378 WRATH OF THE SOUTH; EMIGRATION TO THE WEST. leaned toward New England. * Accordingly, on August 29, 1786, after heated debates in Congress, Jay's instructions of August 25, 1785, not to yield on this point, were rescinded by a vote of seven States against five.† An agreement was then entered into with the Spanish minister, suspending the use of the Mississippi, without relinquishing the right asserted by the United States. ‡ Some of the Southerners admitted that there was no need for haste in the matter. Washington, as previously quoted, had said: "There is nothing which binds one country or one State to another but interest. Without this consent, the Western inhabitants, who more than probably will be composed in a great degree of foreigners, can have no predilection for us, and a commercial connexion is the only tie we can have upon them." But the majority of * McMaster, United States, vol. i., p. 378. See also Sparks' ed. of Washington's Writings, vol. ix., pp. 205-206, note; Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi, pp. 428-429; Gay, Life of Madison, p. 80 et seq. † McLaughlin, The Confederation and the Constitution, p. 98; Pellew, John Jay, p. 239; Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 109-110, and for the various motions and proposals, pp. 81-127. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey voted in the affirmative, while Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted in the negative. See Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi, p. 432. See Jay's communication to Congress, October 6, 1786, Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 297-301. In this connection, see Monroe's letter to Patrick Henry, in Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, vol. ii., p. 291 et seq. || Ford's ed. of Washington's Writings, vol. x., p. 488. the Virginians were wrathy that the North should take advantage of a commercial treaty and barter away the rights of the South. Madison thought that delay was useless and would probably precipitate strife. He thought the matter might just as well be settled at once for all time as to allow it to drag along for years, for, as he said in a letter to Jefferson, August 20, 1784, Spain" can no more finally stop the current of trade down the river than she can that of the river itself."* Meanwhile the Mississippi Valley particularly Kentucky,† was filling up "with a degree of rapidity hitherto unknown in this country." As Lyman says: "While Congress was discussing the points of a treaty a nation was created there."‡ With patient endurance and marvellous disregard of personal danger and hardship, the pioneers were following Boone's old trail through eastern Tennessee, or floating down the Ohio to establish homes in Kentucky, until in 1785 Kentucky was supposed to contain about 20,000 inhabitants and was increasing rapidly. Laboring under the apprehension that their interests would be sacrificed to the commercial policy of the Atlantic States, the people of the West became * Hunt, Life of Madison, p. 59; Madison's Works (Congress ed.), vol. i., p. 93. See Jay's letter to LaFayette, in Jay, Correspondence and Public Papers (Johnston's ed.), vol. iii., p. 138. Lyman, Diplomacy of the United States, vol. i., p. 285. ALARM IN THE WEST. greatly aroused and alarmed. Other events which now occurred further tended to excite their apprehension. On June 16, 1786, the Spanish authorities at Natchez seized a boat and cargo belonging to an American citizen, Thomas Amis, who was shipping the goods down the river for re-shipment or sale at New Orleans.* The news of this procedure aroused the impetuous spirits of the West, and they were little disposed to allow themselves to be put in a state of vassalage to the Spaniards. "To sell us. and make us vassals to the merciless Spaniards, is a grievance not to be borne," said one. Rather than this, they would march, to a man, and drive the Spaniards entirely out of the country. If the East did not see fit to join them, they were ready and able to do it themselves independently, and if necessary they would then form a confederacy of their own. They said that there were 20,000 men west of the Alleghanies prepared to rush down the Mississippi to expel the Spaniards. Great Britain stood ready to receive them, and if the Federal Government did not succor them, they would throw off all allegiance to Dunn, Indiana, p. 167; Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi, p. 433; Gilmore, Advance-Guard of Western Civilization, p. 131; Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., p. 325, the pass given to Amis being on p. 326. Phelps, Louisiana, p. 152; McMaster, vol. i., pp. 382-383. This letter will be found in Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 320-321. Excerpts are given in Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi, p. 435 et seq. See also Gilmore, Advance-Guard of Western Civilization, p. 133 et seq. VOL. III-25 379 the United States. The latter would find too late that they were as ignorant of the great Valley of the Mississippi as England was of the American colonies at the time of the Revolution.