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CHAPTER tained, to prevent the payment in full by France of a XVIII. claim under the Louisiana treaty, already allowed by 1806. the American commission, on the ground of a suspicion

April 13.

that the property was English, and a further suspicion that it was insured, Armstrong taking the extraordinary ground that the American insurers had made such great profits about the time of this capture that they were not entitled to indemnity. The Senate, out of an "unjust indignation," so Jefferson esteemed it, refused, by a tie vote, to confirm Armstrong's nomination as joint commissioner; but already the two millions had been forwarded, with instructions to him and Bowdoin, by the sloop of war Hornet.

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In writing to Nicholas, who had previously declined the offer, to inform him that the project of a third commissioner was dropped, Jefferson added, "I wish sincerely you were back in the Senate, and that you would take the necessary measures to get yourself there. haps, as a preliminary, you should go to our Legislature. Giles's absence has been a most serious misfortune. majority of the Senate means well. But Tracy and Bayard are too dexterous for them, and have very much influenced their proceedings. Tracy has been on nearly every committee during the session, and for the most part the chairman, and, of course, drawer of the reports. Seven Federalists voting always in phalanx, and joined by some discontented Republicans, some oblique ones, some capricious, have so often made a majority as to produce very serious embarrassment to public operations; and very much do I dread the submitting to them, at the next session, any treaty which can be made either with England or Spain, when I consider that five joining the Federalists can defeat a friendly settlement of our affairs.

"The House of Representatives is as well disposed as

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ever I saw one. The defection of so prominent a leader CHAPTER (Randolph) threw them into confusion and dismay for a moment; but they soon rallied to their own principles, 1806. ' and let him go off with five or six followers only. One half of these are from Virginia. His late declaration of perpetual hostility to this administration drew off a few others who at first had joined him, supposing his opposition occasional only and not systematic. The alarm the House has had from this schism has produced a rallying together and a harmony which carelessness and security had begun to endanger."

Just at the close of the session, an earnest seemed to April 19 be given that a sincere negotiation was intended with the British, by the nomination and appointment of William Pinkney, of Maryland, as joint commissioner with Monroe for that purpose. Pinkney was a Federalist, who had first risen to notice by his earnest advocacy of Jay's treaty, under which he had been subsequently appointed one of the commissioners for the adjudication of American claims against the British, in which capacity he had resided for several years at London. Since his return he had confined himself to the practice of his profession, and in that capacity had risen to the head of the Maryland bar.

Randolph's declaration of eternal hostility to the administration was not without a strong bearing on the next presidential election. Within two or three years past a new Republican paper had been established at Richmond, called the Enquirer, and edited by Thomas Ritchie, who was described in a cotemporary Federal journal as a young man who seems to have his brain confused by a jumble of crude and absurd notions, which he mistakes for philosophy." But a little confusion of ideas is seldom of any disadvantage to a party politician;

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CHAPTER and Ritchie wrote in a warm, flowing, gossipy style, and XVIII. with a degree of tact and ability, and especially of ear1806. nestness, which soon placed his paper very decidedly at the head of the Southern journals. Shortly after Jefferson's second inauguration, apprehensions had begun to be expressed, both in the Enquirer and the Aurora, that Jefferson might be pressed to stand for a third term, against which those papers warmly protested, as leading directly toward despotism; very apt to be the result, as they observed, of too implicit a confidence in their leaders on the part of the people; and presently the Enquirer took upon itself to declare, upon what authority does not clearly appear, that Jefferson would not consent to be a candidate for a third election.

Madison had long been marked out by Jefferson, at least so far as their private correspondence went, as his destined successor. Of course, the president must be selected from Virginia. But Monroe had warm friends; Randolph and all the discontented Southern Democrats rallied about him, and the Aurora was also inclined to give him support. Seeing that a serious controversy was likely to arise, Jefferson at once took up a position May 4. of apparent neutrality; but in a letter to Monroe, he warned him against Randolph as a partisan likely to do him more harm than good.

While Jefferson thus confined himself, as usual, to epistolary correspondence, Randolph presently took the August. field in a long communication, published in the Richmond Enquirer (with some apologies on the part of the editor for this seeming opposition to the administration, and for violating the Congressional injunction of secrecy), in which a full history was given of all the proceedings in secret session in relation to the appropriation of the two millions for extraordinary diplomatic expenses.

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But though the Aurora, smarting, as its enemies alleged, CHAPTER under the loss of its printing and stationery contracts, inclined to support Randolph's views, and assailed the 1806. administration with a good deal of vigor, this joint attack failed, however, to produce the effect which seems to have been expected from it.

The local politics of Pennsylvania still continued in a very agitated state. Having secured his re-election. by the combined votes of the Constitutionalists and the Federalists, M'Kean had exercised his prerogative by turning out of the offices held at his pleasure all the active Friends of the People-in other words, all the more vehement Democrats. As a reward to the Federalists for their aid, the chief justiceship of the state, on Shippen's resignation, was given to William Tilghman, one May. of the Federal judges whom the repeal of Adams's judiciary act had stripped of their offices. A host of libel suits were also commenced by the governor; and the Aurora exclaimed that the reign of terror had begun! Fortunately, however, for Duane, the new Federal chief justice, while not inferior to M'Kean in legal knowledge, far surpassed that Democratic champion in moderation, calmness, sentiment of equity, and sincere regard for the freedom of the press. Not long after Tilghman's appointment, Duane was bound over by the mayor of Philadelphia on a criminal charge of libel. Following the precedent established by M Kean in Cobbett's case, the mayor required him to give security to keep the peace in the mean time. Duane had once already been caught in that trap. He refused to give security, went to jail, and was taken thence on habeas corpus before Chief July. justice Tilghman, who, without absolutely declaring M'Kean's conduct in Cobbett's case illegal, yet refused to follow it as a precedent, and discharged Duane with

XVIII.

CHAPTER and Ritchie wrote in a warm, flowing, gossipy style, and with a degree of tact and ability, and especially of ear1806. nestness, which soon placed his paper very decidedly at the head of the Southern journals. Shortly after Jefferson's second inauguration, apprehensions had begun to be expressed, both in the Enquirer and the Aurora, that Jefferson might be pressed to stand for a third term, against which those papers warmly protested, as leading directly toward despotism; very apt to be the result, as they observed, of too implicit a confidence in their leaders on the part of the people; and presently the Enquirer took upon itself to declare, upon what authority does not clearly appear, that Jefferson would not consent to be a candidate for a third election.

Madison had long been marked out by Jefferson, at least so far as their private correspondence went, as his destined successor. Of course, the president must be selected from Virginia. But Monroe had warm friends; Randolph and all the discontented Southern Democrats rallied about him, and the Aurora was also inclined to give him support. Seeing that a serious controversy was likely to arise, Jefferson at once took up a position May 4. of apparent neutrality; but in a letter to Monroe, he warned him against Randolph as a partisan likely to do him more harm than good.

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While Jefferson thus confined himself, as usual, to epistolary correspondence, Randolph presently took the August. field in a long communication, published in the Richmond Enquirer (with some apologies on the part of the editor for this seeming opposition to the administration, and for violating the Congressional injunction of secrecy), in which a full history was given of all the proceedings in secret session in relation to the appropriation of the two millions for extraordinary diplomatic expenses.

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