more defiant and insulting, sent copies of the correspondence to all his colleagues, and caused it to be printed in the newspapers.1 Merry reciprocated his friendly support during his pêle-mêle quarrel with the President, and did what he could to strengthen him in his claim of privilege of residence as the representative of his sovereign. The Cabinet consulted, examined the law and precedents, and decided that he could not be expelled without giving Spain a cause of war. John Quincy Adams, then a senator, in noting the excitement the event occasioned in the Cabinet and Senate, records in his diary: "The Marquis' letters seem to have frightened many of them so that probably nothing will be done." Yrujo continued to defy the administration, and found the Federalist newspapers freely open for his abuse of it. He lingered in the country for another year, and was finally transferred by his government to a post in Europe. Madison's personal troubles with the diplomatic corps were not to end with his services as Secretary of State, for soon after he became President he had another diplomatic quarrel on his hands. At the time Merry was being appointed, the British Foreign Office, following a custom in vogue in European courts, consulted our minister in London, suggesting that the king would name him or a Mr. Francis James Jackson, a person of experience in the service. Mr. King reported to the State Department that Jackson was "positive, vain, and intolerant," and that he had indicated a prefer 1 For correspondence, see 3 Wharton's Digest, 868-880. ence for Mr. Merry, " a plain, unassuming, and amiable man." Merry's stormy career in Washington hardly bore out this prognostication. But the coming of Jackson was only deferred, as fate had reserved him for us to a later day. He came in 1809, a very critical time in our relations with Great Britain, and his conduct showed that our minister in London had not misjudged him. He had hardly landed before he began to show his temperament. Within a week after he reached Washington he addressed the Secretary of State a note, which in effect charged the government with falsehood and duplicity. After receiving a reply explaining the conduct of the government, which should have led to a retraction on his part, he reiterated the charge in even more offensive language. While this correspondence was in progress, he withdrew the legation and his family from Washington to Baltimore, and thence to New York, on the alleged ground that he was threatened with mob violence. It also appears that he reported to his government that he was treated at the President's table "with marked indifference, if not studied insult." It does not seem that either of these statements had any just foundation of fact, but it served the minister's purpose to aggravate the situation between the two countries. The Secretary of State, on receipt of his last offensive note, informed him that his recall would be asked of his government, and that no further communications would be received from him. 2 1 1 10 Allison's Hist. Europe, 651. For official correspondence, see 3 For. Rel. 651. The subject of his dismissal was the theme of violent discussion in the party press, and occasioned a lengthy debate in Congress. A resolution was introduced in the Senate reprobating the conduct of Jackson, and approving the course of the executive, in which body it was passed almost unanimously; but in the House, the Federalists, thinking to manufacture capital out of it, made a strenuous opposition to its passage, resulting in tedious days of debate and obstruction, and, finally, after a continuous session of nineteen hours, it was adopted by a vote of 72 to 41. Mr. Jackson, undaunted by his dismissal and the disapproval of Congress, not only remained in the country for some time thereafter, but, taking advantage of the heated party differences, visited Boston and other cities, where he was fêted by the Federalists, and treated by many of them with distinguished honors bordering on disloyalty.2 In the case of Merry the administration created a needless estrangement of a foreign representative for want of tact, if not good manners; but in the case of Jackson the President and his secretary were entirely 1 The debate will be found in Annals of Congress, 11th Congress, Part I., 1809-10, in the Senate, pp. 481, 484-509; in the House, pp. 747–1152. 2 Mr. Jackson's account of his mission to the United States, with some racy comments on social and official customs at Washington, will be found in The Diaries and Letters of Sir G. Jackson, London, 1872, under the title of Bath Archives, freely quoted in 1 Wharton's Digest, pp. 714– 718. Detailed narratives of the troubles with Yrujo, Merry, and Jackson, with quotations from the unpublished archives of Spain, Great Britain, and France, will be found in 2 H. Adams's Hist. U. S., chap. 11 for Yrujo, chap. 16 for Merry, and vol. v., chap. 6 for Jackson. Most of the quotations in the preceding pages will there be found. in the right, and there is reason to infer that the minister was inspired by his government to this unseemly and hostile conduct. These cases have been followed by a number of others in our diplomatic history, and they illustrate the importance of a proper regard for the amenities of social intercourse in public life, which many Americans are prone to treat too lightly. The conspiracy of Aaron Burr, one of the exciting events of Jefferson's term, is mainly of a domestic character, although it involved infringement on Spanish territory, and it cannot be treated at any length by me at this time. I limit myself to referring to the relation which several of the foreign representatives at Washington sustained to it. As early as 1804, a month after his duel with Hamilton, and while still Vice-President of the United States, Burr put himself in communication with Merry, the British minister, only a few months after this diplomat had emerged from his controversy with the President and Secretary of State over table manners. Merry listened eagerly to Burr's scheme, and repeated it in full to his government, together with a proposal made to him by the Vice-President. The latter was "to lend his assistance to his Majesty's government in any manner in which they may think fit to employ him, particularly in endeavoring to effect a separation of the western part of the United States from that which lies between the mountains in its whole extent." Burr had enlisted in his project a British army officer, Colonel Williamson, who, the minister reports, was to go to London in a few days to lay all the details before the ministry. During the next year Burr's scheme had so far ripened that he communicated to Merry his plan of campaign, which was that while he organized his forces in the West, the British government was to provide a loan of a half million of dollars, and dispatch a fleet to the mouth of the Mississippi to cooperate with his land expedition on New Orleans, the French inhabitants of which, Merry reported, were ready for revolt. The minister was evidently deeply enlisted in the conspiracy, but in his dispatches, sent in triplicate and marked "most secret," having in view Burr's profligate character, he made this caution: "I have only to add that if strict confidence could be placed in him, he cer tainly possesses, perhaps in a much greater degree than any other individual in this country, all the talents, energy, intrepidity, and firmness which are required for such an enterprise." The British ministry at first seemed to entertain the proposals, but Mr. Pitt finally decided that he had more important business on hand, and left the matter to remain without action in the Foreign Office. Burr, however, continued his secret intercourse with Merry, and, according to his reports, tried to quicken his interest by threatening that if Great Britain did not soon respond to the proposals of himself and associates, they would, "though very reluctantly, be under the necessity of addressing themselves to the French and Spanish governments then at war with England. He added, however, that the disposition of the inhabitane restern country, and particularly Louisiana, to spets Chemselves from the American Union was so st e attempt might |