agent of Spain in America. The extract is in the third volume, page 517. In this, the Spanish agent is commanded to give congress and the states to understand, that until the limits of Louisiana and the Floridas shall be settled and determined, they should not expose "to process and confiscation" the vessels destined to carry on commerce on the river Mississippi; alleging, that a treaty concluded between the United States and England, could not fix limits in a territory which England did not possess, the two borders of that river having been conquered and possessed by Spain at the date of that treaty. Negotiations on this subject commenced in America, between Mr. Jay and the Spanish envoy, Gardoqui; and a particular account of them may be found in the fourth volume of the journals before us. But the length to which we have already extended our extracts, obliges us to refer the reader to the journals themselves, for a view of these, as well as many other interesting transactions with foreign powers, there recorded. Those who have a desire to become acquainted with these, as well as the secret causes of many of the political transactions in which the United States were concerned during this period, will be amply compensated by the perusal of the volumes which we have thus cursorily noticed. ART. VII.-Poems. By MRS. HEMANS. Vol. i. pp. 480. Vol. ii. 232. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, & Wilkins. 1826, 1827. MANY of the most interesting works of Mrs. Hemans, whose name is well known throughout the country, and duly valued for the great merit of her shorter poems, have at length been collected by an eminent professor in one of our universities, and published for the benefit of the authoress. We shall not omit the opportunity of expressing our respect for the liberal feeling which dictated the undertaking, and our admiration of the beautiful poetry which justifies it. No more elegant edition of an English poet has ever issued from the American press. There is every thing in the case of Mrs. Hemans to disarm criticism, if there were any occasion for exercising its severity. A woman, a native of a rival country, yet not indifferent to all the circumstances in our glorious destiny, which awaken in us a thrill of patriotism, elevated in her morality, full of deep, VOL. I.—NO. 1. 21 ber 1780, the secretary hinted to him, that France had, probably, held up to Spain, the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico, to induce her to join in the war. The secretary said, that Girard had reasoned well about these matters; but did not believe France had promised this to Spain. He also, at the same time admitted, that the count de Luzerne had mentioned to the French ambassador, "that two members of congress, with whom he had talked on the affair of the Mississippi, thought it would be best not to bring on the question of the Mississippi, until Spain should become possessed of the country adjacent, for that, then, it might be ceded, with a better grace." Mr. Jay, at the same time, reported the communication of Rayneval, above mentioned, which was very explicit, not only as to the claim of Spain, but the views and claims of the French court, relative to this subject. The chart to which Rayneval referred, in what he called his "Idea on the manner of determining and fixing the limits between Spain and the United States on the Ohio and Mississippi," (vol. iv. p. 80, &c.) was, no doubt, Mitchell's Map of North America, published under the direction of the Board of Trade and Plantations, in 1755, on which his line can easily be traced. By this line, the country comprehending the whole of the present state of Mississippi, part of the states of Alabama and Tennessee, was given to Spain; and all the fertile territories north of the Ohio, were considered as belonging to Great Britain, and to be a subject of negotiation between the courts of London and Versailles. The American negotiators, being satisfied that the "ideas" of the French court, not only as to boundaries, but, also, in regard to the fisheries, were very different from those of the United States, proceeded to make a provisional treaty with Great Britain, without even consulting the French king or his minister, though in direct violation of their instructions. To this treaty was annexed a separate or secret article, relating to the southern boundary, and which will be found in the third volume, page 338, as follows: "It is understood and agreed, that, in case Great Britain, at the conclusion of the present war, shall recover or be put in possession of West Florida, the line of north boundary shall be a line drawn from the mouth of the river Yasous, where it unites with the Mississippi, due east of the river Apalachicola." This claim, on the part of Great Britain, to extend to the mouth of the Yasous, in case she should retain West Florida, was founded on the extension of the bounds of that province to that place in 1774, by a royal commission to the governor of that part of the British dominions. The secret article, after the cession of West Florida to Spain became known to the Spanish court, was one cause of the difficulty that occurred in the settlement of limits between Spain and the United States. Although congress ratified the provisional treaty of peace, yet they instructed their ministers to obtain, in the definitive treaty, some explanation, in the article, relative to the recovery of debts, and particularly as to interest during the war. On this subject, they, in their instructions, declare, that all demands for interest accruing during the war, would be highly inequitable and unjust. The American ministers are particularly instructed, "to endeavour to obtain a precise definition of that article of the preliminary treaty, which stipulates payment of debts, expressly excluding all demand for interest, in order to prevent any disputes, which may hereafter arise from the inexplicit terms of the article." Vol. iii. page 361. It is known, however, that no explanation or alteration of this, or any other of the articles of the provisional treaty, could be obtained by the American negotiators; nor were the American ministers able to make any commercial arrangements with Great Britain. The peace of 1783, found the United States exhausted by war; burdened with debt; and with a weak and