.
GREAT EVENTS
IN
THE HISTORY
OF
NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA;
FROM THE ALLEGED
DISCOVERY OF THE CONTINENT,
BY THE NORTHMEN, IN THE TENTH CENTURY,
TO
THE PRESENT TIME;
WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT MEN CONNECTED WITH AMERICAN HISTORY.
BY CHARLES A. GOODRICH,
AUTHOR OF "UNITED STATES' HISTORY," "LIVES OF THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE," &c., &c.
ILLUSTRATED WITH UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS,
CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS, BY EMINENT ARTISTS.
HARTFORD:
PUBLISHED BY HOUSE & BROWN
1851.
ENTERED, ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1849, BY
CHARLES A. GOODRICH,
IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF CONNECTICUT.
FOUNDRY OFS. ANDRUS AND SON,HARTFORD. |
PRESS OFWALTER S. WILLIAMS,HARTFORD. |
PREFACE.
The plan of the following work, whatever may be thought of its execution, will commend itself, it is believed, to the taste and judgment of the public. It proceeds upon the principle of selection, being chiefly confined to the Great Events of American History, and which are treated of as distinct subjects. In these respects, the work differs from other historical works on the same subject.
The advantages of a work thus constructed, are too obvious to need specification. Yet, it may be remarked, that great events in history are like great objects in nature and art. It is the bolder features of a country—the more costly and imposing edifices of the city—the higher and more elaborate achievements of art—upon which we delight to dwell. In like manner, great events attract our attention and interest our minds, because of their relations—because of the higher qualities of mind which, perhaps, gave them birth, and the striking and lasting changes which grow out of them. They serve as landmarks in our drift down the stream of time. We date from them. We refer to them. We measure between them. We compare them one with another—their causes, progress, influences; and, in so doing, our knowledge of men and things is advanced—our false opinions are corrected—our topics for interesting and profitable speculation and reflection greatly multiplied. A thorough perusal of a work thus constructed will secure, it is believed, a more competent and permanent knowledge of the history of a country, than some half-dozen readings of that history, written on the ordinary plan.
The principle of selection will render the work the more valuable to certain classes of persons—to those who, desirous of a competent knowledge of the history of their country, have but a limited time to devote to the study of it; to the young, whose minds are apt to become wearied and perplexed with the number and details of minor events; and to those who wish to refresh their recollections, without the labor and loss of time incident to the perusal of works constructed on the common plan. Each of these classes will find their interests consulted in the work before them, while the general reader may profitably proceed from the perusal of such a volume to those which describe events and details more minutely.
In regard to what constitute the 'Great Events of American History,' there may be some diversity of opinion. As to his selection, the author has not the vanity to suppose that it is the best that could be made. The journey has been a long one; and surely, it were not strange, if some events had been magnified into an undue importance; while those of perhaps even higher consideration were neglected, either for want of a better judgment, or for want of more serious reflection.
In the progress of the work, the author has endeavored to do justice to the original settlers of the United States, and their immediate descendants, by bringing into view their constant sense of their dependence upon God. It will be seen that our forefathers were men who feared God—who sought his blessing in all their great enterprises; and when success crowned those enterprises, that they were ready to acknowledge His good hand which had been with them. In seasons of darkness, they fasted and prayed: in seasons of prosperity, they rejoiced and gave thanks.
In these respects, our ancestors did, indeed, only their duty; but, it may well be urged upon the rising generation, which will soon take the management of the affairs of this already-mighty nation—and which is growing in population, wealth, and importance, every year—to imitate an example so just! so beautiful! so impressive!
The author has briefly to add, that the work was begun some years since; but, until now, he has found no opportunity to complete it; nor should he, even at this date, have had that pleasure, but for the important aid of a highly valued literary friend, long favorably known to the public, Rev. Royal Robbins, of Berlin, Ct., to whom, in this place, he is happy to make his acknowledgments for valuable portions of the volume.
CONTENTS.
NORTH AMERICA.—UNITED STATES.
| page | |
| INTRODUCTION, | 13 |
| I.—EARLY DISCOVERIES. | |
| I. Northmen.—Claims for the Northmen; Voyages of Biarne, Leif, Thorwald, Thorfinn, Helge, and Finnboge, | 19 |
| II. Columbus.—Birth and Education of Columbus; Unsuccessful application to several European Courts; Patronized by Isabella; Sails from Palos; Early Discontent of his Crew; Expedients by which they are quieted; Discovery of Land; First appearance of the Natives; Cuba and Hispaniola discovered; Columbus sets sail on his Return; Incidents of the Voyage; Marks of consideration bestowed upon him; Second Voyage; Further Discoveries; Complaints against him; Third Voyage; Discovery of the Continent; Persecuted by Enemies; Sent home in Chains; Kindness of Isabella; Fourth Voyage; Return and Death, | 26 |
| III. Sebastian Cabot.—Discovery of the North American Continent by Sebastian Cabot, | 45 |
| II.—EARLY SETTLEMENTS. | |
| I. VIRGINIA, OR SOUTHERN COLONY. | |
| Unsuccessful Attempts to settle America; Expeditions of Sir Humphrey Gilbert; Sir Walter Raleigh; Sir Richard Grenville; Sir John White; First Permanent Settlement at Jamestown; Colonists early in Want; Dissensions in their Councils; Hostility of the Indians; Capture of Captain Smith; Generous Conduct of Pocahontas; Gloomy Condition of the Colony; Timely arrival of Assistance; Returning Prosperity; Establishment of a Provisional Government; Introduction of Negro Slavery; Cruel Massacre of the Colonists, | 48 |
| II. NEW ENGLAND, OR NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS. | |
| Plymouth; Massachusetts; Connecticut; New Haven; New Hampshire; Rhode Island; Maine; Vermont—Character of the Early Settlers, | 61 |
| III. MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN SETTLEMENTS. | |
| New York; New Jersey; Delaware; Maryland; N. Carolina; S. Carolina; Georgia; Pennsylvania, | 96 |
| III.—INDIANS: THEIR TRIBES AND WARS. | |
| I. INDIAN TRIBES. | |
| General Division; Tribes in the Central and Southern parts of New England; Tribes in the Northern parts; East of Lake Erie and South of Lake Ontario; Southern Tribes, | 104 |
| II. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. | |
| Various Speculations on the subject; Opinions of Voltaire, of Rev. Thos. Thorowgood, Dr. Boudinot, Roger Williams, Hubbard, Thos. Morton, John Josselin, Cotton Mather, Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Swinton, | 109 |
| III. VIRGINIA INDIAN WARS. | |
| Early Troubles of the English with the Indians; Power and Cruelty of Powhatan; his apparent Friendship for the Colonists; Treacherous Conduct; Kindness of Pocahontas; Inhuman Conduct of Lord De la War; Captivity of Pocahontas; Cruel Massacre of the Whites; Opecancanough; Troubles with Totopotomoi; Anecdote of Jack-of-the-feather, | 113 |
| IV. PLYMOUTH COLONY AND THE INDIANS. | |
| Early Rencontre at Plymouth; Friendly Intercourse established by means of Samoset; Kindness of Squanto; Intercourse with Massasoit; Contemplated Massacre defeated; Caunbitant; Hobomok, | 125 |
| V. ENGLISH AND NARRAGANSETS. | |
| Territory of the Narragansets; Canonicus their Sachem; his mode of Challenging the English to War; Union proposed between the Pequods and Narragansets; how Defeated; Haughty Bearing of Miantonimoh; Accused of a Conspiracy against the English; Accusations repelled; Peace concluded between him and Massachusetts; War between Uncas and Miantonimoh; the latter captured, and delivered to the English; how disposed of; Character of Uncas; Troubles with the Narragansets under Ninigret; Expedition against him; its Issue, | 142 |
| VI. PEQUOD WAR.[Pg 6] | |
| Territory of the Pequods; their Character; Sassacus; his Hatred of the English; Cruelties practiced towards them; War declared by Connecticut; Expedition of Captain Mason; Surprise and Destruction of the Fort; Further Prosecution of the War; Consequences resulting from it, | 153 |
| VII. PHILIP'S WAR. | |
| Causes of Philip's War; Character of Philip; General Spirit of Hostility among the Indians; Outbreak at Swansey; Expedition under General Savage; Expedition under Captain Church; Perilous Situation of this latter party; Timely Arrival of Captain Hutchinson; Second Expedition of Captain Church; Critical Situation of Philip; Effects his Escape; Annoys the Back Settlements of Massachusetts; Treachery of the Nipmucks; Attack on Brookfield; Bloody Affair at Muddy Brook; Attack on Springfield; Attack on Hatfield; Outrages at Northampton; Large Force raised by Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut, against the Narragansets; Philip's Fortress at Kingston, Rhode Island; Destruction of it; Lancaster destroyed; other Towns burned; Fatal Affair at Pawtuxet river, Rhode Island; Stratagem of Cape Cod Indians; Attacks on Rehoboth, Chelmsford, Sudbury, &c.; Expedition of Connecticut troops; Conanchet captured; Long Meadow attacked; Hadley; Fortunes of Philip on the wane; Successful Expedition at Connecticut-river Falls; Attack on Hatfield; on Hadley; Remarkable Interposition of a Stranger at Hadley, supposed to be Goffe; Decline of Philip's Power; Pursued by Captain Church; Death of Philip; Disastrous Effects of the War; Philip's Warriors; Annawon; Reflections, | 161 |
| VIII. WAR OF WILLIAM III. | |
| Combination of French and Indians against the Americans; Burning of Schenectady; Cause of it; Horrors attending it; Attack upon Salmon Falls and upon Casco; Results of Expeditions fitted out by New York and New England; Reduction of Port Royal; Atrocities which marked the War; Attack on Haverhill, Massachusetts; Heroic Conduct of Mrs. Dustan; Peace, | 190 |
| IX. QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. | |
| Principal Scenes of this War in America; Attack upon Deerfield; Captivity and Sufferings of Rev. Mr. Williams; Other Disasters of the War; Peace; Death of Queen Anne; Accession of George I.; Continued Sufferings of the Colonies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire; Peace concluded with the Indians at Boston, | 200 |
| X. WAR OF GEORGE II. | |
| War between England and France, 1744; French take Casco; Effect of this Declaration of War upon the Indians; Attack upon the Great Meadows (now Putney); also, upon Ashuelot (now Keene); Expedition against Louisburg; Particulars of it; Surrender of it; Continuance of the War; Various places assaulted; Savage Barbarities following the surrender of Fort Massachusetts; Peace declared, | 208 |
| XI. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. | |
| Declaration of War between England and France; Causes of the War; Mode of conducting it; Various Expeditions planned; Nova Scotia taken from the French; General Braddock's Signal Defeat; Failure of Expeditions against Niagara and Fort Frontenac; Expedition against Crown Point; Battle of Lake George; Campaign of 1756; Inefficiency of Lord Loudon; Loss of Fort Oswego; Indian Atrocities in Pennsylvania; Campaign of 1757; Massacre at Fort William Henry; Exploits of Colonel Trye; Captain John Burke and others; Campaign of 1758; Capture of Louisburg; Unsuccessful Expedition against Ticonderoga; Capture of Fort Frontenac; Fort du Quesne taken; Campaign of 1759; Ticonderoga and Crown Point taken; Niagara captured; Siege and Capture of Quebec; Death of Wolfe and Montcalm; Final Surrender of the French Possessions in Canada to the English; Peace of Paris, | 214 |
| IV.—REVOLUTION. | |
| I. CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. | |
| Objects proposed in the Settlement of America; Forms of Government conducive to Independence; Influence of Expenses; Colonies obliged to defend themselves, and to defray the Expenses of their own Wars and those of the Mother-country; British system of Taxation commenced; Writs of Assistance; Stamp Act; Formidable Opposition to it; Non-importation Act; Arrival of British Forces; Boston Massacre; Destruction of the Gaspee; Destruction of Tea; Boston Port Bill; Arrival of General Gage; his Obnoxious Measures; Meeting of Congress; Preparations for War; Obstinacy of the King and Parliament; Crisis arrives; Determination of the Colonists, | 238 |
| II. EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION. | |
| I. Battle of Lexington.—Cause or Occasion of the Battle; British Detachment proceeds towards Concord; Reaches Lexington; First Blood shed; Hancock and Adams; Captain Wheeler and the British Officer; Stores destroyed; the British harassed by the Americans; Retreat from Concord; Effect of this affair upon the Country; Proceedings of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, | 266 |
| II. Battle of Bunker's Hill.—American Patriotism; American and British Forces; Fortification of Bunker's Hill; Attacked by British Ships; Asa Pollard, the First Martyr; Preparations of the[Pg 7] British; Warren; Prescott's Injunction to his Troops; British repulsed with terrible slaughter; Second Attack; Charlestown set on fire at the same time; Second Repulse; Putnam and Major Small; Death of Colonel Gardiner; Thrilling Incident; Third Advance of the British; Death of Major Pitcairn; Americans in want of Ammunition; Retreat; Death of Warren; Respective Losses; Results of the Battle, | 274 |
| III. Washington, Commander-in-Chief.—Effects of the Battle of Bunker's Hill; Meeting of Congress; Appointment of a Commander-in-Chief proposed; Difficulties in regard to a Selection; Claims of Individuals; Interview between John and Samuel Adams; Speech of the former; Washington Nominated; Unanimously Confirmed; Manifesto of Congress; Public Fast, | 291 |
| IV. Evacuation of Boston.—General Officers appointed; Washington repairs to Cambridge; State of the Army; Great Want of Gunpowder; Sickness in the Camp; Dorchester Heights fortified; Proposal of the British General to attack the American Intrenchments; Alters his plan, and evacuates Boston; Embarkation of the British; Washington enters the city, | 299 |
| V. Independence Declared.—Independence begun to be contemplated; Causes which increased a desire for such an event; Question of a Declaration of Independence enters the Colonial Assemblies; Introduced to Congress by Richard Henry Lee; Debated; State of Parties in respect to it; Measures adopted to secure a favorable vote; Question taken, and Declaration adopted; Signed; the Great Act of the Revolution; its Influence immediately perceptible; Character of the Signers; the Fourth of July, a time-honored and glorious day; How it should be celebrated, | 310 |
| VI. Attack on Sullivan's Island.—Invasion of Southern Colonies proposed; Expedition dispatched; Charleston its first Object; Proceedings of its Citizens; Sullivan's island Fortified; Arrival of General Lee; his Opinion of Fort Moultrie; British Fleet arrives; Preliminary Movements; Fort Moultrie attacked; Remarkable Defence; Action described; Heroic Conduct of Sergeant Jasper; Repulse of the British; Respective Losses; Liberality of Governor Rutledge; Standards presented by Mrs. Elliot; Death of Jasper, | 322 |
| VII. Military Reverses: Loss of New York.—British take possession of Staten Island; Strongly reinforced; State of the American Army; New York and Brooklyn occupied; Battle of Brooklyn; Americans repulsed; Long Island abandoned; Remarkable retreat; Gloomy State of the American Army; Washington retreats to Harlem; Movements of the British; Washington retires to White Plains; Loss of Fort Washington; American Army pursued; Retreats successively to New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton; thence to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware; British go into Winter-quarters; Capture of General Lee; Prevalent Spirit of Despondency, | 338 |
| VIII. Returning Prosperity: Battles of Trenton and Princeton.—Reliance of the Patriots upon God for Success; Public Fast recommended by Congress; Offensive Operations decided upon; Battle of Trenton; Washington victorious; Battle of Princeton; British repulsed; American Army at Morristown; British at Brunswick; Prospects brightening, | 344 |
| IX. Occupation of Philadelphia.—Position of the Armies; British remove to New York; Sail for the Chesapeake; Advance towards Philadelphia; American Army also move towards the same place; Meet at Brandywine; Battle; Americans repulsed; British enter Philadelphia; Congress retire to Lancaster; Battle of Germantown; Americans retreat; Ineffectual Attempts to force the British to evacuate Philadelphia, | 353 |
| X. Surrender of Burgoyne.—British Project for securing the command of the Hudson between New York and Albany; Intrusted to Generals Howe and Burgoyne; the latter leaves Canada with a strong Force; Invests and takes Crown Point and Ticonderoga; Affair of Skenesborough; Fort Edward abandoned; Retreat of Americans to Stillwater; Battle of Bennington; General Gates supersedes General Schuyler; Critical position of Burgoyne; he advances upon Saratoga; Battle; Battle of Stillwater; Burgoyne retreats, pursued by Gates; Capitulates; Public Rejoicings, | 360 |
| XI. Progress of the War.—State of affairs in England; Treaty with France; Movements in the British Parliament; Overtures to Congress; Rejection of them; Battle of Monmouth; Disastrous Retreat of General Lee; Fortunate Interposition of Washington; his Rebuke of Lee; Tremendous Battle; Sufferings of the Armies; Renewal of the Contest; Midnight Retreat of the British army; Subsequent Trial and Dismission of General Lee, | 378 |
| XII. Treachery of Arnold.—The Vulture in the Hudson; Midnight Adventure; Benedict Arnold; Repairs to Cambridge; Expedition to Canada; Created a Brigadier-general; Grounds of Complaint; Honorable Conduct in Connecticut; Appointed to the command at Philadelphia; Charges preferred against him; Reprimanded by Washington; Plots against his Country; Correspondence with Sir H. Clinton; Appointed to the command of West Point; Interview with Andre; Capture of Andre; Arrival of Washington; Escape of Arnold; Developments of his Traitorous Intentions; Trial and Condemnation of Andre; Subsequent Incidents in the life of Arnold, | 391 |
| XIII. Concluding Scenes of the Revolution.—Theatre of War changed to the South; Siege of Savannah; Battle of Camden; Battle of Cowpens; Retreat; Subsequent Movements; Battles of Guilford, Kohkirk's Hill, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs; Yorktown; Treaty of Peace; Cessation of Hostilities; Army disbanded; Departure of the British; Final Interview between Washington and his Officers; Resigns his Commission; Retires to Mount Vernon, | 415 |
| XIV. Naval Operations.—State of the Naval Affairs of the Colonies at the commencement of the Revolution; First Naval Engagement; Measures adopted by Congress to provide a Naval Armament; Naval Officers appointed; Vessels built; Flag adopted; Success of American Privateering; Distinguished Naval Officers; Character of Naval Commanders; Particular Engagements:—Randolph and Yarmouth; Raleigh and Druid; Sub-marine Warfare, Le Bon Homme Richard and Serapis; Trumbull and Watt; Alliance, Atalanta, and Trepassey; Congress and Savage,[Pg 8] | 450 |
| XV. Eminent Foreigners connected with the Revolution.—George III. King of England; General Burgoyne, Sir Henry Clinton, Colonel Barre, Charles Townshend, Lord Cornwallis, William Pitt, Marquis of Bute, George Grenville, Duke of Grafton, Lord North, Colonel Tarleton, Sir Peter Parker, Sir William Meadows, Sir Guy Carlton, General Gage, Marquis of Rockingham, Edmund Burke, Kosciusko, Pulaski, Baron de Kalb, Baron Steuben, Count Rochambeau, Count D'Estaing, | 488 |
| V.—FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. | |
| Original Governments of the Colonies; Union between them; Plan proposed by Dr. Franklin; First Congress; Congress of '74; Confederation; Defects of it; Convention of States proposed by Virginia; Commissioners from five States meet at Annapolis; Powers too limited to act; Recommend a General Convention of States; Delegates appointed; Convention meets at Philadelphia; Decides to form a new Constitution; Draft prepared, discussed, and adopted; Speech of Doctor Franklin; Constitution signed; Adopted by the several States; Amendments; States admitted since the adoption; Remarks on the Constitution, | 520 |
| VI.—GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT. | |
| A System of Revenue; Regulation of Departments; Amendments of the Constitution; Establishment of a Judiciary; Assumption of Debts; Removal of the Seat of Government; National Bank; Indian War; Re-election of Washington; Difficulties with France; Insurrection in Pennsylvania; Jay's Treaty; Election of Mr. Adams; Farewell Address, | 542 |
| VII.—JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT. | |
| Difficulties with France; Treaty with that Power; Death of Washington; Removal of the Seat of Government; Election of Mr. Jefferson, | 571 |
| VIII.—THOMAS JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT. | |
| Purchase of Louisiana; War with Tripoli; Murder of Hamilton; Re-election of Jefferson; Conspiracy and Trial of Burr; Attack on the Chesapeake; British Orders in Council; Milan Decree; Embargo; Election of Mr. Madison; Difficulties between France and England, | 590 |
| IX.—JAMES MADISON, PRESIDENT. | |
| Battle of Tippecanoe; Early Session of Congress; Declaration of War; Surrender of Hull; Capture of the Gurriere; Battle of Queenstown; Capture of the Frolic; of the Macedonian; of the Java; Battle of Frenchtown; Capture of the Peacock; Re-election of Mr. Madison; Capture of York; Siege of Fort Meigs; Capture of the Argus; Perry's Victory; Battle of the Thames; Creek War; Battle of Chippewa and Bridgewater; Capture of Washington City; Engagement on Lake Champlain; Battle of New Orleans; Treaty of Ghent; Close of Mr. Madison's Administration, | 611 |
| X.—JAMES MONROE, PRESIDENT. | |
| Tour of the President; Admission of Missouri; Provision for Indigent Officers, &c.; Re-election of Mr. Monroe; Seminole War; Revision of the Tariff; Visit of Lafayette; Review of Mr. Monroe's Administration; Election of Mr. Adams, | 658 |
| XI.—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, PRESIDENT. | |
| Controversy respecting the Creeks; Proposed Mission to Panama; Internal Improvements; Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence; "American System;" Election of General Jackson, | 673 |
| XII.—ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT. | |
| Condition of the Country; Georgia and the Cherokees; Public Lands; National Bank; Internal Improvements; Indian Hostilities; Discontents in South Carolina; Re-election of Andrew Jackson; Removal of the Deposites; Death of Lafayette; Deposite Act; Seminole War; Treasury Circular; Election of Mr. Van Buren; Character of Jackson's Administration, | 683 |
| XIII.—MARTIN VAN BUREN, PRESIDENT. | |
| Measures respecting Banks; Treasury Circular; Continuance of Florida War; Internal Improvements; Public Expenses; Difficulties in Maine; Border Troubles; Changes of Public Opinion; Character of the Administration; Election of William H. Harrison, | 701 |
| XIV.—WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, PRESIDENT, | 713 |
| XV.—JOHN TYLER, PRESIDENT. | |
| Extra Session of Congress; Relations with Great Britain; Settlement of the North-eastern Boundary; Difficulties in Rhode Island; Modification of the Tariff; Bunker's Hill Monument; Treaties; Annexation of Texas; Presidential Canvass; Character of Mr. Tyler's Administration, | 715 |
| XVI.—JAMES K. POLK, PRESIDENT.[Pg 9] | |
| Decease of General Jackson; Admission of Texas; Division of Oregon; Mexican War; Siege of Fort Brown; Battle of Palo Alto; Battle of Resaca de la Palma; Fall of Monterey; Battle of Buena Vista; Capture of Vera Cruz; Cerro Gordo; Progress of the Army; Occupation of Mexico; Treaty; California and its Gold; Election of General Taylor, | 725 |
| XVII.—ZACHARY TAYLOR, PRESIDENT. | 755 |
| BRITISH AMERICA, | 757 |
| I. CANADA. | |
| Discovery; Settlement; Capture of Quebec; Death of Champlain; Religious Enterprises; War made by the Iroquois; Accessions to the Colony; Progress of the Colony; Attempts of the English to Conquer Canada; Condition of Canada in 1721 and 1722; General Prosperity of the Colony; Refusal to join in the War of American Independence; Consequences of American Independence to Canada; Territorial Divisions and Constitution; Dissensions after the close of the War of 1812; Disturbances and Insurrections, | 759 |
| II. NOVA SCOTIA. | |
| Limits; Conquest by the English; Settlement; Annexation to the British Crown; Policy of England in relation to the Country; Situation of the English Settlers; English Treatment of the Acadians; State of the Province during the Wars of the United States; Results of the War of 1812, | 781 |
| III. NEW BRUNSWICK. | |
| Extent; Physical Aspect and Soil; Settlement and Progress; Signal Calamity, | 787 |
| IV. PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND. | |
| Location, Surface, and Climate; Early Settlers; Change of Possession; Plans of Colonization; Character of late Governors; Inhabitants, | 790 |
| V. NEWFOUNDLAND. | |
| Location and Importance; Discovery and Settlement; French Hostilities; Renewal of War; Change of Administration; Present Condition, | 793 |
| VI. HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY. | |
| Extent; Discovery; Settlement; Contests with France; Present State, | 797 |
| RUSSIAN AMERICA, | 800 |
| MEXICO. | |
| Discovery; Condition, anterior to the Spanish Conquest; Invasion by Cortez; Arrival of Cortez in the Mexican Capital; Abdication of Montezuma; Retreat of Cortez, and Return; Fall of the City and Empire; Fate of Cortez; Extent of New Spain; Introduction of the Catholic Religion; Native Spanish Population, under the Colonial Government; Classes of the Inhabitants; Causes of the First Mexican Revolution; Commencement of the Revolution; Continuation of the War by the Patriot Chiefs; Decline of the Revolution; Invasion by Mina; Revolution under Iturbide; Adoption of the Federal Constitution; Prosperity of the years 1825 and 1826; Election of President in 1828; Usurpation of Bustamente; Defence of the Federal Constitution; Santa Anna's Proceedings; Establishment of a Central Republic; Attempts against the Central Government; Revolution of 1841; Overthrow of Santa Anna's Government, | 802 |
| GUATEMALA. | |
| Locality; Extent; Physical Character; Discovery and Conquest; Independence of the Country, | 830 |
| SOUTH AMERICA. | |
| I. NEW GRENADA. | |
| Extent and Physical Features; Revolution of 1811; Formation of a Constitution; Liberation of Quito; Crisis of 1828; Separation of New Grenada, Venezuela, and Equator; State of the Government since the Separation, | 833 |
| II. VENEZUELA. | |
| Name, Physical Features, &c.; Discovery; State of the Country under the Spanish Dominion; Termination of the Spanish Dominion; Condition since, | 837 |
| III. EQUATOR.[Pg 10] | |
| Name, Extent, and Physical Character; Classes of the Inhabitants; Subversion of the Spanish Authority; Condition since the Spanish Rule, | 841 |
| IV. PERU. | |
| Locality, Extent, and Physical Character; Condition at the time of its Invasion by the Spaniards; Conquest by Pizarro; Condition of the Country after the Conquest; Insurrection; Revolutionary Movement; Declaration of Independence; Condition after the Expulsion of the Spaniards, | 845 |
| V. BOLIVIA. | |
| Name, Extent, and Physical Character; Overthrow of the Spanish Power; Proclamation of Independence; Choice of Rulers under the New Constitution; Present Condition, | 855 |
| VII. BUENOS AYRES. | |
| Name, &c.; Inhabitants, or Classes of People; Discovery and Settlement; First Insurrection against the Government of Spain; Progress and Changes of the New Government; Present Condition of the Government, | 863 |
| VIII. URUGUAY. | |
| Locality and Extent; Name and History; Constitution, | 868 |
| IX. BRAZIL. | |
| Situation, Extent, &c.; Discovery and Settlement; Policy of the Portuguese Government; Removal of the Portuguese Court to Brazil; Constitution and Government, | 870 |
| X. PARAGUAY. | |
| Situation, Extent, &c.; Insurrection and attempt at Revolution in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century; Establishment of Independence, and Despotic Government, | 875 |
| WEST INDIES. | |
| Situation, Extent, &c.; Inhabitants; Political Divisions, | 879 |
| I. BRITISH WEST INDIES. | |
| Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbadoes, Bahamas, St. Christopher, Bermudas, and St. Vincent, | 881 |
| II. SPANISH WEST INDIES. | |
| Cuba and Porto Rico, | 885 |
| III. FRENCH WEST INDIES. | |
| Martinique and Guadaloupe, | 887 |
| IV. DUTCH WEST INDIES. | |
| Curacoa, St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and Saba, | 888 |
| V. DANISH WEST INDIES. | |
| St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas, | 888 |
| VI. INDEPENDENT ISLAND OF HAYTI. | |
| Formerly called St. Domingo and Hispaniola, | 888 |
| APPENDIX. | |
| XVII. ZACHARY TAYLOR. (Continued from page 756.) | |
| Proceedings in Congress; Death of Mr. Calhoun; Invasion of Cuba; Convention with Great Britain; Death of Gen. Taylor, | 902 |
| XVIII. MILLARD FILLMORE, PRESIDENT. | |
| Assumes the Government; Compromise Bill; Adjournment of Congress, | 911 |
ILLUSTRATIONS.
| page | |
| Time stopping in his Course, &c. | 13 |
| Tailpiece—Discovery of Newfoundland, | 18 |
| Columbus and Cabot, | 19 |
| Northmen leaving Iceland, | 21 |
| Discovery of Labrador, | 22 |
| Incident in the Camp of the Northmen, | 24 |
| Columbus, | 26 |
| Columbus before Ferdinand and Isabella, | 30 |
| Columbus sets sail, | 32 |
| First Sight of Land, | 36 |
| Columbus and Natives of Cuba, | 38 |
| Columbus casting a Barrel into the Sea, | 39 |
| Tailpiece—Prairie Scene, | 44 |
| Tailpiece—Columbus at Hispaniola, | 47 |
| Early Settlements, | 48 |
| Early Settlers trading with the Natives, | 50 |
| Captain Smith saved from death, | 55 |
| Landing of the Pilgrims, | 66 |
| Visit of Samoset to the English, | 67 |
| Interview with Massasoit, | 68 |
| Boston founded, | 73 |
| Settlers emigrating to Connecticut, | 76 |
| Hooker addressing the Soldiers, | 79 |
| Gallup finds Oldham murdered, | 80 |
| Portsmouth founded, | 84 |
| Tailpiece—Indian Council, | 95 |
| Surrendering of New Amsterdam, | 97 |
| Charles II. signing for Penn, | 101 |
| Tailpiece—The Maple, | 103 |
| Indian Wars, | 104 |
| Tailpiece—Indian War Dance, | 108 |
| Tailpiece—Savage Barbarities, | 112 |
| Smith selling Blue Beads to Powhatan, | 115 |
| Pocahontas disclosing a Plot, | 118 |
| Opecancanough borne to a Massacre, | 121 |
| Tailpiece—Ship before the wind, | 124 |
| New England Indian Wars, | 125 |
| Governor Winslow's Visit to Massasoit, | 134 |
| Governor Bradford and the Snake-skin, | 143 |
| Captain Atherton threatens Ninigret, | 149 |
| Captain Mason attacking the Pequod Fort, | 156 |
| Tailpiece—Camanche Wigwam, | 160 |
| Philip's War, | 161 |
| Flight of Philip from Mount Hope, | 163 |
| Captain Church and his Men hemmed in, | 164 |
| Attack on Brookfield, | 166 |
| Battle of Muddy Brook, | 168 |
| Swamp Fight, | 172 |
| Indian Stratagem, | 176 |
| Fight near Sudbury, | 177 |
| Indians attacked at Connecticut-river Falls, | 180 |
| Defence of Hadley, | 182 |
| Philip's Escape, | 184 |
| Death of Philip, | 185 |
| Capture of Anawon, | 188 |
| Burning of Schenectady, | 191 |
| Mrs. Dustan saving her Children, | 196 |
| Escape of Mrs. Dustan, | 197 |
| Tailpiece—Round Tower at Rhode Island, | 199 |
| Capture of Mr. Williams, | 202 |
| Reduction of Louisburg, | 211 |
| Tailpiece—Boston Harbor discovered, | 213 |
| Braddock's Defeat, | 219 |
| Battle of Lake George, | 222 |
| Destruction of Kittaning, | 224 |
| Destruction of the village of St. Francis, | 230 |
| View of Quebec, | 231 |
| Death of Wolfe, | 235 |
| Tailpiece—Peruvian Canoe, &c. | 237 |
| The Revolution, | 238 |
| Otis in the Council-chamber, | 246 |
| Procession at Boston, | 249 |
| Attack on the Governor's House, | 250 |
| Burning of the Effigy of Governor Colden, | 251 |
| Arrival of the First Man-of-war at Boston, | 253 |
| Boston Massacre, | 255 |
| Burning of the Gaspee, | 257 |
| Destruction of Tea, | 259 |
| Patrick Henry, | 262 |
| Tailpiece—Falls of St. Anthony, | 265 |
| Events of the Revolution, | 266 |
| Battle of Lexington, | 268 |
| Captain Wheeler and the British Officer, | 269 |
| Retreat of the British from Concord, | 271 |
| Tailpiece—Source of the Passaic, | 273 |
| President Langdon at Prayer, | 276 |
| Death of Pollard, | 277 |
| General Putnam, | 278 |
| Interview between Warren and Putnam, | 279 |
| Putnam saves the life of Major Small, | 284 |
| Death of Colonel Gardiner, | 286 |
| Tailpiece—View of Boston, | 290 |
| Messengers spreading news, &c. | 291 |
| Tailpiece—Penn laying out Philadelphia, | 298 |
| Evacuation of Boston, | 299 |
| House at Cambridge occupied by Washington, | 300 |
| Fortifying Dorchester Heights, | 305 |
| Putnam reading Declaration of Independence, | 310 |
| John Hancock, | 317 |
| Sergeant Jasper re-planting the Flag, | 328 |
| Tailpiece—The Cotton-plant, | 332 |
| Battle of Trenton, | 347 |
| Tailpiece—Cortez landing at St. Juan d'Ulloa, | 352 |
| General Wayne, | 355 |
| Marquis Lafayette, | 356 |
| Tailpiece—Franklin in Council, | 359 |
| Destruction of Gallies, | 363 |
| Burgoyne's Advance, | 366 |
| Burgoyne's Retreat, | 372 |
| Tailpiece—View on the Hudson, | 377 |
| American Commissioners and Louis XVI. | 379 |
| Tailpiece—The Genius of Liberty, &c. | 390 |
| The Sloop-of-war Vulture, | 391 |
| Arnold's Expedition through the Wilderness, | 393 |
| General Lincoln, | 394 |
| [Pg 12]Death of General Wooster, | 396 |
| Arnold and the British Soldier, | 397 |
| General Arnold, | 398 |
| Major Andre, | 401 |
| Interview of Arnold and Wife, | 409 |
| Tailpiece—Capture of Major Andre, | 414 |
| Jasper on the Ramparts, | 419 |
| Death of De Kalb, | 425 |
| Charge of Colonel Washington, | 428 |
| Battle of Yorktown, | 440 |
| Washington taking leave of the Army, | 444 |
| Washington embarking at Whitehall, | 446 |
| Tailpiece—American Flag, | 449 |
| Naval Operations, | 450 |
| First Naval Engagement of the Revolution, | 452 |
| Silas Deane, | 454 |
| Randolph and Yarmouth, | 463 |
| Raleigh and Druid, | 465 |
| Jones setting fire to Ships at Whitehaven, | 470 |
| Paul Jones, | 472 |
| Le Bon Homme Richard and Serapis, | 473 |
| Sinking of the Bon Homme Richard, | 479 |
| Tailpiece—Ship on her Beam-ends, | 487 |
| Sir Henry Clinton, | 494 |
| Colonel Barre, | 495 |
| Lord Chatham, | 500 |
| Charles James Fox, | 503 |
| George Grenville, | 506 |
| Sir Guy Carlton, | 511 |
| Edmund Burke, | 513 |
| Tailpiece—Lugger near Shore, | 519 |
| Governments, | 520 |
| Franklin, | 534 |
| Tailpiece—Natural Bridge, | 541 |
| George Washington, | 542 |
| Inauguration of Washington, | 547 |
| John Adams, | 571 |
| Tailpiece—New York, from the East river, | 589 |
| Thomas Jefferson, | 590 |
| Tailpiece—Basket of Flowers, | 610 |
| James Madison, | 611 |
| Tippecanoe, | 615 |
| Constitution and Java, | 629 |
| Perry's Victory, | 638 |
| Battle of the Thames, | 639 |
| Creek Chiefs surrendering to Gen. Jackson, | 641 |
| Battle of New Orleans, | 652 |
| James Monroe, | 656 |
| Reception of Monroe, | 658 |
| Attack on Lieutenant Scott's Boats, | 663 |
| Taking the Fort at Pensacola, | 665 |
| Landing of Lafayette at New York, | 668 |
| Lafayette laying Corner-stone, &c. | 669 |
| Lafayette at Washington's Tomb, | 670 |
| John Q. Adams, | 673 |
| Removal of the Creek Indians, | 676 |
| Tailpiece—Agricultural Emblem, | 682 |
| Andrew Jackson, | 683 |
| Martin Van Buren, | 701 |
| Burning of the Caroline, | 709 |
| William Henry Harrison, | 713 |
| John Tyler, | 715 |
| James K. Polk, | 725 |
| Surprise of Captain Thornton and his Party, | 732 |
| Charge of Captain May, | 736 |
| American Army in Vera Cruz, | 744 |
| Colonel Harney at Cerro Gordo, | 746 |
| Battle of Churubusco, | 748 |
| Army crossing the National Bridge, | 751 |
| Zachary Taylor, | 755 |
| British America, | 757 |
| Tailpiece—Indians Hunting in Skins, | 758 |
| Champlain's Interview with the Algonquins, | 760 |
| Extermination of the Hurons, | 764 |
| Death of Wolfe, | 771 |
| Tailpiece—Tampico, | 780 |
| Nova Scotia, | 781 |
| Destruction of the Acadians, | 785 |
| Newfoundland, | 793 |
| Tailpiece—Vessels in the Offing, | 796 |
| Tailpiece—Icebergs, | 799 |
| Tailpiece—Winter in Lapland, | 801 |
| Mexico, | 802 |
| Marina acting as Interpreter, | 805 |
| Cortez burning his Ships, | 806 |
| Meeting of Cortez and Montezuma, | 807 |
| Montezuma on his Throne, | 808 |
| Death of Montezuma, | 809 |
| Noche Triste, | 811 |
| Texans flying to Arms, | 827 |
| Guatemala, | 830 |
| Alvarado marching on Guatemala, | 832 |
| New Grenada, | 833 |
| Venezuela, | 837 |
| Equator, | 841 |
| Tailpiece—Peruvian Peasants, | 844 |
| Peru, | 845 |
| Hualpa discovers the Mine of Potosi, | 846 |
| Manco Capac and his Wife, | 847 |
| Valverde addressing Atahualpa, | 848 |
| Pizarro in Cusco, | 850 |
| Bolivia, | 855 |
| Tailpiece—Mexican Women making Bread, | 857 |
| Chili, | 858 |
| Almagro marching against Chili, | 859 |
| Tailpiece—Araucanian Men and Women, | 862 |
| Buenos Ayres, | 863 |
| Uruguay, | 868 |
| Brazil, | 870 |
| Alvarez Cabral discovers Brazil, | 872 |
| Paraguay, | 875 |
| West Indies, | 879 |
| Millard Fillmore, | 911 |
If it be remarkable that the Western Continent should have remained unknown for so many centuries to civilized man, it is, perhaps, still more remarkable that since its discovery and settlement, it should have become the theatre of so many signal transactions, and have advanced so rapidly to its present civil, religious, and political importance. The history of every portion of it is interesting and instructive; but more especially that portion occupied by the people of the United States. A great work is in progress throughout the entire continent; but the importance of the American Republic, with which our fortunes are more immediately connected, is becoming apparent with each revolving year. While, therefore, we propose to make an historical survey of the several countries both of North and South America, we shall dwell with greater particularity upon the events which have signalized our own republican America. If not from her present population, which, though increasing by a wonderful progression, is still, in point of numbers, inferior to many other nations; yet, from her wealth, her enterprise, her commercial and political relations, she is entitled to rank among the most powerful and influential nations on the globe. The eyes of the civilized world[Pg 14] are upon her; and with wonder, if not with jealousy, do they mark her rapid and surprising advancement.
The history of such a people must be full of interest. By what means has her national elevation been maintained? But a little more than two centuries have elapsed, since the first settlers planted themselves at Jamestown, in Virginia, and the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. They were then a feeble band. Before them lay a howling wilderness. An inhospitable and intractable race rose up to oppose and harass them. The means of living were stinted and uncertain. Famine pressed upon them, and weakened them. The winters were cold and piercing. Their habitations were rude and unprotective. Disease added its sufferings and sorrows, and death hurried many of the few to an untimely grave. Yet, amidst accumulated calamity, they gathered strength and courage. Accessions from the mother-country were made to their numbers. Other and distant stations were occupied. The forest fell before them. Towns and villages rose in the wilderness, and solitary places became glad. Savage tribes—after years of terror, massacre, and bloodshed—retired, leaving the colonists to the peaceful occupancy of the land, in all its length and breadth.
But they were still a dependant people—subject to the laws, exactions, and oppressions of a proud and arbitrary foreign government. That government, jealous of their growing importance, adopted measures to check their aspirations, and to extend and perpetuate the prerogatives of the crown. But it was impossible that a people, sprung from the loins of fathers whose courage and enterprise had been matured by years of conflict, should be either crushed, or long thwarted in their plans. Oppressions served rather to strengthen them; threats prompted to resolution, and served to inspire confidence. And, at length, they arose to the assertion and maintenance of their rights. They entered the field; and for years, with all the fortunes of war apparently against them, they grappled successfully with the colossal power of the British empire—thwarted her counsels—conquered her armies—established their independence.
But a little more than seventy years has America been free from the British yoke; yet, in that brief period, her advancement has outstripped all the predictions of the most sanguine statesmen.[Pg 15] With but three millions of people, she entered the Revolutionary contest; she now numbers more than twenty millions. Instead of thirteen colonies, she embraces thirty free and independent states. Meanwhile, she has continued to gather national strength and national importance. Her wealth is rolling up, while her moral power is becoming the admiration of the world.
These attainments, too, she has made amid convulsions and revolutions, which have shaken the proudest empires, and spread desolation over some of the fairest portions of the globe. On every side are the evidences of her advancement. Genius and industry are creating and rolling forward with amazing power and rapidity the means of national wealth and aggrandizement. An enterprising, ardent, restless population are spreading over our western wilds, and our cities are now the creations almost of a day.
But by what means has this national elevation and prosperity been attained? Shall we ascribe them to the wise, sagacious, and patriotic men, who guided our councils and led our armies? Shall we offer our homage and gratitude to Washington, Franklin, Adams, Otis, Henry, Jefferson, and a multitude of others, who periled fortune, liberty, life itself, to achieve our independence, and lay the foundation of our country's glory?
Let us do them honor; and a nation's honor and gratitude will be accorded to them, so long as the recorded history of their noble achievements shall last.
But, while merited honor is paid to the sages and heroes of the Revolution, and to the Pilgrim Fathers of an earlier age, let not the hand of Providence be overlooked or disregarded.
On this point, the Puritans have left a noble example to their posterity. The supplication of the smiles and blessings of a superintending Providence preceded and accompanied all their plans and all their enterprises. "God was their king; and they regarded him as truly and literally so, as if he had dwelt in a[Pg 16] visible palace in the midst of their state. They were his devoted, resolute, humble subjects; they undertook nothing which they did not beg of him to prosper; they accomplished nothing without rendering to him the praise; they suffered nothing without carrying up their sorrows to his throne; they ate nothing which they did not implore him to bless." Nor were the actors in the Revolutionary struggle insensible to the necessity of the Divine blessing upon their counsels and efforts. Washington, as well at the head of his army as in the retirement of his closet, or amid some secluded spot in the field, looked up for the blessing of the God of battles. That also was a beautiful recognition of a superintending Providence, which Franklin made in the Convention, which, subsequent to the Revolution, framed the Constitution. "I have lived, sir, a long time," said he; "and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"
Let it be remembered by the American people—by men who fill her councils—by historians who write her history—by the young, who are coming up to the possession of the rich inheritance, that whatever human agencies were employed in the discovery, settlement, independence, and prosperity of these states, the "good hand of God has been over and around us," and has given to us this goodly land, with its religious institutions—its free government—its unwonted prosperity.
Let not the historian, who writes—especially if he writes for the young—be thought to travel out of his appropriate sphere, in an effort to imbue the rising generation with somewhat of the religious spirit of the fathers—to lead them to recognise the Divine government, in respect to nations as well as individuals—to impress upon them that sentiment of the "Father of his country," as just as impressive, viz: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."
"When the children of the Pilgrims forget that Being who was the Pilgrims guide and deliverer"—should they ever be so faulty and unfortunate—when the descendants of the Puritans cease to acknowledge, and obey, and love that Being, for whose service the[Pg 17] Puritans forsook all that men chiefly love, enduring scorn and reproach, exile and poverty, and finding at last a superabundant reward; when the sons of a religious and holy ancestry fall away from its high communion, and join themselves to the assemblies of the profane, they have forfeited the dear blessings of their inheritance; and they deserve to be cast out from this fair land, without even a wilderness for their refuge. No! let us still keep the ark of God in the midst of us; let us adopt the prayer of the wise monarch of Israel: "The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; let him not leave us nor forsake us; that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers."
Such a regard for God—his laws—his institutions, and his service, is obligatory upon the present generation, aside from those blessings which may be justly anticipated as the reward of such reverence and obedience. It is due to the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers. Never can we so worthily and appropriately honor them, as to cherish the pious sentiments which they cherished, and perpetuate the civil and religious institutions which they founded.—It is due to the generation of our Revolutionary era, which, impressed with a sense of the value of the inheritance transmitted to them, periled life and fortune that they might transmit that inheritance in all its fullness and in all its richness to their posterity. We are the children of patriot heroes, who prayed and then fought, and fought and then prayed.—It is due to ourselves, as we would secure the admiration and gratitude of the generations which are to follow us.—It is due to those generations which, by the blessing of God, are to spread over and occupy the vast territory which now constitutes the American republic.
Those generations! I see them rising and spreading abroad, as future years roll on! What shall be their character—their regard for civil and religious liberty—their peace, order, happiness, and prosperity, may depend upon the example which we set, and the principles which we inculcate. We are living and acting not only for the present, but for the future. We are making impressions for all time to come. If, then, our history for the future shall be as our history past—filled up with divine blessings, and signal providential interpositions—if the noble work begun, centuries[Pg 18] since, is to go on—if the "fullest liberty and the purest religion" are to prevail as time rolls on—if this vast continent is to be inhabited by enlightened and happy millions—we, who are now on the stage of action, must imitate the example of that pilgrim band, which first landed on Plymouth Rock.
Under the influence of such an example transmitted from generation to generation, we may hope that our beloved country will ultimately become, if she is not already,
Impressed with the importance of such sentiments himself, the author will make no apology for offering them as, in his own view, an appropriate introduction to a work chiefly designed for the benefit of the rising generation.
PART I.
UNITED STATES.
I.—EARLY DISCOVERIES.
I. Northmen. Claims for the Northmen—Voyage of Biarné—Leif—Thorwald—Thorfinn—Helge and Finnboge.
II. Columbus. Birth and Education of Columbus—Unsuccessful application to several European Courts—Patronized by Isabella—Sails from Palos—Early Discontent of his crew—Expedients by which they are quieted—Discovery of Land—First appearance of the Natives—Cuba and Hispaniola discovered—Columbus sets sail on his return—Incidents of the voyage—Marks of consideration bestowed upon him—Second Voyage—Further Discoveries—Complaints against him—Third Voyage—Discovery of the[Pg 20] Continent—Persecuted by Enemies—sent home in Chains—Kindness of Isabella—Fourth Voyage—Return and Death.
III. Sebastian Cabot. Discovery of the North American Continent by Sebastian Cabot.
I. NORTHMEN.
No event, in the history of modern ages, surpasses in interest the discovery of the American Continent. It has scarcely any parallel, indeed, in the annals of the world; whether we consider the difficulty of the undertaking or the magnitude of its consequences. Without any serious question, the honor of the discovery belongs solely to Christopher Columbus. Mankind, hitherto, have so awarded it, and posterity will doubtless confirm the judgment. As, however, a claim to a prior discovery by the Northmen has been brought forward in recent times, it becomes the impartiality of history to notice it, and to give such an account of the circumstances on which the claim is founded, as they may appear to deserve. Whether or not, at the distance of some four or five centuries, the trans-Atlantic continent had been discovered by the Scandinavian voyagers, the merits of the great Italian are far from being affected by the fact.
The prominent incidents in this alleged ante-Columbian discovery, it seems, are given on the authority of certain Icelandic manuscripts, the genuineness, and even the existence of which, have formerly been doubted by many; but which, there is now reason to suppose, are entitled to credence. The general story may be received as probable. In the details, there is often something too vague, if not too extraordinary, to entitle it to any historical importance. The adventurous spirit, and even the naval skill of the Northmen, are not a matter of doubt with any who are acquainted with the history of the times to which reference is here made. The seas and the coasts of Europe were the scenes of their exploits—their piracies, their battles, or their colonization. According to the Icelandic statements, Eric the Red, in 986, emigrated from Iceland to Greenland,[Pg 21] and formed there a settlement. Among his companions was Herjulf Bardson, who fixed his residence at a place which was called after him, Herjulfsness. Herjulf had a son, whose name was Biarné, who, with his father, was engaged in trading between Iceland and Norway. Biarné was absent on a trading voyage, when his father accompanied Eric, on the emigration of the latter to Greenland. The son returning to Iceland in a few months, and finding that Herjulf was absent, sailed in pursuit of him. In the course of the sail, having been enveloped in the fogs, he was carried to some unknown distance; but after the fogs were dispersed, land was seen. As, however, it did not answer the description given respecting Greenland, the party did not steer for it. During a sail of several days, they came in sight of land at two different times in succession; and at last, tacking about, and carried by brisk and favorable winds in a north-west direction, they reached the coast of Greenland. This tradition of Biarné's voyage, allowing it to be authentic, would seem to indicate that he[Pg 22] was carried far down on the coast of America, and passed on his return the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In consequence of this adventure, and the interest which the account of it excited, a voyage of exploration was projected, and at length put into effect. It was conducted by Leif, a son of Eric the Red, an adventurous rover, who selected a company as adventurous as himself, among whom was a German named Tyrker. It was in the year 1000 that the voyage was made. After finding a shore in a direction similar to that in which Biarné took, they landed, calling the region Helluland, which was most probably Labrador. It was an iceberg-lined shore, without grass or verdure. From this spot they put out to sea, and, steering south, they came to another coast, low like the first, but covered with thick wood, except the portion immediately skirting the sea, which consisted of white sand. It was probably Nova Scotia, named by them, however, Markland, or Woodland. They pursued their voyage for two days, under the favor of a north-east wind, when they discovered land for the third time. Here they disembarked on a part of the coast, which[Pg 23] was sheltered by an island. The face of the country was found to be undulating, covered with wood, and bearing a growth of fine fruits and berries. Taking to their vessel again, they proceeded west in search of a harbor, which they were so fortunate as to find. It was at the mouth of a river proceeding from a lake. They first made the river and then the lake; in the latter they cast anchor. In this spot they erected huts in which to pass the winter. When thus established, Leif made a division of his company into two parties, for the purpose, on the one hand, of watching the settlement, and, on the other, of exploring the country.
In performing the latter service it happened, on one occasion, that the German Tyrker, above named, failed to return at night. After much anxiety and search, he was discovered, having found during his wanderings a region which afforded an abundance of grapes. The country, from this incident, was named Vinland or Wineland. From the mention which they made of the rising and the setting of the sun, at the shortest day, it has been inferred that the island was Nantucket, and the region called Vinland embraced the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They returned to Greenland the following season.
Thorwald, a brother of Leif, next undertook to make a voyage, to the newly discovered land beyond the ocean. This was in 1002. We need not mention the particulars, but may state generally that the adventurers continued in Vinland till the year 1004, and that the expedition terminated unfortunately in the death of Thorwald. He was killed in a skirmish with certain Esquimaux, with whom the party came in contact in three several boats. Before breathing his last, he gave directions as to the spot where they should inter him. The rest returned to Greenland.
Following this adventure, the third son of Eric, named Thornstein, embarked with his wife Gudrida, in search of the body of Thorwald. But he never reached the country. He was eventually driven back to Greenland, where he died.
The next expedition seems to have been a project to colonize the country. The vessels were three in number, on board of which one hundred and forty men embarked, who took with them all kinds of live stock. The leaders on this occasion were Thorfinn, who married the widow of Thornstein, Biarné Grimolfson, and Thorhall Gamlason. The enterprise appears to have been attended with a measure of success. They erected their tents, and fortified them in the best manner they were able, as a protection against the natives. An incident of some interest is mentioned as having occurred in their trade with the latter. These were eager for arms, but as they were not suffered to become an article of barter, one of the natives seized an axe, and, in order to test its efficacy, struck a companion with it, who was killed on the spot. The affair shocked them exceedingly; but in the midst of the confusion, the axe having been seized by one who appeared to be a chief, was critically inspected for a while, and then violently cast into the sea.
The period of their continuance in Vinland was three[Pg 25] years. They found it a beautiful country, while residing in it. Thorfinn had a son born to him, whom he named Snorre, the first child of European descent born on this continent, the ancestor of many distinguished personages now living. Among them is the noted sculptor Thorwaldsen. Thorfinn and a part of his company returned at length to Iceland. The remainder still continued in Vinland, where they were afterwards joined by an expedition led by two brothers, Helge and Finnboge, from Greenland. But this latter enterprise ended tragically, a large number of the colonists having been killed in a quarrel, which a wicked female adventurer in the expedition had excited. A few other voyages to Vinland, either accidental or designed, were made by the Northmen during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, some of them connected with attempts to propagate Christianity among the natives, but no interesting results are spoken of, and the whole project of colonizing the new region seems to have been not only abandoned, but to have passed from the minds of men. On the supposition that the records are true, which in general may be admitted, the colony could not have had a long continuance, and it is certain that no remains of it have ever appeared, unless some questionable accounts of the Jesuists, or the more questionable inscriptions on Dighton-rock. It was not until the era of Columbus that the world was awakened to the enterprise, or even to the thought of discovering land beyond the Western ocean. Whether he knew or did not know, respecting the adventures of the Scandinavians in those northern seas, it is hardly to be supposed that he could have the remotest conception that the country they called Vinland was the same as the Indies, which he proposed to reach by sailing due west. The honor, first of his theory, and then of his achievement, is therefore, in no degree diminished, by the facts above narrated, so far as they may be believed to be facts. He after all stands prëeminent among men, as the discoverer of the new world. It was certainly, at that period, new to European knowledge and adventure.
II. COLUMBUS.
It is not ascertained in what year the birth of this illustrious individual occurred. Some authorities have placed it in 1446, others have removed it back eight or ten years farther. As he died in 1506, and was said by Bernaldez, one of his cotemporaries and intimates, to have departed "in a good old age of seventy, a little more or less,"[1] it would seem, abating the vagueness of the expression, that about 1436 was the period. The place of his birth also has been a subject of controversy, but the evidence is decidedly in favor of Genoa. His parentage was humble, though probably of honorable descent. It is generally believed that his father exercised the craft of a wool-carder or weaver. Christopher was the eldest of four children, having two brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, and one sister, who was obscurely connected in life. In his early youth he was instructed at Pavia, a place then celebrated for education,[Pg 27] and is said there to have acquired that taste for mathematical studies in which he afterwards excelled. Of geographical science he was particularly enamored, as it became also to be the favorite study of an adventurous age. It doubtless gave a direction, in some measure, to the course which Columbus pursued in life. At the early age of fourteen years, he began to follow the seas, and after continuing this profession for more than sixteen years, he proceeded to Portugal, the country of maritime enterprise at that era. Hither the adventurous spirits of Europe repaired, where they sought their fortunes in this department of business. Columbus mingled in the exciting scenes of the country and the times. Sailing from thence, he continued to make voyages to the various then known parts of the world, and while on shore, he occupied his time in the construction and sale of maps and charts. Thus furnished with all the nautical science of the times, and with a large fund of experience, he was prepared to enter upon those speculations, respecting the possibility of lands lying beyond the western waters, the result of which, when put into practice, proved to be so auspicious to the interests of mankind. What will not a single thought, when pursued as it may be, sometimes effect! In our hero, it brought to light the existence of a new world. His single object appeared to be, to find the eastern shores of Asia, or some unknown tract, by sailing due west.
How far that idea was original with him, it is not very material to ascertain. If not the first individual to conceive it, he was the first to carry it into execution. That land existed beyond the Atlantic, was a conjecture merely of the ancients. Seneca comes the nearest to a direct intimation, though as a poetic fancy it claims no serious consideration. As the idea is given by Frenau, he says:
Ferdinand Columbus informs us, that his father's conviction of the existence of land in the west was founded on—1, natural reason, or the deductions of science; 2, authority of writers, amounting, however, to vague surmises; 3, testimony of sea-faring persons, or rather popular rumors of land, described in western voyages, embracing such relics as appeared to be wafted from over the Atlantic to Europe. What particular intimations he may have received, either from authors or sailors, do not appear; since, in his voyage to Iceland, no mention is made of his having learned the story of the Scandinavian voyages to the northern portion of America. It is possible, however, that he may have been informed of them; and the reason why no mention was made by him was, as M. Humboldt conjectures, that he had no conception that the land discovered by the Northmen had any connection with the region of which he was in pursuit. The traditions which he may have met with, and the speculations of the times, were realized in his view. So strong was the conviction which had been wrought in his mind, from whatever cause, he was willing to jeopard life and fortune to put it to the test of experiment.
With this grand object before him, he first submitted his theory of a western route to the Indies, to John the Second, king of Portugal. He met with no countenance from this quarter. His project, in its vastness, was in advance of the comprehension of the age. John was not unwilling clandestinely to avail himself of information communicated to him by Columbus, but he would enter into no stipulation to aid him in the enterprise. Leaving the court of Lisbon in disgust, in the latter part of 1484, Columbus repaired to the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. The time of the application was peculiarly unfavorable, as the nation was then in the midst of the Moorish war, and needed for its prosecution all the pecuniary resources of the state.[Pg 29] The persons of influence also in the court, were destitute of those enlarged views, which are essential to a just appreciation of the scheme that fired the great mind of Columbus. With these causes of discouragement, and the submission of his proposal on the part of the sovereigns to a council chiefly of ecclesiastics, he had little reason to expect a favorable issue. After waiting years in the most agitating suspense and doubt (for the council would come to no decision), he was preparing to abandon the suit. Pressing the court for a definite answer at that juncture, they at last gave him to understand, that his scheme was "vain, impracticable, and resting on grounds too weak to merit the support of the government." In deep despondency he quitted the court, and took his way to the south, as if in desperation, to seek other patronage in other quarters.
From the period of his application to the Spanish court, to that at which we are now arrived in his history, it would seem that he made several attempts to interest other distinguished personages in his scheme, particularly the citizens of his native Genoa; but the early authorities so disagree among themselves, that the chronology of his movements, previously to his first voyage, cannot be determined with precision. It is certain, however, that while in the act of leaving Spain, probably for the court of the French king, from whom he had received a letter of encouragement, he was purposely detained by a friend, Juan Perez, (who had formerly been a confessor of Isabella,) for the purpose of trying the effect of another application to the Spanish sovereigns. This measure, seconded by the influence of several distinguished individuals, and occurring just at the triumphant termination of the Moorish war, had well nigh proved successful at once; but Columbus was again doomed to disappointment. The single obstacle in the way now, was not the disinclination of Ferdinand and Isabella, but what were deemed the extravagant demands of Columbus himself. He would not consent to engage in the undertaking, except on the condition that he and his heirs should receive[Pg 30] the title of admiral and viceroy over all lands discovered by him, with one-tenth of the profits. This demand was the means of breaking up the negotiations, and that at the moment when he seemed to be on the point of realizing the visions which he had fondly indulged, through long years of vexation, trouble, and disappointment. That he would consent to dash those bright visions, rather than surrender one of the rewards due to his service, is, in the language of our Prescott, "the most remarkable exhibition in his whole life, of that proud, unyielding spirit which sustained him through so many years of trial, and enabled him to achieve his great enterprise, in the face of every obstacle which man and nature had opposed to it."
Columbus again having turned his back from the scene of the negotiations, had proceeded only a few leagues distant, when he was recalled by the royal message. The queen in the meanwhile had yielded to the dictates of her own noble and generous nature, having been convinced of the importance of the enterprise, by the powerful representations[Pg 31] of the friends of our hero. She said at once in answer, "I will assume the undertaking for my own crown of Castile, and will pledge my private jewels to raise the necessary funds, if the means in the treasury should be found inadequate." The money, however, was furnished by the receiver of the revenues of Arragon, and subsequently refunded at the instance of Ferdinand.[2] The conditions on which Columbus had insisted, in the event of discovery, were finally granted. He was constituted by the united sovereigns, their admiral, viceroy, and governor-general, of all such countries as he should discover in the Western ocean. He was to be entitled to one-tenth of the products and profits, within the limits of his discoveries. These, with other privileges of a like kind, not necessary to name here, were settled on him and his heirs for ever. Thus possessing the royal sanction, Columbus immediately entered upon the arrangements required to prosecute the voyage. Isabella urged it forward to the extent of her power. Delay, however, unavoidably occurred, on account of the opposition or indifference of the local magistrates and the people where the equipment was to be made. This obstacle was at length removed, by stern edicts on the part of the government and by the energy of Columbus. The fleet consisted of three vessels, one furnished by himself, through the assistance of his friends, and was to sail from the little port of Palos in Andalusia. Two of the vessels were caravels—that is, light vessels without decks—the other was of a larger burden, though not amounting even to an hundred tons. How such craft could survive the waves and storms of the Atlantic, is one of the marvelous circumstances of the undertaking. The number of men received on board amounted to one hundred and twenty. The preparations having been finished, the undaunted navigator set sail on the morning of the 3d of August, 1492, having first with his whole crew partaken of the sacrament.
He soon directed his course to the Canary islands, in consequence of the condition of one of the vessels, called the Pinta, whose rudder had been found to be unfit for service. This, after a detention of more than three weeks, was repaired, and they then, on the 6th of September, proceeded on their voyage. On the fourth day, land ceased to be in sight, and now the fearful reality of their condition pressed upon the minds of the sailors with overpowering weight. They had been pressed into the service, and from the beginning were averse to the enterprise. Columbus had reason, therefore, to expect the open manifestation of discontent, if not insubordination and mutiny. The first exhibition of their feelings, upon losing sight of land, was that of alarm and terror. Many of them shed tears, and broke out into loud lamentations—all before them seemed to be mystery, danger, and death. It was by no means easy to quell their fears, and it required all the address of the admiral to effect it. Their minds were, in a degree, soothed for that time by the promises of land and riches, which he addressed to their wants or their cupidity. Every[Pg 33] unusual incident, however, on the voyage, was calculated to awaken their gloomy and distressing apprehensions, such as the sight of a part of a mast, when they had sailed some one hundred and fifty leagues, and the variation of the needles. The former presented to their imagination the probable wreck of their own frail barks. The variation of the needle created surprise even in the mind of the admiral, but to his crew the circumstance seemed perfectly terrific. They felt as if the very laws of nature were undergoing a change, and the compass was about to lose its virtues and its power, as a guide over the waste of waters. Columbus, however, by ascribing the variation of the needle to the change of the polar-star itself, satisfied the minds of his pilots, inasmuch as they entertained a high opinion of his knowledge of astronomy. The distance at which they were every day carried from their homes, was a source of accumulating uneasiness. Every sort of superstitious fear was indulged in. One while, the prevalence of winds from the east, excited their apprehensions that a return to Spain was impracticable. At another time, the slight south-west breezes and frequent calms, causing the ocean to seem like a lake of dead water, made them feel that they were in strange regions, where nature was out of course, and all was different from that to which they had been accustomed. Here they thought they might be left to perish, on stagnant and boundless waters. Now, they seemed to themselves to be in danger of falling on concealed rocks and treacherous quicksands—then, of being inextricably entangled in vast masses of seaweed which lay in their path. Although Columbus had contrived to keep his men ignorant of the real distance they had come, yet the length of time could but tell them that they must be far, very far from country and home, and that their ever going on to the west, would at length place the east too remote from them to hope ever reaching it. They had been occasionally cheered with what were deemed indications of their proximity to land, such as the flying of birds about their fleet, the patches of weeds and herbs covering the[Pg 34] surface of the water, and a certain cloudiness in the distant horizon, such as hangs over land; but these had proved fallacious; and the higher hope was raised by such appearances, the deeper was its fall when the appearances passed away.
This state of things led to murmurs and discontent, and at one time, the crew were on the point of combining in open and desperate rebellion. The power which the great admiral possessed over the minds of men, was never more signalized, than in putting down this spirit of insubordination and mutiny. He was perfectly aware of their intentions, but preserved a serene and steady countenance. He seemed intuitively to understand in what way to address himself to the different portions of his company. Some, he soothed with gentle words. Of others, he stimulated the pride or avarice, by the offers of honors and rewards. The most refractory he openly menaced with condign punishment, should they make the slightest attempt at impeding the voyage.
After the experience of long-continued calms, the wind sprang up in a favorable direction, and they were enabled efficiently to prosecute their voyage. This was on the 25th of September, and the vessels sailing quite near to each other, a frequent interchange of conversation took place on the subject most interesting to them—their probable position as to land. In the midst of it, a shout from the Pinta was heard on board the Santa Maria, the admiral's ship, "Land, land!"—the signal pointing to the south-west. Columbus, who had found cause on other occasions to dissent from the opinions of his men, gave way, in this instance, to the joyful feelings which were at once excited in their bosoms: but it proved, at length, that what appeared to be land, was nothing more than an evening cloud of a peculiar kind. Thus were their hopes dashed, and nothing remained for them but to press onward. Fain would the crew have turned back upon their course, but the commander was sternly resolute on realizing his magnificent project, and pressed forward still deeper into mid-ocean.
It is a necessary explanation of the character of this extraordinary man, that he appeared all along to view himself under the immediate guardianship of Heaven, in this solemn enterprise. He consequently felt few or none of the misgivings which so strongly affected his associates. For several days longer they continued on, till on the 1st of October, they had advanced more than seven hundred leagues since the Canary islands were left behind. Again the murmurs of the crew were renewed, but, in this instance, became soon hushed by increasing tokens of their nearness to land. Indeed, so sanguine were they on the subject, that on the 7th of October, on board of the Nina, land was again announced. But it proved a delusion, and all except Columbus were ready to abandon hope. At the end of three days more, they saw the sun, after renewed appearances betokening their neighborhood to land, go down upon a shoreless horizon. At this time the turbulence of the crew became clamorous—they insisted upon turning homeward, and abandoning the voyage as a forlorn hope. The commander now, after trying to pacify them by kind words and large promises, and trying in vain, arose in the majesty of his undaunted heart, and gave them to understand that all murmuring would be fruitless, and that, with God's blessing, he would accomplish the purpose for which his sovereigns had sent him on a voyage of discovery. Fortunately, at this juncture, when the conduct of Columbus had become nearly desperate, the indications of neighboring land could not be mistaken. Besides fresh weed, the limb of a tree, a reed, and a small board, they picked up an artificially carved staff. Soon despondency and rebellion gave way to hope, and, throughout the day, every person on board of the little fleet was on the watch for the long-wished-for land.
The following evening was a time of intense anxiety to Columbus. He could but infer that he was near to the goal of his adventures and his hopes. But was it so indeed? That was the question, and it must now be soon decided. Would the night reveal it to him? Would its discoveries settle[Pg 36] for ever the truth of his theory, and bring to him the immortal honor which he sought, as the end of all his toil and suffering? Taking his station in a conspicuous part of his vessel, he maintained an intense and unremitting watch. A few hours only had transpired, when suddenly he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a great distance. One and another was called to examine the appearance, in order to confirm the commander in his impression, if indeed it was correct. They gave their opinion in the affirmative. Soon, however, the light disappeared, and few attached any importance to it, except Columbus. They pursued their course until two in the morning, when from the Pinta, which generally sailed ahead, the thundering signal was heard, the order being that a gun should be fired as soon as land hove in sight. It was indeed land at this time. It lay before them, now dimly seen, about two leagues distant. The joy which Columbus and his crew felt at the sight, surpasses the power of description. It is difficult, even for the imagination, to conceive the emotions of such a man, in whose temperament[Pg 37] a wonderful enthusiasm and unbounded aspiration prevailed, at the moment of so sublime a discovery. Utterance was given to his intense feelings by tears, and prayers, and thanksgivings.
It was on the morning of Friday, 12th of October, 1492, that Columbus first saw the new world. A beautiful, fragrant, verdure-crowned island lay before him, and evidently populous, for the inhabitants were seen darting, in great numbers, through the woods to the shore. That greenhouse appearance, which the regions within the tropics are known generally to assume, together with the purity and blandness of the atmosphere, struck the senses of the voyagers, as though it had been Eden itself. They could give vent to their feelings only in tears of gratitude—in prayers and praises to God, who had conducted them to such happy destinies. Having made the necessary preparations, Columbus landed with his crew on the delightful shore, in an ecstasy of joy and devotion, taking possession of the whole region in the name of his sovereigns, and calling the island San Salvador. It proved to be one of what has since been known as the Bahama islands.
The conduct and appearance of the natives were such as to show that the Spaniards had no reason to fear their hostility or treachery. Simple, harmless, naked, and unarmed, they seemed rather to be at the mercy of their visitors. Equally timid and curious, they were at first shy; but being encouraged to approach the strangers, they at length became entirely familiar with them, and received presents with expressions of the highest delight. The new comers to their shores were thought to have dropped from the skies, and the articles bestowed were received as celestial presents. All was a scene of wonder and amazement indeed to both parties.
As Columbus supposed himself to have landed on an island at the extremity of India, he gave to the natives the general appellation of Indians, by which, as a distinct race, they have ever since been known.
After having noticed the features of the new-found island sufficiently, and learned what he was able from the natives in respect to other lands or islands, and particularly in respect to the gold they might contain, he explored the archipelago around, touched at several of the groups, and finally discovered the larger and more distant islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Many interesting adventures occurred during his sojourn among these islands, in his intercourse with the natives, upon which we cannot enlarge. Suffice it to say, that he succeeded according to his wishes in conciliating the affections of the people, and in the extent of his discoveries for the first voyage, but found a less amount of gold than he expected, and was unfortunate in the shipwreck of the Santa Maria, the principal vessel. His trials, also, with several of his subordinates in office, were severe; as, on more than one occasion, they proved unfaithful to his interests and disobedient to his commands.
It was on the 4th of January, 1493, that Columbus set sail for Spain. He left a part of his men in the island of Hispaniola (Hayti, in the language of the original inhabitants),[Pg 39] to occupy a fort he had built near a harbor, which he had named La Navidad. While coasting on the eastern side of the island, he met the Pinta, which had for a time, under its disaffected captain, deserted from him. Joined by this vessel again, they proceeded homeward on their voyage; but they met with tempests, which their frail barks were little able to encounter. The Pinta, being separated from the Nina, was supposed to have been lost; but this proved to have be a mistake, as she reached Spain nearly at the same time with the other caravel. At the time of their greatest extremity, when all hope of safety had departed, Columbus, anxious that the knowledge of his discovery might be communicated to the world, wrote a brief account of his voyage; and having properly secured it in a barrel, committed the latter to the ocean, in the hope that it might afterwards be found, should he and his crew never see land again.[3] But they were[Pg 40] mercifully preserved, as the storm at length subsided, and, within a few days, they reached the island of St. Mary's, one of the Azores.
While he was at that island, where he had sought a refuge for his wearied men and his own over-tasked body and mind, he encountered a species of persecution most disgraceful to civilized society. It was the result of the mean malignity of the Portuguese, who were piqued that the honor of the discovery should not have been secured for themselves, and was manifested by the imprisonment of a portion of his crew, and other vexatious treatment. At length, regaining his men, he set sail for home; but, meeting with tempestuous weather, he was forced to take shelter in the Tagus. Here astonishment and envy seemed to be equally excited by the knowledge of his discoveries; and, could certain courtiers of the monarch have had their own way, the great adventurer[Pg 41] would have been stricken down by the hand of the assassin. So black a deed of treacherous villany had been advised. The king, however, treated him with generosity, and Columbus being dismissed with safety, soon found himself entering the harbor of Palos, just seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port.
His arrival in Spain excited the most lively feelings of astonishment, joy, and gratitude. The nation was swayed by one common sentiment of admiration of the man and his exploits. Ferdinand and Isabella, who seemed to derive so much glory from his success, most of all participated in this sentiment. He was the universal theme, and most amply was he indemnified by the honors now bestowed upon him, and the enthusiasm with which he was every where welcomed, for all the neglect and contumely he had previously suffered, as a supposed insane or fanatical projector. His progress through Spain was like the triumphal march of a conqueror. But it is impossible, within the limited compass of this narrative, to present any thing like an adequate idea of the sensation which was produced throughout the nation and Europe at large, by the events that had thus transpired, or to enumerate the hundredth part of the marks of consideration, which "the observed of all observers" received from prince and peasant—from the learned and ignorant. The government confirmed anew to him all the dignities, privileges, and emoluments for which he had before stipulated, and others were added to them. But to Columbus, the most satisfactory consideration accorded to him by his sovereigns at this time, was the request to attempt a second voyage of discovery. For this, the preparations were on a scale commensurate to the object in view.
The complement of the fleet amounted to fifteen hundred souls. Among these were many who enlisted from love of adventure or glory, including several persons of rank, hidalgos, and members of the royal household. The squadron consisted of seventeen vessels, three of which were of one[Pg 42] hundred tons burden each. With a navy of this size, so strongly contrasting with that of his former voyage, he took his departure from the Bay of Cadiz on the 25th of September, 1493. He sailed on a course somewhat south of west, instead of due west as before, and after being upon the sea one month and seven days, he came to a lofty island, to which he gave the name of Dominica, from having discovered it on Sunday. The liveliest joy was felt by the numerous company, and devout thanks were returned to God for their prosperous voyage.
Sad reverses, however, awaited the great commander during this voyage of discovery. The garrison which he had left on the island of Hispaniola had disappeared, and the natives seemed less favorably disposed towards the white man than at first—a change which probably accounts for the fate of the garrison. Columbus, indeed, added other islands to the list of those before known, planted stations here and there on the principal island above named, and showed his usual unequaled energy and skill in the conduct of the expedition. But, as he could not be every where at once, his absence from a place was the sure signal of misrule and insubordination among that class of adventurers who had never been accustomed to subjection or labor. His cautious and conciliating policy in the treatment of the natives was abandoned, where he could not be present to enforce it, and, the consequence was, that they were aroused to resentment, on account of the injuries inflicted upon them. The treatment of the female natives, on the part of the colonists, was of that scandalous character calculated to produce continual broils and collisions. Eventually, a fierce warlike spirit was excited among portions of this naturally gentle and timid people; but they proved to be unequal to the civilized man, with the superior arms and discipline of the latter, in hostile encounter, and were driven before him as the leaves of autumn before a storm. There was such a war of extermination, that, in less than four years after the Spaniards had set foot on the island of Hispaniola, one-third[Pg 43] of its population, amounting probably to several hundred thousand, was destroyed.
Complaints were made by the colonists against the administration of Columbus, so that eventually he felt the necessity of returning home to vindicate his proceedings. Ferdinand and Isabella, however, took no part with the malcontents against him. They treated him with marked distinction; but it was evident that with the novelty of his discoveries, the enthusiasm of the nation had passed away. It was generally felt to be a losing concern. The actual returns of gold and other products of the new world were so scanty, as to bear no proportion to the outlays.
A third expedition was projected, and after various hindrances, arising from the difficulty of meeting the expense, and the apathy of the public, Columbus took his departure from the port of St. Lucas, May 30, 1498. Proceeding in a still more southerly direction than before, on the 1st of August following, he succeeded in reaching terra firma. He thus entitled himself to the glory of discovering the great southern continent, for which he had before prepared the way.
It is not necessary to detail the events of this expedition, except to say, that it proved a source of untold evil and suffering to the veteran navigator. After his arrival at Hispaniola, he was involved in inextricable difficulties with the colonists, the final result of which was, that he was sent home in chains. This shocking indignity was the unauthorized act of a commissioner, named Boadilla, sent out by the government to adjust the differences that had taken place. The king and queen of Spain thus became unwittingly the cause of his disgrace. This was too much for the kind and generous feelings of the queen in particular. Columbus was soothed by the assurances of her sympathy and sorrow for his trials. "When he beheld the emotion of his royal mistress, and listened to her consolatory language, it was too much for his loyal and generous heart; and, throwing himself on his knees, he gave vent to his[Pg 44] feelings, and sobbed aloud."[4] As an indication of the continued confidence of the king and queen in his fidelity, wisdom, and nautical skill, they proposed to him a fourth voyage. To this he assented, with some reluctance at first; but, cheered by their assurances, he quitted the port of Cadiz on the 9th of March, 1502, with a small squadron of four caravels. This was his last voyage, and more disastrous than any which preceded it. Among other misfortunes, he was wrecked on the island of Jamaica, where he was permitted to linger more than a year, through the malice of Ovando, the new governor of St. Domingo. On his return, the 7th of November, 1504, after a most perilous and tedious voyage, he was destined to feel the heaviest stroke of all, in the death of his most constant and liberal supporter, the queen; and, with her death, to fail of that public justice which he had looked for as the crown of all his labors, hardships, and sacrifices. The king, always wary and distrustful, though he treated Columbus with high public consideration, seems to have regarded him "in the unwelcome light of a creditor, whose demands were never to be disavowed, and too large to be satisfied." The great discoverer lived only a year and a half after his return; and, though poorly compensated by the king in his last days, he bore his trials with patience, and died on the 5th of May, 1506, in the most Christian spirit of resignation.
III. SEBASTIAN CABOT.
Although the evidence of history establishes the claim of Columbus, as the first discoverer of the new world, including in that term the West Indian archipelago, yet there were other meritorious voyagers, who extended the knowledge of these new regions, thus laid open to mankind. Others there were, who, stimulated by his success, and following his steps, enlarged the boundaries of geographical science even beyond the actual discoveries of Columbus. Among these voyagers was the admirable Sebastian Cabot, whose merits have never been fully acknowledged as they deserved to be, having been overlooked, in a measure, through the greater admiration bestowed on his predecessor. He belonged to a family distinguished for their spirit of adventure, as his father before him was an eminent navigator, and he was associated with two brothers, apparently possessing the same love of a sea-faring life. The father of Sebastian was an Italian, but the son was born in Bristol, England, in 1477. The family was fitted out with five ships, for the purpose of discovery, by the English government, who granted a patent, under date of March 6th, 1496, to John Cabot, the father, as leader of the expedition. He was, however, rather the overseer or adviser of the concern, than the leader. The real conductor of it was Sebastian, who, through his modesty, failed to secure for himself that consideration from the world which was his due.
His object, like that of Columbus, was to find a passage to India; but not in the direction which the latter took. The idea which possessed the mind of Cabot was, that India might be reached by sailing north-west. He left Bristol in the spring of 1497, and on the 24th of June, in pursuing his course, he came unexpectedly, and to his disappointment, in sight of land, and was thus impeded as to his progress in that direction. It was the North American continent which he had approached. The land seen was the coast of Labrador,[Pg 46] as also an island that received the name of St. John's island, from the day on which it was discovered. Cabot has recorded, in all simplicity, how the affair happened. He supposed himself to be on the direct route to India, "but, after certayne dayes," said he, "I found that the land ranne towards the north, which was to mee a great displeasure." St. John's island he describes as "full of white bears, and stagges far greater than the English." From this point he steered his course towards the bay since called Hudson's bay; but, after several days' sailing, he yielded to the discontent of the crew, and returned to England.
Cabot conducted a second expedition, which sailed from Bristol in 1498. He reached Labrador again, where he left a portion of his crew, in order to commence a colony, while he proceeded on his voyage. But success did not reward his attempt, and, on his return to Labrador, he found the colonists, from the sufferings they had experienced in that cold and sterile region, clamorous for a return. He accordingly submitted to their demands, and, laying his course to the south as far as the Cape of Florida, he rëcrossed the ocean. The notes which he took of his voyage have unhappily been lost.
In 1517 he was again employed, in an expedition from England; but though he penetrated to about the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude, and entered Hudson's bay, giving names to various places in the vicinity, he was compelled to return, through the cowardice of an officer high in command, Sir Thomas Pert, and the disaffection of the crew. They had not the spirit to encounter the rigor and privations of the climate.
Notwithstanding these and his subsequent services for his country, he was suffered in the end to fall into poverty and neglect. His life was filled with adventures and changes. For several years he was employed in the service of the king of Spain, and during one of the expeditions on which he was sent from that country, he made the important discovery of the Rio de la Plata. He occasionally returned[Pg 47] to England, and at length made it his resting-place. Gloom overshadowed his latter days. His pension, at the accession of Mary, was suspended for two years, and, though restored, it was diminished the one-half. He survived to a great age, being over eighty years, dying as is supposed in London, but when no record shows. Not the slightest memorial points out the place of his sepulture.
It is quite certain that the date of Cabot's discovery of the Western continent is more than one year anterior to that of Columbus, the latter having reached the southern portion of it August 1st, 1498, while Cabot reached the northern portion June 24th, 1497. Amerigo Vespucci, who has carried away the honor of giving name to the continent, did not reach it until nearly two years after the English adventurer. But Columbus, in his first voyage, having ascertained the existence of regions beyond the Atlantic, became in effect the earliest and real discoverer. Except for his sublime theory and adventurous experiment, the age, probably, would not have furnished a Sebastian Cabot or an Amerigo Vespucci.
II.—EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
I. VIRGINIA, OR SOUTHERN COLONY.
Unsuccessful attempts to settle America—Expeditions of Sir Humphrey Gilbert—Sir Walter Raleigh—Sir Richard Grenville—Sir John White-First permanent settlement at Jamestown—Colonists early in want—Dissensions in their Councils—Hostility of the Indians—Capture of Captain Smith—Generous conduct of Pocahontas—Gloomy condition of the Colony—Timely arrival of assistance—Returning prosperity—Establishment of a Provisional government—Introduction of Negro Slavery—Cruel Massacre of the Colonists.
When the new world, as America has since been familiarly called, was opened to the enterprise and cupidity of Europeans, it became an object to effect settlements in it from time to time. Accordingly, during a period of more than one hundred years from the discovery of San Salvador by Columbus, attempts were made for this purpose, either by adventurers in search of other discoveries, or by expeditions fitted out to occupy regions already known. So far, however, as the northern portion of the continent was concerned, these attempts proved entirely without success.[Pg 49] There was no want of excitement and effort at this remarkable era, on the part of individuals. The strange story of the voyages of Columbus awakened the spirit of adventure in Europe, as it was never felt before. Vessel after vessel, and fleet after fleet, were despatched to the new-discovered continent, but the object in view was rather to find gold than a home; and even where the latter was sought, the preparations were either inadequate, or the undertaking was indifferently contrived and managed. Sebastian Cabot, who discovered Newfoundland; James Cartier, who first entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence; Ferdinand de Soto, who first ascertained the existence of the Mississippi; Sir Walter Raleigh, among the earliest adventurers to Virginia, and Bartholomew Gosnold, to whom Cape Cod was first known, and all of whom attempted settlements for a longer or shorter period, were unsuccessful, and disappointed in the end. The English were not thoroughly engaged in the business of colonizing America, until the latter part of the sixteenth century, when several successive attempts were made to settle Virginia. The first expedition was conducted by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who failed in his object, having never reached Virginia; and being shipwrecked, perished with all his crew on the return voyage to England. In 1584, the enterprise was confided to the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, who, in the spring of that year, despatched two small barks, under the command severally of Amidas and Barlow. After going much farther south than was necessary, and experiencing the sickness incident to the season, they proceeded northerly till they made a harbor, taking possession of the adjoining land, "for the queen's most excellent majestie," and in a short time afterward came to the island of Roanoke. Nothing was effected by this voyage, except a little trafficking with the natives, and the favorable account which was given of the country, upon the return of the expedition. In the third expedition, which was conducted by Sir Richard Grenville, under Sir Walter, in 1585, a company was landed on Roanoke, consisting of[Pg 50] one hundred and eight persons, who, upon the return of the ship, were left to settle the country. But being reduced to extremities for want of sustenance, and by the hostility of the Indians, they all returned to England the next year with Sir Francis Drake. In the mean while, 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh and his associates made a voyage to Virginia, taking supplies for the colony; but after spending some time in the country, and not finding the colonists, they returned to England.
In the earlier attempts at settlement, after the spirit of conquest and adventure had been somewhat satiated, the object in view, so far as the English were engaged in it, was the acquisition of tributary provinces, and the wealth which they would bring to the parent states. In this line of policy, England but followed the example of Spain and Portugal, yet with far less energy, and with no manner of success. The signal failures that were experienced turned attention, at length, to more sober and rational projects—to regular colonization and commerce. But the success, even here, was quite indifferent for several years. Mercenary views obtained the precedence. That[Pg 51] moral heroism, which submits to any extremity of toil and self-denial for the objects of religious faith, could not be summoned to the support of these merely secular adventures. So far as colonization was calculated upon as a source of wealth directly, it did not feel the influence of a self-sustaining motive. It needed, as will soon be seen, other views of colonization, to render the scheme completely successful, in regions remote from tropical riches and luxuries. What more might have been done to insure success, had the kings and princes of Europe been at leisure to prosecute the object with the means in their power, is not now to be ascertained. It is clear, from the history of the times, that they could ill afford the necessary leisure, in consequence of the multiplicity and weight of their own individual concerns. Wars, negociations, schemes of policy, and the adjustment of ecclesiastical relations, occupied the rulers of England and France, as also Germany and nearly all the continent, almost exclusively through the sixteenth century. Of that which was achieved in the way of discovery and temporary settlement, in the northern portion of the American continent, much was left to individual enterprise and resources; and the universal failure of permanent colonization was almost the unavoidable result, connected, indeed, with the mercenary motive and bad management with which it was prosecuted.
The first settlement of a permanent character, effected by the English in North America, was at Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607. To that portion of the continent, as has been just detailed, more numerous and vigorous efforts at settlement had been directed than to any other on the coast, and with what results has also appeared. No one can read the account of these early and unfortunate attempts to settle our country, without deeply lamenting the fate of those brave adventurers who were engaged in them. In the Virginia enterprise, religion and its blessings were not the direct moving influences on the minds of the adventurers; but they were a gallant and public spirited class of[Pg 52] the English people, and many of them of the better orders of society.
Their failure, however, did not check the spirit of enterprise; a settlement was determined on, and it was providentially effected. Under the sanction of a grant from King James, of the southern equal half of the territory lying between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude, an association was constituted, called the London Company, who undertook the colonization of their portion of the country. This was called the Southern Colony. The expedition consisted of three small vessels, under the command of Captain Christopher Newport, a man of great nautical experience. Neither they who were designed for the magistracy, nor the code of laws, could be known until the arrival of the fleet in Virginia, when the sealed orders, committed to the commander, might be broken. It would seem, from the early accounts, that a portion of the emigrants were but little influenced by the considerations of religion or propriety, from the disorders that occurred during the voyage; but their pious preacher, Mr. Hunt, at length, "with the water of patience and his godly exhortations (but chiefly by his true-devoted examples) quenched these flames of envy and dissension."
In searching for Roanoke, they were driven by a storm to a different part of the coast; the first land they made being a cape, which they called Cape Henry. Thus discovering and sailing up the Chesapeake bay, they came, at length, to a place suited to their purpose. Here they commenced in earnest their great work of settlement, calling the place Jamestown, in honor of King James. According to directions, the box containing the orders was opened, and the names of Bartholomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, Christopher Newport, John Radcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall, were found as constituting the council. These were to choose a president from among themselves, for a year, who, with the council, should conduct and govern the colony. Mr. Wingfield was elected[Pg 53] president, while one of the most distinguished of them, Captain John Smith, on account of suspicions entertained respecting his ambitious views, was excluded, for a time, from the council. The plan of government was, that matters of moment were to be examined by a jury, but determined by the major part of the council, in which the president had two votes.
While erecting accommodations for themselves, and during the absence of a portion of the men on discoveries in the country, they were molested by the savages, with some small loss, and were in danger of total extirpation, "had it not chanced that a crosse-barre, shot from the ships, stroke down a bough from a tree amongst them (the savages), that caused them to retire." These, it seems, on other occasions, after troubling the planters, "by the nimbleness of their heeles, escaped." What with labor by day, and watching by night—with felling trees, and planting the ground—with resisting hostile attacks, rëloading ships, and effecting governmental business—the settlers found their hands and their hearts fully, and often painfully, occupied. Several weeks were spent in this manner, and after adjusting their disputes, and receiving Smith into the council, with a handsome remuneration for the wrong he had received, they all partook of the Holy Communion, the savages at the same time desiring peace with them. On the 15th of June, 1607, Captain Newport returned to England with the intelligence of their success, leaving in Virginia one hundred emigrants.
The departure of Newport was the signal for want, and an increase of their difficulties. While the vessels were with them, provisions, at some rate, were to be had; but after they left, "there remained neither taverne, beere-house, nor place of reliefe, but the common kettell. Had we beene as free from all shine as gluttony and drunkenness, we might have been cannonized for saints—we might truly call it (the damaged grain) so much bran than corne, our drink was water, our lodgings castles in the air: with this lodging and[Pg 54] diet, our extreme toil, in bearing and planting pallisadoes, so strained and bruised us, and our continual labor, in the extremity of the heat, had so weakened us, as were cause sufficient to have made us miserable in our native country, or any other place in the world."[5] This was truly a hard lot—through the summer they lived on the products of the sea. During that time, they buried fifty of their number. At the point, however, of their greatest scarcity, they were happily supplied with fruit and provisions by the Indians.
Their difficulties were greatly increased by the perverseness or incapacity of several of their council. In this body, changes and deposals took place from time to time, until the management of every thing abroad, fell into the hands of Captain Smith. Of this extraordinary man, much might be related, were there space; but we can pursue only the course of events as they occurred in the settlement of this country. In the mean while, by his energy and example in labor, "himselfe alwayes bearing the greatest taske for his own share," he set the men effectually to work in providing for themselves comfortable lodgings. This done, the necessity of procuring a more permanent supply of provisions, and of receiving the friendship of the natives, or subjecting them to the power of the colonists, engaged him for a period in the most daring projects. In this, he passed through a wonderful vicissitude of fortune—the colony in the mean while sustaining a precarious existence, by means of the dissensions that prevailed, the hostility of the Indians, and the sickness that wasted the whites. On one occasion, while exploring the country, after he left his boat, and was proceeding in company with two Englishmen, and a savage for his guide, he was beset with two hundred savages. The Englishmen were killed; the savage he tied to his arm with his garter, using him as a buckler. Smith was soon wounded and taken prisoner; but not until he had killed three of the Indians. The fear inspired by his bravery checked their[Pg 55] advance, till he sunk to the middle in a miry spot which was in his way, as he retreated backward. Even then they dared not come near him, till, being nearly dead with cold, he threw away his arms. Upon being taken, he presented to their king a round ivory compass, which was the means of saving him from instant death. Just as they were preparing to pierce him with their arrows, the chief, lifting the compass, they all laid down their bows and arrows, at the same time releasing him from his pitiable situation.
At length he was brought to Powhatan, their emperor. It soon became evident that they were preparing to put him to death after their peculiarly fantastic and barbarous ceremonies. A long consultation was held, and the conclusion was, "two great stones were brought before Powhatan, then as many as could lay hands on him dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head; and being ready with their clubs to beate out his brains, Pocahontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head into her armes, and laid her owne upon his, to save him from death: whereat the emperor was contented he should live."
Friendship with the whites soon followed this event. Smith was taken to Jamestown by his guides, and contracts[Pg 56] were made with the Indians by means of presents, which secured a portion of their territory to the English. Every few days, Pocahontas with her attendants brought to Captain Smith provisions in such quantity as to save the lives of the colonists.
This condition of things could not always last: the support thus received could be but precarious at the best; and it happened favorably that, for a period, the spirits and courage of the small band of emigrants were sustained by the arrival of two ships from England, laden with supplies, and bringing a complement of men. They arrived indeed at different times, having been separated by stormy weather. In consequence of these arrivals, and one other before the end of the year 1608, the number of colonists amounted to nearly three hundred.
In 1609, a new charter was granted to the London company, with enlarged privileges, as well as more definite limits, and with the addition of five hundred adventurers. Sir Thomas West, Lord De la War, was now appointed governor for life; Sir Thomas Gates, his lieutenant; Sir George Somers, admiral; and other high officers were appointed for life. By the new charter, the right of absolute property was vested in the company; the crown to receive one-fifth of all ore of gold and silver found there for all manner of services. The governor, though unable himself immediately to leave England, lost no time in fitting out a fleet for Virginia. Of the nine ships constituting the expedition, eight arrived in season at Jamestown. The other, having Sir Thomas, the admiral, on board, was wrecked on the Bermudas; and it was not until they could fit up craft to convey them to Virginia, that they reached Jamestown, which was in the spring of the following year. This disaster and delay seemed to be highly providential in the end, as the colonists were rëunited with one hundred and fifty men, and a full supply of provisions, at a time when they had been reduced to the greatest extremities. Captain Smith, disabled by a severe accidental wound, had[Pg 57] returned to England. In consequence of his departure, the settlement had been thrown into great confusion. Complaints, disputes, and insubordination ensued; the savages became hostile, and often imbrued their hands in the blood of the whites; and finally, starvation followed in the train of the other calamities. Roots, herbs, acorns, walnuts, starch, the skins of horses, and even human flesh, were devoured in order to support life. In a few days more, had not relief been brought to them, the whole colony would probably have perished.
On the arrival of Sir Thomas, the affairs of the settlement seemed so desperate, that it was determined to return with the miserable remnant to England. In putting the plan into execution, and just as they were leaving the mouth of the river, the long-boat of Lord De la War was descried. As he had three ships well furnished with provisions, the colonists were persuaded to return, and renew their efforts to settle the country. This was on the 9th of June, 1610, and proved to be the crisis of the colony. It was now, in the providence of God, destined to live. Improvements began to be made—forts were erected—and the former idleness and misrule of the people in a great measure disappeared. In the spring of the succeeding year, however, the health of Lord De la War became seriously affected, and he consequently returned to England. The administration was then committed to Sir Thomas Dale for a short period. He acquitted himself well in it, though he had some difficulty with the colonists, who had not all been reduced to the requisite order and submission. The government passed into the hands of Sir Thomas Gates, upon his arrival at Jamestown, in August, 1611. He came over with a fleet of six ships, and three hundred men, bringing with him kine and other cattle, munitions of war, and a large supply of provisions.
Being thus strengthened, the English extended their domain from time to time. In the course of the present year, they built a town, which they called Henrico, in honor[Pg 58] of Prince Henry, and in the subsequent year, they seized a place called Apamatuck, on account of some injury they had received from its inhabitants. Here they built a town, which they called the New Bermudas. About this period, a Captain Argal, sailing up the Patawomeakee, secured Pocahontas by stratagem; the consequence of which was, her acquaintance with an English gentleman, named John Rolfe, and her marriage to him, together with peace between the whites and Powhatan.
The plan of providing for the colony was now changed. Instead of feeding out of the common store, and laboring jointly together, the people were allowed to hold each a lot of his own, with a sufficient time to cultivate it. This change produced the most beneficial results, as it prevented the idleness and inefficiency which are apt to attend a common-stock social establishment, and multiplied, in a ten-fold degree, the amount of their provisions. The experiment having been so propitious, the original plan of a community of labor and supply was finally abandoned. The government of the colony at this time was again in the hands of Sir Thomas Dale; the former governor, Sir Thomas Gates, having returned to England in the spring of 1614. Governor Dale continued about two years, superintending satisfactorily the affairs of the colony, and, having chosen Captain George Yeardley to be deputy-governor, he returned to England, accompanied by Pocahontas and her husband. Pocahontas became a Christian and a mother; and it may be added, that her descendants, in a subsequent age, inherited her lands in Virginia, and that some of the first families of that state trace from her their lineage.
Yeardley applied himself to the cultivation of tobacco, and was highly successful in an attack on the savages, who refused to pay their annual tribute of corn. He continued in the colony about a year, when, by an appointment made in England, the government devolved on Captain Argal, before named. Argal found Jamestown in a bad condition; the dwellings, which were slight structures, had mostly[Pg 59] disappeared, and the public works neglected or in decay, and "the colonie dispersed all about, planting Tobacco." A reformation to some extent was effected. At this period, 1617, more colonists arrived; but it would seem, from a remark in a narrative of that date, that the number of the higher classes of society exceeded their wants; "for, in Virginia, a plaine souldier, that can use a pickaxe and spade, is better than five knights, although they were knights that could break a lance; for men of great place, not inured to those encounters, when they finde things not suitable, grow many times so discontented, they forget themselves, and oft become so carelesse, that a discontented melancholy brings them to much sorrow, and to others, much miserie." When it was ascertained that great multitudes were preparing, in England, to be sent, the colonists, in a communication to the council, entreated that provisions might be forwarded as well as people, and gave the company to understand, "what they did suffer for want of skilful husbandmen and meanes to set their plough on worke, having as good land as any man can desire."
In the year 1619, the settlements of Virginia were favored with the establishment of a provincial legislature, which was constituted of delegates chosen by themselves, as they were divided into eleven corporations. The first meeting of the legislature was on the 19th of June, having been convoked by the governor-general of the colony. This was a great and desirable change from the sort of vassalage in which they had previously lived. This general assembly debated and decided all matters that were deemed essential to the welfare of the colony. A great addition was made to the number of the colonists the two following years, among whom were one hundred and fifty young women, of good character, designed as the future wives of the colonists. During the summer of 1620, a Dutch armed ship arrived at the colony, and sold them twenty negroes, at which period the system of slave holding, with its attendant crimes and evils, commenced in this country.
The year 1621 was rendered memorable by the arrival of Sir Francis Wyatt, who brought with him, from the London company, a more perfect constitution and form of government, than the colony had previously enjoyed, although the general representative character of its government had been established in 1619. The following year was rendered still more memorable by the massacre of a large number of whites, through the treachery of the Indians. The instigator and executor of this tragedy was the successor of Powhatan, named Opecancanough. He had enlisted the savages in all the vicinity in the infernal plot. The colonists, in the security of friendship and good understanding, which had existed between them and that people, were wholly off their guard, and unprepared for the blow. It was inflicted simultaneously, at a time agreed upon, and three hundred and forty-seven men, women, and children, were at once butchered, in several and separate places. It had been universal, but for the providence of God. A converted Indian, coming to the knowledge of the plot the night before its execution, disclosed it to the whites in season to save the greater number of settlements. The Indians, in their turn, now suffered the vengeance of the colonists, who felt authorized to procure the means of future security against similar acts of treachery. The emigrations had been so numerous, through the few preceding years, that the colonists, at this time, amounted to several thousands. Thus the people, with various fortune, and after incredible hardships, had placed their colony on a firm basis, having learned many useful lessons from their own errors, imprudence, or sufferings. And such was the beginning of the American republic in its southern portion, nearly two hundred and fifty years ago.
II. NEW ENGLAND, OR NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS.
Plymouth—Massachusetts—Connecticut—New Haven—New Hampshire—Rhode Island—Maine—Vermont—Character of the Early Settlers.
The settlement of New England commenced at Plymouth in 1620. This part of the continent between Penobscot and Cape Cod, had been carefully explored in 1614, by Captain Smith. He says, respecting it: "Of all the foure parts of the world I have yet seen not inhabited, could I have but means to transport a colony, I would rather live here than any where; and if it did not maintaine itselfe, were we but once indifferently well fitted, let us starve." Such was the opinion early formed of the desirableness of this region for colonization. Charles, Prince of Wales, was pleased to call it New England, on account of the favorable impression he received respecting it, from Smith's chart and description. This country was settled by a class of people very different, in many respects, from that which emigrated to the southern colony. The latter, for the most part, as has been seen, were mere adventurers, having in view the improvement of their secular interests, or the eclat of successful enterprise. The colonists of New England sought chiefly the boon of religious freedom for themselves and their descendants, and through it the advancement of the Christian church in the world—a boon of which they had been deprived in their native land. The ground of this disfranchisement, was their non-conformity to the established English church, or separation from it. Having, while members of that church, devised and sought a greater purity in its worship without success, they at length separated themselves from it, and formed a distinct worshiping community. For thus professing to follow the pure word of God, in opposition to traditions and human devices, they were in derision termed Puritans. In the progress of their religious views, and of the persecuting spirit of the government, they passed from mere puritanism, or efforts at greater purity in worship and in manners, to[Pg 62] non-conformity, and from non-conformity to dissent. From difficulties in regard to the ritual of the church, they proceeded to doctrines. The Puritans and the universities denied a portion of the Apostles' Creed, so called: "advocated the sanctity of the Sabbath and the opinions of Calvin; his institutions being read in their schools, while the Episcopal party took the opposite side, and espoused the system of Arminius." Both under Elizabeth and James, conformity was insisted on. The latter declared, "I will have one doctrine, one discipline, one religion, in substance and ceremony. I will make them conform, or I will hurry them out of the land, or else worse." And he did hurry out of the land many of those who had become obnoxious to him; while the others were more cruelly hindered from leaving the country, to suffer from contempt, poverty, or a lingering death in imprisonment. Their attempts to escape were frequently frustrated, and it was not without great vexation and loss, that portions of this persecuted people exiled themselves from their native country. Their first place of refuge was Holland, where religious toleration had been established by law. The leader of the emigrants, on this occasion, was the able and pious Mr. John Robinson, who has since been considered as the father of that portion of the Puritans who were the founders of New England. They successively left England, as many as found it in their power, in the year 1606, and the two following years. Their first place of residence was Amsterdam; but in 1609 they removed to Leyden, with a view to avoid some difficulties that were felt or foreseen in the former place. Here they were received with kindness, and continued several years in a flourishing condition, under the faithful labors of their pastor. In the mean while, notwithstanding their general prospects, there were causes in operation which rendered a change of location, in their case, extremely desirable. These were the unhealthiness of the low countries where they lived; the hard labors to which they were subjected; the dissipated manners of the Hollanders,[Pg 63] especially their lax observance of the Lord's day; the apprehension of war at the conclusion of the truce between Spain and Holland, which was then near at hand; the fear lest their young men would enter into the military and naval service; the tendency of their little community to become absorbed and lost in a foreign nation; the natural and pious desire of perpetuating a church, which they believed to be constituted after the simple and pure model of the primitive church of Christ, and a commendable zeal to propagate the Gospel in the regions of the new world.[6]
In this situation, they turned their attention towards America. Here they hoped to engage in their original occupation of agriculture, and not merely to enjoy toleration, but to form a society founded on their favorite plan of ecclesiastical order. With this object in view, they first applied to the Virginia company for a patent, who zealously espoused their cause, but who were unable to obtain from the king a toleration, under his seal, in religious liberty, though he promised to wink at their heresy, provided they should conduct themselves peaceably. The company granted them permission to make a settlement near the mouth of the Hudson river. They had previously, in the want of adequate capital of their own for the founding of a plantation, been enabled to interest several London merchants in their scheme. These agreed to advance the necessary sums, to be rëpaid out of the avails of their industry. In this way, the emigrants were enabled to purchase the Speedwell, a ship of sixty tons, and to hire in England the Mayflower, a ship of one hundred and eighty tons, for the intended expedition. The Mayflower alone came, as the smaller vessel proved to be in a leaky condition, and, after two several trials, she was dismissed, as unfit for the service. The Mayflower took her departure on the 6th of September, and, after a boisterous passage, they discovered the land of Cape Cod on the 9th of November, at the break of[Pg 64] day. The number of pilgrims, who had embarked, was one hundred and one, not all who had proposed to come; for the disasters that attended their setting out, had "winowed their number of the cowardly and the lukewarm." Their pastor, Mr. Robinson, did not leave Leyden, according to an original agreement, that only a part of their company should go to America to make provision for the rest.
The pilgrim voyagers found themselves on a bleak and inhospitable coast, and much farther to the northward than they intended to go. In agreement with their wishes, an attempt was made, by the master of the ship, to proceed to the Hudson. But either finding, or affecting to believe the passage to be dangerous, he readily seized on the fears which had been excited, probably by himself, to return to the cape, with a view to make a landing there. It afterwards appeared that he had been bribed by the Dutch, who intended to keep possession of the Hudson river, to carry the adventurers quite to the northward of their place of destination. They arrived in Cape Cod harbor on the 11th of November, "and, being brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees, and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from many perils and miseries." At this time, "it was thought meet for their more orderly carrying on their affairs, and accordingly by mutual consent they entered into a solemn combination, as a body politic, to submit to such government and governors, laws and ordinances, as should by general consent from time to time be made choice of and assented unto."[7] Forty-one persons signed this compact. It contained the essential principles of a free government, such as have since been embodied in the institutions of republican America. John Carver was immediately chosen their governor, "a man godly and well-approved among them."
Severe were the trials which awaited this small and lone[Pg 65] band of pilgrims. The necessity of selecting a more commodious place for living was obvious, and, in the efforts which were made for this purpose, several of them well nigh perished. The excursions of an adventurous band of men, on several occasions, were extremely hazardous; and, though generally at the places where they landed, no Indians were found, yet, in one instance, they came in contact with the latter, and a hostile collision took place between them. By the kind providence of God, however, they were preserved. During one of their excursions into the country, they found a quantity of corn, which they took, with the intention of remunerating the owners, which intention they were afterwards happily enabled to fulfil. This was a providential discovery, which supplied their present wants, and served as seed for a future harvest. An entire month was occupied with these explorations. At last, they found a tract where they concluded to consummate their enterprise. Having sounded the harbor in front, they ascertained it to be fit for shipping. Going on shore, they explored the adjacent land, where they saw various corn-fields and brooks. They then returned to the ship, with the agreeable intelligence that they had found a place convenient for settlement. This was on Monday, the 11th of December, answering to the 22nd day, new style, the day now celebrated in commemoration of the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth. The company had kept the Christian Sabbath, the day before, on an island in the harbor. The ship arrived at the newly-discovered port on the 16th. Several days were spent in disembarking, and it was not until the 25th that they began to build the first house. This was a structure for common use, to receive them and their goods. The undertaking, however, was preceded by united prayer for Divine guidance. The building having been completed, they began to erect "some cottages for habitation, as time would admit, and also consulted of laws and order, both for their civil and military government, as the necessity of their present condition did require. But that[Pg 66] which was sad and lamentable, in two or three months half their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, wanting houses and other comforts, being infected with the scurvy and other diseases, which their long voyage and their incommodate condition brought upon them."[8] Their reduction, by sickness, would have rendered them an easy prey to the Indians; but the providence of God had so ordered it, that but few of this fierce people existed, at that period, in the neighborhood of the settlers, and those few were kept back from inflicting any injury, by the dread which had almost supernaturally, so to speak, been inspired in their hearts. The paucity of the Indians has been accounted for, from a wasting sickness, of an extraordinary character, which had visited the region some few years before.
Some time in March of 1621, an agreeable and unexpected occurrence took place at the rendezvous of the whites. It was a visit of an Indian sagamore, named[Pg 67] Samoset, with professions of friendship for them, and satisfaction at their arrival in the country. His kind greeting to them was, "Welcome, Englishmen! Welcome, Englishmen!" He spoke in broken English, which he had learned from English fishermen on the eastern coast. This was an event of great consequence to the settlers, as they learned from him many things in respect to the region around, and the Indians that inhabited it. He came to the English settlement again, with some other natives, and advised the emigrants of the coming of the great sachem, named Massasoit. In a short time this chief made his appearance, in company with his principal associates, particularly an Indian named Squanto, who proved to be of signal service to the whites. He had learned the English language, in consequence of having been carried to England by an English adventurer. Mutual fear and distrust took place between the parties, as Massasoit came in sight on the hill which overlooked the place. After they each had taken proper precautions against surprise, through the agency of[Pg 68] Squanto they came together, and the result of the interview was a league of peace, which was kept inviolate more than fifty years.
The visit was not much prolonged. "Samoset and Squanto stayed all night with us, and the king and all his men lay all night in the wood, not above half an English mile from us, and all their wives and women with them. They said that within eight or nine days they would come and set corn on the other side of the brook, and dwell there all summer, which is hard by us. That night we kept good watch, but there was no appearance of danger."[9] The plantation at Plymouth enjoyed the benefit of Squanto's presence with them, after the departure of the others. He was a native or resident of the place, and almost the only one that was left; and being acquainted with every part of it, his information was made highly useful to the colonists. They learned from him the method of cultivating corn, and where to take their fish, and procure their commodities.[Pg 69] He continued among them until the day of his death. In the spring of 1621, Mr. Carver was confirmed as governor for the succeeding year, but his death occurred soon afterwards. Mr. William Bradford was chosen his successor, and Mr. Israel Allerton his assistant. The intercourse of the colonists with the Indians continued to be of a friendly character, the former having, during the summer, made several excursions into the country around, particularly one to Shawmut (Boston), where they had an interview with Obbatinnua, one of the parties to the submission signed a short time before at Plymouth. He renewed his submission, receiving, at the same time, a promise of defence against his enemies.
The small number of the colonists was increased before the end of the year by an accession of thirty-five persons, among whom was a very active and pious agent, Mr. Robert Cushman. He became eminently useful to the plantation. Upon the departure of the ship conveying this latter company, the colony received a threatening token from the Narraganset tribe of Indians—a circumstance which induced them to fortify their little settlement as well as they were able, and to keep a constant guard by day and by night. Happily, no attempts at that time were made to disturb their peace. This event occurred in the year 1622. In the following year, a vigorous and successful attempt, under the brave Captain Miles Standish, was made to defeat a conspiracy formed by the Massachusetts tribe, with several others, against a recent English settlement at Wessagusset (Weymouth). This settlement had been formed under Mr. Thos. Weston on his own account, and consisted of sixty men. The slaughter of several of the conspirators so terrified the Indian tribes concerned in the conspiracy, that they fled from their homes into swamps and desert places, where many of them perished. This generous service, on the part of the Plymouth colony, towards a neighboring plantation, redounded greatly to their credit, especially as the latter were merely a company[Pg 70] of adventurers, and had been guilty of injustice towards the Indians.
The present year proved to be a year of suffering, in consequence of the scarcity of food. The following affecting account is given by Bradford: "But by the time our corn is planted, our victuals are spent, not knowing at night where to have a bit in the morning; we have neither bread nor corn for three or four months together, yet bear our wants with cheerfulness, and rest on Providence. Having but one boat left, we divide the men into several companies, six or seven in each, who take their turns to go out with a net, and fish, and return not till they get some, though they be five or six days out; knowing there is nothing at home, and to return empty would be a great discouragement. When they stay long, or get but little, the rest go a digging shellfish, and thus we live the summer; only sending one or two to range the woods for deer, they get now and then one, which we divide among the company; and in the winter are helped with fowl and ground-nuts."[10] It is recorded that, after a drought of six weeks, the government set apart a solemn day of humiliation and prayer, which was almost immediately followed by a copious supply of rain. In the language of the chronicles of the times, it is thus spoken of: "Though in the morning, when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear, and the drought as like to continue as it ever was, yet (our exercise continuing some eight or nine hours) before our departure, the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered together on all sides, and, in the morning, distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days, and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say, whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived, such was the bounty and goodness of our God." Soon after, in grateful acknowledgment of the blessing, a day of public thanksgiving was observed. This, by a judicious[Pg 71] historian, (Thomas Robbins, D. D.) is believed to be the origin of the annual thanksgiving of New England.
Towards the close of the summer, two ships arrived at Plymouth, bringing sixty emigrants, some of them the wives and children of such as were already in the colony. Those who came in the first three ships—the Mayflower, the Fortune, and the Ann—are distinctively called the old comers, or the forefathers. In 1624, Plymouth contained thirty-two dwellings and about one hundred and eighty inhabitants. Bradford was rëelected governor, and four assistants to him were also chosen. To each person and his family an acre of land was given in perpetuity. The first neat cattle in New England were brought over this year by Edward Winslow. The colonists had at that time no small trouble with several of the new comers, particularly with one John Lyford, a minister, and another by the name of Oldham, who were disposed to act in opposition to the laws and order of the colony. The persons above mentioned, however, soon perished, Oldham having first become apparently a penitent.
The congregation of the Puritans at Leyden was broken up on the death of their pastor, Mr. Robinson, in 1627. They desired to remove to New England, but only a part of them were enabled to come. The others settled in Amsterdam. Mr. Robinson had hoped to emigrate, but the expense of the undertaking could not well be met, and his death now preventing, only his wife and children came with the portion of the congregation that crossed the water. His place in the colony was supplied by Mr. William Brewster, a ruling elder in the church, and a man every way qualified as a spiritual guide of the people.
The foundation of the colony of Massachusetts was laid in the year 1628. It was styled the Colony of Massachusetts bay, the territory of which had been purchased by the Plymouth company—by Sir Henry Roswell, Sir John Young, and several others. The patent included all that part of New England lying between three miles to the[Pg 72] northward of Merrimack river, and three miles to the southward of Charles river, extending in length from the Atlantic ocean to the South sea. The leader of the expedition was Mr. John Endicot, whose character may be summed up by saying, that he was a fit person to found that noble commonwealth. He came with one hundred emigrants, and was appointed governor of the colony. Mr. White, an eminent minister, was one of the company. Three years previously, a small company of adventurers had emigrated to a place in the Massachusetts bay, afterwards called Mount Wollaston, after the name of their leader; but, having no religious object in view, they fell into shameful irregularities. Upon the arrival of Endicot, however, a check was put on these proceedings, and their leader, Morton, was finally sent to England. These pious non-conformists under Endicot, like the Plymouth colonists, sought a refuge from oppression in their religious concerns, and desired to build up a community on the true principles of Christianity. They located themselves at Numkeag, (Salem,) where the first permanent town in Massachusetts was constituted. In the following year, they were joined by about two hundred others from England, making in the whole three hundred; of which number one hundred removed the same year, and settled themselves, with the consent of Governor Endicot, at Mishawam, now Charlestown. At this period, on the petition of the Massachusetts company, King Charles by charter confirmed the patent of the Massachusetts colony. By this instrument, they were empowered to elect a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen assistants, out of the freemen of said company, by the greater part of the company. The first governor, under this renewed charter, was Matthew Cradock. The company being desirous of establishing their plantation in the order of the Gospel, engaged two eminent divines, Mr. Higginson and Mr. Skelton, to go out for the spiritual service of the colony. Soon after their arrival at Salem, they were placed over the church there with all due solemnity, the one as teacher, the other as pastor. These[Pg 73] excellent men, however, lived but a short period, sharing largely, as they did, in the sickness and suffering that diminished the strength and shortened the lives of a large number of their people.
Among the many persons of distinction who left England the ensuing year, on account of the stringent measures of the government in regard to affairs both of church and state, are found the names of Isaac Johnson, John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and Sir Richard Saltonstall. These gentlemen, by their persuasions, were the means of having the charter and government of the company transferred to New England. They left with fifteen hundred other persons, in a fleet of seventeen sail, Winthrop having been chosen governor under the new order of things. They arrived in safety, eleven ships at one time, and six at another; and before the conclusion of the season, commenced settlements in several places; which, at present, constitute some of the fairest towns of New England. Governor Winthrop, and a portion of the company, laid the foundation of Boston.[Pg 74] Several most highly esteemed ministers accompanied the expedition just spoken of; Mr. Wilson, Mr. Warham, and others. These were placed over the several churches that soon began to be formed in this vicinity. The first general court of Massachusetts, was held in Boston this year, on the 19th of October, at which time many of the planters attended, and were made freemen of the colony. The winters of 1630 and 1631, were very fatal to the Massachusetts colony. Frost and sickness carried off a number, and famine at length threatened the suffering survivors. They were, however, providentially relieved by the arrival of a ship from England with provisions, the day previously to a public fast, which had been appointed on account of the alarming state of things. This circumstance turned the intended fast into a general thanksgiving. The colony continued to increase by fresh accessions of emigrants till the year 1640, up to which time, it is computed that four thousand families had arrived in New England. From this small beginning have arisen the population, power, wealth, piety, and freedom of the New England states.
In the year 1633, the Plymouth colony suffered from a pestilential disease, which not only thinned their number, but, extending to the neighboring territory, swept off many of the Indians. In the same year, arrived those lights of the New England church, Mr. John Cotton, Mr. Thomas Hooker, and Mr. Samuel Stone, and that model of a magistrate, Mr. William Collier, whose services, to the Plymouth colony, were so considerable. Generally, the emigrants of this period were actuated by the same spirit of opposition to tyranny in church and state, and of love to the institutions of Christianity, which had characterized their predecessors. The men placed at the head of the new colonies were, universally, men of sterling worth of character.
The first settlers of Connecticut came from the eastern shore of Massachusetts. They were a portion of the emigrants who constituted the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts bay. The emigration from England continuing[Pg 75] to be large, and likely to increase from year to year, more room was wanted, and especially locations where the soil was rich and could be easily cultivated, became an object of desire. This consideration, and, probably, others pertaining to their tranquillity and increase as churches, had influence on the resolution to seat themselves again in the wilderness. It had happened, as early as the year 1631, that their attention was directed to the beautiful and rich tract of land, on the Connecticut river, by Wahcuimacut, a sachem living upon the river. He made a journey to Plymouth and Boston, with a view to enlist the governors of those colonies in the project of making settlements in his country. The proposition was not formally accepted, but the governor of Plymouth was sufficiently interested in it to make a voyage to the coast, in which excursion he discovered the river and the adjacent territory; thus precluding the title of the Dutch to any part of it, as they had neither "trading-house, nor any pretence to a foot of land there."[11] The subject of settling Connecticut was not lost sight of during one or two subsequent years; but, occasionally, vessels were sent from Plymouth to the river, for the purposes of trade, and, in one instance, several men, from Dorchester, traveled through the wilderness thither for the same object, as also to view the country.
In 1633, when the Plymouth colony had determined to commence the work of settlement, they commissioned William Holmes, and a chosen company with him, to proceed to Connecticut. They took with them the frame of a house, which they set up in Windsor. They achieved their object, notwithstanding the threatened opposition of the Dutch at Hartford, where the latter, after learning that the Plymouth people intended to settle on the river, had erected a slight fort. The Plymouth people, also, were successful in defending their trading-house subsequently, both against the Dutch and the Indians. The Dutch erected a trading-house at[Pg 76] Hartford the same year, the house at Windsor having preceded it, perhaps, by a few months. The actual settlement of the region, however, was deferred for a time, from the fact of divided opinions on the subject in the Massachusetts court. No vote could be obtained in favor of the project. In the mean time, individuals were determined to prosecute the enterprise, and a number of the people of Watertown came, in 1634, to Connecticut. They erected a few huts at Pyquag (Wethersfield), in which they contrived to pass the winter. In the spring of 1635, the general court of Massachusetts bay assented to the plan of emigration to Connecticut, and, accordingly, preparations were made in several places. The Watertown people gradually removed, and added to their settlement at Wethersfield. Mr. Warham, one of the ministers of Dorchester, accompanied by a great part of the church, settled at Mattaneang (Windsor). A company from Newtown began a plantation, between those two settlements, at Suchiang (Hartford). In the course of the year, a large body of settlers, sixty in number, came[Pg 77] together—men, women, and children, with their horses, cattle, and swine. It being somewhat late in the season, and their journey proving to be long and difficult, winter came upon them before they were prepared. They were but indifferently sheltered, and their food was scanty—a large portion of their furniture and provisions, having been put on board of several small vessels, never reached them. The vessels were lost, and some lives with them. A part of their domestic animals they were obliged to leave on the other side of the river. Famine and its fearful effects were now to be encountered. It was impossible for all to stay where they were. Some, attempted to return to the east through the wilderness; others, went down to the mouth of the river, in order to meet their provisions, and, being disappointed, were obliged, finally, to embark on board of a vessel for Boston. In both instances they suffered greatly, but were providentially preserved to arrive at their former home. The portion of the settlers who remained were subjected to much distress. The resources of hunting and food from the Indians being exhausted, they had recourse to acorns, malt, and grains for subsistence. Large numbers of their cattle perished. Their condition was indeed most trying and perilous, in their solitude and separation from others, at the mercy alike of the elements of nature, and the power of savage foes. But their God, in whom they trusted, carried them through in safety.
The Connecticut planters held courts of their own, though they were settled under the general government of the Massachusetts. These courts consisted of two principal men from each town, joined sometimes by committees of three additional persons, as occasion might require. The first court was held at Hartford, April 26th, 1636. At this season of the year, both those who had left Connecticut in the winter and many others proceeded to take up their residence on the river. At length, about the beginning of June, a company of an hundred men, women, and children, under Messrs. Hooker and Stone, took their departure from[Pg 78] Cambridge, and traveled to Hartford through the pathless wilderness that lay between the two places. Over mountains, through ravines, swamps, thickets, and rivers, they made their way, submitting to incredible fatigue and many privations. These trials, to a portion of the new comers, must have been peculiarly severe, as they were a class of society who, having enjoyed all the comforts and elegancies of life, knew little of hardship and danger.
The year preceding, a fort was erected at the mouth of the river, called Saybrook fort, in honor of Lords Say and Brooks, to whom, with several others, a commission had been given to begin a plantation at Connecticut. This was effected under the auspices of John Winthrop, a son of the governor of Massachusetts. Winthrop's commission interfered with the settlement commenced by the Massachusetts colonists, but the latter were left in the quiet enjoyment of their possessions. The number of persons in the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, was about eight hundred at the close of the year 1636.
The succeeding year was signalized for the critical condition of the settlement. There was a great want of provisions and of the implements of husbandry, and every article bore a high price. The year was also filled with the incidents of warfare. In the feebleness of its infancy, the little colony was called to contend with one of the most warlike tribes of Indians that ever inhabited New England. And never were heroism and fortitude displayed in a more marked degree, or animated by a loftier spirit of patriotism and piety. The particulars need not be here rehearsed. Suffice it to say, they completely triumphed over their savage foe, the Pequots, under their brave leader, Captain John Mason. They went forth to battle, under the sanction and rites of religion, to save themselves, their wives, and children, and the Church of Christ in the wilderness, from utter extinction. The holy ardor of Hooker, in his incomparable address to the soldiers, filled their minds with an unwavering confidence in God. Seventy-seven brave men[Pg 79] saved Connecticut, and destroyed the most terrible Indian nation in New England.
This necessity of warfare they would gladly have avoided, for the condition of the settlement required all their energies and efforts at home. They could neither hunt, fish, nor cultivate their fields, nor travel the shortest distance, while an insidious and cruel foe was hovering around them. They felt that he must be crippled or destroyed, or that their entire settlement would be cut off by piecemeal. The natives embraced every opportunity of committing depredations on the lives and property of the whites. A picture of the kind of life which was passed in those times of savage treachery and English daring, is given in the following detail of incidents, which occurred on the water immediately previous to the Pequot war:
"John Oldham, who had been fairly trading at Connecticut, was murdered near Block island. He had with him only two boys and two Narraganset Indians. These were taken and carried off. One John Gallop, as he was going from Connecticut to Boston, discovered Mr. Oldham's vessel[Pg 80] full of Indians, and he saw a canoe full of Indians on board, go from her laden with goods. Suspecting that they had murdered Mr. Oldham, he hailed them, but received no answer. Gallop was a bold man, and though he had with him but one man and two boys, he immediately bore down upon them, and fired duck-shot so thick among them, that he soon cleared the deck. The Indians all got under the hatches. He then stood off; and, running down upon her quarter with a brisk gale, nearly overset them, and so frighted the Indians, that six of them leaped into the sea, and were drowned. He then steered off again; and, running down upon her a second time, bored her with his anchor, and raked her fore and aft with his shot. But the Indians kept themselves so close, he got loose from her; and, running down a third time upon the vessel, he gave her such a shock, that five more leaped overboard, and perished, as the former had done. He then boarded the vessel, and took two of the Indians, and bound them. Two or three others, armed with swords, in a little room below, could not be driven from their retreat. Mr. Oldham's corse[Pg 81] was found on board, the head split and the body mangled in a barbarous manner. He was a Dorchester man, one of Mr. Warham's congregation. In these circumstances, Gallop, fearing that the Indians whom he had taken might get loose, especially if they were kept together, and having no place where he could keep them apart, threw one of them overboard. Gallop and his company then, as decently as circumstances would permit, put the corse into the sea. They stripped the vessel, and took the rigging and the goods which had not been carried off on board their own. She was taken in tow, with a view to carry her in; but the night coming on and the wind rising, Gallop was obliged to let her go adrift, and she was lost."
At the termination of the Pequot war, there was a great scarcity of provisions in Connecticut, and fearful apprehensions were felt on the part of the settlers. With all their efforts, they had not been able to raise a sufficiency of provisions, and these became at length very costly. Corn rose to the extraordinary price of twelve shillings by the bushel. The debt contracted by the war was paid with difficulty. Nothing saved the colony from a famine but a providential supply of corn, which they were enabled to purchase from the natives, at an Indian settlement called Pocomptock (Deerfield).
The first constitution of Connecticut was adopted January 15, 1639, by the free planters of the three towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, who convened at Hartford for the purpose. It was an admirably contrived instrument, providing for the freedom and liberties of themselves and their posterity. Some fifty years ago, Doctor Trumbull remarked, respecting it, that it was "one of the most free and happy institutions of civil government which has ever been formed. The formation of it at so early a period, when the light of liberty was wholly darkened in most parts of the earth, and the rights of men so little understood in others, does great honor to their ability, integrity, and love to mankind. To posterity, indeed, it[Pg 82] exhibited a most benevolent regard. It has continued with little alteration to the present time."
The New Haven colony was settled in the spirit that influenced the comers to the other parts of New England, and eminently so. The establishment of the Church of God on its true basis, and the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, was the object of the emigrants; and they proceeded to secure the fair inheritance by the wisest counsels and the most efficient action. The company who first constituted the settlement, was a rare assemblage of choice spirits. Among them were John Davenport, a distinguished minister in London, and Theophilus Eaton and Edward Hopkins, wealthy merchants of the same city, and eminent for their abilities and integrity. They with their associates arrived at Boston in the summer of 1637, and would have been gladly retained in the Massachusetts colony, had they consented. Strong inducements were held out to them to fix their residence there, but they wanted more room than they could find in the vicinity of Boston for themselves and the large number of friends whom they expected to follow them. Their principal reason, however, for migrating elsewhere, as suggested by the historian of Connecticut, was probably "the desire of being at the head of a new government, modeled, both in civil and religious matters, agreeably to their own apprehensions. It had been an observation of Mr. Davenport, that whenever a reformation had been effected in the church, in any part of the world, it had rested where it had been left by the reformers: it could not be advanced another step. He was embarked in a design of forming a civil and religious constitution, as near as possible to scripture precept and example." Their strict views, it seems, could not be fully met elsewhere.
Mr. Davenport and his company, on the 30th of March, 1638, sailed from Boston to Quinnipiac (New Haven), and arrived at the desired spot at about the middle of April. A portion of their company, with Eaton at their head, had made a journey to Connecticut during the preceding autumn,[Pg 83] to explore the lands and harbors on the sea-coast; and having fixed upon Quinnipiac as the best place for a settlement, erected a hut there, in which a few men passed the winter. The first Sabbath which Mr. Davenport spent in the wilderness, was on the 18th of April, 1638, when he preached a discourse on the Temptations of the Wilderness. In a short time, at the close of a day of fasting and prayer, they entered into what they called a plantation covenant, in which they solemnly engaged, in their civil ordinances as well as religion, they would be governed by the rules of scripture. At different times, and in separate contracts, they purchased their lands of the Indians, by the payment of such articles as were satisfactory to the latter. As the New Haven adventurers were the most opulent company which came into New England, they were disposed and able to lay the foundation of a first-rate colony—the proofs of which are visible, in part, in the elegant city which became its capital. The foundations of the civil and religious polity of the colony were laid on the 4th of June, 1639, with every due solemnity. The act was not consummated until the 25th of October of the same year, as a term of trial was required for the seven men who were to constitute the seven pillars of the church. The number of subscribers to the compact, on the 4th of June, was sixty-three; to which there were soon after added about fifty other names. This colony enjoyed great comparative order and tranquillity, as well from the extreme care with which it was constituted at the beginning, the superior wealth and character of its founders, and their wise and prudent intercourse with their neighbors, the Indians.
The New Haven colony was distinguished among the sister-colonies for its zeal in behalf of education, for its great strictness in the administration of the laws, for its scrupulous justice towards the Indians, and for the absence of a frivolous or extravagant legislation, which in some instances had been thought to characterize the other colonies.[Pg 84][12] The colony, however, was not exempt from occasional providential calamities, particularly in its commercial pursuits. For a period, the colonists did not succeed in their principal secular object. Their plans may not have been the most judicious; but their greatest misfortune in this concern was the loss of a large ship, which contained a valuable cargo of about five thousand pounds. The ship, with its precious burden, and more precious navigators, was never heard of more after it left the harbor. Several other settlements in the vicinity were nearly coëval with that of New Haven. Milford and Guilford were settled in 1639, as also Stratford and Fairfield the same year; Stamford in 1641, and soon after the town of Brandford.
A settlement, at an early period, was made in New Hampshire, but it did not, until some time afterwards, constitute a distinct colony. In the spring of the year 1623, two members of the council of Plymouth (Gorges and Mason) having obtained a grant of a tract of country, sent over a few persons for the purpose of establishing a colony and fishing at the river Piscataqua. This was the beginning of the town of Portsmouth; but, for several years, together with[Pg 85] the town of Dover, which had a fish-house erected about the same time, it was a small and scarcely permanent settlement. In 1629, some of the settlers about the Massachusetts bay, purchased a tract of country of the Indians, with a view to unite with the settlement at Piscataqua. After this purchase, the latter settlement was favored with a small increase; but no other settlements were made till the year 1638, when the towns of Exeter and Hampton commenced. Exeter was settled by people chiefly from Boston, who had been regularly dismissed from their church relations, and were constituted at once into a church in their new locality. Like the settlers of the other New England colonies, those of New Hampshire were desirous of enjoying the ministrations and ordinances of the Gospel, and were able to obtain excellent ministers.
These several plantations continued, for many years, to live on good terms with the natives, and were generally well supplied with provisions, in consequence of their advantages for fishery. They constituted distinct civil communities, after the most perfect model of freedom, but were unable to preserve their peculiar organization, on account of the intrusion of disaffected individuals, from the colonies of Massachusetts and Plymouth, and the constant influx of other emigrants. They were too weak thus to stand alone, and, after suitable negociations on the subject, they came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, in 1641, on the condition of enjoying equal privileges with the people of that colony, and having a court of justice maintained among themselves. This union continued nearly forty years, and was followed by the greater increase and security of the colony.[13]
The rise of the colony of Rhode Island commenced in the expulsion of Roger Williams from Massachusetts. He was a minister of the Gospel at Salem; but, holding tenets that were obnoxious to the people there, and being unwilling[Pg 86] to renounce them, after friendly remonstrance and dealing, he was ordered to quit the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. He accordingly took his exile thence, and traveling, with his few followers, as far as the present town of Rehoboth, he sat down there; but, being within the jurisdiction of Plymouth, Governor Winslow, out of courtesy to the government of Massachusetts, desired Mr. Williams to leave that place. The latter, then crossing the Pawtucket river, came to the spot which, in acknowledgment of God's merciful providence to him in his distress, he called 'Providence.' He purchased the lands of his plantation of the Indian owners, became the father of the colony, and, for a period, appeared to have combined, in his person, the principal powers of government. Times of scarcity occurred in the Providence plantation, as in most of the other colonies in North America, and the followers of Mr. Williams were saved from famine only by the products of their forests and rivers. No personal resentment seems to have arisen between Mr. Williams and Governor Winthrop, from the proceedings which led to the founding of the new settlement. All the several colonies remained at peace, and cultivated friendship with each other.
The religious difficulties in Massachusetts, arising out of the case of the fanatical Mrs. Hutchinson, were the occasion of the origin of the Rhode Island plantation, south of Providence. Several gentlemen differed in principle from the prevailing belief of the churches, and chose to leave the colony. Among them were William Coddington, John Clark, and others, who came to Providence in search of a place where they might enjoy their own sentiments unmolested. Through the assistance of Mr. Williams, they purchased Aquetnec of the Indian sachems. The adventurers, eighteen in number, incorporated themselves into a body politic, and chose Mr. Coddington to be their judge, or chief magistrate. The character of the climate and soil, soon brought many adventurers to their settlement. The territory was Rhode Island, according to its subsequent[Pg 87] name. The two settlements of Mr. Williams and Mr. Coddington, being destitute of any charter from the mother-country, the former went to England with a view to procure one. He succeeded in the object, and returned with a liberal charter of incorporation of Providence and Rhode Island plantations.
The district, now state, of Maine, though the first permanent settlement commenced in 1630, was for a long time in an unhappy condition, from the number and hostility of the Indians within its borders. The early settlers, after the death of their proprietary, Sir Fernando Gorges, formed some kind of voluntary compacts, and chose their own rulers; but the difficulties under which they labored induced them, in 1650, to unite with the government of Massachusetts, and to become an integral part of that colony. Their civil and religious institutions generally resembled those of the other colonies of New England. In the first settlements, churches were early established, which enjoyed the labors of some of the worthiest ministers of their time.[14]
A project of great importance was consummated, in 1643, in the union formed by the New England colonists. It had been proposed, by the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, as early as 1638, but was not brought to a conclusion until five years after. The confederacy consisted of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. The plan of it evidently reminds one of the great confederacy, afterwards formed between the thirteen United States, with similar provisions and principles. It was a powerful means of defence, and of the subsequent strength and prosperity of the colonies. It maintained their internal peace, awed the savage tribes, and caused their neighbors, the Dutch, and the French in Canada, to respect them. By the articles of confederation, they entered into a firm and perpetual league of friendship and amity, for offence and defence, mutual advice and assistance upon all[Pg 88] just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel, and for their own mutual safety and welfare. Each colony was to continue its separate organization, as to courts and laws, but to be considered as one, in regard to their public transactions. This union subsisted, with some alterations, more than forty years, and was dissolved when the charters of all the colonies were rescinded by James II. It was known under the style of The United Colonies of New England.
The state of Vermont was not settled until long after the other New England states. It was as late as the year 1724, before any settlement was made in that territory. This was on a spot, within the present town of Brattleborough, where, at the same time, during a severe Indian war, the government of Massachusetts had erected a fort. It was then supposed that the settlement was within the limits of that state, but it afterwards appeared not to be the case. Subsequently it was believed that the territory belonged to New Hampshire. Grants were accordingly made from time to time, by the latter colony, of tracts within the territory of Vermont. As it was the scene of warfare, during the middle part of the century, the country became well known to many individuals, and not a few openings were made in the wilderness, towards the cessation of hostilities, on the northern borders. During the revolutionary war, the Green-mountain Boys, as they were familiarly called, distinguished themselves by their bravery, and rendered important service to the cause. In 1777, the inhabitants constituted themselves an independent state. As Vermont was settled mostly by emigrants from Connecticut, the character of the people was similar to that of the inhabitants of the latter state, and of New England in general. They were careful to establish their civil and religious institutions in accordance with those of the sister-states, and have been highly distinguished by their stability in the principles and usages of the fathers.
The character of the early settlers of New England[Pg 89] deserves a distinct notice, beyond that which has incidentally appeared in narrating the history of their achievements. A brief sketch can only be presented, and scarcely commensurate with the importance of the topic; but it is all that the limits of this work will admit. The greatness of the results, though affected extensively by the direct providence of God, manifests the peculiarity of the dispositions and motives of the agents who were concerned in producing them.
The planters of New England were men of whom their descendants need not be ashamed. So far as the pride of ancestry may be lawfully indulged, New Englanders, of the present race, may indulge it to the full, in view of the character and deeds of their forefathers. They were inferior men in no sense of the word, however apt we may be to connect the idea of adventurers with that of a roving, restless, dissipated, loose-living class of men, loving savage nature, or freedom from the restraints of civilized life. They became adventurers, not from love of adventure, but from high and noble impulses—the impulses of religion. To advance that precious interest was, indeed, their commanding object. This was indicated by their circumstances and manner of life in Holland before they removed thence, and by the desire they felt to leave that country. Could their favorite views, in respect to religion, have been carried out there, they would, probably, never have come to this western wilderness. Their declarations and professions, through their leading men, also show that the establishment and enjoyment of a free Gospel was their great object. Their laws and institutions, moreover, evince that this was their principal concern, in connection with the diffusion of education and knowledge. These all had reference, more or less directly, to the moral and religious welfare of the community. The cause of God and righteousness was guarded by the wisest and most decided legal provisions. The concurrent declarations of all the early writers among them, likewise indicate the spirit and purposes which distinguished[Pg 90] the fathers of New England above, perhaps, all other settlers of new countries, in proposing and carrying forward the interests of religion. Indeed, no object but religion and its enjoyment, could have borne them through their almost unprecedented trials and privations. To these they voluntarily submitted, on account of their religion. They were not otherwise compelled to leave their native land and the homes of their childhood—the seats of ease and plenty. To hardships, of any kind, many of them had never been exposed before; but the love of God's word, and freedom of worship, according to the light of their own minds, were motives, with them, sufficient to brave every peril and earthly woe.
They were not inferior men, in respect to their civil standing in the community. They did not proceed, generally, from the lower orders of society—the poorer artisans and the laborers. They belonged, mostly, to the middle and respectable ranks of English society. A few were classed with the higher orders, but not to the same extent as was the fact with the settlers of Virginia, if we may judge from the list of names and titles of several emigrants of the different colonies. In respect to a worldly, chivalrous bearing and spirit of adventure, New England and Virginia differed—the latter were eminent in this respect, but never were men more truly brave than the fathers of New England; in moral courage, they were unrivalled. Like other adventurers, they manifested their undaunted spirit in relinquishing their comfortable homes, in braving the dangers of the deep, in encountering the horrors of a wilderness, in incurring the risk of famine and pestilence, and in frequently combatting a fierce savage foe. There were as extraordinary traits of martial heroism displayed among the pilgrims of New England, when called forth by the necessity of circumstances, as can be found in the history of any of the American colonists, though this was not a characteristic in which they gloried. The exploits of Miles Standish, of Plymouth, and John Mason, of Connecticut,[Pg 91] might be ranked among the most striking exhibitions of courage on record. Of Standish, it is remarked, by an old historian, that "he was allied to the noble house of Standish, in Lancashire, and inherited some of the virtues of that honorable family, as well as the name." But the high bearing and courage of the planters was eminently of a moral kind. Unlike their Virginian neighbors, they suffered no misrule in their settlements. If any threatened for a time, they promptly put it down. Their courage was seen in resisting evil among themselves. They feared not to put their laws into execution. They were characterized by a healthful, vigorous public spirit, consenting to sacrifice their own individual interest for the general good. They thus manifested a noble nature, the product of principle, if not of birth.
The fathers of New England were not ignorant men, and unversed in the concerns of the world. Their clergymen and leading men in civil life, were among the ripe scholars of the age. They had been educated at the English universities, and numbers of them had occupied important stations in church and state. As authors and men of influence, in their native land, they could not have sunk their high character by emigration; and though in a wilderness, and under the pressure of mighty cares, they could not so advantageously pursue their studies as in the shades of academic retirement, they still did not neglect to add to their intellectual stores. In several instances, they brought large and valuable libraries with them. The writings of Colton, Hooker, Davenport, Winthrop, Bradford, Prince, and others, show that they were eminently men of mind and masters of language—that they were well versed in the science and literature which adorned the age; and their universal learning, sanctified by grace, we know, was devoted to the most noble and beneficent purposes. There were among the merchants and men of business, who had figured in the world's affairs before they came to these solitudes—men of large experience and cultivated taste, not[Pg 92] wanting in any accomplishment deemed essential in refined and honorable society. The mass of the people, who came over to this country as its settlers, must evidently, from the nature of the case, have been of that thinking, intellectual, practical class, who understood their rights and duties as human beings, as also the principles of government; and could not, therefore, with their good sense and honesty, submit to the exactions and wrongs of tyranny. This, of all others, is the most valuable body of the community.
The estimate which the fathers placed upon education, is seen in the immediate establishment of literary institutions, both of the higher and lower grades. Scarcely had the venerable men felled the trees of the forest, than they erected the common school-house, the academy, and the college. In the midst of their untold personal pressing cares and troubles, they exercised a far-reaching sagacity and benevolent regard towards the common good, and towards posterity, in laying broadly the foundations of order, intelligence, and virtue. They conceived the highest idea of the importance of sound education to their rising republic. They wisely judged that solid learning and true religion were the firmest pillars of the commonwealth and of the church. Within ten years from the settlement of Massachusetts, a college, with good endowments, was founded for the use of the colony.
The planters of New England were not poor men—needy adventurers. Had they been such, whence could the funds have been derived that were necessary to sustain the enterprise? It is evident that large sums of money were expended in the transportation of themselves, their cattle, and their effects to this country, and in their various removals when here, as well as in the continued sustentation of their families in times of scarcity and famine. These we know, from their history, were of frequent occurrence. Governors Winthrop, Haynes, Eaton, and Hopkins, were men of wealth; so also were Mr. Johnson, Mr. Colton, and Mr. Hooker—the last two uncommonly rich for ministers.[Pg 93] Mr. Johnson was reputed to be the wealthiest of all the original emigrants. The mass of the early comers must also have possessed no inconsiderable means, to enable them to bear the heavy expenses of their voyage and settlement. With such a basis of property, it is not a matter of surprise that, notwithstanding the drain and exhaustion of the few first years, they should have increased greatly in their worldly substance in the end, inasmuch as they settled on a virgin soil, possessed abundance of land, and carried on a lucrative trade in the products of the country. Their habits of sobriety and industry were essentially favorable to their advancement in wealth.
The New England planters were not wanting in any moral virtues, piety, wisdom, or magnanimity. There never lived on earth, if we may credit history, a more disinterested, upright, conscientious, prudent, and holy body of men. Their souls were imbued with the loftiest principles of patriotism and piety. They gave undoubted proofs of the possession of this spirit in their exertions, toils, and sacrifices for the best welfare of their descendants and the cause of Christianity—in their spirituality, prayerfulness, purity, and well-ordered lives. They wished, above all things, to serve God and to do good—to transmit to posterity a pure church and free form of government. They received the Word of God as their sole guide in religious concerns and moral conduct—they regulated their individual life, their families, their local societies, their churches, and their state, by its rules, so far as the latter could be consistently applied. They were sound in the faith, receiving the doctrines of grace as the real system of divine truth—were strict in preserving the order and carrying out the discipline of the churches—and were rigid in the administration of law and justice. Their zeal and liberality in supporting the institutions of the Gospel among themselves, and in efforts to Christianize the Indians, were marked traits in their character. They considered it one of the great objects of their mission to this continent, to[Pg 94] become the means of the salvation of its aboriginal inhabitants, and thus to extend Christ's kingdom in the world. In a most commendable degree, they carried their religion into the various every-day concerns of life, and consulted, especially on every occasion of interest and importance, the particular guidance and blessing of God.
Such was the character of New England's fathers: they were not perfect men; they did not claim for themselves the attributes of perfection; neither can others, their warmest panegyrists, claim it for them with any consistency. They had their errors—the errors of the age. All darkness had not passed away from their understandings, nor all obliquity from their hearts. There was an austerity, a preciseness in some points, an unaccommodating temper, which perhaps is not well suited to all times, or every state of society, but which better agreed with their circumstances as the founders of a nation, and as an example for others to follow. In the natural course of imitation from age to age, there will be apt to be a feebler resemblance of the original; so that where the conduct in the beginning was over-strict, in the lapse of years it will be apt to fall quite too far below the true standard of virtue. The founders of a nation, if they fail at all in firmness of temper or rigidness of discipline, will be very apt to bring on the sooner a dissolute state of the body politic. Our fathers, on this account, were not so much at fault as many suppose. They were fitted, by the guidance and grace of God, for the times in which they lived—for the work which they were called to perform. If some few spots or shades could have been effaced from their characters, they would have been still more fitting instruments of good to the Church and to posterity; but as the case is, no other founders of an empire probably ever possessed so large a portion of wisdom and goodness.
In respect to charges made against the fathers of New England, pertaining to superstition, enthusiasm, injustice towards the Indians, treatment of supposed witches, bigotry,[Pg 95] persecution, and the incorporation of church and state, they are capable of a satisfactory refutation in all the material points, and have often received that refutation. While something, however, is to be laid to human imperfection in their case, yet, even in these matters, more is due to the grace of God, which preserved them so comparatively free from evils to which their natural dispositions, or their circumstances, might be supposed to lead them.
It was indeed a new order of things which was introduced by the pilgrim fathers, in their removal to America. The Mayflower came to these shores freighted with great moral principles, as well as with a precious cargo of godly men and women. Of those principles, some were the following, viz: The right of private judgment in the examination of divine truth, is to be held sacred—Conscience, enlightened by the Word of God, is a sufficient guide as to truth and duty—a majority governs in church and state—universal education is the basis of free government—the observation of the Sabbath is a moral virtue, and essential to the safety of a people. From these principles, others have been deduced; or to them others, of scarcely less importance, have been added in more recent times.
III. MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN SETTLEMENTS.[15]
New York—New Jersey—Delaware—Maryland—North Carolina—South Carolina—Georgia—Pennsylvania.
The settlement of the state of New York commenced in 1613, so far as the erection of a fort, near the present city of Albany, and a few trading-houses on the island of Manhattan (New York), may be said to constitute a settlement. The Dutch founded their claim to the soil from the discovery of the Hudson by an Englishman of that name, who was then in the employ of the Dutch; but the British king disputed the claim, from the fact of the previous discovery of the country by the Cabots. The Dutch were forced, for a short time, to yield to the demands of the English; but, the colony having increased in the course of a year, the English were required, in their turn, to yield their authority to the original occupants. For a series of years, the latter continued in peaceful possession, and, by characteristic toil and perseverance, secured the blessings of a growing settlement.
The territory on both sides of the Hudson, occupied by the settlers, was called New Netherlands. In defence of their colony, in 1623, they built several forts, one on the east side of Delaware bay, which they named Nassau, and another, one hundred and fifty miles up the river, which they called Aurania. At the mouth of the river they built a town, to which they gave the name of New Amsterdam, afterwards New York. Near fort Nassau, the Swedes had a settlement, and, from the interfering claims of the two people, quarrels arose, which in a few years ended in the subjugation of the Swedes. In consequence of the Dutch claims so far to the eastward, difficulties frequently arose between them and the Connecticut and New Haven colonies; but these never amounted to another rupture, and the Dutch[Pg 97] were occasionally assisted in the Indian warfare by their more courageous neighbors.
At the ascension of Charles II. to the British throne, the province of New Netherlands passed into the hands of the English. As the king, by a charter, had conveyed the whole territory to his brother, the Duke of York and Albany, he undertook to effect his object by force, and accordingly despatched an armament, under the command of Colonel Nichols, who was also appointed governor of the province. The exhibition of force was the means of effecting a treaty of capitulation on the part of Stuyvesant the Dutch governor. From this time, New Amsterdam and the whole conquered province received the name of New York, the original settlers choosing, for the most part, to remain, and being permitted to adopt many of their own forms of government.
New Jersey was settled by the Dutch, not long after they had fixed themselves on the Hudson river. The Danes, also, commenced a settlement at a place to which[Pg 98] they gave the name Bergen. This was about the year 1624. In 1626, a company of Swedes and Finns purchased land on both sides of Delaware river, and commenced a settlement on the western bank. The Dutch, however, considering themselves as the original settlers, laid claim to the country. They had built a fort, as early as 1623, on the east bank of the South river, as the Delaware was then called. It was not until the year 1640, that the English made any attempt to colonize the territory in question, and then they were resisted and expelled by the Swedes and Dutch. A few years afterwards, however, the Duke of York granted New Jersey to John, Lord Berkley, and Sir George Carteret, the territory receiving that name in compliment to Sir George, who had been governor of the island of Jersey in the English channel. Carteret soon after arrived at Elizabethtown, which he made the seat of government.
The state of Delaware was originally settled by the Dutch and Swedes, the former as early as 1629, having purchased a tract of land near Cape Henlopen. The enterprise of planting a colony, on the Delaware, was entrusted to an experienced navigator, De Vriez; and, in 1630, an association was formed for this purpose, in pursuance of which, a settlement was made, the next spring, on the west side of the river, at a place since called Lewiston. The Swedes, also, made considerable settlements on the same side of the river; but, whether these preceded that of the Dutch, is considered doubtful, the more recent authorities leaning rather to the Dutch claim. The Swedes, however, whatever their pretensions may have been, were conquered by the Dutch, in whose possession the country remained until the surrender of New York, in 1664. It was immediately after taken possession of, for the Duke of York, by Sir Robert Carr. A portion of its subsequent history is included in that of Pennsylvania, as Delaware had not even an assembly, separate from that of Pennsylvania, for several years.
Settlements commenced in Maryland as early as 1634.[Pg 99] Two or three years previously, Lord Baltimore had visited the colony of Virginia, and, observing that the Virginians had formed no settlement to the northward of the river Potomac, he determined to procure a grant of territory in that region; but he died before the necessary authority by charter, which Charles had promised, could be given him. The patent, however, was filled up for his son, Cornelius Calvert, who had then become Lord Baltimore. The king gave to the new province the name of Maryland, in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria. It was originally included in the patent of the south Virginia company, a circumstance which gave rise, for a time, to disputes and difficulties between these communities. Lord Baltimore pursued a wise course in forming his colony. He established a basis of security to property and of freedom to religion, bestowing, in absolute fee, fifty acres of land on every emigrant, and allowing toleration to the various sects of the Christian faith. George Calvert, the brother of the governor, arrived with the first colony, consisting of about two hundred Roman Catholics, from England. Calvert, by kindness and liberality, obtained possession of an Indian town of importance, to which he gave the name of St. Mary's. Lord Baltimore was constituted the proprietor of the province; and he and his descendants, with some years of interruption, continued to enjoy the rights of jurisdiction and property until the time of the Revolution. Then the people, having adopted a constitution, refused to admit the claims of the representatives of Lord Baltimore.
The charter, embracing what is now North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, was granted by Charles II., in 1662, to Edward, Earl of Clarendon; George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven, and several others. This country was called Florida, and claimed by the Spaniards. The claim, nevertheless, was supposed to be relinquished by the stipulations of a treaty between Great Britain and Spain, in 1667. The previous efforts to colonize this portion of the American continent had been unsuccessful,[Pg 100] and grants that had been given to different individuals were now pronounced by the privy council to be null and void. A government was organized over the few settlers that were scattered in different parts, Mr. Drummond having been appointed governor. The settlers on Albemarle sound were allowed, on certain conditions, to retain their lands. The proprietors of the Carolinas did not make serious effort towards adding to the number of the colonists until 1667. Two ships carried out a number of adventurers, with provisions, arms, and utensils, necessary for building and cultivation. Sayle was appointed governor in 1669. In what place he first landed is uncertain; but not being pleased with his situation, he moved to the southward, and took possession of a neck of land between Ashley and Cooper rivers. Here he laid out a town, which, in honor of the British king, he called Charleston. This was the origin of South Carolina, as distinguished from North Carolina. The distance between Albemarle and the new location, induced the proprietors to establish two separate governments, the settlements on the sound constituting North Carolina. The early existence of the northern colony is said to have been marked, in a sad degree, by confusion and misrule, owing mainly to the exceptionable nature of its fundamental constitutions.
Georgia, though the last of the English colonies established in North America, may be mentioned here, since it was included in the original grant with the Carolinas. The charter of Georgia, as a district, was granted in 1732, and embraced the country on the south of the Carolinas, between the rivers Savannah and Altamaha, and extended westward from the heads of these rivers to the South sea. It was given to twenty-one persons, who were wealthy and influential individuals, as trustees, who were incorporated for the purpose of settling and establishing the colony. In pursuance of this design, in 1733, James Oglethorpe embarked for the province, with one hundred and sixteen persons destined for settlement. He selected the present site of Savannah, as[Pg 101] the most desirable spot for this object. Here he built a fort, and put the colony in a proper state of defence, not neglecting, in the mean time, to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians. Though the objects of the settlement of Georgia were in a great measure benevolent—as they contemplated, among other things, an asylum for the poor and wretched in England and Ireland—yet the hopes of prosperity, entertained by the trustees, were not a little disappointed. The expenditures necessary for the support of the colony, became, at length, very onerous. The colony, also, was disturbed by the hostility of the Spaniards on the south, and nothing, under Divine Providence, but the wise counsels and determined valor of General Oglethorpe, saved it from destruction in the early part of its existence.
The tract of country west of the Delaware was, in 1681, granted to William Penn, son of the distinguished Admiral Penn, as a reward for the services of his father. The boundaries of the tract are definitely given us in the charter, but are too minute to be here specified. The[Pg 102] whole region was afterwards called Pennsylvania, constituting a state of very large and regular dimensions. The origin of the name is beautifully and ingeniously accounted for, in a letter written by William Penn: "This day (January 5, 1681)," says he, "after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in the council, my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania; a name the king would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being a hilly country; and when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to call it New Wales, I proposed Sylvania, and they added Penn to it, though I much opposed it, and went to the king to have it struck out. He said 'twas past, and he would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the under secretary to vary the name; for I feared it would be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king to my father, as it really was. Thou mayst communicate my grant to friends, and expect shortly my proposals. 'Tis a dear and just thing, and my God, that has given it to me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, that it be well laid at first." And it was well laid. The territory was peaceably, and by fair purchase, procured of the natives, and though difficulties occasionally existed in the government, which gave the proprietor considerable concern, yet the colony enjoyed a career of prosperity for several successive years. The effects of his magnanimity and justice were especially visible in the early history of the colony.
