found out of the limits of the United States. At the same time a demand was made to be permitted to search the Chesapeake for the deserters from the Melampus.

5. Commodore Barron, in reply, said, that he did not know of any deserters on board; that the recruiting officers for the Chesapeake had been particularly instructed not to receive any deserters from his Britannic majesty's ships, and that he was directed never to permit the crew of a ship under his command to be mustered by any officers but her own.

6. Upon receiving this answer, the officer returned to the Leopard, when she immediately commenced a heavy firing upon the Chesapeake. The latter, being unprepared for an action, could make no resistance; but, after remaining under the fire of the Leopard about thirty minutes, and having three men killed and eighteen wounded-the commodore among the rest—she surrendered.

7. The British captain refused to accept the surrender of the Chesapeake, but commenced a search, and finding the three men on board whom they claimed to have been deserters, together with a fourth, whom they also claimed on the same ground, they took them along with them. The Chesapeake, being much injured, returned to Norfolk. 8. On receiving information of this most shameful outrage, the president, by a proclamation, ordered all armed British vessels to leave the waters of the United States, and not to enter them more until satisfaction was given by the British government for the assault on the Chesapeake. An armed force was also ordered out, sufficient for the defence of Norfolk, should it become necessary.

9. The United States government lost no time in forwarding instructions to Mr. Monroe, our minister at London, to demand of the British government that satisfaction which the particular case of the Chesapeake required, as well as security against further impressment of seamen from American ships.

10. The British were ready to enter upon negotiations respecting the attack on the Chesapeake, but were unwilling to relinquish the right of search. The result was, that the discussion of the subject was delayed. In the mean time, Congress came together, when the capture of the Chesapeake was one of the first subjects which occupied their attention.

11. Several measures were adopted at this session; among which were preparations and appropriations for the support of a large land

5. What was Commodore Barron's reply? 6. Describe the attack of the Leopard. 7. What did the British captain then do? 8. What proclamation was issued by the president? 9. What was next done by the United States government? 10. What of the British? 11. What was done by Congress? What seemed inevitable?

IMPENDING WAR.

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and naval force. On the 22d of December, 1807, an embargo was laid on all vessels within the jurisdiction of the United States. Meanwhile, the difficulties with both the British and French governments were increasing, and a speedy war seemed inevitable.

12. At length, Mr. Rose, a special minister from the British govern. ment, arrived in the country, and negotiations were once more attempted. But they did not succeed; nor was the controversy which grew out of the attack on the Chesapeake finally settled till some time ir the year 1811, as we shall hereafter have occasion to state.

12. What of Mr. Rose? What of the Chesapeake controversy ?

MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION, FROM MARCH 4TH, 1809, Tо MARCH 4TH, 1817.-Madison's Inauguration.-Affair of the Little Belt.-Steamboat Navigation.- Ocean Steam Navigation.

1. On the 4th of March, 1809, James Madison, the candidate of the Republican or Democratic party, having been elected president, suc ceeded Mr. Jefferson. George Clinton of New York, who had been vice-president since 1804, was now re-elected to that office. The pros pects of the country, at this period, were gloomy indeed. The two great nations of England and France were still at war, and, in the progress of that war, by their orders and decrees and impressments and seizures, were breaking in upon all former treaties, especially those with the United States.

CHAP. CLVI.-1. When did Mr. Madison succeed Mr. Jefferson? What of George Clin ton? What was now the state of the country?

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.

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2. As strong encouragement had been given by Great Britain, in the year 1809, before Mr. Jefferson went out of office, of a readiness on her part to settle the existing differences between the two countries, the embargo had been repealed on the 1st of March. Finding, however, that there was still a disposition to delay, the embargo was, on the 10th of August, renewed.

3. Thus affairs proceeded for some time. Decrees and prohibitions and proclamations became quite the order of the day. Sometimes, indeed, there was a gleam of hope. The probability that the United States could long remain neutral, in the existing state of things, was, however, every day and every hour diminishing.

4. On the 16th of May, 1811, the British sloop of war Little Belt, commanded by Captain Bingham, made an unprovoked attack upon the United States frigate President, commanded by Commodore Rodgers; in the conflict which followed, the Little Belt had eleven men killed, and twenty-one wounded, and her rigging was much damaged, while the President had only a single man wounded.

5. On the 12th of November, the British envoy, Mr. Foster, ac knowledged the attack on the Chesapeake to be unauthorized, and offered, in the name of the British government, to make reparation for

ROBERT FULTON.

the injury which had been sustained. The whole affair was therefore soon adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties.

6. The first successful steamboat was put in operation on the Hudson in the year 1807, it being the acknowledged invention of Robert Fulton. An event so closely connected with the prosperity of the United States must not be excluded from their history.

7. An experiment had been made, with the steam-engine, on the Seine, near Paris, in 1803; but no vessel was set in motion by steam, in the United

States, till four years afterward. The two individuals to whom we

2. What of the embargo? 8. What was the order of the day? 4. What was done by the Little Belt? 5. How was the affair of the Chesapeake arranged? 6. What of steamboats? 7. What experiment had been made? What of Fulton and Stevens? When did steam. boats appear in Great Britain?

are indebted for the introduction of steamboats, were Fulton, the inventor, and Stevens, who aided by his funds and co-operation. They were not introduced into Great Britain till 1812-five years after their use in this country.

8. The first steamboat on the western waters was launched at Pittsburg, in 1813. She was of four hundred tons' burden, and was called the Ve-su'-vi-us. She was built to run as a regular trader between the falls of the Ohio and New Orleans. A steamboat first ascended the Arkansas River in 1820.

9. Such was the popularity and such the success of these boats, especially in the western waters, that, in 1822, nine years after the building of the Vesuvius, no less than eighty-nine steamboats were enrolled at the port of New Orleans, forming, in the aggregate, something more than eighteen thousand tons. The Arkansas River had even been ascended by steamboats five hundred miles.

10. The first steam-ship sailed for Europe in May, 1819. In 1840, there were two regular lines of steam-packets plying between the United States and Europe; one from Boston, and the other from New York. At first, ten or twelve miles an hour was thought to be sufficiently rapid; now, the Atlantic is crossed in ten days.

11. The whole number of steamboats, in the different states of the Union, in 1840, was estimated at about eight hundred, with a capacity of one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred and sixty tons. Of these eight hundred boats, one hundred and thirty-seven were built in the year 1837. The number of steam-engines, of all kinds, in use, was estimated at about three thousand.

12. Since that period, the number of steamboats has greatly increased, and steam has been most successfully applied to the navigation of the ocean. At the present time a large part of the navigation of the world is carried on by vessels propelled by steam.

13. Steam has also been applied to ships of war, and now a large part of the national vessels, not only of the United States, but of England, France, Russia, and other countries, are propelled by steam power.

8. Describe the Vesuvius. What took place in 1820? 9. What of steamboats in 18221 10. When did the first steam-ship sail to Europe? 11. What of steam-packets in 1840? How many steamboats were built in 1837? What of steam-engines? 12. What of ocean steam navigation? 13. What of steamships of war?