were suffered to remain in England unnoticed, for months, and then the ministry, proposing first one place, and then another, for the negotiations, exhibited a trifling spirit, derogatory to true dignity. For half a year the treaty was prolonged in this way, until, finally, the commissioners of the two governments met in the city of Ghent, in Belgium, in the month of August, 1814. On the 24th of December following, a treaty was signed, which both governments speedily ratified. It stipulated a mutual restoration of all places and possessions taken during the war, or which might be taken after signing the treaty; declared that all captures at sea should be relinquished, if made within specified times thereafter, in different parts of the world; and that each party should mutually put a stop to Indian hostilities, and endeavor to extinguish the traffic in slaves. The boundaries, imperfectly adjusted by the treaty of 1783,' were all settled; but the subject of impressment of seamen, which was the chief cause of the war,' of paper blockades, and orders in council,' were all passed by without specific notice, in the treaty. With this treaty ended the war, which had been in progress for two years and eight months; and the proclamation of the fact was an occasion of the most sincere rejoicing throughout the United States and Great Britain, for it was an unnatural contest-a conflict between brethren of the same blood, the same religion, the same laws, and the same literature.

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During these negotiations, the war, as we have seen, was vigorously prosecuted, and the opposition of the Federalists grew more intense. It reached its culmination in December, when delegates, appointed by several New England Legislatures, met [Dec. 15, 1814] in convention at Hartford, for the purposes of considering the grievances of the people, caused by a state of war, and to devise speedy measures for its termination.' This convention, whose sessions were secret, was denounced as treasonable by the administration party; but patriotism appears to have prevailed in its councils, whatever may have been the designs of some. Its plans for disunion or secession, if any were formed, were rendered abortive soon after its adjournment, by the proclamation of peace, followed by the appointment of a day for national thanksgiving to the Almighty for the blessed event. That day was observed throughout the Union.

The short time which remained of the session of Congress, after the proclamation of peace, was occupied by that body in adapting the affairs of the government to the new condition of things. The army was reduced to a peace stabment of ten thousand men, and various acts, necessary for the public good during a state of war, were repealed. The naval establishment, however, was kept up; and the depredations of Algerine cruisers caused Congress to author

3

1 Page 348.

2 Note 5, page 409.

A port being blockaded by proclamation, without ships of war being there to maintain it This practice is no longer in vogue. Note 1, page 400. Page 410. New Hampshire and Vermont were unrepresented, except by three county delegates. The Federalists in Vermont, especially, were now in a weak majority; and Governor Gilman, of New Hampshire, the members of whose council were Democratic, could not call a meeting of the Legislature to appoint delegates.

George Cabot was appointed President of the Convention, and Theodore Dwight, a former member of Congress from Connecticut, and then editor of the Hartford Union, was its secretary. The Convention was composed of twenty-six members.

ize the President to send a squadron to the Mediterranean Sea. The results of the war, though apparently disastrous to all concerned at the time, were seen, subsequently, to have been highly beneficial to the United States, not so much in a material as in a moral aspect. The total cost of the war to the United States was about one hundred millions of dollars, and the loss of lives, by battles and other casualties incident to the war, has been estimated at thirty thousand persons. The cost of blood and treasure to the British nation was much greater. During the war, the Americans captured, on the ocean and on the lakes, fifty-six British vessels of war, mounting 886 cannons; and 2,360 merchant vessels, mounting 8,000 guns. There were also lost on the American coast, during the war, by wreck or otherwise, twenty-nine British ships of war, mounting about 800 guns. The Americans lost only twenty-five vessels of war' and a much less number of merchant-ships than the British.

The clouds of an almost three years' war had scarcely disappeared from the firmament, when others suddenly arose. The contest with England had but just ended, when the United States were compelled to engage in a brief

2

WAR WITH ALGIERS.

