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Title: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Vol. VIII. (of 9) - Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, - Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private
Author: Jefferson, Thomas
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Vol. VIII. (of 9) - Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, - Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private" ***
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Inconsistent or incorrect accents and spelling in passages in French,
Latin and Italian have been left unchanged.
Because of text width limitations, the table showing the geographical
locations of the Indian confederacies had to be split into three
sections. Accents in that table seem to indicate pronunciation.
Sidenotes representing original page numbers in "The Batture at New
Orleans" have been moved before the paragraph at which they were
placed to avoid breaking up the flow of the text.
[~c] is used to represent a c with an overbar.
The section starting ""Logan's family" has no closing quotation mark.
The section starting ""An act of" has no closing quotation mark.
Accents in table on page 337 volume 8 seem to indicate pronunciation.
The Table of Contents references a Special Message dated Mar. 21,
1804. The corresponding entry itself is dated Mar. 20.
Prevôté and vicomté should possibly not have accents.
Soree. Ral-bird should possibly be Sora. Rail-bird.
bueltas y tortuosidades should possibly be vueltas y tortuosidades.
Cypriores should possibly be Cypriéres.
Aligators should possibly be Alligators.
[Sidenote: 43*] is missing.
Part II ends with an unfinished sentence, and an incomplete address.
It has been left as printed.
The dated sidenote "1778, Sept. 5." is out of order, and may be an
error.
Text references indicated by (A.), (B.), (3.)...(7.) point to an
Appendix to the Notes on Virginia.
The following possible inconsistencies/printer errors/archaic
spellings/different names for different entities were pointed
out by the proofers, and left as printed:
Chippewas and Chippawas
Muskingum and Muskinghum
Rappahanoc, Rappahannoc, Rappahànoc
Duponçeau and Duponceau
Pawtomac, Potomac, Potomak, Powtomac,
Pottawatomies, Powtawatamies, Powtewatamy
Monongalia, Monongahela
Mississippi, Missisipi
Miller, Millar
Maudan, Mandan
levee and levée
THE
WRITINGS
OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON:
BEING HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, MESSAGES,
ADDRESSES, AND OTHER WRITINGS, OFFICIAL
AND PRIVATE.
PUBLISHED BY THE ORDER OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS ON THE
LIBRARY,
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS,
DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, TABLES OF CONTENTS, AND A COPIOUS INDEX
TO EACH VOLUME, AS WELL AS A GENERAL INDEX TO THE WHOLE,
BY THE EDITOR
H. A. WASHINGTON.
VOL. VIII.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY RIKER, THORNE & CO.
WASHINGTON, D.C.:--TAYLOR & MAURY.
1854.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
TAYLOR & MAURY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of
Columbia.
EZRA N. GROSSMAN, PRINTER,
211 & 213 Centre st., N.Y.
CONTENTS TO VOL. VIII.
BOOK III.--PART II.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES.
PAGE
First Inaugural Address March 4, 1801 1
First Annual Message Dec. 8, 1801 6
Second Annual Message Dec. 15, 1802 15
Special Message Jan. 28, 1802 21
Special Message Feb. 24, 1803 22
Third Annual Message Oct. 17, 1803 23
Special Message Oct. 21, 1803 29
Special Message Nov. 4, 1803 30
Special Message Nov. 25, 1803 31
Special Message Dec. 5, 1803 31
Special Message Jan. 16, 1804 32
Special Message Mar. 21, 1804 33
Fourth Annual Message Nov. 8, 1804 34
Second Inaugural Address Mar. 4, 1805 40
Fifth Annual Message Dec. 3, 1805 46
Special Message Jan. 13, 1806 54
Special Message Jan. 17, 1806 57
Special Message Feb. 3, 1806 58
Special Message Feb. 19, 1806 59
Special Message Mar. 20, 1806 60
Special Message April 14, 1806 61
Sixth Annual Message Dec. 2, 1806 62
Special Message Dec. 3, 1806 70
Special Message Jan. 22, 1807 71
Special Message Jan. 28, 1807 78
Special Message Jan. 31, 1807 78
Special Message Feb. 10, 1807 79
Seventh Annual Message Oct. 27, 1807 82
Special Message Nov. 23, 1807 89
Special Message Dec. 18, 1807 89
Special Message Jan. 20, 1808 90
Special Message Jan. 30, 1808 93
Special Message Jan. 30, 1808 94
Special Message Feb. 2, 1808 95
Special Message Feb. 4, 1808 95
Special Message Feb. 9, 1808 96
Special Message Feb. 15, 1808 97
Special Message Feb. 19, 1808 97
Special Message Feb. 25, 1808 98
Special Message Mar. 7, 1808 99
Special Message Mar. 17, 1808 100
Special Message Mar. 18, 1808 101
Special Message Mar. 22, 1808 101
Eighth Annual Message Nov. 8, 1808 103
Special Message Dec. 30, 1808 111
Special Message Jan. 6, 1809 111
Appendix--Confidential Message recommending
a Western Exploring
Expedition Jan. 18, 1803 241
BOOK III--PART III.
REPLIES TO PUBLIC ADDRESSES.
To the Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association of
Connecticut, 113.
To William Judd, 114.
To the Legislature of Tennessee, 115.
To the Legislature of Massachusetts, 116.
To the President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House
of Representatives of Massachusetts, 117.
To Messrs. Thomas Ellicot and others, 118.
To Captain John Thomas, 119.
To Governor Smith, 120.
To the Legislature of Vermont, 121.
To the Legislature of New Jersey, 122.
To the Tammany Society of Washington City, 124.
To Messrs. Abner Walker and Bernard Todd, 124.
To the General Assembly of North Carolina, 125.
To the Society of Tammany of New York City, 127.
To the Democratic Republicans of Philadelphia, 128.
To the Legislature, Council, and House of Representatives of
the Territory of New Orleans, 129.
To Governor Langdon, 131.
To Governor Langdon, 132.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives of South
Carolina, 133.
To the Inhabitants of Boston, Newburyport, and Providence,
&c., 133.
To a Portion of the Citizens of Boston, 135.
To the Baltimore Baptist Association, 137.
To the Ketocton Baptist Association, 138.
To the Six Baptist Associations represented at Chesterfield,
Virginia, 139.
To Taber Finch, 140.
To the Young Republicans of Petersburg and its vicinity, 141.
To the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
142.
To the Electors of the County of Ontario, New York, 143.
To the Citizens of the County and City of Philadelphia, 144.
To the Legislature of Georgia, 145.
To the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut,
147.
To the General Assembly of Virginia, 147.
To the Citizens of Wilmington and its vicinity, 149.
To John Gassaway, 150.
To the Republican Young Men of New London, 151.
To the Republicans of Loudon county, Virginia, 152.
To Governor Tompkins, 153.
To General James Robertson, 154.
To the Republicans of Niagara county, New York, 155.
To Captain Quin Morton, 156.
To the Tammany Society of Washington City, 156.
To the Citizens of Washington City, 157.
To the Republicans of Georgetown, 159.
To the Republican Merchants of Leesburg and its vicinity, 161.
To the Friends of the Administration in Bristol county, Rhode
Island, 162.
To the Republican Delegates of Washington county, Pennsylvania,
163.
To the Citizens of Alleghany county, Maryland, 164.
To the Republican Citizens of Washington county, Maryland, 165.
To the President of the Ancient Plymouth Society of New
London, 166.
To Governor Wright, 166.
To the Legislature of the State of New York, 166.
To the Republicans of Queen Ann's county, 168.
To the members of the Baptist Church of Buck Mountain in
Albemarle, 168.
To Jonathan Low, 169.
To the Tammany Society of Baltimore. 170.
BOOK III.--Part IV.
INDIAN ADDRESSES.
To Brother John Baptiste de Coigne, 179.
Speeches of John Baptiste de Coigne, Chief of the Wabash and
Illinois Indians, and other Chiefs, 176.
To the Miamis, Powtewattamies, and Weeauks, 184.
To the Delaware and Shawanee nations, 186.
To Brother Handsome Lake, 187.
To Brothers, the Miamis and Delawares, 189.
To Brothers of the Choctaw nation, 192.
To my children, White-hairs, chiefs and warriors of the Osage
nation, 195.
To the Chiefs of the Chickasaw Nation, Minghey, Mataha, and
Tishohotana, 198.
To the Wolf, and people of the Mandar nation, 200.
To the Chiefs of the Osage nation, 203.
To the Chiefs of the Shawanee nation, 205.
To Kitchao Geboway, 208.
To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies,
Wyandots, and Senecas, of Sandusky, 210.
To the Chief of the Upper Cherokees, 213.
To Colonel Louis Cook and Jacob Francis of the St. Regis
Indians, 215.
To the Delaware Chief, Captain Armstrong, 216.
To the Miamis, Powtewattamies, Delawares, and Chippewas, 217.
To Little Turtle, Chief of the Miamis, 218.
To Manchol, the great war chief of the Powtewattamies, 220.
To Beaver, the head warrior of the Delawares, 223.
To Captain Hendrick, the Delawares, Mohiccons, and Munries,
225.
To Kitchard Geboway, 228.
To the Deputies of the Cherokee Upper Towns, 228.
To the Deputies of the Cherokees of the Upper and Lower Towns,
230.
To the Chiefs of the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas,
Powtewattamies, and Shawanese, 232.
To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies,
Wyandots, and Shawanese, 238.
BOOK IV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
PART I.
Notes on Virginia, 249.
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
1. Biographical sketch of Peyton Randolph, 477.
2. Biographical sketch of Meriwether Lewis, 480.
3. Biographical sketch of General Kosciusko, 494.
4. Anecdotes of Dr. Franklin, 497.
PART III.
The Batture at New Orleans, 503.
PART II.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES.
INAUGURATION ADDRESS.--MARCH 4, 1801.
_Friends and Fellow Citizens_:--
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive
office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion
of my fellow citizens which is here assembled, to express
my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been
pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness
that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with
those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of
the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A
rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all
the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in
commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing
rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye--when I
contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the
happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to
the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation,
and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking.
Utterly indeed, should I despair, did not the presence
of many whom I here see remind me, that in the other high authorities
provided by our constitution, I shall find resources of
wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties.
To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the
sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with
you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support
which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we
are all embarked amid the conflicting elements of a troubled
world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed,
the animation of discussion and of exertions has sometimes worn
an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely
and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now
decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the
rules of the constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves
under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the
common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle,
that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that
will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess
their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to
violate which would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow citizens,
unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse
that harmony and affection without which liberty and
even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that
having banished from our land that religious intolerance under
which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained
little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as
wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During
the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the
agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and
slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation
of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful
shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less
by others; that this should divide opinions as to measures of
safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of
principle. We have called by different names brethren of the
same principle. We are all republicans--we are federalists. If
there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union
or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as
monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be
tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed,
that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot
be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But
would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment,
abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm,
on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the
world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself?
I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest
government on earth. I believe it is the only one where every
man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard of the
law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own
personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be
trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted
with the government of others? Or have we found angels in
the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this
question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own
federal and republican principles, our attachment to our union
and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and
a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the
globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others;
possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants
to the hundredth and thousandth generation; entertaining a
due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to
the acquisitions of our industry, to honor and confidence from
our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth but from our actions
and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed,
indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them including
honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of
man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence,
which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness
of man here and his greater happiness hereafter; with all
these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and
prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens--a wise
and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring
one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate
their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not
take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is
the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the
circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which
comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper
that you should understand what I deem the essential principles
of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape
its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest
compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all
its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever
state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and
honest friendship, with all nations--entangling alliances with
none; the support of the state governments in all their rights, as
the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns
and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the
preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional
vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety
abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people--a
mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the
sword of the revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided;
absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority--the
vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to
force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a
well-disciplined militia--our best reliance in peace and for the
first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy
of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public
expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment
of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith;
encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid;
the diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at
the bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the
press; freedom of person under the protection of the _habeas corpus_;
and trial by juries impartially selected--these principles
form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and
guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been
devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our
political faith--the text of civil instruction--the touchstone by
which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander
from them in moments of error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace
our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace,
liberty, and safety.
I repair, then, fellow citizens, to the post you have assigned
me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen
the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learned to expect
that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from
this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him
into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence reposed in
our first and great revolutionary character, whose preëminent
services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love,
and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful
history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and
effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go
wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be
thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a
view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own
errors, which will never be intentional; and your support against
the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if
seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage
is a consolation to me for the past; and my future solicitude will
be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in
advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good
in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom
of all.
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance
with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever
you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power
to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies
of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give
them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.
[In communicating his first message to Congress, President
Jefferson addressed the following letter to the presiding officer of
each branch of the national legislature.]
December 8, 1801.
SIR: The circumstances under which we find ourselves placed
rendering inconvenient the mode heretofore practised of making
by personal address the first communication between the legislative
and executive branches, I have adopted that by message, as
used on all subsequent occasions through the session. In doing
this, I have had principal regard to the convenience of the legislature,
to the economy of their time, to their relief from the embarrassment
of immediate answers on subjects not yet fully before
them, and to the benefits thence resulting to the public affairs.
Trusting that a procedure founded in these motives will
meet their approbation, I beg leave, through you, sir, to communicate
the enclosed message, with the documents accompanying it,
to the honorable the senate, and pray you to accept, for yourself
and them, the homage of my high respect and consideration.
_The Hon. the President of the Senate._
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 8, 1801.
_Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
It is a circumstance of sincere gratification to me that on
meeting the great council of our nation, I am able to announce
to them, on the grounds of reasonable certainty, that the wars
and troubles which have for so many years afflicted our sister
nations have at length come to an end, and that the communications
of peace and commerce are once more opening among them.
While we devoutly return thanks to the beneficent Being who
has been pleased to breathe into them the spirit of conciliation
and forgiveness, we are bound with peculiar gratitude to be
thankful to him that our own peace has been preserved through
so perilous a season, and ourselves permitted quietly to cultivate
the earth and to practice and improve those arts which tend to
increase our comforts. The assurances, indeed, of friendly disposition,
received from all the powers with whom we have principal
relations, had inspired a confidence that our peace with
them would not have been disturbed. But a cessation of the
irregularities which had affected the commerce of neutral nations,
and of the irritations and injuries produced by them, cannot but
add to this confidence; and strengthens, at the same time, the
hope, that wrongs committed on unoffending friends, under a
pressure of circumstances, will now be reviewed with candor,
and will be considered as founding just claims of retribution for
the past and new assurance for the future.
Among our Indian neighbors, also, a spirit of peace and friendship
generally prevails; and I am happy to inform you that the
continued efforts to introduce among them the implements and
the practice of husbandry, and of the household arts, have not
been without success; that they are becoming more and more
sensible of the superiority of this dependence for clothing and
subsistence over the precarious resources of hunting and fishing;
and already we are able to announce, that instead of that constant
diminution of their numbers, produced by their wars and
their wants, some of them begin to experience an increase of
population.
To this state of general peace with which we have been
blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable
of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands
unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself
to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given
day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I
sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with
assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace,
but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened
attack. The measure was seasonable and salutary. The bey
had already declared war in form. His cruisers were out. Two
had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean
was blockaded, and that of the Atlantic in peril. The arrival
of our squadron dispelled the danger. One of the Tripolitan
cruisers having fallen in with, and engaged the small schooner
Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret, which had gone as
a tender to our larger vessels, was captured, after a heavy slaughter
of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part.
The bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element, will, I
trust, be a testimony to the world that it is not the want of that
virtue which makes us seek their peace, but a conscientious desire
to direct the energies of our nation to the multiplication of
the human race, and not to its destruction. Unauthorized by
the constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond
the line of defence, the vessel being disabled from committing
further hostilities, was liberated with its crew. The legislature
will doubtless consider whether, by authorizing measures of
offence, also, they will place our force on an equal footing with
that of its adversaries. I communicate all material information
on this subject, that in the exercise of the important function
confided by the constitution to the legislature exclusively, their
judgment may form itself on a knowledge and consideration of
every circumstance of weight.
I wish I could say that our situation with all the other Barbary
states was entirely satisfactory. Discovering that some delays
had taken place in the performance of certain articles stipulated
by us, I thought it my duty, by immediate measures for
fulfilling them, to vindicate to ourselves the right of considering
the effect of departure from stipulation on their side. From the
papers which will be laid before you, you will be enabled to
judge whether our treaties are regarded by them as fixing at all
the measure of their demands, or as guarding from the exercise
of force our vessels within their power; and to consider how far
it will be safe and expedient to leave our affairs with them in
their present posture.
I lay before you the result of the census lately taken of our
inhabitants, to a conformity with which we are to reduce the
ensuing rates of representation and taxation. You will perceive
that the increase of numbers during the last ten years, proceeding
in geometrical ratio, promises a duplication in little more
than twenty-two years. We contemplate this rapid growth, and
the prospect it holds up to us, not with a view to the injuries it
may enable us to do to others in some future day, but to the settlement
of the extensive country still remaining vacant within
our limits, to the multiplications of men susceptible of happiness,
educated in the love of order, habituated to self-government, and
valuing its blessings above all price.
Other circumstances, combined with the increase of numbers,
have produced an augmentation of revenue arising from consumption,
in a ratio far beyond that of population alone, and
though the changes of foreign relations now taking place so desirably
for the world, may for a season affect this branch of
revenue, yet, weighing all probabilities of expense, as well as of
income, there is reasonable ground of confidence that we may
now safely dispense with all the internal taxes, comprehending
excises, stamps, auctions, licenses, carriages, and refined sugars,
to which the postage on newspapers may be added, to facilitate
the progress of information, and that the remaining sources of
revenue will be sufficient to provide for the support of government,
to pay the interest on the public debts, and to discharge
the principals in shorter periods than the laws or the general expectations
had contemplated. War, indeed, and untoward
events, may change this prospect of things, and call for expenses
which the imposts could not meet; but sound principles will not
justify our taxing the industry of our fellow citizens to accumulate
treasure for wars to happen we know not when, and which
might not perhaps happen but from the temptations offered by
that treasure.
These views, however, of reducing our burdens, are formed
on the expectation that a sensible, and at the same time a salutary
reduction, may take place in our habitual expenditures.
For this purpose, those of the civil government, the army, and
navy, will need revisal.
When we consider that this government is charged with the
external and mutual relations only of these states; that the states
themselves have principal care of our persons, our property, and
our reputation, constituting the great field of human concerns,
we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated,
too expensive; whether offices and officers have not been
multiplied unnecessarily, and sometimes injuriously to the service
they were meant to promote. I will cause to be laid before
you an essay toward a statement of those who, under public employment
of various kinds, draw money from the treasury or
from our citizens. Time has not permitted a perfect enumeration,
the ramifications of office being too multiplied and remote
to be completely traced in a first trial. Among those who are
dependent on executive discretion, I have begun the reduction
of what was deemed necessary. The expenses of diplomatic
agency have been considerably diminished. The inspectors of
internal revenue who were found to obstruct the accountability
of the institution, have been discontinued. Several agencies
created by executive authority, on salaries fixed by that also,
have been suppressed, and should suggest the expediency of
regulating that power by law, so as to subject its exercises to
legislative inspection and sanction. Other reformations of the
same kind will be pursued with that caution which is requisite
in removing useless things, not to injure what is retained. But
the great mass of public offices is established by law, and,
therefore, by law alone can be abolished. Should the legislature
think it expedient to pass this roll in review, and try all its parts
by the test of public utility, they may be assured of every aid
and light which executive information can yield. Considering
the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies,
and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burden which
the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every
occasion which presents itself for taking off the surcharge; that
it never may be seen here that, after leaving to labor the smallest
portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government
shall itself consume the residue of what it was instituted to
guard.
In our care, too, of the public contributions intrusted to our
direction, it would be prudent to multiply barriers against their
dissipation, by appropriating specific sums to every specific purpose
susceptible of definition; by disallowing all applications of
money varying from the appropriation in object, or transcending it
in amount; by reducing the undefined field of contingencies, and
thereby circumscribing discretionary powers over money; and
by bringing back to a single department all accountabilities for
money where the examination may be prompt, efficacious, and
uniform.
An account of the receipts and expenditures of the last year,
as prepared by the secretary of the treasury, will as usual be laid
before you. The success which has attended the late sales of
the public lands, shows that with attention they may be made an
important source of receipt. Among the payments, those made
in discharge of the principal and interest of the national debt,
will show that the public faith has been exactly maintained.
To these will be added an estimate of appropriations necessary
for the ensuing year. This last will of course be effected by
such modifications of the systems of expense, as you shall think
proper to adopt.
A statement has been formed by the secretary of war, on mature
consideration, of all the posts and stations where garrisons
will be expedient, and of the number of men requisite for each
garrison. The whole amount is considerably short of the present
military establishment. For the surplus no particular use
can be pointed out. For defence against invasion, their number
is as nothing; nor is it conceived needful or safe that a standing
army should be kept up in time of peace for that purpose. Uncertain
as we must ever be of the particular point in our circumference
where an enemy may choose to invade us, the only force
which can be ready at every point and competent to oppose
them, is the body of neighboring citizens as formed into a militia.
On these, collected from the parts most convenient, in
numbers proportioned to the invading foe, it is best to rely, not
only to meet the first attack, but if it threatens to be permanent,
to maintain the defence until regulars may be engaged to relieve
them. These considerations render it important that we should
at every session continue to amend the defects which from time
to time show themselves in the laws for regulating the militia,
until they are sufficiently perfect. Nor should we now or at any
time separate, until we can say we have done everything for the
militia which we could do were an enemy at our door.
The provisions of military stores on hand will be laid before
you, that you may judge of the additions still requisite.
With respect to the extent to which our naval preparations
should be carried, some difference of opinion may be expected to
appear; but just attention to the circumstances of every part of
the Union will doubtless reconcile all. A small force will probably
continue to be wanted for actual service in the Mediterranean.
Whatever annual sum beyond that you may think
proper to appropriate to naval preparations, would perhaps be
better employed in providing those articles which may be kept
without waste or consumption, and be in readiness when any
exigence calls them into use. Progress has been made, as will
appear by papers now communicated, in providing materials for
seventy-four gun ships as directed by law.
How far the authority given by the legislature for procuring
and establishing sites for naval purposes has been perfectly understood
and pursued in the execution, admits of some doubt. A
statement of the expenses already incurred on that subject, shall
be laid before you. I have in certain cases suspended or slackened
these expenditures, that the legislature might determine
whether so many yards are necessary as have been contemplated.
The works at this place are among those permitted to go on;
and five of the seven frigates directed to be laid up, have been
brought and laid up here, where, besides the safety of their position,
they are under the eye of the executive administration, as
well as of its agents, and where yourselves also will be guided
by your own view in the legislative provisions respecting them
which may from time to time be necessary. They are preserved
in such condition, as well the vessels as whatever belongs to
them, as to be at all times ready for sea on a short warning.
Two others are yet to be laid up so soon as they shall have received
the repairs requisite to put them also into sound condition.
As a superintending officer will be necessary at each
yard, his duties and emoluments, hitherto fixed by the executive,
will be a more proper subject for legislation. A communication
will also be made of our progress in the execution of the law respecting
the vessels directed to be sold.
The fortifications of our harbors, more or less advanced, present
considerations of great difficulty. While some of them are
on a scale sufficiently proportioned to the advantages of their
position, to the efficacy of their protection, and the importance
of the points within it, others are so extensive, will cost so much
in their first erection, so much in their maintenance, and require
such a force to garrison them, as to make it questionable what is
best now to be done. A statement of those commenced or projected,
of the expenses already incurred, and estimates of their
future cost, so far as can be foreseen, shall be laid before you,
that you may be enabled to judge whether any attention is necessary
in the laws respecting this subject.
Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four
pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most
free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments,
however, may sometimes be seasonably interposed. If in
the course of your observations or inquiries they should appear to
need any aid within the limits of our constitutional powers, your
sense of their importance is a sufficient assurance they will occupy
your attention. We cannot, indeed, but all feel an anxious solicitude
for the difficulties under which our carrying trade will
soon be placed. How far it can be relieved, otherwise than by
time, is a subject of important consideration.
The judiciary system of the United States, and especially that
portion of it recently erected, will of course present itself to the
contemplation of Congress; and that they may be able to judge
of the proportion which the institution bears to the business it
has to perform, I have caused to be procured from the several
States, and now lay before Congress, an exact statement of all
the causes decided since the first establishment of the courts, and
of those which were depending when additional courts and
judges were brought in to their aid.
And while on the judiciary organization, it will be worthy
your consideration, whether the protection of the inestimable institution
of juries has been extended to all the cases involving the
security of our persons and property. Their impartial selection
also being essential to their value, we ought further to consider
whether that is sufficiently secured in those States where they
are named by a marshal depending on executive will, or designated
by the court or by officers dependent on them.
I cannot omit recommending a revisal of the laws on the
subject of naturalization. Considering the ordinary chances of
human life, a denial of citizenship under a residence of fourteen
years is a denial to a great proportion of those who ask it, and
controls a policy pursued from their first settlement by many of
these States, and still believed of consequence to their prosperity.
And shall we refuse the unhappy fugitives from distress that hospitality
which the savages of the wilderness extended to our
fathers arriving in this land? Shall oppressed humanity find no
asylum on this globe? The constitution, indeed, has wisely
provided that, for admission to certain offices of important trust,
a residence shall be required sufficient to develop character and
design. But might not the general character and capabilities of
a citizen be safely communicated to every one manifesting a
_bonâ fide_ purpose of embarking his life and fortunes permanently
with us? with restrictions, perhaps, to guard against the fraudulent
usurpation of our flag; an abuse which brings so much
embarrassment and loss on the genuine citizen, and so much
danger to the nation of being involved in war, that no endeavor
should be spared to detect and suppress it.
These, fellow citizens, are the matters respecting the state of
the nation, which I have thought of importance to be submitted
to your consideration at this time. Some others of less moment,
or not yet ready for communication, will be the subject of separate
messages. I am happy in this opportunity of committing
the arduous affairs of our government to the collected wisdom
of the Union. Nothing shall be wanting on my part to inform,
as far as in my power, the legislative judgment, nor to carry that
judgment into faithful execution. The prudence and temperance
of your discussions will promote, within your own walls,
that conciliation which so much befriends rational conclusion;
and by its example will encourage among our constituents that
progress of opinion which is tending to unite them in object and
in will. That all should be satisfied with any one order of things
is not to be expected, but I indulge the pleasing persuasion that
the great body of our citizens will cordially concur in honest and
disinterested efforts, which have for their object to preserve the
general and State governments in their constitutional form and
equilibrium; to maintain peace abroad, and order and obedience
to the laws at home; to establish principles and practices of administration
favorable to the security of liberty and property, and
to reduce expenses to what is necessary for the useful purposes
of government.
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 15, 1802.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
When we assemble together, fellow citizens, to consider the
state of our beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn
to those pleasing circumstances which mark the goodness of that
Being from whose favor they flow, and the large measure of
thankfulness we owe for his bounty. Another year has come
around, and finds us still blessed with peace and friendship
abroad; law, order, and religion, at home; good affection and
harmony with our Indian neighbors; our burdens lightened, yet
our income sufficient for the public wants, and the produce of
the year great beyond example. These, fellow citizens, are the
circumstances under which we meet; and we remark with special
satisfaction, those which, under the smiles of Providence, result
from the skill, industry and order of our citizens, managing their
own affairs in their own way and for their own use, unembarrassed
by too much regulations, unoppressed by fiscal exactions.
On the restoration of peace in Europe, that portion of the general
carrying trade which had fallen to our share during the
war, was abridged by the returning competition of the belligerent
powers. This was to be expected, and was just. But in addition
we find in some parts of Europe monopolizing discriminations,
which, in the form of duties, tend effectually to prohibit
the carrying thither our own produce in our own vessels. From
existing amities, and a spirit of justice, it is hoped that friendly
discussion will produce a fair and adequate reciprocity. But
should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with
the legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities
abroad with countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for
the evil in any other way.
It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British
parliament anticipating this subject so far as to authorize a mutual
abolition of the duties and countervailing duties permitted
under the treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a spirit of justice
and friendly accommodation which it is our duty and our
interest to cultivate with all nations. Whether this would produce
a due equality in the navigation between the two countries,
is a subject for your consideration.
Another circumstance which claims attention, as directly affecting
the very source of our navigation, is the defect or the
evasion of the law providing for the return of seamen, and particularly
of those belonging to vessels sold abroad. Numbers of
them, discharged in foreign ports, have been thrown on the
hands of our consuls, who, to rescue them from the dangers into
which their distresses might plunge them, and save them to their
country, have found it necessary in some cases to return them at
the public charge.
The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to France,
which took place in the course of the late war, will, if carried
into effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations
which will doubtless have a just weight in any deliberations of
the legislature connected with that subject.
There was reason, not long since, to apprehend that the warfare
in which we were engaged with Tripoli might be taken up
by some others of the Barbary powers. A reinforcement, therefore,
was immediately ordered to the vessels already there.
Subsequent information, however, has removed these apprehensions
for the present. To secure our commerce in that sea with
the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch
strictly the harbor of Tripoli. Still, however, the shallowness
of their coast, and the want of smaller vessels on our part, has
permitted some cruisers to escape unobserved; and to one of
these an American vessel unfortunately fell a prey. The captain,
one American seamen, and two others of color, remain
prisoners with them unless exchanged under an agreement formerly
made with the bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that, some
of his captive subjects had been restored.
The convention with the State of Georgia has been ratified
by their legislature, and a repurchase from the Creeks has been
consequently made of a part of the Tallahassee county. In this
purchase has been also comprehended part of the lands within
the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee rivers. The particulars of
the contract will be laid before Congress so soon as they shall be
in a state for communication.
In order to remove every ground of difference possible with
our Indian neighbors, I have proceeded in the work of settling
with them and marking the boundaries between us. That with
the Choctaw nation is fixed in one part, and will be through the
whole in a short time. The country to which their title had
been extinguished before the revolution is sufficient to receive a
very respectable population, which Congress will probably see
the expediency of encouraging so soon as the limits shall be declared.
We are to view this position as an outpost of the United
States, surrounded by strong neighbors and distant from its
support. And how far that monopoly which prevents population
should here be guarded against, and actual habitation made
a condition of the continuance of title, will be for your consideration.
A prompt settlement, too, of all existing rights and
claims within this territory, presents itself as a preliminary operation.
In that part of the Indian territory which includes Vincennes,
the lines settled with the neighboring tribes fix the extinction
of their title at a breadth of twenty-four leagues from east to
west, and about the same length parallel with and including the
Wabash. They have also ceded a tract of four miles square, including
the salt springs near the mouth of the river.
In the department of finance it is with pleasure I inform you
that the receipts of external duties for the last twelve months
have exceeded those of any former year, and that the ratio of
increase has been also greater than usual. This has enabled us
to answer all the regular exigencies of government, to pay from
the treasury in one year upward of eight millions of dollars,
principal and interest, of the public debt, exclusive of upward
of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and making in
the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and a half of
principal; and to have now in the treasury four millions and a
half of dollars, which are in a course of application to a further
discharge of debt and current demands. Experience, too,
so far, authorizes us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes,
and the expenses which will be actually incurred shall
not be greater than were contemplated by Congress at their last
session, that we shall not be disappointed in the expectations
then formed. But nevertheless, as the effect of peace on the
amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more
necessary to practice every useful economy, and to incur no expense
which may be avoided without prejudice.
The collection of the internal taxes having been completed in
some of the States, the officers employed in it are of course out
of commission. In others, they will be so shortly. But in a
few, where the arrangement for the direct tax had been retarded,
it will still be some time before the system is closed. It has not
yet been thought necessary to employ the agent authorized by
an act of the last session for transacting business in Europe relative
to debts and loans. Nor have we used the power confided
by the same act, of prolonging the foreign debts by reloans, and
of redeeming, instead thereof, an equal sum of the domestic
debt. Should, however, the difficulties of remittances on so
large a scale render it necessary at any time, the power shall be
executed, and the money thus unemployed abroad shall, in conformity
with that law, be faithfully applied here in an equivalent
extinction of domestic debt. When effects so salutary result
from the plans you have already sanctioned, when merely by
avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a direct
tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing, to make large
and effectual payments toward the discharge of our public debt
and the emancipation of our posterity from that moral canker, it
is an encouragement, fellow citizens, of the highest order, to
proceed as we have begun, in substituting economy for taxation,
and in pursuing what is useful for a nation placed as we are,
rather than what is practiced by others under different circumstances.
And whensoever we are destined to meet events which
shall call forth all the energies of our countrymen, we have the
firmest reliance on those energies, and the comfort of leaving
for calls like these the extraordinary resources of loans and internal
taxes. In the meantime, by payments of the principal of
our debt, we are liberating, annually, portions of the external
taxes, and forming from them a growing fund still further to
lessen the necessity of recurring to extraordinary resources.
The usual accounts of receipts and expenditures for the last
year, with an estimate of the expenses of the ensuing one, will
be laid before you by the secretary of the treasury.
No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment,
an estimate of its expenses for the ensuing year on its
present footing, as also of the sums to be employed in fortifications
and other objects within that department, has been prepared
by the secretary of war, and will make a part of the general
estimates which will be presented to you.
Considering that our regular troops are employed for local purposes,
and that the militia is our general reliance for great and
sudden emergencies, you will doubtless think this institution
worthy of a review, and give it those improvements of which
you find it susceptible.
Estimates for the naval department, prepared by the secretary
of the navy for another year, will in like manner be communicated
with the general estimates. A small force in the Mediterranean
will still be necessary to restrain the Tripoline cruisers,
and the uncertain tenure of peace with some other of the Barbary
powers, may eventually require that force to be augmented.
The necessity of procuring some smaller vessels for that service
will raise the estimate, but the difference in their maintenance
will soon make it a measure of economy.
Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a
sum towards providing the naval defence which our situation
may require, I cannot but recommend that the first appropriations
for that purpose may go to the saving what we already possess.
No cares, no attentions, can preserve vessels from rapid decay
which lie in water and exposed to the sun. These decays require
great and constant repairs, and will consume, if continued, a
great portion of the money destined to naval purposes. To
avoid this waste of our resources, it is proposed to add to our
navy-yard here a dock, within which our vessels may be laid up
dry and under cover from the sun. Under these circumstances
experience proves that works of wood will remain scarcely at all
affected by time. The great abundance of running water which
this situation possesses, at heights far above the level of the tide,
if employed as is practised for lock navigation, furnishes the
means of raising and laying up our vessels on a dry and sheltered
bed. And should the measure be found useful here, similar depositories
for laying up as well as for building and repairing vessels
may hereafter be undertaken at other navy-yards offering the
same means. The plans and estimates of the work, prepared
by a person of skill and experience, will be presented to you
without delay; and from this it will be seen that scarcely more
than has been the cost of one vessel is necessary to save the
whole, and that the annual sum to be employed toward its completion
may be adapted to the views of the legislature as to naval
expenditure.
To cultivate peace and maintain commerce and navigation in
all their lawful enterprises; to foster our fisheries and nurseries
of navigation and for the nurture of man, and protect the manufactures
adapted to our circumstances; to preserve the faith of
the nation by an exact discharge of its debts and contracts, expend
the public money with the same care and economy we
would practise with our own, and impose on our citizens no unnecessary
burden; to keep in all things within the pale of our
constitutional powers, and cherish the federal union as the only
rock of safety--these, fellow-citizens, are the landmarks by
which we are to guide ourselves in all our proceedings. By continuing
to make these our rule of action, we shall endear to our
countrymen the true principles of their constitution, and promote
a union of sentiment and of action equally auspicious to their
happiness and safety. On my part, you may count on a cordial
concurrence in every measure for the public good, and on
all the information I possess which may enable you to discharge
to advantage the high functions with which you are invested by
your country.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 28, 1802.[1]
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:--
I lay before you the accounts of our Indian trading houses,
as rendered up to the first day of January, 1801, with a report
of the secretary of war thereon, explaining the effects and the
situation of that commerce, and the reasons in favor of its farther
extension. But it is believed that the act authorizing this trade
expired so long ago as the 3d of March, 1799. Its revival, therefore,
as well as its extension, is submitted to the consideration of
the legislature.
The act regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian
tribes will also expire on the 3d day of March next. While on
the subject of its continuance, it will be worthy the consideration
of the legislature, whether the provisions of the law inflicting
on Indians, in certain cases, the punishment of death by
hanging, might not permit its commutation into death by military
execution, the form of the punishment in the former way
being peculiarly repugnant to their ideas, and increasing the obstacles
to the surrender of the criminal.
These people are becoming very sensible of the baneful effects
produced on their morals, their health and existence, by the
abuse of ardent spirits, and some of them earnestly desire a prohibition
of that article from being carried among them. The
legislature will consider whether the effectuating that desire
would not be in the spirit of benevolence and liberality which
they have hitherto practised toward these our neighbors, and
which has had so happy an effect toward conciliating their
friendship. It has been found too, in experience, that the same
abuse gives frequent rise to incidents tending much to commit
our peace with the Indians.
It is now become necessary to run and mark the boundaries
between them and us in various parts. The law last mentioned
has authorized this to be done, but no existing appropriation
meets the expense.
Certain papers, explanatory of the grounds of this communication,
are herewith enclosed.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] See Confidential Message recommending a Western Exploring
Expedition in Appendix, p. 241 of this volume.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 24, 1803.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:--
I lay before you a report of the secretary of state on the case
of the Danish brigantine Henrick, taken by a French privateer
in 1799, retaken by an armed vessel of the United States, carried
into a British island and there adjudged to be neutral, but under
an allowance of such salvage and costs as absorbed nearly the
whole amount of sales of the vessel and cargo. Indemnification
for these losses, occasioned by our officers, is now claimed
by the sufferers, supported by the representation of their government.
I have no doubt the legislature will give to the subject
that just attention and consideration which it is useful as well as
honorable to practise in our transactions with other nations, and
particularly with one which has observed toward us the most
friendly treatment and regard.
THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.--OCTOBER 17, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In calling you together, fellow citizens, at an earlier day than
was contemplated by the act of the last session of Congress, I
have not been insensible to the personal inconveniences necessarily
resulting from an unexpected change in your arrangements.
But matters of great public concernment have rendered this call
necessary, and the interest you feel in these will supersede in
your minds all private considerations.
Congress witnessed, at their last session, the extraordinary agitation
produced in the public mind by the suspension of our right
of deposit at the port of New Orleans, no assignment of another
place having been made according to treaty. They were sensible
that the continuance of that privation would be more injurious
to our nation than any consequences which could flow
from any mode of redress, but reposing just confidence in the
good faith of the government whose officer had committed the
wrong, friendly and reasonable representations were resorted to,
and the right of deposit was restored.
Previous, however, to this period, we had not been unaware
of the danger to which our peace would be perpetually exposed
while so important a key to the commerce of the western country
remained under foreign power. Difficulties, too, were presenting
themselves as to the navigation of other streams, which,
arising within our territories, pass through those adjacent. Propositions
had, therefore, been authorized for obtaining, on fair
conditions, the sovereignty of New Orleans, and of other possessions
in that quarter interesting to our quiet, to such extent as was
deemed practicable; and the provisional appropriation of two
millions of dollars, to be applied and accounted for by the president
of the United States, intended as part of the price, was considered
as conveying the sanction of Congress to the acquisition
proposed. The enlightened government of France saw, with
just discernment, the importance to both nations of such liberal
arrangements as might best and permanently promote the peace,
friendship, and interests of both; and the property and sovereignty
of all Louisiana, which had been restored to them, have on certain
conditions been transferred to the United States by instruments
bearing date the 30th of April last. When these shall
have received the constitutional sanction of the senate, they will
without delay be communicated to the representatives also, for
the exercise of their functions, as to those conditions which are
within the powers vested by the constitution in Congress. While
the property and sovereignty of the Mississippi and its waters secure
an independent outlet for the produce of the western States,
and an uncontrolled navigation through their whole course, free
from collision with other powers and the dangers to our peace
from that source, the fertility of the country, its climate and extent,
promise in due season important aids to our treasury, an
ample provision for our posterity, and a wide-spread field for the
blessings of freedom and equal laws.
With the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take those ulterior
measures which may be necessary for the immediate occupation
and temporary government of the country; for its incorporation
into our Union; for rendering the change of government a blessing
to our newly-adopted brethren; for securing to them the
rights of conscience and of property; for confirming to the Indian
inhabitants their occupancy and self-government, establishing
friendly and commercial relations with them, and for ascertaining
the geography of the country acquired. Such materials
for your information, relative to its affairs in general, as the short
space of time has permitted me to collect, will be laid before you
when the subject shall be in a state for your consideration.
Another important acquisition of territory has also been made
since the last session of Congress. The friendly tribe of Kaskaskia
Indians with which we have never had a difference, reduced
by the wars and wants of savage life to a few individuals
unable to defend themselves against the neighboring tribes, has
transferred its country to the United States, reserving only for its
members what is sufficient to maintain them in an agricultural
way. The considerations stipulated are, that we shall extend
to them our patronage and protection, and give them certain annual
aids in money, in implements of agriculture, and other articles
of their choice. This country, among the most fertile
within our limits, extending along the Mississippi from the
mouth of the Illinois to and up the Ohio, though not so necessary
as a barrier since the acquisition of the other bank, may yet
be well worthy of being laid open to immediate settlement, as
its inhabitants may descend with rapidity in support of the lower
country should future circumstances expose that to foreign enterprize.
As the stipulations in this treaty also involve matters
within the competence of both houses only, it will be laid before
Congress as soon as the senate shall have advised its ratification.
With many other Indian tribes, improvements in agriculture
and household manufacture are advancing, and with all our
peace and friendship are established on grounds much firmer
than heretofore. The measure adopted of establishing trading
houses among them, and of furnishing them necessaries in exchange
for their commodities, at such moderated prices as leave
no gain, but cover us from loss, has the most conciliatory and
useful effect upon them, and is that which will best secure their
peace and good will.
The small vessels authorized by Congress with a view to the
Mediterranean service, have been sent into that sea, and will be
able more effectually to confine the Tripoline cruisers within
their harbors, and supersede the necessity of convoy to our commerce
in that quarter. They will sensibly lessen the expenses
of that service the ensuing year.
A further knowledge of the ground in the north-eastern and
north-western angles of the United States has evinced that the
boundaries established by the treaty of Paris, between the British
territories and ours in those parts, were too imperfectly described
to be susceptible of execution. It has therefore been
thought worthy of attention, for preserving and cherishing the
harmony and useful intercourse subsisting between the two nations,
to remove by timely arrangements what unfavorable incidents
might otherwise render a ground of future misunderstanding.
A convention has therefore been entered into, which provides
for a practicable demarkation of those limits to the satisfaction
of both parties.
An account of the receipts and expenditures of the year ending
30th September last, with the estimates for the service of the
ensuing year, will be laid before you by the secretary of the
treasury so soon as the receipts of the last quarter shall be returned
from the more distant States. It is already ascertained
that the amount paid into the treasury for that year has been between
eleven and twelve millions of dollars, and that the revenue
accrued during the same term exceeds the sum counted on as
sufficient for our current expenses, and to extinguish the public
debt within the period heretofore proposed.
The amount of debt paid for the same year is about three
millions one hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of interest, and
making, with the payment of the preceding year, a discharge of
more than eight millions and a half of dollars of the principal of
that debt, besides the accruing interest; and there remain in the
treasury nearly six millions of dollars. Of these, eight hundred
and eighty thousand have been reserved for payment of the first
instalment due under the British convention of January 8th,
1802, and two millions are what have been before mentioned as
placed by Congress under the power and accountability of the
president, toward the price of New Orleans and other territories
acquired, which, remaining untouched, are still applicable to
that object, and go in diminution of the sum to be funded for it.
Should the acquisition of Louisiana be constitutionally confirmed
and carried into effect, a sum of nearly thirteen millions of
dollars will then be added to our public debt, most of which is
payable after fifteen years; before which term the present existing
debts will all be discharged by the established operation of
the sinking fund. When we contemplate the ordinary annual
augmentation of imposts from increasing population and wealth,
the augmentation of the same revenue by its extension to the
new acquisition, and the economies which may still be introduced
into our public expenditures, I cannot but hope that Congress
in reviewing their resources will find means to meet the
intermediate interests of this additional debt without recurring
to new taxes, and applying to this object only the ordinary
progression of our revenue. Its extraordinary increase in times
of foreign war will be the proper and sufficient fund for any
measures of safety or precaution which that state of things may
render necessary in our neutral position.
Remittances for the instalments of our foreign debt having
been found practicable without loss, it has not been thought expedient
to use the power given by a former act of Congress of
continuing them by reloans, and of redeeming instead thereof
equal sums of domestic debt, although no difficulty was found
in obtaining that accommodation.
The sum of fifty thousand dollars appropriated by Congress
for providing gun-boats, remains unexpended. The favorable
and peaceful turn of affairs on the Mississippi rendered an immediate
execution of that law unnecessary, and time was desirable
in order that the institution of that branch of our force might
begin on models the most approved by experience. The same
issue of events dispensed with a resort to the appropriation of a
million and a half of dollars contemplated for purposes which
were effected by happier means.
We have seen with sincere concern the flames of war lighted
up again in Europe, and nations with which we have the most
friendly and useful relations engaged in mutual destruction.
While we regret the miseries in which we see others involved,
let us bow with gratitude to that kind Providence which, inspiring
with wisdom and moderation our late legislative councils
while placed under the urgency of the greatest wrongs,
guarded us from hastily entering into the sanguinary contest, and
left us only to look on and to pity its ravages. These will be
heaviest on those immediately engaged. Yet the nations pursuing
peace will not be exempt from all evil. In the course of
this conflict, let it be our endeavor, as it is our interest and desire,
to cultivate the friendship of the belligerent nations by
every act of justice and of incessant kindness; to receive their
armed vessels with hospitality from the distresses of the sea, but
to administer the means of annoyance to none; to establish in
our harbors such a police as may maintain law and order; to restrain
our citizens from embarking individually in a war in
which their country takes no part; to punish severely those persons,
citizen or alien, who shall usurp the cover of our flag for
vessels not entitled to it, infecting thereby with suspicion those
of real Americans, and committing us into controversies for the
redress of wrongs not our own; to exact from every nation the
observance, toward our vessels and citizens, of those principles
and practices which all civilized people acknowledge; to merit
the character of a just nation, and maintain that of an independent
one, preferring every consequence to insult and habitual
wrong. Congress will consider whether the existing laws enable
us efficaciously to maintain this course with our citizens in
all places, and with others while within the limits of our jurisdiction,
and will give them the new modifications necessary for
these objects. Some contraventions of right have already taken
place, both within our jurisdictional limits and on the high seas.
The friendly disposition of the governments from whose agents
they have proceeded, as well as their wisdom and regard for justice,
leave us in reasonable expectation that they will be rectified
and prevented in future; and that no act will be countenanced
by them which threatens to disturb our friendly intercourse.
Separated by a wide ocean from the nations of Europe, and
from the political interests which entangle them together, with
productions and wants which render our commerce and friendship
useful to them and theirs to us, it cannot be the interest of
any to assail us, nor ours to disturb them. We should be most
unwise, indeed, were we to cast away the singular blessings of
the position in which nature has placed us, the opportunity she
has endowed us with of pursuing, at a distance from foreign
contentions, the paths of industry, peace, and happiness; of
cultivating general friendship, and of bringing collisions of interest
to the umpirage of reason rather than of force. How desirable
then must it be, in a government like ours, to see its citizens
adopt individually the views, the interests, and the conduct
which their country should pursue, divesting themselves of those
passions and partialities which tend to lessen useful friendships,
and to embarrass and embroil us in the calamitous scenes of
Europe. Confident, fellow citizens, that you will duly estimate
the importance of neutral dispositions toward the observance of
neutral conduct, that you will be sensible how much it is our
duty to look on the bloody arena spread before us with commiseration
indeed, but with no other wish than to see it closed, I am
persuaded you will cordially cherish these dispositions in all discussions
among yourselves, and in all communications with your
constituents; and I anticipate with satisfaction the measures of
wisdom which the great interests now committed to _you_ will
give you an opportunity of providing, and _myself_ that of approving
and carrying into execution with the fidelity I owe to
my country.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--OCTOBER 21, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In my communication to you of the 17th instant, I informed
you that conventions had been entered into with the government
of France for the cession of Louisiana to the United
States. These, with the advice and consent of the Senate,
having now been ratified, and my ratification exchanged for
that of the first consul of France in due form, they are communicated
to you for consideration in your legislative capacity.
You will observe that some important conditions cannot be carried
into execution, but with the aid of the legislature; and that
time presses a decision on them without delay.
The ulterior provisions, also suggested in the same communication,
for the occupation and government of the country, will
call for early attention. Such information relative to its government,
as time and distance have enabled me to obtain, will be
ready to be laid before you within a few days. But, as permanent
arrangements for this object may require time and deliberation,
it is for your consideration whether you will not, forthwith,
make such temporary provisions for the preservation, in the
meanwhile, of order and tranquillity in the country, as the case
may require.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 4, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
By the copy now communicated of a letter from Captain Bainbridge
of the Philadelphia frigate, to our consul at Gibraltar,
you will learn that an act of hostility has been committed on a
merchant vessel of the United States by an armed ship of the
Emperor of Morocco. This conduct on the part of that power
is without cause and without explanation. It is fortunate that
Captain Bainbridge fell in with and took the capturing vessel
and her prize; and I have the satisfaction to inform you, that
about the date of this transaction such a force would be arriving
in the neighborhood of Gibraltar, both from the east and the
west, as leaves less to be feared for our commerce from the suddenness
of the aggression.
On the 4th of September, the Constitution frigate, Captain
Preble, with Mr. Lear on board, was within two days' sail of
Gibraltar, where the Philadelphia would then be arrived with
her prize, and such explanations would probably be instituted as
the state of thing required, and as might perhaps arrest the progress
of hostilities.
In the meanwhile it is for Congress to consider the provisional
authorities which may be necessary to restrain the depredations
of this power, should they be continued.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 25, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians being ratified with
the advice and consent of the Senate, it is now laid before both
houses, in their legislative capacity. It will inform them of the
obligations which the United States thereby contract, and particularly
that of taking the tribe under their future protection;
and that the ceded country is submitted to their immediate possession
and disposal.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 5, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the act of hostility
mentioned in my message of the 4th of November to have
been committed by a cruiser of the emperor of Morocco on a
vessel of the United States, has been disavowed by the emperor.
All difficulties in consequence thereof have been amicably adjusted,
and the treaty of 1786, between this country and that,
has been recognized and confirmed by the emperor, each party
restoring to the other what had been detained or taken. I enclose
the emperor's orders given on this occasion.
The conduct of our officers generally, who have had a part in
these transactions, has merited entire approbation.
The temperate and correct course pursued by our consul, Mr.
Simpson, the promptitude and energy of Commodore Preble, the
efficacious co-operation of Captains Rodgers and Campbell of
the returning squadron, the proper decision of Captain Bainbridge
that a vessel which had committed an open hostility was
of right to be detained for inquiry and consideration, and the
general zeal of the other officers and men, are honorable facts
which I make known with pleasure. And to these I add what
was indeed transacted in another quarter--the gallant enterprise
of Captain Rodgers in destroying, on the coast of Tripoli, a corvette
of that power, of twenty-two guns.
I recommended to the consideration of Congress a just indemnification
for the interest acquired by the captors of the
Mishouda and Mirboha, yielded by them for the public accommodation.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 16, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In execution of the act of the present session of Congress
for taking possession of Louisiana, as ceded to us by France, and
for the temporary government thereof, Governor Claiborne, of
the Mississippi territory, and General Wilkinson, were appointed
commissioners to receive possession. They proceeded with such
regular troops as had been assembled at Fort Adams, from the
nearest posts, and with some militia of the Mississippi territory,
to New Orleans. To be prepared for anything unexpected,
which might arise out of the transaction, a respectable body of
militia was ordered to be in readiness, in the States of Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, and a part of those of Tennessee
was moved on to Natchez. No occasion, however, arose for
their services. Our commissioners, on their arrival at New Orleans,
found the province already delivered by the commissaries
of Spain to that of France, who delivered it over to them on
the twentieth day of December, as appears by their declaratory
act accompanying it. Governor Claiborne being duly invested
with the powers heretofore exercised by the governor and intendant
of Louisiana, assumed the government on the same day,
and for the maintenance of law and order, immediately issued
the proclamation and address now communicated.
On this important acquisition, so favorable to the immediate
interests of our western citizens, so auspicious to the peace and
security of the nation in general, which adds to our country territories
so extensive and fertile, and to our citizens new brethren
to partake of the blessings of freedom and self-government, I offer
to Congress and the country, my sincere congratulations.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 20, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I communicate to Congress, a letter received from Captain
Bainbridge, commander of the Philadelphia frigate, informing us
of the wreck of that vessel on the coast of Tripoli, and that himself,
his officers, and men, had fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans.
This accident renders it expedient to increase our
force, and enlarge our expenses in the Mediterranean beyond
what the last appropriation for the naval service contemplated.
I recommend, therefore, to the consideration of Congress, such
an addition to that appropriation as they may think the exigency
requires.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 8, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
To a people, fellow citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness
and prosperity of other nations; to those who justly calculate
that their own well-being is advanced by that of the nations
with which they have intercourse, it will be a satisfaction to observe
that the war which was lighted up in Europe a little before
our last meeting has not yet extended its flames to other nations,
nor been marked by the calamities which sometimes stain
the footsteps of war. The irregularities too on the ocean, which
generally harass the commerce of neutral nations, have, in distant
parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions. But in the
American seas they have been greater from peculiar causes; and
even within our harbors and jurisdiction, infringements on the
authority of the laws have been committed which have called
for serious attention. The friendly conduct of the governments
from whose officers and subjects these acts have proceeded, in
other respects and in places more under their observation and
control, gives us confidence that our representations on this subject
will have been properly regarded.
While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by
others, those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided
for. Complaints have been received that persons residing
within the United States have taken on themselves to arm
merchant vessels, and to force a commerce into certain ports and
countries in defiance of the laws of those countries. That individuals
should undertake to wage private war, independently
of the authority of their country, cannot be permitted in a well-ordered
society. Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws
and rights of other nations, and to endanger the peace of our
own is so obvious, that I doubt not you will adopt measures for
restraining it effectually in future.
Soon after the passage of the act of the last session, authorizing
the establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters
of the Mobile, we learnt that its object was misunderstood on
the part of Spain. Candid explanations were immediately given,
and assurances that, reserving our claims in that quarter as a subject
of discussion and arrangement with Spain, no act was meditated,
in the meantime, inconsistent with the peace and friendship
existing between the two nations, and that conformably to these
intentions would be the execution of the law. That government
had, however, thought proper to suspend the ratification of the
convention of 1802. But the explanations which would reach
them soon after, and still more, the confirmation of them by the
tenor of the instrument establishing the port and district, may
reasonably be expected to replace them in the dispositions and
views of the whole subject which originally dictated the conviction.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the objections which
had been urged by that government against the validity of our
title to the country of Louisiana have been withdrawn, its exact
limits, however, remaining still to be settled between us. And
to this is to be added that, having prepared and delivered the
stock created in execution of the convention of Paris, of April
30, 1803, in consideration of the cession of that country, we
have received from the government of France an acknowledgment,
in due form, of the fulfilment of that stipulation.
With the nations of Europe in general our friendship and intercourse
are undisturbed, and from the governments of the belligerent
powers especially we continue to receive those friendly
manifestations which are justly due to an honest neutrality, and
to such good offices consistent with that as we have opportunities
of rendering.
The activity and success of the small force employed in the
Mediterranean in the early part of the present year, the reinforcement
sent into that sea, and the energy of the officers having
command in the several vessels, will, I trust, by the sufferings
of war, reduce the barbarians of Tripoli to the desire of
peace on proper terms. Great injury, however, ensues to ourselves
as well as to others interested, from the distance to which
prizes must be brought for adjudication, and from the impracticability
of bringing hither such as are not seaworthy.
The bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by
our treaty, their rejection has produced from him some expressions
of discontent. But to those who expect us to calculate
whether a compliance with unjust demands will not cost us less
than a war, we must leave as a question of calculation for them,
also, whether to retire from unjust demands will not cost them
less than a war. We can do to each other very sensible injuries
by war, but the mutual advantages of peace make that the best
interest of both.
Peace and intercourse with the other powers on the same
coast continue on the footing on which they are established by
treaty.
In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary government
of Louisiana, the necessary officers for the territory of
Orleans were appointed in due time, to commence the exercise
of their functions on the first day of October. The distance,
however, of some of them, and indispensable previous arrangements,
may have retarded its commencement in some of its
parts; the form of government thus provided having been considered
but as temporary, and open to such improvements as
further information of the circumstances of our brethren there
might suggest, it will of course be subject to your consideration.
In the district of Louisiana, it has been thought best to adopt
the division into subordinate districts, which had been established
under its former government. These being five in number,
a commanding officer has been appointed to each, according to
the provision of the law, and so soon as they can be at their station,
that district will also be in its due state of organization;
in the meantime their places are supplied by the officers before
commanding there. The functions of the governor and judges
of Indiana have commenced; the government, we presume, is
proceeding in its new form. The lead mines in that district offer
so rich a supply of that metal, as to merit attention. The report
now communicated will inform you of their state, and of
the necessity of immediate inquiry into their occupation and
titles.
With the Indian tribes established within our newly-acquired
limits, I have deemed it necessary to open conferences for the
purpose of establishing a good understanding and neighborly relations
between us. So far as we have yet learned, we have
reason to believe that their dispositions are generally favorable
and friendly; and with these dispositions on their part, we have
in our own hands means which cannot fail us for preserving
their peace and friendship. By pursuing a uniform course of
justice toward them, by aiding them in all the improvements
which may better their condition, and especially by establishing
a commerce on terms which shall be advantageous to them and
only not losing to us, and so regulated as that no incendiaries of
our own or any other nation may be permitted to disturb the natural
effects of our just and friendly offices, we may render ourselves
so necessary to their comfort and prosperity, that the protection
of our citizens from their disorderly members will become
their interest and their voluntary care. Instead, therefore, of an
augmentation of military force proportioned to our extension of
frontier, I proposed a moderate enlargement of the capital employed
in that commerce, as a more effectual, economical, and
humane instrument for preserving peace and good neighborhood
with them.
On this side the Mississippi an important relinquishment of
native title has been received from the Delawares. That tribe,
desiring to extinguish in their people the spirit of hunting, and
to convert superfluous lands into the means of improving what
they retain, have ceded to us all the country between the Wabash
and the Ohio, south of, and including the road from the
rapids towards Vincennes, for which they are to receive annuities
in animals and implements for agriculture, and in other
necessaries. This acquisition is important, not only for its extent
and fertility, but as fronting three hundred miles on the
Ohio, and near half that on the Wabash. The produce of the settled
countries descending those rivers, will no longer pass in review
of the Indian frontier but in a small portion, and with the
cession heretofore made with the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates
our possessions north of the Ohio, in a very respectable breadth,
from Lake Erie to the Mississippi. The Piankeshaws having
some claim to the country ceded by the Delawares, it has been
thought best to quiet that by fair purchase also. So soon as the
treaties on this subject shall have received their constitutional
sanctions, they shall be laid before both houses.
The act of Congress of February 28th, 1803, for building and
employing a number of gun-boats, is now in a course of execution
to the extent there provided for. The obstacle to naval enterprise
which vessels of this construction offer for our seaport
towns; their utility toward supporting within our waters the
authority of the laws; the promptness with which they will be
manned by the seamen and militia of the place the moment
they are wanting; the facility of their assembling from different
parts of the coast to any point where they are required in greater
force than ordinary; the economy of their maintenance and preservation
from decay when not in actual service; and the competence
of our finances to this defensive provision, without any
new burden, are considerations which will have due weight
with Congress in deciding on the expediency of adding to their
number from year to year, as experience shall test their utility,
until all our important harbors, by these and auxiliary means,
shall be insured against insult and opposition to the laws.
No circumstance has arisen since your last session which calls
for any augmentation of our regular military force. Should any
improvement occur in the militia system, that will be always
seasonable.
Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year,
with estimates for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before
you.
The state of our finances continue to fulfil our expectations.
Eleven millions and a half of dollars, received in the course of
the year ending on the 30th of September last, have enabled us,
after meeting all the ordinary expenses of the year, to pay upward
of $3,600,000 of the public debt, exclusive of interest.
This payment, with those of the two preceding years, has extinguished
upward of twelve millions of the principal, and a greater
sum of interest, within that period; and by a proportional diminution
of interest, renders already sensible the effect of the
growing sum yearly applicable to the discharge of the principal.
It is also ascertained that the revenue accrued during the last
year, exceeds that of the preceding; and the probable receipts
of the ensuing year may safely be relied on as sufficient, with
the sum already in the treasury, to meet all the current demands
of the year, to discharge upward of three millions and a half of
the engagements incurred under the British and French conventions,
and to advance in the farther redemption of the funded
debts as rapidly as had been contemplated. These, fellow
citizens, are the principal matters which I have thought it necessary
at this time to communicate for your consideration and
attention. Some others will be laid before you in the course of
the session, but in the discharge of the great duties confided to
you by our country, you will take a broader view of the field of
legislation. Whether the great interests of agriculture, manufactures,
commerce, or navigation, can, within the pale of your
constitutional powers, be aided in any of their relations; whether
laws are provided in all cases where they are wanting; whether
those provided are exactly what they should be; whether any
abuses take place in their administration, or in that of the public
revenues; whether the organization of the public agents or of
the public force is perfect in all its parts; in fine, whether anything
can be done to advance the general good, are questions
within the limits of your functions which will necessarily occupy
your attention. In these and other matters which you in your
wisdom may propose for the good of our country, you may
count with assurance on my hearty co-operation and faithful
execution.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.--MARCH 4, 1805.
Proceeding, fellow citizens, to that qualification which the
constitution requires, before my entrance on the charge again
conferred upon me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain
of this new proof of confidence from my fellow citizens
at large, and the zeal with which it inspires me, so to conduct
myself as may best satisfy their just expectations.
On taking this station on a former occasion, I declared the
principles on which I believed it my duty to administer the affairs
of our commonwealth. My conscience tells me that I have,
on every occasion, acted up to that declaration, according to its
obvious import, and to the understanding of every candid mind.
In the transaction of your foreign affairs, we have endeavored
to cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those
with which we have the most important relations. We have
done them justice on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful,
and cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair and
equal terms. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction,
that with nations, as with individuals, our interests
soundly calculated, will ever be found inseparable from our moral
duties; and history bears witness to the fact, that a just nation is
taken on its word, when recourse is had to armaments and wars
to bridle others.
At home, fellow citizens, you best know whether we have
done well or ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless
establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our
internal taxes. These covering our land with officers, and opening
our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process
of domiciliary vexation which, once entered, is scarcely to be
restrained from reaching successively every article of produce
and property. If among these taxes some minor ones fell which
had not been inconvenient, it was because their amount would
not have paid the officers who collected them, and because, if
they had any merit, the state authorities might adopt them, instead
of others less approved.
The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles,
is paid cheerfully by those who can afford to add foreign luxuries
to domestic comforts, being collected on our seaboards and
frontiers only, and incorporated with the transactions of our mercantile
citizens, it may be the pleasure and pride of an American
to ask, what farmer, what mechanic, what laborer, ever sees a
tax-gatherer of the United States? These contributions enable
us to support the current expenses of the government, to fulfil
contracts with foreign nations, to extinguish the native right of
soil within our limits, to extend those limits, and to apply such
a surplus to our public debts, as places at a short day their final
redemption, and that redemption once effected, the revenue
thereby liberated may, by a just repartition among the states, and
a corresponding amendment of the constitution, be applied, _in
time of peace_, to rivers, canals, roads, arts, manufactures, education,
and other great objects within each state. _In time of war_,
if injustice, by ourselves or others, must sometimes produce war,
increased as the same revenue will be increased by population
and consumption, and aided by other resources reserved for that
crisis, it may meet within the year all the expenses of the year,
without encroaching on the rights of future generations, by burdening
them with the debts of the past. War will then be but
a suspension of useful works, and a return to a state of peace, a
return to the progress of improvement.
I have said, fellow citizens, that the income reserved had enabled
us to extend our limits; but that extension may possibly
pay for itself before we are called on, and in the meantime, may
keep down the accruing interest; in all events, it will repay the
advances we have made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana
has been disapproved by some, from a candid apprehension
that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union.
But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle
may operate effectively? The larger our association, the less
will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view, is it not better
that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by
our own brethren and children, than by strangers of another family?
With which shall we be most likely to live in harmony
and friendly intercourse?
In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise
is placed by the constitution independent of the powers of the
general government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion,
to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have
left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction
and discipline of state or church authorities acknowledged by
the several religious societies.
The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded
with the commiseration their history inspires. Endowed with
the faculties and the rights of men, breathing an ardent love of
liberty and independence, and occupying a country which left
them no desire but to be undisturbed, the stream of overflowing
population from other regions directed itself on these shores;
without power to divert, or habits to contend against, they have
been overwhelmed by the current, or driven before it; now reduced
within limits too narrow for the hunter's state, humanity
enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts; to
encourage them to that industry which alone can enable them
to maintain their place in existence, and to prepare them in time
for that state of society, which to bodily comforts adds the improvement
of the mind and morals. We have therefore liberally
furnished them with the implements of husbandry and household
use; we have placed among them instructors in the arts of
first necessity; and they are covered with the ægis of the law
against aggressors from among ourselves.
But the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits
their present course of life, to induce them to exercise their
reason, follow its dictates, and change their pursuits with the
change of circumstances, have powerful obstacles to encounter;
they are combated by the habits of their bodies, prejudice of
their minds, ignorance, pride, and the influence of interested and
crafty individuals among them, who feel themselves something
in the present order of things, and fear to become nothing in any
other. These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for
the customs of their ancestors; that whatsoever they did, must
be done through all time; that reason is a false guide, and to advance
under its counsel, in their physical, moral, or political
condition, is perilous innovation; that their duty is to remain as
their Creator made them, ignorance being safety, and knowledge
full of danger; in short, my friends, among them is seen the
action and counteraction of good sense and bigotry; they, too,
have their anti-philosophers, who find an interest in keeping
things in their present state, who dread reformation, and exert
all their faculties to maintain the ascendency of habit over the
duty of improving our reason, and obeying its mandates.
In giving these outlines, I do not mean, fellow citizens, to arrogate
to myself the merit of the measures; that is due, in the
first place, to the reflecting character of our citizens at large,
who, by the weight of public opinion, influence and strengthen
the public measures; it is due to the sound discretion with which
they select from among themselves those to whom they confide
the legislative duties; it is due to the zeal and wisdom of the
characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of public happiness
in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains
for others; and it is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, whose
patriotism has associated with me in the executive functions.
During this course of administration, and in order to disturb
it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged
with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These
abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science, are
deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness,
and to sap its safety; they might, indeed, have been
corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved and provided
by the laws of the several States against falsehood and defamation;
but public duties more urgent press on the time of public
servants, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their
punishment in the public indignation.
Nor was it uninteresting to the world, that an experiment
should be fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion,
unaided by power, is not sufficient for the propagation and protection
of truth--whether a government, conducting itself in the
true spirit of its constitution, with zeal and purity, and doing no
act which it would be unwilling the whole world should witness,
can be written down by falsehood and defamation. The
experiment has been tried; you have witnessed the scene; our
fellow citizens have looked on, cool and collected; they saw the
latent source from which these outrages proceeded; they gathered
around their public functionaries, and when the constitution called
them to the decision by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict,
honorable to those who had served them, and consolatory to the
friend of man, who believes he may be intrusted with his own
affairs.
No inference is here intended, that the laws, provided by the
State against false and defamatory publications, should not be
enforced; he who has time, renders a service to public morals
and public tranquillity, in reforming these abuses by the salutary
coercions of the law; but the experiment is noted, to prove that,
since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false
opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth,
needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct
false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties;
and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable
liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there
be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement
must be sought in the censorship of public opinion.
Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so generally,
as auguring harmony and happiness to our future course,
I offer to our country sincere congratulations. With those, too,
not yet rallied to the same point, the disposition to do so is gaining
strength; facts are piercing through the veil drawn over them;
and our doubting brethren will at length see, that the mass of
their fellow citizens, with whom they cannot yet resolve to act,
as to principles and measures, think as they think, and desire
what they desire; that our wish, as well as theirs, is, that the
public efforts may be directed honestly to the public good, that
peace be cultivated, civil and religious liberty unassailed, law and
order preserved, equality of rights maintained, and that state of
property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his
own industry, or that of his fathers. When satisfied of these
views, it is not in human nature that they should not approve
and support them; in the meantime, let us cherish them with
patient affection; let us do them justice, and more than justice,
in all competitions of interest; and we need not doubt that truth,
reason, and their own interests, will at length prevail, will gather
them into the fold of their country, and will complete their entire
union of opinion, which gives to a nation the blessing of harmony,
and the benefit of all its strength.
I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow citizens
have again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those
principles which they have approved. I fear not that any motives
of interest may lead me astray; I am sensible of no passion
which could seduce me knowingly from the path of justice; but
the weakness of human nature, and the limits of my own understanding,
will produce errors of judgment sometimes injurious to
your interests. I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence I have
heretofore experienced--the want of it will certainly not lessen
with increasing years. I shall need, too, the favor of that Being
in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old,
from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing
with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered
our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his
wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join
with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of
your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures,
that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure
to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.
FIFTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 3, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
At a moment when the nations of Europe are in commotion
and arming against each other, and when those with whom we
have principal intercourse are engaged in the general contest,
and when the countenance of some of them toward our peaceable
country threatens that even that may not be unaffected by
what is passing on the general theatre, a meeting of the representatives
of the nation in both houses of Congress has become
more than usually desirable. Coming from every section of our
country, they bring with them the sentiments and the information
of the whole, and will be enabled to give a direction to the
public affairs which the will and wisdom of the whole will approve
and support.
In taking a view of the state of our country, we in the first
place notice the late affliction of two of our cities under the
fatal fever which in latter times has occasionally visited our
shores. Providence in his goodness gave it an early termination
on this occasion, and lessened the number of victims which have
usually fallen before it. In the course of the several visitations
by this disease it has appeared that it is strictly local; incident
to the cities and on the tide waters only; incommunicable in the
country, either by persons under the disease or by goods carried
from diseased places; that its access is with the autumn, and that
it disappears with the early frosts. These restrictions within
narrow limits of time and space give security even to our maritime
cities during three-fourths of the year, and to the country
always. Although from these facts it appears unnecessary, yet
to satisfy the fears of foreign nations, and cautions on their part
not to be complained of in a danger whose limits are yet unknown
to them, I have strictly enjoined on the officers at the
head of the customs to certify with exact truth for every vessel
sailing for a foreign port, the state of health respecting this fever
which prevails at the place from which she sails. Under every
motive from character and duty to certify the truth, I have no
doubt they have faithfully executed this injunction. Much real
injury has, however, been sustained from a propensity to identify
with this epidemic, and to call by the same name, fevers of very
different kinds, which have been known at all times and in all
countries, and never have been placed among those deemed contagious.
As we advance in our knowledge of this disease, as
facts develop the sources from which individuals receive it, the
state authorities charged with the care of the public health, and
Congress with that of the general commerce, will become able
to regulate with effect their respective functions in these departments.
The burden of quarantines is felt at home as well as
abroad; their efficacy merits examination. Although the health
laws of the States should be found to need no present revisal by
Congress, yet commerce claims that their attention be ever awake
to them.
Since our last meeting the aspect of our foreign relations has
considerably changed. Our coasts have been infested and our
harbors watched by private armed vessels, some of them without
commissions, some with illegal commissions, others with those of
legal form but committing piratical acts beyond the authority of
their commissions. They have captured in the very entrance
of our harbors, as well as on the high seas, not only the vessels
of our friends coming to trade with us, but our own also. They
have carried them off under pretence of legal adjudication, but
not daring to approach a court of justice, they have plundered
and sunk them by the way, or in obscure places where no evidence
could arise against them; maltreated the crews, and abandoned
them in boats in the open sea or on desert shores without
food or covering. These enormities appearing to be unreached
by any control of their sovereigns, I found it necessary to equip a
force to cruise within our own seas, to arrest all vessels of these
descriptions found hovering on our coast within the limits of the
Gulf Stream, and to bring the offenders in for trial as pirates.
The same system of hovering on our coasts and harbors under
color of seeking enemies, has been also carried on by public
armed ships, to the great annoyance and oppression of our commerce.
New principles, too, have been interloped into the law
of nations, founded neither in justice nor the usage or acknowledgment
of nations. According to these, a belligerent takes to
himself a commerce with its own enemy which it denies to a
neutral, on the ground of its aiding that enemy in the war. But
reason revolts at such an inconsistency, and the neutral having
equal right with the belligerent to decide the question, the interest
of our constituents and the duty of maintaining the authority
of reason, the only umpire between just nations, impose
on us the obligation of providing an effectual and determined
opposition to a doctrine so injurious to the rights of peaceable
nations. Indeed, the confidence we ought to have in the justice
of others, still countenances the hope that a sounder view of those
rights will of itself induce from every belligerent a more correct
observance of them.
With Spain our negotiations for a settlement of differences
have not had a satisfactory issue. Spoliations during the former
war, for which she had formally acknowledged herself responsible,
have been refused to be compensated, but on conditions affecting
other claims in nowise connected with them. Yet the
same practices are renewed in the present war, and are already of
great amount. On the Mobile, our commerce passing through that
river continues to be obstructed by arbitrary duties and vexatious
searches. Propositions for adjusting amicably the boundaries of
Louisiana have not been acceded to. While, however, the right
is unsettled, we have avoided changing the state of things by
taking new posts or strengthening ourselves in the disputed territories,
in the hope that the other power would not, by contrary
conduct, oblige us to meet their example, and endanger conflicts
of authority the issue of which may not be easily controlled.
But in this hope we have now reason to lessen our confidence.
Inroads have been recently made into the territories of Orleans
and the Mississippi, our citizens have been seized and their
property plundered in the very parts of the former which had
been actually delivered up by Spain, and this by the regular officers
and soldiers of that government. I have therefore found it
necessary at length to give orders to our troops on that frontier
to be in readiness to protect our citizens, and to repel by arms
any similar aggression in future. Other details, necessary for
your full information of the state of things between this country
and that shall be the subject of another communication.
In reviewing these injuries from some of the belligerent powers,
the moderation, the firmness, and the wisdom of the legislature
will be all called into action. We ought still to hope that
time and a more correct estimate of interest, as well as of character,
will produce the justice we are bound to expect. But
should any nation deceive itself by false calculations, and disappoint
that expectation, we must join in the unprofitable contest
of trying which party can do the other the most harm. Some
of these injuries may perhaps admit a peaceable remedy. Where
that is competent it is always the most desirable. But some of
them are of a nature to be met by force only, and all of them
may lead to it. I cannot, therefore, but recommend such preparations
as circumstances call for. The first object is to place
our seaport towns out of the danger of insult. Measures have
been already taken for furnishing them with heavy cannon for
the service of such land batteries as may make a part of their defence
against armed vessels approaching them. In aid of these
it is desirable that we should have a competent number of gunboats;
and the number, to be competent, must be considerable.
If immediately begun, they may be in readiness for service at
the opening of the next season. Whether it will be necessary
to augment our land forces will be decided by occurrences probably
in the course of your session. In the meantime, you will
consider whether it would not be expedient, for a state of peace
as well as of war, so to organize or class the militia as would
enable us, on a sudden emergency, to call for the services of the
younger portions, unencumbered with the old and those having
families. Upward of three hundred thousand able-bodied men,
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six years, which the
last census shows we may now count within our limits, will furnish
a competent number for offence or defence in any point
where they may be wanted, and will give time for raising regular
forces after the necessity of them shall become certain; and
the reducing to the early period of life all its active service cannot
but be desirable to our younger citizens, of the present as
well as future times, inasmuch as it engages to them in more advanced
age a quiet and undisturbed repose in the bosom of their
families. I cannot, then, but earnestly recommend to your early
consideration the expediency of so modifying our militia system
as, by a separation of the more active part from that which is
less so, we may draw from it, when necessary, an efficient corps
fit for real and active service, and to be called to it in regular
rotation.
Considerable provision has been made, under former authorities
from Congress, of materials for the construction of ships of war
of seventy-four guns. These materials are on hand, subject to
the further will of the legislature.
An immediate prohibition of the exportation of arms and ammunition
is also submitted to your determination.
Turning from these unpleasant views of violence and wrong,
I congratulate you on the liberation of our fellow citizens who
were stranded on the coast of Tripoli and made prisoners of war.
In a government bottomed on the will of all, the life and liberty
of every individual citizen become interesting to all. In the
treaty, therefore, which has concluded our warfare with that
State, an article for the ransom of our citizens has been agreed
to. An operation by land, by a small band of our countrymen,
and others--engaged for the occasion, in conjunction with the
troops of the ex-bashaw of that country, gallantly conducted by
our late consul Eaton, and their successful enterprise on the city
of Derne, contributed, doubtless, to the impression which produced
peace; and the conclusion of this prevented opportunities
of which the officers and men of our squadron destined for Tripoli
would have availed themselves, to emulate the acts of valor
exhibited by their brethren in the attack of the last year. Reflecting
with high satisfaction on the distinguished bravery displayed
whenever occasion permitted in the Mediterranean service,
I think it would be a useful encouragement, as well as a
just reward, to make an opening for some present promotion by
enlarging our peace establishment of captains and lieutenants.
With Tunis some misunderstandings have arisen, not yet sufficiently
explained, but friendly discussions with their ambassador
recently arrived, and a mutual disposition to do whatever
is just and reasonable, cannot fail of dissipating these; so that
we may consider our peace on that coast, generally, to be on as
sound a footing as it has been at any preceding time. Still it
will not be expedient to withdraw, immediately, the whole of
our force from that sea.
The law for providing a naval peace establishment fixes the
number of frigates which shall be kept in constant service in
time of peace, and prescribes that they shall not be manned by
more than two-thirds of their complement of seamen and ordinary
seamen. Whether a frigate may be trusted to two-thirds only
of her proper complement of men must depend on the nature of
the service on which she is ordered; that may sometimes, for
her safety, as well as to insure her object, require her fullest complement.
In adverting to this subject, Congress will perhaps
consider whether the best limitation on the executive discretion
in this case would not be by the number of seamen which may
be employed in the whole service, rather than by the number
of vessels. Occasions oftener arise for the employment of small
than of large vessels, and it would lessen risk as well as expense
to be authorized to employ them of preference. The limitation
suggested by the number of seamen would admit a selection of
vessels best adapted to the service.
Our Indian neighbors are advancing, many of them with spirit
and others beginning to engage, in the pursuits of agriculture
and household manufacture. They are becoming sensible that
the earth yields subsistence with less labor and more certainty
than the forest, and find it their interest, from time to time, to
dispose of parts of their surplus and waste lands for the means
of improving those they occupy, and of subsisting their families
while they are preparing their farms. Since your last session,
the northern tribes have sold to us the lands between the Connecticut
reserve and the former Indian boundary; and those on
the Ohio, from the same boundary to the rapids, and for a considerable
depth inland. The Chickasaws and Cherokees have
sold us the country between and adjacent to the two districts of
Tennessee, and the Creeks, the residue of their lands in the fork
of Ocmulgee, up to the Ulcofauhatche. The three former purchases
are important, inasmuch as they consolidate disjointed
parts of our settled country, and render their intercourse secure;
and the second particularly so, as with the small point on the
river which we expect is by this time ceded by the Piankeshaws,
it completes our possession of the whole of both banks of the
Ohio, from its source to near its mouth, and the navigation of
that river is thereby rendered forever safe to our citizens settled
and settling on its extensive waters. The purchase from the
Creeks too has been for some time particularly interesting to the
State of Georgia.
The several treaties which have been mentioned will be submitted
to both houses of Congress for the exercise of their respective
functions.
Deputations now on their way to the seat of government, from
various nations of Indians inhabiting the Missouri and other
parts beyond the Mississippi, come charged with the assurances
of their satisfaction with the new relations in which they are
placed with us, of their disposition to cultivate our peace and
friendship, and their desire to enter into commercial intercourse
with us. A statement of our progress in exploring the principal
rivers of that country, and of the information respecting them
hitherto obtained, will be communicated so soon as we shall
receive some further relations which we have reason shortly to
expect.
The receipts at the treasury during the year ending the
30th day of September last, have exceeded the sum of thirteen
millions of dollars, which, with not quite five millions in
the treasury at the beginning of the year, have enabled us,
after meeting other demands, to pay nearly two millions of
the debt contracted under the British treaty and convention, upward
of four millions of principal of the public debt, and four
millions of interest. These payments, with those which had
been made in three years and a half preceding, have extinguished
of the funded debt nearly eighteen millions of principal.
Congress, by their act of November 10th, 1803, authorized us to
borrow one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, toward
meeting the claims of our citizens assumed by the convention
with France. We have not, however, made use of this authority,
because the sum of four millions and a half, which
remained in the treasury on the same 30th day of September
last, with the receipts which we may calculate on for the ensuing
year, besides paying the annual sum of eight millions of dollars
appropriated to the funded debts, and meeting all the current demands
which may be expected, will enable us to pay the whole
sum of three millions seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
assumed by the French convention, and still leaves a surplus of
nearly a million of dollars at our free disposal. Should you concur
in the provisions of arms and armed vessels recommended
by the circumstances of the times, this surplus will furnish the
means of doing so.
On this first occasion of addressing Congress, since, by the
choice of my constituents, I have entered on a second term of
administration, I embrace the opportunity to give this public assurance,
that I will exert my best endeavors to administer faithfully
the executive department, and will zealously co-operate
with you in every measure which may tend to secure the liberty,
property, and personal safety of our fellow citizens, and to consolidate
the republican forms and principles of our government.
In the course of your session you shall receive all the aid
which I can give for the despatch of the public business, and
all the information necessary for your deliberations, of which the
interests of our own country and the confidence reposed in us
by others will admit a communication.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 13, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I lay before Congress the application of Hamet Caramalli,
elder brother of the reigning bashaw of Tripoli, soliciting from
the United States attention to his services and sufferings in the
late war against that State. And in order to possess them of
the ground on which that application stands, the facts shall be
stated according to the views and information of the executive.
During the war with Tripoli, it was suggested that Hamet
Caramalli, elder brother of the reigning bashaw, and driven by
him from his throne, meditated the recovery of his inheritance,
and that a concert in action with us was desirable to him. We
considered that concerted operations by those who have a common
enemy were entirely justifiable, and might produce effects
favorable to both, without binding either to guaranty the objects
of the other. But the distance of the scene, the difficulties of
communication, and the uncertainty of our information, inducing
the less confidence in the measures, it was committed to our
agents as one which might be resorted to if it promised to promote
our success.
Mr. Eaton, however (our late consul,) on his return from the
Mediterranean, possessing a personal knowledge of the scene,
and having confidence in the effect of a joint operation, we
authorized Commodore Barron, then proceeding with his squadron,
to enter into an understanding with Hamet if he should
deem it useful; and as it was represented that he would need
some aids of arms, and ammunition, and even of money, he
was authorized to furnish them to a moderate extent, according
to the prospect of utility to be expected from it. In order to
avail him of the advantages of Mr. Eaton's knowledge of circumstances,
an occasional employment was provided for the latter
as an agent for the navy in that sea. Our expectation was,
that an intercourse should be kept up between the ex-bashaw
and the commodore, that while the former moved on by land,
our squadron should proceed with equal pace so as to arrive at
their destination together, and to attack the common enemy by
land and sea at the same time. The instructions of June 6th,
to Commodore Barron, show that a co-operation only was intended,
and by no means a union of our object with the fortune of
the ex-bashaw, and the commodore's letters of March 22d and
May 19th proved that he had the most correct idea of our
intentions. His verbal instructions indeed to Mr. Eaton and
Captain Hull, if the expressions are accurately committed to
writing by those gentlemen, do not limit the extent of his co-operation
as rigorously as he probably intended; but it is certain,
from the ex-bashaw's letter of January 3d, written when he was
proceeding to join Mr. Eaton, and in which he says, "Your
operations should be carried on by sea, mine by land," that he
left the position in which he was with a proper idea of the nature
of the co-operation. If Mr. Eaton's subsequent convention
should appear to bring forward other objects, his letter of April
29th and May 1st views this convention but as provisional, the
second article, as he expressly states, guarding it against any ill
effect; and his letter of June 30th confirms this construction.
In the event it was found that after placing the ex-bashaw in
possession of Derne, one of the most important cities and provinces
of the country, where he had resided himself as governor,
he was totally unable to command any resources, or to bear any
part in the co-operation with us. This hope was then at an end,
and we certainly had never contemplated, nor were we prepared
to land an army of our own, or to raise, pay, or subsist, an army
of Arabs, to march from Derne to Tripoli and to carry on a land
war at such a distance from our resources. Our means and our
authority was merely naval, and that such were the expectations
of Hamet, his letter of June 29th is an unexpected acknowledgment.
While, therefore, an impression from the capture of
Derne might still operate at Tripoli, and an attack on that place
from our squadron was daily expected, Colonel Lear thought it
the best moment to listen to overtures of peace then made by
the bashaw. He did so, and while urging provisions for the
United States, he paid attention also to the interests of Hamet;
but was able to effect nothing more than to engage the restitution
of his family, and even the persevering in this demand suspended
for some time the conclusion of the treaty.
In operations at such a distance, it becomes necessary to leave
much to the discretion of the agents employed, but events may
still turn up beyond the limits of that discretion. Unable in
such case to consult his government, a zealous citizen will act as
he believes that would direct him were it apprized of the circumstances,
and will take on himself the responsibility. In all these
cases the purity and patriotism of the motives should shield the
agent from blame, and even secure the sanction where the error
is not too injurious. Should it be thought by any that the
verbal instructions said to have been given by Commodore Barron
to Mr. Eaton amount to a stipulation that the United States
should place Hamet Caramalli on the throne of Tripoli, a stipulation
so entirely unauthorized, so far beyond our views, and so
onerous, could not be sanctioned by our government; or should
Hamet Caramalli, contrary to the evidence of his letters of January
3d and June 29th, be thought to have left the position which
he now seems to regret, under a mistaken expectation that we
were at all events to place him on his throne, on an appeal to the
liberality of the nation something equivalent to the replacing him
in his former situation, might be worthy its consideration.
A nation, by establishing a character of liberality and magnanimity,
gains in the friendship and respect of others more than the
worth of mere money. This appeal is now made by Hamet
Caramalli to the United States. The ground he has taken being
different not only from our views but from those expressed by
himself on former occasions, Mr. Eaton was desired to state
whether any verbal communications passed from him to Hamet,
which had varied what we saw in writing. His answer of December
5th is herewith transmitted, and has rendered it still more
necessary, that in presenting to the legislature the application of
Hamet, I should present them at the same time an exact statement
of the views and proceedings of the executive through this
whole business, that they may clearly understand the ground
on which we are placed. It is accompanied by all the papers
which bear any relation to the principles of the co-operation,
and which can inform their judgment in deciding on the application
of Hamet Caramalli.
SPECIAL MESSAGE--JANUARY 17, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In my message to both houses of Congress at the opening of
their present session, I submitted to their attention, among other
subjects, the oppression of our commerce and navigation by the
irregular practices of armed vessels, public and private, and by
the introduction of new principles, derogatory of the rights of
neutrals, and unacknowledged by the usage of nations.
The memorials of several bodies of merchants of the United
States are now communicated, and will develop these principles
and practices which are producing the most ruinous effects on
our lawful commerce and navigation.
The rights of a neutral to carry on a commercial intercourse
with every part of the dominions of a belligerent, permitted by
the laws of the country (with the exception of blockaded ports
and contraband of war), was believed to have been decided between
Great Britain and the United States by the sentence of
the commissioners mutually appointed to decide on that and
other questions of difference between the two nations, and by
the actual payment of damages awarded by them against Great
Britain for the infractions of that right. When, therefore, it was
perceived that the same principle was revived with others more
novel, and extending the injury, instructions were given to the
minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of London,
and remonstrances duly made by him on this subject, as
will appear by documents transmitted herewith. These were
followed by a partial and temporary suspension only, without
any disavowal of the principle. He has therefore been instructed
to urge this subject anew, to bring it more fully to the bar of
reason, and to insist on the rights too evident and too important
to be surrendered. In the meantime, the evil is proceeding
under adjudications founded on the principle which is denied.
Under these circumstances the subject presents itself for the consideration
of Congress.
On the impressment of our seamen our remonstrances have
never been intermitted. A hope existed at one moment of an
arrangement which might have been submitted to, but it soon
passed away, and the practice, though relaxed at times in the
distant seas, has been constantly pursued in those in our neighborhood.
The grounds on which the reclamations on this subject
have been urged, will appear in an extract from instructions
to our minister at London now communicated.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 3, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
A letter has been received from the Governor of South Carolina,
covering an act of the legislature of that state, ceding to the
United States various forts and fortifications, and sites for the erection
of forts in that state, on the conditions therein expressed. This
letter and the act it covered are now communicated to Congress.
I am not informed whether the positions ceded are the best
which can be taken for securing their respective objects. No
doubt is entertained that the legislature deemed them such. The
river of Beaufort particularly, said to be accessible to ships of
very large size, and capable of yielding them a protection which
they cannot find elsewhere, but very far to the north, is, from
these circumstances, so interesting to the Union in general, as to
merit particular attention and inquiry, as to the positions on it
best calculated for health as well as safety.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 19, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In pursuance of a measure submitted to Congress by a message
of January 18th, 1803, and sanctioned by their appropriation for
carrying it into execution, Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the
first regiment of infantry, was appointed, with a party of men, to
explore the river Missouri from its mouth to its source; and,
crossing the highlands by the shortest portage, to seek the best
water communication thence to the Pacific ocean; and Lieutenant
Clarke was appointed second in command. They were to
enter into conference with the Indian nation on their route, with
a view to the establishment of commerce with them. They entered
the Missouri, May 14th, 1804, and on the 1st of November,
took up their winter quarters near the Maudan towns, 1609 miles
above the mouth of the river, in latitude 47° 21´ 47´´ north, and
longitude 99° 24´ 45´´ west, from Greenwich. On the 8th of
April, 1805, they proceeded up the river in pursuance of the objects
prescribed to them. A letter of the preceding day, April
the 7th, from Captain Lewis, is herewith communicated. During
his stay among the Maudans', he had been able to lay down
the Missouri according to courses and distances taken under his
passage up it, corrected by frequent observations of longitude
and latitude, and to add to the actual survey of this portion of
the river, a general map of the country between the Mississippi
and Pacific, from the thirty-fourth to the fifty-fourth degrees of
latitude. These additions are from information collected from
Indians with whom he had opportunity of communicating during
his journey and residence among them. Copies of this map are
now presented to both houses of Congress. With these I communicate,
also, a statistical view, procured and forwarded by
him, of the Indian nations inhabiting the territory of Louisiana,
and the countries adjacent to its northern and western borders;
of their commerce, and of other interesting circumstances respecting
them.
In order to render the statement as complete as may be, of the
Indians inhabiting the country west of the Mississippi, I add Dr.
Sibley's account of those residing in and adjacent to the territory
of Orleans.
I communicate also, from the same person, an account of the
Red river, according to the best information he had been able to
collect.
Having been disappointed, after considerable preparation, in
the purpose of sending an exploring expedition up that river in
the summer of 1804, it was thought best to employ the autumn
in that year in procuring a knowledge on an interesting branch
of the river called Washita. This was undertaken under the direction
of Mr. Dunbar, of Natchez, a citizen of distinguished
science, who had aided, and continues to aid us with his disinterested
valuable services in the prosecution of these enterprises.
He ascended the river to the remarkable hot springs near it, in
latitude 34° 31´ 4´´.16, longitude, 92° 50´ 45´´ west, from Greenwich,
taking its courses and distances, and correcting them by
frequent celestial observations. Extracts from his observations,
and copies of his map of the river, from its mouth to the hot
springs, make part of the present communications. The examination
of the Red river itself is but now commencing.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 20, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
It was reasonably expected, that while the limits between the
territories of the United States and of Spain were unsettled,
neither party would have innovated on the existing state of their
respective positions. Some time since, however, we learned that
the Spanish authorities were advancing into the disputed country
to occupy new posts and make new settlements. Unwilling
to take any measures which might preclude a peaceable accommodation
of differences, the officers of the United States were
ordered to confine themselves within the country on this side of
the Sabine river; which, by the delivery of its principal post
(Natchitoches), was understood to have been itself delivered up
by Spain; and at the same time to permit no adverse post to be
taken, nor armed men to remain within it. In consequence of
these orders, the commanding officer of Natchitoches, learning
that a party of Spanish troops had crossed the Sabine river and
were posting themselves on this side the Adais, sent a detachment
of his force to require them to withdraw to the other side
of the Sabine, which they accordingly did.
I have thought it proper to communicate to Congress the letters
detailing this incident, that they may fully understand the
state of things in that quarter, and be enabled to make such provision
for its security as in their wisdom they shall deem sufficient.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--APRIL 14, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
During the blockade of Tripoli by the squadron of the United
States, a small cruiser, under the flag of Tunis, with two prizes
(all of trifling value,) attempted to enter Tripoli, was turned back,
warned, and attempting again to enter, was taken and detained as
a prize by the squadron. Her restitution was claimed by the
bey of Tunis, with a threat of war so serious, that, on withdrawing
from the blockade of Tripoli, the commanding officer
of the squadron thought it his duty to repair to Tunis with his
squadron, and to require a categorical declaration whether peace
or war was intended. The bey preferred explaining himself
by an ambassador to the United States, who, on his arrival, renewed
the request that the vessel and her prizes should be restored.
It was deemed proper to give this proof of friendship
to the bey, and the ambassador was informed the vessels would
be restored. Afterward he made a requisition of naval stores to
be sent to the bey, in order to secure peace for the term of three
years, with a threat of war if refused. It has been refused, and
the ambassador is about to depart without receding from his
threat or demand.
Under these circumstances, and considering that the several
provisions of the act, March 25th, 1804, will cease in consequence
of the ratification of the treaty of peace with Tripoli,
now advised to and consented to by the Senate, I have thought
it my duty to communicate these facts, in order that Congress
may consider the expediency of continuing the same provisions
for a limited time or making others equivalent.
SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 2, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States in Congress assembled_:--
It would have given me, fellow citizens, great satisfaction to
announce in the moment of your meeting that the difficulties in
our foreign relations, existing at the time of your last separation,
had been amicably and justly terminated. I lost no time in taking
those measures which were most likely to bring them to such
a termination, by special missions charged with such powers and
instructions as in the event of failure could leave no imputation
on either our moderation or forbearance. The delays which
have since taken place in our negotiations with the British
government appears to have proceeded from causes which do
not forbid the expectation that during the course of the session I
may be enabled to lay before you their final issue. What will
be that of the negotiations for settling our differences with Spain,
nothing which had taken place at the date of the last despatches
enables us to pronounce. On the western side of the Mississippi
she advanced in considerable force, and took post at the settlement
of Bayou Pierre, on the Red river. This village was
originally settled by France, was held by her as long as she held
Louisiana, and was delivered to Spain only as a part of Louisiana.
