THE LAND WE LIVE IN

Or

The Story of Our Country

by

HENRY MANN

Author of "Handbook for American Citizens, " etc. 

Published byThe Christian Herald, Louis Klopsch, Proprietor, Bible House, New York. Copyright, 1896, by Louis Klopsch. 

INTRODUCTION. 

"The Story of Our Country" has been often told, but cannot be told toooften. I have spared no effort to make the following pages interesting aswell as truthful, and to present, in graphic language, a pen-picture ofour nation's origin and progress. It is a story of events, and not a drychronicle of official succession. It is an attempt to give some freshcolor to facts that are well known, while depicting also other facts ofpublic interest which have never appeared in any general history. WhereverI have taken the work of another I give credit therefor; otherwise thislittle book is the fruit of original research and thought. The viewsexpressed will doubtless not please everybody, and some may think that Igo too far in pleading the cause of the original natives of the soil. Historic justice demands that some one should tell the truth about theIndians, whose chief and almost only fault has been that they occupiedlands which the white man wanted. Even now covetous eyes are cast upon theterritory reserved for the use of the remaining tribes. 

For such statements in regard to General Jackson at New Orleans as differfrom the ordinary narrative I am indebted to a work never published, sofar as I am aware, in this country or in the English language--VincentNolte's "Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres, " issued in Hamburg in 1853. AsNolte owned the cotton which Jackson appropriated, and also served as avolunteer in the battle of New Orleans, he ought to be good authority. 

In dealing with the late war I have sought to be just to both the Unionand the Confederacy. The lapse of over thirty years has given a moreaccurate perspective to the events of that mighty struggle, in which, asa soldier-boy of sixteen, I was an obscure participant, and all trueAmericans, whether they wore the blue or gray, now look back with prideto the splendid valor and heroic endurance displayed by the combatantson both sides. Those who belittle the constancy and courage of the Southbelittle the sacrifices and successes of the North. 

The slavery conflict has long been over, and the scars it left aredisappearing. Other and momentous problems have arisen for settlement, but there is every reason for confidence that they will be settled atthe ballot-box, and without appeal to rebellion, or thought or threat ofsecession. In the present generation, more than in any preceding, is theinjunction of Washington exemplified, that the name of _American_ shouldalways exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellationderived from local discriminations. This supreme National sentimentoverpowering all considerations of local interest and attachment, is theassurance that our country will live forever, that all difficulties, however menacing, will yield to the challenge of popular intelligenceand patriotism, and that the glorious record of the past is but themorning ray of our National greatness to come. 

HENRY MANN. 

CONTENTS. 

 FIRST PERIOD. 

 THE FOOTHOLD. 

 CHAPTER I. PAGE. 

A Land Without a History--Origin of the American Indians--TheirSemi-civilization--The Spanish Colonial System--The King Was AbsoluteMaster--The Council of the Indies--The Hierarchy--Servitude of theNatives--Gold and Silver Mines--Spanish Wealth and Degeneracy--Commercial Monopoly--Pernicious Effects of Spain's Colonial Policy--Spaniards Destroy a Huguenot Colony, 21

 CHAPTER II. 

Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh--English Expedition to NorthCarolina--Failure of Attempts to Settle There--Virginia Dare--The LostColony--The Foundation of Jamestown--Captain John Smith--His Life Savedby Pocahontas--Rolfe Marries the Indian Princess--A Key to EarlyColonial History--Women Imported to Virginia, 32

 CHAPTER III. 

The French in Canada--Champlain Attacks the Iroquois--Quebec a MilitaryPost--Weak Efforts at Colonization--Fur-traders and Missionaries--TheFoundation of New France--The French King Claims from the Upper Lakes tothe Sea--Slow Growth of the French Colonies--Mixing With the Savages--The"Coureurs de Bois, " 41

 CHAPTER IV. 

Henry Hudson's Discovery--Block Winters on Manhattan Island--TheDutch Take Possession--The Iroquois Friendly--Immigration of theWalloons--Charter of Privileges and Exemptions--Patroons--ManufacturesForbidden--Slave Labor Introduced--New Sweden--New Netherlanders Wanta Voice in the Government, 46

 CHAPTER V. 

Landing of the Pilgrims--Their Abiding Faith in God's Goodness--TheAgreement Signed on the Mayflower--A Winter of Hardship--The IndiansHelp the Settlers--Improved Conditions--The Colony Buys ItsFreedom--Priscilla and John Alden--Their Romantic Courtship andMarriage, 52

 CHAPTER VI. 

The Puritan Immigration--Wealth and Learning Seek These Shores--CharterRestrictions Dead Letters--A Stubborn Struggle for Self-government--Methods of Election--The Early Government an Oligarchy--The Charter of1691--New Hampshire and Maine--The New Haven Theocracy--Hartford'sConstitution--The United Colonies--The Clergy and Politics--EveryElection Sermon a Declaration of Independence, 57

 CHAPTER VII. 

Where Conscience Was Free--Roger Williams and His Providence Colony--Driven by Persecution from Massachusetts--Savages Receive HimKindly--Coddington's Settlement in Rhode Island--Oliver Cromwelland Charles II. Grant Charters--Peculiar Referendum in Early RhodeIsland, 64

 CHAPTER VIII. 

Puritans and Education--Provision for Public Schools--PuritanSincerity--Effect of Intolerance on the Community--Quakers HarshlyPersecuted--The Salem Witchcraft Tragedy--History of the Delusion--Rebecca Nourse and Other Victims--The People Come to their Senses--Cotton Mather Obdurate to the Last--Puritan Morals--Comer's Diary--Rhode Island in Colonial Times, 68

 CHAPTER IX. 

New England Prospering--Outbreak of King Philip's War--Causes of theWar--White or Indian Had to Go--Philip on the War-path--SettlementsLaid in Ashes--The Attack on Hadley--The Great Swamp Fight--PhilipRenews the War More Fiercely Than Before--His Allies Desert Him--Betrayed and Killed--The Indians Crushed in New England, 77

 CHAPTER X. 

Growth of New Netherland--Governor Stuyvesant's Despotic Rule--HisComments on Popular Election--New Amsterdam Becomes New York--ThePlanting of Maryland--Partial Freedom of Conscience--Civil War inMaryland--The Carolinas--Settlement of North and South Carolina--TheBacon Rebellion in Virginia--Governor Berkeley's Vengeance, 82

 CHAPTER XI. 

The Colony of New York--New Jersey Given Away to Favorites--Charter ofLiberties and Franchises--The Dongan Charter--Beginnings of New YorkCity Government--King James Driven From Power--Leisler Leads a PopularMovement--The Aristocratic Element Gains the Upper Hand--Jacob Leislerand Milborne Executed--Struggle For Liberty Continues, 90

 CHAPTER XII. 

William Penn's Model Colony--Sketch of the Founder of Pennsylvania--Comparative Humanity of Quaker Laws--Modified Freedom of Religion--An Early Liquor Law--Offences Against Morality Severely Punished--White Servitude--Debtors Sold Into Bondage--Georgia Founded asan Asylum for Debtors--Oglethorpe Repulses the Spaniards--Georgia aRoyal Province, 95

 SECOND PERIOD. 

 THE STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE. 

 CHAPTER XIII. 

Struggle for Empire in North America--The Vast Region Called Louisiana--War Between England and France--New England Militia Besiege Quebec--Frontenac Strikes the Iroquois--The Capture of Louisburg--The Forksof the Ohio--George Washington's Mission to the French--Braddock'sDefeat--Washington Prevents Utter Disaster--Barbarous Treatment ofPrisoners, 103

 CHAPTER XIV. 

Expulsion of the Acadians--A Cruel Deportation--The Marquis DeMontcalm--The Fort William Henry Massacre--Defeat of Abercrombie--William Pitt Prosecutes the War Vigorously--Fort Duquesne Reduced--Louisburg Again Captured--Wolfe Attacks Quebec--Battle of thePlains of Abraham--Wolfe and Montcalm Mortally Wounded--QuebecSurrenders--New France a Dream of the Past--Pontiac's War, 108

 THIRD PERIOD. 

 THE REVOLUTION. 

 CHAPTER XV. 

Causes of the Revolution--The Act of Navigation--Acts of Trade--OdiousCustoms Laws--English Jealousy of New England--Effect of Restrictions onColonial Trade--Du Chatelet Foresees Rebellion and Independence--TheRevolution a Struggle for More Than Political Freedom, 115

 CHAPTER XVI. 

Writs of Assistance Issued--Excitement in Boston--The Stamp Act--Protestsagainst Taxation Without Representation--Massachusetts Appoints aCommittee of Correspondence--Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry--Henry'sCelebrated Resolutions--His Warning to King George--Growing Agitationin the Colonies--The Stamp Act Repealed--Parliament Levies Duties on Teaand Other Imports to America--Lord North's Choice of Infamy--Measures ofResistance in America--The Massachusetts Circular Letter--British Troopsin Boston--The Boston Massacre--Burning of the Gaspee--North Carolina"Regulators"--The Boston Tea Party--The Boston Port Bill--The FirstContinental Congress--A Declaration of Rights--"Give Me Liberty, or GiveMe Death!" 122

 CHAPTER XVII. 

The Battle of Lexington--The War of the Revolution Begun--FortTiconderoga Taken--Second Continental Congress--George WashingtonAppointed Commander-in-Chief--Battle of Bunker Hill--Last Appeal to KingGeorge--The King Hires Hessian Mercenaries--The Americans InvadeCanada--General Montgomery Killed--General Howe Evacuates Boston--NorthCarolina Tories Routed at Moore's Creek Bridge--The Declaration ofIndependence--The British Move on New York--Battle at Brooklyn--HoweOccupies New York City--General Charles Lee Fails to SupportWashington--Lee Captured--Washington's Victory at Trenton--The MarquisDe Lafayette Arrives, 133

 CHAPTER XVIII. 

Sir John Burgoyne's Campaign--His Bombastic Proclamation--The TragicStory of Jane McCrea--Her Name a Rallying Cry--Washington Prevents HoweFrom Aiding Burgoyne--The Battle of Brandywine--Burgoyne Routed atSaratoga--He Surrenders, With All His Army--Articles of ConfederationSubmitted to the Several States--Effect of the Surrender of Burgoyne--Franklin the Washington of Diplomacy--Attitude of France--FranceConcludes to Assist the United States--Treaties of Commerce andAlliance--King George Prepares for War with France--The Winter atValley Forge--Conspiracy to Depose Washington Defeated--General HoweSuperseded by Sir Henry Clinton--The Battle of Monmouth--General CharlesLee's Treachery--Awful Massacre of Settlers in the Wyoming Valley--General Sullivan Defeats the Six Nations--Brilliant Campaign of GeorgeRogers Clark--Failure of the Attempt to Drive the British from RhodeIsland, 143

 CHAPTER XIX. 

The British Move Upon the South--Spain Accedes to the Alliance AgainstEngland--Secret Convention Between France and Spain--Capture of StonyPoint--John Paul Jones--The Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis--AThrilling Naval Combat--Wretched Condition of American Finances--Franklin's Heavy Burden--The Treason of Benedict Arnold--Capture ofAndré--Escape of Arnold--André Executed as a Spy--Sir Henry ClintonCaptures Charleston, General Lincoln and His Army--Lord CornwallisLeft in Command in the South--The British Defeat Gates Near Camden, South Carolina--General Nathanael Greene Conducts a Stubborn CampaignAgainst Cornwallis--The Latter Retreats Into Virginia--Siege ofYorktown--Cornwallis Surrenders--"Oh, God; it is All Over!" 155

 FOURTH PERIOD. 

 UNION. 

 CHAPTER XX. 

Condition of the United States at the Close of the Revolution--NewEngland Injured and New York Benefited Commercially by the Struggle--Luxury of City Life--Americans an Agricultural People--The Farmer'sHome--Difficulty of Traveling--Contrast Between North and South--Southern Aristocracy--Northern Great Families--White Servitude--TheWestern Frontier--Early Settlers West of the Mountains--A HardyPopulation--Disappearance of the Colonial French--The Ordinance of1787--Flood of Emigration Beyond the Ohio, 167

 CHAPTER XXI. 

The Spirit of Disunion--Shays' Rebellion--A National GovernmentNecessary--Adoption of the Constitution--Tariff and InternalRevenue--The Whiskey Insurrection--President Washington Calls Out theMilitary--Insurgents Surrender--"The Dreadful Night"--Hamilton'sInquisition, 174

 INDEPENDENCE VINDICATED. 

 CHAPTER XXII. 

Arrogance of France--Americans and Louis XVI. --Genet Defies Washington--The People Support the President--War With the Indians--Defeat of St. Clair--Indians State Their Case--General Wayne Defeats the Savages--Jay's Treaty--Retirement of Washington--His Character--His MilitaryGenius--Washington as a Statesman--His Views on Slavery--His Figure inHistory, 180

 CHAPTER XXIII. 

John Adams President--Jefferson and the French Revolution--The FrenchDirectory--Money Demanded From America--"Millions for Defence; Not OnePenny for Tribute"--Naval Warfare with France--Capture of The Insurgent--Defeat of The Vengeance--Peace With France--Death of Washington--Alien and Sedition Laws--Jefferson President--The Louisiana Purchase--Burr's Alleged Treason--War with the Barbary States--England Behind thePirates--Heroic Naval Exploits--Carrying War Into Africa--Peace WithHonor, 191

 CHAPTER XXIV. 

French Decrees and British Orders in Council--Damage to AmericanCommerce--The Embargo--Causes of the War of 1812--The Chesapeake and TheLeopard--President and Little Belt--War Declared--Mr. Astor's Messenger--The Two Navies Compared--American Frigate Victories--Constitutionand Guerriere--United States and Macedonian--Constitution and Java--American Sloop Victories--The Shannon and Chesapeake--"Don't Give Upthe Ship!" 200

 CHAPTER XXV. 

The War on Land--Tecumseh's Indian Confederacy--Harrison at Tippecanoe--General Hull and General Brock--A Fatal Armistice--Surrender of Detroit--English Masters of Michigan--General Harrison Takes Command in theNorthwest--Harrison's Answer to Proctor--"He Will Never Have This PostSurrendered"--Croghan's Brave Defence--The British Retreat--War on theNiagara Frontier--Battle of Queenstown--Death of Brock--Colonel WinfieldScott and the English Doctrine of Perpetual Allegiance, 209

 CHAPTER XXVI. 

Battle of Lake Erie--Master-Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry--Building aFleet--Perry on the Lake--A Duel of Long Guns--Fearful Slaughter on theLawrence--"Can Any of the Wounded Pull a Rope?"--At Close Quarters--Victory in Fifteen Minutes--"We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours"--The Father of Chicago Sees the End of the Battle--The British EvacuateDetroit--General Harrison's Victory at the Thames--Tecumseh Slain--TheStruggle in the Southwest--Andrew Jackson in Command--Battle of HorseshoeBend--The Essex in the Pacific--Defeat and Victory on the Ocean--CaptainPorter's Brave Defence--Burning of Newark--Massacre at Fort Niagara--Chippewa and Lundy's Lane--Devastation by the British Fleet--BritishVandalism at Washington--Attempt on Baltimore--"The Star SpangledBanner" 216

 CHAPTER XXVII. 

British Designs on the Southwest--New Orleans as a City of Refuge--TheBaratarians--The Pirates Reject British Advances--General Jackson StormsPensacola--Captain Reid's Splendid Fight at Fayal--Edward LivingstonAdvises Jackson--Cotton Bales for Redoubts--The British Invasion--JacksonAttacks the British at Villere's--The Opposing Armies--General PakenhamAttempts to Carry Jackson's Lines by Storm--The British Charge--They areDefeated with Frightful Slaughter--Pakenham Killed--Last Naval Engagement--The President-Endymion Fight--Peace--England Deserts the Indians asShe Had Deserted the Tories--Decatur Chastises the Algerians, 225

 SOUTH AMERICA FREE. 

 CHAPTER XXVIII. 

England and Spanish America--A Significant Declaration--The Key toEngland's Policy in South America--Alexander Hamilton and the SouthAmericans--President Adams' Grandson a Filibuster--Origin of theRevolutions in South America--Colonial Zeal for Spain--Colonists Drivento Fight for Independence--A War of Extermination--Patriot Leaders--TheBritish Assist the Revolutionists--American Caution and Reserve--TheMonroe Doctrine--Why England Championed the Spanish-American Republics--A Free Field Desired for British Trade--The Holy Alliance--SecretaryCanning and President Monroe--The Monroe Declaration Not British, ButAmerican, 233

 PROGRESS. 

 CHAPTER XXIX. 

The United States Taking the Lead in Civilization--Manhood Suffrage andFreedom of Worship--Humane Criminal Laws--Progress the Genius of theNation--A Patriotic Report--State Builders in the Northwest--Illinoisand the Union--Immigration--British Jealousy--An English Farmer'sOpinion of America--Commerce and Manufactures--England Tries to PreventSkilled Artisans From Emigrating--The Beginning of Protection--TheBritish Turn on their Friends the Algerians--General Jackson InvadesFlorida--Spain Sells Florida to the United States, 246

 CHAPTER XXX. 

The Missouri Compromise--Erie Canal Opened--Political Parties and GreatNational Issues--President Jackson Crushes the United States Bank--SouthCarolina Pronounces the Tariff Law Void--Jackson's Energetic Action--ACompromise--Territory Reserved for the Indians--The Seminole War--Osceola's Vengeance--His Capture and Death--The Black Hawk War--AbrahamLincoln a Volunteer--Texas War for Independence--Massacre of the Alamo--Mexican Defeat at San Jacinto--The Mexican President a Captive--TexasAdmitted to the Union--Oregon--American Statesmen Blinded by the HudsonBay Company--Marcus Whitman's Ride--Oregon Saved to the Union--The "DorrWar, " 253

 CHAPTER XXXI. 

War With Mexico--General Zachary Taylor Defeats the Mexicans--BuenaVista--Mexicans Four to One--"A Little More Grape, Captain Bragg!"--Glorious American Victory--General Scott's Splendid Campaign--ASeries of Victories--Cerro Gordo--Contreras--Churubusco--Molino delRey--Chapultepec--Stars and Stripes Float in the City of Mexico--Generous Treatment of the Vanquished--Peace--Cession of Vast Territoryto the United States--The Gadsden Purchase, 264

 CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Union in 1850--Comparative Population of Cities and Rural Districts--Agriculture the General Occupation--Commercial and IndustrialDevelopment--Growth of New York and Chicago--The Southern States--Importance of the Cotton Crop--Why the South Was Sensitive toAnti-Slavery Agitation--Manufactures--Religion and Education--The Cloudon the Horizon, 272

 THE SLAVERY CONFLICT. 

 CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Aggressiveness of Slavery--The Cotton States and Border States--TheFugitive Slave Law--Nullified in the North--Negroes Imported fromAfrica--The Struggle in Kansas--John Brown--Abraham Lincoln Pleads forHuman Rights--Treason in Buchanan's Cabinet--Citizens Stop Guns atPittsburg--Conditions at the Beginning of the Struggle--SouthernAdvantages--The Soldiers of Both Armies Compared--Conscription in theConfederacy--Southern Resources Limited--The North at a Disadvantage atFirst, but Its Resources Inexhaustible--Conscription in the North--Popular Support of the War--Unfriendliness of Great Britain andFrance--Why They Did Not Interfere, 277

 CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The Confederate Government Organized--Fort Sumter--President LincolnCalls for 75, 000 Men--Command of the Union Forces Offered to Robert E. Lee--Lee Joins the Confederacy--Missouri Saved to the Union--Battle ofBull Run--Union Successes in the West--General Grant Captures FortDonelson--"I Have No Terms But Unconditional Surrender"--The Monitorand Merrimac Fight--Its World-wide Effect--Grant Victorious at Shiloh--Union Naval Victory Near Memphis--That City Captured--GeneralMcClellan's Tactics--He Retreats from Victory at Malvern Hill--SecondBull Run Defeat--Great Battle of Antietam--Lee Repulsed, but NotPursued--McClellan Superseded by Burnside--Union Defeat at Fredericksburg--Union Victories in the West--Bragg Defeated by Rosecrans at StoneRiver--The Emancipation Proclamation, 287

 CHAPTER XXXV. 

General Grant Invests Vicksburg--The Confederate Garrison--Scenes in theBeleaguered City--The Surrender--Hooker Defeated at Chancellorsville--Death of "Stonewall" Jackson--General Meade Takes Command of the Armyof the Potomac--Lee Crosses the Potomac--The Battle of Gettysburg--TheFirst Two Days--The Third Day--Pickett's Charge--A Thrilling Spectacle--The Harvest of Death--Lee Defeated--General Thomas, "The Rock ofChickamauga"--"This Position Must Be Held Till Night"--General GrantDefeats Bragg at Chattanooga--The Decisive Battle of the West, 295

 CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Grant Appointed Lieutenant-General--Takes Command in Virginia--Battlesof the Wilderness--The Two Armies--Battle of Cedar Creek--Sheridan'sRide--He Turns Defeat Into Victory--Confederate Disasters on Land andSea--Farragut at Mobile--Last Naval Battle of the War--Sherman EntersAtlanta--Lincoln's Re-election--Sherman's March to the Sea--ShermanCaptures Savannah--Thomas Defeats Hood at Nashville--Fort FisherTaken--Lee Appointed General-in-Chief--Confederate Defeat at FiveForks--Lee's Surrender--Johnston's Surrender--End of the War--The SouthProstrate--A Resistance Unparalleled in History--The Blots on theConfederacy--Cruel Treatment of Union Men and Prisoners--Murder ofAbraham Lincoln--The South Since the War, 301

 THIRTY YEARS OF PEACE. 

 CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Reconstruction in the South--The Congress and the President--LiberalRepublican Movement--Nomination, Defeat and Death of Greeley--TroopsWithdrawn by President Hayes--Foreign Policy of the Past ThirtyYears--French Ordered from Mexico--Last Days of Maximilian--RussianAmerica Bought--The Geneva Arbitration--Alabama Claims Paid--TheNorthwest Boundary--The Fisheries--Spain and The Virginius--The CusterMassacre--United States of Brazil Established--President Harrison andChile--Venezuela--American Prestige in South America--Hawaii--BehringSea--Garfield, the Martyr of Civil Service Reform--Labor Troubles--Railway Riots of 1877 and 1894--Great Calamities--The Chicago Fire, Boston Fire, Charleston Earthquake, Johnstown Flood, 308

 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The American Republic the Most Powerful of Nations--Military and NavalStrength--Railways and Waterways--Industry and Art--Manufactures--TheNew South--Foreign and Domestic Commerce--An Age of Invention--Americansa Nation of Readers--The Clergy--Pulpit and Press--Religion and HigherEducation--The Currency Question--Leading Candidates for the Presidency--A Sectional Contest Deplorable--What Shall the Harvest Be? 322

 THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

 CHAPTER XXXIX. 

No Classes Here--All Are Workers--Enormous Growth of Cities--Immigration--Civic Misgovernment--The Farming Population--Individuality andSelf-reliance--Isolation Even in the Grave--The West--The South--TheNegro--Little Reason to Fear for Our Country--American Reverence forEstablished Institutions, 327

The Land We Live In. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

The Foothold. 

CHAPTER I. 

A Land Without a History--Origin of the American Indians--TheirSemi-civilization--The Spanish Colonial System--The King Was AbsoluteMaster--The Council of the Indies--The Hierarchy--Servitude of theNatives--Gold and Silver Mines--Spanish Wealth and Degeneracy--Commercial Monopoly--Pernicious Effects of Spain's Colonial Policy--Spaniards Destroy a Huguenot Colony. 

America presented itself as a virgin land to the original settlers fromEurope. It had no history, no memories, no civilization that appealed toEuropean traditions or associations. Its inhabitants belonged evidentlyto the human brotherhood, and their appearance and language, as well assome of their customs, indicated Mongolian kinship and Asiatic origin, but in the eyes of their conquerors they were as strange as if they hadsprung from another planet, and the invaders were equally strange andmarvelous to the natives. To the Spanish adventurer the wondrous templesof the Aztecs and the Peruvians bore no significance, except as theyindicated wealth to be won, and rich empires waiting to be prey to thesuperior prowess and arms of the Christian aggressor; while theEnglishman, the Frenchman, Hollander and Swede, who planted their colorson more northern soil, saw only a region of primeval forests inhabited bytribes almost as savage as the wild beasts upon whom they existed. It isneedless, therefore, in this pen picture of our country, to go into anyextended notice of its ancient inhabitants, although the writer hasdevoted not a little independent study to their origin and history. Thatstudy has confirmed him in the opinion that the American Indians camefrom Asia, with such slight admixture as the winds and waves may havebrought from Europe, Africa and Polynesia. The resemblance of theAmerican Indians to the Tartar tribes in language is striking, and inphysical appearance still more so, while the difference in manners andcustoms is no greater than that between the Englishman of the seventeenthcentury and his descendant in the mountains of West Virginia or Kentucky. It is probable--indeed what is known of the aborigines indicates, thatthe immigrations were successive, and their succession would be fullyaccounted for by the mighty convulsions among Asiatic nations, of whichhistory gives us a very dim idea. It is easy to suppose that more thanone dusky Æneas led his fugitive followers across the narrow strait whichdivides Asia from America, and pushed on to the warmer regions of theSouth, driving in turn before him less vigorous and warlike tribes, seizing the lands which they had made fruitful, and adopting in part thecivilization which they had built up. Many of the conquered would preferemigration to submission, and in their turn push farther south, even tothe uttermost bound of the continent. 

The writer is not of those who believe that the remote inhabitants ofAmerica are unrepresented among the red men of the present age. InEuropean and American history the myths about exterminated races aredisappearing in the light of investigation. Our ancestors were not socruel as they have been painted. It is not likely that any nation wasever cut off to a man. Men were too valuable to be destroyed beyond therequirements of warfare or the demands of sanguinary religious customs. Conquered nations, it is now agreed, were usually absorbed by theirconquerors, either as equals or serfs. In either event unity was theresult, as in the case of the Romans and Latins, the Scots and the Picts, the Normans and the Saxons. The mound builders, in all probability, survive in the Indian tribes of to-day, some of whom in the Southwestwere mound builders within the historic period, while the ruined citiesof Arizona and New Mexico were the product of a rude civilization, admittedly inherited by the pueblos of the present generation. 

 * * *

There was nothing in the civilization of the most advanced American racesworth preserving, except their monuments. The destruction of the Aztecand Peruvian empires was, on the whole, an advantage to humanity. Thedarkest period of religious persecution in Europe saw nothing to comparewith the sanguinary rites of Aztec worship, and bigoted, intolerant andoppressive as the Spaniards were they did a service to mankind in puttingan end to those barbarities. The colonial system established by Spain inAmerica was founded on the principle that dominion over the Americanprovinces was vested in the crown, not in the kingdom. The Spanishpossessions on this continent were regarded as the personal property ofthe sovereign. 

The viceroys were appointed by the king and removable by him at pleasure. All grants of lands were made by the sovereign, and if they failed fromany cause they reverted to the crown. All political and civil powercentred in the king, and was executed by such persons and in such manneras the will of the sovereign might suggest, wholly independent not onlyof the colonies but of the Spanish nation. The only civil privilegesallowed to the colonists were strictly municipal, and confined to theregulation of their interior police and commerce in cities and towns, forwhich purpose they made their own local regulations or laws, andappointed town and city magistrates. The Spanish-American governmentswere not merely despotic like those of Russia and Turkey, but they were amore dangerous kind of despotism, as the absolute power of the sovereignwas not exercised by himself, but by deputy. 

At first the dominions of Spain in the new world were divided, forpurposes of administration, into two great divisions or vice-royalties:New Spain and Peru. Afterward, as the country became more settled, thevice-royalty of Santa Fe de Bogota was created. A deputy or vice-king wasappointed to preside over each of these governments, who was therepresentative of the sovereign, and possessed all his prerogativeswithin his jurisdiction. His power was as supreme as that of the kingover every department, civil and military. He appointed most of theimportant officers of the vice-royalty. His court was formed on the modelof Madrid, and displayed an equal and often superior degree ofmagnificence and state. He had horse and foot guards, a regular householdestablishment and all the ensigns and trappings of royalty. The tribunalswhich assisted in the administration were similar to those of the parentcountry. The Spanish-American colonies, in brief, possessed no politicalprivileges; the authority of the crown was absolute, but not more so thanin the parent State, and it could hardly have been expected thatliberties denied to the people at home would have been granted tosubjects in distant America. 

Over the viceroys, and acting for the sovereign, was the tribunal calledthe Council of the Indies, established by King Ferdinand in 1511, andremodeled by Charles V. In 1524. This Council possessed generaljurisdiction over Spanish-America; framed laws and regulations respectingthe colonies, and made all the appointments for America reserved to thecrown. All officers, from the viceroy to the lowest in rank, could becalled to account by the Council of the Indies. The king was supposed tobe always present in the Council, and the meetings were held wherever themonarch was residing. All appeals from the decisions of the Courts ofAudience, the highest tribunals in America, were made to the Council ofthe Indies. 

The absolute power of the sovereign did not stop short at the Church. Pope Julian II. Conferred on King Ferdinand and his successors thepatronage and disposal of all ecclesiastical benefices in America, andthe administration of ecclesiastical revenues--a privilege which thecrown did not possess in Spain. The bulls of the Roman pontiff could notbe admitted into Spanish America until they had been examined andapproved by the king and Council of the Indies. The hierarchy was asimposing as in Spain, and its dominion and influence greater. Thearchbishops, bishops and other dignitaries enjoyed large revenues, andthe ecclesiastical establishment was splendid and magnificent. TheInquisition was introduced in America in 1570 by Philip II. , theoppressor of Protestant England and of the Netherlands, and patron of themonster Alva. The native Indians, on the ground of incapacity, wereexempted from the jurisdiction of that tribunal. No scruple was shown, however, in converting the natives to Christianity, and multitudes werebaptized who were entirely ignorant of the doctrine they professed toembrace. In the course of a few years after the reduction of the Mexicanempire, more than four millions of the Mexicans were nominally converted, one missionary baptizing five thousand in one day, and stopping only whenhe had become so exhausted as to be unable to lift his hands. 

Conversion to Christianity did not save the Indians from being reduced toslavery. Columbus himself, in the year 1499, to avoid the consequences ofa disaffection among his followers, granted lands and distributed acertain number of Indians among them to cultivate the soil. This systemwas afterward introduced in all the Spanish settlements, the Indiansbeing everywhere seized upon and compelled to work in the mines, to tillthe plantations, to carry burdens and to perform all menial and laboriousservices. The stated tasks of the unhappy natives were often much beyondtheir abilities, and multitudes sank under the hardships to which theywere subjected. Their spirit was broken, they became humble and degraded, and the race was rapidly wasting away. The oppressions and sufferings ofthe natives at length excited the sympathies of many humane persons, particularly among the clergy, who exerted themselves with much zeal andperseverance to ameliorate their condition. In 1542 Charles V. Abolishedthe enslavement of the Indians, and restored them to the position offreemen. This caused great indignation in the colonies and in Peruforcible resistance was offered to the royal decree. But althoughrelieved in some degree from the burdens of personal slavery, the nativeswere required, as vassals of the crown, to pay a personal tax or tributein the form of personal service. They were also put under the protectionof great landholders, who treated them as serfs, although not exactingcontinuous labor, so that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesthe condition of the Indians did not greatly improve. 

Notwithstanding the avidity of the first Spanish adventurers for theprecious metals, and the ardor with which they pursued their researches, their exertions were attended for a number of years with but littlesuccess. It was not until 1545 that the rich mines of Potosi, in Peru, were accidentally discovered by an Indian in clambering up the mountain. This was soon followed by the discovery of other highly productive minesof gold and silver in the various provinces, and Spanish America began topour a flood of wealth into the coffers of Spain. The mines were notoperated by the crown, but by individual enterprise, the crown receivinga share of the proceeds, and alloting a certain number of Indians to themine-owners as laborers. These Indians did all the work of the minewithout the aid of machinery, and with very little assistance fromhorse-power. Their industry enriched Spain and her colonies to a degreeunexampled in the previous experience of mankind. 

 * * *

Silver and gold, however, did not bring lasting prosperity. Already inthe early part of the seventeenth century Spain showed signs of decay. Her manufactures and commerce began to decline; men could not berecruited to keep up her fleets and armies, and even agriculture felt theblight of national degeneracy. The great emigration to the coloniesdrained off the energetic element of the population and the immenseriches which the colonies showered upon Spain intoxicated the people andled them to desert the accustomed paths of industry. Nineteen-twentiethsof the commodities exported to the Spanish colonies were foreign fabrics, paid for by the products of the mines, so that the gold and silver nosooner entered Spain than they passed away into the hands of foreigners, and the country was left without sufficient of the precious metals for acirculating medium. 

Although wholly unable to supply the wants of her colonies Spain did notrelax in the smallest degree the rigor of her colonial system, thecontrolling principle of which was that the whole commerce of thecolonies should be a monopoly in the hands of the crown. The regulationof this commerce was entrusted to the Board of Trade, established atSeville. 

This board granted a license to any vessel bound to America, andinspected its cargo. The entire commerce with the colonies centred inSeville, and continued there until 1720. It was carried on in a uniformmanner for more than two centuries. A fleet with a strong convoy sailedannually for America. The fleet consisted of two divisions, one destinedfor Carthagena and Porto Bello, the other for Vera Cruz. At those pointsall the trade and treasure of Spanish America from California to theStraits of Magellan, was concentrated, the products of Peru and Chilibeing conveyed annually by sea to Panama, and from thence across theisthmus to Porto Bello, part of the way on mules, and part of the waydown the Chagres river. The storehouses of Porto Bello, now a decayed andmiserable town, retaining no shadow of former greatness, were filled withmerchandise, and its streets thronged with opulent merchants drawn fromdistant provinces. Upon the arrival of the fleet a fair was opened, continuing for forty days, during which the most extensive commercialtransactions took place, and the rich cargoes of the galleons were allmarketed, and the specie and staples of the colonies received in paymentto be conveyed to Spain. The same exchange occurred at Vera Cruz, andboth squadrons having taken in their return cargoes, rendezvoused atHavana, and sailed from thence to Europe. Such was the stinted, fetteredand restricted commerce which subsisted between Spain and her possessionsin America for more than two centuries and a half, and such were theswaddling clothes which bound the youthful limbs of the Spanish colonies, retarding their growth and keeping them in a condition of abjectdependence. The effect was most injurious to Spain as well as to thecolonies. The naval superiority of the English and Dutch enabled them intime of war to cut off intercourse between Spain and America, and therebydeprive Spanish-Americans of the necessaries as well as the luxuries forwhich they depended upon Spain, and an extensive smuggling trade grew upwhich no efforts on the part of the authorities could repress. Monopolywas starved out through the very rigor exerted to make it exclusive, andthe markets were so glutted with contraband goods that the galleons couldscarcely dispose of their cargoes. 

The restrictions upon the domestic intercourse and commerce of theSpanish colonies were, if possible, more grievous and pernicious in theirconsequences than those upon traffic with Europe. Inter-colonial commercewas prohibited under the severest penalties, the crown insisting that alltrade should be carried on through Spain and made tributary to theoppressive duties exacted by the government. While Spain received aconsiderable revenue from her colonies, notwithstanding the contrabandtrade, the expenses of the system were very great, and absorbed much ofthe revenue. Corruption was widespread, and colonial officers looked upontheir positions chiefly with a view to their own enrichment. They had nopatriotic interest in the welfare of the colonies, and conductedthemselves like a garrison quartered upon the inhabitants. Althoughsalaries were high the expenses of living were great, and the salarieswere usually but a small part of the income. Viceroys who had been inoffice a few years, went back to Spain with princely fortunes. 

 * * *

Such was the condition of affairs in Spain's vast American empire whenEngland, France and the United Provinces started on a career ofcolonization in North America. It seems to have been providential thatthe same generation which witnessed the discovery of America witnessedthe birth of Luther. In the century which followed the Theses ofWittenberg the eyes of sufferers for conscience' sake turned eagerly andhopefully toward the New World as a refuge from the oppression, thescandal and the persecution of the old. The first to seek what is now theAtlantic region of the United States with the object of making their homehere were French Huguenots, sent out by the great Admiral Coligny, whoafterward fell a victim in the massacre of Bartholomew's Day. TheFrenchmen planted a settlement first at Port Royal, which was abandoned, and afterward built a fort about eighteen miles up the St. John's River, Florida, and named it Fort Caroline. This was in the year 1564. In thefollowing year a Spanish fleet, commanded by Don Pedro Menendez deAviles, appeared at the mouth of the St. John's. In answer to the Frenchchallenge as to his purpose the Spanish commander replied that he camewith orders from his king to gibbet and behead all the Protestants inthose regions. "The Frenchman, who is a Catholic, " he added, "I willspare. Every heretic shall die. " The Huguenots, had they held together, might have been able to offer a successful resistance to the Spaniards, but Jean Ribault, the French commander, unfortunately decided to sail outfrom the shelter of Fort Caroline and seek a conflict at sea with theenemy. A storm destroyed the French fleet, but the crews succeeded inescaping to land. Menendez marched overland with his troops to theunprotected fort and easily captured it with its handful of defenders. The Spaniards cruelly murdered almost the entire colony of two hundredmen, women and children, some of them being hung to trees with theinscription: "Not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans. "

Ribault, ignorant of the tragedy at the fort, sought to return there fromthe place where he had been shipwrecked. His men were divided in twodetachments. Menendez went in search of them, and meeting one party toldthem that Fort Caroline, with its inmates, had been destroyed. TheFrenchmen were helpless, and pleaded for mercy. Menendez asked: "Are youCatholics or Lutherans?" They answered: "We are of the reformedreligion. " The pitiless Spaniard replied that he was under orders toexterminate all of that faith. They offered him fifty thousand ducats ifhe would spare their lives. Menendez demanded that the Frenchmen shouldplace themselves at his mercy. They consented to do so. A small streamdivided the Huguenots from the Spaniards. Menendez ordered that theFrench should cross over in companies of ten. As they crossed they weretaken out of sight of their companions and bound with their arms behindthem. When all of the Frenchmen, about two hundred in number, had beenthus secured, Menendez again asked them: "Are you Catholics orLutherans?" Some twelve professed to be Catholics, and these with fourmechanics who could be made useful to the Spaniards, were led away. Theremainder of the two hundred were put to death. Menendez next interceptedRibault and the remnant of his men, and by similar treachery accomplishedtheir destruction, refusing an offer of one hundred thousand ducats tospare their lives. Menendez wrote to King Phillip that the Huguenots"were put to the sword, judging this to be expedient for the service ofGod our Lord, and of your majesty. "

Thus ended the first attempt of members of the reformed religion tosettle within the limits of what is now the United States. But the bloodof the victims did not cry in vain to Heaven for vengeance. A Frenchman, himself a Roman Catholic, the Chevalier Dominic de Gourges, determined topunish the Spaniards for their cruelty. He sold his property to obtainmoney to fit out an expedition to Florida. Arriving in Florida in thespring of 1568, he was joined by the natives in an attack on two fortsoccupied by the Spaniards below Fort Caroline. The forts were capturedand their inmates put to the sword, except a few whom de Gourges hung totrees with the inscription: "Not as Spaniards and mariners, but astraitors, robbers and murderers. "

CHAPTER II. 

Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh--English Expedition to NorthCarolina--Failure of Attempts to Settle There--Virginia Dare--The LostColony--The Foundation of Jamestown--Captain John Smith--His Life Savedby Pocahontas--Rolfe Marries the Indian Princess--A Key to Early ColonialHistory--Women Imported to Virginia. 

The lives of the hapless Huguenots who perished at the hands of Menendezwere, perhaps, not altogether wasted, for it is believed that a refugeefrom the Port Royal colony, wrecked on the coast of England, gave QueenElizabeth interesting information about the temperate and fruitfulregions north of the Spanish territories and prepared her mind to favorthe projects of Sir Walter Raleigh. That bold and talented adventurer, whose name will live forever in American annals, and whose monument isNorth Carolina's beautiful State capital, is said in the familiar storyto have attracted the notice of Queen Elizabeth by spreading his scarletcloak over a miry place for the queen to walk upon. He made rapidprogress in the good graces of his sovereign, who was quick to discernthe men who could be useful to her and to her kingdom. Sir HumphreyGilbert, half brother to Sir Walter, had perished on an expedition tofound an English colony in America. A storm engulfed his vessel, theSquirrel, and he went down with all his crew. Queen Elizabeth graciouslygranted to Sir Walter a patent as lord proprietor of the country fromDelaware Bay to the mouth of the Santee River, and substantiallyincluding the present States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and alarge portion of South Carolina, with an indefinite extension to thewest. 

Raleigh sent out an expedition of two ships under the command of PhilipAmidas and Arthur Barlow. They landed upon the coast of North Carolina atmid-summer, in the year 1584. The scenery and climate were charming, thenatives hospitable and everything seemed to promise well for futuresettlement. The adventurers reported to Raleigh, who decided to plant acolony in the region visited by his vessels. Queen Elizabeth herself issaid to have given the name of Virginia to her dominion, to commemorateher unmarried condition. Untaught by the experience of American colonistsfrom the days of Columbus, the English settlers in North Carolina had theusual quarrel with the natives, and were saved from the usual fate onlyby the timely arrival of Sir Francis Drake on his return to England froma cruise against the Spaniards. The colonists sought refuge on Drake'svessels and were carried back to their native country. 

Subsequent attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh to establish colonies in NorthCarolina also failed, but these efforts were productive of at least oneimportant benefit in introducing to the attention of the English and alsoof the Irish, the potato, which, although previously brought to Irelandby a slave-trader named Hawkins, and to England by Sir Francis Drake, attracted but little notice before it was imported by John White, Raleigh's Governor of Roanoke. At Roanoke was born, August 18, 1587, thefirst white child of English parentage on the North American continent, Virginia Dare, the daughter of William and Eleanor Dare, andgranddaughter of Governor White. 

In the little wooden chapel, two or three weeks after the event, thecolonists assembled one bright day to attend the baptism and christeningof the little stranger. The font was the family's silver wash ewer, andthe sponsor was Governor White himself, the baby's grandfather. Thereafter she was known as Virginia Dare, a sweet and appropriate namefor this pretty little wild flower that bloomed all alone on thatdesolate coast. About the time that Virginia was cutting her first teeththere came very distressing times to the colony. There was great need ofsupplies, and it was determined to send to England for them. GovernorWhite went himself, and never saw his little granddaughter again. 

It was three years before the Governor returned to Roanoke Island. He waskept in England by the Spanish invasion, and after the winds and thewaves had shattered the dreaded Armada, it was some time before Raleighcould get together the men and supplies that were needed by the far-offcolony. At last the ship was ready and White took his departure, but hehad not sailed far when his vessel was overtaken by a Spanish cruiser andcaptured. White himself escaped in a boat, and after many days reachedEngland again. Then he had to wait for another ship, and the weary oldman saw day after day go by before he left the chalk cliffs of Englandbehind him. After long, anxious months he approached the new land. It wasnear sunset and he expected to see the smoke rising from the chimneys andthe settlers hurrying in from the fields to eat their evening meal, orcrowding down to greet the long-looked for arrivals. But no such cheeringsight met his gaze. There stood the cabins, but they were deserted; not asingle human soul was visible. They landed and walked up the grass-grownpaths. Vines and climbers festooned the doorways. A dreary stillnessreigned everywhere. The colony had disappeared, and tradition has it tothis day that the settlers were absorbed in the Indian tribes and thatlittle Virginia Dare may have become a white Pocahontas. 

Raleigh lost his best friend when Queen Elizabeth died, and hersuccessor, James, gave into other hands the task of establishing Englishpower in America. The London Company, with a patent from the king, sent afleet of three vessels to Virginia, which ascended the James River, andfifty miles from its mouth laid the foundation of Jamestown, May 13, 1607. 

 * * *

It was a lovely day in summer, presenting a bright southern contrast tothe bitter winter weather which welcomed the Pilgrims thirteen yearslater to Plymouth Rock, when the Englishmen began the erection of a forton the peninsula or island in the river, where they proposed to establishthe capital of their colony. They chose for their president Edward MariaWingfield, ignoring Captain John Smith, a gallant and resourceful soldierof fortune who would have been invaluable as a leader against any foe. The fort had not been completed when the Indians gathered in largenumbers and made a desperate attack on the colony. Twelve of thecolonists were killed and wounded before the savages were driven off bythe use of artillery. In the following winter Captain John Smith exploredthe waters in the vicinity of Jamestown in search of a passage to thePacific. This may seem ridiculous in the light of present knowledge, butit is to be remembered that two years later, in 1609, the greatnavigator, Henry Hudson, ascended the river which bears his name, in theexpectation of discovering a northwest passage to the Orient. Even themost enlightened nations of Europe were slow to give up the idea that aconnection by water existed through the American continent, between theAtlantic and Pacific Oceans. 

To return to Captain John Smith. It appears that in the course of hisexplorations he was captured by Indians, and taken before Chief Powhatanat his forest home. As Smith tells the story, the chief wore a mantle ofraccoon skins and a head-dress of eagle's feathers. The warriors, abouttwo hundred in number, were ranged on each side of Powhatan, and theIndian women were assembled behind the warriors to witness the unwontedscene. Two daughters of the chief, or, as the English called him, the"emperor, " had seats near his "throne. " Smith was well received, onewoman bringing him water to wash his hands, and another a bunch offeathers to dry them with. Then he was fed, and the council deliberatedas to his fate. They resolved that he should die. Two large stones wereplaced in front of Powhatan and Smith was pinioned, dragged to thestones, and his head placed upon them, while the warriors who were tocarry out the sentence brandished their clubs for the fatal blow. One ofthe daughters of Powhatan, named Matoa, or Pocahontas, sixteen oreighteen years old, sprang from her father's side, clasped Smith in herarms, and laid her head upon his. Powhatan, savage as he was, and full ofanger against the English, melted at the sight. He ordered that theprisoner should be released, and sent him with a message of friendship toJamestown. 

Pocahontas continued to be a friend to the white man. Learning, two yearslater, of an Indian plot to exterminate the intruders, she spedstealthily from her father's home to the English settlement, warnedCaptain Smith of the impending peril, and was back in Powhatan's cabinbefore morning. The English were not ungrateful for her goodness, evenalthough it appears she was unable to prevent her father from givingexpression at times to his hatred of the colonists. On one occasion, whenthe settlers were suffering from scarcity of food, and Powhatan would notpermit his people to carry corn to Jamestown, an Englishman named SamuelArgall went on a foraging expedition near the home of Powhatan, andenticed Pocahontas on board his vessel. He held the young woman as aprisoner, and offered to release her for a large ransom in corn. Powhatanrefused to have anything to do with Argall, but sent word to Jamestownsaying that if his daughter should be returned to him he would treat theEnglish as friends. Pocahontas was detained at Jamestown for severalmonths, being treated with respect, and having the free run of thecolony. She appears to have been a romping, good-natured young woman, comely for an Indian, passing her time as happily as possible, withoutmoping for her kinspeople, and not at all the typical heroine of song andstory. It was wicked to detain her, but she seemed to enjoy her captivityand frolicked about the place in a way that must have shocked those whoregarded her as of royal birth. Evidently Pocahontas liked the Englishfrom the first, and preferred their company at Jamestown to her childhoodhome in the Virginia forests. A young Englishman, named John Rolfe, fellin love with her. Wives from England were scarce, and this fact may havemade Pocahontas more attractive in his eyes. When some one objected thatshe was a pagan--"Is it not my duty, " he replied, "to lead the blind tothe light?" Pocahontas learned to love Rolfe in return, and love madeeasy her path to conversion to Christianity. She was baptized by the nameof Rebecca, and was the first Christian convert in Virginia. Powhatanconsented to his daughter's marriage--he had probably concluded by thisthat she was bound to be English anyhow--and the ceremony was performedin the chapel at Jamestown, on a delightful spring day in April, 1613. Pocahontas, we are told, was dressed in a simple tunic of white muslinfrom the looms of Dacca. Her arms were bare even to her shoulders, andhanging loosely to her feet was a robe of rich stuff presented by theGovernor, Sir Thomas Dale, and fancifully embroidered by Pocahontas andher maidens. A gaudy fillet encircled her head, and held the plumage ofbirds and a veil of gauze, while her wrists and ankles were adorned withthe simple jewelry of the native workshops. When the ceremony was ended, the eucharist was administered, with bread from the wheat fields aroundJamestown, and wine from the grapes of the adjacent woodland. Herbrothers and sisters and forest maidens were present; also the Governorand Council, and five English women--all that there were in thecolony--who afterward returned to England. Rolfe and his spouse "livedcivilly and lovingly together" until Governor Dale went back to Englandin 1616, when they and the Englishwomen in Virginia accompanied theGovernor. The "Lady Rebecca" received great attentions at court and fromall below it. She was entertained by the Lord Bishop of London, and atcourt she was treated with the respect due to the daughter of a monarch. The silly King James was angry because one of his subjects dared marry alady of royal blood! And Captain Smith, for fear of displeasing the royalbigot, would not allow her to call him "father, " as she desired to do, and her loving heart was grieved. The king, in his absurd dreams of thedivinity of the royal prerogative, imagined Rolfe or his descendantsmight claim the crown of Virginia on behalf of his royal wife, and heasked the Privy Council if the husband had not committed treason![1]Pocahontas remained in England about a year; and when, with her husbandand son she was about to return to Virginia, with her father's chiefcouncillor, she was seized with small-pox at Gravesend, and died in June, 1617. Her remains lie within the parish church-yard at Gravesend. Herson, Thomas Rolfe, afterward became a distinguished man in Virginia, andhis descendants are found among the most honorable citizens of thatcommonwealth. 

 [1] Lossing. 

Between the lines of the story of Pocahontas can be found the key to muchof the early history of Virginia and other colonies. Even before regularsettlements were attempted on these shores the Indians had learned bybitter experience to dread and hate the strangers in the big canoes. Slave-traders and adventurers made prey of the natives, and many adepredating visit was doubtless paid to America that is not recorded inthe annals of those times. Argall's abduction of Pocahontas endedfortunately, but it might have brought on a terrible Indian war and thedestruction of the Virginia colony. Had such been the result thecivilized world would never have known the red man's side of the story, and Powhatan's just vengeance would have been set down to the barbarousand savage nature of the Indian. 

The scarcity of women in the Virginia colony has already been alluded toin connection with the marriage of Rolfe and Pocahontas. Of the earlyimmigrants very few were women, and there could be no permanent colonywithout the home and family. The London Company, at the instance of theirtreasurer, Edwin Sandys, proposed, about twelve years after the firstsettlement, to send one hundred "pure and uncorrupt" young women toVirginia at the expense of the corporation, to be wives to the planters. Ninety were sent over in 1620. The shores were lined with young menwaiting to see them land, and in a few days everyone of the fairimmigrants had found a husband. Wives had to be paid for in tobacco--thecurrency of the colony--in order to recompense the company for theexpense of importing them. The price of a wife was at first fixed at onehundred and twenty-five pounds of tobacco--equal to about $90--butafterward rose to $150. The women were disposed of on credit, when thesuitor had not the cash, and the debt incurred for a wife was considereda debt of honor. Virginia became a colony of homes. The settlement wassaved from becoming a refuge of the criminal and the outcast, and in theunions formed at that time many of the families in the country had theirorigin. That some of the refuse of English society floated into thecolony is true, and many of the unruly children of London and otherEnglish towns, were sent there as apprentices. But the unruly street boyoften has the diamond of energy and genius concealed within the rudeexterior, and in the genial clime of Virginia, with an opportunity to bea man among men, the young apprentice from the slums of London orPlymouth proved himself to possess qualities of value to the community. 

CHAPTER III. 

The French in Canada--Champlain Attacks the Iroquois--Quebec a MilitaryPost--Weak Efforts at Colonization--Fur-traders and Missionaries--TheFoundation of New France--The French King Claims from the Upper Lakes tothe Sea--Slow Growth of the French Colonies--Mixing with the Savages--The"Coureurs de Bois. "

Although the French navigator, Jacques Cartier, had sailed up the St. Lawrence as early as 1534, it was not until 1608--the year after thefoundation of Jamestown--that Samuel de Champlain effected a permanentsettlement at Quebec. It happened that the Indians of the St. Lawrenceregion were at bitter enmity with the Iroquois, or Five Nations, wholived in the present State of New York, and this enmity had no smallinfluence in deciding the subsequent duel between France and England forempire in North America. Champlain accepted the St. Lawrence Indians asallies, and consented to lead a war party against the Iroquois. In 1609, the year after the settlement of Quebec, Champlain entered the lake whichbears his name, accompanied by a number of the St. Lawrence Indians, andengaged the Iroquois in battle. The warriors of the Five Nations werebrave, but the white man's gun was too much for them, and when two oftheir chiefs fell dead, pierced by a shot from Champlain's weapon, theyturned and fled. The French thus won the friendship of the CanadianIndians and the undying hatred of the Five Nations, and the lattertherefore stood faithfully by first the Dutch, and later the English inthe establishment of their power at Manhattan. 

Quebec continued for many years to be hardly more than a military post. At the time of Champlain's death, in 1635, there was, says Winsor, afortress with a few small guns on the cliffs of Cape Diamond. Along thefoot of the precipice was a row of unsightly and unsubstantial buildings, where the scant population lived, carried on their few handicrafts, andstored their winter provisions. It was a motley crowd which, in thedreary days, sheltered itself here from the cold blasts that blew alongthe river channel. There was the military officer, who sought to givesome color to the scene in showing as much of his brilliant garb as thecloak which shielded him from the wind would permit. The priest went fromhouse to house with his looped hat. The lounging hunter preferred for themost part to tell his story within doors. Occasionally you could mark astray savage who had come to the settlement for food. Such characters asthese, and the lazy laborers taking a season of rest after the summer'straffic, would be grouped in the narrow street beneath the precipicewhenever the wintry sun gave more than its usual warmth at mid-day. Itwas hardly a scene to inspire confidence in the future. It was not thebeginning of empire. If one climbed the path leading to the top of therugged slope he could see a single cottage that looked as if a settlerhad come to stay. There were cattle-sheds and signs of thrift in itsgarden plot. If Champlain had had other colonists like the man who builtthis house and marked out this farmstead, he might have died with thehope that New France had been planted in this great valley on the basisof domestic life. The widow of this genuine settler, Hebert, stilloccupied the house at the time when Champlain died, and they point out toyou now in the upper town the spot where this one early householder ofQuebec made his little struggle to instil a proper spirit of colonizationinto a crowd of barterers and adventurers. From this upper level thevisitor at this time might have glanced across the valley of the St. Charles to but a single other sign of permanency in the stone manor houseof Robert Gifart, which had, the previous year, been built at Beauport. 

The French pushed their explorations toward the west and missionarystations were established in the country of the Hurons. Two Frenchfur-traders reached in 1658 the western extremity of Lake Superior, andheard from the Indians there of the great river--the Mississippi--runningtoward the south. Upon the return of the traders to Canada an expeditionwas organized to proceed to the distant region to which the traders hadpenetrated, exchange trinkets for furs, and convert the natives to theChristian faith. It was now that the French began to reap the fatalfruits of their causeless war on the Iroquois. The latter attacked anddispersed the expedition, killing several Frenchmen. In 1665, westernexploration was resumed, Father Allouez reaching the Falls of St. Mary inSeptember of that year, and coasting along the southern shore of LakeSuperior to the great village of the Chippewas. Delegations from a numberof Indian nations, including the Illinois tribe, met Father Allouez incouncil at St. Mary's, and complained of the hostile visitations of theIroquois from the east and the Sioux from the west. Father Allouezpromised them protection against the Iroquois. Soon after this the Frenchsummoned a great convention of the tribes to St. Mary's, and in presenceof the chieftains formally took possession of the country in behalf ofthe king of France. A large wooden cross was elevated with religiousceremonies. The priests chanted and prayed and the French king wasproclaimed sovereign of the country along the upper lakes and southwardto the sea. Thus was founded the short-lived empire of France in America. 

The only French occupation of the St. Lawrence was not of the kind toflourish. Sir William Alexander, in a tract which he published in 1624, to induce a more active immigration on the part of his countrymen to hisprovince of New Scotland (Nova Scotia), accounts for the want ofstability in the French colony in that they were "only desirous to knowthe nature and quality of the soil and did never seek to have (itsproducts) in such quantity as was requisite for their maintenance, affecting more by making a needless ostentation that the world shouldknow they had been there, more in love with glory than with virtue. .. . Being always subject to divisions among themselves it was impossible thatthey could subsist, which proceeded sometimes from emulation or envy, andat other times from the laziness of the disposition of some, who, loathing labor, would be commanded by none. "[1] In 1660, after more thanhalf a century after the first settlement, a census of Canada showed atotal of 3418 souls, while the inhabitants of New England numbered at thesame time not far from eighty thousand. The establishment of seigneurieswas not calculated to invite or promote desirable immigration. Aseigneurial title was given to any enterprising person who wouldundertake to plant settlers on the land, and accept in return a certainproportion of the grist, furs and fish which the occupant could procureby labor. Immigrants of the class which builds up a country want to ownthe land which they cultivate. The sense of independence inspires themwith energy and with a patriotic interest in the commonwealth. Anotherpeculiar feature of French colonization was the tendency to mingle withthe natives. As early as 1635, Champlain told the Hurons, at his lastCouncil in Quebec, that they only needed to embrace the white man's faithif they would have the white man take their daughters in marriage. TheEnglish principle was to drive out the savage when he could be drivenout, or to tolerate him as a ward and an inferior when it would be unjustto expel or destroy him; the Frenchman embraced the Indian as a brother. "The French missionary, " says Doyle in his Puritan colonies, "well nighbroke with civilization; he toned down all that was spiritual in hisreligion, and emphasized all that was sensual, till he had assimilated itto the wants of the savage. The better and worse features of Puritanismforbade a triumph won on such terms. " One of the worst products of Frenchcolonial life was the class known as the "coureurs de bois, " a lawlessgang, half trader, half explorer, bent on divertisement, and notdiscouraged by misery or peril. They lived in a certain fashion to whichthe missionaries themselves were not averse, as Lemercier shows where hecommends the priests of his order as being savages among savages. Charlevoix tells us that while the Indian did not become French, theFrenchman became a savage. Talon speaks of these vagabonds as living asbanditti, gathering furs as they could and bringing them to Albany orMontreal to sell, just as it proved the easiest. If the intendant couldhave controlled them he would have made them marry, give up trade and thewilderness, and settle down to work. 