As we have observed,' the United States had paid tribute to Algiers since 1795. Every year, as his strength increased, the ruler of that Barbary State became more insolent, and, finally, believing that the United States navy had been almost annihilated by the British in the late contest, he made a pretense for renewing depredations upon American commerce, in violation of the treaty. The American government determined to pay tribute no longer, accepted the challenge, and in May, 1815, Commodore Decatur proceeded with a squadron to the Mediterranean, to humble the pirate. Fortunately, the Algerine fleet was cruising in the Mediterranean, in search of American vessels. On the 17th of June [1815], Decatur met and captured the flag-ship (a frigate) of the Algerine admiral, and another vessel with almost six hundred men, and then sailed for the Bay of Algiers. He immediately demanded [June 28] the instant surrender of all American prisoners, full indemnification for all property destroyed, and absolute relinquishment of all claims to tribute from the United States, in future. Informed of the fate of a part of his fleet, the Dey' yielded to the humiliating terms, and signed a treaty [June 30] to that effect. Decatur then sailed for Tunis, and demanded and received [July, 1815] from the bashaw, forty-six thousand dollars, in payment for American vessels which he had allowed the English to capture in his harbor. The same demand, on the same account, was made upon the bashaw of Tripoli,' and Decatur received [August] twenty-five thousand dollars from him and the restoration of prisoners. cruise in the Mediterranean gave full security to American commerce in those

1 Page 381.

This

Page 381. In 1812, the Dey compelled Mr. Lear, the American consul [page 395], to pay him $27,000 for the safety of himself, family, and a few Americans, under the penalty of all being

made slaves.

seas, and greatly elevated the character of the government of the United States in the opinion of Europe. Now was accomplished, during a single cruise, what the combined powers of Europe dared not to attempt.

Now the eventful administration of Mr. Madison drew to a close, and very little of general interest occurred, except the chartering of a new United States Bank,' with a capital of $35,000,000, to continue twenty years; and the admission of Indiana [December, 1816] into the union of States. On the 16th of March, 1816, a caucus of Democratic members of Congress, nominated James Monroe of Virginia (who had been Madison's Secretary of War for a few months), for President of the United States, and Daniel D. Tompkins' of New York, for Vice-President. The Federalists, whose power, as a party, was now rapidly passing away, nominated Rufus King' for President, and votes were given to several persons for Vice-President. Monroe and Tompkins were elected by large majorities. Mr. Monroe's election was by an almost unanimous vote of the electoral college. Only one (in New Hampshire) was cast against him.

CHAPTER VII.

MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION. [1817-1825].

ON the 4th of March, 1817, James Monroe,' the fifth President of the United States, was inaugurated at Washington City. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Marshall," in the presence of Mr. Madison, the judges of the Supreme Court, and a large congregation of citizens. His address on that occasion was liberal and temperate in its tone, and gave general satisfaction to the people. The commencement of his administration was hailed as the dawn of an era of good feeling and national prosperity.' He selected his cabinet from the Republican party, and never since the formation of the gov

Page 372.

2 Daniel D. Tompkins was born in 1774. He was a prominent Democrat when Jefferson was elected [page 389] President of the United States. He was chief justice of New York and also Governor of the State. He died on Staten Island, in 1825.

Page 395.

Note 1, page 361.

5 James Monroe was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, in April, 1759. He was educated at William and Mary College, and his youth was spent amid the political excitements, when the War for Independence was kindling. He joined the Continental army, under Washington, in 1776, and during the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, he was aid to Lord Stirling. After the battle of Monmouth, he left the army and commenced the study of law under Jefferson. He was again in the field when Arnold and Phillips invaded his State, in 1781 [page 330]. The next year, he was a member of the Virginia Legislature, and at the age of twenty-five, was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was in active life as a legislator, foreign minister, Governor of Virginia, and President of the United States, until his retirement from the latter office in 1825. He died in the city of New York, on the 4th of July, 1831, when in the seventy-second year of his age. His remains lie unmarked by any monument, except a simple slab, in a cemetery on the north side of Second-street, in the city of New York. Page 351. President Monroe, soon after his inauguration, made a long tour of observation, extending to Portland, in Maine, on the east, and to Detroit, on the west, in which he was occupied more than three months. He was everywhere received with the kindest attentions and highest honors, and his journey was conducive to the national good.

6

ernment, had a President been surrounded with abler counselors.' Monroe was a judicious and reliable man; and when we reflect upon the condition of the country at that time-in a transition state from war and confusion to peace and order—his elevation to the presidency seems to have been a national blessing.

