The pirates of the Mediterranean had, towards the end of the eighteenth century, preyed on the commerce of the world, excepting that of those countries which paid blackmail to the governments that sent them out. In 1795, our government, the commerce of which had greatly suffered, entered into an agreement with the dey of Algiers, whose freebooters had captured two American vessels and thrown their crews into bondage, to pay him seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars cash, and some fifty thousand dollars, annually, for the release of these seamen and the future security of our ships.

Treaties were also bought from the States of Tripoli and Tunis, but in 1801 the bey of Tripoli declared war against the United States, in order to get an increase of tribute. The war was concluded by a treaty effected June 4, 1805, by which all future tribute was abolished, but a large sum was paid for the freedom of Americans then in the hands of the pirates. It was a naval war, and did not have great results excepting in training the United States navy, and in showing the wisdom of the Federalists who demanded a stronger naval force than Jefferson thought necessary. The war was rendered notable, however, by the gallant conduct of the seamen generally, and especially by the daring of Stephen Decatur, then a young lieutenant, who ran into the harbor of Tripoli with a small vessel and destroyed an American frigate, the Philadelphia, under the very guns of the castle, and returned without loss.

The candidate for the office of Vice-President at the first election of Jefferson, was Aaron Burr, a man of brilliant parts, but without principle. He had the

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same number of votes in the electoral college that Jefferson received, and it devolved upon the House of Representatives to declare which of the two should have the higher office, since by the Constitution, as it then stood, the person receiving the greatest number of votes was to be President, and the second in order Vice-President. Soon losing his popularity, and

foreseeing that though Jefferson would be re-nominated for his office, no such fortune was in store for him, Burr endeavored to capture the office of Governor of New York In this attempt he failed, through the influence of Hamilton, as he thought. Challenging Hamilton to mortal combat, he deliberately shot him,

and was obliged to hide himself from popular indignation, for the people knew the virtues of Alexander Hamilton and mourned his loss as a national calamity.

During the administration of President Adams, a plan had been formed to wrench from Spain her South American possessions, and prominent Federalists had for a considerable time negotiated with one Miranda, a Spanish adventurer, for the perfection of the plans. The accession of Napoleon to power in France had happily thwarted these schemes. In his dejection Burr now thought of the plan, and seems to have determined to raise an army with which he might take Mexico from Spain, unite it to the Western and Southwestern States, and form an empire in which he should be dictator, with perhaps power enough to overturn the American Government. This was treason, and when the plan was discovered, Burr was arrested in Southwestern Alabama, whither he had escaped in 1807, and tried for that offence. He was acquitted for want of evidence that he had actually embodied an army within the State where the trial was held, though there were those who thought that the acquittal was a partisan act, the high-minded Chief Justice Marshal being accused of having favored Burr on political grounds. After the trial, Burr became a friendless wanderer.

The story of the life of Harman Blennerhassett, an Irish exile whom Burr ruined by involving him in this scheme, is told in a brochure published in Chillicothe, O., in 1850. It contains the elements of a deeply absorbing romance, bringing before the reader the polished and unprincipled Burr, and his devoted daughter, Theodosia, offset by the guileless simplicity

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of Blennerhassett and the ardent attachment of his cultivated wife. The scene broadens; takes us through the West and Southwest, exhibits many other characters and wild and exciting incidents. Before the sad story ends, Burr becomes an outcast and a wanderer, without brother, sister, friend or child. Theodosia had been lost at sea in a vessel that set out from Charleston for New York, and was never heard of. Blennerhassett, after vain efforts to retrieve his fortunes, dies in a foreign land, comforted in his last moments by his loving but distressed wife; and, finally, just as the American Congress, led by Clay and others, is about to appropriate funds to enable her to enjoy her last days in comfort, Mrs. Blennerhassett dies in New York, in poverty and pain, an object of charity, ministered to by a society of women of her own warm-hearted Irish people.

She

The foreign commerce of America had at this time become so great as practically to comprise the carrying trade of the world, and England became desirous of limiting it. She had, as we know, interposed some difficulties by insisting upon the right of search and the impressment of such seamen as her commanders might consider British subjects. now not only reasserted this right, but declared that American vessels though neutral, were not exempt from siezure if they carried produce from countries. with which she was at war. The American coasts were infested with privateers. American commerce was suffering from British interference, and, in 1805, the President recommended that active measures should be taken for protection.

In 1806, a treaty was concluded by Monroe and

Pinckney, by which these troubles with Great Britain would have been stopped, but as a treaty with England would have been detrimental to our interests with France, Jefferson did not send the document to the Senate, and it was never ratified. This action of the President caused a tumult of excitement. The situa

tion was still more complicated by the Berlin (November 21, 1806) and Milan (December 17, 1807) decrees of Napoleon, which declared that the British Islands were in a state of blockade, and threatened with seizure all vessels trading with England or her dependencies, and the retaliatory "Orders in council" of England,