Being small, insulated, and distant, it was not observed, at
the moment of redelivery to France and the United States, that
she continued a guard of half a dozen men which had been stationed
there. A proposition, however, having been lately made
by our commander-in-chief, to assume the Sabine river as a temporary
line of separation between the troops of the two nations
until the issue of our negotiation shall be known; this has been
referred by the Spanish commandant to his superior, and in the
meantime, he has withdrawn his force to the western side
of the Sabine river. The correspondence on this subject, now
communicated, will exhibit more particularly the present state of
things in that quarter.
The nature of that country requires indispensably that an unusual
proportion of the force employed there should be cavalry
or mounted infantry. In order, therefore, that the commanding
officer might be enabled to act with effect, I had authorized
him to call on the governors of Orleans and Mississippi for a
corps of five hundred volunteer cavalry. The temporary arrangement
he has proposed may perhaps render this unnecessary.
But I inform you with great pleasure of the promptitude with
which the inhabitants of those territories have tendered their
services in defence of their country. It has done honor to themselves,
entitled them to the confidence of their fellow-citizens in
every part of the Union, and must strengthen the general determination
to protect them efficaciously under all circumstances
which may occur.
Having received information that in another part of the United
States a great number of private individuals were combining
together, arming and organizing themselves contrary to law, to
carry on military expeditions against the territories of Spain, I
thought it necessary, by proclamations as well as by special orders,
to take measures for preventing and suppressing this enterprise,
for seizing the vessels, arms, and other means provided
for it, and for arresting and bringing to justice its authors and
abettors. It was due to that good faith which ought ever to be
the rule of action in public as well as in private transactions; it
was due to good order and regular government, that while the
public force was acting strictly on the defensive and merely to
protect our citizens from aggression, the criminal attempts of
private individuals to decide for their country the question of
peace or war, by commencing active and unauthorized hostilities,
should be promptly and efficaciously suppressed.
Whether it will be necessary to enlarge our regular force will
depend on the result of our negotiation with Spain; but as it is
uncertain when that result will be known, the provisional measures
requisite for that, and to meet any pressure intervening in
that quarter, will be a subject for your early consideration.
The possession of both banks of the Mississippi reducing to a
single point the defence of that river, its waters, and the country
adjacent, it becomes highly necessary to provide for that point a
more adequate security. Some position above its mouth, commanding
the passage of the river, should be rendered sufficiently
strong to cover the armed vessels which may be stationed there
for defence, and in conjunction with them to present an insuperable
obstacle to any force attempting to pass. The approaches to
the city of New Orleans, from the eastern quarter also, will require
to be examined, and more effectually guarded. For the
internal support of the country, the encouragement of a strong
settlement on the western side of the Mississippi, within reach
of New Orleans, will be worthy the consideration of the legislature.
The gun-boats authorized by an act of the last session are so
advanced that they will be ready for service in the ensuing
spring. Circumstances permitted us to allow the time necessary
for their more solid construction. As a much larger number will
still be wanting to place our seaport towns and waters in that
state of defence to which we are competent and they entitled, a
similar appropriation for a further provision for them is recommended
for the ensuing year.
A further appropriation will also be necessary for repairing fortifications
already established, and the erection of such works as
may have real effect in obstructing the approach of an enemy to
our seaport towns, or their remaining before them.
In a country whose constitution is derived from the will of
the people, directly expressed by their free suffrages; where the
principal executive functionaries, and those of the legislature,
are renewed by them at short periods; where under the characters
of jurors, they exercise in person the greatest portion of the
judiciary powers; where the laws are consequently so formed
and administered as to bear with equal weight and favor on all,
restraining no man in the pursuits of honest industry, and securing
to every one the property which that acquires, it would not
be supposed that any safeguards could be needed against insurrection
or enterprise on the public peace or authority. The
laws, however, aware that these should not be trusted to moral
restraints only, have wisely provided punishments for these
crimes when committed. But would it not be salutary to give
also the means of preventing their commission? Where an enterprise
is meditated by private individuals against a foreign nation
in amity with the United States, powers of prevention to a
certain extent are given by the laws; would they not be as
reasonable and useful were the enterprise preparing against the
United States? While adverting to this branch of the law, it is
proper to observe, that in enterprises meditated against foreign
nations, the ordinary process of binding to the observance of the
peace and good behavior, could it be extended to acts to be done
out of the jurisdiction of the United States, would be effectual
in some cases where the offender is able to keep out of sight
every indication of his purpose which could draw on him the
exercise of the powers now given by law.
The states on the coast of Barbary seem generally disposed at
present to respect our peace and friendship; with Tunis alone
some uncertainty remains. Persuaded that it is our interest to
maintain our peace with them on equal terms, or not at all, I propose
to send in due time a reinforcement into the Mediterranean, unless
previous information shall show it to be unnecessary.
We continue to receive proofs of the growing attachment of
our Indian neighbors, and of their disposition to place all their
interests under the patronage of the United States. These dispositions
are inspired by their confidence in our justice, and in
the sincere concern we feel for their welfare; and as long as we
discharge these high and honorable functions with the integrity
and good faith which alone can entitle us to their continuance, we
may expect to reap the just reward in their peace and friendship.
The expedition of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, for exploring the
river Missouri, and the best communication from that to the
Pacific ocean, has had all the success which could have been
expected. They have traced the Missouri nearly to its source,
descended the Columbia to the Pacific ocean, ascertained with
accuracy the geography of that interesting communication across
our continent, learned the character of the country, of its commerce,
and inhabitants; and it is but justice to say that Messrs.
Lewis and Clarke, and their brave companions, have by this arduous
service deserved well of their country.
The attempt to explore the Red river, under the direction of
Mr. Freeman, though conducted with a zeal and prudence meriting
entire approbation, has not been equally successful. After
proceeding up it about six hundred miles, nearly as far as the
French settlements had extended while the country was in their
possession, our geographers were obliged to return without completing
their work.
Very useful additions have also been made to our knowledge
of the Mississippi by Lieutenant Pike, who has ascended to its
source, and whose journal and map, giving the details of the
journey, will shortly be ready for communication to both houses
of Congress. Those of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and Freeman,
will require further time to be digested and prepared. These
important surveys, in addition to those before possessed, furnish
materials for commencing an accurate map of the Mississippi,
and its western waters. Some principal rivers, however, remain
still to be explored, toward which the authorization of Congress,
by moderate appropriations, will be requisite.
I congratulate you, fellow citizens, on the approach of the
period at which you may interpose your authority constitutionally,
to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further
participation in those violations of human rights which have
been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa,
and which the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of
our country, have long been eager to proscribe. Although no
law you may pass can take prohibitory effect till the first day of
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, yet the intervening
period is not too long to prevent, by timely notice, expeditions
which cannot be completed before that day.
The receipts at the treasury during the year ending on the
30th of September last, have amounted to near fifteen millions
of dollars, which have enabled us, after meeting the current demands,
to pay two millions seven hundred thousand dollars of
the American claims, in parts of the price of Louisiana; to pay
of the funded debt upward of three millions of principal, and
nearly four of interest; and in addition, to reimburse, in the
course of the present month, near two millions of five and a half
per cent. stock. These payments and reimbursements of the
funded debt, with those which have been made in four years
and a half preceding, will, at the close of the present year, have
extinguished upward of twenty-three millions of principal.
The duties composing the Mediterranean fund will cease by
law at the end of the present season. Considering, however,
that they are levied chiefly on luxuries, and that we have an
impost on salt, a necessary of life, the free use of which otherwise
is so important, I recommend to your consideration the suppression
of the duties on salt, and the continuation of the
Mediterranean fund, instead thereof, for a short time, after which
that also will become unnecessary for any purpose now within
contemplation.
When both of these branches of revenue shall in this way be
relinquished, there will still ere long be an accumulation of
moneys in the treasury beyond the instalments of public debt
which we are permitted by contract to pay. They cannot, then,
without a modification assented to by the public creditors, be
applied to the extinguishment of this debt, and the complete
liberation of our revenues--the most desirable of all objects; nor,
if our peace continues, will they be wanting for any other existing
purpose. The question, therefore, now comes forward,--to
what other objects shall these surpluses be appropriated, and the
whole surplus of impost, after the entire discharge of the public
debt, and during those intervals when the purposes of war shall
not call for them? Shall we suppress the impost and give that
advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures? On a few
articles of more general and necessary use, the suppression in due
season will doubtless be right, but the great mass of the articles
on which impost is paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by those
only who are rich enough to afford themselves the use of them.
Their patriotism would certainly prefer its continuance and application
to the great purposes of the public education, roads,
rivers, canals, and such other objects of public improvement as it
may be thought proper to add to the constitutional enumeration
of federal powers. By these operations new channels of communication
will be opened between the States; the lines of separation
will disappear, their interests will be identified, and their
union cemented by new and indissoluble ties. Education is
here placed among the articles of public care, not that it would
be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands of
private enterprise, which manages so much better all the concerns
to which it is equal; but a public institution can alone supply
those sciences which, though rarely called for, are yet
necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of which contribute
to the improvement of the country, and some of them to its preservation.
The subject is now proposed for the consideration
of Congress, because, if approved by the time the State legislatures
shall have deliberated on this extension of the federal
trusts, and the laws shall be passed, and other arrangements
made for their execution, the necessary funds will be on hand
and without employment. I suppose an amendment to the constitution,
by consent of the States, necessary, because the objects
now recommended are not among those enumerated in the
constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to be
applied.
The present consideration of a national establishment for education,
particularly, is rendered proper by this circumstance also,
that if Congress, approving the proposition, shall yet think it more
eligible to found it on a donation of lands, they have it now in
their power to endow it with those which will be among the
earliest to produce the necessary income. This foundation would
have the advantage of being independent on war, which may
suspend other improvements by requiring for its own purposes
the resources destined for them.
This, fellow citizens, is the state of the public interest at the
present moment, and according to the information now possessed.
But such is the situation of the nations of Europe, and such
too the predicament in which we stand with some of them, that
we cannot rely with certainty on the present aspect of our affairs
that may change from moment to moment, during the course of
your session or after you shall have separated. Our duty is,
therefore, to act upon things as they are, and to make a reasonable
provision for whatever they may be. Were armies to be
raised whenever a speck of war is visible in our horizon, we
never should have been without them. Our resources would
have been exhausted on dangers which have never happened,
instead of being reserved for what is really to take place. A
steady, perhaps a quickened pace in preparations for the defence
of our seaport towns and waters; an early settlement of the most
exposed and vulnerable parts of our country; a militia so organized
that its effective portions can be called to any point in the
Union, or volunteers instead of them to serve a sufficient time,
are means which may always be ready yet never preying on our
resources until actually called into use. They will maintain the
public interests while a more permanent force shall be in course
of preparation. But much will depend on the promptitude with
which these means can be brought into activity. If war be
forced upon us in spite of our long and vain appeals to the justice
of nations, rapid and vigorous movements in its outset will
go far toward securing us in its course and issue, and toward
throwing its burdens on those who render necessary the resort
from reason to force.
The result of our negotiations, or such incidents in their course
as may enable us to infer their probable issue; such further
movements also on our western frontiers as may show whether
war is to be pressed there while negotiation is protracted elsewhere,
shall be communicated to you from time to time as they
become known to me, with whatever other information I possess
or may receive, which may aid your deliberations on the great
national interests committed to your charge.
SPECIAL MESSAGE--DECEMBER 3, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the negotiation depending
between the United States and the government of Great
Britain is proceeding in a spirit of friendship and accommodation
which promises a result of mutual advantage. Delays indeed
have taken place, occasioned by the long illness and subsequent
death of the British minister charged with that duty. But the
commissioners appointed by that government to resume the negotiation
have shown every disposition to hasten its progress. It
is, however, a work of time, as many arrangements are necessary
to place our future harmony on stable grounds. In the meantime,
we find by the communications of our plenipotentiaries,
that a temporary suspension of the act of the last session prohibiting
certain importations, would, as a mark of candid disposition
on our part, and of confidence in the temper and views
with which they have been met, have a happy effect on its
course. A step so friendly will afford further evidence that all
our proceedings have flowed from views of justice and conciliation,
and that we give them willingly that form which may
best meet corresponding dispositions.
Add to this, that the same motives which produced the postponement
of the act till the fifteenth of November last, are in
favor of its further suspension; and as we have reason to hope
that it may soon yield to arrangements of mutual consent and
convenience, justice seems to require that the same measure may
be dealt out to the few cases which may fall within its short
course, as to all others preceding and following it. I cannot,
therefore, but recommend the suspension of this act for a reasonable
time, on considerations of justice, amity, and the public
interests.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 22, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Agreeably to the request of the House of Representatives,
communicated in their resolution of the sixteenth instant, I proceed
to state under the reserve therein expressed, information received
touching an illegal combination of private individuals
against the peace and safety of the Union, and a military expedition
planned by them against the territories of a power in amity
with the United States, with the measures I have pursued for
suppressing the same.
I had for some time been in the constant expectation of receiving
such further information as would have enabled me to
lay before the legislature the termination as well as the beginning
and progress of this scene of depravity, so far as it has been
acted on the Ohio and its waters. From this the state and safety
of the lower country might have been estimated on probable
grounds, and the delay was indulged the rather, because no circumstance
had yet made it necessary to call in the aid of the
legislative functions. Information now recently communicated
has brought us nearly to the period contemplated. The mass of
what I have received, in the course of these transactions, is voluminous,
but little has been given under the sanction of an oath,
so as to constitute formal and legal evidence. It is chiefly in
the form of letters, often containing such a mixture of rumors,
conjectures, and suspicions, as render it difficult to sift out the
real facts, and unadvisable to hazard more than general outlines,
strengthened by concurrent information, or the particular credibility
of the relater. In this state of the evidence, delivered
sometimes too under the restriction of private confidence, neither
safety nor justice will permit the exposing names, except that
of the principal actor, whose guilt is placed beyond question.
Some time in the latter part of September, I received intimations
that designs were in agitation in the western country,
unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of the Union; and that
the prime mover in these was Aaron Burr, heretofore distinguished
by the favor of his country. The grounds of these
intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the
fidelity of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken
was to urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get
further insight into the designs and proceedings of the suspected
persons, and to communicate them to me.
It was not until the latter part of October, that the objects of
the conspiracy began to be perceived, but still so blended and
involved in mystery that nothing distinct could be singled out
for pursuit. In this state of uncertainty as to the crime contemplated,
the acts done, and the legal course to be pursued, I thought
it best to send to the scene where these things were principally
in transaction, a person, in whose integrity, understanding, and
discretion, entire confidence could be reposed, with instructions
to investigate the plots going on, to enter into conference (for
which he had sufficient credentials) with the governors and all
other officers, civil and military, and with their aid to do on the
spot whatever should be necessary to discover the designs of the
conspirators, arrest their means, bring their persons to punishment,
and to call out the force of the country to suppress any
unlawful enterprise in which it should be found they were engaged.
By this time it was known that many boats were under
preparation, stores of provisions collecting, and an unusual number
of suspicious characters in motion on the Ohio and its waters.
Besides despatching the confidential agent to that quarter, orders
were at the same time sent to the governors of the Orleans and
Mississippi territories, and to the commanders of the land and
naval forces there, to be on their guard against surprise, and in
constant readiness to resist any enterprise which might be attempted
on the vessels, posts, or other objects under their care;
and on the 8th of November, instructions were forwarded to
General Wilkinson to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish
commander on the Sabine, and as soon as that was effected,
to fall back with his principal force to the hither bank of the
Mississippi, for the defence of the intersecting points on that
river. By a letter received from that officer on the 25th of November,
but dated October 21st, we learn that a confidential
agent of Aaron Burr had been deputed to him, with communications
partly written in cipher and partly oral, explaining his designs,
exaggerating his resources, and making such offers of
emolument and command, to engage him and the army in his
unlawful enterprise, as he had flattered himself would be successful.
The general, with the honor of a soldier and fidelity
of a good citizen, immediately despatched a trusty officer to me
with information of what had passed, proceeding to establish
such an understanding with the Spanish commandant on the
Sabine as permitted him to withdraw his force across the Mississippi,
and to enter on measures for opposing the projected enterprise.
The general's letter, which came to hand on the 25th of November,
as has been mentioned, and some other information received
a few days earlier, when brought together, developed
Burr's general designs, different parts of which only had been
revealed to different informants. It appeared that he contemplated
two distinct objects, which might be carried on either
jointly or separately, and either the one or the other first, as circumstances
should direct. One of these was the severance of
the Union of these States by the Alleghany mountains; the
other, an attack on Mexico. A third object was provided, merely
ostensible, to wit: the settlement of a pretended purchase of a
tract of country on the Washita, claimed by a Baron Bastrop.
This was to serve as the pretext for all his preparations, an allurement
for such followers as really wished to acquire settlements
in that country, and a cover under which to retreat in the
event of final discomfiture of both branches of his real design.
He found at once that the attachment of the western country
to the present Union was not to be shaken; that its dissolution
could not be effected with the consent of its inhabitants, and
that his resources were inadequate, as yet, to effect it by force.
He took his course then at once, determined to seize on New
Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess himself of the military
and naval stores, and proceed on his expedition to Mexico; and
to this object all his means and preparations were now directed.
He collected from all the quarters where himself or his agents
possessed influence, all the ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected
persons who were ready for any enterprise analogous to
their characters. He seduced good and well-meaning citizens,
some by assurances that he possessed the confidence of the government
and was acting under its secret patronage, a pretence
which obtained some credit from the state of our differences
with Spain; and others by offers of land in Bastrop's claim on
the Washita.
This was the state of my information of his proceedings about
the last of November, at which time, therefore, it was first possible
to take specific measures to meet them. The proclamation
of November 27th, two days after the receipt of General Wilkinson's
information, was now issued. Orders were despatched
to every intersecting point on the Ohio and Mississippi, from
Pittsburg to New Orleans, for the employment of such force
either of the regulars or of the militia, and of such proceedings
also of the civil authorities, as might enable them to seize on
all the boats and stores provided for the enterprise, to arrest the
persons concerned, and to suppress effectually the further progress
of the enterprise. A little before the receipt of these orders
in the State of Ohio, our confidential agent, who had been
diligently employed in investigating the conspiracy, had acquired
sufficient information to open himself to the governor of
that State, and apply for the immediate exertion of the authority
and power of the State to crush the combination. Governor
Tiffin and the legislature, with a promptitude, an energy, and
patriotic zeal, which entitle them to a distinguished place in the
affection of their sister States, effected the seizure of all the
boats, provisions, and other preparations within their reach, and
thus gave a first blow, materially disabling the enterprise in its
outset.
In Kentucky, a premature attempt to bring Burr to justice,
without sufficient evidence for his conviction, had produced a
popular impression in his favor, and a general disbelief of his
guilt. This gave him an unfortunate opportunity of hastening
his equipments. The arrival of the proclamation and orders,
and the application and information of our confidential agent, at
length awakened the authorities of that State to the truth, and
then produced the same promptitude and energy of which the
neighboring State had set the example. Under an act of their
legislature of December 23d, militia was instantly ordered to
different important points, and measures taken for doing whatever
could yet be done. Some boats (accounts vary from five
to double or treble that number) and persons (differently estimated
from one to three hundred) had in the meantime passed
the falls of the Ohio, to rendezvous at the mouth of the Cumberland,
with others expected down that river.
Not apprized, till very late, that any boats were building on
Cumberland, the effect of the proclamation had been trusted to
for some time in the State of Tennessee; but on the 19th of
December, similar communications and instructions with those
of the neighboring States were despatched by express to the
governor, and a general officer of the western division of the
State, and on the 23d of December our confidential agent left
Frankfort for Nashville, to put into activity the means of that
State also. But by information received yesterday, I learn that
on the 22d of December, Mr. Burr descended the Cumberland
with two boats merely of accommodation, carrying with him
from that State no quota toward his unlawful enterprise. Whether
after the arrival of the proclamation, of the orders, or of our
agent, any exertion which could be made by that State, or the
orders of the governor of Kentucky for calling out the militia at
the mouth of Cumberland, would be in time to arrest these boats,
and those from the falls of the Ohio, is still doubtful.
On the whole, the fugitives from Ohio, with their associates
from Cumberland, or any other place in that quarter, cannot
threaten serious danger to the city of New Orleans.
By the same express of December nineteenth, orders were
sent to the governors of New Orleans and Mississippi, supplementary
to those which had been given on the twenty-fifth
of November, to hold the militia of their territories in readiness
to co-operate for their defence, with the regular troops and armed
vessels then under command of General Wilkinson. Great
alarm, indeed, was excited at New Orleans by the exaggerated
accounts of Mr. Burr, disseminated through his emissaries, of the
armies and navies he was to assemble there. General Wilkinson
had arrived there himself on the 24th of November, and had
immediately put into activity the resources of the place for the
purpose of its defence; and on the tenth of December he was
joined by his troops from the Sabine. Great zeal was shown
by the inhabitants generally, the merchants of the place readily
agreeing to the most laudable exertions and sacrifices for manning
the armed vessels with their seamen, and the other citizens
manifesting unequivocal fidelity to the Union, and a spirit of
determined resistance to their expected assailants.
Surmises have been hazarded that this enterprise is to receive
aid from certain foreign powers. But these surmises are without
proof or probability. The wisdom of the measures sanctioned
by Congress at its last session had placed us in the paths of peace
and justice with the only powers with whom we had any differences,
and nothing has happened since which makes it either
their interest or ours to pursue another course. No change of
measures has taken place on our part; none ought to take
place at this time. With the one, friendly arrangement was
then proposed, and the law deemed necessary on the failure of
that was suspended to give time for a fair trial of the issue.
With the same power, negotiation is still preferred, and provisional
measures only are necessary to meet the event of rupture.
While, therefore, we do not deflect in the slightest degree from
the course we then assumed, and are still pursuing, with mutual
consent, to restore a good understanding, we are not to impute
to them practices as irreconcilable to interest as to good faith,
and changing necessarily the relations of peace and justice between
us to those of war. These surmises are, therefore, to be
imputed to the vauntings of the author of this enterprise, to
multiply his partisans by magnifying the belief of his prospects
and support.
By letters from General Wilkinson, of the 14th and 18th of
September, which came to hand two days after date of the resolution
of the House of Representatives, that is to say, on the
morning of the 18th instant, I received the important affidavit, a
copy of which I now communicate, with extracts of so much of
the letters as come within the scope of the resolution. By these
it will be seen that of three of the principal emissaries of Mr.
Burr, whom the general had caused to be apprehended, one had
been liberated by _habeas corpus_, and the two others, being those
particularly employed in the endeavor to corrupt the general and
army of the United States, have been embarked by him for our
ports in the Atlantic States, probably on the consideration that
an impartial trial could not be expected during the present agitations
of New Orleans, and that that city was not as yet a safe
place of confinement. As soon as these persons shall arrive,
they will be delivered to the custody of the law, and left to such
course of trial, both as to place and process, as its functionaries
may direct. The presence of the highest judicial authorities,
to be assembled at this place within a few days, the means of
pursuing a sounder course of proceedings here than elsewhere,
and the aid of the executive means, should the judges have occasion
to use them, render it equally desirable for the criminals
as for the public, that being already removed from the place
where they were first apprehended, the first regular arrest should
take place here, and the course of proceedings receive here its
proper direction.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 28, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
By the letters of Captain Bissel, who commands at Fort Massac,
and of Mr. Murrell, to General Jackson, of Tennessee, copies
of which are now communicated to Congress, it will be seen that
Aaron Burr passed Fort Massac on the 31st December, with
about ten boats, navigated by about six hands each, without any
military appearance, and that three boats with ammunition were
said to have been arrested by the militia at Louisville.
As the guards of militia posted on various points on the Ohio
will be able to prevent any further aids passing through that
channel, should any be attempted, we may now estimate, with
tolerable certainty, the means derived from the Ohio and its waters,
toward the accomplishment of the purposes of Mr. Burr.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 31, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In execution of the act of the last session of Congress, entitled,
"An act to regulate the laying out and making a road from
Cumberland, in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio," I
appointed Thomas Moore, of Maryland, Joseph Kerr, of Ohio,
and Eli Williams, of Maryland, commissioners to lay out the said
road, and to perform the other duties assigned to them by the
act. The progress which they made in the execution of the
work, during the last session, will appear in their report, now
communicated to Congress. On the receipt of it, I took measures
to obtain consent for making the road, of the States of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, through which the commissioners
proposed to lay it out. I have received acts of the legislatures
of Maryland and Virginia, giving the consent desired; that
of Pennsylvania has the subject still under consideration, as is
supposed. Until I receive full consent to a free choice of route
through the whole distance, I have thought it safest neither to
accept, nor reject, finally, the partial report of the commissioners.
Some matters suggested in the report belong exclusively to the
legislature.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 10, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives,
expressed in their resolution of the 5th instant, I proceed to give
such information as is possessed, of the effect of gun-boats in the
protection and defense of harbors, of the numbers thought necessary,
and of the proposed distribution of them among the ports
and harbors of the United States.
Under the present circumstances, and governed by the intentions
of the legislature, as manifested by their annual appropriations
of money for the purposes of defence, it has been concluded
to combine--1st, land batteries, furnished with heavy cannon
and mortars, and established on all the points around the place
favorable for preventing vessels from lying before it; 2d, movable
artillery which may be carried, as an occasion may require,
to points unprovided with fixed batteries; 3d, floating batteries;
and 4th, gun-boats, which may oppose an enemy at its entrance
and co-operate with the batteries for his expulsion.
On this subject professional men were consulted as far as we
had opportunity. General Wilkinson, and the late General Gates,
gave their opinions in writing, in favor of the system, as will be
seen by their letters now communicated. The higher officers of
the navy gave the same opinions in separate conferences, as their
presence at the seat of government offered occasions of consulting
them, and no difference of judgment appeared on the subjects.
Those of Commodore Barron and Captain Tingey, now
here, are recently furnished in writing, and transmitted herewith
to the legislature.
The efficacy of gun-boats for the defence of harbors, and of
other smooth and enclosed waters, may be estimated in part from
that of galleys, formerly much used, but less powerful, more costly
in their construction and maintenance, and requiring more
men. But the gun-boat itself is believed to be in use with every
modern maritime nation for the purpose of defence. In the Mediterranean,
on which are several small powers, whose system like
ours is peace and defence, few harbors are without this article of
protection. Our own experience there of the effect of gun-boats
for harbor service, is recent. Algiers is particularly known to
have owed to a great provision of these vessels the safety of its
city, since the epoch of their construction. Before that it had
been repeatedly insulted and injured. The effect of gun-boats
at present in the neighborhood of Gibraltar, is well known, and
how much they were used both in the attack and defence of that
place during a former war. The extensive resort to them by
the two greatest naval powers in the world, on an enterprise of
invasion not long since in prospect, shows their confidence in
their efficacy for the purposes for which they are suited. By the
northern powers of Europe, whose seas are particularly adapted
to them, they are still more used. The remarkable action between
the Russian flotilla of gun-boats and galleys, and a Turkish
fleet of ships-of-the-line and frigates, in the Liman sea, 1788,
will be readily recollected. The latter, commanded by their
most celebrated admiral, were completely defeated, and several
of their ships-of-the-line destroyed.
From the opinions given as to the number of gun-boats necessary
for some of the principal seaports, and from a view of all the
towns and ports from Orleans to Maine inclusive, entitled to protection,
in proportion to their situation and circumstances, it is
concluded, that to give them a due measure of protection in time
of war, about two hundred gun-boats will be requisite. According
to first ideas, the following would be their general distribution,
liable to be varied on more mature examination, and as circumstances
shall vary, that is to say:--
To the Mississippi and its neighboring waters, forty gun-boats.
To Savannah and Charleston, and the harbors on each side,
from St. Mary's to Currituck, twenty-five.
To the Chesapeake and its waters, twenty.
To Delaware bay and river, fifteen.
To New York, the Sound, and waters as far as Cape Cod,
fifty.
To Boston and the harbors north of Cape Cod, fifty.
The flotilla assigned to these several stations, might each be
under the care of a particular commandant, and the vessels
composing them would, in ordinary, be distributed among the
harbors within the station in proportion to their importance.
Of these boats a proper proportion would be of the larger size,
such as those heretofore built, capable of navigating any seas,
and of reinforcing occasionally the strength of even the most
distant port when menaced with danger. The residue would be
confined to their own or the neighboring harbors, would be
smaller, less furnished for accommodation, and consequently less
costly. Of the number supposed necessary, seventy-three are
built or building, and the hundred and twenty-seven still to be
provided, would cost from five to six hundred thousand dollars.
Having regard to the convenience of the treasury, as well as to
the resources of building, it has been thought that one half of
these might be built in the present year, and the other year the
next. With the legislature, however, it will rest to stop where
we are, or at any further point, when they shall be of opinion
that the number provided shall be sufficient for the object.
At times when Europe as well as the United States shall be at
peace, it would not be proposed that more than six or eight of
these vessels should be kept afloat. When Europe is in war,
treble that number might be necessary to be distributed among
those particular harbors which foreign vessels of war are in the
habit of frequenting, for the purpose of preserving order therein.
But they would be manned, in ordinary, with only their complement
for navigation, relying on the seamen and militia of the
port if called into action on sudden emergency. It would be
only when the United States should themselves be at war, that
the whole number would be brought into actual service, and
would be ready in the first moments of the war to co-operate
with other means for covering at once the line of our seaports.
At all times, those unemployed would be withdrawn into places
not exposed to sudden enterprise, hauled up under sheds from
the sun and weather, and kept in preservation with little expense
for repairs or maintenance.
It must be superfluous to observe, that this species of naval
armament is proposed merely for defensive operation; that it can
have but little effect toward protecting our commerce in the open
seas even on our coast; and still less can it become an excitement
to engage in offensive maritime war, toward which it
would furnish no means.
SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--OCTOBER 27, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Circumstances, fellow citizens, which seriously threatened the
peace of our country, have made it a duty to convene you at an
earlier period than usual. The love of peace, so much cherished
in the bosoms of our citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings
of the public councils, and induced forbearance under
so many wrongs, may not insure our continuance in the quiet
pursuits of industry. The many injuries and depredations committed
on our commerce and navigation upon the high seas for
years past, the successive innovations on those principles of public
law which have been established by the reason and usage of
nations as the rule of their intercourse, and the umpire and security
of their rights and peace, and all the circumstances which
induced the extraordinary mission to London, are already known
to you. The instructions given to our ministers were framed in
the sincerest spirit of amity and moderation. They accordingly
proceeded, in conformity therewith, to propose arrangements
which might embrace and settle all the points in difference between
us, which might bring us to a mutual understanding on
our neutral and national rights, and provide for a commercial intercourse
on conditions of some equality. After long and fruitless
endeavors to effect the purposes of their mission, and to obtain
arrangements within the limits of their instructions, they
concluded to sign such as could be obtained, and to send them
for consideration, candidly declaring to the other negotiators, at
the same time, that they were acting against their instructions,
and that their government, therefore, could not be pledged for
ratification. Some of the articles proposed might have been admitted
on a principle of compromise, but others were too highly
disadvantageous, and no sufficient provision was made against
the principal source of the irritations and collisions which were
constantly endangering the peace of the two nations. The
question, therefore, whether a treaty should be accepted in that
form could have admitted but of one decision, even had no
declarations of the other party impaired our confidence in it.
Still anxious not to close the door against friendly adjustment,
new modifications were framed, and further concessions authorized
than could before have been supposed necessary; and our
ministers were instructed to resume their negotiations on these
grounds. On this new reference to amicable discussion, we
were reposing in confidence, when on the 22d day of June last,
by a formal order from the British admiral, the frigate Chesapeake,
leaving her port for distant service, was attacked by one
of those vessels which had been lying in our harbors under the
indulgences of hospitality, was disabled from proceeding, had
several of her crew killed, and four taken away. On this outrage
no commentaries are necessary. Its character has been
pronounced by the indignant voice of our citizens with an emphasis
and unanimity never exceeded. I immediately, by proclamation,
interdicted our harbors and waters to all British armed
vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and uncertain how far
hostilities were intended, and the town of Norfolk, indeed, being
threatened with immediate attack, a sufficient force was ordered
for the protection of that place, and such other preparations
commenced and pursued as the prospect rendered proper. An
armed vessel of the United States was despatched with instructions
to our ministers at London to call on that government for
the satisfaction and security required by the outrage. A very
short interval ought now to bring the answer, which shall be
communicated to you as soon as received; then also, or as soon
after as the public interests shall be found to admit, the unratified
treaty, and the proceedings relative to it, shall be made
known to you.
The aggression thus begun has been continued on the part
of the British commanders, by remaining within our waters, in
defiance of the authority of the country, by habitual violations
of its jurisdiction, and at length by putting to death one of the
persons whom they had forcibly taken from on board the Chesapeake.
These aggravations necessarily lead to the policy, either
of never admitting an armed vessel into our harbors, or of maintaining
in every harbor such an armed force as may constrain
obedience to the laws, and protect the lives and property of our
citizens, against their armed guests. But the expense of such a
standing force, and its inconsistence with our principles, dispense
with those courtesies which would necessarily call for it, and
leave us equally free to exclude the navy, as we are the army
of a foreign power, from entering our limits.
To former violations of maritime rights, another is now added
of very extensive effect. The government of that nation has
issued an order interdicting all trade by neutrals between ports
not in amity with them; and being now at war with nearly
every nation on the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, our vessels
are required to sacrifice their cargoes at the first port they touch,
or to return home without the benefit of going to any other market.
Under this new law of the ocean, our trade on the Mediterranean
has been swept away by seizures and condemnations,
and that in other seas is threatened with the same fate.
Our differences with Spain remain still unsettled; no measure
having been taken on her part, since my last communication to
Congress, to bring them to a close. But under a state of things
which may favor a reconsideration, they have been recently
pressed, and an expectation is entertained that they may now
soon be brought to an issue of some sort. With their subjects
on our borders, no new collisions have taken place nor seem
immediately to be apprehended. To our former grounds of complaint
has been added a very serious one, as you will see by the
decree, a copy of which is now communicated. Whether this
decree, which professes to be conformable to that of the French
government of November 21st, 1806, heretofore communicated
to Congress, will also be conformed to that in its construction
and application in relation to the United States, had not been
ascertained at the date of our last communications. These,
however, gave reason to expect such a conformity.
With the other nations of Europe our harmony has been uninterrupted,
and commerce and friendly intercourse have been
maintained on their usual footing.
Our peace with the several States on the coast of Barbary appears
as firm as at any former period, and is as likely to continue
as that of any other nation.
Among our Indian neighbors in the north-western quarter,
some fermentation was observed soon after the late occurrences,
threatening the continuance of our peace. Messages were said
to be interchanged, and tokens to be passing, which usually denote
a state of restlessness among them, and the character of the
agitators pointed to the sources of excitement. Measures were
immediately taken for providing against that danger; instructions
were given to require explanations, and with assurances of our
continued friendship, to admonish the tribes to remain quiet at
home, taking no part in quarrels not belonging to them. As far
as we are yet informed, the tribes in our vicinity, who are most
advanced in the pursuits of industry, are sincerely disposed to
adhere to their friendship with us, and to their peace with all
others; while those more remote do not present appearances sufficiently
quiet to justify the intermission of military precaution
on our part.
The great tribes on our south-western quarter, much advanced
beyond the others in agriculture and household arts, appear tranquil,
and identifying their views with ours, in proportion to their
advancement. With the whole of these people, in every quarter,
I shall continue to inculcate peace and friendship with all their
neighbors, and perseverance in those occupations and pursuits
which will best promote their own well-being.
The appropriations of the last session, for the defence of our
seaport towns and harbors, were made under expectation that a
continuance of our peace would permit us to proceed in that
work according to our convenience. It has been thought better
to apply the sums then given, toward the defence of New York,
Charleston, and New Orleans chiefly, as most open and most
likely first to need protection; and to leave places less immediately
in danger to the provisions of the present session.
The gun-boats, too, already provided, have on a like principle
been chiefly assigned to New York, New Orleans, and the Chesapeake.
Whether our movable force on the water, so material
in aid of the defensive works on the land, should be augmented
in this or any other form, is left to the wisdom of the legislature.
For the purpose of manning these vessels in sudden attacks on
our harbors, it is a matter for consideration, whether the seamen
of the United States may not justly be formed into a special
militia, to be called on for tours of duty in defence of the harbors
where they shall happen to be; the ordinary militia of the place
furnishing that portion which may consist of landsmen.
The moment our peace was threatened, I deemed it indispensable
to secure a greater provision of those articles of military
stores with which our magazines were not sufficiently furnished.
To have awaited a previous and special sanction by law would
have lost occasions which might not be retrieved. I did not
hesitate, therefore, to authorize engagements for such supplements
to our existing stock as would render it adequate to the emergencies
threatening us; and I trust that the legislature, feeling
the same anxiety for the safety of our country, so materially advanced
by this precaution, will approve, when done, what they
would have seen so important to be done if then assembled.
Expenses, also unprovided for, arose out of the necessity of calling
all our gun-boats into actual service for the defence of our
harbors; of all which accounts will be laid before you.
Whether a regular army is to be raised, and to what extent,
must depend on the information so shortly expected. In the
meantime, I have called on the States for quotas of militia, to
be in readiness for present defence; and have, moreover, encouraged
the acceptance of volunteers; and I am happy to inform
you that these have offered themselves with great alacrity in
every part of the Union. They are ordered to be organized, and
ready at a moment's warning to proceed on any service to which
they may be called, and every preparation within the executive
powers has been made to insure us the benefit of early exertions.
I informed Congress at their last session of the enterprises
against the public peace, which were believed to be in preparation
by Aaron Burr and his associates, of the measures taken to
defeat them, and to bring the offenders to justice. Their enterprises
were happily defeated by the patriotic exertions of the
militia wherever called into action, by the fidelity of the army,
and energy of the commander-in-chief in promptly arranging
the difficulties presenting themselves on the Sabine, repairing to
meet those arising on the Mississippi, and dissipating, before their
explosion, plots engendering there. I shall think it my duty to
lay before you the proceedings and the evidence publicly exhibited
on the arraignment of the principal offenders before the
circuit court of Virginia. You will be enabled to judge whether
the defeat was in the testimony, in the law, or in the administration
of the law; and wherever it shall be found, the legislature
alone can apply or originate the remedy. The framers of
our constitution certainly supposed they had guarded, as well
their government against destruction by treason, as their citizens
against oppression, under pretence of it; and if these ends are
not attained, it is of importance to inquire by what means, more
effectual, they may be secured.
The accounts of the receipts of revenue, during the year ending
on the thirtieth day of September last, being not yet made
up, a correct statement will be hereafter transmitted from the
treasury. In the meantime, it is ascertained that the receipts
have amounted to near sixteen millions of dollars, which, with
the five millions and a half in the treasury at the beginning of
the year, have enabled us, after meeting the current demands
and interest incurred, to pay more than four millions of the
principal of our funded debt. These payments, with those of
the preceding five and a half years, have extinguished of the
funded debt twenty-five millions and a half of dollars, being the
whole which could be paid or purchased within the limits of
the law and of our contracts, and have left us in the treasury
eight millions and a half of dollars. A portion of this sum may
be considered as a commencement of accumulation of the surpluses
of revenue, which, after paying the instalments of debts
as they shall become payable, will remain without any specific
object. It may partly, indeed, be applied toward completing the
defence of the exposed points of our country, on such a scale as
shall be adapted to our principles and circumstances. This object
is doubtless among the first entitled to attention, in such a
state of our finances, and it is one which, whether we have
peace or war, will provide security where it is due. Whether
what shall remain of this, with the future surpluses, may be
usefully applied to purposes already authorized, or more usefully
to others requiring new authorities, or how otherwise they shall
be disposed of, are questions calling for the notice of Congress,
unless indeed they shall be superseded by a change in our public
relations now awaiting the determination of others. Whatever
be that determination, it is a great consolation that it will become
known at a moment when the supreme council of the nation is
assembled at its post, and ready to give the aids of its wisdom
and authority to whatever course the good of our country shall
then call us to pursue.
Matters of minor importance will be the subjects of future
communications; and nothing shall be wanting on my part
which may give information or despatch to the proceedings of
the legislature in the exercise of their high duties, and at a moment
so interesting to the public welfare.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 23, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Agreeably to the assurance in my message at the opening of
the present session of Congress, I now lay before you a copy of
the proceedings, and of the evidence exhibited on the arraignment
of Aaron Burr, and others, before the circuit court of the
United States, held in Virginia, in the course of the present year,
in as authentic form as their several parts have admitted.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 18, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The communications now made, showing the great and increasing
dangers with which our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise,
are threatened on the high seas and elsewhere, from
the belligerent powers of Europe, and it being of great importance
to keep in safety these essential resources, I deem it my
duty to recommend the subject to the consideration of Congress,
who will doubtless perceive all the advantages which may be
expected from an inhibition of the departure of our vessels from
the ports of the United States.
Their wisdom will also see the necessity of making every
preparation for whatever events may grow out of the present
crisis.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 20, 1808.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:--
Some days previous to your resolution of the 13th instant, a
court of inquiry had been instituted at the request of General
Wilkinson, charged to make the inquiry into his conduct which
the first resolution desires, and had commenced their proceedings.
To the judge-advocate of that court the papers and information
on that subject, transmitted to me by the House of Representatives,
have been delivered, to be used according to the rules and
powers of that court.
The request of a communication of any information, which
may have been received at any time since the establishment of
the present government, touching combinations with foreign nations
for dismembering the Union, or the corrupt receipt of
money by any officer of the United States from the agents of
foreign governments, can be complied with but in a partial degree.
It is well understood that, in the first or second year of the
presidency of General Washington, information was given to him
relating to certain combinations with the agents of a foreign government
for the dismemberment of the Union; which combinations
had taken place before the establishment of the present
federal government. This information, however, is believed
never to have been deposited in any public office, or left in that
of the president's secretary, these having been duly examined,
but to have been considered as personally confidential, and, therefore,
retained among his private papers. A communication from
the governor of Virginia to General Washington, is found in the
office of the president's secretary, which, although not strictly
within the terms of the request of the House of Representatives,
is communicated, inasmuch as it may throw some light on the
subjects of the correspondence of that time, between certain foreign
agents and citizens of the United States.
In the first or second year of the administration of President
Adams, Andrew Ellicott, then employed in designating, in conjunction
with the Spanish authorities, the boundaries between
the territories of the United States and Spain, under the treaty
with that nation, communicated to the executive of the United
States papers and information respecting the subjects of the present
inquiry, which were deposited in the office of State. Copies
of these are now transmitted to the House of Representatives,
except of a single letter and a reference from the said Andrew
Ellicott, which being expressly desired to be kept secret, is therefore
not communicated, but its contents can be obtained from
himself in a more legal form, and directions have been given to
summon him to appear as a witness before the court of inquiry.
A paper "on the commerce of Louisiana," bearing date of the
18th of April, 1798, is found in the office of State, supposed to
have been communicated by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans,
then a subject of Spain, and now of the House of Representatives
of the United States, stating certain commercial transactions
of General Wilkinson, in New Orleans; an extract from this is
now communicated, because it contains facts which may have
some bearing on the questions relating to him.
The destruction of the war-office, by fire, in the close of 1800,
involved all information it contained at that date.
The papers already described, therefore, constitute the whole
information on the subjects, deposited in the public offices, during
the preceding administrations, as far as has yet been found; but
it cannot be affirmed that there may be no others, because, the
papers of the office being filed, for the most part, alphabetically,
unless aided by the suggestion of any particular name which may
have given such information, nothing short of a careful examination
of the papers in the offices generally, could authorize such
affirmation.
About a twelvemonth after I came to the administration of the
government, Mr. Clark gave some verbal information to myself,
as well as to the Secretary of State, relating to the same combinations
for the dismemberment of the Union. He was listened
to freely, and he then delivered the letter of Governor Gagoso,
addressed to himself, of which a copy is now communicated.
After his return to New Orleans, he forwarded to the Secretary
of State other papers, with a request that, after perusal, they
should be burned. This, however, was not done, and he was
so informed by the Secretary of State, and that they would be
held subject to his order. These papers have not yet been found
in the office. A letter, therefore, has been addressed to the former
chief clerk, who may, perhaps, give information respecting them.
As far as our memories enables us to say, they related only to
the combinations before spoken of, and not at all to the corrupt
receipt of money by any officer of the United States; consequently,
they respected what was considered as a dead matter, known
to the preceding administrations, and offering nothing new to
call for investigations, which those nearest the dates of the transactions
had not thought proper to institute.
In the course of the communications made to me on the subject
of the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, I sometimes received letters,
some of them anonymous, some under names true or false, expressing
suspicions and insinuations against General Wilkinson.
But one only of them, and that anonymous, specified any particular
fact, and that fact was one of those which had already been
communicated to a former administration.
No other information within the purview of the request of the
house is known to have been received by any department of the
government from the establishment of the present federal government.
That which has recently been communicated to the
House of Representatives, and by them to me, is the first direct
testimony ever made known to me, charging General Wilkinson
with the corrupt receipt of money; and the House of Representatives
may be assured that the duties which this information devolves
on me shall be exercised with rigorous impartiality.
Should any want of power in the court to compel the rendering
of testimony, obstruct that full and impartial inquiry, which
alone can establish guilt or innocence, and satisfy justice, the
legislative authority only will be competent to the remedy.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The Choctaws being indebted to their merchants beyond what
could be discharged by the ordinary proceeds of their huntings,
and pressed for payment, proposed to the United States to cede
lands to the amount of their debts, and designated them in two
different portions of their country. These designations not at all
suiting us, were declined. Still, urged by their creditors, as well
as their own desire to be liberated from debt, they at length proposed
to make a cession which should be to our convenience.
By a treaty signed at Pooshapakonuk, on the 16th November,
1805, they accordingly ceded all their lands south of a line to be
run from their and our boundary at the Omochita, eastwardly to
their boundary with the Creeks on the ridge between the Tombigbee
and Alabama, as is more particularly described in the
treaty, containing about five millions of acres, as is supposed,
and uniting our possessions there from Adams to Washington
county.
The location contemplated in the instructions to the commissioners
was on the Mississippi. That in the treaty being entirely
different, I was, at that time, disinclined to its ratification, and
have suffered it to be unacted on. But progressive difficulties in
our foreign relations have brought into view considerations others
than those which then prevailed. It is perhaps now as interesting
to obtain footing for a strong settlement of militia along our
southern frontier, eastward of the Mississippi, as on the west of
that river, and more so than higher up the river itself. The consolidation
of the Mississippi territory, and the establishment of a
barrier of separation between the Indians and our southern neighbors,
are also important objects; and the Choctaws and their
creditors being still anxious that the sale should be made, I submitted
the treaty to the Senate, who have advised and consented
to its ratification. I, therefore, now lay it before both houses
of Congress for the exercise of their constitutional powers as to
the means of fulfilling it.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The posts of Detroit and Mackinac, having been originally
intended by the governments which established and held them,
as mere depôts for the commerce with the Indians, very small
cessions of land around were obtained or asked from the native
proprietors, and these posts depended for protection on the
strength of their garrisons. The principle of our government
leading us to the employment of such moderate garrisons in time
of peace, as may merely take care of the post, and to a reliance
on the neighboring militia for its support in the first moments
of war, I have thought it would be important to obtain from the
Indians such a cession of the neighborhood of these posts as
might maintain a militia proportioned to this object; and I have
particularly contemplated, with this view, the acquisition of the
eastern moiety of the peninsula between the lakes Huron,
Michigan, and Erie, extending it to the Connecticut reserve, so
soon as it could be effected with the perfect good will of the natives.
By a treaty concluded at Detroit, on the 17th of November
last, with the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawatomies,
so much of this country has been obtained as extends from
about Saguina bay southwardly to the Miami of the lakes, supposed
to contain upward of five millions of acres, with a prospect
of obtaining, for the present, a breadth of two miles for a
communication from the Miami to the Connecticut reserve.
The Senate having advised and consented to the ratification
of this treaty, I now lay it before both houses of Congress for
the exercise of their constitutional powers as to the means of
fulfilling it.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 2, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Having received an official communication of certain orders
of the British government against the maritime rights of neutrals,
bearing date of the 11th of November, 1807, I transmitted to
Congress, as a further proof of the increasing dangers to our navigation
and commerce which led to the provident measures of
the present session, laying an embargo on our own vessels.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 4, 1808.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:--
In my message, January 20th, I stated that some papers forwarded
by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, to the Secretary
of State, in 1803, had not then been found in the office of State;
and that a letter had been addressed to the former chief clerk, in
the hope that he might advise where they should be sought for.
By indications received from him they are now found. Among
them are two letters from the Baron de Carondelet to an officer
serving under him at a separate post, in which his views of a dismemberment
of our Union are expressed. Extracts of so much
of these letters as are within the scope of the resolutions of the
house, are now communicated. With these were found the letters
from Mr. Clark, to the Secretary of State, in 1803. A part
of one only of these relates to this subject, and is extracted and
enclosed for the information of the house. In no part of the
papers communicated by Mr. Clark, which are voluminous, and
in different languages, nor in his letters, have we found any intimation
of the corrupt receipt of money by any officer of the
United States from any foreign nation. As to the combinations
with foreign agents for the dismemberment of the Union, these
papers and letters offer nothing which was not probably known
to my predecessors, or which could call anew for inquiries, which
they had not thought necessary to institute, when the facts were
recent and could be better proved. They probably believed it
best to let pass into oblivion transactions, which, however culpable,
had commenced before this government existed, and had
been finally extinguished by the treaty of 1795.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 9, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I communicate to Congress, for their information, a letter from
the person acting in the absence of our consul at Naples, giving
reason to believe, on the affidavit of a Captain Sheffield of the
American schooner Mary Ann, that the dey of Algiers had commenced
war against the United States. For this no just cause
has been given on our part within my knowledge. We may
daily expect more authentic and particular information on the
subject from Mr. Lear, who was residing as our consul at Algiers.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 15, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I communicate for the information of Congress a letter from the
consul of the United States at Malaga, to the Secretary of State,
covering one from Mr. Lear, our consul at Algiers, which gives
information, that the rupture threatened on the part of the dey
of Algiers has been amicably settled, and the vessels seized by
him are liberated.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 19, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, having,
by their several acts, consented that the road from Cumberland
to the State of Ohio, authorized by the act of Congress of the
29th March, 1806, should pass through those States, and the report
of the commissioners communicated to Congress with my
message of the 31st January, 1807, having been duly considered,
I have approved of the route therein proposed for the said road,
as far as Brownsville, with a single deviation since located, which
carries it through Uniontown.
From thence the course of the Ohio, and the point within the
legal limits at which it shall strike that river, is still to be decided.
In forming this decision, I shall pay material regard to
the interests and wishes of the populous part of the State of
Ohio, and to a future and convenient connection with the road
which is to lead from the Indian boundary near Cincinnati, by
Vincennes to the Mississippi, at St. Louis, under authority of the
act, 21st April, 1806. In this way we may accomplish a continued
and advantageous line of communication from the seat
of the general government to St. Louis, passing through several
very interesting points of the western country.
I have thought it advisable also to secure from obliteration the
trace of the road so far as it has been approved, which has been
executed at such considerable expense, by opening one half of
its breadth through its whole length.
The report of the commissioners, herewith transmitted, will
give particular information of their proceedings, under the act of
the 29th March, 1806, since the date of my message of the 31st
January, 1807, and will enable Congress to adopt further measures
relative thereto, as they may deem proper under existing circumstances.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 25, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The dangers of our country, arising from the contests of other
nations and the urgency of making preparation for whatever
events might affect our relations with them, have been intimated
in preceding messages to Congress. To secure ourselves by due
precautions, an augmentation of our military force, as well regular
as of volunteer militia, seems to be expedient. The precise
extent of that augmentation cannot as yet be satisfactorily suggested,
but that no time may be lost, and especially at a season
deemed favorable to the object, I submit to the wisdom of the
legislature whether they will authorize a commencement of this
precautionary work by a present provision for raising and organizing
some additional force; reserving to themselves to decide
its ultimate extent on such views of our situation as I may
be enabled to present at a future day of the session.
If an increase of force be now approved, I submit to their consideration
the outlines of a plan proposed in the enclosed letter
from the Secretary of War.
I recommend, also, to the attention of Congress, the term at
which the act of April 18th, 1806, concerning the militia, will
expire, and the effect of that expiration.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 7, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In the city of New Orleans, and adjacent to it, are sundry
parcels of ground, some of them with buildings and other improvements
on them, which it is my duty to present to the attention
of the legislature. The title to those grounds appear to
have been retained in the former sovereigns of the province of
Louisiana, as public fiduciaries, and for the purposes of the province.
Some of them were used for the residence of the governor,
for public offices, hospitals, barracks, magazines, fortifications,
levees, &c., others for the townhouse, schools, markets,
landings, and other purposes of the city of New Orleans; some
were held by religious corporations or persons; others seem to
have been reserved for future disposition. To these must be
added a parcel called the Batture, which requires more particular
description. It is understood to have been a shoal or elevation
of the bottom of the river, adjacent to the bank of the suburbs
of St. Mary, produced by the successive depositions of mud during
the annual inundations of the river, and covered with water
only during those inundations. At all other seasons it has been
used by the city, immemorially to furnish earth for raising their
streets and courtyards, for mortar, and other necessary purposes,
and as a landing or quay for unlading firewood, lumber, and other
articles brought by water. This having been lately claimed
by a private individual, the city opposed the claim on a supposed
legal title in itself; but it has been adjudged that the legal title
was not in the city. It is, however, alleged that that title, originally
in the former sovereigns, was never parted with by them,
but was retained in them for the uses of the city and province,
and consequently has now passed over to the United States.
Until this question can be decided under legislative authority,
measures have been taken, according to law, to prevent any
change in the state of things, and to keep the grounds clear of
intruders. The settlement of this title, the appropriations of
the grounds and improvements formerly occupied for provincial
purposes to the same or such other objects as may be better suited
to present circumstances; the confirmation of the uses in other
parcels to such bodies, corporate or private, as may of right, or
other reasonable considerations, expect them, are matters now
submitted to the legislature.
The papers and plans now transmitted, will give them such
information on the subject as I possess, and being mostly originals,
I must request that they may be communicated from the one
to the other house to answer the purposes of both.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 17, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I have heretofore communicated to Congress the decrees of the
government of France, of November 21st, 1806, and of Spain,
February 19th, 1807, with the orders of the British government,
of January and November, 1807.
I now transmit a decree of the Emperor of France, of December
17th, 1807, and a similar decree of the 3d January last, by
his Catholic Majesty. Although the decree of France has not
been received by official communication, yet the different channels
of promulgation through which the public are possessed of
it, with the formal testimony furnished by the government of
Spain, in their decree, leave us without a doubt that such a one
has been issued. These decrees and orders, taken together, want
little of amounting to a declaration that every neutral vessel found
on the high seas, whatsoever be her cargo, and whatsoever foreign
port be that of her departure or destination, shall be deemed
lawful prize; and they prove, more and more, the expediency of
retaining our vessels, our seamen, and property, within our own
harbors, until the dangers to which they are exposed can be removed
or lessened.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 18, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:
The scale on which the military academy at West Point was
originally established, is become too limited to furnish the number
of well-instructed subjects in the different branches of artillery
and engineering which the public service calls for. The want
of such characters is already sensibly felt, and will be increased
with the enlargement of our plans of military preparation. The
chief engineer having been instructed to consider the subject,
and to propose an augmentation which might render the establishment
commensurate with the present circumstances of our
country, has made the report I now transmit for the consideration
of Congress.
The idea suggested by him of removing the institution to this
place, is also worthy of attention. Beside the advantage of
placing it under the immediate eye of the government, it may
render its benefits common to the naval department, and will
furnish opportunities of selecting on better information, the characters
most qualified to fulfil the duties which the public service
may call for.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 22, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
At the opening of the present session I informed the legislature
that the measures which had been taken with the government
of Great Britain for the settlement of our neutral and national
rights, and of the conditions of commercial intercourse
with that nation, had resulted in articles of a treaty which could
not be acceded to on our part; that instructions had consequently
been sent to our ministers there to resume the negotiations,
and to endeavor to obtain certain alterations; and that this was
interrupted by the transaction which took place between the
frigates Leopard and Chesapeake. The call on that government
for reparation of this wrong produced, as Congress have already
been informed, the mission of a special minister to this country,
and the occasion is now arrived when the public interest permits
and requires that the whole of these proceedings should be made
known to you.
I therefore now communicate the instructions given to our
minister resident at London, and his communications to that government
on the subject of the Chesapeake, with the correspondence
which has taken place here between the Secretary of State
and Mr. Rose, the special minister charged with the adjustment
of that difference; the instructions to our ministers for the formation
of a treaty; their correspondence with the British commissioners
and with their own government on that subject; the
treaty itself, and written declaration of the British commissioners
accompanying it, and the instructions given by us for resuming
the negotiations, with the proceedings and correspondence subsequent
thereto. To these I have added a letter lately addressed
to the Secretary of State from one of our late ministers, which,
though not strictly written in an official character, I think it my
duty to communicate, in order that his views of the proposed
treaty and its several articles may be fairly presented and understood.
Although I have heretofore and from time to time made such
communications to Congress as to keep them possessed of a general
and just view of the proceedings and dispositions of the government
of France toward this country, yet, in our present critical
situation, when we find no conduct on our part, however impartial
and friendly, has been sufficient to insure from either belligerent
a just respect for our rights, I am desirous that nothing
shall be omitted on my part which may add to your information
on this subject, or contribute to the correctness of the views
which should be formed. The papers which for these reasons
I now lay before you embrace all the communications, official or
verbal, from the French government, respecting the general relations
between the two countries which have been transmitted
through our minister there, or through any other accredited
channel, since the last session of Congress, to which time all information
of the same kind had from time to time been given
them. Some of these papers have already been submitted to
Congress; but it is thought better to offer them again, in order
that the chain of communications, of which they make a part,
may be presented unbroken.
When, on the 26th of February, I communicated to both
houses the letter of General Armstrong to M. Champagny, I desired
it might not be published, because of the tendency of that
practice to restrain injuriously the freedom of our foreign correspondence.
But perceiving that this caution, proceeding purely
from a regard for the public good, has furnished occasion for
disseminating unfounded suspicions and insinuations, I am induced
to believe that the good which will now result from its
publication, by confirming the confidence and union of our fellow
citizens, will more than countervail the ordinary objection to
such publications. It is my wish, therefore, that it may be now
published.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 8, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
It would have been a source, fellow citizens, of much gratification,
if our last communications from Europe had enabled me
to inform you that the belligerent nations, whose disregard of
neutral rights has been so destructive to our commerce, had become
awakened to the duty and true policy of revoking their
unrighteous edicts. That no means might be omitted to produce
this salutary effect, I lost no time in availing myself of the act
authorizing a suspension, in whole or in part, of the several embargo
laws. Our ministers at London and Paris were instructed
to explain to the respective governments there, our disposition to
exercise the authority in such manner as would withdraw the
pretext on which the aggressions were originally founded, and
open the way for a renewal of that commercial intercourse which
it was alleged on all sides had been reluctantly obstructed. As
each of those governments had pledged its readiness to concur
in renouncing a measure which reached its adversary through
the incontestable rights of neutrals only, and as the measure had
been assumed by each as a retaliation for an asserted acquiescence
in the aggressions of the other, it was reasonably expected that
the occasion would have been seized by both for evincing the
sincerity of their profession, and for restoring to the commerce
of the United States its legitimate freedom. The instructions to
our ministers with respect to the different belligerents were necessarily
modified with reference to their different circumstances,
and to the condition annexed by law to the executive power of
suspension, requiring a degree of security to our commerce which
would not result from a repeal of the decrees of France. Instead
of a pledge, therefore, of a suspension of the embargo as to her
in case of such a repeal, it was presumed that a sufficient inducement
might be found in other considerations, and particularly in
the change produced by a compliance with our just demands by
one belligerent, and a refusal by the other, in the relations between
the other and the United States. To Great Britain, whose
power on the ocean is so ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent
with that condition to state explicitly, that on her rescinding
her orders in relation to the United States their trade would
be opened with her, and remain shut to her enemy, in case of
his failure to rescind his decrees also. From France no answer
has been received, nor any indication that the requisite change
in her decrees is contemplated. The favorable reception of the
proposition to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her
orders of council had not only been referred for their vindication
to an acquiescence on the part of the United States no longer to
be pretended, but as the arrangement proposed, while it resisted
the illegal decrees of France, involved, moreover, substantially,
the precise advantages professedly aimed at by the British orders.
The arrangement has nevertheless been rejected.
This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and no
other event having occurred on which a suspension of the embargo
by the executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in
the extent originally given to it. We have the satisfaction,
however, to reflect, that in return for the privations by the measure,
and which our fellow citizens in general have borne with
patriotism, it has had the important effects of saving our mariners
and our vast mercantile property, as well as of affording
time for prosecuting the defensive and provisional measures called
for by the occasion. It has demonstrated to foreign nations the
moderation and firmness which govern our councils, and to our
citizens the necessity of uniting in support of the laws and the
rights of their country, and has thus long frustrated those usurpations
and spoliations which, if resisted, involve war; if submitted
to, sacrificed a vital principle of our national independence.
Under a continuance of the belligerent measures which, in defiance
of laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals, overspread
the ocean with danger, it will rest with the wisdom of Congress
to decide on the course best adapted to such a state of things;
and bringing with them, as they do, from every part of the
Union, the sentiments of our constituents, my confidence is
strengthened, that in forming this decision they will, with an
unerring regard to the essential rights and interests of the nation,
weigh and compare the painful alternatives out of which a choice
is to be made. Nor should I do justice to the virtues which on
other occasions have marked the character of our fellow citizens,
if I did not cherish an equal confidence that the alternative
chosen, whatever it may be, will be maintained with all the fortitude
and patriotism which the crisis ought to inspire.
The documents containing the correspondences on the subject
of the foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions
given to our ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you.
The communications made to Congress at their last session
explained the posture in which the close of the discussion relating
to the attack by a British ship of war on the frigate Chesapeake
left a subject on which the nation had manifested so honorable
a sensibility. Every view of what had passed authorized a
belief that immediate steps would be taken by the British government
for redressing a wrong, which, the more it was investigated,
appeared the more clearly to require what had not been
provided for in the special mission. It is found that no steps
have been taken for the purpose. On the contrary, it will be
seen, in the documents laid before you, that the inadmissible
preliminary which obstructed the adjustment is still adhered to;
and, moreover, that it is now brought into connection with the
distinct and irrelative case of the orders in council. The instructions
which had been given to our ministers at London
with a view to facilitate, if necessary, the reparation claimed by
the United States, are included in the documents communicated.
Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone
no material changes since your last session. The important
negotiations with Spain, which had been alternately suspended
and resumed, necessarily experience a pause under the
extraordinary and interesting crisis which distinguished her internal
situation.
With the Barbary powers we continue in harmony, with the
exception of an unjustifiable proceeding of the dey of Algiers
toward our consul to that regency. Its character and circumstances
are now laid before you, and will enable you to decide
how far it may, either now or hereafter, call for any measures
not within the limits of the executive authority.
With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily
maintained. Some instances of individual wrong have, as at
other times, taken place, but in nowise implicating the will of
the nation. Beyond the Mississippi, the Iowas, the Sacs, and
the Alabamas, have delivered up for trial and punishment individuals
from among themselves accused of murdering citizens of
the United States. On this side of the Mississippi, the Creeks
are exerting themselves to arrest offenders of the same kind; and
the Choctaws have manifested their readiness and desire for
amicable and just arrangements respecting depredations committed
by disorderly persons of their tribe. And, generally,
from a conviction that we consider them as part of ourselves,
and cherish with sincerity their rights and interests, the attachment
of the Indian tribes is gaining strength daily--is extending
from the nearer to the more remote, and will amply requite us
for the justice and friendship practised towards them. Husbandry
and household manufacture are advancing among them,
more rapidly with the southern than the northern tribes, from
circumstances of soil and climate; and one of the two great
divisions of the Cherokee nation have now under consideration
to solicit the citizenship of the United States, and to be identified
with us in laws and government, in such progressive manner
as we shall think best.
In consequence of the appropriations of the last session of
Congress for the security of our seaport towns and harbors, such
works of defence have been erected as seemed to be called for by
the situation of the several places, their relative importance, and
the scale of expense indicated by the amount of the appropriation.
These works will chiefly be finished in the course of the present
season, except at New York and New Orleans, where most was to
be done; and although a great proportion of the last appropriation
has been expended on the former place, yet some further views
will be submitted to Congress for rendering its security entirely
adequate against naval enterprise. A view of what has been
done at the several places, and of what is proposed to be done,
shall be communicated as soon as the several reports are received.
Of the gun-boats authorized by the act of December last, it
has been thought necessary to build only one hundred and three
in the present year. These, with those before possessed, are sufficient
for the harbors and waters exposed, and the residue will
require little time for their construction when it is deemed necessary.
Under the act of the last session for raising an additional military
force, so many officers were immediately appointed as were
necessary for carrying on the business of recruiting, and in proportion
as it advanced, others have been added. We have reason
to believe their success has been satisfactory, although such returns
have not yet been received as enable me to present to you
a statement of the numbers engaged.
I have not thought it necessary in the course of the last
season to call for any general detachments of militia or volunteers
under the law passed for that purpose. For the ensuing
season, however, they will require to be in readiness should their
services be wanted. Some small and special detachments have
been necessary to maintain the laws of embargo on that portion
of our northern frontier which offered peculiar facilities for
evasion, but these were replaced as soon as it could be done by
bodies of new recruits. By the aid of these, and of the armed
vessels called into actual service in other quarters, the spirit of
disobedience and abuse which manifested itself early, and with
sensible effect while we were unprepared to meet it, has been
considerably repressed.
Considering the extraordinary character of the times in which
we live, our attention should unremittingly be fixed on the
safety of our country. For a people who are free, and who
mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their
best security. It is, therefore, incumbent on us, at every meeting,
to revise the condition of the militia, and to ask ourselves if
it is prepared to repel a powerful enemy at every point of our
territories exposed to invasion. Some of the States have paid a
laudable attention to this object; but every degree of neglect is
to be found among others. Congress alone have power to produce
a uniform state of preparation in this great organ of defence;
the interests which they so deeply feel in their own and
their country's security will present this as among the most important
objects of their deliberation.
Under the acts of March 11th and April 23d, respecting arms,
the difficulty of procuring them from abroad, during the present
situation and dispositions of Europe, induced us to direct our
whole efforts to the means of internal supply. The public factories
have, therefore, been enlarged, additional machineries
erected, and in proportion as artificers can be found or formed,
their effect, already more than doubled, may be increased so as
to keep pace with the yearly increase of the militia. The annual
sums appropriated by the latter act, have been directed to
the encouragement of private factories of arms, and contracts
have been entered into with individual undertakers to nearly the
amount of the first year's appropriation.
The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice
of the belligerent powers, and the consequent losses and
sacrifices of our citizens, are subjects of just concern. The situation
into which we have thus been forced, has impelled us to
apply a portion of our industry and capital to internal manufactures
and improvements. The extent of this conversion is daily increasing,
and little doubt remains that the establishments formed and
forming will--under the auspices of cheaper materials and subsistence,
the freedom of labor from taxation with us, and of protecting
duties and prohibitions--become permanent. The commerce
with the Indians, too, within our own boundaries, is likely
to receive abundant aliment from the same internal source, and
will secure to them peace and the progress of civilization, undisturbed
by practices hostile to both.
The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the
year ending on the 30th day of September last, being not yet
made up, a correct statement will hereafter be transmitted from
the Treasury. In the meantime, it is ascertained that the receipts
have amounted to near eighteen millions of dollars, which, with
the eight millions and a half in the treasury at the beginning of
the year, have enabled us, after meeting the current demands
and interest incurred, to pay two millions three hundred thousand
dollars of the principal of our funded debt, and left us in
the treasury, on that day, near fourteen millions of dollars. Of
these, five millions three hundred and fifty thousand dollars will
be necessary to pay what will be due on the first day of January
next, which will complete the reimbursement of the eight per
cent. stock. These payments, with those made in the six years
and a half preceding, will have extinguished thirty-three millions
five hundred and eighty thousand dollars of the principal of the
funded debt, being the whole which could be paid or purchased
within the limits of the law and our contracts; and the amount
of principal thus discharged will have liberated the revenue from
about two millions of dollars of interest, and added that sum annually
to the disposable surplus. The probable accumulation of
the surpluses of revenue beyond what can be applied to the payment
of the public debt, whenever the freedom and safety of our
commerce shall be restored, merits the consideration of Congress.
Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults? Shall the
revenue be reduced? Or shall it rather be appropriated to the
improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great
foundations of prosperity and union, under the powers which
Congress may already possess, or such amendment of the constitution
as may be approved by the States? While uncertain of
the course of things, the time may be advantageously employed
in obtaining the powers necessary for a system of improvement,
should that be thought best.
Availing myself of this the last occasion which will occur of
addressing the two houses of the legislature at their meeting, I
cannot omit the expression of my sincere gratitude for the repeated
proofs of confidence manifested to me by themselves and
their predecessors since my call to the administration, and the
many indulgences experienced at their hands. The same grateful
acknowledgments are due to my fellow citizens generally,
whose support has been my great encouragement under all embarrassments.
In the transaction of their business I cannot have
escaped error. It is incident to our imperfect nature. But I may
say with truth, my errors have been of the understanding, not
of intention; and that the advancement of their rights and interests
has been the constant motive for every measure. On
these considerations I solicit their indulgence. Looking forward
with anxiety to their future destinies, I trust that, in their
steady character unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty,
obedience to law, and support of the public authorities, I see a
sure guaranty of the permanence of our republic; and retiring
from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation
of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our beloved
country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I lay before the legislature a letter from Governor Claiborne,
on the subject of a small tribe of Alabama Indians, on the western
side of the Mississippi, consisting of about a dozen families.
Like other erratic tribes in that country, it is understood that
they have hitherto moved from place to place, according to their
convenience, without appropriating to themselves exclusively
any particular territory. But having now become habituated to
some of the occupations of civilized life, they wish for a fixed
residence. I suppose it will be the interest of the United States
to encourage the wandering tribes of that country to reduce
themselves to fixed habitations, whenever they are so disposed.
The establishment of towns, and growing attachment to them,
will furnish, in some degree, pledges of their peaceable and
friendly conduct. The case of this particular tribe is now submitted
to the consideration of Congress.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 6, 1809.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I now lay before Congress a statement of the works of defence
which it has been thought necessary to provide in the first
instance, for the security of our seaports, towns, and harbors, and
of the progress toward their completion; their extent has been
adapted to the scale of the appropriation, and to the circumstances
of the several places.
The works undertaken at New York are calculated to annoy
and endanger any naval force which shall enter the harbor, and,
still more, one which should attempt to lie before the city. To
prevent altogether the entrance of large vessels, a line of blocks
across the harbor has been contemplated, and would, as is believed,
with the auxiliary means already provided, render that
city safe against naval enterprise. The expense, as well as the
importance of the work, renders it a subject proper for the special
consideration of Congress.
At New Orleans, two separate systems of defence are necessary;
the one for the river, the other for the lake, which, at present,
can give no aid to one another. The canal now leading
from the lake, if continued into the river, would enable the
armed vessels in both stations to unite, and to meet in conjunction
an attack from either side; half the aggregate force would
then have the same effect as the whole; or the same force double
the effect of what either can have. It would also enable the
vessels stationed in the lake, when attacked by superior force, to
retire to a safer position in the river. The same considerations
of expense and importance renders this also a question for the
special decision of Congress.
* * * * *
Circumstances, fellow citizens, which seriously threatened the
peace of our country, have made it a duty to convene you at an
earlier period than usual. The love of peace, so much cherished
in the bosoms of our citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings
of the public councils, and induced forbearance under
so many wrongs, may not insure our continuance in the quiet
_States_:--
PART III.
REPLIES TO PUBLIC ADDRESSES.
MESSRS. NEHEMIAH DODGE, EPHRAIM ROBBINS, AND STEPHEN S. NELSON, A
COMMITTEE OF THE DANBURY BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT.
January 1, 1802.
GENTLEMEN,--The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation
which you are so good as to express towards me, on
behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me the highest
satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of
the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are
persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them
becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely
between man and his God, that he owes account to none other
for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government
reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with
sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which
declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,"
thus building a wall of separation between church and State.
Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in
behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction
the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to
man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in
opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing
of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for
yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high
respect and esteem.
TO WILLIAM JUDD, ESQUIRE, CHAIRMAN.
WASHINGTON, November 15, 1802.
Expressions of confidence from the respectable description of
my fellow citizens, in whose name you have been pleased to address
me, are received with that cordial satisfaction which kindred
principles and sentiments naturally inspire.
The proceedings which they approve were sincerely intended
for the general good; and if, as we hope, they should in event
produce it, they will be indebted for it to the wisdom of our legislative
councils, and of those distinguished fellow laborers whom
the laws have permitted me to associate in the general administration.
Exercising that discretion which the constitution has confided
to me in the choice of public agents, I have been sensible,
on the one hand, of the justice done to those who have been systematically
excluded from the service of their country, and attentive,
on the other, to restore justice in such a way as might least
affect the sympathies and the tranquillity of the public mind.
Deaths, resignations, delinquencies, malignant and active opposition
to the order of things established by the will of the nation,
will, it is believed, within a moderate space of time, make room
for a just participation in the management of the public affairs;
and that being once effected, future changes at the helm will be
viewed with tranquillity by those in subordinate station.
Every wish of my heart will be completely gratified when
that portion of my fellow citizens which has been misled as to
the character of our measures and principles, shall, by their salutary
effects, be corrected in their opinions, and joining with good
will the great mass of their fellow citizens, consolidate an union
which cannot be too much cherished.
I pray you, Sir, to accept for yourself, and for the general
meeting of the Republicans of the State of Connecticut at New
Haven, whose sentiments you have been so good as to convey
to me, assurances of my high consideration and respect.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE.
December 24, 1803.
Amidst the anxieties which are felt for the favorable issue of
measures adopted for promoting the public good, it is a consolation
to meet the approbation of those on whose behalf they are
instituted. I shall certainly endeavor to merit a continuance of
the good opinion which the legislature of Tennessee have been
pleased to express in their address of the 8th November, by a
zealous attention to the interests of my constituents; and shall
count on a candid indulgence whenever untoward events may
happen to disappoint well-founded expectations.
In availing our western brethren of those circumstances which
occur for promoting their interests, we only perform that duty
which we owe to every portion of the Union, under occurrences
equally favorable; and, impressed with the inconveniences to
which the citizens of Tennessee are subjected by a want of contiguity
in the portions composing their State, I shall be ready to
do for their relief, whatever the general legislature may authorize,
and justice to our neighbors permit.
The acquisition of Louisiana, although more immediately
beneficial to the western States, by securing for their produce a
certain market, not subject to interruption by officers over whom
we have no control, yet is also deeply interesting to the maritime
portion of our country, inasmuch as by giving the exclusive
navigation of the Mississippi, it avoids the burthens and sufferings
of a war, which conflicting interests on that river would inevitably
have produced at no distant period. It opens, too, a fertile
region for the future establishments in the progress of that multiplication
so rapidly taking place in all parts.
I have seen with great satisfaction the promptitude with which
the first portions of your militia repaired to the standard of their
country. It was deemed best to provide a force equal to any
event which might arise out of the transaction, and especially to
the preservation of order, among our newly-associated brethren,
in the first moments of their transition from one authority to another.
I tender to the legislature of Tennessee assurances of my
high respect and consideration.
TO THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
February 14, 1807.
It is with sincere pleasure that I receive, from the two branches
of the legislature of Massachusetts, an address, expressive of their
satisfaction with the administration of our government. The
approbation of my constituents is truly the most valued reward
for any services it has fallen to my lot to render them--their confidence
and esteem, the greatest consolation of my life. The
measures which you have been pleased particularly to note, I
have believed to have been for the best interests of our country.
But far from assuming their merit to myself, they belong first, to
a wise and patriotic legislature, which has given them the form
and sanction of law, and next, to my faithful and able fellow-laborers
in the Executive administration.
The progression of sentiment in the great body of our fellow
citizens of Massachusetts, and the increasing support of their
opinion, I have seen with satisfaction, and was ever confident I
should see; persuaded that an enlightened people, whenever they
should view impartially the course we have pursued, could never
wish that our measures should have been reversed; could never
desire that the expenses of the government should have been increased,
taxes multiplied, debt accumulated, wars undertaken,
and the tomahawk and scalping knife left in the hands of our
neighbors, rather than the hoe and plough. In whatever tended
to strengthen the republican features of our constitution, we
could not fail to expect from Massachusetts, the cradle of our
revolutionary principles, an ultimate concurrence; and cultivating
the peace of nations, with justice and prudence, we yet were always
confident that, whenever our rights would be to be vindicated
against the aggression of foreign foes, or the machinations
of internal conspirators, the people of Massachusetts, so prominent
in the military achievements which placed our country in the
right of self-government, would never be found wanting in their
duty to the calls of their country, or the requisitions of their
government.
During the term, which yet remains, of my continuance in the
station assigned me, your confidence shall not be disappointed,
so far as faithful endeavors for your service can merit it.
I feel with particular sensibility your kind expressions towards
myself personally; and I pray that that Providence in whose
hand are the nations of the earth, may continue towards ours
his fostering care, and bestow on yourselves the blessings of His
protection and favor.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS.
WASHINGTON, February 14, 1807.
GENTLEMEN,--I acknowledge, in the first moment it has been
in my power, the receipt of your joint letter of January 26th,
with the address of the two branches of legislature of Massachusetts,
expressing their approbation of the proceedings of our government.
This declaration cannot fail to give particular and
general satisfaction to our fellow citizens, and to produce wholesome
effects at home and abroad. The remarkable union of
sentiment which pervaded nearly the whole of the States and
territories composing our nation, was such, indeed, as to inspire
a just confidence in the course we had to pursue. Yet something
was sensibly wanting to fill up the measure of our happiness,
while a member so important, so esteemed as Massachusetts,
had not yet declared its participation in the common sentiment.
That it is now done, will be a subject of mutual congratulation.
I am sensible that the terms in which you have been pleased
to make this communication, are not merely those of official duty.
I feel how much I am indebted to the kind and friendly disposition
they manifest; and I cherish them as proofs of an esteem
highly valued.
Permit me, through you, to return to the two branches of the
legislature the enclosed answer, and accept the assurances of my
esteem and high consideration.
TO MESSRS. THOMAS, ELLICOT, AND OTHERS.
November 13, 1807.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS,--I thank you for the address
you have kindly presented me, on behalf of that portion of the
Society of Friends of which you are the representatives, and I
learn with satisfaction their approbation of the principles which
have influenced the councils of the general government in their
decisions on several important subjects confided to them.
The desire to preserve our country from the calamities and
ravages of war, by cultivating a disposition, and pursuing a conduct,
conciliatory and friendly to all nations, has been sincerely
entertained and faithfully followed. It was dictated by the principles
of humanity, the precepts of the gospel, and the general
wish of our country, and it was not to be doubted that the Society
of Friends, with whom it is a _religious_ principle, would sanction
it by their support.
The same philanthropic motives have directed the public endeavors
to ameliorate the condition of the Indian natives, by introducing
among them a knowledge of agriculture and some of
the mechanic arts, by encouraging them to resort to these as
more certain, and less laborious resources for subsistence than the
chase; and by withholding from them the pernicious supplies of
ardent spirits. They are our brethren, our neighbors; they may
be valuable friends, and troublesome enemies. Both duty and
interest then enjoin, that we should extend to them the blessings
of civilized life, and prepare their minds for becoming useful
members of the American family. In this important work I owe
to your society an acknowledgment that we have felt the benefits
of their zealous co-operation, and approved its judicious direction
towards producing among those people habits of industry,
comfortable subsistence, and civilized usages, as preparatory to
religious instruction and the cultivation of letters.
Whatever may have been the circumstances which influenced
our forefathers to permit the introduction of personal bondage
into any part of these States, and to participate in the wrongs
committed on an unoffending quarter of the globe, we may rejoice
that such circumstances, and such a sense of them, exist no
longer. It is honorable to the nation at large that their legislature
availed themselves of the first practicable moment for arresting
the progress of this great moral and political error; and I sincerely
pray with you, my friends, that all the members of the
human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us
all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life,
liberty, and happiness.
TO CAPTAIN JOHN THOMAS.
WASHINGTON, November 18, 1807.
SIR,--I received on the 14th instant your favor of August 31,
and I beg you to assure my fellow citizens of the Baptist church
of Newhope meeting-house, that I learn with great satisfaction
their approbation of the principles which have guided the present
administration of the government. To cherish and maintain the
rights and liberties of our citizens, and to ward from them the
burthens, the miseries, and the crimes of war, by a just and
friendly conduct towards all nations, were among the most obvious
and important duties of those to whom the management of
their public interests have been confided; and happy shall we be
if a conduct guided by these views on our part, shall secure to us
a reciprocation of peace and justice from other nations.
Among the most inestimable of our blessings, also, is that you
so justly particularize, of liberty to worship our Creator in the
way we think most agreeable to his will; a liberty deemed in
other counties incompatible with good government, and yet
proved by our experience to be its best support.
Your confidence in my dispositions to befriend every human
right is highly grateful to me, and is rendered the more so by a
consciousness that these dispositions have been sincerely entertained
and pursued. I am thankful for the kindness expressed
towards me personally, and pray you to return to the society in
whose name you have addressed me, my best wishes for their
happiness and prosperity; and to accept for yourself assurances
of my great esteem and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SMITH.
WASHINGTON, December 1, 1807.
SIR,--The Secretary of State has communicated to me your
letter to him of the 14th of November, covering the resolutions
of the General Assembly of Vermont of the 4th of the same
month.
The sentiments expressed by the General Assembly of Vermont
on the late hostile attack on the Chesapeake by the Leopard
ship-of-war, as well as on other violations of our maritime and
territorial rights, are worthy of their known patriotism; and their
readiness to rally around the constituted authorities of their country,
and to support its rights with their lives and fortunes, is the
more honorable to them as exposed by their position, in front of
the contest. The issue of the present misunderstandings cannot
now be foreseen; but the measures adopted for their settlement
have been sincerely directed to maintain the rights, the honor,
the peace of our country; and the approbation of them expressed
by the General Assembly is to me a confirmation of their correctness.
The confidence they are pleased to declare in my personal
care of the public interests, is highly gratifying to me, and gives
a new claim to everything which zeal can effect for their service.
I beg leave to tender to the General Assembly of Vermont, and
to yourself, the assurances of my high consideration and respect.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF VERMONT.
December 10, 1807.
I received in due season the _address_ of the Legislature of
Vermont, bearing date the 5th of November 1806, in which, with
their approbation of the general course of my administration,
they were so good as to express their desire that I would consent
to be proposed again, to the public voice, on the expiration of
my present term of office. Entertaining, as I do, for the legislature
of Vermont those sentiments of high respect which would
have prompted an immediate answer, I was certain, nevertheless,
they would approve a delay which had for its object to avoid a
premature agitation of the public mind, on a subject so interesting
as the election of a chief magistrate.
That I should lay down my charge at a proper period, is as
much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination
to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the
constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for
years, will, in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily
that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative
government, responsible at short periods of election, is that
which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel
it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle;
and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding
the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish
the first example of prolongation beyond the second term
of office.
Truth, also, requires me to add, that I am sensible of that decline
which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical,
I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the
first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to
solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties
of age.
For the approbation which the legislature of Vermont has been
pleased to express of the principles and measures pursued in the
management of their affairs, I am sincerely thankful; and should
I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal approbation
and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it will be the
comfort of my future days, and will close a service of forty
years with the only reward it ever wished.
* * * * *
"Addresses approving the general course of his administration, were also
received from Georgia, December 6th, 1806; from Rhode Island, February
27th, 1807; from New York, March 13th, 1807; from Pennsylvania, March
13th, 1807; and from Maryland, January 3d, 1807; to all which answers
like that sent to Vermont, were returned."--_Ed._
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY IN
THEIR LEGISLATURE.
December 10, 1807.
The sentiments, fellow citizens, which you are pleased to express
in your address of the 4th inst., of attachment and esteem
for the general government, and of confidence and approbation
of those who direct its councils, cannot but be pleasing to the
friends of union generally, and give a new claim on all those
who direct the public affairs, for everything which zeal can effect
for the good of their country.
It is indeed to be deplored that distant as we are from the
storms and convulsions which agitate the European world, the
pursuit of an honest neutrality, beyond the reach of reproach,
has been insufficient to secure to us the certain enjoyment of
peace with those whose interests as well as ours would be promoted
by it. What will be the issue of present misunderstandings
cannot as yet be foreseen; but the measures adopted for
their settlement have been sincerely directed to maintain the
rights, the honor, and the peace of our country. Should they
fail, the ardor of our citizens to obey the summons of their
country, and the offer which you attest, of their lives and fortunes
in its support, are worthy of their patriotism, and are
pledges of our safety.
The suppression of the late conspiracy by the hand of the
people, uplifted to destroy it whenever it reared its head, manifests
their fitness for self-government, and the power of a nation,
of which every individual feels that his own will is a part of
the public authority.
The effect of the public contributions in reducing the national
debt, and liberating our resources from the canker of interest,
has been so far salutary, and encourages us to continue in the
same course; or, if necessarily interrupted, to resume it as soon
as practicable.
I perceive with sincere pleasure that my conduct in the chief
magistracy has so far met your approbation, that my continuance
in that office, after its present term, would be acceptable to you.
But that I should lay down my charge at a proper period is as
much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination
to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution,
or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years,
will, in fact, become for life, and history shows how easily that
degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative
government, responsible at short periods of election, is that
which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel
it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle;
and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the
sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish
the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.
Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline
which advancing years bring on, and feeling their physical,
I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the
first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to
solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of
age.
Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved,
I am sincerely thankful for the approbation which the
Legislature of New Jersey are pleased to manifest of the principles
and measures pursued in the management of their affairs;
and should I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal
approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it
will be the comfort of my future days, and will close a service
of forty years with the only reward it ever wished.
TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON.
December 14, 1807.
The appearances for some time past, threatening our peace,
fellow citizens, have justly excited a general anxiety; and I have
been happy to receive from every quarter of the Union the most
satisfactory assurances of fidelity to our country, and of devotion
to the support of its rights. Your concurrence in these sentiments,
expressed in the address you have been pleased to present
me, is a proof of your patriotism, and of that firm spirit which
constitutes the ultimate appeal of nations. What will be the
issue of present misunderstandings, is, as yet, unknown. But, willing
ourselves to do justice to others, we ought to expect it from
them. If any among us view erroneously the rights which late
events have brought into question, let us hope that they will be
corrected by the further investigation of reason; but, at all
events, that they will acquiesce in what their country shall
authoritatively decide, and arrange themselves faithfully under
the banners of the law.
Your approbation of the measures which have been pursued,
is a pleasing confirmation of their correctness; and, with particular
thankfulness for the kind expressions of your address towards
myself personally, I reciprocate sincere wishes for your welfare.
TO MESSRS. ABNER WATKINS AND BERNARD TODD.
December 21st, 1807.
I have duly received, fellow citizens, the address of October
21st, which you have been so kind as to forward me on the
part of the society of Baptists, of the Appomatox Association, and
it is with great satisfaction when I learn from my constituents
that the measures pursued in the administration of their affairs,
during the time I have occupied the presidential chair, have met
their approbation. Of the wisdom of these measures, it belongs
to others to judge; that they have always been dictated by a desire
to do what should be most for the public good, I may conscientiously
affirm. Believing that a definite period of retiring
from this station will tend materially to secure our elective form
of government; and sensible, too, of that decline which advancing
years bring on, I have felt it a duty to withdraw at the close
of my present term of office; and to strengthen by practice a
principle which I deem salutary. That others may be found
whose talents and integrity render them proper deposits of the
public liberty and interests, and who have made themselves
known by their eminent services, we can all affirm, of our
personal knowledge. To us it will belong, fellow citizens,
when their country shall have called them to its helm, to give
them our support while there, to facilitate their honest efforts for
the public good, even where other measures might seem to us
more direct, to strengthen the arm of our country by union under
them, and to reserve ourselves for judging them at the constitutional
period of election.
I pray you to tender to your society, of which you are a committee,
my thanks for the indulgence with which they have
viewed my conduct, with the assurance of my high respect, and
to accept yourselves my friendly and respectful salutations.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
January 10, 1808.
The wrongs our country has suffered, fellow citizens, by violations
of those moral rules which the Author of our nature has
implanted in man as the law of his nature, to govern him in his
associated, as well as individual character, have been such as
justly to excite the sensibilities you express, and a deep abhorrence
at indications threatening a substitution of power for right
in the intercourse between nations. Not less worthy of your
indignation have been the machinations of parricides who have
endeavored to bring into danger the union of these States, and
to subvert, for the purposes of inordinate ambition, a government
founded in the will of its citizens, and directed to no object
but their happiness.
I learn, with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude and respect,
your approbation of my conduct, in the various charges which
my country has been pleased to confide to me at different times;
and especially that the administration of our public affairs, since
my accession to the chief magistracy, has been so far satisfactory,
that my continuance in that office after its present term, would
be acceptable to you. But, that I should lay down my charge
at a proper period, is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully.
If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate
be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his
office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life; and history
shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.
Believing that a representative government, responsible at short
periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of
happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall
essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the
person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious
predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation
beyond the second term of office.
Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline
which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical,
I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am
the first to perceive and obey this admonition of nature, and to
solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of
age.
Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved,
it will be the great comfort of my future days, and the
satisfactory reward of a service of forty years, to carry into retirement
such testimonies as you have been pleased to give, of
the approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally.
And I supplicate the Being in whose hands we all are, to preserve
our country in freedom and independence, and to bestow
on yourselves the blessings of his favor.
TO THE SOCIETY OF TAMMANY, OR COLUMBIAN ORDER, NO. 1, OF
THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
February 29, 1808.
I have received your address, fellow citizens, and, thankful
for the expressions so personally gratifying to myself, I contemplate
with high satisfaction the ardent spirit it breathes of
love to our country, and of devotion to its liberty and independence.
The crisis in which it is placed, cannot but be unwelcome
to those who love peace, yet spurn at a tame submission to
wrong. So fortunately remote from the theatre of European
contests, and carefully avoiding to implicate ourselves in them,
we had a right to hope for an exemption from the calamities
which have afflicted the contending nations, and to be permitted
unoffendingly to pursue paths of industry and peace.
But the ocean, which, like the air, is the common birth-right
of mankind, is arbitrarily wrested from us, and maxims consecrated
by time, by usage, and by an universal sense of right, are
trampled on by superior force. To give time for this demoralizing
tempest to pass over, one measure only remained which
might cover our beloved country from its overwhelming fury:
an appeal to the deliberate understanding of our fellow citizens
in a cessation of all intercourse with the belligerent nations,
until it can be resumed under the protection of a returning sense
of the moral obligations which constitute a law for nations as
well as individuals. There can be no question, in a mind truly
American, whether it is best to send our citizens and property
into certain captivity, and then wage war for their recovery, or
to keep them at home, and to turn seriously to that policy which
plants the manufacturer and the husbandman side by side, and
establishes at the door of every one that exchange of mutual
labors and comforts, which we have hitherto sought in distant
regions, and under perpetual risk of broils with them. Between
these alternatives your address has soundly decided, and I doubt
not your aid, and that of every real and faithful citizen, towards
carrying into effect the measures of your country, and enforcing
the sacred principle, that in opposing foreign wrong there must
be but one mind.
I receive with sensibility your kind prayers for my future happiness,
and I supplicate a protecting providence to watch over
your own and our country's freedom and welfare.
TO THE DELEGATES OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS OF THE CITY
OF PHILADELPHIA IN GENERAL WARD COMMITTEE ASSEMBLED.
May 25, 1808.
The epoch, fellow citizens, into which our lot has fallen, has
indeed been fruitful of events, which require vigilance, and embarrass
deliberation. That during such a period of difficulty,
and amidst the perils surrounding us, the public measures which
have been pursued should meet your approbation, is a source of
great satisfaction. It was not expected in this age, that nations
so honorably distinguished by their advances in science and civilization,
would suddenly cast away the esteem they had merited
from the world, and, revolting from the empire of morality, assume
a character in history, which all the tears of their posterity
will never wash from its pages. But during this delirium of the
warring powers, the ocean having become a field of lawless violence,
a suspension of our navigation for a time was equally necessary
to avoid contest, or enter it with advantage. This measure
will, indeed, produce some temporary inconvenience; but
promises lasting good by promoting among ourselves the establishment
of manufactures hitherto sought abroad, at the risk of
collisions no longer regulated by the laws of reason or morality.
It is to be lamented that any of our citizens, not thinking with
the mass of the nation as to the principles of our government, or
of its administration, and seeing all its proceedings with a prejudiced
eye, should so misconceive and misrepresent our situation
as to encourage aggressions from foreign nations. Our expectation
is, that their distempered views will be understood by others
as they are by ourselves; but should wars be the consequence
of these delusions, and the errors of our dissatisfied citizens find
atonement only in the blood of their sounder brethren, we must
meet it as an evil necessarily flowing from that liberty of speaking
and writing which guards our other liberties; and I have entire
confidence in the assurances that your ardor will be animated,
in the conflicts brought on, by considerations of the necessity,
honor, and justice of our cause.
I sincerely thank you, fellow citizens, for the concern you so
kindly express for my future happiness. It is a high and abundant
reward for endeavors to be useful; and I supplicate the care
of Providence over the well-being of yourselves and our beloved
country.
TO THE LEGISLATURE, COUNCIL, AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE TERRITORY OF ORLEANS.
WASHINGTON, June 18, 1808.
I received, fellow citizens, with a just sensibility, the expressions
of esteem and approbation, communicated in your kind address
of the 29th of March, and am thankful for them. The
motives which have led to my retirement from office were dictated
by a sense of duty, and will, I trust, be approved by my
fellow citizens generally.
It is, indeed, a source of real concern that an impartial neutrality
scrupulously observed towards the belligerent nations of Europe,
has not been sufficient to protect us against encroachments
on our rights; and, although deprecating war, should no alternative
be presented us but disgraceful submission to unlawful pretensions,
I have entire confidence in your assurances that you
will cheerfully submit to whatever sacrifices and privations may
be necessary for vindicating the rights, the honor, and independence
of our nation.
Far from a disposition to avail ourselves of the peculiar situation
of any belligerent nation to ask concessions incompatible
with their rights, with justice, or reciprocity, we have never proposed
to any the sacrifice of a single right; and in consideration
of existing circumstances, we have ever been willing, where our
duty to other nations permitted us, to relax for a time, and in
some cases, that strictness of right which the laws of nature, the
acknowledgments of the civilized world, and the equality and
independence of nations entitle us to. Should, therefore, excessive
and continued injury compel at length a resort to the means
of self-redress, we are strong in the consciousness that no wrong
committed on our part, no precipitancy in repelling the wrongs
committed by others, no want of moderation in our exactions of
voluntary justice, but undeniable aggressions on us, and the
avowed purpose of continuing them, will have produced a recurrence
so little consonant with our principles or inclinations.
