XVI.

presents (near two millions of dollars) had formed a fa- CHAPTER vorite topic of electioneering declamation, more especially as it had not entirely answered its purpose. The 1801. treaty with Tripoli, the last of the series, had been purchased by the payment of a gross sum down. But with this arrangement the Bey naturally grew dissatisfied when he compared his case with that of Algiers; and on various pretenses of quarrel, he threatened war against the United States. The building of national ships had first been commenced for the restraint of the Barbary pirates; and one of Jefferson's first acts was to dispatch Commodore Dale, with four out of the six vessels still retained in commission, to watch the proceedings of the Bey, and, if necessary, to repel hostilities.

The insolence of these piratical states, fostered by an almost unaccountable submission to their pretensions by the Christian nations of Europe, had been strikingly exhibited in the conduct of the Dey of Algiers toward Cap- 1800. tain Bainbridge, on his arrival there in the frigate George Sept. Washington with the annual tribute. The frigate, which came to anchor under the guns of the castle, and which could hardly attempt to depart without danger of destruction, was pressed into the Dey's service for the purpose of carrying presents and an embassador to Constantinople, under threats, in case of refusal, of an immediate renewal of hostilities against the United States. To Bainbridge's remonstrances and those of the consul O'Brien, the Dey replied, "You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves, and therefore I have a right to order you as I think proper." All the tributary nations of Europe submitted, so he added, to render him like services. "I hope," wrote Bainbridge, in his account of this matter to the Navy Department, "I shall never again be sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am authorized

CHAPTER to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon."

Under

XVI. the advice of O'Brien, and understanding that English, 1800. French, and Spanish ships of war had submitted to the

same thing, Bainbridge at last yielded to the Dey's demands, and his ship was the first to display the American flag-though not under the most agreeable circumNov. 9. stances—before the ancient city of Constantinople. The Turkish officers had never heard of the United States, but when, at length, they were made to understand that Bainbridge came from the New Western World which Columbus had discovered, he was received with great courtesy. Indeed, the sultan drew omens specially favorable to the future friendship of the two nations from the fact that the American flag was emblazoned with the stars and his with the crescent, indicative, as he imagined, of a certain similarity in their institutions. With the Capudan Pasha, the Turkish admiral, Bainbridge be1801. came a great favorite, and received from him a firman, Jan. 21. which, on his return to Algiers, protected him from any further insolences on the part of the Dey, and enabled him to render essential services to the French residents, exposed to great danger by a declaration of war by Algiers against France. The Pasha was anxious that an American embassador should be sent to Constantinople, and a treaty made; but the recall of Smith, the minister to Portugal, who held also a commission to treat with the Porte, prevented any thing being done.

July.

On arriving at Gibraltar, Dale found two Tripolitan cruisers lying there, on the watch for American vessels, the Bey having already declared war. These were blockaded by the Philadelphia frigate, while Bainbridge, who now commanded the Essex frigate, was employed in giving convoy to the American Mediterranean trade. Dale himself in the President, followed by the schooner Ex

XVI.

periment, sailed to cruise off Tripoli. On her passage CHAPTER thither the Experiment fell in with, and, after three hours' hard fighting, captured a Tripolitan cruiser of 1801. fourteen guns. The prize had twenty killed and thirty Aug. 6. wounded, while the Experiment lost not a man. As there was yet no formal declaration of war against Tripoli, the captured vessel was dismissed with the survivors of the crew, being first completely dismantled, her masts cut away, and her guns thrown overboard. The appearance of Dale's squadron in the Mediterranean was seasonable; for already Algiers and Tunis, as well as Tripoli, were pretending to additional presents.