 [1] Winsor's "Cartier to Frontenac. "

CHAPTER IV. 

Henry Hudson's Discovery--Block Winters on Manhattan Island--The DutchTake Possession--The Iroquois Friendly--Immigration of the Walloons--Charter of Privileges and Exemptions--Patroons--Manufactures Forbidden--Slave Labor Introduced--New Sweden--New Netherlanders Want a Voicein the Government. 

When Henry Hudson managed, notwithstanding his detention in England byKing James, to send an account of his discoveries to Holland, the Dutchwere swift to avail themselves of the opportunities thus offered toextend their trade to North America. The traders who first soughtManhattan Island and Hudson's River, or the "Mauritius" as the Dutchcalled the North River, were not settlers. Among them was the daringnavigator, Adrian Block, from whom Block Island is named, who gathered acargo of skins and was about to depart, late in the year 1613, whenvessel and cargo were consumed by fire. Block and his crew builtlog-cabins on the lower part of Manhattan Island, and spent the winterconstructing a new ship, which they called the "Onrust" or "unrest"--anincident and a name significant now in view of the commercialpre-eminence and activity of the metropolis founded where those men builtthe first habitations occupied by Europeans. Block sailed in the springof 1614 on a voyage of further discovery in his American built ship. Hepassed through the East River and Long Island Sound and ascertained thatthe long strip of land on the south was an island. He saw and named BlockIsland, and entered Narragansett Bay and the harbor of Boston. His reportled the States-General to grant a charter for four years from October 11, 1614, to a company formed to trade in the region which Block hadexplored, the territory "lying between Virginia and New France, " beingcalled the New Netherland. When the charter expired, the States-Generalrefused to grant a renewal, it being designed to place New Netherlandunder the jurisdiction of the Dutch West India Company as soon as thatcompany should have received the charter for which application had beenmade. This charter, granted June 3, 1620, conferred on the Dutch WestIndia Company almost sovereign powers over the Atlantic coast of America, so far as it was unoccupied by other nations, and the western coast ofAfrica. The Company was organized in 1622, and its attention was at oncecalled to the necessity of founding a permanent colony in the NewNetherland in order to preserve the country from seizure by the English, now established in New Plymouth to the north, as well as Virginia on thesouth. Dutch traders had not been idle during the period between thelapse of the old charter and organization under the new and the WestIndia Company found its operations greatly facilitated by the labors ofthe pioneers. The storehouse on Manhattan Island had been enlarged, afort had been erected on an island near the site of Albany, and theIroquois had learned that in the Dutch they had an ally who would assistthem with arms at least against their enemies on the St. Lawrence. TheWest India Company began wisely the work of settlement. They invited theWalloons, Protestant refugees from the Belgic provinces of Spain, toemigrate to New Netherland. They were most desirable settlers for a newcountry, as industrious as they were intelligent and religious, and wellversed in agriculture as well as the mechanical and finer arts. Havingabandoned their homes for conscience' sake they could be trusted to dotheir duty loyally to their adopted State, and to advance to the best oftheir ability the interests of the Company. 

Thirty families, including one hundred and ten men, women and children, and most of them Walloons, were in the first emigration. Four of thefamilies, young couples who had been married on shipboard, and who, perhaps, concluded that they would get along better apart from the olderhouseholds, chose to settle on the Delaware, four miles below the site ofPhiladelphia, where they built a blockhouse and called it Fort Nassau. Eight seamen went with them and formed a part of their colony, which grewand prospered. Others of the emigrants went to Long Island; some foundedAlbany; some settled on the Connecticut River, and several families madetheir homes in what is at present Ulster County. The Company sent overPeter Minuit as Governor in 1626, who bought from the natives their titleto Manhattan Island, paying therefor trinkets and liquor to the value oftwenty-four dollars. Governor Minuit built a fortification at thesouthern end of the island, and called it New Amsterdam. TheStates-General constituted the colony a county of Holland, and bestowedon it a seal, being a shield enclosed in a chain, with an escutcheon onwhich was the figure of a beaver. The crest was the coronet of a count. 

In 1629 the Dutch West India Company gave to the settlers a charter of"privileges and exemptions, " and sought to encourage immigration byoffering as much land as the immigrants could cultivate, with freeliberty of hunting and fowling under the direction of the Governor. Theyalso offered to any person who should "discover any shore, bay or otherfit place for erecting fisheries or the making of salt pounds" anabsolute property in the same. To further promote the settlement of NewNetherland the company proposed to grant lands in any part of the colonyoutside the island of Manhattan, to the extent of sixteen miles along anynavigable stream, or four miles if on each shore, and indefinitely in theinterior, to any person who should agree to plant a colony of adultswithin four years; or if he should bring more, his domain to be enlargedin proportion. He was to be the absolute lord of the manor, with thefeudal right to hold manorial courts; and if cities should grow up on hisdomain he was to have power to appoint the magistrates and other officersof such municipalities, and have a deputy to confer with the Governor. Settlers under these lords, who were known as patroons--a term synonymouswith the Scottish "laird" and the Swedish "patroon"--were to be exemptfor ten years from the payment of taxes and tribute for the support ofthe colonial government, and for the same period every man, woman andchild was bound not to leave the service of the patroon without hiswritten consent. In order to prevent the colonists from building up localmanufactures to the detriment of Holland industries and of the Company'strade, the settlers were forbidden to manufacture cloth of any kind underpain of banishment, and the Company agreed to supply settlers with asmany African slaves "as they conveniently could, " and to protect themagainst enemies. Each settlement was required to support a minister ofthe gospel and a schoolmaster. The system thus established contained theseed of evil as well as of good. African slave labor, already introducedin Virginia, where the climate was some excuse for its adoption, workedinjury to the New Netherland, where all the conditions were favorable towhite labor, and tended to create a servile class. The negroes, both bondand free, were for many years a most obnoxious element in the colony, viewed with apprehension and suspicion even down to the beginning of thepresent century by the general body of white citizens, and oftensubjected to most cruel and unjust persecution and punishment on chargesthat were either baseless or founded only in malice. The restriction ondomestic manufactures was another barb in the side of the colonists, andthat policy continued by the English successors of the Dutch, had much todo with exciting the War for Independence. The patroons also were anaristocratic element foreign to the prevalent spirit of North Americansettlement, and their feudal rule, although liberal and patriarchal insome instances, became less tolerable as years rolled on, and the peoplecomprehended the absurdity and injustice of mediæval institutions onAmerican soil. It is fortunate that the patroon system, unlike slavery, was ultimately uprooted without revolution. 

 * * *

Americans should be proud of the fact that Gustavus Adolphus, the greatking of Sweden who died on the field of Lutzen in the cause of religiousliberty, gave his approval to the project for planting a Swedish colonyin America, and by proclamation, while in the midst of his campaignagainst the Catholic League, recommended the enterprise to his people. Eighteen days later the champion of Protestantism fell in the hour ofvictory, and a noble monument erected by the German people marks the spotwhere he gave up his life that Germany might be free. The scheme wascarried out by the regency which took charge of the kingdom, and GovernorMinuit, recalled from New Netherland, sailed from Gottenburg in 1637 toplant a new colony on the west side of Delaware Bay. The colonistsarrived at their destination in the spring of 1638, and Minuit procuredfrom an Indian sachem a deed for a region which, the Swedes claimed, extended from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of the Delaware, where Trentonis now, and an indefinite distance inland. The Dutch protested andthreatened, but Minuit built a fort on the site of Wilmington, and calledit Fort Christina, in honor of the young queen of Sweden, daughter ofGustavus Adolphus. The colony prospered, and a number of Hollanderssettled there with the Swedes. Minuit died in 1641, and the Swedishgovernment proceeded to place the colony on a permanent footing, andcalled it "New Sweden. " The colony was unable to hold its own against theDutch, and surrendered in 1655 to an expedition led by Peter Stuyvesant. 

While New Netherland remained under Dutch rule the people had no voice inthe choice of those officers whose duties were more than local incharacter. The governor was an appointee of the West India Company, andresponsible solely to it; though the latter was subject to a certainamount of control from the States-General. That the people desired theprivilege of electing their general officers, is shown by a petition sentin 1649 to the States-General from the Nine Men. A request was made inthis document for a suitable system of government, and it was accompaniedby a sketch of the methods of written proxies used by the New Englandcolonies in selecting their governors. On the other hand, a letter senttwo years later by the magistrates of Gravesend to the directors atAmsterdam, stated that it would involve "ruin and destruction" tofrequently change the government by allowing the people to elect thegovernor, partly on account of the numerous factions, and partly becausethere were no persons in the province capable of filling the office. Nordid the Dutch colonists possess any voice in the making of laws. Therewas no regular representative assembly, although we find that there wereseveral emergencies when the advice of the people was asked by thegovernors. [1]

 [1] See "History of Elections in the American Colonies. " Columbia College Series. 

CHAPTER V. 

Landing of the Pilgrims--Their Abiding Faith in God's Goodness--TheAgreement Signed on the Mayflower--A Winter of Hardship--The Indians Helpthe Settlers--Improved Conditions--The Colony Buys Its Freedom--Priscillaand John Alden--Their Romantic Courtship and Marriage. 

It is usual to celebrate the landing day of the Pilgrim Fathers on thebleak shore of New Plymouth, December 11 (22) 1620, as the beginning ofNew England. It was an event which richly deserves all the commemorationin song and story and banquet-hall which it has received or ever willreceive, but the real and substantial foundation of New England was laidabout ten years later, when a numerous and well-to-do body of Puritans, under a charter granted by the crown, formed the colony of MassachusettsBay. The Pilgrim Fathers were merely a handful in number, and as poor asthey were loyal and conscientious. Exiles to Holland, they declined anoffer from the Dutch West India Company to accept lands in NewNetherland. They wished to remain English, and with the aid of someLondon merchants whose Puritan sympathies were mingled with a desire forgain, the little community procured the means to sail for "the northernparts of Virginia. " The Pilgrims were just as true to King James as thesettlers of Jamestown, but they did not intend to join that colony, whosemembers were attached to the Established Church, so far as they had anyreligion, and where dissenters would have been ill at ease. At the sametime the immigrants in the Mayflower did not intend to land so far northas they did. The wearisome voyage, however, made them anxious to get onshore, the land could not be more inhospitable than the winter sea, andthey had an abiding faith in God's goodness and providence which enabledthem to face with resolution the hardships and dangers of the northernwilderness. The act which the men of the party signed on the Mayflower, previous to landing, showed that they were determined to have an orderlygovernment. It was the first American constitution, and as such deservesto be remembered: "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names arehereunder written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, KingJames, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. , having undertaken for the glory of God andthe advancement of the Christian Faith, and honor of our King andcountry, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts ofVirginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presenceof God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into acivil body politic for our better ordering and preservation andfurtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitution and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought mostmeet and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which wepromise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we havehereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November (O. S. )in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620. "

The day of landing was, as already stated, December 11, or according tothe new style, December 22. The spot which the Pilgrims selected forsettlement was well-watered and promising, and they gave to it the nameof the haven where they had taken a final leave of their native land. Thewinter was fortunately mild, but they had to endure cruel hardships. Their stores were scanty; they had no fishing tackle, and game was notabundant. Fortunately spring came early; but forty-four of the littlecompany succumbed to want and cold, and those who retained their healthwere hardly equal to the task of nursing the sick and burying the dead. Had the savages been numerous and hostile they could have swept thelittle settlement out of existence with but small effort; but the countryhad been wasted not long before by a deadly pestilence and the nativetribes were too weak and too much in fear of more powerful enemies oftheir own race, to make an attack on the strangers. Instead of injuringthe newcomers the Indians helped them, brought them game and fish, andtaught them how to cultivate corn. In 1623 the colony had, with newarrivals, about one hundred and fifty inhabitants. The first division ofland was made this year, and a large crop of corn was harvested. Twelveyears after the foundation the people of Plymouth hardly numbered fivehundred, and they were soon overshadowed by the large Puritan immigrationto Salem and Boston. The poor and struggling settlers of Plymouth did noteven have the satisfaction of knowing that the fruits of their toils andsufferings would be their own. They were still bound to the Londonmerchants who had supplied them with the means for emigration, and thesepartners in the enterprise were impatient of the lack of returns. As thePilgrims gradually grew better off they were the more anxious to removethe yoke which interfered with their independence, and some members ofthe community who were richer than the others agreed, in exchange for amonopoly of the Indian trade and the surrender of the accumulated wealthof the colony, to pay its debt to the English shareholders. The colonythus achieved its freedom, and its members were able to proceed inbuilding their settlement according to their own ideas of religion andcivil government without restraint from partners who had sought only forworldly profit. 

One of the most interesting incidents connected with the early history ofthe Plymouth Colony was the romantic marriage of Priscilla and JohnAlden, immortalized in the verse of Longfellow. Captain Miles Standishwas a redoubtable soldier, small in person, but of great activity andcourage. He came over in the Mayflower, and his wife Rose Standish fell avictim to the privations which attended the first year in America. Another passenger on the Mayflower was Priscilla Mullins, daughter ofWilliam Mullins, a maiden of unusual beauty, just blooming intowomanhood. The gallant widower fell in love with Priscilla, but for somereason which does not clearly appear, but probably bashfulness, he sentanother to do his courting. Standish himself was about thirty-seven yearsof age, and doubtless showed the effect of his hard service in the wars. Nevertheless, he might have won Priscilla had he gone for her in person, for, as the military leader of the colony, beset as it was by savages whomight at any time become hostile, he was a man of importance anddesirable for a son-in-law. He made the mistake of choosing as Cupid'smessenger a handsome young man named John Alden, a cooper fromSouthampton, with whom Priscilla was already well acquainted, and withwhom she had quite possibly whiled away many hours of the wearisome threemonths' voyage from old Plymouth. Alden and Priscilla may have been inlove with each other already, when Captain Standish sent the youth on hisembarrassing mission. Even the rigid rules of Puritanism could notprevent young men and women from falling in love, while their elders wereengaged in more sedate occupations. It is to be said for Standish, also, that he evidently did not intend that the young man should state the caseto Priscilla, but only to her father. The parent promptly gave hisconsent, but added that "Priscilla must be consulted. " The maiden wascalled into the room, and a brighter light dawned in her eyes, and aruddier flush suffused her cheeks, as her gaze met that of the handsomeyoung cooper. John Alden, too, could not remain unaffected, as herepeated his message to the fair young woman, into whose ears he hadprobably poured sweet nothings many a time while they dreamed, perhaps, of the day when more serious words would be spoken. Priscilla asked whyCaptain Standish had not come himself. Alden replied that the Captain wastoo busy. This naturally made the maiden indignant, for she was justifiedin assuming that no business could be more important than that of askingfor her hand. It is also possible that she was glad of an excuse forrejecting the proffered honor. She declared that she would never marry aman who was too busy to court her, adding, in the words of Longfellow:

 "Had he waited awhile, had only showed that he loved me, Even this captain of yours--who knows?--at last might have won me, Old and rough as he is, but now it never can happen. "

John Alden pressed the suit in behalf of his soldier friend, secretlyhoping, it is to be feared, that Priscilla would not take him too much inearnest, when, continues Longfellow:

 "Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes over-running with laughter. Said, in a tremulous voice: 'Why don't you speak for yourself, John?'"

John did not speak for himself--at least not directly, on that occasion, but he did later on, and shortly afterward the marriage of John Alden andPriscilla Mullins was celebrated with all the display that the Plymouthsettlers could afford. Captain Standish did not blame Alden, but he didnot remain long near the scene of his disappointment, moving, in 1626, toDuxbury, Massachusetts. He lived to a hale old age, respected both forhis private virtues and his public services. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Puritan Immigration--Wealth and Learning Seek These Shores--CharterRestrictions Dead Letters--A Stubborn Struggle for Self-government--Methods of Election--The Early Government an Oligarchy--The Charter of1691--New Hampshire and Maine--The New Haven Theocracy--Hartford'sConstitution--The United Colonies--The Clergy and Politics--EveryElection Sermon a Declaration of Independence. 

John Endicott's settlement at Salem, and the large immigration whichfollowed the granting of a royal patent to the Massachusetts Bay Company, together with the transfer of the charter and corporate powers of thecompany from England to Massachusetts, led to the growth of a powerfulPuritan commonwealth which overshadowed and ultimately absorbed thefeeble settlement at Plymouth. The natal day of New England was that onwhich John Winthrop landed at Salem, with nine hundred immigrants in thesummer of 1630, bringing not merely virtue, muscle and brawn, such ascarried the Pilgrims through their appalling experience, but wealth andsubstance, learning and art, men to command as well as men to obey. Fromthat time, except during the season of depression which followed KingPhilip's war, New England went steadily forward in population, prosperityand political power. Her rulers were well able to meet and defeat theirwould-be oppressors in the field of diplomacy, and now defying, nowignoring and again pretending to yield to royal dictation, Massachusettsnever gave up the principles which animated her founders, or the purposewhich prompted them to abandon homes of comfort and even of luxury, andestablish new institutions in a new world. The Massachusetts settlerswere forbidden by the terms of their charter to enact any laws repugnantto the laws of England. This restriction was a dead letter from the verybeginning. Indeed, literally construed, it would have defeated the veryobject of Puritan emigration--to escape from the rule of a hierarchyestablished under English laws. As Massachusetts was for many years theleading colony of the north of English origin, and probably made more ofan impress than any other colony and State upon our national character, it may be of interest to quote here a sketch of its politicalinstitutions and their changes in the colonial period. 

The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company authorized the election of agovernor, deputy governor and eighteen assistants on the last Wednesdayof Easter. Endicott, the first governor, was chosen by the company inLondon in April, 1629, but in October of the following year it wasresolved that the governor and deputy governor should be chosen by theassistants out of their own number. After 1632, however, the governor waschosen by the whole body of the freemen from among the assistants at ageneral court or assembly held in May of each year. The deputy governorwas elected at the same time. The charter, as already mentioned, providedalso for the annual election of assistants or magistrates, whose numberwas fixed at eighteen. Besides the officers mentioned in the charter, anorder of 1647 declared that a treasurer, major-general, admiral at sea, commissioners for the United Colonies, secretary of the General Court and"such others as are, or hereafter may be, of like general nature, " shouldbe chosen annually "by the freemen of this jurisdiction. " The voting tookplace in Boston in May at a court of election held annually, and freemencould vote at first only in person, but eventually by proxy also, if theydesired to do so. In both Massachusetts and New Plymouth all freemen hadoriginally a personal voice in the transaction of public business at thegeneral courts or assemblies which were held at stated intervals. One ofthese was known as the Court of Election, and at this were chosen theofficers of the colony for the ensuing year. As the number of settlementsincreased, it became inconvenient for freemen to attend the generalcourts in person and they were allowed to be represented by deputies. Asit was impossible for all freemen when the colony became more populated, to attend the courts of election, the deputies were at length permittedto carry the votes of their townsmen to Boston. 

The governor, as well as the other officers in Massachusetts, were firstchosen by show of hands, but about 1634 it was provided that the namesshould be written on papers, the papers to be open or only once folded, so that they might be the sooner perused. Afterward the voting was bycorn and beans, a grain of Indian corn signifying election, and a blackbean the contrary. The offence of ballot-box stuffing seems to haveexisted, or at least was provided against even among the early Puritans, for it was enacted that any freeman putting more than one grain should befined ten pounds--a large sum of money in those days. 

The Massachusetts colonial government has been called a theocracy. As amatter of fact it was an oligarchy, the political power residing in but asmall proportion of even the church-going freemen. This is shown in theremonstrance addressed to the colony by the royal commission appointedunder King Charles II. To investigate the governments of the New Englandcolonies. Said the Commissioners to Massachusetts:

"You haue so tentered the king's qualliffications as in making him onlywho paieth ten shillings to a single rate to be of competent estate, thatwhen the king shall be enformed, as the trueth is, that not one churchmember in an hundred payes so much & yt in a toune of an hundredinhabitants, scarse three such men are to be found, wee feare that theking will rather finde himself deluded than satisfied by your late act. "

During the rule of Dudley and Andros the whole legislative power ofMassachusetts was lodged in a council, appointed by the crown through itsgovernor, and popular election in the New England colonies was limited tothe choice of selectmen at a single meeting held annually in each town, on the third Monday in May. 

The ultimate result of the revolution of 1688 in England was to uniteMassachusetts and New Plymouth under the Charter of 1691. By virtue ofthis instrument, "the Great and General Court of Assembly" was to consistof "the Governor and Council or Assistants for the time being, and suchFreeholders of our said Province or Territory as shall be from time totime elected or deputed by the Major parte of the Freeholders and otherInhabitants of the respective Townes and Places. " The governor, deputygovernor and secretary and the first assistants were appointed. After thefirst year, the assistants were to be annually elected by the GeneralAssembly. Under this charter, with the exception of the deputies, theonly elective officers whose functions were at all general in theirnature were the county treasurers, and they were chosen upon the basis ofthe town rather than upon the basis of the provincial suffrage. 

 * * *

New Hampshire owed its original settlement to John Mason, a Londonmerchant, who was associated with Sir Ferdinand Gorges in obtaining agrant of land in 1622, from the Merrimac to the Kennebec and inland tothe St. Lawrence. Gorges and Mason agreed to divide their domain at thePiscataqua. Mason, obtaining a patent for his portion of the territory, called it New Hampshire, in commemoration of the fact that he had beengovernor of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. The Rev. Mr. Wheelwright, brother of Anne Hutchinson, founded Exeter. The New Hampshire settlementswere annexed by Massachusetts in 1641, and remained dependent on thatcolony until 1680, when New Hampshire became a royal province, ruled by agovernor and council and house of representatives elected by the people. The settlers of New Hampshire were mostly Puritans, and thoroughly insympathy with the political-religious system of Massachusetts. Massachusetts obtained jurisdiction over Maine through purchase fromGorges, and that territory remained attached to Massachusetts until 1820. Vermont had no separate existence until the Revolution. 

 * * *

The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven were in full sympathy with thereligious and political system of Massachusetts. The first meeting of allthe "free planters" of New Haven was held on the fourth day of June, 1639, for the purpose "of settling civil government according to God, andabout the nomination of persons that might be found by consent of all, fittest in all respects for the foundation work of a church. " The meetingwas opened with prayer. There was some debate as to whether the plantersshould give to free burgesses the power of making ordinances, but it wasultimately decided to do so. The minutes of the meeting show that thisdecision was arrived at on the authority of several passages from theBible--such as "Take you wise men and understanding, and know among yourtribes and I will make them rulers over you, " and "Thou shalt in any wiseset him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose; one from amongthy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not set astranger over thee, which is not thy brother. " The model followed in thegovernmental organization was the liveries of the city of London whichchose the magistrates and were themselves elected by the companies. Accordingly, the planters of New Haven elected a committee of eleven men, and gave them power to choose the seven founders of the theocracy theyhad decided to establish. The seven founders met as a court of electionin October of the same year and admitted upon oath several members of"approved churches. " After reading a number of passages from the Biblebearing on the subject of an ideal ruler, they proceeded to the electionof a chief magistrate and four deputy magistrates. The franchise in allcases was confined to church members. In the Hartford colony, which wasConnecticut proper, the earliest mention of elections is found in theFundamental Orders of 1638, which have become famous as the first writtenconstitution framed on the American continent. It was enacted that agovernor and six magistrates should be chosen annually by the freemen ofthe jurisdiction. A deputy governor was also chosen. The Charter ofCharles II. , which placed the New Haven and the Hartford colonies underone government, provided for the same general officers, together withtwelve assistants, a secretary and a treasurer being added in 1689. 

In 1643, the four colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut andNew Haven formed a confederation for defence against the Indians and alsothe Dutch, who had claimed that a portion of what is now the State ofConnecticut was included within their jurisdiction. The confederation wascalled the United Colonies of New England, and its affairs were managedby a board of eight commissioners, two from each colony. Thecommissioners could summon troops in case of necessity and settledisputes between the colonies. This union proved most effective in thesubsequent war with King Philip. It was the germ of Americanconfederation. 

The election sermon was a prominent feature of election day in thePuritan colonies. The clergyman to deliver the sermon was selected by thefreemen, and it was considered a great honor to be chosen for the office. The preacher often dealt with public questions, and especially during thetroublous times which preceded the Revolution. Instead of pastors beingblamed for interference in politics the General Court sometimes sent ageneral request to all ministers of the gospel resident in the colonyasking them to preach on election day before the freemen of eachplantation a sermon "proper for direction in the choice of civil rulers. "The pulpit in that age held the place now occupied by the newspapereditorial page, so far as vital questions affecting the body politic wereconcerned. The clergy were, as a class, learned and eloquent, and thefreemen looked to them for guidance in political as well as religiousproblems, and it cannot be denied that the ministers never shrank fromthe responsibility put upon them. They stood up for the colonies againstking and parliament, against royal menace and muskets, and for yearsbefore the Continental Congress pronounced for freedom every electionsermon was a declaration of independence. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Where Conscience Was Free--Roger Williams and His Providence Colony--Driven by Persecution from Massachusetts--Savages Receive Him Kindly--Coddington's Settlement in Rhode Island--Oliver Cromwell and CharlesII. Grant Charters--Peculiar Referendum in Early Rhode Island. 

 "Take heart with us, O man of old, Soul-freedom's brave confessor, So love of God and man wax strong, Let sect and creed be lesser. 

 "The jarring discords of thy day In ours one hymn are swelling; The wandering feet, the severed paths All seek our Father's dwelling. 

 "And slowly learns the world the truth That makes us all thy debtor. -- That holy life is more than rite, And spirit more than letter. 

 "That they who differ pole-wide serve Perchance one common Master, And other sheep he hath than they That graze one common pasture. "

 WHITTIER. 

One New England community stood apart from all the rest. Roger Williams, a learned and able minister, supposed to have been born in Wales, came toBoston in 1630, accompanied by his wife, Mary, an Englishwoman. Williamsdenied the right of the magistrates to interfere with the consciences ofmen, and also held that the Indians should not be deprived of their landswithout fair and equitable purchase. His stand in favor of soul-libertywas a novelty in that age when State and Church were regarded asinseparable, the only difference on this question between Massachusettsand England being as to the character of the public worship which theState should enforce upon consciences willing and unwilling. The doctrineof Roger Williams, therefore, seemed to the Boston authorities to strikeat the very foundation of all government, and in particular of theirgovernment. In the autumn of 1635, when Roger Williams was pastor of thechurch at Salem, the General Court of Massachusetts ordered him to quitthe colony within six months. Afterward suspecting that Williams waspreparing to found a new colony, the Boston magistrates resolved todeport him to England, and a vessel was sent to Salem to take him away. Williams received timely warning, and fled from his home in mid-winter, and made his way through the wilderness to the shores of NarragansettBay. He was joined by five companions, and at a fine spring near the headof Narragansett Bay they planted a colony, and Williams called the place"Providence, " in grateful acknowledgment of God's providence to him inhis distress. Williams and his companions founded a pure democracy, withno interference with the rights of conscience. Indeed, they carried thisprinciple to an extreme at which even in these days most people wouldhesitate, for one member of the colony was disciplined because heobjected to his wife's frequent attendance on the preaching of Mr. Williams to the neglect of her household duties. Rhode Island became arefuge for the victims of Puritan intolerance, without regard to theirbelief or unbelief, and was therefore held in hatred and contempt by theBoston people. This very hatred was the salvation of Rhode Island, thegovernment of England being favorably inclined to the colony on accountof the stubborn and independent attitude of Massachusetts toward the homeauthorities. 

The name "Rhode Island" requires mention here of the fact that RhodeIsland and Providence Plantations were originally separate settlements. In 1638 William Coddington, a native of Lincolnshire, England, and forsome time a magistrate of Boston, was driven from Massachusetts alongwith others who had taken a prominent part on the side of AnneHutchinson, in the controversy between that brilliant woman and thedominant element of the church. Coddington and his eighteen companionsbought from the Indians the island of Aquitneck, or Rhode Island, andmade settlements on the sites of Newport and Portsmouth. A thirdsettlement was founded at Warwick, on the mainland, in 1643, by a partyof whom John Greene and Samuel Gorton were leaders. Roger Williams wentto England in the same year, and in 1644 he brought back a charter whichunited the settlements at Providence and on Rhode Island in one colony, called the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The charter wasconfirmed by Oliver Cromwell in 1655, and a new charter was granted byCharles II. In 1663. Under the Parliament charter of 1664 Providence, in1647, sent a "committee" to Portsmouth to join with committees from othertowns in order to form a government. The fifth "act and order"established by this convention provided that each town should send acommittee to every general court, and these, like the deputies inMassachusetts and Plymouth, could exercise the powers of the freemen inall matters excepting the election of officers. The committee from eachtown was to consist of six members. 

A peculiar feature of early Rhode Island government was the jealousy withwhich the people retained in their own control the law-making power. Matters of general concern were proposed in some town meeting, and noticeof the proposition had to be given to other towns. Towns which approvedof the proposition were ordered to declare their opinion at the nextgeneral court through their committees. If the court decided in favor ofthe proposition a law was passed which had authority only until ratifiedby the next general assembly of all the people. The general court wasalso allowed to debate matters on its own motion, but its decisions mustbe reported to each town by the committee representing that town. Ameeting of the town was held to debate on the questions so reported andthen the votes of the inhabitants were collected by the town clerk andforwarded with all speed to the recorder of the colony. The latter was toopen, in the presence of the governor, all votes so received, and if amajority voted affirmatively the resolution of the court was to stand aslaw until the next general assembly. This complex method was repealed in1650, and instead, it was ordered that all laws enacted by the assemblyshould be communicated to the towns within six days after adjournment. Within three days after the laws were received the chief officer of eachtown was to call a meeting and read them to the freemen. If any freemandisliked a particular law he could, within ten days, send his vote inwriting, with his name affixed, to the general recorder. If within tendays the recorder received a majority of votes against any law, he was tonotify the president of that fact and the latter in turn was to givenotice to each town that such law was null and void. Silence as to theremaining enactments was assumed to mean assent. 

After 1658, the recorder was allowed ten days instead of six, as theperiod within which the laws must be sent to the towns. The towns hadanother ten days for consideration, and then if the majority of the freeinhabitants of any one of them in a lawful assembly voted against a givenenactment, they could send their votes sealed up in a package to therecorder. If a majority from every town voted against the law it wasthereby nullified; but unless this was done within twenty days after theadjournment of the court the law would continue binding. In 1660, threemonths were allowed for the return of votes to the recorder. Instead of amajority of each town, a majority of all the free inhabitants of thecolony was sufficient to nullify a law. The charter of King Charles II. Restricted the privilege of voting to freeholders and the eldest sons offreeholders. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Puritans and Education--Provision for Public Schools--Puritan Sincerity--Effect of Intolerance on the Community--Quakers Harshly Persecuted--TheSalem Witchcraft Tragedy--History of the Delusion--Rebecca Nourse andOther Victims--The People Come to Their Senses--Cotton Mather Obdurate tothe Last--Puritan Morals--Comer's Diary--Rhode Island in Colonial Times. 

It is to the credit of the Puritans that promptly upon their settlementin Massachusetts they made provision for education. Many of the Puritanswere learned men, and some of them graduates of Cambridge in England, andwhen a school was established at Newtown for the education of theministry, the name of the place was changed to Cambridge. When JohnHarvard endowed the school in 1638 with his library and the gift of onehalf his estate--about $4000, but equal to much more than that amount atthe present day--the school was erected into a college and named HarvardCollege after the founder. The central aim and purpose of Puritaneducation was religious. The schools were maintained so that the childrencould learn to read the Bible, and also incidentally the printedfulminations of the ministers and magistrates. The Massachusetts schoollaw of 1649 set forth in the preamble that, "it being one chief projectof that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of theScriptures, as in former times keeping them in an unknown tongue, so inthese later times persuading men from the use of tongues, so that at theleast a true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded withfalse glossing of saint-seeming deceivers, and that learning may not beburied in the grave of our fathers, " therefore, etc. Every township wasrequired to maintain a school for reading and writing, and every town ofa hundred householders a grammar-school, with a teacher qualified to fityouths for the university. This school law was enacted likewise in theother Puritan colonies. While its object was to strengthen the hold ofreligion, as expounded by the Puritan ministry, upon the people, itsgeneral effect was to spread intelligence along with learning, and tobreak down the barriers of intolerance. It is a significant fact, however, and in accordance with the lessons of more recent history, thatthe seat of the highest education was not always the seat of the highestintelligence. The witchcraft delusion found a haven in Harvard when thecommon sense of a common-school educated people rejected it by a decisivemajority. 

The Puritan was stern and cruel because he was thoroughly in earnest. Hebelieved his religion to be true, and that the only path to salvation laythrough rigid compliance with Puritan doctrine. Believing as he did hewas logical; he was humane. The non-Puritan was, in his view, apestilence to be got rid of by the most heroic measures if necessary. Inacting on this principle he was kind, in his judgment, to the many whomhe saved from pollution and damnation by the sacrifice of the few. Thedevil, to the Puritan, was terribly personal, and Cotton Mather's horrorof witchcraft was grounded in a sincere belief in that personality. Theforces of evil were always active, and the Puritan believed in combatingthem in the most vigorous and trenchant fashion. The Scripture enjoinedupon him to pluck out his own eye if it offended, and it was natural thathe should not hesitate to sacrifice others when they offended. With allhis severity he took good care to let transgressors know what they had toexpect, and he felt the less compunction, therefore, in inflictingpenalties deliberately incurred. Life for the Puritan was a very seriousaffair, and levity a crime only milder than non-orthodoxy. Gaming evenfor amusement was rigidly prohibited. It was a criminal act to kiss awoman in the street, even in the way of chaste and honest salute. Theheads of households were called to account if the daughters neglected thespinning-wheel. The stocks and the whipping-post were seldom unoccupiedby minor offenders, while the hangman was kept busy with criminals ofdeeper dye. It should be needless to say that there was a good deal ofhypocrisy, and that public repentance was often simply a means forescaping from social ostracism and obtaining admission to the pastures ofthe elect. Hubbard intimates as much in what he says about Captain JohnUnderhill. 

The laws enacted were based on the Mosaic code, and of Mosaic severity indealing with offences against morality and religion. It is to beremembered, however, that down to the second quarter of the presentcentury the code of England itself was Draconic, although immoralitiespunished by death in Massachusetts were not regarded as crimes in theolder country. 

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The most painful event connected with the harsh religious system of thePuritans was the execution in 1659 of two Quakers, Marmaduke Stephensonand William Robinson, of England, who had come to Massachusetts to preachtheir doctrines. The first two Quakers to arrive in Boston were AnnAustin and Mary Fisher, who landed here in 1656. They were forthwitharrested, and examined for witch-marks, but none being found and therebeing no excuse therefore for putting them to death as agents of Satan, they were kept in close imprisonment, and the jailer and citizens wereforbidden to give them any food, the object apparently being to starvethem to death. The windows of the jail were boarded up to prevent foodfrom being handed into them and also to prevent the prisoners fromexhorting passers-by. A citizen named Upshall, who gave money to thejailer to buy nourishment for the captives, was fined $100, and orderedto leave the colony within thirty days, and was sentenced to pay beside$15 for every day he should be absent from public worship before hisdeparture--evidently that he might be compelled to listen to pulpitdenunciations of his wickedness in saving from starvation twofellow-human beings who worshipped God in a different fashion from theirpersecutors. The exile was denied an asylum in Plymouth, and followed theexample of Roger Williams by seeking a refuge among the Indians, whotreated him kindly. The two Quaker women were transported to Barbadoes, and the captain of the vessel which had brought them to Boston wasrequired to bear the charges of their imprisonment. The religious bookswhich they had in their possession when arrested were burned by thecommon hangman. 

The Quakers continued to come in considerable numbers to America, beingwelcomed in some of the colonies, and persecuted in others, but nowhereso severely as in Massachusetts. When Stephenson and Robinson were hangedat Boston, Mary Dyer, widow of William Dyer, late recorder of Providenceplantations, was taken to the scaffold with them, but reprieved oncondition that she should leave the colony in forty-eight hours. In thefollowing year Mary Dyer returned to Boston, and was at once arrested andhanged. These proceedings excited general horror in the mother country, and Charles II. Sent a letter stating it to be his pleasure that theQuakers should be sent to England for trial. The General Court ofMassachusetts thereupon suspended the laws against Quakers, and those inprison were released and sent out of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 

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Next to the persecution of the Quakers no feature of Puritan history isso prominent as the Salem Witchcraft Tragedy, which, although it occurrednear the close of the seventeenth century, so strikingly illustrates theintellectual and religious conditions of the Massachusetts colony that itmay properly be described here. Belief in witchcraft was not by any meansconfined to Massachusetts. The statutes of England, as well as of theAmerican colonies, dealt with the imaginary crime. Among the intelligentand educated classes, however, both in Europe and America, the subjectwas generally considered of too doubtful a nature to be dealt with by theinfliction of the penalties which the law prescribed. In Massachusetts, where everybody had some education, the majority of the people, althoughdeeply and almost fanatically religious, had their doubts about thereality of the diabolical art, and the belief, strangely enough, seems tohave been most intense and aggressive in the highest intellectualquarters, among ministers and men of superior education and commensurateinfluence. It was this that gave the witchcraft delusion its awful powerfor evil, and enabled a few vicious children afflicted with hysteria orepilepsy to bring a score of mostly reputable persons to an ignominiousdeath, to ruin more than that number of homes and to spread consternationthroughout the commonwealth. 

The Salem delusion began in the house of Mr. Parris, the minister atDanvers. Parris had two slaves, an Indian and his wife, Tituba, thelatter half negro and half Indian. Tituba taught the children varioustricks. While practicing these tricks, some of them became hysterical andacted in a peculiar manner. It was suggested that they were bewitched, and they were asked who had bewitched them. They indicated a woman namedSarah Goode, who was generally disliked. She was arrested and imprisoned. This seems to have gratified the children, who soon after had convulsionsin the presence of another victim, one Giles Corey. Corey stood muteunder the accusation, and was tortured to death by pressing. The casesattracted attention, and at the instance of Cotton Mather and others, Governor Phipps designated a special court to try persons accused ofwitchcraft. Malice, greed and craft promptly supplied more victims forthe court and the hangman. Doctors discovered what they calledwitch-marks, such as moles or callosities of any kind, and after thechildren or others alleged to have been bewitched had performed the usualcontortions, the accused were swiftly convicted. Francis Nourse and hiswife, Rebecca, had a controversy about the occupation of a farm with afamily named Endicott. The Endicott children went into hysterics andcharged that Rebecca Nourse had bewitched them. Although as good and purea woman as there was in the colour, Rebecca was convicted, hanged onWitches' Hill, and her body cast into a pit designed for those who shouldmeet her fate. Mr. Parris, the minister, thought it necessary to preach asermon fortifying the belief in witchcraft, and when Sarah Cloyse, asister of Rebecca, got up and went out of the meeting-house, regardingthe sermon as an insult to the memory of her murdered sister, she wasalso denounced and arrested. The Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather, one of thelights of Puritanism, and son of Dr. Increase Mather, president ofHarvard University, was most active and violent in the prosecutions. Among the victims was the Rev. Stephen Burroughs, a learned minister ofexemplary life, who was accused of possessing a witch's trumpet. Matherwitnessed the hanging of Burroughs, and when the latter on the scaffoldoffered up a touching prayer, Mather cried out to the people that Satanoften transformed himself into an angel of light to deceive men's souls. The Rev. Mr. Noyes, standing by at the execution of eight accusedpersons, exclaimed: "What a sad thing it is to see eight fire-brands ofhell hanging there!" A committee was appointed to ferret out witches, andchildren were readily found to court the notoriety and interest which ashare in the work attracted. When the accusers began to utter chargesagainst the wife of Governor Phipps and relatives of the Mathers, theauthorities took a different view of the monster which they had evolvedout of their superstitious imaginings. Public opinion, which had beenfettered by fear and amazement at the hideous proceedings, began to findexpression in protest against any further sacrifice. Many of the accusersrecanted their testimony, and said that they had given it in order tosave their own lives, dreading to be accused of witchcraft themselves. The General Court of Massachusetts appointed a general fast andsupplication "that God would pardon all the errors of His servants andpeople in a late tragedy raised among them by Satan and his instruments. "Judge Sewall, who had presided at a number of the trials, stood up in hisplace in the church and begged the people to pray that the errors whichhe had committed "might not be visited by the judgment of an avenging Godon his country, his family and himself. " The Rev. Mr. Parris wascompelled to leave the country. Cotton Mather, however, adheredsteadfastly to his belief in witches. He said, among other things equallyastounding to the common sense even of that day, that the devil allowedthe victims of witchcraft to "read Quaker books, the Common Prayer andpopish books, " but not the Bible. At the instance of Cotton Mather, andthat of his father, Increase Mather, the president of Harvard, a circularwas sent out signed by Increase Mather and a number of other ministers inthe name of Harvard College, inviting reports of "apparitions, possessions, enchantments and all extraordinary things wherein theexistence and agency of the invisible world is more sensiblydemonstrated, " to be used "as some fit assembly of ministers mightdirect. " But few replies to the circular were received. The people ofMassachusetts had muzzled the monster, and did not care to turn it looseagain. A monument was recently erected to Rebecca Nourse on the hillwhere she perished, and her descendants have an organization which holdsannual meetings in commemoration of their hapless ancestor. 

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Notwithstanding harsh laws and their bitter enforcement, the habits ofthe people were probably not much better than to-day in well-orderedcommunities, and considerable depravity existed, especially in theremoter settlements. Comer's Diary, which has never been published, butwhich the writer of this work has examined in manuscript, shows acondition of society far from exemplary, and it also shows that personswhose position ought to have been respectable, sometimes took Indianseither as wives or in a less honorable relation. There is, perhaps, moreIndian blood in New England than is generally supposed, and the earlierinhabitants of that section were probably less exclusive toward theaborigines than is assumed in conventional history. Comer's Diary deals, it is true, with the early part of the eighteenth century, but theconditions it minutely and no doubt faithfully describes, must haveexisted substantially in the seventeenth. [1]

 [1] I was present at a meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society when President (then professor) Andrews, of Brown University, reported in behalf of a committee, that it had been judged inexpedient to publish Comer's Diary. I have since had the privilege of examining the diary in the original, and can understand the grounds of objection. --H. M. 

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The laws of Rhode Island were founded on the Mosaic system, like those ofMassachusetts, but entirely ignored the question of religion. Thepenalties for immoral conduct were not so merciless as in the Puritancolonies, and the Rhode Island colonial records indicate that the laws, such as they were, were not rigidly enforced. The remnants of the Indiantribes, having first been demoralized by unprincipled whites, becamethemselves a demoralizing element, and Indian dances were, the recordsshow, a continual source of scandal and of vice, which the authoritiessought vainly to suppress. In connection with the principle of entireseparation of Church and State, on which Rhode Island was founded, it maybe of interest to mention here that I learned, in my examination ofComer's Diary, that an attempt was made to establish a branch of theAnglican Church in Providence, in the colonial period, and that aminister was sent over under authority of the bishop of London. Theminister had to depart, and the church was closed on account of somescandal. I wrote to the present bishop of London inquiring if there wasany record of the incident in the Episcopal archives, and he answered meto the effect that nothing could be found relating to it. 

CHAPTER IX. 

New England Prospering--Outbreak of King Philip's War--Causes of theWar--White or Indian Had to Go--Philip on the War-path--Settlements Laidin Ashes--The Attack on Hadley--The Great Swamp Fight--Philip Renews theWar More Fiercely Than Before--His Allies Desert Him--Betrayed andKilled--The Indians Crushed in New England. 

The civil war between Charles I. And the Parliament put an end to Puritanimmigration to New England, and some of the settlers went back toEngland, and gave efficient aid to their fellow Puritans in fightingagainst the king. The people of New England were, on the whole, prosperous about the middle of the seventeenth century. Nearly every headof a family owned his house and the land which he occupied, and in thecoast towns many were engaged in profitable trade and the fisheries. Fishing vessels from abroad were customers for the agricultural productsof the colony, and gradually the colonists built their own vessels andabsorbed the fisheries themselves. The figure of a codfish in theMassachusetts State House was, until recently, a reminder of thebeginning of Massachusett's wealth and prosperity. 

King Philip's War was a terrible blow to the colonies, and came near toproving their destruction. The immediate provocation of the conflict wasslight enough, but the conflict itself was inevitable. There was nolonger room in New England for independent Indian tribes side by sidewith English colonies. One race or the other had to give way and warmeant extermination for one or the other. King Philip, Sachem of theWampanoags, saw that the further progress of the colonies would involvethe extinction of his race. He was a brave man, and possessed of uncommonability. He did not move hastily, although his tribesmen clamored forbloodshed to avenge three of their fellows whom the English had hanged ona doubtful charge of murder, based on the killing of an Indian traitor. When Philip was prepared to strike he sent his women and children to theNarragansetts for protection, and then started on the warpath against thesettlers of Plymouth colony. Major Savage, with horse and foot fromBoston, joined the Plymouth forces, and they drove Philip back into aswamp at Pocasset. After a siege of many days Philip made his way fromthe swamp, was welcomed by the Nipmucks, a tribe in interiorMassachusetts, and with fifteen hundred warriors he hurried to attack thewhite settlements in Connecticut. The colonial army meanwhile hastened tothe Narragansett country, and compelled Canonchet, chief of theNarragansetts, upon whom King Philip had relied for aid, to make a treatyof friendship. Philip was disappointed by the loss of this expected ally, but disappointment made him only the more resolute and desperate. Everywhere he excited the New England tribes against the English, andcarefully avoiding any general encounter, he waylaid the settlers, destroyed their homes and laid ambuscades for them in field and highway, now and then attacking some important town. The colonists sufferedfearfully; numbers were slain; whole settlements were devastated, and thegun had to be kept at hand in church, at home and at daily toil. No oneknew when the dusky foe would suddenly spring from the forest; no womanleft her doorstep without fear that she might never enter it again, andthe settler, whom duty summoned from home, looked anxiously on his returnto see if his dwelling was there. Even the churches, with congregationsarmed as they listened to the Word of God, were assailed and theworshipers sometimes massacred. Deerfield was laid in ashes, and Hadleywas saved undoubtedly by the sudden appearance of a venerable man, William Goffe, the regicide, who had been a major-general under Cromwell, was one of the judges who signed the death warrant of Charles I. , and hadfled to New England from the vengeance of Charles II. He was concealed inHadley when the Indians attacked the place, and unexpectedly appearedamong the inhabitants, most of whom took him for a supernatural being, and animated them to repulse the savages. He then as suddenlydisappeared, going back to his place of refuge. Philip, encouraged by hissuccesses, made a bold attack upon Springfield, but was repulsed withserious loss. He then retreated to the Narragansett country, and washospitably received by Canonchet. 

Although Canonchet's sympathies were with Philip, it is not certain thatthe Narragansett chief had hostile designs against the English. Thecolonists had determined, however, to make a sweep of possible as well asactual enemies, and they marched upon the Narragansetts. Then occurredthe Great Swamp fight, one of the most sanguinary of encounters in thehistory of Indian warfare. The Narragansetts had their winter camp, orfort, in the heart of a swamp, in what is now Charlestown, Rhode Island. Successive rows of palisades protected a position of considerable extent, accessible during the greater part of the year by a single narrow path. This one access was guarded by a blockhouse, but the cold weather gave afooting to the invaders on the usually impassable morasses. An attemptwas made to take the Narragansetts by surprise. The warriors, however, detected the stealthy approach, and seizing their weapons, fired from thesecurity of their palisades upon the advancing enemy. A number of thebest men on the colonial side were shot down while urging on the attack. The battle on both sides was fierce and stubborn. Assault followedassault, only to be repulsed, and when the English had fought their wayinto the fortress, they were at first driven out by an irresistible onsetof the Indians. At length the colonists made good their entrance, and thebattle continued at closer quarters, the Indians nerved to desperation bythe presence of their wives and children, whose fate would be their own, and the colonists inspired to prodigies of valor by the thought thattheir defeat would certainly involve their own destruction, and perhapsthat of New England. The invaders at length set fire to the wigwams. Asthe flames spread the women and children ran out, hampering theirdefenders with cries of terror and appeals for protection, and at lengththe Indians were overpowered. Then followed a pitiless massacre of thedefeated Indians and their families, hundreds of whom perished in theflames, while many were taken prisoners to be carried off into slavery. Canonchet was slain, and the power of the Narragansetts was brokenforever. [1]

 [1] In the summer of 1883 I represented the Providence _Journal_ at the dedication of Fort Ninigret, a spot set apart from the former Narragansett reservation in memory of the tribe which had given welcome to Roger Williams when he fled from Puritan persecution. I visited at the time the scene of the Great Swamp fight, and also the burying-ground of the latter Narragansett chiefs. 

 The following lines which were suggested by the occasion, may perhaps be of interest to the reader:

 THE GRAVE OF NINIGRET. 

 A stricken pine--a weed-grown mound On the upland's rugged crest, Point where the hunted Indian found At length a place of rest. 

 Thou withered tree, by lightning riven, Of bark and leaf bereft, With lifeless arms erect to heaven, Of thee a remnant's left;

 The bolt that broke thy giant pride Yet spared the sapling green; And tall and stately by thy side 'Twill show what thou hast been. 

 But of the Narragansett race Nor kith, nor blood remains; Save that perchance a tainted trace May lurk in servile veins. 

 The mother's shriek, the warrior's yell That rent the midnight air When Christians made yon swamp a hell, No longer echo there. 

 The cedar brake is yet alive-- But not with human tread-- Within its shade the plover thrive, The otter makes its bed. 

 The red fox hath his hiding-place Where ancient foxes ran. How keener than the sportsman's chase The hunt of man by man!

 H. M. 

King Philip escaped from the slaughter, found other Indian allies, andrenewed the war more fiercely than before. Many towns were laid in ashes, including Providence and Warwick, in Rhode Island; Weymouth, Groton, Medfield, Lancaster and Marlborough, in Massachusetts. About six hundredof the colonists were killed in battle or waylaid and murdered, and theburden of the struggle bore heavily on the survivors. Fortunatelydissensions among the savages diminished their power for harm, andPhilip's allies deserted him, or surrendered to avoid starvation. CaptainChurch of Rhode Island went in pursuit of Philip who had taken refuge inthe fastnesses of Mount Hope. The wife and little son of the Indian chiefwere made prisoners, and this was a final blow to him. "My heart breaks, "he said; "I am ready to die. " An Indian, who claimed to have a grievanceagainst Philip on account of a brother whom the sachem had killed, betrayed the hiding-place of Philip to the English, and shot the fallenchief. Philip's head was cut off and carried on a pole to Plymouth, andhis body was quartered. His wife and son were sold into slavery inBermuda. The Indians of New England were crushed, and they never againattempted to stand against the whites. 

CHAPTER X. 

Growth of New Netherland--Governor Stuyvesant's Despotic Rule--HisComments on Popular Election--New Amsterdam Becomes New York--ThePlanting of Maryland--Partial Freedom of Conscience--Civil War inMaryland--The Carolinas--Settlement of North and South Carolina--TheBacon Rebellion in Virginia--Governor Berkeley's Vengeance. 

New Amsterdam prospered under methods of government which were mild ascompared with those of the Puritans, although the annals of the Dutchcolony are unhappily not free from the stain of persecution forconscience' sake. Englishmen as well as Hollanders thronged to NewNetherland, and the people, as they grew beyond anxiety for enough to eatand drink, became ambitious for a share in the government. In 1653, aftermuch agitation and resistance on the part of Governor Stuyvesant, NewAmsterdam was organized as a municipality, the power of the burghersbeing, however, very limited. 

The smaller Dutch towns possessed the privilege of electing theirofficers, though their choice was subject to the approval of thedirector-general. New Amsterdam had not been granted this privilege, although it had been demanded in 1642 and again in 1649. At last, in1652, Governor Stuyvesant was instructed to have a schout, twoburgomasters and five schepens "elected according to the custom of themetropolis of Fatherland. " He, however, continued for a long time toappoint municipal officers, and when a protest was made he replied thathe had done so "for momentous reason. " "For if, " he said, "this rule wasto become a synocure, if the nomination and election of magistrates wereto be left to the populace who were the most interested, then each wouldvote for some one of his own stamp, the thief for a thief, the rogue, thetippler, the smuggler for a brother in iniquity, that he might enjoygreater latitude in his vices and frauds. " The magistrates had not beenappointed contrary to the will of the people, because they were "proposedto the commonalty in front of the City Hall by their names and surnames, each in his quality, before they were admitted or sworn to office. Thequestion is then put, 'Does any one object?'" At length, in 1658, Stuyvesant allowed the burgomasters and schepens to nominate theirsuccessors, but the city did not have a schout of its own until 1660. 

Other troubles besides the demands of the people for self-government, were gathering around the sturdy Dutch governor. The English werepressing him from the east, and in New Netherland itself they wereaggressive and defiant in their attitude toward Dutch authority. CharlesII. Granted New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York, and anEnglish flotilla under Richard Nicholls appeared in front of NewAmsterdam and demanded the surrender of the province. Stuyvesant refusedto submit, but the people of New Amsterdam were more than willing to comeunder English rule, and their doughty governor was made to understandthat he would be virtually alone in resisting the invaders. After a weekof fuming and raging against the inevitable, Stuyvesant yielded, and theEnglish took possession of New Amsterdam. The place was recaptured andheld by the Dutch for a few months in 1673, but with the exception ofthis brief period the English remained thenceforth masters of theAtlantic coast of North America from the St. Lawrence in the north to theSpanish possessions in the south. 

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The planting of a Roman Catholic colony in Maryland was almostcontemporary with the Puritan settlement of New England. The first stepstoward the establishment of the colony had been taken under James I. , butit was in the reign of Charles I. That Cecil Calvert, the second LordBaltimore, obtained the charter which made him almost an independentsovereign over one of the fairest regions of North America. The chartergranted civil and religious liberty to Christians who believed in theTrinity. The Ark and the Dove, two vessels fitted out by Lord Baltimore, bore about two hundred Roman Catholic immigrants to the banks of thePotomac, where they landed on March 25, 1634. The cross was planted asthe emblem of the new colony, and Governor Leonard Calvert openednegotiations with the Indians for the purchase of their lands. The firstassembly met in 1635, and another in 1638. Question having arisen as towhether the lord proprietor or the colonists had the right to proposelaws, that right was at length conceded to the colonists. Of course thesettlers would not have been allowed to persecute non-Catholics, even hadthey so desired; but they showed no such desire, and laws were enactedsecuring freedom of worship to all professing to believe in Jesus Christ;with the important limitation, however, of severe penalties for allegedblasphemy. This limitation clearly made it possible for magistrates toconstrue an honest expression of religious opinion as blasphemy, and toinflict the cruel punishments provided for that offence. It should benoticed that the Toleration Act of Maryland, passed in 1649, was the workof a General Assembly composed of sixteen Protestants and eight RomanCatholics, the governor (William Stone) himself being a Protestant. Someyears later the Puritans, being in a majority in the Maryland GeneralAssembly, passed an act disfranchising Roman Catholics and members of theChurch of England. Civil war followed, resulting in a defeat for theRoman Catholics near Providence, now called Annapolis, April, 1655. LordBaltimore, whose authority was overthrown in the course of the conflict, recovered his rights when the monarchy was restored in England. Thegovernment of the Baltimores continued, with some interruptions, untilthe Revolution, and it is but fair to state that the character which theystamped upon the colony was not effaced even by that event. 

 * * *

The Puritans nearly succeeded in adding North Carolina to their chain ofcolonies. The first settlers, after the ill-fated Raleigh expeditions ofthe previous century, were Presbyterian refugees from persecution atJamestown, who, led by Roger Green, settled on the Chowan, near the siteof Edenton. These were joined by other dissenters who had found thereligious atmosphere of Virginia uncomfortable, and Puritans from NewEngland landed at the Cape Fear River in 1661, and bought lands from theIndians. The soil and climate were admirably suited for successfulcolonization, and North Carolina might have proved a southern New Englandbut for the hunger for vast American domains which just then possessedthe courtiers of Charles II. In view of the notorious depravity of thatmerry monarch's surroundings it seems ludicrous to read that the granteesobtained Carolina under the pretence of a "pious zeal for the propagationof the gospel among the heathen. " The list included the Earl ofClarendon, General George Monk, to whom Charles owed, in a large degree, his restoration to the throne; Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, afterward Earlof Shaftesbury; Sir John Colleton, Lord Craven, Sir George Carteret andLord John Berkeley and his brother, then Governor of Virginia. It isrelated that, "when the petitioners presented their memorial, so full ofpious pretensions, to King Charles in the garden of Hampton Court, the'merrie monarch, ' after looking each in the face a moment, burst intoloud laughter, in which his audience joined heartily. Then taking up alittle shaggy spaniel, with large, meek eyes, and holding it at arm'slength before them, he said, 'Good friends, here is a model of piety andsincerity, which it might be wholesome for you to copy. ' Then tossing itto Clarendon, he said, 'There, Hyde, is a worthy prelate; make himarchbishop of the domain which I shall give you. ' With grim satireCharles introduced into the preamble of the charter a statement that thepetitioners, 'excited with a laudable and pious zeal for the propagationof the gospel, have begged a certain country in the parts of America notyet cultivated and planted, and only inhabited by some barbarous peoplewho have no knowledge of God. '"

The Puritans, already settled in North Carolina, had no desire to takepart in the propagation of the gospel in the fashion which prevailedamong the courtiers of Charles II. , and most of those who were from NewEngland abandoned their North Carolina plantations. Governor Berkeley, ofVirginia, extended his authority over the remainder, and made WilliamDrummond, a Scotch Presbyterian, who had been settled in Virginia, administrator of the Chowan colony. Emigrants from Barbadoes bought landfrom the Indians near the site of Wilmington, and founded a prosperoussettlement with Sir John Yeamans as governor. Other emigrants fromEngland, led by Sir William Sayle and Joseph West, entered Port RoyalSound, and landed at Beaufort Island in 1671. They soon deserted Beaufortand planted themselves on the Ashley River, a few miles above the site ofCharleston. In December, 1671, fifty families and a large number ofslaves arrived from the Barbadoes. Carolina, about this time, had anarrow escape from being made the subject of a grotesque feudalconstitution conceived by John Locke, the philosopher, and approved bythe Earl of Shaftesbury. This constitution proposed to inflict on theinfant colony a system of titled aristocracy as elaborate as that ofGermany. The good sense of the colonists repelled the absurd scheme, andsaved Carolina from being a laughing stock for the nations. In 1680, thesettlers on Ashley River moved to Oyster Point, at the junction of theAshley and Cooper Rivers, and laid the foundation of Charleston. 

