no reduction was made when these very opposers came, CHAPTER soon after, to have the majority and the offices. XIII The appropriations for the service of the current year, 1799. exclusive of the interest on the public debt and the conditional two millions for the augmentation of the army, but including some unexpended balances of former appropriations, amounted to nine millions, half of which was for the navy alone. The whole amount of means required for the service of the year exceeded thirteen millions of dollars. The resources for meeting this heavy expenditure consisted, in addition to the ordinary revenue, of the two million direct tax, the preparations for collecting which were now nearly completed, and of the five million loan lately filled at an interest of eight per cent. In this time of need, the balances due from the states on the settlement of their Revolutionary accounts were again called to mind, and an act was passed offering to discharge all such debtor states as within a year would pass laws for paying within five years, or to expend within that time, in fortifications, a sum in stocks of the United States at their then market value, equal, at par value, either to the balance due or to the whole amount of the state debt which the United States had assumed. This latter alternative was intended to meet the case of New York, the balance due from which very considerably exceeded the amount of the debt of that state assumed by the general government, the United States being content to relinquish the surplus of their claims, if they could but get back the amount thus unadvisedly advanced. New York availed itself of this and the former act on the subject to make a partial payment by expenditures on fortifications; but nothing was got, or has been, to this day, from any of the other debtor states. CHAPTER XIII. Meanwhile a naval action of some importance had occurred in the West Indies. Of the two French frigates 1799. by which Bainbridge had been captured, one had returned to France, carrying Victor Hugues as a prisoner. The other, L'Insurgente, one of the very vessels with which the renegade Barney had blustered in the Chesapeake two years before, fell in with the Constitution, one of Barry's squadron, from which, however, she succeeded in escaping, the Constitution having carried away one of her top-masts in the chase. Though reckoned the best sailer in the French navy, L'Insurgente did not fare so well with the Constellation, the flag-ship of Truxton's squadron, by which she was chased off the island of St. Kitt's, and brought to close action after a three hours' pursuit, during which the French frigate carried away Feb. 9. her main top-mast. As to number of guns, the ships were about equal; but the Constellation's heavier metal. gave her a decided advantage; and, after an action of an hour and a quarter, having lost twenty killed and fortysix wounded, L'Insurgente struck her colors. The Constellation had only three men wounded and one killed, but her rigging was considerably cut to pieces. prize was manned and sent to the United States. news, which arrived in America shortly after the adjournMarch 12. ment of Congress, of this first action between French and The The American national ships, filled the Federalists with delight, while the other party received it with dejection, as another obstacle in the way of peace. The newly-appointed consul general for St. Domingo April. had already sailed thither, and, soon after, General Maitland, lately in command at that island, had arrived at Philadelphia from England, with whom, in conjunction with Liston, the English embassador, an arrangement was entered into as to the trade of the island. Information XIII. naving been received that Toussaint had complied with CHAPTER the conditions required, the president issued his proclamation reopening commerce. A civil war, which had 1798. broken out between Toussaint and Rigaud, rendered this June. trade at first less profitable than had been hoped; but an order from France presently removed Rigaud from his command, and the Spanish part of the island having submitted also to Toussaint's authority, he became sole governor of the whole. He still acknowledged, in name, the authority of the French republic, but acted in all things as an independent chief. During eight years of civil war the island had suffered severely, but a considerable number of the old white proprietors still remained in it, to whom Toussaint extended every protection. He even invited back those who had fled to the United States and elsewhere, an invitation which many accepted. Many of the late slaves were willing to work for wages or on shares; and, under Toussaint's judicious rule, the agriculture of the island began to revive. V.-U CHAPTER CHAPTER XIV. VIRGINIA, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA. REVISION OF THE PENDING the session of Congress, a warm canvass had been going on in Virginia preliminary to the March 1799. elections. The Federal party now, for the first time, had become strong enough, in that state, to offer battle to the opposition. Though much occupied in corresponding with the Secretary of War and others as to the organization of the additional regiments and of the army generally, Washington entered with great zeal into this Jan. 15. canvass. In a letter to Patrick Henry, urging him to offer, if not as a candidate for Congress, at least for the Assembly, he very fully expressed his sentiments. would be a waste of time," he wrote, "to attempt to bring to the view of a person of your observation and discernment the endeavors of a certain party among us to disquiet the public mind with unfounded alarms, to arraign every act of the administration, to set the people at variance with their government, and to embarrass all its measures. Equally useless would it be to predict what must be the inevitable consequences of such a policy, if it can not be arrested. "It "Unfortunately, and extremely do I regret it, the XIV. State of Virginia has taken the lead in this opposition. CHAPTER I have said the state, because the conduct of its Legislature, in the eyes of the world, will authorize the ex- 1799. pression, and because it is an incontrovertible fact that the principal leaders of the opposition dwell in it, and that, with the help of the chiefs in the other states, all the plans are arranged and systematically pursued by their followers in other parts of the Union; though in no state except Kentucky, that I have heard of, has legislative countenance been obtained beyond Virginia. "It has been said that the great mass of the citizens of this state are well affected, notwithstanding, to the general government and the Union; and I am willing to believe it-nay, do believe it; but how is this to be reconciled with their choice of representatives, both to Congress and their state Legislature, who are opposed to the general government, and who, by the tendency of their measures, would destroy the Union? Some among us have endeavored to account for this inconsist ency; but, though convinced themselves, they are unable to convince others, unacquainted with the internal policy of the state. "One of the reasons assigned is, that the most respectable and best-qualified characters among us will not come forward. Easy and happy in their circumstances at home, and believing themselves secure in their liberties and property, they will not forsake their occupations, and engage in the turmoil of public business, or expose themselves to the calumnies of their opponents, whose weapons are detraction. "But at such a crisis as this, when every thing dear and valuable to us is assailed; when this party hangs upon the wheels of government as a dead weight, opposing every measure that is calculated for defense and self |