Such, as briefly reviewed, is the history of the original settlements of the old thirteen United States. The character of the settlers, as well as their circumstances, were various. They were from different nations in the old world, though the great majority were of direct English descent. But amidst the variety, there is a degree of uniformity, a similar basis of institutions and principles has obtained, and they have admirably coalesced in forming[Pg 103] and sustaining one and a general government, amid their several distinct state organizations—a government admirable for its simplicity, freedom, exact equipoise, and liberal compromises. The number of states is now more than doubled, and ere long will probably be three-fold. Through the Divine blessing, let it be perpetual!
III.—INDIANS, THEIR TRIBES AND WARS.
I. INDIAN TRIBES.
General Division—Tribes in the Central and Southern parts of New England—Tribes in the Northern parts—East of Lake Erie and south of Lake Ontario—Southern tribes.
At the period of the settlement of the English colonies in America, savage tribes of Indians were scattered over the country. In many respects, they possessed a similar character, usages, and institutions—a bond of affinity running through their several communities and tribes. As a race of men, they were distinct from all the races found in the old world. Their history was unknown, and to us, in these times, dates no farther back than to the period of European discovery here. They had, indeed, their traditions; but these, like the traditions of all other nations, are no farther entitled to credit than they are confirmed by appearance or probable conjecture. If the hypothesis be correct of the Asiatic origin of the Aborigines of America,[Pg 105] by the way of Bherings straits, there would seem to be a probability in the general account given of their migration towards the east, and of their conquest of a more civilized race, then occupying the country. Such a race seems to have been once in existence, judging from the monuments and relics that have been occasionally found among us. They were called the Allegewi, and their more rude conquerors styled themselves the Lenape and the Mengwe, or the Iroquois. These seem chiefly to have divided the country between them, after they had expelled the Allegewi. The general name of the Delawares has since been given to the former, and their language, called by the French, the Algonquin. The Iroquois inhabited more the upper parts of the country, along the lakes and the St. Lawrence. The Lenape, or Delawares, extended themselves to the south and east.
When our fathers came to these shores, they found here the descendants of these savage conquerors. They were entirely uncivilized, having, probably, undergone no process of civilization, from the time of the migration of their ancestors to the Mississippi and the Atlantic slope. As distributed through the various parts of the thirteen original states, they may be mentioned, as to their confederacies or tribes, in the following order:
In the central and southern parts of New England there were five principal tribes: the Wampanoags or Pokanokets, the Pawtuckets, the Massachusetts, the Narragansets, and the Pequods. The Pokanokets were the first known to the English settlers. The territory inhabited by this tribe, was that which now constitutes the south-eastern part of Massachusetts and the eastern portion of Rhode Island. To the chief of this tribe, who was Massasoit, at the time of the English emigration, other smaller tribes were subject, dwelling principally on the adjacent islands. His residence, as also afterwards that of Philip his son, was at Montaup, now Mount Hope, in Bristol, Rhode Island.
The tribe of Pawtuckets occupied the land upon the[Pg 106] Merrimack near its mouth, as their principal seat, though they extended themselves south until they came in contact with the Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts were found about the bay which bears the name of the tribe. They were bounded by the Pawtuckets on the north, and the Pokanokets on the south. Their head sachem held under his rule several smaller tribes, some of which were known by the name of the Neponsetts, the Nashuas, and the Pocumtucks. The acknowledged sovereign of the confederacy, at the time of the English settlement, was the widow of a powerful chief, styled sometimes the "Massachusett's queen." They were situated in a delightful region, where now stands the metropolis of New England, with its cluster of noble towns in the vicinity.
The tribe of the Narragansets held their chief seat on the island of the Canonicut, in the bay called after their name. Here, also, their grand sachem resided. They extended west of the Pawcatuck river, where they came into the neighborhood of the Pequods. The Pokanokets bordered them on the east. They occupied a beautiful country, and happily adapted to their mode of life, which was fishing and hunting. Their disposition was more mild and peaceable than usually appeared in the Indian character. When the English arrived in that region, they found there Canonicus, the grand sachem of the tribe, who proved a benefactor of Rhode Island.
The tribe of Pequods were seated in the eastern part of Connecticut, having the Narragansets on their eastern border. They were a fierce and warlike race. Their grand sachem, Sassacus, resided on the heights of Groton, near the river called by their name, now the Thames. Sassacus held the Mohegans subject to his authority. These were a tribe occupying the place where Norwich now stands. Uncas, the leader of the latter, joined the whites in their war with the Pequods. These several tribes, at the period referred to, were singularly diminished[Pg 107] in number and power, on account of a wasting sickness, which had been sent among them a few years before.
In the northern portion of New England, roved the Indians whose general name was that of Tarenteens, or Abenakis. They inhabited the coast of Maine throughout, and extended into New Hampshire. Their character was ferocious, and the settlers suffered severely from their wars, murders, and depredations. Stealing in, at the dead of night, upon the villages or dwellings, they burned and plundered, indiscriminately, whatever came in their way—butchering men, women, and children, without mercy.
The five tribes, or nations, that spread out east of Lake Erie, and south of Lake Ontario, were the Iroquois, or Mengwe, who had become thus divided, in consequence of being pressed by the Hurons, and one or two other tribes, inhabiting the St. Lawrence. They were called the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks. They at length became a powerful race in their new abodes, and not only overcame the Hurons, but made war upon the Delawares, and were objects of dread far and near. The most warlike community of the whole was said to be the Mohawks. Their power and exactions reached east and south, to a great distance.
The Indians, in the southerly portion of the country, were of course earlier known to the English, than those already mentioned—this was true of the tribes at least that inhabited Virginia, of which there were more than forty in number, in 1607. The nucleus of an entire confederacy, inhabiting the territory from the sea-coast to the falls of the rivers, was the Powhatan nation. This confederacy included no less than thirty tribes, and the number of warriors was estimated at eight thousand. The chief of the same name, who figures so much in the history of Virginia, was the great sachem of the confederacy. The seat of the hereditary dominions was near the present site of the city of Richmond. Here the noble Pocahontas was born, and passed her early, uncultivated life.
The Indians who dwelt on the highlands, between the falls of the rivers and the mountains, were divided into two confederacies, not long after the arrival of the English. One division consisted of the Monahoaks, in the eight tribes, on the north. The other consisted of the Monacans, in five tribes, stretching on the south into Carolina. The latter went under the name of Tuscaroras, and connected with the Iroquois.
Of the Indians in the southern extremity of the country, the principal confederacies were the Creeks, whose locality was mostly in Georgia—the Cherokees, who inhabited the mountainous back country—and the Choctaws and Chickasaws, who dwelt in the region between the mountains and the Mississippi. Two or three other tribes occupied particular localities, which need not be indicated.[16]
II. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.
Various speculations on the subject—Opinions of Voltaire—Of Rev. Thomas Thorowgood—Dr. Boudinot—Roger Williams—Hubbard—Thomas Morton—John Josselin—Cotton Mather—Dr. Mitchell—Dr. Swinton.
Although not in precise accordance with the plan of this work, yet, on account of the interest which attaches to the subject, we devote a few pages to an exposition of the various theories advanced in relation to the origin of the Indian tribes existing at the time the English settled the country. These theories have been various, according to the whims or predilections of the authors. Some have seen in them an original species of the human race, unconnected with any of the nations or tribes of the old world. Others have fancied their resemblance to this or the other people, ancient or modern, of the eastern continent—as Hebrews, Trojans, Tartars, and the like.
Voltaire, and other skeptical writers, have accounted for their origin, according to the first-named theory. They have considered the Indian placed in America by the hand of the Creator, or by nature—just as the buffalo, or the tortoise, or any other animal, was placed there—or just as trees and other products of vegetation, that are indigenous to the soil. Thus they make no account of the apparent scriptural doctrine of the unity of the human race—the common descent from Adam.
The identity of the Indian with the Hebrew or the Israelite has been conjectured by many. Rev. Thomas Thorowgood, an author of the seventeenth century, held that opinion, and endeavored to prove that the Indians were the Jews, who had been lost in the world for the space of near two thousand years. Adair, who claims to have resided forty years among the southern Indians, published a large quarto upon their origin, history, &c. He endeavors to prove their identity with the Jews, by showing the similarity of their customs, usages, and language to those[Pg 110] of the latter. The author of the Star in the West, Dr. Boudinot, has followed the same thing, and thinks assuredly that the Indians are the long-lost ten tribes of Israel.
Roger Williams, at one time, expressed the same opinion. He writes, in a letter to friends in Salem, that the Indians did not come into America from the north-east, as some had imagined, for the following reasons: 1, Their ancestors affirm that they came from the south-west, and return thence when they die; 2, Because they separate their women, in a little wigwam by themselves, at certain seasons; and 3, Beside their god Kuttand, to the south-west, they hold that Nanawitnawit (a God overhead) made the heavens and the earth; and he avers, also, that he (the writer) had found "some taste of affinity with the Hebrew."
The similarity of practices, or even of a number of terms in a language, can, however, be no conclusive proof of sameness of origin. It may be merely accidental, or in respect to customs more particularly, may be owing to similarity of circumstances. "Who will pretend that different people, when placed under similar circumstances, will not have similar wants, and hence similar actions? that like wants will not prompt like exertions? and like causes produce not like effects?" The slight resemblances existing, or fancied to exist, between the Indians and the Israelites, may be owing to a cause like the one pointed out. As to the language of the Indians, Mr. William Wood, an old writer, says: "Some have thought that they might be of the dispersed Jews, because some of their words be near unto the Hebrew; but, by the same rule, they may conclude them to be of the gleanings of all nations, because they have words after the Greek, Latin, French, and other tongues."
Hubbard, an American historian, who wrote about 1680, has this among other passages on the subject: "If any observation be made of their manners and dispositions, it is easier to say from what nations they did not, than from whom they did derive their original. Doubtless their conjecture,[Pg 111] who fancy them to be descended from the ten tribes of the Israelites, carried captive by the Salamaneser and Esarhaddon, hath the least show of reason of any other, there being no footsteps to be observed of their propinquity to them more than to any other of the tribes of the earth, either as to their language or manners."
Thomas Morton, an early New England historian, refers their origin to the scattered Trojans, observing, "for after that Brutus, who was the fourth from Æneas, left Latium, upon the conflict held with the Latins, where, although he gave them a great overthrow to the slaughter of their grand captain, and many others of the heroes of Latium, yet he held it more safely to depart unto some other place and people, than by staying to run the hazard of an unquiet life or doubtful conquest; which, as history maketh mention, he performed. This people was dispersed there is no question, but the people that lived with him, by reason of their conversation with the Grecians and Latins, had a mixed language that participated of both." Morton maintains the great similarity of the languages of the Indians to the Greek and Roman, as an instance of which, he fancied he heard among their words Pasco-pan, and hence thinks without doubt their ancestors were acquainted with the god Pan!
A writer, Mr. John Josselin, who resided some time in New England, towards the middle part of the seventeenth century, pronounces the speech of the Mohawks to be a dialect of the Tartars. He says "the north-east people of America, that is, New England, &c., are judged to be Tartars, called Samoades, being alike in complexion, shape, habit and manners."
That the Indians were Scythians, is an opinion expressed in a decided manner by Cotton Mather. He was confirmed in it, on meeting with this passage of Julius Cæsar: "Difficilis invenire quam interficere," rendered by him, "It is harder to find them than to foil them." Cæsar was speaking of the Scythians, and the aptness of the language, as[Pg 112] expressing one peculiarity of the Indians in their warfare—their sudden attacks and retreats—is noticeable.
Dr. S. L. Mitchell, of New York, a voluminous writer in his day, thought that he had settled the question of the origin of the Indians. They came, in his opinion, from the north-east of Asia, and that is now, perhaps, the more common belief. He thinks that they possessed originally the same color, as that of the north-eastern nations of Asia.
Dr. Swinton, author of many parts of the Universal History, after stating the different opinions of various authors, who have advocated in favor of "the dispersed people," the Phœnicians and other eastern nations, observes, "that, therefore, the Americans in general were descended from a people who inhabited a country not so far distant from them as Egypt and Phœnicia, one will, as we apprehend, readily admit. Now, no country can be pitched upon so proper and convenient for this purpose, as the north-eastern part of Asia, particularly Great Tartary, Siberia, and more especially the peninsula of Kamschatka. That probably was the tract through which many Tartarian colonies passed into America, and peopled the most considerable part of the new world."[17]
III. VIRGINIA INDIAN WARS.
Early troubles of the English with the Indians—Power and cruelty of Powhatan—His apparent friendship for the Colonists—Treacherous conduct—Kindness of Pocahontas—Inhuman conduct of Lord De la War—Captivity of Pocahontas—Cruel Massacre of the Whites—Opecancanough—Troubles with Totopotomoi—Anecdote of Jack-of-the-feather.
The intercourse of the colonists in Virginia with the Indians, was not altogether such as to secure their friendship. Difficulties arose, which were settled only by a resort to wars and massacres. The earlier colonists either returned to their native land, were destroyed by famine, or were cut off by violence. The whole scheme of colonizing was, at first, a series of mismanagement or misfortune. The earliest attempt at settlement, under the Captains Amidas and Barlow, in 1684, was abortive. It is related that the English, after landing on an island, called by the Indians Wokokon, saw none of the natives until the third day, when three were observed in a canoe. One of them came on shore, and the English went to him. He was not at all intimidated, but spoke much to them, and then went fearlessly on board the vessels. The whites, after making him some presents, received some food in return. Wingina, chief of the Indians in that place, never had much faith in the good intentions of the English, and to him was mainly attributed the breaking up of the colony. They were disposed to return home, having made no serious attempt at settlement.
The next colony which proceeded to Virginia was conducted by Sir Richard Grenville, in 1685. He had the imprudence to commit an outrage upon the natives, which occasioned at length the breaking up of the colony of one hundred and eight men whom he left behind him. He burned an Indian town, in revenge of a petty theft, which some native committed upon him. Ralf Lane, who was governor, became justly chargeable with very reprehensible conduct. He put to death some of the natives on the most frivolous charges, and it is no wonder that the animosity of[Pg 114] the Indians was aroused, and that the small band of adventurers were so discomfited as to seek a return to England.
No attempt to settle Virginia had succeeded up to the year 1607. The ill-advised schemes of the company or their controversies, and the suspicions and hatred of the Indians, had defeated every enterprise hitherto. But one man, Captain Smith, by his sagacity and heroism, at length accomplished the object. Of his adventures, no particular account needs to be given here, as these have been narrated in another part of this work. But his connection with Powhatan affords the occasion of bringing the latter more especially into view in this place. This chief is described as being tall and well-proportioned, wearing an aspect of sadness—exceedingly vigorous, and possessing a body fitted to endure great hardships. At the time of the settlement of Jamestown, he was about sixty years of age, and rendered the more majestic by the grayness of his hair. He inspired the awe of beholders as he was seated on his wooden form, and adorned with his robe of racoon skins, and his headdress of various feathers having the appearance of a crown. He governed many nations, and many of them by the right of conquest. The place of his residence, at first, was at Powhatan, near the falls of James river; but, afterwards, when he had extended his conquests north, it was at a place called Werowocomoco. His dominion included the country upon James river, from its mouth to the falls, and all its tributary streams. This was the boundary of his country southerly, and thus across the territory, "nearly as high as the falls of all the great rivers over the Potowmack, even to Patuxet in Maryland."
He usually kept a guard, consisting of forty or fifty of his bravest men, especially when he slept, but this number was four-fold after the arrival of the English. His wives were numerous, and taken or dismissed at his pleasure. When he slept, one sat at his head and another at his feet. His places for temporary residence, or at certain seasons of the year, were numerous. At these places he had victuals[Pg 115]
[Pg 116] provided against his coming, in spacious wigwams thirty or forty yards in extent. His manner of attack upon his neighbors, was stealthy and fiercely cruel. An instance is given, in his surprisal, on one occasion, of the people of Payankatank, who were his neighbors and subjects. To effect his barbarous purpose, he sent several of his men to lodge with them the night on which he designed an attack; then, secretly surrounding them in their wigwams, commenced a horrid massacre. Many of the men were killed, their scalps taken, and the women and children made prisoners. The scalps were exhibited upon a line between two trees as a trophy, and the chief of Payankatank and his wife Powhatan became servants to the emperor.
Through Captain Smith's address, this prince was now brought completely into the English interest; although eventually, through the imprudent conduct of Newport, who soon after arrived from England, he was induced to practice deception upon his new friends, in the way of trade. Smith, however, in his turn, took advantage of the emperor, to the no great credit of his moral principles. The revenge was complete, as the following example shows; Smith gained his end fully, by pretending to set a great value on a few blue beads, which he had exposed to Powhatan as if by accident, and which he professed to be very unwilling to part with, as they were worn, according to his account, only by great kings. This fired the emperor with the wish to secure them, at whatever sacrifice on his part. In the infatuation produced, he parted with two or three hundred bushels of corn, for a pound or two of beads. Thus the intercourse of the whites with these simple children of nature, in the early period of our history, was not always marked with that delicate regard of right and veracity, with which every transaction of this nature should be attended. The consequences very naturally appeared in the many plots and counter-plots which were contrived to embarrass one another, or to effect unlawful objects.
On one occasion Powhatan became offended with Smith,[Pg 117] because he could not procure swords from him in the manner in which he procured them from Newport. When the latter was about leaving the country, Powhatan sent him twenty turkeys, for which he demanded and obtained twenty swords in return. He supposed that he could do the same with Smith, but was disappointed; and, accordingly he ordered his men to seize the English wherever they could find them. The consequence was, that many of the latter, in the vicinity of the forts, were robbed of their swords. These depredations were continued until Smith surprised a number of the Indians, from whom he learned that Powhatan was endeavoring to get all the arms in his power, with a view to massacre the whites. When the chief found that his plot was discovered, he sent Pocahontas, his daughter, with gifts, in order to apologize for his conduct, and pretended that the mischief was done by some of his chiefs. He directed her to use her influence in effecting the release of his men, in which she succeeded, and thus the parties became at peace again.
The friendship which Powhatan manifested towards the English at any time, was short-lived, and seems not to have been at all sincere. Constant deceptions were practised by him to gain his ends; and, so long as he lived, difficulties existed between him and the English. The noble Pocahontas was a sort of mediator between them, and often brought important intelligence, as seasonable aid, to the latter. On one occasion, after a long conference, in regard to a trade in provisions, in which deceptions were employed on both sides, and in which Powhatan endeavored to persuade Captain Smith and his men to treat with him in a friendly manner, and to throw aside their arms, Smith was about to resort to force in order to effect his object. Powhatan, however, succeeded in escaping from the conference, and in conveying his women, children, and effects into the woods. Even then he attempted to allure Smith into his presence unarmed, if possible, by sending him a present. Finding, at last, all artifices without effect, Powhatan[Pg 118] resolved to fall upon the English in their cabins on the following night. But here Pocahontas interposed her kind offices, and was the means, most probably, of saving the life of Smith and his attendants. She came alone, in a dark night, through the woods, and apprised Smith of her father's design. For such a favor, Smith offered her whatever articles she would please to accept; but she declined taking any thing, and, with tears in her eyes, remarked, that if her father should see her with any thing, he would suspect what she had done, and instantly kill her. She then retired as she came, through the dismal forest.
After Smith's final departure from Virginia, the emperor's animosity against the whites was confirmed, as the English successor in the government, Lord De la War, was much less cautious and moderate in his measures with the Indians, severe as Smith's treatment of them was at times. The new governor, finding Powhatan not disposed to yield to his demands, proceeded to an act of horrid barbarity. Having got into his power an Indian prisoner, his lordship[Pg 119] caused his right hand to be cut off. In this shocking condition he sent the poor creature to Powhatan. At the same time he gave the sachem to understand, that he would serve all the Indians in that manner, if they refused obedience any longer, and that he would destroy all the corn, which was then near to the harvest. Powhatan, consequently, could not but feel the most burning indignation against the Englishman.
Two years after Smith left Virginia, that is, in 1611, Captain Argal treacherously took the king's daughter prisoner, with a view to prevent him from doing injury to the English, as also to extort a large ransom from him, and such terms of peace as they should prescribe. On being informed of the captivity of Pocahontas, connected with the demand that he should restore to the English their men, guns, and tools, taken at different times by the Indians, the stern and wary chief became greatly embarrassed, and knew not what to do. They did not hear from him until at the expiration of three months, when he complied with their demand only in part. This did not satisfy Argal; the demand in full was reiterated; but Powhatan was again, for a long time, silent. The result was, that, in a year or two, Sir Thomas Dale took Pocahontas to the residence of her father, in hopes to effect an exchange, and bring about a peace. Powhatan was absent from home, and the party met with no kindly reception from the Indians, who seemed to take the presence of the English in dudgeon. The latter burned many of their Indian habitations, and gave out threats of other vengeance. This had the effect of inducing some of the Indians to come and make peace, as they called it. Pocahontas had then an opportunity of seeing two of her brothers, which gave her unbounded joy. After the marriage of this excellent Indian woman to Mr. Rolfe, the whites experienced less trouble from Powhatan; though it is believed that they were never entirely exempt from the effects of his policy or his power.
The successors of Powhatan were, first, Opitchapan, and,[Pg 120] next, Opecancanough, both brothers of the emperor. Such was the law of the succession. The first-named chief seems never to have been noted for any distinguishing quality, but is spoken of as being feeble and decrepid. He compared unfavorably with his brother, who, in the council and in the field, was the most conspicuous personage among the Powhatans. He had, during the life-time of the late emperor, procured from the free tribe of the Chickahominies the title of their king.
It was Opecancanough who figured so disastrously in the great massacre of the whites, on the 22d March, 1622, which has been narrated in another place. It was kept a profound secret during four years, and burst upon the settlement like a bolt from heaven. In the vengeance, with which the English followed this act of treachery and blood, it was for some time supposed that Opecancanough was among the killed; but if history does not misguide us, the same sachem, twenty-two years afterwards, executed a still greater massacre upon the English. It is not known how long he had been plotting the extirpation of the whites, but in 1644, all the Indians over the space of country six hundred miles in extent, were joined in the enterprise. The governor and council had appointed a fast-day to be kept through the country upon Good-Friday for the success of the king. On the day before the intended fast, Opecancanough, borne in a litter, led his warriors forward, and commenced the work of death. He was supposed to be near one hundred years old at this time. The massacre commenced in the out-parts of the circumjacent country, and continued two days. The Indians fell suddenly upon the inhabitants, and killed all indiscriminately, to the number of three hundred. Their progress was checked by the arrival of Sir William Berkley, at the head of an armed force.
Subsequently to this massacre (the date has not been ascertained), this bloody chief was taken prisoner. Sir William intended to send him as a present to the king of England. He was, however, prevented from doing it, by[Pg 121] the assassination of Opecancanough. The soldier who was appointed to guard him, fired upon him, and inflicted a mortal wound, it having been, as was supposed, an act of private revenge. Just before the old chief expired, hearing a great noise and crowd around him, he ordered an attendant to lift up his eye-lids, as from age and fatigue the elasticity of his muscles was in a great degree impaired, when he discovered a multitude pressing around him, to gratify the morbid desire of beholding a dying sachem. Aroused with indignation, and little fearing death, he seemed to disregard the crowd; but raising himself from the ground in the spirit of his wonted authority, commanded that the governor should be called to him. When the latter came, the chief uttered in his hearing the impassioned remark: "Had it been my fortune to have taken Sir William Berkley prisoner, I would not meanly have exposed him as a show to my people," and soon after expired. An Indian, whom they afterwards had seized as prisoner, confessed that they attempted this destruction of the English, because[Pg 122] they saw the latter "took up all their lands from them, and would drive them out of the country, and they took this season, for that they understood that they were at war in England, and began to go to war among themselves." These intrusions upon the Indian territory were, however, conformable to the grants of the proprietors, the Indians. Opecancanough could hardly have expected an entire conquest, as his people had already begun to melt away, and the villages of the English planters were springing up over an extent of country of over five hundred miles, with a comparatively large population.
Nickotawance succeeded Opecancanough as a tributary to the English. In 1648, he came to Jamestown in company with several other chiefs, and brought a number of beaver-skins to be sent to the English king. He delivered a prolonged address, which he concluded with the protestation, "that the sun and moon should first lose their glorious lights and shining, before he or his people should ever more wrong the English."
The successor of this chief is supposed to have been Totopotomoi, as he was king of Pamunkey in 1656. In that year, a body of western or inland Indians, to the number of six or seven hundred, came down from the mountainous country, and took possession of the territory about the falls of James river. This fact coming to the knowledge of the legislature of Virginia, which was then in session, it was resolved to dislodge the Indians from their new location, as their situation and proximity were considered dangerous to the whites. The war seems not to have been attended with any success on the part of the colony. The English leader, with one hundred men, and Totopotomoi with one hundred of his warriors, suffered extremely in an engagement. It appears, however, that a peace was not long after concluded with the Indians.
A renowned warrior, Nemattanow, not having been mentioned in the proper order of time, may be introduced here. He was supposed to have had an agency in bringing about[Pg 123] the great massacre of 1622. He was, however, an object of jealousy to Opecancanough, the leader in that tragedy, on account of his popularity among his countrymen. He is said to have been an eccentric and vain person, being wont "to dress himself up in a strange attire and barbaric fashion with feathers," on which account he obtained the name of Jack-of-the-feather. As he had been engaged in many fights with the English, and, though particularly exposed, had never received a wound, he was considered by the Indians to be invulnerable. The cause and manner of his fate were the following: "Only about fourteen days before the massacre, Jack-of-the-feather went to the house of one Morgan, where he saw many such articles exhibited as were calculated to excite admiration in such people. Jack, perhaps, had not the means to purchase, but it seems he was resolved some how or other to possess them. He therefore told Morgan that if he would take his commodities to Pamunkey, the Indians would give him a great price for them. Not in the least mistrusting the design of Nemattanow, the simple Englishman set out for Pamunkey, in company with this Indian. This was the last the English ever heard of Morgan. However strange it may seem, Jack's ill-directing fate sent him to the same place again; and, what was still more strange, he had the cap of the murdered Morgan upon his head. Morgan's servants asked him where their master was, who very deliberately answered that he was dead. This satisfied them that he had murdered him. They therefore seized him, in order to take him before a magistrate at Berkley; but he made a good deal of resistance, which caused one of the captors to shoot him down. The singular part of the tragedy is yet to be related. Though mortally wounded, Nemattanow was not killed outright, and his captors, which were two stout young men, got him into a boat to proceed to Mr. Thorp's, the magistrate. As they were going, the warrior became satisfied that he must die, and with the most extraordinary earnestness, besought that two things might be granted him. One[Pg 124] was, that it should never be told to his countrymen that he was killed by a bullet; and the other, that he should be buried among the English, so that it should never be discovered that he had died, or was subject to death like other men. Such was the pride and vanity exhibited by an Indian at his death."[18]
From the preceding brief notices of the hostile bearing of the savage tribes towards the early Southern planters, it will be apparent that the colonization of that portion of America was no easy matter. The jealousy of the Indians towards their new neighbors was soon excited; nor did the conduct of the colonists serve to allay, but rather to increase it. The cruelty and vindictiveness of the Indians cannot be justified; but in their circumstances may be found, perhaps, some small apology. This was their country: they were proprietors of the soil. Here they lived: here were their altars: here their fathers' sepulchres; and they regarded them with the veneration and love of which they were capable. Who can blame them? Who censure those feelings—that patriotism—that love of liberty, which, when found among civilized nations, are highly extolled? Among the Indian chiefs, there were men of no small sagacity; who, foreseeing the consequences to themselves and people of the thrift and extension of the English—can it be deemed strange that their anticipations were most sad? or that they should adopt every expedient which seemed likely to avert calamities to them most fearful?
IV. PLYMOUTH COLONY AND THE INDIANS.
Early Rencontre at Plymouth—Friendly intercourse established by means of Samoset—Kindness of Squanto—Intercourse with Massasoit—Contemplated Massacre defeated—Jealousy of Caunbitant—Notice of Hobomok.
In the early period of the settlements of New England, the difficulties with the Indians were of less frequent occurrence, than those which took place in the Virginia colony. The providence of God had prepared the way for the pilgrims to enter upon their wilderness inheritance. The power of the Indians had been weakened by sickness, or their dispositions softened, perhaps, in some cases, by their adversities. There were instances, certainly, of singular friendship toward the whites, on the part of these children of nature, as was manifested in Samoset, Massasoit, and others. But the character, objects, and policy of the pilgrims will account, in part, for the comparative freedom from Indian hostility which marked the early era of their settlement in this land. As they came to enjoy and disseminate their religion, they had no motive to irritate or disturb the[Pg 126] aboriginal inhabitants. Wealth was not sought from them, nor any greater portion of the soil than would suffice for their wants, at the same time leaving to the Indian behind the boundless wilderness, which alone he cared for. They would have reclaimed him from heathenism, and taught him religion, science, and the arts of civilised life, had he been pleased to learn them. This was attempted, in some instances, but the success, though a matter of gratitude, was not at any time very considerable. The policy of the fathers was to cultivate peace with all the Indian tribes; and during many years, so far as the settlement of the eastern shore was concerned, the object generally was effected. Still occasionally difficulties would occur, and at length, under a new set of chiefs, the notes of savage warfare rung loud and long over the hills and vales of New England. But we will here speak more particularly of the earliest colony, Plymouth.
The first encounter had with the Indians, preceded the disembarkation of the company of adventurers. It was a select party of some fifteen or sixteen, who had landed with a view to explore the country. Overtaken by night, they set their watch, hoping doubtless to pass the night unmolested; but about midnight they heard a hideous cry. The cry then ceased, and it was then supposed that it had been the noise only of wolves and foxes. About five o'clock, however, they again heard a sudden and strange noise, which they knew to be the same voices, though they varied their notes. One of the company being abroad, came running in, and cried, "They are men, Indians! Indians!" and with this announcement came a shower of arrows. The whites ran out with all speed to recover their arms. The cry of the enemy was terrific, especially when they perceived what the whites were about to do. Their arms being secured, the Indians were ready to make an assault. One, who appeared to be the leader of the latter, a stout athletic man, stood behind a tree within a musket-shot, and there let his arrows fly at the English. Three several shots[Pg 127] were poured in upon him without touching him—at length, one seemed to take effect, as he bounded off, and his company with him, yelling most hideously. It is not known that any blood was shed in this encounter, though the probability is, that the chief was wounded. Of the arrows that were left on the field, several were picked up, and sent as a curiosity to friends in England. Some of them were ingeniously headed with brass, some with harts' horn, and some with the claws of eagles.
An intercourse of an agreeable character between the pilgrims and the natives soon commenced, by means of Samoset, whose manner of introducing himself to the settlement has been mentioned in another portion of this work. The hospitality with which he was treated, secured his friendship and confidence, and he communicated to the settlers, in answer to their inquiries, whatever information he possessed respecting the Indians and the country. He is described by an early historian as having been a tall, strait man, the hair of his head black, long behind, and short before, none at all on his face. He ate and drank freely of that which was offered him; and, although they wished his absence at night, yet he was unwilling to leave, and they could not do otherwise than keep and watch him. This visit of the kind Samoset was an augury of good to the colony. It seemed purely a providential event.
The visit continued only until the next morning, but was repeated in the course of a day or two. His return then brought to the acquaintance of the colony other Indians who accompanied him. They were some of Massasoit's men, whose object was to trade with the English. As Samoset was charged not to let any who came with him bring their arms, these, therefore, left their bows and arrows at a distance from the place. They were entertained in a fitting manner; they ate liberally of the English victuals, and appeared very friendly; "sang and danced after their manner like antics." They were dismissed as soon as it could be done conveniently, without effecting any[Pg 128] trade. Samoset, either being sick, or feigning himself so, would not depart, and contrived to continue several days longer. In this visit, some stolen articles were returned by the Indians, through Samoset's influence.
At the next visit he made, he was accompanied by Squanto, as once before related. The latter was said to be the only native of Patuxet (the Indian name of Plymouth) living there at that period. His captivity and residence in England had prepared him, by understanding the English language, to render service to the colony. Squanto, it appears, was the only person that escaped the great sickness at Patuxet. The extent of its ravages, as near as can be judged, was from Narraganset bay to Kennebec, or, perhaps, Penobscot, and is supposed to have commenced about 1617, and its continuance between two and three years, as it was nearly abated in 1619. According to the account of the Indians, it was a terrific scene, the deaths occurring with such frequency, that the living were not able to bury the dead. In the language of an author of the time, "they died in heaps as they laid in their houses, and the living, that were able to shift for themselves, would runne away, and would let them dy, and let their carcasses ly above the ground without buriall. For in a place where many inhabited, there had been but one (referring to Squanto) left alive to tell what became of the rest." When the pilgrims arrived in this country, their bones were thick upon the ground in many places. Squanto, with another Indian and several Englishmen, was employed, on one occasion, to go in search of an English boy, who had been lost in the woods. Having been informed of some Indians that the boy was at Nauset, they proceeded in a vessel to that place, joined also by Iyanough, the sachem of Cummaquid, and two of his men. Aspinet, the chief at Nauset, being informed by Squanto that his English friends had come for the boy, he came with a great train, and brought the boy with him, one carrying him through the water. Not less than an hundred Indians appeared on this occasion, half of whom attending[Pg 129] the boy to the boat, the rest standing aloof, with their bows and arrows, looking on. The child was delivered up in a formal manner, covered with beads, and Aspinet embraced the opportunity of making peace with the English, the latter giving him a knife, as also one to the kind Indian who first entertained the lost boy, and brought him to Nauset.
Squanto had shown his early attachment to the English, in his conduct towards Captain Dermer, who visited the country the year before the pilgrims arrived here. When the Indians would have killed him on some occasion, Squanto successfully pleaded in his behalf. They had in view the avenging of some murders, which a foreigner, an Englishman, had a while before inflicted on their people. These two Indians, Samoset and Squanto, remained with the English, instructing them how to live in their country. Squanto became an important personage in the Indian politics. He was in the main friendly to the English; but his devices to enhance himself in the eyes of his new friends, or to make himself great in the eyes of his countrymen, were not always wise, and were not, unfrequently, mischievous. In 1622 he forfeited his life by plotting to destroy that of Massasoit. On that occasion, the latter went to Plymouth, burning with rage against Squanto, but the governor succeeded in quieting him for that time. Soon after, he sent a messenger to entreat the governor's consent to his being put to death; but the latter would not be persuaded to yield to his request. Squanto denied all knowledge of the plot. The English, however, seemed well satisfied that Squanto had laid this shallow scheme to set them against Massasoit, thinking they would destroy him, by which means he expected to become chief sachem himself; and this seems the more probable, as Massasoit was, for some time, irreconcilable, because they withheld Squanto from him. When the English understood his object, they assured the Indians that they did not concur in the plot, and that they would do no injury to them, unless the Indians began with the whites. Squanto was sharply[Pg 130] reproved by the governor, but he was so necessary to the welfare of the colony, in respect to its intercourse with the Indians, that he was retained there.
The following instance is related of his manœuvres to possess his countrymen with great fear of the English: He told them that the English kept the plague buried in one of their store-houses, and that they could send it at any time to any place, to destroy whatever persons or people they would, though they themselves stirred not out of doors. This piece of information was of course calculated to inspire them with great terror. Some sagacious Indians at length discovered the trick, by inquiring of the English respecting it.
Squanto died during an expedition or trading voyage, which was undertaken among the Indians of Cape Cod, to buy corn in a time of scarcity. He was pilot on this occasion. He was seized with sickness in the midst of the undertaking, his disorder being a fever, and he bleeding much at the nose, which the Indians reckon a fatal symptom, the disease soon overpowered him. He desired the governor would pray for him, that he might go to the Englishman's God. He bequeathed his effects to sundry of his English friends, as remembrances of his affection.
"Thus died the famous Squanto, or Tisquantum, in December, 1622. To him the pilgrims were greatly indebted, although he often, through extreme folly and short-sightedness, gave them, as well as himself and others, a great deal of trouble."
One of the most interesting personages of Indian history is Massasoit, already spoken of incidentally. His visit to the pilgrims had been previously announced through Samoset and Squanto. He was chief of the Wampanoags, and resided at a place called Pokanet by the Indians, which is now included in the town of Bristol, Rhode Island. He was a friend to the English, and persevered in his friendship to the last. His renown was more in peace than in war, and[Pg 131] is for that reason more precious in the memory of the wise and virtuous.
"It has often been thought strange that so mild a sachem as Massasoit should have possessed so great a country, and our wonder has been increased, when we consider that Indian possessions are generally obtained by prowess and great personal courage. We know of none who could boast of such extensive dominions, where all were contented to consider themselves his friends and children. Powhatan, Pontiac, Little Turtle, Tecumseh, and many more that we could name, have swayed numerous tribes; but theirs was a temporary union in an emergency of war. That Massasoit should be able to hold so many tribes together, without constant war, required qualities belonging only to a few. That he was not a warrior, no one will allow, when the testimony of Annawon is so direct to the point; for that great chief gave Captain Church an account of what mighty success he had formerly in the wars against many nations of Indians, when he served Asuhmequin (Massasoit), Philip's father."
The limits of his country cannot be exactly pointed out, as occasionally the Nipmucks, or inland Indians, owned his sway, and at other times that of the Narraganset sachem. He possessed at least Cape Cod, and all that part of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, between Massachusetts and Narraganset bays, extending into the interior to some distance between Pawtucket and Charles rivers. The distance is not accurately known. This chief had several places of residence, but the favorite one would appear to have been Mount Hope. It has always been deemed a picturesque and beautiful locality. The Indian name, Pokanoket, signifies the wood or land on the other side of the water. There was a place in Middleborough, and another in Raynham, where Massasoit spent some parts of the year, probably the summer.
It was of course in Massasoit's country that the pilgrim fathers had arrived. With their object, and the nature of[Pg 132] their movement, he could not be supposed to be acquainted. These points he made some attempts to ascertain, by sending occasionally some of his men to the settlement at Plymouth. It was in this way that his introduction to the English was brought about, the visit of Samoset and Squanto being the preparation for the event. It was on the 22d of March, 1621, that the great sagamore, with Quadequina, his brother, made his appearance before them. Much caution was observed by each party in respect to the meeting, as they were uncertain of one another's views. But presents were made to the Indians, and much good will was expressed. The following description of the scene has been given: "As Massasoit proceeded to meet the English, they met him with six soldiers, who saluted each other. Several of his men were with him, but all left their bows and arrows behind. They were conducted to a new house which was partly finished, and a green rug was spread on the floor, and several cushions for Massasoit and his chiefs to sit down upon. Then came the English governor, followed by a drummer and trumpeter, and a few soldiers, and, after kissing one another, all sat down. Some strong water being brought, the governor drank to Massasoit, who in his turn drank a great draught, that made him sweat all the while after. They now proceeded to make a treaty, which stipulated that neither Massasoit nor any of his people should do hurt to the English, and that if they did, they should be given up to be punished by them; and that if the English did any harm to him or any of his people, they (the English) would do the like to them." Massasoit is represented as having trembled much on the occasion, through his fear of the English. This was his first visit to the infant colony, and its consequences seem to have been of the most propitious character. He ever afterwards treated the English with kindness, and the compact was followed by a long period of peace.
The only exception to his feelings of friendship for the new comers, arose from the affair of Squanto, as has been[Pg 133] already detailed. Massasoit could not but feel aggrieved; but a sort of necessity seemed to be laid upon them to secure the good offices of Squanto, and they could not know, perhaps, how far he was implicated in wrong. Indeed, it is stated that at one time they were about to deliver up Squanto to Massasoit's men, but that the latter, in their impatience at the delay, went off in a rage.
Sometime during the next summer, Massasoit was visited by several of the English, among whom were Mr. Edward Winslow, Mr. Stephen Hopkins, and Squanto, their interpreter. The object they had in view was to ascertain his place of residence, in the event of having to call on him for assistance, to cement and continue their begun friendship, and particularly to induce him to restrain his men in regard to their visits to the colony, as it was a time of scarcity, and they could not afford to support such vagabonds. They took presents with them, in order to render their visit agreeable to the sagamore, and such was the effect produced. Massasoit was absent at the time, but, being immediately sent for, he soon returned to meet his guests. The report of their guns, upon hearing he was on the way, frightened the Indian women and children to such a degree, that they all fled; but their salutation in the same manner to Massasoit as he drew near, very greatly elated him. He welcomed his guests with kindness, and took them into his house; but they had sorry accommodations and scanty fare. Except tobacco for smoking, their entertainment for the first night was only a supperless bed, as he had no victuals to give them. Their bed, if it might be so called, consisted only of planks, raised a foot from the ground, with a thin mat upon them, with a mixed company to occupy it, so that they were "worse weary of" their "lodgings, than of" their "journey." After fasting two nights and one day, they partook of a scanty, but "timely" meal of boiled fish. In the language of the times, it is related: "Very importunate was he to have us stay with them longer. But we desired to keep the Sabbath at home,[Pg 134] and feared we should either be light-headed for the want of sleep—for what with bad lodging, the savages' barbarous singing (for they used to sing themselves to sleep), lice, and fleas, within doors, and musketoes without, we could hardly sleep all the time of our being there—we much fearing that if we should stay any longer, we should not be able to recover home for want of strength. So that on Friday morning, before the sun rising, we took our leave and departed, Massasoit being both grieved and ashamed that he could no better entertain us."
A sickness with which this sachem was seized, in 1623, occasioned another visit on the part of Mr. Winslow. He had been sent for by the chief to visit him in his distress, accompanied by "one Master John Hampden," then on a visit to the colony, and he took with him medicines and cordials, such as were deemed necessary. As it was a custom, among the Indians, for all the friends of a chief to attend on such occasions, Mr. Winslow found on his arrival that the house was filled with people. They were noisily[Pg 135] engaged in practicing their charms or powows, and all was confusion and uproar—a poor sedative, surely, for a sick man. To keep heat in him, some half dozen women were busily employed in chafing his arms, legs, and thighs. When they had made an end of their incantations, the chief was told that his friends, the English, were come to see him. Unable to see, but learning who it was, he desired to speak with Mr. Winslow. The interview was touching in no small degree, and especially as Massasoit said: "O, Winsow, I shall never see thee again." Like other Indians, he could not articulate the liquid l. By Winslow's kind exertions, however, his sickness began to abate, and the sachem finally recovered, contrary to the expectations of himself and all his friends.
For this attention of the whites, he ever felt grateful, viewing it as the means of his recovery. He gave a striking proof of his appreciation of the favor shown him, even before the departure of Winslow, by informing Hobomok of a plot laid by some of his subordinate chiefs for the purpose of destroying the two English plantations. This he charged him to make known to the English, which was done. Massasoit mentioned, at the same time, that he had been urged to join in it, or give his consent to the plan; but that he had steadily opposed it. The evils which that plot brought upon its authors, will be seen in another place.
Massasoit manifested a great desire for the welfare of his people, as appeared from his inducing Mr. Winslow to go among them, in the midst of a prevailing sickness, and administer to them the medicines and cordials which had proved so efficacious in his own case. This, his paternal regard for his people, raised him still higher in the estimation of the English. Many Indians, before Mr. Winslow left, came to see their chief; some probably from a distance of an hundred miles.
A war, which commenced in 1632, between Massasoit and Canonicus, the sachem of the Narragansets, was speedily terminated by the interference of the English in behalf[Pg 136] of their benefactor. Captain Miles Standish led the force, and accomplished the object with little bloodshed, although the Indians expected a serious contest.
Massasoit showed his kind feeling towards Mr. Williams, in giving up the lands in dispute between him and the Narraganset sachem, since Mr. Williams had bought and paid for all he possessed of the latter. His title was precarious so long as Massasoit laid claim to the territory, as it would then be considered as being within the jurisdiction of Plymouth. The land thus given up, included that which is the island called Rhode Island, Prudence island, and perhaps some others, together with Providence. Agreeably to Massasoit's advice, in regard to the Indian plot for the massacre of the whites, already referred to, that a bold stroke should be struck, and the heads of the plot destroyed, the daring Standish, with a party of only eight men, went into the hostile country to effect the object. The party intended secresy, but the Indians in some way obtained knowledge of it, or mistrusted Standish's design. Accordingly, they began to prepare for the conflict. One of them, Pecksuot, a man of great courage, called a paniese, told Hobomok, he understood the captain was there to kill him and the rest of the Indians there. "Tell him," said Pecksuot, "we know it, but fear him not, neither will we shun him." By their conduct before the English, in sharpening their knives and in their insulting gestures and speeches, they showed how little apprehension they entertained, especially as the English were so inconsiderable in number. Pecksuot even told Standish, that though he were a great captain, yet he was but a little man, and that he himself, though he was no sachem, yet was a man of great strength and courage. Standish little heeded what was said, but watched his opportunity, as the parties were in a house together. After considerable manœuvring, he could get advantage over but a few of the Indians. At length, having got Pecksuot and Wittuwamat, a bloody Massachusetts' chief, both together, with another man and a youth, brother[Pg 137] to Wittuwamat, and like him in character; and having about as many of his own company in the same room, he gave the word to his men to commence the work. The door was at once made fast, and Standish himself began the terrible contest. Snatching from Pecksuot his own knife from his neck, though with a desperate struggle, he pierced with it the athletic Indian, and brought him to the floor. The rest killed Wittuwamat and the other man, and took the youth, whom the captain caused to be hanged. After this, other encounters were had with the scattered Indians, and some three more were also killed.
In justice to the savages, it is worthy of remark, that they were provoked to the conspiracy for which they were so severely dealt with, by the unauthorized aggressions of Weston's men, a colony of sixty Englishmen, who had come over a year or two before, under the direction of Thomas Weston. He was at first a friend of the pilgrims, but became at length their traducer. This company, after living upon the ill-supplied settlers at Plymouth through the winter of 1621-22, had made at Weymouth an inexpedient settlement. The pilgrims prosecuted this bloody enterprise, under the excitement produced by the horrible intelligence from Virginia of the great Indian massacre in that colony. In view of this bloody tale, we cannot but regret the necessity which our fathers felt for engaging in such a work; and we cannot but be touched with the piety and humanity of the godly Mr. Robinson, the father of the Plymouth church, in consequence of the present affair, that "it would have been happy if they had converted some before they had killed any."
Between the years 1649 and 1657, Massasoit sold to the English, at different times, various tracts of land for a valuable consideration. Indeed, being entirely subservient to the English, he claimed to hold little or nothing of his own at length, and ceased to act in his own name. He therefore scarcely appears in the records of the colony, during the three or four last years of his life. He died, it[Pg 138] is believed, in 1662, his son Alexander dying also the same year. Another son, the celebrated Philip, succeeded him. Even Massasoit could be guilty of an Indian trick, as the following instance, related by Governor Winthrop, evinces: Mr. Winslow, on returning from a trading voyage southward, left his vessel, and, traveling by land, called on his old friend Massasoit, who agreed to accompany him during the remainder of the journey. While they were on the way, Massasoit sent on one of his men forward to Plymouth, for the purpose of surprising the people, by the announcement of Winslow's death. As the declaration was believed at Plymouth, from the manner in which the account was given, it produced unmingled grief at the settlement. But shortly, what was their astonishment at seeing him alive, in company with his Indian friend. When it was known that the sachem had caused the sad news to be conveyed to them, they demanded the reason of his conduct in practising such a deception. He gave as a reply, that he might be more welcome when he did return, and that such things were customary with his people.
Of Caunbitant, as one of the Indian chiefs in that region, something deserves to be said. He was one of the most renowned captains within the dominions of Massasoit. The place of his residence was Mettapoiset, in the present town of Swansey. He ever looked upon the English with a jealous eye, considering them as enemies and intruders on the soil, and his plans appeared to be shaped for the destruction of the strangers, as soon as he could find a fitting occasion. In the summer of 1621, he was supposed to be in the interests of the Narragansets, and plotting with them to overthrow Massasoit. He had much also to say against the English, and the peace concluded between Nauset, Cummaquid, and the latter. Against Squanto and Hobomok he indulged a deadly enmity. Discovering, on one occasion, the house where Squanto was, he set a guard around it, and secured him. Hobomok, seeing that Squanto was taken, and Caunbitant holding a knife to his throat,[Pg 139] being a strong man broke away from them, and came to Plymouth, with the news of Squanto's probable death. Upon this, the people sent an expedition of fourteen men, under Standish, to rectify matters. After much toil, this small handful of men arrived at the place where they expected to find Caunbitant. They beset the house, and demanded of the chief if he were there. The savages seemed to be struck dumb with fear. Upon being assured that they sought only Caunbitant, and that every Indian was safe who would be still, they at length, though a few of them endeavored to escape, told the assailants that Caunbitant was returned home with his whole train, and that Squanto was yet living, and in the town. The attack being made in the night, carried terror to the hearts of the Indians, as in the affray a couple of guns were discharged, some of them never having heard the report of fire-arms before. While the English were searching the house, Hobomok got on the top of it, and called Squanto and another Indian, Tokamahamon, whom they sought. They both appeared in a short time, together with several others, some armed and others naked. The captured wigwam was held until daylight, when the prisoners were released, and the little army marched into the town of the Namaskets. Here it seems Squanto had a house to which they went, and where they took breakfast. The issue of the whole was, the giving out of a decree from the court that they held, in which they warned Caunbitant of the consequences of offering violence to Tisquantum, Hobomok, or any of Massasoit's subjects. Caunbitant seemed from this time to lay aside his enmity to the English, or at least his open opposition, as on the 13th of September following he went to Plymouth, and signed a treaty of amity, together with others. The English nevertheless always doubted his sincerity.
What became of this sachem is not known to history. His name appears no more on record after 1623, and it is supposed that he either fled his country, or died about that time.
Hobomok, already spoken of occasionally in the story of others, deserves a more particular notice. He was a notable warrior, who came to Plymouth about the end of July, 1621, and remained with the English to the close of his life. He was the principal means of the lasting friendship of Massasoit, which he took much pains to promote. Esteemed by his own countrymen for his prowess and valor, he was extremely serviceable to the colonists, by teaching them how to cultivate the fruits and grains peculiar to the country. The latter had no reason to apprehend treachery on his part, as Hobomok was a favorite of Massasoit, and one of his principal captains, and was entirely in their interest. The following incident strengthened them in their opinion: The Massachusetts Indians had, for some time, been inviting the settlers into their country to trade for furs. When in March, 1622, they began to make ready for the voyage, Hobomok told the people that he feared the Massachusetts were joined in confederacy with the Narragansets, and that they therefore would seize upon this occasion to cut off Captain Standish and his company abroad; and also, in the mean while, it was to be feared that the Narragansets would attack the town at home, giving reasons for his apprehensions, declaring also that Tisquantum was in the confederacy. He intimated that the latter would use many persuasions to draw the people from their shallops, that the Indians might take advantage of their situation.
They, however, proceeded on their voyage, but had not reached a great distance before a false messenger came running into Plymouth, apparently in great agitation. He informed them that Caunbitant, with many of the Narragansets, and he believed Massasoit with them, were on their way in order to cut off the English. The story was unhesitatingly believed, and their instant purpose was to bring back Captain Standish, who had just left in the boat with Hobomok. The discharge of a cannon from the town brought the company back. They had no sooner arrived than Hobomok assured them there was no truth in the[Pg 141] report, and said it was a plot of Squanto's, who was then in one of the boats. He knew that as to Massasoit, that chief would not engage in such an enterprise without consulting him. Although there was reason to believe this, or at least to confide in the sincerity of Hobomok, yet, as related in another place, the English saw fit to connive at Squanto's practices. "Hobomok was greatly beloved by Massasoit, notwithstanding he became a professed Christian, and Massasoit was always opposed to the English religion himself. He was the pilot of the English when they visited Massasoit in his sickness, whom before their arrival they considered dead, which caused great manifestations of grief in Hobomok. He often exclaimed, as they were on the way, 'My loving sachem! my loving sachem! many have I known, but never any like thee.' Then turning to Mr. Winslow, said: 'While you live, you will never see his like among the Indians, that he was no liar, nor bloody and cruel, like other Indians. In anger and passion, he was soon reclaimed, easy to be reconciled towards such as had offended him; that his reason was such as to cause him to receive advice of mean men; and that he governed his people better with few blows than others did with many.' In the division of the land at Plymouth, among the inhabitants, Hobomok received a lot as his share, on which he resided after the English manner, and died a Christian among them. The year of his death does not appear, but was previous to 1642."[19]
V. ENGLISH AND NARRAGANSETS.
Territory of the Narragansets—Canonicus their sachem—His mode of challenging the English to War—Union proposed between the Pequods and Narragansets—How defeated—Haughty bearing of Miantonimoh—Accused of a conspiracy against the English—Accusations repelled—Peace concluded between him and Massachusetts—War between Uncas and Miantonimoh—The latter captured and delivered to the English—How disposed of—Troubles with the Narragansets under Ninigret—Expedition against him—Issue of it.
The Narragansets were considered a great nation among the Indians. The territory of their sachem extended about thirty or forty miles from Sekunk river and Narraganset bay, including Rhode Island and other islands in that bay. Pawcatuck river separated it from the Pequods. Under the rule of Canonicus, in 1642, this nation was at the height of its greatness, and was supposed to embrace a population of thirty thousand inhabitants. He was sachem of the tribe at the time of the landing of the fathers on the shores of New England, and continued in this capacity to the time of his death, in 1647. He died, it is believed, at a very advanced age. At the period of the settlement of Plymouth, the Wampanoags were in great fear of the Narragansets, and at one time war actually existed. During its continuance, Massasoit fled before Canonicus, and sought the protection of the English.
The Narragansets, at an early period, were not disinclined to seek a quarrel with the English. In view of the weakness of the latter, they began to utter threats, although the summer preceding they had desired and obtained peace. They deemed it a favorable opportunity for their purpose, as the English had just received an addition to their numbers, but not to their arms or provisions—a circumstance of which the Indians were advised. Their desire, or intention, was definitely made known by the following significant circumstance: In February, 1622, Canonicus sent a man, accompanied by one Tokamahamon,[Pg 143] a friendly Indian, into Plymouth, bringing with him a bundle of arrows, bound with a rattle-snake's skin, and, leaving them there, immediately left the place. When Squanto was made acquainted with the incident, he informed the English that it was a challenge for war. The governor (Bradford) taking the rattle-snake's skin, and filling it with powder and shot, returned it to Canonicus. At the same time, he instructed the messenger to bid him defiance, and dare him to the combat. This had the desired effect upon the Indian sachem. He refused to receive the skin, as also the other chiefs, until it was at last returned to Plymouth. Canonicus was evidently awed by the hostile bearing and threat of the English.
Not long after this affair, the Pequods proposed to the Narragansets to join them in rooting out the English: on the ground that if the Pequods were once destroyed, the ruin of the Narragansets was sure to follow. The English would want their lands. They were spreading fast. But a timely combination would save both tribes and their inheritance.[Pg 144] On these politic representations, the historian Hubbard cleverly remarks that, "Machiavel himself, if he had sat in council with them, could not have insinuated stronger reasons to have persuaded them to a peace." It is said that the Narragansets felt the force of them, and were almost persuaded to accede to the proposal, and to join with the others against the English; but when they considered what an advantage they had put in their hands, by the power and favor of the English, to take full revenge of all their former injuries upon their inveterate enemies, the thought of that was so sweet, that it decided their hesitating minds.
The governor of Massachusetts, in order to prevent a union between these savage nations, and to strengthen the bands of peace between the Narraganset Indians and the colony, sent for Miantonimoh, who was their sachem in connection with Canonicus, inviting him to come to Boston. Upon this, Miantonimoh, together with two of the sons of Canonicus, another sachem, and a number of their men, went to Boston, and entered into a treaty to the following effect: That there should be a firm peace between them and the English and their posterity—that neither party should make peace with the Pequods without the consent of the other—that they should not harbor the Pequods—and that they should return all fugitive servants, and deliver over to the English, or put to death, all murderers. The English were to give them notice when they went out against the Pequods, and they were to furnish them with guides. It was also stipulated that a free trade should be maintained between the parties.
These articles were indifferently well observed by the Narragansets till their enemies, the Pequods, were totally subdued; but after that event, they began to grow insolent and treacherous, especially Miantonimoh himself. The English seem always to have been more favorably disposed towards other tribes than to the Narragansets, as appears from the interest they took in the wars between them and their enemies. As long as the other tribes succeeded[Pg 145] against them, the English took no part in the contests; but whenever the Narragansets prevailed, they were ready to intercede.
After the period of the Pequod war, in 1637, the Narragansets were the most numerous and powerful of the Indian tribes in this part of the country. Conscious of their power, and discontented that the whole sovereignty over the rest of the Indians was not adjudged to belong to them, or envious that Uncas, the chief sachem of the Mohegans, had gained the favor of the English more than themselves, they constantly sought occasions of disagreement with the Mohegans. This was in contravention of an agreement made between the English and the Narragansets, in the year 1637, when they had helped to destroy the Pequods, and also the triple league between the English, Mohegans, and Narragansets, entered into at Hartford in 1638. The Narragansets seemed to owe a special spite against Uncas and the Mohegans, from the time of the distribution of the Pequods after the termination of the war. They had probably expected the whole management of that affair for themselves. They therefore found occasions of quarrel with Uncas, and were hardly kept from making open war with him, when they saw all other attempts to destroy him by treachery, poison, and sorcery had failed. The Mohegans, though a less numerous and powerful people than the Narragansets, were yet more warlike in character and more politic in their intercourse with the whites.
The disposition of Miantonimoh was haughty and aspiring, and he seemed to infuse the same spirit into the minds of his people. He possessed a fine figure, was tall of stature, and was a master of cunning and subtlely. It was strongly suspected that, in the year 1642, he had contrived to draw all the Indians throughout the country into a general conspiracy against the English. Letters from Connecticut, received at Boston, had announced the existence of such a conspiracy, and even the details of it were given. The time appointed for the assault was said to be after[Pg 146] harvest—the manner, to be by several companies entering into the houses of the principal men, professedly for the purposes of trade, and then to kill them there; one company seizing their arms, and others being at hand to prosecute the massacre. It was urged on the part of Connecticut, that war should be begun with them, and that if Massachusetts would send one hundred and twenty men to Saybrook, at the mouth of the river, they would meet them with a proportionable number. Though there was a probability in the stories afloat, respecting the Narragansets, yet the general court of Massachusetts did not think the information to be a sufficient ground for commencing a war. The court, however, ordered that the Indians within their jurisdiction should be disarmed, and to this they willingly assented. The sachem of the Narragansets was, moreover, sent for to Boston, and, by his readiness to appear, confirmed the English in the opinion that nothing had as yet occurred which could be construed into a justifiable cause of war. The sachem's quarrel with the Mohegans would very naturally render them a subject of such a report, whether there was a foundation for it or not.
Miantonimoh very consistently urged before the court, that his accusers should be confronted to him, and their allegations sifted, so that the truth might be ascertained—that if they could not prove their charges, they might receive the punishment which was their due, and which would have been inflicted on himself if found guilty, that is, death—and that as the English must have believed the report, because they ordered the disarming of the Indians, so equity required that they who accused him, should be punished according to the offence charged upon his own person. He, moreover, engaged to prove that the report was raised by Uncas himself, or some of his people. On the part of English, the disarming of the Indians was excused on the ground that Englishmen's houses had been robbed in several instances by the Indians, which was a[Pg 147] consideration that somewhat satisfied the chief. The Connecticut people yielded, though with reluctance, to the decision of the Massachusetts court.
They spent two days in making a treaty of peace, the delay being occasioned by the difficulty of obtaining Miantonimoh's consent to a portion of the stipulations. It was, however, effected to the satisfaction of the English. Indian hostages were given for its performance, and, excepting a company stationed in the Mohegan country for the protection of Uncas, the whites laid aside warlike preparations.
In the year 1643, Miantonimoh invaded the Mohegans with nine hundred of his warriors; Uncas met him at the head of five hundred of his men, on a large plain; both prepared for action, and advanced within bow-shot. Before the conflict commenced, Uncas advanced singly, and thus addressed his antagonist: "You have a number of men with you, and so have I with me. It is a pity that such brave warriors should be killed in a private quarrel between us. Come like a man, as you profess to be, and let us fight it out. If you kill me, my men shall be yours; but if I kill you, your men shall be mine." Miantonimoh replied: "My men came to fight, and they shall fight." Uncas had before told his men, that if his enemy should refuse to fight with him personally, he would fall down, and then they were to discharge their missiles on the Narragansets, and fall upon them as fast as they could. This was accordingly done. Uncas instantly fell upon the ground, and his men poured a shower of arrows upon Miantonimoh's army, and with a horrible yell advanced rapidly upon them, and put them to flight. Uncas and his men pressed on, driving them down ledges of rock, and scattering them in every direction. Miantonimoh was overtaken and seized by Uncas, who, by a shout, called back his furious warriors. About thirty Narragansets were slain, among whom were several noted chiefs. Finding himself in the hands of his implacable enemy, Miantonimoh remained silent, nor could Uncas, by any art, force him to break his sullen mood.[Pg 148] "Had you taken me," said the conqueror, "I should have asked you for my life." No reply was made by the indignant chief, and he submitted without a murmur to his humiliating condition. He was afterwards conducted to Hartford, by his conqueror, and delivered to the English, by whom he was held in duress until his fate should be determined by the commissioners of the colonies. After an examination of his case, the commissioners resolved, "that as it was evident that Uncas could not be safe while Miantonimoh lived, but either by secret treachery or open force his life would be constantly in danger, he might justly put such a false and blood-thirsty enemy to death; but this was to be done out of the English jurisdiction, and without cruelty or torture." Miantonimoh was delivered to Uncas, and by a number of his trusty men was marched to the spot where he was captured, attended by two Englishmen to see that no torture was inflicted, and the moment he arrived at the fatal place, one of Uncas' men came up behind, and with his hatchet split the skull of the unfortunate chief. The body was buried on the spot, and a heap of stones piled upon the grave. The place since that time has been known by the name of Sachem's plain, and is situated in the town of Norwich, in Connecticut.[20]
The Narragansets, as was to be expected, ever afterwards bore an implacable malice against Uncas and all the Mohegans, and also for their sakes secretly against the English, so far as they dared to discover it. But the death of Miantonimoh, and the preparation for the invasion of the Narraganset country by the English which had been made, put an end to hostilities for a period in the eastern part of Connecticut.
In continuing the Narraganset history, Ninigret now properly comes into view. As already mentioned, he was sachem of the Nianticks, a tribe of the Narragansets. In 1644, the Narragansets and Ninigret's men united against[Pg 149] the Mohegans, and for some time obliged Uncas to confine himself and men to his fort. The Indians, however, afraid of the English, abandoned the siege, and came in to Boston to sue for peace. This was granted; but a short time after, it became necessary to again terrify them. With twenty men, Captain Atherton marched to the wigwam of Ninigret, entering which, he seized the chief, and threatened his life. This step had the desired effect. The Indians begged for life, and promised submission.
Some time after this occurrence, Ninigret again grew troublesome, and again had to be quieted by an armed force sent against him. In the panic with which he was affected, he submitted to the demands that were laid upon him. Ninigret passed the winter of 1652-53 among the Dutch of New York. This circumstance awakened the suspicions of the English, especially as hostile feelings existed at that time between the Dutch and English. The report from several sagamores was, that the Dutch governor had attempted to hire them to cut off the English. The[Pg 150] consequence was, a special meeting of the English commissioners of the several New England colonies, to consult in reference to this subject. Their object was to ascertain the truth of the rumor, that the Narragansets had leagued with the Dutch, to break up the English settlements. Several of the chiefs of the Narragansets were accordingly questioned by a letter, through an agent living at the Narraganset, in regard to this plot; but their answers were altogether exculpatory. As to any positive testimony that Ninigret was plotting against the English, there appears to be none.
In the year 1652, a war having commenced between England and Holland, it was apprehended that hostilities would take place between the colonies of the two nations in America. A threatening attitude was indeed held for some time by the Dutch of New Netherlands, and forces were raised by the four New England colonies; but no collision occurred. In the event of hostilities, it was believed that the sachem, Ninigret, would lead the Narragansets to the aid of the Dutch, and that he had held a conference with them at Manhattan, in the winter of 1652. Whether that was the case or not, he refused for some time after to treat with the English for a continuance of the peace. Under these threatening appearances, the commissioners of the colonies met, and resolved to raise two hundred and seventy infantry, and forty cavalry, for the purpose of chastising Ninigret's haughtiness, and bringing the Narragansets to terms. The forces were duly apportioned among the colonies. Massachusetts had been at first reluctant, but finally assented to the measure. The commissioners nominated Major Gibbons, Major Denison, or Captain Atherton, to the chief command; leaving it, in complaisance, to the general court of Massachusetts to appoint which one of the three they should please. But, rejecting these, who were men of known courage and enterprise, they appointed Major Simon Willard. The commissioners instructed him to proceed, with such troops as should be[Pg 151] found at the place of general rendezvous, by the 13th of October, directly to Ninigret's quarters, and demand of him the Pequods who had been put under him, and the tribute which was due. If Ninigret should not deliver them, and pay the tribute, he was required to take them by force. He was instructed to demand of the sachem a cessation from all further hostilities against the Long Island Indians. Receiving these and some other instructions, he proceeded into the Narraganset country. When he arrived at the place of rendezvous, he found that Ninigret had fled into a swamp about fifteen miles distant. The latter had left his country, corn, and wigwams, without defence, and they might have been laid waste without danger or loss. He, however, returned without ever advancing from his head-quarters, or doing the enemy the least damage. About a hundred Pequods took this opportunity to renounce the government of Ninigret, and come off with the English army, putting themselves under the control of the whites.
The commissioners in favor of the expedition, were dissatisfied with the conduct of Major Willard, and charged him with having neglected a fair opportunity of chastising the Indians, by the destruction of their dwellings, and their fields of corn. He, however, pleaded in excuse, that his instructions were equivocal, and the season for marching unfavorable. By many people in Connecticut and New Haven, it was believed that the commander was secretly instructed by the government of Massachusetts to avoid depredations on the property of the Indians, and thereby prevent a war, which the latter colony considered to be of doubtful policy. However this may be, it is certain that Major Willard received no censure from the Massachusetts court, and no one doubted his firmness as an officer.
After the return of the English troops from the Narraganset country, Ninigret assumed his former spirit of defiance, and continued the war against the Indians upon Long Island. Both the Indians and the English there were soon thrown into great distress. It became apparent that[Pg 152] these Indians could not hold out much longer, but that they must submit themselves and their country to the Narragansets, unless they should receive speedy aid. In consequence of this state of things, and as these Indians were in alliance with the colonies, measures were taken to aid them against Ninigret. An armed vessel was stationed off Montauk to watch his movements, and forces were held in readiness at Saybrook and New London, to move on the shortest notice, should the hostile chief again attempt to invade the island. Hostilities, however, continued some time, and the tribes in various directions exhibited a strange, changeable conduct. Uncas, in this exigency, was so pressed by the Narragansets, that Connecticut was obliged to send men to his fortress to assist in defending himself against them. The Narragansets, in several instances, threatened and plundered the inhabitants of Connecticut.
In 1657, some mischief was done at Farmington, in which the Norwootuck and Pocomotuck Indians were supposed to be accomplices. Even the Mohegans under Uncas also partook of the hostile spirit, and an assault was made by them upon the Podunk Indians at Windsor. At length the Long Island Indians turned against their friends on the island, and Major Mason was ordered with a force for the protection of the English in that quarter. At last the war, and the difficulties in regard to the Narragansets, having ceased for a period, the English were once more left to pursue the arts of peace, and consummate their labors for colonizing the country.[21]
VI. PEQUOD WAR.
Territory of the Pequods—Their Character—Sassacus—His hatred of the English—Cruelties practised towards them—War declared by Connecticut—Expedition of Captain Mason—Surprise and destruction of the fort—Further prosecution of the war—Happy consequences resulting from it.
The Pequods are supposed to have emigrated from the interior parts of the country, towards the sea-shore of Connecticut. They inhabited more or less of the territory now constituting that state, as well as a part of Rhode Island, and New York as far west as the Hudson river. At what time this emigration took place, is not known. Being a fierce, cruel, and warlike people, they made all the other tribes stand in awe of them, though they were fewer in number than their neighbors, the Narragansets. The principal seat of the Pequod sagamores was near the mouth of the Pequod river, now the Thames, where New London is built. There was said to be one principal sagamore, or sachem, over the rest. He who sustained this distinction, at the time of the English settlements in Connecticut, was Sassacus. His name alone was a terror to all the neighboring tribes of Indians. At the height of his power, he had twenty sachems under him.
Sassacus ever regarded the English with feelings of jealousy and hatred. As he considered them, intruders on his domains, he was determined to expel them, if possible. Fired with rage, he breathed nothing but war and revenge. The utmost effort and art were employed by him to produce a combination of Indian power against them. The Narragansets, as related in another place, barely escaped the snare. But though unable to effect any extensive union, Sassacus was firm in himself, and inspired all the Indians under his influence with the resentment that burned in his own bosom.
Finding war with this powerful and exasperated chief unavoidable, the Connecticut people prepared for it with[Pg 154] such means and resources as they could command. A court was summoned to meet at Hartford on the 1st day of May, 1637, at which it was resolved, that an offensive war should be immediately commenced against the Pequods. Ninety men were ordered to be raised from the three towns on Connecticut river, and Captain John Mason was appointed to command an expedition into the heart of the Pequod country. At the same time, the report of the slaughter and horrid cruelties, committed by this savage tribe against the people of Connecticut, roused the other colonies to exertions against the common enemy. Massachusetts resolved to send two hundred men, and Plymouth forty, to assist the sister-colony in prosecuting the war. Captains Stoughton, Trask, and Patrick, were appointed their commanders.
The troops embarked at Hartford on the 10th of May, and sailed down the river to Saybrook. They consisted of ninety Englishmen, and about seventy Mohegans and river Indians. While at Saybrook, forty of the Indians under Mason, being out at some distance from the place, fell in with about forty of the enemy, killed seven and captured one, who was brought to the fort, and executed by the English. Here the little army was joined by Captain Underhill with nineteen men, who had some months before been sent by the governor of Massachusetts to strengthen the garrison at Saybrook. This accession to his forces permitted Mason to send back twenty of his original number for the protection of the infant settlements on the river, which were peculiarly exposed at this crisis. The whole force, including the Indians, was embodied and directed by Mason. After remaining several days at Saybrook to complete his arrangements, he sailed, with his Connecticut forces, for Narraganset bay, where he arrived on the 19th of May. At this place, two hundred of Miantonimoh's warriors were engaged to accompany the English forces on the expedition. Information was now received from Captain Patrick, that he had arrived at Providence with[Pg 155] forty Massachusetts' men, under orders to join the troops of Connecticut. For various reasons, but chiefly from an apprehension that the Pequods might gain intelligence of the expedition, Mason commenced his march, without waiting for Patrick's company, and soon reached Nehantick, the seat of the Narraganset sachems. Here he was joined by an additional company of Indians—the whole army, including the English, amounting to more than five hundred.
Here they staid over night, and learning that the Pequods held two forts, one at Mystic river and the other about three miles west of that, they resolved, contrary to their original plan of attacking both together, to make a united attack on the Mystic fort, and accordingly commenced their march. After a march of twelve miles, through forests and over hills and morasses, Mason reached the Pawcatuck. The day was very hot, and the men, through the great heat and a scarcity of provisions, began to faint. Here he halted for some time, and refreshed the troops. In the meanwhile, the Indians, who had previously boasted how they would fight, when they learned that the forts were to be actually attacked, and the dreaded Sassacus to be met, were overcome by their fears, and many of them returned home to Narraganset. But the intrepid Mason, resolving to advance, despatched a faithful Indian to reconnoitre the fort, who soon returned with information that the Pequods were unapprised of their danger, and appeared to be resting in entire security. The march was immediately rëcommenced towards Mystic river, and on the night of the 26th, the whole body encamped about three miles from the fort.
"The important crisis was now come when the very existence of Connecticut, under Providence, was to be determined by the sword in a single action, by the good conduct of less than eighty men." They proved themselves, as the event shows, worthy of the occasion, and properly conscious of the interest at stake. To God they[Pg 156] looked for aid and courage, at an hour when the decision was to be made, whether all that they held dear in life should be secured, or wrenched from them for ever.
Two hours before day, the troops were in motion for the assault. At this juncture, Mason's Indians entirely lost their resolution, and began to fall back. The captain bid them not to fly, but to surround the fort at any distance they pleased, and there remain witnesses of the courage of the English. Without delay, the fort was approached on two opposite sides, the Pequods having just before been aroused from sleep by the cry of one of their number, "Owanux, Owanux!"—Englishmen, Englishmen! He had, at that instant, been awakened by the barking of a dog. While the Pequods were rallying, Mason's troops advanced, and poured in a fire through the openings of the palisades, and wheeling off to a side barricaded only with brush, rushed into the fort, sword in hand. Notwithstanding the suddenness of the attack, and their great confusion, the enemy made a desperate resistance. Concealing themselves[Pg 157] in and behind their wigwams, they maintained their ground stoutly against the English, who, advancing in different directions, cut down every Indian they met. But the victory was not certain—it had not been achieved. Mason felt it to be an awful moment. Happily it occurred to him to burn the Indian wigwams. The shout was immediately uttered, "We must burn them!" It was done. In a few moments the mats, with which their dwellings were covered, were in a blaze, and the flames spread in every direction. As the fire increased, the English retired without the fort, and environed it on every side. The Indians now recovering courage, formed another circle exterior to that of the English.
The amazed Pequods, driven from their covert by fire, climbed the palisades, and presenting themselves in full view, more than one hundred were shot down. Others, sallying forth from their burning cells, were shot, or cut in pieces with the sword. In the mean time, many perished in the flames within the fort. The battle, in this locality, continued about an hour, and the scene of terror and blood is hardly to be described. Seventy wigwams were consumed, and between five and six hundred of the enemy, of all descriptions, strewed the ground, or were involved in the burning pile. This victory was achieved with the loss only of two men killed and twenty wounded.
In the course of the attack, in the interior of the fort, Captain Mason's life was in immediate danger. As he was entering a wigwam to procure a firebrand, a Pequod, perceiving him, drew his arrow to the head, with a view to pierce the captain's body. At this critical moment, a resolute sergeant entering in, rescued his commander from imminent peril by cutting the bow-string with his cutlass.
Although the result of the engagement was the complete overthrow of the Pequod camp, yet the situation of the Connecticut army was extremely dangerous and distressing. Two of their troops were killed, and at least one-fourth wounded; the remainder were faint with fatigue and want[Pg 158] of food; they were in the midst of an enemy's country, many miles from their vessels, and their ammunition was nearly expended. The principal fortress of their enemy was but three miles distant, where there was a fresh army, which they knew would be filled with rage, on learning the fate of their comrades. In this perilous condition, while they were consulting on the course to be pursued, their vessels, as if guided by the visible hand of Providence, appeared in sight, steering with a fair wind into the harbor. The little band, however, were not permitted to reach Pequod harbor without additional fighting. For no sooner had the vessels been discovered, than three hundred Indians came from the other fort, and were disposed to attack Captain Mason's party. He, however, so disposed of his few available men, assisted by the Indians with him, who carried the wounded English, that the Pequods were prevented from coming so near as to do any mischief. But the balls of the English muskets took effect on several of their number; and though, when the enemy came in sight of the demolished fort, they raved, and tore their hair from their heads, and rushed forward with the utmost fury to demolish the English, they were taught to repent their rashness. Finding all attempts in vain, to break in upon the little army, they left the victors to pursue the remainder of their way to Pequod harbor unmolested. They entered it with their colors flying, and were received on board the vessels with every demonstration of joy and gratitude.
The troops employed on this expedition, reached their homes in about three weeks from the time they embarked at Hartford. They were received with the greatest exultation. Benisons were poured forth on them from all lips. But to God, especially, as the helper of his people in their fearful trial, did the anthem of praise ascend from the domestic altar and the solemn assembly.
The Pequods, on the departure of Captain Mason, burned their wigwams, destroyed their principal fort, and were with difficulty restrained from putting their own chief, Sassacus,[Pg 159] to death, as they looked upon him as the author of their calamity. They scattered themselves throughout the country, Sassacus, Mononotto, and seventy or eighty of their chief counsellors and warriors, taking their route over Hudson river. In the mean time, Massachusetts, hearing of the success of Mason, despatched a body of one hundred and twenty men under Captain Stoughton, to follow up the victory. Arriving in the enemy's country, the Massachusetts army, finding a body of that tribe in a swamp, made an assault upon them, with the aid of the Narragansets. Some twenty-eight were killed and a larger number taken prisoners.
The court at Connecticut ordered that forty men should be raised forthwith, for the further prosecution of the war, under the same commander. These troops formed a junction with the party under command of Stoughton at Pequod, and the conclusion was immediately to march in pursuit of Sassacus. They proceeded on their way as far as Quinnipiac (New Haven), where, after staying several days, they received intelligence that the enemy was at a considerable distance, in a great swamp to the westward. Here the Indians were met, and an engagement took place, under circumstances of great difficulty to the English, many of whom were nearly mired, but it was nevertheless attended with success. The fighting was of a most desperate character, the assailants finding it nearly impossible to master or dislodge the foe. Under the cover of a fog, after having been watched through the night, Sassacus and sixty or seventy of his bravest warriors broke through the English ranks, and escaped. About twenty Indians were killed, and one hundred and eighty were taken prisoners. The Pequods, who remained in the territory, amounting to some two hundred, besides women and children, were at length divided among the Narragansets and Mohegans, and the nation became extinct.
The character of this war, from the boldness and vigor with which it had been prosecuted, seemed to belong to the[Pg 160] age of romance. It is replete with thrilling incident and daring adventure. Yet the sober, religious spirit and convictions of duty, which accompanied the pilgrims to battle, turn its chivalrous aspect into the features of stern reality and unavoidable necessity. It involved the fate of an infant republic and the interests of posterity. The conquest of the Pequods, while it was so fatal to one party, was productive of the most happy consequences to the other. It struck the Indians throughout New England with such a salutary terror, that they were contented to remain at peace nearly forty years.
VII. PHILIP'S WAR.
Causes of Philip's War—Character of Philip—General spirit of hostility among the Indians—Outbreak at Swansey—Expedition under General Savage—Expedition under Captain Church—Perilous situation of this latter party—Timely arrival of Captain Hutchinson—Second expedition of Captain Church—Critical situation of Philip—Effects his escape—Annoys the back settlements of Massachusetts—Treachery of the Nipmucks—Attack on Brookfield—Bloody affair at Muddy Brook—Attack on Springfield—Attack on Hatfield—Outrages at Northampton—Large force raised by Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut, against the Narragansets—Philip's fortress at Kingston, Rhode Island—Destruction of it—Lancaster destroyed—Other towns burned—Fatal affair at Pawtuxet river, Rhode Island—Stratagem of Cape Cod Indians—Attacks on Rehoboth, Chelmsford, Sudbury, &c.—Expedition of Connecticut troops—Conanchet captured—Long Meadow attacked—Hadley—Fortunes of Philip on the wane—Successful expedition against the Indians at Connecticut river falls—Attack on Hatfield—On Hadley—Remarkable interposition of a stranger at Hadley, supposed to be Goffe—Decline of Philip's power—Pursued by Captain Church—Death of Philip—Disastrous effects of the war—Philip's warriors—Annawon—Reflections.
To communities and nations, crises arrive, in which, through danger and sufferings, they are either overcome and[Pg 162] extirpated, or spring forward to an improved condition after the first hurtful effect of the trial is passed away. The war with Philip constituted such a crisis to the New England colonies. Their danger was imminent—their sufferings were fearful, and the immediate consequences were lamentation, and weakness, and indebtedness. But their recuperative energies soon rëappeared, and a wide door thus became open to extended settlement and population.
The causes of the war lay partly in the condition of the colonies, and partly in the character of Philip. The English settlements were extending far into the wilderness, the home of the Indian, and were rapidly increasing in strength. The natives viewed them as intruders, and considered the probability that, at no distant day, they would be dispossessed of the heritage of their fathers. They were jealous of the designs of the English, and impatient under the encroachments already made. They viewed themselves as the proper lords of the forest, and they now saw that their hunting grounds were abridged, and the wild animals on which they depended for subsistence, were disappearing, as the white man felled the trees, and cultivated the soil, and reared his dwellings.
In view of this progress of the whites, nothing seemed to remain to the native savage but to be forced from his loved haunts, and to lose his cherished possessions, or to arouse, and by a desperate effort of strength and valor to regain all that he once owned.
The individual among the Indians whose foresight most clearly discerned the state of things, and whose spirit was equal to the emergency of attempting to resist it, was Pometacom. He was styled Philip by the English, a nickname given him on account of his ambitious and haughty temper, and by this name he is chiefly known in history. He was the sachem of the Wampanoags, residing at Mount Hope, a younger son of the famous Massasoit, the friend of the whites.
Philip had not spared any pains for a long time to effect[Pg 163] a conspiracy, and to unite the Indians in a general war against the colonists; but it happened that before his plan was matured, his intentions, and those of the Indians generally, were revealed to the English. The Indian who betrayed him was Sausaman, one of Eliot's converts. For this he was murdered by Philip's men; three of whom were seized, tried, and executed. This was the signal for blood. The first attack of the Indians was upon Swansey, several of whose inhabitants were killed.
Philip soon after suddenly left his place of residence and his territory to the English. The occasion of his precipitate retreat, was the following: Additional assistance being needed, the authorities of Boston sent out Major General Savage from that place, with sixty horse and as many foot. They scoured the country on the march to Mount Hope, where Philip and his wife were supposed to be at that time. They came into his neighborhood unawares, so that he was forced to rise from dinner, and he and all with him fled farther up into the country. They pursued him as far as they[Pg 164] could go for swamps; and killed fifteen or sixteen in that expedition.
At the solicitation of Benjamin Church, a company of thirty-six men were put under him and Captain Fuller, who on the 8th of July marched down into Pocasset Neck. This force, small as it was, afterwards divided—Church taking nineteen men, and Fuller the remaining seventeen. The party under Church proceeded into a point of land called Punkateeset, now the southerly extremity of Tiverton, where they were attacked by a body of three hundred Indians. After a few moments' fight, the English retreated to the sea-shore, and thus saved themselves from destruction; for Church perceived that it was the intention of the Indians to surround them. They could expect little more than to perish, but they knew they were in a situation to sell their lives at the dearest rate. Thus hemmed in, Church had a double duty to perform—that of preserving the spirit of his followers, several of whom viewed their situation as desperate, and erecting piles of stone to defend them.
As boats had been appointed to attend upon the English in this expedition, the heroic party looked for relief from this quarter; but though the boats appeared, they were kept off by the fire of the Indians, and Church, in a moment of vexation, bid them be gone. The Indians, now encouraged, fired thicker and faster than before. The situation of the English was now most forlorn, although as yet, providentially, not one of them had been wounded. Night was coming on, their ammunition nearly spent, and the Indians had possessed themselves of a stone house that overlooked them; but, just in season to save them, a sloop was discovered bearing down towards the shore. It was commanded by a resolute man, Captain Golding, who effected the embarkation of the company, taking only two at a time in a canoe. During all this time, the Indians plied their fire-arms; and Church, who was the last to embark, narrowly escaped the balls of the enemy, one grazing the hair of his head, and another lodging in a stake, which happened to stand just before the centre of his breast. The band under Captain Fuller met with a similar fortune, but escaped by getting possession of an old house, close upon the water's edge, and were early taken off by boats. He had two of his party wounded.
Church soon after joined a body of English forces, and again penetrated Pocasset, and renewed his skirmishes with the enemy. The main body of the English, not long after, arrived at the place; on which, Philip retired into the recesses of a large swamp. Here his situation, for a time, was exceedingly critical; but at length he contrived to elude his besiegers; and, effecting his escape, fled to the Nipmucks, by whom he was readily received.
Soon after the war began, an effort had been made by the governor of Massachusetts to dissuade the Nipmucks from espousing the cause of Philip. But at the time, not agreeing among themselves, they would only consent to meet the English commissioners at a place three miles from Brookfield on a specified day. The English authorities[Pg 166] deputed Captains Hutchinson and Wheeler to proceed to the appointed place. They took with them twenty mounted men, and three Christian Indians as guides and interpreters. On reaching the place agreed upon, no Indians were to be seen; upon this, the party proceeded still further; when, on reaching a narrow defile, they were suddenly attacked. Eight men were killed outright, and three mortally wounded; among the latter, was Captain Hutchinson. With the above loss, a retreat was effected; and, under the guidance of the three Christian Indians, the remnant made their way to Brookfield.
They were, however, immediately followed by the Indian foe. Luckily, there was barely time to alarm the inhabitants, who, to the number of seventy or eighty, flocked into a garrison-house. It was slightly fortified about the exterior side, by a few logs hastily thrown up, and in the interior by a few feather beds suspended to deaden the force of the bullets. The house was soon surrounded by the enemy, and shot poured upon it in all directions. But the fire of[Pg 167] the besieged kept the Indians from a very near approach. By persevering exertions, the English were enabled to maintain themselves, until a force under Major Willard came to their relief. He was in the vicinity of Lancaster with forty-eight dragoons, when he learned the critical condition of Brookfield. With a forced march of thirty miles, he reached the place the following night.
At the very time Major Willard arrived at Brookfield, the Indians were contriving some machinery to set the garrison on fire. They first endeavored to effect their purpose by fire-arrows, and rags dipped in brimstone tied to long poles spliced together. But this method was without effect, while it exposed them to the deadly fire of those within the building. They next filled a cart with hemp, flax, and other combustible materials; and this, after they set it on fire, they thrust backward with their long poles. But no sooner had the flame began to take effect, than it was extinguished by an unexpected shower of rain.
Major Willard soon left the region of Brookfield, and marched the principal part of his forces to Hadley, for the protection of the settlements in that quarter. When he had completed his business, he returned to Boston, leaving Lathrop and Beers at Hadley. A considerable number of christianized Indians, belonging to the neighborhood of Hadley, occupied a small fort about a mile above Hatfield. On the occurrence of the difficulties in that region, these, as all other Indians, were watched and suspected of conniving with Philip. To put their fidelity to a test, Captains Lathrop and Beers, with a force of one hundred and eighty men, ordered these Indians to surrender their arms. They hesitated to do so then, but promised a speedy compliance. Yet, on the following night, August 25th, they left their fort, and fled up the river towards Deerfield to join Philip. The English captains commenced a pursuit early the next morning, and came up with them at a swamp, opposite to the present town of Sunderland, where a warm contest ensued. The Indians fought bravely, but were finally routed, with a[Pg 168] loss of twenty-six of their number. The whites lost ten men. The Indians, who escaped, joined Philip's forces, and Lathrop and Beers returned to their station in Hadley.
Near the middle of September, Captain Lathrop was sent from Hadley, with eighty-eight men, to bring away some corn, grain, and other valuable articles from Deerfield. It was at that very time that the company under Captain Mosely, then quartered at Deerfield, intended to pursue the enemy. But upon the 10th of the month, "that most fatal day, the saddest that ever befel New England," Lathrop's company was attacked by the Indians, who had selected a place very advantageous to their purpose, knowing that the English with their teams would pass the road at the spot. The place was at the village now called Muddy Brook, in the southerly part of Deerfield, where the road crossed a small stream (as it now does), bordered by a narrow morass. Here the Indians, in great force, had planted themselves in ambuscade; and no sooner had Lathrop arrived at the spot, than the Indians poured a heavy and[Pg 169] destructive fire upon the columns, and then rushed furiously to close engagement. The English ranks were broken, and the scattered troops were every where attacked. Those who survived, after the first onset, met the foe individually, and endeavored to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Seeking the covert of a tree, each one selected an object of attack, and the awful conflict now became a trial of skill in sharp shooting, on the issues of which life or death was suspended. But the overwhelming superiority of the Indians, as to numbers, left no room for hope on the part of the English. They were cut down every instant from behind their retreats, until nearly the whole number were destroyed. The dead, the dying, the wounded, strewed the ground in every direction. Out of nearly one hundred, including the teamsters, only seven or eight escaped from the bloody spot. The wounded were indiscriminately massacred. This company consisted of choice young men, "the very flower of Essex county, none of whom were ashamed to speak with the enemy in the gate." Eighteen of the men belonged to Deerfield.
Captain Mosely, being only four or five miles distant, heard the sound of musketry, and reasonably concluded what was the cause of the report. By a rapid march for the relief of Lathrop, he arrived at the close of the struggle, when he found the Indians stripping and mangling the dead. At once he rushed on in compact order, and broke through the enemy, charging back and forth, and cutting down all within range of his shot. After several hours of gallant fighting, he compelled the Indians to flee into the more distant parts of the forest. His loss amounted to two killed and eleven wounded.
Until this period, the Indians near Springfield remained friendly, and refused the appeals of Philip, to cöoperate with him against the white population. But now that he held the northern towns, they were closely watched by the English, who supposed that the Indians might take sides with him, as his cause seemed likely to prevail. The suspicions[Pg 170] entertained concerning them were confirmed. On the night of the 4th of October, they admitted about three hundred of Philip's men into their fort, which was situated at a place called Longhill, about a mile below the village of Springfield, and a plan was concerted for the destruction of the place. The plot, however, was revealed by an Indian at Windsor, and the inhabitants of Springfield had time barely to escape into their garrisons. Here they resisted the attacks of the Indians until they received relief from abroad. The unfortified houses, thirty-two in number, together with twenty-five barns, were burned by the savages. The people were reduced to great distress, and had very inadequate means of support through the ensuing winter.
The confidence of Philip and his Indians was now greatly increased by their successes. The next blow which they aimed, was at the head-quarters of the whites, hoping to destroy Hatfield, Hadley, and Northampton, as they had Springfield. But by the providence of God, and the good conduct of the whites, they were effectually foiled. At this time, Captain Appleton, with one company, lay at Hadley, and Captains Mosely and Poole, with two companies, at Hatfield, and Major Treat was just returned to Northampton for the security of that settlement. Against such commanders, it was in vain for the untutored Indian to contend in regular battle. Philip's men, however, made a bold attempt, and seven or eight hundred strong fell upon Hatfield, on the 19th of October, attacking it on all sides at once. They had previously cut off several parties, which were scouring the woods in the vicinity. While Poole bravely defended one extremity, Mosely, with no less vigor, protected the centre, and Appleton, coming on with his troops, maintained the other extremity. After a severe struggle, the Indians were repulsed at every point.
After leaving the western frontier of Massachusetts, Philip was known next to be in the country of his allies, the Narragansets. They had not heartily engaged in the[Pg 171] war; but their inclination to do so was not doubted, and it was the design of Philip to incite them to activity. An army of fifteen hundred English was therefore raised by the three colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut, for the purpose of breaking down the power of Philip among the Narragansets. It was believed that the next spring, that nation would come with all their power upon the whites. Conanchet, their sachem, in violation of the treaty, had not only received Philip's warriors, but aided their operations against the English. These were the grounds of the great expedition against the Narragansets, in the winter of 1675.
Philip had strongly fortified himself in South Kingston, Rhode Island, on an elevated portion of an immense swamp. Here his men had erected about five hundred wigwams, of a superior construction, in which was deposited an abundant store of provisions. Baskets and tubs of corn (hollow trees cut off about the length of a barrel), were piled one upon another, about the inside of the dwellings, which rendered them bullet-proof. Here about three thousand persons, as is supposed, had taken up their residence for the winter, among whom were Philip's best warriors.
The forces destined to the attack of this great rendezvous of Philip and his men, were under command of Governor Winslow, of Plymouth. By reasons of a great body of snow, and the prevalence of intense cold, much time was consumed in reaching the fort. On the 19th of December, they arrived before it; and, by reason of a want of provisions, found an immediate attack indispensable. No Englishman, however, was acquainted with its situation, and, but for an Indian, who betrayed his countrymen, there is little probability that the assailants could have effected any thing against it. The hour of their arrival was one o'clock on that short day of the year. There was but one point where the place could be assailed with the least probability of success, and this was fortified by a kind of blockhouse,[Pg 172]
[Pg 173] directly in front of the entrance, and had also flankers to cover a cross-fire. The place was protected by high palisades, and an immense hedge of fallen trees surrounding it on all sides. Between the fort and the main land was a body of water, which could be crossed only on a large tree lying over it. Such was the formidable aspect of the place—such the difficulty of gaining access to the interior of it.
On coming to the spot, the English soldiers, attempting to pass upon the tree in single file, the only possible mode, were instantly swept off by the fire of the enemy. Still, others, led by their captains, supplied the places of the slain. These also met the same fearful fire, with the same fatal effect. The attempts were repeated, until six captains and a large number of men had fallen. And now was a partial, but momentary, recoil from the face of death.
At length, however, Captain Mosely got within the fort, with a small band of men. Then commenced a terrible struggle, at fearful odds. While these were contending hand to hand with the Indians, the cry was heard, "They run! they run!" and immediately a considerable body of their fellow-soldiers rushed in. The slaughter of the foe became immense, as the assailants were insufficient in strength to drive them from the main breast-work. Captain Church, who was acting as aid to Winslow, at the head of a volunteer party, about this time dashed through the fort, and reached the swamp in the rear, where he poured a destructive fire on the rear of a party of the enemy. Thus attacked in different directions, the warriors were at length compelled to relinquish their ground, and flee into the wilderness.
The Indian cabins, (contrary to the advice of some of the officers, who thought it best that the wearied and wounded soldiers should rest there for a time,) "were now set on fire; in a few moments every thing in the interior of the fort was involved in a blaze; and a scene of horror was now exhibited. Several hundred of the Indians strewed the ground on all sides: about three hundred miserable women[Pg 174] and children with lamentable shrieks were running in every direction to escape the flames, in which many of the wounded, as well as the helpless old men, were seen broiling and roasting, and adding to the terrors of the scene by their agonizing yells. The most callous heart must have been melted to pity at so awful a spectacle. By information afterwards obtained from a Narraganset chief, it was ascertained that they lost about seven hundred warriors at the fort, and three hundred who died of their wounds. After the destruction of the place, Winslow, about sunset, commenced his march for Pettyquamscott, in a snow storm, carrying most of his dead and wounded, where he arrived a little after midnight. Several wounded, probably not mortally, were overcome with cold, and died on their march; and the next day thirty-four were buried in one grave. Many were severely frozen, and about four hundred so disabled that they were unfit for duty. The whole number killed and wounded, was about two hundred." The sufferings of the English, after the fight, were well pronounced to be almost without a parallel in history.
The spirit of Philip animated the Indians even where he was not present, for he was now by some supposed to be beyond the frontier. On the 19th of February, they surprised Lancaster with complete success, falling upon it with a force of several hundred warriors. It contained at that time fifty families, of whom forty-two persons were killed and captured. Most of the buildings were set on fire. Among the captives were Mrs. Rowlandson and her children, the family of the minister of that place, who were afterwards happily redeemed. The town was saved from entire ruin by the arrival of Captain Wadsworth with forty men from Marlborough.
Not far from this time a fatal affair occurred at Pawtuxet river, in Rhode Island. Captain Pierce, of Scituate, with fifty men, and twenty Cape Cod Indians, having passed the river, unexpectedly met with a large body of Indians. Perceiving that their numbers rendered an attack upon[Pg 175] them hopeless, he fell back, and took a position so as to be sheltered by the bank. In this situation, the company was not long secure. Part of the Indians crossed the river, and attacked them from the opposite bank, while the remainder encircled them on the side of the river, where they had sought protection, and poured in upon them a most destructive fire. Hemmed in so effectually, there was no possibility of escape, and nothing was left them but to sell their lives as dearly as possible. This was accordingly done, and before the unfortunate men were nearly all cut off, more than a hundred of the enemy are said to have fallen by the desperate valor of the English.
The Christian Cape Cod Indians showed their faithfulness and courage in this melancholy affair, as also their dexterity and foresight. Four of them effected their escape, and one of these aided the escape of the only Englishman that survived the encounter. One of them, whose name was Amos, after Captain Pierce was disabled by a wound, would not leave him, so long as there was a prospect of rendering him service, but loaded and fired his piece several times. At length, to save himself, he adroitly adopted the plan of painting his face black, as he perceived the enemy had done to their faces. In this disguise he ran among them, and pretended to join them in the fight; but watching his opportunity, he soon escaped into the woods. Of another it is reported, that being pursued by one of the enemy, he sought the shelter of a large rock. While in that situation, he perceived that his foe lay ready with his gun on the opposite side, to fire upon him as soon as he stirred. A stratagem only saved his life. Raising carefully his hat upon a pole, he seemed to the person lying in wait, to have exposed himself to a shot. A ball was instantly sent through the hat, but one was returned in earnest against the head of the enemy. Thus the Christian Indian, through his address, found the means of escape from his singular peril. A similar subtle device was used by another of these Indians, who was pursued as he attempted to cross[Pg 176] the river. Hiding himself behind a mass of earth turned up with the roots of a tree, he was watched by the enemy, in the expectation that he would soon be obliged to change his position. But, instead of doing this, the Cape Cod Indian, perforating his breastwork, made a convenient loophole, and shot his enemy before he had time to notice the artifice. The fourth Cape Cod Indian who escaped, effected his object by affecting to be in pursuit of an Englishman with his upraised hatchet. This ingenious feint, of course, was the means of saving the white man at the same time.
The work of destruction continued among the towns of New England at this period. To a greater or less extent Rehoboth and Providence suffered—also, Plymouth, Chelmsford, and Andover—either men were killed, or dwelling-houses and barns were burned. But the most signal disaster, at this time, fell upon the English in the vicinity of Sudbury. On the morning of the 20th of April, the largest body of Indians which had at any time appeared, attacked the place, and, before a force could be brought against them,[Pg 177] set fire to several buildings, which were consumed. The inhabitants rallied, and bravely defended their homes; and, being soon joined by some soldiers from Watertown, they forced the Indians to retreat without effecting further mischief against the town that day. On hearing the news of the attack on Sudbury, some of the people of Concord flew for its protection. As they approached a garrison-house, a few Indians were discovered, and a pursuit was given them. The flight of the latter proved to be only a decoy, and the Concord people, eleven in number, found themselves ambushed on every side. Fighting with the utmost desperation, they were all cut off except one. The Indians, who remained in the adjoining woods for further depredations, found another opportunity to glut their vengeance against the whites. Captain Wadsworth, hearing of the transactions at Sudbury, marched with several men, joined by Captain Brocklebank and ten others, towards the place. At a mile and a half from the town, five hundred Indians lay in ambush behind the hills. When Wadsworth[Pg 178] arrived at the spot, the Indians sent out a few of their party, who crossed the track of the English, and, being discovered by the latter, affected to fly through fear. Wadsworth, with great want of caution, immediately commenced a pursuit, and was consequently drawn into the ambush. The Indians began the attack with great boldness. For some time, the English maintained good order, and retreated with small loss to an adjacent hill. After fighting four hours, and losing many men, the Indians became doubly enraged, and resolved to try the effect of another stratagem. In this they completely succeeded. They immediately set the woods on fire to the windward of the English, which, owing to the wind, and the dryness of grass and other combustibles, spread with great and fatal rapidity. The English were driven, by the fury of the flames, from their favorable position, and were thus exposed to the tomahawks of the Indians. Nearly all the English fell—some accounts say that they sold their lives, to the last man.
Several towns in the colony of Plymouth, as Scituate, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and Plymouth, were in turn attacked and injured, though not many of their inhabitants were destroyed. They probably betook themselves to the fortified houses, which now became common in the exposed villages.
Connecticut, not being exposed to the incursions of the natives, sent out several volunteer companies in aid of her sister colonies, in addition to the troops required as her quota in the present war. These volunteer forces were raised principally from New London, Norwich, and Stonington, joined by a body of friendly Indians. On the 27th of March, a body of these troops, under Captains Dennison and Avery, penetrated the country of the hostile Narragansets. In the course of their excursion, they struck the trail of a large body of Indians, and commenced pursuit. The latter, upon the approach of the English, scattered in all directions. It proved to be a force commanded by Conanchet. He took a route by himself and, being swift[Pg 179] of foot, hoped to outstrip his pursuers. In crossing a river, however, he accidentally plunged under water, and wet his gun. On this occurrence, he was soon overtaken by a fast-running Pequod, to whom he surrendered himself at once. A young Englishman, coming up, began to put various questions to the chief, who, little liking to be catechised in that manner, replied to him, with a look of contempt: "You much child—no understand matters of war; let your captain come: him I will answer." Conanchet was conveyed to Stonington, and, after a sort of trial, was condemned to be shot by the Mohegan and Pequod sachems. The alternative of life was, however, presented to him, if he would make peace with the English. The chieftain indignantly refused it, and gave utterance to the feelings of his untamed spirit, when his sentence was pronounced, in the sentiment, that "he liked it well that he should die before his heart was soft, or he had said any thing unworthy of himself." Conanchet was the son of the famous Miantonimoh, who was put to death by Uncas, as related in another portion of this work.[22]
When success no longer attended Philip in Massachusetts, those of his allies whom he had seduced into this war began to accuse him as the author of all their calamities. Many of the tribes, therefore, scattered themselves in different directions. The Deerfield Indians were among the first who abandoned his cause, and many of the Nipmucks and Narragansets soon followed their example. Still, Philip, though he had not been much seen during the winter—and it is doubtful, even, where he had spent the most of it—had no intention of abating his efforts against the English. In the month of May, 1676, he was found at the head of a powerful force, in the northern part of Massachusetts, extending many miles on its frontier from east to west. Considerable numbers of his people were also still in and about Narraganset, ravaging and annoying the adjacent English settlements.
Large bodies of the Indians, about this time, anxious to secure the advantages of fishing in Connecticut river, took up positions at the falls, between the present towns of Gill and Montague. This was in the vicinity of the line of country occupied by Philip's forces. They felt the more secure here, as the English forces at Hadley and the adjacent towns were not at this time at all numerous. Two captive lads, who had escaped from the Indians, informed the English of their situation, and the little pains they had taken to guard themselves. The intelligence thus brought induced the people of Hatfield, Hadley, and Northampton, to raise a force, for the purpose of attacking the enemy at so favorable a point. About one hundred and sixty troops were raised, and placed under the command of Captain Turner. They marched silently in the dead of the night, and came upon the Indians a little before the dawn of day, whom they found almost in a dead sleep, and without any scouts abroad, or watching around their wigwams at home.
When the Indians were first awakened by the thunder of[Pg 181] their guns, they cried out, "Mohawks! Mohawks!" as if their own native enemies had been upon them; but the dawning of the light soon rectified their error, though it could not prevent their danger. The loss of the Indians was great: one hundred men were left dead on the ground, and one hundred and forty were seen to pass down the cataract, but one of whom escaped drowning.
The march of the English forces back was, however, attended with no small disaster. The Indians, learning the inconsiderable numbers that had attacked them, rallied in their turn, and hung upon the rear of the English. Their captain, just then enfeebled by sickness, was unable to arrange or conduct his forces as they should have been; and the consequence was a degree of confusion, and their separation into small parties. In this manner, they suffered the loss of thirty-eight men, though the Indians paid dearly for it by the loss of more than a hundred of their warriors on the way. Captain Turner perished in the expedition.
By the destruction at the falls, Philip's forces were seriously diminished; yet his spirit continued unsubdued and undaunted, and he was resolved to retort upon the English the injuries he had sustained. Accordingly, on the 30th of May, six hundred of his warriors appeared at Hatfield, and rushed suddenly into the town. They immediately set fire to twelve unfortified buildings, and attacked several palisaded dwelling-houses. These were bravely defended by the people. In the midst of the fight, as the inhabitants were attacked, whether in their dwellings or at their labors, a party of twenty-five resolute young men crossed the river from Hadley, and came with such animation upon the Indians, and with so deadly a fire, that the latter were driven back. Eventually, the whole body of the enemy was obliged to return, without effecting, as was intended, the complete destruction of the place. They, however, drove off a large number of sheep and cattle.
Massachusetts and Connecticut now increased their forces in this quarter, as it appeared that the foe was determined[Pg 182] on devastating the settlements upon the river. Hadley became next the object of attack, in which about seven hundred Indians were engaged. The assault was made on the 12th of June, the Indians having laid an ambuscade at the southern extremity, and advanced the main body towards the other the preceding night. Though the Indians exhibited their usual fierceness, they were met and repulsed at the palisades. Renewing their attacks upon other points, they seemed resolved to carry the place. Still, they were held in check until assistance arrived from Northampton, when the foe was driven into the woods.
It was during this attack, as is supposed, that the assistance was afforded to the whites which has generally been ascribed to Goffe, one of the fugitive judges from England, which at the time was believed to have been rendered by the guardian angel of the place. In the midst of the confusion and distress of the battle, a gray-headed, venerable-looking man, whose costume differed from that of the inhabitants, appeared, and assumed the direction of the[Pg 183] defence. He arrayed the people in the best manner, showing that he well understood military tactics, led in the battle, and, by his exhortations and efforts, rendered essential aid on the occasion. After the departure of the Indians, he was not observed, and nothing was heard of him afterwards. As it is known that, at that time, Goffe and Whalley were concealed in the house of Mr. Russel in Hadley, it is inferred that one of these men, Goffe (for Whalley was superanuated) left his concealment, in the danger which existed, and put forth the effort here recorded, in order to save the town.
Philip was now secure in no place, but his haughty spirit was untamed by adversity. Although meeting with constant losses, and among them some of his most experienced warriors, he, nevertheless, seemed as hostile and determined as ever. In August, the intrepid Church made a descent upon his head-quarters, at Matapoiset, where he killed and took prisoners about one hundred and thirty of his men. Even Philip escaped with difficulty. So great was his precipitation, that he was obliged to leave his wampum behind, which, with his wife and son, fell into the hands of the victors. That son, it was afterwards ascertained, was sold into slavery, as it was also the mournful fact, with a number of Philip's captured followers. Philip, as stated above, escaped with difficulty. The particulars, as related by Church, are as follow: Church's guide had brought him to a place where a large tree, which the enemy had fallen across a river, lay. Church had come to the top end of the tree when he happened to spy an Indian upon the stump of it, on the other side of the stream. He immediately leveled his gun against the Indian, and had doubtless despatched him, had not one of his own Indians called hastily to him not to fire, for he believed it was one of his own men. Hearing this, in all probability the Indian upon the stump looked about, and Church's Indian, then seeing his face, perceived his mistake, for he knew him to be Philip. Church's Indian then fired himself, but it was too[Pg 184] late. Philip immediately threw himself off the stump, leaped down a bank on the other side of the river, and was out of sight. Church at once gave chase for him, but was unable to discover his course, and only took some of his friends and followers, as has been related.
But from this time, Philip was too closely watched and hotly pursued to escape destruction. His end was rapidly drawing near, his followers mostly deserted him, and he was driven from place to place, until he found himself in his ancient seat near Pokanoket. The immediate occasion of his death is thus narrated: He having put to death one of his own men, for advising him to make peace, this man's brother, whose name was Alderman, fearing the same fate, deserted him, and gave Captain Church an account of his situation, and offered to lead him to his camp. Early on Saturday morning, 12th August, Church came to the swamp where Philip was encamped, and, before he was discovered, had placed a guard about it so as to encompass it, except at a small place. He then ordered Captain Golding to rush[Pg 185] into the swamp, and fall upon Philip in his camp, which he immediately did, but was discovered as he approached, and, as usual, Philip was the first to fly. Having but just awaked from sleep, and having put on part of his clothes, he fled with all his might. Coming directly upon an Englishman and Indian, who composed a part of the ambush at the edge of the swamp, the Englishman's gun missed fire, but Alderman, the Indian, whose gun was loaded with two balls, sent one through his heart and another not above two inches from it. "He fell upon his face in the mud and water, with his gun under him."
This important news was immediately communicated to Captain Church, by the man who performed the exploit; but the captain suffered nothing to be said concerning it, as he wished to dislodge the enemy from his retreat. Philip's great captain, Annawon, had, however, led out about sixty of his followers from their dangerous situation, and, when the English scoured the swamp, they found not many Indians left. These were killed and captured. After the[Pg 186] affair was over, Church communicated to his troops the gratifying intelligence of Philip's death, upon which the whole army gave three loud huzzas. Philip's body was drawn from the spot where he fell, the head taken off, and the body left unburied, to be devoured by wild beasts. With the great chief fell five of his most trusty followers; one of whom was his chief captain's son, and the Indian who fired the first gun in this bloody war. Thus fell this chieftain, who, though an untutored savage, was doubtless a great man—considered in reference to his intellectual resources and the influence he wielded among his compatriots. Had his lot fallen among a civilized race, and fighting as he did for his native country, he had been as illustrious as any hero of any age or clime.
Philip's war proved a most serious concern to the infant colonies. It cost them half a million of dollars, and the lives of above six hundred inhabitants, who were either killed in battle, or otherwise destroyed by the enemy. Thirteen towns and six hundred houses were burned, and there was scarcely a family in the United Colonies that had not occasion to mourn the death of a relative. Dr. Trumbull thinks the loss exceeds the common estimate. He concludes that about one fencible man in eleven was killed, and every eleventh family burned out. But the war was still more disastrous to the Indians. Great numbers of them fell in battle; their lodges were destroyed, and, indeed, their country conquered. Scarcely a hundred warriors remained of the great leading tribe of the Narragansets.[23]
Of Philip's warriors, several were remarkable men.—Among these were Nanunteno, or Cononchet; Annawon, Quinnapin, Tuspaquin, and Tatoson. We can briefly notice but one—the mighty Annawon. We have seen that at the time of Philip's death, he escaped with a number of his men. The place of his retreat was not long after disclosed by an Indian and his daughter, who had been[Pg 187] captured. It was in a swamp in the south-east part of Rehoboth. Captain Church, upon this information, adopted a most daring stratagem to secure Annawon. At the head of a small party, conducted by his informers, Church cautiously approached in the evening the edge of a rocky precipice, under which the chief was encamped, and critically examined the position. The Indians, their arms, their employments, (for they were preparing for a meal,) and other defences, were all noticed by Captain Church; and particularly the fact, that Annawon and his son were reposing near the arms. As he learned from his guide that no one was allowed to go out or come into the camp, except by the precipice, he determined to seek his object in that direction. The Indian and his daughter, according to a concerted plan, with baskets upon their backs, as if bringing in provisions, preceded Church and his men, by their shadows concealing the latter, and descended the rock. In this way, although with great difficulty, they all reached the bottom without alarming the Indians. It happened, singularly enough, that their descent was accomplished without discovery, on account of the noise made by the pounding of a mortar; a squaw being engaged in that work in preparing green dried corn for their supper. Under favor of the noise thus made, the rustling sound proceeding from their leaps from crag to crag was not noticed. Church, with his hatchet in his hand, stepped over the young man's head to the arms. The young Annawon threw his blanket suddenly over his head, and shrunk up in a heap. The old chief started upon end, and cried out Howah! meaning Welcome! Finding that there was no escape, he resigned himself to his fate, and fell back on his couch; while his captors secured the rest of the company. English and Indian amicably ate their supper together, and Church afterwards laid down to rest, as he had not slept during the thirty-six previous hours; but his mind was too full of cares to admit of repose, and after lying a short time, he got up. On one occasion, during the night, he felt suspicious[Pg 188] of Annawon's intentions, as the latter, after attempting in vain to sleep, arose, and left the spot a short time. Returning with something in his hands, (Church having in the mean time prepared himself for the worst,) he placed it on the ground, and, falling on his knees before his captor, said: "Great Captain, you have killed Philip and conquered his country, for I believe that I and my company are the last that war against the English. I suppose the war is ended by your means." His pack consisted of presents, being principally several belts of wampum, curiously wrought, and a red cloth blanket, the royal dress of Philip. These he gave to Church, expressing his gratification in having an opportunity of delivering them to him.
The remainder of the night they spent in discourse, in which Annawon gave an account of his success and exploits in former wars with the Indians when he served Asuhmequin, Philip's father. Annawon, it is said, had confessed that he had put to death several of the captive English, and could not deny but that some of them had been tortured. Under[Pg 189] these circumstances, and considering the exasperation which the English naturally felt, it was hardly to be expected that mercy should be shown him. Church, however, did not intend that he should be put to death, and had earnestly entreated for him; but in his absence from Plymouth, not long after, the old chief was executed.
It is not uncommon with historians and others, to denounce and execrate the conduct of Philip and his warriors, as wanton and savage. They were doubtless cruel—they were savage. The writer would not become their panegyrist. But let it be remembered, that if they cannot be exculpated, there are mitigating circumstances which should always be mentioned in connection with their most inhuman barbarities. The influences of Christianity never bore upon them. They inflicted no greater tortures upon the English than they often inflicted upon other prisoners of their own complexion. But in addition, they were fighting for their own country. They were patriots—and they saw in the progress and prosperity of the English, the downfall of Indian power—the annihilation of Indian title. They were fathers, husbands, and full well did they know that soon their family relations would be broken up—and the inheritance of their children for ever fail. Who can blame them for wishing to perpetuate their hold on their native hunting grounds—or leaving to their posterity an inheritance dear to them as ours is to us?—We cannot justify their treachery—their indiscriminate and wholesale butcheries—but surely we may admire their bravery—their endurance—their patriotism.
VIII. WAR OF WILLIAM III.
Combination of French and Indians against the Americans—Burning of Schenectady—Cause of it—Horrors attending it—Attack upon Salmon Falls—Upon Casco—Results of Expeditions fitted out by New York and New England—Reduction of Port Royal—Atrocities which marked the war—Attack on Haverhill, Mass.—Heroic Conduct of Mrs. Dustan—Peace.
During the three wars of King William, Queen Anne, and George II., the sufferings of the northern colonies were severe and protracted, or were intermitted only at short intervals. The hostility of the Indians was kept alive, and often kindled into a fresh flame, through the agency of European settlers on their northern border. These took up the quarrel of France and England, and sought occasions to molest the subjects of the English sovereign in America.
In King William's War, the French combined with the Indians in bringing fire and sword upon the inhabitants of New England and New York. A connected account need not be given of the disastrous occurrences that took place, during this sanguinary war; but only particular instances of hostilities, and their effects, will be narrated in this portion of the present work.
We commence with the attack on Schenectady. This was made in pursuance of a plan adopted by Count Frontenac, then the governor of Canada, in revenging on the English colonies the treatment which King James had received from the English government, and which had inflamed the resentment of Frontenac's master, Louis XIV. The governor fitted out three expeditions against the American colonies in the midst of winter, of which one was against New York. The attack on Schenectady was the fruit of this expedition. It was made by a party, consisting of about two hundred French and, perhaps, fifty Caughnewaga Indians, under the command of two French officers, Maulet and St. Helene, in 1689-90.
Schenectady was then in the form of an oblong square, having a gate at each extremity. But as one of the gates only could be found, they all entered at that one. The gate was not only open, but was also unguarded. Although the town was impaled, and might have been protected, no one deemed it necessary to close the gate at night, presuming that the severity of the season was a sufficient security. The enemy divided themselves into several parties, and waylaid every portal, and then raised the war-whoop. It was between eleven and twelve o'clock on Saturday night, the 8th of February, when the fearful tragedy commenced. Maulet attacked a garrison, where the only resistance of any account was made. He soon forced the gate, and all the English were slaughtered, and the garrison burned. One of the French officers was wounded, in forcing a house, and thereby wholly disabled; but St. Helene having come to his assistance, the house was taken and all who had shut themselves in it were put to the sword. Nothing was now to be seen but massacre and[Pg 192] pillage on every side. The most shocking barbarities were committed on the inhabitants. "Sixty-three houses and the church were immediately in a blaze. Enciente women, in their expiring agonies, saw their infants cast into the flames, being first delivered by the knife of the midnight assassin. Sixty-three persons were murdered and twenty-seven were carried into captivity."
A few persons were enabled to escape, but being without sufficient clothing, they lost their limbs from the severity of the cold, as they traveled towards Albany.
About noon, the next day, the enemy left the desolated place, taking such plunder as they could carry with them, and destroying the remainder. It was designed, it seems, to spare the minister of the place, as Maulet wanted him as his own prisoner; but he was found among the mangled dead, and his papers burned. The houses of two or three individuals were spared, for particular reasons, while the rest were consigned to the flames.
Owing to the state of the traveling, news of the massacre did not reach the great Mohawk castle, seventeen miles distant, until at the expiration of two days. On the reception of the news, a party commenced a pursuit of the foe. After a tedious route, they fell upon their rear, killed and took twenty-five of them, and effected some other damage.
The second party of French and Indians was sent against the delightful settlement at Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua. At Three Rivers, Frontenac had fitted out an expedition of fifty-two men and twenty-five Indians. They had an officer at their head in whom the greatest confidence could be reposed—Sieur Hertel. In his small band he had three sons and two nephews. After a long and rugged march, Hertel reached the place on the 27th of March, 1690. His spies having reconnoitered it, he divided his men into three companies, the largest portion of which he led himself. The attack was made at the break of day. The English made a stout resistance, but were unable to withstand the well-directed fire of the assailants. Thirty of the bravest of[Pg 193] the inhabitants were cut to pieces; the remainder, amounting to fifty-four, were made prisoners. The English had twenty-seven houses reduced to ashes, and two thousand domestic animals perished in the barns that had been burned.
The third party, which was fitted out from Quebec by the directions of Frontenac, made an attack upon Casco, in Maine. This was commanded by M. de Portneuf. Hertel, on his return to Canada, met with this expedition, and, joining it with the force under his command, came back to the scene of warfare in which he had been so unhappily successful. As the hostile company marched through the country of the Abenakis, numbers of them joined it. Portneuf, with his forces thus augmented, came into the neighborhood of Casco, according to the French account, on the 25th of May, 1690. On the following night, having prepared an ambush, he succeeded in taking and killing an Englishman who fell into it. Upon this occurrence, the Indians raised the war-whoop, and about fifty English soldiers, leaving the garrison to learn the occasion of it, had nearly reached the ambush, when they were fired upon. Before they could make resistance, they were fallen upon by the French and Indians, who, with their swords and tomahawks, made such a slaughter, that but four of them escaped, and those with severe wounds. "The English, seeing now that they must stand a siege, abandoned four garrisons, and all retired into one which was provided with cannon. Before these were abandoned, an attack was made upon one of them, in which the French were repulsed with the loss of one Indian killed, and one Frenchman wounded. Portneuf began now to doubt of his ability to take Casco, fearing the issue; for his commission only ordered him to lay waste the English settlements, and not to attempt fortified places. But, in this dilemma, Hertel and Hopehood (a celebrated chief of the tribe of the Kennebecks), arrived. It was now determined to press the siege. In the deserted forts they found all the necessary tools for carrying on the work, and they began a mine within fifty[Pg 194] feet of the fort, under a steep bank, which entirely protected them from its guns. The English became discouraged, and, on the 28th of May, surrendered themselves prisoners of war. There were seventy men, and probably a much greater number of women and children; all of whom, except Captain Davis, who commanded the garrison, and three or four others, were given up to the Indians, who murdered most of them in their most cruel manner; and, if the accounts be true, Hopehood excelled all other savages in acts of cruelty."
These barbarous transactions, producing alike terror and indignation, aroused New England and New York to attempt a formidable demonstration against the enemy. The general court of Massachusetts sent letters of request to the several executives of the provinces, pursuant to which they convened at New York, May 1st, 1691. Two important measures were adopted, as the result of the deliberations, on this occasion—Connecticut sent General Winthrop, with troops, to march through Albany, there to receive supplies, and to be joined by a body of men from New York. The expedition was to proceed up Lake Champlain, and was destined for the destruction of Montreal. There was a failure, however, of the supplies, and thus the project was defeated. Massachusetts sent forth a fleet of thirty-four sail, under Sir William Phipps. He proceeded to Port Royal, took it, reduced Acadia, and thence sailed up the St. Lawrence, with the design of capturing Quebec. The troops landed, with some difficulty, and the place was boldly summoned to surrender. A proud defiance was returned by Frontenac. The position of the latter happened to be strengthened, just at this time, by a rëinforcement from Montreal. Phipps, learning this, and finding also that the party of Winthrop, which he expected from Montreal, had failed, gave up the attempt, and returned to Boston, with the loss of several vessels and a considerable number of troops. A part of his fleet had been wrecked by a storm.
During the progress of King William's War, the atrocities committed upon the colonists, by the French and Indians, were equal to any recorded in the annals of the most barbarous age. Connected with these, were instances of heroic valor on the part of the sufferers, which are not surpassed by any on the historic page. A specimen will here be related: On the 15th of March, 1697, the last year of King William's War, an attack was suddenly made on Haverhill, in Massachusetts, by a party of about twenty Indians. It was a rapid, but fatal onset, and a fitting finale of so dreadful a ten years' war. Eight houses were destroyed, twenty-seven persons killed, and thirteen carried away prisoners. One of these houses belonged to a Mr. Dustan, in the skirts of the town. Mr. Dustan was engaged in work at some distance from home, but, by some means, he learned what was passing at the place.
Before the Indians had reached his house, he had arrived there, and been able to make some arrangements for the removal of his wife and children. The latter he bid to run. His wife, who had but only a few days before become the mother of an infant, was in no condition to leave her bed. He undertook, however, to remove her, but it was too late. The Indians were rushing on. No time could be lost; and Mr. Dustan turned with despair from the mother of his children, to the children themselves. It became necessary at once to hasten their flight—they were seven in number, besides the infant left with its mother, the eldest being seventeen years, and the youngest two years old. The Indians were upon them, and what could the agonized father do? With his gun he mounted his horse, and riding in the direction of his children, overtook them only about forty rods from the house. His first intention was to take up the child that he could least spare, and escape with that. But, alas! that point he was unable to decide—they were all equally dear to him. He, therefore, determined to resist the enemy, who was on a pursuit, and, if possible, save all. Facing the savages, he fired, and they returned the fire.[Pg 196] The Indians, however, did not choose to follow up the pursuit, either from fear of the resolute father, who continued to fire as he retreated, or from an apprehension of arousing the neighboring English, before they could finish their depredations in the town, and hence this part of the family soon effected their escape.
We now return to the house. There was living in it a nurse, Mrs. Neff, who heroically shared the fate of her mistress, when escape was in her power. The Indians entered the house, and, having ordered the sick woman to rise and sit quietly in the corner of the fire-place, they commenced the pillage of the dwelling, and concluded by setting it on fire. At the approach of night, Mrs. Dustan was forced to march into the wilderness, and seek repose upon the hard, cold ground. Mrs. Neff, in attempting to elude the Indians with the infant, was intercepted. The babe was taken from her, and its brains beat out against a neighboring tree. The captives, when collected, amounted to thirteen in number. That same day they were marched[Pg 197] twelve miles before encamping, although it was nearly night before they set out. Succeeding this, for several days, they were obliged to keep up with their savage comrades, over an extent of country of not less than one hundred and forty or fifty miles. Mrs. Dustan, feeble as she had been, wonderfully supported the fatigue incident to her situation.
After this, the Indians, according to their custom, divided their prisoners. Mrs. Dustan, Mrs. Neff, and a captive lad from Worcester, fell to the share of an Indian family consisting of twelve persons. These now took charge of the captives, and appear to have treated them with no unkindness, save that of forcing them to extend their journey still farther towards an Indian settlement. They, however, gave the prisoners to understand that there was one ceremony to which they must submit, after they had arrived at their place of destination, and that was to run the gauntlet between two files of Indians. This announcement filled Mrs. Dustan and her two companions with so much[Pg 198] dread, that they mutually decided to attempt an escape. Accordingly, after obtaining information from the Indians themselves, as to the way of killing and scalping their enemies, who gave the information without suspecting their object, they laid their plans for taking the lives of the savages. One night, "when the Indians were in the most sound sleep, these three captives arose, and, softly arming themselves with the tomahawks of their masters, allotted the number each should kill; and so truly did they direct their blows, that but two, a boy and a woman, made their escape, the latter having been seriously wounded. Having finished their fearful work, they hastily left the place. As the scene of the exploit was a small island, in the mouth of a stream that falls into the Merrimack, they made use of a boat of the Indians to effect their escape; the others being scuttled to prevent the use of them in pursuit, should the Indians be near; and thus, with what provisions and arms the Indian camp afforded, they embarked, and slowly took the course of the river for their homes, which they reached without accident."
The whole country was startled at the relation of the heroic deed, the truth of which was never questioned. The palpable proofs of their feat they brought with them, and the general court of Massachusetts gave them fifty pounds as a reward, and they received from individuals likewise substantial tokens, expressing the admiration in which the exploit was held. The governor of Maryland, hearing of the transaction, sent them also a generous present.
This is a case where individuals may, perhaps, differ in opinion as to the strict moral propriety of the deed. The necessity of such an act, for relief from suffering, may be estimated differently, according to the different theories which men have adopted. Yet it seems to have been generally, if not universally approved by those who lived contemporaneously with the transaction; and who, from the stern integrity of their character, and from their acquaintance[Pg 199] with the circumstances of the country, were peculiarly well fitted to judge.
Such were some of the striking events during the period of King William's War; a war which continued nearly ten years, and brought incalculable distress upon the colonies. The peace of Ryswick, in 1697, put an end to it; but this peace proved to be of short duration.
IX. QUEEN ANNE'S WAR.
Principal Scenes of this War in America—Attack upon Deerfield—Captivity and Sufferings of Rev. Mr. Williams—Other Disasters of the War—Peace—Death of Queen Anne—Accession of George I.—Continued Sufferings of the Colonies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire—Peace concluded with the Indians at Boston.
King William having deceased in 1702, Queen Anne was seated on the British throne, and war soon began again to rage throughout Europe. England and France, including Spain also, drew the sword, to settle some unadjusted claims between them, and the contest of the parent countries, as usual, soon involved their American colonies. The states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, became the principal scenes of the war in America, the colony of New York being secured from aggression through the neutrality of the Five Nations on her borders. The war, which lasted more than ten years, is generally denominated Queen Anne's War, and was attended with the usual barbarous and distressing results incident to savage warfare.
The drama opened at Deerfield, on the Connecticut river, on the 19th of February, 1704. The preliminaries to it had occurred a little before in the destruction of several small settlements from Casco to Wells in Maine, and the killing and capture of one hundred and thirty people in the aggregate. This was in contravention to the solemn assurance given by the eastern Indians, of peace with New England. As Deerfield was a frontier town, the enemy had watched it for the purpose of capture from an early period. Indeed, it had been constantly exposed to inroads, during King William's War, but had resolutely maintained its ground, and increased in size and population, especially from the termination of that war. It was palisaded, though imperfectly; several detached houses were protected by slight fortifications, and twenty soldiers had been placed within it. They had, however, been quartered about in different houses, and, forgetting their duty as soldiers, were[Pg 201] surprised with the rest of the inhabitants. There was a great depth of snow upon the ground, a circumstance which gave the enemy an easy entrance over the pickets. The commander of the French was Hertel de Rouville.
The assailants, in approaching the place, used every precaution to avoid disturbing the soldiery or the inhabitants by noise in walking over the crusted snow, stopping occasionally, that the sound of their feet might appear like the fitful gusts of the wind. But the precaution was unnecessary, for the guard within the fort had retired, and fallen asleep. None, of all who were in the village, awaked, except to be put immediately into the sleep of death; to be doomed to a a horrible captivity, or to effect a difficult and hazardous escape into the adjacent woods amidst the snows of winter. The houses were assaulted by parties detached in different directions; the doors were broken open, the astonished people dragged from their beds, and pillage and personal violence in all its forms ensued. They who attempted resistance, were felled by the tomahawk or musket.
Some of the separate features of this work of destruction and scene of agony, deserve particular notice, and will ever call up the painful sympathies of the reader of history. The minister of the place, the Rev. John Williams, who subsequently wrote a narrative of the affair, and of his own captivity, was a conspicuous actor and sufferer in the sad tragedy. Early in the assault, which was not long before the break of day, about twenty Indians attacked his house. Instantly leaping from his bed, he ran towards the door, and perceived a party making their entrance into the house. He called to awaken two soldiers who were sleeping in the chamber, and had only returned to the bedside for his arms, when the enemy rushed into the room. Upon this, as he says, "I reached my hands up to the bed-tester for my pistol, uttering a short petition to God, expecting a present passage through the valley of the shadow of death." He levelled it at the breast of the foremost Indian, but it missed fire: he was immediately seized by three Indians, who[Pg 202] secured his pistol, and, binding him fast, kept him naked in the cold, nearly the space of an hour. One of these captors was a leader or captain, who soon met the fate he merited. Says Mr. Williams, "the judgment of God did not long slumber, for by sun-rising he received a mortal shot from my next neighbor's house." This house was not a garrison, but being defended by seven resolute men, and as many resolute women, withstood the efforts of three hundred French and Indians. They attacked it repeatedly, and tried various methods to set it on fire, but without success; in the mean while suffering from the fire which was poured upon them from the windows and loop-holes of the building. The enemy gave up the attempt in despair. Mrs. Williams having been confined but a few weeks previously, was feeble—a circumstance which rendered her case hopeless; but her agony was intensely increased by witnessing the murder of two of her little ones, who were dragged to the door, and butchered, as was also a black woman belonging to the family. Rifling the house with the utmost rudeness,[Pg 203] the enemy seized Mrs. Williams, ill as she was, and five remaining children, with a view to carry them into captivity.
While these transactions were in progress, a lodger in the house, Captain Stoddard, seized his cloak, and leaped from a chamber window. He escaped across Deerfield river, and finding it necessary to secure his feet from injury, he tore the cloak into pieces, and wrapped them up in it, and was thus enabled, though in great exhaustion, to reach Hatfield. An assault was made upon the house of Captain John Sheldon, but the door was so strong and so firmly bolted, that the enemy found it difficult to break or penetrate it. Their only resort, therefore, was to perforate it with their tomahawks. Through the aperture thus made, they thrust a musket, fired, and killed Mrs. Sheldon, a ball striking her as she was rising from her bed in an adjoining room. The mark of the ball was long to be seen in a timber near the bed, the house having been carefully preserved, bearing upon the front door the marks of the Indian hatchet. In the mean time, the son and son's wife of Captain Sheldon, sprang from a chamber window at the east end of the building; but unfortunately for the lady, her ankle became sprained by the fall, and being unable to walk, she was seized by the Indians. The husband escaped into the adjoining forest, and reached Hatfield. The enemy at length gaining possession of the house, reserved it on account of its size as a dépôt for the prisoners taken in the village.
At the expiration of about two hours, the enemy having collected the prisoners, and plundered and set fire to the buildings, took up their march from the place. Forty-seven persons had been put to death, including those killed in making the defence. "We were carried over the river to the foot of the mountain, about a mile from my house," says Mr. Williams, "where we found a great number of our Christian neighbors—men, women, and children—to the number of one hundred, nineteen of whom were afterwards murdered in the way, and two starved to death near Coos[Pg 204] in a time of great scarcity and famine the savages underwent there. When we came to the foot of the mountain, they took away our shoes, and gave us Indian shoes, to prepare us for our journey."
At this spot, a portion of the enemy was overtaken by a party of the English, consisting of the few who had escaped, together with the men who had defended the two houses, and a small number from Hatfield, and a brisk fight ensued. The little band, however, was in danger of being surrounded by the main body of the enemy's troops, as they came into the action, and, accordingly, they were compelled to retreat. They left nine of their number slain. The attack on the enemy, under such circumstances, indicated the resolute and sympathizing spirit of the people, but it had well nigh proved fatal to the prisoners. Rouville, fearing, at one time, a defeat, had ordered the latter to be put to death, but, providentially, the bearer of the message was killed before he executed his orders. They were, nevertheless, held in readiness to be sacrificed in the event of disasters happening to the enemy.
Soon after the termination of the skirmish, Rouville commenced his march for Canada. Three hundred miles of a trackless wilderness were to be traversed, and that too at a very inclement season of the year. The prospects of the captives were gloomy beyond description. Many were women, at that time under circumstances requiring the most tender treatment. Some were young children, not sufficiently strong to endure the fatigues of traveling. Infants there were, who must be carried in their parents' arms, or left behind to be butchered by the savage or frozen on the snow; and, of the adult males, several were suffering from severe wounds.
The first day's journey was but four miles, and was signalized by the murder of an infant. The Indians, however, seemed disposed generally to favor the captives, by carrying on their backs such children as were incapable of traveling. From mercenary motives, they wished to keep[Pg 205] all alive that they could, as the captives would bring a price, or be serviceable to them in some way, in Canada. It was no sentiment of compassion that moved them; for, as soon as their patience failed them, the miserable captive, whether man, woman, or child, was knocked on the head. At night, they encamped in a meadow, in what is now Greenfield, where they cleared away the snow, spread boughs of trees, and made slight cabins of brush, for the accommodation of the prisoners. The strongest of the latter were bound after the Indian manner that night, and every subsequent night, in order to prevent escape. In the very first night, one man broke away and escaped, and, at the same time, Mr. Williams, who was considered the principal of the captives, was informed by the commander-in-chief, that if any more attempted to escape, the rest should be put to death.
In the second day's march occurred the death of Mrs. Williams. In the course of the route, it became necessary to cross Creek river, at the upper part of Deerfield meadow. From some change of conductors, Mr. Williams, who had before been forbidden to speak to his fellow-captives, was now permitted to do it, and even to assist his distressed wife, who had begun to be exhausted. But it was their last meeting, and most affecting was the scene. She very calmly told him that her strength was fast failing, and that he would soon lose her. At the same time, she did not utter the language of discouragement or of complaint, in view of the hardness of her fortune. When the company halted, Mr. Williams' former conductor resumed his place, and ordered him into the front, and his wife was obliged to travel unaided. They had now arrived at the margin of Green river. This they passed by wading through the water, which was about two feet in depth, and running with great rapidity. They now came to a steep mountain, which it was necessary to ascend. The narrative of Mr. Williams says, here: "No sooner had I overcome the difficulty of that ascent, but I was permitted to sit down, and to be unburthened of my pack. I sat pitying[Pg 206] those who were behind, and entreated my master to let me go down and help my wife, but he refused. I asked each of the prisoners, as they passed by me, after her, and heard that, passing through the above said river, she fell down, and was plunged all over in the water; after which, she traveled not far; for, at the foot of the mountain, the cruel and blood-thirsty savage who took her, slew her with his hatchet, at one stroke." The same day, a young woman and child were killed and scalped.
After some days, they reached the mouth of White river, where Rouville divided his force into several parties, who took different routes to the St. Lawrence. Mr. Williams belonged to a party which reached the Indian village St. Francis, on the St. Lawrence, by the way of Lake Champlain. After a short residence at that village, he was sent to Montreal, where he was treated with kindness by the governor, Vaudreuil.
In the year 1706, fifty-seven of these captives were conveyed to Boston in a flag-ship, among whom were Mr. Williams and all his remaining children (two having been ransomed and sent home before), except his daughter Eunice, whom, notwithstanding all his exertions, he was never able to redeem, and whom, at the tender age of ten years, he was obliged to leave among the Indians. As she grew up under Indian influence, having no other home, and no other friends who could counsel and guide her, she adopted the manners and customs of the Indians, settled with them in a domestic state, and, by her husband, had several children. She became also, it is said, a Catholic, and ever afterwards firmly attached to that religion. This, perhaps, is scarcely a matter of surprise, as the sentiment was, the more easily instilled into her mind, from her age and the circumstances in which she was placed. Some time after the war, she visited her relations at Deerfield, in company with her husband. She was habited in the Indian costume, and, strange as it may seem, though every persuasive was used to induce her to abandon the savages, and to remain among her connections, all was in vain. She continued to lead[Pg 207] the life of a savage, and, though she repeated her visits to her friends in New England, she uniformly persisted in wearing her blanket and counting her beads. Two of the children of Mr. Williams, after their return, became worthy and respectable ministers; one at Waltham, the other at Long Meadow, in Springfield.
The captive Mr. Williams, upon his return to the colony, was desired, by the remnant of his Deerfield friends, to resume the duties of his pastoral office in that place. He complied with their request, and, having rëmarried, reared another family of children, and died in 1729.
During Queen Anne's War, no other single tragedy occurred like that of Deerfield; but, at all times, the enemy were prowling about the frontier settlements, watching, in concealment, for an opportunity to strike a sudden blow, and, having done irreparable mischief, to escape with safety. The women and children retired into garrisons; the men left their fields uncultivated, or labored with arms at their sides, and having sentinels posted at every point whence an attack could be apprehended. Yet, notwithstanding these precautions, the Indians were often successful, killing sometimes an individual, sometimes a whole family, sometimes a band of laborers, ten or twelve in number; and, so alert were they in their movements, that but few of them fell into the hands of the whites.
Queen Anne died in 1714, and George I., of the house of Brunswick, ascended the throne of England. During the reign of the latter, a state of warfare existed between the enemy and the colony of Massachusetts and New Hampshire for several years, distressing to the former, but attended by few signal conflicts, disasters, or victories. At length, however, it was discovered that the Indians, although instigated still by the French, were not averse to peace. Accordingly, towards the latter part of the year 1725, a treaty was concluded at Boston, and the next spring was ratified at Falmouth. A period of tranquillity succeeded this event in the northern colonies.
X. WAR OF GEORGE II.
War between England and France, 1744—French take Canso—Effect of this Declaration of War upon the Indians—Attack upon Great Meadows (now Putney)—Also, upon Ashuelot (now Keene)—Expedition against Louisburg—Particulars of it—Surrender of it—Continuance of the War—Various places assaulted—Savage Barbarities following the surrender of Fort Massachusetts—Peace declared.
The attempts to maintain peace with the Indians were successful through a number of years. The most happy expedient which the English adopted for that purpose, was the erection of trading-houses, where goods were furnished by government to be exchanged for furs, which the Indians brought to them. This had the effect of conciliating the Indians, and, as it stimulated their industry, it was more serviceable to them than direct gifts. In the course of time, however, they began to be restive. Their intercourse with the whites, for trading purposes, renewed reminiscences of the attacks and cruelties committed upon the exterior settlements. The Indians were wont to boast of their feats, and of the tortures inflicted upon the captured English; in some instances, the friends of those with whom they were now holding intercourse. They were disposed frequently, when provoked or intoxicated, to threaten to come again, with the war-whoop and the tomahawk. Hence, individual acts of violence occasionally took place, at or near the trading-towns, and it was evident that, whenever war between the English and French should commence, there would be a reiteration of the former scenes and acts of atrocity.
The day of blood at length arrived. It was in the year 1744, that England and France again commenced hostilities. The intelligence no sooner crossed the Atlantic, than the frontiers of the colonies became the area of the conflict, and the blood-thirsty savage took up his hatchet, with the intention of giving vent to his long pent-up vengeance. George II. had been on the throne several years.
Before the proclamation of war was known at Boston, the French governor of Cape Breton sent a party to take Canso, which was effected, and the captives were conveyed to Louisburg. The proclamation of war seems to have had a singular effect on the Indians, who had manifested a degree of attachment to the whites. It awakened the naturally ferocious feelings of the savage—feelings that had been for some time suspended; and, forgetting the many ties of acquaintance and friendly intercourse, he easily fell back upon those habits of carnage and plunder, in which he was originally nurtured. The effect of the proclamation of war, on all the other Indians, was to have been expected, as gratifying their long-indulged desires of mingling in the scenes of murder and pillage. It was an unhappy circumstance, in regard to the Indians who had been indulged with so intimate an intercourse with the whites, that they were perfectly acquainted with all the routes from Canada to the various English settlements, thus serving as guides for others, or facilitating their predatory irruptions.
With a wise foresight, upon the first intimation of war, several new forts were ordered to be built in exposed parts of the country, the western regiments of militia in Massachusetts were called on for their quotas of men to defend the frontiers in that quarter, and scouting parties were employed in various places for the purpose of discovering the incursions of the enemy, and ferreting out their trails. But happily, during the first year, they remained quiet, or were secretly making their preparations for the part they intended hereafter to enact.
The Indians commenced operations in July, 1745, at the Great Meadow, now Putney, on the Connecticut, and a few days after at upper Ashuelot (Keene), killing at each place an individual. Somewhat later in the year, the Great Meadow was the scene of another attack, with a small loss to the whites, as also to the Indians. The vigilance of the colonists, however, was so unceasing, that but little[Pg 210] opportunity at this time was afforded for the gratification of their malignity.
The eyes of the New England colonists were now fixed on one great enterprise, the reduction of Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, a place of incredible strength, which had been twenty-five years in building. Accordingly, four thousand troops from the several colonies, as far as Pennsylvania, were raised, the command of which was assigned to William Pepperell. On the 4th of April, 1745, the expedition had arrived at Canso. Here they were detained three weeks on account of the ice. At length Commodore Warren, according to orders from England, arrived at Canso in a ship of sixty guns, with three other ships of forty guns each. After a consultation with Pepperell, the commodore proceeded to cruise before Louisburg. Soon after, the general sailed with the whole fleet. On the 30th of April, landing his troops, he invested the city. A portion of the troops on the north-east part of the harbor, meeting with the warehouses containing the naval stores, set them on fire. The smoke, driven by the wind into the grand battery, so terrified the French, that they abandoned it. After spiking the guns, they returned to the city. Colonel Vaughan, who conducted the first column, took possession of the deserted battery. With extreme difficulty, cannon were drawn up for fourteen nights successively, from the landing-place, through a morass to the camp. It was done by men with straps over their shoulders, and sinking to their knees in the mud; a service which oxen or horses on such ground could not have performed. The cannon of the forsaken battery were drilled, and turned with good effect on the city.
On the 7th of May, a summons was sent to the commanding officer of Louisburg, but he refused to surrender the place. The efforts of the assailants were then renewed, and put forth to the utmost, both by the commodore's fleet and the land forces. Their efforts were at length crowned with success. Discouraged by the whole aspect of affairs, Duchambon, the French commander, felt under the necessity[Pg 211] of surrendering; and, accordingly, on the 16th of June, articles of capitulation were signed.
This expedition, and its success, are one of the most striking events in American warfare. It established the New England character for a daring and enterprising spirit, and it became equally the boast and the fear of Britain. The daring and the prowess that effected such an achievement, might one day be arrayed against the integrity of the British empire in America. Pious people considered that this victory was wrought out by a special guiding and cöoperating Providence.
After the loss of Louisburg, the conflicts on the borders became more frequent and fatal. The enemy was exasperated, and determined to give the colonists no rest. Various places on the Connecticut were accordingly attacked, but chiefly settlements in New Hampshire, the results of which were very distressing to individual families. Charlestown, Keene, New Hopkinton, Contoocook, Rochester, and many other places whose situations exposed them to the enemy[Pg 212] were attacked, and a greater or less number of individuals were killed, wounded, or captured.
One attack may be stated in detail; it followed the surrender of Fort Massachusetts to Vaudreuil's French and Indian forces, an honourable capitulation, which took place in the summer of 1746, the fort having defended itself as long as its ammunition lasted. The narrative is given in the language of another: "Immediately after the surrender of Fort Massachusetts, about fifty of Vaudreuil's Indians passed Hoosack mountain, for the purpose of making depredations at Deerfield, about forty miles eastward. Arriving near the village on Sunday, they reconnoitered the north meadow, for the purpose of selecting a place of attack upon the people, as they should commence their labor the next morning. Not finding a point of attack suited to their design, which seems to have been rather to capture than to secure scalps, they proceeded about two miles south, to a place called the Bars, where were a couple of houses, owned by the families of Arnsden and Allen, but now deserted; and early in the morning formed an ambuscade on the margin of a meadow, under the cover of a thicket of alders, near which was a quantity of mown hay. The laborers of the two families, accompanied by several children, then residing in Deerfield village, proceeded to their work in the early part of the day, and commenced their business very near the Indians, who now considered their prey as certain. But a little before they commenced their attack, Mr. Eleazer Hawks, one of the neighboring inhabitants, went out for fowling; and, approaching near the ambuscade, was shot down and scalped. Alarmed at the fire, the persons fled down a creek towards a mill, fiercely pursued by the Indians. Simeon Arnsden, a lad, was seized, killed and scalped; Samuel Allen, John Sadler, and Adonijah Gillet, made a stand under the bank of Deerfield river, near the mouth of the mill creek, whence they opened a fire on the Indians. Soon overpowered, Allen and Gillet fell; but Sadler escaped to an island, and thence across the[Pg 213] river, under a shower of balls. In the mean time, others, making for the road leading to the town, were closely pursued, and Oliver Arnsden, after a vigorous struggle for his life, was barbarously butchered. Eunice, a daughter, and two sons of Allen (Samuel and Caleb) were in the field; Eunice was knocked down by a tomahawk, and her skull fractured, but, in the hurry, was left unscalped. Samuel was made prisoner, and Caleb effected his escape by running through a piece of corn, though the Indians passed very near him. Notwithstanding the severity of her wounds, Eunice recovered, and lived to an advanced age."[24]
Although the war between England and France was terminated by the treaty of peace at Aix-la-Chapelle, on the 18th of October, 1743, yet tranquillity did not immediately follow. The frontiers continued to be ravaged, and the comfort and progress of the settlers were seriously interrupted, for a time, beyond the general pacification. The basis of the peace, as settled at Aix-la-Chapelle, was the mutual restoration of all places taken during the war: Louisburg, the pride and glory of the war, reverted to the French, to the grief and mortification of New England.
XI. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
Declaration of War between England and France—Causes of the War—Mode of conducting it—Various Expeditions planned—Nova Scotia taken from the French—General Braddock's signal defeat—Failure of Expeditions against Niagara and Fort Frontenac—Expedition against Crown Point—Battle of Lake George—Campaign of 1756—Inefficiency of Lord Loudon—Loss of Fort Oswego—Indian Atrocities in Pennsylvania—Campaign of 1757—Massacre at Fort William Henry—Campaign of 1758—Capture of Louisburg—Unsuccessful Expedition against Ticonderoga—Capture of Fort Frontenac—Fort du Quesne taken—Campaign of 1759—Ticonderoga and Crown Point taken—Niagara Captured—Siege and Capture of Quebec—Death of Wolfe and Montcalm—Final Surrender of the French Possessions in Canada to the English—Peace of Paris.
After a few years of peace, during which the colonies had somewhat repaired their wasted strength and resources, a declaration of war was made between Great Britain and France in the summer of 1756. There had been an actual state of warfare for two previous years, causing no small grief and annoyance to the colonies, who had fondly hoped longer to enjoy the blessings of tranquillity, and prosecute their schemes of improvement. An invaluable blessing, however, ultimately flowed from the renewed conflict of arms—as, from this time, that federation took place among the separated provinces, which was consummated afterwards in their independence as a nation. The prosecution of a common object, such as was presented in the French and Indian War, naturally concentrated and united their energies, and evolved, at length, the idea of a more perfect political association.
The causes of the war grew out of the encroachments of the French upon the frontier of the English colonies in America. Such, at least, was the allegation on the part of England. France had established settlements on the St. Lawrence, and at the mouth of the Mississippi, and commenced the gigantic plan of uniting these points by a chain of forts, extending across the continent, and designed to[Pg 215] confine the English colonists to the eastern slope of the Alleghanies. The French possessed considerable military strength in their northern colonies. They had strongly fortified Quebec and Montreal, and, at other points, the frontiers were defended by Louisburg, Cape Breton, and the forts of Lake Champlain, Niagara, Crown Point, Frontenac, and Ticonderoga. And they had, also, a fort of some strength at Du Quesne, now the spot on which Pittsburg is built.
The establishment of French posts on the Ohio, and the attack on Colonel Washington, were declared, by the British government, as the commencement of hostilities. The French, however, allege the intrusion of the Ohio Company upon their territory, as the immediate cause of the war. General Braddock, at the head of fifteen hundred troops, had been despatched to America. On his arrival in Virginia, he requested a convention of colonial governors to meet him there, to confer on the plan of the ensuing campaign. They accordingly met, and three expeditions were resolved upon—one against Du Quesne, to be conducted by General Braddock; one against forts Niagara and Frontenac, to be commanded by Governor Shirley; and one against Crown Point, to be led by General Johnson. The last-named expedition was a measure proposed by Massachusetts, and was to be executed by troops raised in New England and New York. In the mean time, a fourth expedition, which had been previously concerted, was carried on against the French forts in Nova Scotia. This province, it seems, after its cession to the English, by the treaty of Utrecht, was still retained, in part, by the French, as its boundaries were not defined. They had built forts on a portion of it which the English claimed. To gain possession of these, was the object of the expedition. About two thousand militia, under Monckton and Winslow, embarked at Boston, on the 20th of May, 1755; and, having been joined by three hundred regulars, when they had arrived at Chignecto, on the Bay of Fundy, they proceeded against[Pg 216] Beau Sejour, now the principal post of the French in that country.
This place they invested and took possession of, after a bombardment of a few days. Other forts were afterwards attacked and taken, and the whole province was secured to the British, according to their idea of its proper boundaries.
The military operations at the South, during this time, proved to be disastrous in the extreme. One of the most signal defeats took place in Virginia, that the annals of American history have recorded. It had been a total loss of a large army (large for the colonial warfare), but for the prudence and valor of our youthful Fabius, George Washington. He saved a portion of it, while the whole was exposed to utter annihilation, through the pride and ill-calculating policy of its leader. General Braddock was not wanting in valor, or in the knowledge of European tactics; but he little understood the proper mode of meeting Indian warfare, and had the greater misfortune of unwillingness to receive advice from subordinates in office.
The object of the expedition under Braddock, was the reduction of Fort du Quesne. At the head of two thousand men, he commenced his march; but, as it was deemed an object of great importance to reach the fort before it could be rëinforced, he marched forward with twelve hundred men, selected from the different corps, with ten pieces of cannon, and the necessary ammunition and provisions. The remainder of the army was left under the command of Colonel Dunbar, to follow with the heavy artillery, by moderate and easy marches.
Washington, who was his aid, and well acquainted with the peculiarities of Indian warfare, foresaw the danger which was impending, and ventured to suggest the propriety of employing a body of Indians, who had offered their services. These, had the commander seen fit to accept the advice, would have proved serviceable to him as scouting and advanced parties. Or had he, as was[Pg 217] also suggested to him, as a matter of safety, placed the provincial troops in his army in front, he would have avoided the danger. These troops, consisting of independent and ranging companies, accustomed to such services, would have scoured the woods and morasses, and guarded against an ambuscade. Despising the enemy, undervaluing the colonial troops, and confiding only in his own valor and the splendid array of his well-drilled British regulars, he fearlessly pursued his way. The natural and necessary impediments were many, and he did not reach the Monongahela until the 8th of July. The next day he expected to invest the fort, and in the morning he made a disposition of his forces, in accordance with that expectation. His van, consisting of three hundred British regulars, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gage, and he followed, at some distance, with the artillery and main body of his men, divided into small columns.
"Washington had the day before rëjoined the army, from which he had been a short time detained by severe illness. It was noon on the 9th of July, when, from the height above the right bank of the Monongahela, he looked upon the ascending army, which, ten miles from Fort Du Quesne, had just crossed the stream for the second time. Every thing looked more bright and beautiful than aught he had ever witnessed before. The companies in their crimson uniform, with burnished arms and floating banners, were marching gayly to cheerful music as they entered the forest."
But soon and suddenly, how changed the scene! How many exulting soldiers that entered the forest, were destined never to emerge from it, into the light of day! How many hearts that were throbbing with hope at the prospect of an easy victory, were to be hushed for ever! Heedless of danger, Braddock pressed forward, the distance of seven miles only still intervening between his army and the contemplated place of action. Suddenly, in an open wood, thick set with high grass, there burst upon them the Indian war-whoop and a fierce fire from an unseen enemy on[Pg 218] every side. A momentary confusion and panic ensued—many fell, and, the ranks being broken, there was danger of an ignominious flight. None could at first tell who might be or where lurked the foe that was dealing death at so fearful a rate. Braddock, however, rallied his forces, but mistakingly deemed it necessary to fight, even under these circumstances, according to European tactics, and to preserve a regular order of battle. Thus he kept his soldiers in compact masses, as fair marks for the Indian bullet or arrow, without the possibility of effectually meeting the foe. At this critical moment, personal valor was of no avail. Discipline and art, combined action, and orderly movement, brought not the enemy where he could be foiled. There was, indeed, a momentary suspension of the fight, resulting from the fall of the commanding officer of the foe, but the attack was quickly renewed with increased fury—the van fell back on the main army, and the whole body was again thrown into confusion. Had an instant retreat, or a rapid charge without observance of orderly military movements been commanded, the result might have been very different. But Braddock, too ignorant of the right course, or too bigoted to the European method of battle, refused to adopt either expedient. Continually fired upon, and losing his brave men by scores, he still made efforts to form his broken and wasting troops on the very spot where they were first attacked, thus bringing the living to supply the places of the dead, and offering needlessly, and without any countervailing advantage, successive holocausts to the demon of battle.
The enemy was small in numbers, and hardly calculated on the possibility of defeating the English army. Annoyance and delay, seemed to be all that they expected to accomplish; but permitted securely, in the two ravines on each side of the road where they were concealed, to fire upon the English, they could but triumph. The Indians, taking leisurely aim at the officers, swept them from the field, and all but Washington were either killed or wounded.[Pg 219] He, as aid to Braddock, was peculiarly exposed, as he rode over every part of the field to carry the general's orders. Indeed, the sharp-shooters endeavored to take him off, as well as the rest, but he was providentially preserved. No instrument of death might be wielded with effect upon him. The superstitious Indians were struck by the phenomenon of his escape, and concluded that he was not to be killed. One of them afterwards averred that he shot at him seventeen times in succession, and was forced to yield to the conviction that he was invulnerable. At the close of the battle, four bullets were found in his coat, and it was known that two horses had been killed under him.
After an action of three hours, General Braddock, who had fearlessly breasted the vollies of the enemy, and had lost successively three horses from under him, received a mortal wound. His troops no longer maintained their position, but fled in terror and dismay. The provincials remained last on the field, and effected an orderly retreat, protecting, at the same time, the regulars in their flight.[Pg 220] The defeat was most signal, and the loss of life appalling. The proud army, at the close of the contest, counted but one-half of its entire number. Sixty-four officers were killed and wounded. The remains of the English forces sought their companions under Dunbar, forty miles distant. Braddock could proceed no farther, and there expired. The army, with Dunbar for its leader, was soon after marched to Philadelphia, where it found its winter-quarters. Thus, in the fatal results of that expedition, the whole frontier of Virginia was left exposed to the French and Indians.