 * * *

Meantime Virginia was the scene of a memorable struggle between thearistocrats and the people, the royalists led by the Governor, SirWilliam Berkeley, and the republicans marshaled by Nathaniel Bacon, awealthy lawyer, deeply attached to the popular cause. The character ofBerkeley can best be judged by a communication which he sent to Englandin 1665: "I thank God there are no free schools nor printing in Virginia, and I hope we shall not have them these hundred years; for learning hasbrought heresy and disobedience and sects into the world, and printinghath divulged them and libels against the best government; God keep usfrom both!" It is not strange that a man who felt like this should havecared but little for the safety and welfare of the common people. Hehimself reveled in riches, accumulated at the cost of the colony, and hehad in sympathy with him the large landholders, who sought to imitate intheir Virginia mansions the pomp and circumstance of the Englishnobility, while they looked down on the mass of poor whites as vassalsand inferiors. The immediate provocation for the so-called BaconRebellion was the failure of Governor Berkeley to protect the settlersfrom Indian depredations, the governor having a monopoly of thefur-trade, and being inclined by motives of self-interest to propitiatethe savages. An armed force assembled and chose Bacon as their leader. They first repulsed the Indians, and then demanded from the governor acommission for Bacon as commander-in-chief of the Virginia military. Berkeley, although urged by the newly-elected House of Burgesses, whichwas in sympathy with the people, to grant the commission, for some timehesitated, but at length consented. Bacon marched against the Indians, and Berkeley proclaimed him a traitor. This hostile action of thegovernor excited Bacon and his followers, in whose numbers were includedmany of the best men in the colony, to an open and resolute stand for therights of the people. Berkeley fled to the eastern shore of ChesapeakeBay, and sought to raise an army to maintain his authority. He proclaimedthat the slaves of all rebels were to free; he aroused the Indians tojoin him, and several English ships were placed at his service. With thisfollowing the governor went back to Jamestown, and again proclaimed Bacona traitor. 

The popular leader hastened to accept the challenge, and at the head of aconsiderable force of republicans, he appeared before Jamestown. Berkeley's mercenaries refused to fight, and stole away under cover ofnight, Berkeley being obliged to accompany them in order to avoid beingmade a prisoner. Jamestown was burned by the republicans, all the colony, except the eastern shore acknowledged Bacon's authority, and the successof the insurrection seemed assured when the popular leader fell a victimto malignant fever. Without his genius and energy to guide the cause ofliberty, it rapidly declined, and Berkeley returned and soon succeeded inre-establishing his authority. He made Williamsburg the capital of thecolony, instead of Jamestown, which never rose from its ruins--a facthardly to be regretted, as the site was decidedly unhealthy. Berkeley hadno mercy on the now submissive insurgents. Bacon's chief lieutenant hadbeen the brave Scotch Presbyterian, William Drummond, the first governorof North Carolina. When Drummond was brought before him the governorsaid: "You are very welcome; I am more glad to see you than any man inVirginia; you shall be hanged in half an hour. " Drummond calmly answered:"I expect no mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience, and done what I could to rescue my country from oppression. " Drummond wasexecuted about three hours later, and his devoted wife, Sarah, who hadtaken an active part in urging the people to defend their rights, and whohad in her the spirit of the mothers of the Revolution, was banished withher children to the wilderness. A wife who offered herself as a victim inplace of her husband, claiming that she had urged him to rebellion, wasrepulsed with coarse and brutal insult, and the husband was led to thegallows. Twenty-two in all were executed before Berkeley's vengeance wassatiated. Charles II. Heard with indignation of the sacrifice of life, exclaiming: "The old fool has taken more lives in that naked country thanI have taken for the murder of my father. " Berkeley was recalled toEngland in 1677. But for the presence of the fleet and troops of Sir JohnBerry, sent over by the king to maintain the royal authority, Berkeleymight have been subjected to violence by the colonists who fired guns andlighted bonfires to show their joy over his departure. Upon Berkeley'sarrival in England he found himself equally an object there of publichatred and contempt on account of his cruelties, and he died in July ofthe same year of grief and mortification. 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Colony of New York--New Jersey Given Away to Favorites--Charter ofLiberties and Franchises--The Dongan Charter--Beginnings of New YorkCity Government--King James Driven from Power--Leisler Leads a PopularMovement--The Aristocratic Element Gains the Upper Hand--Jacob Leislerand Milborne Executed--Struggle For Liberty Continues. 

The colony of New York, so called after James, the Duke of York andbrother of King Charles II. , came into English hands at a fortunate time, and after a fortunate experience. Owing to Dutch, occupation during halfa century of intense agitation, civil war and revolution, New Netherlandhad escaped being drawn into the maelstrom of English hates andrivalries. Indeed the Dutch settlements, and New Amsterdam in particular, had derived advantage from the troubles of the English colonies, andamong the immigrants who sought an asylum from Puritan intolerance withinNew Netherland jurisdiction were many who proved valuable additions tothe population of the province, and who helped to build up its trade andcommerce, and to develop agriculture. The Duke of York, therefore, entered upon possession of a colony with the accumulated prosperity ofabout fifty years as the substantial foundation for future progress, andwith a population which, while composed of diverse nationalities, retained the better features of them all. The settlers of New York, bothDutch and English, were, as a rule, attentive to religious duties; butthey did not regard religion as the single aim of existence. They weremerchants and traders and farmers, liberal for their age in their viewsof religious freedom, and devoting their best energies to building uptheir worldly fortunes. New Amsterdam was in no sense Puritan--it was arespectable, thriving, trading and bartering community, with flourishingfarms in the outskirts, and a commerce stunted by jealous restrictions, but which gave promise of future development. [1]

 [1] The Rev. John Miller, in 1695, speaks of "the wickedness and irreligion of the inhabitants, which abounds in all parts of the province, and appears in so many shapes, constituting so many sorts of sin, that I can scarce tell which to begin withal. " The reverend gentleman was probably prejudiced. 

The Duke of York at first made poor use of his new possessions. Heastonished Colonel Richard Nicolls, who had conquered the territory forhim without firing a shot, by giving away to two favorites, LordBerkeley, brother of the Governor of Virginia, and Sir George Carteret, the rich domain between the Hudson and Delaware, which received the nameof New Jersey, and for many years that province was a theatre ofdissensions traceable to the autocratic and reckless course of the Duke. The rights of settlers who had preceded the proprietary government wereignored, and an attempt made to reduce freeholders to the position oftenants. A large immigration of Quakers from England a few years afterthe Dutch surrender added a valuable element to the population, in whichthe Puritans, apart from the Dutch, had predominated. Puritans andQuakers seemed to get along very well in the Jerseys, and with goodgovernment on the part of the proprietors the colony would doubtless haveflourished. That for a number of years the Jerseys remained law-abidingand comparatively tranquil without a regular civil government attests theexcellent character of the people. 

The Duke of York showed more wisdom in the management of his greaterprovince of New York. In 1683 he instructed his governor, Thomas Dongan, to call a representative assembly, which met in the fort at New York. Theassembly adopted an act called "The Charter of Liberties and Franchises, "which was approved, first by the governor, and afterward by the duke. This charter declared that the power to pass laws should reside in thegovernor, council and people met in general assembly; that everyfreeholder and freeman should be allowed to vote for representativeswithout restraint; that no freeman should suffer but by judgment of hispeers; that all trials should be by a jury of twelve men; that no taxshould be levied without the consent of the Assembly; that no seaman orsoldier should be quartered on the inhabitants against their will; thatthere should be no martial law, and that no person professing faith inGod by Jesus Christ should be disquieted or questioned on account ofreligion. Two years later James, now become king, virtually abrogatedthis charter by levying direct taxes on New York without the consent ofthe people, by prohibiting the introduction of printing, and otherwiseassuming arbitrary power. He did not, however, suppress the GeneralAssembly, which became, as years advanced and the colony grew inimportance, more and more resolute in asserting the people's rights. 

Governor Dongan did all in his power to defend the interests of theprovince against the aggressions of the crown, and to secure some degreeof self-government for those who bore the burdens of government. In 1686the Dongan charter gave to the lieutenant-governor the power ofappointing the mayor and sheriff of New York city, but an alderman, anassistant and a constable were to be chosen for each ward by a majorityof the inhabitants of that ward. During his short lease of power Leislerissued warrants for the election of the mayor and sheriff by "allProtestant freeholders. " The resulting election was a farce, as onlyseventy of the inhabitants voted. The illegality of this action indefiance of the provisions of the Dongan charter was one of the chiefcauses of complaint against Leisler. The Montgomery charter, granted toNew York in 1730, authorized the election of one alderman, an assistant, two assessors, one collector and two constables in each ward. The charterof Albany was granted by Governor Dougan in 1686, and it resembled inmany respects the instrument under which the city of New York was firstorganized. It provided that six aldermen, six assistant aldermen, constables and other magistrates, should be chosen annually. The mayor, as well as the sheriff, was appointed by the governor. Governor Dongan'sreluctance to fall in with the despotic and reactionary policy of KingJames led to his being dismissed from office in 1688, when Andros tookhis place. 

The tyrannical conduct of James II. And of his representatives inAmerica, alienated the people of New York from that sovereign, and thenews of his downfall was received with delight, especially as nearly allthe people were Protestants. The aristocratic element was inclined, notwithstanding the news, to uphold the government established by James, but the common or democratic element resolved to drive out therepresentatives of the late king, and create a temporary government insympathy with the revolution. Jacob Leisler, a distinguished Huguenotmerchant, and senior captain of the military companies, was induced tolead a revolt. A committee of safety, consisting of ten members, Dutch, Huguenots and English, made Leisler commander-in-chief until ordersshould arrive from William and Mary, the new sovereigns of England. SirFrancis Nicholson, the acting governor under Sir Edmund Andros, departedfor England, and the members of his council to Albany, and denouncedLeisler as an arch-rebel. Leisler sent an account of his proceedings toKing William, and called an assembly to provide means for carrying on waragainst the French in Canada. King William paid no attention to Leisler'smessage, and commissioned Colonel Henry Sloughter governor of New York, and sent a company of regular soldiers, under Captain Ingoldsby, to theprovince. Leisler proclaimed Sloughter's appointment, but refused tosurrender the fort to Ingoldsby. A hostile encounter followed, in whichsome lives were lost. The aristocratic element succeeded, uponSloughter's arrival, in obtaining an ascendancy over him, and Leisler andhis son-in-law, Milborne, were arrested on charges of treason. They weretried and convicted by a packed court, and Sloughter was induced, whiledrunk at a banquet given by Leisler's enemies, to sign the deathwarrants. For fear the governor would repent of his act when sober, bothmen were torn away from their weeping families to the scaffold. A numberof Leisler's enemies were assembled to witness his death, while a crowdof the common people, who regarded him as their champion and a martyr fortheir cause, looked sullenly on. Milborne saw his bitter foe, RobertLivingston, in the throng, and exclaimed: "Robert Livingston, for this Iwill implead thee at the bar of God!" The execution of Leisler arousedstrong indignation both in America and England, and some years later theattainder placed upon them was removed by act of Parliament, and theirestates restored to their families. Leisler's soul, like that of JohnBrown, marched on while his body was moldering in the grave. The spiritwhich he infused, and the love of liberty to which he gave expression, could not be eradicated by his tragic death. The people continued thestruggle in assembly after assembly for the people's rights, andresolutely upheld freedom of speech and of the press in the legislativehall and the jury box. 

CHAPTER XII. 

William Penn's Model Colony--Sketch of the Founder of Pennsylvania--Comparative Humanity of Quaker Laws--Modified Freedom of Religion--AnEarly Liquor Law--Offences Against Morality Severely Punished--WhiteServitude--Debtors Sold Into Bondage--Georgia Founded as an Asylum forDebtors--Oglethorpe Repulses the Spaniards--Georgia a Royal Province. 

Founded on principles of equity by a man who was eminently a lover of hiskind, Pennsylvania stood forth as a model colony, an ample and hospitablerefuge for the oppressed of every clime. William Penn believed in theGolden Rule, and he sought to establish a state in which that rule wouldbe the fundamental law. Instead of stern justices growing fat on the feesof litigation, he would have peace-makers in every county. He would treatthe Indian as of the same flesh and blood as the white, and would live onterms of amity with red men embittered against the invaders of theirlands by many years of unjust encroachment and cruel oppression. Hisobject, Penn declared in his advertisement of Pennsylvania, was toestablish a just and righteous government in the province that would bean example for others. He proposed that his government should be agovernment of law, with the people a party to the making of laws. None, he declared, should be molested or prejudiced in matters of faith andworship, and nobody should be compelled at any time to frequent ormaintain any religious place of worship or ministry whatsoever. Trial byjury was guaranteed; the person of an Indian was to be as sacred as thatof a white man, and in any issue at law in which an Indian should beconcerned, one half the jury was to be composed of Indians. 

William Penn was well known both in England and on the Continent when hereceived, in 1681, his grant of Pennsylvania from Charles II. Indischarge of a debt of about eighty thousand dollars, due by the crown toPenn's father, Admiral Sir William Penn. The proprietor of Pennsylvaniahad suffered in the cause of religious liberty and reform. He had beenconfined in the Tower for writing heretical pamphlets, and beenprosecuted for preaching in the streets of London. He had traveled inHolland and Germany as a self-appointed missionary of the Society ofFriends, and had not spared his own ease in pleading the cause ofpersecuted Quakers everywhere. When, therefore, he proposed to found acolony in America, his name alone was enough to attract a host offollowers. Many immigrants flocked to Pennsylvania even before Pennhimself had arrived there, and the settlers of Delaware, who had beenanxious as to their future under the charter of the Duke of York, gladlycame under the rule of one whose name was a synonym of equity. Under aspreading elm the Indians met the proprietor of Pennsylvania and made acovenant with him that was equally just to the white man and to thenative--a covenant which, it is said, was never forgotten by theaborigines. 

Nothing is more significant of the spirit and the motives which guidedthe early settlers than the humanity of their laws, as compared with thecode of England. The humane and enlightened sentiment as expressed inlegislation, was not peculiar to Pennsylvania. In Rhode Island, also, that other colony founded on the principle of religious liberty, thefirst spontaneous code enacted by the exiles was more than a century inadvance of European ideas and statutes, and in Rhode Island, as inPennsylvania, the ideal was compelled to give way to the hard andpractical pressure of dominating English influence, and of contact withthe rougher sort of mankind, attracted to these shores by the hope ofgain or the fear of punishment at home. 

The Quakers began by proclaiming a modified freedom of religion. Theydeclared, "That no person now, or at any time hereafter, dwelling orresiding within this province, who shall profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, and in the Holy Spirit, one Godblessed for Evermore, and shall acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of theOld and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration, and, whenlawfully required, shall profess and declare that they will livepeaceably under the civil government, shall in any case be molested orprejudiced for his or her conscientious persuasion, nor shall he or shebe at any time compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, contrary to his or her mind, but shallfreely and fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in all respects, without molestation or interruption. " Of course this manifestly excludedunbelievers in the Trinity, and left a door open for controversy as towhat books were included in the Sacred Scriptures. Furthermore, the lawagainst blasphemy might easily have been used as a weapon of persecution, providing, as it did, that whoever should "despitefully blaspheme orspeak loosely and profanely of Almighty God, Christ Jesus, the HolySpirit or the Scriptures of Truth, and is legally convicted thereof, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds for the use of the poor ofthe county where such offence shall be committed, or suffer three monthsimprisonment at hard labor. "

Practically, however, entire freedom of worship existed in Pennsylvania. The same liberal spirit breathed through the Quaker code, while at thesame time due care was taken to protect the morals of the people. 

In view of the severe liquor law now in force in Pennsylvania, it maybe of interest to recall an early enactment regulating the traffic. Itwas provided in 1709, that "For preventing of disorders and the mischiefsthat may happen by multiplicity of public houses of entertainment, _Beit enacted_, That no person or persons whatsoever, within this province, shall hereafter have or keep any public inn, tavern, ale-house, tippling-house or dram shop, victualling or public house of entertainmentin any county of this province, or in the City of Philadelphia, unlesssuch person or persons shall first be recommended by the justices in therespective County Courts, and the said city, in their Quarter Sessions orCourt of Record for the said counties and cities respectively, to theLieutenant-Governor for the time being, for his license for so doing, under the penalty of five pounds. " Tavern keepers permitting disorder intheir places of entertainment were subject to revocation of license. 

There was a marked disposition in those days to visit with severityoffences against morality, especially when the detected culprits werefemales; though males were not spared when sufficient proof could bebrought of their guilt. A woman concealing the birth of a child, founddead, and evidently born alive, was held to be guilty of murder, unlessshe could prove that the death was not her doing. This unjust presumptionremained in force for many years, until, under the influence of kinderand Christian sentiment, the law was changed, the burden of proof placedupon the prosecution and the presumption of innocence extended to thedefendant. The penalty for violating the marriage obligation was thelash; the letter "A" being branded on the forehead for the third offence. A singular provision of law was that a married woman having a child whenher husband had been one year absent, should be punished as a criminal, but to be exempt from punishment if she should prove that her husband hadbeen within the period stated "in some of the Queen's colonies orplantations on this continent, between the easternmost parts of NewEngland and the southernmost parts of North Carolina. "

The penalties inflicted on servants point in a remarkable manner to thewonderful advance in the condition of menial and common laborers withinthe past hundred years. Pennsylvania, in the treatment of the laborer, was at least as lenient as any other colony, but the laws of the timeappear hideously harsh and oppressive to us of to-day. The early colonialstatutes provided that, "For the just encouragement of servants in thedischarge of their duty, and the prevention of their deserting theirmaster's or owner's service, be it enacted, that no servant bound toserve his or her time in this province, shall be sold or disposed of toany person residing in any other province or government without theconsent of said servant, and two justices of the peace of the countywherein such servant lives or is sold, under the penalty of ten pounds tobe forfeited by the seller. " What a picture this conjures up of somepoor, orphaned and half-starved colonial Oliver Twist, dragged by hismaster into the presence of pompous justices, and frowned into ahesitating consent to exchange the evils with which he was familiar for afate whose wretchedness he knew not of!

Ten shillings was to be paid for returning a runaway servant, if capturedwithin ten miles of the servant's abode; if over ten miles, then the sumof twenty shillings was to be paid to the captor on delivery of thefugitive to the sheriff, the master to pay, in addition to the reward, five shillings prison fees, and all other disbursements and charges. Thepenalty for concealing a runaway servant was twenty shillings, and anyone purchasing any goods from a servant without the consent of the masteror mistress was fined treble the value of the goods, to the use of theowner, "and the servant, if a white, shall make satisfaction to his orher master or owner by servitude after the expiration of his or her time, to double the value of said goods, and if the servant be a black, he orshe shall be severely whipped in the most public place in the township inwhich such offence was committed. "

It may be seen from the above that common labor up to the time of theRevolution was virtually that of serfs, without discrimination of coloror nativity. The supply of such labor came largely from Great Britain andIreland, and to some extent from the other colonies and from Africa. Poordebtors also were sold into servitude, a law of 1705 providing that"debtors should make satisfaction by servitude not exceeding seven years, if a single person and under the age of fifty, and three years or fiveyears if a married man, and under the age of forty-six years. " What thefamily of the married debtor were to do for a living while he was inservitude, legislation failed to suggest. Probably, in many instances, they were glad to accompany the husband and father into serfdom. Warrantscould not be served on Sunday, one day of the seven being reserved whenthe wretched debtor might rest in security, and the hunted criminalforget that he was outlawed. 

 * * *

While other colonies were founded as places of refuge for Christiansoppressed on account of their religion, Georgia had its origin in thehumane desire of General James Edward Oglethorpe to establish an asylumfor poor debtors, with whom the prisons of England were over-crowded, thecolony also to be a haven for the Protestants of Germany and othercontinental States. The proprietors of the Carolinas surrendered theircharters to the crown in 1729, and King George II was, therefore, free togrant, June 9, 1732, a charter for a corporation for twenty-one years "intrust for the poor, " to found a colony in the disputed territory south ofthe Savannah, to be called Georgia, in honor of the king. The trustees, appointed by the crown, possessed all the power both of making andexecuting laws. The people of Charleston, South Carolina, gave welcome toOglethorpe and his immigrants, for South Carolina had been greatlyharassed by the Spaniards to the south, and by the powerful tribes ofIndians who occupied a large portion of the proposed colony. GeneralOglethorpe laid the foundation of the future State on the site ofSavannah, and notwithstanding grievous restrictions on the ownership ofland, the colony attracted many settlers from England, Scotland andGermany. The Spaniards invaded Georgia in 1742 with a fleet ofthirty-five vessels from Cuba and a land force three thousand strong. Oglethorpe had but a small body of troops, chiefly Scotch Highlanders, but by courage and strategy he inflicted a sanguinary defeat on theSpaniards at the place called the "Bloody Marsh. " Ten years later, in1742, Georgia became a royal province, and secured the liberties enjoyedby other American provinces under the crown. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

The Struggle for Empire. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Struggle for Empire in North America--The Vast Region Called Louisiana--War Between England and France--New England Militia Besiege Quebec--Frontenac Strikes the Iroquois--The Capture of Louisburg--The Forksof the Ohio--George Washington's Mission to the French--Braddock'sDefeat--Washington Prevents Utter Disaster--Barbarous Treatment ofPrisoners. 

The closing years of the seventeenth century witnessed the beginning ofthe struggle between France and England for empire in North America. Marquette, Joliet and La Salle won for France by daring exploration anominal title to the Mississippi Valley, and La Salle assumed possessionof the great river and its country in the name of Louis XIV. , after whomhe called the region Louisiana. It was a vast dominion indeed that wasthus claimed for the House of Bourbon without a settlement and withhardly an outpost to make any real show of sovereignty. Even had theexpulsion of James II. From the English throne not hastened an outbreakbetween England and France, the conflict would have been inevitable. Thewar began in 1689, and with intervals of peace and sometimes in spite ofpeace the contest continued, until 1763, with varying fortunes, butultimately resulting in the complete overthrow of the French. TheIroquois stood firmly by the English, while the French and their Indianallies repeated the scenes of King Philip's War on the frontiers, andoften far in the interior of New York and New England. The people of theBritish colonies did not look only to Great Britain for defence. Theydefended themselves, and even carried war into the enemy's country. In1690, two thousand Massachusetts militia, led by Sir William Phipps, sailed up the St. Lawrence and laid siege to Quebec, while another force, composed of New York and Connecticut troops, advanced from Albany uponMontreal. These expeditions were unsuccessful. In 1693, Count Frontenac, Governor of Canada, invaded the country of the Iroquois and inflictedcrushing blows upon that once powerful confederacy, whose prowess hadbeen felt before the arrival of the white man, as far as Tennessee in theSouth and Illinois in the West. Notwithstanding the able generalship ofFrontenac the English made steady progress in the annexation of Frenchterritory. British and colonial troops conquered Nova Scotia, and thetreaty of Utrecht in 1713 recognized England as the owner, not only ofNova Scotia, but also of Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay region. TheFrench, however, strengthened their hold upon the interior of thecontinent, and established a series of fortified posts connecting theMississippi Valley with the Great Lakes. Kaskaskia was founded in 1695, Cahokia in 1700, Detroit 1701 and Vincennes 1705. Bienville founded thecity of New Orleans in 1718. 

The capture of Louisburg, in 1746, was the most important militaryachievement of the English colonists in America, previous to theRevolution. The French built the fortress soon after the treaty ofUtrecht, and spared no expense to make it formidable. The project todrive the French out of the place was entirely of colonial origin. Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, proposed the expedition to thelegislature of the colony, and the members of that body hesitated atfirst to enter upon an undertaking apparently so hazardous and almosthopeless. After discussion the necessary authority was granted by amajority of one. A circular-letter, asking for assistance, was then sentto all the colonies as far south as Pennsylvania. New York, New Jerseyand Pennsylvania contributed considerable sums of money, and GovernorClinton, of New York, sent also provisions and cannon. Roger Wolcott ledfive hundred men from Connecticut and Rhode Island and New Hampshire eachsent three hundred men. The remainder of the force of 3250 men wasenlisted in Massachusetts, that colony also providing ten armed vessels. William Peperell, of Maine, distinguished alike on the bench and in arms, commanded the expedition, and English vessels of war assisted in theassault. The French surrendered after a siege of forty-eight days, conducted with great vigor by the colonists. The gratification of theBritish government over the important victory is said to have beenmingled with apprehension, due to the signal display of colonial powerand energy. Upon peace being made in 1748, after four years' war, Louisburg, much to the indignation of the colonists, was given up toFrance in exchange for Madras, in India, and had to be reconquered in1758. 

 * * *

The point of land where the Allegheny and Monongahela meet in turbulenteddies and form the Beautiful River, early engaged the attention of thetwo nations, rivals for the dominion of the northern continent, whilebetween two of the leading British colonies grave difference existed asto ownership of the coveted territory. Pennsylvania, held inleading-strings by a Quaker policy which endeavored to reconcile thesavage realities of an age of iron with theories of a golden millennium, failed to sustain her assertion of right with the energies that herpopulation and resources might well have commanded, and Virginia, moreambitious and militant, boldly pushed an armed expedition into the veryheart of the border wilderness, and began with the attack on Jumonvilleand his party the war that ended on the Plains of Abraham. 

In 1750 the Ohio Company, formed for the purpose of colonizing thecountry on the river of that name, surveyed its banks as far as the siteof Louisville. The French, resolved to defend their title to the regionwest of the mountains, crossed Lake Erie, and established posts atPresque Isle, at Le Boeuf, and at Venango on the Allegheny River. Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, sent a messenger to warn the French notto advance. He selected for this task a young man named GeorgeWashington, a land surveyor, who, notwithstanding his youth, had made agood impression as a person of capacity and courage, well-fitted for thearduous and delicate undertaking. Washington well performed his taskalthough the French, as might have been expected, paid no heed to hiswarning. In the spring of 1754, a party of English began to build a fortwhere Pittsburg now stands. The French drove them off and erected FortDuquesne. A regiment of Virginia troops was already marching toward theplace. Upon the death of its leading officer, George Washington, thelieutenant-colonel, took command. Washington, overwhelmed by the superiornumbers of the French, was compelled to surrender, and the French, forthe time, were masters of the Ohio. 

This reverse did not diminish the esteem in which Washington was held bythe Virginians, and by those of the mother country who came in contactwith him. When General Edward Braddock, in 1755, started on his ill-fatedexpedition for the capture of Duquesne with a force of about two thousandmen, including the British regulars and the colonial militia, Washingtonaccompanied the British general as one of his staff. Braddock was agallant soldier, but imperious, and self-willed, and he looked almostwith contempt upon the American troops. He made a forced march withtwelve hundred men in order to surprise the French at Duquesne beforethey could receive reinforcements. Colonel Dunbar followed with theremainder of the army and the wagon-train. It was a delightful Julymorning when the British soldiers and colonists crossed a ford of theMonongahela, and advanced in solid platoons along the southern bank ofthe stream in the direction of the fort. Washington advised a dispositionof the troops more in accordance with forest warfare, but Braddockhaughtily rejected the advice of the "provincial colonel, " as he calledWashington. The army moved on, recrossed the river to the north side, andcontinued the march to Duquesne. The news of the British advance had beencarried to the fort by Indian scouts. The French at first thought ofabandoning the post, but they decided to attack the British with the aidof Indian allies. De Beaujeu led the French and Indians. The British wereproceeding in fancied security when the forest rang with Indian yells, and a volley of bullets and flying arrows dealt death in their ranks. Theregular troops were thrown into confusion, and Braddock triedcourageously to rally them. Washington showed the admirable qualitieswhich afterward made him victor in the Revolution. Cool and fearless amidthe frantic shouts of the foe and the panic of the British soldiery, hegave Braddock invaluable assistance in endeavoring to retrieve thefortunes of the day. The provincials fought frontier fashion, nearly alllosing their lives, but not without picking off many of their enemies. Beaujeu, the French commander, was killed in the opening of theengagement. Of eighty-six English officers sixty-three were killed orwounded; and about one-half the private soldiers fell, while a numberwere made prisoners. For two hours the battle raged, until Braddock, having had five horses shot under him, went down himself, mortallywounded. Then the regulars that remained took to flight, and Washington, left in command; ordered a retreat, carrying with him his dying general. Braddock died three days after the battle, expressing regret that he hadnot followed the counsel of Washington. The British prisoners were takento Duquesne, and that evening the Indians lighted fires on the banks ofthe Allegheny River, near the fort, and tortured the captives to death. An English boy who was a prisoner at Duquesne, having been previouslycaptured, and who afterward related his experience in a narrative, a copyof which the writer has examined, says that the cries of the victimscould be heard in the fort. The boy himself was subjected to closerconfinement than usual, apparently for fear that the savages might demandthat he be given up to them. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Expulsion of the Acadians--A Cruel Deportation--The Marquis De Montcalm--The Fort William Henry Massacre--Defeat of Abercrombie--WilliamPitt Prosecutes the War Vigorously--Fort Duquesne Reduced--LouisburgAgain Captured--Wolfe Attacks Quebec--Battle of the Plains of Abraham--Wolfe and Montcalm Mortally Wounded--Quebec Surrenders--New France aDream of the Past--Pontiac's War. 

American history contains no sadder story than the expulsion of theAcadians, or French settlers of Nova Scotia. The act may have beenjustifiable on the ground of military necessity; the Acadians were notloyal subjects, and they would have eagerly welcomed the expulsion of theBritish from North America. Indeed their conduct might have beenconstrued as treasonable, and the English had ground for regarding themas enemies of the British crown. Their dispersion weakened the Frenchcause at a time when that cause seemed in the ascendant, and whenBraddock's unavenged defeat had reanimated the French with the hope ofdriving the English from America. Yet even if the deportation of theAcadians was required by the supreme law of self-preservation, andjustifiable on the ground of their more than merely passive disloyalty, the manner of that deportation could not be justified. The separation offamilies, many of them never reunited, was a crime against humanity; theconversion of an honest, industrious and thrifty peasantry into a host ofpenniless vagrants, scattered like Ishmaelites through hostile colonies, was a wrong as cruel as it was unnecessary. Colonized in South Carolinaor Georgia, the Acadians could hardly have been a menace to the power ofGreat Britain, while the Huguenot element in those regions, understandingthe Acadian tongue, would have kept watch and ward against possibledisloyalty. It is a pathetic feature of this most painful episode thatthe Huguenots, themselves driven out of France by the merciless tyrannyof a Roman Catholic king, gave kindly relief to such Roman Catholicexiles from Acadia as were cast among them. They proved their trueChristian spirit by returning good for evil. About six thousand of theAcadians were deported from their native land, and scattered the lengthand breadth of the English colonies. Many made their way to Louisiana, then a French possession, and their descendants still form a distinctclass in that State. Some even sought refuge among the Indians, and foundthe barbarian kinder than their civilized persecutors. Longfellow's poem, "Evangeline, " is based on the touching story of Acadia. The French causewas greatly strengthened by the arrival in 1756 of the Marquis deMontcalm, a distinguished soldier, to take command of the French forcesin Canada. Montcalm displayed not only courage and skill, but humanitylikewise, in the management of his campaigns, and history relieves him ofresponsibility for the horrid massacre by Indians of the captured Englishgarrison of Fort William Henry, after a safe escort to Fort Edward hadbeen promised to the captives. The facts are that both British and Frenchused the Indians as allies regardless of their savage practices, but thatthe French, as at Fort Duquesne, showed less ability to restrain thesavages after a victory. In the following summer--1758--Montcalminflicted a most disastrous defeat at Ticonderoga on fifteen thousandBritish and colonial troops, led by General Abercrombie. The French forcenumbered only four thousand French and Indians. The English attempted tocarry the works by assault, without the aid of artillery, and were moweddown by the fire of the French posted behind insuperable barriers. TheEnglish loss was about two thousand, while that of the French wasinconsiderable. This was the last important success of the French inAmerica. A master hand had seized the helm in Great Britain. 

William Pitt, the "Great Commoner, " determined upon a vigorousprosecution of the war in America. General John Forbes was sent, in 1758, with about nine thousand men to reduce Fort Duquesne. The illness whichcaused his death in the following year may be fairly accepted in excuseand explanation of the incompetent management of the expedition, and itsalmost fatal delays. Fortunately the French appeared to have lost thevigor and daring which they had displayed in the defeat of Braddock, andthe sullen roar of an explosion, when the British troops were within afew miles of Duquesne, gave notice that it had been abandoned without ablow. General Forbes changed the name of the place to Fort Pitt, in honorof that illustrious minister to whose energetic direction of affairs waslargely due the expulsion of the French arms from North America. WhenWestminster Abbey shall have crumbled over the tombs of Britain's heroes, and the House of Hanover shall have joined the misty dynasties of thepast, Pittsburg will remain a monument, growing in grandeur with theprogress of ages, to England's great statesman of the eighteenth century. 

Louisburg also fell in 1758, and in the following year the Englishprepared to end the struggle by an attack on Quebec. Pitt placed at thehead of the expedition a young general, James Wolfe, who haddistinguished himself at the capture of Louisburg. Wolfe had about eightthousand troops under a convoy of twenty-two line-of-battleships, and asmany frigates and smaller armed vessels. Montcalm defended the city withabout seven thousand Frenchmen and Indians. The heights on which theupper town of Quebec was situated, rising almost perpendicularly at onepoint of three hundred feet above the river, and extending back in alofty plateau called the Plains of Abraham, seemed to defy successfulattack. Wolfe spent the summer in fruitless efforts to reduce Quebec. Atlength he learned that the precipice fronting on the river and supposedto be impassable, could be scaled at a point a short distance above thetown, where a narrow ravine gave access to the plateau. On the evening ofSeptember 12, the British vessels, loaded with troops, floated with theinflowing tide some distance up the river. Then past midnight, while thesky was black with clouds, the ships silently and undetected by theFrench floated down to the designated landing-place. The troops weretaken on shore in flat-bottomed boats, with muffled oars. At dawnLieutenant-Colonel William Howe led the advance up the ravine, drove backthe guard at the summit, and protected the ascent of the army. Thegarrison and people of Quebec awoke to see the redcoats in battle arrayon the Plains of Abraham. Montcalm soon confronted the British. Both ofthe heroic commanders knew and felt all that was at stake on the fate ofthe day, and they both fought with a courage that gave a splendid exampleto their men. Wolfe, twice wounded, continued to give orders untilmortally wounded he fell. Montcalm fell nearly at the same time, mortallywounded, and his troops, already wavering before the irresistible onsetof the British, broke and fled. When told that death was near, "So muchthe better, " said Montcalm, "I will not live to see the surrender ofQuebec. " "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace, " said the Englishcommander, on hearing that victory was assured. Quebec was surrendered afew days later. Forts Niagara and Ticonderoga had already fallen. 

Spain, having taken side with France, lost Cuba and the PhilippineIslands to the English, but in the treaty of Paris of 1763, England gavethose islands to Spain and received Florida in exchange. France ceded toSpain, in order to compensate that power for the loss of Florida, thecity of New Orleans, and all the vast and indefinite territory known asLouisiana, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the unexplored regionsof the northwest. New France was a dream of the past. 

The French policy in America had one essential and fatal feature. TheFrench came more as a garrison than as colonists. They came to govern, rather than possess the land, to rule, but not to supplant the natives ofthe soil. This policy insured some immediate strength, because theIndians were naturally less jealous of Europeans who did not threatentheir hunting-grounds. On the other hand the ultimate failure of such acourse was inevitable, in dealing as rivals and antagonists with a peoplewho had come to possess the land, to drive out the Indian, to make theNew World their home and a heritage for their descendants. The Englishsettlers might be driven back for a time; their cabins might be turnedinto ashes, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife leave dire evidence ofsavage vengeance and Gallic inhumanity. But the rally was as certain asthe raid was sudden. A garrison might be massacred; a colony could not beexterminated, and the defeats of Braddock and Abercrombie only burnedinto English breasts the resolution to tear down forever on the Americancontinent the flag which floated over the evidence of England's dishonor. 

The Algonquin Indians, who had regarded the French as allies andprotectors, were now left to defend themselves against the English. Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, conceived the idea of inducing all thetribes to unite in a general attack upon the English settlements as alast desperate resort to stay the advance of the whites. Pontiac issupposed to have led the Ottawas who assisted the French in defeatingBraddock, and he perhaps underrated the power and prowess of his Britishantagonists. He was an able chieftain, of the same type as King Philip, Tecumseh and Sitting Bull. He saw that the white man and the red mancould not possess the land together, and he determined to make a stand inbehalf of his race. The struggle lasted for about two years, attended bythe usual barbarities of savage warfare, and ended in the death ofPontiac, who, after suing for peace, was murdered by a drunken Indian, bribed by an English trader with a barrel of rum to commit the deed. Instead of preventing, Pontiac's War only hastened the flight of theIndian and the march of the colonists toward the setting sun. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

The Revolution. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Causes of the Revolution--The Act of Navigation--Acts of Trade--OdiousCustoms Laws--English Jealousy of New England--Effect of Restrictions onColonial Trade--Du Chatelet Foresees Rebellion and Independence--TheRevolution a Struggle for More Than Political Freedom. 

It was not for the sake of the colonists that England had assisted themin driving the French from America, but with the wholly selfish aim ofbuilding up the trade and commerce of Great Britain. European nationslooked upon their American colonies simply as resources from which themother country might become enriched, and in this respect the policy ofEngland was not different from that of Spain, described in the beginningof this volume. As early as 1625 an English author (Hagthorne) wrote thateven in time of peace it was the purpose and aim of England to undermineand beat the Dutch and Spaniards out of their trades, "which may notimproperly be called a war, for the deprivation and cutting off thetrades of a kingdom may be to some prince more loss if his revenuesdepend thereon than the killing of his armies. " The wars against Holland, which resulted in the subjection to the British crown of the colonialpossessions of that industrious people, and which compelled the fleets ofthe United Provinces to acknowledge British supremacy on the high seas, were in the line of commercial aggrandizement, and the Navigation Acttransferred to England a large share of the Dutch carrying trade, andenriched English shipowners with an utterly selfish indifference to thewelfare of English colonies. 

When the colonists, their western bounds no longer threatened bycivilized foes, their plantations flourishing and their seaport townswealthy with the profits of a commerce carried on in contempt of imperialrestrictions, began to feel and to assert that they were entitled to allthe rights of freeborn Englishmen, and to the same commercial andindustrial independence enjoyed by loyal subjects in England, they weresurprised to learn that Parliament and the English people regarded themnot as freemen, but as tributaries. The colonists were themselves loyal, even up to the hour when they were compelled by stubborn tyranny toassert the right of revolution, for, to quote the language of John Adams, "it is true there always existed in the colonies a desire of independenceof Parliament in the articles of internal taxation and internal policy, and a very general, if not universal opinion, that they wereconstitutionally entitled to it, and as general a determination tomaintain and defend it. But there never existed a desire of independenceof the Crown, or of general regulations of commerce for the equal andimpartial benefit of all parts of the empire. " "If any man, " said thesame great statesman, "wishes to investigate thoroughly the causes, feelings and principles of the Revolution, he must study this Act ofNavigation, and the Acts of Trade, as a philosopher, a politician and aphilanthropist. "

When the Act of Navigation was originally passed, in the Cromwell period, it is probable that the colonies were not seriously in the minds of thepeople and of Parliament. The act was aimed, as we have before stated, atthe Dutch, and was effective for the purposes intended; but within thedecade that elapsed before its re-enactment under the Restoration, thecolonial trade had grown with a vigor that aroused jealousy anduneasiness at home, and the Act of Navigation was soon followed, in 1663, by the first of the Acts of Trade, which provided that no supplies shouldbe imported into any colony, except what had been actually shipped in anEnglish port, and carried directly thence to the importing colony. Thiscut the colonies off from direct trade with any foreign country, and madeEngland the depot for all necessaries or luxuries which the coloniesdesired, and which they could not obtain in America. Nine years later, in1672, followed another act "for the better securing the plantationtrade, " which recited that the colonists had, contrary to the expressletter of the aforesaid laws, brought into diverse parts of Europe greatquantities of their growth, productions and manufactures, sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool and dye woods being particularly enumerated in the list, andthat the trade and navigation in those commodities from one plantation toanother had been greatly increased, and provided that all colonialcommodities should either be shipped to England or Wales before beingimported into another colony, or that a customs duty should be paid onsuch commodities equivalent to the cost of conveying the same to England, and thence to the colony for which they were destined. For instance, if amerchant in Rhode Island desired to sell some product of the colony ofMassachusetts in New York, and to forward the same by a vessel, either abond had to be given that the commodity would be transported to England, or a duty had to be paid, in money or in goods sufficiently onerous toprotect the English merchant and shipowner against serious colonialcompetition in the carrying trade. 

The above act was followed up by another providing penalties forattempted violation of the customs laws. In this statute no mention wasmade of the plantations and its general tenor indicated that it wasintended to apply to Great Britain only, providing, as it did, for thesearching of houses and dwellings for smuggled goods by virtue of a writof assistance under the seal of His Majesty's court of exchequer. UnderWilliam the Third, who was as arbitrary a monarch toward the colonies asthe second James had been, the statute was made directly applicable tothe plantation trade, with the provision that "the like assistance shallbe given to the said officers in the execution of their office, as by thelast-mentioned act is provided for the officers in England. " It was onthe question of whether such a writ could be issued from a colonial courtthat James Otis made the famous speech in which he arraigned thecommercial policy of England, stripped the veil of reform from the bustof the Stadtholder-King, and awakened the colonists to a throbbing senseof English oppression and of American wrongs--the oration which, in thelanguage of John Adams, who heard it, "breathed into this nation thebreath of life. "

 * * *

It is needless to follow the numerous Acts of Trade in their order, forthey were all in a line with the accepted and established principle ofthat age in England that the colonies should minister to the commercialaggrandizement of the mother country, instead of being the centres of anindependent traffic, that they should be communities for the consumptionof British manufactures and the feeding of British trade. New England wasespecially the object of English jealousy and restriction, and forreasons, as given by Sir Josiah Child, in his "New Discourse on Trade, "written about the year 1677, that are creditable to the founders of thoseStates, for after speaking of the people of Virginia and the Barbadoes asa loose vagrant sort, "vicious and destitute of means to live at home, gathered up about the streets of London or other places, and who, hadthere been no English foreign plantation in the world, must have come tobe hanged or starved or died untimely of those miserable diseases thatproceed from want and vice, or have sold themselves as soldiers to beknocked on the head, or at best, by begging or stealing two shillings andsixpence, have made their way to Holland to become servants to the Dutch, who refuse none, " he goes on to describe "a people whose frugality, industry and temperance and the happiness of whose laws and institutions, do promise to themselves long life, with a wonderful increase of people, riches and power. " But, after paying this probably reluctant tribute toNew England virtue and industry, he frankly avows his full sympathy withthe restrictive system, and adds that "there is nothing more prejudicialand in prospect more dangerous to any mother kingdom than the increase ofshipping in her colonies, plantations and provinces. " It is no wonderthat John Adams said that he never read these authors without being seton fire, and that at last the same fire spread to every patriotic breast. 

The Acts of Navigation and of Trade were not the dead letters that somesuperficial writers and readers have seen fit to term them. It is truethat obedience was reluctant and slow, and that evasion was extensive, and it is also true, that colonial commerce flourished in spite of therestrictions; but it should be remembered that the prolonged wars inwhich England was engaged gave lucrative opportunities for privateering, and that even the customs duties, though intended to be virtuallyprohibitory, were not heavy enough to overcome the advantages which thecolonists enjoyed. In Rhode Island the General Assembly asserted andmaintained the right to regulate the fees of the customs officers, and, as far as was possible, the collection of the dues. The shipping of thecolony rapidly increased, and in 1731 included two vessels from England, as many from Holland and the Mediterranean, and ten or twelve from theWest Indies, and ten years later numbered one hundred and twenty vesselsengaged in the West Indian, African, European and coasting trade. Theperiod preceding the Revolution witnessed New England's greatestcommercial prosperity, and it was in that age that Moses Brown and otherenterprising merchants and shipowners laid the foundation of fortunes, aliberal share of which has been expended with illustrious munificence inmonuments of learning, of art and of charity. As for the restrictionsupon domestic industry, they were not severely felt among a peopledevoted, in the country to agriculture, and in the towns to local trafficand shipping, and the American farmer who wore homespun attire, did notrealize the harshness or appreciate the purpose of the statute whichprohibited the export of wool, or woolen manufactures. As for theSouthern planter, the question of fostering domestic manufactures neverentered his thoughts. He raised his tobacco and his cotton, exported themto England, and got what goods he needed there just as his descendants, in a later age, procured the manufactured necessities and luxuries oflife from the depots of New England trade. [1]

 [1] "English Free Trade; Its Foundation, Growth and Decline. " By Henry Mann. 

But even if the British Parliament had never attempted to raise a revenueby taxation in the American colonies, it is probable that in time therestrictions on commerce would have led to revolution, unless rescinded. This was the opinion of the shrewd observer Du Chatelet, who, afterFrance had surrendered her American possessions to Great Britain, saidthat "they (the chambers of commerce) regard everything in colonialcommerce which does not turn exclusively to the benefit of the kingdom ascontrary to the end for which colonies were established, and as a theftfrom the state. To practice on these maxims is impossible. The wants oftrade are stronger than the laws of trade. The north of America can alonefurnish supplies to its south. This is the only point of view under whichthe cession of Canada can be regarded as a loss for France; but thatcession will one day be amply compensated, if it shall cause in theEnglish colonies the rebellion and the independence which become everyday more probable and more near. "

 * * *

America, if not contented, was quiet under restrictive laws notstringently enforced, and but for the measures initiated by Grenville andTownshend, and approved by the king, the Parliament and the people ofEngland, there would, if the leading American minds of that day weresincere, have been no insurrection in that era against British authority. George the Third is called a tyrant on every recurring Fourth of July, but the nation he ruled was as tyrannical as he, and impartial historycannot condemn the monarch without awarding a greater share of odium tohis people, who sustained by their pronounced opinion and through theirchosen representatives, every measure for the destruction of theliberties of these colonies, and who began to listen to the dictates ofreason and of humanity only when America had become the prison ofthousands of England's soldiers, and thousands of others, hired Hessianand kidnapped Briton alike, had been welcomed by American freemen tograves in American soil. The measures which led to war, and the waritself, were inspired and incited by the trading classes, as well as thearistocracy of England, who expected, in the destruction of a powerfulcommercial and menacing industrial rival, an ample return for the bloodand treasure expended in the strife. The American people recognized thatthe struggle was for commercial and industrial as well as for politicalindependence, and the stand in behalf of American industry was taken longbefore the scattered colonies met an empire in the field of arms. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Writs of Assistance Issued--Excitement in Boston--The Stamp Act--ProtestsAgainst Taxation Without Representation--Massachusetts Appoints aCommittee of Correspondence--Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry--Henry'sCelebrated Resolutions--His Warning to King George--Growing Agitation inthe Colonies--The Stamp Act Repealed--Parliament Levies Duties on Tea andOther Imports to America--Lord North's Choice of Infamy--Measures OfResistance in America--The Massachusetts Circular Letter--British Troopsin Boston--The Boston Massacre--Burning of the "Gaspee"--North Carolina"Regulators"--The Boston Tea Party--The Boston Port Bill--The FirstContinental Congress--A Declaration of Rights--"Give Me Liberty or GiveMe Death!"

Even before peace had been made with France the king's officers inAmerica began to enforce the revenue laws with a rigor to which thecolonists had been unaccustomed. Charles Paxton, commissioner of customsin Boston, applied to the Superior Court for authority to use writs ofassistance in searching for smuggled goods. These writs were warrants forthe officers to search when and where they pleased and to call uponothers to assist them, instead of procuring a special search-warrant forsome designated place. Thomas Hutchinson, chief justice, and afterwardroyalist governor and refugee, favored the application, which wasearnestly opposed by the merchants and the people generally. [1] "To mydying day, " exclaimed James Otis, in pleading against the measure, "Iwill oppose with all the power and faculties God has given me, all suchinstruments of slavery on one hand and of villainy on the other. "Parliament had authorized the issue of the writs, however, and the customhouse officers therefore had the law on their side. Writs were granted, but their enforcement was attended with so many difficulties that thecustoms authorities virtually gave up this attempt to encroach upon therights of the people. The next step in provoking the colonists torevolution was the Stamp Act. The object of this enactment was to raisemoney for the support of British troops and the payment of salaries tocertain public officers in the colonies who had depended upon thecolonial treasuries for their compensation. In this there was a threefoldinvasion of colonial rights. Taxation without representation was contraryto a principle recognized for centuries in England, vindicated in therevolution which cost Charles I his head, and upheld in America from thevery beginning of the settlements here. Again, while British troops hadbeen welcome as allies in battling against the French and the Indians, they were not desired as garrisons to overawe the free people of thecolonies, and finally the colonial officers whom it was proposed to payfrom the royal treasury would become the masters instead of servants ofthe people--or they would be servants only of the king. The purpose ofthe Stamp Act obviously was to make America the vassal of Great Britain. The act required that legal documents and commercial instruments shouldbe written, and that newspapers should be printed on stamped paper. 

 [1] John Adams, in his letter to the President of Congress, July 17, 1780, attributes the outbreak of the Revolution to Hutchinson's course in this and other matters. "He was perhaps the only man in the world, " wrote Adams, "who could have brought on the controversy between Great Britain and America in the manner and at the time it was done, and involved the two countries in an enmity which must end in their everlasting separation. "

 * * *

The people everywhere protested against the tyrannical action ofParliament. Samuel Adams drew up the instructions to the newly electedrepresentatives of Boston to use all efforts against the plan ofparliamentary taxation. It was resolved "that the imposition of dutiesand taxes by the Parliament of Great Britain upon a people notrepresented in the House of Commons is irreconcilable with their rights. "A committee of correspondence was appointed in Massachusetts tocommunicate with other colonial assemblies, and the idea of union for thecommon defence began to take firm hold on the public mind. BenjaminFranklin, in the Congress held at Albany in 1754 to insure the aid of theSix Nations in the war then breaking out with France, had proposed a planof union for the colonies, with a grand council having extensive powersand a president to be appointed by the crown. The plan was not adopted. Adams had written about the same time that "the only way to keep us fromsetting up for ourselves is to disunite us. " Everybody now began toperceive the need of union, which the great intellects of Franklin andAdams had discerned long before. 

No influence was so powerful in leading the South to stand side by sidewith the Northern colonies as that of Patrick Henry, the great orator ofVirginia. In the House of Burgesses, in 1765, Mr. Henry introduced hiscelebrated resolutions against the Stamp Act, as follows:

 "Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this his majesty's colony and dominion, brought with them, and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his majesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this, his majesty's said colony, all the privileges, franchises and immunities, that have at any time been held, enjoyed and possessed by the people of Great Britain. 

 "Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by King James the First, the colonists, aforesaid, are declared entitled to all the privileges, liberties and immunities of denizens and natural born subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within the realm of England. 

 "Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, and the easiest mode of raising them, and are equally affected by such taxes themselves, is the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, and without which the ancient constitution cannot subsist. 

 "Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this most ancient colony have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of being thus governed by their own assembly in the article of their taxes and internal police, and that the same hath never been forfeited, or any other way given up, but hath been constantly recognized by the king and people of Great Britain. 

 "Resolved, therefore, That the General Assembly of this colony have the sole right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants of this colony; and that every attempt to vest such power in any person or persons whatsoever, other than the General Assembly aforesaid, has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom. "

On the back of the paper containing those resolutions, and found amongHenry's papers after his death, was the following endorsement in thehandwriting of Mr. Henry himself: "The within resolutions passed theHouse of Burgesses in May, 1765. They formed the first opposition to theStamp Act, and the scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. All the colonies, either through fear or want of opportunity to form anopposition, or from influence of some kind or other, had remained silent. I had been for the first time elected a burgess, a few days before; wasyoung, inexperienced, unacquainted with the forms of the House, and themembers that composed it. Finding the men of weight averse to opposition, and the commencement of the tax at hand, and that no person was likely tostep forth, I determined to venture, and alone, unadvised and unassisted, on a blank leaf of an old law book wrote the within. Upon offering themto the House, violent debates ensued. Many threats were uttered, and muchabuse cast upon me by the party for submission. After a long and warmcontest, the resolutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of oneor two only. The alarm spread throughout America with astonishingquickness, and the ministerial party were overwhelmed. The great point ofresistance to British taxation was universally established in thecolonies. This brought on the war, which finally separated the twocountries, and gave independence to ours. Whether this will prove ablessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of theblessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, theywill be miserable--Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. 

"Reader, whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practicevirtue thyself, and encourage it in others. --P. HENRY. "

Every American realized the truth expressed in Mr. Henry's resolutions;but no man beside himself dared to utter it. All wished for independence;and all hitherto trembled at the thought of asserting it. Randolph, Bland, Pendleton and Wythe, with "all the old members whose influence inthe House had, till then, been unbroken, " opposed the resolutions, andhad not Henry's unrivalled eloquence supported them, they would have beenstrangled in their birth. "The last and strongest resolution was carriedby a single vote;" and Peyton Randolph said, immediately after, "I wouldhave given 500 guineas for a single vote!" From this we may easily imaginehow spirited was the opposition, and how energetic the eloquence exertedagainst Henry. It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while hewas descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he exclaimedin a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god, "Caesar had hisBrutus--Charles the First his Cromwell--and George the Third--('Treason, 'cried the Speaker--'treason, treason, ' echoed from every part of theHouse--it was one of those trying moments which is decisive ofcharacter--Henry faltered not for an instant; but rising to a loftierattitude, and fixing on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis) _may profit bytheir example. If this be treason, make the most of it_. "[2]

 [2] Wirts' "Life of Patrick Henry, " pages 64, 65. 

On the following day, when Henry was absent, the more timid assertedthemselves and the most important of the resolutions was reconsidered andexpunged. 

A congress held at New York declared against, the Stamp Act, and sent aprotest to Parliament. Americans would not buy or use the stamps, andthose who undertook agencies for their sale were treated as publicenemies. Boxes of stamped paper were burned on arrival in port; thenewspapers ignored the act, and legal documents were, by general consent, treated as valid without the stamp. In the following year Parliament, after a prolonged debate, in which William Pitt earnestly supported theAmerican cause, repealed the act. The news of the repeal was receivedwith great rejoicing in America, and the colonists hoped that there wouldbe no more attempts to invade their rights as English subjects. 

 * * *

King George III. , however, was bent upon reducing the colonists to abjectsubmission to his will, and the fact that William Pitt, whom the kingdetested, had championed the Americans, made the monarch all the moreobstinate in his purpose to humiliate them. In 1767 Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, carried through Parliament a bill putting aduty upon tea, glass, paper and other articles entering American ports. In connection with this measure the scheme of the British crown to reducethe colonies to a vassal condition was fully disclosed. Not only weretroops to be supported out of the revenue thus raised, but the salariesof governors, judges and crown attorneys were to be paid from it, and anysurplus remaining could be used by the king to pension Americans who hadgained the royal grace by their subserviency. Townshend suddenly diedafter these measures had been adopted, and was succeeded by Lord North, who soon afterward became prime minister. North was not personally infavor of dealing harshly with the colonies, but he yielded to the royalwill as the price of remaining in office, and shares in history theinfamy of his master's course. 

The Americans began to concert measures of resistance. They refused touse the dutiable articles, and made it unprofitable to import them. TheMassachusetts legislature was dissolved by order of the king, because ithad sent a circular-letter to other colonies inviting common actionagainst the aggressions of Parliament. Other colonial assemblies weredissolved by the king's governors because they answered the letterfavorably. The people's representatives continued to attend to thepeople's interests in informal conventions, and had the more time to giveto the overshadowing issue of colonial rights, because royal displeasurehad relieved them from the ordinary business of law making. Boston andRichmond worked in harmony in the one great cause, and North and Southforgot social and religious differences in common effort for the commonweal. 

 * * *

King George regarded Massachusetts as the hotbed and centre of colonialdiscontent, and in the autumn of 1768 he sent two regiments of Britishregulars to that city to assist in enforcing the Townshend acts. Thetroops and the citizens had frequent disputes, for the colonists wereunused to military arrogance, and refused to be ordered about bymartinets in uniform. The Boston Massacre, so-called, in March, 1770, when seven soldiers fired into a crowd of townspeople, killing five andwounding several others, helped to inflame the antagonism between theprovincials and the military, and Governor Hutchinson, at the demand ofSamuel Adams, speaking in behalf of three thousand resolute citizens, removed the troops to an island in the harbor. In April, 1770, Parliamentagain yielded to the Americans in so far as to take off all the Townshendduties except the duty on tea, which the king insisted upon retaining asa vindication of England's right to impose the duty. 

The colonists continued as determined as ever not to submit to Britishtaxation, or to the domineering course of the king's officers, which insome of the provinces had led to harsh and even bloody strife between thepeople and their oppressors. An armed schooner in the British revenueservice called the Gaspee, gave offence to American navigators onNarragansett Bay by requiring that their flag should be lowered in tokenof respect whenever they passed the king's vessel. The Gaspee ran agroundwhile chasing a Providence sloop. Word of the mishap was carried up toProvidence and, on the same night (June 9, 1772) sixty-four armed menwent down in boats, attacked and captured the Gaspee, and burned thevessel. Abraham Whipple, afterward a commodore in the Continental Navy, and one of the founders of the State of Ohio, led the expedition. Theroyal authorities were greatly exasperated on hearing of the daringachievement, and Joseph Wanton, Governor of Rhode Island, afterwarddeposed from office for his loyalty to King George, issued a proclamationordering diligent search for the perpetrators of the act. The Britishgovernment offered a reward of $5000 for the leader, but although thepeople of Providence well knew who had taken part in the exploit, neitherWhipple nor his associates were betrayed. In North Carolina insurgentscalling themselves "Regulators" fought a sanguinary battle with GovernorTryon's troops, and were defeated, and six of them hanged for treason. InSouth Carolina the people also divided on the issue between England andthe colonists, but for the time stopped short of violence. 