To carry with me into retirement the approbation and esteem
of my fellow citizens, will, indeed, be the highest reward they
can confer on me, and certainly the only one I have ever desired.
I invoke the favor of heaven, fellow citizens, towards yourselves
and our beloved country.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
August 2, 1808.
In the review, fellow citizens, which, in your address of the
14th of June, you have taken of the measures pursued since I
have been charged with their direction, I read with great satisfaction
and thankfulness, the approbation you have bestowed on
them; and I feel it an ample reward for any services I may have
been able to render.
The present moment is certainly eventful, and one which
peculiarly requires that the bond of confederation connecting us
as a nation should receive all the strength which unanimity between
the national councils and the State legislatures can give it.
The depredations committed on our vessels and property on
the high seas, the violences to the persons of our citizens employed
on that element, had long been the subject of remonstrance
and complaint, when, instead of reparation, new declarations
of wrong are issued, subjecting our navigation to general
plunder. In this state of things our first duty was to withdraw
our sea-faring citizens and property from abroad, and to keep at
home resources so valuable at all times, and so essential, if resort
must ultimately be had to force.
It gave us time, too, to make a last appeal to the reason and
reputation of nations. In the meanwhile I see with satisfaction
that this measure of self-denial is approved and supported by the
great body of our real citizens; that they meet with cheerfulness
the temporary privations it occasions, and are preparing with
spirit to provide for themselves those comforts and conveniences
of life, for which it would be unwise evermore to recur to distant
countries. How long this course may be preferable to a
more serious appeal, must depend for decision on the wisdom of
the legislature; unless, indeed, a return to established principles
should remove the existing obstacles to a peaceable intercourse
with foreign nations. In every event, fellow citizens, my confidence
is entire that your resolution to maintain our national independence
and sovereignty will be as firm as it has been forbearing;
and looking back on our history, I am assured by the
past, that its future pages will present nothing unworthy of the
former.
I am happy that you approve of the motives of my retirement.
I shall carry into it ardent prayers for the welfare of my country,
and the sincerest wishes for that of yourselves personally.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LANGDON.
August 2, 1808.
I received in due time your favor of June 24th, covering the
address of the House of Representatives and Senate of New
Hampshire, and I ask leave, through the same channel, to return
the enclosed answer, to be communicated to them in whatever
way you think most acceptable. Highly gratified by this approbation
of the legislature of your State, as it respects myself personally,
the moment at which it is expressed gives it peculiar
value as a public document. It is the testimony of a respectable
legislature in favor of a measure submitting our fellow citizens
to some present sufferings to preserve them from future and
greater, and cannot fail to strengthen the disposition to maintain
it which I am happy to perceive is so general. I tender you
my affectionate salutations, and with every wish for your health
and happiness, the assurance of my high respect and consideration.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LANGDON. (PRIVATE.)
MONTICELLO, August 2, 1808.
MY DEAR SIR,--The enclosed are formal, and for the public;
but in sending them to you I cannot omit the occasion of indulging
my friendship in a more familiar way, and of recalling
myself to your recollection. How much have I wished to have
had you still with us through the years of my employment at
Washington. I have seen with great pleasure the moderation
and circumspection with which you have been kind enough to
act under my letter of May 6th, and I have been highly gratified
with the late general expressions of public sentiment in favor of
a measure which alone could have saved us from immediate war,
and give time to call home eighty millions of property, twenty
or thirty thousand seamen, and two thousand vessels. These
are now nearly at home, and furnish a great capital, much of
which will go into manufactures and seamen to man a fleet of
privateers, whenever our citizens shall prefer war to a longer continuance
of the embargo. Perhaps, however, the whale of the
ocean may be tired of the solitude it has made on that element,
and return to honest principles, and his brother robber on the
land may see that, as to us, the grapes are sour. I think one war
enough for the life of one man; and you and I have gone through
one which at least may lessen our impatience to embark in
another. Still, if it becomes necessary, we must meet it like
men, old men indeed, but yet good for something. But whether
in peace or war, may you have as many years of life as you
desire, with health and prosperity to make them happy years. I
salute you with constant affection and great esteem and respect.
TO THE HONORABLE JOSEPH ALSTON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
MONTICELLO, August 4, 1808.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter of July 6th, covering
the resolutions of the legislature of South Carolina of June 29th,
and I see in those resolutions a new manifestation of the national
spirit of which South Carolina has given so many proofs. It is
the more exemplary, as it is certain that no State sacrifices more
by the operation of a measure which, whether to avoid war, or
to prepare for it, has been deemed equally necessary. The
unanimity too of these resolutions, does peculiar honor to those
individuals, who differing from the mass of their fellow citizens
in their opinions of government, yet forget all differences when
the rights of their country are in question; who when it is assailed
by foreign wrong, and menaced with the evils of war, instead
of encouraging enemies by forebodings of weakness and
division, present to them one common and undivided front.
Persuaded that the sentiments expressed in these resolutions are
a true specimen of those entertained by the great mass of our
fellow citizens, we may regret the evils which a contrary opinion
in others may produce, but we cannot fear the result of any
trial they may put us to.
I receive with particular gratification assurances of approbation
from the legislature of South Carolina, and will not cease in my
endeavors to merit a continuance of it. I pray you to accept
my salutations and assurances of great respect and consideration.
TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON, NEWBURYPORT AND
PROVIDENCE, IN LEGAL TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED.
August 26, 1808.
Your representation and request were received on the 22d inst.,
and have been considered with the attention due to every expression
of the sentiments and feelings of so respectable a body
of my fellow citizens. No person has seen, with more concern
than myself, the inconveniences brought on our country in general
by the circumstances of the times in which we happen to
live; times to which the history of nations presents no parallel.
For years we have been looking as spectators on our brethren of
Europe, afflicted by all those evils which necessarily follow an
abandonment of the moral rules which bind men and nations together.
Connected with them in friendship and commerce, we
have happily so far kept aloof from their calamitous conflicts, by
a steady observance of justice towards all, by much forbearance
and multiplied sacrifices. At length, however, all regard to the
rights of others having been thrown aside, the belligerent powers
have beset the highway of commercial intercourse with edicts
which, taken together, expose our commerce and mariners, under
almost every destination, a prey to their fleets and armies.
Each party, indeed, would admit our commerce with themselves,
with the view of associating us in their war against the other.
But we have wished war with neither. Under these circumstances
were passed the laws of which you complain, by those
delegated to exercise the powers of legislation for you, with every
sympathy of a common interest in exercising them faithfully.
In reviewing these measures, therefore, we should advert to the
difficulties out of which a choice was of necessity to be made.
To have submitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and
tributary exactions from others, would have been to surrender
our independence. To resist them by arms was war, without
consulting the state of things or the choice of the nation. The
alternative preferred by the legislature of suspending a commerce
placed under such unexampled difficulties, besides saving to our
citizens their property, and our mariners to their country, has the
peculiar advantage of giving time to the belligerent nations to
revise a conduct as contrary to their interests as it is to our
rights.
"In the event of such peace, or suspension of hostilities between
the belligerent powers of Europe, or of such change in
their measures affecting neutral commerce, as may render that
of the United States sufficiently safe, in the judgment of the
President," he is authorized to suspend the embargo. But no
peace or suspension of hostilities, no change of measures affecting
neutral commerce, is known to have taken place. The orders
of England, and the decrees of France and Spain, existing
at the date of these laws, are still unrepealed, as far as we know.
In Spain, indeed, a contest for the government appears to have
arisen; but of its course or prospects we have no information on
which prudence would undertake a hasty change in our policy,
even were the authority of the Executive competent to such a
decision.
You desire that, in this defect of power, Congress may be specially
convened. It is unnecessary to examine the evidence or
the character of the facts which are supposed to dictate such a
call; because you will be sensible, on an attention to dates, that
the legal period of their meeting is as early as, in this extensive
country, they could be fully convened by a special call.
I should, with great willingness, have executed the wishes of
the inhabitants of the town of Boston, Newburyport, and Providence,
had peace, or a repeal of the obnoxious edicts, or other
charges, produced the case in which alone the laws have given
me that authority; and so many motives of justice and interest
lead to such changes, that we ought continually to expect them.
But while these edicts remain, the legislature alone can prescribe
the course to be pursued.
TO A PORTION OF THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON.
SIR,--I have duly received the address of that portion of the
citizens of [Boston] who have declared their approbation of the
present suspension of our commerce, and their dissent from the
representation of those of the same place, who wished its removal.
A division of sentiment was not unexpected. On no
question can a perfect unanimity be hoped, or certainly it would
have been on that between war and embargo, the only alternatives
presented to our choice. For the general capture of our
vessels would have been war on one side, which reason and interest
would repel by war and reprisal on our part.
Of the several interests composing those of the United States,
that of manufactures would of course prefer to war a state of
non-intercourse, so favorable to their rapid growth and prosperity.
Agriculture, although sensibly feeling the loss of market for its produce,
would find many aggravations in a state of war. Commerce and navigation,
or that portion which is foreign, in the inactivity to which they are
reduced by the present state of things, certainly experience their full
share in the general inconvenience; but whether war would to them be
a preferable alternative, is a question their patriotism would never
hastily propose. It is to be regretted, however, that overlooking the
real sources of their sufferings, the British and French edicts, which
constitute the actual blockade of our foreign commerce and navigation,
they have, with too little reflection, imputed them to laws which have
saved them from greater, and have preserved for our own use our vessels,
property and seamen, instead of adding them to the strength of those
with whom we might eventually have to contend.
The embargo, giving time to the belligerent powers to revise
their unjust proceedings, and to listen to the dictates of justice,
of interest and reputation, which equally urge the correction of
their wrongs, has availed our country of the only honorable expedient
for avoiding war; and should a repeal of these edicts
supersede the cause for it, our commercial brethren will become
sensible that it has consulted their interests, however against
their own will. It will be unfortunate for their country if, in
the meantime, these their expressions of impatience should have
the effect of prolonging the very sufferings which have produced
them, by exciting a fallacious hope that we may, under any
pressure, relinquish our equal right of navigating the ocean, go
to such ports only as others may prescribe, and there pay the
tributary exactions they may impose; an abandonment of national
independence and of essential rights, revolting to every
manly sentiment. While these edicts are in force, no American
can ever consent to a return of peaceable intercourse with those
who maintain them.
I am happy, in the approach of the period when the feelings
and the wisdom of the nation will be collected in their representatives
assembled together. To them are committed our rights,
to them our wrongs are known, and they will pronounce the
remedy they call for; and I hear with pleasure from all, as well
those who approve, as who disapprove of the present measures,
assurances of an implicit acquiescence in their enunciation of the
general will.
I beg leave through you to communicate this answer to the
address on which your signature held the first place, and to add
the assurances of my respect.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BALTIMORE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
October 17, 1808.
I receive with great pleasure the friendly address of the Baltimore
Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am indebted
to the kind dispositions which dictated it.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not
fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a
just animation to obtain it was exhibited by all. I was one
only among the many who befriended its establishment, and am
entitled but in common with others to a portion of that approbation
which follows the fulfilment of a duty.
Excited by wrongs to reject a foreign government which directed
our concerns according to its own interests, and not to
ours, the principles which justified us were obvious to all understandings,
they were imprinted in the breast of every human
being; and Providence ever pleases to direct the issue of our
contest in favor of that side where justice was. Since this happy
separation, our nation has wisely avoided entangling itself in the
system of European interests, has taken no side between its rival
powers, attached itself to none of its ever-changing confederacies.
Their peace is desirable; and you do me justice in saying that to
preserve and secure this, has been the constant aim of my administration.
The difficulties which involve it, however, are
now at their ultimate term, and what will be their issue, time
alone will disclose. But be it what it may, a recollection of
our former vassalage in religion and civil government, will unite
the zeal of every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve
that independence in both which, under the favor of heaven, a
disinterested devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a
disinterested sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.
I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining
to retire from a station, in which the favor of my fellow citizens
has so long continued and supported me: I return your kind
prayers with supplications to the same almighty Being for your
future welfare and that of our beloved country.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE KETOCTON BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
October 18, 1808.
I received with great pleasure the affectionate address of the
Ketocton Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am
indebted to the kind dispositions which dictated it.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not
fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a
just animation to obtain it was excited in all. And although
your favor selected me as the organ of your petition to abolish the
religious denomination of a privileged church, yet I was but one
of the many who befriended its object, and am entitled but in
common with them to a portion of that approbation which follows
the fulfilment of a duty.
The views you express of the conduct of the belligerent powers
are as correct as they are afflicting to the lovers of justice and
humanity. Those moral principles and conventional usages
which have heretofore been the bond of civilized nations, which
have so often preserved their peace by furnishing common rules
for the measure of their rights, have now given way to force, the
law of Barbarians, and the nineteenth century dawns with the
Vandalism of the fifth. Nothing has been spared on our part to
preserve the peace of our country, during this distempered state of
the world. But the difficulties which involve it are now at their
ultimate term, and what will be their issue, time alone will disclose.
But be that what it may, a recollection of our former
vassalage in religion and civil government will unite the zeal of
every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve that independence
in both, which, under the favor of heaven, a disinterested
devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a disinterested
sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.
I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining
to retire from a station in which the favor of my fellow citizens
has so long continued and supported me; and I return your kind
prayers by supplications to the same Almighty being for your
future welfare, and that of our beloved country.
TO THE GENERAL MEETING OF CORRESPONDENCE OF THE SIX BAPTIST
ASSOCIATIONS REPRESENTED AT CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA.
November 21, 1808.
Thank you, fellow citizens, for your affectionate address, and
I receive with satisfaction your approbation of my motives for retirement.
In reviewing the history of the times through which
we have past, no portion of it gives greater satisfaction, on reflection,
than that which presents the efforts of the friends of religious
freedom, and the success with which they were crowned.
We have solved by fair experiment, the great and interesting
question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in
government, and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced
the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving
every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion
which are the inductions of his own reason, and the serious
convictions of his own inquiries.
It is a source of great contentment to me to learn that the
measures which have been pursued in the administration of your
affairs have met your approbation. Too often we have had but a
choice among difficulties; and this situation characterizes remarkably
the present moment. But, fellow citizens, if we are
faithful to our country, if we acquiesce, with good will, in the
decisions of the majority, and the nation moves in mass in the
same direction, although it may not be that which every individual
thinks best, we have nothing to fear from any quarter.
I thank you sincerely for your kind wishes for my welfare,
and with equal sincerity implore the favor of a protecting Providence
for yourselves.
TO TABER FITCH, ESQ., CHAIRMAN.
WASHINGTON, November 21, 1808.
SIR,--I have received with great pleasure the address of the
republicans of the State of Connecticut, and am particularly sensible
of the kindness with which they have viewed my conduct
in the direction of their affairs. Having myself highly approved
the example of an illustrious predecessor, in voluntarily retiring
from a trust, which, if too long continued in the same hands,
might become a subject of reasonable uneasiness and apprehension,
I could not mistake my own duty when placed in a similar
situation.
Our experience so far, has satisfactorily manifested the competence
of a republican government to maintain and promote the
best interests of its citizens; and every future year, I doubt not,
will contribute to settle a question on which reason, and a knowledge
of the character and circumstances of our fellow citizens,
could never admit a doubt, and much less condemn them as fit
subjects to be consigned to the dominion of wealth and force.
Although under the pressure of serious evils at this moment, the
governments of the other hemisphere cannot boast a more favorable
situation. We certainly do not wish to exchange our difficulties
for the sanguinary distresses of our fellow men beyond
the water. In a state of the world unparalleled in times past,
and never again to be expected, according to human probabilities,
no form of government has, so far, better shielded its citizens
from the prevailing afflictions. By withdrawing awhile
from the ocean we have suffered some loss; but we have gathered
home our immense capital. Exposed to foreign depredation, we
have saved our seamen from the jails of Europe, and gained time
to prepare for the defence of our country. The questions of submission,
of war, or embargo, are now before our country as unembarrassed
as at first. Submission and tribute, if that be our
choice, will be no baser now than at the date of the embargo.
But if, as I trust, that idea be spurned, we may now decide on
the other alternatives of war and embargo, with the advantage
of possessing all the means which have been rescued from the
grasp of capture. These advantages certainly justify the approbation
of the embargo declared in your address, and I have no
doubt will ensure that of every candid citizen, who will correctly
trace the consequences of any other course.
I thank you for the kind concern you are pleased to express
for my future happiness, and offer my sincere prayers for your
welfare and prosperity.
TO THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS OF PITTSBURG AND ITS VICINITIES.
December 2, 1808.
The sentiments which you express in your address of October
27th, of attachment to the rights of your country, of your determination
to support them with your lives and fortunes, and of
disregard of the inconveniences which must be encountered in
resisting insult and aggression, are honorable to yourselves, and
encouraging to your country. They are particularly solacing to
those who, having labored faithfully in establishing the right of
self-government, see in the rising generation, into whose hands
it is passing, that purity of principle, and energy of character,
which will protect and preserve it through their day, and deliver
it over to their sons as they receive it from their fathers. The
measure of a temporary suspension of commerce was adopted
to cover us from greater evils. It has rescued from capture an
important capital, and our seamen from the jails of Europe. It
has given time to prepare for defence, and has shown to the aggressors
of Europe that evil, as well as good actions, recoil on
the doers. If these evils have involved our inoffending neighbors
also, towards whom we have not a sentiment but of friendship
and useful intercourse, it results from that state of violence
by which the interests of the American hemisphere are directed
to the objects of Europe. Endowed by nature with a system of
interests and connections of its own, it is drawn from these by
the unnatural bonds which enchain its different parts to the conflicting
interests and fortunes of another world, and render its inhabitants
strangers and enemies, to their neighbors and mutual
friends.
Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by
the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity
can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their
endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have
used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the
troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side.
Whether this can be done longer, is to be doubted. I am happy
that so far my conduct meets the approbation of my fellow citizens.
It is the highest reward I can receive for my endeavors to
serve them; and I am particularly thankful to yourselves for the
kind expressions of esteem and confidence, and tender my best
wishes for your personal happiness and prosperity.
TO THE SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT
PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.
WASHINGTON, December 9, 1808.
I am much indebted, fellow citizens, for your friendly address
of November 20th, and gratified by its expressions of personal
regard to myself. Having ever been an advocate for the freedom
of religious opinion and exercise, from no person, certainly, was
an abridgment of these sacred rights to be apprehended less than
from myself.
In justice, too, to our excellent constitution, it ought to be observed,
that it has not placed our religious rights under the
power of any public functionary. The power, therefore, was
wanting, not less than the will, to injure these rights.
The times in which we live, fellow citizens, are indeed times
of trouble, such as no age has yet seen, or perhaps will ever see
again. To avoid their calamitous influence, has been our duty
and endeavor, and to effect it, great sacrifices of our citizens have
been necessary. They have seen that these necessities were
forced by the wrongs of others, and they have met them with
the zeal which the crisis called for. What course we are finally
to take, cannot yet be foreseen; but reading, reflecting, and examining
for yourselves, you will find your public functionaries,
according to the best of their judgments, directing your affairs,
without passion or partiality, with a single view to your rights
and best interests. And it is the approbation of those who so
read, reflect, and examine for themselves, which is so truly consoling
to the persons charged with the guidance of your affairs.
For that portion of your approbation which you are pleased to
bestow on my conduct, I am truly thankful, and I offer my sincere
prayers for your welfare, and a happy issue of our country
from the difficulties impending over it.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF ONTARIO, IN THE STATE OF
NEW YORK.
December 13, 1808.
The wrongs which we have sustained, fellow citizens, from
the belligerent powers of Europe, and of which you have taken
so just a view in your address, received by me on the 27th of
the last month, could not fail to excite in the bosoms of freemen
the sentiments of high indignation expressed by you. The love
of peace had long induced us to bear with these aggressions,
and the hope of a return to a spirit of justice had encouraged us
to persevere in endeavors at amicable adjustment. Their outrages,
however, have at length forced us to suspend all intercourse with
them, to gather home our resources, and to prepare for whatever
may happen. Your approbation of these measures is gratifying
to your public functionaries, and the readiness you express to
encounter the privations and sacrifices which these aggressions
occasion, is honorable to yourselves. The legislature of the
nation now assembled together, will decide how long the state
of non-intercourse may be preferable to a more serious appeal.
The decided support which you tender either of the present, or
such other measures as they shall adopt for the good of the
Union, and the pledge of your lives, your fortunes and honor for
that purpose, are calculated to inspire them with firmness in their
deliberations, and an assurance that the result will be supported
by their country. The confidence you are so good as to express
in the conduct of the administration, is highly gratifying to
them, and encourages a perseverance in their best endeavors for
the public good. That these may issue in effecting your happiness,
and the peace and prosperity of our country, is my sincere
prayer.
TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA IN
TOWN-MEETING ASSEMBLED.
February 3, 1809.
In the resolutions and address which you have been pleased
to present to me, I recognize with great satisfaction the sentiments
of faithful citizens, devoted to the maintenance of the
rights of their country, to the sacred bond which unites these
States together, and rallying round their government in support of
its laws. After the intolerable assault on our maritime rights, by
the declarations of the belligerent powers, that we should navigate
the ocean only as they should permit, the recall of our seamen,
recovery of our property abroad, and putting ourselves into a state
of defence, should perseverance on their parts force us to the
last appeal, were duties to first obligation. No other course was
left us but to reduce our navigation within the limits they dictated,
and to hold even that subject to such further restrictions
as their interests or will should prescribe. To this no friend to
the independence of his country should submit.
Your resolution to aid in bringing to justice all violators of the
laws of their country, and particularly of the embargo laws, and
to be ready at all times to assist in carrying them into effect, is
worthy of the patriotism which distinguishes the city and county
of Philadelphia. This voluntary support of laws, formed by
persons of our own choice, distinguishes peculiarly the minds
capable of self-government. The contrary spirit is anarchy,
which of necessity produces despotism. It is from the supporters
of regular government only that the pledge of life, fortune, and
honor is worthy of confidence.
I learn with great satisfaction your approbation of the several
measures passed by the government, and enumerated in your address.
For the advantages flowing from them you are indebted
principally to a wise and patriotic legislature, and to the able and
inestimable coadjutors with whom it has been my good fortune
to be associated in the direction of your affairs. That these
measures may be productive of the ends intended, must be the
wish of every friend of his country; and the belief that everything
has been done to preserve our peace, secure the rights of
our fellow citizens, and to promote their best interests, will be a
consolation under every situation to which the great disposer of
events may destine us.
Your approbation of the motives for my retirement from the
station so long confided to me, is a confirmation of their correctness.
In no office can rotation be more expedient; and none
less admits the indulgence of age. I am peculiarly sensible of
your kind wishes for my happiness in the tranquillity of retirement.
Nothing will contribute more to it than the hope of
carrying with me the approbation of my fellow citizens, of the
endeavors which I have faithfully exerted to be useful to them.
To the all-protecting favor of heaven I commit yourselves and
our common country.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
February 3, 1809.
The address which the Legislature of Georgia, the immediate
organ of the will of their constituents, has been pleased to present
to me, is received with that high satisfaction which the approbation
of so respectable a State is calculated to inspire. During the
unexampled contest which has so long afflicted Europe, which
has prostrated all the laws which have hitherto been deemed
sacred among nations, and have so long constituted the rule of
their intercourse, we had vainly hoped that our distance from
the scene of carnage, and the invariable justice with which we
have conducted ourselves towards all parties, would shield us
from its baleful effects. But that commerce indispensably necessary
for the exchange of the produce of this great agricultural
country for the things which we want, increased by a temporary
succession to the commerce of other nations, as being ourselves
the only neutrals, has brought us into contact with the lawless
belligerents in every sea, and threatens to involve us in the vortex
of their contests. The privations for the want of a vent for
our produce, have been the unavoidable result of the edicts of the
belligerent powers. Should the measure adopted in consequence
of them, and which meets your approbation, still save the lives
and property of our brethren from the insults and rapacity of
these powers, it will be a fortunate addition to the other benefits
derived from it. On the other hand, should our present embarrassments
eventuate in war, I am satisfied that the State of Georgia
will zealously emulate her sister States in supporting the
government of their choice, and in maintaining the rights and
interests of the nation. Our soil, our industry, and our numbers,
with the bravery which will be engaged in the cause, can never
leave us without resources to maintain such a contest.
To no events which can concern the future welfare of my
country, can I ever become an indifferent spectator; her prosperity
will be my joy, her calamities my affliction.
Thankful for the indulgence with which my conduct has been
viewed by the Legislature of Georgia, and for the kind expressions
of their good will, I supplicate the favor of heaven towards
them and our beloved country.
TO THE SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT NEW
LONDON, CONNECTICUT.
February 4, 1809.
The approbation you are so good as to express of the measures
which have been recommended and pursued during the
course of my administration of the national concerns, is highly
acceptable. The approving voice of our fellow citizens, for endeavors
to be useful, is the greatest of all earthly rewards.
No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man
than that which protects the rights of conscience against the
enterprises of the civil authority. It has not left the religion of
its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, were it
possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the
consciences of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable
purpose. To me no information could be more welcome
than that the minutes of the several religious societies should
prove, of late, larger additions than have been usual, to their
several associations, and I trust that the whole course of my
life has proved me a sincere friend to religious as well as civil
liberty.
I thank you for your affectionate good wishes for my future
happiness. Retirement has become essential to it; and one of
its best consolations will be to witness the advancement of my
country in all those pursuits and acquisitions which constitute
the character of a wise and virtuous nation; and I offer sincere
prayers to heaven that its benediction may attend yourselves,
our country and all its sons.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA.
February 16, 1809.
I receive with peculiar sensibility the affectionate address of
the General Assembly of my native State, on my approaching
retirement from the office with which I have been honored by
the nation at large. Having been one of those who entered
into public life at the commencement of an æra the most extraordinary
which the history of man has ever yet presented to his
contemplation, I claim nothing more, for the part I have acted in
it, than a common merit of having, with others, faithfully endeavored
to do my duty in the several stations allotted me. In
the measures which you are pleased particularly to approve, I
have been aided by the wisdom and patriotism of the national
legislature, and the talents and virtues of the able coadjutors with
whom it has been my happiness to be associated, and to whose
valuable and faithful services I with pleasure and gratitude bear
witness.
From the moment that to preserve our rights a change of government
became necessary, no doubt could be entertained that a
republican form was most consonant with reason, with right, with
the freedom of man, and with the character and situation of our
fellow citizens. To the sincere spirit of republicanism are
naturally associated the love of country, devotion to its liberty,
its rights, and its honor. Our preference to that form of government
has been so far justified by its success, and the prosperity
with which it has blessed us. In no portion of the earth were
life, liberty and property ever so securely held; and it is with infinite
satisfaction that withdrawing from the active scenes of
life, I see the sacred design of these blessings committed to those
who are sensible of their value and determined to defend them.
It would have been a great consolation to have left the nation
under the assurance of continued peace. Nothing has been
spared to effect it; and at no other period of history would such
efforts have failed to ensure it. For neither belligerent pretends
to have been injured by us, or can say that we have in any instance
departed from the most faithful neutrality; and certainly
none will charge us with a want of forbearance.
In the desire of peace, but in full confidence of safety from
our unity, our position, and our resources, I shall retire into the
bosom of my native State, endeared to me by every tie which
can attach the human heart. The assurances of your approbation,
and that my conduct has given satisfaction to my fellow
citizens generally, will be an important ingredient in my future
happiness; and that the supreme ruler of the universe may have
our country under his special care, will be among the latest of
my prayers.
TO THE CITIZENS OF WILMINGTON AND ITS VICINITY IN TOWN
MEETING ASSEMBLED.
February 16, 1809.
The resolutions which have been entered into by the citizens
of Wilmington and its vicinity, are worthy of the well-known
patriotism of that place.
The storm which with little intermission has been raging for
so many years, which has immolated the ancient dynasties and
institutions of Europe, and prostrated the principles of public
law heretofore respected, has hitherto been felt but in a secondary
degree by us. But threatening at length to involve us in its
vortex, it is time for all good citizens to rally round the constituted
authorities by a public expression of their determination to
support the laws and government of their choice, and to frown
into silence all disorganizing movements. Strong in our numbers,
our position and resources, we can never be endangered but
by schisms at home. It has been the anxious care of the government
to preserve the United States from this destructive contest;
but whether it can yet be done depends on a return to reason
by those who have so long rejected its dictates. On our part,
there is no doubt of a continuance of the same desire to conduct
the nation quietly through the political storms prevailing, and to
lead it in safety through the perils with which we are menaced
by the ambition of foreign nations.
I am thankful for the great indulgence with which you have
viewed the measures of my administration. Of their wisdom
others must judge; but I may truly say they have been pursued
with honest intentions, unbiassed by any personal or interested
views. It is a consolation to know that the motives for my retirement
are approved; and although I withdraw from public
functions, I shall continue an anxious spectator of passing events,
and offer to heaven my constant prayers for the preservation of
our republic, and especially of those its best principles which secure
to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights.
TO JOHN GASSAWAY, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received the resolutions of the republican
citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel county, of the 4th inst.,
which you were so kind as to forward to me.
That the aggressions and injuries of the belligerent nations
have been the real obstructions which have interrupted our commerce,
and now threaten our peace, and that the embargo laws
were salutary and indispensably necessary to meet those obstructions,
are truths as evident to every candid man, as it is worthy
of every good citizen to declare his reprobation of that system
of opposition which goes to an avowed and practical resistance
of these laws. To such a resistance I trust that the patriotism
of our faithful citizens in no section of the Union will give any
countenance. Where the law of majority ceases to be acknowledged,
there government ends, the law of the strongest takes its
place, and life and property are his who can take them.
I receive with particular pleasure and thankfulness the testimony
of the republican citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel,
in favor of the course of proceedings during my administration
of the public affairs. And I can truly say, in their words, that
they have been conducted with the purest regard and devotion
to the interests of the people and the national safety and honor;
and I pray you, with my acknowledgments for these favorable
sentiments, to accept the assurances of my high respect and consideration.
TO CAPTAIN JOSEPH ----, JR.
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1809.
SIR,--The resolutions entered into at a meeting of the officers
of the Legionary Brigade of the 1st Division of Massachusetts
militia, on the 31st ult., which you have been pleased to forward
to me, breathe that spirit of fidelity to our common country
which must ever be peculiarly the spirit of its militia, and which
renders that the safest and last reliance of a republican nation.
The perils with which we have been for some time environed,
have been such as ought to have induced every faithful citizen
to unite in support of the rights of his country, laying aside little
differences, political or personal, till they might be indulged without
hazarding the safety of our country. Assailed in our essential
rights by two of the most powerful nations on the globe, we
have remonstrated, negotiated, and at length retired to the last
stand, in the hope of peaceably preserving our rights. In this
extremity I have entire confidence that no part of _the people_ in
any section of the Union, will desert the banners of their country,
and co-operate with the enemies who are threatening its existence.
The subscribing officers of the legionary brigade have
furnished an honorable example of declaring their attachment to
the constitution, the laws, and the union of the States, that they
will at the call of law, rally around the standard of their country,
and protect its constitution, laws, right and liberties, against all
foes. I thank them, in the name of their country, for these patriotic
resolutions, the pledge of support they tender will lead
them to no more than the honor of a soldier and fidelity of a citizen
would of itself require. I salute yourself and the subscribing
offices with esteem and respect.
TO THE REPUBLICAN YOUNG MEN OF NEW LONDON, BENJAMIN
HEMPSTEAD CHAIRMAN.
February 24, 1809.
The approbation which you are pleased to express of my past
administration, is highly gratifying to me. That in a free government
there should be differences of opinion as to public measures
and the conduct of those who direct them, is to be expected.
It is much, however, to be lamented, that these differences should
be indulged at a crisis which calls for the undivided councils
and energies of our country, and in a form calculated to encourage
our enemies in the refusal of justice, and to force their country
into war as the only resource for obtaining it.
You do justice to the government in believing that their utmost
endeavors have been used to steer us clear of wars with
other nations, and honor to yourselves in declaring that if these
endeavors prove ineffectual, and your country is called upon to
defend its rights and injured honor by an appeal to arms, you
will be ready for the contest, and will meet our enemies at the
threshold of our country. While prudence will endeavor to
avoid this issue, bravery will prepare to meet it.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for your kind expressions of
regard for myself, and prayers for my future happiness, and I
join in supplications to that Almighty Being who has heretofore
guarded our councils, still to continue his gracious benedictions
towards our country, and that yourselves may be under the protection
of his divine favor.
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF LOUDON COUNTY, CONVENED AT LEESBURG,
FEBRUARY, 13, 1809.
February 24, 1809.
The measures lately pursued in preference either to war or an
ignominious surrender of our rights as an independent people,
have undoubtedly produced the beneficial effects of saving our
property and seamen, of lengthening the term of our peace, and
of giving time for defensive preparations. Other efficacious results
would probably have been produced, in a much higher degree,
had not the measures been counteracted by unworthy
passions. It is still possible that the blessings of peace may be
continued to us, should sounder calculations of interest induce a
return to justice by the aggressive nations. But should we be
disappointed in what ought to be so justly expected, the solemn
pledge of life and fortune in vindication of our violated rights
received from yourselves as well as from other citizens, leaves
us without apprehension as to the issue of any contest into
which we may be forced.
I thank you particularly for the approbation you manifest of
my conduct and motives, and the kind concern you express for
my future happiness, and I beg leave to tender you my best
wishes and assurances of respect.
TO GOVERNOR TOMPKINS.
WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.
SIR,--I received, a few days ago, your Excellency's favor of
the 9th inst., covering the patriotic resolutions of the Legislature
of New York, of the 3d. The times do certainly render it incumbent
on all good citizens, attached to the rights and honor
of their country, to bury in oblivion all internal differences, and
rally around the standard of their country in opposition to the
outrages of foreign nations. All attempts to enfeeble and destroy
the exertions of the General Government, in vindication of our
national rights, or to loosen the bands of union by alienating the
affections of the people, or opposing the authority of the laws at
so eventful a period, merit the discountenance of all.
The confidence which the Legislature expresses in the national
administration is highly consolatory, and their determination
to support the just rights of their country with their lives and
fortunes, are worthy of the high character of the State of New
York.
By all, I trust, the union of these States will ever be considered
as the Palladium of their safety, their prosperity and glory,
and all attempts to sever it will be frowned on with reprobation
and abhorrence. And I have equal confidence, that all moved
by the sacred principles of liberty and patriotism will prepare
themselves for any crisis we may be able to meet, and will be
ready to co-operate with each other, and with the constituted
authorities, in resisting and repelling the aggressions of foreign
nations.
The Legislature may be assured that every exertion will be
used to put the United States in the best condition of defence,
that we may be fully prepared to meet the dangers which menace
the peace of our country. I avail myself with pleasure of
every occasion to tender to your Excellency the assurances of
my high respect and consideration.
TO GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON.
WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter covering the resolutions
of the citizens of West Tennessee, assembled in the town of
Nashville. Every friend of his country must feel the regret and
indignation they so laudably express at the unjust and unprecedented
measures adopted by the belligerent powers of Europe,
violating our maritime rights as a free and independent nation,
and compelling us for their preservation to resort to measures
the effects of which we must all feel. And all must see with
pleasure their honorable declaration against receding from the
grounds taken with regard to the belligerent nations, and their
reprobation of the surrender of any essential points in difference
between us and those nations.
Should the embargo be continued, or a non-intercourse be
substituted, it is pleasing to know that our fellow citizens will
afford every aid in their power to render it effectual; and if war
must at length be resorted to, I have entire confidence in their
declarations, that as citizen soldiers they will be ready at the
call of their country to prove to their enemies that they know
how to value and defend their rights.
I am happy to learn their approbation of the measures adopted
by the General Government in relation to Great Britain and
France, and particularly thankful for the satisfaction they express
with the course I have pursued in the discharge of the arduous
duties which devolved on me as chief magistrate of the United
States.
I pray you to accept for yourself and them the assurances of
my great respect and consideration.
THE REPUBLICANS OF THE COUNTY OF NIAGARA, CONVENED
AT CLARENCE ON THE 26TH OF JANUARY, 1809.
February 24, 1809.
The eventful crisis in our national affairs so truly portrayed in
your very friendly address, has justly excited your serious attention.
The nations of the earth prostrated at the foot of power,
the ocean submitted to the despotism of a single nation, the laws
of nature and the usages which have hitherto regulated the intercourse
of nations and interposed some restraint between power
and right, now totally disregarded. Such is the state of things
when the United States are left single-handed to maintain the
rights of neutrals, and the principles of public right against a
warring world. Under these circumstances, it is a great consolation
to receive the assurances of our faithful citizens that they
will unite their destiny with their government, will rally under
the banners of their country, and with their lives and fortunes,
defend and support their civil and religious rights. This declaration,
too, is the more honorable from those whose frontier residence
will expose them particularly to the inroads of a foe.
I receive with great pleasure your approbation of the impartial
neutrality we have so invariably pursued, and of the trying
measure of embargo rendered necessary by the belligerent edicts,
which has saved our seamen and our property, has given us time
to prepare for vindicating our honor and preserving our national
independence, and has excited the spirit of manufacturing for
ourselves those things which, though we raised the raw material,
we have hitherto sought from other countries at the risk
of war and rapine.
I thank you for your kind wishes for my future happiness in
retiring from public life to the bosom of my family. Nothing
will contribute more to it than the assurance that my fellow
citizens approve of my endeavors to serve them, and the hope
that we shall be continued in the blessings we have enjoyed
under the favor of Heaven.
TO CAPTAIN QUIN MORTON.
WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received your favor tendering the service
of fifty citizens of Tennessee as a company of volunteer riflemen.
There are two acts of Congress which regulate the acceptances
of these tenders; that of the last year (1808) is for a
service of six months, and authorizes the governors to accept;
and that of 1807, for a service of twelve months, authorizing the
President to accept, who has delegated that power to the governors
of the several States. Under whichever of these, therefore,
your tender was meant to be made, I must pray you to repeat
it to the governor of the State; expressing, at the same time,
my great satisfaction at the readiness and patriotism with which
I see my fellow citizens resort to the standard of their country
when danger threatens it. Accept for your company my thanks
on the public behalf, and for yourself the assurances of my respect.
TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OR COLUMBIAN ORDER OF THE CITY OF
WASHINGTON.
March 2, 1809.
The observations are but too just which are made in your
friendly address, on the origin and progress of those abuses of
public confidence and power which have so often terminated in
a suppression of the rights of the people, and the mere aggrandizement
and emolument of their oppressors. Taught by these
truths, and aware of the tendency of power to degenerate into
abuse, the worthies of our own country have secured its independence
by the establishment of a constitution and form of
government for our nation, calculated to prevent as well as to
correct abuse.
Beyond the great water the torch of discord has been long
lighted up, and long and unremitting have been the endeavors
of the belligerents to immerge us in the evils they were inflicting
on each other, and to make us parties in their quarrels. Whether
it will be possible much longer to escape these evils, is difficult
to decide; but you do me justice in believing that no efforts on
my part have been spared to effect this purpose, and to preserve
for our nation the blessings of peace.
I learn with sincere pleasure that the measures I have pursued
in directing the affairs of our nation have met with approbation.
Their sole object has certainly been the good of my fellow citizens,
which sometimes may have been mistaken, but never intentionally
disregarded. This approbation is the more valued
as being the spontaneous effusion of the feelings of those who
have lived in the same city with myself, and having examined
carefully and even jealously my conduct through every passing
day, bear testimony to their belief in its fidelity.
I am happy, in my retirement, to carry with me your esteem
and your prayers for my health, peace and happiness; and I sincerely
supplicate Heaven that your own personal welfare may
long make a part of the general prosperity of a great, a free, and
a happy people.
TO THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON.
March 4, 1809.
I received with peculiar gratification the affectionate address
of the citizens of Washington, and in the patriotic sentiments it
expresses, I see the true character of the national metropolis.
The station which we occupy among the nations of the earth
is honorable, but awful. Trusted with the destinies of this solitary
republic of the world, the only monument of human rights,
and the sole depository of the sacred fire of freedom and self-government,
from hence it is to be lighted up in other regions
of the earth, if other regions of the earth shall ever become susceptible
of its benign influence. All mankind ought then, with
us, to rejoice in its prosperous, and sympathize in its adverse fortunes,
as involving everything dear to man. And to what sacrifices
of interest, or convenience, ought not these considerations
to animate us? To what compromises of opinion and inclination,
to maintain harmony and union among ourselves, and to
preserve from all danger this hallowed ark of human hope and
happiness. That differences of opinion should arise among men,
on politics, on religion, and on every other topic of human inquiry,
and that these should be freely expressed in a country where all
our faculties are free, is to be expected. But these valuable
privileges are much prevented when permitted to disturb the
harmony of social intercourse, and to lesson the tolerance of
opinion. To the honor of society here, it has been characterized
by a just and generous liberality, and an indulgence of those
affections which, without regard to political creeds, constitute
the happiness of life. That the improvement of this city must
proceed with sure and steady steps, follows from its many obvious
advantages, and from the enterprizing spirit of its inhabitants,
which promises to render it the fairest seat of wealth and
science.
It is very gratifying to me that the general course of my administration
is approved by my fellow citizens, and particularly
that the motives of my retirement are satisfactory. I part with
the powers entrusted to me by my country, as with a burthen
of heavy bearing; but it is with sincere regret that I part with
the society in which I have lived here. It has been the source
of much happiness to me during my residence at the seat of
government, and I owe it much for its kind dispositions. I
shall ever feel a high interest in the prosperity of the city, and
an affectionate attachment to its inhabitants.
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF GEORGETOWN.
March 8, 1809.
The affectionate address of the republicans of Georgetown on
my retirement from public duty, is received with sincere pleasure.
In the review of my political life, which they so indulgently
take, if it be found that I have done my duty as other
faithful citizens have done, it is all the merit I claim. Our lot
has been cast on an awful period of human history. The contest
which began with us, which ushered in the dawn of our
national existence and led us through various and trying scenes,
was for everything dear to free-born man. The principles on
which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence
is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we
but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they
called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom
which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights.
From the moment which scaled our peace and independence,
our nation has wisely pursued the paths of peace and justice.
During the period in which I have been charged with its concerns,
no effort has been spared to exempt us from the wrongs
and the rapacity of foreign nations, and with you I feel assured
that no American will hesitate to rally round the standard of his
insulted country, in defence of that freedom and independence
achieved by the wisdom of sages, and consecrated by the blood
of heroes.
The favorable testimony of those among whom I have lived,
and lived happily as a fellow citizen, as a neighbor, and in the
various relations of social life, will enliven the days of my retirement,
and be felt and cherished with affection and gratitude.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for your kind prayers for my future
happiness. I shall ever retain a lively sense of your friendly
attentions, and continue to pray for your prosperity and well
being.
TO STEPHEN CROSS, ESQ., TOPSHAM.
MONTICELLO, March 28, 1809.
To the delegates from the various towns in the county of
Essex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, assembled on the
20th of February, at Topsham.
The receipt of your kind address in the last moments of the
session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for this late
acknowledgment of it. I am very sensible of the indulgence
with which you are so good as to review the measures of my
late administration, and I feel for that indulgence the sentiments
of gratitude it so justly calls for. The stand which has been
made on behalf of our seamen enslaved and incarcerated in
foreign ships, and against the prostration of our rights on the
ocean under laws of nature acknowledged by all civilized nations,
was an effort due to the protection of our commerce, and
to that portion of our fellow citizens engaged in the pursuits of
navigation. The opposition of the same portion to the vindication
of their peculiar rights, has been as wonderful as the loyalty
of their agricultural brethren in the assertion of them has been
disinterested and meritorious. If the honor of the nation can
be forgotten, whether the abandonment of the right of navigating
the ocean may not be compensated by exemption from the
wars it would produce, may be a question for our future councils,
which the disclaimer of our navigating citizens may, if continued,
relieve from the embarrassment of their rights.
Sincerely and affectionately attached to our national constitution,
as the ark of our safety, and grand palladium of our peace
and happiness, I learn with pleasure that the number of those in
the county of Essex, who read and think for themselves, is
great, and constituted of men who will never surrender but with
their lives, the invaluable liberties achieved by their fathers.
Their elevated minds put all to the hazard for a three penny
duty on tea, by the same nation which now exacts a tribute
equal to the value of half our exported produce.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for the kind interest you take in
my future happiness, and I sincerely supplicate that overruling
providence which governs the destinies of men and nations, to
dispense his choicest blessings on yourselves and our beloved
country.
TO THE REPUBLICAN MECHANICS OF THE TOWN OF LEESBURG AND
ITS VICINITY, ASSEMBLED ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY LAST.
MONTICELLO, March 29, 1809.
The receipt of your kind address in the last moments of the
session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for its late
acknowledgment.
Your friendly salutations on the close of my public life, and
approbation of the motives which dictated my retirement, are received
with great satisfaction.
That there should be a contrariety of opinions respecting the
public agents and their measures, and more especially respecting
that which recently suspended our commerce and produced temporary
privations, is ever to be expected among free men; and I
am happy to find you are in the number of those who are satisfied
that the course pursued was marked out by our country's
interest, and called for by her dearest rights. While the principles
of our constitution give just latitude to inquiry, every citizen
faithful to it will, with you, deem embodied expressions of
discontent, and open outrages of law and patriotism, as dishonorable
as they are injurious; and there is reason to believe
that had the efforts of the government against the innovations
and tyranny of the belligerent powers been unopposed among
ourselves, they would have been more effectual towards the establishment
of our rights.
Unconscious of partiality between the different callings of my
fellow citizens, I trust that a fair review of my attention to the
interests of commerce in particular, in every station of my political
life, will afford sufficient proofs of my just estimation of
its importance in the social system. What has produced our
present difficulties, and what will have produced the impending
war, if that is to be our lot? Our efforts to save the rights of
commerce and navigation. From these, solely and exclusively,
the whole of our present dangers flow.
With just reprobations of the resistance made or menaced
against the laws of our country, I applaud your patriotic resolution
to meet hostility to them with the energy and dignity of
freemen; and thankful for your solicitude for my health and
happiness, I salute you with affectionate sentiments of respect.
TO THE FRIENDS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNITED STATES
IN BRISTOL COUNTY, RHODE ISLAND.
MONTICELLO, March 20, 1809.
The receipt of your friendly address in the last moments of the
session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for its late
acknowledgment.
We have certainly cause to rejoice that since the waves of affliction
and peril, raised from the storm of war by the rival belligerents
of Europe, have undulated on our shores, the councils
of the nation have been able to preserve it from the numerous
evils which have awfully menaced, and otherwise might have
fallen upon us. How long we may yet retain this desirable position
is difficult to be foreseen. But confident I am that as long
as it can be done consistently with the honor and interest of our
country, it will be maintained by those to whom you have confided
the helm of government. A surer pledge for this cannot
be found than in the public and private virtues of the successor
to the chair of government, which you so justly recognize. Your
reflections are certainly correct on the importance of a good administration
in a republican government, towards securing to us
our dearest rights, and the practical enjoinment of all our liberties;
and such an one can never fail to give consolation to the
friends of free government, and mortification to its enemies. In
retiring from the duties of my late station, I have the consolation
of knowing that such is the character of those into whose hands
they are transferred, and of a conviction that all will be done for
us which wisdom and virtue can do.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for the kind sentiments of your
address, and am particularly gratified by your approbation of the
course I have pursued; and I pray heaven to keep you under its
holy favor.
TO THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN DELEGATES FROM THE TOWNSHIPS OF WASHINGTON
COUNTY, IN PENNSYLVANIA, CONVENED ON THE 21ST OF FEBRUARY, 1809.
MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.
The satisfaction you express, fellow citizens, that my endeavors
have been unremitting to preserve the peace and independence
of our country, and that a faithful neutrality has been observed
towards all the contending powers, is highly grateful to
me; and there can be no doubt that in any common times they
would have saved us from the present embarrassments, thrown in
the way of our national prosperity by the rival powers.
It is true that the embargo laws have not had all the effect in
bringing the powers of Europe to a sense of justice, which a
more faithful observance of them might have produced. Yet
they have had the important effects of saving our seamen and
property, of giving time to prepare for defence; and they will
produce the further inestimable advantage of turning the attention
and enterprise of our fellow citizens, and the patronage of
our State legislatures, to the establishment of useful manufactures
in our country. They will have hastened the day when an
equilibrium between the occupations of agriculture, manufactures,
and commerce, shall simplify our foreign concerns to the exchange
only of that surplus which we cannot consume for those
articles of reasonable comfort or convenience which we cannot
produce.
Our lot has been cast, by the favor of heaven, in a country
and under circumstances, highly auspicious to our peace and
prosperity, and where no pretence can arise for the degrading
and oppressive establishments of Europe. It is our happiness
that honorable distinctions flow only from public approbation;
and that finds no object in titled dignitaries and pageants. Let
us then, fellow citizens, endeavor carefully to guard this happy
state of things, by keeping a watchful eye over the disaffection
of wealth and ambition to the republican principles of our constitution,
and by sacrificing all our local and personal interests to
the cultivation of the Union, and maintenance of the authority
of the laws.
My warmest thanks are due to you, fellow citizens, for the affectionate
sentiments expressed in your address, and my prayers
will ever be offered for your welfare and happiness.
TO THE CITIZENS OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY, IN MARYLAND.
MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.
The sentiments of attachment, respect, and esteem, expressed
in your address of the 20th ult., have been read with pleasure,
and would sooner have received my thanks, but for the mass of
business engrossing the last moments of a session of Congress. I
am gratified by your approbation of our efforts for the general
good, and our endeavors to promote the best interests of our
country, and to place them on a basis firm and lasting. The
measures respecting our intercourse with foreign nations were the
result, as you suppose, of a choice between two evils, either to
call and keep at home our seamen and property, or suffer them
to be taken under the edicts of the belligerent powers. How a
difference of opinion could arise between these alternatives is
still difficult to explain on any acknowledged ground; and I am
persuaded, with you, that when the storm and agitation characterizing
the present moment shall have subsided, when passion
and prejudice shall have yielded to reason its usurped place, and
especially when posterity shall pass its sentence on the present
times, justice will be rendered to the course which has been pursued.
To the advantages derived from the choice which was
made will be added the improvements and discoveries made and
making in the arts, and the establishments in domestic manufacture,
the effects whereof will be permanent and diffused through
our wide-extended continent. That we may live to behold the
storm which seems to threaten us, pass like a summer's cloud
away, and that yourselves may continue to enjoy all the blessings
of peace and prosperity, is my fervent prayer.
TO THE REPUBLICAN CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND,
ASSEMBLED AT HAGERSTOWN ON THE 6TH INSTANT.
MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.
The affectionate sentiments you express on my retirement
from the high office conferred upon me by my country, are
gratefully received and acknowledged with thankfulness. Your
approbation of the various measures which have been pursued,
cannot but be highly consolatory to myself, and encouraging to
future functionaries, who will see that their honest endeavors for
the public good will receive due credit with their constituents.
That the great and leading measure respecting our foreign intercourse
was the most salutary alternative, and preferable to the
submission of our rights as a free and independent republic, or to
a war at that period, cannot be doubted by candid minds. Great
and good effects have certainly flowed from it, and greater would
have been produced, had they not been, in some degree, frustrated
by unfaithful citizens.
If, in my retirement to the humble station of a private citizen,
I am accompanied with the esteem and approbation of my fellow
citizens, trophies obtained by the blood-stained steel, or the tattered
flags of the tented field, will never be envied. The care
of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the
first and only legitimate object of good government.
I salute you, fellow citizens, with every wish for your welfare,
and the perpetual duration of our government, in all the purity
of its republican principles.
TO JAMES HOCHIE, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE ANCIENT PLYMOUTH
SOCIETY OF NEW LONDON.
MONTICELLO, April 2, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received your favor of March 17th, covering
resolutions of the Ancient Plymouth Society of New London,
approving my conduct, as well during the period of my late administration,
as the preceding portion of my public services.
Our lot has been cast in times which called for the best exertions
of all our citizens to recover and preserve the rights which
nature had given them; and we may say with truth, that the
mass of our fellow citizens have performed with zeal and effect
the duties called for. If I have been fortunate enough to give
satisfaction in the performance of those allotted to me by our
country, I find an ample reward in the assurances of that satisfaction.
Possessed of the blessing of self-government, and of
such a portion of civil liberty as no other civilized nation enjoys,
it now behooves us to guard and preserve them by a continuance
of the sacrifices and exertions by which they were acquired, and
especially to nourish that union which is their sole guarantee.
I pray you to accept for yourself and your associates the assurances
of my high consideration and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR WRIGHT.
MONTICELLO, April 3, 1809.
DEAR SIR,--Your friendly note of March 3d, was delivered
to me on that day. You know the pressure of the last moments
of a session of Congress, and can judge of that of my own departure
from Washington, and of my first attentions here. This
must excuse my late acknowledgment of your note. The assurances
of your approbation of the course I have observed are
highly flattering, and the more so, as you have been sometimes
an eye-witness and long of the vicinage of the public councils.
The testimony of my fellow citizens, and especially of one who,
having been himself in the high departments, to the means of
information united the qualifications to judge, is a consolation
which will sweeten the residue of my life. The fog which arose
in the east in the last moments of my service, will doubtless clear
away and expose under a stronger light the rocks and shoals
which have threatened us with danger. It is impossible the
good citizens of the east should not see the agency of England,
the tools she employs among them, and the criminal arts and
falsehoods of which they have been the dupes. I still trust and
pray that our union may be perpetual, and I beg you to accept
the assurances of my high esteem and respect.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
MONTICELLO, April 12, 1809.
I receive with respect and gratitude, from the Legislature of
New York, on my retirement from the office of chief magistrate
of the United States, the assurances of their esteem, and of their
satisfaction with the services I have endeavored to render. The
welfare of my fellow citizens, and the perpetuation of our republican
institutions, having been the governing principles of my
public life, the favorable testimony borne by the Legislature of a
State so respectable as that of New York, gives me the highest
consolation. And this is much strengthened by an intimate conviction
that the same principles will govern the conduct of my
successor, whose talents, and eminent services, are a certain
pledge that the confidence in him expressed by the Legislature
of New York, will never be disappointed.
Sole depositories of the remains of human liberty, our duty to
ourselves, to posterity, and to mankind, call on us by every motive
which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of
our beloved country during the troubles which agitate and convulse
the residue of the world, and to sacrifice to that all personal
and local considerations. While the boasted energies of monarchy
have yielded to easy conquest the people they were to
protect, should our fabric of freedom suffer no more than the
slight agitations we have experienced, it will be an useful lesson
to the friends as well as the enemies of self-government. That
it may stand the shocks of time and accident, and that your own
may make a distinguished part of the mass of prosperity it may
dispense, will be my latest prayer.
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.
I have received, fellow citizens, your farewell address, with
those sentiments of respect and satisfaction which its very friendly
terms are calculated to inspire. With the consciousness of having
endeavored to serve my fellow citizens according to their
best interests, these testimonies of their good will are the sole
and highest remuneration my heart has ever desired.
I am sensible of the indulgence with which you review the
measures which have been pursued; and approving our sincere
endeavors to observe a strict neutrality with respect to foreign
powers. It is with reason you observe that, if hostilities must
succeed, we shall have the consolation that justice will be on
our side. War has been avoided from a due sense of the miseries,
and the demoralization it produces, and of the superior
blessings of a state of peace and friendship with all mankind.
But peace on our part, and war from others, would neither be
for our happiness or honor; and should the lawless violences of
the belligerent powers render it necessary to return their hostilities,
no nation has less to fear from a foreign enemy.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for your very kind wishes for my
happiness, and pray you to accept the assurances of my cordial
esteem, and grateful sense of your favor.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF BUCK MOUNTAIN IN
ALBEMARLE.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.
I thank you, my friends and neighbors, for your kind congratulations
on my return to my native home, and on the opportunities
it will give me of enjoying, amidst your affections,
the comforts of retirement and rest. Your approbation of my
conduct is the more valued as you have best known me, and is
an ample reward for any services I may have rendered. We
have acted together from the origin to the end of a memorable
revolution, and we have contributed, each in the line allotted us,
our endeavors to render its issue a permanent blessing to our
country. That our social intercourse may, to the evening of
our days, be cheered and cemented by witnessing the freedom
and happiness for which we have labored, will be my constant
prayer. Accept the offering of my affectionate esteem and respect.
TO JONATHAN LOW, ESQ., HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.
SIR,--I received on the 6th instant your favor covering the
resolutions of the general meeting of the republicans of the State
of Connecticut who had been convened at Hartford; and I see
with pleasure the spirit they breathe. They express with truth
the wrongs we have sustained, the forbearance we have exercised,
and the duty of rallying round the constituted authorities,
for the protection of our Union. Surrounded by such difficulties
and dangers, it is really deplorable that any should be found
among ourselves vindicating the conduct of the aggressors; co-operating
with them in multiplying embarrassments to their own
country, and encouraging disobedience to the laws provided for
its safety. But a spirit which should go further, and countenance
the advocates for a dissolution of the Union, and for setting in
hostile array one portion of our citizens against another, would
require to be viewed under a more serious aspect. It would
prove indeed that it is high time for every friend to his country,
in a firm and decided manner, to express his sentiments of the
measures which government has adopted to avert the impending
evils, unhesitatingly to pledge himself for the support of the laws,
liberties and independence of his country; and, with the general
meeting of the republicans of Connecticut, to resolve that, for
the preservation of the Union, the support and enforcement of
the laws, and for the resistance and repulsion of every enemy,
they will hold themselves in readiness, and put at stake, if necessary,
their lives and fortunes, on the pledge of their sacred honor.
With my thanks for the mark of attention in making this
communication, I pray you to accept for yourself and my respectable
fellow citizens from whom it proceeds, the assurance
of my high consideration, and my prayers for their welfare.
TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.
MONTICELLO, May 25, 1809.
Your free and cordial salutations in my retirement are received,
fellow citizens, with great pleasure, and the happiness of that retirement
is much heightened by assurances of satisfaction with
the course I have pursued in the transaction of the public affairs,
and that the confidence my fellow citizens were pleased to repose
in me, has not been disappointed.
Great sacrifices of interest have certainly been made by our
nation under the difficulties latterly forced upon us by transatlantic
powers. But every candid and reflecting mind must agree
with you, that while these were temporary and bloodless, they
were calculated to avoid permanent subjection to foreign law and
tribute, relinquishment of independent rights, and the burthens,
the havoc, and desolations of war. That these will be ultimately
avoided, we have now some reason to hope; and the successful
example of recalling nations to the practice of justice by
peaceable appeals to their interests, will doubtless have salutary
effects on our future course. As a countervail, too, to our short-lived
sacrifices, when these shall no longer be felt, we shall permanently
retain the benefit they have prompted, of fabricating
for our own use the materials of our own growth, heretofore
carried to the work-houses of Europe, to be wrought and returned
to us.
The hope you express that my successor will continue in the
same system of measures, is guaranteed, as far as future circumstances
will permit, by his enlightened and zealous participation
in them heretofore, and by the happy pacification he is now effecting
for us. Your wishes for my future happiness are very
thankfully felt, and returned by the sincerest desires that yourselves
may experience the favors of the great dispenser of all
good.
PART IV.
INDIAN ADDRESSES.
I.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, June 1781.
_To Brother John Baptist de Coigne_:--
BROTHER JOHN BAPTIST DE COIGNE,--I am very much pleased
with the visit you have made us, and particularly that it has
happened when the wise men from all parts of our country were
assembled together in council, and had an opportunity of hearing
the friendly discourse you held to me. We are all sensible of
your friendship, and of the services you have rendered, and I
now, for my countrymen, return you thanks, and, most particularly,
for your assistance to the garrison which was besieged by
the hostile Indians. I hope it will please the great being above
to continue you long in life, in health and in friendship to us;
and that your son will afterwards succeed you in wisdom, in
good disposition, and in power over your people. I consider the
name you have given as particularly honorable to me, but I value
it the more as it proves your attachment to my country. We,
like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the
same interests. I have carefully attended to the figures represented
on the skins, and to their explanation, and shall always
keep them hanging on the walls in remembrance of you and
your nation. I have joined with you sincerely in smoking the
pipe of peace; it is a good old custom handed down by your ancestors,
and as such I respect and join in it with reverence. I
hope we shall long continue to smoke in friendship together.
You find us, brother, engaged in war with a powerful nation.
Our forefathers were Englishmen, inhabitants of a little island
beyond the great water, and, being distressed for land, they came
and settled here. As long as we were young and weak, the
English whom we had left behind, made us carry all our wealth
to their country, to enrich them; and, not satisfied with this,
they at length began to say we were their slaves, and should do
whatever they ordered us. We were now grown up and felt ourselves
strong, we knew we were free as they were, that we came
here of our own accord and not at their biddance, and were
determined to be free as long as we should exist. For this
reason they made war on us. They have now waged that war
six years, and have not yet won more land from us than will
serve to bury the warriors they have lost. Your old father,
the king of France, has joined us in the war, and done many
good things for us. We are bound forever to love him, and
wish you to love him, brother, because he is a good and true
friend to us. The Spaniards have also joined us, and other
powerful nations are now entering into the war to punish the
robberies and violences the English have committed on them.
The English stand alone, without a friend to support them, hated
by all mankind because they are proud and unjust. This quarrel,
when it first began, was a family quarrel between us and the
English, who were then our brothers. We, therefore, did not
wish you to engage in it at all. We are strong enough of ourselves
without wasting your blood in fighting our battles. The
English, knowing this, have been always suing to the Indians to
help them fight. We do not wish you to take up the hatchet.
We love and esteem you. We wish you to multiply and be
strong. The English, on the other hand, wish to set you and
us to cutting one another's throats, that when we are dead they
may take all our land. It is better for you not to join in this
quarrel, unless the English have killed any of your warriors or
done you any other injury. If they have, you have a right to
go to war with them, and revenge the injury, and we have none
to restrain you. Any free nation has a right to punish those who
have done them an injury. I say the same, brother, as to the
Indians who treat you ill. While I advise you, like an affectionate
friend, to avoid unnecessary war, I do not assume the
right of restraining you from punishing your enemies. If the
English have injured you, as they have injured the French and
Spaniards, do like them and join us in the war. General Clarke
will receive you and show you the way to their towns. But if
they have not injured you, it is better for you to lie still and be
quiet. This is the advice which has been always given by the
great council of the Americans. We must give the same, because
we are but one of thirteen nations, who have agreed to
act and speak together. These nations keep a council of wise
men always sitting together, and each of us separately follow
their advice. They have the care of all the people and the
lands between the Ohio and Mississippi, and will see that no
wrong be committed on them. The French settled at Kaskaskias,
St. Vincennes, and the Cohos, are subject to that council,
and they will punish them if they do you any injury. If you
will make known to me any just cause of complaint against
them, I will represent it to the great council at Philadelphia, and
have justice done you.
Our good friend, your father, the King of France, does not lay
any claim to them. Their misconduct should not be imputed to
him. He gave them up to the English the last war, and we
have taken them from the English. The Americans alone have
a right to maintain justice in all the lands on this side the
Mississippi,--on the other side the Spaniards rule. You complain,
brother, of the want of goods for the use of your people. We
know that your wants are great, notwithstanding we have done
everything in our power to supply them, and have often grieved
for you. The path from hence to Kaskaskias is long and dangerous;
goods cannot be carried to you in that way. New Orleans
has been the only place from which we could get goods
for you. We have bought a great deal there; but I am afraid
not so much of them have come to you as we intended. Some
of them have been sold of necessity to buy provisions for our
posts. Some have been embezzled by our own drunken and
roguish people. Some have been taken by the Indians and
many by the English.
The Spaniards, having now taken all the English posts on the
Mississippi, have opened that channel free for our commerce,
and we are in hopes of getting goods for you from them. I will
not boast to you, brother, as the English do, nor promise more
than we shall be able to fulfil. I will tell you honestly, what
indeed your own good sense will tell you, that a nation at war
cannot buy so many goods as when in peace. We do not make
so many things to send over the great waters to buy goods, as
we made and shall make again in time of peace. When we buy
those goods, the English take many of them, as they are coming
to us over the great water. What we get in safe, are to be divided
among many, because we have a great many soldiers,
whom we must clothe. The remainder we send to our brothers
the Indians, and in going, a great deal of it is stolen or lost.
These are the plain reasons why you cannot get so much from
us in war as in peace. But peace is not far off. The English
cannot hold out long, because all the world is against them.
When that takes place, brother, there will not be an Englishman
left on this side the great water. What will those foolish nations
then do, who have made us their enemies, sided with the English,
and laughed at you for not being as wicked as themselves?
They are clothed for a day, and will be naked forever after;
while you, who have submitted to short inconvenience, will be
well supplied through the rest of your lives. Their friends will
be gone and their enemies left behind; but your friends will be
here, and will make you strong against all your enemies. For
the present you shall have a share of what little goods we can
get. We will order some immediately up the Mississippi for
you and for us. If they be little, you will submit to suffer a
little as your brothers do for a short time. And when we shall
have beaten our enemies and forced them to make peace, we
will share more plentifully. General Clarke will furnish you
with ammunition to serve till we can get some from New Orleans.
I must recommend to you particular attention to him. He is
our great, good, and trusty warrior; and we have put everything
under his care beyond the Alleghanies. He will advise you in
all difficulties, and redress your wrongs. Do what he tells you,
and you will be sure to do right. You ask us to send schoolmasters
to educate your son and the sons of your people. We
desire above all things, brother, to instruct you in whatever we
know ourselves. We wish to learn you all our arts and to make
you wise and wealthy. As soon as there is peace we shall be
able to send you the best of schoolmasters; but while the war is
raging, I am afraid it will not be practicable. It shall be done,
however, before your son is of an age to receive instruction.
This, brother, is what I had to say to you. Repeat it from
me to all your people, and to our friends, the Kickapous, Piorias,
Piankeshaws and Wyattanons. I will give you a commission
to show them how much we esteem you. Hold fast the chain
of friendship which binds us together, keep it bright as the sun,
and let them, you and us, live together in perpetual love.
II.
_Speeches of John Baptist de Coigne, Chief of the Wabash and
Illinois Indians, and other Indian Chiefs._
Thomas Jefferson has the honor to send to the President the
speech of De Coigne, written at length from his notes very exactly.
He thinks he can assure the President that not a sentiment delivered
by the French interpreter is omitted, nor a single one inserted
which was not expressed. It differs often from what the
English interpreter delivered, because he varied much from the
other, who alone was regarded by Thomas Jefferson.
February 1, 1793. The President having addressed the chiefs
of the Wabash and Illinois Indians, John Baptist De Coigne,
chief of Kaskaskia, spoke as follows:--
FATHER,--I am about to open to you my heart. I salute first
the Great Spirit, the Master of life, and then you.
I present you a black pipe on the death of chiefs who have
come here and died in your bed. It is the calumet of the dead--take
it and smoke it in remembrance of them. The dead pray
you to listen to the living, and to be their friends. They are
gone, we cannot recall them. Let us then be contented; for, as
you have said, to-morrow, perhaps, it may be our turn. Take
then their pipe, and as I have spoken for the dead, let me now
address you for the living. [He delivered the black pipe.]
[Here Three-Legs, a Piankeshaw chief, came forward and carried
round a white pipe, from which every one smoked.]
John Baptist De Coigne spoke again:
_Father_,--The sky is now cleared. I am about to open my
heart to you again. I do it in the presence of the Great Spirit,
and I pray you to attend.
You have heard the words of our father, General Putnam.
We opened our hearts to him, we made peace with him, and he
has told you what we said.
This pipe is white, I pray you to consider it as of the
Wyattanons, Piankeshaws, and the people of Eel river. The
English at Detroit are very jealous of our father. I have used
my best endeavors to keep all the red men in friendship with
you, but they have drawn over the one-half, while I have kept
the other. Be friendly then to those I have kept.
I have long known you, General Washington, the Congress,
Jefferson, Sinclair. I have labored constantly for you to preserve
peace.
You see your children on this side, [pointing to the friends of
the dead chief,] they are now orphans. Take care, then, of the
orphans of our dead friends.
_Father_,--Your people of Kentucky are like mosquitos, and try
to destroy the red men. The red men are like mosquitos also,
and try to injure the people of Kentucky. But I look to you as
to a good being. Order your people to be just. They are always
trying to get our lands. They come on our lands, they hunt
on them; kill our game, and kill us. Keep them then on one side
of the line, and us on the other. Listen, father, to what we say,
and protect the nations of the Wabash and Mississippi in their lands.
The English have often spoken to me, but I shut my ears to
them. I despise their money, it is nothing to me. I am attached
to my lands. I love to eat in tranquillity, and not like
a bird on a bough.
The Piankeshaws, Wyattanons, Wiaws, and all the Indians of
the Mississippi and Wabash, pray you to open your heart and ears
to them, and as you befriend them, to give them Captain Prior
for their father. We love him, men, women, and children of us.
He has always been friendly to us, always taken care of us, and
you cannot give us a better proof of your friendship than in leaving
him with us.
[Here Three-Legs handed round the white pipe to be
smoked.] De Coigne, then, taking a third pipe, proceeded:
This pipe, my father, is sent you by the great chief of all the
Wiaws, called Crooked-Legs. He is old, infirm, and cannot
walk, therefore is not come. But he prays you to be his friend,
and to take care of his people. He tells you there are many red
people jealous of you, but you need not fear them. If he could
have walked he would have come; but he is old and sick, and
cannot walk. The English have a sugar mouth, but Crooked-Legs
would never listen to them. They threatened us to send
the red men to cut off him and his people, and they sent the red
men who threatened to do it, unless he would join the English.
But he would not join them.
The chiefs of the Wabash, father, pray you to listen. They
send you this pipe from afar. Keep your children quiet at the
Falls of Ohio. We know you are the head of all. We appeal
to you. Keep the Americans on one side of the Ohio, from the
falls downwards, and us on the other; that we may have something
to live on according to your agreement in the treaty which
you have. And do not take from the French the lands we have
given them.
Old Crooked-Legs sends you this pipe, [here he presented it,]
and he prays you to send him Captain Prior for his father, for
he is old, and you ought to do this for him.
_Father_,--I pray you to listen. So far I have spoken for
others, and now will speak for myself. I am of Kaskaskia, and
have always been a good American from my youth upwards.
Yet the Kentuckians take my lands, eat my stock, steal my
horses, kill my game, and abuse our persons. I come far with
all these people. My nation is not numerous. No people can
fight against you father, but the Great God himself. All the red
men together cannot do it; but have pity on us. I am now old.
Do not let the Kentuckians take my lands nor injure me, but
give me a line to them to let me alone.
_Father_,--The Wyattanons, Piankeshaws, Piorias, Powtewatamies,
Mosquitoes, Kaskaskias, have now made a road to you. It
is broad and white. Take care of it then, and keep it open.
_Father_,--You are powerful. You said you would wipe away
our tears. We thank you for this. Be firm, and take care of
your children.
The hatchet has been long buried. I have been always for
peace. I have done what I could, given all the money I had to
procure it.
The half of my heart, father, is black. I brought the Piorias
to you. Half of them are dead. I fear they will say it was my
fault; but, father, I look upon you, my heart is white again, and
I smile.
The Shawanese, the Delawares, and the English, are always
persuading us to take up the hatchet against you, but I have
been always deaf to their words. [Here he gave a belt.]
Great Joseph who came with us is dead. Have compassion
on his niece, his son-in-law, and his chiefs, [pointing to them.]
It is a dead man who speaks to you, father; accept, therefore,
these black beads. [Here he presented several strands of dark
colored beads.] I have now seen General Washington, I salute
and regard him next after the Great Spirit.
Como, a Powtewatamy chief, then said, that as the President
had already been long detained, and the hour was advanced, he
would resume what he had to say at another day.
Shawas, the Little Doe, a Kickapou chief, though very sick,
had attended the conference, and now carried the pipe round to
be smoked. He then addressed the President.
_Father_,--I am still very ill, and unable to speak. I am a
Kickapou, and drink of the waters of the Wabash and Mississippi.
I have been to the Wabash and treatied with General Putnam,
and I came not to do ill, but to make peace. Send to us Captain
Prior to be our father, and no other. He possesses all our love.
_Father_,--I am too ill to speak. You will not forget what the
others have said.
_February 2._--The day being cloudy, the Indians did not
choose to meet.
_February 4._--The morning was cloudy, they gave notice
that if it should clear up they would attend at the President's
at 2 o'clock. Accordingly, the clouds having broke away about
noon, they attended a little after 2, except Shawas and another,
who were sick, and one woman.
Como, a Powtewatamy chief, spoke.
_Father_,--I am opening my heart to speak to you, open yours
to receive my words. I first address you from a dead chief, who
when he was about to die, called us up to him and charged us
never to part with our lands. So I have done for you, my children,
and so do you for yours. For what have we come so far?
Not to ruin our nation, nor yet that we might carry goods home
to our women and children; but to procure them lasting good, to
open a road between them and the whites, solicit our father to
send Captain Prior to us. He has taken good care of us, and
we all love him.
Now, Father, I address you for our young people, but there
remains not much to say, for I spoke to you through General
Putnam, and you have what I said on paper. I have buried the
hatchet forever, so must your children. I speak the truth, and
you must believe me. We all pray you to send Captain Prior
to us, because he has been so very kind to us all. [Here he delivered
strands of dark colored beads.]
_Father_,--Hear me and believe me. I speak the truth, and
from my heart; receive my words then into yours. I am come
from afar for the good of my women and children, for their
present and future good. When I was at home in the midst of
them, my heart sunk within me, I saw no hope for them. The
heavens were gloomy and lowering, and I could not tell why.
But General Putnam spoke to us, and called us together. I rejoiced
to hear him, and determined immediately to come and
see my father. Father, I am happy to see you. The heavens
have cleared away, the day is bright, and I rejoice to hear your
voice. These beads [holding up a bundle of white strands] are
a road between us. Take you hold at one end, I will at the
other, and hold it fast. I will visit this road every day, and
sweep it clean. If any blood be on it, I will cover it up; if
stumps, I will cut them out. Should your children and mine
meet in this road they shall shake hands and be good friends.
Some of the Indians who belong to the English will be trying
to sow harm between us, but we must be on our guard and prevent
it.
_Father_,--I love the land on which I was born, the trees which
cover it, and the grass growing on it. It feeds us well. I am
not come here to ask gifts. I am young, and by hunting on my
own land, can kill what I want and feed my women and children
in plenty. I come not to beg. But if any of your traders
would wish to come among us, let them come. For who will
hurt them? Nobody, I will be there before them.
_Father_,--I take you by the hand with all my heart. I will
never forget you; do not you forget me.
[Here he delivered the bundle of white strands.]
The Little Beaver, a Wyattanon, on the behalf of Crooked-Legs,
handed round the pipe, and then spoke.
_Father_,--Listen now to me as you have done to others. I am
not a very great chief; I am a chief of war, and leader of the
young people.
_Father_,--I wished much to hear you; you have spoken comfort
to us, and I am happy to have heard it. The sun has
shone out, and all is well. This makes us think it was the
Great Spirit speaking truth through you. Do then what you
have said, restrain your people if they do wrong, as we will ours
if they do wrong.
_Father_,--We gave to our friend (Prior) who came with us,
our name of Wyattanon, and he gave us his name of American.
We are now Americans, give him then unto us as a father. He
has loved us and taken care of us. He had pity on our women
and children, and fed them. Do not forget to grant us this request.
You told us to live in quiet, and to do right. We will
do what you desire, and let Prior come to us.
Now that we have come so far to hear you, write a line to
your people to keep the river open between us, that we may go
down in safety, and that our women and children may work in
peace. When I go back, I will bear to them good tidings, and
our young men will no longer hunt in fear for the support of our
women and children.
_Father_,--All of us who have heard you are made happy, all
are in the same sentiment with me, all are satisfied. Be assured
that, when we return, the Indians and Americans will be one
people, will hunt, and play, and laugh together. For me, I never
will depart one step from Prior. We are come from afar to make
a stable peace, to look forward to our future good. Do not refuse
what we solicit, we will never forget you.
Here I will cease. The father of life might otherwise think
I babbled too much, and so might you. I finish then, in giving
you this pipe. It is my own, and from myself alone. I am but
a warrior. I give it to you to smoke in. Let its fumes ascend
to the Great Spirit in heaven.
[He delivered the pipe to the President.]
The wife of the soldier, a Wyattanon, speaks:
_Father_,--I take you by the hand with all my heart because
you have spoken comfort to us. I am but a woman, yet you
must listen.
The village chiefs, and chiefs of war, have opened their bodies
and laid naked their hearts to you. Let them too see your heart
and listen to them.
We have come, men and women, from afar to beseech you to
let no one take our lands. That is one of our children, [pointing
to General Putnam.] It was he who persuaded us to come.
We thought he spoke the truth, we came, and we hope that good
will come of it.
_Father_,--We know you are strong, have pity on us. Be firm
in your words. They have given us courage. The father of
life has opened our hearts on both sides for good.
He who was to have spoken to you is dead, Great Joseph. If
he had lived you would have heard a good man, and good words
flowing from his mouth. He was my uncle, and it has fallen to
me to speak for him. But I am ignorant. Excuse, then, these
words, it is but a woman who speaks.
[She delivers white strands.]
Three-Legs, a Piankeshaw spoke.
I speak for a young chief whom I have lost here. He came
to speak to you, father, but he had not that happiness. He died.
I am not a village chief, but only a chief of war.
We are come to seek all our good, and to be firm in it. If
our father is firm, we will be so. It was a dark and gloomy
day in which I lost my young chief. The master of life saw
that he was good, and called him to himself. We must submit
to his will. [He gave a black strand.] I pray you all who are
present to say, as one man, that our peace is firm, and to let it be
firm. Listen to us if you love us. We live on the river on one
side, and shall be happy to see Captain Prior on the other, and
to have a lasting peace. Here is our father Putnam. He
heard me speak at Au Porte. If I am false let him say so.
My land is but small. If any more be taken from us, I will
come again to you and complain, for we shall not be able to live.
Have pity on us father. You have many red children there,
and they have little whereon to live. Leave them land enough
to labor, to hunt, and to live on, and the lands which we have
given to the French, let them be to them forever.
_Father_,--We are very poor, we have traders among us, but
they will sell too dear. We have not the means of supplying
our wants at such prices. Encourage your traders then to come,
and to bring us guns, powder, and other necessaries, and send
Captain Prior also to us.
[He gave a string of white beads.] De Coigne spoke:
Jefferson, I have seen you before, and we have spoken together.
Sinclair, we have opened our hearts to one another. Putnam,
we did the same at Au Porte.
_Father_,--You have heard these three speak of me, and you
know my character. The times are gloomy in my town. We
have no commander, no soldier, no priest. Have you no concern
for us, father? If you have, put a magistrate with us to
keep the peace. I cannot live so. I am of French blood. When
there are no priests among us we think that all is not well.
When I was small we had priests, now that I am old we have
none; am I to forget, then, how to pray? Have pity on me and
grant what I ask. I have spoken on your behalf to all the nations.
I am a friend to all, and hurt none. For what are we
on this earth? But as a small and tender plant of corn; even
as nothing. God has made this earth for you as well as for us;
we are then but as one family, and if any one strikes you, it is
as if he had struck us. If any nation strikes you, father, we
will let you know what nation it is.
_Father_,--We fear the Kentuckians. They are headstrong,
and do us great wrong. They are not content to come on our
lands, to hunt on them, to steal and destroy our stocks, as the
Shawanese and Delawares do, but they go further, and abuse our
persons. Forbid them to do so. Sinclair, you know that the
Shawanese and Delawares came from the Spanish side of the
river, destroyed our corn, and killed our cattle. We cannot live
if things go so.
_Father_,--You are rich, you have all things at command, you
want for nothing, you promised to wipe away our tears. I commend
our women and children to your care.
[He gave strands of white beads.]
The President then assured them that he would take in consideration
what they had said, and would give them an answer
on another day; whereupon the conference ended for the present.
III.
January 7, 1802.
_Brothers and friends of the Miamis, Powtewatamies, and Weeauks:--_
I receive with great satisfaction the visit you have been so
kind as to make us at this place, and I thank the Great Spirit who
has conducted you to us in health and safety. It is well that
friends should sometimes meet, open their minds mutually, and
renew the chain of affection. Made by the same Great Spirit,
and living in the same land with our brothers, the red men, we
consider ourselves as of the same family; we wish to live with
them as one people, and to cherish their interests as our own.
The evils which of necessity encompass the life of man are sufficiently
numerous. Why should we add to them by voluntarily
distressing and destroying one another? Peace, brothers, is better
than war. In a long and bloody war, we lose many friends,
and gain nothing. Let us then live in peace and friendship together,
doing to each other all the good we can. The wise and
good on both sides desire this, and we must take care that the
foolish and wicked among us shall not prevent it. On our part,
we shall endeavor in all things to be just and generous towards
you, and to aid you in meeting those difficulties which a change
of circumstances is bringing on. We shall, with great pleasure,
see your people become disposed to cultivate the earth, to raise
herds of the useful animals, and to spin and weave, for their food
and clothing. These resources are certain; they will never disappoint
you: while those of hunting may fail, and expose your
women and children to the miseries of hunger and cold. We
will with pleasure furnish you with implements for the most
necessary arts, and with persons who may instruct you how to
make and use them.
I consider it as fortunate that you have made your visit at this
time, when our wise men from the sixteen States are collected
together in council, who being equally disposed to befriend you,
can strengthen our hands in the good we all wish to render you.
The several matters you opened to us in your speech the other
day, and those on which you have since conversed with the
Secretary of War, have been duly considered by us. He will
now deliver answers, and you are to consider what he says, as
if said by myself, and that what we promise we shall faithfully
perform.
IV.
February 10, 1802.
_Brothers of the Delaware and Shawanee nations_:--
I thank the Great Spirit that he has conducted you hither in
health and safety, and that we have an opportunity of renewing
our amity, and of holding friendly conference together. It is a
circumstance of great satisfaction to us that we are in peace and
good understanding with all our red brethren, and that we discover
in them the same disposition to continue so which we feel
ourselves. It is our earnest desire to merit, and possess their
affections, by rendering them strict justice, prohibiting injury from
others, aiding their endeavors to learn the culture of the earth,
and to raise useful animals, and befriending them as good neighbors,
and in every other way in our power. By mutual endeavors
to do good to each other, the happiness of both will be better
promoted than by efforts of mutual destruction. We are all
created by the same Great Spirit; children of the same family.
Why should we not live then as brothers ought to do?
I am peculiarly gratified by receiving the visit of some of your
most ancient and greatest warriors, of whom I have heard much
good. It is a long journey which they have taken at their age,
and in this season, and I consider it as a proof that their affections
for us are sincere and strong. I hope that the young men,
who have come with them, to make acquaintance with us, judging
our dispositions towards them by what they see themselves,
and not what they may hear from others, will go hand in hand
with us, through life, in the cultivation of mutual peace, friendship,
and good offices.
The speech which the Blackhoof delivered us, in behalf of
your nation, has been duly considered. The answer to all its
particulars will now be delivered you by the Secretary of War.
Whatever he shall say, you may consider as if said by myself,
and that what he promises our nation will perform.
V.
WASHINGTON, November 3, 1802.
_To Brother Handsome Lake_:--
I have received the message in writing which you sent me
through Captain Irvine, our confidential agent, placed near you
for the purpose of communicating and transacting between us,
whatever may be useful for both nations. I am happy to learn
you have been so far favored by the Divine spirit as to be made
sensible of those things which are for your good and that of your
people, and of those which are hurtful to you; and particularly
that you and they see the ruinous effects which the abuse of
spirituous liquors have produced upon them. It has weakened
their bodies, enervated their minds, exposed them to hunger,
cold, nakedness, and poverty, kept them in perpetual broils, and
reduced their population. I do not wonder then, brother, at
your censures, not only on your own people, who have voluntarily
gone into these fatal habits, but on all the nations of white
people who have supplied their calls for this article. But these
nations have done to you only what they do among themselves.
They have sold what individuals wish to buy, leaving to every
one to be the guardian of his own health and happiness. Spirituous
liquors are not in themselves bad, they are often found to
be an excellent medicine for the sick; it is the improper and intemperate
use of them, by those in health, which makes them
injurious. But as you find that your people cannot refrain from
an ill use of them, I greatly applaud your resolution not to use
them at all. We have too affectionate a concern for your happiness
to place the paltry gain on the sale of these articles in competition
with the injury they do you. And as it is the desire
of your nation, that no spirits should be sent among them,
I am authorized by the great council of the United States to prohibit
them. I will sincerely coöperate with your wise men in
any proper measures for this purpose, which shall be agreeable to
them.
You remind me, brother, of what I said to you, when you
visited me the last winter, that the lands you then held would
remain yours, and shall never go from you but when you should
be disposed to sell. This I now repeat, and will ever abide by.
We, indeed, are always ready to buy land; but we will never ask
but when you wish to sell; and our laws, in order to protect you
against imposition, have forbidden individuals to purchase lands
from you; and have rendered it necessary, when you desire to
sell, even to a State, that an agent from the United States should
attend the sale, see that your consent is freely given, a satisfactory
price paid, and report to us what has been done, for our approbation.
This was done in the late case of which you complain.
The deputies of your nation came forward, in all the forms
which we have been used to consider as evidence of the will of
your nation. They proposed to sell to the State of New York
certain parcels of land, of small extent, and detached from the
body of your other lands; the State of New York was desirous
to buy. I sent an agent, in whom we could trust, to see that
your consent was free, and the sale fair. All was reported to be
free and fair. The lands were your property. The right to sell
is one of the rights of property. To forbid you the exercise of
that right would be a wrong to your nation. Nor do I think,
brother, that the sale of lands is, under all circumstances, injurious
to your people. While they depended on hunting, the
more extensive the forest around them, the more game they
would yield. But going into a state of agriculture, it may be as
advantageous to a society, as it is to an individual, who has more
land than he can improve, to sell a part, and lay out the money
in stocks and implements of agriculture, for the better improvement
of the residue. A little land well stocked and improved,
will yield more than a great deal without stock or improvement.
I hope, therefore, that on further reflection, you will see this
transaction in a more favorable light, both as it concerns the interest
of your nation, and the exercise of that superintending
care which I am sincerely anxious to employ for their subsistence
and happiness. Go on then, brother, in the great reformation
you have undertaken. Persuade our red brethren then to be
sober, and to cultivate their lands; and their women to spin and
weave for their families. You will soon see your women and
children well fed and clothed, your men living happily in peace
and plenty, and your numbers increasing from year to year. It
will be a great glory to you to have been the instrument of so
happy a change, and your children's children, from generation
to generation, will repeat your name with love and gratitude forever.
In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may
count with confidence on the aid and protection of the United
States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself
animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our
brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren
should do. Farewell.
VI.
January 8, 1803.
_Brothers Miamis and Delawares_:--
I am happy to see you here, to take you by the hand, and to
renew the assurances of our friendship. The journey which you
have taken is long; but it leads to a right understanding of what
either of us may have misunderstood; it will be useful for all.
For, living in the same land, it is best for us all that we should
live together in peace, friendship, and good neighborhood.
I have taken into serious consideration the several subjects on
which you spoke to me the other day, and will now proceed to
answer them severally.
You know, brothers, that, in ancient times, your former fathers
the French settled at Vincennes, and lived and traded with your
ancestors, and that those ancestors ceded to the French a tract
of country, on the Wabash river, seventy leagues broad, and extending
in length from Point Coupee to the mouth of White
river. The French, at the close of a war between them and the
English, ceded this country to the English; who, at the close of
a war between them and us, ceded it to us. The remembrance
of these transactions is well preserved among the white people;
they have been acknowledged in a deed signed by your fathers;
and you also, we suppose, must have heard it from them. Sincerely
desirous to live in peace and brotherhood with you, and
that the hatchet of war may never again be lifted, we thought
it prudent to remove from between us whatever might at any
time produce misunderstanding. The unmarked state of our
boundaries, and mutual trespasses on each others' lands, for want
of their being known to all our people, have at times threatened
our peace. We therefore instructed Governor Harrison to call a
meeting of the chiefs of all the Indian nations around Vincennes,
and to propose that we should settle and mark the boundary between
us. The chiefs of these nations met. They appeared to
think hard that we should claim the whole of what their ancestors
had ceded and sold to the white men, and proposed to mark
off for us from Point Coupee to the mouth of White river, a
breadth of twenty-four leagues only, instead of seventy. His
offer was a little more than a third of our right. But the desire
of being in peace and friendship with you, and of doing nothing
which should distress you, prevailed in our minds, and we agreed
to it. This was the act of the several nations, original owners
of the soil, and by men duly authorized by the body of those
nations. You, brothers, seem not to have been satisfied with it.
But it is a rule in all countries that what is done by the body
of a nation must be submitted to by all its members. We have
no right to alter, on a partial deputation, what we have settled
by treaty with the body of the nations concerned. The lines
too, which are agreed on, are to be run and marked in the presence
of your chiefs, who will see that they are fairly run. Your
nations were so sensible of the moderation of our conduct towards
them, that they voluntarily offered to lend us forever the salt
springs, and four miles square of land near the mouth of the
Wabash, without price. But we wish nothing without price.
And we propose to make a reasonable addition to the annuity
we pay to the owners.
You complain that our people buy your lands individually,
and settle and hunt on them without leave. To convince you
of the care we have taken to guard you against the injuries and
arts of interested individuals, I now will give you a copy of a
law, of our great council the Congress, forbidding individuals to
buy lands from you, or to settle or hunt on your lands; and making
them liable to severe punishment. And if you will at any
time seize such individuals, and deliver them to any officer of the
United States, they will be punished according to law.
We have long been sensible, brothers, of the great injury you
receive from an immoderate use of spirituous liquors; and although
it be profitable to us to make and sell these liquors, yet
we value more the preservation of your health and happiness.
Heretofore we apprehended you would be displeased, were we to
withhold them from you. But leaving it to be your desire, we
have taken measures to prevent their being carried into your
country; and we sincerely rejoice at this proof of your wisdom.
Instead of spending the produce of your hunting in purchasing
this pernicious drink, which produces poverty, broils and murders,
it will now be employed in procuring food and clothing
for your families, and increasing instead of diminishing your
numbers.
You have proposed, brothers, that we should deduct from your
next year's annuity, the expenses of your journey here; but this
would be an exactness we do not practise with our red brethren.
We will bear with satisfaction the expenses of your journey,
and of whatever is necessary for your personal comfort; and
will not, by deducting them, lessen the amount of the necessaries
which your women and children are to receive the next
year.
From the same good will towards you, we shall be pleased to
see you making progress in raising stock and grain, and making
clothes for yourselves. A little labor in this way, performed at
home and at ease, will go further towards feeding and clothing
you, than a great deal of labor in hunting wild beasts.
In answer to your request of a smith to be stationed in some
place convenient to you, I can inform you that Mr. Wells, our
agent, is authorized to make such establishments, and also to furnish
you with implements of husbandry and manufacture, whenever
you shall be determined to use them. The particulars on
this subject, as well as of some others mentioned in your speech,
and in the written speech you brought me from Buckangalah
and others, will be communicated and settled with you by the
Secretary at War. And I shall pray you in your return, to be
the bearers to your countrymen and friends of assurances of my
sincere friendship, and that our nation wishes to befriend them
in everything useful, and to protect them against all injuries
committed by lawless persons from among our citizens, either on
their lands, their lives or their property.
VII.
December 17, 1803.
_Brothers of the Choctaw nation_:--
We have long heard of your nation as a numerous, peaceable,
and friendly people; but this is the first visit we have had from
its great men at the seat of our government. I welcome you
here; am glad to take you by the hand, and to assure you, for
your nation, that we are their friends. Born in the same land,
we ought to live as brothers, doing to each other all the good we
can, and not listening to wicked men, who may endeavor to
make us enemies. By living in peace, we can help and prosper
one another; by waging war, we can kill and destroy many on
both sides; but those who survive will not be the happier for
that. Then, brothers, let it forever be peace and good neighborhood
between us. Our seventeen States compose a great and
growing nation. Their children are as the leaves of the trees,
which the winds are spreading over the forest. But we are just
also. We take from no nation what belongs to it. Our growing
numbers make us always willing to buy lands from our red
brethren, when they are willing to sell. But be assured we
never mean to disturb them in their possessions. On the contrary,
the lines established between us by mutual consent, shall
be sacredly preserved, and will protect your lands from all encroachments
by our own people or any others. We will give
you a copy of the law, made by our great Council, for punishing
our people, who may encroach on your lands, or injure you
otherwise. Carry it with you to your homes, and preserve it,
as the shield which we spread over you, to protect your land,
your property and persons.
It is at the request which you sent me in September, signed
by Puckshanublee and other chiefs, and which you now repeat,
that I listen to your proposition, to sell us lands. You say you
owe a great debt to your merchants, that you have nothing to
pay it with but lands, and you pray us to take lands, and pay
your debt. The sum you have occasion for, brothers, is a very
great one. We have never yet paid as much to any of our red
brethren for the purchase of lands. You propose to us some on
the Tombigbee, and some on the Mississippi. Those on the
Mississippi suit us well. We wish to have establishments on
that river, as resting places for our boats, to furnish them provisions,
and to receive our people who fall sick on the way to or
from New Orleans, which is now ours. In that quarter, therefore,
we are willing to purchase as much as you will spare. But
as to the manner in which the line shall be run, we are not
judges of it here, nor qualified to make any bargain. But we
will appoint persons hereafter to treat with you on the spot, who,
knowing the country and quality of the lands, will be better able
to agree with you on a line which will give us a just equivalent
for the sum of money you want paid.
You have spoken, brothers, of the lands which your fathers
formerly sold and marked off to the English, and which they
ceded to us with the rest of the country they held here; and
you say that, though you do not know whether your fathers
were paid for them, you have marked the line over again for us,
and do not ask repayment. It has always been the custom,
brothers, when lands were bought of the red men, to pay for
them immediately, and none of us have ever seen an example of
such a debt remaining unpaid. It is to satisfy their immediate
wants that the red men have usually sold lands; and in such a
case, they would not let the debt be unpaid. The presumption
from custom then is strong; so it is also from the great length
of time since your fathers sold these lands. But we have, moreover,
been informed by persons now living, and who assisted the
English in making the purchase, that the price was paid at the
time. Were it otherwise, as it was their contract, it would be
their debt, not ours.
I rejoice, brothers, to hear you propose to become cultivators
of the earth for the maintenance of your families. Be assured
you will support them better and with less labor, by raising
stock and bread, and by spinning and weaving clothes, than by
hunting. A little land cultivated, and a little labor, will procure
more provisions than the most successful hunt; and a woman
will clothe more by spinning and weaving, than a man by hunting.
Compared with you, we are but as of yesterday in this
land. Yet see how much more we have multiplied by industry,
and the exercise of that reason which you possess in common
with us. Follow then our example, brethren, and we will aid
you with great pleasure.
