenses, as stated 
 
 in the general estimates for 1815 $1,979,289 39 
 
 2. The public debt will call for a sum of $14,723,808 58, 
 
 to answer the following claims: 
 For interest and reimbursement of the 
 funded debt created before the war (the 
 amount of principal unredeemed on the 
 
278 APPENDICES. 
 
 31st of December, 1814, being about 
 
 $39,005,183 60) $3,452,775 46 
 
 For interest of the funded debt created 
 since the war (the amount of principal 
 on Dec. 31st, 1814, being $48,580,812 26, 
 to which little has been since added), 
 about 3,000,000 00 
 
 For the principal and interest of treas 
 ury notes falling due in 1815, and the 1st 
 of January, 1816, including $620,000 
 of notes issued under the act of Febru 
 ary 25th, 1813, falling due within this 
 
 period 8,271,033 12 
 
 $14,723,808 58 
 
 $16,703,097 97 
 
 It is to be observed, however, that the preceding estimate does 
 not include a sum of $2,790,200, being the principal of the treas 
 ury notes which became due in 1814 and remain unpaid, be 
 cause the unexecuted authority to raise money by loan for that 
 year is sufficient to cover the amount, if a loan can now be ob 
 tained, independent of the custom-house debt ($3,000,000) which 
 accrued in 1814, but is payable in 1815, and which is now con 
 sidered as part of the excess of $3,975,909 83, stated in the letter 
 of the 17th of January, 1815, for the purpose of being specifi 
 cally transferred in the present estimates from the ways and 
 means of last year to the credit of the ways and means for the 
 present year. 
 
 Upon the whole, then, it appears that the revenue for the year 
 1815 will probably amount to $18,200,000, and that ways and 
 means are now to be devised to provide for the difference be 
 tween that sum and the aggregate amount of the demands for 
 the service of the year 1815, which will be ascertained by adding 
 the amount of the estimates for the peace establishment of the 
 War and Navy Departments to the amount of the demands for 
 the expenses of government, and the public debt being, as above 
 stated, the sum of $16,703,097 97. 
 
 It only remains to suggest some additional measures, which 
 appear to be required at this time, for the support of the public 
 credit and the supply of the treasury 
 
 1. It is respectfully suggested that all the holders of treasury 
 notes issued or to be issued under the authority of any existing 
 law, should be allowed to fund them at an interest of seven per 
 cent., and that interest be allowed on all treasury notes which 
 have not been punctually paid until the day of funding or of pay 
 ment. 
 
 2. It is respectfully suggested that a new issue of treasury 
 notes should be authorized upon the principles suggested in the 
 letter from this department dated the 17th of January, 1815. 
 
OFFICIAL LETTEES. 279 
 
 3. It is respectfully suggested that a loan should be authorized 
 to the amount necessary, upon a view of all the estimates, to 
 complete the ways and means for the year 1815. 
 
 4. It is respectfully suggested that the exportation of specie 
 should be prohibited for a limited period. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 J. W. EPPES, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
 Means. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 
 
 To the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, submitting a 
 proposition to provide for paying the interest, and gradually reducing 
 the stock debt, created during the late war. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, February 24, 1815. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to submit to the consideration of the 
 Committee of Ways and Means a proposition to provide for 
 paying the interest, and gradually reducing the stock debt, which 
 has been created during the late war. It was my intention to 
 have accompanied this communication with tables, illustrating, 
 in detail, the operation of the sinking fund, as well as the effect 
 of the present proposition; but various causes render the per 
 formance of this task impracticable before the adjournment of 
 Congress; and I cannot do better than to refer to the report 
 which was made by the Treasury Department to the House of 
 Representatives on the 9th of April, 1808, exhibiting explana 
 tory statements and notes of the public debt, its increase or de 
 crease, from the 1st of January, 1791, to the 1st of January, 
 1808. I shall, therefore, confine my views to 1st, the general 
 state of the public debt before the war; 2d, the general state of 
 the public debt contracted since the war; and 3d, the particular 
 provision to be now made for the last description of the public 
 debt. 
 
 I. On the 31st of December, 1814, the amount of the public 
 debt, created before the war, may be estimated at $39,905,183 66, 
 and it consisted of the following particulars : 
 
 1. Old six per cent, stock, the nominal 
 
 amount being $17,250,871 39 
 
 Of which there had been reimbursed.... 12,879,283 78 
 
 Leaving due on the 31st December, 1814 $4,371,587 61 
 
280 APPENDICES. 
 
 2. Deferred six per cent, stock, the nomi 
 nal amount being $9,358,320 35 
 
 Of which there had been reimbursed 3,971,148 36 
 
 Leaving due on the 31st December, 1814 $5,387,171 99 
 
 3. Three per cent stock 16,158,177 34 
 
 4. Exchanged six per cent, stock under the act of 1812.... 2,984,746 72 
 
 5. Six per cent, stock of 1796 80,000 00 
 
 6 Louisiana six per cent, stock 10,923,500 00 
 
 Estimated amount of the whole of the public debt, con 
 tracted before the war, due on the 31st of December, 
 1814 39,905,183 66 
 
 Upon the principles and estimates of the treasury report of 
 the 9th of April, 1808, it was computed, 
 
 1. That on the 1st of January, 1808, the public debt 
 
 amounted to $64,700,000 00 
 
 2. If, therefore, the amount of the public debt, computed 
 
 to be due on the 31st of December, 1814, be deducted, 
 
 to wit: 39,905,188 66 
 
 The amount redeemed between the 1st of January, 1808, 
 
 and the 31st of December, 1814, may be estimated at.... $24,794,816 34 
 
 The establishment of a sinking fund to redeem the principal 
 of the public debt was coeval with the funding system of 1790 ; 
 but the payment of the interest of the debt was not charged 
 upon that fund until 1802. The amount of the public debt was 
 increased during several of the years that intervened between 
 January, 1791, and January, 1803, and the sinking fund was en 
 riched at various periods by the assignment of additional reve 
 nues. The acts of the 8th of May, 1792, the 3d of March, 1795, 
 the 29th of April, 1802, and the 10th of November, J803, form, 
 however, the principal basis of the present sinking fund, pro 
 viding for the annual payment of the interest, as well as for the 
 gradual redemption of the debt. 
 
 Under the authority of these acts of Congress, the sinking 
 fund amounts to the sum of $8,000,000 annually, which, at this 
 time, is supplied from the following sources: 
 
 1. From the interest on such parts of the public debt as 
 
 have been reimbursed, or paid off, and which, at pres 
 ent, amounts to thesum of $1,969,577 64 
 
 2. From the net proceeds of the sales of public lands (ex 
 
 clusive of lands sold in the Mississippi territory, 
 which, as yet, belong to the State of Georgia), esti 
 mated annually at the sum of 800,000 00 
 
 3. From the proceeds of duties on imports and tonnage, 
 
 to make the annual sum of $8,000,000, estimated at 
 
 about 5,230,422 36 
 
 $8,000,000 00 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 281 
 
 IT. On the 31st of December, 1814, the amount of the public 
 debt, created since the war (independent of temporary loans and 
 issues of treasury notes), may be estimated at $49,780,322 13. 
 
 And it consisted of the following particulars : 
 
 1. Six per cent, stock of 1812 (the eleven million loan).... $7,710,000 00 
 
 2. Six per cent, stock of 1813 (the sixteen million loan)... 18,109,377 51 
 
 3. Six per cent, stock of 1813 (the seven million five hun 
 
 dred thousand loan) 8,498,583 50 
 
 4. Six per cent, stock of 1814 (the loan of ten millions, 
 
 part of the loan authorized for twenty-five millions) 9,919,476 25 
 
 5. Six per cent, stock of 1814 (the loan of six millions, 
 
 part of the loan authorized for twenty-five millions) 4,342,875 00 
 
 $48,580,312 26 
 
 But it is proper to bring into view here 
 the additional six per cent, stock which 
 will be created in consequence of con 
 tracts depending on the 31st of Decem 
 ber, 1814, to be completed in 1815, to 
 wit : 
 
 1. The Committee of Defence of Phila 
 
 delphia contracted to loan $100,000, to 
 fortify the island in the river Dela 
 ware called the Pea Patch, for six per 
 cent, stock at par, which will be issued 
 under the act of March, 1812 $100,000 00 
 
 2. The corporation of New York con 
 
 tracted to advance money for fortifi 
 cations, supplies, etc., at New York, 
 on the terms of the six million loan, 
 and the amount being liquidated, six 
 
 per cent, stock has been ordered for 1,100,009 87 
 
 1,200,009 87 
 
 $49,780,322 13 
 
 There are, however, other contracts for loans, made through 
 the medium of the War Department, which have been recognized 
 at the treasury, to be paid in six per cent, stock, but which have 
 not been so liquidated, as to furnish a ground to estimate their 
 amount. 
 
 The six per cent, stock, which was issued under the act of the 24th 
 of March, 1814, amounting to $3,000,000, and sent to Europe, has 
 not been, and probably will not be, sold. It is, therefore, omitted 
 in the present estimates. 
 
 Besides the funded debt, above stated, there have been con 
 tracted debts to the amount of $19,002,800, upon temporary loans, 
 and upon the issues of treasury notes, consisting of the following 
 particulars: 
 
 19 
 
282 APPENDICES. 
 
 1 Temporary loans have been obtained under the act of 
 March, 1812 (of which the sum of $500,000 became 
 due in December, 1814, and remains unpaid ; and of 
 which $50,000 will be payable in the year 1817), for. $550,000 00 
 
 2. Treasury notes had been issued or ordered on the 20th 
 of February, 1815. 
 
 (1) Payable on or before the 1st of January, 
 
 1815, due and unpaid, principal .".. $2,799,200 
 
 (2) Payable since the 1st of January, 1815, 
 
 due and unpaid... ." 620,000 
 
 (3) Payable almost daily, from the llth of 
 
 March to, and including, the 1st of 
 
 January, 1816 7 7,227,280 
 
 (4) Payable from the llth of January to, 
 
 and including, the 1st of March, "1816 7,806,320 
 
 $18,452,800 CO 
 
 Making floating public debt in temporary loans and 
 
 issues of treasury notes .". $19,002,800 00 
 
 To which add the amount of funded debt 49,780,322 13 
 
 And the whole of the ascertained amount of debt created 
 
 during the war is the sum of $68,783,122 13 
 
 The general claims for militia services and supplies arising 
 under the authority of the individual States, as well as of the 
 United States, have been partially exhibited, but neither the 
 principle of settlement, nor the amount of the claims, can at this 
 time be stated. 
 
 III. In suggesting provisions to pay the interest and grad 
 ually to reduce the principal of the public debt, contracted since 
 the declaration of war, the inconvenience which has been intro 
 duced by making the payment of the principal and interest of 
 the treasury notes a charge upon the sinking fund is greatly to 
 be lamented. The treasury notes were in their design, and 
 ought to be in their use, a species of circulating medium ; but it 
 is evident that a sinking fund of $3, 000,000 could never supply 
 the means of paying the prior claims, and also of discharging 
 punctually the whole of the principal as well as the interest of 
 annual issues of treasury notes, amounting to $8,000,000 or 
 $10.000,000. It is indispensable, therefore, to the free and bene 
 ficial operation of the sinking fund that it should be disengaged 
 as soon as possible from this burden. The means of disengaging 
 it are, 1st, by the payment of the treasury notes out of the cur 
 rent revenue ; or 2d, by funding them upon reasonable terms 
 tinder the act by which it is proposed to authorize a loan for the 
 service of the year 1815 ; and these means, it is believed, will be 
 effectual. 
 
 The sinking fund, being thus emancipated from the treasury- 
 note debt, would be sufficient, in 1815, for the interest and reim 
 bursement of the stock created before the war, for the interest 
 
OFFICIAL LETTEES. 283 
 
 of the stock created since the war, and for the interest of the 
 loan to be raised for the present year, either in money or by con 
 verting the treasury-note debt into stock debt. Thus, 
 
 1. The sinking fund amounts to $8,000,000 00 
 
 2. The interest and reimbursement of stocks 
 
 created before the war will require a 
 
 sum of $3,452,775 46 
 
 3. The interest on the stocks created since the 
 
 war (computed on the above sum of 
 $49,780,322 13), and including $7,968, 
 payable for annuities, will require a 
 sum of 2,994,787 32 
 
 4. The interest on the loan for 1815 (com 
 
 puted to average a half year s interest 
 on the sum of $11,500,000, being the 
 estimated amount of the treasury notes, 
 which may be converted into stocks) 
 will require a sum of , 345,000 00 
 
 5. But there must be added the interest and 
 
 principal of the temporary loans due 
 and unpaid, which were obtained under 
 the authority to borrow, granted by the 
 
 act of the March, 1812, amounting 
 
 for 1815 to the sum of 533,000 00 
 
 7,325,562 78 
 
 And would leave a surplus of $674,437 22 
 
 It appears, on this view of the sinking fund, independent of 
 the operation of the past year, that there will be a surplus of 
 $674, 43T 22, to be further applied to the reduction of the prin 
 cipal both of the old and the new public debt. But this can 
 only be now done by purchases in the market. 
 
 The proposition to be at this time submitted to the considera 
 tion of the Committee of Ways and Means in relation to the 
 stock debt created since the war involves the following points : 
 
 1. That provision be made for the payment or for the funding 
 of the treasury-note debt, so as to relieve the sinking fund from 
 that charge. 
 
 2. That the sinking fund be applied in the first place to the 
 interest and reimbursement of the old six per cent, stock, accord 
 ing to the existing laws. 
 
 3. That the sinking fund be applied in the second place to the 
 payment of the principal and interest of the temporary loans 
 obtained under the act of March, 1812. 
 
 4. That the sinking fund be applied in the third place to the 
 payment of the interest accruing upon the stock debt created 
 since the war. 
 
 5. That the annual surplus of the sinking fund, after satisfying 
 the above objects, be applied to the purchase of the stock created 
 since the war ; and that the interest upon the stock annually pur- 
 
284 APPENDICES. 
 
 chased be added from time to time to that appropriation for the 
 purpose of making new purchases. 
 
 After the present year, there is reason to presume that the 
 public revenue will considerably exceed the public expenditure, 
 and, consequently, that the necessity of borrowing will cease. 
 At that period a more satisfactory view may be taken of the sub 
 ject than can be taken while the amount of the public debt re 
 mains in some measure unascertained ; the operation and product 
 of the new taxes, as well as of the impost upon the revival of 
 commerce, are conjectural, and the legislative intentions respect 
 ing a peace establishment have not been declared. 
 
 Since, therefore, the existing sinking fund (being relieved in 
 the manner before intimated from the incumbrance of the treas 
 ury-note debt) is already charged with the payment of the in 
 terest on the stock created since the war, and will be sufficient 
 for that purpose, besides paying the interest and the annual re 
 imbursement of the stock created before the war, I respectfully 
 propose that no further step be taken during the present session 
 of Congress than to authorize the subscription of treasury notes 
 to the loan which is now under legislative consideration, and to 
 direct the surplus of the sinking fund to be applied to purchases 
 of the stock created since the war for the emolument of the fund. 
 But it will be proper to confine the benefit of subscribing to the 
 loan to such treasury notes only as have been, or may be, issued 
 under the acts which render them a charge upon the sinking 
 fund, namely, the acts of the 30th of June, 1812, of the 25th of 
 February, 1813, and of the 4th of March, 1814; and the Secre 
 tary of the Treasury should be authorized to designate the notes 
 to be received in subscription, from time to time, according to 
 the date of the issues. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The Honorable J. W, EPPES, Esq., Chairman of the Com 
 mittee of Ways and Means. 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 285 
 
 LETTER TO THE STATE BANKS. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 13, 1815. 
 
 SIR, The restoration of peace, the revival of commerce, and 
 the liberal provision made by Congress, at the last session, for 
 raising a permanent revenue from internal duties and taxes, will 
 furnish the treasury with ample means to meet all the demands 
 upon it, and to re-establish the public credit upon the surest 
 foundations. It will be a favorite object with this department 
 to connect the prosperity of such of the State banks as are de 
 serving of confidence with the fiscal operations of the govern 
 ment; and acting upon the principles of mutual interest and 
 good will, there can be no doubt of the decisive effect of the 
 joint efforts of those institutions and of the treasury in relieving 
 every part of the community from the embarrassments which the 
 want of a competent circulating medium has produced. 
 
 The treasury can, at this time, offer great advantages to the 
 State banks which shall be connected with it ; for instance, 
 
 1. Such banks as hold treasury notes which are due and un 
 paid, may fund them, upon equal and liberal terms, with other 
 holders under the existing laws. 
 
 2. The banks connected with the treasury may be made ex 
 clusively tffe depositaries of the public revenue arising from 
 every source. 
 
 3. The notes of the banks connected with the treasury may 
 be made receivable, exclusively of the notes of other banks, in 
 all payments to the United States ; placing them upon the same 
 footing, in that respect, as treasury notes. 
 
 4. For loans in anticipation of the revenue, the direct tax and 
 the duty upon distilled spirits and stills may be specifically 
 pledged to the banks, which shall make temporary advances for 
 the accommodation of the government. 
 
 The treasury requires, at this time, the co-operation of the 
 State banks, principally for the purpose of facilitating the transfer 
 of the public money from place to place ; for the purpose of cir 
 culating the new issues of treasury notes, intended for general 
 convenience, throughout the United States ; and for the purpose 
 of anticipating a part of the revenues of the present year to 
 discharge the public engagements, which are of immediate 
 urgency. 
 
 Upon these views, I have deemed it a duty, frankly and cor 
 dially, to submit to your consideration the outline of a plan 
 which is designed, in some degree, to connect the State banks 
 specified in the subjoined list with each other, and all of them 
 with the treasury, upon safe, beneficial, and patriotic principles. 
 
286 APPENDICES. 
 
 The terms may be modified so as to be rendered generally satis 
 factory ; and the details can easily be thrown into form. 
 
 PLAN. 
 
 1. That the State banks, acceding to this plan, shall be the 
 depositaries, in fair proportions, of the public revenue; and that 
 their notes shall be receivable in all payments to the United 
 States for revenue ; both privileges to be enjoyed in exclusion of 
 banks which are not parties to the arrangement. 
 
 2. That such of the banks, acceding to this plan, as are 
 holders of treasury notes, due and unpaid, shall be permitted 
 to subscribe the same to the loan proposed under the act of 
 the 3d of March, 1815, upon just and liberal terms, to be settled 
 between the Secretary of the Treasury and the banks respect 
 ively. 
 
 3." That the banks, acceding to this plan, shall open accounts, 
 each with the rest of them, for the purpose of accommodating 
 the treasury in the manner hereafter stated. 
 
 4. That the banks, acceding to this plan, shall open and keep 
 accounts with the Treasurer of the United States, under the 
 following heads : 
 
 (1) "Cash Account." To embrace all deposits of money; of 
 the notes of the proper bank ; of the notes of the other banks 
 acceding to this plan ; and of such bank-notes, or treasury notes 
 bearing an interest, as the bank may assent to take to its own 
 account. 
 
 (2) " Special Deposit." To embrace all deposits of bank-notes, 
 and of treasury notes bearing an interest, which the bank may 
 not assent to take to its own account. 
 
 (3) " Small Treasury Notes." To embrace all deposits of treas 
 ury notes not bearing an interest. 
 
 5. That the drafts of the treasurer shall specify on which ac 
 count he draws, and the entries shall be made accordingly. 
 
 6. That the drafts of the treasurer upon any of the banks 
 acceding to this plan shnil be received by the bank to which it 
 is sent, and shall be forthwith credited in the specified account: 
 thus enabling the treasury to transmit the public revenue from 
 one place to another. But in relation to this part of the plan, 
 the treasury will take special care to consult the convenience 
 and safety of the banks. 
 
 7. That the banks acceding to this plan shall furnish the 
 treasurer and the Secretary of the Treasury with weekly state 
 ments of the treasurer s accounts. And they shall transmit to the 
 secretary, in confidence, a monthly statement of the general 
 affairs of the bank. 
 
 8. That the banks acceding to this plan shall afford the usual 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 287 
 
 accommodations to the treasury, for the payment of the dividend 
 on the public debt and for negotiating public loans. 
 
 9. That the Secretary of the Treasury may add to or diminish 
 the number of the banks, parties to this plan ; or he may en 
 tirely annul the plan ; whenever he shall think that the public 
 interest requires such interpositions. 
 
 10. That any of the banks may, at their pleasure, cease to 
 be parties to the present arrangement. 
 
 As soon as the sense of the banks, on these propositions, shall 
 be received, the proper measures will be adopted to give effect 
 to the general plan ; and I have to request the favor of an early 
 answer from your institution. 
 
 It only remains, sir, to inquire whether your bank is disposed 
 to accommodate the government, by an advance of any, and of 
 what proportion, of the direct tax assessed upon for the 
 
 year 1815, upon an adequate pledge of that tax ? or whether you 
 would make a reasonable advance upon a similar pledge of the 
 duty on distilled spirits and stills ? 
 
 I shall proceed immediately to Philadelphia and New York 
 upon the business of the treasury ; and your answer, if written 
 within ten days, may be addressed to me at the latter place. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, sir, your most obt. servt., 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 Boston. State Bank, Union Bank, Massachusetts Bank. 
 
 Hartford. Phoenix Bank. 
 
 New" York. Manhattan Company, Mechanics Bank, City 
 Bank, Bank of America. 
 
 Philadelphia. Bank of Pennsylvania, Bank of North America, 
 S. Girard s Bank, Bank of Philadelphia, Farmers and Mechanics 
 Bank. 
 
 Baltimore. Bank of Baltimore, Commercial and Farmers 
 Bank. 
 
 Washington. Bank of Washington, Bank of the Metropolis, 
 Bank of Columbia. 
 
 Richmond. Bank of Virginia, Farmers Bank of Virginia. 
 
 Charleston. Planters and Mechanics Bank. 
 
 Raleigh. State Bank of North Carolina. 
 
 Savannah Planters Bank. 
 
288 APPENDICES. 
 
 LETTEE 
 
 FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 
 
 To the Chairman of the Committee on that part of the President s Message 
 which relates to an uniform National Currency ; inclosing an outline 
 of a plan for a National Bank, accompanied with some explanation 
 of the principles upon which the system is founded. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 24th December, 1815. 
 
 SIR, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter, dated the 23d instant, informing me that the committee 
 on so much of the President s message as relates to the national 
 currency, had determined that a national bank is the most cer 
 tain means of restoring to the nation a specie circulation ;" and 
 had directed you to obtain the opinion of this department on the 
 following points : 
 
 1st. The amount and composition of the capital of the bank. 
 
 2d. The government of the bank. 
 
 3d. The privileges and duties of the bank. 
 
 4th. The organization and operation of the bank. 
 
 5th. The bonus to be required for the charter of the bank. 
 
 6th. The measures which may aid the bank in commencing 
 and maintaining its operations in specie. 
 
 It affords much satisfaction to find that the policy of establish 
 ing a national bank has received the sanction of the committee ; 
 and the decision, in this respect, renders it unnecessary to enter 
 into a comparative examination of the superior advantages of 
 such an institution for the attainment of the objects contem 
 plated by the legislature. Referring, therefore, to the outline of 
 a national bank, which is subjoined to this letter, as the result 
 of an attentive consideration bestowed upon the subjects of your 
 inquiry, I proceed, with deference and respect, to offer some ex 
 planation of the principles upon which the system is founded. 
 
 I. Jt is proposed that, under a charter for twenty years, the 
 capital of the national bank shall amount to $35,000,000; that 
 Congress shall retain the power to raise it to $50,000,000 ; and 
 that it shall consist of three-fourths of public stock and one-fourth 
 of gold and silver. 
 
 1st. With respect to the amount of the capital. The services 
 to be performed by the capital of the bank are important, vari 
 ous, and extensive. They will be required through a period 
 almost as long as is usually assigned to a generation They 
 will be required for the accommodation of the government in the 
 collection and distribution of its revenue, as well as for the uses 
 of commerce, agriculture, manufactures, and the arts throughout 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 289 
 
 the Union. They will be required to restore and maintain the 
 national currency. And, in short, they will be required, under 
 every change of circumstances, in a season of war as well as in 
 the season of peace, for the circulation of the national wealth ; 
 which augments with a rapidity beyond the reach of ordinary 
 calculation. 
 
 In the performance of these national services the local and 
 incidental co-operation of the State banks may undoubtedly be 
 expected ; but it is the object of the present measure to create 
 an independent, though not a discordant, institution ; and while 
 the government is granting a monopoly for twenty years, it 
 would seem to be improvident and dangerous to rely upon 
 gratuitous or casual aids for the enjoyment of those benefits 
 which can be effectually secured by positive stipulation. 
 
 Nor is it believed that any public inconvenience can possibly 
 arise from the proposed amount of the capital of the bank with 
 its augmentable quality. The amount may, indeed, be a clog 
 upon the profits of the institution ; but it can never be employed 
 for any injurious purpose (not even for the purpose of discount 
 accommodation beyond the fair demand), without an abuse of 
 trust, which cannot, in candor, be anticipated ; or which, if an 
 ticipated, may be made an object of penal responsibility. 
 
 The competition which exists, at present, among the State 
 banks will, it is true, be extended to the national bank ; but 
 competition does not imply hostility. The commercial interests, 
 and the personal associations of the stockholders, will generally 
 be the same in the State banks and in the national bank. The 
 directors of both institutions will naturally be taken from the 
 same class of citizens And experience has shown not only the 
 policy, but the existence of those sympathies by which the inter 
 course of a national bank and the State banks has been, and 
 always ought to be, regulated for their common credit and secu 
 rity. At the present crisis it will be peculiarly incumbent upon 
 the national bank, as well as the treasury, to conciliate the State 
 banks ; to confide to them, liberally, a participation in the de 
 posits of public revenue; and to encourage them in every 
 reasonable effort to resume the payment of their notes in coin. 
 But, independent of these considerations, it is to be recollected 
 that when portions of the capital of the national bank shall be 
 transferred to its branches, the amount invested in each branch 
 will not, probably, exceed the amount of the capital of any of the 
 principal State banks ; and will certainly be less than the amount 
 of the combined capital of the State banks operating in any of 
 the principal commercial cities. The whole number of the bank 
 ing establishments in the United States may be stated at 260, 
 and the aggregate amount of their capitals may be estimated at 
 $85,000,000 ; but the services of the national bank are also re- 
 
290 APPENDICES. 
 
 quired in every State and Territory ; and the capital proposed is 
 $35,000,000, of which only one-fourth part will consist of gold 
 and silver. 
 
 2d. With respect to the composition of the capital of the bank. 
 There does not prevail much diversity of opinion upon the pro 
 position to form a compound capital for the national bank, partly 
 of public stock and partly of coin. The proportions now sug 
 gested appear, also, to be free from any important objections. 
 Under all the regulations of the charter, it is believed that the 
 amount of gold and silver required will afford an adequate sup 
 ply for commencing and continuing the payments of the bank in 
 current coin ; while the power which the bank will possess to 
 convert its stock portion of capital into bullion or coin, from time 
 to time, is calculated to provide for any probable augmentation 
 of the demand. This object being sufficiently secured, the 
 capital of the bank is next to be employed, in perfect consistency 
 with the general interests and safety of the institution, to raise 
 the value of the public securities by withdrawing almost one-fifth 
 of the amount from the ordinary stock market. JSTor will the 
 bank be allowed to expose the public to the danger of a depre 
 ciation, by returning any part of the stock to the market, until it 
 has been offered, at the current price, to the commissioners of the 
 sinking fund; and it is not an inconsiderable advantage, in the 
 growing state of the public revenue, that the stock subscribed to 
 the capital of the bank will become redeemable at the pleasure 
 of the government. 
 
 The subscription to the capital of the bank is opened to every 
 species of funded stock. The estimate that the revenues of 1816 
 and 1817 will enable the treasury to discharge the whole of the 
 treasury-note debt, furnishes the only reason for omitting to 
 authorize a subscription in that species of debt. Thus, 
 
 The old and the new six per cent, stocks are receivable at par. 
 
 The seven per cent, stock, upon a valuation referring to the 
 30th of September, 1816, is receivable at $106 51 per cent. 
 
 The three per cent, stock, which can only be redeemed for its 
 nominal or certificate value, may be estimated, under all circum 
 stances, to be worth about sixty- two per cent, when the six per 
 cent, stock is at par; but as it is desirable to accomplish the re 
 demption of this stock, upon equitable terms, it is made receiv 
 able at sixty-five per cent., the rate sanctioned by the govern 
 ment, and in part accepted by the stockholders, in the year 180*7. 
 
 Of the instalments for paying the subscriptions, it is only neces 
 sary to observe that they are regulated by a desire to reconcile 
 an early commencement of the operations of the bank with the 
 existing difficulties in the currency and with the convenience of 
 the subscribers. In one of the modes proposed for discharging 
 the subscription of the government, it is particularly contemplated 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 291 
 
 to aid the bank with a medium which cannot fail to alleviate the 
 first pressure for payments in coin. 
 
 II. It is proposed that the national bank shall be governed by 
 twenty-five directors, and each of its branches by thirteen di 
 rectors ; that the President of the United States, with the advice 
 and consent of the Senate, shall appoint five of the directors of 
 the bank, one of whom shall be chosen as president of the bank 
 by the board of directors ; that the resident stockholders shall 
 elect twenty of the directors of the national bank, who shall be 
 resident citfzens of the United States ; and that the national bank 
 shall appoint the directors of each branch (being resident citizens 
 of the United States), one of whom shall be designated by the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, with the approbation of the President 
 of the United States, to "be president of the branch bank. 
 
 The participation of the President and Senate of the United 
 States in the appointment of directors, appears to be the only 
 feature in the proposition for the government of the national bank 
 which requires an explanatory remark. 
 
 Upon general principles, wherever a pecuniary interest is to 
 be affected by the operations of a public institution, a representa 
 tive authority ought to be recognized. The United States will 
 be the proprietors of one-fifth of the capital of the bank, and in 
 that proportion, upon general principles, they should be repre 
 sented in the direction. But an apprehension has sometimes 
 been expressed, lest the power of the government thus inserted 
 into the administration of the affairs of the bank should be em 
 ployed eventually to alienate the funds and to destroy the credit 
 of the institution. Whatever may have been the fate of banks 
 in other countries, subject to forms of government essentially 
 different, there can be no reasonable cause for the apprehension 
 here. Independent of the obvious improbability of the attempt, 
 the government of the United States cannot by any legislative 
 or executive act impair the rights or multiply the obligations of 
 a corporation constitutionally established, as long as the inde 
 pendence and integrity of the judicial power shall be maintained. 
 Whatever accommodation the treasury may have occasion to 
 ask from the bank can only be asked under the license of a law ; 
 and whatever accommodation shall be obtained must be obtained 
 from the voluntary assent of the directors, acting under the re 
 sponsibility of their trust. 
 
 Nor can it be doubted that the department of the government 
 which is invested with the power of appointment to all the im 
 portant offices of the State, is a proper department to exercise the 
 power of appointment in relation to a national trust of incalcu 
 lable magnitude. The national bank ought not to be regarded 
 simply as a commercial bank. It will not operate upon the 
 funds^of the stockholders alone, but much more upon the funds 
 
292 APPENDICES. 
 
 of the nation. Its conduct, good or bad, will not affect the cor 
 porate credit and resources alone, but much more the credit and 
 resources of the government. In fine, it is not an institution 
 created for the purposes of commerce and profit alone, but much 
 more for the purposes of national policy, as an auxiliary in the 
 exercise of some of the highest powers of the government, 
 Under such circumstances the public interest cannot be too cau 
 tiously guarded, and the guards proposed can never be injurious 
 to the commercial interests of the institution. The right to 
 inspect the general accounts of the bank may be employed to 
 detect the evils of a maladministration ; but an interior agency 
 in the direction of its affairs will best serve to prevent them. 
 
 III. It is proposed that, in addition to the usual privileges of 
 a corporation, the notes of the national bank shall be received in 
 all payments to the United States, unless Congress shall hereafter 
 otherwise provide by law ; and that, in addition to the duties 
 usually required from a corporation of this description, the na 
 tional bank shall be employed to receive, transfer, and distribute 
 the public revenue under the directions of the proper depart 
 ment. 
 
 The reservation of a legislative power on the subject of accept 
 ing the notes of the national bank in payments to the government 
 is the only new stipulation in the present proposition. It is 
 designed not merely as one of the securities for the general 
 conduct of the bank, but as the means of preserving entire the 
 sovereign authority of Congress relative to the coin and currency 
 of the United States. Recent occurrences inculcate the expedi 
 ency of such a reservation, but it may be confidently hoped that 
 an occasion to enforce it will never arise. 
 
 It is not proposed to stipulate that the bank shall in any case 
 be bound to make loans to the government ; but, in that respect, 
 whenever a loan is authorized by law the government will act 
 upon the ordinary footing of an applicant for pecuniary accom 
 modation. 
 
 IV. It is proposed that the organization of the national bank 
 shall be effected with as little delay as possible ; and that its 
 operations shall commence and continue upon the basis of pay 
 ments in the current coin of the United States, with a qualified 
 power under the authority of the government to suspend such 
 payments. 
 
 The proposition now submitted necessarily implies an opinion 
 that it is practicable to commence the operations of the national 
 bank upon a circulation of gold and silver coin ; and in support 
 of the opinion a few remarks are respectfully offered to the con 
 sideration of the committee. 
 
 1. The actual receipts of the bank at the opening of the sub 
 scription will amount to the sum of $8,400,000, of which the 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 293 
 
 sum of $1,400,000 will consist of gold and silver, and the sum 
 of $7,000,000 will consist of public stock convertible by sale into 
 gold and silver. But the actual receipts of the bank, at the 
 expiration of six months from the opening of the subscription, 
 will amount to the sum of $16,800,000, of which the sum of 
 $2,800,000 will be in gold and silver, and the sum of $14,000,000 
 will be in public stock convertible by sale into gold and silver. To 
 the fund thus possessed by the bank, the accumulations of the pub 
 lic revenue and the deposits of individuals being added, there can 
 be little doubt, from past experience and observation in reference to 
 similar establishments, that a sufficient foundation will exist for a 
 gradual and judicious issue of bank-notes payable on demand in the 
 current coin ; unless, contrary to all probability, public confidence 
 should be withheld from the institution, or sinister combinations 
 should be formed to defeat its operations, or the demands of an un 
 favorable balance of trade should press upon its metallic resources. 
 
 2. The public confidence cannot be withheld from the institu 
 tion. The resources of the nation will be intimately connected 
 with the resources of the bank. The notes of the bank are 
 accredited in every payment to the government, and must become 
 familiar in every pecuniary negotiation. Unless, therefore, a 
 state of things exist in which gold and silver only can command 
 the public confidence, the national bank must command it. But 
 the expression of the public sentiment does not, even at this 
 period, leave the question exposed to difficulty and doubt ; it is 
 well known that the wealth of opulent and commercial nations 
 requires for its circulation something more than a medium com 
 posed of the precious metals. The incompetency of the existing 
 paper substitutes to furnish a national currency is also well 
 known. Hence, throughout the United States, the public hope 
 seems to rest at this crisis upon the establishment of a national 
 bank ; and every citizen, upon private or upon patriotic motives, 
 will be prepared to support the institution. 
 
 3. Sinister combinations to defeat the operations of a national 
 bank ought not to be presumed and need not be feared. It is 
 true that the influence of the State banks is extensively diffused ; 
 but the State banks and the patrons of the State banks partake 
 of the existing evils ; they must be conscious of the inadequacy 
 of State institutions to restore and maintain the national cur 
 rency ; they will perceive that there is sufficient space in the 
 commercial sphere for the movement of the State banks and the 
 national bank ; and, upon the whole, they will be ready to act 
 upon the impulse of a common duty and a common interest. If, 
 however, most unexpectedly a different course should be pursued, 
 the concurring powers of the national treasury and the national 
 bank will be sufficient to avert the danger. 
 
 4. The demand of an unfavorable balance of trade appears to 
 
294 APPENDICES. 
 
 be much overrated. It is not practicable at this time to ascertain 
 either the value of the goods imported since the peace or the 
 value of the property employed to pay for them. But when it is 
 considered that a great proportion of the importations arose from 
 investments of American funds previously in Europe; that a 
 great proportion of the price has been paid by American exports; 
 that a great proportion has been paid by remittances in American 
 stocks ; and that a great proportion remains upon credit, to be 
 paid by gradual remittances of goods as well as in coin, it cannot 
 be justly concluded that the balance of trade has hitherto mate 
 rially affected the national stock of the precious metals. So far 
 as an opportunity has occurred for observation, the demand for 
 gold and silver to export appears rather to have arisen from the 
 expectation of obtaining a higher price in a part of Europe, and 
 from the revival of commerce with the countries beyond the Cape 
 of Good Hope, than from any necessity to provide for the pay 
 ment of the recent importations of goods into the United States. 
 The former of these causes will probably soon cease to operate ; 
 and the operation of the latter may, if necessary, be restrained 
 by law. 
 
 The proposition now under consideration further provides for 
 a suspension of the bank payments in coin upon any future 
 emergency. This is merely a matter of precaution ; but if the 
 emergency should arise, it must be agreed on all hands that the 
 power of suspension ought rather to be confided to the govern 
 ment than to the directors of the institution. 
 
 V. It is proposed that a bonus be paid to the government by 
 the subscribers to the national bank, in consideration of the 
 emoluments to be derived from an exclusive charter during a 
 period of twenty years. 
 
 Independent of the bonus here proposed to be exacted, there 
 are undoubtedly many public advantages to be drawn from the 
 establishment of the national bank; but these are generally of an 
 incidental kind, and (as in the case of the deposits and distribu 
 tion of the revenue) may be regarded in the light of equivalents, 
 not for the monopoly of the charter, but for the reciprocal advan 
 tages of a fiscal connection with the public treasury. 
 
 The amount of the bonus should be in proportion to the value 
 of the charter grant; or, in other words, to the net profits which 
 the subscribers will probably make in consequence of their incor 
 poration. The average rate of the dividends of the State banks 
 before the suspension of payments in coin was about eight per 
 cent, per annum. It appears by a report from this department 
 to the House of Representatives, dated the 3d of April, 1810, 
 that the annual dividends of the late Bank of the United States 
 averaged throughout the duration of its charter the rate of 8|-f 
 per cent. But under all the circumstances which will attend the 
 
OFFICIAL LET TEES. 295 
 
 establishment and operations of the proposed national bank, its 
 enlarged capital, and the extended field of competition, it is not 
 deemed reasonable, for the present purpose, to rate the annual 
 dividends of the institution higher than seven per cent, upon its 
 capital of $35,000,000. 
 
 Allowing, therefore, two, three, and four years for the payment 
 of the bonus, a sum of $1,500,000 would amount to about four 
 per cent, upon the capital of the bank, and would constitute a 
 just equivalent for the benefits of its charter. 
 
 VI. It is proposed that the measures suggested by the follow 
 ing considerations be adopted, to aid the national bank in com 
 mencing and maintaining its operations upon the basis of pay 
 ments in the current coin. 
 
 1. To restore the national currency of gold and silver, it is 
 essential that the quantity of bank paper in circulation should be 
 reduced ; but this effort alone will be sufficient to effect the object. 
 By reducing the amount of bank paper, its value must be propor 
 tionally increased ; and as soon as the amount shall be contracted 
 to the limits of a just proportion in the circulating medium of 
 the country, the consequent revival of the uses for coin, m the 
 business of exchange, will insure its reappearance in abundance. 
 The policy, the interest, and the honor of the State banks, will 
 stimulate them to undertake and to prosecute this salutary work. 
 But it will be proper to apprise them that after a specified day 
 the notes of such banks as have not resumed their payments in 
 the current coin will not be received in payments, either to the 
 government or to the national bank. 
 
 2. The resumption of payments in current coin, at the State 
 banks, will remove every obstacle to the commencement of simi 
 lar payments at the national bank. The difficulty of commencing 
 payments in coin is not, however, to be considered as equal to 
 the difficulty of resuming them. The national bank, free from 
 all engagements, will be able to regulate its issues of paper 
 with a view to the danger as well as to the demand that may be 
 found to exist. But in addition to the privileges granted by the 
 charter, it will also be proper to apprise the State banks, that 
 after the commencement of the operations of the national bank 
 the notes of such banks as do not agree to receive, reissue, and 
 circulate the notes of that institution shall not be received in 
 payments either to the government or to the national bank. 
 
 3. The possibility that the national currency of coin may not 
 be perfectly restored at the time of organizing the bank, has 
 induced the proposition that the payment of the government sub 
 scription to the capital shall be made in treasury notes, which 
 will be receivable in all payments to the government, and to the 
 national bank, but which will not be demandable in coin. The 
 principle of this proposition might perhaps be usefully extended 
 
296 APPENDICES. 
 
 to authorize the national bank to issue notes of a similar char 
 acter for a limited period: and it will be proper further to 
 apprise the State banks, that the notes of such banks as do not 
 agree to receive, reissue, and circulate these treasury notes or 
 national bank notes shall not be received in payments either to 
 the government or to the national bank. 
 
 I have the honor, very respectfully, sir, to be your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The Hon. JOHN C. CALHOUN, Chairman of the Committee on 
 the National Currency. 
 
 OUTLINE OF A PLAN FOR THE NATIONAL BANK. 
 
 I. The charter of the bank. 
 
 1. To continue twenty-one years. 
 
 2. To be exclusive. 
 
 II. The capital of the bank. 
 
 1. To be $35,000,000 at present. 
 
 2. To be augmentable by Congress to $50,000,000, and the 
 additional sum to be distributed among the several States. 
 
 3. To be divided into 350,000 shares of $100 each, on the 
 capital of $35,000,000, and to be subscribed, 
 
 By the United States, one-fifth, or 70,000 shares $7,000,000 
 
 By corporations and individuals, four-fifths, or 280,000,000 
 shares... 28,000,000 
 
 $35,000,000 
 
 4. To be compounded of public debt and of gold and silver ; 
 as to the subscriptions of corporations and individuals, in the 
 proportions 
 
 Of funded debt, three-fourths, equal to $21,000,000 
 
 Of gold and silver, one-fourth, equal to 7,000,000 
 
 $28,000,000 
 
 The subscriptions of six per cent, stock to be at par. 
 
 The subscriptions of three per cent, stock to be at sixty-five 
 per cent. 
 
 The subscriptions of seven per cent, stock to be at $106 51 
 per cent. 
 
 5. The subscriptions in public debt may be discharged at 
 pleasure by the government at the rate at which it is subscribed. 
 
 6. The subscriptions of corporations or individuals to be pay 
 able by instalments. 
 
 (1.) Specie, at subscribing : 
 
OFFICIAL LETTERS. 297 
 
 On each share, $5 $1,400,000 
 
 At 6 months, 5 1,400,000 
 
 At 12 months, 5 1,400,000 
 
 At 18 months, 10 2,800,000 
 
 $7,000,000 
 (2) Public debt, at subscribing : 
 
 Each shars, $25 $7,000,000 
 
 At 6 months, 25 7,000.000 
 
 At 12 months, 25 7,000,000 
 
 $28,000,000 
 
 t. The subscription of the United States to be paid in instal 
 ments, not extending beyond a period of seven years ; the first in 
 stalments to be paid at the time of subscribing, and the payments 
 to be made at the pleasure of the government, either in gold and 
 silver, or in six per cent, stock, redeemable at the pleasure of the 
 government, or in treasury notes not fundable nor bearing in 
 terest, nor payable at a particular time, but receivable in all pay 
 ments to the government, and also in all payments to the bank, 
 with a right on the part of the bank to reissue the treasury notes 
 so paid from time to time, until they are discharged by payments 
 to the government. 
 
 8. The bank shall be at liberty to sell the stock portion of its 
 capital, to an amount not exceeding in any one year; 
 
 but if the sales are intended to be effected in the United States, 
 notice thereof shall be given to the Secretary of the Treasury 
 that the commissioners of the sinking fund may, if they please, 
 become the purchasers at the market price, not exceeding par. 
 
 III. The government of the bank. 
 
 1. The bank shall be established at Philadelphia, with power 
 to erect branches, or to employ State banks as branches else 
 where. 
 
 2. There shall be twenty-five directors for the bank at Phila 
 delphia, and thirteen directors for each of the branches where 
 branches are erected, with the usual description and number of 
 officers. 
 
 3. The President of the United States, with the advice and 
 consent of the Senate, shall annually appoint five of the directors 
 of the bank at Philadelphia. 
 
 4. The qualified stockholders shall annually elect twenty of 
 the directors of the bank at Philadelphia ; but a portion of the 
 directors shall be changed at every annual election, upon the 
 principle of rotation. 
 
 5. The directors of the bank at Philadelphia shall annually, 
 at their first meeting after their election, choose one of the five 
 directors appointed bv the President and Senate of the United 
 
 20 
 
298 APPENDICES. 
 
 States, to be president of the bank; and the president of the 
 bank shall always be re-eligible if reappointed. 
 
 6. The directors of the bank at Philadelphia shall annually 
 appoint thirteen directors for each of the branches where branches 
 are erected, and shall transmit a list of the persons appointed to 
 the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 7. The Secretary of the Treasury, with the approbation of the 
 President of the United States, shall annually designate from 
 the list of the branch directors, the person to be the president of 
 the respective branches. 
 
 8. None but resident citizens of the United States shall be 
 directors of the bank, or its branches. 
 
 9. The stockholders may vote for directors in person or by 
 proxy ; but no stockholder, who is not resident within the United 
 States at the time of election, shall vote by proxy ; nor shall 
 any one person vote as proxy a greater number of votes than he 
 would be entitled to vote in his own right, according to a scale 
 of voting to be graduated by the number of shares which the 
 voters respectively hold. 
 
 10. The bank and its several branches, or the State banks 
 employed as branches, shall furnish the officer at the head of the 
 Treasury Department with statements of their officers, in such 
 form and at such period as shall be required. 
 
 IV. The privileges and duties of the bank. 
 
 1. The bank shall enjoy the usual privileges, and be subject to 
 the usual restrictions of a body corporate and politic, instituted 
 for such purposes, and the forgery of its notes shall be made 
 penal. 
 
 2. The notes of the bank shall be receivable in all payments 
 to the United States, unless Congress shall hereafter otherwise 
 provide by law. 
 
 3. The bank and its branches, and State banks employed as 
 branches, shall give the necessary aid and facility to the treasury 
 for transferring the public funds from place to place, and for 
 making payments to the public creditors, without charging com 
 missions, or claiming allowances on account of differences of ex 
 change, etc. 
 
 V. The organization and operation of the bank. 
 
 1. Subscriptions to be opened with as little delay as possible, 
 and at as few places as shall be deemed just and convenient. 
 The commissioners may be named in the act or be appointed by 
 the President. 
 
 2. The bank to be organized and commence its operations in 
 specie as soon as the sum of $1,400,000 has been actually received 
 from the subscriptions in gold and silver. 
 
 3. The bank shall not at any time suspend its specie payments, 
 unless the same shall be previously authorized by Congress, if 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAS. 299 
 
 in session, or by the President of the United States if Congress 
 be not in session. In the latter case, the suspension shall con 
 tinue for six weeks after the meeting of Congress, and no longer, 
 unless authorized by law. 
 
 VI. The bonus for the charter of the bank. 
 
 The subscribers to the bank shall pay a premium to the govern 
 ment for its charter. Estimating the profits of the bank from the 
 probable advance in the value of its stock, and the result of its 
 business when in full operation, at seven per cent., a bonus of 
 $1,500,000, payable in equal instalments of two, three, and four 
 years after the bank commences its operations, might, under all 
 circumstances, be considered as about four per cent, upon its 
 capital, and would constitute a reasonable premium. 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 NOTE. This Exposition of the Causes and Character of the War was 
 prepared and committed to the press before any account had been received in 
 the United States of the signature of a treaty of peace by the American and 
 the British negotiators; and it would have been difficult, even if it were 
 desirable, to withhold the exposition from the public. 
 
 But the charges which have been solemnly exhibited against the Amer 
 ican government, in the face of the world, render an exposition of its 
 conduct necessary, in peace as much as in war, for the honor of the United 
 States and the unsullied reputation of their arms, lest those charges should 
 obtain credit with the present generation, or pass for truth into the history 
 of the times, upon the evidence of a silent acquiescence. 
 
 AN EXPOSITION 
 
 OF THE CAUSES AND CHARACTER OF THE WAR. 
 
 Whatever may be the termination of the negotiations at Ghent, 
 the despatches of the American commissioners, which have been 
 communicated by the President of the United States to the Con 
 gress during the present session, will distinctly unfold to the at 
 tentive and impartial of all nations the objects and dispositions 
 of the parties to the present war. 
 
 The United States, ^relieved by the general pacification of the 
 treaty of Paris from the danger of actual sufferance under the 
 evils which had compelled them to resort to arms, have avowed 
 their readiness to resume the relations of peace and amity with 
 
300 APPENDICES. 
 
 Great Britain upon the simple and single condition of preserving 
 their territory and their sovereignty entire and unimpaired. 
 Their desire of peace, indeed, " upon terms of reciprocity, con 
 sistent with the rights of both parties, as sovereign and inde 
 pendent nations,"* has not, at any time, been influenced by the 
 provocations of an unprecedented course of hostilities, by the in 
 citements of a successful campaign, or by the agitations which 
 have seemed again to threaten the tranquillity of Europe. 
 
 But the British government, after inviting "a discussion with 
 the government of America for the conciliatory adjustment of the 
 differences subsisting between the two states, with an earnest de 
 sire on their part (as it was alleged) to bring them to a favorable 
 issue upon principles of a perfect reciprocity not inconsistent with 
 the established maxims of public law and with the maritime 
 rights of the British Empire, "f and after expressly disclaiming 
 any intention to acquire an increase of territory, "J have peremp 
 torily demanded, as the price of peace, concessions calculated 
 merely for their own aggrandizement and for the humiliation of 
 their adversary. At one time they proposed, as their sine qua 
 non, a stipulation, that the Indians inhabiting the country of the 
 United States, within the limits established by the treaty of 1783, 
 should be included as the allies of Great Britain (a party to that 
 treaty) in the projected pacification ; and that definite boundaries 
 should be settled for the Indian territory, upon a basis which 
 would have operated to surrender to a number of Indians, not 
 probably exceeding a few thousands, the rights of sovereignty, 
 as well as of soil, over nearly one-third of the territorial domin 
 ions of the United States, inhabited by more than one hundred 
 thousand of their citizens. And, more recently (withdrawing, 
 in effect, that proposition), they have offered to treat, on the basis 
 of the uti possidetis, when, by the operations of the war, they 
 had obtained the military possession of an important part of the 
 State of Massachusetts, which, it was known, could never be the 
 subject of a cession, consistently with the honor and faith of 
 
 * See Mr. Monroe s letter to Lord Castlereagh, dated January, 1814. 
 
 f See Lord Castlereagh s letter to Mr. Monroe, dated the 4th of No 
 vember, 1813. 
 
 J See the American despatch, dated the 12th of August, 1814. 
 
 | See the American despatches, dated the 12th and 19th of August, 1814 ; 
 the note of the British commissioners, dated the 19th of August, 1814; 
 the note of the American commissioners, dated the 21st of August, 1814 ; 
 the note of the British commissioners, dated the 4th of September, 1814 ; 
 the note of the American commissioners of the 9th of September, 1814 ; 
 the note of the British commissioners, dated the 19th of September, 1814; 
 the note of the American commissioners, dated the 26th of September, 
 1814; the note of the British commissioners, dated the 8th of October, 
 1814; and the note of the American commissioners of the 13th of Oc 
 tober, 1814. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 301 
 
 the American government.* Thus it is obvious that Great Brit 
 ain, neither regarding "the principles of a perfect reciprocity" nor 
 the rule of her own practice and professions, has indulged pre 
 tensions, which could only be heard in order to be rejected. The 
 alternative, either vindictively to protract the war or honorably 
 to end it, has been fairly given to her option; but she wants the 
 magnanimity to decide, while her apprehensions are awakened 
 for the result of the congress at Vienna, and her hopes are flat 
 tered by the schemes of conquest in America. 
 
 There are periods in the transactions of every country, as well 
 as in the life of every individual, when self-examination becomes 
 a duty of the highest moral obligation; when the government of 
 a free people, driven from the path of peace, and baffled in every 
 effort to regain it, may resort for consolation to the conscious 
 rectitude of its measures; and when an appeal to mankind, 
 founded upon truth and justice, cannot fail to engage those sym 
 pathies, by which even nations are led to participate in the fame 
 and fortunes of each other. The United States, under these im 
 pressions, are neither insensible to the advantages nor to the 
 duties of their peculiar situation. They have but recently, as it 
 were, established their independence, and the volume of their 
 national history lies open at a glance to every eye. The policy 
 of their government, therefore, whatever it has been, in their for 
 eign as well as in their domestic relations, it is impossible to con 
 ceal, and it must be difficult to mistake. If the assertion that 
 it has been a policy to preserve peace and amity with all the na 
 tions of the world be doubted, the proofs are at hand. If the 
 assertion that it has been a policy to maintain the rights of the 
 United States, but at the same time to respect the rights of every 
 other nation, be doubted, the proofs will be exhibited. If the as 
 sertion that it has been a policy to act impartially towards the 
 belligerent powers of Europe be doubted, the proofs will be found 
 on record, even in the archives of England and of France. And 
 if, in fine, the assertion that it has been a policy, by all honorable 
 means, to cultivate with Great Britain those sentiments of mu 
 tual good will which naturally belong to nations connected by 
 the ties of a common ancestry, an identity of language, and a 
 similarity of manners, be doubted, the proofs will be found in 
 that patient forbearance, under the pressure of accumulating 
 wrongs, which marks the period of almost thirty years that 
 elapsed between the peace of 1783 and the rupture of 1812. 
 
 The United States had just recovered, under the auspices of 
 
 * See the note of the British commissioners, dated the 21st of October, 
 1814 ; the note of the American commissioners, dated the 24th of October, 
 1814 ; and the note of the British commissioners, dated the 31st of October, 
 1814. 
 
302 APPENDICES. 
 
 their present constitution, from the debility which their revolu 
 tionary struggle had produced, when the convulsive movements 
 of France excited throughout the civilized world the mingled 
 sensations of hope and fear of admiration and alarm. The in 
 terest which those movements would in themselves have excited 
 was incalculably increased, however, as soon as Great Britain 
 became a party to the first memorable coalition against France 
 and assumed the character of a belligerent power, for it was 
 obvious that the distance of the scene would no longer exempt 
 the United States from the influence and the evils of the Eu 
 ropean conflict. On the one hand, their government was con 
 nected with France by treaties of alliance and commerce, and 
 the services which that nation had rendered to the cause of 
 American independence had made such impressions upon the 
 public mind as no virtuous statesman could rigidly condemn and 
 the most rigorous statesman would have sought in vain to efface ; 
 on the other hand, Great Britain, leaving the treaty of 1783 un 
 executed, forcibly retained the American posts upon the northern 
 frontier, and, slighting every overture to place the diplomatic 
 and commercial relations of the two countries upon a fair and 
 friendly foundation,* seemed to contemplate the success of the 
 American Revolution in a spirit of unextinguishable animosity. 
 Her voice had indeed been heard from Quebec and Montreal, in 
 stigating the savages to war.j* Her invisible arm was felt in 
 the defeats of General HarmarJ and General St. Clair, and 
 even the victory of General Wayne || was achieved in the pres 
 ence of a fort which she had erected far within the territorial 
 boundaries of the United States to stimulate and countenance 
 the barbarities of the Indian warrior. ^[ Yet the American gov 
 ernment, neither yielding to popular feeling nor acting upon the 
 impulse of national resentment, hastened to adopt the policy of a 
 strict and steady neutrality, and solemnly announced that policy 
 to the citizens at home and to the nations abroad by the procla 
 mation of the 22d of April, 1793. Whatever may have been 
 the trials of its pride and of its fortitude whatever may have 
 been the imputations upon its fidelity and its honor it will be 
 demonstrated in the sequel that the American government, 
 throughout the European contest and amidst all the changes of 
 the objects and the parties that have been involved in that con- 
 
 * See Mr. Adams s correspondence. 
 
 f See the speeches of Lord Dorchester. 
 
 J On the waters of the Miami of the lakes, on the 21st of October, 1790. 
 
 f At Fort Kecovery, on the 4th of November, 1791. 
 
 || On the Miami of the lakes, in August, 1794. 
 
 ^[ See the correspondence between Mr. Randolph, the American Secre 
 tary of State, and Mr. Hammond, the British plenipotentiary, dated May 
 and June, 1794. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 303 
 
 test, has inflexibly adhered to the principles which were thus 
 authoritatively established to regulate the conduct of the United 
 States. 
 
 It was reasonable to expect that a proclamation of neutrality, 
 issued under the circumstances which have been described, would 
 command the confidence and respect of Great Britain, however 
 offensive it might prove to France, as contravening essentially 
 the exposition which she was anxious to bestow upon the treaties 
 of commerce and alliance. But experience has shown that the 
 confidence and respect of Great Britain are not to be acquired by 
 such acts of impartiality and independence. Under every ad 
 ministration of the American government the experiment has 
 been made, and the experiment has been equally unsuccessful; 
 for it was not more effectually ascertained in the year 1812 than 
 at antecedent periods, that an exemption from the maritime usur 
 pation and the commercial monopoly of Great Britain could only 
 be obtained upon the condition of becoming an associate in her 
 enmities and her wars. While the proclamation of neutrality 
 was still in the view of the British minister, an order of the 8th 
 of June, 1793, issued from the cabinet, by virtue of which "all 
 vessels loaded wholly or in part with corn, flour, or meal, bound 
 to any port in France, or. any port occupied by the armies of 
 France," were required to be carried forcibly into England, and 
 the cargoes were either to be sold there or security was to be 
 given that they should only be sold in the ports of a country in 
 amity with his Britannic Majesty.* The moral character of an 
 avowed design to inflict famine upon the whole of the French 
 people was at that time properly estimated throughout the civ 
 ilized world, and so glaring an infraction of neutral rights as the 
 British order was calculated to produce did not escape the severi 
 ties of diplomatic animadversion and remonstrance. But this 
 aggression was soon followed by another of a more hostile cast. 
 In the war of 1756, Great Britain had endeavored to establish 
 the rule that neutral nations were not entitled to enjoy the benefits 
 of a trade with the colonies of a belligerent power, from which, 
 in the season of peace, they were excluded by the parent state. 
 The rule stands without positive support from any general au 
 thority on public law. If it be true that some treaties contain 
 stipulations by which the parties expressly exclude each other 
 from the commerce of their respective colonies, and if it be true 
 that the ordinances of a particular state often provide for the 
 exclusive enjoyment of its colonial commerce, still Great Britain 
 cannot be authorized to deduce the rule of the war of 1756 by 
 implication from such treaties and such ordinances, while it is 
 
 * See the order in council of the 8th of June, 1793, and the remon 
 strance of the American government. 
 