The famous "Boston Tea Party" occurred in December, 1773. This was not ariotous, or, from the colonial standpoint, a lawless act, for thecolonists were already administering their own affairs to a certainextent independently of royal authority, with the view to thepreservation and defence of their liberties. The English East IndiaCompany had been anxious to regain the American trade and offered to payan export duty more than equivalent to the import duty imposed inAmerica, if the government would permit tea to be delivered at colonialports free of duty. To this the British government would not consent, onthe ground that it would be a surrender of the principle which the importduty represented. The government permitted the East India Company, however, to export tea to America free from export duty, thus allowingthe Americans to buy tea as cheaply as if no import duty had been levied. The British authorities assumed that Americans would be satisfied to sellthe principle for which they were contending for threepence on a pound oftea. They learned the American character better when two ships laden withtea arrived in Boston. The citizens gathered in the old SouthMeeting-house, and in the evening about sixty men, disguised as Indians, boarded the ships and cast the tea into the harbor. Upon news of thisevent reaching England, King George and his ministers decided to make anexample of Boston. A bill was introduced by Lord North and passed almostunanimously closing the port of Boston and making Salem the seat ofgovernment. Another act annulled the charter of Massachusetts, and amilitary governor, General Thomas Gage, was appointed, with absoluteauthority over the province. 

 * * *

With the enactment of the Boston Port Bill, King George and hisParliament crossed the Rubicon. America was aflame. The other coloniesjoined in expressing their sympathy with Massachusetts, and their resolveto stand by her people and share their fate. A Continental Congressconvened in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, on the fourth of September, 1774. The most eminent men in the colonies were now brought together forthe first time to decide upon action which would affect the liberties ofthree millions of people. Patrick Henry was the first to speak, and hedelivered an address worthy of his fame and worthy of the occasion. Colonel, afterward General Washington, then made the impression whichearned for him the command of the American armies. The Congress drew up aDeclaration of Rights, and sent it to the king. The people ofMassachusetts formed a Provincial Congress with John Hancock forPresident, and began organizing provincial troops, and collectingmilitary stores. Virginia continued to keep pace with Massachusetts. At aconvention of delegates from the several counties and corporations ofVirginia, held in Richmond, March, 1775, Patrick Henry stood resolutelyforth for armed resistance. "Three millions of people, " he said, "armedin the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which wepossess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just Godwho presides over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friendsto fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone;it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have noelection. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late toretire from the contest. There is no retreat, but in submission andslavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plainsof Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come!! I repeat it, sir, letit come!!!

"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry peace, peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next galethat sweeps from the north, will bring to our ears the clash ofresounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we hereidle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life sodear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains andslavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!--I know not what course others maytake; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

CHAPTER XVII. 

The Battle of Lexington--The War of the Revolution Begun--FortTiconderoga Taken--Second Continental Congress--George WashingtonAppointed Commander-in-chief--Battle of Bunker Hill--Last Appeal to KingGeorge--The King Hires Hessian Mercenaries--The Americans InvadeCanada--General Montgomery Killed--General Howe Evacuates Boston--NorthCarolina Tories Routed at Moore's Creek Bridge--The Declaration ofIndependence--The British Move on New York--Battle at Brooklyn--HoweOccupies New York City--General Charles Lee Fails to Support Washington--Lee Captured--Washington's Victory at Trenton--The Marquis De LafayetteArrives. 

General Gage, military governor of Massachusetts, received orders inApril, 1775, to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams and send them toEngland to be tried for treason. The two patriots were at the house of afriend in Lexington when Gage, on the evening of April 18, sent eighthundred British soldiers from Boston to seize military stores at Concord, and to arrest Adams and Hancock at Lexington. Paul Revere, a patrioticengraver, rode far in advance of the troops to warn the people of theircoming. When the soldiers reached Lexington at sunrise they wereconfronted by armed yeomanry drawn up in battle array. The British fired, killing seven men. The War of the Revolution was begun. From near and farthe farmers hastened to attack the troops. Every wall concealed an enemyof the British; from behind trees and fences a deadly fire was pouredinto their ranks. Their track was blazed with dead and wounded, as theyhurried back from Concord, disappointed in the objects of their mission. Gage heard of the rising, and hurried reinforcements to the assistance ofhis decimated and almost fugitive soldiery, and with a loss of nearlythree hundred men they re-entered Boston. From all parts ofMassachusetts, from Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, theprovincials hastened to face the invaders, and an army of sixteenthousand men of all sorts, conditions and colors, but most of them hardyNew Englander farmers, besieged Governor Gage in Boston. Joseph Warren, John Stark, Israel Putnam and Benedict Arnold were among the leaders ofthe patriot forces. Ethan Allen, chief of the "Green Mountain Boys, "demanded and obtained the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga "by the authorityof the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress" (May 10) and SethWarner captured Crown Point two days later. 

The second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia the same day thatFort Ticonderoga was taken. The Congress chose for its president JohnHancock, whom the British government wanted to try for treason, assumeddirection of the troops encamped at Cambridge, and called upon Virginiaand the middle colonies for recruits. George Washington was appointed tocommand the American forces. 

 * * *

The battle of Bunker Hill proved to the British that the skill andcourage which had been displayed with signal success against the Frenchcould be used with equal effect against British troops. General Gage haddetermined to seize and fortify points in the neighborhood of Boston inorder to strengthen his hold upon the city, and to enable him to resist asiege. This purpose of the British commander becoming known to theMassachusetts Committee of Safety, the Committee ordered Colonel WilliamPrescott, with one thousand men, including a company of artillery withtwo field-pieces, to occupy and fortify Bunker Hill. The force ascendedBreed's Hill, much nearer Boston, on the evening of June 16. They workedall night under the direction of an engineer named Gridley, and in themorning the British on their vessels in the Charles River were surprisedto see on a hill which had been bare the previous day a redoubt abouteight rods square, flanked on the right by a breastwork which extended ina northerly direction to some marshy land, and which commanded both thecity and the shipping. The guns of the fleet were quickly turned on thebold provincials, and the roar of cannon awoke the citizens of Boston tobehold a conflict in which they had the deepest interest. The Americanscontinued to work under the shower of shot and shell, strengthening theirfortifications for the desperate struggle they felt was at hand. GeneralArtemas Ward, who commanded the colonial army, was not as prompt as heought to have been in sending reinforcements to Breed's Hill, but atlength Stark's New Hampshire regiment and Colonel Reed's regiment werepermitted to join the men in the redoubt. The British sent 3000 of theirbest troops to carry the works by assault. Thousands of the people ofBoston and neighborhood, many of whom had fathers, sons, brothers andhusbands in the patriot lines, looked from hill and housetop and balconyas the regulars marched steadily to the attack. At the redoubt all wassilent, although the British ships and a battery on Copp's Hill hurledshots at the Americans. Nearer and nearer marched the British. They werealmost close enough for the final charge, when suddenly at the word"Fire!"--up sprang 1500 Americans and poured a storm of bullets into theadvancing enemy. Down went the British platoons as before the scythe ofdeath. Whole companies were swept away. The survivors could not standbefore the deadly hail, and back they fell to the shore. Some shots hadbeen fired at the British from houses in Charlestown, and General Gagegave orders to fire that place. The British advanced again, the flamesfrom the burning town adding to the terror of the scene. Again thehurricane of bullets drove them back to the shore. Strengthened by freshtroops the British marched up a third time to the hillside now scatteredwith their dying and their dead. British artillery planted as near aspossible to the Americans swept the redoubt and the patriots, theirammunition failing at this critical time, were obliged to give way beforethe overwhelming charge of the grenadiers. The Americans escaped in goodorder across Charlestown Neck, losing General Joseph Warren, who fellwhen leaving the redoubt. Colonel Prescott was in command throughout theengagement, although both General Warren and General Israel Putnam hadtaken a gallant part in the battle, but without any command. The fightlasted about two hours, and the British lost 1054 killed and wounded outof about 3000 troops engaged, and the provincials lost 450 killed andwounded. The British ministry looked on the result as virtually a defeatfor their troops. 

 * * *

Washington reached Cambridge on the second of July. He found the spiritof the troops admirable, but their discipline wretched, and the leadersdivided by dissension in regard to the commands. He labored assiduouslyand successfully to bring order out of comparative chaos. The Congressmade another effort to prevent a conflict with Great Britain by sending arespectful statement of America's case in a petition to the King. Herefused to receive it, and issued a proclamation calling for troops toput down the rebellion in America. King George showed how little heregarded humanity in dealing with his revolted subjects by appealing tosemi-barbarous Russia for troops to use against the colonists. TheEmpress Catharine refused to sell her people for such a purpose, and theBritish monarch then turned to the petty princes of Germany, where hebought 20, 000 soldiers like so many cattle for the American war. As manyof these were from Hesse Cassel, they were known as Hessians. It beingnow evident that a peaceable arrangement, short of abject surrender, could not be hoped for, the Continental Congress prepared to push the warwith vigor, and if possible to secure a union of all British Americaagainst the enemy of American liberty. 

 * * *

The invasion of Canada in the latter part of 1775 by American expeditionsunder command of General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold, was prompted by expectation that the French inhabitants of that regionwould gladly espouse the cause of the colonists, for whom they had shownsympathy when the people Of Boston were in distress on account of theclosing of their port. Only a few Canadians rallied to the Americanstandard; the majority remained indifferent. Montgomery capturedMontreal, but in the attack on Quebec he was slain, and Arnold wounded inthe leg, and the Americans were defeated with a loss of about fourhundred killed, wounded and prisoners. The death of Montgomery was asevere blow to the American cause. He was one of the ablest commanders inthe service at a time when the colonists were much in need of practicedmilitary men, and even in England he was held in high regard. "Curse onhis virtues, " said Lord North; "they've undone his country. "

 * * *

In March, 1776, General William Howe evacuated Boston and sailed toHalifax, taking with him a number of refugees. Howe busied himself inHalifax in fitting out a powerful expedition for the capture of New York, where the people had taken up with enthusiasm the cause of the colonies. Late in April General Washington moved to New York and prepared to defendthat city. Meantime Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, afterendeavoring to excite an insurrection of the slaves, had been conductinga predatory and incendiary warfare against the colony, until driven awayby the militia, when he sailed off in a fleet loaded with plunder. InNorth Carolina, where an association of patriots had declared forindependence at Mecklenburg as early as May, 1775, a severe battleoccurred at Moore's Creek Bridge, February 26, 1776, between thepatriots, led by Colonel James Moore, and the loyalists or Tories, manyof whom had fought for the Young Pretender in Scotland, but were nowequally devoted to the House of Hanover. The Tories were completelyrouted, and the plans of the British to make North Carolina a centre ofroyalist operations were disconcerted. 

 * * *

The Declaration of Independence was now inevitable. Many of thecolonists, including a large proportion of the well-to-do, were unwillingto throw off allegiance to the crown, and these were known as Tories andpunished as traitors whenever they gave active expression to theirsentiments. The majority of the people, however, were for completeseparation from England, and were ready to support that determinationwith their lives. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, made a motion in theContinental Congress, June 7, 1776, "that these united colonies are andof right ought to be free and independent States, that they are absolvedfrom all allegiance to the British crown, and that all politicalconnection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to betotally dissolved. " John Adams, of Massachusetts, seconded the motion, and a committee was appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, was the author of the Declaration, which, after warm debate, was adopted by the unanimous vote of the thirteencolonies July 4, 1776. On the same day the news arrived that the Britishcommander, Sir Henry Clinton, had been repulsed in an attempt to enterCharleston harbor. North and south the United States were free from theenemy, and although it was but the lull before the storm, the Americanshad thus a precious opportunity to put down malcontents and to gatherstrength for the coming struggle. 

 * * *

The British formed a plan to cut the Union in two by capturing New York, and establishing a chain of British posts from Manhattan to Canada. WhileGeneral Carleton operated against the Americans from the Canadianfrontier a large British fleet, commanded by Admiral Richard Howe, arrived in the harbor of New York, carrying an army of 25, 000 men, led byhis brother, General William Howe. The Americans had but 9000 men todefend Brooklyn Heights against the overwhelming force with which Howeattacked their position. The patriot troops, especially the Marylanders, fought gallantly, but were driven back by superior numbers. Great creditis due to Washington for his skill and success in saving the greater partof the army by timely withdrawal across the East River to New York. Howeoccupied the city of New York a few days later, Washington retreatingslowly, and fighting the British at every favorable opportunity. 

It was at the time of Washington's retirement from New York that NathanHale, a young American captain, was put to death as a spy by the British. Hale volunteered to seek some information desired by the Americancommander-in-chief, and was betrayed, within the British lines, by a Torywho recognized him. He was treated most brutally by the BritishProvost-Marshal Cunningham, being denied the attendance of a clergymanand the use of a Bible. Letters which Hale wrote to his mother and otherdear ones were torn up by the provost-marshal in the victim's presence. Hale was hanged September 22, 1776. His last words were "I only regretthat I have but one life to lose for my country. " These words appear onthe base of the statue erected to his memory in the City Hall Park, NewYork. 

General Howe concluded to move on Philadelphia, and his object becomingknown to Washington, the latter directed General Charles Lee, who was incommand of about 7000 men at Northcastle, on the east side of the Hudson, to join him at Hackensack on the west side, so that the whole force ofthe Americans could be used to oppose Howe. Lee disregarded these orders, thereby making it necessary for Washington to retreat into Pennsylvania. Lee then led his own troops to Norristown, where he was captured by theBritish outside of his own lines while taking his ease at a tavern. Leewas an English adventurer of loud pretensions, probably not lacking incourage, but wholly mercenary and unprincipled. That so worthless anddangerous a person should have been trusted with high command in theAmerican army is explained by the dearth of military leaders at theopening of the war. The capture of Lee was fortunate for the Americans, as he was succeeded by General John Sullivan, an excellent officer, whoat once led his troops to the assistance of Washington. Thus reinforcedthe commander-in-chief was enabled to strike a blow at the British whichrevived the drooping spirits of the patriots. 

 * * *

The battle of Trenton would not have been so memorable but for thedejected condition of the patriot cause at the time it was fought, andthe evidence which it gave to England and the world at large of GeneralWashington's prudent daring and military genius. At twilight on Christmasnight, 1776, General Washington prepared to pass the Delaware with 2000men to attack 1500 of the enemy, chiefly Hessians, who were stationedunder the Hessian Colonel Rall at Trenton. It was a dark and bitternight, and the Delaware was covered with floating ice. Boats had beenhastily procured, and with much difficulty against the swift current thetroops were borne across. A storm of sleet and snow added to the hardshipof crossing, and not until four o'clock in the morning did the littlearmy stand on the opposite bank. The Americans advanced in two columns, one led by General Washington, the other by General Sullivan. The Germanshad spent Christmas in carousing, and although it was full daylight whenthe Americans reached Trenton, they were not discovered until they werealready on the Hessian pickets. Colonel Rall, aroused from slumber, quickly put his men in fighting order. The battle was quick and sharp. Colonel Rall fell mortally wounded; and the main body of his troops, attempting to retreat, were captured. Some British light horse andinfantry escaped, but all the Hessians, their standards, cannon andsmall-arms, fell into the hands of the Americans. The victory gave newvigor to the friends of independence, depressed the Tories, andastonished the British, who had looked upon the war as virtually over. General Howe was afraid to march upon Philadelphia, lest Washingtonshould cut off his supplies, and for five months longer the invadersremained in the vicinity of New York. The patriots were furtherencouraged by the arrival in April, 1777, of the Marquis de Lafayette, ofGeneral Kalb, known as Baron de Kalb, and other foreign military officersof real merit and sincere devotion to the American cause. These offeredtheir services to the Congress, and received commissions in theContinental army. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Sir John Burgoyne's Campaign--His Bombastic Proclamation--The TragicStory of Jane McCrea--Her Name a Rallying Cry--Washington Prevents Rowefrom Aiding Burgoyne--The Battle of Brandywine--Burgoyne Routed atSaratoga--He Surrenders with All His Army--Articles of ConfederationSubmitted to the Several States--Effect of the Surrender of Burgoyne--Franklin the Washington of Diplomacy--Attitude of France--FranceConcludes to Assist the United States--Treaties of Commerce and Alliance--King George Prepares for War with France--The Winter at Valley Forge--Conspiracy to Depose Washington Defeated--General Howe Supersededby Sir Henry Clinton--The Battle of Monmouth--General Charles Lee'sTreachery--Awful Massacre of Settlers in the Wyoming Valley--GeneralSullivan Defeats the Six Nations--Brilliant Campaign of George RogersClark--Failure of the Attempt to Drive the British from Rhode Island. 

The disastrous campaign of General Sir John Burgoyne in the summer of1777, against northern New York, was the turning point of the war. Theobject of the invasion was to seize the Hudson River, and divide thecolonies by a continuous British line from Canada to the city of NewYork. Had the plan succeeded it would have been an almost fatal blow tothe cause of independence. Its failure was not due to the courage orskill of any one American commander, but to the indomitable resolutionwith which every step of the invading army was resisted by Americans ofevery rank. The whole country rose as one man to oppose and harass theenemy, and it seemed as if every militiaman understood that the fate ofhis country depended on the repulse or destruction of the foe. 

Burgoyne's plan of campaign, as concerted with the British ministry, wasto march to Albany with a large force by way of Lakes Champlain andGeorge, while another force under Sir Henry Clinton advanced up theHudson. At the same time Colonel Barry St. Leger was to make a diversionby way of Oswego, on the Mohawk River. Burgoyne began his advance inJune, with about eight thousand men. Proceeding up Lake Champlain hecompelled the Americans to evacuate Crown Point, Ticonderoga and FortAnne. His first blunder was in failing to avail himself of the watercarriage of Lake George, at the head of which there was a direct road toFort Edward. Instead of taking this course he spent three weeks incutting a road through the woods, and building bridges over swamps. Thisgave time for General Schuyler to gather the yeomanry in arms, and forWashington to send troops from the southern department to reinforceSchuyler. Burgoyne also lost valuable time in a disastrous attack onBennington. 

Burgoyne issued a proclamation in most bombastic style. In the preamblehe stated, besides his military and other distinctions, that he was"author of a celebrated tragic comedy called the 'Blockade of Boston. '"He accused the patriots of enormities "unprecedented in the inquisitionsof the Romish Church, " and offered to give encouragement, employment andassistance to all who would aid the side of the king. "I have but to givestretch, " he concluded, "to the Indian forces under my direction--andthey amount to thousands--to overtake the hardened enemies of GreatBritain and America. I consider them the same wherever they lurk. Ifnotwithstanding these endeavors and sincere inclination to assist themthe frenzy of hostility should remain, I trust I shall stand acquitted inthe eyes of God and of men in denouncing and executing the vengeance ofthe State against the willful outcasts. The messengers of justice and ofwrath await them in the field, and devastation, famine, and everyconcomitant horror that a reluctant but indispensable prosecution ofmilitary duty must occasion will bar the way to their return. "

While Burgoyne's array was lying near Fort Edward occurred the tragicdeath of Jane McCrea, celebrated in song and story. Jane was the seconddaughter of the Reverend James McCrea, a Presbyterian clergyman ofScottish descent, and she made her home with her brother, John, at FortEdward, New York. John McCrea was a patriot, but Jane had for her loveran officer in Burgoyne's army named David Jones, to whom she wasbetrothed. Between John McCrea and David Jones an estrangement had arisenon account of their opposite political sympathies, but Jane clung to heraffianced. "My dear Jenny, " wrote Jones, under date of July 11, 1777, "these are sad times, but I think the war will end this year, as therebels cannot hold out, and will see their error. By the blessing ofProvidence I trust we shall yet pass many years together in peace. * * *No more at present, but believe me yours affectionately till death. " Howfaithfully he kept that promise!

Jane McCrea well deserved her lover's devotion. She is described as ayoung woman of rare accomplishments, great personal attractions, and of aremarkable sweetness of disposition. [1] She was of medium stature, finelyformed, of a delicate blonde complexion. Her hair was of a golden brownand silken lustre, and when unbound trailed upon the ground. Her fatherwas devoted to literary pursuits, and she thus had acquired a taste forreading, unusual in one of her age--about twenty-four years--in thoseearly times. 

 [1] See "The Burgoyne Ballads, " by William L. Stone, from whose narrative this sketch is taken. 

When Burgoyne's army was about four miles from Fort Edward, David Jonessent a party of Indians, under Duluth, a half-breed, to escort hisbetrothed to the British camp, where they were to be married at once byChaplain Brudenell, Lady Harriet Acland and Madame Riedesel, wife ofGeneral Riedesel, in command of the Brunswick contingent, havingconsented to be present at the wedding. It had been arranged that Duluthshould halt in the woods about a quarter of a mile from the house of aMrs. McNeil where Jane was waiting to join him at the appointed time. Meanwhile it happened that a fierce Wyandotte chief named Le Loup, with aband of marauding Indians from the British camp, drove in a scoutingparty of Americans, and stopping on their return from the pursuit at Mrs. McNeil's house, took her and Jane captive, with the intention of takingthem to the British camp. On their way back Le Loup and his followersencountered Duluth and his party. The half-breed stated his errand, anddemanded that Jane be given up to him. Le Loup insisted on escorting her. Angry words followed and Le Loup, in violent passion, shot Jane throughthe heart. Then the savage tore the scalp from his victim and carried itto the British camp. Mrs. McNeil had arrived at the camp a little inadvance, having been separated from Jane before the tragedy. She at oncerecognized the beautiful tresses. David Jones never recovered from theshock. It is said that he was so crushed by the terrible blow, anddisgusted with the apathy of Burgoyne in refusing to punish the miscreantwho brought the scalp of Jane McCrea to the camp as a trophy, claimingthe bounty offered for such prizes by the British, that he asked for adischarge and upon this being refused deserted, having first rescued theprecious relic of his beloved from the savages. Jones retired to theCanadian wilderness, and spent the remainder of his life unmarried, asilent and melancholy man. 

The murder of Jane McCrea fired New York. From every farm, from everyvillage, from every cabin in the woods the men of America thronged toavenge her death. Her name was a rallying cry along the banks of theHudson and in the mountains of Vermont, and "her death contributed in noslight degree to Burgoyne's defeat, which became a precursor andprincipal cause of American independence. "[2]

 [2] Stone, "The Burgoyne Ballads. "

The force of about two thousand men, whom Colonel Barry St. Leger ledinto the forests of what is now Oneida County, met stout resistance, andbut for the Indian allies of the British, led by the great Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, St. Leger's troops would probably have been destroyed ormade captive. The fierce battle of Oriskany, in which the brave GeneralHerkimer received a fatal wound, was a patriot victory, but it gave St. Leger a respite. When he heard that Benedict Arnold was approaching withtroops sent by General Schuyler, to give him battle, he retreated to LakeOntario, shattering Burgoyne's hopes of aid from the Tories of the MohawkValley. Meanwhile Congress had relieved General Schuyler from command inthe North, and appointed Horatio Gates in his place. Gates was not a manof ability, but he was ably seconded in his operations against Burgoyneby Benedict Arnold. 

General Howe had intended to take Philadelphia and then co-operate withBurgoyne in inflicting a final and crushing blow on the Americans, butthe Fabian strategy of Washington again proved too much for the British. Howe being prevented by Washington from crossing New Jersey with hisarmy, undertook an expedition by sea. He sailed up Chesapeake Bay, marched northward with 18, 000 men to Brandywine Creek, and there metWashington with 11, 000, on the eleventh of September. The British heldthe field, but Washington retreated slowly, disputing every foot ofground, and it was not until the twenty-sixth of September that Howeentered Philadelphia. Washington attacked the British encampment atGermantown at daybreak on the fourth of October, and attempted to drivethe British into the Schuyikill River. One American battalion fired intoanother by mistake, and this unhappy accident probably saved the Britishfrom another Trenton on a larger scale. Howe was unable to send anyassistance to Burgoyne until it was too late to save that commander. 

Burgoyne found his progress stopped by the intrenchments of the Americansunder General Gates, at Bemis Heights, nine miles south of Saratoga, andhe endeavored to extricate himself from his perilous position byfighting. Two battles were fought on nearly the same ground, on September19, and October 7. The first was indecisive; the second resulted in socomplete a rout for the British that, leaving his sick and wounded to thecompassion of Gates, Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga. There finding hisprovisions giving out, and that there was no chance for escape, hecapitulated with his entire army, October 17, 1777. 

 * * *

The Congress had, by common consent, represented national sovereigntyfrom the beginning of the war, but it was not until November 15, 1777, that articles of confederation were approved by the Congress, andsubmitted to the States. This compact, entitled "Articles ofConfederation and Perpetual Union, " was but little more than a treaty ofmutual friendship on the part of the several States, and was notsanctioned by all of them until near the close of the Revolution. It wastoo weak to be effective in time of peace, and hardly necessary in timeof war, when the common danger gave sufficient assurance of fidelity tothe common cause. However, the Articles of Confederation undoubtedlypromoted confidence in the stability of the government where thatconfidence was most needed, in the European cabinets adverse to Britishdominion in America. 

The surrender of Burgoyne gave to the American cause a status which ithad lacked abroad, and it brought into full and effectual exercise thediplomatic side of the struggle for independence. It was then thatFranklin showed himself another Washington. "On the great question of theforeign relations of the United States, " says Wharton, "it made no matterwhether he was alone or surrounded by unfriendly colleagues; it was onlythrough him that negotiations could be carried on with France, for to himalone could the French government commit itself with the consciousnessthat the enormous confidences reposed in him would be honorably guarded. "France, chiefly through the influence of Franklin, had given covertassistance to the colonies from the beginning of the struggle, but theFrench ministry hesitated to take a decisive step. Fear that theAmericans would succumb, and leave France to bear the weight of Britishhostility, and apprehension that England might grant the demands of thecolonists and then turn her forces against European foes, deterred theFrench government from avowed support of the American cause. The newsfrom Saratoga gave assurance that America would prove a steadfast as wellas a powerful ally, and that with the aid of the United States theBritish empire might be dismembered, and France avenged for her lossesand humiliations on the American continent. Nor was revenge the onlymotive which led France to cast her lot with the revolted colonies. England was already stretching forth to establish her power in India, andFrance felt that with North America and India, both subject to theBritish, the maritime and commercial superiority of England would be amenace to other powers. 

France did not act without long and careful premeditation on the part ofthe French crown and its ministers, for the relations between England andher American colonies had been carefully and acutely considered by thestatesmen of Versailles long before the point of open revolt was reached. Even when France concluded to throw her resources into the scale on theside of the United States she did not altogether abandon her cautiousattitude. The French government acknowledged the United States as asovereign and treaty-making power; but while the treaty of commerce ofFebruary 6, 1778, was absolute and immediate in its effects, the treatyof alliance of the same date was contingent on war taking place betweenGreat Britain and France. It is interesting to note that BenjaminFranklin was the subject of invective by Arthur Lee and others because atthe suggestion of Silas Deane, of Connecticut, he procured a clause inthe commercial treaty providing for the exportation of molasses to theUnited States, free of duty, from the French colonies--the molasses beingused to manufacture New England rum. Owing to the objection of Lee thisclause was afterward abrogated, and the infant industry of making NewEngland rum had to survive without special protection. 

Upon receiving formal notice of the treaties Lord North immediatelyrecalled the British ambassador from Paris, and George III. Stated, inbad English, to Lord North (the king spelled "Pennsylvania""Pensilvania, " and "wharfs" "warfs") that a corps must be drawn from thearmy in America sufficient to attack the French islands. There was astate of partial war without a declaration of war. The naval forces ofEngland and France came into unauthorized collision, and actual war wasthe result. 

 * * *

Pending the negotiations with France Washington and his heroic army spenta winter of painful hardship at Valley Forge, about twenty miles fromPhiladelphia. Half-naked and half-fed, they shivered in the rude hutswhich they erected, while their commander, if better housed, showed byactions more than words that he felt every pang of his soldiers. Washington's anxiety at this critical period was greatly aggravated bythe conspiracy known as "Conway's Cabal, " to depose him from the command, and put in his place the pretentious but incapable Gates. This conspiracywas narrowly defeated by the patriotic firmness of the supporters ofWashington in Congress, one of whom--William Duer, of New York, anEnglishman by birth--had himself carried in a litter to the floor ofCongress, at the risk of his life, to give his vote for Washington. Neveron the battlefield did he who is justly called the Father of Our Countryshow such heroism, such fortitude, such devotion to duty as in face ofthis combination of deluded men to effect his ruin. 

 * * *

The French alliance was hailed with delight in the United States. GeorgeIII. , who personally controlled military operations, stated hisconclusion about a month after the French treaties, and on the day theywere formally announced, to act on the defensive, holding New York andRhode Island, but abandoning Pennsylvania. General William Howe wassuperseded in command of the British troops by Sir Henry Clinton, whoevacuated Philadelphia, departing from that city before dawn of June 18, and starting for New York with about 17, 000 effective men. Upon beinginformed of this movement, Washington hastened after the British. Hefollowed Clinton in a parallel line, ready to strike him at the firstfavorable opportunity. 

When the British were encamped near the courthouse in Freehold, MonmouthCounty, New Jersey, June 27, Washington made arrangements for an attackon the following morning, should Clinton move. General Charles Lee, whohad recently been a prisoner in the hands of the British, was in commandof the advance corps. He showed such incapacity and folly in hisdirections to subordinate and far more competent generals as nearly towreck the army. His confused and perplexing instructions promoteddisorder, chilled the ardor of the troops, and gave the enemyopportunities they never could have gained without this assistance fromLee. As an apparently conclusive blow to the side he pretended to serveLee ordered a retreat, and the British, from being on the defensive, werespeedily in pursuit. Washington's anger, on perceiving the condition ofaffairs, was terrible. He rebuked Lee with scathing severity, quicklyrallied his troops, and checked the pursuing enemy. The Americans, oncemore in array, confronted their foes. A real battle then followed, withboth sides doing their best. Americans and British fought with stubborncourage, the latter at length making a bayonet charge on which dependedthe fate of the day. They were repulsed with terrible slaughter. TheBritish then retreated a short distance, and both armies rested, theAmericans expecting that the conflict would be renewed with dawn. Clintondrew his men off silently under cover of darkness, and was far on his wayto New York when the Americans, in the morning, saw his deserted camp. The British lost four officers and 245 non-commissioned officers andprivates, besides taking many of the wounded with them. They also lostabout 1000 men by desertion while passing through New Jersey. TheAmerican loss in the battle of Monmouth was 228 killed, wounded andmissing. Many of the missing, who had fled when Lee ordered a retreat, returned to their commands. Lee was superseded and afterward dismissedfrom the army. It did not come to light until about seventy-five yearslater, from a document among Sir William Howe's papers, that while aprisoner with the British Lee had suggested to Sir William Howe a planfor subjugating the Americans. This fact throws a flood of light on Lee'sconduct at Monmouth. 

 * * *

A few days after the battle of Monmouth occurred the awful massacre ofWyoming. Tories and Indians, led by Colonel John Butler, descended intothe happy valley, inhabited by settlers from Butler's native Connecticut, and spread fire, bloodshed and desolation. Hundreds of men, women andchildren perished, many of them by torture, and the survivors made theirway back through the wilderness to Connecticut. Among the victims of thismassacre was Anderson Dana, a direct ancestor of Charles Anderson Dana, the well-known editor. Everywhere throughout the borders Tories andIndians carried fire and death, the British sparing no effort to stir upthe tribes to hostility. The patriots suffered terribly, but the ferocityof the savages and of their hardly less savage associates made Americansall the more resolute in resisting and overcoming the foes of Americanindependence. General Sullivan invaded the country of the Six Nations, and inflicted upon them a crushing defeat. In the southwest, thefrontiersmen, not content with resisting the enemy, followed them intotheir wilds, and laid the foundations of new States. In the northwest, Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, who was moreresponsible, perhaps, than any other British officer for inciting theIndians to deeds of barbarity, was defeated and captured by George RogersClark, and the whole country north of the Ohio River, from theAlleghanies to the Mississippi, became subject to the United States. 

The British still held New York and Newport, and Washington planned tocapture the former place with the assistance of a fleet which had arrivedfrom France. Some of the vessels drew too much water, however, to crossthe bar, and the scheme was abandoned. The French fleet proceeded toNewport, and compelled the British to burn or sink six frigates in thatharbor. An American force of about 10, 000 men had been fathered undercommand of General Sullivan to drive the British out of Rhode Island, andit was expected that the troops, numbering 4000, on board the Frenchfleet, would assist in the undertaking. The French admiral, D'Estaing, failed to support Sullivan, and the latter, with a force reduced by thewholesale desertion of the militia to 6000 men, fought a gallant butlosing action with the British, and withdrew to the mainland. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The British Move Upon the South--Spain Accedes to the Alliance AgainstEngland--Secret Convention Between France and Spain--Capture of StonyPoint--John Paul Jones--The Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis--AThrilling Naval Combat--Wretched Condition of American Finances--Franklin's Heavy Burden--The Treason of Benedict Arnold--Capture ofAndré--Escape of Arnold--André Executed as a Spy--Sir Henry ClintonCaptures Charleston, General Lincoln and His Army--Lord Cornwallis Leftin Command in the South--The British Defeat Gates Near Camden, SouthCarolina--General Nathaniel Greene Conducts a Stubborn Campaign AgainstCornwallis--The Latter Retreats Into Virginia--Siege of Yorktown--Cornwallis Surrenders--"Oh, God; it is All Over!"

Toward the close of 1778, the British undertook to conquer the SouthernStates, beginning with Georgia, where an expedition by sea would bewithin reach of aid from the British troops occupying Florida. TheAmerican forces in Georgia were weak in numbers, and although bravely ledby General Robert Howe, they were unable to resist the British. Savannahfell, and Georgia passed under the rule of the invaders, the royalgovernor being reinstated. To counterbalance this discouragement newsarrived from Europe early in 1779 that Spain had acceded to theFranco-American combination against England. Spain, unlike France, sentno troops to America to assist the patriots, although the hostileattitude of the Spaniards toward Great Britain, and the capture of theBritish post of St. Joseph by a Spanish expedition from St. Louis, in1781, aided in strengthening the American cause in the West, and makingthe British less aggressive in that direction. 

Recent disclosures have shown that the secret convention between Franceand Spain, at this time, was in no sense hostile to American interests, as at first asserted and afterward intimated by the historian Bancroft. On the contrary, Spain bound herself not to lay down arms until theindependence of the United States should be recognized by Great Britain, while the condition that Spanish territory held by England should berestored to Spain did not militate against the territorial claims of theUnited States. It was clearly better for the United States, lookingforward to future expansion, that adjoining territory should be held bySpain in preference to England. The history of the past hundred yearsproves this. Canada remains British, while every foot of former Spanishterritory in North America is now part of the United States. 

 * * *

The summer of 1779 witnessed General Anthony Wayne's memorable exploit, the capture of Stony Point. The fort, situated at the King's Ferry, onthe Hudson, stood upon a rocky promontory, connected with the mainland bya causeway across a narrow marsh. This causeway was covered by the tideat high water. Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson commanded the garrison, consisting of a regiment of foot, some grenadiers and artillery. GeneralWayne led his troops, the Massachusetts light infantry, through defilesin the mountains, and moved on the fort about midnight. The Americanswent to the attack in two columns, with unloaded muskets and fixedbayonets. They were unseen until within pistol-shot of the pickets. Undeterred by the hasty discharge of musketry and cannon the Americanspressed on with the bayonet, the two columns meeting in the centre of thefort. The garrison surrendered, and the Americans, after removing theordnance and stores to West Point, and destroying the works, abandonedthe place. 

 * * *

What American schoolboy's heart does not thrill at the name of John PaulJones, that redoubtable sailor, who carried the American flag intoEnglish seas, and made Britons feel in some degree the injuries theirking was inflicting on America! John Paul Jones was a Scotchman by birth;an American by adoption. His original name was John Paul, and he addedthe name of Jones after taking up his abode in Virginia. As early as1775, when Congress determined to organize a navy, Jones was commissionedas first lieutenant, and in command of the sloop Providence he madeseveral important captures of British merchant vessels. As commander ofthe Ranger, in 1777, Jones captured the British man-of-war Drake, madesuccessful incursions on the British coast, and seized many valuableprizes. 

In August, 1779, Jones started on a cruise in command of an old Indiaman, which he called, in compliment to Franklin, the Bon Homme Richard. Associated with the Bon Homme Richard were the Alliance and the Pallas, and one smaller vessel officered by Frenchmen, but under the Americanflag. On September 23, Jones encountered, off Flamborough Head, a fleetof forty British merchantmen, under convoy of the Serapis, CaptainPearson, of forty-four guns, and the Countess of Scarborough, a ship oftwenty guns. Regardless of the enemy's strength the American commandergave the signal for battle. Unfortunately Captain Landais of the Alliancewas subject to fits of insanity and had been put in command of that shipagainst the wishes of Jones. Landais failed to obey orders and was worsethan useless during the fight. Jones was however gallantly supported bythe Pallas, which engaged and captured the Countess of Scarborough, leaving Jones a free field with his principal antagonist, the Serapis. Nofiercer naval conflict has been recorded in history. The fight lastedfrom seven o'clock in the evening until eleven o'clock, most of the timein darkness. The Bon Homme Richard got so close to the Serapis in thebeginning of the battle that their spars and rigging became entangledtogether, and Jones attempted to board the British vessel. A stubbornhand-to-hand struggle ensued, Jones and his men being repulsed. Then theBon Homme Richard dropped loose from her antagonist, and with their gunsalmost muzzle to muzzle, the two vessels poured broadsides into eachother. The American guns did destructive work, the Serapis catching firein several places. 

About half past nine the moon rose on the fearful conflict. The Bon HommeRichard caught fire at this time, while the water poured in through rentsmade by British cannon. The two vessels had again come closer, but not soas to prevent the guns from being handled. While the cannon roared andthe flames shot up, the two crews again met in desperate hand-to-handstrife, for it was evident that one of the two vessels must be lost. Bythe light of the flames Jones saw that the mainmast of the Serapis wascut almost in two. Quickly he gave the order, and another double-headedshot finished the work. Captain Pearson, who had commanded his ship mostgallantly, hauled down his flag and surrendered. Alluding to the factthat the British government had proclaimed Jones a pirate, Pearson said:"It is painful to deliver up my sword to a man who has fought with a ropearound his neck. " Jones took possession of the Serapis, and the Bon HommeRichard sank beneath the waves the second day after the engagement. TheCongress voted to Jones a gold medal and the thanks of the nation. Franklin's report of October 17, 1779, to the Commissioners of the Navy, giving news of the victory, shows that the American cruisers were causinggreat devastation to British commerce. 

 * * *

The exploits of Anthony Wayne and Paul Jones served to lighten the gloomcaused by the defeat of General Lincoln in his attempt to recaptureSavannah, and by the depressed condition of American finances, which madeit difficult to carry on the war. It was the earnest desire of Congressto push the struggle vigorously, and large sums of money were necessaryfor that purpose. The Continental currency issued under authority ofCongress had so decreased in purchasing power as to be almost worthless;the army suffered great distress for lack of clothing and food, and thesupply of munitions of war fell far short of military needs. BenjaminFranklin labored unceasingly to meet the incessant drafts upon him asagent of the United States in France, and but for the unboundedconfidence which Louis XVI. And his great minister, Vergennes, had inFranklin's assurances, the United States might have been so paralyzedfinancially as to fall a prey to Great Britain. It was in the midst ofthis gloom and uncertainty that General Benedict Arnold, the hero ofQuebec and Saratoga, sought to sell his country to the British. 

An able general and as brave a soldier as wore the American uniform, Arnold was bitterly disappointed because he failed to receive fromCongress all the recognition which he thought he deserved. He might not, however, have become a traitor but for his pecuniary difficulties, whileundoubtedly the Tory sympathies of his wife, whom he married inPhiladelphia in 1778, had a marked influence upon him. In July. 1780, Arnold, at his own request, was appointed by Washington to command WestPoint, the great American fortress commanding the Hudson River. Thecapture of West Point by the British would have accomplished for theircause what Burgoyne had failed to achieve--the cutting off of theNorthern from the Middle and Southern States, and the establishment ofthe British in an almost impregnable position on the Hudson. Arnoldentered into negotiations with Sir Henry Clinton, the British commanderat New York, for the surrender of West Point. For this service Arnold wasto be made a brigadier-general in the British army and to receive $50, 000in gold. Major John André, adjutant-general of the British army, conducted the correspondence on behalf of Clinton. André went up theHudson in the British sloop of war Vulture, and had a secret meeting withArnold near Haverstraw. It was arranged between them that Clinton shouldsail up the Hudson with a strong force and attack West Point, and Arnold, after a show of resistance, would surrender the post. When André wasready to go back to New York the Vulture had been compelled to drop downstream, and André had to cross the river and proceed on horseback. He wasabout entering Tarrytown, when a man armed with a gun, sprang suddenlyfrom the thicket, and seizing the reins of his bridle exclaimed: "Whereare you bound?" At the same instant two more ran up, and André was aprisoner. He offered them gold, his horse and permanent provision fromthe English government if they would let him escape, but the youngmen--John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart--rejected all hisoffers, and insisted on taking him to the nearest American post. [1] Andréhad a pass from Arnold in which the former was called "John Anderson. "Colonel Jameson, commander of the post to which André was brought, didnot suspect any treason on the part of Arnold, and allowed André to senda letter to that general. 

 [1] Charges were made by André himself, and echoed in Congress at a much later period by Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, who had the custody of André, to the effect that the captors of the ill-fated British officer were corrupt, and only held him because they could profit more than by letting him go. On this point the testimony of Alexander Hamilton, who passed much time with André previous to his execution, and had full opportunity to weigh his statements, ought to be sufficient. In a letter to Colonel Sears General Hamilton thus compared the captors of André with Arnold: "This man" (Arnold), "is in every sense despicable. * * * To his conduct that of the captors of André forms a striking contrast; he tempted their integrity with the offer of his watch, his horse, and any sum of money they should name. They rejected his offers with indignation; and the gold that could seduce a man high in the esteem and confidence of his country, who had the remembrance of his past exploits, the motives of present reputation and future glory to prop his integrity, had no charms for three simple peasants, leaning only on their virtue, and a sense of duty. "

Meantime Washington, who had gone to Hartford to consult with the Frenchgeneral Rochambeau about making an attack on New York, returned soonerthan expected. Hamilton and Lafayette, of Washington's staff, wentforward to breakfast with Arnold, while Washington was inspecting abattery. At the breakfast table André's letter was handed to Arnold. Thetraitor perceived at once that discovery was inevitable, and excusinghimself to his guests as calmly as if going out on an ordinary errand, hewent to his wife's room, embraced her, and bade her farewell. Mounting ahorse of one of his aides, Arnold rode swiftly to the river bank. Therehe entered his barge and was rowed to the Vulture. 

André was tried by court-martial on the charge of being a spy, convictedand executed October 2, 1780. The captors of André were rewarded with asilver medal and $200 a year for life. Arnold received the reward forwhich he had offered to betray his country. Washington, who was far frombeing vindictive, made repeated attempts to get possession of Arnold inorder to punish him for his treason. 

 * * *

While the war was languishing in the North it was being carried on withvigor in the South. Sir Henry Clinton, in the spring of 1780, capturedthe city of Charleston, with General Lincoln and all his army. Clintonthen returned to New York, leaving Lord Cornwallis in command of theBritish. Another American army, mostly militiamen and new recruits, manyof whom had never handled a bayonet, was formed in North Carolina, andplaced unfortunately under the command of the incompetent Gates. TheBritish met Gates at Sander's Creek, near Camden, and after a sharpconflict the Americans were completely routed. British and Tories werenow more barbarous than ever in their treatment of patriots who fell intotheir hands, and repeated executions of Americans on pretended charges ofviolating compulsory oaths of allegiance, or no charges at all, excitedthirst for retribution among the friends of liberty. General NathanielGreene, of Quaker birth, but one of the greatest soldiers of theRevolution, was sent to command a new army of the South; with DanielMorgan, William Washington and Henry Lee--known as "Light-horse Harry"and father of the Confederate commander, Robert E. Lee--as hislieutenants. Morgan, at Cowpens, annihilated Tarleton's Legion, which hadcommitted many cruelties in South Carolina. Greene fought the British atGuilford, Hobkirk's Hill and Eutaw Springs, and although he did not win abattle, he left the enemy, on each occasion, in much worse condition thanbefore the encounter. Cornwallis, the British commander, although notdefeated, was becoming weaker and weaker, and he retreated into Virginia, from an enemy whose every repulse was a British disaster. 

 * * *

The final act in the mighty drama was now approaching. From the Potomacto the confines of Florida the Southland was aroused against the Britishas it never could have been aroused except for the barbarities whichCornwallis perpetrated and sanctioned. The British commander was behindthe intrenchments at Yorktown with an army of about eight thousand menand a horde of Tories who had been willing agents in carrying out againsttheir own countrymen the atrocious decrees which for a time made a Polandof the Carolinas. Sir Henry Clinton, thoroughly deceived by the movementsof Washington and Rochambeau, was anxious only to protect New York, andthe victorious fleet of France was prepared to cut off the escape ofCornwallis by the sea. Washington and Rochambeau, with the allied armies, marched against Yorktown from their rendezvous at Williamsburg onSeptember 28. They drove in the British outposts, and began siegeoperations so promptly and vigorously that the place was completelyinvested on the thirtieth by a semi-circular line of the allied forces, each wing resting on the York River. The Americans held the right; theFrench the left. A small body of British at Gloucester, oppositeYorktown, was beset by a force consisting of French dragoons and marines, and Virginia militia. Heavy ordnance was brought from the French ships, and on the afternoon of October 9, the artillery opened on the British. Red-hot balls were hurled upon the British vessels in the river, and theflames shooting up from a 44-gun ship showed that fire was doing itswork. Under cover of night parallels were thrown up closer and closer tothe British lines, and the besieged saw the chain which they could notbreak tightening around them. The Americans and French carried by stormtwo redoubts which commanded the trenches, and now Cornwallis had to takehis choice between flight or surrender, if flight were possible. Hedetermined to flee, but a terrible storm made the passing of the rivertoo dangerous, and a few troops who had crossed over were brought back toYorktown. 

French and Americans poured shot and shell into the Britishintrenchments, and the bombardment grew heavier day by day. The superiorforces and strong situation of the besiegers made it impossible to breakthrough their lines. It would not even have been a forlorn hope. Nocourse now remained but to surrender. Cornwallis sought to make the bestterms possible. He has been severely and plausibly criticised forabandoning the Tory refugees to American justice and vengeance. HoraceWalpole, writing in safe and comfortable quarters, far from siege orbattlefield, said that Cornwallis "ought to have declared that he woulddie rather than sacrifice the poor Americans who had followed him fromloyalty, against their countrymen. " Had Cornwallis so declared he woulddoubtless have had a chance to die without any objection on the part ofthe patriots on whose friends and relatives he had inflicted devilishcruelties. Cornwallis was obliged to choose between perishing with allhis army, or accepting the terms which his conquerors saw fit to grant. Apart from the formal articles of surrender he obtained the informalconsent of the allies that certain Tories most obnoxious to theircountrymen should be permitted to depart to New York in the vessel whichcarried dispatches from the British commander to Sir Henry Clinton. [2]General Lincoln, who had been compelled to surrender to the royal troopsat Charleston in the previous year, received the sword of Cornwallis fromGeneral O'Hara, and twenty-eight British captains, each bearing a flag ina case, handed over their colors to twenty-eight American sergeants. Thenumber of troops surrendered was about 7000, and to these were added 2000sailors, 1500 Tories and 1800 negroes. The British lost during the siegein killed, wounded and missing about 550 men; the Americans lost about300. The spoils included nearly 8000 muskets, 75 brass and 160 ironcannon and a large quantity of munitions of war and military stores, aswell as "about one hundred vessels, above fifty of themsquare-rigged. "[3] On the day after the surrender Washington orderedevery American soldier under arrest or in confinement to be set atliberty, and as the next day would be Sunday he directed that divineservice should be performed in the several brigades. 

 [2] Walpole is right, however, in pointing out that the unconditional surrender of the refugees by Cornwallis had an important influence in bringing the war to a close by depriving the British of American support and sympathy. "It was a virtual end of the war, " he says. "Could one American, unless those shut up in New York and Charleston, even out of prudence and self-preservation, declare for England, by whose general they were so unfeelingly abandoned?"

 [3] Livingston to Dana, October 22, 1781. 

 * * *

"Oh God, it is all over!" exclaimed Lord North, on hearing thatCornwallis had surrendered. And it was all over, although we haveFranklin's authority that George III. Continued to hope for a revival ofhis sovereignty over America "on the same terms as are now making withIreland. " These hopes were soon dissipated, and a treaty of peace wasfinally signed at Paris, September 23, 1783. The British troops sailedaway from New York on November 25, and General Washington, after a tenderparting with his officers, resigned his commission. A great number ofTory refugees departed from New York with the British, but it is doubtfulwhether their lot was happier than that of those who remained to acceptthe new order of things. It is only necessary to glance at the diary ofHutchinson, the royalist governor of Massachusetts, to perceive that, even under the most favorable circumstances, the situation of the exiledTories was miserable indeed. Many of them settled in Canada, there tohand down to their descendants feelings of antipathy which, in America, have long been discarded. Many of them wisely returned to the UnitedStates, and were magnanimously forgiven and received as brethren andcitizens. No voice was raised to plead more eloquently in their behalfthan that of Patrick Henry. "I feel no objection, " he exclaimed, "to thereturn of those deluded people. They have, to be sure, mistaken their owninterests most wofully, and most wofully have they suffered thepunishment due to their offences. * * * Afraid of them!--what, sir--shallwe who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, now be afraid of hiswhelps?"

FOURTH PERIOD. 

Union. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Condition of the United States at the Close of the Revolution--NewEngland Injured and New York Benefited Commercially by the Struggle--Luxury of City Life--Americans an Agricultural People--The Farmer'sHome--Difficulty in Traveling--Contrast Between North and South--SouthernAristocracy--Northern Great Families--White Servitude--The WesternFrontier--Karly Settlers West of the Mountains--A Hardy Population--Disappearance of the Colonial French--The Ordinance of 1787--Flood ofEmigration Beyond the Ohio. 

Peace with Great Britain left the United States free and independent, butburdened with the expenses of the war, and agitated by the problems whichindependence presented. The soldiers of the Continental Army went back totheir firesides and their fields, and trade began to show signs ofrevival. New England's commercial interests had received a serious blowfrom the Revolution, while New York city, occupied by the Britishthroughout the war, the headquarters of the royal forces with theirlavish expenditures, and its commerce protected and convoyed by theBritish fleet, was benefited instead of injured by the struggle. Themerchants of New York, whether attached or not at heart to the royalistcause, put business before patriotism, while the flag of St. Georgefloated over their city, and urged the British to severer measuresagainst the "rebels" in order that New York's mercantile interests mightbe promoted and safeguarded. [1] Apart from natural advantages, next inimportance to the Erie Canal as a cause of New York's leading commercialposition is the fact that the British were in possession of the cityduring the Revolution. 

 [1] A number of years ago the Hon. William M. Evarts delivered a speech before the New York Chamber of Commerce in which he congratulated that body on its patriotism "during the Revolution. " Having been allowed to examine the records of the Chamber for the revolutionary period, I wrote an article which appeared over my initials in the New York _Sun_ pointing out that the Chamber, as shown by its own records, had been ultra-loyal, instead of patriotic. --_H. M. _

There was considerable luxury in city life then as now. "By Revolutionarytimes love of dress everywhere prevailed throughout the State of NewYork, " says Mrs. Alice Morse Earle, "a love of dress which caused greatextravagance and was noted by all travelers. "[2] "If there is a town onthe American continent, " said the Chevalier de Crevecoeur, "where Englishluxury displayed its follies it is in New York. " Philadelphia was not farbehind New York in extravagance, notwithstanding Quaker traditions, whileBoston, rich in solid wealth, was more conservative in displaying it, andretained in appearance at least something of Puritan simplicity. 

 [2] Costumes of Colonial Times. 

The urban residents of those days were, however, insignificant in numbersas compared with the total population. The Americans were an agriculturalpeople, and they were a self-dependent people. The articles of clothingneeded in the farmer's home were manufactured in the home; the tailorwent around from house to house making into suits the cloth which thefamily had woven; the school teacher "boarded around" as an equivalentfor salary that might otherwise have been paid in worthless currency, andthe simple requirements of rural existence were supplied in a largedegree by trade and barter without the use of what passed as money. Thefarmer's cottage stood upon a level sward of green. The kitchen was theliving-room, and there the family spent their time when not out at workor retired to rest. It was the largest apartment in the house, and itsgreat fire-place, with a ruddy back-log and pine knots flaming andsparkling on the iron-dogs, offered a most cheerful welcome on a NewEngland winter's night. The baking oven, heated with fine-split dry wood, cooked the frugal but savory meal, which was served up on a solidold-fashioned table, around which the household gathered, first givingthanks to the Giver of all. When not busied with other duties, thehousewife pressed with measured round the treadles of the loom, as shetwilled the web she was weaving; and as the shades of evening descendedthe sonorous hum of the spinning-wheel gave token to the young man oncourtship intent that the daughter of the house was at home. From thekitchen a door opened into the best room, a cheerless sort of place onlythrown open on special occasions, and not to compare in comfort with thekitchen, its high-backed settle and its genial fire, whose glowing ashesseemed to reflect the warmer glow of loving eyes. Other doors from thekitchen opened into sleeping-rooms, although in the larger houses thefamily usually slept upstairs. The well was used for cooling purposes aswell as water supply, and the old oaken bucket suspended from thewell-sweep by means of a slender pole, invited the passing stranger toquaff nature's wholesome beverage. Wheeled vehicles were not often seenin the rural districts, horses being commonly used for locomotion. Thedifficulty of traveling discouraged intercourse between differentcommunities, and a journey from Boston to New York, taking a week bystage-coach, and three or four days by sailing vessel, was a moremomentous undertaking than a voyage to Europe now. Few traveled forpleasure. Few took any active interest in public affairs beyond their ownneighborhood, or at most their own State, and the bond of theconfederation rested loosely on communities now no longer united by theapprehension of common danger. 

 * * *

Between the North and the South the contrast was already ominous offuture strife. The Southern planter lived like an aristocrat surroundedby servants and slaves, dispensing hospitality according to his meansafter the fashion of the British nobility. Cotton had not yet poured thegold of England into the lap of the South, but tobacco held its own as asubstantial basis of wealth. In the North, on the other hand, the tillerof the soil was usually its owner, assisted sometimes by indenturedservants or slaves, but never himself above the toil which he exactedfrom others. The North, too, had its great families, descendants ofpatroons and others who had received large grants of land and enjoyedexceptional privileges, and were now growing in wealth with theincreasing value of their property; but the aristocratic Northernfamilies were gradually losing political power and influence, and sinkingtoward the level of the people; whereas in the South the aristocraticelement was arrogating more and more the control of State affairs, andthe representation of Southern States in the councils of the nation. Inthe North also equality was promoted by the potent influence of theRevolution in breaking up the system of servile white labor. Master andman were summoned for the defence of their country; they fought, theysuffered and endured together the same privations for a common cause. Distinctions of class were obliterated by the blood that flowed freelyfor the freedom of all, and what remained of ancient aristocraticprejudice was yet more thoroughly undermined by the example of the greatsocial upheaval in France. Nevertheless the system of white servitude wasnot entirely abolished until long after the close of the eighteenthcentury, immigrants to this country frequently selling themselves as"redemptioners" to pay the cost of their passage. The limits of this formof service seldom exceeded seven years. No taint was apparently attachedto it, and many a worthy family had a "redemptioner" for its firstAmerican ancestor. 

 * * *

Looking to the western frontier just after the Revolution, and inparticular the forks of the Ohio, we see a population very different incharacter from that of the older settlements. The peace-loving Quakerclung to the eastern counties, where life and property were secured fromraid and reprisal, and formed his ideas of the Indian character anddeserts from the red men, who, either Christianized or demoralized, preferred the grudging charity of civilization to the rude and frugalspoils of the chase, or the blood-stained rapine of war. This specimen ofIndian was usually so harmless, in some instances perhaps so deserving, that the well-meaning Quaker learned to receive with discredit thestories of horror from the frontier, and discouraged with his voice andinfluence every step toward the subjection of the hostile Indian and hisEuropean allies. Emigrants were forbidden, under stern penalties, toencroach on the Indian domain, and petitions from invaded settlements forarms and assistance, were met with cold indifference or positive refusal. The men and women who, in face of such discouragement, cast their lotbeyond the mountains, must have been a hardy set indeed, and made ofstuff not likely to yield in a wrestle with wild nature and wilderhumanity. 

The early inhabitants of that frontier region were of sturdy Scotch andIrish stock. The troublous political times in their native countriesdoubtless had much to do with their emigration hither. The star of theStuart line had set never to rise again, and its bright and hopelessflicker, in the days of '45, was extinguished in the blood of Scotland'snoblest sons. But while order reigned, content was far from prevailing, and many a brave heart sought, on the distant shore of America, to forgetthe anguish of the past in the building of a prosperous future. With afinal sigh for "Lochaber No More, " the Highlander turned his gaze fromthe lochs and glens of his fathers, and crossed the ocean to that newland of promise where every man might be a laird, and a farm might be hadfor the asking, where no Culloden would remind him of the fate of hiskindred, and his children could grow up far from the barbarous laws thatcrushed out the spirit of the ancient clans. Along the banks of theMonongahela those Scotch and Irish settlers built their rude cabins underthe guns of Fort Pitt, guarded--strange irony of fate--from a savageenemy by the very flag which flaunted oppression in their native Britainand Ireland. That they learned to love their adopted land who canquestion? A Virginian cavalier, accustomed to the graces and _politesse_of a slave-owning aristocracy, saw fit to sneer at their humble abodes, and their lack of the finer accessories of civilization, forgetting that acabin is more often than a palace the cradle of the purest patriotism, andthat as true American hearts beat in those huts in the wilderness as inthe courtly precincts of Richmond. 