The clothes and other necessaries which we sent you the last
year, were, as you supposed, a present from us. We never meant
to ask land or any other payment for them; and the store which
we sent on, was at your request also; and to accommodate you
with necessaries at a reasonable price, you wished of course to
have it on your land; but the land would continue yours, not
ours.
As to the removal of the store, the interpreter, and the agent,
and any other matters you may wish to speak about, the Secretary
at War will enter into explanations with you, and whatever
he says, you may consider as said by myself, and what he promises
you will be faithfully performed.
I am glad, brothers, you are willing to go and visit some other
parts of our country. Carriages shall be ready to convey you,
and you shall be taken care of on your journey; and when you
shall have returned here and rested yourselves to your own mind,
you shall be sent home by land. We had provided for your
coming by land, and were sorry for the mistake which carried
you to Savannah instead of Augusta, and exposed you to the
risks of a voyage by sea. Had any accident happened to you,
though we could not help it, it would have been a cause of great
mourning to us. But we thank the Great Spirit who took care
of you on the ocean, and brought you safe and in good health
to the seat of our great Council; and we hope His care will accompany
and protect you, on your journey and return home;
and that He will preserve and prosper your nation in all its just
pursuits.
VIII.
_My Children, White-hairs, Chiefs, and Warriors of the Osage
Nation_:--
I repeat to you assurances of the satisfaction it gives me to receive
you here. Besides the labor of such a journey, the confidence
you have shown in the honor and friendship of my countrymen
is peculiarly gratifying, and I hope you have seen that your
confidence was justly placed, that you have found yourselves,
since you crossed the Mississippi, among brothers and friends,
with whom you were as safe as at home.
_My Children_,--I sincerely weep with you over the graves of
your chiefs and friends, who fell by the hands of their enemies
lately descending the Osage river. Had they been prisoners,
and living, we would have recovered them. But no voice can
awake the dead; no power undo what is done. On this side the
Mississippi, where our government has been long established,
and our authority organized, our friends visiting us are safe.
We hope it will not be long before our voice will be heard
and our arm respected, by those who meditate to injure our
friends on the other side of that river. In the meantime, Governor
Harrison will be directed to take proper measures to inquire
into the circumstances of the transaction, to report them to
us for consideration, and for the further measures they may require.
_My Children_,--By late arrangements with France and Spain,
we now take their place as your neighbors, friends, and fathers;
and we hope you will have no cause to regret the change. It is
so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water,
that we have lost the memory of it, and seem to have grown out
of this land, as you have done. Never more will you have occasion
to change your fathers. We are all now of one family,
born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers; and the
strangers from beyond the great water are gone from among us.
The Great Spirit has given you strength, and has given us
strength; not that we might hurt one another, but to do each
other all the good in our power. Our dwellings, indeed, are
very far apart, but not too far to carry on commerce and useful
intercourse. You have furs and peltries which we want, and we
have clothes and other useful things which you want. Let us
employ ourselves, then, in mutually accommodating each other.
To begin this on our part, it was necessary to know what nations
inhabited the great country called Louisiana, which embraces
all the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri, what number
of peltries they could furnish, what quantities and kind of
merchandize they would require, where would be the deposits
most convenient for them, and to make an exact map of all those
waters. For this purpose I sent a beloved man, Captain Lewis,
one of my own household, to learn something of the people with
whom we are now united, to let you know we were your friends,
to invite you to come and see us, and to tell us how we can be
useful to you. I thank you for the readiness with which you
have listened to his voice, and for the favor you have showed
him in his passage up the Missouri. I hope your countrymen
will favor and protect him as far as they extend. On his return
we shall hear what he has seen and learnt, and proceed to establish
trading houses where our red brethren shall think best,
and to exchange commodities with them on terms with which
they will be satisfied.
With the same views I had prepared another party to go up
the Red River to its source, thence to the source of the Arkansas,
and down it to its mouth. But I will now give orders that they
shall only go a small distance up the Red River this season, and
return to tell us what they have seen, and that they shall not set
out for the head of that river till the ensuing spring, when you
will be at home, and will, I hope, guide and guard them in their
journey. I also propose the next year to send another small
party up the river of the Kansas to its source, thence to the head
of the river of the Panis, and down to its mouth; and others up
the rivers on the north side of the Missouri. For guides along
these rivers, we must make arrangements with the nations inhabiting
them.
_My Children_,--I was sorry to learn that a schism had taken
place in your nation, and that a part of your people had withdrawn
with the Great-Track to the Arkansas river. We will send
an agent to them, and will use our best offices to induce them to
return, and to live in union with you. We wish to make them
also our friends, and to make that friendship, and the weight it
may give us with them, useful to you and them.
We propose, my children, immediately to establish an agent
to reside with you, who will speak to you our words, and convey
yours to us, who will be the guardian of our peace and friendship,
convey truths from one to the other, dissipate all falsehoods
which might tend to alienate and divide us, and maintain a good
understanding and friendship between us. As the distance is
too great for you to come often and tell us your wants, you will
tell them to him on the spot, and he will convey them to us in
writing, so that we shall be sure that they come from you.
Through the intervention of such an agent we shall hope that
our friendship will forever be preserved. No wrong will ever be
done you by our nation, and we trust that yours will do none to
us. And should ungovernable individuals commit unauthorized
outrage on either side, let them be duly punished; or if they escape,
let us make to each other the best satisfaction the case
admits, and not let our peace be broken by bad men. For all
people have some bad men among them, whom no laws can restrain.
As you have taken so long a journey to see your father, we
wish you not to return till you shall have visited our country
and towns toward the sea coast. This will be new and satisfactory
to you, and it will give you the same knowledge of the
country on this side the Mississippi, which we are endeavoring
to acquire of that on the other side, by sending trusty persons to
explore them. We propose to do in your country only what we
are desirous you should do in ours. We will provide accommodations
for your journey, for your comfort while engaged in it,
and for your return in safety to your own country, carrying with
you those proofs of esteem with which we distinguish our friends,
and shall particularly distinguish you. On your return tell your
people that I take them all by the hand; that I become their
father hereafter; that they shall know our nation only as friends
and benefactors; that we have no views upon them but to carry
on a commerce useful to them and us; to keep them in peace
with their neighbors, that their children may multiply, may grow
up and live to a good old age, and their women no more fear the
tomahawk of any enemy.
My children, these are my words, carry them to your nation,
keep them in your memories, and our friendship in your hearts,
and may the Great Spirit look down upon us and cover us with
the mantle of his love.
IX.
March 7, 1805.
_My Children, Chiefs of the Chickasaw nation, Minghey, Mataha, and
Tishohotana_:--
I am happy to receive you at the seat of the government of
the twenty-two nations, and to take you by the hand. Your
friendship to the Americans has long been known to me. Our
fathers have told us that your nation never spilled the blood of
an American, and we have seen you fighting by our side and
cementing our friendship by mixing our blood in battle against
the same enemies. I rejoice, therefore, that the Great Spirit has
covered you with his protection through so long a journey and
so inclement a season, and brought you safe to the dwelling of
a father who wishes well to all his red children, and to you especially.
It would have been also pleasing to have received the
other chiefs who had proposed to come with you, and to have
known and become known to them, had it been convenient for
them to come. I have long wished to see the beloved men of
your nation, to renew the friendly conferences of former times,
to assure them that we remain constant in our attachment to
them, and to prove it by our good offices.
Your country, like all those on this side the Mississippi, has
no longer game sufficient to maintain yourselves, your women
and children, comfortably by hunting. We, therefore, wish to
see you undertake the cultivation of the earth, to raise cattle,
corn, and cotton, to feed and clothe your people. A little labor
in the earth will produce more food than the best hunts you can
now make, and the women will spin and weave more clothing
than the men can procure by hunting. We shall very willingly
assist you in this course by furnishing you with the necessary
tools and implements, and with persons to instruct you in the
use of them.
We have been told that you have contracted a great debt to
some British traders, which gives you uneasiness, and which you
honestly wish to pay by the sale of some of your lands. Whenever
you raise food from the earth, and make your own clothing,
you will find that you have a great deal of land more than
you can cultivate or make useful, and that it will be better for
you to sell some of that, to pay your debts, and to have something
over to be paid to you annually to aid you in feeding and
clothing yourselves. Your lands are your own, my children,
they shall never be taken from you by our people or any others.
You will be free to keep or to sell as yourselves shall think most
for your own good. If at this time you think it will be better
for you to dispose of some of them to pay your debts, and to
help your people to improve the rest, we are willing to buy on
reasonable terms. Our people multiply so fast that it will suit us
to buy as much as you wish to sell, but only according to your
good will. We have lately obtained from the French and Spaniards
all the country beyond the Mississippi called Louisiana, in
which there is a great deal of land unoccupied by any red men.
But it is very far off, and we would prefer giving you lands
there, or money and goods as you like best, for such parts of your
land on this side the Mississippi as you are disposed to part with.
Should you have anything to say on this subject now, or at any
future time, we shall be always ready to listen to you.
I am obliged, within a few days, to set out on a long journey;
but I wish you to stay and rest yourselves according to your own
convenience. The Secretary at War will take care of you, will
have you supplied with whatever you may have occasion for,
and will provide for your return at your own pleasure. And I
hope you will carry to your countrymen assurances of the sincere
friendship of the United States to them, and that we shall
always be disposed to render them all the service in our power.
This, my children, is all I had proposed to say at this time.
X.
_To the Wolf and people of the Mandar nation._
WASHINGTON, December 30, 1806.
_My Children, the Wolf and people of the Mandar nation._--I
take you by the hand of friendship and give you a hearty
welcome to the seat of the government of the United States.
The journey which you have taken to visit your fathers on
this side of our island is a long one, and your having undertaken
it is a proof that you desired to become acquainted with
us. I thank the Great Spirit that he has protected you through
the journey and brought you safely to the residence of your
friends, and I hope He will have you constantly in his safe keeping,
and restore you in good health to your nations and families.
My friends and children, we are descended from the old nations
which live beyond the great water, but we and our forefathers
have been so long here that we seem like you to have
grown out of this land. We consider ourselves no longer of the
old nations beyond the great water, but as united in one family
with our red brethren here. The French, the English, the Spaniards,
have now agreed with us to retire from all the country which
you and we hold between Canada and Mexico, and never more
to return to it. And remember the words I now speak to you,
my children, they are never to return again. We are now your
fathers; and you shall not lose by the change. As soon as Spain
had agreed to withdraw from all the waters of the Missouri and
Mississippi, I felt the desire of becoming acquainted with all my
red children beyond the Mississippi, and of uniting them with
us as we have those on this side of that river, in the bonds of
peace and friendship. I wished to learn what we could do to
benefit them by furnishing them the necessaries they want in
exchange for their furs and peltries. I therefore sent our beloved
man, Captain Lewis, one of my own family, to go up the
Missouri river to get acquainted with all the Indian nations in its
neighborhood, to take them by the hand, deliver my talks to them,
and to inform us in what way we could be useful to them. Your
nation received him kindly, you have taken him by the hand and
been friendly to him. My children, I thank you for the services
you rendered him, and for your attention to his words. He will
now tell us where we should establish trading houses to be convenient
to you all, and what we must send to them.
My friends and children, I have now an important advice to
give you. I have already told you that you and all the red men
are my children, and I wish you to live in peace and friendship
with one another as brethren of the same family ought to
do. How much better is it for neighbors to help than to
hurt one another; how much happier must it make them. If you
will cease to make war on one another, if you will live in friendship
with all mankind, you can employ all your time in providing
food and clothing for yourselves and your families. Your men
will not be destroyed in war, and your women and children will
lie down to sleep in their cabins without fear of being surprised
by their enemies and killed or carried away. Your numbers will
be increased instead of diminishing, and you will live in plenty
and in quiet. My children, I have given this advice to all your
red brethren on this side of the Mississippi; they are following
it, they are increasing in their numbers, are learning to clothe and
provide for their families as we do. Remember then my advice,
my children, carry it home to your people, and tell them that
from the day that they have become all of the same family, from
the day that we became father to them all, we wish, as a true
father should do, that we may all live together as one household,
and that before they strike one another, they should go to their
father and let him endeavor to make up the quarrel.
My children, you are come from the other side of our great
island, from where the sun sets, to see your new friends at the
sun rising. You have now arrived where the waters are constantly
rising and falling every day, but you are still distant from
the sea. I very much desire that you should not stop here, but
go and see your brethren as far as the edge of the great water.
I am persuaded you have so far seen that every man by the way
has received you as his brothers, and has been ready to do you
all the kindness in his power. You will see the same thing quite
to the sea shore; and I wish you, therefore, to go and visit our
great cities in that quarter, and see how many friends and brothers
you have here. You will then have travelled a long line
from west to east, and if you had time to go from north to south,
from Canada to Florida, you would find it as long in that direction,
and all the people as sincerely your friends. I wish you,
my children, to see all you can, and to tell your people all you
see; because I am sure the more they know of us, the more
they will be our hearty friends. I invite you, therefore, to pay
a visit to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and the cities still
beyond that, if you are willing to go further. We will provide
carriages to convey you and a person to go with you to see that
you want for nothing. By the time you come back the snows
will be melted on the mountains, the ice in the rivers broken up,
and you will be wishing to set out on your return home.
My children, I have long desired to see you; I have now
opened my heart to you, let my words sink into your hearts and
never be forgotten. If ever lying people or bad spirits should
raise up clouds between us, call to mind what I have said, and
what you have seen yourselves. Be sure there are some lying
spirits between us; let us come together as friends and explain
to each other what is misrepresented or misunderstood, the clouds
will fly away like morning fog, and the sun of friendship appear
and shine forever bright and clear between us.
My children, it may happen that while you are here occasion
may arise to talk about many things which I do not now particularly
mention. The Secretary at War will always be ready to
talk with you, and you are to consider whatever he says as said by
myself. He will also take care of you and see that you are furnished
with all comforts here.
XI.
WASHINGTON, December 31, 1806.
_To the Chiefs of the Osage nation_:--
_My Children, Chiefs of the Osage nation_,--I welcome you
sincerely to the seat of the government of the United States.
The journey you have taken is long and fatiguing, and proved
your desire to become acquainted with your new brothers of this
country. I thank the master of life, who has preserved you by
the way and brought you safely here. I hope you have found
yourselves, through the whole journey, among brothers and
friends, who have used you kindly, and convinced you they
wish to live always in peace and harmony with you.
My children, your forefathers have doubtless handed it down
to you that in ancient times the French were the fathers of all
the red men in the country called Louisiana, that is to say, all
the country on the Mississippi and on all its western waters. In
the days of your fathers France ceded that country to the Spaniards
and they became your fathers; but six years ago they restored
it to France and France ceded it to us, and we are now
become your fathers and brothers; and be assured you will have
no cause to regret the change. It is so long since our forefathers
came from beyond the great water, that we have lost the
memory of it, and seem to have grown out of this land as you
have done. Never more will you have occasion to change your
fathers. We are all now of one family, born in the same land,
and bound to live as brothers, and to have nothing more to do
with the strangers who live beyond the great water. The Great
Spirit has given you strength and has given us strength, not that
we should hurt one another, but to do each other all the good
in our power. Our dwellings indeed are very far apart, but not
too far to carry on commerce and useful intercourse. You have
furs and peltries which we want, and we have clothes and other
useful things which you want. Let us employ ourselves, then,
in making exchanges of these articles useful to both. In order
to prepare ourselves for this commerce with our new children,
we have found it necessary to send some of our trusty men up
the different rivers of Louisiana, to see what nations live upon
them, what number of peltries they can furnish, what quantities
and kinds of merchandize they want, and where are the places
most convenient to establish trading houses with them. With
this view we sent a party to the head of the Missouri and the
great water beyond that, who are just returned. We sent another
party up the Red river, and we propose, the ensuing spring, to
send one up the Arkansas as far as its head. This party will
consist, like the others, of between twenty and thirty persons.
I shall instruct them to call and see you at your towns, to talk
with my son the Big Track, who, as well as yourselves and your
people, will I hope receive them kindly, protect them and give
them all the information they can as to the people on the same
river above you. When they return they will be able to tell us
how we can best establish a trade with you, and how otherwise
we can be useful to them.
My children, I was sorry to learn that a difference had arisen
among the people of your nation, and that a part of them had
separated and removed to a great distance on the Arkansa. This
is a family quarrel with which I do not pretend to intermeddle.
Both parties are my children, and I wish equally well to both.
But it would give me great pleasure if they could again reunite,
because a nation, while it holds together, is strong against its
enemies, but, breaking into parts, it is easily destroyed. However
I hope you will at least make friends again, and cherish
peace and brotherly love with one another. If I can be useful
in restoring friendship between you, I shall do it with great
pleasure. It is my wish that all my red children live together
as one family, that when differences arise among them, their old
men should meet together and settle them with justice and in
peace. In this way your women and children will live in safety,
your nation will increase and be strong.
As you have taken so long a journey to see your fathers, we
wish you not to return till you have visited our country and
towns towards the sea coast. This will be new and satisfactory
to you, and it will give you the same knowledge of the country
on this side of the Mississippi, which we are endeavoring to acquire
of that on the other side, by sending trusty persons to explore
them. We propose to do in your country only what we
are desirous you should do in ours. We will provide accommodations
for your journey, for your comfort while engaged in it,
and for your return in safety to your own country, carrying with
you those proofs of esteem with which we distinguish our
friends, and shall particularly distinguish you. On your return,
tell your chief, the Big Track, and all your people, that I take
them by the hand, that I become their father hereafter, that they
shall know our nation only as friends and benefactors, that we
have no views upon them but to carry on a commerce useful to
them and us, to keep them in peace with their neighbors, that
their children may multiply, may grow up and live to a good old
age, and their women no longer fear the tomahawk of any enemy.
My children, these are my words, carry them to your nation,
keep them in your memories and our friendship in your hearts,
and may the Great Spirit look down upon us and cover us with
the mantle of his love.
XII.
February 19, 1807.
_To the Chiefs of the Shawanee Nation_:--
_My children, Chiefs of the Shawanee nation_,--I have listened
to the speeches of the Blackhoof, Blackbeard, and the other head
chiefs of the Shawanese, and have considered them well. As all
these speeches relate to the public affairs of your nation, I will
answer them together.
You express a wish to have your lands laid off separately to
yourselves, that you may know what is your own, may have a
fixed place to live on, of which you may not be deprived after
you shall have built on it, and improved it; you would rather
that this should be towards Fort Wayne, and to include the three
reserves; you ask a strong writing from us, declaring your right,
and observe that the writing you had was taken from you by
the Delawares.
After the close of our war with the English, we wished to establish
peace and friendship with our Indian neighbors also. In
order to do this, the first thing necessary was to fix a firm
boundary between them and us, that there might be no trespasses
across that by either party. Not knowing then what parts on
our border belonged to each Indian nation particularly, we
thought it safest to get all those in the north to join in one
treaty, and to settle a general boundary line between them and
us. We did not intermeddle as to the lines dividing them one
from another, because this was their concern, not ours. We
therefore met the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese,
Ottaways, Chippeways, Powtewatamies, Miamis, Eel-Rivers,
Weaks, Kickapoos, Pianteshaws, and Kaskaskies, at Greeneville,
and agreed on a general boundary which was to divide their
lands from those of the whites, making only some particular reserves,
for the establishment of trade and intercourse with them.
This treaty was eleven years ago, as Blackbeard has said. Since
that, some of them have thought it for their advantage to sell us
portions of their lands, which has changed the boundaries in
some parts; but their rights in the residue remain as they were,
and must always be settled among themselves. If the Shawanese
and Delawares, and their other neighbors, choose to settle the
boundaries between their respective tribes, and to have them
marked and recorded in our books, we will mark them as they
shall agree among themselves, and will give them strong writings
declaring the separate right of each. After which, we will protect
each tribe in its respective lands, as well as against other
tribes who might attempt to take them from them, as against our
own people. The writing which you say the Delawares took
from you, must have been the copy of the treaty of Greeneville.
We will give you another copy to be kept by your nation.
With respect to the reserves, you know they were made for
the purpose of establishing convenient stations for trade and intercourse
with the tribes within whose boundaries they are.
And as circumstances shall render it expedient to make these
establishments, it is for your interest, as well as ours, that the
possession of these stations should enable us to make them.
You complain that Blue-jacket, and a part of your people at
Greeneville, cheat you in the distribution of your annuity, and
take more of it than their just share. It will be difficult to remedy
this evil while your nation is living in different settlements.
We will, however, direct our agent to enquire, and inform us
what are your numbers in each of your settlements, and will
then divide the annuities between the settlements justly, according
to their numbers. And if we can be of any service in bringing
you all together into one place, we will willingly assist you
for that purpose. Perhaps your visit to the settlement of your
people on the Mississippi under the Flute may assist towards
gathering them all into one place from which they may never
again remove.
You say that you like our mode of living, that you wish to
live as we do, to raise a plenty of food for your children, and to
bring them up in good principles; that you adopt our mode of
living, and ourselves as your brothers. My children, I rejoice to
hear this; it is the wisest resolution you have ever formed, to
raise corn and domestic animals, by the culture of the earth, and
to let your women spin and weave clothes for you all, instead
of depending for these on hunting. Be assured that half the
labor and hardships you go through to provide your families by
hunting, with food and clothing, if employed in a farm would
feed and clothe them better. When the white people first came
to this land, they were few, and you were many: now we are
many, and you few; and why? because, by cultivating the
earth, we produce plenty to raise our children, while yours,
during a part of every year, suffer for want of food, are forced to
eat unwholesome things, are exposed to the weather in your
hunting camps, get diseases and die. Hence it is that your
numbers lessen.
You ask for instruction in our manner of living, for carpenters
and blacksmiths. My children, you shall have them. We will
do everything in our power to teach you to take care of your
wives and children, that you may multiply and be strong. We
are sincerely your friends and brothers, we are as unwilling to
see your blood spilt in war, as our own. Therefore, we encourage
you to live in peace with all nations, that your women and
children may live without danger, and without fear. The greatest
honor of a man is in doing good to his fellow men, not in
destroying them. We have placed Mr. Kirk among you, who
will have other persons under him to teach you how to manage
farms, and to make clothes for yourselves; and we expect you
will put some of your young people to work with the carpenters
and smiths we place among you, that they may learn the trades.
In this way only can you have a number of tradesmen sufficient
for all your people.
You wish me to name to you the person authorized to speak
to you in our name, that you may know whom to believe, and
not be deceived by impostors. My children, Governor Harrison
is the person we authorize to talk to you in our name. You
may depend on his advice, and that it comes from us. He stands
between you and us, to convey with truth whatever either of us
wishes to say to the other.
My children, I wish you a safe return to your friends and
families, that you may retain your resolution of learning to live
in our way, that it may give health and comfort to your families,
and add members to your nation. In me you will always
find a sincere and true friend.
XIII.
WASHINGTON, February 27, 1808.
_To Kitchao Geboway_:--
_My son Kitchao Geboway_,--I have received the speech which
you sent me through General Gansevoort from Albany on the 13th
of this month, and now return you my answer. It would have
given me great pleasure to have been able to converse with and
understand you, when you visited me at Washington; but the
want of an interpreter rendered that impossible.
My son, tell your nation, the Chippewas, that I take them by
the hand, and consider them as a part of the great family of the
United States, which extends to the great Lakes and the Lake
of the Woods, northwardly, and from the rising to the setting
sun; that the United States wish to live in peace with them, to
consider them as a part of themselves, to establish a commerce
with them, as advantageous to the Chippewas as they can make
it, and in all cases to render them every service in our power.
We shall never ask them to enter into our quarrels, nor to spill
their blood in fighting our enemies. My son, in visiting this
quarter of the United States, you have seen a part of our country,
and some of our people from East to West. If you had travelled
also from North to South, you would have seen it the
same. You see that we are as numerous as the leaves of the
trees, that we are strong enough to fight our own battles, and
too strong to fear any enemy. When, therefore, we wish you
to live in peace with all people, red and white, we wish it because
it is for your good, and because it is our desire that your
women and children shall live in safety, not fearing the tomahawk
of any enemy, that they may learn to raise food enough
to support their families, and that your nation may multiply and
be strong. If any white men advise you to go to war for them,
it is a proof they are too weak to defend themselves, that they
are in truth your enemies, wishing to sacrifice you to save themselves;
and when they shall be driven away, my son, what is to
become of the red men who may join in their battles? Take
the advice then of a father, and meddle not in the quarrels of
the white people, should any war take place between them; but
stay at home in peace, taking care of your wives and children.
In that case not a hair of your heads shall be touched. Never
will we do you an injury unprovoked, or disturb you in your
towns or lands by any violence.
My son, I confirm everything which your father, Governor
Hall, said to you at Detroit on my part: and in all your difficulties
and dangers apply to him, and take his advice. If some
of your principal chiefs will pay me a visit at Washington, I
shall be very happy to receive them, to smoke the pipe of friendship
with them, to take them by the hand and never to let go
their friendship. They shall see that I want nothing from them
but their good will, and to do them all the good in my power.
My son, the Secretary at War will comply with your request
in giving you a chief's coat with epaulettes, and a stand of the
colors of the United States, to plant in your town, to let all the
world see that you are a part of the family of the United States.
My son, I wish you a pleasant journey, and a safe return to
your family and friends.
XIV.
WASHINGTON, April 22, 1808.
_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies, Wyandots,
and Senecas of Sandusky_:--
_My Children_,--I received your message of July last, and I am
glad of the opportunity it gives me of explaining to you the sentiments
of the government of the United States towards you.
Many among you must remember the time when we were
governed by the British nation, and the war by which we separated
ourselves from them. Your old men must remember also
that while we were under that government we were constantly
kept at war with the red men our neighbors. Many of these
took side in the English war against us; so that after we had
made peace with the English, ill blood remained between us for
some time; and it was not till the treaty of Greeneville that we
could come to a solid peace and perfect good understanding with
all our Indian neighbors. This being once done and fixed lines
drawn between them and us, laying off their lands to themselves,
and ours to ourselves, so that each might know their own, and
nothing disturb our future peace, we have from that moment,
my children, looked upon you heartily as our brothers, and as a
part of ourselves. We saw that your game was becoming too
scarce to support you, and that unless we could persuade you to
cultivate the earth, to raise the tame animals, and to spin and
weave clothes for yourselves as we do, you would disappear from
the earth. To encourage you, therefore, to save yourselves has
been our constant object; and we have hoped that the day would
come when every man among you would have his own farm
laid off to himself as we have, would maintain his family by
labor as we do, and would make one people with us. But in all
these things you have been free to do as you please; your lands
are your own; your right to them shall never be violated by us;
they are yours to keep or to sell as you please. Whenever you
find it your interest to dispose of a part to enable you to improve
the rest, and to support your families in the meantime, we are
willing to buy, because our people increase fast. When a want
of land in a particular place induces us to ask you to sell, still
you are always free to say "No," and it will never disturb our
friendship for you. We will never be angry with others for
exercising their own rights according to what they think their
own interests. You say you were told at Swan's Creek, that if
you would not let us have lands, we should be angry with you,
and would force you. Those, my children, who told you so,
said what was false, and what never had been said or thought
of by us. We never meant to control your free will; we never
will do it. I will explain to you the ground of our late application
to you for lands. You know that the posts of Detroit and
Macinac have very little lands belonging to them. It is for
your interest as well as ours that these posts should be maintained
for the purposes of our trade with one another. We were
desirous therefore to purchase as much land around them as
would enable us to have sufficient settlements there to support
the posts; and that this might be so laid off as to join with our
possessions on Lake Erie. But we expressly instructed our beloved
man, Governor Hall, not to press you beyond your own convenience,
nor to buy more than you would spare with good will.
He accordingly left you to your own inclinations, using no
threats whatever, as you tell me in your message. You agreed
to let us have a part of what we wished to buy. We are contented
with it my children. We find no fault with you for
what you did not do, but thank you for what you did.
You complain, my children, that your annuities are not regularly
paid, that the goods delivered you are often bad in kind, that
they sometimes arrive damaged, and are dear, and that you would
rather receive them in money. You shall have them in money.
We had no interest in laying out your money in goods for you.
It cost us considerable trouble in the purchase and transportation,
and as we could not be everywhere with them to take care
of them ourselves, we could not prevent their being injured sometimes
by accident, sometimes by carelessness. To pay money
therefore, is more convenient to us, and as it will please you better,
it shall be done.
I am now, my children, to address you on a very serious subject,
one which greatly concerns your happiness. Open your
ears, therefore, let my words sink deeply into your bosoms, and
never forget them. For be assured that I will not, and that I
will fulfil them to their uttermost import. We have for sometime
had a misunderstanding with the English, and we do not
yet know whether it will end in peace or in war. But in either
case, my children, do you remain quiet at home, taking no part
in these quarrels. We do not wish you to shed your blood in
our battles. We are able to fight them ourselves. And if others
press you to take part against us, it is because they are weak,
not able to protect themselves nor you. Consider well then
what you do. Since we have freed ourselves from the English
government, and made our peace with our Indian neighbors, we
have cultivated that peace with sincerity and affection. We
have done them such favors as were in our power, and promoted
their interest and peace wherever we could. We consider them
now as a part of ourselves, and we look to their welfare as our
own. But if there be among you any nation whom no benefits
can attach, no good offices on our part can convert into faithful
friends, if relinquishing their permanent connection with us for
the fugitive presents or promises of others, they shall prefer our
enmity to our friendship, and engage in war against us, that nation
must abandon forever the land of their fathers. No nation
rejecting our friendship, and commencing wanton and unprovoked
war against us, shall ever after remain within our reach;
it shall never be in their power to strike us a second time. These
words, my children, may appear harsh; but they are spoken in
kindness; they are intended to warn you beforehand of the ruin
into which those will rush, who shall once break the chain of
friendship with us. You know they are not spoken from fear.
We fear no nation. We love yours. We wish you to live forever
in peace with all men, and in brotherly affection with us;
to be with us as one family; to take care of your women and
children, feed and clothe them well, multiply and be strong with
your friends and your enemies.
My children, I salute you with fatherly concern for your welfare.
XV.
May 4, 1808.
_To the Chiefs of the Upper Cherokees_:--
_My Children, Chiefs of the Upper Cherokees_,--I am glad
to see you at the seat of government, to take you by the hand,
and to assure you in person of the friendship of the United
States towards all their red children, and of their desire to extend,
to them all, their protection of good offices. The journey
you have come is a long one, and the object expressed in
our conference of the other day is important. I have listened
to it with attention, and given it the consideration it deserves.
You complain that you do not receive your just proportion of the
annuities we pay your nation; that the chiefs of the lower towns
take for them more than their share. My children, this distribution
is made by the authority of the Cherokee nation, and according
to their own rules over which we have no control. We
do our duty in delivering the annuities to the head men of the
nation, and we pretend to no authority over them, to no right of
directing how they are to be distributed. But we will instruct
our agent, Colonel Meigs, to exhort the chiefs to do justice to all
the parts of their nation in the distribution of these annuities,
and to endeavor that every town shall have its due share. We
would willingly pay these annuities in money, which could be
more equally divided, if the nation would prefer that, and if we
can be assured that the money will not be laid out in strong
drink instead of necessaries for your wives and children. We
wish to do whatever will best secure your people from suffering
for want of clothes or food. It is these wants which bring
sickness and death into your families, and prevent you from multiplying
as we do. In answer to your question relating to the
lands we have purchased from your nation at different times, I
inform you that the payments have for the most part been made
in money, which has been left, as the annuities are, to the discharge
of your debts, and to distribute according to the rules of
the nation.
You propose, my children, that your nation shall be divided
into two, and that your part, the upper Cherokees, shall be separated
from the lower by a fixed boundary, shall be placed under
the government of the United States, become citizens thereof,
and be ruled by our laws; in fine, to be our brothers instead of
our children. My children, I shall rejoice to see the day when
the red men, our neighbors, become truly one people with us,
enjoying all the rights and privileges we do, and living in peace
and plenty as we do, without any one to make them afraid, to
injure their persons, or to take their property without being punished
for it according to fixed laws. But are you prepared for
this? Have you the resolution to leave off hunting for your living,
to lay off a farm for each family to itself, to live by industry,
the men working that farm with their hands, raising stock,
or learning trades as we do, and the women spinning and weaving
clothes for their husbands and children? All this is necessary
before our laws can suit you or be of any use to you. However,
let your people take this matter into consideration. If they
think themselves prepared for becoming citizens of the United
States, for living in subjection to laws and under their protection
as we do, let them consult the lower towns, come with them to
an agreement of separation by a fixed boundary, and send to this
place a few of the chiefs they have most confidence in, with
powers to arrange with us regulations concerning the protection
of their persons, punishment of crimes, assigning to each family
their separate farms, directing how these shall go to the family
as they die one after another, in what manner they shall be
governed, and all other particulars necessary for their happiness
in their new condition. On our part I will ask the assistance of
our great council, the Congress, whose authority is necessary to
give validity to these arrangements, and who wish nothing more
sincerely than to render your condition secure and happy.
Should the principal part of your people determine to adopt this
alteration, and a smaller part still choose to continue the hunter's
life, it may facilitate the settlement among yourselves to be told
that we will give to those leave to go, if they choose it, and settle
on our lands beyond the Mississippi, where some Cherokees
are already settled, and where game is plenty, and we will take
measures for establishing a store there among them, where they
may obtain necessaries in exchange for their peltries, and we
will still continue to be their friends there as much as here.
My children, carry these words to your people, advise with
Colonel Meigs in your proceedings, ask him to inform me from
time to time how you go on, and I will further advise you in what
may be necessary. Tell your people I take them all by the
hand; that I leave them free to do as they choose, and that whatever
choice they make, I will still be their friend and father.
XVI.
May 5, 1808.
_To Colonel Louis Cook and Jacob Francis of the St. Regis Indians_:--
_My Children_,--I take you by the hand, and all the people of
St. Regis within the limits of the United States, and I desire to
speak to them through you. A great misunderstanding has taken
place between the English and the United States, and although
we desire to live in peace with all the world and unmolested, yet
it is not quite certain whether this difference will end in peace or
war. Should war take place, do you, my children, remain at home
in peace, taking care of your wives and children. You have no
concern in our quarrel, take therefore no part in it. We do not
wish you to spill your blood in our battles. We can fight them
ourselves. Say the same to your red brethren everywhere, let
them remain neutral and quiet, and we will never disturb them.
Should the English insist on their taking up the hatchet against
us, if they choose rather to break up their settlements and come
over to live in peace with us, we will find other settlements for
them, and they shall become our children. The red nations
who shall remain in peace with the United States, shall forever
find them true friends and fathers. Those who commence
against them an unprovoked war, must expect their lasting enmity.
My children, I wish you well, and a safe return to your own
country.
XVII.
WASHINGTON, December 2, 1808.
_To the Delaware Chief, Captain Armstrong_:--
I have received your letter of October 20th, wherein you
express a wish to obtain a deed for the thirteen sections of lands
reserved for the Delawares in the State of Ohio, by an act of
Congress. I accordingly now send you an authentic deed designating
the thirteen sections, and signed by the Secretary of
the Treasury, who was authorized for this purpose by the act of
Congress. Under this you are free to settle on the lands when
you please, and to occupy them according to your own rules.
You cannot, indeed, sell them to the white citizens of the United
States. Knowing how liable you would be to be cheated and
deceived, were we to permit our citizens to purchase your lands,
our government acting as your friends and patrons, and desirous
of guarding your interests against the frauds that would surround
you, does not permit white persons to purchase your lands from
you. In every other way they are yours, free to be used as you
please; and their possession will be protected and guaranteed to
you by the United States. I salute you and my children, the
Delawares, with friendship.
XVIII.
December 21, 1808.
_To the Miamis, Powtewatamies, Delawares and Chippeways._
_My Children_:--Some of you are old enough to remember,
and the youngest have heard from their fathers, that the country
was formerly governed by the English. While they governed
it there were constant wars between the white and the red people.
To such a height was the hatred of both parties carried
that they thought it no crime to kill one another in cold blood
whenever they had an opportunity. This spirit led many of
the Indians to take side against us in the war; and at the close
of it the English made peace for themselves, and left the Indians
to get out of it as well as they could. It was not till twelve
years after that we were able by the treaty of Greeneville to close
our wars with all our red neighbors. From that moment, my
children, the policy of this country towards you has been entirely
changed. General Washington, our first President, began a line
of just and friendly conduct towards you. Mr. Adams, the
second, continued it; and from the moment I came into the administration
I have looked upon you with the same good will as
my own fellow citizens, have considered your interests as our
interests, and peace and friendship as a blessing to us all. Seeing
with sincere regret that your people were wasting away, believing
that this proceeded from your frequent wars, and the
destructive use of spirituous liquors, and scanty supplies of food,
I have inculcated peace with all your neighbors, have endeavored
to prevent the introduction of spirituous liquors among you, and
pressed on you to rely for food on the culture of the earth more than
on hunting. On the contrary, my children, the English persuade
you to hunt, they supply you with spirituous liquors, and are now
endeavoring to engage you to join them in the war against us,
should a war take place. You possess reason, my children, as we
do, and you will judge for yourselves which of us advise you as
friends. The course they advise has worn you down to your present
numbers, but temperance, peace and agriculture will raise you
up to be what your forefathers were, will prepare you to possess
property, to wish to live under regular laws, to join us in our
government, to mix with us in society, and your blood and ours
united will spread again over the great island.
My children, this is the last time I shall speak to you as your
father, it is the last counsel I shall give. I am now too old to
watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen States and
their territories. I have, therefore, requested my fellow citizens
to permit me to retire, to live with my family and to choose
another chief and another father for you, and in a short time I
shall retire and resign into his hands the care of your and our
concerns. Be assured, my children, that he will have the same
friendly disposition towards you which I have had, and that you
will find in him a true and affectionate father. Entertain, therefore,
no uneasiness on account of this change, for there will be
no change as to you. Indeed, my children, this is now the disposition
towards you of all our people. They look upon you as
brethren, born in the same land, and having the same interests.
In your journey to this place you have seen many of them. I
am certain they have received you as brothers and been ready to
show you every kindness. You will see the same on the road
by which you will return; and were you to pass from north to
south, or east to west in any part of the United States, you would
find yourselves always among friends. Tell this, therefore, to
your people on your return home, assure them that no change
will ever take place in our dispositions towards them; deliver to
them my adieux and my prayers to the Great Spirit for their happiness,
tell them that during my administration I have held their
hand fast in mine, that I will put it into the hand of their new
father, who will hold it as I have done.
XIX.
_To Little Turtle, Chief of the Miamis_:--
_My Son_,--It is always with pleasure that I receive you here
and take you by the hand, and that to the assurances of friendship
to your nation I can add those of my personal respect and
esteem for you. Our confidence in your friendship has been the
stronger, as your enlarged understanding could not fail to see the
advantages resulting to your nation as well as to us from a mutual
good understanding. We ask nothing from them but their
peace and good will, and it is a sincere solicitude for their welfare
which has induced us, from time to time, to warn them of
the decay of their nation by continuing to rely on the chase for
food, after the deer and buffalo are become too scanty to subsist
them, and to press them before they are reduced too low, to begin
the culture of the earth and the raising of domestic animals.
A little of their land in corn and cattle will feed them much better
than the whole of it in deer and buffalo, in their present
scarce state, and they will be scarcer every year. I have, therefore,
always believed it an act of friendship to our red brethren
whenever they wished to sell a portion of their lands, to be ready
to buy whether we wanted them or not, because the price enables
them to improve the lands they retain, and turning their industry
from hunting to agriculture, the same exertions will support
them more plentifully.
You inform me, my son, that your nation claims all the land
on the Wabash and the Miami of the Lake and their waters, and
that a small portion of that which was sold to us by the Ottaways,
Wyandots, and other tribes of Michigan belonged to you.
My son, it is difficult for us to know the exact boundaries which
divide the lands of the several Indian tribes, and indeed it appears
often that they do not know themselves, or cannot agree
about them. I have long thought it desirable that they should
settle their boundaries with one another, and let them be written
on paper and preserved by them and by us, to prevent disputes
among themselves. The tribes who made that sale certainly
claim the lands on both sides of the Miami, some distance up
from the mouth, as they have since granted us two roads from
the rapids to the Miami, the one eastwardly to the line of the
treaty of Fort Industry, and the other south eastwardly to the
line of the treaty of Greeneville. I observe, moreover, that in
the late conveyance of lands on the White River branch of the
Wabash, to the Delawares, the Powtewatamies join you in the
conveyance, which is an acknowledgment that all the lands on
the waters of the Wabash do not belong to the Miamis alone.
If, however, the Ottaways and others who sold to us had no
right themselves, they could convey none to us, and we acknowledge
we cannot acquire lands by buying them of those who have
no title themselves. This question cannot be determined here,
where we have no means of inquiring from those who have
knowledge of the facts. We will instruct Governor Hull to collect
the evidence from both parties, and from others, and to report
it to us. And if it shall appear that the lands belonged to
you and not to those who sold them, be assured we will do you
full justice. We ask your friendship and confidence no longer
than we shall merit it by our justice. On this subject, therefore,
my son, your mind may be tranquil. You have an opportunity
of producing before Governor Hull all the evidences of your
right, and they shall be fairly weighed against the opposite
claims.
My son, I salute your nation with constant friendship, and assure
you of my particular esteem.
XX.
_To Manchol, the great War Chief of the Powtewatamies_:--
_My Son_,--I am happy to receive you at the seat of Government
of the United States, to take you and your nation by the
hand, and to welcome you to this place. It has long been my
desire to see the distinguished men of the Powtewatamies, and
to give them the same assurances of friendship and good will
which I have given to all my other red children. I wish to see
them living in plenty and prosperity, beginning to cultivate the
earth and raise domestic animals for their comfortable subsistence.
In this way they will raise up young people in abundance
to succeed to the old, and to keep their nation strong. For this
reason I recommend to them to live in peace with all men, and
not, by destroying one another, to make the whole race of red
men disappear from the land.
You say, my son, that you have engaged in a war with the
Osages, and that the war club is now in your hand for that purpose;
but you do not tell me for what cause you are waging
war with the Osages. I have never heard that they have crossed
the Mississippi and attacked your villages, killed your women
and children, or destroyed the game on your lands. What is the
injury then which they have done you and for which you wish
to cross the Mississippi and to destroy them? If they have done
you no wrong, have you a right to make war upon innocent and
unoffending people? Be assured that the Great Spirit will not
approve of this,--He did not make men strong that they might
destroy all other men. If your young people think that in this
way they will acquire honor as great warriors, they are mistaken.
Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong.
You say, my son, that it is not the wish of my red children
to meddle in the wars between the whites, nor that we should
meddle in the wars among our red children. If your wars in no
wise affect our rights, or our relations with those on whom you
make war, we do not meddle with them but by way of advice,
as your father and friend submitting it to your own consideration.
But my son, your war parties cannot pass from your towns to
the country of the Osages, nor can the Osages come to revenge
themselves on your towns without traversing extensively a country
which is ours. They must cross the Mississippi which is
always covered with our boats, our people and property. All
the produce of the western parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky,
Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Louisiana, goes down the
river Mississippi to New Orleans. It cannot be indifferent to us
that this should be exposed to danger from unruly young men
going to war. Our interests require that the Mississippi shall
be a river of peace, not to be crossed by men seeking to shed
blood. We have a right then to say that no war parties shall
cross our river or our country without our consent. The Sacs
and Foxes, besides the country from the Illinois to the Wisconsin
on the east side of the Mississippi, ceded to us the country
on the west side of the Mississippi, between that river and
the Missouri, for about one hundred miles up each. The Osages
have ceded to us all the country from the south side of the Missouri
to the Arkansas, more than two hundred miles up each
river. Surely, my son, we are justifiable in so far meddling
with your wars as to say that, in carrying them on neither the
Osages nor you must cross that country which is ours, to get at
one another, and in doing so to endanger our people and our
property, and to stain our land with blood; and friendship requires
that we should give you this warning.
My son, I wish you to consider this subject maturely, and to
tell your nation that I request them to consider it also. I am
ready to do them every favor in my power, and to give them
every aid, but not aids to carry war across our territory. Do
not suppose that in refusing this I am not your friend. If I were
your enemy, what could I do better than to encourage you in
tomahawking one another till not a man should be left. Neither
must you suppose this to proceed from partiality to the Osages.
You are nearer to me than the Osages, and on that account I
should be more ready to do you good offices. But my desire to
keep you in peace arises from my sincere wish to see you happy
and prosperous, increasing in numbers, supplying your families
plentifully with food and clothing, and relieving them from the
constant chance of being destroyed by their enemies.
My son, the Secretary at War will give to you those tokens of
our good will by which we manifest our friendship to the distinguished
men among our red children who visit us. Be assured
that I shall set a great value on your friendship; and convey
for me to your nation assurances that I wish nothing more
than their welfare. You shall return by the way of Baltimore
and Philadelphia as you desire. I wish you to see as many of
your brothers of the United States as you can. You will find
them all to be your friends, and that they will receive you hospitably.
XXI.
December 21, 1808.
_To Beaver, the head warrior of the Delawares_:--
_My Son_,--I am glad to see you here to take you by the hand.
I am the friend of your nation, and sincerely wish them well.
I shall now speak to them as their friend, and advise them for
their good.
I have read your speech to the Secretary at War, and considered
it maturely. You therein say that after the conclusion
of the treaty of Greenville, the Wapanakies and other tribes of
Indians mutually agreed to maintain peace among themselves
and with the United States. This, my son, was wise, and I
entirely approve of it. And I equally commend you for what
you further say, that yours and the other tribes have constantly
maintained the articles of peace with us, and have ceased to
listen to bad advice. I hope, my son, that you will continue in
this good line of conduct, and I assure you the United States
will forever religiously observe the treaty on their part, not only
because they have agreed to it, but because they esteem you;
they wish you well, and would endeavor to promote your welfare
even if there were no treaty; and rejoicing that you have
ceased to listen to bad advice, they hope you will listen to that
which is good.
My son, you say that the Osage nation has refused to be at
peace with your nation or any others; that they have refused
the offers of peace, and extended their aggressions to all people.
This is all new to me. I never heard of an Osage coming to
war on this side of the Mississippi. Have they attacked your
towns, killed your people, or destroyed your game? Tell me in
what year they did this? or what is the aggression they have
committed on yours and the other tribes on this side the Mississippi?
But if they have defended themselves and their country,
when your tribes have gone over to destroy them, they have
only done what brave men ought to do, and what just men
ought never to have forced them to do. Your having committed
one wrong on them gives you no right to commit a second; and
be assured, my son, that the Almighty Spirit which is above will
not look down with indifference on your going to war against
his children on the other side the Mississippi, who have never
come to attack you. He is their father as well as your father,
and He did not make the Osages to be destroyed by you. I tell
you that if you make war unjustly on the Osages, He will punish
your nation for it. He will send upon your nation famine, sickness,
or the tomahawk of a stronger nation, who will cut you off
from the land. Consider this thing well, then, before it is too
late, and before you strike. His hand is uplifted over your
heads, and His stroke will follow yours. My son, I tell you
these things because I wish your nation well. I wish them to
become a peaceable, prosperous, and happy nation; and if this
war against the Osages concerned yourselves alone, I would confine
myself to giving you advice, and leave it to yourselves to
profit by it. But this war deeply concerns the United States.
Between you and the Osages is a country of many hundred
miles extent belonging to the United States. Between you also
is the Mississippi, the river of peace. On this river are floating
the boats, the people, and all the produce of the western States
of the Union. This commerce must not be exposed to the
alarm of war parties crossing the river, nor must a path of blood
be made across our country. What we say to you, my son, we
say also to the Osages. We tell them that armed bands of warriors,
entering on the lands or waters of the United States without
our consent, are the enemies of the United States. If, therefore,
considerations of your own welfare are not sufficient to restrain
you from this unauthorized war, let me warn you on the
part of the United States to respect their rights, not to violate
their territory.
You request, my son, to be informed of our warfares, that you
may be enabled to inform your nation on your return. We are
yet at peace, and shall continue so, if the injustice of the other
nations will permit us. The war beyond the water is universal.
We wish to keep it out of our island. But should we go to war,
we wish our red children to take no part in it. We are able to
fight our own battles, and we know that our red children cannot
afford to spill their blood in our quarrels. Therefore, we do not
ask it, but wish them to remain home in quiet, taking care of
themselves and their families.
You complain that the white people in your neighborhood
have stolen a number of your horses. My son, the Secretary of
War will take measures for inquiring into the truth of this, and
if it so appears, justice shall be done you.
The two swords which you ask shall be given to you; and
we shall be happy to give you every other proof that we esteem
you personally, my son, and shall always be ready to do anything
which may advance your comfort and happiness. I hope
you will deliver to your nation the words I have spoken to you,
and assure them that in everything which can promote their
welfare and prosperity they shall ever find me their true and
faithful friend and father, that I hold them fast by the hand of
friendship, which I hope they will not force me to let go.
XXII.
_To Captain Hendrick, the Delawares, Mohiccons, and Munries_:--
_My Son and my Children_,--I am glad to see you here to receive
your salutations, and to return them by taking you by the
hand, and renewing to you the assurances of my friendship. I
learn with pleasure that the Miamis and Powtawatamies have
given you some of their lands on the White River to live on,
and that you propose to gather there your scattered tribes, and
to dwell on it all your days.
The picture which you have drawn, my son, of the increase
of our numbers and the decrease of yours is just, the causes are
very plain, and the remedy depends on yourselves alone. You
have lived by hunting the deer and buffalo--all these have been
driven westward; you have sold out on the sea-board and moved
westwardly in pursuit of them. As they became scarce there,
your food has failed you; you have been a part of every year
without food, except the roots and other unwholesome things you
could find in the forest. Scanty and unwholesome food produce
diseases and death among your children, and hence you have
raised few and your numbers have decreased. Frequent wars,
too, and the abuse of spirituous liquors, have assisted in lessening
your numbers. The whites, on the other hand, are in the habit
of cultivating the earth, of raising stocks of cattle, hogs, and
other domestic animals, in much greater numbers than they could
kill of deer and buffalo. Having always a plenty of food and
clothing they raise abundance of children, they double their
numbers every twenty years, the new swarms are continually
advancing upon the country like flocks of pigeons, and so they
will continue to do. Now, my children, if we wanted to diminish
our numbers, we would give up the culture of the earth, pursue
the deer and buffalo, and be always at war; this would soon
reduce us to be as few as you are, and if you wish to increase
your numbers you must give up the deer and buffalo, live in
peace, and cultivate the earth. You see then, my children, that
it depends on yourselves alone to become a numerous and great
people. Let me entreat you, therefore, on the lands now given
you to begin to give every man a farm; let him enclose it, cultivate
it, build a warm house on it, and when he dies, let it belong
to his wife and children after him. Nothing is so easy as
to learn to cultivate the earth; all your women understand it,
and to make it easier, we are always ready to teach you how to
make ploughs, hoes, and necessary utensils. If the men will
take the labor of the earth from the women they will learn to
spin and weave and to clothe their families. In this way
you will also raise many children, you will double your numbers
every twenty years, and soon fill the land your friends have
given you, and your children will never be tempted to sell the
spot on which they have been born, raised, have labored and
called their own. When once you have property, you will want
laws and magistrates to protect your property and persons, and
to punish those among you who commit crimes. You will find
that our laws are good for this purpose; you will wish to live
under them, you will unite yourselves with us, join in our great
councils and form one people with us, and we shall all be Americans;
you will mix with us by marriage, your blood will run in
our veins, and will spread with us over this great island. Instead,
then, my children, of the gloomy prospect you have drawn
of your total disappearance from the face of the earth, which is
true, if you continue to hunt the deer and buffalo and go to war,
you see what a brilliant aspect is offered to your future history,
if you give up war and hunting. Adopt the culture of the earth
and raise domestic animals; you see how from a small family
you may become a great nation by adopting the course which
from the small beginning you describe has made us a great
nation.
My children, I will give you a paper declaring your right to
hold, against all persons, the lands given you by the Miamis and
Powtewatamies, and that you never can sell them without their
consent. But I must tell you that if ever they and you agree to
sell, no paper which I can give you can prevent your doing what
you please with your own. The only way to prevent this is to
give to every one of your people a farm, which shall belong to
him and his family, and which the nation shall have no right to
take from them and sell; in this way alone can you ensure the
lands to your descendants through all generations, and that it
shall never be sold from under their feet. It is not the keeping
your lands which will keep your people alive on them after the
deer and buffalo shall have left them; it is the cultivating them
alone which can do that. The hundredth part in corn and cattle
will support you better than the whole in deer and buffalo.
My son Hendrick, deliver these words to your people. I have
spoken to them plainly, that they may see what is before them,
and that it is in their own power to go on dwindling to nothing,
or to become again a great people. It is for this reason I wish
them to live in peace with all people, to teach their young men
to love agriculture, rather than war and hunting. Let these
words sink deep in their hearts, and let them often repeat them
and consider them. Tell them that I hold them fast by the
hand, and that I will ever be their friend to advise and to assist
them in following the true path to their future happiness.
XXIII.
_To Kitchao Geboway_:--
_My Son_,--I am happy to receive your visit at the seat of our
government, and to repeat to you the assurances of my friendly
dispositions towards your nation. I am the more pleased to see
you again, as at your last visit we could not converse together
for want of an interpreter. This difficulty is now removed by
the presence of Mr. Ryley. I approve of your disposition, my
son, to live at peace with all the world. It is what we wish all
our red children to do, and to consider themselves as brethren of
the same family, and forming with us but one nation. The
Great Spirit did not make men that they might destroy one another,
but doing to each other all the good in their power, and
thus filling the land with happiness instead of misery and murder.
This is the way in which we wish all our red children to
live with one another, and with us; and this is what I wish you
to say to your nation from me, when you deliver to them what I
said to you the last winter. I am sorry you have not been able
to carry it to them; they would have seen by that, that you
came here as the friend of your own nation, and of all your red
brethren. My son, I take by the hand the young man, the son
of your friend, whom you brought with you. He is now young,
and I hope will live to be old, and through his life will be steadfast
in encouraging his nation to live in peace and friendship with
their white brethren of the United States.
The Secretary at War will provide for your journey back, and
your father Governor Hull will be glad to see you on your way.
He will always give good advice to your nation in my name, and
will guide them in the paths of peace and friendship with all men.
XXIV.
January 9, 1809.
_To the Deputies of the Cherokee Upper Towns_:--
_My Children_,--I have maturely considered the speeches you
have delivered me, and will now give you answers to the several
matters they contain.
You inform me of your anxious desires to engage in the industrious
pursuits of agriculture and civilized life. That finding
it impracticable to induce the nation at large to join in this, you
wish a line of separation to be established between the upper
and lower towns, so as to include all the waters of the Hiwassee
in your part, and that having thus contracted your society within
narrower limits, you propose within these to begin the establishment
of fixed laws and of regular government. You say that
the lower towns are satisfied with the division you propose; and
on these several matters you ask my advice and aid.
With respect to the line of division between yourselves and
the lower towns, it must rest on the joint consent of both parties.
The one you propose seems moderate, reasonable, and
well defined. We are willing to recognize those on each side of
that line as distinct societies, and if our aid shall be necessary to
mark it more plainly than nature has done, you shall have it. I
think with you, that on this reduced scale it will be more easy
for you to introduce the regular administration of laws.
In proceeding to the establishment of laws, you wish to adopt
them from ours, and such only for the present as suit your present
condition; chiefly, indeed, those for the punishment of
crimes, and the protection of property. But who is to determine
which of our laws suit your condition, and shall be in force
with you? All of you being equally free, no one has a right to
say what shall be law for the others. Our way is to put these
questions to the vote, and to consider that as law for which the
majority votes. The fool has as great a right to express his
opinion by vote as the wise, because he is equally free, and equally
master of himself. But as it would be inconvenient for all your
men to meet in one place, would it not be better for every town to
do as we do, that is to say, choose by the vote of the majority of
the town and of the country people nearer to that than to any
other town, one, two, three, or more, according to the size of the
town, of those whom each voter thinks the wisest and honestest
men of their place, and let these meet together and agree which
of our laws suit them. But these men know nothing of our
laws; how then can they know which to adopt. Let them associate
in their council our beloved man living with them,
Colonel Meigs, and he will tell them what our law is on any
point they desire. He will inform them, also, of our methods
of doing business in our councils, so as to preserve order, and to
obtain the vote of every member fairly. This council can make
a law for giving to every head of a family a separate parcel of
land, which, when he has built upon and improved, it shall belong
to him and his descendants forever, and which the nation
itself shall have no right to sell from under his feet; they will
determine, too, what punishment shall be inflicted for every
crime. In our States, generally, we punish murder only by
death, and all other crimes by solitary confinement in a prison.
But when you shall have adopted laws, who are to execute
them? Perhaps it may be best to permit every town and the
settlers in its neighborhood attached to it, to select some of their
best men, by a majority of its votes, to be judges in all differences,
and to execute the law according to their own judgment.
Your council of representatives will decide on this or such other
mode as may best suit you. I suggest these things, my children,
for the consideration of the upper towns of your nation, to be decided
on as they think best; and I sincerely wish you may succeed
in your laudable endeavors to save the remains of your nation
by adopting industrious occupations and a government of
regular law. In this you may always rely on the counsel and
assistance of the government of the United States. Deliver these
words to your people in my name, and assure them of my friendship.
XXV.
January 9, 1809.
_To the Deputies of the Cherokees of the Upper and Lower Towns_:--
_My Children_,--I understand from the speeches which you
have delivered me, that there is a difference of disposition among
the people of both parts of your nation, some of them desiring to
remain on their lands, to betake themselves to agriculture, and
the industrious occupations of civilized life, while others, retaining
their attachment to the hunter life, and having little game
on their present lands, are desirous to remove across the Mississippi,
to some of the vacant lands of the United States, where
game is abundant. I am pleased to find so many disposed to
ensure, by the cultivation of the earth, a plentiful subsistence
for their families, and to improve their minds by education; but
I do not blame those who, having been brought up from their
infancy to the pursuit of game, desire still to follow it to distant
countries. I know how difficult it is for men to change the
habits in which they have been raised. The United States, my
children, are the friends of both parties, and as far as can reasonably
be asked, they will be willing to satisfy the wishes of
both. Those who remain may be assured of our patronage, our
aid, and good neighborhood; those who wish to remove, are permitted
to send an exploring party to reconnoitre the country on
the waters of the Arkansas and White rivers, and the higher up
the better, as they will be the longer unapproached by our settlements,
which will begin at the mouths of those rivers. The
regular districts of the government of St. Louis are already laid
off to the St. Francis. When this party shall have found a tract
of country suiting the emigrants, and not claimed by other Indians,
we will arrange with them and you the exchange of that
for a just portion of the country they leave, and to a part of
which proportioned to their numbers they have a right. Every
aid towards their removal, and what will be necessary for them
there, will then be freely administered to them, and when established
in their new settlements, we shall still consider them as
our children, give them the benefit of exchanging their peltries
for what they want at our factories, and always hold them firmly
by the hand.
I will now, my children, proceed to answer your kind address
on my retiring from the government. Sensible that I am become
too old to watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen
States and their territories, I requested my fellow citizens
to permit me to retire, to live with my family, and to choose
another President for themselves and father for you. They have
done so; and in a short time I shall retire, and resign into his
hands the care of your and our concerns. Be assured, my children,
that he will have the same friendly dispositions towards you
which I have had, and that you will find in him a true and affectionate
father. Indeed, this is now the disposition of all our people
towards you; they look upon you as brethren, born in the same
land, and having the same interests. Tell your people, therefore,
to entertain no uneasiness on account of this change, for
there will be no change as to them. Deliver to them my adieux,
and my prayers to the Great Spirit for their happiness. Tell
them that during my administration I have held their hand fast
in mine, and that I will put it into the hand of their new father,
who will hold it as I have done.
XXVI.
January 10, 1809.
_To the Chiefs of the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewatamies
and Shawanese_:--
_My Children_,--This is the first time I have had the pleasure
of seeing the distinguished men of our neighbors the Wyandots,
Ottawas and Chippewas, at the seat of our government. I welcome
you to it as well as the Powtewatamies and Shawanese, and
thank the Great Spirit for having conducted you hither in safety
and health. I take you and your people by the hand and salute
you as my children; I consider all my red children as forming
one family with the whites, born in the same land with them,
and bound to live like brethren, in peace, friendship and good
neighborhood. In former times, my children, we were not our
own masters, but were governed by the English. Then we
were often at war with our neighbors. Ill blood was raised and
kept up between us, and in the war in which we threw off the
English government, many of the red people, mistaking their
brothers and real friends, took sides with the English government
against us; and it was not till many years after we made peace with
the English, that the treaty of Grenville closed our last wars with
our Indian neighbors. From that time, my children, we have
looked on you as a part of ourselves, and have cherished your
prosperity as our own. We saw that these things were wasting
away your numbers to nothing; that the intemperate use of
ardent spirits produced poverty, trouble and murders among you;
your wars with one another were lessening your numbers, and
attachment to the hunter life, after game had nearly left you,
produced famine, sickness and deaths among you in the scarce
season of every year. It has been our endeavor, therefore, like
true fathers and brothers, to withhold strong liquors from you, to
keep you in peace with one another, and to encourage and aid
you in the culture of the earth, and raising domestic animals, to
take the place of the wild ones. This we have done, my children,
because we are your friends, and wish you well. If we
feared you, if we were your enemies, we should have furnished
you plentifully with whiskey, let the men destroy one another
in perpetual wars, and the women and children waste away for
want of food, and remain insensible that they could raise it out
of the earth. We have been told, my children, that some of
you have been doubting whether we or the English were your
truest friends. What do the English do for you? They furnish
you with plenty of whiskey, to keep you in idleness, drunkenness
and poverty; and they are now exciting you to join them
in war against us, if war should take place between them and
us. But we tell you to stay at home in quiet, to take no part
in quarrels which do not concern you. The English are now at
war with all the world but us, and it is not yet known whether
they will not force us also into it. They are strong on the
water, but weak on the land. We live on the land and we fear
them not. We are able to fight our own battles; therefore we
do not ask you to spill your blood in our quarrels, much less do
we wish to be forced to spill it with our own hands. You have
travelled through our country from the lakes to the tide waters.
You have seen our numbers in that direction, and were you to
pass along the sea shore you would find them much greater.
You know the English numbers, their scattered forts and string
of people, along the borders of the lakes and the St. Lawrence,
how long do you think it will take us to sweep them out of the
country? and when they are swept away, what is to become of
those who join them in their war against us? My children, if
you love the land in which you were born, if you wish to inhabit
the earth which covers the bones of your fathers, take no part
in the war between the English and us, if we should have war.
Never will we do an unjust act towards you. On the contrary,
we wish to befriend you in every possible way; but the tribe
which shall begin an unprovoked war against us, we will extirpate
from the earth, or drive to such a distance as that they shall
never again be able to strike us. I tell you these things my
children, not to make you afraid. I know you are brave men
and therefore cannot fear. But you are also wise men and prudent
men. I say it, therefore, that, in your wisdom and prudence,
you may look forward. That you may go to the graves
of your fathers and say, "fathers, shall we abandon you?" That
you may look in the faces of your wives and children and ask,
"shall we expose these our own flesh and blood to perish from
want in a distant country and have our race and name extinguished
from the face of the earth?" Think of these things,
my children, as wise men, and as men loving their fathers, their
wives and children, and the name and memory of their nation.
I repeat, that we will never do an unjust act towards you. On
the contrary, we wish you to live in peace, to increase in numbers,
to learn to labor as we do, and furnish food for your increasing
numbers, when the game shall have left you. We wish
to see you possessed of property, and protecting it by regular
laws. In time, you will be as we are; you will become one
people with us. Your blood will mix with ours; and will spread,
with ours, over this great island. Hold fast then, my children,
the chain of friendship which binds us together, and join us in
keeping it forever bright and unbroken.
I invite you to come here, my children, that you might hear
with your own ears, the words of your father; that you might
see with your own eyes, the sincere disposition of the United
States towards you. In your journey to this place you have seen
great numbers of your white brothers; you have been received
by them as brothers, have been treated kindly and hospitably,
and you have seen and can tell your people that their hearts are
now sincerely with you. This is the first time I have ever addressed
your chiefs, in person, at the seat of Government,--it
will also be the last. Sensible that I am become too old to
watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen States and
their territories, I requested my fellow citizens to permit me to
retire to live with my family, and to choose another President
for themselves, and father for you. They have done so; and in
a short time I shall retire and resign into his hands the care of
your and our concerns. Be assured, my children, that he will
have the same friendly dispositions towards you which I have
had, and that you will find in him a true and affectionate father.
Indeed this is now the disposition of all our people towards you;
they look upon you as brethren, born in the same land, and having
the same interests. Tell your people, therefore, to entertain
no uneasiness on account of this change, for there will be no
change as to them. Deliver to them my adieus, and my prayers
to the Great Spirit for their happiness. Tell them that during
my administration, I have held their hand fast in mine; and that
I will put it into the hand of their new father, who will hold it
as I have done.
XXVII.
January 18, 1809.
_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewatamies, Shawanese and
Wyandots_:--
_My Children_,--I have considered the speech you have delivered
me, and will now make answer to it. You have gone
back to ancient times, and given a true history of the uses made
of you by the French, who first inhabited your country, and
afterwards by the English; and how they used you as dogs to
set upon those whom they wanted to destroy. They kept the
hatchet always in your hand, exposing you to be killed in their
quarrels, and then gave you whiskey that you might quarrel and
kill one another. I am glad you understand these things, and
are determined no more to fight their battles. We shall never
wish you to fight ours, but to stay at home in peace and take care
of yourselves. You still wish, however, to keep up a correspondence
with the English, because you say your young
people find an advantage in it. The less you have to do with
them the better, because all their endeavors will be, as you
know, to persuade you to go to war for them. If they owe you
for lands, they ought to pay you once for all and be done with
it. With respect to your people on the English side of the
water, should we have war with the English, let them remain
neutral and we shall not disturb them; but if the English should
endeavor to force them into the war, you would do well to receive
them and let them live with you till we can clear the way
for them to go back again, which will not take long.
You ask me what passed between this Government and the
Little Turtle, the chiefs of the Chippewas, Powtewatamies,
Shawanese, Ottawas, Isaac Williams, the Crane and the Delawares,
at their visits to the seat of this Government many years
ago. Those visits were in the time of my predecessors, so that
I did not hear their speeches, and they did not leave them in
writing. It is not in my power, therefore, to tell you what they
were. But I can assure you that when the Little Turtle visited
me, and in like manner when the chiefs of other tribes have
visited me, not one word was ever said to the prejudice of the
other Indians. I have no reason to believe they wished to speak
to me in that way, but if they did, they knew I would not listen
to them, and therefore did not do it. My advice to them all has
been constantly to live in peace and friendship with one another,
to begin to cultivate the earth, to raise domestic animals,
and leave off the use of ardent spirits: in short, precisely what I
have said to yourselves.
You ask whether the treaties at Swan's creek, and those of
the last fall, and the fall before, were made by my desire. I
will explain the subject to you. We consider your lands as belonging
fully to yourselves, and that we have no right to purchase
them but with your own free consent. Whenever you
wish to sell, we are willing to buy, although it may be lands
which we do not immediately want. We believe it to be for
your benefit to sell a part of your lands for annuities, which may
enable you to improve farms, and in the meantime to support
yourselves. While you keep such large tracts of country, the
few deer which remain tempt you to continue hunters, and are
yet not enough to maintain you plentifully through the year.
A small part of the land cultivated in corn, with the cattle, hogs,
and sheep it would enable you to raise, would maintain you better
through the year, than the whole does in game. A thorough
persuasion, therefore, that it is better for you to turn your surplus
lands from time to time into money, induces us to buy when you
desire to sell. On this principle, at the treaty of Swan's creek
we purchased the slip of land which laid between what you sold
to the Connecticut company and our former lines. We had no
particular desire to buy it, but were told that it would be convenient
to you to sell that parcel, and therefore we bought it.
The lands which were purchased of you near Detroit the last
fall and the fall before, we did wish to purchase, provided you
were willing freely to sell. At Detroit, you know, we keep a
garrison to watch the English, and to protect the factory we
establish there, to carry on trade with you. It is very desirable
for us, therefore, to obtain so much land in the neighborhood as
would receive settlers sufficient to raise provisions for the garrison,
and to strengthen the garrison if attacked by the English.
But still we instructed Governor Hull, however much we wished
to get some land there, not to press it on you if you were not entirely
willing to accommodate us. The settlement of our people
there will be a great advantage to you if you become cultivators
of the earth. You saw the Cherokees who were here when you
arrived, my children. These were wealthy men, and became
wealthy merely by living near our settlements. Their mother
towns of Chota and Chilowee, are but twelve miles from our
principal town of Knoxville. The Cherokees there have good
farms, good houses, and abundance of cattle and horses. If a
family raises more cattle or corn than they want for their own
use, instead of letting it be eaten by their own lazy people who
will not work, they carry it to Knoxville, sell it to our people,
and purchase with the money clothes and other comforts for themselves.
Our settlements around Detroit will give you the same
advantages. If you become farmers and raise cattle, hogs, sheep,
fowls, and such things to spare, you can immediately exchange
them for clothing and other necessaries. I am satisfied, therefore,
my children, that the accommodating us with that land was as
beneficial to you as to us. But, notwithstanding, I believe it to
be better for you to sell your surplus lands from time to time;
yet I repeat to you the assurances that although we may go so
far, sometimes, as to say we would be willing to buy such a
piece of land, yet we will never press you to sell, until you shall
desire yourselves to sell it.
I have thus, my children, answered the particulars of your
speech. I have done it with truth and an open heart, and I hope
it will be satisfactory to you.
XXVIII.
January 31, 1809.
_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewatamies, Wyandots, and
Shawanese_:--
_My Children_,--I have considered the speech you have delivered
me, and I will now give you an answer to it.
You have told us on former occasions of certain promises
made to you at the treaty of Grenville, by General Wayne, respecting
certain lands whereon you and your friends live. But
when we looked into the treaty of Grenville, we found no such
promises there; and as it is our custom to put all our agreements
into writing, that they may never be forgotten or mistaken, we
concluded no such promises had been made. But you now explain
that the chiefs of the Wyandots near Detroit did not arrive
at Grenville till after the treaty was signed--that they then convinced
General Wayne that provision ought to be made for securing
to them possession of the lands they lived on, so long as
they and their descendants shall choose to live on them, and that
he agreed to it. Of this, besides other evidence, you now produce
the belt of wampum reserved by you, in memory of it, the
counter-belt given us having probably been destroyed in the fire
which consumed our war office in the year 1800. Such evidence,
therefore, being now produced as induces a belief of the
agreement, it shall be committed to writing, according to what
has passed between the Secretary at War and yourselves; and
we will also put into writing what has passed respecting the reserves
for the Indians, and you shall have a copy of these writings
which shall be firm and good to you forever.
You complain that white people go on your lands and settle
without your consent. This is entirely against our will, and I
earnestly desire you, my children, as soon as any intruder of the
whites sets down on your lands, that you will not delay a moment
to inform our agent, who will always be instructed in the
measures to be taken for their immediate removal; and I desire
you to do this, on your return, as to the intruders you now complain
of.
The Secretary at War has explained to you the circumstances
which attended the running the boundary line near Sandusky,
under the treaty at Swan's creek, so as to satisfy you that no
variation of it was intended; and you may be assured that when
we proceed to run the lines for the roads granted us the last fall,
you shall have notice, in order that your chiefs may attend and
see it fairly done.
For these roads, with which your nations have been so friendly
as to accommodate us, and which you wished us to accept as a
present, I return you my thanks, and I accept them; and I request
you, on our part, to accept as a token of our good will, the
sum of a thousand dollars, of which five hundred dollars will be
paid you here. And we shall be happy if you can employ this
sum to your benefit or comfort in any way. Our settlements are
now extending so much in every direction, that we shall be
obliged to ask roads from our Indian brethren, that we may pass
conveniently from one settlement to another, for which we will
always gladly pay them the full value.
You have been informed, as you desired, of the exact amount
of your annuities.
I have thus, my children, answered all the parts of your
speech, and I have done it sincerely and with good will to you.
I have not filled you with whiskey, as the English do, to make
you promise, or give up what is against your interest, when out
of your senses. I have listened to your complaints and proposals,
I have found them reasonable, and I have given you the answers
which a just and a reasonable nation ought to do. And this you
may be assured is the way in which we shall always do business
with you, because we do not consider you as another nation,
but as a part of us, living indeed under your own laws, but having
the same interests with us. I hope you will tell these things
to your people, and that they will sink deep into their minds.
APPENDIX TO PART II, OF BOOK III.
CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE RECOMMENDING A WESTERN EXPLORING
EXPEDITION--JANUARY 18, 1803.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:--
As the continuance of the act for establishing trading-houses
with the Indian tribes, will be under the consideration of the
legislature at its present session, I think it my duty to communicate
the views which have guided me in the execution of that
act, in order that you may decide on the policy of continuing it,
in the present or any other form, or discontinue it altogether, if
that shall, on the whole, seem most for the public good.
The Indian tribes residing within the limits of the United
States, have, for a considerable time, been growing more and
more uneasy at the constant diminution of the territory they occupy,
although effected by their own voluntary sales; and the
policy has long been gaining strength with them, of refusing absolutely
all further sale, on any conditions; insomuch that, at this
time, it hazards their friendship, and excites dangerous jealousies
and perturbations in their minds to make any overture for the
purchase of the smallest portions of their land. A very few
tribes only are not yet obstinately in these dispositions. In order
peaceably to counteract this policy of theirs, and to provide an
extension of territory which the rapid increase of our numbers
will call for, two measures are deemed expedient. First: to
encourage them to abandon hunting, to apply to the raising
stock, to agriculture and domestic manufactures, and thereby
prove to themselves that less land and labor will maintain them
in this, better than in their former mode of living. The extensive
forests necessary in the hunting life will then become useless,
and they will see advantage in exchanging them for the
means of improving their farms and of increasing their domestic
comforts. Secondly: to multiply trading-houses among them,
and place within their reach those things which will contribute
more to their domestic comfort than the possession of extensive
but uncultivated wilds. Experience and reflection will develop
to them the wisdom of exchanging what they can spare and
we want, for what we can spare and they want. In leading
them thus to agriculture, to manufactures, and civilization; in
bringing together their and our settlements, and in preparing
them ultimately to participate in the benefits of our government,
I trust and believe we are acting for their greatest good. At
these trading-houses we have pursued the principles of the act
of Congress, which directs that the commerce shall be carried
on liberally, and requires only that the capital stock shall not be
diminished. We consequently undersell private traders, foreign
and domestic; drive them from the competition; and thus, with
the good will of the Indians, rid ourselves of a description of men
who are constantly endeavoring to excite in the Indian mind
suspicions, fears, and irritations toward us. A letter now enclosed,
shows the effect of our competition on the operations of
the traders, while the Indians, perceiving the advantage of purchasing
from us, are soliciting generally our establishment of
trading houses among them. In one quarter this is particularly
interesting. The legislature, reflecting on the late occurrences
on the Mississippi, must be sensible how desirable it is to possess
a respectable breadth of country on that river, from our southern
limit to the Illinois at least, so that we may present as firm a
front on that as on our eastern border. We possess what is below
the Yazoo, and can probably acquire a certain breadth from
the Illinois and Wabash to the Ohio; but between the Ohio and
Yazoo, the country all belongs to the Chickasaws, the most
friendly tribe within our limits, but the most decided against the
alienation of lands. The portion of their country most important
for us is exactly that which they do not inhabit. Their settlements
are not on the Mississippi, but in the interior country.
They have lately shown a desire to become agricultural, and this
leads to the desire of buying implements and comforts. In the
strengthening and gratifying of these wants, I see the only prospect
of planting on the Mississippi itself, the means of its own
safety. Duty has required me to submit these views to the judgment
of the legislature; but as their disclosure might embarrass
and defeat their effect, they are committed to the special confidence
of the two houses.
While the extension of the public commerce among the Indian
tribes, may deprive of that source of profit such of our citizens as
are engaged in it, it might be worthy the attention of Congress,
in their care of individual as well as of the general interest, to
point in another direction the enterprize of these citizens, as profitably
for themselves, and more usefully for the public. The
river Missouri, and the Indians inhabiting it, are not as well
known as is rendered desirable by their connection with the
Mississippi, and consequently with us. It is, however, understood,
that the country on that river is inhabited by numerous
tribes, who furnish great supplies of furs and peltry to the trade
of another nation, carried on in a high latitude, through an infinite
number of portages and lakes, shut up by ice through a
long season. The commerce on that line could bear no competition
with that of the Missouri, traversing a moderate climate,
offering, according to the best accounts, a continued navigation
from its source, and possibly with a single portage, from the
western ocean, and finding to the Atlantic a choice of channels
through the Illinois or Wabash, the lakes and Hudson, through
the Ohio and Susquehanna, or Potomac or James rivers, and
through the Tennessee and Savannah rivers. An intelligent
officer, with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enterprize, and
willing to undertake it, taken from our posts, where they may
be spared without inconvenience, might explore the whole line,
even to the western ocean; have conferences with the natives
on the subject of commercial intercourse; get admission
among them for our traders, as others are admitted; agree on
convenient deposits for an interchange of articles; and return
with the information acquired, in the course of two summers.
Their arms and accoutrements, some instruments of observation,
and light and cheap presents for the Indians, would be all the
apparatus they could carry, and with an expectation of a soldier's
portion of land on their return, would constitute the whole expense.
Their pay would be going on, whether here or there.
While other civilized nations have encountered great expense to
enlarge the boundaries of knowledge, by undertaking voyages
of discovery, and for other literary purposes, in various parts and
directions, our nation seems to owe to the same object, as well
as to its own interests, to explore this, the only line of easy communication
across the continent, and so directly traversing our
own part of it. The interests of commerce place the principal
object within the constitutional powers and care of Congress, and
that it should incidentally advance the geographical knowledge
of our own continent, can not but be an additional gratification.
The nation claiming the territory, regarding this as a literary
pursuit, which it is in the habit of permitting within its own dominions,
would not be disposed to view it with jealousy, even if
the expiring state of its interests there did not render it a matter
of indifference. The appropriation of two thousand five hundred
dollars, "for the purpose of extending the external commerce of
the United States," while understood and considered by the executive
as giving the legislative sanction, would cover the undertaking
from notice, and prevent the obstructions which interested
individuals might otherwise previously prepare in its way.
BOOK IV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
PART I.--NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
" II.--BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
" III.--THE BATTURE AT NEW ORLEANS.
" IV.--JEFFERSON'S MANUAL.
" V.--THE ANAS.
" VI.--MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.
INTRODUCTORY TO BOOK IV.
This fourth and last division of the work contains a large mass of very valuable
and interesting miscellaneous matter--everything, indeed, valuable and interesting
written by Mr. Jefferson, and not embraced in the previous divisions
of the work. To the general reader, it will be found much the most instructive
and entertaining portion of the publication, ranging, as it does, over a vast field
of discussion--unless, perhaps, the latter portion of Mr. Jefferson's Correspondence
be excepted, say, from 1812 to the end of his life. Among the interesting papers
contained in this division of the work, may be enumerated the "Notes on Virginia,"
biographical sketches of distinguished Revolutionary characters, Mr. Jefferson's
argument in vindication of his official action while President of the United
States in connection with the Batture at New Orleans--the celebrated Anas,
Resolutions defining the relations between the State and Federal Governments,
and believed to be the originals of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799, &c. These
are but a few of the interesting papers comprised in Book IV. There are many
others possessing great intrinsic interest and a very considerable historical value,
as throwing much light upon the early history of our country. And nowhere
does the genius of the distinguished Author, and the richness and diversity of his
resources, more impress the reader than in the mass of miscellaneous matter collected
in this last division of the work.
CONTENTS
TO
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
PAGE
I.--An exact description of the limits and boundaries of
the State of Virginia, 249
II.--A notice of the rivers, rivulets, and how far they
are navigable, 250
III.--A notice of the best seaports of the State, and how
big are the vessels they can receive, 263
IV.--A notice of its mountains, 263
V.--Its cascades and caverns, 266
VI.--A notice of the mines and other subterraneous riches;
its trees, plants, fruits, &c., 270
VII.--A notice of all that can increase the progress of
human knowledge, 320
VIII.--The number of its inhabitants, 328
IX.--The number and condition of the militia and regular
troops, and their pay, 334
X.--The marine, 334
XI.--A description of the Indians established in that State, 336
XII.--A notice of the counties, cities, townships and villages, 350
XIII.--The constitution of the State, and its several charters, 352
XIV.--The administration of justice and the description of
the laws, 372
XV.--The colleges and public establishments, the roads,
buildings, &c., 391
XVI.--The measures taken with regard to the estates and
possessions of the rebels, commonly called tories, 396
XVII.--The different religions received into that State, 398
XVIII.--The particular customs and manners that may happen to
be received in that State, 403
XIX.--The present state of manufactures, commerce, interior
and exterior trade, 404
XX.--A notice of the commercial productions particular to
the State, and of those objects which the inhabitants
are obliged to get from Europe and from other parts
of the world 406
XXI.--The weights, measures, and the currency of the hard
money. Some details relating to exchange with Europe, 409
XXII.--The public income and expenses, 410
XXIII.--The histories of the State, the memorials published
in its name in the time of its being a colony,
and the pamphlets relating to its interior or
exterior affairs, present or ancient, 415
Appendix, 429
PART I.
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
QUERY I.
_An exact description of the limits and boundaries of the State
of Virginia?_
_Virginia_ is bounded on the east by the Atlantic; on the north
by a line of latitude crossing the eastern shore through Watkin's
Point, being about 37° 57' north latitude; from thence by a
straight line to Cinquac, near the mouth of Potomac; thence by
the Potomac, which is common to Virginia and Maryland, to the
first fountain of its northern branch; thence by a meridian line,
passing through that fountain till it intersects a line running
east and west, in latitude 39° 43' 42.4" which divides Maryland
from Pennsylvania, and which was marked by Messrs.
Mason and Dixon; thence by that line, and a continuation of
it westwardly to the completion of five degrees of longitude
from the eastern boundary of Pennsylvania, in the same latitude,
and thence by a meridian line to the Ohio; on the west
by the Ohio and Mississippi, to latitude 36° 30' north, and
on the south by the line of latitude last mentioned. By admeasurements
through nearly the whole of this last line, and
supplying the unmeasured parts from good data, the Atlantic
and Mississippi are found in this latitude to be seven hundred
and fifty-eight miles distant, equal to 30° 38' of longitude,
reckoning fifty-five miles and three thousand one hundred and
forty-four feet to the degree. This being our comprehension
of longitude, that of our latitude, taken between this and Mason
and Dixon's line, is 3° 13' 42.4" equal to two hundred and
twenty-three and one-third miles, supposing a degree of a great
circle to be sixty-nine miles, eight hundred and sixty-four feet,
as computed by Cassini. These boundaries include an area
somewhat triangular of one hundred and twenty-one thousand
five hundred and twenty-five square miles, whereof seventy-nine
thousand six hundred and fifty lie westward of the Alleghany
mountains, and fifty-seven thousand and thirty-four westward of
the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway. This State
is therefore one-third larger than the islands of Great Britain and
Ireland, which are reckoned at eighty-eight thousand three hundred
and fifty-seven square miles.
These limits result from, 1. The ancient charters from the
crown of England. 2. The grant of Maryland to the Lord
Baltimore, and the subsequent determinations of the British court
as to the extent of that grant. 3. The grant of Pennsylvania
to William Penn, and a compact between the general assemblies
of the commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylvania as to the
extent of that grant. 4. The grant of Carolina, and actual location
of its northern boundary, by consent of both parties.
5. The treaty of Paris of 1763. 6. The confirmation of the
charters of the neighboring States by the convention of _Virginia_
at the time of constituting their commonwealth. 7. The
cession made by _Virginia_ to Congress of all the lands to which
they had title on the north side of the Ohio.
QUERY II.
_A notice of its rivers, rivulets, and how far they are navigable?_
An inspection of a map of _Virginia_, will give a better idea
of the geography of its rivers, than any description in writing.
Their navigation may be imperfectly noted.
_Roanoke_, so far as it lies within the State, is nowhere
navigable but for canoes, or light batteaux; and even for these
in such detached parcels as to have prevented the inhabitants
from availing themselves of it at all.
_James River_, and its waters, afford navigation as follows:
The whole of _Elizabeth River_, the lowest of those which
run into James River, is a harbor, and would contain upwards of
three hundred ships. The channel is from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred fathoms wide, and at common flood tide affords
eighteen feet water to Norfolk. The Stafford, a sixty gun ship,
went there, lightening herself to cross the bar at Sowel's Point.
The Fier Rodrigue, pierced for sixty-four guns, and carrying
fifty, went there without lightening. Craney Island, at the
mouth of this river, commands its channel tolerably well.
_Nansemond River_ is navigable to Sleepy Hole for vessels of
two hundred and fifty tons; to Suffolk for those of one hundred
tons; and to Milner's for those of twenty-five.
_Pagan Creek_ affords eight or ten feet water to Smithfield,
which admits vessels of twenty tons.
_Chickahominy_ has at its mouth a bar, on which is only twelve
feet water at common flood tide. Vessels passing that, may go
eight miles up the river; those of ten feet draught may go four
miles further, and those of six tons burden twenty miles further.
_Appomattox_ may be navigated as far as Broadways, by any vessel
which has crossed Harrison's bar in James River; it keeps eight
or ten feet water a mile or two higher up to Fisher's bar, and four
feet on that and upwards to Petersburg, where all navigation ceases.
_James River_ itself affords a harbor for vessels of any size in
Hampton Road, but not in safety through the whole winter; and
there is navigable water for them as far as Mulberry Island. A
forty gun ship goes to Jamestown, and, lightening herself, may
pass Harrison's bar; on which there is only fifteen feet water.
Vessels of two hundred and fifty tons may go to Warwick;
those of one hundred and twenty-five go to Rocket's, a mile below
Richmond; from thence is about seven feet water to Richmond;
and about the centre of the town, four feet and a half,
where the navigation is interrupted by falls, which in a course
of six miles, descend about eighty-eight feet perpendicular; above
these it is resumed in canoes and batteaux, and is prosecuted
safely and advantageously to within ten miles of the Blue Ridge;
and even through the Blue Ridge a ton weight has been brought;
and the expense would not be great, when compared with its
object, to open a tolerable navigation up Jackson's river and Carpenter's
creek, to within twenty-five miles of Howard's creek of
Green Briar, both of which have then water enough to float vessels
into the Great Kanhaway. In some future state of population
I think it possible that its navigation may also be made to
interlock with that of the Potomac, and through that to communicate
by a short portage with the Ohio. It is to be noted
that this river is called in the maps _James River_, only to its confluence
with the Rivanna; thence to the Blue Ridge it is called
the Fluvanna; and thence to its source Jackson's river. But in
common speech, it is called James River to its source.
The _Rivanna_, a branch of James River, is navigable for
canoes and batteaux to its intersection with the South-West mountains,
which is about twenty-two miles; and may easily be
opened to navigation through these mountains to its fork above
Charlottesville.
_York River_, at Yorktown, affords the best harbor in the State
for vessels of the largest size. The river there narrows to the
width of a mile, and is contained within very high banks, close
under which vessels may ride. It holds four fathom water at
high tide for twenty-five miles above York to the mouth of
Poropotank, where the river is a mile and a half wide, and the
channel only seventy-five fathom, and passing under a high
bank. At the confluence of _Pamunkey_ and _Mattapony_, it is
reduced to three fathom depth, which continues up Pamunkey
to Cumberland, where the width is one hundred yards, and up
Mattapony to within two miles of Frazier's ferry, where it becomes
two and a half fathom deep, and holds that about five
miles. Pamunkey is then capable of navigation for loaded flats
to Brockman's bridge, fifty miles above Hanover town, and
Mattapony to Downer's bridge, seventy miles above its mouth.
_Piankatank_, the little rivers making out of _Mobjack Bay_ and
those of the eastern shore, receive only very small vessels, and
these can but enter them.
_Rappahannock_ affords four fathom water to Hobb's hole, and
two fathom from thence to Fredericksburg.
_Potomac_ is seven and a half miles wide at the mouth; four
and a half at Nomony bay; three at Aquia; one and a half at
Hallowing point; one and a quarter at Alexandria. Its soundings
are seven fathom at the mouth; five at St. George's island; four
and a half at Lower Matchodic; three at Swan's point, and
thence up to Alexandria; thence ten feet water to the falls,
which are thirteen miles above Alexandria. These falls are fifteen
miles in length, and of very great descent, and the navigation
above them for batteaux and canoes is so much interrupted
as to be little used. It is, however, used in a small degree up
the Cohongoronta branch as far as fort Cumberland, which was
at the mouth of Willis's creek; and is capable, at no great expense,
of being rendered very practicable. The Shenandoah
branch interlocks with James river about the Blue Ridge, and
may perhaps in future be opened.
The _Mississippi_ will be one of the principal channels of future
commerce for the country westward of the Alleghany.
From the mouth of this river to where it receives the Ohio, is
one thousand miles by water, but only five hundred by land,
passing through the Chickasaw country. From the mouth of
the Ohio to that of the Missouri, is two hundred and thirty miles
by water, and one hundred and forty by land, from thence to the
mouth of the Illinois river, is about twenty-five miles. The
Mississippi, below the mouth of the Missouri, is always muddy,
and abounding with sand bars, which frequently change their
places. However, it carries fifteen feet water to the mouth of
the Ohio, to which place it is from one and a half to two miles
wide, and thence to Kaskaskia from one mile to a mile and a
quarter wide. Its current is so rapid, that it never can be
stemmed by the force of the wind alone, acting on sails. Any
vessel, however, navigated with oars, may come up at any time,
and receive much aid from the wind. A batteau passes from
the mouth of Ohio to the mouth of Mississippi in three weeks,
and is from two to three months getting up again. During its
floods, which are periodical as those of the Nile, the largest vessels
may pass down it, if their steerage can be insured. These
floods begin in April, and the river returns into its banks early
in August. The inundation extends further on the western than
eastern side, covering the lands in some places for fifty miles
from its banks. Above the mouth of the Missouri it becomes
much such a river as the Ohio, like it clear and gentle in its current,
not quite so wide, the period of its floods nearly the same,
but not rising to so great a height. The streets of the village at
Cohoes are not more than ten feet above the ordinary level of
the water, and yet were never overflowed. Its bed deepens
every year. Cohoes, in the memory of many people now living,
was insulated by every flood of the river. What was the eastern
channel has now become a lake, nine miles in length and
one in width, into which the river at this day never flows. This
river yields turtle of a peculiar kind, perch, trout, gar, pike, mullets,
herrings, carp, spatula-fish of fifty pounds weight, cat-fish
of one hundred pounds weight, buffalo fish, and sturgeon. Aligators
or crocodiles have been seen as high up as the Acansas.
It also abounds in herons, cranes, ducks, brant, geese, and swans.
Its passage is commanded by a fort established by this State, five
miles below the mouth of the Ohio, and ten miles above the
Carolina boundary.
The _Missouri_, since the treaty of Paris, the Illinois and northern
branches of the Ohio, since the cession to Congress, are no
longer within our limits. Yet having been so heretofore, and
still opening to us channels of extensive communication with the
western and north-western country, they shall be noted in their
order.
The Missouri is, in fact, the principal river, contributing more
to the common stream than does the Mississippi, even after its
junction with the Illinois. It is remarkably cold, muddy, and
rapid. Its overflowings are considerable. They happen during
the months of June and July. Their commencement being so
much later than those of the Mississippi, would induce a belief
that the sources of the Missouri are northward of those of the
Mississippi, unless we suppose that the cold increases again with
the ascent of the land from the Mississippi westwardly. That
this ascent is great, is proved by the rapidity of the river. Six
miles above the mouth, it is brought within the compass of a
quarter of a mile's width; yet the Spanish merchants at Pancore,
or St. Louis, say they go two thousand miles up it. It heads far
westward of the Rio Norte, or North River. There is, in the
villages of Kaskaskia, Cohoes, and St. Vincennes, no inconsiderable
quantity of plate, said to have been plundered during the
last war by the Indians from the churches and private houses of
Santa Fé, on the North river, and brought to the villages for
sale. From the mouth of the Ohio to Santa Fé are forty days
journey, or about one thousand miles. What is the shortest distance
between the navigable waters of the Missouri, and those
of the North river, or how far this is navigable above Santa Fé,
I could never learn. From Santa Fé to its mouth in the Gulf
of Mexico is about twelve hundred miles. The road from New
Orleans to Mexico crosses this river at the post of Rio Norte, eight
hundred miles below Santa Fé, and from this post to New Orleans
is about twelve hundred miles; thus making two thousand
miles between Santa Fé and New Orleans, passing down the
North river, Red river, and Mississippi; whereas it is two thousand
two hundred and thirty through the Missouri and Mississippi.
From the same post of Rio Norte, passing near the mines
of La Sierra and Laiguana, which are between the North river,
and the river Salina to Sartilla, is three hundred and seventy-five
miles, and from thence, passing the mines of Charcas, Zaccatecas,
and Potosi, to the city of Mexico, is three hundred and seventy-five
miles; in all, one thousand five hundred and fifty miles from
Santa Fé to the city of Mexico. From New Orleans to the city
of Mexico is about one thousand nine hundred and fifty miles;
the roads after setting out from the Red river, near Natchitoches,
keeping generally parallel with the coast, and about two hundred
miles from it, till it enters the city of Mexico.
The _Illinois_ is a fine river, clear, gentle, and without rapids;
insomuch that it is navigable for batteaux to its source. From
thence is a portage of two miles only to the Chicago, which affords
a batteau navigation of sixteen miles to its entrance into
lake Michigan. The Illinois, about ten miles above its mouth,
is three hundred yards wide.
The _Kaskaskia_ is one hundred yards wide at its entrance into
the Mississippi, and preserves that breadth to the Buffalo plains,
seventy miles above. So far, also, it is navigable for loaded batteaux,
and perhaps much further. It is not rapid.
The _Ohio_ is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current
gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks
and rapids, a single instance only excepted.
It is one-quarter of a mile wide at Fort Pitt, five hundred
yards at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, one mile and
twenty-five poles at Louisville, one-quarter of a mile on the
rapids three or four miles below Louisville, half a mile where
the low country begins, which is twenty miles above Green
river, a mile and a quarter at the receipt of the Tennessee, and a
mile wide at the mouth.