304 APPENDICES. 
 
 not true that the rule forms a part of the law of nations, nor that 
 it has been adopted by any other government, nor that even 
 Great Britain herself has uniformly practised upon the rule, since 
 its application was unknown from the war of IT 56 until the 
 French war of 1792, including the entire period of the Ameri 
 can war. Let it be argumentatively allowed, however, that 
 Great Britain possessed the right as well as the power to revive 
 and enforce the rule ; yet the time and the manner of exercising 
 the power would afford ample cause for reproach. The citizens of 
 the United States had openly engaged in an extensive trade with 
 the French islands in the West Indies, ignorant of the alleged 
 existence of the rule of the war of 1756, or unapprised of any 
 intention to call it into action, when the order of the 6th of No 
 vember, 1793, was silently circulated among the British cruisers, 
 consigning to legal adjudication " all vessels loaden with goods, 
 the produce of any colony of France, or carrying provisions or 
 supplies for the use of any such colony."* A great portion of 
 the commerce of the United States was thus annihilated at a 
 blow, the amicable dispositions of the government were again 
 disregarded and contemned, the sensibility of the nation was ex 
 cited to a high degree of resentment by the apparent treachery 
 of the British order, and a recourse to reprisals or to war for indem 
 nity and redress seemed to be unavoidable. But the love of jus 
 tice had established the law of neutrality, and the love of peace 
 taught a lesson of forbearance. The American government, 
 therefore, rising superior to the provocations and the passions of 
 the day, instituted a special mission to represent at the court of 
 London the injuries and the indignities which it had suffered, " to 
 vindicate its rights with firmness and to cultivate peace with 
 sincerity, "f The immediate result of this mission was a treaty 
 of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States 
 and Great Britain, which was signed by the negotiators on the 
 19th of November, 1794, and finally ratified, with the consent of 
 the Senate, in the year 1795. But both the mission and its re 
 sult serve also to display the independence and the impartiality 
 of the American government in asserting its rights and perform 
 ing its duties, equally unawed and unbiased by the instruments 
 of belligerent power or persuasion. 
 
 On the foundation of this treaty the United States, in a pure 
 spirit of good faith and confidence, raised the hope and the ex 
 pectation that the maritime usurpations of Great Britain would 
 cease to annoy them; that all doubtful claims of jurisdiction 
 would be suspended ; and that even the exercise of an incontest- 
 
 * See the British order of the 6th of November, 1793. 
 f See the President s message to the Senate of the 16th of April, 1794, 
 nominating Mr. Jay as envoy extraordinary to his Britannic Majesty. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 305 
 
 able right would be so modified as to present neither insult, nor 
 outrage, nor inconvenience to their flag, or to their commerce. 
 But the hope and the expectation of the United States have been 
 fatally disappointed. Some relaxation in the rigor, without any 
 alteration in the principle, of the order in council of the 6th of 
 November, 1793, was introduced by the subsequent orders of the 
 8th of January, 1794, and the 25th of January, 1798; but from 
 the ratification of the treaty of 1794 until the short respite 
 afforded by the treaty of Amiens, in 1802, the commerce of the 
 United States continued to be the prey of British cruisers and 
 privateers, under the adjudicating patronage of the British tribu 
 nals. Another grievance, however, assumed, at this epoch, a 
 form and magnitude which cast a shade over the social happiness 
 as well as the political independence of the nation. The mer 
 chant vessels of the United States were arrested on the high 
 seas while in the prosecution of distant voyages ; considerable 
 numbers of their crews were impressed into the naval service of 
 Great Britain ; the commercial adventures of the owners were 
 often, consequently, defeated ; and the loss of property, the em 
 barrassments of trade and navigation, and the scene of domestic 
 affliction became intolerable. This grievance (which constitutes 
 an important surviving cause of the American declaration of war) 
 was early, and has been incessantly, urged upon the attention of 
 the British government. Even in the year 1792 they were told 
 of " the irritation that it had excited, and of the difficulty of 
 avoiding to make immediate reprisals on their seamen in the 
 United States."* They were told "that so many instances of 
 the kind had happened that it was quite necessary that they 
 should explain themselves on the subject, and be led to disavow 
 and punish such violence, which had never been experienced 
 from any other nation. "f And they were told " of the incon 
 venience of such conduct, and of the impossibility of letting it 
 go on, so that the British ministry should be made sensible of 
 the necessity of punishing the past and preventing the future."! 
 But after the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation had 
 been ratified, the nature and the extent of the grievance became 
 still more manifest ; and it was clearly and firmly presented to 
 the view of the British government, as leading unavoidably to 
 discord and war between the two nations. They were told 
 "that unless they would come to some accommodation which 
 
 * See the letter of Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Pinckney, 
 minister at London, dated the llth of June, 1792. 
 
 f See the letter from the same to the same, dated the 12th of October, 
 1792. 
 
 % See the letter from the same to the same, dated the 6th of November, 
 1792. 
 
306 APPENDICES. 
 
 might insure the American seamen against this oppression, 
 measures would be taken to cause the inconvenience to be equally 
 felt on both sides."* They were told "that the impressment of 
 American citizens, to serve on board of British armed vessels, 
 was not only an injury to the unfortunate individuals, but it 
 naturally excited certain emotions in the breasts of the nation to 
 whom they belonged, and of the just and humane of every coun 
 try ; and that an expectation was indulged that orders would be 
 given, that the Americans so circumstanced should be immedi 
 ately liberated, and that the British officers should in future 
 abstain from similar violences, "f They were told "that the sub 
 ject was of much greater importance than had been supposed ; 
 and that instead of a few, and those in many instances equivocal 
 cases, the American minister at the court of London had, in nine 
 months (part of the years 1796 and 1797), made applications for 
 the discharge of two hundred and seventy-one seamen, who had, 
 in most cases, exhibited such evidence as to satisfy him that they 
 were real Americans, forced into the British service, and perse 
 vering generally in refusing pay and bounty. "J They were told 
 " that if the British government had any regard to the rights of 
 the United States, any respect for the nation, and placed any 
 value on their friendship, it would facilitate the means of reliev 
 ing their oppressed citizens." They were told " that the British 
 naval officers often impressed Swedes, Danes, and other foreigners 
 from the vessels of the United States ; that they might with as 
 much reason rob American vessels of the property or merchan 
 dise of Swedes, Danes, and Portuguese as seize and detain in 
 their service the subjects of those nations found on board of 
 Americal vessels; and that the President was extremely anxious 
 to have this business of impressing placed on a reasonable foot- 
 ing."|| And they were told "that the impressment of American 
 seamen was an injury of very serious magnitude, which deeply 
 aifected the feelings and honor of the nation ; that no right had 
 been asserted to impress the natives of America, yet, that they 
 were impressed ; they were dragged on board British ships of 
 war, with the evidence of citizenship in their hands, and forced 
 by violence there to serve until conclusive testimonials of their 
 
 *See the letter from Mr. Pinckney, minister at London, to the Secretary 
 of State, dated the 13th of March, 1793. 
 
 f See the note of Mr. Jay, envoy extraordinary, to Lord Grenville, 
 dated the 30th of July, 1794. 
 
 J See the letter of Mr. King, minister at London, to the Secretary of 
 State, dated the 13th of April, 1797 
 
 g See the letter from Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. King, 
 minister at London, dated the 10th of September. 1796. 
 
 II See the letter from the same to the same, dated the 26tli of October, 
 1796. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 307 
 
 birth could be obtained; that many must perish unrelieved, and 
 all were detained a considerable time in lawless and injurious 
 confinement; that the continuance of the practice must inevitably 
 produce discord between two nations which ought to be the 
 friends of each other; and that it was more advisable to desist 
 from, and to take effectual measures to prevent, an acknowledged 
 wrong than by perseverance in that wrong, to excite against 
 themselves the well-founded resentments of America, and force 
 the government into measures which may very possibly termi 
 nate in an open rupture."* 
 
 Such were the feelings and the sentiments of the American 
 government, under every change of its administration, in relation 
 to the British practice of impressment; and such the remon 
 strances addressed to the justice of Great Britain. It is obvious, 
 therefore, that this cause, independent of every other, has been 
 uniformly deemed a just and certain cause of war; yet, the char 
 acteristic policy of the United States still prevailed : remonstrance 
 was only succeeded by negotiation ; and every assertion of Ameri 
 can rights was accompanied with an overture to secure, in any 
 practicable form, the rights of Great Britain. f Time seemed, how 
 ever, to render it more and more difficult to ascertain and fix the 
 standard of the British rights according to the succession of the 
 British claims. The right of entering and searching an American 
 merchant ship for the purpose of impressment was, for awhile, 
 confined to the case of British deserters ; and even so late as the 
 month of February, 1800, the minister of his Britannic Majesty, 
 then at Philadelphia, urged the American government "to take 
 into consideration, as the only means of drying up every source 
 of complaint and irritation upon that head, a proposal which he 
 had made two years before in the name of his Majesty s govern 
 ment, for the reciprocal restitution of deserters. "J But this 
 project of a treaty was then deemed inadmissible by the Presi 
 dent of the United States, and the chief officers of the executive 
 departments of the government, whom he consulted, for the same 
 reason specifically which, at a subsequent period, induced the 
 President of the United States to withhold his approbation from 
 the treaty negotiated by the American ministers at London, in 
 the yea/ 1806, namely, "that it did not sufficiently provide 
 
 * See the letter from Mr. Marshall, Secretary of State (now Chief 
 Justice of the United States), to Mr. King, minister at London, dated the 
 20th of September, 1800. 
 
 f See particularly Mr. King s propositions to Lord Grenville and Lord 
 Hawkesbury of the 13th of April, 1797, the 15th of March, 1799, the 25th 
 of February, 1801, and in July, 1813. 
 
 J See Mr. Liston s note to Mr. Pickering, the Secretary of State, dated 
 the 4th of February, 1800. 
 
308 APPENDICES. 
 
 against the impressment of American seamen ;"* and "that it is 
 better to have no article, and to meet the consequences, than not 
 to enumerate merchant vessels on the high seas among the things 
 not to be forcibly entered in search of deserters. "f But the 
 British claim, expanding with singular elasticity, was soon found 
 to include a right to enter American vessels on the high seas, in 
 order to search for and seize all British seamen ; it next embraced 
 the case of every British subject; and finally, in its practical 
 enforcement, it has been extended to every mariner who could 
 not prove upon the spot that he was a citizen of the United 
 States. 
 
 While the nature of the British claim was thus ambiguous and 
 fluctuating, the principle to which it was referred for justification 
 and support appeared to be at once arbitrary and illusory. It 
 was not recorded in any positive code of the law of nations; it 
 was not displayed in the elementary works of the civilian ; nor 
 had it ever been exemplified in the maritime usages of any other 
 country in any other age. In truth, it was the offspring of the 
 municipal law of Great Britain alone ; equally operative in a 
 time of peace and in a time of war; and, under all circumstances, 
 inflicting a coercive jurisdiction upon the commerce and naviga 
 tion of the world. 
 
 For the legitimate rights of the belligerent powers, the United 
 States had felt and evinced a sincere and open respect. Although 
 they had marked a diversity of doctrine among the most cele 
 brated jurists upon many of the litigated points of the law of 
 war ; although they had formerly espoused, with the example of 
 the most powerful government of Europe, the principles of the 
 armed neutrality, which were established, in the year 1780, upon 
 the basis of the memorable declaration of the empress of all the 
 Russias; and although the principles of that declaration have 
 been incorporated into all their public treaties, except in the in 
 stance of the treaty of 1794, yet, the United States, still faithful 
 to the pacific and impartial policy which they professed, did not 
 hesitate, even at the commencement of the French revolutionary 
 war, to accept and allow the exposition of the law of nations as 
 it was then maintained by Great Britain ; and, consequently, to 
 admit, upon a much-contested point, that the property of her 
 enemy in their vessels might be lawfully captured as prize of 
 
 * See the opinion of Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, inclosing the 
 plan of a treaty, dated the 3d of May, 1800, and the opinion of Mr. 
 Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury, dated the 14th of April, 1800. 
 
 f See the opinion of Mr. Stoddert, Secretary of the Navy, dated the 
 23d of April, 1800, and the opinions of Mr. Lee, Attorney-General, dated 
 the 26th of February, and the 30th of April, 1800. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 309 
 
 war.* It was, also, freely admitted that a belligerent power had 
 a right, with proper cautions, to enter and search American 
 vessels for the goods of an enemy, and for articles contraband 
 of war ; that if, upon a search, such goods or articles were 
 found, or if, in the course of the search, persons in the military 
 service of the enemy were discovered, a belligerent had a right 
 of transhipment and removal ; that a belligerent had a right, in 
 doubtful cases, to carry American vessels to a convenient station 
 for further examination ; and that a belligerent had a right to 
 exclude American vessels from ports and places under the block 
 ade of an adequate naval force. These rights the law of nations 
 might reasonably be deemed to sanction ; nor has a fair exercise 
 of the powers necessary for the enjoyment of these rights been, 
 at any time, controverted or opposed by the American govern 
 ment. 
 
 But it must be again remarked that the claim of Great Britain 
 was not to be satisfied by the most ample and explicit recognition 
 of the law of war, for the law of war treats only of the relations 
 of a belligerent to his enemy, while the claim of Great Britain 
 embraced also the relations between a sovereign and his subjects. 
 It was said that every British subject was bound by a tie of alle 
 giance to his sovereign, which no lapse of time, no change of 
 place, no exigency of life could possibly weaken or dissolve. It 
 was said that the British sovereign was entitled at all periods 
 and on all occasions to the services of his subjects. And it was 
 said that the British vessels of war upon the high seas might 
 lawfully and forcibly enter the merchant vessels of every other 
 nation (for the theory of these pretensions is not limited to the 
 case of the United States, although that case has been almost 
 exclusively affected by their practical operation) for the purpose 
 of discovering and impressing British subjects, f The United 
 States presume not to discuss the forms or the principles of the 
 governments established in other countries. Enjoying the right 
 and the blessing of self-government, they leave implicitly to every 
 foreign nation the choice of its social and political institutions. 
 But, whatever may be the form or the principle of government, 
 it is a universal axiom of public law among sovereign and inde 
 pendent states that every nation is bound so to use and enjoy its 
 own rights as not to injure or destroy the rights of any other 
 nation. Say, then, that the tie of allegiance cannot be severed 
 or relaxed as respects the sovereign and the subject, and say that 
 
 * See the correspondence of the year 1792 between Mr. Jefferson, Sec 
 retary of State, and the ministers of Great Britain and Prance. See, 
 also, Mr. Jefferson s letter to the American minister at Paris, of the same 
 year, requesting the recall of Mr. Genet. 
 
 fSee the British declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. 
 
310 APPENDICES. 
 
 the sovereign is at all times entitled to the services of the subject, 
 still there is nothing gained in support of the British claim, unless 
 it can also be said that the British sovereign has a right to seek 
 and seize his subject while actually within the dominion or under 
 the special protection of another sovereign state. This will not, 
 surely, be denominated a process of the law of nations for the 
 purpose of enforcing the rights of war; and if it shall be tol 
 erated as a process of the municipal law of Great Britain for the 
 purpose of enforcing the right of the sovereign to the service of 
 his subjects, there is no principle of discrimination which can 
 prevent its being employed, in peace or in war, with all the 
 attendant abuses of force and fraud, to justify the seizure of 
 British subjects for crimes or for debts, and the seizure of British 
 property for any cause that shall be arbitrarily assigned. The 
 introduction of these degrading novelties into the maritime code 
 of nations it has been the arduous task of the American govern 
 ment, in the onset, to oppose ; and it rests with all other govern 
 ments to decide how far their honor and their interests must be 
 eventually implicated by a tacit acquiescence in the successive 
 usurpations of the British flag. If the right claimed by Great 
 Britain be indeed common to all governments, the ocean will 
 exhibit, in addition to its many other perils, a scene of everlast 
 ing strife and contention. But what other government has ever 
 claimed or exercised the right? If the right shall be exclusively 
 established as a trophy of the naval superiority of Great Britain, 
 the ocean, which has been sometimes emphatically denominated 
 "the highway of nations," will be identified, in occupancy arid 
 use, with the dominions of the British crown, and every other 
 nation must enjoy the liberty of passage upon the payment of a 
 tribute or the indulgence of a license. But what nation is pre 
 pared for this sacrifice of its honor and its interests? And if, 
 after all, the right be now asserted (as experience too plainly in 
 dicates) for the purpose of imposing upon the United States, to 
 accommodate the British maritime policy, a new and odious 
 limitation of the sovereignty and independence which were 
 acquired by the glorious Revolution of 1776, it is not for the 
 American government to calculate the duration of a war that 
 shall be waged in resistance of the active attempts of Great 
 Britain to accomplish her project ; for where is the American 
 citizen who would tolerate a day s submission to the vassalage 
 of such a condition ? 
 
 But the American government has seen with some surprise the 
 gloss which the prince regent of Great Britain, in his declaration 
 of the 10th of January, 1813, has condescended to bestow upon 
 the British claim of a right to impress men on board of the 
 merchant vessels of other nations, and the retort which he has 
 ventured to make upon the conduct of the United States relative 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 311 
 
 to the controverted doctrines of expatriation. The American 
 government, like every other civilized government, avows the 
 principle and indulges the practice of naturalizing foreigners. In 
 Great Britain, and throughout the continent of Europe, the laws 
 and regulations upon the subject are not materially dissimilar, 
 when compared with the laws and regulations of the United 
 States. The effect, however, of such naturalization upon the 
 connection which previously subsisted between the naturalized 
 person and the government of the country of his birth has been 
 differently considered at different times and in different places. 
 Still, there are many respects in which a diversity of opinion 
 does not exist, and cannot arise. It is agreed on all hands that 
 an act of naturalization is not a violation of the law of nations, 
 and that, in particular, it is not, in itself, an offence against the 
 government whose subject is naturalized. It is agreed that an 
 act of naturalization creates between the parties the reciprocal 
 obligations of allegiance and protection. It is agreed that while 
 a naturalized citizen continues within the territory and jurisdic 
 tion of his adoptive government he cannot be pursued or seized 
 or restrained by his former sovereign. It is agreed that a natu 
 ralized citizen, whatever may be thought of the claims of the 
 sovereign of his native country, cannot lawfully be withdrawn 
 from the obligations of his contract of naturalization by the force 
 or the seduction of a third power. And it is agreed that no 
 sovereign can lawfully interfere to take from the service or the 
 employment of another sovereign persons who are not the sub 
 jects of either of the sovereigns engaged in the transaction. 
 Beyond the principles of these accorded propositions, what have 
 the United States done to justify the imputation of "harboring 
 British seamen, and of exercising an assumed right to transfer 
 the allegiance of British subjects ?"* The United States have, 
 indeed, insisted upon the right of navigating the ocean in peace 
 and safety, protecting all that is covered by their flag, as on a 
 place of equal and common jurisdiction to all nations, save where 
 the law of war interposes the exceptions of visitation, search, 
 and capture ; but in doing this they have done no wrong. The 
 United States, in perfect consistency it is believed with the prac 
 tice of all belligerent nations, not even excepting Great Britain 
 herself, have, indeed, announced a determination, since the decla 
 ration of hostilities, to afford protection as well to the naturalized 
 as to the native citizen who, giving the strongest proofs of 
 fidelity, should be taken in arms by the enemy ; and the British 
 Cabinet well know that this determination could have no influence 
 upon those councils of their sovereign which preceded and pro 
 duced the war. It was not, then, to " harbor British seamen," 
 
 * See the British declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. 
 
312 APPENDICES. 
 
 nor to "transfer the allegiance of British subjects," nor to 
 "cancel the jurisdiction of their legitimate sovereign," nor to 
 vindicate " the pretension that acts of naturalization and certifi 
 cates of citizenship were as valid out of their own territory as 
 within it,"* that the United States have asserted the honor and 
 the privilege of their flag by the force of reason and of arms. 
 But it was to resist a systematic scheme of maritime aggrandize 
 ment which, prescribing to every other nation the limits of a terri 
 torial boundary, claimed for Great Britain the exclusive dominion 
 of the seas, and which, spurning the settled principles of the law of 
 war, condemned the ships and mariners of the United States to 
 suffer upon the high seas, and virtually within the jurisdiction of 
 their flag, the most rigorous dispensations of the British munici 
 pal code, inflicted by the coarse and licentious hand of a British 
 press-gang. 
 
 The injustice of the British claim and the cruelty of the British 
 practice have tested, for a series of years, the pride and the 
 patience of the American government ; but still every experi 
 ment was anxiously made to avoid the last resort of nations. 
 The claim of Great Britain, in its theory, was limited to the 
 right of seeking and impressing its own subjects on board of the 
 merchant vessels of the United States, although, in fatal ex 
 perience, it has been extended (as already appears) to the seizure 
 of the subjects of every other power sailing under a voluntary 
 contract with the American merchant; to the seizure of the 
 naturalized citizens of the United States, sailing also under vol 
 untary contracts, which every foreigner, independent of any act 
 of naturalization, is at liberty to form in every country ; and 
 even to the seizure of the native citizens of the United States, 
 sailing on board the ships of their own nation, in the prosecution 
 of a lawful commerce. The excuse for what has been unfeelingly 
 termed " partial mistakes and occasional abuse, "f when the 
 right of impressment was practised towards vessels of the United 
 States is, in the words of the prince regent s declaration, " a 
 similarity of language and manners ;" but was it not known, 
 when this excuse was offered to the world, that the Russian, the 
 Swede, the Dane, and the German ; that the Frenchman, the 
 Spaniard, and the Portuguese ; nay, that the African and the 
 Asiatic, between whom and the people of Great Britain there 
 exists no similarity of language, manners, or complexion, had 
 been, equally with the American citizen and the British subject, 
 the victims of the impress tyranny ? J If, however, the excuse 
 
 * See these passages in the British declaration of the 10th of January, 
 1813. 
 
 f See the British declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. 
 j See the letter of Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. King, 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 313 
 
 be sincere ; if the real object of the impressment be merely to 
 secure to Great Britain the naval services of her own subjects, 
 and not to man her fleets, in every practicable mode of enlist 
 ment, by right or by wrong; and if a just and generous govern 
 ment, professing mutual friendship and respect, may be pre 
 sumed to prefer the accomplishment even of a legitimate purpose 
 by means the least afflicting and injurious to others, why have 
 the overtures of the United States, offering other means as 
 effectual as impressment for the purpose avowed, to the consid 
 eration and acceptance of Great Britain, been forever eluded or 
 rejected ? It has been offered that the number of men to be pro 
 tected by an American vessel should be limited by her tonnage ; 
 that British officers should be permitted, in British ports, to enter 
 the vessel, in order to ascertain the number of men on board ; 
 and that, in case of an addition to her crew, the British subjects 
 enlisted should be liable to impressment * It was offered, in the 
 solemn form of a law, that American seamen should be regis 
 tered ; that they should be provided with certificates of citizen 
 ship;^ and that the roll of the crew of every vessel should be 
 formally authenticated. J It was offered that no refuge or pro 
 tection should be given to deserters ; but that, on the contrary, 
 they should be surrendered. It was " again and again offered 
 to concur in a convention, which it was thought practicable to be 
 formed, and which should settle the questions of impressment in 
 a manner that would be safe for England and satisfactory to the 
 United States."|| It was offered that each party should prohibit 
 its citizens or subjects from clandestinely concealing or carrying 
 away from the territories or colonies of the other any seaman 
 belonging to the other party. ^f And, conclusively, it has been 
 offered and declared by law that " after the termination of the 
 present war it should not be lawful to employ on board of any of 
 the public or private vessels of the United States any persons 
 
 minister at London, of the 26th of October, 1796, and the letter of Mr. 
 Marshall, Secretary of State, to Mr. King, of the 20th of September, 1800. 
 
 * See the letter of Mr Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Pinckney, 
 minister at London, dated the llth of June, 1792, and the letter of Mr. 
 Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. King, minister at London, dated 
 the 8th of June, 1796. 
 
 f See the act of Congress passed the 28th of May, 1796. 
 
 j See the letter of Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. King, 
 minister at London, dated the 8th of June, 1796 
 
 \ See the project of a treaty on the subject, between Mr. Pickering, 
 Secretary of State, and Mr. Li ston, the British minister, at Philadelphia, 
 in the year 1800. 
 
 || See the letter of Mr. King, minister at London, to the Secretary of 
 State, dated the 15th of March, 1799. 
 
 ^ See the letter of Mr. King to the Secretary of State, dated in July, 
 
 21 
 
314 APPENDICES. 
 
 except citizens of the United States, and that no foreigner should 
 be admitted to become a citizen hereafter who had not for the 
 continued term of five years resided within the United States, 
 without being; at any time during the live years out of the terri 
 tory of the United States. 7 * 
 
 It is manifest, then, that such provision might be made by 
 law, and that such provision has been repeatedly and urgently 
 proposed, as would, in all future times, exclude from the mari 
 time service of the United States, both in public and in private 
 vessels, every person who could possibly be claimed by Great 
 Britain as a native subject, whether he had or had not been 
 naturalized in America. f Enforced by the same sanctions and 
 securities which are employed to enforce the penal code of Great 
 Britain, as well as the penal code of the United States, the pro 
 vision would afford the strongest evidence that no British subject 
 could be found in service on board of an American vessel ; and, 
 consequently, whatever might be the British right of impressment 
 in the abstract, there would remain no justifiable motive there 
 could hardly be invented a plausible pretext to exercise it at 
 the expense of the American right of lawful commerce. If, too, 
 as it has sometimes been insinuated, there would, nevertheless, 
 be room for frauds and evasions, it is sufficient to observe that 
 the American government would always be ready to hear and to 
 redress every just complaint ; or, if redress were sought and 
 refused (a preliminary course that ought never to have been 
 omitted, but which Great Britain has never pursued), it would 
 still be in the power of the British government to resort to its 
 own force by acts equivalent to war for the reparation of its 
 wrongs. But Great Britain has, unhappily, perceived in the 
 acceptance of the overtures of the American government, conse 
 quences injurious to her maritime policy, and therefore withholds 
 it at the expense of her justice. She perceives, perhaps, a loss 
 of the American nursery for her seamen while she is at peace, 
 a loss of the service of American crews while she is at war, and 
 a loss of many of those opportunities which have enabled her 
 to enrich her navy by the spoils of the American commerce 
 without exposing her own commerce to the risk of retaliation or 
 reprisals. 
 
 Thus were the United States, in a season of reputed peace, 
 involved in the evils of a state of war ; and thus was the Amer 
 ican flag annoyed by a nation still professing to cherish the sen 
 timents of mutual friendship and respect which had been recently 
 
 * See the act of Congress passed on the 3d of March, 1813. 
 
 f See the letter of instructions from Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, to 
 the plenipotentiaries for treating of peace with Great Britain under the 
 mediation of the Emperor Alexander, dated the 15th of April, 1813. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 315 
 
 vouched by the faith of a solemn treaty. But the American 
 government even yet abstained from vindicating its rights and 
 from avenging its wrongs by an appeal to arms. It was nbt an 
 insensibility to those wrongs, nor a dread of British power, nor 
 a subserviency to British interests that prevailed at that period in 
 the councils of the United States ; but under all trials the Amer 
 ican government abstained from the appeal to arms then, as it 
 has repeatedly since done in its collisions with France as well as 
 with Great Britain, from the purest love of peace, while peace 
 could be rendered compatible with the honor and independence 
 of the nation. 
 
 During the period which has hitherto been more particularly 
 contemplated (from the declaration of hostilities between Great 
 Britain and France in the year 1192 until the short-lived pacifi 
 cation of the treaty of Amiens in 1802), there were not wanting 
 occasions to test the consistency and the impartiality of the 
 American government by a comparison of its conduct towards 
 Great Britain with its conduct towards other nations. The 
 manifestations of the extreme jealousy of the French government 
 and of the intemperate zeal of its ministers near the United 
 States, were coeval with the proclamation of neutrality ; but 
 after the ratification of the treaty of London, the scene of vio 
 lence, spoliation, and contumely opened by France upon the 
 United States became such as to admit, perhaps, of no parallel 
 except in the contemporaneous scenes which were exhibited by 
 the injustice of her great competitor. The American government 
 acted in both cases on the same pacific policy, in the same spirit 
 of patience and forbearance, but with the same determination, 
 also, to assert the honor and independence of the nation. When, 
 therefore, every conciliatory effort had failed, and when two suc 
 cessive missions of peace had been contemptuously repulsed, the 
 American government, in the year 1798, annulled its treaties with 
 France and waged a maritime war against that nation for the 
 defence of its citizens and of its commerce passing on the high 
 seas. But as soon as the hope was conceived of a satisfactory 
 change in the dispositions of the French government, the Amer 
 ican government hastened to send another mission to France ; 
 and a convention, signed in the year 1800, terminated the sub 
 sisting differences between the two countries. 
 
 Nor were the United States able, during the same period, to 
 avoid a collision with the government of Spain upon many im 
 portant and critical questions of boundary and commerce, of In 
 dian warfare, and maritime spoliation. Preserving, however, 
 their system of moderation in the assertion of their rights, a 
 course of amicable discussion and explanation produced mutual 
 satisfaction, and a treaty of friendship, limits, and navigation was 
 formed in the year 1795, by which the citizens of the United 
 
316 APPENDICES. 
 
 States acquired a right for the space of three years to deposit 
 their merchandise and effects in the port of New Orleans, with a 
 promise either that the enjoyment of that right should be indefi 
 nitely continued, or that another part of the banks of the Missis 
 sippi should be assigned for an equivalent establishment. But 
 when, in the year 1802, the port of New Orleans was abruptly 
 closed against the citizens of the United States without an as 
 signment of any other equivalent place of deposit, the harmony 
 of the two countries was again most seriously endangered; until 
 the Spanish government, yielding to the remonstrances of the 
 United States, disavowed the act of the intendant of New Or 
 leans, and ordered the right of deposit to be reinstated on the 
 terms of the treaty of 1795. 
 
 The effects produced, even by a temporary suspension of the 
 right of deposit at New Orleans, upon the interests and feelings 
 of the nation, naturally suggested to the American government 
 the expediency of guarding against their recurrence by the ac 
 quisition of a permanent property in the province of Louisiana. 
 The minister of the United States at Madrid was accordingly 
 instructed to apply to the government of Spain upon the subject ; 
 and, on the 4th of May, 1803, he received an answer, stating, 
 that " by the retrocession made to France of Louisiana, that 
 power regained the province, with the limits it had, saving the 
 rights acquired by other powers ; and that the United States 
 could address themselves to the French government to negotiate 
 the acquisition of territories, which might suit their interest."* 
 But before this reference, official information of the same fact 
 had been received by Mr. Pinckuey from the court of Spain in the 
 month of March preceding, and the American government, hav 
 ing instituted a special mission to negotiate the purchase of 
 Louisiana from France, or from Spain, whichever should be its 
 sovereign, the purchase was accordingly accomplished for a 
 a valuable consideration (that was punctually paid), by the treaty 
 concluded at Paris, on the 30th of April, 1803. 
 
 The American government has not seen, without some sen 
 sibility, that a transaction, accompanied by such circumstances 
 of general publicity and of scrupulous good faith, has been 
 denounced by the prince regent, in his declaration of the 10th of 
 January, 1813, as a proof of the "ungenerous conduct" of the 
 United States towards Spain.f In amplification of the royal 
 charge, the British negotiators at Ghent have presumed to im 
 pute "the acquisition of Louisiana, by the United States, to a 
 
 * See the letter from Don Pedro Cevallos the minister of Spain, to Mr. 
 C. Pinckney, the minister of the United States, dated the 4th of May, 
 1803, from which the passage cited is literally translated. 
 
 | See the pringfi regent s declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 317 
 
 spirit of aggrandizement, not necessary to their own security;" 
 and to maintain " that the purchase was made against the known 
 conditions on which it had been ceded by Spain to France;"* 
 that "in the face of the protestation of the minister of his Catho 
 lic Majesty at Washington, the President of the United States 
 ratified the treaty of purchase :"f and that "there was good 
 reason to believe that many circumstances attending the trans 
 action were industriously concealed. "J The American govern 
 ment cannot condescend to retort aspersions so unjust, in lan 
 guage so opprobrious ; and peremptorily rejects the pretension of 
 Great Britain to interfere in the business of the United States 
 and Spain ; but it owes, nevertheless, to the claims of truth, a 
 distinct statement of the facts which have been thus misrepre 
 sented. When the special mission was appointed to negotiate 
 the purchase of Louisiana from France, in the manner already 
 mentioned, the American minister at London was instructed to 
 explain the object of the mission ; and, having made the explana 
 tion, he was assured by the British government " that the com 
 munication was received in good part; no doubt was suggested 
 of the right of the United States to pursue, separately and alone, 
 the objects they aimed at; but the British government appeared 
 to be satisfied with the President s views on this important sub 
 ject. ^ As soon, too, as the treaty of purchase was concluded, 
 before hostilities were again actually commenced between Great 
 Britain and France, and previously, indeed, to the departure of 
 the French ambassador from London, the American minister 
 openly notified to the British government that a treaty had been 
 signed " by which the complete sovereignty of the town and 
 territory of New Orleans, as well as of all Louisiana, as the 
 same was heretofore possessed by Spain, had been acquired by 
 the L T nited States of America ; and that in drawing up the treaty 
 care had been taken so to frame the same as not to infringe any 
 right of Great Britain in the navigation of the river Mississippi. "|| 
 In the answer of the British government, it was explicitly de 
 clared by Lord Hawkesbury "that he had received his Majesty s 
 commands to express the pleasure with which his Majesty had 
 
 * See the note of the British commissioners, dated the 4th of September, 
 1814. 
 
 f See the note of the British commissioners, dated the 19th of Septem 
 ber, 1814. 
 
 J See the note of the British commissioners, dated the 8th of October, 
 1814. 
 
 \ See the letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. King, the American 
 minister at London, dated the 29th of January, 1803. and Mr. King s 
 letter to the Secretary of State, dated the 28th of April, 1803. 
 
 || See the letter of Mr. King to Lord Hawkesburv, dated the 15th of 
 May, 1803. 
 
318 APPENDICES. 
 
 received the intelligence ; and to add, that his Majesty regarded 
 the care, which had been taken so to frame the treaty as not to 
 infringe any right of Great Britain in the navigation of the Mis 
 sissippi, as the most satisfactory evidence of a disposition on the 
 part of the government of the United States, correspondent with 
 that which his Majesty entertained, to promote and improve that 
 harmony which so happily subsisted between the two countries, 
 and which was so conducive to their mutual benefit."* The 
 world will judge whether, under such circumstances, the British 
 government had any cause, on its own account, to arraign the 
 conduct of the United States in making the purchase of Louisi 
 ana; and, certainly, no greater cause will be found for the ar 
 raignment on account of Spain. The Spanish government was 
 apprised of the intention of the United States to negotiate for 
 the purchase of that province ; its ambassador witnessed the 
 progress of the negotiation at Paris ; and the conclusion of the 
 treaty, on the 30th of April, 1803, was promptly known and 
 understood at Madrid. Yet the Spanish government interposed 
 no objection, no protestation, against the transaction, in Europe; 
 and it was not until the month of September, 1803, that the 
 American government heard, with surprise, from the minister of 
 Spain at Washington, that his Catholic Majesty was dissatisfied 
 with the cession of Louisiana to the United States. Notwith 
 standing this diplomatic remonstrance, however, the Spanish 
 government proceeded to deliver the possession of Louisiana to 
 France in execution of the treaty of St. Ildelfonso ; saw France, 
 by an almost simultaneous act, transfer the possession to the 
 Ignited States in execution of the treaty of purchase ; and 
 finally, instructed the Marquis de Casa Yrujo to present to the 
 American government the declaration of the 15th of May, 1804, 
 acting by the special order of his sovereign," 4< that the explana 
 tions, which the government of France had given to his Catholic 
 Majesty, concerning the sale of Louisiana to the United States, 
 and the amicable dispositions on the part of the king, his master, 
 towards these states, had determined him to abandon the opposi 
 tion which, at a prior period, and with the most substantial 
 motives, he had manifested against the transaction, "f 
 
 But after this amicable and decisive arrangement of all differ 
 ences iii relation to the validity of the Louisiana purchase, a 
 question of some embarrassment remained in relation to the 
 boundaries of the ceded territory. This question, however, the 
 American government always has been, and always will be, willing 
 
 * See the letter of Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. King, dated the 19th of 
 May, 1803. 
 
 f^See the letter of the Marquis de Casa Yrujo to the American Secre 
 tary of State, dated the 15th of May, 1804. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 319 
 
 to discuss in the most candid manner, and to settle upon the most 
 liberal basis, with the government of Spain. It was not, there 
 fore, a fair topic with which to inflame the prince regent s declara 
 tion, or to embellish the diplomatic notes of the British negoti 
 ators at Ghent.* The period has arrived when Spain, relieved 
 from her European labors, may be expected to bestow her atten 
 tion more effectually upon the state of her colonies ; and, acting 
 with the wisdom, justice, and magnanimity of which she has 
 given frequent examples, she will find no difficulty in meeting 
 the recent advances of the American government for an honor 
 able adjustment of every point in controversy between the two 
 countries, without seeking the aid of British mediation or adopt 
 ing the animosity of British councils. 
 
 But still the United States, feeling a constant interest in the 
 opinion of enlightened and impartial nations, cannot hesitate to 
 embrace the opportunity, for representing, in the simplicity of 
 truth, the events by which they have been led to take possession 
 of a part of the Floridas, notwithstanding the claim of Spain to 
 the sovereignty of the same territory. In the acceptation and 
 understanding of the United States, the cession of Louisiana em 
 braced the country south of the Mississippi territory, and east 
 ward of the river Mississippi, and extending to the river Per- 
 dido; but "their conciliatory views, and their confidence in the 
 justice of their cause and in the success of a candid discussion 
 and amicable negotiation with a just and friendly power, in 
 duced them to acquiesce in the temporary continuance of that 
 territory under the Spanish authority."")" When, however, the 
 adjustment of the boundaries of Louisiana, as well as a reason 
 able indemnification on account of maritime spoliations, and the 
 suspension of the right of deposit at New Orleans, seemed to be 
 indefinitely postponed on the part of Spain, by events which the 
 United States had not contributed to produce, and could not 
 control; when a crisis had arrived subversive of the order of 
 things under the Spanish authorities, contravening the views of 
 both parties, and endangering the tranquillity and security of the 
 adjoining territories, by the intrusive establishment of a govern 
 ment, independent of Spain, as well as of the United States; 
 and when, at a later period, there was reason to believe that 
 Great. Britain herself designed to occupy the Floridas (and she 
 has, indeed, actually occupied Pensacola for hostile purposes), 
 
 * See the prince regent s declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. See 
 the notes of the British commissioners, dated 19th September and 8th 
 October, 1814. 
 
 f See the proclamation of th e President of the United States, author 
 izing Governor Claiborne to take possession of the territory, dated the 
 27th of October, 1810. 
 
320 APPENDICES. 
 
 the American government, without departing from its respect for 
 the rights of Spain, and even consulting the honor of that state, 
 unequal, as she then was, to the task of suppressing the intru 
 sive establishment, was impelled by the paramount principle of 
 self-preservation to rescue its own rights from the impending 
 danger. Hence the United States, in the year 1810, proceeding 
 step by step, according to the growing exigencies of the time, 
 took possession of the country in which the standard of inde 
 pendence had been displayed, excepting such places as were held 
 by a Spanish force. In the year 1811, they authorized their 
 President, by law, provisionally to accept of the possession of 
 East Florida from the local authorities, or to preoccupy it against 
 the attempt of a foreign power to seize it. In 1813 they obtained 
 the possession of Mobile, the only place then held by a Spanish 
 force in West Florida, with a view to their own immediate secu 
 rity, but without varying the questions depending between them 
 and Spain in relation to that province. And in the year 1814, 
 the American commander, acting under the sanction of the law 
 of nations, but unauthorized by the orders of his government, 
 drove from Pensacola the British troops, who, in violation of the 
 neutral territory of Spain (a violation which Spain, it is believed, 
 must herself resent, and would have resisted if the opportunity 
 had occurred), seized and fortified that station to aid in military 
 operations against the United States. But all these measures of 
 safety and necessity were frankly explained, as they occurred, to 
 the government of Spain, and even to the government of Great 
 Britain antecedently to the declaration of war, with the sincerest 
 assurances that the possession of the territory thus acquired 
 "should not cease to be a subject of fair and friendly negotiation 
 and adjustment."* 
 
 The present review of the conduct of the United States to 
 ward the belligerent powers of Europe, will be regarded by every 
 candid mind as a necessary medium to vindicate their national 
 character from the unmerited imputations of the prince regent s 
 declaration of the 10th of January, 1813, and not as a medium, 
 voluntarily assumed, according to the insinuations of that decla 
 ration, for the revival of unworthy prejudices or vindictive pas- 
 
 * See the letter from the Secretary of State to Governor Claiborne, and 
 the President s proclamation, dated the 27th of October, 1810. See the 
 proceedings of the convention of Florida, transmitted to the Secretary 
 of State by the Governor of the Mississippi territory in his letter of the 
 17th of October, 1810, and the answer of the Secretary of State, dated the 
 15th of November, 1810. See the letter of Mr. Morier, British charge 
 d affaires, to the Secretary of State, dated the 15th of December, 1810, 
 and the Secretary s answer. See the correspondence between Mr. Monroe 
 and Mr. Foster, the British minister, in the months of July, September, 
 and November, 1811. 
 

 CAUSES, ETC. OF THE 
 
 sions in reference to transactions that are past. The treld 
 Amiens, which seemed to terminate the war in Europe, seemed, 
 also, to terminate the neutral sufferings of America; but the 
 hope of repose was, in both respects, delusive and transient. 
 The hostilities which were renewed between Great Britain and 
 France in the year 1803, were immediately followed by a re 
 newal of the aggressions of the belligerent powers upon the com 
 mercial rights and political independence of the United States. 
 There was scarcely, therefore, an interval separating the aggres 
 sions of the first war from the aggressions of the second war ; 
 and although in nature the aggressions continued to be the same, 
 in extent they became incalculably more destructive. It will be 
 seen, however, that the American government inflexibly main 
 tained its neutral and pacific policy in every extremity of the lat 
 ter trial with the same good faith and forbearance that in the 
 former trial had distinguished its conduct, until it was compelled 
 to choose from the alternative of national degradation or national 
 resistance. And if Great Britain alone then became the object 
 of the American declaration of war, it will be seen that Great 
 Britain alone had obstinately closed the door of amicable nego 
 tiation. 
 
 The American minister at London, anticipating the rupture 
 between Great Britain and France, had obtained assurances from 
 the British government "that, in the event of war, the instruc 
 tions given to their naval officers should be drawn up with plain 
 ness and precision; and, in general, that the rights of belliger 
 ents should be exercised in moderation, and with due respect for 
 those of neutrals."* And in relation to the important subject 
 of impressment, he had actually prepared for signature, with the 
 assent of Lord Hawkesbury and Lord St. Yincent, a convention 
 to continue during five years, declaring that " no seaman nor sea 
 faring person should, upon the high seas, and without the juris 
 diction of either party, be demanded or taken out of any ship or 
 vessel belonging to the citizens or subjects of one of the parties, 
 by the public or private armed ships or men of war belonging to 
 or in the service of the other party; and that strict orders should 
 be given for the due observance of the engagement. "f This 
 convention, which explicitly relinquished impressments from 
 American vessels on the high seas, and to which the British 
 ministers had at first agreed, Lord St. Yincent was desirous 
 afterwards to modify, "stating that, on further reflection, he was 
 of opinion that the" narrow seas should be expressly excepted, 
 they having been, as his lordship remarked, immemorially con- 
 
 * Sec the letter of Mr. King to the Secretary of State, dated the 16th 
 of May, 1803. 
 f See the letter of Mr. King to the Secretary of State, dated July, 1803. 
 
322 APPENDICES. 
 
 siderecl to be within the dominion of Great Britain." The Amei % - 
 ioan minister, however, " having supposed, from the tenor of his 
 conversations with Lord St. Vincent, that the doctrine of mare 
 clausum would not be revived against the United States on this 
 occasion, but that England would be content with the limited 
 jurisdiction or dominion over the seas adjacent to her territories, 
 which is assigned by the law of nations to other states, was dis 
 appointed on receiving Lord St. Vincent s communication, and 
 chose rather to abandon the negotiation than to acquiesce in the 
 doctrine it proposed to establish."* But it was still some satis 
 faction to receive a formal declaration from the British govern 
 ment, communicated by its minister at Washington, after the re 
 commencement of the war in Europe, which promised, in effect, 
 to reinstate the practice of naval blockades upon the principles of 
 the law of nations, so that no blockade should be considered as 
 existing " unless in respect of particular ports, which might be 
 actually invested, and then that the vessels bound to such ports 
 should not be captured unless they had previously been warned 
 not to enter them."f 
 
 All the precautions of the American government were, never 
 theless, ineffectual ; and the assurances of the British govern 
 ment were in no instance verified. The outrage of impressment 
 was again indiscriminately perpetrated upon the crew of every 
 American vessel, and on every sea. The enormity of blockades, 
 established by an order in council, without a legitimate object 
 and maintained by an order in council, without the application 
 of a competent force, was more and more developed. The rule, 
 denominated "the rule of the war of 1756," was revived in an 
 affected style of moderation, but in a spirit of more rigorous exe 
 cution. J The lives, the liberty, the fortunes, and the happiness 
 of the citizens of the United States, engaged in the pursuits of 
 navigation and commerce, were once more subjected to the vio 
 lence and cupidity of the British cruisers. And, in brief, so 
 grievous, so intolerable, had the afflictions of the nation become, 
 that the people, with one mind and one voice, called loudly upon 
 their government for redress and protection ; the Congress of 
 the United States, participating in the feelings and resentments 
 
 * See tlie letter of Mr. King to the Secretary of State, dated July, 1803. 
 
 f See the letter of Mr. Merry to the Secretary of State, dated the 12th 
 of April, 1804, and the inclosed copy of a letter from Mr. Nepean, the 
 Secretary of the Admiralty, to Mr. Hammond, the British Undersecre 
 tary of State for Foreign Atfairs, dated Jan. 5th, 1804. 
 
 f See the orders in council of the 24th of June, 1803, and the 17th of 
 August, 1805. 
 
 \ See the memorials of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
 etc., presented to Congress in the end of the year 1805 and the beginning 
 of the year 1800. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 323 
 
 of the time, urged upon the executive magistrate the necessity 
 of an immediate demand of reparation from Great Britain,* while 
 the same patriotic spirit which had opposed British usurpation in 
 1793 and encountered French hostility in 1798 was again pledged, 
 in every variety of form, to the maintenance of the national 
 honor and independence during the more arduous trial that arose 
 in 1805. 
 
 Amidst these scenes of injustice on the one hand and of rec 
 lamation on the other, the American government preserved its 
 equanimity and its firmness. It beheld much in the conduct of 
 France and of her ally, Spain, to provoke reprisals. It beheld 
 more in the conduct of Great Britain, that led, unavoidably (as 
 had often been avowed), to the last resort of arms. It beheld in 
 the temper of the nation all that was requisite to justify an im 
 mediate selection of Great Britain as the object of a declaration 
 of war. And it could not but behold in the policy of France the 
 strongest motive to acquire the United States as an associate in 
 the existing conflict. Yet these considerations did not then, more 
 than at any former crisis, subdue the fortitude or mislead the 
 judgment of the American government ; but in perfect consist 
 ency with its neutral as well as its pacific system, it demanded 
 atonement by remonstrances with France and Spain ; and it 
 sought the preservation of peace by negotiation with Great 
 Britain. 
 
 It has been shown that a treaty proposed emphatically by the 
 British minister resident at Philadelphia, " as the means of drying 
 up every source of complaint and irritation upon the head of 
 impressment," was " deemed utterly inadmissible" by the Amer 
 ican government, because it did not sufficiently provide for that 
 object, f It has also been shown that another treaty, proposed 
 by the American minister at London, was laid aside because the 
 British government, while it was willing to relinquish expressly 
 impressments from American vessels on the high seas, insisted 
 upon an exception in reference to the narrow seas claimed as a 
 part of the British dominion ; and experience demonstrated that, 
 although the spoliations committed upon the American commerce 
 might admit of reparation by the payment of a pecuniary equiva 
 lent, yet, consulting the honor and the feelings of the nation, it was 
 impossible to receive satisfaction for the cruelties of impressment 
 by any other means than by an entire discontinuance of the prac- 
 
 * See the resolutions of the Senate of the United States of the, 10th and 
 14th of February, 180G, and the resolution of the House of Representa 
 tives of the 26th of January, 1806. 
 
 f See Mr. Listen s letter to the Secretary of State, dated the 4th of 
 February. 1800, and the letter of Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to 
 the President of the United States, dated the 20th of February, 1800. 
 
324 APPENDICES. 
 
 tice. When, therefore, the envoys extraordinary were appointed 
 in the year 1806 to negotiate with the British government, every 
 authority was given for the purposes of conciliation ; nay, an act 
 of Congress prohibiting the importation of certain articles of 
 British manufacture into the United States was suspended in 
 proof of a friendly disposition;* but it was declared that "the 
 suppression of impressment and the definition of blockades were 
 absolutely indispensable ;" and that " without a provision against 
 impressments no treaty should be concluded." The American 
 envoys accordingly took care to communicate to the British 
 commissioners the limitations of their powers. Influenced at the 
 same time by a sincere desire to terminate the differences between 
 the two nations ; knowing the solicitude of their government to 
 relieve its seafaring citizens from actual sufferance ; listening with 
 confidence to assurances and explanations of the British commis 
 sioners in a sense favorable to their wishes ; and judging from a 
 state of information that gave no immediate cause to doubt the suf-; 
 ficiency of those assurances and explanations, the envoys, rather 
 than terminate the negotiation without any arrangement, were 
 willing to rely upon the efficacy of a substitute for a positive article 
 in the treaty to be submitted to the consideration of their govern 
 ment, as this, according to the declaration of the British com 
 missioners, was the only arrangement they were permitted at 
 that time to propose or to allow. The substitute was presented 
 in the form of a note from the British commissioners to the Amer 
 ican envoys, and contained a pledge "that instructions had been 
 given, and should be repeated and enforced, for the observance 
 of the greatest caution in the impressing of British seamen ; that 
 the strictest care should be taken to preserve the citizens of the 
 United States from any molestation or injury; and that imme 
 diate and prompt redress should be afforded upon any represen 
 tation of injury sustained by them."^ 
 
 Inasmuch, however, as the treaty contained no provision against 
 impressment, and it was seen by the government when the treaty 
 was under consideration for ratification that the pledge contained 
 in the substitute was not complied with, but, on the contrary, that 
 the impressments were continued with undiminished violence in 
 the American seas so long after the alleged date of the instruc 
 tions which were to arrest them, that the practical inefficacy of 
 the substitute could not be doubted by the government here, the 
 ratification of the treaty was necessarily declined ; and it has 
 since appeared that after a change in the British ministry had 
 
 * See the act of Congress passed the 18th of April, 1806, and the act 
 suspending it, passed the 19th of December, 1806. 
 
 f See the note of the British commissioners, dated 8th of November, 
 1806. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 325 
 
 taken place it was declared by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs 
 that no engagements were entered into on the part of his Majesty 
 as connected with the treaty except such as appear upon the face 
 of it* 
 
 The American government, however, with unabating solici 
 tude for peace, urged an immediate renewal of the negotiations 
 on the basis of the abortive treaty, until this course was peremp 
 torily declared, by the British government, to be " wholly inad 
 missible. ^ 
 
 But, independent of the silence of the proposed treaty, upon 
 the great topic of American complaint, and of the view which 
 has been taken of the projected substitute ; the contemporaneous 
 declaration of the British commissioners, delivered by the com 
 mand of their sovereign, and to which the American envoys 
 refused to make themselves a party, or to give the slightest 
 degree of sanction, was regarded by the American government 
 as ample cause of rejection. In reference to the French decree, 
 which had been issued at Berlin, on the 21st of November, 1806, 
 it was declared that if France should carry the threats of that 
 decree into execution, and "if neutral nations, contrary to all 
 expectation, should acquiesce in such usurpations, his Majesty 
 might probably be compelled, however reluctantly, to retaliate 
 in his just defence, and to adopt, in regard to the commerce of 
 neutral nations with his enemies, the same measures which those 
 nations should have permitted to be enforced against their com 
 merce with his subjects ;" " that his Majesty could not enter into 
 the stipulations of the present treaty without an explanation 
 from the United States of their intentions, or a reservation on 
 the part of his Majesty, in the case above mentioned, if it should 
 ever occur;" and "that without a formal abandonment or tacit 
 relinquish men t of the unjust pretensions of France, or without 
 such conduct and assurances upon the part of the United States 
 as should give security to his Majesty that they would not sub 
 mit to the French innovations in the established system of mari 
 time law, his Majesty would not consider himself bound, by the 
 present signature of his commissioners, to ratify the treaty or 
 precluded from adopting such measures as might seem necessary 
 for counteracting the designs of the enemy. "j 
 
 The reservation of a power to invalidate a solemn treaty at 
 the pleasure of one of the parties, and the menace of inflicting 
 punishment upon the United States for the offences of another 
 
 * See Mr. Canning s letter to the American envoys, dated 27th Octo 
 ber, 1807. 
 
 f. See the same letter. 
 
 J See the note of the British commissioners, dated the 31st of December, 
 1806. See, also, the answer of Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney to that note. 
 
326 APPENDICES. 
 
 nation, proved in the event a prelude to the scenes of violence 
 which Great Britain was then about to display, and which it 
 would have been improper for the American negotiators to 
 anticipate. For if a commentary were wanting to explain the 
 real design of such conduct, it would be found in the fact that 
 within eight days from the date of the treaty, and before it was 
 possible for the British government to have known the effect of 
 the Berlin decree on the American government; nay, even be 
 fore the American government had itself heard of that decree, 
 the destruction of American commerce was commenced by the 
 order in council of the 7th of January, 1807, which announced 
 "that no vessel should be permitted to trade from one port to 
 another, both which ports should belong to, or be in possession of, 
 France or her allies; or should be so far under their control as 
 that British vessels might not trade freely thereat."* 
 
 During the whole period of this negotiation, which did not 
 finally close until the British government declared in the month 
 of October, 1807, that negotiation was no longer admissible, 
 the course pursued by the British squadron, stationed more im 
 mediately on the American coast, was, in the extreme, vexatious, 
 predatory, and hostile. The territorial jurisdiction of the United 
 States, extending, upon the principles of the law of nations, at 
 least a league over the adjacent ocean, was totally disregarded 
 and contemned. Vessels employed in the coasting trade, or in 
 the businsss of the pilot and the fisherman, were objects of in 
 cessant violence ; their petty cargoes were plundered, and some 
 of their scantv crews were often either impressed, or wounded, 
 or killed by the force of British frigates. British ships of war 
 hovered in warlike display upon the coast, blockaded the ports 
 of the United States so that no vessel could enter or depart in 
 safety, penetrated the bays and rivers, and even anchored in 
 the harbors of the United States to exercise a jurisdiction of 
 impressment, threatened the towns and villages with conflagra 
 tion, and wantonly discharged musketry, as well as cannon, 
 upon the inhabitants of an open and unprotected country. The 
 neutrality of the American territory was violated on every occa 
 sion, and at last the American government was doomed to suffer 
 the greatest indignity which could be offered to a sovereign and 
 independent nation, in the ever-memorable attack of a British 
 fifty-gun ship, under the countenance of the British squadron, 
 anchored within the waters of the United States, upon the frigate 
 Chesapeake peaceably prosecuting a distant voyage. The British 
 government affected from time to time to disapprove and condemn 
 these outrages, but the officers who perpetrated them were gen 
 erally applauded ; if tried, they were acquitted ; if removed from 
 
 * See the order in council of Januar.y 7, 1807. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 327 
 
 the American station, it was only to be promoted in another 
 station ; and if atonement were offered, as in the flagrant instance 
 of the frigate Chesapeake, the atonement was so ungracious in 
 the manner, and so tardy in the result, as to betray the want of 
 that conciliatory spirit which ought to have characterized it.* 
 
 But the American government, soothing the exasperated spirit 
 of the people by a proclamation, which interdicted the entrance 
 of all British armed vessels into the harbors and waters of the 
 United States, f neither commenced hostilities against Great 
 Britain, nor sought a defensive alliance with France, nor relaxed 
 in its firm, but conciliatory efforts, to enforce the claims of justice 
 upon the honor of both nations. 
 
 The rival ambition of Great Britain and France now, however, 
 approached the consummation, which, involving the destruction 
 of all neutral rights upon an avowed principle of action, could 
 not fail to render an actual state of war comparatively more 
 safe and more prosperous than the imaginary state of peace to 
 which neutrals were reduced. The just and impartial conduct 
 of a neutral nation ceased to be its shield and its safeguard when 
 the conduct of the belligerent powers towards each other became 
 the only criterion of the law of war. The wrong committed by 
 one of the belligerent powers was thus made the signal for the 
 perpetration of a greater wrong by the other; and if the Ameri 
 can government complained to both powers, their answer, 
 although it never denied the causes of complaint, invariably 
 retorted an idle and offensive inquiry into the priority of their 
 respective aggressions; or each demanded a course of resistance 
 against its antagonist, which was calculated to prostrate the 
 American right of self-government, and to coerce the United 
 States against their interest and their policy into becoming an 
 associate in the war. But the American government never did, 
 and never can, admit that a belligerent power, " in taking steps 
 to restrain the violence of its enemy, and to retort upon them 
 the evils of their own injustice, "J is entitled to disturb and to 
 destroy the rights of a neutral power as recognized and estab 
 lished by the law of nations. It was impossible, indeed, that 
 the real features of the miscalled retaliatory system should be 
 long masked from the world, when Great Britain, even in her 
 acts of professed retaliation, declared that France was unable to 
 
 * See the evidence of these facts reported to Congress in November, 
 1806. See the documents respecting Captain Love, of the Driver, Cap 
 tain "Whitby, of the .Leander, and Captain . See, also, the corre 
 spondence respecting the frigate Chesapeake, with Mr. Canning at Lon 
 don, with Mr. Hose at Washington, with Mr. Erskine at Washington, 
 and with 
 
 f See the proclamation of the 2d of July, 1807. 
 
 j See the orders in council of the 7th of January, 1807. 
 