But the "poor mechanics and laborers" exercised a tremendous influence onthe destinies of the young, and as yet disunited republic. They werefreemen. Pittsburg, the outpost of civilization, had no slave withinsight of its redoubts, and the spirit of freedom which hovered there, found rest and refreshment for its broader flight toward the greatnorthwest. The decision of 1780, which saved Pittsburg to Pennsylvania, preserved it as a stronghold of freedom and of free labor, and now it farsurpasses in industry, wealth and population the then slave-labor capitalof the Old Dominion. 

It is an interesting fact that the colonial French left no impress on thesite where they made such a gallant stand for New France. They havevanished as completely as the Indian. In Detroit, in St. Louis, Frenchancestry can be traced in families of high position and honorablelineage. Such families are to those cities what the Knickerbockers are toNew York. They give a gracious flavor to society; they are a link betweenthe dim and heroic past and the dashing, eager, practical present; theyadd a dreamy fascination to the social landscape, like the lingering hazeof morning illumined by the rays of the sun fast mounting to zenith. Where Duquesne stood, neither track nor mark remains of the volatile, daring and glory-loving race whose lily flag greeted the bearers of braveBeaujeu's remains from the fatal field of Braddock. No authentic tracehas been discovered even of the fortifications which they erected, andFort Duquesne is known only by its tragic place in American history. 

The ordinance of 1787, creating the Northwestern Territory, and throwingit open for settlement, at once induced a large emigration to the landsbeyond the Ohio. Descendants of the Puritans mingled in the pioneerthrong with rangers from Virginia and backwoodsmen from Pennsylvania. Thefrontiersman in hunting-shirt and moccasins blazed a path for the NewEnglander in broadcloth coat, velvet collar, bell-crowned hat and heavyboots. These emigrants all possessed valuable qualities for the buildingup of new States, and they all displayed in the trials which immediatelybeset them the courage which had carried the nation successfully throughthe war for independence. They were entering upon a vast and fertiledomain which the aboriginal possessors, notwithstanding treaties, did notpropose to abandon, and which was the scene of sanguinary conflict beforeit was finally surrendered. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Spirit of Disunion--Shays' Rebellion--A National Government Necessary--Adoption of the Constitution--Tariff and Internal Revenue--The WhiskeyInsurrection--President Washington Calls Out the Military--InsurgentsSurrender--"The Dreadful Night"--Hamilton's Inquisition. 

The spirit of disunion was brewing; the people were tax-ridden, theStates without credit and the prevailing discontent found expression inriot and rebellion. The insurrection of Daniel Shays and his followers inMassachusetts, the disturbances in western North Carolina and otheroutbreaks in various parts of the country were but symptoms of radicalweakness in the body politic, and of the complete failure of theloose-jointed confederation to command the confidence of the people andmaintain the credit of the nation. It became evident that union was asvitally important in peace as in war; that national burdens could only besustained by a national government, and that the welfare of trade andcommerce required one system of interstate laws enforced by the unitedpower of all the States. The adoption of the Federal Constitution createda nation; it created a free government worth all that it had cost; itrealized the dream of Franklin and the prediction of Adams; it madepossible the American Republic of to-day, and the great work wasfittingly crowned with the election of George Washington as firstPresident. 

 * * *

The first business of the new government was to establish the publiccredit. Alexander Hamilton, Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, proposed with this object a tariff on imports, and a tax on whiskey. Tothe former the people submitted readily enough; the latter provoked aninsurrection which for some time threatened to be formidable. The farmersof the western counties of Pennsylvania--Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Allegheny--having no market for grain, in the decadefollowing the Revolution, on account of the absence of large settlementsin their vicinity, and the lack of facilities to transport to moredistant places, were from necessity compelled to reduce the bulk of theirgrain by converting it into whiskey. A horse could carry two kegs ofeight gallons each, worth about fifty cents per gallon on the western, and one dollar on the eastern side of the mountains, and return with alittle iron and salt, the former worth fifteen to twenty cents per pound, the latter five dollars per bushel, at Pittsburg. The still was thereforethe necessary appendage of every farm, where the farmer was able toprocure it; if he was not he carried his grain to the more wealthy to bedistilled. To the large majority of these farmers excise laws werepeculiarly odious. The State of Pennsylvania made some attempt, duringand just after the Revolution, to enforce an excise law; but withouteffect. A man named Graham, who had kept a public house in Philadelphia, accepted the appointment of Collector for the western counties. He wasassailed, his head shaven and he was threatened with death. Othercollectors were equally unsuccessful. 

The United States excise law was enacted in March, 1791. While the billwas before Congress, the subject was taken up by the PennsylvaniaLegislature, then in session, and resolutions were passed in strong termsagainst the law, and requesting the senators and representatives, by avote of thirty-six to eleven, to oppose its passage; the minority votingon the principle that it was improper to interfere with the action of theFederal Government, and not from approval of the measure. The law imposeda tax of from nine to twenty-five cents per gallon, according tostrength, upon spirits distilled from grain. To secure the collection ofthe duties, suitable regulations were made. Inspection districts wereestablished, one or more in each State, with an inspector for each. Distillers were to furnish at the nearest inspection office fulldescriptions of their buildings, which were always subject to examinationby a person appointed for that purpose, who was to gauge and brand thecasks; duties to be paid before removal. But to save trouble to smalldistillers, not in any town or village, they were allowed to pay anannual tax of sixty cents per gallon on the capacity of the still. 

Such a measure could not fail to be intensely unpopular, especially amongthe small farmers to whom the whiskey derived from their grain was theprincipal source of income and support. To the large distillers the taxwas not altogether odious, as they comprehended that the new law wouldadd greatly to their trade by cutting off their lesser rivals, andsecuring the manufacture of spirits to the well-to-do andwell-established few. On the same ground distillers to-day are verygenerally opposed to the removal of the internal revenue tax on spirits. But popular clamor carried all before it, and it would have been unsafefor any one to openly avow himself in favor of the excise. At a meetingheld in Pittsburg, on the seventh of September, 1791, resolutions wereadopted denouncing the tax as "operating on a domestic manufacture--amanufacture not equal through the States. It is insulting to the feelingsof the people to have their vessels marked, houses painted and ransacked, to be subject to informers gaining by the occasional delinquency ofothers. It is a bad precedent, tending to introduce the excise laws ofGreat Britain and of countries where the liberty, property and even themorals of the people are sported with to gratify particular men in theirambitious and interested measures. " The duties were likewise denounced asinjurious to agricultural interests. 

So far as refusal to obey the excise law, and defiance of the Federalofficers empowered to enforce it, constituted rebellion, the westerncounties of Pennsylvania were in a condition of rebellion for over threeyears. President Washington was patient; the Congress was conciliatory;the State authorities were more than tolerant. General John Neville, aman of great wealth and well-deserved popularity, accepted the office ofInspector of the Revenue. Had he been discovered guilty of a monstrouscrime, his popularity could not have more rapidly waned. Albert Gallatin, Brackenridge and other men, respected not only in Pennsylvania, butwherever known in the country at large, took counsel, and appeared totake sides with the multitude in their opposition to the national law. Their motives have been variously interpreted, according to prejudice orfavor, but Marshall, in his "Life of Washington, " gave the fair andreasonable view of their position when he said that "men of property andintelligence who had contributed to kindle the flame, under the commonerror of being able to regulate its heat, trembled at the extent of theconflagration. But it had passed the limits assigned to it, and was nolonger subject to their control. "

The crowning outrage was the burning of Inspector Neville's house, inJuly, 1794. The inspector made his escape to Pittsburg. He and the UnitedStates Marshal were compelled to flee from the town, and on the first ofAugust following, seven thousand armed men assembled at Braddock's Fieldand marched from thence into Pittsburg. All these men were not hostile tothe laws and authority of the United States; many were compelled bythreats of violence to go with the majority; not a few were present torestrain the reckless from breaking into open insurrection. 

President Washington deemed that the time for action had come. He calledupon the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania for a force of militiasufficient to crush the insurrection, while at the same time heproclaimed amnesty to all who should certify by their signatures theirreadiness to sustain the government. The insurgents suddenly awakened tothe knowledge that they had now the whole power of the United Statesagainst them, directed by that arm invulnerable alike to Indian, Frenchman and Briton. Multitudes came to their senses, and signed thepledge that saved them from punishment. Among these were many who hadcommitted the gravest disorders. The United States forces, however, marched into the western counties, and the disturbed region was prostrateunder military law. 

Old residents of Pittsburg have not yet forgotten the traditions of "TheDreadful Night"--the thirteenth of November, 1794. Without a moment'swarning hundreds of citizens were arrested in Allegheny and the adjoiningcounties, dragged from their beds, and hurried away, half naked, fromtheir frantic wives and weeping children. The arrests, in numerousinstances, were attended with every circumstance of barbarity short ofdeath. Prisoners were goaded, with shoeless and bleeding feet, on theroad to Pittsburg; numbers of them were tied back to back, and throwninto a wet cellar as a place of detention. One man, whose child wasdying, came forward voluntarily when the arrests were being made, hopingthat humanity would prompt his release on a statement of his condition. He, too, was tied, and thrown in with the rest. When he obtained hisliberty his child was dead. Among the prisoners was George Robinson, chief burgess of Pittsburg, a peaceable law-abiding man, who had nevertaken any share in the agitation against the excise. Brigadier-GeneralWhite appears to have been chiefly responsible for the brutal treatmentof the captives. When one of them, a veteran of the Revolution, laggedbehind, owing to physical infirmity, White ordered him fastened to ahorse's tail, and dragged along. The cruel command was not obeyed. On thefollowing day, of about three hundred prisoners, all but ten weredischarged, there being no evidence against the others. Of eighteenalleged offenders who were sent to Philadelphia, and marched through thestreets, with the label "Insurgent" on their hats, but two were foundguilty of crime. One was convicted of arson, another of robbing theUnited States mail, when the mail was intercepted with a view ofcapturing letters from the Federal officers in the western counties tothe authorities at the capital. In both instances President Washingtongranted first a reprieve, then a pardon. 

Alexander Hamilton held an inquisitorial investigation to ascertainwhether a blow had been meditated at the republic, and its form ofgovernment, under the guise of opposition to the revenue. He wasevidently satisfied that there was no deeper plot than appeared on thesurface, and that, apart from their whiskey-stills, the hearts of theWest Pennsylvanians beat true to the Union. 

Independence Vindicated. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Arrogance of France--Americans and Louis XVI--Genet Defies Washington--The People Support the President--War With the Indians--Defeat of St. Clair--Indians State Their Case--General Wayne Defeats the Savages--Jay'sTreaty--Retirement of Washington--His Character--His Military Genius--Washington as a Statesman--His Views on Slavery--His Figure in History. 

The American nation had yet to win something besides independence, something without which independence would be a burden and a mockery--therespect of other nations; and in dealings between nations fear andrespect are closely akin. The English still occupied posts withinterritory claimed by the United States, the Indians denied the right ofthe Americans to lands beyond the Ohio, and republican France, havingbeheaded her king, regarded the United States as a vassal on account ofthe debt of gratitude which America owed to that king. War with Englandhad given place to jealous and intolerant rivalry, and friendship withFrance had been succeeded by an arrogant assumption of patronage andalmost of suzerainty menacing to our national independence. Such were theclouds that rose above the ocean horizon, while the western sky wasdarkened by the shadow of Indian hostility as yet far from contemptible, and directed by able chieftains, like Little Turtle, more than a match inthe field and in diplomacy for most of their white antagonists. Thesewere the circumstances which made it apparent to Americans that theFederal Constitution had come not a day too soon, which welded the nationtogether like an armor-plate of steel against foes on every hand, andtaught the need of union as it never could have been taught amidsurroundings of prosperity and peace. 

The French Revolution acquitted the American people of all obligations toFrance. It was not to the French people, but to the French king thatAmericans owed the assistance without which the war for independencemight have ended in calamity, and with the exception of the Marquis deLafayette the Frenchmen who were conspicuous as servants of the king inaiding the American cause, were foes, not friends of the Revolution. TheFrench nation, as such, had no more to do with casting the power ofFrance into the scales on the side of America than the people of Russiahad to do with their czar's championship of Bulgaria. Had it been in thepower of Americans to have saved Louis XVI. From the scaffold, they wouldhave shown cruel ingratitude not to have interfered in his behalf. It wasa most arrogant and baseless assumption on the part of the Frenchdemocracy to claim credit for what the Bourbon king had done in sendinghis army and navy to these shores and supplying funds to equip andmaintain our troops. It is true that the men he sent here were Frenchmen, and that the money came from the pockets of the people of France, but hiswill directed the troops, and diverted to American use the funds of whichFrance was sorely in need. To Louis XVI. , to his great minister, Vergennes, to Rochambeau and Lafayette, American independence was due, sofar as it was due to any human source outside of America. Rochambeau andLafayette both narrowly escaped the fate of their king, and Vergennesdied before the Revolution which would have made him either a victim oran emigré. [1] So much for the claims of the first French republic thatAmerica was ungrateful in not arraying its forces against embattledEurope in defence of the men who slew Louis XVI. For crimes which otherscommitted. 

 [1] During the reign of terror Rochambeau was arrested at his estate near Vendome, conducted to Paris, thrown into the Conciergerie and condemned to death. When the car came to convey a number of victims to the guillotine, he was about to mount it, but the official in charge seeing it full thrust him back. "Stand back, old marshal, " cried he, roughly, "your turn will come by and by. " A sudden change in political affairs saved his life, and enabled him to return to his home near Vendome. Rochambeau survived the Revolution, and received the grand cross of the Legion of Honor and a marshal's pension from the great Napoleon. --_From Irving's Life of Washington. _

It is probable that none save Washington could have guided the nationthrough the perilous excitement aroused by the efforts of the Frenchminister Genet to involve the United States in war with England and otherpowers. For a time many cool-headed and able men were carried away by thepopular enthusiasm in favor of France, but Genet presumed too far, whenhe deliberately insulted and defied that national authority which thenation itself had created, and the American people rallied at length, irrespective of party, to the support of the President. France for thetime, abandoned her menacing attitude, only to resume it a few yearslater, with results disastrous to herself. 

 * * *

However American in feeling, it is impossible not to have some sympathywith the Indians in their struggle to retain their hunting-grounds beyondthe Ohio. Savages as they were, natural right was on their side, and manyof the whites opposed to them were more savage and inhuman than the worstof the redskinned barbarians. The massacre of the Christian Indians atGnadenhutten by a party of frontiersmen was a deed not surpassed inatrocity in the annals of any country, and far surpassing in deliberatecruelty anything charged against the Indian race. It was a pity that theactual perpetrators of that dark crime did not fall into the hands ofwarlike Indians, instead of the unfortunate William Crawford, the leaderof a subsequent expedition, whose awful death by fire was the Indianpenalty for the Moravian massacre. The masterly ability of Little Turtleproved for years a barrier against pioneer progress, and the defeat ofSt. Clair and his army in 1791, left the frontiers at the mercy of thered men. This defeat was one of the most terrible ever suffered at thehands of the Indians, and aroused on the part of Washington a display oftemper which showed how deeply he felt the wound inflicted on hiscountry. 

General Anthony Wayne took the place of St. Clair as commander, andfurther hostilities were preceded by an attempt at negotiation. It mustbe confessed by any impartial reader that the Indians stated their casecalmly, clearly and with impressive reasoning. They demanded thatAmericans be removed from the northern side of the Ohio, and they averredthat treaties previously signed by them to the contrary effect had beensigned under misapprehension. "Brothers, " said the Indians, "you havetalked to as about concessions. It appears strange that you should expectany from us, who have only been defending our just rights against yourinvasions. We want peace. Restore to us our country, and we shall beenemies no longer. " "Your answer. " said the American commissioners, "amounts to a declaration that you will agree to no other boundary thanthe Ohio. The negotiation is, therefore, at an end. " This decision wasarrived at in August, 1793. Meantime the United States escaped the dangerwhich would have been brought upon them had Genet succeeded in hisschemes, and involved America in war with England and Spain, both ofwhich countries were prepared to assist the Indians, had the Americanstaken the side of France. Active hostilities were not resumed in theNorthwest, however, until the summer of 1794, when General Wayne, at thehead of his troops, again attempted to secure a peaceful settlement ofthe Indian troubles, and failing in that attacked and defeated theIndians near the rapids of the Maumee, a few miles from the Miam. Fort, which the English had established within the American territory. LittleTurtle, who led the Indians, had been in favor of peace, but wasoverborne by more impetuous warriors. Peace soon followed, and thesettlement of the Northwest proceeded for a time without interruption. Those who regard the Indians as a lazy and thriftless race should readwhat General Wayne says about them: "The very extensive and highlycultivated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margins ofthese beautiful rivers appear like a continued village for a number ofmiles. Nor have I ever before beheld such immense fields of corn in anypart of America, from Canada to Florida. "

 * * *

Jay's Treaty, so-called from John Jay, who acted on behalf of the UnitedStates in negotiating the measure, secured a temporary and unsatisfactoryadjustment of the differences between the United States and GreatBritain. The fact that Washington was willing to approve the treaty, although dissatisfied with it, is its sufficient vindication, and theagreement on the part of England to surrender the western posts was nosmall advantage for the United States, especially in the impression whichit produced on the Indians of the decline of British and the growth ofAmerican power. The worst features of the treaty were that it restrictedthe commerce of the United States, so far as concerned molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton, the last-mentioned article being already aproduct of the United States, and that it failed to protect the seamen onAmerican vessels against seizure and impressment by the British. It was, taken as a whole, a humiliating compact, and in its commercial provisionsan abandonment of the principle which inspired the Boston Tea Party, andfor which Americans had fought in the war of independence. The mutualfreedom of intercourse and internal trading, including common navigationof the Mississippi, was advantageous only to Great Britain, whichcountry, as subsequent events showed, had not given up hope ofreconquering the trans-Ohio region, and carrying British dominion fromthe Lakes to Mobile. 

The United States had to do something, however, to show that the AmericanRepublic was not either secretly or openly an ally of the French Republicagainst the remainder of Europe, and while the Jay Treaty was not whatWashington and the American people desired, it was all that England wouldagree to. As a _modus vivendi_ with our only dangerous neighbor it enabledthe American people to devote to domestic development the energies whichwould otherwise have been expended in war, and to grasp the neutralcarrying trade upon which war would have placed an embargo. England woulddoubtless have been gratified with any plausible excuse that would haveenabled her to destroy American commerce, and to be without a rival on theAtlantic. Jay's Treaty prevented this, and England had to leave to herfriends, the Barbary pirates, the work of preying on the American carryingtrade in European waters. [2] These depredations were already so serious in1794 that a bill was introduced in Congress, passed after some opposition, and cordially approved by President Washington, providing for a force ofsix frigates to protect American commerce from the corsairs. Thesefrigates did splendid service later on, not only against the pirates, butalso against the French and British. 

 [2] As early as 1784 Lord Sheffield said in Parliament: "It is not probable that the American States will have a very free trade in the Mediterranean. It will not be to the interest of any of the great maritime powers to protect them from the Barbary States. If they know their interests they will not encourage American carriers. "

 * * *

The scenes which attended the close of Washington's public career weresome compensation to that ever-illustrious man for the wounds inflictedduring his administration by reckless and venomous partisanship. NoPresident of the United States was ever more fiercely and bitterlyassailed than Washington. His enemies even went so far as to doom him incaricature to the fate of Louis XVI. He was accused of monarchicaldesigns, and had to confront treachery in his Cabinet and scurrilousslanders in the public press. Yet throughout all he bore himself withpatience, and never swerved from the course which he deemed best for thepublic weal. It should not be supposed that he was indifferent to thearrows of malice and of falsehood. On the contrary, he was extremelysensitive to them; but he never permitted himself, in public at least, tobe carried away by his feelings, and no matter how strong his sentimentson any subject, his sense of justice was always supreme. In his agonyupon the news of St. Clair's defeat, he denounced that general as worsethan a murderer for having suffered his army to be taken by surprise; butwhen the burst of passion was over he added: "General St. Clair shallhave justice. I will receive him without displeasure; I will hear himwithout prejudice. " And Washington kept his word. 

Far abler pens than mine have dealt with the character of the Father ofour Republic, but a few plain and original expressions on a subject neverwearisome to Americans may not be out of place. Washington's chiefcharacteristics were fortitude, the sense of justice of which I havespoken, and the ability to grasp conditions and seize upon opportunities. He was a thoroughly practical man, a strategist by instinct, fearless butnot rash, possessing an impetuous temper kept within careful control, andunleashed only when, as at the battle of Monmouth, there was prudence inits vehemence. He was an excellent judge of men. The officers who owedtheir advancement to Washington seldom disappointed and often exceededexpectations. He was above the petty jealousy, so conspicuous in our latecivil war, that would permit another general to be defeated in order toshine by contrast. He was devoted to the cause more than to winningpersonal reputation, and the effect of his unselfishness was that thecause triumphed with his name fixed in history as that of its leader andchampion. 

It is difficult to compare the military achievements of Washington withthose of Old World commanders. Marlborough, Wellington and Napoleon hadtroops thoroughly organized, under complete military control, and held toservice by iron rules which made the general always sure that hismilitary machine would be ready for use, barring the chances of war. Washington's forces were largely composed of militia, enlisted for shortperiods, many of them induced to serve by bounties, and anxious to gohome and attend to their farms. [3] The soldiers, too, were shamefullyneglected by Congress and by their States, and it seems wonderful thatWashington should have kept them together as he did, or maintained anarmy at all. In this respect Washington showed genius as a militarymanager without parallel in history. It should not be forgotten, also, that to Washington is largely due credit for victories at which he wasnot present. His was the master mind which scanned the entire field, directed all operations and made the triumphs of others possible. Hisclosing campaign, which ended in the surrender of Cornwallis, exhibitedmilitary talent of the highest order. In conception and execution it wasequal to any of Napoleon's campaigns. It embraced an extent of territory, from New York to North Carolina inclusive, as extensive as the presentGerman empire, and every movement was that of a master hand on thechess-board of war. Success without the French would have beenimpossible, without Greene's admirable generalship it might have beenimpossible, but Washington conceived and carried through toaccomplishment the whole great scheme which resulted in a final andcrashing blow to British hopes of subjugating America. [4]

 [3] Mr. William L. Stone, the historical writer, recently published the diary of a relative who served a few months in the Revolution, and who received ten sheep for enlisting. The soldier in question appears to have been in the habit of going home whenever he felt like it to cultivate his crops. 

 Governor Clinton said of the militia: "They come in the morning and return in the evening, and I never know when I have them, or what my strength is. "--_Letter to the New York Council of Safety. _

 [4] M. Barbé Marbois, who was Secretary of the French Legation in the United States during the Revolution, says of Washington: "The sound judgment of Washington, his steadiness and ability, had long since elevated him above all his rivals and far beyond the reach of envy. His enemies still labored, however, to fasten upon him, as a general, the reproach of mediocrity. It is true that the military career of this great man is not marked by any of those achievements which seem prodigious, and of which the splendor dazzles and astonishes the universe, but sublime virtues unsullied with the least stain are a species of prodigy. His conduct throughout the whole course of the war invariably attracted and deserved the veneration and confidence of his fellow-citizens. The good of his country was the sole end of his exertions, never personal glory. In war and in peace, Washington is in my eyes the most perfect model that can be offered to those who would devote themselves to the service of their country and assert the cause of liberty. "

As a statesman Washington merited distinction fully equal to that gainedin his military career. To him the United States were always a nation, and only as a nation could they exist. His influence was as potent informing the Union as his military genius had been in achievingindependence, and the veneration with which he was regarded abroadsecured for the new nation a degree of respect in foreign cabinets, whichwas almost vital to its existence, and which no other American could havecommanded. At home, too, he rose superior to the discord of ambitious menand of rival factions, and those who, like Edmund Randolph, attempted tobelittle him, only called attention thereby to their own comparativeunworthiness and insignificance, and were glad in later years to seekoblivion for their abortive folly. 

In his domestic life Washington was one of the best of husbands, as hewas blessed with one of the best of wives. He held slaves, and I havenever been of those who claim that he regarded slavery with seriousdisapproval. He was too conscientious a man to have retained a singleslave in his possession or under his control if his conscience did notapprove the relation. That Washington favored the gradual abolition ofslavery his letters leave no doubt, and especially those to John P. Mercer and Lawrence Lewis, quoted by Washington Irving, but in theletterbook of the great Rhode Island merchant, Moses Brown, which I wasallowed, some years ago, to examine, I read a letter from GeneralWashington which, as I remember, indicated Washington's anti-slaveryopinions to be more abstract than active, and conveyed distinctly theimpression that he saw nothing wrong whatever in the holding of humanchattels. Washington's views on slavery were those of a Southern planterof the most enlightened class, and the provisions which he made in hiswill for the emancipation of his slaves on the decease of his wife, andfor the care of those who might be unable to support themselves, showedthat no color-line narrowed his sense of justice and of humanity. 

The fame of Washington has not lost in brilliancy since he passed fromthe world in which he acted such a providential part. Like the PhidianZeus his proportions are all the more majestic for the distance whichrounds over any venial defect. His example is as valuable to the AmericanRepublic of the present as his life-work was to the America of a centuryago. As water never rises above its source, so a great nation should havea great founder, and the figure of Washington is sublime enough to be theoriflamme of a people's empire bounded only by the oceans which wash theland that he loved. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

John Adams President--Jefferson and the French Revolution--The FrenchDirectory--Money Demanded from America--"Millions for Defence; Not OnePenny for Tribute"--Naval Warfare with France--Capture of the Insurgent--Defeat of the Vengeance--Peace with France--Death of Washington--Alienand Sedition Laws--Jefferson President--The Louisiana Purchase--Burr'sAlleged Treason--War with the Barbary States--England Behind the Pirates--Heroic Naval Exploits--Carrying War Into Africa--Peace with Honor. 

The Jay treaty secured peace with England, but it was accepted as almosta declaration of war by France. The attitude of the French government didnot become intolerable until after the retirement of Washington from thepresidency. John Adams, who succeeded Washington, belonged to theFederalist party, which supported a strong central government witharistocratic tendencies, and was opposed to the Republican party, whichsympathized with the French Revolution, and whose members were, therefore, known also as "Democrats. " Alexander Hamilton was the chiefspirit of the Federalists and Thomas Jefferson of the Republicans. Theintense Jacobinism of Jefferson's views may be judged from some of hisutterances, in which he even defended the terrible September massacres ofthe French Revolution. Speaking of the innocent who perished he said: "Ideplore them as I should have done had they fallen in battle. It wasnecessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind asballs and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of their cordialfriends met at their hands the fate of enemies. * * * My own affectionshave been deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but ratherthan it should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated;were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than it is now. "

The spread of these ideas shocked and alarmed conservative men, includingWashington himself, Hamilton and Adams, and led to measures ofrestriction that were injudicious in their severity. The nation, however, united as one man, irrespective of party, to resent the intolerableinsolence of the French, who assumed that they could crush America withthe same ease that they subdued the petty states of Italy and Germany. The French Directory, which had succeeded to the Terrorists in theexercise of power virtually supreme, was composed of men whose depravitywe have seen shockingly illustrated in the recently published memoirs ofBarras. Its foreign policy was managed by the vulpine Talleyrand, who isaccused by Barras of having extorted large sums of money from the lesserStates of Europe as the price of being let alone--although it isextremely probable that Barras and others of the Directory shared inthese ill-gotten funds. Talleyrand tried to extort similar tribute fromAmerica, demanding that a douceur of two hundred and fifty thousanddollars be put at his disposal for the use of the Directory, and a largeloan made by America to France. "Millions for defence--not one penny fortribute!" was the cry that went up from the American people when thisinfamous proposition was made known. 

Washington was summoned from his retirement to take command of theAmerican army, a Secretary of the Navy was added to the President'sCabinet--Benjamin Stoddart, of Georgetown, D. C. , being the first--andthe new American navy was authorized to retaliate upon France foroutrages committed upon American shipping. A vigorous naval warfarefollowed, in which the new American frigates proved more than a match forthe French. The American Constellation, forty-eight guns, after a sharpengagement, captured the French frigate Insurgent, forty guns. It isreally amusing to note the tone of injured innocence in which CaptainBarreaut, of the Insurgent, who had himself captured the American cruiserRetaliation but a short time before, reports to his government his"surprise on finding himself fought by an American frigate after all thefriendship and protection accorded to the United States!" "Myindignation, " he adds, "was at its height. " It soon cooled off, however, under the pressure of broadsides from the Constellation, and CaptainBarreaut was glad to surrender. The second frigate action of the war wasbetween the Constellation and the Vengeance, the former fifty guns, thelatter fifty-two. The Frenchman, badly beaten, succeeded in making hisescape. The battle between the American frigate Boston and the Frenchcorvette Berceau was one of the most gallant of the struggle, the Berceaufighting until resistance was hopeless. American merchantmen also showedthe French that they could defend themselves, and one of Moses Brown'sships, the Anne and Hope, sailed into Providence from a voyage to theWest Indies, bearing in her rigging the marks of conflict with a Frenchprivateer, whom the merchantman had bravely repulsed. During the twoyears and a half of naval war with France eighty-four armed Frenchvessels, nearly all of them privateers, were captured, and no vessel ofour navy was taken by the enemy, except the Retaliation. This was not thekind of tribute the French government had expected, and a treaty ofpeace, which entirely sustained the position of the United States, wasratified in February, 1801. 

 * * *

The illustrious Washington, who fortunately had not been required to takethe field against America's ancient allies, died December 14, 1799, atMount Vernon, deeply mourned by all his countrymen, and honored even bythe former enemies of American independence. I will only repeat, withWashington Irving, that "with us his memory remains a national property, where all sympathies throughout our widely extended and diversifiedempire meet in unison. Under all dissensions and amid all the storms ofparty, his precepts and example speak to us from the grave with apaternal appeal; and his name--by all revered--forms a universal tie ofbrotherhood--a watchword of our Union. "

 * * *

While the nation heartily sustained the government in the conflict withFrance the enactment of the Alien and Sedition Laws, which abridgedAmerican liberty and the freedom of speech and of the press, wasgenerally resented by the people. The public indignation which these lawsaroused resulted in the banishment of the Federalist party from power, and the election of the great Republican--or Democrat--Thomas Jefferson, as President in 1800, with Aaron Burr as Vice-President. Jefferson wasthe first President inaugurated in the city of Washington. The leadingfeatures of his administration were the Louisiana Purchase, the Burrconspiracy and the war with the Barbary States--the first alonesufficient to make Jefferson's presidency the most memorable between thatof Washington and Abraham Lincoln. 

Jefferson's foresight in the Louisiana Purchase appears all the granderwhen we consider the ignorance which prevailed regarding the magnificentPacific region up to the birth of a generation which is still in middlelife. The Louisiana Purchase was the second great gift of France toAmerica, and as the first came to us because the French hated and desiredto weaken England, so the second came because Napoleon feared thatLouisiana would fall into the hands of England. It should be rememberedthat the Louisiana Purchase included not only the now flourishing Stateat the mouth of the Mississippi, but also Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and probably the twoDakotas. It meant the control of the Mississippi and the rescue of thatgreat artery of American commerce forever from foreign dominion. Francehad acquired this vast property from Spain in 1800. The Amiens Treaty of1802, to which France and England were the principal parties, was shortlived, and for some time before the new rupture Napoleon saw that itwould be his best policy to concentrate his strength in Europe, and notendeavor to defend distant possessions in America. At the same time itwas evident to President Jefferson that the continued occupation of thecity of New Orleans by a foreign power was a menace to American interestsin the rapidly growing West. The President therefore instructed Robert R. Livingston, the American Minister to Paris, to propose to Napoleon thecession to the United States of New Orleans and adjoining territory, sufficient to secure the free navigation of the Mississippi. JamesMonroe, American Minister to England, was associated with Livingston inthe negotiations. The American representatives were surprised and elatedupon learning from M. Barbé-Marbois, Napoleon's Minister of Finance, thatthe First Consul was ready to dispose of all Louisiana to the UnitedStates. Barbé-Marbois conducted the negotiations on behalf of France;both parties were anxious to arrive at a settlement before the Englishshould have an opportunity to attack New Orleans, and on April 30, 1803, the treaty was signed by which the United States, for the sum of$15, 000, 000, came into possession of an immense territory extending fromthe North Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. The loan necessary wasnegotiated through the celebrated house of Hope, of Amsterdam, the moneywas paid to France, and the United States entered upon its vast estate. 

The very next year President Jefferson sent out the expedition of Lewisand Clark to the headwaters of the Columbia River, and caused a completesurvey to be made to its mouth. This river had been discovered in 1792, by Captain Robert Gray, a native of Tiverton, Rhode Island, and a famousnavigator, who sailed in a ship fitted out by Boston merchants. HadJefferson's energetic action been followed up with equal vigor by hissuccessors we would never have had the Oregon boundary dispute, andMarcus Whitman would never have felt summoned to take that famous ride soworthily chronicled by Oliver W. Nixon. 

 * * *

With Aaron Burr's alleged treason I will deal very briefly. It willalways be a disputed point whether that restless and unprincipled and yetgifted person plotted to alienate territory of the United States, or onlyto play the part of a Northman in territory belonging to Spain. AdmittingBurr to be innocent of designs against the United States, he wasnevertheless guilty of quasi-treason if he schemed to erect a separategovernment within Spanish possessions to which the American Republic wasalready heir apparent. The murder of Alexander Hamilton by Burr under theforms of a duel, which preceded his mysterious expedition in thesouthwest, and his subsequent attempt to claim British allegiance on theground that he had been a British subject before the Revolution, wereother extraordinary incidents in the career of a man in whomdistinguished talents were utterly without the anchor of morality. 

 * * *

No war in which the United States has been engaged witnessed more heroicdeeds than that with the Barbary States. It was a struggle in which theyoungest of civilized nations met the semi-barbarous masters of NorthernAfrica, the heirs of Mahomet and conquerors of the Constantines. Attendedby the loss of some precious lives, which were deeply mourned and aregratefully remembered, the chastisement of the corsairs proved excellentschooling for the more serious war with Great Britain. The struggle withthe pirates was largely due to the hostile influence exerted by Englandwith a view to the destruction of American commerce. In 1793 the Britishgovernment actually procured a truce between Algiers and Portugal, inorder that the Algerians might have free rein in preying upon Americanand other merchantmen, and it may be said that piracy in theMediterranean was under British protection. The American people for atime paid the tribute which the pirates demanded, but at length revoltedagainst the indignity. The war began with disaster. The American frigatePhiladelphia, Captain William Bainbridge, ran on a reef in the harbor ofTripoli, and all on board were made prisoners. The Bashaw held hiscaptives for ransom, and treated them sometimes with indulgence and atother times with severity, as he thought best for his interests. Itshould not be forgotten by the American people that Mr. Nissen, theDanish consul, devoted himself assiduously to the welfare of theprisoners, and was instrumental in many ways in assisting the Americancause, while Captain Bainbridge also managed to give most valuableinformation to Captain Edward Preble, in command of the Americansquadron. 

One suggestion made by Captain Bainbridge was that the Philadelphia, which the Tripolitans had succeeded in raising, should be destroyed ather anchorage in the harbor. The youthful Lieutenant Decatur headed thisperilous enterprise. With the officers and men under his command, including Lieutenant James Lawrence and others afterward distinguished inAmerican naval history, Decatur entered the harbor at night in a smallvessel or "ketch" called the Mastico, disguised as a trader from Malta. The watchword was "Philadelphia, " and strict orders were given not todischarge any firearms, except in great emergency. A challenge from theTripolitans on the Philadelphia was met by a statement from the Maltesepilot that the Mastico had just arrived from Malta, had been damaged in agale, and lost her anchors, and desired to make fast to the frigate'scables until another anchor could be procured. The Turks lowered a boatwith a hawser, intending to secure the ketch to their stern, instead ofto the cables, and the Americans accepted the hawser, intimating inbroken Italian that they would do as desired. At the same time theAmericans made fast to the Philadelphia's fore chains, and a strong pullby the men, who were mostly lying down in order to remain unseen by theTurks, swung the ketch alongside the frigate. One of the Turks lookingover the side saw the men hauling on the line, and sent up thecry--"Americano!"

The Turks succeeded in severing the line, but too late. The Americanssprang for the Philadelphia's deck and charged upon the astonished enemy. In ten minutes from the appearance of the first American on deck thevessel was in our hands. Combustibles were then passed from the ketch, and the Philadelphia was set on fire. While the Americans safely madetheir escape the burning frigate lighted up the harbor, and her shottedguns boomed warning to the Bashaw of what he might yet expect fromAmerican courage and daring. Of the Tripolitans on board the Philadelphiamany doubtless perished, and some swam ashore. Only one prisoner wastaken, a wounded Tripolitan, who swam to the ketch, and whose life wasspared, notwithstanding strict orders not to take prisoners. 

The Bashaw treated his captives more rigorously than ever, after thissplendid exploit, fearing apparently that they might rise and capture hisown castle--a fear not without foundation, as a rising with that objectwas for some time contemplated. The ketch in which Decatur made hisdaring and successful expedition was christened the Intrepid, and fittedup as a floating mine with the purpose of sending her into the harbor, and exploding her in the midst of the Tripolitan shipping. It was anenterprise likely to be attended by the destruction of all engaged in it, but volunteers were not lacking. Master-Commandant Richard Somers, Decatur's bosom friend, was in charge and Midshipman Henry Wadsworth, uncle of the poet Longfellow, was second in command. Midshipman JosephIsrael also managed to get on the ketch unobserved, and was permitted toremain. The crew consisted of ten seamen from the Nautilus and theConstitution, all volunteers. The fate of these gallant men was neverknown, except that it is certain that they all perished upon theexplosion of the Intrepid. Bodies found mangled beyond recognition wereunquestionably the remains of these heroes, and were buried on the beachoutside the town of Tripoli. 

The attack was conducted with unceasing vigor, not only on sea, but onland, the Americans literally carrying the war into Africa by incitingHamet, the deposed Bashaw of Tripoli, to attack the brother who hadusurped his throne. William Eaton, the American consul at Tunis, ledHamet's army, and with the cooperation of the fleet, made a successfulattack upon Derne, the capital of the richest province of Tripoli. Theloss of this important fortress brought the reigning Bashaw to terms, andhe signed a treaty giving up all claims to tribute, and releasing theAmerican prisoners on payment of sixty thousand dollars. A mostadvantageous peace was likewise dictated to the Bey of Tunis, who hadalso been induced by English influences to assume a menacing attitudetoward the Americans, and the schemes of Great Britain to prevent, through the agency of Barbary pirates, the growth of American commerce, were disappointed. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

French Decrees and British Orders in Council--Damage to AmericanCommerce--The Embargo--Causes of the War of 1812--The Chesapeake and theLeopard--President and Little Belt--War Declared--Mr. Astor's Messenger--The Two Navies Compared--American Frigate Victories--Constitution andGuerriere--United States and Macedonian--Constitution and Java--AmericanSloop Victories--The Shannon and Chesapeake--"Don't Give Up the Ship. "

The Barbary pirates had been brought to terms, but American commerce wasbeing severely handled between French decrees and British orders incouncil. England had declared a blockade of all the coasts of Europeunder the control of France, and Napoleon from his camp at Berlin and hispalace at Milau retaliated by making British products contraband of warand subjecting to confiscation all vessels destined for British ports. Between these two mighty millstones the American carrying trade wassorely ground, and conditions were made far worse by the very means whichthe American government, in its comparative impotency, adopted to compelredress. The embargo was intended to inflict such injury on both Franceand England as to drive them into a recognition of America's rights as aneutral. Its only serious effect was to inflict an almost fatal wound onAmerican commerce, and the repeal of the first embargo came too late toundo the injury it had done. It was not as clearly apparent then as nowthat all restrictions on exportation chiefly injure the nation whichimposes them. The embargo played into the hands of the British byeffecting through our own agency what England had vainly sought toaccomplish through others. England commanding every sea with her fleetssuffered but slight inconvenience by the withdrawal of American shippingfrom her ports, while Americans suffered most severely. 

The British blockade of continental Europe would not, however, have ledto the conflict which broke out in 1812. Other aggressions, offensive toAmerican independence, and in grievous violation of American nationalrights, obliged Congress reluctantly to declare war, after years ofirritation and provocation on the part of England. The British stoppedAmerican vessels on the high seas, and impressed American seamen into theBritish naval service. American merchantmen were halted in mid-ocean anddeprived of the best men in their crews, who were forced to serve in theBritish navy. [1]

 [1] In the famous sea-fight between the American frigate United States and the British frigate Macedonian several American seamen on the British vessel, through their spokesman, John Card, who was described by one of his shipmates as being "as brave a seamen as ever trod a plank, " frankly told Captain Garden their objections to fighting the American flag. The British commander savagely ordered them back to their quarters, threatening to shoot them if they again made the request. Half an hour later Jack Card was stretched out on the Macedonian's deck weltering in his blood, slain by a shot from his countrymen. --_Maclay's History of the United States Navy, D. Appleton & Co. _

Thousands of American seamen were thus impressed, while American vesselswere seized by British cruisers, taken to port and unloaded and searchedfor contraband of war. The Leopard-Chesapeake affair was a crowningoutrage on the part of the British, and had it not been promptlydisavowed by the government at London, war would have been declared in1807 instead of 1812. The Chesapeake, an American frigate of thirty-sixguns, commanded by Captain James Barren, was hailed by the Englishfifty-gun frigate, Leopard, Captain Humphreys, in the open sea. Thelatter sent a lieutenant on board the Chesapeake, who handed to CaptainBarren an order signed by the British Vice-Admiral Berkeley, directingall commanders in Berkeley's squadron to board the Chesapeake whereverfound on the high seas, and search the vessel for deserters. CaptainBarren's ship was utterly unprepared for battle, but he gave orders toclear tor action. So shameful was the lack of preparation on theChesapeake that not a gun could be discharged until Lieutenant WilliamHenry Allen seized a live coal from the galley fire with his fingers andsent a shot in response to repeated broadsides from the Leopard. TheChesapeake hauled down her flag after losing three killed and eighteenwounded. The British then boarded the vessel and carried off four of thecrew, who were claimed as British deserters, although they all assertedto the last that they were American citizens. One of these men, JenkinRatford or John Wilson, was hanged at the yard-arm of the Britishman-of-war Halifax. The other three were sentenced each to receive fivehundred lashes, but the sentences were not carried out, and two of them, the third having died, were returned on board the Chesapeake. Someindemnity was paid and the British government recalled Vice-AdmiralBerkeley. 

The British continued to impress Americans into their service, and toannoy American shipping, and the American temper was gradually becominginflamed under repeated provocations. Nevertheless there was a powerfulsentiment opposed to war in the State of New York and in New England, andthe people generally hesitated to believe that war would be declared. In1811 the American frigate President avenged in some degree the Leopardoutrage by severely chastising the British twenty-two-gun ship LittleBelt, which lost eleven killed and twenty-one wounded in the encounter. The Little Belt appears to have fired the first shot. War was at lengthdeclared by Congress, and proclaimed by President James Madison, June 18, 1812. 

The news of war with Great Britain was carried, to New York by a specialcourier, and American merchants at once sent out a swift sailing vesselto warn American merchantmen in the ports of Northern Europe of the newdanger that threatened them. By this warning many American vessels weresaved from capture. Very different in result, although presumably not inintent, was the warning sent by John Jacob Astor, of New York, to hisagent across the border. Mr. Astor, upon receiving the news fromWashington, at once dispatched a messenger by swiftest express, toQueenstown, Canada, with the view of protecting as speedily as possibleMr. Astor's fur-trading interests. The messenger sped through thesettlements of western New York, by farms and villages calmly reposing inthe confidence of peace, and without saying a word of his momentoussecret, he crossed the Niagara River with his master's message. Therecipient of that message was a British subject, and felt bound by hisallegiance to communicate it to the authorities. The following morningthe people of Buffalo were surprised to see the Canadians descend upontheir harbor and seize the shipping within reach. 

 * * *

Hostilities were opened promptly on land and sea. The American navyconsisted only of seventeen vessels, 442 guns and 5025 men, while that ofGreat Britain included 1048 vessels, 27, 800 guns and 151, 572 men. It isno wonder that the American people hesitated to send forth theirmen-of-war against such tremendous odds, even although England's navy waslargely engaged in the tremendous conflict with France, or rather inkeeping Napoleon cribbed and cabined within his continental boundaries;and it is no wonder that British naval officers assumed to regard withcontempt the fir-built frigates which bore the Stars and Stripes. Thedefeat and capture of the British frigate Guerriere, forty-nine guns, Captain Dacres, by the American frigate Constitution, fifty-five guns, Captain Isaac Hull, made British contempt give place to surprise. In thisnaval battle the Americans proved their superiority in rapidity andaccuracy of fire, and it is perhaps needless to say that they showedthemselves fully the equals of the British in bravery. It is pleasant toread in the official report of Captain Dacres the following tribute tohis generous foe: "I feel it my duty to state that the conduct of CaptainHull and his officers to our men has been that of a brave enemy, thegreatest care being taken to prevent our men losing the smallest trifle, and the greatest attention being paid to the wounded. " The Guerriere losther second lieutenant, Henry Ready, and fourteen seamen killed, andCaptain Dacres, First Lieutenant Kent, Sailing Master Scott, two master'smates, one midshipman and fifty-seven sailors were wounded, six of thewounded afterward dying. The Constitution lost her first lieutenant ofmarines, William Sharp Bush, and six seamen killed, and her firstlieutenant, Charles Morris, her sailing master, four seamen and onemarine were wounded. Thus resulted the first naval combat between Britishand American built men-of-war. [2]

 [2] The Constitution may still be seen in the Navy Yard at Portsmouth, N. H. The following famous poem, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, saved the grand old vessel from destruction in 1833:

 "Ay, tear the tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle-shout, And burst the cannon's roar-- The meteor of the ocean air Shall sweep the clouds no more. 

 Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, Where knelt the vanquished foe, When winds were hurrying o'er the flood And waves were white below, No more shall feel the victor's tread, Or know the conquered knee-- The harpies of the shore shall pluck The eagle of the sea!

 Oh, better that her shattered hulk Should sink beneath the wave; Her thunders shook the mighty deep. And there should be her grave; Nail to the mast her holy flag, Set every threadbare sail, And give her to the god of storm The lightning and the gale!"

For rapid and accurate firing and destructive effect thereof upon theenemy the records of naval warfare probably offer nothing to surpass theconduct of the American frigate United States, fifty-four guns, CaptainDecatur, in battle with the British frigate Macedonian, forty-nine guns, Captain Garden. "The firing from the American frigate at close quarterswas terrific. Her cannon were handled with such rapidity that thereseemed to be one continuous flash from her broadside, and several timesCaptain Garden and his officers believed her to be on fire. * * * Herfiring was so rapid that 'in a few minutes she was enveloped in a cloudof smoke which from the Macedonian's quarter-deck appeared like a hugecloud rolling along the water, illuminated by lurid flashes of lightning, and emitting a continuous roar of thunder. ' But the unceasing storm ofround shot, grape and canister, and the occasional glimpse of the Starsand Stripes floating above the clouds of smoke, forcibly dispelled theillusion, and showed the Englishmen that they were dealing with an enemywho knew how to strike and who struck hard. * * * 'Grapeshot and canisterwere pouring through our port holes like leaden hail; the large shot cameagainst the ship's side, shaking her to the very keel, and passingthrough her timbers and scattering terrific splinters, which did moreappalling work than the shot itself. A constant stream of wounded menwere being hurried to the cockpit from all quarters of the ship. ' Andstill the American frigate kept up her merciless cannonading. As thebreeze occasionally made a rent in the smoke her officers could be seenwalking around her quarter-deck calmly directing the work of destruction, while her gun-crews were visible through the open ports deliberatelyloading and aiming their pieces. "[3] The action had lasted about an hourand a half, when the Macedonian struck. The United States, lost five menkilled and seven wounded; the Macedonian lost thirty-six killed andsixty-eight wounded. 

 [3] From statements of witnesses on the Macedonian, in Maclay's "History of the United States Navy. "

The next naval victory was won by Captain William Bainbridge, this timein command of the Constitution, forty-four guns, over the Britishthirty-eight-gun frigate Java, Captain Henry Lambert. The battle began at2. 40 p. M. , and at 4. 05 p. M. , the British frigate was "an unmanageablewreck. " The Java at length surrendered, having lost sixty killed, besidesone hundred and one wounded, while the loss of the Constitution was ninekilled and twenty-five wounded. Both commanders were wounded, the Britishcaptain mortally, and there was a touching scene when Captain Bainbridge, supported by his officers to the bedside of the dying Lambert, gave backto the latter his sword. 

 * * *

The British press foamed almost deliriously over these disasters to theirnavy, which robbed of half its luxury the imminent downfall of Napoleon. The London "Times" could hardly find words to express its emotion overthe fact that five hundred merchantmen and three frigates; had beencaptured in seven months by the Americans. An attempt was made to explainthe repeated and astounding defeats on the ocean by the plea that theAmerican frigates were almost ships of the line in disguise, and thattheir superior size and armament carried an unfair advantage. The sameplea could not be offered in explanation of the victories won by Americansloops, in the case of the American Hornet and British Peacock, of aboutequal strength, while the American Wasp was considerably inferior in gunsand weight of metal to the British Frolic. Master-Commandant JamesLawrence, of the Hornet, captured the Peacock in eleven minutes from thebeginning of the action, the American guns being fired so rapidly thatbuckets of water were constantly dashed on them to keep them cool. AHalifax paper said that "a vessel moored for the purpose of experimentcould not have been sunk sooner. It will not do for our vessels to fighttheirs single-handed. " The American eighteen-gun sloop-of-war Wasp, Master-Commandant Jacob Jones, had a longer fight with the Britishbrig-of-war Frolic, twenty-two guns, Captain Thomas Whinyates. The actionlasted forty-three minutes from the first broadside, and the Frolic wastaken by boarding. The Wasp had five killed and five wounded, and theFrolic fifteen killed and forty-seven wounded. The fact is, it was notthe number but the handling of the guns that won American victories. 

The capture of the American forty-nine-gun frigate Chesapeake, CaptainJames Lawrence, by the British fifty-two-gun frigate Shannon, CaptainPhilip Bowes Vere Broke, consoled the English in some degree for theirlosses, and the very exultation with which the news was received in GreatBritain showed the high estimate which the mistress of the seas hadformed of the American navy from previous experience during the war. It is but just to the gallant Lawrence to say that he had no fairopportunity to prepare for battle, that he had the poorest crew--largelyPortuguese and other riff-raff--ever put on board an American man-of-war, and that with a crew such as Hull or Decatur or Bainbridge had commanded, or that he had himself commanded on the Hornet, he might have recorded avictory instead of losing his ship and his life. At the same time it mustalso be admitted that Captain Broke was a superb naval officer, and thathis victory was chiefly due to the perfect discipline and devotion of hismen, with whom he was thoroughly acquainted, whereas Lawrence had beenbut a few days in command of the Chesapeake. When mortally wounded andcarried below, Lawrence cried: "Keep the guns going!" "Fight her till shestrikes or sinks!" and his last words were--"Don't give up the ship!" TheBritish boarded the Chesapeake, after a brief cannonading. The Americanson board made a desperate resistance, and it is a question whether therewas any formal surrender. The Chesapeake lost forty-seven killed andninety-nine wounded, and of the latter fourteen afterward died. TheShannon lost twenty-four killed and fifty-nine wounded. There couldhardly have been greater joy in England over a Peninsular victory. Parliament acclaimed, the guns of the Tower thundered, and Captain Brokewas made a baronet and a Knight Commander of the Bath. America keenlyfelt the defeat, but honored the heroic dead, and a gold medal was votedto the nearest male descendant of Captain Lawrence. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The War on Land--Tecumseh's Indian Confederacy--Harrison at Tippecanoe--General Hull and General Brock--A Fatal Armistice--Surrender ofDetroit--English Masters of Michigan--General Harrison Takes Commandin the Northwest--Harrison's Answer to Proctor--"He Will Never Have ThisPost Surrendered"--Crogan's Brave Defence--The British Retreat--War onthe Niagara Frontier--Battle of Queenstown--Death of Brock--ColonelWinfield Scott and the English Doctrine of Perpetual Allegiance. 

The sea victories were a fortunate offset to American disasters on land. With the aid of the great Indian chieftain Tecumseh, the British set outto conquer the Northwest. Tecumseh, chief of the Shawaneese, was probablythe ablest Indian that the white man had ever met. He resolved early inlife to make a final stand against the progress of the palefaces. Hisscheme was at first not of a warlike nature, for he began with a secretcouncil of representative Indians about the year 1806, the object ofwhich was to form an Indian confederacy to prevent the further sale oflands to the United States, except by consent of the confederacy, whichwas to include the entire Indian population of the Northwest. Thus theAmerican Union was to be met by an Indian union. Tecumseh had a brother, known in history as "The Prophet, " who visited the various tribes andbrought the influence of superstition to bear in favor of Tecumseh'sprojects. Governor William Henry Harrison, whose Territory of Indianaincluded the present States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, viewed Tecumseh's operations with alarm, although assured by thatchieftain that his intentions were peaceful. In order to remove any justground for discontent Governor Harrison offered to restore to the Indiansany lands that had not been fairly purchased. Tecumseh met GovernorHarrison at Vincennes, and recited the old story of Indian wrongs. Aftercomplaining of white duplicity in obtaining sales of land, andendeavoring to sow strife between the tribes, Tecumseh added: "How can wehave confidence in the white people? When Jesus Christ came upon theearth, you killed him and nailed him on a cross. You thought he was dead, but you were mistaken. Everything I have said to you is the truth. TheGreat Spirit has inspired me. " The first interview ended in greatexcitement, but a second meeting, on the following day, was more decorousin character. Nothing came of these discussions, as Tecumseh's demand forthe restoration of all Indian lands purchased from single tribes couldobviously not be granted. Hostilities followed, and the battle ofTippecanoe was fought during the absence of Tecumseh, who on going Southto visit the Cherokees and other tribes had given strict orders to hisbrother, the Prophet, not to attack the Americans. The Indians attempteda surprise after midnight, November 7, 1811. They fought furiously, andif Harrison had been a Braddock, the story of Duquesne might have beenrepeated. But Harrison understood frontier warfare, and he directed hismen so skillfully, although many of them had never been under firebefore, that the Indians were at length repulsed. One of Harrison'sorders, which probably saved his army, was to extinguish the campfires, so that white and Indian fought in the darkness on equal terms. TheAmerican loss was thirty-seven killed and 151 wounded, and that of theIndians somewhat smaller. In effect Tippecanoe was a decisive victory forthe Americans, and broke the spell in which Tecumseh and the Prophet hadheld the tribes. 

 * * *

The War of 1812 revived the hopes of the great Indian chieftain, and withthe rank of brigadier-general in the British army he set about to assistGeneral Isaac Brock, the Governor of Upper Canada, in the task ofwresting the Northwest from the Americans. General William Hull, an uncleof Captain Isaac Hull, the commander of the Constitution, was Governor ofthe Territory of Michigan, which had been organized in 1805 and nowcontained about 5000 inhabitants. To General Hull was given the commandof the forces intended for defensive and offensive operations on theUpper Lakes. A small garrison of United States troops was stationed atMichilimacinac and one at Chicago, which were the outposts ofcivilization. The English near Detroit appear to have been aware of thedeclaration of war before the news reached General Hull, and while thelatter was moving with an extreme caution excusable only on the ground ofage, Brock swiftly laid out and as swiftly entered upon an aggressivecampaign. The American outposts were captured by the British and Indians, and the garrison of Fort Dearborn--Chicago--was cruelly massacred. Onthis occasion Mr. John Kinzie, the first settler at Chicago, who as atrader was much liked by the Indians, did noble service, with hisexcellent wife, in saving the lives of the soldiers' families. Mrs. Heald, the wife of Captain Heald, was ransomed for ten bottles of whiskeyand a mule, just as an Indian was about to scalp her. 

At this critical juncture General Hull was weakened, and the Britishforces opposed to him were encouraged by the news that General HenryDearborn, commander of the American troops in the Northern Department, instead of invading Canada from the Niagara frontier, in obedience to hisinstructions, had agreed to a provisional armistice with Sir GeorgePrevost, the governor-general of Canada. The ground for the armistice wasthat England had revoked the orders in council obnoxious to Americans, five days after the declaration of war by the United States, and thatintended peace negotiations would therefore have in all probability ahappy result. As a matter of fact England had not yielded, and had nointention, as it proved, of yielding on the question of impressment, which was the principal American grievance. But even if England hadsurrendered every point it was an outrageous assumption on the part ofGeneral Dearborn to depart from the line of military instructions andmilitary duty upon any representation foreign to that duty. By his errorin this regard General Dearborn injured the American cause more than asevere defeat would have done, leaving as he did General Hull and hishandful of men, who were not included in the armistice, to bear the bruntof British hostility. The government at Washington disapproved GeneralDearborn's course, and the armistice was cancelled, but not in time toprevent the loss of Detroit. 

General Hull had only eight hundred men in Detroit when General Brockattacked the place by land and water, with a much more numerous force ofBritish and Indians, assisted by ships of war. It is often asserted thatGeneral Hull surrendered the place without serious defence. This is nottrue. In addition to the official statements of both sides, and GeneralHull's own vindication, the journal of an Ohio soldier named Claypool whowas in the American ranks at the time, shows that the Americans returnedthe British fire vigorously during August 15, and for several hours onthe following day, when General Hull, in view of the overwhelming forceopposed to him, capitulated. General Hull was afterward tried bycourt-martial and sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carriedout, the United States escaping a stain like that which attaches toEngland for the fate of Admiral Byng. Hull had proven during theRevolution that he was no coward. Whatever may have been his errors ofjudgment before the surrender, at the time of the surrender Detroit wasindefensible. 

 * * *

The English were now masters of Michigan Territory, and the westernforests were alive with Indians on the warpath. Fort Wayne was besieged, and Captain Zachary Taylor bravely defended Fort Harrison. GeneralHarrison, appointed to the command of the Northwestern army, promptlyrelieved both posts, and the government ordered that ten thousand menshould be raised to recover Detroit and invade Canada. General JamesWinchester, in command of the advance corps of Harrison's forces, imprudently engaged in conflict with a much more numerous body of Britishat Frenchtown, on the River Raisin. Nearly all his troops, numberingabout eight hundred, were killed or captured, and some of the captiveswere massacred. General Winchester himself was taken prisoner. Soonafterward the British General Proctor issued a proclamation requiring thecitizens of Michigan to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown, or leave the Territory. The American residents in Detroit, under theterms of the capitulation, remained undisturbed in their homes, but theirhearts were continually wrung by the spectacle of cruelties practiced byIndian allies of the British upon American captives. Many families partedwith all but necessary wearing apparel to redeem the sufferers, andprivate houses were turned into hospitals for their relief. Mr. Kinzie, of Chicago, who was now a paroled prisoner in Detroit, was foremost inthis work of patriotism and humanity. 