inefficient government. Serious disputes, also, soon arose with Great Britain and with Spain. With the former, on account of her nonexecution of the treaty of peace, and her commercial regulations; with the latter, on the old subject of limits, and the navigation of the Mississippi. To settle the disputes with Great Britain, Mr. John Adams, in the winter of 1785, was sent minister to the court of London. He was instructed to insist, that the United States should, without delay, be put in possession of the western posts; to remonstrate against the infraction of the treaty of peace, by the exportation of negroes and other American property, contrary to the stipulations of the seventh article of it; also, to represent to the British ministry the tendency of their commercial restrictions to incapacitate the American merchants from making remittances to England. Vol. iii. page 553. The issue of Mr. Adams's negotiations at London is well known. Unable to make a commercial treaty with Great Britain, and fully aware of her jealousy relative to American commerce, congress, in the latter part of the year 1783, instructed their ministers empowered to negotiate a treaty of peace, not only to enter into treaty of amity and commerce with the emperor of Germany, but to meet the advances, and encourage the disposition of the other commercial powers in Europe, for entering into treaties of amity and commerce with the United States. In negotiations on this subject," congress say, "you will lay it down as a principle, in no case to be deviated from, that they shall respectively have for their basis, the mutual advantage of the contracting parties, on terms of the most perfect equality and reciprocity, and not to be repugnant to any of the treaties already entered into by the United States with France and other foreign powers." This subject was resumed by congress in May, 1784, and they resolved, it would be advantageous to the United States to conclude commercial treaties with Russia, the court of Vienna, Prussia, Denmark, Saxony, Hamburg, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Genoa, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Venice, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Porte. In the formation of these treaties, the American negotiators were to obtain stipulations on certain points mentioned in their instructions, which the reader will find in the third volume, from page 484 to 489. Among them was one, calculated to mitigate the calamities of war, which the American ministers were to propose, though not indispensably require; as follows: "In case of war between the contracting parties, all fishermen, all cultivators of the earth, and all artisans or manufacturers, unarmed and inhabiting unfortified towns, villages, or places, who labour for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind, and peaceably following their respective employments, shall be allowed to continue the same, and shall not be molested by the armed force of the enemy, in whose power, by the events of war, they may happen to fall; but if any thing is necessary to be taken from them for the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price; and all merchants and traders exchanging the products of different places, and thereby rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life more easy to obtain, and more general, shall be allowed to pass free and unmolested; and neither of the contracting powers shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels empowering them to take or destroy such trading ships, or interrupt such commerce." This stipulation was soon after inserted in a treaty made with Prussia. The Spanish court, in 1784, informed congress, that American vessels would not be permitted to navigate the Missis sippi, within the territorial limits then claimed by the Spanish government. This information was communicated through Marbois, the French chargé d'affaires, and contained in an extract of a letter from the Spanish prime minister, to the agent of Spain in America. The extract is in the third volume, page 517. In this, the Spanish agent is commanded to give congress and the states to understand, that until the limits of Louisiana and the Floridas shall be settled and determined, they should not expose "to process and confiscation" the vessels destined to carry on commerce on the river Mississippi; alleging, that a treaty concluded between the United States and England, could not fix limits in a territory which England did not possess, the two borders of that river having been conquered and possessed by Spain at the date of that treaty. Negotiations on this subject commenced in America, between Mr. Jay and the Spanish envoy, Gardoqui; and a particular account of them may be found in the fourth volume of the journals before us. But the length to which we have already extended our extracts, obliges us to refer the reader to the journals themselves, for a view of these, as well as many other interesting transactions with foreign powers, there recorded. Those who have a desire to become acquainted with these, as well as the secret causes of many of the political transactions in which the United States were concerned during this period, will be amply compensated by the perusal of the volumes which we have thus cursorily noticed. ART. VII.-Poems. By MRS. HEMANS. Vol. i. pp. 480. Vol. ii. 232. Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, & Wilkins. 1826, 1827. MANY of the most interesting works of Mrs. Hemans, whose name is well known throughout the country, and duly valued for the great merit of her shorter poems, have at length been collected by an eminent professor in one of our universities, and published for the benefit of the authoress. We shall not omit the opportunity of expressing our respect for the liberal feeling which dictated the undertaking, and our admiration of the beautiful poetry which justifies it. No more elegant edition of an English poet has ever issued from the American press. There is every thing in the case of Mrs. Hemans to disarm criticism, if there were any occasion for exercising its severity. A woman, a native of a rival country, yet not indifferent to all the circumstances in our glorious destiny, which awaken in us a thrill of patriotism, elevated in her morality, full of deep, VOL. I. NO. 1. 21 |