328 APPENDICES. 
 
 execute the hostile denunciations of her decrees,* and when 
 Great Britain herself, unblushingly, entered into the same com 
 merce with her enemy (through the medium of forgeries, per 
 juries, and licenses) from which she had interdicted unoffending 
 neutrals. The pride of naval superiority, and the cravings of 
 commercial monopoly, gave, after all, the impulse and direction 
 to the councils of the British cabinet, while the vast, although 
 visionary, projects of France, furnished occasions and pretexts 
 for accomplishing the objects of those councils. 
 
 The British minister, resident at Washington in the year 1804, 
 having distinctly recognized, in the name of his sovereign, the 
 legitimate principles of blockade, the American government re 
 ceived with some surprise and solicitude the successive notifica 
 tions of the 9th of August, 1804, the 8th of April, 1806, and 
 more particularly of the 16th of May, 1806, announcing, by the 
 last notification, " a blockade of the coast, rivers, and ports from 
 the river Elbe to the port of Brest, both inclusive. "f In none 
 of the notified instances of blockade were the principles that had 
 been recognized in 1804 adopted and pursued; and it will be 
 recollected by all Europe, that neither at the time of the notifica 
 tion of the 16th of May, 1806, nor at the time of excepting the 
 Elbe and Ems from the operation of that notification,! nor at 
 any time during the continuance of the French war, was there 
 an adequate naval force, actually applied by Great Britain, for 
 the purpose of maintaining a blockade from the river Elbe to the 
 port of Brest. It was then, in the language of the day, " a mere 
 paper blockade," a manifest infraction of the law of nations, and 
 an act of peculiar injustice to the United States, as the only neu 
 tral power against which it could practically operate. But what 
 ever may have been the sense of the American government on 
 the occasion, and whatever might be the disposition to avoid 
 making this the ground of an open rupture with Great Britain, 
 the case assumed a character of the highest interest when, inde 
 pendent of its own injurious consequences, France, in the Berlin 
 decree of the 21st of November, 1806, recited as a chief cause 
 for placing the British islands in a state of blockade, " that Great 
 Britain declares blockaded, places before which she has not a 
 single vessel of war, and even places which her united forces 
 would be incapable of blockading, such as entire coasts and a 
 whole empire; an unequalled abuse of the right of blockade, that 
 had no other object than to interrupt the communications of dif- 
 
 * See the orders in council of the 7th of January, 1807. 
 
 f See Lord Harrowby s note to Mr. Monroe, dated the 9th of August, 
 1804, and Mr. Fox s notes to Mr. Monroe, dated respectively the 8th of 
 April and the 16th of May, 1806. 
 
 % See Lord Howick s note to Mr. Monroe, dated the 25th of September, 
 1806. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 329 
 
 ferent nations, and to extend the commerce and industry of Eng 
 land upon the ruin of those nations."* The American govern 
 ment aims not, and never has aimed, at the justification, either 
 of Great Britain or of France, in their career of crimination and 
 recrimination ; but it is of some importance to observe, that if 
 the blockade of May, 1806, was an unlawful blockade, and if the 
 right of retaliation arose with the first unlawful attack made by 
 a belligerent power upon neutral rights, Great Britain has yet to 
 answer to mankind, according to the rule of her own acknowledg 
 ment, for all the calamities of the retaliatory warfare. France, 
 whether right or wrong, made the British system of blockade 
 the foundation of the Berlin decree, and France had an equal 
 right with Great Britain to demand from the United States an 
 opposition to every encroachment upon the privileges of the neu 
 tral character. It is enough, however, on the present occasion, 
 for the American government to observe that it possessed no 
 power to prevent the framing of the Berlin decree, and to dis 
 claim any approbation of its principles or acquiescence in its 
 operations ; for it neither belonged to Great Britain nor to France 
 to prescribe to the American government the time or the mode, 
 or the degree of resistance to the indignities and the outrages 
 with which each of those nations in its turn assailed the United 
 States. 
 
 But it has been shown that, after the British government pos 
 sessed a knowledge of the existence of the Berlin decree, it au 
 thorized the conclusion of the treaty with the United States, 
 which was signed at London on the 31st of December, 1806, 
 reserving to itself a power of annulling the treaty, if France did 
 not revoke, or if the United States, as a neutral power, did not 
 resist, the obnoxious measure. It has also been shown that before 
 Great Britain could possibly ascertain the determination of the 
 United States in relation to the Berlin decree, the orders in coun 
 cil of the 7th of January, 1807, were issued, professing to be a 
 retaliation against France, " at a time when the fleets of France 
 and her allies were themselves confined within their own ports 
 by the superior valor and discipline of the British navy,"f but 
 operating in fact against the United States, as a neutral power, 
 to prohibit their trade " from one port to another, both which 
 ports should belong to, or be in the possession of, France or her 
 allies, or should be so far under their control as that British ves 
 sels might not trade freely thereat."f It remains, however, to 
 be stated that it was not until the 12th of March, 1807, that the 
 British minister, then residing at Washington, communicated to 
 the American government, in the name of his sovereign, the 
 
 * See the Berlin decree of the 21st of November, 1806. 
 f See the order in council of the 7th of January, 1807. 
 
330 APPENDICES. 
 
 orders in council of January, 1807, with an intimation that 
 stronger measures would be pursued unless the United States 
 should resist the operations of the Berlin decree.* At the mo 
 ment the British government was reminded " that within the 
 period of those great events which continued to agitate Europe, 
 instances had occurred in which the commerce of neutral nations, 
 more especially of the United States, had experienced the se 
 verest distresses from its own orders and measures, manifestly 
 unauthorized by the law of nations," assurances were given 
 "that no culpable acquiescence on the part of the United States 
 would render them accessary to the proceedings of one belliger 
 ent nation, through their rights of neutrality, against the com 
 merce of its adversary," and the right of Great Britain to issue 
 such orders, unless as orders of blockade, to be enforced accord 
 ing to the law of nations, was utterly denied, f 
 
 This candid and explicit avowal of the sentiments of the 
 American government upon an occasion so novel and important 
 in the history of nations did not, however, make its just impres 
 sion upon the British cabinet ; for, without assigning any new 
 provocation on the part of France, and complaining merely that 
 neutral powers had not been induced to interpose with effect to 
 obtain a revocation of the Berlin decree (which, however, Great 
 Britain herself had affirmed to be a decree nominal and inop 
 erative), the orders in council of the llth of November, 1807, 
 were issued, declaring " that all the ports and places of France 
 and her allies, or of any other country at war with his Majesty, 
 and all other ports or places in Europe, from which, although 
 not at war with his Majesty, the British flag was excluded, and 
 all ports or places in the colonies belonging to his Majesty s ene 
 mies should, from thenceforth, be subject to the same restrictions 
 in point of trade and navigation, as if the same were actually 
 blockaded by his Majesty s naval forces in the most strict and 
 rigorous manner;" that "all trade in articles which were the prod 
 uce or manufacture of the said countries or colonies should be 
 deemed and considered to be unlawful ;" but that neutral vessels 
 should still be permitted to trade with France from certain free 
 ports, or through ports and places of the British dominions.J 
 To accept the lawful enjoyment of a right as the grant of a su 
 perior, to prosecute a lawful commerce under the forms of favor 
 and indulgence, and to pay a tribute to Great Britain, for the 
 privileges of a lawful transit on the ocean, were concessions 
 
 * See Mr. Erskine s letter to the Secretary of State, dated the 12th of 
 March, 1807. 
 
 f See the Secretary of State s letter to Mr. Erskine, dated the 20th of 
 March, 1807. 
 
 i See the orders in council of the llth of November, 1807. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAS. 331 
 
 which Great Britain was disposed insidiously to exact by an 
 appeal to the cupidity of individuals, but which the United 
 States could never yield consistently with the independence and 
 the sovereignty of the nation. The orders in council were there 
 fore altered in this respect at a subsequent period ;* but the gen 
 eral interdict of neutral commerce, applying more especially to 
 American commerce, was obstinately maintained against all the 
 force of reason, of remonstrance, and of protestation employed 
 by the American government when the subject was presented 
 to its consideration by the British minister residing at Washing 
 ton. The fact assumed as the basis of the orders in council was 
 unequivocally disowned, and it was demonstrated that so far 
 from its being true, " that the United States had acquiesced in 
 an illegal operation of the Berlin decree, it was not even true 
 that at the date of the British orders of the llth of November, 
 1807, a single application of that decree to the commerce of the 
 United States on the high seas could have been known to the 
 British government;" while the British government had been 
 officially informed by the American minister at London " that 
 explanations, uncontradicted by any overt act, had been given 
 to the American minister at Paris, which justified a reliance that 
 the French decree would not be put in force against the United 
 
 States, "f 
 
 The British orders of the llth of November, 1807, were 
 quickly followed by the French decree of Milan, dated the 17th 
 of December, 1807, "which was said to be resorted to only in 
 just retaliation of the barbarous system adopted by England," 
 and in which the denationalizing tendency of the orders is made 
 the foundation of a declaration in the decree "that every ship, 
 to whatever nation it might belong, that should have submitted 
 to be searched by an English ship, or to a voyage to England, or 
 should have paid any tax whatsoever to the English government, 
 was thereby and for that alone declared to be denationalized, to 
 have forfeited the protection of its sovereign, and to have be 
 come English property, subject to capture as good and lawful 
 prize ; that the British islands were placed in a state of block 
 ade both by sea and land, and every ship, of whatever nation or 
 whatever the nature of its cargo might be, that sails from the 
 ports of England or those of the English colonies, and of the 
 countries occupied by English troops, and proceeding to Eng 
 land or to the English colonies, or to countries occupied by Eng 
 lish troops, should be good and lawful prize ; but that the pro- 
 
 * See Mr. Canning s letter to Mr. Pinkney, 23d February, 1808. 
 
 f See Mr. Erskine s letter to the Secretary of State, dated the 22d of 
 February, 1808, and the answer of the Secretary of State, dated the 25tli 
 of March, 1808. 
 
332 APPENDICES. 
 
 visions of the decree should be abrogated and null in fact as 
 soon as the English should abide again by the principles of the 
 law of nations, which are also the principles of justice and 
 honor."* In opposition, however, to the Milan decree, as well 
 as to the Berlin decree, the American government strenuously 
 and unceasingly employed every instrument except the instru 
 ments of war. It acted precisely towards France as it acted 
 towards Great Britain on similar occasions ; but France re 
 mained for a time as insensible to the claims of justice and honor 
 as Great Britain, each imitating the other in extravagance of 
 pretension and in obstinacy of purpose. 
 
 When the American government received intelligence that the 
 orders of the llth of November, 1807, had been under the con 
 sideration of the British cabinet, and were actually prepared 
 for promulgation, it was anticipated that France, in a zealous 
 prosecution of the retaliatory warfare, would soon produce an 
 act of, at least, equal injustice and hostility. The crisis existed, 
 therefore, at which the United States were compelled to decide 
 either to withdraw their seafaring citizens and their commercial 
 wealth from the ocean, or to leave the interests of the mariner and 
 the merchant exposed to certain destruction, or to engage in open 
 and active war for the protection and defence of those interests. 
 The principles and the habits of the American government were 
 still disposed to neutrality and peace. In weighing the nature and 
 the amount of the aggressions which had been perpetrated, or 
 which were threatened, if there were any preponderance to de 
 termine the balance against one of the belligerent powers rather 
 than the other as the object of a declaration of war, it was against 
 Great Britain, at least, upon the vital interest of impressment 
 and the obvious superiority of her naval means of annoyance. 
 The French decrees were indeed as obnoxious in their formation 
 and design as the British orders ; but the government of France 
 claimed and exercised no right of impressment, and the maritime 
 spoliations of France were comparatively restricted not only by 
 her own weakness on the ocean, but by the constant and per 
 vading vigilance of the fleets of her enemy. The difficulty of 
 selection, the indiscretion of encountering at once both of the 
 offending powers, and, above all, the hope of an early return 
 of justice, under the dispensations of the ancient public law, 
 prevailed in the councils of the American government ; and it 
 was resolved to attempt the preservation of its neutrality and its 
 peace, of its citizens and its resources, by a voluntary suspension 
 of the commerce and navigation of the United States. It is true 
 that for the minor outrages committed, under the pretext of the 
 rule of war of 1756, the citizens of every denomination had de- 
 
 * See the Milan decree of the 17th of December, 1807. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 333 
 
 manded from their government, in the year 1805, protection and 
 redress ; it is true that for the unparalleled enormities of the 
 year 180T the citizens of every denomination again demanded 
 from their government protection and redress ; but it is also a 
 truth conclusively established by every manifestation of the sense 
 of the American "people, as well as of their government, that any 
 honorable means of protection and redress were preferred to the 
 last resort of arms. The American government might honorably 
 retire for a time from the scene of conflict and collision, but it 
 could no longer with honor permit its flag to be insulted, its 
 citizens to be enslaved, and its property to be plundered on the 
 highway of nations. 
 
 Under these impressions the restrictive system of the United 
 States was introduced. In December, 1807, an embargo was 
 imposed upon all American vessels and merchandise,* on princi 
 ples similar to those which originated arid regulated the embargo 
 law, authorized to be laid by the President of the United States 
 in the year 1794 ; but soon afterwards, in the genuine spirit of 
 the policy that prescribed the measure, it was declared by law 
 " that, in the event of such peace, or suspension of hostilities, 
 between the belligerent powers of Europe, or such changes in 
 their measures affecting neutral commerce as might render that 
 of the United States safe, in the judgment of the President of 
 the United States, he was authorized to suspend the embargo in 
 whole or in part."f The pressure of the embargo was thought, 
 however, so severe upon every part of the community that the 
 American government, notwithstanding the neutral character of 
 the measure, determined upon some relaxation; and, accordingly, 
 the embargo being raised as to all other nations, a system of non- 
 intercourse and non-importation was substituted in March, 1809, 
 as to Great Britain and France, which prohibited all voyages to 
 the British or French dominions, and all trade in articles of 
 British or French product or manufacture. J But still adhering 
 to the neutral and pacific policy of the government, it was de 
 clared "that the President of the United States should be author 
 ized, in case either France or Great Britain should so revoke or 
 modify her edicts as that they should cease to violate the neutral 
 commerce of the United States, to declare the same by proclama 
 tion ; after which the trade of the United States might be re 
 newed with the nation so doiug." These appeals to the justice 
 and the interests of the belligerent powers proving ineffectual, 
 and the necessities of the country increasing, it was finally re- 
 
 * See the act of Congress, passed the 22d of December, 1807. 
 f See the act of Congress, passed the 22d of April, 1808. 
 J See the act of Congress, passed the 1st day of March, 1809. 
 g See the llth section of the last-cited act of Congress. 
 
334 APPENDICES. 
 
 solved by the American government to take the hazards of a 
 war; to revoke its restrictive system; and to exclude British 
 and French armed vessels from the harbors and waters of the 
 United States; but, again, emphatically to announce "that in 
 case either Great Britain or France should, before the 3d of 
 March, 1811, so revoke or modify her edicts as that they should 
 cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, and 
 if the other nation should not, within three months thereafter, so 
 revoke or modify her edicts in like manner, "the provisions of the 
 non-intercourse and non-importation law should, at the expiration 
 of three months, be revived against the nation refusing, or 
 neglecting, to revoke or modify its edict.* 
 
 In the course which the American government had hitherto 
 pursued relative to the belligerent orders and decrees, the candid 
 foreigner, as well as the patriotic citizen, may perceive an ex 
 treme solicitude for the preservation of peace ; but, in the pub 
 licity and impartiality of the overture that was thus spread before 
 the belligerent powers, it is impossible that any indication should 
 be found of foreign influence or control. The overture was urged 
 upon both nations for acceptance, at the same time and in the 
 same manner ; nor was an intimation withheld from either of 
 them that " it might be regarded, by the belligerent first accepting 
 it, as a promise to itself and a warning to its enemy. "f Each 
 of the nations, from the commencement of the retaliatory system, 
 acknowledged that its measures were violations of public law; 
 and each pledged itself to retract them whenever the other should 
 set the example. J Although the American government, there 
 fore, persisted in its remonstrances against the original trans 
 gressions, without regard to the question of their priority, it 
 embraced with eagerness every hope of reconciling the interests 
 of the rival powers, with a performance of the duty which they 
 owed to the neutral character of the United States ; and when 
 the British minister, residing at Washington, in the year 1809, 
 affirmed, in terms as plain and as positive as language could 
 supply, " that he was authorized to declare that his Britannic 
 Majesty s orders in council of January and November, 1807, will 
 have been withdrawn, as respects the United States, on the 10th 
 day of June, 1809, "the President of the United States hastened, 
 with approved liberality, to accept the declaration as conclusive 
 evidence that the promised fact would exist at the stipulated 
 period ; and, by an immediate proclamation, he announced "that 
 
 * See the act of Congress, passed the 1st of May, 1810. 
 
 f See the correspondence between the Secretary of State and the Ameri 
 can ministers at London and Paris. 
 
 % See the documents laid before Congress from time to time by the 
 President, and printed. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 335 
 
 after the 10th day of June next the trade of the United States 
 with Great Britain, as suspended by the non-intercourse law, and 
 by the acts of Congress laying and enforcing an embargo, might 
 be renewed."* The American government neither asked, nor 
 received, from the British minister, an exemplification of his 
 powers, an inspection of his instructions, nor the solemnity of an 
 order in council ; but executed the compact, on the part of the 
 United States, in all the sincerity of its own intentions, and in 
 all the confidence which the official act of the representative of 
 his Britannic Majesty was calculated to inspire. The act, and 
 the authority for the act, were, however, disavowed by Great 
 Britain ; and an attempt was made by the successor of Mr. 
 Erskine, through the aid of insinuations, which were indignantly 
 repulsed, to justify the British rejection of the treaty of 1809, by 
 referring to the American rejection of the treaty of 1806; for 
 getful of the essential points of difference, that the British govern 
 ment, on the former occasion, had been explicitly apprised by the 
 American negotiators of their defect of power, and that the 
 execution of the projected treaty had not, on either side, been 
 commenced. f 
 
 After this abortive attempt to obtain a just and honorable 
 revocation of the British orders in council, the United States 
 were again invited to indulge the hope of safety and tranquillity, 
 when the minister of France announced to the American minis 
 ter at Paris that, in consideration of the act of the 1st of May, 
 1809, by which the Congress of the United States "engaged to 
 oppose itself to that one of the belligerent powers which should 
 refuse to acknowledge the rights of neutrals, he was authorized 
 to declare that the decrees of Berlin and Milan were revoked, 
 and that after the 1st of November, 1810, they would cease to 
 have effect ; it being understood that, in consequence of that 
 declaration, the English should revoke their orders in council, 
 and renounce the new principles of blockade, which they had 
 wished to establish, or that the United States, conformably to 
 the act of Congress, should cause their rights to be respected by 
 the English. "J This declaration, delivered by the official organ 
 of the government of France, and in the presence, as it were, of 
 the French sovereign, was of the highest authority according to 
 all the rules of diplomatic intercourse ; and certainly far sur 
 passed any claim of credence which was possessed by the British 
 
 * See the correspondence between Mr. Erskine, the British minister, 
 and the Secretary of State, on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of April, 1809, 
 and the President s proclamation of the last date. 
 
 f See the correspondence between the Secretary of State and Mr. Jack 
 son, the British minister. 
 
 J See the Duke de Cadore s letter to Mr. Armstrong, dated the 5th of 
 August, 1810. 
 
336 APPENDICES. 
 
 minister residing at Washington, when the arrangement of the 
 year 1809 was accepted and executed by the American govern 
 ment. The President of the United States, therefore, owed to 
 the consistency of his own character, and to the dictates of a 
 sincere impartiality, a prompt acceptance of the French overture; 
 and, accordingly, the authoritative promise that the fact should 
 exist, at the stipulated period, being again admitted as conclusive 
 evidence of its existence, a proclamation was issued on the 2d 
 of November, 1810, announcing "that the edicts of France had 
 been so revoked as that they ceased, on the first day of the same 
 month, to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, and 
 that all the restrictions, imposed by the act of Congress, should 
 then cease and be discontinued in relation to France and her de 
 pendencies."* That France, from this epoch, refrained from all 
 aggressions on the high seas, or even in her own ports, upon the 
 persons and the property of the citizens of the United States 
 never was asserted ; but, on the contrary, her violence and her 
 spoliations have been unceasing causes of complaint. These 
 subsequent injuries, constituting a part of the existing reclama 
 tions of the United States, were always, however, disavowed by 
 the French government; whilst the repeal of the Berlin and 
 Milan decree has, on every occasion, been affirmed, insomuch 
 that Great Britain herself was, at last, compelled to yield to the 
 evidence of the fact. 
 
 On the expiration of three months from the date of the Presi 
 dent s proclamation the non-intercourse and non-importation law 
 was, of course, to be revived against Great Britain, unless, dur 
 ing that period, her orders in council should be revoked. The 
 subject was, therefore, most anxiously and most steadily pressed 
 upon the justice and the magnanimity of the British government ; 
 and even when the hope of success expired by the lapse of the 
 period prescribed in one act of Congress, the United States 
 opened the door of reconciliation by another act, which, in the 
 year 1811, again provided, that in case at any time "Great 
 Britain should so revoke or modify her edicts as that they shall 
 cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, the 
 President of the United States should declare the fact by procla 
 mation; and that the restrictions previously imposed should, 
 from the date of such proclamation, cease and be discontinued."f 
 But, unhappily, every appeal to the justice and magnanimity of 
 Great Britain was now, as heretofore, fruitless and forlorn. 
 She had, at this epoch, impressed from the crews of American 
 merchant vessels, peaceably navigating the high seas, not less 
 than six thousand mariners who claimed to be citizens of the 
 
 * See the President s proclamation of the 2d of November, 1810. 
 f See the act of Congress, passed the 2d of March, 1811. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 337 
 
 United States, and who were denied all opportunity to verify 
 their claims. She had seized and confiscated the commercial 
 property of American citizens to an incalculable amount. She 
 had united in the enormities of France to declare a great propor 
 tion of the terraqueous globe in a state of blockade, chasing the 
 American merchant flag effectually from the ocean. She had 
 contemptuously disregarded the neutrality of the American terri 
 tory, and the jurisdiction of the American laws, within the waters 
 and harbors of the United States. She was enjoying the emolu 
 ments of a surreptitious trade, stained with every species of fraud 
 and corruption, which gave to the belligerent powers the advan 
 tages of peace, while the neutral powers were involved in the 
 evils of war. She had, in short, usurped and exercised, on the 
 water, a tyranny similar to that which her great antagonist had 
 usurped and exercised upon the land. And, amidst all these 
 proofs of ambition and avarice, she demanded that the victims 
 of her usurpations and her violence should revere her as the sole 
 defender of the rights and liberties of mankind. 
 
 When, therefore, Great Britain, in manifest violation of her 
 solemn promises, refused to follow the example of France by the 
 repeal of her orders in council, the American government was 
 compelled to contemplate a resort to arms as the only remaining 
 course to be pursued for its honor, its independence, and its 
 safety. Whatever depended upon the United States themselves 
 the United States had performed for the preservation of peace, 
 in resistance of the French decrees as well as of the British 
 orders. What had been required from France in its relation to 
 the neutral character of the United States, France had performed 
 by the revocation of its Berlin and Milan decrees. But what 
 depended upon Great Britain for the purposes of justice in the 
 repeal of her orders in council, was withheld, and new evasions 
 were sought when the old were exhausted. It was at one time 
 alleged that satisfactory proof was not afforded that France had 
 repealed her decrees against the commerce of the United States ; 
 as if such proof alone were wanting to insure the performance 
 of the British promise.* At another time it was insisted that 
 the repeal of the French decrees, in their operation against the 
 United States in order to authorize a demand for the performance 
 of the British promise, must be total, applying equally to their 
 internal and their external effects ; as if the United States had 
 either the right or the power to impose upon France the law of 
 her domestic institutions.! And it was finally insisted, in a 
 despatch from Lord Castlereagh to the British minister residing 
 at Washington, in the year 1812, which was officially comniuni- 
 
 * See the correspondence between Mr. Pinkney and the British gov 
 ernment. 
 f See the letters of Mr. Erskine. 
 
338 APPENDICES. 
 
 cated to the American government, " that the decrees of Berlin 
 and Milan must not be repealed singly and specially in relation 
 to the United States, but must be repealed, also, as to all other 
 neutral nations; and that in no less extent of a repeal of the 
 French decrees had the British government ever pledged itself 
 to repeal the orders in council ;"* as if it were incumbent on the 
 United States not only to assert her own rights, but to become 
 the coadjutor of the British government in a gratuitous assertion 
 of the rights of all other nations. 
 
 The Congress of the United States could pause no longer. 
 Under a deep and afflicting sense of the national wrongs and the 
 national resentments, while they " postponed definite measures 
 with respect to France in the expectation that the result of un 
 closed discussions between the American minister at Paris and 
 the French government would speedily enable them to decide 
 with greater advantage on the course due to the rights, the in 
 terests, and the honor of the country, "f they pronounced a delib 
 erate and solemn declaration of war between Great Britain and 
 the United States on the 18th of June, 1812. 
 
 But it is in the face of all the facts which have been dis 
 played in the present narrative that the prince regent, by his 
 declaration of January, 1813, describes the United States as the 
 aggressor in the war. If the act of declaring war constitutes in 
 all cases the act of original aggression, the United States must 
 submit to the severity of the reproach ; but if the act of declaring 
 war may be more truly considered as the result of long suffering 
 and necessary self-defence, the American government will stand 
 acquitted in the sight of Heaven and of the world. Have the 
 United States, then, enslaved the subjects, confiscated the prop 
 erty, prostrated the commerce, insulted the flag, or violated the 
 territorial sovereignty of Great Britain? No; but in all these 
 respects the United States had suffered for a long period of years 
 previously to the declaration of war the contumely and outrage of 
 the British government. It has been said, too, as an aggravation 
 of the imputed aggression, that the United States chose a period 
 for their declaration of war when Great Britain was struggling 
 for her own existence against a power which threatened to over 
 throw the independence of all Europe ; but it might be more 
 truly said that the United States, not acting upon choice but 
 upon compulsion, delayed the declaration of war until the per 
 secutions of Great Britain had rendered further delay destructive 
 and disgraceful. Great Britain had converted the commercial 
 
 * See the correspondence between the Secretary of State and Mr. Fos 
 ter, the British minister, in June, 1812. 
 
 f See the President s message of the 1st of June, 1812, and the report 
 of the Committee of Foreign Relations, to whom the message was re 
 ferred. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 339 
 
 scenes of American opulence and prosperity into scenes of com 
 parative poverty and distress ; she had brought the existence of 
 the United States as an independent nation into question ; and 
 surely it must have been indifferent to the United States whether 
 they ceased to exist as an independent nation by her conduct 
 while she professed friendship or by her conduct when she avowed 
 enmity and revenge. Nor is it true that the existence of Great 
 Britain was in danger at the epoch of the declaration of war. 
 The American government uniformly entertained an opposite 
 opinion; and at all times saw more to apprehend for the United 
 States from her maritime power than from the territorial power 
 of her enemy. The event has justified the opinion and the ap 
 prehension. But what the United States asked as essential to 
 their welfare and even as beneficial to the allies of Great Britain 
 in the European war, Great Britain, it is manifest, might have 
 granted without impairing the resources of her own strength or 
 the splendor of her own sovereignty, for her orders in council 
 have been since revoked ; not, it is true, as the performance of 
 her promise to follow in this respect the example of France, since 
 she finally rested the obligation of that promise upon a repeal 
 of the French decrees as to all nations, and the repeal was only 
 as to the United States ; nor as an act of national justice towards 
 the United States, but simply as an act of domestic policy for 
 the special advantage of her own people. 
 
 The British government has also described the war as a war 
 of aggrandizement and conquest on the part of the United States ; 
 but where is the foundation for the charge ? While the American 
 government employed every means to dissuade the Indians, even 
 those who lived within the territory and were supplied by the 
 bounty of the United States, from taking any part in the war,* 
 the proofs were irresistible that the enemy pursued a very dif 
 ferent course, f and that every precaution would be necessary to 
 prevent the effects of an offensive alliance between the British 
 troops and the savages throughout the northern frontier of the 
 United States. The military occupation of Upper Canada was, 
 therefore, deemed indispensable to the safety of that frontier in 
 the earliest movements of the war, independent of all views of 
 extending the territorial boundary of the United States. But 
 when war was declared in resentment for injuries which had been 
 suffered upon the Atlantic, what principle of public law, what 
 modification of civilized warfare, imposed upon the United States 
 the duty of abstaining from the invasion of the Canadas? It 
 
 * See the proceedings at the councils held with the Indians during the 
 expedition under Brigadier-General Hull, and the talk delivered by the 
 President of the United States to the Six Nations at Washington, on the 
 8th of April, 1813. 
 
 f See the documents laid before Congress on the 13th of June, 1812. 
 
340 APPENDICES. 
 
 was there alone that the United States could place themselves 
 upon an equal footing of military force with Great Britain ; and 
 it was there that they might reasonably encourage the hope of 
 being able, in the prosecution of a lawful retaliation, "to restrain 
 the violence of the enemy and to retort upon him the evils of his 
 own injustice." The proclamations issued by the American com 
 manders on entering Upper Canada have, however, been adduced 
 by the British negotiators at Ghent as the proofs of a spirit of 
 ambition and aggrandizement on the part of their government. 
 In truth, the proclamations were not only unauthorized and dis 
 approved, but were infractions of the positive instructions which 
 had been given for the conduct of the war in Canada. When 
 the general commanding the northwestern army of the United 
 States received, on the 24th of June, 1812, his first authority to 
 commence offensive operations, he was especially told that " he 
 must not consider himself authorized to pledge the government 
 to the inhabitants of Canada further than assurances of protec 
 tion in their persons, property, and rights." And on the ensuing 
 1st of August it was emphatically declared to him " that it had 
 become necessary that he should not lose sight of the instructions 
 of the 24th of June, as any pledge beyond that was incompati 
 ble with the views of the government."* Such was the nature 
 of the charge of American ambition and aggrandizement, and 
 such the evidence to support it. 
 
 The prince regent has, however, endeavored to add to these 
 unfounded accusations a stigma at which the pride of the Amer 
 ican government revolts. Listening to the fabrications of British 
 emissaries, gathering scandals from the abuses of a free press, 
 and misled, perhaps, by the asperities of a party spirit common 
 to all free governments, he affects to trace the origin of the war 
 to " a marked partiality in palliating and assisting the aggressive 
 tyranny of France," and " to the prevalence of such councils as 
 associated the United States in policy with the government of 
 that nation."f The conduct of the American government is now 
 open to every scrutiny, and its vindication is inseparable from a 
 knowledge of the facts. All the world must be sensible, indeed, 
 that neither in the general policy of the late ruler of France nor 
 in his particular treatment of the United States, could there exist 
 any political or rational foundation for the sympathies and asso 
 ciations, overt or clandestine, which have been rudely and un 
 fairly suggested. It is equally obvious that nothing short of the 
 aggressive tyranny exercised by Great Britain towards the United 
 States could have counteracted and controlled those tendencies 
 
 * See the letter from the Secretary of the War Department to Briga 
 dier-General Hull, dated the 24th of June and the 1st of August, 1812. 
 f See the British declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 341 
 
 to peace and amity which derived their impulse from natural 
 and social causes, combining the affections and interests of the 
 two nations. The American government, faithful to that prin 
 ciple of public law which acknowledges the authority of all gov 
 ernments established de facto, and conforming its practice in this 
 respect to the example of Europe, has never contested the validity 
 of the governments successively established in France, nor re 
 frained from that intercourse with either of them which the just 
 interests of the United States required. But the British cabinet 
 is challenged to produce, from the recesses of its secret or of its 
 public archives, a single instance of unworthy concessions or of 
 political alliance and combination throughout the intercourse of 
 the United States with the revolutionary rulers of France. Was 
 it the influence of French councils that induced the American 
 government to resist the pretensions of France in 1793, and to 
 encounter her hostilities in 1798 ? that led to the ratification of 
 the British treaty in 1795? to the British negotiation in 1805, 
 and to the convention with the British minister in 1809 ? that 
 dictated the impartial overtures which were made to Great Brit 
 ain as well as to France during the whole period of the restrict 
 ive system ? that produced the determination to avoid making 
 any treaty, even a treaty of commerce, with France until the 
 outrage of the Rambouillet decree was repaired ?* that sanc 
 tioned the repeated and urgent efforts of the American govern 
 ment to put an end to the war almost as soon as it was declared ? 
 or that, finally, prompted the explicit communication which, in 
 pursuance of instructions, was made by the American minister 
 at St. Petersburg to the court of Russia, stating " that the prin 
 cipal subjects of discussion which had long been subsisting be 
 tween the United States and France remained unsettled ; that 
 there was no immediate prospect that there would be a satisfac 
 tory settlement of them ; but that whatever the event in that 
 respect might be, it was not the intention of the government of 
 the United States to enter into any more intimate connexions 
 with France ; that the government of the United States did not 
 anticipate any event whatever that could produce that effect; and 
 that the American minister was the more happy to find himself 
 authorized by his government to avow this intention, as different 
 representations of their views had been widely circulated as well 
 in Europe as in America. "( But, while every act of the Amer 
 ican government thus falsifies the charge of a subserviency to 
 
 * See the instructions from the Secretary of State to the American 
 minister at Paris, dated the 29th of May, 1813. 
 
 f See Mr. Monroe s letter to Mr. Adams, dated the 1st of July, 1812, 
 and Mr. Adams s letter to Mr. Monroe, dated the llth of December, 
 1812. 
 
342 APPENDICES. 
 
 the policy of France, it may be justly remarked, that of all the 
 governments maintaining a necessary relation and intercourse 
 with that nation from the commencement to the recent termi 
 nation of the revolutionary establishments, it has happened that 
 the government of the United States has least exhibited marks 
 of condescension and concession to the successive rulers. It is 
 for Great Britain, more particularly as an accuser, to examine 
 and explain the consistency of the reproaches which she has 
 uttered against the United States with the course of her own 
 conduct ; with her repeated negotiations during the republican 
 as well as during the imperial sway of France ; with her solici 
 tude to make and to propose treaties; with her interchange of 
 commercial benefits so irreconcilable to a state of war ; with the 
 almost triumphant entry of a French ambassador into her capi 
 tal amidst the acclamations of the populace ; and with the prose 
 cution instituted, by the orders of the king of Great Britain 
 himself in the highest court of criminal jurisdiction in his king 
 dom, to punish the printer of a gazette for publishing a libel on 
 the conduct and character of the late ruler of France ! What 
 ever may be the source of these symptoms, however they may 
 indicate a subservient policy, such symptoms have never occurred 
 in the United States throughout the imperial government of 
 France. 
 
 The conduct of the United States, from the moment of de 
 claring the war, will serve, as well as their previous conduct, to 
 rescue them from the unjust reproaches of Great Britain. When 
 war was declared, the orders in council had been maintained, 
 with inexorable hostility, until a thousand American vessels and 
 their cargoes had been seized and confiscated under their opera 
 tion ; the British minister at Washington had, with peculiar 
 solemnity, announced that the orders would not be repealed but 
 upon conditions which the American government had not the 
 right nor the power to fulfil ; and the European war, which had 
 raged with little intermission for twenty years, threatened an in 
 definite continuance. Under these circumstances, a repeal of the 
 orders, and a cessation of the injuries which they produced, were 
 events beyond all rational anticipation. It appears, however, 
 that the orders, under the influence of a parliamentary inquiry 
 into their effects upon the trade and manufactures of Great 
 Britain, were provisionally repealed on the 23d of June, 1812, a 
 few days subsequent to the American declaration of war. If 
 this repeal had been made known to the United States before 
 their resort to arms, the repeal would have arrested it ; and that 
 cause of war being removed, the other essential cause, the prac 
 tice of impressment, would have been the subject of renewed 
 negotiation, under the auspicious influence of a partial yet im 
 portant act of o "^ "illation. But the declaration of war hav- 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 343 
 
 ing announced the practice of impressment as a principal cause, 
 peace could only be the result of an express abandonment of the 
 practice, of a suspension of the practice for the purposes of nego 
 tiation, or of a cessation of actual sufferance in consequence of a 
 pacification in Europe, which would deprive Great Britain of 
 every motive for continuing the practice. 
 
 Hence, when early intimations were given, from Halifax and 
 from Canada, of a disposition on the part of the local authorities 
 to enter into an armistice, the power of those authorities was 
 so doubtful, the objects of the armistice were so limited, and the 
 immediate advantages of the measure were so entirely on the 
 side of the enemy that the American government could not con 
 sistently with its duty embrace the propositions.* But some 
 hope of an amicable adjustment was inspired when a communi 
 cation was received from Admiral Warren, in September, 1812, 
 stating that he was commanded by his government to propose, 
 on the one hand, " that the government of the United States 
 should instantly recall their letters of marque and reprisal against 
 British ships, together with all orders and instructions for any 
 acts of hostility whatever against the territories of his Majesty 
 or the persons or property of his subjects," and to promise, on 
 the other hand, if the American government acquiesced in the 
 preceding proposition, that instructions should be issued to the 
 British squadrons to discontinue hostilities against the United 
 States and their citizens. This overture, however, was subject 
 to a further qualification, "that should the American govern 
 ment accede to the proposal for terminating hostilities, the 
 British admiral was authorized to arrange with the American 
 government as to the revocation of the laws which interdict the 
 commerce and ships of war of Great Britain from the harbors 
 and waters of the United States ; but that in default of such 
 revocation within the reasonable period to be agreed upon, the 
 orders in council would be revived. "f The American govern 
 ment at once expressed a disposition to embrace the general 
 proposition for a cessation of hostilities with a view to negotia 
 tion; declared that no peace could be durable unless the essen 
 tial object of impressment was adjusted ; and offered as a basis 
 of the adjustment, to prohibit the employment of British sub 
 jects in the naval or commercial service of the United States ; 
 but, adhering to its determination of obtaining a relief from 
 
 * See the letters from the Department of Stale to Mr. Kussell, dated 
 9th and 10th August, 1812, and Mr. Graham s memorandum of a con 
 versation with Mr. Baker, the British Secretary of Legation, inclosed in 
 the last letter. See, also, Mr. Monroe s letter to Mr. Russell, dated the 
 21st of August, 1812. 
 
 f See the letter of Admiral Warren to the Secretary of State, dated 
 at Halifax, the 20th of September, 1812. 
 
344 APPENDICES. 
 
 actual sufferance, the suspension of the practice of impressment 
 pending the proposed armistice, was deemed a necessary conse 
 quence ; for " it could not be presumed, while the parties were 
 engaged in a negotiation to adjust amicably this important differ 
 ence, that the United States would admit the right, or acquiesce 
 in the practice of the opposite party, or that Great Britain would 
 be unwilling to restrain her cruisers from a practice which would 
 have the strongest effect to defeat the negotiation."* So just, 
 so reasonable, so indispensable, a preliminary, without which 
 the citizens of the United States navigating the high seas would 
 not be placed by the armistice on an equal footing with the sub 
 jects of Great Britain, Admiral Warren was not authorized to 
 accept; and the effort at an amicable adjustment, through that 
 channel, was necessarily abortive. 
 
 But long before the overture of the British admiral was made 
 (a few days, indeed, after the declaration of war), the reluctance 
 with which the United States had resorted to arms was mani 
 fested by the steps taken to arrest the progress of hostilities arid 
 to hasten a restoration of peace. On the 26th of June, 1812, 
 the American charge d affaires at London was instructed to make 
 the proposal of an armistice to the British government, which 
 might lead to an adjustment of all differences, on the single con 
 dition, in the event of the orders in council being repealed, that 
 instructions should be issued suspending the practice of impress 
 ment during the armistice. This proposal was soon followed by 
 another admitting, instead of positive instructions, an informal 
 understanding between the two governments on the subject. f 
 But both of these proposals were unhappily rejected. J And 
 when a third, which seemed to leave no plea for hesitation, as it 
 required no other preliminary than that the American minister 
 at London should find in the British government a sincere dis 
 position to accommodate the difference, relative to impressment, 
 on fair conditions, was evaded, it was obvious that neither a 
 desire of peace, nor a spirit of conciliation, influenced the coun 
 cils of Great Britain. 
 
 Under these circumstances the American government had no 
 choice but to invigorate the war ; and yet it has never lost sight 
 of the object of all just wars, a just peace. The emperor of 
 Russia having offered his mediation to accomplish that object, it 
 was instantly and cordially accepted by the American govern- 
 
 * See the letter of Mr. Monroe to Admiral "Warren, dated the 27th of 
 October, 1812. 
 
 f See the letters from the Secretary of State to Mr. Russell, dated the 
 26th of June and 27th of July, 1812. 
 
 J See the correspondence between Mr. Russell and Lord Castlereagh, 
 dated August and September, 1812, and Mr. Russell s letters to the Sec 
 retary of State, dated September, 1812. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 345 
 
 ment;* but it was peremptorily rejected by the British govern 
 ment. The emperor, in his benevolence, repeated his invitation: 
 the British government again rejected it. At last, however, 
 Great Britain, sensible of the reproach to which such conduct 
 would expose her throughout Europe, offered to the American 
 government a direct negotiation for peace, and the offer was 
 promptly embraced ; with perfect confidence that the British 
 government would be equally prompt in giving effect to its own 
 proposal. But such was not the design, or the course, of that 
 government. The American envoys were immediately appointed, 
 and arrived at Gottenburg, the destined scene of negotiation, 
 on the llth of April, 1814, as soon as the season admitted. The 
 British government, though regularly informed that no time 
 would be lost on the part of the United States, suspended the 
 appointment of its envoys until the actual arrival of the Ameri 
 can envoys should be formally communicated. This pretension, 
 however novel and inauspicious, was not permitted to obstruct 
 the path to peace. The British government next proposed to 
 transfer the negotiation from Gottenburg to Ghent. This 
 change, also, notwithstanding the necessary delay, was allowed. 
 The American envoys, arriving at Ghent on the 24th of June, 
 remained in a mortifying state of suspense and expectation, for 
 the arrival of the British envoys, until the 6th of August. And 
 from the period of opening the negotiations to the date of the 
 last despatch of the 31st of October, it has been seen that the 
 whole of the diplomatic skill of the British government has con 
 sisted in consuming time without approaching any conclusion. 
 The pacification of Paris had suddenly and unexpectedly placed 
 at the disposal of the British government a great naval and mili 
 tary force ; the pride and passions of the nation were artfully 
 excited against the United States ; and a war of desperate and 
 barbarous character was planned at the very moment that the 
 American government, finding its maritime citizens relieved by 
 the course of events from actual sufferance, under the practice of 
 impressment, had authorized its envoys to waive those stipula 
 tions upon the subject, which might, otherwise, have been indis 
 pensable precautions. 
 
 Hitherto the American government has shown the justice of 
 its cause, its respect for the rights of other nations, and its in 
 herent love of peace. But the scenes of the war will, also, 
 exhibit a striking contrast between the conduct of the United 
 States and the conduct of Great Britain. The same insidious 
 policy, which taught the prince regent to describe the American 
 government as the aggressor in the war, has induced the British 
 
 * See the correspondence between Mr. Monroe and Mr. DaschkofF, in 
 March, 1813. 
 
 23 
 
346 APPENDICES. 
 
 government (clouding the daylight truth of the transaction) to 
 call the atrocities of the British fleets and armies a retaliation 
 upon the example of the American troops in Canada. The United 
 States tender a solemn appeal to the civilized world against the 
 fabrication of such a charge ; and they vouch, in support of their 
 appeal, the known morals, habits, and pursuits of their people ; 
 the character of their civil and political institutions; and the 
 whole career of their navy and their army, as humane as it is 
 brave. Upon what pretext did the British admiral, on the 18th 
 of August, 1814, announce his determination "to destroy arid 
 lay waste such towns and districts upon the coast as might be 
 found assailable?"* It was the pretext of a request from the 
 governor-general of the Canadas for aid to carry into effect 
 measures of retaliation ; while, in fact, the barbarous nature of 
 the war had been deliberately settled and prescribed by the Brit 
 ish cabinet. What could have been the foundation of such a 
 request ? The outrages and the irregularities, which too often 
 occur during a state of national hostilities, in violation of the 
 laws of civilized warfare, are always to be lamented, disavowed, 
 and repaired by a just and honorable government; but if dis 
 avowal be made, and if reparation be offered, there is no founda 
 tion for retaliatory violence. " Whatever unauthorized irregu 
 larity may have been committed by any of the troops of the 
 United States, the American government has been ready, upon 
 principles of sacred and eternal obligation, to disavow, and, as 
 far as it might be practicable, to repair, "f In every known in 
 stance (and they are few) the offenders have been subjected to 
 the regular investigation of a military tribunal; and an officer, 
 commanding a party of stragglers, who were guilty of unworthy 
 excesses, was immediately dismissed, without the form of a trial, 
 for not preventing those excesses. The destruction of the village 
 of Newark, adjacent to Fort George, on the 10th of December, 
 1813, was long subsequent to the pillage and conflagration com 
 mitted on the shores of the Chesapeake, throughout the summer 
 of the same year, and might fairly have been alleged as a retalia 
 tion for those outrages ; but, in fact, it was justified by the Ameri 
 can commander, who ordered it, on the ground that it became 
 necessary to the military operations at that place ;J while the 
 American government, as soon as it heard of the act, on the 6th 
 of January, 1814, instructed the general commanding the northern 
 
 * See Admiral Cochrane s letter to Mr. Monroe, dated the 18th of 
 Aucjust, 1814, and Mr. Monroe s answer of the 6th Sept. 1814. 
 
 f~See the letter from the Secretary at War to Brigadier-General 
 M Lure, dated the 4th of October, 1813. 
 
 J General M Lure s letter to the Secretary at War, dated Dec. 10 and 
 13, 1813. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 347 
 
 army, "to disavow the conduct of the officer who committed it; 
 and to transmit to Governor Prevost a copy of the order under 
 color of which that officer had acted."* This disavowal was 
 accordingly communicated; and on the 10th of February, 1814, 
 Governor Prevost answered, " that it had been with great satis 
 faction he had received the assurance that the perpetration of the 
 burning of the town of Newark was both unauthorized by the 
 American government and abhorrent to every American feeling; 
 that if any outrages had ensued the wanton and unjustifiable 
 destruction of Newark, passing the bounds of just retaliation, 
 they were to be attributed to the influence of irritated passions, 
 on the part of the unfortunate sufferers by that event, which, in 
 a state of active warfare, it has not been possible altogether to 
 restrain ; and that it was as little congenial to the disposition of 
 his Majesty s government as it was to that of the government 
 of the United States, deliberately to adopt any plan of policy 
 which had for its object the devastation of private property. "f 
 But the disavowal of the American government was not the 
 only expiation of the offence committed by its officer; for the 
 British government assumed the province of redress in the in 
 dulgence of its own vengeance. A few days after the burning 
 of Newark, the British and Indian troops crossed the Niagara 
 for this purpose ; they surprised and seized Fort Niagara, and 
 put its garrison to the sword ; they burnt the villages of Lewis- 
 town, Manchester, Tuscarora, Buffalo, and Black Rock ; slaugh 
 tering and abusing the unarmed inhabitants ; until, in short, they 
 had laid waste the whole of the Niagara frontier, levelling every 
 house and every hut, and dispersing, beyond the means of shelter, 
 in the extremity of the winter, the male and the female, the old 
 and the young. Sir George Prevost himself appears to have 
 been sated with the ruin and the havoc which had been thus in 
 flicted. In his proclamation of the 12th of January, 1814, he 
 emphatically declared, that for the burning of Newark "the 
 opportunity of punishment had occurred, and a full measure of 
 retaliation had taken place ;" and " that it was not his intention 
 to pursue further a system of warfare so revolting to his own 
 feelings and so little congenial to the British character, unless 
 the future measures of the enemy should compel him again to 
 resort to it."! Nay, with his answer to the American general, 
 already mentioned, he transmitted " a copy of that proclamation, 
 
 * See the letter from the Secretary at "War to Major-General Wilkin 
 son, dated the 26th of January, 1814. 
 
 f See the letter of Major-General Wilkinson to Sir George Prevost, 
 dated the 28th of January, 1814, and the answer of Sir George Prevost, 
 dated the 10th of February, 1814. 
 
 J See Sir George Prevost s proclamation, dated at Quebec, the 12th of 
 January, 1814. 
 
348 APPENDICES. 
 
 as expressive of the determination as to his future line of con 
 duct;" and added, "that he was happy to learn that there was 
 no probability that any measures on the part of the American 
 government would oblige him to depart from it."* Where, then, 
 shall we search for the foundation of the call upon the British 
 admiral, to aid the governor of Canada in measures of retalia 
 tion ? Great Britain forgot the principle of retaliation, when her 
 orders in council were issued against the unoffending neutral, in 
 resentment of outrages committed by her enemy; and, surely, 
 she had again forgotten the same principle, when she threatened 
 an unceasing violation of the laws of civilized warfare, in re 
 taliation for injuries which never existed, or which the American 
 government had explicitly disavowed, or which had been already 
 avenged by her own arms, in a manner and a degree cruel and 
 unparalleled. The American government, after all, has not hesi 
 tated to declare, that "for the reparation of injuries, of whatever 
 nature they may be, not sanctioned by the law of nations, which 
 the military or naval force of either power might have committed 
 against the other, it would always be ready to enter into recipro 
 cal arrangements ; presuming that the British government would 
 neither expect nor propose any which were not reciprocal, "f 
 
 It is now, however, proper to examine the character of the 
 warfare which Great Britain has waged against the United States. 
 In Europe it has already been marked, with astonishment and 
 indignation, as a warfare of the tomahawk, the scalping-knife, 
 and the torch ; as a warfare incompatible with the usages of 
 civilized nations ; as a w r arfare that, disclaiming all moral in 
 fluence, inflicts an outrage upon social order, and gives a shock 
 to the very elements of humanity. All belligerent nations can 
 form alliances with the savage, the African, and the bloodhound ; 
 but what civilized nation has selected these auxiliaries in its hos 
 tilities ? It does not require the fleets and armies of Great 
 Britain to lay waste an open country, to burn unfortified towns 
 or unprotected villages, nor to plunder the merchant, the farmer, 
 and the planter, of his stores ; these exploits may easily be 
 achieved by a single cruiser or a petty privateer ; but when have 
 such exploits been performed on the coasts of the continent of 
 Europe or of the British islands by the naval and military force 
 of any belligerent power, or when have they been tolerated by 
 any honorable government, as the predatory enterprise of armed 
 individuals ? Nor is the destruction of the public edifices which 
 
 * See the letter of Sir George Prevost to General Wilkinson, dated the 
 10th of February, 1814, and the British general orders of the 22d of 
 February, 1814. " 
 
 f See Mr. Monroe s letter to Admiral Cochrane, dated the 6th of Sep 
 tember, 1814. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 349 
 
 adorn the metropolis of a country, and serve to commemorate the 
 taste and science of the age, beyond the sphere of action of the 
 vilest incendiary as well as of the most triumphant conqueror. 
 It cannot be forgotten, indeed, that in the course of ten years 
 past the capitals of the principal powers of Europe have been 
 conquered and occupied alternately by the victorious armies of 
 each other,* and yet there has been no instance of a conflagra 
 tion of the palaces, the temples, or the halls of justice. No ; 
 such examples have proceeded from Great Britain alone, a 
 nation so elevated in its pride, so awful in its power, and so 
 affected in its tenderness for the liberties of mankind ! The 
 charge is severe ; but let the facts be adduced. 
 
 1. Great Britain has violated the principles of social law, by 
 insidious attempts to excite the citizens of the United States into 
 acts of contumacy, treason, and revolt against their government. 
 For instance : 
 
 No sooner had the American government imposed the restrict 
 ive system upon its citizens, to escape from the rage and depre 
 dation of the belligerent powers, than the British government, 
 then professing amity towards the United States, issued an order 
 which was, in effect, an invitation to the American citizens to 
 break the laws of their country, under a public promise of British 
 protection and patronage " to all vessels which should engage in 
 an illicit trade, without bearing the customary ship s documents 
 and papers. "f 
 
 Again : During a period of peace between the United States 
 and Great Britain, in the year 1809, the governor-general of the 
 Canadas employed an agent (who had previously been engaged 
 in n similar service, with the knowledge and approbation of the 
 British cabinet) " on a secret and confidential mission" into the 
 United States, declaring " that there was no doubt that his able 
 execution of such a mission would give him a claim not only on 
 the governor-general but on his Majesty s ministers." The object 
 of the mission was to ascertain whether there existed a disposi 
 tion in any portion of the citizens " to bring about a separation 
 of the Eastern States from the general Union, and how far, in 
 such an event, the} 7 " would look up to England for assistance, or 
 be disposed to enter into a connexion with her." The agent was 
 instructed " to insinuate that if any of the citizens should wish 
 to enter into a communication with the British government, 
 through the governor-general, he was authorized to receive such 
 communication, and that he would safely transmit it to the 
 
 * See Mr. Monroe s letter to Admiral Cochrane, dated the Gth of Sep 
 tember, 1814. 
 
 j- See the instructions to the commanders of British ships of war and 
 privateers, dated the llth of April, 1808. 
 
350 APPENDICES. 
 
 governor-general."* He was accredited by a formal instrument, 
 under the seal and signature of the governor-general, to be pro 
 duced " if he saw good ground for expecting that the doing so 
 might lead to a more confidential communication than he could 
 otherwise look for;" and he was furnished with a cipher "for 
 carrying on the secret correspondence. ^ The virtue and patri 
 otism of the citizens of the United States were superior to the 
 arts and corruption employed in this secret and confidential 
 mission, if it ever was disclosed to any of them ; and the mission 
 itself terminated as soon as the arrangement with Mr. Erskine 
 was announced. J But in the act of recalling the secret emissary, 
 he was informed " that the whole of his letters were transcribing 
 to be sent home, where they could not fail of doing him great 
 credit, and it was hoped they might eventually contribute to his 
 permanent advantage. " To endeavor to realize that hope, the 
 emissary proceeded to London ; all the circumstances of his 
 mission were made known to the British minister ; his services 
 were approved and acknowledged, and he was sent to Canada for 
 a reward, with a recommendatory letter from Lord Liverpool to 
 Sir George Prevost, " stating his lordship s opinion of the ability 
 and judgment which Mr. Henry had manifested on the occasions 
 mentioned in his memorial (his secret and confidential missions), 
 and of the benefit the public service might derive from his active 
 employment in any public situation in which Sir George Prevost 
 might think proper to place him."|| The world will judge, upon 
 these facts, and the rejection of a parliamentary call for the pro 
 duction of the papers relating to them, what credit is due to the 
 prince regent s assertion " that Mr. Henry s mission was under 
 taken without the authority or even knowledge of his Majesty s 
 government." The first mission was certainly known to the 
 British government at the time it occurred, for the secretary of the 
 governor-general expressly states " that the information and 
 political observations heretofore received from Mr. Henry were 
 transmitted by his Excellency to the Secretary of State, who had 
 expressed his particular approbation of them ;"^[ the second 
 mission was approved when it was known ; and it remains for 
 the British government to explain, upon any established prin- 
 
 * See the letter from Mr. Kyland, the secretary of the governor-general, 
 tc Mr. Henry, dated the 26th of January, 1809. 
 
 f See the letter of Sir James Craig to Mr. Henry, dated February 6, 
 1809. 
 
 + See the same letter, and Mr. Ryland s letter of the 26th of January, 
 1809. 
 
 \ See Mr. Ryland s letter, dated the 26th of June, 1809. 
 
 || See the letter from Lord Liverpool to Sir George Prevost, dated the 
 16th of September, 1811. 
 
 \ See Mr. Kyland s letter of the 26th of January, 1809. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 351 
 
 ciples of morality and justice, the essential difference between 
 ordering the offensive acts to be done and reaping the fruit of 
 those acts, without either expressly or tacitly condemning them. 
 
 Again : These hostile attempts upon the peace and union of 
 the United States, preceding the declaration of war, have been 
 followed by similar machinations subsequent to that event. The 
 governor-general of the Canadas has endeavored occasionally, in 
 his proclamations and general orders, to dissuade the militia of 
 the United States from the performance of the duty which they" 
 owed to their injured country ; and the efforts at Quebec and 
 Halifax to kindle the flame of civil war have been as incessant 
 as they have been insidious and abortive. Nay, the governor of 
 the island of Barbadoes, totally forgetful of the boasted article 
 of the British MagnaCharta in favor of foreign merchants found 
 within the British dominions upon the breaking out of hostilities, 
 resolved that every American merchant within his jurisdiction 
 at the declaration of war should at once be treated as a prisoner 
 of war, because every citizen of the United States was enrolled 
 in the militia, because the militia of the United States w r ere re 
 quired to serve their country beyond the limits of the State to 
 which they particularly belonged, and because the militia of " all 
 the States which had acceded to this measure were, in the view 
 of Sir George Beckwith, acting as a French conscription."* 
 
 Again : Nor was this course of conduct confined to the colonial 
 authorities. On the 26th of October, 1812, the British govern 
 ment issued an order in council authorizing the governors of the 
 British West India Islands to grant licenses to American vessels 
 for the importation and exportation of certain articles enumerated 
 in the order ; but in the instructions which accompanied the order 
 it was expressly provided that " whatever importations were pro 
 posed to be made from the United States of America should be, 
 by licenses, confined to the ports in the Eastern States ex 
 clusively, unless there was reason to suppose that the object of 
 the order would not be fulfilled if licenses were not granted for 
 importations from the other ports in the United States. "f 
 
 The President of the United States has not hesitated to place 
 before the nation, with expressions of a just indignation, " the 
 policy of Great Britain thus proclaimed to the world, introducing 
 into her modes of warfare a system equally distinguished by the 
 deformity of its features and the depravity of its character, and 
 having for its object to dissolve the ties of allegiance and the 
 
 * See the remarkable state paper issued by Governor Beckwith, at Bar 
 badoes, on the 13th of November, 1812. 
 
 f See the proclamation of the governor of Bermuda, dated the 14th of 
 January, 1814, and the instructions from the British Secretary for Foreign 
 Affairs, dated November 9, 1812. 
 
352 APPENDICES. 
 
 sentiments of loyalty in the adversary nation, and to seduce and 
 separate its component parts the one from the other."* 
 
 2. Great Britain has violated the laws of humanity and honor 
 by seeking alliances, in the prosecution of the war, with savages, 
 pirates, and slaves. 
 