Of the enterprise against Niagara and Fort Frontenac, it may suffice to say, that it utterly failed. We proceed, therefore, to that against Crown Point, the rendezvous for which was at Albany. On the last of June (1755), four thousand troops arrived at Albany, under the command of General William Johnson and General Lyman. Here the sachem Hendrick joined them with a body of his Mohawks. As a portion of the troops, together with the artillery, batteaux, provisions, and other necessaries for the attempt on Crown Point, could not be immediately got ready, General Lyman advanced with the main body, and erected Fort Edward, on the Hudson, for the security of the apparatus above named, which was to be forwarded by Johnson.
Towards the end of August, General Johnson moved his forces forward more northerly, and pitched his camp at the south end of Lake George. Here he learned that two thousand French and Indians, under the command of Baron Dieskau, had landed at South bay, now Whitehall, and were marching toward Fort Edward for the purpose of destroying the English transports and munitions of war. It was resolved the next morning, in a council of war, to send out a large detachment of men to intercept Dieskau's army on its way. To perform this service, Colonel Ephraim Williams, of Deerfield, was appointed, at the head of twelve hundred troops, two hundred of whom were Indians. Dieskau, who was an able commander, had made an advantageous disposition to receive the English. While he kept[Pg 221] the main body of his regulars with him in the center, he ordered the Canadians and Indians to advance on the right and left in the woods, with a view to surround their opponents. When the American troops had arrived considerably within the ambuscade, the Mohawk sachem, Hendrick, who had been sent out too late with his band, was hailed by a hostile Indian, and instantly there commenced a sharp fire. This brought on the action sooner than was intended by Dieskau, who had ordered his flanking parties to reserve their fire till the firing should proceed from the center. It was his design to let the English troops get completely inclosed before the firing commenced, in which case there would have been an entire defeat of the English. The discharge of arms necessarily became general, after the flanking parties had begun; but the advantage was altogether on the side of the ambuscaders. The provincials fought bravely, but finding that they were in danger of being hemmed in from every quarter, they were obliged to retreat. The loss of the Americans was considerable. Colonel Williams was killed. Hendrick and a number of his Indians, who fought with great intrepidity, were left dead on the field. The retreating troops joined the main body, and waited the approach of their now exulting assailants.[25]
It was nearly noon when the enemy appeared in sight of Johnson's army. The battle of Lake George, which was the consequence of their meeting, occurred on the 8th of September. The American army was encamped on the banks of that lake, and covered each side of a low thick morass. To form a sort of breastwork, trees had been felled, and this was his only cover against an attack. It happened most favorably that, two days before, General Johnson had received several cannon from Fort Edward. The enemy marched up in front of the breastwork within the distance of one hundred and fifty yards. Soon the grand and central attack was commenced, while the[Pg 222] English flanks were beset by the Canadians and Indians. The distant platoon fire of the French did but little execution; and the English, summoning resolution, entered with increased spirit upon the defence of their position. Working their artillery with vigor, they compelled the Indians and Canadian militia to flee into the swamps. Dieskau, under these circumstances, was forced to order a retreat. It was not effected with much success, as his troops were thrown into irrecoverable disorder, and their flight was hastened by a party pursuing them from the English camp. The baron met the frequent fate of war—he received his death-wound from a soldier, who, meeting him alone, mistook a movement on the part of the general, which was intended as propitiatory, for an attempt at self-defence, and discharged his piece at him. He was feeling for his watch to give to the soldier. His wound proved fatal, but not until he had reached England.
When the baron's army halted, after its retreat or flight, it happened, just as they were about to take refreshment, that[Pg 223] two hundred men of the New Hampshire forces, which had been detached from Fort Edward to the aid of the main body, fell upon the French, and put many of them to the sword. Their dead bodies were thrown into a small lake, which, from this circumstance, was afterwards called "the bloody pond."
The spirits of the colonists, which had been so depressed by Braddock's defeat, were greatly revived, but the issue of the battle of Lake George was not otherwise beneficial. The success was by no means followed up according to the expectations of the country. No further effort at this time was made to reduce Crown Point; but the remainder of the campaign was employed by Johnson only in strengthening the works at Fort Edward, and erecting on the site of the battle a fort, which he called William Henry.
Johnson, in his official letter respecting the engagement, makes no mention of General Lyman, although the latter held the command most of the day, as Johnson was wounded early in the action. This was an instance of ingratitude and selfishness highly unbecoming a soldier, especially as the consideration bestowed on himself was a baronetcy and five thousand pounds sterling.
The campaign of 1756, the year in which the public declaration of war was made, makes but an indifferent figure in American history. Expeditions against Niagara, Crown Point, Fort Du Quesne, and other places, were projected; but they severally failed. On the other hand, before the close of the summer, the Marquis de Montcalm, an efficient officer, who succeeded Dieskau, with a large force of regulars, Canadians, and Indians, took the important fort of Oswego, on the south side of Lake Ontario, which gave him the command of the lakes Ontario and Erie, and of the entire country of the Five Nations. Sixteen hundred men were taken prisoners; Colonel Mercer, the commanding officer, was killed, and the loss in cannon, mortars, batteaux, and other military resources, was great.
During this unfortunate year, a single military adventure[Pg 224] on the confines of Pennsylvania, shows that the colonists were not insensible to the Indian depredations, and to the duty of attempting to repress them. Fort Granby, in that state, was surprised by a party of French and Indians, who made the garrison prisoners. Departing, in this instance, from their usual custom of killing and scalping the captives, they loaded them with flour, and thus drove them into the wilderness. In another quarter, the Indians on the Ohio barbarously killed, in their incursions, above a thousand inhabitants of the western frontiers. To avenge this outrageous conduct, Colonel Armstrong, with a party of two hundred and eighty provincials, marched from Fort Shirley, on the Juniata river, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Philadelphia, to Kittaning, an Indian town, the rendezvous of these murdering savages, and destroyed it. An Indian chief, called Captain Jacobs, defended himself through loop-holes of his log cabin. As the Indians refused the quarter which was offered them, Colonel Armstrong gave orders to set their houses on fire. This was at once[Pg 225] executed, and many of the Indians perished by the flames and suffocation. Numbers were shot in attempting to reach the river. Jacobs, his squaw, and a boy called the king's son, were fired upon as they were attempting to escape out of the window, and were all killed and scalped. It is computed that between thirty and forty Indians were destroyed in this attack. Eleven English prisoners were also released.
On this occasion, a Captain Mercer was wounded, and conveyed away by his ensign and eleven men. He afterwards returned safe with twenty-three men, and four released prisoners. He is believed to be the distinguished General Mercer of the United States army, who died of wounds received in the battle of Princeton in 1776.[26]
The campaign of the succeeding year, 1757, is chiefly memorable in our annals for the dreadful massacre of the English at Fort William Henry, on the 9th of August, and which deserves a particular recital. Fort William Henry was commanded at this time by Colonel Monroe, a British officer. Being vigorously pressed, and unable to obtain assistance from General Webb, who was at Fort Edward with the main army, and having burst many of his guns and mortars, and expended most of his ammunition, he had no alternative but to surrender. By the capitulation which was signed, the troops were allowed to retain their arms, and as a protection against the Indians, were to receive an escort for their march to Fort Edward. Soon after, a detachment of the French army took possession of the fort. At the same time, the Indians, impatient for plunder and blood, rushed over the parapets, and were ready for operations. Colonel Monroe, perceiving their object, and dreading to remain within the camp exposed to their cupidity and vengeance, gave orders for marching about midnight. Preparations accordingly were made, but it was found that a large body of Indians was on the road[Pg 226] with a view to intercept his march. Safety, therefore, did not permit them to leave the camp.
Early in the morning they began their march, but their situation was worse now than it had been before, with the savages threatening and prowling around them. Armed with tomahawks or other instruments of death, they filled the woods, and commenced their work of plunder and butchery upon the retreating British. Monroe complained to the French commander, and demanded the promised escort. This was not furnished, probably, as the French themselves feared the Indians; but the British were advised to yield to the former their private property, as the means of appeasing the foe, and saving life. This was very generally done, but it produced no effect, except to increase their rapacity. Whatever was withheld, they seized, and many were stripped almost entirely of their clothing, and some even to nudity. They rushed upon the sick and wounded, whom they killed and scalped; the negroes, mulattoes, and friendly Indians, were then dragged from the ranks, and shared the same fate. The English troops, under these circumstances, did as they could, until they reached a French guard on the way. They were followed by the insulting, robbing, and murdering savages. "The women accompanying the troops, unable to resist, were seized, their throats cut, their bodies ripped open, and their bowels torn out, and thrown in their faces; the children were taken by the heels, and their brains dashed out against the rocks and trees; and it is stated that many of the savages drank the heart's blood of their victims, as it flowed reeking from the horrid wounds."
General Webb, on receiving intelligence of the capitulation, ordered five hundred men to meet the captured troops, and conduct them to his camp; but, to his surprise, instead of meeting the escort, he found the captives flying, through the woods singly, or in small groups, some distracted, and many bleeding with dreadful wounds, faint, and in a state of exhaustion. The whole number[Pg 227] massacred and carried off, was probably not far from three hundred.
The ill successes and losses of several campaigns now roused the people, both in the parent-country and in the provinces, to the consideration of more vigorous measures, under more able men. Accordingly, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, the greatest statesman of modern ages, was brought forward at the present crisis, and infused his own ardent and decisive spirit into the national counsels. He sympathized with his trans-Atlantic brethren, and assured them, in a circular which he addressed to the governors of the provinces, that an effectual force should be sent against the French the next year, to operate both by sea and land. In connection with such a force, they were expected to raise their full quotas of troops, according to the number of the inhabitants. Animated by the favorable change in the parent-country, the government of Massachusetts voted seven thousand men, Connecticut five thousand, and New Hampshire three thousand, and the troops were ready for service in the early part of the year (1758). An armament of twelve thousand troops having been sent out from England, commanded by General Amherst, and the British forces already in America, added to the number of soldiers raised by the colonies, constituted an army far greater than had been before seen on this side of the ocean.
The expeditions proposed for the year were three—the first against Louisburg, the second against Ticonderoga, and Crown Point, and the third against Fort Du Quesne. The feelings of resentment against the enemy were strong, and the colonists engaged heartily in the movements; for Canada was filled, so to speak, "with prisoners and scalps, private plunder, and public stores and provisions, which our people, as beasts of burden, had conveyed to them." The enterprise against Louisburg was conducted by the land and naval commanders, Amherst and Boscawen, with twenty ships of the line, and fourteen thousand men. As the British minister had in view the absolute extinction of[Pg 228] the French power in America, it was of the highest importance to take Louisburg, as a key to the possession of the capital of Canada.
The armament arrived before the place on the 2d of June. The commander of the garrison, the Chevalier de Drucourt, was an officer of experience and courage. His force, however, was not large, consisting of twenty-five hundred regulars, and six hundred militia. But the harbor was so strongly secured, that it was found necessary to land the English forces at some distance from the town. The landing was effected with difficulty, though with little loss. General James Wolfe, who then commenced his distinguished military career, was detached with two thousand men to seize a post occupied by the enemy at the Light-house point, from which the ships in the harbor and the fortifications in the town might be greatly harassed. The post was abandoned on the approach of Wolfe, and very strong batteries were erected there. Approaches were also made on the opposite side of the town, and the siege was urged with skill and vigor. The cannonade kept up against the town and the ships in the harbor was so effective, that there seemed to be little prospect of defending the place, and the government offered to capitulate Louisburg, with all its artillery, (two hundred and twenty-one pieces of cannon and eighteen mortars,) and a very large quantity of stores and ammunition; as also the Island Royal, St. John's, and their dependencies, were surrendered to the English. The speedy result was also the entire possession of the island of Cape Breton. The loss to the garrison was upwards of fifteen hundred men—to the assailants, about four hundred killed and wounded. In England, the trophies of the victory were publicly exhibited, and the event was religiously noticed in all the churches. In New England the joy was great, and the victory there also commemorated with public thanksgivings.[27]
Of the second expedition, under General Abercrombie,[Pg 229] against Ticonderoga, it may suffice to say, that, notwithstanding its strength, numbering fifteen thousand troops, with a formidable train of artillery and the usual appliances, it utterly failed, through the unskilfulness and rashness of Abercrombie himself. Fort Frontenac, however, on the return of the army from their dépôt, was besieged and captured. The success of this last enterprise prepared the way for the reduction of Fort Du Quesne, the third object of the campaign of 1758. This expedition was entrusted to General Forbes. The fort, however, was found to have been abandoned by the French and Indians. It was now taken possession of by the English, who named it Pittsburg, in compliment to the British minister. Upon this event, the Indian tribes on the Ohio submitted to the English. The gloom which spread over the colonies by the defeat at Ticonderoga, was, in a measure, dissipated by the successes of Amherst and Forbes.
For the campaign of 1759, three expeditions were proposed—one against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, to be conducted by Amherst—a second against Niagara, under Prideaux—and a third against Quebec, to be conducted by General Wolfe.
On the 22d of July, Amherst, in accordance with the above plan, invested Ticonderoga with twelve thousand provincials and regulars, and soon succeeded in capturing that important fortress. Following this, the village of St. Francis, situated at the mouth of the river of that name was destroyed.
It had been the resort of Indian robbers and murderers, where were deposited the scalps and plundered goods of hundreds of hapless Englishmen. It was taken and destroyed by a party under Major Rogers, after a series of adventures and hair-breadth escapes, which have more the appearance of romance than reality. There was a general conflagration of the cabins, and out of three hundred inhabitants, two hundred were killed, twenty women and children captured, and five English prisoners in the village set free.
The army destined against Niagara, was composed principally of provincials, rëinforced by a strong body of friendly Indians. It was placed under the command of General Prideaux, who commenced the siege of the place on the 6th of July. While directing the operations of the place, he was killed by the bursting of a shell. The command of the army then fell upon Sir William Johnson, who prosecuted the enterprise with judgment and vigor. The French, alarmed at the prospect of losing a post which formed the communication between Canada and Louisiana, in the mean while, made a strenuous effort to raise the siege, by collecting a large body of troops from several neighboring garrisons. These were brought, on the morning of the 24th, in battle array against the besiegers, ushered in by the horrible sound of the Indian war-whoop. The French charged with great impetuosity, but the English maintained their ground, and eventually repulsed them with signal slaughter. The fate of Niagara was now decided. The next day a capitulation was signed, and this portion of the country fell into the hands of the English.
The grand enterprise for the reduction of Quebec was entrusted, as already noticed, to the gallant and accomplished Wolfe, who sailed from Halifax early in the season, and near the last of June landed the whole army on the island of Orleans, a few miles below Quebec. Here the sight presented to him of the formidable position and works of the enemy by no means served to encourage expectations of success. But his resolution and desire of victory overcame every other sentiment.
"The city of Quebec rose before him upon the north side of the St. Lawrence; its upper town and strong fortifications situated on a rock, whose bold and steep front continued far westward parallel with the river, its base near the shore; thus presenting a wall which it seemed impossible to scale. From the north-west came down the St. Charles, entering the St. Lawrence just below the town, its banks high and uneven, and cut by deep ravines; while armed vessels were borne upon its waters, and floating batteries obstructed its entrance. A few miles below, the Montmorenci leaped down the cataract into the St. Lawrence;[Pg 232] and strongly posted along the sloping banks of that river, and between these two tributaries, the French army, commanded by Montcalm, displayed its formidable lines."
We necessarily pass over several ineffectual attempts of Wolfe to draw Montcalm from his strong intrenchments into a general engagement, during which, and in consequence of excitement under their repeated failure, he fell sick. When, however, he had so far recovered as to assume the command, a plan was proposed to him by his generals for getting possession of the heights in the rear of the city, where it was but slightly fortified. Could the steep acclivity of rocks be surmounted, they would be able to reach the level plain above, called the Heights of Abraham. The plan was altogether congenial to the feelings of the commander-in-chief, and was put into execution with judgment and vigor.
In pursuance of this plan, Wolfe broke up his camp at Montmorenci, near the falls of that name, and returned to the island of Orleans, where he first disembarked. From that spot he determined to push his daring enterprise. Embarking himself and army on board of the fleet, he directed Admiral Holmes to sail up the river several miles higher than the intended point of debarkation, making occasional demonstrations of a design to land troops. That being accomplished, during the night a strong detachment in flat-bottomed boats fell down with the tide, to a point about a mile above the city. The shelving beach, the high precipitous banks, and the only path by which the place could be scaled, being defended by a captain's guard and a battery of four guns, all rendered the landing and ascent of the heights, on the part of the English, a work of amazing difficulty; yet it was effected, Wolfe himself being one of the first who leaped on shore.
The whole plan had well nigh been defeated at the water's edge, for one of the sentinels hailed. But being answered by a captain in Frazier's regiment, who fully understood the French language, and had been expressly instructed for[Pg 233] the purpose, the latter was suffered to pass. The sentinel, from the answers given, (for the English were twice interrogated,) concluded at once that this was a French convoy of provisions, which was expected to pass down the river to Quebec. This the English had learned from some deserters. Escaping this difficulty, they commenced their arduous and perilous task. The Highlanders and light infantry, under the command of General Howe, led the way up the fearful precipice, which was one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet high, an almost perpendicular ascent. They clambered up by the aid of the projection of rocks, and the limbs of trees and shrubs growing on the cliffs. They first drove away the guard, and seized the battery. The rest of the troops pressed on in the difficult and confined path, and, by day-break, the whole army was planted firmly on the plains of Abraham.
Montcalm, taken by surprise at this unexpected scaling of the heights, was forced to abandon his strong position, and come to an engagement. For this purpose, he crossed the St. Charles, and drew up his army in battle array. This being perceived by Wolfe, a corresponding movement was made on the part of the English, and the disposition of the troops was such as to meet the masterly arrangements of Montcalm. The battle was commenced by the French, a portion of whose army, consisting of fifteen hundred Indians and Canadians, who were excellent marksmen, advanced in front for this purpose. Screened by surrounding thickets, they aimed with fatal effect at many of the British officers, but this lasted only a short time. The main body of the French now advancing, the principal struggle came on in all its fury. The English, reserving their fire until within forty yards of the enemy's line, then made terrible havoc among them by a general discharge. This fire was vigorously maintained until the French yielded to it. General Wolfe exposed himself in front of his battalion, as also did Montcalm before his, and both officers paid the price of their bravery. They were in the sections of the two[Pg 234] armies, where the battle was most severe, and both fell mortally wounded, not far from the same time. There was another striking coincidence—they who succeeded them in command in either army, also fell wounded—the Frenchman mortally. When Wolfe fell, he was pressing on at the head of his grenadiers with fixed bayonets. It was the third time that he had received a wound; a ball had now pierced his breast. The respective armies continued in their strife, as if nothing had happened. After Wolfe and Monckton had been laid aside, Townsend assumed the command, and the British grenadiers pressed on with their bayonets. The center of the French army was soon broken by the brisk advance of General Murray. The Highlanders with their broad-swords completed the confusion of the enemy, driving them with great slaughter in different directions. A portion of the French army fled into Quebec. The enemy was signally defeated, having lost a thousand men, besides an equal number of prisoners. The loss of the English, in killed and wounded, was less than six hundred.
The necessary preparations were now made by Townsend for the siege of the city; but at the expiration of five days, it was surrendered to the English fleet and army. The capital of Canada, at the time of its capitulation, contained about ten thousand inhabitants, and thus having passed under the dominion of Great Britain, was protected by a garrison of five thousand men, under the command of General Murray.
Wolfe died of his wounds on the field of battle. He manifested "the ruling passion strong in death." As a touching incident in the annals of warfare, scarcely any thing can equal it, unless it may be that which also marked the death of his opponent. He was removed into the rear almost against his consent, that he might be attended to; but while others were expressing their sympathy in his behalf, he was watching the terrific contest with intense anxiety. At length, he could no longer sustain himself, but, faint with[Pg 235] the loss of blood, he leaned on the shoulder of an officer, who kneeled down to support him. The agony of death was now upon him. A cry was heard, "They fly, they fly!" "Who fly?" asked the expiring hero. "The French!" replied his supporter. "Then I die happy!" he said.
Montcalm, too, died in a few hours after, having been first conveyed into the city. On being told that his wound was mortal, he expressed his satisfaction at the fact. When further informed that he could survive but a few hours, he replied, "So much the better: I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec."
The French continued in possession of Canada for a time, notwithstanding the capture of Quebec. Indeed, a second, and more mortal struggle, was soon to be again witnessed on the Heights of Abraham. The main body of the French army, which, after its defeat, retired to Montreal, and which was still formidable, had been rëinforced by six thousand Canadian militia and a body of Indians. With these forces, M. de Levi, the successor of Montcalm, appeared before[Pg 236] Quebec, with the design of besieging the fortress. Murray, whose force had been reduced by the severities of the winter, the want of proper food, from five thousand to three thousand, left his works, and met the French near Sillery, and a severe action took place, in which the advantage was on the side of the French, the English being obliged to retire within the fortress. The loss on both sides was very great, being nearly one thousand each; but the battle was productive of no special results. Levi found it impossible to reduce the place; and the English, receiving rëinforcements after being closely invested for a time, it was concluded by the French commander to abandon the project, and he accordingly returned to Montreal.
As it seemed necessary to try the fortune of another campaign against the enemy, since, notwithstanding the capture of the French posts in 1759, the province still held out against the British arms, General Amherst had made arrangements for assembling before Montreal all the British troops from Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain, and Quebec. The several armies were early in motion, and so accurately had their operations been concerted, that Amherst and Murray reached the vicinity of Montreal on the same day; when Haviland, who commanded a small force from Crown Point, joined them: the next day, Vaudreuil, the governor, finding further resistance vain, demanded a capitulation; and on the 18th of September, 1760, the whole French possessions in Canada, were surrendered to the British power.
The war still continued in Europe, and a few provincial troops were raised in 1761 and 1762; but New England remained exempted from all border hostilities. On the 10th of February, 1763, a general peace was signed at Paris, and soon after ratified by Great Britain and France. This was an era of joy to the colonies. They had experienced no such relief since the commencement of King William's War, in 1689. A few short intervals of peace had indeed been enjoyed, but during nearly eighty years, they were[Pg 237] generally doomed in every exposed point to pillage, captivity, and slaughter. Relieved from their miseries and dangers, they reoccupied their plantations, and new ones were commenced, and population began to spread with rapidity.
It may be added, and it is due to the colonist to add, that they were not unmindful of their obligations to that Being by whose fostering care they had been preserved during so many and so severe trials and privations. They had put their trust in Him, and he had saved them from the hands of their foes. Many had indeed fallen—many had suffered; but now, relieved from foreign invasion and savage butchery, they united in giving God thanks on a day set apart for the purpose, and went on their way rejoicing.
IV.—REVOLUTION.
I. CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION.
Objects proposed in the Settlement of America—Forms of Government conducive to Independence—Influence of Expenses—Colonies obliged to defend themselves, and to defray the Expense of their own Wars and those of the Mother-country—British system of Taxation commenced—Writs of Assistance—Stamp Act—Formidable Opposition to it—Non-importation Act—Arrival of British forces—Boston Massacre—Destruction of the Gaspee—Destruction of Tea—Boston Port Bill—Arrival of General Gage—His obnoxious Measures—Meeting of Congress—Preparations for War—Obstinacy of the King and Parliament—Crisis arrives—Determination of the Colonists.
The Revolution of America was an extraordinary event; and at the time of its occurrence was unlooked for, both by the government and nation of Great Britain. That the colonies had long been dissatisfied with the measures adopted towards them by the parent-country, and that this dissatisfaction was gradually increasing, was well known; but the statesmen on the other side designed, and doubtless supposed,[Pg 239] that they should be able to secure the submission of the colonies to whatever line of policy they might please to adopt.
But they little understood the American character. Had they reflected upon the circumstances in which the colonies originated, and their steady progress in wealth and population, they might well have anticipated the final result. Certain it was, that oppressive and coercive measures would only tend to weaken their affection for the parent-country. Kindness and conciliation might have preserved the bond of union—indeed, it was possible to have confirmed the colonies in their regard for the land of their birth; but the line of policy which could alone have effected that object, was overlooked or disregarded by British statesmen; and through their infatuated counsels, they hastened the very event which they so much deplored.
Let us advert to some of the remote and proximate causes, which brought about this Revolution:
1. Objects proposed by the colonies in their settlement of America.—
At the era of the Revolution, thirteen colonies had been planted. These were Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. Virginia, the first, was settled in 1607, and Georgia, the last, in 1732. Different objects were proposed in the establishment of the different colonies. The leading object of some was pecuniary profit. They were induced, either by associated or individual proprietors, who themselves remained in England, to come to America, with the hope of profitable returns for the advance of their capital. But the more northern colonies came on their own concern, at their own expense, and with reference to the enjoyment of freedom and peace in religion, which they could not find at home.
Now, was it to be expected that those who had left home, and all its endearments, for the sake of enjoying a larger[Pg 240] liberty, would consent to have that liberty abridged, especially after having tasted its blessings for years? If the Pilgrim Fathers had such notions themselves, was it to be supposed that their children would cherish less manly and patriotic sentiments? The spirit of liberty does not easily die, where there is aliment to keep it alive. The blood of freemen, or those who aspire to freedom, instead of becoming weaker, as it flows down in successive generations, usually becomes more pure and more excitable. This was verified in the history of the colonies, anterior to the Revolution. They were men of whom the principles of liberty had taken strong hold. Their distance from the mother-country—her neglect of them—the exercise of civil and religious freedom for a number of years—all served to excite and strengthen a desire for independence. Such an event was the natural result of the principles with which the colonies began their career. It was the natural result of the physical courage and strength acquired in felling forests, resisting savages, and in carrying out those plans and enterprises in which a young, ardent, and ambitious people are likely to engage.
2. Their forms of government were conducive to independence.
In the settlement of the colonies, three forms of government were established. These were usually denominated Charter, Proprietary, and Royal governments. The difference arose from the different circumstances under which the colonies were settled, as well as the different objects of the first emigrants. The Charter governments were confined to New England. The Proprietary governments were those of Maryland, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and the Jerseys. The others were royal governments, or those which were immediately under the British crown.[28]
As early as 1619, only twelve years from its settlement,[Pg 241] a provincial legislature, in which the colonists were represented, was introduced into Virginia. In Plymouth and in Massachusetts, the colonies organized their body, politic and social, upon principles of perfect equality. And, as the Puritans spread themselves over New England, they gave to the distinct communities which they established, constitutions still more democratic. In January, 1639, three years from the commencement of the Connecticut colony, the planters on Connecticut river convened at Hartford, and formed a system of government which continued, with scarcely any alterations, to the year 1818. Of this system, Dr. Trumbull observes: "With such wisdom did our venerable ancestors provide for the freedom and liberties of themselves and their posterity. Thus happily did they guard against every encroachment on the rights of the subject. This, probably, is one of the most free and happy constitutions of civil government ever formed. The formation of it, at so early a period, when the light of liberty was wholly darkened in most parts of the world, and the rights of man were so little understood in others, does great honor to their ability, integrity, and love of freedom."
In Maryland and Pennsylvania, the first assemblies established a popular representation, and in all their political regulations proceeded upon broad views of civil freedom. The same remark, says Mr. Walsh, may be extended to the Carolinas and New York.
The very first principles, then, of the colonists in relation to government were anti-monarchical. In their incipient colonial state, they had the feelings of freemen; and all their institutions, as far as they were allowed to carry them, spoke of liberty and equality.
This spirit was never lost to the colonies. In the variety of fortune which they subsequently encountered—in every change of monarch abroad—in every shift of rulers at home—through royal smiles and royal frowns—in times of war and in times of peace—their love of liberty continued unabated, and even increased. Thus early began those[Pg 242] sentiments of freedom and independence which, uniting in their course with other streams, ended at length in a deep, broad, irresistible current against British oppression.
3. Influence of the expenses incurred by the colonies in their settlements, and in their several wars and those of the mother-country.
"All the thirteen colonies," says Mr. Walsh, "with the exception of Georgia, were established, and had attained to considerable strength, without the slightest aid from the treasury of the mother-country."
Neither the crown nor the parliament paid a dollar towards purchasing the soil of the Indians—the original masters of that soil. These purchases were made by the colonists themselves. The settlement of the province of Massachusetts Bay alone cost two hundred thousand pounds—an enormous sum at the era at which it was effected. Lord Baltimore expended forty thousand pounds in his establishment of the colony of Maryland. On that of Virginia, immense wealth was lavished by the first settlers. The first planters of Connecticut consumed great estates in purchasing lands of the Indians and in making settlements.
In like manner, when assailed by fierce and warlike tribes, the mother-country furnished no aid whatever—neither troops nor money. She erected no fortifications; entered into no negotiations, and manifested no sympathy, or even interest, in the fate of her offspring. Some of the most considerable Indian wars in which the colonies were involved, were the immediate result of the rashness and cupidity of the royal governors. That, for instance, which is styled 'King William's War'—memorable in the annals of New Hampshire particularly—was owing to a wanton predatory expedition of Andros, in 1688, against the possessions of a French individual, situate between Penobscot and Nova Scotia.
The testimony of Lord Brougham on this subject is[Pg 243] worthy of special notice. In his work on 'Colonial Policy,' he observes:
"The old colonies of North America, besides defraying the whole expenses of their internal administration, were enabled from their situation to render very active assistance to the mother-country upon several occasions, not peculiarly interesting to themselves. They uniformly asserted, that they would never refuse contributions, even for purposes strictly imperial, provided these were constitutionally demanded. Nor did they stop at mere professions of zeal.
"The whole expense of civil government in the British North American colonies, previous to the Revolution, did not amount to eighty thousand pounds sterling, which was paid by the produce of their taxes. The military establishments, the garrisons and the forts in the old colonies, cost the mother-country nothing."
From the foregoing facts, nothing is clearer than that the colonies were obliged, from their earliest existence, to take care of themselves. At first, Great Britain thought little of them, and cared, if possible, still less. They were obliged to repel hostile tribes without aid, and defend themselves against the aggressions of more civilized powers. And, moreover, they were compelled to carry on not only their own wars, but those of the mother-country, and then pay the expenses.
It may well be asked, what was the natural and almost necessary consequence of such treatment? Keep a child in leading-strings, and it will be long ere it walks. Teach him to walk early, and he will soon decline your aid. Let a father send forth his son to take care of himself, and perchance the next he hears of him, he will learn that his fortune is made, and no longer will he wish for parental assistance; and fortunate will it be if the son, under a sense of former parental indifference and unkindness, does not, at length, feel a correspondent alienation from the parent.
But whether these illustrations are apposite or not, certain it is, that the colonists at length learned the important fact,[Pg 244] that they could take care of themselves. To this they had been driven. The next natural feeling to this superiority over the difficulties and trials which they encountered in their early settlement of the country, was a willingness, and even wish, to be independent of the parent by whom they had been so unkindly neglected. Great Britain might, therefore, thank herself for the spirit of independence which at length appeared among the colonies; her line of policy engendered and matured it.
4. Measures of oppression.
"Within little more than a generation from the commencement of the plantations," says Mr. Walsh, "the royal government began those formal inquiries into their population and manufactures, which were so often renewed, until the period of our revolution." The object or occasion of these inquiries was twofold—a jealousy, lest the colonies should grow too fast; and, secondly, a desire to monopolize, for the benefit of Great Britain, all their trade, and the proceeds of their manufacturing industry.
The various acts of monopoly which passed parliament during a series of years, it is not necessary to particularize. They uniformly bore heavily on the commercial and manufacturing enterprise of the colonies, and were designed "to keep them in a firmer dependence upon England"—"to render them more beneficial and advantageous"—"to employ and increase the English shipping"—"to make a vent for English manufactures."
After the peace of 1763, a still more grinding policy was proposed—that of taxing the colonies, with the avowed purpose of drawing a revenue into the royal exchequer, and on the plausible, yet unwarrantable ground, that Great Britain had contracted a debt in their defence.
Hitherto, when money was wanted in the colonies, the parliament of England had been content to ask for it by a formal requisition upon the colonial legislatures, and they had supplied it with a willing hand. But now, it was[Pg 245] thought that a shorter method of obtaining it might be resorted to with better effect.
Before proceeding to notice the measures adopted with reference to the foregoing object, it is necessary to advert to what were denominated writs of assistance, which were orders issued by the superior court of the province, requiring the sheriffs and other civil officers to assist the person to whom it was granted, in breaking open and searching every place, even private dwellings, if suspected of containing prohibited goods.
The first application for a writ of this kind was made by the deputy collector at Salem in November, 1760. Doubts being expressed by the court as to the legality of the writ, or the power of the court to grant it, the application was deferred to the next term, when the question was to be argued.
At the appointed time, Mr. Gridley, a distinguished lawyer, appeared for the crown; Mr. Thatcher and Mr. Otis for the merchants. The trial took place in the council chamber of the old Town-house in Boston. The judges were five in number, including Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, who presided as chief justice; and the room was filled with all the officers of government and the principal citizens, to hear the arguments in a cause that inspired the deepest solicitude. The case was opened by Mr. Gridley, who argued it with much learning, ingenuity, and dignity; making all his reason depend upon this consideration, "That the parliament of Great Britain was the sovereign legislator of the British empire." He was followed by Mr. Thatcher on the opposite side, whose reasoning was ingenious and able, delivered in a tone of great mildness and moderation. "But," in the language of President Adams, "Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him."
"I will to my dying day," said Otis, among other things—"I will to my dying day oppose, with all the power and faculties God has given me, all such instruments of slavery on the one hand and villany on the other. It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary power, the most destructive of English liberty, and the fundamental principles of law, that was ever found in an English law-book."
The occasion was intensely exciting—the liberties of the people were in danger—their dwellings, those sanctuaries where every man should feel himself safe, and his effects—all were in jeopardy. And the vast throng gathered on the occasion so thought—especially as their excited feelings became more intense under the thrilling appeals of the eloquent Otis. "Every man of an immensely crowded audience," says President Adams, "appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain."
The court postponed a decision of the question until the following term; and in the mean time wrote to Great Britain[Pg 247] for information on the subject. Writs were afterwards granted, but were extremely unpopular. In Connecticut writs of assistance, it is said, were never granted.
The next measure of oppression was the passage of the famous stamp act. Such a project had been suggested during the administrations of Lord Walpole and Mr. Pitt; but they were too sagacious to venture upon a measure at once so odious and unjust. Said Walpole, "I will leave the taxation of America to some of my successors, who may have more courage than I have." And said Pitt, "I will never burn my fingers with an American stamp act." To the successor of Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, was reserved the honor, or rather the infamy, of such a project.
When the bill was ushered into the House of Commons, petitions from Virginia, Connecticut, and South Carolina, in every way respectful, but in tone firm and decided, were offered in opposition to it. But the house refused even to receive them, on the ground that the right of parliament to tax the colonies was denied; and, secondly, that it was contrary to a rule of the house "to receive any petition against a money-bill."
The debate therefore proceeded. The chief advocates of the bill were the prime minister and Charles Townshend. In the opposition were Mr. Pitt—who, however, was absent by reason of sickness—General Conway, Alderman Beckford, Colonel Barre, Mr. Jackson, Sir William Meredith, &c. Conway and Beckford opposed the bill on the ground of its injustice; Colonel Barre and others on the ground of its inexpediency. The purpose of the minister, however, was fixed; and, rallying his surprised and half-hesitating troops, he took the question—a large majority expressed in favor of the bill—two hundred and fifty for, and fifty against it. On its coming into the House of Lords, it received the entire concurrence of that body, and on the 22d of March obtained the royal assent.
This act, so celebrated in the annals of American history, both as an act of flagrant injustice, on the part of the British[Pg 248] parliament, and one of the proximate causes of the Revolution, consisted of fifty-five specific duties, laid on as many different species of instruments, in which paper was used; such as notes, bonds, mortgages, deeds, university degrees, licenses, advertisements in newspapers, and even almanacs; varying from one half-penny up to six pounds. As an illustration of the heavy burdens designed to be put upon the colonies by this act, it may be stated, that previous to the passage of the act, a ream of common printed bailbonds cost fifteen pounds—stamped, one hundred. A ream of stamped policies of insurance amounted to one hundred and ninety pounds—of common ones, without stamps, twenty. A piece of paper, or parchment, used as a diploma, or certificate of a degree taken in any university, academy, or college, was taxed two pounds. For a piece of paper for a license for retailing spirituous liquors, twenty shillings were demanded. For one for a license for selling wine only, four pounds; for wine and spirituous liquors, three pounds. For letters of probate, administration, or guardianship, ten shillings. For a common deed, conveying not exceeding one hundred acres of land, one shilling and sixpence. For a newspaper, containing half a sheet or less, one half-penny; one sheet, one penny. Pamphlets, one shilling per sheet. Advertisements, two shillings each. Almanacs, fourpence.
This act was ordered to take effect on the following 1st of November. Meanwhile, the people in various parts of the country were anxious to express their detestation of the measure, which the lapse of a few months was to bring into operation. One day in the month of August, the effigy of Andrew Oliver, the proposed distributor of stamps in Massachusetts, was found hanging on a tree, afterwards well known by the name of Liberty-tree, in the main street of Boston. At night it was taken down, and carried on a bier amidst the acclamations of an immense collection of people through the court-house, down King street, to a small brick building, supposed to have been erected for the reception of the detested stamps. This building being soon levelled[Pg 249] with the ground, the rioters next attacked Mr. Oliver's house; and having broken the windows, entered it, and destroyed part of the furniture.
The house of Benjamin Hallowell, jun., comptroller of the customs, was next entered; and, elevated and emboldened by liquors found in his cellar, the mob, with inflamed rage, directed their course to the house of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, who, after vainly attempting resistance, was constrained to depart, to save his life. By four in the morning, one of the best houses in the province was completely in ruins, nothing remaining but the bare walls and floors. The plate, family pictures, most of the furniture, the wearing apparel, about nine hundred pounds sterling, and the manuscripts and books which Mr. Hutchinson had been thirty years collecting, besides many public papers in his custody, were either carried off or destroyed. The whole damage was estimated at two thousand five hundred pounds.
On the arrival of the 1st of November, on which the stamp act was to go into effect, the day was ushered in at Boston by the tolling of the bells; many shops and stores were shut, and effigies of the authors and friends of that act were carried about the streets, and afterwards torn in pieces by the populace.
Nor was Massachusetts alone; the obnoxious act received similar treatment in the other colonies. On the 24th of August, a gazette was published at Providence, with vox Populi, vox Dei, for a motto; effigies were exhibited, and in the evening cut down and burned. In Portsmouth, New Castle, and other places, the bells were tolled to denote the decease of Liberty. In Connecticut, Mr. Ingersoll, the stamp-master, was compelled to resign. The spirit manifested in New York produced a similar resignation. Offended with the conduct of Lieutenant-Governor Colden, in relation to the stamp act, many of the inhabitants assembled one evening, and breaking open his coach-house, took[Pg 251] out his coach, which, with his effigy, they burned, amid the acclamations of several thousand spectators.
In Philadelphia, on the appearance of the ships having the stamps on board, all the ships in the harbor hoisted their colors half-mast high; the bells were muffled, and continued to toll till evening. Similar demonstrations of dissatisfaction were made in numerous other places.
The opposition to the stamp act was so universal and so formidable, as to prevent all hope of its successful operation; had this measure been persisted in, the Revolution in America would doubtless have dated at an earlier day.
Fortunately for the American colonies, the administration of Lord Grenville terminated in July, 1765—that minister being succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, while the Duke of Grafton and General Conway were made secretaries of state.
To this new ministry it early became apparent that, in respect to the colonies, a crisis was now at hand; either existing measures must be relaxed, or a resort must be had[Pg 252] to arms. The former being deemed the wiser plan, a repeal of the stamp act was moved in parliament, and, on the 18th of March, passed the House by a majority of two hundred and seventy-five to one hundred and sixty-seven. In the House of Lords, the majority was one hundred and five to seventy-one.
In America, the intelligence of the repeal was received with acclamations of the most sincere and heart-felt gratitude, by all classes of people. Public thanksgivings were offered up in all the churches. The resolutions, which had been passed on the subject of importations, were rescinded, and their trade with the mother-country was immediately renewed with increased vigor. The home-spun dresses were given to the poor, and once more the colonists appeared clad in the produce of British looms.
In July, 1766, the Marquis of Rockingham retired from the cabinet, and a new ministry was formed under the direction of William Pitt—the Duke of Grafton being placed at the head of the treasury, and Charles Townshend made chancellor of the exchequer. In May, 1767, the latter revived the scheme of taxing America, proposing to impose duties on glass, paper, tea, &c., imported into the colonies. The bill passed both houses without much opposition, the Earl of Chatham being confined at that time by sickness.
The news of this measure, on reaching America, produced the greatest possible excitement. Counter-measures were immediately proposed. Resort was had, as at a former day, to non-importation, the effects of which had been so severely felt by the traders in England, under the stamp act. Boston, as before, took the lead. At a town-meeting, held in October, it was voted that measures should be immediately taken to promote the establishment of domestic manufactories, by encouraging the consumption of all articles of American manufacture. They also agreed to purchase no articles of foreign growth or manufacture, but such as were absolutely indispensable. New York and Philadelphia soon followed the example of Boston; and, in[Pg 253] a short time, the merchants themselves entered into associations to import nothing from Great Britain but articles that necessity required.
Several events, about this time, served to increase the excitement of the colonies, especially in Boston. Among these may be mentioned the arrival, at the latter place, of a man-of-war and transports, from Halifax, with nine hundred troops on board.
Such a proceeding, on the part of the British ministry, was eminently calculated to excite the jealousy and indignation of the colonists. They felt disgusted and injured; and the more so, from the haughty and imperious bearing of the officers and troops. In a few weeks, this force was augmented by the arrival of several more transports from Cork, with the sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth regiments, under Colonels Mackay and Pomeroy.
Another measure, adopted about this time by the British ministry, and one which perhaps struck more vitally at the liberty of the colonists than any which preceded, was an order to the provincial governors to procure information[Pg 254] touching all treasons, &c., and to transmit the same, with the names of the suspected persons, to England, in order that they might be ordered thither for trial. The design of it was to terrify the patriotic party into submission; but well might it have been foreseen that such an offensive measure would only serve to rouse opposition, and confirm the whole civilized world in the righteousness of the common cause.
Parliament again convened, January 9, 1770, soon after which (28th) the Duke of Grafton resigned his office of first lord of the treasury. Lord Chatham, having recovered from his late illness, had now returned to parliament, and, with his wonted vigor, attacked the system and measures of the administration.
Lord North, chancellor of the exchequer, succeeded the Duke of Grafton; "and from this time commences an administration which forms a momentous era in the history of Great Britain. During his administration, which lasted to the close of the Revolution, Great Britain lost more territory and accumulated more debt than at any former period of her history."
The first measure of North's administration was in part conciliatory—being a motion to repeal the port duties of 1767, with the exception of the duty on tea. This his lordship, in spite of the friends of the colonies, determined to retain.
To this partial repeal, Governor Pownall strongly objected. It would produce nothing but civil discord and interminable contention. Repeal all, or none. Why retain this single duty, as a pepper-corn rent, to show the tenor by which the colonists hold their rights, and, by so doing, jeopardize his majesty's entire interest in the American colonies? "I have lived in America," said he; "I know the character of the people. Depend upon it, with their views, they will never solicit the favor of this house; never more will they wish to bring before parliament the grievances under which they conceive themselves to labor."
While high and angry debate was thus in progress on the other side of the water, on this side, events were transpiring which were giving increasing irritation to already excited feelings, and adding to the force of the gathering storm. Collisions and quarrels, between the soldiers quartered in Boston and the citizens, were not unfrequent; and at length, on the evening of the 5th of March, 1770, resulted in an effusion of blood, called, by way of eminence, "The Boston Massacre."
Three men were killed and two mortally wounded, who died soon after. Mutual exasperations preceded. Neither citizens nor soldiers were exempt from the charge of insult and provocation. But a sentinel, who had been brought to the ground by a blow, on rising, fired, as did, at the same time, a sergeant and six men who were with him. Their fire resulted as already stated. Great excitement followed. The murderers were arrested. Captain Preston, to whose company the soldiers belonged, and who was present, was also arrested, and committed to prison.
The following morning the authorities of Boston, urged on by an exasperated people, required the troops to be withdrawn from the town. The lieutenant-governor, for a time, resisted the demand; but on learning that no other course would satisfy or restrain the people, he expressed his willingness that they should be withdrawn to the castle, which was accordingly done.
The funeral of the victims was attended with extraordinary pomp. Most of the shops were closed, all the bells of the town tolled on the occasion, and the corpses were followed to the grave by an immense concourse of people, arranged six abreast, the procession being closed by a long train of carriages, belonging to the principal gentry of the town. Captain Preston and the party of soldiers were afterwards tried. The captain and six of the men were acquitted, and two were brought in guilty of manslaughter; a result which reflected great honor on John Adams and Josiah Quincy, the counsel for the prisoners, and on the jury.
The month of June, '72, furnished a new source of disquietude and animosity. On the 9th of that month, the Providence packet, while sailing into the harbor of Newport, was required, by his majesty's revenue-cutter, the Gaspee, Lieutenant Doddington, to lower her colors. This the captain of the packet deemed repugnant to his patriotic feelings, and the Gaspee fired at the packet, to bring her to; the American, however, still persisted in holding on her course, and, by keeping in shoal water, dexterously contrived to run the schooner aground in the chase. As the tide was upon the ebb, the Gaspee was set fast for the night, and afforded a tempting opportunity for retaliation; and a number of fishermen, aided and encouraged by some of the most respectable inhabitants of Providence, being determined to rid themselves of so uncivil an inspector, in the middle of the night manned several boats, and boarded the Gaspee. The lieutenant was wounded in the affray; but, with every thing belonging to him, he was carefully conveyed on shore, as were all his crew. The[Pg 257] vessel, with her stores, was then burned; and the party returned unmolested to their homes. When the governor became acquainted with this event, he offered a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the offenders.
Another fruitful source of mutual ill-feeling between the British ministry and the colonists was the determination of the former to introduce tea into America, and to impose a tax thereon, in opposition to the wishes of the latter. Accordingly, cargoes of tea were sent to New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston. The fate of these cargoes, thus sent, was different. Those destined for New York and Philadelphia, were sent back by the inhabitants. The citizens of Charleston unloaded the cargo sent thither, and stored it in cellars, where it perished.
On the arrival of the vessel with the tea, in the harbor of Boston, a meeting of the citizens was immediately called. "The hour of destruction," it was said, "or of manly opposition, had now come:" and all who were friends to their country were invited to attend, "to make an united and successful[Pg 258] resistance to this last and worst measure of administration." A great number of people assembled, from the adjoining towns, as well as from the capital, in the celebrated Faneuil Hall, but the meeting was soon adjourned to one of the largest churches in town. Here it was voted, that they would use all lawful means to prevent its being landed, and to have it returned immediately to England.
On the following day, when the citizens assembled to receive the final answer of the factors, as to the course they would pursue in disposing of the tea, a communication was made to the meeting, in which the factors informed them that they must decline sending back the tea; but were ready to have it stored, and remain, until they could hear from the company in England. The citizens continued dissatisfied with the conduct and proposal of the consignees, and again ordered a watch to guard the vessels. It was also again voted, that whoever should import tea into the province, should be considered an enemy to the country.
When it was found that nothing could be effected in a regular way, the meeting was broken up, and a number of men, in disguise, proceeded, late in the evening, to the vessels, then lying at the wharf, which had the tea on board; and, in a short time, every chest was taken out, and the contents thrown into the sea; but no injury was done to any other part of the cargoes.
The inhabitants of the town, generally, had no knowledge of the event until the next day. It is supposed the number concerned in the affair was about fifty; but who they were no one pretended to know. A few of them became known in after years, when it was no longer liable to involve them in trouble.
When intelligence of the destruction of the tea reached Great Britain, and the determined spirit manifested in the colonies, in opposition to all revenue laws, was made known to the ministers, a majority at once resolved on more energetic measures, and found themselves supported by[Pg 259] parliament in their plans of coercion, regardless alike of the great principles of the constitution, and of the permanent peace and prosperity of the kingdom. Lord North, it is said, declared "that he would not listen to any complaints or petitions from America, till she was at his feet."
In a few days, a bill was introduced "for the immediate removal of the officers concerned in the collection of customs from Boston, and to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading and shipping goods, wares, and merchandise, at Boston, or within the harbor thereof." The bill, also, levied a fine upon the town, as a compensation to the East India Company for the destruction of their teas, and was to continue in force during the pleasure of the king. The opposition to this measure was very slight, and it was carried, in both Houses, without a division.
The 1st of June was fixed for the Boston port-bill to go into operation, and the blockade was consequently to commence on that day. On the 13th of May, at a meeting of the inhabitants of Boston, it was resolved to invite the other[Pg 260] colonies to unite in refusing all importations from Great Britain, and to withhold all commercial intercourse with her. To secure their cöoperation, a special messenger was dispatched to New York, Philadelphia, and other places; in every place he was received with great cordiality, and resolutions were immediately adopted, corresponding to the wishes of the people of Boston.
Such was the state of affairs in the colonies generally, in May, when General Gage arrived in Boston, as the successor to Governor Hutchinson, who had been rëcalled. At a former period, he had been, for several years, commander-in-chief of the British military forces in America. Notwithstanding the prejudices of the people to the appointment of a military man, he was received with due honor, and even great ceremony, by the council and citizens, all of whom expressed a hope that his administration would conduce to the peace and welfare of the province.
A short time, however, served to develope the character of General Gage, and his servility to an arbitrary ministry in the mother-country. He threatened to remove the general assembly to Salem—gave his negative to thirteen of the council chosen by the assembly—refused to appoint a day for special prayer, at the request of that body—and, finally, sent a proclamation, by his secretary, to dissolve them.
At this period of increasing turmoil and agitation, the second general congress assembled (September 5, 1774), at Philadelphia, in which all the colonies were represented, excepting Georgia. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was elected president, and Charles Thompson, of Philadelphia, secretary.
The most eminent men of the various colonies were now, for the first time, brought together. They were known to each other by fame, but they were, personally, strangers. The meeting was solemn. The object which had called them together, was of incalculable magnitude. The liberties of no less than three millions of people, with that of[Pg 261] all their posterity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of their councils. No wonder, then, at the long and deep silence, which is said to have followed upon their organization; at the anxiety with which the members looked round upon each other; and at the reluctance which every individual felt to open a business so fearfully momentous. In the midst of this deep and death-like silence, and just when it was becoming painfully embarrassing, Mr. Henry arose slowly, as if borne down by the weight of the subject. "After faltering, according to his habit, through a most expressive exordium, in which he merely echoed back the consciousness of every other heart, in deploring his inability to do justice to the occasion, he launched gradually into a recital of the colonial wrongs. Rising, as he advanced, with the grandeur of his subject, and glowing, at length, with all the majesty of the occasion, his speech seemed more than that of mortal man. Mr. Henry was followed by Mr. Richard Henry Lee, in a speech scarcely less powerful, and still more replete with classic eloquence. One spirit of ardent love of liberty pervaded every breast, and produced a unanimity, as advantageous to the cause they advocated, as it was unexpected and appalling to their adversaries."[29]
The congress proceeded with great deliberation; its debates were held with closed doors, and the honor of each member was solemnly engaged not to disclose any of the discussions, till such disclosure was declared advisable by the majority. On the 14th of October, a series of resolutions, regarding the rights and grievances of the colonies, was passed and promulgated. They were couched in strong and undisguised language, and set forth to the world what were considered, by this noble body of men, to be the rights and privileges of the people of America, in defence of which they were ready to peril life, liberty, and fortune.
"A majority of the members of this congress," says Mr.[Pg 262] Pitkin, "had little doubt, that the measures taken by them, if supported by the American people, would produce a redress of grievances.
"Richard Henry Lee said to Mr. Adams: 'We shall undoubtedly carry all our points. You will be completely relieved; all the offensive acts will be repealed, the army and fleet will be rëcalled, and Britain will give up her foolish projects.'
"George Washington was of opinion that, with the aid of both the non-importation and non-exportation system, America would prevail. Patrick Henry concurred in opinion with Mr. Adams, that the contest must ultimately be decided by force. The proceedings of congress met with the almost unanimous approbation of the people of America. The non-importation agreement, entered into by their delegates, was adopted as their own. Committees of vigilance were appointed in all the towns and districts, and the names of those who disregarded it, were published as the enemies of public liberty."
Before the close of the year, the busy note of preparation resounded through almost every colony. The Massachusetts committee were indefatigable in providing for the most vigorous defence in the spring. They had procured all sorts of military supplies for the service of twelve thousand men, and had engaged the assistance of the three neighboring provinces of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
While the notes of warlike preparation were thus sounding louder and louder through the country, the British parliament assembled on the other side of the waters. In January, 1775, Lord Chatham having taken his seat, moved "That an humble address be presented his majesty, most humbly to advise and beseech his majesty, that, in order to open the way towards our happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, by beginning to allay ferments and soften animosities there; and above all, for preventing, in the mean time, any sudden and fatal catastrophe at Boston, now suffering under daily irritation of an army before their eyes, posted in their town; it may graciously please his majesty, that immediate orders may be dispatched to General Gage, for removing his majesty's forces from the town of Boston, as soon as the season and other circumstances, indispensable to the safety and accommodation of the said troops, may render the same practicable."
Notwithstanding this motion was persuasively urged by Lord Chatham, and ably supported by Lord Camden, Lord Shelburne, and the Marquis of Rockingham, it was rejected by a large majority.
Immediately following its rejection, the minister proposed, in the House of Commons, a joint address to the king, on American affairs. In this address, which was carried by large majorities, parliament declared that Massachusetts was in a state of rebellion; and that this colony had been supported by unlawful combinations, and engagements entered into by several of the other colonies, to the great injury and oppression of his majesty's subjects in Great[Pg 264] Britain. Assuring his majesty of their determination never to relinquish the sovereign authority of the king and parliament over the colonies, they requested him to take the most effectual measures to enforce obedience to that authority, and promised him their support, at the hazard of their lives and property. Opposition to the address was made in both houses, but in vain. The king, in his answer, declared his firm determination, in compliance with their request, to enforce obedience to the laws and authority of the supreme legislature of the empire. His answer was followed by a message requesting an increase of his forces by sea and land.
Thus the determination of king and parliament was formed. Left of God to follow the counsels of a proud, overbearing, and obstinate ministry, they had now made declarations and taken positions, from which there was no retreat but by concessions, which were not to be expected. In due time, "the news"—and, such intelligence had not before been borne across the waters of the Atlantic—so exciting—so appalling—so maddening—"the news arrived of the king's speech at the opening of parliament; of the resolutions adopted by that body; and, finally, of the act by which the inhabitants of Massachusetts were proclaimed rebels. All the province flew to arms; indignation became fury,—obstinacy, desperation.
"'We must look back no more!' said the colonies—'we must conquer or die! We are placed between altars smoking with the most grateful incense of glory and gratitude, on the one part, and blocks and dungeons on the other. Let each then rise, and gird himself for the combat. The dearest interests of this world command it; our most holy religion enjoins it; that God, who eternally rewards the virtuous and punishes the wicked, ordains it. Let us accept these happy auguries; for already the mercenary satellites, sent by wicked ministers to reduce this innocent people to extremity, are imprisoned within the walls of a single city, where hunger emaciates them, rage devours them, death consumes them. Let us banish every fear,[Pg 265] every alarm; fortune smiles upon the efforts of the brave!' By similar discourses, they excited one another, and prepared themselves for defence. 'The fatal moment is arrived! the signal of civil war is given!'"[30]
Thus was the way prepared for a contest which king and parliament might, at one time, have easily avoided. Had they listened to the warning voice of Chatham, descending to his grave, or had they regarded the dictates of common political wisdom, America might have been retained, and with all her loyalty and affection, as a dependency. But God designed a better portion for her; and hence he allowed the monarch and the statesmen of England to adopt measures the most impolitic and oppressive—the result of which was—as we shall see—the independence of America, and the loss to the British crown of its brightest jewel.
II. EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION.
I:—BATTLE OF LEXINGTON
Cause or Occasion of the Battle—British Detachment proceeds towards Concord—Reaches Lexington—First Blood shed—Hancock and Adams—Captain Wheeler and the British Officer—Stores destroyed—The British harassed by the Americans—Retreat from Concord—Effect of this affair upon the Country—Proceedings of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
The immediate cause of the battle, or, more properly, rencontre at Lexington, was an attempt of a detachment of British troops to execute an order of General Gage to destroy certain military stores, which the provincials had collected at Concord, a town situated some eighteen miles from Boston. In anticipation of an approaching contest, the provincial assembly of Massachusetts had passed a resolution for the purchase of all the gunpowder that could be found, and of every sort of arms and ammunition requisite for an army of fifteen thousand men. As these objects abounded principally in Boston, the inhabitants employed all their address to procure and transport them to places of[Pg 267] safety in the country. Cannon-balls and other instruments of war were therefore collected and transported in carts, apparently loaded with manure; powder in the baskets and panniers of those who came from Boston market, and cartridges were concealed even in candle-boxes. By these means, and through other channels, a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition had been collected at Concord.
Excited by the loyalists, General Gage resolved to send a few companies to Concord, for the purpose already stated. It was said, also, that he had it in view, by this sudden expedition, to get possession of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two of the most ardent patriot chiefs, and the principal directors of the provincial congress, then assembled in the town of Concord.
In pursuance of the above purpose, on the evening of the 18th of April, several British officers dispersed themselves here and there upon the road and passages, to intercept the couriers that might have been dispatched to give notice of the movements of the troops. The governor gave orders that no person should be allowed to leave the city; nevertheless, Dr. Warren, one of the most active patriots, had timely intimation of the scheme, and immediately dispatched confidential messengers; some of whom found the roads interdicted by the officers who guarded them; but others made their way unperceived to Lexington, a town upon the road leading to Concord. The intelligence was soon divulged; the people flocked together; the bells in all parts were rung to give the alarm; and the continual firing of cannon spread the agitation through all the neighboring country. In the midst of this tumultuous scene, at eleven in the evening, a strong detachment of grenadiers and of light infantry was embarked at Boston, to land at a place called Phipps' Farm, whence they marched to Concord.
The British troops were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn, who led the van-guard. The militia of Lexington, as the intelligence of the movement of this detachment was uncertain, had separated[Pg 268] in the course of the night. Finally, at five in the morning of the 19th, advice was received of the near approach of the royal troops. The provincials that happened to be near, assembled—to the number, however, of only seventy. The English appeared; and Major Pitcairn, galloping up to them, in a loud voice cried, "Disperse, rebels! lay down your arms, and disperse!"
The provincials did not obey; upon which, advancing nearer, he discharged a pistol, and, brandishing his sword, ordered his soldiers to fire. Eight Americans were killed, three or four of them by the first fire of the British; the others, after they had left the parade. Several were also wounded. A handsome monument has been erected to the memory of the killed, on the green where the first of them fell.
Meanwhile, Hancock and Adams retired from danger; and it is related that, while on the march, the latter, enraptured with joy, exclaimed, "Oh, what an ever-glorious morning is this!"—considering this first effusion of blood[Pg 269] as the prelude of events which must secure the happiness of his country. The soldiers advanced towards Concord, where the inhabitants assembled; but seeing the numbers of the enemy, they fell back, and posted themselves on a bridge, north of the town. The light infantry assailed them with fury, routed them, and occupied the bridge, while the others entered Concord, and proceeded to the execution of their orders. They disabled two twenty-four pounders, threw five hundred pounds of ball into the river and wells, and broke in pieces about sixty barrels of flour.
During the search of the British for military stores, a British officer demanded entrance into the barn of Captain Wheeler. This was readily granted. In it was stored a large quantity of provincial flour. The officer expressed his pleasure at the discovery. But Captain Wheeler, with much affected simplicity, said to him, putting his hand on a barrel, "This is my flour. I am a miller, sir; yonder stands my mill; I get my living by it. In the winter, I grind a great deal of grain, and get it ready for market in the[Pg 270] spring. This," (pointing to one barrel,) "is the flour of wheat; this," (pointing to another,) "is the flour of corn; this is the flour of rye; this," (putting his hand on his own cask,) "is my flour; this is my wheat; this is my rye; this is mine." "Well," said the officer, "we do not injure private property," and withdrew, leaving this important depository untouched.
The militia being rëinforced, Major Buttrick, of Concord, who had gallantly offered to command them, advanced towards the bridge; but, not knowing of the transaction at Lexington, ordered the men not to give the first fire, that the provincials might not be the aggressors. As he advanced, the light infantry retired to the Concord side of the river, and began to pull up the bridge; and on his nearer approach, they fired, and killed a captain and one of the privates. The provincials returned the fire; a skirmish ensued, and the regulars were forced to retreat, with some loss. They were soon joined by the main body, which now retreated with precipitancy. Meanwhile, the people of the adjacent country flocked in, and attacked them in every direction. Some fired from behind stone walls and other coverts; while others pressed on their rear during their retreat to Lexington.
General Gage, apprehensive for the fate of the English, had dispatched nine hundred men and two field-pieces, under command of Lord Percy. This corps arrived very opportunely at Lexington, at the moment when the royal troops entered the town from the other side, pursued with fury by the provincial militia.
It appears highly probable that, without this rëinforcement, they would have all been cut to pieces or made prisoners; their strength was exhausted, as well as their ammunition. After making a considerable halt at Lexington, they renewed their march towards Boston, the number of the provincials increasing, although the rear-guard of the English was less molested, on account of the two field-pieces, which repressed the impetuosity of[Pg 271] the Americans. But the flanks of the columns remained exposed to a destructive fire, from every point adapted to serve as coverts. The royalists were also annoyed by the heat, which was excessive, and by a violent wind, which blew a thick dust in their eyes. Finally, after a march of incredible fatigue, and considerable loss of men, the English, overwhelmed with lassitude, arrived at sunset in Charlestown. Independently of the combat they had sustained, the distance they had that day traveled was above five-and-thirty miles. The day following, they crossed over to Boston.[31]
The rencontre at Lexington was, in itself, an inconsiderable affair. But, in its relation and influence, its importance can scarcely be estimated. It was the first outbreak of indignant feeling, which, for months and years, had been acquiring strength, but which, until now, had been suppressed. It was a solution of the problem, whether the[Pg 272] wrongs of America could be redressed without a resort to arms. It developed the spirit and determination, as well of the king and parliament, as of the Americans themselves. It shut the door for further negotiation; it cut off hope for the colonies, but through an appeal to arms. In fact, it was a signal for war—it was war itself.
The affair had two results. The first was to demonstrate how false and ridiculous were the vaunts of those Gascons who, within parliament as well as without, had spoken in such unworthy terms of American courage; from this moment, the English nation, and especially its soldiers, persuaded themselves that the struggle would be far more severe and sanguinary than had been at first believed. The second effect of the combat was, greatly to increase the confidence of the colonists, and their resolution to defend their rights. It should be added, also, that the reports of the cruelties of the British troops produced an incredible excitement in the minds of the inhabitants, which was still further increased by the public honors which were paid to those who had fallen in the opening contest. Their eulogies were pronounced, and they were styled martyrs of liberty, while their families were the objects of unusual veneration. They were cited as the models to be imitated in the approaching conflict.
The provincial congress of Massachusetts was in session at Watertown, ten miles distant from Boston. On receiving intelligence of the battle, it took immediate measures to raise thirteen thousand and six hundred men, and chose for their general Colonel Ward, an officer of much reputation. This militia was designed to form the contingent of Massachusetts; the provinces of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were invited to furnish theirs, in order to complete an army of thirty thousand men, to be commanded by General John Thomas, an officer of great experience. Connecticut dispatched, immediately, a considerable corps, under the command of Colonel Putnam, an old officer, who, in the two late wars, had often given proof[Pg 273] of courage and intelligence. The other provinces were not slow in causing their standards to move; and, in a short time, an army of thirty thousand men was found assembled under the walls of Boston. So great and so universal was the ardor produced among the inhabitants by the battle of Lexington, that the American generals were obliged to send back to their homes many thousand volunteers. Putnam took his station at Cambridge, and Thomas at Roxbury, upon the right wing of the army, to cut off entirely the communication of the garrison, by the isthmus, with the adjacent country. Thus, in a few days after the affair of Lexington, the capital of the province of Massachusetts was closely besieged; thus a multitude assembled in haste, of men, declared rebels and mean-spirited cowards, held in strict confinement, not daring to sally forth even to procure food, many thousands of veteran troops, commanded by an able general, and combating under the royal standard.
II. BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL.
American Patriotism—American and British Forces—Fortification of Bunker's hill—Attacked by British Ships—Asa Pollard, the first Martyr—Preparations of the British—Warren—Prescott's Injunction to his Troops—British repulsed with terrible slaughter—Second Attack—Charlestown set on fire at the same time—Second Repulse—Putnam and Major Small—Death of Colonel Gardiner—Thrilling Incident—Third Advance of the British—Death of Major Pitcairn—Americans in want of Ammunition—Retreat—Death of Warren—Respective Losses—Results of the Battle.
Boston, which for a considerable time had been the point of greatest interest in the American colonies, was not less so immediately following the battle of Lexington. That engagement served to quicken the already excited pulse of thousands. The fires of patriotism burned brighter. Sires and sons, mothers and daughters, rejoiced that the crisis had come, and were ready to make every needful sacrifice for their country's good. In a few weeks, the metropolis of the province of Massachusetts was environed by an American army, fifteen thousand strong—ten thousand of which was furnished by Massachusetts, and three thousand by Connecticut; the rest were supplied by the other New England colonies. Of these troops, General Ward was commander-in-chief. His head-quarters were at Cambridge. The right-wing was stationed at Roxbury, the left at Medford and Chelsea.
Towards the end of May, a considerable rëinforcement arrived at Boston from England, which, with the garrison, formed an army of from ten to twelve thousand men—all veteran troops. At the head of this rëinforcement were three distinguished and practical generals—Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne.
The difference in numbers was on the side of the Americans—not so, however, their military science, arms, or ammunition. They had, in all, but sixteen field-pieces, six of which, at the very utmost, were in a condition for service. Their brass pieces, which were few, were of the[Pg 275] smallest caliber. They had, however, some heavy iron cannon, with three or four mortars and howitzers, and some scanty provision of balls and bombs. But of powder, they were almost totally destitute.
The situation of the English was now daily becoming more perplexing and critical, and the necessity was increasingly apparent, if they intended to retain their position, of fortifying certain points in the neighborhood. The two regarded of greatest importance were the heights of Dorchester and Charlestown. The former presenting superior inducements, it was determined to occupy and fortify that first, and, afterwards, the latter.
The Americans having learned the intentions of the British general, it became a serious question what course was most prudent for them to adopt. For a time, a difference of opinion prevailed among the American patriots; but, at length, the committee of safety recommended to the council of war to occupy and fortify Bunker's hill at once, and Dorchester heights (now South Boston), as early after as practicable.
In conformity with this suggestion, on the following day (16th June), General Ward issued orders to Colonel Prescott to proceed to Charlestown, and occupy and fortify Bunker's hill.
The troops detached for this service, amounted to about one thousand men. They were ordered to take provisions but for a single day. In the early part of the evening of the 16th, they were mustered on Cambridge common, near the colleges. They were commended to the protection and guidance of Almighty God, in a prayer by President Langdon; after which, led by the valiant Prescott, attired in a calico frock, and himself preceded by two sergeants with dark lanterns, and accompanied by Colonel Gridley and Judge Winthrop of Cambridge, they took their destined path.
Having reached the ground, a question arose which of the two hills was intended as Bunker's hill. The northern[Pg 276] eminence was more generally spoken of under that name, while the southern, commonly called Breed's hill, was evidently the one best fitted for the purpose. After long deliberation, it was decided to construct the principal work on Breed's hill, and to erect an additional and subsidiary one on Bunker's hill. Accordingly, Captain Gridley proceeded to lay out the principal work. Midnight arrived, however, before a spade entered the ground; there remained therefore less than four hours before day-light, when the operations would, of course, be seen by the British. The men, however, now began, and they worked.
Meanwhile, a strong guard, under Captain Manners, was stationed on the Charlestown shore, to watch the enemy. The day had been fair, and it was a clear, star-light night. Colonel Prescott, accompanied by Major Brooks, went down twice to the shore to reconnoitre, and distinctly heard the British sentries relieving guard, and uttering, as they walked their rounds, the customary, but, in this instance deceptive, cry, "All's well!"[32]
The night, on the part of the patriot band, was one of sleepless vigilance and incessant toil. Shovels, pickaxes, and spades, were in incessant motion; and, by four o'clock in the morning, they had thrown up a redoubt, eight rods square and four feet high. At this time, the captain of a British ship, called the Lively, discovered the work, and opened a fire upon it. The alarm was given to the British in Boston, and to the men-of-war in the river, and a heavy cannonade was commenced. The fire from a battery of six guns, on Copp's hill, proved most annoying; but the Americans, regardless of bombs and balls, continued their labors with unshaken constancy. The first martyr who had the honor of shedding his blood, on that ever-memorable hill, was a private soldier by the name of Asa Pollard, of Billerica, and the shot which killed him was the only one which took fatal effect during the forenoon.
While various movements were in progress, the Americans in the neighborhood of the redoubt were by no means idle. About two hundred yards in the rear of the breastwork[Pg 278] was a stone fence surmounted with rails. In front of this, another fence was constructed, and the space between the two filled with hay, which happened to be on the field. A subsidiary work was also hastily thrown up on Bunker's hill, properly so called, by General Putnam.
From the moment the British discovered the operations of the Americans, they well knew the importance of dislodging them from their position. They had expected to attain this object by a cannonade from their batteries and ships of war; but it was soon apparent that other and more effective measures would be necessary. Accordingly, after mature consultation in a council of war, summoned by General Gage, it was resolved to transport a competent force across the river, and attack the works in front.
It was "a day without clouds," and intensely hot. Between mid-day and one o'clock, twenty-eight barges were seen moving from the end of Long wharf towards Morton's point. On board of these were four battalions of infantry and ten of grenadiers. They had six pieces of[Pg 279] artillery, one of which was placed in each of the six leading boats.
About two o'clock, a second detachment left Winnisimmett ferry, and joined the first at Morton's point. These were soon after followed by rëinforcements, which landed at Madlin's ship-yard, now the navy-yard near the east end of Breed's hill. These several detachments, amounting to about four thousand men, were under command of General Howe, subordinate to whom were General Pigot, and Colonels Nesbit, Abercrombie, and Clark.
A short time before the action commenced, a horseman was perceived advancing rapidly from Charlestown, towards the American redoubt. It proved to be General Warren, the president of the provincial congress. "Ah!" said Putnam, as the former came up, "is it you, General? I am glad to see you, and yet I regret your presence. Your life is too precious to be thus exposed; but since you are here, let me receive your orders." "No," replied the gallant soldier; "I give no orders! I come as a volunteer; and now[Pg 280] say where I can be the most useful." "Go, then," said Putnam, "to the redoubt; you will there be less exposed." "Tell me," rejoined Warren, "where will be the point of greatest danger." "The redoubt will be the enemy's first and principal object," said Putnam; "if we can defend that, the day is ours." Warren passed on, and, as he passed, the troops recognised him, and loud and long were their acclamations. Every bosom felt the impulse of his presence. At the redoubt, Prescott received him, and begged him to receive the command. "Give me a musket," said Warren; "to-day I take a lesson from the veteran soldier in the art of war." Warren could not content himself away from the dangers which were thickening around the patriotic cause. The day previous, he had presided in the congress in session at Watertown, and had spent the entire night in transacting business growing out of his official station. On reaching Cambridge, early in the morning, he received intelligence of the expected battle. He attended a meeting of the committee of safety, of which he was chairman. Here he made known his intention of taking part in the approaching contest. "Your ardent temper," said Gerry, "will carry you forward in the midst of peril, and you will probably fall." "I know that I may fall," replied Warren, "but I should die with shame, were I to remain at home in safety, while my friends and fellow-citizens are shedding their blood, and hazarding their lives in the cause." The honor of Warren is greatly enhanced by the consideration that he was originally opposed to the plan of fortifying the heights of Charlestown, but no sooner had the council of war decided upon that measure, than he gave it his hearty cöoperation. And here we see this brave and patriotic man in the field of battle, and in the midst of danger, having adopted the beautiful sentiment of the Roman poet,
The action opened at about three o'clock in the afternoon, at which time a general discharge of artillery was ordered[Pg 281] along the whole British line. At the same time, the troops advanced in two divisions. General Howe led the right towards the rail-fence; General Pigot with the left end towards the redoubt.
The march of the British troops was slow, but steady. They wore the aspect of strong confidence and strong determination. Meanwhile, the American drums beat to arms. Quitting his intrenchment, where he was still at work on Bunker's hill, Putnam led his equally determined, but far less disciplined, troops into action. Said this veteran general, in his usual pointed and laconic style, "Fellow-soldiers! powder is scarce, and must not be wasted. Reserve your fire till you see the whites of their eyes. Then take aim at the officers."
This injunction, however, having been disobeyed by a few of the more restless and impetuous, Prescott, proceeding along the lines, said, in a tone of thunder: "The next man that fires before the order is given, shall be instantly shot." It was apparently cruel thus to require troops, whose bosoms were now glowing with burning zeal, to withhold their fire, while the enemy was pouring in his at every step of his progress. It was, however, a wise delay. At length, the British had advanced within eight rods of the redoubt. "Now, men," said Prescott, "now is your time! Make ready! Take aim! Fire!"
And such a deadly fire, perhaps, was never before made; and, when the smoke rolled off, such a sight was perhaps never before seen. The hill-side was covered with the slain. The ranks of the British were broken, and confusion appeared on every side. The British officers attempted to rally their troops. In this, they succeeded so far as to induce them to fire; but, evidently appalled at the fearful and unexpected carnage, they turned, and fled down the hill.
"Following this repulse, there was an ominous pause," says a writer, "like the lull that sometimes interrupts the wildest tempest, only broken by the occasional discharge of artillery from the ships and batteries." It was not,[Pg 282] however, of long duration. A second attack was decided upon, and orders issued again to advance. Meanwhile, a deep silence brooded over the American lines, all being intent upon the devastation which had been made, and watching for the future movements of the enemy which had been so signally repulsed. Their success had greatly exceeded their own expectations, and served to inspire them with still more confidence in a second rencontre which they might now momently expect. In the first attack, they had been directed to reserve their fire until the enemy had approached within eight rods; now they must wait until the enemy should approach within six rods.
While the British troops were advancing, suddenly a new spectacle burst upon the eyes of the tens of thousands who were looking on from every neighboring eminence, which greatly added to the sublimity of the scene.
Annoyed in his first attack upon the American redoubt, by the fire of a detachment stationed at Charlestown, General Howe had given directions to fire that town, both by way of revenging the injury he had sustained, and, also, the more to distract the Americans during his second attack, to which he was now advancing. In furtherance of this object, a large quantity of combustibles had been conveyed from Boston, and a detachment of marines, from the Somerset, been landed to set them on fire. The work of conflagration was now commenced. Dense and dark clouds of smoke rose over the town, and at length enveloped the whole peninsula; through this smoke, columns of flame shot up, and flashed in every direction. The fire spread with fearful rapidity from house to house, and from street to street. At length, the flames reached the church, and, climbing its lofty steeple, converted it into a blazing pyramid. The beams, supporting the bell, were burned in sunder, upon which it fell, and while falling, its pealing sounds were distinctly heard by hundreds, uniting with crackling flames and crashing edifices in enhancing the dreadful magnificence of the day.
It was in the midst of a scene of desolation like this—by which property to the amount of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling was destroyed, six hundred buildings consumed, and two thousand people rendered houseless—the two opposing forces were preparing for another sanguinary rencontre. The British general was leading on his troops, as cool and undisturbed as if they had met with no repulse. They opened their fire by platoons, and apparently at random, yet not entirely without effect. Colonels Nixon and Brewer were borne wounded from the works. A ball through his shoulder rendered Colonel Backminster a cripple for life. Major Moore received a shot through the thigh; soon after which, a second ball pierced his body, which subsequently proved mortal.
The Americans had been charged to reserve their fire till the enemy were within six rods. The success which had attended their former delay, now enabled them the more cheerfully to yield obedience to orders, a compliance with which had, in the first instance, seemed nearly impossible. At length, the enemy reached the prescribed distance, when the anticipated words, "Make ready! Take aim! Fire!" were heard in a voice like thunder—and, in an instant, hundreds of men, including a surprising number of principal officers, were seen prostrated in the dust. The fire proved even more destructive than in the first attack. General Howe was left nearly alone, almost every officer of his staff being either killed or wounded. So sweeping had been the destruction, that the ranks were fatally broken, and a second time orders were issued for the British army to make good their retreat.
An interesting incident is related, as having occurred immediately following the fire of the Americans. Among the British officers who escaped the terrible destruction, was Major Small; but, so fatal had been the fire, that scarcely was there a man left near him. Consequently, his superior dress rendered him a more conspicuous object. Several riflemen had marked him—had indeed raised their[Pg 284] guns, and were in the act of levelling them, when Putnam recognised Major Small, and perceived the imminent danger he was in. A moment longer, and his early friend, with whom he had served in the French war, and for whom he cherished an unfeigned regard, would be in the agonies of death. He sprang upon the parapet, and rushed immediately before the levelled rifles, exclaiming: "My gallant comrades! spare, spare that officer! we are friends; we are brothers. Do you not remember how we rushed into each others' arms, at the meeting for the exchange of prisoners?" The appeal, it needs scarcely be added, was successful. Every rifle was instantly lowered; every bosom glowed with the generous emotions which filled that of the high-souled Putnam; nor was one feeling of regret indulged, as the gallant British officer retired unharmed.
Although repulsed in a second attack, and with losses as signal as unexpected, Howe immediately decided upon renewing the contest. Upon the issue of that day, and the[Pg 285] results of this single conflict, he well knew, might hang the fortunes of the British cause in America. If successful, the patriots would become disheartened; if defeated, they would take courage, and continue the controversy with greater animation. With more wisdom, he decided to concentrate his whole force upon the redoubt—and, that his troops might act with greater energy, he directed them to lay aside their cumbersome knapsacks, and, in imitation of the Americans, to reserve their fire, or, if circumstances allowed, to rely upon the bayonet.
Meanwhile, the situation of the Americans had become critical and alarming. They had, indeed, lost comparatively few of their number; but it was discovered, we might almost say to their dismay, that their ammunition was nearly exhausted. They had little prospect of any further supply; they had few, if any bayonets, and, as to rëinforcements, though extremely desirable, and now necessary, they could indulge only slight hopes. They were, however, cheered by the prospect of a rëinforcement of three hundred men at this critical juncture. The regiment of Colonel Gardiner, stationed at Charlestown, although they had received no orders to that effect, that gallant officer volunteered to bring to their assistance. Most unfortunately, however, just as he was descending to the lines, a musket-ball struck him, which soon after proved mortal. In consequence of this untoward event, his regiment became disordered, and but a single company that marched from Charlestown, under command of Captain Harris, participated in the action. It was, however, and well does it attest their patriotic courage, the very last to leave the field.
The history of the American war furnishes many an incident of thrilling interest, and many an instance of heroic bravery and devotion to the cause of liberty: the last moments of Colonel Gardiner may be ranked among the number. On receiving his wound, he was borne from the field by some of his men; when his son, a youth of only[Pg 286] nineteen, and a second lieutenant in Trevett's artillery company, rushed forward to his father's aid. On beholding him, said the father: "Think not of me, my son. I am well. Go to your duty!" And the son obeyed, and hastened to his post, while the father was borne from the field to die. Is it a matter of marvel that people should succeed in a struggle where such lofty patriotism fired their bosoms, and, in pursuing which, some of the tenderest and strongest ties of our nature were sacrificed for their country's good?
The British troops, as we said, were again advancing. Without bayonets, with a few charges of powder remaining, the Americans waited in silence to receive them as they were able. Stones and the stocks of their muskets supplied the place of powder and ball. Richardson, a private in the Royal Irish regiment, was the first to mount the parapet; but he fell the next moment. Nearly at the same time, Major Pitcairn, whose insolence and inhumanity at Lexington will not soon be forgotten, appeared upon the[Pg 287] parapet, and, as if actuated by a similar spirit now as then, he exultingly exclaimed: "The day is ours!" But here he met a deserved fate; for, while the words still lingered on his lies, a bullet from a musket, fired by a colored man named Salem, pierced his body, and he fell and expired.
While these events were occurring in one quarter, the enemy were more successful in another, the south-east corner of the redoubt. Here a tree had been left standing, and by means of this, General Pigot succeeded in mounting the works; his men followed him; and here, for a brief space, the contest was spirited and sanguinary. Several American officers suffered severely. Colonel Bridge was twice wounded by a broad-sword. Major Gridley received a ball through the leg, and was borne from the field. Lieutenant Prescott, nephew to the colonel, had his arm so broken, as to hang useless by his side; but, nothing deterred by his wound, he continued to load his musket, and was in the act of pointing his gun through the sally-port at the enemy, when he was cut in sunder by a cannon-ball. But now, the sacrifice of life which was being offered upon the shrine of liberty, was accomplishing no good. The Americans could no longer contend with hope, as their ammunition was fairly expended. Prescott was reluctant to yield; but it was wise—it was best. An honorable retreat was still practicable, and he chose this alternative. The Americans retired in order from the hill.
A retreat bore more heavily upon one patriotic spirit than, if possible, upon all others—that one was Warren's. He lingered to the very latest moment—beyond the moment of safety. Nor had he quitted the works, or proceeded but a few rods, when the British were in full possession. Major Small, the British officer whose life Putnam had saved only a few hours before, saw him—surmised his reluctance—perceived his danger—and would have saved him. Addressing him by name, he besought him to surrender, as the only means of security; at the same time ordering his men to suspend their firing. Warren, it is supposed, heard[Pg 288] the voice of Small; but whether he would have taken advantage of the proffered safety, cannot be known. He turned his head towards the sound, and at that instant a ball sunk deep in his forehead, and produced instant death.
The day following, the body of this patriot, statesman, and hero, was discovered and identified by Isaac Winslow, (then a youth, afterwards general,) and by several others, who were familiar with his person. The bullet which terminated his life was extracted by Mr. Savage, an officer in the custom-house. Subsequently, he carried it to England; but, years afterwards, it was presented at London to Rev. Mr. Montague, of Dedham, Mass., in whose family it still remains. The remains of Warren were buried on the spot where he fell; but the following year they were temporarily removed to a tomb in the Tremont cemetery. They now repose in the family vault, under St. Paul's church, Boston.
The loss of Warren was among the saddest and bitterest incidents of the day. Few had such aspirations after liberty—few so well understood the true interests of the country, or were better able to suggest measures calculated to secure the triumph of her cause. To the British, the intelligence of his fall was as grateful (considering him in the light of an enemy) as it was unexpected. It is recorded that when on the following morning the news of the event was brought to General Howe, who remained on the field during the night, he would scarcely credit it; and when, at length, it was verified, he declared that "his death was a full offset for the loss of five hundred men."
The battle of Bunker's hill, which we have thus described as minutely as our limits will allow, was of about two hours' continuance, having commenced at three o'clock. The Americans engaged were estimated at about three thousand five hundred. The number killed and missing was one hundred and fifteen; three hundred and five were wounded, and thirty taken prisoners. Of the several regiments, Prescott's suffered the most severely, losing forty-two killed and twenty-eight wounded. Several officers were killed—Colonel[Pg 289] Gardiner, Lieutenant-Colonel Parker, Major Moore, and Major Maclary.
The British force engaged in this battle was four thousand. Their loss General Gage, in his official account, acknowledged to be one thousand and fifty-four—two hundred and twenty-six killed; eight hundred and twenty-eight wounded, including nineteen officers killed and twenty-eight wounded. Their loss, according to the official account of the action by the Massachusetts congress, was fifteen hundred.
Charlestown was entirely destroyed. On the retreat of the Americans, the British took possession of Bunker's hill, from which they kept up a fire of artillery during the night. The Americans occupied Prospect and Winter hills.
It was a bold attempt on the part of General Howe to carry the American redoubt by an attack in front; in consequence of this, his troops were exposed to the direct and galling fire of men who were each able to take deliberate aim. A censure was indeed cast upon him for so doing; but a too vain confidence in the bravery and discipline of his soldiers, and an equally mistaken estimate of American valor, led him to reject a plan proposed by General Clinton, and the adoption of one which, had it succeeded, would have secured more honor, but which obviously was so hazardous and doubtful in its issue, as might well have gained for the other the preference.
The night of the 17th of June was one of more sadness to the British than to the Americans, notwithstanding that the latter had been driven from their position, and the colors of the former were waving over Bunker's hill. To the British belonged the field—to the Americans, in effect, the victory. What the former had gained, was of no use to them, as their forces were not sufficiently numerous to hold possession of so extended a line. Their loss in numbers was grievous; but this was small in comparison to the mortification experienced in view of their repeated repulses. Nor was that mortification lessened when it became known that the retreat of the Americans was caused by a want of[Pg 290] ammunition. Had the materiel of battle not failed, who can say that the Americans would not have maintained their position?[33]
Such an issue, however, might have drawn after it consequences which, in the sequel, would have been disastrous to the patriotic cause. A vain confidence might have been engendered, leading to the neglect of needful, and even essential preparation, to cope with a foe more formidable at that era, than any other on the globe. It was well doubtless, and Providence in kindness so ordered, it, that ammunition should fail. God gave to the Americans just that success which was calculated to animate and encourage them: and permitted them to suffer just in that way, and to that extent, as to teach them humility, and to trust in Him. Theirs was a just and glorious cause. It was the cause of liberty and of God. It was right that they should succeed; but it was equally befitting that they should feel and acknowledge that their success was from the God of their fathers.
III. WASHINGTON, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
Effects of the Battle of Bunker hill—Meeting of Congress—Appointment of a Commander-in-Chief proposed—Difficulties in regard to a Selection—Claims of Individuals—Interview between John and Samuel Adams—Speech of the former—Washington Nominated—Unanimously Confirmed—Manifesto of Congress—Public Fast.
If, previous to the battle of Bunker's hill, doubts existed in the minds of any, whether the contest between Great Britain and America would be settled without a struggle, the sanguinary scene on that hill must have dispelled them. Both parties had received a wound not likely soon to be healed. If the British had won the field, they had gained but little, if any, honor—and in the repulse, which the Americans had met with, while they had lost no honor, they had acquired self-confidence, and added to their already high-wrought valor and determination.
"The battle was fought on Saturday afternoon. Before Sunday night, the intelligence was spread more than a hundred miles distant from the scene of action. All were[Pg 292] roused to the highest pitch of resentment, and set about preparing themselves for a long and bloody struggle. Companies were raised and equipped with the utmost dispatch; all hopes of reconciliation were lost. Squads of armed men flocked to head-quarters, some of them having traveled eighty miles in twenty-four hours."
While events of so much importance were occurring in and around Boston, the more immediate theatre of the war, the second general congress were in session in Philadelphia, in deep consultation as to measures which the cause and exigencies of the country required.
Their session had commenced on the 10th day of May preceding. Various matters of interest engaged their attention, and required all their wisdom and firmness. As the war had commenced, it was essential to keep up the zeal of the people—to prevent revolt to the royal standard—to introduce discipline into an army which had been collected in haste—to provide for the growing expenses of a war, the end of which could not be predicted—to prevent, in the conduct of the war, the revival of jealousies which had existed between the different colonies—and, finally, to place the army in the hands of some commander-in-chief, in whom the country could confide, and whose commands the army would cheerfully obey.
The importance of this last duty magnified, the more it was contemplated—and difficulties presented themselves which occasioned no small anxiety and embarrassment. A mistake here might prove fatal to the liberties of the country, for an indefinite period to come.
Upon whom, then, should their choice fall? Gates and Lee were held in high estimation as military men. The first, for his experience; the second, because to experience he joined a very active genius. But they were both born in England, and, in case of misfortune, it would be difficult, however upright and faithful they might have been, to persuade the people that they had not been guilty of treason, or at least of negligence in the accomplishment of their[Pg 293] duties. Besides, Lee had an impetuosity of temper, which, in some hour of excitement, might spur him to the adoption of measures inconsistent with the safety of the army, and prejudicial to the interests of the patriot cause. There were also Ward and Putnam, who were already in the field, and who had demonstrated the most signal valor and ability in all the actions which had taken place in the vicinity of Boston. Putnam had seen much service, and, for energy and promptitude, had few equals; but he had declared himself too openly in favor of independence; this, congress devoutly wished to procure, but withal in a propitious time. As to General Ward, New England, it was well known, entertained an exalted opinion of him, and many were strongly wishing and anticipating that the lot would fall on him. He had served in the French war, in which he had acquired an honorable distinction. In addition, he was both a scholar and a gentleman, and the army itself was uncommonly prepossessed in his favor. But besides that he also had openly expressed himself in favor of independence, it was well known that the provinces of the middle, and more so of the south, were in a measure jealous of New England, in which the physical force of the country confessedly predominated, and they would naturally be reluctant to have the cause of America confided to the hands of an individual who might allow himself to be influenced by certain local prepossessions, at a time in which all desires and all interests ought to be common. Nor was it a small desideratum with some of the sages of that era, that the commander-in-chief should himself possess an estate of such value as to offer a guaranty of his fidelity, and elevate him above the sordid and selfish motives of personal gain.
Surrounded by such difficulties, and embarrassed by such opposite considerations, what was to be done? One point was clear,—union must be preserved, at any sacrifice. Union was strength. If in harmonious concert the colonies could not proceed, their doom was sealed. The country,[Pg 294] and the whole country, must come in. The pulsation must beat through all hearts. The cause was one, and how many soever bore a part in sustaining and defending it, they must act as impelled but by one motive—and using but a single arm.
To the final question, it had been foreseen for some time, the congress must come. Out of doors, the subject had been considered and debated, but, as yet, no settled opinion had been formed, and no decisive action had been had.
In this anxious and inquiring period, the Father of mercies—that Almighty Being by whose care the colonies had been planted, and hitherto sustained—whose blessing was daily sought by thousands of families, morning and evening—whose guidance the public councils, whether provincial or continental, were never ashamed to implore—that good and gracious Benefactor was not slow in pointing to the man who should lead the armies of his American Israel!
One morning, the elder President Adams was walking in Congress hall, apparently absorbed in thought, when Samuel Adams, a kinsman and a member of congress, approaching him, inquired the subject of his deep cogitation. "The army," he replied; "I am determined what to do about the army at Cambridge." "What is that?" asked his kinsman. "I am determined to enter on a full detail of the state of the colonies, before the house this morning. My object will be to induce congress to name a day for adopting the army, as the legal army of the United Colonies of North America; and, having done this, I shall offer a few hints on my election of a commander-in-chief." "I like your plan, Cousin John," said Samuel Adams; "but on whom have you fixed as this commander?" "George Washington, of Virginia, a member of this house." "That will never do, never, never." "It must do," said John Adams, "and for these reasons: the southern and middle states are loath to enter heartily into the cause, and their arguments are potent; they see that New England holds the physical power in her hands, and they fear the result. A New England army, a[Pg 295] New England commander, with New England perseverance, all united, appal them. For this cause, they hang back. The only way to allay their fears, and silence their complaints, is by appointing a southern chief over the army. This policy will blend us in one mass, and that mass will be resistless."
Mr. Adams now went in, and, taking the floor, put forth his strength in the delineations he had prepared, all aiming at the adoption of the army. He was ready to own the army, appoint a commander, and vote supplies. His speech was patriotic, eloquent, and thrilling; but some doubted, some objected, some feared. To all these doubts and hesitations, he replied: "Gentlemen, if this congress do not adopt this army, before ten moons have set, New England will have a congress of her own, which will adopt it, and she will undertake the struggle alone—with a strong arm and a clear conscience." This had the desired effect, and they agreed to appoint a day.
The day was fixed, and came, and the army was adopted. And now followed the question as to a commander. Mr. Adams again rose. He proceeded to a minute delineation of the character of General Ward, according to him merits and honors, which then belonged to no one else; but, at the end of this eulogy, he said: "This is not the man I have chosen." The peculiar situation of the colonies required another and a different man—and one from a different quarter. These qualifications were now set forth in strong, bold, and eloquent terms; and, in the sequel, he said: "Gentlemen, I know these qualifications are high, but we all know they are needful at this crisis, in this chief. Does any one say that they are not to be obtained in the country? I reply, they are; they reside in one of our own body, and he is the person whom I now nominate: George Washington, of Virginia."
At the moment, Washington was intently gazing, as were others, upon Mr. Adams, wrought up by an eager curiosity for the annunciation of the name. Without a suspicion[Pg 296] that it would be his own, as it transpired from the lips of the speaker, he sprang from his seat, and rushed from the hall.
Samuel Adams, already in the secret, immediately moved an adjournment of the house, in order that the members might have time to deliberate on a nomination so unexpected and so surprising.
On the 15th of June, two days only before the battle of Bunker's hill, congress convened in the hall to decide the important question. As individuals, they had given to the subject a deep and solemn deliberation, commensurate with its vital importance to the country. Until the annunciation of Washington's name by John Adams, probably no one had even thought of him—but now, but one sentiment prevailed. He was the man, and their ballots unanimously confirmed the choice. The delegates of Massachusetts had other predilections; but, nobly relinquishing sectional claims, and even partialities, they united with the others, and rendered the choice unanimous. That was a happy day—that a fortunate selection for America. And who can doubt that the God by whose providence nations rise and fall, guided that choice, with the same benign influence which was exerted upon the prophet in a prior age of the world, when from among his brethren he selected David as the successor of Saul?
In a few days, following the appointment of Washington, congress published a manifesto, setting forth to the world the causes which had led them to take up arms. After enumerating these causes, in a tone of manly assurance, and yet of humble dependence upon Almighty God, they said:
"Our cause is just—our union is perfect—our internal resources are great—and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of Divine favor towards us, that His providence would not permit us to be called into this severe controversy, until we were grown to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operations, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With[Pg 297] hearts, fortified with these animating reflections, we must most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which the beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being, with one mind, resolved to die freemen, rather than to live slaves." Finally, they added: "With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore His divine goodness, to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war."
The above manifesto was sent into every part of the country, and read from the pulpits by the ministers of religion, with suitable exhortations. In the camps of Boston, it was read with particular solemnity. Major-General Putnam assembled his division, upon the heights of Prospect hill, to hear it. It was followed by a prayer, analogous to the occasion; the general having given the signal, all the troops cried, three times, amen! and, at the same instant, the artillery of the fort fired a general salute; the colors, recently sent to General Putnam, were seen waving with the usual motto "An appeal to Heaven;" and this other, "Qui transulit sustinet." The same ceremony was observed in the other divisions. The joy and enthusiasm were universal.
It may be added, in this connexion, as an evidence of the piety of our fathers—of the belief of a superintending providence, which characterized that generation, that congress recommended a public fast to be observed in all the colonies, on the 20th of July. The soldiers, they recommended to be "humane and merciful;" and all classes of citizens, "to humble themselves, to fast, to pray, and to implore the Divine assistance, in this day of trouble and of peril."
Congress, in a body, attended divine services on that day, in one of the churches of Philadelphia. Just as they were about to enter the temple, important intelligence was received from Georgia. It was, that that province, which had hitherto held itself aloof from the common cause, had joined the confederation, and had appointed five delegates for its representation in Congress. While humbling themselves, God was blessing and exalting them. No news scarcely could have occasioned more joy; and this was heightened, in consideration of the moment at which the government and people were apprised of it.
IV. EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
General Officers appointed—Washington repairs to Cambridge—State of the Army—Great want of Gunpowder—Sickness in the Camp—Dorchester heights fortified—Proposal of the British General to attack the American Intrenchments—Alters his plan, and evacuates Boston—Embarkation of the British—Washington enters the city.
Having elected a commander-in-chief, congress proceeded to the selection of other experienced officers.—Artimas Ward, Charles Lee, and Philip Schuyler, were appointed major-generals, and Horatio Gates adjutant-general. These appointments were followed, a few days after, by that of eight brigadier-generals: Seth Pomeroy, William Heath, and John Thomas, of Massachusetts; Richard Montgomery, of New York; David Wooster and Joseph Spencer, of Connecticut; John Sullivan, of New Hampshire; and Nathaniel Greene, of Rhode Island.
In July, Washington, accompanied by General Lee, repaired to the camp near Boston; receiving, on his journey thither, the highest honors from the most distinguished[Pg 300] citizens. On making a review of the army, soon after his arrival, he found an immense multitude, of whom only fourteen thousand five hundred were in a condition fit for service. But even these, in respect to uniform, equipment, and discipline, exhibited a variety most disheartening and painful to a commander. As to discipline, it scarcely existed. The subordinate officers were without emulation; and the privates, having been unaccustomed to the rules and regulations of a camp, were impatient of all subordination.
Fortunately, the newly-appointed generals soon arrived, and with great alacrity betook themselves to the task of reform. General Gates, who was versed in the details of military organization, exerted a powerful influence in this salutary work. In a short period, the camp presented an improved aspect. The soldiers became accustomed to obedience; regulations were observed; each began to know his duty; and, at length, instead of a mass of irregular militia, the camp presented the spectacle of a properly-disciplined army. It was divided into three corps: the right, under the command of Ward, occupied Roxbury; the left, conducted by Lee, defended Prospect hill; and the center, which comprehended a select corps, destined for reserve, was stationed at Cambridge, where Washington himself[Pg 301] had established his head-quarters. The circumvallation was fortified by so great a number of redoubts, and supplied with so formidable an artillery, that it had become impossible for the besieged to assault Cambridge, and spread themselves in the open country. It was believed, also, that they had lost a great many men, as well upon the field of battle as in consequence of wounds and disease.
Another material deficiency was the want of gunpowder. In the depositories at Roxbury, Cambridge, and other places, there were found to be only ninety-six barrels; the magazines of Massachusetts contained but thirty-six more; and, after adding to this quantity all that New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut could furnish, the amount fell short of ten thousand pounds, which allowed only nine charges to a man. In this scarcity and danger, the army remained more than fifteen days; during which time, had the English attacked them, they might easily have forced the lines, and raised the siege. At length, by the exertions of the committee of New Jersey, a few tons of powder arrived at the camp, which supplied for the moment the necessities of the army, and averted the evils that were feared.
The providing of gunpowder had now become an important, and even an essential consideration. Accordingly, it was recommended, by a resolution of congress, that all the colonies should put themselves, in a state of defence, and provide themselves with the greatest possible number of men, of arms, and of munitions; and, especially, that they should make diligent search for saltpetre and sulphur. An exact scrutiny was therefore commenced, in the cellars and in the stables, in pursuit of materials so essential to modern war. In every part, manufactories of gunpowder and foundries of cannon, were seen rising; every place resounded with the preparations of war. The provincial assemblies and conventions seconded admirably the operations of congress; and the people obeyed, with incredible promptitude, the orders of these various authorities. In addition to these measures, several fast-sailing[Pg 302] vessels were despatched to the coast of Guinea, where they procured immense quantities, having purchased it of European ships, employed in the trade. The assembly of Massachusetts even prohibited the use of powder in shooting at game, or its expenditure in public rejoicing.
In the autumn of 1775, General Gage obtained leave to repair to England; or, according to some authorities, was rëcalled by the king. During his administration, he had rendered himself odious to the Americans, and now they heard of his retirement without regret. He was succeeded in command by General William Howe, a gentleman much esteemed for his talents, and, withal, less vindictive in his temper.
Towards the close of the year, Washington was environed with difficulties. Great responsibilities were resting upon him, with which his means were far from being commensurate. The organization of the army, notwithstanding his greatest efforts, was very imperfect. The ardor of the troops, having little excitement beyond an occasional skirmish, was evidently abating. In not a few instances, a spirit of rapacity had been manifested, by portions of the troops, and depredations were made upon private as well as public property. Several generals, dissatisfied with the promotions made by congress, resigned their commissions, and returned home. Sickness, especially the dysentery, appeared in the camp, and proved a distressing visitant. The cold weather set in, and occasioned great suffering to the soldiers, who were destitute of barracks and other conveniences.
While these and other troubles were in a degree disturbing the calmness of Washington, other considerations did not serve to allay his anxiety. "He knew that congress anxiously contemplated more decisive steps, and that the country looked for events of greater magnitude. The public was ignorant of his actual situation, and conceived his means, for offensive operations, to be much greater than they were; and they expected from him the capture or[Pg 303] expulsion of the British army, in Boston. He felt the importance of securing the confidence of his countrymen, by some brilliant action, and was fully sensible that his own reputation was liable to suffer, if he confined himself solely to measures of defence." To publish to his anxious country the state of his army, would be to acquaint the enemy with his weakness, and to hazard his destruction. The firmness and patriotism of General Washington were displayed, in making the good of his country an object of higher consideration, than the applause of those who were incapable of forming a correct opinion of the propriety of his measures. On this, and on many other occasions during the war, he withstood the voice of the populace, rejected the entreaties of the sanguine, and refused to adopt the plans of the rash, that he might ultimately secure the great object of contention. While he resolutely rejected every measure which, in his calm and deliberate judgment he did not approve, he daily pondered the practicability of a successful attack upon Boston. As a preparatory step, he took possession of Plowed hill, Cobble hill, and Lechmere's point, and erected fortifications upon them. These posts brought him within half a mile of the enemy's works on Bunker's hill, and, by his artillery, he drove the British floating-batteries from their stations in Charles' river. He erected floating-batteries to watch the movements of his enemy, and to aid in any offensive operations that circumstances might warrant. In these circumstances, he took the opinion of his general officers, respecting an attack upon Boston; but they unanimously gave their opinion in opposition to the measure, and this opinion was immediately communicated to congress. Congress appeared, however, to favor the attempt; and, that an apprehension of danger to the town of Boston might not have an undue influence upon the operations of the army, resolved, 'That if General Washington and his council of war should be of opinion that a successful attack might be made on the troops in Boston, he should make it in any manner he might think it[Pg 304] expedient, notwithstanding the town and the property therein might thereby be destroyed.'[34]
Towards the close of February, the stock of powder having been considerably increased, and the regular army, which amounted to fourteen thousand men, being rëinforced by six thousand of the militia of Massachusetts, Washington himself was disposed to carry the war against the British into Boston; but his general officers dissenting, he reluctantly acquiesced, and turned his attention to the taking possession of Dorchester heights, by which he would be able to command the city.
The announcement of this intention, diffused joy throughout the American army, and each one prepared himself to obey the summons in case his service was required. The night of the 4th of March, was selected for the enterprise, in hope that a recollection of the tragic scenes of the 5th of March, 1770, would rouse the spirit of the soldiers to a degree commensurate with the daring exploit proposed.
Accordingly, on the evening of the 4th, the necessary arrangements having been made, the Americans proceeded in profound silence towards the peninsula of Dorchester. The obscurity of the night was propitious, and the wind favorable, since it could not bear to the enemy the little noise which it was impossible to avoid. The frost had rendered the roads easy. The batteries of Phipps' farm, and those of Roxbury, incessantly fulminated with a stupendous roar.
Eight hundred men composed the van-guard; it was followed by carriages, filled with utensils of intrenchment, and twelve hundred pioneers led by General Thomas. In the rear-guard were three hundred carts of fascines, of gabions, and bundles of hay, destined to cover the flank of the troops, in the passage of the isthmus of Dorchester, which, being very low, was exposed to be raked on both sides by the artillery of the English vessels.
"All succeeded perfectly; the Americans arrived upon[Pg 305] the heights, not only without being molested, but even without being perceived by the enemy.
"They set themselves to work with an activity so prodigious, that by ten o'clock at night, they had already constructed two forts, in condition to shelter them from small arms and grape-shot; one upon the height nearest to the city, and the other upon that which looks towards Castle island. The day appeared, but it prevented not the provincials from continuing their works, without any movement being made on the part of the garrison. When the latter discovered these deeds of the Americans, nothing could exceed their astonishment. Their only alternative, it was at once apparent, was either to dislodge the Americans, or abandon the town.
"The first intention of Howe was to attempt the former, and preparations were made accordingly; but he was compelled to defer the attack till the following morning. During the night a storm arose, and when the day dawned, the sea was still excessively agitated. A violent rain came[Pg 306] to increase the obstacles; the English general kept himself quiet. But the Americans made proper use of this delay; they erected a third redoubt, and completed the other works. Colonel Mifflin had prepared a great number of hogsheads full of stones and sand, in order to roll them upon the enemy when he should march up to the assault, to break his ranks, and throw him into a confusion that might smooth the way to his defeat."
On more mature reflection, General Howe was convinced of the impolicy of attempting to dislodge the Americans. If success should crown such an enterprise, it would, indeed, be highly auspicious to the British cause, but a failure would be fatal. The other alternative, therefore, was the only choice left.
Having taken this resolution, General Howe notified the selectmen of Boston, that the city being no longer of any use to the king, he was resolved to abandon it; but, if opposed, he should fire it, and for this purpose ample materials had been provided. To these conditions it appears, from what followed, that Washington consented; but the articles of the truce were never written. The Americans remained quiet spectators of the retreat of the English. But the city presented a melancholy spectacle; notwithstanding the orders of General Howe, all was havoc and confusion. Fifteen hundred loyalists, with their families and their most valuable effects, hastened, with infinite dejection of mind, to abandon a residence which had been so dear to them, and where they had so long enjoyed felicity. The fathers carrying burdens, and the mothers their children, went weeping towards the ships; the last salutations, the farewell embraces of those who departed and of those who remained; the sick, the wounded, the aged, the infants, would have moved with compassion the witnesses of their distress, if the care of their own safety had not absorbed the attention of all.
"The carts and beasts of burden were become the occasion of sharp disputes between the inhabitants, who had[Pg 307] retained them, and the soldiers, who wished to employ them. The disorder was also increased by the animosity that prevailed between the soldiers of the garrison and those of the fleet; they reproached each other mutually, as the authors of their common misfortune. With one accord, however, they complained of the coldness and ingratitude of their country, which seemed to have abandoned, or rather forgotten them upon these distant shores, a prey to so much misery, and to so many dangers. For, since the month of October, General Howe had not received from England any order or intelligence whatever, which testified that the government still existed, and had not lost sight of the army of Boston.
"Meanwhile, a desperate band of soldiers and sailors took advantage of the confusion to force doors, and pillage the houses and shops. They destroyed what they could not carry away. The entire city was devoted to devastation, and it was feared every moment that the flames would break out to consummate its destruction.
"The 15th of March, General Howe issued a proclamation, forbidding any inhabitant to go out of his house before eleven o'clock in the morning, in order not to disturb the embarkation of the troops, which was to have taken place on that day. But an east wind prevented their departure. Meanwhile, the Americans had constructed a redoubt upon the point of Nook's hill, on the peninsula of Dorchester; and having furnished it with artillery, they entirely commanded the isthmus of Boston, and all the southern part of the town. It was even to be feared that they would occupy Noddle's island, and establish batteries, which, sweeping the surface of the water across the harbor, would have entirely interdicted the passage to the ships, and reduced the garrison to the necessity of yielding at discretion. All delay became dangerous; consequently, the British troops and the loyalists began to embark the 17th of March, at four in the morning, and by ten, all were on board.
"The vessels were overladen with men and baggage; provisions were scanty, confusion was every where. The rear-guard was scarcely out of the city, when Washington entered it on the other side, with colors displayed, drums beating, and all the forms of victory and triumph. He was received by the inhabitants with every demonstration of gratitude and respect due to a deliverer. Their joy broke forth with the more vivacity, as their sufferings had been long and cruel. For more than sixteen months they had endured hunger, thirst, cold, and the outrages of an insolent soldiery, who deemed them rebels. The most necessary articles of food were risen to exorbitant prices.
"Horse flesh was not refused by those who could procure it. For want of fuel, the pews and benches of churches were taken up for this purpose; the counters and partitions of warehouses were applied to the same uses, and even houses, not inhabited, were demolished for the sake of the wood. The English left a great quantity of artillery and munitions. Two hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, of different caliber, were found in Boston, in Castle island, and in the intrenchments of Bunker's hill, and the Neck. The English had attempted, but with little success, in their haste, to destroy or to spike these last pieces; others had been thrown into the sea, but they were recovered. There were found besides, four mortars, a considerable quantity of coal, of wheat, and of other grains, and one hundred and fifty horses."[35]
Dr. Thatcher in his 'Military Journal,' thus describes a visit which he made to the Old South church, a few days after the evacuation:
"March 23d.—I went to view the Old South church, a spacious brick building, near the centre of the town. It had been for more than a century consecrated to the service of religion, and many eminent divines have in its pulpit labored in teaching the ways of righteousness and[Pg 309] truth. But, during the late siege, the inside of it was entirely destroyed by the British, and the sacred building occupied as a riding school for Burgoyne's regiment of dragoons. The pulpit and pews were removed, the floor covered with earth, and used for the purpose of training and exercising their horses. A beautiful pew, ornamented with carved work and silk furniture, was demolished; and by order of an officer, the carved work, it is said, was used as a fence for a hog-sty. The North church, a very valuable building, was entirely demolished, and consumed for fuel. Thus are our houses, devoted to religious worship, profaned and destroyed by the subjects of his royal majesty. His excellency, the commander-in-chief, has been received by the inhabitants with every mark of respect and gratitude; and a public dinner has been provided for him. He requested the Rev. Dr. Elliot, at the renewal of his customary Thursday lecture, to preach a thanksgiving sermon, adapted to the joyful occasion. Accordingly, on the 28th, this pious divine preached an appropriate discourse from Isaiah xxxiii. 20, in presence of his excellency and a respectable audience."
The recovery of Boston was an important event, and as such was hailed with joyful triumph throughout the colonies. A golden medal, commemorative of the occasion, was struck by order of congress, and a vote of thanks was passed to Washington and the army "for their wise and spirited conduct in the siege and acquisition of Boston."
V. INDEPENDENCE DECLARED.
Independence begun to be contemplated—Causes which increased a desire for such an event—Question of a Declaration of Independence enters the Colonial Assemblies—Introduced to Congress by Richard Henry Lee—Debated—State of Parties in respect to it—Measures adopted to secure a favorable vote—Question taken—Declaration adopted—Signed—The great Act of the Revolution—Influence of it immediately perceived—Character and merits of the Signers of that Instrument—The 4th of July, a time-honored and glorious day!—How it should be celebrated.
For some time previous to the winter of 1775-6, the ultimate separation of the colonies from Great Britain must have occurred to the leading men of America as a possible event. But the people at large had, at that time, not only not contemplated such an event, but would have been startled by the proposal. The proceedings of the British parliament, however, at length became so unjust, and even monstrous, as to array most of the Americans against the parent-country, and to excite a wish in the bosoms of thousands that the colonies were free from her dominion.
The news of the battle of Bunker's hill not only roused to indignation the king and his ministers, but convinced[Pg 311] them that "a flock of Yankees" were not so despisable objects as they had supposed; and that if the arms of the Americans were not so brightly burnished as those of his majesty's disciplined troops, nevertheless, in the firm hands and under the practised eye of "country boors," they could make sad havoc among them.
A large augmentation of the forces in America, contrary to all previous opinion, was now deemed essential. Accordingly, an act was introduced into parliament, authorizing the employment of sixteen thousand German troops, which, with the British regiments in, and about to be sent to America, would constitute a force of nearly fifty thousand men. The minority in parliament reprobated the employment of mercenary troops, in strong and unmeasured terms. But little did the friends of America in parliament feel, in view of such a step, compared with the Americans themselves. "Arm foreigners against us!" they exclaimed; "let us treat the English themselves as foreigners. Better for us to be eternally separated from them, than to be exposed to such cruelty." But the indignation of the Americans was, if possible, still more increased by another act of parliament, passed at the same session, viz: "prohibiting all trade and commerce with the colonies; and authorizing the capture and condemnation, not only of all American vessels with their cargoes, but all other vessels found trading, in any port or place in the colonies, as if the same were the vessels and effects of open enemies; and the vessels and property thus taken were vested in the captors, and the crews were to be treated, not as prisoners, but as slaves." By another clause, British subjects were authorized to compel men taken on board of American vessels, whether crews or other persons, to fight against their own countrymen!
By such measures, cruel and impolitic, did the British authorities compel the Americans, not only to take up arms against the mother-country, but to desire a lasting separation from her.
Thus the leaven commenced, and by degrees diffused itself through the mass. Shortly after, the gazettes began to speak out. These were followed by the issue of several pamphlets; among which, that entitled Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, "produced a wonderful effect in the different colonies in favor of independence." Influential individuals in every colony urged it as a step absolutely necessary, to preserve the rights and liberties, as well as to secure the happiness and prosperity of America. Reconciliation, they said, on any terms compatible with the preservation and security of these great and important objects, was now impossible. These sentiments were disseminated among the people by distinguished individuals, in a variety of ways. The chief justice of South Carolina, William Henry Dayton, appointed under the new form of government, just adopted, in his charge to the grand jurors, in April, after justifying the proceedings of that colony, in forming a new government, on the principles of the revolution in England, in 1688, thus concludes: "The Almighty created America to be independent of Great Britain: let us beware of the impiety of being backward to act as instruments in the Almighty's hand, now extended to accomplish his purpose; and by the completion of which alone, America, in the nature of human affairs, can be secure against the crafty and insidious designs of her enemies, who think her power and prosperity already far too great. In a word, our piety and political safety are so blended, that to refuse our labors in this divine work, is to refuse to be a great, a free, a pious, and a happy people." This was bold language for one so prominent to utter. In the view of royalists, it was treasonable; but in the estimation of the true friends of American liberty, if bold, it was just and patriotic.
At length, the question of independence entered some of the colonial assemblies and conventions, and expressions in favor of such a measure were made. North Carolina, it is believed, has the honor of taking the lead, as a province, having by her convention, as early as April 22d, empowered[Pg 313] their delegates in congress, "to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independency."[36]
On the 15th of May the convention of Virginia went still further, and unanimously instructed their delegates in the general congress, "to propose to that respectable body, to declare the united colonies free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance or dependence upon the crown or parliament of Great Britain; and to give the assent of that colony to such declaration." During the same month, Massachusetts and Rhode Island virtually adopted similar resolutions. In short, public sentiment appeared to be setting strongly in favor of action, on this great and momentous question.
Meanwhile, congress were not idle or uninterested spectators of events. They had been watching with no small solicitude the "signs of the times." Personally, they had counted the cost. Most of the members had come to the conclusion that rather than be slaves, as they had been, they would sacrifice fortune and life itself. These, therefore, they were willing to peril, by any act or declaration which might seem to contribute to their country's cause.
But a sacred regard to that cause, required the utmost prudence. Premature action might injure a cause which they wished, above all others, to benefit. The popular feelings must have become duly interested—the popular will must precede and direct.
At length, the propitious time was believed to have arrived, and in humble dependence upon the guidance and protection of Almighty God, it was determined to go forward with this great and solemn work.
On the 7th of June, therefore, the great question of independence was brought directly before congress, by Richard Henry Lee, one of the delegates from Virginia. He submitted a resolution, declaring "that the united colonies are, and 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 Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved." The resolution was postponed until the next day, and every member enjoined to attend, to take the same into consideration. On the 8th, it was debated in committee of the whole.
No question of greater magnitude was ever presented to the consideration of a deliberative body, or debated with more eloquence, energy, and ability. Every member seemed duly impressed with the important bearing that their decision would have upon the future destiny of the country.
Mr. Lee, the mover, and Mr. John Adams were particularly distinguished in supporting, and Mr. John Dickinson in opposing the resolution. On the 10th, it was adopted in committee, by a bare majority of the colonies. The delegates from Pennsylvania and Maryland, were instructed to oppose it; and the delegates from some of the other colonies were without special instructions on the subject. To give time for greater unanimity, the resolution was postponed in the house, until the first of July. In the mean time, a committee, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and R. R. Livingston, was[Pg 315] appointed to prepare a declaration of independence. During this interval, measures were taken to procure the assent of all the colonies.[37]
A portion of the colonies had not given specific instructions to their delegates, while others had, and in opposition to the measure. On a question of such magnitude, it was deemed of the utmost importance that entire unanimity, if possible, should be had. The delegates of New York dispatched an express to the convention of that colony, then in session, for advice; but the convention, not considering themselves or their delegates authorized to declare the colony independent, recommended that the people, who were then about to elect new members to the convention, should give instructions on the subject. June 15th, New Hampshire instructed her delegates to join the other colonies on this question. On the 14th, Connecticut gave similar instructions. New Jersey followed on the 21st. Pennsylvania, the same month, removed restrictions which in the previous November, had been laid upon their delegates, and now authorized them to unite in the measure. Maryland had also instructed her delegates to vote against independence; but on the 28th of June, following the example of Pennsylvania, the members of this convention rëcalled their former instructions, and empowered their delegates to concur. These new instructions were immediately dispatched by express to Philadelphia, and, on 1st of July, were laid before congress.
On the same day, the resolution of Mr. Lee, relating to independence, was resumed in that body, referred to a committee of the whole, and was assented to by all the colonies, except Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The delegates from the former, then present, were seven, and four voted against it. The number present from Delaware, was only two—Thomas McKean and George Read—and they were divided; McKean in favor, and Read[Pg 316] against the resolution. Being reported to the house, at the request of a colony, the proposition was postponed until the next day, when it passed, and was entered on the journals. The declaration of independence was reported by the special committee on the 28th of June, and on the 4th of July, came before congress for final decision, and received the vote of every colony.
Two of the members from Pennsylvania, Morris and Dickinson, were absent; of the five who were present, Franklin, Wilson, and Morton, were in favor, and Willing and Humphrey against. Mr. McKean, to secure the vote of Delaware, sent an express for Mr. Rodney, the other delegate from that colony; who, although at the distance of eighty miles from Philadelphia, arrived in time on the 4th to unite with him in the vote, and thus complete the union of the colonies on this momentous question. The committee appointed to prepare a declaration of independence, selected Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson a sub-committee; and the original draft was made by Mr. Jefferson.
This draft, without any amendment by the committee, was reported to congress, and after undergoing several amendments, received their sanction.
It now only remained to affix their signatures to the declaration, and to publish it to the world, and their duty, in respect to this important measure, was done. Having been engrossed on parchment, it was brought out, and laid on the table. This was on the 2d of August. Meanwhile, some who had voted for the declaration, had left congress, and others had taken their places. The latter signed the instrument.
John Hancock, as president of the congress, led the way. Taking a pen, he recorded his name. He wrote with great power, and on the original parchment, no signature is so bold and full-faced as his. The others followed by states—fifty-six in number.
The declaration of independence, was the great act of the Revolution. It was the hinge on which turned the[Pg 317] important events which followed. Yet, at the period the plan was brought forward, it appeared to many to partake of the wildness and extravagance of some measure of the knight of la Mancha. At that day, the colonies were few and feeble. They had no political character—no bond of union but common sufferings, common necessities, and common danger. The inhabitants did not exceed three millions—they had no veteran army—no arsenals but barns—no munitions of war—few fortifications—no public treasury, no power to lay taxes, and no credit on which to obtain a loan.
No wonder that the hearts of some trembled. No wonder that many doubted the expediency of such a bold and adventurous step. Who was the nation with which the colonies had to contend?—the mistress of the world—a nation whose navy far exceeded that of any other nation on the globe. Her armies were numerous and veteran—her officers were skilful and practised—her statesmen subtle and sagacious, and were now fired with indignation.
All these circumstances were well known to the patriots[Pg 318] who composed the congress of '76. They were aware that they put in peril life, liberty, and country.
Yet, they well knew the importance of the measure proposed, and not only its importance, but its necessity. The country needed some great object distinctly before them. The colonies required a bond of union—a common cause—one expressed—recorded—recognised—some one great plan, the object of which they could pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, to secure. That plan was independence.
The influence of the declaration was immediately perceived—it roused the nation to a higher tone of feeling, and gave impulse and concentration to the national energies. It helped on the tide of Revolution, and mightily aided in driving back the waves of British oppression. But the full influence of that measure is not yet felt—is not yet seen. That belongs to distant time. Some day, hereafter, it will stand out in the great picture of human liberty, in all its grandeur and importance. More will be thought of it than of the splendid and long-lauded achievements of Marathon and Salamis—of Waterloo and Trafalgar!
Nor can we yet estimate the greatness of the men. We are still too near them. But they are rising higher and higher, every year that passes. As we retire into the distance from the date and scene of their actions, their magnitude and worth acquire their true and proper dimensions. In stern and self-denying virtue, they will compare with Regulus, and in a pure and lofty patriotism, will be placed on the same roll with William Tell and Robert the Bruce.
The signers of the declaration of American independence, and their compatriots in toil, and trial, and blood, will never be forgotten. They need no monument, but they deserve one; and, for myself, I wish there was one—a Revolutionary monument—erected by the nation—worthy of the empire whose liberties, civil and religious, they secured—one which should stand—if God pleased—through all time,[Pg 319] to serve as a consecrated offering to their patriotism, and the evidence of their imperishable glory:—a monument to which we might conduct our sons in future days; and, as they pondered the deeply engraved names of these heroes and martyrs to liberty—we, the fathers, might say, "Look upon your ancestry, and scorn to be slaves!"
What a day is the 4th of July, as it yearly recurs! The cannon on that day thunders from our hills—but it speaks of liberty. The bell from every spire sends forth its peal, but in sounds which impart a joyous impulse to the blood of the sire, and awaken a thrill of delight in the bosom of the stripling.
No other nation ever celebrated such a day. Days of joy and jubilee they have had; but they were days which, while they removed one usurper from the throne, made way for another; or celebrated some ambitious hero's victories, achieved at the expense of slaughtered thousands. Is it the spirit of an unholy triumph, which prompts the Americans to dwell with delight upon the day? Patriotic sympathy would hail with joy such a day, for any nation on the globe. And such a day, we trust, will come for all; when the sun of liberty, which warms and refreshes us, will fill with joy even the vassals of the Russian autocrat, and spread his heart-cheering beams over the tyrannized millions of the misnamed "celestial empire."
It has sometimes been cast upon us as a reproach, that we exalt the day too much. Exalt it too much! It has indeed sometimes been abused. The spirit of liberty has grown wanton, and excess has sullied the irreproachable propriety, which should ever characterize the demonstrations of joy on such a day as this. But those days are chiefly passed. No—whence the charge of exalting the day too highly?—Not by those who have tasted the sweets of American liberty, nor by those who have drawn long and deep draughts from the refreshing fountains of western freedom. Oh, no—not by such; but by the hirelings of some eastern usurper—by the myrmidons of crowned[Pg 320] heads, who hate a day which speaks so loudly of rational liberty to the rest of the world in bondage.
What monarch in Europe would think his throne safe, were his subjects to witness an American celebration of the 4th of July? It would open visions before them upon which they would gaze with intense emotions. It would excite pantings after liberty, which, if unresisted, would convulse every nation, and demolish every despotic throne. What would the Russian serf say, were he to look in upon the smiling faces which course the streets of a New England village, on a bright and balmy 4th of July? What would the subjects of Algerine or Turkish despotism say?
Yet we exalt the day too much! But for that day, what would have been our present condition? Where would have been that constitution, under which our political voyage of more than sixty years has been made with so much prosperity to the nation? Where were that enterprise which has levelled our forests, and spread a smiling and happy population over our western wilds? Where that inventive genius, which, in its creations, has rivalled, and in some respects excelled, the inventions of Europe? Look at our ships—our manufactures—our printing establishments—our cities—our canals—our railroads—our thousand and ten thousand sources of wealth and happiness—where had these been, but for the 4th of July, 1776, connected as it was, and must ever be, with the achievement of our national independence? Would Great Britain have suffered these? Would she have seen such thrift—such expansion—such accumulation of national power, and not have repressed it—when she could not bear, without passing prohibitory laws, that our forefather's should make a hat to cover their heads—or manufacture a sheet of paper on which to write a letter to a friend! Had the mother-country had her will, where had been the genius of Fulton, Whitney, and Clinton? On the other side of the waters—not on this. Our halls of legislature would have failed in the manly eloquence of rival orators, and our temples of worship would have been[Pg 321] devoted to God and the aggrandizement of a phalanx of spiritual lords.
Said a patriarch and apostle of liberty, just after the vote on the question of independence had been taken—"Let the day be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God. Let it be solemnized with pomp, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for ever."
The patriarch uttered noble and patriotic sentiments. Be the day remembered now and for ever. Remember it, fathers, as connected with the civil and religious blessings, which have been your portion in your earthly pilgrimage. Remember it, mothers, for it has made you the wives and companions of freemen. Remember it sons and daughters, as the birth-day of liberty, but for which you might be shedding your blood in the service of a tyrant, or staining your virtue in the embraces of a bachanalian.
Be it remembered—and as it recurs—and may it recur with every year while time shall last—first and foremost let the tribute of a devout homage ascend to the GOD of our fathers—to Him, who imparted wisdom to their counsel and success to their arms—who, when darkness encircled them, dispelled it—when stores failed, supplied them—who was a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night—to Him be glory for a land like that which the patriarch saw from Pisgah—and whose hills are like those of Lebanon and Carmel.
The day is becoming a religious festival. This is right. Let the sanctuary be opened, and homage be offered there. Let our Sabbath-schools assemble, and fill our groves with divine song. But never should we dispense with other innocent demonstrations of joy. Let the cannon thunder from our hills—let the bells peal through our villages and through our vallies. In every appropriate way, let the future generations celebrate that glad era in our history when British cohorts were obliged to retire, and "God save the king" on the rolling drum, died upon our shores.
VI. ATTACK ON SULLIVAN'S ISLAND.
Invasion of Southern Colonies proposed—Expedition dispatched—Charleston its first Object—Proceedings of its Citizens—Sullivan's island Fortified—Arrival of General Lee—His opinion of Fort Moultrie—British Fleet arrives—Preliminary movements—Fort Moultrie attacked—Remarkable Defence of it—Action described—Heroic conduct of Sergeant Jasper—British repulsed—Respective losses—Liberal conduct of Governor Rutledge—Mrs. Elliot—Death of Jasper.
The successful defence of Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's island, is justly considered one of the noblest achievements recorded in the annals of the Revolution.
The reduction of the southern colonies to obedience, was deemed a measure of prime importance by the British government, nor was it considered a project of difficult achievement. Hitherto the principal theatre of the war had been in the north; and, hence, it was calculated that preparations for the defence of the southern colonies had been so much neglected, that little more than a demonstration in that quarter would be necessary to bring the people to terms.
Early in 1776, an expedition having the above object in view was devised, the command of which was entrusted to Sir Peter Parker and Earl Cornwallis. Accordingly, on the 3d of May, Admiral Parker, with twenty sail, arrived at Cape Fear, with Generals Cornwallis, Vaughan, and several others.
General Clinton was expected from New York, with another considerable corps, to cöoperate in the attack. With his troops he had arrived at the point of destination, even anterior to the naval armament; and, being the senior general, on the junction of the forces, assumed the command. The immediate object was the reduction and possession of Charleston, the capital of South Carolina; on the fall of which, the subjugation of that and the other southern provinces would be an easy achievement.
The meditated invasion was not unknown to the Carolinians, who, being a high-minded and chivalrous people,[Pg 323] determined that if their capital fell, it should be at an expense of a treasure of British blood.
With great activity and energy, therefore, they betook themselves to the fortification of every assailable point. With patriotic disinterestedness, the citizens demolished their valuable store-houses on the wharves to supply materials for defence. Streets were barricaded, and intrenchments erected along the shore. Even windows were stripped of their weights, to supply the demand for bullets. The inhabitants generally came to the work of defence, and scarcely a man on the ground could be discovered without a spade, a pickaxe, or other implement of work. Even the blacks from the city, and for miles in the country, were employed, and seemed animated with the enthusiasm and zeal of their masters. The commanding general was Major-general Lee, who, having been appointed by congress to the command of the southern forces, and possessing the entire confidence of the troops and of the people, was enabled to carry to completion the various works of defence, which his knowledge and skill had decided to be important. Governor Rutledge, also a man of great influence in the province, cöoperated with General Lee, in all his measures of defence, and by his example and exhortations essentially contributed to the happy results which followed.
At the distance of six miles from the point of land formed by the confluence of the two rivers, Ashley and Cooper, and on which Charleston is built, lies Sullivan's island. It commands the channel which leads to the port. The due fortification of this point was a matter of great moment. The outline of a fort had already been marked out, to complete which, Colonel William Moultrie, a singularly brave and accomplished officer, was dispatched early in March. Palmetto trees, which from their soft and spongy texture, were admirably calculated to deprive a ball of its impetus without causing splinters, had been cut in the forest, and the logs in huge rafts lay moored to the beach. "Ignorant of gunnery, but confident in their own resources, and[Pg 324] nerved with resolute courage, Moultrie and his coadjutors, hardy sons of the soil, heaved those huge logs from the water, and began the work. A square pen was built, with bastions from each angle, capable of covering a thousand men. The logs were laid in two parallel rows, and sixteen feet apart; bound together with cross-timbers dove-tailed and bolted into logs, and the wide space filled with sand. When completed, it presented the appearance of a solid wall, sixteen feet wide; but its strength was yet to be tested. Behind this, Moultrie placed four hundred and thirty-five men, and thirty-one cannon, some of them twenty-sixes, some eighteens, and the rest of smaller caliber—throwing in all five hundred and thirteen pounds.
"It was at this juncture that Lee arrived from the north, and took command of the troops. When his eye, accustomed to the scientific structures of Europe, fell on this rudely-built affair, he smiled in derision, calling it a 'slaughter-pen,' and requested Governor Rutledge to have it immediately evacuated. But that noble patriot was made of sterner stuff, and replied, 'that while a soldier remained alive, he would never give his sanction to such an order.'"
The naval force of the British, consisted of the Bristol and Experiment, of fifty guns; four frigates, the Active, the Acteon, the Solebay, and the Syren, of twenty-eight; the Sphynx, of twenty, the Friendship, of twenty-two, two smaller vessels of eight, and the Thunder, a bomb-ketch. On reaching the bar, at the entrance of the channels of Charleston, it was found that the fifty-gun ships could not pass without being lightened. The removal and rëplacement of their guns was attended with incredible labor; and although thus lightened, they struck, and for a time were in danger of bilging.
Meanwhile, General Clinton issued his proclamation, which he dispatched to the city with a flag, demanding the citizens to lay down their arms, and to return to their allegiance, on pain of an immediate attack, and an utter[Pg 325] overthrow. To this demand, not even the civility of a reply was accorded, and the threatened attack, on the morning of the 28th of June, was commenced.
To the citizens of Charleston those were anxious hours. There was hope, but more of fear. They filled the wharves, the roofs, and the steeples—in short, every eminence was black with spectators, gazing on the exciting scene and the approaching conflict.
It was a calm, bright, beautiful day. The wind being fair, the British fleet came steadily, proudly, towards the "slaughter-pen," and one after another took the positions assigned them. The Americans watched them with intense interest—"Moultrie's eye flashed with delight." Every gun was loaded—every one was manned—and all were now anxiously waiting the order to fire. At length, a portion of the fleet had reached point-blank-shot distance, when Moultrie, who, like Prescott at the battle of Bunker's hill, had restrained his anxiously-waiting men, now gave the word of command "Fire!"—And they did fire—and "the shores shook with the tremendous explosion."
The fleet continued to advance, a little abreast of the fort, when letting go their anchors, and clewing up their sails, they opened upon the fort. More than a hundred cannon!—their blaze, their smoke, their roar—all in the same instant—it was a terrible commencement—the stoutest heart palpitated! every one unconsciously held his breath!
"The battle had now fairly commenced, and the guns were worked with fearful rapidity. It was one constant peal of thunder, and to the spectators in Charleston, that low spot, across the bay, looked like a volcano breaking forth from the sea. Lee stood on Haddrell's point, watching the effect of the first fire. When the smoke lifted, like the folds of a vast curtain, he expected to see that 'slaughter-pen' in fragments; but there still floated the flag of freedom, and beneath it beat brave hearts, to whom that awful cannonade was but 'a symphony to the grand march of independence.' When the fight had fairly begun, they thought[Pg 326] no more of those heavy guns than they did of their rifles. Their coats were hastily flung one side, and their hats with them—and in their shirt-sleeves, with handkerchiefs about their heads, they toiled away under the sweltering sun with the coolness and courage of old soldiers. The fire from those nine vessels, with their cannon all trained upon that pile of logs, was terrific, and it trembled like a frightened thing under the shock; but the good palmettoes closed silently over the balls, as they buried themselves in the timber and sand, and the work went bravely on. Thus, hour after hour, did it blaze, and flame, and thunder there on the sea, while the shots of the Americans told with murderous effect. At every discharge, those vessels shook as if smitten by a rock—the planks were ripped up, the splinters hurled through the air, and the decks strewed with mangled forms. Amid the smoke, bombs were seen traversing the air, and dropping, in an incessant shower, within the fort—but a morass in the middle swallowed them up as fast as they fell. At length, riddled through and through, her beds of mortar broken up, the bomb-vessel ceased firing. Leaving the smaller vessels, as unworthy of his attention, Moultrie trained his guns upon the larger ones, and 'Look to the Commodore! look to the fifty-gun ship!' passed along the lines, and they did look to the Commodore in good earnest, sweeping her decks at every discharge with such fatal fire, that at one time there was scarcely a man left upon the quarter-deck. The Experiment, too, came in for her share of consideration—her decks were slippery with blood, and nearly a hundred of her men were borne below, either killed or wounded. Nor were the enemy idle, but rained back a perfect tempest of balls; but that brave garrison had got used to the music of cannon, and the men, begrimed with powder and smoke, shot with the precision and steadiness they would have done in firing at a target. As a heavy ball, in full sweep, touched the top of the works, it took one of the coats, lying upon the logs, and lodged it in a tree. 'See that coat! see that coat!'[Pg 327] burst in a laugh on every side, as if it had been a mere plaything that had whistled past their heads. Moultrie, after a while, took out his pipe, and lighting it, leaned against the logs, and smoked away with his officers, as if they were out there sunning themselves, instead of standing within the blaze, and smoke, and uproar of nearly two hundred cannon. Now and then he would take the pipe from his mouth to shout 'fire!' or give some order, and then commence puffing and talking—thus presenting a strange mixture of the droll and heroic. The hearts of the spectators in the distance, many of whom had husbands and brothers in the fight, were far more agitated than they against whom that fearful iron storm was hailing.
"After the fight had continued for several hours, Lee, seeing that the 'slaughter pen' held out so well, passed over to it in a boat, and remained for a short time. Accustomed as he was to battle, and to the disciplined valor of European troops, he still was struck with astonishment at the scene that presented itself as he approached. There stood Moultrie, quietly smoking his pipe, while the heavy and rapid explosions kept up a deafening roar; and there, stooping over their pieces, were those raw gunners firing with the deadly precision of practised artillerists. Amazed to find an English fleet, carrying two hundred and sixty guns, kept at bay by thirty cannon and four hundred men, he left the fort to its brave commander, and returned to his old station."[38]
Among the Americans, who were that day in the "slaughter-pen," and who were dealing death and destruction without stint, was a Sergeant Jasper, whose name has since been given to one of the counties in Georgia, for this and other heroic deeds. In the warmest of the contest, the flag-staff of the fort was shot away by a cannon-ball, and fell to the outside of the ramparts on the beach. The spectators at Charleston saw it fall, and supposing that the fort[Pg 328] had yielded, were filled with consternation and dismay. In the surrender of the fort, they read the destiny of themselves and city. But what was their joy to perceive that columns of smoke, from the fort, still continued to roll up—the blaze and thunder of its cannon continued to be seen and heard; and presently the folds of the flag again fluttered in the breeze. Sergeant Jasper was the hero of the occasion. He had witnessed the fall of the flag—and he saw it "stretched in dishonor on the sand." It was a perilous attempt, but he did not hesitate. Leaping the ramparts, he proceeded, amidst a shower of balls, the entire length of the fort, and, picking up the flag, tied it to a post, and rëplaced it on a parapet, and there, too, he himself supported it till another flag-staff could be procured. Here, once more, it proudly waved—amid the shouts and congratulations of the now still more courageous in the fort, and to the joy of still more distant and equally anxious spectators of the scene.
About this time, another circumstance sent a momentary[Pg 329] panic through the stern hearts of the defenders of the fort. The ammunition was failing, and a large force, which had effected a landing, was in rapid march to storm the works. Moultrie instantly dispatched Marion to a sloop-of-war for a supply, and another message to Governor Rutledge at Charleston. Both were successful—both in season. Said the governor, in a note accompanying five hundred pounds of powder, "Do not make too free with your cannon—cool, and do mischief."
With this fresh supply of ammunition, the fire, which had been relaxed, was redoubled. The British were astounded. They had congratulated themselves, upon the partial suspension of firing, that the fort was about to yield. But the new fury of the firing, on the part of the Americans, soon served to convince them of their error. They also redoubled their efforts, and, for a time, the contest was more terrible than ever. "Once," it is said, "the broadsides of four vessels exploded together, and when the balls struck the fort, it trembled in every timber and throughout its entire extent, and shook as if about to fall in pieces."
The day was now wearing away, and still the contest was undecided. The British, reluctant to relinquish an object which in the morning they imagined so easily won, still continued the heavy cannonade; while the Americans, gathering strength and courage by what they had already accomplished, stood firm and undaunted. At length, the sun went down behind the distant shore, and darkness threw its ample folds on every object of nature. But now, through the darkness, flames shot forth and thunders rolled, presenting a scene of solemn and indescribable grandeur. The inhabitants of Charleston still lingered on their watchtowers, gazing out through the gloom towards the spot where the battle was still raging in its fiercest intensity.
But they were not destined to hope and pray in vain. At about half-past nine, the fire from the English fleet suddenly ceased. They had fought long—fought with all the ardor and enthusiasm of friends to their king and his[Pg 330] cause. But they had fought in vain. Victory decided for Moultrie and his patriot band, and it only remained for the English to withdraw, as well as they were able, their ships, which had been nearly disabled, and their crews, which had been dreadfully reduced.
"The loss of the Americans, in this gallant action," says the writer whom we have already quoted, "was slight, amounting to only thirty-six, both killed and wounded, while that of the British, according to their own accounts, was a hundred and sixty. Double the number would probably be nearer the truth. The commander had his arm carried away. One is surprised that so few of the garrison were killed, when it is remembered that nearly ten thousand shots and shells were fired by the enemy that day. The Acteon, during the action, went aground, and the next morning a few shots were fired at her, when a party was sent to take possession of her. The crew, however, setting fire to her, pushed off. When the Americans got on board, they turned two or three of the guns on the fugitives, but, finding the flames approaching the magazine, abandoned the vessel. For a short time, she stood a noble spectacle, with her tall masts wreathed in flame, and black hull crackling and blazing below. But when the fire reached the powder, there suddenly shot up a huge column of smoke, spreading like a tree at the top, under the pressure of the atmosphere—and then the ill-fated vessel lifted heavily from the water, and fell back in fragments, with an explosion that was heard for miles around."
A few days following the battle, the fort was visited by Governor Rutledge and many of the distinguished ladies and gentlemen of Charleston. They came to see the old "slaughter-pen," which had so nobly withstood the attack under such long-practiced and accomplished officers as Parker, Clinton, and Cornwallis. Ample praises were bestowed upon the "rough-and-ready" soldiers, while mutual congratulations were exchanged with Moultrie and his brave associates in command. Nor was the gallant Jasper[Pg 331] forgotten. Taking from his side his sword, Governor Rutledge buckled it on the daring soldier, as a reward for his noble exploit. Following this, the accomplished Mrs. Elliot presented a pair of elegant colors to the regiment under Moultrie and Motte, with the following brief, but beautiful address: "The gallant behavior in defence of liberty and your country, entitle you to the highest honor; accept, then, two standards, as a reward justly due to your regiment; and I make not the least doubt, under Heaven's protection, you will stand by them as long as they can wave in the air of liberty."
The colors thus presented to Colonel Moultrie were, at a subsequent date, carried by him to Savannah, and were displayed during the assault against that place. Two officers were killed, while attempting to place them upon the enemy's parapet at the Spring-hill redoubt. Just before the retreat, Jasper, while endeavoring to rëplace them upon the works, received a mortal wound. When a retreat was ordered, he recollected the honorable condition upon which the donor presented them to his regiment, and among the last acts of his life, he succeeded in bringing them off.
To Major Horry, who called to see him a little while before his death, he said: "Major, I have got my furlough. That sword was presented to me by Governor Rutledge, for my services in defence of Fort Moultrie; give it to my father, and tell him I have worn it with honor. If he should weep, tell him his son died in hope of a better life. Tell Mrs. Elliot that I lost my life supporting the colors which she presented to our regiment."
Such was the affair at Fort Moultrie—such the patriotic and chivalrous conduct of men fighting for their altars, their homes, their wives, their children. Was it strange that, in a good cause, Heaven should smile on such high and heroic conduct? Was it strange that a people, so intent on the enjoyment of their just rights, should accomplish their object?
This repulse of the British, it may be added, was unexpected to them; and the more so, as they well knew that no systematic measure of defence had been adopted at the South. The contest had hitherto been in a different quarter, and no intimations had transpired of a contemplated change. In addition to this, the British were profoundly ignorant of the true southern character. They had learned some lessons in regard to the "Yankees;" and, especially, that if they were made of "stuff," it was "stern stuff;" but they had yet to learn, that the same kind of ore abounded south of the Potomac. The old "slaughter-pen" on Sullivan's Island, enlightened them, and impressed them as to the fact so fully, that the influence of the lesson lasted for two years and a half—that being the respite of the Southern states from the calamities of war, consequent upon the repulse of the British at Fort Moultrie.
VII. MILITARY REVERSES—LOSS OF NEW YORK.
British take possession of Staten Island—Strongly rëinforced—State of the American Army—Occupation of New York and Brooklyn—Battle of Brooklyn—Americans repulsed—Long Island abandoned—Remarkable retreat—Gloomy state of the American Army—Washington retreats to Harlem—Movements of the British—Washington retires to White Plains—Loss of Fort Washington—American Army pursued—Retreats successively to Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton—Thence to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware—British go into Winter-quarters between the Delaware and Hackensack—Capture of General Lee—Prevalent Spirit of Despondency.
From the commencement of hostilities to the evacuation of Boston by the British, the cause of the Americans had appeared to be specially favored by Heaven. In their several engagements, if they had not achieved decided victories, the effect of them was such as to inspire confidence, to diffuse through the colonies an unabated ardor, and the most lively anticipations of ultimate and not far-distant triumph. A season of sad reverse, and consequent dejection, however, was appointed for them, perhaps to teach them more entire dependence upon Divine Providence, and to enhance the value of a final conquest, when it should arrive, and which, though distant, was still in reserve for them.
On the retirement of the British fleet from Boston, Washington was left to conjecture its destination. Apprehending, however, a hostile attempt upon New York, he had, before their departure, detached a considerable force for the protection of that important post. The main army soon followed, and, on the 14th of April, entered the city. Measures were immediately adopted to place it in a state of defence.
Contrary to the expectations of Washington, the British fleet, on leaving the waters of Boston, directed its course to Halifax, at which place rëinforcements from England were expected by Sir William Howe. Disappointed, however, in this latter respect, and finding provisions for his troops scarce, he resolved on sailing for New York.
On the 2d of July, he took possession of Staten Island. The inhabitants of the island received the English general with great demonstrations of joy. The soldiers being quartered about in the villages, found, in abundance, the refreshments of which they were in the greatest need. Here General Howe was visited by Governor Tryon, who gave him precise information with respect to the state of the province, as also with regard to the forces and preparations of the enemy. Many inhabitants of New Jersey came to offer themselves to be enrolled for the royal service; even those of Staten Island were forward to enlist under the English standard; every thing announced that the army had only to show itself in the provinces to be assured of a prompt victory. Admiral Howe, after touching at Halifax, where he found dispatches from his brother, who urged him to come and join him at New York, made sail again immediately, and landed, without accident, at Staten Island, the 12th of July. General Clinton arrived about the same time, with the troops he rëconducted from the unfortunate expedition against Charleston. Commodore Hotham also appeared, with the rëinforcements under his escort; so that in a short time the army amounted to about twenty-four thousand men—English, Hessians, and Waldekers. Several regiments of Hessian infantry were expected to arrive shortly, when the army would be carried to the number of thirty-five thousand combatants, of the best troops of Europe. America had never seen such a display of forces.[39]
The Americans, on their part, meanwhile, had made every effort in their power to resist the danger to their cause, menaced by so formidable a force. The militia of the neighboring provinces, and a few regular regiments from Maryland, from Pennsylvania, and New England, had been called in, by which several augmentations the American force had been nominally raised to twenty-seven thousand. One-fourth part of these, however, were disabled[Pg 335] by sickness, and nearly an equal number were destitute of arms, leaving but about fourteen thousand and five hundred effective men. Among so heterogeneous a force, collected in a time of danger and excitement, there existed little opportunity to introduce order and discipline. To the discerning eye of Washington, grounds of serious apprehension existed; but, nevertheless, with his usual calmness and energy, he adopted every measure within his means to sustain his position, and inspire his soldiers with hope and confidence. In his energetic proclamations addressed to the army, he exhorted them "to animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."
As Washington was necessarily ignorant by what route the British would choose to approach the city, he was reluctantly compelled to divide his forces. A part were stationed in the city, a part at Brooklyn, Long Island, and detachments at various other assailable points.
Thus the armies, more numerous than had hitherto been collected, were fairly arranged, and every succeeding day was bringing nearer a contest which might decide the fate of the new republic.
At length, from various indications, the American general was convinced that the first attack would be upon the forces at Brooklyn. Accordingly, he rëinforced that point, by a detachment of six regiments, and placed General Putnam in command.
"On the 22d of August, the British forces were landed on the opposite side of Long Island. The two armies were now about four miles asunder, and were separated by a range of hills, over which passed three main roads. Various circumstances led General Putnam to suspect that the enemy intended to approach him by the road leading to his right, which he therefore guarded with most care.
"Very early in the morning of the 26th, his suspicions were strengthened by the approach upon that road, of a[Pg 336] column of British troops, and upon the center road, of a column of Hessians. To oppose these, the American troops were mostly drawn from the camp, and in the engagements which took place, evinced considerable bravery.
"These movements of the enemy were but feints to divert the attention of Putnam from the road which led to his left, along which General Clinton was silently advancing with the main body of the British army. The report of cannon in that direction, gave the first intimation of the danger which was approaching. The Americans endeavored to escape it, by returning with the utmost celerity to their camp. They were not able to arrive there in time, but were intercepted by General Clinton, who drove them back upon the Hessians.
"Attacked thus in front and rear, they fought a succession of skirmishes, in the course of which many were killed, many were made prisoners; and several parties, seeing favorable opportunities, forced their way through the enemy, and regained the camp. A bold and vigorous charge, made by the American general, Lord Sterling, at the head of a Maryland regiment, enabled a large body to escape in this manner. This regiment, fighting with desperate bravery, kept a force greatly superior engaged, until their comrades had passed by, when the few who survived, ceasing to resist, surrendered to the enemy.
"The loss of the Americans in killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, considerably exceeded a thousand. Among the latter, were Generals Sullivan, Sterling, and Woodhull. The total loss of the enemy was less than four hundred."[40]
In the height of the engagement, Washington crossed over to Brooklyn, and seeing some of his best troops slaughtered or taken, he uttered, it is said, an exclamation of anguish. He could, if he saw fit, draw out of their encampment all the troops, and send them to succor the corps that were engaged with the enemy; he might also[Pg 337] call over all the forces he had in New York, and order them to take part in the battle. But all these rëinforcements would by no means have sufficed to render his army equal to that of the English. Victory having already declared in their favor, the courage with which it inspired them, and the superiority of their discipline, cut off all hope of being able to restore the battle. If Washington had engaged all his troops in the action, it is probable that the entire army would have been destroyed on this fatal day, and America reduced to subjection. Great praise, therefore, is due to him for not having allowed himself, in so grave circumstances, to be transported into an inconsiderate resolution, and for having preserved himself and his army for a happier future.
The English were so elated with victory, that eager to profit by their advantages, they would fain have immediately assaulted the American camp. But their general manifested more prudence; whether he believed the intrenchments of the enemy stronger than they really were, or whether he considered himself already sure of entering New York, without encountering new perils, he repressed the ardor of his troops. Afterwards, encamping, in front of the enemy's lines, in the night of the 28th, he broke ground within six hundred paces of a bastion upon the left. His intention was to approach by means of trenches, and to wait till the fleet could cöoperate with the troops.
The situation of the Americans in their camp became extremely critical. They had, in front, an enemy superior in number, and who could attack them at any moment with a new advantage. Their intrenchments were of little moment, and the English, pushing their works with ardor, had every possibility of success in their favor.[41]
Added to these unfavorable circumstances, the arms and ammunition of the soldiers had suffered from a powerful and long-continued rain. Besides, they were worn out with fatigue, and discouraged by defeat. Thus environed with[Pg 338] difficulty and danger, a council of war decided that to evacuate their position, and retire to New York, was the part of wisdom and safety.
The accomplishment of this project, however, was a movement attended with difficulty, but was effected with great skill and judgment, and with complete success. The commencement of the retreat was appointed for eight o'clock on the night of the 29th; but a strong north-east wind and a rapid tide, caused a delay of several hours. In this extremity, Heaven remarkably favored the fugitive army. A south-east wind springing up at eleven, essentially facilitated its passage from the island to the city; and a thick fog hanging over Long Island from about two in the morning, concealed its movements from the enemy, who were so near, that the sound of their pickaxes and shovels was heard. In about half an hour after, the fog cleared away, and the enemy were seen taking possession of the American lines. General Washington, as far as possible, inspected every thing. From the commencement of the action on the morning of the 27th, until the troops were safely across the East river, he never closed his eyes, and was almost constantly on horseback. His wisdom and vigilance, with the interposing favor of Divine Providence, saved the army from destruction.[42]
The defeat experienced by the Americans at Brooklyn, spread a deep gloom through the army; and excited, on that account, no little anxiety in the bosom of Washington. It was the first serious loss which they had sustained—the first reverse which essentially shook their confidence and weakened their courage.
To Washington and his officers, the great defect in the American army was apparent. It was twofold—first, the employment of by far too large a proportion of militia, and secondly, the utter impracticability of introducing among them that discipline and subordination which could place them on equal footing with the practised and veteran troops[Pg 339] of the enemy. At length, convinced of the justness of the views of Washington on these points, congress decided that a regular army should be formed, in which the soldiers should be enlisted to serve during the present war; and that it should consist of eighty-eight battalions, to be raised in all the provinces, according to their respective abilities. A bounty of twenty dollars, and a grant of land, were offered. At a subsequent date, soldiers were allowed to enlist for three years; in which case, however, they were not entitled to the grant of land. Had congress, at an earlier day, taken this measure to furnish an adequate army for Washington, both he and the country might have been saved great anxiety, and a succession of mortifying defeats. And but for the adoption of the above resolution, it is scarcely possible to predict what would have been the ultimate fate of the new republic.
Fortunate would it have been for the Americans, had their ill-fortune terminated in the defeat experienced on Long Island. To other and not much less mortifying reverses they were destined, ere the deepest point of depression should be reached.
It was the ardent wish of Washington to retain possession of New York; but, finding, as he said, in a communication to congress, the militia "dismayed and intractable," and "leaving the camp in some instances almost by regiments, by half-ones, and by companies at a time;" he was compelled to relinquish the place to his enemies, and to abandon, which he still more regretted, all the heavy artillery, and a large portion of the baggage, provisions, and military stores. On leaving the city, the American army took post on Harlem heights.
Here Washington had time to ponder upon his situation, and form his plan. His army had become seriously reduced, and from the despondency and dismay which were visible among them, it might become at anytime still more reduced. On the other hand, the forces of the enemy were numerous, and withal consisted of regular and well-disciplined troops.[Pg 340] It was futile, therefore, to attempt to maintain offensive operations against them. Far better in his judgment to risk no general engagement; but by retiring gradually before them, to lead them as far as possible from their resources; and in the mean while to inspire his own troops with courage, by engaging them in skirmishes, where success was probable. Having adopted this cautious system, he prepared to put it in practice.
The British army did not long entertain its position on York Island. The British frigates, having passed up the North river, under a fire from Fort Washington and the post opposite to it on the Jersey shore, General Howe embarked a great part of his army in flat-bottomed boats, and passing through Hurl Gate into the sound, landed at Frog's neck. The object of the British general was, either to force Washington out of his present lines, or to inclose him in them. Aware of this design, General Washington moved a part of his troops from York island to join those at King's bridge, and detached some regiments to Westchester. A council of war was now called, and the system of evacuation and retreating was adopted, with the exception of Fort Washington, for the defence of which nearly three thousand men were assigned. After a halt of six days, the royal army advanced, not without considerable opposition, along the coast of Long Island sound, by New Rochelle, to White Plains, where the Americans took a strong position behind intrenchments. This post was maintained for several days, till the British, having received considerable rëinforcements, General Washington withdrew to the heights of North Castle, about five miles from White Plains, where, whether from the strength of his position, or from the British general having other objects in view, no attempt at attack was made.