Its length, as measured according to its meanders by Captain
Hutchins, is as follows:--
From Fort Pitt
To Log's Town 18½
Big Beaver Creek 10¾
Little Beaver Creek 13½
Yellow Creek 11¾
Two Creeks 21¾
Long Reach 53¾
End Long Reach 16½
Muskingum 25½
Little Kanhaway 12¼
Hockhocking 16
Great Kanhaway 82½
Guiandot 43¾
Sandy Creek 14½
Sioto 48¼
Little Miami 126¼
Licking Creek 8
Great Miami 26¾
Big Bones 32½
Kentucky 44¼
Rapids 77¼
Low Country 155¾
Buffalo River 64½
Wabash 97¼
Big Cave 42¾
Shawanee River 52½
Cherokee River 13
Massac 11
Mississippi 46
-----
1188
In common winter and spring tides it affords fifteen feet water
to Louisville, ten feet to Le Tarte's rapids, forty miles above the
mouth of the great Kanhaway, and a sufficiency at all times for
light batteaux and canoes to Fort Pitt. The rapids are in latitude
38° 8'. The inundations of this river begin about the last
of March, and subside in July. During these, a first-rate man-of-war
may be carried from Louisville to New Orleans, if the
sudden turns of the river and the strength of its current will admit
a safe steerage. The rapids at Louisville descend about
thirty feet in a length of a mile and a half. The bed of the
river there is a solid rock, and is divided by an island into two
branches, the southern of which is about two hundred yards
wide, and is dry four months in the year. The bed of the northern
branch is worn into channels by the constant course of the
water, and attrition of the pebble stones carried on with that, so
as to be passable for batteaux through the greater part of the
year. Yet it is thought that the southern arm may be the most
easily opened for constant navigation. The rise of the waters
in these rapids does not exceed ten or twelve feet. A part of
this island is so high as to have been never overflowed, and to
command the settlement at Louisville, which is opposite to it.
The fort, however, is situated at the head of the falls. The
ground on the south side rises very gradually.
The _Tennessee_, Cherokee, or Hogohege river, is six hundred
yards wide at its mouth, a quarter of a mile at the mouth of
Holston, and two hundred yards at Chotee, which is twenty
miles above Holston, and three hundred miles above the mouth
of the Tennessee. This river crosses the southern boundary of
Virginia, fifty-eight miles from the Mississippi. Its current is moderate.
It is navigable for loaded boats of any burden to the
Muscle shoals, where the river passes through the Cumberland
mountain. These shoals are six or eight miles long, passable
downwards for loaded canoes, but not upwards, unless there be a
swell in the river. Above these the navigation for loaded canoes
and batteaux continues to the Long island. This river has its
inundations also. Above the Chickamogga towns is a whirlpool
called the Sucking-pot, which takes in trunks of trees or boats,
and throws them out again half a mile below. It is avoided by
keeping very close to the bank, on the south side. There are
but a few miles portage between a branch of this river and the
navigable waters of the river Mobile, which runs into the Gulf
of Mexico.
_Cumberland_, or Shawanee river, intersects the boundary between
Virginia and North Carolina sixty-seven miles from the
Mississippi, and again one hundred and ninety-eight miles from
the same river, a little above the entrance of Obey's river into
the Cumberland. Its Clear fork crosses the same boundary about
three hundred miles from the Mississippi. Cumberland is a very
gentle stream, navigable for loaded batteaux eight hundred miles,
without interruption; then intervene some rapids of fifteen miles
in length, after which it is again navigable seventy miles upwards,
which brings you within ten miles of the Cumberland
mountains. It is about one hundred and twenty yards wide
through its whole course, from the head of its navigation to its
mouth.
The _Wabash_ is a very beautiful river, four hundred yards
wide at the mouth, and three hundred at St. Vincennes, which
is a post one hundred miles above the mouth, in a direct line.
Within this space there are two small rapids, which give very
little obstruction to the navigation. It is four hundred yards
wide at the mouth, and navigable thirty leagues upwards for
canoes and small boats. From the mouth of Maple river to that
of Eel river is about eighty miles in a direct line, the river continuing
navigable, and from one to two hundred yards in width.
The Eel river is one hundred and fifty yards wide, and affords
at all times navigation for periaguas, to within eighteen miles of
the Miami of the Lake. The Wabash, from the mouth of Eel
river to Little river, a distance of fifty miles direct, is interrupted
with frequent rapids and shoals, which obstruct the navigation,
except in a swell. Little river affords navigation during a swell
to within three miles of the Miami, which thence affords a similar
navigation into Lake Erie, one hundred miles distant in a
direct line. The Wabash overflows periodically in correspondence
with the Ohio, and in some places two leagues from its banks.
_Green River_ is navigable for loaded batteaux at all times fifty
miles upwards; but it is then interrupted by impassable rapids,
above which the navigation again commences and continues
good thirty or forty miles to the mouth of Barren river.
_Kentucky River_ is ninety yards wide at the mouth, and also
at Boonsborough, eighty miles above. It affords a navigation
for loaded batteaux one hundred and eighty miles in a direct
line, in the winter tides.
The _Great Miami_ of the Ohio, is two hundred yards wide at
the mouth. At the Piccawee towns, seventy-five miles above, it
is reduced to thirty yards; it is, nevertheless, navigable for loaded
canoes fifty miles above these towns. The portage from its
western branch into the Miami of Lake Erie, is five miles; that
from its eastern branch into Sandusky river, is of nine miles.
_Salt River_ is at all times navigable for loaded batteaux seventy
or eighty miles. It is eighty yards wide at its mouth, and keeps
that width to its fork, twenty-five miles above.
The _Little Miami_ of the Ohio, is sixty or seventy yards wide
at its mouth, sixty miles to its source, and affords no navigation.
The _Sioto_ is two hundred and fifty yards wide at its mouth,
which is in latitude 38° 22', and at the Saltlick towns, two hundred
miles above the mouth, it is yet one hundred yards wide.
To these towns it is navigable for loaded batteaux, and its eastern
branch affords navigation almost to its source.
_Great Sandy River_ is about sixty yards wide, and navigable
sixty miles for loaded batteaux.
_Guiandot_ is about the width of the river last mentioned, but
is more rapid. It may be navigated by canoes sixty miles.
The _Great Kanhaway_ is a river of considerable note for the
fertility of its lands, and still more, as leading towards the head
waters of James river. Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether its
great and numerous rapids will admit a navigation, but at an expense
to which it will require ages to render its inhabitants
equal. The great obstacles begin at what are called the Great
Falls, ninety miles above the mouth, below which are only five
or six rapids, and these passable, with some difficulty, even at
low water. From the falls to the mouth of Greenbriar is one
hundred miles, and thence to the lead mines one hundred and
twenty. It is two hundred and eighty yards wide at its mouth.
_Hockhocking_ is eighty yards wide at its mouth, and yields
navigation for loaded batteaux to the Press-place, sixty miles
above its mouth.
The _Little Kanhaway_ is one hundred and fifty yards wide
at the mouth. It yields a navigation of ten miles only. Perhaps
its northern branch, called Junius' creek, which interlocks
with the western of Monongahela, may one day admit a shorter
passage from the latter into the Ohio.
The _Muskingum_ is two hundred and eighty yards wide at its
mouth, and two hundred yards at the lower Indian towns, one
hundred and fifty miles upwards. It is navigable for small batteaux
to within one mile of a navigable part of Cuyahoga river,
which runs into Lake Erie.
At Fort Pitt the river Ohio loses its name, branching into the
Monongahela and Alleghany.
The _Monongahela_ is four hundred yards wide at its mouth.
From thence is twelve or fifteen miles to the mouth of Yohogany,
where it is three hundred yards wide. Thence to Redstone
by water is fifty miles, by land thirty. Then to the mouth
of Cheat river by water forty miles, by land twenty-eight, the
width continuing at three hundred yards, and the navigation
good for boats. Thence the width is about two hundred yards
to the western fork, fifty miles higher, and the navigation frequently
interrupted by rapids, which, however, with a swell of
two or three feet, become very passable for boats. It then admits
light boats, except in dry seasons, sixty-five miles further
to the head of Tygart's valley, presenting only some small rapids
and falls of one or two feet perpendicular, and lessening in its
width to twenty yards. The _Western fork_ is navigable in the
winter ten or fifteen miles towards the northern of the Little
Kanhaway, and will admit a good wagon road to it. The _Yahogany_
is the principal branch of this river. It passes through
the Laurel mountain, about thirty miles from its mouth; is so
far from three hundred to one hundred and fifty yards wide, and
the navigation much obstructed in dry weather by rapids and
shoals. In its passage through the mountain it makes very great
falls, admitting no navigation for ten miles to the Turkey Foot.
Thence to the Great Crossing, about twenty miles, it is again
navigable, except in dry seasons, and at this place is two hundred
yards wide. The sources of this river are divided from
those of the Potomac by the Alleghany mountain. From the
falls, where it intersects the Laurel mountain, to Fort Cumberland,
the head of the navigation on the Potomac, is forty miles
of very mountainous road. Wills' creek, at the mouth of which
was Fort Cumberland, is thirty or forty yards wide, but affords
no navigation as yet. _Cheat_ river, another considerable branch
of the Monongahela, is two hundred yards wide at its mouth,
and one hundred yards at the _Dunkard's_ settlement, fifty miles
higher. It is navigable for boats, except in dry seasons. The
boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania crosses it about
three or four miles above its mouth.
The _Alleghany_ river, with a slight swell, affords navigation
for light batteaux to Venango, at the mouth of French Creek,
where it is two hundred yards wide, and is practised even to Le
Bœuf, from whence there is a portage of fifteen miles to Presque
Isle on the Lake Erie.
The country watered by the Mississippi and its eastern
branches, constitutes five-eighths of the United States, two of
which five-eighths are occupied by the Ohio and its waters; the
residuary streams which run into the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic,
and the St. Lawrence, water the remaining three-eighths.
Before we quit the subject of the western waters, we will take
a view of their principal connections with the Atlantic. These
are three; the Hudson river, the Potomac, and the Mississippi
itself. Down the last will pass all heavy commodities. But the
navigation through the Gulf of Mexico is so dangerous, and that
up the Mississippi so difficult and tedious, that it is thought probable
that European merchandise will not return through that
channel. It is most likely that flour, timber, and other heavy
articles will be floated on rafts, which will themselves be an article
for sale as well as their loading, the navigators returning by
land, or in light batteaux. There will, therefore, be a competition
between the Hudson and Potomac rivers for the residue of
the commerce of all the country westward of Lake Erie, on the
waters of the lakes, of the Ohio, and upper parts of the Mississippi.
To go to New York, that part of the trade which comes
from the lakes or their waters, must first be brought into Lake
Erie. Between Lake Superior and its waters and Huron, are the
rapids of St. Mary, which will permit boats to pass, but not larger
vessels. Lakes Huron and Michigan afford communication with
Lake Erie by vessels of eight feet draught. That part of the
trade which comes from the waters of the Mississippi must pass
from them through some portage into the waters of the lakes.
The portage from the Illinois river into a water of Michigan is
of one mile only. From the Wabash, Miami, Muskingum, or
Alleghany, are portages into the waters of Lake Erie, of from one
to fifteen miles. When the commodities are brought into, and
have passed through Lake Erie, there is between that and Ontario
an interruption by the falls of Niagara, where the portage
is of eight miles; and between Ontario and the Hudson river are
portages at the falls of Onondago, a little above Oswego, of a
quarter of a mile; from Wood creek to the Mohawks river two
miles; at the little falls of the Mohawks river half a mile; and
from Schenectady to Albany sixteen miles. Besides the increase
of expense occasioned by frequent change of carriage, there is an
increased risk of pillage produced by committing merchandise
to a greater number of hands successively. The Potomac offers
itself under the following circumstances: For the trade of the
lakes and their waters westward of Lake Erie, when it shall
have entered that lake, it must coast along its southern shore, on
account of the number and excellence of its harbors; the northern,
though shortest, having few harbors, and these unsafe.
Having reached Cuyahoga, to proceed on to New York it will
have eight hundred and twenty-five miles and five portages;
whereas it is but four hundred and twenty-five miles to Alexandria,
its emporium on the Potomac, if it turns into the Cuyahoga,
and passes through that, Big Beaver, Ohio, Yohogany, (or
Monongahela and Cheat,) and Potomac, and there are but two
portages; the first of which, between Cuyahoga and Beaver, may
be removed by uniting the sources of these waters, which are
lakes in the neighborhood of each other, and in a champaign
country; the other from the waters of Ohio to Potomac will be
from fifteen to forty miles, according to the trouble which shall
be taken to approach the two navigations. For the trade of the
Ohio, or that which shall come into it from its own waters or
the Mississippi, it is nearer through the Potomac to Alexandria
than to New York by five hundred and eighty miles, and it is
interrupted by one portage only. There is another circumstance
of difference too. The lakes themselves never freeze, but the
communications between them freeze, and the Hudson river is
itself shut up by the ice three months in the year; whereas the
channel to the Chesapeake leads directly into a warmer climate.
The southern parts of it very rarely freeze at all, and whenever
the northern do, it is so near the sources of the rivers, that the frequent
floods to which they are there liable, break up the ice immediately,
so that vessels may pass through the whole winter,
subject only to accidental and short delays. Add to all this,
that in case of war with our neighbors, the Anglo-Americans or
the Indians, the route to New York becomes a frontier through
almost its whole length, and all commerce through it ceases
from that moment. But the channel to New York is already
known to practice, whereas the upper waters of the Ohio and the
Potomac, and the great falls of the latter, are yet to be cleared
of their fixed obstructions. (A.)
QUERY III.
_A notice of the best Seaports of the State, and how big are the
vessels they can receive?_
Having no ports but our rivers and creeks, this _Query_ has
been answered under the preceding one.
QUERY IV.
_A notice of its Mountains?_
For the particular geography of our mountains I must refer
to Fry and Jefferson's map of Virginia; and to Evans' analysis
of this map of America, for a more philosophical view of them
than is to be found in any other work. It is worthy of notice,
that our mountains are not solitary and scattered confusedly over
the face of the country; but that they commence at about one
hundred and fifty miles from the sea-coast, are disposed in
ridges, one behind another, running nearly parallel with the sea-coast,
though rather approaching it as they advance north-eastwardly.
To the south-west, as the tract of country between the
sea-coast and the Mississippi becomes narrower, the mountains
converge into a single ridge, which, as it approaches the Gulf of
Mexico, subsides into plain country, and gives rise to some of
the waters of that gulf, and particularly to a river called the
Apalachicola, probably from the Apalachies, an Indian nation
formerly residing on it. Hence the mountains giving rise to
that river, and seen from its various parts, were called the Appalachian
mountains, being in fact the end or termination only of
the great ridges passing through the continent. European geographers,
however, extended the name northwardly as far as the
mountains extended; some giving it, after their separation into
different ridges, to the Blue Ridge, others to the North Mountain,
others to the Alleghany, others to the Laurel Ridge, as may be
seen by their different maps. But the fact I believe is, that none
of these ridges were ever known by that name to the inhabitants,
either native or emigrant, but as they saw them so called
in European maps. In the same direction, generally, are the
veins of limestone, coal, and other minerals hitherto discovered;
and so range the falls of our great rivers. But the courses of the
great rivers are at right angles with these. James and Potomac
penetrate through all the ridges of mountains eastward of the
Alleghany; that is, broken by no water course. It is in fact the
spine of the country between the Atlantic on one side, and the
Mississippi and St. Lawrence on the other. The passage of the
Potomac through the Blue Ridge is, perhaps, one of the most stupendous
scenes in nature. You stand on a very high point of land.
On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the
foot of the mountain an hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left
approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment
of their junction, they rush together against the mountain,
rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this
scene hurries our senses into the opinion, that this earth has been
created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the
rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place, particularly,
they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains,
and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that
continuing to rise they have at length broken over at this spot,
and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base.
The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah,
the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from
their beds by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the
impression. But the distant finishing which nature has given to
the picture, is of a very different character. It is a true contrast
to the foreground. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild
and tremendous. For the mountain being cloven asunder, she
presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth
blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting
you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass
through the breach and participate of the calm below. Here
the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way, too, the road
happens actually to lead. You cross the Potomac above the
junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain
for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over
you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown, and the
fine country round that. This scene is worth a voyage across
the Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neighborhood of the Natural
Bridge, are people who have passed their lives within half a
dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments of
a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken
the earth itself to its centre. (B.)
The height of our mountains has not yet been estimated with
any degree of exactness. The Alleghany being the great ridge
which divides the waters of the Atlantic from those of the Mississippi,
its summit is doubtless more elevated above the ocean than
that of any other mountain. But its relative height, compared
with the base on which it stands, is not so great as that of some
others, the country rising behind the successive ridges like the
steps of stairs. The mountains of the Blue Ridge, and of these
the Peaks of Otter, are thought to be of a greater height, measured
from their base, than any others in our country, and perhaps
in North America. From data, which may found a tolerable
conjecture, we suppose the highest peak to be about four thousand
feet perpendicular, which is not a fifth part of the height of the
mountains of South America, nor one-third of the height which
would be necessary in our latitude to preserve ice in the open
air unmelted through the year. The ridge of mountains next
beyond the Blue Ridge, called by us the North mountain, is of
the greatest extent; for which reason they were named by the
Indians the endless mountains.
A substance supposed to be Pumice, found floating on the
Mississippi, has induced a conjecture that there is a volcano on
some of its waters; and as these are mostly known to their
sources, except the Missouri, our expectations of verifying the conjecture
would of course be led to the mountains which divide
the waters of the Mexican Gulf from those of the South Sea;
but no volcano having ever yet been known at such a distance
from the sea, we must rather suppose that this floating substance
has been erroneously deemed Pumice.
QUERY V.
_Its Cascades and Caverns?_
The only remarkable cascade in this country is that of the
Falling Spring in Augusta. It is a water of James' river where
it is called Jackson's river, rising in the warm spring mountains,
about twenty miles south west of the warm spring, and flowing
into that valley. About three-quarters of a mile from its source
it falls over a rock two hundred feet into the valley below. The
sheet of water is broken in its breadth by the rock, in two or
three places, but not at all in its height. Between the sheet and
the rock, at the bottom, you may walk across dry. This cataract
will bear no comparison with that of Niagara as to the
quantity of water composing it; the sheet being only twelve or
fifteen feet wide above and somewhat more spread below; but
it is half as high again, the latter being only one hundred and
fifty-six feet, according to the mensuration made by order of
M. Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, and one hundred and thirty
according to a more recent account.
[Illustration: An eye draught of Madison's cave on a scale of
67 feet to the inch. The arrows show
where it descends or ascends.]
In the lime-stone country there are many caverns of very considerable
extent. The most noted is called Madison's Cave, and is on the north side
of the Blue Ridge, near the intersection of the Rockingham and Augusta
line with the south fork of the southern river of Shenandoah. It is in
a hill of about two hundred feet perpendicular height, the ascent of
which, on one side, is so steep that you may pitch a biscuit from its
summit into the river which washes its base. The entrance of the cave
is, in this side, about two-thirds of the way up. It extends into the
earth about three hundred feet, branching into subordinate caverns,
sometimes ascending a little, but more generally descending, and at length
terminates, in two different places, at basins of water of unknown extent,
and which I should judge to be nearly on a level with the water of the
river; however, I do not think they are formed by refluent water from
that, because they are never turbid; because they do not rise and fall
in correspondence with that in times of flood or of drought; and because
the water is always cool. It is probably one of the many reservoirs with
which the interior parts of the earth are supposed to abound, and yield
supplies to the fountains of water, distinguished from others only by
being accessible. The vault of this cave is of solid lime-stone, from
twenty to forty or fifty feet high; through which water is continually
percolating. This, trickling down the sides of the cave, has incrusted
them over in the form of elegant drapery; and dripping from the top
of the vault generates on that and on the base below, stalactites of a
conical form, some of which have met and formed massive columns.
Another of these caves is near the north mountain, in the county
of Frederic, on the lands of Mr. Zane. The entrance into
this is on the top of an extensive ridge. You descend thirty or
forty feet, as into a well, from whence the cave extends, nearly
horizontally, four hundred feet into the earth, preserving a breadth
of from twenty to fifty feet, and a height of from five to twelve
feet. After entering this cave a few feet, the mercury, which in
the open air was 50°, rose to 57° of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
answering to 11° of Reaumur's, and it continued at that to the
remotest parts of the cave. The uniform temperature of the
cellars of the observatory of Paris, which are ninety feet deep,
and of all subterraneous cavities of any depth, where no chemical
agencies may be supposed to produce a factitious heat, has
been found to be 10° of Reaumur, equal to 54½° of Fahrenheit.
The temperature of the cave above mentioned so nearly corresponds
with this, that the difference may be ascribed to a difference
of instruments.
At the Panther gap, in the ridge which divides the waters of
the Crow and the Calf pasture, is what is called the _Blowing
Cave_. It is in the side of a hill, is of about one hundred feet
diameter, and emits constantly a current of air of such force as
to keep the weeds prostrate to the distance of twenty yards before
it. This current is strongest in dry, frosty weather, and in
long spells of rain weakest. Regular inspirations and expirations
of air, by caverns and fissures, have been probably enough
accounted for by supposing them combined with intermitting
fountains; as they must of course inhale air while their reservoirs
are emptying themselves, and again emit it while they are filling.
But a constant issue of air, only varying in its force as the
weather is drier or damper, will require a new hypothesis. There
is another blowing cave in the Cumberland mountain, about a
mile from where it crosses the Carolina line. All we know of
this is, that it is not constant, and that a fountain of water issues
from it.
The _Natural Bridge_, the most sublime of nature's works,
though not comprehended under the present head, must not be
pretermitted. It is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to have
been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The
fissure, just at the bridge, is, by some admeasurements, two hundred
and seventy feet deep, by others only two hundred and five.
It is about forty-five feet wide at the bottom and ninety feet at
the top; this of course determines the length of the bridge,
and its height from the water. Its breadth in the middle is
about sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of the
mass, at the summit of the arch, about forty feet. A part of
this thickness is constituted by a coat of earth, which gives
growth to many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both
sides, is one solid rock of lime-stone. The arch approaches the
semi-elliptical form; but the larger axis of the ellipsis, which
would be the cord of the arch, is many times longer than the
transverse. Though the sides of this bridge are provided in some
parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution
to walk to them, and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily
fall on your hands and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep
over it. Looking down from this height about a minute, gave
me a violent head-ache. If the view from the top be painful
and intolerable, that from below is delightful in an equal extreme.
It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime
to be felt beyond what they are here; so beautiful an arch,
so elevated, so light, and springing as it were up to heaven! the
rapture of the spectator is really indescribable! The fissure continuing
narrow, deep, and straight, for a considerable distance
above and below the bridge, opens a short but very pleasing view
of the North mountain on one side and the Blue Ridge on the
other, at the distance each of them of about five miles. This
bridge is in the county of Rockbridge, to which it has given
name, and affords a public and commodious passage over a valley
which cannot be crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance.
The stream passing under it is called Cedar-creek. It is
a water of James' river, and sufficient in the driest seasons to
turn a grist-mill, though its fountain is not more than two miles
above.[2]
FOOTNOTE:
[2] Don Ulloa mentions a break, similar to this, in the
province of Angaraez, in South America. It is from sixteen
to twenty-two feet wide, one hundred and eleven feet deep,
and of 1.3 miles continuance, English measure. Its breadth
at top is not sensibly greater than at bottom. But the
following fact is remarkable, and will furnish some light
for conjecturing the probable origin of our natural bridge.
"Esta caxa, ó cauce está cortada en péna viva con tanta
precision, que las desigualdades del un lado entrantes,
corresponden á las del otro lado salientes, como si aquella
altura se hubiese abierto expresamente, con sus bueltas y
tortuosidades, para darle transito á los aguas por entre
los dos morallones que la forman; siendo tal su igualdad,
que si llegasen á juntarse se endentarian uno con otro sin
dextar hueco." Not. Amer. ii. § 10. Don Ulloa inclines to
the opinion that this channel has been effected by the
wearing of the water which runs through it, rather than
that the mountain should have been broken open by any
convulsion of nature. But if it had been worn by the running
of water, would not the rocks which form the sides, have
been worn plain? or if, meeting in some parts with veins
of harder stone, the water had left prominences on the one
side, would not the same cause have sometimes, or perhaps
generally, occasioned prominences on the other side also?
Yet Don Ulloa tells us, that on the other side there are
always corresponding cavities, and that these tally with the
prominences so perfectly, that, were the two sides to come
together they would fit in all their indentures, without
leaving any void. I think that this does not resemble the
effect of running water, but looks rather as if the two
sides had parted asunder. The sides of the break, over which
is the natural bridge of Virginia, consisting of a veiny
rock which yields to time, the correspondence between the
salient and re-entering inequalities, if it existed at all,
has now disappeared. This break has the advantage of the
one described by Don Ulloa in its finest circumstance; no
portion in that instance having held together, during the
separation of the other parts, so as to form a bridge over
the abyss.
QUERY VI.
_A notice of the mines and other subterraneous riches; its trees,
plants, fruits, &c._
I knew a single instance of gold found in this State. It was
interspersed in small specks through a lump of ore of about four
pounds weight, which yielded seventeen pennyweights of gold, of
extraordinary ductility. This ore was found on the north side
of Rappahanoc, about four miles below the falls. I never heard
of any other indication of gold in its neighborhood.
On the Great Kanhaway, opposite to the mouth of Cripple
creek, and about twenty-five miles from our southern boundary,
in the county of Montgomery, are mines of lead. The metal is
mixed, sometimes with earth, and sometimes with rock, which
requires the force of gunpowder to open it; and is accompanied
with a portion of silver too small to be worth separation under
any process hitherto attempted there. The proportion yielded is
from fifty to eighty pounds of pure metal from one hundred
pounds of washed ore. The most common is that of sixty to
one hundred pounds. The veins are sometimes most flattering,
at others they disappear suddenly and totally. They enter
the side of the hill and proceed horizontally. Two of them are
wrought at present by the public, the best of which is one hundred
yards under the hill. These would employ about fifty laborers
to advantage. We have not, however, more than thirty
generally, and these cultivate their own corn. They have produced
sixty tons of lead in the year; but the general quantity
is from twenty to twenty-five tons. The present furnace is a
mile from the ore bank and on the opposite side of the river.
The ore is first wagoned to the river, a quarter of a mile, then
laden on board of canoes and carried across the river, which is
there about two hundred yards wide, and then again taken into
wagons and carried to the furnace. This mode was originally
adopted that they might avail themselves of a good situation on
a creek for a pounding mill; but it would be easy to have
the furnace and pounding mill on the same side of the river,
which would yield water, without any dam, by a canal of about
half a mile in length. From the furnace the lead is transported
one hundred and thirty miles along a good road, leading through
the peaks of Otter to Lynch's ferry, or Winston's on James' river,
from whence it is carried by water about the same distance to
Westham. This land carriage may be greatly shortened, by delivering
the lead on James' river, above the Blue Ridge, from
whence a ton weight has been brought on two canoes. The
Great Kanhaway has considerable falls in the neighborhood of
the mines. About seven miles below are three falls, of three
or four feet perpendicular each; and three miles above is a rapid
of three miles continuance, which has been compared in its descent
to the great falls of James' river. Yet it is the opinion,
that they may be laid open for useful navigation, so as to reduce
very much the portage between the Kanhaway and James'
river.
A valuable lead mine is said to have been lately discovered in
Cumberland, below the mouth of Red river. The greatest,
however, known in the western country, are on the Mississippi,
extending from the mouth of Rock river one hundred and fifty
miles upwards. These are not wrought, the lead used in that
country being from the banks on the Spanish side of the Mississippi,
opposite to Kaskaskia.
A mine of copper was once opened in the county of Amherst,
on the north side of James' river, and another in the opposite
country, on the south side. However, either from bad management
or the poverty of the veins, they were discontinued. We
are told of a rich mine of native copper on the Ouabache, below
the upper Wiaw.
The mines of iron worked at present are Callaway's, Ross's,
and Ballendine's, on the south side of James' river; Old's on the
north side, in Albemarle; Miller's in Augusta, and Zane's in
Frederic. These two last are in the valley between the Blue
Ridge and North mountain. Callaway's, Ross's, Miller's, and
Zane's make about one hundred and fifty tons of bar iron each,
in the year. Ross's makes also about sixteen hundred tons of
pig iron annually; Ballendine's one thousand; Callaway's, Miller's,
and Zane's, about six hundred each. Besides these, a
forge of Mr. Hunter's, at Fredericksburg, makes about three hundred
tons a year of bar iron, from pigs imported from Maryland;
and Taylor's forge on Neapsco of Potomac, works in the same
way, but to what extent I am not informed. The indications
of iron in other places are numerous, and dispersed through all
the middle country. The toughness of the cast iron of Ross's
and Zane's furnaces is very remarkable. Pots and other utensils,
cast thinner than usual, of this iron, may be safely thrown
into, or out of the wagons in which they are transported. Salt-pans
made of the same, and no longer wanted for that purpose,
cannot be broken up, in order to be melted again, unless previously
drilled in many parts.
In the western country, we are told of iron mines between the
Muskingum and Ohio; of others on Kentucky, between the
Cumberland and Barren rivers, between Cumberland and Tennessee,
on Reedy creek, near the Long Island, and on Chesnut
creek, a branch of the Great Kanhaway, near where it crosses
the Carolina line. What are called the iron banks, on the Mississippi,
are believed, by a good judge, to have no iron in them.
In general, from what is hitherto known of that country, it seems
to want iron.
Considerable quantities of black lead are taken occasionally
for use from Winterham in the county of Amelia. I am not
able, however, to give a particular state of the mine. There is
no work established at it; those who want, going and procuring
it for themselves.
The country on James' river, from fifteen to twenty miles
above Richmond, and for several miles northward and southward,
is replete with mineral coal of a very excellent quality.
Being in the hands of many proprietors, pits have been opened,
and, before the interruption of our commerce, were worked to
an extent equal to the demand.
In the western country coal is known to be in so many places,
as to have induced an opinion, that the whole tract between the
Laurel mountain, Mississippi, and Ohio, yields coal. It is also
known in many places on the north side of the Ohio. The
coal at Pittsburg is of very superior quality. A bed of it at that
place has been a-fire since the year 1765. Another coal-hill on
the Pike-run of Monongahela has been a-fire ten years; yet it
has burnt away about twenty yards only.
I have known one instance of an emerald found in this country.
Amethysts have been frequent, and crystals common; yet
not in such numbers any of them as to be worth seeking.
There is very good marble, and in very great abundance, on
James' river, at the mouth of Rockfish. The samples I have
seen, were some of them of a white as pure as one might expect
to find on the surface of the earth; but most of them were variegated
with red, blue, and purple. None of it has been ever
worked. It forms a very large precipice, which hangs over a
navigable part of the river. It is said there is marble at Kentucky.
But one vein of limestone is known below the Blue Ridge.
Its first appearance, in our country, is in Prince William, two
miles below the Pignut ridge of mountains; thence it passes on
nearly parallel with that, and crosses the Rivanna about five
miles below it, where it is called the South-west ridge. It then
crosses Hard-ware, above the mouth of Hudson's creek, James'
river at the mouth of Rockfish, at the marble quarry before
spoken of, probably runs up that river to where it appears again
at Ross's iron-works, and so passes off south-westwardly by Flat
Creek of Otter river. It is never more than one hundred yards
wide. From the Blue Ridge westwardly, the whole country
seems to be founded on a rock of limestone, besides infinite
quantities on the surface, both loose and fixed. This is cut into
beds, which range, as the mountains and sea-coast do, from
south-west to north-east, the lamina of each bed declining from
the horizon towards a parallelism with the axis of the earth.
Being struck with this observation, I made, with a quadrant, a
great number of trials on the angles of their declination, and
found them to vary from 22° to 60°; but averaging all my
trials, the result was within one-third of a degree of the elevation
of the pole or latitude of the place, and much the greatest part
of them taken separately were little different from that; by which
it appears, that these lamina are, in the main, parallel with the
axis of the earth. In some instances, indeed, I found them perpendicular,
and even reclining the other way; but these were
extremely rare, and always attended with signs of convulsion,
or other circumstances of singularity, which admitted a possibility
of removal from their original position. These trials were
made between Madison's cave and the Potomac. We hear of
limestone on the Mississippi and Ohio, and in all the mountainous
country between the eastern and western waters, not on the
mountains themselves, but occupying the valleys between them.
Near the eastern foot of the North mountain are immense bodies
of _Schist_; containing impressions of shells in a variety of
forms. I have received petrified shells of very different kinds
from the first sources of Kentucky, which bear no resemblance
to any I have ever seen on the tide-waters. It is said that shells
are found in the Andes, in South America, fifteen thousand feet
above the level of the ocean. This is considered by many, both
of the learned and unlearned, as a proof of an universal deluge.
To the many considerations opposing this opinion, the following
may be added: The atmosphere, and all its contents, whether
of water, air, or other matter, gravitate to the earth; that is to
say, they have weight. Experience tells us, that the weight of
all these together never exceeds that of a column of mercury of
thirty-one inches height, which is equal to one of rain water of
thirty-five feet high. If the whole contents of the atmosphere,
then, were water, instead of what they are, it would cover the
globe but thirty-five feet deep; but as these waters, as they fell,
would run into the seas, the superficial measure of which is to
that of the dry parts of the globe, as two to one, the seas would
be raised only fifty-two and a half feet above their present level,
and of course would overflow the lands to that height only. In
Virginia this would be a very small proportion even of the champaign
country, the banks of our tide-waters being frequently, if
not generally, of a greater height. Deluges beyond this extent,
then, as for instance, to the North mountain or to Kentucky,
seem out of the laws of nature. But within it they may have
taken place to a greater or less degree, in proportion to the combination
of natural causes which may be supposed to have produced
them. History renders probably some instances of a partial
deluge in the country lying round the Mediterranean sea.
It has been often[3] supposed, and it is not unlikely, that that sea
was once a lake. While such, let us admit an extraordinary
collection of the waters of the atmosphere from the other parts
of the globe to have been discharged over that and the countries
whose waters run into it. Or without supposing it a lake, admit
such an extraordinary collection of the waters of the atmosphere,
and an influx from the Atlantic ocean, forced by long-continued
western winds. The lake, or that sea, may thus have
been so raised as to overflow the low lands adjacent to it, as
those of Egypt and Armenia, which, according to a tradition of
the Egyptians and Hebrews, were overflowed about two thousand
three hundred years before the Christian era; those of
Attica, said to have been overflowed in the time of Ogyges,
about five hundred years later; and those of Thessaly, in the
time of Deucalion, still three hundred years posterior. But such
deluges as these will not account for the shells found in the
higher lands. A second opinion has been entertained, which is,
that in times anterior to the records either of history or tradition,
the bed of the ocean, the principal residence of the shelled tribe,
has, by some great convulsion of nature, been heaved to the
heights at which we now find shells and other marine animals.
The favorers of this opinion do well to suppose the great events
on which it rests to have taken place beyond all the eras of history;
for within these, certainly, none such are to be found; and
we may venture to say farther, that no fact has taken place, either
in our own days, or in the thousands of years recorded in history,
which proves the existence of any natural agents, within or
without the bowels of the earth, of force sufficient to heave, to
the height of fifteen thousand feet, such masses as the Andes.
The difference between the power necessary to produce such an
effect, and that which shuffled together the different parts of
Calabria in our days, is so immense, that from the existence of
the latter, we are not authorized to infer that of the former.
M. de Voltaire has suggested a third solution of this difficulty.
(Quest. Encycl. Coquilles.) He cites an instance in Touraine,
where, in the space of eighty years, a particular spot of earth
had been twice metamorphosed into soft stone, which had become
hard when employed in building. In this stone shells of
various kinds were produced, discoverable at first only with a
microscope, but afterwards growing with the stone. From this
fact, I suppose, he would have us infer, that, besides the usual
process for generating shells by the elaboration of earth and
water in animal vessels, nature may have provided an equivalent
operation, by passing the same materials through the pores of
calcareous earths and stones; as we see calcareous drop-stones
generating every day, by the percolation of water through limestone,
and new marble forming in the quarries from which the
old has been taken out. And it might be asked, whether is it
more difficult for nature to shoot the calcareous juice into the
form of a shell, than other juices into the forms of crystals, plants,
animals, according to the construction of the vessels through
which they pass? There is a wonder somewhere. Is it greatest
on this branch of the dilemma; on that which supposes the
existence of a power, of which we have no evidence in any
other case; or on the first, which requires us to believe the creation
of a body of water and its subsequent annihilation? The
establishment of the instance, cited by M. de Voltaire, of the
growth of shells unattached to animal bodies, would have been
that of his theory. But he has not established it. He has not
even left it on ground so respectable as to have rendered it an
object of inquiry to the _literati_ of his own country. Abandoning
this fact, therefore, the three hypotheses are equally unsatisfactory;
and we must be contented to acknowledge, that this
great phenomenon is as yet unsolved. Ignorance is preferable
to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing,
than he who believes what is wrong.
There is great abundance (more especially when you approach
the mountains) of stone, white, blue, brown, &c., fit for the chisel,
good mill-stone, such also as stands the fire, and slate stone. We
are told of flint, fit for gun-flints, on the Meherrin in Brunswick,
on the Mississippi between the mouth of the Ohio and Kaskaskia,
and on others of the western waters. Isinglass or mica is in
several places; loadstone also; and an Asbestos of a ligneous texture,
is sometimes to be met with.
Marle abounds generally. A clay, of which, like the Sturbridge
in England, bricks are made, which will resist long the
violent action of fire, has been found on Tuckahoe creek of
James' river, and no doubt will be found in other places. Chalk
is said to be in Botetourt and Bedford. In the latter county is some
earth believed to be gypseous. Ochres are found in various parts.
In the lime-stone country are many caves, the earthy floors
of which are impregnated with nitre. On Rich creek, a branch
of the Great Kanhaway, about sixty miles below the lead mines,
is a very large one, about twenty yards wide, and entering a hill
a quarter or half a mile. The vault is of rock, from nine to fifteen
or twenty feet above the floor. A Mr. Lynch, who gives
me this account, undertook to extract the nitre. Besides a coat
of the salt which had formed on the vault and floor, he found
the earth highly impregnated to the depth of seven feet in some
places, and generally of three, every bushel yielding on an average
three pounds of nitre. Mr. Lynch having made about ten
hundred pounds of the salt from it, consigned it to some others,
who have since made ten thousand pounds. They have done
this by pursuing the cave into the hill, never trying a second
time the earth they have once exhausted, to see how far or soon
it receives another impregnation. At least fifty of these caves
are worked on the Greenbriar. There are many of them known
on Cumberland river.
The country westward of the Alleghany abounds with springs
of common salt. The most remarkable we have heard of are
at Bullet's-lick, the Big-bones, the Blue-licks, and on the north
fork of Holston. The area of Bullet's-lick is of many acres.
Digging the earth to the depth of three feet the water begins to
boil up, and the deeper you go and the drier the weather, the
stronger is the brine. A thousand gallons of water yield from a
bushel to a bushel and a half of salt, which is about eighty
pounds of water to one pound of salt. So that sea-water is
more than three times as strong as that of these springs. A salt
spring has been lately discovered at the Turkey foot on Yohogany,
by which river it is overflowed, except at very low water.
Its merit is not yet known. Dunning's lick is also as yet untried,
but it is supposed to be the best on this side the Ohio. The salt
springs on the margin of the Onondago lake are said to give a
saline taste to the waters of the lake.
There are several medicinal springs, some of which are indubitably
efficacious, while others seem to owe their reputation
as much to fancy and change of air and regimen, as to their real
virtues. None of them having undergone a chemical analysis
in skilful hands, nor been so far the subject of observations as to
have produced a reduction into classes of the disorders which
they relieve; it is in my power to give little more than an enumeration
of them.
The most efficacious of these are two springs in Augusta near
the first sources of James' river, where it is called Jackson's river.
They rise near the foot of the ridge of mountains generally
called the Warm spring mountains, but in the maps Jackson's
mountains. The one distinguished by the name of the Warm
spring, and the other of the Hot spring. The Warm spring issues
with a very bold stream, sufficient to work a grist mill and
to keep the waters of its basin, which is thirty feet in diameter,
at the vital warmth, viz. 96° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The
matter with which these waters is allied is very volatile; its
smell indicates it to be sulphureous, as also does the circumstance
of its turning silver black. They relieve rheumatisms. Other
complaints also of very different natures have been removed or
lessened by them. It rains here four or five days in every
week.
The _Hot spring_ is about six miles from the Warm, is much
smaller, and has been so hot as to have boiled an egg. Some
believe its degree of heat to be lessened. It raises the mercury
in Fahrenheit's thermometer to 112 degrees, which is fever heat.
It sometimes relieves where the Warm fails. A fountain of common
water, issuing within a few inches of its margin, gives it a
singular appearance. Comparing the temperature of these with
that of the Hot springs of Kamschatka, of which Krachininnikow
gives an account, the difference is very great, the latter raising
the mercury to 200° which is within 12° of boiling water.
These springs are very much resorted to in spite of a total want
of accommodation for the sick. Their waters are strongest in
the hottest months, which occasions their being visited in July and
August principally.
The Sweet springs are in the county of Botetourt, at the eastern
foot of the Alleghany, about forty-two miles from the Warm
springs. They are still less known. Having been found to relieve
cases in which the others had been ineffectually tried, it is
probable their composition is different. They are different also
in their temperature, being as cold as common water; which is
not mentioned, however, as a proof of a distinct impregnation.
This is among the first sources of James' river.
On Potomac river, in Berkley county, above the North mountain,
are medicinal springs, much more frequented than those of
Augusta. Their powers, however, are less, the waters weakly
mineralized, and scarcely warm. They are more visited, because
situated in a fertile, plentiful, and populous country, better provided
with accommodations, always safe from the Indians, and
nearest to the more populous States.
In Louisa county, on the head waters of the South Ann branch
of York river, are springs of some medicinal virtue. They are
not much used however. There is a weak chalybeate at Richmond;
and many others in various parts of the country, which
are of too little worth, or too little note, to be enumerated after
those before mentioned.
We are told of a sulphur spring on Howard's creek of Greenbriar,
and another at Boonsborough on Kentucky.
In the low grounds of the Great Kanhaway, seven miles above
the mouth of Elk river, and sixty-seven above that of the Kanhaway
itself, is a hole in the earth of the capacity of thirty or
forty gallons, from which issues constantly a bituminous vapor,
in so strong a current as to give to the sand about its orifice the
motion which it has in a boiling spring. On presenting a lighted
candle or torch within eighteen inches of the hole it flames
up in a column of eighteen inches in diameter, and four or five
feet height, which sometimes burns out within twenty minutes,
and at other times has been known to continue three days, and
then has been still left burning. The flame is unsteady, of the
density of that of burning spirits, and smells like burning pit
coal. Water sometimes collects in the basin, which is remarkably
cold, and is kept in ebullition by the vapor issuing through
it. If the vapor be fired in that state, the water soon becomes
so warm that the hand cannot bear it, and evaporates wholly in
a short time. This, with the circumjacent lands, is the property
of His Excellency General Washington and of General Lewis.
There is a similar one on Sandy river, the flame of which is
a column of about twelve inches diameter, and three feet high.
General Clarke, who informs me of it, kindled the vapor, staid
about an hour, and left it burning.
The mention of uncommon springs leads me to that of Syphon
fountains. There is one of these near the intersection of
the Lord Fairfax's boundary with the North mountain, not far
from Brock's gap, on the stream of which is a grist mill, which
grinds two bushel of grain at every flood of the spring; another
near Cow-pasture river, a mile and a half below its confluence
with the Bull-pasture river, and sixteen or seventeen miles from
Hot springs, which intermits once in every twelve hours; one
also near the mouth of the north Holston.
After these may be mentioned the _Natural Well_, on the lands
of a Mr. Lewis in Frederick county. It is somewhat larger than
a common well; the water rises in it as near the surface of the
earth as in the neighboring artificial wells, and is of a depth as
yet unknown. It is said there is a current in it tending sensibly
downwards. If this be true, it probably feeds some fountain,
of which it is the natural reservoir, distinguished from others,
like that of Madison's cave, by being accessible. It is used
with a bucket and windlass as an ordinary well.
A complete catalogue of the trees, plants, fruits, &c., is probably
not desired. I will sketch out those which would principally
attract notice, as being first, Medicinal; second, Esculent;
third, Ornamental; or four, useful for fabrication; adding the
Linnæan to the popular names, as the latter might not convey
precise information to a foreigner. I shall confine myself too to
native plants.
1. Senna. Cassia ligustrina.
Arsmart. Polygonum Sagittatum.
Clivers, or goose-grass. Galium spurium.
Lobelia of several species.
Palma Christi. Ricinus.
(3,) Jamestown weed. Datura Stramonium.
Mallow. Malva rotundafolia.
Syrian mallow. Hibiscus moschentos.
Hibiscus Virginicus.
Indian mallow. Sida rhombifolia.
Sida abutilon.
Virginia marshmallow. Napæa hermaphrodita.
Napæa dioica.
Indian physic. Spirea trifoliata.
Euphorbia Ipecacuanhæ.
Pleurisy root. Asclepias decumbens.
Virginia snake-root. Aristolochia serpentaria.
Black snake-root. Actæa racemosa.
Seneca rattlesnake-root. Polygala Senega.
Valerian. Valeriana locusta radiata.
Gentiana, Saponaria, Villosa & Centaurium.
Ginseng. Panax quinquefolius.
Angelica. Angelica sylvestris.
Cassava. Jatropha urens.
2. Tuckahoe. Lycoperdon tuber.
Jerusalem artichoke. Helianthus tuberosus.
Long potatoes. Convolvulus batatas.
Granadillas. Maycocks, Maracocks, Passiflora incarnata.
Panic. Panicum of many species.
Indian millet. Holcus laxus.
Indian millet. Holcus striosus.
Wild oat. Zizania aquatica.
Wild pea. Dolichos of Clayton.
Lupine. Lupinus perennis.
Wild hop. Humulus lupulus.
Wild cherry. Prunus Virginiana.
Cherokee plum. Prunus sylvestris fructu majori. Clayton.}
Wild plum. Prunus sylvestris fructu minori. Clayton. }
Wild crab apple. Pyrus coronaria.
Red mulberry. Morus rubra.
Persimmon. Diospiros Virginiana.
Sugar maple. Acer saccarinum.
Scaly bark hiccory. Juglans alba cortice squamoso. Clayton.
Common hiccory. Juglans alba, fructu minore rancido. Clayton.
Paccan, or Illinois nut. Not described by Linnæus, Millar, or Clayton.
Were I to venture to describe this, speaking of the fruit from memory,
and of the leaf from plants of two years' growth, I should specify it as
Juglans alba, foliolis lanceolatis, acuminatis, serratis, tomentosis, fructu
minore, ovato, compresso, vix insculpto, dulci, putamine tenerrimo. It
grows on the Illinois, Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi. It is spoken of
by Don Ulloa under the name of Pacanos, in his Noticias Americanas.
Entret. 6.
Black walnut. Juglans nigra.
White walnut. Juglans alba.
Chesnut. Fagus castanea.
Chinquapin. Fagus pumila.
Hazlenut. Corylus avellana.
Grapes. Vitis. Various kinds; though only three described by Clayton.
Scarlet strawberries. Fragaria Virginiana of Millar.
Whortleberries. Vaccinium uliginosum.
Wild gooseberries. Ribes grossularia.
Cranberries. Vaccinium oxycoccos.
Black raspberries. Rubus occidentalis.
Blackberries. Rubus fruticosus.
Dewberries. Rubus cæsius.
Cloudberries. Rubus Chamæmorus.
3. Plane tree. Platanus occidentalis.
Poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera.
Populus heterophylla.
Black poplar. Populus nigra.
Aspen. Populus tremula.
Linden, or lime. Telia Americana.
Red flowering maple. Acer rubrum.
Horse-chesnut, or buck's-eye. Æsculus pavia.
Catalpa. Bignonia catalpa.
Umbrella. Magnolia tripetala.
Swamp laurel. Magnolia glauca.
Cucumber-tree. Magnolia acuminata.
Portugal bay. Laurus indica.
Red bay. Laurus borbonia.
Dwarf-rose bay. Rhododendron maximum.
Laurel of the western country. Qu. species?
Wild pimento. Laurus benzoin.
Sassafras. Laurus sassafras.
Locust. Robinia pseudo-acacia.
Honey-locust. Gleditsia. 1. _b_
Dogwood. Cornus florida.
Fringe, or snow-drop tree. Chionanthus Virginica.
Barberry. Barberis vulgaris.
Redbud, or Judas-tree. Cercis Canadensis.
Holly. Ilex aquifolium.
Cockspur hawthorn. Cratægus coccinea.
Spindle-tree. Euonymus Europæus.
Evergreen spindle-tree. Euonymus Americanus.
Itea Virginica.
Elder. Sambucus nigra.
Papaw. Annona triloba.
Candleberry myrtle. Myrica cerifera.
Dwarf laurel. Kalmia angustifolia} called ivy with us.
Kalmia latifolia }
Ivy. Hedera quinquefolia.
Trumpet honeysuckle. Lonicera sempervirens.
Upright honeysuckle. Azalea nudiflora.
Yellow jasmine. Bignonia sempervirens.
Calycanthus floridus.
American aloe. Agave Virginica.
Sumach. Rhus. Qu. species?
Poke. Phytolacca decandra.
Long moss. Tillandsia Usneoides.
4. Reed. Arundo phragmitis.
Virginia hemp. Acnida cannabina.
Flax. Linum Virginianum.
Black, or pitch-pine. Pinus tæda.
White pine. Pinus strobus.
Yellow pine. Pinus Virginica.
Spruce pine. Pinus foliis singularibus. Clayton.
Hemlock spruce Fir. Pinus Canadensis.
Arbor vitæ. Thuya occidentalis.
Juniper. Juniperus Virginica (called cedar with us.)
Cypress. Cupressus disticha.
White cedar. Cupressus Thyoides.
Black oak. Quercus nigra.
White oak. Quercus alba.
Red oak. Quercus rubra.
Willow oak. Quercus phellos.
Chesnut oak. Quercus prinus.
Black jack oak. Quercus aquatica. Clayton.
Ground oak. Quercus pumila. Clayton.
Live oak. Quercus Virginiana. Millar.
Black birch. Betula nigra.
White birch. Betula alba.
Beach. Fagus sylvatica.
Ash. Fraxinus Americana.
Fraxinus Novæ Angliæ. Millar.
Elm. Ulmus Americana.
Willow. Salix. Qu. species?
Sweet gum. Liquidambar styraciflua.
The following were found in Virginia when first visited by
the English; but it is not said whether of spontaneous growth,
or by cultivation only. Most probably they were natives of
more southern climates, and handed along the continent from
one nation to another of the savages.
Tobacco. Nicotiana.
Maize. Zea mays.
Round potatoes. Solanum tuberosum.
Pumpkins. Cucurbita pepo.
Cymlings. Cucurbita verrucosa.
Squashes. Cucurbita melopepo.
There is an infinitude of other plants and flowers, for an
enumeration and scientific description of which I must refer to
the Flora Virginica of our great botanist, Dr. Clayton, published
by Gronovius at Leyden, in 1762. This accurate observer was
a native and resident of this State, passed a long life in exploring
and describing its plants, and is supposed to have enlarged
the botanical catalogue as much as almost any man who has
lived.
Besides these plants, which are native, our _farms_ produce
wheat, rye, barley, oats, buck-wheat, broom corn, and Indian
corn. The climate suits rice well enough, wherever the lands
do. Tobacco, hemp, flax, and cotton, are staple commodities.
Indigo yields two cuttings. The silk-worm is a native, and the
mulberry, proper for its food, grows kindly.
We cultivate, also, potatoes, both the long and the round, turnips,
carrots, parsnips, pumkins, and ground nuts (Arachis.)
Our grasses are lucerne, st. foin, burnet, timothy, ray, and
orchard grass; red, white, and yellow clover; greensward, blue
grass, and crab grass.
The _gardens_ yield musk-melons, water-melons, tomatoes,
okra, pomegranates, figs, and the esculant plants of Europe.
The _orchards_ produce apples, pears, cherries, quinces, peaches,
nectarines, apricots, almonds, and plums.
Our quadrupeds have been mostly described by Linnæus and
Mons. de Buffon. Of these the mammoth, or big buffalo, as
called by the Indians, must certainly have been the largest.
Their tradition is, that he was carnivorous, and still exists in the
northern parts of America. A delegation of warriors from the
Delaware tribe having visited the Governor of Virginia, during
the revolution, on matters of business, after these had been discussed
and settled in council, the Governor asked them some
questions relative to their country, and among others, what they
knew or had heard of the animal whose bones were found at the
Saltlicks on the Ohio. Their chief speaker immediately put
himself into an attitude of oratory, and with a pomp suited to
what he conceived the elevation of his subject, informed him
that it was a tradition handed down from their fathers, "That
in ancient times a herd of these tremendous animals came to the
Big-bone licks, and began an universal destruction of the bear,
deer, elks, buffaloes, and other animals which had been created
for the use of the Indians; that the Great Man above, looking
down and seeing this, was so enraged that he seized his lightning,
descended on the earth, seated himself on a neighboring
mountain, on a rock of which his seat and the print of his feet
are still to be seen, and hurled his bolts among them till the
whole were slaughtered, except the big bull, who presenting his
forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they fell; but missing
one at length, it wounded him in the side; whereon, springing
round, he bounded over the Ohio, over the Wabash, the Illinois,
and finally over the great lakes, where he is living at this day."
It is well known, that on the Ohio, and in many parts of America
further north, tusks, grinders, and skeletons of unparalleled magnitude,
are found in great numbers, some lying on the surface of
the earth, and some a little below it. A Mr. Stanley, taken
prisoner near the mouth of the Tennessee, relates, that after being
transferred through several tribes, from one to another, he was
at length carried over the mountains west of the Missouri to a
river which runs westwardly; that these bones abounded there,
and that the natives described to him the animal to which they
belonged as still existing in the northern parts of their country;
from which description he judged it to be an elephant. Bones
of the same kind have been lately found, some feet below the
surface of the earth, in salines opened on the North Holston, a
branch of the Tennessee, about the latitude of 36½° north. From
the accounts published in Europe, I suppose it to be decided
that these are of the same kind with those found in Siberia.
Instances are mentioned of like animal remains found in the
more southern climates of both hemispheres; but they are either
so loosely mentioned as to leave a doubt of the fact, so inaccurately
described as not to authorize the classing them with the
great northern bones, or so rare as to found a suspicion that they
have been carried thither as curiosities from the northern regions.
So that, on the whole, there seem to be no certain vestiges of
the existence of this animal farther south than the salines just
mentioned. It is remarkable that the tusks and skeletons have
been ascribed by the naturalists of Europe to the elephant, while
the grinders have been given to the hippopotamus, or river horse.
Yet it is acknowledged, that the tusks and skeletons are much
larger than those of the elephant, and the grinders many times
greater than those of the hippopotamus, and essentially different
in form. Wherever these grinders are found, there also we find
the tusks and skeleton; but no skeleton of the hippopotamus nor
grinders of the elephant. It will not be said that the hippopotamus
and elephant came always to the same spot, the former to
deposit his grinders, and the latter his tusks and skeleton. For
what became of the parts not deposited there? We must agree
then, that these remains belong to each other, that they are of
one and the same animal, that this was not a hippopotamus, because
the hippopotamus had no tusks, nor such a frame, and because
the grinders differ in their size as well as in the number
and form of their points. That this was not an elephant, I think
ascertained by proofs equally decisive. I will not avail myself
of the authority of the celebrated[4] anatomist, who, from an examination
of the form and structure of the tusks, has declared
they were essentially different from those of the elephant; because
another[5] anatomist, equally celebrated, has declared, on a
like examination, that they are precisely the same. Between
two such authorities I will suppose this circumstance equivocal.
But, 1. The skeleton of the mammoth (for so the incognitum
has been called) bespeaks an animal of five or six times the cubic
volume of the elephant, as Mons. de Buffon has admitted. 2.
The grinders are five times as large, are square, and the grinding
surface studded with four or five rows of blunt points; whereas those
of the elephant are broad and thin, and their grinding surface flat.
3. I have never heard an instance, and suppose there has been
none, of the grinder of an elephant being found in America. 4.
From the known temperature and constitution of the elephant,
he could never have existed in those regions where the remains
of the mammoth have been found. The elephant is a native
only of the torrid zone and its vicinities; if, with the assistance
of warm apartments and warm clothing, he has been preserved
in the temperate climates of Europe, it has only been for a
small portion of what would have been his natural period, and
no instance of his multiplication in them has ever been known.
But no bones of the mammoth, as I have before observed, have
been ever found further south than the salines of Holston, and
they have been found as far north as the Arctic circle. Those,
therefore, who are of opinion that the elephant and mammoth
are the same, must believe, 1. That the elephant known to us
can exist and multiply in the frozen zone; or, 2. That an eternal
fire may once have warmed those regions, and since abandoned
them, of which, however, the globe exhibits no unequivocal indications;
or, 3. That the obliquity of the ecliptic, when these
elephants lived, was so great as to include within the tropics all
those regions in which the bones are found; the tropics being,
as is before observed, the natural limits of habitation for the elephant.
But if it be admitted that this obliquity has really decreased,
and we adopt the highest rate of decrease yet pretended,
that is, of one minute in a century, to transfer the northern tropic
to the Arctic circle, would carry the existence of these supposed
elephants two hundred and fifty thousand years back; a period
far beyond our conception of the duration of animal bones less
exposed to the open air than these are in many instances. Besides,
though these regions would then be supposed within the
tropics, yet their winters would have been too severe for the
sensibility of the elephant. They would have had, too, but one
day and one night in the year, a circumstance to which we have
no reason to suppose the nature of the elephant fitted. However,
it has been demonstrated, that, if a variation of obliquity
in the ecliptic takes place at all, it is vibratory, and never exceeds
the limits of nine degrees, which is not sufficient to bring
these bones within the tropics. One of these hypotheses, or
some other equally voluntary and inadmissible to cautious philosophy,
must be adopted to support the opinion that these are the
bones of the elephant. For my own part, I find it easier to believe
that an animal may have existed, resembling the elephant
in his tusks, and general anatomy, while his nature was in other
respects extremely different. From the 30th degree of south
latitude to the 30th degree of north, are nearly the limits which
nature has fixed for the existence and multiplication of the elephant
known to us. Proceeding thence northwardly to 36½ degrees,
we enter those assigned to the mammoth. The farther
we advance north, the more their vestiges multiply as far as the
earth has been explored in that direction; and it is as probable
as otherwise, that this progression continues to the pole itself, if
land extends so far. The centre of the frozen zone, then, may
be the acme of their vigor, as that of the torrid is of the elephant.
Thus nature seems to have drawn a belt of separation
between these two tremendous animals, whose breadth, indeed,
is not precisely known, though at present we may suppose it
about 6½ degrees of latitude; to have assigned to the elephant
the regions south of these confines, and those north to the
mammoth, founding the constitution of the one in her extreme
of heat, and that of the other in the extreme of cold.
When the Creator has therefore separated their nature as far as
the extent of the scale of animal life allowed to this planet would
permit, it seems perverse to declare it the same, from a partial
resemblance of their tusks and bones. But to whatever animal
we ascribe these remains, it is certain such a one has existed in
America, and that it has been the largest of all terrestrial beings.
It should have sufficed to have rescued the earth it inhabited,
and the atmosphere it breathed, from the imputation of impotence
in the conception and nourishment of animal life on a large
scale; to have stifled, in its birth, the opinion of a writer, the
most learned, too, of all others in the science of animal history,
that in the new world, "La nature vivante est beaucoup moins
agissante, beaucoup moins forte:"[6] that nature is less active, less
energetic on one side of the globe than she is on the other. As
if both sides were not warmed by the same genial sun; as if a
soil of the same chemical composition was less capable of elaboration
into animal nutriment; as if the fruits and grains from
that soil and sun yielded a less rich chyle, gave less extension
to the solids and fluids of the body, or produced sooner in the
cartilages, membranes, and fibres, that rigidity which restrains all
further extension, and terminates animal growth. The truth is,
that a pigmy and a Patagonian, a mouse and a mammoth, derive
their dimensions from the same nutritive juices. The difference
of increment depends on circumstances unsearchable to beings
with our capacities. Every race of animals seems to have received
from their Maker certain laws of extension at the time of
their formation. Their elaborate organs were formed to produce
this, while proper obstacles were opposed to its further progress.
Below these limits they cannot fall, nor rise above them. What
intermediate station they shall take may depend on soil, on
climate, on food, on a careful choice of breeders. But all the
manna of heaven would never raise the mouse to the bulk of
the mammoth.
The opinion advanced by the Count de Buffon,[7] is 1. That
the animals common both to the old and new world are smaller
in the latter. 2. That those peculiar to the new are on a smaller
scale. 3. That those which have been domesticated in both
have degenerated in America; and 4. That on the whole it exhibits
fewer species. And the reason he thinks is, that the heats
of America are less; that more waters are spread over its surface
by nature, and fewer of these drained off by the hand of man.
In other words, that _heat_ is friendly, and _moisture_ adverse to the
production and development of large quadrupeds. I will not
meet this hypothesis on its first doubtful ground, whether the
climate of America be comparatively more humid? Because
we are not furnished with observations sufficient to decide this
question. And though, till it be decided, we are as free to deny
as others are to affirm the fact, yet for a moment let it be supposed.
The hypothesis, after this supposition, proceeds to another;
that _moisture_ is unfriendly to animal growth. The truth of
this is inscrutable to us by reasonings _à priori_. Nature has
hidden from us her _modus agendi_. Our only appeal on such
questions is to experience; and I think that experience is against
the supposition. It is by the assistance of _heat_ and _moisture_
that vegetables are elaborated from the elements of earth, air,
water, and fire. We accordingly see the more humid climates
produce the greater quantity of vegetables. Vegetables are mediately
or immediately the food of every animal; and in proportion
to the quantity of food, we see animals not only multiplied
in their numbers, but improved in their bulk, as far as the
laws of their nature will admit. Of this opinion is the Count
de Buffon himself in another part of his work;[8] "en general il
paroit ques les pays un peu _froids_ conviennent mieux á nos
boeufs que les pays chauds, et qu'ils sont d'autant plus gross et
plus grands que le climat est plus _humide_ et plus abondans en
paturages. Les boeufs de Danemarck, de la Podolie, de l'Ulkraine
et de la Tartarie qu habitent les Calmouques sont les plus
grands de tous." Here then a race of animals, and one of the
largest too, has been increased in its dimensions by _cold_ and
_moisture_, in direct opposition to the hypothesis, which supposes
that these two circumstances diminish animal bulk, and that it is
their contraries _heat_ and _dryness_ which enlarge it. But when
we appeal to experience we are not to rest satisfied with a single
fact. Let us, therefore, try our question on more general
ground. Let us take two portions of the earth, Europe and
America for instance, sufficiently extensive to give operation to
general causes; let us consider the circumstances peculiar to
each, and observe their effect on animal nature. America, running
through the torrid as well as temperate zone, has more _heat_
collectively taken, than Europe. But Europe, according to our
hypothesis, is the _dryest_. They are equally adapted then to
animal productions; each being endowed with one of those
causes which befriend animal growth, and with one which opposes
it. If it be thought unequal to compare Europe with
America, which is so much larger, I answer, not more so than to
compare America with the whole world. Besides, the purpose
of the comparison is to try an hypothesis, which makes the size
of animals depend on the _heat_ and _moisture_ of climate. If,
therefore, we take a region so extensive as to comprehend a sensible
distinction of climate, and so extensive too as that local accidents,
or the intercourse of animals on its borders, may not
materially affect the size of those in its interior parts, we shall
comply with those conditions which the hypothesis may reasonably
demand. The objection would be the weaker in the present
case, because any intercourse of animals which may take place
on the confines of Europe and Asia, is to the advantage of the
former, Asia producing certainly larger animals than Europe.
Let us then take a comparative view of the quadrupeds of Europe
and America, presenting them to the eye in three different
tables, in one of which shall be enumerated those found in both
countries; in a second, those found in one only; in a third,
those which have been domesticated in both. To facilitate the
comparison, let those of each table be arranged in gradation according
to their sizes, from the greatest to the smallest, so far as
their sizes can be conjectured. The weights of the large animals
shall be expressed in the English avoirdupois and its decimals;
those of the smaller, in the same ounce and its decimals.
Those which are marked thus *, are actual weights of particular
subjects, deemed among the largest of their species. Those
marked thus †, are furnished by judicious persons, well acquainted
with the species, and saying, from conjecture only, what the
largest individual they had seen would probably have weighed.
The other weights are taken from Messrs. Buffon and D'Aubenton,
and are of such subjects as came casually to their hands for
dissection. This circumstance must be remembered where their
weights and mine stand opposed; the latter being stated not to
produce a conclusion in favor of the American species, but to
justify a suspension of opinion until we are better informed, and
a suspicion, in the meantime, that there is no uniform difference
in favor of either; which is all I pretend.
_A comparative view of the Quadrupeds of Europe and of
America._
I. ABORIGINALS OF BOTH.
Europe. America.
lb. lb.
Mammoth
Buffalo. Bison *1800
White Bear. Ours blanc
Carribou. Renne
Bear. Ours 153.7 *410
Elk. Elan. Original palmated
Red deer. Cerf 288.8 *273
Fallow Deer. Daim 167.8
Wolf. Loup 69.8
Roe. Chevreuil 56.7
Glutton. Glouton. Carcajou
Wild cat. Chat sauvage †30
Lynx. Loup cervier 25.
Beaver. Castor 18.5 *45
Badger. Blaireau 13.6
Red fox. Renard 13.5
Gray fox. Isatis
Otter. Loutre 8.9 †12
Monax. Marmotte 6.5
Vison. Fouine 2.8
Hedgehog. Herisson 2.2
Marten. Marte 1.9 †6
oz.
Water rat. Rat d'eau 7.5
Weasel. Belette 2.2 oz.
Flying squirrel. Polatouche 2.2 †4
Shrew mouse. Musaraigne 1.
II. ABORIGINALS OF ONE ONLY.
EUROPE.
lb.
Sanglier. Wild boar 280.
Mouflon. Wild sheep 56.
Bouquetin. Wild goat
Lievre. Hare 7.6
Lapin. Rabbit 3.4
Putois. Polecat 3.3
Genette 3.1
Desman. Muskrat oz.
Ecureuil. Squirrel 12.
Hermine. Ermin 8.2
Rat. Rat 7.5
Loirs 3.1
Lerot. Dormouse 1.8
Taupe. Mole 1.2
Hampster .6
Zisel
Leming
Souris. Mouse .6
AMERICA
lb.
Tapir 534.
Elk, round horned †450.
Puma
Jaguar 218.
Cabiai 109.
Tamanoir 109.
Tammandua 65.4
Cougar of North-America 75.
Cougar of South-America 59.4
Ocelot
Pecari 46.3
Jaguaret 43.6
Alco
Lama
Paco
Paca 32.7
Serval
Sloth. Unau 27.25
Saricovienne
Kincajou
Tatou Kabassou 21.8
Urson. Urchin
Raccoon. Raton 16.5
Coati
Coendou 16.3
Sloth. Aï 13.
Sapajou Ouarini
Sapajou Coaita 9.8
Tatou Encubert
Tatou Apar
Tatou Cachiea 7.
Little Coendou 6.5
Opossum. Sarigu
Tapeti
Margay
Crabier
Agouti 4.2
Sapajou Saï 3.5
Tatou Cirquinçon
Tatou Tatouate 3.3
Mouffette Squash
Mouffette Chinche
Mouffette Conepate
Scunk
Mouffette. Zorilla
Whabus. Hare. Rabbit
Aperea
Akouchi
Ondatra. Muskrat
Pilori
Great gray squirrel †2.7
Fox squirrel of Virginia †2.625
Surikate 2.
Mink †2.
Sapajou. Sajou 1.8
Indian pig. Cochon d'Inde 1.6
Sapajou Saïmiri 1.5
Phalanger
Coqualain
Lesser gray squirrel †1.5
Black squirrel †1.5
oz.
Red squirrel 10.
Sagoin Saki
Sagoin Pinche
Sagoin Tamarin
Sagoin Ouistiti 4.4
Sagoin Marakine
Sagoin Mico
Cayopollin
Fourmillier
Marmose
Sarigue of Cayenne
Tucan
Red mole
Ground squirrel 4.
III. DOMESTICATED IN BOTH.
Europe. America.
lb. lb.
Cow 765. *2500
Horse *1366
Ass
Hog *1200
Sheep *125
Goat *80
Dog 67.6
Cat 7.
I have not inserted in the first table the Phoca,[9] nor leather-winged
bat, because the one living half the year in the water,
and the other being a winged animal, the individuals of each
species may visit both continents.
Of the animals in the first table, Monsieur de Buffon himself
informs us, [XXVII. 130, XXX. 213,] that the beaver, the
otter, and shrew mouse, though of the same species, are larger
in America than in Europe. This should therefore have corrected
the generality of his expressions, XVIII. 145, and elsewhere,
that the animals common to the two countries, are considerably
less in America than in Europe, "et cela sans aucune
exception." He tells us too, [Quadrup. VIII. 334, edit. Paris,
1777,] that on examining a bear from America, he remarked no
difference, "dans _la forme_ de cet ours d'Amerique comparé a
celui d'Europe," but adds from Bartram's journal, that an American
bear weighed four hundred pounds, English, equal to three
hundred and sixty-seven pounds French; whereas we find the European
bear examined by Mons. D'Aubenton, [XVII. 82,] weighed
but one hundred and forty-one pounds French. That the palmated
elk is larger in America than in Europe, we are informed
by Kalm,[10] a naturalist, who visited the former by public appointment,
for the express purpose of examining the subjects of natural
history. In this fact Pennant concurs with him. [Barrington's
Miscellanies.] The same Kalm tells us[11] that the black moose, or
renne of America, is as high as a tall horse; and Catesby,[12] that it is
about the bigness of a middle-sized ox. The same account of
their size has been given me by many who have seen them.
But Monsieur D'Aubenton says[13] that the renne of Europe is
about the size of a red deer. The weasel is larger in America
than in Europe, as may be seen by comparing its dimensions as
reported by Monsieur D'Aubenton[14] and Kalm. The latter tells
us,[15] that the lynx, badger, red fox, and flying squirrel, are the
_same_ in America as in Europe; by which expression I understand,
they are the same in all material circumstances, in size as
well as others; for if they were smaller, they would differ from
the European. Our gray fox is, by Catesby's account,[16] little
different in size and shape from the European fox. I presume
he means the red fox of Europe, as does Kalm, where he says,[17]
that in size "they do not quite come up to our foxes." For
proceeding next to the red fox of America, he says, "they are
entirely the same with the European sort;" which shows he had
in view one European sort only, which was the red. So that
the result of their testimony is, that the American gray fox is
somewhat less than the European red; which is equally true of
the gray fox of Europe, as may be seen by comparing the measures
of the Count de Buffon and Monsieur D'Aubenton.[18] The
white bear of America is as large as that of Europe. The bones
of the mammoth which has been found in America, are as large
as those found in the old world. It may be asked, why I insert
the mammoth, as if it still existed? I ask in return, why I should
omit it, as if it did not exist? Such is the economy of nature,
that no instance can be produced, of her having permitted any
one race of her animals to become extinct; of her having formed
any link in her great work so weak as to be broken. To add
to this, the traditionary testimony of the Indians, that this animal
still exists in the northern and western parts of America, would
be adding the light of a taper to that of the meridian sun. Those
parts still remain in their aboriginal state, unexplored and undisturbed
by us, or by others for us. He may as well exist there
now, as he did formerly where we find his bones. If he be a
carnivorous animal, as some anatomists have conjectured, and
the Indians affirm, his early retirement may be accounted for
from the general destruction of the wild game by the Indians,
which commences in the first instant of their connection with
us, for the purpose of purchasing match-coats, hatchets, and firelocks,
with their skins. There remain then the buffalo, red
deer, fallow deer, wolf, roe, glutton, wild cat, monax, bison,
hedgehog, marten, and water-rat, of the comparative sizes of
which we have not sufficient testimony. It does not appear
that Messieurs de Buffon and D'Aubenton have measured, weighed,
or seen those of America. It is said of some of them, by some
travellers, that they are smaller than the European. But who
were these travellers? Have they not been men of a very different
description from those who have laid open to us the other
three quarters of the world? Was natural history the object of
their travels? Did they measure or weigh the animals they
speak of? or did they not judge of them by sight, or perhaps
even from report only? Were they acquainted with the animals
of their own country, with which they undertake to compare
them? Have they not been so ignorant as often to mistake the
species? A true answer to these questions would probably lighten
their authority, so as to render it insufficient for the foundation
of an hypothesis. How unripe we yet are, for an accurate comparison
of the animals of the two countries, will appear from the
work of Monsieur de Buffon. The ideas we should have formed
of the sizes of some animals, from the information he had received
at his first publications concerning them, are very different
from what his subsequent communications give us. And indeed
his candor in this can never be too much praised. One sentence
of his book must do him immortal honor. "J'aime autant une
personne qui me releve d'une erreur, qu'une autre qui m'apprend
une verité, parce qu'en effet une erreur corrigée est une verité."[19]
He seems to have thought the cabiai he first examined wanted
little of its full growth. "Il n'etoit pas encore tout-a-fait
adulte."[20] Yet he weighed but forty-six and a half pounds, and
he found afterwards,[21] that these animals, when full grown, weigh
one hundred pounds. He had supposed, from the examination
of a jaguar,[22] said to be two years old, which weighed but sixteen
pounds twelve ounces, that when he should have acquired
his full growth, he would not be larger than a middle-sized dog.
But a subsequent account[23] raises his weight to two hundred
pounds. Further information will, doubtless, produce further
corrections. The wonder is, not that there is yet something in
this great work to correct, but that there is so little. The result
of this view then is, that of twenty-six quadrupeds common to
both countries, seven are said to be larger in America, seven of
equal size, and twelve not sufficiently examined. So that the
first table impeaches the first member of the assertion, that of
the animals common to both countries, the American are smallest,
"et cela sans aucune exception." It shows it is not just, in all the
latitude in which its author has advanced it, and probably not to
such a degree as to found a distinction between the two countries.
Proceeding to the second table, which arranges the animals
found in one of the two countries only, Monsieur de Buffon observes,
that the tapir, the elephant of America, is but of the size
of a small cow. To preserve our comparison, I will add, that
the wild boar, the elephant of Europe, is little more than half
that size. I have made an elk with round or cylindrical horns
an animal of America, and peculiar to it; because I have seen
many of them myself, and more of their horns; and because I
can say, from the best information, that, in Virginia, this kind
of elk has abounded much, and still exists in smaller numbers;
and I could never learn that the palmated kind had been seen
here at all. I suppose this confined to the more northern latitudes.[24]
I have made our hare or rabbit peculiar, believing it
to be different from both the European animals of those denominations,
and calling it therefore by its Algonquin name,
Whabus, to keep it distinct from these. Kalm is of the same
opinion.[25] I have enumerated the squirrels according to our own
knowledge, derived from daily sight of them, because I am not
able to reconcile with that the European appellations and descriptions.
I have heard of other species, but they have never
come within my own notice. These, I think, are the only instances
in which I have departed from the authority of Monsieur
de Buffon in the construction of this table. I take him for my
ground work, because I think him the best informed of any
naturalist who has ever written. The result is, that there are
eighteen quadrupeds peculiar to Europe; more than four times
as many, to wit, seventy four, peculiar to America; that the[26]
first of these seventy-four weighs more than the whole column
of Europeans; and consequently this second table disproves the
second member of the assertion, that the animals peculiar to the
new world are on a smaller scale, so far as that assertion relied
on European animals for support; and it is in full opposition to
the theory which makes the animal volume to depend on the
circumstances of _heat_ and _moisture_.
The third table comprehends those quadrupeds only which
are domestic in both countries. That some of these, in some
parts of America, have become less than their original stock, is
doubtless true; and the reason is very obvious. In a thinly-peopled
country, the spontaneous productions of the forests, and
waste fields, are sufficient to support indifferently the domestic
animals of the farmer, with a very little aid from him, in the severest
and scarcest season. He therefore finds it more convenient
to receive them from the hand of nature in that indifferent
state, than to keep up their size by a care and nourishment
which would cost him much labor. If, on this low fare, these
animals dwindle, it is no more than they do in those parts of
Europe where the poverty of the soil, or the poverty of the owner,
reduces them to the same scanty subsistence. It is the uniform
effect of one and the same cause, whether acting on this or that
side of the globe. It would be erring, therefore, against this rule
of philosophy, which teaches us to ascribe like effects to like
causes, should we impute this diminution of size in America to
any imbecility or want of uniformity in the operations of nature.
It may be affirmed with truth, that, in those countries, and with
those individuals in America, where necessity or curiosity has
produced equal attention, as in Europe, to the nourishment of
animals, the horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, of the one continent
are as large as those of the other. There are particular instances,
well attested, where individuals of this country have imported
good breeders from England, and have improved their size by
care in the course of some years. To make a fair comparison
between the two countries, it will not answer to bring together
animals of what might be deemed the middle or ordinary size of
then species; because an error in judging of that middle or ordinary
size, would vary the result of the comparison. Thus Mons.
D'Aubenton[27] considers a horse of 4 feet five inches high and
400 lb. weight French, equal to 4 feet 8.6 inches and 436 lb.
English, as a middle-sized horse. Such a one is deemed a small
horse in America. The extremes must therefore be resorted to.
The same anatomist[28] dissected a horse of 5 feet 9 inches height,
French measure, equal to 6 feet 1.7 English. This is near 6
inches higher than any horse I have seen; and could it be supposed
that I had seen the largest horses in America, the conclusion
would be, that ours have diminished, or that we have bred
from a smaller stock. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, where
the climate is favorable to the production of grass, bullocks have
been slaughtered which weighed 2,500, 2,200, and 2,100 lbs.
nett; and those of 1,800 lbs. have been frequent. I have seen
a hog[29] weigh 1,050 lbs. after the blood, bowels, and hair had
been taken from him. Before he was killed, an attempt was
made to weigh him with a pair of steel yards, graduated to
1,200 lbs., but he weighed more. Yet this hog was probably
not within fifty generations of the European stock. I am well informed
of another which weighed 1,100 lbs. gross. Asses have been
still more neglected than any other domestic animal in America.
They are neither fed or housed in the most rigorous season of
the year. Yet they are larger than those measured by Mons.
D'Aubenton,[30] of 3 feet 7¼ inches, 3 feet 4 inches, and 3 feet
2½ inches, the latter weighing only 215.8 lbs. These sizes, I
suppose, have been produced by the same negligence in Europe,
which has produced a like diminution here. Where care
has been taken of them on that side of the water, they have
been raised to a size bordering on that of the horse; not by the
_heat_ and _dryness_ of the climate, but by good food and shelter.
Goats have been also much neglected in America. Yet they are
very prolific here, bearing twice or three times a year, and from
one to five kids at a birth. Mons. de Buffon has been sensible
of a difference in this circumstance in favor of America.[31] But
what are their greatest weights, I cannot say. A large sheep
here weighs 100 lbs. I observe Mons. D'Aubenton calls a ram
of 62 lbs. one of the middle size.[32] But to say what are the extremes
of growth in these and the other domestic animals of
America, would require information of which no one individual
is possessed. The weights actually known and stated in the
third table preceding will suffice to show, that we may conclude
on probable grounds, that, with equal food and care, the climate
of America will preserve the races of domestic animals as large
as the European stock from which they are derived; and, consequently,
that the third member of Mons. de Buffon's assertion
that the domestic animals are subject to degeneration from the
climate of America, is as probably wrong as the first and second
were certainly so.
That the last part of it is erroneous, which affirms that the
species of American quadrupeds are comparatively few, is evident
from the tables taken together. By these it appears that there
are an hundred species aboriginal in America. Mons. de Buffon
supposes about double that number existing on the whole earth.[33]
Of these Europe, Asia, and Africa, furnish suppose one hundred
and twenty-six; that is, the twenty-six common to Europe and
America, and about one hundred which are not in America at
all. The American species, then, are to those of the rest of the
earth, as one hundred to one hundred and twenty-six, or four to
five. But the residue of the earth being double the extent of
America, the exact proportion would have been but as four to eight.
Hitherto I have considered this hypothesis as applied to brute
animals only, and not in its extension to the man of America,
whether aboriginal or transplanted. It is the opinion of Mons.
de Buffon that the former furnishes no exception to it.[34]
"Quoique le sauvage du nouveau monde soit à peu près de
même stature que l'homme de notre monde, cela ne suffit pas
pour qu'il puisse faire une exception au fait général du
rapetissement de la nature vivante dans tout ce continent; le
sauvage est foible et petit par les organes de la génération;
il n'a ni poil, ni barbe, and nulle ardeur pour sa femelle.
Quoique plus léger que l'Européen, parce qu'il a plus d'habitude
à courir, il est cependant beaucoup moins fort de corps; il
est aussi bien moins sensible, et cependant plus craintif et
plus lâche; il n'a nulle vivacité, nulle activité dans l'ame;
celle du corps est moins un exercise, un mouvement volontaire
qu'une nécessité d'action causée par le besoin; ôtez lui la faim
et la soif, vous détruirez en même tems le principe actif de
tous ses mouvemens; il demeurera stupidement en repos sur ses
jambes ou couché pendant des jours entiers. Il ne faut pas aller
chercher plus loin à cause de la vie dispersée des sauvages
et de leur éloignement pour la société; la plus précieuse
étincelle du feu de la nature leur a été refusée; ils manquent
d'ardeur pour leur femelle, et par consequent d'amour pour
leur semblables; ne connoissant pas l'attachment le plus vif,
le plus tendre de tous, leurs autres sentimens de ce genre,
sont froids et languissans; ils aiment foiblement leurs pères
et leurs enfans; la société la plus intime de toutes, celle
de la même famille, n'a donc chez eux que de foibles liens;
la société d'une famille à l'autre n'en a point de tout; dès
lors nulle réunion, nulle république, nulle état social. La
physique de l'amour fait chez eux le moral des mœurs; leur cœur
est glacé, leur societé et leur empire dur. Ils ne regardent
leurs femmes que comme des servantes de peine ou des bêtes de
somme qu'ils chargent, sans ménagement, du fardeau de leur
chasse, et qu'ils forcent, sans pitié, sans reconnoissance,
à des ouvrages qui souvent sont au dessus de leurs forces;
ils n'ont que peu d'enfans; ils en out peu de soin; tout se
ressent de leur premier defaut; ils sont indifférents parce
qu'ils sont peu puissants, et cette indifference pour le sexe
est la tache originelle qui flétrit la nature, qui l'empeche
de s'épanouir, et qui detruisant les germes de la vie, coupe
en même temps la racine de société. L'homme ne fait donc point
d'exception ici. La nature en lui refusant les puissances
de l'amour l'a plus maltraité et plus rapetissé qu'aucun des
animaux."
An afflicting picture, indeed, which for the honor of human
nature, I am glad to believe has no original. Of the Indian of
South America I know nothing; for I would not honor with the
appellation of knowledge, what I derive from the fables published
of them. These I believe to be just as true as the fables
of Æsop. This belief is founded on what I have seen of man,
white, red, and black, and what has been written of him by
authors, enlightened themselves, and writing among an enlightened
people. The Indian of North America being more within
our reach, I can speak of him somewhat from my own knowledge,
but more from the information of others better acquainted
with him, and on whose truth and judgment I can rely. From
these sources I am able to say, in contradiction to this representation,
that he is neither more defective in ardor, nor more impotent
with his female, than the white reduced to the same diet
and exercise; that he is brave, when an enterprise depends on
bravery; education with him making the point of honor consist
in the destruction of an enemy by stratagem, and in the preservation
of his own person free from injury; or, perhaps, this is nature,
while it is education which teaches us to[35] honor force more
than finesse; that he will defend himself against a host of enemies,
always choosing to be killed, rather than to surrender,[36]
though it be to the whites, who he knows will treat him well;
that in other situations, also, he meets death with more deliberation,
and endures tortures with a firmness unknown almost to
religious enthusiasm with us; that he is affectionate to his children,
careful of them, and indulgent in the extreme; that his
affections comprehend his other connections, weakening, as with
us, from circle to circle, as they recede from the centre; that his
friendships are strong and faithful to the uttermost[37] extremity;
that his sensibility is keen, even the warriors weeping most bitterly
on the loss of their children, though in general they endeavor
to appear superior to human events; that his vivacity and
activity of mind is equal to ours in the same situation; hence his
eagerness for hunting, and for games of chance. The women
are submitted to unjust drudgery. This I believe is the case
with every barbarous people. With such, force is law. The
stronger sex imposes on the weaker. It is civilization alone
which replaces women in the enjoyment of their natural equality.
That first teaches us to subdue the selfish passions, and to respect
those rights in others which we value in ourselves. Were
we in equal barbarism, our females would be equal drudges.
The man with them is less strong than with us, but their women
stronger than ours; and both for the same obvious reason; because
our man and their woman is habituated to labor, and
formed by it. With both races the sex which is indulged with
ease is the least athletic. An Indian man is small in the hand
and wrist, for the same reason for which a sailor is large and
strong in the arms and shoulders, and a porter in the legs and
thighs. They raise fewer children than we do. The causes of
this are to be found, not in a difference of nature, but of circumstance.
The women very frequently attending the men in their
parties of war and of hunting, child-bearing becomes extremely
inconvenient to them. It is said, therefore, that they have
learned the practice of procuring abortion by the use of some
vegetable; and that it even extends to prevent conception for a
considerable time after. During these parties they are exposed
to numerous hazards, to excessive exertions, to the greatest extremities
of hunger. Even at their homes the nation depends
for food, through a certain part of every year, on the gleanings
of the forest; that is, they experience a famine once in every
year. With all animals, if the female be badly fed, or not fed at
all, her young perish; and if both male and female be reduced to
like want, generation becomes less active, less productive. To
the obstacles, then, of want and hazard, which nature has opposed
to the multiplication of wild animals, for the purpose of
restraining their numbers within certain bounds, those of labor
and of voluntary abortion are added with the Indian. No wonder,
then, if they multiply less than we do. Where food is
regularly supplied, a single farm will show more of cattle, than
a whole country of forests can of buffaloes. The same Indian
women, when married to white traders, who feed them and their
children plentifully and regularly, who exempt them from excessive
drudgery, who keep them stationary and unexposed to accident,
produce and raise as many children as the white women.
Instances are known, under these circumstances, of their rearing
a dozen children. An inhuman practice once prevailed in this
country, of making slaves of the Indians. It is a fact well
known with us, that the Indian women so enslaved produced
and raised as numerous families as either the whites or blacks
among whom they lived. It has been said that Indians have
less hair than the whites, except on the head. But this is a fact
of which fair proof can scarcely be had. With them it is disgraceful
to be hairy on the body. They say it likens them to
hogs. They therefore pluck the hair as fast as it appears. But
the traders who marry their women, and prevail on them to discontinue
this practice, say, that nature is the same with them as
with the whites. Nor, if the fact be true, is the consequence
necessary which has been drawn from it. Negroes have notoriously
less hair than the whites; yet they are more ardent. But
if cold and moisture be the agents of nature for diminishing the
races of animals, how comes she all at once to suspend their
operation as to the physical man of the new world, whom the
Count acknowledges to be "à peu près de même stature que
l'homme de notre monde," and to let loose their influence on his
moral faculties? How has this "combination of the elements
and other physical causes, so contrary to the enlargement of
animal nature in this new world, these obstacles to the development
and formation of great germs,"[38] been arrested and suspended,
so as to permit the human body to acquire its just dimensions,
and by what inconceivable process has their action
been directed on his mind alone? To judge of the truth of this,
to form a just estimate of their genius and mental powers, more
facts are wanting, and great allowance to be made for those circumstances
of their situation which call for a display of particular
talents only. This done, we shall probably find that they
are formed in mind as well as in body, on the same module with
the[39] "Homo sapiens Europæus." The principles of their society
forbidding all compulsion, they are to be led to duty and
to enterprise by personal influence and persuasion. Hence eloquence
in council, bravery and address in war, become the
foundations of all consequence with them. To these acquirements
all their faculties are directed. Of their bravery and address
in war we have multiplied proofs, because we have been
the subjects on which they were exercised. Of their eminence
in oratory we have fewer examples, because it is displayed
chiefly in their own councils. Some, however, we have, of very
superior lustre. I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes
and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if Europe
has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage, superior
to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, to Lord Dunmore, then
governor of this State. And as a testimony of their talents in
this line, I beg leave to introduce it, first stating the incidents
necessary for understanding it.
In the spring of the year 1774, a robbery was committed by
some Indians on certain land-adventurers on the river Ohio. The
whites in that quarter, according to their custom, undertook to
punish this outrage in a summary way. Captain Michael Cresap,
and a certain Daniel Greathouse, leading on these parties, surprised,
at different times, travelling and hunting parties of the Indians,
having their women and children with them, and murdered
many. Among these were unfortunately the family of Logan,
a chief celebrated in peace and war, and long distinguished as
the friend of the whites. This unworthy return provoked his
vengeance. He accordingly signalized himself in the war which
ensued. In the autumn of the same year a decisive battle was
fought at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, between the collected
forces of the Shawanese, Mingoes and Delawares, and a
detachment of the Virginia militia. The Indians were defeated
and sued for peace. Logan, however, disdained to be seen
among the suppliants. But lest the sincerity of a treaty should
be disturbed, from which so distinguished a chief absented himself,
he sent, by a messenger, the following speech, to be delivered
to Lord Dunmore.
"I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's
cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold
and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the
last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an
advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my
countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, "Logan is the
friend of white men." I had even thought to have lived with
you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last
spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations
of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There
runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature.
This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed
many: I have fully glutted my vengeance: for my country I rejoice
at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that
mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not
turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for
Logan?--Not one."[40]
Before we condemn the Indians of this continent as wanting
genius, we must consider that letters have not yet been introduced
among them. Were we to compare them in their present state
with the Europeans, north of the Alps, when the Roman arms
and arts first crossed those mountains, the comparison would be
unequal, because, at that time, those parts of Europe were swarming
with numbers; because numbers produce emulation, and
multiply the chances of improvement, and one improvement begets
another. Yet I may safely ask, how many good poets, how
many able mathematicians, how many great inventors in arts or
sciences, had Europe, north of the Alps, then produced? And
it was sixteen centuries after this before a Newton could be
formed. I do not mean to deny that there are varieties in the
race of man, distinguished by their powers both of body and
mind. I believe there are, as I see to be the case in the races
of other animals. I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether the
bulk and faculties of animals depend on the side of the Atlantic
on which their food happens to grow, or which furnishes the elements
of which they are compounded? Whether nature has
enlisted herself as a Cis- or Trans-Atlantic partisan? I am induced
to suspect there has been more eloquence than sound
reasoning displayed in support of this theory; that it is one of
those cases where the judgment has been seduced by a glowing
pen; and whilst I render every tribute of honor and esteem to
the celebrated zoologist, who has added, and is still adding, so
many precious things to the treasures of science, I must doubt
whether in this instance he has not cherished error also, by lending
her for a moment his vivid imagination and bewitching language. (4.)
So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new theory of the
tendency of nature to belittle her productions on this side the
Atlantic. Its application to the race of whites transplanted from
Europe, remained for the Abbé Raynal. "On doit etre etonné
(he says) que l'Amerique n'ait pas encore produit un bon poëte,
un habile mathematicien, un homme de genie dans un seul art,
ou seule science." Hist. Philos. p. 92, ed. Maestricht, 1774.
"America has not yet produced one good poet." When we shall
have existed as a people as long as the Greeks did before they
produced a Homer, the Romans a Virgil, the French a Racine
and Voltaire, the English a Shakespeare and Milton, should this
reproach be still true, we will inquire from what unfriendly
causes it has proceeded, that the other countries of Europe and
quarters of the earth shall not have inscribed any name in the
roll of poets.[41] But neither has America produced "one able
mathematician, one man of genius in a single art or a single
science." In war we have produced a Washington, whose
memory will be adored while liberty shall have votaries, whose
name shall triumph over time, and will in future ages assume its
just station among the most celebrated worthies of the world,
when that wretched philosophy shall be forgotten which would
have arranged him among the degeneracies of nature. In
physics we have produced a Franklin, than whom no one of the
present age has made more important discoveries, nor has enriched
philosophy with more, or more ingenious solutions of the
phenomena of nature. We have supposed Mr. Rittenhouse
second to no astronomer living; that in genius he must be the
first, because he is self-taught. As an artist he has exhibited as
great a proof of mechanical genius as the world has ever produced.
He has not indeed made a world; but he has by imitation
approached nearer its Maker than any man who has lived
from the creation to this day.[42] As in philosophy and war, so in
government, in oratory, in painting, in the plastic art, we might
show that America, though but a child of yesterday, has already
given hopeful proofs of genius, as well as of the nobler kinds,
which arouse the best feelings of man, which call him into action,
which substantiate his freedom, and conduct him to happiness,
as of the subordinate, which serve to amuse him only. We
therefore suppose, that this reproach is as unjust as it is unkind:
and that, of the geniuses which adorn the present age, America
contributes its full share. For comparing it with those countries
where genius is most cultivated, where are the most excellent
models for art, and scaffoldings for the attainment of science, as
France and England for instance, we calculate thus: The United
States contains three millions of inhabitants; France twenty
millions; and the British islands ten. We produce a Washington,
a Franklin, a Rittenhouse. France then should have half
a dozen in each of these lines, and Great Britain half that number,
equally eminent. It may be true that France has; we are
but just becoming acquainted with her, and our acquaintance so
far gives us high ideas of the genius of her inhabitants. It
would be injuring too many of them to name particularly a Voltaire,
a Buffon, the constellation of Encyclopedists, the Abbé
Raynal himself, &c. &c. We, therefore, have reason to believe
she can produce her full quota of genius. The present war having
so long cut off all communication with Great Britain, we are
not able to make a fair estimate of the state of science in that
country. The spirit in which she wages war, is the only sample
before our eyes, and that does not seem the legitimate offspring
either of science or of civilization. The sun of her
glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her philosophy has
crossed the channel, her freedom the Atlantic, and herself seems
passing to that awful dissolution whose issue is not given human
foresight to scan.[43]
Having given a sketch of our minerals, vegetables, and quadrupeds,
and being led by a proud theory to make a comparison
of the latter with those of Europe, and to extend it to the man
of America, both aboriginal and emigrant, I will proceed to the
remaining articles comprehended under the present query.
Between ninety and a hundred of our birds have been described
by Catesby. His drawings are better as to form and attitude
than coloring, which is generally too high. They are the following:
BIRDS OF VIRGINIA.