 The British agency in exciting the Indians at all times to com 
 mit hostilities upon the frontier of the United States is too noto 
 rious to admit of a direct and general denial. It has sometimes, 
 however, been said that such conduct was unauthorized by the 
 British government; and the prince regent, seizing the single 
 instance of an intimation alleged to be given on the part of Sir 
 James Craig, the governor of the Canadas, that an attack was 
 meditated by the Indians, has affirmed that " the charge of ex 
 citing the Indians to offensive measures against the United 
 States was void of foundation; that, before the war began, a 
 policy the most opposite had been uniformly pursued ; and that 
 proof of this was tendered by Mr. Foster to the American gov- 
 ernment."f But is it not known in Europe as well as in America 
 that the British Northwest Company maintain a constant inter 
 course of trade and council with the Indians ; that their interests 
 are often in direct collision with the interests of the inhabitants 
 of the United States, and that by means of the inimical disposi 
 tions and the active agencies of the company (seen, understood, 
 and tacitly sanctioned by the local authorities of Canada) all the 
 evils of an Indian war may be shed upon the United States, 
 without the authority of a formal order emanating immediately 
 from the British government? Hence the American government, 
 in answer to the evasive protestations of the British minister 
 residing at Washington, frankly communicated the evidence of 
 British agency which had been received at different periods since 
 the vear 1807, and observed "that, whatever may have been the 
 disposition of the British government, the conduct of its subor 
 dinate agents had tended to excite the hostility of the Indian 
 tribes towards the United States ; and that, in estimating the 
 comparative evidence on the subject, it was impossible not to 
 recollect the communication lately made respecting the conduct 
 of Sir James Craig in another important transaction (the em 
 ployment of Mr. Henry, as an accredited agent, to alienate and 
 detach the citizens of a particular section of the Union from their 
 
 * See the message from the President to Congress, dated the 24th of 
 February, 1813. 
 
 f See the prince regent s declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. See, 
 also, Mr. Foster s letters to Mr. Monroe, dated the 28th of December, 
 1811, and the 7th and 8th of June, 1812, and Mr. Monroe s answer, dated 
 the 9th of January, 1812, and the 10th of June, 1812, and the documents 
 which accompanied the correspondence. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 353 
 
 government), which, it appeared, was approved by Lord Liver 
 pool."* 
 
 The proof, however, that the British agents and military 
 officers were guilty of the charge thus exhibited becomes con 
 clusive when, subsequent to the communication which was made 
 to the British minister, the defeat and flight of General Proctor s 
 army on the of placed in the possession of the 
 
 American commander the correspondence and papers of the Brit 
 ish officers. Selected from the documents which were obtained 
 upon that occasion, the contents of a few letters will serve to 
 characterize the whole of the mass. In these letters, written 
 by Mr. M Kee, the British agent, to Colonel England, the com 
 mander of the British troops, superscribed " On his Majesty s 
 service," and dated during the months of July and August, 1794, 
 the period of General Wayne s successful expedition against the 
 Indians, it appears that the scalps taken by the Indians were 
 sent to the British establishment at the rapids of the Miami ;f 
 that the hostile operations of the Indians were concerted with 
 the British agents and officers ;J that when certain tribes of In 
 dians " having completed the belts they carried with scalps and 
 prisoners, and being without provisions resolved on going home, 
 it was lamented that his Majesty s posts would derive no security 
 from the late great influx of Indians into that part of the coun 
 try should they persist in their resolution of returning so soon ;" 
 that "the British agents were immediately to hold a council at 
 the Glaze, in order to try if they could prevail on the Lake In 
 dians to remain ; but that without provisions and ammunition 
 being sent to that place it was conceived to be extremely diffi 
 cult to keep them together ;"|| and that Colonel England was 
 making great exertions to supply the Indians with provisions."^]" 
 But the language of the correspondence becomes, at length, so 
 plain and direct that it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion 
 of a governmental agency oil the part of Great Britain in ad 
 vising, aiding, and conducting the Indian war while she pro 
 fessed friendship and peace towards the United States. " Scouts 
 are sent," says Mr. M Kee to Colonel England, " to view the 
 situation of the American army, and we now muster one thou 
 sand Indians. All the Lake Indians, from Sugana downwards, 
 should not lose one moment in joining their brethren, as every 
 
 * See Mr. Monroe s letter to Mr. Foster, dated the 10th of June, 1812. 
 f See the letter from Mr. M Kee to Colonel England, dated the 2d of 
 July, 1794. 
 
 J See the letter from the same to the same, dated the 5th of July, 1794. 
 | See the same letter. 
 || See the same letter. 
 See the same letter. 
 
354 APPENDICES. 
 
 accession of strength is an addition to their spirits."* And 
 again : " I have been employed several days in endeavoring to 
 fix the Indians, who have been driven from their villages and 
 corn-fields, between the fort and the bay. Swan Creek is gen 
 erally agreed upon, and will be a very convenient place for the 
 delivery of provisions, etc."f Whether, under the various 
 proofs of the British agency in exciting Indian hostilities 
 against the United States in a time of peace, presented in the 
 course of the present narrative, the prince regent s declaration 
 that, " before the war began, a policy the most opposite had 
 been uniformly pursued" by the British government, J is to be 
 ascribed to a want of information or a want of candor, the 
 American government is not disposed more particularly to in 
 vestigate. 
 
 But, independent of these causes of just complaint, arising in 
 a time of peace, it will be found that when the war was declared, 
 the alliance of the British government with the Indians was 
 avowed upon principles the most novel, producing consequences 
 the most dreadful. The savages were brought into the war 
 upon the ordinary footing of allies without regard to the inhuman 
 character of their warfare, which neither spares age nor sex, and 
 which is more desperate towards the captive at the stake than 
 even towards the combatant in the field. It seemed to be a stipu 
 lation of the compact between the allies that the British might 
 imitate, but should not control, the ferocity of the savages. While 
 the British troops behold, without compunction, the tomahawk 
 and the scalping-knife brandished against prisoners, old men and 
 children, and even against pregnant women, and while they ex- 
 ultingly accept the bloody scalps of the slaughtered Americans, 
 the Indian exploits in battle are recounted and applauded by the 
 British general orders. Rank and station are assigned to them 
 in the military movements of the British army, and the unhal 
 lowed league was ratified, with appropriate emblems, by inter 
 twining an American scalp with the decorations of the mace, 
 which the commander of the northern army of the United States 
 found in the legislative chamber of York, the capital of Upper 
 Canada. 
 
 * See the letter from Mr. M Kee to Colonel England, dated the 13th of 
 August, 1794. 
 
 f See the letter from the same to the same, dated the 30th of August, 
 1794. 
 
 J See the prince regent s declaration of the 10th of January, 1813. 
 
 \ See the letter from the American G-eneral Harrison to the British 
 General Proctor. See a letter from the British Major Muir, Indian agent, 
 to Colonel Proctor, dated the 26th of September, 1812, and a letter from 
 Colonel St. George to Colonel Proctor, dated the 28th of October, 1812, 
 found among Colonel Proctor s papers. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 355 
 
 In the single scene that succeeded the battle of Frenchtown, 
 near the river Raisin, where the American troops were defeated 
 by the allies, under the command of General Proctor, there will 
 be found concentrated, upon indisputable proof, an illustration of 
 the horrors of the warfare which Great Britain has pursued and 
 still pursues in co-operation with the savages of the South as 
 well as with the savages of the North. The American army 
 capitulated on the 22d of January, 1813; yet, after the faith of 
 the British commander had been pledged in the terms of the ca 
 pitulation, and while the British officers and soldiers silently and 
 exultingly contemplated the scene, some of the American pris 
 oners of war were tomahawked, some were shot, and some were 
 burnt. Many of the unarmed inhabitants of the Michigan ter 
 ritory were massacred ; their property was plundered and their 
 horses were destroyed.* The dead bodies of the mangled Amer 
 icans were exposed, unburied, to be devoured by dogs and swine, 
 " because, as the British officers declared, the Indians would not 
 permit the interment ;"f and some of the Americans who sur 
 vived the carnage had been extricated from danger only by being 
 purchased at a price, as a part of the booty belonging to the In 
 dians. But, to complete this dreadful view of human depravity 
 and human wretchedness, it is only necessary to add that an 
 American physician, who was despatched with a flag of truce 
 to ascertain the situation of his wounded brethren, and two per 
 sons, his companions, were intercepted by the Indians in their 
 humane mission ; the privilege of the flag was disregarded by 
 the British officers ; the physician, after being wounded, and one 
 of his companions were made prisoners, and the third person of 
 the party was killed. J 
 
 But the savage, who had never known the restraints of civil 
 ized life, and the pirate, who had broken the bonds of society, 
 were alike the objects of British conciliation and alliance for the 
 purposes of an unparalleled warfare. A horde of pirates and 
 outlaws had formed a confederacy and establishment on the island 
 of Barrataria, near the mouth of the river Mississippi. Will 
 Europe believe that the commander of the British forces ad 
 dressed the leader of the confederacy from the neutral territory 
 of Pensacola, " calling upon him, with his brave followers, to 
 enter into the service of Great Britain, in which he should have 
 
 * See the report of the committee of the House of Representatives on 
 the 31st of July, 1812, and the depositions and documents accompany 
 ing it. 
 
 f See the official report of Mr. Baker, the agent for the prisoners, to 
 Brigadier-G-eneral Winchester, dated the 26th of February, 1813. 
 
 J In addition to this description of savage warfare under British au 
 spices, see the facts contained in the correspondence between General 
 Harrison and General Drummond. 
 
356 APPENDICES. 
 
 the rank of captain, promising that lands should be given to them 
 all in proportion to their respective ranks, on a peace taking- 
 place, assuring them that their property should be guaranteed 
 and their persons protected, and asking, in return, that they would 
 cease all hostilities against Spain or the allies of Great Britain, 
 and place their ships and vessels under the British commanding 
 officer on the station, until the commander-in-chief s pleasure 
 should be known, with a guarantee of their fair value at all 
 events?"* There wanted only, to exemplify the debasement of 
 such an act, the occurrence that the pirate should spurn the prof 
 fered alliance ; and, accordingly, Lafitte s answer was indignantly 
 given by a delivery of the letter containing the British proposi 
 tion to the American governor of Louisiana. 
 
 There were other sources, however, of support which Great 
 Britain was prompted by her vengeance to employ in opposition 
 to the plainest dictates of her own colonial policy. The events 
 which have extirpated or dispersed the white population of St. 
 Domingo are in the recollection of all men. Although British 
 humanity might not shrink from the infliction of similar calami 
 ties upon the Southern States of America, the danger of that 
 course, either as an incitement to a revolt of the slaves in the 
 British islands or as a cause for retaliation on the part of the 
 United States, ought to have admonished her against its adop 
 tion. Yet, in a formal proclamation issued by the commander- 
 in-chief of his Britannic Majesty s squadrons upon the American 
 station, the slaves of the American planters were invited to join 
 the British standard in a covert phraseology that afforded but a 
 slight veil for the real design. Thus Admiral Cochrane, reciting 
 "that it had been represented to him that many persons now 
 resident in the United States had expressed a desire to withdraw 
 therefrom with a view of entering into his Majesty s service, or 
 of being received as free settlers into some of his Majesty s colo 
 nies," proclaimed that " all those who might be disposed to 
 emigrate from the United States would, with their families, be 
 received on board of his Majesty s ships or vessels of war, or at 
 the military posts that might be established upon or near the 
 coast of the United States, when they would have their choice of 
 either entering into his Majesty s sea or land forces, or of being 
 sent as free settlers to the British possessions in North America 
 or the West Indies, where they would meet with all due encour 
 agement. ^ But even the negroes seem, in contempt or disgust, 
 
 * See the letter addressed by Edward Nichols, lieutenant-colonel com 
 manding his Britannic Majesty s forces in the Floridas, to Monsieur 
 Lafitte, or the commandant at Barrataria, dated the 31st of August, 1814. 
 
 f See Admiral Cochrane s proclamation, dated at Bermuda, the 2d of 
 April, 1814. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 357 
 
 to have resisted the solicitation ; no rebellion or massacre ensued ; 
 and the allegation, often repeated, that in relation to those who 
 were seduced or forced from the service of their masters, instances 
 have occurred of. some being afterwards transported to the Brit 
 ish West India Islands and there sold into slavery for the benefit 
 of the captors, remains without contradiction. So complicated 
 an act of injustice would demand the reprobation of mankind. 
 And let the British government, which professes a just abhor 
 rence of the African slave-trade, which endeavors to impose in 
 that respect restraints upon the domestic policy of France, Spain, 
 and Portugal, answer, if it can, the solemn charge against their 
 faith and their humanity. 
 
 3. Great Britain has violated the laws of civilized warfare by 
 plundering private property ; by outraging female honor ; by 
 burning unprotected cities, towns, villages, and houses ; and by 
 laying waste whole districts of an unresisting country. 
 
 The menace and the practice of the British naval and military 
 force "to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts upon 
 the American coast as might be found assailable," have been 
 excused upon the pretext of retaliation for the wanton destruction 
 committed by the American army in Upper Canada;"* but the 
 fallacy of the pretext has already been exposed. It will be 
 recollected, however, that the act of burning Newark was instan 
 taneously disavowed by the American government ; that it oc 
 curred in December, 1813; and that Sir George Prevost himself 
 acknowledged, on the 10th of February, 1814, that the measure 
 of retaliation for all the previously imputed misconduct of the 
 American troops was then full and complete. f Between the 
 month of February, 1814, when that acknowledgment was made, 
 and the month of August, 1814, when the British admiral s de 
 nunciation was issued, what are the outrages upon the part of 
 the American troops in Canada to justify a call for retaliation ? 
 No ; it was the system, not the incident, of the war ; and intelli 
 gence of the system had been received at Washington from the 
 American agents in Europe, with reference to the operations of 
 Admiral Warren upon the shores of the Chesapeake, long before 
 Admiral Cochrane had succeeded to the command of the British 
 fleet on the American station. 
 
 As an appropriate introduction to the kind of war which Great 
 Britain intended to wage against the inhabitants of the United 
 States, transactions occurred in England under the avowed di 
 rection of the government itself that could not fail to wound the 
 moral sense of every candid and generous spectator. All the 
 
 * See Admiral Cochrane s letter to Mr. Monroe, dated August 18, 1814. 
 f See Sir George Prevost s letter to General Wilkinson, dated the 10th 
 of February, 1814. 
 
358 APPENDICES. 
 
 officers and mariners of the American merchant ships who, hav 
 ing lost their vessels in other places, had gone to England on the 
 way to America, or who had been employed in British merchant 
 ships but were desirous of returning home, or who had been 
 detained in consequence of the condemnation of their vessels 
 under the British orders in council, or who had arrived in Eng 
 land through any of the other casualties of the seafaring life, 
 were condemned to be treated as prisoners of war; nay, some of 
 them were actually impressed while soliciting their passports, 
 although not one of their number had been in any way engaged 
 in hostilities against Great Britain, and although the American 
 government had afforded every facility to the departure of the 
 same class, as well as of every other class, of British subjects 
 from the United States for a reasonable period after the declara 
 tion of war.* But this act of injustice, for which even the pre 
 text of retaliation has not been advanced, was accompanied by 
 another of still greater cruelty and oppression. The American 
 seamen who had been enlisted or impressed into the naval service 
 of Great Britain were long retained, and many of them are yet 
 retained, on board of British ships of war, where they are com 
 pelled to combat against their country and their friends; and 
 even when the British government tardily and reluctantly recog 
 nized the citizenship of impressed Americans to a number exceed 
 ing one thousand at a single naval station, and dismissed them 
 from its service on the water, it was only to immure them as 
 prisoners of war on the shore. These unfortunate persons, who 
 had passed into the power of the British government by a viola 
 tion of their own rights and inclinations as well as of the rights 
 of their country, and who could only be regarded as the spoils of 
 unlawful violence, were nevertheless treated as the fruits of law 
 ful war. Such was the indemnification which Great Britain 
 offered for the wrongs that she had inflicted, and such the reward 
 which she bestowed for services that she had received. f 
 
 Nor has the spirit of British warfare been confined to viola 
 tions of the usages of civilized nations in relation to the United 
 States. The system of blockade, by orders in council, has been 
 revived, and the American coast from Maine to Louisiana has 
 been declared by the proclamation of a British admiral to be in a 
 state of blockade, which every day s observation proves to be prac 
 tically ineffectual, and which, indeed, the whole of the British 
 
 * See Mr. Beasley s correspondence with the British government, in 
 October, November, and December, 1812. See, also, the act of Congress, 
 "passed the 6th of July, 1812. 
 
 f See the letter from Mr. Beasley to Mr. M Leay, dated the 13th of 
 March, 1815. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 359 
 
 navy would be unable to enforce and maintain.* Neither the 
 orders in council, acknowledged to be generally unlawful and 
 declared to be merely retaliatory upon France, nor the Berlin and 
 Milan decrees, which placed the British islands in a state of 
 blockade without the force of a single squadron to maintain it, 
 were in principle more injurious to the rights of neutral com 
 merce than the existing blockade of the United States. The re 
 vival, therefore, of the system, without the retaliatory pretext, 
 must demonstrate to the world a determination on the part of 
 Great Britain to acquire a commercial monopoly by every demon 
 stration of her naval power. The trade of the United States 
 with Russia and with other northern powers, by whose govern 
 ments no edicts violating neutral rights had been issued, was cut 
 off by the operation of the British orders in council of the year 
 1807 as effectually as their trade with France and her allies, 
 although the retaliatory principle was totally inapplicable to the 
 case. And the blockade of the year 1814 is an attempt to destroy 
 the trade of those nations, and, indeed, of all the other nations 
 of Europe, with the United States ; while Great Britain herself, 
 with the same policy and ardor that marked her illicit trade with 
 France when France was her enemy, encourages a clandestine 
 traffic between her subjects and the American citizens wherever 
 her possessions come in contact with the territory of the United 
 States. 
 
 But approaching nearer to the scenes of plunder and violence, 
 of cruelty and conflagration, which the British warfare exhibits 
 on the coast of the United States, it must be again asked, what 
 acts of the American government, of its ships of war, or of its 
 armies had occurred or were even alleged as a pretext for the per 
 petration of this series of outrages ? It will not be asserted that 
 they were sanctioned by the usages of modern war, because the 
 sense of all Europe would revolt at the assertion. It will not be 
 said that they were the unauthorized excesses of the British 
 troops, because scarcely an act of plunder and violence, of cru 
 elty and conflagration, has been committed except in the imme 
 diate presence, under the positive orders, and with the personal 
 agency, of British officers. It must not be again insinuated that 
 they were provoked by the American example, because it has 
 been demonstrated that all such insinuations are without color 
 and without proof. And, after all, the dreadful and disgraceful 
 progress of the British arms will be traced as the effect of that 
 animosity arising out of recollections connected with the Ameri 
 can Revolution, which has already been noticed, or as the effect 
 of that jealousy which the commercial enterprise and native 
 
 * See the successive blockades announced by the British government 
 and the successive naval commanders on the American station. 
 
360 APPENDICES. 
 
 resources of the United States are calculated to excite in the 
 councils of a nation aiming at universal dominion upon the ocean. 
 
 In the month of April, 1813, the inhabitants of Poplar Island, 
 in the bay of Chesapeake, were pillaged, and the cattle and other 
 live stock of the farmers, beyond what the enemy could remove, 
 were wantonly killed * 
 
 In the same month of April, the wharf, the stores, and the 
 fishery at Frenchtown Landing were destroyed, and the private 
 stores and storehouses in the village of Frenchtown were burnt. f 
 
 In the same month of April, the enemy landed repeatedly on 
 Sharp s Island, and made a general sweep of the stock, affecting, 
 however, to pay for a part of it.J 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1813, the town of Havre de Grace was 
 pillaged and burnt by a force under the command of Admiral 
 Cockburn. The British officers being admonished "that with 
 civilized nations at war, private property had always been re 
 spected," hastily replied, "that, as the Americans wanted war, 
 they should now feel its effects ; and that the town should be 
 laid in ashes." They broke the windows of the church, they pur 
 loined the houses of the furniture, they stripped women and 
 children of their clothes; and when an unfortunate female com 
 plained that she could not leave her house with her little children, 
 she was unfeelingly told "that her house should be burnt with 
 herself and her children in it." 
 
 On the Gth of May, 1813, Fredericktown and Georgetown, 
 situated on Sassafras River, in the State of Maryland, were 
 pillaged and burnt, and the adjacent country was laid waste by 
 a force under the command of Admiral Cockburn ; and the officers 
 were the most active on the occasion. || 
 
 On the 22d of June, 1813, the British forces made an attack 
 upon Craney Island, with a view to obtain possession of Norfolk, 
 which the commanding officers had promised, in case of success, 
 to give up to the plunder of the troops. ^f The British were re 
 pulsed ; but, enraged by defeat and disappointment, their course 
 was directed to Hampton, which they entered on the of June. 
 The scene that ensued exceeds all power of description ; and a 
 detail of facts would be offensive to the feelings of decorum as 
 
 * See the deposition of William Sears. 
 
 f See the depositions of Frisby Anderson and Cordelia Pennington. 
 
 j See Jacob Gibson s deposition. 
 
 | See the depositions of William T. Killpatrick, James Wood, Eosanna 
 Moore, and R. Mansfield. 
 
 || See the depositions of John Stavely, William Spencer, Joshua Ward, 
 James Scanlan, Richard Barnaby, F. B. Chandlear, Jonathan Green 
 wood, John Allen, T. Robertson, M. N. Cannon, and J. T. Vearcy. 
 
 ^ See General Taylor s letter to the Secretary at War, dated the 2d of 
 July, 1813. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 361 
 
 well as of humanity. " A defenceless and unresisting town was 
 given up to indiscriminate pillage, though civilized war tolerates 
 this only as to fortified places carried by assault, and after sum 
 mons. Individuals, male and -female, were stripped naked; a 
 sick man was stabbed twice in the hospital ; another sick man 
 was shot in his bed and in the arms of his wife, who was also 
 wounded, long after the retreat of the American troops ; and 
 females the married and the single suffered the extremity of 
 personal abuse from the troops of the enemy, and from the in 
 fatuated negroes, at their instigation."* The fact that these 
 atrocities were committed, the commander of the British fleet, 
 Admiral Warren, and the commander of the British troops, Sir 
 Sidney Beckwith, admitted without hesitation ;f but they re 
 sorted, as on other occasions, to the unworthy and unavailing 
 pretext of a justifiable retaliation. It was said by the British 
 general "that the excesses at Hampton were occasioned by an 
 occurrence at the recent attempt upon Craney Island, when the 
 British troops, in a barge sunk by the American guns, clung to the 
 wreck of the boat ; but several Americans waded off from the 
 island, fired upon, and shot these men." The truth of the assertion 
 was denied ; the act, if it had been perpetrated by the American 
 troops, was promptly disavowed by their commander; and a board 
 of officers appointed to investigate the facts, after stating the 
 evidence, reported "an unbiased opinion, that the charge against 
 the American troops was unsupported ; and that the character of 
 the American soldiery for humanity and magnanimity had not 
 been committed, but, on the contrary, confirmed. "J The result of 
 this inquiry was communicated to the British general; reparation 
 was demanded; but it was soon perceived that, whatever might 
 personally be the liberal dispositions of that officer, no adequate 
 reparation could be made, as the conduct of his troops was 
 directed and sanctioned by his government. 
 
 * See the letters from General Taylor to Admiral Warren, dated the 
 29th of June, 1813 ; to General Sir Sidney Beckwith, dated the 4th and 
 5th of July, 1813; to the Secretary of War, dated the 2d of July, 1813; 
 and to Captain Myers, of the last date. See, also, the letter from Major 
 Crutchfield to Governor Barbour, dated the 20th of June, 1813 ; the letters 
 from Captain Cooper to Lieutenant-Governor Mallory, dated in July, 
 1813 ; the report of Messrs. Griffin and Lively to Major Crutchfielu, 
 dated the 4th of July, 1813 ; and Colonel Parker s publication in the 
 "Enquirer." 
 
 f See Admiral Warren s letter to General Taylor, dated the 29th of 
 June, 1813; Sir Sidney Beckwith s letter to General Taylor, dated the 
 same day ; and the report of Captain Myers to General Taylor, of July 
 2, 1813. 
 
 J See the report of the proceedings of the board of officers appointed 
 by the general order of the 1st of July, 1813. 
 
 | See General Taylor s letter to Sir Sidney Beckwith, dated the 5th of 
 July, 1813 ; and the answer of the following day. 
 
 24 
 
362 APPENDICES. 
 
 During the period of these transactions the village of Lewis- 
 town, near the capes of the Delaware, inhabited chiefly by fisher 
 men and pilots, and the village of Stonington, -seated upon the 
 shores of Connecticut, were unsuccessfully bombarded. Armed 
 parties, led by officers of rank, landed daily from the British 
 squadron, making predatory incursions into the open country, 
 rifling and burning the houses and cottages of peaceable and re 
 tired families, pillaging the produce of the planter and the farmer 
 (their tobacco, their grain, and their cattle) ; committing violence 
 on the persons of the unprotected inhabitants, seizing upon slaves, 
 wherever they could be found, as booty of war; and breaking 
 open the coffins of the dead in search of plunder, or committing 
 robbery on the altars of a church at Chaptico, St. Inagoes, and 
 Tappahannock with a sacrilegious rage. 
 
 But the consummation of British outrage yet remains to be 
 stated, from the awful and imperishable memorials of the capitol 
 at Washington. It has been already observed that the massacre 
 of the American prisoners at the river Raisin occurred in Janu 
 ary, 1813 ; that throughout the same year the desolating warfare 
 of Great Britain, without once alleging a retaliatory excuse, made 
 the shores of the Chesapeake, and of its tributary rivers, a gen 
 eral scene of ruin and distress ; and that, in the month of Febru 
 ary, 1814, Sir George Prevost himself acknowledged that the 
 measures of retaliation, for the unauthorized burning of Newark, 
 in December, 1^13, and for all the excesses which had been im 
 puted to the American army, was at that time full and complete. 
 The United States, indeed, regarding what was due to their own 
 character, rather than what was due to the conduct of their 
 enemy, had forborne to authorize a just retribution; and even 
 disdained to place the destruction of Newark to retaliatory ac 
 count for the general pillage and conflagration which had been 
 previously perpetrated. It was not without astonishment, there 
 fore, that, after more than a year of patient suffering, they heard 
 it announced in August, 1814, that the towns and districts upon 
 their coast were to be destroyed and laid waste in revenge for 
 unspecified and unknown acts of destruction which were charged 
 against the American troops in Upper Canada. The letter of 
 Admiral Cochrane was dated on the 18th, but it was not received 
 until the 31st of August, 1814. In the intermediate time, the 
 enemy debarked a body of about five or six thousand troops at 
 Benedict, on the Patuxent, and, by a sudden and steady march 
 through Bladensburg, approached the city of Washington. 
 This city has been selected for the seat of the American govern 
 ment ; but the number of its houses does not exceed nine hundred, 
 spread over an extensive site; the whole number of its inhabit 
 ants does not exceed eight thousand ; and the adjacent country 
 is thinly populated. Although the necessary precautions had 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAR. 363 
 
 been ordered, to assemble the militia for the defence of the city, 
 a variety of causes combined to render the defence unsuccessful ; 
 and the enemy took possession of Washington on the evening of 
 the 24th of August, 1814. The commanders of the British force 
 held, at that time, Admiral Cochrane s desolating order, although 
 it was then unknown to the government and the people of the 
 United States ; but conscious of the clanger of so distant a sepa 
 ration from the British fleet, and desirous by every plausible 
 artifice to deter the citizens from flying to arms against the in 
 vaders, they disavowed all design of injuring private persons 
 and property, and gave assurances of protection wherever there 
 was submission. General Ross and Admiral Cockburn then 
 proceeded in person to direct and superintend the business of 
 conflagration, in a place which had yielded to their arms, which 
 was unfortified, and by which no hostility was threatened. They 
 set fire to the capitol, within whose walls were contained the 
 halls of the Congress of the United States, the hall of their 
 highest tribunal for the administration of justice, the archives of 
 the legislature, and the national library. They set fire to the 
 edifice which the United States had erected for the residence of 
 their chief magistrate. And they set fire to the costly and ex 
 tensive buildings erected for theaccommodation of the principal 
 officers of the government in the transaction of the public busi 
 ness. These magnificent monuments of the progress of the arts, 
 which America had borrowed from her parent, Europe, with all 
 the testimonials of taste and literature which they contained, 
 were, on the memorable night of the 24th of August, consigned 
 to the flames, while British officers of high rank and command 
 united with their troops in riotous carousals by the light of the 
 burning pile. 
 
 But the character of the incendiary had so entirely superseded 
 the character of the soldier, on this unparalleled expedition, that 
 a great portion of the munitions of war, which had not been 
 consumed when the navy-yard was ordered to be destroyed upon 
 the approach of the British troops, were left untouched ; and an 
 extensive foundry of cannon, adjoining the city of Washington, 
 was left uninjured ; when, in the night of the 25th of August, 
 the army suddenly decamped, and returning with evident marks 
 of precipitation and alarm to their ships, left the interment of 
 their dead and the care of their wounded to the enemy, whom 
 they had thus injured and insulted in violation of the laws of 
 civilized war. 
 
 The counterpart to the scene exhibited by the British army 
 was next exhibited by the British navy. Soon after the midnight 
 flight of General Ross from Washington, a squadron of British 
 ships of war ascended the Potomac, and reached the town of 
 Alexandria on the 2f th of August, 1814. The magistrates, pre- 
 
364 APPENDICES. 
 
 suming that the general destruction of the town was intended, 
 asked on what terms it might be saved. The naval commander 
 declared "that the only conditions in his power to offer were 
 such as not only required a surrender of all naval and ordnance 
 stores (public and private), but of all the shipping, and of all 
 the merchandise in the city, as well as such as had been removed 
 since the 19th of August," The conditions, therefore, amounted 
 to the entire plunder of Alexandria, an unfortified and unresist 
 ing town, in order to save the buildings from destruction. The 
 capitulation was made, and the enemy bore away the fruits of his 
 predatory enterprise in triumph. 
 
 But even while this narrative is passing from the press, a new 
 retaliatory pretext has been formed to cover the disgrace of the 
 scene which was transacted at Washington. In the address of 
 the governor-in-chief to the provincial parliament of Canada, on 
 the 24th of January, 1815, it is asserted, in ambiguous language, 
 vi that as a just retribution, the proud capitol at Washington has 
 experienced a similar fate to that inflicted by an American force 
 on the seat of government in Upper Canada." The town of 
 York, in Upper Canada, was taken by the American army, under 
 the command of General Dearborn, on the 27th of April, 1813,* 
 and it was evacuated on the succeeding 1st of May, although it 
 was again visited for a day by an American squadron, under 
 the command of Commodore Chauncy, on the 4th of August. f 
 At the time of the capture, the enemy, on his retreat, set fire to 
 his magazine, and the injury produced by the explosion was 
 great and extensive ; but neither then nor on the visit of Com 
 modore Chauncy, was any edifice which had been erected for 
 civil uses destroyed by the authority of the military or the naval 
 commander ; and the destruction of such edifices by any part of 
 their force would have been a direct violation of the positive 
 order s which they had issued. On both occasions, indeed, the 
 public stores of the enemy were authorized to be seized, and 
 his public storehouses to be burnt ; but it is known that private 
 persons, houses, and property were left uninjured. If, therefore, 
 Sir George Prevost deems such acts inflicted on " the seat of 
 government in Upper Canada" similar to the acts which were 
 perpetrated at Washington, he has yet to perform the task of 
 tracing the features of similarity ; since at Washington, the 
 public edifices which had been erected for civil uses were alone 
 destroyed, while the munitions of war and the foundries of 
 cannon remained untouched. 
 
 * See the letters from General Dearborn to the Secretary of War, dated 
 the 27th and 28th of April, 1813. 
 
 f See the letter from Commodore Chauncy to the Secretary of the 
 ^"avy, dated the 4th of August, 1813. 
 
CAUSES, ETC. OF THE WAE. 365 
 
 If, however, it be meant to affirm that the public edifices, occu 
 pied by the legislature, by the chief magistrate, by the courts of 
 justice, and by the civil functionaries of the province of Upper 
 Canada, with the provincial library, were destroyed by the 
 American force, it is an occurrence which has never been before 
 presented to the view of the American government by its own 
 officers, as matter of information, nor by any of the military or 
 civil authorities of Canada, as matter of complaint; it is an 
 occurrence which no American commander had in any degree 
 authorized or approved, and it is an occurrence which the 
 American government would have censured and repaired with 
 equal promptitude and liberality. 
 
 But a tale told thus out of date, for a special purpose, cannot 
 command the confidence of the intelligent and the candid auditor, 
 for even if the fact of conflagration be true, suspicion must 
 attend the cause for so long a concealment with motives so 
 strong for an immediate disclosure. When Sir George Prevost, 
 in February, 1814, acknowledged that the measure of retaliation 
 was full and complete for all the preceding misconduct imputed 
 to the American troops, was he not apprised of every fact which 
 had occurred at York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the 
 months of April and August, 1813 ? Yet, neither then, n,or at 
 any antecedent period, nor until the 24th of January, 1815 was 
 the slightest intimation given of the retaliatory pretext which 
 is now offered. When the admirals Warren and Cochrane were 
 employed in pillaging and burning the villages on the shores of 
 the Chesapeake, were not all the retaliatory pretexts for the bar 
 barous warfare known to those commanders ? And yet " the 
 fate inflicted by an American force on the seat of government in 
 Upper Canada" was never suggested in justification or excuse ? 
 And finally, when the expedition was formed in August, 1814, 
 for the destruction of the public edifices at Washington, was not 
 the " similar fate which had been inflicted by an American force 
 on the seat of government in Upper Canada" known to Admiral 
 Cochrane as well as to Sir George Prevost, who called upon the 
 admiral (it is alleged) to carry into effect measures of retaliation 
 against the inhabitants of the United States ? And yet both 
 the call and the compliance are founded (not upon the destruc 
 tion of the public edifices at York, but) upon the wanton destruc 
 tion committed by the American army in Upper Canada upon 
 the inhabitants of the province, for whom alone reparation was 
 demanded. 
 
 An obscurity, then, dwells upon the fact alleged by Sir George 
 Prevost which has not been dissipated by inquiry. Whether any 
 public edifice was improperly destroyed at York, or at what 
 period the injury was done, if done at all, and by what hand it 
 was inflicted, are points that ought to have been stated when 
 
366 APPENDICES. 
 
 the charge was made ; surely it is enough, on the part of the 
 American government, to repeat that the fact alleged was never 
 before brought to its knowledge for investigation, disavowal, or 
 reparation. The silence of the military and civil officers of the 
 provincial government of Canada indicates, too, a sense of shame, 
 or a conviction of the injustice of the present reproach. It is 
 known that there could have been no other public edifice for civil 
 uses destroyed in Upper Canada than the house of the provincial 
 legislature, a building of so little cost and ornament as hardly 
 to merit consideration, and certainly affording neither parallel 
 nor apology for the conflagration of the splendid structures which 
 adorned the metropolis of the United States. If, however, that 
 house was indeed destroyed, may it not have been an accidental 
 consequence of the confusion in which the explosion of the maga 
 zine involved the town ? Or perhaps it was hastily perpetrated 
 by some of the enraged troops in the moment of anguish for the 
 loss of a beloved commander and their companions, who had 
 been killed by that explosion, kindled, as it was, by a defeated 
 enemv, for the sanguinary and unavailing purpose. Or, in fine, 
 some suffering individual, remembering the slaughter of his 
 brethren at the river Raisin, and exasperated by the spectacle 
 of a human scalp, suspended in the legislative chamber, over the 
 seat of the speaker, may, in the paroxysm of his vengeance, have 
 applied, unauthorized and unseen, the torch of vengeance and. 
 destruction. 
 
 Many other flagrant instances of British violence, pillage, and 
 conflagration, in defiance of the laws of civilized hostilities, might 
 be added to the catalogue which has been exhibited ; but the 
 enumeration would be superfluous, and it is time to close so 
 painful an exposition of the causes and character of the war. 
 The exposition had become necessary to repel and refute the 
 charges of the prince regent, when, by his declaration of Janu 
 ary, 1813, he unjustly states the United States to be the aggress 
 ors in" the war, and insultingly ascribes the conduct of the 
 American government to the influence of French councils. It 
 was also necessary to vindicate the course of the United States 
 in the prosecution of the war, and to expose to the view of the 
 world the barbarous system of hostilities which the British 
 government has pursued. Having accomplished these purposes, 
 the American government recurs with pleasure to a contempla 
 tion of its early and continued efforts for the restoration of peace. 
 Notwithstanding the pressure of the recent wrongs, and the un 
 friendly and illiberal disposition which Great Britain has at all 
 times manifested towards them, the United States have never 
 indulged sentiments incompatible with the reciprocity of good 
 will and an intercourse of mutual benefit and advantage. They 
 can never repine at seeing the British nation great, prosperous, 
 
MILITARY PEACE ESTABLISHMENT. 367 
 
 i 
 
 and happy, safe in its maritime rights, and powerful in its means 
 of maintaining- them ; but, at the same time, they can never 
 cease to desire that the councils of Great Britain should be 
 guided \>j justice and a respect for the equal rights of other 
 nations. Her maritime power may extend to all the legitimate 
 objects of her sovereignty and her commerce, without endanger 
 ing the independence and peace of every other government. A 
 balance of power, in this respect, is as necessary on the ocean 
 as on the land ; and the control that it gives to the nations of the 
 world over the actions of each other, is as salutary in its opera 
 tion to the individual government which feels it as to all the 
 governments by which, on the just principles of mutual support 
 and defence, it may be exercised. On fair and equal and honor 
 able terms, therefore, peace is at the choice of Great Britain ; 
 but if she still determine upon war, the United States, reposing 
 upon the justness of their cause, upon the patriotism of their 
 citizens, upon the distinguished valor of their land and naval 
 forces, and, above all, upon the dispensations of a beneficent 
 Providence, are ready to maintain the contest for the preserva 
 tion of the national independence with the same energy and for 
 titude which were displayed in acquiring it. 
 WASHINGTON, February 10, 1815. 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITARY PEACE ESTAB 
 LISHMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 DEPARTMENT or WAR, May 17th, 1815. 
 
 The act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, declares "that 
 the military peace establishment of the United States shall 
 consist of such proportions of artillery, infantry, and riflemen, 
 not exceeding, in the whole, ten thousand men, as the President 
 of the United States shall judge proper; that the corps of en 
 gineers, as at present established, be retained ; and that the Pres 
 ident of the United States cause to be arranged the officers, non 
 commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the several 
 corps of troops in the service of the United States, iti such 
 manner as to form and complete out of the same the corps au 
 thorized by this act; and that he cause the supernumerary officers, 
 non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates to be dis 
 charged from the service of the United States, from and after the 
 first day of May next, or as soon as circumstances may permit." 
 
368 APPENDICES. 
 
 The President of the United States, having performed the 
 duty which the law assigned to him, has directed that the organ 
 ization of the military peace establishment be announced in 
 general orders ; and that the supernumerary officers, non-com 
 missioned officers, musicians, and privates be discharged from the 
 service of the United States, as soon as the circumstances which 
 are necessary for the payment and discharge of the troops will 
 permit. 
 
 But on this important and interesting occasion, the President 
 of the United States is aware that he owes to the feelings of the 
 nation, as well as to his own feelings, an expression of the high 
 sense entertained of the services of the American army. Leaving 
 the scenes of private life, the citizens became the soldiers of the 
 United States ; the spirit of a genuine patriotism quickly pervaded 
 the military establishment; and the events of the war have con 
 spicuously developed the moral as well as the physical character 
 of an army, in which every man seems to have deemed himself 
 the chosen champion of his country. 
 
 The pacific policy of the American government, the domestic 
 habits of the people, and a long sequestration from the use of 
 arms will justly account for the want of warlike preparation, for 
 an imperfect state of discipline, and for various other sources of 
 embarrassment or disaster which existed at the commencement 
 of hostilities ; but to account for the achievements of the Amer 
 ican army in all their splendor, and for its efficient acquirements 
 in every important branch of the military art during a war of 
 little more than two years continuance, it is necessary to resort 
 to that principle of action which, in a free country, identifies the 
 citizen with his government, impels each individual to seek the 
 knowledge that is requisite for the performance of his duty, and 
 renders every soldier in effect a combatant in his own cause. 
 
 The President of the United States anticipated from the career 
 of an army thus constituted all the glory and the fruits of vic 
 tory; and it has been his happiness to see a just war terminated 
 by an honorable peace, after such demonstrations of valor, genius, 
 and enterprise as secure for the land and naval forces of the United 
 States an imperishable renown ; for the citizens the best pros 
 pect of an undisturbed enjoyment of their rights; and for the 
 government the respect and confidence of the world. 
 
 To the American army, which has so nobly contributed to 
 these results, the President of the United States presents this 
 public testimonial of approbation and applause, at the moment 
 when many of its gallant officers and men must unavoidably be 
 separated from the standard of their country. Under all govern 
 ments, and especially under all free governments, the restoration 
 of peace has uniformly produced a reduction of the military es 
 tablishment. The United States disbanded, in 1800, the troops 
 
MILITARY PEACE ESTABLISHMENT. 369. 
 
 which had been raised on account of the differences with France, 
 and the memorable peace of 1783 was followed by a discharge of 
 the illustrious Army of the Revolution. The frequency or the 
 necessity of the occurrence does not, however, deprive it of its 
 interest ; and the dispersion of the military family at this junc 
 ture, under circumstances peculiarly affecting, cannot fail to 
 awaken all the sympathies of the generous and the just. 
 
 The difficulty of accomplishing a satisfactory organization of 
 the military peace establishment has been anxiously felt. The 
 act of Congress contemplates a small but an effective force, and, 
 consequently, the honorable men, whose years or infirmities or 
 wounds render them incapable of further service in active war 
 fare, are necessarily excluded from the establishment. The act 
 contemplates a reduction of the army from many to a few regi 
 ments, and, consequently, a long list of meritorious officers must 
 inevitably be laid aside. But the attempt has been assiduously 
 made to collect authentic information from every source as a 
 foundation for an impartial judgment on the various claims to 
 attention; and, even while a decision is pronounced, the Presi 
 dent of the United States desires it may be distinctly understood, 
 that from the designation of the officers who are retained in ser 
 vice, nothing more is to be inferred than his approbation of the 
 designated individuals, without derogating in any degree from 
 the fame and worth of those whose lot it is to retire. 
 
 The American army of the war of 1812 has hitherto success 
 fully emulated the patriotism and the valor of the army of the war 
 of 1776. The closing scene of the example remains alone to be 
 performed. Having established the independence of their coun 
 try, the Revolutionary warriors cheerfully returned to the walks 
 of civil life; many of them became the benefactors and orna 
 ments of society in the prosecution of various arts and profes 
 sions ; and all of them, as well as the veteran few who survive 
 the lapse of time, have been the objects of grateful recollection 
 and of constant regard. It is for the American army now dis 
 solved to pursue the same honorable course, in order to enjoy the 
 same inestimable reward. The hope may be respectfully in 
 dulged that the beneficence of the legislative authority will beam 
 upon suffering merit ; an admiring nation will unite the civic 
 with the martial honors which adorn its heroes, and posterity, 
 in its theme of gratitude, will indiscriminately praise the pro 
 tectors and the founders of American independence. 
 By order of the President of the United States. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, 
 Acting Secretary of War. 
 
3TO APPENDICES. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF WAR, 8th of April, 1815. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, The President of the United States has 1 re 
 quested your attendance at Washington with a view to the aid 
 which your experience and information enable you to afford, in 
 forming the military peace establishment, according to the direc 
 tions of the act of Congress passed on the 3d of March, 1815. 
 I have the honor, therefore, of calling your attention to this inter 
 esting and important business; and to request an early report 
 upon the following points, premising that your report will be 
 considered as an authentic source of information, to which a just 
 respect will be paid in all future deliberations upon the subject : 
 
 1. The organization of the army. 
 
 2. The selection of the officers. 
 
 3. The military stations. 
 
 I. The Organization of the Army. 
 
 The act of Congress declares that the military peace establish 
 ment of the United States shall consist of proportions of artillery, 
 infantry, and riflemen, not exceeding in the whole ten thousand 
 men ; and that the corps of engineers as at present established 
 be retained. 
 
 Upon full consideration of the terms of the act and of the mili 
 tary interpretation given to similar terms on other occasions, the 
 President is of opinion that the military peace establishment, so 
 far as it is composed of artillery, infantry, and riflemen, is to con 
 sist of the number of ten thousand men, exclusively of officers, 
 non-commissioned officers, and musicians; and you will be pleased 
 to conform in your report to that opinion. 
 
 The proportions of artillery, infantry, and riflemen to compose 
 the military peace establishment of ten thousand men are re 
 ferred to your consideration ; and you will be pleased in your 
 report to furnish the necessary details for forming the establish 
 ment into brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies. But 
 it is proper to observe that special provision is made by law for 
 the organization of the corps of artillery as prescribed in the act 
 of the 30th of March, 1814; for the organization of the regiment 
 of light artillery as prescribed in the act of the 12th of April, 
 1808 ; and for the organization of the regiments of infantry and 
 riflemen as prescribed in the act of the 3d of March, 1815. 
 
 The law has also specially provided that there shall be four 
 brigade inspectors, four brigade quartermasters, and such num 
 ber of hospital surgeons and surgeons mates as the service may 
 require, not exceeding five surgeons and fifteen mates, with 
 one steward and one wardmaster, to each hospital. But the 
 brigade inspectors are to be taken from the line, and the brigade 
 quartermasters, as well as adjutants, regimental quartermasters, 
 and paymasters, are to be taken from the subalterns of the line. 
 
MILITARY PEACE ESTABLISHMENT. 371 
 
 II. The Selection of the Officers. 
 
 The reduction of the military establishment to the number of 
 ten thousand men indicates the intention of Congress to be. that 
 the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates should be 
 selected and arranged in such a manner as to form and complete 
 an effective corps. It is, undoubtedly, a painful task to make a 
 discrimination which affects the interest and possibly the sub 
 sistence of honorable men whose misfortune it is by age, by in 
 firmities, or by wounds to be disabled from rendering further 
 service to their country ; but the task must be performed by those 
 who are charged with the execution of the law, leaving the relief 
 which may be justly claimed by suffering merit to the beneficent 
 care of the legislative authority. 
 
 It is the opinion of the President, therefore, that in the selec 
 tion of the officers to be retained upon the military peace estab 
 lishment, those only should be recommended in your report for 
 his approbation who are at this time competent to engage an 
 enemy in the field of battle. 
 
 The number of field officers now in service amounts to two 
 hundred and sixteen, and the number of regimental officers now 
 in service amounts to two thousand and fifty-five. Of the former 
 about thirty-nine, and of the latter about four hundred and fifty, 
 can be retained in service according to the provisions of the act 
 of Congress for fixing the military peace establishment. In every 
 grade of appointment almost every officer has gallantly performed 
 his duty. It is obvious, therefore, that with respect to the field 
 officers and the regimental officers, as well as with respect to the 
 general officers, men of high military merit must unavoidably be 
 omitted in the present organization of the army. It has not been, 
 and it never can be, under such circumstances, a mark of disre 
 spect or a subject of reproach to omit the name of any officer ; 
 and the President wishes it may be distinctly understood that 
 from the selection of officers nothing more ought to be inferred 
 than his approbation of the selected individuals, without dero 
 gating in any degree from the reputation and worth of others. 
 
 It is the President s desire upon this important point that dis 
 tinguished military merit and approved moral character should 
 form the basis of all the selections which your report shall sub 
 mit to his consideration. Where, in these respects, the claims of 
 officers are equal, length of service, a capacity for civil pursuits, 
 and the pecuniary situation of the parties may justly furnish 
 considerations to settle the question. And where neither direct 
 nor collateral circumstances exist by which your judgment can be 
 fixed, you will find a reasonable satisfaction, perhaps, in referring 
 the decision in this case, as is done in many similar cases, to the 
 chance of a lottery ; or you may submit a recommendatory list, 
 
372 APPENDICES. 
 
 leaving the selection entirely to the executive. Great pains have 
 been taken to collect and preserve the testimonials of military 
 merit; and these, with all the other documents of the department 
 which can assist your inquiries, will be confidentially placed be 
 fore you. It is not doubted, therefore, that your report will be as 
 advantageous to the government as it will be just to the army. 
 A result at once impartial and effective will not only correspond 
 with the President s views, but must command the approbation 
 of every honorable mind ; and it is, in particular, believed that 
 an appeal may be confidently made in the performance of so ar 
 duous a duty to the candor of your military brethren, whatever 
 may be their personal disappointment or regret. 
 
 III. The Military Stations. 
 
 The general division of the United States into a department 
 of the north and a department of the south, with a subdivision 
 into convenient districts, including in each department a major- 
 general, two brigadier-generals, and a proper proportion of the 
 army, will probably be attended with practical advantages, and 
 it is therefore referred to your consideration. 
 
 The assignment of a competent garrison to the existing forts 
 and military stations, and an apportionment of the troops to the 
 districts according to the service which may be required, will 
 engage your particalar attention. But it has been suggested that 
 some of the regiments have obtained a local character from the 
 residence of the officers, the enlistment of the men, and the scene 
 of service during the war. If, therefore, you should deem it 
 practicable and useful both in the selection of officers and in the 
 assignment of stations to the troops, to regard that character of 
 locality, you will be pleased to report accordingly. 
 
 There are other important subjects connected with the execu 
 tion of the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, wlich I 
 may hereafter have occasion to lay before you ; but the points 
 of this communication being of immediate urgency, I shall at 
 present close the general views which I have taken of them with 
 an assurance that you may command all the information and as 
 sistance that it is in my power to give. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, gentlemen, your most 
 obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, Acting Secretary of War. 
 
 Major-Generals BROWN, JACKSON, SCOTT, GAINES, MACOMB, 
 and RIPLEY. 
 
MILITARY PEACE ESTABLISHMENT. 373 
 
 DEPARTMENT or WAR, April 17, 1815. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, I proceed to state some additional views con 
 nected with the execution of the act of Congress fixing the mili 
 tary peace establishment. 
 
 I. Corps belonging to the army which are not expressly re 
 tained by the provisions of the act are to be discharged. 
 The corps expressly provided for are : 
 
 1. The corps of artillery. 
 
 2. The regiment of light artillery. 
 
 3. The corps of engineers. 
 
 4. "Regiments of infantry and riflemen. 
 The corps not provided for are : 
 
 1. The regiment of light dragoons. 
 
 2. The Canadian volunteers. 
 
 3. The sea fencibles. 
 
 II. The officers of the general staff employed in the command, 
 discipline, and duties of the army who are not expressly retained 
 by the provisions of the act, are to be discharged. 
 
 The officers provided for are : 
 
 1. Two major-generals, with two aids-de-camp each. 
 
 2. Four brigadier-generals, with one aid-de-camp each. 
 
 3. Four brigade inspectors. 
 
 4. Four brigade quartermasters. 
 The officers not provided for are : 
 
 1. All the general officers except the six above mentioned. 
 
 2. All the officers of the adjutant-general s department. 
 
 3. All the officers of the inspector-general s department, four 
 brigade inspectors being substituted. 
 
 4. All the officers of the quartermaster s department, four bri 
 gade quartermasters being substituted. 
 
 5. All the officers of the topographical department. 
 
 III. Departments which do not form a constituent part of the 
 army are preserved, except so far as the act of Congress, by 
 express provision or by necessary implication, introduces an 
 alteration. 
 
 1. The Ordnance Department is preserved. It is a distinct 
 establishment, with a view to a state of peace as well as a state 
 of war. It is not affected by any express provision in the act 
 of Congress, and it is an object of the appropriations made for 
 the military peace establishment. 
 
 2. The Purchasing Department is preserved for similar rea 
 sons. 
 
 3. The Pay Department is preserved with specific modifica 
 tions. The act of Congress expressly provides for the appoint 
 ment of regimental paymasters. The office of district paymaster 
 
374 APPENDICES. 
 
 and assistant district paymaster is abolished ; but the act of the 
 18th of April, 1814, which continues in force for one year after 
 the war, is not repealed, nor affected in any other manner than 
 has been mentioned by the act of the 3d of March, 1815. It is 
 seen, therefore, that the act of the 16th of March, 1802, fixing 
 the military establishment, constituted the office of paymaster of 
 the army, seven paymasters, and two assistants ; and that the 
 act of the 18th of April, 1814, recognizes the office of paymaster 
 of the army, and, in lieu of a monthly compensation, allows the 
 paymaster an annual salary of two thousand dollars, payable 
 quarterly at the treasury. The former act is of indefinite con 
 tinuance, and the latter will continue in force until the 17th of 
 February, 1816. Nor does the act of the 3d of March, 1815, 
 affect the office of deputy paymaster-general ; the act of the 6th 
 of July, 1812, providing that to any army of the United States, 
 other than that in which the paymaster of the army shall serve, 
 the President may appoint one deputy paymaster-general, to be 
 taken from the line of the army, and each deputy shall have a 
 competent number of assistants. 
 
 4. The Office of Judge Advocate is preserved. The act of the 
 llth of January, 1812, provides that there shall be appointed to 
 each division a judge advocate. The act of the 3d of March, 
 1815, neither expressly nor by necessary implication repeals that 
 provision. 
 
 5. The Chaplains are preserved. The act of the llth of Jan 
 uary, 1812, provides that there shall be appointed to each brigade 
 one chaplain. The act of the 3d of March, 1815, neither ex 
 pressly nor by necessary implication repeals that provision. 
 
 6. The Hospital Department is not preserved. The act of the 
 3d of March, 1815, provides for regimental surgeons and sur 
 geons mates, and for such number of hospital surgeons and sur 
 geons mates as the service may require, not exceeding five sur 
 geons and fifteen mates, with one steward and one wardmaster 
 to each hospital. From this specific arrangement it is necessa 
 rily implied that the physician and surgeon-general, the assistant 
 apothecaries general, and all the hospital surgeons and surgeons 
 mates, except the above specified number, are to be discharged. 
 The physician and surgeon-general and the apothecary-general 
 were appointed the better to superintend the medical and hos 
 pital establishment of the army of the United States under the 
 act of the 3d of March, 1813 ; and the act of the 30th of March, 
 1814, authorized the President to appoint so many assistant 
 apothecaries as the service might in his judgment require. The 
 occasion for the appointments under both acts has ceased ; and 
 the act of the 3d of March, 1815, meant to provide a substitute 
 for the whole department, according to the demands of the peace 
 establishment. 
 
MILITARY PEACE ESTABLISHMENT. 375 
 
 7. The Military Academy is preserved. The act of the 3d of 
 March, 1815, provides that the corps of engineers, as at present 
 established, shall be retained. By the act of the 16th of March, 
 1802, ten cadets were assigned to the corps of engineers; by 
 the act of the 29th of April, 1812, the cadets, whether of artil 
 lery, cavalry, riflemen, or infantry, were limited to the number 
 of two hundred and fifty, who might be attached by the Presi 
 dent as students to the military academy ; but the act of the 3d 
 of March, 1815, declares that the regiment of light artillery shall 
 have the same organization as is prescribed by the act passed the 
 12th of April, 1808, and by that act two cadets are to be attached 
 to each company. It is therefore to be considered that there are 
 two hundred and fifty cadets attached to the military academy 
 under the establishment of the act of the 29th of April, 1812, 
 and twenty cadets attached to the regiment of light artillery. 
 
 Upon this analysis of the act of Congress for fixing the mili 
 tary peace establishment, the President wishes to receive any 
 information which you think will tend to promote the public 
 service in reference to the following inquiries : 
 
 1. The best arrangements to adapt to the peace establishment 
 the ordnance department, the purchasing department, the pay 
 department, and the military academy. 
 
 2. The arrangements best adapted to render the medical estab 
 lishment competent to the garrison as well as to the regimental 
 service. 
 
 It is obvious that considerable difficulty will arise if the adju 
 tant-general s and the quartermaster-general s departments should 
 be immediately and entirely abolished, and if the garrison sur 
 geons should be immediately discharged. The President is de 
 sirous to execute the act of Congress, as far as it is practicable 
 and safe, on the 1st of May next ; but he is disposed to take the 
 latitude which the act allows in cases that clearly require a con 
 tinuance of the offices for the necessary public service. You will 
 be pleased therefore to state, 
 
 1. Whether, in your judgment, the continuance of the office of 
 adjutant and inspector-general is necessary for the public service. 
 
 2. Whether, in your judgment, the continuance of any and 
 which of the offices in the quartermaster s department is neces 
 sary for the public service. 
 
 3. Whether, in your judgment, the continuance of any and 
 which of the offices in the medical department, not expressly 
 provided for by the law, is necessary for the public service. 
 
 I have the honor to be, gentlemen, very respectfully, your 
 most obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, Acting Secretary of War. 
 
 Major-Generals BROWN, JACKSON, SCOTT, GAINES, MACOMB, 
 and KIPLEY. 
 
376 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF WAR, 12th of May, 1815. 
 
 The Acting Secretary of War has the honor to submit to the 
 President of the United States the following report : 
 
 That the act of Congress, entitled "An act fixing the military 
 peace establishment of the United States," passed on the 3d of 
 March, 1815, provided that, after the corps constituting the peace 
 establishment was formed and completed, the supernumerary 
 officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates should 
 be discharged from the service of the United States from and 
 after the first day of May ensuing the date of the act, or as soon 
 as circumstances might permit. But it was soon found imprac 
 ticable to obtain from all the military districts the information 
 which was requisite to do justice to the army and to the nation 
 in reducing the military establishment from a force of (sixty ?) 
 thousand men to a force of ten thousand men so early as the first 
 of May. And it is obvious that circumstances do not even yet 
 permit the entire reduction contemplated by the act of Congress 
 with regard to the settlement of the numerous accounts depend 
 ing in the quartermaster, commissary, and pay departments, and 
 the medical care of the troops at the many military stations to 
 which they must be apportioned. 
 
 That having, however, diligently collected from every proper 
 source of information the necessary materials for deciding upon 
 the various subjects involved in the execution of the act of Con 
 gress, and having obtained from the board of general officers 
 convened at Washington the most valuable assistance, the Act 
 ing Secretary of War respectfully lays the result before the Pres 
 ident of the United States in the form of four general orders, to 
 be issued from this department : 
 
 No. 1. A general order announcing the military divisions and 
 departments of the United States, the corps and regiments con 
 stituting the military peace establishment, and the distribution 
 and apportionment of the troops. 
 
 No. 2. A general order announcing the army register for the 
 peace establishment, including the officers provisionally retained 
 in service, until circumstances shall permit their discharge. 
 
 No. 3. A general order directing the supernumerary officers 
 non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates to be paid, 
 and discharging them from the service of the United States, on 
 the 15th day of June next, or as soon thereafter as the payment 
 can be completed, provided, 1st, that such officers of every rank 
 as may be necessary to supply vacancies created by resignations 
 on the first organization of the corps and regiments for the peace 
 establishment shall be deemed to be in service for that purpose 
 alone ; and 2d, that paymasters, quartermasters, commissaries, 
 and other officers who have been charged with the disbursement 
 of public money, shall be deemed to be in service for the single 
 
LETTERS OF MR. S. DUPONOEAU. 377 
 
 purpose of rendering their accounts for settlement within a rea 
 sonable time. 
 