Immediately on leaving White Plains, General Howe directed his attention to Fort Washington and Fort Lee, as their possession would secure the navigation of the Hudson, and facilitate the invasion of New Jersey. On the 15th of[Pg 341] November, General Howe, being in readiness for the assault, summoned the garrison to surrender. Colonel Magaw the commanding officer, in spirited language, replied, that he should defend his works to extremity. On the succeeding morning, the British made the assault in four separate divisions; and, after a brave and obstinate resistance, surmounted the outworks, and again summoned the garrison to surrender. His ammunition being nearly expended, and his force incompetent to repel the numbers which were ready on every side to assail him, Colonel Magaw surrendered himself and his garrison, consisting of two thousand men, prisoners of war. The enemy lost in the assault nearly eight hundred men, mostly Germans. The conquest of Fort Washington made the evacuation of Fort Lee necessary. Orders were, therefore, issued to remove the ammunition and stores in it; but, before much progress had been made in this business, Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson, with a number of battalions, with the intention to inclose the garrison between the Hackensack and North rivers. This movement made a precipitate retreat indispensable, which was happily effected with little loss of men; but the greater part of the artillery, stores, and baggage, was left for the enemy. The loss at Fort Washington was heavy. The regiments captured in it were some of the best troops in the army. The tents, camp-kettles, and stores, lost at this place and at Fort Lee, could not, during the campaign, be rëplaced, and for the want of them the men suffered extremely. This loss was unnecessarily sustained, as those posts ought, unquestionably, to have been evacuated before General Howe was in a situation to invest them; and this event was the more to be deplored, as the American force was daily diminished by the expiration of the soldiers' term of enlistment, and by the desertion of the militia.
These successes encouraged the British to pursue the remaining American force, with the prospect of annihilating it. General Washington, who had taken post at Newark,[Pg 342] on the south side of the Passaic, finding himself unable to make any real opposition, withdrew from that place, as the enemy crossed the Passaic, and retreated to Brunswick, on the Raritan; and Lord Cornwallis, on the same day, entered Newark. The retreat was still continued from Brunswick to Princeton; from Princeton to Trenton; and from Trenton to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. The pursuit was urged with so much rapidity, that the rear of one army was often within shot of the van of the other.
The winter being now set in, the British army went into quarters, between the Delaware and the Hackensack. Trenton, the most important post and barrier, was occupied by a brigade of Hessians, under Colonel Rawle. General Howe now issued a proclamation, in the name of his brother and himself, in which pardon was offered to all persons who, within the space of sixty days, should take the oath of allegiance, and submit to the authority of the British government. The effects of this proclamation were soon apparent. People from several quarters availed themselves of it, and threw down their arms. No city or town, indeed, in its corporate capacity, submitted to the British government, but most of the families of fortune and influence discovered an inclination to return to their allegiance. Many of the yeomanry claimed the benefit of the commissioner's proclamation; and the great body of them were too much taken up with the security of their families and their property to make any exertion in the public cause.[43] Another source of mortification to the Americans, was the[Pg 343] capture of General Lee, who had imprudently ventured to lodge at a house three miles distant from his corps.[44]
"This was the most gloomy period of the revolutionary war. It was the crisis of the struggle of the United States for independence. The American army, reduced in numbers, depressed by defeat, and exhausted by fatigue, naked, barefoot, and destitute of tents, and even of utensils with which to dress their scanty provisions, was fleeing before a triumphant enemy, well-appointed and abundantly supplied. A general spirit of despondency through New Jersey was the consequence of this disastrous state of public affairs. But, in this worst of times, congress stood unmoved; their measures exhibited no symptoms of confusion or dismay; the public danger only roused them to more vigorous exertions, that they might give a firmer tone to the public mind, and animate the citizens of the United America to a manly defence of their independence. Beneath this cloud of adversity, too, General Washington shone with a brighter lustre than in the day of his highest prosperity. Not dismayed by all the difficulties which encompassed him, he accommodated his measures to his situation, and still made the good of his country the object of his unwearied pursuit. He ever wore the countenance of composure and confidence, and inspired, by his own example, his little band with firmness to struggle with adverse fortune."[45]
VIII. RETURNING PROSPERITY.
BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON.
Reliance of the patriots for success upon God—Public Fast recommended by Congress—Offensive Operations decided upon—Battle of Trenton—Washington victorious—Battle of Princeton—British repulsed—American Army at Morristown—British at Brunswick—Prospects brightening.
Irrespective of the special blessing of Heaven, the colonies of America entered upon the revolutionary war with fearful chances against them. That they well knew, and hence that blessing was more universally sought than by any other people, in similar circumstances, since the founding of empires. The cause was remembered by those who offered the incense of prayer morning and evening on the family altar. Scarcely a Sabbath occurred, on which the embassadors of God did not make public mention, in their addresses to a Throne of grace, of the American cause; and fervent supplications for Divine aid in supporting that cause, and, carrying it to a prosperous issue, were to be heard in every church. Nor were colonial assemblies—nor, after its organization, the continental congress—backward in recognising the necessity of propitiating the Divine favor. Not a single instance, it is believed, is on record, and probably never occurred, in which a legislator in a provincial assembly attached to the patriotic cause, or a member of congress, opposed the adoption of any resolution which had for its object the humiliation of the people in the season of national adversity, or the rendering of due thanks to God in the day of prosperity. There were men concerned in conducting the military operations of the Revolution, and in guiding the counsels of the nation, who were far from being personally religious; but such was the pervading influence of piety in the land, that they would have manifested no open opposition, had they felt it; nor is it to be credited, in the absence of positive evidence, that such feelings ever existed.
The reverses sustained by the Americans, detailed in the preceding pages, were most sensibly felt in every portion of the land. Notwithstanding the knowledge of the superiority of the British, in regard to numerical force, but much more in respect to munitions of war, and the disciplined character of their soldiery, the Americans had cherished the expectation of success. Their confidence at the commencement of the struggle had been raised, and strengthened by the issue of the affairs at Lexington, and Bunker's hill, and the evacuation of Boston. Success thus early was positively essential to success in the sequel. Had they early met with reverses, such as were experienced from the discomfiture at Brooklyn to the battle of Trenton, it is doubtful whether that resolution would not have failed, and with the failure of that, the contest have been relinquished.
Those reverses, though painful and mortifying, were perhaps even salutary. A firmer reliance upon Providence was felt to be needful, and a holier tide of supplication ascended to the Arbiter of the fate of nations.
The connexion between an acknowledgment of God in his providence, and his blessing on the common cause, was recognised by no body with more readiness than by the continental congress. Although in May, 1776, that body had recommended a public fast, in view of the gloomy reverses which had attended the American arms, on the 11th of December, in a resolution, which for the tone of its piety cannot be too much admired, and which might serve as a model to future ages, they recommended the observance of a day of fasting and humiliation: "Whereas the war in which the United States are engaged with Great Britain, has not only been prolonged, but is likely to be carried to the greatest extremity; and whereas it becomes all public bodies, as well as private persons, to reverence the providence of God, and look up to him as the Supreme Disposer of all events, and the Arbiter of the fate of nations; therefore Resolved, that it be recommended to all the United States, as soon as possible, to appoint a day of solemn fasting and[Pg 346] humiliation; to implore of Almighty God the forgiveness of the many sins prevailing among all ranks, and to beg the countenance and assistance of his providence in the prosecution of the present just and necessary war. The congress do also, in the most solemn manner, recommend to all the members of the United States, and particularly the officers, civil and military, under them, the exercise of repentance and reformation; and, further, require of them the strict observation of the articles of war, and particularly that part of the said articles which forbids profane swearing and all immorality, of which all such officers are desired to take notice."[46]
We left Washington on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware—his army greatly reduced by the return of numbers to their homes, and depressed by a long and disheartening retreat before an exulting foe. Nor would the Americans have now been permitted to pause in safety, had the British commander succeeded in procuring the means necessary to make the passage of the river. Finding his efforts for this purpose, however, fruitless, he began his preparations for retiring into winter-quarters. The main body of the army was therefore cantoned between the Delaware and the Hackensack: about four thousand men occupied positions between Trenton and Mount Holly, and strong detachments lay at Princeton, Brunswick, and Elizabethtown. The object of this dispersion over so wide an extent of country, was to intimidate the people, and thus prevent the possibility of recruiting for the continental service; while in the spring these forces could be immediately concentrated, and it was then proposed to put an easy conclusion to all rebellious contumacy.
The desperate condition of his country's fortunes now pressed with saddening weight upon the mind of Washington, and he resolved, if possible, to retrieve misfortune by some daring enterprise. To such an enterprise he was the[Pg 347] more inclined, since, with the exception of about fifteen hundred effectives, his whole force would be entitled in a few days to its discharge. Having formed his plan—an attack upon the British posts on the Delaware—he proceeded to put it in execution.
Early in the morning of the 26th of December, 1776, the main body of the American army, twenty-four hundred strong, and headed by Washington in person, crossed the river at M'Konkey's ferry, about nine miles above Trenton. The night was tempestuous with rain and sleet, and the river encumbered with quantities of floating ice, so that the passage, although begun soon after midnight, was not fully effected until three o'clock, and one hour more elapsed before the march could be commenced. The Americans moved in two divisions along the roads leading to the town, and their operations were so well combined, and executed with such precision, that the two attacks on the British outposts were made within three minutes of each other. The[Pg 348] pickets attempted resistance, but were almost immediately driven in upon the main body, which was forming hurriedly in line. Colonel Rawle, their commander, soon after fell, mortally wounded; the confusion of the soldiery became irremediable; and, after a loss of about twenty killed, one thousand men laid down their arms, and surrendered their munitions and artillery. On the American side, the loss in battle amounted to only two killed and four wounded; among the latter, James Monroe, afterwards president of the United States.
The other parts of this brilliant enterprise were not, however, executed with the same success. General Irvine had been instructed to cross at Trenton ferry, and, by securing a bridge below the town, to cut off the enemy's march along the Bordentown road. Notwithstanding all his exertions, it was found that the ice had rendered the passage impracticable; and five hundred fugitives from the disastrous field of Trenton were thus enabled to escape by a speedy and well-timed retreat. General Cadwallader was to have crossed at Drink's ferry, and carried the post at Mount Holly; but the same impediment prevented this movement also, and he was compelled to return with a part of his infantry which had effected the passage. Deprived of this important and expected cöoperation, Washington had, nevertheless, achieved a most critical and important triumph; he returned to his former position, charged with the spoils and trophies of his foes; and from that moment, though reverses frequently dimmed the brilliancy of the prospect, hope never again deserted the cause of American independence.
Having secured the Hessian prisoners on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, Washington rëcrossed the river two days after the action, and took possession of Trenton. Generals Mifflin and Cadwallader, who lay at Bordentown and Crosswix with three thousand six hundred militia, were ordered to march up in the night of the 1st of January, to join the commander-in-chief, whose whole effective force,[Pg 349] including this accession, did not exceed five thousand men. The detachments of the British army, which had been distributed over New Jersey, now assembled at Princeton, and were joined by the army from Brunswick, under Lord Cornwallis. From this position, the enemy advanced towards Trenton in great force, on the morning of the 2d of January; and, after some slight skirmishing with troops detached to harass and delay their march, the van of their army reached Trenton about four in the afternoon. On their approach, General Washington retired across the Assumpinck, a rivulet that runs through the town; and by some field-pieces, posted on its opposite banks, compelled them, after attempting to cross in several places, to fall back out of the reach of his guns. The two armies, kindling their fires, retained their positions on opposite sides of the rivulet, and kept up a cannonade till night.
The situation of the American general at this moment was extremely critical. Nothing but a stream, fordable in many places, separated his army from an enemy, in every respect his superior. If he remained in his present position, he was certain of being attacked the next morning, at the hazard of the entire destruction of his little army. If he should retreat over the Delaware, the ice in that river not being firm enough to admit a passage upon it, there was danger of great loss—perhaps of a total defeat: the Jerseys would be in full possession of the enemy; the public mind would be depressed; recruiting would be discouraged; and Philadelphia would be within the reach of General Howe. In this extremity, he boldly determined to abandon the Delaware; and, by a circuitous march along the left flank of the enemy, fall into their rear at Princeton, which was known to be occupied by three British regiments.[47]
About sunrise, at a short distance from the town, they encountered two of these regiments, marching forward in order to cöoperate in the expected battle, and a warm[Pg 350] engagement immediately commenced. The American general was well aware that the existence of his country hung suspended in the scale of victory; and he exerted himself as one who knew the importance of the object, and felt that success depended on his efforts. Wherever the fire was hottest, or the press of battle most fearful, Washington was sure to be found, guiding the thunders of war, and animating all by his language and example. At length, the British line was broken, and the two regiments separated. Colonel Mawhood, with the division in the van, pushed rapidly forward for the main army; while the fifty-fifth, cut off from this point of support, fled in confusion across the fields to Brunswick. The Americans now pressed the remaining regiment, which at first attempted a defence in the college; but this was soon abandoned, and those who were not captured, escaped only by precipitate flight. The British loss amounted to one hundred killed and three hundred prisoners; the conquerors had to lament the death of General Mercer, an experienced officer, much respected by the commander-in-chief.
"The battles of Trenton and Princeton, though similar in their outlines, were very different in point of conception and execution. The attack upon Trenton was a blow struck against an enemy in position, which admitted, therefore, of every advantage of preparation on the part of the assailants. The battle of Princeton belonged to a higher and more elaborate order of tactics. The American forces were already engaged with a superior army, commanded by an officer of eminent reputation; and the change of plan was wholly contrived and executed with the enemy in front. It was entirely due to the prompt genius, and fertile resources of Washington, that his army was extricated from so perilous an exposure, and enabled to attack the enemy's rear with such advantage, as to leave it no choice but surrender or flight. A military critic, contemplating these inspirations with a soldier's eye, can easily appreciate the feelings of the great Frederick, when he[Pg 351] sent a sword to the American commander, 'as a gift from the world's oldest general to its best.'"
As a natural result of these unexpected manœuvres, the British officers were thrown into a state of uncertainty, which gave to their subsequent operations an unusual character of timidity. The distant roll of the American artillery at Princeton, first announced to Lord Cornwallis the danger of his rear, and the escape of his active adversary. Alarmed for the safety of his magazines, the British commander instantly broke up from the Assumpinck, and commenced a forced march upon New Brunswick; moving with such celerity as nearly to overtake the American rear at Princeton. On the other hand, Sir William Howe drew in all his forces, by concentration in the neighborhood of Amboy and Brunswick, and abandoned all hope of preventing the recruiting service by overawing the whole extent of the country. Washington, finding the surprise of the stores impossible, moved northward into the highlands of Jersey, in order to afford some relief to the fatigues of his troops; for long and severe exposure to the inclemencies of the winter, without the usual protections, had produced sickness, and even complaint. It was finally considered necessary to abandon offensive operations, and to put the army under cover at Morristown. Among other prudent precautions adopted, during this temporary respite, the commander-in-chief caused the whole army to be innoculated; an operation then very uncommon in America, but which enabled him thereafter to defy a disease, which had proved more fatal than the sword of the enemy.
The situation of American affairs—though far from brilliant—was much improved by the late successes. The people of Jersey rose with fresh spirit, and in a number of small skirmishes inflicted loss upon the enemy, both in men and stores: new hope was made to animate the public mind; while congress fanned the flame by judicious and well-timed incitements to vigorous action. Washington was authorized to raise sixteen regiments, and in further[Pg 352] testimony of the public confidence, he was invested for six months with almost dictatorial powers in the conduct of the war. It was, however, found to be impossible to collect a sufficient force for active operations upon any considerable scale during the winter. All the hopes of the commander-in-chief were therefore turned to the next campaign; and in the mean time an active warfare was carried on with small posts and foraging parties, which greatly annoyed the British army; while the frequent reports of fresh successes excited the spirit of the American people. The most earnest applications were made to the several states, for rëinforcements enlisted upon longer terms; for, as Washington strongly observed, "to the short engagements of our troops may be fairly and justly ascribed almost every misfortune that we have experienced." These representations produced at last their due impression; and the hope was abandoned of defending the country by hasty assemblages of militia, and of carrying on a protracted warfare upon the impulse and mere foundation of disinterested patriotism.
IX. OCCUPATION OF PHILADELPHIA.
Position of the Armies—British remove to New York—Sail for the Chesapeake—Advance towards Philadelphia—American Army also move towards the same place—Meet at Brandywine—Battle—Americans repulsed—British enter Philadelphia—Congress retire to Lancaster—Battle of Germantown—Americans retreat—Ineffectual attempts to force the British to evacuate Philadelphia.
During the winter of 1776-7, the American army encamped, as already noticed, at Morristown. The royal army occupied Brunswick. Towards the close of May, the former, which had been augmented by recruits to almost ten thousand men, removed from Morristown to a fortified position at Middlebrook. The British soon after left their encampment, General Howe endeavoring, by various movements, to induce Washington to quit his stronghold and meet him on equal ground. But the latter, too prudent and sagacious to risk an engagement with a force so decidedly superior, determined to remain in his present secure position, until the designs of the British were more fully developed.
At length, the British commander, wearied with an unprofitable contest with an enemy which had the decided advantage as to position, and satisfied that his adversary would, on no consideration, hazard a general engagement, resolved to abandon New Jersey, and direct his attention to the occupation of Philadelphia.
In pursuance of this plan, the British forces fell back upon Amboy, and soon after passed over to Staten Island. Leaving Sir Henry Clinton in command at New York, General Howe, on the 26th of July, put out to sea with sixteen thousand troops. His destination was carefully concealed. Unfavorable winds delayed his voyage beyond his wishes; but, on the 20th of August, he entered Chesapeake bay, and thus rendered it certain that an attack upon Philadelphia was intended. On the 25th, the troops[Pg 354] were landed at Elk ferry, in Maryland, fifty miles south of the city.
Washington, penetrating the designs of his adversary, and yielding to the wishes of a great portion of the people in that section of the country, that a general engagement should be hazarded for the defence of Philadelphia, moved with his army across the Delaware, and hastening his march, passed through and took a position on the eastern bank of Brandywine creek, with the hope of giving a check to the advancing foe. The force of Washington, including irregulars, was now about eleven thousand men.
Meanwhile, the British army was advancing towards Philadelphia. "At day-break, on the morning of the 11th, (Washington having crossed the Brandywine, and taken position on a height behind that river,) it was ascertained, that Sir William Howe in person had crossed the Brandywine at the forks, and was rapidly marching down the north side of the river to attack the American army. The commander-in-chief now ordered General Sullivan to form the right wing to oppose the column of Sir William. General Wayne was directed to remain at Chadd's ford with the left wing, to dispute the passage of the river with Knyphausen. General Green, with his division, was posted as a reserve in the center, between Sullivan and Wayne, to rëinforce either, as circumstances might require. General Sullivan marched up the river, until he found favorable ground on which to form his men; his left was near the Brandywine, and both flanks were covered with thick wood. At half-past four o'clock, when his line was scarcely formed, the British, under Lord Cornwallis, commenced a spirited attack. The action was for some time severe; but the American right, which was not properly in order when the assault began, at length gave way, and exposed the flank of the troops, that maintained their ground, to a destructive fire, and, continuing to break from the right, the whole line finally gave way. As soon as the firing began, General Washington, with General Greene's[Pg 355] division, hastened towards the scene of action, but, before his arrival, Sullivan was routed, and the commander-in-chief could only check the pursuit of the enemy, and cover the retreat of the beaten troops. During these transactions, General Knyphausen assaulted the works erected for the defence of Chadd's ford, and soon carried them. General Wayne, by this time learning the fate of the other divisions, drew off his troops. General Washington retreated with his whole force that night to Chester. The American loss in this battle was about three hundred killed and six hundred wounded. Four hundred were made prisoners, but these chiefly of the wounded." Among the latter were two general officers; the Marquis de la Fayette and General Woodford. Count Pulaski, a Polish nobleman, fought also with the Americans in this battle.
"Perceiving that the enemy were moving into the Lancaster road towards the city, General Washington took possession of ground near the Warren tavern, on the left of the British, and twenty-three miles from Philadelphia.[Pg 356] The protection of his stores at Reading was one object of this movement. The next morning, he was informed of the approach of the British army. He immediately put his troops in motion to engage the enemy. The advance of the two hostile armies met, and began to skirmish, when a violent storm came on, which prevented a general engagement, and rendered the retreat of the Americans absolutely necessary. The inferiority of the muskets in the hands of the American soldiery, which had been verified in every action, was strikingly illustrated in this retreat. The gun-locks being badly made, and the cartridge-boxes imperfectly constructed, this storm rendered most of the arms unfit for use, and all the ammunition was damaged. The army was, in consequence, extremely exposed, and their danger became the greater, as many of the soldiers were destitute of bayonets. Fortunately the tempest, which produced such serious mischief to the Americans, prevented the pursuit of the British. Washington still continued to make every effort to save the capitol; but Sir William Howe,[Pg 357] having secured the command of the Schuylkill, on the 23d of September, crossed it with his whole army; on the 26th, he advanced to Germantown, and, on the succeeding day, Lord Cornwallis, at the head of a strong detachment, entered Philadelphia in triumph." Congress removed from the city, and immediately rëassembled at Lancaster. Fortunately, through the precautions of Washington, the military stores and deposits at Philadelphia, had been removed up the Delaware, and were thus prevented from falling into the hands of the enemy.
Passing over some unimportant events, we arrive at the 4th of October, on the morning of which day, the American army made a spirited attack upon a strong body of British forces encamped at Germantown, a village of a single street, beginning about five miles from Philadelphia, and extending along the road about two miles more. Lord Cornwallis occupied the city with another division, and a numerous detachment had marched to Chester, as an escort for a convoy of provisions. A fair opportunity for assailing the enemy in detail was thus offered to the enterprise of the American commander, and he was not slow in perceiving its advantages. He accordingly chose, for his point of assault, the advanced camp at Germantown, and made masterly arrangements for surrounding and destroying that exposed division of the enemy, before rëinforcements could arrive from Philadelphia.
Never was an attack more auspiciously begun, or the prospect of a decisive victory, for a time, more flattering. But the British army, at length, recovering from its first surprise, rallied the fugitives, and prepared vigorously to assume the offensive. The fortunes of the day, in consequence, changed, and Washington became convinced of the necessity of withdrawing his troops from the contest. The disputed town was therefore evacuated by the Americans. According to the official returns of the English general, his loss in the battle of Germantown scarcely exceeded five hundred men. On the side of the Americans, two[Pg 358] hundred were killed, more than five hundred wounded, and four hundred made prisoners. Congress passed a resolution highly commending the plan of the battle, and thanking the commander and the army for their courage and conduct.
The main object of the American commander was now to compel the evacuation of Philadelphia, by cutting off the supplies of the British army. The fleet was effectually prevented from cöoperation by the obstructions fixed in the channel of the Delaware, and by two small forts—one called Fort Mifflin, on Mud Island, near the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill, and the other at Red Bank, on the opposite Jersey shore. Strong parties of militia scoured the whole country in the neighborhood of the city, for the purpose of enforcing the resolution of congress, which subjected to martial law all persons supplying provisions to the enemy.
Sir William Howe soon felt the increasing difficulties of his situation, and began to prepare his plans for their forcible removal. Works were erected against Fort Mifflin, which produced severe conflicts with Colonel Samuel Smith, who commanded the station. Lord Howe came up the river, with his ships of war and transports, and anchored from New Castle to Reedy Island; some frigates being detached, in advance, to remove the chevaux de frise that encumbered the channel. Considerable difficulties were encountered in effecting this object, so that the obstructions below Mud Island were not cleared until the middle of October, while those, covered by the American guns, were yet untouched. The capture of the forts was, therefore, the next object, and it was accordingly attempted by a combined attack on land and water.
The importance to the British of effecting the reduction of these forts, brought into requisition every possible means. On the other hand, the most determined resistance was made for their defence; but, at length, the Americans were obliged to yield them up to superior force;[Pg 359] in consequence of which, Sir William Howe was fully secured in his conquest of Philadelphia, and in the possession of an uninterrupted communication between his army and fleet.
The occupation of Philadelphia by the British, was to them an important movement. Washington deeply regretted the success of the enterprise by which it fell into their hands; but he had no occasion to reproach himself in view of the event. He had taken every precaution, and made every effort to prevent the loss of so important a place. But the benefits anticipated by the British, were scarcely realized. The prospects of the Americans were, after all, growing brighter, and events were hastening on, which were to make those prospects brighter still.
X. SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE.
British project for securing the command of the Hudson, between New York and Albany—Intrusted to Generals Howe and Burgoyne—The latter leaves Canada with a strong Force—Invests and takes Crown Point and Ticonderoga—Affair of Skenesborough—Fort Edward abandoned—Retreat of Americans to Stillwater—Battle of Bennington—General Gates supersedes General Schuyler—Critical condition of Burgoyne—Burgoyne advances upon Saratoga—Battle of Saratoga—Battle of Stillwater—Burgoyne retreats—Pursued by the Americans—Capitulates—Public rejoicings.
Events of deep interest transpiring in the north, must divert our attention for a time, from the military operations of the middle states.
At an earlier day, a scheme had been formed by the British ministers, of opening a way to New York, by means of their army, which should descend from the lakes to the banks of the Hudson, and unite in the vicinity of Albany with the whole, or a part of that commanded by General Howe, from the south. By means of such a manœuvre, the eastern and western provinces would be separated from each other; and thus, being prevented from furnishing mutual succor, would become an easy prey to the royal forces.
Obstacles had prevented the execution of this plan in the latter part of 1776, as originally intended, but now (the early part of 1777) it was designed to be prosecuted with a vigor and resolution corresponding to its importance.
To General Burgoyne, an officer distinguished for his ability, and possessed of a competent knowledge of the country, and, moreover, animated with an ardent thirst for military glory, the expedition from the north was confided; while General Howe was expected to lead up the royal forces from the south.
General Burgoyne arrived at Quebec in the beginning of May; and being seconded by General Carleton, immediately prepared himself to push forward the business of his mission. The regular force of General Burgoyne consisted of upwards of seven thousand British and German[Pg 361] troops, exclusive of a corps of artillery of five hundred. Seven hundred rangers, under Colonel St. Leger, were added, designed to make an incursion into the country of the Mohawks, and to seize Fort Stanwix, otherwise called Fort Schuyler. It was expected, also, that two thousand Canadians, including hatchmen and other workmen, would join the army. And, finally, one thousand Indians were induced to unite in the expedition. A train of artillery seldom equalled, either in numbers, or in the skill of those who managed it, also accompanied the army. Able and experienced officers had been selected to direct its movements. The principal were, Major-general Philips, of the artillery, who had distinguished himself in the wars of Germany; the Brigadier-generals Frazer, Powel, and Hamilton, with the Brunswick Major-general Baron Reidesel, and Brigadier-general Specht. The whole army shared in the ardor and hopes of its chiefs; not a doubt was entertained of an approaching triumph, and the conquest of America.
Thus prepared, General Burgoyne proceeded to encamp near the little river Bouquet, upon the west bank of Lake Champlain, at no great distance to the north of Crown Point. Here having addressed his army in a speech calculated to excite their highest ardor, and issued a proclamation warning the Americans against any attempt to resist his progress, upon pain of savage fury, devastation, famine, and kindred calamities—he moved upon Crown Point, whence soon after he proceeded with all his force to invest Ticonderoga.
This fortress at the time was under command of General St. Clair. Believing his garrison, only three thousand men, one-third of which were militia, inadequate to resist the attack of so formidable a force as was making its approach, he ordered its evacuation and the retreat of his army, having first burned or destroyed every thing which might prove important to the invading foe.
The night of the 5th of July was appointed for the evacuation. The British army was near, and peculiar caution[Pg 362] was to be observed, in order to effect their retreat in safety. General St. Clair led the van-guard, and Colonel Francis the rear. The soldiers had received orders to proceed with silence. St. Clair drew out the van-guard at two in the morning; Francis with the rear left at four. The baggage, furniture, military stores, and provisions, had been embarked on board of two hundred batteaux, and five armed gallies. The general rendezvous was appointed at Skenesborough; the batteaux proceeding up Wood creek, and the main army taking its route by way of Castleton.
Under the animating prospect of affecting their retreat in safety, the army and batteaux were proceeding on their respective routes, when suddenly flames burst forth from a house which had taken fire on Mount Independence, and discovered by their glare, to the surprise of the royalists, the retreating patriots.
Immediate orders were issued to the English to pursue. General Frazer, at the head of a strong detachment of grenadiers and light troops, proceeded by land along the right bank of Wood creek. General Reidesel rapidly followed with his Germans, to aid him if required. General Burgoyne embarked on board of several vessels, and gave chase by water.
"By three in the afternoon, the van of the British squadron, composed of gun-boats, came up with, and attacked the American gallies, near Skenesborough falls. In the mean time, three regiments which had been landed at South bay, ascended and passed a mountain with great expedition, in order to turn the enemy above Wood creek, to destroy his works at the falls of Skenesborough, and thus to cut off his retreat to Fort Anne. But the Americans eluded this stroke by the rapidity of their flight. The British frigates having joined the van, the gallies, already hard pressed by the gun-boats, were completely overpowered. Two of them surrendered, three were blown up. The Americans now despaired; having set fire to their works, mills, and batteaux, and otherwise destroyed what they were unable[Pg 363] to burn, they escaped as well as they could up Wood creek, without halting till they reached Fort Anne. Their loss was considerable; for the batteaux they burned were loaded with baggage, provisions, and munitions, as necessary to their sustenance as to military operations. The corps which had set out by land was in no better situation. The van-guard, conducted by St. Clair, had arrived at Castleton, thirty miles distant from Ticonderoga, and twelve from Skenesborough; the rear, commanded by Colonels Francis and Warner, had rested the night of the 6th, at Hubbardston, six miles below Castleton, towards Ticonderoga.
"At five o'clock in the morning of the 7th, the English column, under General Frazer, made its appearance. The Americans were strongly posted, and appeared disposed to defend themselves. Frazer, though inferior in point of numbers, had great confidence in the valor of his troops. He also expected every moment to be joined by General Reidesel; and being apprehensive that the enemy might[Pg 364] escape if he delayed, he ordered the attack immediately. The battle was long and sanguinary. The Americans, being commanded by valiant officers, behaved with great spirit and firmness; but the English displayed an equal obstinacy. After several shocks, with alternate success, the latter began to fall back in disorder; but their leaders rallied them anew, and led them to a furious charge with the bayonet; the Americans were shaken by its impetuosity. At this critical moment, General Reidesel arrived at the head of his column, composed of light troops and some grenadiers. He immediately took part in the action. The Americans, overpowered by numbers, fled on all sides, leaving their brave commander, with many other officers, and upwards of two hundred soldiers, dead on the field. About the same number, besides Colonel Hale, and seventeen officers of inferior rank, were made prisoners. Above six hundred were supposed to be wounded; many of whom, deprived of all succor, perished miserably in the woods. The loss of the royal troops, in dead and wounded, amounted to about one hundred and eighty."[48]
Upon receiving intelligence of the foregoing disasters, St. Clair proceeded by a circuitous route to Fort Edward, in order to strengthen General Schuyler, in anticipation of an attack upon that fortress. With the accessions thus made, the troops at Fort Edward amounted to but little more than four thousand, including the militia. The losses of the Americans had been great, and were severely felt. No less than one hundred and twenty-eight pieces of artillery, besides a great quantity of warlike stores—baggage, provisions, particularly flour—had either fallen into the hands of the enemy, or had been destroyed. Added to these losses, a general panic had seized upon the inhabitants, especially on account of the Indians attached to the British army, and against whose merciless and savage spirit there was felt to be no security.
While General Burgoyne was detained at Skenesborough,[Pg 365] General Schuyler was actively engaged in increasing his means of defence. Trenches were opened, and the roads leading to the fort were in every possible way obstructed. The militia from various quarters were summoned to the American standard, and artillery and warlike stores were forwarded from various points.
At length, General Burgoyne moved towards Fort Edward; but such were the obstacles which impeded his movements, that he did not reach the banks of the Hudson, near Fort Edward, till the 30th of July.
In the mean while, under a conviction that, after all the efforts made to render that fort defensible, it could not be maintained against so formidable a force as was approaching, General Schuyler abandoned it, and returned lower down to Stillwater, where intrenchments were thrown up.
Unexpectedly, General Burgoyne now found himself nearly destitute of provisions, and from the 30th of July to the 15th of August, the time was spent in procuring the means of supporting the army, which were obliged to be brought from Ticonderoga, at the expense of vast toil and labor. This, it was afterwards alleged, was the great mistake of General Burgoyne, that he suffered himself, after the occupation of Skenesborough, and the discomfiture of the enemy's army, to have attempted the reduction of Fort Edward. Had he then made his way directly to Albany, he might have secured the possession of that important place to himself, before the Americans could have rallied.
While thus posted at Fort Edward, General Burgoyne received intelligence that large stores of live cattle, corn, and other necessaries belonging to the Americans, had been deposited at Bennington, a village situated about twenty miles from the Hudson, in Vermont. Impelled by necessity, as well as desirous of adding to his military fame, he resolved to attempt their seizure, the accomplishment of which plan, he entrusted to Colonel Baum, a German officer of great bravery, and well versed in this sort of partisan war.
Accordingly, with a force of five hundred men and two light field-pieces, Baum set forth, in proud anticipation of success. The roads, however, were so heavy, that the detachment was fatally retarded. The intelligence of their approach preceded them in time to allow Colonel Stark—a brave, active man, who was in command at Bennington, with a corps of New Hampshire militia—to assemble a considerable rëinforcement of Green-mountain Boys from the neighboring towns. Before Baum made his appearance, the number of Americans had swelled to about two thousand. On learning the numbers of the enemy, Baum dispatched an express to Colonel Breyman, who had been detached to support him if necessary, to urge his march. In the mean while, Baum took post on the banks of the Walloon creek, to await the arrival of his auxiliaries.
Stark, however, was not disposed to accommodate his foe by any such delay; but, taking up his line of march, on the morning of the 6th of August, advanced towards the place of Baum's encampment. Dividing his forces into several corps, he gave orders to attack the British on all sides at once. On their approach, Baum strangely mistaking them for loyalists coming to his aid, held still. Judge his surprise when they poured in from all sides a deadly fire upon him! Rallying his men in the best possible manner, for a time he made a brave resistance; but before the impetuous charge of the Americans, the English were obliged to yield.
The fortune of the day had already been decided, when Colonel Breyman appeared. He was, in fact, perfectly ignorant of the engagement, and the fate of his pioneers. What was his consternation, on reaching the intrenchments of Baum, to find, instead of friends ready to receive him, the place in possession of an enemy ready to give him battle! Perceiving his mistake, his troops, though greatly fatigued, were ordered to the combat; and bravely for a time they fought, and not without some prospect of success, a part of the Americans being employed in pillaging. But the momentary advantage which he seemed to have gained[Pg 368] was soon lost; and, leaving all their baggage and one thousand muskets in the hands of the conquerors, they made a rapid retreat. The loss of the British in the two engagements, was about two hundred killed, and five hundred wounded and prisoners. The loss of the Americans did not much exceed one hundred.
The exploit of Bennington redounded not only to the credit of General Stark and his brave troops, but to the good of the country at large. It roused the drooping spirits of the Americans, it inspired the troops with confidence, and presented an earnest of still nobler conquests. In consequence of this defeat, the situation of General Burgoyne was still more perplexing. The hope of supplying his army with provisions from the stores of Bennington, was annihilated, and to other quarters he must look for supplies, without a considerable stock of which, it would be presumption to attempt offensive operations.
While these events were transpiring, congress appointed General Gates to take command of the Northern army, in place of General Schuyler. The latter was a soldier of great bravery, but was not universally acceptable to the troops, especially to those from Massachusetts and other provinces of New England. The former enjoyed a high military reputation, and his appointment was hailed by the army with joy. Gates made his appearance at Stillwater on the 21st of August, and took the command.
"Meanwhile," says Botta, "General Burgoyne continued in his camp, on the left bank of the Hudson, where he used the most unremitting industry and perseverance in bringing stores and provisions forward from Fort George. Having at length, by strenuous efforts, obtained about thirty days' provisions, he took a resolution of passing the river with his army, in order to engage the enemy, and force a passage to Albany. As a swell of water, occasioned by great rains, had carried away his bridge of rafts, he threw another, of boats, over the river at the same place. Towards the middle of September, he crossed with his army to the right[Pg 369] bank of the Hudson, and encamped on the heights and in the plain of Saratoga, Gates being then in the neighborhood of Stillwater, about three miles below. The two armies of course faced each other, and a battle was expected soon to follow."
On the morning of the 19th, it was reported by Colonel Colburn, who was watching the enemy, that they were beginning to ascend the hill towards the American left. General Gates sent Colonel Morgan to oppose them, and the firing began about noon. The action extended, and, in three hours, was general, and continued without interruption till dark. The American troops engaged amounted to three thousand; the British to three thousand five hundred.
"For four hours," says General Wilkinson, "the battle fluctuated, like the waves of a stormy sea, with alternate advantage, without one moment's intermission. It was truly a gallant conflict, in which death, by its familiarity, lost its terrors, and certainly a drawn battle, as night alone terminated it." The British army kept possession of the field; but they had nothing of which to boast. Their loss was more than five hundred men, and, among others, Captain Jones, of the artillery, an officer of great merit; the loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, was from three to four hundred; among the former, were Colonels Adams and Colburn.
From September 19th to October 7th, was devoted, by the English, to strengthening their fortifications. The army of Gates, in the mean while, was continually increasing, and, on a single occasion, was added to by the arrival of General Lincoln with two thousand men, well trained and disciplined, from the New England provinces. Attacks on the British pickets took place almost every night.
For some time, General Burgoyne had been daily and ardently waiting for news from General Howe, as to the cöoperation he intended. On the 20th of September, he received a letter from that general, informing him that, about the 20th of the month, he should attempt the reduction[Pg 370] of Fort Montgomery, situated on the right bank of the Hudson, and near the Highlands.
The situation of Burgoyne was now becoming so critical, that he immediately despatched an express to General Howe, entreating him to hasten his attack on the fort, if there was any prospect of delay, as he was provided with necessaries for his army only to the 12th of October, at which time he would be obliged to move from his present position.
Near the 1st of October, General Burgoyne found it necessary to lessen the rations of his soldiers—a measure to which they cheerfully submitted. The 7th arrived, and no further tidings had reached him of the movements of General Howe.
In this situation, General Burgoyne resolved, as the last resort, to make a bold and, if possible, a decisive attack.
The battle occurred on the 7th, and a most severe and sanguinary contest it proved; we have space only for the results. The loss of the British, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, was about six hundred; that of the Americans, three hundred and nineteen. Of the British, Brigadier-general Frazer, a gallant officer, was mortally wounded, and Colonel Breyman killed. General Arnold, of the Americans, was badly wounded, in the same leg which had already been shattered under the walls of Quebec.
Many pieces of artillery, all the baggage of the Germans, and many warlike stores, fell into the hands of the republicans, who needed them greatly. They were impatient for the return of day, to renew the battle. But deplorable and perilous, beyond expression, was the situation of the British troops; they bore it, however, with admirable temper and firmness. It was evidently impossible to continue in their present position, without submitting to a certainty of destruction on the ensuing day. The Americans, invigorated and encouraged, would take advantage of the access they had already opened to themselves on the right, and of other untenable points, to carry[Pg 371] every part of the camp, and completely surround the British army. Burgoyne, therefore, determined to operate a total change of ground. He executed this movement with admirable order, and without any loss. The artillery, the camp, and its appurtenances, were all removed, before morning, to the heights above the hospital. The British army, in this position, had the river in its rear, and its two wings displayed along the hills, upon the right bank. The English expected to be attacked the following day. But Gates would not expose to the risk of another battle, that victory of which he was already certain. He intended that time, famine, and necessity, should complete the work which his arms had so fortunately commenced. There were frequent skirmishes, however, occurring in the course of the day, but of little importance. Towards night, the obsequies of General Frazer were celebrated in the British camp; a ceremony mournful of itself, and rendered even terrible by the sense of recent losses, of future dangers, and of regret for the deceased. The darkness and silence of the night aided the effect of the blaze and roar of the American artillery; while, at every moment, the balls spattered the earth upon the face of the officiating chaplain.[49]
The situation of General Burgoyne, after the battle, was gloomy and critical in the extreme. The fortunes of war were obviously against him, and no safe alternative presented itself but in retreat. Orders were accordingly issued for the army to return to Saratoga, six miles up the river. "The retreat began at nine o'clock; but such was the badness of the roads, rendered still more difficult by a heavy rain, which fell that night, and such was the weakness of the teams, for want of forage, that the English did[Pg 372]
[Pg 373] not reach Saratoga till the evening of the ensuing day; the soldiers were harassed with fatigue and hunger. The hospital, with three hundred sick and wounded, and a great number of wheel-carriages, were abandoned to the enemy. The English, as they retired, burned the houses, and destroyed whatever they could use no longer."
From the moment that General Gates learned the movements of the enemy, his plan was formed—to follow up his success by a vigorous pursuit, pushing the contest until they should surrender their arms as a conquered foe.
Accordingly, putting his army in motion, as early as was practicable, he followed. The only hope which now inspired Burgoyne was, that he might effect a passage to Fort Edward, and in that fastness sustain himself till succor could arrive from the south. But when the intelligence arrived, as it did at the moment of his deepest perplexity, that that fortress was in possession of the Americans, he saw he must relinquish all hope of saving himself by his own efforts.
The condition of the British army was indeed deplorable. "The troops, worn down by a series of hard toil, incessant effort, and stubborn action, abandoned by Indians and Canadians, the whole army reduced by repeated and heavy losses of many of their best men and most distinguished officers, from ten thousand combatants to less than five thousand fighting men, of whom little more than three thousand were English. In these circumstances, and in this state of weakness, without a possibility of retreat, they were invested by an army of four times their own number, whose position extended three parts in four of a circle round them—who refused to fight from a knowledge of their own condition—and who, from the nature of the ground, could not be attacked in any part. In this helpless situation, obliged to be constantly on their arms, while a continued cannonade pervaded all the camp, and even rifle and grape-shot fell in every part of their lines, the troops of Burgoyne retained their ordinary constancy,[Pg 374] and, while sinking under a hard necessity, they showed themselves worthy of a better fate. Nor could they be reproached with any action or word, which betrayed a want of temper or fortitude.
"At length, no succor appearing, and no rational ground of hope of any kind remaining, an exact account of the provisions was taken on the morning of the thirteenth, when it was found that the whole stock would afford no more than three days' bare subsistence for the army. In such a state, it was alike impossible to advance or to remain as they were; and the longer they delayed to take a definite resolution, the more desperate became their situation. Burgoyne, therefore, immediately called a council of war, at which not only the generals and field-officers, but all the captains of companies were invited to assist. While they deliberated, the bullets of the Americans whistled around them, and frequently pierced even the tent, where the council was convened. It was determined, unanimously, to open a treaty, and enter into a convention with the American general."
On the night of the 15th, the articles of capitulation were settled. The morning of the 17th was appointed as the time on which they were to be signed.
That night (15th) intelligence, by a special messenger, reached the English camp, that General Clinton had reduced Fort Montgomery, and was then rapidly marching to their relief. This added to the suffering of the conquered Burgoyne. Forthwith, he summoned a council of war, and to his discredit—the only apology for which is to be found in the deep mortification felt by a proud and ambitious soldier to surrender—proposed to retreat, and once more try the fortunes of combat, in the hope that Clinton might arrive in season to their relief. But his officers, with stricter notions of propriety, were of the opinion that, as their faith had been pledged, the honor of the English character required a fulfillment of the articles of capitulation.
Meanwhile, Gates, apprised of the nature of the intelligence[Pg 375] received, calmly waited for the arrival of the 17th, on the morning of which he proceeded to form his troops in the order of battle; which done, he dispatched a messenger to General Burgoyne, to inform him that the appointed hour had arrived, and he must either sign the articles, or prepare himself for battle.
Deeply as the latter regretted submission, he was fully sensible that circumstances demanded it, and therefore proceeded to sign the articles, which, in substance, were as follows:
"That the army should march out of the camp with all the honors of war and its camp artillery, to a fixed place, where they were to deposit their arms and leave the artillery; to be allowed a free embarkation and passage to Europe, from Boston, upon condition of their not serving again in America during the present war; the army not to be separated, particularly the men from the officers; roll-calling, and other duties of regularity, to be permitted; the officers to be admitted on parole, and to wear their sidearms; all private property to be retained, and the public delivered upon honor; no baggage to be searched or molested; all persons, of whatever country, appertaining to, or following the camp, to be fully comprehended in the terms of capitulation, and the Canadians to be returned to their own country, liable to its conditions."
On the day on which the capitulation took place, the American army numbered nearly fifteen thousand men, ten thousand of whom were regular troops; the English troops amounted to five thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, of whom two thousand four hundred and twelve were Germans, and three thousand three hundred and seventy-nine were English.
The munitions of war, which by the capitulation came into possession of the Americans, were, besides being numerically great, exceedingly valuable. They consisted of a fine train of brass artillery, amounting to forty-two pieces, of different sorts and sizes, four thousand six hundred[Pg 376] muskets, and an immense quantity of bombs, balls, and other implements of war.
Such was the result of this expedition of the British, on the banks of the Hudson. To the English, it was most unexpected and disastrous; to the Americans, joyous and fortunate. It had been planned with ability, and had General Howe fulfilled the part expected of him, the result might have been reversed. But his failure to cöoperate, as contemplated in the plan, left General Burgoyne but little chance of success.
The victory won, General Gates forthwith dispatched Colonel Wilkinson to convey the happy tidings to congress. On entering the hall of session, he approached the speaker, and said: "The whole British army has laid down arms at Saratoga; our own, full of vigor and courage, expect your orders; it is for your wisdom to decide where the country may still have need of their services."
"To General Gates and his army, congress, by resolution, expressed their thanks. To the former, in addition, they voted a gold medal, in commemoration of the proud achievement. On one side of it, was the bust of the general, with these words around: Horatio Gates, Duci strenuo; and in the middle, Comita Americana. On the reverse, Burgoyne was represented in the attitude of delivering his sword; and, in the back ground, on the one side and on the other, were seen the two armies of England and America. At the top were these words: Salum regionum septentrion; and at the foot, Hoste ad Saratogam in deditione accepto. Die XVII. Oct. MDCCLXXVII. It would be difficult to describe the transports of joy which the news of this event excited among the Americans. They began to flatter themselves with a still more happy future; no one any longer entertained a doubt of independence. All hoped, and not without reason, that a success of this kind would at length determine France, and the other European powers that waited for her example, to declare themselves in favor of America."
To the American people at large, the news of the victory conveyed the most heartfelt joy. The cloud, which had long rested upon their hopes, seemed to be breaking away, and to presage the dawn of a day for which for years they had prayed and struggled; but which, with all their efforts, hopes, and prayers, had, until now, appeared distant and doubtful.
XI. PROGRESS OF THE WAR.
State of affairs in England—Treaty with France—Movements in the British Parliament—Overtures to Congress—Rejection of them—Battle of Monmouth—Disastrous Retreat of General Lee—Fortunate interposition of Washington—His rebuke of Lee—Tremendous Battle—Sufferings of the Armies—Renewal of the Contest—Midnight Retreat of the British army—Subsequent Trial and Dismission of General Lee.
1. STATE OF AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND.
The effect produced by the surrender of General Burgoyne, upon the British cabinet and the nation at large, was as grievous and depressing, as it had been joyous and animating to congress and the American people. The most brilliant success had been anticipated by the former; the most ignominious result had occurred. The pride of the nation was humbled, and those who had disapproved of the war, were now loud in their censures of ministers.
Already had the war cost England twenty thousand men and thirty millions of money. But more of both were now needed. Reluctant to ask parliament for a fresh levy, the ministers, during the recess of that body, near the beginning of the year 1778, dispatched agents into the different provinces of the kingdom, to spur the inhabitants to enlist, and to furnish voluntary contributions to carry on the war.
The success of this plan was only partial—far less than anticipated, or the exigencies of the case required. The citizens of Liverpool and Manchester, however, responded to the call, and agreed to raise and equip a regiment of one thousand each. Edinburgh and Glasgow followed their example. London, as a city, peremptorily refused to raise troops—but the friends of the government raised the sum of twenty thousand pounds.
2. TREATY WITH FRANCE.
Not long after the declaration of independence, commissioners were authorized to bring the subject of a recognition before the court of Versailles, and to urge the measure[Pg 379] by such considerations as existed in the case. This they had done, and continued to do, so long as any prospect of success existed. At length, despairing of obtaining their object, they were about to abandon further effort, when the joyful intimation was communicated to Dr. Franklin, that a treaty, involving the desired recognition, had been determined upon by the king and his ministers. On the 6th of February, 1778, this measure, most auspicious to American interests, was concluded at Paris. It was signed on behalf of the king by M. Gerard; and for the United States by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee. The treaty stipulated—a thing until then unheard of on the part of a king—that the essential and express object of the alliance was to maintain effectually the liberty, sovereignty, and independence of the United States.
On the 21st of March, the American commissioners were with great pomp and ceremony, introduced by Count de Vergennes before the throne, whereon was seated the king, Louis XVI., in the midst of the grandees of his court.[Pg 380] The honor was one which was conferred only when the king gave audience to the ambassadors of sovereigns and independent states.
On the 2d of May, the French frigate La Sensible, having on board the important treaty, reached the American shores. Congress was forthwith convened, and the treaty was ratified. The most heartfelt joy pervaded the country. The army, drawn up in the order of battle, received the intelligence with exultation not to be described.
3. MOVEMENTS IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT.
Before the treaty between France and the United States was made public, the British ministry had knowledge of its existence. Justly alarmed, they felt the necessity of adopting some measures by which to bring the war to a close, without a collision with France. What those measures should be, was a question on which a diversity of opinion existed in the cabinet. It is asserted, that some of the members, in secret session, proposed at once to acknowledge the independence of the United States, and to conclude a treaty with them. But on the 19th of February, Lord North introduced a resolution into parliament, admitting that the parliament could not in future impose any tax or duty on the colonies of North America, except such only as should be deemed beneficial to commerce, and the product even of those to be collected under the authority of the respective colonies, and to be employed for their use and advantage. He proposed, besides, that five commissioners should be appointed, empowered to adjust with any assembly or individual whatsoever, the differences existing between Great Britain and her colonies; it being understood, however, that the compacts were not to take effect till ratified by the parliament.
To the surprise and indignation of the friends of the war, the bill passed; and, shortly after, the king appointed for commissioners the Earl of Carlisle, William Eden, George Johnstone, and the commander-in-chief of the English army[Pg 381] in America. The three first sailed from St. Helena for America on the 21st, on board the ship Trident.
In the beginning of June, the commissioners arrived, and on the 9th, repaired to Philadelphia. Soon after, they made a communication to congress, explanatory of their object, and requested the privilege of opening a conference with that body, or with some of its members, either at New York, or some other place which congress should please to appoint.
The serious consideration of congress was given to the overture, and on the 17th of June, their answer was returned. In substance it was, that they would be ready to enter upon the consideration of peace and commerce, not inconsistent with treaties already subsisting, when the king of Great Britain should demonstrate a sincere disposition for that purpose; of which no other proof could be admitted but that of an explicit acknowledgment of the independence of the United States, or the withdrawal of his fleets and armies.
Thus terminated the negotiation. America, steady to her purpose, would not listen to any proposal which did not involve the recognition of her independence. Great Britain was yet too proud to accede to such terms, and consequently, the idea of accommodation was abandoned, and the most vigorous measures were adopted to wage war against her ancient ally and her disobedient child, whose fortunes had now become linked together.
It may be added in this place, that, subsequent to the failure of the commissioners in effecting the object of their mission, commenced a system of intrigue with several distinguished persons, and especially with members of congress, to whom one at least addressed confidential letters, with the hope of winning them to the royal cause. Some of these letters and propositions at length were made public. General Reed, a member of congress, stated that a proposition had been made to him by Johnstone, through a lady, that if he would promote the rëunion of the two countries, he[Pg 382] should have any office in the colonies which he might name. His reply was worthy of a Christian and a patriot: "I am not worth purchasing; but such as I am, the king of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it."
4. BATTLE OF MONMOUTH.
During the winter of 1777-8, the British army had occupied Philadelphia; the winter-quarters of the American army were at Valley Forge. On the opening of the spring, in consequence of the alliance of France and America, orders were issued to the British general to evacuate Philadelphia, and concentrate the royal force in the city and harbor of New York. In pursuance of this resolution, the royal army, now under command of Sir Henry Clinton—General Howe having returned to England—left Philadelphia, and on the 18th of June, passed the Delaware into New Jersey.
Washington immediately quitted his camp, and hung upon the British army, watching a favorable opportunity to offer battle. On the 27th, the British army encamped on some high grounds in the neighborhood of Freehold court-house, in the county of Monmouth.
On the morning of the 28th, General Lee was ordered to take command of five thousand men, and commence the attack.
At first, he declined the honor; but judging, on reflection, that such a procedure would redound to his discredit, he now sought the command at the hands of Lafayette, to whom, on his declining it, it had been tendered.
Lee immediately put his troops in motion for the plain of Monmouth, some four or five miles distant. On approaching it, the British were already in motion. The army was in advance of the baggage-train, which covered miles in extent. The morning was clear, and the sun poured down his heat so fervidly, as seemingly to cause all nature to faint. Before noon, the mercury of the thermometer reached ninety-six. Man and beast panted for breath. The sand-plain[Pg 383] became parched as an oven, and water was needed at almost every step. The sufferings of men and horses early became nearly insupportable.
Moreover, it was the Sabbath—that day when the hum of life is ordinarily hushed, and when men are commonly with their families in the house of God. We may pause, we trust, to say, that that Sabbath, and the God of that Sabbath, would have been more honored—nor do we believe that the patriot cause would have suffered in the sequel—had Washington, instead of sending out a hostile corps—had he and his troops spent it in paying divine honors to the God of our fathers. It had been still better, could hostile armies have that day grounded their arms, and of that plain made a sanctuary, and there, in the exercise of that friendship and love which the gospel enjoins, worshiped together at a common altar, and before a common Father. But the latter was not to be expected—perhaps, not the former. Other thoughts were occupying those bosoms, and a far different spectacle was that day to be witnessed. Let us not judge severely. We will hope that the honor of God did animate those sons of the Pilgrims. We know that they were true patriots, and that they were fighting for their altars and their firesides. Nor is it to be doubted that they would have preferred the calm and delightful worship of God, with their families, in the sanctuaries of their own quiet villages. But they were summoned to the field of battle, and here, now, we find them soon employed amid scenes of carnage and death.
Wayne was that day in command under Lee. On seeing the British train—horses and waggons, miles in extent—following the army in advance, the former, with his detachment, hastened rapidly forward, with the intent to cut off and capture the train. Meanwhile, Lee, with the rest of his division, took a more circuitous route, designing to attack the corps which had the train in charge. Most unexpectedly, however, just as he was ready to commence the charge, intelligence was received that the entire British[Pg 384] army—which was on the retreat, but which had had intimation of Lee's advance—had wheeled about, and were in full march to protect its rear.
Lee had reluctantly taken the command; he was in ill-humor, and, moreover, was probably now appalled at the prospect before him. At all adventures, greatly to his discredit, for as yet he had not commenced action, he ordered a retreat. This movement fell upon Wayne like a thunderbolt, who was himself compelled, by reason of it, to fall back, at the hazard of his entire command.
Washington was still at a distance with the remainder of the army; but was rapidly approaching the theatre of the contest. The distant cannonade impelled him forward. The troops, partaking of his own enthusiasm, if not of his anxiety, laid aside knapsacks—coats—all that encumbered, and amidst dust and heat pressed on to the encounter. At this moment, a horseman was seen approaching from the immediate battle-field. He pressed his horse, and made announcement to Washington that Lee's division, in utter disorder, was in full retreat. For a moment, the latter seemed petrified with astonishment; and the next moment—for it seems he had for some reason dismounted—vaulting upon his saddle, he sprang forward, and like a winged arrow directed his way to the scene of confusion and flight. The instant he was seen by the troops in retreat, "The brave fellows"—we use the stirring language of Headley—"the brave fellows, who had not been half beaten, sent up a shout that was heard the whole length of the line, and 'Long live Washington!' rent the air. Flinging a hasty inquiry to Osgood, as to the reason, who replied, 'Sir, we are fleeing from a shadow;' he galloped to the rear, and, reining up his horse beside Lee, bent on him a face of fearful expression, and thundered in his ear, as he leaned over his saddle-bow, 'Sir, I desire to know what is the reason, and whence arises this disorder and confusion!' It was not the words, but the smothered tone of passion in which they were uttered, and the manner, which was severe as a blow, that[Pg 385] made this rebuke so terrible. Wheeling his steed, he spurred up to Oswald's and Stewart's regiments, saying, 'On you I depend to check this pursuit;' and riding along the ranks, he roused their courage to the highest pitch by his stirring appeals; while that glorious shout of 'Long live Washington!' again shook the field. The sudden gust of passion had swept by; but the storm that ever slumbered in his bosom was now fairly up; and, galloping about on his splendid charger, his tall and commanding form towering above all about him, and his countenance lit up with enthusiasm, he was the impersonation of all that is great and heroic in man. In a moment, the aspect of the field was changed—the retreating mass halted—officers were seen hurrying about in every direction, their shouts and orders ringing above the roar of the enemy's guns. The ranks opened—and, under the galling fire of the British, wheeled, and formed in splendid order. Washington then rode back to Lee, and, pointing to the firm front he had arrayed against the enemy, exclaimed, 'Will you, sir, command in that place?' He replied, 'Yes.'—'Well,' then said he, 'I expect you to check the enemy immediately.' 'Your orders shall be obeyed,' replied the stung commander, 'and I will not be the first to leave the field.' The battle then opened with renewed fury, and Washington hurried back, to bring his own division into the field."
This took time, as the division was still at a distance. Meanwhile, however, the retreat was partially staid. The troops once more rallied. They stood—they fought—fought with unwonted desperation. But the overpowering legions of the enemy pressed hard. Their shouts were deafening—their cannonade appalling and destructive. Lee now attempted to his utmost power to withstand the impetuous shock—but it was entirely beyond the compass of his troops. They were again giving way. A few moments longer, and all would be lost. At this critical juncture, Hamilton appeared, seemingly sent as a messenger from above—crossing the field—his charger covered with foam, and his[Pg 386] hair streaming in the wind—Hamilton appeared, and riding up to Lee, said to him: "My dear general, let us die here rather than retreat."
What would have been the effect of this soul-stirring and patriotic address of Hamilton, had no succor been at hand, we pretend not to say. They were words of comfort and assurance; and, if necessary to prevent a dishonorable retreat, there doubtless Hamilton, and perhaps now Lee himself, would have surrendered up life. But succor was at hand. Washington with his division had arrived. No time was lost. He issued his orders, and they were obeyed. Sterling, Knox, Wayne, brought up their several commands, and soon the battle was raging, and the whole plains shook under the clangor of arms and the thunder of artillery. For a time, few such spectacles were seen during the Revolutionary war. The heat of the day, we have already said, was intense. Water was not to be had, or rather there was no time to quench parched lips, had there been any. Their thirst added to the sufferings of the troops immeasurably. The tongues of the soldiers became so inflamed and swollen, as not to be retained in their mouths. Yet they fought, and fought with a desperation increased by the very sufferings they endured. The British suffered from the same causes, and fought with the same desperation. And for a time, it was indeed doubtful whose cause would triumph. But the batteries of Knox and Sterling, like volcanoes, hurled death and destruction on every side; while the impetuous Wayne with his columns, torrent-like, spread confusion and dismay in every step of their progress. There was a concentration of effort—and that effort, doubtless the more earnest and effective, for the reason of the previous unwarranted and pusillanimous retreat.
In turn, the British themselves now retreated, and encamped on the spot which Lee's division had occupied in the morning. They had fought with unwonted zeal. Officers and soldiers were exhausted. They coveted rest. They needed repose. It was so with the Americans. "Even Washington's[Pg 387] powerful frame was overcome by the heat and toil he had passed through; and as he stood begrimed with the dust and the smoke of the battle, and wiped his brow, the perspiration fell in streams from his horse, which looked as if it had been dragged through a muddy stream, rather than rode by a living man."
Yet, wearied as he was—wearied and worn down as were his officers and men—Washington could not consent so to terminate the day. A further duty remained ere he slept. That duty was to dislodge the enemy from the position which he had taken. His officers—his army sympathized with him; they were willing to put forth one more effort to secure all that they had promised themselves, and which in the morning had seemed so practicable.
Two brigades were therefore ordered to attack the British at their post—on the right and left. The battle was now renewed, and renewed with all the spirit and determination of an earlier hour. It continued, however, but for a brief period. The sun was fast descending when the second battle began, and had set ere the several corps had really attained their proposed positions. It was fortunate, probably, that the contest was interrupted. Both armies had done enough. Had Washington succeeded in dislodging the enemy, his troops were too much spent to have followed up the victory.
There they now paused. Darkness soon set in. Too much overcome even to administer to the wants of nature, the troops of both armies flung themselves upon the parched ground, and slept. They slept in sight of each other, and they slept strong and deep. With the morning light, Washington had decided to renew the battle. He, therefore, instead of retiring to his marquee, wrapped himself in his cloak, and sunk upon the earth in the midst of his soldiers.
At the dawn of morning, Washington rose, and with his recruited followers was about to follow up the advantages of the preceding day. But the enemy had retired. Aware of the peril of his condition, the British commander had[Pg 388] roused his army at midnight, and ordered a retreat. And so silently was that retreat effected, and so soundly had the American army slept, officers and men, that no one of the thousands which composed it, had any suspicion of the retreat, till the light of day revealed it. Washington was indeed disappointed; but the departure of the enemy, if it was not in all respects equal to a victory, gave practical assurance that Washington had suffered no defeat.
There were doubtless other engagements during the Revolutionary struggle more brilliant, and of greater influence, as to the final result, than the battle of Monmouth. But it is doubtful whether there was a single other one in which there was a higher exhibition of firmness, or the practice of greater self-denial, or the endurance of greater suffering.
Never did commander appear more nobly than did Washington. But for his presence at the critical moment—his quick perception of the danger, and the means of averting it—his celerity in issuing his orders—his manly but terrific rebuke of Lee—and perhaps more than all, his undaunted bravery, and his firm stand when all were flying from a pursuing foe—all would indeed have been lost.
For twelve long hours were the respective armies that day engaged. They numbered about twenty thousand men. They were on a plain where little or no water could be obtained, and with a thermometer standing the whole day at nearly one hundred degrees. Not a few died from sun-stroke—and still more from excessive fatigue. The cry for "water! water!" from the wounded and the dying, was sufficient to overcome the stoutest heart.
It is not necessary to dwell longer on the particulars of this remarkable battle. The British troops, as already intimated, left Washington in occupation of the field. On the following day, finding his foe gone, he took up his line of march, and by easy stages moved towards the Hudson.
It does not belong to the plan of our work to pursue the history of the difficulty which that day arose between[Pg 389] Washington and Lee, growing out of the retreat of the latter. That retreat was most unexpected, dishonorable, and needless. So Washington evidently deemed it, and this was the occasion of his severe rebuke of that officer in the field. It has been said that Washington was profane. That he was greatly excited, calm as he usually was, admits of no question. That he was profane, is without proof. Weems says, as quoted by Headley, that as he rode up, he exclaimed, "For God's sake! General Lee, what is the cause of this ill-timed prudence?"—to which the latter replied, "No man can boast a larger share of that rascally virtue than your excellency." What reliance, if any, is to be placed upon the above authority, the writer pretends not to say. To an inquiry once made of Lafayette, at La Grange, by Dr. Sparks, what the precise expression of Washington was, he replied, that although near him at the moment, he could not have told an hour subsequently. He thought, however, that it was not so much the expression itself, as the manner in which it was uttered, that stung the retreating general. That manner was terrible. The wrath of Washington was without disguise.
But the results of the day served to meliorate the feelings of Washington towards Lee, whatever opinion he might have continued to entertain of his unworthy conduct. It is said that he rëinstated him in his old command; and had Lee reciprocated the feelings and kindness of Washington, the unpleasant occurrence might have passed, and have been forgotten. But Lee was hot-tempered; and, under the smart of rebuke, addressed a most ill-judged and "saucy" letter to Washington, in which he demanded a trial by court-martial. Washington, in his reply, accused Lee of a breach of orders, in not attacking the enemy; and a breach of good behavior, unbecoming an officer of his rank, in so hasty and cowardly a retreat. Lee rejoined, and in a manner entirely in accordance with his previous communication. "You cannot," he wrote, "afford me greater pleasure, sir, than in giving me an opportunity of showing to America the efficiency of her[Pg 390] respective servants. I trust that the temporary power of office, and the trivial dignity attending it, will not be able, by all the mists they can raise, to effusate the bright rays of truth. In the mean time, your excellency can have no objection to my retiring from the army."
In whatever light Lee's previous conduct deserved to be regarded, no doubt could exist as to the intended insult of Washington conveyed in the above letter. Suffice it to say, that he was put under immediate arrest; and in August was tried before a court-martial on three separate charges, viz: "for disobeying orders, in not attacking the enemy;" "for making an unnecessary and disorderly retreat;" and "for disrespect to the commander-in-chief, in two letters."
Of these charges, with a slight modification of one of them, he was found guilty, and suspended from the army for twelve months. The decision was most unexpected and distasteful, as might be supposed, to a man of Lee's ardent and self-complacential feelings. Washington he never forgave. Stung by the decision of the court-martial, against that body—against congress itself—he launched his bitter invectives. At the expiration of his suspension, and while congress was contemplating his restoration, he addressed an insulting letter to that body, which hastened his dismission. We add, only, that he retired to Virginia, where on a farm he passed the residue of his days.
XII. TREACHERY OF ARNOLD.
The Vulture in the Hudson—Midnight Adventure—Benedict Arnold—Repairs to Cambridge—Expedition to Canada—Created a Brigadier-general—Grounds of Complaint—Honorable Conduct in Connecticut—Appointed to the command at Philadelphia—Charges preferred against him—Reprimanded by Washington—Plots against his Country—Correspondence with Sir H. Clinton—Appointed to the command of West Point—Interview with Andre—Capture of Andre—Arrival of Washington—Escape of Arnold—Developments of Arnold's traitorous intentions—Trial and Condemnation of Andre—Subsequent incidents in the life of Arnold.
On the night of the 21st of September, 1780, there was lying at anchor on the Hudson, a few miles below West Point, a British sloop-of-war, called the Vulture. A little before midnight, a boat, with muffled oars, and rowed by two men, put off from the American shore, and proceeded with great caution towards the sloop. In the stern of the boat sat a third man, of more consequence than the oarsmen, and the leader of the secret expedition. It was a tranquil night; the stars peered out with unwonted lustre,[Pg 392] and the waters moved slowly down the channel. What object was proposed by this cautious midnight adventure? Was intelligence sought from the enemy, or was it to be imparted to them? Was it a patriotic or a traitorous expedition?—The sequel will tell.
Among the brave and chivalrous men who early engaged in the defence of American rights, was Benedict Arnold. On the occurrence of the battle of Lexington, he was residing at New Haven, and was commandant of a company of militia, called the Governor's Guards.
On the arrival of the news of the above battle at New Haven, citizens and soldiers, as if moved by a common impulse, assembled on the green. Fired with indignation, as were others, Arnold proposed to head such as would volunteer under him, and lead them to the more immediate scene of action.
Such was the dispatch of preparation, that the following day, at the head of sixty volunteers, he was ready to march.
After reaching Cambridge, for a time Arnold was employed in an expedition against Ticonderoga. About the time of his return, congress was contemplating a still more important and hazardous movement against Canada, under General Schuyler. Believing that essential aid might be rendered by the way of the Kennebec river, a detachment of troops was made at Cambridge, the command of which was tendered to Arnold.
The troops detached for this service amounted to eleven hundred men—ten companies of musket-men from New England, and three companies of rifle-men from Virginia and Pennsylvania. The field officers were Colonel Arnold, Lieutenant-colonels Greene and Enos, and Majors Bigelow and Meigs. The afterwards-celebrated Daniel Morgan commanded the riflemen. On the 18th of September, the troops sailed from Newburyport, and rendezvoused at Fort Western, on the Kennebec, opposite the present town of Augusta.
From this point they started, and their hardships and[Pg 393] trials began. No body of troops during the Revolutionary war, if indeed in the annals of warfare, encountered greater obstacles, or endured more suffering, than this. The distance traversed was about two hundred miles, and nearly the whole of it was a howling wilderness.
On the night of the 14th, Arnold with his men crossed the St. Lawrence; and, ascending the same abrupt precipice which Wolfe had climbed before him, formed his small corps on the heights, near the memorable Plains of Abraham. But he soon discovered that neither the number nor condition of his men would justify him in hazarding an action. Having spent a few days on the heights, and summoned the town to surrender, without even a response, he retired twenty miles above Quebec, to wait the arrival of the troops which were to proceed by the western route, which were now led by General Montgomery, who had succeeded General Schuyler, in consequence of the illness of the latter.
On the 1st of December, Montgomery joined Arnold;[Pg 394] and on the morning of the 31st occurred the memorable assault upon Quebec, in which the gallant and lamented Montgomery fell. Arnold, not less bold and intrepid, had his leg-bone severely fractured, and was obliged to be carried from the ground. The issue was disastrous to the Americans, as is well known; about sixty being killed, and between three and four hundred taken prisoners. Notwithstanding his wound and the serious diminution of his force, Arnold maintained a blockade of the city during a long and severe Canadian winter.
As a reward for his persevering efforts in conducting his troops through the wilderness, and for his gallant conduct in the assault of Quebec, congress promoted Arnold to the rank of brigadier-general.
In February, 1777, congress appointed five additional major-generals. According to the usual practice in reference to promotions, Arnold would have been entitled to this honor; but those thus promoted were all his juniors, and one of them, General Lincoln, was taken from the militia.[Pg 395] To a man like Arnold, ambitious of military glory, such a neglect could not be otherwise than deeply wounding. In anticipation of his mortified feelings, Washington addressed a kind and soothing letter to him, virtually expressing his disapproval of the course of procedure, and advising Arnold to demean himself with the magnanimity of a soldier, in the hope that justice would still be done him, and others, who were similarly neglected.
Meanwhile, Washington addressed to friends in congress a letter of inquiry on the subject. To this it was replied, that as each state claimed a number of general officers, proportioned to the troops it furnished, and as Connecticut already had two, there existed no vacancy for another. There was at least plausibility in the reason, but it seems not to have satisfied Washington; much less could it be expected to satisfy so sensitive and ambitious a man as Arnold. This disappointment was probably among the causes which soured the mind of the latter, and laid the foundation of those corrodings of the heart, which in after-times led to the utter ruin of his reputation, and came near effecting the ruin of his country.
But this was by no means the only ground of Arnold's complaint. Construing the neglect of congress as an implied censure of his military conduct in past times—and perhaps the inference was not entirely without foundation—Arnold resolved to demand of congress an examination into his conduct. With this object in view, he proceeded to head-quarters, to solicit of Washington permission to proceed to Philadelphia.
Just at the time he was passing through Connecticut, a British force, consisting of two thousand troops, under the infamous General Tryon, had landed at Compo, between Fairfield and Norwalk, for the purpose of penetrating to Danbury, to destroy some public stores, which the Americans had lodged there.
Arnold heard of this invasion; and, for the time, honorably foregoing the object of his journey, and roused by that high[Pg 396] military spirit which in no small degree characterized him, he immediately turned his course northward, for the purpose of aiding in repelling the foe.
A militia force of five hundred had been hastily collected by Generals Wooster and Silliman. These, together with about one hundred continental troops, Arnold overtook near Reading, on their march towards Danbury. At Bethel, information was obtained that the town had been fired, and the public stores destroyed. The next morning, the generals divided their forces—General Wooster, with two hundred men, falling in the rear of the enemy, while Arnold and Silliman, with five hundred (their original force having been augmented), by a rapid movement, took post in their front at Ridgefield.
About eleven o'clock, General Wooster overtook the enemy, and attacked them with great gallantry. Riding to the front of his troops, with a design of inspiring them with appropriate courage, he cried: "Come on, my boys! never mind such random shot." But scarcely had he uttered the[Pg 397] words, when a fatal ball pierced his side, and this gallant general fell.
Meanwhile, Arnold having reached the north part of the long street at Ridgefield, barricaded the road with carts, logs, hay, and earth, presenting a formidable obstruction to the approaching enemy, and no mean protection to the resisting force.
"At three o'clock the enemy appeared, marching in a solid column, and they commenced a heavy fire as they advanced towards the breastwork: it was briskly returned. For nearly a quarter of an hour, the action was warm, and the Americans maintained their ground, by the aid of their barricade, against four times their number, until the British column began to extend itself, and to stretch around their flanks. This was a signal for retreat. Arnold was the last man that remained behind. While alone in this situation, a platoon of British troops, who had clambered up the rocks on the left flank, discharged their muskets at him. His horse dropped lifeless; and when it was perceived that the[Pg 398] rider did not fall, one of the soldiers rushed forward with a fixed bayonet, intending to run him through. Arnold sat unmoved on his struggling horse, watched the soldier's approach till he was near enough to make sure his aim, then drew a pistol from his holsters, and shot him dead. Seizing this critical opportunity, he sprang upon his feet, and escaped unharmed. So remarkable an exhibition of cool and steady courage, in a moment of extreme danger, has rarely been witnessed.
"He rallied his men, and continued to annoy the enemy in their progress. Being rëinforced the next day, he hung upon their flanks and rear throughout the whole march to their ships, attacking them at every assailable point. In a skirmish near Compo, just before the British embarked, the horse which he rode was shot through the neck, and on all occasions he exposed himself with his accustomed intrepidity."
The heroic conduct of Arnold—periling life as a volunteer, and while smarting under a sense of wrong—was duly appreciated wherever the exploit was told. Congress, sensible of the merit of the achievement, immediately promoted him to the rank of major-general; but instead of ante-dating[Pg 399] his commission, that he might take rank with those who had been raised above him, they left him still subordinate to them. This was unfortunate, and even inconsistent. Arnold felt the neglect with still deeper sensibility, and saw in it, as he imagined, an undeniable proof that the charge of ingratitude which he had brought against his country was well founded.
At length, his complaints were referred to the Board of War, and the charges of his accusers were examined. The board reported that they were satisfied with the character and conduct of General Arnold. This report congress confirmed. Indeed, they went further, and presented him with a horse properly caparisoned, in token of their approbation of his gallant conduct in resisting the troops under General Tryon. Had they added to this an equality of rank with the generals who had been raised over him, Arnold would have been satisfied; but neglecting this—and the cause was doubtless to be ascribed to the personal influence of bitter enemies, who could not forget his arrogance and presumption—he was chagrined, rather than flattered, by the tokens of approbation he had received—and soured rather than pacified.
Added to this, Arnold was mortified and exasperated that his accounts were not fully and promptly allowed by a committee appointed to audit them. This they could not justly do without much qualification. They were numerous and large, many debts incurred were without authority, and vouchers were wanting. The consequence was a general suspicion that Arnold intended to enrich himself, or meet his private extravagant expenditures at the public expense.
Passing over several intervening events, especially the signal success of General Gates in resisting the progress of General Burgoyne, during which Arnold acted a part so heroic, as to be honored by Washington with one of the three sets of epaulettes and sword-knots which had been presented to him by a gentleman of France, we reach a signal event in the life of this remarkable man—his appointment[Pg 400] by Washington, in consideration of his disabled condition, to the command of Philadelphia, following the evacuation of that city by the British. The station was honorable, and the duties, though delicate, were not severe.
Several circumstances, about this time, served to weaken his affections for the patriotic cause. One was the report of specific charges against him by a committee of congress, for acts oppressive and unworthy his rank and station, on which he was tried, and ordered to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief.
In performing this duty, Washington exhibited as much mildness as the case permitted. "Our profession," said he, "is the chastest of all. The shadow of a fault tarnishes our most brilliant actions. The least inadvertence may cause us to lose that public favor, which is so hard to be gained. I reprimand you for having forgotten that, in proportion as you had rendered your name formidable to our enemies, you should have shown moderation towards our citizens. Exhibit again those splendid qualities which have placed you in the rank of our most distinguished generals. As far as it shall be in my power, I will myself furnish you with opportunities for regaining the esteem which you have formerly enjoyed."
The decision of the court, and the reprimand of Washington, mild and delicate as it was, fell heavy on the excitable spirit of Arnold. A burning revenge rankled in his bosom, and from this time—if his traitorous purposes had not before been formed—he sought opportunities to gratify his malice, and at the same time the sordid passion of avarice, which had long held sway in his bosom.
Another circumstance, besides contributing to his expenses, operated to separate his affections from the patriotic cause. He had married a beautiful and accomplished lady, during his residence in Philadelphia, a daughter of Mr. Edward Shippen, a family of distinguished rank; and which, like others of a similar stamp in that city, was intimate with Sir William Howe, Major Andre, and other British officers,[Pg 401] during their occupation of Philadelphia. This alliance brought Arnold, as a matter of course, into associations with persons who were attached to the royal cause, and who were ready to foster his prejudices, and justify his complaints of ingratitude and persecution.
At length, he matured a plan—confined for a time to his own bosom—dark, base, and traitorous—as it were the offspring of the nether world.
To the accomplishment of this plan, it was necessary that he should be appointed to the command of West Point, a fortress on the Hudson. With consummate art, he accomplished his purpose; and, at the hands of Washington, to whom he had been indebted more than to any other, for standing by him as a shelter during his stormy life, he received the appointment; soon after which, he repaired to the Highlands, and established his head-quarters at Robinson's house, two or three miles below West Point, on the opposite, or eastern bank of the river.
Previous to her marriage, Mrs. Arnold had been acquainted[Pg 402] with Major Andre, and had corresponded with him after that event, and after his removal with the British forces to New York. Acquainted with this correspondence, Arnold took the opportunity presented by it to address, unknown to his wife, letters to Sir Henry Clinton, through Andre, under the signature of Gustavus, and Andre replied under the assumed name of John Anderson. This correspondence had been carried on for months before Arnold's appointment to West Point. For a time, Clinton was at a loss to imagine the real character behind the curtain; but, at length, he became convinced that it could be no other than Arnold himself. Hitherto, that general had treated Gustavus with cautious indifference, but no sooner was Arnold promoted to the command of West Point, than Clinton was ready to enter into negotiation with him to surrender that fortress into the hands of the British, and almost at any price which Arnold might choose to name.
The first plan devised for bringing about an interview between Arnold and Andre failed, but a second proved more successful. The Vulture, a sloop-of-war, with Colonel Robinson on board, came up the river about the 16th of September. On their arrival at Teller's Point, Robinson, who was a tory, and whose property had been confiscated by the state of New York, addressed a letter to General Putnam, relating to the recovery of his property, and forwarded it under cover of a letter to Arnold by a flag-boat. Putnam was known not to be in that quarter, but the letter to him served as a pretext to enable Robinson to communicate a plan, by which an interview could be effected.
Arnold, by means of consummate art and duplicity, had engaged a Mr. Smith, a man of respectable standing, to go on board the Vulture, and convey a gentleman there to the American shore, who would impart intelligence to him of the greatest importance to the American cause. Smith had been employed in procuring intelligence from time to time from New York for Arnold's predecessor at West Point, and at length consented to perform the service solicited by[Pg 403] Arnold; and, that his family might not be privy to the transaction, they were removed to Fishkill, under pretence of a visit to some friends.
Thus matters were arranged; and on the night of the 21st, Smith, with two oarsmen, bribed to secresy by the promise of fifty pounds each, left the American shore, and proceeded, as related in the commencement of this account, to the Vulture.
Andre was expecting Arnold himself. Not finding him on board, but receiving a letter putting him on his guard, and inviting him to return in the boat, for a time he hesitated. Robinson was still firmer in the opinion that he should not go. But, at length, the adventurous spirit of Andre decided the point; and having cautiously concealed his uniform in a great-coat, he stepped on board the boat, which immediately proceeded towards the American shore. They landed at the foot of a mountain, called Long Clove, about six miles below Stony Point.
Arnold was in the bushes, ready to receive the stranger. Smith had expected to be present at the interview, and was not only disappointed, but exasperated, in being refused. What a spot! what a conference! what a deep and traitorous planning in midnight darkness!
The interview was long, and the patience of Smith was exhausted, but more his fears were roused. The night was far spent, and the dawning of the day was at hand. He now made known his apprehensions to the midnight traitors; but as they had not perfected their business, Smith and his oarsmen were allowed to retire.
No sooner were they gone, than Arnold proposed that Andre should proceed with him to Smith's house, and leave the manner of his return to future deliberation. This plan was replete with hazard; but no alternative presenting itself, Andre reluctantly followed. Judge his surprise, when, on approaching the American lines, a sentinel hailed them, and demanded the countersign. Andre shuddered. Arnold gave the sign, and they passed on. Andre was now, contrary to[Pg 404] all his determinations, within the American lines, on dangerous ground, where his life and fortunes hung, as it were, upon the cast of a die.
Arnold and Andre reached Smith's about the dawn of day. Soon after, the latter made his appearance. An incident now occurred, which added to the anxiety of Andre. The sound of cannon broke upon them, which, on proceeding to a window overlooking the river, was ascertained to be from the American shore; and from the movements of the Vulture soon after down the stream, it was inferred that the fire was against her. So it proved. Believing her to lie in the river for no good purpose, Colonel Livingston had directed a fire to be opened upon her, which caused the movement observed. Andre now felt the delicacy of his situation still more, and the difficulty of his return to the sloop to be still greater.
But the duties of his mission required attention, and to its completion the plotters betook themselves. It was finally settled. The British, on a given day, were to dispatch a fleet up the river with the requisite troops: and Arnold, in order to render the seizure of the fortress easy, was previously to withdraw the garrison, and station them at different points in the neighborhood, in small detachments. In consideration of the surrender, the traitor was to receive a large amount of "British gold."
Having completed these nefarious negotiations, the manner in which Andre should return, next engrossed their deliberations. This was a question of difficult solution. Andre insisted on being put on board the Vulture; Smith was unwilling to run the hazard. Before the question was decided, Arnold left for West Point, giving to Andre passports accommodated to the manner in which it might finally be decided that he should return.
Andre spent the day in an upper room at Smith's—a long and anxious day. Towards its close, he urged Smith to take him on board the Vulture; but to his surprise and distress, the former peremptorily refused, but offered to[Pg 405] accompany him on horseback to some point of safety. No other alternative presenting itself, Andre consented; and, having changed his military coat for a citizen's dress, over which throwing his great-coat, they departed.
Between eight and nine o'clock, they were startled by the hail of a sentinel, who ordered them to stop. "Who commands here?" inquired Smith, dismounting, and approaching the sentinel. The commander, Captain Boyd, being himself within hearing distance, approached, and demanded who the stranger was, and whither bound. Smith, ignorant of the real character of Andre, answered as Arnold had dictated; and, moreover, added that he had a pass from the general. Boyd required a sight of the pass, on perusing which, his curiosity was still more excited, and he now in private questioned Smith with still greater particularity. Smith explained the matter as well as he was able; and, by several adroit fabrications, finally induced Boyd to consent to their continuing their journey; not, however, until morning, for fear, as he pretended, they might be waylaid by the Cow-boys.[50] Andre would have purchased a release from tarrying in the neighborhood that night at any price, had he had the means; but such an overture would have been fraught with danger, and therefore, bending to necessity, they repaired to one Miller's, where they passed the night—a night of dread and fearful anticipation.
At early dawn, in order to escape the further scrutiny of Boyd, they were on their journey. At the distance of about a couple of miles from Pine's bridge, they halted, took breakfast, and separated—Smith setting out on his return, and Andre continuing his journey. Andre had now nearly[Pg 406] thirty miles to traverse ere he was on safe ground. He had been recommended to proceed by the way of White Plains; but, on crossing the above bridge, deeming the Tarrytown road more safe, he took that, and for a time passed on without molestation.
Two plundering parties were abroad that morning from the "neutral ground;" one of which, consisting of John Paulding, Daniel Williams, and Isaac Van Wart, had concealed themselves in some bushes near the road which Andre was passing, watching there for some valuable prey.
Andre approached the spot; upon which, Paulding rose, and presenting his firelock to his breast, bid him stand. "Gentlemen," said Andre, "I hope you belong to our party." "I asked him"—we follow the testimony of Paulding on the trial of Smith—"what party? He said, 'The lower party.' Upon that I told him I did. Then he said, 'I am a British officer out of the country on particular business, and I hope you will not detain me a minute;' and to show that he was a British officer, he pulled out his watch. Upon which, I told him to dismount. He then said, 'My God! I must do any thing to get along;' and seemed to make a kind of laugh of it, and pulled out General Arnold's pass, which was to John Anderson, to pass all guards to White Plains and below. Upon that, he dismounted. Said he, 'Gentlemen, you had better let me go, or you will bring yourselves into trouble, for your stopping me will detain the general's business;' and said he was going to Dobb's ferry, to meet a person there, and get intelligence for General Arnold. Upon that, I told him I hoped he would not be offended, that we did not mean to take any thing from him; and I told him there were many bad people who were going along the road, and I did not know but perhaps he might be one."
Williams testified as follows: "We took him into the bushes, and ordered him to pull off his clothes, which he did; but on searching him narrowly, we could not find any sort of writings. We told him to pull off his boots, which[Pg 407] he seemed to be indifferent about; but we got one boot off, and searched in that boot, and could find nothing. But we found there were some papers in the bottom of his stocking next to his foot; on which we made him pull his stocking off, and found three papers wrapped up. Mr. Paulding looked at the contents, and said he was a spy. We then made him pull off his other boot, and there we found three more papers at the bottom of his foot within his stocking."
After consultation, it was decided to take the prisoner to North Castle, where Lieutenant-colonel Jameson commanded a detachment of dragoons. Having surrendered him to Jameson, the latter for a time hesitated what disposition to make of him. The papers found upon Andre were important—in the hand-writing of Arnold, and endorsed by him.
Most men would have suspected treason—nor would Arnold himself have escaped suspicion. Yet Jameson, at length, decided to forward the papers to Washington by express, and the prisoner to Arnold. These measures had been taken, when Major Talmadge, next in command to Jameson, returned from an excursion to White Plains. On learning the incidents of the day, he expressed his surprise, and begged Jameson to dispatch a counter-order, if possible, to bring back the prisoner and the papers.
To the foregoing, Jameson finally consented, but the papers were left to be conveyed to Washington. Andre was overtaken and brought back. Talmadge, being a sagacious observer, marked Andre—his walk—his military air—his dignified bearing—and decided that the prisoner was no ordinary man. Shortly after, under escort of Talmadge, Andre was removed to Lower Salem, to await the developments of time and the orders of Washington.
The morning after their arrival at Salem, Andre requested paper and ink, and soon presented to Talmadge an open letter addressed to Washington, with a request that he would himself read and forward it.
This letter, couched in most respectful language, communicated[Pg 408] to Washington his name, and rank in the British army, and his object in coming within the American lines.
It so happened—a wonderful interposition of Divine Providence, who can doubt?—it so happened, that on the very day that Andre wrote his letter, Washington, on his return from Hartford, arrived at Fishkill, eighteen miles from Arnold's head-quarters. Contrary to his previous intentions, he was induced to remain there during the night. In the morning, an express was dispatched early to give notice to General Arnold, that the party would reach his quarters to breakfast.
Washington and his suite followed soon after, and on coming to the road which led off to Robinson's house—Arnold's residence—Washington was proceeding towards the river. Being informed of his mistake, he observed that as he must inspect the redoubts on this side the river, he himself would forego Mrs. Arnold's breakfast, but his suite might pass on, and enjoy it. They would not, however, leave their general; and all, excepting his aids, who were sent forward to make his excuse, proceeded towards the river.
On learning that General Washington would not be there to breakfast, General Arnold and family, with the aids, proceeded to the breakfast-table.
That was the last peaceful meal Arnold was to enjoy in this world—and even the peace of that was invaded, before they were ready to leave the table. A messenger entered with a letter from Jameson—the letter which first announced the capture of Andre.
It fell as a thunderbolt upon the traitor. Yet he so far concealed his agitation before the aids, as to prevent serious suspicion that any thing uncommon had occurred. A sudden emergency called him to West Point, he said, and he begged to be excused. Having ordered a horse, he requested Mrs. Arnold's presence in her chamber, and here in few words informed her of the necessity of his fleeing for his life. He left her fainting on the floor; and, mounting,[Pg 409] put spurs to his horse, directing his course to the river, on reaching which, he entered a boat, and fabricating a story to his purpose, ordered the men to proceed to the Vulture. The promise of reward gave impulse to their energies, and Arnold was soon safely on board of the royal sloop.
Washington having completed his inspection of the redoubts, reached Arnold's soon after his departure. Understanding that he had gone to West Point, after a hasty breakfast, Washington and suite followed. But what was his surprise to learn that Arnold had not been there. After a cursory view of the fortress, the party returned to Arnold's. Meanwhile, the messenger from Colonel Jameson, with Andre's papers, had arrived.
Light was now shed upon the mystery. Arnold was a traitor, and had fled to the enemy. Measures were immediately taken to secure the fortress. An express was dispatched to Salem, with orders to have Andre conveyed to Arnold's house.
Let us hasten to the conclusion. On the 29th of September, Washington ordered a Board of Inquiry, consisting of six major and eight brigadier generals. After a full hearing of the facts, the Board reported that Major Andre ought to be considered as a spy, and, according to the laws and usages of nations, to suffer death.
The decision, though just, was painful—painful to Washington—to the Board—to the officers of the American army—but more painful, if possible, to Sir Henry Clinton and the companions of Andre in arms.
Efforts, and such as did honor to Clinton, were made to reverse the doom of Andre. Intimations were given from Washington, that upon one condition—the surrender of Arnold—Andre might be released; but to this, Clinton thought he could not in honor yield—while in the scale of affection, Andre would have outweighed a thousand traitors like Arnold. A deputation from Clinton repaired to Robinson's house under a flag, to urge the release of Andre, but no change could be effected in the mind of Washington.
Sentence of execution issued, and five o'clock, of the 1st day of October, was appointed for carrying it into effect. On the morning of that day, Andre addressed a letter to Washington, requesting that he might be allowed a soldier's death.
"Tappan, 1st October, 1780.
"Sir: Buoyed above the terror of death, by the consciousness of a life devoted to honorable pursuits, and stained with no action that can give me remorse, I trust that the request I make to your excellency, at this serious period, and which is to soften my last moments, will not be rejected.
"Sympathy towards a soldier will surely induce your excellency, and a military tribunal, to adapt the mode of my death to the feelings of a man of honor.
"Let me hope, sir, that if aught in my character impresses you with esteem towards me—if aught in my misfortune marks me as the victim of policy, and not of resentment—I[Pg 411] shall experience the operations of those feelings in your breast, by being informed that I am not to die on a gibbet.
"I have the honor to be your excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
"John Andre."
To this request, Washington could not consistently accede, but to avoid needless pain, he omitted to make a reply.
The execution finally took place October 2d, at twelve o'clock—a delay having been occasioned by pending negotiations, which could not be terminated in season the previous day.
Dr. Thatcher, in his 'Military Journal,' has given the closing particulars of this tragic scene. It follows:
"The principal guard-officer, who was constantly in the room with the prisoner, relates, that when the hour of his execution was announced to him in the morning, he received it without emotion; and while all present were affected with silent gloom, he retained a firm countenance, with calmness and composure of mind. Observing his servant enter the room in tears, he exclaimed, 'Leave me till you can show yourself more manly.' His breakfast being sent to him from the table of General Washington, which had been done every day of his confinement, he partook of it as usual; and having shaved and dressed himself, he placed his hat on the table, and cheerfully said to the guard-officers, 'I am ready at any moment, gentlemen, to wait on you.' The fatal hour having arrived, a large detachment of troops was paraded, and an immense concourse of people assembled; almost all our general and field officers, excepting his excellency and his staff, were present on horseback; melancholy and gloom pervaded all ranks; the scene was affecting and awful.
"I was so near during the solemn march to the fatal spot, as to observe every movement, and participate in every emotion which the melancholy scene was calculated to produce. Major Andre walked from the stone house, in which[Pg 412] he had been confined, between two of our subaltern officers, arm in arm; the eyes of the immense multitude were fixed on him, who, rising superior to the fear of death, appeared as if conscious of the dignified deportment which he displayed. He betrayed no want of fortitude, but retained a complacent smile on his countenance, and politely bowed to several gentlemen whom he knew, which was respectfully returned. It was his earnest desire to be shot, as being the mode of death most conformable to the feelings of a military man, and he had indulged the hope that his request would be granted. At the moment, therefore, when suddenly he came in view of the gallows, he involuntarily started backward, and made a pause. 'Why this emotion, sir?' said an officer by his side. Instantly recovering his composure, he said, 'I am reconciled to my death, but I detest the mode.'
"While waiting, and standing near the gallows, I observed some degree of trepidation; placing his foot on a stone, and rolling it over, and choking in his throat, as if attempting to swallow. So soon, however, as he perceived that things were in readiness, he stepped quickly into the wagon, and at this moment he appeared to shrink; but instantly elevating his head with firmness, he said, 'It will be but a momentary pang;' and taking from his pocket two white handkerchiefs, the provost-marshal with one loosely pinioned his arms, and with the other, the victim, after taking off his hat and stock, bandaged his own eyes with perfect firmness, which melted the hearts, and moistened the cheeks, not only of his servant, but of the throng of spectators. The rope being appended to the gallows, he slipped the noose over his head, and adjusted it to his neck, without the assistance of the executioner. Colonel Scammell now informed him that he had opportunity to speak, if he desired it. He raised the handkerchief from his eyes, and said: 'I pray you to bear me witness, that I meet my fate like a brave man.' The wagon being now removed from under him, he was suspended, and instantly expired."
Thus was cut off in the morning of life a man full of promise and expectation—one to whose personal attractions were added accomplishments, rich, varied, and brilliant—destined, but for an untimely sacrifice of himself, under the impulse of a forbidden ambition, to have reached the goal of his wishes—honor and renown. His death at the hands of the Americans, according to the usage of war, was just; but to Arnold, the pioneer in the base transaction, the news of his execution must, it would seem, have been as the bitterness of death.
But no:—Arnold had no such feelings. Conscience was seared; the generous sympathies of our nature were extinct; even the honor of a soldier, dearer to him than life itself, had expired. The long-cherished, deep-rooted, sordid passion of his soul—avarice—alone lived; and now, while Andre, who might almost be said to be the victim of that nether spirit, was mouldering in an untimely and dishonored grave, he demanded his pay. What must Clinton—the friend and patron of the high-souled and magnanimous Andre—have felt when he told out to Arnold six thousand three hundred and fifteen pounds, as the reward of his treachery!
In addition to this pecuniary reward, Arnold received the commission of brigadier-general in the British army. But, after his infamous attack on New London, and his inhuman conduct to the brave Ledyard and his garrison in Fort Trumbull, finding himself neglected by the British officers, he obtained permission to retire to England, for which he sailed in 1781 with his family.
The life of Arnold was prolonged twenty years beyond this date. But although the king and a few others in office felt compelled to notice him for a time, yet they, at length, were willing to forget him, while others despised and shunned him. Colonel Gardiner says, that when a petition for a bill authorizing a negotiation of peace was presented to the king, Arnold was standing near the throne. Lauderdale is reported to have declared, on his return to the House of Commons, that, however gracious the language he had heard[Pg 414] from the throne, his indignation could not but be highly excited at beholding, as he had done, his majesty supported by a traitor. And on another occasion, Lord Surrey, rising to speak in the House of Commons, and perceiving Arnold in the gallery, immediately sat down, exclaiming: "I will not speak while that man (pointing to him) is in the house."
Not long after the war, Arnold removed to St. John's, in New Brunswick, where he engaged for a time in the West India trade. Subsequently, he returned to England, where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred in London, June 14th, 1804.
XIII. CONCLUDING SCENES OF THE REVOLUTION.
Theatre of War changed to the South—Siege of Savannah—Siege of Charleston—Battle of Camden—Battle of Cowpens—Retreat—Subsequent Movements—Battles of Guilford, Kobkirk's hill, Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs—Battle of Yorktown—Treaty of Peace—Cessation of Hostilities—Army disbanded—Departure of the British Army—Final Interview between Washington and his Officers—Resigns his Commission—Retires to Mount Vernon.
We must hasten to the closing scenes of the long and sanguinary contest between Great Britain and America.
The capture of Burgoyne, in 1777, was hailed, by a portion of the American people, as indicative of a speedy termination of the war. But, in these anticipations, they were destined to be disappointed. For several years following, although the contest was still continued, but little advance was made towards the termination. Battles were indeed fought, naval engagements occurred, and predatory enterprises were planned, and executed with various success; but neither power could be said at any one period to be decidedly in the ascendant. In 1779, the theatre of war was changed from the northern to the southern section of the confederacy. To this change, the British were invited by the prospect of an easier victory. That portion of the country was rendered weak by its scattered population, by the multitude of slaves, and by the number of tories intermingled with the citizens.
Partial success to the British arms was the consequence. Savannah was taken possession of, which gave the enemy, for a time, the power in Georgia. In like manner, Charleston fell into their hands, and with it, a considerable portion of the state of South Carolina. In the progress of this southern warfare, battles occurred at Camden—at the Cowpens—at Guilford Court-house—and at Eutaw Springs.
1. SIEGE OF SAVANNAH.
In the autumn of 1778, Savannah fell into the hands of the British. At that time, Colonel Campbell, with a force[Pg 416] of two thousand men, was dispatched by Governor Clinton from New York against that city. The American garrison, under General Howe, consisting of but six hundred continental troops and a small body of militia, was inadequate to resist so formidable a force; and at the expiration of a spirited action, in which the Americans suffered severely, the latter surrendered, and with that surrender, the British took military occupation of the capital itself.
The succeeding year, D'Estaing, with a French fleet, destined to cöoperate with the Americans for the recovery of Savannah, arrived on the coast of Georgia. This intelligence having been communicated to General Lincoln, who was in the vicinity of Charleston with a small force, he immediately broke up his camp, and marched to assist in the disembarkation of the French troops.
Before the arrival of Lincoln, D'Estaing had sent a "haughty summons" to Prevost, the English commander, to surrender. The safety of the former depended upon rëinforcements, which he was daily expecting; and, in order to attain a delay, he required twenty-four hours to consider the question of a capitulation. Unfortunately, D'Estaing acceded to this demand. This proved fatal to the expedition; for, meanwhile, Prevost was not idle. He succeeded in mounting nearly one hundred cannon, and, moreover, the expected rëinforcement arrived, swelling his force to three thousand men; upon which, he replied to the French commander, that he was resolved to hold out to the last.
The original plan of attempting the place by storm was now prudently abandoned, and the slow process of its reduction by siege was resolved upon. The combined forces numbered between six and seven thousand men. The siege was commenced. Trenches were opened, and, by the 4th of September, a sap had been pushed to within three hundred yards of the abbatis. In the course of a another month, batteries had been erected, and other preparations were ready.
On the evening of October 4th, the tragical scene commenced,[Pg 417] and a heavy cannonade was kept up during the night. In the morning, that scene became terrific. Thirty-seven cannon and nine mortars were opened upon the city, while sixteen heavy guns from the fleet added their uproar to the thunder of the former. The response to these was still louder and more appalling. Nearly one hundred guns, which had been mounted by Prevost, as we have said, gave back their tremendous explosions. Carcasses, filled with all manner of combustibles, were hurled into the town, setting on fire the houses, and spreading consternation among the inhabitants. Shells came down from the sky, bursting like meteors, and scattering their death-dealing fragments in every street and in the neighborhood of every dwelling. All that day, and, indeed, for four succeeding days and nights, this mutual tremendous firing was maintained. Savannah and its neighborhood became covered with a dense, dark cloud of smoke, through which the rays of the sun could scarcely penetrate by day, and which, as that set, served as a pall to increase the gloom and darkness of the night.
If the besiegers were steady to their purpose, the besieged were no less resolute and successful in their resistance. Little or no impression had hitherto been made upon the enemy's works, and how long they would continue to hold out, the Americans had no means of judging. They had reason, indeed, to believe that a reduction might at no distant day be effected, as the supplies were cut off, and the inhabitants must be suffering intensely. But D'Estaing began to fear for the safety of his fleet, exposed, as it was, on an open coast. In this posture, he proposed to Lincoln to attempt the place as originally contemplated—by storm. This the latter deemed extremely hazardous; but submitting to the higher authority of the count, an assault was fixed for the 9th of October.
At one o'clock of the morning of that day, the Americans were up, and ready for the fearful contest. The French unwisely delayed for some two or three hours;[Pg 418] but at length, led on by D'Estaing and Lincoln, the combined forces—the French in three columns and the Americans in one—proceeded to the attack.
Taking a position at the head of the first column, D'Estaing led them forward to the very walls of the English works. It was a fatal approach. Of a sudden, and when the French commander was congratulating himself that he was taking the enemy by surprise, the blaze of a hundred cannon filled him and his troops with amazement, while the balls and grape-shot mowed down their ranks, as did the fire of the Americans at Bunker's hill. Still, D'Estaing ordered the remainder to advance, he himself heroically leading the way. But it was only to death and defeat. Soon wounded, D'Estaing was borne from the spot, while his brave troops remained to meet a still severer destiny. They were mowed as grass by a new-ground scythe. The few who survived, now made good their retreat to an adjoining wood, leaving room for the second column, pressing forward, to supply their place.
These, passing over the fallen bodies of their brave companions, succeeded in mounting the walls; and there they stood—and there, with almost superhuman strength and determination, they fought. But it was not even for such bravery and such perseverance to succeed. If the struggle was now fearful, the carnage was still more so. One after another, and by tens and twenties, they fell side by side, companions in death of their brave precursors. A remnant only was left; and as that remnant succeeded in securing a retreat, the third and last column of the French troops came into action. A similar contest awaited them, which they entered into with even greater ardor and more excited passion; but it was followed by a similar, and perhaps still more fatal, result. The chivalrous Laurens, at the head of the Americans, now made his appearance; and directing his entire force against the Spring-hill redoubt, attempted to scale its ramparts. But it was a vain attempt. The parapets were too high to be reached, and the assailants fell as[Pg 419] they appeared, shot down with equal certainty and rapidity. Among the Americans, at this memorable contest, was that Carolina regiment which, at the siege of Fort Moultrie, had so distinguished itself, and which, as a reward for its valor, Mrs. Elliott had presented two standards, as we had occasion to notice, when describing the noble defence of the old "slaughter pen." Nothing daunted by the fate of their companions, this regiment pressed furiously forward; and now, for a brief period, was witnessed a spectacle, which lighted up gladness in every eye: two American standards—the very standards which we have named—were seen waving on the English ramparts. And there, too, was the noble-hearted Jasper himself, with those standards, which he loved better than life itself. But it was a momentary floating to the breeze, and these standards had for ever done their duty. They soon fell, and with them fell the brave and patriotic Jasper. He grasped his standard as he fell into the ditch, and there the flag covered him as a winding-sheet of glory. He had told Mrs. Elliott that he would[Pg 420] surrender his flag only with his life, and he was true to his word. Jasper's name—heroism—patriotism—will descend with the lapse of years; nor will they be remembered but to be honored, while the records of American valor shall have an existence.
The issue may be told in few words. The Americans failed, and retired. Many a noble heart had shed its blood; many an arm, which had that day
was folded on the breast in death. And among those who fell nobly, there was one—a high-souled Polander—the chivalric Pulaski—a volunteer in the American service; he fell at the head of two hundred horsemen, urging on their way amid fire and smoke, until a swivel-shot struck the gallant soldier to the earth.
The contest lasted a little more than an hour; and yet, in that brief space, six hundred and thirty-seven French, and four hundred and fifty Americans, were mangled—bleeding corpses on the ground—more than one thousand! Rapid work! It should seem that Moloch might have been satisfied with the victims offered on that day's altar.
D'Estaing retired soon after with his fleet. He had gained no praise: on the contrary, he was censured for his haste in demanding the surrender of Savannah before the arrival of Lincoln; and then, by allowing Prevost so long a time to deliberate, in truth giving him ample opportunity to prepare for defence. The result was inglorious, and served to perpetuate, and even strengthen, the cause of the English at the South.
2. SIEGE OF CHARLESTON.
Charleston had long been an object of cupidity on the part of the British. We have already had occasion to speak of an expedition under Sir Peter Parker and Generals Cornwallis and Howe, destined against that city, and the summary check they received at Fort Moultrie—that "old slaughter-pen"—every one of whose garrison was[Pg 421] a hero, and the record of whose combined resistance can never be remembered but to the honor and praise of American valor. That repulse was not forgotten by the British, and, when next an attempt should be made, it was to be expected that preparations would be commensurate with the magnitude and difficulties of the enterprise.
It proved so. In the spring following the siege of Savannah, General Clinton left New York with ten thousand men, intent on the capture of Charleston. Lincoln was still at the head of the American troops in the South. But they were altogether inadequate to defend the city against so numerous and formidable a force as now appeared against him. For his own credit, as well as for the honor of the American arms, clearly he should have avoided a collision. But, over-persuaded by Governor Rutledge and other prominent citizens, and, moreover, reluctant to abandon a place which contained large public stores, or seem to yield where there was hope of success, he consented to remain, and accomplish whatever human wisdom, combined with American valor, could do.
On the 30th of March, General Clinton commenced the siege. He proceeded with a caution, to be explained only by the lesson taught the British at the siege of Fort Moultrie, and a determination not to be under the necessity of meeting with another such disastrous result. In another place, it should have been noted, that Fort Moultrie, in the present invasion, made no resistance, the contest, it being intended, should be on the mainland, and in the immediate vicinity of the city, where such defences had been erected as the authorities were able to provide.
On the 10th of April, the first parallel was completed, and Lincoln was summoned to surrender. To this summons, he replied: "that he felt it to be his duty, and it was also his instruction, to defend the place to the last extremity." Ten days elapsed, during which a second parallel was finished, and a second summons made and declined. A heavy and formidable cannonade was now opened by Clinton,[Pg 422] which was kept up, with scarcely any remission, for several days. Meanwhile, Lincoln was almost constantly on duty—straining every muscle to resist the steady, but apparently fatal, advance of his foe. It is related of him, that "one day he was ten hours in the saddle, without once dismounting—riding hither and thither, with his great heart filled with anxious foreboding; and, the last fortnight, he never took off his clothes to rest. Flinging himself, in his uniform, on a couch, he would snatch a few moments' repose, and then again be seen riding along the lines."
Meanwhile, his defences became weakened, and his troops exhausted with labor and fatigue. They had little time to sleep, and even the supply of provisions was limited. Yet, Lincoln continued, day after day, to inspire them with courage and hope. All that a brave commander could do, he did—concealing the apprehensions which harrowed his inmost soul, and for which there were reasons; all that men could do, his noble few did—suffering privations seldom experienced during the revolutionary contest. It was a brave defence! It was a long, protracted, painful struggle! But it was in vain. At length, the batteries of the enemy had reached within eighty yards of the American defences, and preparations were making for a general storm. Thus environed by a formidable force, both by sea and land,
it was the dictate of humanity, both in respect to the inhabitants of the city, and the brave, but exhausted, remnant of his devoted army, to capitulate. Accordingly, overtures were made to General Clinton, which were at length accepted. Charleston fell, and the entire army laid down arms. By the terms of capitulation, the garrison were to march out, and deposit their arms in front of the works; but, as a mark of humiliation, the drums were not to beat an American march, nor their colors to be displayed. This was severe; but the humiliation was remembered, when, eighteen months afterwards, Lord Cornwallis surrendered[Pg 423] at Yorktown, and "waters of a full cup were wrung out" to him.
3. BATTLE OF CAMDEN.
The fall of Charleston opened the south to Cornwallis, nor was he slow to take advantage of the opportunity of strengthening the royal cause. Baron de Kalb had been sent from the main army to the assistance of Lincoln; but the latter having surrendered before his arrival, the former assumed the command of the forces opposed to Cornwallis. Shortly after, however, Gates, the "hero of Saratoga," arrived, having been appointed to occupy the place of General Lincoln.
The reputation which Gates had acquired in his contest with Burgoyne, had preceded him, and served to stay the despondency and gloom which was extensively pervading the South. The militia responded to his call, and came flocking to his standard. Thus rëinforced, he proceeded towards Camden, the rendezvous of Lord Rawdon. But his haste was ill-judged. Besides, by reason of a serious lack of provisions for his troops, which he had neglected to provide, they were compelled to subsist for several days on green apples, corn, and other vegetables; their strength, also, was still more diminished for want of needful rest. On reaching the vicinity of Rawdon, instead of an immediate attack, before the latter could receive rëinforcements, and when he was more on an equal footing with the enemy, he wasted several days in skirmishes, which served to darken rather than brighten his chance of success. In this interval, Cornwallis arrived with the troops under his command, thus adding to the strength of the enemy, and greatly increasing their confidence and courage.
Indeed, Cornwallis was not slow in deciding to hazard an engagement, although he knew that the contest would still be unequal. Gates had superior numbers. But a retreat would be to abandon all that he had gained in South Carolina and Georgia; and in effect would be the ruin of the royal cause.
The American army occupied a post at Rugely's mills. On the 11th of August, at ten o'clock in the night, the English began their march. Ignorant of this movement, Gates had put his army in motion at the same time, and with similar intent. What was their mutual surprise, when at two o'clock in the morning, the advanced-guard of the British suddenly came in contact with the head column of the Americans! A brief skirmish ensued—but soon ended, as if by mutual consent—neither commander being willing to hazard a nocturnal rencounter.
At a council of war summoned by Gates, the Baron de Kalb advised a retreat to their former encampment, as in their present position they were between two marshes, while at Rugely's mills they would have the decided advantage as to position. In this, however, he was overruled by Gates, who decided to wait the approach of the enemy where they were.
We shall not enter into the details of this unfortunate battle. It was sad and sanguinary. General Gates misjudged as to position; but still greater was his error in attempting to change the order of battle almost at the moment when the battle began. Of this latter mistake, Cornwallis was not slow to take advantage, but at once ordered his troops to charge. Unprepared for an attack so sudden and so furious, the American column gave way—the Virginians actually betaking themselves to flight. All was soon confusion and uproar. De Kalb threw himself at the head of the regular troops, and, infusing into them the fire and indignation which animated his own bosom, led them on. They advanced firm—calm—determined. But the contest was now unequal. They could not resist the impetuous torrent which came thundering upon them. They could not save the battle. And at this time—their ranks thinned—their path obstructed—the cavalry of Tarleton came bearing down upon them with the impetuosity of a whirlwind. "Shot after shot had struck the Baron de Kalb, and the blood was pouring from his side in streams;[Pg 425] yet, animated by that spirit which has made the hero in every age, he rallied his men for a last charge, and led them at the point of the bayonet on the dense ranks. Striking a bayonet from his breast, and laying the grenadier that held it dead at his feet, he pressed forward, and, in the very act of cheering on his men, fell with the blood gushing from eleven wounds. His aids immediately covered him with their bodies, exclaiming, 'Save the Baron de Kalb! save the Baron de Kalb!'"
But their efforts to save him were unavailing. He was taken prisoner, and his troops fled. Gates, meanwhile, was pursuing his fugitive army. Their arrest and recall were, however, beyond his power. The rout was entire; the defeat complete; owing, as was thought by men of competent judgment, to the mismanagement of Gates.
De Kalb survived his wounds but a short time. He was able, however, to dictate a brief letter to the patriotic band of soldiers at whose head he had planted himself, and who nobly sustained him up to the moment of his fall. He died[Pg 426] in the cause of liberty—regretted by all who knew his worth as a man and a soldier—and honored by congress, which directed a monument to be erected to his memory at Annapolis.
The battle at Camden was sanguinary, and had the effect to spread a gloom over the face of American affairs. The loss of the patriots exceeded six hundred in killed; the wounded and prisoners thirteen hundred. The British stated their loss to be only three hundred in killed and wounded.
Cornwallis was the victor—but the British cause had now reached its culminating point. Elated at their successes, the conquerors grew insolent and rapacious; the Americans, resolute and determined.
4. BATTLE OF COWPENS.
Never did a service require an able and efficient commander more than the American service at the South, following the disastrous defeat of Gates at the battle of Camden. Fortunately, the precise man was found in General Greene, "who, next to Washington, was the ablest commander in the Revolutionary army"—an officer of large experience, and distinguished for two qualities, which were more important, at this juncture, than all others—"great caution and great rapidity." To these were added a wonderful fortitude and as wonderful perseverance.
On assuming the command, Greene found the army reduced to two thousand men, of whom not more than eight hundred were fit for service. The officers, however, had few equals—and no superiors. There were Morgan, Lee, Marion, Sumpter, and Washington (Lieutenant-colonel), men, whose heroic achievements have justly placed them high on the rolls of military fame. Had the army borne any comparison to its officers, either in point of numbers or in discipline, energy, and enthusiasm, the royal cause, in the South, would have met a still earlier doom than it did. But the army was not only greatly reduced in[Pg 427] numbers, but so destitute was it of arms, ammunition, food, and clothing, that it seemed a matter of presumption to attempt entering the list with Cornwallis, who, to a well-disciplined and powerful army, added every desirable materiel of war. But it often occurred during the Revolutionary struggle, that "the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong."
The first measure adopted by Greene was unusual—he separated his forces, small as they were, into several divisions, and stationed them at different points. For this he has been censured, as contrary to military rule; but the sequel proved the wisdom of the measure. It served greatly to dismay Cornwallis, who scarcely knew in what direction to proceed, or which one to attack—whether Morgan, Marion, or Lee, who, with their respective detachments, were threatening him from different points.
At length, however, he decided to begin with Morgan, who was stationed at Cowpens, with an available force of less than a thousand men. The plan proposed by Cornwallis was, that Tarleton, with eleven hundred men, should assail him in front, while he himself, with the main army, would attempt to prevent his retreat. On the appearance of Tarleton, Morgan retired; but being, at length, hotly pressed, a contest became inevitable. The first onset of Tarleton was terrible—the Americans gave way, and the victorious British were anticipating the utter rout of their foes. But, at a critical moment of the action, Colonel Washington, who had been watching the various movements of the respective armies, gave orders to his bugler to sound a charge. It was nobly done! Nothing could withstand the impetuosity, the fire, the fury of the assailants. The infantry, which was pressing on to victory, were, as in a moment, borne down, and scattered like chaff before the whirlwind. Morgan had time to rally his repulsed force; and, with such an example as had been set them, they now sped their way to victory. It was a brief, but a stirring, sanguinary scene. Tarleton lost of his eleven[Pg 428] hundred, seven hundred—besides two cannon, eight hundred muskets, and a hundred dragoons.
The battle over, Morgan hastily retired, in order to escape Cornwallis, who was bearing down upon him. In this he was successful; but it was only at the sacrifice of the baggage, and a large part of the stores of the army. Cornwallis pursued a similar policy—never was man more determined to make sure of the enemy than he was; and never was man more determined to escape than Morgan. His object was to reach the head-quarters of Greene; but, at the distance of fifty miles, it was his good fortune to meet his general, who, with a small force, was hastening to his assistance.
5. RETREAT—SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENTS.
Immediately following the battle of Cowpens, Greene directed his course towards Guilford, which he had appointed as the rendezvous of his army. This was a perilous undertaking; and the more so, as his route lay across the[Pg 429] Catawba, the Yadkin, and the Dan—each of which was liable to be suddenly swelled, and thus prevent his passage; and at a time, perhaps, when Cornwallis would be pressing upon him. Besides, the winter was a most unpropitious season for such an enterprise. The soldiers were poorly clad; many of them were barefoot; blankets were greatly needed, and even provisions were scarce. But there was no safe alternative. Greene's force was inadequate to maintain a position against so formidable a force as Cornwallis had under his command. It was not indeed certain that a retreat so distant, and so fraught with difficulties, could be effected in safety. But it was decided to run the hazard, and towards the accomplishment of his plans, Greene now put forth all his energy and skill.
We shall not follow him minutely in the various steps of his remarkable and successful enterprise. Often did the English advance columns press upon his rear; and so determined were the former—with such rapidity did they urge their pursuit—that the fugitives were able in some instances to rest but three hours out of the twenty-four, and to secure but one meal a-day. Their fatigue—their deprivations—their sufferings, penetrated the very heart of their sympathizing leader. His own anxiety was deep and wasting; yet he had a smile and a word of encouragement as he rode up, and hurried forward his exhausted columns.
At length they approached the Dan; that passed, they were safe; but this was the point of their greatest danger. Cornwallis was near at hand, and, like Pharaoh of old, pressing upon the children of Israel at the banks of the Red sea, was confident of their utter extermination—he had resolved to overwhelm and annihilate the American army on the banks of the Dan.
They reached those banks. In the rear, covering their embarkation, and, if possible, keeping in check the advance of the now infuriated enemy, were stationed Lee's legion and Washington's horsemen. It was a noble but perilous enterprise which they had undertaken. Had the forces of[Pg 430] Cornwallis reached them, it is impossible to conjecture the issue. They had decided to succeed or perish.
But about noon, a messenger made his appearance upon a swift charger, making the joyful announcement that the army had safely made the passage. The guard now themselves urged their way to the ferry. Greene had not yet crossed. He had delayed through his anxiety for the safety of Lee and Washington, and their brave comrades. Who can describe his exultation as they came dashing on their proud steeds! That was a moment of intense joy; but that joy reached its climax when all were safely on the opposite shore, and the deep waters of the Dan were rolling between his army and their pursuers. The last boat that left, bore the intrepid Lee, and, as it grounded upon the opposite shore, the British van had reached the banks. This was the climax of their disappointment. At the end of a pursuit of two hundred and fifty miles, and during which they had destroyed all their baggage to accelerate their progress, it was their destiny to behold their prey exulting beyond their reach. Of this retreat, it has been well remarked, that "for the skill with which it was planned, the resolution and energy with which it was carried through, and the distance traveled, it stands alone in the annals of our country, and will bear a comparison with the most renowned feats of ancient or modern times. It covered Greene with more glory than a victory could have done, and stamped him at once the great commander."
Soon after the events now recited, the army of General Greene was augmented by the arrival of rëinforcements from Virginia, to five thousand five hundred men. Numerically, his force was larger than that of Cornwallis, but most of the troops were for the first time in a camp. Thus strengthened, Greene decided to hazard an engagement as early as circumstances allowed. With this object in view, after giving his troops some little opportunity to rest, he proceeded, and took post at Guilford.
Here, on the 15th of March, occurred the battle of Guilford[Pg 431] Court-house, which on the part of Greene had been so wisely planned as must have issued in the utter discomfiture of Cornwallis, had all the Americans behaved with their accustomed bravery. But, most unfortunately, the terrible aspect of the British army, on its near approach, spread consternation and dismay among the Carolina militia; and, throwing down their guns, knapsacks, and canteens, they precipitately left the scene of action. These were followed by a portion of the Marylanders. It was impossible to rally them, or even to stay their progress. But the Virginians fought nobly, as did the second regiment of the Marylanders. Upon these and the continental troops, the entire force of the battle fell. For a time, even with the loss of the aid of those who so ignobly fled, victory seemed to decide for the Americans. But at length Cornwallis, at a great sacrifice of men, succeeded in getting the ascendancy, and no alternative was left to Greene but to order a retreat, while it could safely be made. The loss of the Americans was about four hundred, in killed and wounded; that of the British reached nearly six hundred. The British claimed the victory, but it was a victory which caused Fox to exclaim, when announced in the British House of Commons, "Another such will ruin the British army."
Following the battle above described, Cornwallis retreated to such a distance from Greene, as to present little inducement to the latter to follow, even had his force been able to cope with that under his lordship's command. It remained, therefore, for him to adopt some new plan, and to look in another direction for some field of usefulness to his country's cause. After much consideration, he decided to lead back his forces into South Carolina, and to fall on the line of the British posts between Ninety-Six and Charleston. It was a bold, original, and hazardous experiment; and the more so, as Cornwallis might also return, and press him with his superior force. But the decision was made; and, taking up his line of march, in twelve days he reached Camden, where Lord Rawdon was strongly intrenched.
Taking a position on Hobkirk's hill, two miles north of Camden, Rawdon in a few days drew out his forces, and appeared in battle array against him. At the time the approach of the enemy was announced, the Americans were deeply engaged in cooking food, of which, for twenty-four hours, they had been destitute. For a moment, there was confusion; but, abandoning their meal, as did Greene his coffee, they soon stood in order of battle. The action opened with promise to the Americans. Greene himself, at the head of a single regiment, fought as a common soldier. His troops appeared firm, and even enthusiastic. Judge his surprise, when, at this critical moment, he perceived the regiment of Gunby, the one upon which, more perhaps than all others, he depended—the one which at Guilford had displayed such bravery—that regiment was giving way—was in the very act of retreating. Greene sped his charger among them—headed them—rallied them; but it was too late: the battle was lost. There was, indeed, more fighting, and every effort was made to recover from the shock caused by the retreat of Gunby's veteran regiment. But it was fruitless, and Greene retreated, in rather a creditable manner, considering the circumstances.
But the regiment, it is recorded—the cause of such deep mortification and utter failure—was after all not to blame. At least, the apology was made for them, that they mistook the order of Gunby, their leader, who had directed them only to halt, for an order to retreat. In the din of arms, his command was not understood, and the consequence was the disastrous result we have named.
The situation of Rawdon, notwithstanding his success, was critical; Greene's was still more critical. For the first time, it is said, the latter became vacillating and despondent. On the one hand, he was in danger from Rawdon; and on the other, it was reported that Cornwallis was marching rapidly against him. His army was small—destitute—discouraged. But it was not Greene's nature long to despond. He rose above the difficulties and perils of his position, and[Pg 433] decided to occupy the place which God and his country had assigned him.
At this juncture, more certain intelligence was received that Cornwallis was on his march to Virginia. This left him at liberty to follow out his original plan.
Meanwhile, Rawdon broke up his encampment at Camden, and moved towards Fort Motte, against which Marion and Lee were pursuing a siege. Before Rawdon could reach it, it had surrendered to the Americans.
There remained now in the hands of the British but one fortress more of importance. This was Ninety-Six, situated one hundred and forty-seven miles north-west from Charleston, and garrisoned by five hundred and sixty men. To the reduction of this, Greene turned his attention. On the 22d of May, he appeared before it, and commenced a siege. While successfully pursuing his design, and daily advancing towards the consummation of his wishes, news arrived of the rapid approach of Rawdon. Indeed, he appeared even earlier than had been anticipated, and Greene had no alternative but to retreat. But, listening to his army, who were intent on a demonstration against the enemy, he consented thereto: but, although they made the assault with admirable firmness, and even enthusiastic zeal, they failed, and orders to retreat were given.
Rawdon followed Greene some fifteen or twenty miles on his retreat; when, returning to Ninety-Six, he ordered its evacuation, and himself took up his march for Charleston.
As the sickly season had now commenced, Greene withdrew his army to a cool and salubrious position on the high hills of Santee. Here, having remained until the 22d of August—his troops resting and recruiting, as much they needed both—he broke up his encampment, and began his march; and on the 7th of September, arrived within seven miles of Eutaw Springs, where the British lay encamped in an open field, under command of General Stewart.
On the following day, putting his army in motion, he proceeded towards the field, where occurred—
6. THE BATTLE OF EUTAW SPRINGS.
Greene took the British commander somewhat by surprise, but he was not slow to put his army in the order of battle. The Americans were the first to commence the contest, and that commencement was auspicious. The militia did themselves greater credit than on some former occasions. Both armies were soon engaged; both contended with a seriousness, a determination, a perseverance, commensurate with the prize at stake. It is not necessary to descend to particulars. Each cause was apparently more than once in the ascendant, but in the sequel neither could claim a decided victory. Yet, the advantage rested with Greene. The English had lost one-quarter of their number in killed, and another quarter were made prisoners. Moreover, he had driven them from the field; but he could not pursue them, on account of his prisoners and wounded, and the exhausted state of his army.
At the close of the contest, the belligerent armies united in burying their dead. What a contrast to the spectacle which had been exhibited a few hours before!
The battle of Eutaw Springs was the last general engagement in the South. Soon after, the British concentrated themselves at Charleston; and here they were for months hemmed in, and watched by the faithful and persevering Greene. But their situation, at length, became so distressing, that they determined to evacuate the city. This was carried into effect on the 13th of December, 1781. At three o'clock of the same day, Greene entered in triumph, to the exultation of its emancipated citizens, and with all the honors which a grateful people could shed upon him. "God bless you! God bless you!" was uttered by hundreds, as he passed along; nor was it a thoughtless, unmeaning prayer, but the warm and ardent desire of warm and ardent hearts. Greene merited it all: he loved his country with an affection which no circumstances could weaken, and served her with a fidelity which no temptation could interrupt. Truthfully,[Pg 435] most truthfully, did Washington say of him: "Could he but promote the interests of his country in the character of a corporal, he would exchange, without a murmur, his epaulettes for the knot."
7. BATTLE OF YORKTOWN.
The campaign for the year 1781, as arranged between Washington and the Count de Rochambeau at Wethersfield, Connecticut, had for its object the recovery of New York, still in possession of the British. A French fleet, to arrive in August, was expected to cöoperate. In pursuance of this plan, the allied forces were concentrated at Kingsbridge, fifteen miles above New York.
While these movements were in progress, it was unexpectedly announced that the destination of the French fleet was the Chesapeake, instead of New York; and here the Count de Grasse, at length, arrived with twenty-eight ships of the line, several frigates, and three thousand troops.
This intelligence manifested the necessity of a change of purpose. Without the cöoperation of a fleet, it would be impossible to succeed in the reduction of New York. Besides, there now opened an equally, if not a more important enterprise, in a different quarter.
Lord Cornwallis, who had for some time conducted the military operations of the British at the South, as we have had occasion to notice, had concentrated his forces at Yorktown, in Virginia, which, together with Gloucester Point, he had strongly fortified. His army consisted of ten thousand effective men.
Washington was not long in deciding the course which the interests of his country required him to pursue. He was now ready to follow the indications of Providence: and it was now apparent that a victory over Cornwallis must necessarily forward the triumph of the patriot cause. It was happily ordered that the French fleet should have the Chesapeake for its destination. In that vicinity, the final conflict was to be waged; there, the pride of Britain[Pg 436] was to be humbled; there, the last act in the drama was to transpire.
Pursuant to his altered purposes, Washington put his army in motion, and on the 25th of August, the passage of the Hudson was effected.
It being a point of great moment to conceal the real object of this movement, the march of the army was continued until the 31st, in such a direction as to keep up fears for New York; and a considerable degree of address was used to countenance the opinion that the real design was against that place. The letters which had been intercepted by Sir Henry Clinton favored this deception; and so strong was the impression made, that after it became necessary for the combined army to leave the route leading down the Hudson, he is stated to have retained his fears for New York, and not to have suspected the real object of his adversary, until he had approached the Delaware, and it had become too late to obstruct the progress of the allied army towards Virginia. He then resolved to make every exertion in his power to relieve Lord Cornwallis, and, in the mean time, to act offensively in the North. An expedition was planned against New London, in Connecticut; and a strong detachment, under the command of General Arnold, was embarked on board a fleet of transports, which landed early in the morning of the 6th of September on both sides of the harbor, about three miles from the town. The result of this expedition—so infamous to Arnold—so inhuman—so contrary to all the laws governing modern warfare—is too well known to need recital here.
The progress of Washington could not consistently be arrested by such an incursion, ready, as in other circumstances he would have been, to have hastened to the defence of his fellow-citizens, against so vindictive a monster as that traitor had shown himself to be. Momentous results were now depending upon accelerated movements; and, accordingly, he urged his troops forward to the extent of their power.
Having made the necessary arrangements for the conveyance of his army down the Chesapeake, Washington, accompanied by several distinguished officers, French and American, hastened forward to Williamsburg, where, in an interview with the Count de Grasse, a system of operations for the contemplated siege was devised.
On the 25th of September, the last division of the allied troops arrived in James' river, and were disembarked at the landing near Williamsburg. On the 30th, the combined armies, twelve thousand in number, moved upon Yorktown and Gloucester, at which time the fleet of Count de Grasse proceeded up York river, with the double object of preventing the retreat of Cornwallis, and intercepting his supplies.
The village of Yorktown lies on the south side of York river. Its southern banks are high. In its waters a ship-of-the-line could ride with safety. Gloucester Point projects far into the river on the opposite shore. Both these posts were occupied by Cornwallis—the main body of the army being at York, under the immediate command of his lordship; Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton was stationed at Gloucester with a detachment of about six hundred men. Every possible effort had been made to fortify these posts. The interests involved were of incalculable magnitude. A failure now, Cornwallis could not but perceive, would put to hazard the royal cause. Every expedient, therefore, was adopted, which was calculated to secure his success, and give victory to the British arms.
Washington was equally impressed with the greatness of the enterprise in which he had embarked. The eyes of his countrymen were turned with intense interest to the issues of the impending contest. Nor can it be doubted that supplications went up from thousands of family altars, and from private closets, that the God of the Pilgrim Fathers would interpose for the salvation of a people, who, from their first landing on these shores, had regarded his honor as their highest object, and the enjoyment of rational liberty as their greatest privilege.
The preparations having now been completed, Yorktown was invested, upon which Cornwallis, abandoning all his advanced works, retired behind his principal fortifications. The former were immediately occupied by the besiegers.
It is not important to detail the events of each succeeding day, as this siege progressed. Washington, calm and collected, continued to extend his batteries towards the principal works of the enemy. The cannonade from the British line of defences was furious and incessant. On the 16th, a fierce sortie was made by the British, an American battery was stormed—the artillerists were overpowered, and seven cannon spiked; but the Americans rallied, and succeeded in recovering all that was lost.
Finding his situation extremely critical, Cornwallis now decided on abandoning his sick, together with his baggage, and, crossing to Gloucester, to attempt an escape to New York. In pursuance of this plan, boats, prepared under various pretexts, were held in readiness to receive the troops at ten in the evening, and convey them over the river. The arrangements were made with such secresy, that the first embarkation arrived at the Point unperceived, and part of the troops were landed, when a sudden and violent storm interrupted the execution of this hazardous plan, and drove the boats down the river. The storm continued till near daylight, when the boats returned. But the plan was necessarily abandoned, and the boats were sent to bring back the soldiers, who were rëlanded on the southern shore in the course of the forenoon without much loss.
On the morning of the 17th, several new batteries which had been completed were opened, and a more appalling, and, if possible, destructive fire, was commenced upon the British works. It could no longer be withstood. Cornwallis became convinced of the folly of protracting a contest which was only weakening his forces, and sacrificing the lives of his troops. It was a most unwelcome and humiliating necessity, but that necessity existed, and at ten o'clock he ordered the British lines to beat a parley. This was[Pg 439] immediately followed by a proposed cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours, with reference to a settlement of terms of capitulation. Washington, in his reply, expressed his desire to stay the effusion of blood, but not one moment could he lose in fruitless negotiations. His lordship might transmit his proposals, and two hours would be given to consider them. These were transmitted, but they proved unsatisfactory. Washington now himself dictated the terms; and they were the same as given to Lincoln at the fall of Charleston. At the appointed time, the conquered army, with colors cased, and drums silent, marched out, and laid down their arms. Lincoln was appointed to receive the sword of Cornwallis—an honor which he deserved—and a service doubtless the more grateful from the circumstance that, eighteen months before, he had been compelled to surrender his sword to an English commander. It was an imposing spectacle. To the British, the more humiliating, as it cast a shade over all their prospects of success in the land of rebellion—to the Americans, the more grateful, as it was a presage of an end to their toils and hardships. The conduct of Cornwallis, on the occasion of surrender, was unbecoming the firm and high-minded officer. He was not present, but appointed another to tender his sword in his place. There are men who can participate in the honors of victory, and claim their full portion—but who are too proud to share with their fellow-officers and soldiers the mortification of defeat. Cornwallis was one.
To Washington and his army the issue of this contest was most joyful; and in token of that joy, orders were issued that all under arrest, should forthwith be set at liberty. But this was not enough. A public recognition of the Divine goodness seemed befitting; accordingly, in his public orders, in terms most solemn and impressive, he directed that divine service should be performed in the different brigades and divisions. All the troops not on duty were recommended to be present, and to assist in the solemn and grateful homage paid to the Benefactor of the nation.
8. TREATY OF PEACE.
The first intelligence received in America from England, after the news of the battle of Yorktown had reached that country, was different in its tenor from what had been expected. The Americans regarded it as the finishing stroke of the war, and anticipated a similar estimation of the battle in England. But on the assembling of parliament in November, 1781, the speech from the throne breathed a settled purpose to continue the war; and the addresses from both houses, which were carried by large majorities, echoed the sentiment.
But when the first excitement had passed, and men began to contemplate the posture of things with calm and enlightened reason, they saw the folly of persisting in the contest. To conquer America by force, was impracticable, and the further waste of treasure and blood, was both impolitic and inhuman.
Pursuant to these corrected views, on the 22d of February, 1782, General Conway moved an address to the king, praying that the war on the continent of North America might no longer be pursued, for the impracticable purpose of reducing that country to obedience by force; and expressing their hope, that the earnest desire and diligent exertion to restore the public tranquillity, of which they had received his majesty's most gracious assurances, might, by a happy reconciliation with the revolted colonies, be forwarded and made effectual; to which great end his majesty's faithful Commons would be ready to give their utmost assistance. This motion being lost by a single vote only, was, five days after, renewed by the same gentleman, in a form somewhat different, and was carried; and an address, in pursuance of it, presented to the king. Not yet satisfied with the triumph obtained over the ministry, and considering the answer of the king not sufficiently explicit, the House of Commons, on the 4th of March, on the motion of General Conway, declared, that all those who should advise, or by any means[Pg 442] attempt, the further prosecution of offensive war in America, should be considered as enemies to their king and country. In this state of things, it was impossible for the ministry longer to continue in power, and on the 19th, they relinquished their places. A new administration was soon after formed—the Marquis of Rockingham was placed at the head of the treasury, and the Earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox held the important places of secretaries.
Measures were immediately adopted by the new ministry with a view to peace. As the basis of peace, it was the wish of the Marquis of Rockingham to offer America unlimited, unconditional independence. To this, the Earl of Shelburne was opposed; and, moreover, it was one of the last measures to which the king himself would give his assent. In July, the Marquis of Rockingham died, and Lord Shelburne was appointed first lord of the treasury. This produced an open rupture in the cabinet, and the resignation of Lord John Cavendish, Mr. Fox, and others; in consequence of which, William Pitt was made chancellor of the exchequer, and Thomas Townshend and Lord Grantham, secretaries of state. On the 11th of July, parliament adjourned. Among their last acts, was one authorizing the king to conclude a peace or truce with the Americans.
On the 30th of November, 1782, a provisional treaty was agreed on at Paris, by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, on the part of America, and by Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald, on the part of Great Britain.
It may be added, in this connection, that the definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris, on the 3d of September, by David Hartley, Esq., on the part of his Britannic majesty, and by John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, on the part of the United States. The provisions of the treaty attest the zeal and ability of the American negotiation, as well as the liberal feelings which actuated the British minority. The independence of the United States was fully acknowledged. The right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland,[Pg 443] and certain facilities in the enjoyment of that right, were secured to them for ever.
9. CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES.
On the 18th of April, 1783, Gen. Washington announced the cessation of hostilities between the two countries, in the following general order:
"The commander-in-chief orders the cessation of hostilities between the United States of America and the King of Great Britain, to be publicly proclaimed to-morrow, at twelve o'clock, at the New Building; and the proclamation, which will be communicated herewith, be read to-morrow evening, at the head of every regiment and corps of the army; after which, the chaplains, with the several brigades, will render thanks to Almighty God for all his mercies, particularly for his overruling the wrath of man to his own glory, and causing the rage of war to cease among the nations."—It is worthy of notice that this order was read to the army just eight years after the battle of Lexington.
10. THE ARMY DISBANDED.
On the 2d of November, Washington issued his farewell orders to the army. In conclusion, he said:
"Being now to conclude these his last public orders, to take his ultimate leave, in a short time, of the military character, and to bid adieu to the armies he has so long had the honor to command, he can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations to their grateful country, and his prayers to the God of armies. May ample justice be done them here, and may the choicest of Heaven's favors, both here and hereafter, attend those who, under the Divine auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for others! With these wishes, and this benediction, the commander-in-chief is about to retire from service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn, and the military scene to him will be for ever closed."
What more tender!—what more touching! While to[Pg 444] Washington himself, and to his army, it must have been most grateful that years of toil, privation, and suffering were ended, and the glorious object for which that toil, privation, and suffering had been endured, was achieved, the hour of separation must have been most painful. They were to part to meet no more. Well did his soldiers know that their brave and beloved chief would bear them in his heart. But there were circumstances which, at this final interview, bore heavily upon them. They were poor; and, in rags and destitution, they were returning to their homes. Washington's sympathies were enlisted for them; and while he could not justify the course they had pursued—for they had passed resolutions in their encampment reflecting on the justice of their country, and especially upon congress, and had used terms of harshness and threatening—yet Washington expressed his pity, and his ardent hope that ample justice would be done them by a grateful country for the services they had rendered, and for the toils and trials they had sustained.
The parting moment now arrived. Column after column marched by him, receiving as they passed his tender and affectionate salutation—the several bands of music playing the mournful, yet, on this parting occasion, appropriate dirge of "Roslin Castle."
11. DEPARTURE OF THE BRITISH ARMY.
The 25th of November had been fixed for the final retirement from the American shores of the British officers and troops. The place of departure was New York; and on that day they went on board the British fleet—the American troops, under General Knox, at the same time entering and taking possession of the city.
Guards being posted for the security of the citizens, General Washington, accompanied by Governor Clinton, and attended by many civil and military officers, and a large number of respectable inhabitants on horseback, made his public entry into the city. What a triumph! What a glorious issue of the toils, anxieties, and hardships, growing out of an eight years' contest! It was an occasion of joy, such as the sun had not beamed upon since the day he was lighted up in the firmament. Public dinners followed, and magnificent fireworks attested the general joy.
12. FINAL INTERVIEW OF WASHINGTON AND HIS OFFICERS.
One other painful, yet pleasing scene, awaited the commander-in-chief—the parting with the officers of the army, the companions of his toils and triumph. The affecting interview took place on the 4th of December. "At noon, the principal officers of the army assembled at Francis's tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling a glass, he turned to them, and said: 'With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.' Having drunk, he added: 'I cannot come to[Pg 446] each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.' General Knox, being nearest, turned to him. Washington, incapable of utterance, grasped his hand, and embraced him. In the same affectionate manner, he took leave of each succeeding officer. The tear of manly sensibility was in every eye; and not a word was articulated to interrupt the dignified silence and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited to convey him to Powles' Hook. The whole company followed in mute and solemn procession, with dejected countenances, testifying feelings of delicious melancholy, which no language can describe. Having entered the barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu. They paid him the same affectionate compliment; and after the barge had left them, returned in the same solemn manner to the place where they had assembled."
13. WASHINGTON RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION.
And there was still one further duty obligatory upon Washington—one act more, and his earthly glory was consummated—to give back the commission which for eight years he had held, and which, had he been actuated by the ambition of Alexander, Cæsar, or Napoleon, he might have employed to ascend a throne. To the fulfillment of this last and highest duty he now addressed himself. Leaving New York, he repaired to Annapolis, in Maryland, where congress was in session, and, on the 20th of December, informed that body of his intention, and requested a day to be assigned for the performance of the duty.
"To give the more dignity to the act, they determined that it should be offered at a public audience on the following Tuesday at twelve o'clock.
"When the hour arrived for performing a ceremony so well calculated to recall the various interesting scenes which had passed, since the commission now to be returned was granted, the gallery was crowded with spectators, and several persons of distinction were admitted on the floor of congress. The members remained seated and covered. The spectators were standing and uncovered. The general was introduced by the secretary, and conducted to a chair. After a short pause, the president informed him that 'The United States, in congress assembled, were prepared to receive his communications.' With native dignity, improved by the solemnity of the occasion, the general rose, and delivered the following address:
"'Mr. President: The great events on which my resignation depended, having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to congress, and of presenting myself before them, to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country.
"'Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the[Pg 448] United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the union, and the patronage of Heaven.
"'The successful termination of the war, has verified the most sanguine expectations; and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous contest.
"'While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar services and distinguished merits of the gentlemen who have been attached to my person during the war. It was impossible that the choice of confidential officers to compose my family, should have been more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend, in particular, those who have continued in the service to the present moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of congress.
"'I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them to his holy keeping.
"'Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.'"
Here, advancing to the chair, he delivered his commission to the president, who in turn addressed him, and in conclusion said:
"We join you in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, beseeching him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and[Pg 449] respectable nation. And for you, we address to him our earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fostered with all his care; that your days may be happy as they have been illustrious; and that he will finally give you that reward which this world cannot give."
The great act was now accomplished: Washington retired, greater, nobler in the estimation of his countrymen than ever; and followed by their love, esteem, and admiration, he once more took up his abode in the quiet and peaceful shades of Mount Vernon, happier in the consciousness of a disinterested patriotism, than if, as the reward of his toils, he had attained the proudest diadem on earth.
XIV. NAVAL OPERATIONS.
State of Naval Affairs of the Colonies at the commencement of the Revolution—First Naval Engagement—Measures adopted by Congress to provide a Naval Armament—Naval Officers appointed—Vessels built—Flag adopted—Success of American Privateering—Distinguished Naval Officers—General character of Naval Commanders—Particular Engagements—Randolph and Yarmouth—Raleigh and Druid—Submarine Warfare—Le Bon Homme Richard and Serapis—Trumbull and Watt—Alliance, Atalanta, and Trepassey—Congress and Savage.
Having given some account of the military land operations, during the Revolutionary struggle, it belongs to this place to speak of the operations of the American marine, during the same period.
The colonies were poorly prepared, in respect to the organization of an army, or the supply of munitions of war, at the commencement of the contest. The preparations for the struggle on the ocean were, as might be believed, still more limited. But few, even of the maritime colonies, had turned their attention to a naval force as among the means of defence. Indeed, although the storm had for some years been gathering, and, to men of forecast, the day of open[Pg 451] rupture was likely to arrive, yet, at length, it broke upon the country suddenly. Besides, maritime preparations for such a contest long beforehand would have been difficult, if not impossible. Every measure having such an object in view would have been regarded with jealousy, and have brought down the wrath of the mother-country at a still earlier period than it came. Moreover, the colonies had no general congress till 1774, and when first convened, and until hostilities had actually commenced, the object of that body was rather to obtain a redress of grievances, and thus prevent war, than by strong and threatening measures, to hasten an event which all regarded as a general calamity. In addition to these considerations, in view of the magnitude and power of the British navy, it was not probably seriously contemplated, in case of hostilities, that the scene of successful action could be on the ocean, but only on the land.
No sooner, however, had the struggle actually commenced, than many of the brave and enterprising commercial and sea-faring men, began to look with wishful eyes towards an element which promised, if not honor in competing with the navy of Great Britain, at least wealth by cruising against her commerce. At this early period, the seamen of the the colonies were at home on the deep. They were then, as now, bold, hardy, and adventurous; and had orders of capture been issued at an earlier day, it is probable that the commerce of England would have suffered a signal interruption and loss.
While the limits of this work forbid a minute history of the rise, progress, and success of the American navy, provincial and continental, during the Revolutionary contest, such notices are subjoined in relation thereto, as will give the reader an impression of the efforts and prowess of the Americans, in despite of the obstacles against which they had to contend.
The news of the battle of Lexington reached Machias, in Maine, on Saturday, the 9th of May, 1775, and there, as well as in other parts of the country, roused the indignation[Pg 452] of the inhabitants. At this time, there was lying in that port a British armed schooner, called the Margaretta, convoy to two sloops which were loading with lumber in behalf of his majesty's government. Immediately a plan was devised to seize the officers of the schooner, while in church the next day. The scheme, however, failed; Captain Moore and his officers being enabled to escape through the windows of the church, and effecting their retreat to the schooner. Immediately she was got under way, and, dropping down the river, cast anchor in the bay.
The next morning possession was taken of one of the sloops, and with a volunteer corps of thirty men on board, sail was made upon her, in quest of the fugitive schooner.
At this time, Captain Moore was ignorant of the commencement of hostilities, and wishing therefore to avoid a collision, weighed anchor on the appearance of the sloop, and stood out to sea. Chase was given, and the sloop being the better sailer, at length came up with the schooner. The latter was armed with four light guns, and fourteen swivels.[Pg 453] With these a fire was opened, and a man killed on board the sloop. The latter returned the fire from a wall piece, which, besides clearing the quarter-deck, killed the helmsman of the schooner. A further short conflict ensued, when, by the broaching to of the schooner, the vessels came in contact; upon which, the Americans boarded her, and took her into port. Twenty men on both sides were killed and wounded. Among the former was Captain Moore. Such was the first naval engagement in the war of the Revolution. It was wholly a private adventure—an enterprise on the part of a party banded together in a moment of excitement, and successful with fearful chances against them, only through their superior bravery.
Before the subject of a naval armament was entertained by congress, three of the colonies—Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut—had provided each two vessels, fitted, armed, and equipped, without the orders or advice of congress. The precise time when these vessels were ordered by these colonies cannot, perhaps, be satisfactorily fixed at this distant period.
Mr. Austin, in his life of the late vice-president Gerry, accords to that gentleman the honor of having first made the proposal in the provincial assembly of Massachusetts for appointing a committee to prepare a law to encourage the fitting out of armed vessels, and to establish a court for the trial and condemnation of prizes. "The law reported by this committee," remarks the biographer, "was passed by the provincial congress November 10th, 1775, and is the first actual avowal of offensive hostility against the mother-country, which is to be found in the annals of the Revolution. It is not the less worthy of consideration as the first effort to establish an American naval armament."
It is certain, however, that previous to the above action of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, but in no respect derogating from her honor, congress had had the subject of armed vessels before them, and had adopted resolutions ordering vessels of a certain description to be provided.
The following extracts from the journal of congress for 1775, exhibit the first action of that body on the subject of a navy: Friday, September 22, 1775, congress appointed a committee to take into consideration the state of the trade of America. Thursday, October 5, 1775, Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, to prepare a plan for intercepting two vessels which are on their way to Canada, laden with arms and powder; and that the committee proceed on this business immediately.
Pursuant to this resolve, the committee, consisting of Silas Deane, John Langdon, and John Adams, reported that a letter be sent to General Washington, advising him of the sailing of two brigs from England to Quebec, with military stores; and authorizing him to request of the council of Massachusetts any two armed vessels in their service, and dispatch the same to intercept said brigs and cargoes. Also, that the governors of Rhode Island and Connecticut be requested to dispatch, the former one or both of the armed vessels belonging to that colony, and the latter the largest[Pg 455] vessel in the service of the colony of Connecticut, on the same enterprise. This report was accepted, and the resolution was adopted.
The preceding measures in respect to a naval movement, were soon followed by others on a more enlarged scale, and looking still further into the future. Several vessels were ordered, by sundry resolves, to be fitted out at the expense of congress—and among them was one able to carry fourteen guns, one twenty, and a third not to exceed thirty-six guns. In November, privateering was authorized, and rules adopted for the navy. In the following month, a resolve was adopted for the building of thirteen ships—five of thirty-two guns, five of twenty-eight, and three of twenty-four.
Thus it appears that in 1775, congress authorized a regular marine, consisting of seventeen cruisers, varying in force from ten to thirty-six guns. These vessels were to be built in the four colonies of New England, in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The following is a list of their names and respective rates, as well as of the colony where each was to be built, viz:
| Washington, | 32 guns | Pennsylvania. |
| Raleigh, | 32 —— | New Hampshire. |
| Hancock, | 32 —— | Massachusetts. |
| Randolph, | 32 —— | Pennsylvania. |
| Warren, | 32 —— | Rhode Island. |
| Maryland, | 28 —— | Virginia. |
| Trumbull, | 28 —— | Connecticut |
| Effingham, | 28 —— | Pennsylvania. |
| Congress, | 28 —— | New York. |
| Providence, | 28 —— | Rhode Island. |
| Boston, | 24 —— | Massachusetts. |
| Montgomery, | 24 —— | New York. |
| Delaware, | 24 —— | Pennsylvania. |
Such was the commencement of the American navy.
Ezekiel Hopkins was placed at the head of the navy, with the title of "commander-in-chief," thus giving him, in respect to the navy, a rank corresponding to the rank of Washington in the army. Among the seamen, his usual appellation was "commodore;" but not unfrequently he was styled[Pg 456] "admiral." His pay was one hundred and twenty-five dollars a-month. Other officers for the navy were appointed from time to time, as the exigencies of the service required. Originally, congress left the rank of the several officers to be regulated by those who were actually in command; but this gave rise to discontent and dispute; whereupon, in 1776, congress decided the rank of the several captains. They ranked as follows:
1. James Nicholson,
2. John Manly,
3. Hector McNiel,
4. Dudley Saltonstall,
5. Nicholas Biddle,
6. Thomas Thompson,
7. John Barry,
8. Thomas Read,
9. Thomas Grennall,
10. Charles Alexander,
11. Lambert Wickes,
12. Abraham Whipple,
13. John B. Hopkins,
14. John Hodge,
15. William Hallock,
16. Hoysted Hacker,
17. Isaiah Robinson,
18. John Paul Jones,
19. James Josiah,
20. Elisha Hinman,
21. Joseph Olney,
22. James Robinson,
23. John Young,
24. Elisha Warner.
The arrangement of rank of inferior officers was assigned to the marine committee.
Commodore Hopkins continued to act as commander-in-chief till January 2d, 1777, when, by a vote of congress, he was dismissed from the service, for not performing the duties on which he had been sent with a fleet to the South. From this date, Captain Nicholson became the senior officer of the navy, though only with the rank of captain.
The foregoing general view of the proceedings of congress in relation to the provision and equipment of a naval armament for the Revolutionary contest, must suffice. Had their various resolutions been fully carried into effect, more important results might have been expected from this source of opposition to Great Britain. But the want of funds, but much more the want of materials for the final equipment of vessels which had been launched—such as guns, anchors, rigging, &c.—in some instances retarded, and in others prevented the completion of vessels which had been ordered, and which the exigencies of the country so much required.
By the act of October, 1775, thirteen frigates were ordered to be built. Of these, the Raleigh was laid down in New Hampshire, and in sixty days was launched. But the want of materials for equipment for some time delayed her completion.
The Hancock and Boston were built in Massachusetts, and entered the service.
The Warren and Providence were constructed in Rhode Island, but were the most indifferent of the thirteen.
The Congress and Montgomery, ordered to be built in New York, never reached the mouth of the Hudson, being obliged to be burned in 1777, to prevent their falling into the hands of the British.
The Maryland, constructed in Virginia, was completed, and took her place in the service.
The Randolph, the Washington, the Delaware, and the Effingham were allotted to Pennsylvania. The first of these was launched in 1776, and sailed on her first cruise early in 1777. The Delaware was equipped, but is supposed to have fallen into the hands of the British at the time they took possession of Philadelphia. The Washington and the Effingham were burned by the British in 1778.
"Thus, of the thirteen vessels from which so much was expected, but six got to sea at all in the service in which they were built. To these were added, in the course of the war, a few other frigates, some permanently and some only for single cruises. Of the former class, were the Deane, (Hague,) Alliance, Confederacy, and Queen of France. It is believed that these four ships, added to the thirteen ordered by the law of 1775, and the Alfred and Columbus, will comprise all the frigate-built vessels that properly belonged to the marine of the country during the war of the Revolution. The French vessels that composed most of the squadron of Paul Jones were lent for the occasion, and we hear no more of the Pallas after the cruise had ended. She reverted to her original owners."
During the progress of the war, quite a number of sloops[Pg 458] of war and other vessels were employed by congress, and some by the commissioners in France. But a complete catalogue of these, it is now impossible to give.
At the commencement of the Revolution, the flag used on board of some ships, bore a device, representing a pine-tree with a rattle-snake coiled at the root, and ready to strike, with the appropriate motto, "Don't tread on me." Some privateers showed flags with devices upon them after the fancy of their captains or owners; others adopted the arms of the colony from which they sailed, or by whose authority they cruised. In 1777, congress adopted the present national colors.
Many of the officers of the navy were high-spirited and intelligent men. Not a few of the commanders of privateers—and the ocean soon swarmed with them—were distinguished for their nautical skill, and were possessed of as noble and generous impulses as ever actuated the human bosom. None at the present day can adequately realize the obstacles which, at that early period, were to be overcome. Vessels of war were not in existence; even vessels originally adapted for cruising were not numerous. Besides, not only was the government poor, but the fortunes of individuals bore no comparison to some at the present day. And, moreover, the principal theatre of the war was designed from the beginning to be on the land. But the maritime spirit was by no means to be restrained. A writer somewhere remarks, that the conflict between Great Britain and her oppressed and despised colonies had not continued a twelvemonth, when the coasts of the former country were harassed and agitated by the audacity and enterprise of the American cruisers. Insurance in England rose to an unprecedented height. Ship-owners were afraid to trust their vessels abroad; and few indeed did venture, unless they were protected by a convoy. England was made to feel, few and ill-equipped as were the American vessels, compared with her numerous and well-furnished navy, that a nation thoroughly imbued with the love of maritime[Pg 459] adventure, was not to be despised, though she were distant and poor.