---------------+---------------------+--------------------+---------
Linnæan |Catesby's | Popular Names. |Buffon
Designation. |Designation. | |oiseaux.
| | |
---------------+---------------------+--------------------+---------
Lanius |Muscicapa |Tyrant. Field martin| 8.398
tyrannus |coronâ rubrâ 1.55| |
| | |
Vultur |Buteo specie |Turkey buzzard | 1.246
aura |Gallo pavonis 1.6| |
| | |
| | |
Falco |Aquila capite |Bald eagle | 1.138
leucocephalus |albo 1.1| |
| | |
| | |
Falco |Accipiter minor 1.5|Little hawk. |
sparverius | |Sparrow hawk |
| | |
Falco |Accipiter |Pigeon hawk | 1.338
columbarious |palumbarius 1.3| |
| | |
Falco |Accipiter | |
furcatus |caudâ furcatâ 1.4|Forked tail hawk |1.286.312
| | |
|Accipiter |Fishing hawk | 1.199
|piscatorius 1.2| |
| | |
Strix |Noctua |Little owl | 1.141
asio |aurita minor 1.7| |
| | |
Psittacus |Psittacus |Parrot of Carolina. |
Caroliniensis |Carolinensus 1.11|Parroquet | 11.383
| | |
Corvus |Pica glandaria, |Blue jay | 5.164
cristatus |cærulea, cristata 1.1| |
| | |
Oriolus |Icterus ex aureo |Baltimore bird | 5.318
Baltimore |nigroque varius 1.48| |
| | |
Oriolus |Icterus minor 1.49|Bastard Baltimore | 5.321
spurius | | |
| | |
Gracula |Monedula |Purple jackdaw. | 5.134
quiscula |purpurea 1.12|Crow blackbird |
| | |
Cuculus |Cuculus |Carolina cuckow | 12.62
Americanus |Caroliniensis 1.9| |
| | |
Picus |Picus maximus |White bill | 13.69
principalis |rostro albo 1.16|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus niger maximus, |Larger red-crested | 13.72
pileatus |capite rubro 1.17|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus capite |Red headed | 13.83
erythrocephalus|toto rubro 1.20|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus major |Gold winged | 13.59
auratus |alis aureis 1.18|woodpecker. Yucker |
| | |
Picus |Picus ventre |Red-bellied | 13.105
Carolinus |rubro 1.19|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus varius |Smallest | 13.113
pubescens |minimus 1.21|spotted woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus medius |Hairy woodpecker. | 13.111
villosus |quasi-villosus 1.19|Spec. woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus varius minor |Yellow-bellied | 13.115
varius |ventre luteo 1.21|woodpecker. |
| | |
Sitta |{Sitta capite nigro 1.22 |Nuthatch | 10.213
Europæa |{Sitta capite fusco 1.22 |Small Nuthatch | 10.214
| | |
Alcedo |Ispida 1.69|Kingfisher | 13.310
alcyon | | |
| | |
Certhia |Parus Americanus |Pine-Creeper | 9.433
pinus |lutescens 1.61| |
| | |
Trochilus |Mellivora avis |Humming bird | 11.16
colubris |Caroliniensis 1.65| |
| | |
Anas |Anser |Wild goose | 17.122
Canadensis |Canadensis 1.92| |
| | |
Anas |Anas minor |Buffel's-head duck | 17.356
bucephala |purpureo capite 1.95| |
| | |
Anas |Anas minor ex albo |Little brown duck | 17.413
rustica |& fusco vario 1.98| |
| | |
Anas discors |Querquedula Americana|White face teal | 17.403
_a_ |variegata 1.10|
| | |
Anas discors |Querquedula |Blue wing teal | 17.405
_b_ |Americana fusca 1.99| |
| | |
Anas sponsa |Anas Americanus 1.97|Summer duck | 17.351
|cristatus elegans | |
| | |
|Anas Americanus |Blue wing shoveler | 17.275
|lato rostro 1.96| |
| | |
Mergus |Anas cristatus |Round crested duck | 15.437
cucullatus | 1.94| |
| | |
Columbus |Prodicipes minor |Pied bill dopchick | 15.383
podiceps |rostro vario 1.91| |
| | |
Ardea |Ardea cristata maxima|Largest crested | 14.113
Herodias |American 3.10|heron |
| | |
Ardea |Ardea stellaris |Crested bittern | 14.134
violacea |cristata | |
|Americana 1.79| |
| | |
Ardea cærulea |Ardea cærulea 1.76|Blue heron. Crane | 14.131
| | |
Ardea |Ardea stellaris |Small bittern | 14.142
virescens | minima 1.80| |
| | |
Ardea |Ardea alba minor |Little white heron | 14.136
æquinoctialis |Caroliniensis 1.77| |
| | |
|Ardea stellaris |Brown bittern. | 14.175
|Americana 1.78|Indian hen |
| | |
Tantalus |Pelicanus |Wood pelican | 13.403
loculator |Americanus 1.81| |
| | |
Tantalus alber |Numenius albus 1.82|White curlew | 15.62
| | |
Tantalus fuscus|Numenius fuscus 1.83|Brown curlew | 15.64
| | |
Charadrius |Pluvialis |Chattering plover. | 15.151
vociferus |vociferus 1.71|Kildee |
| | |
Hæmatopus |Hæmatopus 1.85|Oyster-catcher | 15.185
ostralegus | | |
| | |
Rallus |Gallinula |Soree. Ral-bird | 15.256
Virginianus |Americana 1.70| |
| | |
Meleagris |Gallopavo |Wild Turkey |3.187.229
Gallopavo |Sylvestris xliv.| |
| | |
Tetrao |Perdix Sylvestris |American partridge. | 4.237
Virginianus |Virginiana 3.12|American quail |
| | |
|Urgallus minor, or |Pheasant. | 3.409
|kind of Lagopus 3.1|Mountain partridge |
| | |
Columba |Turtur minimus |Ground dove | 4.404
passerina |guttatus 1.26| |
| | |
Columba |Palumbus |Pigeon of passage. | 4.351
migratorio |migratorius 1.23|Wild pigeon |
| | |
Columba |Turtur |Turtle. Turtle dove | 4.401
Caroliniensis |Caroliniensis 1.24| |
| | |
Alauda |Alauda gutture |Lark. Sky lark | 9.79
alpestris |flavo 1.32| |
| | |
Alauda magna ||Alauda magna 1.33|Field lark. | 6.59
| |Large lark |
| | |
|Sturnus niger alis |Red wing. | 5.293
|supernis |Starling. |
|rubentibus 1.13|Marsh blackbird |
| | |
Turdus |Turdus pilaris |Fieldfare of Carolina. {5.426
migratorius |migratorius 1.29|Robin redbreast | {9.257
| | |
Turdus rufus |Turdus rufus 1.28|Fox colored thrush. | 5.449
| |Thrush |
| | |
Turdus |Turdus minor cinereo |Mocking bird | 5.451
polyglottos |albus non | |
|maculatus 1.27| |
| | |
|Turdus minimus 1.31|Little thrush | 5.400
| | |
Ampelis |Garrulus |Chatterer | 6.162
garrulus _b_ |Caroliniensis 1.46| |
| | |
Loxia |Coccothraustes |Red bird. | 6.185
Cardinalis |rubra 1.38|Virginia nightingale|
| | |
Loxia Cærulea |Coccothraustes |Blue gross beak | 8.125
|cærulea 1.39| |
| | |
Emberiza |Passer nivalis 1.36|Snow bird | 8.47
hyemalis | | |
| | |
Emberiza |Hortulanus |Rice Bird | 8.49
Oryzivora |Caroliniensis 1.14| |
| | |
Emberiza Ciris |Fringilla |Painted finch | 7.247
|tricolor 1.44| |
| | |
Tanagra cyanea |Linaria cærulea 1.45|Blue linnet | 7.122
| | |
|Passerculus 1.35|Little sparrow | 7.120
| | |
|Passer fuscus 1.34|Cowpen bird | 7.196
| | |
Fringilla |Passer niger oculis |Towhe bird | 7.201
erythrophthalma|rubris 1.34| |
| | |
Fringilla |Carduelis |American goldfinch. | 7.297
tristis |Americanus 1.43|Lettuce bird |
| | |
|Fringilla |Purple finch | 8.129
|purpurea 1.41| |
| | |
Muscicapa |Muscicapa cristata |Crested flycatcher | 8.379
crinita |ventre luteo 1.52| |
| | |
Muscicapa rubra|Muscicapa rubra 1.56|Summer red bird | 8.410
| | |
Muscicapa |Ruticilla |Red start | { 8.349
ruticilla |Americana 1.67| | { 9.259
| | |
Muscicapa |Muscicapa vertice |Cat bird | 8.372
Caroliniensis |nigro 1.66| |
| | |
|Muscicapa |Black cap flycatcher| 8.341
|nigrescens 1.53| |
| | |
|Muscicapa fusca 1.54|Little brown | 8.344
| |flycatcher |
| | |
|Muscicapa oculis |Red-eyed flycatcher | 8.337
|rubris 1.54| |
| | |
Motacilla |Rubicula Americana |Blue bird | 9.308
Sialis |cærulea 1.47| |
| | |
Motacilla |Regulus |Wren | 10.58
regulus |cristatus 3.13| |
| | |
Motacilla |Oenanthe Americana |Yellow breasted chat| 6.96
trochilus _b_ |pectore luteo 1.50| |
| | |
Parus bicolor |Parus cristatus 1.57|Crested titmouse | 10.181
| | |
Parus |Parus |Finch creeper | 9.442
Americanus |fringillaris 1.64| |
| | |
Parus |Parus uropygeo |Yellow rump | 10.184
Virginianus |luteo 1.58| |
| | |
|Parus cucullo |Hooded titmouse | 10.183
|nigro 1.60| |
| | |
|Parus Americanus |Yellow throated |
|gutture luteo 1.62|creeper |
| | |
|Parus |Yellow titmouse | 9.431
|aroliniensis 1.63| |
| | |
Hirundo |Hirundo cauda |American swallow | 12.478
Pelasgia |aculeata | |
|Americana 3.8| |
| | |
Hirundo |Hirundo purpurea 1.51|Purple marten. | 12.445
purpurea | |House marten |
| | |
Caprimulgus |Caprimulgus 1.8|Goatsucker. | 12.243
Europæus _a_ | |Great bat |
| | |
Caprimulgus |Caprimulgus minor |Whip poor Will | 12.246
Europæus _b_ |Americanus 3.16| |
Besides these, we have,
The Royston crow. Corvus cornix.
Crane. Ardea Canadensis.
House swallow, Hirundo rustica.
Ground swallow. Hirundo riparia.
Greatest gray eagle.
Smaller turkey buzzard, with a feathered head.
Greatest owl, or night hawk.
Wet hawk, which feeds flying.
Raven.
Water Pelican of the Mississippi, whose pouch holds a peck.
Swan.
Loon.
Cormorant.
Duck and mallard.
Widgeon.
Sheldrach, or Canvas back.
The Black head.
Ballcoot.
Sprigtail.
Didapper, or dopehick.
Spoon-billed duck.
Water-witch.
Water-pheasant.
Mow-bird.
Blue Peter.
Water Wagtail.
Yellow-legged Snipe.
Squatting Snipe.
Small Plover.
Whistling Plover.
Woodcock.
Red bird, with black head, wings and tail.
And doubtless many others which have not yet been described
and classed.
To this catalogue of our indigenous animals, I will add a
short account of an anomaly of nature, taking place sometimes in
the race of negroes brought from Africa, who, though black
themselves, have, in rare instances, white children, called Albinos.
I have known four of these myself, and have faithful accounts
of three others. The circumstances in which all the individuals
agree are these. They are of a pallid cadaverous white, untinged
with red, without any colored spots or seams; their hair
of the same kind of white, short, coarse, and curled as is that of
the negro; all of them well formed, strong, healthy, perfect in
their senses, except that of sight, and born of parents who had
no mixture of white blood. Three of these Albinos were sisters,
having two other full sisters, who were black. The youngest
of the three was killed by lightning, at twelve years of age.
The eldest died at about 27 years of age, in child-bed, with her
second child. The middle one is now alive, in health, and has
issue, as the eldest had, by a black man, which issue was black.
They are uncommonly shrewd, quick in their apprehensions and
in reply. Their eyes are in a perpetual tremulous vibration,
very weak, and much affected by the sun; but they see much
better in the night than we do. They are of the property of
Colonel Skipwith, of Cumberland. The fourth is a negro
woman, whose parents came from Guinea, and had three other
children, who were of their own color. She is freckled, her
eye-sight so weak that she is obliged to wear a bonnet in the
summer; but it is better in the night than day. She had an
Albino child by a black man. It died at the age of a few weeks.
These were the property of Col. Carter, of Albemarle. A sixth
instance is a women the property of a Mr. Butler, near Petersburg.
She is stout and robust, has issue a daughter, jet black,
by a black man. I am not informed as to her eye-sight. The
seventh instance is of a male belonging to a Mr. Lee of Cumberland.
His eyes are tremulous and weak. He is tall of stature,
and now advanced in years. He is the only male of the Albinos
which have come within my information. Whatever be the
cause of the disease in the skin, or in its coloring matter, which
produces this change, it seems more incident to the female than
male sex. To these I may add the mention of a negro man
within my own knowledge, born black, and of black parents;
on whose chin, when a boy, a white spot appeared. This continued
to increase till he became a man, by which time it had
extended over his chin, lips, one cheek, the under jaw, and neck
on that side. It is of the Albino white, without any mixture of
red, and has for several years been stationary. He is robust and
healthy, and the change of color was not accompanied with any
sensible disease, either general or topical.
Of our fish and insects there has been nothing like a full description
or collection. More of them are described in Catesby
than in any other work. Many also are to be found in Sir Hans
Sloane's Jamaica, as being common to that and this country.
The honey-bee is not a native of our continent. Marcgrave, indeed,
mentions a species of honey-bee in Brazil. But this has
no sting, and is therefore different from the one we have, which
resembles perfectly that of Europe. The Indians concur with
us in the tradition that it was brought from Europe; but when,
and by whom, we know not. The bees have generally extended
themselves into the country, a little in advance of the
white settlers. The Indians, therefore, call them the white
man's fly, and consider their approach as indicating the approach
of the settlements of the whites. A question here occurs, How
far northwardly have these insects been found? That they are
unknown in Lapland, I infer from Scheffer's information, that
the Laplanders eat the pine bark, prepared in a certain way, instead
of those things sweetened with sugar. "Hoc comedunt
pro rebus saccharo conditis." Scheff. Lapp. c. 18. Certainly if
they had honey, it would be a better substitute for sugar than
any preparation of the pine bark. Kalm tells us[44] the honey-bee
cannot live through the winter in Canada. They furnish then
an additional fact first observed by the Count de Buffon, and
which has thrown such a blaze of light on the field of natural
history, that no animals are found in both continents, but those
which are able to bear the cold of those regions where they probably
join.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] 2 Buffon Epoques, 96.
[4] Hunter.
[5] D'Aubenton.
[6] Buffon, xviii. 112 edit. Paris, 1764.
[7] Buffon, xviii. 100, 156.
[8] viii. 134.
[9] It is said that this animal is seldom seen above thirty
miles from shore, or beyond the 56th degree of latitude.
The interjacent islands between Asia and America admit his
passing from one continent to the other without exceeding
these bounds. And in fact, travellers tell us that these
islands are places of principal resort for them, and
especially in the season of bringing forth their young.
[10] I. 233, Lon. 1772.
[11] Ib. 233.
[12] l. xxvii.
[13] XXIV. 162.
[14] XV. 42.
[15] I. 359. I. 48, 221, 251. II. 52.
[16] II. 78.
[17] I. 220.
[18] XXVII. 63. XIV. 119. Harris, II. 387. Buffon, Quad. IX. 1.
[19] Quad. IX. 158.
[20] XXV. 184.
[21] Quad. IX. 132.
[22] XIX. 2.
[23] Quad. IX. 41.
[24] The descriptions of Theodat, Denys and La Honton, cited
by Monsieur de Buffon, under the article Elan, authorize
the supposition, that the flat-horned elk is found in the
northern parts of America. It has not however extended
to our latitudes. On the other hand, I could never learn
that the round-horned elk has been seen further north
than the Hudson's river. This agrees with the former elk
in its general character, being, like that, when compared
with a deer, very much larger, its ears longer, broader,
and thicker in proportion, its hair much longer, neck and
tail shorter, having a dewlap before the breast (caruncula
gutturalis Linnæi) a white spot often, if not always, of
a foot diameter, on the hinder part of the buttocks round
the tail; its gait a trot, and attended with a rattling
of the hoofs; but distinguished from that decisively by
its horns, which are not palmated, but round and pointed.
This is the animal described by Catesby as the Cervus major
Americanus, the stag of America, le Cerf de l'Amerique. But
it differs from the Cervus as totally as does the palmated
elk from the dama. And in fact it seems to stand in the
same relation to the palmated elk, as the red deer does
to the fallow. It has abounded in Virginia, has been seen,
within my knowledge, on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge
since the year 1765, is now common beyond those mountains,
has been often brought to us and tamed, and its horns are
in the hands of many. I should designate it as the "Alces
Americanus cornibus teretibus." It were to be wished, that
naturalists, who are acquainted with the renne and elk of
Europe, and who may hereafter visit the northern parts
of America, would examine well the animals called there
by the names of gray and black moose, caribou, original
and elk. Monsieur de Buffon has done what could be done
from the materials in his hands, toward clearing up the
confusion introduced by the loose application of these names
among the animals they are meant to designate. He reduces
the whole to the renne and flat-horned elk. From all the
information I have been able to collect, I strongly suspect
they will be found to cover three, if not four distinct
species of animals. I have seen skins of a moose, and of
the caribou: they differ more from each other, and from
that of the round-horned elk, than I ever saw two skins
differ which belonged to different individuals of any wild
species. These differences are in the color, length, and
coarseness of the hair, and in the size, texture, and marks
of the skin. Perhaps it will be found that there is, 1,
the moose, black and gray, the former being said to be the
male, and the latter the female; 2, the caribou or renne;
3, the flat-horned elk, or original; 4, the round-horned
elk. Should this last, though possessing so nearly the
characters of the elk, be found to be the same with the
Cerf d'Ardennes or Brandhitz of Germany, still there will
remain the three species first enumerated.
[25] Kalm II. 340, I. 82.
[26] The Tapir is the largest of the animals peculiar to America.
I collect his weight thus: Monsieur de Buffon says, XXIII.
274, that he is of the size of a Zebu, or a small cow.
He gives us the measures of a Zebu, ib. 4, as taken by
himself, viz. five feet seven inches from the muzzle to
the root of the tail, and five feet one inch circumference
behind the fore-legs. A bull, measuring in the same way
six feet nine inches and five feet two inches, weighed six
hundred pounds, VIII. 153. The Zebu then, and of course
the Tapir, would weigh about five hundred pounds. But one
individual of every species of European peculiars would
probably weigh less than four hundred pounds. These are
French measures and weights.
[27] VII. 432.
[28] VII. 474.
[29] In Williamsburg, April, 1769.
[30] VIII. 48, 55, 66.
[31] XVIII. 96.
[32] IX. 41.
[33] XXX. 219.
[34] XVIII. 146.
[35] Sol Rodomonte sprezza di venire
Se non, dove la via meno o fieura.--ARISTO, 14, 117.
[36] In so judicious an author as Don Ulloa, and one to whom we
are indebted for the most precise information we have of
South America, I did not expect to find such assertions as
the following: "Los Indios vencidos son los mas cobardes
y pusilanimes que se pueden vér: Se hacen inöcentes, le
humillan hasta el desprecio, disculpan su inconsiderado
arrojo, y con las suplicas y los ruegos dán seguras pruebas
de su pusilanimidad. Ó lo que resieren las historias de
la Conquista, sobre sus grandes acciones, es en un sendito
figurado, ó el caracter de estas gentes no es ahora segun
era entonces; pero lo que no tiene duda es, que las Naciones
de la parte Septentrional subsisten en la misma libertad
que siempre han tenido, sin haber sido sojuzgados por algon
Principe extrano, y que viven segun su régimen y costumbres
de toda la vida, sin que haya habido motivo para que muden
de caracter; y en estos se vé lo mismo, que sucede en los
Peru, y de toda la América Meridional, reducidos, y que
nunca lo han estado." Noticias Americanas, Entretenimiento
xviii. §. 1. Don Ulloa here admits, that the authors who
have described the Indians of South America, before they
were enslaved, had represented them as a brave people,
and therefore seems to have suspected that the cowardice
which he had observed in those of the present race might
be the effect of subjugation. But, supposing the Indians
of North America to be cowards also, he concludes the
ancestors of those of South America to have been so too,
and, therefore, that those authors have given fictions
for truth. He was probably not acquainted himself with
the Indians of North America, and had formed his opinion
from hear-say. Great numbers of French, of English, and
of Americans, are perfectly acquainted with these people.
Had he had an opportunity of inquiring of any of these,
they would have told him, that there never was an instance
known of an Indian begging his life when in the power
of his enemies; on the contrary, that he courts death
by every possible insult and provocation. His reasoning,
then, would have been reversed thus: "Since the present
Indian of North America is brave, and authors tell us that
the ancestors of those of South America were brave also,
it must follow that the cowardice of their descendants
is the effect of subjugation and ill treatment." For he
observes, ib. §. 27, that "los obrages los aniquillan por
la inhumanidad con que se les trata."
[37] XVIII. 146.
[38] Linn. Syst. Definition of a Man.
[39] A remarkable instance of this appeared in the case of the
late Colonel Byrd, who was sent to the Cherokee nation to
transact some business with them. It happened that some of
our disorderly people had just killed one or two of that
nation. It was therefore proposed in the council of the
Cherokees that Colonel Byrd should be put to death, in
revenge for the loss of their countrymen. Among them was
a chief named Silòuee, who, on some former occasion, had
contracted an acquaintance and friendship with Colonel Byrd.
He came to him every night in his tent, and told him not
to be afraid, they should not kill him. After many days'
deliberation, however, the determination was, contrary to
Silòuee's expectation, that Byrd should be put to death,
and some warriors were despatched as executioners. Silòuee
attended them, and when they entered the tent, he threw
himself between them and Byrd, and said to the warriors,
"This man is my friend; before you get at him, you must
kill me." On which they returned, and the council respected
the principle so much as to recede from their determination.
[40] PHILADELPHIA, December 31, 1797.
DEAR SIR,--Mr. Tazewell has communicated to me the inquiries
you have been so kind as to make, relative to a passage
in the "Notes on Virginia," which has lately excited some
newspaper publications. I feel, with great sensibility,
the interest you take in this business, and with pleasure,
go into explanations with one whose objects I know to be
truth and justice alone. Had Mr. Martin thought proper
to suggest to me, that doubts might be entertained of the
transaction respecting Logan, as stated in the "Notes on
Virginia," and to inquire on what grounds that statement
was founded, I should have felt myself obliged by the
inquiry; have informed him candidly of the grounds, and
cordially have co-operated in every means of investigating
the fact, and correcting whatsoever in it should be found
to have been erroneous. But he chose to step at once into
the newspapers, and in his publications there and the
letters he wrote to me, adopted a style which forbade the
respect of an answer. Sensible, however, that no act of
his could absolve me from the justice due to others, as
soon as I found that the story of Logan could be doubted,
I determined to inquire into it as accurately as the
testimony remaining, after a lapse of twenty odd years,
would permit, and that the result should be made known,
either in the first new edition which should be printed of
the "Notes on Virginia," or by publishing an appendix. I
thought that so far as that work had contributed to impeach
the memory of Cresap, by handing on an erroneous charge it
was proper it should be made the vehicle of retribution.
Not that I was at all the author of the injury; I had
only concurred, with thousands and thousands of others,
in believing a transaction on authority which merited
respect. For the story of Logan is only repeated in the
"Notes on Virginia," precisely as it had been current for
more than a dozen years before they were published. When
Lord Dunmore returned from the expedition against the
Indians, in 1774, he and his officers brought the speech
of Logan, and related the circumstances of it. These were
so affecting, and the speech itself so fine a morsel of
eloquence, that it became the theme of every conversation,
in Williamsburg particularly, and generally, indeed,
wheresoever any of the officers resided or resorted. I
learned it in Williamsburg, I believe at Lord Dunmore's;
and I find in my pocket-book of that year (1774) an entry
of the narrative, as taken from the mouth of some person,
whose name, however, is not noted, nor recollected,
precisely in the words stated in the "Notes on Virginia."
The speech was published in the Virginia Gazette of that
time, (I have it myself in the volume of gazettes of that
year,) and though it was the translation made by the common
interpreter, and in a style by no means elegant, yet it
was so admired, that it flew through all the public papers
of the continent, and through the magazines and other
periodical publications of Great Britain; and those who
were boys at that day will now attest, that the speech
of Logan used to be given them as a school exercise for
repetition. It was not till about thirteen or fourteen
years after the newspaper publications, that the "Notes on
Virginia" were published in America. Combating, in these,
the contumelious theory of certain European writers, whose
celebrity gave currency and weight to their opinions, that
our country from the combined effects of soil and climate,
degenerated animal nature, in the general, and particularly
the moral faculties of man, I considered the speech of
Logan as an apt proof of the contrary, and used it as
such; and I copied, verbatim, the narrative I had taken
down in 1774, and the speech as it had been given us in a
better translation by Lord Dunmore. I knew nothing of the
Cresaps, and could not possibly have a motive to do them
an injury with design. I repeated what thousands had done
before, on as good authority as we have for most of the
facts we learn through life, and such as, to this moment,
I have seen no reason to doubt. That any body questioned
it, was never suspected by me, till I saw the letter of
Mr. Martin in the Baltimore paper. I endeavored then to
recollect who among my contemporaries, of the same circle
of society, and consequently of the same recollections,
might still be alive; three and twenty years of death
and dispersion had left very few. I remembered, however,
that General Gibson was still living, and knew that he
had been the translator of the speech. I wrote to him
immediately. He, in answer, declares to me, that he was
the very person sent by Lord Dunmore to the Indian town;
that, after he had delivered his message there, Logan
took him out to a neighboring wood; sat down with him, and
rehearsing, with tears, the catastrophe of his family, gave
him that speech for Lord Dunmore; that he carried it to
Lord Dunmore; translated it for him; has turned to it in
the Encyclopedia, as taken from the "Notes on Virginia,"
and finds that it was his translation I had used, with
only two or three verbal variations of no importance.
These, I suppose, had arisen in the course of successive
copies. I cite General Gibson's letter by memory, not
having it with me; but I am sure I cite it substantially
right. It establishes unquestionably, that the speech of
Logan is genuine; and that being established, it is Logan
himself who is author of all the important facts. "Colonel
Cresap," says he, "in cold blood and unprovoked, murdered
all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women
and children; there runs not a drop of my blood in the
veins of any living creature." The person and the fact,
in all its material circumstances, are here given by Logan
himself. General Gibson, indeed, says, that the title was
mistaken; that Cresap was a Captain, and not a Colonel.
This was Logan's mistake. He also observes, that it was on
another water of the Ohio, and not on the Kanhaway, that
his family was killed. This is an error which has crept
into the traditionary account; but surely of little moment
in the moral view of the subject. The material question
is, was Logan's family murdered, and by whom? That it
was murdered has not, I believe, been denied; that it was
by one of the Cresaps, Logan affirms. This is a question
which concerns the memories of Logan and Cresap; to the
issue of which I am as indifferent as if I had never heard
the name of either. I have begun and shall continue to
inquire into the evidence additional to Logan's, on which
the fact was founded. Little, indeed, can now be heard
of, and that little dispersed and distant. If it shall
appear on inquiry, that Logan has been wrong in charging
Cresap with the murder of his family, I will do justice
to the memory of Cresap, as far as I have contributed to
the injury, by believing and repeating what others had
believed and repeated before me. If, on the other hand, I
find that Logan was right in his charge, I will vindicate,
as far as my suffrage may go, the truth of a Chief, whose
talents and misfortunes have attached to him the respect
and commiseration of the world.
I have gone, my dear Sir, into this lengthy detail to
satisfy a mind, in the candor and rectitude of which I have
the highest confidence. So far as you may incline to use
the communication for rectifying the judgments of those
who are willing to see things truly as they are, you are
free to use it. But I pray that no confidence which you may
repose in any one, may induce you to let it go out of your
hands, so as to get into a newspaper: against a contest
in that field I am entirely decided. I feel extraordinary
gratification, indeed, in addressing this letter to you,
with whom shades of difference in political sentiment have
not prevented the interchange of good opinion, nor cut off
the friendly offices of society and good correspondence.
This political tolerance is the more valued by me, who
consider social harmony as the first of human felicities,
and the happiest moments, those which are given to the
effusions of the heart. Accept them sincerely, I pray you,
from one who has the honor to be, with sentiments of high
respect and attachment, dear Sir, your most obedient, and
most humble servant.
[41] Has the world as yet produced more than two poets,
acknowledged to be such by all nations? An Englishman only
reads Milton with delight, an Italian, Tasso, a Frenchman,
the Henriade; a Portuguese, Camoens; but Homer and Virgil
have been the rapture of every age and nation; they are
read with enthusiasm in their originals by those who can
read the originals, and in translations by those who cannot.
[42] There are various ways of keeping truth out of sight. Mr.
Rittenhouse's model of the planetary system has the plagiary
application of an Orrery; and the quadrant invented by
Godfrey, an American also, and with the aid of which the
European nations traverse the globe, is called Hadley's
quadrant.
[43] In a later edition of the Abbé Raynal's work, he has
withdrawn his censure from that part of the new world
inhabited by the Federo-Americans; but has left it still
on the other parts. North America has always been more
accessible to strangers than South. If he was mistaken
then as to the former, he may be so as to the latter. The
glimmerings which reach us from South America enable us
to see that its inhabitants are held under the accumulated
pressure of slavery, superstition and ignorance. Whenever
they shall be able to rise under this weight, and to show
themselves to the rest of the world, they will probably
show they are like the rest of the world. We have not yet
sufficient evidence that there are more lakes and fogs in
South America than in other parts of the earth. As little
do we know what would be their operation on the mind
of man. That country has been visited by Spaniards and
Portuguese chiefly, and almost exclusively. These, going
from a country of the old world remarkably dry in its soil
and climate, fancied there were more lakes and fogs in
South America than in Europe. An inhabitant of Ireland,
Sweden, or Finland would have formed the contrary opinion.
Had South America then been discovered and settled by a
people from a fenny country, it would probably have been
represented as much drier than the old world. A patient
pursuit of facts, and cautious combination and comparison
of them, is the drudgery to which man is subjected by his
Maker, if he wishes to attain sure knowledge.
[44] I. 126.
QUERY VII.
_A notice of all that can increase the progress of Human
Knowledge?_
Under the latitude of this query, I will presume it not improper
nor unacceptable to furnish some data for estimating the
climate of Virginia. Journals of observations on the quantity
of rain, and degree of heat, being lengthy, confused, and too
minute to produce general and distinct ideas, I have taken five
years' observations, to wit, from 1772 to 1777, made in Williamsburg
and its neighborhood, have reduced them to an average
for every month in the year, and stated those averages in the
following table, adding an analytical view of the winds during
the same period.
The rains of every month, (as of January, for instance,)
through the whole period of years, were added separately, and
an average drawn from them. The coolest and warmest point
of the same day in each year of the period, were added separately,
and an average of the greatest cold and greatest heat of
that day was formed. From the averages of every day in the
month, a general average was formed. The point from which
the wind blew, was observed two or three times in every day.
These observations, in the month of January, for instance,
through the whole period, amounted to three hundred and thirty-seven.
At seventy-three of these, the wind was from the north;
forty-seven from the north-east, &c. So that it will be easy to
see in what proportion each wind usually prevails in each month;
or, taking the whole year, the total of observations through the
whole period having been three thousand six hundred and ninety-eight,
it will be observed that six hundred and eleven of them
were from the north, five hundred and fifty-eight from the
north-east, &c.
------+-------+--------------+-----------------------------------------
|Fall |Least and | WINDS.
|of |greatest +---+----+---+----+---+----+---+----+-----
|rain, |daily heat, by|
|etc., |Fahrenheit's | | | | | | | | |
|in |thermometer. |N. |N.E.| E.|S.E.| S.|S.W.| W.|N.W.|Total.
|inches.| | | | | | | | | |
------+-------+--------------+---+----+---+----+---+----+---+----+------
Jan. | 3.192 | 38½ to 44 | 73| 47 | 32| 10 | 11| 78 | 40| 46 | 337
Feb. | 2.049 | 41 .. 47½ | 61| 52 | 24| 11 | 4| 63 | 30| 31 | 276
March | 3.95 | 48 .. 54½ | 49| 44 | 38| 28 | 14| 83 | 29| 33 | 318
April | 3.68 | 56 .. 62½ | 35| 44 | 54| 19 | 9| 58 | 18| 20 | 257
May | 2.871 | 63 .. 70½ | 27| 36 | 62| 23 | 7| 74 | 32| 20 | 281
June | 3.751 | 71½ .. 78¼ | 22| 34 | 43| 24 | 13| 81 | 25| 25 | 267
July | 4.497 | 77 .. 82½ | 41| 44 | 75| 15 | 7| 95 | 32| 19 | 328
August| 9.153 | 76¼ .. 81 | 43| 52 | 40| 30 | 9|103 | 27| 30 | 334
Sept. | 4.761 | 69½ .. 74¼ | 70| 60 | 51| 18 | 10| 81 | 18| 37 | 345
Oct. | 3.633 | 61¼ .. 66½ | 52| 77 | 64| 15 | 6| 56 | 23| 34 | 327
Nov. | 2.617 | 47¾ .. 53½ | 74| 21 | 20| 14 | 9| 63 | 35| 58 | 294
Dec. | 2.877 | 43 .. 48¾ | 64| 37 | 18| 16 | 10| 91 | 42| 56 | 334
+-------+--------------+---+----+---+----+---+----+---+----+-----
Total.|47.038 | 8 A.M. |611|548 |521|223 |109|926 |351|409 |3,698
| | to 4 P. M. | | | | | | | | |
------+-------+--------------+---+----+---+----+---+----+---+----+-----
Though by this table it appears we have on an average forty-seven
inches of rain annually, which is considerably more than
usually falls in Europe, yet from the information I have collected,
I suppose we have a much greater proportion of sunshine
here than there. Perhaps it will be found, there are twice as
many cloudy days in the middle parts of Europe, as in the
United States of America. I mention the middle parts of Europe,
because my information does not extend to its northern or
southern parts.
In an extensive country, it will of course be expected that the
climate is not the same in all its parts. It is remarkable, that
proceeding on the same parallel of latitude westwardly, the
climate becomes colder in like manner as when you proceed
northwardly. This continues to be the case till you attain the
summit of the Alleghany, which is the highest land between the
ocean and the Mississippi. From thence, descending in the
same latitude to the Mississippi, the change reverses; and, if we
may believe travellers, it becomes warmer there than it is in the
same latitude on the sea-side. Their testimony is strengthened
by the vegetables and animals which subsist and multiply there
naturally, and do not on the sea-coast. Thus Catalpas grow
spontaneously on the Mississippi, as far as the latitude of 37°,
and reeds as far as 38°. Parroquets even winter on the Scioto,
in the 39th degree of latitude. In the summer of 1779, when
the thermometer was at 90° at Monticello, and 96° at Williamsburg,
it was 110° at Kaskaskia. Perhaps the mountain,
which overhangs this village on the north side, may, by its reflection,
have contributed somewhat to produce this heat. The
difference of temperature of the air at the sea-coast, or on the
Chesapeake bay, and at the Alleghany, has not been ascertained;
but contemporary observations, made at Williamsburg, or in its
neighborhood, and at Monticello, which is on the most eastern
ridge of the mountains, called the South-West, where they are
intersected by the Rivanna, have furnished a ratio by which that
difference may in some degree be conjectured. These observations
make the difference between Williamsburg and the nearest
mountains, at the position before mentioned, to be on an
average 6⅓° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. Some allowance,
however, is to be made for the difference of latitude between
these two places, the latter being 38° 8' 17", which is 52' 22"
north of the former. By contemporary observations of between
five and six weeks, the averaged and almost unvaried difference
of the height of mercury in the barometer, at those two places,
was .784 of an inch, the atmosphere at Monticello being so
much the lightest, that is to say, about one-thirty-seventh of its
whole weight. It should be observed, however, that the hill of
Monticello is of five hundred feet perpendicular height above the
river which washes its base. This position being nearly central
between our northern and southern boundaries, and between the
bay and Alleghany, may be considered as furnishing the best
average of the temperature of our climate. Williamsburg is
much too near the south-eastern corner to give a fair idea of our
general temperature.
But a more remarkable difference is in the winds which prevail
in the different parts of the country. The following table
exhibits a comparative view of the winds prevailing at Williamsburg,
and at Monticello. It is formed by reducing nine months'
observations at Monticello to four principal points, to wit, the
north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-west; these points
being perpendicular to, or parallel with our coast, mountains, and
rivers; and by reducing in like manner, an equal number of observations,
to wit, four hundred and twenty-one from the preceding
table of winds at Williamsburg, taking them proportionably
from every point:
N.E. S.E. S.W. N.W. Total.
Williamsburg 127 61 132 101 421
Monticello 32 91 126 172 421
By this it may be seen that the south-west wind prevails
equally at both places; that the north-east is, next to this, the
principal wind towards the sea-coast, and the north-west is the
predominant wind at the mountains. The difference between
these two winds to sensation, and in fact, is very great. The
north-east is loaded with vapor, insomuch, that the salt-makers
have found that their crystals would not shoot while that blows;
it brings a distressing chill, and is heavy and oppressive to the
spirits. The north-west is dry, cooling, elastic, and animating.
The eastern and south-eastern breezes come on generally in the
afternoon. They have advanced into the country very sensibly
within the memory of people now living. They formerly did
not penetrate far above Williamsburg. They are now frequent
at Richmond, and every now and then reach the mountains.
They deposit most of their moisture, however, before they get
that far. As the lands become more cleared, it is probable they
will extend still further westward.
Going out into the open air, in the temperate, and warm
months of the year, we often meet with bodies of warm air,
which passing by us in two or three seconds, do not afford time
to the most sensible thermometer to seize their temperature.
Judging from my feelings only, I think they approach the ordinary
heat of the human body. Some of them, perhaps, go a
little beyond it. They are of about twenty to thirty feet diameter
horizontally. Of their height we have no experience, but
probably they are globular volumes wafted or rolled along with
the wind. But whence taken, where found, or how generated?
They are not to be ascribed to volcanos, because we have none.
They do not happen in the winter when the farmers kindle large
fires in clearing up their grounds. They are not confined to the
spring season, when we have fires which traverse whole counties,
consuming the leaves which have fallen from the trees. And
they are too frequent and general to be ascribed to accidental
fires. I am persuaded their cause must be sought for in the atmosphere
itself, to aid us in which I know but of these constant
circumstances: a dry air; a temperature as warm, at least, as that
of the spring or autumn; and a moderate current of wind.
They are most frequent about sun-set; rare in the middle parts
of the day; and I do not recollect having ever met with them in
the morning.
The variation in the weight of our atmosphere, as indicated
by the barometer, is not equal to two inches of mercury. During
twelve months' observation at Williamsburg, the extremes
29 and 30.86 inches, the difference being 1.86 of an inch; and
in nine months, during which the height of the mercury was
noted at Monticello, the extremes were 28.48 and 29.69 inches,
the variation being 1.21 of an inch. A gentleman, who has observed
his barometer many years, assures me it has never varied
two inches. Contemporary observations made at Monticello and
Williamsburg, proved the variations in the weight of air to be
simultaneous and corresponding in these two places.
Our changes from heat to cold, and cold to heat, are very sudden
and great. The mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer has
been known to descend from 92° to 47° in thirteen hours.
It was taken for granted, that the preceding table of average
heat will not give a false idea on this subject, as it proposes to
state only the ordinary heat and cold of each month, and not
those which are extraordinary. At Williamsburg, in August
1766, the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer was at 98°, corresponding
with 29⅓ of Reaumur. At the same place in January
1780, it was 6°, corresponding with 11½ below zero of Reaumur.
I believe[45] these may be considered to be nearly the extremes
of heat and cold in that part of the country. The latter
may most certainly, as that time York river, at Yorktown, was
frozen over, so that people walked across it; a circumstance
which proves it to have been colder than the winter of 1740,
1741, usually called the cold winter, when York river did not
freeze over at that place. In the same season of 1780, Chesapeake
bay was solid, from its head to the mouth of Potomac.
At Annapolis, where it is 5¼ miles over between the nearest
points of land, the ice was from five to seven inches thick quite
across, so that loaded carriages went over on it. Those, our extremes
of heat and cold, of 6° and 98°, were indeed very distressing
to us, and were thought to put the extent of the human
constitution to considerable trial. Yet a Siberian would have
considered them as scarcely a sensible variation. At Jenniseitz
in that country, in latitude 58° 27', we are told that the cold in
1735 sunk the mercury by Fahrenheit's scale to 126° below nothing;
and the inhabitants of the same country use stove rooms
two or three times a week, in which they stay two hours at a
time, the atmosphere of which raises the mercury to 135° above
nothing. Late experiments show that the human body will
exist in rooms heated to 140° of Reaumur, equal to 347° of
Fahrenheit's, and 135° above boiling water. The hottest point
of the twenty-four hours is about four o'clock, P. M., and the
dawn of day the coldest.
The access of frost in autumn, and its recess the spring, do
not seem to depend merely on the degree of cold; much less on
the air's being at the freezing point. White frosts are frequent
when the thermometer is at 47°, have killed young plants of
Indian corn at 48°, and have been known at 54°. Black frost,
and even ice, have been produced at 38½°, which is 6½ degrees
above the freezing point. That other circumstances must be
combined with this cold to produce frost, is evident from this
also, on the higher parts of mountains, where it is absolutely
colder than in the plains on which they stand, frosts do not appear
so early by a considerable space of time in autumn, and go
off sooner in the spring, than in the plains. I have known frosts
so severe as to kill the hickory trees round about Monticello, and
yet not injure the tender fruit blossoms then in bloom on the top
and higher parts of the mountain; and in the course of forty
years, during which it had been settled, there have been but
two instances of a general loss of fruit on it; while in the circumjacent
country, the fruit has escaped but twice in the last
seven years. The plants of tobacco, which grow from the roots
of those which have been cut off in the summer, are frequently
green here at Christmas. This privilege against the frost is undoubtedly
combined with the want of dew on the mountains.
That the dew is very rare on their higher parts, I may say with
certainty, from twelve years' observations, having scarcely ever,
during that time, seen an unequivocal proof of its existence on
them at all during summer. Severe frosts in the depth of winter
prove that the region of dews extends higher in that season than
the tops of the mountains; but certainly, in the summer season,
the vapors, by the time they attain that height, are so attenuated
as not to subside and form a dew when the sun retires.
The weavil has not yet ascended the high mountains.
A more satisfactory estimate of our climate to some, may perhaps
be formed, by noting the plants which grow here, subject,
however, to be killed by our severest colds. These are the fig,
pomegranate, artichoke, and European walnut. In mild winters,
lettuce and endive require no shelter; but, generally, they need a
slight covering. I do not know that the want of long moss,
reed, myrtle, swamp laurel, holly, and cypress, in the upper
country proceeds from a greater degree of cold, nor that they
were ever killed with any degree of cold, nor that they were
ever killed with any degree of cold in the lower country. The
aloe lived in Williamsburg, in the open air, through the severe
winter of 1779, 1780.
A change in our climate, however, is taking place very sensibly.
Both heats and colds are become much more moderate
within the memory even of the middle-aged. Snows are less
frequent and less deep. They do not often lie, below the mountains,
more than one, two, or three days, and very rarely a week.
They are remembered to have been formerly frequent, deep, and
of long continuance. The elderly inform me, the earth used to be
covered with snow about three months in every year. The
rivers, which then seldom failed to freeze over in the course of
the winter, scarcely ever do so now. This change has produced
an unfortunate fluctuation between heat and cold, in the spring
of the year, which is very fatal to fruits. From the year 1741
to 1769, an interval of twenty-eight years, there was no instance
of fruit killed by the frost in the neighborhood of Monticello.
An intense cold, produced by constant snows, kept the buds
locked up till the sun could obtain, in the spring of the year, so
fixed an ascendency as to dissolve those snows, and protect the
buds, during their development, from every danger of returning
cold. The accumulated snows of the winter remaining to be
dissolved all together in the spring, produced those overflowings
of our rivers, so frequent then, and so rare now.
Having had occasion to mention the particular situation of
Monticello for other purposes, I will just take notice that its elevation
affords an opportunity of seeing a phenomenon which is
rare at land, though frequent at sea. The seamen call it _looming_.
Philosophy is as yet in the rear of the seamen, for so far
from having accounted for it, she has not given it a name. Its
principal effect is to make distant objects appear larger, in opposition
to the general law of vision, by which they are diminished.
I knew an instance, at Yorktown, from whence the
water prospect eastwardly is without termination, wherein a
canoe with three men, at a great distance was taken for a ship
with its three masts. I am little acquainted with the phenomenon
as it shows itself at sea; but at Monticello it is familiar.
There is a solitary mountain about forty miles off in the South,
whose natural shape, as presented to view there, is a regular
cone; but by the effect of looming, it sometimes subsides almost
totally in the horizon; sometimes it rises more acute and more
elevated; sometimes it is hemispherical; and sometimes its sides
are perpendicular, its top flat, and as broad as its base. In short,
it assumes at times the most whimsical shapes, and all these perhaps
successively in the same morning. The blue ridge of
mountains comes into view, in the north-east, at about one hundred
miles distance, and approaching in a direct line, passes by
within twenty miles, and goes off to the south-west. This phenomenon
begins to show itself on these mountains, at about
fifty miles distance, and continues beyond that as far as they are
seen. I remark no particular state, either in the weight, moisture,
or heat of the atmosphere, necessary to produce this. The
only constant circumstances are its appearance in the morning
only, and on objects at least forty or fifty miles distant. In this
latter circumstance, if not in both, it differs from the looming on
the water. Refraction will not account for the metamorphosis.
That only changes the proportions of length and breadth, base
and altitude, preserving the general outlines. Thus it may
make a circle appear elliptical, raise or depress a cone, but by
none of its laws, as yet developed, will it make a circle appear a
square, or a cone a sphere.
FOOTNOTE:
[45] At Paris, in 1753, the mercury in Reaumur's thermometer
was at 30½ above zero, and in 1776, it was at 16 below
zero. The extremities of heat and cold therefore at Paris,
are greater than at Williamsburg, which is in the hottest
part of Virginia.
QUERY VIII.
_The number of its inhabitants?_
The following table shows the number of persons imported
for the establishment of our colony in its infant state, and the
census of inhabitants at different periods, extracted from our historians
and public records, as particularly as I have had opportunities
and leisure to examine them. Successive lines in the
same year show successive periods of time in that year. I have
stated the census in two different columns, the whole inhabitants
having been sometimes numbered, and sometimes the _tythes_
only. This term, with us, includes the free males above sixteen
years of age, and slaves above that age of both sexes. A further
examination of our records would render this history of our population
much more satisfactory and perfect, by furnishing a greater
number of intermediate terms. These, however, which are
here stated will enable us to calculate, with a considerable degree
of precision, the rate at which we have increased. During
the infancy of the colony, while numbers were small, wars, importations,
and other accidental circumstances render the progression
fluctuating and irregular. By the year 1654, however,
it becomes tolerably uniform, importations having in a great
measure ceased from the dissolution of the company, and the inhabitants
become too numerous to be sensibly affected by Indian
wars. Beginning at that period, therefore, we find that from
thence to the year 1772, our tythes had increased from 7,209 to
153,000. The whole term being of one hundred and eighteen
years, yields a duplication once in every twenty-seven and a
quarter years. The intermediate enumerations taken in 1700,
1748, and 1759, furnish proofs of the uniformity of this progression.
Should this rate of increase continue, we shall have
between six and seven millions of inhabitants within ninety-five
years. If we suppose our country to be bounded, at some
future day, by the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway,
(within which it has been before conjectured, are 64,461
square miles) there will then be one hundred inhabitants for
every square mile, which is nearly the state of population in the
British Islands.
--------+--------------------+------------------------+-----------
Years. | Settlers Imported. | Census of Inhabitants. | Census of
| | | Tythes.
--------|--------------------+------------------------+-----------
1607 | 100 | ... | ...
| ... | 40 | ...
| 120 | ... | ...
1608 | ... | 130 | ...
| 70 | ... | ...
1609 | ... | 490 | ...
| 16 | ... | ...
| ... | 60 | ...
1610 | 150 | ... | ...
| ... | 200 | ...
1611 | 3 ship loads. | ... | ...
| 300 | ... | ...
1612 | 80 | ... | ...
1617 | ... | 400 | ...
1618 | 200 | ... | ...
| 40 | ... | ...
| ... | 600 | ...
1619 | 1,216 | ... | ...
1621 | 1,300 | ... | ...
1622 | ... | 3,800 | ...
| ... | 2,500 | ...
1628 | ... | 3,000 | ...
1632 | ... | ... | 2,000
1644 | ... | ... | 4,822
1645 | ... | ... | 5,000
1652 | ... | ... | 7,000
1654 | ... | ... | 7,209
1700 | ... | ... | 22,000
1748 | ... | ... | 82,100
1759 | ... | ... | 105,000
1772 | ... | ... | 153,000
1782 | ... | 567,614 |
--------+--------------------+------------------------+-----------
Here I will beg leave to propose a doubt. The present desire
of America is to produce rapid population by as great importations
of foreigners as possible. But is this founded in good
policy? The advantage proposed is the multiplication of numbers.
Now let us suppose (for example only) that, in this state,
we could double our numbers in one year by the importation of
foreigners; and this is a greater accession than the most sanguine
advocate for emigration has a right to expect. Then I
say, beginning with a double stock, we shall attain any given
degree of population only twenty-seven years, and three months
sooner than if we proceed on our single stock. If we propose
four millions and a half as a competent population for this State,
we should be fifty-four and a half years attaining it, could we at
once double our numbers; and eighty-one and three quarter
years, if we rely on natural propagation, as may be seen by the
following tablet:
Proceeding on Proceeding on
our present stock. a double stock.
1781 567,614 1,135,228
1808¼ 1,135,228 2,270,456
1835½ 2,270,456 4,540,912
1862¾ 4,540,912
In the first column are stated periods of twenty-seven and a
quarter years; in the second are our numbers at each period, as
they will be if we proceed on our actual stock; and in the third
are what they would be, at the same periods, were we to set out
from the double of our present stock. I have taken the term of
four million and a half of inhabitants for example's sake only.
Yet I am persuaded it is a greater number than the country
spoken of, considering how much inarable land it contains, can
clothe and feed without a material change in the quality of their
diet. But are there no inconveniences to be thrown into the
scale against the advantage expected from a multiplication of
numbers by the importation of foreigners? It is for the happiness
of those united in society to harmonize as much as possible
in matters which they must of necessity transact together. Civil
government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration
must be conducted by common consent. Every
species of government has its specific principles. Ours perhaps
are more peculiar than those of any other in the universe. It is
a composition of the freest principles of the English constitution,
with others derived from natural right and natural reason. To
these nothing can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute
monarchies. Yet from such we are to expect the greatest number
of emigrants. They will bring with them the principles of
the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if
able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded
licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another.
It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of
temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they
will transmit to their children. In proportion to their numbers,
they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it
their spirit, warp and bias its directions, and render it a heterogenous,
incoherent, distracted mass. I may appeal to experience,
during the present contest, for a verification of these conjectures.
But, if they be not certain in event, are they not possible, are
they not probable? Is it not safer to wait with patience twenty-seven
years and three months longer, for the attainment of any
degree of population desired or expected? May not our government
be more homogeneous, more peaceable, more durable?
Suppose twenty millions of republican Americans thrown all of
a sudden into France, what would be the condition of that kingdom?
If it would be more turbulent, less happy, less strong, we
may believe that the addition of half a million of foreigners to
our present numbers would produce a similar effect here. If
they come of themselves they are entitled to all the rights of
citizenship; but I doubt the expediency of inviting them by extraordinary
encouragements. I mean not that these doubts
should be extended to the importation of useful artificers. The
policy of that measure depends on very different considerations.
Spare no expense in obtaining them. They will after a while
go to the plough and the hoe; but, in the mean time, they will
teach us something we do not know. It is not so in agriculture.
The indifferent state of that among us does not proceed from a
want of knowledge merely; it is from our having such quantities
of land to waste as we please. In Europe the object is to
make the most of their land, labor being abundant; here it is to
make the most of our labor, land being abundant.
It will be proper to explain how the numbers for the year
1782 have been obtained; as it was not from a perfect census of
the inhabitants. It will at the same time develope the proportion
between the free inhabitants and slaves. The following return
of taxable articles for that year was given in.
53,289 free males above twenty-one years of age.
211,698 slaves of all ages and sexes.
23,766 not distinguished in the returns, but said to be tytheable
slaves.
195,439 horses.
609,734 cattle.
5,126 wheels of riding-carriages.
191 taverns.
There were no returns from the eight counties of Lincoln,
Jefferson, Fayette, Monongahela, Yohogania, Ohio, Northampton,
and York. To find the number of slaves which should
have been returned instead of the 23,766 tytheables, we must
mention that some observations on a former census had given
reason to believe that the numbers above and below sixteen
years of age were equal. The double of this number, therefore,
to wit, 47,532 must be added to 211,698, which will give us
259,230 slaves of all ages and sexes. To find the number of
free inhabitants we must repeat the observation that those above
and below sixteen are nearly equal. But as the number 53,289
omits the males below sixteen and twenty-one we must supply
them from conjecture. On a former experiment it had appeared
that about one-third of our militia, that is, of the males between
sixteen and fifty, were unmarried. Knowing how early marriage
takes place here, we shall not be far wrong in supposing
that the unmarried part of our militia are those between sixteen
and twenty-one. If there be young men who do not marry till
after twenty-one, there are many who marry before that age.
But as men above fifty were not included in the militia, we will
suppose the unmarried, or those between sixteen and twenty-one,
to be one-fourth of the whole number above sixteen, then we
have the following calculation:
53,289 free males above twenty-one years of age.
17,763 free males between sixteen and twenty-one.
17,052 free males under sixteen.
142,104 free males of all ages.
-------
284,208 free inhabitants of all ages.
259,230 slaves of all ages.
-------
543,438 inhabitants, exclusive of the eight counties from
which were no returns. In these eight counties in the years
1779 and 1780, were 3,161 militia. Say then,
3,161 free males above the age of sixteen.
3,161 free males under sixteen.
6,322 free females.
-----
12,644 free inhabitants in these eight counties. To find the
number of slaves, say, as 284,208 to 259,230, so is 12,644
to 11,532. Adding the third of these numbers to the first,
and the fourth to the second, we have,
296,852 free inhabitants.
270,762 slaves.
-------
567,614 inhabitants of every age, sex and condition.
But 296,852, the number of free inhabitants, are to 270,762, the
number of slaves, nearly as 11 to 10. Under the mild treatment
our slaves experience, and their wholesome, though coarse food,
this blot in our country increases as fast, or faster than the
whites. During the regal government we had at one time obtained
a law which imposed such a duty on the importation of
slaves as amounted nearly to a prohibition, when one inconsiderate
assembly, placed under a peculiarity of circumstance,
repealed the law. This repeal met a joyful sanction from the
then reigning sovereign, and no devices, no expedients, which
could ever be attempted by subsequent assemblies, and they seldom
met without attempting them, could succeed in getting the
royal assent to a renewal of the duty. In the very first session
held under the republican government, the assembly passed a law
for the perpetual prohibition of the importation of slaves. This
will in some measure stop the increase of this great political and
moral evil, while the minds of our citizens may be ripening for
a complete emancipation of human nature.
QUERY IX.
_The number and condition of the Militia and Regular Troops,
and their Pay?_
The following is a state of the militia, taken from returns of
1780 and 1781, except in those counties marked with an asterisk,
the returns from which are somewhat older.
Every able-bodied freeman, between the ages of sixteen and
fifty, is enrolled in the militia. Those of every county are
formed into companies, and these again into one or more battalions,
according to the numbers in the county. They are commanded
by colonels, and other subordinate officers, as in the
regular service. In every county is a county-lieutenant, who
commands the whole militia of his county, but ranks only as a
colonel in the field. We have no general officers always existing.
These are appointed occasionally, when an invasion or insurrection
happens, and their commission determines with the
occasion. The governor is head of the military, as well as civil
power. The law requires every militia-man to provide himself
with the arms usual in the regular service. But this injunction
was always indifferently complied with, and the arms they had,
have been so frequently called for to arm the regulars, that in
the lower parts of the country they are entirely disarmed. In
the middle country a fourth or fifth part of them may have such
firelocks as they had provided to destroy the noxious animals
which infest their farms; and on the western side of the Blue
ridge they are generally armed with rifles. The pay of our
militia, as well as of our regulars, is that of the continental regulars.
The condition of our regulars, of whom we have none
but continentals, and part of a battalion of state troops, is so constantly
on the change, that a state of it at this day would not be
its state a month hence. It is much the same with the condition
of the other continental troops, which is well enough
known.
+--------------+--------------+---------+
| Situation. | Counties. | Militia.|
+--------------+--------------+---------+
|Westward of {|Lincoln | 600 |
|the {|Jefferson | 300 |
|Alleghany {|Fayette | 156 |
|4,458. {|Ohio | .. |
| {|Monongalia | *1,000 |
| {|Washington | *829 |
| {|Montgomery | 1,071 |
| {|Greenbriar | 502 |
| | | |
|Between the {|Hampshire | 930 |
|Alleghany {|Berkeley | *1,100 |
| and {|Frederick | 1,143 |
|Blue Ridge. {|Shenando | *925 |
|7,673. {|Rockingham | 875 |
| {|Augusta | 1,375 |
| {|Rockbridge | *625 |
| {|Boutetourt | *700 |
| | | |
|Between the {|Loudoun | 1,746 |
|Blue Ridge {|Faquier | 1,078 |
|and Tide {|Culpepper | 1,513 |
|Waters. {|Spotsylvania | 480 |
|18,828. {|Orange | *600 |
| {|Louisa | 603 |
| {|Goochland | *550 |
| {|Fluvanna | *296 |
| {|Albemarle | 873 |
| {|Amherst | 896 |
| {|Buckingham | *625 |
| {|Bedford | 1,300 |
| {|Henry | 1,004 |
| {|Pittsylvania | *725 |
| {|Halifax | *1,139 |
| {|Charlotte | 612 |
| {|Prince Edward | 589 |
| {|Cumberland | 408 |
| {|Powhatan | 330 |
| {|Amelia | *1,125 |
| {|Lunenburg | 677 |
| {|Mecklenburg | 1,100 |
| {|Brunswick | 559 |
+--------------+--------------+---------+
| On the Tide Waters, and in that |
| Parallel. 19,012. |
+--------------+--------------+---------+
| Situation. | Counties. | Militia.|
+--------------+--------------+---------+
|Between {|Greensville | 500 |
|James River {|Dinwiddie | *750 |
|and {|Chesterfield | 665 |
|Carolina. {|Prince George | 328 |
|6,959. {|Surrey | 380 |
| {|Sussex | *700 |
| {|Southampton | 874 |
| {|Isle of White | *600 |
| {|Nansemond | *644 |
| {|Norfolk | *880 |
| {|Prince Anne | *594 |
| | | |
|Between {|Henrico | 619 |
|James & {|Hanover | 706 |
|York {|New Kent | *418 |
|rivers. {|Charles City | 286 |
|3,009. {|James City | 235 |
| {|Williamsburgh | 129 |
| {|York | *244 |
| {|Warwick | *100 |
| {|Elizabeth City| 182 |
| | | |
|Bet. York & {|Caroline | 805 |
|Rappahannock.{|King William | 436 |
|3,269. {|King and Queen| 500 |
| {|Essex | 468 |
| {|Middlesex | *210 |
| {|Gloucester | 850 |
| | | |
|Betw'n {|Fairfax | 652 |
|Rappahannock {|Prince William| 614 |
|and {|Stafford | *500 |
|Powtomac. {|King George | 483 |
|4,137. {|Richmond | 412 |
| {|Westmoreland | 544 |
| {|Northumberland| 630 |
| {|Lancaster | 332 |
| | | |
|East'n Shore.{|Accomac | *1,208 |
|1,638. {|Northampton | *430 |
| +---------+
| Whole Militia of the State | 49,971 |
+-----------------------------+---------+
QUERY X.
_The Marine?_
Before the present invasion of this State by the British, under
the command of General Phillips, we had three vessels of sixteen
guns, one of fourteen, five small gallies, and two or three armed
boats. They were generally so badly manned as seldom to be
in a condition for service. Since the perfect possession of our
rivers assumed by the enemy, I believe we are left with a single
armed boat only.
QUERY XI.
_A description of the Indians established in that State?_
When the first effectual settlement of our colony was made,
which was in 1607, the country from the sea-coast to the mountains,
and from the Potomac to the most southern waters of James'
river, was occupied by upwards of forty different tribes of Indians.
Of these the _Powhatans_, the _Mannahoacs_, and _Monacans_,
were the most powerful. Those between the seacoast and
falls of the rivers, were in amity with one another, and attached
to the _Powhatans_ as their link of union. Those between the
falls of the rivers and the mountains, were divided into two confederacies;
the tribes inhabiting the head waters of Potomac and
Rappahannock, being attached to the _Mannahoacs_; and those
on the upper parts of James' river to the _Monacans_. But the
_Monacans_ and their friends were in amity with the _Mannahoacs_
and their friends, and waged joint and perpetual war against the
_Powhatans_. We are told that the _Powhatans_, _Mannahoacs_,
and _Monacans_, spoke languages so radically different, that interpreters
were necessary when they transacted business. Hence
we may conjecture, that this was not the case between all the
tribes, and, probably, that each spoke the language of the nation
to which it was attached; which we know to have been the case
in many particular instances. Very possibly there may have
been anciently three different stocks, each of which multiplying
in a long course of time, had separated into so many little societies.
This practice results from the circumstance of their
having never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive
power, any shadow of government. Their only controls are
their manners, and that moral sense of right and wrong, which,
like the sense of tasting and feeling in every man, makes a part
of his nature. An offence against these is punished by contempt,
by exclusion from society, or, where the case is serious, as that
of murder, by the individuals whom it concerns. Imperfect as
this species of coercion may seem, crimes are very rare among
them; insomuch that were it made a question, whether no law,
as among the savage Americans, or too much law, as among
the civilized Europeans, submits man to the greatest evil, one
who has seen both conditions of existence would pronounce it
to be the last; and that the sheep are happier of themselves, than
under care of the wolves. It will be said, that great societies
cannot exist without government. The savages, therefore, break
them into small ones.
The territories of the _Powhatan_ confederacy, south of the Potomac,
comprehended about eight thousand square miles, thirty
tribes, and two thousand four hundred warriors. Captain Smith
tells us, that within sixty miles of Jamestown were five thousand
people, of whom one thousand five hundred were warriors.
From this we find the proportion of their warriors to their whole
inhabitants, was as three to ten. The _Powhatan_ confederacy,
then, would consist of about eight thousand inhabitants, which
was one for every square mile; being about the twentieth part
of our present population in the same territory, and the hundredth
of that of the British islands.
Besides these were the _Nottoways_, living on Nottoway river,
the _Meherrins_ and _Tuteloes_ on Meherrin river, who were connected
with the Indians of Carolina, probably with the Chowanocs.
NORTH.
+-------------+----------------------------------------------+
| | MANNAHOACS. |
+-------------+-------------+--------------+---------+-------+
| | Tribes. |Country. |Cf. Towns|Warr's.|
| | | | +-------+
| | | | | 1669. |
| +-------------+--------------+---------+-------+
|Between {|Whonkenties. |Fauquier | | |
|Patowinac {|Tegninaties. |Culpepper. | | |
|and {|Ontponies. |Orange. | | |
|Rappahannoc.{|Tauxitanians.|Fauquier. | | |
| {|Hassinungaes.|Culpepper. | | |
| {| | | | |
| {| | | | |
| {| | | | |
WEST.| {| | | | |EAST
| {| | | | |
| {| | | | |
| {| | | | |
| {| | | | |
|Bet. {|Stegarakies. |Orange. | | |
|Rappahannoc {|Shackakonies.|Spotsylvania. | | |
|& York. {|Manahoacs. |Stafford. | | |
| {| |Spotsylvania. | | |
+-------------+-------------+--------------+---------+-------+
|Between | |
| York | MONACANS. |
| and +-------------+--------------+---------+-------+
|James. {|Monacans. |James river, |Fork of | |
| {| | above the | James | |
| {| | falls. | river. | 30 |
| {| | | | |
| {|Monasiccapanoes.|Louisa. | | |
| {| |Fluvanna. | | |
| | | | | |
|Between {|Monahassanoes. |Bedford. | | |
|James & {| |Buckingham.| | |
|Carolina. {|Massinacacs. |Cumberland.| | |
| {|Mohemenchoes. |Powhatan. | | |
|Eastern | | | | |
|shore. | | | | |
| | | | | |
+-------------+----------------+-----------+---------+-------+
SOUTH.
NORTH
+-------------+----------------+------------------------------------------+
| | POWHATANS. |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+------------------------+
| | Tribes. | Country. | Chief Towns. |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| +----------------+-----------------+------------------------+
|Between |Tauxenents. |Fairfax. |About Gen. Washington's.|
|Patowinac |Patówomekes. } |Stafford. |Pawtomac cr. |
|and | } |King George. | |
|Rappahannoc. |Cuttatawomans. |King George. |About Lamb Creek. |
| |Pissasecs. } |King George. |Above Leeds Town. |
| | } |Richmond. | |
| |Onaumanients. |Westmoreland. |Nomony river. |
| |Rappahànocs. |Richmond co. |Rappahanoc creek. |
| |Moàughtacunds.} |Lancaster. |Moratico river. |
| | } |Richmond. | |
| |Secacaconies. |Northumberland. |Coan river. |
| |Wighcocòmicoes. |Northumberland. |Wicocomico river. |
| |Cuttatawomans. |Lancaster. |Corotoman. |
+-------------+----------------+--------------- -+------------------------+
|Bet. | | | |
|Rappahannoc |Nantaughtacunds.|Essex. Caroline. |Port Tobacco creek. |
|& York. |Màttapomènts. |Mattapony river. | ... |
| |Pamùnkies. |King William. |Romuncock. |
| |Wérowocòmicos. |Gloucester. |About Rosewell. |
| |Pay-ankatonks. |Piankatank river.|Turk's Ferry. Grimesby. |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+------------------------+
|Between York |Youghtanunds. |Pamunkey river. | ... |
|and James. |Chickahòminies. |Chickahominy r. |Orapaks. |
| |Powhatans. |Henrico. |Powhatan. Mayo's. |
| |Arrowhàtocs. |Henrico. |Arrohatocs. |
| |Wèanocs. |Charles city. |Weynoke. |
| |Paspahèghes.} |Charles city. |Sandy-Point. |
| | } |James city. | |
| |Chiskiacs. |York. |Chiskiac. |
| |Kecoughtáns. |Elizabeth city. |Roscows. |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+------------------------+
|Between James|Appamàttocs. |Chesterfield. |Bermuda Hundred. |
|& Carolina. |Quiocohànoes. |Surry. |About Upp. Chipoak. |
|Eastern |Wàrrasqueaks. |Isle of Wight. |Warrasqueoc. .. |
|shore. |Nasamónds. |Nansamond. |About mouth W. branch |
| |Chèsapeaks. |Princess Anne. |About Lynhaven riv. |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+------------------------+
|Eastern |Accohanocs. }|Accom. |Accohanoc river. |
|shore. | }|Northampton. | |
| {Accamàcks. |Northampton. |About Cheriton's. |
+-------------+----------------+-----------------+------------------------+
SOUTH
NORTH
+--------------------------------------+----------------------+
| POWHATANS | |
+-----------------------+--------------+----------------------|
| Chief Towns. |Warriors. | |
| |-----+--------| |
| |1607.|1669. | |
+-----------------------+-----+--------|----------------------+
|About Gen. Washington's| 40 | |{By the name of |
|Pawtomac cr. |200 | | Matchotics, |
| | | |{U. Matchodic, |
|About Lamb Creek. | 20} | 60 |{Nanzaticos, |
|Above Leeds Town. | ..} | |{Nauzatico, Appomatox,|
| | | |{Matox. |
|Nomony river. |100 | | |
|Rappahanoc creek. |100 | 30 |{By the name of |
|Moratico river. | 80 | 40 |{Totuskeys. |
| | | | | EAST.
|Coan river. | 30 | | |
|Wicocomico river. |130 | 70 | |
|Corotoman. | 30 | | |
|Port Tobacco creek. |150 | 60 | |
| ... | 30 | 20 | |
|Romuncock. |300 | 50 | |
|About Rosewell. | 40 | | |
|Turk's Ferry. Grimesby.| 55 | | |
| ... | 60 | | |
|Orapaks. |250 | 60 | |
|Powhatan. Mayo's. | 40 | 10 | |
|Arrohatocs. | 30 | | |
|Weynoke. |100 | 15 | |
|Sandy-Point. | 40 | | |
| | | +----------------+-----+
|Chiskiac. | 45 | 15 | |1699.|
|Roscows. | 20 | +----------------+-----+
|Bermuda Hundred. | 60 | 50 |}Nottoways. | .. |
|About Upp. Chipoak. | 25 |3 Pohics|}Meherrics. | 90 |
|Warrasqueoc. .. | | |}Tuteloes. | 50 |
|A't mouth W. branch |200 | 45 | | |
|About Lynhaven riv. |100 | +----------------+-----+
|Accohanoc river. | 40 | | |
| | | | |
|About Cheriton's. | 80 | | |
+-----------------------+-----+--------+----------------------+
SOUTH
The preceding table contains a state of these several tribes,
according to their confederacies and geographical situation, with
their numbers when we first became acquainted with them,
where these numbers are known. The numbers of some of
them are again stated as they were in the year 1669, when an
attempt was made by assembly to enumerate them. Probably
the enumeration is imperfect, and in some measure conjectural,
and that a farther search into the records would furnish many
more particulars. What would be the melancholy sequel of their
history, may, however, be argued from the census of 1669; by
which we discover that the tribes therein enumerated were, in
the space of sixty-two years, reduced to about one-third of their
former numbers. Spirituous liquors, the small-pox, war, and an
abridgement of territory to a people who lived principally on the
spontaneous productions of nature, had committed terrible havoc
among them, which generation, under the obstacles opposed to
it among them, was not likely to make good. That the lands
of this country were taken from them by conquest, is not so
general a truth as is supposed. I find in our historians and
records, repeated proofs of purchase, which cover a considerable
part of the lower country; and many more would doubtless be
found on further search. The upper country, we know, has
been acquired altogether acquired by purchases made in the
most unexceptionable form.
Westward of all these tribes, beyond the mountains, and extending
to the great lakes, were the _Maffawomees_, a most powerful
confederacy, who harassed unremittingly the _Powhatans_
and _Manahoacs_. These were probably the ancestors of tribes
known at present by the name of the _Six Nations_.
Very little can now be discovered of the subsequent history
of these tribes severally. The _Chickahominies_ removed about
the year 1661, to Mattapony river. Their chief, with one from
each of the Pamunkies and Mattaponies, attended the treaty of
Albany in 1685. This seems to have been the last chapter in
their history. They retained, however, their separate name so
late as 1705, and were at length blended with the Pamunkies
and Mattaponies, and exist at present only under their names.
There remain of the _Mattaponies_ three or four men only, and
have more negro than Indian blood in them. They have lost
their language, have reduced themselves, by voluntary sales, to
about fifty acres of land, which lie on the river of their own
name, and have from time to time, been joining the Pamunkies,
from whom they are distant but ten miles. The _Pamunkies_ are
reduced to about ten or twelve men, tolerably pure from mixture
with other colors. The older ones among them preserve
their language in a small degree, which are the last vestiges on
earth, as far as we know, of the Powhatan language. They
have about three hundred acres of very fertile land, on Pamunkey
river, so encompassed by water that a gate shuts in the
whole. Of the _Nottoways_, not a male is left. A few women
constitute the remains of that tribe. They are seated on Nottoway
river, in Southampton country, on very fertile lands. At a
very early period, certain lands were marked out and appropriated
to these tribes, and were kept from encroachment by the authority
of the laws. They have usually had trustees appointed,
whose duty was to watch over their interests, and guard them
from insult and injury.
The _Monacans_ and their friends, better known latterly by the
name of _Tuscaroras_, were probably connected with the Massawomecs,
or Five Nations. For though we are[46] told their languages
were so different that the intervention of interpreters was
necessary between them, yet do we also[47] learn that the Erigas,
a nation formerly inhabiting on the Ohio, were of the same
original stock with the Five Nations, and that they partook also
of the Tuscarora language. Their dialects might, by long separation,
have become so unlike as to be unintelligible to one another.
We know that in 1712, the Five Nations received the
Tuscaroras into their confederacy, and made them the Sixth Nation.
They received the Meherrins and Tuteloes also into their
protection; and it is most probable, that the remains of many
other of the tribes, of whom we find no particular account, retired
westwardly in like manner, and were incorporated with
one or the other of the western tribes. (5.)
I know of no such thing existing as an Indian monument; for
I would not honor with that name arrow points, stone hatchets,
stone pipes, and half-shapen images. Of labor on the large scale,
I think there is no remain as respectable as would be a common
ditch for the draining of lands; unless indeed it would be
the barrows, of which many are to be found all over this country.
These are of different sizes, some of them constructed of
earth, and some of loose stones. That they were repositories of
the dead, has been obvious to all; but on what particular occasion
constructed, was a matter of doubt. Some have thought
they covered the bones of those who have fallen in battles
fought on the spot of interment. Some ascribed them to the
custom, said to prevail among the Indians, of collecting, at certain
periods, the bones of all their dead, wheresoever deposited at
the time of death. Others again supposed them the general
sepulchres for towns, conjectured to have been on or near these
grounds; and this opinion was supported by the quality of the
lands in which they are found, (those constructed of earth being
generally in the softest and most fertile meadow-grounds on river
sides,) and by a tradition, said to be handed down from the aboriginal
Indians, that, when they settled in a town, the first person
who died was placed erect, and earth put about him, so as to
cover and support him; that when another died, a narrow passage
was dug to the first, the second reclined against him, and
the cover of earth replaced, and so on. There being one of
these in my neighborhood, I wished to satisfy myself whether
any, and which of these opinions were just. For this purpose I
determined to open and examine it thoroughly. It was situated
on the low grounds of the Rivanna, about two miles above its
principal fork, and opposite to some hills, on which had been an
Indian town. It was of a spheroidical form, of about forty feet
diameter at the base, and had been of about twelve feet altitude,
though now reduced by the plough to seven and a half, having
been under cultivation about a dozen years. Before this it was
covered with trees of twelve inches diameter, and round the base
was an excavation of five feet depth and width, from whence
the earth had been taken of which the hillock was formed. I
first dug superficially in several parts of it, and came to collections
of human bones, at different depths, from six inches to
three feet below the surface. These were lying in the utmost
confusion, some vertical, some oblique, some horizontal, and directed
to every point of the compass, entangled and held together
in clusters by the earth. Bones of the most distant parts were
found together, as, for instance, the small bones of the foot in
the hollow of a scull; many sculls would sometimes be in contact,
lying on the face, on the side, on the back, top or bottom,
so as, on the whole, to give the idea of bones emptied promiscuously
from a bag or a basket, and covered over with earth,
without any attention to their order. The bones of which the
greatest numbers remained, were sculls, jaw-bones, teeth, the
bones of the arms, thighs, legs, feet and hands. A few ribs remained,
some vertebræ of the neck and spine, without their processes,
and one instance only of the[48] bone which serves as a base
to the vertebral column. The sculls were so tender, that they
generally fell to pieces on being touched. The other bones were
stronger. There were some teeth which were judged to be
smaller than those of an adult; a scull, which on a slight view,
appeared to be that of an infant, but it fell to pieces on being
taken out, so as to prevent satisfactory examination; a rib, and a
fragment of the under-jaw of a person about half grown; another
rib of an infant; and a part of the jaw of a child, which had not
cut its teeth. This last furnishing the most decisive proof of the
burial of children here, I was particular in my attention to it.
It was part of the right half of the under-jaw. The processes,
by which it was attenuated to the temporal bones, were entire, and
the bone itself firm to where it had been broken off, which, as
nearly as I could judge, was about the place of the eye-tooth. Its
upper edge, wherein would have been the sockets of the teeth, was
perfectly smooth. Measuring it with that of an adult, by placing
their hinder processes together, its broken end extended to the
penultimate grinder of the adult. This bone was white, all the
others of a sand color. The bones of infants being soft, they probably
decay sooner, which might be the cause so few were found
here. I proceeded then to make a perpendicular cut through the
body of the barrow, that I might examine its internal structure.
This passed about three feet from its centre, was opened to the
former surface of the earth, and was wide enough for a man to
walk through and examine its sides. At the bottom, that is, on
the level of the circumjacent plain, I found bones; above these
a few stones, brought from a cliff a quarter of a mile off, and
from the river one-eighth of a mile off; then a large interval of
earth, then a stratum of bones, and so on. At one end of the
section were four strata of bones plainly distinguishable; at the
other, three; the strata in one part not ranging with those in another.
The bones nearest the surface were least decayed. No
holes were discovered in any of them, as if made with bullets,
arrows, or other weapons. I conjectured that in this barrow
might have been a thousand skeletons. Every one will readily
seize the circumstances above related, which militate against the
opinion, that it covered the bones only of persons fallen in
battle; and against the tradition also, which would make it the
common sepulchre of a town, in which the bodies were placed
upright, and touching each other. Appearances certainly indicate
that it has derived both origin and growth from the accustomary
collection of bones, and deposition of them together; that
the first collection had been deposited on the common surface
of the earth, a few stones put over it, and then a covering of
earth, that the second had been laid on this, had covered more
or less of it in proportion to the number of bones, and was then
also covered with earth; and so on. The following are the
particular circumstances which give it this aspect. 1. The
number of bones. 2. Their confused position. 3. Their being
in different strata. 4. The strata in one part having no correspondence
with those in another. 5. The different states of decay
in these strata, which seem to indicate a difference in the
time of inhumation. 6. The existence of infant bones among
them.
But on whatever occasion they may have been made, they are
of considerable notoriety among the Indians; for a party passing,
about thirty years ago, through the part of the country where
this barrow is, went through the woods directly to it, without
any instructions or inquiry, and having staid about it for some
time, with expressions which were construed to be those of
sorrow, they returned to the high road, which they had left
about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey.
There is another barrow much resembling this, in the
low grounds of the south branch of Shenandoah, where it is
crossed by the road leading from the Rockfish gap to Staunton.
Both of these have, within these dozen years, been cleared of
their trees and put under cultivation, are much reduced in their
height, and spread in width, by the plough, and will probably
disappear in time. There is another on a hill in the Blue
Ridge of mountains, a few miles north of Wood's gap, which is
made up of small stones thrown together. This has been opened
and found to contain human bones, as the others do. There are
also many others in other parts of the country.
Great question has arisen from whence came those aboriginals
of America? Discoveries, long ago made, were sufficient to show
that the passage from Europe to America was always practicable,
even to the imperfect navigation of ancient times. In going
from Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to Greenland, from Greenland
to Labrador, the first traject is the widest; and this having
been practised from the earliest times of which we have any account
of that part of the earth, it is not difficult to suppose that
the subsequent trajects may have been sometimes passed. Again,
the late discoveries of Captain Cook, coasting from Kamschatka
to California, have proved that if the two continents of Asia and
America be separated at all, it is only by a narrow strait. So that
from this side also, inhabitants may have passed into America;
and the resemblance between the Indians of America and the
eastern inhabitants of Asia, would induce us to conjecture, that
the former are the descendants of the latter, or the latter of the
former; excepting indeed the Esquimaux, who, from the same
circumstance of resemblance, and from identity of language,
must be derived from the Greenlanders, and these probably from
some of the northern parts of the old continent. A knowledge
of their several languages would be the most certain evidence
of their derivation which could be produced. In fact, it is the
best proof of the affinity of nations which ever can be referred
to. How many ages have elapsed since the English, the Dutch,
the Germans, the Swiss, the Norwegians, Danes and Swedes
have separated from their common stock? Yet how many more
must elapse before the proofs of their common origin, which exist
in their several languages, will disappear? It is to be lamented
then, very much to be lamented, that we have suffered
so many of the Indian tribes already to extinguish, without our
having previously collected and deposited in the records of literature,
the general rudiments at least of the languages they spoke.
Were vocabularies formed of all the languages spoken in North
and South America, preserving their appellations of the most
common objects in nature, of those which must be present to
every nation barbarous or civilized, with the inflections of their
nouns and verbs, their principles of regimen and concord, and
these deposited in all the public libraries, it would furnish opportunities
to those skilled in the languages of the old world to compare
them with these, now, or at any future time, and hence to
construct the best evidence of the derivation of this part of the
human race.
But imperfect as is our knowledge of the tongues spoken in
America, it suffices to discover the following remarkable fact:
Arranging them under the radical ones to which they may be
palpably traced, and doing the same by those of the red men of
Asia, there will be found probably twenty in America, for one
in Asia, of those radical languages, so called because if they
were ever the same they have lost all resemblance to one another.
A separation into dialects may be the work of a few
ages only, but for two dialects to recede from one another till
they have lost all vestiges of their common origin, must require
an immense course of time; perhaps not less than many people
give to the age of the earth. A greater number of those radical
changes of language having taken place among the red men of
America, proves them of greater antiquity than those of Asia.
I will now proceed to state the nations and numbers of the
Aborigines which still exist in a respectable and independent
form. And as their undefined boundaries would render it difficult
to specify those only which may be within any certain
limits, and it may not be unacceptable to present a more general
view of them, I will reduce within the form of a catalogue all
those within, and circumjacent to, the United States, whose
names and numbers have come to my notice. These are taken
from four different lists, the first of which was given in the year
1759 to General Stanwix by George Croghan, deputy agent for
Indian affairs under Sir William Johnson; the second was drawn
up by a French trader of considerable note, resident among the
Indians many years, and annexed to Colonel Bouquet's printed
account of his expedition in 1764. The third was made out by
Captain Hutchins, who visited most of the tribes, by order, for
the purpose of learning their numbers, in 1768; and the fourth
by John Dodge, an Indian trader, in 1779, except the numbers
marked *, which are from other information.
INDIAN TRIBES.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Northward and Westward of the United States. |
+----------------------+-------+--------+---------+--------------------+
| TRIBES. |Croghan| Bouquet| Hutchins| Where they reside. |
| | 1759. | 1764. | 1768. | |
+----------------------+-------+--------+---------+--------------------+
|Oswegatchies | .... | .... | 100 | At Swagatchy, on |
| | | | | the river |
| | | | | St. Laurence. |
|Connasedagoes | .... | }| | |
|Cohunnewagoes | .... | 200}| 300 | Near Montreal. |
|Orondocs | .... | .... | 100 | Near Trois |
| | | | | Rivieres. |
|Abenakies | .... | 350 | 150 | Near Trois |
| | | | | Rivieres. |
|Little Alkonkins | .... | .... | 100 | Near Trois |
| | | | | Rivieres. |
|Michmacs | .... | 700 | | River St. Laurence.|
|Amelistes | .... | 550 | | River St. Laurence.|
|Chalas | .... | 130 | | River St. Laurence.|
|Nipissins | .... | 400 | | Towards the heads |
| | | | | of the Ottawas |
| | | | | river. |
|Algonquins | .... | 300 | | Towards the heads |
| | | | | of the Ottawas |
| | | | | river. |
|Round Heads | .... | 2,500 | | Riviere aux Tetes |
| | | | | boules, on the |
| | | | | east side of Lake| |
| | | | | Superior. |
|Messasagues | .... | 2,000 | | Lakes Huron and |
| | | | | Superior. |
|Christianaux--Kris | .... | 3,000 | | Lake Christianaux. |
|Assinaboes | .... | 1,500 | | Lake Assinaboes. |
|Blancs, or Barbus | .... | 1,500 | | |
|Sioux of the Meadows }| | 2,500 | |}On the heads of the|
|Sioux of the Woods }|10,000 | 1,800 | 10,000 |} Mississippi and |
|Sioux }| | .... | |} westward of that |
| | | | |} river. |
|Ajoues | .... | 1,100 | .... | North of the |
| | | | | Padoucas. |
|Panis--White | .... | 2,000 | .... | South of the |
| | | | | Missouri. |
|Panis--Freckled | .... | 1,700 | .... | South of the |
| | | | | Missouri. |
|Padoucas | .... | 500 | .... | South of the |
| | | | | Missouri. |
|Grandes-Eaux | .... | 1,000 | .... | |
|Canses | .... | 1,600 | .... | South of the |
| | | | | Missouri. |
|Osages | .... | 600 | .... | South of the |
| | | | | Missouri. |
|Missouris | 400 | 3,000 | .... | On the river |
| | | | | Missouri. |
|Arkansas | .... | 2,000 | .... | On the river |
| | | | | Arkansas. |
|Caouitas | .... | 700 | .... | East of the |
| | | | | Alibamous. |
+----------------------+-------+--------+---------+--------------------+
+--------------+-------+-------+--------+-----+----------------------+
|TRIBES. |Croghan|Bouquet|Hutchins|Dodge|Where they reside. |
| | 1759. | 1764.| 1768. | 1779| |
+--------------+-------+-------+--------+-----+----------------------+
|Within the limits of the United States. |
| | | | | | |
|{Mohocks | ....} | .... | 160 | 100 |Mohocks river. |
|{Onèidas | ....} | .... | 300} | |East side of |
|{ | | | | | Oneida Lake and |
|{ | | | | 400 | head branches of |
|{ | | | | | Susquehanna. |
|{Tuscoròras | ....} | .... | 200} | |Between the Oneidas |
|{ | } | | | | and Onondagoes. |
|{Onondàgoes | ....} | 1,550 | 260 | 230 |Near Onondago Lake. |
|{Cayùgas | ....} | .... | 200 | 220 |On the Cayuga Lake, |
|{ | } | | | | near the north |
|{ | } | | | | branch of |
| | | | | | Susquehanna. |
|{Senecas | ....} | .... | 1,000 | 650 |On the waters |
| | | | | | of Susquehanna, |
| | | | | | of Ontario, and the |
| | | | | | heads of the Ohio. |
|Aughquàgahs | .... | .... | 150 | ....|East branch of |
| | | | | | Susquehanna, and |
| | | | | | on Aughquagah. |
|Nànticoes | .... | .... | 100 | ....|Utsanango, |
| | | | | | Chaghnet, and |
| | | | | | Owegy, on the east |
| | | | | | branch of |
| | | | | | Susquehanna. |
|Mohiccons | .... | .... | 100 | ....|In the same parts. |
|Conòies | .... | .... | 30 | ....|In the same parts. |
| | | | | | |
|Sapòonies | .... | .... | 30 | ....|At Diahago and |
| | | | | | other villages up |
| | | | | | the north branch |
| | | | | | of Susquehanna. |
|Mùnsies | .... | .... | 150 |*150 |At Diahago and |
| | | | | | other villages up |
| | | | | | the north branch |
| | | | | | of Susquehanna. |
|Delawares, | .... | .... | 150} | |At Diahago and |
|or | | | } | | other villages up |
|Linnelinopies | | | } | | the north branch |
| | | | } | | of Susquehanna. |
|Delawares, | 600 | 600 | 600} |*500 |Between Ohio and |
|or | | | | | Lake Erie and the |
|Linnelinopies | | | | | branches of |
| | | | | | Beaver Creek, |
| | | | | | Cayahoga and |
| | | | | | Muskingum. |
|Shàwanees | 500 | 400 | 300 | 300 |Sioto and the |
| | | | | | branches of |
| | | | | | Muskingum. |
|Mingoes | .... | .... | .... | 60 |On a branch of |
|Mohiccons | .... | ....} | | *60 | Sioto. |
| | | } | | | |
|Cohunnewagos | .... | ....} | 300 | ....|Near Sandusky. |
| | | } | | | |
|Wyandots | 300} | 300} | } | 180 | |
| | } | | } | | |
|Wyandots | } | .... | 250} | |Near |
| | | | | | Fort St. Joseph's |
| | | | | | and Detroit. |
|Twightwees | 300 | .... | 250 | ....|Miami river |
| | | | | | near Fort Miami. |
|Miamis | .... | 350 | .... | 300 |Miami river, about |
| | | | | | Fort St. Joseph. |
|Ouiàtonons | 200 | 400 | 300 |*400 |On the banks of |
| | | | | | the Wabash, |
| | | | | | near Fort Ouiatonon |
|Piànkishas | 300 | 250 | 300 |*400 |On the banks of |
| | | | | | the Wabash, |
| | | | | | near Fort Ouiatonon |
|Shákirs | .... | .... | 200 | ....|On the banks of |
| | | | | | the Wabash, |
| | | | | | near Fort Ouiatonon |
|Kaskaskias | .... | | 300 | ....|Near Kaskaskia. |
| | | | | | |
|Illinois | 400 | 600 | 300 | ....|Near Cahokia. |
| | | | | | Query, If not the |
| | | | | | same with the |
| | | | | | Mitchigamis? |
|Piorias | .... | 800 | .... | ....|On the Illinois |
| | | | | | river, called |
| | | | | | Pianrias, but |
| | | | | | supposed to mean |
| | | | | | Piorias. |
|Ponteòtamies | .... | 350 | 300 | 450 |Near Fort St. |
| | | | | | Joseph's |
| | | | | | and Fort Detroit. |
|Ottawas | .... }| .... | 550} |*300 |Near Fort St. Joseph's|
| | }| | } | | and Fort Detroit. |
|Chippawas | .... }| ....}| } | ....|On Saguinam bay of |
| | }| }| } | | Lake Huron. |
|Ottawas | .... }| ....}| 200} | ....|On Saguinam bay of |
| | }| }| } | | Lake Huron. |
|Chippawas | .... }| .... | 400} | ....|Near Michillimackinac.|
|Ottawas | 2,000}| 5,900 | 250} |5,450|Near Michillimackinac.|
|Chippawas | .... }| | 400} | ....|Near Fort St. Mary's |
| | } | } | | on Lake Superior. |
| | }| | } | |Several other villages|
|Chippawas | .... }| .... | ....} | ....| along the banks of |
| | }| | } | | Lake Superior. |
| | } | } | | Numbers unknown. |
|Chippawas | .... }| }| ....} | ....|Near Puans bay on |
| | }| }| } | | Lake Michigan. |
|Shakies | 200 | 400}| 550 | ....|Near Puans bay on |
| | | } | | Lake Michigan. |
|Mynonàmies | .... | ....}| .... | ....|Near Puans bay on |
| | | }| | | Lake Michigan. |
|Ouisconsings | .... | 550 | .... | ....|Ouisconsing river. |
|Kickapous | 600 | 300}| .... | 250}| |
|Otogamies--Foxes| ....| ....}| .... |... }| |
|Màscoutens | .... | 500}| 4,000 |... }|On Lake Michigan, and |
| | | }| | }| between that and |
| | | }| | }| the Mississippi. |
|Miscòthins | .... | ....}| |... }| |
|Outimacs | .... | ....}| .... |... }| |
|Musquakies | 200 | 250}| .... | 250}| |
| | | | | | |
|Sioux. Eastern| .... | .... | .... | 500 |On the eastern heads |
| | | | | | of the Mississippi, |
| | | | | | and the islands of |
| | | | | | Lake Superior. |
| | | +--------+ | |
| | | |Galphin.| | |
| | | | 1678. | | |
| | | +--------+ | |
|Cherokees | 1,500 | 2,500 | 3,000 | ....|Western parts of North|
| | | | | | Carolina. |
|Chickasaws | .... | 750 | 500 | ....|Western parts of |
| | | | | | Georgia. |
|Catawbas | .... | 150 | .... | ....|On the Catawba river |
| | | | | | in South Carolina. |
|Chacktaws | 2,000 | 4,500 | 6,000 | ....|Western parts of |
| | | | | | Georgia. |
|Upper Creeks | .... | ....}| | ....|{Western parts of |
|Lower Creeks | .... | 1,180}| 3,000 | ....|{ Georgia. |
|Natchez | .... | 150 | .... | ....| |
|Alibamous | .... | 600 | .... | ....|Alabama river, in the |
| | | | | | western parts of |
| | | | | | Georgia. |
+--------------+-------+-------+--------+-----+----------------------+
The following tribes are also mentioned:
Croghan's Catal.
Lezar 400 From the mouth of Ohios to the mouth of Wabash.
Webings 200 On the Mississippi below the Shakies.
Ousasoys }
Grand Tuc} 4,000 On the White Creek, a branch of the Mississippi.
Linways 1,000 On the Mississippi.
Bouquet's.
Les Puans 700 Near Puans Bay.
Folle Avoine 350 Near Puans Bay.
Ouanakina 300 }
Chiakanessou 350 } Conjectured to be tribes of the Creeks.
Machecous 800 }
Souikilas 200 }
Dodge's.
Minneamis 2,000 } North-west of Lake Michigan, to the
} heads of Mississippi, and up to Lake
} Superior.
Piankishas, }
Mascoutins, } 800 } On and near the Wabash toward the Illinois.
Vermillions,}
But apprehending these might be different appellations for
some of the tribes already enumerated, I have not inserted them
in the table, but state them separately as worthy of further inquiry.
The variations observable in numbering the same tribe
may sometimes be ascribed to imperfect information, and sometimes
to a greater or less comprehension of settlements under the
same name. (7.)
FOOTNOTES:
[46] Smith.
[47] Evans.
[48] The os sacrum.
QUERY XII.
_A notice of the counties, cities, townships, and villages?_
The counties have been enumerated under Query IX. They
are seventy-four in number, of very unequal size and population.
Of these thirty-five are on the tide waters, or in that parallel;
twenty-three are in the midlands, between the tide waters and
Blue Ridge of mountains; eight between the Blue Ridge and
Alleghany; and eight westward of the Alleghany.
The State, by another division, is formed into parishes, many
of which are commensurate with the counties; but sometimes a
county comprehends more than one parish, and sometimes a
parish more than one county. This division had relation to the
religion of the State, a portion of the Anglican church, with a
fixed salary, having been heretofore established in each parish.
The care of the poor was another object of the parochial division.
We have no townships. Our country being much intersected
with navigable waters, and trade brought generally to our doors,
instead of our being obliged to go in quest of it, has probably been
one of the causes why we have no towns of any consequence.
Williamsburg, which, till the year 1780, was the seat of our
government, never contained above 1,800 inhabitants; and Norfolk,
the most populous town we ever had, contained but 6,000.
Our towns, but more properly our villages and hamlets, are as
follows:
On _James River_ and its waters, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton,
Suffolk, Smithfield, Williamsburg, Petersburg, Richmond,
the seat of our government, Manchester, Charlottesville, New
London.
On _York River_ and its waters, York, Newcastle, Hanover.
On _Rappahannock_, Urbanna, Port-Royal, Fredericksburg, Falmouth.
On _Potomac_ and its waters, Dumfries, Colchester, Alexandria,
Winchester, Staunton.
On _Ohio_, Louisville.
There are other places at which, like some of the foregoing,
the _laws_ have said there shall be towns; but _nature_ has said
there shall not, and they remain unworthy of enumeration. _Norfolk_
will probably be the emporium for all the trade of the
Chesapeake bay and its waters; and a canal of eight or ten
miles will bring to it all that of Albemarle sound and its waters.
Secondary to this place, are the towns at the head of the tide
waters, to wit, Petersburg on Appomattox; Richmond on James
river; Newcastle on York river; Alexandria on Potomac, and
Baltimore on Patapsco. From these the distribution will be to
subordinate situations in the country. Accidental circumstances,
however, may control the indications of nature, and in no instance
do they do it more frequently than in the rise and fall of
towns.
QUERY XIII.