 No. 4. A general order requiring the major-generals to assume 
 the command of their respective divisions, and to proceed to form 
 and distribute the corps and regiments for their respective com 
 mands, according to the system announced for the military peace 
 establishment. 
 
 All which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, Acting Secretary of War. 
 
 The President of the United States. 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 Approved May 15, 1815. 
 
 LETTEES OF MK. STEPHEN DUPONCEAU. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 23 October, 1814. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Permit me to offer you my most sincere con 
 gratulations on the brilliant manner in which yon have entered 
 on the duties of your new office. I expected it of you, and my 
 hopes have not been disappointed. Genius is always in its 
 proper place where there are difficulties to overcome and re 
 sources to be created. The plan contained in your excellent 
 report does both. As far as I have been able to see, it meets 
 with the approbation of all reflecting men. It is traced with the 
 steadiness of a master s hand. You have probed to the quick 
 the festering wounds of our financial system, and discarding 
 palliatives and nostrums, you have pointed out a severe, but the 
 only remedy, from which success may be reasonably hoped. 
 Your reasoning on the indispensable necessity of adopting the 
 bank system is conclusive, and were the point of constitution 
 ality still doubtful, it must be practically construed. And who 
 can hesitate to adopt that construction which the safety of the 
 state imperiously requires ? I hope the subject, after so fatally 
 encountering theoretical difficulties, will not now strike on prac 
 tical ones. You have a sea full of shoals to steer your bark 
 through, and I trust in the skill of the pilot and in" the good 
 sense of the moneyed men of the nation. 
 
 25 
 
378 APPENDICES. 
 
 ii. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, 2 November, 1814. 
 
 DEAR SIR, To the pleasure which I always feel in receiving 
 a letter from you, you have abided flattering expressions of 
 esteem which elevate my pride, and a full and satisfactory 
 answer to my little personal requests : so that you have made 
 the favor as complete as it could be. I feel it as I ought, and, 
 " cum tot sustineas et tanta negotia," I shall not expect, nay, 
 as a good patriot, I shall not wish to divert you from the impor 
 tant affairs trusted to your care to advert to my idle correspond 
 ence. I shall only not despair that at some of the least busy 
 moments (if such there are) you will recollect that the great Fred 
 erick sometimes relaxed his mind by writing to his literary friends. 
 
 For my part, if I occasionally address you, it will be princi 
 pally to remind you of my constant attachment. You are polite 
 enough to ask for my opinions and advice. The latter you do 
 not want, and as for my opinions, you must first "commit some 
 faults," and then they will be at your service. A continued 
 strain of approbation would be so much like flattery that it 
 would be as disgusting to you as irksome to me. It will not be, 
 I hope, considered in that light, when I tell you with the great 
 est truth that the measures of the administration in general, and 
 those which are more peculiarly to be ascribed to you, appear to 
 me to be well adapted to, and commensurate with, the exigencies 
 of the times, and bear that stamp of decision and grandeur 
 which becomes the nation which has honored you with its most 
 important trusts. As to the war and its concerns, you have 
 very properly considered that a powerful enemy is only to be 
 resisted by force, and that force consists of men and money. As 
 to the mere internal concerns of the state, you have also been 
 convinced that the intrigues of faction are to be counteracted 
 only by the exertion of the legal authority, in the form of great 
 and comprehensive measures affecting all the citizens alike, but 
 calculated to operate on the malcontents so as ultimately to de 
 feat their purposes. I therefore wish success to all your plans, 
 convinced as I am that it is by them, and by them only, that the 
 country is to be saved. 
 
 You do not expect, I imagine, to find your path strewed with 
 roses. I am told that your bank system is to meet with opposi 
 tion from a quarter whence it should not be expected. I hope it 
 will not be so, and that the casuists will dispel their ill-timed 
 scruples. Here I have heard of no objections to the plan, ex 
 cept to such of its details as seem most particularly to affect 
 party feelings, such as the nomination by our executive of the 
 president of the institution. Candid Federalists acknowledge 
 
LETTERS OF ME. S. DUPONCEAU. 379 
 
 that the administration has a right to be represented in the di 
 rection, though some have expressed a wish that provision 
 should be made for the case of government parting with all its 
 stock, as it has done once before. Then, say they, the adminis 
 tration, ceasing to be a stockholder, would cease to be entitled 
 to a representation. There are obvious answers to this reason 
 ing, drawn from other parts of the system ; but I give you the 
 objection as it is made. The public debt rose some days ago to 
 80. I have not heard of its having risen since. I believe it is at 
 present at a stand. There will be intrigues, no doubt, to prevent 
 the moneyed men from subscribing, but if I can venture an opinion, 
 a firm and decided perseverance in the plan will defeat them. 
 
 In reading over the treaty of Utrecht, I find that France has 
 indirectly acknowledged the territorial jurisdiction, or rather the 
 marine jurisdiction, of England to extend to the distance of 
 thirty leagues from the coast of Nova Scotia for the purpose of 
 the fisheries. France, I think, by the fifteenth article, cedes 
 Nova Scotia to Great Britain, and at the same time stipulates 
 that her subjects shall not fish within thirty leagues from the 
 coast of that colony, beginning from Cape Sable. I have seen 
 much more in various places that points to a different extent of 
 marine jurisdiction for different purposes, say, for instance, three 
 miles or one league to preserve the peace, four leagues to pre 
 vent smuggling, a greater distance, perhaps, to fix buoys, light 
 houses, etc., and lastly, for the purpose of fisheries. This may, 
 hereafter, make a subject of controversy between us and Great 
 Britain unless fixed by treaty. 
 
 i am sorry to observe that the reasonings of Pacificus (who 
 is said to be Mr. Lowell, of Boston) produce more effect here 
 than I should have imagined. I have no doubt that it will be 
 reprinted in England in a pamphlet as an American work, and 
 scattered through the continent, where it will not fail to produce 
 a strong impression against us, for you cannot estimate too low 
 the information of European cabinets on American affairs. The 
 elegant piece on the Silesia loan, which we all know, made even 
 the great Montesquieu call it a "reponse sans replique," though 
 England was clearly wrong under the circumstances of the case, 
 without affecting at all the general principles which the docu 
 ment involves. When Great Britain first broached her rule of 
 1756, her writings on the subject were not answered by any 
 writer of eminence on the continent, not even in France, who 
 was so much affected by it. Even Hubner, who wrote at Paris 
 in 1759, under the influence, and, I believe, in the pay of France, 
 was at a loss what to say upon the subject, and more than half 
 approved of the measure. All this is lamentably true, and 
 points to the necessity of counteracting the effects of the publi 
 cation of Pacificus. 
 
380 APPENDICES. 
 
 in. 
 
 7 December, 1814. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I cannot lose sight of you, though I have nothing 
 to write that is worth reading. Information I cannot give, en 
 tertainment less. But if I can cheer you for a moment on your 
 Ixionic wheel, I shall have answered my purpose. 
 
 I have read with a dreadful pleasure your letter to the Chair 
 man of the Committee of Ways and Means on the subject of 
 treasury notes. I cannot compare the sensations which it excited 
 in me to anything else than to those I feel on reading Dante s 
 Inferno. Scenes of horror ably and beautifully described, but 
 still scenes of horror. And these are the scenes to which you 
 have wedded yourself for your country s sake ! I admire your 
 self-devotion and your fortitude, and ardently wish that you may 
 infuse it into others. But there are those who will not sacrifice 
 even the little pride of a miserable opinion, often not their own. 
 You will persist, I hope, for all your powers are wanted at this 
 critical moment. Perseverance is the mother of wonders. We 
 stand here in trembling expectation of something to be done for 
 the relief of our financial embarrassments ; the negotiations at 
 Ghent and Vienna are of minor consequence compared with this 
 great object; the result of the bank measure will determine the 
 fate of our preparations for the next campaign, of the campaign 
 itself, of the war, perhaps, and who knows how far it may yet 
 influence the future destinies of this nation ? 
 
 Our militia has been disbanded this morning for the season. 
 I am told they are gone home without pay. Great fears are 
 entertained here by the public stockholders for next quarter-day. 
 All business is at a stand No goods hardly of any description 
 bought or sold. The speculators are in a perfectly torpid state. 
 
 This state of complete apathy is to me incomprehensible. 
 There are many who entertain hopes of peace from the appar 
 ently improved state of the negotiations at Ghent. Those who 
 were frightened by sine qua non are lulled asleep by uti possi- 
 detis; as if one bugbear was not as good as another for our 
 enemy s purposes. I believe it is indifferent to them which of 
 the hard terms of the science of negotiation they make use of, 
 provided, it has the effect of keeping the apparent discussion on 
 foot as long as they please. If the time should come when it 
 will be expedient for them to conclude a peace, they will not be 
 at a loss for a jump which will bring them precisely to the 
 ground that will suit them. They know how to dance on the 
 tight as well as on the slack rope. I have never seen such an 
 harlequinade as this negotiation exhibits on their part. 
 
 Our negotiators have exhibited in their diplomatic correspond 
 ence the greatest ability. Their letters are admirable when con- 
 
LETTERS OF MR. S. DUPONCEAU. 381 
 
 sidered in the light of an appeal to the impartial world, and the 
 British negotiators will have reason to blush for their glaring 
 inconsistency, and will be laid under the necessity of either 
 avowing that they have been all the while trifling with us, or of 
 submitting to imputations which no government that respects 
 itself will be willing to deserve. 
 
 IV. 
 
 14 December, 1814. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your unexpected favor of the 10th instant has 
 given me great pleasure. I say " unexpected," for I knew all 
 the burthens that you labor under, and when I hesitate to give 
 you the additional trouble of reading a letter from me, it is pecu 
 liarly gratifying to me to receive an answer from you. 
 
 I hope you begin with me to anticipate the triumph which, to 
 a mind like yours, will be an ample reward for your patriotic 
 labors. The confusion produced by the astonishment, and other 
 passions, excited by your first official acts, is beginning to sub 
 side; by repeated strokes you have commanded and received an 
 attention less and less disturbed by the meaner feelings. You 
 have even in a great measure tamed the Cerberus of party, and 
 the happiest general results may be expected from the union of 
 the patriots and judicious men of both the great political denom 
 inations, which has manifested itself in favor of your financial 
 plans. Of all the departments of government, yours has singly, 
 as yet, obtained that triumph. For I consider Mr. Hanson s 
 speech of the 29th ult. as a brilliant trophy of victory. You will 
 hear with pleasure that it has given the tone to the leading Fed 
 eralists of this State, and that it is now evident that the Eastern 
 projectors are to receive no support from this quarter. Indeed, 
 their measures are now openly blamed, nay, deprecated by men 
 who, not long ago, sought, at least, to palliate them. 
 
 I have no hesitation in ascribing all these favorable appear 
 ances to your masterly exertions. If the country will unite in 
 strong constitutional measures there will be no necessity for 
 extra-constitutional ones. You know that our constitution can 
 do much under skilful Irands. Continue, then, to strike home, 
 excite and vivify all around you. I may be partial, I may be 
 sanguine, but I think your success inevitable. 
 
 When you went into office there were many who did not be 
 lieve that a lawyer could become suddenly & financier. It would 
 have been in vain to ask those men where Gallatin, Wolcott, 
 Hamilton, Pitt had served their apprenticeship, and why the 
 great nations of Europe did not put the first clerks in their offices 
 
382 APPENDICES. 
 
 at the head of their respective departments. Such men must 
 see to be convinced; but I have heard lately no more of this 
 stuff. 
 
 v. 
 
 4 January, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, In complying with the desire, which you have in 
 so friendly a manner expressed, that I should occasionally write 
 to you, I have no object in view but to divert your mind from 
 the oppressive burthens under which, in times like these, and in 
 a situation like yours, it must, of necessity, incessantly labor. 
 Although you are endowed with more than ordinary fortitude, 
 this virtue has its bounds, and humanity now and then will 
 claim its rights. Still, I hope you will persevere, tenax propo- 
 siti, as I have always known you to be, and who knows but suc 
 cess will at last crown your honorable efforts? Tume quod op- 
 tanti, etc. 
 
 Availing myself of the ample leisure with which the circum 
 stances of the times have liberally favored me, I have thought 
 that I could not employ my time better than in studying such 
 parts of our history as might tend to elucidate the events of the 
 day; I therefore turned my attention to the war of 1755. In 
 the public library of this city, and in my own, I found sufficient 
 materials to gratify my utmost wishes. My curiosity was first 
 arrested by the correspondence of General Braddock with his own 
 government, from the time of his arrival in Virginia to that of 
 his defeat. He had been sent, you know, to make war upon the 
 French in America while the ministry kept up the appearance of 
 negotiation in Europe. I was peculiarly struck with what he 
 said respecting the dispositions of the different colonies to aid in 
 the projected operations. Those of New England alone, it seems, 
 joined heartily with him, and evinced zeal for the cause of the 
 mother country. New York gave her assistance, but only for 
 fthe defence of her own frontier. Pennsylvania and Maryland 
 refused to give any aid. He even complains that Pennsylvania 
 assisted the enemy and supplied them with provisions. Vir 
 ginia openly resisted the efforts of her governor to make her co 
 operate in the cause. She, however, voted 20,000 for the war, 
 but when the general made contracts on the credit of that money 
 for the supply of the army, she refused to carry them into execu 
 tion. Of the Carolinas no mention is made. "On the whole," 
 he says (only a few days after his arrival in Williamsburg), "the 
 jealousy of the people and the disunion of the colonies, as well 
 of all in general as of each in particular, makes me almost de 
 spair. Indeed, I am sorry to tell you that, according to all ap- 
 
LETTERS OF MR. 8. DUPONCEAU. 383 
 
 pearance, I shall have much difficulty to obtain from these colo 
 nies the succors his Majesty expects, and the common interest 
 requires." 
 
 The disputes in the proprietary governments between the gov 
 ernors and the legislatures account, in some degree, but not suffi- 
 ciently in my opinion, for these results. The Quaker spirit, also, 
 in Pennsylvania may be supposed to have produced them, but I 
 am not satisfied that it was not used as a means, instead of being 
 itself a primary cause. However that may be, it is certain that 
 about that time a leading Quaker, who was Speaker of the As 
 sembly of Pennsylvania, used these remarkable words in debate: 
 "I had rather see Philadelphia sacked three times by the French 
 than vote a single copper for the war." This is not related in 
 Braddock s letter, but is drawn from other monuments of the 
 times. 
 
 This feeble sketch is not, perhaps, sufficient to produce the 
 same chain of ideas in your mind which has occurred to me in 
 the course of my study of the historical documents from which 
 it is drawn ; you are, however, welcome to two conclusions, 
 which have appeared to me necessarily to flow from the facts 
 above stated : 
 
 1. That the primary cause of the disunion which manifests 
 itself at present between the different States is to be sought for 
 in things existing, not only antecedently to the present war, but 
 to the Revolution. 
 
 2. That this disunion was so great in those early times that 
 common danger, instead of allaying, rather seemed to increase it. 
 
 To which we may add a third. 
 
 3. That the unwillingness to aid in the war was greater in those 
 colonies that were the most exposed to the enemy than in those 
 that were less so, or rather, indeed, not at all exposed. 
 
 Thus far my reflections have carried me, but no farther. To 
 discover the true cause of the effects alluded to would require 
 much more study, and more reflection. This cause is, no doubt, 
 complicated; but I am apt to believe that there must exist some 
 master principle which, if sought for and discovered, would lead 
 to unravel the whole clue. Some great master in politics will 
 probably discover it, as Sir Isaac Newton did the principle of 
 gravitation, by accident. In the mean time we shall go on as 
 cribing everything to secondary causes ; and, in seeking a variety 
 of remedies, we may, perhaps, stumble upon the right one. 
 
 If you are tired of my lucubrations you may throw this letter 
 by, for I am going unmercifully to proceed to another point. 
 
 In pursuing my study of the history of the war of 1755, I did 
 not overlook the negotiations that took place between the two 
 great contending powers. Those of 1750, 1753, 1755, and of 
 1761 (the last referred to by our commissioners at Ghent), were 
 
384 APPENDICES. 
 
 all open to my view in the original documents. I sought, of 
 course, for the principles maintained from time to time by Great 
 Britain and France, but particularly by Great Britain, respecting 
 the Indians, and my curiosity was amply rewarded by the dis 
 coveries I made. These discoveries have lost much of their in 
 terest by the abandonment of the sine qua non, but in one point- 
 of view, at least, they are not altogether devoid of it. You will 
 recollect that our commissioners, in their note to those of Britain 
 of the 26th of September last, argued in favor of our doctrine 
 respecting the Indians from the conduct of the elder Pitt, in the 
 negotiation of 1761. The British commissioners in their reply 
 told them that they were not well acquainted with the course of 
 that negotiation, otherwise it would have led them to a different 
 conclusion. They afterwards attempt to give a statement of 
 what then took place, which, however, in spite of their equivo 
 cations, of their confounding facts and dates, and of the liberal 
 use which they make of the utmost resources of diplomacy, does 
 not seem to help them much. You will recollect, also, that our 
 ministers, finding the principle abandoned, did not think it worth 
 their while to enter into a contest with their opponents on the 
 point of historical accuracy, but left Mr. Pitt and his negotiation 
 to shift for themselves, satisfied with having so far succeeded in 
 their own. Where their labor ends, therefore, that of the his 
 torical inquirer begins, and the patriot feels pleasure in being 
 able to vindicate our commissioners from the charge of misrep 
 resentation, which is strongly implied, if not directly made, in 
 the statement of the British ministers, which they have disdained 
 to answer. 
 
 You will see, by the inclosed copy of the fifteenth article of 
 the treaty of Utrecht, the ideas which were entertained both by 
 Great Britain and France respecting the Indians. I inclose 
 also, by-the-by, an extract from an answer of Shirley and Mild- 
 may, the British commissioners, to La Galissoniere and Sithouette, 
 commissioners of France, for the settlement of their controversy 
 respecting the Caribbee Islands. The French claimed St.. Lucia 
 as their own, and argued from some act of the Indians in favor 
 of their title. You will see what opinion the British government 
 then entertained of the independennce of those nations. The 
 memorial is dated 15th November, 1751. 
 
 The negotiations of 1750-1703 related solely to the Caribbee 
 Islands and to the boundaries of Nova Scotia or Acadia. France 
 had ceded the latter country to Britain by the treaty of Utrecht, 
 with its ancient limits, which were altogether undefined. Ac 
 cording to Great Britain, it included not only the peninsula of 
 Acadia proper but the whole of what is now the Province of 
 Maine, at least from the Kenuebec eastward (the remainder being 
 clearly part of the British provinces), the whole of what is now 
 
LETTERS OF MR. S. DUPONGEAU. 385 
 
 New Brunswick, and all Lower Canada south of the St. Law 
 rence to somewhere above Quebec. The discussions respecting 
 these boundaries are foreign to our purpose, except so far that 
 not a word was said on either side respecting the Indians, who 
 still at that time inhabited parts of those territories. It had not, 
 probably, occurred to either party to draw an argument from 
 their pretended sovereignty and independence. 
 
 In the year If 55 a new negotiation was set on foot, not merely 
 for the limits of the province of Nova Scotia but for those of all 
 the French and British colonies as far as Virginia ; for the bound 
 aries of the more southern parts do not seem to have been yet 
 thought of. Britain claimed to extend her limits to the west 
 beyond the Ohio, and towards the north she insisted on the 
 boundary of the Great Lakes. Here, for the first time, France 
 offered that the Indian nations should form an independent bar 
 rier between the possessions of the two countries. Britain re 
 jected the offer with disdain, on the ground that the Indians, 
 and particularly the Five Nations, were her subjects, and were 
 recognized as such by the treaty of Utrecht. At any rate, she 
 said, France had so acknowledged them, and her acknowledgment 
 must operate as an estoppel against her. I inclose, for your 
 satisfaction, some extracts from the arguments of the respective 
 ministers, which I hope you will not think altogether uninter 
 esting. 
 
 But, while Britain was thus affecting to negotiate, she did not 
 mean to remain at peace. Braddock had already sailed for 
 America, armed with ample instructions to make war against 
 the French in this country. And yn the 7th of June, the very 
 day of the date of the last British memorial, of which an ex 
 tract is sent to you, the most unequivocal hostilities had begun 
 on the American coast by the capture of the two French ships of 
 war L Alcide and Le Lys by the British fleet, under the com 
 mand of Admiral Boscawen. 
 
 Thus negotiation was put an end to, and was not resumed until 
 the year 1761, and with no better effect. This is the negotiation 
 to which our ministers particularly allude. It ended, you know, 
 by producing the family compact on the one side, and on the 
 other the most vigorous efforts on the part of Great Britain, and, 
 in the end, that most complete humiliation of France and Spain 
 together which was consummated by the peace of 1*763. 
 
 Great Britain now (in 1761) had conquered Canada, and 
 France had no hopes of regaining it. She was, therefore, dis 
 posed to sanction the conquest of that province by a formal 
 cession. Hence France immediately offered to cede Canada, but 
 required that its limits should be clearly fixed, as well as those 
 of Louisiana and Virginia. Britain, who wanted all, or nearly 
 all, that she got afterwards by the treaty of 1763, that is to 
 
386 APPENDICES. 
 
 say, the whole left bank of the Mississippi, but was not yet will 
 ing to avow it, took fire at the proposition, said it was insidious, 
 inasmuch as it involved the principle, which she was not disposed 
 to admit, that all that was not Canada was Louisiana, whereby, 
 she said, all the intermediate nations, the true barrier to each 
 province, would be given up to France. In consequence, she 
 sent her instructions to Mr. Stanley, divulged for the first time 
 in the note of the British commissioners at Ghent. Stanley im 
 mediately despatched a note, which he declared to be the ulti 
 matum of England, in which he insisted, 
 
 1. That Canada should be ceded by France, without any new 
 limits. 
 
 2. That Louisiana should not extend to Virginia, nor to the 
 British possessions on the Ohio, giving as a reason that " the 
 nations and countries which lie intermediate, and which form the 
 true barrier between the said provinces, were not proper, on any 
 account, to be ceded, directly or by any consequence, to France, 
 even admitting them to be included within the limits of Lou 
 isiana." 
 
 " Here," observes the Duke de Choiseul in his Memoir e justi- 
 ficatif of the conduct of France, " one might infer that England 
 pretended not only to keep exclusive possession of all Canada 
 but also to make herself mistress of all the neutral countries 
 between Canada and Louisiana, to be nearer at hand to invade 
 the last colony when she should think proper." 
 
 Thus Great Britain, by a necessary implication, though without 
 saying so, expressly claimed, under the name of Canada, the 
 whole of the country north and east of the Ohio; and, although 
 that country was at that time peopled with savages even as far 
 as the Alleghany Mountains, not a word is said about their neu 
 trality or their being a necessary barrier between the possessions 
 of the two countries : this demand is confined to the most 
 southern Indians, most of whom were clearly within the limits 
 of France. As to her pretension respecting the boundary of 
 Canada, it is well known that all the country southward and 
 westward of Lake Erie, except the Territory of Michigan and a 
 narrow border to the southward of that lake, was always con 
 sidered by the French, when in possession of the two countries, 
 to belong to Louisiana, and not to Canada. I believe the line of 
 boundary was drawn from some point in the Miami River. 
 
 However this may be, the Duke de Choiseul took the British 
 minister at his word, and immediately agreed to the neutrality 
 of the Indian nations (observe that the word " independence" is 
 never mentioned by either party), provided it should be reciprocal 
 on both sides. He therefore gave in his ultimatum, expressly by 
 him so entitled ; and you will also observe that the British com 
 missioners at Ghent deny this fact; and in this ultimatum he 
 
LETTERS OF ME. S. DUPONCEAU. 387 
 
 agreed at once to the proposal of Great Britain. His words are 
 worthy of observation : 
 
 "The king," says he, "has in no part of his memorial of pro 
 positions affirmed that all which did not belong to Canada apper 
 tained to Louisiana. On the contrary, France demands that the 
 intermediate nations between Canada and Louisiana, as also 
 between Virginia and Louisiana, shall be considered as neutral 
 nations, independent of the sovereignty of the two crowns, and 
 serve as a barrier between them." 
 
 Britain was now taken in her own snare. To get rid of the 
 proposal for the independence of the Indians north of the Ohio 
 she was driven to the wretched resource of a false allegation. 
 She asserted in her reply that Mr. de Vaudreuil, the governor of 
 Canada, had, when he capitulated, given up the country by metes 
 and bounds to the whole extent of the limits claimed. This Mr. 
 de Vaudreuil solemnly and peremptorily denied, and his denial, 
 published in the Annual Register for the year 1761, was never 
 replied to. It is accompanied with such details of particular 
 facts as impress it with the stamp of truth, and of course fix 
 direct and downright falsehood on the British ministry of that 
 day. 
 
 As to the southern Indians, Great Britain now declared her 
 views, which till then had been obscurely expressed, in the clear 
 est and most explicit manner. They were to be neither neutral 
 nor independent, but to be, as she pretended they had been before, 
 under the protection of the British government. Here are the 
 words of Mr. Pitt, to which our commissioners more particularly 
 allude in their letter above referred to : 
 
 " The line proposed to fix the bounds of Louisiana (a line to 
 be drawn northward from the Perdido) cannot be admitted, be 
 cause it would comprise on the side of the Carolinas very exten 
 sive countries and numerous nations who have always been 
 reputed to be under the protection of the king, A RIGHT which 
 his Majesty has no intention of renouncing ; and then the king, 
 for the advantage of peace, might consent to leave the interme 
 diate countries under the protection of Great Britain, and par 
 ticularly the Cherokees, the Creeks, the Chickasaws, the Choc- 
 taws, and another nation situate between the British settlements 
 and the Mississippi." 
 
 After receiving this note, France made another and a last effort 
 for peace. She offered to cede Canada with the utmost extent 
 claimed by Great Britain, and that the Indian nations should be 
 neuter and independent, those within the British line under the 
 protection of England, the others under the protection of France. 
 Great Britain answered this note by sending to M. Bussy, the 
 French commissioner, his passports, and breaking suddenly the 
 
388 APPENDICES. 
 
 negotiation, because France had refused to agree to the ulti 
 matum proposed by Great Britain. 
 
 With this statement of facts you may now have a complete 
 view of the merits of the discussion between our ministers and 
 those of Great Britain on *the subject of the negotiation of 1761, 
 and the inference which the former drew from it. 
 
 VI. 
 
 5 January, 1814. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The bank bill I find has been rejected by a ma 
 jority of one vote. I hope you will make one more effort to 
 defeat the intrigues of your opponents. Your majority must 
 take heart, give up their ridiculous scruples, and unite under the 
 single motto, Fill the ranks : fill the purse. This is extremely 
 plain, and requires not to be elucidated by long speeches. 
 
 It seems to me that the war made upon us both by our internal 
 and external enemies is a war of bugaboos. At home the buga 
 boos are conscription and unconstitutionality, supported by the 
 great bugaboo of bugaboos, the Hartford Convention. Abroad 
 the bugaboos of last campaign were Lord Hill and his paper 
 army. Afterwards came the sine qua nons, the uti possidetis, 
 and all the host of diplomatic magical words. The bugaboo of 
 the day is the New Orleans expedition on the one hand, and Gen 
 eral Packenham and his officers on the other. Amidst all this I 
 see very little effective physical force. The real force the force 
 that I dread, and of which the power is among us terribly felt 
 is the vis inertise which at Washington holds the seat of its pow 
 erful empire. This is the superior force, the vis major, as Judge 
 
 P would call it, that paralyzes the noble spirit of this noble 
 
 nation. It cannot be too often repeated that the nation south of 
 Connecticut River at least is disposed to submit to any strong 
 measures that its representatives may think proper to adopt for 
 the common defence. Congress have the power in their hands ; 
 if they let it escape by their own indecision and weakness, it does 
 not require the spirit of prophecy to foretell that they will severely 
 rue the day ; and if they once let go the stirrup, they will be 
 rid thereafter with a whip and a spur that shall never tire. Then 
 they will understand to their sorrow the constitutionality of con 
 scriptions and of banks, and of many other things that they do 
 not yet dream of. 
 
 It is a fact that the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe 
 were on the 2d of December still in the hands of the British, who 
 delayed delivering those colonies up to the French. This does 
 
LETTERS OF MR. S. DUPONCEAU. 389 
 
 not argue great cordiality between the two powers. I wish the 
 French naval and land commanders could have taken it upon 
 themselves to come at once to this country as to a safe neighbor 
 ing spot, where they might have quietly waited until it suited the 
 British commanders to give up the islands, or at least that they 
 had immediately returned to France. Their remaining where 
 they are, encamped in their own country, while strangers are in 
 possession of the barracks and the forts, appears to me a weak 
 measure, and, what is more, a dangerous one. I fear there is also 
 a vis inertias in the royal head of the French government. 
 
 I long to hear something more from our commissioners at Ghent. 
 I wish they could have been enabled to put the British commis 
 sioners to the test by offering to them at once that foolish triangle 
 of the Province of Maine, which they wish to have, it seems, for 
 a road. I well know the great sea of prejudice that there is 
 against the measure, and what effects might be feared from such 
 a cession in this country. At the same time I am convinced that 
 it would be an advantage to us if the British were possessed of 
 that territory (exclusive of the seaports). Our population will 
 always increase in a greater ratio than theirs, and a good military 
 road from Halifax to Quebec would be of more use to us in a 
 future war than to them. I fear also that the powers of Europe 
 will think us unreasonable if we persist in refusing that cession. 
 I see no real difficulties but this, supposing both parties well dis 
 posed in the way of an honorable treaty. For the fisheries, etc. 
 we have some good things also to give or withhold; for instance, 
 the liberty to trade with our Indians. I am glad to find that our 
 commissioners have very skilfully and delicately hinted at this 
 point, for it is certainly a principle of the law of nations between 
 powers who possess colonies or settlements in America, that they 
 cannot trade with the Indians within each other s limits without 
 permission or the sanction of a treaty. 
 
 As you have desired me to give you my opinions frankly on 
 every subject, I have tried it for once ; but as I am not in a 
 situation to take a view of the whole ground, you will of course 
 make allowances. 
 
 I inclose the extracts from the negotiations of 1755 which I 
 have promised. You will consider, I fear, my long lucubrations 
 on the subject of these antiquated discussions as de la moutarde 
 apres diner; yet, as the extent of the powers of the greatest 
 minds is but limited, I should think it can never come amiss even 
 to a Pitt or a Talleyrand, to have the result of long and attentive 
 studies communicated to them in the space of a few pages. You 
 have read, I make no doubt, all that is contained in my letter of 
 yesterday, and its addenda, but you never had occasion to con 
 sider it together in the point of view of its application to recent 
 
390 APPENDICES. 
 
 events. Therefore I have some apology for having troubled you 
 with that long letter ; but I should have none if I were to abuse 
 the privilege any longer. 
 
 VII. 
 
 10 February, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am too well aware of the importance of your 
 time to the public to misinterpret your omitting to answer my 
 insignificant letters. I am satisfied that you receive them, and 
 perhaps read them with more pleasure than certain petitions, or 
 even than certain lengthy debates, which, for obvious reasons, 
 shall not be here more particularly described. I have even the 
 vanity to think that my scraps find sometimes more favor in your 
 eyes than all the eloquence of Mr. C h n. 
 
 I have seen the President s objections to the late bank bill. 
 They appeared to me very strong, and will be stronger still, I 
 think, if they produce a bill of a different character. This I am 
 strongly inclined to hope, perhaps because I wish it ; but if I 
 am not mistaken, the late law for preventing intercourse with 
 the enemy gives indications of a better spirit than has prevailed 
 heretofore. It seems to me to be fraught with much decision 
 and strength. 
 
 The newspaper editors tell us again that you have it in serious 
 contemplation to resign. I hope it will not be so ; for if it should 
 happen, the whole machine will be wonderfully relaxed, and God 
 knows what will next take place. My hero Frederick desponded 
 sometimes, and indulged himself in writing it to his friends ; but 
 he never despaired ; he persevered, and at last succeeded. There 
 is one remarkable trait in your as yet short political career which 
 ought to encourage you to the same perseverance. Your meas 
 ures have, indeed, been attacked by party opponents, but as far 
 as I have seen (and I have taken pains to be as well informed 
 as I could) their attacks have been comparatively mild, and your 
 personal feelings have been spared beyond what any of your 
 predecessors have, and any of your successors, perhaps, will 
 ever experience. This mark of universal respect ought to be as 
 grateful as, surely, it is honorable to you. And yet it was not 
 so in former situations; I have tried .to account to myself for 
 this difference, and I can find no reason for it but that you were 
 not then in your proper place, and that now you are. 
 
 The glorious defence at New Orleans, if it ends, as I hope it 
 will, in the final expulsion of the enemy, will be a decisive event, 
 like the captures of Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and the flight of 
 
LETTERS OF ME. S. DUPONCEAU. 391 
 
 Bonaparte from Moscow. In point of character I do not think 
 it inferior to any of these, and I believe with you that it will 
 give us an honorable peace next spring. But you must be one 
 of the peace-making administration. You have had the thorns 
 of office: wait but a little while, and the rose-gathering will soon 
 begin. You may lose patience ; but depend upon it, you have 
 lost, and will lose, no fame. 
 
 Excuse these warm expressions of friendly anxiety. I anti 
 cipate the day when you may retire with glory, and when it will 
 not merely be said that you would do good to your country, but 
 that you could and did do it, in spite of obstacles by which men 
 of ordinary minds would have been deterred. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 13 February, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I congratulate you with all my heart on the glori 
 ous news of an honorable peace, and the retreat of the British 
 from before New Orleans. I am so overjoyed, that you must 
 excuse me if I trace zigzag lines with my pen, as I surely do 
 with my feet. The war administration have conferred upon us 
 invaluable blessings ; among which, not the least, are the knowl 
 edge and consciousness of our national strength, the conviction 
 not only of the enemy, but of the world, that we are not that 
 peddling, speechifying, special-pleading nation which they be 
 lieved us to be, an immense store of experience, by which I hope 
 we shall profit to the utmost, and, as to the objects of the war 
 itself, we have satisfaction (in blood, at least) for the past, and 
 ample security for the future. Not the paper security of treaties, 
 but the security of the Scotch motto, which we have nobly ap 
 propriated to ourselves, and by means of which we have killed 
 in the egg future orders in council and future Milan decrees. 
 If we improve as we ought this interval of universal peace, we 
 shall find belligerent rights considerably modified in the event of 
 a future European maritime war. Magnum est jus canonicum 
 et prsevalebit. 
 
 You may well indulge an honorable pride, as one of the authors 
 of this glorious peace. For I make no doubt that the firm 
 countenance which the administration showed in October last, 
 has not a little contributed to produce it. The British could not 
 foresee the ridiculous difficulties which subsequently impeded the 
 execution of your bold and energetic plans. They fancied them 
 already adopted by Congress, and carried into execution with all 
 the spirit of a brave and indignant people. You retorted the 
 bugaboo war upon them, but with more success. 
 
392 APPENDICES. 
 
 I have heard you blamed for laying open the wounds of the 
 country in your famous letter to the Committee of Ways and 
 Means. I never thought so. You exhibited us to the world as 
 a nation that dares to look its situation in the face, and from that 
 moment we became truly formidable. My life for it, this letter, 
 and the conscription plan, have greatly contributed to produce 
 the peace. 
 
 Your situation will now become comparatively easy, and your 
 burthen considerably lightened. I hope you will continue in it, 
 or go to some other more suited to your inclination, but equally 
 important. Once a statesman, always a statesman. You are 
 now spoiled for everything else. 
 
 IX. 
 
 17 February, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Mr. I oins me in thanks to you for your 
 
 early and full communication of the important features of the 
 lately concluded treaty, and in the opinion that it deserves all 
 the encomiums that you have bestowed upon it. The British 
 ministry will find it difficult to make it palatable to their nation, 
 particularly after having raised their expectations in such a 
 manner as betrays their utter incapacity. There is not a single 
 bright spot to which they can point with honest pride, not a favor 
 sullenly refused by them that is not compensated by advantages 
 at least of equal magnitude withheld from them by ourselves. 
 The treaty is a vast blank on which the relations of the two 
 countries are to be inscribed at a future day, and he who can do 
 best without the favors of the other will have the advantage. 
 The navigation of our inland waters, for the purposes of the 
 Indian trade, is a boon of such immense importance to the Brit 
 ish nation, that I have no doubt that they will come down very 
 handsomely to obtain it. 
 
 Thank God, the ball is again in our hands, and I rejoice at the 
 prospects of our national ascendency and influence on the gen 
 eral affairs of the world ; in which hope, I think, with proper 
 management, we can hardly be too sanguine. 
 
 Although the state of affairs on the continent of Europe has 
 no doubt contributed in part to bring about this treaty, yet I 
 cannot give up my favorite hypothesis that the firm attitude of 
 our government in October contributed at least as much to it. 
 The enemy then saw that all hopes of overturning Mr. Madison s 
 administration were over, as it had stood the shock of the 
 Washington fire, and now reared its crest higher than ever. This 
 demonstration (for which I give you an ample share of the credit) 
 
LETTERS OF ME. S. DUPONCEAU. 393 
 
 could not possibly be without a corresponding- effect in Europe, 
 where, when the treaty was signed, it appears they as yet knew 
 
 nothing of our unhappy C niads. Several London paragraphs 
 
 confirm me in this opinion, and I am not disposed to give it up. 
 
 x. 
 
 30 May, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I had read already in the newspapers the docu 
 ments which you have had the goodness to send to me ; and you 
 may see whether I duly appreciate the trouble which you have had 
 in raising this fair, regular edifice out of the chaos of its details, 
 when I tell you that I have not yet done studying its contents. 
 For you have excited in me an emulation at least to understand 
 what you have been able to perform. I perceive upon the whole 
 that you have made the most of our exiguous army, and that if 
 you could not make it large, you have at least made it efficient, 
 by exhausting all the resources of organization, selection, and 
 loco-position. You have had a most invidious task to perform, 
 and government must feel under peculiar obligations to you for 
 assuming at such a critical moment a burthen not less delicate 
 than it is heavy. Nor have you lost sight of the main object 
 committed to your care, I mean the Department of Finance. 
 The elevated ground on which the credit of the nation stands at 
 this moment is the best eulogium upon your measures, as it is 
 one that everybody can feel and understand. The want of a 
 national bank, however, still places you under momentary diffi 
 culties ; but you can see through them, and they will not arrest 
 the course of your exertions. I hope Congress will give you a 
 bank at their next session, and such an one as you ought to have, 
 or that they will find some other mode to prevent the stagnation 
 of the public moneys, and give them the degree of circulation 
 necessary, and indispensably so, for the operations of your de 
 partment. 
 
 I fear our prize courts will always embarrass the government 
 until they are organized as in Europe ; that is to say, taken out 
 of the line of the ordinary judiciary establishment, to which they 
 no more belong than courts-martial. In England, you know, 
 the Court of Appeals consists of a board of privy counsellors, 
 and the judge of the admiralty does not sit as judge of prize, virtute 
 officii, but by virtue of a special commission from the king. 
 Prize courts are temporary instruments of war ; it is therefore 
 absurd to constitute them in a permanent manner and vest their 
 powers permanently in judges appointed for life. This subject is 
 susceptible of a much greater development, but sapienti verbum 
 
 36 
 
394 APPENDICES. 
 
 sat. I ought to add, however, that Mr. Gallatin, to whom I once 
 suggested these ideas at your house, asked me how I would con 
 nect my board of commissioners of prize with the supreme court 
 of the United States. Precisely as in England, by the super 
 intending and restrictive power exercised by writs of mandamus, 
 prohibition, and the like ; and that would, it seems, be enough to 
 satisfy so much of the constitution as makes the supreme court 
 paramount to all other courts. As to that which declares that 
 all judges shall be appointed during good behavior, I do not 
 know, I acknowledge, how to satisfy it, except by saying that 
 nothing can be meant to be applied where it is inapplicable. This 
 principle never was applied to courts-martial, and I contend that 
 prize courts are ejusdem generis. 
 
 You see I am perfectly sensible of the difficulties attending a 
 correct organization of the prize courts ; yet, difficult as it is, you 
 must sooner or later come to it, and the earlier the public mind 
 is prepared for this, in my opinion, indispensable arrangement, 
 the better. The executive is responsible for the acts of its prize 
 courts, therefore they ought not to be independent of the execu 
 tive. You have felt it already ; you will feel it more in a mari 
 time war of some years continuance. 
 
 XI. 
 
 20 June, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I cannot resist the inclination to communicate to 
 you the strong feeling which has been excited in me by your late 
 measure on the subject of treasury notes. It is as well-timed as 
 it is happily conceived. It cannot fail of producing a most salu 
 tary effect. I entertain the most sanguine hopes that it will bring 
 our jarring mediums to a proper level, and establish true republi 
 can equality in the commonwealth of bank-notes. The haughty 
 Easterlings will no longer reign supreme over the commerce of 
 America as their namesakes and prototypes did some centuries 
 ago over that of Europe. Had their supremacy continued we 
 would have had sterling (Easterling) bank-notes as we have 
 sterling money. Their pride would not have overlooked the 
 analogy, and they might have assumed the name, as they had 
 the thing. You have availed yourself with great skill and de 
 cision of the high ground on which you have placed the credit 
 of the government; you have issued your commands from the 
 mountain, and I hope they will be obeyed. 
 
LETTERS OF ME. S. DUPONCEAU. 395 
 
 XII. 
 
 11 December, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have read with great pleasure the first part of 
 your able and luminous report to Congress on the state of the 
 finances, which has appeared in the National Intelligencer. I 
 long to see the remainder. I had never read a financial report 
 till you came to office ; I thought them too dry and uninterest 
 ing, never having in my life turned my thoughts to that abstruse 
 subject. Now I read them with as much pleasure as a young 
 girl does novels. 
 
 My correspondents in France write to me that we may expect 
 many emigrants here of two descriptions. the first rich revolu 
 tionists, and the second poor but ingenious manufacturers. Of 
 the latter class, one called on me this morning, recommended by 
 our consul at Bordeaux. He is a dyer of linen, silk, a-nd cotton, 
 and draws his own patterns. He showed me borders of merino 
 shawls designed and colored by him, which are really beautiful. 
 He says he possesses the secret of fixing all the colors at once, 
 and that he was the only person in France that had it. Mr. 
 
 L in his letter to me concludes thus: " Had I the means I 
 
 could send hundreds of such men yearly to the United States." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 16 December, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received with very great pleasure your let 
 ter of the 14th inst., with its valuable inclosure, the printed copy 
 of your last financial report. I mean to have it bound in a sepa 
 rate volume, as its folio size does not admit of its being bound 
 with other things, and which its contents will amply justify. 
 
 The first thought that struck me when 1 read the first part of 
 it in a newspaper was, as you well say, that it would be a com 
 plete manual of American finance. It will not only instruct so 
 ciety at large and the members of the legislature of what every 
 one ought to know, but by condensing in one view all the requi 
 site data, will save much discussion and research in committees 
 and on the floor of Congress, and will expedite business. For 
 my part, long as the report is, I would not wish one word left 
 out. The results appear to me incontrovertible, and the plans 
 wisely thought and presented in a luminous view. 
 
 You know you have promised the American Philosophical So 
 ciety, of which you are a worthy member, to send them your 
 reports from time to time for the use of their historical commit- 
 
396 APPENDICES. 
 
 tee. You, who may now say with Prince Henry of Prussia, 
 " J appartiens tout entier d Vhistoire," will not forget a pledge 
 given to a body of men in any way connected with that awful 
 tribunal. I therefore solicit for them the fulfillment of that 
 promise, which will be very gratefully received. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 23 February, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Accept again my sincere thanks for the valuable 
 present of your late report on the new tariff. As I do not un 
 derstand the subject I can only join in the general approbation. 
 One thing I well understand, that I shall be able to drink claret 
 cheaper than before. I am not sorry for the circumstance, though 
 I would have paid a higher duty with great pleasure for the good 
 of the nation. On the whole, it is evident that you have deter 
 mined to promote the complete independence of the country by 
 protecting its manufactures. I hope that you and I will live to see 
 some of the wonderful effects which this system will produce. 
 
 XV. 
 
 15 April, 181G. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I again intrude upon you to request a copy of 
 your letter of the 19th of March to the Chairman of the Com 
 mittee on the National Currency. Called to the head of our 
 finances at the beginning of the paper age, I was sure you would 
 not quit them without restoring to us the golden age, which I 
 fondly anticipate from the measures you propose. I congratulate 
 you and the country on the final passage of the bank bill, though 
 it is not all that you would have wished. This you may be 
 sure of, that your administration will be long remembered ; its 
 features are strongly marked, and will produce decisive results. 
 Adopted sooner and with a better grace, the country would by 
 this time have been sensible of blessings produced by your con 
 ceptions. 
 
 I hear with pain that you are going to quit the ministry. This 
 measure of yours I cannot be brought to approve, and you will 
 excuse me for being a strong oppositionist. Certain it is, how 
 ever, that the impulse is given, and there is now nothing to do 
 but follow it. You will leave an easy task to your successors. 
 
 Having done thus much, you are certainly entitled to retire 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 397 
 
 from the labors of public life, and no man will be more pleased 
 than I to see you again among us. Yet if I had any influence 
 upon you I could entreat you to remain where you are for the 
 public good. But your talents are so various that I console my 
 self with the hope, if you should cease to be our purse-holder, of 
 seeing you benefit the nation in some other equally important 
 branch of government which wants to be set in motion, as you 
 have done the department of finance. 
 
 LETTEKS BETWEEN THE PKESIDENT AND THE 
 SECKETAKY. 
 
 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I inclose the draft of a letter to the general officers, 
 on the execution of the act of the 3d of March, 1815, with a copy 
 of the act. You will see by a memorandum from Mr. Monroe 
 that he thinks the peace establishment is to be composed of ten 
 thousand men, exclusive of officers. General Scott agrees in 
 that opinion, and I shall be very glad to adopt it with your ap 
 probation. I shall write to you again to-morrow, and have only 
 to request the favor of an early instruction upon the present 
 communication. 
 
 I am, dear sir, faithfully and respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 11 April, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The result of the conference of the heads of de 
 partments on General Jackson s case will be seen in the inclosed 
 draft of a letter to the general, which is submitted to your con 
 sideration. Be so good as to return it with your instructions to 
 alter it or to send it in its present shape. There is no other copy 
 of the letter, The fact of the release of Judge Hale and Mr. 
 Dick is stated in a second communication from the latter to Mr. 
 Monroe. 
 
 There are no accounts from Generals Macomb, Brown, Jack 
 son, or Gaines further than I have already mentioned. General 
 Ripley arrived this afternoon, but I have not seen him. It is 
 said, from several quarters, that he would prefer a civil appoint 
 ment to a continuance in the army ; but the intimation seems to 
 
398 APPENDICES. 
 
 proceed originally from interested parties. I can easily ascertain 
 it from himself. 
 
 The inclosed recommendation from General Scott to Brevet 
 Captains Pentland and Smith is submitted to your decision. 
 These recommendations will probably so multiply as to deprive 
 the brevet of its complimentary character. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most faithfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 
 13 April, 1815. 
 
 MONTPELIER, April 14, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I received by the mail of this morning your 
 two letters of the llth and 12th instant, with the several 
 papers to which they refer. That of the 9th came to hand 
 yesterday. 
 
 The construction of the fifth section of the act fixing the military 
 establishment is not without difficulty. Do not the terms and 
 interpretation of former acts of Congress determine the question 
 whether "men" means privates, etc. only, or includes commis 
 sioned officers also? Not having a copy of the laws at hand, I 
 am not able to form an opinion. If the construction, excluding 
 officers, be not forbidden by precedents or clear analogy, I take 
 the more obvious meaning to be that officers should not be 
 included in the "ten thousand" men specified in the act. 
 
 I feel all the delicacy and magnitude of the task imposed by the 
 law which your communications express, and regret that there 
 is not less room for erring in the execution of it. In choosing 
 the general officers, I do not see that we can do better, on the 
 whole, than adhere to the individuals first agreed on, unless in 
 deed something should be finally ascertained in the proceedings at 
 New Orleans, which, I trust, will not be the case, compelling us to 
 relinquish the preference given to the general commanding there. 
 With respect to the fourth brigadier also, the door is not under 
 stood to be finally closed, unless something has passed with him 
 having that effect, as was authorized. If serious difficulties are 
 in his way, or there be decisive grounds of preference in favor of 
 another, and there be commitment on the subject, I wish you to 
 consult your judgment freely, and give me an opportunity of 
 sanctioning it. Nor do I see that we can advantageously vary the 
 course marked out for discriminating between the officers to be 
 retained and to be discharged. I approve the idea, however, of 
 considering the report of the board of officers as imposing no 
 fetters on the authoritative decision. How would it do to pre 
 scribe a recommendatory list, giving to the executive an option 
 among several candidates ? I ask the question without intending 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 399 
 
 to arrest the progress of the business. If the expedient should 
 be entirely approved, and not otherwise, the form of the report 
 required may be changed without the delay of a communication 
 with me. If it were admissible to have the opinions of the most 
 respectable officers of high rank, General Dearborn for example, 
 who will have no future connection with the army, either as 
 associates in the Board or otherwise, it might be useful in differ 
 ent views. But I see so many difficulties in the way that I do 
 not press it even on my own thoughts. 
 
 As neither Jackson nor Gaines can attend, I think you will do 
 well to obtain the presence of Colonel H. in the mode which has 
 occurred to you. 
 
 The scope of your letters in general appears to be the just 
 one. I wish you to make the final decision on the selection of 
 officers as distinctly that of the President as you deem suitable 
 and consistent with respect and confidence due to and felt for 
 the head of the War Department. 
 
 I am engaged with the proceedings of the court-martial on 
 General Wilkinson. It is so extremely voluminous that I shall 
 not be able to get through it for some days. The court acquit 
 him, I perceive, with honor on every charge, and, of course, 
 strengthens his claims and expectations from the public. What 
 has become of the chance presented by the appointment of the 
 naval officers at New York to the mayoralty ? 
 
 I was not unaware of some of the difficulties which you would 
 encounter in your fiscal arrangements. The steps you have 
 taken and contemplate accord with the best judgment I can form 
 on the business. Whilst the money market in Europe continues 
 as it is indicated by the present state of the English stocks, the 
 United States will not be able to realize the advantages due to 
 the merit of theirs. 
 
 I observe that the "exposition," etc. is finding its way to the 
 public here and to the world in different ways, and I have not 
 yet seen that the government is charged by its opponents, as it 
 could not justly be, with any indelicate participation. The idea 
 of Mr. Jefferson, therefore, of publishing the work officially in a 
 different dress, could not be excuted without more difficulty than 
 occurred to him. Whether it ought to go out from the govern 
 ment at all is another question. If the truths it contains can 
 be otherwise sufficiently promulgated, and with sufficient credi 
 bility, it will be best, I continue to think, to let them speak for 
 themselves. 
 
 Accept my great esteem and my affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
400 APPENDICES. 
 
 MONTPELIER, April 16, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I received by the mail of this morning- your two 
 letters of the 13th and 14th. The letter for General Jackson 
 cannot be improved, and I lose no time in returning it. The 
 cases recommended by General Scott for brevets are strong ones, 
 and I suppose cannot well be rejected. I am aware with you, 
 however, that these honorary commissions, already so much 
 multiplied, are in danger of losing their value. If you think it 
 advisable, the cases may lie over till a fuller estimate can be 
 made of this danger. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, April 18, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received your two letters of the 15th and 
 16th inst I approve the transfers you propose in the army ap 
 propriations, and will give the formal sanction to them as soon as 
 I receive the usual documents for signature. 
 
 I approve, also, the course you have in view for winding up 
 the affairs of the army, and am glad to find that you will be able 
 so far to overcome the pecuniary difficulties. I have left it with 
 you and Mr. Monroe to make the definitive arrangement of the 
 case of General Ripley in all its relations. 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, April 19, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have at length run through the trial of General 
 Wilkinson, and send it to you, with an approbation of the sen 
 tence of the court. I send, also, the trial of Captain Hanson, 
 with a decision conformable to the sentence and recommendation 
 of the court in his case. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 The Secretary of War. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am obliged to trouble you again on Mr. Les- 
 borough s business. He has mistaken my expression, which 
 was, "that if the claim is not legal, still it appears to me to be 
 equitable." However, recollecting your view of the subject, I 
 do not wish to give a formal decision without your sanction ; and 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 401 
 
 I will thank you to say whether I shall leave it as it stands or 
 submit it to the comptroller on equitable principles. 
 
 General Macomb arrived last night; and I hope General Brown 
 will be here to-morrow. The business is now so digested that I 
 think it will not cost the Board three days to pass upon it. 
 
 If General Ripley conforms to my view of propriety, as to the 
 court of inquiry, I shall act on your authority in issuing the 
 brevet, as well as in writing a letter to retain him in service. 
 
 In this morning s National Intelligencer I have published a 
 general order to restrain some abuses, and to quiet the minds of 
 the soldiers as to their pay and discharge. The collection of 
 military documents which are in the hands of officers who may 
 be deranged is also attempted. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 19 April, 1815. 
 
 MONTPELIEB, April 20, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received yours of . I wish the 
 
 arrival of Brown may have been followed by a compromise satis 
 factory to Ripley. If it should not, the case of the latter becomes 
 unpleasant in several respects. Can a court of inquiry be re 
 fused if he insists on it ? I am led to believe that, if disappointed 
 altogether, he will think himself bound to lay his case before the 
 public. It must be admitted that the charge in General Brown s 
 letter will be a record against him, if neither revoked, nor ex 
 plained, nor disproved. 
 
 I return the proceedings of the two courts-martial, with my 
 signature to the respective decisions indorsed on them ; with 
 O Connor s charges against Izard, and demand of a trial on 
 them. The charges are of a nature so interesting to General Izard, 
 and involving points interesting in so many other views, that I 
 presume, inconvenient and difficult as a court-martial will be, the 
 prosecutor will not waive it, if justice could dispense with it. 
 Could it be exchanged for a court of inquiry? -Be so good as to 
 take the course which right and prudence prescribe, availing 
 yourself of all the lights attainable on the spot. 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have the pleasure to say that the business re 
 specting General Ripley is arranged; and I hope it will be to 
 your satisfaction. I inclose copies of the letters which have 
 
402 APPENDICES. 
 
 passed between us. The selection of general officers being com 
 plete, I will announce it; and if General Brown arrives to-day 
 or to-morrow, I think the general plan of organization may be 
 sent for your consideration on Monday. 
 
 There is nothing new. I expect Mr. Monroe to-day. 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 
 20 April, 1815. 
 
 Mr. Monroe arrived at noon, but not much the better for his 
 ride. He saw and approved the letters in General Ripley s case 
 before I had sent my answer. 
 
 MONTPELIER, April 23, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 20th, and return the 
 correspondence with General Ripley. I hope it will be followed 
 by all the advantages which it promises. I received yesterday 
 from Mr. Graham a blank brevet commission for him. It was 
 suggested that a reference might be inserted to the resolution of 
 Congress. Unless some valuable purpose would be attained by 
 it, it may be best to decline a precedent which might in unfore 
 seen cases be embarrassing. I leave the decision with yourself, 
 as I do the returned recommendation of Trevett for the vacancy 
 on the revenue cutter at Boston ; so also on that stated in Dr. 
 Blake s letter inclosed. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, April 25, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The mail due yesterday having failed, I did not 
 receive till this morning your communications dated on the 22d 
 instant. 
 
 As it appears that no legal consideration is opposed to the 
 appointment of Bissel and Smith to regiments, their just claims 
 to that arrangement cannot be doubted. The brevets to them 
 may be issued when you choose. It has been mentioned that 
 Smith would gladly accept the Creek agency, which it is supposed 
 Hawkins does not mean longer to hold. Should it be vacated, 
 Smith s wishes may be taken into view, and if his qualifications 
 be of the right sort, of which you have better means of judging 
 than I have, he may be commissioned, unless, indeed, other can 
 didates appear with even superior pretensions. It will be proper, 
 however, not to accept the resignation of Hawkins without 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 403 
 
 knowing that it is the effect of inclination, and not of some cause 
 which ought to be explained and removed. I recollect that he 
 manifested, long ago, an impression that the executive was not 
 satisfied with him, and, on that account, proposed to withdraw 
 himself at the end of the war, if not sooner. I desired the late 
 Secretary of War to drop him a line, expressing my confidence 
 and a continuance of the friendly dispositions I have for many 
 years entertained for him. It is possible that such a communi 
 cation may never have reached him, and that he may still be 
 under his original misconception. One of your clerks, or General 
 Parker, can collect for you all the circumstances which merit 
 attention. I am thus particular, because I have always regarded 
 Colonel Hawkins as a benevolent and honorable man, and singu 
 larly useful and meritorious in the agency committed to him, and 
 because an old and intimate acquaintance with him makes me 
 feel an interest in whatever may concern his welfare or touch his 
 sensibility. 
 
 The business of O Connor and Izard seems to be on a fair 
 footing. The former can the less complain of the delay or un 
 certainty attending it, as his own delay has contributed to it. It 
 may be well to recur to a former communication from him to the 
 War Department, in which he recited the same or other allega 
 tions against General Izard. It was shown to me by Mr. Monroe 
 while acting secretary, but I do not recollect the precise scope 
 of it. 
 
 I return, signed, the power for the Yazoo cases, and an appro 
 bation of the proposed allowances to the collectors of the direct 
 tax. 
 
 The silence of General Jackson on the proceedings which 
 were the subject of your letter to him, cannot be explained but by 
 a failure on the road, or by a difference between the real and re 
 ported facts, or some uncommon view which his mind has taken 
 of them. The importance and novelty of the proceedings could 
 not fail, one would suppose, to suggest an official explanation of 
 them. If he -should riot fill the post in the army allotted to him, 
 it will be necessary to put other pretensions into the scales. 
 Before Mr. Monroe leaves Washington, be so good as to make 
 the proper selection a subject of conversation with him and the 
 other gentlemen. 
 
 Mr. Mcllvaine s letter may be shown to the Secretary of State. 
 
 I shall be absent for a few days on a visit to Mr. Jefferson ; 
 but I shall keep hold of the thread of daily communication with 
 Washington. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
404 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, General Brown will probably be here to-night ; 
 and I think the organization of the corps and selection of officers 
 may be completed on Wednesday. Be so good as to put the 
 inclosed into any shape that will answer the purpose intended. 
 I think it of some importance that the feelings of the deranged 
 officers should be soothed ; but it would be impolitic, and, 
 indeed, impracticable, to use any but general terms upon the 
 occasion. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 25 April, 1815. 
 General Brown has arrived. 
 