It is remarked by Mr. Hinton that, "in the course of three years, the Americans had taken more than double the number of their own guns from the enemy, besides a great number of merchantmen of value. More than eight hundred guns had been taken from the enemy during this time by the marine which congress had fitted out; while that of Massachusetts and of the other states were equally successful. The vessels taken by the public and private armed vessels, from the battle of Lexington to the 17th of March, 1776, when the British evacuated Boston, amounted to thirty-four, of considerable size and value, with excellent cargoes. The tonnage of these captured vessels amounted to three thousand six hundred and forty-five tons. In 1776, the British vessels captured by the private armed vessels alone, amounted to the great number of three hundred and forty-two, of which forty-four were rëtaken, eighteen released, and five burned. In the following year, 1777, the success of our privateers was still greater. Vessels were captured to the amount of four hundred and twenty-one. The success continued without any great diminution until 1780. At this time, the British merchants made so strong an appeal to their government, that they provided a convoy for every fleet of merchant vessels to every part of the globe. Out of the fleet sailing from England to the West Indies, consisting of two hundred in number, in the year 1777, one hundred and thirty-seven were taken by our privateers; and from a fleet from Ireland to the West Indies of sixty sail, thirty-five were taken. Taking the years 1775, 6, 7, 8, and 9, say for the first year, thirty-four; second, three hundred and forty-two; third, four hundred and twenty-one; and for the fourth, which has not been accurately given, I believe, in any work, say, and this within bounds, two hundred; and, for the fifth, the same, two hundred; and allowing but one hundred for the balance of the time during the war, will make twelve[Pg 460] hundred and ninety-seven, without including those taken by public vessels from 1776 to the close of the war; and this latter number, if it could be precisely given, would add greatly to the list of captures."
The naval names, that have descended to us from this war with the greatest reputation, are those of Manly, Mugford, Jones, Barry, Barney, Waters, Young, Tucker, Talbot, Nicholson, Williams, Biddle, Hopkins, Robinson, Wickes, Rathburne, and Hacket. Besides these, there were many others, either in the service of one of the state sovereignties, at that time, or of congress, who were equally worthy of notice, but who have been neglected, because they were only commanders of privateers.
It cannot be doubted that, considering the great number of privateers that swarmed upon the ocean during the war, there were sometimes cruelties practiced, and scenes enacted, disgraceful to the perpetrators. The contrary was not to be expected. But generally, the commanders of these privateers were men of principle and humanity. Indeed, instances of the most magnanimous conduct among them might be given. In several cases of capture, when they understood that the owners were friendly to the cause of America, both the vessel and the crew were suffered to depart without losing a particle of property. And still further, the officers of vessels, captured by privateers, as well as by public armed ships, were never deprived of their baggage, and often not of their adventures, when they had any.
From the preceding account of the capture of British vessels, during the Revolution, by American privateers and regular ships of war, it can easily be credited that the ocean must have been the scene of many thrilling and adventurous exploits. The American seamen were fired with a patriotism, not less pure and impulsive than the soldiers on the land. But the story of their bravery, the hardships they endured, the zeal and courage with which they fought, unlike that of their compatriots, were left in a[Pg 461] great measure unrecorded; or, if noticed in the papers of the day, were told without those circumstantial details, from which the chief interest of a naval engagement often arises. Some privateersmen probably had not the ability to draw up such accounts, and others who had, not being obliged to report to the government an account of their engagements, lacked the inclination, amid the stirring scenes in which they were engaged. Hence, but few well-authenticated and circumstantial accounts of the operations of this species of force have descended to the present time.
The records of engagements by the regular marine are more abundant, but far from being as copious and circumstantial as those of the American navy, during the late war with Great Britain. Enough of interest, however, exists and more than sufficient for the space which we can allow to the subject. Indeed, we must leave unnoticed several as full of interest and as evincive of prowess, as those which find a place in this volume.
1. RANDOLPH AND YARMOUTH
The Randolph, a frigate of thirty-two guns, was launched at Philadelphia in 1776, and sailed on her first cruise in 1777, being one of the first, if not the very first, of the new vessels built under the resolution of congress of October, 1775, that proceeded to sea. She was commanded by Nicholas Biddle, a man combining all the distinguishing qualifications of a great naval commander.
After having been at sea a few days, a defect in his masts, and a disposition to mutiny discovered in his crew, induced him to put into Charleston. On again sailing, he soon fell in with and captured four Jamaica-men, one of which, the True-Briton, had an armament of twenty-guns. With these prizes, he returned to Charleston. The citizens of that place, pleased with the character and enterprise of Captain Biddle, placed four small vessels of their own under his care; with these and the Randolph he proceeded to sea, in search of several British vessels which had been[Pg 462] seen cruising off Charleston for some time. No traces of them, however, were discovered.
Nothing more was heard from this squadron for some time. But, at length, intelligence was received of the most distressing nature. It was contained in a letter of Captain Vincent, of his Britannic majesty's ship Yarmouth, sixty-four, dated March 17th, 1778.
On the 7th of that month, the Yarmouth, while cruising to the east of Barbadoes, discovered six sail bearing south-east, and standing on a wind. On getting nearer, they were discovered to be two ships, three brigs, and a schooner. At nine o'clock P. M., the Yarmouth succeeded in ranging up on the weather-quarter of the largest and leading vessel—the ship, next in size, being astern to leeward. Here, displaying her colors, the Yarmouth ordered the Randolph (for so she proved to be) to show her ensign. At this moment the American flag was run up, and a whole broadside poured in upon the Yarmouth. A spirited action immediately ensued, and for twenty minutes was maintained by both ships with great energy—when on a sudden the Randolph blew up. So near were the ships at the time, that portions of the flying wreck struck the Yarmouth, and even the American ensign fell upon her forecastle. It was rolled up, and not even singed.
Immediately following this catastrophe, the Yarmouth went in pursuit of the other vessels, which, meanwhile, were attempting to escape. But he was unable to come up with them, his own sails having been so injured during the short action had with the Randolph. The chase, therefore, was relinquished, and the Yarmouth continued to cruise in the neighborhood. She was still ignorant of the name of the ill-fated vessel, which she had engaged, nor was there now any prospect of her ever learning it.
But at length, on the 12th, while passing near to the theatre of the engagement, signals of distress were discovered proceeding from persons at a short distance. On reaching them, they proved to be four men, on a piece of wreck.[Pg 463] On being taken on board of the Yarmouth, they reported themselves as having belonged to the Randolph, thirty-two, Captain Biddle, blown up in an action with an English frigate on the night of the 7th. They had been floating on the wreck on which they were discovered, without sustenance, since the time of explosion.
These men reported, that, soon after the action commenced, Captain Biddle was severely wounded in the thigh. Being taken below, and seated in a chair, the surgeon was proceeding to examine his wound, when the explosion occurred, by which the vessel was blown into fragments, and the whole crew, officers and men, with the exception of the four named, were in a moment killed. The Yarmouth, in the brief time the action lasted, lost five killed and twelve wounded.
What would have been the result, had not this catastrophe occurred, no one can say. Captain Biddle was fighting at fearful odds. But he was young, ardent, ambitious; and, while we can scarcely refrain from thinking him presumptuous,[Pg 464] it is quite apparent, from his actually entering the lists, that he contemplated a victory over his powerful antagonist as an achievement quite possible. He was only twenty-seven years of age. His untimely fate caused a deep sensation in all quarters; the navy was felt to have lost a true friend, and the country a zealous patriot.
2. RALEIGH AND DRUID.
Under the law of 1775, the Raleigh was constructed in New Hampshire. She was a fine twelve-pounder frigate, commanded by Captain Thompson. In the latter part of August, 1777, for the first time, she went to sea. She was accompanied by the Alfred, twenty-four, Captain Hinman. Both vessels were bound to France for military stores.
During the first few days, while running off the coast, they captured several small vessels; and, on the 2d of September, fell in with and captured a scow, called the Nancy, belonging to the outward-bound windward fleet. Learning the direction of this fleet, which was in the advance of the Nancy, Captain Thompson went in chase. On the 3d, the convoy of the fleet was descried. It consisted of the Camel, Druid, Weasel, and Grasshopper, which had under their protection sixty merchantmen. At sunset, Captain Thompson spoke the Alfred, and signified his intention of running in among the fleet, and, if possible, engaging the commodore.
By means of the officers of the Nancy, he had obtained the signals of the fleet, and by means of these he was able to pass for one of the convoy. The Alfred proving unable to carry the requisite sail, Captain Thompson left her, and passed on into the midst of the fleet. His guns being housed and his ports lowered, she showed no signs of preparation for an attack. Added to this, making use of the commodore's signals, he was able to give several of the merchantmen direction how to steer. Thus he avoided suspicion, and was able to run the Raleigh alongside of the vessel of war, and "when within pistol-shot, she hauled up[Pg 465] her courses, run out her guns, set her ensign, and commanded the enemy to strike." This was a bold movement. Taken by surprise, the British commander was at an utter loss how to act. The confusion was general. The sails got aback. Taking advantage of the perturbation on board the Druid, (for so she proved,) Captain Thompson poured in upon her a broadside. This was followed by a second, third—twelve broadsides in twenty minutes, scarcely receiving a shot in return.
While thus engaged, a sudden and violent squall came on, which, in a measure, slackened the engagement, and rendered the aim uncertain. As the squall ceased, it was discovered that the convoy had scattered in all directions, and were doing their utmost to escape. The other armed vessels now hastened to the assistance of their crippled companion. Yet the Raleigh continued to deal out her thunder, nor did she haul off until the other vessels were almost within gun-shot of her. Thus compelled, she ran to leeward, and joined the Alfred. Hoping, however, that[Pg 466] the commodore might be induced to renew the engagement, she shortened sail, thus giving her antagonist an opportunity to restore his wounded honor; but, instead of this, he hauled in among his convoy. For several following days the American ships continued to follow the fleet, but they were not so fortunate as to receive the respects of any of the vessels of war.
The Druid, which was of twenty guns, was so much disabled as to be obliged immediately to return to England. Her loss was six killed and twenty-six wounded; among the latter, was her commander, Captain Carteret. Five of the wounded subsequently died. The Raleigh had three men killed and wounded.
3. SUB-MARINE WARFARE
During the year 1777, David Bushnell, a native of Connecticut, made several attempts to blow up the ships of the enemy by means of torpedoes. This mode of warfare had employed his thoughts during his collegiate course, so that on graduating in 1775, his plans were in a good degree matured. An account of some of his early plans he gave to the world himself. The following is a description of his celebrated torpedo: "It bore a resemblance to two upper tortoise shells of equal sizes, placed in contact, leaving, at that part which represents the head of the animal, a flue or opening sufficiently capacious to contain the operator, and air to support him thirty minutes. At the bottom, opposite to the entrance, was placed a quantity of lead for ballast. The operator sat upright, and held an oar for rowing forward or backward, and was furnished with a rudder for steering. An aperture at the bottom with its valves admitted water for the purpose of descending, and two brass forcing-pumps served to eject the water within, when necessary for ascending. The vessel was made completely water-tight, furnished with glass windows for the admission of light, with ventilators and air-pipes, and was so ballasted with lead fixed on the bottom as to render it solid,[Pg 467] and obviate all danger of oversetting. Behind the sub-marine vessel was a place above the rudder for carrying a large powder magazine; this was made of two pieces of oak timber, large enough, when hollowed out, to contain one hundred and fifty pounds of powder, with the apparatus used for firing it, and was secured in its place by a screw turned by the operator. It was lighter than water, so that he might rise against the object to which it was intended to be fastened.
"Within the magazine was an apparatus constructed to run any proposed period under twelve hours; when it had run out its time, it unpinioned a strong lock, resembling a gun-lock, which gave fire to the powder. This apparatus was so pinioned, that it could not possibly move, until, by casting off the magazine from the vessel, it was set in motion. The skillful operator could swim so low on the surface of the water, as to approach very near the ship in the night, without fear of being discovered, and might, if he chose, approach the stem or stern above water, with very little danger. He could sink very quickly, keep at any necessary depth, and row a great distance in any direction he desired, without coming to the surface. When he rose to the top, he could soon obtain a fresh supply of air, and, if necessary, descend again and pursue his course."
With a torpedo of the above construction, Bushnell made an experiment on the Eagle, a sixty-gun ship, then lying in the harbor of New York, and under command of Lord Howe. A sergeant of one of the Connecticut regiments conducted the operation. General Putnam, standing on the wharf, was a witness of the proceeding.
The sergeant, having under cover of night proceeded to the ship, attempted to fasten the torpedo to her bottom by means of a screw. But in this he failed, striking, as he supposed, a bar or bolt of iron, which resisted the screw. In attempting to move to another place, he passed from under the ship, and soon rose to the surface. By this time, daylight had so far advanced as to make any further experiments[Pg 468] hazardous. He therefore concluded to return to New York. On passing Governor's island, supposing himself discovered by the British stationed there, he cast off his magazine, and proceeded without it. The internal apparatus was set to run one hour; at the expiration of which, it blew up, in a tremendous explosion, throwing a vast column of water to a great height, to the no small wonder of the enemy.
This experiment was followed in the course of the year by an attempt from a whaling-boat against the frigate Cerebus, off New London. The expedient adopted in this case was to draw a machine, loaded with powder, against her side by means of a line, to be exploded by a gun-lock. But failing to attach itself as intended, against the frigate, it became attached to a schooner, at anchor astern of the frigate, which, on exploding, it demolished.
In a letter addressed to Sir Peter Parker, by Commodore Simmons, at the time of the explosion on board the Cerebus, he gave an account of this singular disaster. Being at anchor to the westward of the town with a schooner which he had taken, about eleven o'clock in the evening he discovered a line towing astern from the bows. He believed some person had been veered away by it, and immediately began to haul in. A sailor belonging to the schooner taking it for a fishing-line, laid hold of it, and drew it in about fifteen fathoms. It was buoyed up by small pieces tied to it at regular distances. At the end of the rope a machine was fastened, too heavy for one man to pull up, for it exceeded one hundred pounds in weight. The other people of the schooner coming to his assistance, they drew it upon deck. While the men, to gratify their curiosity, were examining the machine, it exploded, blew the vessel into pieces, and set her on fire. Three men were killed, and a fourth blown into the water, very much injured. On subsequent examination, the other part of the line was discovered buoyed up in the same manner; this the commodore ordered to be instantly cut away, for fear (as he termed it) of hauling up another of the "infernals!"
The above mode of warfare cannot but be considered too shocking and inhuman to be encouraged by civilized nations, and we do not regret that the experiment of Bushnell, and the more recent experiments of Fulton, failed. But it is said that the failure of his efforts cast a deep and permanent gloom over the mind of Bushnell.
4. LE BON HOMME RICHARD AND SERAPIS.
On the 10th of April, 1778, the celebrated John Paul Jones sailed on a cruise from France, having the Ranger placed under his command by the American commissioners, Franklin, Deane, and Lee. In consideration of his previous valuable services, he was allowed to cruise wherever he pleased. Accordingly, he directed his course along the British coast, and for a time kept the people of the maritime part of Scotland, and part of England, in a state of great alarm and excitement.
Among his exploits on this cruise, previous to that in which he engaged the Serapis, his descent upon Whitehaven was of the boldest character. Two forts, with thirty pieces of cannon, guarded this port, in which, at the time, were a hundred vessels at anchor.
"Two parties landed in the night; the forts were seized and the guns spiked; the few look-outs that were in the works being confined. In effecting this duty, Captain Jones was foremost in person; for, having once sailed out of that port, he was familiar with the situation of the place. An accident, common to both the parties into which the expedition had been divided, came near defeating the enterprise in the outset. They had brought candles in lanterns, for the double purpose of lights and torches, and, now that they were about to be used as the latter, it was found that they were all consumed. As the day was appearing, the party under Mr. Wallingford, one of the lieutenants, took to its boat without effecting any thing, while Captain Jones sent to a detached building, and obtained a candle. He boarded a large ship, kindled a fire in her steerage, and by placing[Pg 470] a barrel of tar over the spot, soon had the vessel in flames. This ship lay in the midst of more than a hundred others, high and dry, the tide being out; Captain Jones took to his boats, and pulled towards his ship. Some guns were fired on the retiring boats without effect; but the people of the place succeeded in extinguishing the flames before the mischief became very extensive."
During this cruise, another bold enterprise was undertaken. This was an attempt to seize the Earl of Selkirk, who had a seat on St. Mary's Isle, near the point, where the Dee flows into the channel. Jones was well acquainted with the place, his father having been gardener to the earl, but he was not himself immediately engaged in the attempt, that being entrusted to a subordinate officer. The party landed, demanded and took possession of the house, but, to their great disappointment, the duke himself was absent. One unauthorized act of the party, Captain Jones condemned, viz: the seizure of about one hundred pounds value of plate. This, however, he afterwards purchased[Pg 471] of the crew, and returned to Lady Selkirk, with a letter expressive of his regrets at the occurrence.
He next steered towards the coast of Ireland, where he encountered the Drake, twenty, a ship which he had a sincere desire to meet. On approaching the Ranger, the Drake hailed, and received the name of her antagonist, by way of challenge, with a request to come on. As the two ships were standing on in this manner, the Drake a little to leeward and astern, the Ranger put her helm up, a manœuvre that the enemy imitated, and the former gave the first broadside. The wind admitted of but few changes, but the battle was fought running fire, under easy canvas. It lasted an hour and four minutes, when the Drake called for quarter, her ensign being already cut down.
The English ship was much cut up, both in her hull and aloft, and Captain Jones computed her loss at about forty men. Her captain and lieutenant were both desperately wounded, and died shortly after the engagement. The Ranger suffered much less, having Lieutenant Wallingford and one man killed, and six wounded. The Drake was not only a heavier ship, but she had a much stronger crew than her antagonist. She had also two guns the most.
With this prize, Jones returned to Brest, where for a time he remained in hope of receiving a more important command, and which had brought him to Europe.
After many delays, the king of France purchased for him the Duras, an old Indiaman, which name Jones exchanged for Le Bon Homme Richard.[51] To this were, added by[Pg 472] order of the French ministry, the Pallas, Cerf, and Vengeance, and, by Dr. Franklin, commissioner, the Alliance, thirty-two, then in France. The Cerf and Alliance were the only vessels of the squadron fitted for war.
With this squadron, Commodore Jones, on the 19th of June, 1779, sailed from the anchorage under the Isle of Groix, off l'Orient, bound southward; but, finding it necessary to return, he left the anchorage a second time, on the 14th of August. About the 23d of September, he fell in with a fleet of merchantmen, of more than forty sail, under convoy of the Serapis, forty-four, Captain Richard Pearson, and the Countess of Seaborough, twenty-two.
The Serapis was a new ship, mounting on her lower gun-deck, twenty eighteen-pound guns, on her upper gun deck, twenty nine-pound guns, and on her quarter-deck and[Pg 473] forecastle, ten six-pound guns; making an armament of fifty guns in the whole. Her crew consisted of three hundred and twenty men. The Bon Homme Richard was a single-decked ship, with six old eighteen-pounders mounted in the gun-room below, and twenty-eight twelve-pounders on her main or proper gun-deck, with eight nines on her quarter-deck forecastle, and six in the gangways, making in all a mixed, or rather light amount of forty-two guns. Her crew consisted of three hundred and eighty men, of whom one hundred and thirty-seven were marines or soldiers.
Our narrative will be confined to the action between the Richard and the Serapis, which proved one of the most terrible and hotly-contested engagements recorded in the annals of naval warfare.
About half-past seven in the evening, the Richard came up with the Serapis. Captain Pearson hailed. The answer of Commodore Jones was designedly equivocal, and, in a moment after, both ships delivered their entire broadsides. A sad and destructive catastrophe befel the Richard. Two[Pg 474] of her eighteen guns burst, blowing up the deck above, and killing or wounding a large proportion of the people stationed below. This disaster caused all the heavy guns to be deserted, the men having no longer sufficient confidence in them to use them. The loss of these reduced the Richard one-third below that of her rival; in short, it became a contest between a twelve-pounder and an eighteen pounder, a species of contest in which it has been said the former has never been known to prevail. Captain Jones, however, more than most men, was fitted for desperate circumstances, and in a moment determined to make up in rëdoubled activity what was wanting in power of metal.
Nearly an hour was consumed in different manœuvres—shifting, firing—each endeavoring to obtain the advantage of position; till, at length, the vessels came close together, but not in a manner which permitted either party to board. The firing ceased for a few minutes. Captain Pearson, imagining the enemy had surrendered, demanded, "Have you struck your colors?" "I have not yet begun to fight!" vociferated the intrepid Jones.
The ships again separated, and the firing was renewed. Again they fell upon each other, and in the moment of collision, Captain Jones, with his own hands, lashed the enemy's head-gear to his mizen-mast. This brought them more entirely side by side, and it being desirable on the part of Captain Jones to retain the enemy in that position, additional lashings were employed to effect that object. This was a disappointment to Captain Pearson, but he determined to be first in boarding, and now made a vigorous attempt with that object in view, but was repulsed.
"All this time, the battle raged. The lower ports of the Serapis having been closed, as the vessels swung, to prevent boarding, they were now blown off, in order to allow the guns to be run out; and cases actually occurred in which the rammers had to be thrust into the ports of the opposite ship, in order to be entered into the muzzles of their proper guns. It is evident that such a conflict must[Pg 475] have been of short duration. In effect, the heavy metal of the Serapis, in one or two discharges, cleared all before it, and the main guns of the Richard were in a great measure abandoned. Most of the people went on the upper deck, and a great number collected on the forecastle, where they were safe from the fire of the enemy, continuing to fight by throwing grenades and using muskets.
"In this stage of the combat, the Serapis was tearing her antagonist to pieces below, almost without resistance from her enemy's batteries, only two guns on the quarter-deck, and three or four of the twelves, being worked at all. To the former, by shifting a gun from the larboard side, Commodore Jones succeeded in adding a third, all of which were used with effect, under his immediate inspection, to the close of the action. He could not muster force enough to get over a second gun. But the combat would now have soon terminated, had it not been for the courage and activity of the people aloft. Strong parties had been placed in the tops; at the end of a short contest, the Americans had driven every man belonging to the enemy below; after which, they kept up so animated a fire, on the quarter-deck of the Serapis in particular, as to drive nearly every man off it, that was not shot down.
"Thus, while the English had the battle nearly all to themselves below, their enemies had the control above the upper-deck. Having cleared the tops of the Serapis, some American seamen lay out on the Richard's main-yard, and began to throw hand-grenades upon the two upper-decks of the English ship; the men on the forecastle of their own vessel seconding these efforts, by casting the same combustibles through the ports of the Serapis. At length, one man in particular became so hardy, as to take his post on the extreme end of the yard, whence, provided with a bucket filled with combustibles and a match, he dropped the grenades with so much precision, that one passed through the main-hatchway. The powder-boys of the Serapis, had got more cartridges up than were wanted, and, in their hurry, they had carelessly laid a row of them[Pg 476] on the main-deck, in a line with the guns. The grenade just mentioned, set fire to some loose powder that was lying near, and the flash passed from cartridge to cartridge beginning abreast the main-mast, and running quite aft.
"The effect of this explosion was awful. More than twenty men were instantly killed, many of them being left with nothing on them but the collars and wristbands of their shirts, and the waistbands of their duck trowsers; while the official returns of the ship, a week after the action, show that there were no less than thirty-eight wounded on board still alive, who had been injured in this manner, and of whom thirty were said to have been then in great danger. Captain Pearson describes this explosion as having destroyed nearly all the men at the five or six aftermost guns. On the whole, nearly sixty must have been disabled by this sudden blow.
"The advantage thus obtained by the coolness and intrepidity of the topmen, in a great measure restored the chances of the combat; and, by lessening the fire of the enemy, enabled Commodore Jones to increase his. In the same degree that it encouraged the crew of the Richard, it diminished the hopes of the people of the Serapis. One of the guns, under the immediate inspection of Commodore Jones, had been pointed some time against the main-mast of his enemy, while the two others had seconded the fire of the tops, with grape and cannister. Kept below decks by this double attack, where a scene of frightful horror was present in the agonies of the wounded, and the effects of the explosion, the spirits of the English began to droop, and there was a moment when a trifle would have induced them to submit. From this despondency, they were temporarily raised, by one of those unlooked-for events that ever accompany the vicissitudes of battle.
"After exchanging an ineffective and distant broadside with the Scarborough, the Alliance kept standing off and on, to leeward of the two principal ships, out of the direction of their shot, when, about half-past eight, she appeared[Pg 477] crossing the stern of the Serapis and the bow of the Richard, firing at such a distance as to render it impossible to say which vessel would suffer the most. As soon as she had drawn out of the range of her own guns, her helm was put up, and she ran down nearly a mile to leeward, hovering about, until the firing had ceased between the Pallas and Scarborough, when she came within hail, and spoke both of these vessels. Captain Cottineau, of the Pallas, earnestly entreated Captain Landais to take possession of his prize, and allow him to go to the assistance of the Richard, or to stretch up to windward in the Alliance himself, and succor the commodore."[52]
At length, Captain Landais determined to go to the assistance of the Richard, but on reaching the scene of engagement, he opened a fire which did as much damage to friend as foe. He was hailed, and informed that he was firing into the wrong ship. At the time, it was supposed to be a mistake; but afterwards it was more than conjectured to have been a wanton and cruel act of revenge on the part of Landais, who had for some time exhibited strong feelings of hostility to Captain Jones, and had neglected on several occasions to follow out his orders.
"Let the injuries have been received," continues Mr. Cooper, "from what quarter they might, soon after the Alliance had run to leeward, an alarm was spread in the Richard that the ship was sinking. Both vessels had been on fire several times, and some difficulty had been experienced in extinguishing the flames; but here was a new enemy to contend with, and as the information came from the carpenter, whose duty it was to sound the pump-wells, it produced a great deal of consternation. The Richard had more than a hundred English prisoners on board, and the master-at-arms, in the hurry of the moment, let them all up below, in order to save their lives. In the confusion of such a scene at night, the master of a letter-of-marque, that had been taken off the north of Scotland, passed through a port of the Richard into[Pg 478] one of the Serapis, when he reported to Captain Pearson, that a few minutes would probably decide the battle in his favor, or carry his enemy down, he himself having been liberated in order to save his life. Just at this instant, the gunner, who had little to occupy him at his quarters, came on deck, and not perceiving Commodore Jones, or Mr. Dale, both of whom were occupied with the liberated prisoners, and believing the master, the only other superior he had in the ship, to be dead, he ran up the poop to haul down the colors. Fortunately, the flag-staff had been shot away, and, the ensign already hanging in the water, he had no other means of letting his intention to submit be known than by calling out for quarters. Captain Pearson now hailed to inquire if the Richard demanded quarter, and was answered by Commodore Jones himself in the negative. It is probable that the reply was not heard, or if heard, supposed to come from an unauthorized source; for encouraged by what he learned from the escaped prisoner, by the cry, and by the confusion that prevailed in the Richard, the English captain directed his boarders to be called away, and, as soon as mustered, they were ordered to take possession of the prize. Some of the men actually got on the gunwale of the latter ship, but finding boarders ready to repel boarders, they made a precipitate retreat. All this time the topmen were not idle, and the enemy were soon driven below again with loss.
"In the mean while, Mr. Dale, who no longer had a gun that could be fought, mustered the prisoners at the pumps, turning their consternation to account, and probably keeping the Richard afloat by the very blunder that had come so near losing her. The ships were now on fire again, and both parties, with the exception of a few guns on each side, ceased fighting, in order to subdue this dangerous enemy. In the course of the combat, the Serapis is said to have been set on fire no less than twelve times, while towards its close, as will be seen in the sequel, the Richard was burning all the while.
"As soon as order was restored in the Richard, after the call for quarter, her chances for success began to increase, while the English, driven under cover almost to a man, appear to have lost, in a great degree, the hope of victory. Their fire materially slackened, while the Richard again brought a few more guns to bear; the main-mast of the Serapis began to totter, and her resistance, in general, to lessen. About an hour after the explosion, or between three hours and three hours and a half after the first gun was fired, and between two hours and two hours and a half after the ships were lashed together, Captain Pearson hauled down the colors of the Serapis with his own hands, the men refusing to expose themselves to the fire of the Richard's tops."
Thus ended a conflict as murderous and sanguinary as the annals of naval warfare have recorded. Each ship lost about one hundred and fifty men, or nearly one-half of the whole number engaged.
At the time of the surrender, the Richard was on fire,[Pg 480] and apparently sinking. So imminent was the danger, that the powder was hastily removed from the magazine, and placed on the deck, to prevent explosion. Men from the other ships were sent on board, and the pumps were kept in motion, and water raised and dashed around until ten o'clock the next day, before the fire was got under. An examination of the ship followed, the result of which was, that it was necessary to abandon her. The wounded were consequently ordered to be removed, and on the following day, about ten o'clock, this gallant ship settled slowly into the sea.
The squadron now left the scene of mortal combat, with the Serapis and Scarborough, the latter having struck to the Pallas. The former having lost her main-mast, jury masts were obliged to be rigged; after driving about in the rough sea until the 6th of October, the squadron and prizes entered the Texel, the port to which they had been ordered to repair.
5. AMERICAN FRIGATE TRUMBULL AND ENGLISH SHIP WATT.
The action between these two vessels, next to that of the Richard and Serapis, is supposed to have been the most severe during the war of the Revolution.
The Trumbull, of thirty-two guns, was commanded by Captain James Nicholson, a spirited and skillful officer. During a cruise in June, 1780, a large ship was perceived bearing down upon the Trumbull's quarter. At half-past eleven, she hauled a point more to stern of her. The Trumbull now made sail, hauling upon a wind towards her, upon which she came down upon the Trumbull's beams. The latter then took in all her small sails, hauled her courses up, hove the main-topsail to the mast, cleared for action, end waited the approach of the enemy.
After several manœuvres on the part of each vessel, Captain Nicholson discovered that his adversary had thirteen ports on each side, and eight or ten on her quarter-deck and forecastle, and of course mounted thirty-six guns. At twelve, the Trumbull, finding her great superiority as to[Pg 481] sailing, and having gotten to windward, determined to avail herself of the advantage to commence the engagement.
The stranger, observing the design of Captain Nicholson, fired three shots, and hoisted British colors as a challenge. The Trumbull wore after her, hoisting British colors, with an intention of getting alongside. A private signal was made in turn by the British ship, which not being answered she opened a broadside at a hundred yards distance. The Trumbull, upon this, run up the continental colors, and returned the fire.
Such was the commencement of an action of three hours' continuance. There was bravery, determination, on both sides. During the greater part of the action, the vessels were not fifty yards apart, and at one time, they were nearly enlocked.
Twice was the Trumbull set on fire by means of wads from the other vessel. Her masts and rigging were greatly injured. Observing, at length, that her masts were in imminent danger of going by the board, the first lieutenant informed Captain Nicholson of the danger, and begged him to abandon further attempt to take the enemy's ship, as without masts they should be at his mercy.
It was with great reluctance that Captain Nicholson adopted the course suggested. He was confident that with one half-hour more, he should have been able to have achieved the victory. But yielding to stern necessity, and the dictates of humanity, he gave up the contest. He lost his main and mizen-top-mast, when only musket-shot distant from the other vessel. At length, only her fore-mast was left, and that was badly wounded and sprung. She had eight men killed, and twenty-one wounded, nine of whom died after the action. Her crew consisted of one hundred and ninety-nine men. The English ship proved to be the Watt, letter-of-marque. She had upwards of ninety men killed and wounded. Not less than one hundred balls struck her hull.
6. ALLIANCE, ATALANTA, AND TREPASSEY.
In February, 1781, Captain Barry, of the frigate Alliance, of thirty-two guns, sailed from Boston for l'Orient, having on board Colonel Lawrence, destined to France on an important embassy to the French court. Having landed Mr. Lawrence, he sailed on a cruise.
On the 28th of May, two sail were discovered on the weather-bow of the Alliance, standing towards her. After having approached sufficiently near to be discovered by Captain Barry, they hauled to wind, and stood on the same course with the Alliance. On the 29th, at day-break, the wind lulled. At sunrise, the Alliance displayed the American colors, and preparations were made for action. The men look their stations.
The vessels with which the Alliance was now to contend were a ship and a brig, displaying English colors—the Atalanta, Captain Edwards, carrying twenty guns and one hundred and thirty men, and the Trepassey, of fourteen guns and eighty men, under command of Captain Smith.
The advantage was, both as to men and guns, on the side of the British; but more than this, as the Alliance must necessarily engage both at the same time. But Captain Barry, no way daunted, determined to do his duty as an officer and a patriot. He, therefore, summoned them to strike their colors. To such a summons they had, of course, no inclination to accede, and the engagement opened with a spirit corresponding to the interest at stake. Unfortunately for the Alliance, a perfect calm prevailed—and on the bosom of the water she lay, in respect to motion, as a thing devoid of life. The opposing vessels had sweeps, and were therefore able to choose their positions. And the most advantageous positions they did choose—they lay on the quarters, and athwart the stern of the Alliance. Consequently, but few of her guns could be brought to bear.
Added to these untoward circumstances, there soon occurred, on board the Alliance, a still greater misfortune.[Pg 483] A grape-shot struck the shoulder of Captain Barry, inflicting a severe and dangerous wound. But he neither heeded its pain nor its danger, but continued on the quarter-deck, marking the progress of the action, and giving his orders as occasion required. At length, however, by reason of loss of blood, he was obliged to be borne below. At this time, the American flag was shot away, and fell. There was a momentary pause on board the Alliance, which the enemy construing into a surrender, they filled the air with loud rejoicings.
But they mistook. The flag had been shot down, not hauled down. The supposed pause was only the needful interval occupied in rëloading. The colors were soon rëinstalled, and again floated as proudly as before; and a full broadside from the Alliance showed to her foes how the interval had been occupied. That broadside rëcalled them to their quarters. Fortunately, about this time, a welcome breeze, though still light, sprung up. The sails of the Alliance, which had scarcely served any purpose during the engagement, and seemed destined to acquire no honor in the coming victory—the sails were no longer idle. They soon brought the vessel into a more favorable position. This circumstance added to the confidence and rëdoubled the efforts of the seamen. Broadside followed broadside in quick succession, and did all desirable execution. At three o'clock in the afternoon the action terminated: the Alliance was the victor.
On being ushered into the presence of Barry, Captain Edwards presented his sword; which, however, the former declined taking, observing, "that he richly merited it, and that his king ought to give him a better ship."
The importance of firmness and perseverance, in a commander, was well illustrated during the above engagement. Soon after Barry received his wound, and had been obliged to go below, one of his lieutenants, disheartened by the misfortune which had befallen his commander, and appalled by the fearful devastation which[Pg 484] seemed to be making by the enemy with the ship's spars and rigging, repaired to him, and proposed that the colors should be struck.
Barry started. The colors be struck! no such thought had entered his mind. The colors be struck! "No!" said he; "if the ship can't be fought without me, carry me at once on deck." The lieutenant, if ashamed, was also rëanimated. He repaired on deck, went round among the crew, and made known Barry's courage and determination. There was but one response among the brave tars. They decided to "stick to him manfully." And they did. From that moment "the ship was fought"—and fought without the presence of Barry. But no sooner was his wound dressed, than he insisted on being aided in ascending to the deck; before reaching it, however, the enemy had struck. Brave seamen! brave commander!
The Alliance had eleven killed during the action, and twenty-one wounded. Among the latter, were several officers. She had suffered terribly in her spars and rigging. The loss of the enemy was eleven killed and thirty wounded.
7. CONGRESS AND SAVAGE.
The Savage was a British sloop, carrying twenty guns and about one hundred and fifty men. In September, 1781, while on a cruise along the Southern coast of the United States, she entered the Potomac, and plundered the estate of Washington, then in another quarter, commanding the American army. It was an expedition unworthy a high-minded and honorable officer, and a well-merited rebuke was soon after meted out to him.
On leaving the Potomac, the Savage fell in with the American privateer Congress, Captain Geddes, off Charleston. The vessels were of the same force. On board the Congress, at the time, was Major McLane, a distinguished American officer, who with a part of his command had volunteered to serve as marines. As the crew of the Savage[Pg 485] were all seamen, she had decidedly the advantage, in respect to the Congress, whose crew, in part, were landsmen, unacquainted with marine warfare.
The vessels were now within cannon distance. The Congress commenced by firing her bow-chasers. This was at half-past ten in the morning. At eleven, they had approximated so near each other, that the landsmen employed their musketry, and with effect. A sharp and destructive cannonade followed on both sides.
At the commencement of the engagement, the advantage lay with the Savage. Her position being on the Congress' bows, was favorable for raking. But a closer engagement followed, and the tide turned in favor of the privateer. So well did she manœuvre, so promptly, so dextrously, that she soon disabled her enemy. At the expiration of an hour, the braces and bowlines of the Savage were shot away. Not a rope was left by which to trim the sails. The musketry of the Americans had cleared her decks. In this situation, it was deemed impossible that she could much longer continue the contest. Indeed, she was already nearly a wreck—her sails, rigging, and yards were so shattered as to forbid her changing her position, but with the greatest difficulty. She would not, however, surrender, but rëcommenced a vigorous cannonade. Again her quarter-deck and forecastle were cleared by the fatal musketry of the American landsmen. Three guns on her main deck were rendered useless. The vessels were now so near each other, that the fire from the guns scorched the men opposed to them in the other. At length, the mizen-mast of the Savage was shot away. At this instant, the boatswain of the Savage appeared forward, with his hat off, calling for quarter. But it was half an hour before the crew of the Congress could board her, by reason of the loss of their boats. But, on reaching her, she was found to be scarcely more than a wreck. Her decks were covered with blood, and killed and wounded men.
The Congress had thirty men killed and wounded. The[Pg 486] Savage had twenty-three killed and thirty-one wounded. Among the latter, was her commander, Captain Sterling.
The marine service often furnished examples of great heroism and most patriotic endurance. Such an instance occurred on board the Congress. After the action terminated, Major McLane went forward to ascertain what had become of his sergeant, Thomas. He found the poor fellow lying on his back in the netting, near the foot of the bowsprit, with his musket loaded, but both legs broken. "Poor fellow!" thought the major, as he beheld him; "poor fellow!" But the poor fellow began huzzaing lustily for the victory achieved; and followed his exulting and even vociferous huzzas by a corresponding exclamation addressed to his major: "Well, major, if they have broken my legs, my hands and my heart are still whole."
Sergeant Thomas was terribly wounded, but the kind-hearted major did not neglect him. The best care was taken of him; ultimately, he recovered; and, nothing deterred by the painful experience he had had of the sometimes ill-fortune of war, he entered on board the Hyder Ali, commanded by Captain Barney.
It is ever delightful to record instances of high-minded and magnanimous conduct on the part of victors towards the vanquished. This engagement furnishes one most honorable to the American character. The officers and crew of the Savage were treated with the greatest kindness and attention. Major McLane even accompanied Captain Sterling into Pennsylvania, to secure him from insult, his treatment of American prisoners having rendered him highly obnoxious to the patriots.
Such is a brief account of some of the exploits of the American marine during the war of the Revolution. There were others perhaps equally honorable to the skill and enterprise of our naval officers, but which our limits forbid us to notice. On the breaking out of the war, the country was poorly prepared to enter the lists with the mistress of the ocean. Indeed, it was not until 1776, that[Pg 487] the forbearing policy of congress was abandoned, and the nautical enterprise of the country was let loose upon British commerce. From that time, however, American valor was exhibited in its true and persevering spirit, and contributed, as far as it had scope, in inducing the mother-country to acknowledge the independence of her wayward child—which she did on the 20th of January, 1783.
Upon this most desirable event, orders of recall were issued to all naval commanders; and the commissions of privateers and letters of marque were annulled. On the 11th of April following, a proclamation from the proper authorities announced the cessation of hostilities. From this time, as the glad intelligence spread, the helms of our warlike ships were turned towards our home ports, leaving the merchantmen again to the peaceful possession of that element, which for years they had traversed, if at all, at the greatest hazard.
XV. EMINENT FOREIGNERS,
CONNECTED WITH THE REVOLUTION.
George III. King of England—General Burgoyne—Sir Henry Clinton—Colonel Barre—Charles Townshend—Lord Cornwallis—William Pitt—Marquis of Bute—George Grenville—Duke of Grafton—Lord North—Colonel Tarleton—Sir Peter Parker—Sir William Meadows—Sir Guy Carlton—General Gage—Marquis of Rockingham—Edmund Burke—Kosciusko—Count Pulaski—Baron de Kalb—Baron Steuben—Count Rochambeau—Count D'Estaing.
In the preceding pages, we have had occasion to trace the causes and events of that struggle which resulted in the independence of the United States; and, in so doing, incidental mention has been made of some of the leading men of England, who figured in the cabinet, in the field, and on the ocean; with the part they acted either in favor of, or in opposition to the grand object of the colonies in their contest with the mother-country. Judging from his own early desires, the author persuades himself that he will be conferring a favor upon his readers by giving some brief sketches, in this place, of those distinguished men, and of others, who contributed to retard or accelerate the final result. Such notices of the most prominent, we proceed to give, beginning with the monarch, the great fountain of power and law, then on the throne of Great Britain.
GEORGE III.
George III. was born in 1738, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his grandfather, George II., October 25, 1760, about the time the troubles with America began. At this period, principally through the lofty spirit and political sagacity of Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, who was, and for some time had been, at the head of the administration, the affairs of the nation were in a most prosperous state. The army and navy were highly efficient, and flushed with recent conquests; the revenue flourished; commerce was increasing; the people were loyal; and,[Pg 489] perhaps, no prince had ascended the throne of his ancestors with more flattering prospects than George the Third.
Soon after ascending the throne, the king evinced a determination to procure a general peace. In this measure he differed from his great minister, Pitt, who, on that account, retired from office, October 5, 1761. Peace, however, contrary to the wishes and designs of the king could not be obtained on a just basis, and the war proceeded.
In May, 1762, Lord Bute, a particular favorite of the king, who had contrived to gain a remarkable ascendancy over him, succeeded the Duke of Newcastle, as first lord of the treasury. Preliminaries of peace between England, France, and Spain, were signed on the 3d of November, and the definite treaty followed, February 10th, 1763. The people, however, were by no means pacifically inclined, or contented with the political ascendancy of Lord Bute, whose administration was attacked with unsparing severity by several popular writers, particularly by the celebrated John Wilkes, in his periodical paper, called the North Briton. The arrest of Wilkes, and the seizure of his papers under a general warrant, issued by the secretary of state for the home department, increased the indignation and clamors of the people; Lord Bute was execrated throughout the country, and the king himself became exceedingly unpopular. The removal of the favorite, and the appointment of George Grenville to the head of the treasury, having failed to allay the national irritation, Pitt, it is asserted, was at length summoned to court, and requested to make arrangements for forming a new ministry; but he presumed, it is added, to dictate such arrogant terms, that, rather than submit to them, the king said he would place the crown on Pitt's head, and submit his own neck to the axe.
In 1764, the king suggested to Grenville the taxation of America, as a grand financial measure for relieving the mother-country from the heavy war expenses, which, it was unjustly claimed, had chiefly been incurred for the[Pg 490] security of the colonies. The minister was startled, and raised objections to the proposal, which, however, were overruled by the king, who plainly told him that, if he were afraid to adopt such a measure, others might easily be found who possessed more political courage. At length, Grenville reluctantly brought the subject before parliament; and, in spite of a violent opposition, the stamp act, so important in its consequences, was passed in the following year. The most alarming irritation prevailed among the colonists of America.
The Rockingham party, which now came into power, procured the repeal of the stamp act; but, notwithstanding this and some other popular measures of the new cabinet, it was dissolved in the summer of 1766. The Duke of Grafton succeeded Lord Rockingham, as first lord of the treasury, and Pitt (then Earl of Chatham) took office as lord privy seal. In the following year, Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, proposed the taxation of certain articles imported by the American colonists; and, early in 1768, Lord Chatham retired in deep disgust from the administration, which, during the preceding autumn, had been weakened by the succession of Lord North to Charles Townshend, as chancellor of the exchequer. Some other official changes took place; one of the most important of which, perhaps, was the appointment of Lord Hillsborough to the new colonial secretaryship.
The aspect of affairs in America grew more serious every hour: the deputies of Massachusetts declared taxation by the British parliament to be illegal; a scheme for a general congress of the different states was proposed, and an open rupture with the mother-country was evidently approaching. Blind to the consequences of their fatal policy, the king and his ministers, however, persisted in those measures, with regard to the trans-Atlantic colonies, which eventually produced a dismemberment of the empire.
In January, 1770, the Duke of Grafton resigned all his employments; but, unfortunately for America, he was succeeded[Pg 491] by Lord North, who increased rather than alleviated the national calamities, and was decidedly with the king in his determination never to yield to the demands of the colonists, but to coerce them to submission, however unjustly, by the arm of power.
In 1782, Lord North was compelled to resign, and the Rockingham party, friendly to the independence of America, came into office; but the new administration soon afterwards broke up, on account of the sudden death of the premier. Lord Shelburne was now placed at the head of the treasury, and Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, became chancellor of the exchequer.
In 1783, a general peace was concluded, and the United States procured a formal acknowledgment of their independence. When Adams, the first American envoy, attended at the levee, the king, to whom he was personally disagreeable, received him with dignified composure, and said, "I was the last man in England to acknowledge the independence of America, but having done so, I shall also be the last to violate it." This was highly honorable to the king. America was a jewel in the British crown which was increasing in lustre, to part with which was truly painful to royal ambition. Nor did George III. consent to any acts which tended to this relinquishment, only as he was compelled to it by the ill success of his armies in America, and the clamorous demands for peace by his subjects at home. But having, at length, parted with this jewel, and having acknowledged the independence of America, he nobly declared his intention to live in peace with this newborn empire.
JOHN BURGOYNE.
General Burgoyne was the natural son of Lord Bingley. At an early age he entered the army; and while quartered with his regiment at Preston, married Lady Charlotte Stanley, whose father, the Earl of Derby, was so incensed at the match, that he threatened utterly to discard her; but a[Pg 492] reconciliation at length took place, and the earl allowed her three hundred pounds a-year during his life, and, by his will, bequeathed her a legacy of twenty-five thousand pounds. The influence of the family to which Burgoyne had thus become allied, tended materially to accelerate his professional advance. In 1762, he acted as brigadier-general of the British forces which were sent out for the defence of Portugal against France and Spain.
In 1775, he was appointed to a command in America; whence he returned in the following year, and held a long conference with the king on colonial affairs. Resuming his post in 1777, he addressed a proclamation to the native Indians, in which he invited them to his standard, but deprecated, with due severity, the cruel practice of scalping. The pompous turgidity of style, in which this address was couched, excited the ridicule of the Americans, and procured for General Burgoyne the soubriquet of "Chrononhotonthologos." His first operations were successful: he dislodged the enemy from Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, and took a large number of cannon, all their armed vessels and batteries, as well as a considerable part of their baggage, ammunition, provisions, and military stores. But his subsequent career was truly disastrous; his troops suffered much from bad roads, inclement weather, and a scarcity of provisions; the Indians, who had previously assisted him, deserted; and the Americans, under General Gates, surrounded him with a superior force, to which, although victorious in two engagements, he was, at length, compelled to capitulate at Saratoga, with the whole of his army. This event, which rendered him equally odious to ministers and the people, was, for some time, the leading topic of the press; and numberless lampoons appeared, in which the general's conduct was most severely satirized. The punsters of the day, taking advantage of the American general's name, amused themselves unmercifully at Burgoyne's expense; but of all their effusions, which, for the most part, were virulent rather than pointed, the following[Pg 493] harmless epigram, poor as it is, appears to have been one of the best:
In May, 1778, he returned to England, on his parole, but the king refused to see him. Burgoyne solicited a court-martial, but in vain. In 1779, he was dismissed the service for refusing to return to America. Three years after, however, he was restored to his rank in the army, appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, and sworn in one of the privy-council of that kingdom. He died suddenly of a fit of the gout, at his house in Hertford street, on the 4th of August, 1792; and his remains were interred in the cloisters of Westminster abbey.
It would, perhaps, be rash to pronounce a positive opinion of the merits of Burgoyne, as a commander. He boldly courted a scrutiny into the causes which led to his surrender at Saratoga, which ministers refused, because, as it has been insinuated, such a proceeding might expose the absurd imprudence and inefficiency of their own measures with regard to the American war. Prior to the capitulation, his military career, as well in America as Portugal, had been rather brilliant; his misfortune was precisely that which befel Cornwallis; but, unlike the latter, Burgoyne was not allowed an opportunity of redeeming his reputation.
In parliament, he was a frequent and fluent, but neither a sound nor an impressive speaker. While in employment, he appears to have been a staunch advocate for the American war; which, however, he severely reprobated, from the time that he ceased to hold a command. He was a writer, chiefly dramatic, of considerable merit.
SIR HENRY CLINTON.
This distinguished general was a grandson of the Earl of Clinton, and was born about the year 1738. After having received a liberal education, he entered the army, and served for some time in Hanover. In the early part of[Pg 494] the revolutionary struggle he came to America, and was present at the battle of Bunker's hill; from which time to the close of the American war, he continued to aid the British cause. In 1777, he was made a Knight of the Bath, and in January, 1778, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. On his return to England, a pamphlet war took place between him and Cornwallis, as to the surrender of the latter, the entire blame of which each party attributed to the other. In 1793, he obtained the governorship of Gibraltar, in possession of which he died on the 23d of December, 1795.
The merits of Sir Henry Clinton, as a commander, have been variously estimated; and, as is usually the case, the truth seems to be intermediate between the panegyric of his friends and the censure of his enemies. That he was endowed with bravery, and possessed a considerable share of military skill, cannot, in fairness, be denied; but he was decidedly unequal to the great difficulties of his situation[Pg 495] and unfit to contend against so lofty a genius as Washington, supported by a people resolved on obtaining their independence, and fighting on their native soil.
ISAAC BARRE.
Colonel Barre was born in Ireland, about the year 1726. He served at Quebec, under Wolfe, in the picture of whose death, by Benjamin West, his figure is conspicuous. The Earl of Shelburne procured him a seat in parliament, where, acting in opposition to government, he was not only deprived of his offices of adjutant-general and governor of Stirling castle, which he had received as a reward for his services in America, but dismissed from the service. During the Rockingham administration, he was compensated for the loss which he had sustained, by being voted a pension of three thousand two hundred pounds per annum; which he subsequently relinquished, pursuant to an arrangement with Pitt, on obtaining a lucrative, but not distinguished office. He usually took office when his party[Pg 496] predominated; and was, in the course of his career, a privy counsellor, vice treasurer of Ireland, paymaster of the forces, and treasurer of the navy. His best speeches were delivered during North's administration, on the American war, to which he appears to have been inflexibly opposed. His oratory was powerful, but coarse; his manner, rugged; his countenance, stern; and his stature, athletic. He was suspected, but apparently without reason, of having assisted in writing the letters of Junius. For the last twenty years of his life, he was afflicted with blindness, which, however, he is said to have borne with cheerful resignation. His death took place on the 20th of July, 1792.
CHARLES TOWNSHEND.
Charles Townshend, son of Viscount Townshend, was born 1725. From his youth, he was distinguished for great quickness of conception and extraordinary curiosity. In 1747, he went into parliament, and continued a member till he died. He held various offices in the government. In 1765, he was paymaster general, and chancellor of the exchequer; and a lord of the treasury in August, 1766, from which period he remained in office until his decease, which took place on the 4th of September, 1767.
In person, Charles Townshend was tall and beautifully proportioned; his countenance was manly, handsome, expressive, and prepossessing. He was much beloved in private life, and enjoyed an unusual share of domestic happiness.
Burke, in his speech on American taxation, thus admirably depicted the general character of Charles Townshend: "Before this splendid orb (alluding to the great Lord Chatham) had entirely set, and while the western horizon was in a blaze with his descending glory, on the opposite quarter of the heavens arose another luminary, and for his hour he became lord of the ascendant. This light, too, is passed, and set for ever! I speak of Charles Townshend, officially the rëproducer of this fatal scheme (American[Pg 497] taxation); whom I cannot even now remember, without some degree of sensibility. In truth, he was the delight and ornament of this house, and the charm of every private society which he honored with his presence. Perhaps there never arose in this country, nor in any country, a man of more pointed and finished wit, and (where his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite, and penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a stock, as some have had who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he knew better by far, than any man I ever was acquainted with, how to bring together, within a short time, all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He stated his matter skillfully and powerfully; he particularly excelled in a most luminous explanation and display of his subject."
CHARLES CORNWALLIS, MARQUIS.
Lord Cornwallis, eldest son of the fifth lord, and first Earl Cornwallis, was born 1738. At the age of twenty, he entered the army, and obtained a captaincy. In 1762, on the death of his brother, he took his seat in the house of lords. In 1770, he and three other young peers, having protested, with Lord Camden, against the taxation of America, Mansfield, the chief justice, is said to have sneeringly observed, "Poor Camden could only get four boys to join him!"
Although he had opposed the measures of the government with regard to the disaffected colonies, yet when hostilities commenced, he did not scruple to accept of active employment against the Americans. His history, during the war, will be found in the preceding pages. He was a proud man, and most humiliating was it when he was obliged to surrender to Washington at Yorktown.
But his failure in America did not impair his reputation. On his return to England, he was made governor of the Tower. In 1786, he was sent to Calcutta, as governor-general[Pg 498] and commander-in-chief. Having terminated, successfully, a war in that country, he returned to England. In 1799, he became lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Soon after the expiration of his vice-regency, he was sent to France as plenipotentiary for Great Britain, in which capacity he signed the treaty of Amiens. In 1804, he succeeded the Marquis Wellesley, as governor-general of India. On his arrival at Calcutta, he proceeded, by water, to take the command in the upper provinces. The confinement of the boat, the want of exercise, and the heat of the weather, had a most serious effect on his health. Feeling, soon after he had landed, that his dissolution was at hand, he prepared some valuable instructions for his successor; and the last hours of his life were passed in taking measures to lessen the difficulties which his decease would produce. He expired at Ghazepoore, in Benares, on the 5th of October, 1805.
Lord Cornwallis was not endowed with any brilliancy of talent. He had to contend with no difficulties, on his entrance into life: high birth procured him a military station, which his connexions enabled him to retain, after he had committed an error, or, at least, met with a mischance, that would have utterly ruined a less influential commander. Although ambitious, he appears to have possessed but little ardor. He manifested no extraordinary spirit of enterprise; he hazarded no untried manœuvres; and yet, few of his contemporaries passed through life with more personal credit or public advantage. He had the wisdom never to depute to others what he could perform himself. His perseverance, alacrity, and caution, procured him success as a general, while his strong common sense rendered him eminent as a governor. He always evinced a most anxious desire to promote the welfare of those who were placed under his administration; Ireland and Hindostan still venerate his memory. His honor was unimpeachable; his manners, devoid of ostentation; and his private character, altogether amiable.
Napoleon Buonaparte, in his conversations with Barry O'Meara, declared that Lord Cornwallis, by his integrity, fidelity, frankness, and the nobility of his sentiments, was the first who had impressed upon him a favorable opinion of Englishmen. "I do not believe," said the ex-emperor, "that he was a man of first-rate abilities; but he had talent, great probity, sincerity, and never broke his word. Something having prevented him from attending at the Hôtel de Dieu, to sign the treaty of Amiens, pursuant to appointment, he sent word to the French ministers that they might consider it completed, and that he would certainly execute it the next morning. During the night, he received instructions to object to some of the articles; disregarding which, he signed the treaty as it stood, observing that his government, if dissatisfied, might refuse to ratify it, but that, having once pledged his word, he felt bound to abide by it. There was a man of honor!" added Napoleon; "a true Englishman."
LORD CHATHAM.
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was born November 15, 1708. His father was Robert Pitt, of Boconnock, in the county of Cornwall. He received his education at Trinity college, Cambridge. He took a seat in parliament as early as 1735, as a member for Old Sarum. His exalted talents, his lofty spirit, and commanding eloquence, soon rendered him singularly conspicuous. Under George II., in 1757, he became premier of that celebrated war administration, which raised England to a proud prëeminence over the other nations of Europe. His energy was unbounded. "It must be done," was the reply he often made, when told that his orders could not be executed. After which, no excuse was admitted. Under his auspices, England triumphed in every quarter of the globe. In America, the French lost Quebec; in Africa, their chief settlements fell; in the East Indies, their power was abridged; in Europe, their armies suffered defeat; while their navy[Pg 500] was nearly annihilated, and their commerce almost reduced to ruin.
On the accession of George the Third, Pitt, who felt strongly impressed with the policy of declaring war against Spain, was thwarted in his wishes by the influence of Lord Bute; and, disdaining to be nominally at the head of a cabinet which he could not direct, he resigned his office in October, 1761.
In 1764, he greatly distinguished himself by his opposition to general warrants, which, with all his accustomed energy and eloquence, he stigmatized as being atrociously illegal. A search for papers, or a seizure of the person, without some specific charge, was, he contended, repugnant to every principle of true liberty. "By the British constitution," said he, "every man's house is his castle! not that it is surrounded by walls and battlements; it may be a straw-built shed; every wind of heaven may whistle round it; all the elements of nature may enter it; but the king cannot; the king dare not."
He invariably opposed, with the whole force of his eloquence, the measures which led to the American war: and long after his retirement from office, he exerted himself most zealously to bring about a reconciliation between the mother-country and her colonies; But when the Duke of Portland, in 1778, moved an address to the crown, on the necessity of acknowledging the independence of America, Lord Chatham, although he had but just left a sick bed, opposed the motion with all the ardent eloquence of his younger days. "My lords," said he, "I lament that my infirmities have so long prevented my attendance here, at so awful a crisis. I have made an effort almost beyond my strength to come down to the house on this day, (and perhaps it will be the last time I shall be able to enter its walls,) to express my indignation at an idea which has gone forth of yielding up America. My lords: I rejoice that the grave has not yet closed upon me; that I am still alive to lift up my voice against the dismemberment of this ancient and most noble monarchy. Pressed down, as I am, by the hand of infirmity, I am little able to assist my country in this most perilous conjuncture; but, my lords, while I have sense and memory, I will never consent to deprive the royal offspring of the house of Brunswick of their fairest inheritance."
The Duke of Richmond having replied to this speech, Lord Chatham attempted to rise again, but fainted, and fell into the arms of those who were near him. The house instantly adjourned, and the earl was conveyed home in a state of exhaustion, from which he never recovered. His death took place at Hayes, early in the following month, namely, on the 11th of May, 1778. The House of Commons voted the departed patriot, who had thus died gloriously at his post, a public funeral, and a monument in Westminster abbey at the national expense. An income of four thousand pounds per annum was annexed to the earldom of Chatham, and the sum of twenty thousand pounds cheerfully granted to liquidate his debts: for, instead of[Pg 502] profiting by his public employments, he had wasted his property in sustaining their dignity, and died in embarrassed circumstances.
In figure, Lord Chatham was eminently dignified and commanding. "There was a grandeur in his personal appearance," says a writer, who speaks of him when in his decline, "which produced awe and mute attention; and, though bowed by infirmity and age, his mind shone through the ruins of his body, armed his eye with lightning, and clothed his lips with thunder." Bodily pain never subdued the lofty daring, or the extraordinary activity of his mind. He even used his crutch as a figure of rhetoric. "You talk, my lords," said he, on one occasion, "of conquering America—of your numerous friends there—and your powerful forces to disperse her army. I might as well talk of driving them before me with this crutch."
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
Charles James Fox was the third son of Henry Fox, Lord Holland, and was born January 24th, 1749. His mother was a daughter of the Duke of Richmond, and his sister the wife of Lord Cornwallis. Lord Holland made it a rule, in the tuition of his children, to follow and regulate, but not to restrain nature. This indulgence was a sad error, as it always is on the part of parents. On arriving to maturity, Charles used to boast that he was, when young, never thwarted in any thing. Two instances are related of this indulgence of the father, before the son was six years old. One day, standing by his father, while he was winding up a watch—"I have a great mind to break that watch, papa," said the boy. "No, Charles; that would be foolish." "Indeed, papa," said he, "I must do it." "Nay," answered the father, "if you have such a violent inclination, I won't baulk it." Upon which, he delivered the watch into the hands of the youngster, who instantly dashed it on the floor.
At another time, while Lord Holland was secretary of state, having just finished a long dispatch which he was[Pg 503] going to send, Mr. Charles, who stood near him, with his hand on the inkstand, said, "Papa, I have a good mind to throw this ink over the paper." "Do, my dear," said the secretary, "if it will give you any pleasure." The young gentleman immediately threw on the ink, and his father sat down very composedly to write the dispatch over again.
Such a course of education, we should anticipate, would work the moral ruin of a child. Its baleful influence was seen in after years, in gambling, horse-racing, drinking, and kindred vices, carried to a fearful extent on the part of this son, whose training was so inauspiciously begun and persevered in.
But, despite of these most degrading and ruinous practices, Fox proved to be one of the most accomplished and effective orators, and perhaps we may add, statesman of his times. He was the rival of Pitt; and, though not so finished in his elocution, he not unfrequently equalled him in the effect produced.
By what means he attained to such eminence, it scarcely appears; for the younger part of his life seems to have been so exclusively devoted to his pleasures, as scarcely to have time left for the cultivation of his intellect. His genius, however, was brilliant; and from his earliest years he was in the society of men distinguished for their cultivated intellect, and the eminent part they took in the government[Pg 504] of the country. It is related of Fox, that he would not unfrequently spend the entire night at his favorite amusement, gambling, and thence proceed to the House of Commons, when he would electrify the whole assembly with some cogent and brilliant speech.
Fox was a firm, steadfast friend to the Americans and their independence. At the time the measures which led to the American war had come to a crisis, a formidable party existed in England, opposed to the unjust and illiberal policy of the government. To this party, Fox united himself; and, from his conspicuous talents, soon acquired the authority of a leader. In 1773, he opposed the Boston port bill, and apologized for the conduct of the colonies. In his speech on that occasion, he arraigned the measures of the ministers in bold and energetic language, and explained the principles of the constitution with masculine eloquence. The session of 1775, opened with a speech from the king, declaring the necessity of coercion. On this occasion, Fox poured forth a torrent of his powerful eloquence. In that plain, forcible language, which formed one of the many excellencies of his speeches, he showed what ought to have been done, what ministers had promised to do, and what they had not done. He affirmed that Lord Chatham, the king of Prussia—nay, even Alexander the Great—never gained more in one campaign than Lord North had lost.
When the news of the disastrous defeat of Burgoyne reached England, Fox loudly insisted upon an inquiry into the causes of his failure. And in like manner, when the fate of Cornwallis' army at Yorktown was made known, the oppositionists were loud in their denunciations of the proceedings of ministers in regard to the war. Mr. Fox designed to make a motion for an investigation into the conduct of Lord Sandwich, who was at the head of the admiralty. But he was, for a time, too much indisposed to make the attempt. It was on this occasion, that Burke is reported to have said, "that if Fox died, it would be no bad use of his skin, if, like John Ziska's, it should be converted[Pg 505] into a drum, and used for the purpose of sounding an alarm to the people of England."
The death of Mr. Fox occurred 13th of August, 1806.
Walpole thus compares the two great orators of England: "Mr. Fox, as a speaker, might be compared to the rough, but masterly specimen of the sculptor's art; Mr. Pitt, to the exquisitely finished statue. The former would need a polish to render him perfect; the latter possessed, in a transcendent degree, every requisite of an accomplished orator. The force of Mr. Fox's reasoning flashed like lightning upon the mind of the hearer: the thunder of Mr. Pitt's eloquence gave irresistible effect to his powerful and convincing arguments."
The sympathy and support of such men as Fox, during our Revolutionary struggle, served to sustain and animate our patriotic fathers. They felt that while they were in the field, engaged in defeating the armies of England, they had friends in the House of Commons, who were making every possible effort to defeat the impolitic and oppressive measures of the king and his ministers.
JOHN STUART.
John Stuart, Marquis of Bute, was born in 1715. In the ninth year of his age, he succeeded his father as Marquis of Bute. On the accession of George the Third, the highest dignities in the state were supposed to be within the grasp of Lord Bute; but, however he might have swayed the king's mind in private, he took no public part in the direction of public affairs until 1761, when he accepted the secretaryship resigned in that year by Lord Holderness. At length, he became prime minister; and, immediately on coming into power, determined, if possible, to effect a peace, which had for some time been negotiating. He accomplished his object, but his success rendered him exceedingly unpopular. He was accused, by some weak-minded persons, of having been bribed by the enemies of his country; and it was added, that the princess dowager had shared with him[Pg 506] in the price at which peace had been purchased by the French government.
He quitted office in April, 1763, but continued to exert a powerful influence over the mind of the king, especially in relation to America. Several measures, the object of which was to humble the colonies, and continue them in subjection to the crown, are said to have been suggested by this nobleman. He died in 1792.
GEORGE GRENVILLE.
George Grenville was born 1712. In 1741, he was returned to parliament for the town of Buckingham, for which place he served during the remainder of his life. He held several important offices. In April, 1763, he became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. He resigned his office in July, 1765, and died in November, 1770. During his premiership, the project of imposing internal taxes in America was carried into effect. The[Pg 507] project was first named to him by the king, and urged upon him. At first, the minister was opposed to the idea, but after having adopted it as a measure of his administration, which he was compelled to do by royal authority, he urged and supported it by all the means in his power.
DUKE OF GRAFTON.
Henry Augustus Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, was born 1735. He was educated at Cambridge, where he was notoriously profligate. In July, 1766, the Rockingham administration was dissolved, and the Duke of Grafton was made first lord commissioner of the treasury, which office he held until January, 1770. He has received an unenviable notoriety from the strictures of Junius. His administration was composed of men of different political principles and parties. Junius, in a letter addressed to the duke, thus narrates, and severely animadverts upon, the circumstances of his grace's appointment to the premiership: "The spirit of the favorite (Lord Bute) had some apparent influence upon every administration; and every set of ministers preserved an appearance of duration as long as they submitted to that influence; but there were certain services to be performed for the favorite's security, or to gratify his resentments, which your predecessors in office had the wisdom, or the virtue, not to undertake. A submissive administration was, at last, gradually collected from the deserters of all parties, interests, and connexions; and nothing remained but to find a leader for these gallant, well-disciplined troops. Stand forth, my lord, for thou art the man! Lord Bute found no resource of dependence or security in the proud, imposing superiority of Lord Chatham's abilities; the shrewd, inflexible judgment of Mr. Grenville; nor in the mild, but determined integrity of Lord Rockingham. His views and situation required a creature void of all these properties; and he was forced to go through all his division, resolution, composition, and refinement of political chemistry, before he happily arrived at the caput mortuum of vitriol in your grace. Flat[Pg 508] and insipid in your retired state, but brought into action, you become vitriol again. Such are the extremes of alternate indolence or fury, which have governed your whole administration!"
FREDERICK NORTH, EARL OF GUILFORD.
This nobleman, better known as Lord North, was the minister of George III., under whose administration England lost her American colonies. He succeeded Charles Townshend, as chancellor of the exchequer; and, in 1770, the Duke of Grafton, as first lord of the treasury, and continued in that high, but laborious office, till the conclusion of the war. As a public character, Lord North was a flowing and persuasive orator, well skilled in argumentation, and master of great presence and coolness of mind; and, in private life, he was very amiable, cheerful, and jocose in conversation, the friend of learned men, and correct in conduct. In his policy towards America, he was stern and uncompromising. On first coming into power, he was inclined to be conciliatory; but soon he adopted restrictive and oppressive measures, more so than his predecessors, and, at length, declared that he would omit no means but that he would bring America in humility at his feet. The faithful warnings of Pitt, Burke, Fox, and others, had no restraining influence, and the consequence was, that America was lost to the British crown. Lord North, in the latter years of his life, was afflicted with blindness. He died July, 1792, aged sixty.
BARRASTRE TARLETON.
Colonel Tarleton was born in Liverpool, on the 21st of August, 1754, and at first commenced studying law, but, on the breaking out of war in America, he entered the army, and, having arrived in that country, he was permitted to raise a body of troops called the "British Legion," which he commanded in several successful excursions against the enemy. Such was the daring intrepidity, energy, and skill,[Pg 509] with which he conducted his corps, that he may be said to have greatly accelerated, if not secured, some of the most important victories under Lord Cornwallis. On his return to England, he was made a colonel, and became so popular that, in 1790, he was returned, free of expense, as a member for Liverpool, which he represented in three subsequent parliaments.
In 1818, previously to which he had been raised to the rank of general, he was created a baronet, and, on the coronation of George the Fourth, was made a K. C. B. He was one of the bravest officers of his time, and is described as having been to the British, in the American war, what Arnold, in his early career, was to the Americans.
SIR PETER PARKER.
Sir Peter Parker, son of Rear-admiral Christopher Parker, was born in 1723, and entered the navy under the auspices of his father. Having served with great reputation on several occasions, in 1775 he hoisted his broad pendant on board the Bristol, of fifty guns, in which he proceeded, with a squadron under his command, to the American station. On account of bad weather and other impediments, he did not reach Cape Fear until May, 1776. In the following month, he made an unsuccessful attack on Charleston, in South Carolina. Shortly afterwards, he joined Lord Howe, the commander-in-chief, at New York, whence he was dispatched, with the Asia, Renown, and Preston, to distract the attention of the enemy, while the army attacked the lines on Long Island. Towards the close of the same year, he proceeded, in command of a small squadron, to make an attempt on Rhode Island, of which he obtained possession without loss. He was now advanced to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue; and, a few months after, appointed to the chief command on the Jamaica station, where he served with signal success until 1782, in which year he returned with a convoy to England.[Pg 510] Before his death, which occurred in 1811, he became admiral of the blue and admiral of the white.
SIR WILLIAM MEADOWS.
Sir William Meadows was born in 1738. In 1775, he repaired with his regiment to America, where he distinguished himself, particularly at the battle of Brandywine, during which he was wounded.
In 1792, he served under Cornwallis in India. On returning to England, he was appointed governor of the Isle of Wight, and, afterwards, governor of Hull. He died at Bath, 1813.
As a military man, he was highly distinguished. He was invariably cheerful, during an engagement; and his troops, by whom he was much beloved, are said, on more than one occasion, to have mounted the breach, laughing at their general's last joke. His hilarity scarcely ever deserted him; one day, while on a reconnoitering party, he observed a twenty-four-pound shot strike the ground, on his right, in such a direction that, had he proceeded, it would, in all probability, have destroyed him; he, therefore, stopped his horse, and, as the ball dashed across the road in front of him, gracefully took off his hat, and said: "I beg, sir, that you will continue your promenade; I never take the precedence of any gentleman of your family."
GENERAL GAGE.
General Thomas Gage, second son of Viscount Gage, was born about the year 1721, and entered the army at an early age. Having served with considerable credit, he was commissioned as lieutenant-general; soon after which, (April, 1774,) he was appointed to succeed Mr. Hutchinson, as governor of Massachusetts Bay. In May, he sailed for Boston with four regiments, where, contrary to his expectations, he was received with great ceremony and outward respect.
About this time, serious troubles of the colonies with[Pg 511] England began. General Gage took strong and decided measures, and hastened, rather than retarded, an open contest. By his order it was that the military stores at Concord were destroyed, which led to the skirmish at Lexington, and which opened the war.
On the 10th of October, 1775, he resigned his command to Sir William Howe, and departed for England. At the time of his death, which took place on the 2d of April, 1788, he was a general in the army. His talents for command are said to have been respectable.
SIR GUY CARLTON.
Guy Carlton, Lord Dorchester, was born in Ireland, in 1722. In 1748, he became lieutenant-colonel. In 1758, he served at the siege of Louisburg under Amherst, and the following year under Wolfe, at the siege of Quebec. Ultimately he became governor of Quebec, and, during his administration, defeated the American flotilla under Arnold. In 1790, having been created Baron Dorchester, he was[Pg 512] appointed governor of all the British possessions, except Newfoundland, in North America. The close of his life was passed in retirement. He died in 1808. As a soldier, Lord Dorchester appears to have deservedly obtained a high reputation for courage and skill.
MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM.
Charles Watson Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham, was born 1730. In 1763, disgusted with the proceedings of Lord Bute, then the reigning favorite at court, he resigned the situation of a lord of the bed-chamber, which he had for some time before held, and also his lord-lieutenancy of Yorkshire. Two years had scarcely elapsed, however, when the whole system of government having undergone a change, he was appointed, in July, 1765, first lord of the treasury, in the room of George Grenville. He seems to have brought to his exalted station an anxious desire to advance the prosperity of his country; and had his talents been equal to his good intentions, his administration might have proved fortunate. But the crisis in which he took office was important and even dangerous, and he had to struggle against the intrigues of an opposition, powerful both in numbers and talent. He soon became convinced of the impracticability of remaining at the helm of affairs, and resigned the premiership on the 1st of August, 1766.
During the long administration of Lord North, the marquis was considered, in the House of Lords, as the head of the aristocratic part of the opposition; but his conduct was entirely free from that political rancor which has too often disgraced the parliamentary behavior of the greatest statesmen in England. At length, Lord North felt compelled to succumb beneath the force and continued attacks of his powerful rival, Fox; and George the Third offered the premiership to Lord Shelburne, who, however, declared that, in his judgment, no one was so well fitted to take the lead in administration as the Marquis of Rockingham. Accordingly, in March, 1782, the marquis was again elevated[Pg 513] to the chief direction of affairs, having for his principal colleagues, the Earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox. The ministry thus formed, seemed likely to be permanent; for it united much of the wealth and talent of the country. The hopes of the nation were, however, doomed to be miserably disappointed. On the 1st of July, the marquis was seized with a violent spasmodic affection, and almost instantly expired. He had long anticipated his approaching death, and is said to have expressed but one motive for wishing a continuance of life, which was, that he might see his country extricated from her troubles.
EDMUND BURKE.
The history of this distinguished statesman and eloquent orator is exceedingly interesting, but it belongs to these pages to notice him only as he was a friend to American rights, and often lifted up his voice in parliament in defence of them. He was born in Dublin, 1730. His father was a respectable attorney. Burke received his education at[Pg 514] Trinity college; on the completion of which, he studied law, but devoted himself chiefly to literature. He conducted Dodley's celebrated Annual Register for many years. In 1765, he entered into public life, being made private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham at the time that nobleman was called to the head of the treasury. Soon after, he was elected to parliament. In 1766, he took a prominent part in a debate relative to the affairs of America, and often, afterwards, raised his voice in opposition to the arbitrary measures of the government. For a time, the affairs of America are said to have engrossed almost all his attention.
During one of the debates on American affairs, a member from Hull, by the name of Hartley, after having driven four-fifths of a very full house from the benches, by an unusually dull speech, at length requested that the riot act might be read, for the purpose of elucidating one of his propositions. Burke, who was impatient to address the house himself, immediately started up, and exclaimed: "The riot act! My dearest friend, why, in the name of every thing sacred, have the riot act read? The mob, you see, is already dispersed!" Peals of laughter followed the utterance of this comic appeal, which Lord North frequently declared to be one of the happiest instances of wit he ever heard.[53]
Burke died in 1797. Unlike many of the statesmen of[Pg 515] his day, "his character, in private life, was almost unimpeachable." As a public speaker, his manner was bold and forcible; his delivery, vehement and unembarrassed; but, though easy, he was inelegant. His head continually oscillated, and his gesticulations were frequently violent. To the last hour of his life, his pronunciation was Hibernian. Although a great orator, he was not a skillful debater. Few men ever possessed greater strength of imagination, or a more admirable choice of words. His mind was richly stored, and he had the most perfect mastery over its treasures. Johnson said he was not only the first man in the House of Commons, but the first man every where; and, on being asked if he did not think Burke resembled Cicero, replied, "No, sir; Cicero resembled Burke."
THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.
Thaddeus Kosciusko, a Polish officer in the American revolutionary war, was born in Lithuania, in 1756, of an ancient and noble family, and educated at the military school at Warsaw. He afterwards studied in France. He came to America, recommended, by Franklin, to General Washington, by whom he was appointed his aid. He was also appointed his engineer, with the rank of colonel, in October 1776. At the unsuccessful siege of Ninety-Six, in 1781, he very judiciously directed the operations. It was, in 1774, that he left this country, and, in 1786, he returned to Poland. In 1789, the diet gave him the appointment of major-general. In the campaign of 1792, he distinguished himself against the Russians. In 1794, the Poles again took arms, and were headed by Kosciusko; but, after several splendid battles, he was taken and thrown into prison by Catharine, but was released by Paul I. When the emperor presented him with his own sword, he declined it, saying: "I no longer need a sword, since I have no longer a country." Never afterwards did he wear a sword. In August, 1797, he visited America, and was received with honor. For his revolutionary services, he[Pg 516] received a pension. In 1798, he went to France. Having purchased an estate near Fontainebleau, he lived there till 1814. In 1816, he settled at Soleure, in Switzerland. In 1817, he abolished slavery on his estate in Poland. He died at Soleure, in consequence of a fall with his horse from a precipice near Vevay, October 16, 1817, aged sixty-one. He was never married.
COUNT PULASKI.
Count Pulaski was a Polander by birth, who, with a few men, in 1771, carried off King Stanislaus from the middle of his capital, though surrounded with a numerous body of guards and a Russian army. The king soon escaped, and declared Pulaski an outlaw. After his arrival in this country, he offered his services to congress, and was honored with the rank of brigadier-general. He discovered the greatest intrepidity in an engagement with a party of the British near Charleston, in May, 1779. In the assault upon Savannah, October 9th, by General Lincoln and Count D'Estaing, Pulaski was wounded, at the head of two hundred horsemen, as he was galloping into the town, with the intention of charging in the rear. He died on the 11th, and congress resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory.
BARON DE KALB.
Baron de Kalb was a native of Germany, but had been long employed in the service of France, previous to the commencement of the American revolution. He arrived in this country in 1777; and being an officer of great experience, he early received from congress the commission of major-general. In the battle near Camden, August, 1780, he fell, after receiving eleven wounds, in his vigorous exertions to prevent the defeat of the Americans. He died August 19th, aged forty-seven, having served three years with high reputation. His last moments were spent in dictating a letter, which expressed his warm affection for the[Pg 517] men and officers of his division, and his admiration of their firmness and courage in withstanding a superior force. An ornamental tree was planted at the head of his grave in the neighborhood of Camden, and congress resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory at Annapolis, with a very honorable inscription.
BARON STEUBEN.
Frederick William, Baron de Steuben, was a Prussian officer, aid-de-camp to Frederick the Great, and lieutenant-general in the army of that distinguished commander. He arrived in America in 1777; soon after which, he was made inspector-general, with the rank of major-general. He established a uniform system of manœuvres; and, by his skill and persevering industry, effected, during the continuance of the troops at Valley Forge, a most decided improvement in all ranks of the army. He was a volunteer in the action at Monmouth, and commanded in the trenches at Yorktown on the day which concluded the struggle with Great Britain. He died at Steubenville, New York, November 28th, 1794, aged sixty-one years.
"When the army was disbanded, and the old soldiers shook hands in farewell, Lieutenant-colonel Cochran, a Green-mountain veteran, said: 'For myself, I could stand it; but my wife and daughters are in the garret of that wretched tavern, and I have no means of removing them,' 'Come,' said the baron, 'I will pay my respects to Mrs. C. and her daughters.' And when he left them, their countenances were brightened; for he gave them all he had to give. This was at Newburg. On the wharf, he saw a poor wounded black man, who wanted a dollar to pay for his passage home. Of whom the baron borrowed the dollar, it is not known; but he soon returned; when the negro hailed the sloop, and cried: 'God bless you, master baron!' The state of New Jersey gave him a small farm. New York gave him sixteen thousand acres in Oneida county; a pension of twenty-five hundred dollars was also given him.[Pg 518] He built him a log house at Steubenville, gave a tenth-part of his land to his aids and servants, and parceled out the rest to twenty or thirty tenants. His library was his chief solace. Having but little exercise, he died of apoplexy. Agreeably to his request, he was wrapped in his cloak, and buried in a plain coffin, without a stone. He was a believer in Jesus Christ, and a member of the Reformed Dutch Church, New York."
COUNT ROCHAMBEAU.
Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, marshal of France, was born at Vendome in 1725. At the age of sixteen he entered the army, and served in Germany, under Marshal Broglio. In 1746, he became aid to Louis Philip, Duke of Orleans. In 1780, having been made lieutenant-general, he was sent with an army of six thousand men to the assistance of the United States of America. On reaching the place of his destination, he landed in Rhode Island, and soon after acted in concert with Washington, first against Clinton in New York, and then against Cornwallis, rendering important services at the siege of Yorktown, which were rewarded by a present of two cannon taken from Lord Cornwallis. After the Revolution, Rochambeau was raised to the rank of a marshal by Louis XVI., and received the command of the army of the north. He was soon superseded by more active officers, and being calumniated by the popular journalists, he addressed to the legislative assembly a vindication of his conduct. A decree of approbation was consequently passed in May, 1792, and he retired to his estate near Vendome, with a determination to interfere no more with public affairs. He was subsequently arrested, and narrowly escaped suffering death under the tyranny of Robespiere. In 1803, he was presented to Buonaparte, who in the following year gave him a pension and the cross of grand officer of the legion of honor. His death took place in 1809.—Encyclopedia Americana.
COUNT D'ESTAING.
Charles Henry, Count d'Estaing, admiral and lieutenant-general of the armies of France, before the Revolution, was a native of Ravel, in Auvergne, and was descended from an ancient family in that province. Count d'Estaing commenced his career by serving in the East Indies, under Lally, when he was taken prisoner, and sent home on his parole. Having engaged in hostilities again before he was regularly exchanged, he was taken a second time, and imprisoned at Portsmouth. During the American war, he was employed as vice-admiral.
At the capture of the isle of Grenada, he distinguished himself; but on every occasion he showed more courage than conduct or professional skill. He promoted the Revolution, and in 1789, he was appointed a commander of the National Guards at Versailles. In 1791, he addressed to the national assembly a letter full of protestations of attachment to the constitution, on the occasion of the approaching trial of the king. He suffered under the guillotine in 1793, as a counter-revolutionist, at the age of sixty-five.
V. FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
Original Governments of the Colonies—Union between them—Plan proposed by Dr. Franklin—First Congress—Congress of '74—Confederation—Defects of it—Convention of States proposed by Virginia—Commissioners from five States meet at Annapolis—Powers too limited to act—Recommend a General Convention of States—Delegates appointed—Convention meets at Philadelphia—Decides to form a new Constitution—Draft prepared—Discussed—Adopted—Speech of Dr. Franklin—Constitution signed—Adopted by the several States—Amendments—States admitted since the adoption—Remarks on the Constitution.
The several colonies established in America had governments which varied according as they were charter, proprietary, or royal, which were the three forms of government existing in America prior to the Revolution. In certain particulars, they differed from each other as classes, and the classes differed as individuals. But for a series of years there existed no general political association, or bond of union among them. As early, however, as 1643, the New England colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, entered into a perpetual alliance, offensive and defensive, for mutual protection against the claims of[Pg 521] their Dutch neighbors, and the assaults of their Indian foes. By the articles of this confederation, the jurisdiction of each colony within its own borders was to be exclusive; on the occurrence of war, each one was to furnish its quota of men and provisions, according to its population; and two commissioners from each colony were to hold an annual meeting to decide on all matters of general interest. With some alterations, this confederacy existed more than forty years; it was dissolved only in 1686, when the charters of the New England colonies were vacated by a commissioner from James II. This union was productive of many advantages to the colonies. Besides preserving a mutual good understanding among them, and thus preventing encroachments upon one another's rights, assistance was rendered in their wars with the Indians; without which, it is probable that the more feeble would have been broken up.
In 1754, an attempt at union was made on a more extensive scale. The plan originated in a call from the lords commissioners for trade and the plantations, and consisted of deputies from the New England provinces, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The congress met at Albany. The object proposed by the commissioners was to consider the best means of defence in case of a war with France, and particularly to form an alliance with the Six Nations. Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, availing himself of the occasion, proposed to the several governors that the delegates should be instructed on the subject of a general union or confederation. This meeting with general approbation, the delegates were so instructed. A plan of union, prepared by Dr. Franklin, was discussed, and substantially adopted—the delegates from Connecticut dissenting.[54] But it received the approbation neither of the colonies nor of the king's council; not by the first, because it was supposed to give too much power to the president-general, who was to be[Pg 522] the king's representative; nor by the latter, because too much power was supposed to be given to the representatives of the people.
The foregoing plan having failed, no other attempt at union was made for several years. At length, in 1765, in consequence of the passing of the stamp act by parliament, and other grievances, the assembly of Massachusetts in June of that year adopted the following resolution: "That it is highly expedient there should be a meeting, as soon as may be, of committees from the houses of representatives or burgesses, in the several colonies, to consult on the present circumstances of the colonies, and the difficulties to which they are and must be reduced, and to consider of a general congress, to be held at New York, the first Tuesday of October. A letter was prepared, to be sent to the several speakers, and a committee was chosen for Massachusetts."
In consequence of the proceedings under this recommendation, "on the 7th of October, a congress, consisting of twenty-eight delegates from the assemblies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Delaware counties, Maryland, and South Carolina, convened in the city of New York, and Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was chosen president. The first measure of the congress was a declaration of the rights and grievances of the colonists. They were declared to be entitled to all the rights and liberties of natural-born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain; among the most essential of which are, the exclusive power to tax themselves, and the privileges of a trial by jury. The grievance chiefly complained of was the act granting certain stamp duties and other duties in the British colonies, which, by taxing the colonies without their consent, and by extending the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty, was declared to have a direct tendency to subvert their rights and liberties. A petition to the king, and a memorial to each house of parliament,[Pg 523] were also agreed on; and it was recommended to the several colonies to appoint special agents, who should unite their utmost endeavors in soliciting redress of grievances. The assemblies of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, were prevented, by their governors, from sending representatives to the congress; but they forwarded petitions to England, similar to those appointed by that body."[55]
In 1774, the grievances of the colonies still continuing, and having been increased by the open assertion of Great Britain of the justice of her pretensions, another congress was assembled at Philadelphia, which consisted of delegates from eleven colonies. In this congress, each colony had one vote. Their principal acts consisted of a declaration of rights, and in spirited addresses to the people of British America and Great Britain, together with a recommendation to the colonies to adopt resolutions of non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption.
The resolutions of this congress received the general sanction of the provincial congress and of the colonial assemblies. Their power was merely advisory; "yet their recommendations," says Dr. Holmes, "were more generally and more effectually carried into execution by the colonies than the laws of the best-regulated state."
But the dissuasive measures adopted by this congress having no effect on the king and his ministers, another congress followed in 1775, "whose pacific efforts to bring about a change in the views of the other party being equally unavailing, and the commencement of actual hostilities having, at length, put an end to all hope of reconciliation, the congress finding, moreover, that the popular voice began to call for an entire and perpetual dissolution of the political ties which had connected them with Great Britain, proceeded on the memorable 4th of July, 1776, to declare the thirteen colonies independent states.
"During the discussions of this solemn act, a committee,[Pg 524] consisting of a member from each colony, had been appointed to prepare and digest a form of confederation for the future management of the common interest, which had, hitherto, been left to the discretion of congress, guided by the exigencies of the contest, and by the known intentions, or occasional instructions of the colonial legislatures.
"It appears that as early as the 21st of July, 1775, a plan, entitled 'Articles of Confederation and perpetual union of the Colonies,' had been sketched by Dr. Franklin, the plan being on that day submitted by him to congress; and though not copied into their journals, remaining on their files in his hand-writing. But, notwithstanding the term 'perpetual,' observed in the title, the articles provided expressly for the event of a return of the colonies to a connection with Great Britain.
"This sketch became a basis for the plan reported by the committee on the 12th of July, now also remaining on the files of congress, in the hand-writing of Mr. Dickinson. The plan, though dated after the Declaration of Independence, was probably drawn up before that event; since the name of colonies, not states, is used throughout the draught. The plan reported was debated and amended from time to time, till the 17th of November, 1777, when it was agreed to by congress, and proposed to the legislatures of the states, with an explanatory and recommendatory letter. The ratifications of these, by their delegates in congress, duly authorized, took place at successive dates; but were not completed till the 1st of March, 1781; when Maryland, who had made it a prërequisite that the vacant lands acquired from the British crown should be a common fund, yielded to the persuasion that a final and formal establishment of the federal union and government would make a favorable impression, not only on other foreign nations, but on Great Britain herself."[56]
Under this confederation, the country went through the[Pg 525] war. Fortunate it was, however, that the war terminated when it did, as the "rope of sand," as the confederation was called, would probably have served as a bond of union but a few years longer. Indeed, it had received the cordial approbation of none of the colonies—while some of them had, at length, acceded to it rather from necessity than choice.
"The principal difficulties which embarrassed the progress and retarded the completion of the plan of confederation," says Mr. Madison, "may be traced to—first, the natural repugnance of the parties to a relinquishment of power; secondly, a natural jealousy of its abuse in other than hands their own; thirdly, the rule of suffrage among parties whose inequality in size did not correspond with that of their wealth, or of their military or free population; fourthly, the selection and definition of the powers, at once necessary to the federal head, and safe to the several members.
"To these sources of difficulty, incident to the formation of all such confederacies, were added two others, one of a temporary, the other of a permanent nature. The first, was the case of the crown-lands, so called, because they had been held by the British crown; and being ungranted to individuals, when its authority ceased, were considered by the states within whose charters or asserted limits they lay, as devolving on them; while it was contended by the others, that, being wrested from the dethroned authority by the equal exertions of all, they resulted of right and in equity to the benefit of all. The lands, being of vast extent, and of growing value, were the occasion of much discussion and heart-burning, and proved the most obstinate of the impediments to an earlier consummation of the plan of the federal government. The state of Maryland, the last that acceded to it, firmly withheld her assent, till the 1st of March, 1781; and then yielded only in the hope that, by giving a stable and authoritative character to the confederation, a successful termination of the contest might be[Pg 526] accelerated. The dispute was happily compromised, by successive surrenders of portions of the territory by the states having exclusive claims to it, and acceptances of them by congress.
"The other source of dissatisfaction was the peculiar situation of some of the states, which, having no convenient ports for foreign commerce, were subject to be taxed by their neighbors, through whose ports their commerce was carried on. New Jersey, placed between Philadelphia and New York, was likened to a cask tapped at both ends; and North Carolina, between Virginia and South Carolina, to a patient bleeding at both arms. The Articles of Confederation provided no remedy for the complaint; which produced a strong protest on the part of New Jersey, and never ceased to be a source of discord, until the new constitution superseded the old.
"But the radical infirmity of the Articles of Confederation was the dependence of congress on the voluntary and simultaneous compliance with its requisitions by so many independent communities, each consulting, more or less, its particular interests and convenience, and distrusting the compliance of the others. While the paper emissions of congress continued to circulate, they were employed as a sinew of war, like gold and silver. When that ceased to be the case, and the fatal defect of the political system was felt in its alarming force, the war was merely kept alive, and brought to a successful conclusion, by such foreign aids and temporary expedients as could be applied; a hope prevailing with many, and a wish with all, that a state of peace, and the sources of prosperity opened by it, would give to the confederacy, in practice, the efficiency which had been inferred in theory."
The close of the war brought no adequate relief. The wealth of the country was exhausted. Congress had no funds, and no means of raising money for the discharge of arrears of pay due to the soldiers of the Revolution, but by an appeal to the legislative assemblies of the several states.[Pg 527] Even for their own maintenance, they were dependent upon the assemblies. The legislatures themselves often knew not what to do.
"The distress of the inhabitants was continually on the increase; and in Massachusetts, where it was most felt, an insurrection of a serious character was the consequence. Near the close of the year 1786, the populace assembled, to the number of two thousand, in the north-western part of the state, and, choosing Daniel Shays their leader, demanded that the collection of debts should be suspended, and that the legislature should authorize the emission of paper money for general circulation. Two bodies of militia, drawn from those parts where dissatisfaction did not prevail, were immediately dispatched against them, one under command of General Lincoln, the other of General Shepard. The disaffected were dispersed with less difficulty than had been apprehended, and, abandoning their seditious purposes, adopted the proffered indemnity of the government.
"The time, at length, came, when the public mind gave tokens of being prepared for a change in the constitution of the general government—an occurrence, the necessity of which had long been foreseen by Washington and most of the distinguished patriots of that period. Evil had accumulated upon evil, till the mass became too oppressive to be endured, and the voice of the nation cried out for relief. The first decisive measures proceeded from the merchants, who came forward almost simultaneously in all parts of the country, with representations of the utter prostration of the mercantile interests, and petitions for a speedy and efficient remedy. It was shown, that the advantages of this most important source of national prosperity were flowing into the hands of foreigners, and that the native merchants were suffering for the want of a just protection and a uniform system of trade. The wise and reflecting were convinced that some decided efforts were necessary to strengthen the general government, or that a[Pg 528] dissolution of the union, and perhaps a devastating anarchy, would be inevitable."[57]
The first step, which led to the convention of 1787, was taken by Virginia, in a proposition of her legislature, in January, 1786, for a convention of delegates to establish such a system of commercial relations as would promote general harmony and prosperity. The above proposal was cordially approved by Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, and delegates were accordingly appointed by them, in addition to Virginia. These convened at Annapolis, September, 1786; but they had scarcely entered into a discussion of topics, which naturally forced themselves into view, before they discovered the powers with which they were intrusted to be so limited, as to tie up their hands from effecting any purpose that could be of essential utility. On this account, as well as from the circumstance that so few states were represented, they wisely declined deciding on any important measures in reference to the particular subject for which they had come together. This convention is memorable, however, as having been the prelude to the one which followed. Before the commissioners adjourned, a report was agreed upon, in which the necessity of a revision and reform of the articles of the old federal compact was strongly urged, and which contained a recommendation to all the state legislatures "for the appointment of deputies, to meet at Philadelphia, with more ample powers and instructions." This report was sent to congress, as well as to the several states.
In the appointment of delegates, agreeably to the foregoing recommendation, Virginia took the lead. February, 1787, the subject claimed the attention of congress, and the following preamble and resolution were adopted:
"Whereas, there is provision, in the articles of confederation and perpetual union, for making alterations therein, by the assent of a congress of the United States, and of the legislatures of the several states; and whereas experience[Pg 529] hath evinced that there are defects in the present confederation, as a means to remedy which, several of the states, and particularly the state of New York, by express instruction to their delegates in congress, have suggested a convention for the purpose expressed in the following resolution, and such convention appearing to be the most probable means of establishing in these states a firm national government—
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of congress, it is expedient, that, on the second Monday in May next, a convention of delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the articles of confederation, and reporting to congress and the several legislatures such alterations and provisions therein, as shall, when agreed to in congress, and confirmed by the states, render the federal constitution adequate to the exigencies of government, and the preservation of the union."
In consequence of this recommendation, all the states appointed delegates to the convention, excepting Rhode Island.
On the day fixed for the meeting of the deputies in convention, Monday, May 14th, 1787, a small number only had assembled. May 25th, seven states were represented. The deputation from Pennsylvania, proposed George Washington, Esq., late commander-in-chief, for president of the convention,[58] and he was unanimously elected.
Tuesday, March 29th, the convention entered upon the solemn duties of their commission. A question of serious magnitude early engrossed their attention, viz: whether they should amend the old system, or form a new one. For the former object, they had been appointed, congress having limited their power to a revision of the articles of the confederation.[Pg 530] But the defects of the old system were so many, and of such magnitude, that, at the session of the convention the above day, Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, submitted fifteen resolutions, as the basis of a new constitution. These resolutions, denominated the Virginia plan, were debated and amended until the 15th of June, when Mr. Patterson, of New Jersey, presented a project for revising the articles of confederation. This was called the Jersey plan,[59] and, on motion of Mr. Patterson, was taken up—the Virginia plan, meanwhile, being postponed.
On the 18th, Mr. Dickinson moved, in committee of the whole, to "postpone the first resolution in Mr. Patterson's plan, in order to take up the following, viz: 'that the Articles of Confederation ought to be revised and amended, so as to render the government of the United States adequate to the exigencies, the preservation, and the prosperity of the union'—the postponement was agreed to by ten states; Pennsylvania, divided." The following day, this substitute was rejected by a vote of six states to four, and one divided. Mr. Patterson's plan was again at large before the committee. Towards the close of the session of the same day, the question was taken upon postponing this latter plan, and carried by a vote of seven states to three, and one divided. Mr. Randolph's, or the Virginia plan, came again under consideration.[Pg 531] This was now further discussed to the 23d of June, when, on motion of Mr. Gerry, the proceedings of the convention for the establishment of a national government, except the part relating to an executive, were referred to a committee, to prepare and report a constitution conformable thereto. This committee consisted of Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Randolph, Mr. Gorham, Mr. Ellsworth, and Mr. Wilson. "On the 26th of the same month, those relating to the executive having been adopted, they, with various other propositions submitted by individuals, were referred to the same committee, and the committee adjourned to the 6th of August, when the committee reported a draft of a constitution. This was under debate until the 9th of September, and underwent many material alterations. A committee, consisting of Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hamilton, G. Morris, Mr. Madison, and Mr. King, was then selected 'to revise the style and arrange the articles.' The manner in which these eminent scholars and statesmen performed the duty assigned them, appears from the great precision and accuracy of the language of the constitution, as well as the happy arrangement of its various articles."
The report of this committee was made on the 12th of September, and further debated till the 16th, when the constitution as amended was agreed to by all states, and ordered to be engrossed.
On the following day, September 17th, after the reading of the constitution as engrossed, the venerable Franklin rose, and putting a written speech into the hands of Mr. Wilson, requested him to read it:
"Mr. President: I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them; for having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay[Pg 532] more respect to the judgment of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a protestant, in a dedication, tells the pope, that the only difference between our churches, in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines, is, 'the church of Rome is infallible, and the church of England is never in the wrong.' But though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who, in a dispute with her sister, said, 'I don't know how it happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that is always in the right.'
"In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this constitution, with all its faults, if they are such, because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other. I doubt, too, whether any other convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better constitution. For when you assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble, with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly, can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded, like those of the builders of Babel; and that our states are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, sir, to this constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have[Pg 533] had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us, in returning to our constituents, were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all its salutary effects and great advantages, resulting naturally in our favor among foreign nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and efficiency of any government in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends on opinion—on the general opinion of the goodness of the government, as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope, therefore, that for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake of posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this constitution (if approved by congress and confirmed by the conventions) wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts and endeavors to the means of having it well administered.
"On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish that every member of the convention, who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion, doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument." He then moved that the constitution be signed by the members, and offered the following as a convenient form, viz: "Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the states present, the 17th of September, &c. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names."
The motion of Dr. Franklin to sign by states was objected to by several of the members, but was agreed to—all the states answering "ay."
While the last members were signing their names, Dr. Franklin, looking towards the president's chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members near him, that painters had found it difficult[Pg 534] to distinguish, in their art, a rising from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the president, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting sun.[60]
During the deliberations of the convention, several questions of deep interest arose; but none, perhaps, more exciting than that which related to the relative weight of the states in the two branches of the national legislature. The small states, at length, consented that the right of suffrage in the house should be in proportion to the whole number of white or other free citizens in each, including those bound to service for a term of years, and three-fifths of all other persons. While they yielded this point, they insisted on an equal vote in the senate.
To this, the larger states objected; and, on this question, they remained for a time about equally divided. "On the first trial, in committee of the whole, six states against five decided that the right of suffrage in the senate should be the same as in the house; the states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, being in the affirmative, and Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland in the negative.
"On the 29th of June, the question was again presented to the consideration of the convention, in a motion made by Mr. Ellsworth, "that in the second branch, each state should have an equal vote." We cannot pretend to give even an outline of the arguments in favor and against this motion. The debate was warm and exciting. For several days, the powers of mighty minds were in animated collision; and from the strong ramparts behind which the respective parties had apparently entrenched themselves, there was, for a time, little prospect of union on the question.
"On the 23d of July, the question was taken, on the motion of Mr. Ellsworth, that in the senate each state should have one vote; and five states were in favor of it, five against it, and one divided; and the motion was lost. This equal division on a subject of such importance, accompanied with so much warmth on both sides, seemed to present an insurmountable obstacle to further proceedings of the convention, without some compromise. To effect this, Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, moved for the appointment of a committee, to take into consideration the subject of both branches of the legislature. This motion prevailed, though not without opposition. Some of the members were in favor of appointing a committee, though they had little expectation of a favorable result. Mr. Martin, of Maryland, declared that each state must have an equal vote, or the business of the convention was at an end.
"Mr. Sherman said, we have got to a point that we cannot move one way or the other; a committee is necessary[Pg 536] to set us right. Mr. Gerry observed, that the world expected something from them: if we do nothing, we must have war and confusion—the old confederation would be at an end. Let us see if concessions cannot be made—accommodation is absolutely necessary, and defects may be amended by a future convention.
"Thus the convention was at a stand. Hopes were indeed entertained that unanimity of views might on some basis prevail; but the longer continuance of the debate, in the then existing state of the convention, it was apparent, was engendering no good."
Fully sensible that nothing could be effected but upon a principle of compromise, the convention proceeded to elect, by ballot, a committee[61] of one from each state, to report on this exciting subject, and adjourned for three days. The interval was one of great anxiety; neither party appeared inclined to recede from the position it had taken, and the great objects for which the convention had assembled were apparently to be lost. And who could foresee the result? But at this most critical juncture, God did not forsake the nation. He had borne her forward, and now his spirit was felt in his becalming influence upon the convention. On rëassembling, the above committee made a report, which being accepted, the deliberations of the convention proceeded with greater unanimity, until, at length, a constitution was agreed upon.
The convention recommended that the constitution should be submitted to state conventions, and that as soon as the same should have been ratified by a constitutional majority, congress should take measures for the election of a president, and fix the time for commencing proceedings under it. Among the states, great diversity of opinion prevailed respecting this constitution; and, for a time, it was doubtful whether it would receive the approbation of a majority.[Pg 537] But, at length, not only this number was obtained, but all gave their assent, and in the following order:
| By convention of | Delaware, | December | 7, | 1787 |
| " " | Pennsylvania, | December | 12, | 1787 |
| " " | New Jersey, | December | 18, | 1787 |
| " " | Georgia, | January | 2, | 1788 |
| " " | Connecticut, | January | 9, | 1788 |
| " " | Massachusetts, | February | 6, | 1788 |
| " " | Maryland, | April | 28, | 1788 |
| " " | South Carolina, | May | 23, | 1788 |
| " " | New Hampshire, | June | 21, | 1788 |
| " " | Virginia, | June | 26, | 1788 |
| " " | New York, | July | 26, | 1788 |
| " " | North Carolina, | November | 21, | 1789 |
| " " | Rhode Island, | May | 29, | 1790 |
"At the first session of the first congress, the senate and house of representatives, two-thirds concurring, recommended to the states the adoption of twelve amendments to the constitution, chiefly relating to the freedom of speech and of the press—the right of petition—trial by jury—bail—election of president, &c. Ten of these amendments were adopted by three-fourths of the legislatures of the states, and became a part of the constitution. Subsequently, two other amendments were added."
"The peaceable adoption of this government," says Chancellor Kent, "under all the circumstances which attended it, presented the case of an effort of deliberation, combined with a spirit of amity and mutual concession, which was without example. It must be a source of just pride, and of the most grateful recollection to every American who reflects seriously on the difficulty of the experiment, the manner in which it was conducted, the felicity of its issue, and the fate of similar trials in other nations of the earth."
The opinions which prevailed in the convention of 1787, as to the addition of new states, are worthy of notice. On one occasion, Mr. Sherman said, "there is no probability that the number of future states will exceed that of the existing states. If the event should ever happen, it is too[Pg 538] remote to be taken into consideration at this time." But little more than half a century has elapsed, and the original number has more than doubled, as may be seen by the following account of the states admitted:
| Vermont, | March | 4, | 1791. |
| Kentucky, | June | 1, | 1791. |
| Tennessee, | June | 1, | 1796. |
| Ohio, | November | 29, | 1802. |
| Louisiana, | April | 8, | 1812. |
| Indiana, | December | 11, | 1816. |
| Mississippi, | December | 10, | 1817. |
| Illinois, | December | 3, | 1818. |
| Alabama, | December | 14, | 1819. |
| Maine, | March | 15, | 1820. |
| Missouri, | August | 10, | 1821. |
| Arkansas, | June | 15, | 1836. |
| Michigan, | January | 26, | 1837. |
| Florida, | March | 3, | 1845. |
| Texas, | December | 29, | 1845. |
| Iowa, | December | 28, | 1846. |
| Wisconsin, | May | 29, | 1848. |
| Congress assumed jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, Feb. 27, 1801. | |||
The constitution, of the formation and adoption of which we have thus given an account, has been in existence more than sixty years. Meanwhile, what changes in empires and governments have been effected in other portions of the globe! Monarchs have been hurled from their thrones—or have waged war, and expended millions to retain them. Their subjects, degraded and oppressed, have sighed and struggled for liberty, but only to find the chains of servitude drawn more closely around them. Not until recently, have the nations of Europe seemed to realize that an improvement in their political condition was possible. They are, indeed, just now making an effort to throw off the yoke and fetters; but what will be the result of their experiments, no sagacity can well foresee.
The American people may well congratulate themselves upon the realization of so many of their early hopes. God has helped them; and never should his kind and protecting care be overlooked; nor his interpositions in days of darkness and perplexity be forgotten. That was a glorious struggle, through which they passed, and which resulted in their emancipation from British oppression. But I know not whether the intervening hand of Providence was more conspicuous in that contest, than in leading our statesmen to the formation of the constitution, or so many independent[Pg 539] states, whose interests were apparently so conflictive, or whose minds were so diverse, to its unanimous adoption.
And why has it lasted? Why have we not presented to the world, the same feverish and changeful disposition, which has characterized our sister republics of the South? Not one of the latter, scarcely, has passed a single ten years, without intestine commotions—or some change of their constitutions—or some radical alteration of their political principles. And their people—what portions of them have dwelt securely—or experienced a moiety of the advantages and prosperity that have blessed this Northern confederacy?
The constitution of the United States has been, and is, the wonder and admiration of the civilized world. How is such a national sovereignty as that constitution contemplates and creates, compatible with so many independent state sovereignties! Who could imagine that there could exist such efficiency in the one, and yet such harmony among the others! To the friends of monarchy, the mystery is nearly inexplicable; and it seems quite impossible for the statesmen of other countries, however desirous they may be, so to understand the theory and practice of our national and state governments, as to conform them to the circumstances of any other people on the globe.
If it be inquired how the framers of our constitution should have devised such a government, and shaped it to meet the wants of a people in some respects one, and in other respects so diverse, the most intelligent and truthful answer is—God superintended and guided them; not by immediate inspiration, but they served a long training; from the very settlement of the country, and in the circumstances which led our fathers to these shores, there was a work of preparation. And when the time came, there was the patriotism—the self-denial—the intelligence—the political wisdom—which were necessary to devise and perfect our glorious constitution.
But will it last?—Last! Should an American citizen ever indulge a thought to the contrary? But such thoughts will[Pg 540] crowd in, and cause anxiety to the patriot. When he looks over the pages of past history, and reads the rise and fall of ancient republics—and by what means they perished—by their own hands—and by means of their prosperity—and then casts his eyes over his own country, and witnesses the thrift, the wealth, the expanding strength and glory of that country—he will ask, will our constitution stand?—will it continue to unite a people separated into so many and so distant states? Especially will he have reason for solicitude and doubt, when he dwells upon the great and grave questions which are rising up, and are dividing the North and the South—the East and the West. Our congress is already nearly a battle-field. Our presses, in different sections, are waging war upon one another, fierce and vindictive; our whole people are divided up into parties—with sectional interests and sectional jealousies.
Will the constitution, then, stand? We cannot say that there is no danger; but there is ground of hope and courage. Let the religion and patriotism of our fathers, be cultivated—let our unquenchable love of liberty, and a profound reverence for the constitution and the union, be instilled into the minds of our children from their earliest days of thought and reflection, and that noble instrument, and that glorious union, will continue for generations to come.
I cannot better close these observations than by citing some forcible and eloquent remarks of the late Judge Story, addressed to the American youth.—"Let the American youth," says he, "never forget that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of our ancestors; and capable, if wisely improved, and safely guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life—the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, of property, of religion, and of independence. The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid; its compartments are beautiful, as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order; and its defences are impregnable[Pg 541] from without. It has been reared for immortality, if the work of man may justly aspire to such a title. It may, nevertheless, perish in an hour, by the folly, or corruption, or negligence of its only keepers, the people. Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them."
VI. GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT NEW YORK, APRIL 30, 1789.
JOHN ADAMS, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Thomas Jefferson, | Virginia, | September 26, | 1789, | Secretaries of State. |
| Edmund Randolph, | Virginia, | January 2, | 1794, | |
| Timothy Pickering, | Pennsylvania, | December 10, | 1795, | |
| Alexander Hamilton, | New York, | September 11, | 1789, | Secretaries of Treasury. |
| Oliver Wolcott, | Connecticut, | February 3, | 1795, | |
| Henry Knox, | Massachusetts, | September 12, | 1789, | Secretaries of War. |
| Timothy Pickering, | Pennsylvania, | January 2, | 1795, | |
| James M'Henry, | Maryland, | January 27, | 1796, | |
| Samuel Osgood, | Massachusetts, | September 26, | 1789, | Postmasters General. |
| Timothy Pickering, | Pennsylvania, | November 7, | 1791, | |
| Joseph Habersham, | Georgia, | February 25, | 1795, | |
| Edmund Randolph, | Virginia, | September 26, | 1789, | Attorneys General. |
| William Bradford, | Pennsylvania, | January 27, | 1794, | |
| Charles Lee, | Virginia, | December 10, | 1795, |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Frederick A. Muhlenberg, | Pennsylvania, | First Congress, | 1789. |
| Jonathan Trumbull, | Connecticut, | Second do. | 1791. |
| Frederick A. Muhlenberg, | Pennsylvania, | Third do. | 1793. |
| Jonathan Dayton, | New Jersey, | Fourth do. | 1795. |
To the traveller whose lot has led him to traverse inhospitable deserts—encounter fierce storms, and stem angry floods—it[Pg 543] is delightful, at length, to enter a region where such obstacles no longer impede his progress—where he breathes with freedom—where he pauses to repose and refresh himself, without the anticipation of similar immediate toil and fatigue. It may not, indeed, be the end of his journey—and he may not know with certainty the future issue of that journey; but the aspect is less forbidding—the prospect is even inviting—and he passes on, animated with the hope of still better things to come.
Some such change we realize at the point at which we have arrived, in following down the great events of American history. Casting an eye upon the scenes of the past, little besides toil, agitation, and conflict, are to be seen.
The Pilgrim Fathers land on these western shores. Immediately, a wide-spread wilderness is before them, and the task of clearing it is begun; savage foes—subtle, secret, and sanguinary—prowl about their habitations, and for years agitate and distress them. The mother-country becomes involved in continental wars—America is the theatre of the contest, and American soldiers must fight her battles. But, like the palm-tree, the colonists rise under the burdens imposed on them. As they prosper and expand, England becomes jealous, and bears herself lordly towards them, in measures of oppression—in prohibitions and exactions. War ensues—a long and exhausting war; their fields lie neglected; their cities are captured; their families are impoverished, and their sons are slain; but they conquer, and are free. But, as a nation, they have no sufficient bond of union—no efficient government to guide their future destiny in safety. National and state debts rest as an incubus upon their efforts, and no adequate power exists by which to provide for their liquidation. A convention meets: different plans are proposed—different constitutions are discussed. Obstacles to the adoption of any arise, which appear insurmountable, and the convention is on the eve of dissolving—leaving the problem still unsolved, whether human wisdom is adequate to devise a constitution which[Pg 544] shall harmonize the conflicting interests of thirteen free and independent states.
Once more Providence rallies to our aid—moving upon untractable spirits, as in days of yore the spirit had moved upon the troubled waters, and now, as then, there "is a calm." Deliberations are resumed—asperities wear away—harmony succeeds—the final vote is taken—a constitution is adopted, and sent abroad among the people of the states.
But again the waters become tumultuous—angry conflict is waged in almost every state-house in the land—hundreds and thousands lift up their voices against this constitution, and refuse to sanction it—ill-boding doubts swell up like clouds gathering from the sea, and for a time exclude all hope of a constitutional ratification.
But another becalming influence from on high moves upon the mental mass; jarring strifes are suspended—angry discord ceases—harmonious action succeeds—the constitution is ratified, and George Washington is elected president of the United States!
On the ratification of the constitution, the attention of the people was at once directed to General Washington, as the first president of the United States. Communications, expressive of this general desire, were made to him. "We cannot," said Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, "do without you, and I and thousands more can explain to any body but yourself, why we cannot do without you." "I have ever thought," said Governeur Morris, "and have said, that you must be president; no other man can fill that office." In a letter on the subject, addressed to Washington by Colonel Hamilton, the latter said, "You will permit me to say, that it is indispensable you should lend yourself to its [the government's] first operations."
Washington had serious objections to becoming a candidate. He sincerely wished for retirement. "It is my great and sole desire"—so he expressed himself to a friend, who had written him—"to live and die in peace and retirement on my own farm."
But the voice of the nation demanded a further sacrifice from the noble and disinterested patriot. He alone was believed to fill so prëeminent a station in public opinion, that he might be placed at the head of the nation without exciting envy. He alone possessed the requisite confidence of the nation.
By the constitution, the new government was to commence its operations on the 4th of March, 1789; but a quorum of representatives did not appear till the 1st, nor of senators till Monday, the 6th day of April.
On this latter day, the president of the senate, elected for the purpose of counting the votes, declared to the senate, that the senate and house of representatives had met, and that he, in their presence, had opened and counted the votes for the electors for president and vice-president of the United States; whereby it appeared that George Washington was unanimously elected president. The following table exhibits the votes of the several electoral colleges:
ELECTORAL VOTES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.
ELECTION FOR THE FIRST TERM, COMMENCING MARCH 4, 1789, AND TERMINATING MARCH 3, 1793.
| Key: A. | George Washington, of Virginia. |
| B. | John Adams, of Massachusetts. |
| C. | Samuel Huntington, of Connecticut. |
| D. | John Jay, of New York. |
| E. | John Hancock, of Massachusetts. |
| F. | R. H. Harrison, of Maryland. |
| G. | George Clinton, of New York. |
| H. | John Rutledge, of South Carolina. |
| I. | John Milton, of Georgia. |
| J. | James Armstrong, of Georgia. |
| K. | Edward Telfair, of Georgia. |
| L. | Benjamin Lincoln, of Massachusetts. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | J. | K. | L. |
| 5 | New Hampshire, | 5 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Massachusetts, | 10 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Connecticut, | 7 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||
| 6 | New Jersey, | 6 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| 10 | Pennsylvania, | 10 | 8 | 2 | |||||||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Maryland, | 6 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Virginia, | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| 7 | South Carolina, | 7 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||
| 5 | Georgia, | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 69 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 35 | 69 | 34 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Whereupon, a certificate and letter—the one prepared by a committee of the senate, the other by its president—were communicated to General Washington, setting forth his election, and expressing the cordial wish, that so auspicious[Pg 546] a mark of public confidence would meet his approbation.
This certificate and letter were received by Washington, at Mount Vernon, on the 4th of April. He doubtless appreciated the honor done him, and was grateful to the people for the confidence reposed in him; but he would have declined the office, had the convictions of duty allowed. That, however, was not permitted; and, yielding to the wishes of the nation, he took leave of Mount Vernon on the second day after receiving notice of his appointment, and proceeded to New York, at that time the seat of government—"bidding adieu," as he wrote in his diary, "to private life and domestic felicity; and, with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have words to express."
The state of the public business required his immediate presence at the seat of government; but the desire to see the first president of the United States—the zeal and enthusiasm which were kindled up along the whole route he was to take, rendered it impossible to proceed with haste. Crowds flocked around him, wherever he stopped; and corps of militia, and companies of the most respectable citizens, escorted him through their respective streets.
On reaching New York, April 23d, he was received with due ceremony by the governor of that state, and conducted with military honors through an immense concourse of people, to the apartments provided for him. Here he received the salutations of foreign ministers, public bodies, political characters, and private citizens of distinction, who pressed around him to offer their congratulations, and to express their joy at seeing the man, who had the confidence of all, at the head of the American republic.
On Thursday, the 30th of April, the new president was inaugurated. The oath of office was administered by the chancellor of the state of New York, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, and an immense concourse of people, who attested their joy by loud and[Pg 547]
[Pg 548] repeated acclamations. From the open gallery adjoining the senate-chamber, which had been the scene of this new but imposing scene, the assembly returned to the senate-chamber, where the president delivered an inaugural address; in which, after alluding to the "anxieties" occasioned by his election to the chief magistracy, and the fond hope he had indulged of spending the remainder of his days in the "retreat" to which he had retired, after years of military toil and strife, he proceeded in terms alike honorable to himself as a Christian and a patriot: "It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe—who presides in the councils of nations—and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute, with success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations, and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves[Pg 549] too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none, under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence."
Such were the sentiments of the patriot—the sage—the Christian statesman, as he was about to enter upon the duties of an office, upon the faithful or unfaithful discharge of which, was to depend the perpetuity or speedy annihilation of a constitution of government, which had cost thousands of lives and millions of revenue—besides involving the happiness of unborn millions. Washington had surveyed the wide field of responsibility. He came to the high and sacred office reluctantly indeed, but in reliance upon that Divine arm which had been his stay in the dark and stormy days of the Revolution. Having put his hand to the plough, he was not the man to look back. Having passed the Rubicon, his march was forward. Immediately following the delivery of the above address, the president, with the members of both houses, attended divine service at St. Paul's chapel. Thus did Washington, and thus did the national assembly, commence the government with a devout recognition of its dependence upon Divine Providence for success. Happy for the country, if the same spirit of piety, and the same acknowledgments to the Divine Author of all good, had descended to after years.
The acts and events which signalized the administration of Washington relate to—
| A System of Revenue. | Indian War. |
| Regulation of Departments. | Rëelection of Washington. |
| Amendments of the Constitution. | Difficulties with France. |
| Establishment of a Judiciary. | Insurrection in Pennsylvania. |
| Assumption of Debts. | Jay's Treaty. |
| Removal of the Seat of Government. | Election of Mr. Adams. |
| National Bank. | Farewell Address. |
System of Revenue.—The first duty, under the federal constitution, to which congress was called, was to provide a revenue for the support of the government. For this[Pg 550] purpose duties were laid on imported merchandize and on the tonnage of vessels; thus drawing into the national treasury funds, which had before been collected and appropriated by the individual states. To counteract the commercial regulations of foreign nations, and encourage American shipping, higher tonnage duties were imposed on foreign than on American vessels, and ten per cent. less duty on goods imported in vessels belonging to the citizens of the United States than the same goods brought in those owned by foreigners.
Regulation of Departments.—Three executive departments were created, designed to aid the president in the management of the government. These were styled departments of war, of foreign affairs, and of the treasury. The heads of these departments were to be called secretaries, and to receive a salary of three thousand five hundred dollars. They were intended to constitute a council, to be consulted by the president at his pleasure; and their opinions, on all important questions, he was authorized to require in writing.
In framing the acts establishing these departments, a question arose of serious magnitude, viz: "In what manner, and by whom, these important officers could be removed from office?" The constitution was explicit in regard to their appointment, giving the power of nominating to the president, and that of confirming or rejecting the nomination to the senate; but it was silent as to removal. Some few maintained that they could be removed only by impeachment; but the principal question was, "whether they were removable by the president alone, or by the president with the concurrence of the senate?"
The debate on this question was long and animated. It was claimed, by one portion of the members, that as the senate had a voice in the appointment of these officers, they should have a voice in case of their removal; that such power entrusted to one man might be abused—if not by Washington, by some of his successors.
On the other hand, it was contended that, as it was made the duty of the president to see the laws faithfully executed, he ought to have the power of dismissing those agents who were unfaithful; otherwise, how, in many supposable cases, could he secure a faithful execution of the laws? It was further urged, that the mal-conduct of an officer might require his immediate dismission, before the senate—a body scattered over the states—could be convened. True, the power might be abused, and, in the hands of an ambitious man, perhaps would be; but such abuse would, in due time, be rebuked by the people, and the abuser of this delegated power, be displaced with dishonor. "The danger," said Mr. Madison, "consists in this: the president can displace from office a man whose merits require that he should be continued in it. What will be the motives which the president can feel for such abuse of his power, and the restraints to operate to prevent it? In the first place, he will be impeachable by this house, before the senate, for such an act of mal-administration; for I contend, that the wanton removal of meritorious officers, would subject him to impeachment, and removal from his own high trust."
The difference of opinion on this great question, gave rise to warm and protracted debates. A majority of both houses, however, at length decided, that the power of removal is in the president alone. Several who had been members of the convention which framed the constitution, were, at this time, members of the house of representatives. They were equally divided on the question—Mr. Madison and Mr. Baldwin, supporting the construction finally adopted by congress: Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Gerry, opposing it.
Amendments of the Constitution.—The states of New York and Virginia, although they ratified the constitution, were solicitous to have certain amendments adopted, which, in separate memorials, they presented to congress, and urged that body to call another convention for their adoption. Congress, however, had no authority to call a convention.[Pg 552] Mr. Madison submitted to the house several amendments, which, together with those presented by several of the states, were referred to a committee, consisting of one member from each state. This committee, at length, reported several amendments; twelve of which, after various alterations, were agreed to by both branches of congress, and sent to the states. These amendments related to religion—keeping or bearing arms in time of war—quartering soldiers, citizens, &c., &c. Ten of these articles were at length ratified by the state legislatures, and became a part of the constitution.
Establishment of a Judiciary.—"A national judiciary was also established during this session, consisting of a supreme court, circuit, and district courts. The bill for carrying this part of the constitution into effect, originated in the senate, and was drawn up by a committee, of which Mr. Ellsworth was chairman. The district courts were to consist of one judge in each state. The states were divided into circuits, in each of which, one of the judges of the supreme court, and the district judge of the state in which the court was held, constituted the circuit courts. In certain cases, this court had original jurisdiction, and also took cognizance of appeals from the district courts. The supreme court was composed of a chief justice and five associate judges, and was to hold two sessions annually, at the seat of government. This court had exclusive jurisdiction in certain cases, and appellative jurisdiction from the circuit courts, and also from the state courts, in cases where the validity of treaties, and the laws of the United States were drawn in question. This organization of the federal judiciary, has remained nearly the same to the present time, except for a short period, when a different system, relative to the circuit courts, was established, but which was soon abolished, and the old system restored."[62] John Jay was appointed chief justice; John Rutledge, James Wilson, William[Pg 553] Cushing, Robert H. Harrison, and John Blair, associate judges of the supreme court, and Edmund Randolph, attorney general.[63]
Assumption of Debts.—The second session of the first congress began on the 6th of January, 1790. At the close of the preceding session, the secretary of the treasury had been directed to prepare a plan for providing for the adequate support of the public credit, and to report the same at the next meeting of congress. On the 15th, in obedience to the foregoing requisition, Mr. Hamilton submitted his report. Having dwelt with great ability upon the importance of a nation maintaining the public credit, he proposed, as the means of supporting that of the United States, a system of assuming or funding not only the public debt, but also the state debts, and of making provision for the payment of the interest by taxes imposed on certain articles of luxury, and on spirits distilled within the United States.
The debates on this report were exciting beyond precedent. While not much difference existed as to funding the foreign debt, a strong opposition arose, on the part of the democratic party, against discharging, in full, the domestic debt, and the assumption of the state debts. The federalists advocated the measure. The contest between the two rival parties was strong, spirited, and even virulent. The very foundations of the government were shaken; and a writer has justly remarked, that to the differences which were then created, and the excitement which sprung up during the debates, may be ascribed "the origin of that violent spirit which for years arrayed one part of the American community against the other."
The division of sentiment among the members of congress in relation to the full, or only a partial payment of the domestic debt, arose from this. A considerable proportion of the original holders of public securities had been compelled to sell them at greatly reduced prices—even as low as two or three shillings on the pound. These securities had been purchased by speculators, with the expectation of ultimately receiving the full amount. "The federalists were with Hamilton, in favor of making no difference between the present and original holders of the continental bills, maintaining[Pg 555] that the government ought not to interfere with transfers. The republican party advocated the discrimination; contending that it was unjust to the veterans of the Revolution, who had been obliged to receive this paper in lieu of gold and silver, and were afterwards compelled to part with it at a small part of its nominal value, now to be condemned to poverty, while the speculator was receiving the reward of their blood and service."
The assumption of the state debts was also violently opposed. The advocates of assumption claimed that the debts incurred by the state, were not for their own benefit, but for the promotion of the common cause, and that therefore it was right that the whole nation should be responsible. The debts of the states most active in the war, were the greatest: those of Massachusetts and Carolina amounted to ten millions and a half, while those of all the other states were not more than fifteen millions. Was it just to impose such a burden on the people of these two states? They had already been great sufferers in the privations they had endured and in the blood they had lost.
On taking the vote in the house of representatives, these two plans of Mr. Hamilton were lost by a majority of two; and, for a season, there was little prospect that a just financial system would be adopted, or that the respective parties could on any basis coalesce. But, fortunately, at this juncture, a question was exciting a deep interest, and with reference to which there was a wide difference, and deep feelings, between the northern and southern members, viz:
The Removal of the Seat of Government.—The debates on this subject were almost as exciting as on the fiscal project of Hamilton. A compromise, however, was at length effected in regard to the permanent location of the seat of government—the more important, as it led to a further compromise in relation to the assumption of the state debts. It was understood that should the seat of government be fixed for ten years at Philadelphia, and afterwards at a[Pg 556] place to be selected on the Potomac, some of the members of the house of representatives, from the Potomac, would withdraw their opposition to Mr. Hamilton. This was accordingly done, and his plans were adopted. The debt funded amounted to a little more than seventy-five millions of dollars, upon a part of which an interest of three per cent. was paid, and upon the remainder six per cent.
National Bank.—During the third session of congress, Mr. Hamilton recommended the establishment of a national bank. To such an institution, the republican party were bitterly opposed, as aristocratical and unconstitutional. Besides, they considered banking institutions useless; the present bill, in several particulars, defective; but, more than all, it was maintained that the constitution had not vested the power in congress to charter a bank. The supporters of the measure, of course, held opposite doctrines, and were not less strenuous in maintaining them. The bill, however, at length passed both branches of the national legislature; but the different opinions entertained, and the asperity with which they had been expressed, led the president to give to the subject, as a constitutional question, more than ordinary attention. To aid him in his decision, he required opinions of his cabinet in writing. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Randolph opposed—Mr. Hamilton and General Knox sanctioned the bill. After mature deliberation, the president became satisfied of the constitutionality and utility of the bill; upon which, he gave it his signature.
The capital stock of the bank was ten millions of dollars, two millions to be subscribed for the benefit of the United States, and the residue by individuals. One-fourth of the sums subscribed by individuals was to be paid in gold and silver, and three-fourths in the public debt. By the act of incorporation, it was to be a bank of discount as well as deposit; and its bills, which were payable in gold and silver on demand, were made receivable in all payments to the United States. The bank was located at Philadelphia, with[Pg 557] power in the directors to establish offices of discount and deposit only wherever they should think fit within the United States.
The duration of the charter was limited to the 4th of May, 1811; and the faith of the United States was pledged that, during that period, no other bank should be established under their authority. One of the fundamental articles of the incorporation was, that no loan should be made to the United States for more than one hundred thousand dollars; or to any particular state for more than fifty thousand; or to any foreign prince or state, unless previously authorized by a law of the United States. The books were opened for subscription in July, 1791, and a much larger sum subscribed than was allowed by the charter; and the bank went into successful operation.[64]
The establishment of a national bank, in connexion with the assumption of the state debts, contributed to the more complete organization of two great parties, which had their origin in difference of views regarding the constitution at the time of its adoption.
Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Jefferson, both eminent for their talents, and each with his adherents, were now openly opposed on points which, as matters of policy, were deemed of vital importance. The former was viewed, not only as the author of the funding system, the bank, and other measures, deemed either unconstitutional, or highly injurious to the public interest, but was charged with hostility to republican principles and to state rights. Mr. Jefferson, on the other hand, was considered hostile to the constitution, and was accused of being opposed to the administration of which he was a member, and of taking measures to reduce the powers of the general government within too narrow limits. To Washington, this determined hostility of his two principal secretaries was truly afflicting; and the more so, when he found it so deep-rooted, as in no degree to yield to his affectionate remonstrance.
Indian War.—While the public councils were engaged thus in matters of great national importance, the hostile movements of the Indian tribes on the frontier began to excite the anxious solicitude of all reflecting minds, especially that of Washington himself. The Creeks at the South had been at war with Georgia; but in 1790, their chief, M'Gillivray, the son of a white man, had been induced to go to New York, and conclude a treaty. This terminated the war in that quarter; but pacific arrangements, which had been attempted by the president with the tribes on the north-western frontier, had proved ineffectual. The use of other means for their pacification, therefore, became indispensably necessary.
In 1790, congress, at the solicitation of Washington, authorized the raising of about fifteen hundred men, of whom three hundred were regulars, and the remainder Pennsylvania and Kentucky militia. The command of these was given to General Harmar, a veteran officer of the Revolution, whose instructions required him to penetrate to the Indian settlements on the Scioto and Wabash, and destroy them.
In the execution of his commission, in October, General Harmar detached Colonel Harden with six hundred militia to reconnoitre the Indian settlements, and, if possible, to bring them to an engagement; but the Indians, on the approach of the Americans, fired their principal villages, and fled to the woods. Thus foiled in his attempt to bring the Indians to action, Colonel Harden was a second time directed, with one hundred and eighty militia and thirty regulars, to spy out the position and intentions of the foe. Ten miles west of Chillicothe, sight was obtained of a considerable body of Indians; at which, the Kentucky militia suddenly became so alarmed as to flee. This evil example was soon after followed by the Pennsylvanians—thus leaving the thirty regulars to sustain an engagement with a greatly superior force. They displayed the greatest heroism; and maintained the action, until all but seven being[Pg 559] overpowered, the latter effected their escape, and rëjoined the army at Chillicothe.
The Indian settlements bordering on the Scioto were now destroyed; which having been accomplished, Colonel Harden was a third time detached with three hundred and sixty men, of whom sixty were regulars, under command of Major Wyllys. This force was attacked by a large body of Indians at the junction of the St. Joseph with the St. Mary. It was a most desperate contest. Here the militia retrieved their character; nor did they attempt to retreat till one hundred and nine men and officers lay dead on the field. Of the sixty regulars, only ten survived, and among the killed was their brave commander, Major Wyllys. Following this reverse, the survivors of the detachments joined the army, and retired to Fort Washington.
On the failure of General Harmar, Major General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the North-west territory, was appointed to succeed him. In 1791, at the head of two thousand men, the latter entered upon an expedition which had for its object the destruction of the Indian villages on the Miami. On the 3d of November, the army had proceeded within twelve or fifteen miles of the Indian villages, at which point the General formed his forces in two lines—the first, under command of General Butler, composed the right wing, and lay with a creek immediately in front of them. The left wing, under command of Colonel Drake, formed the second, and lay with an interval of some seventy yards between them and the first line. The militia occupied a post across the creek, a quarter of a mile in front.
On the following day, before sunrise, just after the troops had been dismissed from the parade, an unexpected attack was made on the militia, who fled in the utmost confusion, and, in their flight, deranged the continental troops, who were in the act of forming. The officers exerted themselves to the utmost to restore order; but were not entirely successful. The Indians fell upon them with savage impetuosity.[Pg 560] The action instantly became extremely warm. The continental troops fought with spirit and determination; the Indians, with fearful desperation, advancing to the very mouth of the field-pieces.
At length, perceiving that the only hope of victory lay in the use of the bayonet, an impetuous charge was made under Lieutenant-colonel Drake, and the enemy driven several hundred yards. But not being able to pursue the advantage gained, the Indians turned, and renewed the attack. Meanwhile, General Butler was mortally wounded, and the right wing broken, the artillerists killed, the guns seized, and the camp penetrated by the enemy. At this critical moment, Major Drake was ordered to charge with the bayonet. This order he executed with great intrepidity and momentary success.
But the American troops, failing to keep their ranks, and flocking together in crowds, were, in several cases, shot down with but feeble resistance. At length, perceiving that his officers had suffered greatly, and the remnant of his army became more and more confused, General St. Clair ordered a retreat. For some miles, the Indians followed; but, fortunately for the surviving Americans, they at length turned back, to plunder the camp of such articles as the former had been obliged to abandon. The routed troops now continued their flight to Fort Jefferson, a distance of about thirty miles, throwing away their arms on the road. At this place, leaving their wounded, the army continued its retreat to Fort Washington.
The loss of the Americans was severe, amounting to thirty-eight commissioned officers killed, and five hundred and ninety-three non-commissioned officers and privates slain and missing. The wounded amounted to between two and three hundred officers and men, many of whom subsequently died. The loss of the Indians bore no comparison, it is thought, to that of the Americans. This reverse was as unexpected as unfortunate; yet want of neither ability, zeal, nor intrepidity was ascribed to the[Pg 561] commander of the expedition, by a committee of congress, appointed to examine into the causes of its failure.
The subsequent history of this war is brief. In consequence of an anticipated adjustment of existing difficulties with the Indians, they having consented to a conference in the spring of 1794, hostilities were for a time suspended. But the proposed negotiations failing, General Wayne, with nearly one thousand men, was sent into their country, to reduce them to subjection. He engaged them in a sanguinary battle on the 20th of August, 1794, on the banks of the Miami, which resulted in their utter rout, and which was followed by laying waste their whole country. By means of this victory over the Miamies, a general Indian war was doubtless prevented. On the 3d of August, a treaty was concluded at Greenville, which established peace between the United States and the Indian tribes, and restored peace and tranquillity to the frontier settlements.
Rëelection of Washington.—During the year 1792, as the time approached for the election of a chief magistrate, General Washington expressed his intention, to some of his most intimate friends, to decline a rëelection. His age and increasing infirmities rendered his retirement from the cares of political life most desirable. In view of such retirement, he had prepared a farewell address to the people. But, through the persuasion of Jefferson, Hamilton, Randolph, and others, he was induced to forego his private wishes, and was unanimously rëelected to the presidency. No such unanimity has since been manifested by the people of the United States, in relation to the choice of a chief magistrate; nor is such unanimity likely again to exist. And most conclusively does it show, not merely the gratitude of the nation to the man who had stood foremost in times of peril, but its deep and universal sense of the purity of his patriotism and the worth of his skill in moulding and shaping the government still in its infancy. Such harmony was alike honorable to the nation and to Washington.[Pg 562] Mr. Adams was rëelected vice-president. The following is a statement of the votes of the several electoral colleges:
| Key: A. | G. Washington, of Virginia. |
| B. | John Adams, of Massa'tts. |
| C. | George Clinton, of New York. |
| D. | Thos. Jefferson, of Virginia. |
| E. | Aaron Burr, of New York. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. |
| 6 | New Hampshire, | 6 | 6 | |||
| 16 | Massachusetts, | 16 | 16 | |||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 9 | |||
| 3 | Vermont, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 12 | New York, | 12 | 12 | |||
| 7 | New Jersey, | 7 | 7 | |||
| 15 | Pennsylvania, | 15 | 14 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 8 | Maryland, | 8 | 8 | |||
| 21 | Virginia, | 21 | 21 | |||
| 4 | Kentucky, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 12 | North Carolina, | 12 | 12 | |||
| 8 | South Carolina, | 8 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Georgia, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 132 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 67 | 132 | 77 | 50 | 4 | 1 |
Difficulties with France.—The rëelection of Washington may be justly considered as among the most signal favors conferred on the American people. A revolution in France was in progress, remarkable for the political changes it was affecting and the sanguinary scenes which marked it. Monarchy had been abolished, Louis XVI. had fallen by the guillotine, a republic had been proclaimed, and the national convention had made proclamation of war against England, Holland, and Spain.
It was not unnatural that a people, who had themselves just thrown off the yoke, and were beginning to taste the sweets of liberty, as was the case with the Americans, should deeply sympathize with a nation which was engaged in a similar struggle for independence. From the commencement of the French Revolution, in 1789, not only the Americans, but the friends of liberty throughout the world,[Pg 563] were full of hope that the political condition of France might thereby be improved. And as that revolution progressed, the interest deepened; and when, at length, the Republic was proclaimed, "the affection of the American nation to its ancient ally, became devotion." The enthusiasm knew scarcely any bounds, and was frequently manifested in the most extravagant manner.
Nor was it unnatural that the French people should look to America for her sympathy and aid, in so important an enterprise. They had, at a former period, helped her through her struggle for independence, and now, that they were embarked in a similar effort, could she withhold her cöoperation and aid? They had reason to expect it, and were not long in adopting measures to secure it.
The news of the declaration of war by France, against the powers already named, reached the United States in April, and with this intelligence arrived a new minister from the French republic, Mr. Genet. Both these circumstances contributed to "increase to an extraordinary degree the excitement already existing in favor of France, and disposed a large portion of the nation to an actual cöoperation with their ally against the enemy."
Washington and his associates in power were friends to liberty, and were well-wishers to the cause of true freedom in France. But the Revolution was assuming a selfish and sanguinary character, which betokened any thing but the establishment of a free and enlightened constitutional government. The most unbridled ambition for power was beginning to show itself, and reason and religion were apparently being deprived of their legitimate sway. In addition to this, the United States were in no situation to embark in angry conflict with Great Britain and other continental powers. In such a conflict it was apparently the wish of France to involve the country, and, to a considerable portion of the American people—arising from their prejudices against Great Britain—such an event would not have been unacceptable. But Washington judged more[Pg 564] wisely for the interests of the nation; and accordingly, on the 22d of April, issued his proclamation of neutrality.
This neutral and pacific policy of the American government had, however, no apparent influence upon the new French minister. "Sanguine in his temperament, of uncontrolled passions, excited to a degree of insanity by the newborn ideas which raged in France, possessed of the wildest dreams of national glory and aggrandizement—in a word, the very incarnation of Jacobinism, he was the fittest brand which the assembly could have selected to hurl into the magazine of political strife. His reception at Charleston, where he landed, was well fitted to encourage him. Public authorities, and private citizens, vied with each other in glorifying the representative of European democracy. On all sides he beheld the disposition he desired, and he did not delay in profiting by it. Vessels were at once fitted out and armed, men were enlisted, and commissions issued under her authority to cruise against the enemies of France." Similar demonstrations of regard were shown him in other places, as he proceeded towards Philadelphia, and the same arrogant and haughty spirit was manifested by him. Pursuing his design of involving the country in war, in despite of public executive prohibition, he issued commissions to capture, and to bring into American ports, the vessels belonging to countries with whom the French were at war.
It is not necessary further to detail the conduct, nor the insolence of this infatuated man. Suffice it to add, that on the meeting of congress, December, 1793, the proclamation of neutrality was approved. Soon after, at the instance of Washington, Mr. Genet was rëcalled by the French government, which, at the same time, disapproved of his conduct.
Insurrection in Pennsylvania.—The summer of 1794, was signalized by an insurrection in the western counties of Pennsylvania, commonly known as the "whiskey insurrection." It had its origin in a dissatisfaction with a law[Pg 565] of congress, enacted in 1791, by which a duty was imposed upon spirits distilled in the United States. The inhabitants of that part of Pennsylvania were chiefly foreigners, and consequently were less disposed to submit to the taxation necessary to the support of government. Strong opposition to the law was early manifested, and not a few outrages were committed upon the revenue officers while in the discharge of their duty—such as "whipping, tarring, and branding."
In consideration of these objections, in 1791-92, congress so modified the law, as to do away its most obnoxious features. But the law was now turned to party purposes, and the spirit of discontent was fostered and inflamed to an excessive degree. The consequence was, that outrages were renewed, and the wildest anarchy prevailed.
In September, 1792, the president issued his proclamation against unlawful combinations, and legal measures were adopted against such as refused to pay the tax imposed, and also against the rioters. But these measures were of no practical effect. The president's message was disregarded, and the violence and extent of the combination utterly prevented any enforcement of the law. The house of the collector of Fayette and Westmoreland, was, in November, 1793, entered at night by an armed party, and the officer forced, at the peril of his life, to surrender his commission and books.
After many fruitless efforts to appease the malcontents, the government decided that its officers should be protected, and the law, at all hazards, be sustained. Accordingly, in July, a number of writs were issued, and the marshal dispatched to serve them. In the performance of this duty in Allegany county, he was fired upon. The following day, the house of the inspector, General Neville, in the neighborhood of Pittsburg, was assaulted—but the rioters were repulsed. On the 17th, the attack was renewed, and, though defended by a detachment from the garrison at Pittsburg, it was taken and burned. The marshal and inspector were[Pg 566] obliged to flee for their lives. The effect of this transaction was electrical. The whole of western Pennsylvania was in a blaze. All order was at an end. All law was prostrate.
It was now apparent that the interference of the general government would alone suffice to rule the storm. Neither the civil forces nor the local militia could be depended on. General Washington, therefore, on the 7th of August, made a requisition upon the governor of Pennsylvania and the adjacent states for quotas of militia. Meanwhile, a proclamation was issued to the insurgents to disperse, and a general amnesty promised on condition of a peaceable submission. These measures, however, had no effect. On the 25th of September, the army was ordered to proceed. On its approach, the principal leader fled. This removed the great obstacle to a pacification, and a general submission ensued on the arrival of the militia. Thus terminated a rebellion which, for a time, threatened the most disastrous consequences to the union. The enemies of the government were not unwilling that it should spread wider and wider; nor was foreign intrigue wanting to give it impulse. Through the forbearing policy of Washington, in the first instance, and his subsequent firm and decided measures, the insurrection was quelled. A number of arrests were made, and a few persons convicted. But all were at length pardoned.
Jay's Treaty.—For some time, the relations subsisting between the United States and Great Britain had been far from amicable. The original difficulties arose from the non-execution of the treaty of peace—each nation charging the other with the first infraction. The principal complaints were, on the one hand, the non-delivery of the ports held by the latter within the American lines, and the carrying off the slaves at the close of the war; on the other, the interposition, by the states, of legal impediments to the recovery of debts contracted before the war. Added to these sources of trouble, Great Britain was accused of[Pg 567] exciting the hostility of the Indians on our northern frontier, of impressing our seamen, and, still more recently, of capturing our neutral vessels, retaliatory upon France, which had set the example.
For these reasons, a war between the United States and England was now a probable event. Nor were the friends of France slow in fanning the flame of discord. The latter, therefore, were greatly disappointed on learning that Great Britain had rescinded her orders in relation to the capture of neutral vessels. But it was a most fortunate circumstance for the peace of the two countries. Immediately, Washington, perceiving that an opportunity was presented for a probable settlement of existing difficulties, on the 16th of April, nominated John Jay, then chief justice, as envoy extraordinary to the British court.
On the 7th of March following, 1795, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, concluded by Mr. Jay, arrived. On the 8th, it was submitted to the senate.
The main feature of this treaty respected indemnity for unlawful captures, which was provided for, but no redress could be obtained for negroes carried away. The obstructions to collecting debts were to cease, and the ports on the frontiers were to be evacuated by the 1st of June, 1796. Other stipulations were embraced, and the treaty was limited to twelve years.
On the 24th of June, the senate advised the ratification of the treaty by a vote of exactly two-thirds. It was well known that the President was not entirely satisfied with it, but he had determined to ratify it, if advised by the senate. The cabinet was divided. The country was also divided. Even the friends of England were disappointed in its provisions; while her enemies were loud in their complaints and threats. Boston and the other cities passed condemnatory resolutions. In several cities, mobs threatened personal violence to the supporters of the treaty. Mr. Jay was burned in effigy; the British minister was insulted; and Mr. Hamilton was stoned at a public meeting.
Contrary to the predictions of many, the treaty, thus ratified, settled the difficulties between the two countries, which were on the eve of war. It even proved advantageous to the United States.
Election of Mr. Adams.—As the presidential term of Washington was now drawing to a close, he signified his intention to retire from the duties of public life. During his administration, the people had become divided into two great political parties; at the head of one, was Mr. Adams; at the head of the other, Mr. Jefferson. The election was characterized by a zeal corresponding to the interest taken by the parties in their candidates, and their devotion to their respective political creeds. The election resulted in the choice of Mr. Adams, as may be seen in the following official canvass of the votes:
ELECTION FOR THE THIRD TERM, COMMENCING MARCH 4, 1797, AND TERMINATING MARCH 3, 1801.
| Key: A. | John Adams, of Massachusetts. |
| B. | Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia. |
| C. | Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina. |
| D. | Aaron Burr, of New York. |
| E. | Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts. |
| F. | Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut. |
| G. | John Jay, of New York. |
| H. | George Clinton, of New York. |
| I. | S. Johnson, of North Carolina. |
| J. | James Iredell, of North Carolina. |
| K. | George Washington, of Virgina. |
| L. | Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina. |
| M. | John Henry, of Maryland. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | J. | K. | L. | M. |
| 3 | Tennessee, | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Kentucky, | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Georgia, | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 8 | South Carolina, | 8 | 8 | |||||||||||
| 12 | North Carolina, | 1 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 21 | Virginia, | 1 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| 11 | Maryland, | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||
| 15 | Pennsylvania, | 1 | 14 | 2 | 13 | |||||||||
| 7 | New Jersey, | 7 | 7 | |||||||||||
| 12 | New York, | 12 | 12 | |||||||||||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 16 | Massachusetts, | 16 | 13 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| 4 | Vermont, | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||
| 6 | New Hampshire, | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||
| 139 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 70 | 71 | 68 | 59 | 30 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Farewell Address.—Washington's administration closed on the 3rd of March, 1797. Shortly before, he held his last formal levee. It was an occasion of deep, and even solemn interest. The distinguished of all parties and opinions were there—veterans of the revolution, "weather-stained[Pg 569] and scarred"—statesmen, bent with the cares and weight of years spent in the service of their country—executive counsellors, who had stood by their chief, and aided in giving shape, union, and strength to the youthful republic—ministers from foreign governments, whose veneration approached that of his countrymen—and finally, a long line of private citizens, who admired and delighted to do honor to the man. They had convened, not for the last time to honor the president of the United States—the permanency of the republic was no longer problematical—a successor had been appointed, and hopes were reasonably entertained that the bonds of union between the several states would be strengthened in future years; but they had come to bid "farewell" to Washington—to him, to whose valor and wisdom the nation was prëeminently indebted for its independence, and the prosperity of its government—in short, to "a soldier, without stain upon his arms—a ruler, without personal ambition—a citizen, of self-sacrificing patriotism—a man, pure, unblemished, and true in every relation he had filled—one, in short, to whom all ages should point as the testimony, that virtue and greatness had been and could be united."
To Washington, the occasion was no less solemn and affecting. On retiring from the army, he had taken leave of officers and soldiers, expecting to spend his future days in the shade of his beloved Mount Vernon. Again he was seeking that happy and peaceful retreat, and was glad to be released from the cares and responsibilities of office; but when he looked round upon faces long familiar, and grasped the hands of those who had helped him in times of anxiety and doubt, Washington's heart was affected. It is said there were few smiles, but many tears seen during the reception.
On leaving the seat of government, Washington presented a token of regard to the principal officers of government. His affection for them was sincere and abiding. Towards the entire American people, he bore the kindness[Pg 570] and good-will of a father. He wished their happiness. He had spent years in their service, without emolument, and even at the sacrifice of a portion of his patrimony; but that was nothing, so long as he could see the government stable, and the republic "one and indivisible." There was, perhaps, no one subject which had occupied Washington's thoughts, more than the union of the states. And now that he was about to retire, he felt it to be befitting him to express his views on some subjects connected, as he thought, with the vital interests and the future glory of his country. These he embodied in a "Farewell Address," which, for purity of language, beauty of conception, and soundness of political sentiments, has never been equalled. It can never be read but to be admired. There are but two sentences which we shall cite from this address; but, in respect to the future glory and prosperity of our country, they are as the corner-stones to our national capitol:
"The unity of government, which now constitutes you one people, is now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is the mainspring in the edifice of your real independence; the support of your tranquillity at home; your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize."
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."
On other subjects connected with the future welfare of the country, he expressed opinions, of whose wisdom and practical value, revolving years have given ample proof. Against the spirit of innovation upon the principles of the constitution, he gave solemn warning—against the spirit of party, when bitter and exclusive, he uttered his solemn remonstrance. Public credit should be maintained; public economy practiced; and institutions for the education and improvement of the public mind, liberally endowed.
VII. JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT PHILADELPHIA, MARCH 4, 1797.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Thomas Pickering, | Pennsylvania, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of State. | |
| John Marshall, | Virginia, | May 13, | 1800, | |
| Oliver Wolcott, | Connecticut, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of Treasury. | |
| Samuel Dexter, | Massachusetts, | December 31, | 1800, | |
| James M'Henry, | Maryland, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of War. | |
| Samuel Dexter, | Massachusetts, | May 13, | 1800, | |
| Roger Griswold, | Connecticut, | February 3, | 1801, | |
| Benjamin Stoddert, | Maryland, | May 21, | 1798, | Secretary of the Navy. |
| Joseph Habersham, | Georgia, | (continued in office), | Postmaster General. | |
| Charles Lee, | Virginia, | (continued in office), | Attorney General. | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Jonathan Dayton, | New Jersey, | Fifth Congress, | 1797. |
| Theodore Sedgwick, | Massachusetts, | Sixth do. | 1799. |
On the 1st of March, Washington, now about to retire from the presidency, addressed a communication to the[Pg 572] senate, desiring them to attend in their chamber, on Saturday, the 4th, at ten o'clock, "to receive any communication which the new president might lay before them, touching their interests." In conformity with this summons, the senate assembled at the time and place appointed. The oath of office was administered by Mr. Bingham to Mr. Jefferson, the vice-president elect. The customary oath was next administered by the vice-president to the new senate; which preliminary forms being finished, the senate, preceded by their presiding officer, repaired to the chamber of the house of representatives, to witness the ceremonies of the inauguration of the new president.
Mr. Adams entered, accompanied by the heads of departments, the marshal of the district and his officers, and took his seat in the speaker's chair; the vice-president and secretary of the senate were seated in advance on his right, and the late speaker and clerk on the left; the justices of the supreme court sat before the president, and the foreign ministers and members of the house in their usual seats. The venerable Washington himself also appeared. As he entered, all eyes were turned towards him with admiration, and every heart beat with joy at the complacency and delight which he manifested at seeing another about to be clothed with the authority he had laid aside.
In his inaugural address, Mr. Adams expressed his preference, upon principle, to a free republican government—his attachment to the constitution of the United States—an impartial regard to the rights, interests, honor, and happiness of all the states of the Union, without preference to a Northern or Southern, an Eastern or Western position—a love of equal laws and exact justice—an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations—his regard for the institutions of religion, and the propagation of knowledge and virtue among all classes, &c.; and, finally, he invoked the care and blessing of that Almighty Being, who in all ages had been the Patron of order, the Fountain of justice, and the Protector of virtuous liberty.
Having concluded his address, the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Ellsworth. Washington was the first to tender to the new president his heartfelt congratulations; which having done, he bade adieu to the seat of government, and hastened to the enjoyment of that peace and quiet which he had long desired, and which he now anticipated in his own beloved Mount Vernon.
The condition of the country, on the accession of Mr. Adams, was highly prosperous. The constitution had been tested through the vicissitudes of eight years, and had stood, and continued to stand, as a monument of the political wisdom of its framers. Fortunately, several of those sages had borne conspicuous stations in the government from the time of its organization. The president himself had been the president of the convention which formed the constitution. The true intent, therefore, of that instrument, both in its general and special provisions, had become well understood; its great principles had been applied, and found to answer the most sanguine expectations of its patriotic projectors.
In relation to particular measures, Washington had shown himself to be as skillful a statesman as he had proved himself sagacious as a general. A credit had been established for the country, whose soundness no capitalist doubted—an immense floating debt had been funded in a manner perfectly satisfactory to the creditors, and a revenue had been secured sufficiently ample for the national demands.
Funds also had been provided for the gradual extinction of the national debt; a considerable portion of it had, indeed, been actually discharged, and that system devised which did in fact, in the lapse of some years, extinguish the whole. The agricultural and commercial thrift of the nation had been beyond all former example, and beyond all anticipation. The numerous and powerful tribes of Indians at the West, had been taught by arms and by good faith to respect the United States, and to desire their friendship.
The principal events which distinguished the administration of Mr. Adams, were,
| Difficulties with France | Death of Washington. |
| Treaty with that Power. | Removal of the Seat of Government. |
| Election of Mr. Jefferson. | |
Difficulties with France.—The misunderstanding between France and the United States, which had commenced during the administration of Washington, not only extended into that of Mr. Adams, but, soon after his accession, assumed a still more formidable and even warlike aspect.
The seditious conduct of Mr. Genet, the French minister, and his rëcall, were noticed when reciting the prominent events of Washington's administration. He was succeeded by Mr. Fauchet, who arrived in the United States in February, 1794. The conduct of this functionary, if less exceptionable than his predecessor, was by no means calculated to restore the harmony of the two governments. Fauchet, believing that a large party in the United States sympathized with him and his government, insulted the administration by accusing them of partiality to the English, enmity to his nation, and indifference to the cause of liberty.
With a desire to restore the peace of the two governments, General Washington, in 1794, rëcalled Mr. Morris, our then minister to France, and appointed Mr. Monroe to succeed him, a gentleman belonging to the republican party, and, therefore, more acceptable to the French government, and the more likely to succeed in a satisfactory adjustment of existing difficulties. Mr. Monroe was received with distinguished consideration, and as an evidence of his kind reception, the flags of the two republics were entwined and suspended in the legislative hall.
Mr. Adet soon after succeeded Mr. Fauchet. He brought with him the colors of France, which were presented to the government of the United States as a token of her sympathy and affection for her sister republic. But when the former discovered that the United States continued rigidly to maintain their neutrality, her sympathy and affection suddenly declined. Measures were adopted highly injurious to American commerce. Her cruisers were let loose upon[Pg 575] our commerce, and hundreds of vessels pursuing a lawful trade were captured and confiscated.
The favorable results anticipated from Mr. Monroe's embassy to France signally failed. Whether this failure proceeded from an impossibility of making terms with the French government, or from a want of firmness and decision on the part of Mr. Monroe, it may be difficult to decide. But, dissatisfied with the tardy and unsatisfactory manner in which the negotiation was conducted, the president decided to rëcall Mr. Monroe. This was accordingly done, and Mr. Pinckney was appointed to succeed him.