James Monsor

The administration of Mr. Monroe was marked by immense expansion in the material growth of the United States. During the war, a large number of manufacturing establishments had been nurtured into vigorous life by great demands and high prices; but when peace returned, and European manufactures flooded the country at very low prices, wide-spread ruin ensued, and thousands of men were compelled to seek other employments. The apparent misfortune was a mercy in disguise, for the nation. Beyond the Alleghanies, millions of fertile acres, possessing real wealth, were awaiting the tiller's industry and skill.

Agriculture beckoned the bankrupts to her fields. Homes in

1 His cabinet consisted of John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State; William H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War; Benjamin Crowninshield, Secretary of the Navy; and William Wirt, Attorney-General. He offered the War Department to the venerable Governor Shelby, of Kentucky [page 417], who declined it. Calhoun was appointed in December, 1817. Crowninshield, who was in Madison's cabinet, continued in office until the close of November, 1818, when Smith Thompson, of New York, was appointed in his place.

The progress of the States and Territories west of the Alleghanies [note 3, page 19], in wealth and population, is truly wonderful. A little more than fifty years ago, those immense lakes, Ontario, Erie, Michigan, Huron, and Superior, were entirely without commerce, and an Indian's canoe was almost the only craft seen upon them. In 1853, the value of traffic upon these waters and the navigable rivers, was estimated at five hundred and sixty-two millions of dollars. See note 4, page 537. Twenty-five years ago [1831] there were less than five thousand white people in the vast

the East were deserted; emigration flowed over the mountains in a broad and vigorous stream; and before the close of Monroe's administration, four new sovereign States had started into being' from the wilderness of the great West, and one in the East.2

The first year of Monroe's administration was chiefly distinguished by the admission [December 10, 1817] of a portion of the Mississippi Territory into the Union, as a State,' and the suppression of two piratical and slave-dealing establishments near the southern and south-western borders of the Republic. One of them was at the mouth of the St. Mary's, Florida, and the other at Galveston, Texas. In addition to a clandestine trade in slaves, these buccaneers, under pretense of authority from some of the Spanish republics of South America, were endeavoring to liberate the Floridas from the dominion of Spain. In November, 1817, United States troops proceeded to take possession of Amelia Island, the rendezvous of the pirates on the Florida coast, and the Galveston establishment soon disappeared for want of support.

4

Other serious difficulties arose at about the same time. A motley host, composed chiefly of Seminole Indians, Creeks dissatisfied with the treaty of 1814,' and runaway negroes, commenced murderous depredations upon the frontier settlements of Georgia and the Alabama Territory, toward the close of 1817. General Gaines was sent to suppress these outrages, and to remove every Indian from the territory which the Creeks had ceded to the United States, in 1814. His presence aroused the fiercest ire of the Indians, who, it was ascertained, were incited to hostilities by British subjects, protected by the Spanish authorities in Florida. Gaines was placed in a perilous position, when General Jackson, with a thousand mounted Tennessee volunteers, hastened [December, 1817] to his aid. In March, 1818, he invaded Florida, took possession [April] of the weak Spanish post of St. Mark, at the head of Apalachee Bay, and sent the civil authorities and troops to Pensacola." At St. Mark he secured the persons of Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister, who, on being tried [April 26] by a court martial, were found guilty of being the principal emissaries among the southern Indians, inciting them to hostilities.

region between Lake Michigan and the Pacific Ocean; now [1856] the number is probably two and a half millions. Chicago was then a mere hamlet; now [1856] it is a fine city, with not less than eighty thousand inhabitants. And never was the growth of the Great West more rapid than at the present.

Mississippi, December 10, 1817; Illinois, December 3, 1818; Alabama, December 14, 1819; and Missouri, March 2, 1821. "Maine, March 3, 1820.

The Territory was divided. The western portion was made a State, and the eastern was erected into a Territory, named Alabama, after its principal river. It included a portion of Georgia, given for a consideration. See page 455. Note 6, page 149.

During the first quarter of the present century, nearly all of the countries in Central and South America, which, since the conquests of Cortez [page 43] and Pizarro [note 4, page 44], had been under the Spanish yoke, rebelled, and forming republics, became independent of Spain. It was the policy of our government to encourage these republics, by preventing the establishment of monarchical power on the American continent. This is known as the "Monroe doctrine," a term frequently used in political circles.

Note 8, page 428. 1777. He entered the army in 1799, gallantry at Fort Erie [page 433] in • Page 44. 10 Page 438.