 DEAR SIR, General Brown has joined the Board ; and I have 
 the pleasure to inform you that, so far, everything has been 
 transacted with perfect harmony and unanimity. The selections 
 are of a high and distinguished character, as far as I can judge ; 
 and I am assured that the army will itself acknowledge their 
 justness. The tield officers at present on the list are these, for 
 infantry and riflemen : 
 
 Majors. 
 
 Jessup. 
 
 Wool. 
 
 Levensworth. 
 
 McNeil. 
 
 Chambers. 
 
 Appling. 
 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Brooke. 
 
 Langworth, or Butler. 
 
 Overton transferred from the In 
 fantry to the Artillery. 
 
 Colonels. 
 
 T. A. Smith, Brigadier-General. 
 D. Bissel, Brigadier-General. 
 M. Porter, Brevet Brigadier-Gen l. 
 H. Brady. 
 W. King. 
 J. Miller. 
 James McDonald. 
 K. C. Nicholas. 
 J. Mullin, or W. N. Irvine. 
 
 Lieutenant- Colonels. 
 Not named yet. 
 
 The selections will probably be complete on Friday ; and I 
 will send them to you by express, as it is very desirable to receive 
 your decision before Monday. 
 
 The brevet for General Ripley was not designed to refer, as Mr. 
 Graham supposed, to the vote of Congress, but to the same sub 
 jects. It will be filled up with " Chippewa, Niagara, and Erie." 
 The insertion will satisfy General Ripley, and cannot displease 
 General Brown. 
 
 General Scott has been desirous to construe the act of Con 
 gress so as to permit the superseding two captains in the engi 
 neers and replacing them with captains from the line. I do not 
 think that the act contemplates the case ; and I know that it 
 would create feuds, discontents, and resignations were the 
 
LET TEES, ETC. 405 
 
 attempt made. I have, therefore, stated an opinion to the Board 
 that the corps of engineers is excepted from the special authority 
 of the act fixing the peace establishment, and that no change can 
 be effected in it but on the general law. It seems that there are 
 two officers who are deemed unworthy of their commissions ; 
 but their removal may be accomplished at another time and in 
 another way, without exciting dissatisfaction. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 26 April, 1815. 
 
 MONTICELLO, April 28, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am just favored with yours of the 25th. The 
 paper inclosed in it is returned without delay. It is well adapted 
 to its delicate object. I have merely noted for your consideration 
 a change of expression in page 3, " the enjoyment of undisturbed 
 rights, etc.," not being secured, like the renown of the army; 
 and another in page 4, in order to guard against the criticisms 
 of those who may not have been in fact peculiar objects of pub 
 lic confidence and favor, and especially of such as may lose the 
 marks of it by the present arrangement. If any change should 
 occur in the closing sentence, page 5, that will lessen the pledge 
 of legislative beneficence without losing sight of it, it may, per 
 haps, be also well, considering the want of right in the executive 
 and the sensibility to it that may be awakened in the legislative 
 department. I have but a moment to drop these lines, being in 
 danger of missing the present mail and under a necessity of 
 losing the next. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTICELLO, April 29, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The inclosed letter, though anonymous, makes 
 statements and references in a manner which is embarrassing at 
 the present moment. Should the posture of the military arrange 
 ments admit nothing further, the location of the officer thus crim 
 inated ought at least to be influenced by the representations, 
 unless these be invalidated in some mode or other before the 
 final allotments be made to military stations. 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
406 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The board of officers still continue industriously 
 at work, but I have no report yet. Perhaps I shall be able to 
 communicate a plan of organization by Monday s mail. 
 
 The inclosed letter and extra newspaper were received by me 
 in the mail of yesterday. The letter is certainly written by Mr. 
 T. Biddle, and I presume Mr. Bache threw it into the mail after 
 the bag had been locked, which accounts for the absence of a 
 post-mark. I give credit (and so do Mr. Monroe and Mr. Crown- 
 inshield) to the news ; but I have declined being the instrument 
 of publishing it, lest it should turn out to be an imposition. The 
 mail of to-day will clear up all doubts. What a scene for specu 
 lation does the event, if true, open upon us ! 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 29 April, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I inclose recommendations for granting Captain 
 Rornayne the vacant appointment of assistant inspector-general. 
 The appointment will be merely nominal, to carry the rank, as 
 the office will be abolished when the army shall be discharged. 
 The reasons for soliciting it, however, are stated in the recom 
 mendations, and I will thank you to favor me with your decision 
 on the subject. Captain Romayne has certainly great estimation 
 among his brother officers. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 2 May, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, At the request of Colonel wings the inclosed letter 
 is sent to you. His case has been well considered and well de 
 vised. Major Taylor has been placed on the left. 
 
 I am, dear sir, your most obedient, 
 
 The President. A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 3 May, 1815. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 4, 1815. 
 DEAR SIR, I have duly received your several letters of 
 
 and of May 2. The views you have taken of the late intelligence 
 from France will justly claim all our attention. Should war ensue 
 between Great Britain and France, our great objects will be to save 
 our peace and our rights from the effect of it ; and whether war 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 407 
 
 ensue or not, to take advantage of the crisis to adjust our 
 interests with both. It is particularly desirable to ascertain as 
 soon as possible their temper and views respectively towards 
 the United States, and many days cannot elapse without com 
 munications from Paris and London, which will throw light 
 on the path leading to our objects. In the mean time it becomes 
 us to be in a position to face events whatever may be the turn 
 of them, and consequently to suspend the discharge of the army, 
 with the exception of the part not within our discretion. Pru 
 dence suggests also a delay of the expedition to the Mediter 
 ranean. It is of great importance in every point of view that 
 we should lose no part of the respect we now command by a 
 precipitate and improvident surrender of the best means of pre 
 serving our title to it. It may be hoped that with due precau 
 tions on our part, the former competition between those powers 
 in aggressions on us, will be succeeded by rival dispositions to 
 court our good will, or at least to cultivate our neutrality. The 
 lessons afforded by their own experience ought alone to produce 
 wiser councils, and the change in the state of Europe in general 
 in relation to France, and the trial which Great Britain haa made 
 of the strength and character of this country, are sources of 
 additional instruction of the same tendency. But in a case of 
 such vast magnitude, we should add to every other motive to do 
 us justice a condition on our part to enforce it. 
 
 1 return the recommendations in favor of Romayne, on whom 
 you will confer the commission proposed for him. I return also 
 the letter of General B. which is very skilfully framed. 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 I have returned the proceedings of the court-martial at Detroit 
 without any decision on the sentence dismissing the militia 
 officers from the service of the United States. As they are actu 
 ally out of the service, and the confirmation of the sentence by 
 General McArthur, though not within the legal period, was pre 
 sumably just in itself, the case did not appear to require the 
 formality of my interposition. If there be any circumstances 
 rendering it expedient, be so good as to let me know. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, Maj 7 4th, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The waggons with Mr. Jefferson s library are on 
 their way to Washington, and will expect to be paid on their 
 arrival. Not having the law on the subject of that purchase, I 
 know not whether it includes an appropriation for the expense 
 of transportation, or leaves this to be paid out of any other, and 
 
408 APPENDICES. 
 
 what, fund. I must ask you to decide this point, and have the 
 waggoners paid without delay. They are, I understand, entitled 
 each to $4 per day, for 15 days, with the exception of one, who 
 will not arrive for some time with a few cases of books which 
 did not accompany the others, and who is to receive at the rate 
 of $6 per day. Should my sanction be necessary in any form to 
 close this little transaction, it will be added as soon as I receive 
 notice of it. Mr. Smith (Commissioner of the Revenue) has 
 been so obliging as to give some attention to the arrangement for 
 conveying the library, and will be requested to relieve you from 
 all the trouble not officially essential. 
 
 Accept my cordial respects and best wishes, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Do what you find proper in the case stated in the inclosed 
 letter. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I transmit to you the concluding Reports of the 
 Board of Officers, and I presume that they will express a wish 
 to be discharged as soon as you have seen their plans. Upon 
 the whole, they have furnished very good materials; and I will 
 prepare from them a general report of the department for your 
 consideration and sanction, which, when approved, will be the 
 proper official document for publication. The necessary arrange 
 ments of the peace establishment will still give you time to hear 
 from Europe, without making the events there a specific cause 
 of delay. 
 
 I inclose two letters from General Brown. He presses, you 
 will see, Major Gardner for additional honors. If, however, the 
 major s character and conduct are such as have been described 
 to me in conversation by General Ripley, General Scott, and 
 General Wilkinson, I still think Major Butler should be preferred 
 to him. The subject may be kept in suspense for some days 
 without any disadvantage. 
 
 In an interview of this morning, General Brown stated that 
 at General Scott s instance, he mentioned the wish of that gen 
 tleman to go to Europe in pursuit of professional instruction, 
 etc., retaining only his rank, pay, and emoluments. I declared 
 that so far as my voice went he should be gratified, and that I 
 would submit the question at once to you. General Scott would 
 do us credit abroad ; and I do not think that the service would 
 suffer by his temporary absence. If, however, you should assent 
 to General Scott s request, I presume he would not leave us 
 while there is the slightest doubt of the effect of European events 
 upon our military establishment. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 409 
 
 General Brown s letter, relative to the purchase of a site for 
 a military station on the waters of the St. Lawrence, merits con 
 sideration. He says that he is willing to purchase the necessary 
 tract of land, and to look to Congress for his reimbursement at 
 the next session. There are many things to be considered before 
 the proposed change of situation can be correctly estimated in 
 its consequences of advantages and disadvantages. What can 
 we do with our ships on the stocks at Sackett s Harbor ? If the 
 war had commenced on General Brown s plan, we should not 
 have had the troubles nor the glories of the lake conflicts ; and if 
 we are to expect war again, his plan is probably the best mode 
 of preparing for it. 
 
 The disposition of the troops appears to me to be judicious in 
 its outline. The artillery will be at the Atlantic ports, and the 
 infantry and the riflemen will be on the northern frontier, and par 
 ticularly in the neighborhood of the Indians and British traders. 
 General Brown has arranged the northern division to his own 
 mind, and it will be right to allow General Jackson to modify 
 the arrangement for the southern division if he wishes to do so. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 7, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have this morning received yours of the 5th 
 inst., those of the 3d and 4th having previously come to hand. 
 They are accompanied by the reports of the board of officers on 
 the organization of the army, on the plan for establishing a.N. 
 and S. division, military departments, etc. etc., and respecting 
 hospital surgeons, judge advocates, and chaplains. 
 
 It were to be wished that the act relating to the peace estab 
 lishment had been more explicit in some respects and more 
 comprehensive in others. But there can be no doubt as to the 
 authority to substitute the rule of selection for that of seniority, 
 nor to prefer the sound and competent to the wounded and infirm, 
 in retaining the officers for an establishment requiring for its ob 
 ject the most effective services. The appointment of officers of 
 higher grades to fill the lower, with their own consent, can be 
 liable to no objection whatever if it be not a new appointment. 
 On this point there may be room for a difference of opinions. The 
 construction is clearly in favor of the public service; andf it 
 should be found not sufficiently supported by usage or precedents, 
 the error can be amended with the aid of the Senate. The trans 
 fer of officers from one corps to another seems also free from 
 objection, as they are both liable to exclusion altogether, and have 
 the resource pf resigning. The transfer of the men presents an- 
 
 27 
 
410 APPENDICES. 
 
 other aspect where they have been enlisted into particular corps 
 and are compulsively retained in service. It is more than proba 
 ble that if the understanding at the time of enlistment impose 
 any restraint in this case, it may be removed by the consent of 
 the individuals, or that the difficulty may be got over with the aid 
 of the supernumerary fund. 
 
 The local distribution of the troops and the definition of mili 
 tary departments being at all times alterable, require the less 
 observation. It may deserve consideration whether Maryland 
 and Virginia, as having a common relation to the Chesapeake, 
 would not be advantageously associated with perhaps the north 
 ern part of North Carolina. The District of Columbia, omitted, 
 I presume casually, would fall of course into the same depart 
 ment. 
 
 I have but slightly glanced at the report on hospital surgeons, 
 etc. etc. I notice only the omission of two hospital surgeons 
 whose pretensions I had considered very strong, if not liable to 
 objections unknown to me, and the selection of one who does not 
 appear with advantage in the proceedings of the court-martial 
 which tried Colonel Coles. Doctors Waterhouse and Shaw are 
 the two first alluded to, and Doctor Bronaugh the last. 
 
 With respect to the selection of officers generally for the estab 
 lishment, I have great confidence in the officers of the Board, and 
 especially where your own judgment coincides. I have thought 
 it incumbent on me, nevertheless, to look over it with attention, 
 and shall note any instances in which my information, or, in a few 
 cases possibly, my personal knowledge may suggest changes. I 
 have been a little embarrassed and retarded by leaving behind me 
 the Army Register sent me by Mr. Parker when I returned from 
 Monticello. I hope, however, to send you the result by the mail of 
 to-morrow or the day after. In the mean time I wish it to be un 
 derstood, if not sufficiently signified already, that the address pre 
 pared for the army had my approbation ; that I leave it with you, 
 advising with whom you may think proper, to do what you find 
 best with respect to Majors Butler and Bankhead, and to make 
 any other alterations such as you allude to. You will also make 
 the use of brevets as proposed in your letter, blanks for which I 
 take for granted arc already signed ; if not, let them be forwarded. 
 
 Your intended letter of thanks to the officers of the Board will 
 be very proper. You will decide whether it be necessary or not 
 for them to remain at Washington till a final decision be had on 
 their reports. 
 
 The question whether the general discharge of the army con 
 templated by the act of Congress, ought to be carried into effect 
 under existing circumstances, is a momentous one. On one hand, 
 the measure is urged by the face of the law, by the motive to 
 economy, mingled with the prospects suggesting a delay of the 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 411 
 
 measure, by the number of men, above ten thousand, on whom the 
 deliberation turns, a number not amounting to a very impressive 
 augmentation, and by the embarrassments incident to a provi 
 sional retention of the officers not required for the establishment, 
 divisible as they would be also into the class allotted to the super 
 numerary men provisionally retained and the class who would be 
 put on furlough. On the other hand, the danger of a renewal of 
 hostilities, and the tendency of a posture ready for them to prevent 
 so great an evil, are weighty considerations in the other scale. 
 The public opinion also seems to lean to the precautionary side. 
 It is more than probable that a few days will bring us from Eu 
 rope valuable lights on the subject. Those by the Fingal have not 
 come by the mail of this morning, nor the conversation of Mr. 
 M with Mr. Baker. I shall look for them by that of to 
 morrow, unless a day more should be necessary for him to ar 
 range and comment on the communications. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I send inclosed a report in the case of Mr. Eus- 
 taphiere, the Russian consul at Boston. The documents are 
 recited verbatim in the report, and therefore I do not trouble you 
 with them. I preferred a recital to a reference, that all who read 
 the report should distinctly understand the facts without being 
 forced to examine the evidence. It appears to me to be a most 
 flagrant case. I submit to you, however, whether it will not be 
 better, considering the European revolution, to act in the manner 
 the most delicate towards the emperor, referring to his justice the 
 punishment of the offender, instead of cancelling at once the 
 consul s exequatur. Mr. Monroe will give it the turn of a com 
 pliment to the master, without allowing the servant to escape. 
 
 I will attend to your instructions relative to Mr. Jefferson s 
 library. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 8 May, 1815. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 10, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I now return the General Report of the Military 
 Board on the Organization of the Army. I have not found among 
 the officers retained some whose merits I had supposed would 
 have placed them on the list of selections ; but I have great 
 confidence in the intelligence and dispositions of the Board, and 
 am ready to presume that those preferred have titles to distinc 
 tion better known to them than to me ; or that there may be 
 
412 APPENDICES. 
 
 objections known to them, and not to me, against some who had 
 attracted my attention. It may have happened also that some 
 of these did not choose to be included in the peace establishment. 
 
 A very anxious desire was expressed to me by the Kx-Gov. 
 Sevier, of the House of Representatives, that his kinsman, 
 colonel 1st Rifle Regiment, should be retained in the service. 
 As his present position must have marked him for consideration, 
 I take for granted that his comparative pretensions were defi 
 cient; especially as I understood that the solicitude of his uncle 
 expressed his own, and that of course his omission was not his 
 own choice. 
 
 The letter from Colonel Owings and Major Taylor is herewith 
 returned. Of the former I know only that his general standing 
 and connexions in Kentucky are respectable. Whatever merit 
 he may have in his profession, I should suppose that it could not 
 justify the dissatisfaction he expresses. As to Major Taylor, if 
 there be no flaws in his character which have not come to my 
 knowledge, I do not believe that a continuance of him in his 
 present rank would have warranted just complaint in others. He 
 was, if I mistake not, a captain at the commencement of the war, 
 and the first officer that was breveted. The defence of Fort 
 Harrison, that led to it, though on an obscure theatre, has prob 
 ably not been exceeded in brilliancy by any affair that has oc 
 curred. The circumstances of it put to the severest trial the 
 military qualities of the commanding officer, and it appeared that 
 the result was conspicuously favorable to him. But for the haste 
 in which many subsequent appointments were made, and par 
 ticularly those to the new rifle regiments, the view in which 
 he stood would have obtained for him a higher grade. If the 
 door be not too far closed, which may perhaps be the case, and 
 there be no deficiencies of any sort in his title, it may be worth 
 your while to recur to the account given of the attack of Fort 
 Harrison. I wish not to be understood, however, as pressing a 
 revision of the selections, unless a change can be conveniently 
 and satisfactorily made. Will you be so good, also, as to advert 
 to the case of Chas. Todd, who was in Governor Harrison s 
 family. I do not know how he stands in comparison with others, 
 nor whether it is his desire to be retained. He was understood 
 to be much in favor with General Harrison. My personal ac 
 quaintance with his friends will lead them to expect whatever 
 attention may be justly and fairly due to him. 
 
 In restricting myself to the number and nature of the observa 
 tions made, I give a proof of my reliance on the better informa 
 tion and the judgment of others, and that I am prepared to pay 
 every attention to such suggestions from yourself as may be 
 comprised in the general report you are preparing. 
 
 I can say nothing of my own knowledge of Major Gardner. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 413 
 
 If the opinion of General B. has against it that of the other 
 officers you name, and no conspicuous achievement be referred 
 to, I see no grounds on which be ought to be preferred to Butler. 
 
 I believe I have already expressed my concurrence in the ex 
 pediency of retaining the adjutant and inspector-general, and 
 such of the garrison surgeons and surgeons mates as may be 
 requisite. 
 
 With respect to the hospital surgeons, I have nothing to add 
 to my remarks on that part of the report of the Board, unless it 
 be that if there should be a hospital contemplated at or in the 
 vicinity of Washington, I wish that Dr. Elzy may be selected 
 for it. My personal knowledge of him suggests this intimation 
 in his favor. 
 
 The report, received this morning and returned, on the dis 
 tribution of the troops, appears to be founded on a judicious view 
 of the subject. I should not have disapproved a larger provision 
 for Sackett s Harbor, and some artillery force for Detroit. You 
 are right in reserving for Jackson a revision of the southern 
 disposition. He will probably think more due to the security of 
 New Orleans. Provision for a fort, co-operating with Plaque- 
 mine, will be entitled to consideration. 
 
 The idea of incorporating the chaplains of brigades with the 
 military academy might be useful; but is so remote from the 
 legal contemplation of their services, that it must at least lie 
 over for consideration. 
 
 The change proposed by General Brown, in his letter to you 
 of the 8th, has much to recommend it. It may be well, how 
 ever, to have the opinion of Chauncey, and of some others, on the 
 subject. The Secretary of the Navy will state to you what has 
 passed on the subject of the ships building at Sackett s Harbor. 
 The subject is embarrassing in several respects. The remark is 
 applicable in some degree to naval possessions on all the lakes. 
 
 I requested Mr. Monroe in a letter yesterday, as you will learn 
 from him, to bring into consultation the question of an immedi 
 ate reduction of the army, which if approved by the result, you 
 will act upon. My reasons in favor of the measure may in part 
 be collected from a late one to you. They are strengthened by 
 the probable removal of the British troops not only from our 
 limits, but in great degree from Canada also. I shall receive 
 a different opinion of the members of the cabinet, nevertheless, 
 with a mind open to the reasons for it. I have asked for a con 
 sultation also on the expediency of diplomatic experiments for 
 obviating the tendency of a war in Europe, to renew embarrass 
 ments to the United States. The case of Decatur s expedition 
 is another topic for consideration. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
414 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, In the haste of my last letter to you I omitted 
 to notice the wish of General Scott for permission to visit 
 Europe, without a discontinuance of official emoluments. He is 
 certainly entitled to every admissible indulgence, and in this case 
 the public interests might be promoted by the military instruc 
 tion he might acquire on that theatre. His departure will of 
 course be under the control, and with his own choice, of the 
 bearing of European events on our military arrangements. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 MR. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 May 11, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I send a report on the organization of the peace 
 establishment for your consideration. The first general order 
 proposed is also sent ; the second general order will conform, 
 with some slight exceptions, to the report of the Board ; and the 
 remaining two general orders will be in substance what the re 
 port states. I will forward them to you as fast as I can put 
 them into form ; but if you approve the outline, be so good as to 
 sign your approbation at the foot of the report, which will put 
 the whole subject in order for the record, and enable me to begin 
 the publications. 
 
 Mr. Monroe left us this morning. Mr. Crowninshield has sent 
 sailing orders to Commodore Decatur, with a confidential instruc 
 tion, as to any danger that may present itself in Europe. 
 
 Colonel George Croghan has resigned. Shall his resignation 
 be accepted and another name substituted ? Or shall we wait 
 until we see the effect of his being announced in the Army 
 Register ? 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 13 May, 1815. 
 
 MEMORANDA. 
 
 1. The exceptions from the general reduction of the military 
 establishment, as contemplated in the act of Congress, seem to 
 be necessary, and they are few, to wit : 
 
 (1) The adjutant and inspector-general. 
 
 (2) The quartermaster-general. 
 
 (3) The apothecary-general and two assistants. 
 
 (4) Two garrison surgeons, and ten garrison surgeons mates. 
 
 (5) Two deputy paymasters-general. 
 
 To supply vacancies, created by resignations of the first ap 
 pointments on the peace establishments, all the officers are de 
 clared to be held provisionally in service. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 415 
 
 To secure a prompt settlement of accounts, all officers intrusted 
 with public money are held in service until they render their 
 accounts. 
 
 2. The brigade inspectors and brigade quartermasters are to 
 be taken by the brigadier-generals from the line, in the usual 
 way, and cannot, therefore, be named in the Register. 
 
 3. Dr. Waterhouse and Dr. Elzy are substituted for Dr. Thomas 
 and Dr. Watkins, reported by the Board. Dr. Bronaugh is re 
 tained, as Mr. Monroe thinks there would be suggestions of a 
 disagreeable kind were he to be struck off. I find all officers, of 
 all parties, speaking well of him here, and lamenting the affair 
 with Colonel Coles as a personal one. 
 
 4. I have substituted H. Wheaton, of New York, as a judge 
 advocate, instead of R. H. Winder, reported by the Board. Mr. 
 Wheaton s talents are unquestionable ; and it is desirable, on 
 many accounts, to gratify him. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 14, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 12th is duly received. The result 
 of the consultation on the discharge of the army and the ex 
 pedition against Algiers is entirely satisfactory; that relating 
 to the question of diplomatic measures required by the crisis is 
 so also. My own idea was rather to ripen the subject for de 
 cision than to act on it before the intelligence daily expected from 
 Europe, and particularly from our functionaries there, should 
 arrive. In the meantime the ordinary measure of communica 
 tions, such as will proceed from the Department of State, will 
 be proper and sufficient. 
 
 Vessels regularly condemned by a prize court cannot fairly 
 come within the stipulation for restoring private property. If 
 the vessels were captured in places and under circumstances 
 rendering the capture lawful, the case is still clearer. The order 
 you propose to issue is the more proper, as a prompt and liberal 
 attention to the claims of the other party will strengthen ours to 
 a liberal construction of the treaty in favor of American citizens. 
 The more we keep in view the irregularity or unreasonableness 
 of the capture, as the principle of restitution in the case of pri 
 vate property, the more our construction of the treaty will be 
 favored and the restitution extended. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 I have detained the mail for a hasty perusal of the printed 
 defence of General Jackson, which, according to request, is 
 returned. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
416 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am anxious to make our army arrangement 
 satisfactory, without taking too great a latitude in the discretion 
 left to the executive. I am afraid General Jackson will be mor 
 tified if Major Butler and Major Hayne are not noticed in some 
 part of our arrangement; and I think we can manage the matter 
 safely by allowing an adjutant-general (Major Butler) to be pro 
 visionally retained for the division of the south, and another 
 (Major Hayne) to be provisionally retained for the division of 
 the north. The appointments are essential in the first move- 
 meats to organize the peace establishment ; and it is clear that 
 Congress must provide more effectually for a general staff. If 
 you approve of this alteration, my only remaining desideratum 
 will be an honorable subsistence for the gallant and unfortunate 
 M Pherson. Something will, perhaps, occur in the civil line to 
 gratify us in his case. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 14 May, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, On reflection, I have thought it right to recom 
 mend some additions and alterations in the plan submitted to 
 you for organizing the army. 
 
 1. To transport the troops from place to place before they are 
 formed into brigades will require more assistance in the quarter 
 master s department. I propose, therefore, retaining provi 
 sionally, 
 
 Samuel Brown (the general s brother), deputy quartermaster- 
 general for the division of the north. 
 
 Abram B. Fannin (highly recommended), deputy quarter 
 master-general for the division of the south. 
 
 2. In the pay department, I propose that the deputies pro 
 visionally retained should be located in different divisions : 
 
 Washington Lee, deputy paymaster-general for the division of 
 the north. 
 
 John T. Pemberton, deputy paymaster-general for the division 
 of the south. 
 
 3. The vacancy produced by Colonel Aspinwall s appointment 
 as consul to be supplied by Colonel Joseph L. Smith, leaving 
 Colonel Clemson to fill the vacancy produced by the resignation 
 of Colonel Croghan, if it is persisted in. 
 
 4. Captain Wm. O. Allen to be substituted for Captain Wm. 0. 
 Wenston in the corps of artillery, upon the request of the board 
 of officers in a supplemental report. 
 
 5. The board of officers left a blank for the surgeon of the 
 second regiment. I propose to fill it with the name of Franklin 
 
LET TEES, ETC. 417 
 
 Bache, surgeon of the twenty-second infantry, a young man of 
 fine talents and amiable character. I think the appointment will 
 have a good effect. 
 
 6. The inclosed letter from General Scott will show the mis 
 take that has unfortunately excluded Captain Burd of the light 
 dragoons. He is very anxious to correct it, and I propose to 
 substitute his name as captain in the fourth regiment for the 
 name of Captain J. Hook. Captain Burd was breveted for a 
 gallant affair in Maryland. 
 
 T. If Major Bankhead will accept a company with the brevet 
 of major, I propose to substitute his name for the name of B. 
 Peyton as captain of the fourth regiment. 
 
 8. Captain George Bender, of the ninth infantry, has been 
 omitted. He is praised as the first captain in the army by 
 Colonel Aspinwall, and I cannot account for the omission. I send 
 a note on his subject from Colonel Aspinwall and General Parker, 
 and I propose to substitute Captain Bender s name instead of 
 Wm. Browning, lately promoted, as captain of the fifth regi 
 ment. I will then transfer Browning to the head of the list of 
 lieutenants and leave off the name of the lowest lieutenant on 
 the list. 
 
 9. Mr. Monroe informed me that he had reflected much upon 
 the effect of leaving off Major Gardner s name and substituting 
 Major Butler s, and he recommended that the change should not 
 be made. I adopt his opinion, and shall act accordingly, unless 
 you give other instructions. Mr. Monroe left us yesterday. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 14 May, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have written to you already by this day s mail ; 
 but one more alteration in the army list is desirable. Major Cut 
 ler is an excellent officer, a modest man, and much esteemed. He 
 has been in service eight years, but has not enjoyed an opportu 
 nity of becoming conspicuous in the field. He will be content with 
 a company and the brevet. I must add that he is very poor. If 
 you approve of it, I can make an arrangement similar to the one 
 proposed in Captain Bender s case, with advantage, I think, to 
 the list. 
 
 I hope it will be unnecessary to trouble you further on the 
 general organization of the army. . 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 14 May, 1815. 
 
418 APPENDICES. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 15, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 13th is received, and I return the 
 outline of what you propose with the approbation desired, which 
 may be acted on or reconsidered in any of its parts as you 
 judge best. This discretion is suggested by a question whether 
 the order relating to the military departments and to the distri 
 bution of the corps ought to be combined with that relating to 
 the reduction and organization of the army, the former being 
 matters of executive regulation and alteration ; the last, of a legal 
 and fixed character. It is recollected, also, that the military com 
 manders of districts have been led by such an arrangement into 
 views of their separate and independent authority within their 
 respective precincts, which have embroiled them with one an 
 other and embarrassed the War Department, and which may be 
 strengthened by the formality to be given in this case. The 
 commanders of districts have contested the right of a senior offi 
 cer arriving within them to take the command ; and have com 
 plained of orders from the War Department given directly to 
 inferior officers within their districts, although required by con 
 siderations of distance and urgency and made known at the same 
 time to the commanders themselves. Should any deviation from 
 what is proposed be ineligible, these remarks will suggest an 
 explanation, if error on these points be not already sufficiently 
 guarded against, of the real authority conferred by these local 
 arrangements. 
 
 The resignation of Colonel Croghan may be accepted or not, 
 as you choose. You understand better than I do the circum 
 stances which ought to decide the question. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 16, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received your two letters, both of the 14th. 
 I know of no objection to your proposed additions to or changes 
 in the list of retained officers, unless it may be in the erasure of 
 B. Peyton. If he be the young gentleman who has been em 
 ployed at or in the neighborhood of Charlottesville (Virginia), I 
 have heard him spoken of as of merit, and much esteemed by 
 some whose esteem would be an evidence of it. I have no per 
 sonal knowledge of him. You may perhaps have the means of 
 ascertaining the extent of his pretensions in comparison with 
 others standing in the way of Major Bankhead. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 419 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 17, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The arrangement proposed in yours of the 14th, 
 just received, with respect to Majors Butler and Hayne, appear 
 to be eligible, though the latter may not find it convenient, being, 
 I understand, an inhabitant of South Carolina, to be allotted to 
 the northern division of the army. It is desirable to gratify 
 General Jackson, and it is fortunate that in this case it can be 
 done with an accommodation at the same time to the public ser 
 vice. I know not how to account, unless by faults of the mail, 
 for his long silence on the subject of martial law and the events 
 growing out of it. His printed defence shows the ground on 
 which his explanation will be made, and shows also that he will 
 not be prepared for the view of the subject presented in your letter 
 to him. It is to be regretted that his defence was forbidden by 
 the judge and that it assumed the form it did. The ground on 
 \vhich martial law takes place is that it results from a given 
 military situation ; not that it can be introduced or extended in 
 time or place by the authority of a military commander. When 
 the public safety calls for its introduction or extension, the exer 
 tion of it rests on the patriotic assumption of an extraordinary 
 responsibility. If this distinction be just, a better course might 
 have been taken than that which the general was led to 
 adopt. All his reasons and views ought, however, to be seen 
 before any final opinion be formed, and if not altogether satis 
 factory when seen, ought to be judged with a liberality propor 
 tioned to the greatness of his services, the purity of his inten 
 tions, and the peculiarity of the circumstances in which he found 
 himself. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF WAR, May, 1815. 
 
 SIR, The very difficult and unpleasant task of reducing the 
 army to the number prescribed by the act of Congress fixing 
 the military peace establishment of the United States, has been 
 accomplished, and the .proceedings of this department, as well 
 as the result, you will find stated in the inclosed document. It 
 has been a subject of great regret that neither you nor General 
 Gaines could attend at Washington, to afford us the aid of your 
 experience and information, but you may be assured that the 
 merits of the gallant army which you commanded have not beenr 
 overlooked. Your communications, and those of Colonel Hayne 
 (to whom you referred us), have been regarded as conclusive 
 testimonials of military character, and I hope that yourself as 
 well as your officers will be gratified with the designation that 
 
420 APPENDICES. 
 
 has been made for the military peace establishment. If there 
 are any officers of your army, either among those who are re 
 tained, or those who are discharged, to whom you think the 
 honorary distinction of a brevet is due for distinguished services, 
 you will be pleased to name them to the department, with a 
 reference to the nature and date of their services. 
 
 You observe, sir, that you are appointed to the command of 
 the division of the south under the new organization of the 
 army. It was proper, in the first instance, to apportion and dis 
 tribute the troops at military stations, in order to facilitate the 
 formation of the corps and regiments, but you will consider the 
 present apportionment and distribution in your division as sub 
 ject to any alterations that your observation and judgment may 
 suggest for the benefit of the service. 
 
 The defence and security of New Orleans and Mobile are ob 
 jects of primary interest and importance. The recent events in 
 Europe, and the conflicting claims of the United States and Spain 
 to a part of the Territory of West Florida, recommend every 
 precaution that can be taken to protect our own rights without 
 infringing the rights of others, and I will thank you to favor the 
 department with an early statement of your views on that sub 
 ject, extending your care to the protection of Charleston, Savan 
 nah, and other exposed situations of the southern coast. 
 
 The preservation of peace with the Indians, and, indeed, with 
 our neighbors in Canada, whether acting as a company of mer 
 chants or as a government, will essentially depend upon the 
 positions which are now to be occupied in the Indian country. 
 The object contemplated in that respect is to establish posts 
 along the course of the British traders from Michilimackinac by 
 Green Bay, the Fox River, and the Ouiscousin River, to Prairie 
 du Chien, and thence up the Mississippi to St. Anthony s Falls. 
 Commissioners have been appointed to hold a treaty with the 
 Indians at St. Louis, and Colonel Miller, with a detachment of 
 men, attending the commissioners, will take position at Prairie 
 du Chien, whence he will be eventually ordered into the division 
 of the north, to which his regiment is assigned. Major-General 
 Brown will be requested to correspond with you on the measures 
 taken for the establishment of the posts falling within his divi 
 sion and to avail himself of your information and experience. 
 
 The object of preserving peace may be united with the policy 
 of improving the country and civilizing the Indians by the 
 establishment of competent posts on a lower route from Chicago 
 along the Illinois River to St. Louis. This object is committed 
 to your special care as falling Vithin the duties of your com 
 mand ; but besides communicating your views upon it to this 
 department, you will be pleased to make it the subject of a cor- 
 resDondence with Major-General Brown, so that the measures 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 421 
 
 taken in each division may be known in both, and be the result 
 of a beneficial concert and co-operation. 
 
 For the accomplishment of the objects which have been 
 stated, every possible despatch should be used. Castine and 
 Fort Bowyer have been restored, and assurances are given that 
 Fort Niagara and Fort Michilimackinac will be soon restored. 
 Some indulgence is asked at the last place, but it cannot be long 
 allowed, as the season for the Indian trade will soon commence, 
 and, in a single season, the foundation of great evils may be laid. 
 
 I inclose an extract from the letter of Governor Sevier, re 
 questing that the commissioners, who are appointed to survey 
 the lands lately ceded by the Creeks to the United States, may 
 have a military escort assigned to them. You will be pleased 
 to comply with this request, if you deem it advisable, and the 
 state of your troops renders it convenient. 
 
 The general orders which have been issued this day comprise 
 all the instructions that are deemed necessary to be given by 
 this department for the immediate organization of the army ac 
 cording to the peace establishment, and the most diligent atten 
 tion is earnestly requested from all the officers in the perform 
 ance of their respective duties. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 Major-General ANDREW JACKSON, 
 Nashville. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 19, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 16th is received. The army report 
 was returned some time ago. There have of late been delays 
 between this and Fredericksburg, owing to inattention at the 
 post-office there, which may account for your not having received 
 the report. There must have been a miscarriage altogether of 
 the document transferring appropriations.- I now return a du 
 plicate sent me from the War Department. 
 
 I am apprehensive that some uneasiness will be produced in 
 Kentucky by the organization and appointments for the army, 
 however unavoidable the causes of it may be. It probably hap 
 pens that there will be a greater proportion of individual disap 
 pointments, and a smaller proportion of selections to the aggre 
 gate and acknowledged merits of the people there than elsewhere, 
 and the want of a western member of the Board at Washington 
 will not fail to excite attention. The whole is to be regretted, 
 but no remedy, I presume, can be applied. On reflection, I 
 think it will be best to accept Croghan s resignation, and if there 
 be no special objection to Major Z. Taylor s replacing him, it 
 
422 APPENDICES. 
 
 may be done. A selection from Kentucky or Tennessee seems 
 indispensable. 
 
 I am glad to learn that the difficulties in the fiscal department 
 are yielding to your management of them. Should a war not 
 result from the crisis in Europe, which is possible, or our com 
 merce should escape its former rapacities, which may happen, 
 the state of our treasury and our credit will put us out of the 
 reach of domestic intrigue and cupidity. 
 
 If Chandler s claim to double rations be not within the scope 
 of the law, or the precedents interpreting it, it must of course 
 be disallowed. If otherwise it appears to be reasonable, and is 
 strengthened by the opinion of General Dearborn, I am not pre 
 pared to judge of the extent to which the allowance would open 
 a door for like claims not supported by the same equity. The 
 war office can place the whole subject before you. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The inclosed letter from General Jackson shows 
 that Fort Bowyer has been restored, without difficulty ; but that 
 the negroes taken near New Orleans are retained. There are no 
 accounts from Niagara. 
 
 1 have sent by this mail the new Army Register, the general 
 orders for effecting the organization of the peace establishment, 
 and copies of my letters to Generals Jackson and Brown. These, 
 together with your address of thanks, and the instructions to the 
 board of general officers, will appear in the National Intelligencer 
 of Monday, and be transferred into a small pamphlet for circula 
 tion in the army. A knowledge of the principles which have been 
 adopted on the present occasion must, I think, secure the appro 
 bation of the candid, and silence the clamors of the malcontent. 
 
 I have thought it best to retain Colonel Croghan s name in the 
 Register, as he constitutes an important feature in the selection 
 from the northwestern army, and the substitute proposed by the 
 Board, Colonel Clemson, comes from the east. If Colonel 
 Croghan perseveres in his resignation, it will be more easy to in 
 troduce another name, without being exposed to cavils hereafter. 
 Major Bankhead has declined taking the only place which was 
 open for him ; but, as I undersood that Mr. Monroe would write 
 to him on the subject, and wished the arrangement to be made, 
 I shall retain Major Bankhead s name for the present. 
 
 Commodore Rodgers has received a letter from Dr. Bullus, 
 the navy agent, stating that a vessel had just arrived at New 
 York with accounts of a declaration of war by England against 
 France, and of a battle in Belgium, the issue of which was not 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 423 
 
 known. This day s eastern mail will give more correct informa 
 tion. Our squadron has probably sailed from New York. 
 
 Our stocks are rising every day. They are in demand at 93 
 in Philadelphia. The speculators and brokers are in a rage that 
 I have refused their offers at 85, 8T, and 89. That refusal, how 
 ever, aided by the events in Europe, will probably put six per 
 cents at par in six months. I think Mr. Adams may negotiate 
 the sale in Europe at a higher rate than 95. As soon as the 
 army is paid and the navy provided for, I shall begin to call in 
 the treasury notes which are due and unpaid. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 20 May, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received your letter, expressing a wish 
 that Colonel Croghan s resignation should be accepted ; but the 
 Army Register has been actually printed, including his name, 
 for the reason which I assigned in my last letter. I think, how 
 ever, you will not regret the occurrence when you observe that 
 Major Taylor must have been promoted to a higher rank in order 
 to take Colonel Croghan s place, who is a lieutenant-colonel in 
 the line ; and this course would not have corresponded with the 
 general principle of the selections, which admitted of an officer s 
 being reduced with his own consent, but has not been applied to 
 give any officer higher rank in the line. But you will find that 
 both Major Taylor and Major Bradford, who were united in 
 Colonel Owing s protest, are retained as captains, with brevets 
 as majors. Bradford has expressed perfect satisfaction with the 
 arrangement, and he told me that the protest had been written 
 under a misapprehension of the course taken by the board of 
 general officers ; but that he was confident, upon better informa 
 tion, that the selections would be approved and supported in 
 Kentucky. Colonel Jessup and Major Bradford told me that 
 they doubted whether Major Taylor would consent to remain in 
 the army on any terms ; that he was a man of fortune, and that 
 he had long ago expressed a determination to resign. But, view 
 ing the subject in its general aspect, you will find, I believe, that 
 the western country has a full portion of the peace establish 
 ment. Generals Jackson, Games, Smith, etc., Colonel Miller, 
 Colonel Nicholas, Colonel Croghau, Colonel Jessup, etc., are at 
 the head of a long western list. 
 
 I inclose letters from St. Louis on Indian affairs, and a report 
 from Colonel Jessup of his proceedings in Connecticut. 
 
 There are no details of the news sent by Dr. Bullus to Com 
 modore Rodgers. 
 
424 APPENDICES. 
 
 Be so good as to state whether you have received my report 
 in the case of Mr. Eustaphiere, the Russian consul. 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 21 May, 1815. 
 
 I open my letter to add that letters from New Orleans inform 
 us that provision was made at that place for paying the whole of 
 the regulars and militia, the banks advancing money for drafts 
 on the paymaster of the army, which will be punctually paid 
 here. The northern army is amply provided for ; and I think 
 that our funds cannot fail in any quarter. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 21, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours, without date, inclosing the 
 letters from Mr. Hall and Mr. Forsyth, which are now returned. 
 A letter was lately sent to the Secretary of State from Governor 
 Early, recommending a successor to Mr. Harris as district attor 
 ney for Georgia. I forget whether it was the same gentleman 
 as is the subject of the letters from Messrs. H. and F. If it was, 
 the appointment of Mr. Davis may take place ; otherwise, 
 further inquiry may not be amiss. 
 
 I have a letter from General Gaines, by which I find that the 
 selection of him is accepted with equal modesty and gratitude. 
 
 In my remarks on the resignation of Colonel Croghan, it was 
 not my meaning that Major Taylor should succeed to the 
 vacancy as lieutenant-colonel, but that it might open the way 
 for retaining the latter as major. If the case could be so man 
 aged as to advance Jessup to the place of Croghan, it would do 
 no more than justice to that very distinguished officer, and would 
 unite several advantageous considerations. But, if I am right 
 in my recollection, Jessup has risen to the brevet rank of colonel 
 from that of major only in the line. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received the inclosed letters from General 
 Jackson and General Gaines. The former does not appear to 
 have received any of our letters ; and the latter has only received 
 the letter inviting him to Washington, or his answers have mis 
 carried. 
 
 There is a remarkable coincidence between General Gaines 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 425 
 
 recommendatory list and the selections made here ; and Lien- 
 tenant Spotts, who is strongly recommended by General Jackson, 
 and for whom I ask a brevet, says, that the Army Register will 
 give the highest satisfaction to the South. As the National 
 Intelligencer of to-day contains the whole of the military budget, 
 we shall soon ascertain the feelings of the officers and the printers 
 upon the occasion. 
 
 I send a letter from General Dearborn, inclosing Colonel 
 Starke s official report of the surrender of Castine. When you 
 return this communication, I will send a copy of it to the De 
 partment of State, that Mr. Monroe may be able to meet Mr. 
 Baker s claim with a knowledge of the facts. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 22 May, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I had prepared a letter to General Brown respect 
 ing the surrender of the fort at Michilimackinac before I received 
 your favor of the 24th instant. Every consideration presses that 
 object upon our attention ; and an early possession must be insisted 
 on by all means except force. If the delay continues until Mr. 
 Monroe s return, you will, perhaps, think it right to address Mr. 
 Baker on the subject. The views which I have taken of the 
 posts to be introduced into the Indian country contemplate a 
 gradual, but steady, operation, which may be completed in two 
 or three years. We have no answer from Colonel Hawkins. 
 
 The Secretary of the Navy, Commodore Chauncey, and myself 
 concur in the view which General Brown has taken of the ex 
 pediency of transferring the naval and military station from 
 Sackett s Harbor to Henderson s Bay. They concur, too, in the 
 opinion that the ships at Sackett s Harbor should be finished for 
 launching; and, when launched, should be removed to Hender 
 son s Bay, and sunk. If left on the stocks, they will perish in 
 two years ; and they cannot be launched and sunk at Sackett s 
 Harbor. The expense of finishing them will amount to a sum 
 of about fifty thousand dollars; and the expense of purchasing 
 a site for the military and naval station at Henderson s Bay will 
 be about two or three dollars per acre. It would, I think, how 
 ever, be wise to purchase the peninsula included within a line 
 run from the head of the bay to the mouth of Stoney Creek. 
 The subject will remain for your consideration at Washington ; 
 but, in the mean time, I will request General Brown to ascertain 
 the quantity of land, the price, etc., and to make a conditional 
 arrangement, so as to avoid binding the government to purchase, 
 but, at the same time, prevent the price being raised upon us. 
 
 28 
 
426 APPENDICES. 
 
 Mr. Crowninshield has, I presume, mentioned to you the differ 
 ence of opinion which has arisen between him and the Board of 
 navy commissioners. The occurrence was anticipated, and stated 
 to Mr. Jones when he showed me his plan. It appears to me to 
 be a plain case in favor of the Secretary of the Navy ; but a case 
 of some delicacy. The style of the Board was improper, even 
 if their claims were correct. I am afraid that the employment 
 of Goldsborough has been injurious ; but I fear still more that 
 our good comptroller s opinion of his own legal learning has laid 
 the foundation of much error. 
 
 I have recommended Mr. Wardell s case to the collector of 
 New York. 
 
 There is nothing new here. I presumed that you would not 
 return to Washington until some accounts from our commissioners 
 reached us. If your health improves at Montpelier I should be 
 sorry to see you hasten your return, as I x am not aware of any 
 immediate pressure of business. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 26 May, 1815. 
 
 MONTPELTER, May 24, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 20th and 21st, to 
 which the arrival of the mail enables me to add that of the 22d. 
 I return the letter from General Jackson inclosed in the first, and 
 the letters from Forsyth, Russell, Governor Holmes, and Jessup 
 inclosed in the second. The last is a very interesting document, 
 arid shows the writer to be a man of excellent sense, as well as 
 a shining warrior. The aspect of things in the Missouri district 
 is rendered much worse than described by Russell, by a melan 
 choly paragraph in a St. Louis gazette, which, as it may not 
 have reached you, I put under this cover. It furnishes a topic 
 on which the British commander in Canada maybe pressed with 
 peculiar force to hasten the delivery of Michilimackinac. That 
 ocular proof only of the honorable termination of the war will 
 extinguish the confidence and hostility with which the savages 
 have been inspired by their allies ; especially as the latter, from 
 pride and policy both, will exaggerate the stipulation in the 
 treaty in favor of the former. I am glad you are turning your 
 thoughts systematically to the Indian department of our affairs. 
 It embraces a cordon of posts. Agents political, and agents com 
 mercial. A cordon, stretching from Michigan to the frontier 
 settlements westward of the Mississippi, and on the back of those 
 settlements southward to a connection with Louisiana, would 
 form an advantageous barrier between the white and the red 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 427 
 
 people, and protect, at the same time, the public lands against 
 lawless occupancies. The military force, however, that can fairly 
 be so applied is inadequate to the whole object. It is question 
 able whether an adequate portion can be found for the double 
 cordon you have in view for the northwestern quarter, which, 
 being most under the influence of the Canadian traders, evidently 
 requires the strongest precautions, without neglecting too much 
 the defence due to the Missouri territory on the western side. 
 General Mason will be able to afford much useful information on 
 the subject of the commercial agencies. If that mode of supply 
 ing the wants of the Indians be continued, some new regulations 
 may be found necessary, as well to prevent abuses at distant 
 factories as to supersede more the resort of the Indians to Brit 
 ish supplies. The correspondences and communications on the 
 files of the War Department will throw light on this subject, if 
 they can be selected by any of the remaining clerks. Some 
 valuable information was communicated by Judge Lucas, but 
 whether on paper or verbally I do not recollect. It becomes an 
 interesting question how far we ought at once to shut out the 
 British traders from our limits, not only on this side the Missis 
 sippi, but through the whole extent of the Louisiana purchase. 
 Within the latter they never had a right, though they once set 
 up a claim to trade with the Indians, and from the former they 
 may now be excluded by the tenor of the treaty at Ghent ; and 
 as to both, a prohibition, at no distant day, will be essential. 
 For the moment, it may perhaps be as well to bring these ques 
 tions into view as little as possible, as they may increase difficul 
 ties on others depending on the treaty of Ghent, taking care, 
 however, that no sanction be given, in any way, to the trade 
 enjoyed of right heretofore with the Indians on this side the 
 Mississippi. It has not yet been decided whether a general 
 superintendency (political), such as was held by Governor Hull, 
 should be established for the northwest Indians, or into whose 
 hands it should be placed. Mr. Monroe had it under consideration 
 as a service for General Wilkinson. Whether it would suit him, 
 and he that, are of course open questions. If Colonel Hawkins 
 should leave the Creek agency, a candidate will be seen in a 
 letter now forwarded. I recollect nothing of his character. If 
 the vacancy be not applied in alleviation of reduced officers, 
 great respect is due to Colonel Hawkins s recommendation. A 
 commission may be issued for Colonel Hinds as brigadier, etc., 
 as recommended by Governor Holmes. 
 
 The papers relating to Mr. Eustaphiere were sent to the Sec 
 retary of State, with a suggestion that his case should be stated 
 to the emperor in the manner most likely to combine the two 
 objects of conciliating the master and getting rid of the servant. 
 
 Issue the brevet you propose for Lieutenant Spotts. 
 
428 APPENDICES. 
 
 I return the papers relating to Castine and the captured stores, 
 which may await the return of the Secretary of State to Wash 
 ington, previous to which he will probably hold no further com 
 munication with Mr. Baker on the subject. 
 
 The military budget makes its appearance, I observe, in the 
 National Intelligencer. I cannot refer to it without expressing 
 my obligations for the laborious task it has cost you, and my 
 gratification that you are at length relieved from it. Besides the 
 labor, the task has been distinguished by the delicate questions 
 involved in it, touching the comparative pretensions of meritori 
 ous individuals. That there will be a unanimous approbation 
 of what has been done is not to be expected. But I persuade 
 myself that the candid and reasonable part of the public, taking 
 into view the arduous nature of the duty, and the propriety of 
 blending with a reward for past services a provision for future 
 ones, will be more than merely satisfied with the execution of the 
 law. 
 
 I return the papers in behalf of B. and I. Bohlen. Be so good 
 as to refer them to the State Department; and if you think the 
 circumstances of the case sufficiently peculiar and strong, with 
 out the usual resort for information to the official sources, a par 
 don may issue. Some countenance to a favorable interposition 
 of the executive in such cases has been generally required from 
 the judges, the jury, or the law officer prosecuting, in order to 
 guard against the liberality and sympathy which so readily fur 
 nish private recommendations. I am not prepared to form an 
 opinion on the merits of the question as decided by the supreme 
 court. I presume that they were much influenced by the con 
 sideration, that, if the securing the duties, etc. were to stamp 
 imported merchandise with all the rights of circulation, a danger 
 ous door might be opened for collusion. Whatever may have 
 been the ground of the decision, it is but fair to distinguish 
 between cases prior and cases subsequent to it. If you think it 
 requisite that the prosecuting attorney should be applied to, the 
 order indorsed for the pardon may be suspended. The indorse 
 ment is on your statement of the case. 
 
 The letter of Mr. Sailler and the papers with it were brought 
 to me here by Mr. Buel, the subject of them. I told him they 
 would of course be referred to the Treasury Department, to 
 which he might add any explanations he might have to make. 
 Sailler was formerly a very respectable member of Congress, and, 
 as far as his testimony with the drawback of kindred bias goes, 
 it is entitled to attention. But he is aware of the indiscretion 
 which calls for the executive animadversion. And with respect 
 to the question of interest between Buel and his successor, I 
 understood that it was already in court. If Buel means to lodge 
 charges against Yanness, or his representations suggest inquiry 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 429 
 
 as to the conduct of the latter, you will of course take the usual 
 steps. 
 
 The letter recommending Mr. Wardell for an office in the cus 
 toms at New York is from two of my worthy neighbors. Mr. 
 Monroe, I learn, has been led by his friends in Fredericksburg 
 to write to Mr. Gelston 4 with a view to his patronage. I am not 
 acquainted with Wardell, but have much confidence in those re 
 commending him. The great objection arises from the circum 
 stance of his intending to settle in New York without having 
 previously settled there, and which may be pressed by his com 
 petitors. If this objection be waived or disregarded by Mr. 
 Gelston, Mr. Wardell may fairly enter into comparison with other 
 candidates. 
 
 I have not yet fixed on the time of my return to Washington. 
 It will probably be in the course of next week. I hope to see 
 Mr. Monroe in the course of this or early in the next, and I 
 shall then fix on the day for setting out. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 The letter from General McArthur, now returned, is another 
 proof of the obligation on the British commander to deliver Fort 
 Mackinaw, and of ours to press it on him. You will of course 
 approve the means necessary to make Fort Wayne temporarily 
 secure at least. And unless it be understood that the northwest 
 Indians alluded to are embraced in and will attend the treaty 
 already instituted, another may be set on foot under Governor 
 Cass and General McArthur, or any other commissioners that 
 may be more conveniently employed. Perhaps Worthingtou 
 might properly be at the head of the commission. The expense 
 and the extent of the proceeding ought, however, to be influ 
 enced by the number and the importance of the tribes to be 
 treated with. Query How would it do to offer General Wilkin 
 son a service on the occasion ? He is at home in that quarter. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MOKTPELIER, May 27, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, It is represented to me from a very respectable 
 source in Kentucky that Messrs. Ward and Taylor (arr^y con 
 tractors) are men of real patriotism and integrity ; that their 
 services have been particularly critical and meritorious ; and that 
 they are threatened with absolute ruin in consequence of their 
 pecuniary exertions unless they can be immediately aided by an 
 ticipations of what will be due to them, and which will be justi 
 fied by their characters and their responsibility. If anything 
 can be done for them I am sure you will not let them suffer 
 unjustly or improperly. The case is doubtless within your com- 
 
430 APPENDICES. 
 
 
 
 mand of all the requisite information by which its merits is to be 
 determined. 
 
 I am just favored with yours of the 25th instant. 
 
 I am commencing my arrangements preparatory to my return 
 to Washington. I hope to reach it about the end of the ensuing 
 week. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I inclose a report upon the expediency of selling 
 a part of the gunpowder, to which you will be so good as to 
 subjoin your approbation. 
 
 My friend Colonel Johnstone spares no one on the subject of 
 Ward and Taylor s contract. The truth is that by his assiduity 
 during the session of Congress they fared much better than any 
 other contractors. They have actually received near $500,000 
 on their old contract, and I have just given them a warrant for 
 $10,000 on their new contract in advance. Their accounts are 
 not settled, and the apparent balance of their account for their 
 old contract is about $50,000, liable, however, to an augmentation 
 upon additional vouchers. One of the New York contractors 
 has a balance of more than $500,000 due to him. But in point 
 of fact Mr. Ward himself was with me a day or two ago, and 
 was perfectly satisfied with my arrangements ; and in point of 
 law the appropriation for subsistence is exhausted, and unless we 
 can remit it from the ordnance fund we shall be obliged to sus 
 pend all payments until Congress meets. 
 
 I sent a copy of General McArthur s letter to General Brown 
 as soon as I received it, and I will write to the commanding offi 
 cer at Fort Wayne to make himself secure at that place. I 
 think you will find it necessary to hold a distinct treaty with the 
 Indians to whom the general s letter relates. Governor Clarke s 
 commission is to treat with the Indians west of the Illinois River 
 and Lake Michigan merely for peace in pursuance of our treaty 
 with England. But the Indians of whom General McArthur 
 speaks inhabit east of the Illinois River and Lake Michigan, in 
 Michigan Territory, etc. etc., and are principally the very Indians 
 with whom Governor Cass and General Harrison concluded the 
 treaty of the 2d July, 1814. As a treaty is certainly better than 
 a war, I submit to you the appointment of Governor Worthing- 
 ton, General Wilkinson, and Mr. John Graham (who in a letter 
 to his brother from Chillicothe expresses a willingness to serve) 
 as the pacific negotiators. In the mean time I will write to Gov 
 ernor Worthington merely to draw his attention to the subject 
 and to request his good offices in preserving harmony. Governor 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 431 
 
 Cass will also be instructed to use his best endeavors to prevent 
 or to repel hostilities. 
 
 As it is probable that I shall see you in a few days, the im 
 portant objects connected with our Indian country, the posts at 
 Maiden and Mackinac, and the arbitration articles of our treaty 
 will be reviewed. But do you not think it would be advisable 
 to appoint at once our arbitrators under each article of the treaty, 
 and to notify the appointment to the British government? The 
 English interest is all on the side of delay ; our interest is all on 
 the side of decision ; and the moment is favorable to enforce a 
 settlement. I am always afraid of allowing rights or claims to 
 assume the character of being obsolete. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 29 May, 1815. 
 
 I inclose Mr. Graham s letter. Provision had been long ago 
 made to pay the troops which he mentions as wanting their pay. 
 
 I have just received a letter from Mr. Stickney dated at St. 
 Mary s. It contains very unpleasant accounts, and I am afraid 
 our white men provoke much of the hostility manifested by the 
 Indians. Perhaps you will think it right to send an admonitory 
 proclamation into the several regions of new settlements. 
 
 MONTPELIER, May 30, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Since my last I have received the inclosed from 
 the two western contractors. 
 
 I have determined to set out for Washington on the 1st of 
 June, and shall probably have tne pleasure of being with you on 
 Monday next, if not sooner. It may be expected that by that time 
 the multiplying arrivals from Europe will put us in possession of 
 the state of things there which ought to influence measures here. 
 Another consideration is, that a decision on the case produced by 
 the act establishing the navy board may be more satisfactory if 
 made with the advantages on the spot than if made without 
 them. I cannot but hope that the constitutional relation of the 
 Secretary of the Navy to the executive, and the legal relation of 
 the Board to the former, will furnish a ground for a decision that 
 will be satisfactory. But I perceive with regret the subject has 
 presented itself to the commissioners in some views that may be 
 embarrassing. Where can be found most conveniently the con 
 stitutions of the British admiralty and navy boards? The rela 
 tions between them might tie of use on the occasion. 
 
 Be so good as to discontinue communications hither after the 
 receipt of this, and to accept my affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
432 APPENDICES. 
 