The object of Mr. Pinckney's mission was stated in his letter of credence to be "to maintain that good understanding which, from the commencement of the alliance, had subsisted between the two nations; and to efface unfavorable impressions, banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was at once the evidence and pledge of a friendly union." The French directory, however, refused to acknowledge Mr. Pinckney in his official capacity; and, at length, by a written mandate, ordered him to quit the territory of the French republic.
Intelligence of these facts having been communicated to Mr. Adams, he summoned congress by proclamation, to assemble on the 15th of May, when, in a fine and dignified speech, he stated the great and unprovoked outrages of the French government. He expressed, however, his wish for an accommodation, and his purpose of attempting it. Meanwhile, he earnestly recommended the adoption of measures of defence.
Accordingly, to prevent war, if practicable, Mr. Adams appointed three envoys extraordinary to the French republic. General Pinckney, then at Amsterdam, whither he had retired on being ordered to leave France, Mr. Marshall and Mr. Gerry. These, also, the directory refused to receive. They were, however, addressed by persons verbally instructed by Talleyrand, the minister of foreign relations, and invited to make proposals. In explicit terms, these[Pg 576] unofficial agents demanded a large sum of money before any negotiations could be opened. To this insulting demand, a decided negative was given. A compliance was, nevertheless, repeatedly urged, until, at length, the envoys refused to hold with them any further communications.
These matters becoming known in America, excited general indignation. The spirit of party appeared to be extinct. "Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute," the language of Mr. Pinckney to the French government, resounded from every quarter of the Union. The treaty of alliance with France was declared by congress to be annulled; and authority was given for capturing armed French vessels. Provision was made for raising a regular army, and in case events should render it expedient, for augmenting it. A direct tax and additional internal duties were laid. To the command of the armies of the United States, President Adams, with the unanimous advice of the senate, appointed George Washington, with the rank of lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief. Washington reluctantly accepted the office, declaring, however, that he cordially approved the measures of the government.
The first act of hostility between the two nations, appears to have been committed by the Insurgente, which captured the American schooner Retaliation, and carried her into Guadaloupe. Soon after, the Constellation, under the command of Captain Truxton, went to sea, and in February, 1799, he encountered the Insurgente, which, after a close action of about an hour and a half, he compelled to strike. The rate of the Constellation was thirty-two guns; that of the Insurgente, forty. The former had three men wounded, one of whom shortly after died, and none killed; the latter had forty-one wounded, and twenty-nine killed. This victory, so brilliant and so decisive, with such a wonderful disparity of loss, gave great eclat to the victor and to the navy.
Treaty with France.—The bold and decided tone of the Americans, added to their preparations for prosecuting a[Pg 577] war with vigor—and, perhaps, more than all, the success of the American navy in various engagements, had the desired effect. Overtures for renewing the negotiations were received from the French directory, which were immediately responded to by the president, by the appointment of Oliver Ellsworth, chief justice of the United States, Patrick Henry,[65] then late governor of Virginia, and William Vans Murray, minister at the Hague, envoys extraordinary for concluding a peace. On their arrival at Paris, they found the directory overthrown, and the government in the hands of Napoleon Buonaparte, as first consul. By him they were promptly received, and a treaty was concluded on the 30th of September, 1800; soon after which, the provisional army in America was, by order of congress, disbanded.
Death of Washington.—The good and the great must die, and, at length, America was called to mourn the departure of the good and illustrious Washington. He did not live, much as he desired that event, to witness the restoration of peace.
On Friday, December 13th, while attending to some improvements upon his estate, he was exposed to a light rain, which that same night induced an inflammatory affection of the windpipe. In the morning his family physician, Dr. Craik, was called in; but the utmost exertions of medical skill were applied in vain. Believing, from the commencement of his complaint, that it would prove fatal, Washington succeeded, though with difficulty, in expressing a desire that he might be permitted to die without being disquieted by unavailing attempts to rescue him from his fate. When no longer able to swallow, undressing himself, he retired to his bed, there to await his dissolution. To his friend and physician he said, with difficulty, "Doctor, I am dying, and have been dying for a long time; but I am not[Pg 578] afraid to die." Respiration became more and more contracted and imperfect, until half-past eleven on Saturday night, when, retaining the full possession of his intellect, he expired without a struggle. Thus, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, died the "Father of his country." Intelligence of this event, as it rapidly spread, produced spontaneous, deep, and unaffected grief, suspending every other thought, and absorbing every different feeling.
Congress unanimously resolved upon a funeral procession in memory of Washington. On the appointed day the procession moved from the legislative hall to the German Lutheran church, where an oration was delivered by General Lee, a representative from Virginia. The procession was grand and solemn; the oration, eloquent and impressive: throughout the Union, similar marks of affection were exhibited—the whole nation appeared in mourning. Funeral orations, commemorative of his virtues, were pronounced in almost every city and town, and many were the tears shed by young and old, as the excellencies of his character were portrayed, and the services which he had rendered in achieving the independence, and contributing to the happiness of his country, were reviewed.
Washington deserved all the public honors which were paid him, and yet he needed none of them to add to the celebrity of his name, or the glory of his achievements. Wherever the story of his greatness, and of his patriotic services, has travelled, it has elicited the admiration and homage of mankind. Indeed, among civilized people of all countries, his name has become a household word, and is identified with all that is wise, and pious, and patriotic. By the aged warriors of our Western tribes—now indeed few and far between—he is still remembered as "our Father:" his name is familiar to the wandering Bedouin, and his fame has penetrated to the mountain fastnesses of the roving Tartar. And in all future time—at least while the American republic has a name and a place on the earth—or while the record of her Revolution, and the establishment of her[Pg 579] government shall last—the name of Washington will be remembered with gratitude and joy. "His country is his monument, and her history his epitaph."
The character of Washington has been so often portrayed, that we shall not deem it necessary to enter upon a formal review of it in these pages. It may be, perhaps, a more grateful service which we render, to garner up some "tributes" to his exalted worth, which have been paid him by some of the most distinguished men in other countries.
Said Mr. Fox, in the British parliament, in a speech delivered during Washington's second presidential term: "Illustrious man! deriving less honor from the splendor of his situation than the dignity of his mind: before whom all borrowed greatness sinks into insignificance, and all the potentates of Europe (excepting the members of our own royal family) become little and contemptible!"—Said Napoleon—a man not wont to lavish his praises—and yet a man who understood and could appreciate noble qualities existing in others—said Napoleon—"Washington is dead! The great man fought against tyranny; he established the liberty of his country. His memory will always be dear to the French people, as it will to all freemen of the two worlds."
Byron has added his testimony to the excellency and glory of Washington—a tribute of praise which, it is said, he has no where in any of his writings paid to a British hero, not even to Wellington himself. "After taxing his misanthropy for the bitterest forms of speech, to be applied to the fallen Napoleon, and to mock at the fearful reverses of the French emperor's fortune, he, by some strange impulses, winds up his scorching lyric with these few lines:"
Beautiful is the tribute—and as just as beautiful—which the Professor of Modern History, in the English University of Cambridge (William Smith, Esq.), pays to the sage of Mount Vernon. "Instances may be found," says he, "when perhaps it may be thought that he was decisive to a degree that partook of severity and harshness, or even more; but how innumerable were the decisions which he had to make! How difficult and how important through the eventful series of twenty years of command in the cabinet or the field! Let it be considered what it is to have the management of a revolution and afterwards the maintenance of order. Where is the man that, in the history of our race, has ever succeeded in attempting successively the one and the other? The plaudits of his country were continually sounding in his ears, and neither the judgment or the virtues of the man were ever disturbed. Armies were led to the field with all the enterprise of a hero, and then dismissed with all the equanimity of a philosopher. Power was accepted—was exercised—was resigned precisely at the moment and in the way that patriotism directed. Whatever was the difficulty, the trial, the temptation, or the danger, there stood the soldier and the citizen, eternally the same, without fear and without reproach, and there was the man who was not only at all times virtuous, but at all times wise.
"As a ruler of mankind, he may be proposed as a model. Deeply impressed with the original rights of human nature, he never forgot that the end and aim of all just government was the happiness of the people, and he never exercised authority till he had first taken care to put himself clearly in the right. His candor, his patience, his love of justice, were unexampled; and this, though naturally he was not patient—much otherwise, highly irritable."
"Of all great men"—such is the declaration of Mr. Guizot, one of the ministers of the late king of the French—"of all great men, Washington was the most virtuous and the most fortunate. In this world, God has no higher favors to bestow."
A writer in the Edinburgh Review, expresses himself in terms equally honorable to the American Fabius: "If profound sagacity, unshaken steadiness of purpose, the entire subjugation of all the passions, which carry havoc through ordinary minds, and oftentimes lay waste the fairest prospects of greatness—nay the discipline of those feelings that are wont to lull or seduce genius, and to mar and to cloud over the aspect of virtue herself—joined with, or rather leading to, the most absolute self-denial, the most habitual and exclusive devotion to principle—if these things can constitute a great character, without either quickness of apprehension or resources of information, or circumventive powers, or any brilliant quality that might dazzle the vulgar—then Washington was the greatest man that ever lived in this world, uninspired by divine wisdom, and unsustained by supernatural virtue."
To the foregoing, we may add an extract from the eloquent peroration of Lord Brougham, in his masterly essay on "Public Characters." "This is the consummate glory of the great American; a triumphant warrior, where the most sanguine had a right to despair; a successful ruler, in all the difficulties of a course wholly untried; but a warrior, whose sword only left its sheath when the first law of our nature commanded it to be drawn; and a ruler who, having tasted of supreme power, greatly and unostentatiously desired that the cup might pass from him, nor would he suffer more to wet his lips than the most solemn and sacred duty to his country and his God required." "It will be the duty of the historian and the sage in all ages to omit no occasion of commemorating this illustrious man; and until time shall be no more, will a test of the progress which our race has made in wisdom and in virtue be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of Washington!"
Such were some of the attributes, the virtues, the services of Washington, and such the tribute paid to his greatness, his worth, and his unequalled glory, as a man, a[Pg 582] military chieftain, and a ruler. More might be added, but it is unnecessary, unless it be, that Washington was a Christian. Every where—in seasons of trial, peril, and almost of hopeless despondency—he placed his reliance upon that Great Being who holds in his hand the fate of men and of nations. His hopes for his country were founded more on the righteousness of her cause, and on the blessing of Heaven, than on the number or strength of his army. Of his religion, he made no parade—of his virtues, no boast—but he was ever more true to the dictates of piety, and observant of the forms and institutions of the Gospel. And it was this reliance upon that Gospel, which enabled him to say, in the closing moments of life, "I am not afraid to die."
In conclusion, we may add, in the highly laudatory and just language of another, "Washington stands almost alone in the world. He occupies a region where there are, unhappily for mankind, but few inhabitants. The Grecian biographer could easily find parallels for Alexander and Cæsar; but, were he living now, he would meet with great difficulty in selecting one for Washington. There seems to be an elevation of moral excellence, which, though possible to attain to, few ever approach. As, in ascending the lofty peaks of the Andes, we at length arrive at a line where vegetation ceases, and the principle of life seems extinct; so, in the gradations of human character, there is an elevation which is never attained by mortal man. A few have approached it, but none nearer than Washington.
"He is eminently conspicuous as one of the great benefactors of the human race; for he not only gave liberty to millions, but his name now stands, and will for ever stand, a noble example to high and low. He is a great work of the Almighty Artist, which none can study without receiving purer ideas and more lofty conceptions of the grace and beauty of the human character. He is one that all may copy at different distances, and whom none can contemplate without receiving lasting and salutary impressions of[Pg 583] the sterling value, the inexpressible beauty of piety, integrity, courage, and patriotism, associated with a clear, vigorous, and well-poised intellect.
"Pure and widely disseminated as is the fame of this great and good man, it is yet in its infancy. It is every day taking deeper root in the hearts of his countrymen and the estimation of strangers, and spreading its branches wider and wider to the air and the skies. He is already become the saint of liberty, which has gathered new honors by being associated with his name; and when men aspire to free nations, they must take him for their model. It is, then, not without ample reason that the suffrages of mankind have combined to place Washington at the head of his race. If we estimate him by the examples recorded in history, he stands without a parallel in the virtues exhibited, and the most unprecedented consequences resulting from their exercise. The whole world was the theatre of his actions, and all mankind are destined to partake, sooner or later, in their results. He is the hero of a new species; he had no model. Will he have any imitators? Time, which bears the thousands and thousands of common cut-throats to the ocean of oblivion, only adds new lustre to his fame, new fame to his example, and new strength to the reverential affection of all good men. What a glorious fame is his, to be acquired without guilt, and enjoyed without envy! to be cherished by millions living, hundreds of millions yet unborn! Let the children of my country prove themselves worthy of his virtues, his labors, his sacrifices, by reverencing his name, and imitating his piety, integrity, industry, fortitude, patience, forbearance, and patriotism. So shall they become fitted to enjoy the blessings of freedom and the bounties of Heaven."[66]
Removal of the Seat of Government.—In the year 1800, the seat of government, agreeably to a law passed by congress[Pg 584] in 1790, was removed to Washington, in the District of Columbia. This territory, ten miles square, had been granted to the general government by the states of Virginia and Maryland. Public buildings had been erected, and in November of this year, congress, for the first time, held their session in that place. After congratulating the people of the United States on the assembling of congress, on the prospect of a residence not to be changed, the president said: "It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble, for the first time, in this solemn temple, without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring his blessing. May this territory be the residence of virtue and happiness! In this city, may that piety and virtue, that wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and self-government, which adorned the great character whose name it bears, be for ever held in veneration. Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion, flourish for ever."
Election of Mr. Jefferson.—At this period, a presidential election recurred. From the time of the adoption of the constitution, the republican party had been gradually gathering strength, and, in anticipation of success, great preparations were made by them to elect their candidates, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr. The candidates of the federal party were Mr. Adams and General Pinckney.
Unfortunately for the federal party, the administration of Mr. Adams had not been generally acceptable. "In the early part of it, the acts by which the army and navy were strengthened, and eighty thousand of the militia subjected to his order, were represented, by the republicans, as proofs that, however he might have been a friend to the constitution of his country, he now either wished to subvert it, or was led blindfold into the views of those who did. The republicans scrupled the policy of a war with France, and denied the necessity, even in case of such a war, of a large land force. They believed that spirits were at work to produce[Pg 585] this war, or to make the most of a disturbance, in order to lull the people, while they raised an army, which they intended as the instrument of subverting the republican, and establishing a monarchical government."
These insinuations—or, more properly, charges—were doubtless utterly groundless; but they served to bring Mr. Adams' administration into disrepute, and to strengthen the republican party, which were boastful of their superior regard to the constitution, and friendship to the rights and liberty of the people.
Other measures of the administration served to increase the party odium against it, and, in the sequel, to overthrow it. We allude particularly to two acts of congress—the alien and sedition laws, of July, 1798.
The alien law empowered the president "to order all such aliens as he should judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or should have reasonable grounds to suspect were concerned in any treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to depart out of the territory of the United States, within such time as should be expressed in such order." In case of disobedience, such aliens, on conviction before the circuit or district courts of the United States, were subjected to imprisonment for not more than three years, and incapacitated from becoming citizens. The subsequent law, respecting alien enemies, enabled the president, on a declaration of war, to cause the subjects of the belligerent nation "to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies." Under both these acts, they were permitted to remove their property, and under the latter, if not chargeable with crimes against the United States, to defend themselves.
Of the two measures, the sedition act was by far the most unpopular. "The other," says Mr. Tucker, "was condemned by most Americans, like the stork in the fable, for the society in which he was found, and for the sake of soothing the great class of foreigners who were not yet[Pg 586] naturalized, the greater part of whom, particularly the Irish and French, were attached to the republican party."[67]
The sedition law, in some of its provisions, went still further. It imposed fine and imprisonment for unlawfully combining and conspiring with intent to oppose the measures of government, when directed by the proper authority: for impeding the operation of any law of the United States; intimidating an officer from the performance of his duty, or counselling or advising, with similar intent, insurrections, riots, or unlawful combinations. It also imposed similar, but lighter penalties, for the publication of false, scandalous, and malicious writings against the government of the United States, either house of congress, or the president, with intent to bring them into contempt, &c. The act was limited to two years.
Such were the measures which at this most critical period of our history were adopted, when the United States, if not carrying on, were undergoing a war with France; and when the country swarmed with secret spies and agents. These laws have been condemned, and President Adams and his government severely censured for having secured their enactment. They were denounced at the time by the republican party in no measured terms. They were claimed to be unnecessary, cruel, and despotic.
But, while it is not our province to enter into a justification of these laws, it may be proper to say, by way of palliation, to use the language of another, "that the laws themselves sprung from existing facts, and self-preservation demanded that the power of providing for the public safety, vested in every government by the very objects of government, should now be used."[68]
The sedition law was never enforced, except against a few—Callender was one—an alien and a fugitive from justice, who would have overthrown the government, in his zeal to build up the republican party.
The necessity for the laws regarding aliens, was more apparent. The Frenchmen in the United States, at that era, were estimated at thirty thousand. Many of them were associated together in clubs, which had for their object the furtherance of French interests. The number of British subjects was still greater. Other foreigners were numerous, and all were attached to France. They were restless, feverish, factious. Whatever may be thought of the expediency or justice of the law in question, no reasonable doubt can be entertained of the necessity of some restrictive measures in a time of such excitement as then prevailed. And yet it must be admitted that no man was actuated by a loftier patriotism than Mr. Adams; nor was any one ever more ready to make sacrifices for his country's good. It is sometimes urged that he was vain, self-willed, impulsive. But these imperfections were relieved by noble virtues. His political opponent—the man who supplanted him—declared that he was the ablest advocate of independence. In days when others desponded, he hoped.
The acts secured the object sought—they secured, if not the peace, the safety of the country; for even while they were in the process of enactment, not a few of the more "notorious of the incendiaries" left the country. But they largely contributed to the overthrow of the existing administration, and the triumph of the democratic party.
As the constitution then existed, each elector gave his vote for two persons, without designating which was to be president—the one having the largest number being entitled to the presidency, and the other to the vice-presidency. Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were the two candidates of the republican party. Each of these having seventy-three votes, it devolved upon the house of representatives to decide between them. The federal party having been defeated in respect to their candidates, sided with the friends of Colonel Burr, in opposition to Mr. Jefferson.
As this was the first time that the election of a president had thus devolved upon the house of representatives, a[Pg 588] general interest was taken in the subject. But that interest was greatly increased by the then existing state of political parties. On the arrival of the time for the election, it was decided that, after the balloting had commenced, no adjournment should be had until a choice was made—that during the balloting, the doors of the house should be closed—that the delegation from each state should be seated together—that the latter should first ballot among themselves, and that duplicates of these ballots should be made, and placed in separate boxes. When all the states had thus voted, the ballot-boxes were to be carried by the sergeant-at-arms to two separate tables. The ballots were then to be counted by tellers, eight in number, at each table. When counted, the reports were to be announced from each table; if these reports agreed, they were to be accepted, as the true votes of the states; but, if they differed, a new balloting was to be made.
On Wednesday, the 11th of February, 1801, the balloting commenced. On the first ballot, eight states voted for Mr. Jefferson, six states for Mr. Burr, and the votes of two states were divided. Unexpectedly, no choice was effected during the first day, and an adjournment became necessary. The balloting was continued on the following day, and, indeed, until Tuesday, the 17th of February, when the thirty-fifth ballot, as had all the previous ballots, resulted the same as the first. The excitement of members, and of citizens attracted from various parts of the country to see the issue of a novel political contest, had now become intense. Every possible influence was exerted by the respective parties. Mr. Nicholson, of Maryland, being too unwell to sit during the protracted ballotings, had a bed prepared for him in one of the committee-rooms, to which the ballot-box was carried by the tellers on the part of the state. For several days, the members ate little, and slept still less. At length, however, the long contest was terminated by the thirty-sixth ballot, which resulted in the election of Mr. Jefferson—ten states having voted for him,[Pg 589] four for Mr. Burr, and two in blank. The following table exhibits the final result:
| Key: A. | Thos. Jefferson, of Virginia. |
| B. | Aaron Burr, of New York. |
| C. | John Adams, of Massa'tts. |
| D. | C. C. Pinckney, of S. Carolina. |
| E. | John Jay, of New York. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | A. | B. | C. | D. | E. |
| 6 | New Hampshire, | 6 | 6 | |||
| 16 | Massachusetts, | 16 | 16 | |||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 9 | |||
| 4 | Vermont, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 12 | New York, | 12 | 12 | |||
| 7 | New Jersey, | 7 | 7 | |||
| 15 | Pennsylvania, | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | |
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 10 | Maryland, | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| 21 | Virginia, | 21 | 21 | |||
| 4 | Kentucky, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 12 | North Carolina, | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | |
| 3 | Tennessee, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 8 | South Carolina, | 8 | 8 | |||
| 4 | Georgia, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 138 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 70 | 73 | 73 | 65 | 64 | 1 |
VIII. THOMAS JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1801.
AARON BURR AND GEORGE CLINTON, VICE-PRESIDENTS.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| James Madison, | Virginia, | March 5, | 1801, | Secretary of State. |
| Samuel Dexter, | Massachusetts, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of Treasury. | |
| Albert Gallatin, | Pennsylvania, | January 26, | 1802, | |
| Henry Dearborn, | Massachusetts, | March 5, | 1801, | Secretary of War. |
| Benjamin Stoddert, | Maryland, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of the Navy. | |
| Robert Smith, | Maryland, | January 26, | 1802, | |
| Joseph Habersham, | Georgia, | (continued in office), | Postmasters General. | |
| Gideon Granger, | Connecticut, | January 26, | 1802, | |
| Levi Lincoln, | Massachusetts, | March 5, | 1801, | Attorneys General. |
| John Breckenridge, | Kentucky, | December 23, | 1805, | |
| Cæsar A. Rodney | Delaware, | January 20, | 1807, | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Nathaniel Macon, | North Carolina, | Seventh Congress, | 1801. |
| Joseph B. Varnum, | Massachusetts, | Eighth do. | 1803. |
| Nathaniel Macon, | North Carolina, | Ninth do. | 1805. |
| Joseph B. Varnum, | Massachusetts, | Tenth do. | 1807. |
Mr. Jefferson was inducted into office, with the usual imposing ceremonies, on the 4th of March, 1801; on which[Pg 591] occasion, deviating from the example of his predecessors, he transmitted to congress a written message, instead of delivering a speech in person—a practice which has been followed by his successors in the presidential chair, without an exception.
This message was a remarkable document, inasmuch as it set forth the "essential principles" of our government in the narrowest compass, and with great clearness and precision of language. These were, "Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the state governments, in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government, in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person, under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation."
The leading events in the presidential career of Mr. Jefferson, will require us to notice the—
| Purchase of Louisiana. | Attack on the Chesapeake. |
| War with Tripoli. | British Orders in Council. |
| Murder of Hamilton. | Milan Decree. |
| Rëelection of Jefferson. | Embargo. |
| Conspiracy and Trial of Burr. | Election of Mr. Madison. |
| Difficulties between France and England. | |
Purchase of Louisiana.—By the treaty of 1783, the Mississippi was made the western boundary of the United States, from its source to the thirty-first degree of latitude, and following this line to the St. Mary's. By a treaty of the same date, the Floridas were ceded to Spain, without any specific boundaries. This omission led to a controversy between the United States and Spain, which nearly terminated in hostilities. By a treaty with Spain, however, in 1795, boundary lines were amicably settled, and New Orleans was granted to American citizens as a place of deposit for their effects for three years and longer, unless some other place of equal importance should be assigned. No other place being assigned within that time, New Orleans continued to be used as before.
In 1800, a secret treaty was signed at Paris, by the plenipotentiaries of France and Spain, by which Louisiana was guarantied to France, and, in 1801, the cession was actually made. At the same time, the Spanish intendant of Louisiana was instructed to make arrangements to deliver the country to the French commissioners. Upon receiving intelligence of this intended transfer, great sensibility prevailed in congress, and a proposition was made to occupy the place by force; but, after an animated discussion, the project was relinquished, and negotiations with France were commenced by Mr. Jefferson, for the purchase of the whole country of Louisiana, which ended in an agreement to that effect, signed at Paris, April 30th, 1803, by which the United States were to pay to France fifteen millions of dollars. Early in December, 1803, the commissioners[Pg 593] of Spain delivered possession to France; and, on the 20th of the same month, the authorities of France duly transferred the country to the United States.
War with Tripoli.—In his message to Congress, in 1801, Mr. Jefferson spoke of the relations of the United States with all nations as pacific, except with Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary states. This power had made demands, the most unjust, upon the American government, and had threatened war, because that government had failed to comply with those demands before a given day. Thus threatened, the president had sent out Commodore Dale with a squadron of two ships and a sloop-of-war, to blockade the harbor of Tripoli, by which piratical cruisers should be prevented from making depredations upon American commerce.
In 1803, it became necessary to add to this Mediterranean force. Accordingly, a squadron of seven sail was ordered, of which Commodore Preble was put in command. In October, the frigate Philadelphia, forty-four, Captain Bainbridge, while in eager pursuit of a small vessel, grounded in the harbor of Tripoli, and, in this situation, was compelled to surrender. The officers became prisoners, and the crew slaves. In this emergency, Stephen Decatur, then a lieutenant under Commodore Preble, proposed a plan for rëcapturing or destroying the Philadelphia. The American squadron was at that time lying at Syracuse. Agreeably to the plan proposed, Lieutenant Decatur, in the ketch Intrepid, four guns and seventy-five men, proceeded, under the escort of the Syren, Captain Stewart, to the harbor of Tripoli. The Philadelphia lay within half gun-shot of the bashaw's castle, and was guarded by several cruisers and gun-boats. The Intrepid entered the harbor alone, about eight o'clock in the evening, and succeeded in getting near the Philadelphia, between ten and eleven o'clock, without having awakened suspicion of her hostile designs. This vessel had been captured from the[Pg 594] Tripolitans, and, assuming on this occasion her former national appearance, was permitted to warp alongside. The moment the vessel came in contact, Decatur and his followers leaped on board, and soon overwhelmed the crew. Twenty Tripolitans were killed. All the surrounding batteries being opened upon the Philadelphia, she was immediately set on fire; when, a favoring breeze springing up, the Intrepid extricated herself from her prey, and sailed triumphantly out of the harbor.
In July, 1804, Commodore Preble having concentrated his forces before Tripoli, opened a tremendous fire of shot and shells, which was as promptly returned by the Tripolitan batteries and shipping. At the same time, two divisions of gun-boats—the first under the command of Captain Somers, the second under Lieutenant Stephen Decatur—advanced against those of the enemy.
Lieutenant Decatur, bearing down upon one of superior force, soon carried her by boarding; when, taking his prize in tow, he grappled with another, and, in like manner, transferred the fight to the enemy's deck. In the fierce encounter which followed this second attack, Lieutenant Decatur, having broken his sword, closed with the Turkish commander, and, both falling in the struggle, gave him a mortal wound with a pistol-shot, just as the Turk was raising his dirk to plunge it into his breast. Lieutenant Trippe, of Lieutenant Decatur's squadron, had boarded a third large gun-boat, with only one midshipman and nine men, when his boat fell off, and left him to wage the unequal fight of eleven against thirty-six. Courage and resolution, however, obliged the numerous foe to yield, with the loss of fourteen killed and seven wounded. Lieutenant Trippe received eleven sabre wounds, and had three of his party wounded, but none killed.
On the 4th of September, Commodore Preble determined to send a fire-ship into the enemy's harbor. For this service, the Intrepid was fitted out, being filled with powder, shells, and other combustible materials. Captain Somers conducted[Pg 595] the enterprise, having for his associates Lieutenants Wadsworth and Israel, all volunteers. At eight o'clock in the evening, she stood into the harbor, with a moderate breeze. Several shots were fired at her from the batteries. She had nearly gained her place of destination, when she exploded, without having made any of the signals, previously concerted, to show that the crew was safe. Night hung over the dreadful catastrophe, and left the whole squadron a prey to the most dreadful anxiety.
Doubt, however, was at length turned into certainty. She had prematurely blown up, destroying one of the enemy's gun-boats, and shattering several others. Commodore Preble, in his account, says, that he was led to believe that those boats were detached from the enemy's flotilla to intercept the ketch, and, without suspecting her character, had suddenly boarded her, when the gallant Somers and the heroes of his party, observing the other three boats surrounding them, and no prospect of escape, determined to put a match to the train leading directly to the magazine; and, he adds, that his "conjectures respecting this affair are founded on a resolution which Captain Somers and Lieutenants Wadsworth and Israel had formed, never to be taken by the enemy, and never to suffer him to get possession of the powder on board the Intrepid."
The reigning bashaw of Tripoli, at this time, was an usurper, while the lawful one and an older brother, Hamet Caramelli, was at Tunis in exile. At the commencement of the war, William Eaton, then American consul at Tunis, becoming acquainted with Hamet, concerted an expedition to expel the usurper, and restore the rightful heir to the throne. To such an enterprise, the sanction of the American government being necessary, General Eaton repaired to the United States, and laid his plan before our government; but they, thinking the scheme altogether too romantic, yet not wishing wholly to discourage it, made him agent for the government; he sailed with the fleet for the Mediterranean, and proceeding to Alexandria, prevailed on[Pg 596] the viceroy of Egypt to suffer him to have an interview with the exiled bey. They met near Grand Cairo, and entered into a convention for the purpose of attacking Tripoli. Eaton was to be commander-in-chief of the land forces. Their army consisted of a few American sailors, a small company of artillery, a few straggling Greeks, the servants of Hamet Bashaw, and some camel-drivers. With this motley band, Eaton dashed across the desert in the most noble style, fearless of all difficulties. Here he was joined by a few Arabian cavalry, and, after suffering every hardship, arising from hunger and a scorching sun, the party reached Bomba, where they found the Argus and Hornet, under the command of Captain Hull. The army, of nearly four hundred, continued their march to Derne. On the 25th of April, 1804, they encamped on an eminence which commanded the place, and forthwith demanded a surrender. The inhabitants of Derne treated the summons with contempt. A furious assault was the consequence, and the place was carried after a short but desperate action.
Unfortunately for Eaton's projects, at this time he received intelligence that the American commissioners in the fleet had made peace with the bashaw then in power. It was stipulated, that Eaton should evacuate Derne, and repair to the fleet; and that a mutual delivery of prisoners should take place, among whom was Captain Bainbridge, with the officers and crew of the Philadelphia; and, as the bashaw had a balance of more than two hundred prisoners in his favor, he was to receive sixty thousand dollars. Hamet Bashaw accompanied Eaton to the United States, with a few of his followers, while the remainder of the army fled to the mountains. The commissioners acknowledged that Eaton's success prepared the way for the treaty of peace. Moreover, the president of the United States, in a message to congress, spoke highly of his services; and the citizens every where hailed him as worthy of a place in the lists of chivalry; but, during his after-life, he ever felt that injustice was done him by his countrymen, although[Pg 597] Massachusetts made him a grant of ten thousand acres of land as a reward for his services.
Murder of Hamilton.—On the 12th of July, 1804, General Alexander Hamilton died in the city of New York, in consequence of a wound received the day previous, in a duel fought by him with Aaron Burr.
In February, 1804, Colonel Burr was nominated as a candidate for the office of governor of New York. Judge Morgan Lewis was the opposing and successful candidate. The contest was violent, and even "acrimonious." The majority of the democratic party supported Judge Lewis; a respectable minority favored the election of Colonel Burr. Similar divisions existed among the federal party. Hamilton and his immediate political friends were strong in their opposition to Burr. In the contest, the press was enlisted. Violent, and even libellous articles, were daily published. In the progress of this warfare, a letter, written by Dr. Charles D. Cooper to Colonel Burr, was published, in which, among other matters, there occurred the following clause: "I could detail to you a still more despicable opinion, which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr."
At the request of Colonel Burr, Judge Van Ness called upon General Hamilton, and demanded an explanation. A few days following, the latter replied by letter, in which, after expressing his embarrassment in attempting to meet a charge so indefinite, he said: "I stand ready to avow or disavow, promptly and explicitly, any precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having declared of any gentleman. More than this cannot fitly be expected from me; and, especially, it cannot be reasonably asked that I shall enter into any explanation upon a basis so vague as that you have adopted. I trust, on reflection, you will see the matter in the same light with me."
Colonel Burr was not satisfied, and from this date, June 20th, the correspondence, thus begun, was continued to the 3d of July, when it was definitely arranged that a meeting[Pg 598] should take place between them on the morning of the 11th, at Weehawk, on the Jersey shore, at seven o'clock A. M.
That meeting took place. They fought at ten paces distance. The fire of Colonel Burr took effect, and General Hamilton fell. The ball passed through the liver and diaphragm, and lodged in the vertebra. From the first, it was apparent that the wound was mortal, and of this, Hamilton was sensible. On the day following, he expired.
The seconds in this most unfortunate and criminal affair were Mr. Pendleton, the friend of Mr. Hamilton, and Judge Van Ness, the friend of Burr. By the former, it was claimed that General Hamilton did not fire first, nor at all at Colonel Burr. Several circumstances corroborated this statement. In a paper, left by Hamilton, in anticipation of his interview with Burr, he writes: "I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thought of even reserving my second fire, and thus give a double opportunity to Colonel Burr to pause and reflect." Dr. Hosack, his attendant physician on the ground, accompanied him on his return across the Hudson to New York. On their way, Hamilton, observing the pistol which he had used lying in the boat, said: "Take care of that pistol; it is undischarged, and still cocked; it may go off, and do harm. Pendleton knows that I did not intend to fire at him." "Yes," said Pendleton; "I have already made Dr. Hosack acquainted with your determination."
It may be further added, and to the dishonor of Hamilton it should be added—and perhaps as a solemn dissuasive against a practice at war with reason, revelation, and all the dear and important relations of life—that he accepted the challenge, and repaired to that duelling-ground, contrary to the convictions of conscience and duty. In the paper already alluded to, he writes: "My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the practice of[Pg 599] duelling, and it would ever give me pain to be obliged to shed the blood of a fellow-creature in a private combat forbidden by the laws."—In an interview with him, a few hours before he expired, and as he was about to part with him, the late Dr. Mason said to him, "I have one request to make." He asked "what it was?" The doctor replied, that "whatever might be the issue of his affliction, he would give his testimony against the practice of duelling."—"I will," said he; "I have done it. If that"—evidently anticipating the event—"if that be the issue, you will find it in writing. If it please God that I recover, I shall do it in a manner which will effectually put me out of its reach in future."
Nothing scarcely could exceed the indignation of the public against the murderer of Hamilton. From that fatal hour, he was shunned by all classes, and for years roamed abroad, a fugitive from the land in which he was once honored. Forgetting all party distinctions and animosities, the people in various parts of the land united in demonstrations of respect for the memory of Hamilton, and sincere sorrow at his untimely fall. Next to Washington, no man was, perhaps, more respected; nor since the departure of the Father of his country to another world, was the loss of one more deeply or widely deplored.
Hamilton had occupied a conspicuous place for years in the army and under the government. In the former capacity, he had stood by the side of Washington. He loved military life, and, as a soldier and a patriot, deserved well of his country. From his views on several subjects connected with the organization of the government, and especially the management of the finances of the country, many dissented. Yet, it cannot be denied, that the policy he advised, resulted in the prosperity of the country. He was a strong partisan in his time, and tenacious of his opinions. There were contemporary with him others of a similar stamp, yet widely different from him in their political views.
But, aside from his political career, Hamilton was a distinguished man—possessed of a lofty and comprehensive mind. At the bar, with men of learning and experience, he was, perhaps, without a rival. "His eloquence combined the nervousness and copious elegance of the Greek and Roman schools."
It was truthfully said of him, what was beautifully said of another:
Rëelection of Mr. Jefferson.—In 1805, Mr. Jefferson was elected a second time to the office of president. The electoral votes were one hundred and seventy-six, of which he received one hundred and sixty-two. George Clinton was chosen vice-president. The following is the official canvass of the votes:
| Key: A. | Thos. Jefferson, of Virginia. |
| B. | C. C. Pinckney, of S. Carolina. |
| C. | George Clinton, of New York. |
| D. | Rufus King, of New York. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | ||
| 7 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 7 | ||
| 19 | Massachusetts, | 19 | 19 | ||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 6 | Vermont, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 19 | New York, | 19 | 19 | ||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 20 | Pennsylvania, | 20 | 20 | ||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 11 | Maryland, | 9 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| 24 | Virginia, | 24 | 24 | ||
| 14 | North Carolina, | 14 | 14 | ||
| 10 | South Carolina, | 10 | 10 | ||
| 6 | Georgia, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 5 | Tennessee, | 5 | 5 | ||
| 8 | Kentucky, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 3 | Ohio, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 176 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 89 | 162 | 14 | 162 | 14 |
Conspiracy and Trial of Burr.—In the spring of 1807, Colonel Aaron Burr was arrested on the Tombigbee river, Mississippi territory, on a charge of treason against the United States; and was conveyed to Richmond, Virginia, for trial. Other arrests were made of persons supposed to be concerned with him in his treasonable scheme—among them were Generals Adair and Dayton, Blannerhasset, Swartwout, Alexander, Smith, Bollman, Ogden, &c. Burr and Blannerhasset alone were brought to trial. The trial of the former took place in May, 1807, before the circuit court of the United States, Judge Marshall presiding. No indictment was found by the grand jury until the 25th of June, when two bills were presented against Burr—one for treason, the other for a misdemeanor. On the 30th of June, he was committed to the penitentiary for safe keeping until the 3d day of August. From the 5th until the 17th of August, the court was engaged in obtaining a jury and discussing points of law. On that day, the treason case was opened, and an examination of witnesses on the part of the government commenced. On the 1st of September, the case was given to the jury, and as no overt act was proved against Colonel Burr to sustain the charge of treason committed within the state of Virginia, the jury rendered a verdict of "Not guilty."
On the 9th of September, a jury was empaneled to try Colonel Burr on the indictment for misdemeanor, which consisted of seven counts; the substance of which was, that Aaron Burr did set on foot a military enterprise, to be carried on against the territory of a foreign prince, viz: the province of Mexico, which was within the territory of the king of Spain, with whom the United States were at peace. After proceeding in the trial at some length, the district attorney himself moved that the jury should be discharged—the evidence of the guilt of the accused not appearing, sufficient. To a discharge of the jury without the rendition of a verdict, Burr objected; whereupon the jury retired, and soon returned with a verdict of "Not guilty."
The distinguished talents of Colonel Burr, his well-known cunning and intrigue, and the eminent station he had occupied in the United States, together with the grave charges against him of a contemplated dismemberment of the Union, with other projects—all combined to attach interest and importance to his trial. In his message to congress, developing the designs of Burr, as the government understood them, President Jefferson accused him of designing to revolutionize the territory west of the Alleganies, and of establishing an independent government, of which New Orleans was to be the capital, and himself the chief. In addition to this project, Colonel Burr, it was alleged, had formed another, which, in case of the failure of the first, might be carried on independent of it, viz: an attack on Mexico, and an establishment of an empire there. To serve as a pretext for all his preparations, and an allurement for such followers as really wished to acquire settlements in that country, it was stated that a third object was provided—the settlement of the pretended purchase of a tract of land on the Washita, claimed by a Baron Bastrop.
Such were the plans of Burr, according to intelligence communicated from time to time to the government of the United States. On the belief of the guilt of Burr, or through utter hostility to him, Jefferson acted; and with an evident design to prevent his escape, he succeeded in procuring the passage of a bill in the senate for suspending the writ of habeas corpus; but it was rejected by the house, by the strong vote of one hundred and thirteen to nineteen.
Burr, to his dying day, denied any intention of dismembering the Union; but avowed the projects which did not involve the charge of treason. "In his latter days," says his biographer, "Colonel Burr had no longer any motive for concealment; nor did he evince the least desire to suppress the facts in relation to any of his acts, even where the promulgation of those facts was calculated to effect his moral character. According to his representation, repeated at a time, and under circumstances the most solemn and impressive,[Pg 603] (Burr at this time was expected to survive but a short time,) his views were twofold, viz: First, The revolutionizing of Mexico; and, Second, A settlement on what was known as the Bastrop lands."
It is further added by his biographer, that "during the years 1806 and 1807, Herman Blennerhasset kept a private journal, in which are recorded the principal incidents arising out of his connexion with Colonel Burr. Portions of it are interesting and amusing. The entries confirm the particular statements of Truxton, Bollman,[69] and others, and repudiate the idea of treasonable designs. It appears that in December, 1805, Blennerhasset addressed a letter to Colonel Burr, expressing a wish to participate in any speculation in the Western country that might present itself to Burr. A Spanish war was hourly anticipated, and Blennerhasset proposed to join Burr in any expedition that might be undertaken against the Spanish dominions.
"In August, 1806, in consequence of this overture, Burr visited Blannerhasset at his home on the Ohio, and the next day rode with him to Marietta, and then separated, Burr being on his way to Chilicothe. From Marietta to Blannerhasset's was about fifteen miles. Some time after, Burr returned to Blannerhasset, to whom he said that an expulsion of the Spaniards from the American territory, or an invasion of Mexico, would be pleasing to the administration, if it could be accomplished without an open, formal war, which would be avoided as long as possible, from parsimony on the one hand, and the dread of France on the other."
We have thus given such a statement of this subject as our limits permit, and as seems due to the respective parties engaged in it. Different opinions will doubtless be entertained with reference to Burr's real designs. That he[Pg 604] contemplated the dismemberment of the Union, and the founding of an empire, of which New Orleans was to be the centre, and himself the head, will be questioned by some. That he was capable of devising such a project, and would have accomplished it, if in his power, no one acquainted with the deep designing character of the murderer of Hamilton, can doubt. With exalted talents—with an early education and parental counsel, as liberal and watchful as ever, perhaps, fell to the lot of mortal to enjoy—with the favor and patronage of a people, seldom so generously conferred, or so long and uniformly enjoyed—Burr proved himself a selfish, unprincipled man. One thing is certain, and this he admitted—that he designed the invasion and overthrow of the Mexican government, and the erection of an independent power in its place. And to further his views, he induced not a few, by "inuendoes and otherwise," to believe that his arrangements for the accomplishment of this were with the knowledge, if not the approbation, of the United States' government.
France and England, 1806.—A contest between these two powers, which had been waging for some time, and which had involved the whole of Europe, began now seriously to affect the commercial interests of America. It being the obvious policy of the latter to preserve a strict neutrality in respect to these belligerent powers, every act of the American government had respect to maintaining the same. Being neutral, her vessels carried from port to port the productions of France and her dependent kingdoms; and also to the ports of those kingdoms, the manufactures of England, bringing, by means of this "carrying trade," vast wealth to the nation. These advantages were, however, too great to be long enjoyed unmolested. American ships, carrying to Europe the produce of French colonies, were captured by British cruisers, and condemned by their courts as lawful prizes; and now, several European ports, under the control of France, were, by British orders[Pg 605] in council, May 16, 1806, declared to be in a state of blockade, although not invested with a British fleet; and American vessels, attempting to enter those ports, were also captured and condemned. France and her allies suffered from these proceedings, but far less than the United States. By way of retaliation, in November of the same year, Buonaparte issued a decree at Berlin, declaring the British islands to be in a state of blockade, and of course authorizing the capture and condemnation of all neutral vessels attempting to trade with them. Thus, from the retaliatory measures of these two rival powers, the commerce of the United States was seriously injured.
Although the relations of Great Britain and America were at this time ostensibly pacific, yet there existed, and had long existed, a claim on the part of Great Britain, and a pretence under that claim, which was denied by the several presidents during their administrations. This was what was denominated "the right of search"—founded upon the English principle, that no act of a subject can change his allegiance to the government under which he was born. Upon this principle, Great Britain, soon after the peace of 1783, claimed the right to board and search neutral vessels, and take therefrom all British seamen found therein. In the exercise of this pretended right, citizens of the United States had been seized, and, being transported to a distant part of the world, had been compelled to perform the degrading part of British sailors. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, the odious practice was still continued, and every year was adding to its aggravations.
Attack on the Chesapeake.—At length, an event occurred, growing out of this pretended "right of search," which roused the indignation of the American people.
A British armed ship, called the Melampus, while lying in Hampton roads, lost, by desertion, several of her crew, viz: William Ware, Daniel Martin, John Strachan, John[Pg 606] Little, and Ambrose Watts. Not long after, the first three offered themselves for enlistment on board the Chesapeake, then at Norfolk, Virginia, preparing for the Mediterranean.
The British consul at Norfolk; being apprised of this circumstance, wrote a letter to the American naval officer, requesting these men to be returned. With this request the officer refusing to comply, the British agent requested an order from government for their surrender. An examination, however, into the characters and claims of the men in question, resulted in proof that Ware, Martin, and Strachan, were natives of America. The two former had protections, or notarial certificates of their being American citizens. Strachan had no protection, but asserted that he lost it previously to his escape. Such being the circumstances of the men, the government refused to surrender them.
On the 22d of June, the Chesapeake weighed anchor, and proceeded to sea. She passed the British ships Bellona and Melampus, lying in Lynnhaven bay. There were two ships lying off Cape Henry, one of which, the Leopard, Captain Humphreys, weighed anchor, and, in a few hours, came alongside the Chesapeake.
A British officer immediately came on board, and demanded the deserters. To this, Captain Barron replied, that he did not know of any being there, and that his duty forbade him to allow of any muster of his crew, except by their own officers.
During this interview, Barron, noticing some proceedings of a hostile nature on board the adverse ship, gave orders, on the departure of the officer, to clear his gun-deck, and, after some time, directed his men to their quarters secretly, and without beat of drum; still, however, without any serious apprehensions of an attack.
Before these orders could be executed, the Leopard commenced a heavy fire, which proved very destructive. In thirty minutes, the hull, rigging, and spars of the Chesapeake were greatly damaged; three men were killed and[Pg 607] sixteen wounded; among the latter, was the captain himself. Such was the previous disorder, that, during this time, the utmost exertions were insufficient to prepare the ship for action, and the captain thought proper to strike his colors.
The British captain refused to accept the surrender of the Chesapeake, but took from her crew Ware, Martin, and Strachan, the three men formerly demanded as deserters, and a fourth, John Wilson, claimed as a runaway from a merchant ship.
"On receiving information of this outrage, the president, by proclamation, interdicted the harbors and waters of the United States to all armed British vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and ordered a sufficient force for the protection of Norfolk, and such other preparations as the occasion appeared to require. An armed vessel of the United States was dispatched, with instructions to the American minister at London, to call on the British government for the satisfaction and security which the outrage required."
Pursuant to these instructions, Mr. Monroe, then minister resident at the court of St. James, demanded reparation; and, as an essential part of that reparation, security against future impressments from American ships. But Mr. Canning, the British minister, objected to uniting these subjects, and Mr. Monroe not being authorized to treat them separately, Mr. Rose was dispatched, by the English government, as envoy extraordinary to the United States, to adjust the difficulty which had arisen on account of the Chesapeake.[70]
Orders in Council.—In November, Great Britain issued her orders in council, which measure she declared to be in retaliation of the French decree of November, 1806. By these orders, all neutral nations were prohibited from trading with France or her allies, excepting upon the payment of a tribute to England.
Milan Decree.—Scarcely had the news of the adoption of the above orders reached Milan, where Buonaparte then was, than he issued, December 17th, a retaliatory decree, called the "Milan Decree," which confiscated any and every vessel found in any of his ports, which had allowed herself to be searched by an English ship, or had paid the tribute demanded.
Embargo.—Congress had been summoned, by proclamation of the president, to meet as early as the 27th of October. The wanton attack upon the Chesapeake had filled the country with indignation—all parties felt the national honor insulted; forgetting, for the time, political jealousies and animosities, all concurred in demanding satisfaction for the outrage.
There were other subjects, also, which, in the opinion of the executive, required the thoughtful consideration of the national legislature. The conduct of the continental belligerents was preying upon the vital interests of America. Great Britain was asserting rights which could never be allowed, and assuming a lofty tone which would excite no other feelings but indignation.
In view of the circumstances of the country, the president recommended to congress to lay an embargo—by which measure he designed to detain seamen, ships, and merchandise in port, to preserve them from the dangers to which they were exposed on the ocean; but the higher[Pg 609] motive for recommending such a measure, probably, was the hope of thereby inducing—coercing, we might with more truth say—the belligerent powers to respect the laws of nations. In accordance with the recommendation of the president, an embargo was laid.
This measure was not without its commercial and political effects. The large shipping interest then in the United States was locked up by means of it, and vessels abroad, which were obliged to come in, could go out no more. To the New England states, which were prëeminently commercial, the embargo was highly obnoxious. They believed the measure both impolitic and oppressive.
A rapid change in the political opinions of the people of New England was the consequence. A large majority, embracing many who had supported the administration, now united with the federal party, and opposed its measures with zeal. Thus pressed by public sentiment, the government felt the necessity of repealing the embargo, which it was the more willing to do, from the consideration that it had failed to effect its principal object; but, at the same time, another law was passed, prohibiting all intercourse with France and Great Britain for one year. "Provision was made in this law, that, should either of the hostile nations revoke her edict, so that the neutral commerce of the United States should be no longer violated, the president should immediately make it known by proclamation, and, from that time, the non-intercourse law should cease to be enforced as it regarded that nation."
Election of Mr. Madison.—In this critical posture of affairs, the period having again arrived for the election of president, Mr. Jefferson signified his determination to follow and confirm the example of Washington, by retiring to private life at the expiration of his second term. "Never did a prisoner," said he, "released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall, on shaking off the shackles of power. I thank God for the opportunity of retiring from them without[Pg 610] censure, and carrying with me the most constant proofs of public approbation. I leave every thing in the hands of men so able to take care of them, that, if we are destined to meet misfortunes, it will be because no human wisdom could avert them." James Madison was chosen his successor, and George Clinton rëelected vice-president. The following table presents the result of the official canvass:
| Key: A. | James Madison, of Virginia. |
| B. | George Clinton, of New York. |
| C. | C. C. Pinckney, of S. Carolina. |
| D. | George Clinton, of New York. |
| E. | James Madison, of Virginia. |
| F. | James Monroe, of Virginia. |
| G. | John Langdon, N Hampshire. |
| H. | Rufus King, of New York. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | ||
| 7 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 7 | ||||||
| 19 | Massachusetts, | 19 | 19 | ||||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 9 | ||||||
| 6 | Vermont, | 6 | 6 | ||||||
| 19 | New York, | 13 | 6 | 13 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| 20 | Pennsylvania, | 20 | 20 | ||||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| 11 | Maryland, | 9 | 2 | 9 | 2 | ||||
| 24 | Virginia, | 24 | 24 | ||||||
| 14 | North Carolina, | 11 | 3 | 11 | 3 | ||||
| 10 | South Carolina, | 10 | 10 | ||||||
| 6 | Georgia, | 6 | 6 | ||||||
| 7 | Kentucky, | 7 | 7 | ||||||
| 5 | Tennessee, | 5 | 5 | ||||||
| 3 | Ohio, | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| 175 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 88 | 122 | 6 | 47 | 113 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 47 |
IX. JAMES MADISON, PRESIDENT
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1809.
GEORGE CLINTON AND ELBRIDGE GERRY, VICE-PRESIDENTS
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Robert Smith, | Maryland, | March 6, | 1809, | Secretaries of State. |
| James Monroe, | Virginia, | November 25, | 1811, | |
| Albert Gallatin, | Pennsylvania, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of Treasury. | |
| George W. Campbell, | Tennessee, | February 9, | 1814, | |
| Alexander J. Dallas, | Pennsylvania, | October 6, | 1814, | |
| William Eustis, | Massachusetts, | March 7, | 1809, | Secretaries of War. |
| John Armstrong, | New York, | January 13, | 1813, | |
| James Monroe, | Virginia, | September 27, | 1814, | |
| William H. Crawford, | Georgia, | March 3, | 1815, | |
| Paul Hamilton, | South Carolina, | March 7, | 1809, | Secretaries of the Navy. |
| William Jones, | Pennsylvania, | January 12, | 1813, | |
| Benjamin W. Crowninshield, | Massachusetts, | December 17, | 1814, | |
| Gideon Granger, | Connecticut, | (continued in office), | Postmasters General. | |
| Return J. Meigs, | Ohio, | March 17, | 1814, | |
| Cæsar A. Rodney, | Delaware, | (continued in office), | Attorneys General. | |
| William Pinkney, | Maryland, | December 11, | 1811, | |
| Richard Rush, | Pennsylvania, | February 10, | 1814, | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Joseph B. Varnum, | Massachusetts, | Eleventh Congress, | 1809. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Twelfth do. | 1811. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Thirteenth do. | 1813. |
| Langdon Cheves, | South Carolina, | Thirteenth do. | 1814. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Fourteenth do. | 1813. |
In his address, delivered on the occasion of his inauguration, Mr. Madison alluded to "the present situation of the world as without a parallel, and that of the United States as full of difficulties." The two leading powers of Europe, France and England, were still engaged in arraying against each other commercial edicts, which tended directly to destroy the commerce of nations disposed to pursue a neutral policy. The United States, moreover, were suffering by means of restrictions upon their commerce, imposed by the federal government. The condition of the people, especially the commercial portion of it, was gloomy and depressing. A vast amount of capital, invested in shipping, was lying idle, and rapidly diminishing in value. Neither the embargo nor non-intercourse had had the effect to induce either of the belligerent powers to pause in their wanton and unjust restrictions and decrees. On the contrary, their obnoxious measures were growing oppressive every month. The patience of the United States' government was nearly exhausted. Every thing betokened a speedy resort to arms.
The principal events and measures which subsequently signalized the administration of Mr. Madison, were as follows:
| Battle of Tippecanoe, | Rëelection of Mr. Madison, |
| Early Session of Congress, | Capture of York, |
| Declaration of War, | Siege of Fort Meigs, |
| Surrender of Hull, | Perry's Victory, |
| Capture of the Guerriere, | Battle of the Thames, |
| Battle of Queenstown, | Creek War, |
| Capture of the Frolic, | Battle of Chippewa and Bridgewater, |
| Capture of the Macedonian, | Capture of Washington, |
| Capture of the Java, | Engagement on Lake Champlain, |
| Battle of Frenchtown, | Battle of New Orleans, |
| Capture of the Peacock, | Treaty of Ghent, |
| Close of Mr. Madison's Administration. | |
Battle of Tippecanoe.—This battle, fought on the 7th of November, 1811, was doubtless one of the most spirited and best-fought actions recorded in the annals of Indian warfare.
For several years, the Indian tribes on our Western frontier had exhibited a restless and hostile spirit, engendered by the intrigues of two twin-brothers of the Shawnee tribe, Tecumseh, the Crouching Panther, and Ol-li-wa-chi-ca, the Open Door, generally known as the Prophet. The former was a bold and skillful warrior, sagacious in council, and formidable in battle; the latter was cunning, cruel, cowardly, and treacherous.
One important object of these brothers, was to form a general combination of the north-western and south-western Indians, for the purpose of preventing the whites from extending their settlements west of those already existing, and perhaps of recovering the valley of the Mississippi—a territory which, from its great fertility, they naturally and strongly desired to possess.
The plans of the brothers were, from time to time, communicated to General Harrison, then governor of the north-west territory, by his confidential advisers; and, for several years, by his forbearance and wise policy, he was enabled to counteract those plans, without exciting their jealousy or increasing their hostility.
In September, 1809, General Harrison held a council at Fort Wayne, where he negotiated a treaty with the Miamies and several other Indian tribes, by which they sold to the United States a large tract of country on both sides of the Wabash, extending up that river more than sixty miles above Vincennes.
At the time this treaty was negotiated, Tecumseh was absent, but his brother, the Prophet, who was present, made objection to it; but, on the return of the former, he expressed great dissatisfaction, and even threatened to put to death those chiefs who had signed the treaty. From this time, no efforts of General Harrison availed to pacify the brothers, or to quiet the restless and hostile feelings of their followers. At length, the Indians proceeded to the perpetration of deeds of depredation and murder; the white population of the frontier became excited and alarmed. In[Pg 614] this state of things, General Harrison, by order of the president, assembled five hundred of the militia and volunteers of Indiana, and with these, increased by a regiment of United States' infantry, consisting of three hundred and fifty men, and a small but gallant body of volunteers from Kentucky, took post at Fort Harrison, sixty miles above Vincennes; whence, not long after, he proceeded, October 28th, 1811, to the Prophet's town. At the distance of nine or ten miles, the army encamped on the evening of the 5th of November.
On the following day, the army proceeded towards the town in the order of battle; and when arrived within a short distance, they were met by a deputation of the Prophet's counsellors. "They were sent," they said, "to ascertain why an army was advancing upon them, and to avert, if possible, approaching hostilities. This was the wish of the Prophet himself." A suspension of hostilities was agreed upon, for the purpose of an interview between the governor and chiefs, to be held the following day.
The ensuing night was dark and cloudy. The moon rose late, and soon after midnight there commenced a light fall of drizzling rain. The night, however, passed without interruption, and the governor and his aids rose at a quarter to four, and were sitting in conversation before a fire. It was still dark, as the light of the moon was shadowed by heavy and lowering clouds. At this moment, an attack by the Indians was commenced. They had stealthily crept up near the sentries, with the intention of rushing upon them, and killing them before they could give the alarm. But, fortunately, one of them discovered an Indian creeping towards him through the grass, and fired at him. This was immediately followed by the Indian yell, and a furious charge upon the left flank. The camp-fires were immediately extinguished, as their light only served to expose our men to the deadly aim of the Indians. Upon the first alarm, the governor mounted his horse, and proceeded to the point of attack; and, finding the line there much weakened, he[Pg 615] ordered two companies from the centre and rear line to march to their support. About this time, the gallant Colonel Daviess, of Kentucky, in attempting to dislodge some Indians concealed behind some trees, was shot down, being pierced with three balls, either of which would have proved fatal. His men repulsed the Indians several times, and finally succeeded in carrying him into the camp. Colonel Isaac White, of Indiana, another brave officer, who served as a volunteer under Colonel Daviess, likewise fell in this sanguinary charge. About the same time, Colonel Owen, aid to Governor Harrison, was also killed.
"The battle was now maintained in every direction with desperate valor. The Indians advanced and retreated by a rattling noise, made with deer-hoofs. They fought with great enthusiasm, and seemed determined to conquer.
"When the day dawned, the left flank, the most assailable part of the encampment, was rëinforced by four companies, drawn from the rear and centre; the right flank was strengthened by two companies; the dragoons were mounted, and, supported by them, a simultaneous charge[Pg 616] was made upon the enemy on both flanks; and so vigorous and determined was the attack, that the enemy gave way on all sides. The Indians, on the left flank, were driven into a swamp, impenetrable to cavalry, while those on the right were put to flight with great loss, and this severely-contested victory was at last gained by our gallant troops."[71]
The Indians engaged in this battle were supposed to amount to one thousand. They were led by three distinguished warriors—White Loomstone Eater, and Winnemac—the last a Potawattomie chief, who had made great professions of friendship to General Harrison himself. Tecumseh was not present at the battle, being on a visit to more southern tribes, the object of which was supposed to be to enlist them in a common cause against the United States. As for the Prophet, he took no active part in the engagement, but employed himself in chanting a war-song from a neighboring eminence. When it was announced to him that the tide was setting strongly against his warriors, and that they were falling on every side, his only response was "to fight on, and that they would soon see the fulfillment of all his predictions."
A melancholy duty followed the battle—that of burying their brave companions, who had fallen on the field. This done, and the wounded provided for, the army took up their march from the scene of carnage, and returned to Vincennes. The results of the engagement were important. The haughty and discontented spirit of the Indians was humbled, and the plan which they had devised, and which had nearly ripened to maturity, of attacking and destroying the scattered border settlements, was defeated.
Early Session of Congress.—On the 5th of November, 1811, President Madison summoned a meeting of congress. His message indicating an apprehension of hostilities with Great Britain, the committee of foreign relations in the house of representatives reported resolutions for filling up[Pg 617] the ranks of the army; for raising an additional force of ten thousand men; for authorizing the president to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, and for ordering out the militia when he should judge it necessary; for repairing the navy, and for authorizing the arming of merchantmen in self-defence. A bill from the senate, for raising twenty-five thousand men, after much discussion, was also agreed to by the house.
Declaration of War.—Preparations in anticipation of war were now industriously urged; yet the hope was still cherished, until May in the following year, that a change of policy in Europe would render unnecessary an appeal to arms. Towards the close of that season, the Hornet arrived from London, bringing information that no prospect existed of a favorable change. On the 1st of June, the president sent a message to congress, recounting the wrongs received from Great Britain, and submitting the question, whether the United States should continue to endure them, or resort to war? The message was considered with closed doors. On the 18th, an act was passed, declaring war against Great Britain; soon after which, the president issued his proclamation making public announcement of the same.
Surrender of Hull.—At the time of the declaration of war, General Hull was at Dayton, in Ohio, with a small American force, destined for Detroit. This having been subsequently increased to two thousand five hundred men, on the 12th of July he crossed into Canada, and taking post at Sandwich, issued from that place a proclamation, couched in bold and imposing language. By means of it, the Indians were awed into neutrality, and the Canadians, favorable to the American cause, either remained quietly at home or joined his ranks.
On the 1st of August, intelligence was received by the American general of the fall of the fortress at Mackinaw[Pg 618] on the 17th of July. Until the moment of a demand to surrender, no intelligence had been received by the garrison of the declaration of war. This event justly filled Hull with surprise and consternation, as he had now no means of checking the incursions of the restless hordes of northern savages.
On the 5th of August, a council of war was held, to deliberate upon the expediency of attacking the fortress of Malden; but as the artillery had not arrived, it was decided to wait two days, and then proceed with or without it, as the case might be.
Meanwhile, however, communications were received from Generals Porter and Hall, who commanded on the Niagara frontier, that the enemy were leaving their posts in that quarter, and were concentrating their forces at Malden. At the same time, Hull was informed that he could not depend upon assistance from General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief, although the latter had been directed by the government to invade Canada from Niagara, and cöoperate with Hull. Under all the aspects of the case, although his delayed artillery had arrived, Hull issued orders, on the afternoon of the 7th, for his army to return to Detroit.
An order to the officers and army so unexpected as this—at a moment when they were anticipating a victory and the honors due from it—was like a thunderbolt upon them. The murmurs of the volunteers and regular troops were loud. They upbraided their commander with pusillanimity, and even treachery.
On the 14th, a British force, under command of General Brock, the most active and able of the British commanders in Canada, took a position opposite Detroit, where they proceeded to erect batteries. On the 15th, he sent a flag, bearing a summons to the American general to surrender, in which he says: "It is far from my intention to join in a war of extermination, but you must be aware that the numerous body of Indians, who have attached themselves[Pg 619] to my troops, will be beyond my control the moment the contest commences." To this, General Hull answered: "I have no other reply to make, than that I am prepared to meet any force which may be at your disposal," &c. General Brock immediately opened his batteries upon the town and fort, and several persons within the fort were killed. The fire was returned by the Americans with some effect.
On the morning of the 16th, the British crossed the river, and landing, under cover of their ships, at Spring Wells, three miles below Detroit, commenced their march towards the fort. Hull, it was evident, was perplexed and agitated. At first, his army was drawn up in order of battle without the fort, his artillery advantageously planted, and his troops impatiently waiting the approach of the enemy. At length, when the British were within five hundred yards of their lines, most suddenly and unexpectedly an order from General Hull was received, directing them "to retire immediately to the fort."
No sooner were the troops in the fort, than they were further directed to stack their arms—immediately after which, a white flag was suspended from the walls, in token of submission. A British officer rode up to ascertain the cause, for this surrender was no less unexpected to the assailants. A capitulation was agreed to, without even stipulating the terms. Words are wanting to express the feelings of the Americans, in being thus compelled to surrender to an inferior force, without firing a gun, when they were firmly convinced that that force was in their power. The British took immediate possession of the fort, with all the public property it contained; among which were forty barrels of powder, four hundred rounds of fixed twenty-four-pound shot, one hundred thousand ball cartridges, two thousand five hundred stand of arms, twenty-five pieces of iron cannon and eight of brass, the greater number of which had been captured by the Americans during the revolutionary war. Besides this great amount of warlike[Pg 620] stores, the whole territory, forts and garrisons were also delivered up.
In his official dispatch, General Hull labored to free his conduct from censure, by bringing into view the inferiority of his force, compared with that of the enemy; and, also, the dangers which threatened him from numerous western tribes of Indians. But whether the views which induced this surrender were in reality justly founded or not, the public mind was altogether unprepared for an occurrence at once so disastrous and mortifying.
Some time after, having been exchanged, Hull was arraigned before a court-martial, of which General Dearborn was president. By this tribunal, he was acquitted of treason, but sentenced to death for cowardice and unofficer-like conduct. In consideration, however, of his revolutionary services, and the recommendation of the court, the president remitted the punishment of death, but deprived him of all military command.
Constitution and Guerriere.—While defeat and disgrace were attending the American arms on the land, the ocean was the theatre of bold and successful achievement on the part of the American navy. On the 19th of August, three days after the disgraceful surrender of Detroit, the Constitution achieved a splendid victory over the Guerriere. On the 2d of August, the Constitution put to sea. On the 19th, a vessel hove in sight, which proved to be the Guerriere, and the Constitution bore down upon her. "At first, it was the intention of Captain Hull to bring her to close action immediately; but, on coming within gun-shot, she gave a broadside, and filled away; then wore, giving a broadside on the other tack, but without effect. They now continued wearing and manœuvring on both sides, for three-quarters of an hour, the Guerriere attempting to take a raking position; but, failing in this, she bore up, and run with her top-sail and jib on the quarter. The Constitution, perceiving this, made sail to come up with her. Captain Hull, with[Pg 621] admirable coolness, received the enemy's fire without returning it. The enemy, mistaking this conduct on the part of the American commander for want of skill, continued to pour out his broadsides with a view to cripple his antagonist. From the Constitution, not a gun had been fired. Already had an officer twice come on deck, with information that several of the men had been killed, at their guns. The gallant crew, burning with impatience, silently awaited the orders of their commander. The moment so long looked for, at last arrived. Sailing-master Aylwin having seconded the views of the captain with admirable skill, in bringing the vessel exactly to the station intended, orders were given at five minutes before five P. M., to fire broadside after broadside, in quick succession. The crew instantly discovered the whole plan, and entered into it with all the spirit that the circumstances were calculated to inspire. Never was any firing so dreadful. For fifteen minutes the vivid lightning of the Constitution's guns continued one blaze, and their thunder roared with scarce an intermission. The enemy's mizen-mast had gone by the board, and he stood exposed to a raking fire which swept his decks. The Guerriere had now become unmanageable; her hull, rigging, and sails, dreadfully torn; when the Constitution attempted to lay her on board. At this moment, Lieutenant Bush, in attempting to throw his marines on board, was killed by a musket-ball, and the enemy shot ahead, but could not be brought before the wind. A raking fire now continued for fifteen minutes longer, when his main-mast and fore-mast went, taking with them every spar excepting the bowsprit. On seeing this, the firing ceased, and at twenty-five minutes past five, she surrendered. "In thirty minutes" says Captain Hull, "after we got fairly alongside of the enemy, she surrendered, and had not a spar standing, and her hull, above and below water, so shattered, that a few more broadsides must have carried her down." The Guerriere was so much damaged, as to render it impossible to bring her in; she[Pg 622] was therefore set fire to the next day, and blown up. The damage sustained by the Constitution was comparatively of so little consequence, that she actually made ready for action when a vessel appeared in sight the next day. The loss on board the Guerriere, was fifteen killed and sixty-three wounded: on the side of the Constitution, seven killed and seven wounded. It is pleasing to observe, that even the British commander, on this occasion, bore testimony to the humanity and generosity with which he was treated by the victors. The American frigate was superior in force by a few guns, but this difference bore no comparison to the disparity of the conflict. The Guerriere was thought to be a match for any vessel of her class, and had been ranked among the largest in the British navy. The Constitution arrived at Boston on the 28th of August, having captured several merchant vessels."[72]
The victory thus achieved was of incalculable importance to the Americans. If unexpected and surprising to them, it was still more so to the English. On the ocean, the latter claimed supremacy; and their successes in respect to other nations seemed to justify their proud pretensions. Indeed, whatever might be the result of the contest on the land, it had scarcely occurred to the English, that the Americans could, in any equal engagement on the water, become the victors. Nor had the Americans themselves confident hope of any signal success. But this beginning diffused a general joy throughout the nation, as well it might, and excited anticipations which, if high, were destined to be more than realized.
Battle of Queenstown.—For the purpose of invading Canada, an army of about five thousand New York militia had been collected on the Niagara frontier. Of these, General Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, an officer of great merit, had the command. His head-quarters were at Lewiston,[Pg 623] on the river Niagara, opposite to which was Queenstown, a fortified British post. Several hundred regular troops were also attached to his command.
The militia displaying great eagerness to attack the enemy, the general determined to give them an opportunity by crossing over to Queenstown. On the morning of the 13th, the army having been rëinforced by three hundred regulars, under Colonel Christie, the passage of the Niagara was made. One division of the troops was commanded by Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer; the other, was the division of Colonel Christie. These were to be followed by Colonel Fenwick's artillery, and the residue of the army. The first party which effected a landing, was that of Colonels Van Rensselaer and Christie, about four o'clock in the morning. On landing, the detachments were formed by order of Colonel Van Rensselaer, (Colonel Christie not having crossed with his men,) for the purpose of storming the heights of Queenstown.
At this critical moment, the American troops were attacked on either flank, during which the brave Colonel Van Rensselaer received four severe wounds, which were then supposed to be mortal. The command now devolved upon Captain Wool, the senior officer of the regular troops, who, although sorely wounded, repaired to Van Rensselaer, and volunteered for any service which might relieve the troops of the latter. Colonel Van Rensselaer directed the storming of the British battery upon the heights. Wool immediately conducted his force silently and circuitously, leaving the battery to his right, until he had passed it, and attained an eminence which commanded it. The British, finding that resistance would not avail them any thing, left it to the Americans, and retreated down the heights of Queenstown.
Elated with their success, the Americans had fallen into disorder, when suddenly they beheld the intrepid Brock advancing at the head of a rëinforcement of about three hundred men from Fort George. In a moment of alarm,[Pg 624] an officer raised a white flag, in token of surrender, but which Wool indignantly pulled down. To keep the enemy at bay, until he could form his men, he dispatched a body of sixty men, who advanced, but retreated without firing a gun. The British followed, and drove the Americans to the brink of the precipice. One soldier, who was about to descend, Wool ordered to be shot; but, as the musket was levelling, he returned. Thus prohibiting either surrender or retreat, and being ably seconded by his officers, Wool rallied, and led on his troops to the attack. The British, in their turn, gave way, and retreated down the hill. Brock, in attempting to rally them amidst a galling fire from the Americans, was mortally wounded. His party no longer attempted resistance, but fled in disorder.
The Americans were now congratulating themselves on their success, when, unexpectedly, they were attacked by a body of British and Indians, amounting to one thousand, under General Sheaffe, who had followed the energetic Brock from Fort George. The battle becoming warm, and the Americans being hard pressed, General Van Rensselaer rëcrossed the Niagara, for the purpose of bringing over the militia, who were on the opposite bank.
But their ardor had abated. The sight of the wounded, and the groans of the dying, who most unfortunately had been carried in boats to the American side, had served to destroy all their courage. They could not be persuaded to cross, although their gallant general besought them with tears. Two thousand and five hundred of the militia, quite sufficient to have maintained the works which had been taken, remained idle and cowardly spectators of this most interesting scene. For this conduct, they found an excuse in the unconstitutionality of obliging militia to enter a foreign territory for the purpose of aggressive war. Thus the day was lost, and the troops, who had fought so nobly, had fought in vain, and were obliged, at length, to surrender. Sixty were killed, one hundred wounded, and seven hundred made prisoners.
Wasp and Frolic.—On the 13th of October, the American sloop-of-war Wasp, mounting sixteen thirty-two-pound carronades, two long twelves, with one hundred and thirty men, left the Delaware on a cruise. On the night of the 17th, several sail were discovered, which, in the morning, proved to be English merchantmen from Honduras, under convoy of a brig and two ships, armed with sixteen guns each. The brig shortened sail, with an evident disposition for an engagement.
Meanwhile, the Wasp having prepared for action, ranged close up on the starboard side of the enemy, receiving her broadside at the distance of some sixty yards, and delivering her own. From this moment, the action became unremitted. The fire of the Frolic, for so she proved to be, was to that of the Wasp, as three to two; but with this remarkable difference, that while the former uniformly fired as she rose, the sea being rough, the latter as uniformly fired when she sunk. And the consequence was, that the shot of the Frolic were either lost, or only touched the rigging of the Wasp, while those from the latter struck the hull of her antagonist.
In the brief space of five minutes, the maintop-mast of the Wasp was shot away, and, falling down with the maintop-sail yard across the larboard fore and foretop-sail, rendered her head yards unmanageable during the rest of the action. Soon after, her gaff and mizen-gallant-masts were shot away.
Perceiving the desolating effect of the enemy's fire upon his spars and rigging, Captain Jones at first decided to board; but, soon after, finding his ship in a favorable position to rake, he directed a fresh broadside to be delivered. The vessels had gradually approached, and were now so near, that in loading some of the guns of the Wasp, the rammers hit against the bows of her antagonist, and the men of the Frolic could no longer be kept at their quarters forward. The discharge of one or two carronades swept the enemy's decks. The impetuosity of the Wasp's crew[Pg 626] could be no longer restrained, and they began to leap into the rigging, and from thence on to the bowsprit of the brig. In this movement, however, they were preceded by Mr. Biddle, the first lieutenant. On reaching the deck, judge his surprise, only three officers and a seaman at the wheel were to be seen! The bodies of the slain were lying here and there, and the deck was slippery with blood.
The colors were still flying, there being no seaman to pull them down. This grateful service was performed by Mr. Biddle himself. The officers now stepped forward, and surrendered their swords in submission. Thus, in forty-three minutes, possession was taken of the Frolic, after one of the most bloody conflicts recorded in naval history.
The Frolic was commanded by Captain Whinyates. She mounted on her main deck sixteen thirty-two-pound carronades, four long guns, differently stated to be sixes, nines, and twelves, with two twelve-pound carronades on a top-gallant forecastle. The Wasp had five killed and five wounded. Her hull sustained but trifling injury. The loss of the Frolic was seventy or eighty in wounded and killed. Both these vessels were captured the same day by the Poictiers, seventy-four, and taken to Bermuda.
This and other naval victories, while they served to animate and gratify the whole American people, were humbling to the pride of Great Britain. She had made her boast that she would drive our "bits of striped bunting" from the ocean; but she found herself mistaken; nor was a committee of investigation able to solve the mystery, except that the American frigates were seventy-fours in disguise!
United States and Macedonian.—The capture of the Frolic was almost immediately succeeded by the capture, off the Western Isles, October 25th, of the British frigate Macedonian, mounting forty-nine carriage-guns, by the American frigate United States, forty-four guns. The former was commanded by Captain John S. Carden; the latter by Captain Stephen Decatur.
The engagement, from its commencement, lasted for nearly an hour and a half—the early part being occupied in firing long-shot; but it was terminated in a very short period, after the vessels came into close action. For a time, the advantage of position was with the Macedonian; but, notwithstanding this, the fire of the Americans was so superior, that, in a brief space, the mizen-mast, fore and maintop-mast, and main-yard of the enemy, were cut down; besides receiving not less than one hundred round shot in her hull. Of her crew, three hundred in number, thirty-six were killed, and sixty-eight wounded.
The damage sustained by the United States was comparatively small. She lost one of her top-gallant-masts, received some wounds in her spars, had a good deal of rigging cut, but was hulled only a few times. Of her officers and crew, five were killed and seven wounded.
The manner in which the brave Decatur received Captain Carden on board the United States did him great honor. When the latter presented his sword, as in such cases is usual, the former assured him that "he could not think of taking the sword of an officer who had defended his ship so gallantly, but he should be happy to take him by the hand."
The United States, after the action, was in a condition to pursue her course; but, desirous of securing a prize so valuable as the Macedonian, Captain Decatur determined to make the attempt, notwithstanding her disabled state. Accordingly, having made such repairs upon her as circumstances allowed, the two ships made the best of their way to the United States.
The Macedonian was a fine ship of her class. She was smaller, of lighter armament, and had fewer men than the United States; but the disproportion between the force of the two vessels was much less than between the execution.
The reputation of Captain Decatur, already high, was added to by the manner in which the Macedonian was captured;[Pg 628] and another testimony was added to the skill and bravery of the naval officers of the United States.
If such warfare must be—yet it is gloomy to think of it among rational and immortal beings, made of one blood, and having one common destiny—it may not be criminal, perhaps, to desire that our country's cause should be crowned with success, if that cause be just.
Constitution and Java.—The naval campaign of 1812 closed with another American victory, equal in brilliancy to any which had preceded. On the 29th of December, a few leagues west of St. Salvador, on the coast of Brazil, the Constitution, now under command of Commodore Bainbridge, descried the British frigate Java, forty-nine guns, and four hundred men, commanded by Captain Lambert. Both vessels, for some time, manœuvred to obtain a position that would enable them to rake, or avoid being raked. In the early part of the engagement, the wheel of the Constitution was shot away. Commodore Bainbridge determined to close with the British vessel, notwithstanding, in so doing, he should expose his ship to be several times raked. He ordered the fore and main-sails to be set, and luffed up close to the enemy, in such a manner that his jib-boom got foul of the Constitution's mizen-rigging. About three o'clock, the head of the British vessel's bowsprit and jib-boom were shot away; and, in the space of an hour, her fore-mast was shot away by the board, her main-topmast just above the cap, her gaff and spanker-boom, and her main-mast nearly by the board.
About four o'clock, the fire of the British vessel being completely silenced, and her colors in the main rigging being down, she was supposed to have struck. The courses of the Constitution were now hauled on board, to shoot ahead, in order to repair her rigging, which was very much cut. The British vessel was left a complete wreck. Her flag was soon after discovered to be still flying. The Constitution, however, hove to, to repair some of her damages.[Pg 629] About a quarter of an hour after, the main-mast of the British vessel went by the board. About three-quarters of an hour after four, the Constitution wore, and stood for the British vessel, and got close athwart her bows, in a very effectual position for raking, when she prudently struck her flag. The Constitution had nine men killed and twenty-five wounded; the Java had sixty killed and one hundred and twenty wounded. Captain Lambert was mortally wounded.
The great distance from the United States, and the disabled state of the Java, forbade every idea of attempting to bring her to the United States. No alternative was therefore left but to burn her, which was done, after the prisoners and their baggage were removed to the Constitution. They were all landed at St. Salvador, and paroled. The commander of the Java, Captain Lambert, died soon after he was put on shore.
Lieutenant Aylwin, of the Constitution, was severely wounded during the action. When the boarders were called to repel boarders, he mounted the quarter-deck hammock-cloth, and, in the act of firing his pistol at the enemy,[Pg 630] received a ball through his shoulder. Notwithstanding the severity of his wound, he continued at his post until the enemy struck. He died, however, on the 28th of January, at sea.
Close of the Campaign of 1812.—The naval victories, which have been noticed, were peculiarly gratifying to the Americans; the more so, from the humiliating fact that, on the land, not a single achievement had been made worthy the American valor. Not one victory had been gained which lasted—nor one foot of territory acquired, of which possession was retained. But the navy had triumphed. The victories gained, were by that class of citizens whose rights had been violated; and over a nation, whose long-continued success had led them to consider themselves lords of the sea. Many British merchantmen were also captured, both by the American navy and by privateers. The number of prizes, made during the first seven months of the war, exceeded five hundred.
Campaign of 1813.—The scene of the campaign of 1813, comprehended the whole northern frontier of the United States. The army of the West, under General Harrison, was stationed near the head of Lake Erie; the army of the centre, under General Dearborn, between Lakes Ontario and Erie; and the army of the North, under General Hampton, occupied the shores of Lake Champlain. The invasion of Canada was the grand project of the campaign. The British forces in Canada were under the general command of Sir George Prevost. The defence of the Upper Provinces was committed to Colonels Procter and Vincent; that of the Lower Provinces was entrusted to General Sheaffe.
Battle of Frenchtown.—Michigan, of which Detroit was the prominent town, was still in possession of the British. The citizens of the western country, being anxious to[Pg 631] regain possession of it, General Harrison determined to undertake a winter campaign, having the rëconquest of that territory in view. Accordingly, General Winchester, with about eight hundred men, principally from the most respectable families in Kentucky, was directed to proceed in advance of the main army. Learning, during his march, that a party of British were stationed at Frenchtown, situated on the river Raisin, twenty-six miles from Detroit, he attacked and dispersed them.
The Americans encamped near the field of battle, a part of them being protected by close garden pickets. "Although near an enemy's post, but little precaution was taken to prevent a surprise. Early in the morning of the 22d of January, they were attacked by a large force of British and Indians; the former commanded by Colonel Procter, the latter by the chiefs Round-head and Split-log. The troops on the open field were thrown into disorder. General Winchester and other officers made an ineffectual attempt to rally them. They fled, but while attempting to escape, were mostly killed by the Indians. The general and Colonel Lewis were made prisoners.
"The troops behind the pickets maintained the contest with undaunted bravery. At length, Colonel Procter assured General Winchester, that if the remainder of the Americans would immediately surrender, they should be protected from massacre; but otherwise, he would set fire to the village, and would not be responsible for the conduct of the savages. Intimidated by this threat, General Winchester sent an order to the troops to surrender.
"Colonel Procter, leaving the wounded without a guard, marched immediately back to Malden. The Indians accompanied them a few miles, but returned early the next morning. Deeds of horror followed: the wounded officers were dragged from the houses, killed, and scalped in the streets. The buildings were set on fire. Some who attempted to escape, were forced back into the flames. Others were put to death by the tomahawk, and left shockingly mangled in[Pg 632] the highway. The infamy of this butchery should not fall upon the perpetrators alone. It must rest equally upon those who instigated them to hostility, by whose side they fought, who were able, and were bound by a solemn engagement to restrain them."[73] "By this bloody tragedy," observes Mr. Breckenridge, "all Kentucky was literally in mourning; for the soldiers thus massacred, tortured, burned, or denied the common rites of sepulture, were of the most respectable families of the state; many of them young men of fortune and property, with numerous friends and relatives. The remains of these brave youth lay on the ground, beat by the storms of heaven, and exposed to the beasts of the forest, until the ensuing autumn, when their friends and relatives ventured to gather up their bleaching bones, and consigned them to the tomb."
Hornet and Peacock.—The day following the tragical affair of Frenchtown, a signal naval battle was fought off South America, between the Hornet, Captain Lawrence, and the Peacock, Captain Peake. "In less than fifteen minutes the Peacock struck her colors, displaying at the same time a signal of distress. The victors hastened to the relief of the vanquished; but the Peacock sank before all her crew could be removed, carrying down nine British seamen, and three brave and generous Americans. "Of all our naval victories," remarks a writer, "this is the one which the Americans recollect with most pleasure." Not that there was more glory in the achievement, but there was such high-souled generosity, such unwonted effort, such risk of life to save the crew of the conquered ship, as rarely, if ever, before occurred. Her guns were thrown overboard—her shot-holes plugged—every thing done—but she went down, and some noble hearts with her. And, then, as if what had been done were not enough, to crown the whole, the crew of the Hornet divided their clothes with the prisoners.[Pg 633] On his return to the United States, Captain Lawrence was promoted to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, then in the harbor of Boston. For several weeks the British frigate Shannon, of equal force, had been cruising before that port; and Captain Broke, her commander, had announced his wish to meet, in single combat, an American frigate. Inflamed by this challenge, Captain Lawrence, although his crew was just enlisted, set sail on the 1st of June to seek the Shannon. Towards evening of the same day they met, and instantly engaged with unexampled fury. In a very few minutes, and in quick succession, the sailing-master of the Chesapeake was killed, Captain Lawrence and three lieutenants were severely wounded, her rigging was so cut to pieces that she fell on board the Shannon; Captain Lawrence received a second and mortal wound, and was carried below; at this instant, Captain Broke, at the head of his marines, gallantly boarded the Chesapeake, when resistance ceased, and the American flag was struck by the British. Of the crew of the Shannon, twenty-four were killed and fifty-six wounded. Of that of the Chesapeake, forty-eight were killed and nearly one hundred wounded. This unexpected defeat impelled the Americans to seek for circumstances consoling to their pride, and, in the journals of the day, many such were stated to have preceded and attended the action. The youthful and intrepid Lawrence was lamented with sorrow—deep, sincere, and lasting. When carried below, he was asked if the colors should be struck: "No," he replied; "they shall wave while I live!" Delirious from excess of suffering, he continued to exclaim, "Don't give up the ship!"—an expression consecrated by his countrymen. He uttered but few other words during the four days that he survived his defeat."
Rëelection of Mr. Madison.—The period for the election of president of the United States having again arrived Mr. Madison was a second time placed at the head of the nation, and Elbridge Gerry chosen vice-president.[Pg 634] They were inaugurated on the 4th day of March, 1813. The following table exhibits the result of the electoral vote:
| Key: A. | James Madison, of Virginia. |
| B. | DeWitt Clinton, of New York. |
| C. | Elbridge Gerry, of Massa'tts. |
| D. | Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylv'a. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | ||
| 8 | New Hampshire, | 8 | 1 | 7 | |
| 22 | Massachusetts, | 22 | 2 | 20 | |
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 8 | Vermont, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 29 | New York, | 29 | 29 | ||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 25 | Pennsylvania, | 25 | 25 | ||
| 4 | Delaware, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 11 | Maryland, | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| 25 | Virginia, | 25 | 25 | ||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | ||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | ||
| 8 | Georgia, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 8 | Tennessee, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 7 | Ohio, | 7 | 7 | ||
| 3 | Lousiana, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 217 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 109 | 128 | 89 | 131 | 86 |
Capture of York.—York, the capital of Upper Canada, was, at this time, the great depository of British military stores for the western posts, and hence its capture was deemed an object of great importance, besides that it would be the means of thwarting the plans of the enemy. With this object in view, about the middle of April, General Dearborn issued orders to General Pike to embark on board a flotilla, with seventeen hundred men, and proceed to its reduction.
"The force of the enemy, under the command of General Sheaffe, consisted of seven hundred and fifty regulars, and five hundred Indians, besides a body of grenadiers and a corps of Glengary fencibles. These troops had collected[Pg 635] near the place of debarkation, which was nearly a mile and a half from the fort. Major Forsyth was the first who landed. General Pike soon followed with the remainder of the troops. After a severe contest of half an hour, the enemy retreated to their works. The Americans followed; they had destroyed one battery, and were now within sixty yards of the main works, when the sudden and tremendous explosion of a magazine near by filled the air in every direction with huge stones and fragments of wood, which caused a dreadful havoc among the troops. One hundred of the Americans and forty of the British were killed. General Pike fell mortally wounded. Finding resistance unavailing, General Sheaffe, with the British regulars, retreated towards Kingston, leaving the commanding officer of the militia to make the best terms in his power. The brief outlines of a capitulation were soon agreed on, and the Americans took possession of the town. The brave Pike survived but a few hours; and, like Wolfe at Quebec, drew his last breath amidst the cheering shouts of victory. His dying head reposed upon the banner that had lately floated over the fortress which his valor had aided to conquer.
"General Dearborn now took command of the troops. The loss of the British was ninety killed, two hundred wounded, and three hundred prisoners, besides five hundred militia, released upon parole. A great quantity of stores was likewise found here, as York was the naval and military dépôt for Upper Canada. General Sheaffe's baggage and papers fell into the hands of the Americans.
"On the 8th of May, General Dearborn evacuated the capital of Upper Canada: and having crossed the lake, for the purpose of leaving the wounded at Sackett's Harbor, again set sail, and disembarked his troops at Niagara."[74]
Siege of Fort Meigs.—General Harrison was marching to the support of General Winchester, when the tidings of the defeat and massacre at Frenchtown reached him. As[Pg 636] he could now be of no service to that general, he took post at a place called the Rapids, on the south side of the Maumee, a river flowing into the west end of Lake Erie, where he erected a fort, which he named Fort Meigs, in honor of the governor of Ohio.
The erection of this fortification was by no means agreeable to the British, and a plan was early laid to capture and destroy it. On the 26th of April, a large party of British and Indians, combined, made their appearance on the opposite side of the river; and, on the morning of the 26th, the Indians were conveyed over in boats, and surrounded the fort in every direction.
On the 29th, the siege began, all intercourse with other posts being cut off. During the preceding night, the British had thrown up a mound, on which to plant their guns, and behind which they could secure themselves from the fire of the Americans.
Next day, several of the Americans were wounded; and General Harrison himself, being continually exposed, had several narrow escapes. On the following day, the enemy fired two hundred and fifty-six times from their batteries. The Americans fired less rapidly, but with greater effect. A bullet struck the seat on which General Harrison was sitting, and at the same time a volunteer was wounded, as he stood directly opposite to him.
In this manner, several days passed; during which, General Harrison and his soldiers displayed the utmost coolness and determination. They were resolved to surrender only when they could fight no longer—when ammunition failed, or food and water could no longer be obtained.
At this critical juncture, intelligence was received that General Clay, with twelve hundred men, was hastening to their relief. He was already but a few miles up the river, and an officer was immediately dispatched, directing him to land one-half of his force on the opposite side, for the purpose of forcing the enemy's batteries and spiking his cannon.
The gallant Colonel Dudley was deputed to execute this[Pg 637] order; but, unfortunately, his troops pursued the retreating enemy until, suddenly, a party of Indians, under command of the celebrated Tecumseh, rose from ambush upon them. The slaughter was terrible. The brave Colonel Dudley was among the killed, and more than five hundred of his detachment were taken prisoners. The other part of General Clay's troops were more fortunate. And yet, lured by a party of Indians, whom they wished to destroy, they proceeded into the woods, where they would have been cut off, had not General Harrison dispatched a company of cavalry to cover their retreat.
At length, the British gave up the contest. Although they had made many prisoners, this did not aid them, in relation to the fort. The 8th of May brought an end to the toils of the Americans in the fort of Camp Meigs. An exchange of prisoners took place, and on the morning of the 9th, the enemy commenced their retreat. Thus did Harrison sustain, in effect, a siege of twelve days; during which, the enemy had fired eighteen hundred shells and cannon-balls, besides keeping up an almost continual discharge of small arms. The loss of each was about equal.
Perry's Victory.—During the summer, by the exertions of Commodore Perry, an American squadron had been fitted out on Lake Erie. It consisted of nine small vessels, carrying fifty-four guns. A British squadron had also been built and equipped, under the superintendence of Commodore Barclay. It consisted of six vessels, mounting sixty-three guns. Commodore Perry, immediately sailing, offered battle to his adversary; and on the 10th of September the British commander left the harbor of Malden, to accept the offer. In a few hours, the wind shifted, giving the Americans the advantage. Perry, forming the line of battle, hoisted his flag, on which was inscribed the words of the dying Lawrence, "Don't give up the ship!" Loud huzzas from all the vessels proclaimed the animation which this motto inspired. About noon, the firing commenced; after[Pg 638] a short action, two of the British vessels surrendered; and the rest of the American squadron now joining in the battle, the victory was rendered decisive and complete. The British loss was forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded. The American loss was twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded; of which number, twenty-one were killed and sixty wounded on board the flag-ship Lawrence, whose whole complement of able-bodied men, before the action, was about one hundred. The commodore gave intelligence of the victory to General Harrison in these words: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop."
Battle of the Thames.—By means of the victory of Commodore Perry, the Americans became masters of Lake Erie, but the territory of Michigan, which had been surrendered by Hull, was still in possession of Colonel Procter. The next movements of General Harrison were therefore against the British and Indians at Detroit and Malden. General Harrison had previously assembled a portion of the Ohio[Pg 639] militia on the Sandusky river; and on the 7th of September four thousand from Kentucky, the flower of the state, with Governor Shelby at their head, arrived at his camp. With the cöoperation of the fleet, it was determined to proceed at once to Malden. On the 27th, the troops were received on board, and reached Malden on the same day; but the British had, in the mean time, destroyed the fort and public stores, and had retreated along the Thames towards the Moravian villages, together with Tecumseh's Indians, consisting of twelve or fifteen hundred. It was now resolved to proceed in pursuit of Procter. On the 5th of October, a severe action occurred between the two armies at the river Thames, by which the British army fell into the hands of the Americans. In this battle, Tecumseh was killed, and the Indians fled. The British loss was nineteen regulars killed, fifty wounded, and about six hundred prisoners. The American loss, in killed and wounded, amounted to upwards of fifty. Procter made his escape down the Thames.
On the 29th of September, the Americans took possession[Pg 640] of Detroit, which, on the approach of Harrison's army, had been abandoned by the British.
Creek War.—While affairs were proceeding at the North, the public attention was arrested by hostilities commenced by the Creek Indians. They had been visited by Tecumseh, who had persuaded them that the Great Spirit required them to unite in an attempt to extirpate the whites. In the fall of 1812, a sanguinary war had been waged by the Creeks and Seminoles, against the frontier inhabitants of Georgia. At the head of two thousand five hundred volunteers from Tennessee, General Jackson had marched into their country, and compelled them to desist; but, soon after his return, their animosity burst forth with increased and fatal violence. Dreading their cruelty, some three hundred men, women, and children, took refuge in Fort Mimms. Here, at noon-day, on the 30th of August, they were surprised by a party of six hundred Indians, who, from the fort, drove the people into the houses which it inclosed. To these they set fire. Seventeen only of the refugees escaped to carry the horrid tidings to the neighboring stations. But the whites resolved on vengeance. General Jackson, at the head of three thousand five hundred militia of Tennessee, again took up his march into the southern wilderness. A detachment, under General Coffee, encountering at Tallushatchie a body of Indians, a sanguinary conflict ensued. The latter fought with desperation, neither giving nor receiving quarter, until nearly every warrior had perished. Yet still, the spirit of the Creeks remained unsubdued. With no little sagacity and skill, they selected and fortified another position on the Tallapoosa, called by themselves Tohopeka, and by whites Horse-shoe Bend. Here nearly a thousand warriors, animated with a fierce and determined resolution, were collected. Three thousand men, commanded by General Jackson, marched to attack this post. To prevent escape, a detachment under General Coffee encircled the Bend. The main body advanced to[Pg 641] the fortress, and for a few minutes the opposing forces were engaged muzzle to muzzle at the port-holes; but at length, the troops leaping over the walls, mingled in furious combat with the savages. When the Indians, fleeing to the river, beheld the troops on the opposite bank, they returned, and fought with increased fury and desperation. Six hundred warriors were killed; four only yielded themselves prisoners; the remaining three hundred escaped. Of the whites, fifty-five were killed and one hundred and forty-six wounded. It was deemed probable that further resistance would be made by the Indians at a place called the Hickory-ground; but, on General Jackson's arriving thither in April, 1814, the principal chiefs came out to meet him, and among them was Weatherford, a half-blood, distinguished equally for his talents and cruelty. "I am in your power," said he; "do with me what you please. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. There was a time when I had a choice; I have none now; even hope is ended. Once, I could animate my[Pg 642] warriors; but I cannot animate the dead. They can no longer hear my voice; their bones are at Tallushatchie, Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. While there was a chance of success, I never supplicated peace; but my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation and myself." Peace was concluded, and General Jackson and his troops enjoyed an honorable but short repose.[75]
Battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater.—In the beginning of July, General Brown crossed the Niagara with about three thousand men, and took possession without opposition of Fort Erie. In a strong position at Chippewa, a few miles distant, was intrenched an equal number of British troops, commanded by General Riall. On the 4th, General Brown approached their works; and the next day, on the plains of Chippewa, an obstinate and sanguinary battle was fought, which compelled the British to retire to their intrenchments. In this action, which was fought with great judgment and coolness on both sides, the loss of the Americans was about four hundred men; that of the British was upwards of five hundred. Soon afterwards, General Riall, abandoning his works, retired to the heights of Burlington. Here Lieutenant-general Drummond, with a large rëinforcement, joined him, and, assuming the command, led back the army towards the American camp. On the 25th was fought the battle of Bridgewater, which began at four in the afternoon, and continued till midnight. After a desperate conflict, the British troops were withdrawn, and the Americans left in possession of the field. The loss on both sides was severe, and nearly equal. Generals Brown and Scott having both been severely wounded, the command devolved upon General Ripley. He remained a few hours upon the hill, collected the wounded, and then retired unmolested to the camp. This battle was fought near the cataract of Niagara, whose roar was silenced by the thunder of cannon and the din of arms, but was distinctly heard during the pauses of[Pg 643] the fight. The American general found his force so much weakened, that he deemed it prudent again to occupy Fort Erie. On the 4th of August, it was invested by General Drummond with five thousand troops. In the night, between the 14th and 15th, the besiegers made a daring assault upon the fort, which was repelled with conspicuous gallantry by the garrison, the former being more than nine hundred men, the latter but eighty-four. The siege was still continued. On the 2d of September, General Brown having recovered from his wounds, threw himself into the fort, and took command of the garrison. For their fate, great anxiety was felt by the nation, which was, however, in some degree removed, by the march from Plattsburgh of five thousand men to their relief. After an hour of close fighting, they entered the fort, having killed, wounded, and taken one thousand of the British. The loss of the Americans was also considerable, amounting to more than five hundred. On the 21st of September, the forty-ninth day of the siege, General Drummond withdrew his forces.
Capture of Washington.—About the middle of August, a British squadron of between fifty and sixty sail, arrived in the Chesapeake, with troops destined for the attack of Washington, the capital of the United States. A body of five thousand of them having landed, an action was fought at Bladensburgh, six miles from Washington. General Winder commanded the American force; Commodore Barney the flotilla. The British were commanded by Major-general Ross and Rear-admiral Cockburn. The Americans were repulsed, and General Ross, at the head of about seven hundred men, took possession of Washington, and burned the capitol, the president's house, and public offices, the arsenal, the navy yard, and the bridge over the Potomac. The loss of the British in this expedition, was nearly a thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing; the loss of the Americans was ten or twelve killed, and thirty or forty wounded. Commodore Barney's horse was[Pg 644] killed under him, and himself wounded in the thigh, and taken prisoner; but he was paroled on the field of battle for his bravery.
After the capture of Washington, the British army rëembarked on board the fleet in the Patuxent, and Admiral Cockburn moved down that river, and proceeded up the Chesapeake. On the 29th of August, the corporation of Alexandria submitted to articles of capitulation, and the city was delivered up to the British. On the 11th of September, the British admiral appeared at the mouth of the Patapsco, fourteen miles from Baltimore, with a fleet of ships of war and transports, amounting to fifty sail. The next day, six thousand troops were landed at North point, and commenced their march towards the city. In this march, when the foremost ranks were harassed by a brisk fire from a wood, Major-general Ross was mortally wounded. A battle was fought on this day. The American forces, the militia, and the inhabitants of Baltimore, made a gallant defence, but were compelled to retreat; the British, however, abandoning the attempt to get possession of the city, retired to their shipping during the night of the 13th of September.
Engagement on Lake Champlain.—Towards the close of the winter of 1814, the troops under General Wilkinson removed from their winter-quarters at French Mills, and took station opposite Plattsburgh. At this time, General Izard assumed the command. During the summer, the troops were reduced, by various detachments, to fifteen hundred. Moreover, the defences here were mostly in a state of dilapidation, and the stores and ordinances in great disorder.
It was while troops and fortifications were in this state, that intelligence was received that Sir George Prevost, governor-general of Canada, was on his march, at the head of fourteen hundred men, well-disciplined, with ample stores and a numerous train of artillery. In addition, the British had a respectable naval force on the lake, amounting[Pg 645] to ninety-five guns and one thousand and fifty men. To cope with this combined, and vastly superior force, the Americans had the troops already named, and a flotilla carrying eighty-six guns and eight hundred and twenty-six men.
On the 3d of September, Sir George Prevost, having taken possession of Champlain, proceeded to occupy Plattsburgh. But, instead of making the most of his advantage, the British general contented himself with erecting works, by which to annoy the Americans—thus giving the latter opportunity to strengthen themselves, and to summon from New York and Vermont a considerable force to their aid. At the moment, the delay of the British was not understood, but in a few days it was explained by the appearance of the British squadron, which was observed bearing down in order of battle. It consisted of the frigate Confiance, carrying thirty-nine guns; twenty-seven of which were twenty-four pounders; the brig Linnet, of sixteen guns; the sloops Chub and Finch, each carrying eleven guns; thirteen gallies, five of two guns, and the remainder of one gun. Commodore McDonough, commanding the American squadron, lay at this time at anchor in Plattsburgh bay. His fleet consisted of the Saratoga, of twenty-six guns, eight of which were long twenty-four pounders; the Eagle, twenty guns; the Ticonderoga, seventeen guns; the Preble, seven, and twenty gallies, six of which carried two, and the remainder one gun each. One of this squadron had been constructed in eighteen days, from timber cut for this purpose, standing on the shore of the lake.
At about nine o'clock, the British commander, Captain Downie, anchored in line abreast the American squadron, about three hundred yards distant—the Confiance taking a position opposite the Saratoga—the Linnet, opposite the Eagle—the British galleys and one of the sloops, opposite the Ticonderoga, Preble, and left division of the American galleys—the other sloop was opposed to the right division.
The action now opened, and at the same time an engagement[Pg 646] commenced on the land, between the forces under General McComb and Sir George Prevost. The fate of the day depended chiefly on the result of the engagement between the two large vessels. For two hours, this contest was waged, with great skill and bravery, between these two; but the greater weight of the enemy's battery seemed to incline the scale of victory. By this time, the guns of the Saratoga, on the starboard side, had been either dismounted or rendered unmanageable: nor was the condition of the Confiance much better. The fortune of the day now depended upon a difficult manœuvre—to change the position of the vessels, so as to bring their larboard sides into action. In this, the Saratoga succeeded, while the attempt on the part of the Confiance failed. The explosions of the former, on wheeling, now became tremendous, and a short and successful work was made of it. In eighteen minutes, the Saratoga announced her surrender. Meanwhile, the Linnet had struck to the Eagle. Three of the galleys were sunk; the rest escaped. With the exception of the latter, the entire squadron was captured. It was a most sanguinary and disastrous contest. The Saratoga had received in her hull fifty-five round shot; the Confiance, one hundred and five. Twice the Saratoga was set on fire by hot shot. The time occupied in the action was two hours and twenty minutes. Captain Downie, of the Confiance, was killed, with forty-nine of his men, and sixty wounded. The Saratoga lost twenty-eight killed and twenty-nine wounded. The total loss of the American squadron amounted to fifty-two killed and fifty-eight wounded. The loss of the British was eighty-four killed, one hundred and ten wounded, and eight hundred and fifty-six prisoners.
This engagement took place in sight of the two armies. But they were not idle spectators of the exciting scene. They also became engaged, and, during the naval conflict, the noise of cannon, bombs, rockets responded to the explosions on the water. Three desperate efforts were made by[Pg 647] the British to cross over, and storm the American works. Other modes of attack were resorted to, but repulse and defeat followed each and every one of them. On the loss of the squadron, which was as painful as unexpected, the efforts of the British relaxed; but the firing was still kept up, and continued till night, when the siege was raised, and the artillery withdrawn. During the night, Prevost withdrew his forces and retired.
Thus failed a project for which liberal preparations had been made, and of whose success, the highest hopes had been indulged. Thus Sir George Prevost was taught, that not then, nor there, whatever he might do at some future day, could he display British colors as a token of triumph. The "star-spangled banner" must still wave on the waters of Champlain; and our national flag still float over the fortifications of Plattsburgh.
Battle of New Orleans.—In the spring of 1814, General Jackson was appointed a major-general in the army of the United States, and assigned to the protection of the city of New Orleans, and the circumjacent territory. To this duty he addressed himself with a promptitude and resolution characteristic of the man, and commensurate with the preparations which, it was supposed, the British had made to subdue it.
On the 1st day of December, the general reached New Orleans, and, on the 4th, rumor was rife that a hostile fleet was already wending its way along the coast. On the 6th, this rumor was confirmed. Admiral Cochrane and Sir George Cockburn, after the burning of Washington, and subsequent retreat down the Chesapeake, were now directing their course towards New Orleans. The expedition was formidable, consisting of more than eighty sail, which were still to be rëinforced; on board the transports were some eleven thousand troops, "veteran heroes of the Peninsula," ardent for the attack—commanded by four generals of great experience—two admirals, and twelve thousand[Pg 648] seamen and marines, with fire-ships, rockets, ammunition, and artillery in abundance.
The inhabitants of New Orleans were, at this time, supposed to be not less than thirty thousand—a number quite sufficient, under ordinary circumstances, to furnish adequate assistance. But they were chiefly of French and Spanish extraction. By the purchase of Louisiana, they had recently become citizens of the United States; but the sympathies and patriotism of some had not followed their transfer. In addition, the city had few, if any defences; arms, ammunition, troops—all were wanting.
In circumstances like these, General Jackson assumed command of the city. He saw the danger which impended; he saw the importance of power amid the conflicting elements. He has sometimes been censured for his despotic bearing during these scenes of turmoil and confusion. But we must not judge too severely. He felt the emergency, and did not hesitate to proclaim martial law, as, in his view, the only means of safety and protection to the city.
The force which General Jackson had brought with him from Mobile, amounted to only about fifteen hundred men, and consisted of Coffee's Tennessee volunteers, Hind's company of cavalry, and the seventh and forty-fourth regiments. To these were added three hundred city volunteers, and a battalion of men of color, two hundred, making a total, with the troops in garrison at Fort St. Philips, of only twenty-five hundred men. This force was so obviously inadequate, that General Jackson made every effort to supply the deficiency; and in this, he was seconded by the executive of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana. But their patriotic exertions were, in a great measure, unavailing; there being, at no time, of Louisianians, in the army of General Jackson, more than nine hundred, and still less from any other state. The naval force, stationed at New Orleans, consisted of six gun-boats and several smaller vessels, under command of Commodore Daniel T. Patterson.
Soon after reaching New Orleans, General Jackson proceeded[Pg 649] to examine the various fortified points below the city, and gave directions for strengthening them as his means allowed. On the 9th, he returned to the city, whence he proceeded on a similar tour of inspection to the lakes. Contrary to all expectation, the British armament, instead of coming up the Mississippi, entered the lakes which connect with the gulf, and, on the 23d of December, commenced landing their forces on the narrow strip of land bordering the river. Before reaching this point, however, an engagement had taken place between the gun-boats and a large British force, which had resulted in the capture of the former. It was a spirited action of some two hours, and the Americans surrendered only when the enemy had gained their decks, and overpowered them by numbers. The whole number of guns in the American vessels was twenty-three, and of men one hundred and eighty-three. The British had forty-five boats, forty-three pieces of cannon, and twelve hundred men. The loss of the Americans was very small, while that of the British was not less than three hundred, including several officers, killed and wounded.
The invading army, it was now certain, was at hand. Indeed, they had effected a landing; they were on the banks of the Mississippi, only nine miles from the city. This, as we have stated, was on the 23d of December.
General Jackson had decided, in case of their landing, to attack them the first possible moment. "Feeble as my force is," said he, "I am resolved to assail the enemy on his first landing, and perish sooner than he shall reach the city:" a resolution which he now proceeded to fulfill with all the energy in his power. That same night was the time appointed.
A little before dark, the American troops arrived in view of the enemy. They were, at this time, about two thousand strong, but afterwards rëinforced to the number of one thousand more. Among the vessels, which had escaped the British, was one of considerable size, called the Caroline.[Pg 650] With this, Commodore Patterson was to drop down the river, anchor in front of the British, and commence the attack, which should be a signal for a general assault.
A British officer, who was present during the scene, thus describes the dismay of the British troops, when first the Caroline opened her appalling fire upon them.
"The day passed without any alarm, and, the darkness having set in, the fires were made to blaze with increased splendor; our evening meal was eaten, and we prepared to sleep. But about half-past seven o'clock, the attention of several individuals was drawn to a large vessel, which seemed to be stealing up the river till she came opposite to our camp, when her anchor was dropped, and the sails leisurely furled. We hailed her, but she gave no answer. This forboded no good. Soon after, we heard some one cry, in a commanding voice, 'Give them this for the honor of America!' and they did give it to us. Explosion after explosion burst upon us, and showers of grape swept down numbers in the camp.
"Nor to this dreadful storm of fire had we any thing to oppose. Our artillery was too light to bring into competition with an adversary so powerful. Our only alternative was to shelter the men, as much as possible, from this iron hail; and our only shelter was to hasten under the dyke ["levee"]. There we lay for an hour, unable to move from our ground, or offer any opposition; when the sound of musketry, at some distance, called our attention towards the pickets, and warned us to prepare for a closer and more desperate strife. Soon after, our apprehensions were realized. A semi-circular blaze of musketry burst upon us. We were surrounded." The assailants were Coffee's brigade of six hundred dismounted riflemen.
The further details of proceedings that night, we must omit. For two hours, such warfare was carried on as the darkness allowed. The American troops did not exceed two thousand; the force of the enemy reached, at length, four or five thousand. The Americans were not the[Pg 651] victors, nor were they vanquished. They retired in safety, with a loss of but twenty-four killed, one hundred and fifteen wounded, and seventy-four made prisoners. The loss of the British was not less than four hundred in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Among the Americans killed were two valiant officers—Colonel Lauderdale and Lieutenant McClelland. This action was probably the salvation of New Orleans. From that hour, the Americans had more confidence; the British less.
On the 4th of January, the long-expected rëinforcement from Kentucky, amounting to two thousand two hundred and fifty, under command of Major-general Thomas, reached New Orleans, but the great advantage, anticipated from this additional force, failed of being realized. Not more than five hundred of them were supplied with muskets fit for service; for the remainder, none could possibly be furnished.
For several days longer, the armies continued in view of each other, but comparatively inactive. Preparations, however, were making. The clouds were gathering. The storm was approaching. At length, the 8th of January arrived; a day rendered memorable by the victory achieved by the Americans over a British force greatly superior, and in every possible way prepared for the contest.
On the morning of the 8th, signals, intended to produce concert in the enemy's movements, were descried. Sky-rockets shot up. Preparations, as if for immediate action, were observed. And thus it proved. The important day had arrived, and operations were commenced on the part of the British, by showers of bombs and balls upon the American line: while congreve-rockets, in multitudes, went whizzing through the air. The two divisions, under command of Sir Edward Packenham in person, and supported by Generals Keane and Gibbs, now moved forward. A dense fog enabled them to approach within a short distance of the American intrenchments without being discovered. Their march was dignified—their step, firm—their bearing,[Pg 652] lofty. Meanwhile, all was silence among the Americans behind the parapets. The guns were loaded—the matches were ready—all were waiting, with breathless anxiety, for the word of command. Jackson stood an intent observer of the scene. He watched every movement—weighed every circumstance—measured the lessening distance. They had reached the critical spot to which the guns were pointed—the voice of Jackson was heard, as in tones of thunder, "Fire!" and, in an instant, such a storm of death rolled over the astonished British, as was scarcely ever before witnessed. The front ranks were mowed down, and their advance arrested. At this critical juncture, Sir Edward Packenham threw himself in front of the astonished columns, and urged them on. But at that instant, he fell mortally wounded, and, nearly at the same time, Generals Gibbs and Keane were borne from the field, dangerously wounded. The troops now fled. In their flight, they were met by General Lambert, on the advance with a reserve force, and urged once more to renew the attack; but his commands were unheeded.
There were, indeed, other attempts made upon the American works in other quarters, and they were partially successful; but, in the sequel, the British were every where repulsed—the American flag waved in triumph—the city of New Orleans was safe—and, that night, joy and gladness were in every family.
The American effective force, at the time, on the left bank, was three thousand seven hundred; that of the enemy, at least nine thousand, and, by some authorities, they were reckoned still more numerous. The killed, wounded, and prisoners, as ascertained on the day after the battle, by Colonel Hayne, the inspector-general, was two thousand six hundred. General Lambert's report to Lord Bathurst, stated it to be two thousand and seventy. Among the killed was the commander-in-chief, and Major-general Gibbs, who died of his wounds the following day; besides many other valuable officers. The loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, was but thirteen.
It is certainly surprising that generals so distinguished for their sagacity, and so experienced in military tactics, as were the British, should have hazarded such an assault. It seems probable that the enterprise was one of great magnitude and danger, in their view; but warranted by the circumstances in which they were placed. But, on the other hand, the Americans were entitled to all possible praise. Their bravery and zeal were conspicuous through the entire contest. It was fortunate that their commander was possessed of great courage and equal skill. General Jackson acquired greater reputation, on this occasion, than he had gained at any previous period of his life, distinguished as his military fame had become.
To the benevolent heart, there will ever be connected with this battle one sad, sad reflection. The carnage of that day—the groans, sorrows, sufferings caused by that conflict—might have been spared. Peace between the two nations had actually been agreed upon. Oh! could some breeze have wafted the intelligence to these Western shores[Pg 654] ere the dawn of that 8th of January, 1815, what streams of blood had been stayed! how many precious lives would have been spared! what despair and destitution averted from families and individuals!
Treaty of Ghent.—The brilliant successes of the Americans were duly appreciated, and joy and exultation pervaded the nation. Tidings of peace soon followed. A negotiation, which had been opened at Ghent in the Netherlands, towards the close of 1814, between the American commissioners, J. Q. Adams, Bayard, Clay, Russel, and Gallatin, and the British commissioners, Gambier, Goulburn, and Adams, resulted in a treaty of peace, which was signed on the 24th of December. It immediately received the approbation of the prince regent, and was ratified by the president and senate on the 18th day of February. This was a welcome event to all parties. Among a portion of the people, the war had never been popular. A large debt had been contracted, and the commerce of the country had greatly suffered. There was a general joy that the war had terminated; yet some were disposed to inquire, what object had been gained? It was true, the credit of the country in respect to military skill, but especially as to naval tact, had been greatly increased. An arrogant, invading foe had been driven from our shore. Our national honor vindicated—but, in the end, the treaty negotiated and ratified was silent as to the subjects for which the war was professedly declared. It provided only for the suspension of hostilities—the exchange of prisoners—the restoration of territories and possessions obtained by the contending powers during the war—the adjustment of unsettled boundaries—and for a combined effort to effect the entire abolition of traffic in slaves. But, notwithstanding several important omissions, the treaty was joyfully received, and the various classes of society once more began to turn their attention to their accustomed trades and occupations.
Close of Mr. Madison's Administration.—The remainder of Mr. Madison's administration was marked by few events or measures of national importance. Yet, we may briefly notice the conclusion of a treaty, conducted at Algiers, with the dey of Algiers, by William Shaler and Commodore Stephen Decatur, on the 30th of June, 1815—a "convention by which to regulate the commerce between the territories of the United States and of his Britannic Majesty," concluded at London, July 3—and the incorporation of a national bank, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars.
February 12th, the electoral votes for Mr. Madison's successor were counted in the presence of both houses of congress, when it appeared that Mr. Monroe was elected by a large majority. The following is a summary of the votes:
| Key: A. | James Monroe, of Virginia. |
| B. | Rufus King, of New York. |
| C. | D. D. Tompkins, of New York. |
| D. | John E. Howard, of Maryland. |
| E. | James Ross, of Pennsylv'a. |
| F. | John Marshall, of Virginia. |
| G. | Robt. G. Harper, of Maryland. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | |||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | ||
| 8 | New Hampshire, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 22 | Massachusetts, | 22 | 22 | |||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 5 | 4 | ||||
| 8 | Vermont, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 29 | New York, | 29 | 29 | |||||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 25 | Pennsylvania, | 25 | 25 | |||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 8 | Maryland, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 25 | Virginia, | 25 | 25 | |||||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | |||||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | |||||
| 8 | Georgia, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | 12 | |||||
| 8 | Tennessee, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 8 | Ohio, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 3 | Lousiana, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | Indiana, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 217 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 109 | 183 | 34 | 183 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
X. JAMES MONROE, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1817.
DANIEL D. TOMPKINS, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| John Q. Adams, | Massachusetts, | March 5, | 1817, | Secretary of State. |
| William H. Crawford, | Georgia, | March 5, | 1817, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| Isaac Shelby, | Kentucky, | March 5, | 1817, | Secretaries of War. |
| John C. Calhoun, | South Carolina, | December 15, | 1817, | |
| Benjamin W. Crowninshield, | Massachusetts, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of the Navy. | |
| Smith Thompson, | New York, | November 30, | 1818, | |
| Samuel L. Southard, | New Jersey, | December 9, | 1823, | |
| Return J. Meigs, | Ohio, | (continued in office), | Postmasters General. | |
| John M'Lean, | Ohio, | December 9, | 1823, | |
| Richard Rush, | Pennsylvania, | (continued in office), | Attorneys General. | |
| William Wirt, | Virginia, | December 15, | 1817, | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Fifteenth Congress, | 1817. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Sixteenth do. | 1819. |
| John W. Taylor, | New York, | Sixteenth do. | 1820. |
| Philip P. Barbour, | Virginia, | Seventeenth do. | 1821. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Eighteenth do. | 1823. |
The elevation of Mr. Monroe to the presidency was an event highly auspicious to the interests of the nation. Besides[Pg 657] having been employed for many years in high and responsible stations under the government, he possessed a sound and discriminating judgment, and a remarkably calm and quiet temperament. In not a few of the qualities of his mind, he resembled Washington, and, like that great and good man, apparently had the true interests of his country in view in the acts and measures of his administration. He may be said to be fortunate in respect to the time and circumstances of his accession to the presidency. A war, of whose justice and expediency a respectable portion of the country had strong doubts—and as to which, therefore, loud and even angry debate had existed, both in congress and throughout the country—that war had terminated, and the asperities growing out of different views entertained of it, were fast subsiding. Commerce, too, was beginning to revive, and the manufacturers were hoping for more auspicious days. In every department of industry, there was the commencement of activity; and, although the country had suffered too long and too seriously to regain at once her former prosperity, hopes of better times were indulged, and great confidence was reposed in the wise and prudent counsels of the new president.
A review of the principal measures and events during the presidency of Mr. Monroe, will require us to notice the following topics:
| Tour of the President, | Revision of the Tariff, |
| Admission of Missouri, | Visit of Lafayette, |
| Provision for indigent officers, &c., | Review of Mr. Monroe's |
| Rëelection of Mr. Monroe, | Administration, |
| Seminole War, | Election of Mr. Adams. |
Tour of the President.—This took place in the summer and autumn following Mr. Monroe's inauguration, and extended through the Northern and Eastern states of the Union. It was an auspicious measure, and contributed, no doubt, in a degree, to his popularity. He had in view, the better discharge of his duty as president, in superintending[Pg 658] the works of public defence, and most probably the cultivation of friendly feelings with the great mass of the people. These objects were happily accomplished. The works of public defence, which he wished personally to inspect or to provide for, were the fortifications of the sea-coast and inland frontiers, naval docks, and the navy itself. For all these objects, congress had made liberal appropriations, and by personal observation, he sought the means of guiding his judgment as to the best mode of promoting the interests thus committed to his care.
The president made two other visits of a similar kind, during his first term, viz: one in the summer of the following year, and the other in the summer of 1819. The former was to the Chesapeake bay and the country lying on its shores. The other was to the Southern and South-western states of the Union. In the course of a few weeks he visited Charleston, Savannah, and Augusta, as also the Cherokee nation, Nashville, Louisville, and other places. The same national objects commanded his attention as[Pg 659] during his other tours, and the same spirit of courtesy and deference was manifested towards him.
Admission of Missouri.—In another place, (p. 538,) we have had occasion to notice the periods at which the several states, formed since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, have been admitted into the Union, and Missouri among them; but, as in respect to this state, there were new and peculiar considerations involved, it is deemed important to speak of them in this place more at large.—The proposition to admit Missouri into the Union, was considered at the same time with Maine; but, although congress passed the act of admission for both at once, it was conditional in regard to Missouri. A clause in the constitution of this state, requiring the legislature to enact a law "to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the state," was obnoxious to a majority of the members of congress. After a long debate in that body, it was decided that Missouri should be admitted, on the condition that no laws should be passed, by which any free citizens of the United States should be prevented from enjoying the rights to which they were entitled by the constitution of the United States.
There had previously been a long and exciting debate in congress, on the subject of the restriction of slavery in the bill admitting Missouri. The bill for admitting that territory, contained a provision prohibiting slavery within the new state; but, having passed the house of representatives, it was arrested in the senate. Strong sectional parties, in reference to this subject, appeared, not only in congress, but throughout the country. It was deemed imminently a time of danger to the general interests of the nation and the Union itself. The dissolution of the general government seemed to be threatened. That the pernicious system of involuntary servitude should be further extended, seemed to be abhorrent to the minds of most of the wise and good. On the other hand, the rights of the slave-holding states were[Pg 660] thought by themselves, at least, to be invaded. Accordingly, members of congress from the non-slave-holding states, strenuously advocated the restriction; while members from the slave-holding portion of the country as strenuously opposed it.
The long and earnest debates on the subject, were concluded, only by the parties accepting a compromise, in consequence of which, slavery was to be tolerated in Missouri, but forbidden in all that part of Louisiana as ceded by France, lying north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, except so much as was embraced within the limits of the state. The vote in the house of representatives was several times given for excluding slavery; but the senate disagreed, and would not yield to the house. When the house yielded, at length, to the opinion of the senate, it was by a majority of four only, in favor of the bill, omitting the clause of exclusion, and containing that of the interdiction of slavery elsewhere, as already defined. The compromise happily averted whatever danger there might have been to the union of the states.
When Missouri, by a solemn act of her legislature, had accepted the fundamental condition imposed by congress, that she would not authorize the passage of any laws excluding citizens of other states from enjoying the privileges to which they were entitled by the constitution of the United States, she was declared a member of the Union. This occurred August 10th, 1821.
Provision for indigent Officers and Soldiers.—In 1818, a law was passed by congress, granting pensions to the surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war, which included all who had served nine months in the continental army at any period of the war, provided it was at one term of enlistment. Another act of congress, following at the expiration of two years, modified, and in some degree restricted this law, by confining the pension to those who were in destitute circumstances. Still, under this condition, the number who received the bounty, or rather the justice[Pg 661] of their country, was very large, not less than thirteen thousand having experienced the grateful relief. Through the inability of the government, soon after the war, these soldiers who had so largely contributed to the liberties of their country, had never been duly compensated. They now received a welcome, though late remuneration.
Rëelection of Mr. Monroe.—In March, 1821, Mr. Monroe entered upon his second term of office, having been rëelected president by nearly an unanimous vote. Mr. Tompkins was also continued in the vice-presidency. The following table exhibits the vote of the several electoral colleges:
| Key: A. | James Monroe, of Virginia. |
| B. | John Q. Adams, of Massa'tts. |
| C. | D. D. Tompkins, of New York. |
| D. | Rich'd. Stockton, of New Jersey. |
| E. | Robt. G. Harper, of Maryland. |
| F. | Richard Rush, of Pennsylv'a. |
| G. | Daniel Rodney, of Delaware. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | |||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | ||
| 8 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 1 | 7 | 1 | |||
| 15 | Massachusetts, | 15 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||||
| 9 | Connecticut, | 9 | 9 | |||||
| 8 | Vermont, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 29 | New York, | 29 | 29 | |||||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 25 | Pennsylvania, | 24 | 24 | |||||
| 4 | Delaware, | 4 | 4 | |||||
| 11 | Maryland, | 11 | 10 | 1 | ||||
| 25 | Virginia, | 25 | 25 | |||||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | |||||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | |||||
| 8 | Georgia, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | 12 | |||||
| 8 | Tennessee, | 7 | 7 | |||||
| 8 | Ohio, | 8 | 8 | |||||
| 3 | Lousiana, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | Indiana, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | Mississippi, | 2 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | Illinois, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | Alabama, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 9 | Maine, | 9 | 9 | |||||
| 3 | Missouri, | 3 | 3 | |||||
| 235 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 118 | 231 | 1 | 218 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
No president, since Washington, has received so decided an expression of the public will. His popularity seemed to be the result of his moderation in politics, his candid temper, and his wise and useful measures. His administration throughout was the era of good feeling.
Seminole War.—Within the southern limits of the United States, but mostly in Florida, lived a tribe, or confederacy of Indians, named Seminoles. They consisted, originally, of fugitives from the northern tribes, resident within the limits of the United States. To these fugitives, additions were made from the Creek Indians, numbers of whom were dissatisfied with the provisions of the treaty of 1814, and negroes, who had absconded from their masters. The resentments enkindled in the breasts of these miserable people, are believed to have been fanned by foreign emissaries, of whom the most noted were two Englishmen, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister. The consequence was, that outrages were committed upon the inhabitants of the states on our southern borders, the progress of which it became necessary to arrest.
General Gaines, the United States' officer in that quarter, made a demand to deliver up the authors of these outrages, but the Indians refused to comply. In consequence of this refusal, the Indians, who were still on the lands ceded to the United States by the Creeks, in 1814, were placed at the disposal of General Gaines, to remove them or not, as he should see fit.
The general availed himself of his discretionary power to take an Indian village called Fowl Town, near the Florida line. In this undertaking, one man and one woman were killed, and two women made prisoners. It was executed by a detachment under Major Twiggs. A few days after, a second detachment, who were on a visit to the town to obtain property, were fired upon, and a skirmish ensued, in which there was a loss of several on both sides. Shortly after, a large party of Seminole Indians formed an[Pg 663] ambuscade upon the Appalachicola river, attacked one of the American boats, ascending near the shore, and killed, wounded, and took the greater part of the detachment, consisting of forty men, commanded by Lieutenant R. W. Scott, of the seventh infantry. There were also on board, killed or taken, seven women, the wives of soldiers. Six of the detachment only escaped, four of whom were wounded.[76]
This event led to increased hostilities. Fort Scott, in which General Gaines with about six hundred regular soldiers was confined for a time, was openly attacked by a large force of the enemy. General Andrew Jackson was directed, December 26, to take the field. In connection with this, he was authorized, if he deemed the force of General Gaines to be insufficient to carry on the war, "to call on the executives of the neighboring states for such an additional militia force as he might deem requisite." General[Pg 664] Jackson varied from the order addressed to him, by sending out a circular to the patriots of West Tennessee, inviting them, to the number of one thousand, to take up arms with him against the Indians. The General's call was promptly responded to, and the thousand volunteers were, in due time, gathered to his standard.
In this affair, General Jackson was widely censured for departing from the letter and spirit of his instructions; although the apology offered, was the delay that would have been caused, had the governor of Tennessee, who was either at Knoxville or in the Cherokee nation, been first called upon. The account of his proceedings, which he sent to the secretary of war, seems to have met with favor by the public authorities at Washington. The troops thus raised, were joined by a number of friendly Creeks under General M'Intosh. Meanwhile, it appears from the instructions of the president to General Gaines, that the war was to be prosecuted in Florida, only in the event of the Indians fleeing into that country, and, in that case, the Spanish authority was to be respected wherever it was maintained. Jackson, however, did not conform to these instructions, and particularly in regard to the interdiction not to attack a Spanish fort, should any Indians take shelter under one, which was also a matter of instruction. He justified his non-compliance, in this case, on the ground that, orders issued to one officer, could not be construed as orders to his successor, without a special reference to the first—that his orders were general and discretionary, and that the circumstances contemplated by the orders to General Gaines, never existed. The Indians were found sheltered within a fort, and not merely under the protection of its guns on the outside.
On the plan of warfare, which the American general deemed it justifiable to act, he not only entered Florida in pursuit of the Indians as they fled thither, but he forcibly seized the Spanish garrison, St. Marks. While at St. Marks, information was imparted to General Jackson, that[Pg 665] the governor of Pensacola was favoring the Indians; upon which, although the executive had given instruction not to attack a Spanish fort, he took up his march for the fort at Pensacola, before which, after twenty days, he appeared prepared to subdue it, at whatever expense it might cost. The fortress was invested on the 25th of May, and, after a bombardment and cannonading for two days, the garrison surrendered prisoners of war. The officers of the government, civil and military, were transported to Havana, and a new government established for the province. These matters being settled, General Jackson announced to the secretary of war that the Seminole war was terminated, and returned to his house at Nashville.
The conduct of the general, in transcending his orders, was made a subject of inquiry in the house of representatives, and a report made disapproving of some parts of it as arbitrary, unjustifiable, and dangerous in principle; and the report was ably supported by Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, and Mr. Johnson, of Virginia, and others, but opposed by[Pg 666] many other members. The inquiry disclosed several highly arbitrary acts. Mr. Monroe caused the instructions given on this occasion to be laid before Congress; and he also gave orders immediately for the restoration of the forts and places to the Spanish authorities.
General Jackson was, also, charged with undue severity, in the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, the Englishmen before alluded to, whom he took in the territory. The former he caused to be hung, and the other to be shot. The punishment was summary, and without law; but the executive found cause to excuse these acts on the consideration of the peculiar exigency of the case. The great popularity of the military commander was supposed to have furnished a reason for no further proceedings or inquiries into this affair.
Revision of the Tariff.—A law was passed by congress, on the subject of the tariff, in May, 1824, embracing the revision and alteration of the tariff which had heretofore existed. Except a slight protection to coarse cotton cloths, nothing had been done to encourage the manufactures of the country. The attention of the people had been, for a long time, turned towards the subject, and congress had debated it at different periods, but very little had been effected. Such was the state of things from 1816 to 1824. On the part of many citizens, great zeal had been manifested in favor of manufactures among us. Numbers, especially in the Northern and Eastern states, owing to the impediments which existed in the prosecution of commerce and navigation, by the restrictive measures of the government, as well as by the war, had engaged in the business of manufacturing. By their energy, perseverance, and economy, they had attained to a measure of success; but still, some public enactments were wanting to give due encouragement to the general interests of manufactures. The well-known favorable opinion of the president, as also the growing interest felt by the people on the subject, produced[Pg 667] their effect in calling to it the attention of the national legislature, to some practical purpose.
At the period above named, congress imposed higher duties on several articles of import, chiefly of the description of those then manufactured in the United States. On several articles, a duty of five per cent. was laid, in addition to that before imposed, though the act met a very powerful opposition. The debate on the bill occupied the house of representatives more than ten weeks, and the bill was passed by a majority of only five. It was opposed by those who were concerned in commerce, on the ground that it would prove detrimental to their particular interests. It was opposed by those who were concerned in agriculture, from the consideration that an undue profit was secured by it to the manufacturers. On the part of some, it was a ground of opposition that it would greatly diminish imports, and thus lessen the public revenue. A portion of the national legislature, who were professedly in favor of encouraging manufactures, believed that they were already sufficiently protected. This opposition was principally by members from the Southern states, where no manufactures were established, and who believed that additional duties on imports would operate unequally in different parts of the union.
But notwithstanding the strong opposition to the measure, the bill of the house passed the senate with several alterations, by a vote of twenty-five to twenty-one. The measure, when put to the test of experiment, proved effectual in affording the desired protection to the articles which it embraced; but the same legislation was wanted in regard to others, perhaps equally important to the comfort, defence, and independence of the country.
Visit of Lafayette.—The arrival of the Marquis de Lafayette into the United States, signalized the year 1824. It was an event of great interest to the people of the country. As the friend, benefactor, and ally of the Americans[Pg 668] during the Revolution, he was remembered with lively gratitude after his return to his native land, and his subsequent history had been traced by many among us with deep concern, as well as admiration. Nearly half a century had elapsed, since he came as a youthful, devoted adventurer to our shores, in the cause of freedom, and age was now stealing over him with its usual effects on the human frame. Before the close of life, he wished once more to revisit the scenes of his early conflicts; and, having intimated his intention of coming to this country, the people were prepared to give him a welcome and enthusiastic reception.
He landed at New York, on the 16th of August, accompanied by his son, and M. L. Vasseur, his secretary. His entrance into the city was more than a Roman triumphal procession. Splendid as it was, it was more remarkable as the tribute of the concentrated heart of America, in its great commercial capital. He was met by one universal burst of grateful enthusiasm.
In the course of about a year, he visited each of the twenty-four states, and most of the principal cities of the land, and was every where received with the like spirit of enthusiasm and gratitude.
He was present on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the Bunker hill monument, and assisted, as was most befitting he should, in laying its corner-stone. His presence added greatly to the interest of the occasion, and long will it be remembered with what enthusiasm his presence was greeted.
"When the time arrived which he had fixed as the termination of his visit, it was thought most fitting that his departure from the country should take place from the capital. A frigate was prepared at that place, and named, in compliment to him, the Brandywine, to transport him to his native country. The few weeks spent, upon the invitation of the president, as the guest of the nation, in the national palace, were appropriated to taking leave of those venerable men who had shared with him, both in establishing the independence[Pg 670] of the country, and in receiving all the appropriate honors which the people could bestow. He had previously visited and taken leave of the venerable Adams; he now in succession took leave of the other ex-presidents, the illustrious author of the declaration of independence; the able supporter and advocate of the federal constitution; and the soldier of the Revolution, who had shed his blood in the same cause with Lafayette."
His departure, which was from the seat of government, on the 7th of September, 1825, was affecting in the highest degree, but it needs not here to be described. Suffice it to say, that in passing down the Potomac, he landed to pay a farewell visit to the tomb of Washington; then, proceeding on his way, he made a safe and prosperous voyage to France.
General Review of Mr. Monroe's Administration, his Character, &c.—As has been already remarked, under the administration of Mr. Monroe, there existed a propitious state of things. The wisdom and practical foresight of[Pg 671] Mr. Monroe were manifested in the measures of his administration. Profound peace continued through the whole of it, the amicable relations of the country with other nations having been carefully cherished. Of the national debt, not less than sixty millions were paid. The Floridas were not only peaceably acquired, but the western boundaries of our country were so settled as to give it the width of a continent. He effected the repeal of the internal taxes, reduced the military establishment to the smallest compass consistent with safety, and brought the army under an efficient organization. The asperity of party spirit yielding in a great degree, he was enabled to carry most of those measures which he deemed necessary to the public welfare. Progress was made in the suppression of the slave-trade, the civilization of the Indians advanced, and the independence of the South American nations recognized.
As to the character of President Monroe, there seems to be scarcely a dissenting opinion. His feelings, manners, and principles, appeared to be adapted eminently for conciliation. Nearly all united under him and with him in carrying out the public enactments. "He was not so great a philosopher as Jefferson, nor so learned as Madison; but he possessed a more practical knowledge, or was more desirous of pursuing that which was useful, than of adopting new theories, or of supporting his own speculative views in opposition to public opinion. He faithfully strove to defend and promote the great interests of the republic; but sought not for impracticable good in ways discovered only to his contemplative imagination." Fisher Ames' lively, but perhaps too severe, remark concerning Mr. Jefferson, that "he strains his optics to look beyond its (the world's) circumference, and contemplates invisibility till he thinks nothing else is real," has no application to Mr. Monroe, though the latter was of the same school of politics. To continue the quotation first presented, "He (Mr. Monroe) had as much regard for humanity, and was as sincere a lover of his kind, as Mr. Jefferson; but he followed more truly the beaten path[Pg 672] of common sense, and adhered more cautiously to the plain maxims sanctioned by experience, and shown by past history to be essential to the welfare of society."
Election of John Quincy Adams.—It being understood that, according to the example of his predecessors, Mr. Monroe would retire at the expiration of his second term, the subject of his successor was early introduced to the nation. Several candidates were put in nomination, and the claims of each were duly urged by their respective friends and supporters. The following was the electoral vote, according to the official count before the two houses of congress:
| Key: A. | Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. |
| B. | John Q. Adams, of Massachusetts. |
| C. | Wm. H. Crawford, of Georgia. |
| D. | Henry Clay, of Kentucky. |
| E. | John C. Calhoun, of S. Carolina. |
| F. | Nathan Sanford, of New York. |
| G. | Nathaniel Macon, of N. Carolina. |
| H. | Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. |
| I. | Martin Van Buren, of New York. |
| J. | Henry Clay, of Kentucky. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||||||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | J. | ||
| 8 | New Hampshire, | 8 | 7 | 1 | |||||||
| 15 | Massachusetts, | 15 | 15 | ||||||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 3 | ||||||||
| 8 | Connecticut, | 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | Vermont, | 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 36 | New York, | 1 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 29 | 7 | ||||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 28 | Pennsylvania, | 28 | 28 | ||||||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 11 | Maryland, | 7 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 1 | |||||
| 24 | Virginia, | 24 | 24 | ||||||||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | ||||||||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | ||||||||
| 9 | Georgia, | 9 | 9 | ||||||||
| 14 | Kentucky, | 14 | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 11 | Tennessee, | 11 | 11 | ||||||||
| 16 | Ohio, | 16 | 16 | ||||||||
| 5 | Lousiana, | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||||
| 5 | Indiana, | 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 3 | Mississippi, | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 3 | Illinois, | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
| 5 | Alabama, | 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 9 | Maine, | 9 | 9 | ||||||||
| 3 | Missouri, | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 261 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 131 | 99 | 84 | 41 | 37 | 182 | 30 | 24 | 13 | 9 | 2 |
XI. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1825.
JOHN C. CALHOUN, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | March 7, | 1825, | Secretary of State. |
| Richard Rush, | Pennsylvania, | March 7, | 1825, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| James Barbour, | Virginia, | March 7, | 1825, | Secretaries of War. |
| Peter B. Porter, | New York, | May 26, | 1828, | |
| Samuel L. Southard, | New Jersey, | (continued in office), | Secretary of the Navy. | |
| John M'Lean, | Ohio, | (continued in office), | Postmaster General. | |
| William Wirt, | Virginia, | (continued in office), | Attorney General. | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| John W. Taylor, | New York, | Nineteenth Congress, | 1825. |
| Andrew Stevenson, | Virginia, | Twentieth do. | 1827. |
The policy and views of Mr. Adams were, in the main, conformed to those of his immediate predecessor. As secretary of state under Mr. Monroe, it is believed that no important measures were adopted without the advice or[Pg 674] consent of Mr. Adams. He would, of course, have been apt to continue in the same general line of conduct. His qualifications were of the highest order; he well understood the interests of his country, and was skilled in every art of diplomacy and government.
On one point, perhaps, he differed in theory from Mr. Monroe. He expressed less regard for state rights, or allowed more power to the general government, according to his construction of the constitution, than Mr. Monroe did. The latter considered the United States' government strictly federal; the former viewed it rather as a consolidated or national one. In their public measures, however, this difference of opinion did not often lead to the exercise of greater power by one than the other. The constitution was the guide of both; but one might approve an act of congress for internal improvements, from which the other would probably have withheld his assent, from scruples as to the constitutional authority of the federal government for such enterprises.
The administration of Mr. Adams was, however, destined to be confronted by a very formidable opposition. This was from the beginning, on the part of numbers—they were determined to dislike his measures, whether right or wrong, as they differed with him in matters of opinion, and were dissatisfied with some circumstances attending his election. It was alleged that the latter was brought about by corruption. This state of things constituted a second era of political asperity in the history of our government, which has not subsided to this day. But the constitution has happily survived the shock, though, at the present time, it begins to be assailed by the more dangerous spirit of sectional divisions. Another portion of Mr. Adams' political opponents, more honest or honorable than the rest, were willing to judge him by his acts. "It is but justice to add, that the charge of a bargain between Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay has not been satisfactorily supported. On the contrary, it seems now to be generally admitted that no[Pg 675] alliance had been formed between these gentlemen, previous to the election which issued in Mr. Adams' accession."
The following are the principal topics upon which we propose to dwell in noticing the administration of Mr. Adams, viz:
| Controversy respecting the Creeks, | Fiftieth Anniversary of |
| Proposed Mission to Panama, | Independence, |
| Internal Improvements, | "American System," |
| Election of General Jackson. | |
Controversy respecting the removal of the Creeks.—At the commencement of Mr. Adams' term of office, a controversy arose between the general government and the state of Georgia, respecting the territory occupied by the Creek Indians. There had long been a dispute between these people and the Georgia state government, which claimed the lands on which the Creeks resided. The claim was professedly founded on a compact into which the United States entered with Georgia, in 1802, of extinguishing, at the national expense, the Indian title to these lands, and of removing the natives, "as soon as it could be done peaceably, and on reasonable terms." The consideration, on the part of Georgia, was the relinquishment of her claim to the Mississippi territory. Georgia was impatient to have the compact fulfilled—the Indians, having grown more attached to their homes, refused to alienate their territory. Between the vehemence of Georgia and the resistance of the Creeks, the general government had a difficult task to perform. As it had been invariably desirous of observing good faith with the Indian tribes, and had treated them with much lenity and kindness, it was fully disposed to do justice to the Creeks, while it was equally desirous to satisfy Georgia. Before the government could extinguish the Indian claim in the manner before agreed upon, i. e. "peaceably, and on reasonable terms," the governor of Georgia insisted on the removal of the tribe, and threatened to take possession of the territory by force. It was in contemplation, however, on the part of the federal executive, to resort to force to prevent these proceedings on the part of Georgia.[Pg 676] The danger of a collision, at one time, appeared to be imminent. The national executive, nevertheless, by his prompt and vigilant measures, passed through the crisis with safety, and effected successfully the object in view.
A treaty, which had been made with a party of the Indians just before Mr. Adams entered upon his office, by which all the Creek lands in Georgia and Alabama were ceded to the United States, and which had been sanctioned by the senate on the last day of the session, was virtually set aside. Upon a more dispassionate consideration, it had appeared not to have been executed in good faith, and accordingly a new treaty was concluded at Washington, through great effort on the part of the public authorities. This was entered into with the chiefs of the Creek tribe, in March, 1826. It stipulated for the payment of a large sum to the tribe, and to guaranty the lands not expressly ceded by them. Congress sanctioned the treaty and its stipulations, though the members from Georgia expressed their dissent on record. The conduct of Mr. Adams, in[Pg 677] this difficult and perplexing affair, was approved very generally in congress, and throughout the country.
Proposed Mission to the Congress at Panama.—The president having been invited to send commissioners to the congress of Panama, which had for its object the cementing of the friendly relations of all the independent states of America, saw fit to accept the invitation. Having nominated Richard C. Anderson and John Sergeant, as ministers on the part of the United States, and William B. Rochester, of New York, as secretary, he presented these names to the senate for confirmation. This step awakened a spirit of animosity against the president, and a long and angry debate ensued; but the nominations were eventually confirmed, and the necessary appropriations voted. Measures were soon taken to carry this policy into effect, and directions were sent to Mr. Anderson, who was then in Columbia, to attend the congress, which was to be convened in the beginning of summer. But he was cut down by a malignant fever before he could reach the place. Mr. Sergeant was prevented from going, on account of the lateness of the period at which his appointment was made.
This failure of representation at the congress, on the part of the United States, was, by many, deemed auspicious, as the relations and interests of the country might otherwise have been compromitted; but others thought differently, and believed that a conference of the kind might issue in the adoption of a friendly and enlightened policy between the parties.
Internal Improvements.—In 1826, a proposition was made in congress to expend a sum of money for repairing and extending the Cumberland road. An act had been passed long before, during Mr. Jefferson's second presidential term, for making a road from Cumberland, in the state of Maryland, or near that place, and on the north bank of the Potomac river, to the river Ohio. Hence the[Pg 678] name of the road. After having been commenced, money was appropriated, at different periods, to finish and repair the road. It was considered of great national advantage and convenience, inasmuch as it furnished a commodious way from the Atlantic slope to the Ohio river and to the great valley of the Mississippi.
To the proposition above alluded to for an additional sum of money, opposition was made at the present time. The amount asked was eighty thousand dollars, for repairs and also for its continuance farther west; for it was considered as proper to extend it to a remoter point, as to have made it to the Ohio river. The sum was named in a general appropriation bill. Many were opposed, on account of their doubts respecting the authority of congress to expend money for such objects. Others, however, who were reluctant to vote money for internal improvements on general principles, were in favor of the appropriation in this instance, as it would be of great public utility, and as the road, in order to be used with facility, must be repaired.
"The vote, at this time, for an appropriation to repair the Cumberland road, indicated the views of members of congress on the subject of internal improvements; for it was long discussed, and several members went fully into the constitutionality of this and several measures. In the senate, the votes were twenty-three in favor and fifteen against the appropriation. And, in the house of representatives, they were ninety-two to sixty-three. And, at the same session, congress authorized the executive to subscribe, on the part of the government, for shares in the Dismal Swamp canal, so called, within the state of Virginia, to the amount of sixty thousand dollars; which was a direct recognition of the power of congress to construct works for the public convenience. An act was also passed for a survey in Florida, with a view to construct a canal across the peninsula, from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico."[77]
The Fiftieth Anniversary of American Independence.—This was a day long to be remembered in the annals of the nation. The exultation of feeling throughout the country, that we had reached in safety the fiftieth anniversary of our independence, was great. The day was every where celebrated with more than the usual demonstrations of joy. But the most striking feature of the occasion, was the simultaneous deaths of two ex-presidents of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The coincidence in their departure from life was certainly remarkable, more especially as having occurred at that particular juncture. It would seem to have been a providential dispensation, designed to answer some important purpose; perhaps to awaken the great principles of political freedom and equal rights, to the maintenance of which the lives of both were consecrated. They had both—and equally, perhaps—acted a most conspicuous part on the theatre of the world, and especially in the affairs of American independence. "Both had been presidents, both had lived to great age, both were early patriots, and both were distinguished and ever honored by their immediate agency in the act of independence. It cannot but seem striking and extraordinary, that these two should live to see the fiftieth year from the date of that act; that they should complete that year, and that then, on the day which had fast linked for ever their own fame with their country's glory, the heavens should open to receive them both at once. As their lives themselves were the gifts of Providence, who is not willing to recognize in their happy termination, as well as in their long continuance, proofs that our country and its benefactors are objects of his care?"
Although they belonged to different schools in politics, and were separated, for a time, by the party distinctions which prevailed soon after the constitution went into operation, yet they seemed to have coalesced very much in views and feelings in the latter portion of their lives. Friendly letters, of great interest, passed between them,[Pg 680] which were given to the public at the time. But the coincidences or parallel circumstances attending these distinguished men are not yet exhausted. "They belonged to the same profession, and had pursued its studies and its practice, for unequal lengths of time indeed, but with diligence and effect. Both were learned and able lawyers. They were natives and inhabitants respectively of those two of the colonies, which, at the Revolution, were the largest and most powerful, and which, naturally, had a lead in the political affairs of the times. When the colonies became, in some degree, united, by the assembling of the general congress, they were brought to act together in its deliberations, not indeed at the same time, but both at early periods. Each had already manifested his attachment to the cause of the country, as well as his ability to maintain it, by pointed addresses, public speeches, extensive correspondence, and whatever other mode could be adopted for the purpose of exposing the encroachments of the British parliament, and animating the people to manly resistance. Both were not only decided, but early friends of independence. While others yet doubted, they were resolved; where others hesitated, they pressed forward. They were both members of the committee for preparing the Declaration of Independence; they constituted the sub-committee, appointed by the other members to make the draft. They left their seats in congress, being called to other public employments, at periods not remote from each other, although one of them returned to it, afterwards, for a short time. Neither of them was of the assembly of great men which formed the present constitution, and neither was at any time member of congress under its provisions. Both have been public ministers abroad, both vice-presidents, and both presidents." These coincidences were surprisingly completed, as already mentioned, by their simultaneous deaths, and that on the anniversary of liberty.
Introduction of the "American System."—The phrase[Pg 681] "American System" was given to the policy advocated by many, of protecting, by impost duties, the manufactures of the country against foreign competition. It began to be employed during the administration of Mr. Adams. Additional duties were sought by the friends of manufactures on woolen goods, and a bill for that purpose passed both houses of congress, in the months of April and May, 1827. The measure, however, seemed not to be satisfactory to the country at large. "The president was in favor of affording protection to domestic manufactures generally, and of woolens particularly, which, at this time, was the leading question in political economy, so far as the federal government was believed to have authority to interfere. But he was also friendly to extensive enterprises in commerce and navigation, and expressed no opinion in support of the ultra doctrines of the manufacturers."
Election of General Jackson.—The administration of Mr. Adams encountered strong and determined opposition. The circumstance of his rival, General Jackson, having had a larger popular vote than himself, and having, in congress, only a small majority, when elected to office, seemed, in the view of the democratic party, quite sufficient to justify a more than usual distrust of his administration, from its beginning. Mr. Adams was watched with singular vigilance, and every advantage taken to render his acts unpopular. It was early charged against him, that a corrupt bargain had been made with Mr. Clay, his secretary of state. The Panama mission was represented as a measure weak and injudicious. And, moreover, it was charged that his administration was wasteful and extravagant.
Of the falsity and injustice of these charges, it is now unnecessary to speak. They were a part of an organized system of opposition, and designed to prevent the rëelection of Mr. Adams, and secure that of General Jackson. In this design, the friends of the latter succeeded, the vote of the electors for president affording a victory to his supporters,[Pg 682] as gratifying as the defeat of the friends of the former was mortifying.
| Key: A. | And'w. Jackson, of Tennessee. |
| B. | John Q. Adams, of Massa'tts. |
| C. | John C. Calhoun, of S. Carolina. |
| D. | Richard Rush, of Pennsylv'a. |
| E. | William Smith, of S. Carolina. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | |||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | ||
| 9 | Maine, | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8 | New Hampshire, | 8 | 8 | |||
| 15 | Massachusetts, | 15 | 15 | |||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||
| 8 | Connecticut, | 8 | 8 | |||
| 7 | Vermont, | 7 | 7 | |||
| 36 | New York, | 20 | 16 | 20 | 16 | |
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | |||
| 28 | Pennsylvania, | 28 | 28 | |||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 11 | Maryland, | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | |
| 24 | Virginia, | 24 | 24 | |||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | |||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | |||
| 9 | Georgia, | 9 | 9 | |||
| 14 | Kentucky, | 14 | 14 | |||
| 11 | Tennessee, | 11 | 11 | |||
| 16 | Ohio, | 16 | 16 | |||
| 5 | Lousiana, | 5 | 5 | |||
| 3 | Mississippi, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 5 | Indiana, | 5 | 5 | |||
| 3 | Illinois, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 5 | Alabama, | 5 | 5 | |||
| 3 | Missouri, | 3 | 3 | |||
| 261 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 131 | 178 | 83 | 171 | 83 | 7 |
XII. ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1829,
JOHN C. CALHOUN AND MARTIN VAN BUREN, Vice-Presidents.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Martin Van Buren, | New York, | March 6, | 1829, | Secretaries of State. |
| Edward Livingston, | Louisiana, | January 12, | 1832, | |
| Louis M'Lane, | Delaware, | May 29, | 1833, | |
| John Forsyth, | Georgia, | June 27, | 1834, | |
| Samuel D. Ingham, | Pennsylvania, | March 6, | 1829, | Secretaries of Treasury. |
| Louis M'Lane, | Delaware, | January 13, | 1832, | |
| William J. Duane, | Pennsylvania, | May 29, | 1833, | |
| Roger B. Taney, | Maryland, | (appointed in the recess: negatived by the Senate.) | ||
| Levi Woodbury, | New Hampshire, | January 27, | 1834, | |
| John H. Eaton, | Tennessee, | March 9, | 1829, | Secretaries of War. |
| Lewis Cass, | Ohio, | December 30, | 1831, | |
| John Branch, | North Carolina, | March 9, | 1829, | Secretaries of the Navy. |
| Levi Woodbury, | New Hampshire, | December 27, | 1831, | |
| Mahlon Dickerson, | New Jersey, | June 30, | 1834, | |
| William T. Barry, | Kentucky, | March 9, | 1829, | Postmasters General. |
| Amos Kendall, | Kentucky, | March 15, | 1836, | |
| John M. Berrien, | Georgia, | March 9, | 1829, | Attorneys General. |
| Roger B. Taney, | Maryland, | December 27, | 1831, | |
| Benjamin F. Butler, | New York, | June 24, | 1834, | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Andrew Stevenson, | Virginia, | Twenty-first Congress, | 1829. |
| Andrew Stevenson, | Virginia, | Twenty-second do. | 1831. |
| Andrew Stevenson, | Virginia, | Twenty-third do. | 1833. |
| John Bell, | Tennessee, | Twenty-fourth do. | 1834. |
| James K. Polk, | Tennessee, | Twenty-fifth do. | 1835. |
In his inaugural address, General Jackson exhibited, in comprehensive terms, his views in regard to the administration of the government. He spoke of the limitations and extent of executive power—the peace and friendship to be cultivated with foreign powers—the respect due to the rights of the separate states—the solicitude to be exercised in the management of the public revenue—the equal fostering care of the general government in respect to agriculture, commerce, and manufactures—the necessity of reform, and the correction of certain abuses—the attention to be given to internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge—the policy to be observed towards the Indian tribes within our borders—and other similar topics.
He expressed, also, the diffidence he felt on assuming the high and responsible station to which he had been elevated, and the reverence with which he regarded the examples of public virtue left us by his illustrious predecessors; hoping at the same time to receive instruction and aid from the cöordinate branches of the government, and the indulgence and support of his fellow-citizens in general. It was a brief and terse address, and manifested the characteristic decision and fearlessness of the man.