* Writing to Madison, George Muter said: "Our people are greatly alarmed at the prospect of the navigation of the Mississippi being given up, and I have not met with one man who would be willing to give the navigation up, for ever so short a time, on any terms whatsoever." John Campbell wrote to Madison as follows: "The minds of all the western people are agitated on account of the proposed cession of the Mississippi navigation to Spain. Every person talks of it with indignation and reprobates it as a measure of the greatest Injustice and Despotism, declaring that if it takes place they will look upon themselves released from all Federal Obligations, and fully at Liberty to seek Alliances and connections wherever they can find them, and that the British officers at Detroit have already been tampering with them. I am apprehensive that these matters will hasten the Separation of the District of Kentucky prematurely from the other part of the State, the Inhabitants of North Carolina to the westward of Cumberland Mountain, being desirous to join the People of Kentucky in forming one State." † Consequently, when the Westerners heard of the twenty-five year proviso they were fully aroused. George See the documents laid before Congress, April 13, 1787, Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 315-328. See Hunt, Life of Madison, p. 61. Writing to Madison from Paris, Jefferson said: "I will venture to say that the act which abandons the navigation of the Mississippi is an act of separation between the eastern and western country. It is a relinquishment of five parts out of eight of the territory of the United States; an abandonment of the fairest subject for the pay 380 RETALIATION; MADISON'S COMPROMISE. Rogers Clark formed a body of militia, which was enlisted for a year, and took post at Vincennes, where he retaliated against the Spanish by seizing some merchandise belonging to a Spanish storekeeper.* The Kentuckian members of the Virginia Assembly now drafted a petition to that body in the form of a protest against the proposed Jay treaty, and boldly asserted the right of the ment of our public debts, and the chaining those debts on our own necks, in perpetuam. I have the utmost confidence in the honest intentions of those who concur in this measure; but I lament their want of acquaintance with the character and physical advantages of the people, who, right or wrong, will suppose their interests sacrificed on this occasion to the contrary interests of that part of the Confederacy in possession of the present power. If they declare themselves a separate people, we are incapable of a single effort to retain them. Our citizens can never be induced, either as militia or as soldiers, to go there to cut the throats of their own brothers and sons, or, rather, to be themselves the subjects instead of the perpetrators of the parricide. Nor would that country quit the cost of being retained against the will of its inhabitants, could it be done. But it cannot be done. They are able al United States to use the Mississippi. * Madison promised to aid the Kentuckians if they would reciprocate by voting to send a delegation to the Federal Convention, which proposition was then before the Virginia Legislature, in accordance with the report of the Annapolis convention.† On November 3, 1786, the latter sub ject came up for consideration, and it was decided that a law in conformity with the report of the Annapolis Convention ought to be enacted. A bill was drafted, reported on November 7, and unanimously passed November 9. On November 29 Madison performed his part of the compact by securing the passage of a set of resolutions, couched in language similar to that of the Kentucky petition. A resolution asserting the right to navigate the Mississippi was also passed in the North Carolina Legislature and sent to Congress. On April 11, 1787, Jay reported to Congress the state of the negotia ready to rescue the navigation of the Mississippi tions,§ and on the following day sub out of the hands of Spain, and to add New Orleans to their own territory. They will be joined by the inhabitants of Louisiana. This will bring on a war betwen them and Spain, and that will produce the question with us, whether it will not be worth our while to become parties with them in the war, in order to reunite them with us, and thus correct our error. And were I to permit my forebodings to go one step further, I should predict that the inhabitants of the United States would force their rulers to take the affirmative of that question." *See the letter quoted in Dunn, Indiana, p. 168. See also Jay's report on Clark's reprisal, in Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., p. 301 et seq.; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, vol. iii., pp. 117118; McMaster, vol i., pp. 379-380; Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 311-313. *Journal of the [Virginia] House of Delegates, 1786, p. 46. Phelps, Louisiana, p. 151. Gay, however, (Life of Madison, p. 85), says that a bargain "implies an exchange of one thing for another, and Madison had no convictions in favor of closing the Mississippi to exchange for a service rendered on behalf of a measure for which he wished to secure votes. Moreover, no bargain was necessary." McMaster, pp. 381-382; Journal of the [Virginia] House of Delegates, 1786, p. 46. Journal of the House of Delegates, 1786, pp. 66-67. See also the Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 305-328; Rives, Life of Madison, vol. ii., p. 159 et seq.; Hunt, Life of Madison, p. 62. § See Jay, Correspondence and Public Papers, DEBATE IN CONGRESS; THE BARBARY POWERS. 381 mitted his report on the papers from Virginia and North Carolina. The Articles of Confederation provided that the consent of nine States was necessary to ratify the treaty, but Jay asserted that he thought himself warranted by the assent of seven States in concluding the agreement for the non-usage of the Mississippi already mentioned. On the 23d the report was taken under consideration and an acrimonious debate followed. Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts said it would confer a lasting benefit on the Atlantic States if the Mississippi were closed to navigation, and he hoped it would be closed, but Madison accused Gorham of sectionalism, and then, growing angry, attacked the legality of Jay's actions on the ground that the votes of seven States were not sufficient authority on which to close the Mississippi.* An angry dispute followed, but in the midst of it a motion to adjourn was carried and the subject of the treaty was not broached for eighteen months.† Meanwhile the attitude of the Barbary States was causing some anxiety. Prior to the Revolution, much of the flour and fish exported from the vol. iii., p. 240 et seq.; Secret Journals of Congress, vol. iv., pp. 297-301; W. H. Trescott, Diplomatic History of the Administrations of Washington and Adams, p. 46. *Hunt, Life of Madison, p. 65. † McMaster, United States, vol. i., pp. 414-416: Secret Journals of Congress, for the dates cover ing the discussion; Elliot, Debates, vol. v., pp. 104-105; Curtis, Constitutional History, vol. i. pp. 219-220. United States went to the Mediterranean countries, but now the Barbary powers began to seize American vessels and imprison the seamen, demanding enormous ransoms for their release.* Algiers alone had 21 prisoners, for the release of whom $59,496 was demanded. Agents sent to secure their liberty accomplished nothing, as America had no funds to spend in redeeming its citizens from captivity, and threats had no effect whatever. Early in February, 1786, two envoys, Thomas Barclay and John Lamb, were dispatched to Africa for the purpose of concluding treaties. But soon after they had left England on their way to Africa, a Tripolitan ambassador appeared in London and opened negotiations with Adams. He said that Turkey, Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis owned the Mediterranean; that no foreign ships could traverse that sea until peace had been concluded; and that the United States must make treaties in the following order: Tripoli, Turkey, Algiers and Morocco. He computed the price of peace with these four four countries countries at 120,000 guineas, besides presents, incidental charges, etc., which would bring the total to about £200,000 sterling. In the event of this sum being refused, war of the most terrible kind was threatened. It was therefore a case 382 NEGOTIATIONS OF LAMB AND BARCLAY. of bribing the Barbary powers or fighting them, and Congress was too poor to do either.* others, awaited the establishment of a national government. Lamb, however, had completely Writing to Jefferson June 6, 1786, failed in his negotiations at Algiers, John Adams says: "The first question is, what will it cost us to make peace with all five of them. Set it, if you will, at five hundred thousand pounds sterling, though I doubt not it might be done for three, or perhaps for two. The second question is, what damage shall we suffer if we do not treat. Compute six or eight per cent. insurance upon all your exports and imports; compute the total loss of all the Mediterranean and Levant trade; compute the loss of one-half your trade to Portugal and Spain. The third question is, what will it cost to fight them. I answer at least half a million a year, without protecting your trade; and when you leave off fighting, you must pay as much money as it would cost you now for peace. The interest of half a million sterling is, even at six per cent., 30,000 guineas a year. For an annual interest of £30,000 sterling, then, and perhaps for £15,000 or £10,000, we can have peace, when a war would sink us annually ten times as much."† While Adams was negotiating in London, Lamb and Barclay were making progress in Africa. Barclay's first visit to the Emperor of Morocco resulted favorably, and late in January, 1787, news arrived in London that a lasting treaty had been concluded between the United States and Morocco.‡ But when the treaty was placed before Secretary Jay, he was still busy with the Spanish treaty, and this treaty, like the for, though he had "followed for many years the Barbary trade, and seemed intimately acquainted with those States," yet he could speak nothing but English and was at such a great disadvantage that the Vekil Hadji subsequently expressed the hope that" if the Americans sent an American to Algiers to make the peace, they would send a man who could speak the Spanish or Italian language. He ridiculed much the sending of a man that no one could understand what he had to say." However this may have been, Jefferson himself said: "I am persuaded that an agent sent on this business, and so much limited in his terms, could have done nothing. But should Congress propose to try the line of negotiation again, I think they will perceive that Lamb is not a proper agent." Lamb had been politely received by the Dey, who said that he was well acquainted with the exploits of Washington, but as he never expected to see him, he hoped Congress would send a full-length portrait to be hung in his palace. His regard for Washington, however, did not diminish the prices for the release of captives, which were as follows: three captains each $6,000; $4,000 for the mates and passengers; and $1,500 for each of the seamen,* beside a customary * John Adams, Works, vol. viii., p. 394. |