 MONTPELIER, June 1, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received yours of the 29th ult. I 
 return approved your proposition for the sale in the ordnance 
 department ; also your recommendation for provisionally retain 
 ing- Mr. Linnard. 
 
 I am under the impression that Mr. Monroe wrote to Governor 
 Cass on the subject of the Indians on that frontier, and took the 
 steps necessary for having the peace notified to them. Be that 
 as it may, it is proper that immediate attention should be given 
 to the matter as it is now represented. General Wilkinson and 
 Mr. Graham will be fit commissioners, and may without loss of 
 time be put on the service. Worthington and Cass are also well 
 adapted. But both will not be wanted, and the appointment of 
 one may not be taken well by the other. McArthur may also 
 have his feelings in the case unless his services be employed 
 in some other way. On the whole, however, I do not know that 
 any selection can be made better than that you have suggested, 
 viz., Worthington, Wilkinson, and Graham. If a different view 
 of the subject should present itself, it may await my arrival at 
 Washington. The subject of General Scott s letter may conven 
 iently do so. 
 
 I wrote some time since to Mr. Monroe, calling his attention 
 to the appointment of commissioners for boundary, etc. ; one of 
 them has long been designated. There has been a difficulty in 
 choosing among the others brought into view. 
 
 I shall set out to-day for Washington, taking the route through 
 Stephanburg and Elkruii Church, and shall probably be in Wash 
 ington by Monday. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 11, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, As the writer of the inclosed letter may possibly 
 call on you, I have thought it proper that you should be pre 
 viously acquainted with its singular contents. Mr. Graham 
 mistook my intentions in touching the subject of communications 
 between you and myself. He will, in order to put an end to the 
 business, inform Major O C. definitely that the vacancy in the 
 artillery which he seeks will not be immediately filled. One other 
 respectable candidate for it I recollect you named as recom 
 mended by General Pinkney, and it is possible that others may 
 be brought into view. There are several vacancies of the same 
 rank in the line for which there are, I believe, candidates also 
 already before the department, and others may be expected to 
 come forward. It will be time enough to decide on the preten 
 sions of Major O C. after reasonable opportunities are given for 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 
 
 estimating the comparative merits of others. We remain without 
 a ray of intelligence from or of our ministers abroad. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 13, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, That no erroneous impression might be left on 
 Major O C. by the conversation of Captain Graham, the latter 
 has taken occasion to let him understand that the contents of his 
 letter to you had been mentioned to me, and that the letter itself 
 had been deposited in the war office. It is truly vexatious to 
 have a moment thrown away on such incidents. This importu 
 nate suitor for office appears to be reconciled to his present dis 
 appointment by his hope of better fortune hereafter. A captaincy 
 in the line will probably be very acceptable, and I am not desirous 
 that he should be excluded from a fair chance of obtaining one, 
 notwithstanding the exceptionable manner in which he has pur 
 sued his object. 
 
 Written information from Bordeaux of June 2d, and printed, 
 from Paris of May 29, have been received here by the Spartan. 
 Both concur in representing the preparations and prospects of 
 France as flattering to Napoleon. The accounts through those 
 channels from England are not later than, I observe, are brought 
 by a late arrival at New York. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 19, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have duly received your two favors of the 
 15th and 16th. That inclosing the letter from the collector of 
 Barnstable had been previously received. Mr. Monroe has pre 
 sented this enormity to the attention of Mr. Baker, and will, of 
 course, make it the subject of proper remarks and instructions to 
 Mr. Adams. He has done and will do the same in relation to 
 the Indians Your suggestion in favor of a proclamation on the 
 latter subject will be duly considered. I am not without hopes 
 that the military and conciliatory measures jointly on foot, with 
 the evacuation of Machinac succeeding that of Prairie du Chien, 
 will change the conduct, if not the temper, of the savages 
 towards the frontier settlements. 
 
 Not hearing a word yet from our envoys, and perceiving no 
 material disadvantage from my absence, I shall set out to-day 
 for my farm. I leave with the Department of State the com 
 munications for Mr. Crawford. Be so good, if you should learn 
 that he will decline his appointment, to ascertain whether Mr. 
 Clay would undertake it, and drop me a line without delay on the 
 
434 APPENDICES. 
 
 subject. I make this request on the supposition that both of 
 them will be destined to Philadelphia. The arrangements with 
 the post-office here will hasten to me whatever you may have 
 occasion to communicate. As your letter to General Jackson 
 did not arrive yesterday, I shall probably receive it on the road. 
 Be assured of my great esteem and affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 P. S. Should you fail of an opportunity to ascertain the in 
 tentions of Mr. Crawford, it is still desirable that the disposition 
 of Mr. Clay should be sounded. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, July 24, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received from Mr. Monroe your letter to 
 him, with the inclosed, from Governor Nicholas to you, and an 
 intimation of his own wish that the object of the latter may, if 
 practicable, be complied with. I received yesterday a letter from 
 Mr. Jefferson, which has a very material bearing on the subject. 
 I inclose it for your perusal ; after which be so good as to return 
 it. It would afford me much pleasure to gratify Governor Nich 
 olas on a point which he naturally has so much at heart. But the 
 difficulty is not a little increased by the tenor of Mr. Jefferson s 
 letter, and by the fact that previous applications for the consulate 
 at Leghorn have been answered by a reference to the occupancy 
 of it by Appleton. The appointment of A. to another place 
 would remove the difficulty immediately pressing, but no opening 
 occurs which he would prefer and be entitled to ; and to an 
 exchange for a place of inferior value he would not, of course, 
 consent. Not knowing or recollecting the candidates who were 
 rejected on the ground of Appleton s possession, I cannot appre 
 ciate their pretensions, and the difficulty of yielding without pro 
 viding for them, to the appointment of a later candidate. I give 
 you this full view of the subject that you may have an oppor 
 tunity of suggesting a mode, if any should occur to you, of avoid 
 ing its difficulties as well as of explaining them to Governor N. 
 
 Mr. Monroe informs me that Mr. Serrurier has received a copy 
 of new credentials from Napoleon, the originals being probably in 
 the hands of Mr. Crawford. Mr. M. had heard nothing from 
 abroad on any other subject. He proposed to leave Washington 
 on Sunday (yesterday) to join his family, of whose health he had 
 unfavorable accounts. 
 
 We got safe to our home on Saturday last, and are enjoying a 
 respite which would be heightened if extended to all who are 
 equally entitled to it. 
 
 Be assured of my great esteem and my affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 435 
 
 If you think it proper to grant the petition of Taft, be so 
 good as to send it to the Department of State, with a note for a 
 pardon to be made out and sent to me. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The business of Fort Washington is a bad one. 
 The inclosed papers will show that there is no plan, no responsi 
 bility, no honesty. I do not mean to inculpate Major L Enfant 
 on the score of honesty, but his strange course of conduct is em 
 barrassing in the extreme, and will render it impossible to give 
 any explanation to Congress. If you approve of my report on 
 the subject, be so good as to return it with an expression of your 
 approbation. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 31 July, 1815. 
 
 It is very desirable to promote the wishes of Governor Tomp- 
 kins, and the interest of the State of New York ; but there are 
 national views of the subject which must be combined with 
 them. All transactions with the Indians relative to their lands 
 are more or less delicate ; a removal of them from one region to 
 another is particularly so as relates to the effect on the Indians 
 themselves and on the white neighbors to their new abode. 
 Governor T. does not refer to any particular part of the west 
 ern country which he has in view, or which the Indians would 
 probably select, nor does he say whether he means, by lands 
 within the limits of the United States, lands of which the Indian 
 titles have been extinguished, as well as those still in Indian 
 occupancy. If the latter only be meant, the arrangement will 
 essentially lie between the Senecas and the State of New York 
 on the one part, and the Indian occupants on the other. If 
 it be contemplated to transfer the Senecas to lands which have 
 been purchased from other Indians, the national government 
 seems bound to take into view the effect of such an arrangement 
 (1) in shutting the lands against the sales and settlements con 
 templated by the purchase, or involving the expense of a repur 
 chase from the Senecas ; (2) in giving Indian neighbors to white 
 settlements, which might not choose them. When it was pro 
 posed to transfer the Indians on the northern frontier of Ohio 
 to a new abode on the Illinois, etc., such a measure was protested 
 against on the part of the neighboring Territories of Illinois 
 and Missouri. It will be proper to assure Governor T. of the 
 accommodating disposition of the executive, and to obtain from 
 
486 APPENDICES. 
 
 him explanations enabling it to decide with the requisite atten 
 tion to the national interest under its charge. He may be 
 generally informed, at the same time, that a removal of the 
 Indians, should it take place, will not affect the annuities stipu 
 lated to them. 
 
 J. M. 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 July 31, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I can gather no news from the officers of the Nep 
 tune worth communicating. Mr. Crawford has told you all that 
 is important of our own affairs, and of the affairs of Europe 
 when he left it. The newspapers will tell you, as soon as this letter 
 can reach you, of the dreadful battle of the 15th, 16th, ITth, and 
 18th of June. The carnage must have exceeded anything in the 
 history of battles. The Duke of Wellington s account claims, 
 but certainly does not prove, a victory on the part of the allies. 
 A few such victories would leave the British without generals, 
 and probably without troops. 
 
 The cases of General Wilkinson, General Gushing, and Gen 
 eral Boyd are urged upon me. The vacancies at Castine, etc. 
 are too humble for these gentlemen ; and I am requested to ask 
 your authority to create vacancies of a higher kind in the col- 
 lectorships of New York, New London, Newport, etc. There is 
 no delicacy used on the occasion, and I am at a loss how to treat 
 the daily importunity of some of the officers. Mr. Crawford s 
 arrival will relieve me in part ; but I wish entirely to relieve 
 you, if I could ascertain your wish as to the mode. 
 
 Mr. Todd was in perfect health, with Mr. Gallatin in London, 
 when the Neptune sailed. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most faithfully and respectfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 3 August, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The inclosed paper gives, it is alleged, the sequel 
 of the battle of the 18th of June, between Bonaparte and the 
 allies. The report, in the extent stated, is doubted here ; but I 
 think it probable that Bonaparte s repulse will produce something 
 like a test of his popularity at Paris. 
 
 I have written to Mr. Crawford, but no answer has been re 
 ceived. It may be that he is on his way to visit you. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 6 August, 1815. 
 
LET TEES, ETC. 437 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to represent to 
 the President of the United States, 
 
 That he has received from the mayor of the city of New York 
 a letter dated the 3d instant, to which the answer dated the 7th 
 instant has been given, relative to the American seamen who 
 have arrived in cartels from England, arid are exposed to great 
 want, being destitute of pecuniary funds : and that similar com 
 munications have been made from other ports of the United 
 States. 
 
 That for the cases thus represented there is no provision made 
 by law ; but, as the corporation of the city of New York offers 
 to afford the necessary relief upon receiving assurances of a re 
 imbursement, the President s sanction is respectfully requested 
 for giving an assurance that the reimbursement will be recom 
 mended to Congress at the next session. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 7 August, 1815. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 7 August, 1815. 
 
 SIR, I have received your letter of the 3d instant, and ex 
 ceedingly regret that it is not in my power to comply imme 
 diately with your wish for the relief of our suffering seamen 
 who have recently arrived in cartels at New York. I have sent 
 your letter to the Secretary of the Navy, and I will lay the sub 
 ject before the President ; but you are perfectly aware that this 
 department has no authority to make advances beyond the appro 
 priations of the law. As soon as I have received the President s 
 instructions I will do myself the honor to address you again 
 upon the subject. In the mean time, I am confident that the hu 
 manity and public spirit of the corporation of New York will 
 not relax in the attention which has been bestowed on the dis 
 tressed mariners. 
 
 I am, etc., A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The Mayor of the City of New York. 
 
 NEW YORK, August 3, 1815. 
 
 SIR, I consider it my duty to mention to you the case of 
 American seamen and others, late prisoners with the British, 
 who have arrived at this port, and are daily arriving, principally 
 from Dartmoor, in England, in considerable numbers. They are 
 landed from cartels, destitute of money, and without the means 
 of subsistence or any provision for conveying them to their 
 homes or places of residence in the different States to which they 
 belong ; and are thus cast upon the charity of the public, and 
 
438 APPENDICES. 
 
 compelled literally to beg in the streets. Their situation is truly 
 distressing, and has become the subject of remark very un 
 friendly to the government, and our citizens are mortified to find 
 that no one here is authorized or willing, on the part of the gov 
 ernment, to afford the necessary assistance to men who have 
 already suffered so much in the cause of their country. 
 
 The collector of this port, Mr. Gelston, has been strongly 
 solicited to make the necessary advances for their relief; but he 
 has declined doing it, considering himself unauthorized, and 
 apprehending that the expenditure might not be allowed to him 
 in his accounts. 
 
 The corporation of this city have contributed some moneys for 
 this purpose, in confidence that they will be reimbursed by the 
 government of the United States ; but, finding the demands 
 upon them to increase, and fearing that some difficulties may 
 arise on this head, and considering it to be out of their province, 
 they have also declined to make any further advances. 
 
 We have now a considerable number of men who were such 
 prisoners in town, and who depend for their immediate bread 
 and the means of getting to their families on the charity of indi 
 vidual citizens. 
 
 Under such circumstances, I trust you will excuse the liberty 
 I take in mentioning this subject, and requesting that you will, 
 if you consider it proper, direct the collector of this port to pro 
 vide for all such late prisoners; or, since the corporation have 
 already expended some moneys for this object, that you will au 
 thorize the expenditure, and enable me to say that they will be 
 reimbursed by the government, in which case, J have no doubt, 
 they would continue to make the necessary advances, though 
 they would prefer it should be done by the collector. 
 
 Your immediate attention to this subject is very much desired, 
 and I trust will be satisfactory to the parties concerned. 
 
 I have, etc., JACOB RADCLIFF. 
 
 The Hon. ALEX. J. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIEK, Aug. 10, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received your several favors of the 29th 
 and 31st of July, and of the 1st, 3d, and 6th instant. I have de 
 layed acknowledging them in the daily expectation of receiving 
 something from London which would supply the defect of in 
 formation at Philadelphia, relative to our affairs arid function 
 aries there. A letter from Mr. Crawford received this morning, 
 contains the agreeable information that he will become a member 
 of the executive family, but he is entirely silent as to everything 
 else. I suspect that he left London before anything like negotia- 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 439 
 
 tion commenced, and that he had received nothing from Mr. G. 
 or Mr. C. on the subject. The only glimpse of it which has 
 yet reached me is in a letter from J. P. Todd, dated June 10, in 
 which he says that in consequence of some official interviews, a 
 member of the Board of Trade had been added to the Ghent com 
 missioners of Great Britain, and that a negotiation was taking 
 place in form. He adds that the fact was not given out to the 
 public, which may account for the silence of the London prints. 
 
 I have received a letter from Governor Nicholas on the subject 
 of his son, and have explained the difficulties arising first, from 
 the possession of the consulate at Naples by Mr. A.; and secondly, 
 from the rejection on that ground of two other military candi 
 dates. One of these I learn was Colonel Fen wick, the other, Colo 
 nel Drayton, of South Carolina. 
 
 I have sent to Mr. Monroe the communication from Bremen. 
 It is another proof of the incaution of the act of Congress in its 
 existing form. To such states as Bremen, etc., which has no 
 thing to give in return, it not only gives valuable privileges in 
 navigation, but with the moral certainty, that Without guards, 
 which a treaty only could provide, the privileges will be fraudu 
 lently assumed by our more formidable competitors. 
 
 The case of the Barratarians is a puzzling one, especially in 
 the absence of our naval force on foreign service. Be so good 
 as to send me any further information you may receive from 
 New Orleans. Some concert will be necessary between the 
 Navy and AVar Departments. In the mean time the expediency 
 of proclaiming a reward for apprehending the pirates may be 
 considered. 
 
 I have not noticed your publication intended for the first of 
 August, but take for granted it has been in the northern papers. 
 
 I foresaw that Mr. Gales s notice of the reappointment of Mr. 
 Serrurier would be caught at and misinterpreted. The truth is 
 that there has been no intention to acknowledge the govern 
 ment of Napoleon during the uncertainty of the issue of the con 
 test. In a consultation with the Secretary of State this was 
 our joint view of the course most becoming. the principle on which 
 the United States have acted, and threatening least embarrass 
 ment in the result. 
 
 The business of Fort Washington is truly a bad one. As Mr. 
 Monroe had been so much connected with the introduction of 
 L Enfant into it, and was considered by L E. as friendly to 
 him, I communicated your report and the other papers to Mr. M. 
 He entirely concurs in the propriety of putting an end to the 
 agony of L E., but he wishes the mode to be softened as much 
 as may be. This may easily be done by resting the discontinu 
 ance of the extra employment on the change of circumstances 
 and the liberation of the regular engineers from other services. 
 
440 APPENDICES. 
 
 If you think proper, the term "discharge" may be exchanged in 
 the report for a phrase conformable to that idea. The report 
 may retain its date. 
 
 I return the draft of a letter to General Jackson. I do not 
 see that one could be framed more advantageously combining the 
 several objects to be attained. I have suggested merely with the 
 pencil one or two slight variations, which you will not adopt if 
 they appear doubtful. You will of course give to the letter as 
 early a date as circumstances will permit. 
 
 As this will be among the last aids which I shall receive from 
 you in the provisional station you were so obliging as to accept, 
 I take the occasion of adding to my particular thanks for it a 
 general acknowledgment of my obligations, and still more my 
 sense of those of the nation, for the very arduous and very able 
 services which you so cheerfully added to the important and 
 laborious duties of another department. 
 
 The cases of the three generals you name are embarrassing, 
 but the mode of relief merits serious consideration also. The 
 principle of it is entirely new, and the extent of it not easily 
 limited. Boyd, I believe, is not needy, and his case therefore the 
 t ess pressing. After the language with which General W. met 
 the offer to treat with the Indians, it ought to be well ascertained 
 before another be made that the motives to it will not be misin 
 terpreted. Cushing s situation is probably urgent, and his con 
 duct strengthens his claims. But is not the foundation of them 
 the same with those on which the actual collector of New London 
 received and has retained his appointment? Huntington was a 
 revolutionary officer, with whatever particular merit I do not 
 recollect, but probably with services and sufferings equal to 
 those of General Cushing. It is true, his political conduct has 
 been justly exceptionable, but it is not on that ground that his 
 removal is required. Ellery, of Rhode Island, though not a 
 revolutionary soldier, was a revolutionary patriot in high public 
 trusts, and on that ground also has been retained in his present 
 office, notwithstanding frequent charges of political misconduct. 
 Of Gelston s history I am less possessed. I am disposed to take 
 into fair consideration the mode proposed for rewarding or alle 
 viating the cases to which it would apply ; but I should be glad 
 to learn, before it be adopted, some practicable rule for desig 
 nating the officers to be displaced, and for selecting those to be 
 provided for. If the deciding consideration be the wealth of the 
 former and the poverty of the latter, the rule would probaby 
 not be very correspondent with any preconceived ideas of the 
 public. These remarks do not exclude the resource in favor of 
 meritorious and indigent officers, which may be found in special 
 removals pointed out by legitimate causes for them. 
 
 I had received by a line from Mr. Cutts in Boston a sketch 
 
LET TEES, ETC. 441 
 
 of the news in yours of the 6th instant, but had noticed the 
 report from the Bramble met at sea on the 24th July, twenty 
 days from England, and paid but little attention to so improbable 
 a story. The numerous circumstances not seen necessarily vary 
 the aspect of the intelligence. Still, unless there be an error 
 in one or other of those dates, the improbability of it is strength 
 ened into nearly a certainty that it is not true. We cannot be 
 long in suspense. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 The inclosed letter from Thomas is another mark of the deli 
 cacy of the Board, or of one at least of it. Please to return the 
 letter. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the tth instant on the 
 subject of the seamen returning in distress. It is incumbent on 
 the executive to do everything within its province for their relief. 
 Your answer to the mayor of New York was entirely proper. 
 He may be assured of the favorable dispositions of the execu 
 tive, and that a reimbursement of the advances of the corporation 
 will be recommended to Congress. The same assurance may be 
 given in other cases calling for it. In the mean time it will be 
 proper to consider whether a provision for seamen under such 
 circumstances might not be covered by some of the existing ap 
 propriations. Be so good as to look into them with an eye to 
 this question. If that for foreign intercourse, or for prisoners 
 of war, be found inadequate or inapplicable, the contingent fund 
 of government, at least as far as it will go, can be legally resorted 
 to on such an occasion. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Aug. 13, 1815. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 22 August, 1815. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, I have received your letter of the 19th instant, 
 claiming for the vessels lately arrived from Bremen the benefit 
 of entry, on payment of the same duties which the law imposes 
 on American vessels. 
 
 The act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, on which this 
 claim is founded, depends for its execution upon the sanction and 
 authority of the President of the United States, and not upon 
 the mere regulations of a foreign nation. There are many con 
 siderations to be weighed in forming a decision upon the subject: 
 
 29 
 
442 APPENDICES. 
 
 and probably the President may deem it necessary to reduce the 
 arrangements to the form of a compact. For the present, there 
 fore, the collector of the port of Baltimore acts with propriety in 
 demanding the payment of foreign duties from the Bremen vessels. 
 
 I am, etc., 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 Messrs. BRUNE & DANNEMAN, Baltimore. 
 
 MONTPELIEB, Sept. 2, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I received this morning yours of the 29th August, 
 covering a copy of the circular complying with Mr. DaschkofF s 
 request, which is precisely what it ought to be, and a newspaper 
 containing the late news from Europe. The political annihila 
 tion at least of Napoleon will give play to many springs in the 
 allied powers, which a fear of him had kept in an inert state ; 
 and very important scenes are probably yet to be exhibited. I 
 am very glad to find that the intoxicating triumph of Great 
 Britain has not seduced her from the conciliatory policy com 
 menced towards us whilst the great events on the continent were 
 undecided. The glimpse we have of the treaty of commerce, 
 which appears to have been concluded, is too faint for any esti 
 mate of its character. But we cannot doubt that it will contain 
 nothing positively bad, and some things substantially good ; and 
 a conclusion of it at such a moment is itself an evidence that the 
 British government finds in its own situation, and that of Europe, 
 sufficient motives to cultivate and secure the friendly intercourse 
 which we have never ceased to desire. 
 
 Having neglected to possess myself of the act of Congress 
 relating to the conditional abolition of discriminating duties, I 
 am at a loss how far the execution of it is imperative or discre 
 tionary. If the latter, the case presented by the Bremen vessels 
 is without difficulty ; as will be similar claims from other coun 
 tries. If the former, no wrong has been yet done, because the 
 Bremen vessels bringing with them the first evidence of their 
 claim, must of necessity have entered before a proclamation 
 could issue, and this must have been foreseen by those who had 
 the law before them. Future arrivals from Bremen may be more 
 embarrassing. But it will be better to apply a retrospective 
 remedy than to be precipitate in laying down a general rule. 
 Mr. Daschkoff has not renewed his application. If the treaty 
 with Great Britain has equalized the navigation between the 
 two countries, one objection to the execution of the law, in favor 
 of the carrying states, the danger of frauds, will be removed. 
 But it is clear that the United States will be the losers by a vol 
 untary extension of the equality to such powers as are most 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 443 
 
 ready to seek it. Where these have colonies whose ports are 
 shut to our vessels, there can be neither legal nor equitable title 
 to the benefit of the act of Congress. 
 
 The case of the cartels bringing seamen from England is cer 
 tainly entitled to all the liberality, with respect to entrance and 
 tonnage, within the authority of the executive, or that can be 
 warranted by the peculiarity of the case. 
 
 The case presented by the Commissioner of the Revenue re 
 quires more examination than I can now apply to it. With 
 respect to duties on goods imported through Mackinaw, it seems 
 best not to press them on individuals, but to leave them for a 
 diplomatic subject to be pressed or not according to circum 
 stances. In every other respect the revenue laws, as far as 
 applicable to goods imported from Canada or other foreign terri 
 tories, and as far as practicable in the remote districts, ought 
 not to be relaxed. I suspend a more particular opinion till I 
 have the pleasure of learning the result of your inquiry into the 
 law on the subject. 
 
 Jf fit persons cannot be at present found for the collectorships 
 of Penobscot, we must wait till the meeting of Congress, which 
 always promises information on such points. I am surprised at 
 the change of tone in General Gushing. Whatever rights he 
 may have or suppose, they are certainly not on the executive ; 
 nor against persons possessed of offices, and not charged by him 
 with misfeasance in them. 
 
 I hope by the silence of your last letter on the subject of your 
 health that it has been perfectly restored. I hope also that you 
 will be careful not to endanger it by too much mental, and too 
 little bodily, exercise. 
 
 Mr. Monroe has not returned from the Springs. He is ex 
 pected soon, and with re-established health. The arrival of Mr. 
 Barclay will call for prompt instructions to the commissioner 
 who is to meet him. It is probable, however, that nothing will 
 be done this year in their business beyond the discussions of the 
 title to Moose Island and the line through Passamaquoddy Bay. 
 Accept my affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 MONTPELIER, Sept. 8, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The commercial convention with Great Britain 
 has just reached me. It abolishes the discriminating and coun 
 tervailing duties, and establishes the rule of the most favored 
 nation, between the United States and the British dominions in 
 Europe. The equality of the vessels of the two countries extends 
 to the cases of bounties and drawbacks, as well as of duties, with 
 a reservation to the parties of a right to regulate and diminish 
 
444 APPENDICES. 
 
 the amount of the drawbacks, where the re-exportation is to a 
 third country. A trade to enumerated ports in the East Indies 
 is opened to the United States. It is to be direct from thence, 
 but is not so restricted from the United States thither. The 
 convention is to become binding- on the exchange of ratifica 
 tions, for which six months are allowed, and is to continue in 
 force four years from the date of signature, which was the 3d of 
 July. 
 
 The question to be immediately decided, is whether an anti 
 cipated meeting of the Senate, or rather the Legislature, is called 
 for. As the difference between such a meeting and the first 
 Monday in December \v T ill be necessarily very inconsiderable, as 
 there will probably be very few arrivals or departures during 
 that short period, and at that season, of vessels which would be 
 affected by the changes made, it may happen that the United 
 States would be gainers, at the treasury at least, rather than 
 losers, by awaiting the regular meeting of Congress ; and as the 
 other party cannot reasonably expect that the expense and incon 
 venience of a previous meeting should be incurred for the sake 
 of its interest, a course which it may fairly be presumed would 
 not be pursued by itself, I am not impressed with an obligation 
 to convene Congress with the sole vie\v of carrying the treaty 
 into effect, for which the time allowed (six months) will enable 
 the Legislature to provide at its regular meeting. 
 
 Whilst I take this view of the subject, I am so sensible that a 
 decision on it ought to be governed by facts and calculations, 
 which in your situation you can judge of better than myself, that 
 I cannot do better than refer the case to your inquiry and reflec 
 tion ; and under the existing circumstances to provide for giving 
 effect to the result of them, without waiting for the opinions of 
 the other secretaries, and even without incurring the delay of a 
 previous sanction from myself. I shall accordingly desire Mr. 
 Rush, who remains at Washington, to pay immediate attention 
 to the opinion you may communicate to him, and in case it 
 should be in favor of a call of Congress, to have a proclamation 
 immediately issued in the usual form If a call be made, the 
 precedent w r hich allows the shortest time may be adopted. AVhat 
 that is I do not recollect. If it be two months from the date of 
 the proclamation, it will so far lessen the importance of the 
 measure. 
 
 You have noticed a reference in the British House of Com 
 mons to a depending bill regulating the trade with the United 
 States. If it should have passed, in a form abolishing the coun 
 tervailing duties absolutely, or to take effect on the condition 
 which the executive is authorized to comply with, a proclamation 
 abolishing the discriminating duties will substantially meet the 
 occasion without an extra session of Congress. You can prob- 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 445 
 
 ably ascertain the fact as to the bill. Mr. Gallatin or Mr. Clay 
 ought to know something of it. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 MONTPELIER, Sept. 15, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the llth has just come to hand. I 
 return the papers from the Commissioner of the General Land 
 Office, with an acquiescence in the survey ordered in Missouri. 
 I think the condition attached to it the least that will suffice to 
 justify the measure. 
 
 I have received a letter from Mr. Gallatin, from which, as well 
 as from his reserve to you, I infer that he has not made up his 
 mind on his appointment to France. Whatever his alternatives 
 may be, I am persuaded the one you mention is not within the 
 scope of them. He intimated his intention to write to the Sec 
 retary of State, and may be expected in that letter to say more 
 than he has done to me on some points, though probably not oil 
 the question of his diplomatic mission. I do not perceive that 
 he looked to a special meeting of Congress. Indeed, the more I 
 weigh the subject, the more I incline to the persuasion that a 
 special call would be giving a magnified importance to the treaty. 
 In my answer to Mr. G. I have asked him what are the probable 
 intentions of the British cabinet with respect to the coasting 
 fisheries, and whether the mouth of Columbia River was under 
 stood at Ghent to be within the objects of restoration. 
 
 I was informed, through confidential channels several days 
 ago, that Jos. Bonaparte was about to visit me incog, to make a 
 personal report of himself to this government. I immediately 
 wrote to Mr. Rush to have him diverted from his purpose on his 
 arrival at Washington. Protection and hospitality do not de 
 pend on such a formality; and whatever sympathy may be due 
 to fallen fortunes, there is no claim of merit in that family on the 
 American nation ; nor any reason why its government should be 
 embarrassed in any way on their account. In fulfilling what we 
 owe to our own rights, we shall do all that any of them ought 
 to expect. I was the more surprised at the intended visit as it 
 was calculated to make me a party to the concealment, which the 
 exile was said to study as necessary to prevent a more vigilant 
 pursuit by British cruisers of his friends and property following 
 him. Commodore Lewis consulted his benevolence more than 
 his discretion in the course he took, without, as I presume, any 
 sanction from any superior quarters. 
 
 You will have noticed that an order has been published on the 
 point on which I asked your opinion. From the concurrent 
 opinions of others, it is probable that the order may not contra- 
 
446 APPENDICES. 
 
 diet yours ; but the issue of it prior to my hearing from you pro 
 ceeded from my having asked, at the same time, the opinion of 
 the attorney-general, which, being communicated to the War 
 Department, was acted on. It seems that the case had become 
 urgent. 
 
 Ripley and Brown are taking very painful attitudes towards 
 each other ; and I regret that your conciliatory efforts are likely 
 to be perverted into fuel for their angry passions. Ripley presses 
 for leave to come to Washington about the middle of October, with 
 a view to settle his accounts. It is easy to see the effect of 
 either a refusal or compliance. 
 
 If peace takes place in Europe, it seems probable that the Bank 
 of England will soon resume specie payments, unless the balance 
 of trade should be against her, which is not probable. That 
 example will favor a return here to the original principle. But 
 many circumstances will require the change to be gradual and 
 guarded. I was always pleased with the feature in the bank 
 proposed at the last session of Congress, which required a cer 
 tain portion of specie to be in the bank, although not demandable 
 by the holders of notes. If the same idea could be applied to the 
 banks generally, it would not only smooth the way to a final 
 reform, but have good effects in the mean time. Might it not be 
 reduced to practice by requiring the banks, within a reasonable 
 period, to draw specie into their vaults, and verified to a compe 
 tent authority to be kept there ? It might also be required that, 
 until specie payments should commence, the notes issued should 
 not exceed a fixed proportion to specie, such as might be an aver 
 age of the usual proportion in former times. Such a regulation 
 would have the advantage of inspiring confidence in the banks, 
 of preparing them for a return to specie payments, and in the 
 mean time would be an adequate barrier against excessive issues 
 of paper. To make the regulation, if it be founded in solid 
 considerations, complete, the interposition of the State authori 
 ties would be essential. The prerogative of the general govern 
 ment as to the medium in paying taxes, might go far in effectu 
 ating it by attaching conditions to the receivable paper. But 
 there may be greater difficulties on the subject than strike the 
 first view of it. 
 
 I have a letter from Mr. Monroe of the llth. He had vis 
 ited several of the more celebrated waters, and thought himself 
 benefited by them. He named this day for his arrival at home. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 447 
 
 DEAR SIR, On my return from New York, I received your 
 favor of the 2d instant, and the copy of Mr. Crawford s letter 
 on the question of brevet rank. 
 
 I can add nothing, by way of information on public points, to 
 the last communication of the talk of our commissioners. Mr. 
 Gallatin has probably written to you at large on all that relates 
 to the mission. As to his future pursuits, he has left me com 
 pletely in the dark. Sometimes I think he looks towards France, 
 then towards Congress, then towards the treasury, and ulti 
 mately towards his western farm. Though silent to me, I pre 
 sume he will speak distinctly to you. Mr. Clay leaves Philadel 
 phia to-morrow or the next day, taking Washington in his way 
 to Kentucky. He seems to be satisfied with, the prospect of 
 returning to the chair in the House of Representatives. 
 
 Commodore Lewis has just escorted Joseph Bonaparte from 
 New York to Philadelphia. The ex-king travels as Count Sur- 
 villiers, and is lodged with Mr. Clay at the Mansion House. 
 
 I will send an answer to the question on brevet rank by the 
 next mail. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 11 Sept., 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The inclosed letters from Mr. Adams show the 
 impracticability of selling the stock in Europe within the limits 
 which were prescribed. It is indispensable, however, to provide 
 for the reimbursement of the heavy advances of Messrs. Baring 
 in London, and for the advances of Messrs. Willinks in Amster 
 dam. It is time also to make arrangements for paying the divi 
 dends on the Louisiana stock in January next. These objects 
 can only be accomplished by the sale of stock in Europe or by 
 the purchase of bills of exchange here. The stock will bring 
 no more than 90 ; but exchange is now twenty per cent, ad 
 vance, and will, I think, rise higher. Six per cents are between 
 three and four per cent, above par in Philadelphia ; they are 
 above 96, and rising fast, in New York ; and even Boston 
 affords a prospect of an advantageous movement in the value 
 of the public debt. Viewing, then, the whole ground, I am very 
 much indisposed to authorize a sale of stock in Europe at a rate 
 so much below the price here, as Mr. Baring offers, which may 
 not only injure the credit of the government abroad, but mate 
 rially affect it at home. If, therefore, you approve of it, I will 
 enter upon the purchase of bills on the best terms we can obtain 
 for the whole sum wanted by the treasury, amounting to about 
 $500,000. Indeed, I think it an object of some importance to 
 
448 APPENDICES. 
 
 pay away the bank-notes which we now hold for any effective 
 means of satisfying our debts. 
 
 Be so good as to return Mr. Adams s letters with your instruc 
 tions. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 18 Sept., 1815. 
 
 MONTPELIER, September 22, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 18th has just reached me, inclosing 
 two letters from Mr. Adams, which are returned. 
 
 Our engagements in Europe must be fulfilled both with a view 
 to justice and to the public credit. In doing this there are so 
 many reasons for preferring the purchase of bills to the sale of 
 stock abroad, where there is an approach to equality of loss, that 
 I concur in your opinion in favor of the former. It is a consid 
 eration of much weight in that scale that our calculations can be 
 made with more certainty if the remittance be made in bills than 
 in a paper which will be constantly fluctuating in the market. 
 It is not improbable that the balance of trade now running so 
 high against us will not only keep up but raise the price of bills ; 
 but it is not to be doubted that the same cause, whilst it favors 
 the price of stock at home by increasing the demand, will reduce 
 it in the foreign market by glutting the demand there. In making 
 these remarks I wish not to control any new views of the subject 
 into which you may be led by changes in the money state of 
 things, or by further information relating to it. 
 
 You will probably better understand the scope of the anony 
 mous letter than I do. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Since writing to you yesterday I have received 
 the inclosed letter from Mr. Baring, which will give you a distinct 
 view of our situation with the bankers in London. Every mail 
 brings me additional accounts of the rise in exchange, and, in 
 deed, of the extreme difficulty of procuring good bills. The im 
 portance of reinstating our credit by payment of the advances 
 which have been so handsomely made, will strike you forcibly ; 
 and upon reflection I submit to your consideration the propriety 
 of authorizing the sale of at least one million of the stock in 
 Europe, which will put us at ease, on account of every engage 
 ment, as far forward as January next. The price must be left, 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 449 
 
 as Mr. Baring suggests, to the state of things when the sale is 
 effected. 
 
 Be so good as to return Mr. Baring s letter, with your instruc 
 tions on the present proposition. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 19 September, 1815. 
 
 MONTPELIER, September 23, 1815. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received yours of the 19th, inclosing a 
 letter from Mr. Baring. As the choice between the two modes 
 of providing for our pecuniary wants in Europe depends essen 
 tially on a comparison of the rate of exchange here and the price 
 of stock abroad, it must be determined by the information pos 
 sessed as to the state and prospects of each. My letter of yes 
 terday made a reserve accordingly for any change which further 
 information might suggest. And in sanctioning your present 
 proposal for selling a million of stock abroad I repeat the discre 
 tion which I wish you to exercise in carrying it into execution. 
 It is essential that provision be made for meeting the foreign de 
 mands on the United States. And if any extra motive were 
 needed it is furnished by the friendly conduct and liberal confi 
 dence of Mr. Baring. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 1816. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the 
 President a revised copy of the circular addressed to the col 
 lectors of the customs for carrying the act of Congress and the 
 commercial convention with Great Britain into effect, together 
 with Mr. Monroe s opinion on the subject. The revisal is made 
 to conform to the suggestions of the President s note, except in 
 relation to the equalization of drawbacks, which is again sub 
 mitted, with Mr. Monroe s remark upon it. 
 
 6 March, 1816. 
 
 Mr. Dallas respectfully states to the President that Mr. Wil 
 liam Gamble has been appointed by the Secretary of War to 
 
450 APPENDICES. 
 
 receive from the British commander a surrender of Fort Michili- 
 mackinac, and Mr. Gamble is ready to proceed in the execution 
 of his trust. 
 
 Mr. Dallas recommends, also, that Mr. Gamble should be ap 
 pointed collector at Michilimackinac. 
 
 Mr. Abbot, who was formerly collector, has not made any com 
 munication to the Treasury Department since August last, and 
 such representations have been made as render his continuance 
 in office inexpedient. 
 14 March, 1816. 
 
 MEMORANDUM IN JACOB BARKER S CASE. 
 
 Mr. Barker seems to think that there is a personal severity 
 shown to him in the treatment of his applications to the treasury. 
 There is no foundation for the opinion. His bills have returned 
 protested for non-payment, and suits are instituted to recover the 
 principal, damages, etc. He offers to pay the principal, interest, 
 and costs if the claim to the damages shall be released. The 
 comptroller and Mr. Fish, the district attorney of New York, 
 consulted me on the subject some time ago. Having expressed a 
 wish that every justifiable indulgence should be shown to Mr. 
 Barker, I examined first, what it was in the power of the treas 
 ury to do ; and second, what, under all the circumstances of the 
 case, it was proper to do. The substance of my opinion was as 
 follows : 
 
 1. The treasury cannot release the whole or any part of a debt 
 due to the United States. It may exercise a reasonable discre 
 tion to enlarge the time of payment, and to secure the principal 
 it may waive the claim of interest; but it has not in cases of 
 debt gone further. In cases of penalty and forfeiture, before they 
 are reduced to a certainty, compromises have been allowed when 
 the law was doubtful or the evidence imperfect. 
 
 The damages upon the return of bills protested for non-payment 
 have always been regarded as a part of the debt. It was so 
 decided in Mr. Francis s case (Ambler, i.), and I gave that 
 opinion to Mr. Gallatin several years ago, when Mr. Girard s bills 
 were likely to return under protest in consequence of the failure 
 of the drawer, George Barclay. Mr. Girard had offered to re 
 fund the money with interest, or to give new bills, if the claim to 
 the damages were waived, should the first set of bills be returned. 
 The offer was declined, but Mr. Girard was rescued from the loss 
 of the damages by the interposition of Messrs. Baring, who paid 
 the bills for the honor of the drawer. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 451 
 
 2. But as Mr. Barker set up various pleas to defeat the demand 
 of the United States either entirely or partially, two propositions 
 were recommended to Mr. Fish : 
 
 The first, that if, as the law officer of the government, he 
 thought the suits could not be maintained in point of law or of 
 evidence for the whole or any part of the demand, the suits ought 
 to be discontinued or the demand reduced accordingly. 
 
 The second, that if Mr. Barker would pay the amount which 
 his counsel admitted to be recoverable in law, the expense and 
 trouble of prosecuting all the suits should be saved by trying the 
 controverted points upon a writ of error in a single case. 
 
 No remarks are made on the extraordinary character of Mr. 
 Barker s pleas, such as the plea that the government had no 
 right to remit bills to England during the war ; that there was 
 an understanding between him and the late Secretary of the 
 Treasury relative to the funds for paying the bills, and that the 
 secretary had failed on his part, etc. etc. 
 
 I am desirous to accommodate Mr. Barker as far as it is prac 
 ticable, and therefore I have referred the subject once more to the 
 comptroller. 
 
 A. J. D. 
 19 March, 1816. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury respectfully submits to the 
 President the answer which he proposes to give to the Commit 
 tee of Foreign Relations on the reference of the petitions respect 
 ing the West India trade, etc. He thinks that it would be pre 
 mature to commence a commercial warfare; but at all events 
 the facts respecting the British regulations are not sufficiently 
 ascertained to be the foundation of any legislative act. 
 
 1 April, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, As it is not my intention to pass another winter 
 in Washington, I think it a duty to give you an opportunity to 
 select a successor for the office of Secretary of the Treasury dur 
 ing the present session of Congress. I will cheerfully remain, 
 however, if you desire it, to put the national bank into motion, 
 presuming that this object can be effected before the 1st of Oc 
 tober next. Permit me, therefore, to tender my resignation, to 
 be accepted on that day, or at any earlier period, which you may 
 find more convenient to yourself or more advantageous to the 
 public. 
 
452 APPENDICES. 
 
 With every affectionate wish for your honor, health, and hap 
 piness, I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully your obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 8 April, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received your letter of yesterday commu 
 nicating your purpose of resigning the Department of the Treas 
 ury. I need not express to you the regret at such an event, 
 which will be inspired by my recollection of the distinguished 
 ability and unwearied zeal with which you have filled a station, 
 at all times deeply responsible in its duties, through a period 
 rendering them peculiarly arduous and laborious. 
 
 Should the intention you have formed be nowise open to re 
 consideration, I can only avail myself of your consent to prolong 
 your functions to the date and for the object which your letter 
 intimates. It cannot but be advantageous that the important 
 measure in which you have had so material an agency should be 
 put into its active state by the same hands. 
 
 Be assured, sir, that whatever maybe the time of your leaving 
 the department, you will carry from it my testimony of the in 
 valuable services you have rendered your country, my thank 
 fulness for the aid they have afforded in my discharge of the 
 executive trust, and my best wishes for your prosperity and hap 
 piness. 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 ALEXANDER J. DALLAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 April 9, 1816. 
 
 MONTPELIER, Saturday morning, June 8, 1816. 
 DEAR SIR, I have received and thank you for the letters for 
 Hamburg and Bremen, which will be transmitted from the De 
 partment of State. We ended our journey last evening. With 
 the exception of a short pelting shower on the day we set out, the 
 weather and the roads were peculiarly favorable. I found the 
 prospects of the farmers generally far better than I had expected ; 
 the wheat-fields much better until I reached my own neighbor 
 hood, where the Hessian fly has done considerable injury, though 
 much less than was reported, and the injury has been in some 
 degree also mitigated by late rains. 
 
 Affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 A. J. DALLAS, Esq. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 453 
 
 MONTPELIER, June 16, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I return your communications of the 12th inst., 
 with my approbation of what you propose in relation to the 
 Cumberland Road. Perplexing- as this business is, it will be 
 come more so, I fear, if Mr. Shriver should withdraw from it. 
 He has, notwithstanding the impatience of some, more of the 
 public confidence than will probably be enjoyed by a successor. 
 And if a distrust of the agent be added to the unavoidable diffi 
 culties and delays, it is easy to foresee the complaints that will 
 abound. 
 
 The conduct of the banks who refuse or evade the necessary 
 efforts to restore the specie standard is truly reproachful. This 
 is the only effectual cure for the diseases of the currency, and the 
 effect of them on the national character and the morals of the 
 people. The sense of justice and the respect for contracts are 
 daily losing force in the public mind. Whilst the banks refuse 
 to pay their debts, notwithstanding the means they have in the 
 public stock, which they could dispose of with a profit, or even to 
 pay interest on their debts, they at once set an example and im 
 pose a necessity for injustice and breach of faith between individual 
 debtors and creditors ; at the same time that they distract and 
 obstruct all the pecuniary transactions of the government. 
 
 It is certainly incumbent on the executive to do everything 
 in its power to promote the salutary object of the resolution 
 passed near the close of the late session of Congress ; and the 
 consultation you suggest cannot but be proper. Be so good, 
 therefore, as to communicate to your colleagues my wish that 
 they assemble for the purpose, and transmit the result of their 
 united reflections. You will be best able to present the several 
 points on which decisions are proper. Unless the national 
 bank should be both able and willing to afford relief, I see no 
 resource against the existing policy of the State banks, if sup 
 ported by the State governments, and for a universal medium, 
 but in a treasury paper, with the prerogative of being used in 
 the national taxes and transactions, and an entire exclusion of 
 the local bank paper. And this cannot be effected without a 
 dilatory process. At present the abuses growing out of a diver 
 sity of currencies, and the discretion exercised by the collectors, 
 are as provoking as they are mischievous. I just learn, though 
 the information may not be accurate, that the collectors in some 
 districts in this State, availing themselves of this discretion, and 
 of the authorized regulations of the State courts, receive the 
 national taxes indiscriminately in all the circulating paper, and ex 
 change for their own profit the better for the inferior notes, 
 particularly those of the District of Columbia. Should this be 
 the fact, they must calculate on the latter s being receivable from 
 
454 APPENDICES 
 
 them into the treasury ; and some correction of the error be 
 comes necessary. 
 
 Although it may be proper not to act on the result of the 
 cabinet consultation until the bank subscriptions be closed, it 
 will be proper that the consultation be held before the members 
 in Washington be separated. Mr. Crawford, I understand, medi 
 tates a visit to Georgia, and Mr. Monroe to Virginia. You will 
 ascertain their precise views, and fix the time for the consulta 
 tion accordingly. 
 
 I return also the letters of Mr. Hassler. I wish his compensa 
 tion could have been arranged in the manner proposed to him. 
 There is, however, weight in his observations in favor of his 
 own mode. I believe we cannot do better than to acquiesce in 
 it: allowing him $3000 for salary, and $2000 for his estimated 
 expenses. If $1500 for the latter would content him, there 
 would be an advantage in it. 
 
 Best respects and regards, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your instructions relative to Fort Harrison, and 
 the reservation of the land in its neighborhood, have been carried 
 into effect. I hope now to be able to put the business of the 
 Cumberland Road, as well as the business of the survey of the 
 coast, into a course of execution without troubling you again. 
 The consultation on the resolution of Congress respecting the 
 currency will be attended to, as you desire. 
 
 The inclosed papers exhibit a general complaint against Mr. 
 Du Plessis, the collector of New Orleans, without specifying any 
 fact of official delinquency. The subject, however, seems to de 
 mand attention ; and 1 propose referring it, confidentially, to Mr. 
 Benjamin Morgan and the district attorney for investigation and 
 report. I will also write to Mr. Robertson requesting his atten 
 tion to the inquiry. The probability is that the present calami 
 tous state of New Orleans will disperse its inhabitants; but it is 
 best to take the chance of a letter s finding Mr. Robertson and 
 Mr. Morgan at that place. 
 
 We have no news, foreign or domestic. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully } T ours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 18 June, 1816. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 24 June, 1816. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, The President has authorized me to request 
 that you will communicate your opinions upon the questions con- 
 
LET TEES, ETC. 455 
 
 tained in the inclosed statement, which is founded on the resolu 
 tion of Congress, passed the 29th of April, 1816, relative to the 
 collection of the public revenue in the legal currency of the 
 United States. 
 
 I will do myself the honor to meet you upon the subject of the 
 statement whenever you shall appoint. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The Hon. JAMES MONROE, Secretary of State. 
 
 WM. H. CRAWFORD, Secretary of War. 
 
 B. W. CROWNINSHIELD, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 RICHARD RUSH, Attorney- General. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The inclosed report gives you the result of our 
 consultation on the resolution of the 29th of April, 1816. I 
 entertained a doubt for a moment upon the power of the treasury 
 to make a discrimination in the terms of paying different descrip 
 tions of public debts and duties. I am satisfied, however, upon 
 reflection, that the arrangement is indispensable for the accom 
 modation of the country ; and as the rule is a general one, apply 
 ing to the kind of debt, and not to the person of the debtor, I 
 perceive no breach of law or of impartiality. As soon as the 
 papers are returned to me with your opinion, I will act upon 
 them. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the 
 President of the United States the following 
 
 REPORT. 
 
 That in pursuance of the authority given by the President, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury prepared and submitted to the consid 
 eration of the heads of departments and the Attorney-General 
 the statement, founded upon the resolution of Congress of the 
 29th of April, 1816, relative to the collection of the revenue 
 in the legal currency of the United States, which is hereunto 
 annexed, marked A. 
 
 That the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the 
 Attorney-General, assembled at the treasury, after having duly 
 considered the statement, and in answer to the several questions 
 therein proposed, it was unanimously decided, 
 
456 APPENDICES. 
 
 1st. That it is not the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 at this time, nor at any time before the 20th of February, 1817, 
 to demand that all payments to the United States shall be made 
 in the manner specified in the resolution of the 29th of April, 1816. 
 
 2d. That it is not the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 at this time, nor at any time before the 20th of February, 1817, 
 to cause the notes of the State banks, which are not payable and 
 paid on demand in the legal currency of the United States, to be 
 refused in all payments to the United States. 
 
 3d. That it will be expedient and proper for the Secretary of 
 
 the Treasury to adopt the measures which he has suggested, 
 
 to wit : 
 
 A circular letter to the State banks in the form of the draft 
 marked B. 
 
 A proposition to the banks in the form of the notice marked C. 
 
 If the State banks, or a considerable number of the most in 
 fluential banks of the commercial cities, accede to the proposition, 
 it will be advisable to announce and enforce it as a treasury 
 regulation. If there should not be such an accession of the 
 banks, it will be advisable and proper to suspend any further 
 proceedings until the 20th of February, 1817, when it will be the 
 duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to demand that all pay 
 ments to the United States be made in the manner specified in 
 the resolution of the 29th of April, 1816. 
 
 All w r hich is respectfully submitted. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 29 June, 1816 
 
 MONTPELIER, June 30, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I return the papers inclosed in yours of the 27th, 
 concurring in the opinion of the comptroller, founded on his 
 statement of the case of the schooner Mary Stiles. I do not think 
 a pardon proper. I am not sure that it would be correct to decide 
 the question of a remission under the act of Congress, which I 
 believe submits it exclusively to the Treasury Department. The 
 case may, therefore, lie over for future decision, or a non-remittitur 
 may be entered, as you think proper. The nature of the case, 
 the opinion of the comptroller, and the refusal to pardon, would 
 doubtless protect the latter alternative against suggestions of in 
 delicacy, if that be the only consideration to be weighed. 
 
 I have written to Mr. Monroe on the subject of both Algerian 
 and Spanish misconduct. There is more to be said in excuse of 
 the Dey than of Ferdinand, although it may be fairly suspected 
 that there has been a collusion between them. If the brig was 
 surrendered gratis, it was a gross breach not only of friendship 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 457 
 
 but of a special promise to mitigate, instead of augmenting, the 
 difficulty between the United States and Algiers. If a price was 
 paid by Algiers, it was an acknowledgment on both sides that 
 the capture by us was lawful. I have written to the Secretary 
 of State also on the subject of the whaling-vessel, as you will 
 have learned from himself. Our affairs with Spain generally 
 are, as you observe, taking a very critical shape. 
 
 I have not yet received the despatch from Mr. Harris. A dispute 
 with Russia, of any sort, would be a very disagreeable incident, 
 especially at this moment. But, having right on our side, we 
 may hope for a favorable result to amicable explanations ; or, 
 these failing, must sustain the national character, for which the 
 government is responsible. If the emperor has taken any hasty 
 and harsh step towards Mr. Harris, who personally stood so 
 well with him, it must have been the effect of shameful misrep 
 resentations to him, such as may reasonably be expected to 
 recoil on the authors. 
 
 Gardner s resignation has produced, as you will see, an appli 
 cation from Governor Plumer in behalf of his son. Other can 
 didates may be looked for, having, possibly, superior pretensions; 
 but I have, on other occasions, heard a very favorable account 
 of the talents and amiable qualities of this young man. 
 
 I shall direct this to be forwarded to Philadelphia, in the 
 probable event of your having left Washington. 
 
 Accept my esteem and cordial regards, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I send, for your consideration, Governor Plumer s 
 recommendation of his son, to succeed Mr. Gardner, whose 
 resignation of the loan-office in New Hampshire was forwarded 
 a few days ago. 
 
 Mr. Smith, the marshal of New York, is dead, and you will, I 
 presume, be harassed with applications for the office. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 1 July, 1816. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the 
 President a copy of his letter to the auditor of the treasury 
 respecting the settlement of Mr. Hassler s accounts, which will 
 require the President s approbation. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 
 5 July, 1816. 
 
 30 
 
458 APPENDICES. 
 
 MOXTPELTER, July 4, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 29th of June, with 
 the several papers sent with it. 
 
 Under the difficult circumstances of the currency, and the 
 obligation to attempt a remedy, or at least an alleviation of 
 them, the plan you have in view is entitled to a fair experiment. 
 You do right, however, in reserving a discretion to judge of the 
 sufficiency of accessions by the State banks. Should there be a 
 single State in which a failure of its banks to accede should 
 reduce the people to the necessity of paying their taxes in coin, 
 or treasury notes, or a bank paper out of their reach, the pressure 
 and complaint would be intense, and the more so from the in 
 equality with which the measure would operate. 
 
 Can the suspension of payments in coin by the principal banks 
 be regarded as the precise cause of the undue depreciation of 
 treasury notes, as intimated in the third paragraph of your cir 
 cular ? A slight modification, if you think it requisite, would 
 obviate the remark. 
 
 As your statement to the President will remain an official 
 document, I suggest, for your consideration, the expression that 
 the treasury "cannot discriminate, in the mode of payment, be 
 tween the revenue of customs and the internal revenue" as liable 
 to be turned against the distinction proposed in the payment of 
 them. 
 
 With respect to the validity of this distinction I should yield 
 my doubts, if they were stronger than they are, to the unanimous 
 opinion which has sanctioned it. 
 
 I anxiously wish that the State banks may enter promptly and 
 heartily into the means of re-establishing the proper currency. 
 Nothing but their general co-operation is wanting for the pur 
 pose ; and they owe it to their own character, and ultimately to 
 their own interests, as much as they do to the immediate and 
 vital interests of the nation. Should they sacrifice all these pow 
 erful obligations to the unfair gain of the moment, it must remain 
 with the State legislatures to apply the remedy in their hands ; 
 and it is to be hoped that they will not be diverted from it either 
 by their share -in the gains of the banks or the influence of the 
 banks on their deliberations. If they will not enforce the obli 
 gations of the banks to redeem their notes in specie, they cannot, 
 surely, forbear to enforce the alternatives of redeeming them with 
 public stock, or with national bank-notes, or finally, of paying 
 interest on all their notes presented for payment. The expedient, 
 also, of restricting their circulating paper in a reasonable propor 
 tion to their metallic fund, may merit attention, as at once aiding 
 the credit of their paper and accelerating a resumption of specie 
 payments. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 459 
 
 I inclose the papers A, B, C, to guard against the possibility 
 that you may not have copies of them with you. 
 Accept my esteem and cordial respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 The Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 DEAR SIR, On the day of my departure from Washington, 
 the heads of departments assembled at Mr. Monroe s office and 
 considered all the subjects which you had referred to them. Mr. 
 Monroe will communicate the result to you, together with a state 
 ment of the measures suggested in relation to Mr. Kusloff s case. 
 
 There is no business to trouble you with from the treasury ; 
 and there is neither foreign nor domestic intelligence beyond the 
 articles to be found in the newspapers. The subscription to the 
 national bank proceeds slowly, but steadily. There is perfect 
 confidence that it will exceed the amount of the capital before 
 the twenty days have expired. The New England Federalists 
 will subscribe freely, and they have already despatched an agent 
 to Philadelphia to negotiate for the election of Mr. James Lloyd 
 as the president of the bank. Mr. Willing declines, and Mr. 
 Jones s pecuniary situation seems to present a serious difficulty 
 in the way of his advancement. If, however, the southern and 
 western interests support him, I think his success probable. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS 
 
 The President. 
 7 July, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The act of the 30th of April, 1816, appropriates 
 $250,000 for custom-house establishments. It will probably be a 
 sum sufficient for the five principal commercial cities; but I 
 have not received satisfactory information from any collector but 
 the collector of Boston, upon whose report I now transmit to 
 you an official statement, which you will be so good as to return 
 with your directions subjoined. 
 
 This opportunity is taken to place before you the recommenda 
 tions for Mr. Plumer and Mr. Wentworth as candidates for the 
 vacant loan-office. I do not hear of any other name; and, on 
 the whole, I think the weight of recommendation is in favor of 
 Mr. Plumer. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President 
 8 July, 1816. 
 
460 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received your favor of the 4th instant, 
 and shall alter the circular on the currency in the way which 
 you suggest. 
 
 The receipt of several additional recommendations for the loan- 
 office in New Hampshire induces me to suspend an application 
 for the commission in favor of Mr. Plumer, until you have seen 
 the documents now sent. I do not anticipate, however, a change 
 in your instructions. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 11 July, 1810. 
 
 MONTPELIER, July 15, 1810. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received your several letters of the 5th, 
 7th, 8th, and llth. Your statement in the case of Mr. Hassler 
 was sanctioned and sent to the treasury, as was the proposed pur 
 chase of a custom-house at Boston. Be so good as have issued 
 a commission for Mr. Plumer as loan-officer for New Hampshire. 
 The recommendations of Mr. Wentworth are very weight} 7 , but, 
 being local, justify the preference of Mr. Plumer, who is called 
 for by those more in a situation to speak for the whole State, and 
 it is a State, not local office. 
 
 The accounts from all quarters promise success to the bank 
 commissioners. If there be no hope for Mr. Jones, it is much to 
 be wished that some commanding character might come into 
 view. It will be a real disadvantage both to the bank and the 
 government if a president should be chosen with disaffected 
 views, or even without the entire confidence of the treasury 
 department and the nation. 
 