The seventh Congress, on coming together, showed a Dec. 7. decided administration majority in both branches. The Senate stood eighteen administration members to fourteen Federalists; the House, thirty-six Federalists to sixty-nine for the administration. On the administration side in the Senate there were, of former members of note, Wilson Cary Nicholas and Baldwin; of new members, John Armstrong, of New York, the author of the Newburg letters, and brother-in-law of Chancellor Livingston, but who resigned his seat before the end of the session, and was succeeded by De Witt Clinton; Dr. Logan, of Pennsylvania; Sumter, of South Carolina; Jackson, of Georgia, an active member of the first and the third Congress, lately governor of that state, where he had been succeeded by Josiah Tatnall; and John Breckenridge, of Kentucky. On the Federal side were Chipman, of Vermont; Dwight Foster and Jonathan Mason, of Massachusetts, who had taken their seats during the last Congress as successors to Dexter and Goodhue ; Tracy and Hillhouse, of Connecticut; Foster, of Rhode Island; Gouverneur Morris, of New York; Dayton, of New Jersey; Ross, of Pennsylvania; and Willes, of Delaware.

XVI.

CHAPTER Of the new members only three were Federalists, Samuel White, of Delaware, and James Sheafe and Simeon 1801. Olcott, of New Hampshire, in place of Livermore, who had resigned, and of Langdon, whose term had expired. Langdon had long been the only Republican senator for New England; but his single vote was now replaced by those of Bradley, of Vermont, and Ellery, of Rhode Island. In the House, on the administration side, there were, of former members, Varnum, of Massachusetts; Gregg, Smilie, and Leib, of Pennsylvania; Smith and Nicholson, of Maryland; Macon, of North Carolina; Giles, again re-elected after an interval of one Congress, and John Randolph, of Virginia. Among the new members on the same side were Dr. William Eustis, representing the Boston District, and Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, a better chemist than politician, from the city of New York. The Federalists had, of old members who had made themselves known, Griswold, Dana, Davenport, and John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut; Bayard, of Delaware; John Stanley, of North Carolina; and Rutledge and Thomas Lowndes, of South Carolina. Of the new members there were few on that side, and none of them distinguished. Thatcher, of Massachusetts, a member during the whole of the two preceding administrations, and remarkable for his zeal against slavery, had accepted a seat on the Massachusetts Supreme bench, where he found his late colleague Sewall, and was soon joined by Sedgwick. the members of former Congresses, Hartley, of Pennsylvania, was lately dead; Peter Muhlenburg had received office as supervisor for Pennsylvania; John Nicholas had removed from Virginia to Western New York, and henceforth disappears from the political arena; Harper, the late Federal leader in the House, had married a daughter of John Carroll, of Carrollton, and had removed from South Carolina to Maryland.

Of

XVI.

Macon was chosen speaker by fifty-three votes to twen- CHAPTER ty-six for Bayard. Bexley, the old Republican clerk, whom the Federalists had ousted, was reinstated by a sim- 1801. ilar vote. The House met in a room, temporarily fitted up, in the basement of the south wing of the Capitol then in progress of erection. By an addition to the rules, reporters were henceforth to be entitled to seats within the bar, to be assigned to them by the speaker. The Senate now, also, for the first time, and against the vote of all the Federal members, admitted a stenographer on their floor; but years were yet to elapse before any connected reports of their debates were published. John Randolph, appointed chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, and whose fluency, promptitude of retort, and acrimonious wit, though without method or logical order, made him a formidable debater, became leader for the administration. Griswold and Bayard were leaders on the part

of the Federalists.

The president's message, after congratulations on the peace in Europe and the quiet on the frontiers, and a statement as to the existing hostilities with Tripoli, adverted to the reduction of expenditure already made by disbanding a part of the marine corps; by curtailing the diplomatic establishment; and by a reduction in the number of officers employed in collecting the internal reveThe army, the navy, the fortifications in progress, and the Federal offices generally, were pointed out as fit subjects for further retrenchments, necessary in order to justify a repeal of the internal taxes. The new judiciary system was also mentioned as a subject which, of course, would attract attention. A modification was recommended in the Naturalization Law, favorable to foreigners seeking to become citizens.

nue.

One of the first subjects which engaged the attention