A sketch of the more prominent measures and events of General Jackson's administration will require us to notice the following topics, viz:
| Condition of the Country, | Rëelection of Andrew Jackson, |
| Georgia and the Cherokees, | Removal of Deposites, |
| Public Lands, | Death of Lafayette, |
| National Bank, | Deposite Act, |
| Internal Improvements, | Seminole War, |
| Indian Hostilities, | Treasury Circular, |
| Discontents in South Carolina, | Election of Mr. Van Buren, |
| Character of Jackson's Administration. | |
Condition of the Country.—A high degree of prosperity was enjoyed in the United States at this era. The administration of General Jackson's predecessor had been crowned with signal success. Circumstances, however, connected[Pg 685] with the election of Mr. Adams were seized upon as a ground of attack; and, in the eye of many, all that he afterwards did, as the executive of the nation, was unnaturally colored or distorted. But the results showed that his administration had been conducted with wisdom, integrity, and vigor. During the whole course of it, uninterrupted peace had been enjoyed; our commercial relations had been gradually extended; and, in many instances, the claims of American citizens upon foreign governments had been prosecuted with success. At home, the marks of an able administration were exhibited, in the increased activity imparted to the legitimate powers of the federal government for the development of the resources of the country, and the increase of its wealth and respectability.
Georgia and the Cherokees.—The president, in his message on the 8th of December, 1829, had presented, at considerable length, his views in regard to the disposal of the Indian tribes within the limits of the United States. He recommended their removal beyond the boundary of the different states, but without compulsion, to such territory west of the Mississippi, as congress might set apart for their use. In this, he wished to avoid the difficulties arising from the treaties between the United States and these Indians, and the opposing claims of the states within whose limits the Indians resided. This was one of the most embarrassing subjects which demanded the attention of the new administration. It was especially applicable to the relation which the Cherokees, a powerful tribe within the limits of Georgia, sustained to the general government.
Treaties had been made with this tribe, from time to time, ever since the adoption of the federal constitution. In these treaties, the protection of the United States was promised them, and the territory they inhabited was acknowledged to be theirs. But the government had also acknowledged the limits of Georgia, and had agreed to extinguish the Indian title whenever it could be peaceably effected.
Georgia, in her anxiety to secure the Indian territory, had passed laws from time to time, with reference to that object, claiming exclusive civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Indians. In this state of things, the new administration came in, and the views of the president coinciding with those of the state of Georgia, a change was made in her mode of procedure. She was allowed, with the approbation of the general government, to extend her laws over the Cherokees, and to consider the treaties of the United States with them, guaranteeing their territory, as unconstitutional and void.
In conformity to the president's proposal of removing the Indians, as already alluded to, a bill was submitted to both houses of congress, in February, 1830, authorizing the president to set apart such portion as he should deem necessary of the public territory west of the Mississippi, to be divided into districts, for the permanent residence of the emigrating Indians. The bill underwent a thorough and spirited debate, and was finally passed by both houses, by a small majority.
The laws of Georgia had come into direct conflict with those of the United States, but this bill seemed to release the president from the duty of enforcing the acts of the latter, and observing the faith of treaties, as it was also in agreement with his determination not to regard either, in reference to a sovereign state. Encouraged by the acts of the government and the views of the president, Georgia proceeded to assert entire sovereignty over the Indians within its limits, issued writs of the state courts against the residents in the Indian territories, and tried the Cherokees before the tribunals of the state. At length, even the missionaries of the American board, residing and laboring among them, were arrested, tried, condemned and imprisoned, for refusing to obtain a permit from the government of Georgia to reside within the territory, or to take an oath of allegiance to the state. And, to consummate their high-handed proceedings, the decision of the supreme judicial tribunal of the United States, pronouncing the acts of the[Pg 687] Georgia legislature null and void, being unconstitutional, was resisted by the state. What might have ensued from this condition of affairs, had the general government undertaken to enforce the decision of the supreme court of the nation, as it would have been its imperious duty, it is needless to say. The missionaries relieved Georgia from the dreaded calamity, by informing the governor that they had instructed their counsel to prosecute the case no further. Soon after this, the missionaries were set at liberty.
Notwithstanding all the stringent measures of Georgia, the Cherokees were determined to remain in the land of their fathers. But at length, in 1835, a few of their chiefs were induced to sign a treaty for the sale of their lands and a removal west of the Mississippi. Although this treaty was opposed by a majority of the Cherokees, and the terms afterwards decided upon at Washington rejected, yet, as the state of Georgia was determined in its hostility, and they could expect no protection, according to the new doctrine, from the general government, they finally decided upon a removal; but it was not until the close of the year 1838, that the task of emigration was completed.
Public Lands.—Questions pertaining to the public lands were earnestly debated at this period. These lands form an immense domain, and lie on both sides of the Mississippi, though much the larger portion lies on the west of that river. Applying the Georgia doctrine, in reference to the sovereignty of the state over all land within its limits, some of the new states, formed out of the public domain, set up a claim to the property in the soil of all lands not owned by individuals, as an element of sovereignty. The mode of disposing of these lands, was complained of in other states, and attempts were made to throw doubt on the validity of the title of the general government to that portion within the limits of states.
A resolution of Mr. Foot, of Connecticut, on this subject, gave rise to animated discussion in the senate, on the 29th of[Pg 688] December, 1829. In the course of the debate, Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, introduced the subject of state rights, and contended that the several states within which the public lands were situated, should have the entire control and jurisdiction over them. Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, replied to Mr. Hayne in one of the most eloquent and effective speeches ever delivered in congress, and contended that on subjects fully committed to the government by the constitution, its powers were absolute, exclusive, and unlimited; that no state, nor even a number of states, might justly interfere in such cases; and that the public lands not expressly ceded to a particular state, were solely and absolutely at the disposal of the United States' government. This speech destroyed, for a time, the hopes of the advocates of the novel doctrine of nullification; yet the views of Mr. Hayne, respecting state rights and powers, continued to be entertained by a large portion of the people of the Southern states. No particular law resulted from this able and prolonged discussion.
National Bank.—In anticipation of a request for the renewal of the charter of the United States' bank, the president, in his message to congress, had expressed opinions adverse to that measure. But the standing committees of the senate and house, to which that portion of his message referred, made reports in opposition to the president's views. The friends of the administration formed a majority in both committees, and it was readily perceived how little harmony of action there was likely to be, on that subject, between the president and the party which had brought him into power.
About four years anterior to the expiration of the existing charter, that is, in December, 1832, a memorial was presented to congress from the president and directors of the United States' bank, for a renewal of its charter. This memorial was referred to a select committee, which, on the 13th of March following, reported in its favor, recommending only some limitations to the power of issuing notes and[Pg 689] holding real property; also, the payment of a bonus of one million five hundred thousand dollars. After long debates, and various amendments, a bill for this purpose was carried in the senate by a vote of twenty-eight to twenty, and in the house by a vote of one hundred and seven to eighty-five; but, being on the 4th of July sent to the president, it was returned to the senate on the 10th of July with an absolute veto, which, not being opposed by two-thirds, decided the fate of the bank.
Internal Improvements.—The policy of the government from an early period, though not from the beginning, had favored works of internal improvement, so that it seemed to be settled as a feature of each successive administration, from Mr. Jefferson to the present period. From General Jackson's own votes, while he was a member of the senate, it might reasonably be inferred that the same policy would be coincident with his views as president. But such was found not to be the fact. The question of internal improvements by the general government, was earnestly discussed at the first session of the twenty-first congress, and a bill was passed in the house, by a vote of one hundred and two to thirty-five, in the senate by twenty-four to eighteen, authorizing a subscription to the stock of the Maysville and Lexington road company, in Kentucky. The bill thus passed by so large a majority, was sent to the president for his approval. After retaining it eight days, he returned it to the house, on the 27th of May, 1830, with his objections.
The reading of this veto message produced much excitement in congress. Many of the friends of the president from Pennsylvania and from the Western states, had confidently looked for his approbation of the bill. Their surprise and disappointment were equally great. The question being taken upon the passage of the bill, notwithstanding the objections of the president, the vote stood, yeas ninety-six, nays ninety-four. Two-thirds of the house not[Pg 690] agreeing to pass the bill, it was rejected, though a majority of the house refused to sustain the objections of the president.
Indian Hostilities.—The year 1832 was distinguished by a series of Indian hostilities, commonly known as "Black Hawk's War," from the name of the celebrated Indian chief, who was the leader of the Sac and Fox Indians in these hostilities. These tribes, together with the Winnebagoes, had, for a considerable time, manifested a restless disposition, and appeared evidently disposed to commence hostilities, as opportunity might offer. They had joined the British in the war of 1812, and inflicted much injury on the Americans. Encouraged by the friendship of the British, as well as incited by their own warlike propensities, the Sacs and Foxes claimed the right of occupying a part of the country upon Rock river, even after it had been sold to the citizens of the United States, and the latter had made settlements upon it. In attempting to assert this right, frequent collisions ensued; and, as no persuasions on the part of the agents of the government could induce them to be quiet, and confine themselves to their own country on the west of the Mississippi, measures were taken to compel them to desist from their aggressions. As early as 1831, a considerable detachment of the army, and also of the militia of Illinois, was called into the field; upon which, the Indians agreed to confine themselves within their own proper limits.
In a short time, however, this arrangement was violated by a party of these Indians, in an outrage committed upon a band of friendly Menomonies, in the very vicinity of Fort Crawford. Twenty-five persons were wantonly killed and many wounded, while encamped in the village of Prairie du Chien, under the protection of our flag. It was felt by the government, that this aggression could not be passed over without the infliction of a due chastisement; as all was at stake, in regard to the friendly Indians and the frontier settlements in that quarter. Accordingly, the department ordered General Atkinson, on the 7th of March,[Pg 691] 1832, to ascend the Mississippi with the disposable regular troops at Jefferson barracks, and to strengthen the frontiers; orders were also given for the rëoccupation of Chicago.
In the prosecution of his instructions, General Atkinson proceeded to the Indian country, where, after various skirmishes, and several more serious engagements, the Sacs and Foxes, under the direction of Black Hawk, fled beyond the Mississippi. On the 28th and 29th of July, General Atkinson crossed with his army to the north side of the Wisconsin, at Helena, in pursuit of the enemy. After a most difficult and forced march, over steep mountains and through deep ravines, on the 5th day of March, the enemy was announced by one of the scouts. A suitable disposition was made of the American forces, with a view to prevent the escape of any of the foe, and the firing commenced, as the different portions of the army came in contact with him. The battle lasted upwards of three hours. About fifty of his women and children were taken prisoners, and many were killed in the battle. When the Indians were driven to the bank of the Mississippi, some hundreds of the men, women, and children plunged into the river, and hoped, by diving, to escape the bullets. Very few, however, escaped—the American sharp-shooter is nearly infallible in his aim.
Black Hawk, in the midst of the battle, escaped, and went up the river. The savages, after this defeat, became convinced of the impossibility of contending, with success, against the American arms. No further serious resistance was offered on their part, and the war soon closed by the capture of Black Hawk, who was delivered up to the American commander, by two Winnebagoes, on the 27th of August. He was well treated and much noticed in the United States.
Discontent in South Carolina.—The year 1832 was distinguished also by discontents in the Southern portion of the country, particularly in South Carolina, arising from[Pg 692] the tariff of 1828. That tariff had been slightly modified by an act of congress, in the summer of 1832. But the small and partial reduction of duties thus secured, did not diminish, but rather served to increase the opposition to the American System, then so called. By this system was meant the policy of high duties on imports, for the protection of domestic manufactures.
In South Carolina, it was resolved, a few months after the passage of the law of July, 1832, by the legislature, that the present law, and that of 1828, were infractions of the constitution, or exceeded the power given to the federal government by that compact, and were, therefore, null and void; and that the execution of those acts, within the state, was to be prevented, even by force, if necessary. And the requisite measures were taken to enforce this resolution.
An issue was thus brought on between the state and federal government, that imperiously demanded attention. The very existence of the government depended on the decision of the president. South Carolina had set at defiance the supreme authority of the Union, and declared that no umpire should be admitted to decide between the contending parties. In such an exigency, the president felt that there was no room for hesitation. The difficulty must be met, not only to save the Union from dismemberment, or the loss of one of its constituent parts, but to protect those citizens of South Carolina, who still adhered to the Union, from the horrors of civil discord. The president, with his personal courage and indomitable will, as also clothed with the irresistible power of the Union, determined to throw himself into the breach, and to enforce the revenue acts with an entire disregard to the pretended rights of sovereignty, which were assumed by the state of South Carolina.
To carry the determination of the government into effect, all the disposable military force was ordered to assemble at Charleston, and a sloop-of-war was sent to that port to protect the federal officers, in case of necessity, in the execution of their duties. On the 10th of December, the[Pg 693] proclamation of the president was issued, plainly and forcibly stating the nature of the American government, and the supremacy of the federal authorities in all matters intrusted to their care. At the same time, in this document, he exhorted the citizens of South Carolina not to persist in a course which must bring upon their state the force of the confederacy, and expose the Union to the hazard of a dissolution.
The proclamation of General Jackson was a noble production. It was hailed with delight throughout the country, as well by his political opponents, as by his friends. "Perhaps no document has emanated from the executive department of the government, which has been more generally approved, both in regard to the style in which it was written, and the doctrines asserted and maintained, since the farewell address of the first president. It contains no speculative opinions, no new theories; it speaks the facts of history, in the language of the constitution, and in the spirit which we, of a later generation, may suppose animated its framers."
The president, on this momentous occasion, was nobly supported by the leaders of the opposition party in congress, with Mr. Webster at their head. The force of public opinion was irresistible—South Carolina was compelled to shrink before it. No resistance was actually made to the enforcement of the laws they had nullified, and, consequently, no coercive measures were necessary on the part of the general government to maintain its authority. The objectionable laws were somewhat modified in the session of 1833, by what was termed "the compromise act," proposed by Mr. Clay; and South Carolina, though she has steadfastly adhered to her theories, has been contented not to reduce them to practice.
Rëelection of General Jackson.—In the autumn of 1832, the electors of the country were again convened in their respective places of residence for the choice of a president.[Pg 694] The two principal candidates were General Jackson and Henry Clay. The friends of Mr. Calhoun, in South Carolina, where the tariff question had already produced a bitter feeling of hostility to the government, remained almost entirely aloof from the contest. The anti-masonic party in the Northern states, which had been recently formed, supported William Wirt, of Maryland. The opponents of General Jackson were strongly opposed to his rëelection, and made great exertions to defeat it; but the returns from the electoral colleges exhibited a large majority in his favor. The following is the official result of the electoral vote:
| Key: A. | Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. |
| B. | Henry Clay, of Kentucky. |
| C. | John Floyd, of Virginia. |
| D. | William Wirt, of Maryland. |
| E. | Martin Van Buren, of New York. |
| F. | John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania. |
| G. | William Wilkins, of Pennsylvania. |
| H. | Henry Lee, of Massachusetts. |
| I. | Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | |||||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | ||
| 10 | Maine, | 10 | 10 | |||||||
| 7 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 14 | Massachusetts, | 14 | 14 | |||||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| 8 | Connecticut, | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | Vermont, | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 42 | New York, | 42 | 42 | |||||||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| 30 | Pennsylvania, | 30 | 30 | |||||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| 10 | Maryland, | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | |||||
| 23 | Virginia, | 23 | 23 | |||||||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | |||||||
| 11 | Georgia, | 11 | 11 | |||||||
| 15 | Kentucky, | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| 15 | Tennessee, | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| 21 | Ohio, | 21 | 21 | |||||||
| 5 | Lousiana, | 5 | 5 | |||||||
| 4 | Mississippi, | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| 9 | Indiana, | 9 | 9 | |||||||
| 5 | Illinois, | 5 | 5 | |||||||
| 7 | Alabama, | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 4 | Missouri, | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| 288 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 145 | 219 | 49 | 11 | 7 | 189 | 49 | 30 | 11 | 7 |
Removal of the Deposites.—The law of 1816, which created the United States' bank, required that the public moneys should be deposited in that bank, subject to be removed only by the secretary of the treasury, and requiring him, in that case, to present his reasons for removing them to congress. Congress had already refused to authorize the removal of the deposites, and the president was now resolved to effect it on his own responsibility. The new secretary of the treasury, William J. Duane (for there had been some recent changes in the cabinet), refusing to act in this matter, and resigning his office, the attorney-general, Roger B. Taney, was appointed in his place. Mr. Taney immediately issued the necessary orders for the removal of the deposites from the United States' bank; a measure which resulted from the president's determination to break off all connection between the government and the bank.
At the coming session of congress, 2d of December, 1833, one of the first acts of the senate was the adoption of a resolution, by a vote of twenty-six to twenty, declaring "that the president, in his late executive proceedings, in relation to the public revenue, had assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both." This resolution remained on the journal until January 15, 1837, when it was formally expunged by order of the senate.
The act of the president, and the measures taken by the United States' bank, occasioned much embarrassment throughout the mercantile community, during the years 1834 and 1835. Committees, appointed by the merchants, mechanics, and tradesmen of the principal commercial cities, solicited the president to rëplace the government deposites in the United States' bank. But he resisted every solicitation. Many petitions were sent to congress on the same subject. The senate favorably received them; but the house saw fit to sustain the president in this measure.
Death of Lafayette.—This illustrious man and benefactor[Pg 696] of America, died at his residence, La Grange, in France, on the 20th of May, 1834. This event was announced to congress on the 21st of June, in a message from the president. The character, services, and sacrifices of Lafayette, as an apostle of liberty and lover of mankind, were spoken of in appropriate terms of commendation in the president's communication. A joint select committee, of both houses, reported a series of resolutions, among which, one went to request the president to address a letter of condolence to the survivors in his family, and another to appoint John Quincy Adams to deliver, at the next session of congress, an oration on the life and character of the illustrious man. In due time, Mr. Adams pronounced his eulogy, in which the character and actions of Lafayette were drawn in a masterly manner.
Deposite Act.—The deposite or distribution act was passed by congress in 1835. The president had given it his "reluctant approval," with the apprehension of evil consequences flowing from it. In a message to the subsequent congress, he speaks of it as merely an act for the deposite of the surplus moneys of the United States in the state treasuries, for safe keeping, until wanted for the service of the general government—but that it had been spoken of as a gift, would be so considered, and might be so used. The manifestation of the president's feelings, in regard to this act and its disadvantages, was not calculated to relieve the minds of some, as to what he might attempt, in order to defeat its execution, or to prevent a future similar measure. This apprehension was subsequently strengthened by certain circumstances, which, however, need here no specific mention. There was at least an apparent effort to obtain control over the government funds, so as to divert them from the channel directed by the act of congress.
Seminole War.—The Seminole Indians of Florida, near the close of the year 1835, commenced hostilities against[Pg 697] the settlements of the whites in their neighborhood. To this, they were incited by the attempt of the government to remove the Indians to lands west of the Mississippi, in accordance with the treaty of Payne's Landing, executed in 1832. That treaty, however, the Indians denied to be justly binding upon them, and they naturally felt a strong reluctance to quit their homes for ever. Micanopy, the king of the Seminoles, was opposed to the removal; and Osceola, their most noted warrior, said he "wished to rest in the land of his fathers, and his children to sleep by his side."
Osceola was cruelly put in irons by General Thompson, the government agent, who was displeased by the pretensions of the chieftain, and his remonstrances against the governmental proceedings. He, however, obtained his liberty, at length, by dissembling his displeasure, and gave his confirmation to the treaty of removal. The whites were thus lulled into security; and, while they were expecting the delivery of the cattle and horses of the Indians, according to the treaty, the latter were already commencing the work of devastation and death.
At this time, Major Dade was dispatched from Fort Brooke, at the head of Tampa Bay, with upwards of an hundred men, to the assistance of General Clinch, stationed at Fort Drane, in the interior of Florida. The latter was supposed to be in imminent danger. Dade had proceeded only about half the distance, when he was suddenly attacked by the enemy, and he and all, except four of his men, were killed, and these four, terribly mangled, afterwards died of their wounds.
At the time of this massacre, Osceola, with a small band of warriors, was lurking in the vicinity of Fort King, about sixty-five miles south-west from St. Augustine. Here General Thompson and a few friends were dining at a store near the fort, when Osceola and his band surprised them by a sudden discharge of musketry, and five out of nine were killed. The general was one of the slain, his[Pg 698] body having been pierced by fifteen bullets. The Indian chief and his party then rushed in, scalped the dead, and retreated before they could be fired upon from the fort.
There were other engagements about this time between the Americans and the savages; and subsequently, upon the junction of several of the Creek towns and tribes with the Seminoles in the war, murders and devastations became frequent. The Indians obtained possession of many of the southern mail routes in Georgia and Alabama, attacked steamboats, destroyed stages, burned a number of towns, and compelled thousands of the whites, who had settled in their territory, to abandon their homes. A strong force, however, of confederate whites and friendly Indians, having been sent against them, and several of the hostile chiefs having been captured, the Creeks submitted, and, during the summer of 1836, several thousands of them were transported west of the Mississippi.
In October of the same year, Governor Call took command of the American forces in Florida, and marched into the interior with nearly two thousand men. At the Wahoo swamp, not far from Dade's battle-ground, five hundred and fifty of his troops attacked a large number of the enemy, who, after a fierce contest of nearly half an hour, were dispersed, with the loss of twenty warriors left dead on the field. In a second engagement, the Americans lost nine men killed and sixteen wounded. The combats of the whites and Indians in Florida, at this period, seem to have been attended with much loss of life on both sides.
Treasury Circular.—An important circular, in relation to the funds which should be received in payment for the public lands, was issued from the treasury department on the 11th of July, 1836. The purport of the circular was, to instruct the receivers of the public money, after the 15th day of August next ensuing, to receive in payment of the public lands nothing except gold and silver, and in the proper places, Virginia land scrip, in accordance with the[Pg 699] directions of the existing laws. In order to secure the faithful execution of the requirements of the circular, all receivers were strictly prohibited from accepting, for land sold, any draft, certificate, or other evidence of money or deposite, though for specie, unless signed by the treasurer of the United States, in conformity to the act of April 25th, 1820.
At the next following session of congress, the president, in his message, was pleased to represent this specie circular as having produced many salutary consequences, contrary to the views of a large portion of the citizens of the United States, who believed that the embarrassment and disturbance of the currency, so severely felt, were, in a great measure, owing to the operation of that circular.
Character of General Jackson's Administration.—It is hardly to be anticipated, perhaps, that a full and impartial estimate of General Jackson's administration, can be formed during the present generation. There were many strong points in it, and these are apt to call forth strong correspondent feelings, whether of approbation or dislike. Men differ, and may honestly differ, in regard to the propriety of his conduct and the wisdom of his measures. That he was honest, as a ruler, will not be at all doubted. That he was self-willed, and determined to have his own way, will scarcely less admit of a question.
Still, it is not too much to hope, that the services he rendered to his country, connected though they be with the stern and high-handed measures adopted by his indomitable will, may be cherished with gratitude and respect. As a statesman, he had clear views, and, in some instances, a sort of prophetic foresight. When he had once determined upon a particular course, where any important principle was involved, he could not be made to swerve from what he conceived to be just and right. As the element of fear seemed not to be in him, he never shrunk from the discharge of any public duty, and was always ready to avow[Pg 700] any act of his administration, as in the instance of removal of the public deposites through his secretary, and unshrinkingly to abide the consequences.
Election of Martin Van Buren.—General Jackson, in his last annual message, signified his intention, at the expiration of his term, to retire to private life. At the democratic convention for nominating a successor, Mr. Van Buren received a decided majority. The votes of the electoral colleges, counted February 8th, 1837, showed the following result:
| Key: A. | Martin Van Buren, of New York. |
| B. | Wm. H. Harrison, of Ohio. |
| C. | Hugh L. White, of Tennessee. |
| D. | Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts. |
| E. | W. P. Mangum, of N. Carolina. |
| F. | R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky. |
| G. | Francis Granger, of New York. |
| H. | John Tyler, of Virginia. |
| I. | William Smith, of Alabama. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | |||||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | G. | H. | I. | ||
| 10 | Maine, | 10 | 10 | |||||||
| 7 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 14 | Massachusetts, | 14 | 14 | |||||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| 8 | Connecticut, | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | Vermont, | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 42 | New York, | 42 | 42 | |||||||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | |||||||
| 30 | Pennsylvania, | 30 | 30 | |||||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| 10 | Maryland, | 10 | 10 | |||||||
| 23 | Virginia, | 23 | 23 | |||||||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | |||||||
| 11 | Georgia, | 11 | 11 | |||||||
| 15 | Kentucky, | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| 15 | Tennessee, | 15 | 15 | |||||||
| 21 | Ohio, | 21 | 21 | |||||||
| 5 | Lousiana, | 5 | 5 | |||||||
| 4 | Mississippi, | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| 9 | Indiana, | 9 | 9 | |||||||
| 5 | Illinois, | 5 | 5 | |||||||
| 7 | Alabama, | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 4 | Missouri, | 4 | 4 | |||||||
| 3 | Arkansas, | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| 3 | Michigan, | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| 294 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 148 | 170 | 73 | 26 | 14 | 11 | 147 | 77 | 47 | 23 |
XIII. MARTIN VAN BUREN, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1837.
RICHARD M. JOHNSON, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| John Forsyth, | Georgia, | (continued in office), | Secretary of State. | |
| Levi Woodbury, | New Hampshire, | (continued in office), | Secretary of Treasury. | |
| Joel R. Poinsett, | South Carolina, | March 7, | 1837, | Secretary of War. |
| Mahlon Dickerson, | New Jersey, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of the Navy. | |
| James K. Paulding, | New York, | June 30, | 1838, | |
| Amos Kendall, | Kentucky, | (continued in office), | Postmasters General. | |
| John M. Niles, | Connecticut, | May 25, | 1840, | |
| Benjamin F. Butler, | New York, | (continued in office), | Attorneys General. | |
| Felix Grundy, | Tennessee, | September 1, | 1838, | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| James K. Polk, | Tennessee, | Twenty-sixth Congress, | 1837. |
| R. M. T. Hunter, | Virginia, | Twenty-seventh do. | 1839. |
Prior to the elevation of Mr. Van Buren to the presidency, he had been long in public life, and had been honored with several offices in his native state and under the general government. His talents, learning, and experience, though not greater than those of many others of his countrymen, were generally allowed to be adequate to his[Pg 702] station. He had not, indeed, like all his predecessors, been connected more or less with the scenes of the Revolution, for he was born in the concluding year of the war. But, in the swiftly revolving years, it was evident that the time must soon come, when others than the men of '76 would be called to the helm of government. New men, and those not of the Anglo-American stock, must participate, as agreeable to the will of our mixed community, in guiding the ship of state which the fathers launched forth on the sea of experiment. Such was the case in respect to Mr. Van Buren, and such must it be hereafter, so far as regards men of ante-revolutionary birth. Whether our future presidents will continue to be guided by the spirit and example of the sages and heroes of the Revolution, remains to be seen.
In developing the administration of Mr. Van Buren, the following topics will be noticed:
| Measures respecting Banks, | Difficulties in Maine, |
| Treasury Circular, | Border Troubles, |
| Continuance of Florida War, | Changes of Public opinion, |
| Internal Improvements, | Character of the Administration, |
| Public Expenses, | Election of William H. Harrison. |
Measures respecting Banks, &c.—The embarrassments in trade, consequent on the discontinuance of the Bank of the United States, issued in a great and disastrous diminution of the revenue. In this state of things, the administration found it necessary to resort to large loans. The people, as was to be expected, soon began to suffer in their private enterprises, and the country throughout wore a gloomy aspect, in respect to its pecuniary affairs and general prosperity. This condition of things arose to a great height, in the year 1837, and continued for some time afterwards. "Over trading, or the unusual amount of importations, was one cause to which this unprosperous state of the country was imputed. But it was also attributed to the discontinuance of the national bank, and to the repeated attempts of the administration to destroy its influence.[Pg 703] Several petitions, from different commercial towns and cities, with very numerous subscribers, were presented to the president, requesting an early session of congress. The president delayed, for some time, to act on the petitions; but the distress increasing, and other petitions being addressed to him, he issued a proclamation for convening the national legislature in the month of September."
In his message, the president proposed what his opponents termed the "sub-treasury scheme." He held out very little hope of relief to the people from the government. His opinion was, that the government could do little more than take care of itself—that the class or classes of the community who had suffered, could alone supply a remedy, by a more prudent and limited course of enterprise and trade. These, and similar suggestions, seemed little calculated to satisfy a large portion of the people, especially as the government had destroyed one important means of benefit and facility to the merchants, and, through them, to all the other classes of citizens.
Following the suggestions of Mr. Van Buren, congress passed an act authorizing the issue of treasury notes, to the amount of ten millions of dollars, for the immediate wants of the government. "This was no other than a loan, except in name. The notes were made negotiable, and thus became, in fact, merely paper money; with no better credit, for there was no greater capital, or certainty of payment, than there had been in the national bank. The like amount of treasury notes was authorized in 1838, and again in 1839, but a part of former issues had been redeemed."
The sub-treasury scheme, which the president had proposed in his message, did not succeed at that time. The measure was opposed not only by the adverse political party, but by his democratic friends who were concerned in banks, and it was, at that period, very unpopular. This portion of the democratic party separated from the administration, and were known as conservatives. They eventually[Pg 704] fell into the ranks of the old opposition, or as it was (and is still) termed, "the whig party." The subject of the sub-treasury was postponed. At the opening of the session of congress, in the following December, as may be remarked in anticipation, Mr. Van Buren again pressed the measure, which now seemed to be his favorite; but, though carried in the senate, it was defeated in the house. In a spirit of perseverance, he was enabled to effect the object, through his political friends, at the next session, when, on the 4th of July, 1840, the bill received his signature.
The extra session of congress seemed to satisfy neither party. The friends of the administration viewed the causes of the depression of business and the consequent distress, to be overaction in business, arising from exclusive issues of bank paper, and other facilities for the acquirement and enlargement of credit; the contraction of a large foreign debt, investment in unproductive lands, and vast internal improvements; and they naturally wished the separation of the government from the banks, in which project they were for the present disappointed. The opponents of the administration traced the causes of the pecuniary difficulties of the country to the veto of the national bank; the removal of the deposites, with the earnest injunction of the secretary of the treasury upon the banks to enlarge their accommodations; the gold bill and the demand of gold for the foreign indemnities; the imperfect execution of the deposite law; and the treasury order of July, 1836: and they naturally desired some modification or counteraction of these measures by legislative interference. Disappointment was felt among the mass of the people, that the government had taken care of itself, while their plans must be impeded, and the labors of industry go unrewarded.
Issue of the Treasury Circular.—This was a communication from the secretary of the treasury to the several collectors and receivers of the public money, containing instructions in respect to the safe keeping of the same.[Pg 705] The instructions were as follows: "Congress having adjourned without making any additional provisions for the security and safe keeping of the public money, it is obvious that, in the present state of the laws and of the banks, an unusual responsibility devolves upon those who collect the revenues of the general government. The president expects that exertions, corresponding to the occasion, will cheerfully be made by every officer, and that no effort will be spared to have all the laws, as well as the regulations and instructions of the treasury department, scrupulously enforced. Accuracy in your accounts, punctuality in your returns, promptness in your deposites and payments, and entire forbearance to use any part of the public funds for private purposes, will, it is hoped, characterize the whole class of collecting offices hereafter. In the present condition of things, if any departure should unfortunately occur, it will be much regretted; and, however unpleasant the task, an exemplary and severe notice of the irregularity will become necessary, in order to secure the great public interests involved in this subject. The duty on the part of public officers to abstain from the employment of the public moneys for private advantage, is so apparent, that no excuse whatever for it can be deemed admissible."
Continuance of the War in Florida.—The war in Florida continued to be prosecuted during the administration of President Van Buren. Large sums of money were expended in maintaining it. Three millions and a half of dollars had been appropriated on its account, during the years 1836 and 1837, under General Jackson; and at the extra session in October, 1837, one million and six hundred thousand dollars were appropriated; and in 1838, the expenses for supporting the war in that quarter against the Indians, amounted to as large a sum as in either of the two preceding years. "When the difficulty arose with these Indians, President Jackson supposed that it would be soon terminated. And no one, at that time, had any reason to[Pg 706] suppose it would continue for years, and have cost the government eight or ten millions. Other measures than those of force, would probably have terminated the difficulty at an early period. It would certainly have saved many valuable lives now lost to the country, and been far more satisfactory to the friends of humanity throughout the Union."
Internal Improvements.—During Mr. Van Buren's administration, large sums were appropriated for internal improvements, although the president was generally opposed to the policy. The expenditures were, however, for purposes which the advocates of state rights, for the most part, believed to be legitimate, such as repairs on the Cumberland road and its continuance through the states of Indiana and Illinois; for light-houses, life-boats, buoys, and monuments, in behalf of the interests of navigation. In reference to these objects, there was always far more agreement among the different parties in congress, than in reference to any thing that seemed less essential to the nation's benefit.
Public Expenses.—The expenses of the government had been increasing to a considerable extent, from year to year. During the year 1837 and 1838, they amounted to nearly thirty-two millions each. The number of public agents was greatly multiplied, and the compensation for their services was, in many cases, greatly increased. The federal officers into whose hands moneys were placed, frequently appropriated them for improper purposes, and thus loss ensued. Extra services were often charged, through some pretext, and thus the compensation allowed by law was largely exceeded. The public printing for congress, and for the departments under the executive, occasioned a large and frequently a needless expenditure, as it was found, in many cases, that the work could have been performed at a far cheaper rate. Such was the tendency of high party feeling towards an abuse of government patronage.
Difficulties in the State of Maine.—The North-eastern boundary had long been a source of difficulty between the United States and England. The question had seemed on the eve of a decision by arms between the British authorities in New Brunswick and the state of Maine. Armed bands had been sent out on both sides to the territory in dispute. General Scott had been sent to the scene of contention by the president, and the affair, through the general's exertions, was, for the time, quieted, yet not settled. The danger attending this state of things, induced Mr. Van Buren, on the 26th of February, 1839, to communicate to congress a message on this subject, which resulted in an act of congress, giving the president additional power for the defence of the country, in certain cases, against invasion, or any attempt on the part of Great Britain to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the disputed territory.
He was authorized, in this event, to accept the services of any number of volunteers, not exceeding fifty thousand. The sum of ten millions was appropriated for the president to employ in executing the provisions of this act. At the same time, an appropriation was made for the sending of a special minister to England, should it be expedient in the opinion of the president.
The Border Troubles on the Northern Frontier.—The Canada rebellion, so called, which broke out during the years 1837 and 1838, strongly enlisted the sympathies of many of the Americans, especially in the northern parts of the states of New York and Vermont. They viewed it as the sacred cause of liberty and human rights. The consequence was, that they assumed the name of patriots, and formed secret associations, which they called Hunter's Lodges, with the object of rendering assistance to the insurgents in their efforts to establish independence in Canada.
"In the prosecution of this well-meant, but illegal interference in the concerns of a foreign power, a daring party of adventurers took possession of Navy island, a small spot[Pg 708] of ground, containing about three hundred and fifty acres, and situated in the Niagara river, about two miles above the falls, and lying within the jurisdiction of Upper Canada. It was fortified so strongly by the adventurers, as to resist an attack upon it by Sir James Head, the commander of the British forces. The president of the United States and the governor of the state of New York both issued proclamations, enjoining upon the inhabitants of the frontier to observe a strict neutrality.
"Notwithstanding these injunctions, arms and ammunition were procured, either by purchase or by stealth, and kept for the use of the insurgents. The party upon Navy island fired upon the opposite shore of Canada, and boats were destroyed by the force of their shot. The persons who were in possession of the island, amounting to seven hundred, were fully supplied with provisions, and had collected twenty pieces of cannon.
"These measures, on the part of the Americans, produced great excitement among the provincial authorities in Canada. A small steamboat, called the Caroline, was hired by the insurgents, to ply between Navy Island and Schlosser, on the American shore, in order to furnish the islanders with the means of carrying on the war. It began to run on the morning of the 29th of December, and, during the evening of that day, a detachment of one hundred and fifty armed men from the Canada side, in five boats, with muffled oars, proceeded to Schlosser, drove the men who were on board the Caroline ashore, cut her loose from her fastenings to the wharf, and, setting the boat on fire, let her float over the falls. In this enterprise, a man by the name of Durfee was killed; and it is said that one or two more were left in the steamboat when she went over the cataract."[78]
The Americans, in their turn, were greatly excited, and the threatened serious consequences to the peace existing[Pg 709] between our government and that of Great Britain, were, with difficulty averted. The president, however, by proclamation and other measures, succeeded, at length, in checking the belligerent movements of our people on the frontier.
Changes of Opinion among the People.—Although the president, during his visit to his native state in the summer of 1839, for the first time since his inauguration, was every where greeted with enthusiasm by his political friends, and with great personal respect by his opponents, yet it was evident that the political horizon wore a different aspect from what it formerly had done. The derangement of the currency and prostration of trade, attributed by many to the mal-administration of government, had caused great political changes. Of the representatives in the twenty-sixth congress, there were one hundred and nineteen democrats and one hundred and eighteen whigs, leaving out of view five representatives from New Jersey, whose seats[Pg 710] were contested. After several fierce debates, the democratic members from this state were admitted.
Mr. Van Buren, in 1840, being a candidate for rëelection, failed to carry the suffrages of the people. The great political changes, from causes already intimated, as shown in the state elections, gave, at the outset, but little hope of his success.
Character of the Administration.—Mr. Van Buren's administration, which closed on the 3rd of March, 1841, was an exciting one; and its character, even at this day, cannot, in all respects, be properly estimated. The verdict of posterity will be given with more justice than that of the present generation, in respect to its real benefit to the country. The great event of his administration, as has been remarked, by which it "will hereafter be known and designated, is the divorce of bank and state in the fiscal affairs of the federal government, and the return, after half a century of deviation, to the original design of the constitution." The caution, however, which history must necessarily observe on this subject, is well exhibited in the following remarks:
"The full results of the peculiar and experimental policy of President Jackson and President Van Buren, respecting banks and the currency, in their influence on the condition of the country, for good or for evil, for succeeding years, cannot be correctly estimated. The immediate consequences were a general disturbance of the trade and monetary affairs of the nation, and an unprecedented check to the accustomed pursuits of a people so enterprising in their spirit, and so desirous of improving their condition, as are the citizens of the United States. The sub-treasury scheme also gave alarm to the friends of the constitution generally, and to men of settled republican sentiments, who perceived in it a deviation from the essential elements of liberty recognized in the constitution, and a weakness of the responsibility of public agents, who should always be[Pg 711] controlled by the authority of law. They knew that power was corrupting; that it was necessary to impose checks on those who were clothed with political authority, and to make them constantly amenable to their constituents. The developments and effects of this fearful experiment, must be left for narration to a distant day. The only just hope of the perpetuity and future purity of the republic, rest on the intelligence and virtue of the people, and on their wisdom in the choice of men for places of public trust; who, like Washington, shall make the constitution their guide, and, under the controlling influence of its doctrines and requisitions, shall seek to preserve the integrity of the Union, and the rights and welfare of individuals."
Canvass for the Presidency.—Unusual efforts had been put forth in the election of Mr. Van Buren's successor. Never before had greater activity been manifested by the leading political parties of the nation. The country had been convulsed with the strife for many months. The whole political press had exerted its utmost influences on the one side or the other, and that, in many instances, in the most unscrupulous manner. Considerations of great interest and importance were urged by the respective parties; much truth was uttered and widely disseminated, but more falsehood and detraction. Popular meetings—in numbers, character, and enthusiasm, never before assembled on the American soil for this or any other purpose—were held towards the conclusion of the political contest in every state, and in almost every county. The most distinguished men in the nation addressed thousands and tens of thousands, by night and by day. Said an eminent statesman, on one occasion, "If, on the occurrence of our presidential elections in future, our contests must be so severe, so early begun, and so long continued, human nature will fail. The energies of man are not equal to the conflict." The question, which had been actually determined before, was officially decided on the 10th of February, 1841, when the ceremony of[Pg 712] counting and announcing the votes of the electoral colleges for president and vice-president took place. The result was as follows:
| Key: A. | W. H. Harrison, of Ohio. |
| B. | M. Van Buren, of New York. |
| C. | John Tyler, of Virginia. |
| D. | R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky. |
| E. | L. W. Tazewell, of Virginia. |
| F. | James K. Polk, of Tennessee. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | E. | F. | ||
| 10 | Maine, | 10 | 10 | ||||
| 7 | New Hampshire, | 7 | 7 | ||||
| 14 | Massachusetts, | 14 | 14 | ||||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 8 | Connecticut, | 8 | 8 | ||||
| 7 | Vermont, | 7 | 7 | ||||
| 42 | New York, | 42 | 42 | ||||
| 8 | New Jersey, | 8 | 8 | ||||
| 30 | Pennsylvania, | 30 | 30 | ||||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 10 | Maryland, | 10 | 10 | ||||
| 23 | Virginia, | 23 | 22 | 1 | |||
| 15 | North Carolina, | 15 | 15 | ||||
| 11 | South Carolina, | 11 | 11 | ||||
| 11 | Georgia, | 11 | 11 | ||||
| 15 | Kentucky, | 15 | 15 | ||||
| 15 | Tennessee, | 15 | 15 | ||||
| 21 | Ohio, | 21 | 21 | ||||
| 5 | Lousiana, | 5 | 5 | ||||
| 4 | Mississippi, | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 9 | Indiana, | 9 | 9 | ||||
| 5 | Illinois, | 5 | 5 | ||||
| 7 | Alabama, | 7 | 7 | ||||
| 4 | Missouri, | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 3 | Arkansas, | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 3 | Michigan, | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 294 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 148 | 234 | 60 | 234 | 48 | 11 | 1 |
XIV. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1841.
JOHN TYLER, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Daniel Webster, | Massachusetts, | March 5, | 1841, | Secretary of State. |
| Thomas Ewing, | Ohio, | March 5, | 1841, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| John Bell, | Tennessee, | March 5, | 1841, | Secretary of War. |
| George E. Badger, | North Carolina, | March 5, | 1841, | Secretary of the Navy. |
| Francis Granger, | New York, | March 6, | 1841, | Postmaster General. |
| J. J. Crittenden, | Kentucky, | March 5, | 1841, | Attorney General. |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| John White, | Kentucky, | Twenty-eighth Congress, | 1841. |
| John W. Jones, | Virginia, | Twenty-ninth do. | 1843. |
The unwonted efforts put forth in the presidential canvass, had prepared a majority of the people for an unusual exultation of feeling on the accession of General Harrison; but, in the providence of God, that exultation was destined to be transitory. Just one month from the day of his inauguration, after a brief sickness, he died. The nation, it[Pg 714] may well be believed, was surprised by this most unexpected calamity. It was difficult to conceive that the recent august spectacle of his introduction into the highest office in the gift of his countrymen, should be so nearly associated with his funeral honors. The loss seemed severe, in proportion to the expectations that had been indulged. A suitable commemoration of the distressing event was observed throughout the United States, by public bodies, and especially by Christian worshiping assemblies. Political opponents, in many instances, were not slow to render homage to the memory of the deceased president. There had been time for no particular development of principles or course of policy, on the part of the administration. The cabinet had been formed, and things were proceeding prosperously, and the future was full of promises, when this bereavement came to quench the hopes of millions.
This brief notice of a brief administration may be closed by an extract from the circular issued by the members of the cabinet, immediately after the president's decease, and which alludes to his dying, as well as his living example: "The people of the United States, overwhelmed, like ourselves, by an event so unexpected and so melancholy, will derive consolation from knowing that his death was calm and resigned, as his life had been patriotic, useful, and distinguished; and that the last utterance of his lips expressed a firm desire for the perpetuity of the constitution,[79] and the preservation of its true principles. In death, as in life, the happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts."
Upon the demise of General Harrison, Mr. Tyler, the vice-president, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, as they were construed by himself, and were acquiesced in by the nation, became president of the United States.
XV. JOHN TYLER, PRESIDENT.
ASSUMED THE GOVERNMENT APRIL 4, 1841
[The cabinet of General Harrison continued in office under Mr. Tyler till September, when they all resigned, excepting Mr. Webster, who remained till the 8th of May, 1843, when the department of state was temporarily filled by the attorney general, Hugh S. Legare.]
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| Abel P. Upshur, | Virginia, | January 2, | 1844, | Secretaries of State. |
| John C. Calhoun, | South Carolina, | March 6, | 1844, | |
| Walter Forward, | Pennsylvania, | September 13, | 1841, | Secretaries of Treasury. |
| John C. Spencer, | New York, | March 3, | 1843, | |
| George M. Bibb, | Kentucky, | June 15, | 1844, | |
| John C. Spencer, | New York, | December 20, | 1841, | Secretaries of War. |
| James M. Porter, | Pennsylvania, | March 8, | 1843, | |
| William Wilkins, | Pennsylvania, | February 15, | 1844, | |
| Abel P. Upshur, | Virginia, | September 13, | 1841, | Secretaries of the Navy. |
| David Henshaw, | Massachusetts, | July 24, | 1843, | |
| Thomas W. Gilmer, | Virginia, | February 15, | 1844, | |
| John Y. Mason, | Virginia, | March 14, | 1844, | |
| Charles A. Wickliffe, | Kentucky, | September 13, | 1841, | Postmaster General. |
| Hugh S. Legare, | South Carolina, | September 13, | 1841, | Attorneys General. |
| John Nelson, | Maryland, | January 2, | 1844, | |
| John Y. Mason, | Virginia, | March 5, | 1845, |
The bereavement which the nation had experienced, seemed to demand from it a solemn recognition of the Divine Providence in the sad event. Accordingly, Mr. Tyler very properly appointed a day of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer, to be observed throughout the land, in token of its sense of the Divine judgment, and, as a means of securing the continuance of the Divine favor. This was well received, and the day was religiously observed throughout our widely-extended country.
In the room of an inaugural address, President Tyler made an official declaration, in a published document, of the principles and general course of policy which he intended should mark his administration. These, as summarily expressed, were generally satisfactory to his political friends.
The principal measures and events of President Tyler's administration will be noticed in the following order:
| Extra Session of Congress, | Annexation of Texas, |
| Relations with Great Britain, | Character of Mr. Tyler's |
| Settlement of the N. E. Boundary, | Administrat'n, |
| Difficulties in Rhode Island, | Celebration of Bunker's hill |
| Modification of the Tariff, | Monument, |
| Treaties, | Presidential Canvass. |
Extra Session of Congress.—A few days before his death, General Harrison had issued his proclamation for an extra session of congress, to be held on the 31st of May, 1841, principally on account of the condition of the revenue and finances of the country. These were suffering, in consequence of the character of the events that had taken place. The revenue was insufficient to support the government, and the currency of the country was greatly disordered. Congress assembled, in conformity to the proclamation, and engaged in the grave and urgent business to which their attention had been called.
Several important acts were passed at this session, among which were—the establishment of a uniform system of bankruptcy, a measure which seemed imperiously required for the relief of more than half a million of debtors,[Pg 717] who otherwise had no prospect of paying their debts—a bill providing for the distribution of the net proceeds of the public lands among the states, according to their respective population on the federal representative scale—also, the repeal of the sub-treasury law, which had been adopted towards the close of Mr. Van Buren's administration—and an act imposing duties of twenty per cent. on the value of all articles of import not expressly excepted therein.
Congress, at this time, passed a bill having in view the establishment of a national bank, which, however, Mr. Tyler saw fit to veto, notwithstanding, in his first message, he had recommended a bank of some kind. The bill, which the president set aside, chiefly, as he alleged, from his doubts as to its accordance with the constitution, contained, in the view of its framers, a compromise sufficient to overcome his constitutional objections to a bank. But having, in his veto-message, shadowed forth a fiscal agent, such as was believed he might approve, a bill, in agreement therewith, was framed and adopted; yet this also he vetoed; and there not being a constitutional majority in its favor, it was lost. This was a result, in both cases, sufficiently mortifying to the political party which had raised him to power. To the friends of a national bank, the disappointment was extreme. Great excitement prevailed, and all of Mr. Tyler's cabinet, except Mr. Webster, resigned.
Relations with Great Britain.—A communication was made to the American government, on the part of that of Great Britain, as announced by the president in his message of the 6th of December, 1841, respecting the destruction of the steamboat Caroline. That affair, it was alleged, was undertaken by orders from the authorities of the British government. Under this sanction, the release of Alexander McLeod, a British subject, who had been indicted for the murder of an American citizen, on that occasion, was demanded by the English authorities. It[Pg 718] happened, however, favorably for the peace of the two countries, that McLeod had previously been tried in the state of New York, and acquitted. The excitement and anxiety, among all parties, had been intense during the trial, and the result was awaited, with no little foreboding, on the part of the peaceably disposed. It was now only left that the affair of the Caroline should, in some way, be adjusted by negotiation.
Settlement of the North-eastern Boundary.—The important event of defining and agreeing upon the North-eastern boundary of the United States, took place in 1842. The treaty made with England on this subject, was ratified by the senate on the 20th of August, of that year. The proper boundary, between the United States and the British possessions in that quarter, had long been a matter of serious controversy and difficulty. The claims of either country conflicted with those of the other—bitter feelings were engendered among the inhabitants dwelling on the borders, and disturbances not unfrequently took place between them, so that the peaceful relations of the two powers were, to some extent, constantly endangered. It was fortunate for the country, that Mr. Webster was still a member of the cabinet, and brought the weight of his character and official station to bear upon this question. It was also fortunate for England that she sent so conciliating and able a negotiator as Lord Ashburton, to treat on the subject. In the spirit of kindness and compromise, the matter was discussed, and, at length, settled between them—the president, at the same time cöoperating in endeavors to the same effect.
That the states of Maine and Massachusetts, who were interested in the division to be made between the countries, might be satisfied, their respective legislatures appointed several gentlemen as commissioners on the occasion. The treaty was duly ratified on the part of both powers, in the latter part of 1842, with the public proclamation of the same by[Pg 719] the president; and thus ended a harassing controversy of fifty years' standing.
Difficulties in Rhode Island.—From a state of things which existed in Rhode Island at this time (1842), the most serious consequences were feared, in respect to that commonwealth, if not to the Union at large. In attempts to set aside the ancient charter of the state, the mode of adopting a new constitution became a matter of controversy among the people. A portion of them proceeded, in a manner unauthorized by the laws of the state, in erecting the fabric of the government. This portion of the citizens, called the "suffrage party," actually formed and adopted a constitution of their own, made choice of Thomas W. Dorr as governor, and elected a legislature. This was aside from the government which was already existing in the state. That being administered regularly at the same time, and another portion of the citizens, called the "law and order party," upholding it; a conflict, as to authority, necessarily ensued between the two parties. The law and order party had chosen their governor, Samuel W. King, at the appointed period, and both parties met to transact the business usually attended to at the meeting of legislative bodies.
"The legally organized party then took active measures to put down what was denominated the rebellion. Great commotion ensued, and several arrests were made. Dorr left the state, but soon returning, his followers assembled under arms, and a bloody struggle appeared inevitable. The insurgents, however, dispersed on the appearance of the government forces, and Dorr, to avoid arrest, fled from the state.
"In June, however, the insurgents again made their appearance under arms, and were joined by Dorr. The whole state was now placed under martial law, and a large body of armed men was sent against the insurgents, who dispersed without any effectual resistance. Dorr again[Pg 720] fled; but returning, after a few months, was arrested, tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced to be imprisoned during life. In the mean time, a constitution for the state had been adopted, according to the prescribed forms of law. In June, 1845, Dorr was released, although he had refused to accept a pardon on condition of taking the oath of allegiance to the state government."
Modification of the Tariff.—A well-regulated tariff was believed, by many, to be the only measure by which the financial disorders and stagnation in business, so characteristic of the times, could be remedied. Accordingly, before the adjournment of the second session of the twenty-seventh congress (August 31st, 1842), a bill modifying, in some important particulars, the existing tariff, passed both houses of congress, and received the signature of the president. The first bill introduced and passed, was vetoed by Mr. Tyler; and, for a time, the friends of the measure indulged in painful apprehensions as to the final issue. An unwonted hostility had been manifested, on the part of a powerful party, to any modification of the law on this subject, and every step of its progress had been most earnestly and bitterly contested. But the imperious necessity of the measure, the wants of the national treasury, and the suffering condition of the various branches of industry, induced congress to yield to the prejudices of the executive. Accordingly, such alterations were made in the bill vetoed as comported with the president's views, and it was returned with his signature.
Celebration of the Bunker's hill Monument.—"In June, 1843, was celebrated, with great pomp and appropriate ceremonies, the completion of the Bunker's hill monument. This great public work had met with numerous delays; but, having at length received its topmost stone, the 17th of June, the anniversary of the battle, was assigned to celebrate the event. The president and several members of[Pg 721] his cabinet honored the celebration. A multitude, of all classes, and from various parts of the country, were present. An oration was pronounced by Mr. Webster on the occasion. The pageant was grand and imposing, and calculated to exalt, in the hearts of assembled thousands, the virtues and patriotism of the men who had, in by-gone years, moistened the soil on which the monument stands with their richest blood. A sad event, however, followed fast upon the festivities of the day—this was the sudden decease of Mr. Legare, the recently-appointed secretary of state. He had followed the president to witness the celebration; but sudden sickness fell upon him, and he died at his lodgings, in Boston, on the morning after the celebration."
Treaties.—The treaty with Great Britain, fixing a boundary line between the United States and Canada, has already been elsewhere mentioned. But in addition to that subject, the treaty at that time formed also stipulated, that each nation should maintain on the coast of Africa a naval force, of vessels sufficient to carry, in all, not less than eighty guns; to be independent of each other, but to act in concert for the suppression of the slave trade. By another article of the treaty, it was stipulated that fugitives from justice, found in either country, should be delivered up by the two governments respectively, upon complaint, and upon what should be deemed sufficient evidence to sustain the charge.
A treaty between the United States and the Chinese Empire, was ratified by a unanimous vote of the senate, during the second session of the twenty-eighth congress. The treaty was concluded by Caleb Cushing and Tsying, on the 3d of July, 1844. It placed our relations with China on a new footing, and under auspices highly favorable to the commerce and other interests of this country.
Some months previous to this time, a treaty had been negotiated with Texas, respecting the annexation of that republic, as a territory, to the United States. The annunciation[Pg 722] of such a treaty, was made to congress in April, 1844, by a special message from the president, and excited much surprise throughout the country, and awakened great anxiety in the minds of those who were opposed to the measure. They viewed it as involving an extension of slavery, and a probable war with Mexico, as she still laid claim to Texas as a portion of her rightful domain. The senate, however, rejected the treaty, and thus frustrated Mr. Tyler's designs at that period.
Joint Resolution for the Annexation of Texas.—The rejection of the treaty with Texas, before mentioned, seemed not to discourage the president from attempting the annexation of that country to the United States, in violation, as many believed, of the constitution. According to his wishes, and it is supposed at his suggestion, a joint resolution[80] for annexation was introduced into congress, and passed the house of representatives, January 23d, 1845, by a vote of one hundred and eighteen to one hundred and one. In the senate, the resolution underwent several important amendments, particularly one by Mr. Walker, involving the alternative of negotiation at the option of the president, which, having been concurred in by the house, received the sanction of the executive, and thus the way was prepared for the annexation of the country in question.
"As these measures, in regard to the admission of Texas, were adopted at the close of the session of congress, it was expected that Mr. Tyler would leave it to his successor to consummate the wishes of congress, and it was also understood that Mr. Polk had determined to negotiate a treaty[Pg 723] with Texas, under the alternative offered by Mr. Walker's amendment. President Tyler, however, determined to forestall the action of his successor, and hence dispatched an express to communicate to Texas, that he had decided to invite Texas into the Union, under the provisions of the resolutions as they passed the house of representatives, without the exercise of farther treaty-making power."
Character of Mr. Tyler's Administration.—"Of the character of Mr. Tyler's administration, and his personal relations thereto, it is yet too early to speak. His independent course in vetoing the bank bills and other measures, greatly exasperated the party who had elevated him to office, and he was denounced as a traitor; while his equally independent course in opposing General Jackson in his measures against the United States' bank, and also his alliance with the whigs during Mr. Van Buren's administration, denied him the confidence of the democrats. He himself said, 'I appeal from the vituperation of the present day to the pen of impartial history, in the full confidence that neither my motives nor my acts will bear the interpretation which has, for sinister purposes, been placed upon them.' As an executive of the people's will, he exhibited all the necessary vigor of a chief magistrate. 'Nor is it to be denied,' says one of his political opponents, 'that the foreign relations of the United States were ably managed during his presidential term, and that he generally surrounded himself with able counsellors in his cabinet.'"
Presidential Canvass.—Mr. Tyler's presidential term expired on the 4th of March, 1845, and he was not rëelected, nor indeed was he a candidate for rëelection, except for a short period. The candidates of the two great political parties were now Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee. These had been nominated by the respective conventions of the parties, which had assembled in the city of Baltimore, one on the 1st, and the other on[Pg 724] the 17th of May, 1844. The strife and the efforts of the adherents of the respective candidates were eager and persevering. The issue, for some time, appeared to be doubtful; but the close of the canvass showed that the democratic nominee had been elected.
The following table exhibits the result of the official count in the presence of both houses of congress, February 12th:
| Key: A. | James K. Polk, of Tennessee. |
| B. | Henry Clay, of Kentucky. |
| C. | Geo. M. Dallas, of Pennsylv'a. |
| D. | T. Frelinghuysen, of N. Jersey. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | ||
| 9 | Maine, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 6 | New Hampshire, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Massachusetts, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 6 | Connecticut, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 6 | Vermont, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 36 | New York, | 36 | 36 | ||
| 7 | New Jersey, | 7 | 7 | ||
| 26 | Pennsylvania, | 26 | 26 | ||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 8 | Maryland, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 17 | Virginia, | 17 | 17 | ||
| 11 | North Carolina, | 11 | 11 | ||
| 9 | South Carolina, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 10 | Georgia, | 10 | 10 | ||
| 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 13 | Tennessee, | 13 | 13 | ||
| 23 | Ohio, | 23 | 23 | ||
| 6 | Lousiana, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 6 | Mississippi, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Indiana, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 9 | Illinois, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 9 | Alabama, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 7 | Missouri, | 7 | 7 | ||
| 3 | Arkansas, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 5 | Michigan, | 5 | 5 | ||
| 275 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 138 | 170 | 105 | 170 | 105 |
XVI. JAMES K. POLK, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 4, 1845.
GEORGE M. DALLAS, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| James Buchanan, | Pennsylvania, | March 5, | 1845, | Secretary of State. |
| Robert J. Walker, | Mississippi, | March 5, | 1845, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| William L. Marcy, | New York, | March 5, | 1845, | Secretary of War. |
| George Bancroft, | Massachusetts, | March 10, | 1845, | Secretaries of the Navy. |
| John Y. Mason, | Virginia, | September 9, | 1856, | |
| Cave Johnson, | Tennessee, | March 5, | 1845, | Postmaster General. |
| John Y. Mason, | Virginia, | March 5, | 1845, | Attorneys General. |
| Nathan Clifford, | Maine, | December 23, | 1846, | |
| Isaac Toucey, | Connecticut, | June 21, | 1848, |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| John W. Davis, | Indiana, | Twenty-ninth Congress, | 1845. |
| Robert C. Winthrop, | Massachusetts, | Thirtieth do. | 1847. |
The election of Mr. Polk to the presidency was not very strongly anticipated by the democratic party; for besides the great popularity of his rival, Mr. Clay, he had received the nomination of the Baltimore Convention, held in May[Pg 726] of the previous year, not as the first choice of that body, but because of its inability to harmonize on another candidate. Before the meeting of the convention, Mr. Van Buren was expected to be the prominent candidate; but his avowed opposition to the annexation of Texas, added to other sources of dissatisfaction, induced the convention to abandon him, and to select a candidate in the person of James K. Polk, whose political views were supposed to be more in accordance with those of the democratic party, especially at the South. During the first seven ballotings of the convention, Mr. Polk did not receive a single vote; on the eighth balloting, but forty-four; while on the ninth, he received every vote of the convention, amounting to two hundred and sixty-six in number. On the occurrence of the election, despite the efforts which were made in favor of the whig candidate, he was elected by a strong majority.
On the occasion of his induction into office, Mr. Polk, following usage, delivered an address, explanatory of the principles which would guide him in the administration of the government. These were so nearly identical with those expressed by his predecessors, that we deem it unnecessary to detail them. It may be stated, however, that he expressed himself opposed to a national bank—to a tariff for protection only; but was strongly in favor of the annexation of Texas, and was satisfied of our "clear and unquestionable title to Oregon." In official action, he pledged himself to administer the government for the whole people, irrespective of the party by which he was elected.
The events and measures which signalized the administration of Mr. Polk were—
| Decease of General Jackson, | Battle of Buena Vista, |
| Admission of Texas, | Capture of Vera Cruz, |
| Division of Oregon, | Cerro Gordo, |
| Mexican War, | Progress of the Army, |
| Siege of Fort Brown, | Occupation of Mexico, |
| Battle of Palo Alto, | Treaty, |
| Battle of Resaca de la Palma, | California and its Gold, |
| Fall of Monterey, | Election of General Taylor. |
Decease of General Jackson.—A short time previous to the termination of his presidential career, General Jackson was attacked with a severe hemorrhage of the lungs. He recovered, however, sufficiently to be present at the inauguration of his successor. On his arrival at the Hermitage, he was weak and infirm; but relaxation from arduous duties, added to the attention of friends, at length restored him to comparative health. His lungs, however, were from this time feeble, if not positively diseased.
But, for several months prior to his decease, his health became visibly worse. He was constantly cheered, however, by the visits of his old and attached personal friends; and the consolations of religion were a never-failing solace to his heart.
"General Jackson continued to grow more feeble until the 8th day of June, 1845. Early in the morning of that day he swooned, and, for some time, was supposed to be dead. On reviving from the swoon, he became conscious that the spark of life was nearly extinguished, and, expecting to die before another sun would set, he sent for his family and connections to come and receive his dying benediction. His remarks, it is said, were full of affection and Christian resignation. His mind retained its vigor to the last, and his dying moments, even more than his earlier years, exhibited its highest intellectual light. His death took place on the evening of the 8th of June, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. By his request, Dr. Edgar, of the Presbyterian church, preached his funeral sermon."[81]
General Jackson was, doubtless, no ordinary man. For many years, he occupied a prominent place in the affairs of his country. Whatever may have been thought of the wisdom or constitutionality of some of his measures, all united in awarding to him the merit of honesty, and a true desire to promote the welfare of the nation. That he was ardent, sometimes rash, and withal precipitate in his measures,[Pg 728] and then determined, may be admitted, without any meditated wrong to his reputation. But when death laid him in the grave, political differences were forgotten, and political opponents united in paying a high and well-merited tribute to his memory.
Admission of Texas.—We have already had occasion to refer (p. 721) to the joint-resolution of congress, of the 23d of January, 1845, for the annexation of Texas to the United States. The conditions prescribed by that resolution were subsequently accepted by Texas, and, in his first annual message to congress, Mr. Polk informed that body that nothing remained to consummate that annexation but the passage of an act by congress, admitting her into the Union upon an equal footing with the original states.
To such a strange and summary process of admitting states, there were loud and strong remonstrances. The unconstitutionality of the measure was urged; but more, the probable increased disturbance of our relations with Mexico, which still claimed the jurisdiction, whether justly or not, over a considerable part of the territory. Besides, it was contended that the direct effect would be to extend the oppressions and curses of slavery.
Neither argument nor remonstrance, however, served to induce the president or his supporters to pause. They pretended to foresee great and signal blessings as the necessary result of thus extending the free institutions of the United States. And, accordingly, it was, upon the recommendation of the president, resolved by congress to admit Texas upon an equal footing with the original states. And the grant was made to her, which had not before been made since the adoption of the federal constitution, to allow her two representatives, while her population was insufficient to entitle her to one, except under the specific provision of the constitution, that each state shall have, at least, one representative.
In consequence of these measures, in relation to Texas,[Pg 729] by the American government, and at an early stage of them, the Mexican minister demanded his passports; and, at a subsequent date, the American minister, Mr. Slidell, was refused a reception and recognition, as such, by the Mexican government. Thus, as had been predicted by the opposers of annexation, a serious misunderstanding, which already existed between the United States and Mexico, in relation to the conduct of the latter touching other matters, was rendered still more serious, and was rapidly tending, it was plainly perceptible, to open hostilities between the two powers.
While such was the position of our relations with Mexico—the horizon becoming daily more obscure, and clouds, portentous of evil, were rising higher and higher—a single act of the president precipitated the war which many had predicted, but which all saw reason to deplore. This was an order issued to General Taylor to break up his encampment at Corpus Christi, and, passing the Neuces, to concentrate his forces on the left bank of the Rio del Norte.
Division of Oregon.—Prior to the introduction of Mr. Polk into office, several attempts had been made by the governments of the United States and Great Britain to settle, by negotiations, questions in dispute between them, as to the proprietorship and occupation of Oregon—all of which had failed. These negotiations were conducted at London, in the years 1818, 1824, and 1826; the first two, under the administration of Mr. Monroe; the last, under that of Mr. Adams. The negotiations of 1818 having failed to accomplish its object, it was agreed, October 20th of that year, that, to the citizens of each nation, the harbors, bays, &c., should be open for ten years. The negotiations of 1824, left this agreement untouched, as did those of 1826; but, August 6th, 1827, it was further agreed, that it should be competent for either party, after October 20th, 1828, to annul this convention, by giving to the other twelve months' notice.
Subsequently, negotiations were resumed. In 1844, the British plenipotentiaries offered to divide the Oregon territory by the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, leaving the navigation of Columbia river free to both nations. This proposition was immediately rejected by the American minister; whereupon, he was invited by the British minister to make a proposition in return.
At this stage of the negotiation, Mr. Polk took the presidential chair; and, anxious to settle the question, he made the same offer which had been made by the British minister, excepting the free navigation of the Columbia river. This proposition being unacceptable, further negotiations terminated.
On the meeting of congress, in December, 1845, the president recommended that the notice required by the convention of August, 1827, should be given to Great Britain, which, at the expiration of a year, would bring the question to an issue. The subject, thus brought to the notice of congress, excited the highest possible interest. The friends of the executive, and perhaps others, were strongly in favor of giving the required notice, while serious apprehensions were entertained by many, that the practical effect of such a measure would be a war between the two nations. At length, the question was settled by the adoption of a resolution in accordance with the executive recommendation. In the house, the vote on the resolution was one hundred and forty-two to forty-six; in the senate, forty-two to ten.
The official notice, thus directed, was given by the president to her majesty Queen Victoria, on the 28th of April, 1846. Before the delivery of this notice, however, the British minister at Washington had received instructions to submit to the American government a new and further proposition for a partition of the territory in dispute.
In a special and confidential communication to the senate on the 10th of June, the president informed congress that such a proposition had been made, and requested their[Pg 731] advice. At the same time, he reiterated the views expressed in his annual message, that no compromise, which the United States ought to accept, could be effected; that our title to the whole of Oregon was maintained by irrefragable arguments, and that the claim could not be abandoned, without a sacrifice of both national honor and interests. Such was the tenor of the president's communication. But he solicited advice. In a resolution, adopted thirty-eight to twelve, the senate advised the president to accept the proposal of the British government, which he accordingly did; and, on the 16th of June, a convention or treaty, settling boundaries, &c., in relation to Oregon, was communicated by the president to the senate, by the latter of which it was ratified, forty-one to fourteen.
The amicable settlement of such a question, which had long subsisted between the two governments—which had employed, time after time, and for a series of years, some of the most distinguished statesmen on both sides the water—which had given birth to warm and excited feelings, and to warm and contentious words—which had become more embarrassing the longer negotiations were continued, and which, it was agreed on both sides, was fast ripening into open rupture and collision—the amicable settlement of such a question, was a subject worthy of congratulation in both hemispheres. If the terms of the treaty were not so favorable to the American nation as might have been obtained, they were such as the friends of peace and good understanding were willing to accept; and, as it was admitted that the treaty was consummated through the wisdom and firmness of the senate, that body received, as it was entitled to receive, the thanks of the nation.
Mexican War.—In compliance with the order of the president, already noticed (p. 729), General Taylor arrived, with the "army of occupation," on the 28th of March, before Matamoras. On the same day, the Mexican general, Ampudia, warned General Taylor to withdraw his forces[Pg 732] beyond the Nueces, which notification was repeated by General Arista, on the 24th of April, who, at that date, superseded Ampudia. On the same day, a rumor prevailed that the enemy were crossing the river, above and below the American camp. To ascertain the truth of this rumor, Captain Ker, with a squadron of dragoons, was directed to reconnoitre between the camp and the mouth of the river; while another squadron, consisting of sixty-three dragoons, under Captain Thornton, was sent above for the same object. The former returned without having seen or heard of a hostile corps. But the party under Captain Thornton was suddenly surrounded by a large body of Mexican infantry and cavalry, made prisoners, and taken to Matamoras. Captain Thornton himself effected an escape by an extraordinary leap of his horse, which, however, subsequently fell with and injured him. In endeavoring to return to the camp, he was taken a few miles from it, and joined his men, as a prisoner, at Matamoras. This was the first actual fight of the war, and[Pg 733] was the occasion of great exultation on the part of the Mexicans.
Siege of Fort Brown.—While these events were transpiring, intelligence was received by General Taylor that Point Isabel, the harbor on the Texas coast nearest the mouth of the Rio Grande, and where all his military stores were deposited, was about being assailed, and that all communication with that important post might soon be interrupted. This intelligence decided General Taylor at once to take up his line of march for the Point, and to open a communication between that and Fort Brown. Arrangements were accordingly made. Fort Brown was so nearly completed, that under a competent garrison it might prudently be left. Major Jacob Brown, after whom the fort was named, was put in command of it, and the seventh regiment of infantry and two companies of artillery were assigned as the garrison.
These arrangements having been completed, General Taylor, with the main body of the army, commenced his march towards Point Isabel. It was a hazardous, but necessary movement. Of the number, position, and plans of the enemy he was profoundly ignorant. The Mexican General, Arista, mistook this movement of General Taylor towards Point Isabel for a precipitate retreat, and immediately dispatched a courier extraordinary to Mexico, announcing the fact. In the opinion of some, he was better informed, but "wished, for ulterior purposes, to create such an impression among the Mexican soldiers and the Mexican government." But whatever might have been his ignorance, he soon had an opportunity to inform himself of the real object of the movement, and therefore set about endeavoring to destroy Fort Brown.
For two days following the departure of the army, Fort Brown remained unmolested; but, on the third morning, the Mexicans opened upon it with a battery of seven guns, killing Sergeant Weigard, but otherwise effecting no material[Pg 734] injury. On leaving the fort, General Taylor had instructed Major Brown, in case the Mexicans surrounded it, to give him information by firing the eighteen-pounders at stated intervals. The contingency having occurred, the critical condition of the fort was thus communicated to General Taylor, who made instant preparations to return to its relief. Meanwhile, the bombardment was renewed; during which, Major Brown was mortally wounded, and was succeeded in command by Captain Hawkins.
On the 7th and 8th, the bombardment was continued; but about two o'clock it ceased, when was heard, in the direction of Point Isabel, a heavy cannonading. It was the presage of relief, as Captain Hawkins inferred from it that, in whatever contest General Taylor was engaged, he was urging his return. And so it proved. Towards the close of the day, intelligence was received that the Americans had "met the enemy," and had driven them back towards Matamoras.
Battle of Palo Alto.—General Taylor had heard the signal-guns at Fort Brown; and, on the evening of the 7th, left Point Isabel with a force of about two thousand one hundred men, with a large train of provisions and military stores. At the distance of seven miles, he encamped, resuming his march early on the morning of the 8th. In their progress, they at length reached a broad prairie, bounded by Palo Alto, a thick grove of dwarfish trees. On either side of the American army were ponds of water, and beyond them, chapparal. Upon this prairie, a large body of Mexicans were drawn up in battle array. No time was lost in the requisite preparations, on the part of the Americans, and soon a cannonading was commenced on either side, which for two hours rent the air with its thunders. In the firing of the Mexicans there was little precision, their missiles almost invariably passing over the American lines, while the discharges from the American guns marked their courses with carnage and death.
At the expiration of two hours, the Mexican batteries began to slacken, and, at length, ceased altogether. They were unable longer to withstand the terrible and destructive fire of Ringgold's, Churchill's, Duncan's, and Ridgeley's guns, and began to fall back, for the purpose of forming a new line of battle under cover of the smoke. The Americans also formed a new line. At the expiration of an hour, the action was renewed by our artillery, which was even more destructive than before. As night was now drawing on, the Mexicans, bent on one last and most vigorous effort, poured in upon Ringgold's battery a literal tempest of balls. Captain Page fell, mortally wounded, a cannon-ball having carried away the whole of his lower-jaw; and the brave Ringgold, nearly at the same time, had both legs shot away by a cannon-ball, which passed through his horse. On the 11th, he died at Point Isabel.
With great spirit and determination did Arista and his army maintain the contest; but it was in vain. They were at length driven from the field in hopeless disorder. Night put an end to the contest; and the wearied and exhausted victors sank upon the field, where they chanced to be, glad to find opportunity to rest from toil so severe. The force of General Taylor did not exceed two thousand three hundred; that of Arista consisted of six thousand infantry, with seven pieces of artillery, and eight hundred cavalry. The loss of the Americans was but four men killed—three officers—and thirty-seven wounded. Two hundred Mexicans were killed; four hundred wounded. Some estimate their loss in killed, wounded, and missing, little short of one thousand.
Resaca de la Palma.—At two o'clock, on the following day, the American army moved from the field of victory, at Palo Alto, towards Fort Brown. Towards evening, what was their surprise when, on approaching a ravine, called Resaca de la Palma, or the Dry River of Palma, they discovered the Mexican army occupying this exceedingly[Pg 736] well-selected spot, and drawn up in battle array. A vigorous action immediately ensued. The Mexican artillery became engaged with Ridgeley's battery, as the latter moved up the ravine. Generals La Vega and Requena superintended the former, and the effect of the firing soon began to be severely felt along the American lines. To dislodge them, became indispensable to the safety of the Americans. The execution of this duty was assigned to Captain May, whose celebrated charge now took place. "I will do it," said May; and, turning to his troops, he rose in his stirrups, pointed to the guns before them, now pouring forth their terrific explosions, and exclaimed, "Remember your regiment! men, follow!" He struck his charger, and bounded on before them, while a deafening cheer answered his call; and immediately the whole were dashing towards the cannons' mouths. May outstripped them—fortunately, wonderfully did he escape, and wonderful was it that so many of his squadron escaped, exposed, as they were, to a fire which swept fearfully along the very line[Pg 737] they were pursuing. Some, indeed, there met an untimely fate—seven men, among whom were the brave and noble-hearted Inge and Sacket. Terrific as was the scene, May and his followers pressed on. As they approached the battery, at a single bound, May's horse cleared it. The horses of a few others were equal to the leap, and their impetus carried them beyond the guns. Wheeling again, they drove the gunners off, and Captain Graham, and Lieutenants Pleasantson and Winship, with others, coming up, were masters of the battery. General La Vega was made prisoner. The American infantry now charged the Mexican line; for a time, the latter fought desperately, and sustained themselves with stubborn bravery; but, at length, yielding to necessity, they precipitately fled from the field. In this battle, only the outlines of which we give, the Americans captured eight pieces of artillery, several standards, large military stores, and several hundred prisoners. The loss of the Americans, in both these actions, was three officers and forty men killed. Besides the officers already named, was Lieutenant Cochrane. Thirteen officers and one hundred men were wounded. The Mexican loss was one hundred and fifty-four officers and men killed; two hundred and five wounded; missing, one hundred and fifty-six. General Taylor, following the battle, continued his march to Fort Brown; and, on the 18th, took possession of Matamoras, the Mexican settlement opposite.
Fall of Monterey.—Following the occupation of Matamoras, preparations were made, by order of the government, for an advance into the interior of Mexico. During these preparations, which occupied the space of three months, several Mexican villages, Reinosa, Wier, Revilla, and Camargo, were taken possession of. This last place, situated about one hundred and eighty miles above the mouth of the Rio Grande, was selected as a dépôt of supplies; and to this point, the several divisions of General Taylor's army were at length concentrated. The first of[Pg 738] these divisions, two thousand and eighty, was commanded by General Twiggs; the second, one thousand seven hundred and eighty, by General Worth; the third, two thousand eight hundred and ten, by General Butler.
On the 19th of September, these several divisions reached a place called Walnut Springs, distant from Monterey three miles. The capture of this city was now the immediate object in view. It was a strongly-fortified place, with a competent garrison under command of General Ampudia. On the evening of the 19th, a reconnoisance of the fortifications was made; and, on the following day, the attack was commenced by the division of General Worth. On the 21st, the attack was renewed, and two fortified heights were taken; the guns of one of which was turned upon the bishop's palace, which had been rendered exceedingly strong. On the 22d, other heights, above the bishop's palace, were carried, and, soon after, the palace itself. As these fortifications, in a measure, commanded the city, the enemy, on the night of the 22d, evacuated all his defences in the lower part. On the morning of the 23d, the streets of the upper part of the city became the scene of action. Here the battle raged. All that day the firing was kept up; the American troops proceeded from house to house—from square to square—the Mexicans resisting them at every step. The carnage was frightful.
Early on the 24th, Ampudia prepared to evacuate the town; a suspension of hostilities was, therefore, arranged till twelve o'clock; during which, at the request of Ampudia, General Taylor had an interview with him, which resulted in a capitulation; placing the town and materials of war, with certain exceptions, in the possession of the American general.
The city was found to be of great strength. There were mounted forty-two pieces of cannon. The Mexican force consisted of seven thousand troops of the line and two or three thousand irregulars. The American force was four hundred and twenty-five officers, and six thousand[Pg 739] two hundred and twenty men. The artillery was one ten-inch mortar, two twenty-four pound howitzers, and four light field batteries, of four guns each.
The American loss was twelve officers and one hundred and eight men killed; thirty-one officers and three hundred and thirty-seven men wounded. The loss of the Mexicans was still more considerable. An armistice was allowed by General Taylor, of eight weeks, subject to be revoked by either government. On receiving intelligence of the armistice and its conditions, the American government, it is said, directed its termination. The Mexican army was permitted to retire, and marched out with the honors of war.
Victory at Buena Vista.—For some months following the occupation of Monterey, General Taylor was variously employed; during which time, with what he had already achieved, the conquest of the provinces of New Mexico, New Leon, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, in the Mexican republic, had been effected.
As an advance still farther into the interior of Mexico was ordered by the government, General Worth, with his division, had some time previously been sent forward to take the pass at Saltillo, fifty miles west of Monterey. To this point, leaving a force of one thousand five hundred men to garrison Monterey, General Taylor directed his course on the 31st of January, and, on the 2d of February, reached Saltillo. His effective force at this time was about five thousand. On the 4th of February, he advanced upon Agua Nueva, a strong position on the road leading from Saltillo to San Luis; at which place intelligence was received, on the 21st, that Santa Anna, the Mexican general-in-chief, with an army exceeding twenty thousand men, was on the advance. Finding his present position, at Agua Nueva, less favorable for a conflict with a force so overwhelming, he fell back upon Buena Vista, a strong mountain-pass, eleven miles nearer Saltillo. Of the five thousand troops, of which his army was composed, less[Pg 740] than five hundred were regulars; while, on the other hand, the army of Santa Anna consisted of the flower of the Mexican nation. The odds were fearful, being more than four to one.
At length, on the 22d of February, the Mexican army bore down upon General Taylor, whose troops, now formed in order of battle, calmly awaited the approach of the Mexican host. Halting his army at some little distance, Santa Anna sent a summons to General Taylor to surrender; to which the hero of Palo Alto very politely, but laconically replied, "I beg leave to say, that I decline acceding to your request."
Still, the enemy forbore, for a time, an attack, evidently waiting the arrival of his rear columns. But on the morning of the 23d, the conflict between the armies began. A full description of the battle would occupy pages. Few engagements were ever entered upon when the forces were so unequal in numbers. That victory should declare for Taylor and his five thousand troops, is the wonder and admiration of all military men. But while all due praise is accorded to the infantry and the few cavalry engaged, the most effectual work was accomplished by the artillery. The American artillery cannot probably be excelled. At one moment—a most critical and anxious moment it was—when it seemed nearly impossible but that the Mexican army should overpower—if by no other means, by the force of numbers—Captain Bragg was ordered to take a particular position with his battery, the Mexican line being but a few yards from the muzzle of his pieces. The first discharge of the cannister caused the enemy—probably advancing as they were—to pause and hesitate; while a second and third discharge drove them back in disorder; and, in the words of General Taylor, "saved the day."
That night—it was a night intensely cold—the American soldiers were compelled to bivouac without fires, expecting that the morning would renew the conflict. During the night, the wounded were removed to Saltillo. The following[Pg 741] day, prisoners were exchanged, the dead were collected and buried; and it may be added, that the Mexican wounded, left upon the field by Santa Anna, were sent to Saltillo, and comfortably provided for.
The loss of the Americans during the action was, killed, two hundred and sixty-seven; wounded, four hundred and fifty-six; missing, twenty-three. The Mexican loss in killed and wounded was supposed to amount to two thousand—five hundred of whom were left upon the field of battle. "Our loss," says General Taylor in his official dispatch, "has been especially severe in officers, twenty-eight having been killed upon the field. We have to lament the death of Captain George Lincoln, assistant adjutant-general, serving in the staff of General Wool—a young officer of high bearing and approved gallantry, who fell early in action. No loss falls more heavily upon the army in the field than that of Colonels Hardin and McKee, and Lieutenant-colonel Clay. Possessing in a remarkable degree the confidence of their commands, and the last two having enjoyed the advantage of a military education, I had looked particularly to them for support, in case we met the enemy. I need not say, that their zeal in engaging the enemy, and the cool and steadfast courage with which they maintained their positions during the day, fully realized my hopes, and caused me to feel yet more sensibly their untimely loss."
The annals of American warfare probably do not furnish a more remarkable victory than this of Buena Vista, whether we consider the inequality of the forces engaged—the character of the forces, being nearly all volunteers on the American side, and regular troops on the other—or the decisive nature of the victory itself. Most remarkable were the coolness and gallantry displayed; but it must be remembered that that coolness and gallantry were, in no slight degree, the result of those qualities which so eminently distinguished the commanding general himself.
Capture of Vera Cruz.—Events connected with the[Pg 742] prosecution of the war, will require us in the next place to speak of transactions in another quarter of that agitated and long-distracted country.
Some two hundred miles south-easterly of the capital, on the Gulf of Mexico, is situated the city of Vera Cruz—a place of considerable mercantile importance, and nearly opposite to which is a small island, on which stands the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, a fortress long celebrated for its impregnable strength.
The reduction of this fortress, and the capture of this most important maritime town belonging to Mexico, had for some time engaged the attention of the American government. For a time, the well-known strength of the fortress, and the danger arising from the vomito, of garrisoning that and the city, in case of their reduction, strongly operated against the enterprise. But their importance to the final and more speedy termination of the war, at length decided the president and his advisers to hazard the expedition. It being impracticable to withdraw General Taylor from the theatre of his signal victories, the enterprise was intrusted to the long-tried and accomplished General Scott.
In obedience to his orders, General Scott left Washington on the 24th of November, on this great and doubtful enterprise. On the 1st of January, he reached the Rio Grande. The troops destined for this expedition, among whom was a considerable portion of the army under General Taylor, were directed to rendezvous at Lesbos, an island about one hundred and twenty-five miles north-west of Vera Cruz. From this point, the army was transported to the west of the island of Sacrificios. The landing of the troops having been effected without direct opposition, although the guns and castles, of the city kept up a constant firing with round shot and thirteen-inch shells, the several divisions of the army took their respective positions for the purpose of investment and siege.
Soon after the commencement of the siege, a "norther" prevailed, which rendered it impossible to land heavy ordnance.[Pg 743] On the 17th, a pause occurred in the storm, and ten mortars, four twenty-four-pound guns, and some howitzers were landed. On the night of the 18th, the trenches were opened, and—engineers, with sappers and miners, leading the way—the army gradually closed in nearer the city.
On the 22d of March—seven of the ten-inch mortars being in battery, and other works in progress—General Scott summoned the governor of Vera Cruz to surrender the city. This he refused. On the return of the flag, the mortar-battery, at a distance of eight hundred yards from the city, opened its fire, and continued to fire during the day and night.
On the 24th, the batteries were rëinforced with twenty-four pounders and Paixhan guns. On the 25th, all the batteries were in "awful activity." Terrible was the scene! The darkness of the night was illuminated with blazing shells circling through the air. The roar of artillery, and the heavy fall of descending shot, were heard throughout the streets of the besieged city. The roofs of buildings were on fire. The domes of churches reverberated with fearful explosions. The sea was reddened with the broadsides of ships. The castle of San Juan returned from its heavy batteries the fire, the light, the smoke, the noise of battle. Such was the sublime and awfully-terrible scene, as beheld from the trenches of the army, from the 22d to the 25th of March.
Early on the morning of the 26th, General Landers, on whom the command had been devolved by General Morales, made overtures of surrender. Late on the night of the 27th, the articles of capitulation were signed and exchanged.
On the 29th, the official dispatch of General Scott announced that the flag of the United States floated over the walls of Vera Cruz and the castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. The regular siege of the city had continued from the day of investment, the 12th of March, to the day the articles of capitulation were signed, the 27th; making a period of fifteen days, in which active, continuous, vigorous operations[Pg 744] were carried on. During this time, our army had thrown three thousand ten-inch shells, two hundred howitzer shells, one thousand Paixhan shot, and two thousand five hundred round shot, weighing, in the whole, about half a million pounds! Most effective and most terrible was the disaster and destruction they caused within the walls of the city, whose ruins and whose mourning attested both the energy and the sadness of war.
The surrender of the city almost necessarily led to the surrender of the castle. By the terms of capitulation, five thousand prisoners were surrendered on parole, and nearly five hundred pieces of fine artillery were taken. The number of killed and wounded, on the American side, was comparatively small. The principal officers killed were Captains Alburtis and Vinton. The destruction of life fell heavily upon the Mexicans, and especially upon the citizens of Vera Cruz, many of whose females and children found their death from shells falling and bursting in the city. This, however painful it was, was unavoidable, inasmuch[Pg 745] as many, who had ample time to leave the city before the bombardment commenced, failed to take advantage of that opportunity.
The fall of Vera Cruz and its neighboring fortress was the result of cool and determined bravery, but more, perhaps, of scientific skill and wise calculation. The castle had long been considered impregnable, and, by many, its reduction was deemed little short of presumption.
Cerro Gordo.—The victories of Palo Alto, Monterey, and Buena Vista, under General Taylor, followed, as they were, by the capture of Vera Cruz, and the fall of that Mexican Gibraltar, San Juan d'Ulloa, although terribly disastrous to the Mexicans, had not served to conquer them. Nothing short of the loss of their capital, it was apparent, could subdue them; and the occupation of that now became the one great and controlling object of the commander-in-chief. Preparations were accordingly made to march upon the city of Mexico, by the way of Jalapa, Perote, and Puebla, a distance of about three hundred miles.
On the 12th of April, the American army had reached the neighborhood of Cerro Gordo, a mountain-pass, sixty miles from Vera Cruz. Here Santa Anna had collected about fifteen thousand men, and had made every possible preparation to resist the progress of the Americans. He had fortified several eminences, formidable by nature, but now still more formidable by the batteries, which he had planted.
Perceiving that a front attack of these works would be hazardous in the extreme, General Scott directed a road to be opened around Cerro Gordo, which would enable the army to ascend the mountain, and gain the rear of the Mexican works. This was a masterly movement—the work of indescribable toil; but when accomplished, it was apparent to the Mexicans that their fate was sealed. The consequence was, that one position after another was obliged to yield, until, at length, but one remained—the[Pg 746] fortress of Cerro Gordo, the highest and most formidable. The storming of this was intrusted to Colonel Harney, supported from various points by Twiggs, Shields, and Pillow. It was a desperate enterprise, but at length it was accomplished. Sergeant Henry had the honor of hauling down the national standard of Mexico. Of the gallant conduct of Colonel Harney, General Scott was an immediate witness. When all was effected, approaching the colonel, between whom and himself there had been some coolness, he thus addressed him: "Colonel Harney, I cannot adequately express my admiration of your gallant achievement, but, at the proper time, I shall take great pleasure in thanking you in proper terms."
The result of the victory was, three thousand prisoners; forty-three pieces of brass artillery, manufactured at Seville; five thousand stands of arms; and the five Generals Penson, Jarrero, La Vega, Noriega, and Obando.
Meanwhile, the Mexican commander-in-chief addressed himself to his own personal safety. In company with[Pg 747] Generals Canalizo and Almonte, and some six thousand men, he made his escape. But he was so hotly pursued, that he was obliged to leave his carriage, and mount a mule which was attached to it. Nor was there time to unharness the animal, but he was detached by summarily cutting the harness. The carriage was of course abandoned; and in it, or near it, was found Santa Anna's cork leg, which, in the haste of the moment, had fallen off; and to restore which there was now no time. And still more, his dinner, which had been prepared, was discovered in his carriage uneaten; and which, after the pursuit was ended, served as a grateful repast to the several hungry and weary American officers.
Progress of the Army.—Baffled in his attempt to arrest the march of the American army, Santa Anna had no other course but to retreat, as we have related. The way was now open to the American troops, who advanced upon Perote; which having garrisoned, they proceeded to the ancient city of Puebla, in the Spanish tongue Puebla de los Angelos, the city of angels. Here, for several weeks, the army rested, waiting for rëinforcements, the troops being deemed entirely inadequate for so formidable an undertaking as that of marching on the capital. At length, the anticipated forces having arrived, preparations were made to advance. On the 6th of August, 1847, the army consisted as follows:
| Scott's force at Puebla, | 7,000 |
| Cadwallader's brigade, | 1,400 |
| Pillow's brigade, | 1,800 |
| Pierce's corps brigade, | 2,409 |
| Garrison at Puebla, under Colonel Childs, | 1,400 |
| ——— | |
| Total arrived at Puebla, | 14,009 |
| Deduct from this the garrison at Puebla, including sick, | 3,261 |
| ——— | |
| Total marched from Puebla, | 10,748 |
This army was arranged in four divisions, with a cavalry brigade. This brigade was under the command of Colonel[Pg 748] Harney. General Worth commanded the first division; General Twiggs the second; General Pillow the third; and General Quitman the fourth.
At length, on the 7th of August, the second division, under General Twiggs, commenced its march, followed on the 8th, 9th, and 10th, by the other divisions. No opposing foe impeded their progress. On the 17th, the army was concentrated at San Augustine, about ten miles south of Mexico, on the Acapulco road leading to the city. From this point, the Americans were destined to meet with the most formidable resistance. Every possible preparation had been made by Santa Anna to prevent their access to and occupation of the city. On the 20th, the drama opened, and, on that day, several distinct and severe engagements occurred between the Mexicans and the several divisions of the American army, the principal of which were the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. In these engagements, thirty-two thousand Mexicans were engaged, and were defeated, and even routed. Three thousand[Pg 749] prisoners were made, including eight generals and two hundred and five other officers. Four thousand, of all ranks, were killed and wounded; thirty-seven field-pieces captured, besides large stores of ammunition. An easy access to the city now presented itself, and, but for a single circumstance, the victorious Americans would doubtless have occupied it that same evening, or early on the ensuing morning.
Some time previously, the president of the United States, desirous of ending the war, had deputed a commissioner, Nicholas P. Trist, Esq., to proceed from Washington to Mexico, there, if possible, to effect a treaty with that government. The present was deemed a fit moment, ere the victors entered the city; and, in order to avoid a forcible entry, to propose an adjustment of difficulties. Accordingly, the commander-in-chief decided to pause, and await the action of its councils. On the 21st, an armistice was agreed upon. This was followed by consultations between Mr. Trist and Mexican commissioners, in relation to the terms of peace. These, however, failed; and infractions of the armistice having occurred, the conflict was resumed. On the 8th, the two armies were engaged in a severe action at Molinos del Rey. In this action, Santa Anna commanded in person. It continued two hours, and was attended with great loss on both sides, but resulted in the triumph of the American arms.
There remained yet one formidable obstacle to the entrance of the city. This was the fortress of Chepultepec—a natural and isolated mount of great elevation, strongly fortified at its base and on its acclivities and heights. On the morning of the 12th, the bombardment and cannonade of this fortress was commenced, and was continued on the 13th. The Mexicans resisted with stubborn obstinacy, and, at length, yielded only by dire necessity. The officer who had the honor of striking the Mexican flag from the walls, and planting the American standard, was Major Seymour, of the New England regiment, soon after he had[Pg 750]
[Pg 751] succeeded the gallant Colonel Ransom, who fell while leading his troops up the heights of Chepultepec.
Such was their position on the night of the 13th. On the following day, the victorious army entered the ancient and still proud, but now subjugated city of the Aztecs—a place celebrated for its wealth and magnificence—for its public squares and public palaces—its churches and other beautiful structures—from the very discovery of the country. At the capture of Mexico, the effective force of General Scott did not exceed six thousand.
Treaty.—The occupation of Mexico, by the American army, essentially terminated the war. A few other engagements, between detachments of the armies, occurred at subsequent dates; but the fate of the capital crushed the hopes and paralyzed the efforts of the Mexicans. In this posture of affairs, Mr. Trist renewed his proposal for a treaty between the two republics. At length, this desirable object was effected, and "a treaty of peace, friendship, and settlement," was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo. On its[Pg 752] being submitted to the senate of the United States by the president, a long and exciting debate ensued. But, at length, after important amendments, it was ratified by a constitutional majority. To facilitate its ratification by the Mexican government, and to explain the modifications which it had undergone, the Hon. Mr. Sevier and Hon. Nathan Clifford were dispatched to Mexico. On their arrival at the city of Querataro, on the 25th of May, they found that the house of deputies had already sanctioned the treaty, and, on that day, it was adopted by the Mexican senate by a vote of thirty-three to five.
By this treaty, Upper California and New Mexico were ceded to the United States. The latter paying to the former fifteen millions of dollars, in four annual instalments, and assuming such debts as were due by Mexico to American citizens, not exceeding three millions and a quarter of dollars.
California and its Gold.—The territories of New Mexico and Upper California, were known at the time of their cession to be sufficiently large for a great empire. But, by[Pg 753] many, they were considered of comparatively little value to the United States, excepting the bay of San Francisco, on the Pacific, as a place of harbor for our ships. But, since their acquisition, California has become, from its mineral wealth, especially its gold, an object of great interest and attraction. The whole civilized world has been astonished by the reports which have been put in circulation respecting its golden treasures, and thousands upon thousands have set forth for this western El Dorado.
California is separated into two divisions by a range of mountains, called the Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Mountains, which stretches along the coast at the general distance of one hundred and fifty miles from it. West of this range are the valleys of San Joaquin and the Sacramento, which are watered by rivers of the same name. They rise at opposite ends of these valleys, and at length meet and enter the bay of Francisco together. The greatest point of interest in this newly-acquired territory, is the valley of the Sacramento, which is distinguished by its gold deposites or "placers," as they are called. The recent discovery of the existence of gold in this region was accidental. In enlarging the race-way of a water-wheel, connected with a saw-mill just erected by a Mr. Marshall for Captain Sutter, by letting in a strong current of water, a considerable quantity of earth was carried to the foot of the race. Not long after, Mr. Marshall discovered some glittering particles in this earth, which, on further inspection, proved to be virgin gold. Further explorations ensued, and deposites have been found to exist in various portions of this valley for several hundred miles.
Election of General Taylor.—The administration of Mr. Polk was signalized by many interesting and important events. Yet, it cannot be said to have been popular, even with the party to which he owed his elevation. Towards the close of his term, few, if any, seriously advocated his rëelection. At a democratic convention, held in Baltimore May 21st, 1848, Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was nominated for the[Pg 754] presidency, and General W. O. Butler, of Kentucky, for the vice-presidency. The candidates proposed by a whig convention held at Philadelphia, June 7th, were General Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, and Millard Fillmore, of New York. Subsequently, a free-soil convention assembled at Utica, and nominated Martin Van Buren. The votes of the several electoral colleges resulted as follows:
| Key: A. | Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana. |
| B. | Lewis Cass, of Michigan. |
| C. | Millard Filmore, of New York. |
| D. | Wm. O. Butler, of Kentucky. |
| Number of Electors from each State. | STATES. | PRESIDENT. | VICE-PRESIDENT. | ||
| A. | B. | C. | D. | ||
| 9 | Maine, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 6 | New Hampshire, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Massachusetts, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 4 | Rhode Island, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 6 | Connecticut, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 6 | Vermont, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 36 | New York, | 36 | 36 | ||
| 7 | New Jersey, | 7 | 7 | ||
| 26 | Pennsylvania, | 26 | 26 | ||
| 3 | Delaware, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 8 | Maryland, | 8 | 8 | ||
| 17 | Virginia, | 17 | 17 | ||
| 11 | North Carolina, | 11 | 11 | ||
| 9 | South Carolina, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 10 | Georgia, | 10 | 10 | ||
| 12 | Kentucky, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 13 | Tennessee, | 13 | 13 | ||
| 23 | Ohio, | 23 | 23 | ||
| 6 | Lousiana, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 6 | Mississippi, | 6 | 6 | ||
| 12 | Indiana, | 12 | 12 | ||
| 9 | Illinois, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 9 | Alabama, | 9 | 9 | ||
| 7 | Missouri, | 7 | 7 | ||
| 3 | Arkansas, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 5 | Michigan, | 5 | 5 | ||
| 3 | Florida, | 3 | 3 | ||
| 4 | Texas, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 4 | Iowa, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 4 | Wisconsin, | 4 | 4 | ||
| 290 | Whole No. of Electors, Majority, 146 | 163 | 127 | 163 | 127 |
XVII. ZACHARY TAYLOR, PRESIDENT.
INAUGURATED AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 5, 1849.
MILLARD FILLMORE, VICE-PRESIDENT.
HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| John M. Clayton, | Delaware, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of State. |
| William M. Meredith, | Pennsylvania, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| Thomas Ewing, | Ohio, | March 6, | 1849, | Sec'ry of Home Department.[82] |
| George W. Crawford, | Georgia, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of War. |
| William B. Preston, | Virginia, | March 6, | 1849, | Secretary of the Navy. |
| Jacob Collamar, | Vermont, | March 6, | 1849, | Postmaster General. |
| Reverdy Johnson, | Maryland, | March 6, | 1849, | Attorney General. |
It was an occasion of great rejoicing on Monday, the 5th of March, when the hero of Buena Vista stood on that spot at the eastern portico of the national capitol, where had stood Jefferson, Madison, and others, and baring his head, took the oath prescribed, to support the constitution, which was administered to him by Chief Justice Taney.
The inaugural address of General Taylor, like all his official communications to government while in the field, was brief—shorter than any similar address by any other president, except Mr. Madison's. To a majority of the people, it proved quite satisfactory, and even in England was pronounced an eloquent production. Previous to his election, General Taylor had declined all pledges, excepting the assurance to the nation, that he would never be the president of a party, but should endeavor, if elected, to bring back the government to the spirit of the constitution, as understood and administered by Washington. Other pledges than this, he now declined, standing, as he did, before God and the nation; but this pledge he was ready to renew. "In the discharge of these duties," said he, "my guide will be the constitution, which I this day swear to 'preserve, protect, and defend.' For the interpretation of that instrument, I shall look to the decisions of the judicial tribunals established by its authority, and to the practice of the government under the earliest presidents, who had so large a share in its formation.
"Chosen by the body of the people, under the assurance that my administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to the support of any particular section or merely local interests, I, this day, renew the declarations I have heretofore made, and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain, to the extent of my ability, the government in its original purity, and to adopt, as the basis of my public policy, those great republican doctrines which constitute the strength of our national existence."
The ceremonies of the inauguration being over, General Taylor entered upon the duties of his office, respected for his private worth and public services, with many supplications, on the part of the pious and the patriotic, that his official course might, in its issues, prove as beneficial to his country as was Washington's, which he had presented to himself as the model of his administration.
Taylor's administration continued on page 902.
BRITISH AMERICA.
GENERAL REMARKS.
British America embraces not far from one equal half of the North American continent. The whole area amounts to about four millions of square miles. The Arctic ocean bounds it on the north, and the Atlantic on the east. The southern boundary is the St. Lawrence, and the extended chain of lakes as far westward as the Lake of the Woods, whence the dividing line between the British possessions and the United States follows the forty-ninth parallel of latitude westward to the Strait of Fuca, and thence along its channel south-west to the Pacific ocean. On the west, British America is bounded in part by the ocean, and in part by the line of the one hundred and forty-first degree of west longitude.
The greater portion of this immense region is a waste, uninhabited, the home of wild beasts, and the seat of eternal snow and ice. It possesses little value, except the skins and furs which are taken from the animals that rove there. The settlements are few, even in those parts that have been reduced into provinces, and these embrace but an inconsiderable portion of the whole region.
It has not been thought important to establish regular governments in all the provinces, so called. Such governments are established only in the Canadas, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, and Newfoundland. The Canadas consist of Upper and Lower, or Canada West and Canada East, and embrace the principal amount of the population and productive resources of that whole northern world.
Canada East is a country of some considerable extent, measuring about two hundred thousand square miles, but mostly hilly and rocky, and unproductive, except on the borders of the St. Lawrence.
Canada West contains an area of one hundred and fifty thousand square miles, if its western boundary, as is generally considered, extends no farther than to the heads of the streams which fall into Lake Superior. The climate of Canada West, or Upper Canada, is less severe than that of Lower Canada. It has also some quite productive soil.
I. CANADA.[83]
Discovery—Settlement—Capture of Quebec—Death of Champlain—Religious Enterprises—War made by the Iroquois—Accessions to the Colony—Progress of the Colony—Attempts of the English to Conquer Canada—Condition of Canada in 1721 and 1722—General Prosperity of the Colony—Refusal to join in the War of American Independence—Consequences of American Independence to Canada—Territorial Divisions and Constitution—Dissensions after the close of the war of 1812—Disturbances and Insurrections.
Discovery.—Jacques Carter, of St. Malo, in France, is the acknowledged discoverer of Canada. He was a distinguished mariner, and was solicited by the French to conduct a voyage to Newfoundland. This he undertook with two small vessels, of only twenty tons burden each. On the 10th of May, 1534, he saw the shores of that island, and steering to the south along the coast, landed at a harbor which he named St. Catharine's. Thence, proceeding westward and northward, he entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the mouth of the river of the same name; but the unfavorableness of the weather, and the lateness of the season, induced him to return to France. He, however, first took possession of the country in the name of his king.
During the following year, he was invested with the command of three ships of larger size, and well equipped with all sorts of supplies; and making a second voyage to Newfoundland, he entered the gulf on the day of St. Lawrence. Hence, it is supposed, is the name of the gulf and of the river. This voyage was not completed till he reached, in a pinnace and two boats, the present site of Montreal on the St. Lawrence river. This was then the principal Indian settlement, named Hochelaga, where the natives received him with great kindness. He took formal[Pg 760] possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, and returned home in the spring of the following year, 1536.
Voyages of discovery were made successively by Roberval, Pontgravè, and Champlain, down to the beginning of the seventeenth century; but of these, no particular notice need be given.
Settlements.—The important city of Quebec was founded by Champlain, in 1608. On the 13th of July of that year, he fixed on a most commanding promontory, on the north side of the River St. Lawrence, for the site of his settlement. The choice of such a spot for "the capital of a great trans-Atlantic empire, does him immortal honor." Here he remained through the winter, but, as soon as the season admitted, he resumed his voyage up the river. At a distance of twenty-five leagues above Quebec, he met a band belonging to the celebrated nation of the Algonquins, whom he agreed to join in their wars against the Iroquois. In this step, he committed a fatal error. It was the means[Pg 761] of bringing upon the French settlements, in Canada, all the calamities of savage warfare for nearly a hundred years. He was, however, successful at that time in an engagement with the Iroquois.
A few years after the settlement of Quebec, viz., in 1611, Montreal was founded. Champlain, who had in the mean time returned to France once and again, visited America that year, arriving at a place of rendezvous appointed for another warlike expedition. Not finding the Indians, he employed his time in selecting a spot for a new settlement, higher up the river than Quebec. Carefully examining the region, he fixed upon ground in the vicinity of an eminence which he called Mount Royal; and it would seem from the prosperity which has since attended the place, under the name of Montreal, that his choice has been amply justified. After sowing grain on a cleared spot of some extent, he inclosed it with a wooden wall. Champlain explored the River Ottawa, and many other parts of the country, while he remained in it. In consequence of expeditions from France, at various times, a few other settlements were formed; but the colony, though bearing the imposing name of New France, was in a condition of extreme weakness, and seemed to be viewed with indifference, both by the mother-country and England.
Capture of Quebec.—The growth of this place was very inconsiderable for many years; but it early became a mark for the assaults of an enemy. Hostilities having commenced with England, two French subjects, David and Louis Kirk, entering the service of that country, equipped a squadron, which sailed to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, captured several vessels, and intercepted the communication between the mother-country and the colony. In July, 1629, Sir David Kirk summoned Quebec—a summons which was followed by a surrender of the place, the invaded party being promised honorable conditions, and allowed to depart with their arms, clothes, and baggage.[Pg 762] The request of a ship to convey them directly home was not granted, but they were promised a commodious passage by way of England. In consequence of the adjustment of difficulties between the two countries, the place was at length restored; and Canada, with Cape Breton and Acadia, was confirmed to France. The final treaty, however, was not signed till the 29th March, 1632.
Death of Champlain.—Champlain, as the founder of the most important places in New France, was for a long time the life and soul of the colony. His energy, scientific accomplishments, and popularity, seemed to be most intimately connected with the prosperity, and even existence of the colony. In 1633, he was appointed governor, and sailed with a squadron, carrying all necessary supplies, to Canada, where, on his arrival, he found most of his former colonists. A greater prosperity now attended the affairs of New France. Means were employed for maintaining harmony among the inhabitants, and methods devised for introducing into the colony only persons of unexceptionable character.
But the end of his enterprising career was now come. He perished in the year 1636, having been drowned in the lake which bears his name. His death was, of course, a severe misfortune to Canada, and the loss could not well be repaired. M. de Montmagny was appointed his successor, and appeared to have commanded the general respect of the native inhabitants. But the colony was in a critical condition, and he could act only on the defensive, in the hostilities in which they were disposed from time to time to engage. Owing to the policy of the court at home, of continuing no governor in power longer than three years, Montmagny was displaced at the end of that time by the appointment of another governor. This system, however, was ill-suited to a settlement like that of Canada, where an intimate local knowledge, and a peculiar mixture of firmness and address, were necessary to deal with tumultuary[Pg 763] tribes whom they were too feeble to subdue. Ailleboust, his successor, is said to have been a man of probity, but he indifferently possessed the energy required in so difficult a situation. The Iroquois now became peculiarly turbulent, and, as will soon be seen, brought dreadful calamities on the whites.
Religious Enterprises.—Catholic missionaries had not merely formed establishments at Quebec and Montreal, but had also penetrated into the domains of the savages. These religionists certainly gave full proof of sincerity in their work, as they renounced all the comforts of civilized life, and exposed themselves to every species of hardship and danger. The religious "establishments did little for the immediate improvement of the colony, yet as points of possession, occupied by persons whose avocations were professedly holy and useful, they laid the foundation on which arose the superstructure of those morals and habits that still and will long characterize the Gallo-Canadians."
As to the effect of the Catholic missions on the native tribes, it is to be observed, they undoubtedly reclaimed their votaries from many savage habits, and trained them up to some degree of order and industry. The tribe found to be the most docile and susceptible of improvement, was that of the Hurons; and their great numbers presented a wide field for religious effort. More than three thousand of them are recorded to have received baptism at one time, though only a portion of the number probably retained even the profession of Christianity. The general effect produced was in a degree favorable, and softened somewhat the aspect of this wild region. The main object was to unite the Indians in villages. Of these, several were formed, the principal of which were Sillery, or St. Joseph, and St. Mary.
War made by the Iroquois.—In 1648, the Iroquois, as already intimated, were resolved on renewing the war; for[Pg 764] what cause, if for any, does not now appear. Their movements were rapid and fatal. The village of Sillery was occupied by four hundred families, and was accordingly a tempting object to the savages. In a time of profound peace, and while the missionary was celebrating the most solemn ordinances of religion, the shriek was suddenly heard, "We are murdered!" The enemy had commenced an indiscriminate massacre, without distinction of sex or age. The women fled for safety into the depths of the forest; but the infants whom they carried in their arms betrayed them by their crying, and mother and suckling were alike butchered. The assailants, at length, fell upon the priest, and after each in succession had struck him a blow, they threw him into the flames.[84]
By this onset, the Hurons were wholly routed; their country, which had for some time reposed in peace and security, became a scene of devastation and blood. Fleeing[Pg 765] for refuge in every direction, a few subsequently united with their invaders, but the greater number sought safety among the Chippewas of Lake Superior. A small remnant of about three hundred were able to secure the protection of the French at Quebec. Here, they were viewed only as objects of charity; and though, as such, considerable exertions were put forth in their behalf, yet the whole number could not be accommodated. Numbers were exposed to cold and hunger, until a station could be formed for them, which was named Sillery, after their former chief settlement. In consequence of the successes of the Iroquois, the French were chiefly confined to the three forts of Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. For a number of years, a sad state of things existed in the colony. The French had been compelled to accept of humiliating terms of peace, and even by these means, only partially secured the boon. The Iroquois continually extended their dominion, conquering one tribe of their fellow-savages after another, and even insulting the French in their fortified posts. The latter, from fear or weakness, were compelled to witness the destruction of their allies. They were themselves, in a great measure, safe in their fortresses, for these the enemy had no adequate skill to besiege.
Accessions to the Colony.—It had been represented to Louis XIV., who had lately ascended the throne, that his government was exposing the French name to contempt, through neglect of his fine American province, and tame subjection to Indian ravages. He was sufficiently bent upon aggrandizement not willingly to incur such a reproach; and accordingly troops were dispatched from France, and the French power was at once considerably augmented in the province. The Marquis de Tracy was sent out at this time, 1665, in the joint character of viceroy and lieutenant-general. Besides the soldiers, a considerable number of settlers, including artisans, with horses and cattle, were conveyed with him to Canada. He was able to overcome[Pg 766] and repress the savages, and increase the fortifications and defences of the country. The population was more than doubled by means of the immigration.
Progress of the Colony.—After M. de Tracy, the government was administered successively by M. de Courcelles, Count Frontenac, M. de la Barre, Denonville, and Count Frontenac the second time, down to the year 1698. Under the first-named governor, the French power was gradually extended to the interior of Canada and the upper parts of the River St. Lawrence. A settlement of Hurons was established on the island of Michilimackinack, a situation very favorable to the fur-trade, and a site for a fort was selected at Cataraqui, on Lake Ontario, a position of importance for trade and defence. Count Frontenac, immediately upon his accession, caused the fort to be completed. He conducted the affairs of the colony with spirit and energy during a period of ten years, but he was too independent in his administration to suit a jealous court at home. His successor, M. de la Barre, not fulfilling the expectations of the government, was soon rëcalled, and the Marquis Denonville appointed in his room. The measures of this governor were not at all well advised; his treachery to the natives brought him into difficulty; he obtained only an empty victory over them, and, towards the conclusion of his administration, the very existence of the colony was threatened. At this period, 1689, Frontenac was rëcalled to the government. It was hoped that his experience would teach him to avoid the errors of his former administration, while his decision, energy, and fascinating manners, were deemed of vital importance to the welfare of the settlement.
Frontenac, anxious to justify to the world the choice made of him, the second time, to administer the affairs of Canada, determined at once on several bold projects. As his own country and England were now at war, and as England relied much on the aid of her provinces of the[Pg 767] south, he resolved on attacking the latter. Accordingly, he fitted out three expeditions; one against New York, a second against New Hampshire, and a third against the province of Maine. The fatal attack upon Corlear, or Schenectady, detailed in another part of this work, was the result of the first expedition. The burning of Salmon Falls, on the borders of New Hampshire, proceeded from the second expedition. The third destroyed the settlement of Casco, in Maine.
The atrocities of the French and their savage allies soon aroused the Northern colonies, New York and New England, to take vengeance on the foe. The English determined to strike a blow which might at once deprive him of all his possessions. Two expeditions were prepared; one by sea, from Boston, against Quebec; the other by land, from New York, against Montreal. The first was commanded by Sir William Phipps, a native of New England, of humble birth, who had raised himself by his talents to a high station. Both expeditions failed as to their ultimate object; but Sir William captured all the French posts in Acadia and Newfoundland, with several on the St. Lawrence; and it is not without reason supposed that Quebec itself would have fallen, had not the English commander too hastily considered the enterprise as hopeless. He made a very considerable effort, but did not persevere. The French, Colden says, returned fervent thanks to Providence for having, by a special interposition, deprived their enemies of common sense. Montreal was saved only after a most strenuous resistance.
The French, under the administration of Frontenac, sustained themselves, and generally held their own against the attacks of the English and the Indians. Peace, at length, having taken place between France and England, negotiations were entered into for closing the provincial war and exchanging prisoners; but before the negotiations were concluded, Frontenac died. This event occurred on the 29th day of November, 1698, and may be said to have[Pg 768] constituted an era in the Canadian history, as by his energy and talents he had retrieved the affairs of the settlement, and raised it into a powerful and flourishing state. De Callières, the successor of Frontenac, finally effected the negotiations in 1700.
Attempts by the English to Conquer Canada.—The first serious attempt to bring the French province of Canada under the English sway, and its failure, have already been chronicled. Other efforts were subsequently put forth with this object in view, as soon as the parent countries had again taken up arms on account of the Spanish succession. Canada, in this instance, was left to her own resources, as Louis XIV. had been entirely unsuccessful in his European wars, and could afford her no aid. She was at this time, also, able to repel her invaders, or was providentially delivered from their attack.
De Vaudreuil, who was then governor, in contemplation of a formidable attack, sought to dissipate it by an offensive movement. He sent out a detachment of two hundred men, which, after a long march, succeeded in storming and destroying Haverhill, a frontier village; though, while returning, they fell into an ambuscade. Thirty of their number were killed; but having beaten off their assailants, the remainder reached Montreal in safety.
In 1709, the English left New York for Canada with a force of two thousand men, joined by an equal number of savages. But after they had erected a chain of posts from New York, and had occupied, in great force, Lakes George and Champlain, circumstances occurred which defeated the project. The savages, who were the Iroquois, failed them from prudential considerations; and a pestilential disease happening among the English troops, the enterprise was abandoned, after their canoes and forts were burned to ashes.
The succeeding year, the English prepared a new and greater armament. General Nicholson arrived at Boston with a considerable squadron and fresh forces were[Pg 769] expected, which, with those already in the country, were to be employed in two joint expeditions, by sea against Quebec, and by land against Montreal. But it happened, to the signal relief of the French, that the squadron was wrecked near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, a circumstance which prevented also the land forces, that were already on the march, from proceeding farther. The treaty at Utrecht, which took place on the 30th of March, 1713, put an end, for many years, to their armaments for the reduction of Canada. The long interval proved to be a season of prosperity to this French domain in the New World.
Condition of Canada in 1721 and 1722.—This was the time when Charlevoix visited the colony, who gave a description of its state as he saw it.
Quebec was estimated to contain about seven thousand inhabitants; both the lower and the upper town were partially built, but none of the extensive suburbs appear to have existed. The society, composed in a great measure of military officers and noblesse, was extremely agreeable, and no where was the French language spoken in greater purity. Under this gay exterior, however, was concealed a very general poverty.
The only employment suited to their taste was the fur-trade. This, connected as it was with habits of roving and adventure, had great attractions for the people, and little fortunes were thereby occasionally made; but these were soon dissipated in the haste to enjoy pleasure and display. The absence of gold and silver, then considered almost the only objects as giving lustre to a colony, had always caused New France to be viewed as of less importance than it was in reality.
The coasts of the St. Lawrence, for some extent below Quebec, were already laid out in seignories, and tolerably cultivated. At a place seven leagues from the capital, many of the farmers were found in easy circumstances, and[Pg 770] more wealthy than their landlords. The latter were in possession of grants which they had neither capital nor industry to improve, and they were, therefore, obliged to let them out at small quit-rents.
The island and city of Montreal presented to the eye objects of deep interest. The population was considerable, as both the upper and lower towns were already built, and a suburb had been commenced. Montreal was rendered comparatively secure against the savages, by the vicinity of two neighboring villages which were inhabited by friendly Indians.
General Prosperity of the Colony.—Canada enjoyed a long period of tranquillity, under the administrations of De Vaudreuil and Beauharnois, Gallissonière, Jonquière, Longuiel, and Du Quesne and his successors.
During this interval, the French appear to have entirely overcome that deeply-seated enmity, so long cherished by the great Indian tribes. Their pliant and courteous manners, their frequent intermarriages, and, in some instances, actual adoption of the habits of savage life, rendered them better fitted than the English, to secure the confidence of the American savage. Instead of having to treat them as British allies, they could usually employ them, when occasion required, for their own military service.
An equally favorable change took place in respect to the fur-trade, which had been considerably diverted to the English market. A more liberal system appears to have been adopted; and a large annual fair, opened at Montreal, became the general centre of the traffic.
Canada transferred to the English.—In an early portion of the volume, we have given an account of the "French and Indian war," during which an expedition against Quebec, under Wolfe, was attempted. This was in 1759. That expedition resulted, as is well known, in the death of that distinguished military hero, and the capitulation of the city.[Pg 771] A single incident, only, will be here alluded to, touching the fall of this victorious general. On receiving his mortal wound, he said, "Support me—let not my brave soldiers see me drop." About a year following the surrender of Quebec, the whole of Canada was transferred to the dominion of Great Britain, by which it has ever since been held as one of her dependencies.
Refusal to join in the War of American Independence.—In the revolt of the United Colonies against the government of the mother-country, the Canadians were pressingly invited to join and assist the former. They, however, never swerved from their allegiance. With a view to conciliate the Canadians, the "Quebec Act," passed in 1774, changed the English civil law, which had been at first introduced, for the ancient system. The French language was also directed to be employed in the law-courts, and other changes were made for the purpose of gratifying the people. The most important privilege of all, that of a national representation, was, however, not granted.
Consequence of the American Independence to Canada.—The issue of the war of independence in the colonies, though unfavorable, or at least mortifying, to the mother-country, was attended with some advantages to Canada. A large body of loyalists, who had sought refuge in her territories during the war, received liberal grants of land in the Upper Provinces, as also farming utensils, building materials, and subsistence for two years. A great extent of country was thus put under cultivation, and flourishing towns, as those of Kingston and Toronto, arose from the policy which was adopted in regard to these settlers. Thus was laid the foundation of that prosperity which has since so eminently distinguished the Upper Province.
Territorial Division and a Constitution.—A steady advancement and growth of the country, caused the population to feel more and more their importance, and they were little contented in the absence of a representative government. The wish for such a government was, at times, strongly expressed. In 1790, Mr. Pitt determined to comply with the desires of the people on this subject; but, as a preliminary, it was resolved to divide Canada into two governments, upper and lower. The constitution granted, proved to be on a basis nearly resembling that of the British constitution. The first house of assembly was opened in 1792, but for several years their proceedings were of no special importance. In 1797, General Prescott was called to administer the government, when complaints began to be made respecting the grant of lands. The Board constituted for that purpose, had appropriated extensive tracts to themselves, and thereby had impeded the work of general settlement. He was succeeded, however, in 1800, by Sir Robert S. Milnes, as lieutenant-governor. A few years afterwards, a decision of the chief justice of Montreal declared slavery inconsistent with the laws of the country, and the small number of slaves then living there received a grant of freedom.
Dissensions after the Close of the War of 1812.—The contests in which Canada was involved with the United States, during the war of the latter with England, from 1812 to 1815, an account of which the reader will find in a prior part of the volume, had scarcely closed, before the country was disturbed by internal dissensions, particularly the Lower Province. They arose chiefly from the jealousies which existed between the different branches of the government. Indeed, as early as 1807, the assembly seriously complained of an undue influence exercised by the executive and judicial officers. The difficulties continued through successive administrations, with partial suspensions under compliant or conciliatory governors, until the government came into the hands of Sir Francis Burton, who, by yielding all the points in dispute, succeeded in conciliating the assembly. The principal subject of dispute had been the public revenue and its appropriation.
But the conciliation was not lasting. Every concession to the assembly gave rise to new demands, and the right was now claimed of an uncontrolled disposal of the entire revenue. Lord Dalhousie, who resumed office in 1826, resisted the demand, and the dissensions were of course renewed. Their violence was, indeed, much increased. On the meeting of the assembly in 1827, Mr. Papineau was chosen speaker, an appointment which, on account of his violent opposition to the measures of government, Lord Dalhousie refused to sanction. But the assembly being in no mood to recede from its position, the consequence was, that no session was held in the winter of 1827-28.
Discontent had now risen to an alarming height; and, in the latter year, a petition was presented to the king, signed by eighty-seven thousand inhabitants, complaining of the conduct of successive governors. The subject was brought before parliament, and a committee reported the expediency of a thorough and effectual redress, admitting, generally, that the grievances complained of were well-founded. Sincere attempts appear to have been made to carry out the[Pg 774] provisions of the report, or measures of reform which had been promised; but, in the course of the colonial government, the claims of the crown and those of the assembly, on certain points, proved to be conflicting. The breach which was hoped to be closed, now became wider than ever. The assembly began to specify conditions on which certain salaries should be paid to the colonial officers; and, as a fundamental reform, next demanded that the legislative council, hitherto appointed by the crown, should be abolished, and a new one, like that of the American senate, substituted in its place, composed of members elected by the people. A petition to this effect was transmitted to the king, early in 1833, signed by Papineau. The British ministry, however, scouted at once such a proposal, and hinted the possibility of summary measures on the part of parliament, in order to compose the internal dissensions of the colonies. This was an imprudent intimation.
Both the refusal and the inuendo but added fuel to the flame. The assembly refused to pass any bill of supply whatever for the year 1834, and in a more resolute manner than heretofore, insisted on an elective legislative council. The next governor who was sent out, the Earl of Gosford, professed conciliatory views; but his real object was otherwise, as was accidentally discovered. The real instructions with which he was charged, were common to him and to the governor of the Upper Province; but the latter had made public a part of those instructions apparently without the knowledge of Lord Gosford's intentions. The rage of the popular leaders now knew no bounds; they complained not only of the disappointments they had experienced, but of the deception which had been practiced upon them. The assembly, as before, withheld the supplies, and made no provision for the public services.
Disturbances and Insurrection.—A crisis had now arrived. Ministers determined no longer to postpone measures for counteracting the proceedings of the popular party, and[Pg 775] placing the executive government in a state of regular action. The death of the king, meanwhile, the necessity of a dissolution of the parliament, and the unwillingness to begin the government of a young and popular queen by a scheme of coercion, caused a delay in the execution of the designs of government. The expedient of advancing the amount required for the public service, by way of loan from the British revenue, was substituted by ministers, in the prospect of being ultimately reimbursed from the provincial fund. The ball, however, was set in motion, and such was the momentum, that it could not be stopped at once. Meetings were held in the counties of Montreal and Richelieu, in which it was affirmed, that the votes of the Commons, (declaring the elective legislative council and the direct responsibility of the executive to the assembly, inexpedient,) had put an end to all hopes of justice. A general convention was proposed, to consider what further means were advisable, and a recommendation was made to discontinue the consumption of British manufactures, and of all articles paying taxes.
This state of things put the government on the alert; preparations were made to have in readiness for the public service an additional regiment from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A proclamation, also, was issued, warning the people against all attempts to seduce them from their allegiance. Meetings of the friends of the government were held in Montreal and Quebec, condemning the house of assembly, declaring attachment to the British connexion, and deprecating disorganization and revolution. Notwithstanding all the attempts of the governor to effect a compromise, an agreement in respect to the topics in dispute could not be brought about. A recourse to arms appears now to have been determined upon by the popular leaders, with the avowed object of effecting an entire separation from the parent state. The efforts made to arouse the spirit of independence were considerable, though more secret than formerly, until an association was formed,[Pg 776] under the title of the Sons of Liberty, who even paraded the streets of Montreal in a hostile and threatening manner. Other measures of defiance, in different parts of the country, were resorted to, having in view still more directly the ultimate object of resistance and independence. The recent appointments of the two councils, designed as an alleviation, in part, of the people's complaints, were declared wholly unsatisfactory, while the introduction of an armed force into the province was stigmatized as a new and outrageous grievance.
The government could not overlook these incipient steps of an insurrection. Additional military force was called into requisition—loyal volunteer associations were formed as an offset to those of the other party, and the Catholic clergy were zealous in their endeavors to preserve the peace. A scene of violence occurred in the streets, November 6th, 1837, between the two parties, in which the loyalists proved to be the stronger body. That event, as might be expected, increased the ferment; so that the government, as the most effectual course to put a stop to the aggressive movement of the people, arrested at Montreal a number of the most conspicuous leaders, with the exception of Papineau, who had disappeared. A part of these, however, were subsequently rescued—a fight ensued between the militia employed on this occasion, who amounted only to thirty, and a body of three hundred well-armed men, protected by a high fence. The former, of course, was overcome.
In adopting the prompt measures which were now deemed necessary by the government, strong detachments under Colonels Gore and Wetherall were sent to the village of St. Denis and St. Charles on the Sorel, to rout the armed bodies of insurgent assembled in those places, under Papineau, Brown, and Neilson. Gore was repulsed; but Wetherall, on the 26th of November, attacking a force of one thousand men, came off victorious, having killed and wounded nearly three hundred of the enemy. This latter[Pg 777] affair decided the fate of the contest in that quarter. Terror seized the minds of the peasantry, and they began to consider themselves betrayed by their leaders. A few days subsequently, Neilson, one of the commanders of the insurgent forces, was taken in a barn, conveyed into Montreal, and thrown into prison. Papineau, however, could not be discovered.
In other portions of the province, where the insurrection had been still more formidable, the government forces were successful. At St. Eustache and the village of St. Benoit, the most bloody scenes were enacted; and there seems to have been at the latter place, after the regular battle, a wanton and barbarous destruction of human life, on the part of the enraged royalists. At the close of the year 1837, the whole Lower Province was reduced to a state of tranquillity.
In the mean time, Upper Canada had become the theatre of interesting events. A party had arisen, influenced by inhabitants who had emigrated from the United States; who, advancing from step to step in discontent, at length, scarcely made any secret of their desire to separate from the mother-country, and join the American Union. In 1834, this party, for the first time, obtained a majority in the assembly, and after making or finding causes of disagreement with the governor of the province, Sir Francis Head, at length stopped the supplies, after the example of the Lower Province. Sir Francis then reserved all their money bills for her majesty's decision, and rejected application for the payment of their incidental expenses. To settle the difficulties, if possible, he made an appeal to the people by a new election. This resulted favorably to the constitutional side, and restored tranquillity till the time of the outbreak in the Lower Province. That occasion was seized by Mackenzie, one of the chief leaders at the head of five hundred men, to put his plans in operation, and attempt a separation of the province from Great Britain. His design of taking Toronto by surprise was, however, defeated. Upon the manifestation of force on the part of[Pg 778] the loyal inhabitants, he retired, his followers were easily dispersed, and a number of them taken prisoners. A large body of the militia had assembled for the defence of the government; but they were given to understand that they might now return to their homes. Only such a portion was retained, under Colonel M'Nab, as was wanted to bring Duncombe, another leader, to terms, which was effected.
Mackenzie, fleeing to Buffalo, created an interest in favor of the patriots among a portion of the American people, who, on the northern frontier, had been accustomed to sympathize in their attempts at independence. Bodies of men with their leaders, from the American side, took possession of Navy island, situated in the Niagara channel, between Grand island and the British shore. This they fortified with cannon, and designed as the seat of offensive operations. But Mr. Van Buren, the American president at that time, interposed his authority at once to arrest these hostile proceedings, so far as his countrymen were concerned, and sent General Scott to the scene of action, that a strict neutrality might be enforced. It was during this period that the small steamer, named Caroline, as has been already related in the present work, was burned by the British. This attack had nearly proved fatal to the peace of the country; it did not, however, arrest the vigorous measures adopted by General Scott to fulfil the objects of his mission. The force now collected against the insurgents, became so far formidable, that they evacuated the island on the 14th of January, 1838. The spirit of insurrection was now laid, but much remained to be done to effect a satisfactory adjustment of the difficulties between the government and the disaffected. The great reputation of Lord Durham, who was appointed governor in May, 1838, it was hoped would render his action favorable to such an object; but he was soon called upon to decide upon a delicate and difficult question, viz: the treatment of the prisoners taken in the rebellion. Upon a confession of guilt, he sentenced them to be deported to Bermuda, and[Pg 779] to be kept there in strict surveillance. Should they ever return to Canada without leave of the governor, they were to suffer the penalty of death. The same was awarded to Papineau and others, implicated in the late insurrection, but who had fled the country. This procedure created not a little excitement in the home government, it being deemed an usurpation of power not belonging to the governor-general of a province. A grant of indemnity, however, was passed in his case; but Lord Durham was not of a temperament to brook this interposition, and he soon threw up his administration, and left for England on the 1st of November. No sooner had he departed, than fresh troubles arose. The spirit of disaffection was rife, and hopes were inspired through the aid which American sympathizers might afford. Communications were secretly kept up with the latter. But miserable success attended the operations of the insurgents. Dr. Robert Nelson, at the head of four thousand men, failed completely to make an impression, and, threatened by the government forces at his quarters at Napierville, he and his company dispersed without firing a shot.
In Upper Canada, Sir Francis Head had already resigned. His successor, Sir George Arthur, soon found himself involved in difficult circumstances. Bands of lawless individuals, to the number of several hundreds, on several occasions crossed from the American side; but were, in general, effectually repulsed with little loss to the British. The captives taken were treated with a severity which had not before been exercised towards that misguided and unfortunate class of people. They were generous in their sympathy, but they had violated the laws of civilized communities, and were liable to a just retribution. A considerable number of the most conspicuous were immediately shot, and the rest condemned to severe or ignominious punishments. The "Canadian Rebellion," was closed by these occurrences. The whole history of their efforts showed that the Canada people were unprepared, at that[Pg 780] period, for an undertaking of such vast magnitude and imminent peril.
In 1840, by an act of the imperial parliament, Upper and Lower Canada were united into one, under the name of the Province of Canada. Some changes were made in the form of the government; but only a few of the causes of grievance have been removed, and the great body of the people are still abridged to a considerable degree, in respect to the choice of their rulers, or the free enactment of the laws of the state. Still more recently, the province has been thrown into great excitement by an attempt to pay, from the public exchequer, the losses sustained by those who took part in the Canadian rebellion. What the result of these stormy times will be, the future only can disclose.
II. NOVA SCOTIA.
Limits—Conquest by the English—Settlement—Annexation to the British Crown—Policy of England in relation to the Country—Situation of the English Settlers—English Treatment of the Acadians—State of the Province during the Wars of the United States—Results of the War of 1812.
Limits.—Nova Scotia is a large peninsula on the south-eastern part of British America, united to the continent by a narrow isthmus, between Chignecto bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is three hundred and eighty-eight miles in length from north-east to south-west, and contains an area of sixteen thousand square miles. It is a rough, mountainous country, barren on the sea-board, but very fertile in some of the interior parts.
Settlement.—De Monts, a French gentleman, sailing from France with a view to settlement in this part of America, touched, in the first instance, at Nova Scotia, on the 16th May, 1604; but no settlement was effected until the year after, and that was at Port Royal (now Annapolis). The[Pg 782] whole country, including New Brunswick, was then known by the name of Acadia. The settlement above spoken of was soon after, in 1614, broken up by Argall, an English captain, engaged in the Virginia settlement. The whole region was viewed with indifference on the part of the English, because it did not contain gold and silver. They, however, made an attempt, under Sir William Alexander, to occupy it, some years after Argall's success against Port Royal; but were obliged to desist, from finding it in possession of the French. In 1628 and 1629, the English succeeded in taking Nova Scotia and Canada; but by the terms of a treaty in 1632, the whole country was restored to France.
Conquest by the English.—A period of several years was passed in the infelicities of a deadly feud between the rival chiefs who held possession of the country. But amidst their contentions, an expedition was sent against Nova Scotia in 1654 by Cromwell, who had then declared war against France; and the result was the reduction of the warring parties, and the submission of the whole country to the English authority. This was but a temporary acquisition. By the peace of 1667, Nova Scotia was again ceded to the French.
In the course of a few subsequent years, Nova Scotia was twice invaded and taken by the English from the colony of Massachusetts; the first time under Sir William Phipps, and the second time by a body of five hundred men from Boston. Acadia was now held by the British until the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, when it again reverted to France.
Permanent Annexation to the British Crown.—There was a speedy return of the war between France and England, and the reduction of Nova Scotia was again left to New England. The first expedition, under Colonel Church, and a subsequent one, three years after, effected little for the object in view. The determination of the New Englanders,[Pg 783] however, could not be shaken. After two years spent in preparing, they assembled a large force of five regiments; and under the command of General Nicholson, they arrived at Port Royal on the 24th of September, 1716, which in its weakness capitulated without resistance. The month following, when the deed of surrender was made, forms the era of the permanent annexation of Nova Scotia to the British crown.[85] The Indians of the country, who were strongly attached to the French, were not satisfied with the transfer, and for many years became extremely troublesome to the English, frequently surprising them, and carrying off their property. It was in the course of these disturbances, that the Massachusetts troops in 1728 defeated the tribe of the Noridgewocks; among the results of which invasion, was the death of the celebrated Father Rolle, their missionary.
Policy of England in relation to the Country.—After the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 1748, which had been preceded by disasters to the French possessions in America, particularly by the taking of Louisburg, Great Britain began to pay more attention to Nova Scotia. Hitherto, it had been quite a French country, peopled and cultivated throughout by that hostile nation. It was suggested, that of the large number of soldiers and sailors discharged in consequence of the peace, a part might with great advantage be located as agriculturists, and thereby provide the colony with an English population. This project was embraced with ardor by the Earl of Halifax.
Fifty acres were allowed to every private, with ten additional for each member of his family. A higher allowance was granted to officers, in proportion to their rank. By this arrangement, three thousand seven hundred and sixty adventurers with their families were induced to embark in May, 1749. They were landed, not at Annapolis, but Chebucto, named henceforth Halifax, after the patron of the expedition.
Situation of the English Settlers.—As munificent provision was made for them from time to time, a town, with spacious and regular streets, was soon reared; where they were as comfortably situated as they could be with a hostile population in their vicinity, and the difficulties arising from the French claims. The boundaries of the country were in dispute between the two nations—the encroachments of the English, as the French settlers deemed them, alarmed the fears of the latter; and the Indians, excited by French emissaries, committed upon the English numerous outrages. At length, the French arose in rebellion against the British rule; but it was not until after many attempts to subdue them, on the part of the English, that the object was effected. The success of the last expedition, under Colonel Monckton, in 1755, from New England, secured the tranquillity of all French Acadia, then claimed by the English under the name of Nova Scotia.
English Treatment of the French Acadians.—The English, in consequence of the war which now raged between France and Britain, did not feel at ease. They had reason to believe that, in the event of an invasion of Nova Scotia by the French, they would find not only the Indians, but the Acadians, friendly to the invaders. A cruel expedient, hardly justified by the circumstances, was adopted to prevent the danger and evil. It was determined to break up the homes of the latter, and disperse them throughout the British colonies, so that they might be unable to unite in offensive measures. They were comfortably situated, and attached to their homes; were a quiet people, only a few of them ever having been openly engaged in arms against the British; and, consequently, they could not but keenly feel the greatness of their wrongs. They submitted to them, but with moans and pathetic appeals, though occasional forcible resistance was offered.
"Notwithstanding the barbarous diligence with which this mandate was executed, it is not supposed that the number[Pg 785] actually deported exceeded seven thousand. The rest fled into the depth of the forest, or to the nearest French settlements, enduring incredible hardships. To prevent the return of the hapless fugitives, the government reduced to ashes their habitations and property, laying waste their own lands with a fury exceeding that of their most savage enemy. In one district, two hundred and sixty-three houses were at once in a blaze. The Acadians, from the heart of the woods, beheld all they possessed consigned to destruction; yet they made no movement till the devastators wantonly set their chapel on fire. They then rushed forward in desperation, killed about thirty of the incendiaries, and then hastened back to their hiding-place."—Such is the account given by an eloquent historian of this barbarous proceeding.
Condition of the Acadians.—By the peace which was concluded at Paris, in 1763, France was compelled to transfer to her victorious rival all her possessions on the North American continent. After the peace, the case of the Acadians was necessarily taken into consideration. The severe treatment to which they had been subjected brought[Pg 786] no advantage to the country, as it had not become the theatre of war, and there no longer remained any pretext for continuing the persecution. Though transportation was advised by the governor, yet the administration at home, with a more equitable spirit, allowed them to return to their original places of abode, receiving lands on taking the customary oaths. Yet the justice rendered was imperfect, inasmuch as no compensation was allowed them for their plundered property.
It, however, pleased a number to return, though in 1772 the whole body was found to be only two thousand one hundred; an eighth-part, perhaps, of what had constituted once a flourishing colony. They have since, by their industry, brought themselves into a thriving state.
State of the Province during the War of the United States.—The condition of Nova Scotia, as indeed of the adjoining British provinces on the North, was highly critical during the war of the American Revolution; but the fears indulged from this source proved unfounded. The province remained loyal to the crown during the whole of that long and arduous contest. At its close, there was a large influx of refugees into the province. The number that arrived, prior to September, 1783, was reckoned at eighteen thousand, and two thousand more landed in the following month.
"Many of these new citizens possessed considerable property, as well as regular and industrious habits, so that they formed a most important acquisition. Several additional townships were erected; Shelburne, before nearly deserted, rapidly acquired upwards of ten thousand inhabitants; emigrants from Nantucket established a whale-fishery at Dartmouth; while saw and grist mills were established in various parts of the province. A considerable proportion of these emigrants directed their course to the region beyond the peninsula; which thereby acquiring a great increase of importance, was, in 1784, erected into a distinct[Pg 787] government, under the title of New Brunswick." Cape Breton, from the above date, after having been separated from Nova Scotia until 1820, was rëannexed to the latter.
Results of the War of 1812.—The war between the United States and Great Britain, which broke out in 1812, materially advanced the prosperity of Nova Scotia, and showed the importance of Halifax as a naval station. Into this port numerous prizes were carried, by the sale of which large fortunes were realized. The evils of war were almost unknown, for a neutrality was observed by the government of Maine and the British authorities on the New Brunswick frontier; so that although the militia were kept in readiness for service, they were not called into it. A long succession of able governors since, has been the means of giving to the province a desirable increase of wealth and prosperity. The importance of Halifax has, within a few years, been greatly increased, by becoming a touching place for the royal English steamers (Cunard line) in their transit across the Atlantic.
III. NEW BRUNSWICK.
Extent—Physical Aspect and Soil—Settlement and Progress—Signal Calamity.
Extent.—New Brunswick is a territory which forms a kind of irregular square, lying on the east of the state of Maine, though extending farther north than that state, and therefore bounded west by a portion of Canada. It comprises an area of more than twenty-seven thousand square miles, and hence its surface considerably exceeds that of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton united.
Physical Aspect and Soil.—The surface of the country is broken and undulating, though scarcely any where[Pg 788] rising into mountains. The fertility of the soil is greater than that of Nova Scotia, and is especially indicated by the magnificent forests with trees of enormous size, the export of which for timber and shipping constitutes the chief occupation of the colonists. The borders of the streams consist of the richest meadow lands. The climate, like that of Canada, is excessively cold from November to April. At the latter period comes a sudden change, bringing intense heat and rapid vegetation.
Settlement and Progress.—Previously to 1783, the French comprehended the territory now called New Brunswick, under the general appellation of New France, viewing it more particularly as an appendage to Acadia. At that period, it received its present name and its existence as a colony. The English claimed it as a part of Nova Scotia, though they paid no attention to its improvement.
After that peninsula had been finally ceded to the English, the French laid claim to New Brunswick as a part of Canada, and made preparations to enforce it by arms. But the subject was put to rest finally by the cession of all Canada to the British, at the peace of 1763. It only remained to be populated and improved by enterprising people from abroad, as it was inhabited mainly by the few Acadians who had sought refuge from persecution among its forests.
A people of this description soon came, or more properly had emigrated to New Brunswick, the year before the era of the peace above referred to. They consisted of families from New England, who settled at Mangerville, about fifty miles up the St. John, and, in 1783, they amounted to about eight hundred. At the close of the revolutionary war, several thousand of disbanded British troops removed from New England, were located at Frederickton. The new colonists, however, were subjected to great hardships and cruel privations, when first placed in the midst of this wilderness, which they more keenly felt from the fact that they had been accustomed to the comforts of civilized life.
Great exertions were made for the improvement of the country under General Sir Guy Carlton, who was appointed governor in 1785. A degree of success attended his efforts, as a gradual advancement took place. During a period of fourteen years from the time he left the country, the government was administered by a succession of presidents. By an arrangement of duties on foreign timber, and by leaving that from New Brunswick free, a foundation was laid for the signal prosperity of the colony. This state of things commenced in 1809, and the exports of this article, from that period, continually increased, until it reached its acme in 1825. Then a severe rëaction was experienced, in consequence of speculative over-trading. The trade, however, assumed a healthy condition in the space of a few years.
The progress of the colony of late years has been cheering, and its natural advantages appreciated, as they have been the more unfolded. It was during the administration of Sir John Harvey, that the disputed boundary between Maine and New Brunswick had nearly occasioned a rupture between the United States and Great Britain. This source of danger to the peace of both countries, was removed, as elsewhere related, by a treaty in 1842, which settled the question to the satisfaction of those concerned.
Signal Calamity.—We may not conclude this brief notice of New Brunswick without giving some account of an awful calamity which, in 1828, befel that part of this province which borders on the Mirimachi. In October of that year, during the prevalence of a long drought, the pine forests caught fire. Being filled with resinous substance, and the fire being driven by a high wind, the conflagration was impelled with the most awful rapidity. Its sound was like uninterrupted thunder—its column rose two hundred feet above the loftiest pine. Next was seen, as it were, an ocean of flame, rolling towards New Castle and Douglas; all resistance was vain; these towns were reduced to ashes. The miserable inhabitants, abandoning their all,[Pg 790] rushed to the bank, and threw themselves into boats, canoes, on rafts or logs, to convey them down to Chatham; but several, of both sexes, were either killed or severely injured. The flames spread a vast distance into the country, destroying magnificent forests and numerous cattle; even wild beasts and birds were drawn into them by a sort of fascination. The benevolence of the neighboring British provinces and of the United States was most liberally exerted on the distressing occurrence. The towns which were destroyed, have since that time been rebuilt.
IV. PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND.
Location, Surface, and Climate—Early Settlers—Change of Possession—Plans of Colonization—Character of late Governors—Inhabitants.
Location, Surface, and Climate.—Prince Edward, formerly St. John, is an interesting island, lying in the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has a very winding outline and a crescent-like form, and is deeply indented by bays and inlets. The area is estimated at one million three hundred and eighty thousand seven hundred acres.
Its surface bears a different aspect from that of the adjoining parts of America. It is gently undulating, with hollows filled by numberless little creeks and lakes. The coasts of these, as well as of the open sea, present a peculiarly soft and agreeable scenery, as they are skirted by trees of the most varied foliage.
The climate is less severe than in the adjoining parts of America; the winter is shorter and milder than in Lower Canada, and more steady than in Nova Scotia. Its healthfulness is remarkable, and contributes to an extraordinary increase of population.
Early Settlement.—This island was necessarily included[Pg 791] in the boundaries of the empire which the French court claimed in North America, in consequence of the discoveries of Cartier and Verazzani. It appears to have been granted, in 1663, to a French captain, the Seuir Doublet, but held in subordination to a fishing company, established at the small island of Mexoa. It seems, in fact, to have been valued only for fishery, and, for this purpose, to have had some few stations established upon it.
Change of Possession.—After the second reduction of Louisburg, in 1758, that of Prince Edward again followed, and it became permanently attached to the British crown. Its French inhabitants experienced a cruel proscription for a time. Thousands of peaceable and industrious settlers were expelled the island, on suspicion of their being concerned in the murder of some Englishmen, whose scalps were discovered in the French governor's house. These were doubtless the fruits of Indian massacres.
Plans of Colonization.—Some years after the island was confirmed to Britain, Lord Egremont formed a singular scheme, by which it was to be divided into twelve districts, ruled by as many barons, each of whom was expected to erect a castle on his own property, while that nobleman was to preside as lord paramount. This unwise plan was changed for another not much preferable. In August, 1767, a division was made into sixty-seven townships, of about twenty thousand acres each, which, with some reservations, were made over to individuals supposed to possess claims upon the government. They became bound to settle the country in ten years, to the extent of at least one person for two hundred acres. The scheme was indifferently carried into effect.
After the proprietors succeeded in procuring for it a governor independent of Nova Scotia, Mr. Patterson, appointed to that office, in 1770, brought back a number of exiled Acadians, with a view to relieve the effects of the former[Pg 792] cruelty of the government. Tracady was settled by Captain Macdonald with three hundred Highlanders, and Chief-baron Montgomery made special efforts to fulfill his proprietary obligations. From these beginnings the colony received gradual accessions, and, in 1773, a constitution being accorded, the first house of assembly was called.
In 1803, the Earl of Selkirk, to whom emigration is so much indebted, carried over an important colony, consisting of about eight hundred Highlanders. Such judgment was shown in his arrangements, that the settlers soon became very prosperous, and, with the friends who have since joined them, amounted, before the year 1840, to upwards of four thousand.
Character of the late Governors.—The governors of late years have generally well sustained the interests of the colony, with the exception of one, Mr. Smyth. He succeeded in 1813, and his violent and tyrannical conduct caused a general agitation in the colony. He had prevented the meeting of the house of assembly for several years previous to 1823, and when a committee of the inhabitants was appointed to draw up a petition for his removal, he caused them to be arrested. The high-sheriff, Mr. Stewart, however, fortunately made his escape to Nova Scotia, and thence to England. When the true state of things was made known there, the governor was rëcalled, and Lieutenant-colonel Ready was appointed his successor. In 1836, Sir John Harvey was appointed governor. He was highly and justly esteemed for his many good qualities; but being, in 1837, removed to the government of New Brunswick, his place was supplied by Sir Charles A. Fitzroy.
Inhabitants.—The inhabitants consist of a few Indians, about five thousand Acadians, but chiefly of emigrants from different parts of the empire, particularly from Scotland, the natives of which constitute more than one-half of the entire population.
V. NEWFOUNDLAND.
Location and Importance—Discovery and Settlement—French Hostilities—Renewal of War—Change of Administration—Present Condition.
Location and Importance.—Newfoundland is an island on the eastern coast of North America, extending farther out into the Atlantic than any other point of the Western hemisphere. It is an important and large island, being about one thousand miles in circuit. Its consequence arises not from its internal resources, but from its position and its connection with the cod-fisheries in its vicinity. In this, its commercial aspect, it is the most valuable of all the English northern possessions.
The celebrated bank, which constitutes the fishing-ground, is estimated to extend six hundred miles in length and two hundred in breadth, composed almost throughout of masses of solid rock. The abundance of fish is literally inexhaustible, no diminution of fruitfulness being observed, although Europe and America have drawn upon this treasure, to any extent, for several centuries. The vast[Pg 794] masses of ice, which float down from the northern seas into the neighborhood of this island, bring also with them a valuable article of commerce, viz: herds of seal, which the seamen contrive to take, and which furnish a rich store of oil for export.
Discovery and Settlement.—Newfoundland was discovered, in 1497, by Cabot, and has always been claimed by Britain. Attention was drawn to its fisheries before 1517; since, as early as that time, it was stated by the crew of an English ship, that they had left forty vessels, of different European nations, engaged in the fishery.
Several partial attempts were made at settling the country, from 1536 to 1612; but it was only at the latter date that we find the first attempt made on a large scale to colonize the territory. It was chiefly promoted by Mr. Guy, an intelligent merchant of Bristol, who induced a number of influential men at court to engage in the undertaking. In 1610, he having been appointed governor of the intended colony, conveyed thither thirty-nine persons, who constructed a dwelling and store-house, and formed there the first permanent settlement.
For several years, however, the spirit of settlement languished. It was not until 1621 that it began to revive under the auspices of Sir George Calvert, afterwards Lord Baltimore, who obtained a grant of a considerable tract on a part of the island. He had in view the establishment of a Catholic colony, who might enjoy there the free exercise of their religion. About twenty years after his first plantation, there were estimated to be about three hundred and fifty families on different parts of the coast. The fishery, at the same time, grew rapidly into importance.
In 1660, the French, who had previously become active rivals of the British in the fishery, formed a settlement in the Bay of Placentia, which they occupied for a long period.
Through some jealousy, excited by those who favored the deep-sea or whale-fishery, in opposition to the boat-fishery[Pg 795] at Newfoundland, serious attempts were made at one time, by the government at home, to break up all the settlements on the island, and reduce the land to a desert. This cruel and suicidal policy could, however, be effected but in part, and some years afterwards more just views began to be entertained on the subject, and some emigrations even were made again!
French Hostilities.—During the war with France, which broke out in consequence of the revolution of 1688, the settlements in Newfoundland endured great vicissitudes. The latter had, by favor or oversight, been allowed full freedom of fishing, and even formed several settlements. They evidently showed an intention of gaining possession of the whole island. With a view to effect their object, the works at Placentia were attacked in 1692, and partly destroyed; but, in 1696, the French, rëinforced by a squadron from Europe, attacked St. John, yet without success. The place, however, suffered severely, and another armament, before the end of the year, gaining possession of it, set it on fire. Upon this, Ibberville, with a body of troops, destroyed all the English stations, except Bonavista and Carbonier. An English fleet, sent out to retrieve these disasters, failed through the misconduct of the commander. The difficulties were terminated in 1698, by the peace of Ryswick, which placed every thing on the same footing as before the contest.
Renewal of War.—The war of the succession exposed the colony again to the attacks of the French, who were favored by local situation in their proceedings at Newfoundland. The English, at first, took some of the smaller settlements; but in 1705, the troops in Placentia, rëinforced by five hundred men from Canada, successfully attacked the British colonists. Three years afterwards, St. John was completely destroyed, and the French became masters of every English station, except Carbonier. A subsequent[Pg 796] attempt of the British to recover their possessions, was not without effect; but their splendid successes in Europe enabled them at the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, to do more than redeem all their losses in America. Louis XIV. was compelled to yield up all his possessions on the coast of Newfoundland; but he retained, for his subjects, the right to erect huts and stages for fishing on particular portions of the coast.
Changes of Administration.—The nominal dependence of Newfoundland on Nova Scotia, was withdrawn in 1779. From this period until 1827, the government of the island was administered by naval commanders, appointed to cruise on the fishing station, but who returned to England during the winter. Since the last-named period, the government has been administered by resident governors, and, in 1832, it was determined to grant the boon of a representative assembly. This was placed on an extremely liberal footing, the assembly being elected by a suffrage nearly universal.
Present Condition.—The chief British settlements are on the large peninsula named Avalon, constituting the south-eastern part of the island, St. John, the capital, is very convenient for ships coming either from Europe or America, and particularly for the deep-sea and seal-fisheries. After all its improvements, it still bears the aspect of a fishing station, consisting of one long and narrow street, extending entirely along the sea.
VI. HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY.
Extent—Discovery—Settlement—Contests with France—Present State.
Extent.—The Hudson's Bay Territory is a region of British America, far surpassing, in extent, the settled and occupied parts. It is about two thousand six hundred miles in length, from east to west, and nearly one thousand five hundred miles in width, from south to north. It extends northerly till it reaches the Arctic ocean.
Discovery.—Hudson's bay, from which the territory takes its name, was repeatedly visited, at an early period, by English navigators, though for a long time solely with a view to the great object of discovering a north-west passage to Asia. It appears that Sebastian Cabot, in 1517, first penetrated to this gulf, but did not view it as an inclosed sea. This voyage, however, was lost sight of, so that when Hudson, in 1610, sailed through the straits now bearing his name, and found a wide and open expanse, it was considered a new discovery, and named, from him, the Hudson sea. Nor was it recognized as a bay, but was viewed, with hope, as a part of the Pacific. The great navigator, however, having been compelled to winter within the straits, where the crew were exposed to severe suffering, a violent mutiny arose among them, when he and several of his adherents were exposed, in a small boat, on this inhospitable shore, and doubtless perished.
Several voyages were made during the next half century, with many perils and disasters, and all of them abortive as to the primary object. But they were the means of laying open the great extent of Hudson's bay, and of conveying some idea of the valuable furs which might be obtained on its shores.
Settlements.—A Frenchman, named Grosseliez, having penetrated thither from Canada, made a survey of the[Pg 798] country, and laid before the French court the plan of a settlement. Finding his proposition unheeded, he sought the English patronage under Prince Rupert, and in June, 1668, a company of adventurers sailed in a vessel commanded by Zachariah Gillam, and reached a river, then called Nemisco, to which they gave the name of Rupert. Here they wintered with comparative comfort. Upon the report made by this party, a capital of ten thousand five hundred pounds was subscribed by the prince and others, and a charter was obtained, securing to them the exclusive trade and administration of all the countries around Hudson's bay. They immediately sent out adventurers, who formed a settlement on Rupert's river. Others were established on Moose river, in 1674, and four years later on the Albany. By 1685, they had added two more on the Nelson and Severn, and in 1690, their affairs were in such a flourishing condition, that they determined to triple their original stock.
Contests with France.—France, learning these results, regretted her indifference to the proposal of Grosseliez, and commenced efforts to secure advantages which she had, in effect, thrown away. "A claim was advanced on the ground of prior occupation, and Grosseliez, already detached from the English service, was sent out, in 1682, with another officer. He not only laid the foundation of a factory on Hayes' river, but, in the following spring, surprised the British one on the Nelson, taking Gillam a prisoner, and carrying him to Canada; and yet, soon after, by means not very distinctly stated, the English became masters of these stations. In 1686, however, amid a profound peace, the Chevalier de Troyes marched thither, and suddenly took the Rupert, Hayes, and Albany factories. These movements do not seem to have attracted much attention in Europe, but when the war in 1688 broke out, hostile operations were carried on with great ardor. During 1693-94-95, the different posts were successively taken and[Pg 799] rëtaken. In 1696, the English had recovered almost the whole; but in the following year, a squadron from France defeated the Hudson's bay ships, and took all the forts except Albany. The treaty of Ryswick leaving things in statu quo, this state of possession continued till the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, by which the various posts were restored to Britain."