The defeat at the River Raisin was a hard blow to General Harrison, especially as the troops to make up his army of ten thousand men wereslow in arriving. He did not lose courage, however, and when GeneralProctor sent an imperious demand for the surrender of Fort Meigs, Harrison answered: "He will never have this post surrendered to him uponany terms. Should it fall into his hands, it will be in a mannercalculated to do him more honor and to give him larger claims upon thegratitude of his government than any capitulation could possibly do. ""There will be none of us left to kill" was the reply of Captain Croganat Fort Stephenson, when Proctor's messenger menaced him with Indianvengeance, should he fail to surrender. Harrison, reinforced by GeneralClay Green, from Kentucky, compelled the besiegers to withdraw, and theheroic Crogan mowed down with one discharge of his single cannon morethan fifty of the assailants who were advancing to carry his fort bystorm. Hardly had the remainder fled when the Americans let down pails ofwater from the wall of the fort for the relief of their wounded enemies. The formation of an army for the invasion of Canada now went forward inearnest, while the retreat of the British shook the confidence ofTecumseh and his Indian followers in England's ability to protect themagainst the Americans. 

The Niagara frontier was the scene of desultory warfare, with variedfortune for both sides. The battle of Queenstown, October 13, 1812, although it resulted in the defeat and capture of the Americans engagedand witnessed a pitiable exhibition of cowardice on the part ofmilitiamen who refused to cross the river to the aid of their countrymen, was attended by a loss for the Canadians that more than counterbalancedtheir victory, in the death of Major-General Isaac Brock, whosewell-deserved monument is a conspicuous feature of the Niagara landscape. Among the Americans who surrendered on this occasion was Colonel WinfieldScott, who, while himself a prisoner, took a resolute and memorable standagainst the British claim that certain Irishmen captured in the Americanranks should be sent to England to be tried for treason. The Irishmen, twenty-three in number, were put in irons and deported to England, but inthe following May Colonel Scott, after the battle of Fort George, selected twenty-three British prisoners, not of Irish birth, to be dealtwith as the British authorities should deal with the Irish-Americans. Thelatter were finally released and returned to America, and the Britishdoctrine of perpetual allegiance was shattered without treaty ordiplomacy. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Battle of Lake Erie--Master-Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry--Building aFleet--Perry on the Lake--A Duel of Long Guns--Fearful Slaughter on theLawrence--"Can Any of the Wounded Pull a Rope?"--At Close Quarters--Victory in Fifteen Minutes--"We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours"--The Father of Chicago Sees the End of the Battle--The BritishEvacuate Detroit--General Harrison's Victory at the Thames--TecumsehSlain--The Struggle in the Southwest--Andrew Jackson in Command--Battleof Horseshoe Bend--The Essex in the Pacific--Defeat and Victory on theOcean--Captain Porter's Brave Defence--Burning of Newark--Massacre atFort Niagara--Chippewa and Lundy's Lane--Devastation by the BritishFleet--British Vandalism at Washington--Attempt on Baltimore--"The StarSpangled Banner. "

And now came the struggle for the control of Lake Erie--a struggle onwhich depended whether England should succeed in preventing the westerngrowth of the United States, or be driven forever from the soil whichAmericans claimed as their own. Master-Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry wasbut twenty-six years of age when the Navy Department called him from hispleasant home at Newport and sent him to command a navy summoned from theprimeval forests of the Northwest. Young as he was Perry had seen servicein the wars with France and Tripoli, and he had requested the NavyDepartment at the commencement of the conflict with England to send himwhere he could meet the enemies of his country. Perry arrived at Erie, then known as Presque Isle, in March, 1813. Sailing Master Daniel Dobbinsand Noah Brown, a shipwright from New York, were busily at work on thenew fleet. Two brigs, the Niagara and the Lawrence, were built with whiteand black oak and chestnut frames, the outside planking being of oak andthe decks of pine. Two gunboats were newly planked up, and work on aschooner was just begun. The vessels had to be vigilantly guarded againstattack by the British, who were fully aware of the work being done. Thecapture of Fort George left the Niagara River open, and several Americanvessels which had been unable before to pass the Canadian batteries werenow, with great exertion, drawn into the lake. These were the brigCaledonia, the schooners Somers, Tigress and Ohio, and the sloop Trippe. An English squadron set out to intercept the new arrivals, but Perrysucceeded in gaining the harbor of Erie before the enemy made theirappearance. 

The American ships were ready for sea on July 10, but officers andsailors were lacking, and it was not until about the close of the monththat Perry had three hundred men to man his ten vessels. While theBritish squadron, under Captain Robert Heriot Barclay maintained avigorous blockade, Perry found that his new brigs could not cross the barwithout landing their guns and being blocked up on scows. CommanderBarclay, thinking that Perry could not move, made a visit of ceremonywith his squadron to Port Dover, on the Canadian side. During Barclay'sabsence Perry got the Lawrence and Niagara over the bar, and the Britishcommander was astonished, when he returned on the morning of August 5, tosee the American fleet riding at anchor, and ready for battle. Barclaywished to delay the naval combat until after the completion at Malden ofa ten-gun ship called the Detroit, which was to be added to his force, and he therefore put into that harbor. [1] Perry improved the delay toexercise his crews, largely made up of soldiers, in seamanship. 

 [1] Malden, on the Detroit River, eighteen miles below the city of Detroit, is now known as Amherstburg. 

It was not until September 10 that the British squadron came out to givebattle. Master-Commandant Perry had nine vessels mounting fifty-fourguns, with 1536 pounds of metal. The British squadron consisted of sixvessels, mounting sixty-three guns, with a total weight of 852 pounds. The American vessels were manned by 490 men and the British by 502 menand boys. In discipline, training and physical condition, however, thedifference of crews was much more in favor of the British than thenumbers indicate. The brig Lawrence was Perry's flagship; Barclay'spennant flew on the Detroit. As the American vessels stood out to seaPerry hoisted a large blue flag with the words of the dying Lawrence inwhite muslin--"Don't give up the ship!" He prepared for defeat as well asfor victory, by gathering all his important papers in a package weightedand ready to be thrown overboard in the event of disaster. It may be saidthat Perry fought the earlier part of the battle almost alone, aslow-sailing brig, the Caledonia, being in line ahead of the Niagara, andPerry, having given orders that the vessels should preserve theirstations. 

In the duel of long guns the British had a decided advantage and theirfire being concentrated on the Lawrence that vessel soon became a wreck. Of one hundred and three men fit for duty on board the American flagship, eighty-three were killed or wounded. These figures sufficiently indicatethe carnage; but Perry fought on. "Can any of the wounded pull a rope?"cried Perry, and mangled men crawled out to help in training the guns. For nearly three hours the Lawrence with the schooners Ariel andScorpion, fought the British fleet. Then Master-Commandant Elliott, ofthe Niagara, fearing Perry had been killed, undertook, notwithstandingPerry's previous orders, to go out of line to the help of the Lawrence. Perry then changed his flag to the Niagara, leaving orders with FirstLieutenant John J. Yarnall, of the Lawrence, to hold out to the last. Perry at once sent Master-Commandant Elliott in a boat to bring up theschooners, and meantime Lieutenant Yarnall, deciding that furtherresistance would mean the destruction of all on board, lowered the flagon the Lawrence. The English thought they were already victors, and gavethree cheers, but the Lawrence drifted out of range before they couldtake possession of her, and the Stars and Stripes were raised again overher blood-stained decks. 

The battle had in truth only begun, but was soon to end. The remainder ofthe American squadron closed in on the English vessels, raking them foreand aft. The English officers and men were swept from their decks by thehurricane of iron. It was the United States and the Macedonian on asmaller scale. The American cannonade at close quarters was so fast andfurious that the British ships were soon in a condition that left nochoice save between sinking or surrender. In fifteen minutes after theAmericans closed in a British officer waved a white hand-kerchief. Theenemy had struck. Two of the English vessels, the Chippewa and the LittleBelt, sought to escape to Maiden, but were pursued and captured by thesloop Trippe and the Scorpion. [2] Perry proceeded to the Lawrence, and onthe decks of his flagship, still slippery with blood, he received thesurrender of the English officers. Perry wrote with a pencil on the backof an old letter his famous dispatch: "We have met the enemy, and theyare ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop. " TheAmericans lost in the battle twenty-seven killed and ninety-six wounded, of whom twenty-two were killed and sixty-one wounded on board theLawrence. Twelve of the American quarter-deck officers were killed. TheBritish lost forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded, making a total ofone hundred and thirty-five. Commander Barclay, one of Nelson's veterans, had lost an arm in a previous naval engagement. He gave his men anadmirable example of courage, being twice wounded, once in the thigh andonce in the shoulder, thus being deprived of the use of his remainingarm. Captain Finnis, of the Queen Charlotte, was mortally wounded, anddied on the same evening. 

 [2] "At half past two, the wind springing up, Captain Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, the Niagara, into close action. I immediately went on board of her, when he anticipated my wish by volunteering to bring the schooners, which had been kept astern by the lightness of the wind, into close action. At forty-five minutes past two the signal was made for close action. The Niagara being very little injured I determined to pass through the enemy's line, bore up and passed ahead of their two ships and a brig, large schooner and sloop from the larboard side, at half pistol shot distance. The smaller vessels at this time having gotten within grape and canister distance, under the direction of Captain Elliott, and keeping up a well-directed fire, the two ships, a brig and a schooner, surrendered, a schooner and a sloop making a vain attempt to escape. "--_Perry's account of the battle. _

Thousands on the American and British shores witnessed or listened to theconflict, conscious that upon the result depended the future of theNorthwest. None listened with more patriotic eagerness than John Kinzie, already mentioned as the first resident of Chicago, then a prisoner atMaiden, having been removed from Detroit on suspicion that he was incorrespondence with General Harrison. Kinzie was taking a promenade underguard, when he heard the guns on Lake Erie. The time allotted to theprisoner for his daily walk expired, but neither he nor his guardobserved the fact, so anxiously were they catching every sound from whatthey now felt sure was an engagement between ships of war. At length Mr. Kinzie was reminded that the hour for his return to confinement hadarrived. He pleaded for another half hour. 

"Let me stay, " said he, "till we can learn how the battle has gone. "

Very soon a sloop appeared under press of sail, rounding the point, andpresently two vessels in chase of her. 

"She is running--she bears the British colors, " cried Kinzie--"yes, yes, they are lowering--they are striking her flag! Now"--turning to thesoldiers, "I will go back to prison contented. I know how the battle hasgone. "

The sloop was the Little Belt, the last of the British fleet tosurrender, after a vain attempt to escape. The Father of Chicago had seenthe end of the battle which made possible the Chicago of to-day. [3]

 [3] John Kinzie was born at Quebec in 1763. After the war he went back to Chicago, and died January 6, 1828, aged 65 years. 

Perry's victory compelled the enemy to evacuate Detroit, and all theirposts in American territory except Michilimacinac, which place remainedin the possession of the British until the close of the war. Soon afterthe battle of Lake Erie, General Harrison crossed to the Canadian shore, entered Maiden, and then passed on in pursuit of Proctor and Tecumseh, who were in full retreat up the valley of the Thames. In the battle ofthe Thames, which followed, the British were completely routed, andTecumseh was slain. The Northwest was now secure. The British had beendriven back and their Indian ally, Tecumseh, with his great scheme of anindependent Indian power, had passed away. 

 * * *

In the Southwest, however, the struggle between whites and Indianscontinued to rage, the latter being led by a half-breed Creek namedWeathersford. The massacre of more than four hundred men, women andchildren by the Creeks at Fort Mimms, in what is now Alabama, aroused thefrontiers to fury, and Andrew Jackson, already known as "Old Hickory, "the idol of his troops and the terror of the feeble War Department, tookthe field at the head of twenty-five hundred men. He showed himself amaster of forest warfare, and in the bloody battle of Horseshoe Bend hebroke the strength of the Creeks forever. Weathersford sought the tent ofhis conqueror, and asked for mercy for his people--not for himself. Jackson, who could respect in others the courage with which he was soeminently endowed, granted generous terms to the vanquished, andWeathersford lived thereafter in harmony with the whites. The autumn of1813 witnessed the subjection of the hostile Indian tribes from the Lakesto the Gulf. 

 * * *

The American navy continued to distinguish itself on the ocean as on thelakes, in heroic defeat as well as in signal victory. While Captain DavidPorter, in the Essex, swept British commerce and privateers from thePacific, starting out with a frigate and starting home with a fleet, alltaken by himself during a cruise unsurpassed for skill, daring andsuccess, Master-Commandant William Henry Allen, of the American brigArgus, lost his life and his vessel in battle with the British brigPelican. The defeat of the Argus is believed to have been caused by theuse of defective powder, which had been taken from on board a prize, andwhich did not give the cannon shot force enough to do serious damage tothe enemy. Allen's death was due to his remaining on deck to direct hismen after he had been seriously wounded. He was one of the best officersin the navy. The defeat and capture of the British brig-of-war Boxer, fourteen guns, after a sharp engagement, by the American schoonerEnterprise, sixteen guns, in some degree compensated for the loss of theArgus. Captain Samuel Blythe, of the Boxer, nailed his colors to the mastand was killed at the first broadside. Lieutenant William Burrows, of theEnterprise, was mortally wounded, but lived long enough to have theBritish commander's sword placed in his hands. The splendid cruise of theEssex ended most unfortunately at Valparaiso, where the frigate wasattacked while in port by the British thirty-six-gun frigate Phoebe andeighteen-gun ship-sloop Cherub. The Essex was in a disabled condition. The British stood off beyond reach of the American's short guns, and keptup a terrific cannonade with their long guns, of which the two Britishvessels had thirty-eight and the Essex only six. Captain Porter held outfor about two hours under these unequal conditions, while his men wereslaughtered and his vessel cut to pieces--he himself being foremost inexposure and danger. At length he surrendered. "Her colors, " said theBritish commander, "were not struck until the loss in killed and woundedwas so awfully great, and her shattered condition so seriously bad, as torender further resistance unavailing. "

 * * *

Fresh bitterness was added to the struggle about the close of 1813 by theimprudent and inhuman action of General McClure, the American commanderat Fort George, in setting fire to the Canadian village of Newark inalmost the depth of winter and turning out the inhabitants homelesswanderers in the snow. This outrage provoked but did not justify themassacre by the British of the helpless sick and unresisting at FortNiagara, and the wasting of villages and settlements on the American sideof the frontier. The invasion of Canada in 1814 by the Americans underGeneral Jacob Brown proved little more than a border raid, although theAmericans won a well-fought battle at Chippewa and a costly victory atLundy's Lane, on both of which occasions General Winfield Scott gainedmerited distinction. The tide of war rolled back and forth a good deallike the old border strife between Scotland and England. Each side feltthat it had wrongs to avenge, and wounds were inflicted by petty raidsand skirmishes deeper and more rankling than those of a regular campaign. While these were the conditions on the northern frontier, the shores ofthe Republic were harassed by the fleet of Admiral Cockburn from DelawareBay to Florida. Villages were plundered, plantations devastated andslaves carried off under the false promise of freedom, to be sold in theWest Indies. The people living on and near the coast were kept inceaseless alarm by these marauders, who descended in unexpected places, and inflicted all the damage within their power. 

The overthrow of Napoleon in 1814, left the United States alone inhostility to Napoleon's triumphant foe, and the British governmentprepared to carry on the war vigorously. A powerful fleet appeared inChesapeake Bay, and landed an army of about five thousand men under thecommand of General Robert Ross. The authorities at Washington wereentirely unprepared for the attack, and the British, after defeating anAmerican force, more like a mob than an army, at the battle ofBladensburg, marched into Washington. There, in a manner worthy ofvandals, the public buildings, including the Capitol and the President'shouse, were given to the flames. While this act of barbarism wasdisapproved by the English people, it is not to be forgotten that it washailed with delight and laudation by the British Government, and that amonument to General Ross was erected in Westminster Abbey. The Britishfollowed up the firing of Washington by an effort to capture Baltimore. The brave defenders of Fort McHenry held out successfully againstCockburn's fleet, and General Ross lost his life while attempting toco-operate with the fleet. Francis S. Key, a resident of Georgetown, D. C. , was detained on board a British ship while Fort McHenry was beingbombarded, and in the depth of his anxiety for his country's flag hewrote that famous song, "The Star Spangled Banner. " Finding that theirvandalism only served to inflame American patriotism instead of"chastising the Americans into submission, " as Cockburn had been orderedto do, the invaders withdrew to their vessels. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

British Designs on the Southwest--New Orleans as a City of Refuge--TheBaratarians--The Pirates Reject British Advances--General Jackson StormsPensacola--Captain Reid's Splendid Fight at Fayal--Edward LivingstonAdvises Jackson--Cotton Bales for Redoubts--The British Invasion--JacksonAttacks the British at Villere's--The Opposing Armies--General PakenhamAttempts to Carry Jackson's Lines by Storm--The British Charge--They AreDefeated with Frightful Slaughter--Pakenham Killed--Last Naval Engagement--The President-Endymion Fight--Peace--England Deserts the Indians asShe Had Deserted the Tories--Decatur Chastises the Algerians. 

An invasion of the Southwest by way of the Mississippi, and the seizureof New Orleans, were also included in the British plans. New Orleans atthis time, although many good people were included among its inhabitants, attracted the refuse of the United States. The character of the place canbe judged from an incident which occurred in Boston about the period ofwhich I am writing. A merchant who had formed an establishment inLouisiana, happening to be in Boston, saw in a newspaper of that city avessel advertised to sail thence for New Orleans. He called upon theowner, and asked him to consign the ship to his house. The owner told theapplicant in strict confidence that he had no intention of sending thevessel to New Orleans, but had advertised that alleged destination in thehope that among the persons applying for a passage he should find arascal who had defrauded one of his friends out of a considerable sum ofmoney, "New Orleans, " he added, "being the natural rendezvous of roguesand scoundrels. " Among persons answering the latter description were thepirates known as "Baratarians, " because they lived on Barataria Bay, justwest of the mouths of the Mississippi River. They pretended to prey uponSpanish commerce only, but they made very little distinction and soldtheir plunder openly in the markets of New Orleans. The slave-trade was, however, their chief resource. They captured Spanish and other slaves onthe high seas, and sold them to planters who were glad to buy for from$150 to $200 each, negroes worth three or four times that amount in theregular market. Jean Lafitte was the chief of these marauders. AFrenchman by origin he felt some attachment, it appears, to the countrywhich tolerated him and his fellow-pirates, and when the commander of theBritish Gulf Squadron offered to pay the Baratarians to join him in anattack on New Orleans, Lafitte at once sent the dispatches received fromthe British to Governor Claiborne, of Louisiana. The people of NewOrleans, under the leadership of Edward Livingston, the noted jurist, andformer mayor of New York, organized a Committee of Safety, and preparedto assist in repelling the enemy. General Jackson, now major-general inthe regular army, and in command of the Department of the South, repulsedthe British from Mobile, and took Pensacola by storm, and thus freed fromapprehension of an attack from Florida, he proceeded to defend NewOrleans. 

Fortunately for the American cause Captain Samuel C. Reid, commander ofthe privateer General Armstong, being attacked in the neutral harbor ofFayal by the British commodore, Lloyd, and his squadron, resisted theonset with such extraordinary courage and energy as to severely cripplehis assailants. Captain Reid was obliged to scuttle his ship to preventher from falling into the hands of the British, but the latter lost onehundred and twenty killed and one hundred and thirty wounded in theunequal battle, and Lloyd's squadron was not able to join the expeditionat Jamaica until ten days after the date appointed for departure. TheGeneral Armstrong lost only two men killed and seven wounded in thismemorable fight, which gave Jackson ample time to prepare the defence ofNew Orleans. 

To New Orleans had resorted many adherents of the old Bourbon monarchy, driven from France by the Revolution, and also at a more recent date someof the followers of Napoleon. Among the former was a French emigrantmajor named St. Geme, who had once been in the English service inJamaica, and now commanded a company in a battalion of citizens. Thisofficer had been a favored companion of the distinguished French general, Moreau, when the latter, on a visit to Louisiana, a few years previously, had scanned with the critical eye of a tactician, the position of NewOrleans and its capabilities of defence. Edward Livingston, who acted asan aide-de-camp to General Jackson, advised the general to consult St. Geme, and the latter pointed out the Rodriguez Canal as the positionwhich Moreau himself had fixed upon as the most defensible, especiallyfor irregular troops. Jackson approved and acted upon the advice thusgiven, and hastened to cast up intrenchments along the line of the canalfrom the Mississippi back to an impassable swamp two miles away. Inbuilding the redoubts the ground was found to be swampy and slimy, andthe earth almost unavailable for any sort of fortification, whereupon aFrench engineer suggested the employment of cotton bales. The requisitecotton was at once taken from a barque already laden for Havana. Theowner of the cotton, Vincent Nolte, complained to Edward Livingston, whowas his usual legal adviser. "Well, Nolte, " said Livingston, "since it isyour cotton you will not mind the trouble of defending it. "[1] Before thefinal battle a red hot ball set fire to the cotton, thereby endangeringthe gunpowder, and the cotton was removed, leaving only an earthembankment about five feet high, with a ditch in front to protect theAmericans. 

 [1] A similar remark has been incorrectly attributed to Jackson. 

The British troops, about 7000 in number, disembarked at Lake Borgne, after capturing an American flotilla which had been sent to prevent thelanding. About nine miles from New Orleans, at Villere's Plantation, theinvaders formed a camp, and they were suddenly attacked by Jackson on theevening of December 23. The battle raged fearfully in the darkness, Jackson's Tennesseans using knives and tomahawks with deadly effect. TheAmericans had the advantage, but in the fog and darkness Jackson couldnot follow up his success. Lieutenant-General Edward Pakenham, one of thebravest and ablest of Wellington's veterans, landed on Christmas Day withreinforcements which made the British army about 8000 strong. Jackson hadplanted heavy guns along his line of defence, and had about 4000 men toreceive Pakenham. Among the most efficient of these were the 500 riflemenwho fought with Jackson against the Creeks, and who were known asCoffee's brigade, from their commander's name. Trained in repeatedencounters with the savages they knew little of military organization, but were inaccessible to fear, perfectly cool in danger, of greatpresence of mind and personal resource, and above all unerring marksmen. Among the New Orleans militia were several officers who had served underNapoleon, and had met on the battlefields of Europe the British veteransthey were now about to confront in America. The Baratarians, too, shouldnot be forgotten, and these, with the regular troops, the militia and thecitizens, and many negroes, free and slave, composed about as mixed anarray as ever fought a battle on American soil. [2]

 [2] More than half of Jackson's command was composed of negroes, who were principally employed with the spade, but several battalions of them were armed, and in the presence of the whole army received the thanks of General Jackson for their gallantry. On each anniversary the negro survivors of the battle always turned out in large numbers--so large, indeed, as to excite the suspicion that they were not all genuine. --_Albert D. Richardson. _

The British made an assault on the twenty-eighth, and were repulsed withloss. On the night of December 31, they prepared for the closing struggleby erecting batteries upon which they mounted heavy ordnance within sixhundred yards of the American breastworks. On the morning of January 1, 1815, the British opened fire, Jackson replying with his heavy guns. TheBritish batteries were demolished, an attempt to turn the American flankwas repulsed by Coffee and his riflemen, and the day ended in gloom anddisaster for the invaders. The American forces, strengthened by thearrival of one thousand Kentuckians, awaited the renewal of the attack. Pakenham determined to carry Jackson's lines by storm. At dawn on January8, the British advanced in solid column under a most destructive firefrom the American batteries. On marched the men before whom the besttroops of Napoleon had been unable to stand--on they marched as steadilyas if on parade, the living closing in as the dead and wounded droppedout. Was it to be Badajos over again?

The British were within two hundred yards of the American breastworks. Suddenly the Tennessee and Kentucky sharpshooters, four ranks deep, rosefrom their concealment, and at the command--"Fire!"--a storm of bulletsswept through the British lines. And it was not a single volley. As theTennesseans fired they fell back and loaded, while the Kentuckians fired. And so the deadly blast of lead mowed down the British ranks while roundand grape and chain-shot ploughed and shrieked through the now waveringbattalions. General Pakenham, at the head of his men, urged them forwardwith encouraging words, while he had one horse shot under him and hisbridle arm disabled by a bullet. The British rallied and rushed forwardagain amid the tempest of death. Pakenham, mortally wounded, was caughtin the arms of his aid, and his troops, no longer sustained by theirleader's presence and example, fell back in disorder. In this fearfulcharge the British lost 2600 men, killed, wounded and made prisoners. TheAmericans lost only eight killed and thirteen wounded. On the night ofJanuary 19, the British retired to their fleet. 

 * * *

The last naval engagement of the war took place in January, 1815, betweenthe American frigate President, forty-four guns, commanded by CommodoreStephen Decatur, and the British frigate, Endymion, forty guns, CaptainHope. The battle began about three o'clock in the afternoon, and lasteduntil eleven o'clock at night, both commanders showing remarkable skilland resolution in the conflict, which was at long range. The Endymion wasnearly dismantled and about to surrender when three other Britishmen-of-war came up, and Decatur, being overpowered, had to strike hiscolors. The President had twenty-four men killed and fifty-six wounded, and the Endymion had eleven killed and fourteen wounded. 

 * * *

A treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent between the American andBritish commissioners on Christmas Eve, 1814. England yielded nothingand received nothing. The issues which had provoked the war were ignoredin its termination--indeed it was unnecessary to deal with them. As_Niles Register_ stated the case in December, 1814: "With the generalpacification of Europe, the chief causes for which we went to war withGreat Britain have, from the nature of things, ceased to affect us; it isnot for us to quarrel for forms. Britain may pretend to any right shepleases, provided she does not exercise it to our injury. " The moraleffect of the war was, however, favorable to the United States. Americannaval victories and the battle of New Orleans taught England that Americawas not an enemy to be despised on either sea or land. The War of 1812 hassometimes been called the second War of Independence, and its effectcertainly was to establish for the United States a respectable positionamong independent powers. Even England's satellites in the confederacyagainst Napoleon could not but admire the courage of the American peoplein bearding the British lion, and the chief magistrate of Ghent voiced thefeeling of Europe when he offered the sentiment, at a dinner to theAmerican Commissioners--"May they succeed in making an honorable peace tosecure the liberty and independence of their country. "

England had to give up her demand for special terms for the Indians whohad assisted her in the war. The scheme to create an Indian nation in theNorthwest, with permanent boundaries, not to be trespassed by the UnitedStates, was abandoned, although at first declared by the BritishCommissioners to be a _sine qua non_ and the Indians had to accept termsdictated by the United States. The British had made lavish promises to theIndians when seeking them for allies, but the red men were deserted, asthe loyalists of the Revolution had been deserted, at the close ofhostilities. The Indians felt this keenly, especially as the Americanstreated them as generously as if no hostilities had interrupted formerrelations. 

 * * *

Peace with England gave the United States opportunity to chastise theAlgerians, whose Dey, Hadgi Ali, a sanguinary tyrant, had been committingoutrages on American commerce ever since the beginning of the war withthe British. Commodore Decatur was sent to the Mediterranean in May, 1815, with a squadron to chastise the Dey. He had no difficulty inencountering the Algerian corsairs, who supposed that the American navyno longer existed. Decatur, after a brief engagement, captured the Dey'sflagship, and this was followed by the capture of another man-of-warbelonging to the pirates. Decatur then sailed for Algiers with hissquadron and prizes. The terrified despot appeared on the quarter-deck ofDecatur's flagship, the Guerriere, gave up the captives in his hands, andsigned a treaty dictated by the American commodore. Decatur then sailedto Tunis and Tripoli, and compelled the rulers of those States to makerestitution for having allowed the British to capture American vessels intheir harbors. In view of the services of the Danish consul, Mr. Nissen, when Captain Bainbridge was a prisoner in Tripoli, it is gratifying toknow that Commodore Decatur, while in that port, secured the release ofeight Danish seamen. History does not record whether Decatur, on thisoccasion, visited the lonely grave supposed to contain the mortal remainsof Somers, the companion of his youth, and the hero of the gunpowderenterprise during the war with Tripoli. What emotions must have filledDecatur's mind as the old scenes brought back to him the memory of hisown brave exploit--the destruction of the Philadelphia--and of theunhappy fate of his bosom friend!

South America Free. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

England and Spanish America--A Significant Declaration--The Key toEngland's Policy in South America--Alexander Hamilton and the SouthAmericans--President Adams' Grandson a Filibuster--Origin of theRevolutions in South America--Colonial Zeal for Spain--Colonists Drivento Fight for Independence--A War of Extermination--Patriot Leaders--TheBritish Assist the Revolutionists--American Caution and Reserve--TheMonroe Doctrine--Why England Championed the Spanish-American Republics--A Free Field Desired for British Trade--The Holy Alliance--SecretaryCanning and President Monroe--The Monroe Declaration Not British, ButAmerican. 

The same motives which had prompted England to impose oppressiverestrictions upon American trade, thereby driving the colonies to strikefor independence, prompted her to assist South America in throwing offthe yoke of Spain. England did not expect to conquer Spain's Americancolonies for herself, but she desired to liberate them in order to annexthem commercially. Hardly had King George recognized the independence ofthe United States when his ministers were scheming to effect theindependence of South America. As early as June 26, 1797, Thomas Picton, governor of the British island of Trinidad, in the West Indies, issued anaddress to certain revolutionists in Venezuela in which, speaking byauthority of the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, he said:

"The object which at present I desire most particularly to recommend toyour attention, is the means which might be best adapted to liberate thepeople of the continent near to the Island of Trinidad, from theoppressive and tyrannic system which supports, with so much rigor, themonopoly of commerce, under the title of exclusive registers, which theirgovernment licenses demand; also to draw the greatest advantagespossible, and which the local situation of the island presents, byopening a direct and free communication with the other parts of theworld, without prejudice to the commerce of the British nation. In orderto fulfill this intention with greater facility, it will be prudent foryour Excellency to animate the inhabitants of Trinidad in keeping up thecommunication which they had with those of Terra Firma, previous to thereduction of that island; under the assurance, that they will find therean _entrepôt_, or general magazine, of every sort of goods whatever. Tothis end, his Britannic Majesty has determined, in council, to grantfreedom to the ports of Trinidad, with a direct trade to Great Britain. 

"With regard to the hopes you entertain of raising the spirits of thosepersons, with whom you are in correspondence, toward encouraging theinhabitants to resist the oppressive authority of their government, Ihave little more to say, than that they may be certain that, wheneverthey are in that disposition, they may receive, at your hands, all thesuccors to be expected from his Britannic Majesty, be it with forces, orwith arms and ammunition to any extent; with the assurance, that theviews of his Britannic Majesty go no further than to secure to them theirindependence, without pretending to any sovereignty over their country, nor even to interfere in the privileges of the people, nor in theirpolitical, civil or religious rights. "

This declaration is the key to Great Britain's policy in Spanish Americaduring the century since it was issued. The conspiracy which evokedGovernor Picton's plain statement of England's attitude toward the SouthAmerican colonies, was discovered by the Spanish authorities, and J. M. Espana, one of its leaders, was executed. [1] William Pitt continued toscheme for Spanish-American independence, and succeeded in enlisting thesympathy of Alexander Hamilton and Rufus King, American Minister atLondon. President John Adams, however, would have nothing to do with themovement, which he regarded as a plot to drive the United States into aBritish alliance against the French, and possibly this may have been inthe mind of Pitt. The American people were not as cold as the President, however, on the subject of South America, and Francisco Miranda, avoluntary exile from Venezuela on account of his republican principles, succeeded in organizing a filibustering force in New York, one of themembers of which was a grandson of the President himself. The expeditionwas defeated and nearly all engaged in it were captured by the Spaniards, among them young William S. Smith, John Adams' grandson. Yrujo, theSpanish Minister at Washington, offered to interpose in behalf of apardon for the young man, but President Adams declined to use his exaltedoffice to obtain any respite for the youth who had so unfortunatelyproved his inheritance of the old Adams' devotion to liberty. "My bloodshould flow upon a Spanish scaffold, " wrote America's chief magistrate, "before I would meanly ask or accept a distinction in favor of mygrandson. " The young man's life was spared, however, and he returned tothe United States. 

 [1] Espana was hanged and quartered. A writer in the New York _Sun_, commenting on Espana's death, said that "thus in the eighteenth century Spain repeated the barbarism perpetrated by England on William Wallace in 1305. " It is unnecessary to go back to William Wallace or off the American continent for an act of barbarity similar to Espana's execution. In the same decade, one McLean, a former resident, if not a citizen of the United States, was hanged and quartered in Canada, by the sentence of a British court, on a trumped up charge of having been engaged in a treasonable conspiracy. 

Francisco Miranda, who had made his escape to Barbadoes, raised a forceof four hundred men, with the assistance of the British, landed inVenezuela, and proclaimed a provisional government. This expedition wasalso unsuccessful, and Miranda retired under the protection of a Britishman-of-war. At this time there was no general feeling in South America infavor of independence. Although some scattering sparks from the sacredaltar of liberty had found their way into Spanish America;notwithstanding the severity of the colonial system, and the corruptionsand abuses of power which everywhere prevailed; such was the habitualloyalty of the creoles of America; such the degradation andinsignificance of the other races; so inveterate were the prejudices ofall, and so powerful was the influence of a state religion, maintained byan established hierarchy, that it is probable the colonies would havecontinued, for successive ages, to be governed by a nation six thousandmiles distant, who had no interest in common with them, and whoseoppressions, they had borne for three centuries, had not that nation beenshaken at home, by an extraordinary revolution, and its governmentoverturned. [2]

 [2] See Huntington's "View of South America and Mexico. "

 * * *

Among other good results which the ambition of Napoleon Bonaparteproduced without intention on his part, was the uprising against Spanishoppression in South America. When Napoleon compelled Ferdinand toabdicate the crown of Spain in favor of Joseph Bonaparte, the loyalty andspirit of the Spaniards were aroused, and the people refused to submit toa monarch imposed on them by treachery and supported by foreign bayonets. In the provinces not occupied by the French, juntas were establishedwhich assumed the government of their districts; and that at Seville, styling itself the supreme junta of Spain and the Indies, despatcheddeputies to the different governments in America, requiring anacknowledgment of its authority; to obtain which, it was represented thatthe junta was acknowledged and obeyed throughout Spain. At the same timethe regency created at Madrid by Ferdinand when he left his capital, andthe junta at Asturias, each claimed superiority, and endeavored to directthe affairs of the nation. 

Napoleon, on his part, was not less attentive to America; agents weresent in the name of Joseph, king of Spain, to communicate to the coloniesthe abdication of Ferdinand, and Joseph's accession to the throne, and toprocure the recognition of his authority by the Americans. Thus theobedience of the colonies was demanded by no less than four tribunals, each claiming to possess supreme authority at home. There could scarcelyhave occurred a conjuncture more favorable for the colonists to throw offtheir dependence on Spain, being convulsed, as she was, by a civil war, the king a prisoner, the monarchy subverted and the people unable toagree among themselves where the supreme authority was vested, or whichof the pretenders was to be obeyed. The power of the parent state overits colonies was _de facto_ at an end; in consequence of which they were, in a measure, required to "provide new guards for their security. " But sototally unprepared were the colonists for a political revolution thatinstead of these events being regarded as auspicious to their welfare, they only served to prove the strength of their loyalty and attachment toSpain. Notwithstanding that the viceroys and captain-generals, exceptingthe viceroy of New Spain, manifested a readiness to acquiesce in thecessions of Bayonne, to yield to the new order of things, and to sacrificetheir king, provided they could retain their places, in which they wereconfirmed by the new king, the news of the occurrences in Spain filled thepeople with indignation; they publicly burnt the proclamations sent outby King Joseph, expelled his agents, and such was their rage that allFrenchmen in the colonies became objects of insult and execration. Intheir zeal, not for their own but for Spanish independence, the colonists, up to the year 1810, supplied not less than ninety millions of dollars toSpain to assist in carrying on the war against France. 

 * * *

At length, about the year 1809, the people of the several provinces beganto form juntas of their own, not with the object of throwing off theSpanish yoke, but the better to protect themselves, should the Frenchsucceed in establishing their power in the peninsula. The Spanishviceroys, alarmed for their own authority, met the movement withunsparing hostility. In the city of Quito the popular junta wassuppressed by an armed force, and hundreds of persons were massacred andthe city plundered by the Spanish troops. Notwithstanding these crueltiesthe people remained faithful to the crown of Spain, and the junta ofCaracas, having deposed the colonial officers, and organized a newadministration, still acted in the name of Ferdinand the Seventh, andoffered to aid in the prosecution of the war against France. The impotentCouncil of Regency, which pretended to represent the ancient governmentin Spain, treated the position taken by the colonists as a declaration ofindependence, and sent troops to dragoon the Americans into submission. Thus the Spanish-Americans were compelled to assume an independence ofthe mother country which they had neither sought nor desired, and on July5, 1811, Venezuela took the lead in formally casting off allegiance toSpain. 

The war which followed was of the most sanguinary character. The patriotsof South America were denounced as rebels and traitors, and the vengeanceof the State, and the anathemas of the Church, directed against them. That a contest commenced under such auspices should have become a war ofextermination, and in its progress have exhibited horrid scenes ofcruelty, desolation, and deliberate bloodshed; that all offers ofaccommodation were repelled with insult and outrage; capitulationsviolated, public faith disregarded, prisoners of war cruelly massacred, and the inhabitants persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death, cannotoccasion surprise, however much it may excite indignation. As violenceand cruelty always tend to provoke recrimination and revenge, theoutrages of the Spaniards exasperated the Americans, and led toretaliation, which rendered the contest a war of death, as it was oftencalled, characterized by a ferocious and savage spirit, scarcelysurpassed by that of Cortes and Pizarro. The violent measures of theSpanish rulers, and the furious and cruel conduct of their agents inAmerica, toward the patriots, produced an effect directly contrary towhat was expected; but which nevertheless might have been foreseen, hadthe Spaniards taken counsel from experience instead of from theirmortified pride and exasperated feelings. Arbitrary measures, enforcedwith vigor and cruelty, instead of extinguishing the spirit ofindependence, only served to enliven its latent sparks and blow them intoflame. Miranda died in chains, and Hidalgo, the patriot priest of Mexico, was put to death by his cruel captors, but Bolivar and Paez, Sucre andSan Martin, led the patriot armies to ultimate victory, and establishedthe independence of Spanish America. Only one great revolutionary leader, Iturbide, failed to follow the example of Washington. Iturbide attemptedto found an imperial dynasty in Mexico, and lost his life and his crown. Bolivar, on the other hand, with a foresight worthy of Washingtonhimself, sought to form a general confederation of all the States of whatwas formerly Spanish America, with the object of uniting the resourcesand means of the several States for their general defence and security. This great project was accepted by Chile, Peru and Mexico, and treatiesconcluded in accordance therewith. 

 * * *

Throughout the South American struggle for independence Great Britaingave assistance to the patriots almost as freely and openly as if she hadbeen at war with Spain. Veteran officers who had served in the Britisharmies against Napoleon, joined the South American forces, and an IrishLegion of one thousand men, raised by General D'Evereux, sailed fromDublin for Colombia. A banquet was given to General D'Evereux, before hisdeparture, at which two thousand guests were present, and the celebratedorator, Charles Philips, delivered a most eloquent address. LordCochrane, Earl of Dundonald, commanding the Chilian fleet, drove theSpaniards from the Pacific. American as well as English officers andseamen served under Cochrane's flag, and took part in his exploits, ofwhich the most brilliant was the cutting out of a Spanish frigate fromunder the guns of Callao. Under the protection of the batteries of thecastle of Callao lay three Spanish armed vessels, a forty-gun frigate andtwo sloops-of-war, guarded by fourteen gunboats. On the night of thefifth of November, 1820, Lord Cochrane, with 240 volunteers in fourteenboats, entered the inner harbor, and succeeded in cutting out the Spanishfrigate with the loss of only forty-one men killed and wounded. TheSpanish loss was 120 men. This success annihilated the Spanish navalpower in those waters. 

 * * *

When a commissioner from the patriots of New Grenada applied atWashington in 1812, for assistance, President Madison answered that"though the United States were not in alliance, they were at peace withSpain, and could not therefore assist the independents; still, asinhabitants of the same continent, they wished well to their exertions. "Notwithstanding the policy of the government, founded on the dictates ofprudence and caution, the people of the United States almost universallyfelt a deep and lively interest in the success of their brethren in SouthAmerica, engaged in the same desperate struggle for liberty which theythemselves had gone through. Near the close of the year 1817, thePresident of the United States appointed three commissioners, Messrs. Rodney, Bland, and Graham, to visit the revolted colonies in SouthAmerica and to ascertain their political condition, and their means andprospects of securing their independence; and early in 1818, thelegislators of Kentucky adopted resolutions, expressing their sense ofthe propriety and expediency of the national government acknowledging theindependence of the South American republics. These resolutions probablyemanated from the influence of Henry Clay, from the first a zealous andsteadfast friend of the South American patriots. Some Americans joinedthe patriot forces, and supplies of ammunition and muskets were furnishedto them from this country. President Monroe was able to state toCongress, in 1819, that the greatest care had been taken to enforce thelaws intended to preserve an impartial neutrality. Briefly summed up, theattitude of the American government throughout the South Americanstruggle was one of distance, caution and reserve, while England boldlyignored international laws, and fought her way through her filibusters tothe hearts and the commerce of the Spanish-Americans. 

 * * *

It is needless to go into extended discussion as to the authorship of theMonroe Doctrine. Intelligent self-interest inspired the United States andEngland to support the independence of South America. England's motivewas chiefly commercial and partly political. She wanted Spanish Americato be independent because the continent would thus be thrown open toBritish commerce, and because, not looking forward herself to territorialaggrandizement in that direction, she wished other powers to keep theirhands off. The British government had no desire, in taking this position, to promote the growth and extension of republican institutions. Theruling class in Great Britain would doubtless have preferred to see everySpanish-American State a monarchy, provided that under monarchy it couldbe equally useful to the British empire and independent of every otherEuropean power. If England, in championing the Spanish-American republicsseemed to champion republican institutions, it was because republicaninstitutions gave the strongest assurance of political separation fromEurope, and of a free field for Great Britain. [3]

 [3] "The Spanish-American question is essentially settled. There will be no Congress upon it, and things will take their own course on that continent which cannot be otherwise than favorable to us. I have no objection to monarchy in Mexico; quite otherwise. Mr. Harvey's instructions authorize him to countenance and encourage any reasonable project for establishing it (project on the part of the Mexicans I mean), even in the person of a Spanish Infanta. But, as to putting it forward as a project, or proposition of ours, that is out of the question. Monarchy in Mexico, and monarchy in Brazil, would cure the evils of universal democracy, and prevent the drawing of the line of demarkation, which I most dread, America versus Europe. The United States naturally enough aim at this division, and cherish the democracy which leads to it. But I do not much apprehend their influence, even if I believed it. I do not altogether see any of the evidence of their activity in America. Mexico and they are too neighborly to be friends. "--_Canning, to the British Minister at Madrid, December 31, 1823. _

On the part of the United States the Monroe Doctrine was the formal andauthoritative expression of a sentiment which had animated Americanbreasts from the origin of the Republic. The Monroe Doctrine is based onpatriotism and self-preservation, and the crisis which called it forthwas of the gravest consequence to the American people. The Spanish empirein America had never been a menace to the United States. It was toodecrepit to be dangerous. Conditions would have been very different withFrance, for instance, or Prussia, established as a great South Americanpower. There was the strongest reason for believing that the governmentsof continental Europe combined in the "Holy Alliance" seriously intendedto dispose the destinies of South America, as they had divided thecontinent of Europe. The primary object of the allied powers--theproscription of all political reforms originating from the people--couldleave no doubt of the concern and hostility with which they viewed thedevelopment of events in Spanish America, and the probable establishmentof several independent, free States, resting on institutions emanatingfrom the will and the valor of the people. But there is more specificevidence of their hostile intentions--Don Jose Vaventine Gomez, envoyfrom the government of Buenos Ayres at Paris, in a note to the secretaryof his government of the twentieth of April, 1819, said that "thediminution of republican governments was a basis of the plans adopted bythe holy alliance for the preservation of their thrones; and that inconsequence, the republics of Holland, Venice, and Genoa, received theirdeathblow at Vienna, at the very time that the world was amused by thesolemn declaration that all the States of Europe would be restored to thesame situation they were in before the French revolution. The sovereignsassembled at Aix la Chapelle, have agreed, secretly, to draw theAmericans to join them in this policy, when Spain should be undeceived, and have renounced the project of re-conquering her provinces; and theking of Portugal warmly promoted this plan through his ministers. " Francealso sought by intrigue to secure the acceptance by the United Provincesand Chile of a monarchical government under French protection. 

For the reasons before stated these designs naturally alarmed Canning, England's distinguished Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he proposed toMr. Rush, the American Minister at London, that Great Britain and theUnited States should join in a protest against European interference withthe independent States of Spanish America. This was in September 1823, and in a message of December 2, following, President Monroe uttered hisfamous declaration to the effect that "the United States would considerany attempt on the part of the European powers to extend their system toany portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. "[4]Mr. Monroe's motive in issuing this declaration was wholly American andpatriotic. England's designs were inevitably aided by the action of theAmerican President, and the English Government approved and their pressapplauded America's resolute course, but it was not to win Englishapplause, but to defend the integrity of the United States that theMonroe Doctrine was proclaimed to the world. The opposition of GreatBritain and the attitude of the United States proved more than the HolyAlliance cared to confront, and the nations of Spanish America wereallowed to enjoy without further molestation the independence which theyhad gained by years of heroic effort and sacrifice. 

 [4] "They (the United States) have aided us materially. The Congress (Verona) was broken in all its limbs before, but the President's (Monroe's) speech gives it the coup de grace. While I was hesitating in September what shape to give the protest and declaration I sounded Mr. Rush, the American Minister here, as to his powers and disposition to join in any step which we might take to prevent a hostile enterprise on the part of the European powers against Spanish America. He had not powers, but he would have taken upon himself to join with us if we would have begun by recognizing the Spanish-American States. This we could not do, and so we went on alone. But I have no doubt that his report to his government of this sounding, which he probably represented as an overture, had a great share in producing the explicit declarations of the President. "--_Canning to the British Minister at Madrid. _

Progress. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

The United States Taking the Lead in Civilization--Manhood Suffrage andFreedom of Worship--Humane Criminal Laws--Progress the Genius of theNation--A Patriotic Report--State Builders in the Northwest--Illinois andthe Union--Immigration--British Jealousy--An English Farmer's Opinion ofAmerica--Commerce and Manufactures--England Tries to Prevent SkilledArtisans from Emigrating--The Beginning of Protection--The British Turnon Their Friends the Algerians--General Jackson Invades Florida--SpainSells Florida to the United States. 

While holding their own against foreign enemies on land and sea theUnited States were assuming the lead in the march of civilization. Manhood suffrage was gradually taking the place of property suffrage, liberty of worship was recognized in practice as well as theory, and thecriminal laws showed a growing spirit of humanity. Capital crimes werefew, as compared with Great Britain. "The severity of our criminal laws, "wrote William Bradford, the distinguished jurist, and for some timeAttorney-General of the United States, "is an exotic plant, and not thegrowth of Pennsylvania. " And Pennsylvania, when left to her owninfluences and tendencies by the success of the Revolution, was not slowto adopt humane and gratifying reforms, uttering far in advance of someother commonwealths the declaration that "to deter more effectually fromthe commission of crimes by continued visible punishment of longduration, and to make sanguinary punishments less necessary, houses oughtto be provided for punishing by hard labor those who shall be convictedof crimes not capital. " In September, 1786, the laws of that State wereamended so as to substitute imprisonment at hard labor for capitalpunishment for robbery, burglary, and one other crime, and it wasprovided that no attainder should work corruption of blood in any case, and that the estates of persons committing suicide should descend totheir natural heirs. It was likewise enacted that "every person convictedof bigamy, or of being accessory after the fact in any felony, or ofreceiving stolen goods, knowing them to have been stolen, or of any otheroffence not capital, for which, by the laws now in force, burning in thehand, cutting off the ears, nailing the ear or ears to the pillory, placing in and upon the pillory, whipping, or imprisonment for life, is, or may be inflicted, shall, instead of such parts of the punishment, befined and sentenced to hard labor for any term not exceeding two years. "Also, as if dreading that lax laws might lead to a carnival of crime, thelegislators restricted the operation of the new and lenient statute tothree years. The act was renewed, however, at the close of that term, andfinally, in 1794, the reform of the criminal code was crowned with thedeclaration that "no crime whatever, excepting murder of the firstdegree, shall hereafter be punished with death. "

Other States either kept pace with or followed the example ofPennsylvania in making their criminal laws more reformatory and lessvindictive, and while England affected to despise American civilization, America was leading England in the march of humanity. 

The genius of the nation was progress--not the spirit of the huckster, anxious for present gain, but the enlarged view of the patriot, anxiousfor the future weal of his country and his race. A striking expression ofthis spirit is shown in the report made in 1812 by Gouverneur Morris, DeWitt Clinton and other eminent men on the practicability and prospects ofthe proposed Erie Canal. After boldly stating that the tolls from thiswork would amply repay the outlay required for its construction, thereport adds: "It is impossible to ascertain and it is difficult toimagine how much toll would be collected; but like our advance in numbersand wealth, calculation out-runs fancy. Things which twenty years ago anyman would have been laughed at for believing, we now see. * * * The lifeof an individual is short. The time is not distant when those who makethis report will have passed away. But no time is fixed to the existenceof a State; and the first wish of a patriot's heart is that his may beimmortal. " In the Northwest also, the State-builders of that day wereequally farsighted in patriotic provision for the future. When it wasproposed to admit Illinois as a State, Nathaniel Pope, delegate inCongress from that territory, urged, that the northern boundary should beextended to take in the port of Chicago, and a considerable coast-line onLake Michigan, so as to give the State an interest in the lakes and bindit to the North as its southern frontiers bound it to the South andSouthwest, thus checking any tendency to sectional disunion. Judge Popepointed out that associations would thus be formed both with the Northand South, and that a State thus situated, having a decided interest inthe commerce, and in the preservation of the whole confederacy, couldnever consent to disunion. These views were happily successful inobtaining the approbation of Congress, and Illinois was saved from thelimits which would have made it only a southern border State. In theSouthwest, as well as in the North pioneers pushed rapidly into thewilderness, crossing the Mississippi and founding new States in which thelong struggle between freedom and slavery was to begin. 

 * * *

When what may be called the blockade of Europe was raised by the finaldefeat of Napoleon, immigrants began to pour into the United States inlarge numbers. Many of them, like many immigrants to-day, became strandedin the cities of the coast, without resources and without employment, willing to work, but unable to get work. In February, 1817, JamesBuchanan, the British consul at New York, issued a warning againstimmigration to the United States, on the ground, as he alleged, ofnumerous applications made to his office for aid to return to GreatBritain and Ireland, but at the same time the consul stated that he wasauthorized to place all desirable immigrants, who found themselvesdestitute in New York, in Upper Canada or Nova Scotia. Mr. Buchanan wasevidently not so anxious to assist his fellow-subjects of King George ashe was to promote the British policy of building up the Canadianterritories as a counterpoise to the United States. While there wasundoubtedly some distress among immigrants of the improvident class, those who came here with the determination to work generally found workbefore long at much better compensation than they could have earned inEngland, while those who proceeded to the new regions of the West had nodifficulty in becoming independent and prosperous freeholders. 

"In exchanging the condition of an English farmer for that of an Americanproprietor, " wrote an intelligent immigrant, "I expect to suffer manyinconveniences; but I am willing to make a great sacrifice of presentease, were it merely for the sake of obtaining in the decline of life, anexemption from that wearisome solicitude about pecuniary affairs fromwhich even the affluent find no refuge in England; and, for my children, a career of enterprise and wholesome family connections in a societywhose institutions are favorable to virtue; and at last the consolationof leaving them efficient members of a flourishing, public-spirited, energetic community; where the insolence of wealth and the servility ofpauperism, between which in England there is scarcely an intervalremaining, are alike unknown. * * * It has struck me as we have passedalong from one poor hut to another, among the rude inhabitants of thisinfant State, that travelers in general who judge by comparison, are notqualified to form a fair estimate of these lonely settlers. Let astranger make his tour through England in a course remote from the greatroads, and going to no inns, take such, entertainment only as he mightfind in the cottage of laborers, he would have as much cause to complainof the rudeness of the people, and more of their drunkenness andprofligacy than in these backwoods: although in England the poor are apart of society whose institutions are matured by the experience of twothousand years. But in their manners and morals, but especially in theirknowledge and proud independence of mind, they exhibit a contrast sostriking that he must be a _petit maître_ traveler, or ill-informed ofthe character and circumstances of his poor countrymen, or deficient ingood and manly sentiment, who would not rejoice to transplant into theseboundless regions of freedom the millions he has left behind himgroveling in ignorance and want. "[1]

 [1] Notes on a journey in America from the coast of Virginia to the territory of Illinois, by M. Birkbeck. 

While a great agricultural domain was being occupied in the West, commerce and manufactures were not neglected. American merchantmenvisited every sea, no longer in dread of hostile Briton or Barbarypirate, and internal commerce received a mighty impulse from thesteamboat. Meanwhile the foundations were laid of those vastmanufacturing interests which were yet to overshadow commerce in theEast. As early as 1810, the domestic manufactures of all descriptionswere worth $127, 694, 602 annually, and it was estimated by competentauthorities that of $36, 793, 249--the value of the manufactures of wool, cotton and flax, with their mixtures--fully two-thirds were produced inthe houses of the farmers and other inhabitants. England had foreseenthat America might prove a powerful rival in the manufacturing field, andParliament enacted laws to prevent the emigration of skilled artisans. Itmay seem almost incredible that less than one hundred years ago such aprohibition existed, but I read in an account of a voyage from London toBoston in 1817 that "the passengers were summoned to appear at theGravesend custom house, personally to deliver in their names and astatement of their professions. Had any been known to be artisans ormanufacturers, they would have been stopped and forbidden to leave thekingdom. An act of Parliament imposes a heavy fine on those who inducethem to attempt it. " Samuel Slater, who brought the Arkwright patents inhis brain, evaded the prohibition a few years after the Revolution, andhis descendants are to-day among the wealthiest and most reputable of NewEngland's citizens. 

The war of 1812-15, gave a tremendous impulse to American manufacturesthrough the exclusion of British and other foreign products. At the closeof the war, however, when American ports were thrown open to the trade ofGreat Britain, the manufacturers of that country, with the deliberatepurpose of crushing American industries out of existence, threw vastquantities of goods into the American markets, completely swamping nativeproductions, and making it impossible for native manufacturers to competewith the importations. It was this ruinous relapse from comparativeprosperity that prompted the agitation for a protective tariff. Asfurther evidence of British purpose to do all the damage possible toAmerican interests, even in time of peace, it may be mentioned that whenLord Exmouth, with a powerful fleet, visited Algiers in 1816, andnegotiated a treaty between the Dey--Omar, the successor of HadgiAli--and the kings of Sardinia and Naples, the Algerians began to showthemselves again hostile to the United States within a few days after thetreaty. The public sentiment of Europe, however, made it impossible forEngland to make longer use of those pirates to injure commercial rivals, and the British Government, in deference to that sentiment, sought aquarrel with the Dey, bombarded Algiers, and compelled the Barbary Statesto agree to put an end to piracy--an agreement which remained for sometime a dead letter. 

 * * *

The Louisiana Purchase was crowned in 1818 by the purchase of Floridafrom Spain. Spanish authority in North America had long been little morethan a thin disguise, behind which the British plotted and operatedagainst the welfare of the United States. General Jackson had found itnecessary in 1814 to capture Pensacola, which the English were using as abase of hostilities. Again in 1818 General Jackson invaded Florida topunish Indians who, incited by British subjects under Spanish protection, were plundering and murdering in American settlements. Jackson took byforce the Spanish post of St. Marks, entered Pensacola, and attacked thefort at Barrancas, compelling it to surrender. Two British subjects whohad stirred up the Indians to attack the Americans were executed. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sustained Jackson, notwithstandingthe protests of Spain, and the latter power concluded to yield to theinevitable, and sold Florida to the United States on the extinction ofthe various American claims for spoliation, for the satisfaction of whichthe United States agreed to pay $5, 000, 000 to the claimants. Thus allforeign authority was extinguished in the Southeast and the American flagwaved from the Florida Keys to the boundaries of New Spain. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

The Missouri Compromise--Erie Canal Opened--Political Parties and GreatNational Issues--President Jackson Crushes the United States Bank--SouthCarolina Pronounces the Tariff Law Void--Jackson's Energetic Action--ACompromise--Territory Reserved for the Indians--The Seminole War--Osceola's Vengeance--His Capture and Death--The Black Hawk War--AbrahamLincoln a Volunteer--Texas War for Independence--Massacre of the Alamo--Mexican Defeat at San Jacinto--The Mexican President a Captive--TexasAdmitted to the Union--Oregon--American Statesmen Blinded by the HudsonBay Company--Marcus Whitman's Ride--Oregon Saved to the Union--The "DorrWar. "

The Missouri Compromise, by which Congress, after admitting Missouri as aslave State, took the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes as adividing line through the rest of the Louisiana Purchase, between slaveryand freedom, averted for another generation the great struggle betweenNorth and South. At peace with the rest of the world, the United Stateshad time to devote to national development without the distraction ofwar, and financial questions, the tariff and internal improvementsengrossed the attention of Congress and of the States. The opening of theErie Canal, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River, in 1825, madecentral New York the great highway of commerce and of travel, and NewYork gradually became the leading State of the Union in population, wealth and trade. There was a strong agitation in favor of a generalsystem of roads and canals, connecting the various parts of the country, and to be constructed at the expense of the nation, and not of theStates. The party known as National Republicans, direct successors of theFederalists, supported this proposition, and also advocated a high tariffon imports and an extension of the charter of the United States Bank, about to expire in 1836. The Democratic Republicans, now known simply asDemocrats, denied the constitutional authority of the national governmentto construct roads and canals, or to impose a tariff except for revenue, or to charter a national bank. During the administration of John QuincyAdams the National Republicans succeeded in having tariff laws enacted in1824 and 1828, which gave substantial and, in the view of the Democrats, excessive protection to domestic manufactures. 

