Martin's XVII. no account of Chase, who was a host in himself, the man- CHAPTER agers on the part of the House were no match. massive logic, and Lee's and Harper's argumentative el- 1805. oquence, directed always to the point, stood in striking contrast to the tingling but desultory surface strokes of Randolph, upon whom the main burden of the prosecution fell. A great number of witnesses were examined on both sides. Chase's counsel admitted that he might have fallen into some casual heats and indiscre-" tions, but they totally denied the proof of any thing that would at all justify an impeachment; and in spite of the strong administration majority in the Senate, he was acquitted on five out of the eight charges against him by March. decided majorities on one of them unanimously. Of three other articles, two relating to Callender's trial and the third to his charge to the Maryland grand jury, a majority of the senators present held him guilty; but as this majority did not amount to two thirds, his acquittal was pronounced on all the charges. This acquittal of Chase was deemed by the Federalists a great triumph, tending to show that there were limits even to the power of party discipline. The managers and chief instigators of the prosecution were excessively mortified. After a speech full of intemperate and indecent reflections on the Senate, in which he spoke of Chase as "an acquitted felon," Randolph proposed to amend the Constitution so as to make judges removable by joint resolution of the two houses. Nicholson, on his part, proposed to give to the state Legislatures the power to vacate at pleasure the seats of their senators. But these splenetic ebullitions came to nothing. Even the majority of the House were guilty, under Randolph's leadership, of the contemptible meanness of refusing to pay Chase's witnesses. The Senate, to their honor, in XVII. CHAPTER sisted unanimously that, as Chase had been acquitted, all the witnesses should be paid alike. The House re1805. fused to yield, and this disagreement caused the loss of the bill. It was then attempted, on the last day of the session, to pay the witnesses for the prosecution out of the contingent fund of the House; but this failed for want of a quorum, and the whole business went over to the next Congress. In that Congress provision was "made, though not without very serious opposition from Randolph and his followers, for the payment of all the witnesses alike. Both in the matter of the Mississippi claims and in his other controversies with the more moderate Democrats, Randolph had been warmly supported by the Aurora. But the violent assaults of Duane upon several of his late political associates did not go unpunished. He was deprived of the public printing and of the stationery contract, which, by the help of the Federal votes, were offered to the lowest bidder. Though the proceedings against Chase were no doubt dictated by violent party spirit, without sufficient foundation in fact or law, yet they were not entirely without good results. They served to check that overbearing and insolent demeanor on the bench, handed down from colonial times, which many judges seem to have thought it essential to the dignity of their office to exhibit. Early in the session, a very vehement petition, drawn by Edward Livingston, had been presented to Congress from the inhabitants of the Territory of Orleans, complaining of the arbitrary government established over them, and claiming, under the treaty of cession, the privilege enjoyed by the other citizens of the United States, of choosing their own legislators; in fact, immediate organization as an independent state. This was not XVII. granted; but an act was passed giving to the Territory CHAPTER of Orleans the same government in every respect with that of Mississippi-the government, that is, of a terri- 1805. tory of the first class, having a Legislature chosen by the inhabitants, with the privilege, when they should reach the number of 60,000, of erecting themselves into a state, forming a constitution, and claiming admission into the Union. The District of Louisiana, hitherto annexed to Indiana, was now erected into a separate territory of the second class, the power of legislation being vested in the governor and judges. A section of this act, by continuing in force, until altered or repealed by the Legislature, all existing laws and regulations, gave a tacit confirmation to the system of slavery already established in the settlements on the Arkansas and Missouri. The Territory of Indiana underwent a further curtailment in the erection of Michigan into a new and sepa rate territory of the second class. Of this new territory the Indian title had been extinguished only to a small tract, formerly ceded to the French, about the ancient town of Detroit, with another like tract on the main land opposite Mackinaw; and the total white population did not exceed four thousand. But their wide separation, by impassable swamps, from the other settled districts of Indiana, made a separate government expedient. The government of the Orleans Territory had all along been reserved for Monroe; but as he was now otherwise provided for, Claiborne was continued as governor, his other government of Mississippi being given to Robert Williams. The government of Michigan was given to William Hull, of Massachusetts, who had served with honor in the Revolutionary army, having specially distinguished himself in the storming of Stony Point. GenV.—M M XVII. CHAPTER eral Wilkinson, the commander-in-chief of the American army, was appointed governor of the Louisiana 1805. Territory. The condition of the District of Columbia gave rise to considerable debate. More than half the time of Congress, at a great expense to the nation, was taken up with the affairs of that district, and yet its system of laws was left in the most heterogeneous state, two different codes being in force on the opposite sides of the Potomac. It being thought contrary to republican principles that the people should be governed by Congress, without any Legislature of their own, it was proposed to retrocede the whole district except the City of Washington; but Jan. 18. this did not succeed. A proposition, brought forward by Sloan, of New Jersey, that all children born of slaves within the District after the ensuing fourth of July should become free at an age to be fixed upon, was refused reference to a committee of the whole sixty-five to forty-seven, and was then rejected seventy-seven to thirty-one. The thirty-one were mainly Democrats from Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. Only five Federalists voted with them, two from New Hampshire, two from Massachusetts, and one from New York. The practice of going armed for their own defense, so generally adopted by American vessels during the difficulties with France, was still kept up in certain branches of trade, especially that with the revolted island of St. Domingo, where Dessalines, in imitation of Bonaparte, had assumed the title of emperor. Very strict prohibitions against this trade had been issued by the French; and General Turreau, who had lately arrived from France as envoy extraordinary to the United States, had very warmly protested against its allowance. The complaisant Jefferson, dreading the interference of France in the XVII. dispute with Spain, had pointedly called the attention of CHAPTER Congress to this trade, "as an attempt to force a commerce into certain ports and countries in defiance of the 1805. · laws of those countries, tending to produce aggression on the laws and rights of other nations, and to endanger the peace of our own." Upon this hint, Logan brought a bill into the Senate to prohibit altogether the trade with the new empire of Hayti. But as the blacks, beyond all question, were de facto an independent nation, this was thought to be carrying complaisance toward France a little too far. The most that could be obtained, and that not without a great deal of opposition, was an act requiring armed vessels to give bonds not to use their armaments for any unlawful purpose, but only for resistance and defense in case of involuntary hostilities; and to bring them back to the United States. Another topic of the president's message had been infringements against our laws and rights within our own waters by the armed ships of the belligerents. To meet this difficulty, an act was passed authorizing the use of the regular troops of the United States, as well as of the militia, to aid in the service of criminal process, whether state or Federal, against persons taking refuge on board foreign armed ships within the waters of the United States. But in all such cases a demand was first to be made for the surrender of those against whom the process ran. The president was also authorized, as a further means of preserving the authority of the laws, to permit or interdict at pleasure the entrance of foreign armed vessels into the waters of the United States; and, in case of disobedience, to prohibit all intercourse with them, and to use force to compel them to depart. He might also forbid, by proclamation, the coming within the jurisdiction of the United States of any officer of a |