Discoveries have been made in the intervening years, from the above date to the present time, which have resulted in a more extensive knowledge of this immense country. Settlements have occasionally been made on the coasts of the bays or rivers which so abound there; but the object principally in view of the many expeditions on those northern waters—viz: the ascertaining of a passage into the Pacific at the head of the American continent—has never been secured.
RUSSIAN AMERICA.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
The Russians may be regarded as the first discoverers of the north-western shores of this continent. Behring and Tchirikow, in 1728, first saw the straits which separate America and Asia. The Russian voyagers subsequently extended their discoveries southwardly, along the American coast towards Nootka Sound, and, at a late period, made a few establishments for hunting and trade with the Indians on the coast. A single settlement at Sitka, and two others at Kodiak, and Illuluk, on an adjacent island, engaged in the fur-trade with the Indians, comprise all the actual Russian possessions in America.
The limits of the Russian territory, in this region, are bounded on the south by the parallel of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north latitude; but though the Muscovite power lays claim to the territory, and about fifty thousand Indians acknowledge his authority, the sovereignty is little more than a name. On the 5th of April, 1824, a convention between the United States and his majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, was concluded and signed at St. Petersburg. By the third article of this convention it was agreed, "that hereafter there should not be formed under the authority of said states any establishment upon the northern coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude; and that, in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel."
This coast possesses an Alpine character. In some parts it rises into mountains covered with snow, with immense[Pg 801] glaciers winding through its cavities. The most remarkable summit seems to be that called St. Elias by the Russian navigators, and which, it is affirmed, has been visible at sea at the distance of sixty leagues.
The inhabitants of the more northern regions of this coast, appear to be Esquimaux, as they abound also on the eastern coast, and around Hudson's bay. The savages of Nootka are said to be very cruel to the captives taken in war, and have frequently proved treacherous and vindictive in the intercourse held with trading-vessels.
MEXICO.
SYNOPTICAL SKETCH.
The Eagle with the Serpent alighting on the rock in Lake Tenochtitlan, on the spot where the City was built.
Discovery—Condition, anterior to the Spanish Conquest—Invasion by Cortez—Arrival of Cortez in the Mexican Capital—Abdication of Montezuma—Retreat of Cortez, and Return—Fall of the City and Empire—Fate of Cortez—Extent of New Spain—Introduction of the Catholic Religion—Native Spanish Population under the Colonial Government—Classes of the Inhabitants—Causes of the First Mexican Revolution—Commencement of the Revolution—Continuation of the War by the Patriot Chiefs—Decline of the Revolution—Invasion by Mina—Revolution under Iturbide—Adoption of the Federal Constitution—Prosperity of the years 1825 and 1826—Election of President in 1828—Usurpation of Bustamente—Defence of the Federal Constitution—Santa Anna's Proceedings—Establishment of a Central Republic—Attempts against the Central Government—Revolution of 1841—Overthrow of Santa Anna's Government.
The northern coast of Yucatan was first visited and explored in 1517 by Francisco Fernandez de Cordova, who sailed from Cuba in three small vessels, with a company of[Pg 803] adventurers. He here found a race of men much bolder and more warlike than the inhabitants of the islands, who resisted the intruders with a most determined spirit. Many of the latter perished in the contests they were engaged in and Cordova himself received a wound, of which he died soon after his return to Cuba.
The prospect of booty which the region presented, stimulated the Spaniards to secure their prize at any hazard. Another expedition was planned the following year, under Grijalva, consisting of four ships and two hundred and forty men. They commenced by verifying the reports of the preceding adventurers; they then continued their voyage as far as the River Panuco, and were met every where with the marks of a good degree of civilization. Landing frequently, they were sometimes suspected, and warmly attacked; at other times, they were received with the reverence due to superior natures.
Condition, anterior to the Spanish Conquest.—The most ancient Mexican nation, according to tradition, was the Toltecas. It would appear that, at a period corresponding with that of 472 of the Christian era, they were expelled from their own country, called Tollan, somewhere north of Mexico, whence becoming migratory for many years, they at length built a city, called Tolton, fifty miles east from Mexico.
In 667, the Toltecas were chiefly cut off by famine and pestilence. About a hundred years after this, their country was occupied by the Checkemecas, who likewise emigrated from some northern section of the continent. They mingled and intermarried with the remnant of the Toltecas. In 1160, the Aztecs, who dwelt north of the Gulf of California, abandoned their country, and, for a series of years, led a wandering life. They originally consisted of six tribes, but eventually the Mexican tribes separated from the rest, and continued their journey alone. In 1325, they reached a spot on which they commenced a city, and which they[Pg 804] called Mexico, after Mexitli, their god of war. Here, for two hundred years, down to the time of their conquest by the Spaniards, they flourished. They increased in power and wealth. They were joined by the other Aztec tribes from whom they had separated. They were a superior people—well instructed in the art of war. They excelled in sculpture, and, at the time of the invasion, had made considerable progress in architecture, agriculture, &c. Their capital contained not less than one hundred thousand inhabitants. Their government was an elective monarchy. Montezuma was on the Mexican throne, and had surrounded himself with the highest regal splendor, and exercised the most despotic power. Such, in brief, was the condition of the Mexicans when their conquest was attempted by the Spaniards.
Invasion by Cortez.—The reports which had been brought home by several, especially Grijalva, of the fertility and wealth of Mexico, determined Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, to attempt its conquest. The expedition was intrusted to Fernando Cortez, a man peculiarly well calculated by his courage, his perseverance, and other qualities, for an enterprise like this, full of danger and difficulty. The expedition consisted of eleven vessels and six hundred and seventeen men. The object was to make war upon a monarch whose dominions were more extensive than all the kingdoms subject to the Spanish crown. Arriving at the island of Cozumel, Cortez had there the good fortune to redeem Aguilar, a Spaniard, who had been eight years a prisoner among the Indians, and who proved extremely useful as an interpreter. In March, 1519, Cortez landed in Tabasco, a southern province of Mexico, where, though the Indians met him with extraordinary courage, they were routed with great slaughter, in several successive engagements.
Continuing his course to the westward, he landed at San Juan d'Ulloa. Here he was most respectfully addressed by a deputation on board of his ship, but in a language altogether[Pg 805] unknown to him, and even to Aguilar. Fortunately, one of his female slaves, received at Tabasco, well understood the Mexican language, and explained what had been said in the Yucatan tongue, with which Aguilar was unacquainted. This woman, who was known afterwards by the name of Donna Marina, informed him that the persons who addressed him were the officers of a great monarch, whom they called Montezuma, and that they were sent to inquire what his intentions were in visiting their coast, and to offer any assistance he might need in order to continue his voyage. Cortez, having thus learned the purport of the message, assured the officers that he approached their country with the most friendly sentiments, and came to propose matters of great moment to their prince, which should soon be more fully unfolded. Next morning he landed his men, horses, and artillery, by the assistance of the natives, who unconsciously were admitting among them the instruments of their own destruction.
On the 26th of March, Cortez commenced his march towards the Mexican capital, having first destroyed his[Pg 806] vessels, that his soldiers, deprived of the means of retreat, might rely solely on their valor. On his way thither, by consummate address, he alienated from Montezuma several of the petty states with their caziques. Others he compelled, by force of arms, to join him. By degrees, he marched into the country, and, with the addition of the natives, he found himself at the head of an army consisting of several thousand persons.
Arrival of Cortez in the Mexican Capital.—As Cortez approached the Mexican capital, a great retinue of persons came to meet him, adorned with plumes and clad in mantles of fine cotton. Each of these saluted Cortez in the most respectful manner. They announced the approach of Montezuma himself; and soon after, the harbingers, two hundred in number, in a uniform dress, appeared in sight. These were followed by a company of higher rank, in splendid apparel, in the midst of whom was Montezuma, carried in a litter richly ornamented with gold and feathers of various colors. The king and Cortez met, and the most[Pg 807] respectful salutations passed between them. Montezuma conducted Cortez to the quarters that had been prepared for his reception, and took leave of him, saying, "You are now with your brothers in your own house; refresh yourselves after your fatigue, and be happy until I return."
The first care of Cortez, however, was to take precautions for his security, by planting the artillery so as to command the different avenues which led to the place allotted for his reception.
In the evening, Montezuma returned to visit his guests, and again made them magnificent presents. Various conferences passed between them; and the next day Cortez and some of his principal attendants were admitted to an audience of the emperor.
While these events were happening, Cortez formed a plan no less extraordinary than daring. This was to seize Montezuma in his palace, and to carry him prisoner to the Spanish quarters. He communicated his plan to his principal officers, and almost instantly put it into execution.
The Abdication of Montezuma.—Although Montezuma was permitted to exercise the functions of royalty, yet he was guarded with the utmost vigilance by the Spaniards. The king's brave son, with several of the principal officers, on the slightest pretext, was burned alive by the command of Cortez. The monarch himself was, at length, bound with fetters. Having both the monarch and his subjects under this temporary authority, Cortez availed himself of it to the utmost. He appointed commissioners to survey the empire, and to prepare the minds of the people for submitting to the Spaniards; and, in the end, he persuaded Montezuma to acknowledge himself a vassal to the Spanish crown, and to pay an annual tribute. The fallen prince, at the instance of Cortez, accompanied this profession of fealty and homage, with a magnificent present to the king of Spain, and, after his example, his subjects brought in liberal contributions.
War, and the Death of Montezuma.—About this time[Pg 809] Velasquez, piqued by the success of his subaltern, had sent a force into Mexico to take him and his principal officers prisoners; but the good fortune of Cortez triumphed again; for overcoming his enemies in battle, he induced the greater part of them to join his standard; and when he had least of all expected it, he was placed at the head of a thousand Spaniards, ready to aid him, at any hazard, in his enterprises.
This additional force had but just time to enroll themselves under their new leader, before the Mexicans attacked them in all directions.
Cortez now found himself environed with the most imminent dangers. The only resource which remained to him was to try what effect the interposition of Montezuma might have upon his enraged subjects. When, the next morning, they approached to renew the assault, that unfortunate prince was compelled to advance to the battlements, and exhort his people to discontinue hostilities. But the fury of the multitude could not be repressed, and it was now directed momentarily against their prince. Flights of[Pg 810] arrows and volleys of stones poured in so violently upon the ramparts, that before the Spanish soldiers had time to lift their shields for Montezuma's defence, two arrows wounded the unhappy monarch, and a blow of a stone on his temple struck him to the ground.
Most bitterly did these poor men lament the consequences of their displeasure, as they witnessed the fate of their sovereign. As for Montezuma, in a paroxysm of rage he tore the bandage from his wounds, and so obstinately refused to take any nourishment, that he soon ended his days, rejecting with disdain all the urgency of the Spaniards that he should embrace the Christian faith.
Retreat and Return of Cortez.—The death of Montezuma filled the Mexicans with surprise and terror; but added to, rather than diminished, their hostility. They determined to reduce by famine a foe which they could not subdue by force. This coming to the knowledge of Cortez, he perceived, situated as he was, that his safety lay in instant retreat from the city. Preparations were accordingly made to march out of Mexico that very night. Each soldier took such booty as he was able; yet a large quantity of silver was left behind. At midnight, the troops abandoned their quarters, and proceeded in silence along the causeway that led to Tacubaya.
The Mexicans were watching the retreating foe. At length, the latter reached a breach which had been made in the causeway, when in an instant they were astounded by a tremendous roar of martial instruments. Clouds of arrows were showered upon them. Yet they struggled on to a second breach, where they were obliged to wade through the mud and water. All was darkness, confusion, dismay. Many were so heavily laden with spoils, that they sunk to rise no more. The carnage was dreadful. It was a night of blood—or what is known in the Mexican history as the Noche triste, or "doleful night." Cortez lost some five or six hundred Spaniards, and of his allies, the Tlascalans,[Pg 811] above two thousand. Only a small portion of the pillaged treasures was saved—horses, ammunition, baggage, nearly all were gone. In the morning, although his troops needed rest and his wounded care, Cortez pursued his march towards Tlascala, where he was received with kindness by his allies.
Some interval of tranquillity was now absolutely necessary, not only that the Spaniards might give attention to the cure of their wounds, but in order to recruit their strength, exhausted by a long succession of fatigues and hardships. When these objects had been attained, and his forces were considerably augmented, on the 28th of December, 1520, Cortez commenced his return towards Mexico.
In his progress towards it, he took possession of Tezcuco, the second town in the empire, situated on the lake about twenty miles from the capital. He had already prepared the materials for building several brigantines, so that they might be carried thither in pieces ready to be put together, and launched when they were needed. Here he established[Pg 812] his head-quarters, as it was the most suitable place to launch the brigantines. With the launching of these, all was in readiness for the great enterprise.
Nor were the Mexicans unprepared. Upon the death of Montezuma, his brother, Quetlavaca, a man distinguished for his courage and capacity, was raised to the throne. But in the midst of his preparations to meet the invaders, he was fatally attacked by the small-pox, a scourge which had been introduced into the country by the Spaniards. Gautimozin, nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma, was next chosen emperor, nor could the choice have fallen on a more deserving man.
Great bravery was displayed by the Mexicans during the siege. Cortez found it necessary to proceed with caution in all his measures. His chief prospect of success lay in cutting off supplies from the city; at length, in that, he succeeded, so that the public stores were exhausted, and the sufferings in the city became extreme.
Fall of the City and Empire.—At this crisis, Gautimozin,[Pg 813] in an attempt to escape to the provinces, with a view to arouse his people more effectually for his defence, was captured and conducted to Cortez.
He appeared with singular composure and self-respect, requesting of Cortez, that no insult should be offered to the empress or his children. "I have done," said he to his conqueror, "what became a monarch. I have defended my people to the last extremity. Nothing now remains but to die. Take this dagger," (laying hold of one which Cortez wore,) "plant it in my heart, and put an end to a life which can be no longer useful to my country." Before he left the city, he had been careful to disappoint the expectations of the Spaniards, by throwing all his treasures into the lake.
When the fate of their sovereign was known, the Mexicans laid down their arms, and Cortez took possession of that small part of the capital which yet remained, three-fourths of it having been reduced to ashes during the conflict. In this manner terminated the memorable siege of Mexico.
The fate of the capital decided that, also, of the empire. The provinces submitted, one after another, to the conquerors. Small parties of Spaniards, marching through them without interruption, penetrated in different quarters to the Pacific ocean. Thus a great and rich empire was secured to Spain, through the almost incredible efforts of a single man at the head of a small band of adventurers.
Fate of Cortez.—As a reward for his bold and surprising achievements, Cortez was warmly eulogized by his countrymen at home, and the Emperor Charles V. appointed him captain-general and governor of New Spain, with other tokens of favor. But a bitter cup was at last pressed to his lips. After returning to America, and continuing there for a time in his command, he came back, in 1540, to his native country. But in consequence of his ambition and usurpations, his reception at home was ill-suited to the character of his heroic deeds. "The emperor behaved to him with[Pg 814] cold civility, his ministers treated him sometimes with neglect, sometimes with insolence. His grievances received no redress; his claims were urged without effect; and, after several years spent in fruitless application to ministers and judges, he ended his days on the 2d of December, in the sixty-second year of his age."
Extent of New Spain.—This country, under the Spaniards, embraced a more extensive region than the empire of Mexico, or the dominions of Montezuma and his predecessors. It included, in addition to the Mexican empire proper, New Navarre, a vast territory, extending to the north and west; the provinces of California, as also the peninsula of California; and, moreover, the provinces of Yucatan and Honduras, stretching from the Bay of Campeachy to beyond Cape Gracias a Dios. At an early period, most of these countries had been visited and subjugated by Spanish adventurers. The peninsula of California, which had been discovered by Cortez in 1536, began to be explored by the Jesuits towards the close of the seventeenth century. Here they established an important mission, but, after a time, were expelled from the country.
Introduction of the Catholic Religion.—The conquerors of New Spain carried with them the Catholic faith, which became the established religion; and, indeed, was the only religion that was tolerated, until the revolution in the beginning of the present century. The establishment was instituted as an auxiliary branch of the government, on a similar model to that in Spain. In attempts to convert the natives, they made use of the same unjustifiable means that have been resorted to by the Jesuits. But notwithstanding all that was done, their spiritual character and condition were unchanged. Of real Christianity, they remained wholly ignorant, and retained all their veneration for their ancient superstitions. This mixture of Christianity with their own heathenish rites and notions, was transmitted to their posterity,[Pg 815] and has never been eradicated. That device of the infernal pit, the Inquisition, was established in America by the bigoted zeal of Philip II., in the year 1570. This measure completed the ecclesiastical apparatus for fastening Catholicism on the new world.
Native Spanish Population under the Colonial Government.—For nearly three centuries, down to the year 1810, Mexico was governed by viceroys, appointed by the court of Spain, all of whom, with one exception, were European Spaniards. Every situation in the gift of the crown was bestowed upon a European, nor is there an instance, for many years before the revolution, either in the church, the army, or the law, in which the door of preferment was opened to a Spaniard, Mexican-born. Through this policy, a privileged caste arose, distinct from the Mexican Spaniards in feelings, habits, and interests—the paid agents of a government whose only aim was to enrich itself, without any regard to the abuses perpetrated under its authority.
Classes of the Inhabitants.—Anterior to the revolution in 1810, the population of Mexico was divided into distinct castes, as follows: 1, The old Spaniards, born in Spain, designated Chapetones. 2, Creoles or Whites, of pure European race, born in America, and regarded by the first class as natives. 3, The Indians, or indigenous copper-colored race. 4, The Mestizos, or mongrel breeds of Whites and Indians, in the purer descent approaching to the Creoles. 5, Mulattoes, or descendants of Whites and Negroes. 6, The Zambos, descendants of Negroes and Indians. And 7, The African Negroes, whether manumitted or slaves.
The pure races were the old Spaniards, Creoles, Indians, and Negroes, and gave rise, in their various combinations or divisions, to the others. The remaining three races were impure or mixed, and were sub-divided, without any assigned limits. Upon the breaking out of the revolution, the distinctions of caste were all absorbed in the name of Americans and Europeans.
Causes of the First Mexican Revolution.—For more than a century, Spain had been on the decline, when, in 1808, the Emperor Napoleon gave a finishing stroke to her degradation, by seizing upon the royal family, and placing his brother Jerome upon the throne. To this revolution, the Spanish chiefs, who were assured of their places, were disposed to yield, excepting the viceroy of Mexico. But the people, indignant at the foul treatment which their sovereign had received, were determined not to submit to it. A general revolt against the authority of Buonaparte, soon disclosed itself in old Spain, intelligence of which reaching Mexico on the 29th of July, 1808, the feelings of the people were excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. At this time, the Cabildo, or municipality of Mexico, presented a petition to Iturrigaray the viceroy, to assemble a junta, or representatives of the province, for self-government. The viceroy, however, hesitated, fearing the Spanish population, who[Pg 817] opposed the measure. Apprised of his inclination to gratify the people, the Spaniards seized the viceroy, and delivered him over to the prison of the Inquisition. The conspirators were principally Spanish merchants in Mexico, and were secretly favored in their designs by the court of the Audiciencia, the highest judicial tribunal of Mexico.
The European Spaniards, both in the capital and in the interior, now formed patriotic associations for the defence of what they termed their rights, and armed themselves against the Creoles, who had favored the project of assembling the junta. The latter, though by far the most numerous, were unused to arms, and submitted for the moment; but their spirit was aroused, and it became an absorbing question whether themselves or the small clique of Europeans should possess the right of administering the government during the captivity of their king. A general impatience to shake off the yoke of foreign domination, began to seize the minds of all. There was wanting only a leader to make the occasion and to strike the blow.
Commencement of the Revolution.—The person was soon found, in Don Miguel Hidalgo Castilla, a clergyman, distinguished for his talents, learning, and liberality of sentiment. Perceiving the general disaffection of the people, and the prevailing animosities against the Spaniards, as also having private motives of discontent, Hidalgo conceived the plan of a general insurrection for the subversion of the colonial government.
Allende, a friend of Hidalgo, was the first to raise the standard of revolt in the little town of Dolores, on the 16th of September, 1810, where he seized and imprisoned seven Europeans, whose property he distributed among his followers. The Indians, under Hidalgo, now flew to arms; and being rëinforced by disaffected troops belonging to the government, Hidalgo marched to Guanaxuato, a wealthy town of eighty thousand inhabitants, of which, after a strenuous contest, he received the submission. This was an[Pg 818] acquisition of signal importance, as he found in the treasury an amount of five millions of silver.
From this period, the insurrection spread rapidly, notwithstanding the efforts of Venegas, the new viceroy, to allay it. Many towns declared in favor of Hidalgo, who proceeded from Guanaxuato to Valladolid, where he was joyfully received as a deliverer. His pecuniary resources were increased by the donation of one million two hundred thousand dollars from the public authorities. His next step was to march towards the capital. He had made a great acquisition in having Morelos, a warlike priest, and highly celebrated in the revolution, come to his aid.
Mexico was, at this time, in a highly critical condition—the prevailing disaffection had reached it, and was producing its fruits of weakness and division. The forces collected for its defence were wholly inadequate to the object.
In this juncture of affairs, Hidalgo might doubtless have seized on the capital; indeed, many were anxiously awaiting his approach, as its deliverer. After an anxious night, great was the surprise the next morning, on the part of the people, when they saw the assailants retiring. The cause of Hidalgo's strange retrograde movement has never been satisfactorily ascertained.
From this period, sad reverses awaited him. When he had arrived at Aculco, on his retreat, he was attacked, on the 7th of November, by Calleja, who, with the main part of the Spanish army, had previously reached the capital. Of the royal troops, six thousand were disciplined veterans, and their imposing appearance alone was sufficient to frighten Hidalgo's Indians. These fled at the first fire; the regular troops being thus left unsupported, were unable long to stand the attack. Pursued by the royalists with great fury, the slaughter became immense; ten thousand of the independents, in the official report of Calleja, were said to have been killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. Hidalgo, having retreated to Guanaxuato, was, on the 29th of November, attacked again by Calleja, and driven from[Pg 819] his position, with the loss of twenty-five pieces of cannon and several valuable officers.
"Hidalgo retreated to Valladolid, where he caused eighty Europeans to be beheaded, and proceeded thence to Guadalaxara; he made another triumphal entrance into that city, on the 24th of November. Here he committed another act of cold-blooded massacre, which has left a foul blot on his name. All the Europeans having been thrown into prison, Hidalgo determined to destroy them. Without trial or previous examination, they were taken out in small parties, and conducted under the veil of night to retired parts of the neighboring mountains, where between seven and eight hundred were butchered in secret. This remorseless act of barbarity, besides being wholly unjustifiable by the rules of war, was impolitic in the extreme. It prevented many respectable Creoles from joining the insurgents; and as it drove the Spaniards to despair, it furnished them at the same time with an excuse for any atrocities which they chose to commit."
Hidalgo continued to retreat towards Saltillo. By this time, his forces were reduced to about four thousand men; and arriving at Saltillo, a distance of nearly five hundred miles from the Mexican capital, he left the army, and with several officers sought the frontiers of the United States, with the intention of purchasing arms and military stores. He was destined, however, to be the victim of treachery. One of his subordinates in office had the baseness to arrest him, for the purpose of securing a pardon for himself. The leader, unsuspicious of danger when attacked, was easily overcome and taken. It was on the 21st of March, 1811, that Hidalgo and his followers were made prisoners. Many of them were executed on the field of action the next day. Hidalgo and a few others were not put to death until the 27th of July following.
Continuation of the War by the Patriot Chiefs.—The revolution had evidently taken deep hold on the minds of[Pg 820] the people. The fate of Hidalgo did not dispirit the chiefs of the patriot cause. The prominent of these, Rayon, a lawyer, Villagran, and Morelos, a priest, now assumed the responsibility of directing the storm. The principal of these was Morelos, and to an account of his movements we confine ourselves.
From small beginnings Morelos possessed, at length, an efficient army, and was obeyed throughout nearly the entire southern coast of Mexico. On taking the field, town after town was taken, and victory succeeded to victory. His course, moreover, was marked by the humane treatment of his prisoners in every instance. Morelos had now great reason to hope for success in his noble enterprise, while the inhabitants were ready to aid him in every possible way. In this state, it was deemed necessary to oppose to him the greatest captain of the governmental forces, and Calleja was summoned to defend the capital.
Calleja, soon after his arrival at Mexico, attacked the army of Morelos at Quantla; but after a severe action, he was repulsed, and obliged to retreat, leaving five hundred dead on the field of battle. But what he could not effect by storm, he now attempted to accomplish by siege. For seventy-five days he continued to besiege Morelos, who was determined, if possible, to hold out; but all hopes of obtaining provisions being, at length, extinguished, Morelos resolved to evacuate the place, which he effected on the night of the 2d of May, 1811. Most of the inhabitants marched out with the army. When Calleja discovered the movement, he commenced a spirited attack upon them, and four thousand of the patriots were slain. It was during the events attending the siege of Quantla, that Victoria and Bravo, both young men, began to distinguish themselves in the cause of independence. Guerréro likewise, in the successful defence of a neighboring town, began his long and perilous career.
Following the affair at Quantla, Morelos engaged in numerous encounters with divisions of the enemy, and, for[Pg 821] a time, was victorious; but he was at length taken, and doomed to execution. Just prior to his death, he uttered the following simple, but affecting prayer: 'Lord, if I have done well, thou knowest it; if ill, to thy infinite mercy I commend my soul.' He then bound a handkerchief over his eyes, gave the signal to the soldiers to fire, and met death with as much composure as he had ever shown when facing it on the field of battle.
Decline of the Revolution.—After the death of Morelos, no leader was found whose influence was sufficient to combine the efforts of the insurgents, and secure harmony among the chiefs. The cause of the revolution, therefore, declined apace. Teran, Guerréro, Rayon, Torrés, Bravo, and Victoria, commanding in different parts of the country, were mostly, in the course of two or three years, overcome, and taken prisoners. The story of Victoria is one of uncommon interest. The province of Vera Cruz was the field of his operations, and it was not until after a struggle of two years, that this formidable insurgent chief was disarmed of his power to harass the viceroy, Apadoca. He lost many of his followers in battle, others deserted him, and he was left, in the end, literally alone. No threats and no promises of preferment could induce him to offer his submission to the government. Unattended by a single friend, he sought the solitude and security of the mountains, and was lost for several years to his country.
Invasion of Mexico by Mina.—In the year 1817, when most of the insurgent forces were dispersed, an enterprise of singular boldness was attempted in Mexico, by a foreigner named Don Xavier Mina. His more specific object was to establish the independence of Mexico on a constitutional basis, without an entire severance of the country from Spain. Mina was a nephew of the celebrated general of that name, who so long resisted the French and Spanish royalists in his native country. In May, 1816,[Pg 822] he sailed from Liverpool with a small expedition, having a few thousand stand of arms, and also equipages for a body of infantry and cavalry, and arrived in the United States in June. Here he procured the service of several officers, an addition of muskets, and some pecuniary aid from Baltimore and New Orleans. Sailing for the Gulf of Mexico, he did not reach Galveston until November, where he was joined by Aury, the commander of the privateers in that quarter, and by some of the inhabitants; but as it was too late for operations, he passed the winter in Galveston.
Early in the following spring, Mina entered upon the prosecution of his design. But the time chosen by him was unpropitious. The revolutionary cause had fallen to a low point. Mina failed, was taken, and shot. The power of the insurgents was broken, and most of their eminent men were either killed in battle, or shot as traitors, or imprisoned. But the principles of independence were daily gaining ground in the country at large, and the spirit of the revolutionists, though checked for a time, was not subdued, as was proved by subsequent events in Mexican history.
Revolution under Iturbide.—The unfortunate termination of the expedition under Mina, was by no means a termination of the difficulties in which Mexico had long been involved. The next person who largely figured in her affairs was Augustin Iturbide, who had risen, in 1816, by his valor and capacity, to the command of what was called the northern army. In 1820, the cortes having ordered the sale of the church property, the viceroy, Apadoca, refused to acknowledge the cortes; he employed Iturbide to reduce Guerréro, one of the patriot chiefs; but, instead of this, he formed a junction with that chief, and on February 24th, 1821, he proclaimed the independence of his country. Soon after, he took possession of the capital, and, in 1822, May 18th, he usurped the crown, through the subserviency of his troops. He was proclaimed emperor, under the name of Augustin the First.
The next morning congress was convened in extraordinary session. His election to the imperial dignity was proposed and discussed in his presence, and was voted for by a few more than one-half the whole body of delegates. Meanwhile, the friends of liberal institutions, overawed by the power of the usurper, fled to their wonted retreats, until a fitting season should arrive for acting with union and efficiency. The acts of oppression of Iturbide, from this time, continued to increase. He ordered the dissolution of congress, had recourse to forced loans, with other usurpations.
While affairs were in this posture, Santa Anna, who at this time was commanding at Vera Cruz, was suddenly dismissed. Surprised at treatment thus harsh, and as he deemed unjust, Santa Anna excited the garrison to revolt, for the purpose of dethroning Iturbide, and establishing a republican government. While these matters were in progress, Victoria, who for some years had lived in obscurity, made his appearance, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the insurgents. In February, 1823, Echavarri, the commander of the imperialists, joined forces with Victoria and Santa Anna.
Defection now became general among the officers of the army; in consequence of which, Iturbide was obliged to surrender his power. Hastily assembling at Mexico the dispersed members of congress, on the 19th of March, 1823, he tendered them his abdication of the crown. Congress allowed him a yearly pension of twenty-five thousand dollars, on condition of his leaving the Mexican territory for ever. On the 11th of May, he embarked for Leghorn.
Adoption of the Federal Constitution.—A provisionary government was immediately established, and a triplicate executive appointed, consisting of Generals Victoria, Bravo, and Negrete. Measures were at once adopted for the convocation of a new congress, which, upon assembling, entered on the arduous plan of framing a constitution of government. This they did on the federative plan, and on the 2d of February,[Pg 824] it was sworn to in the capital, amidst the rejoicings and acclamations of the people. The government soon went into operation, and Victoria was chosen president of the republic, and Bravo vice-president.
Contrary to the decree of perpetual banishment against him, Iturbide returned to Mexico in disguise; but, being discovered, he was shot. This took place on the 10th of July, 1824. Several disturbances had occurred, partly on his account, during his absence; but the republic was now relieved from one great source of disquietude.
The general provisions of the new constitution, as to the distribution of the powers of government into their parts, were the same as those of the constitution of the United States; but they differed as to the right of trial by jury, which was omitted, and the Roman Catholic religion was alone to be tolerated in Mexico.
Prosperity of the years 1825 and 1826.—The new government was now acceptable to the Mexican people. The administration of Victoria was popular, and measures were maturing for cementing the union of states, and for consolidating the public liberty. Much was done, also, to stimulate the industry of the people. The prospect of public peace, order, and liberty in Mexico, was such as to attract thousands of emigrants from the United States and from Europe. Wealth, and comfort, and honors, were held out as a reward of virtue and enterprise. But the pleasant vision soon vanished, and this ill-fated country was again the theatre of turmoil and contention.
Election of a President in 1828.—Victoria's term now expiring, a new president was to be chosen; among the prominent candidates for which office were General Guerréro, and Gomez Pedraza, then secretary of war. The canvass resulted in the choice of Pedraza; but the friends of Guerréro soon set up a claim in his favor, alleging that, in taking the votes, he was defeated solely by fraud.
At the session of the new congress in January, 1829, the house of representatives proclaimed Vincent Guerréro to be duly elected president, on the constitutional ground that he had the majority of the legal votes. General Bustamente, who had been supported by the partisans of Pedraza, was declared to be duly elected vice-president; and in organizing the new administration, Zavala, then governor of the state of Mexico, was appointed secretary of state, and General Santa Anna, secretary of war.
Usurpation of Bustamente.—Soon after the declaration of congress in favor of the election of Guerréro, that body passed a resolution investing him with dictatorial powers, in anticipation of an invasion by Spain, to recover possession of Mexico. The Spanish army of four thousand five hundred men, sent for that purpose, were defeated, and compelled to retire. The continuance of his extraordinary power was now no longer necessary; yet Guerréro continued to exercise it, and in a manner and for purposes not contemplated. This brought upon him the censure of Bustamente and others, who saw in his measures a desire to perpetuate his dictatorship. Yet, on the 11th of December, Guerréro resigned his dictatorship into the hands of congress, and retired to his estate. Bustamente immediately assumed or usurped the presidency, pretending that he was actuated solely by a desire to restore the constitution, which had been violated in the elevation of Guerréro to the presidency. The latter now fled to the mountains, but circumstances, in the spring of 1830, seeming to favor an attempt to regain his lost authority, he embarked in the enterprise, and the whole country was again in arms. He was, however, unsuccessful, and falling into the hands of his opponents, he was condemned as a traitor, and executed in February, 1831.
Defence of the Federal Constitution.—The measures of Bustamente directly tended towards the establishment of a strong central government, as those of Guerréro had been in[Pg 826] favor of a perpetual dictatorship. On the ground of Bustamente's procedure in his government, Santa Anna, in 1832, placed himself at the head of the garrison of Vera Cruz, and, as a pretext for revolt, demanded a rëorganization of the ministry. His declarations were in favor of the constitution and the laws, and consequently rallied the friends of the federal system to his support. War soon began to rage, and it was not until nearly a year, that an accommodation was made, when it was agreed that Pedraza should be restored to the government. He was accordingly restored, and by means of his favorable notice of Santa Anna, now his friend, but formerly his enemy, he exerted such an influence, that the latter was elected his successor in 1833. Gomez Farias was chosen vice-president. The federal system was now apparently rëestablished under the new administration.
Proceedings of Santa Anna—a Central Republic Established.—From the first moment of Santa Anna's accession to the presidency, he was inflamed with a desire for dictatorial power. He seized an opportunity to desert the federal republican party, and joined the centralist faction. By a military order, he dissolved the constitutional congress in May, 1834, and in January, 1835, he assembled a revolutionary and aristocratic congress, which deposed the vice-president Farias, and elected General Barragan, a leading centralist, in his place. About the same time, through the influence of Santa Anna, the constitution of 1824 was abolished by congress, as were also all the state constitutions and state authorities, and a central republic was established in its place. So violent a measure proved unacceptable to several of the states. Zacatecas submitted, and declared for centralism. "The torch of liberty was now extinguished in the republic, and military despotism fully established." No! it was not quite extinguished. One Mexican territory, Texas, with her by fifty thousand bold inhabitants, chiefly emigrants from the United States, was ready to resist the[Pg 827] dictates of a usurper and a despot. Santa Anna felt at once the importance of reducing Texas, and of defeating the Americans or driving them from the country. He made the attempt with an army of eight thousand men, but when he supposed that his object had been attained, he was suddenly attacked at San Jacinto, by General Houston, who routed his troops, and took him prisoner. This occurred on the 21st of April, 1836. After being a prisoner several months, he was permitted to return to Mexico, where, in the mean time, his authority as president had been superseded, and where he passed several years in obscurity, on his own hacienda (farm).
Attempts against the Central Government.—Two successive attempts were made against the central government during the years 1837 and 1838, under Bustamente, who had been chosen president after his return from France. The first consisted of declarations in favor of federation, and of Gomez Farias for the presidency; but the disturbance[Pg 828] was easily quelled. The other attempt was made by Mexia in 1838, who had once before raised the standard of rebellion against the central government. He was opposed by Santa Anna, who had issued from his retirement, and who hoped, by rendering some service to the government, to wipe off the disgrace which attached to his name. Mexia was unfortunate, and, being taken prisoner, was almost instantly shot. Santa Anna appeared again on the stage, in resisting an attack from an invading French expedition against the town of Vera Cruz.
An insurrection commenced with the federalist party, in the month of July, 1840, headed by General Urrea and Gomez Farias, and, for a time, the prospect was favorable for another reform of the constitution.
Revolution of 1841.—But revolutions were not at an end in Mexico. An insurrection broke out in the month of August, 1841, the result of which was, the bombardment of the capital, the downfall of Bustamente, and the convention of Tacubaya. Santa Anna took a part in this revolution against the president, and being at the head of the army, he selected the junta, which, according to the "plan of Tacubaya," was to choose the president of the republic. The junta repaid the distinction conferred upon them by selecting him for that high office. The congress, however, which assembled in June, 1842, proving to be disagreeable to Santa Anna, he dissolved it by an authoritative act, and, convening an assembly of notables, they fixed on a new constitution.
A New Constitution.—This was proclaimed on the 13th of June, 1843, and conferred almost all the power on the national executive. Santa Anna himself having been chosen that executive, the new government was organized by the assembling of congress in January, 1844. There was little agreement between that body and the dictator, as he might now be called, and hostility to his administration began to be expressed throughout the country. Measures were[Pg 829] accordingly taken for his overthrow, in which Paredes, who had commenced the revolution of 1841, bore a conspicuous part. At the head of a body of troops, he openly declared against the dictator, and soon carried with him several of the northern provinces.
Overthrow of Santa Anna's Government.—The people in the capital soon arose in arms; the military declared against the dictator, and on the rëassembling of congress, General Herrera, the leader of the constitutional party, was appointed provisional president of the republic, and a new ministry was formed. This was an occasion of unbounded rejoicing throughout the country. Santa Anna, however, with the troops still under his command, attempted to rëgain his lost authority; but meeting with defeat and disappointment, he endeavored to escape, having first proposed to his opponents terms that were not accepted. This occurred in January, 1845. He was taken prisoner, and confined several months in the castle of Perote; after which, congress passed against him a decree of perpetual banishment from Mexico.
In the mean time, the province of Texas having maintained its independence during nine years, and having been acknowledged therein by the United States and several European powers, was, upon its own application, received into the confederacy of the former, and became a constituent part of the great American Union. This annexation became the occasion of the war between Mexico and the United States, of which an account is given in the history of the latter country.
GUATEMALA.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
Volcanoes. Ruins of Old Guatemala, destroyed by an Earthquake and Volcanic Eruption, and abandoned by the Inhabitants.
Locality—Extent—Physical Character—Discovery and Conquest—Independence of the Country.
Guatemala, or the "Republic of Central America," is the most southern point or portion of the North American continent, exclusive of the isthmus. It has an area of one hundred and eighty-five thousand square miles. It is composed of five states, which are sub-divided into districts, and of the federal district, which contains the seat of government.
The soil of the country is in general good, and exhibits the same variety as in Mexico, with similar productions. In portions of it, Guatemala is subject to tremendous convulsions[Pg 831] of nature. This is the case mostly in the mountainous regions, of which there is a lofty chain, traversing the country, and presenting a series of twenty-one volcanic summits in constant activity. Old Guatemala, the capital of the state of Guatemala, has been several times destroyed by earthquakes, as it lies between the volcanoes of Agua and Fuego.
Discovery and Conquest.—Guatemala, like the other portions of the American continent in this quarter, was discovered by the Spaniards. It appears never to have formed a part of the empire of Mexico. At the arrival of the Spaniards, it contained many distinct kingdoms or principalities. The natives, called Quiches, lived in cities, and some ruins of their works are yet visible. The subjugation of Mexico by Cortez, struck terror into the inhabitants of Guatemala, and some of the chiefs sent embassies to the conqueror, offering to submit to him, and acknowledging themselves vassals of the Spanish king. Cortez dispatched Pedro de Alvarado, one of his officers who had been most active in the conquest of Mexico, to take possession of the country.
Alvarado marched from Mexico in November, 1523, with three hundred Spaniards, and a large auxiliary force of Mexicans. He met, however, with strenuous opposition in his progress. The Indians were defeated in several engagements, and the Spaniards remained masters of the provinces in which these engagements took place. On entering the kingdom of Quiche, they met with a more serious resistance than they had received elsewhere. The invaders, nevertheless, on the 14th of May, 1524, gained the victory in a great battle. Alvarado continued his march to the capital of the king of Kachiquel, who had sent his submission to Cortez. This prince received the stranger with courtesy, and on the 29th of July, 1524, they laid the foundation of the ancient city of Guatemala. The conquest of the remaining provinces followed soon after,[Pg 832] although many savage wilds have remained to the present day very little explored or known by the conquerors.
Independence of the Country.—The people of Guatemala declared Guatemala independent on the 15th of September, 1821, and subsequently it was incorporated with Mexico; but on the fall of Iturbide, it disconnected itself from Mexico, and formed a separate independent republic on the 4th of July, 1843, under the title of the "Federation of Central America."
The constitution of the republic is modeled on that of the United States. The president and vice-president are elected for four years. The senate is composed of two members from each of the states, and the house of representatives consists of deputies (one deputy for thirty thousand inhabitants) elected by the people. They have abolished slavery in this country, as well as in Mexico. No other religion than the Catholic is tolerated in Guatemala, that being the established faith.
SOUTH AMERICA.
I. NEW GRENADA.
Extent and Physical Features—Revolution of 1811—Formation of a Constitution—Liberation of Quito—The Crisis of 1828—Separation of New Grenada, Venezuela, and Equator—State of the Government since the Separation.
Extent and Physical Features.—New Grenada constitutes the north-west portion of the South American continent, commencing with the isthmus, and extending down on the western coast nine hundred and eighty miles. It contains an area of three hundred and eighty thousand square miles. The country is traversed by several chains of the Andes, the basis of which consists of elevated plains or table-lands, which are many thousand feet above the level of the[Pg 834] sea. The soil is extremely fertile, and produces in great richness and abundance the various fruits and vegetables of the tropical regions. The climate is hot and unhealthy in the low country on the coast, but on the table-lands is found a perpetual spring.
Revolution of 1811.—Soon after the invasion of Spain by the French in 1808, a revolutionary spirit began to manifest itself in the Spanish colonies of South America; and in the course of a few years, all these colonies, one after another, declared themselves independent, and formed republican constitutions, most of which took that of the United States as a model, in a great measure. But the people were ill-prepared for free governments. Their character, education, and habits were little in accordance with republicanism.
New Grenada declared itself an independent state in 1811, and after a long and severe struggle with the mother-country, expelled the Spaniards from its territory. The memorable victory of Carabobo, in 1821, completed the overthrow of the Spanish authority. In this battle, an army of six thousand royalists was nearly annihilated, only four hundred men saving themselves by taking shelter in Porto Cavello. The patriots were led on by Bolivar.[86] Previously to this period, viz: in 1819, a union was decreed of New Grenada and Venezuela into one republic, under the name of Columbia, the presidency of Quito having subsequently succeeded to the confederacy.
Formation of a Constitution.—On the 17th of July, 1821, a general congress met at Rosario de Cucuta, to form a constitution, which was completed and adopted on the 30th of August. The legislative power was vested in a senate of thirty-six members, and in a chamber of deputies[Pg 835] of ninety-four members, and Simon Bolivar was elected president, and Santander vice-president. Bolivar and Santander were both rëelected for a second term, commencing on the 1st of January, 1827.
Liberation of Quito.—In respect to the liberation of Quito, it appears that the destruction of the royal army, on the plains of Carabobo, enabled Bolivar to direct his whole attention to the expulsion of the Spaniards from the southern provinces. The presidency of Quito, afterwards formed into the republic of Equador, had, for many years, been united with New Grenada. The army of the South, under Sucre, was rëinforced by the troops which could be spared from other situations, amounting to seven thousand men, and the president placed himself at its head. Both parties having at length concentrated their forces, the campaign and the fate of Quito were decided at the battle fought at Pinchincha, about the 1st of June, 1822. Bolivar's usual success still attended him, and the arms of the republic were again crowned with a most signal victory.
The Crisis of 1828.—In 1828, the country was threatened with anarchy, and Bolivar took a decisive step—and daring as it was decisive—in dissolving the Columbian congress on the 27th of August of that year, and assuming absolute authority. To this movement he had been encouraged by addresses from various municipal bodies, calling upon him to put an end to the public disorders, by taking upon himself that authority. He organized a new government to suit his own views, and soon began to feel the consequences of the bold measure he had adopted, in the conspiracies that were formed against him. The month of September did not pass without an attempt to assassinate him. His aid-de-camp was killed, but Bolivar's life was saved by the courage of his officers. Generals Padilla and Santander were charged with this plot, and by a special tribunal condemned to death. The former was executed,[Pg 836] but the punishment of Santander was commuted for banishment. Several other individuals suffered death. The country was more or less agitated by violent factions; many military leaders aspired to the supreme command, and Bolivar's efforts to prevent dissension incited insurrections. Many denounced him as a usurper and tyrant. Venezuela claimed her independence, and Bolivar, after endeavoring in vain to unite them, and create a spirit of harmony under his rule, resigned all his authority to the congress at Bogota, in 1830. He retired to Carthagena in deep depression of spirits, on account of the calamities of his country.
Separation of New Grenada, Venezuela, and Ecuador, or Equator.—On the 4th of May, 1830, Senor Joachim Mosquera was elected president, and General Domingo Caicedo, vice-president; but on the 4th of September, Mosquera resigned, and Urdanata was appointed temporary president until the arrival of Bolivar, whose return to power was decreed by a meeting of soldiers and citizens; but Bolivar died at Carthagena, December 17th, the same year. Venezuela again joined Columbia for a short time; but in November, 1831, a new separation took place, and since that time the late republic of Columbia has been divided into three republics, viz: New Grenada, Venezuela, and Equator, whose constitutions are similar to that of Columbia.
State of the Government since the Separation.—Since this period, there seems to have been a regularity in the appointment of the highest officers of the government. In 1832, General Santander was called to the presidency, whose term of office expired in 1836. The next term of four years was filled by José Ignacio de Marquez. Of late years—that is, for two successive terms—General Herran has been president of New Grenada. Don Thomas C. Mosquera was elected president of the republic in 1848.
II. VENEZUELA.
Name, Physical Features, &c.—Discovery—State of the Country under the Spanish Dominion—Termination of the Spanish Dominion—Condition since.
Name, Physical Features, &c.—This republic formerly known by the name of the Captain-generalship of Caraccas, as has been seen, once formed a part of the republic of Columbia. When it was first brought to the knowledge of the Spaniards, they called the place where they landed Venezuela, from the common propensity to find a resemblance between the objects they saw in America, and those that were familiar to them at home. An Indian village, built upon piles, was the object which suggested the name.
Venezuela includes a portion of the great chain of the Andes and a vast plain, which constitutes the greater part of the surface. It is watered by the Orinoco, one of the largest rivers of the world, which empties into the Atlantic by about fifty mouths. The area of Venezuela measures four hundred and fifty thousand square miles. In respect[Pg 838] to its soil, it has all the richness of the equatorial regions of the globe.
Discovery.—The Spaniards, under Ojeda, first visited this country, in 1499. They made some attempts to settle at the Indian village before adverted to, which they observed built upon piles, in order to raise the huts above the stagnant waters around. But their labors were, for the most part, abortive. The reduction of the country was brought about by soldiers of fortune, abounding in Germany in the sixteenth century, who, through an arrangement of the Emperor Charles V., were introduced into these wilds. These adventurers, neglecting the purpose for which they were placed there, which was to cultivate and improve the country, became impatient to amass riches, and wandered from district to district in search of mines. In this pursuit, they cruelly plundered the natives, and imposed on them intolerable tasks. In a few years, the desolated province hardly afforded them subsistence; and when they were removed by their employers, the Spaniards again took possession of the country, and soon renewed the horrors which it had already experienced. In consequence of these, and other ravages at a later period, the whole region lay waste for a long season. When new settlements were at length commenced, they advanced so slowly, that this part of the Spanish possessions remained comparatively unproductive, while the other American colonies were in a thriving state.
State of the Country under the Spanish Dominion.—As in the other provinces held by Spain on this continent, the Spanish dominion continued in this until the early part of the nineteenth century. Venezuela was, however, agitated by the question of freedom and independence, perhaps, earlier than was the fact elsewhere in Spanish America. As early as in 1797, an attempt to raise the standard of independence was made in Venezuela, so keenly did the country feel the rapacity and oppression of the Spanish[Pg 839] government. Two natives of Caraccas were leaders in this revolt, which comprised a large number of people distinguished for their talents, virtues, and wealth. The insurrection, which had for its object the securing of the heads of government, as hostages, till a treaty could be made with the court of Spain for a redress of grievances was fixed for the 14th of July, 1797; but was divulged by one of the conspirators on the evening previous. The consequence was, that most of the conspirators were arrested, and eventually put to death, but the leaders effected their escape.
The discontents of the people continued, and General Miranda, in consequence of earnest entreaties expressed in letters from Venezuela, to put himself at the head of an expedition for revolutionizing the country, acceded to the proposal. Proceeding to the United States, he collected there a body of a few hundred adventurers. With this force he sailed from New York in 1806; but after arriving on the coast, he was repulsed by the Spanish gun-boats; and it was only after recruiting his forces at Trinidad, and aided under the convoy of a British sloop, that he again proceeded to the place of destination. He, however, effected nothing, as he found the people now luke-warm in the cause of revolt, and abandoned the project, with the loss of numbers of his men, who were taken and hanged.
Termination of the Spanish Dominion.—The Spanish authority, however, over the province, was drawing to an end. The great revolution broke out in 1810. On the 19th of April, the captain-general of Caraccas was deposed, and delegates were chosen by the people to meet in a congress, for the purpose of forming a government for Venezuela. The congress published a declaration of independence on the 5th of July, 1811, and this example was followed by the other provinces, which were afterwards united, as has already been mentioned, in the republic of Columbia.
In so succinct an account as the present, the details of[Pg 840] the revolution cannot be given, nor would they be specially interesting or useful, from their want of general and permanent results. It needs only to be stated, that the patriots were generally successful till 1812, when they experienced the terrible calamity of the loss of their city, Caraccas, by an earthquake; a circumstance which wrought upon the superstitious fears of the populace against the cause, and that Miranda, who had returned to this country, in despair capitulated, was taken a prisoner, and finally sent to Spain, where he died in a dungeon.
From this period, through a series of years, the contest maintained a doubtful character; Bolivar defeating the royalists in several battles, and they in their turn defeating him. The struggle between the parties continued, until after the junction of New Grenada and Venezuela, in 1819. The battle of Carabobo in 1820, as already related in the history of the former state, put the finishing stroke to the war in Venezuela. By the end of the year, the Spaniards were driven from every part of the two provinces, except Puerto Cabello and Quito.
Condition since the Overthrow of the Spanish Power.—The promise of better times soon after the union of New Grenada and Venezuela, was realized but in part. The country continued disturbed for years. In the mean time, the republic of Columbia was formed, but, as already shown, it was not destined to continue: its remembrance, however, will always be connected with the heroic efforts of Bolivar.
The government of the country was administered from 1831 to 1835, by General José Antonio Paez, the president, and 1835 to 1839, by Dr. Vargas, also the president. Since the last-named period, the government has been in the hands again of General Paez. From recent accounts, however, it would seem that the country is in a disturbed state, a war being carried on between Paez and Monagas—Paez representing the constitutional party. Very lately, the latter obtained a decided victory over Monagas.
III. EQUATOR, OR ECUADOR.
Name, Extent, Physical Character—Classes of the Inhabitants—Subversion of the Spanish Authority—Condition since the Spanish Rule.
Name, Extent, &c.—This country derives its name from its situation, it being intersected towards the north by the equator. It is one of the three republics before spoken of, formed from the territory which, before 1831, constituted the republic of Columbia, and it comprehends the ancient kingdom or presidency of Quito, and formerly constituted a part of the vice-royalty of New Grenada. It has an area of three hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles, and a population of six hundred and fifty thousand souls.
The western part of Ecuador is traversed from north to south by a chain of the Andes, forming a double ridge of colossal summits; the valley between which, constitutes a table-land of about twenty-five miles in width, and from nine thousand to nine thousand five hundred feet in height. Throughout this elevated valley, a perpetual spring is enjoyed; while on the summits of the mountains the snows[Pg 842] of winter are always seen; and in the low country, along the coast, the heat is excessive, and the climate is dangerous to foreigners. The whole eastern portion of the state is traversed by the great River Amazon, which forms a part of the southern boundary of the republic.
Classes of the Inhabitants.—A small proportion only of the inhabitants are whites, the Indians and mixed breeds composing the bulk of the population. The civilized part of the population is confined to the central valley and the western coast, the vast tracts of land to the east of the mountains being occupied by independent and hostile tribes of savages. The aborigines belonged to the Peruvian family, and numerous remains of their architectural industry and skill are still visible.
Subversion of the Spanish Authority.—Dissatisfaction with the authority of the central junta of Spain, and generally the anxiety which was felt for the fate of the colonies, in case the French should prevail in the peninsula, led to the establishment of a junta in the province of Quito in August, 1809, and the Marquis Selva Allegre was chosen its president.
The viceroy of New Grenada, Don Amar, determined to destroy the junta; "but, desirous of exhibiting an appearance of acting in conformity to the will of the people, he convened the principal inhabitants of Santa Fe de Bogota, for the purpose of consulting them on the subject, believing that they would not have independence sufficient to oppose his will. In this, however, he was disappointed. The assembly not only approved of the proceedings at Quito, but declared that a similar body ought to be formed in Santa Fe, for the security of the country, in case Spain should finally be conquered by the French.
"The assembly, with the consent of the viceroy, was adjourned to meet again on the 11th of September, 1809, the first meeting being on the 7th. Still thinking to intimidate[Pg 843] the members, the viceroy required that each one should give his vote in writing. When the assembly again met, they were surprised to see that the guards of the palace were doubled, and that great military preparations had been made, as if an enemy was approaching the city. But even this seasonable display of military force did not have the effect of overawing the assembly; its debates were bold and spirited; and the voting by written ballots, showing the opinions of the different members, tended to strengthen their firmness and resolution, so that the friends of the measure were rather increased than diminished.
"This occasion first brought into notice several individuals, who afterwards became distinguished patriots; Camillo de Torres, Gutierrez, Father Padilla, and Moreno, were among the number. Being at length persuaded that he could not have the appearance of acting in conformity to public opinion, he took immediate steps to suppress the popular junta at Quito by an armed force; and the viceroy of Peru having dispatched troops for the same object, the junta was obliged to yield to a power which it had no means of resisting. And although an assurance was given by the president of the audiencia of Quito, that no one should any way suffer on account of what had taken place; yet, in violation of this plighted faith, a large number of those who had belonged to, or supported the popular government, were arrested and imprisoned, and on the 2d of August, the following year, they were all massacred in prison, under pretence of revolt. The troops stationed in the city, after massacring the prisoners, were suffered to plunder the inhabitants; the scene of rapine and carnage was shocking, and involved the property of thousands, and the lives of more than three hundred persons, murdered in cold blood."
From this period, a long struggle ensued—most of the incidents are common with those which have been narrated. The Spanish authority was not entirely overthrown, until the splendid victory of Pinchincha, in 1822; soon after[Pg 844] which, Quito was united with Columbia. This union was dissolved in 1830, and Quito formed an independent state.
Condition since the Spanish Rule.—One of the early presidents of the republic was Vincente Rocafuerte; more lately, the executive department has been filled by Juan Joseph Flores; according to the latest advices from Ecuador, there are symptoms of a revolution. Numerous accusations against the president have been brought forward. What events may grow out of it, time will decide. The instability of political affairs in that quarter of the world has long been remarked; nor perhaps will it soon cease to be a feature of the governments of South America.
IV. PERU.
Locality, Extent, and Physical Character—Condition at the time of its Invasion by the Spaniards—Conquest by Pizarro—Condition of the Country after the Conquest—Insurrection—Revolutionary Movement—Declaration of Independence—Condition of the Country after the Expulsion of the Spaniards.
Locality, Extent, &c.—Peru lies south of Equator along the western shore of the continent, nearly central between the isthmus and the Straits of Magellan, having an area of five hundred thousand square miles, and a population of one million eight hundred thousand. The country is traversed by several chains of the Andes, from north to south, the principal chain lying nearly parallel to the coast. There exists a great variety as to the surface, soil, and climate of Peru, portions of the country being sterile, with no rains, and only dews; and others very fertile, abounding in impenetrable forests of gigantic trees, and producing the rich fruits and vegetables of tropical regions. The traveler, according to his elevation, meets here with eternal snows or perpetual summer, or the most excessive and deadly heat.[Pg 846] The gold and silver wealth of Peru has a world-wide celebrity. The silver mines of Potosi are perhaps the richest known, unless the recent golden treasures of California shall be found to exceed them. Like the latter, the former were first made known by accident. An Indian, by the name of Hualpa, one day following some wild animals up the mountain, laid hold of a shrub or tree to aid his ascent; which, giving way, revealed a mass of silver ore, which lay so near the surface as to cling to the roots. For some time Hualpa kept his discovery a secret, but his rapid increase of wealth attracting the notice of a countryman, he revealed it to him. The friends, however, soon quarreled; upon which, the secret was divulged.
Condition at the time of its Invasion by the Spaniards.—"Peru was one of the two monarchies of America which, at the invasion of the Spaniards, had attained to a degree of refinement far above that savage state in which most of the American Indians lived. It was also remarkable from the contrast of the character of its civilization to that of the Mexicans. Instead of the fierce and lofty spirit, the bloody wars, the uncouth deities, and ferocious rites of the latter, the Peruvians were united in tranquil subjection to a mild superstition, which represented their Inca as the child[Pg 847] of the sun, to whom unreserved submission was due. However fable may have been mixed with the truth in the tale of Manco Capac and his wife Mama Ocollo—who, according to the traditions of the country, founded the empire, first appearing among the people about the year 1100, claiming to be children of the sun—the story of the greatness of the Peruvian empire has nothing fabulous. It comprehended not only the vast region now called Peru, but the territory of Quito or Ecuador, which is covered with the monuments of the Incas. Order was established in this vast region; the land was carefully cultivated; the rivers were carefully employed in irrigating the soil; mountains were formed into terraces to receive the canals constructed for this purpose, and walls were built to prevent the water from escaping; so that large tracts, which have now relapsed into deserts, were rendered productive."
Conquest by Pizarro.—Francisco Pizarro, an uneducated Spaniard, is entitled to the renown, or the infamy, of bringing[Pg 848] this rich country under the dominion of Spain, in the former part of the sixteenth century. The details are too numerous to be here given; but suffice it to say, that with two associates and about two hundred soldiers, he overran this splendid empire, and filled it with rapine and blood. The gentle and unsuspicious character of the natives rendered them an easy prey to the artifice, cupidity, and cruelty of these Spanish cut-throats. Pizarro's associates were Diego de Almagro, a soldier of fortune, and Fernando de Luques, a mercenary priest.
Atahualpa, the Peruvian emperor, treated the strangers with great courtesy, and sent them several valuable presents—fruits, corn, emeralds, and vases of gold and silver. The sight of the gold and silver served to render the Spaniards more fierce, and prepare them for the cruel butcheries that followed. The following morning, Atahualpa, attended by fifteen thousand men, met Pizarro at a place previously appointed. He was borne on a throne of gold. As the procession approached Pizarro, a Dominican friar, by the name of Valverde, made a long address to the emperor, in which he endeavored to expound the Christian religion;[Pg 849] following which, he proposed to him a submission to the king of Spain, on the ground that the pope had made a present to him of Peru.
To this, Atahualpa replied, that he was willing to be the friend of the king of Spain, but not his vassal. The pope he considered a very extraordinary personage to make a present of that which did not belong to him; and as to those whom the friar denominated Christians—"If," said he, "they worship a God who died upon a cross, I worship the Sun, who never dies." After further efforts at persuasion, Valverde became indignant, and called upon the Spaniards to vindicate their holy religion, and to wreak their just vengeance upon dogs who could thus trample upon the gospel. Upon this, a signal was given, and the work of butchery commenced in the emperor's own palace. Pizarro himself advanced towards Atahualpa, and took him prisoner, while all around the princes of the race of the Incas, the flower of the nobility, and other great men of the court, were indiscriminately put to the sword.
The cruelties that were inflicted, from this time forward, upon this unoffending people, and the riches amassed by these rapacious adventurers, so abhorred of God and men, are scarcely capable of enumeration, were it the object of this succinct account to speak of particulars. While their prince, being a prisoner, was condemned on some frivolous pretext, and strangled at the stake, they were made to expiate, by their death, the crime of owning a rich and beautiful country. Their great city of Cuzco was entered by Pizarro, in 1534, and plundered of its immense wealth. Indeed, the thirst of blood and plunder was every where exhibited in the progress of the Spaniards through the country. Had the latter shown any degree of moderation and humanity, they would probably have made themselves masters of the empire without further bloodshed than this commencement of the fearful tragedy. A people, by constitution and training so mild and submissive, would have yielded to the yoke without much reluctance. But the infinite variety of[Pg 850] their calamities stirred up the people to revenge, and they found agents to give it, for a time, a degree of effect. But the Spaniards persevered in their efforts to overthrow the country; large numbers poured into it from abroad, and all resistance finally ceased. Those of the natives who were most attached to their liberty, to their government, and to their religion, took refuge at a distance among inaccessible mountains. The greater part of them, however, submitted to their conquerors.
The fate of these robbers was, at length, as deplorable as that of the subjects of their rapacity and cruelty. By various causes irritated and enraged against each other, the leaders fought among themselves, and the most revolting scenes of revenge and hatred were exhibited in the result. The original leaders of the enterprise were soon no more, and others followed in the same path of robbery, blood, and mutual jealousy and contention. These civil wars continued[Pg 851] through a series of years. Fortunately for this part of the new world, the most seditious of the conquerors, and of those who followed in their steps, had perished in these wars. With their departure was connected a degree of tranquillity, and then only the Catholic kings might with truth style themselves the sovereigns of the Spaniards settled in Peru.
Condition of the Country after the Conquest.—The native Peruvians, after their subjugation, quietly submitted to the Spanish yoke for more than two centuries. They felt keenly, in many instances, the wrongs inflicted on them, but they had no power of resistance against a disciplined European force. They were loaded with insupportable burdens, yet it was useless to complain. The exactions of their conquerors were most unreasonable and cruel, and they passed their days in sorrow, groaning under the severest bondage. It would seem that all memory of their ancient independence, and the glories of the empire of Manco Capac, was lost from among them. Under their oppressions, their spirit and resolution appeared wholly to depart; but events proved that they were capable of being aroused—if by nothing better, at least by despair.
Insurrection in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century.—The sufferings of the natives became so extreme, that they wanted nothing but a leader to induce them to rise upon their oppressors, and attempt the overthrow of the Spanish power. Such a leader was found in Tupac Amaru, a descendant, on the mother's side, from an Inca of that name. He was well fitted, in many respects, to head an insurrection, having a commanding figure and intrepidity of spirit. He animated his countrymen to many heroic deeds, and, in the course of the rebellion, several successful battles were fought, and many Spaniards killed in the encounters, and many massacred in the progress of the Indian arms; but these were, on the whole, unsuccessful;[Pg 852] their irregularities were, perhaps, more than retaliated by the Spaniards. Amaru was captured in the course of the war, and drawn into pieces by wild horses, as the punishment of his attempt to free his countrymen from oppression. Several other leaders were likewise taken, and shared the same cruel fate.
The principal leaders of the insurrection being no more, the great body of the Indian population quietly returned to vassalage, and bowed again under the galling yoke. Such was the issue of an attempt for freedom, which filled Peru with bloodshed and misery for the space of two years, and of a war, in which, it is asserted, one-third of the population of Peru perished by the hand of violence. It produced no permanent or important change in the condition of the Indians. They were rigidly prohibited the use of arms. The tribute pressed more heavily afterwards, and was more strictly levied, and that unfortunate people were treated more contemptuously, in revenge of their unsuccessful rebellion.
Revolutionary Movements in the early part of the Present Century.—Previously to the French invasion of Spain, and the confusion into which the mother-country was thrown by that event, and the consequent facilities and inducements which were furnished to the colonies in respect to their independence, an attempt had been made in Peru, having that object in view, as early as the year 1805. It was undertaken by Ubalde, an eminent jurist of Cuzco; but it proved to be a failure, and its author paid his life as the forfeiture of his rashness.
In 1809, a popular movement took place, and provisional juntas were established at Quito and La Paz. This revolutionary design, however, was at once defeated by the viceroys of Peru, Buenos Ayres, and New Grenada, whose armies dissolved the juntas. After this second abortive attempt, Peru remained tranquil for ten years, while the neighboring provinces were engaged in the war of their[Pg 853] independence. At length, the people of Chili having defeated the Spanish army in the decisive battle of Maypu, in 1818, conceived the project of securing their independence by expelling the Spaniards from Peru. A naval armament and a land army both were fitted out for this object; the one in 1819, and the other in 1820. The naval force was commanded by Lord Cochrane, an English adventurer, and the land force was commanded by General San Martin.
Some obstacles were interposed to the immediate success of the undertaking; partly from negotiation, and partly from the insufficiency of the invading forces—the liberating army of San Martin being only about five thousand strong, and Cochrane being able only to blockade the Peruvian ports. The city of Lima appeared to be too powerful for an attack by the army of the general; but having, at length, resolved on the enterprise of advancing upon this city, the pusillanimity of the viceroy made way for a success which force might not have achieved. The viceroy fled, to secure his personal safety, while a deputation of citizens invited San Martin to enter the city as a liberator.
Declaration of Independence.—It was on the 12th of July, 1821, that San Martin made his entry into Lima, where he was received with acclamations, and, on the 28th, the independence of Peru was formally declared. San Martin took the title of Protector of Peru, with supreme power, both civil and military. A provisional government was organized, and measures were adopted to establish the affairs of the country on a permanent basis. But the new state of things was fluctuating. It was not until the 20th of September, 1822, that the first Peruvian congress convened. At this congress, an executive junta was appointed, of three persons, to administer the government. San Martin declined the office of commander-in-chief of the Peruvian armies, and returned to Chili.
From this period, there was little promise of stability for[Pg 854] the new republic. Discontent and dissensions followed among the people, and every thing was thrown into confusion. It was not until the great liberator, Bolivar, had come among them, by invitation of a portion of the people, and after three sanguinary battles had with the royalist forces, that the Spanish power was prostrated in Peru. On the 10th of December, 1824, the Peruvian congress was again installed. Bolivar was then declared the political and military head of the republic, as he had been once before, and a gift of a million of dollars was tendered him for his services, which he saw fit to refuse. Lower Peru was thus liberated, and, as early as January, 1826, Upper Peru experienced the same deliverance, through the arms of the patriot General Sucre.
Condition of the Country after the Expulsion of the Spaniards.—Bolivar's influence was great, and a constitution of government was adopted, which harmonized with his views; but the people were still dissatisfied, and they seized an occasion, when Bolivar was absent in Columbia, of rising in insurrection, and effected a complete revolution in the beginning of the year 1827. A new form of government was adopted, combining the properties of a federal and a central system, with a president, chosen for four years, a national congress, and a separate provisional government.
The republic, however, did not become settled by this latter change; for the constitution of 1827, like that which preceded it, has proved to be too little congenial to the taste and capacities of the people. As late as 1835, four chiefs, in arms, were striving for the supremacy; and one year later, a spurious president, General Salaverry, having been defeated in battle, was condemned to death by a court martial, and shot, with his adherents, in the month of February, 1836. In 1837, Peru was placed under the protection of Santa Cruz, president of Bolivia. Both Chili and Buenos Ayres were at war with Peru, a few years since.
V. BOLIVIA.
Name, Extent, and Physical Character—Overthrow of the Spanish Power—Proclamation of Independence—Choice of Rulers under the New Constitution—Present Condition.
Name, Extent, &c.—This country, originally called Upper Peru, and once forming a portion of the vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres, or La Plata, dates from the battle of Ayacucho, December 9th, 1828, in which the republicans, under Sucre, completely defeated the royalists. The name, Bolivia, given to it, was in compliment to Bolivar.
The republic has a length of one thousand one hundred and forty-two miles, and an area of four hundred and ten thousand square miles. In its physical features, it is marked by several lofty peaks of the Andes. Some of them exceed twenty thousand feet in height. The inequality of the surface gives it a great variety as to temperature and climate. In the central portion of it, the soil has great agricultural capabilities. The mineral wealth of the country is very[Pg 856] considerable—the famous mine of Potosi, which has heretofore been particularly noticed, now belongs to Bolivia.
Overthrow of the Spanish Power.—The provinces of Upper Peru having been wrested from the Spaniards, as above stated, General Sucre soon cleared the country of the royalist forces. As he advanced into the territory, not only was he received with universal joy by the inhabitants, but the royal corps, in various places, spontaneously declared for the independence of the country. Sucre reached Potosi in April, 1825, where Olaneta, the Spanish general, made what resistance he was able, but was himself slain, and the royal troops in Upper Peru surrendered to the conquerors.
Proclamation of Independence.—The upper territories being thus emancipated, a general congress of delegates was convened to decide on the political destiny of the intendencies; whether they would unite with Lower Peru, or the United Provinces, or form a separate and independent nation. The latter was chosen; and, on the 6th of August, 1825, a solemn declaration of the independence of Upper Peru was published. The congress, which assembled at Chiquisaca, gave the new republic its name, and determined to call the capital Sucre, the name of the general whose exploits have so often been spoken of. Having solicited Bolivar to prepare a constitution, the congress dissolved itself on the 6th of October. The constitution which was proposed by Bolivar, and adopted by the congress in 1826, vested the executive power in a president chosen for life, with the privilege of naming his successor, and the legislative power in three bodies: a senate, tribune, and censors. But this constitution was soon abolished.
Choice of Rulers under the New Constitution.—Sucre, at the time of the adoption of the Bolivarian constitution, resigned his discretionary power, and was elected president; but he sent in his resignation to the congress which[Pg 857] assembled on the 3d of August, 1828, and returned to Columbia, and, in June, 1830, he was assassinated near Pasto. On the retirement of Sucre, General Velasco filled the office of president, till the meeting of the convention, on the 16th of December. This body displaced Velasco, and elected General Blanco president. A revolution soon followed, which resulted in the deposition and death of Blanco, January 1st, 1829. A temporary government was established, with Velasco at the head, till a new president could be elected, and Santa Cruz was chosen. Generals Velasco and Ballivian have since been elected presidents of the republic; the latter is still in office.
Present Condition.—The most recent accounts represent Bolivia as being in a state of civil war. The antagonists of President Ballivian have proclaimed the constitution of 1839, and constituted a provisional government, backed by a powerful military organization. The revolution is headed by General Belza, minister of war, who has violated his oath of office, disgraced his country, and outraged constitution and laws, for the purpose of gaining the presidency.
VI. CHILI.
Extent, Physical Features, Climate—Conquest by Almagro—Revolution in the beginning of the Present Century—Final Establishment of Independence—Subsequent Condition.
Extent, Physical Features, Climate, &c.—Chili, lying on the shore of the Pacific, from the twenty-fourth to the forty-fifth degrees of south latitude, its length being one thousand two hundred and sixty miles, and its breadth three hundred miles, possesses many natural advantages and attractions. The immense chain of the Andes traverses the country from north to south. In the vicinity of these mountains, earthquakes are common, and these seem to be the only drawbacks to the paradise which nature has formed in this part of the South American continent. Chili, it is believed, is blessed with the most salubrious and delightful climate on the globe.
Though there are some sterile tracts, the soil, in general, is remarkably fertile, and the products are rich and varied. Medicinal, dyeing, and aromatic plants abound, and there[Pg 859] are several plants peculiar to the country. All kinds of metal abound in Chili. Gold, however, is the most copious, and in some districts there is scarcely a hill which does not contain it. Chili is supposed to be the only American state, formerly subject to Spain, whose commerce has been increased since the separation from the mother-country.
Conquest by Almagro.—After the principal provinces of Peru were brought into subjection, the Spanish conquerors turned their attention to the conquest of Chili. In the early part of 1535, Almagro set out for Cuzco, in the prosecution of this enterprise, with a considerable force. From the nature of the route, he met with great difficulties, and lost many of his men; but he at length accomplished his design, and was received with tokens of submission on the part of the inhabitants. The natives, however, at length, recovering from their astonishment at the sight of so superior a race of men as the Spaniards, began to think of regaining their liberty. Hence, a war arose, which lasted ten years, in which, though the natives were sometimes successful, they were[Pg 860] generally and in the end defeated. For a long course of years, the possession of the country by the Spaniards continued to be disputed, and fatal hostilities occurred from time to time, as they attempted to extend their empire in Chili. Their object, however, was effected by degrees, as in all the other American colonies.
Revolution in the beginning of the Present Century.—The occasion of the revolution in Chili, and its subsequent independence, was the same as in the other Spanish states in America, viz: the disturbances in Spain in consequence of the French invasion in 1809. The captain-general of the province was compelled to resign, and by the popular voice the Count de la Conquista was elevated to his place. The count immediately took measures for instituting a new government. A general congress was determined on, and at length chosen, after some attempts made by the royalists at a counter-revolution. The congress, upon their organization, passed a decree, permitting all persons who were dissatisfied with the changes in the government, to leave the country with their effects, within six months. The children of slaves, born in future, were declared free, and many other acts were passed, with a view to reform the abuses of the ancient government.
Discontent, however, with the new order of things, soon arose, and there was the usual amount of plots and counter-plots, menace and fighting, between the friends and the enemies of the changes in the government, which has constituted a principal feature of Spanish American history in modern times. After various military movements and internal struggles, the revolutionary power was overthrown, and, in 1814, the Spanish authority was completely rëestablished in Chili.
Final Establishment of Independence.—This state of things continued for more than two years. But it was destined to pass away, after some severe fighting. The[Pg 861] government of Buenos Ayres dispatched an army, under San Martin, for the purpose of liberating Chili. After incredible exertions and fatigue, he crossed the lofty chain of the Andes, and arrived in Chili with very little loss. At Chacabuco, the royal troops were defeated, and put to the rout, on the 12th of February, 1817. At Santiago, the liberator was received with acclamations by the inhabitants, and made supreme director. He, however, declined the office, and bestowed it upon O'Higgins, who had commanded a division of his army. Chili was delivered by means of San Martin's successes, ending in the great victory of Maypu, April 5th, 1818, in which the whole Spanish army was destroyed, with the exception of their commander, Osorio, and a few horsemen. This victory set the seal on the independence of Chili, and the patriots were soon enabled to carry the war into the enemy's country by the invasion of Peru, as narrated in the history of the latter.
Condition subsequently to the Establishment of Independence.—The fact of securing her independence has given little repose to Chili. The outward forms of a republic have been preserved in her government, while parties have struggled for the ascendancy, and filled the country with turbulence. For several years, the southern frontiers were disturbed by the depredations of an outlaw, named Benavides, a Spaniard, who put himself at the head of the Araucanian Indians, and desolated the country with fire and sword, and the commission of bloody atrocities unsurpassed in the history of savage warfare. His success, and the authority he had acquired over the Indians, induced him to think himself a powerful monarch, and he attempted to establish a navy. He captured several American and English vessels, which touched on the coasts of Chili for refreshments, and made himself master of a large amount of property, arms, and military stores. The Spaniards encouraged him in his piracies and murders, and furnished him with troops and artillery. But his bloody career was[Pg 862] cut short by the Chilians, who dispatched an expedition against him in October, 1821. Arauco, his capital, was taken, his forces defeated, and Benavides compelled to flee. He was taken prisoner in February, 1822, tried and executed.
In January, 1823, O'Higgins was compelled to resign, and was succeeded by Ramon Freire, as supreme director. In July, 1826, Freire resigned his office, and Admiral Manuel Blanco was appointed in his place; but before the expiration of two months, he retired from office. In 1827, the form of the government was changed; but the public tranquillity has not been secured by the change. Of the two vice-presidents, who were chosen from 1827 to 1831, one was expelled and the other assassinated. Chili, for many years, has been agitated by the dissensions of two parties; the one desiring to establish a central government, and the other, a government like that of the United States.
Chili, in connection with Buenos Ayres, within a few years, has been at war both with Peru and Bolivia. According to the latest accounts, some difficulty now exists between this country and Buenos Ayres; the hope is expressed that it may not issue in war. The too great readiness of the infant republics of South America to engage in contentions with one another, and to indulge in internal feuds, must be acknowledged to be a bad omen in respect to their preparation for the blessings of liberty and independence.
VII. BUENOS AYRES, OR PROVINCES OF LA PLATA.
Name, &c.—Inhabitants, or Classes of People—Discovery and Settlement—First Insurrection against the Government of Spain—Progress and Changes of the New Government—Present Condition of the Government.
Name, &c.—This country received its name, at first, from the name of its great river La Plata. The river was so denominated from the fact that, among the spoils of a few Indians, inhumanly put to death, some ornaments of gold and silver had been found. In 1778, it was erected into a Spanish vice-royalty by the name of the vice-royalty of Rio de la Plata. On its declaration of independence, in 1816, it assumed the name of the United Provinces of La Plata, and, in 1826, that of the Argentine Republic; and it has, also, long been known by the name of Buenos Ayres, from the name of its chief city.
Inhabitants, or Classes of People.—These are the same as are found in Chili, viz: European Spaniards, Creoles,[Pg 864] Negroes, Indians, and the mixed races. The Chiquintos are a numerous and civilized nation of independent Indians. There are also many other tribes. There is a striking sameness in the character of all the South American states. Among the Creoles, the strictest equality obtains. No white would do service for any one of his own nation. Education, perhaps, in all the classes, is rather neglected.
Discovery and Settlement.—Sebastian Cabot, in the early part of the sixteenth century, sailed up the river, to which he gave the name of La Plata. In attempting to build a fortress in the country, or otherwise to commence a settlement, he met with so much opposition from the inhabitants, that, in 1530, he returned to Spain, in order to obtain recruits. The few men whom he left in the colony, were either massacred, or abandoned the country. Some more considerable forces, led by Mendoza, came and settled on the river in 1535, and laid the foundation of Buenos Ayres. Their condition, however, was precarious, whether there, or wherever else they located themselves in the country. They were in danger of being cut off, either by famine or Indian hostilities. Buenos Ayres was at length abandoned, and settlements made farther up the river. To propitiate the natives, they finally resorted to the policy of marrying their women. From a union of this kind, sprung the race of Mestizoes, which, in the course of time, became so common in South America. Buenos Ayres was rebuilt in 1580, and from that time some of the petty nations in that vicinity submitted to the Spanish yoke. A degree of civilization and order was effected among this savage people, by the Jesuits, through a long course of years.
First Insurrection against the Government of Spain.—The desire of throwing off the government of the mother-country was manifested at an early period among the inhabitants of the city of Buenos Ayres. The development of this feeling was somewhat earlier there, than in[Pg 865] other parts of Spanish America. It owed its origin to the war which existed between Spain and Great Britain, in 1806. As the consequence of this war, the province of La Plata was neglected, and thus presented a strong temptation for invasion on the part of the British. That which might have been attempted at some subsequent period by public authority, was commenced by private aggressions, or certainly without orders from the government. A fleet and army, under Commodore Topham and General Beresford, after effecting the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope, proceeded to Buenos Ayres, on the 8th of June, 1806, and, after a slight resistance, took possession of the place on the 28th of June. The Spaniards, however, under Liniers, a French officer, collecting a large force in the country, rëtook it within sixteen days, with a good deal of loss to the British. The latter having received rëinforcements, made two several attempts to recover possession of the city, but failed in both.
In the embarrassments occasioned by Napoleon's invasion of Spain, parties sprang up in Buenos Ayres, some supporting Liniers, who had been appointed viceroy of the province, and others the Spanish authority. The latter appeared, for a time, to be the prevailing power; but the ebulition of royalty which had proclaimed Ferdinand, was of short duration. The Spanish Americans began to feel that they had power in their hands, as was manifested in their defeat of the British. Their discontents increased at the tyranny exercised over them. Commotion followed commotion, till in May, 1810, the viceroy, Cisneros, finding his embarrassments and perplexities greatly increased by the disasters of the Spaniards at home, was compelled to announce his inability to manage the government. By the request of the municipality of the city, he called a congress, which established a provisional junta for the government of the country. The 25th of May, the date of this government, has ever since been observed as the anniversary of independence in Buenos Ayres.
Progress and Changes of the New Government.—On the part of Spain, attempts were made to recover her lost power, and the difficulties and dissensions, so universally experienced by the American colonies on such occasions, were felt in a considerable degree in Buenos Ayres. In 1811, a congress assembled in the city of Buenos Ayres, and placed the executive power in the hands of a triumvirate. In 1812, Posadas was appointed supreme director of the republic, with a council of seven. In 1816, a congress assembled at Tucuman, declared the countries on the La Plata independent, and named Pueyredon director; having transferred its sessions to Buenos Ayres, it assumed the title of the United Provinces of South America.
In 1819, a congress assembled at Buenos Ayres, formed a constitution, modeled on that of the United States, and Rondeau was elected supreme director, and Rivadavia was placed at the head of foreign affairs. For some time, the principal functions of the government were discharged by a constituent congress, the executive power being intrusted to the provincial government of Buenos Ayres.
In February, 1826, Rivadavia was elected president. The republic became involved in war with Brazil, on account of Banda Oriental, which was first added to Brazil, and afterwards declared (August, 1828) independent. Rivadavia having resigned, the congress was dissolved, each of the provinces became again independent, and Dorego was chosen governor of the province of Buenos Ayres. General Lavalle, at the head of the Unitarios, caused Dorego to be shot, and himself to be proclaimed president, December 1st, 1828. A bloody civil war ensued, and in August, 1829, Lavalle was compelled to resign, and his successor was General Juan Jose Viamont, who was succeeded, December 8th, 1829, by General Juan Manuel de Rosas, who was declared dictator August 9th, 1830; but before the end of the year, General Queroga made himself dictator or governor. In 1835, De Rosas was made governor of Buenos Ayres for five years; and, in addition to his[Pg 867] other duties, he was charged with the foreign relations of the Argentine Republic.[87]
As early as the year 1822, the independence of the United Provinces of La Plata was acknowledged by the congress of the United States, and a treaty of commerce was concluded with Great Britain in 1825. Domestic troubles, however, were again renewed, the union of the provinces was dissolved, and separate governments were established. But the difficulties did not soon come to a close, as two fiercely-contending parties, of opposite views respecting the forms of government, created no small amount of turbulence and misrule.
On December 29th, 1839, a battle was fought at Cagancha, between General Echagne, governor of the Buenos Ayrean province of Entre Rios, and General Fructuoso Rivera, president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. The former had an army of five thousand men, and was defeated with a loss stated at eight hundred killed, and a considerable number of prisoners, together with the loss of their baggage and horses. The loss of General Rivera, in killed and wounded, was stated at about two hundred.
Present Condition of the Government.—The government of this country, for many years past, has been in the hands of Don Juan M. de Rosas. According to the latest advices, Rosas is in trouble with the new British minister, Mr. Southern. It is stated that the former refused to receive Mr. Southern, unless he was authorized to treat with Rosas on the basis laid down by Mr. Hood, the first special minister that was sent out by England. Mr. Southern refuses to submit to that condition, and thus the affair remains at present.
VIII. ORIENTAL REPUBLIC, OR URUGUAY.
Locality, Extent, &c.—Name and History—The Constitution.
Locality, Extent, &c.—This country lies north of the Rio de la Plata, east of the river Uruguay, and south of Brazil. It has an area of eighty thousand miles. Monte Video is the capital of the republic, and is a town of some importance. Uruguay comprises nine departments.
Name and History.—This country constituted a part of the vice-royalty, afterwards the republic of La Plata, and was known by the name of Banda Oriental (Eastern Frontier, from its geographical position). After the declaration of the independence of the United Provinces, it became the subject of an obstinate war between the new republic and the empire of Brazil.
Elio, who was appointed by the regency of Spain captain-general of the province of Rio de la Plata, in that capacity, also, governed the province of Monte Video, or[Pg 869] the Banda Oriental. He was now the most dangerous and powerful enemy with which the government of Buenos Ayres were at war. That government having received an ally, by the desertion of Artigas, a captain in the royal service, employed him, in conjunction with General Rondeau, in an expedition against Banda Oriental. In May, 1811, they obtained a signal victory at Las Piedras over the royalists, and laid siege to Monte Video. In this extremity, Elio, finding himself unable to hold out long without assistance, applied to the Portuguese of Brazil, who sent him an army of four thousand men, and a subsidy of moneys. Before any important operations could be engaged in, however, a treaty was concluded between Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, in November, 1811, by virtue of which the siege of Monte Video was to be raised, and the Portuguese forces were to return home. In pursuance of the treaty, the siege was raised, but the Portuguese proved faithless, and began to ravage the territory of La Plata.
Danger now encompassed the Buenos Ayreans, not only from the Portuguese, but from the royalists of Peru. They, however, induced the latter to withdraw their troops, and the royalists they defeated in battle; but nothing could restore quiet to the country, and hostilities were again commenced with Monte Video. The war was carried on with various success, and what, with this calamity and rival factions which infested the city, little tranquillity was enjoyed, till articles of agreement between the Brazilians and Buenos Ayreans were signed at Rio Janeiro, August 27, 1828. Then was effected the independence of the country, which took the title of the Republic of Monte Video, so named from its capital, but it has since assumed the title of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
A constitution was adopted in 1830, according to which the legislative power is vested in two bodies; a senate of nine members, and a house of representatives of twenty-nine members, and the code Napoleon was established as the law of the country.
IX. BRAZIL.
Situation, Extent, &c.—Discovery and Settlement—Policy of the Portuguese Government—Removal of the Portuguese Court to Brazil—Constitution and Government.
Situation, Extent, &c.—Brazil is an extensive country, occupying the eastern and central portion of South America, from four degrees north to thirty-three degrees south, and from thirty-five degrees to seventy-three degrees west longitude. It has an area of three millions square miles.
This region is traversed by several distinct chains of mountains, chiefly in the eastern and northern provinces, but they do not any of them reach to any great elevation. "The mighty Orellana," or the Amazon, gives a character to the country, as it is the largest river in the world, both in regard to the length of its course and its volume of water; draining an area of more than two millions of square miles, and furnishing the country with the amplest means of intercommunication. The greater part of Brazil is constituted[Pg 871] of an immense immeasurable plain, through which flow innumerable streams, on which stand boundless and impenetrable forests, and the whole of which swarms "with animal life in all its forms; ferocious beasts of prey, huge serpents, alligators, troops of monkeys, flocks of gaudily-colored and loquacious birds, and clouds of insects, are yet undisturbed by the arts of man."
A great variety exists as to the climate. Intense heat prevails under the equator, but rendered supportable by the excessive humidity of the atmosphere and the copious dews. Mild and temperate, with occasionally cold weather, is experienced in the southern portions.
The soil is very fertile in a large portion of the country, and produces an immense variety of rich and valuable plants and vegetables, many of them being peculiar to this region. The forests are admirable for their beauty and grandeur; the growth of trees being gigantic, and the number of ornamental ones surpassing calculation. An important article of export, are several kinds of what is called Brazil-wood, not to speak of timber for ship-building, mahogany, and an infinity of dyeing woods.
The golds and diamonds of Brazil are far-famed; the quantity of gold annually obtained being estimated at five millions of dollars. Brazil has more foreign commerce than any other country in America, except the United States. Its principal ports are Rio Janeiro, Bahia or St. Salvador, Pernambuco, Para, San Luis de Maranham, and San Pedro.
Discovery and Settlement.—The discovery of Brazil, by the Portuguese, was a matter of accident. It occurred in the year 1500, as Pedro Alvarez Cabral was sailing from Lisbon with a fleet for the East Indies. Standing out a great distance to the west, in order to avoid the calms on the coast of Africa, he saw land, on the 24th of April, in latitude seventeen south, and on the 3d of May landed at a harbor which was named Porto Seguro. The country was[Pg 872] named Brazil, eventually, from the circumstance that the forests abounded with trees producing a beautiful dye-wood of a fiery red, to which the Portuguese gave the name of brazil, from braza, a live coal. Cabral having taken possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, the king of Portugal, dispatched a vessel to Lisbon, to announce his important discovery, while he himself proceeded on his voyage to India.
The king, gratified with the foregoing announcement, immediately fitted out an expedition, under Amerigo Vespucci, consisting of three ships, which sailed in 1501. Vespucci explored the country as far south as the fifty-second degree of latitude, but formed no settlement. After a voyage of sixteen months, he returned to Lisbon. Two years after, 1503, he made a second voyage, in which he had the misfortune to lose all his fleet, with the exception of his own ship. During this visit, he established a settlement on the coast, and carried home a cargo of brazil-wood, the value of which was so great, as to induce many adventurers to embark for that country. These volunteer colonists, composed of various grades and conditions in the social scale, but all imbued with the spirit of enterprise, formed a settlement at St. Salvador.
The settlement which had been made on the coast in 1503, under Vespucci, received but little attention, until certain French adventurers, about half a century afterwards, attempted to settle a colony at Rio Janeiro. A Portuguese force finally expelled the French from their position, after a struggle of two years, in 1567—the French having continued in different parts of the country, from 1558 till that time. Owing to various circumstances, the Portuguese court, from making this region a place of exile and confinement for convicts and the unhappy victims of the Inquisition, was led to regard it, at length, as a place of some importance. The sugar-cane began to be cultivated, and the new luxury of sugar was sought with avidity. In connection with this, a governor was sent out to manage[Pg 873] the affairs of the settlers, and he built a city at St. Salvador, which became the centre of the colony. The Jesuits, however, were the most efficient class in building up the colony, and conciliating the affections of the natives.
As misfortunes, during the latter part of the sixteenth century, befel the Portuguese in Europe, advantage was taken of their weakness, and their Brazilian possessions were invaded and taken by the Dutch. But they were not suffered to hold their conquest without molestation. In 1626, St. Salvador was rëtaken by the Portuguese; the Dutch, however, retained their power for a number of years in the country, and added to their conquests, till they were expelled, in 1654, by a superior Portuguese force sent against them. In 1661, the sole possession of Brazil was secured to Portugal by treaty, in consideration of the sum of one million seven hundred thousand dollars, which that crown engaged to pay to the United Colonies.
Policy of the Portuguese Government in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century.—The measures adopted by the government in respect to Brazil, were narrow and illiberal. Their effect was to discourage industry, and to fetter commerce. On the latter, restrictions and monopolies were imposed. The search for gold and diamonds engrossed the attention of the government. Foreigners could either gain no admission into the country, or were jealously watched. Trade was carried on only at the fortified posts. This disastrous state of things continued till the beginning of the present century, when an event took place which changed the whole aspect of affairs in this country.
Removal of the Portuguese Court to Brazil.—The event above referred to, was the removal of the court in the mother-country to this, its American colony. The design of effecting such a change was entertained many years before it took place; as early as 1761, the measure had been determined on, and preparations were made; but it[Pg 874] was not until 1808, that the project was put into execution. The occasion was the declaration of war by Buonaparte against Portugal. The regent (who, after the death of his mother, in 1816, became king of Portugal, by the title of John VI.), with the royal family, left Europe for Brazil, where they arrived January 22d, 1808. This event resulted in great advantage to the Brazilians. Soon, the old exclusive system of trade was abolished, and all the ports of the country were opened to the commerce of the world; the free exercise of industry was permitted to all classes of people; and the press, which for three centuries had been prohibited, was immediately established.
After the fall of Napoleon, John raised Brazil to the rank of a kingdom, in 1815, thenceforth to be called the kingdom of Brazil, which, with the European territories, should constitute the United Kingdoms of Portugal, Algarves, and Brazil. In 1821, John returned to Portugal, leaving his son, Pedro, in Brazil, as prince-regent. On the 12th of October, 1822, Brazil was declared independent, as there had been, for some time, a manifest and growing desire, on the part of the people, for this change. At the same time, the Prince Pedro was crowned emperor of Brazil. On the death of John VI., in 1826, Pedro declared his daughter Maria Queen of Portugal; and, on the 6th of April, 1831, he abdicated the throne of Brazil in favor of his son, Pedro II., born October 2d, 1825, and who is now emperor.
Constitution of Government.—According to the constitution, which was formed in 1823, and adopted in 1824, Brazil is a hereditary monarchy, with a legislative assembly, consisting of two houses; a senate, appointed by the emperor, and a house of representatives, elected by the people. The Catholic faith is the religion of the state, but all other Christians are tolerated, though not allowed to build churches, or perform divine service in public.
X. PARAGUAY.
Situation, Extent, &c.—Insurrection and attempt at Revolution in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century—Establishment of Independence, and a Despotic Government.
Situation, Extent, &c.—This republic is situated between the rivers Paraguay and Parana, having the empire of Brazil on the east, and the Argentine Republic on the west. It has an area of ninety thousand square miles. Its divisions consist of eight departments.
This country is considered the fairest portion of what was once the United Provinces. Its climate is mild and balmy; the surface is not mountainous, neither is it a dead level; it is well supplied with a great variety of streams of pure water; its soil is every where found to be exceedingly productive, and was originally covered with immense forests of stately timber. Among its more ample productions are grain, cotton, sugar, and excellent fruits—oranges, figs, the olive, and the grape—as well as the singular vegetable[Pg 876] called matte, so extensively used in South America as a tea or beverage.
Insurrections and attempts at Revolution in the early part of the Eighteenth Century.—Paraguay is rendered remarkable by several projects, more than a century ago, having in view its independence, and, what is more wonderful, by the open and public assertion, at that time, of the principle, that the authority of the people was greater than that of the king himself. Thus was anticipated, in a colony of the most bigoted and despotic court of Europe, more than a hundred years ago, the modern liberal doctrine of the sovereignty of the people. The attempts referred to were made by individuals, who had, perhaps, their private causes of grievance, as Antequera, Mompo, and Mena, though one of them, certainly, Mompo, was the preacher of the doctrine above stated. No real independence, however, was effected, except for a short period. The revolutionary leaders were soon overcome in battle, put to death, or banished, and the authority of the king of Spain was rëestablished, and continued for the greater part of a century.
Establishment of Independence, and a Despotic Government.—In 1810, the junta of Buenos Ayres sent a body of troops to Paraguay to depose the Spanish governor, but they were compelled to retreat. The inhabitants, however, themselves deposed the governor, and took the government into their own hands. In 1813, they proclaimed Paraguay a republic, under two consuls, the principal of which was Dr. Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia. At the end of the year, Francia caused himself to be named dictator for three years, and, at the close of this term, for life. On the 24th of September, 1826, a formal declaration of independence was made, though the country, for fourteen or fifteen years, had been governed independently of Spain.
The administration of Dr. Francia proved to be an absolute and perfect despotism, and that of a most severe[Pg 877] and sanguinary character. He was a native of Paraguay, and received the degree of doctor of theology at the University of Cordova, in Tucuman. For nearly thirty years he acted the tyrant over the inhabitants of the country, and brought the entire mass into the most unresisting subserviency to his will. No personage has figured so conspicuously as Dr. Francia, in the modern history of South America. When, by consummate address, he had succeeded in getting himself appointed dictator for life, commenced one of the most extraordinary events on record. "From the moment when he found his footing firm, and his authority quietly submitted to, his whole character appeared to undergo a sudden change. Without faltering or hesitation—without a pause of human weakness, or a thrill of human feeling—he proceeded to frame the most extraordinary despotism that the world has ever seen. He reduced all the population of Paraguay to two classes; of which the dictator constituted one, and his subjects the other. In the dictator was lodged the whole power, legislative and executive; the people had no power, no privileges, no rights, and only one duty, to obey. All was performed rapidly, boldly, and decisively. He knew the character of the weak and ignorant people at whose head he had placed himself, and who had the temerity to presume that they had energy and virtue sufficient to form a republic. The inhabitants of Paraguay delivered themselves up, bound hand and foot, into the hands of an absolute and ferocious despot, who reduced them to absolute slavery, ruined their commerce and agriculture, shut them up from the rest of the world, and dragged to the prison or the scaffold every man in the country whose talents, wealth, or knowledge opposed any obstacle in the way of his tyranny. No human being was allowed to leave the country, or dispatch a letter abroad." A few only escaped, by means of the flooding of the country by the rise of the river Paraguay, and from these individuals the world has learned respecting the secrets of this more than Dionysian espionage and[Pg 878] tyranny. No attempted conspiracies availed to secure his person or destroy his life. He managed so as to gain over his soldiers entirely to his interests. As was to be expected, he lived in constant fear of assassination or poisoning, ordering his guards sometimes to shoot those who dared to look at his house in passing along the streets, and taking the trouble to cook his own victuals. He died at about the age of eighty, in 1842, having thus enacted the despot during the long course of twenty-eight years.
The wonder of all is, that the people generally were contented and happy under this strict and unnatural regime; yet it is partly to be accounted for from the entire security of person and property which was felt, so far as the intercourse of the people among themselves was concerned. Each district was made responsible for every theft committed in it. All the inhabitants, Indians as well as Creoles, were taught to read, write, and keep accounts. Public schools were every where established, and children were required to attend them, until, in the judgment of the municipal authority, they were sufficiently instructed. The dictator also established lyceums and other liberal institutions. Every person was required to labor, and mendicity was prohibited. It has been represented, however, that there was a mitigation of the doctor's despotism, in the latter part of his life.
According to the more recent accounts, the government of this country was administered by five consuls; but this and the other matters pertaining to Paraguay, are very imperfectly known, as the country has, for so long a period, been avoided by foreigners.
WEST INDIES.
Situation, Extent, &c.—Inhabitants—Political Divisions.—I. British West Indies: Jamaica—Trinidad—Barbadoes—Bahamas—St. Christopher—Bermudas or Sommers' Islands—St. Vincent.—II. Spanish West Indies: Cuba—Porto Rico.—III. French West Indies: Martinique—Guadaloupe.—IV. Dutch West Indies.—V. Danish West Indies.—VI. Hayti.
Situation, Extent, Climate, Productions, &c.—The West Indies constitute the great archipelago of the western continent, extending from latitude ten to twenty-eight degrees north, between the coast of Florida on the north, and the mouth of the river Orinoco in South America. They are a large cluster of islands, in their several portions variously denominated, according to their situations or other peculiarities, but will here be considered in their political divisions. The land area of the whole group is over ninety-three thousand square miles.
These islands have a general sameness of character, in some respects, from the position which they occupy on the[Pg 880] face of the globe. The climate, as is to be expected, is generally very warm, though moderated and made comfortable, for the most part, by sea breezes. The thermometer frequently rises above ninety degrees; but its medium height maybe stated at about seventy-eight degrees of Fahrenheit. They are visited by periodical rains, which are often powerful, and in general the humidity of the atmosphere is very great, causing iron and other metals that are easily oxydated, to be covered with rust. Hurricanes are common to most of these islands, and frequently, in their incredible fury, produce the most desolating effects wherever they extend.
The productions of the West Indies are rich and varied, and constitute important articles of commerce. From the fertile soil spring the sugar-cane, the coffee-plant, the allspice or pimento, the nutritive banana or plantain, the pineapple, the luscious fruit of the anana, the yam, sweet potato, uca, maize, and cassava or manioc, with cocoa, tobacco, cotton, various dye-woods and stuffs (fustic, logwood, indigo, cochineal), and medicinal plants; such as arrow-root, liquorice-root, ginger, jalap, ipecacuanha, sarsaparilla, &c.; the mahogany and lignum-vitæ are included in the vegetable productions of this archipelago; but to this catalogue must still be added the bread-fruit, cocoa-nut, mango, papaw, guava, orange, lemon, tamarind, fig, cashew-nut, mammee, grenadilla, panilla, panda-nut, &c.
Inhabitants.—The white inhabitants of the West Indies are Creoles, Spanish, English, French, Germans, &c.; but the negroes are the most numerous class, though the mixed races are quite abundant. The Indians are extinct, except as mingled with negroes in a part of the island of St. Vincent. The general classes are those of master and slave, or were such before the act of emancipation took effect in the British portion of the islands. From the diversity of nations or races, several languages are necessarily in use, as the English, the French, the Spanish, with other European[Pg 881] tongues, and the Creole, a jargon used in Hayti, composed of French and several African dialects.
Political Divisions.—These consist of the British islands, the Spanish islands, the French islands, the Dutch islands, the Danish islands, one Swedish island, and the independent island of Hayti. The British own twenty-two islands, of various dimensions; the Spanish, two, viz: the large islands of Cuba and Porto Rico; the French, six; the Dutch, four; and the single Swedish island is St. Bartholomews. The last is a small, but fertile, island, which was ceded to Sweden by France in 1785.
I. British West Indies.—The government of the British West Indies is modeled on the constitution of the mother-country. The several islands have a governor or lieutenant-governor, and a legislative council appointed by the crown; and the most of them have also a house of representatives, chosen by the people, who legislate upon all subjects of a local character.
The West Indies were formerly a great mart of that infamous traffic, the slave-trade, which, according to M'Culloch, was commenced by the Portuguese in 1542, and this nation seems disposed to be the last to relinquish it. By means of the noble exertions of Wilberforce, Clarkson, Sharp, and others, an act was passed in 1806 by the British parliament for abolishing the slave-trade; and the present age has witnessed another act highly honorable to the British nation, for the total abolition of slavery, at great expense, throughout the British colonies. By this memorable act, which was passed by parliament in 1833, the slaves were on the 1st of August, 1834, made apprenticed laborers to continue such, a part of them till the 1st of August, 1838, and a part till the 1st of August, 1840, when they were all to become completely free. To indemnify the owners of the slaves, parliament voted the sum of twenty millions pounds, as a compensation, payable in certain fixed proportions, according[Pg 882] as each colony should be ascertained to have complied with the terms of the act.
Soon after the passing of this act, the slaves in the island of Antigua and the Bermudas were made free by the colonial governments, and acts were afterwards passed by the legislatures of Barbadoes, Jamaica, Nevis, Montserrat, St. Christopher's, St. Vincent, and Tortola, liberating all the slaves or apprenticed laborers in those islands on the 1st of August, 1838. Movements of a similar nature also, about the same time, took place in the other islands, bringing to a close the apprenticeship which had been established.[88]
A few of the more important British islands will be noticed separately in a brief manner.
1. Jamaica.—This island was discovered by Columbus in his second voyage in 1494. It was first settled by the Spaniards in 1509. A body of seventy men were sent to it by Diego Columbus, the son of the discoverer. These were blood-thirsty wretches, who made frequent assaults on the natives, for the purpose of robbery or revenge. The progress of settlement was extremely slow—not more than three thousand inhabitants, of whom half were slaves, being found on the island in 1655, when it was taken by a British force, under Penn and Venables.
Soon after this event, Jamaica was colonized by three thousand soldiers, disbanded from the parliamentary army, who were followed by about one thousand five hundred royalists. At the period of its capture by the English, many of the slaves belonging to the Spanish settlers fled to the mountains, where they long lived in a kind of savage independence, and became troublesome to the British colonists. They have been known by the name of Maroons. In 1795 they were overcome by the English, as they descended from their fastnesses for the purpose of assaulting the former, and six hundred of them were sent to Nova[Pg 883] Scotia, where they were settled on locations of land provided for them by the government. Since the occupancy of the island in 1655, the English have firmly maintained their authority over it.
2. Trinidad.—This is a fruitful island, producing cotton, sugar, fine tobacco, indigo, ginger, maize, and various fruits. Its area is nearly two thousand square miles, and its population over forty-five thousand. Its climate is unhealthy. This island was taken by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1595, and by the French in 1676. It was captured from the Spaniards in 1797, and ceded to England by the treaty of Amiens in 1802.
3. Barbadoes.—This island is situated on the eastern border of the West Indian archipelago. It has a large population for its size, numbering over one hundred thousand souls, on an area of less than two hundred square miles. The climate is hot, but the air is pure, and moderated by the constant trade-winds, which render it salubrious, in comparison with the other islands. The exports from the island are sugar, rum, ginger, cotton, aloes, &c. It is subject to tempests, which at times have occasioned great devastation and loss of life.
Barbadoes is supposed to have been discovered by the Portuguese, and appears never to have had any aboriginal inhabitants. In 1627, some English families settled there, but without any authority from the government. It was soon afterwards supplied with a regular colony by the Earl of Carlisle. The British settlers at length brought this rich, but uncultivated, track into entire subjection by the power of industry.
4. Bahamas.—The Bahama or Lucayos islands consist of about seven hundred very small islands, extending over a large space of the archipelago on its northern border. Their soil is generally light and sandy, and productive only[Pg 884] in a few places. The principal products are cotton, salt, turtle, fruits, mahogany, and dye-woods. The group among them called Turk's island, is famous for its salt ponds, which annually yield more than thirty thousand tons of salt for the foreign market.
Guanahani, or Cat island, is celebrated as being the land which Columbus first discovered. He named it San Salvador. The Spaniards first settled on these islands, but at length abandoned them, having shipped off the natives to work in the mines in other places. They remained desolate for more than a century. In 1629, New Providence was taken possession of by the English, who remained there till 1641, when they were driven out by the Spaniards in a cruel and barbarous manner. They, however, changed owners repeatedly, till, in 1783, they were confirmed to the English by treaty. For many years previous to the close of the American war, the Bahamas were the haunts of pirates, buccaniers, and freebooters.
5. St. Christopher's.—This island, with Montserrat, Nevis, Antigua, and the Virgin isles, form one government, the governor generally residing at Antigua. The interior of the country is a rugged mass of precipices and barren mountains, the loftiest rising to three thousand seven hundred and ten feet. The island has a productive soil on the plains.
St. Christopher's is said to have been the nursery of all the English and French colonies in the West Indies. It was first visited by both nations on the same day, in 1625. They shared the island between them, engaging, by treaty, to observe perpetual neutrality and alliance against the Spaniards, the common enemy. The possession of a common property in the productions of the island, led eventually to jealousies and contentions. Whenever war broke out between the mother-countries, the colonists engaged among themselves, and alternately drove each other from the plantations; but the treaty of Utrecht confirmed the British in the possession of the whole island.
6. Bermudas.—The Bermudas, or Sommers' islands, consist of a cluster of small islands in the ocean, opposite the coast of North Carolina, about two hundred leagues distant. They number about four hundred, but most of them are of no importance. A few of them have numerous forests, which supply timber for ship-building, thus giving employment to the inhabitants, in connection with navigation. The climate is healthful and pleasant, and the fields and trees are clad in perpetual green. Their population is nearly nine thousand. These islands were first discovered in 1522, by Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard, who found them without inhabitants. From him they received the name by which they are generally known. They were also called Sommers, from the circumstance that Sir George Sommers was wrecked on them, in 1609. Shortly after this event, the islands were settled by the English, who have retained possession of them ever since.
7. St. Vincent.—St. Vincent is a rugged and elevated island, of small extent, but extremely fertile, and well adapted to the cultivation of sugar and indigo.
This island was first colonized, in 1719, by the French, from Martinique. They had no small difficulty, even at that late period, in bringing the fierce Carib natives under their authority. It was obtained by the British, at the peace of 1763, and, though afterwards subjected to the French arms, it was, in 1783, again confirmed to the British.
II. Spanish West Indies.—Although Spain had the honor of first ascertaining the existence of the West Indian islands, and enjoyed the privilege of settling and holding most of them for a time, yet they have all passed from her authority, except two, Cuba and Porto Rico. Cuba, however, is by far the largest of the group, having an extent of territory equal to nearly one-half of the land area of the entire archipelago.—The exports of these islands consist of sugar, rum, molasses, coffee, tobacco, and cigars, with honey, hides, cotton, fruits, &c.
1. Cuba.—This island, as being the largest, is, in many respects, the most important in the whole cluster of the islands of the American continent. "During the last fifty years, a concurrence of circumstances has rendered Cuba the richest of the European colonies in any part of the globe; a more liberal and protecting policy has been adopted by the mother-country; the ports of the island have been thrown open; strangers and emigrants have been encouraged to settle there; and, amid the political agitations of Spain, the expulsion of the Spanish and French residents from Hispaniola, the cession of Louisiana and Florida to a foreign power, and the disasters of those who, in the continental states of America, adhered to the old country, Cuba has become a place of general refuge." Its growth and increase, within the above-named period, have been very great. By the census of 1831, it contained eight hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants. The value of its exports, in 1833, was nearly fourteen millions of dollars; that of its imports, eighteen millions and a half. In 1838, the government of Spain levied a subsidy of two millions five hundred thousand dollars on the island, to assist in defraying the expense of the civil war. These facts denote a state of things which formerly was far from existing on this island.
Cuba was discovered by Columbus in his first voyage; but he did not ascertain whether it was an island or a part of the continent. The question was not determined until some years afterwards. It was conquered by the Spaniards, under Velasquez, in 1511. Little progress was made in the settlement of the island till 1519, when it was found that the most convenient route between Mexico and Europe would be through the Bahama channel, and it was desirable to possess a sea-port on the passage. This led to the foundation of Havana, the harbor of which is the best in the world. Cuba has ever been a Spanish colony.
2. Porto Rico.—This island is somewhat large for one[Pg 887] of the West Indian cluster, having four thousand five hundred square miles. It possesses a great variety of surface, mountains, hills, and valleys. Its climate and productions are similar to those of the adjacent islands.
Porto Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493, but the Spaniards made no attempt to settle it till 1509, when the pursuit after gold carried them thither from Hispaniola, under the command of Ponce de Leon. The natives, impressed by the belief of the superior nature of the Spaniards, made no resistance, but submitted to the yoke of bondage. Subsequently, they made an insurrection, and massacred a hundred of the invaders; but they were easily subdued, as soon as the Spaniards received rëinforcements from St. Domingo. Condemned to the mines, the wretched natives all finally disappeared from among the living. This island was taken by the English towards the close of the seventeenth century, but they found the climate so unhealthy, that they abandoned the conquest. It is now, with Cuba, under the government of a captain-general, who resides at Havana.
III. French West Indies.—The French, at present, possess but few of the islands of this Western main, having lost some of their most important ones, as the result of oppression or warfare. Of those that remain to them, two are of some consequence.
1. Martinique.—This island is about fifty miles long and sixteen broad. It has an uneven surface, and, in some instances, mountainous eminences. Sugar, coffee, cassia, cotton, indigo, cocoa, and ginger, are among its principal productions.
This island was settled by the French in 1635. The British took it in 1794; it was restored to France in 1802. It changed hands again in 1809, but was finally restored to France in 1815.
2. Guadaloupe.—This island is somewhat extensive, being[Pg 888] seventy miles long, and twenty-five broad at its widest part. In many parts, it has a rich soil, and among its productions are enumerated sugar, coffee, rum, ginger, cocoa, logwood, &c. It has been repeatedly captured by the British, and as often restored to France.
IV. Dutch West Indies.—The Dutch possess four islands in the West Indian group, viz: Curaçoa, St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and Saba. Curaçoa was first possessed by the Spaniards, in 1527. It was taken by the Dutch in 1634. It is an island of thirty miles in length and ten in breadth. Its chief productions are sugar and tobacco, but its soil is not of the best quality, and for its supply of water it is dependent on the rains. St. Eustatius is said to be one of the finest and best-cultivated islands of all the Caribbees. Its chief product is tobacco. The English captured the island in 1801, but restored it to the Dutch in 1814.
V. Danish West Indies.—These islands are three in number, viz: St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. They are all small, the largest, St. Croix, having only eighty square miles. St. John is celebrated for its fine and capacious harbor. It has a number of salt ponds. St. Croix has a salubrious climate and fertile soil. Every part of it is under the highest cultivation. The Danes first obtained possession of these islands, and still retain them.
VI. Independent Island, Hayti.—The island of Hayti, which now forms an independent negro republic, was formerly called St. Domingo and Hispaniola—St. Domingo, from the name of its chief city, and which became its common appellation in Europe; Hispaniola, meaning little Spain, so called by Columbus. Hayti is its original name, and, after a lapse of three hundred years, has been revived since the revolution. The island belonged, the western part of it, to France, and the eastern to Spain. It is the second in size of the West India islands, having an area of[Pg 889] about thirty thousand square miles. It is traversed by mountains in two chains, from east to west, with several collateral branches, from which the rivers pour over the plains below.
Besides the tropical fruits and vegetables which this region affords, Hayti abounds with many valuable kinds of wood. The mahogany is of a superior quality, and a species of oak affords planks sixty or seventy feet long. The pine is also abundant in the mountains. The annual value of exports is about four millions of dollars, the principal article being coffee, with mahogany, campeachy-wood, cotton, tobacco, hides, cacas, tortoise-shell, wax, ginger, &c.
This island was discovered by Columbus in his first voyage, and became early the scene of many an adventure, as the civilized European mingled with the native Carib. In the course of about half a century, however, from the time of their settlement here, the Spaniards exterminated the whole native population, estimated at more than two millions. They remained undisputed masters of the island till 1630, when some English and French, who had been driven out of St. Christopher's, took refuge there, and established themselves on the northern coast. The French finally obtained a firm footing on the island, and, after many ineffectual attempts on the part of the Spanish government to expel them, were, by the treaty of Ryswick, in 1691, formally confirmed in the possession of the western half of Hayti. The French portion of the island became, at length, the far most important part of it in productiveness and wealth.
The convulsions in France, in the latter part of the last century, reached to this, its distant and beautiful colony. The doctrines of liberty and independence had begun to affect the minds of the blacks, who constituted seven-eighths of the population. They soon became ripe for a rebellion, which accordingly broke out in 1791, in the French portion of Hayti. On the 1st of July, 1801, the independence of[Pg 890] this island was proclaimed, the celebrated Toussiant L'Ouverture being at that time the leader. Toussiant died in 1803, and the command devolved upon Dessalines, one of the chiefs, who was appointed governor for life; but afterwards assumed, in 1804, the title of Jacques I., Emperor of Hayti. His tyrannical reign was terminated by assassination in 1806. Christophe, the second in command, assumed the administration of affairs; in 1807, he was appointed chief-magistrate for life, and, in 1811, he assumed the title of King Henry I. But he found a formidable rival in Petion, who possessed himself of the south part of the island, which was formed into a republic, of which he was, in 1816, appointed president for life.
Petion died in 1818, and was succeeded by Boyer, as president for life. Two years afterwards, the subjects of Christophe, wearied with his tyranny, revolted, and he, being deserted by his troops, shot himself. Upon this event, Boyer marched with an army to the north; and, after a feeble resistance from a portion of the royalist chiefs, was received as a deliverer by the people, and the two states became united under one republic. There was little difficulty in the undertaking, as the people, who were principally colored, revolted against the Spanish authorities, and received Boyer as their friend. The Spanish soldiers were removed from the island, and the work of emancipation was completely effected. From that period, the authority of the blacks has been extended over the whole of Hayti.
In 1825, April 17th, a treaty was concluded between France and Hayti, by which the independence of the latter was acknowledged, on condition of receiving one hundred and fifty millions of francs, to be paid in five annual instalments. On the 1st of February, 1838, a new treaty of peace was concluded at Port-au-Prince, between this republic and the kingdom of France. The balance due from Hayti to France was fixed at sixty millions of francs, to be paid by annual instalments, from 1838 to 1863.
CONSTITUTION
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
ARTICLE I.
Section 1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one-third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen, by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honour, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.
Section 4. The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of chusing senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
Section 5. Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behaviour and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;—To borrow money on the credit of the United States;—To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;—To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;—To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;—To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;—To establish post offices and post roads;—To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;—To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court;—To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations;—To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;—To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;—To provide and maintain a navy;—To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;—To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;—To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;—To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings;—And to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Section 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law, and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and controul of the Congress.
No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
ARTICLE II.—Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows:
Each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress: but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
[A clause originally inserted in this place, relative to the election of President and Vice-President, has been superseded and annulled by Article Twelve of the Amendments; which see.]
The Congress may determine the time of chusing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:—
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Section 2. The President shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
Section 4. The President, Vice-President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE III.—Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
Section 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;—to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls;—to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;—to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;—to controversies between two or more states;—between a state and citizens of another state;—between citizens of different states,—between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
ARTICLE IV.—Section 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Section 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.
Section 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.
Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.—The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by convention in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
ARTICLE VI.—All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This 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, any thing in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
ARTICLE VII.—The ratification of the Conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.
Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names,
GEO WASHINGTON—Presidt and deputy from Virginia.
New Hampshire—John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman.
Massachusetts—Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King.
Connecticut—Wm. Saml. Johnson, Roger Sherman.
New York—Alexander Hamilton.
New Jersey—Wil: Livingston, David Brearley, Wm. Paterson. Jona. Dayton.
Pennsylvania—B. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robt. Morris, Geo: Clymer, Tho: Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv: Morris.
Delaware—Geo: Read, Gunning Bedford, Jun'r, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jaco: Broom
Maryland—James M'Henry, Dan: of St. Thos. Jenifer, Danl. Carroll.
Virginia—John Blair, James Madison, Jr.
North Carolina—Wm Blount, Rich'd Dobbs Spaight, Ho. Williamson.
South Carolina—J. Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia—William Few, Abr. Baldwin.
Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.
ARTICLES
IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF,
The Constitution of the United States of America,
PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION.
(Article 1.) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
(Article 2.) A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
(Article 3.) No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
(Article 4.) The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall 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.
(Article 5.) No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
(Article 6.) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.
(Article 7.) In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
(Article 8.) Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
(Article 9.) The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
(Article 10.) 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.
Article 11. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.
Article 12. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;—The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose Shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
The following is prefixed to the first Ten[89] of the preceding Amendments.
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,
Begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday, the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
The Conventions of a number of the states, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution;
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following Articles be proposed to the legislatures of the several states, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution, viz.
Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution.
The first ten amendments of the Constitution were ratified by the states as follows, viz:
By New Jersey, 20th November, 1789.
By Maryland, 19th December, 1789.
By North Carolina, 22d December, 1789.
By South Carolina, 19th January, 1790.
By New Hampshire, 25th January, 1790.
By Delaware, 28th January, 1790.
By Pennsylvania, 10th March, 1790.
By New York, 27th March, 1790.
By Rhode Island, 15th June, 1790.
By Vermont, 3 November, 1791.
By Virginia, 15 December, 1791.
The following is prefixed to the Eleventh of the preceding Amendments:
THIRD CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
At the First Session, begun and held at the City of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, on Monday the second of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following Article be proposed to the legislatures of the several states, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States; which when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the said Constitution, viz:
The following is prefixed to the Twelfth of the preceding Amendments:
EIGHTH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
At the First Session, begun and held at the City of Washington, in the Territory of Columbia, on Monday the seventeenth of October, one thousand eight hundred and three.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That in lieu of the third paragraph of the first section of the second article of the Constitution of the United States, the following be proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the legislatures of the several states, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution, to wit:
The ten first of the preceding amendments were proposed at the first session of the first Congress of the United States, 25 September, 1789, and were finally ratified by the constitutional number of states, on the 15th day of December, 1791. The eleventh amendment was proposed at the first session of the third Congress, 5 March, 1794, and was declared in a message from the President of the United States to both houses of Congress, dated 8th January, 1798, to have been adopted by the constitutional number of states. The twelfth amendment was proposed at the first session of the eighth Congress, 12 December, 1603, and was adopted by the constitutional number of states in 1804, according to a public notice thereof by the Secretary of State, dated 25th September, of the same year.
⁂ The foregoing copy of the Constitution, Amendments, &c., is printed from an edition which "has been critically compared with the original, and found to be correct in text, letter and punctuation;" and is so certified by James Buchanan, Secretary of State.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments, long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.[Pg 898] But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration thither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of the attempts, by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General 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 publish and declare[Pg 901] that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things 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.
JOHN HANCOCK.
New Hampshire.
JOSIAH BARTLETT,
WILLIAM WHIPPLE,
MATTHEW THORNTON.
Massachusetts Bay.
SAMUEL ADAMS,
JOHN ADAMS,
ROBERT TREAT PAINE,
ELBRIDGE GERRY.
Rhode Island.
STEPHEN HOPKINS,
WILLIAM ELLERY.
Connecticut.
ROGER SHERMAN,
SAMUEL HUNTINGTON,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS,
OLIVER WOLCOTT.
New York.
WILLIAM FLOYD,
PHILIP LIVINGSTON,
FRANCIS LEWIS,
LEWIS MORRIS.
New Jersey.
RICHARD STOCKTON,
JOHN WITHERSPOON,
FRANCIS HOPKINSON,
JOHN HART,
ABRAHAM CLARK.
Pennsylvania.
ROBERT MORRIS,
BENJAMIN RUSH,
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,
JOHN MORTON,
GEORGE CLYMER,
JAMES SMITH,
GEORGE TAYLOR,
JAMES WILSON,
GEORGE ROSS.
Delaware.
CÆSAR RODNEY,
GEORGE READ,
THOMAS M'KEAN.
Maryland.
SAMUEL CHASE,
WILLIAM PACA,
THOMAS STONE,
CHARLES CARROLL, of Carrollton.
Virginia.
GEORGE WYTHE,
RICHARD HENRY LEE,
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
BENJAMIN HARRISON,
THOMAS NELSON, Jr.,
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE,
CARTER BRAXTON.
North Carolina.
WILLIAM HOOPER,
JOSEPH HEWES,
JOHN PENN.
South Carolina.
EDWARD RUTLEDGE,
THOMAS HEYWARD, Jr.,
THOMAS LYNCH, Jr.,
ARTHUR MIDDLETON.
Georgia.
BUTTON GWINNETT.
LYMAN HALL,
GEORGE WALTON.
APPENDIX.
XVII. ZACHARY TAYLOR, PRESIDENT,
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 756.)
Congress assembled on the 3d of December. But the organization of the House of Representatives was delayed for twenty days, that period being consumed in voting for a Speaker, before a choice was effected. The ballotings reached the number of sixty-three. So nearly balanced were the two great political parties, that a few members, constituting the "Free Soil Party," so called, had it in their power for this long time to prevent a choice, and that power they exercised with an obstinacy of purpose, which excited the marvel of the nation. Nor, at the last, was a choice effected but by the adoption of a novel resolution, viz., that after voting viva voce three times, if no speaker is elected, the vote shall be called again, and the member having the highest vote, provided it be a majority of a quorum, shall be declared elected. Under this rule the choice finally fell upon the candidate of the democratic party.
To the people of the country, such a contest was regarded with deep regret, and even with indignation. The feelings of members became excited and exasperated; political jealousies and animosities were kindled, sectional differences were magnified to unwonted importance, and sectional interests advocated and insisted upon, all giving premonition of the long and stormy session which followed.
Fortunately, the President and Senate awaited the issue with a calm and dignified bearing; and, on the organization of the House, the former communicated his annual Message. It was more brief than such documents have usually been; but clear, able, and remarkably practical.[Pg 903] It recommended among other matters of various moment, an alteration of the Tariff—improvements in rivers and harbors—strict neutrality of the nation in foreign quarrels—and the immediate admission of California with the Constitution which she had already formed. The message concluded by urging the preservation of the Union, in terms as noble in sentiment, as beautiful in expression. The President said: "Attachment to the Union of the States, should be habitually fostered in every American heart. For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it, have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory, and the object of affection and admiration with every one, worthy to bear the American name. In my judgment, its dissolution would be the greatest of calamities; and to avert that, should be the study of every American. Upon its preservation must depend our own happiness, and that of countless generations to come. What ever dangers may threaten it, I shall stand by it, and maintain it in its integrity to the full extent of the obligations imposed, and the power conferred upon me by the Constitution."
Proceedings in Congress.—For years the subject of slavery has been, as is well known, a fruitful theme of controversy, and a source of jealousy and agitation, between parties in the southern and northern states. The great territorial acquisitions of the United States, consequent upon the war with Mexico, and the question whether slavery should or should not obtain in those territories, had served to increase that jealousy and that agitation. Moreover, California had already adopted a Constitution, by which slavery was excluded, and was making application for admission into the Union. Other states were soon expected to follow her lead. To the South, these anti-slavery tendencies were not only unexpected, but most unwelcome,[Pg 904] as with the hope, and, probably, with the design of extending the area of slavery, they had ardently enlisted in the Mexican war. On the other hand, the people of the North generally, were for preventing the further extension of slavery, and even desired to curtail the system by all constitutional measures within their power.
It was in this sensitive and excited state of the country that Congress assembled. The members themselves participated more or less in these jealous and antagonistical feelings, which were rather increased than allayed by the unfortunate contest attendant upon the election of a speaker. Indeed, that a storm was approaching was too evident to be concealed. A crisis had come which must be met. Questions of the deepest importance could no longer be postponed. It was fortunate for the nation, that the Senate at this time embodied men of great political sagacity, and firm and patriotic resolution. Among these may be mentioned, by way of pre-eminence, Mr. Clay, who had once more returned to the councils of the nation, and upon whom more than any other man, it seemed to devolve, to mediate between parties holding a hostile attitude, and to suggest some measures, if such were possible, by which great and daily increasing difficulties might be compromised.
Accordingly, towards the close of January, Mr. Clay introduced his celebrated resolutions to the consideration of the Senate, "by which, taken together, he proposed an amicable arrangement of all the questions in controversy between free and slave states, growing out of the subject of the institution of Slavery." These resolutions were as follows.
The first of these related to the admission of California, when she should apply, without providing for the introduction or exclusion of Slavery within her boundaries. The second declared that Slavery does not exist, and is not likely to be introduced into the territories acquired from the republic of Mexico; and that no legislation should be had in reference to its introduction or exclusion therefrom. The third established the western boundary in the state of[Pg 905] Texas. The fourth provided for the payment of the public debt of the State of Texas, she relinquishing to the United States all her claims for any part of New Mexico. The fifth asserted the inexpediency of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland, without the consent of the people of the district, and without just compensation to the owners of the slaves within the district. The sixth expressed the expediency of prohibiting the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. The seventh related to the restitution and delivery of fugitive slaves. The eighth denied the power to Congress, to prohibit or obstruct the slave-trade between the slaveholding states.
These resolutions were subsequently supported by Mr. Clay in a speech of great power, and in which the great pacificator stood before the Senate and the world as the firm and fast friend of the country—the whole country, in whose service, for whose prosperity, and for the preservation of whose Union, he had labored with untiring assiduity during the greater part of his life. In view of the dangers which were thickening around the country and the prospect of disunion, and possibly civil war growing out of these unsettled questions, between the North and South, Mr. Clay in conclusion, most eloquently said, "Sir, I implore gentlemen, I adjure them, whether from the South or the North, by all they hold dear in this world—by all their love of liberty—by all their veneration for their ancestors—by all their gratitude to Him, who has bestowed on them such unnumbered and countless blessings—by all the duties which they owe to mankind—and by all the duties which they owe to themselves, to pause, solemnly to pause at the edge of the precipice, before the fatal and dangerous leap is taken into the yawning abyss below, from which none who ever take it, shall return in safety."
From this time for months, these resolutions occupied the consideration of the Senate—speech following speech—often embodying the most profound views—exciting the[Pg 906] deepest feelings, and giving birth ofttime to eloquence the most powerful and patriotic.
Death of Mr. Calhoun.—During the pendency of these great questions which were agitating the country to its remotest ends, and the discussion of which seemed to increase rather than allay the already excited storm, an event occurred calculated to show the folly of all such sectional strife, as that in which the Representatives of the nation were engaged. This was the death of that able and distinguished statesman, John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, who died at Washington, while a member of the Senate, on the 6th of April. Among the great men of the day, few had occupied a more commanding station than he, and but few had been longer engaged in the public service of his country. As early as 1810, Mr. Calhoun took his seat in the House of Representatives of the United States. The period was pregnant with portentous events. Europe was involved in war, nor was it improbable that the United States would long escape its calamities. Mr. Calhoun felt, and enforced the necessity of immediate preparation for such a state. The first tones of his voice in public life might be considered war-like, yet no man loved peace better, or deemed it more likely to be secured than by being well prepared for hostilities. In subsequent years, he occupied various important offices. During the administration of the younger Adams, and the first term of Gen. Jackson, he held the office of Vice President. During a part of the Tyler Administration, he was Secretary of State. For many years he had a seat in the Senate. In all these stations he showed himself to be a man of pre-eminent talents and incorruptible integrity. He was strongly southern in his feelings, and perhaps his sectional prejudices sometimes led him to the advocacy of some measures, and opposition to others, which with other feelings he would have avoided. Yet, no one could doubt his patriotism or his firmness in the cause of right, as he understood it. His speeches displayed[Pg 907] great logical acumen, and were often characterized for great power and brilliancy, which commanded the admiration of his strongest political opponents.
In the great questions which were agitating the national representatives at the time of his death, Mr. Calhoun had taken the deepest possible interest. He was solemnly impressed with the critical juncture of affairs, and thought he foresaw in the measures which were likely to be adopted, the precursors of a shock fatal to the integrity of the National Union. Though borne down with a disease which in the sequel must prove fatal, he enlisted himself strongly—too strongly for his physical strength, to avert impending calamities, as he deemed them, and by so doing, hastened the termination of his mortal existence.
His departure was a national loss. Even those who had long differed from him in regard to political doctrines and political measures, lamented his death. A committee of the Senate accompanied his remains to his native state, where it is believed he was held in honor and affection almost unequaled in the history of public men.
The funeral obsequies of Mr. Calhoun having been solemnized, Congress resumed its deliberations, and, shortly after, a resolution introduced by Mr. Foote, referring the subject matters in debate to a select committee, consisting of thirteen, was adopted. Of this committee, Mr. Clay was chairman. To this committee were referred the following subjects upon which to report:
1st. The admission of California as she presents herself. 2d. Governments for territories without any anti-slavery proviso. 3d. Settlement of the boundary question between Texas and New Mexico, and the purchase of the territory of Texas. 4th. The ultimate admission of other states, formed from the territory of Texas. Besides these, the committee were permitted to take into consideration or not, at their discretion, the subject of fugitive slaves, and Slavery in the District of Columbia.
On the 8th of May, Mr. Clay presented the majority[Pg 908] report of the Committee of thirteen, denominated the compromise or omnibus bill, which after a protracted discussion failed; but its provisions were subsequently passed, as we shall have occasion to notice in a subsequent page.
Invasion of Cuba.—On the 25th of April, and the 2d of May, an expedition, three hundred in number, left New Orleans, under command of Gen. Lopez, for the secret purpose of invading Cuba. This force had been collected, armed, and officered in the United States. So secretly had the affair been conducted, that neither the Spanish Consuls in our larger ports, nor the government of the United States had been apprised of it. The invaders consisted in part of old Mexican soldiers, some of whom were informed of the object in view, while not a few enlisted under the expectation that the expedition was bound to California. On the morning of the 19th of May, a landing was effected at Cardenas. A brief struggle ensued between the invaders and the troops, in which the latter were repulsed, the Governor captured, his palace plundered, and a large quantity of public money seized. The invaders had counted upon accessions to their ranks in the Spanish army, and from the disaffected inhabitants. In this, however, they were disappointed, and Lopez re-embarked on board the steamer, and with a few of his followers made his escape to the United States, leaving the great body of his adherents to the tender mercies of the authorities of Cuba. As soon as the sailing of the expedition was known, the American executive despatched armed vessels to prevent its landing in Cuba. In this, however, they failed. Lopez was arrested in New Orleans, and held for trial. It seems that a Spanish steamer captured two vessels in the Mexican waters, laden with men whom they suspected of having intended to join the invading expedition, and took them into Havanna. The release of these was peremptorily demanded by the President, and subsequently they were so released. But three, it is believed,[Pg 909] of all who participated in the invasion, were condemned, and these three were sent to the galleys.
Convention with Great Britain.—This Convention had reference to the Nicaragua treaty, so called, which was ratified by the governments of the United States and Great Britain, and promulgated at Washington, the 4th of July, 1850. This treaty provided for the establishment of a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by means of a ship canal, to be constructed by way of the river San Juan de Nicaragua, and either or both of the lakes of Nicaragua or Maragua, to any port or place on the Pacific Ocean.
Death of Gen. Taylor.—The administration of Gen. Taylor was suddenly brought to a close, on the 9th of July, by his demise, on the evening of that day. His illness was brief, and occasioned by exposure and fatigue, while attending the celebration of the 4th of July. His funeral was attended by a large military display, by the officers of government and the representatives of foreign nations, and by an immense concourse of his fellow citizens.
This event was unexpected, and the more so, from the well known vigor of health always enjoyed by the President. It came upon the nation, as in the case of the death of the lamented Harrison, like the voice of an earthquake. Few could credit it; none were prepared for it. That he, who "had passed through severe military duties in the swamps of Florida, and on the plains of Mexico, unharmed by bullet or pestilence, should be struck down in the midst of his friends, and in the high station to which his country had raised him—it was thought passing strange."
In a former part of this work we have had occasion to sketch a portion of the military service rendered by Gen. Taylor, while in the employment of the Government. We have seen with what courage, skill, and bravery he bore himself at Palo Alto, Buena Vista, and on other fields, where victories were achieved which would have done credit to a[Pg 910] Napoleon or a Wellington. During his entire military life, in the midst of his most brilliant victories, in the flush of all his military prosperity, he seems to have maintained an unaffected simplicity of character, a remarkable plainness of manners, an unbending integrity of soul, combined with kindness, moderation, and benevolence, calculated to win the admiration and confidence of all to whom he stood related.
"Returning, laurel-crowned and victorious, from a foreign war," as a writer remarks, "he was hailed from his first landing on his native strand, as the future President. With what unaffected modesty he received these new honors—how scrupulously he abstained from any and every step that might look like seeking this high office—how calmly and how simply, when installed as President, he bore his honors, we need not attempt to recite." From the day of his inauguration, to the day of his death, it is believed that he endeavored, as he expressed himself on his dying pillow, to do his duty. No one, perhaps, ever suspected him of "pursuing any crooked path in politics," or "having been actuated by sinister views and purposes." His administration was brief—only one year and four months—too brief to decide upon the policy which he might have deemed it his duty to pursue, in the difficult and trying times upon which the government had fallen, and amidst the perplexing questions which it was called to decide. It was fortunate for his reputation, perhaps, that he was removed at the precise juncture at which God called him to resign his exalted station. He had committed no error. He stood before the nation and the world, as the man of integrity—brilliant in his former military exploits—firm and patriotic in his brief civil career. He enjoyed the confidence of friends—he commanded the respect and admiration of political opponents. He died mourned and lamented by all. To what higher honors could a man wish to attain? What reputation more exalted, or more enviable, could he wish to leave behind him? Fortunate Senex!
XVIII. MILLARD FILLMORE, PRESIDENT.
ASSUMED THE GOVERNMENT JULY 10, 1850.
[Immediately upon the death of President Taylor, the members of his Cabinet tendered their resignation to President Fillmore, but at his request, and for the safety of the public service, they retained their offices for a few days. On the 15th, the new Cabinet was formed.]
| Daniel Webster, | Massachusetts, | July 15, | Secretary of State. |
| Thomas Corwin, | Ohio, | July 15, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| Alexander H. H. Stuart, | Secretary of the Interior.[90] | ||
| Charles M. Conrad,[91] | Secretary of War. | ||
| William A. Graham, | North Carolina, | July 15, | Secretary of the Navy. |
| John J. Crittenden, | Kentucky, | July 15, | Attorney General. |
| Nathan K. Hall, | New York, | July 15, | Postmaster General. |
It is a most admirable feature of the Constitution of the United States, that it provides, in case of the death of a President, for the ready and quiet transfer of all his powers[Pg 912] to the Vice President, as his constitutional successor. And a most interesting hour was that when, on the day following the death of Gen. Taylor, and while his remains were still reposing in the national mansion, Mr. Fillmore took the oath of the Presidential office in the presence of both Houses of Congress. It was a service occupying but a brief space; but in that short time a transfer of all executive power was quietly effected, and the machinery of government, which had paused for only a few hours, if it may be said to have been suspended at all, was again in motion, and was proceeding with its accustomed regularity and harmonious action. How unlike to scenes in other nations of the world, when the demise of a sovereign is nearly sure to be followed by turmoil and confusion, and the transfer of his power is effected only, perhaps, by strife and bloodshed. But here, at the bidding of God, the President one hour puts off the mantle of his power and authority, and the next his successor assumes it, and not one wave of commotion is observed. Who will not say of such a Constitution,—Esto perpetua?
The Compromise Bill.—The death of Gen. Taylor, and the funeral obsequies consequent thereupon, suspended for a brief time all other Congressional proceedings of the National Council. When, at length, action was resumed, it was natural to expect that an event so providential and so monitory would have its due influence in mitigating the acerbity of party spirit, and of infusing into the minds of legislators a deeper sense of the importance of harmony and mutual kindness. But it proved otherwise. Scarcely had the grave closed upon the remains of the great and good man, ere the same heated contest was renewed, and the same sectional jealousies indulged.
It would impart no pleasure to enter into the details of the Senate's action, day after day, upon the Compromise bill, the one great measure which had absorbed its dissensions nearly the whole of the session. Suffice it to say, that in consequence of various amendments, the bill, at length,[Pg 913] contained nothing but the sections relating to the territory of Utah, and in that shape it was passed by a vote of 32 to 18. Thus a series of measures, which had been under discussion for months, which the powerful eloquence of Clay, Cass, and others had advocated, and which by them and others was deemed almost essential to the peace and integrity of the Union, was lost, and for the time any adequate substitute seemed hopeless. Clouds of deeper intensity than ever seemed to be gathering, and anarchy and discord were ready to extend their baleful influence to the nation at large.
Happily, however, a conservative spirit at length prevailed. Men perceived the necessity of doing something to save the nation and the Union, and under this conviction, a movement was made to revive, in another form and in distinct bills, the measures which had been previously combined into one, and been lost. We shall attempt to state little more than results.
First, the bill for the admission of California was taken up, and after a warm discussion, during which amendment after amendment was offered and rejected, it was passed by the Senate, 34 to 18. To this bill a formal and spirited protest was presented by several southern Senators, but its registration on the journal was refused.
Next, followed a bill making proposals to Texas for the settlement of her western boundary, and proposing to pay her ten millions of dollars, provided she should relinquish all claim to the United States for territory beyond the boundaries prescribed. The bill was debated for several days, and on the 9th of September, received its final passage. Yeas 30, nays 20.
On the 14th, the bill providing for a territorial government for New Mexico, was taken up and finally passed.
The above several bills were sent of course to the House of Representatives, and by that body were passed with amendments with regard to some of them, but only after as warm and even heated debate, as was ever, perhaps, known on the floor of Congress.
Two other important bills received also the sanction of a majority of both houses; the first was a bill to facilitate the recovery of fugitive slaves; and the second, a bill abolishing the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
Congress adjourned on the 30th of September; the session having been protracted to the long period of ten months, and having proved more stormy than any other session since the adoption of the Federal Constitution. The effects of the above measures time only can determine. While to the South, the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, is most obnoxious, being, as is affirmed, a precursor of further action by the general government in relation to the abolition of slavery, the fugitive slave bill has received the loud and decided condemnation of individuals and assemblies at the North. The opinion, however, of the Attorney General, that this latter bill does not suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus, has served in a measure to allay the wide-spread hostility to it, as such suspension was supposed to be contemplated by it, and was condemned as unconstitutional and unjust.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, by Wm. H. Prescott.
[2] History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, by Washington Irving.
[3] It gives an interesting view of the depth of Columbus' solicitude and grief, as well as of the peculiar spirit by which he was actuated in his great enterprise, to learn the following from his own pen, in a letter to his sovereign: "I could have supported this evil fortune with less grief, had my person alone been in jeopardy, since I am debtor for my life to the Supreme Creator, and have at other times been within a step of death. But it was a cause of infinite sorrow and trouble to think, that after having been illuminated from on high with faith and certainty to undertake this enterprise; after having victoriously achieved it, and when on the point of convincing my opponents and securing to your highness great glory and vast increase of dominion, it should please the Divine Majesty to defeat all by my death. It would have been more supportable also, had I not been accompanied by others, who had been drawn on by my persuasions, and who in their distress cursed not only the hour of their coming, but the fear inspired by my words, which prevented their turning back as they had at various times determined. Above all, my grief was doubled when I thought of my two sons, whom I had left in school at Cordova, destitute in a strange land, without any testimony of the services rendered by their father, which, if known, might have inclined your highness to befriend them. And although, on the one hand, I was comforted by a faith, that the Deity would not permit a work of such great exaltation to his church, wrought through so many troubles and contradictions, to remain imperfect; yet, on the other hand, I reflected on my sins, for which he might intend, as a punishment, that I should be deprived of the glory which would redound to me in this world." It is ever to be kept in mind, that Columbus had the most exalted ideas of the effect of his discoveries on the extension of Christianity. Connected with this pious motive, was the questionable one of consecrating the wealth hence to be derived to the rescue of the holy sepulchre, a project which he had contemplated. This faith or enthusiasm runs through the whole tissue of his strange and chequered life.
[4] Prescott's History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
[5] Smith's History of Virginia.
[6] Holmes' Annals.
[7] New England Memorial, by Nathaniel Morton.
[8] New England Memorial.
[9] New England's Memorial—Appendix.
[10] Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims.
[11] Trumbull's History of Connecticut.
[12] Bacon's Historical Discourses.
[13] T. Robbins.
[14] T. Robbins.
[15] Except Virginia.
[16] Mrs. Willard's Republic of America.
[17] Book of the Indians.
[18] Book of the Indians.
[19] Book of the Indians.
[20] Hoyt's Antiquarian Researches.
[21] Book of the Indians.
[22] Hoyt's Antiquarian Researches.
[23] Book of the Indians.
[24] Hoyt.
[25] Holmes' Annals.
[26] Holmes.
[27] Holmes.
[28] Pitkin.
[29] Wirt's Life of Henry.
[30] Botta's History.
[31] Botta's War of the Independence.
[32] Sparks' Life of Warren.
[33] Sparks' Life of Warren.
[34] Hinton.
[35] Botta's History of the American War.
[36] It has long been claimed that the first declaration of independence was made by the people in Charlotte town, Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, in May, 1775. All doubt on this subject is now dispelled, and the honor of such declaration must be accorded to them. In a letter from Mr. Bancroft, American minister at London, to Governor Swain, of North Carolina, dated London, July 4th, 1848, he says: "You may be sure that I have spared no pains to discover in the British state paper office a copy of the resolves of the committee of Mecklenburg, and with entire success. The first account of 'the extraordinary resolves of the people in Charlotte town, Mecklenburg county,' was sent over to England by Sir James Wright, then governor of Georgia, (to whom they had found their way) in a letter of the 20th of June, 1775. The newspaper thus transmitted is still preserved, and is the number 498 of the South Carolina Gazette and County Journal, Tuesday, June 13, 1775."—"It is identically the same with the paper which you enclosed to me."—The letter of Sir James Wright, referred to by Mr. Bancroft, closes as follows: "By the enclosed paper, your lordship will see the extraordinary resolves of the people of Charlotte town, in Mecklenburg county: I should not be surprised if the same should be done every where else"
[37] Pitkin.
[38] Headley's Washington and his Generals.
[39] Botta.
[40] Hale's History of the United States.
[41] Botta.
[42] Holmes' Annals.
[43] Nor was it only in New Jersey, and in the midst of the victorious royal troops, that these abrupt changes of party were observed; the inhabitants of Pennsylvania flocked, in like manner, to humble themselves at the feet of the English commissioners, and to promise them fealty and obedience. Among others, were Mr. Gallaway and Mr. Allen, both of whom had been members of the continental congress. Their example became pernicious, and the most prejudicial effects were to be apprehended from it. Every day ushered in some new calamity; the cause of America seemed hastening to irrecoverable ruin. The most ardent no longer dissembled that the term of the war was at hand, and that the hour was come in which the colonies were about to resume the yoke.
[44] General Lee had been a British officer, and had engaged in the American service before the acceptance of the resignation of his commission. Sir William Howe, for this reason, pretended to view him as a traitor, and at first refused to admit him on his parole, or to consider him as a subject of exchange. Congress directed Washington to propose to General Howe to give six Hessian officers in exchange for him; but Howe still persisting in his refusal, Congress ordered that Lieutenant-colonel Campbell and five Hessian officers should be imprisoned, and treated as General Lee. This order was executed even with more rigor than it prescribed. The lieutenant-colonel, being then at Boston, was thrown into a dungeon destined for malefactors. Washington blamed this excess; he knew that Lee was detained, but not ill-treated. Lieutenant-colonel Campbell and the Hessians were not liberated until General Howe had consented to consider Lee as a prisoner of war.
[45] Hinton.
[46] Journals of Congress.
[47] Holmes' Annals.
[48] Botta.
[49] General Frazer was wounded about four o'clock in the afternoon, and died the following morning at eight. At six in the evening he was buried—all the generals attending his funeral, and marching to an eminence where his remains were deposited. The Americans, entirely ignorant of the nature of the collection, directed their artillery towards the British. Fortunately, no lives were lost, and no one was wounded. General Gates, on learning the object of the assemblage, expressed his deep regret at the firing.
[50] The term Cow-boys was given to Americans attached to the British cause, who resided within their lines, but who frequently plundered the Americans on the other side of their cattle, which they drove to New York. Skinners were those who lived within the American lines, and professed attachment to their cause; but they were even more unprincipled than the former, often committing their depredations on friends as well as foes.
[51] Jones was an ardent man, and bore disappointment and delay with no good grace. Chance one day threw into his hands an old almanac, containing Poor Richard's Maxims, by Dr. Franklin. In that curious assemblage of useful instructions, a man is advised, "if he wishes to have any business faithfully and expeditiously performed, to go and do it himself—otherwise, to send." Jones was immediately struck, upon reading this maxim, with the impropriety of his past conduct, in only sending letters and messages to court, when he ought to have gone in person. He instantly set out, and, by dint of personal representation, procured the immediate equipment of the squadron, which afterwards spread terror along the Eastern coasts of England, and with which he so gloriously captured the Serapis, and the British ships of war returning from the Baltic. In gratitude to Dr. Franklin's maxim, he named the principal ship of his squadron after the name of the pretended almanac-maker, Le Bon Homme Richard, the Good Man Richard.
[52] Cooper's Naval History.
[53] Hartley was considered a tedious speaker on account of his prolixity. But he was a friend to America, and often told the ministers some very unwelcome truths. The following good story is told of him: One afternoon, Jenkinson, the first Lord Liverpool, left the house when the member from Hull rose to speak; and presuming that the honorable gentleman would, as usual, deliver a very long, dull speech, he walked home, mounted his horse, and rode to his country-house, where he dined; and, after strolling for some time about his grounds, returned at a gentle pace to town. On his arrival at home, he sent a messenger to the house to ascertain what had been done, and how soon the division might be expected to take place. The reply he received was, that Mr. Hartley had not yet done speaking; and when Jenkinson, at length, thought it advisable, in order to be in time for voting, to go down to Westminster, he found the long-winded orator still on his legs!
[54] For a more particular account of this plan of union, the reader is referred to Pitkin's History of the United States, vol. i. p. 142, or Holmes' Annals, vol. ii. p. 55.
[55] Holmes' Annals.
[56] Madison Papers, vol. ii. p. 687-9.
[57] Hinton.
[58] "The nomination came with particular grace from Pennsylvania, as Dr. Franklin alone could have been thought of as a competitor. The doctor was himself to have made the nomination of General Washington, but the state of the weather and of his health confined him to his house."—Madison Papers.
[59] "This plan had been concerted among the deputation, or members thereof, from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and perhaps Mr. Martin, from Maryland, who made with them a common cause, though on different principles. Connecticut and New York were against a departure from the principles of the confederation, wishing rather to add a few new powers to congress, than to substitute a national government. The states of New Jersey and Delaware were opposed to a national government, because its patrons considered a proportional representation of the states as the basis of it. The eagerness displayed by the members opposed to a national government, from these different motives, began now to produce serious anxiety for the result of the convention. Mr. Dickinson said to Mr. Madison: 'You see the consequence of pushing things too far. Some of the members from the small states wish for two branches in the general legislature, and are friends to a good national government; but we would sooner submit to foreign power, than submit to be deprived, in both branches of the legislature, of an equality of suffrage, and thereby be thrown under the dominion of the larger states.'"—Madison Papers.
[60] Madison Papers.
[61] This committee consisted of Mr. Gerry, Mr. Ellsworth, Mr. Yates, Mr. Patterson, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Bedford, Mr. Martin, Mr. Mason, Mr. Davy, Mr. Rutledge, and Mr. Baldwin.
[62] Pitkin.
[63] Never did a magistrate exercise power entrusted to him, with stricter fidelity than Washington. In respect to appointments to and removals from office, no man could be more conscientious. Private friendship exerted no influence, where the public good could not be subserved. A lofty patriotism swayed him. Even the enemies of Washington—they were never many—but the few who, at length, opposed the measures of his administration, had no occasion to censure him for conferring office on men whose only claim was friendship, or political affinity to the president. The following anecdote will serve to illustrate the integrity of the first chief magistrate of the union—happy had it been for the country, and for the honor and reputation of some of his successors in that exalted office, had they followed, in this respect, the "footsteps of an illustrious predecessor."
"During his administration, an application was made to him by a gentleman who had been the friend and companion of the general throughout the whole course of the Revolutionary war, during which he had received, on various occasions, indubitable marks of his kindness and partiality. He had become, in the estimation, if not of himself, of his friends, in a degree necessary to the happiness of Washington, and had therefore, in their opinion, only to apply for the office, to receive it. It was a boon, which, while it would ensure competency and ease to a friend, would bring that friend into frequent intercourse with his patron and former associate in arms.
"For the same office, however, there was a competitor; but as he was decidedly hostile to the politics of Washington, and had made himself conspicuous among the opposers of his administration, no serious apprehensions were felt from this quarter. Towards such a man—a well-known political enemy—Washington surely could feel under no obligations, and was not likely to prefer such a one to a personal friend and favorite. Every one acquainted with the pretensions of the two applicants, was at no loss to judge as to the president's decision, and the concurrent opinion was in favor of the friend and against his competitor.
"Judge, then, the general surprise, when it was announced that the political opponent of Washington was appointed and the former associate of the general in the toils and deprivations of the camp, was left destitute and dejected.
"When his decision was known, a mutual friend, who interested himself in the affair, ventured to remonstrate with the president on the injustice of his appointment. 'My friend,' replied this illustrious man, 'I receive with a cordial welcome; he is welcome to my house, and welcome to my heart; but, with all his good qualities, he is not a man of business. His opponent, with all his political hostility to me, is a man of business. My private feelings have nothing to do in the case! I am not George Washington, but president of the United States. As George Washington, I would do this man any kindness in my power; but as president of the United States, I can do nothing.'"
[64] Pitkin.
[65] Before the time of embarkation, Mr. Henry died, and Governor Davie was appointed in his place.
[66] Paulding's Life of Washington.
[67] Life of Jefferson, vol. ii. p. 45.
[68] Gibbs' Memoirs of the Administrations of Washington and John Adams.
[69] Commodore Truxton and Doctor Bollman testified before the court, that they were both intimate with Colonel Burr; that in their conversation with him, there had been no reserve; and that they had never heard him speak of a dissolution of the Union.
[70] This unhappy difficulty was not finally adjusted till 1811. Mr. Rose reached America December 25th. But, having no authority to negotiate until the president should rëcall his proclamation of July 2d, and the president declining to accede to such a preliminary, the negotiations, for the time, closed. In November, 1811, the British minister communicated to the secretary of state, that the attack on the Chesapeake was unauthorized by his majesty's government; that the officer at that time in command on the American coast, had been rëcalled; that the men, taken from the Chesapeake, should be restored, and that suitable pecuniary provision should be made for those who suffered in the attack, and for the families of the seamen that fell. To these propositions the president acceded. But the question, touching the right of search, was left undecided.
[71] Life of William Henry Harrison.
[72] Breckenridge's History of the War.
[73] Hale's History of the United States.
[74] Willard's Republic.
[75] Hinton.
[76] General Gaines' official letter.
[77] Bradford's History of the Federal Government.
[78] Willard's History of the United States.
[79] His last words were, as if addressing his successor, "Sir, I wish you to understand the principles of the government. I want them carried out. I ask nothing more."
[80] To this resolution there were three conditions—the 1st was, that Texas should adopt a constitution, and lay it before congress on or before the 1st day of January, 1846. 2. That all mines, minerals, fortifications, arms, navy, &c., should be ceded to the United States. 3. That new states might hereafter be formed out of the said territory. The amendment of Mr. Walker allowed the president of the United States, instead of proceeding to submit the foregoing resolutions to the republic of Texas, as an overture on the part of the United States for admission, to negotiate with that republic.
[81] Life of Andrew Jackson, by John S. Jenkins.
[82] A new office, embracing certain portions of business heretofore transacted in the Departments of State, Treasury, &c.
[83] For the principal events of Canadian history during the French and Indian war—the invasion of Canada by the United Colonies, in 1775, and by the United States in 1812-15—the reader is referred to the prior portions of the volume, where these events are detailed.
[84] Murray's British America.
[85] Murray's British America.
[86] Simon Bolivar was a native of Caraccas, and belonged to one of the most respectable and wealthy families of that city. By a series of brilliant and arduous services, he established the liberty and independence of his native country, and procured the well-deserved title of The Liberator.
[87] American Almanac for 1849.
[88] American Almanac for 1839.
[89] Only ten of the twelve Articles of Amendment proposed by the first Congress, were ratified by the states; the first and second in order not being approved by the requisite number. These two were the following:
Article the First. After the first enumeration required by the first Article of the Constitution, there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which, the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than one hundred representatives, nor less than one representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of representatives shall amount to two hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred representatives, nor more than one representative for every fifty thousand persons.
Article Second. No law, varying the compensation for the services of the senators and representatives, shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened.
[90] This office, first tendered to James A. Pearce, of Maryland, was declined; also by Hon. Charles J. Jenkins, Georgia, and Hon. Henry S. Geyer, of Missouri; but it was accepted by Hon. T. M. S. McKennan, of Pennsylvania, who resigned at the close of a single day.
[91] Edward Bates, of Missouri, was originally appointed Secretary of War, but dec