 You will have noticed the return of the Macedonian. I un 
 derstand Mr. Hughes speaks unfavorably of the prospects, and of 
 the character also, of the revolutionary party in that quarter. 
 
 Cordial respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I trouble you with a draft of the agreement with 
 Mr. Hassler relative to the survey of the coast. The work is an 
 important one, and must require both time and money to com 
 plete it. I am confident that Mr. Hassler is the only person 
 equal in all respects to the undertaking, within the reach of the 
 government. 
 
 The circular to the banks is prepared for issuing, and the pros 
 pect of an accumulation of revenue in New York was so favor- 
 
LETTEBS, ETC. 461 
 
 able that I had drafted a treasury notice assigning funds to pay 
 all the treasury notes, which were payable in New York, during; 
 the year 1814 and the early months of 1815, on the first day of 
 September next. The inclosed letter from Mr. Irving has, how 
 ever, induced me to pause upon both measures. The crisis de 
 scribed by Mr. Irving will not immediately affect Philadelphia 
 and Baltimore, where the banks continue to issue notes, most licen 
 tiously, for the accommodation of the merchants. The paper 
 balloon will, nevertheless, explode unless some relief can be af 
 forded to the sufferers in New York, and some reform be intro 
 duced at the banks of Philadelphia and Baltimore. I will reflect 
 upon the powers of the treasury, and beg the favor of your views 
 as to the best course to be pursued. 
 
 The collector of Philadelphia has sent a report, which accom 
 panies this letter, relative to the site for a custom-house. The 
 apportionment of the sum appropriated by Congress is left to 
 the department under the direction of the President. As we 
 can procure a custom-house at Boston for $29,000, the sum to be 
 applied at Philadelphia may exceed the one-fifth of the appro 
 priation. I think the purchases in the other commercial cities 
 will also be within the amount of an equal distribution. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 10 July, 1816. 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the 
 President of the United States the inclosed report and estimate 
 of the collector of the port of Philadelphia relative to the pur 
 chase of a site and the erection of buildings for a custom-house 
 in that city. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 16 July, 1816. 
 
 MONTPELIER, July 18, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received yours of the , inclosing 
 
 Mr. Hassler s letter on the subject of the observatory. I had 
 previously received one from Colonel Lane, informing me of the 
 selection made by Mr. Hassler for its site. Although I had no 
 doubt of the fitness of any spot preferred by Mr. H., taken in the 
 abstract, it occurred to me that as the whole square would be 
 required, the expense to the public might be very considerable, 
 and that there might be inconveniences in alienating so much 
 
462 APPENDICES. 
 
 ground in that particular situation from uses to which it might be 
 otherwise applied. On these considerations, I thought it proper 
 to desire Mr. Munroe, the superintendent of the city, to make 
 out an estimate of the value of the grounds in question, with 
 such observations as to the other points as he might think 
 useful ; to be furnished to you, or, in your absence, to Mr. Rush, 
 whose attention I asked to the subject. I am glad to find the 
 concurrence in what has been separately done. After all, the 
 question you raise as to the legality of a purchase of ground by 
 the public is a material one, and cannot be decided without an 
 accurate view of the case. I suggested to Colonel Lane that it 
 might be well for Mr. Hassler to point out the best substitute for 
 a site, which would be free from the difficulties incident to the 
 square best in itself. From Mr. Hassler s letter I conclude he 
 will have left Washington before the arrival of mine there. Per 
 haps he can, from memory, refer you to the one he would have 
 named to Colonel Lane. 
 
 I return the letter from Mr. II., and the note from Mr. Jones. 
 I have already expressed my wish, in case his prospect for the 
 presidency of the bank should, unfortunately for him, prove hope 
 less, his place might be taken by one whose standing would insure 
 success. It is of great importance to the nation as well as to 
 the bank itself that the head of it should enjoy the full confi 
 dence, in every respect, of the treasury and of Congress. I ob 
 serve that, notwithstanding the general calculation of success to 
 the subscriptions, their progress is slow and deliberate. Perhaps 
 it results from the very certainty of the successful issue, and a 
 policy, in those who wish as much as they can get, to damp sub 
 scriptions, that they may rush in at the last moment. 
 Accept my esteem and affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, July 21, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 16th, inclosing the 
 propositions of Mr. Hassler, the report of the collector of Phila 
 delphia, and the letter from Mr. Irving. 
 
 The importance of the object, and the peculiar fitness of Mr. 
 Hassler for it, prescribe an acquiescence in his terms. Will it not 
 be better to throw his paper into the form of instructions and 
 explanations accompanying his appointment, than to let it stand 
 in that of a contract ? Some attention will be necessary to the 
 mode of subjecting military officers to his orders. The War and 
 Navy Departments will understand it. Mr. Hassler proposes 
 that the chief officer shall be the treasurer, etc. Can this service 
 be forced on him, or will his consent and compensation be requi- 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 463 
 
 site ? If there be a difficulty, it may be provided for by an after- 
 arrangement. 
 
 Considering the expense of erecting permanent observatories, 
 and the competition of sites for them, to which may be added the 
 question of appropriating an occasional fund to permanent ob 
 jects, it may deserve your consideration whether it may not be 
 advisable to borrow the use of existing establishments, if such 
 can be found, or to erect temporary observatories, if it can be 
 done with a material diminution of expense. 
 
 I presume you cannot do better than to secure the site referred 
 to by General Steele for the custom-house in Philadelphia. It 
 must be of peculiar importance that it be located conveniently 
 for the public and for the merchants. Of the reasonableness of 
 the price for the lots I cannot judge. The judgment of General 
 Steele is entitled to much confidence. As it is uncertain what 
 may be the expense called for in New York and Baltimore, it will 
 be fortunate if offers from both should arrive before that at 
 Philadelphia be made unalterable. It is possible that the excess 
 at other places may be greater beyond their proportions than that 
 at Philadelphia. In that case, if economy be impracticable in pur 
 chasing the sites, it must be applied to the buildings, unless an 
 increase of the appropriations by Congress can be safely antici 
 pated. 
 
 Mr. Irving s letter gives a deplorable picture of the mercantile 
 and moneyed situation of New York. If the evil, however, 
 arises from the excess of imports beyond the wants of the 
 country, a partial and temporary relief only can be administered. 
 The country merchants cannot sell, because the people do not 
 need more of their merchandise ; not selling, they cannot pay 
 the importers; and these, not receiving, cannot pay their duties 
 to the treasury. Were they enabled to pay the duties, or in 
 dulged with time for the purpose, how are they to make their 
 remittances to Europe, amounting to so much more than their 
 duties ? Of the several alleviations stated by Mr. Irving, my 
 first impression is in favor of a renewal of the bonds, with an 
 augmented security, as countenanced by the danger, in case of 
 an extensive explosion, of an actual loss to the public. I sus 
 pend my opinion, however, till I can aid it with the result of 
 your reflections on the subject. A memorial from the merchants 
 is desirable, as an authentic groundwork for executive interpo 
 sition, if it finally take place. 
 
 Accept my best wishes, 
 
 JAMES MADTSON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
464 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Having considered the question as to purchasing 
 a site for the observatory more attentively, I conclude that it 
 would be deemed probably an extreme latitude of construction to 
 make an expensive purchase of lots as an incident to the author 
 ity for a survey of the coast, which is a temporary work. The 
 objection does not arise to occupying 1 lots already belonging to 
 the public, and which would at all times be subject to the direc 
 tions of Congress. Under that impression, I will address Mr. 
 Hassler upon the subject. 
 
 I have received a letter from Mr. Baker complaining- of a dis 
 crimination between British and American vessels in the port of 
 New York as to pilotage and fees exacted under the State laws. 
 The draft of an answer is submitted for your consideration with 
 the letter itself. It seems, however, to me that subjects of this 
 kind should be discussed in the Department of State. 
 
 The bank subscriptions close to-morrow, and I will hasten to 
 communicate the result as soon as the materials are collected to 
 ascertain it. There is a general confidence that the whole capi 
 tal will be subscribed. Mr. Girard s interest is at the maximum, 
 three thousand shares, or $300,000. He says that he will take a 
 much greater interest if it be necessary. His name is sometimes 
 mentioned as president of the bank ; but it is probable that he 
 will support Mr. Jones, whose prospects become more favorable. 
 Except tlffese gentlemen, I do not know a Republican within 
 your description of fitness who would be likely to succeed or 
 be willing to become a candidate. 
 
 I trouble you with a case from Bermuda, because it seems to 
 be, in some sort, anomalous. The island is not within the ex 
 ception of the convention as to the West Indies, nor within the 
 general provision as to the British European dominions ; but it is 
 stated that, by an act of Parliament, vessels of the United States 
 are permitted to go to and trade at Bermuda. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully, your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 23 July, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I inclose the memorial of the merchants of New 
 York, to which Mr. Irviug s letter (already communicated to 
 you) referred. It appears to me that the only proper mode of 
 interfering for the relief of the memorialists would be to author 
 ize the district attorney to stay executions after judgments had 
 been entered, taking, if necessary, additional security. To sus 
 pend suits, or to renew the bonds, is an alternative that I am 
 not prepared to recommend. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 465 
 
 I send for your perusal a letter, which I have received from 
 Mr. McCall, covering two Spanish documents. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 July, 1816. 
 
 MONTI ELIER, July 26, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the , and return 
 
 the New York memorial inclosed in it. Interpositions for relief 
 in such cases are of a delicate nature when proceeding from the 
 legislature, the most competent authority. When claimed from 
 the executive they are peculiarly delicate. The only ground on 
 which the latter can proceed seems to be that of increasing the 
 security of the revenue by suspending a pressure which might 
 impair the solvency of the debtor to the treasury; and this 
 ground is sanctioned by precedents as well as by its intrinsic 
 policy. Cases of necessity, arising from calamities in a manner 
 preternatural, will provide for themselves. 
 
 From this view of the subject, the course you suggest of stay 
 ing executions in individual cases and guarding effectually against 
 loss from the delay, is the one to be pursued. A lumping relief, 
 which would embrace cases not within the reason of it and au 
 thorize expectations so general as to threaten bankruptcy to the 
 treasury, belongs to the deliberations of those who make laws, 
 not of those who are to execute them. The distress of the mer 
 chants of New York is much to be regretted; the more so, as far 
 as it is the effect of a laudable co-operation of the banks there 
 with the national system, and there would be the greater pleas 
 ure in mitigating their sacrifices, if it were practicable, as these 
 involve with the ruin of the importing merchants an increase of 
 danger to our struggling manufacturers. 
 
 Friendly respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 MONTPELIER, July 27, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 23d, inclosing a letter 
 from Mr. Baker, with the draft of an answer, and a letter from 
 Wm. Js. Sears, of Bermuda. 
 
 The subject of Mr. Baker s letter regularly belongs to the De, 
 partment of State. But whether addressed to the Treasury De 
 partment or to that, ought to have proceeded from the minister- 
 and not from the consul otherwise than through the minister. 
 From courtesy, which, as well as conveniency, sometimes takes 
 the place of strict rule, it may not be amiss to make to Mr. 
 Baker the observations contained in your intended answer, with 
 a reference to the usual channel for such discussions. I send 
 
466 APPENDICES. 
 
 both the papers to Mr. Monroe, who, in speaking with Mr. Bagot, 
 will lead his attention to the diplomatic usage. 
 
 I send to Mr. Monroe also the letter from Mr. Sears. If our 
 vessels enjoy in that island the same privileges as in the Eu 
 ropean ports of Great Britain, the claim stated, though not sup 
 ported by the convention, seems to be covered by the general 
 terms of the act of Congress referred to. I have, however, but 
 slightly looked into the subject, and the fact and the extent of the 
 trade allowed to our vessels at Bermuda ought to be scrutinized. 
 In describing the British dominions, the convention would 
 seem to include Bermuda in the West Indies, since it is not prob 
 able that it was overlooked altogether by both the American and 
 British commissioners. Whether an American consul will be 
 admitted there, is another point to be ascertained. This can 
 probably be done at Washington. 
 
 Cordial respects and esteem, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Mr. Jones promised to communicate to you a 
 statement of the subscriptions to the Bank of the United States. 
 The deficit will not be great, and will be immediately subscribed 
 at Philadelphia. Mr. Jones s prospect brightens. He is op 
 posed, however, by Major Butler, whose appointment produces 
 all the inconveniences that I apprehended. 
 
 The treasury circular seems to be approved by all but the 
 bankers. A convention of delegates from the banks of the Mid 
 dle States will meet here on the 6th instant, and I am promised 
 a candid and explicit answer. 
 
 The custom-house establishment at Boston has been purchased 
 for $29,000. The Baltimore proposition is suspended, as you 
 desired, for further information from other points. The site for 
 the Philadelphia establishment is ordered to be purchased. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 3 August, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The collector s selection of a site and buildings 
 for the New York custom-house is generally approved, and the 
 price deemed moderate. 
 
 The inclosed letter from Mr. Derbigny creates an apprehen 
 sion that the subscription to the bank has not been opened at 
 New Orleans. The commissioners were named by the Louisiana 
 members of Congress ; and as Mr. Brown and Mr. Robertson 
 are on the spot, I hope that they have advised Judge Hall, 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 467 
 
 singly, to open the subscription. There will probably be a deficit 
 in the subscriptions to the amount of $2,000,000 or $3,000,000; 
 but the demand for the shares is increasing 1 . As soon as the 
 sum required by law has been received, I propose, with your 
 approbation, to instruct the commissioners to provide a tem 
 porary establishment for transacting the business of the bank, 
 to prepare plates and paper for the bank-notes, and to make such 
 other general arrangements as will enable the directors to com 
 mence the operations of the institution without delay. 
 
 Mr. Coles left Philadelphia this morning. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 6 August, 1816. 
 
 MONTPELIER, August 7, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Colonel McCobb has just handed me yours of the 
 3d inst. The recommendations of him for the vacant office he 
 seeks, appear to be decisive. I have referred him, however, to 
 you for a communication of the result. That there may be no 
 unnecessary delay, I write by the present opportunity to the 
 Department of State to forward immediately a blank commission 
 to you, if there be one on hand already signed : and if not, to 
 me for signature ; and you may let Colonel McCobb understand 
 that his name will be put into it, unless reasons for a different 
 decision should have reached you, which is not probable. 
 
 I have retained the two Spanish documents sent by Mr. 
 McCall for the information of the Department of State. Though 
 not of recent date, they are very interesting as authentic keys 
 to the cabinet feelings and views at Madrid towards the United 
 States, and the use it wishes to make of Great Britain against 
 us. If such a treaty exists or was ever entered into with the 
 latter, as Mr. McCall supposes, a knowledge of it would be very 
 desirable. But I doubt the reality of more than some informal 
 understanding on the subject, and that perhaps short of what is 
 supposed. 
 
 It was hoped at one time, from interviews between Mr. Bagot 
 and the Secretary of State, that the former had powers adequate 
 to some satisfactory arrangements both as to the fisheries and 
 armaments on the lakes. The latest, though not the final con 
 versations between them, make it probable that he can only 
 receive propositions for the consideration of his government. 
 Whether he can even arrest the progress of naval equipments, 
 is more than doubtful. 
 
 I have received from Captain Jones a memorandum of the 
 known subscriptions to the bank. He is perfectly confident that 
 
468 APPENDICES. 
 
 any deficiency will be supplied instantly in Philadelphia. I am 
 very glad to learn by your late letter that his prospect of being 
 at the head of the institution had become favorable, and I should 
 calculate that supplemental subscriptions at Philadelphia would 
 make it rather more so. Besides the personal motives which 
 make me wish his success, I am persuaded that it would accord 
 much better with the interests both of the bank and the public 
 than any other applicant in competition with it. 
 
 Accept my esteem and affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 MONTPELIER, August 10, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 6th instant; I have 
 approved the contemplated purchase of a custom-house in New 
 York, as I do your proposed instructions to the bank commis 
 sioners on the subject of preparatory arrangements. It is to be 
 hoped that Judge Hall will have taken the course you allude to. 
 Should he have failed even to ascertain the offers to subscribe 
 within the prescribed period, the delay may be embarrassing, 
 as New Orleans cannot be fairly deprived of an opportunity of 
 sharing in the subscriptions. The best expedient that occurs is 
 to give them a priority in the supplemental shares ; explaining 
 to Judge Hall the intentions of the treasury. Should a better 
 course occur to you, pursue it without the delay of further com 
 munication with me on the subject. Would it be amiss to send 
 a couple of blank commissions to New Orleans, to be filled by 
 Judge II. or some other functionary on the spot ? 
 
 Friendly respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I find Mr. Jones so infirm in body and mind that 
 I feel uneasy to be longer absent from Washington. I shall, there 
 fore, return next week to finish my treasury report there. 
 
 It will give you pleasure to learn that I am able to give notice 
 for payment of the treasury notes due in New York as far down 
 as the month of June, 1816. Indeed, everything but the currency 
 will be in good order. The bank may be organized and active 
 before January next. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 23 August, 1816. 
 
LETTERS, ETC 469 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, 24 August, 1816, 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit the 
 following- statement to the consideration of the President of the 
 United States : 
 
 Treasury notes which were issued under acts passed prior to 
 the act of the 24th of February, 1815, were payable at the ex 
 piration of a year from their respective dates, with interest at 
 the rate of 5 per cent, per annum, at the loan-offices respect 
 ively specified in the notes. Many of these treasury notes be 
 came due and remained unpaid. 
 
 By the act of the 24th of February, 1815, it was declared that 
 "it should be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to cause to 
 be paid the interest upon the treasury notes which have become 
 due and remain unpaid, as well with respect to the time elapsed 
 before they became due as with respect to the time that shall 
 elapse after they become due, and until funds shall be assigned 
 for the payment of the said treasury notes and notice thereof 
 shall be given." 
 
 On the loth and 22d of June, 1815, notice was given that 
 funds were assigned for the payment of treasury note_s due and 
 becoming due at all the loan-offices except those of Massachusetts 
 and New York. The funds assigned consisted of bank-notes, 
 the local currency at the respective places of payment being the 
 only funds possessed by the treasury. 
 
 Many of the holders of treasury notes have refused to accept 
 the payment thus offered. And it appears from a communica 
 tion made by the collector of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire 
 (which accompanies this statement), that " a treasury note for 
 $1000 payable in Philadelphia, dated on the 1st of August, 1814, 
 was tendered to him in payment of a bond for $1109 95, being 
 the amount of said note, with interest from the date to the time 
 of the tender." This note was provided for under the treasury 
 notices of June, 1815. And the tender is now made with a view 
 to try the general question whether the assignment of bank-notes 
 is the assignment of a lawful fund for payment, in consequence 
 of which the interest on the treasury notes shall cease to run. 
 
 The collector and the district attorney request that they may 
 receive the instructions of the government upon the occasion ; 
 and the Secretary of the Treasury respectfully submits the ex 
 pediency of instructing them to proceed as if no tender had been 
 made. 
 
 A. J. DALLAS, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 MONTPELIKR, August 25, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Since the receipt of your several letters relating 
 to the treasury proposition and the decision of bank deputies at 
 
470 APPENDICES. 
 
 Philadelphia, my thoughts have been duly turned to the im 
 portant and perplexing subject. 
 
 Although there may be no propriety in recalling the propo 
 sition, it seems now certain that it will fail of its effect. Should 
 the banks not represented at Philadelphia come into the measure, 
 the refusal of those represented would be fatal. The want of a 
 medium for taxes in a single State would be a serious difficulty. 
 So extensive a want would forbid at once an enforcement of the 
 proposition. 
 
 The banks feel their present importance and seem more dis 
 posed to turn it to their own profit than to the public good and 
 the views of the government. Without their co-operation it does 
 not appear that any immediate relief can be applied to the em 
 barrassments of the treasury or of the currency. This co-opera 
 tion they refuse. Can they be coerced ? 
 
 Should the State legislatures unite in the means within their 
 power the object may be attained. But this is scarcely to be 
 expected, and in point of time is too remote. 
 
 The national bank must for a time at least be on the defensive. 
 
 The interposition of Congress remains, and we may hope the 
 best as to a vigorous use of it. But there is danger that the in 
 fluence of the local banks may reach even that resource. Should 
 this not be the case, the remedy is future, not immediate. 
 
 The question then before us is, whether any and what further 
 expedients lie with the executive. 
 
 Although we have satisfied, by what has been already at 
 tempted, our legal responsibility, it would be still incumbent on 
 us to make further experiments if any promising ones can be 
 devised. If there be such, I have full confidence that they will 
 enter into your views of the subject. 
 
 One only occurs to me, and I mention it because no other does, 
 not because I regard it as free from objections which may be 
 deemed conclusive. 
 
 The notes on the treasury might be presented to the banks 
 respectively with a demand of the specie due on the face of them. 
 On refusal, suits might be immediately instituted, not with a view 
 to proceed to execution, but to establish a claim to interest from 
 the date of the demand. The notes thus bearing interest being 
 kept in hand, treasury notes bearing interest might be issued in 
 payments from the treasury, and so far injustice to the several 
 classes of creditors might be lessened, whilst a check would be 
 given to the unjust career of the banks. 
 
 Such a proceeding ought to be supported by the stockholders, 
 the army, the navy, and all the disinterested and well-informed 
 part of the community. The clamor against it would be from 
 the banks and those having interested connections with them, 
 supported by the honest part of the community misled by their 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 471 
 
 fallacies. And the probability is but too great that the clamor 
 would be overwhelming. 
 
 I do not take into view the expedient of requiring a payment 
 of the impost in specie, in part at least, because it could not be 
 extended to the other taxes, and would in that respect as well as 
 otherwise be a measure too delicate for the executive authority ; 
 nor could its effect be in time for any very early purpose. 
 
 I have been led by the tenor of your letters to put on paper 
 these observations. The report you are preparing will doubtless 
 enlighten my view of the whole subject. 
 
 Friendly respects, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, It appears that Dr. Fiord returned to New 
 Orleans on the 3d of July, and that the bank subscriptions were 
 opened. The amount is not expected to exceed $300,000 at 
 that place. The general deficit will probably be $3,000,000, but 
 it will be immediately supplied by companies already formed. 
 Mr. Grirard alone will take $1,000,000, if he can obtain that 
 sum. 
 
 I am anxious to receive your sentiments upon the expediency 
 of persevering in the treasury proposition for commencing coin 
 payments of small bank-notes on the 1st of October. I think 
 the banks here would be obliged to acquiesce. There is a danger, 
 however, of a failure of current means of paying taxes in the 
 interior ; and the merchants would be glad, at this crisis, to seize 
 any pretence for refusing to pay their bonds. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The bank subscription is filled. The deficit of the 
 general returns ($3,000,000) was taken by Mr. Grirard in a single 
 line, to the great disappointment of the brokers and speculators. 
 I congratulate you upon this event. There is little doubt of the 
 organization of the bank being Republican, and friendly to the 
 government. 
 
 The Cumberland Road presents new embarrassments ; and I 
 shall have occasion to trouble you upon the subject as soon as I 
 reach Washington, which will probably be on Sunday next. 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 27 August, 1816. 
 
472 APPENDICES. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I inclose Mr. Hassler s letter respecting a site for 
 the observatory. The recommendation of the ground selected 
 is very strong ; but it requires consideration whether the au 
 thority is sufficient for purchasing that portion of it which does 
 not belong to the public. The appropriation is adequate, regard 
 ing it as an incident to the survey of the coast. I have requested 
 from Mr. Monroe and Colonel Lane an estimate of the price of 
 the lot and the cost of the building, which shall be forwarded to 
 you as soon as I receive it. 
 
 Mr. Jones has just sent me the inclosed note, which will give 
 you a general idea of the progress of the bank subscription. The 
 institution is becoming every day more popular; and the uni 
 versal expectation, that it is the only remedy for the disordered 
 currency, must essentially contribute to make it effectual. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President, 
 
 MONTPELTER, September 6, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I return the answers of the banks to the treasury 
 proposition. Some of them, I observe, are sore at the idea of 
 their yielding to the temptation of gain, in prolonging the refusal 
 to resume specie payments. The best mode of repelling ttfe sus 
 picion would be to dispose of their public stock, and thus reduce 
 their dividends. Whilst they refuse to co-operate with the treas 
 ury, that circumstance will justify it in not persisting in efforts 
 to anticipate the epoch fixed by Congress for a general reform ; 
 and an adherence to that epoch cannot be declined, unless Con 
 gress should themselves give way. That great exertions will be 
 used to overcome their firmness, and to substitute the epoch 
 (July next) fixed by the banks, cannot be doubted; and the suc 
 cess of these exertions is not a little to be apprehended, unless 
 the national bank can acquire an activity that will enfeeble the 
 pleas of the State banks, and fortify the good dispositions in that 
 body. This may be hoped for ; and the hope is strengthened 
 by the general views you present of the fiscal condition of the 
 United States, which cannot fail to be grateful and encouraging 
 to the nation. 
 
 The proposition of Mr. Carroll is a handsome one. It may 
 lie over, however, for the meeting of Congress, or at least till 
 our reassembling at Washington. The sufficiency of the offer, to 
 say nothing of the authority to accept it, cannot be judged of 
 without knowing how far it embraces the ground considered by 
 Mr. Hassler as essential, or what effect it may have on the 
 owners of the residue. 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 473 
 
 I have not departed from the course intimated to you for filling 
 the vacancy which your determination to retire will produce at 
 a day not very distant. Mr. Crawford signified, lately, his ac 
 quiescence in the proposition made to him, and I have written to 
 Mr. Clay in consequence of it. As soon as I receive his answer, 
 you shall be made acquainted with it. 
 
 Accept my great esteem and cordial regards, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, When the report first reached me that Mr. Shel 
 don was going to Europe, I felt some solicitude that he should 
 not go before the treasurer s accounts were stated and settled ; 
 and I released him from all the other duties of the office that he 
 might attend exclusively to that object. I certainly felt no 
 objection, generally, to his departure, as his health really required 
 some relaxation from business ; nor was I at all disposed to de 
 prive him of the benefit of Mr. Gallatin s patronage; but, if I 
 had been apprised of your decision to nominate him as secretary 
 of legation, it would have been my duty to recommend a stipula 
 tion that he should not leave the office until he had executed the 
 special trust which belonged peculiarly to him. I mention these 
 circumstances merely to introduce the inclosed note from the 
 treasurer on the subject of his accounts, and my answer. The 
 clerks are not familiar with this part of our business ; and one 
 of them, who has been charged with it, in consequence of Mr. 
 Sheldon s resignation, has not, I fear, a conciliatory temper or 
 habits of mind suited to the task. Everything that can be done 
 shall be done to recover our leeway. It is proper to add that 
 the aid derived by the treasurer from the secretary s office is an 
 affair of usage and comity, not of legal obligation under the acts 
 of Congress. The law requires the treasurer to render and settle 
 his own accounts. 
 
 This opportunity is taken to transmit a letter from Mr. Robert 
 son, recommending the removal of Mr. Du Plessis, and the ap 
 pointment of Mr. Beverly Chew. There is something in the 
 terms of recommending Mr. Chew which merits reflection. He 
 is an honest man, but he is insolvent, or so I infer from Mr. 
 Robertson s language. 
 
 Commodore Porter has written a letter offering a site on Meri 
 dian Hill (his late purchase) for an observatory. The terms of the 
 offer are reasonable ; but I have answered that the establishment 
 of an observatory is postponed until the meeting of Congress; that 
 another site had been selected by Mr. Hassler ; and that Mr. Car 
 roll had offered to sell, or give, it to the government ; but, I added, 
 that his letter would be submitted to you, and duly considered. 
 
 31 
 
474 APPENDICES. 
 
 The pressure of business has continued throughout the sum 
 mer; and I approach the termination of my official life with a 
 solicitude of which my affectionate attachment to you is the 
 source. I hope, however, to leave the department in a situation 
 of less difficulty to my successor than could well have been ex 
 pected ; and the report (which is copying) will give him all the 
 general views that are necessary to guide him in the commence 
 ment of his labors. Of myself, I can only speak with care and 
 doubt, when I reflect upon the effect of two years absence from 
 the bar, to obstruct and embarrass my return ; but when you 
 mentioned my determination to retire from the treasury, I am 
 sure you would account for that determination from the necessity 
 of changing my situation for the sake of my family, or from any 
 other cause, rather than from an indisposition to remain with 
 you. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 11 September, 1816. 
 
 MONTPELIJER, September 15, 1816. 
 
 BEAR SIR, I have duly received yours of the llth. The 
 difficulty which gave rise to the letter from the treasurer is much 
 to be regretted, and the regret is increased by the cause of it. 
 The condition at which you glance would have been justly im 
 posed on Mr. Sheldon. His nomination to the Senate was post 
 poned to what was considered as the latest date, with reference, 
 in part at least, to a protraction of his duties in the treasury, 
 and was made under the impression that the intention was not 
 unknown. Your answer to Dr. Tucker, and instruction to Mr. 
 Taylor, are certainly the best remedy that the case admits of. I 
 sincerely wish it may terminate the adventitious trouble thrown 
 on you. 
 
 The favorable report of the comptroller on the accounts of Mr. 
 Du Plessis, with the pecuniary situation of Mr. Chew, hinted in 
 the recommendation of him by Mr. Robertson, will justify a 
 pause on our part perhaps till the meeting of Congress. 
 
 The offer of Commodore Porter may lie over for a comparison 
 with other sites for an observatory. Your answer to him was 
 the proper one. 
 
 I have not yet heard from Mr. Clay. Should he decline the 
 proposal made to him, the delicate considerations attending a 
 completion of the cabinet will not be at an end. Whatever may 
 be the final arrangement, .1 hope you will be persuaded that I 
 have never contemplated your purpose of retiring from the 
 Treasury Department without doing justice to your motives, or 
 
LETTERS, ETG. 475 
 
 without recollecting the great private sacrifices involved in your 
 acceptance of and continuance in that important public trust ; 
 that I feel with full force the expressions in your letter which are 
 personal to myself, and that 1 take a sincere interest in what 
 may relate to your future welfare and happiness. 
 
 If there be no objection within the knowledge of the Treasury 
 Department to a pardon of Augustus Johnson, whose petition is 
 inclosed, be so good as to have one made out. 
 
 I took the liberty of requesting, through Mr. Rush, the atten 
 tion of yourself and the other members of the cabinet at Wash 
 ington to the difficulties arising in the business superintended by 
 Colonel Lane, who thought, with me, that a decision on them 
 could be better formed on the spot than by myself at this dis 
 tance. I have just received the inclosed letter from the librarian, 
 which presents a new one. Between the alternatives of a tem 
 porary building and a continuance of the library where it is, the 
 option seems to be prescribed by a want of legislative provision 
 for the former. Will you be so good as to obtain from Colonel 
 Lane a full view of the case, and to decide on it as may be found 
 best by yourself and the other gentlemen ? Mr. Watterston is 
 informed of this reference of the subject. 
 
 We have had a profusion of rain, after an unexampled drought. 
 It will be of great benefit to farmers and planters in several 
 respects ; but it is too late to have any material effect on the 
 crops of Indian corn, the great esculent staple in this country, 
 and its excess gives it a bad as well as a good effect on tobacco, 
 the other important crop at stake. This is the tenth day since I 
 have been able to communicate with Mr. Monroe, who is sepa 
 rated from me by a branch of James River. The interruption, 
 however, has been prolonged by the want of exertion in the 
 mail-carrier. 
 
 Accept my esteem and affectionate respects, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The inclosed sketch will give you a general view 
 of the finances. The item of floating debt is left open until Mr. 
 Nourse, the register, returns, that the amount of treasury notes 
 absorbed by the payments for duties and taxes may be precisely 
 ascertained. It is very great, and may be estimated by the 
 statement which reduces the outstanding treasury notes to 
 something like $6,000,000. 
 
 The actual receipts for revenue cannot, I think, fall short of 
 $60,000,000 from January to December, 1816, including the 
 receipts from the old as well as the new rates of duty and taxes. 
 
 Be so good as to return the report that the blanks may be 
 
476 APPENDICES. 
 
 filled. If there are any points on which you wish further in 
 formation, I will thank you to note them. 
 
 There is not any business to detain me here except the busi 
 ness of signing- the warrants for the October quarter; but that 
 can be done at Philadelphia, where I will continue to transact 
 the routine until you tell me that you are perfectly prepared to 
 dispense with my services. I propose leaving Washington on 
 this day week, the 28th of September. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 21 Sept., 1816. 
 
 Sept 27, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received with your two letters of the 20th 
 and 21st the general sketch of the finances to which they refer. 
 That of the 25th has also just come to hand. I return the 
 sketch under an address to Washington, passing it through the 
 hands of Mr Crawford with a request that he would hasten it to 
 the department. 
 
 The document embraces all the points occurring to me as 
 requisite to be touched, and contains so many gratifying features 
 that it cannot fail to engage the favorable attention of the public 
 to the ability and success with which the fiscal business has been 
 conducted through the labyrinth into which it had been forced. 
 The facts stated in your letter of the 25th present an ad 
 ditional prospect extremely grateful in several views, and partic 
 ularly as bearing testimony to the auspicious course which the 
 treasury has pursued. 
 
 Mr. Clay declines the War Department. The task now to be 
 fulfilled is not without its delicacies, as you know. I shall avail 
 myself of a conversation with Mr. Monroe, which his journey 
 back to Washington will afford me in a day or t\vo. I could 
 wish for a similar opportunity with others whose sentiments 
 would be valuable on the occasion. I thank you for your kind 
 ness in continuing the routine of business, and regret that I can 
 not more promptly exonerate you from the trouble it imposes, 
 You will hear from me again on the subject the moment 1 have 
 anything to impart. 
 
 Accept my esteem and cordial regards, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received yours of the 1st instant, and 
 anxiously hope that this will find you perfectly recovered from 
 your indisposition and in the bosom of your family in Philadel- 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 477 
 
 phia. I repeat my thanks for the kind attention you offer to the 
 routine of the treasury business, from which I calculate on your 
 being speedily released. I have written to Mr. Lowndes on the 
 vacancy approaching in the War Department, and invited him 
 to accept it, and have apprised Mr. Crawford of this step, with 
 an intimation of the expediency of his assuming the Treasury 
 Department as soon as he can make it convenient to do so. 
 
 I propose to set out for Washington on Monday, and expect to 
 be there by the middle of the week. Mr. Monroe is now with 
 ine, and will probably be a day or two before me. 
 
 Be assured, my dear sir, of my best regards, 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Colonel Lane seems to think that the librarian 
 has been too officious in making his communication to you ; and 
 agrees that there ought not to be a change in the situation of the 
 library until Congress shall decide upon it. This is also the 
 opinion of Mr. Crawford and Mr. Rush. 
 
 We have met on Colonel Jessup s letter, and Mr. Crawford 
 will communicate our general views upon the subject. The 
 colonel does not appear in character. His letter is wanting in 
 judgment and discretion. It is impossible to admit that any 
 officer, civil or military, can become the depositary of a secret 
 which involves either treason or invasion under a promise not 
 to reveal it to his government. The Havana enterprise is ex 
 travagant, and the scheme of seizing suspected traitors without 
 the interposition of the judicial power, should, I think, be con 
 demned. As to the rest, notice should so far be taken of the in 
 telligence as to set the Departments of War and Navy and the 
 judicial officers in motion for prompt defensive operations. 
 
 We have also met on the question raised by Mr. Crawford in 
 the case of the captive Indian agent. Upon every view of it 
 we could not bring it, with any law or principle, to authorize the 
 payment of any compensation during the period of captivity. 
 
 I was in hopes to have heard from you by this day s mail, as 
 the newspapers mention that you will return to Washington on 
 the 1st of October. My departure from it will be deferred on 
 account of the absence of Mr. Jones, the chief clerk, whose 
 health required the benefit of a journey. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most respectfully and faithfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 The President. 
 27 Sept., 1816. 
 
4T8 APPENDICES. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, It being finally arranged that Mr. Crawford will 
 enter the Treasury Department on Monday next, I lose no time 
 in apprising you of the day on which the requisition on your 
 kind and protracted attention to its duties will be at an "end. 
 The letter offering the War Department to Mr. Lowndes having 
 been sent to New York, missed him altogether; and it un 
 luckily happened that he set out after his return to Washington 
 before I had an opportunity of communicating with him. A 
 letter will follow him, with a chance of overtaking him before he 
 reaches Charleston, but will probably not arrest his journey 
 should the object of it be acceptable to him. 
 
 I thank you very much, my dear sir, for the friendly offers in 
 your favor of the 5th instant, and 1 renew all my acknowledg 
 ments and assurances with respect to the past services for which 
 I am personally indebted as well as our country, which is enjoy 
 ing and awaiting the beneficial fruits of them. Accept my high 
 esteem and my cordial salutations, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Nothing has occurred diminishing the improbability of Colonel 
 Jessup s intelligence. You will have noticed the occurrence in 
 the Gulf of Mexico, which is producing considerable sensation. 
 We are not able to appreciate all its circumstances, but it is diffi 
 cult to believe that the conduct of the Spanish squadron is to 
 be ascribed to hostile orders from Madrid. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The President informs me that you enter the 
 treasury on Monday. I hasten to express my sincere wish that 
 you may enjoy honor, health, and happiness in the station. If 
 in any way you think my experience can be serviceable, you can 
 not oblige me more than to draw freely upon it. 
 
 Permit me to take this opportunity of mentioning the clerks 
 in the secretary s office : 
 
 Mr. Jones merits consideration for his long and faithful ser 
 vices. 
 
 Mr. Anthony is possessed of very useful information in several 
 branches of the duty of the office, and I am satisfied with his 
 diligence and fidelity. 
 
 Mr. Fox is the son of a friend in Philadelphia, and will make 
 an excellent assistant. He is intelligent, assiduous, and correct 
 in his deportment. 
 
 Mr. McKean is the son of the late attorney-general, and the 
 grandson of Governor McKean. His talents, application, man 
 ners, and morals will recommend him to your attention. 
 
LET TEES, ETC. 479 
 
 Mr. Dungan was highly recommended, is possessed of very 
 useful talents, and will soon master the whole routine of office. 
 
 Mr. Gibson is related to Governor Wright, and was received 
 as a clerk upon the governor s application. He is industrious 
 and capable. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, but the conduct of this clerk has been such as to 
 render it painful to speak of him, and I will leave his character 
 and capacity to develop themselves. 
 
 In the fortunes of Messrs. McKean and Fox I take a personal 
 interest, and beg you to patronize them, as well to oblige me as 
 to reward their own merit. 
 
 I am, dear sir, with sincere respect and esteem, your most obe 
 dient servant, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 
 Honorable W. H. CRAWFORD. 
 18 Oct., 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received yours of the 27th. Finding that 
 you have been detained at Washington, I regret the more my 
 detention here. I dropped you a few lines on the supposition 
 that you had proceeded to Philadelphia, addressing at the same 
 time your reported view of our finances to Washington, and pass 
 ing it through the hands of Mr. Crawford as preparing him for 
 his new and arduous trust. Mr. Monroe has not yet arrived on 
 his way to the seat of government, and I cannot well fix the day 
 for setting out thither till I see him. I am hastening my prep 
 arations as much as possible, but fear I shall not be able to 
 wind up some necessary business before the last of the week, 
 possibly not before Monday. I do not count on finding you 
 there, or it would be an additional stimulus to my exertions. 
 Much, indeed, as I should be gratified in seeing you, it would be 
 unreasonable to desire such a protraction of your detention. I 
 recollect that you spoke of the llth of October, or thereabouts, 
 as an epoch in your private business to which a transfer of your 
 attention is now so fully due t and I hope will without scruple be 
 decided on. 
 
 I mentioned to you that Mr. Clay had declined the executive 
 station offered to him. Although Mr. Lowndes has had no 
 opportunity of disclosing particular qualifications for that depart 
 ment, his general talents and standing with the nation turn my 
 thoughts strongly towards him. I shall speak more fully on the 
 subject with Mr. Monroe, who will carry to Washington the final 
 determination, positive, or subject to consultation on his arrival 
 there. It appears as eligible in itself, as consonant with the 
 opinion entertained of Mr. Lowndes by the public, that he should 
 have a place in the cabinet. 
 
480 APPENDICES. 
 
 A letter from Mr. Ewing, of the last of July, describes the 
 situation of Spain as utterly incompatible with offensive hostili 
 ties against us. Precautionary measures, as far at least as they 
 will avoid expense and public excitement, are, notwithstanding, 
 suggested by the possible freaks of the cabinet of Madrid and 
 the sort of responsibility which Colonel Jessup has thrown 
 upon us. 
 
 Be assured of my great esteem and my cordial regards, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 WASHINGTON, November 11, 1816. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The approaching meeting of Congress requires 
 that I should be making preparation for the event. The para 
 graph relating to the finances will be a very important, and, 
 happily, a very pleasing one. Persuaded that your peculiar 
 familiarity with the subject is as yet little impaired, I am tempted 
 by your experienced kindness to intrude so far on moments be 
 longing to other objects as to request from your pen a prospectus 
 of the receipts and expenditures of the fiscal year, with the 
 balance in the treasury, and a notice of the public debt at its 
 latest liquidation. 
 
 The statement may be the more brief, as I wish to refer to 
 your " Sketches" as an accompanying document; which cannot 
 fail to be acceptable to Congress, useful to the public, and honor 
 able under every aspect. It occurs, however, that if thus used, 
 one or two of the topics at its close may be criticised as not ex 
 actly within the scope of a report from the particular department 
 of the treasury, if not construable in a latitude not covered by 
 the constitution. The remarks of either kind can be easily 
 guarded against. 
 
 Although I presume you possess a copy of the Sketches, I 
 inclose the original draft, that there may be no danger of needless 
 delay, or trouble to you, in the task I am imposing. 
 
 Be pleased to accept, with my particular respects to Mrs. 
 Dallas, my esteem and best regards, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Mr. DALLAS. 
 
 DEAR SIR, An oppressive attention to the business of the 
 court has prevented my making the inclosed draft earlier; and I 
 send it now in a very rough state, rather than lose a mail for the 
 purpose of copying it. 
 
 I could not venture to fill the blank in the second page; but 
 the figures will be supplied in a moment by the Register, upon 
 
LETTERS, ETC. 481 
 
 a question, what will be the aggregate of the public funded 
 debt after the dividend of the 1st of January has been paid, 
 including the debt both before and since the late war ? 
 
 My object has been to be concise and general. I feel the full 
 responsibility of using language which is to be ascribed to you. 
 I am, dear sir, most affectionately and respectfully yours, 
 
 A. J. DALLAS. 
 The President. 
 20 November, 1816. 
 
 In directing the legislative attention to the state of the finances 
 it is a subject of great gratification to find that even within 
 the short period which has elapsed since the return of peace the 
 revenue has far exceeded the amount of all the current demands 
 upon the treasury ; and that under any probable diminution of its 
 future annual product which the vicissitudes of commerce may 
 occasion, it will afford an ample fund for the effectual and early 
 extinguishment of the whole of the public debt. It has been 
 estimated that during the year 1816 the actual receipts of reve 
 nue at the treasury, including the balance on deposit at the com 
 mencement of the year and excluding the proceeds of loans and 
 treasury notes, will amount to about the sum of $4*7,000,000 ; 
 that during the same year the actual payments at the treasury, 
 including the payment of the arrearages of the War Department 
 as well as the payment of a considerable excess beyond the an 
 nual appropriation, will amount to about the sum of $38,000,000 ; 
 and that, consequently, at the close of the year there will be a 
 surplus in the treasury of about the sum of $9,000,000. 
 
 The operations of the treasury continue to be obstructed by 
 difficulties arising from the condition of the national currency; 
 but they have nevertheless been effectual to a beneficial extent 
 in the reduction of the public debt and the establishment of the 
 public credit. The floating debt of treasury notes and temporary 
 loans will soon be entirely discharged. The aggregate of the 
 funded debt, composed of the debts incurred for the wars of 1776 
 and 1812, has been estimated, with reference to the 1st of Janu 
 ary next, at $109,283,485 35. The ordinary annual expenses of 
 the government for the maintenance of all its institutions, civil, 
 military, and naval, have been estimated at a sum less than 
 $20,000,000. And the permanent revenue to be derived from all 
 the existing sources has been estimated at a sum of about 
 $25,000,000. 
 
 Upon this general view of the subject it is obvious that there 
 is only wanting to the fiscal prosperity of the government the 
 restoration of anuniform medium of exchange. The resources 
 and the faith of the nation, displayed in the system which Con 
 gress has established, insure respect and confidence both at home 
 
482 APPENDICES. 
 
 and abroad. The local accumulations of the revenue have al 
 ready enabled the treasury to meet the public engagements in 
 the local currency of most of the States, and it is expected that 
 the same cause will soon produce the same effect throughout the 
 Union. But, for the interests of the community at large as well 
 as for the purposes of the treasury, it is essential that the na 
 tion should possess a currency of equal value, credit, and use 
 wherever it may circulate. The constitution has intrusted Con 
 gress exclusively with the power of creating and regulating a 
 currency of that description ; and the measures which were taken 
 during the last session in execution of the power, give every 
 promise of success. The Bank of the United States has been 
 organized under auspices the most favorable, and cannot fail to 
 be a valuable auxiliary to those measures ; and upon a reasonable 
 estimate of the national stock of the precious metals, there will be 
 little difficulty in complying with the legislative demand for the 
 payment of the public duties and taxes in coin at the period 
 which has been prescribed. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Addison, Judge Alexander, im 
 peachment of, 76-87. 
 
 Address to the Kepublicans of Penn 
 sylvania, 211. 
 
 Alexandria, attack on, 364. 
 
 Alien Law, the, 68. 
 
 Alleghany, riots in, in 1794, 150. 
 
 Alloghanv Mountains, scenery of, 
 39 l . 
 
 American political parties, 21. 
 
 American Revolution, 12. 
 
 An army amanuensis, 41. 
 
 Appointing power of State Execu 
 tive, 224. 
 
 Associate judges, rights and duties 
 of, 79-81. 
 
 Barker, Jacob, memorandum in his 
 
 case. 450. 
 
 Boileau, Nathaniel B., 89. 
 Bonaparte, Joseph, 445, 447. 
 Brackenridge, Judge, 231. 
 Braddock, General, 382, 385. 
 Bradford, David, 36, 38. 
 British Orders in Council of 1793, 
 
 303 
 British outrages in the War of 1812, 
 
 347-360. 
 Burning of Washington by the 
 
 British, 362. 
 Burr, Aaron, 113. 
 
 his military expedition, 118. 
 Burrall, Jonathan, 13. 
 
 Calhoun, John C., 113. 
 
 Canada, 386 
 
 Causes and Character of the War 
 
 of 1812, 299-367. 
 Circulating medium of the United 
 
 States, state of, after the war of 
 
 1812-15, 273 
 
 Clay, Henry, 474, 476, 479. 
 Columbian Magazine, 19. 
 Commerce of the United States in 
 
 1795, 207-210 
 Common Law. the, 222. 
 Conduct of the Colonies in the Old 
 
 French War, 382. 
 Constitution of Pennsylvania, 220. 
 Constitution of the United States, 
 
 its benefits, 102. 
 Constitutional Convention of 1787, 
 
 20, 105, 106. 
 Crawford, W. H., letter from Mr. 
 
 Dallas to, 478. 
 Croghan, Colonel, 422 
 Customs-receipts of the United 
 
 States from 1806 to 1811, 275. 
 
 Dallas, Alexander James, early life 
 of, 9, 10. 
 
 family of, 10. 
 
 marriage, 11. 
 
 leaves England for Jamaica, 11. 
 
 removes from Jamaica to the 
 United States, 12 
 
 his personal appearance, 12. 
 
 his services to the drama in 
 Philadelphia, 14, 15. 
 
 his versatility, 16, 17. 
 
 is admitted as attorney in the 
 supreme court, 17. 
 
 his literary labors, 19. 
 
 attaches himself to the Demo 
 cratic party, 21. 
 
 becomes Secretary of the Com 
 monwealth for Pennsylvania, 
 22. 
 
 accompanies Governor Mifflin 
 as aide-de-camp in 1794, 32. 
 
 his views of a military life, 43, 
 44. 
 
 (483) 
 
484 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dallas, A. J., his defence of the 
 measures of suppression, 47. 
 
 his opposition to Jay s treaty, 50. 
 
 aids in establishing the Demo 
 cratic Society of Pennsyl 
 vania, 55. 
 
 his argument on the trial of 
 Kobert Worrall, 59. 
 
 his argument on the trial of 
 William Blount, 63-66. 
 
 his defence of William Duane, 
 68-72 
 
 is offered the nomination for 
 the Presidency, 76. 
 
 his speech on the trial of Judge 
 Addison, 77-87. 
 
 is counsel for Judges Shippen, 
 Yeates, and Smith in their 
 impeachment, 89. 
 
 is appointed United States dis 
 trict attorney, 93. 
 
 his speech in the Olmstead case, 
 97. 
 
 his opinion as to the power of a 
 subpoena from a federal court, 
 120-124 
 
 becomes secretary of the treas 
 ury, 129. 
 
 his policy in that office, 131- 
 134. 
 
 enters the War Department, 
 136. 
 
 his annual report for 1815, 138. 
 
 national bank established upon 
 his recommendation, 139. 
 
 he resigns from the Treasury 
 Department, 140. 
 
 his death, 143. 
 
 personal characteristics, 143, 
 144. 
 
 his literary style, 144. 
 
 his effectiveness in public ad 
 dresses, 145. 
 
 Dartmoor prisoners, 437. 
 Declaration of Independence a com 
 pact of union, 103. 
 Declaration of war of 1812, 126, 338. 
 Democratic Society of Pennsyl 
 vania. 55-58. 
 
 Duane, William, indictment of, 68. 
 Duponceau, Stephen, letters to Mr. 
 Dallas from, 377-397. 
 
 Early Philadelphia lawyers, 18. 
 Extradition, case of, 26-28. 
 
 Federal court, extent of application 
 
 of subpoena from a, 120-124. 
 Florida, occupation of, by the 
 
 United States, 319, 320 
 Foreigners, privileges of, in the 
 
 United States, 72, 73. 
 Franklin s view as to the term of 
 
 naturalization of foreigners, 75. 
 
 Gallatin, Albert, letter to Mr. Dal 
 las from, 114. 
 
 Grand juries, charges to, 82. 
 
 Great Britain and the North Ame 
 rican Indians, 384-387. 
 
 Hallam, Lewis, 11, 14. 
 
 Hampton, British excesses at, in 
 
 1813, 360. 
 Havre de Grace, burning of, in 1813, 
 
 360. 
 
 Hopkinson, Francis, 19. 
 Hopkinson, Joseph, 7-2. 
 House of Representatives chooses 
 
 the President in 1800, 111. 
 
 Impeachments. Mr. Dallas s views 
 
 upon, 63-67. 
 Impressment of American citizens 
 
 by Great Britain, 306, 322 
 Indian atrocities in Michigan in 
 
 1813, 355. 
 
 Jackson, General, 419. 
 Jay s treaty, 48, 53 
 
 expression of disapproval by the 
 citizens of the United States, 
 49, 50. 
 features of, 160-207. 
 
 nothing settled by it, 163. 
 no real reciprocity, 164 
 an instrument of party, 167. 
 violates the general princi 
 ples of neutrality, 170. 
 calculated to injure the Uni 
 ted States in the friend 
 ship of other nations, 176. 
 impolitic and pernicious to 
 the domestic interests of 
 the United States, 178. 
 the British treaty and the 
 Constitution of the Uni 
 ted States at war with 
 each other, 183. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 485 
 
 Jay s treaty, memorial of the citi 
 zens of Philadelphia to the Presi 
 dent concerning, 51, 52. 
 
 Jefferson chosen President, 113. 
 his financial policy, 131. 
 
 Jefferson s library, 407. 
 
 Judicial politicians, condemnation 
 of, 82, 83. 
 
 Judiciary in America, 78. 
 
 Kidnapping, case of, 26. 
 
 Lawyers, early, of Philadelphia, 18. 
 
 Lafitte, 355. 
 
 Letters of A. J. Dallas : 
 
 as Secretary of the Treasury, 
 
 234-299. 
 
 describing the Whiskey Insur 
 rection campaign, 33-45. 
 arrival at Reading, 33. 
 Govern or Miffl in s conduct, 
 
 33. 
 
 arrival of President Wash 
 ington, 34. 
 at Carlisle, 35. 
 arrangement of the com 
 mand, 35. 
 
 a narrow escape, 36. 
 Pennsylvania troops, 37. 
 arrival at Bedford, 39. 
 sublime scenerv, 39. 
 Judge Peters, 39. 
 fever and ague, 40. 
 a soldier amanuensis, 41. 
 Washington takes leave of 
 
 the troops, 42. 
 march from Bedford to the 
 summit of the Allegha- 
 nies, 43. 
 close of the campaign, 44, 
 
 45. 
 
 to J. C. Calhoun, 288-296. 
 to President Madison, 397-482. 
 to President Washington, in 
 the name of Governor Mif- 
 flin, 149-159. 
 to K. Smith, 117. 
 to the State banks, 285. 
 to Ways and Means Committee 
 
 in 1814, 235-279. 
 Letters of Mr. Stephen Duponceau 
 
 to Mr. Dallas, 377-397. 
 Louisiana, purchase of, 316. 
 Lucas, Judge, 77. 
 
 McKean, Governor, 225. 
 Madison, President, 125. 
 
 his appreciation of Mr. Dallas s 
 
 services, 142. 
 letters of, to Mr. Dallas, 398- 
 
 482. 
 view of, as to the length of 
 
 naturalization term, 75. 
 Massacre at the river Raisin, 355. 
 Mifflin, Governor, of Pennsylvania, 
 
 23, 24. 
 Military Peace Establishment of the 
 
 United States in 1815, 367. 
 the President s acknowledg 
 ments to the army, 368. 
 organization of the army on the 
 
 peace establishment, 370. 
 selection of the officers, 371. 
 military stations, 372. 
 Ordnance, Pay, and other De 
 partments, 373. 
 Military Academy, 375. 
 Miranda, General, 118, 119 
 Monroe nominated for the Presi 
 dency, 139. 
 
 National bank, 288-296. 
 
 Mr. Dallas s advocacy of, 132- 
 
 134, 138. 
 
 outline of a plan for a, 296-299. 
 Naturalization of foreigners, 72-76, 
 
 311. 
 Madison s and Franklin s 
 
 views respecting, 75. 
 Neville, General, 150, 158. 
 New Orleans, battle of, 390, 391. 
 
 Official Letters, 235-299. 
 
 Old French War, conduct of the 
 
 colonies in, 382. 
 Oluistead, Gideon, case of, 95. 
 
 Parties, American, 21. 
 Passmore, Thomas, case of, 88. 
 Pennsylvania, early disregard of 
 
 the Constitution in, 97. 
 Pennsylvania troops in the Whiskey 
 
 Insurrection campaign, 36. 
 Peters, Judge, 39, 40. 
 Philadelphia in 1790, 23. 
 theatres, 14. 
 
486 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 President of the United States, 
 choice of, in 1800, devolved on the 
 House of Representatives, 111. 
 
 Quids, the, 92. 
 Quid Mirror, 124. 
 
 Raisin River, massacre at, 355. 
 Randolph s view as to the term of 
 
 naturalization of foreigners, 75. 
 Revolutionary societies, 55. 
 Rittenhouse, David, 55. 
 Rodney, Caesar A., 89. 
 
 Scott, General, 408. 
 
 Shippen, Edward, impeachment of, 
 88. 
 
 Snyder, Simon, nomination of, for 
 Governorship of Pennsylvania, 
 92. 
 
 State banks, letter to the, 285. 
 
 State Executive, appointing power 
 of, 224. 
 
 State sovereignty, Mr. Dallas s 
 views of, 100-107. 
 
 Subpoena of a federal court, its ap 
 plication, 120-124. 
 
 Taylor, Zachary, 412, 423. 
 Tertium Quids, 92 
 Theatres in Philadelphia, 14. 
 Treasury of the United States, state 
 of, at the close of the year 
 
 1814, 262. 
 
 ways and means of, for the year 
 
 1815, 206. 
 
 Treasury notes, proposed issue of, 
 
 268, 269. 
 
 additional suggestions concern 
 ing, 278. 
 letter to the State banks con 
 cerning, 285. 
 Treaty-making power, 200-204. 
 
 War of 1812, exposition of the 
 
 causes and character of, 299. 
 
 British government demanded 
 
 humiliating concessions, 300. 
 
 honorable course of the United 
 
 States, 301. 
 
 "War of 1812 (continued} : 
 
 Great Britain incited the sav 
 ages to hostility, 302. 
 
 order of Cabinet of 8th June, 
 
 1793, 303. 
 of 6th November, 1793, 304. 
 
 treaty between the United 
 States and Great Britain in 
 1795, 304. 
 
 commerce of the United States 
 interfered with, 305. 
 
 impressment of American citi 
 zens protested against, 306. 
 
 right of search, 309 
 
 naturalized citizens to be pro 
 tected, 311 
 
 overtures of the United States 
 government on the subject of 
 impressment, 313. 
 
 forbearance of the American 
 government, 315. 
 
 convention signed with France, 
 315. 
 
 treaty with Spain in 1795, 315. 
 
 Louisiana purchased, 316. 
 
 British view of this purchase, 
 316, 317. 
 
 occupation of Florida, 319, 320. 
 
 British troops driven from Pen- 
 sacola, 320. 
 
 aggressions by France and Great 
 Britain upon American com 
 merce in 1813, 321. 
 
 impressment and blockades, 
 322. 
 
 treaty proposed in 1806, 323. 
 
 not ratified, 324. 
 
 Berlin decree, action of the Bri 
 tish government regarding, 
 325. 
 
 hostile acts of the British gov 
 ernment in 1807, 326. 
 
 "paper blockade" of the French 
 coast in May, 1806, 328. 
 
 French decree of Milan, 331. 
 
 embargo of 1807, 333. 
 
 France repeals her Orders in 
 Council, 335. 
 
 Great Britain refuses to follow 
 her example, 337. 
 
 war declared by Congress, 338. 
 
 the United States not the ag 
 gressor, 338. 
 
 the war not one of conquest on 
 the part of the United States, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 487 
 
 War of 1812 (continued] : 
 
 conduct of the American gov 
 ernment towards France, 
 340. 
 
 negotiations for peace, 345. 
 conduct of Great Britain 
 throughout the war, 345-367. 
 "Washington, burning of, by the 
 British, in 1814, 362, 363. 
 
 "Washington, Judge Bushrod, deci 
 sion in Olmstead s case, 109. 
 Waterloo, battle of, 436. 
 Whiskey Insurrection, 29-46. 
 
 official letters of Mr. Dallas 
 
 concerning, 149-159. 
 President Washington s pro 
 clamation in regard to, 32. 
 Worrall, Robert, Mr. JDallas s argu 
 ment on trial of, 59. 
 
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