CHAPTER production: manufactures of leather, silk, hemp, flax, XVIII. tin, or brass; woolen cloths above the invoice value of a 1806. dollar and a quarter the square yard; woolen hosiery, March 26. glass, silver or plated wares, paper, nails, spikes, hats, ready-made clothing, millinery, beer, ale, porter, playing-cards, pictures, or prints. But, to give time for intermediate negotiations, the commencement of the prohibition was postponed till the middle of November. This act passed the House by a pure party vote, ninety-three to thirty-two. The Federalists to a man voted against it, and along with them six or seven "Quids," as they were called-the whole number of partisans that Randolph could muster when it came to the question of separating from the administration. Whatever may be thought of the general soundness of Randolph's judgment, or of the motives of his present opposition, certain it is that he took in this case the more statesmanlike view. But, in voting with him, the Federalists by no means accepted all his opinions. They did not join in his depreciation of the carrying trade, partly instigated, perhaps, by envy of the great fortunes which the Northern merchants were rapidly acquiring by it; and borrowed by him from a pamphlet recently published in England, entitled "War in Disguise; or, the Frauds of Neutral Flags," in which the new doctrines of the British admiralty courts were ably vindicated. The Federalists were far from considering neutral rights as not worth contending for, even at the risk of hostilities. Those rights, however, in their opinion, could derive little or no support from commercial restrictions, themselves a great embarrassment to commerce, and quite unsupported by any serious measures of preparation for war-measures which the ruling party seemed not at all inclined to adopt. XVIII. The old empty formality was indeed re-enacted of CHAPTER authorizing the president to call into service, should he deem it necessary, a hundred thousand militia or volun- 1806. teers. A bill was also introduced prohibiting the exportation of arms; but it was dropped before reaching its final stage. An appropriation was made of $150,000 for the fortification of forts and harbors-an amount ridiculed by the Federalists as not a quarter enough to fortify New York alone, but defended by the administration party on the ground that the Secretary of War had asked for no more, and that this sum was needed, not for new fortifications, but merely to keep the old ones in repair. A committee to whom that subject had been referred had reported in favor of completing the six ships of the line. But so far was that measure from being adopted, that an appropriation was refused even for the repair of two or three of the frigates which had fallen to decay, the president being authorized to sell them instead. The great war measure adopted by Congress at this commencement of a struggle for maritime rights was the appropriation of $250,000 for the building of fifty additional gunboats. Under appropriations made during the hostilities with Tripoli, the Hornet sloop of war had been equipped. The Wasp was launched about this time. These two fine sloops were the last additions made to the American navy for more than six years, during all which time the prospect of war was imminent; nor was it till some time after war had actually broken out that the building of ships was recommenced. So far from laying up additional materials ready for use, the frames on hand, of the six ships of the line, were presently cut up for the additional gun-boats. Even the few vessels already possessed were mostly laid up in ordinary, and this at a time when, according to the president's own statement, CHAPTER in his opening message to Congress, our principal harXVIII. bors were fairly blockaded, not only by belligerent ships 1806. of war little enough disposed to respect either the neu tral rights or the laws of the United States, but even by piratical privateers, which did not hesitate to capture American vessels on the flimsiest pretenses, even within American waters. The president, indeed, was nominally authorized to keep in actual service as many public armed vessels as he might deem necessary; but the total number of seamen to be employed was limited to nine hundred and twenty-five-not enough to man three frigates, of which two were required for the Mediterranean service. Shortly after the adjournment of Congress, the citizens of New York were greatly excited by the death of Peirce, captain of a coasting vessel, killed within the jurisdiction of the United States by a cannon shot from a British ship of war hovering off that harbor. To a reApril 28. quest from the Common Council of that city for two or three ships to keep these foreign cruisers in order, the administration could only reply by sending a copy of the act of Congress for the naval peace establishment, and by an impotent proclamation ordering the offending vessel out of the waters of the United States. And yet, with a singular but characteristic disproportion of means to May 4. ends, Jefferson could write to Monroe, "We begin to broach the idea that we consider the whole Gulf Stream as of our waters, in which hostilities and cruising are to be frowned on for the present, and prohibited as soon as either consent or force will permit us. We shall never permit another privateer to cruise within it, and shall forbid our harbors to national cruisers." The Federal members had remarked, with some indignation, that, however grudging Congress might be of XVIII. grants for the protection of commerce and shipping, all CHAPTER the large sums required for the benefit of the inland frontier, to carry out the treaties made the preceding summer 1806. with the Indians, were readily voted. Now also was. made the first commencement of the system of internal improvements at the public expense, the sum of $30,000 being appropriated out of the treasury (but chargeable ultimately upon the two per cent. fund, under the compact with Ohio, of proceeds of the public lands) toward laying out a road over the Alleghany Mountains,' from Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the Ohio River-first commencement of the famous Cumberland Road. The president was also authorized to expend $6600 in opening a road from Athens, on the frontier of Georgia, toward New Orleans; also the sum of $6000 upon each of two other roads, one the old road from Nashville to Natchez, the other through the territory just ceded by the Indians, from Cincinnati to the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis. The question of a tax on slaves imported the renewed African slave trade of South Carolina being carried on with great vigor-was again revived by Sloan. After some very angry debate, in which the blame of the traffic was bandied about between South Carolina, by which the importation was allowed, and Rhode Island, accused of furnishing ships for the business, in spite of all the efforts of the ultra slaveholders, a bill was ordered to be brought in by a decided majority. But the subject was finally allowed to go over to the next session, when it would be competent for Congress to provide for the final cessation of the traffic. Returning from the Mediterranean, General Eaton had arrived at Hampton Roads about the commencement of the session of Congress. He was received with CHAPTER many compliments at Richmond, on his way to WashXVIII. ington, and was honored there, in conjunction with De1806. catur, with a complimentary dinner, at which was pres ent, among other guests, the famous General Moreau, lately exiled from France. The peace with Tripoli was generally ascribed to Eaton's enterprise and gallantry in getting up the attack upon Derne. The opinion, indeed, was entertained by many, that, had he been duly supported, a much more favorable peace might have been obtained. Eaton freely expressed, especially when heated with wine, his disgust at what he called the "pusillanimous conduct and sly policy" of the administration; and the consequence was, that a resolution, early brought forward to honor him with a gold medal, was vehemently opposed, postponed, and finally lost. The Legislature of Massachusetts, in which state Eaton's family resided, presented him with ten thousand acres of wild land in the District of Maine; and he succeeded, though not without some difficulty and obstructions, in bringing his accounts with the United States to a settlement. The whole cost of the Derne expedition was about $40,000. Congress also voted $2400 for the temporary relief of the unfortunate Hamet, who had been landed at Syracuse by the American fleet, and who sent thence an indignant complaint at the bad faith with which he had been treated, his agreement with Eaton not having been carried out, and he himself having been left at Syracuse with a family of thirty persons, totally destitute of means of support. The Tunisian embassador, who had arrived about the same time with Eaton, had been received with much ceremony. He was entertained at the public expense, insisting, in fact, upon having the best house in Washington; and he visited, at the same expense, the principal cities. One advantage, at least, Jefferson derived |