General Andrew Jackson was elected President in 1828, after a most bittercontest, in which John Quincy Adams was his opponent. Jacksonclaimed--and the evidence seems to support his claim--that the UnitedStates Bank had used all its influence against him, and had even madeantagonism to Jackson a condition of mercantile accommodation. He hadlong before been prejudiced against the bank through the stupid redtapeism of an agent of the bank in New Orleans who stood by a rule notintended for emergencies when Jackson needed money for his army. He wasconvinced that not only all the power of the bank, but all the powerwhich the Federal Government could exert to defeat him had been exerted, and being victorious in despite of this opposition, he resolved to crushthe bank and to make a clean sweep of the officeholders. The oldpamphlets in the Astor Library which tell the story of the bank'sstruggle to escape annihilation are almost pathetic reading. The giantwas prostrate, and his enemy had no mercy. In 1832 Jackson vetoed thebill to renew the charter of the bank. Re-elected President in 1832 by anoverwhelming majority of votes in the Electoral College, Jackson, in thefollowing year, removed the public money which had been deposited in theUnited States Bank, and distributed it among various State banks. TheSenate censured Jackson, but the censure was expunged after a longstruggle, in which Senator Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri, championedthe President. 

The opposition to a tariff for protection was very bitter in the South, where the people regarded the tariff duties as a tribute exacted fromthem for the benefit of the North. This feeling was especially strong inSouth Carolina, where a State convention undertook to pronounce thetariff law null and void, and held out a threat of secession should theFederal Government attempt to collect the duties. The States of Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia took firm ground against nullification, and onDecember 10, 1832, President Jackson issued his famous proclamation, exhorting all persons to obey the laws, and denouncing the South Carolinaordinance. "I consider then, " said the President, "the power to annul alaw of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with theexistence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of theConstitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with everyprinciple on which it was founded, and destructive of the great objectfor which it was formed. " The President declared it to be his intent to"take care that the laws be faithfully executed, " and he warned thecitizens of South Carolina that "the course they are urged to pursue isone of ruin and disgrace to the very State whose rights they affect tosupport. " Major Heileman, commanding the United States troops atCharleston, was instructed to be vigilant in defeating any attempt toseize the forts in that harbor, and two companies of artillery wereordered to Fort Moultrie. The Unionist sentiment in South Carolina itselfwas strong, and the crisis fortunately passed without any attempt tocarry into execution the nullification ordinance. Excitement ran high, however, until the adoption in March, 1833, of a compromise tariff, whichprovided for a gradual reduction of duties. 

 * * *

General Jackson in his annual message of 1830, recommended the devotionof a large tract of land, west of the Mississippi, to the use of theIndian tribes yet remaining east of that river, and Congress, in 1834, enacted that "all that part of the United States west of the MississippiRiver, and not within the States of Missouri and Louisiana, or theTerritory of Arkansas, shall be considered the Indian country. " This wasthe origin of the present Indian Territory, gradually reduced in area bythe successive formation of States and Territories. The Seminoles ofFlorida naturally objected to removal from the land of their ancestors toa far-distant region, and under the leadership of a brave and skillfulchief named Osceola they resisted the troops sent to coerce them intoobedience. The most memorable event of the war was the massacre of MajorDade and about one hundred soldiers in an ambuscade, December 28, 1835. On the same day Osceola with a small party of followers killed andscalped General Wiley Thomson, of the United States army and five ofThomson's friends. Before the opening of hostilities Thomson had putOsceola in irons on account of his refractory attitude, and the Indianchief long planned the act of vengeance which he thus signally executed. The war lasted almost seven years, and was attended with a distressingloss of life and property. Not less than 9000 United States troops werein the Seminole territory in the latter part of 1837, and while theIndians were more than once severely chastised when brought to anengagement, it was almost impossible to pursue them in their nativeeverglades. Osceola was taken prisoner when in conference, under a flagof truce, with General Jesup, of the United States army, but theSeminoles maintained the struggle under other leaders, and it was notuntil 1842 that peace was established, and the Indians driven tosurrender. Osceola did not live to see the defeat of the cause for whichhe had fought so resolutely. He died of fever at Fort Moultrie on thelast day of 1839. 

 * * *

The Black Hawk War in the Northwest was, as usual with Indian wars, astruggle on the part of the red men to retain the lands of their fathers. Black Hawk was a noted chief of the Sacs and Foxes, and he claimed thatthe original treaty by which his tribe sold all their lands in Illinoisto the United States was made by only four chiefs, and that they weredrunk when they signed it. Assuming this charge to be true it remainsthat the provisions of the first treaty were confirmed by two subsequenttreaties, the last in 1830, when the principal chief, Keokuk, made thefinal cession to the United States of all the country owned by the Sacsand Foxes east of the Mississippi River. This was done without theknowledge of Black Hawk, whose indignation was greatly aroused uponhearing of the negotiation. Black Hawk was yet more enraged when hefound, in April, 1831, that during the absence of himself and his peoplefrom their village on a hunting expedition a fur-trader had purchasedfrom the government the ground on which the village stood, and waspreparing to cultivate the field upon which the Indians had for manyyears raised their corn. This was in violation of the letter and spiritof the treaty, which provided that the Indians could occupy their landsuntil they were needed for settlement, and the frontier settlements wereyet fifty miles distant. War soon followed between the whites andIndians, Abraham Lincoln, afterward President of the United States, beingenlisted as a volunteer. Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward President, wasone of the officers in command of the United States troops. Afterfighting with varied fortunes for several months, Black Hawk was defeatedwith the loss of many warriors, and fled to a village of the Winnebagoes. The latter escorted the fallen chieftain to the United States authoritiesat Prairie du Chien. "Black Hawk is an Indian, " said the captive warrior, speaking in the third person. "He has done nothing an Indian need beashamed of. He has fought the battles of his country against the whitemen, who come year after year to cheat them and take away their lands. Hewill go to the world of spirits contented. " Black Hawk was well treatedas a prisoner, taken to Washington to visit the President, and liberatedafter peace had been made. 

 * * *

During Jackson's second term the American settlers in Texas succeeded, after a conflict attended by signal heroism and ferocity, in securingtheir independence of Mexico. The massacre of the Alamo by the Mexicansunder Santa Anna, will always be remembered in American history. TheMission of the Alamo, which the Texans defended to the death againstoverwhelming numbers, was entirely isolated from the town of San Antonio. It consisted of several buildings, and a convent yard, surrounded by highand thick walls, having partly, like all the old missions, the characterof a fortress. Fourteen pieces of artillery were mounted for the defence, and the garrison, when it entered the Alamo, consisted of one hundred andforty-five men, untrained in arms, except in the use of the rifle. Theirleader was Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis, a native of NorthCarolina, and second in command was Colonel James Bowie, inventor of theterrible bowie-knife. Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was inpersonal command of the attacking forces, numbering between 6000 and 7000men. He declared that he would grant no quarter. The troops ordered tothe assault numbered 2500, or about twenty-five Mexicans to one American. The deadly fire from the Alamo twice repelled the enemy, but they weredriven on by the blows and shouts of their officers, and at the thirdattempt they scaled the wall, and carried the defences. While life lastedthe Texans fought. They had agreed to blow up the buildings in the lastextremity, but Major T. C. Evans, when about to fire the magazine, wasstruck down by a bullet. Not a defender who could be found was spared. Five Texans who had hidden themselves were taken before Santa Anna. At aword from that monster of cruelty they were at once dispatched withbayonets. 

The Alamo was not long unavenged. The massacre took place on March 6, 1836. On April 21, the Texans, led by General Sam Houston, met theMexicans at San Jacinto. The Texans numbered 743; the Mexicans about1400, with Santa Anna in command. Houston, by strategy worthy of greaterfame, had managed to come upon the Mexican President when the latter wasseparated from the larger part of his forces. Determined to win or die, Houston destroyed a bridge which afforded the only retreat for his men orescape for the enemy. The Texans delivered one volley at close range, andthen clubbed their rifles or drew their bowie-knives, with thecry--"Remember the Alamo!" In fifteen minutes the Mexicans were inflight, pursued by the yelling Texans. "Me no Alamo! Me no Alamo!" criedthe terrified fugitives. The Texans did not stay their hands until theyhad killed six hundred and thirty and wounded two hundred and eight oftheir cowardly foes. The remainder of the Mexicans were allowed tosurrender, and were not maltreated as prisoners. Santa Anna was capturedwhile hiding in the grass at some distance from the battlefield, andbrought, a pallid and trembling captive, before Houston. The latterspared the tyrant's life, and placed a guard to protect him. The battleof San Jacinto virtually put an end to the war, and Texas remained theLone Star Republic, until admitted to the American Union in 1845. 

 * * *

This period witnessed also the successful assertion of American title tothat extensive and productive region now divided into the States ofOregon, Washington and Idaho. President Jefferson had seen almost withthe vision of prophecy the future of that distant portion of theLouisiana Purchase. "I looked forward with gratification, " he said in hislater years, "to the time when the descendants of the settlers of Oregonwould spread themselves through the whole length of the coast, coveringit with free, independent Americans, unconnected with us but by the tiesof blood and interest, and enjoying, like us, the rights ofself-government. " And yet, for forty years after the treaty whichtransferred to the United States the possessions of France in America, the leading statesmen of our republic, Jefferson excepted, remained blindto the value of America's domain on the Pacific. In 1810, John JacobAstor's American Fur Company undertook to establish a post upon what theyregarded as American soil, at a place which the founders called Astoria. The Hudson Bay Company then claimed Oregon as part of their territory, and when the War of 1812 broke out the British attacked Astoria, took theAmericans prisoners, and changed the name of the post to Fort George. TheAstor attempt to found a settlement in Oregon was not without favorablebearing on American claims to that territory, especially as theenterprise had the sanction of the United States Government, and a UnitedStates naval officer commanded the leading vessel in the expedition. Under the treaty of Ghent, Astoria was to be restored to its originalowners, but it was not until 1846 that this act of justice wasconsummated. In 1818 it was mutually agreed that each nation shouldequally enjoy the privileges of all the bays and harbors on that coastfor ten years, and this agreement was renewed in 1827 for an indefinitetime. Practically this meant the occupation of the country by the HudsonBay Company, which found its forests and waters a mine of fur-bearingwealth. The most eminent of America's statesmen, so far as the PacificNorthwest was concerned, seemed to be under the spell of their ownignorance and of the Hudson Bay Company's misrepresentations. The greatSenator Benton said that, "The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be namedas a convenient, natural and everlasting boundary. " Winthrop, ofMassachusetts, quoted and commended this statement of Benton, andMcDuffie of South Carolina declared that the wealth of the Indies wouldbe insufficient to pay the cost of a railroad to the mouth of theColumbia. While the nation was stirred up over a boundary disputeinvolving a comparatively small district in the Northeast--settled by theAshburton Treaty in 1842--Oregon, with its extensive territory andmagnificent natural wealth was treated as unworthy of controversy. Butfor the patriot missionary, Marcus Whitman, who in the winter of 1842-43made a perilous journey from his mission post in Oregon to Washington, tostir up the American Government to a sense of its duty, and of theimminent danger of the seizure of Oregon by the British, that valuableregion would in all probability have passed under British dominion. "AllI ask, " said Doctor Whitman to President Tyler, "is that you won't barteraway Oregon or allow English interference until I can lead a band ofstalwart American settlers across the plains; for this I will try to do. "The President promised; the settlers went, and Oregon was saved. [1] For atime it seemed that war might result, but the two nations at lengthcompromised on a boundary line at forty-nine north latitude. 

 [1] It is sad to know that this patriot missionary and his admirable wife were massacred in 1847, with a number of other persons, at their mission station of Waiilatpwi by the very Indians they were educating. There is reason to believe the massacre was indirectly the result of Whitman's service to his country in rescuing Oregon from the Hudson Bay Company. The treaty of 1846 greatly irritated that powerful corporation, and this feeling inevitably spread to the Indians who depended upon the company for supplies, and who naturally sympathized with its policy of keeping the land for fur-bearing animals and savage humanity. It is unnecessary to suspect the company or the Roman Catholic missionaries attached to the company of any plot against Whitman's life. It was sufficient for the savages to know that the company hated Whitman, and that the American Protestant missionaries sought to convert them not only to Christianity, but also to industry. 

During President Tyler's administration Rhode Island was the scene of acommotion known as the "Dorr War. " While the property qualification forvoters had been discarded in nearly every Northern State, Rhode Islandstill adhered to the system of government provided in the King Charlescharter of 1663, which restricted the franchise to freeholders and theireldest sons. This restriction gave occasion for many abuses, mortgageesoften exercising control over the votes of their debtors, and citizenswho paid taxes on mortgaged property being sometimes denied the privilegeof voting on the ground that they did not possess sufficient equity intheir estates. The majority of the people desired a frame of governmentin accord with the spirit of American institutions, but were resisted bythe minority in actual power. The party of reform, therefore, held anelection in defiance of the charter, adopted a new constitution aridchose Thomas W. Dorr governor, along with other general officers and aGeneral Assembly. The Dorr legislature met in a foundry and passedvarious laws, which they had no power to enforce. The charter governmentcalled out the militia, the Dorrites also took arms, and for some timethere was danger of a collision. The Dorrites were ultimately dispersedwithout a battle, and the charter government remained in power. From asanitary standpoint it was a healthy war, as more people were probablybenefited by the outing than injured by bullets and bayonets. [2] Dorr wasafterward sentenced to State Prison for life, but was pardoned after afew years, and his sentence expunged by vote of the legislature, from therecords of the court. A constitution embodying most of the reforms forwhich the Dorrites had striven was legally adopted, and Rhode Islandsettled down to its customary calm and prosperity. 

 [2] The "Dorr war, " however, was very real to the people of Rhode Island. About thirteen years ago the writer was present in the office of the clerk of a Rhode Island town, when an old lady entered, and told the clerk that she wanted to see the record of a deed. Upon being asked to indicate the probable date, she said it was "before the war. " On inquiry by the clerk it appeared that she meant the "Dorr war. "

CHAPTER XXXI. 

War with Mexico--General Zachary Taylor Defeats the Mexicans--BuenaVista--Mexicans Four to One--"A Little More Grape, Captain Bragg!"--Glorious American Victory--General Scott's Splendid Campaign--ASeries of Victories--Cerro Gordo--Contreras--Churubusco--Molino delRey--Chapultepec--Stars and Stripes Float in the City of Mexico--Generous Treatment of the Vanquished--Peace--Cession of Vast Territoryto the United States--The Gadsden Purchase. 

The annexation of Texas by the United States was accepted by Mexico as anact of war. The American Government and people were not unprepared for achallenge from Mexico, and rather welcomed it, as, apart from the Texasissue, Mexico had, from the time of her independence treated the UnitedStates in a manner far from neighborly, and inflicted many injuries onAmerican citizens. In the West and South especially it was deemednecessary to give Mexico a lesson; in New England the war was notpopular. Hostilities began, and two sharp battles were fought, before warwas actually declared. General Zachary Taylor, with a force much inferiorto that of the enemy, defeated the Mexicans at Palo Alto and Resaca de laPalma, and drove them out of Texas. At Resaca the American dragoons underCaptain May charged straight upon a Mexican battery, killing the gunnersand capturing the Mexican general La Vega just as he was about to apply amatch to one of the pieces. The Mexican army was so completely scatteredthat their commander Arista fled unaccompanied across the Rio Grande. AtBuena Vista Generals Taylor and Wool, with 5000 men, of whom only 500were regular troops, confronted Santa Anna with 20, 000, February 23, 1847. The Mexican chieftain expected an easy victory, and his army, inspired with his confidence, rushed from their mountains upon the smallforce of Americans drawn up in battle array on the plain of Angostura. 

 "Like the fierce Northern hurricane That sweeps his great plateau, Flushed with the triumph yet to gain, Came down the serried foe. Who heard the thunder of the fray Break o'er the field beneath, Well knew the watchword of that day Was victory or death. "[1]

 [1] "The Bivouac of the Dead. "--_O'Hara. _

The battle lasted all day, the American artillery being splendidlyhandled, and mowing down the Mexicans at every charge. "Give 'em a littlemore grape, Captain Bragg!" said Taylor quietly, as he saw Santa Anna'slines wavering. The grape was given, and the Mexicans fled, leaving 500of their number dead or dying on the field. The total Mexican loss, including wounded and prisoners was about 2000; that of the Americans inkilled, wounded and missing, 746. This victory, and the successes ofFremont and Kearney in California, completed the conquest of NorthernMexico. 

General Winfield Scott, who was in supreme command of all the Americanforces, conducted a brilliant campaign from the coast. After taking VeraCruz and the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, General Scott advanced towardthe City of Mexico with about 10, 000 men. At Cerro Gordo, a difficultpass in the mountains, the American army encountered 12, 000 Mexicansunder command of Santa Anna, who had, by extraordinary efforts, collectedthis force after his defeat at Buena Vista. The battle was fought onApril 18, every movement of the American troops being directed, accordingto a carefully prepared plan, by General Scott. Colonel Harvey led thestorming party into the pass, with a deep river on one side, andbatteries belching death from lofty rocks on the other side. TheAmericans rushed forward with irresistible courage. They knew theirenemy. The Alamo had not been forgotten. Cerro Gordo fell, and the flightof the Mexicans may best be described in the language of one of their ownhistorians: "General Santa Anna, accompanied by some of his adjutants, was passing along the road to the left of the battery, when the enemy'scolumn, now out of the woods, appeared on his line of retreat and firedupon him, forcing him back. The carriage in which he had left Jalapa wasriddled with shot, the mules killed and taken by the enemy, as well as awagon containing $16, 000 received the day before for the pay of thesoldiers. Every tie of command and obedience now being broken among ourtroops, safety alone being the object, and all being involved in afrightful confusion, they rushed desperately to the narrow pass of thedefile that descended to the Plan del Rio, where the general-in-chief hadproceeded, with the chiefs and officers accompanying him. Horrid indeedwas the descent by that narrow and rocky path where thousands rushed, disputing the passage with desperation, and leaving a track of blood uponthe road. All classes being confounded military distinction and respectwere lost; and badges of rank became marks of sarcasm. The enemy, nowmasters of our camp, turned their guns upon the fugitives, thusaugmenting the terror of the multitude that crowded through the defileand pressed forward every instant by a new impulse, which increased theconfusion and disgrace of that ill-fated day. " Of the 12, 000 Mexicansengaged in this battle about 1200 were killed and wounded, and 3000 weremade prisoners. The captives were all paroled, and the sick and woundedsent to Jalapa, where they were well cared for. The Castle of Perote, thestrongest fortress in Mexico, surrendered without resistance, and theAmerican flag was unfurled on the summit of the eastern Cordilleras. 

After a rest at Puebla General Scott pushed on in the footsteps ofCortes. Santa Anna, who would have equalled Napoleon or Caesar had hisability and courage in the field been equal to his success in organizingarmies, made a stand with 32, 000 Mexicans at Contreras and Churubusco. The army of General Scott numbered about 9000 effective men. Both sidesknew that the battle to be fought would decide the fate of the City ofMexico. On the nineteenth of August about one-half of the American armyattacked the fortified camp at Contreras, defended by nearly 7000Mexicans, under General Valencia. Evening fell without victory for eitherside. In the early morning, after a night of heavy rain, General P. F. Smith, with three brigades of infantry, but without cavalry or artillery, marched in the darkness up to the Mexican camp, discharged severalvolleys in quick succession, and dashed, bayonet in hand, upon the enemy. In fifteen minutes the Americans were victors, over 3000 Mexicans wereprisoners, and the rest of Valencia's troops were fugitives. The Americanarmy gave the enemy no time to recover, but moved promptly forward tomore victories. The fort of San Antonio was captured, the garrison notwaiting to be attacked before taking to flight, and then began the battleof Churubusco. This place is a small village, six miles south from theCity of Mexico, and connected with it by a spacious causeway. At the headof the causeway, near the village, and in front of the bridge over theChurubusco River, was a strong redoubt, mounted with batteries, andoccupied by a large force of Mexicans. The convent-church of San Pablo, with its massive stone walls, was converted into a fort. The walls wereimpervious to the attack of field pieces, and the building was defendedby a well-constructed bastion, and guns placed in the embrasure. Thechurch stood on an eminence, and the village which clustered about it wasdefended by stone walls and a stone building, strongly fortified. 

The Americans carried the redoubt at the point of the bayonet, and then adesperate battle raged about the fortified village and church. Frombehind their defences the Mexicans kept up a deadly fire on theAmericans, but the latter never faltered. The Mexicans made repeatedsallies from the convent, but were driven back every time. In theirdesperation the native Mexicans desired to surrender, but some desertersfrom the American army, known as the San Patricio companies, hauled downthe white flag whenever it was put up. At length after a three-hours'struggle the convent and other defences were captured. In the rear ofChurubusco General James Shields and General Franklin Pierce, afterwardPresident of the United States, were hard pressed by an overwhelmingforce of Mexicans, and in some danger. Timely reinforcements sent byGeneral Scott turned danger into victory, and the Mexicans, discomfitedon every side, gave way, and retreated in utter disorder toward the cityof Mexico, pursued by the triumphant Americans. It was the most gloriousday since Yorktown for American arms. The Mexican loss was nearly 4000killed and wounded, besides 300 prisoners, thirty-seven cannon and alarge quantity of small arms and ammunition. The Americans lost 139killed and 926 wounded. 

Churubusco should have ended the war, and negotiations for peace werecommenced, but were broken off through Mexican bad faith. Hostilitieswere resumed and the coup-de-grace was given to Mexico on the historichill of Chapultepec. The storming of El Molino del Rey, of the Casa deMata and the Castle of Chapultepec were among the boldest exploits of thewar. Chapultepec had been an ancient seat of the Aztec emperors. Risingabruptly from the shore of Lake Tezcuco, crowned with a stronglyfortified castle, supported by numerous outworks and with several massivestone buildings, each a fortress powerfully garrisoned, at the base, thehill of Chapultepec seemed a very Gibraltar guarding the entrance toMexico's capital. El Molino del Rey and the Casa de Mata were carried bystorm on the eighth of September, the Mexicans leaving 1000 dead on thefield, beside 800 prisoners, and those who escaped death or captureeither flying in dismay from the scene or retreating up the hill to theCastle of Chapultepec. 

General Scott determined to batter down the castle with heavy cannon. Robert E. Lee, afterward commander of the Confederate armies, was one ofthe officers who placed the artillery in position. A continuous fire waskept up during the first day (September 12), the solid shot and shellcrashing through the Castle and killing many of its defenders. Amongthese were about one hundred young boys, from ten to sixteen years ofage, cadets in the Military Academy, which was situated on the hill ofChapultepec. Several of the boys lost their lives fighting the Americanswith a valor that might well have put some of their elders to shame. About fifty general officers were also in the Castle, and the wholeMexican force engaged probably did not exceed 4000 men. It was the laststand made by Mexican troops, and it was a brave stand. The weak and thedemoralized had slunk away from further conflict with an invincible foe. The bombardment was resumed on the thirteenth, and troops moved to theassault under cover of a heavy cannonade. The Mexicans foughtdesperately, but they were no match for their antagonists. The Stars andStripes soon floated over Chapultepec, hailed with a mighty cheer by theAmerican troops, nearly all of whom had taken some part in the conflict. 

On September 14 the American flag was hoisted in the City of Mexico, andfrom the National Palace of that Republic General Scott issued a generalorder in which, with justifiable pride, he declared: "Beginning withAugust 10 and ending the fourteenth instant, this army has gallantlyfought its way through the fields and forts of Contreras, San Antonio, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, Chapultepec and the gates of San Cosme andTacubaya into the capital of Mexico. When the very limited number whohave performed these brilliant deeds shall have become known, the worldwill be astonished and our own countrymen filled with joy andadmiration. " The triumphs of Scott and Taylor added lustre to Americanarms which time will not efface. They recalled the exploits of Cortes andPizarro, save in the scrupulous honor and humanity which guided everystep of the American invasion. No victors were ever more generous intheir treatment of the conquered. "The soldiers of Vera Cruz, " says aMexican historian, "received the honor due to their valor andmisfortunes. Not even a look was given them by the enemy's soldiers whichcould be interpreted into an insult. " The Duke of Wellington, theconqueror of Napoleon, followed Scott's campaign with deep interest andcaused its movements to be marked on a map daily, as information wasreceived. Admiring its triumphs up to the basin of Mexico, Wellingtonthen said: "Scott is lost. He has been carried away by successes. Hecan't take the city, and he can't fall back on his base. " Wellingtonproved to be wrong. He had never met American troops. 

The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, concluded February 2, 1848, establishedthe Rio Grande as the boundary between the United States and Mexico, andCalifornia and New Mexico, including what is now Arizona, were ceded tothe United States for $15, 000, 000. The United States also assumed thepayment of obligations due by Mexico to American citizens to the amountof $3, 250, 000, and discharged Mexico from all claims of citizens of theUnited States against that Republic. Strict provision was made for thepreservation of the rights of the inhabitants of the ceded territory. TheGadsden Purchase, in 1853--so called from General James Gadsden, whoconducted the negotiations in behalf of the United States--added 45, 535square miles of Mexican territory to the United States, for which thiscountry paid $10, 000, 000, Mexico at the same time relinquishing claimsagainst the United States for Indian depredations amounting to from$15, 000, 000 to $30, 000, 000. The American Republic thus received in all, as a consequence of the Mexican War, 591, 398 square miles, and the Unionacquired its present boundaries, exclusive of Alaska. The Mexican Wargave to the United States the Pacific as well as the Atlantic seaboard, and completed the westward movement which had begun with the very birthof the Republic. It made the United States the great power of theAmerican continent, seated between the two oceans, with a domainunequalled in natural resources by any other region of the world. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Union in 1850--Comparative Population of Cities and Rural Districts--Agriculture the General Occupation--Commercial and IndustrialDevelopment--Growth of New York and Chicago--The Southern States--Importance of the Cotton Crop--Why the South Was Sensitive toAnti-Slavery Agitation--Manufactures--Religion and Education, --TheCloud on the Horizon. 

Approaching that period of civil discord, followed by civil war, whichhas left its impress in every corner of the Union, and which was attendedby radical changes in the Constitution and the institutions of ourcountry, it may be well to review the material condition of the Stateswhen the forces of freedom and slavery began to gather for the greatconflict, first in the forum and later in the field. In 1850 the UnitedStates had a population of 23, 191, 876, of whom 3, 204, 313 were slaves. Only 4, 000, 000 of the people lived in cities, towns and villages, and ofthese but 2, 860, 000 resided in 140 cities and towns of more than 10, 000inhabitants each. Of the total real and personal property in the UnitedStates more than two-thirds was owned by the rural population, and thevalue of manufactures was insignificant, compared with the products ofagriculture. One leading aim of American statesmanship and enterprise hadbeen, from a very early period, to connect the great lakes and thefertile valleys of the middle and western States with the cities andports along the Atlantic seaboard; to improve navigation of the rivers, and thus bring into cultivation the valuable tracts of country alongtheir banks; and, as a part of this great work, to connect with eachother, by railways and canals, the towns and villages in the moredensely-peopled and cultivated districts. To carry out the generaldesign, vast sums were lavished and expensive works constructed, in manyinstances far in advance of any ascertained requirements of the country, and certainly with little prospect of an early return for theexpenditure. But in the meantime the most apparently hopeless of theseworks conferred important benefits upon the mass of the community, bydeveloping sources of wealth which might otherwise have been closed foryears, and providing new spheres for the restless and indomitable energyof the American. 

While the agricultural portion of the American people were extending thearea of their location, and laying under the Constitution new and vastsources of wealth, the cities and towns also grew apace under the impulseof commercial and industrial development. No country in the world, GreatBritain not excepted, succeeded more signally in directing its naturaladvantages to the promotion of commerce. The abundance of water power wasutilized for manufactures of every description. Machinery of the mostperfect kind was applied to every process, economizing labor, facilitating locomotion and aiding in surmounting those difficultieswhich had ever impeded the progress of young nations. Nowhere was thegigantic power of steam more abundantly and usefully employed--in themine and in the mill, on the rivers and lakes, the canals and therailroads, doing the work of millions of hands and of human and animalsinews, without creating a vacuum in the market for labor, or diminishingthe rewards of industry. From 1830 to 1840, a period of only ten years, the increase in the population of twenty of the largest cities in theUnited States, from New York to St. Louis inclusive, was fifty-five percent, and this in face of the most disastrous commercial panic that hadever visited the country, and this marvelous rate of increase was fullymaintained during the subsequent decade. 

It is not remarkable that the cities and States of the Union which firsttook steps to connect the fertile regions lying beyond the AlleghenyMountains with the Atlantic should have made the greatest progress inimportance and prosperity. It was the fortune of the State of New York totake the earliest step to effect this great desideratum, althoughWashington had perhaps first suggested its importance, in agitating amovement for the purpose of connecting the country adjoining the GreatLakes with his native Virginia. The construction of the Erie Canal placedNew York in the very front of American communities. Before the canal wasopened the cost of transit from Lake Erie to tidewater was such as toprohibit the shipment of western produce and merchandise to New York; andit consequently came only to Baltimore and Philadelphia. "As soon as thelakes were reached, " says a Federal report, "the line of navigable waterwas extended through them nearly one thousand miles farther from theinterior. The Western States immediately commenced the construction ofsimilar works, for the purpose of opening a communication from the moreremote portions of their territories with this great water-line. Allthese works took their direction and character from the Erie Canal, whichin this manner became the outlet for the greater part of the produce ofthe West. Without such a work the West would have had no attractions fora settler, and have probably remained a waste up to the present time; andNew York itself could not have progressed as it has done. " In addition, however, to the formation of the Erie Canal, New York originated, inadvance of most other States, lines of railway throughout its territory, in connection either with the canal, or between its various towns andsettlements. It also connected itself by railroad with Lake Champlain, and succeeded in diverting a considerable portion of the transit trade ofCanada from the St. Lawrence through these communications to the port ofNew York. The effect of this enterprise displayed by the people and bythe State may be estimated by the fact that the population, which was, in1830, 1, 918, 608, had increased in 1840 to 2, 428, 921, and in 1850 was3, 097, 394. In 1830, the value of the imports at New York was $38, 656, 064;in 1840 it had reached $60, 064, 942, and in 1851, when the network ofrailway communications throughout the State had come into fairly completeoperation, the value of imports was $144, 454, 616. 

Under the influence of railroad and canal Chicago also made swift andwonderful progress. In May, 1848, a canal one hundred miles in length wasopened to connect Lake Michigan with the Illinois River, and the firstsection of a railway from Chicago to the westward was opened in March, 1849. Previously to these works being brought into operation it appearsfrom the city census of 1847 that the population was 16, 859; in 1850, ithad sprung to 29, 963, and in August, 1852 it was estimated at nearly, ifnot quite, 40, 000, having thus considerably more than doubled itself infive years. 

The efforts of the Southern States to attract toward their ports theproduce of the West, by way of the magnificent rivers which emptythemselves into the Gulf of Mexico, rivalled those made by the North. Theprosperity of these States was greatly promoted by the growing demand forcotton in America and Europe. In the thirty-one years from 1821 to 1852, there had been an increase of 3, 000, 000 bales in the growth, whichmultiplied itself during that period seven-fold! The importance of thiscrop as an element of wealth may be estimated from the fact that thecensus value of it in 1849-50 was $112, 000, 000; that its cultivation andpreparation for market employed upward of 800, 000 agricultural laborers, 85 per cent of whom were slaves and the residue (120, 000) white citizens;that upward of 120, 000 tons of steam shipping, and at least 7000 personswere engaged in its transportation from the interior to the southernports, and that after remunerating merchants, factors, underwriters and ahost of other persons it furnished profitable freight for 1, 100, 000 tonsof American shipping, and 55, 000 seamen in the Gulf and Atlantic coastingtrade, and for 800, 000 tons and 40, 000 seamen for its transport to Europeand elsewhere. As the Southern people generally believed that cottoncould not be cultivated without the labor of slaves it is easy tounderstand why they were sensitive to every agitation, however slight, that seemed to threaten that source of wealth, and how theirsensitiveness grew as cotton's empire extended. 

Manufactures were also in a flourishing condition, and it was estimatedin 1852, that the capital embarked in the cotton manufactories of theUnited States was at least $80, 000, 000; that the value of the productswas $70, 000, 000; that 100, 000 male and female operatives were employed, and that quite 700, 000 bales of cotton, worth at least $35, 000, 000, werespun and woven. America possessed, also, a number of woolenmanufactories, which employed about the same period 39, 252 hands. 

The American people, then as now, believed in religion and education asthe corner-stones of liberty's temple. The population of 23, 000, 000 in1850 had 36, 221 churches and chapels, with accommodation for 13, 967, 449persons--a large accommodation for a new country whose population hadspread so rapidly over so extensive an area. Of the youth nearly4, 000, 000 were receiving instruction in the various educationalinstitutions. The teachers numbered 115, 000, and colleges and schoolsnearly 100, 000. America had upward of seventy theological schools;forty-four medical and surgical schools; nineteen schools of law, and tenschools of practical science and extensive libraries were attached tonearly all of these institutions. 

Never had the future of our nation seemed more promising than at the verytime when the cloud of slavery began to darken the bright horizon, gradually overspreading the heavens until it burst in the storm ofsecession. 

The Slavery Conflict. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Aggressiveness of Slavery--The Cotton States and Border States--TheFugitive Slave Law--Nullified in the North--Negroes Imported fromAfrica--The Struggle in Kansas--John Brown--Abraham Lincoln Pleads forHuman Rights--Treason in Buchanan's Cabinet--Citizens Stop Guns atPittsburg--Conditions at the Beginning of the Struggle--SouthernAdvantages--The Soldiers of Both Armies Compared--Conscription in theConfederacy--Southern Resources Limited--The North at a Disadvantage atFirst, but Its Resources Inexhaustible--Conscription in the North--Popular Support of the War--Unfriendliness of Great Britain andFrance--Why They Did Not Interfere. 

Slavery could not stand still. The Cotton States, so-called, whichsuffered least from the escape of slaves were the most aggressive indemanding a Fugitive Slave Law, while the Border States, where escapeswere frequent, were not nearly as aggressive as their Southern neighbors. Attachment to slavery in the Cotton States had become a passion, springing from self-interest, but stronger than self-interest; while inthe Border States the slaveholders were affected by propinquity to freecommunities, and the calculations of self-interest were softened by theirsurroundings; which shows, like many another chapter in history, that inthe mighty impulses which guide the destinies of nations, the heart isabove the head. The advocates of slavery felt insecure because they knewthat even if legally right they were divinely and humanly wrong. Theywere not satisfied to have the Free States acquiescent and evensubmissive; they were determined, in their fever of unrest, to drivefreedom to the wall, and to make the people of the North slave-catchers, if they would not consent to be slave-owners. 

The South had the Constitution on its side, and the Fugitive Slave Lawcould be met only by obedience or nullification. The Northern peoplesimply decided to nullify the law. They did not meet in Stateconventions--like South Carolina in 1832--and declare the law void and ofno effect. They were too sensible for that; but they would not obey thelaw. It was nullified in various ways. In Rhode Island, for instance, itwas made a crime for an officer of the State to arrest a fugitive slave;in Ohio the ordinary statute against kidnappers was used to punishFederal officers and others attempting to carry slaves back into bondage, and in New York and other States mob law interfered to rescue andliberate the victims. The Fugitive Slave Law roused the spirit offreedom, and Northern defiance of the law inflamed the slaveholders. TheKansas-Nebraska bill, menacing the free States with a slave barrier Westas well as South, and stretching to the Pacific as well as the Gulf, madecivil war almost inevitable. Compromise became cowardice, and everyonewho was not for freedom was against it. The Supreme Court of the UnitedStates supported the contentions of the slaveholders, but in vain fortheir cause. That higher tribunal--the conscience of a free andintelligent people--arraigned slavery as a crime against God and man, theConstitution and the Supreme Court to the contrary notwithstanding. WhenChief Justice Taney held that Dred Scott was not a citizen of Missouri, but a thing, and could be carried by his master from one State toanother, like a dog or a watch, and still be a slave, the Chief Justiceonly immortalized his own infamy; he did not immortalize slavery. Stillgreater was the shock when in defiance of the Constitution and the lawsthe foreign slave trade was resumed, and negroes imported from Africa tothe South. It is only just to state that, according to recently publishednarratives of these slave importations, with details that could not havebeen related at the time with safety for the parties concerned, theFederal authorities in the South seem to have made a sincere effort tobring the slave-traders to justice, and the planters apparently did notwelcome the traffic. 

The pioneers of the great struggle to come met on the plains of Kansasand several years of fierce border strife ended in victory for freedom. John Brown, whom the world calls a fanatic, perished on the scaffold atHarper's Ferry in a vain attempt to liberate the slaves, and whileeditors vacillated and quibbled, and fawning time servers applauded, Thoreau, from his hermitage in the New England woods, paid eloquenttribute to the man who dared to die for the truth. Away in the West afigure was looming up, a gaunt, homely figure, born in and nurtured inhardship, but endowed as no other man of his age was endowed, with theability to guide his country through the awful ordeal to come. Heperceived the right, and he boldly declared it. "If it is decreed that Ishould go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to thetruth--let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right, " saidAbraham Lincoln to the friends who disapproved his celebrated declarationthat the government could not endure half slave, half free. "In the rightto eat the bread without the leave of anybody else, which his own handearns, he (the negro) is my equal, and the equal of Judge Douglas, andthe equal of every living man"--was another sterling utterance whichstruck home to the North. 

While Lincoln was pleading the cause of human rights, and asserting thatthe Declaration of Independence was meant for black as well as white, members of President Buchanan's cabinet, holding in their grasp the reinsof National Government, were plotting the nation's overthrow. Even downto the very moment that John B. Floyd left the War Office, and when SouthCarolina was already in rebellion, this plotting was continued. As lateas the beginning of January, 1861, an attempt was made under an orderfrom Floyd to remove one hundred and fifty cannon from the AlleghenyArsenal, at Pittsburg, to the South, to be used against the Union. "Ourpeople are a unit that not a gun shall be shipped South, " said the_Dispatch_ of that city, and without violence, without the shedding of adrop of blood or the drawing of a weapon against national authority, thecitizens obtained the reversal of the order, and the guns, some of whichwere already under convoy to the wharf, were returned to the arsenal. The"Rebellion Records, " published by the government, should not begin with1861. They should go back to the time when the plot originated to stripthe national arsenals for the benefit of the nation's enemies, to disarmthe Union that it might fall a prey to secession. This was the treasonwhich should never be forgotten. The men who fought bravely and openly inthe field for the Confederate cause can be respected for their sincerityand honored for their valor; but not so with the men who before the warviolated their trust as guardians and armor bearers of the Union tobetray the nation to its conspiring foes. 

 * * *

The conditions at the beginning of the war were much more favorable tothe South than a mere comparison of population would indicate. The loyalStates had a population of 23, 000, 000; the seceded States 8, 000, 000, ofwhom about one-half were slaves. These slaves counted, however, for aboutas much effective strength as if they had been whites, for the soil hadto be cultivated, the armies fed, fortifications built and othernecessary services performed, and the negroes, while all who were brightenough to understand the situation wished for the success of the Union, worked for their masters faithfully, as a rule, until the approach of thenational armies gave an opportunity to escape. Besides, the negroes inattendance on the Confederate troops performed many duties to which onthe Northern side soldiers were assigned, and in this way the blacks wereuseful in even a strictly military sense. In short, the negroes dideverything for the Confederacy but fight for it, and this, too, althoughthey loved the blue uniform, and gave loyal assistance to the Uniontroops whenever occasion offered. The Southern forces, it should also beremembered, were on their own ground. They knew every thicket and roadand stream; they had the sympathy of the white, as well as the service ofthe black inhabitants. They were led by a brilliant group of commanderswhom Jefferson Davis, when Secretary of War, had brought togetherprobably with this object in view, and they were thoroughly armed andequipped at the expense of the very government against which they werecontending. It is needless to say that no better soldiers ever bore rifleor sabre than the men of the Southern Confederacy. They were, like mostof their northern antagonists, Americans of the same blood as those whocarried the redoubts at Yorktown and stormed the hill of Chapultepec, andtheir courage in the Civil War fully maintained the prestige gained inbattle against alien foes. In intelligence, or at least in education, however, the rank and file of the Confederate armies were inferior to thenative Americans in the Union armies. The Confederate troops captured atVicksburg were no doubt equal to the average, and of the 27, 000 men thenmade prisoners and paroled two-thirds made their marks, not being able towrite their names. This is not so surprising when it is remembered thatthere was no common school system in the South before the war, and thatthe "twenty-negro law, " exempting the owner of twenty negroes fromconscription, excused from military service the class which had anopportunity to be educated, and which also had most at stake in thecontest. 

Before the close of the war, however, all exemptions in the Confederacywere virtually swept away, and the government enlisted every one able tobear a musket, from the boy hardly in his teens to the old man totteringto the grave. Those not able to go to the front did duty in the rear, andthe whole male population, excepting cripples and children, was in theranks, or the civil service. If any escaped the net of conscription theywere likely to be caught in the round-up made every now and then afterthe fashion of the old English press-gang, when all who happened to be insight were gathered in, and sent to the army, unless they clearly proveda title to freedom. In one of these round-ups, says Jones, in his "Diaryof a Rebel War Clerk"--the Postmaster-General of the Confederacy, John H. Reagan, was carried along with the rest, and detained for some timebefore released. Thus the prophecy of Houston was strikingly fulfilled. Of course, the refugees and deserters, of whom there were a very largenumber in the swamps and woods of the South, are excepted from thestatement that the whole population was in arms for the Confederatecause. 

 * * *

In the beginning of the war the North was at a disadvantage. Mr. Lincolnfound the little army of the United States scattered and disorganized, the navy sent to distant quarters of the globe, the treasury bankrupt andthe public service demoralized. Floyd and his fellow-conspirators haddone their work thoroughly. It did not take long for the people of theNorth to rally to the defence of the government, and for an army to beformed capable not only of defending the loyal States, but of striking ablow at the Confederacy. With the National credit restored, an abundanceof currency provided for national needs, and the public departmentscleared of Southern sympathizers, the North entered upon a conflict whichcould have but one ending should the North remain steadfast. 

The weakness of the South, from a military standpoint, was in the factthat men lost could not be replaced. The North could replenish itsdepleted armies; the South could not. With men therefore of the same raceand equal in soldierly qualities arrayed against each other, one sidewithin measurable distance of exhaustion and the other with inexhaustiblehuman resources to draw upon, the war became an easy sum in arithmetic, provided the stronger party should not cry "enough" before the weaker hadreached the exhaustion point. The battles on comparatively equal termswere fought, therefore, in the early part of the war, the decisivebattles in 1863, and the closing struggle between the gasping Confederacyand the Union stronger than ever, in the last fifteen months of theconflict. 

In the North, notwithstanding the immense armies put in the field, therenever was a time except in brief periods of riot and disorder, when theusual bustle of humanity was absent from the cities and towns. Commerceand industry went on with accustomed activity. While Southern citieslooked like garrisoned graveyards the North had never worn a busier ormore prosperous appearance. With such a large population there shouldhave been no reason for conscription, but when conscription was deemedrequisite, there ought to have been no exemption on the ground of wealth. Every able-bodied drafted man ought to have been obliged to serve, without the privilege of a substitute, and no money payment should havesecured release from service. The obligation to defend the country restsupon all, but if there is any distinction, the rich man has more interestin protecting the government which shields him and his possessions fromdanger than the poor man. European nations make no exemption on accountof wealth or position, and the American Republic certainly should nothave given such an example. 

The people of the North, however, with comparatively few but verytroublesome exceptions, gave earnest and enthusiastic support to theNational Government. Committees were formed everywhere to aid the armiesin the field, to provide for the wounded and the sick and to assist thefamilies of absent soldiers. In the darkest days of the struggle thepeople never lost faith in the ultimate triumph of the Union. Whilestatesmen and editors professing to be superior to their fellows inknowledge and foresight saw only the gloomy side and predicted the defeatand downfall of the Republic, the popular heart was true and confidentand courageous. Upon the people's arms Lincoln could always lean in timesof severest trial and anxiety, assured of comfort, support and strength. 

 * * *

The unfriendliness of Great Britain and France was a most serious andever-present danger to the United States throughout the whole period ofthe war, and was prolific of injury to American interests. From thefirst Great Britain showed a conscious unfriendly purpose. Thatgovernment privately proposed to France, even before Queen Victoria'sproclamation recognizing the insurgents as belligerents, to open directnegotiations with the South, and the British Legation at Washington wasused for secret communications with the Confederate President. When theConfederate agents, James M. Mason and John Slidell and their secretaries, were taken from the British mail-steamer Trent by Captain Wilkes, of theAmerican warship San Jacinto, the course of the British Cabinet indicatedan unfriendliness so extreme as to approach a desire for war. Peremptoryinstructions were sent to Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington, to demand the release of the men arrested, and to leave Washington if thedemand was not complied with in seven days. Vessels of war were fittedout by the British, and troops pressed forward to Canada. The officialstatement of the American Minister at London that the act had not beenauthorized by the American Government was kept from the British people, and public opinion was encouraged to drift into a state of hostilitytoward the United States. The surrender of Mason and Slidell removed allexcuse for war, much to the disgust, doubtless, of the ruling class inGreat Britain. Leading English statesmen made public speeches favoringthe Confederacy. Lord Russell, himself, the Secretary of State forForeign Affairs, stated in the House of Lords that the subjugation of theSouth by the North "would prove a calamity to the United States and tothe world. " The Alabama and other privateers went forth from Britishports to prey on American commerce, and the builder of the Alabama wascheered in the House of Commons when he boasted of what he had done. EvenMr. Gladstone--before Vicksburg and Gettysburg--declared that "therestoration of the American Union by force is unattainable. "

Napoleon the Third--that crow in the eagle's nest--was cordially withGreat Britain in all efforts to injure the American Union. He had longcherished the design to establish a vassal empire in Mexico, and in ourCivil War he saw his opportunity. A Southern Confederacy would form agrand barrier between a Franco-Mexican dominion and the United States, and while the French emperor treated the government at Washington withdiplomatic courtesy, he never ceased to exert his influence in favor ofthe South, so far as he could, without an actual rupture. Napoleon wasready and anxious to recognize the Confederacy, and he only waited forthe South to win victories that would give him an excuse for action. "Hiscourse toward us, " says Bigelow, "from the beginning to the end of theplot was deliberately and systematically treacherous, and his ministersallowed themselves to be made his pliant instruments. "[1] General Grantdeclared at City Point, in 1864, that as soon as we had disposed of theConfederates we must begin with the Imperialists, and after Appomattox heexpressed the opinion that the French intervention in Mexico was soclosely allied to the rebellion as to be a part of it. 

 [1] France and the Confederate Navy. 

Neither England nor France interfered directly in behalf of the South. Louis Napoleon waited for England to act, and the British Cabinet feltthat the British masses would not justify a war in defence of slavery. The American Government, while it met with firm and dignified protestGreat Britain's disregard of international obligations, was careful toabstain from giving any excuse for British hostility. "One war at atime, " said Abraham Lincoln, in deciding to surrender Mason and Slidell. But Americans kept careful account of every item of outrage on the partof England, and in due time the bill was presented--and paid. And in duetime also Napoleon was told to go out of Mexico--and he went. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The Confederate Government Organized--Fort Sumter--President LincolnCalls for 75000 Men--Command of the Union Forces offered to Robert E. Lee--Lee Joins the Confederacy--Missouri Saved to the Union--Battle ofBull Run--Union Successes in the West--General Grant Captures FortDonelson--"I Have No Terms but Unconditional Surrender"--The Monitor andMerrimac Fight--Its World-Wide Effect--Grant Victorious at Shiloh--UnionNaval Victory Near Memphis--That City Captured--General McClellan'sTactics--He Retreats from Victory at Malvern Hill--Second Bull RunDefeat--Great Battle of Antietam--Lee Repulsed, but Not Pursued--McClellan Superseded by Burnside--Union Defeat at Frederickburg--Union Victories in the West--Bragg Defeated by Rosecrans at Stone River--The Emancipation Proclamation. 

The new Confederate Government was organized at Montgomery, Ala. , February 4, 1861, by delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was elected President and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. The border States, which would be the battlefield of war, still hoped for peace, and hesitated to yield to the importunities ofthose who had already crossed the Rubicon. In Charleston harbor, theAmerican flag floated over a little fortress called Sumter, so namedafter the "South Carolina Gamecock" of the Revolution, and commanded byMajor Robert Anderson. In the gray of the morning on April 12, theConfederate batteries opened fire on the fort. For nearly two days theStars and Stripes waved defiantly amid the storm of shot and shell. Thenfurther resistance being useless and hopeless, the brave garrisonevacuated the fort, carrying away the flag which they had so resolutelydefended. Two days later President Lincoln called for 75, 000 men to putdown armed resistance to national authority. The North sprang to arms, and from East and West regiments started on their way to Washington. Thegovernors of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia andMissouri declined to obey the call of the President, and the secession ofall these States from the Union followed, except Kentucky and Missouri. On April 17, the Virginia Convention passed the Ordinance of Secession. President Lincoln had desired to give the command of the troops to becalled into the field to Colonel Robert E. Lee, of the First UnitedStates Cavalry, but that officer declined to accept the offer, resignedhis commission, and joined the Confederacy. It should be needless to saythat the qualities displayed by Lee, at the head of the Army of NorthernVirginia, amply justified President Lincoln's measure of his capacity. The seat of the Confederate Government was removed from Montgomery toRichmond, and the latter city was thenceforward the headquarters of therebellion. 

Of the other border States Maryland remained in the Union, and Kentucky, after an attempt to maintain an impossible neutrality, yielded to theinfluence of mountain air, and espoused the cause of freedom. Missouri'sdisloyal government sought to drag the State into secession, but FrancisPreston Blair, a lawyer of St. Louis, and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, commandant of the United States Arsenal in that city, took vigorousaction against the rebel sympathizers, and saved the State to the Union. The German element in Missouri was so loyal to the old flag that"Unionist" and "Dutchman" were synonymous terms in that region during thewar. Captain Lyon, promoted to brigadier-general, was defeated and killedat the battle of Wilson Creek. It is believed that he resolved to win thebattle or die. Of such stuff were the men who rescued the Southwest. 

The battle of Bull Run, when General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding theConfederates, defeated General McDowell with serious loss, and sent theUnion army in disorderly retreat toward Washington, taught the Northernpeople that the war was not a parade, and that the overthrow of theConfederacy would tax all the energies of the loyal States. Fortunately, General George H. Thomas won an important victory for the Union at MillSpring, Kentucky, in January, 1862, and the capture of Fort Henry andFort Donelson, in the following month, by General Ulysses S. Grant, aidedby Commodore Foote and his gunboats, tended to efface the depressioncaused by defeat in Virginia. General Grant's reply to the ConfederateGeneral Buckner, when the latter wished to make terms for the surrenderof Fort Donelson, was on every tongue in the North. "I have no terms butunconditional surrender. I propose to move immediately upon your works, "was a message that spoke the man. Nearly sixteen thousand prisoners werecaptured. They belonged mostly to the working classes of Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas. 

 * * *

John Ericsson's Monitor, in March, 1862, sent a thrill of relief and joythrough the North by its wonderful victory over the Merrimac. TheConfederates cut down a United States frigate at the Norfolk navy yard, and transformed it into an ironclad ram, with a powerful beak. Thismonster they sent against the Union fleet of wooden warships in HamptonRoads. Broadsides had no effect on the Merrimac. The floating fortressattacked the Cumberland, ramming that vessel, and breaking a great holein its side. The Cumberland sank with all on board. The Congress wasdriven aground and compelled to surrender. Then the monster rested forthe night, intending to continue its mission of destruction on themorrow. It seemed that not only the Union fleet, but the ports andcommerce of the North would be at the mercy of this novel and terribleengine of destruction. The telegraph carried the news everywhere, and indread and anxiety the people awaited the fate of another day. Whenmorning came at Hampton Roads a small nondescript vessel, looking like anoval raft with a turret, interposed between the Merrimac and its prey. Itwas the Monitor, the invention of Captain John Ericsson, and it hadarrived during the night of March 8. The Monitor had been constructed atGreenpoint, Long Island, and was towed to Hampton Roads by steamers. Herturret was a revolving, bomb-proof fort, in which were mounted two11-inch Dahlgren guns. As the turret revolved the great guns kept up asteady discharge, battering the sides of the Merrimac. The latter hurledenormous masses of iron on the Monitor, but made no impression whateveron the little craft, and the duel continued until the Merrimac gave upthe fight, and ran back to shelter at Norfolk. Ericsson's praise was onevery tongue. The great Swedish engineer whose sanity had been questionedwhen he submitted his ideas to the Navy Department, not only saved theUnion navy from destruction, and Northern harbors from devastation, buthe also revolutionized naval warfare. 

 * * *

Their first line broken in the Southwest, and now compelled to fightwithin secession territory, the Confederates made a stand along a secondline from Memphis to Chattanooga, their forces being massed at Corinth. In the great battle of Shiloh (April 6 and 7) 100, 000 men were engaged;the National loss in killed, wounded and prisoners was about 15, 000, andthat of the Confederates over 10, 000. The latter fought more desperatelythan on any previous field, and for a time they had the advantage. Theusual ethics of defeat had, however, no place in General Grant's militaryeducation, and the enemy were at length forced to give way. GeneralAlbert Sydney Johnston, one of the ablest Confederate commanders, waskilled, and General Beauregard retreated, leaving his dead and wounded inUnion hands. The second line of defence was broken. An amusing incidentof this battle--if anything can be amusing in war--was a message sent byGeneral Beauregard to General Grant explaining why he had withdrawn histroops. General Grant was strongly tempted to assure Beauregard that noapologies were necessary. 

The capture of New Orleans in the latter part of April, and of IslandNumber Ten in the same month gave the National forces control of theMississippi nearly up to Vicksburg and down to Memphis. The Confederateflotilla was defeated and destroyed in a sharp engagement by the Unionriver fleet, two miles above Memphis, on June 6, the battle occurringin full view of that city. It was one of the most dramatic spectaclesof the war. The combat lasted just one hour and three minutes, and asthe Union fleet landed at Memphis, a number of newsboys sprang on shorefrom the vessels, shouting: "Here's your New York _Tribune_ and_Herald_!"--before the city had been formally surrendered. The Unionistsreceived the National troops like brothers, and one lady brought out fromits hiding place in her chimney a National flag concealed from thebeginning of the war. "We found Memphis, " wrote a correspondent, "astorpid as Syria, where Yusef Browne declared that he saw only one manexhibit any sign of activity, and he was engaged in tumbling from theroof of a house. " Salt was rubbed into the wounds of the vanquished bythe military assignment of Albert D. Richardson and Col. Thomas W. Knox, representatives of the _Tribune_ and _Herald_, to edit the bitterestsecession newspaper in the town. 

 * * *

In the East the Union cause made no progress. General George B. McClellan, in command of the Army of the Potomac, was endeavoring to playthe part of a Turenne in a field utterly foreign to European strategy. Generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston and Thomas Jonathan("Stonewall") Jackson, the three great Confederate commanders inVirginia, proved themselves easily the superiors of their antagonists inthe tactics best fitted for American warfare, and but for the stubbornvalor of the Union soldiers at Fair Oaks and in the seven days' battlesending at Malvern Hills, the Army of the Potomac would probably have beendestroyed. When Malvern Hills was won by the splendid fighting of theNational troops, without any agency of their commander, and when theywere enthusiastic for a forward movement upon Richmond, McClellanconsulted his tactical horoscope, and ordered them to retreat just as ifthey had been beaten. The second battle of Bull Run, with General JohnPope in command on the Union side, and Generals Lee, "Stonewall" Jacksonand James Longstreet leading the Confederates, stopped short of being asdisastrous a defeat for the National arms as the first Bull Run, but thatwas all. 

Lee pushed into Maryland with about 45, 000 troops, and encounteredMcClellan at Antietam, on September 17, with 85, 000. McClellan was"cautious, " as usual, but fighting had to be done, and the rank and fileof the Union forces were, as ever, anxious to fight. Lee was repulsedafter a fearful conflict, in which about 20, 000 men were killed andwounded. General Joseph Hooker, known as "Fighting Joe Hooker, " was underMcClellan at Antietam, and behaved most gallantly. Wounded before noon, Hooker was carried from the field. "Had he not been disabled, " wrote awar correspondent, "he would probably have made it a decisive conflict. Realizing that it was one of the world's great days, he said: 'I wouldgladly have compromised with the enemy by receiving a mortal wound atnight, could I have remained at the head of my troops until the sun wentdown. '" McClellan neglected to take advantage of the success achieved atthe cost of so many brave lives, and Mr. George W. Smalley, then of the_Tribune_, who was on the field, is authority for the statement thatGeneral Hooker was privately requested in behalf of a number of Unionofficers, to assume command and follow up the victory. In Hooker'scondition this was impossible, even had he been inclined to take a stepso serious in its possible consequences for himself. 

McClellan was superseded in November by General Ambrose E. Burnside, whohad distinguished himself at Antietam, as he always did in a subordinatecommand. On December 13, General Burnside suffered a fearful defeat atFredericksburg, with a loss of 12, 000 men. It was one of Lee's mostbrilliant victories, and on the Union side it was a useless sacrifice oflife. "Lee's position, " says General Fitzhugh Lee, "was strong by natureand was made stronger by art. No troops could successfully assail it, andno commanding general should have ordered it to be done. "[1] Burnside wassuperseded by Hooker, and the armies in Virginia did but little moreuntil spring. 

 [1] Life of General Robert E. Lee. D. Appleton & Co. 