_The constitution of the State and its several charters?_
Queen Elizabeth by her letters patent, bearing date March 25,
1584, licensed Sir Walter Raleigh to search for remote heathen
lands, not inhabited by Christian people, and granted to him in
fee simple, all the soil within two hundred leagues of the places
where his people should, within six years, make their dwellings
or abidings; reserving only to herself and her successors, their
allegiance and one-fifth part of all the gold and silver ore they
should obtain. Sir Walter immediately sent out two ships, which
visited Wococon island in North Carolina, and the next year despatched
seven with one hundred and seven men, who settled in
Roanoke island, about latitude 35° 50'. Here Okisko, king of the
Weopomeiocs, in a full council of his people is said to have acknowledged
himself the homager of the Queen of England,
and, after her, of Sir Walter Raleigh. A supply of fifty men
were sent in 1586, and one hundred and fifty in 1587. With
these last Sir Walter sent a governor, appointed him twelve
assistants, gave them a charter of incorporation, and instructed
them to settle on Chesapeake bay. They landed, however, at
Hatorask. In 1588, when a fleet was ready to sail with a new
supply of colonists and necessaries, they were detained by the
Queen to assist against the Spanish armada. Sir Walter having
now expended £40,000 in these enterprises, obstructed occasionally
by the crown without a shilling of aid from it, was under
a necessity of engaging others to adventure their money.
He, therefore, by deed bearing date the 7th of March, 1589, by
the name of Sir Walter Raleigh, Chief Governor of Assamàcomòc,
(probably Acomàc,) alias Wingadacoia, alias Virginia, granted
to Thomas Smith and others, in consideration of their adventuring
certain sums of money, liberty to trade to this new
country free from all customs and taxes for seven years, excepting
the fifth part of the gold and silver ore to be obtained; and
stipulated with them and the other assistants, then in Virginia,
that he would confirm the deed of incorporation which he had
given in 1587, with all the prerogatives, jurisdictions, royalties
and privileges granted to him by the Queen. Sir Walter, at different
times, sent five other adventurers hither, the last of which
was in 1602; for in 1603 he was attainted and put into close
imprisonment, which put an end to his cares over his infant
colony. What was the particular fate of the colonists he had
before sent and seated, has never been known; whether they
were murdered, or incorporated with the savages.
Some gentlemen and merchants, supposing that by the attainder
of Sir Walter Raleigh the grant to him was forfeited, not
inquiring over carefully whether the sentence of an English
court could affect lands not within the jurisdiction of that court,
petitioned king James for a new grant of Virginia to them. He
accordingly executed a grant to Sir Thomas Gates and others,
bearing date the 9th of March, 1607, under which, in the same
year, a settlement was effected at Jamestown, and ever after
maintained. Of this grant, however, no particular notice need
be taken, as it was superceded by letters patent of the same king,
of May 23, 1609, to the Earl of Salisbury and others, incorporating
them by the name of "The Treasurer and company of
Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the first
colony in Virginia," granting to them and their successors all the
lands in Virginia from Point Comfort along the sea-coast, to the
northward two hundred miles, and from the same point along the
sea-coast to the southward two hundred miles, and all the space
from this precinct on the sea-coast up into the land, west and
north-west, from sea to sea, and the islands within one hundred
miles of it, with all the communities, jurisdictions, royalties,
privileges, franchises, and pre-eminencies, within the same, and
thereto and thereabouts, by sea and land, appertaining in as
ample manner as had before been granted to any adventurer; to
be held of the king and his successors, in common soccage,
yielding one-fifth part of the gold and silver ore to be therein
found, for all manner of services; establishing a counsel in England
for the direction of the enterprise, the members of which
were to be chosen and displaced by the voice of the majority of
the company and adventurers, and were to have the nomination
and revocation of governors, officers, and ministers, which by
them should be thought needful for the colony, the power of establishing
laws and forms of government and magistracy, obligatory
not only within the colony, but also on the seas in going
and coming to and from it; authorizing them to carry thither any
persons who should consent to go, freeing them forever from all
taxes and impositions on any goods or merchandise on importations
into the colony, or exportation out of it, except the five per
cent. due for custom on all goods imported into the British dominions,
according to the ancient trade of merchants; which five
per cent. only being paid they might, within thirteen months,
re-export the same goods into foreign parts, without any custom,
tax, or other duty, to the king or any of his officers, or deputies;
with powers of waging war against those who should annoy
them; giving to the inhabitants of the colony all the rights of
natural subjects, as if born and abiding in England; and declaring
that these letters should be construed, in all doubtful parts,
in such manner as should be most for the benefit of the grantees.
Afterwards on the 12th of March, 1612, by other letters patent,
the king added to his former grants, all islands in any part of the
ocean between the 30th and 41st degrees of latitude, and within
three hundred leagues of any of the parts before granted to the
treasurer and company, not being possessed or inhabited by any
other Christian prince or state, nor within the limits of the northern
colony.
In pursuance of the authorities given to the company by these
charters, and more especially of that part in the charter of 1609,
which authorized them to establish a form of government, they
on the 24th of July, 1621, by charter under their common seal,
declared that from thenceforward there should be two supreme
councils in Virginia, the one to be called the council of state, to
be placed and displaced by the treasurer, council in England, and
company from time to time, whose office was to be that of assisting
and advising the governor; the other to be called the
general assembly, to be convened by the governor once yearly or
oftener, which was to consist of the council of state, and two
burgesses out of every town, hundred, or plantation, to be respectively
chosen by the inhabitants. In this all matters were
to be decided by the greater part of the votes present; reserving
to the governor a negative voice; and they were to have power
to treat, consult, and conclude all emergent occasions concerning
the public weal, and to make laws for the behoof and government
of the colony, imitating and following the laws and policy
of England as nearly as might be; providing that these laws
should have no force till ratified in a general court of the company
in England, and returned under their common seal; and
declaring that, after the government of the colony should be
well framed and settled, no orders of the council in England
should bind the colony unless ratified in the said general assembly.
The king and company quarrelled, and by a mixture of
law and force, the latter were ousted of all their rights without retribution,
after having expended one hundred thousand pounds in
establishing the colony, without the smallest aid from government.
King James suspended their powers by proclamation of
July 15, 1624, and Charles I. took the government into his own
hands. Both sides had their partisans in the colony, but, in
truth, the people of the colony in general thought themselves
little concerned in the dispute. There being three parties interested
in these several charters, what passed between the first and
second, it was thought could not affect the third. If the king
seized on the powers of the company, they only passed into other
hands, without increase or diminution, while the rights of the
people remained as they were. But they did not remain so long.
The northern parts of their country were granted away to the
lords Baltimore and Fairfax; the first of these obtaining also the
rights of separate jurisdiction and government. And in 1650 the
parliament, considering itself as standing in the place of their deposed
king, and as having succeeded to all his powers, without
as well as within the realm, began to assume a right over the
colonies, passing an act for inhibiting their trade with foreign nations.
This succession to the exercise of kingly authority gave
the first color for parliamentary interference with the colonies,
and produced that fatal precedent which they continued to follow,
after they had retired, in other respects, within their proper
functions. When this colony, therefore, which still maintained
its opposition to Cromwell and the parliament, was induced in
1651 to lay down their arms, they previously secured their most
essential rights by a solemn convention, which, having never
seen in print, I will here insert literally from the records.
"ARTICLES agreed on and concluded at James Cittie in Virginia
for the surrendering and settling of that plantation under
the obedience and government of the commonwealth of England
by the commissioners of the Councill of State by authoritie
of the parliamt of England, and by the Grand assembly of the
Governour, Councill, and Burgesses of that countrey.
"First it is agreed and consted that the plantation of Virginia,
and all the inhabitants thereof, shall be and remain in due
obedience and subjection to the Commonwealth of England,
according to the laws there established, and that this
submission and subscription bee acknowledged a voluntary act
not forced nor constrained by a conquest upon the countrey, and
that they shall have and enjoy such freedoms and priviledges
as belong to the free borne people of England, and that the
former government by the Commissions and Instructions be void
and null.
"2ly. That the Grand assembly as formerly shall convene and
transact the affairs of Virginia, wherein nothing is to be
acted or done contrairie to the government of the Commonwealth
of England and the lawes there established.
"3ly. That there shall be a full and totall remission and
indempnitie of all acts, words, or writeings done or spoken
against the parliament of England in relation to the same.
"4ly. That Virginia shall have and enjoy the antient bounds
and lymitts granted by the charters of the former kings, and
that we shall seek a new charter from the parliament to that
purpose against any that have intrencht upon the rights thereof.
"5ly. That all the pattents of land granted under the colony
seal by any of the precedent governours shall be and remaine
in their full force and strength.
"6ly. That the priviledge of haveing ffiftie acres of land
for every person transported in that collonie shall continue
as formerly granted.
"7ly. That the people of Virginia have free trade as the people
of England do enjoy to all places and with all nations according
to the lawes of that commonwealth, and that Virginia shall
enjoy all priviledges equall with any English plantations in
America.
"8ly. That Virginia shall be free from all taxes, customs and
impositions whatsoever, and none to be imposed on them without
consent of the Grand assembly; and soe that neither fforts
nor castle bee erected or garrisons maintained without their
consent.
"9ly. That noe charge shall be required from this country in
respect of this present ffleet.
"10ly. That for the future settlement of the countrey in
their due obedience, the engagement shall be tendred to all
the inhabitants according to act of parliament made to that
purpose, that all persons who shall refuse to subscribe the
said engagement, shall have a yeare's time if they please to
remove themselves and their estates out of Virginia, and in
the meantime during the said yeare to have equall justice as
formerly.
"11ly. That the use of the booke of common prayer shall be
permitted for one yeare ensueinge with referrence to the consent
of the major part of the parishes, provided that those which
relate to kingshipp or that government be not used publiquely,
and the continuance of ministers in their places, they not
misdemeaning themselves, and the payment of their accustomed
dues and agreements made with them respectively shall be left
as they now stand dureing this ensueing yeare.
"12ly. That no man's cattell shall be questioned as the
companies, unless such as have been entrusted with them or
have disposed of them without order.
"13ly. That all ammunition, powder and armes, other than for
private use, shall be delivered up, securitie being given to
make satisfaction for it.
"14ly. That all goods allreadie brought hither by the Dutch
or others which are now on shoar shall be free from surprizall.
"15ly. That the quittrents granted unto us by the late kinge
for seaven yeares bee confirmed.
"16ly. That the commissioners for the parliament subscribeing
these articles engage themselves and the honour of parliament
for the full performance thereof; and that the present
governour, and the councill, and the burgesses do likewise
subscribe and engage the whole collony on their parts.
RICHARD BENNETT.--Seale.
WILLIAM CLAIBORNE.--Seale.
EDMOND CURTIS.--Seale.
"Theise articles were signed and sealed by the Commissioners
of the Councill of state for the Commonwealth of England the
twelveth day of March 1651."
Then follow the articles stipulated by the governor and council,
which relate merely to their own persons and property, and
then the ensuing instrument:
"An act of indempnitie made att the surrender of the countrey.
"Whereas, by the authoritie of the parliament wee the
commissioners appointed by the councill of state authorized
thereto, having brought a ffleet and force before James cittie
in Virginia to reduce that collonie under the obedience of
the commonwealth of England, and finding force raised by the
Governour and countrey to make opposition against the said
ffleet, whereby assured danger appearinge of the ruine and
destruction of the plantation, for prevention whereof the
burgesses of all the severall plantations being called to advise
and assist therein, uppon long and serious debate, and in sad
contemplation of the great miseries and certain destruction
which were soe neerely hovering over the whole countrey; Wee
the said Commissioners have thought fitt and condescending and
granted to signe and confirme under our hands, seales and by
our oath, Articles bearinge date with theise presents, and do
further declare that by the authoritie of the parliament and
commonwealth of England derived unto us their commissioners,
that according to the articles in generall wee have granted
an act of indempnitie and oblivion to all the inhabitants
of this collonie from all words, actions, or writings that
have been spoken acted or writt against the parliament or
commonwealth of England or any other person from the beginning
of the world to this daye. And this we have done that all
the inhabitants of the collonie may live quietly and securely
under the commonwealth of England. And we do promise that the
parliament and commonwealth of England shall confirm and make
good all those transactions of ours. Witness our hands and
seales this 12th of March 1651.
RICHARD BENNETT.--Seale.
WILLIAM CLAIBORNE.--Seale.
EDMOND CURTIS.--Seale.
The colony supposed, that, by this solemn convention, entered
into with arms in their hands, they had secured the ancient
limits[49] of their country, its free trade,[50] its exemption from taxation[51]
but by their own assembly, and exclusion of military force[52]
from among them. Yet in every of these points was this convention
violated by subsequent kings and parliaments, and other
infractions of their constitution, equally dangerous committed.
Their general assembly, which was composed of the council of
state and burgesses, sitting together and deciding by plurality
of voices, was split into two houses, by which the council obtained
a separate negative on their laws. Appeals from their
supreme court, which had been fixed by law in their general assembly,
were arbitrarily revoked to England, to be there heard
before the king and council. Instead of four hundred miles on
the seacoast, they were reduced, in the space of thirty years, to
about one hundred miles. Their trade with foreigners was totally
suppressed, and when carried to Great Britain, was there
loaded with imposts. It is unnecessary, however, to glean up
the several instances of injury, as scattered through American
and British history, and the more especially as, by passing on to
the accession of the present king, we shall find specimens of
them all, aggravated, multiplied and crowded within a small
compass of time, so as to evince a fixed design of considering
our rights natural, conventional and chartered as mere nullities.
The following is an epitome of the first sixteen years of his
reign: The colonies were taxed internally and externally; their
essential interests sacrificed to individuals in Great Britain; their
legislatures suspended; charters annulled; trials by juries taken
away; their persons subjected to transportation across the Atlantic,
and to trial before foreign judicatories; their supplications
for redress thought beneath answer; themselves published as
cowards in the councils of their mother country and courts of
Europe; armed troops sent among them to enforce submission
to these violences; and actual hostilities commenced against
them. No alternative was presented but resistance, or unconditional
submission. Between these could be no hesitation.
They closed in the appeal to arms. They declared themselves
independent states. They confederated together into one great
republic; thus securing to every State the benefit of an union
of their whole force. In each State separately a new form of
government was established. Of ours particularly the following
are the outlines: The executive powers are lodged in the hands
of a governor, chosen annually, and incapable of acting more
then three years in seven. He is assisted by a council of eight
members. The judiciary powers are divided among several
courts, as will be hereafter explained. Legislation is exercised
by two houses of assembly, the one called the house of Delegates,
composed of two members from each county, chosen annually
by the citizens, possessing an estate for life in one hundred
acres of uninhabited land, or twenty-five acres with a house
on it, or in a house or lot in some town: the other called the
Senate, consisting of twenty-four members, chosen quadrenially
by the same electors, who for this purpose are distributed into
twenty-four districts. The concurrence of both houses is necessary
to the passage of a law. They have the appointment of the
governor and council, the judges of the superior courts, auditors,
attorney-general, treasurer, register of the land office, and delegates
to Congress. As the dismemberment of the State had
never had its confirmation, but, on the contrary, had always
been the subject of protestation and complaint, that it might
never be in our own power to raise scruples on that subject, or to
disturb the harmony of our new confederacy, the grants to Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and the two Carolinas, were ratified.
This constitution was formed when we were new and unexperienced
in the science of government. It was the first, too,
which was formed in the whole United States. No wonder then
that time and trial have discovered very capital defects in it.
1. The majority of the men in the State, who pay and fight
for its support, are unrepresented in the legislature, the roll of
freeholders entitled to vote not including generally the half of
those on the roll of the militia, or of the tax-gatherers.
2. Among those who share the representation, the shares are
very unequal. Thus the county of Warwick, with only one
hundred fighting men, has an equal representation with the
county of Loudon, which has one thousand seven hundred and
forty-six. So that every man in Warwick has as much influence
in the government as seventeen men in Loudon. But lest it
should be thought that an equal interspersion of small among
large counties, through the whole State, may prevent any danger
of injury to particular parts of it, we will divide it into districts,
and show the proportions of land, of fighting men, and of representation
in each:
Between the sea-coast and Square Fighting Delegates. Senators.
falls of the rivers miles. men.
[53]11,205 19,012 71 12
Between the falls of the
rivers and Blue Ridge 18,759 18,828 46 8
of mountains
Between the Blue Ridge
and the Alleghany 11,911 7,673 16 2
Between the Alleghany [54]79,650 4,458 16 2
and Ohio ----------- --------- ----- ----
Total 121,525 49,971 149 24
An inspection of this table will supply the place of commentaries
on it. It will appear at once that nineteen thousand men,
living below the falls of the rivers, possess half the senate, and
want four members only of possessing a majority of the house of
delegates; a want more than supplied by the vicinity of their
situation to the seat of government, and of course the greater degree
of convenience and punctuality with which their members
may and will attend in the legislature. These nineteen thousand,
therefore, living in one part of the country, give law to upwards
of thirty thousand living in another, and appoint all their chief
officers, executive and judiciary. From the difference of their
situation and circumstances, their interests will often be very different.
3. The senate is, by its constitution, too homogenous with the
house of delegates. Being chosen by the same electors, at the
same time, and out of the same subjects, the choice falls of course
on men of the same description. The purpose of establishing
different houses of legislation is to introduce the influence of different
interests or different principles. Thus in Great Britain it
is said their constitution relies on the house of commons for honesty,
and the lords for wisdom; which would be a rational reliance,
if honesty were to be bought with money, and if wisdom
were hereditary. In some of the American States, the delegates
and senators are so chosen, as that the first represent the persons,
and the second the property of the State. But with us, wealth
and wisdom have equal chance for admission into both houses.
We do not, therefore, derive from the separation of our legislature
into two houses, those benefits which a proper complication
of principles are capable of producing, and those which alone can
compensate the evils which may be produced by their dissensions.
4. All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and
judiciary, result to the legislative body. The concentrating
these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic
government. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be
exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One
hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive
as one. Let those who doubt it turn their eyes on the republic
of Venice. As little will it avail us that they are chosen by ourselves.
An _elective despotism_ was not the government we fought
for, but one which should not only be founded on free principles,
but in which the powers of government should be so divided and
balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one
could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually
checked and restrained by the others. For this reason that convention
which passed the ordinance of government, laid its foundation
on this basis, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary
departments should be separate and distinct, so that no person
should exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same
time. But no barrier was provided between these several powers.
The judiciary and executive members were left dependent
on the legislative, for their subsistence in office, and some of
them for their continuance in it. If, therefore, the legislature
assumes executive and judiciary powers, no opposition is likely
to be made; nor, if made, can it be effectual; because in that
case they may put their proceedings into the form of an act of
assembly, which will render them obligatory on the other
branches. They have, accordingly, in many instances, decided
rights which should have been left to judiciary controversy; and
the direction of the executive, during the whole time of their
session, is becoming habitual and familiar. And this is done
with no ill intention. The views of the present members are
perfectly upright. When they are led out of their regular province,
it is by art in others, and inadvertence in themselves. And
this will probably be the case for some time to come. But it
will not be a very long time. Mankind soon learn to make interested
uses of every right and power which they possess, or
may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to
have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found
inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered
to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold
them; distinguished, too, by this tempting circumstance, that
they are the instrument, as well as the object of acquisition.
With money we will get men, said Cæsar, and with men we will
get money. Nor should our assembly be deluded by the integrity
of their own purposes, and conclude that these unlimited
powers will never be abused, because themselves are not disposed
to abuse them. They should look forward to a time, and that
not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country
from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of
government, and be spread by them through the body of the
people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and
make them pay the price. Human nature is the same on every
side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same
causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is
before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the
wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons
after he shall have entered. To render these considerations the
more cogent, we must observe in addition:
5. That the ordinary legislature may alter the constitution itself.
On the discontinuance of assemblies, it became necessary
to substitute in their place some other body, competent to the
ordinary business of government, and to the calling forth the
powers of the State for the maintenance of our opposition to
Great Britain. Conventions were therefore introduced, consisting
of two delegates from each county, meeting together and
forming one house, on the plan of the former house of burgesses,
to whose places they succeeded. These were at first chosen
anew for every particular session. But in March 1775, they
recommended to the people to choose a convention, which should
continue in office a year. This was done, accordingly, in April
1775, and in the July following that convention passed an ordinance
for the election of delegates in the month of April annually.
It is well known, that in July 1775, a separation from
Great Britain and establishment of republican government, had
never yet entered into any person's mind. A convention, therefore,
chosen under that ordinance, cannot be said to have been
chosen for the purposes which certainly did not exist in the
minds of those who passed it. Under this ordinance, at the
annual election in April 1776, a convention for the year was
chosen. Independence, and the establishment of a new form of
government, were not even yet the objects of the people at large.
One extract from the pamphlet called Common Sense had appeared
in the Virginia papers in February, and copies of the
pamphlet itself had got in a few hands. But the idea had
not been opened to the mass of the people in April, much less
can it be said that they had made up their minds in its favor.
So that the electors of April 1776, no more than the legislators
of July 1775, not thinking of independence and a permanent
republic, could not mean to vest in these delegates powers
of establishing them, or any authorities other than those of the
ordinary legislature. So far as a temporary organization of
government was necessary to render our opposition energetic, so
far their organization was valid. But they received in their creation
no power but what were given to every legislature before
and since. They could not, therefore, pass an act transcendent
to the powers of other legislatures. If the present assembly
pass an act, and declare it shall be irrevocable by subsequent assemblies,
the declaration is merely void, and the act repealable,
as other acts are. So far, and no farther authorized, they organized
the government by the ordinance entitled a constitution
or form of government. It pretends to no higher authority than
the other ordinances of the same session; it does not say that it
shall be perpetual; that it shall be unalterable by other legislatures;
that it shall be transcendent above the powers of those
who they knew would have equal power with themselves. Not
only the silence of the instrument is a proof they thought it
would be alterable, but their own practice also; for this very
convention, meeting as a house of delegates in general assembly
with the Senate in the autumn of that year, passed acts of assembly
in contradiction to their ordinance of government; and
every assembly from that time to this has done the same. I am
safe, therefore, in the position that the constitution itself is alterable
by the ordinary legislature. Though this opinion seems founded
on the first elements of common sense, yet is the contrary maintained
by some persons. 1. Because, say they, the conventions
were vested with every power necessary to make effectual opposition
to Great Britain. But to complete this argument, they
must go on, and say further, that effectual opposition could not
be made to Great Britain without establishing a form of government
perpetual and unalterable by the legislature; which is not
true. An opposition which at some time or other was to come
to an end, could not need a perpetual institution to carry it on;
and a government amendable as its defects should be discovered,
was as likely to make effectual resistance, as one that should be
unalterably wrong. Besides, the assemblies were as much vested
with all powers requisite for resistance as the conventions were.
If, therefore, these powers included that of modelling the form
of government in the one case, they did so in the other. The
assemblies then as well as the conventions may model the government;
that is, they may alter the ordinance of government.
2. They urge, that if the convention had meant that this instrument
should be alterable, as their other ordinances were, they
would have called it an ordinance; but they have called it a
_constitution_, which, ex vi termini, means "an act above the power
of the ordinary legislature." I answer that _constitutio_, _constitutium_,
_statutum_, _lex_, are convertible terms. "_Constitutio_ dicitur
jus quod a principe conditure." "_Constitutium_, quod ab imperatoribus
rescriptum statutumve est." "_Statutum_, idem quod
lex." Calvini Lexicon juridicum. _Constitution_ and _statute_
were originally terms of the[55] civil law, and from thence introduced
by ecclesiastics into the English law. Thus in the statute
25 Hen. VIII. c. 19, §. 1, "_Constitutions_ and _ordinances_" are
used as synonymous. The term _constitution_ has many other
significations in physics and politics; but in jurisprudence, whenever
it is applied to any act of the legislature, it invariably means
a statute, law, or ordinance, which is the present case. No inference
then of a different meaning can be drawn from the
adoption of this title; on the contrary, we might conclude that,
by their affixing to it a term synonymous with ordinance or
statute. But of what consequence is their meaning, where their
power is denied? If they meant to do more than they had power
to do, did this give them power? It is not the name, but the
authority that renders an act obligatory. Lord Coke says, "an
article of the statute, 11 R. II. c. 5, that no person should attempt
to revoke any ordinance then made, is repealed, for that
such restraint is against the jurisdiction and power of the parliament."
4. Inst. 42. And again, "though divers parliaments have
attempted to restrain subsequent parliaments, yet could they
never effect it; for the latter parliament hath ever power to abrogate,
suspend, qualify, explain, or make void the former in the
whole or in any part thereof, notwithstanding any words of restraint,
prohibition, or penalty, in the former; for it is a maxim
in the laws of the parliament, quod leges posteriores priores contrarias
abrogant." 4. Inst. 43. To get rid of the magic supposed
to be in the word _constitution_, let us translate it into its
definition as given by those who think it above the power of the
law; and let us suppose the convention, instead of saying, "We
the ordinary legislature, establish a _constitution_," had said, "We
the ordinary legislature, establish an act _above the power of the
ordinary legislature_." Does not this expose the absurdity of
the attempt? 3. But, say they, the people have acquiesced, and
this has given it an authority superior to the laws. It is true
that the people did not rebel against it; and was that a time for
the people to rise in rebellion? Should a prudent acquiescence,
at a critical time, be construed into a confirmation of every illegal
thing done during that period? Besides, why should they
rebel? At an annual election they had chosen delegates for the
year, to exercise the ordinary powers of legislation, and to manage
the great contest in which they were engaged. These delegates
thought the contest would be best managed by an organized
government. They therefore, among others, passed an ordinance
of government. They did not presume to call it perpetual and
unalterable. They well knew they had no power to make it
so; that our choice of them had been for no such purpose, and
at a time when we could have no such purpose in contemplation.
Had an unalterable form of government been meditated, perhaps
we should have chosen a different set of people. There was no
cause then for the people to rise in rebellion. But to what dangerous
lengths will this argument lead? Did the acquiescence
of the colonies under the various acts of power exercised by
Great Britain in our infant State, confirm these acts, and so far
invest them with the authority of the people as to render them
unalterable, and our present resistance wrong? On every unauthoritative
exercise of power by the legislature must the people
rise in rebellion, or their silence be construed into a surrender
of that power to them? If so, how many rebellions should
we have had already? One certainly for every session of assembly.
The other States in the union have been of opinion
that to render a form of government unalterable by ordinary acts
of assembly, the people must delegate persons with special powers.
They have accordingly chosen special conventions to form
and fix their governments. The individuals then who maintain
the contrary opinion in this country, should have the modesty to
suppose it possible that they may be wrong, and the rest of
America right. But if there be only a possibility of their being
wrong, if only a plausible doubt remains of the validity of the
ordinance of government, is it not better to remove that doubt by
placing it on a bottom which none will dispute? If they be
right we shall only have the unnecessary trouble of meeting once
in convention. If they be wrong, they expose us to the hazard
of having no fundamental rights at all. True it is, this is no
time for deliberating on forms of government. While an enemy
is within our bowels, the first object is to expel him. But when
this shall be done, when peace shall be established, and leisure
given us for intrenching within good forms, the rights for which
we have bled, let no man be found indolent enough to decline a
little more trouble for placing them beyond the reach of question.
If anything more be requisite to produce a conviction of the expediency
of calling a convention at a proper season to fix our
form of government, let it be the reflection:
6. That the assembly exercises a power of determining the
quorum of their own body which may legislate for us. After
the establishment of the new form they adhered to the _Lex majoris
partis_, founded in[56] common law as well as common right.
It is the[57] natural law of every assembly of men, whose numbers
are not fixed by any other law. They continued for some time
to require the presence of a majority of their whole number, to
pass an act. But the British parliament fixes its own quorum;
our former assemblies fixed their own quorum; and one precedent
in favor of power is stronger than an hundred against it.
The house of delegates, therefore, have[58] lately voted that, during
the present dangerous invasion, forty members shall be a house
to proceed to business. They have been moved to this by the
fear of not being able to collect a house. But this danger could
not authorize them to call that a house which was none; and if
they may fix it at one number, they may at another, till it loses
its fundamental character of being a representative body. As
this vote expires with the present invasion, it is probable the
former rule will be permitted to revive; because at present no ill
is meant. The power, however, of fixing their own quorum has
been avowed, and a precedent set. From forty it may be reduced
to four, and from four to one; from a house to a committee,
from a committee to a chairman or speaker, and thus an
oligarchy or monarchy be substituted under forms supposed to
be regular. "Omnia mala exempla ex bonis orta sunt; sed ubi
imperium ad ignaros aut minus bonos pervenit, novum illud exemplum
ab dignis et idoneis indignos et non idoneos fertur."
When, therefore, it is considered, that there is no legal obstacle
to the assumption by the assembly of all the powers legislative,
executive, and judiciary, and that these may come to the hands
of the smallest rag of delegation, surely the people will say,
and their representatives, while yet they have honest representatives,
will advise them to say, that they will not acknowledge
as laws any acts not considered and assented to by the major
part of their delegates.
In enumerating the defects of the constitution, it would be
wrong to count among them what is only the error of particular
persons. In December 1776, our circumstances being much distressed,
it was proposed in the house of delegates to create a _dictator_,
invested with every power legislative, executive, and
judiciary, civil and military, of life and of death, over our persons
and over our properties; and in June 1781, again under
calamity, the same proposition was repeated, and wanted a few
votes only of being passed. One who entered into this contest
from a pure love of liberty, and a sense of injured rights, who
determined to make every sacrifice, and to meet every danger, for
the re-establishment of those rights on a firm basis, who did not
mean to expend his blood and substance for the wretched purpose
of changing this matter for that, but to place the powers of
governing him in a plurality of hands of his own choice, so that
the corrupt will of no one man might in future oppress him,
must stand confounded and dismayed when he is told, that a
considerable portion of that plurality had mediated the surrender
of them into a single hand, and, in lieu of a limited monarchy,
to deliver him over to a despotic one! How must we find his
efforts and sacrifices abused and baffled, if he may still, by a
single vote, be laid prostrate at the feet of one man! In God's
name, from whence have they derived this power? Is it from
our ancient laws? None such can be produced. Is it from any
principle in our new constitution expressed or implied? Every
lineament expressed or implied, is in full opposition to it. Its
fundamental principle is, that the State shall be governed as a
commonwealth. It provides a republican organization, proscribes
under the name of _prerogative_ the exercise of all powers
undefined by the laws; places on this basis the whole system of
our laws; and by consolidating them together, chooses that they
should be left to stand or fall together, never providing for any
circumstances, nor admitting that such could arise, wherein
either should be suspended; no, not for a moment. Our ancient
laws expressly declare, that those who are but delegates themselves
shall not delegate to others powers which require judgment
and integrity in their exercise. Or was this proposition
moved on a supposed right in the movers, of abandoning their
posts in a moment of distress? The same laws forbid the abandonment
of that post, even on ordinary occasions; and much
more a transfer of their powers into other hands and other forms,
without consulting the people. They never admit the idea that
these, like sheep or cattle, may be given from hand to hand without
an appeal to their own will. Was it from the necessity of
the case? Necessities which dissolve a government, do not convey
its authority to an oligarchy or a monarchy. They throw
back, into the hands of the people, the powers they had delegated,
and leave them as individuals to shift for themselves. A
leader may offer, but not impose himself, nor be imposed on them.
Much less can their necks be submitted to his sword, their breath
to be held at his will or caprice. The necessity which should
operate these tremendous effects should at least be palpable and
irresistible. Yet in both instances, where it was feared, or pretended
with us, it was belied by the event. It was belied, too,
by the preceding experience of our sister States, several of whom
had grappled through greater difficulties without abandoning
their forms of government. When the proposition was first
made, Massachusetts had found even the government of committees
sufficient to carry them through an invasion. But we at
the time of that proposition, were under no invasion. When the
second was made, there had been added to this example those
of Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, in
all of which the republican form had been found equal to the
task of carrying them through the severest trials. In this State
alone did there exist so little virtue, that fear was to be fixed in
the hearts of the people, and to become the motive of their exertions,
and principle of their government? The very thought
alone was treason against the people; was treason against mankind
in general; as rivetting forever the chains which bow down
their necks, by giving to their oppressors a proof, which they
would have trumpeted through the universe, of the imbecility of
republican government, in times of pressing danger, to shield
them from harm. Those who assume the right of giving away
the reins of government in any case, must be sure that the herd,
whom they hand on to the rods and hatchet of the dictator, will
lay their necks on the block when he shall nod to them. But if
our assemblies supposed such a recognition in the people, I hope
they mistook their character. I am of opinion, that the government,
instead of being braced and invigorated for greater exertions
under their difficulties, would have been thrown back upon
the bungling machinery of county committees for administration,
till a convention could have been called, and its wheels again
set into regular motion. What a cruel moment was this for creating
such an embarrassment, for putting to the proof the attachment
of our countrymen to republican government! Those who
meant well, of the advocates of this measure, (and most of them
meant well, for I know them personally, had been their fellow-laborer
in the common cause, and had often proved the purity
of their principles,) had been seduced in their judgment by the
example of an ancient republic, whose constitution and circumstances
were fundamentally different. They had sought this
precedent in the history of Rome, where alone it was to be
found, and where at length, too, it had proved fatal. They had
taken it from a republic rent by the most bitter factions and tumults,
where the government was of a heavy-handed unfeeling
aristocracy, over a people ferocious, and rendered desperate by
poverty and wretchedness; tumults which could not be allayed
under the most trying circumstances, but by the omnipotent
hand of a single despot. Their constitution, therefore, allowed
a temporary tyrant to be erected, under the name of a dictator;
and that temporary tyrant, after a few examples, became perpetual.
They misapplied this precedent to a people mild in their
dispositions, patient under their trial, united for the public liberty,
and affectionate to their leaders. But if from the constitution of
the Roman government there resulted to their senate a power of
submitting all their rights to the will of one man, does it follow
that the assembly of Virginia have the same authority? What
clause in our constitution has substituted that of Rome, by way
of residuary provision, for all cases not otherwise provided for?
Or if they may step _ad libitum_ into any other form of government
for precedents to rule us by, for what oppression may not
a precedent be found in this world of the _ballum omnium in
omnia_? Searching for the foundations of this proposition, I can
find none which may pretend a color of right or reason, but the
defect before developed, that there being no barrier between the
legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, the legislature
may seize the whole; that having seized it, and possessing a right
to fix their own quorum, they may reduce that quorum to one,
whom they may call a chairman, speaker, dictator, or by any
other name they please. Our situation is indeed perilous, and I
hope my countrymen will be sensible of it, and will apply, at a
proper season, the proper remedy; which is a convention to fix
the constitution, to amend its defects, to bind up the several
branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress,
their acts shall become nullities; to render unnecessary an
appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction
of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall
be construed into an intention to surrender those rights.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] Art. 4.
[50] Art. 7.
[51] Art. 8.
[52] Art. 8.
[53] Of these 542 are on the eastern shore.
[54] Of these, 22,616 are eastward of the meridian of the north
of the Great Kanhaway.
[55] To bid, to set, was the ancient legislative word of the
English. Ll. Hlotharri and Eadrici. Ll. Inæ. Ll. Eadwerdi.
Ll. Aathelstani.
[56] Bro. abr. Corporations, 31, 34. Hakewell, 93.
[57] Puff. Off. hom. l. 2, c. 6, §. 12.
[58] June 4, 1781.
QUERY XIV.
_The administration of justice and the description of the laws?_
The State is divided into counties. In every county are appointed
magistrates, called justices of the peace, usually from
eight to thirty or forty in number, in proportion to the size of
the county, of the most discreet and honest inhabitants. They
are nominated by their fellows, but commissioned by the governor,
and act without reward. These magistrates have jurisdiction
both criminal and civil. If the question before them be a
question of law only, they decide on it themselves; but if it be
of fact, or of fact and law combined, it must be referred to a
jury. In the latter case, of a combination of law and fact, it is
usual for the jurors to decide the fact, and to refer the law arising
on it to the decision of the judges. But this division of the
subject lies with their discretion only. And if the question relate
to any point of public liberty, or if it be one of those in
which the judges may be suspected of bias, the jury undertake
to decide both law and fact. If they be mistaken, a decision
against right, which is casual only, is less dangerous to the State,
and less afflicting to the loser, than one which makes part of a
regular and uniform system. In truth, it is better to toss up cross
and pile in a cause, than to refer it to a judge whose mind is
warped by any motive whatever, in that particular case. But
the common sense of twelve honest men gives still a better
chance of just decision, than the hazard of cross and pile. These
judges execute their process by the sheriff or coroner of the
county, or by constables of their own appointment. If any free
person commit an offence against the commonwealth, if it be
below the degree of felony, he is bound by a justice to appear
before their court, to answer it on an indictment or information.
If it amount to felony, he is committed to jail; a court of these
justices is called; if they on examination think him guilty, they
send him to the jail of the general court, before which court he
is to be tried first by a grand jury of twenty-four, of whom
thirteen must concur in opinion; if they find him guilty, he is
then tried by a jury of twelve men of the county where the offence
was committed, and by their verdict, which must be unanimous,
he is acquitted or condemned without appeal. If the
criminal be a slave, the trial by the county court is final. In
every case, however, except that of high treason, there resides
in the governor a power of pardon. In high treason the pardon
can only flow from the general assembly. In civil matters these
justices have jurisdiction in all cases of whatever value, not appertaining
to the department of the admiralty. This jurisdiction
is twofold. If the matter in dispute be of less value than four
dollars and one-sixth, a single member may try it at any time
and place within his county, and may award execution on the
goods of the party cast. If it be of that or greater value, it is
determinable before the county court, which consists of four at
the least of those justices and assembles at the court-house of
the county on a certain day in every month. From their determination,
if the matter be of the value of ten pounds sterling, or
concern the title or bounds of lands, an appeal lies to one of the
superior courts.
There are three or four superior courts, to wit, the high court
of chancery, the general court, and the court of admiralty. The
first and second of these receive appeals from the county courts,
and also have original jurisdiction, where the subject of controversy
is of the value of ten pounds sterling, or where it concerns
the title or bounds of lands. The jurisdiction of the admiralty
is original altogether. The high court of chancery is composed
of three judges, the general court of five, and the court of admiralty
of three. The two first hold their sessions at Richmond
at stated times, the chancery twice in the year, and the general
court twice for business civil and criminal, and twice more for
criminal only. The court of admiralty sits at Williamsburg
whenever a controversy arises.
There is one supreme court, called the court of appeals, composed
of the judges of the three superior courts, assembling
twice a year at stated times at Richmond. This court receives
appeals in all civil cases from each of the superior courts, and
determines them finally. But it has no original jurisdiction.
If a controversy arise between two foreigners of a nation in
alliance with the United States, it is decided by the Consul for
their State, or, if both parties choose it, by the ordinary courts
of justice. If one of the parties only be such a foreigner, it is
triable before the courts of justice of the country. But if it
shall have been instituted in a county court, the foreigner may
remove it into the general court, or court of chancery, who are
to determine it at their first sessions, as they must also do if it
be originally commenced before them. In cases of life and
death, such foreigners have a right to be tried by a jury, the one-half
foreigners, the other natives.
All public accounts are settled with a board of auditors, consisting
of three members appointed by the general assembly, any
two of whom may act. But an individual, dissatisfied with the
determination of that board, may carry his case into the proper
superior court.
A description of the laws.
The general assembly was constituted, as has been already
shown, by letters-patent of March the 9th, 1607, in the fourth
year of the reign of James the first. The laws of England
seem to have been adopted by consent of the settlers, which
might easily enough be done whilst they were few and living
all together. Of such adoption, however, we have no other
proof than their practice till the year 1661, when they were expressly
adopted by an act of the assembly, except so far as "a
difference of condition" rendered them inapplicable. Under this
adoption, the rule, in our courts of judicature was, that the common
law of England, and the general statutes previous to the
fourth of James, were in force here; but that no subsequent
statutes were, _unless we were named in them_, said the judges
and other partisans of the crown, but _named or not named_, said
those who reflected freely. It will be unnecessary to attempt a
description of the laws of England, as that may be found in
English publications. To those which were established here,
by the adoption of the legislature, have been since added a number
of acts of assembly passed during the monarchy, and ordinances
of convention and acts of assembly enacted since the establishment
of the republic. The following variations from the
British model are perhaps worthy of being specified:
Debtors unable to pay their debts, and making faithful delivery
of their whole effects, are released from confinement, and
their persons forever discharged from restraint for such previous
debts; but any property they may afterwards acquire will be
subject to their creditors.
The poor unable to support themselves, are maintained by an
assessment on the tytheable persons in their parish. This assessment
is levied and administered by twelve persons in each parish,
called vestrymen, originally chosen by the housekeepers of the
parish, but afterwards filling vacancies in their own body by
their own choice. These are usually the most discreet farmers,
so distributed through their parish, that every part of it may be
under the immediate eye of some one of them. They are well
acquainted with the details and economy of private life, and
they find sufficient inducements to execute their charge well, in
their philanthropy, in the approbation of their neighbors, and the
distinction which that gives them. The poor who have neither
property, friends, nor strength to labor, are boarded in the houses
of good farmers, to whom a stipulated sum is annually paid. To
those who are able to help themselves a little, or have friends
from whom they derive some succors, inadequate however to
their full maintenance, supplementary aids are given which enable
them to live comfortably in their own houses, or in the
houses of their friends. Vagabonds without visible property or
vocation, are placed in work houses, where they are well clothed,
fed, lodged, and made to labor. Nearly the same method of
providing for the poor prevails through all our States; and from
Savannah to Portsmouth you will seldom meet a beggar. In
the large towns, indeed, they sometimes present themselves.
These are usually foreigners, who have never obtained a settlement
in any parish. I never yet saw a native American begging
in the streets or highways. A subsistence is easily gained here;
and if, by misfortunes, they are thrown on the charities of the
world, those provided by their own country are so comfortable
and so certain, that they never think of relinquishing them to become
strolling beggars. Their situation too, when sick, in the
family of a good farmer, where every member is emulous to do
them kind offices, where they are visited by all the neighbors,
who bring them the little rarities which their sickly appetites
may crave, and who take by rotation the nightly watch over
them, when their condition requires it, is without comparison
better than in a general hospital, where the sick, the dying and
the dead are crammed together in the same rooms, and often in
the same beds. The disadvantages, inseparable from general
hospitals, are such as can never be counterpoised by all the regularities
of medicine and regimen. Nature and kind nursing save
a much greater proportion in our plain way, at a smaller expense,
and with less abuse. One branch only of hospital institution is
wanting with us; that is, a general establishment for those laboring
under difficult cases of chirurgery. The aids of this art are
not equivocal. But an able chirurgeon cannot be had in every
parish. Such a receptacle should therefore be provided for those
patients; but no others should be admitted.
Marriages must be solemnized either on special license, granted
by the first magistrate of the county, on proof of the consent
of the parent or guardian of either party under age, or after
solemn publication, on three several Sundays, at some place of
religious worship, in the parishes where the parties reside. The
act of solemnization may be by the minister of any society of
Christians, who shall have been previously licensed for this purpose
by the court of the county. Quakers and Menonists, however,
are exempted from all these conditions, and marriage among
them is to be solemnized by the society itself.
A foreigner of any nation, not in open war with us, becomes
naturalized by removing to the State to reside, and taking an
oath of fidelity; and thereupon acquires every right of a native
citizen; and citizens may divest themselves of that character,
by declaring, by solemn deed, or in open court, that they mean
to expatriate themselves, and no longer to be citizens of this State.
Conveyances of land must be registered in the court of the
county wherein they lie, or in the general court, or they are void,
as to creditors, and subsequent purchasers.
Slaves pass by descent and dower as lands do. Where the
descent is from a parent, the heir is bound to pay an equal
share of their value in money to each of their brothers and sisters.
Slaves, as well as lands, were entailable during the monarchy;
but, by an act of the first republican assembly, all donees in tail,
present and future, were vested with the absolute dominion of
the entailed subject.
Bills of exchange, being protested, carry ten per cent. interest
from their date.
No person is allowed, in any other case, to take more than
five per cent. per annum simple interest for the loan of moneys.
Gaming debts are made void, and moneys actually paid to
discharge such debts (if they exceed forty shillings) may be recovered
by the payer within three months, or by any other person
afterwards.
Tobacco, flour, beef, pork, tar, pitch, and turpentine, must be
inspected by persons publicly appointed, before they can be exported.
The erecting iron-works and mills is encouraged by many
privileges; with necessary cautions however to prevent their
dams from obstructing the navigation of the water-courses. The
general assembly have on several occasions shown a great desire
to encourage the opening the great falls of James and Potomac
rivers. As yet, however, neither of these have been effected.
The laws have also descended to the preservation and improvement
of the races of useful animals, such as horses, cattle,
deer; to the extirpation of those which are noxious, as wolves,
squirrels, crows, blackbirds; and to the guarding our citizens
against infectious disorders, by obliging suspected vessels coming
into the State, to perform quarantine, and by regulating the conduct
of persons having such disorders within the State.
The mode of acquiring lands, in the earliest times of our settlement,
was by petition to the general assembly. If the lands
prayed for were already cleared of the Indian title, and the assembly
thought the prayer reasonable, they passed the property
by their vote to the petitioner. But if they had not yet been
ceded by the Indians, it was necessary that the petitioner should
previously purchase their right. This purchase the assembly
verified, by inquiries of the Indian proprietors; and being satisfied
of its reality and fairness, proceeded further to examine the
reasonableness of the petition, and its consistence with policy;
and according to the result, either granted or rejected the petition.
The company also sometimes, though very rarely, granted
lands, independently of the general assembly. As the colony
increased, and individual applications for land multiplied, it was
found to give too much occupation to the general assembly to
inquire into and execute the grant in every special case. They
therefore thought it better to establish general rules, according to
which all grants should be made, and to leave to the governor
the execution of them, under these rules. This they did by
what have been usually called the land laws, amending them
from time to time, as their defects were developed. According
to these laws, when an individual wished a portion of unappropriated
land, he was to locate and survey it by a public officer,
appointed for that purpose; its breadth was to bear a certain proportion
to its length: the grant was to be executed by the governor;
and the lands were to be improved in a certain manner,
within a given time. From these regulations there resulted to
the State a sole and exclusive power of taking conveyances of
the Indian right of soil; since, according to them an Indian conveyance
alone could give no right to an individual, which the
laws would acknowledge. The State, or the crown, thereafter,
made general purchases of the Indians from time to time, and
the governor parcelled them out by special grants, conformable
to the rules before described, which it was not in his power, or
in that of the crown, to dispense with. Grants, unaccompanied
by their proper legal circumstances, were set aside regularly by
_fiere facias_, or by bill in chancery. Since the establishment
of our new government, this order of things is but little changed.
An individual, wishing to appropriate to himself lands still unappropriated
by any other, pays to the public treasurer a sum of
money proportioned to the quantity he wants. He carries the
treasurer's receipt to the auditors of public accounts, who thereupon
debit the treasurer with the sum, and order the register of
the land-office to give the party a warrant for his land. With
this warrant from the register, he goes to the surveyor of the
county where the land lies on which he has cast his eye. The
surveyor lays it off for him, gives him its exact description, in
the form of a certificate, which certificate he returns to the land
office, where a grant is made out, and is signed by the governor.
This vests in him a perfect dominion in his lands, transmissible
to whom he pleases by deed or will, or by descent to his heirs,
if he die intestate.
Many of the laws which were in force during the monarchy
being relative merely to that form of government, or inculcating
principles inconsistent with republicanism, the first assembly
which met after the establishment of the commonwealth appointed
a committee to revise the whole code, to reduce it into
proper form and volume, and report it to the assembly. This
work has been executed by three gentlemen, and reported; but
probably will not be taken up till a restoration of peace shall
leave to the legislature leisure to go through such a work.
The plan of the revisal was this. The common law of England,
by which is meant, that part of the English law which
was anterior to the date of the oldest statutes extant, is made the
basis of the work. It was thought dangerous to attempt to reduce
it to a text; it was therefore left to be collected from the
usual monuments of it. Necessary alterations in that, and so
much of the whole body of the British statutes, and of acts of
assembly, as were thought proper to be retained, were digested
into one hundred and twenty-six new acts, in which simplicity
of style was aimed at, as far as was safe. The following are the
most remarkable alterations proposed:
To change the rules of descent, so as that the lands of any
person dying intestate shall be divisible equally among all his
children, or other representatives, in equal degree.
To make slaves distributable among the next of kin, as other
movables.
To have all public expenses, whether of the general treasury,
or of a parish or county, (as for the maintenance of the poor,
building bridges, court-houses, &c.,) supplied by assessment on
the citizens, in proportion to their property.
To hire undertakers for keeping the public roads in repair,
and indemnify individuals through whose lands new roads shall
be opened.
To define with precision the rules whereby aliens should become
citizens, and citizens make themselves aliens.
To establish religious freedom on the broadest bottom.
To emancipate all slaves born after passing the act. The
bill reported by the revisers does not itself contain this proposition;
but an amendment containing it was prepared, to be
offered to the legislature whenever the bill should be taken
up, and farther directing, that they should continue with their
parents to a certain age, then to be brought up, at the public expense,
to tillage, arts, or sciences, according to their geniuses, till
the females should be eighteen, and the males twenty-one years
of age, when they should be colonized to such place as the circumstances
of the time should render most proper, sending them
out with arms, implements of household and of the handicraft
arts, seeds, pairs of the useful domestic animals, &c., to declare
them a free and independent people, and extend to them our alliance
and protection, till they have acquired strength; and to
send vessels at the same time to other parts of the world for an
equal number of white inhabitants; to induce them to migrate
hither, proper encouragements were to be proposed. It will probably
be asked, Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into
the State, and thus save the expense of supplying by importation
of white settlers, the vacancies they will leave? Deep-rooted
prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections,
by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations;
the real distinctions which nature has made; and many
other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions,
which will probably never end but in the extermination
of the one or the other race. To these objections, which are
political, may be added others, which are physical and moral.
The first difference which strikes us is that of color. Whether
the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane between
the skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it
proceeds from the color of the blood, the color of the bile, or
from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature,
and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to
us. And is this difference of no importance? Is it not the
foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races?
Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of
every passion by greater or less suffusions of color in the one,
preferable to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the countenances,
that immovable veil of black which covers the emotions
of the other race? Add to these, flowing hair, a more elegant
symmetry of form, their own judgment in favor of the whites,
declared by their preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference
of the Oranootan for the black woman over those of his
own species. The circumstance of superior beauty, is thought
worthy attention in the propagation of our horses, dogs, and
other domestic animals; why not in that of man? Besides those
of color, figure, and hair, there are other physical distinctions
proving a difference of race. They have less hair on the face
and body. They secrete less by the kidneys, and more by the
glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable
odor. This greater degree of transpiration, renders them
more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold than the whites. Perhaps,
too, a difference of structure in the pulminary apparatus,
which a late ingenious[59] experimentalist has discovered to be the
principal regulator of animal heat, may have disabled them from
extricating, in the act of inspiration, so much of that fluid from
the outer air, or obliged them in expiration, to part with more of
it. They seem to require less sleep. A black after hard labor
through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusements
to sit up till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out
with the first dawn of the morning. They are at least as brave,
and more adventuresome. But this may perhaps proceed from a
want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it
be present. When present, they do not go through it with more
coolness or steadiness than the whites. They are more ardent
after their female; but love seems with them to be more an eager
desire, than a tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation.
Their griefs are transient. Those numberless afflictions, which
render it doubtful whether heaven has given life to us in mercy
or in wrath, are less felt, and sooner forgotten with them. In
general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation
than reflection. To this must be ascribed their disposition to
sleep when abstracted from their diversions, and unemployed in
labor. An animal whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect,
must be disposed to sleep of course. Comparing them
by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears
to me that in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason
much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable of
tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and
that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous. It
would be unfair to follow them to Africa for this investigation.
We will consider them here, on the same stage with the whites,
and where the facts are not apochryphal on which a judgment
is to be formed. It will be right to make great allowances for
the difference of condition, of education, of conversation, of the
sphere in which they move. Many millions of them have been
brought to, and born in America. Most of them, indeed, have
been confined to tillage, to their own homes, and their own society;
yet many have been so situated, that they might have
availed themselves of the conversation of their masters; many
have been brought up to the handicraft arts, and from that circumstance
have always been associated with the whites. Some
have been liberally educated, and all have lived in countries
where the arts and sciences are cultivated to a considerable degree,
and all have had before their eyes samples of the best
works from abroad. The Indians, with no advantages of this
kind, will often carve figures on their pipes not destitute of design
and merit. They will crayon out an animal, a plant, or a
country, so as to prove the existence of a germ in their minds
which only wants cultivation. They astonish you with strokes
of the most sublime oratory; such as prove their reason and sentiment
strong, their imagination glowing and elevated. But
never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above
the level of plain narration; never saw even an elementary trait
of painting or sculpture. In music they are more generally gifted
than the whites with accurate ears for tune and time, and they
have been found capable of imagining a small catch.[60] Whether
they will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run
of melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be proved.
Misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in
poetry. Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but
no poetry. Love is the peculiar œstrum of the poet. Their
love is ardent, but it kindles the senses only, not the imagination.
Religion, indeed, has produced a Phyllis Whately; but it
could not produce a poet. The compositions published under
her name are below the dignity of criticism. The heroes of
the Dunciad are to her, as Hercules to the author of that
poem. Ignatius Sancho has approached nearer to merit in composition;
yet his letters do more honor to the heart than the
head. They breathe the purest effusions of friendship and
general philanthropy, and show how great a degree of the latter
may be compounded with strong religious zeal. He is often
happy in the turn of his compliments, and his style is easy and
familiar, except when he affects a Shandean fabrication of words.
But his imagination is wild and extravagant, escapes incessantly
from every restraint of reason and taste, and, in the course of
its vagaries, leaves a tract of thought as incoherent and eccentric,
as is the course of a meteor through the sky. His subjects
should often have led him to a process of sober reasoning; yet
we find him always substituting sentiment for demonstration.
Upon the whole, though we admit him to the first place among
those of his own color who have presented themselves to the
public judgment, yet when we compare him with the writers of
the race among whom he lived and particularly with the epistolary
class in which he has taken his own stand, we are compelled
to enrol him at the bottom of the column. This criticism supposes
the letters published under his name to be genuine, and to
have received amendment from no other hand; points which
would not be of easy investigation. The improvement of the
blacks in body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture
with the whites, has been observed by every one, and proves
that their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition
of life. We know that among the Romans, about the Augustan
age especially, the condition of their slaves was much more deplorable
than that of the blacks on the continent of America. The
two sexes were confined in separate apartments, because to raise a
child cost the master more than to buy one. Cato, for a very restricted
indulgence to his slaves in this particular[61], took from them
a certain price. But in this country the slaves multiply as fast as
the free inhabitants. Their situation and manners place the
commerce between the two sexes almost without restraint. The
same Cato, on a principle of economy, always sold his sick and
superannuated slaves. He gives it as a standing precept to a
master visiting his farm, to sell his old oxen, old wagons, old
tools, old and diseased servants, and everything else become useless.
"Vendat boves vetulos, plaustrum vetus, feramenta vetera,
servum senem, servum morbosum, et si quid aliud supersit vendat."
Cato de re rusticâ, c. 2. The American slaves cannot
enumerate this among the injuries and insults they receive. It
was the common practice to expose in the island Æsculapius, in
the Tyber, diseased slaves whose cure was like to become
tedious.[62] The emperor Claudius, by an edict, gave freedom to
such of them as should recover, and first declared that if any
person chose to kill rather than to expose them, it should not be
deemed homicide. The exposing them is a crime of which no
instance has existed with us; and were it to be followed by
death, it would be punished capitally. We are told of a certain
Vedius Pollio, who, in the presence of Augustus, would have
given a slave as food to his fish, for having broken a glass. With
the Romans, the regular method of taking the evidence of their
slaves was under torture. Here it has been thought better never
to resort to their evidence. When a master was murdered, all
his slaves, in the same house, or within hearing, were condemned
to death. Here punishment falls on the guilty only,
and as precise proof is required against him as against a freeman.
Yet notwithstanding these and other discouraging circumstances
among the Romans, their slaves were often their rarest artists.
They excelled too in science, insomuch as to be usually employed
as tutors to their master's children. Epictetus, Terence,
and Phædrus, were slaves. But they were of the race of whites.
It is not their condition then, but nature, which has produced the
distinction. Whether further observation will or will not verify
the conjecture, that nature has been less bountiful to them in
the endowments of the head, I believe that in those of the heart
she will be found to have done them justice. That disposition
to theft with which they have been branded, must be ascribed
to their situation, and not to any depravity of the moral sense.
The man in whose favor no laws of property exist, probably
feels himself less bound to respect those made in favor of others.
When arguing for ourselves, we lay it down as a fundamental,
that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right; that,
without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded
in force, and not in conscience; and it is a problem which I
give to the master to solve, whether the religious precepts against
the violation of property were not framed for him as well as his
slave? And whether the slave may not as justifiably take a
little from one who has taken all from him, as he may slay one
who would slay him? That a change in the relations in which
a man is placed should change his ideas of moral right or wrong,
is neither new, nor peculiar to the color of the blacks. Homer
tells us it was so two thousand six hundred years ago.
'Emisu, ger t' aretes apoainutai euruopa Zeus
Haneros, eut' an min kata doulion ema elesin.
Odd. 17, 323.
Jove fix'd it certain, that whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.
But the slaves of which Homer speaks were whites. Notwithstanding
these considerations which must weaken their respect
for the laws of property, we find among them numerous
instances of the most rigid integrity, and as many as among
their better instructed masters, of benevolence, gratitude, and unshaken
fidelity. The opinion that they are inferior in the faculties
of reason and imagination, must be hazarded with great
diffidence. To justify a general conclusion, requires many observations,
even where the subject may be submitted to the anatomical
knife, to optical glasses, to analysis by fire or by solvents.
How much more then where it is a faculty, not a substance, we
are examining; where it eludes the research of all the senses;
where the conditions of its existence are various and variously
combined; where the effects of those which are present or absent
bid defiance to calculation; let me add too, as a circumstance
of great tenderness, where our conclusion would degrade
a whole race of men from the rank in the scale of beings which
their Creator may perhaps have given them. To our reproach it
must be said, that though for a century and a half we have had
under our eyes the races of black and of red men, they have
never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I
advance it, therefore, as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether
originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances,
are inferior to the whites in the endowments both
of body and mind. It is not against experience to suppose that
different species of the same genus, or varieties of the same species,
may possess different qualifications. Will not a lover of
natural history then, one who views the gradations in all the
races of animals with the eye of philosophy, excuse an effort to
keep those in the department of man as distinct as nature has
formed them? This unfortunate difference of color, and perhaps
of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of
these people. Many of their advocates, while they wish to vindicate
the liberty of human nature, are anxious also to preserve
its dignity and beauty. Some of these, embarrassed by the question,
"What further is to be done with them?" join themselves
in opposition with those who are actuated by sordid avarice only.
Among the Romans emancipation required but one effort. The
slave, when made free, might mix with, without staining the
blood of his master. But with us a second is necessary, unknown
to history. When freed, he is to be removed beyond the
reach of mixture.
The revised code further proposes to proportion crimes and
punishments. This is attempted on the following scale:
I. Crimes whose punishment extends to LIFE.
1. High treason. Death by hanging.
Forfeiture of lands and goods to the
commonwealth.
2. Petty treason. Death by hanging. Dissection.
Forfeiture of half the lands and goods to the
representatives of the party slain.
3. Murder. 1. By poison. Death by poison.
Forfeiture of one-half, as before.
2. In duel. Death by hanging. Gibbeting, if the
challenger.
Forfeiture of one-half as before, unless
it be the party challenged, then the
forfeiture is to the commonwealth.
3. In any other way. Death by hanging.
Forfeiture of one-half as before.
4. Manslaughter. The second offence is murder.
II. Crimes whose punishment goes to LIMB.
1. Rape. } Dismemberment.
2. Sodomy. }
3. Maiming. } Retaliation, and the forfeiture of half of the
4. Disfiguring. } lands and goods to the sufferer.
III. Crimes punishable by LABOR.
1. Manslaughter, Labor VII. years Forfeiture of half, as
1st offence. for the in murder.
public.
2. Counterfeiting Labor VI. years Forfeiture of lands and
money. "" goods to the commonwealth.
3. Arson. } Labor V. years Reparation three-fold.
4. Asportation of } ""
vessels.
5. Robbery. } Labor IV. years Reparation double.
6. Burglary. } ""
7. House-breaking. } Labor III. years Reparation.
8. Horse-stealing. } ""
9. Grand larceny. Labor II. years Reparation. Pillory.
""
10. Petty larceny. Labor I. year Reparation. Pillory.
""
11. Pretensions to
witchcraft, &c. Ducking. Stripes.
12. Excusable homicide. }
13. Suicide. } To be pitied, not punished.
14. Apostasy. Heresy. }
Pardon and privilege of clergy are proposed to be abolished;
but if the verdict be against the defendant, the court in their
discretion may allow a new trial. No attainder to cause a corruption
of blood, or forfeiture of dower. Slaves guilty of offences
punishable in others by labor, to be transported to Africa,
or elsewhere, as the circumstances of the time admit, there to
be continued in slavery. A rigorous regimen proposed for those
condemned to labor.
Another object of the revisal is, to diffuse knowledge more
generally through the mass of the people. This bill proposes to
lay off every county into small districts of five or six miles square,
called hundreds, and in each of them to establish a school for
teaching, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The tutor to be supported
by the hundred, and every person in it entitled to send
their children three years gratis, and as much longer as they
please, paying for it. These schools to be under a visitor who
is annually to choose the boy of best genius in the school, of
those whose parents are too poor to give them further education,
and to send him forward to one of the grammar schools, of which
twenty are proposed to be erected in different parts of the country,
for teaching Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher
branches of numerical arithmetic. Of the boys thus sent in
one year, trial is to be made at the grammar schools one or two
years, and the best genius of the whole selected, and continued
six years, and the residue dismissed. By this means twenty of
the best geniuses will be raked from the rubbish annually, and
be instructed, at the public expense, so far as the grammar schools
go. At the end of six years instruction, one half are to be discontinued
(from among whom the grammar schools will probably
be supplied with future masters); and the other half, who
are to be chosen for the superiority of their parts and disposition,
are to be sent and continued three years in the study of such
sciences as they shall choose, at William and Mary college, the
plan of which is proposed to be enlarged, as will be hereafter
explained, and extended to all the useful sciences. The ultimate
result of the whole scheme of education would be the
teaching all the children of the State reading, writing, and common
arithmetic; turning out ten annually, of superior genius,
well taught in Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher branches
of arithmetic; turning out ten others annually, of still superior
parts, who, to those branches of learning, shall have added such
of the sciences as their genius shall have led them to; the furnishing
to the wealthier part of the people convenient schools at
which their children may be educated at their own expense.
The general objects of this law are to provide an education
adapted to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of every
one, and directed to their freedom and happiness. Specific details
were not proper for the law. These must be the business
of the visitors entrusted with its execution. The first stage of
this education being the schools of the hundreds, wherein the
great mass of the people will receive their instruction, the principal
foundations of future order will be laid here. Instead,
therefore, of putting the Bible and Testament into the hands of
the children at an age when their judgments are not sufficiently
matured for religious inquiries, their memories may here be stored
with the most useful facts from Grecian, Roman, European and
American history. The first elements of morality too may be
instilled into their minds; such as, when further developed as
their judgments advance in strength, may teach them how to
work out their own greatest happiness, by showing them that it
does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has
placed them, but is always the result of a good conscience, good
health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits. Those
whom either the wealth of their parents or the adoption of the
State shall destine to higher degrees of learning, will go on to
the grammar schools, which constitute the next stage, there to
be instructed in the languages. The learning Greek and Latin,
I am told, is going into disuse in Europe. I know not what
their manners and occupations may call for; but it would be
very ill-judged in us to follow their example in this instance.
There is a certain period of life, say from eight to fifteen or sixteen
years of age, when the mind like the body is not yet firm
enough for laborious and close operations. If applied to such, it
falls an early victim to premature exertion; exhibiting, indeed,
at first, in these young and tender subjects, the flattering appearance
of their being men while they are yet children, but ending
in reducing them to be children when they should be men.
The memory is then most susceptible and tenacious of impressions;
and the learning of languages being chiefly a work of
memory, it seems precisely fitted to the powers of this period,
which is long enough too for acquiring the most useful languages,
ancient and modern. I do not pretend that language is science.
It is only an instrument for the attainment of science. But that
time is not lost which is employed in providing tools for future
operation; more especially as in this case the books put into the
hands of the youth for this purpose may be such as will at the
same time impress their minds with useful facts and good principles.
If this period be suffered to pass in idleness, the mind
becomes lethargic and impotent, as would the body it inhabits
if unexercised during the same time. The sympathy between
body and mind during their rise, progress and decline, is too strict
and obvious to endanger our being missed while we reason from
the one to the other. As soon as they are of sufficient age, it is
supposed they will be sent on from the grammar schools to the
university, which constitutes our third and last stage, there to
study those sciences which may be adapted to their views. By
that part of our plan which prescribes the selection of the youths
of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail
the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally
among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use, if not
sought for and cultivated. But of the views of this law none is
more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the
people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own
liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where
_they_ will receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been
said, to be chiefly historical. History, by apprizing them of the
past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them
of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify
them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable
them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and
knowing it, to defeat its views. In every government on earth
is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and
degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly
open, cultivate and improve. Every government degenerates
when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The
people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. And
to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a
certain degree. This indeed is not all that is necessary, though
it be essentially necessary. An amendment of our constitution
must here come in aid of the public education. The influence
over government must be shared among all the people. If every
individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate
authority, the government will be safe; because the corrupting
the whole mass will exceed any private resources of wealth;
and public ones cannot be provided but by levies on the people.
In this case every man would have to pay his own price. The
government of Great Britain has been corrupted, because but one
man in ten has a right to vote for members of parliament. The
sellers of the government, therefore, get nine-tenths of their price
clear. It has been thought that corruption is restrained by confining
the right of suffrage to a few of the wealthier of the people;
but it would be more effectually restrained by an extension
of that right to such numbers as would bid defiance to the means
of corruption.
Lastly, it is proposed, by a bill in this revisal, to begin a public
library and gallery, by laying out a certain sum annually in
books, paintings, and statues.
FOOTNOTES:
[59] Crawford.
[60] The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they
brought hither from Africa, and which is the original
of the guitar, its chords being precisely the four lower
chords of the guitar.
[61] Tous doulous etaxen örismenou nomesmatos homilein tais
therapainsin.--Plutarch. Cato.
[62] Suet. Claud. 25.
QUERY XV.
_The Colleges and Public Establishments, the Roads, Buildings, &c._
The college of William and Mary is the only public seminary
of learning in this State. It was founded in the time of king
William and queen Mary, who granted to it twenty thousand
acres of land, and a penny a pound duty on certain tobaccoes
exported from Virginia and Maryland, which had been levied by
the statute of 25 Car. II. The assembly also gave it, by temporary
laws, a duty on liquors imported, and skins and furs exported.
From these resources it received upwards of three
thousand pounds _communibus annis_. The buildings are of
brick, sufficient for an indifferent accommodation of perhaps an
hundred students. By its charter it was to be under the government
of twenty visitors, who were to be its legislators, and to
have a president and six professors, who were incorporated. It
was allowed a representative in the general assembly. Under
this charter, a professorship of the Greek and Latin languages, a
professorship of mathematics, one of moral philosophy, and two
of divinity, were established. To these were annexed, for a
sixth professorship, a considerable donation by Mr. Boyle, of
England, for the instruction of the Indians, and their conversion
to Christianity. This was called the professorship of Brafferton,
from an estate of that name in England, purchased with the
monies given. The admission of the learners of Latin and
Greek filled the college with children. This rendering it disagreeable
and degrading to young gentlemen already prepared for
entering on the sciences, they were discouraged from resorting
to it, and thus the schools for mathematics and moral philosophy,
which might have been of some service, became of very little.
The revenues, too, were exhausted in accommodating those who
came only to acquire the rudiments of science. After the present
revolution, the visitors, having no power to change those circumstances
in the constitution of the college which were fixed
by the charter, and being therefore confined in the number of
the professorships, undertook to change the objects of the professorships.
They excluded the two schools for divinity, and that
for the Greek and Latin languages, and substituted others; so
that at present they stand thus:
A Professorship for Law and Police;
Anatomy and Medicine;
Natural Philosophy and Mathematics;
Moral Philosophy, the Law of Nature and Nations, the Fine Arts;
Modern Languages;
For the Brafferton.
And it is proposed, so soon as the legislature shall have leisure
to take up this subject, to desire authority from them to increase
the number of professorships, as well for the purpose of subdividing
those already instituted, as of adding others for other
branches of science. To the professorships usually established in
the universities of Europe, it would seem proper to add one for the
ancient languages and literature of the north, on account of their
connection with our own language, laws, customs, and history.
The purposes of the Brafferton institution would be better answered
by maintaining a perpetual mission among the Indian
tribes, the object of which, besides instructing them in the principles
of Christianity, as the founder requires, should be to collect
their traditions, laws, customs, languages, and other circumstances
which might lead to a discovery of their relation with one another,
or descent from other nations. When these objects are
accomplished with one tribe, the missionary might pass on to another.
The roads are under the government of the county courts,
subject to be controlled by the general court. They order new
roads to be opened wherever they think them necessary. The
inhabitants of the county are by them laid off into precincts, to
each of which they allot a convenient portion of the public roads
to be kept in repair. Such bridges as may be built without the
assistance of artificers, they are to build. If the stream be such
as to require a bridge of regular workmanship, the court employs
workmen to build it, at the expense of the whole county. If it
be too great for the county, application is made to the general
assembly, who authorize individuals to build it, and to take a
fixed toll from all passengers, or give sanction to such other proposition
as to them appears reasonable.
Ferries are admitted only at such places as are particularly
pointed out by law, and the rates of ferriage are fixed.
Taverns are licensed by the courts, who fix their rates from
time to time.
The private buildings are very rarely constructed of stone or
brick, much the greatest portion being of scantling and boards,
plastered with lime. It is impossible to devise things more ugly,
uncomfortable, and happily more perishable. There are two or
three plans, on one of which, according to its size, most of the
houses in the State are built. The poorest people build huts of
logs, laid horizontally in pens, stopping the interstices with mud.
These are warmer in winter, and cooler in summer, than the
more expensive construction of scantling and plank. The
wealthy are attentive to the raising of vegetables, but very little
so to fruits. The poorer people attend to neither, living principally
on milk and animal diet. This is the more inexcusable,
as the climate requires indispensably a free use of vegetable food,
for health as well as comfort, and is very friendly to the raising
of fruits. The only public buildings worthy mention are the
capitol, the palace, the college, and the hospital for lunatics, all
of them in Williamsburg, heretofore the seat of our government.
The capitol is a light and airy structure, with a portico in front
of two orders, the lower of which, being Doric, is tolerably just
in its proportions and ornaments, save only that the intercolonations
are too large. The upper is Ionic, much too small for that
on which it is mounted, its ornaments not proper to the order,
nor proportioned within themselves. It is crowned with a pediment,
which is too high for its span. Yet, on the whole, it is
the most pleasing piece of architecture we have. The palace is
not handsome without, but it is spacious and commodious within,
is prettily situated, and with the grounds annexed to it, is capable
of being made an elegant seat. The college and hospital
are rude, misshapen piles, which, but that they have roofs, would
be taken for brick-kilns. There are no other public buildings
but churches and court-houses, in which no attempts are made
at elegance. Indeed, it would not be easy to execute such an attempt,
as a workman could scarcely be found capable of drawing
an order. The genius of architecture seems to have shed its
maledictions over this land. Buildings are often erected, by individuals,
of considerable expense. To give these symmetry and
taste, would not increase their cost. It would only change the
arrangement of the materials, the form and combination of the
members. This would often cost less than the burthen of barbarous
ornaments with which these buildings are sometimes
charged. But the first principles of the art are unknown, and
there exists scarcely a model among us sufficiently chaste to give
an idea of them. Architecture being one of the fine arts, and as
such within the department of a professor of the college, according
to the new arrangement, perhaps a spark may fall on some
young subjects of natural taste, kindle up their genius, and produce
a reformation in this elegant and useful art. But all we
shall do in this way will produce no permanent improvement
to our country, while the unhappy prejudice prevails that houses
of brick or stone are less wholesome than those of wood. A dew
is often observed on the walls of the former in rainy weather,
and the most obvious solution is, that the rain has penetrated
through these walls. The following facts, however, are sufficient
to prove the error of this solution: 1. This dew upon the walls
appears when there is no rain, if the state of the atmosphere be
moist. 2. It appears upon the partition as well as the exterior
walls. 3. So, also, on pavements of brick or stone. 4. It is more
copious in proportion as the walls are thicker; the reverse of which
ought to be the case, if this hypothesis were just. If cold water be
poured into a vessel of stone, or glass, a dew forms instantly on
the outside; but if it be poured into a vessel of wood, there is no
such appearance. It is not supposed, in the first case, that the
water has exuded through the glass, but that it is precipitated
from the circumambient air; as the humid particles of vapor,
passing from the boiler of an alembic through its refrigerant, are
precipitated from the air, in which they are suspended, on the internal
surface of the refrigerant. Walls of brick and stone act
as the refrigerant in this instance. They are sufficiently cold to
condense and precipitate the moisture suspended in the air of
the room, when it is heavily charged therewith. But walls of
wood are not so. The question then is, whether the air in
which this moisture is left floating, or that which is deprived of
it, be most wholesome? In both cases the remedy is easy. A
little fire kindled in the room, whenever the air is damp, prevents
the precipitation on the walls; and this practice, found healthy
in the warmest as well as coldest seasons, is as necessary in a
wooden as in a stone or brick house. I do not mean to say, that
the rain never penetrates through walls of brick. On the contrary,
I have seen instances of it. But with us it is only through
the northern and eastern walls of the house, after a north-easterly
storm, this being the only one which continues long enough to
force through the walls. This, however, happens too rarely to
give a just character of unwholesomeness to such houses. In a
house, the walls of which are of well-burnt brick and good mortar,
I have seen the rain penetrate through but twice in a dozen
or fifteen years. The inhabitants of Europe, who dwell chiefly
in houses of stone or brick, are surely as healthy as those of Virginia.
These houses have the advantage, too, of being warmer
in winter and cooler in summer than those of wood; of being
cheaper in their first construction, where lime is convenient, and
infinitely more durable. The latter consideration renders it of
great importance to eradicate this prejudice from the minds of
our countrymen. A country whose buildings are of wood, can
never increase in its improvements to any considerable degree.
Their duration is highly estimated at fifty years. Every half
century then our country becomes a _tabula rasa_, whereon we
have to set out anew, as in the first moment of seating it.
Whereas when buildings are of durable materials, every new edifice
is an actual and permanent acquisition to the State, adding
to its value as well as to its ornament.
QUERY XVI.
_The measures taken with regard to the estates and possessions
of the Rebels, commonly called tories?_
A tory has been properly defined to be a traitor in thought but
not in deed. The only description, by which the laws have endeavored
to come at them, was that of non-jurors, or persons refusing
to take the oath of fidelity to the State. Persons of this
description were at one time subjected to double taxation, at another
to treble, and lastly were allowed retribution, and placed
on a level with good citizens. It may be mentioned as a proof,
both of the lenity of our government, and unanimity of its inhabitants,
that though this war has now raged near seven years,
not a single execution for treason has taken place.
Under this query I will state the measures which have been
adopted as to British property, the owners of which stand on a
much fairer footing than the tories. By our laws, the same as
the English as in this respect, no alien can hold lands, nor alien
enemy maintain an action for money, or other movable thing.
Lands acquired or held by aliens become forfeited to the State;
and, on an action by an alien enemy to recover money, or other
movable property, the defendant may plead that he is an alien
enemy. This extinguishes his right in the hands of the debtor
or holder of his movable property. By our separation from
Great Britain, British subjects became aliens, and being at war,
they were alien enemies. Their lands were of course forfeited,
and their debts irrecoverable. The assembly, however, passed
laws at various times, for saving their property. They first sequestered
their lands, slaves, and other property on their farms
in the hands of commissioners, who were mostly the confidential
friends or agents of the owners, and directed their clear profits to
be paid into the treasury; and they gave leave to all persons
owing debts to British subjects to pay them also into the treasury.
The monies so to be brought in were declared to remain the
property of the British subject, and if used by the State, were to
be repaid, unless an improper conduct in Great Britain should
render a detention of it reasonable. Depreciation had at that
time, though unacknowledged and unperceived by the whigs,
begun in some small degree. Great sums of money were paid in
by debtors. At a later period, the assembly, adhering to the political
principles which forbid an alien to hold lands in the State,
ordered all British property to be sold; and, become sensible of
the real progress of depreciation, and of the losses which would
thence occur, if not guarded against, they ordered that the proceeds
of the sales should be converted into their then worth in
tobacco, subject to the future direction of the legislature. This
act has left the question of retribution more problematical. In
May, 1780, another act took away the permission to pay into the
public treasury debts due to British subjects.
QUERY XVII.
_The different religions received into that State?_
The first settlers in this country were emigrants from England,
of the English Church, just at a point of time when it was
flushed with complete victory over the religious of all other persuasions.
Possessed, as they became, of the powers of making,
administering, and executing the laws, they showed equal intolerance
in this country with their Presbyterian brethren, who had
emigrated to the northern government. The poor Quakers were
flying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on
these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom;
but they found them free only for the reigning sect. Several
acts of the Virginia assembly of 1659, 1662, and 1693, had made
it penal in parents to refuse to have their children baptized; had
prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers; had made it
penal for any master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into the State;
had ordered those already here, and such as should come thereafter,
to be imprisoned till they should abjure the country; provided
a milder punishment for their first and second return, but
death for their third; had inhibited all persons from suffering
their meetings in or near their houses, entertaining them individually,
or disposing of books which supported their tenets. If no
execution took place here, as did in New England, it was not
owing to the moderation of the church, or spirit of the legislature,
as may be inferred from the law itself; but to historical
circumstances which have not been handed down to us. The
Anglicans retained full possession of the country about a century.
Other opinions began then to creep in, and the great care of the
government to support their own church, having begotten an equal
degree of indolence in its clergy, two-thirds of the people had become
dissenters at the commencement of the present revolution.
The laws, indeed, were still oppressive on them, but the spirit
of the one party had subsided into moderation, and of the other
had risen to a degree of determination which commanded respect.
The present state of our laws on the subject of religion is this.
The convention of May 1776, in their declaration of rights, declared
it to be a truth, and a natural right, that the exercise of
religion should be free; but when they proceeded to form on
that declaration the ordinance of government, instead of taking
up every principle declared in the bill of rights, and guarding it
by legislative sanction, they passed over that which asserted our
religious rights, leaving them as they found them. The same
convention, however, when they met as a member of the general
assembly in October, 1776, repealed all _acts of Parliament_ which
had rendered criminal the maintaining any opinions in matters
of religion, the forbearing to repair to church, and the exercising
any mode of worship; and suspended the laws giving salaries to
the clergy, which suspension was made perpetual in October,
1779. Statutory oppressions in religion being thus wiped away,
we remain at present under those only imposed by the common
law, or by our own acts of assembly. At the common law,
_heresy_ was a capital offence, punishable by burning. Its definition
was left to the ecclesiastical judges, before whom the conviction
was, till the statute of the 1 El. c. 1 circumscribed it,
by declaring, that nothing should be deemed heresy, but what
had been so determined by authority of the canonical scriptures,
or by one of the four first general councils, or by other
council, having for the grounds of their declaration the express
and plain words of the scriptures. Heresy, thus circumscribed,
being an offence against the common law, our act of assembly
of October 1777, c. 17, gives cognizance of it to the general
court, by declaring that the jurisdiction of that court shall be
general in all matters at the common law. The execution is by
the writ _De hæretico comburendo_. By our own act of assembly
of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christian religion
denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are
more gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true,
or the scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on
the first offence by incapacity to hold any office or employment
ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second by disability to
sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator,
and by three years' imprisonment without bail. A
father's right to the custody of his own children being founded
in law on his right of guardianship, this being taken away, they
may of course be severed from him, and put by the authority of
a court into more orthodox hands. This is a summary view of
that religious slavery under which a people have been willing
to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the establishment
of their civil freedom. [63]The error seems not sufficiently
eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as
the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But
our rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only
as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we
never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for
them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend
to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no
injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.
It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his
testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then,
and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by
making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man.
It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them.
Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against
error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion
by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their
investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of
error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry,
Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not
free inquiry been indulged at the era of the reformation, the corruptions
of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it
be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and
new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us
our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as
our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden
as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food. Government
is just as infallible, too, when it fixes systems in physics.
Galileo was sent to the Inquisition for affirming that the earth
was a sphere; the government had declared it to be as flat as a
trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. This
error, however, at length prevailed, the earth became a globe, and
Descartes declared it was whirled round its axis by a vortex.
The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that
this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have
been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices
have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravitation
is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it
would be were the government to step in, and to make it an
article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been
indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which
needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?
Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private
as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To
produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable?
No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes
then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat
the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and
stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in
religion. The several sects perform the office of a _censor morum_
over such other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent
men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity,
have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not
advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect
of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the
other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over
the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions
of people. That these profess probably a thousand different
systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand.
That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should
wish to see the nine hundred and ninety-nine wandering sects
gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we
cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only
practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry
must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it
while we refuse it ourselves. But every State, says an inquisitor,
has established some religion. No two, say I, have established
the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?
Our sister States of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have
long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment
was new and doubtful when they made it. It has answered
beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Religion
is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough;
all sufficient to preserve peace and order; or if a sect arises, whose
tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play, and reasons
and laughs it out of doors, without suffering the State to be
troubled with it. They do not hang more malefactors than we
do. They are not more disturbed with religious dissensions.
On the contrary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be ascribed
to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, because there
is no other circumstance in which they differ from every nation
on earth. They have made the happy discovery, that the way
to silence religious disputes, is to take no notice of them. Let
us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we may,
of those tyrannical laws. It is true, we are as yet secured against
them by the spirit of the times. I doubt whether the people of
this country would suffer an execution for heresy, or a three
years' imprisonment for not comprehending the mysteries of the
Trinity. But is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent
reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection
we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the
spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become
corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence
persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too
often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a
legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united.
From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill.
It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people
for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their
rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole
faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect
a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore,
which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war,
will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till
our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.
FOOTNOTE:
[63] Furneaux passim.
QUERY XVIII.
_The particular customs and manners that may happen to be
received in that State?_
It is difficult to determine on the standard by which the manners
of a nation may be tried, whether _catholic_ or _particular_.
It is more difficult for a native to bring to that standard the
manners of his own nation, familiarized to him by habit. There
must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our
people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The
whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise
of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism
on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our
children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative
animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. From
his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others
do. If a parent could find no motive either in his philanthropy
or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards
his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his
child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent
storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts
on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to
the worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised
in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities.
The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners
and morals undepraved by such circumstances. And with
what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting
one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other,
transforms those into despots, and these into enemies, destroys
the morals of the one part, and the _amor patriæ_ of the other.
For if a slave can have a country in this world, it must be any
other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labor
for another; in which he must lock up the faculties of his nature,
contribute as far as depends on his individual endeavors to the
evanishment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition
on the endless generations proceeding from him. With
the morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed. For
in a warm climate, no man will labor for himself who can make
another labor for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors
of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labor.
And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds
of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That
they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble
for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice
cannot sleep forever; that considering numbers, nature and natural
means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange
of situation is among possible events; that it may become
probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty
has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.
But it is impossible to be temperate and to pursue this subject
through the various considerations of policy, of morals, of history
natural and civil. We must be contented to hope they will force
their way into every one's mind. I think a change already perceptible,
since the origin of the present revolution. The spirit
of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust,
his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the
auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed,
in the order of events, to be with the consent of the masters,
rather than by their extirpation.
QUERY XIX.
_The present state of manufactures, commerce, interior and exterior
trade?_
We never had an interior trade of any importance. Our exterior
commerce has suffered very much from the beginning of
the present contest. During this time we have manufactured
within our families the most necessary articles of clothing.
Those of cotton will bear some comparison with the same kinds
of manufacture in Europe; but those of wool, flax and hemp are
very coarse, unsightly, and unpleasant; and such is our attachment
to agriculture, and such our preference for foreign manufactures,
that be it wise or unwise, our people will certainly return
as soon as they can, to the raising raw materials, and exchanging
them for finer manufactures than they are able to execute
themselves.
The political economists of Europe have established it as a
principle, that every State should endeavor to manufacture for
itself; and this principle, like many others, we transfer to America,
without calculating the difference of circumstance which
should often produce a difference of result. In Europe the lands
are either cultivated, or locked up against the cultivator. Manufacture
must therefore be resorted to of necessity not of choice
to support the surplus of their people. But we have an immensity
of land courting the industry of the husbandman. Is it
best then that all our citizens should be employed in its improvement,
or that one half should be called off from that to exercise
manufactures and handicraft arts for the other? Those
who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever He
had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar
deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in
which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might
escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the
mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation
has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who,
not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does
the husbandman, for their subsistence, depend for it on casualties
and caprice of customers. Dependence begets subservience
and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools
for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence
of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental
circumstances; but, generally speaking, the proportion
which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any
State to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound
to its healthy parts, and is a good enough barometer whereby to
measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labor
then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a workbench,
or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are
wanting in husbandry; but, for the general operations of manufacture,
let our workshops remain in Europe. It is better to
carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring
them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners
and principles. The loss by the transportation of commodities
across the Atlantic will be made up in happiness and
permanence of government. The mobs of great cities add just
so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the
strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a
people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in
these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and
constitution.
QUERY XX.
_A notice of the commercial productions particular to the State,
and of those objects which the inhabitants are obliged to get
from Europe and from other parts of the world?_
Before the present war we exported, _communibus annis_, according
to the best information I can get, nearly as follows:
+----------------------+----------------+----------+----------------+
| Articles. | Quantity. |Dollars. | Amount in |
| | | | Dollars. |
+----------------------+----------------+----------+----------------+
|Tobacco | 55.000 hhds of | at 30d. | |
| | 1,000 lbs. |per hhd. | $1,650,000 |
| | | | |
|Wheat |800,000 bushels.|at 5-6d. | |
| | |per bush. | 666,666⅔ |
| | | | |
|Indian corn |600,000 " |at ⅓d. | |
| | |per bush. | 200,000 |
| | | | |
|Shipping | ........ | .... | 100,000 |
| | | | |
|Masts, planks, }| | | |
|scantling, shingles, }| ........ | .... | 66,666⅔ |
|staves }| | | |
| | | | |
|Tar, pitch, turpentine| 30,000 barrels.|at 1⅓d. | |
| | |per bbl. | 40,000 |
| | | | |
|Peltry, viz., skins }| | | |
|of deer, beavers, }|180 hhds. of | | |
|otters, musk rats, }|600 lbs. |at 5-12d. | |
|raccoons,foxes }| |per lb. | 42,000 |
| | | | |
|Pork | 4,000 barrels.|at 10d. | |
| | |per bbl. | 40,000 |
| | | | |
|Flax-seed, hemp, | | | |
|cotton | ........ | .... | 8,000 |
| | | | |
|Pit coal, pig iron | ........ | .... | 6,666⅔ |
| | | | |
|Peas | 5,000 bushels.|at ⅔d. | |
| | |per bush. | 3,333⅓ |
|Beef | 1,000 barrels.|at 3⅓d. | |
| | |per bbl. | 3,333⅓ |
| | | | |
|Sturgeon, white shad, | | | |
|herring | ........ | .... | 3,333⅓ |
| | | | |
|Brandy from peaches }| ........ | .... | 1,666⅔ |
|and apples, and }| | | |
|whiskey }| | | |
| | | | |
|Horses | ........ | .... | 1,666⅔ |
| +----------------+----------+----------------+
| | ........ | .... |[64]$2,833,333⅓ |
+----------------------+----------------+----------+----------------+
In the year 1758 we exported seventy thousand hogsheads of
tobacco, which was the greatest quantity ever produced in this
country in one year. But its culture was fast declining at the
commencement of this war and that of wheat taken its place;
and it must continue to decline on the return of peace. I suspect
that the change in the temperature of our climate has become
sensible to that plant, which to be good, requires an extraordinary
degree of heat. But it requires still more indispensably
an uncommon fertility of soil; and the price which it commands
at market will not enable the planter to produce this by manure.
Was the supply still to depend on Virginia and Maryland alone
as its culture becomes more difficult, the price would rise so as
to enable the planter to surmount those difficulties and to live.
But the western country on the Mississippi, and the midlands of
Georgia, having fresh and fertile lands in abundance, and a hotter
sun, will be able to undersell these two States, and will oblige
them to abandon the raising of tobacco altogether. And a happy
obligation for them it will be. It is a culture productive of
infinite wretchedness. Those employed in it are in a continual
state of exertion beyond the power of nature to support. Little
food of any kind is raised by them; so that the men and animals
on these farms are badly fed, and the earth is rapidly impoverished.
The cultivation of wheat is the reverse in every
circumstance. Besides clothing the earth with herbage, and preserving
its fertility, it feeds the laborers plentifully, requires from
them only a moderate toil, except in the season of harvest, raises
great numbers of animals for food and service, and diffuses plenty
and happiness among the whole. We find it easier to make an
hundred bushels of wheat than a thousand weight of tobacco,
and they are worth more when made. The weavil indeed is a
formidable obstacle to the cultivation of this grain with us. But
principles are already known which must lead to a remedy.
Thus a certain degree of heat, to wit, that of the common air
in summer, is necessary to hatch the eggs. If subterranean granaries,
or others, therefore, can be contrived below that temperature,
the evil will be cured by cold. A degree of heat beyond
that which hatches the egg we know will kill it. But in aiming
at this we easily run into that which produced putrefaction. To
produce putrefaction, however, three agents are requisite, heat,
moisture, and the external air. If the absence of any one of
these be secured, the other two may safely be admitted. Heat is
the one we want. Moisture then, or external air, must be excluded.
The former has been done by exposing the grain in
kilns to the action of fire, which produces heat, and extracts
moisture at the same time; the latter, by putting the grain into
hogsheads, covering it with a coating of lime, and heading it up.
In this situation its bulk produced a heat sufficient to kill the
eggs; the moisture is suffered to remain indeed, but the external
air is excluded. A nicer operation yet has been attempted; that
is, to produce an intermediate temperature of heat between that
which kills the egg, and that which produces putrefaction. The
threshing the grain as soon as it is cut, and laying it in its chaff
in large heaps, has been found very nearly to hit this temperature,
though not perfectly, nor always. The heap generates
heat sufficient to kill most of the eggs, whilst the chaff commonly
restrains it from rising into putrefaction. But all these
methods abridge too much the quantity which the farmer can
manage, and enable other countries to undersell him, which are
not infested with this insect. There is still a desideratum then
to give with us decisive triumph to this branch of agriculture
over that of tobacco. The culture of wheat by enlarging our
pasture, will render the Arabian horse an article of very considerable
profit. Experience has shown that ours is the particular
climate of America where he may be raised without degeneracy.
Southwardly the heat of the sun occasions a deficiency
of pasture, and northwardly the winters are too cold for the short
and fine hair, the particular sensibility and constitution of that
race. Animals transplanted into unfriendly climates, either
change their nature and acquire new senses against the new
difficulties in which they are placed, or they multiply poorly and
become extinct. A good foundation is laid for their propagation
here by our possessing already great numbers of horses of that
blood, and by a decided taste and preference for them established
among the people. Their patience of heat without injury, their
superior wind, fit them better in this and the more southern climates
even for the drudgeries of the plough and wagon. Northwardly
they will become an object only to persons of taste and
fortune, for the saddle and light carriages. To those, and for
these uses, their fleetness and beauty will recommend them. Besides
these there will be other valuable substitutes when the cultivation
of tobacco shall be discontinued such as cotton in the
eastern parts of the State, and hemp and flax in the western.
It is not easy to say what are the articles either of necessity,
comfort, or luxury, which we cannot raise, and which we therefore
shall be under a necessity of importing from abroad, as everything
hardier than the olive, and as hardy as the fig, may be
raised here in the open air. Sugar, coffee and tea, indeed, are
not between these limits; and habit having placed them among
the necessaries of life with the wealthy part of our citizens, as
long as these habits remain we must go for them to those countries
which are able to furnish them.
FOOTNOTE:
[64] This sum is equal to £850,000; Virginia money, 607,142
guineas.
QUERY XXI.
_The weights, measures and the currency of the hard money?
Some details relating to exchange with Europe?_
Our weights and measures are the same which are fixed by
acts of parliament in England. How it has happened that in
this as well as the other American States the nominal value of
coin was made to differ from what it was in the country we had
left, and to differ among ourselves too, I am not able to say with
certainty. I find that in 1631 our house of burgesses desired of
the privy council in England, a coin debased to twenty-five per
cent.; that in 1645 they forbid dealing by barter for tobacco,
and established the Spanish piece of eight at six shillings, as the
standard of their currency; that in 1655 they changed it to five
shillings sterling. In 1680 they sent an address to the king, in
consequence of which, by proclamation in 1683, he fixed the
value of French crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, at six
shillings, and the coin of New England at one shilling. That
in 1710, 1714, 1727, and 1762, other regulations were made,
which will be better presented to the eye stated in the form of a
table as follows:
-------------------------------------+-----+--------+-------+-------
| 1710| 1714. | 1797. | 1762.
-------------------------------------+-----+--------+-------+-------
| | | |
Guineas | .. |26s. | |
| | | |
British gold coin not milled, gold | | | |
coin of Spain and France, chequins, | | | |
Arabian gold, moidores of Portugal | .. |5s. dwt.| |
| | | |
Coined gold of the empire | .. |5s. dwt.| .. |4s. 3d.
| | | | dwt.
English milled silver money, in | | | |
proportion to the crown, at | .. |5s. 10d.|6s. 3d.|
| | | |
Pieces of eight of Mexico, Seville | | | |
& Pillar, ducatoons of Flanders, | | | |
French ecus, or silver Louis, |3¾d. | .. |4d. |
crusados of Portugal | dwt.| | dwt. |
| | | |
Peru pieces, cross dollars, and old |3½d. | .. |3¾d. |
rix dollars of the empire | dwt.| | dwt. |
| | | |
Old British silver not milled | .. |3¾d. | |
| | dwt. | |
-------------------------------------+-----+--------+-------+-------
The first symptom of the depreciation of our present paper
money, was that of silver dollars selling at six shillings, which
had before been worth but five shilling and ninepence. The
assembly thereupon raised them by law to six shillings. As the
dollar is now likely to become the money-unit of America, as it
passes at this rate in some of our sister States, and as it facilitates
their computation in pounds and shillings, &c., converso, this
seems to be more convenient than its former denomination. But
as this particular coin now stands higher than any other in the
proportion of one hundred and thirty-three and a half to one
hundred and twenty-five, or sixteen to fifteen, it will be necessary
to raise the others in proportion.
QUERY XXII.
