CHAPTER means of compulsion short of the total sacrifice of their XVII. whole foreign commerce, which alone made the question 1804. of impressment of any consequence, it would, perhaps, have been the better policy to secure what was obtainable. But, well knowing that Jefferson would ratify no such agreement, King did not choose to expose himself to the obloquy of making it. There had been some attempts to legislate on this subject at the last session, bills in relation to it having been introduced into both houses of Congress. But, now that the responsibility rested upon the Democratic leaders, they readily perceived the impossibility of settling such a question by legislation merely, and the bills had been allowed to drop. Besides the unsettled controversies with Great Britain, symptoms also began to appear of serious difficulties with Spain. Claims had been made on the Spanish court for compensation not only for spoliations committed on American commerce previous to the peace of Amiens by Spanish cruisers, but also for similar depredations on the part of cruisers under the French flag, issuing from and harbored in Spanish ports, where the prizes taken had also been condemned by French consuls pretending to admiralty jurisdiction. For depredations by vessels under the Spanish flag a liability had been admitted; and, by a convention negotiated in 1802, a joint board of commissioners was to be established for adjudicating such claims. But the acquisition of Louisiana, the claim to a part of Florida growing out of it, and especially an act of the last session of Congress, establishing a port of entry on the River Tombigbee, above Mobile, had given great offense to Spain. This act was looked upon as indicating a determination to take forcible possession of the part of Florida in dispute, and Spain, XVII. in consequence, refused to ratify the convention for in- CHAPTER demnities. Monroe, the lately-commissioned minister to Great Britain, whom Jefferson seems to have regarded 1804. as alone capable of any delicate foreign negotiation, was sent to Madrid to assist Charles Pinckney, the resident minister at that court. Assurances being given that no intention was entertained of seizing the disputed territory by force, the Spanish court withdrew the objec tions hitherto urged to the acquisition of Louisiana by the United States. But the ratification of the convention of indemnities was still declined. No progress was made in settling the bounds of Louisiana. Spain denied any liability for depredations committed by French cruisers from her ports, maintaining that France alone was responsible, and that all claim on her had been relinquished by the convention of 1800. An offer by the American ministers to make the Colorado the western boundary of Louisiana, and to relinquish their demands on account of the violation of the right of deposit, and of spoliations both French and Spanish, in exchange for the disputed territory east of the Mississippi, was rejected with disdain. According to the Spaniards, Louisiana, as ceded to the United States, was bounded on the east by the Mississippi, Pass Manshac, Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, and on the west by the Mermentau, a stream about half way from New Orleans to the Sabine; and in this view of the recent French cession, as including only a narrow strip of territory along the west bank of the Mississippi, as well as of the non-liability of Spain for French depredations, that court was sustained by Talleyrand, Bonaparte's minister for foreign affairs. Besides these difficulties abroad, the American government came into disagreeable collision with Yrujo, the Spanish minister, the son-in-law of M'Kean, accused by CHAPTER the editor of a newly-established Federal paper at PhilXVII. adelphia of attempting to buy him over to the support of 1804. the Spanish view of the pending controversies. Yrujo's attention being called to this subject, he maintained, in a long letter, that he had no object except to make the rights of Spain apparent to the American people, and that he had a perfect right to offer pay to the proprietor of a newspaper for inserting articles of that sort. This was not deemed satisfactory, and his recall was asked of the Spanish government. To obtain such command of our own harbors and waters as would afford security against the insolence of foreign ships of war and privateers, and to enable us, if necessary, to resist attack by sea, Washington had recommended, and Adams had zealously urged, the double means of harbor fortifications and a respectable navy. This same plan, for the last five-and-thirty years, has formed the basis of our maritime policy. But to the thrifty Jefferson it seemed altogether too expensive. He was frightened at the idea of spending fifty millions of dollars on a scheme of fortifications which would require, even in time of peace, two thousand men, and fifty thousand in time of war; and which, in his opinion, would, after all, be of no use. He proposed, as a substitute, heavy cannon on traveling carriages, to be brought, when needed, to any point of the beach or coast, or the bank of any navigable river, most convenient for annoying an approaching enemy; a sufficient number of these cannon to be lent to each sea-port town, and their militia to be trained to use them. Ships of war, no less terrible to Jefferson on the score of expense than fortifications, he proposed to replace by gun-boats, to be manned by the seamen and militia of the town, and kept hauled up under sheds, ready to be XVII. launched at a moment's notice-a situation, as he com- CHAPTER placently added, in which a boat "costs nothing but an inclosure, or a sentinel to see that no mischief is done 1804. her." A few, however, might be kept afloat against any very sudden emergencies, some with men enough to navigate them in harbor, and others fully manned. There were, in Jefferson's opinion, about fifteen harbors in the United States which ought to be in a state of substantial defense. For these would be needed, according to his estimate, two hundred and fifty gun-boats, to cost a million of dollars. As no immediate hurry seemed to him to be necessary, ten years might be taken in which. to complete them, at the rate of twenty-five a year. Such was the president's scheme of defense as suggested in his message at the opening of the second ses- Nov. 8 sion of the eighth Congress, and more particularly afterward in a letter to Nicholson, chairman of a committee to which that part of the message had been referred. Under the appropriation already made, after a diligent study of Spanish and Neapolitan models, those being the only nations which placed much dependence on this species of force, ten gun-boats had been commenced, and two or three completed. From their total incapacity either to sail, or to use their guns with effect, these boats had become the laughing-stock of all nautical men, a few navy officers excepted, who found it convenient to flatter executive fancies. But the president was not to be laughed out of this economical system of defense; and he assured the committee that, if fifteen more were added to those already in progress, he should be able to put every harbor into a "respectable condition," so as to preserve the dignity of the country from insult. This whole gun-boat scheme was severely criticised by several of the Federal members; but the House ap CHAPTER propriated $60,000 toward the twenty-five boats as requested. XVII. 1804. The great subject of interest was the impeachment of Judge Chase, determined upon at the last session. Eight articles of impeachment, one founded on his conduct at the trial of Fries, five on the trial of Callender, and two on his late charge to the Maryland grand jury, were agreed to, most of them by a strict party vote. John Randolph, the administration leader in the House, took a very active part, as at the former session, and was appointed, along with Nicholson, Rodney, and others of less note, a manager on the part of the House. Having ap1805. peared at the summons of the Senate, Chase asked for Jan. 2. delay till the next session. This was refused; but a month was given him in which to prepare his defense. In consideration of his age and infirmities, he was allowed to be seated in the center of the area of the Senate chamber, in front of the presiding officer. It was, indeed, a remarkable scene. The aged judge had been among the most active and efficient of those by whom the Declaration of Independence had been brought about, the concur rence of hesitating Maryland in that declaration having been, in a great measure, owing to his exertions. sixteen years, as he stated to the Senate, he had sustained high judicial offices, state or national, during which whole period his official conduct had never been arraigned except in the cases of Cooper, Fries, and Callender; nor had his private or professional probity or honor ever otherwise been called in question. Of the tribunal before which Chase appeared, the presiding officer was Vice-president Burr. Having returned from his flight southward, he had taken his seat in the Senate just at the opening of the session, over which body, blasted though his prospects and reputation were, and For |