 * * *

After the battle of Shiloh the Confederates made Chattanooga, Tenn. , thebase of their operations in the Southwest. General Braxton Bragg, whosucceeded Beauregard in command in that region, invaded Kentucky, andsought to drive the inhabitants into the Confederate service. Asanguinary battle at Perryville resulted in the complete repulse of theConfederates, who retreated into Tennessee, carrying with them a vastquantity of plunder. General William Starke Rosecrans now came to thefront as a successful Union commander. With Grant's left wing he defeatedthe Confederates at Iuka, September 19, and Corinth, October 3 and 4, andas chief of the Army of the Cumberland, he fought one of the greatbattles of the war with General Bragg at Murfreesboro, or Stone River, December 31 and January 2. Never during the four years of conflict didthe troops on both sides fight more resolutely. The first day was ratherfavorable to the Confederates. Little was done on New Year's Day, but onJanuary 2 the struggle was renewed more fiercely than before. The westernarmies had caught Grant's instinct of never recognizing defeat. Chargeafter charge was made, first by the Confederates, then by the Uniontroops, and at length the Confederate line fell back, and did not chargeagain. At midnight of January 4 Bragg retired in the direction ofChattanooga. The killed, wounded and missing numbered over 20, 000, probably about evenly divided. 

 * * *

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln on New Year'sDay, 1863, was in every sense a statesmanlike and justifiable measure. Itaroused the powerful anti-slavery sentiment of England in support of theUnion, and neutralized Tory sympathy with the Confederacy; itstrengthened the Union cause at home, and it showed that the NationalGovernment was not afraid to punish, and was resolved to weaken itsenemies by the confiscation of their property. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

General Grant Invests Vicksburg--The Confederate Garrison--Scenes in theBeleaguered City--The Surrender--Hooker Defeated at Chancellorsville--Death of "Stonewall" Jackson--General Meade Takes Command of the Army ofthe Potomac--Lee Crosses the Potomac--The Battle of Gettysburg--The FirstTwo Days--The Third Day--Pickett's Charge--A Thrilling Spectacle--TheHarvest of Death--Lee Defeated--General Thomas, "The Rock of Chickamauga"--"This Position Must Be Held Till Night"--General Grant Defeats Bragg atChattanooga--The Decisive Battle of the West. 

The Confederates made Vicksburg a position of marvelous strength. GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman, who had proved his eminent talent as acommander under Grant at Shiloh, assaulted the bluffs north of the townon December 29, 1862, and was repulsed. General Grant, with theperseverance which he afterward exhibited at Richmond, fought battleafter battle until he had Vicksburg completely invested. Commodore DavidD. Porter, with a formidable fleet, bombarded the stronghold from theriver, while Grant's kept up a cannonade day and night from the landside. General John C. Pemberton had about 15, 000 effective men out of30, 000 within the lines of the beleaguered city. Every day the situationgrew more intolerable for the besieged. Rats were on sale in themarket-places with mule-meat. The people lived in cellars and caves, children were born in caves, and it is interesting to read in a diary ofthat fearful time that "the churches are a great resort for those thathave no caves. People fancy that they are not shelled so much, and theyare substantial and the pews good to sleep in. " A woman wished to gothrough the lines to her friends, and on July 1 an officer with a flag oftruce carried the request. He came back with the statement: "GeneralGrant says no human being shall pass out of Vicksburg; but the lady mayfeel sure danger will soon be over. Vicksburg will surrender on thefourth. " A Confederate general present when this message was received, said: "Vicksburg will not surrender. " But Grant was right. On July 4silence descended upon Vicksburg. The simoon of shot and shell was over, and men and women and children crawled from their caves into the light ofday. The river vessels poured in an abundance of provisions, and plentysucceeded starvation. General Pemberton surrendered 27, 000 men asprisoners of war. 

 * * *

General Hooker, notwithstanding his undoubted courage, proved no morefortunate than his predecessors in command of the Army of the Potomac. With 90, 000 men he attacked Lee and 45, 000 men at Chancellorsville, May 1to 4. The Confederate commander was at his best in this fearful fourdays' struggle. Hooker, says a high Confederate authority, had guided hisarmy "into the mazes of the Wilderness, and got it so mixed and tangledthat no chance was afforded for a display of its mettle. " Lee withinferior forces managed by consummate strategy to meet and overcomeHooker's subordinates in detail. Then he prepared for a crushing blow atHooker himself, which the latter escaped by a timely retreat. Thebombastic Order No. 49 which followed this sweeping disaster for theUnion arms did not deceive either President Lincoln or the people, whohad once more seen the lives of thousands of our gallant troopssacrificed on the altar of shoulder-strapped incompetency. The killed andwounded in this battle numbered about 25, 000, of whom more than half wereUnionists. These figures repeat eloquently that real soldiers werewaiting for a real general. The death of "Stonewall" Jackson atChancellorsville was in no slight degree a compensation for Union losses. 

The tide turned at Gettysburg. General George Gordon Meade succeededHooker in command of the Army of the Potomac. Meade was not a brilliantman, but he was a thorough soldier, and eminently free from that spiritof envy which was the bane of our armies, which had nearly driven Grantfrom the service, and which was responsible for the loss of more than onebattle. Elated by Chancellorsville, Lee determined to invade the North. The South made an extreme effort to replenish its armies, and that ofNorthern Virginia was raised to about 100, 000 men. With the greater partof this magnificent host, including 15, 000 cavalry and 280 guns, Leemarched down the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Potomac on thetwenty-fifth of June, and headed for Chambersburg. Meade drew near withthe army of the Potomac, and such reinforcements as had been hastilycollected in Pennsylvania on the news of the invasion. At Gettysburg thetwo armies met for the decisive battle of the war. Meade had on the field83, 000 men and 300 guns; Lee, 69, 000 men and 250 guns. For three days thetwo armies contended with frightful losses, and with a courage notsurpassed in ancient or modern warfare. The brave General John F. Reynolds lost his life in the first encounter, and General Winfield ScottHancock was sent by Meade to take charge of the field. On the second dayoccurred the desperate conflict for Little Round Top, which resulted inthat key to the Union line being seized and held by the Union troops. Neither side, however, gained any decided advantage. On the third day Leeprepared for the grand movement known in history as "Pickett's charge. "Fourteen thousand men were selected as the forlorn hope of theConfederacy. For two hours before the charge 120 guns kept up a fearfulcannonade upon the Union lines. Meade answered with eighty guns. Aboutthree o'clock in the afternoon Meade ceased firing. Lee thought theNorthern gunners were silenced. He was mistaken; they knew what wascoming. 

On moved the charging column, as the smoke of battle lifted, and the"tattered uniforms and bright muskets" came plainly into view. At anaverage distance of about eleven hundred yards the Union batteriesopened. Shot and shell tore through the Confederate ranks. Still theymarched on over wounded and dying and dead. Canister now rained on theirflanks, and as they came within closer range a hurricane of bullets burstupon them, and men dropped on every side like leaves in the winds ofautumn. The strength of the charging column melted before the gale ofdeath; but the survivors staggered on. When the remains of theConfederate right reached the Union works their three brigade commandershad fallen, every field officer except one had been killed or wounded;but still the remnant kept its face to the foe, led to annihilation bythe dauntless Armistead. The four brigades on the left of Pickett met asimilar fate. "They moved up splendidly, " wrote a Union officer, "deploying as they crossed the long sloping interval. The front of thecolumn was nearly up the slope, and within a few yards of the SecondCorps' front and its batteries, when suddenly a terrific fire from everyavailable gun on Cemetery Ridge burst upon them. Their graceful linesunderwent an instantaneous transformation in a dense cloud of smoke anddust; arms, heads, blankets, guns and knapsacks were tossed in the air, and the moan from the battlefield was heard amid the storm of battle. "

One half of the 14, 000 perished in the charge. Gettysburg was over, andthe tide of invasion from the South was rolled back never to return. Meade had lost about 23, 000 men, and Lee about 23, 000. Halleck, whosebusiness as general-in-chief seemed to be to annoy successful commanders, and irritate them to the resignation point, blamed Meade for allowing Leeto retire without another battle, but public opinion upheld the victor ofGettysburg, and Congress honored him and Generals Hancock and O. O. Howard with a resolution of thanks. 

 * * *

General George H. Thomas, a Southern officer of the Lee and Johnston rankin military capacity, who fortunately stood by the Union, savedChickamauga from being a Union defeat that would have done much to offsetGettysburg and Vicksburg. Rosecrans had compelled Bragg to evacuateChattanooga, and erroneously assumed that the Confederate commander wasin retreat, when in fact he had been reinforced by Longstreet and wasready to risk another battle. The two armies met in the valley ofChickamauga. Operations on the Union side were chiefly a series ofblunders which resulted in the right wing of Rosecrans' army being brokenand driven from the field, leaving the brunt of the conflict to be borneby General Thomas with the left wing. 

The magnificent stand made by Thomas against the victorious Confederates, gained for him the title of the "Rock of Chickamauga. " Surrounded on allsides by a force that a craven commander might have deemed irresistible, Thomas thought out his plans as coolly as if miles away from danger. "Take that ridge!" he said calmly to General James B. Steedman, when thatfearless soldier came up with his division; and Thomas pointed to acommanding ridge held by the enemy. Steedman moved at once to the attack, and the ridge was carried with a loss of 2900 men. In vain both wings ofthe Confederates were hurled, with fierce determination against thelittle army of Thomas. With 25, 000 men he successfully resisted theattacks of between 50, 000 and 60, 000. "It will ruin the army to withdrawit now; this position must be held till night"--was the answer of Thomasto Rosecrans; and Thomas held the position until night, and then withdrewin good order. The Union loss was about 19, 000 and that of theConfederates at least as great. Thomas in the following month succeededRosecrans as commander of the Army of the Cumberland. It is more thanprobable that up to that time his merits had not been fully recognized, owing to unfounded suspicion of his loyalty. When it was said of Thomasto General Joseph E. Johnston that he "did not know when he was whipped, "Johnston answered: "Rather say he always knew very well when he was notwhipped. "

The Army of the Tennessee, now commanded by Sherman, was brought up toChattanooga from Vicksburg, and General Grant was placed in command ofall forces west of the Alleghenies. General Hooker was sent from Virginiawith reinforcements, and General Grant prepared for the decisive battleof the West. In that battle, which was fought about Chattanooga, November24 and 25, Bragg was completely defeated with a loss of about 3000 inkilled and wounded and 6000 prisoners. A remarkable feature of thisbattle is that the Confederate position on Missionary Ridge was carriedby a charge made by the Union troops without orders from their commanders. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Grant Appointed Lieutenant-General--Takes Command in Virginia--Battlesof the Wilderness--The Two Armies--Battle of Cedar Creek--Sheridan'sRide--He Turns Defeat Into Victory--Confederate Disasters on Land andSea--Farragut at Mobile--Last Naval Battle of the War--Sherman EntersAtlanta--Lincoln's Re-election--Sherman's March to the Sea--ShermanCaptures Savannah--Thomas Defeats Hood at Nashville--Fort FisherTaken--Lee Appointed General-in-chief--Confederate Defeat at FiveForks--Lee's Surrender--Johnston's Surrender--End of the War--The SouthProstrate--A Resistance Unparalleled in History--The Blots on theConfederacy--Cruel Treatment of Union Men and Prisoners--Murder ofAbraham Lincoln--The South Since the War. 

The Confederacy having been dismantled in the Southwest--except in Texas, where secession simply awaited the result in other States--Virginiabecame the central battle-ground of the rebellion. There its chiefenergies were concentrated for the closing struggle, and there itsgreatest leader commanded. It was the part of wisdom, therefore, for theNational Government to make its most successful general chief of all theNational armies, with the understanding that he would personally directoperations in the most important field. Grant was appointedlieutenant-general in March, 1864, and he at once gave his attention tothe Army of the Potomac, which Meade continued to command under hissupervision. The Army of Northern Virginia was no longer thewell-equipped host which had gained victory after victory in the earlierperiod of the war, but its spirit was undaunted, and Lee, as hisresources diminished, displayed more signally than ever his remarkablemilitary genius. The two great commanders were face to face, but not onthe equal terms that in '62 or '63 would have presented a duel of giants. The Confederacy was falling, gradually, it is true, but the end was insight. It was virtually confined to four States, Georgia, the Carolinasand Virginia, and these but shells that only needed Sherman's march tothe sea to prove how hollow they were. General Grant fought his waythrough the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, andacross the James River to Petersburg. His losses of men were enormous, but the strength of his army was maintained by a continuous supply ofrecruits from the North. Grant established his lines in front ofPetersburg, and proceeded to reduce that place. He gave Lee no rest, andexhausted the Confederates with repeated surprises and attacks. 

General Lee had about 50, 000 men to defend two cities and a line ofintrenchments enveloping both, thirty-five miles long, against about150, 000 men, a large proportion of them veterans, trained and steeled towar. The time had passed for offensive operations on any effective scaleon the part of the Confederates, although a desperate dash now and thengave a false impression to the world outside that the Confederacy stillhad a vigorous vitality. While General Philip H. Sheridan, Chief ofCavalry of the Army of the Potomac, was at Winchester, October 19, General Jubal Early suddenly attacked Sheridan's forces at Cedar Creek, nearly twenty miles from Winchester. The attack was made at dawn, andproved a complete surprise. The National troops were defeated, and theroads were thronged with fugitives, while camp, and cannon and a largenumber of prisoners fell into the hands of the enemy. Sheridan was ridingleisurely out of Winchester, when he met his routed troops. At once hedashed forward on his black charger, crying out to his men: "Face theother way, boys! Face the other way!" and, as he learned the extent ofthe disaster, he added: "We will have all the camps and cannon backagain!" With courage revived by their leader's example, the Union troopsrallied and turned upon the foe, recovering all the spoil, and virtuallydestroying Early's army. 

 * * *

Disaster attended the Confederate cause on land and sea. The Britishcruiser Alabama, flying the Confederate flag, was defeated and sunk bythe United States frigate Kearsarge, off the coast of France, in June, 1864. Admiral David Glasgow Farragut entered Mobile Bay, August 5, lashedto the mast of his flagship, the Hartford, and fought the last navalbattle of the war. The monitor Tecumseh, which led the National vessels, was struck by the explosion of a torpedo, and sank with Commander Cravenand nearly all her officers and men. Farragut, unshaken by this disaster, ordered the Hartford to go ahead heedless of torpedoes, and the othervessels to follow. He silenced the batteries with grapeshot, destroyedthe Confederate squadron, and on the following day captured the fortswith the assistance of a land force of 5000 men from New Orleans. Theimpatience of the Richmond government, chafing under its own impotence, hastened the catastrophe. General Joseph E. Johnston, who had succeededBragg, and who husbanded as far as compatible with an efficient defencethe troops under his command, was removed to give way to General John B. Hood, who was willing to waste his forces in hopeless conflict withSherman. On September 2 Sherman entered Atlanta. 

The news of Lincoln's re-election by 212 electoral votes to 21 forMcClellan, put an end to Confederate reliance on Northern sympathy andaid. Even the most sanguine now lost hope. 

 * * *

After sending a part of his army under Thomas to cope with Hood, who hadmoved into middle Tennessee, Sherman started about the middle of Novemberwith 60, 000 men on his famous march through Georgia to the seacoast. Hedestroyed the railroads, and devastated the country from which theConfederacy was drawing its supplies. Although I have never seen itmentioned in any publication regarding the war, I believe that previousto Sherman's march it was the purpose of the Confederate Government toretreat to North Carolina when too hardly pressed in Virginia. Otherwisethere seems to be no explanation for the vast accumulation of provisionsat Salisbury, which were certainly not intended or used for the Unionprisoners at that place, and for the large stores of food at Charlotte. Sherman captured Savannah just before Christmas, and proceeded northwardthrough the Carolinas. Meantime General Thomas had completely defeatedHood at the battle of Nashville, and dispersed his army, the remnant ofwhich gathered again under General Joseph E. Johnston to oppose the marchof Sherman. Fort Fisher, North Carolina, surrendered to General Alfred H. Terry and Admiral Porter in January, 1865. 

 * * *

Lee, reduced to the last extremity at Richmond, and appointed inFebruary, 1865, general-in-chief of armies which no longer had a realexistence, decided to abandon the Confederate capital and effect ajunction with Johnston. Sheridan prevented this by defeating theConfederates at Five Forks, April 1, and turning Lee's right andthreatening his rear. Five Forks was the beginning of the end. Thirty-five thousand muskets were guarding thirty-seven miles ofintrenchments, and on these attenuated lines General Grant ordered animmediate assault. The defences were found to be almost denuded of men. Petersburg and Richmond fell, and Lee, driven westward, surrendered atAppomattox, on April 9, the remains of the once proud Army of NorthernVirginia, now numbering 26, 000 ragged and starving soldiers. On learningthat Lee's troops had been living for days on parched corn, General Grantat once offered to send them rations, and the Union soldiers readilyshared their own provisions with the men with whom, a few hours before, they had been engaged in mortal strife. Lee bade a touching farewell tohis troops, and rode through a weeping army to his home in Richmond. Afortnight afterward Johnston surrendered to Sherman, and with thesurrender of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Army, May 26, the war wasat an end. The Confederate Government had fled from Richmond when Leewithdrew his army, and on May 10, Jefferson Davis was captured nearIrwinsville, Ga. , and sent as a prisoner to Fortress Monroe. 

 * * *

We have read of the sieges of Numantia and of Haarlem, of Scotland'sstruggle for liberty under Wallace and Bruce, and of the virtualextinction of the men of Paraguay in the war against Brazil andArgentina; but history records no resistance on the part of aconsiderable population inhabiting an extensive region, under anorganized government, worthy to compare in resolution, endurance andself-sacrifice, with that of the Southern Confederacy to the forces ofthe Union. When the war closed the South was prostrate. When the Governorof Alabama was asked to join in raising a force to attack the rear ofSherman he answered, no doubt truthfully, that only cripples, old men andchildren remained of the male population of the State. In theirdesperation the Southern leaders even thought of enlisting negroes, thusadding a grotesque epilogue to the mighty national tragedy. Of courseeven the most ignorant negro could not have been expected to fight forhis own enslavement. I saw Richmond about a month before the surrender. It was like a city of the dead. Two weeks later I was in New York. Itteemed with life and bustle and energy. 

The blots on the Confederacy were the cruel persecution of Union menliving in the South, who were, in many instances, dragged from theirfamilies and put to death as traitors, and the maltreatment of Unionprisoners. The North tolerated Southern sympathizers, when not actuallyengaged in plotting against the government, and treated Southernprisoners with all the kindness possible. It has been said for the Souththat while Union prisoners were starving, the Confederate troops in thefield were almost starving too. This is a dishonest subterfuge. TheSouthern troops were starving not because ordinary food was not plentifulin the Confederacy, but because of lack of transportation to carry thefood from the interior to the front, while the Union prisoners perishedfrom hunger in the midst of abundance. Again, even assuming the plea ofscarcity to be true, that would not palliate the numerous murders ofhelpless prisoners by volleys fired into the stockades at the pleasure ofthe guards. [1] There was a vindictiveness in these crimes which no pleacan extenuate. 

 [1] As one of the survivors of the massacre of November 25, 1864, at Salisbury, North Carolina, I know whereof I speak. 

 * * *

The murder of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth removed the only manwho could have done justice to the South and controlled the passions ofthe North. Lincoln was signally, providentially adapted to be thenation's guide in the struggle which, under his leadership, was broughtto a successful conclusion. For the equally difficult task ofreconstruction he was likewise admirably qualified, and his death wasfollowed by a civil chaos almost as deplorable as armed disunion. Fromthat chaos the American people gradually emerged by force of their nativecharacter and their fundamental sense of justice and of right. The South, for some years subjected to the rule of camp-followers and freedmen, gradually recovered from the devastation of war, and superiorintelligence came to the top, as it always will eventually. The Southernpeople learned that they had other resources besides cotton, and theybegan to emulate the North in the development of manufactures and mines. The old slave-owning aristocracy in the South has disappeared, but the"poor whites" have also almost disappeared, and the average of comfort inthat section is greater than at any period in American history. Thenegroes complain, and with too much cause, of political oppression andexclusion from the suffrage, but they seem to be on good terms with their"oppressors, " and on the principle of the old Spanish proverb that "he ismy friend who brings grist to my mill, " the Southern black has no betterfriend than the Southern white. 

Thirty Years of Peace. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Reconstruction in the South--The Congress and the President--LiberalRepublican Movement--Nomination, Defeat and Death of Greeley--TroopsWithdrawn by President Hayes--Foreign Policy of the Past Thirty Years--French Ordered from Mexico--Last Days of Maximilian--Russian-AmericaBought--The Geneva Arbitration--Alabama Claims Paid--The NorthwestBoundary--The Fisheries--Spain and the Virginius--The Custer Massacre--United States of Brazil Established--President Harrison and Chile--Venezuela--American Prestige in South America--Hawaii--BehringSea--Garfield, the Martyr of Civil Service Reform--Labor Troubles--Railway Riots of 1877 and 1894--Great Calamities--The Chicago Fire, Boston Fire, Charleston Earthquake, Johnstown Flood. 

The Southern people cannot be justly blamed for their resolute resistanceto negro domination. It was too much to expect that former masters shouldaccept political inferiority to a race emancipated from slavery, but notemancipated from deplorable ignorance and debasement, and easily misledby unscrupulous whites. On the other hand, gratitude and prudencedemanded, on the part of the North, that the negro should not only be afreeman, but also a citizen; that he should not only be liberated fromslavery, but also protected against oppression. The negro, howeverignorant, was true to the Union, and attached to the Republican party;the black soldiers had fought in the Union armies, and Abraham Lincolnhimself had advised Governor Hahn, of Louisiana, in 1863, that "the veryintelligent colored people, and especially those who fought gallantly inour ranks, should be admitted to the franchise, " for "they would probablyhelp in some trying time to come to keep the jewel of liberty within thefamily of freedom. "

Andrew Johnson, succeeding to the chair of Lincoln, and with his heartsoftened toward his native South, would have restored the whites to fullcontrol, with the negroes at their mercy. The Congress, however, intervened, and the ex-Confederate States were placed under military law, and only admitted to recognition as States upon conditions which gave thenegro equal rights with his white fellow-citizens--and indeed superiorrights to many of them, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution ofthe United States excluding from office all persons who, having taken anoath as public officers to support the Constitution afterward joined theConfederacy. For opposing these measures of Congress President Johnsonwas impeached, and escaped conviction by one vote. 

 * * *

The Southern whites continued to struggle for white supremacy. Theconflict continued throughout Johnson's term as President, and even thesevere military measures adopted under power from Congress by GeneralGrant, only suppressed organized violence in its more rampant form. Itwas impossible to imprison a commonwealth or to place bayonets at everythreshold, and while the negro might be upheld in his right of suffrage, Federal protection could not supply him with work and bread. Theintellect and the property of the South were on the side of the whites, and the blacks began to find that their choice was between submission orextinction. 

In the North, even among Republicans, a feeling grew that theex-Confederates had suffered enough, while it was impossible for anhonest man to have any other sentiment than contempt for the politicalvultures who had descended on the wasted South. This feeling gavestrength to the Liberal Republican movement in 1872, and arrayedDemocrats--and not a few of the old anti-slavery leaders--in support ofHorace Greeley for President. 

The insanity and death of Mr. Greeley cast a gloom over the election forvictors as well as vanquished. Mr. Greeley's mind was weakened bydomestic affliction, and by the desertion of _Tribune_ readers, and whencrushing defeat at the polls gave the _coup-de-grace_ to his politicalprospects, his once vigorous intellect yielded under the strain. Like adying gladiator, mortally wounded, but with courage unquenched, he seizedonce more the editorial blade with which he had dealt so many powerfulblows in the past for justice and for truth; but nature was not equal tothe task, and the weapon fell from his nerveless grasp. His last wordswere: "The country is gone; the _Tribune_ is gone, and I am gone. "General Grant attended the funeral of his gifted and hapless competitor, and the nation joined in honor and eulogy of the great editor whose heartwas always true to humanity, and whose very failings leaned to virtue'sside. Fortunately Mr. Greeley's irresponsible utterance was not propheticeither as to the country or the _Tribune_. Mr. Whitelaw Reid succeeded tothe editorial chair, and has ably kept the _Tribune_ in the front rank ofAmerican journals. 

 * * *

Mr. Greeley's last editorial expression pleaded with the victors inbehalf of justice and fair dealing for the South. General Grant himselfis said to have arrived at the conclusion before the close of his secondterm, that the Federal troops should be withdrawn from the SouthernStates, and sagacious Republicans discerned in the growth of Democraticsentiment both North and South a warning that the people were becomingtired of bayonet government ten years after Appomattox. The election of1876, when the Democrats had a popular majority, and the decision betweenRutherford B. Hayes, Republican, and Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat, dependedon a single vote, emphasized the popular protest against military rule intime of peace, and when the Electoral Commission gave a verdict in favorof General Hayes, the new President speedily withdrew the National troopsfrom the reconstructed States. 

 * * *

While the country witnessed deep agitation and difference of opinionregarding reconstruction in the South, there was no difference of publicsentiment regarding the vigorous, far-sighted and thoroughly Americanpolicy of the government in dealing with foreign powers. One of the firststeps of Secretary Seward after the close of the war was to demand incourteous language that the French should evacuate Mexico. Napoleon darednot challenge the United States by answering no. General Philip H. Sheridan was on the Rio Grande with fifty thousand men, anxious to crossover and fight; a million veterans were ready to obey the summons tobattle, and Generals Grant and Sherman would willingly have followed inthe footsteps of Scott and Taylor. The French troops were withdrawn. Maximilian, deceived as to the strength of his cause with the natives, refused to accompany Bazaine across the ocean, and the month of May, 1867, saw the usurping emperor shut up with a small force in Queretaro, surrounded by an army of forty thousand Mexican avengers. 

In those final days of his life and reign the hapless Austrian princeexhibited a courage and nobility of character which showed that the bloodof Maria Theresa was not degenerate in his veins. He faced death withmore than reckless daring; he shared in all the privations of hisfaithful adherents, and he was preparing to cut his way out through thehost of besiegers, at the head of his men, when treachery betrayed him tothe enemy. 

Miguel Lopez was the Benedict Arnold of Queretaro; personal immunity andtwo thousand gold ounces the price. Lopez held the key of Queretaro--theconvent of La Cruz. Maximilian had been his generous patron and friend, and had appointed him chief of the imperial guard. Lopez discerned theapproaching downfall of his sovereign, and resolved to save himself bydelivering up that sovereign to the enemy. On the night of May 14, theLiberal troops were admitted to La Cruz, and Queretaro was at the mercyof the besiegers. 

Maximilian made a last stand on the "Hill of the Bells. " Successfulresistance was impossible. The bullet he prayed for did not come, and theemperor and his officers were prisoners. In vain the Princess Salm-Salm, representing one of the proudest families of Europe, bent her kneesbefore the Indian President of Mexico, and pleaded for the life ofMaximilian. "I am grieved, madam, " said Juarez, "to see you thus on yourknees before me; but if all the kings and queens of Europe were in yourplace, I could not spare that life. It is not I who take it. It is thepeople and the law, and if I should not do their will, the people wouldtake it, and mine also. "

"Boys, aim well--aim at my heart"--was Maximilian's request to hisexecutioners. "Oh man!" was his last cry as he fell, the victim of hisown ambition, and of Louis Napoleon's perfidy. The volley which piercedhis breast was the knell of the Bonaparte dynasty. Gravelotte was butlittle more than three years from Queretaro. 

 * * *

The acquisition of Russian America for the sum of $7, 200, 000 was asplendid stroke of statesmanship, and secured to the United States thecontrol of the North Pacific coast of the continent, besides adding about581, 107 square miles to the territory of the Republic. Alaska has immenseresources, and is already looking forward to a proud and prosperousfuture as the north star in the flag of our Union. 

 * * *

When the British Government proposed, in 1871, a joint commission tosettle the Canadian fisheries dispute, Secretary of State Hamilton Fishreplied that the settlement of the claims for depredations byAnglo-Confederate cruisers would be "essential to the restoration ofcordial and amicable relations between the two governments. " In thefollowing February five high commissioners from each country met inWashington, and a treaty was agreed upon providing for arbitration uponthe issues between the American Republic and Great Britain. These issuesincluded the "Alabama Claims"--so-called because the Alabama was the mostnotorious and destructive of the Anglo-Confederate sea rovers--thequestion of the Northwest boundary, and the Canadian fisheries. 

The Tribunal of Arbitration upon the "Alabama Claims" met at Geneva, Switzerland, December 15, 1871. Charles Francis Adams, American Ministerto England during the war, was member of the Tribunal for the UnitedStates, and Lord Chief Justice Cockburn acted for Great Britain. BaronItajuba, Brazilian Minister to France; Count Sclopis, an Italianstatesman, and M. Jaques Stæmpfii, of Switzerland, were the other membersof the illustrious and memorable court. Caleb Cushing, William M. Evartsand Morrison R. Waite, counsel for the United States, presented anindictment against England which should have made British statesmenshrink from the evidence of their unsuccessful conspiracy against thelife of a friendly State. The course of Great Britain during the war wasreviewed in language not less forcible and convincing because it wascalm, dignified and restrained. A fortress of facts was presentedimpregnable to British reply, and highly creditable to the forethoughtand skill with which the American State Department had gathered thematerial for its case from the very beginning of the war. So strong andunanswerable was the proof against the Alabama that the Britisharbitrator voted in favor of the United States on the issue of Britishresponsibility for that vessel. 

The Tribunal awarded $15, 500, 000 in gold for the vessels and cargoesdestroyed by the Alabama, with her tender; the Florida, with her threetenders, and the Shenandoah, or Sea King, during a part of her piraticalcareer. England promptly paid the award, and learned for the third timein her history that the rights and interests of the American people werenot to be trampled on with impunity. The United States, in fulfilment ofan award made by a commission appointed under the Treaty of Washingtonpaid $2, 000, 000 for damages incurred by British subjects during the warfor the Union, the claims presented to the commission having amounted to$96, 000, 000. The differences between the United States and Great Britainon account of the rebellion were thus happily removed without theshedding of a drop of blood, and the two great nations of English origingave to mankind an admirable example of peaceful arbitration as asubstitute for the ordeal of battle. 

 * * *

The question of the Northwest boundary was also settled to thesatisfaction of the United States, by the German emperor, William I. , towhom it was referred as arbitrator. The treaty of 1846 left in doubtwhether the boundary line included the island of San Juan and its groupwithin American or British territory. American and British garrisonsoccupied the disputed island of San Juan. When the Emperor Williamdecided in favor of the United States the British troops were withdrawn. 

Less advantageous to the United States was the attempt made to settle thelong dispute over the fisheries. The Treaty of Washington provided thatAmerican fishermen should be freely admitted to the Canadian fisheries, and that Canadians should be permitted to fish on the American coast asfar south as the thirty-ninth parallel, and that there should be freetrade in fish-oil and salt water fish, these provisions to be abrogatedon two years' notice. Through a most unfortunate blunder on the part ofour government a commission was constituted virtually British in itscharacter, which awarded to Great Britain the sum of $5, 500, 000 forimaginary American benefits to be derived from reciprocity. This moneywas paid without any real equivalent. 

The reciprocity arrangement was abrogated, under notice from ourgovernment, in 1885, and the old contention was renewed. As a result ofCanadian outrage and intolerance a bill was passed by the AmericanCongress, March 3, 1887, providing that the President, on being satisfiedthat American fishing masters or crews were treated in Canadian ports anyless favorably than masters or crews of trading vessels belonging to themost favored nations could "in his discretion by proclamation to thateffect deny vessels, their masters and crews, of the British dominions ofNorth America, any entrance into the waters, ports or places of or withinthe United States. " Eventually the Canadians assumed a more reasonableattitude, and American fishermen, on their part, learned to beindependent of Canada, and to value the exclusive possession of their ownmarkets more than Canadian fishing privileges. 

 * * *

Spain invited a conflict with the United States by the summary execution, in November, 1873, of 110 persons, including a number of Americancitizens, captured on the American steamship Virginius, while on theirway to assist the Cuban patriots. President Grant acted with firmness anddeliberation, refusing to be carried away by the popular demand for war, but resolute in his demand for redress on the part of Spain. The Spanishgovernment surrendered the survivors and the Virginius, and madereparation satisfactory to the United States. When the American schoonerCompetitor was captured recently, on an errand to the Cuban insurgents, the Spaniards did not dare to repeat the tragedy of the Virginius. 

 * * *

The American Indians made their last hostile stand against whiteaggression June 25, 1876, when the Sioux, led by Sitting Bull, destroyedGeneral Custer and three hundred cavalry under his command. The troopsfought bravely, but the Indians were nerved to desperation by thepresence of their women and children. Sitting Bull took refuge with hisfollowers in British territory, but surrendered to United Statesauthority in 1880, under promise of amnesty. He was treacherously killedin 1890, on suspicion of being concerned in fomenting trouble with thewhites. The policy of the National Government toward the Indians has oflate years been humane and liberal. 

 * * *

The extinction of imperialism in Brazil in 1889 effaced monarchy from theAmerican continent, save as represented in the territories still subjectto European States. Dom Pedro II. , one of the most amiable and liberal ofnineteenth century rulers, was driven into exile, and without an armedencounter, or the firing of a gun in anger, the empire of Brazil becamethe United States of Brazil. Unlike other emperors and kings who havebeen compelled to give up their American dominions, Dom Pedro's partingmessage to the land he had wisely governed was one of amity and peace. Asthe shores of his loved Brazil disappeared before his moistening eyes hereleased a dove to bear back his last adieu of loyal and ferventgoodwill. He died in exile, his end doubtless hastened by patheticlonging to see once more the native land forever barred to him. 

The path toward freedom in Brazil had not been strewn with flowers. Brazil had its martyrs as well as its heroes. It is a remarkable factthat nearly every revolution in France had its echo in Brazil, andundoubtedly French as well as American example had much to do with thedeposition of Pedro II. It is a mistake to argue, as some Europeanwriters have argued, that the change from a monarchy to a republic inBrazil was nothing more than a successful military revolt. It was theculmination of more than a century of agitation in behalf of republicanprinciples; it was the pure flame of a sacred hearth-fire, which hadnever been extinguished from the day when it caught the first feeble glowfrom the dying breath of Filipe dos Santos. 

The Brazilians have given an admirable example to other South Americanrepublics in the separation of State from Church. While providing for themaintenance of ecclesiastics now dependent on the State for support, theBrazilian Constitution decrees not only entire liberty of worship, butabsolute equality of all before the law, without regard to theirreligious creed. The absence of this equality is the chief blot on someSouth American States. 

 * * *

The resolute course of President Harrison in exacting indemnity andapology from Chile for insult to the American uniform and the murder andwounding of American sailors, tended greatly to promote the influence andprestige of the United States in South America, and the Spanish-Americanrepublics are learning to esteem the United States, instead of England, as the leading power of the New World. Brazil is grateful for Americancountenance and friendship in the defence of that youngest and greatestof South American republics against rebellion plotted in Europe in theinterest of the Braganzas, while Venezuela depends upon the United Stateswith justifiable confidence for the vindication of the Monroe Doctrine, and the restoration of territory seized and occupied by the Britishwithout any title save that of superior force. Cuba, in her heroic battlefor freedom, is upheld by American public sentiment and the substantialsympathy of the American people, and Nicaragua is virtually underAmerican protection. The American eagle, from its seat in the North, overshadows with guardian pinions the American continent. 

 * * *

In the case of Hawaii the American Republic seems likely to depart fromits traditional policy of acquiring no territory beyond American bounds. The Hawaiian Islands were won from barbarism by the efforts andsacrifices of American missionaries and their descendants. A republic hasbeen established there, and intelligent Hawaiians look hopefully forwardto a common future with the United States. There is hardly a doubt thatthis hope will be fulfilled, and that the Eden of Southern seas willbecome an outpost of American civilization. With the two great Englishspeaking nations of America and Australia confronting each other acrossthe Pacific, that ocean is certain to be in the twentieth century thetheatre of grand events, perhaps of future Actiums and Trafalgars. InHawaii we will have a Malta worthy of such a mighty arena, and the flamesof Kilauea will be a beacon fire of American liberty to the teemingmillions of Asia. 

 * * *

The Behring Sea negotiations have from the first been discreditable todiplomacy at Washington. The attempt to prove that the fur-seals aredomestic animals, and the property of the United States when a hundredmiles out in the Pacific Ocean was a humiliating reflection on theintelligence of both parties to the dispute, and showed abject anddegrading subserviency to the corporation controlling the seal monopoly. Added to this was the disgrace of forgery, detected, unfortunately, notat Washington, but in London, and indicating that, while Washingtonofficials were doubtless innocent of complicity in the crime, the forgerknew, or thought he knew, what was wanted. The end is that this countryhas to pay about $400, 000 to England, while the seals are abandoned todestruction, which at least will have the happy effect of removing themas a cause of international controversy. 

 * * *

The assassination of President Garfield, July 2, 1881, by a disappointedseeker for office made that President the martyr of civil service reform, and gave an irresistible impulse to the movement to alleviate the evilsof what is known as the "spoils system. " Notwithstanding the oppositionof politicians and newspapers representing the vicious and ignorantelement, civil service reform has made marvelous progress, and theprinciple is now recognized not only in appointments to the vast majorityof non-elective offices under the National Government, but also in thecivil service of States and municipalities. 

 * * *

An unfortunate consequence of the vast growth of individual and corporatewealth, after the war, was the widening of the division line betweencapital and labor. The depression consequent upon the collapse ofinflated values in 1873 compelled employers to reduce expenses, and madeharder the lot of labor, while the workingman who saw his wages reducedwas not always willing to make intelligent allowance for thecircumstances which made the reduction necessary. The spirit ofdiscontent reached the point of eruption in 1877, when railway employeesthroughout a large part of the Union abandoned their work, and indulgedin riot and disorder. The struggle raged most fiercely in the city ofPittsburg, which was subjected for some days to the reign of a mob, andto perils seldom surpassed save in the tragic scenes of old-worldbarricades and revolution. The County of Allegheny had to settle fordamages to the amount of $2, 772, 349. 53, of which $1, 600, 000 went to thePennsylvania Railroad. Chicago, Baltimore and Reading were also thescenes of severe and sanguinary conflict between rioters and the militia. It was estimated that about 100, 000 workers were engaged in the strike invarious parts of the country. 

Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and other States have witnessed seriouslabor troubles since 1877, and the regular army of the United States wasemployed by order of President Cleveland to put down unlawfulinterference with interstate commerce in 1894; but the general tendencyof workingmen is to obtain redress for real or imaginary grievances in alaw-abiding manner by securing the election of officials favorable totheir interests. This is the only method of redress that can be toleratedin a republic. 

 * * *

The great fires of Chicago in 1871, and of Boston in 1872, the Charlestonearthquake of 1886 and the Johnstown flood of 1889, were among the mostmemorable of the destructive visitations which have served signally toillustrate the energy, the generosity, and the recuperative power of theAmerican people. Chicago, with $200, 000, 000 of property swept away by theflames, laid amid the ashes the foundations of that new Chicago which isthe inland metropolis of the continent, brimming with the spirit ofAmerican progress, and the blood in every vein bounding with Americanenergy. Boston plucked profit from disaster by establishing her claim asthe modern Athens in architecture as well as literature, and Charlestonlearned, amid her ruins, that northern sympathy was not bounded by Masonand Dixon's line. The South taught a similar lesson in return when thecry from flood-stricken Johnstown touched every merciful heart. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The American Republic the Most Powerful of Nations--Military and NavalStrength--Railways and Waterways--Industry and Art--Manufactures--The NewSouth--Foreign and Domestic Commerce--An Age of Invention--Americans aNation of Readers--The Clergy--Pulpit and Press--Religion and HigherEducation--The Currency Question--Leading Candidates for the Presidency--A Sectional Contest Deplorable--What Shall the Harvest Be?

Thirty-two years ago the very existence of the American Republic was inthe balance. Today it is the most powerful of nations, with forty-fivestars, representing that number of States, on its flag, and unequalled inpopulation, wealth or resources by any other civilized land. The men ofAmerica are not herded away from industry to drill in camps and garrison, and wait for a war that may never come. They continue to be producers, but should the need arise they would be found as good soldiers as any inthe world, and for fighting on American soil better than the best ofEurope. The American navy is already formidable, and becoming moreformidable every year, and the spirit of the men who fought underBainbridge, Decatur, Hull and Perry survives in their descendants. However great the improvements in naval machines the men on the ship willalways be of more importance than the armament. The American Republic hasthe men, and is fast acquiring the armament. 

The people were never so closely united as now. Every new railway is amuscle of iron knitting together the joints of the Union, and no othernation has a railway service equal to that of America. Railways span thecontinent from New York to the Golden Gate. The traveler retires to restin the North and wakes up in the sunny South. And still he can journey onin his own country, under the American flag, day after day, if he wishes, toward the setting sun, unvexed by custom house, and free from theinquisition which attends the stranger in Europe, as he flits from onepetty State to another. The great national policy of encouraging theextension of railway and water communication is grandly vindicated in theAmerica of to-day. When the Nicaragua Canal shall have been completed theAmerican people will have a new waterway joining the Atlantic and Pacificcoasts of the Republic, as important to the commerce of the Union as theErie Canal was fifty years ago. 

To describe the progress of the United States in the industries and artswould be a work requiring many volumes, including the census reports of1890, and catalogues of the Centennial and Chicago Fairs. The Republic isnot only the greatest of agricultural nations, but also leads GreatBritain in manufactures. In the quality of our textile fabrics we areoutstripping Europe, and the statement that cloth is imported is atemptation now only to ignorant purchasers. In the more refined artsAmerica is also gaining upon the older world, and it is absurd to seeAmericans purchasing silverware, for instance, abroad when they can get amuch finer article at home. The low wages and keen competition of Europehave a degrading effect not only upon the workingman, but also in somedegree upon his product, whereas here the artist and the artisan areencouraged by fair compensation and comfortable surroundings to do theirbest. The principle upon which American employers act--to give good payfor good work--is the secret of American success; it is the reason whyeven the semi-barbarians are learning that American goods are made towear, while those of Europe are often made only to sell. 

Manufactures are flourishing in the South as well as the North, and it iswonderful to relate that, while the hum of busy factories can be heard innearly every city, town and village of the former Confederacy, the cottoncrop--which the Southern people in 1860 believed it impossible to producewithout slave labor--has already reached with free labor about double thefigures of 1860. 

It is true that we do not have a large share of the foreign carryingtrade, but it is also true that our merchant marine, including thevessels engaged in foreign and domestic trade and river and lakenavigation, is second only to that of Great Britain. The domesticcommerce of the United States, a free trade extending from Florida toSitka, from Eastport to San Diego, is vastly greater than the foreigncommerce of Great Britain. 

The age has been one of marvelous inventions in steam, in electricity, inthe machinery which has made nearly every mechanic and operative anengineer, which is driving the horse from the streets and the farms, andwhich enables one factory hand to produce as much as three produced ageneration ago. 

Submarine cables keep America in close touch with Europe, and even thegossip of Paris and London is known the same day in our cities. Everybodyreads, and whereas the American of a generation ago took one newspaper, his son to-day probably takes two or three, besides weekly and monthlypublications. Notwithstanding all that is said about ignorant foreignimmigration it is certain that the growth of newspaper circulation in thepast two decades has exceeded the growth of population. Americans are areading people, and it is for every head of a family to see that hischildren have the right kind of reading. 

 * * *

The clergy are not now the political monitors of the community, as when, at the time of the Revolution, the election sermon preached in Boston, and printed in pamphlet form, was spelled by the light of the pine-knotin the cabin on the Berkshire plantation, inspiring the rustic breastwith holy zeal to deliver the Israel of the New World from the yoke ofthe English Sennacherib. The newspaper has taken the place of the pulpitas a political beacon and guide, and, as every denomination andcongregation includes members of both the prominent national parties, itwould be impossible for a clergyman to indulge in even a distant partisanallusion without offending some one of his hearers. The clergyman isfree, like any other citizen, to indicate his preferences and express hisopinions in regard to public affairs, but the judicious pastor is notprone to use that freedom indiscreetly. 

Although the preachers are no longer political leaders, there is, in theopinion of the writer, based upon what he has heard and read of the past, and observed of the present, a larger proportion of learned, talented, and eloquent men among the pastors who minister in the churches to-day, than in any generation gone by. The clergy are still pre-eminently themolders of education. The presidents and professors of leadinguniversities are usually prominent in some evangelical sect, and this isprobably owing to the fact that every seminary of higher knowledge isunder the control of a branch of the Christian Church, whose influence ispredominant in the faculty, and which regards the college as a filialinstitution, with traditions intertwined with its own. However skepticalor indifferent students may be to religion, they cannot fail to imbibe atleast an esteem for the doctrines of the Saviour from the teachers whoimpart to them secular lessons. The impressions thus received by theplastic mind of youth are not likely to be ever wholly effaced. The manor the divinity we venerate at nineteen we instinctively bow to at forty. 

 * * *

The progress of the past thirty years has no doubt been due in an eminentdegree to a sound and uniform currency. In the coming national electionit will be decided whether that currency is to remain as it is--at theworld's highest standard--or whether the mints of the United States areto be opened freely to the coinage of silver. Major William McKinley, oneof the bravest soldiers of the Union army, and a statesman of recognizedintegrity and ability, is the candidate of the existing standard; theHon. William J. Bryan, a brilliant young orator, is the candidate of freesilver. The contest now opening is likely to be one of the most excitingthe country has ever witnessed. Nothing could be more deplorable than forthat contest to assume a sectional aspect, with West arrayed against Eastand East against West. 

Come weal, come woe, this should and will remain a united country. TheAmerican nation is one people, and will remain one people. The destiny ofone section is the destiny of all. North, East, West and South aretraveling along a common highway toward a common future. Be that futureone of prosperity or of calamity, all will share in it. Whatever the seedsown, whether of good or evil, all will reap the harvest, and it remainsfor all, therefore, to consider, as citizens of a common country, whatshall the harvest be?

The American People. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

No Classes Here--All Are Workers--Enormous Growth of Cities--Immigration--Civic Misgovernment--The Farming Population--Individuality andSelf-reliance--Isolation Even in the Grave--The West--The South--TheNegro--Little Reason to Fear for Our Country--American Reverence forEstablished Institutions. 

In the Old World meaning of the term there are no classes of societyhere. There is no condition of life, however low, from which a man maynot aspire and rise to the highest honors and the most enviabledistinction, provided that he has the requisite natural endowments, favorable opportunities, and the ability and foresight to grasp them. Thematerials of which our American population is composed are various inorigin and diverse in their ideas, their creeds, and their aims, butnevertheless full of vital force and energy, and with a less percentageof human weeds and refuse than any other nation on the globe. Nearlyeverybody is at work, from the manufacturer worth millions, to the trampwho earns his breakfast in the charity wood-yard. It is disreputable forany one in vigorous health and years, and even when of ample fortune, tobe without employment, and for this reason rich young men frequently gothrough the form of admission to the bar, or of medical graduation, inorder that it may not be said that they are unoccupied. The sons ofwealth who ignore the industrious example of their sires are still toofew in proportion to the multitude, and held in too general contempt, tomore than irritate the social surface. The aristocracy of America is anaristocracy of workingmen--workingmen whose possessions are valued by thehundreds of thousands and millions of dollars, but still men who work. 

 * * *

Great cities exert an influence on public affairs unknown half a centuryago. The enormous growth of municipalities may be judged from the factthat the net municipal expenses of New York City, exclusive of the city'sshare of the State debt, interest on the city's bonds, and money acquiredfor the payment of some of the bonds at maturity, amount to $33, 000, 000annually. On schools alone New York spends this year $5, 900, 000; Chicago, $5, 500, 000, and Brooklyn, $2, 500, 000. This is the most hope-inspiringitem in municipal budgets. It may mean the salvation of the country. 

 * * *

The urban population is largely composed of the element known as"foreign. " The sixteen millions of immigrants who have come to the UnitedStates since 1820, have made a deep impress on the Republic. Immigrantsand the descendants of immigrants have been of the greatest value indeveloping American resources and building up American States, and thelarge majority of citizens of recent alien origin are sincerely attachedto American institutions. In the cities, however, and especially in NewYork and Chicago, may be found a class of foreigners who unfortunatelyherd together in certain districts, and remain almost as alien to theAmerican language and to American institutions as when they first landedon our shores. Even these, however, are not irredeemable, and in thecourse of a generation or two their more obnoxious traits will probablydisappear. Freedom of worship and the public school have a curative andhumanizing influence which not even the leprosy bred of centuries ofEuropean despotism and oppression can resist. I am not of those who viewwith apprehension or aversion the race of Christ, of David and of theMaccabees, of Disraeli and of Gambetta. There is no better class ofcitizens than the better class of Jews, and it would be a dishonorableday for our Republic should its gates ever be closed to the victims ofreligious intolerance, whatsoever their race or belief. 

 * * *

The great cities witness almost unceasing strife between what may becalled the political-criminal element on the one side, and patriotism andintelligence on the other side. Knaves, using bigotry, ignorance andintimidation as their weapons, manage to control municipal affairs, except when expelled from office for periods more or less brief by somesudden spasm of public virtue and indignation, like the revolt in thecity of New York against the Tweed Ring a quarter of a century ago, andthe reform victory in that city two years ago. 

The overthrow of Tweed, and the great uprising of 1894 in New York, andof more recent date in Chicago, prove that the American people, oncefully aroused, can crush, as with the hammer of Thor, any combination ofpublic plunderers, however powerful. But why should these tremendousefforts be necessary? Why should not the latent energy which makes thempossible be exerted in steady and uniform resistance to the restlessenemies of pure and popular government?

 * * *

The farming population, although largely overshadowed by manufacturingand commercial interests, is still the anchor of the Republic. In many ofthe States the rural vote is predominant, although in the nation as awhole it is gradually losing ground, owing to the growth of the cities, the removal of restrictions on the suffrage, and the partial adjustmentof representation to numbers. The most striking features in the characterof the native farmer are individuality and self-reliance. These qualitieshave been inherited from ancestors who were compelled _by_ circumstancesto depend upon their own industry for a living, and their own vigilanceand courage for defence, when the treacherous Indian lurked in swamps andwoods, and the father attended Sunday worship with a weapon by his side. The founders of these States were men who thought for themselves, or theywould not have been exiles for the sake of conscience. Their situationmade them still more indifferent to the opinions and concerns of theworld from which they were divided, while they stood aloof even fromeach other, except when common danger drove them to unite for mutualprotection. Their offspring grew up amid stern and secluded surroundings, and the thoughts and habits of the parent became the second nature ofthe child. I have often imagined that in the firm, wary, and reservedexpression on the Yankee farmer's face was photographed the struggle ofhis progenitors two centuries ago. This wariness and reserve does not, as a rule, amount to churlishness. The American, like the Englishcultivator, has felt the ameliorating influences of modern civilization, and while he retains his strong individuality, his intelligence promptshim to benefit by the opportunities denied to his forefathers. 

The dwelling of the American farmer is usually lacking in those tastefulaccessories which add such a charm to the cottage homes of England andFrance. Beyond the belt of suburban villas one seldom sees a carefullytended flower-garden, or an attractive vine. The yard, like the field, isopen to the cattle, and, if there is a plot fenced in, it is devoted, notto roses and violets, but to onions or peas. The effect is dreary anduninviting, even though the enclosure may be clean, and the milk-cansscoured to brilliancy. Again we see in this disregard for the beautifulthe effect of isolation upon the native character, the result of hardgrubbing for the bare needs of existence. The primitive settlers neededevery foot of the land which they laboriously subdued, for someproductive use; they had neither time nor soil to spare for the cultureof the beautiful; and their descendants have inherited the ancestraldisposition to utilize everything, and the ancestral want of taste forthe merely charming in nature. Yet there are gratifying exceptions to thegeneral rule, and sometimes a housewife may be met who takes pride andpleasure in her flower-beds. No doubt it was such a wife that thelonesome old farmer was speaking of one evening, in a group by a roadsidetavern, as the writer passed along. "My wife loved flowers, " hemournfully said, as his weary eyes seemed to look back into the past, "and I must go and plant some upon her grave. "

 * * *

The spirit of independence and isolation extends in many of the oldAmerican families even to the tomb. An interesting monograph might bewritten on the private graveyards in some parts of the East. Among theshade-trees surrounding a house on the busy street, in the orchard behindthe farmer's barn, and again in the depth of the wood, a few rude, unchiseled headstones, perhaps nearly hidden by tangled brush, reveal thespot where sleep the forefathers of the plantation. I came across such aburying-ground not long ago. It was far from the traveled highway, farfrom the haunts of living men, among trees and grapevines, and blueberrybushes. The depression in the soil indicated that the perishable remainshad long ago crumbled to dust, while a large hole burrowed in the earthshowed where a woodchuck made its home among the bones of the forgottendead. With reverent hand I cleared the leaves from about the primitivemonuments, and sought for some word or letter that might tell who theywere that lay beneath the silver birches, in the silent New Englandforest. But the stones, erect as when set by sorrowing friends perhapstwo hundred years ago, bore neither trace nor mark. There were gravesenough for a household, and likely a household was there. It maybe afather who had fled from Old England to seek in the wilderness a placewhere he might worship God according to the dictates of his heart; aPilgrim wife and mother, whose gentle love mellowed and softened theharshness of frontier life, and sons and daughters, cut off before thegrowth of commerce tempted the survivors to the town, or the reports ofnew and fertile territories induced them to abandon the rugged but notungrateful paternal fields. With gentle step, so not to disturb thesacred stillness of the scene, I turned from the lonely graves, and Ithought as I walked, that these simple tombs in the bosom of nature wellbefitted those who had dared the dangers of wild New England for freedomfrom the empty forms of a mitred religion. 

History can be read in secluded resting-places of the departed. With theaccretion of wealth to the living more care was expended upon the dead, and enduring slabs of slate, with appropriate engravings, took the placeof the uncouth fragments of rock. With added riches the taste for displayin headstones, as well as in social life, increased, and imported marblewas occasionally used to designate the tombs of prosperous descendants ofthe early and impoverished settlers. Not infrequently all three--theunlettered stone of the first hundred years, the slate of the latter halfof the last century, and the polished and costly marble now so common inthe great public cemeteries--may be seen in one small burying-ground, bearing mute testimony to the struggles and progress of the occupants. 

 * * *

It is a fact which bears striking testimony to the masterful qualities ofthe native American character that in the Western States, notwithstandinga vast foreign immigration, the dominant element is of the old colonialstock. The fortunes of the West are guided by emigrants and thedescendants of emigrants from New England, the Middle and the borderStates, and while adopted citizens, nearly all of a desirable class, arein a majority in many parts of the West, most of the western men andwomen also, of national fame, can trace an American pedigree for severalgenerations. There are notable exceptions to this rule, but they onlyillustrate the rule. This condition is due not to any inferiority on thepart of the immigrant population to the average of Europeannationalities--for, barring Russia and some southern countries we receivethe cream of European manhood--but to American heredity, to theinheritance of those endowments which qualify for leadership in a nationof freemen. The western American is more aggressive and progressive thanhis eastern cousin. Just as the New Englander retains many of theexpressions and some of the ways which have become obsolete in OldEngland, so the native settler of Kansas, of Iowa, of Nebraska, and evenof the nearer States of Ohio and Illinois, is more like the New Englanderof half a century ago than those who have remained on the ancestral soil. He has the old Puritan love of learning, and from the humble colleges inwhich his more ambitious children are educated go forth the Joshuas andthe Davids of our American Israel. The total yearly expenses of one ofthose western colleges would hardly equal the salary of the chief of agreat university, but presidents of the United States are graduatedthere. 

The western farmer reads and thinks, and perhaps in that clear westernair, as he ploughs the sod of the prairie, and reaps the harvest on hisrude domain, he sees farther into the future than his brother of theEast. Right or wrong in his political views, he is at any rate honest inthem, and if his convictions seem to partake sometimes of the fervor ofthe crusader, it should not be forgotten that the spirit of OssawattomieBrown yet lives in the land which he saved for freedom; it should not beforgotten that nearly every western homestead has its grave in thebattlefields of the war which made us one people forever. Making dueallowance for that good-natured raillery which is one of the spices ofexistence, it may be truthfully said that anyone who laughs in earnest atthe West calls attention merely to his own shallow conceit. Intelligentpeople in the East are studying, not ridiculing the West. 

 * * *

The recuperative energy displayed by the Southern people has been evenmore wonderful and admirable than that exhibited by France after theGerman conquest. France was not denuded, as the South was denuded of allthat represents wealth save a fertile soil and the resolution to risefrom the ashes of the past. And the South has risen. I passed throughNorth Carolina and Virginia just before the close of the war. Recently Ivisited the same States, and South Carolina and Georgia for the firsttime since the war. What a transformation! But for the genial climate thebusy factories would have recalled New England, while a keen business airhad taken the place of that old-time lassitude which in ante-bellum daysseemed inseparable from the institution of slavery. The Southern peoplehave all the acuteness of the Yankee, with a genuine bonhomie whichbrightens the most ordinary incidents of life. New conditions have calledinto play valuable qualities which were torpid until touched by the wandof necessity. The old families no longer regard honorable toil withaversion or disdain; on the contrary they are workers, and work is thepassport to respectable recognition. The Southern whites are gettingalong very well with the colored people, and look on them as not onlyuseful, but indispensable to the South. "If the negroes emigrate, " said aprominent business man of Augusta, Ga. , to the writer, "I want toemigrate too. " And this is the prevailing sentiment. The negroes, also, are proving themselves worthy of freedom, although it is not to beexpected that the effects of three centuries of slavery could beeradicated in three decades of liberty. In looking out for businessrivalry New England would do well to gaze less intently across theAtlantic and more toward the Yadkin and the Savannah. 

 * * *

There is little reason to fear for our country. The Union has endured theseverest trials, only to come forth stronger than ever from every ordeal. Grave questions are presenting themselves for solution, but who can doubtthat the American people have the brain and the vigor to solve them?Anarchists make no impression here. Notwithstanding the appeals of alienagitators, Americans remain true to the traditions of the Republic. It isin this deeply implanted reverence for established institutions that thehope for the future of America rests. Before it the pestilential vapor ofanarchy, borne across the Atlantic from the squirming and steaming massesof Europe, disappears like a plague before a purifying flame, and, whatever may be the outcome of the struggle, in its various forms, nowgoing on between the upper and lower orders in the mother continent, inthe United States the foundations of society are likely to remain firmand unsapped.