_The public Income and expenses?_
The nominal amount of these varying constantly and rapidly,
with the constant and rapid depreciation of our paper money, it
becomes impracticable to say what they are. We find ourselves
cheated in every essay by the depreciation intervening between
the declaration of the tax and its actual receipt. It will therefore
be more satisfactory to consider what our income may be when
we shall find means of collecting what our people may spare. I
should estimate the whole taxable property of this State at an
hundred millions of dollars, or thirty millions of pounds, our
money. One per cent. on this, compared with anything we
ever yet paid, would be deemed a very heavy tax. Yet I think
that those who manage well, and use reasonable economy, could
pay one and a half per cent., and maintain their household comfortably
in the meantime, without aliening any part of their
principal, and that the people would submit to this willingly for
the purpose of supporting their present contest. We may say,
then, that we could raise, from one million to one million and a
half of dollars annually, that is from three hundred to four hundred
and fifty thousand pounds, Virginia money.
Of our expenses it is equally difficult to give an exact state,
and for the same reason. They are mostly stated in paper
money, which varying continually, the legislature endeavors at
every session, by new corrections, to adapt the nominal sums to
the value it is wished they would bear. I will state them, therefore,
in real coin, at the point at which they endeavor to keep them:
Dollars.
The annual expenses of the general assembly are about 20,000
The governor 3,333⅓
The council of state 10,666⅔
Their clerks 1,166⅔
Eleven judges 11,000
The clerk of the chancery 666⅔
The attorney general 1,000
Three auditors and a solicitor 5,333⅓
Their clerks 2,000
The treasurer 2,000
His clerks 2,000
The keeper of the public jail 1,000
The public printer 1,666⅔
Clerks of the inferior courts 43,333⅓
Public levy; this is chiefly for the expenses of
criminal justice 40,000
County levy, for bridges, court-houses, prisons, &c. 40,000
Members of Congress 7,000
Quota of the federal civil list, supposed one-sixth
of about $78,000 13,000
Expenses of collecting, six per cent. on the above 12,310
The clergy receive only voluntary contributions;
suppose them on an average one-eighth of a dollar
a tythe on 200,000 tythes 25,000
Contingencies, to make round numbers not far from truth 7,523⅓
---------
$250,000
or 53,571 guineas. This estimate is exclusive of the military
expense. That varies with the force actually employed, and in
time of peace will probably be little or nothing. It is exclusive
also of the public debts, which are growing while I am
writing, and cannot therefore be now fixed. So it is of the
maintenance of the poor, which being merely a matter of charity
cannot be deemed expended in the administration of government.
And if we strike out the $25,000 for the services of the
clergy, which neither makes part of that administration, more
than what is paid to physicians, or lawyers, and being voluntary,
is either much or nothing as every one pleases, it leaves $225,000,
equal to 48,208 guineas, the real cost of the apparatus of
government with us. This divided among the actual inhabitants
of our country, comes to about two-fifths of a dollar,
twenty-one pence sterling, or forty-two sols, the price which
each pays annually for the protection of the residue of his property,
and the other advantages of a free government. The
public revenues of Great Britain divided in like manner on its
inhabitants would be sixteen times greater. Deducting even the
double of the expenses of government, as before estimated, from
the million and a half of dollars which we before supposed might
be annually paid without distress, we may conclude that this
State can contribute one million of dollars annually towards supporting
the federal army, paying the federal debt, building a
federal navy, or opening roads, clearing rivers, forming safe ports,
and other useful works.
To this estimate of our abilities, let me add a word as to the
application of them. If, when cleared of the present contest,
and of the debts with which that will charge us, we come to
measure force hereafter with any European power. Such events
are devoutly to be deprecated. Young as we are, and with such
a country before us to fill with people and with happiness, we
should point in that direction the whole generative force of nature,
wasting none of it in efforts of mutual destruction. It
should be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and friendship of
every nation, even of that which has injured us most, when we
shall have carried our point against her. Our interest will be to
throw open the doors of commerce, and to knock off all its
shackles, giving perfect freedom to all persons for the vent of
whatever they may chose to bring into our ports, and asking the
same in theirs. Never was so much false arithmetic employed
on any subject, as that which has been employed to persuade nations
that it is their interest to go to war. Were the money
which it has cost to gain, at the close of a long war, a little town,
or a little territory, the right to cut wood here, or to catch fish
there, expended in improving what they already possess, in making
roads, opening rivers, building ports, improving the arts, and
finding employment for their idle poor, it would render them
much stronger, much wealthier and happier. This I hope will
be our wisdom. And, perhaps, to remove as much as possible
the occasions of making war, it might be better for us to abandon
the ocean altogether, that being the element whereon we
shall be principally exposed to jostle with other nations; to leave
to others to bring what we shall want, and to carry what we can
spare. This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by offering
none of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens
to the cultivation of the earth; and, I repeat it again, cultivators
of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens.
It might be time enough to seek employment for them
at sea, when the land no longer offers it. But the actual habits
of our countrymen attach them to commerce. They will exercise
it for themselves. Wars then must sometimes be our lot;
and all the wise can do, will be to avoid that half of them which
would be produced by our own follies and our own acts of injustice;
and to make for the other half the best preparations we
can. Of what nature should these be? A land army would be
useless for offence, and not the best nor safest instrument of defence.
For either of these purposes, the sea is the field on
which we should meet an European enemy. On that element
it is necessary we should possess some power. To aim at such
a navy as the greater nations of Europe possess, would be a foolish
and wicked waste of the energies of our countrymen. It
would be to pull on our own heads that load of military expense
which makes the European laborer go supperless to bed, and
moistens his bread with the sweat of his brows. It will be
enough if we enable ourselves to prevent insults from those nations
of Europe which are weak on the sea, because circumstances
exist, which render even the stronger ones weak as to
us. Providence has placed their richest and most defenceless
possessions at our door; has obliged their most precious commerce
to pass, as it were, in review before us. To protect this,
or to assail, a small part only of their naval force will ever be
risked across the Atlantic. The dangers to which the elements
expose them here are too well known, and the greater dangers
to which they would be exposed at home were any general calamity
to involve their whole fleet. They can attack us by detachment
only; and it will suffice to make ourselves equal to
what they may detach. Even a smaller force than they may
detach will be rendered equal or superior by the quickness with
which any check may be repaired with us, while losses with
them will be irreparable till too late. A small naval force then
is sufficient for us, and a small one is necessary. What this
should be, I will not undertake to say. I will only say, it should
by no means be so great as we are able to make it. Suppose
the million of dollars, or three hundred thousand pounds, which
Virginia could annually spare without distress, to be applied to
the creating a navy. A single year's contribution would build,
equip, man, and send to sea a force which should carry three
hundred guns. The rest of the confederacy, exerting themselves
in the same proportion, would equip in the same time fifteen
hundred guns more. So that one year's contributions would set
up a navy of eighteen hundred guns. The British ships of the
line average seventy-six guns; their frigates thirty-eight. Eighteen
hundred guns then would form a fleet of thirty ships, eighteen
of which might be of the line, and twelve frigates. Allowing
eight men, the British average, for every gun, their annual
expense, including subsistence, clothing, pay, and ordinary repairs,
would be about $1,280 for every gun, or $2,304,000 for
the whole. I state this only as one year's possible exertion,
without deciding whether more or less than a year's exertion
should be thus applied.
The value of our lands and slaves, taken conjunctly, doubles
in about twenty years. This arises from the multiplication of
our slaves, from the extension of culture, and increased demand
for lands. The amount of what may be raised will of course
rise in the same proportion.
QUERY XXIII.
_The histories of the State, the memorials published in its name
in the time of its being a colony, and the pamphlets relating
to its interior or exterior affairs present or ancient?_
Captain Smith, who next to Sir Walter Raleigh may be considered
as the founder of our colony, has written its history, from
the first adventures to it, till the year 1624. He was a member
of the council, and afterwards president of the colony; and to
his efforts principally may be ascribed its support against the opposition
of the natives. He was honest, sensible, and well informed;
but his style is barbarous and uncouth. His history,
however, is almost the only source from which we derive any
knowledge of the infancy of our State.
The reverend William Stith, a native of Virginia, and president
of its college, has also written the history of the same
period, in a large octavo volume of small print. He was a man
of classical learning, and very exact, but of no taste in style.
He is inelegant, therefore, and his details often too minute to be
tolerable, even to a native of the country, whose history he
writes.
Beverley, a native also, has run into the other extreme, he has
comprised our history from the first propositions of Sir Walter
Raleigh to the year 1700, in the hundredth part of the space
which Stith employs for the fourth part of the period.
Sir Walter Keith has taken it up at its earliest period, and continued
it to the year 1725. He is agreeable enough in style, and
passes over events of little importance. Of course he is short
and would be preferred by a foreigner.
During the regal government, some contest arose on the exaction
of an illegal fee by governor Dinwiddie, and doubtless there
were others on other occasions not at present recollected. It is
supposed that these are not sufficiently interesting to a foreigner
to merit a detail.
The petition of the council and burgesses of Virginia to the
king, their memorials to the lords, and remonstrance to the commons
in the year 1764, began the present contest; and these
having proved ineffectual to prevent the passage of the stamp-act,
the resolutions of the house of burgesses of 1765 were passed
declaring the independence of the people of Virginia of the parliament
of Great Britain, in matters of taxation. From that
time till the declaration of independence by Congress in 1776,
their journals are filled with assertions of the public rights.
The pamphlets published in this State on the controverted
question, were:
1766, An Inquiry into the rights of the British Colonies, by
Richard Bland.
1769, The Monitor's Letters, by Dr. Arthur Lee.
1774, A summary View of the rights of British America.[65]
1774, Considerations, &c., by Robert Carter Nicholas.
Since the declaration of independence this State has had no
controversy with any other, except with that of Pennsylvania,
on their common boundary. Some papers on this subject passed
between the executive and legislative bodies of the two States,
the result of which was a happy accommodation of their rights.
To this account of our historians, memorials, and pamphlets,
it may not be unuseful to add a chronological catalogue of American
state-papers, as far as I have been able to collect their titles.
It is far from being either complete or correct. Where the title
alone, and not the paper itself, has come under my observation,
I cannot answer for the exactness of the date. Sometimes I
have not been able to find any date at all, and sometimes have
not been satisfied that such a paper exists. An extensive collection
of papers of this description has been for some time in a
course of preparation by a gentleman[66] fully equal to the task,
and from whom, therefore, we may hope ere long to receive it.
In the meantime accept this as the result of my labors, and as
closing the tedious detail which you have so undesignedly drawn
upon yourself.
Pro Johanne Caboto et filiis suis super terra 1496, Mar. 5.
incognita investiganda 12. Ry. 595. 3. Hakl. 4. 11. H. 7.
2. Mem. A. 409.
Billa signata anno 13. Henrici septimi. 3. 1498, Feb. 3.
Hakluyt's voiages 5. 13. H. 7.
De potestatibus ad terras incognitas 1502, Dec. 19.
investigandum. 13. Rymer. 37. 18. H. 7.
Commission de François I. à Jacques Cartier pour 1540, Oct. 17.
l'establissement du Canada. L'Escarbot. 397. 2.
Mem. Am. 416.
An act against the exaction of money, or any 1548, 2. E. 6.
other thing, by any officer for license to
traffique into Iseland and New-found-land,
made in An. 2. Edwardi sexti. 3. Hakl. 131.
The letters-patent granted by her Majestie 1578, June 11.
to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, knight, for the 20. El.
inhabiting and planting of our people in
America. 3. Hakl. 135.
Letters-patent of Queen Elizabeth to Adrian 1583, Feb. 6.
Gilbert and others, to discover the northwest
passage to China. 3. Hakl. 96.
The letters-patent granted by the Queen's 1584, Mar. 25.
majestie to M. Walter Raleigh, now knight, 26 El.
for the discovering and planting of new lands
and countries, to continue the space of six
years and no more. 3. Hakl. 243.
An assignment by Sir Walter Raleigh for Mar. 7.
continuing the action of inhabiting and 31. El.
planting his people in Virginia. Hakl. 1st.
ed. publ. in 1589. p. 815.
Lettres de Lieutenant General de l'Acadie et 1603, Nov. 8.
pays circonvoisins pour le Sieur de Monts.
L'Escarbot. 417.
Letters-patent to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George 1606, Apr. 10.
Somers and others of America. Stith. Apend. 4. Jac. 1.
No. 1.
An ordinance and constitution enlarging the 1607, Mar. 9.
council of the two colonies in Virginia and 4. Jac. 1.
America, and augmenting their authority, M.S.
The second charter to the treasurer and 1609, May 23.
company for Virginia, erecting them into a 7. Jac. 1.
body politick. Stith. Ap. 2.
Letters-patents to the E. of Northampton, 1610, April 10.
granting part of the island of Newfoundland. Jac. 1.
1. Harris. 861.
A third charter to the treasurer and company 1611, Mar. 12.
for Virginia. Stith. Ap. 3. 9. Jac. 1.
A commission to Sir Walter Raleigh. Qu. 1617. Jac. 1.
Commissio specialis concernens le garbling 1620. Apr. 7.
herbæ Nocotianæ. 17. Rym. 190. 18. Jac. 1.
A proclamation for restraint of the disordered 1620. June 29.
trading of tobacco. 17. Rym. 233. 18. Jac. 1.
A grant of New-England to the council of 1620. Nov. 3.
Plymouth. Jac. 1.
An ordinance and constitution of the treasurer, 1621, July 24.
council and company in England, for a council Jac. 1.
of state and general assembly in Virginia.
Stith. Ap. 4.
A grant of Nova Scotia to Sir William Alexander. 1621, Sep. 10.
2. Mem. de l'Amerique. 193. 20 Jac. 1.
A proclamation prohibiting interloping and 1622, Nov. 6.
disorderly trading to New England in America. 20 Jac. 1.
17. Rym. 416.
De commissione speciali Willelmo Jones militi 1623, May 9.
directa. 17. Rym. 490. 21 Jac. 1.
A grant to Sir Edmund Ployden, of New Albion. 1623.
Mentioned in Smith's examination. 82.
De commissione Henrico vicecomiti Mandevill 1624, July 15.
et aliis. 17. Rym. 609. 22. Jac. 1.
De commissione speciali concernenti 1624, Aug. 26.
gubernationem in Virginia. 17. Rym. 618. 22 Jac. 1.
A proclamation concerning tobacco. 17. Rym. 1624, Sep. 29.
621. 22 Jac. 1.
De concessione demiss, Edwardo Ditchfield et 1624, Nov. 9.
aliis. 17. Rym. 633. 22 Jac. 1.
A proclamation for the utter prohibiting the 1625, Mar. 2.
importation and use of all tobacco which is 22 Jac. 1.
not of the proper growth of the colony of
Virginia and the Somer islands, or one of
them. 17. Rym. 668.
De commissione directa Georgio Yardeley militi 1625, Mar. 4.
et aliis. 18. Rym. 311. 1 Car. 1.
Proclamatio de herba Nicotianâ. 18. Rym. 19. 1625, Apr. 9.
1 Car. 1.
A proclamation for settlinge the plantation 1625, May 13.
of Virginia. 18. Rym. 72. 1 Car. 1.
A grant of the soil, barony, and domains of 1625, July 12.
Nova Scotia to Sir Wm. Alexander of Minstrie.
2. Mem. Am. 226.
Commissio directa a Johanni Wolstenholme 1626, Jan. 31.
militi et aliis. 18. Rym. 831. 2 Car. 1.
A proclamation touching tobacco. Rym. 848. 1626, Feb. 17.
2 Car. 1.
A grant of Massachusetts bay by the council of 1627, Mar. 19.
Plymouth to Sir Henry Roswell and others. qu? 2 Car. 1.
De concessione commissionis specialis 1627, Mar. 26.
proconcilio in Virginia. 18. Rym. 980. 3 Car. 1.
De proclamatione de signatione de tobacco. 1627, Mar. 30.
18. Rym. 886. 3 Car. 1.
De proclamatione pro ordinatione de tobacco. 1627, Aug. 9.
18. Rym. 920. 3 Car. 1.
A confirmation of the grant of Massachusetts 1628, Mar. 4.
bay by the crown. 3 Car. 1.
The capitulation of Quebec. Champlain pert. 1629, Aug. 19.
2. 216. 2. Mem. Am. 489.
A proclamation concerning tobacco. 19. Rym. 1630, Jan. 6.
235. 5 Car. 1.
Conveyance of Nova Scotia (Port-royal excepted) 1630, April 30.
by Sir William Alexander to Sir Claude St.
Etienne Lord of la Tour and of Uarre and to
his son Sir Charles de St. Etienne Lord of St.
Denniscourt, on condition that they continue
subjects to the king of Scotland under the
great seal of Scotland.
A proclamation forbidding the disorderly 1630-31, Nov.
trading with the savages in New England 24. 6 Car. 1.
in America, especially the furnishing the
natives in those and other parts of America
by the English with weapons and habiliments
of warre. 19. Ry. 210. 3. Rushw. 82.
A proclamation prohibiting the selling arms, 1630, Dec. 5.
&c. to the savages in America. Mentioned 3. 6 Car. 1.
Rushw. 75.
A grant of Connecticut by the council of 1630, Car. 1.
Plymouth to the E. of Warwick.
A confirmation by the crown of the grant 1630, Car. 1.
of Connecticut [said to be in the petty-bag
office in England.]
A conveiance of Connecticut by the E. of 1631, Mar. 19.
Warwick to Lord Say, and Seal, and others. 6 Car. 1.
Smith's examination, Appendix No. 1.
A special commission to Edward, Earle of 1631, June 27.
Dorsett, and others, for the better plantation 7 Car. 1.
of the colony of Virginia. 19. Ry. 301.
Litere continentes promissionem regis ad 1632, June 29.
tradenum castrum et habitationem de Kebec in 7 Car. 1.
Canada ad regem Francorum. 19. Ry. 303.
Traité entre le roy Louis XIII. et Charles 1632, Mar. 29.
roi d'Angleterre pour la restitution de la 8 Car. 1.
nouvelle France, la Cadie et Canada et des
navires et merchandises pris de part et
d'autre. Fait a St. Germain. 19. Ry. 361. 2.
Mem. Am. 5.
A grant of Maryland to Cæcilius Calvert, 1632, June 20.
baron of Baltimore in Ireland. 8 Car. 1.
A petition of the planters of Virginia against 1633, July 3.
the grant to lord Baltimore. 9 Car. 1.
Order of council upon the dispute between the 1633, July 3.
Virginia planters and lord Baltimore, Votes
of repres. Pennsylvania. V.
A proclamation to prevent abuses growing by 1633, Aug. 13.
the unordered retailing of tobacco. Mentioned 9 Car. 1.
3. Rushw. 191.
A special commission to Thomas Young to search, 1633, Sept. 23.
discover and find out what ports are not yet 9 Car. 1.
inhabited in Virginia and America and other
parts thereunto adjoining. 19. Ry. 472.
A proclamation for preventing of the abuses 1633, Oct. 13.
growing by the unordered retailing of tobacco. 9 Car. 1.
19. Ry. 474.
A proclamation restraining the abusive venting 1633. Mar. 13.
of tobacco. 19. Rym. 522. Car. 1.
A proclamation concerning the landing of 1634, May 19.
tobacco, and also forbidding the planting 10 Car. 1.
thereof in the king's dominions. 19. Ry. 553.
A commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury 1634, Car. 1.
and 11 others, for governing the American
colonies.
A commission concerning tobacco. M.S. 1634, June 19.
10 Car. 1.
A commission from Lord Say, and Seal, and 1635, July 18.
others, to John Winthrop to be governor of 11 Car. 1.
Connecticut. Smith's App.
A grant to Duke Hamilton. 1635, Car. 1.
De commissione speciali Johanni Harvey militi 1636, Apr. 2.
to pro meliori regemine coloniae in Virginia. 12 Car. 1.
20. Ry. 3.
A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title in 1637, Mar. 14.
3. Rush. 617. Car. 1.
De commissione speciali Georgio domino Goring 1636-7, Mar.
et aliis concessâ concernente venditionem de 16. 12 Car. 1.
tobacco absque licentiâ regiâ. 20. Ry. 116.
A proclamation against disorderly transporting 1637, Apr. 30.
his Majesty's subjects to the plantations 13 Car. 1.
within the parts of America. 20. Ry. 143. 3.
Rush. 409.
An order of the privy council to stay 8 ships 1637, May 1.
now in the Thames from going to New England. 13 Car. 1.
3. Rush. 409.
A warrant of the Lord Admiral to stop 1637, Car. 1.
unconformable ministers from going beyond
the sea. 3. Rush. 410.
Order of council upon Claiborne's 1638, Apr. 4.
petition against Lord Baltimore. Votes of Car. 1.
representatives of Pennsylvania, vi.
An order of the king and council that the 1638, Apr. 6.
attorney general draw up a proclamation to 14 Car. 1.
prohibit transportation of passengers to New
England without license. 3. Rush. 718.
A proclamation to restrain the transporting 1638, May 1.
of passengers and provisions to New England 14 Car. 1.
without license. 20. Ry. 223.
A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title 4. 1639, Mar. 25.
Rush. 1060. Car. 1.
A proclamation declaring his majesty's pleasure 1639, Aug. 19.
to continue his commission and letters patents 15 Car. 1.
for licensing retailers of tobacco. 20. Ry.
348.
De commissione speciali Henrico Ashton 1639, Dec. 16.
armigero ét aliis ad amovendum Henricum Hawley 15 Car. 1.
gubernatorem de Barbadoes. 20. Rym. 357.
A proclamation concerning retailers of tobacco. 1639, Car. 1.
4. Rush. 966.
De constitutione gubernatoris et concilii 1641, Aug. 9.
pro Virginia. 20. Ry. 484. 17 Car. 1.
Articles of union and confederacy entered 1643, Car. 1.
into by Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut
and New-haven. 1. Neale. 223.
Deed from George Fenwick to the old Connecticut 1644, Car. 1.
jurisdiction.
An ordinance of the lords and commons assembled
in parliament, for exempting from custom and
imposition all commodities exported for, or
imported from New England, which has been
very prosperous and without any public charge
to this State, and is likely to prove very
happy for the propagation of the gospel in
those parts. Tit. in Amer, library 90. 5. No
date. But seems by the neighbouring articles
to have been in 1644.
An act for charging of tobacco brought from 1644, June 20.
New England with custom and excise. Title in Car. 2.
American library. 99. 8.
An act for the advancing and regulating the 1644, Aug. 1.
trade of this commonwealth. Tit. in Amer. Car. 2.
libr. 99. 9.
Grant of the Northern neck of Virginia to Sep. 18.
Lord Hopton, Lord Jermyn, Lord Culpepper, 1 Car. 2.
Sir John Berkley, Sir William Moreton, Sir
Dudley Wyatt, and Thomas Culpepper.
An act prohibiting trade with the Barbadoes, 1650, Oct. 3.
Virginia, Bermudas and Antego Scobell's Acts. 2 Car. 2.
1027.
A declaration of Lord Willoughby, governor 1650, Car. 2.
of Barbadoes, and of his council, against an
act of parliament of 3d of October, 1650. 4.
Polit. register. 2. cited from 4 Neal. hist.
of the Puritans. App. No. 12 but not there.
A final settlement of boundaries between the 1650, Car. 2.
Dutch New Netherlands and Connecticut.
Instructions for Captain Robert Dennis, Mr. 1651, Sept. 26.
Richard Bennet, Mr. Thomas Stagge, and Captain 3 Car. 2.
William Claibourn, appointed commissioners for
the reducing of Virginia and the inhabitants
thereof to their due obedience to the
commonwealth of England. 1 Thurloe's state
papers, 197.
An act for increase of shipping and 1651, Oct. 9.
encouragement of the navigation of this 8 Car. 2.
nation. Scobell's acts, 1449.
Articles agreed on and concluded at James citie 1651-2, Mar.
in Virginia for the surrendering and settling 12. 4 Car. 2.
of that plantation under the obedience and
government of the commonwealth of England, by
the commissioners of the council of state,
by authoritie of the parliament of England,
and by the grand assembly of the governor,
council, and burgesse of that state. M.S.
[Ante. p. 206.]
An act of indempnitie made at the surrender 1651, Mar.
of the country [of Virginia.] [Ante p. 206.] 12. 4 Car. 1.
Capitulation de Port Royal. Mem. Am. 507. 1654, Aug. 16.
A proclamation of the protector relating to 1655, Car. 2.
Jamaica. 3 Thurl. 75.
The protector to the commissioners of Maryland. 1655, Sep. 26.
A letter. 4 Thurl. 55. 7 Car. 2.
An instrument made at the council of Jamaica, 1655, Oct. 8.
Oct. 8, 1655, for the better carrying on of 7 Car. 2.
affairs there. 4 Thurl. 17.
Treaty of Westminster between France and 1655, Nov. 3.
England. 6. corps diplom. part 2. p. 121. 2
Mem. Am. 10.
The assembly at Barbadoes to the protector. 1656, Mar. 27.
4 Thurl. 651. 8 Car. 2.
A grant by Cromwell to Sir Charles de Saint 1656, Aug. 9.
Etienne, a baron of Scotland, Crowne and
Temple. A French translation of it. 2 Mem.
Am. 511.
A paper concerning the advancement of trade, 1656, Car. 2.
5 Thurl. 80.
A brief narration of the English rights to 1656, Car. 2.
the Northern parts of America. 5 Thurl. 81.
Mr. R. Bennet and Mr. S. Matthew to Secretary 1656, Oct. 12.
Thurlow. 5 Thurl. 482. 8 Car. 2.
Objections against the Lord Baltimore's patent, 1656, Oct. 10.
and reasons why the government of Maryland 8 Car. 2.
should not be put into his hands. 5 Thurl. 482.
A paper relating to Maryland. 5 Thurl. 483. 1656, Oct. 10.
8 Car. 2.
A breviet of the proceedings of the lord 1656, Oct. 10.
Baltimore and his officers and compliers 8 Car. 2.
in Maryland, against the authority of the
parliament of the commonwealth of England
and against his highness the lord protector's
authority, laws and government 5 Thurl. 486.
The assembly of Virginia to secretary Thurlow. 1656, Oct. 15.
5 Thurl. 497. 8 Car. 2.
The governor of Barbadoes to the protector. 1657, Apr. 4.
6 Thurl. 69. 9 Car. 2.
Petition of the general court at Hartford 1661, Car. 2.
upon Connecticut for charter. Smith's exam.
App. 4.
Charter of the colony of Connecticut. Smith's 1662, Apr. 23.
exam. App. 6. 14 Car. 2.
The first charter granted by Charles II. to 1662-2, Mar. 24.
the proprietaries of Carolina, to wit, to Apr. 4. 15 C. 2.
the Earl of Clarendon, Duke of Albemarle,
Lord Craven, Lord Berkeley, Lord Ashley, Sir
George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley, and
Sir John Colleton. 4 Mem. Am. 554.
The concessions and agreement of the lords 1664, Feb. 10.
proprietors of the province of New Cæsarea,
or New Jersey, to and with all and every of
the adventurers and all such as shall settle
or plant there. Smith's New Jersey. App. 1.
A grant of the colony of New York to the Duke 1664. Mar. 12.
of York. 20 Car. 2.
A commission to Colonel Nichols and others 1664, Apr. 26.
to settle disputes in New England. Hutch. 16 Car. 2.
Hist. Mass. Bay, App. 537.
The commission to Sir Robert Carre and others 1664, Apr. 26.
to put the Duke of York in possession of
New York, New Jersey, and all other lands
thereunto appertaining.
Sir Robert Carre and others proclamation to
the inhabitants of New York, New Jersey, &c.
Smith's N. J. 36.
Deeds of lease and release of New Jersey by 1664, June 23.
the Duke of York to Lord Berkeley and Sir 24. 16 Car. 2.
George Carteret.
A conveiance of the Delaware counties to
William Penn.
Letters between Stuyvesant and Colonel Nichols 1664, Aug.
on the English right. Smith's N. J. 37-42. 19-29, 20-30,
24.
Aug. 25.
Sept. 4.
Treaty between the English and Dutch for the 1664, Aug. 27.
surrender of the New Netherlands. Sm. N. J.
42.
Nicoll's commission to Sir Robert Carre to Sept. 3.
reduce the Dutch on Delaware bay. Sm. N. J.
47.
Instructions to Sir Robert Carre for reducing
of Delaware bay and settling the people there
under his majesty's obedience. Sm. N. J. 47.
Articles of capitulation between Sir Robert 1664, Oct. 1.
Carre and the Dutch and Swedes on Delaware
bay and Delaware river. Sm. N. J. 49.
The determination of the commissioners of 1664, Dec. 1.
the boundary between the Duke of York and 16 Car. 2.
Connecticut. Sm. Ex. Ap. 9.
The New Haven case. Smith's Ex. Ap. 20. 1664.
The second charter granted by Charles II. 1665, June 13.
to the same proprietors of Carolina. 4. Mem. 24. 17 Car. 2.
Am. 586.
Declaration de guerre par la France contre 1666, Jan. 26.
l'Angleterre. 3 Mem. Am. 123.
Declaration of war by the king of England 1666, Feb. 9.
against the king of France. 17 Car. 2.
The treaty of peace between France and England 1667, July 31.
made at Breda. 7 Corps, Dipl. part 1. p. 51
2. Mem. Am. 32.
The treaty of peace and alliance between 1667, July 31.
England and the United Provinces made at
Breda. 7. Cor. Dip. p. 1. d. 44. 2. Mem. Am.
40.
Acte de la cession de l'Acadie au roi de 1667-8, Feb.
France. 2. Mem. Am. 40. 17.
Directions from the governor and council 1668, April 21.
of New York for a better settlement of the
government on Delaware. Sm. N. J. 51.
Lovelace's order for customs at the Hoarkills. 1668.
Sm. N. J. 55.
A confirmation of the grant of the northern 16-- May 8.
neck of Virginia to the Earl of St. Albans, 21 Car. 2.
Lord Berkeley, Sir William Moreton and John
Tretheway.
Incorporation of the town of Newcastle or 1672.
Amstell.
A demise of the colony of Virginia to the 1673, Feb. 25.
Earl of Arlington and Lord Culpepper for 31 25 Car. 2.
years. M.S.
Treaty at London between king Charles II. 1673-4.
and the Dutch. Article VI.
Remonstrance against the two grants of Charles
II. of Northern and Southern Virginia. Mentd.
Beverley 65.
Sir George Carteret's instructions to Governor 1674, July 13.
Carteret.
Governor Andros's proclamation on taking 1674, Nov. 9.
possession of Newcastle for the Duke of York.
Sm. N. J. 78.
A proclamation for prohibiting the importation 1675, Oct. 1.
of commodities of Europe into any of his 27 Car. 2.
majesty's plantations in Africa, Asia, or
America, which were not laden in England;
and for putting all other laws relating to
the trade of the plantations in effectual
execution.
The concessions and agreements of the 1676 Mar. 3.
proprietors, freeholders and inhabitants of
the province of West New Jersey in America.
Sm. N. J. App. 2.
A deed quintipartite for the division of New 1676, July 1.
Jersey.
Letter from the proprietors of New Jersey to 1676, Aug. 18.
Richard Hartshorne. Sm. N. J. 80.
Proprietors instructions to James Wasse and
Richard Hartshorne. Sm. N. J. 83.
The charter of king Charles II. to his subjects 1676, Oct. 10.
of Virginia. M.S. 28 Car. 2.
Cautionary epistle from the trustees of 1676.
Byllinge's part of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 84.
Indian deed for the lands between Rankokas 1677, Sept. 10.
creek and Timber creek, in New Jersey.
Indian deed for lands from Oldman's creek to 1677, Sept. 27.
Timber creek, in New Jersey.
Indian deed for the lands from Rankokos creek 1677, Oct. 10.
to Assunpink creek, in New Jersey.
The will of Sir George Carteret, sole 1678, Dec. 5.
proprietor of East Jersey ordering the same
to be sold.
An order of the king in council for the 1680, Feb. 16.
better encouragement of all his majesty's
subjects in their trade to his majesty's
plantations, and for the better information
of all his majesty's loving subjects in these
matters--Lond. Gaz. No. 1596. Title in Amer.
library. 134. 6.
Arguments against the customs demanded in 1680.
New West Jersey by the governor of New York,
addressed to the Duke's commissioners. Sm.
N. J. 117.
Extracts of proceedings of the committee of 1680, June 14.
trade and plantations; copies of letters, 23. 25. Oct. 16.
reports, &c., between the board of trade, Mr. Nov. 4. 8. 11.
Penn, Lord Baltimore and Sir John Werden, 18. 20. 23.
in the behalf of the Duke of York and the Dec. 16.
settlement of the Pennsylvania boundaries by 1680-1, Jan. 15.
the L. C. J. North. Votes of Repr. Pennsyl. 22. Feb. 24.
vii.-xiii.
A grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn. 1681, Mar. 4.
Votes of Represen. Pennsyl. xviii. Car. 2.
The king's declaration to the inhabitants 1681, Apr. 2.
and planters of the province of Pennsylvania.
Vo. Repr. Penn. xxiv.
Certain conditions or concessions agreed upon 1681, July 11.
by William Penn, proprietary and governor of
Pennsylvania, and those who are the adventurers
and purchasers in the same province. Votes
of Rep. Pennsyl. xxiv.
Fundamental laws of the province of West New 1681, Nov. 9.
Jersey. Sm. N. J. 126.
The methods of the commissioners for settling 1681-2, Jan. 14.
and regulation of lands in New Jersey. Sm.
N. J. 130.
Indentures of lease and release by the 1681-2, F. 1. 2.
executors of Sir George Carteret to William
Penn and 11 others, conveying East Jersey.
The Duke of York's fresh grant of East New 1682, Mar. 14.
Jersey to the 24 proprietors.
The frame of the government of the province 1682, Apr. 25.
of Pennsylvania, in America. Votes of Repr.
Penn. xxvii.
The Duke of York's deed for Pennsylvania. 1682, Aug. 21.
Vo. Repr. Penn. xxxv.
The Duke of York's deed for the feoffment of 1682, Aug. 24.
Newcastle and twelve miles circle to William
Penn. Vo. Repr. Penn.
The Duke of York's deed of feoffment of a 1682, Aug. 24.
tract of land 12 miles south from Newcastle
to the Whorekills, to William Penn. Vo. Repr.
Penn, xxxvii.
A commission to Thomas Lord Culpepper to be 1682, Nov. 27.
lieutenant and governor-general of Virginia. 34 Car. 2.
M.S.
An act of union for annexing and uniting 1682, 10th mon.
of the counties of Newcastle, Jones's and 6th day.
Whorekill's, alias Deal, to the province
of Pennsylvania, and of naturalization of
all foreigners in the province and counties
aforesaid.
An act of settlement. 1682, Dec. 6.
The frame of the government of the province 1683, Apr. 2.
of Pennsylvania and territories thereunto
annexed in America.
Proceedings of the committee of trade 1683, Apr. 17. 27.
and Plantations in the dispute May 30.
between Lord Baltimore and Mr. Penn. June 12.
Vo. R. P. xiii-xviii.
1684, Feb. 12.
July 2. 16. 23.
Sept. 30.
Dec. 9.
1685, Mar. 17.
Aug. 18. 26.
Sept. 2.
Oct. 8. 17. 31.
Nov. 7.
A commission by the proprietors of East New 1683, July 17.
Jersey to Robert Barclay to be governor. Sm.
N. J. 166.
An order of council for issuing a quo warranto 1683, July 26.
against the charter of the colony of the 35 Car. 2.
Massachusetts bay in New England, with his
majesty's declaration that in case the said
corporation of Massachusetts bay shall before
prosecution had upon the same quo warranto
make a full submission and entire resignation
to his royal pleasure, he will then regulate
their charter in such a manner as shall be
for his service and the good of that colony.
Title in American library. 139, 6.
A commission to Lord Howard of Effingham to be 1683, Sept. 28.
lieutenant and governor general of Virginia. 35 Car. 2.
M.S.
The humble address of the chief governor, 1684, May 3.
council and representatives of the island
of Nevis, in the West Indies, presented to
his majesty by Colonel Netheway and Captain
Jefferson, at Windsor, May 3, 1684. Title in
Amer. libr. 142. 3. cites Lond. Gaz. No. 1927.
A treaty with the Indians at Albany. 1684, Aug. 2.
A treaty of neutrality for America between 1686, Nov. 16.
France and England. 7 Corps Dipl. part 2, p.
44. 2. Mem. Am. 40.
By the king, a proclamation for the more 1687, Jan. 20.
effectual reducing and suppressing of pirates
and privateers in America, as well on the sea
as on the land in great numbers, committing
frequent robberies and piracies, which hath
occasioned a great prejudice and obstruction
to trade and commerce, and given a great
scandal and disturbance to our government in
those parts. Title Amer. libr. 147. 2. cites
Lond. Gaz. No. 2315.
Constitution of the council of proprietors 1687, Feb. 12.
of West Jersey. Smith's N. Jersey. 199.
A confirmation of the grant of the Northern 1687, qu. Sept.
neck of Virginia to Lord Culpepper. 27. 4. Jac. 2.
Governor Coxe's declaration to the council 1687, Sept. 5.
of proprietors of West Jersey. Sm. N. J. 190.
Provisional treaty of Whitehall concerning 1687, Dec. 16.
America between France and England. 2 Mem.
de l'Am. 89.
Governor Coxe's narrative relating to the 1687.
division line, directed to the council of
proprietors of West Jersey. Sm. App. No. 4.
The representation of the council of 1687.
proprietors of West Jersey to Governor Burnet.
Smith. App. No. 5.
The remonstrance and petition of the
inhabitants of East New Jersey to the king.
Sm. App. No. 8.
The memorial of the proprietors of East New
Jersey to the Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. 9.
Agreement of the line of partition between 1778, Sept. 5.
East and West New Jersey. Smith's N. J. 196.
Conveyance of the government of West Jersey 1691.
and territories, by Dr. Coxe, to the West
Jersey society.
A charter granted by King William and Queen 1691, Oct. 7.
Mary to the inhabitants of the province of
Massachusetts bay, in New England. 2 Mem. de
l'Am. 593.
The frame of government of the province of 1696, Nov. 7.
Pennsylvania and the territories thereunto
belonging, passed by Gov. Markham. Nov. 7,
1696.
The treaty of peace between France and England, 1697, Sept. 20.
made at Ryswick. 7 Corps Dipl. part 2. p.
399. 2 Mem. Am. 89.
The opinion and answer of the Lords of trade 1699, July 5.
to the memorial of the proprietors of East
N. Jersey. Sm. App. No. 10.
The memorial of the proprietors of East New 1700, Jan. 15.
Jersey to the Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. 11.
The petition of the proprietors of East and
West New Jersey to the Lords justices of
England. Sm. App. No. 12.
A confirmation of the boundary between the 1700, W. 3.
colonies of New York and Connecticut, by the
crown.
The memorial of the proprietors of East and 1701, Aug. 12.
West New Jersey to the king. Sm. App. No. 14.
Representation of the Lords of trade to the 1701, Oct. 2.
Lords justices. Sm. App. No. 18.
A treaty with the Indians. 1701.
Report of Lords of trade to King William, 1701-2, Jan. 6.
of draughts of a commission and instructions
for a governor of N. Jersey. Sm. N. J. 262.
Surrender from the proprietors of E. and 1702, Apr. 15.
W. N. Jersey, of their pretended right of
government to her majesty Queen Anne. Sm. N.
J. 211.
The Queen's acceptance of the surrender of 1702, Apr. 17.
government of East and West Jersey. Sm. N.
J. 219.
Instructions to lord Cornbury. Sm. N. J. 230. 1702, Nov. 6.
A commission from Queen Anne to Lord Cornbury, 1702, Dec. 5.
to be captain general and governor in chief
of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 220.
Recognition by the council of proprietors of 1703, June 27.
the true boundary of the deeds of Sept. 10,
and Oct. 10, 1677, (New Jersey.) Sm. N. J. 96.
Indian deeds for the lands above the falls 1703.
of the Delaware in West Jersey.
Indian deed for the lands at the head of
Rankokus river, in West Jersey.
A proclamation by Queen Anne, for settling 1704, June 18.
and ascertaining the current rates of foreign
coins in America. Sm. N. J. 281.
Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. 1705, May 3.
Sm. N. S. 235.
Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. 1707, May 3.
Sm. N. J. 258.
Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. 1707, Nov. 20.
Sm. N. J. 259.
An answer by the council of proprietors for the 1707.
western division of N. Jersey, to questions
proposed to them by Lord Cornbury. Sm. N. J.
285.
Instructions to Colonel Vetch in his 1708-9, Feb. 28.
negotiations with the governors of America.
Sm. N. J. 364.
Instructions to the governor of New Jersey 1708-9, Feb. 28.
and New York. Sm. J. 361.
Earl of Dartmouth's letter to governor Hunter. 1710, Aug.
Premiers propositions de la France. 6. 1711, Apr. 22.
Lamberty, 669, 2 Mem. Am. 341.
Réponses de la France aux demandes 1711, Oct. 8.
préliminaries de la Grande Bretagne. 6 Lamb.
681. 2 Mem. Amer. 344.
Demandes préliminaries plus particulieres Sept. 27.
de la Grande-Bretagne, avec les réponses. 2 1711, ---------
Mem. de l'Am. 346. Oct. 8.
L'acceptation de la part de la Grande-Bretagne. Sept. 27.
2 Mem. Am. 356. 1711, ---------
Oct. 8.
The Queen's instructions to the Bishop 1711, Dec. 23.
of Bristol and Earl of Stafford, her
plenipotentiaries, to treat for a general
peace. 6 Lamberty, 744. 2. Mem. Am. 358.
A memorial of Mr. St. John to the Marquis May 24.
de Torci, with regard to North America, to 1712, --------
commerce, and to the suspension of arms. 7. June 10.
Recueil de Lamberty 161, 2 Mem. de l'Amer. 376.
Réponse du roi de France au memoire de Londres. 1712, June 10.
7. Lamberty, p. 163. 2. Mem. Am. 380.
Traité pour une suspension d'armes entre 1712, Aug. 19.
Louis XIV. roi de France, and Anne, reign de
la Grande-Bretagne, fait à Paris. 8. Corps
Diplom. part 1. p. 308. 2. Mem. d'Am. 104.
Offers of France to England, demands of 1712, Sept. 10.
England, and the answers of France. 7. Rec.
de Lamb. 461. 2 Mem. Am. 390.
Traité de paix et d'amitié entre Louis Mar. 31.
XIV. roi de France, et Anne, reine de la 1713, --------
Grande-Bretagne, fait à Utrecht. 15 Corps Apr. 11.
Diplomatique de Dumont, 339. id. Latin. 2
Actes et memoires de la pais d'Utrecht, 457.
id. Lat. Fr. 2. Mem. Am. 113.
Traité de navigation et de commerce entre Mar. 31.
Louis XIV. roi de France, et Anne, reine de 1713, ---------
la Grande-Bretagne. Fait à Utrecht. 8 Corps April 11.
Dipl. part 1. p. 345. 2 Mem. de l'Am. 137.
A treaty with the Indians. 1726.
The petition of the representatives of the 1728. Jan.
province of New Jersey, to have a distinct
governor. Sm. N. J. 421.
Deed of release by the government of 1732, G. 2.
Connecticut to that of New York.
The charter granted by George II. for Georgia. 1732, June 9.
4. Mem. de l'Am. 617. 20. 5 Geo. 2.
Petition of Lord Fairfax, that a commission 1733.
might issue for running and marking the
dividing line between his district and the
province of Virginia.
Order of the king in council for commissioners 1733, Nov. 29.
to survey and settle the said dividing line
between the proprietary and royal territory.
Report of the Lords of trade relating to the 1736, Aug. 5.
separating the government of the province of
New Jersey from New York. Sm. N. J. 423.
Survey and report of the commissioners 1737, Aug. 10.
appointed on the part of the crown to settle
the line between the crown and Lord Fairfax.
Survey and report of the commissioners 1737, Aug. 11.
appointed on the part of Lord Fairfax to
settle the line between the crown and him.
Order of reference of the surveys between 1738, Dec. 21.
the crown and Lord Fairfax to the council
for plantation affairs.
Treaty with the Indians of the six nations 1744, June.
at Lancaster.
Report of the council for plantation affairs, 1745, Apr. 6.
fixing the head springs of Rappahanoc and
Potomac, and a commission to extend the line.
Order of the king in council confirming the 1745, Apr. 11.
said report of the council for plantation
affairs.
Articles préliminaries pour parvenir à la 1748, Apr. 30.
paix, signés à Aix-la-Chapelle entre les
ministres de France, de la Grande-Bretagne,
et des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas. 2 Mem.
de l'Am. 159.
Declaration des ministres de France, de la 1748, May 21.
Grande-Bretagne, et des Provinces-Unies des
Pays-Bas, pour rectifier les articles I. et
II. des préliminaries. 2. Mem. Am. 165.
The general and definitive treaty of peace 1748, Oct. 7-18.
concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle. Lon. Mag. 1748. 22. G. 2.
503. French 2. Mem. Am. 169.
A treaty with the Indians. 1754.
A conference between governor Bernard and 1758, Aug. 7.
Indian nations at Burlington. Sm. N. J. 449.
A conference between governor Denny, governor 1758, Oct. 8.
Bernard, and others, and Indian nations at
Easton. Sm. N. J. 455.
The capitulation of Niagara. 1759, July 25.
33. G. 2.
The king's proclamation promising lands to 175--.
soldiers.
The definitive treaty concluded at Paris. 1763, Feb. 10.
Lon. Mag. 1763. 149. 3. G. 3.
A proclamation for regulating the cessions 1763, Oct. 7.
made by the last treaty of peace. Guth. Geogr. G. 3.
Gram. 623.
The king's proclamation against settling 1763.
on any lands on the waters westward of the
Alleghany.
Deed from the six nations of Indians to 1768, Nov. 3.
William Trent, and others, for lands betwixt
the Ohio and Monongahela. View of the title
to Indiana. Phil. Steiner and Cist. 1776.
Deed from the six nations of Indians to 1768, Nov. 5.
the crown for certain lands and settling a
boundary. M.S.
FOOTNOTES:
[65] By the author of these notes.
[66] Mr. Hazard.
APPENDIX.
The preceding sheets have been submitted to my friend Mr.
Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress; he has furnished me
with the following observations, which have too much merit not
to be communicated:
(A.) p. 262. Besides the three channels of communication
mentioned between the western waters and the Atlantic, there
are two others to which the Pennsylvanians are turning their attention;
one from Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, to Le Bœuf, down
the Alleghany to Kiskiminitas, then up the Kiskiminitas, and
from thence, by a small portage, to Juniata, which falls into the
Susquehanna; the other from Lake Ontario to the East Branch
of the Delaware, and down that to Philadelphia. Both these are
said to be very practicable; and, considering the enterprising
temper of the Pennsylvanians, and particularly of the merchants
of Philadelphia, whose object is concentred in promoting the
commerce and trade of one city, it is not improbable but one or
both of these communications will be opened and improved.
(B.) p. 265. The reflections I was led into on viewing this
passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge were, that this
country must have suffered some violent convulsion, and that
the face of it must have been changed from what it probably
was some centuries ago; that the broken and ragged faces of the
mountain on each side the river; the tremendous rocks, which
are left with one end fixed in the precipice, and the other jutting
out, and seemingly ready to fall for want of support, the bed of
the river for several miles below obstructed, and filled with the
loose stones carried from this mound; in short, everything on
which you cast your eye evidently demonstrates a disrupture and
breach in the mountain, and that, before this happened, what is
now a fruitful vale, was formerly a great lake or collection of
water, which possibly might have here formed a mighty cascade,
or had its vent to the ocean by the Susquehanna, where
the Blue Ridge seems to terminate. Besides this, there are other
parts of this country which bear evident traces of a like convulsion.
From the best accounts I have been able to obtain, the
place where the Delaware now flows through the Kittatinney
mountain, which is a continuation of what is called the North
Ridge, or mountain, was not its original course, but that it passed
through what is now called "the Wind-gap," a place several
miles to the westward, and about a hundred feet higher than
the present bed of the river. This Wind-gap is about a mile
broad, and the stones in it such as seem to have been washed
for ages by water running over them. Should this have been
the case, there must have been a large lake behind that mountain,
and by some uncommon swell in the waters, or by some
convulsion of nature, the river must have opened its way through
a different part of the mountain, and meeting there with less obstruction,
carried away with it the opposing mounds of earth,
and deluged the country below with the immense collection of
waters to which this new passage gave vent. There are still
remaining, and daily discovered, innumerable instances of such
a deluge on both sides of the river, after it passed the hills above
the falls of Trenton, and reached the Champaign. On the New
Jersey side, which is flatter than the Pennsylvania side, all the
country below Croswick hills seems to have been overflowed to
the distance of from ten to fifteen miles back from the river, and
to have acquired a new soil by the earth and clay brought down
and mixed with the native sand. The spot on which Philadelphia
stands evidently appears to be made ground. The different
strata through which they pass in digging to water, the
acorns, leaves, and sometimes branches, which are found above
twenty feet below the surface, all seem to demonstrate this. I
am informed that at Yorktown in Virginia, in the bank of York
river, there are different strata of shells and earth, one above another,
which seem to point out that the country there has undergone
several changes; that the sea has, for a succession of ages,
occupied the place where dry land now appears; and that the
ground has been suddenly raised at various periods. What a
change would it make in the country below, should the mountains
at Niagara, by any accident, be cleft asunder, and a passage
suddenly opened to drain off the waters of Erie and the
upper lakes! While ruminating on these subjects, I have often
been hurried away by fancy, and led to imagine, that what is
now the bay of Mexico, was once a champaign country; and
that from the point or cape of Florida, there was a continued
range of mountains through Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, Martinique,
Guadaloupe, Barbadoes, and Trinidad, till it reached the
coast of America, and formed the shores which bounded the
ocean, and guarded the country behind; that by some convulsion
or shock of nature, the sea had broken through these
mounds, and deluged that vast plain, till it reached the foot of
the Andes; that being there heaped up by the trade winds, always
blowing from one quarter, it had found its way back, as it
continues to do, through the Gulf between Florida and Cuba,
carrying with it the loom and sand it may have scooped from
the country it had occupied, part of which it may have deposited
on the shores of North America, and with part formed the banks
of Newfoundland. But these are only the visions of fancy.
(3.) p. 283. There is a plant, or weed, called the Jamestown
weed,[67] of a very singular quality. The late Dr. Bond informed
me, that he had under his care a patient, a young girl, who had
put the seeds of this plant into her eye, which dilated the pupil
to such a degree, that she could see in the dark, but in the light
was almost blind. The effect that the leaves had when eaten
by a ship's crew that arrived at Jamestown, are well known.[68]
(4.) p. 312. Monsieur Buffon has indeed given an afflicting
picture of human nature in his description of the man of America.
But sure I am there never was a picture more unlike the
original. He grants indeed that his stature is the same as that
of the man of Europe. He might have admitted, that the Iroquois
were larger, and the Lenopi, or Delawares, taller than people
in Europe generally are. But he says their organs of generation
are smaller and weaker than those of Europeans. Is this
a fact? I believe not; at least it is an observation I never heard
before.--"They have no beard." Had he known the pains
and trouble it costs the men to pluck out by the roots the hair
that grows on their faces, he would have seen that nature had
not been deficient in that respect. Every nation has its customs.
I have seen an Indian beau, with a looking-glass in his
hand, examining his face for hours together, and plucking out
by the roots every hair he could discover, with a kind of tweezer
made of a piece of fine brass wire, that had been twisted round
a stick, and which he used with great dexterity.--"They have
no ardor for their females." It is true they do not indulge those
excesses, nor discover that fondness which is customary in Europe;
but this is not owing to a defect in nature but to manners.
Their soul is wholly bent upon war. This is what procures
them glory among the men, and makes them the admiration of
the women. To this they are educated from their earliest youth.
When they pursue game with ardor, when they bear the fatigues
of the chase, when they sustain and suffer patiently hunger and
cold; it is not so much for the sake of the game they pursue, as
to convince their parents and the council of the nation that they
are fit to be enrolled in the number of the warriors. The songs
of the women, the dance of the warriors, the sage counsel of
the chiefs, the tales of the old, the triumphal entry of the warriors
returning with success from battle, and the respect paid to
those who distinguish themselves in war, and in subduing their
enemies; in short, everything they see or hear tends to inspire
them with an ardent desire for military fame. If a young man
were to discover a fondness for women before he has been to
war, he would become the contempt of the men, and the scorn
and ridicule of the women. Or were he to indulge himself with
a captive taken in war, and much more were he to offer violence
in order to gratify his lust, he would incur indelible disgrace.
The seeming frigidity of the men, therefore, is the effect of
manners, and not a defect of nature. Besides, a celebrated warrior
is oftener courted by the females, than he has occasion to
court; and this is a point of honor which the men aim at. Instances
similar to that of Ruth and Boaz[69] are not uncommon
among them. For though the women are modest and diffident,
and so bashful that they seldom lift up their eyes, and scarce
ever look a man full in the face, yet, being brought up in great
subjection, custom and manners reconcile them to modes of acting,
which, judged of by Europeans, would be deemed inconsistent
with the rules of female decorum and propriety. I once
saw a young widow, whose husband, a warrior, had died about
eight days before, hastening to finish her grief, and who, by
tearing her hair, beating her breast, and drinking spirits, made
the tears flow in great abundance, in order that she might grieve
much in a short space of time, and be married that evening to
another young warrior. The manner in which this was viewed
by the men and women of the tribe, who stood round, silent
and solemn spectators of the scene, and the indifference with
which they answered my question respecting it, convinced me
that it was no unusual custom. I have known men advanced
in years, whose wives were old and past child-bearing, take
young wives, and have children, though the practice of polygamy
is not common. Does this savor of frigidity, or want of ardor
for the female? Neither do they seem to be deficient in natural
affection. I have seen both fathers and mothers in the deepest
affliction, when their children have been dangerously ill; though
I believe the affection is stronger in the descending than the ascending
scale, and though custom forbids a father to grieve immoderately
for a son slain in battle. "That they are timorous
and cowardly," is a character with which there is little reason
to charge them, when we recollect the manner in which the
Iroquois met Monsieur ----, who marched into their country;
in which the old men, who scorned to fly, or to survive the capture
of their town, braved death, like the old Romans in the
time of the Gauls, and in which they soon after revenged themselves
by sacking and destroying Montreal. But above all, the
unshaken fortitude with which they bear the most excruciating
tortures and death when taken prisoners, ought to exempt them
from that character. Much less are they to be characterized as a
people of no vivacity, and who are excited to action or motion
only by the calls of hunger and thirst. Their dances in which
they so much delight, and which to an European would be the
most severe exercise, fully contradict this, not to mention their
fatiguing marches, and the toil they voluntarily and cheerfully
undergo in their military expeditions. It is true, that when at
home, they do not employ themselves in labor or the culture of
the soil; but this again is the effect of customs and manners,
which have assigned that to the province of the women. But it
is said, they are averse to society and a social life. Can anything
be more inapplicable than this to a people who always live
in towns or clans? Or can they be said to have no "republic,"
who conduct all their affairs in national councils, who pride
themselves in their national character, who consider an insult
or injury done to an individual by a stranger as done to the
whole, and resent it accordingly? In short, this picture is not
applicable to any nation of Indians I have ever known or heard
of in North America.
(5.) p. 340. As far as I have been able to learn, the country
from the sea coast to the Alleghany, and from the most southern
waters of James river up to Patuxen river, now in the State of
Maryland, was occupied by three different nations of Indians,
each of which spoke a different language, and were under separate
and distinct governments. What the original or real names
of those nations were, I have not been able to learn with certainty;
but by us they are distinguished by the names of Powhatans,
Mannahoacs, and Monacans, now commonly called Tuscaroras.
The Powhatans, who occupied the country from the
sea shore up to the falls of the rivers, were a powerful nation,
and seem to have consisted of seven tribes, five on the western
and two on the eastern shore. Each of these tribes was subdivided
into towns, families, or clans, who lived together. All
the nations of Indians in North America lived in the hunter
state, and depended for subsistence on hunting, fishing, and the
spontaneous fruits of the earth, and a kind of grain which was
planted and gathered by the women, and is now known by the
name of Indian corn. Long potatoes, pumpkins of various kinds,
and squashes, were also found in use among them. They had
no flocks, herds, or tamed animals of any kind. Their government
is a kind of patriarchal confederacy. Every town or family
has a chief, who is distinguished by a particular title, and whom
we commonly call "Sachem." The several towns or families
that compose a tribe, have a chief who presides over it, and the
several tribes composing a nation have a chief who presides over
the whole nation. These chiefs are generally men advanced in
years, and distinguished by their prudence and abilities in council.
The matters which merely regard a town or family are settled
by the chief and principal men of the town; those which
regard a tribe, such as the appointment of head warriors or captains,
and settling differences between different towns and families,
are regulated at a meeting or council of the chiefs from the
several towns; and those which regard the whole nation, such as
the making war, concluding peace, or forming alliances with the
neighboring nations, are deliberated on and determined in a national
council composed of the chiefs of the tribe, attended by
the head warriors and a number of the chiefs from the towns,
who are his counsellors. In every town there is a council house,
where the chief and old men of the town assemble, when occasion
requires, and consult what is proper to be done. Every
tribe has a fixed place for the chiefs of the towns to meet and
consult on the business of the tribe; and in every nation there
is what they call the central council house, or central council
fire, where the chiefs of the several tribes, with the principal
warriors, convene to consult and determine on their national affairs.
When any matter is proposed in the national council, it is
common for the chiefs of the several tribes to consult thereon
apart with their counsellors, and when they have agreed, to deliver
the opinion of the tribe at the national council; and, as
their government seems to rest wholly on persuasion, they endeavor,
by mutual concessions, to obtain unanimity. Such is
the government that still subsists among the Indian nations bordering
upon the United States. Some historians seem to think,
that the dignity of office of Sachem was hereditary. But that
opinion does not appear to be well founded. The sachem or
chief of the tribe seems to be by election. And sometimes persons
who are strangers, and adopted into the tribe, are promoted
to this dignity, on account of their abilities. Thus on the arrival
of Captain Smith, the first founder of the colony of Virginia,
Opechancanough, who was Sachem or chief of the Chickahominies,
one of the tribes of the Powhatans, is said to have
been of another tribe, and even of another nation, so that no certain
account could be obtained of his origin or descent. The
chiefs of the nation seem to have been by a rotation among the
tribes. Thus when Captain Smith, in the year 1609, questioned
Powhatan (who was the chief of the nation, and whose proper
name is said to have been Wahunsonacock) respecting the succession,
the old chief informed him, "that he was very old, and
had seen the death of all his people thrice;[70] that not one of these
generations were then living except himself; that he must soon
die, and the succession descend in order to his brother Opichapan,
Opechancanough, and Catataugh, and then to his two sisters,
and their two daughters." But these were appellations designating
the tribes in the confederacy. For the persons named
are not his real brothers, but the chiefs of different tribes. Accordingly
in 1618, when Powhatan died, he was succeeded by
Opichapan, and after his decease, Opechancanough became chief
of the nation. I need only mention another instance to show
that the chiefs of the tribes claimed this kindred with the head
of the nation. In 1622, when Raleigh Crashaw was with Japazaw,
the Sachem or chief of the Potomacs, Opechancanough,
who had great power and influence, being the second man in
the nation, and next in succession to Opichapan, and who was
a bitter but secret enemy to the English, and wanted to engage
his nation in a war with them, sent two baskets of beads to the
Potomac chief, and desired him to kill the Englishman that was
with him. Japazaw replied, that the English were his friends,
and Opichapan his _brother_, and that therefore there should be no
blood shed between them by his means. It is also to be observed,
that when the English first came over, in all their conferences
with any of the chiefs, they constantly heard him make
mention of his _brother_, with whom he must consult, or to whom
he referred them, meaning thereby either the chief of the nation,
or the tribes in confederacy. The Manahoacks are said to have
been a confederacy of four tribes, and in alliance with the Monacans,
in the war which they were carrying on against the
Powhatans.
To the northward of these there was another powerful nation
which occupied the country from the head of the Chesapeake
bay up to the Kittatinney mountain, and as far eastward as Connecticut
river, comprehending that part of New York which lies
between the Highlands and the ocean, all the State of New
Jersey, that part of Pennsylvania which is watered, below the
range of the Kittatinney mountains, by the rivers or streams falling
into the Delaware, and the county of Newcastle in the State
of Delaware, as far as Duck creek. It is to be observed, that
the nations of Indians distinguished their countries one from
another by natural boundaries, such as ranges of mountains or
streams of water. But as the heads of rivers frequently interlock,
or approach near to each other, as those who live upon a
stream claim the country watered by it, they often encroached
on each other, and this is a constant source of war between the
different nations. The nation occupying the tract of country
last described, called themselves Lenopi. The French writers
call them Loups; and among the English they are now commonly
called Delawares. This nation or confederacy consisted
of five tribes, who all spoke one language. 1. The Chihohocki,
who dwelt on the west side of the river now called Delaware, a
name which it took from Lord De la War, who put into it on
his passage from Virginia in the year ----, but which by the
Indians was called Chihohocki. 2. The Wanami, who inhabit
the country called New Jersey, from the Rariton to the sea. 3.
The Munsey, who dwelt on the upper streams of the Delaware,
from the Kittatinney mountains down to the Lehigh or western
branch of the Delaware. 4. The Wabinga, who are sometimes
called River Indians, sometimes Mohickanders, and who had their
dwelling between the west branch of Delaware and Hudson's river,
from the Kittatinney Ridge down to the Rariton; and 5. The
Mahiccon, or Manhattan, who occupied Staten Island, York
Island (which from its being the principal seat of their residence
was formerly called Manhattan), Long Island, and that part of
New York and Connecticut which lies between Hudson and
Connecticut rivers, from the highland, which is a continuation
of the Kittatinney Ridge down to the Sound. This nation had
a close alliance with the Shawanese, who lived on the Susquehanna
and to the westward of that river, as far as the Alleghany
mountains, and carried on a long war with another powerful nation
or confederacy of Indians, which lived to the north of them
between the Kittatinney mountains or highlands, and the Lake
Ontario, and who call themselves Mingoes, and are called by the
French writers Iroquois, by the English the Five Nations, and
by the Indians to the southward, with whom they were at war,
Massawomacs. This war was carrying on in its greatest fury,
when Captain Smith first arrived in Virginia. The Mingo warriors
had penetrated down the Susquehannah to the mouth of
it. In one of his excursions up the bay, at the mouth of Susquehannah,
in 1608, Captain Smith met with six or seven of
their canoes full of warriors, who were coming to attack their
enemies in the rear. In an excursion which he had made a few
weeks before, up the Rappahannock, and in which he had a
skirmish with a party of the Manahoacs, and taken a brother of
one of their chiefs prisoner, he first heard of this nation. For
when he asked the prisoner why his nation attacked the English?
the prisoner said, because his nation had heard that the
English came from under the world to take their world from
them. Being asked, how many worlds he knew? he said, he
knew but one, which was under the sky that covered him, and
which consisted of Powhatans, the Manakins, and the Massawomacs.
Being questioned concerning the latter, he said, they
dwelt on a great water to the North, that they had many boats, and
so many men, that they waged war with all the rest of the world.
The Mingo confederacy then consisted of five tribes; three who
are the elder, to wit, the Senecas, who live to the West, the Mohawks
to the East, and the Onondagas between them; and two
who are called the younger tribes, namely, the Cayugas and
Oneidas. All these tribes speak one language, and were then
united in a close confederacy, and occupied the tract of country
from the east end of Lake Erie to Lake Champlain, and from
the Kittatinney and Highlands to the Lake Ontario and the river
Cadaraqui, or St. Lawrence. They had some time before that,
carried on a war with a nation, who lived beyond the lakes, and
were called Adirondacks. In this war they were worsted; but
having made a peace with them, through the intercession of the
French who were then settling Canada, they turned their arms
against the Lenopi; and as this war was long and doubtful, they,
in the course of it, not only exerted their whole force, but put
in practice every measure which prudence or policy could devise
to bring it to a successful issue. For this purpose they bent
their course down the Susquehannah, and warring with the Indians
in their way, and having penetrated as far as the mouth
of it, they, by the terror of their arms, engaged a nation, now
known by the name of Nanticocks, Conoys, and Tuteloes, and
who lived between Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and bordering
on the tribe of Chihohocki, to enter into an alliance with
them. They also formed an alliance with the Monicans, and
stimulated them to a war with the Lenopi and their confederates.
At the same time the Mohawks carried on a furious war
down the Hudson against the Mohiccons and River Indians, and
compelled them to purchase a temporary and precarious peace,
by acknowledging them to be their superiors, and paying an annual
tribute. The Lenopi being surrounded with enemies, and
hard pressed, and having lost many of their warriors, were at
last compelled to sue for peace, which was granted to them on
the condition that they should put themselves under the protection
of the Mingoes, confine themselves to raising corn, hunting
for the subsistence of their families, and no longer have the
power of making war. This is what the Indians call making
them women. And in this condition the Lenopi were when
William Penn first arrived and began the settlement of Pennsylvania
in 1682.
(6.) p. 342. From the figurative language of the Indians, as
well as from the practice of those we are still acquainted with,
it is evident that it was and still continues to be, a constant custom
among the Indians to gather up the bones of the dead, and
deposit them in a particular place. Thus, when they make
peace with any nation with whom they have been at war, after
burying the hatchet, they take up the belt of wampum, and say,
"We now gather up all the bones of those who have been slain,
and bury them," &c. See all the treaties of peace. Besides,
it is customary when any of them die at a distance from home,
to bury them, and afterwards to come and take up the bones
and carry them home. At a treaty which was held at Lancaster
with the Six Nations, one of them died, and was buried in the
woods a little distance from the town. Some time after a party
came and took up the body, separated the flesh from the bones
by boiling and scraping them clean, and carried them to be deposited
in the sepulchres of their ancestors. The operation was
so offensive and disagreeable, that nobody could come near them
while they were performing it.
(7.) p. 350. The Osweàtchies, Connosedàgoes and Cohunnegagoes,
or, as they are commonly called, Caghnewàgos, are of
the Mingo or Six Nation Indians, who, by the influence of the
French missionaries, have been separated from their nation, and
induced to settle there.
I do not know of what nation the Augquàgahs are, but suspect
they are a family of the Senecas.
The Nanticocks and Conòies were formerly of a nation that
lived at the head of Chesapeake bay, and who, of late years,
have been adopted into the Mingo or Iroquois confederacy, and
make a seventh nation. The Monacans or Tuscaroras, who
were taken into the confederacy in 1712, making the sixth.
The Saponies are families of the Wanamies, who removed
from New Jersey, and with the Mohiccons, Munsies, and Delawares,
belonging to the Lenopi nation. The Mingos are a war
colony from the Six Nations; so are the Cohunnewagos.
Of the rest of the Northern tribes I never have been able to
learn anything certain. But all accounts seem to agree in this,
that there is a very powerful nation, distinguished by a variety
of names taken from the several towns or families, but commonly
called Tàwas or Ottawas, who speak one language, and live
round and on the waters that fall into the western lakes, and extend
from the waters of the Ohio quite to the waters falling into
Hudson's bay.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] Datura pericarpiis erectis ovatis. Linn.
[68] An instance of temporary imbecility produced by them is
mentioned, Beverl. H. of Virg. b. 2, c. 4.
[69] When Boaz had eaten and drank, and his heart was merry,
he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn; and
Ruth came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her
down. Ruth, iii. 7.
[70] This is one generation more than the poet ascribes to the
life of Nestor:
Tö d' ede duo men geneai meropö anthröpön
Ephthiath oi oi prosthen ama traphen ed' egneonto
En Pulö egathee, meta de tritatoisin anassen.
II. Hom. II. 250.
Two generations now had passed away,
Wise by his rules, and happy by his sway;
Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd,
And now th' example of the third remained.
POPE.
No. II.
In the summer of the year 1783, it was expected that
the assembly of Virginia would call a Convention for the
establishment of a Constitution. The following draught of
a fundamental Constitution for the Commonwealth of Virginia
was then prepared, with a design of being proposed in such
Convention had it taken place.
To the citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia, and all
others whom it may concern, the delegates for the said commonwealth
in Convention assembled, send greeting:
It is known to you and to the world, that the government of
Great Britain, with which the American States were not long
since connected, assumed over them an authority unwarrantable
and oppressive; that they endeavored to enforce this authority
by arms, and that the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia, considering resistance, with all its train
of horrors, as a lesser evil than abject submission, closed in the
appeal to arms. It hath pleased the Sovereign Disposer of all
human events to give to this appeal an issue favorable to the
rights of the States; to enable them to reject forever all dependence
on a government which had shown itself so capable of
abusing the trusts reposed in it; and to obtain from that government
a solemn and explicit acknowledgment that they are free,
sovereign, and independent States. During the progress of that
war, through which we had to labor for the establishment of our
rights, the legislature of the commonwealth of Virginia found it
necessary to make a temporary organization of government for
preventing anarchy, and pointing our efforts to the two important
objects of war against our invaders, and peace and happiness
among ourselves. But this, like all other acts of legislation,
being subject to change by subsequent legislatures, possessing
equal powers with themselves; it has been thought expedient,
that it should receive those amendments which time and trial
have suggested, and be rendered permanent by a power superior
to that of the ordinary legislature. The general assembly therefore
of this State recommend it to the good people thereof, to
choose delegates to meet in general convention, with powers to
form a constitution of government for them, and to declare those
fundamentals to which all our laws present and future shall be
subordinate; and, in compliance with this recommendation, they
have thought proper to make choice of us, and to vest us with
powers for this purpose.
We, therefore, the delegates, chosen by the said good people
of this State for the purpose aforesaid, and now assembled in
general convention, do in execution of the authority with which
we are invested, establish the following constitution and fundamentals
of government for the said State of Virginia:
The said State shall forever hereafter be governed as a commonwealth.
The powers of government shall be divided into three distinct
departments, each of them to be confided to a separate body of
magistracy; to wit, those which are legislative to one, those
which are judiciary to another, and those which are executive
to another. No person, or collection of persons, being of one
of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging
to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter
expressly permitted.
The legislature shall consist of two branches, the one to be
called the House of Delegates, the other the Senate, and both
together the General Assembly. The concurrence of both of
these, expressed on three several readings, shall be necessary to
the passage of a law.
Delegates for the general assembly shall be chosen on the last
Monday of November in every year. But if an election cannot
be concluded on that day, it may be adjourned from day to day
till it can be concluded.
The number of delegates which each county may send shall
be in proportion to the number of its qualified electors; and the
whole number of delegates for the State shall be so proportioned
to the whole number of qualified electors in it, that they shall
never exceed three hundred, nor be fewer than one hundred.
Whenever such excess or deficiency shall take place, the House
of Delegates so deficient or excessive shall, notwithstanding this,
continue in being during its legal term; but they shall, during
that term, re-adjust the proportion, so as to bring their number
within the limits before mentioned at the ensuing election. If
any county be reduced in its qualified electors below the number
authorized to send one delegate, let it be annexed to some
adjoining county.
For the election of senators, let the several counties be allotted
by the senate, from time to time, into such and so many districts
as they shall find best; and let each county at the time of electing
its delegates, choose senatorial electors, qualified as themselves
are, and four in number for each delegate their county is
entitled to send, who shall convene, and conduct themselves, in
such manner as the legislature shall direct, with the senatorial
electors from the other counties of their district, and then choose,
by ballot, one senator for every six delegates which their district
is entitled to choose. Let the senatorial districts be divided
into two classes, and let the members elected for one of
them be dissolved at the first ensuing general election of delegates,
the other at the next, and so on alternately forever.
All free male citizens, of full age, and sane mind, who for one
year before shall have been resident in the county, or shall
through the whole of that time have possessed therein real property
of the value of ----; or shall for the same time
have been enrolled in the militia, and no others, shall have a
right to vote for delegates for the said county, and for senatorial
electors for the district. They shall give their votes personally,
and _vivâ voce_.
The general assembly shall meet at the place to which the
last adjournment was, on the forty-second day after the day of
election of delegates, and thenceforward at any other time or
place on their own adjournment, till their office expires, which
shall be on the day preceding that appointed for the meeting of
the next general assembly. But if they shall at any time adjourn
for more than one year, it shall be as if they had adjourned
for one year precisely. Neither house, without the concurrence
of the other, shall adjourn for more than one week, nor to any
other place than the one at which they are sitting. The governor
shall also have power, with the advice of the council of
State, to call them at any other time to the same place, or to a
different one, if that shall have become, since the last adjournment,
dangerous from an enemy, or from infection.
A majority of either house shall be a quorum, and shall be
requisite for doing business; but any smaller proportion which
from time to time shall be thought expedient by the respective
houses, shall be sufficient to call for, and to punish, their non-attending
members, and to adjourn themselves for any time not
exceeding one week.
The members, during their attendance on the general assembly,
and for so long a time before and after as shall be necessary for
travelling to and from the same, shall be privileged from all personal
restraint and assault, and shall have no other privilege
whatsoever. They shall receive during the same time, daily
wages in gold or silver, equal to the value of two bushels of
wheat. This value shall be deemed one dollar by the bushel
till the year 1790, in which, and in every tenth year thereafter,
the general court, at their first sessions in the year, shall cause a
special jury, of the most respectable merchants and farmers, to
be summoned, to declare what shall have been the averaged
value of wheat during the last ten years; which averaged value
shall be the measure of wages for the ten subsequent years.
Of this general assembly, the treasurer, attorney general, register,
ministers of the gospel, officers of the regular armies of this
State, or of the United States, persons receiving salaries or emoluments
from any power foreign to our confederacy, those who
are not resident in the county for which they are chosen delegates,
or districts for which they are chosen senators, those who
are not qualified as electors, persons who shall have committed
treason, felony, or such other crime as would subject them to infamous
punishment, or who shall have been convicted by due
course of law of bribery or corruption, in endeavoring to procure
an election to the said assembly, shall be incapable of being
members. All others, not herein elsewhere excluded, who may
elect, shall be capable of being elected thereto.
Any member of the said assembly accepting any office of profit
under this State, or the United States, or any of them, shall
thereby vacate his seat, but shall be capable of being re-elected.
Vacancies occasioned by such disqualifications, by death, or
otherwise, shall be supplied by the electors, on a writ from the
speaker of the respective house.
The general assembly shall not have power to infringe this
constitution; to abridge the civil rights of any person on account
of his religious belief; to restrain him from professing and supporting
that belief, or to compel him to contributions, other than
those he shall have personally stipulated for the support of that
or any other; to ordain death for any crime but treason or murder,
or military offences; to pardon, or give a power of pardoning
persons duly convicted of treason or felony, but instead thereof
they may substitute one or two new trials, and no more; to pass
laws for punishing actions done before the existence of such
laws; to pass any bill of attainder of treason or felony; to prescribe
torture in any case whatever; nor to permit the introduction
of any more slaves to reside in this State, or the continuance
of slavery beyond the generation which shall be living on the
thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred; all
persons born after that day being hereby declared free.
The general assembly shall have power to sever from this
State all or any parts of its territory westward of the Ohio, or of
the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, and to cede
to Congress one hundred square miles of territory in any other
part of this State, exempted from the jurisdiction and government
of this State so long as Congress shall hold their sessions
therein, or in any territory adjacent thereto, which may be tendered
to them by any other State.
They shall have power to appoint the speakers of their respective
houses, treasurer, auditors, attorney general, register, all
general officers of the military, their own clerks and serjeants,
and no other officers, except where, in other parts of this constitution,
such appointment is expressly given them.
The executive powers shall be exercised by a _Governor_, who
shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, and
when chosen shall remain in office five years, and be ineligible a
second time. During his term he shall hold no other office or
emolument under this State, or any other State or power whatsoever.
By executive powers, we mean no reference to those
powers exercised under our former government by the crown as
of its prerogative, nor that these shall be the standard of what
may or may not be deemed the rightful powers of the governor.
We give him those powers only, which are necessary to execute
the laws (and administer the government), and which are not in
their nature either legislative or judiciary. The application of
this idea must be left to reason. We do however expressly deny
him the prerogative powers of erecting courts, offices, boroughs,
corporations, fairs, markets, ports, beacons, light-houses, and sea-marks;
of laying embargoes, of establishing precedence, of retaining
within the State, or recalling to it any citizen thereof,
and of making denizens, except so far as he may be authorized
from time to time by the legislature to exercise any of those
powers. The power of declaring war and concluding peace, of
contracting alliances, of issuing letters of marque and reprisal,
of raising and introducing armed forces, of building armed vessels,
forts, or strongholds, of coining money or regulating its
value, of regulating weights and measures, we leave to be exercised
under the authority of the confederation; but in all cases
respecting them which are out of the said confederation, they
shall be exercised by the governor, under the regulation of such
laws as the legislature may think it expedient to pass.
The whole military of the State, whether regular, or of
militia, shall be subject to his directions; but he shall leave the
execution of those directions to the general officers appointed by
the legislature.
His salary shall be fixed by the legislature at the session of
the assembly in which he shall be appointed, and before such
appointment be made; or if it be not then fixed, it shall be the
same which his next predecessor in office was entitled to. In
either case he may demand it quarterly out of any money which
shall be in the public treasury; and it shall not be in the power
of the legislature to give him less or more, either during his continuance
in office, or after he shall have gone out of it. The
lands, houses, and other things appropriated to the use of the
governor, shall remain to his use during his continuance in office.
A _Council of State_ shall be chosen by joint ballot of both
houses of assembly, who shall hold their offices seven years, and
be ineligible a second time, and who, while they shall be of the
said council, shall hold no other office or emolument under this
State, or any other State or power whatsoever. Their duty
shall be to attend and advise the governor when called on by
him, and their advice in any case shall be a sanction to him.
They shall also have power, and it shall be their duty, to meet
at their own will, and to give their advice, though not required
by the governor, in cases where they shall think the public good
calls for it. Their advice and proceedings shall be entered in
books to be kept for that purpose, and shall be signed as approved
or disapproved by the members present. These books shall be
laid before either house of assembly when called for by them.
The said council shall consist of eight members for the present;
but their numbers may be increased or reduced by the legislature,
whenever they shall think it necessary; provided such reduction
be made only as the appointments become vacant by death, resignation,
disqualification, or regular deprivation. A majority of
their actual number, and not fewer, shall be a quorum. They
shall be allowed for the present ---- each by the year, payable
quarterly out of any money which shall be in the public treasury.
Their salary, however, may be increased or abated from
time to time, at the discretion of the legislature; provided such
increase or abatement shall not, by any ways or means, be made
to affect either then, or at any future time, any one of those then
actually in office. At the end of each quarter their salary shall
be divided into equal portions by the number of days on which,
during that quarter, a council has been held, or required by the
governor, or by their own adjournment, and one of those portions
shall be withheld from each member for every of the said
days which, without cause allowed good by the board, he failed
to attend, or departed before adjournment without their leave.
If no board should have been held during that quarter, there
shall be no deduction.
They shall annually choose a _President_, who shall preside in
council in the absence of the governor, and who, in case of his
office becoming vacant by death or otherwise, shall have authority
to exercise all his functions, till a new appointment be
made, as he shall also in any interval during which the governor
shall declare himself unable to attend to the duties of his office.
The _Judiciary_ powers shall be exercised by county courts
and such other inferior courts as the legislature shall think proper
to continue or to erect, by three superior courts, to wit, a Court
of Admiralty, a general Court of Common Law, and a High
Court of Chancery; and by one Supreme Court, to be called the
Court of Appeals.
The judges of the high court of chancery, general court, and
court of admiralty, shall be four in number each, to be appointed
by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, and to hold their
offices during good behavior. While they continue judges, they
shall hold no other office or emolument, under this State, or any
other State or power whatsoever, except that they may be delegated
to Congress, receiving no additional allowance.
These judges, assembled together, shall constitute the Court
of Appeals, whose business shall be to receive and determine appeals
from the three superior courts, but to receive no original
causes, except in the cases expressly permitted herein.
A majority of the members of either of these courts, and not
fewer, shall be a quorum. But in the Court of Appeals nine
members shall be necessary to do business. Any smaller numbers
however may be authorized by the legislature to adjourn
their respective courts.
They shall be allowed for the present ---- each by the year,
payable quarterly out of any money which shall be in the public
treasury. Their salaries, however, may be increased or abated,
from time to time, at the discretion of the legislature, provided
such increase or abatement shall not by any ways or means, be
made to affect, either then, or at any future time, any one of
those then actually in office. At the end of each quarter their
salary shall be divided into equal portions by the number of days
on which, during that quarter, their respective courts sat, or should
have sat, and one of these portions shall be withheld from each
member for every of the said days which, without cause allowed
good by his court, he failed to attend, or departed before adjournment
without their leave. If no court should have been
held during the quarter, there shall be no deduction.
There shall, moreover, be a _Court of Impeachments_, to consist
of three members of the Council of State, one of each of the superior
courts of Chancery, Common Law, and Admiralty, two
members of the house of delegates and one of the Senate, to be
chosen by the body respectively of which they are. Before
this court any member of the three branches of government, that
is to say, the governor, any member of the council, of the two
houses of legislature, or of the superior courts, may be impeached
by the governor, the council, or either of the said houses or
courts, and by no other, for such misbehavior in office as would
be sufficient to remove him therefrom; and the only sentence
they shall have authority to pass shall be that of deprivation and
future incapacity of office. Seven members shall be requisite to
make a court, and two-thirds of those present must concur in the
sentence. The offences cognizable by this court shall be cognizable
by no other, and they shall be triers of the fact as well
as judges of the law.
The justices or judges of the inferior courts already erected,
or hereafter to be erected, shall be appointed by the governor, on
advice of the council of State, and shall hold their offices during
good behavior, or the existence of their courts. For breach
of the good behavior, they shall be tried according to the laws
of the land, before the Court of Appeals, who shall be judges of
the fact as well as of the law. The only sentence they shall
have authority to pass shall be that of deprivation and future incapacity
of office, and two-thirds of the members present must
concur in this sentence.
All courts shall appoint their own clerks, who shall hold their
offices during good behavior, or the existence of their court;
they shall also appoint all other attending officers to continue
during their pleasure. Clerks appointed by the supreme or superior
courts shall be removable by their respective courts.
Those to be appointed by other courts shall have been previously
examined, and certified to be duly qualified, by some two
members of the general court, and shall be removable for breach
of the good behavior by the Court of Appeals only, who shall
be judges of the fact as well as of the law. Two-thirds of the
members present must concur in the sentence.
The justices or judges of the inferior courts may be members
of the legislature.
The judgment of no inferior court shall be final, in any civil
case, of greater value than fifty bushels of wheat, as last rated
in the general court for setting the allowance to the members
of the general assembly, nor in any case of treason, felony, or other
crime which should subject the party to infamous punishment.
In all causes depending before any court, other than those of
impeachments, of appeals, and military courts, facts put in issue
shall be tried by jury, and in all courts whatever witnesses shall
give testimony _vivâ voce_ in open court, wherever their attendance
can be procured; and all parties shall be allowed counsel
and compulsory process for their witnesses.
Fines, amercements, and terms of imprisonment left indefinite
by the law, other than for contempts, shall be fixed by the jury,
triers of the offence.
The governor, two councillors of State, and a judge from each
of the superior Courts of Chancery, Common Law, and Admiralty,
shall be a council to revise all bills which shall have
passed both houses of assembly, in which council the governor,
when present, shall preside. Every bill, before it becomes a law,
shall be represented to this council, who shall have a right to advise
its rejection, returning the bill, with their advice and reasons
in writing, to the house in which it originated, who shall proceed
to reconsider the said bill. But if after such reconsideration,
two-thirds of the house shall be of opinion that the bill should
pass finally, they shall pass and send it, with the advice and
written reasons of the said Council of Revision, to the other
house, wherein if two-thirds also shall be of opinion it should
pass finally, it shall thereupon become law; otherwise it shall
not.
If any bill, presented to the said council, be not, within one
week (exclusive of the day of presenting it) returned by them,
with their advice of rejection and reasons, to the house wherein
it originated, or to the clerk of the said house, in case of its adjournment
over the expiration of the week, it shall be law from
the expiration of the week, and shall then be demandable by
the clerk of the House of Delegates, to be filed of record in his
office.
The bills which they approve shall become law from the time
of such approbation, and shall then be returned to, or demandable
by, the clerk of the House of Delegates, to be filed of record
in his office.
A bill rejected on advice of the Council of Revision may
again be proposed, during the same session of assembly, with
such alterations as will render it conformable to their advice.
The members of the said Council of Revision shall be appointed
from time to time by the board or court of which they
respectively are. Two of the executive and two of the judiciary
members shall be requisite to do business; and to prevent the
evils of non-attendance, the board and courts may at any time
name all, or so many as they will, of their members, in the particular
order in which they would choose the duty of attendance
to devolve from preceding to subsequent members, the preceding
failing to attend. They shall have additionally for their services
in this council the same allowance as members of assembly have.
The confederation is made a part of this constitution, subject
to such future alterations as shall be agreed to by the legislature
of this State, and by all the other confederating States.
The delegates to Congress shall be five in number; any three
of whom, and no fewer, may be a representation. They shall
be appointed by joint ballot of both houses of assembly for any
term not exceeding one year, subject to be recalled, within the
term, by joint vote of both the said houses. They may at the
same time be members of the legislative or judiciary departments,
but not of the executive.
The benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall be extended,
by the legislature, to every person within this State, and without
fee, and shall be so facilitated that no person may be detained in
prison more than ten days after he shall have demanded and
been refused such writ by the judge appointed by law, or if none
be appointed, then by any judge of a superior court, nor more
than ten days after such writ shall have been served on the person
detaining him, and no order given, on due examination, for
his remandment or discharge.
The military shall be subordinate to the civil power.
Printing presses shall be subject to no other restraint than
liableness to legal prosecution for false facts printed and published.
Any two of the three branches of government concurring in
opinion, each by the voice of two-thirds of their whole existing
number, that a convention is necessary for altering this constitution,
or correcting breaches of it, they shall be authorized to
issue writs to every county for the election of so many delegates
as they are authorized to send to the general assembly, which
elections shall be held, and writs returned, as the laws shall have
provided in the case of elections of delegates of assembly, _mutatis mutandis_,
and the said delegates shall meet at the usual
place of holding assemblies, three months after date of such
writs, and shall be acknowledged to have equal powers with this
present convention. The said writs shall be signed by all the
members approving the same.
_To introduce this government_, the following special and temporary
provision is made.
This convention being authorized only to amend those laws
which constituted the form of government, no general dissolution
of the whole system of laws can be supposed to have taken
place; but all laws in force at the meeting of this convention,
and not inconsistent with this constitution, remain in full force,
subject to alterations by the ordinary legislature.
The present general assembly shall continue till the forty-second
day after the last Monday of November in this present year.
On the said last Monday of November in this present year, the
several counties shall by their electors qualified as provided
by this constitution, elect delegates, which for the present shall
be, in number, one for every ---- militia of the said county,
according to the latest returns in possession of the governor,
and shall also choose senatorial electors in proportion thereto,
which senatorial electors shall meet on the fourteenth day
after the day of their election, at the court house of that county
of their present district which would stand first in an alphabetical
arrangement of their counties, and shall choose senators in
the proportion fixed by this constitution. The elections and returns
shall be conducted, in all circumstances not hereby particularly
prescribed, by the same persons and under the same
forms as prescribed by the present laws in elections of senators
and delegates of assembly. The said senators and delegates
shall constitute the first general assembly of the new government,
and shall specially apply themselves to the procuring an
exact return from every county of the number of its qualified
electors, and to the settlement of the number of delegates to be
elected for the ensuing general assembly.
The present governor shall continue in office to the end of the
term for which he was elected.
All other officers of every kind shall continue in office as they
would have done had their appointment been under this constitution,
and new ones, where new are hereby called for, shall be
appointed by the authority to which such appointment is referred.
One of the present judges of the general court, he consenting
thereto, shall by joint ballot of both houses of assembly,
at their first meeting, be transferred to the High Court of Chancery.
No. III.
An Act for establishing Religious Freedom, passed in the
Assembly of Virginia in the beginning of the year 1786.
Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free;
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens,
or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of
hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of
the Holy Author of our religion, who being Lord both of body
and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either,
as was in his Almighty power to do; that the impious presumption
of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who,
being themselves but fallible and uninspired men have assumed
dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions
and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as
such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established
and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the
world, and through all time; that to compel a man to furnish
contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he
disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him
to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is
depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions
to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his
pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness,
and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporal rewards,
which proceeding from an approbation of their personal
conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting
labors for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights
have no dependence on our religious opinions, more than our
opinions in physics or geometry; that, therefore, the proscribing
any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying
upon him an incapacity of being called to the offices of trust
and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious
opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges
and advantages to which in common with his fellow citizens he
has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles
of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a
monopoly of worldly honors and emoluments, those who will
externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these
are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither
are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer
the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion
and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles, on
the supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which
at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course
judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment,
and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as
they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time
enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers
to interfere when principles break out into overt acts
against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and
will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient
antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict,
unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons,
free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when
it is permitted freely to contradict them.
_Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly_, That no
man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship,
place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained,
molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall
otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief;
but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to
maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the
same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
And though we well know this Assembly, elected by the people
for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power
to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with the
powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act
irrevocable, would be of no effect in law, yet we are free to declare,
and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the
natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter
passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act
will be an infringement of natural right.
AN APPENDIX
RELATIVE TO THE MURDER OF LOGAN'S FAMILY.[71]
The "Notes on Virginia" were written, in Virginia, in the
years 1781 and 1782, in answer to certain queries proposed to
me by Monsieur de Marbois, then secretary of the French legation
in the United States; and a manuscript copy was delivered
to him. A few copies, with some additions, were afterwards,
in 1784, printed in Paris, and given to particular friends.
In speaking of the animals of America, the theory of M. de Buffon,
the Abbe Raynal, and others presented itself to consideration.
They have supposed there is something in the soil, climate, and
other circumstances of America, which occasions animal nature
to degenerate, not excepting even the man, native or adoptive,
physical or moral. This theory, so unfounded and degrading to
one-third of the globe, was called to the bar of fact and reason.
Among other proofs adduced in contradiction of this hypothesis,
the speech of Logan, an Indian chief, delivered to Lord Dunmore
in 1774, was produced, as a specimen of the talents of the
aboriginals of this country, and particularly of their eloquence;
and it was believed that Europe had never produced anything
superior to this morsel of eloquence. In order to make it intelligible
to the reader, the transaction, on which it was founded,
was stated, as it had been generally related in America at the
time, and as I had heard it myself, in the circle of Lord Dunmore,
and the officers who accompanied him; and the speech itself
was given as it had, ten years before the printing of that
book, circulated in the newspapers through all the then colonies,
through the magazines of Great Britain, and periodical publications
of Europe. For three and twenty years it passed uncontradicted;
nor was it ever suspected that it even admitted contradiction.
In 1797, however, for the first time, not only the
whole transaction respecting Logan was affirmed in the public
papers to be false, but the speech itself suggested to be a forgery,
and even a forgery of mine, to aid me in proving that the man
of America was equal in body and in mind, to the man of Europe.
But wherefore the forgery; whether Logan's or mine, it
would still have been American. I should indeed consult my
own fame if the suggestion, that this speech is mine, were suffered
to be believed. He would have just right to be proud who
could with truth claim that composition. But it is none of mine;
and I yield it to whom it is due.
On seeing then that this transaction was brought into question,
I thought it my duty to make particular inquiry into its
foundation. It was the more my duty, as it was alleged that,
by ascribing to an individual therein named, a participation in
the murder of Logan's family, I had done an injury to his character,
which it had not deserved. I had no knowledge personally
of that individual. I had no reason to aim an injury at
him. I only repeated what I had heard from others, and what
thousands had heard and believed as well as myself; and which
no one indeed, till then, had been known to question. Twenty-three
years had now elapsed, since the transaction took place.
Many of those acquainted with it were dead, and the living dispersed
to very distant parts of the earth. Few of them were
even known to me. To those however of whom I knew, I
made application by letter; and some others, moved by a regard
for truth and justice, were kind enough to come forward, of
themselves, with their testimony. These fragments of evidence,
the small remains of a mighty mass which time has consumed,
are here presented to the public, in the form of letters, certificates,
or affidavits, as they came to me. I have rejected none
of these forms, nor required other solemnities from those whose
motives and characters were pledges of their truth. Historical
transactions are deemed to be well vouched by the simple declarations
of those who have borne a part in them; and especially
of persons having no interest to falsify or disfigure them. The
world will now see whether they, or I, have injured Cresap, by
believing Logan's charge against him; and they will decide between
Logan and Cresap, whether Cresap was innocent, and Logan
a calumniator?
In order that the reader may have a clear conception of the
transactions, to which the different parts of the following declarations
refer, he must take notice that they establish four different
murders. 1. Of two Indians, a little above Wheeling. 2.
Of others at Grave Creek, among whom were some of Logan's
relations. 3. The massacre at Baker's bottom, on the Ohio, opposite
the mouth of Yellow Creek, where were other relations
of Logan. 4. Of those killed at the same place, coming in
canoes to the relief of their friends. I place the numbers 1, 2,
3, 4, against certain paragraphs of the evidence, to indicate the
particular murder to which the paragraph relates, and present
also a small sketch or map of the principal scenes of these butcheries,
for their more ready comprehension.
* * * * *
_Extract of a letter from the Honorable Judge Innes, of
Frankfort in Kentucky, to Thomas Jefferson, dated Kentucky,
near Frankfort, March 2d, 1799._
I recollect to have seen Logan's speech in 1775, in one of the public
prints. That Logan conceived Cresap to be the author of the murder at
Yellow Creek, it is in my power to give, perhaps, a more particular
information, than any other person you can apply to.
In 1774 I lived in Fincastle county, now divided into Washington,
Montgomery and part of Wythe. Being intimate in Col. Preston's family,
I happened in July to be at his house, when an express was sent to him
as County Lieut. requesting a guard of the militia to be ordered out for
the protection of the inhabitants residing low down on the north fork of
Holston river. The express brought with him a War Club, and a note which
was left tied to it at the house of one Robertson, whose family were cut
off by the Indians, and gave rise for the application to Col. Preston,
of which the following is a copy, then taken by me in my memorandum book.
"Captain Cresap,--What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek
for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga, a great
while ago; and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my
kin again, on Yellow Creek, and took my Cousin Prisoner. Then
I thought I must kill too; and I have been three times to war
since; but the Indians are not angry; only myself.
"July 21st, 1774. Captain JOHN LOGAN."
With great respect, I am, Dear Sir, your most obedient servant,
HARRY INNES.
* * * * *
Alleghany County, ss. }
State of Pennsylvania.}
Before me, the subscriber, a justice of the peace in and for said county,
personally appeared John Gibson, Esquire, an associate Judge of same
county, who being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that he traded with
the Shawanese and other tribes of Indians then settled on the Siota in
the year 1773, and in the beginning of the year 1774, and that in the
month of April of the same year, he left the same Indian towns, and
came to this place, in order to procure some goods and provisions, that
he remained here only a few days, and then set out in company with a
certain Alexander Blaine and M. Elliot by water to return to the towns
on the Siota, and that one evening as they were drifting in their canoes
near the Long Reach on the Ohio, they were hailed by a number of white
men on the South West shore, who requested them to put ashore, as they
had disagreeable news to inform them of; that we then landed on shore;
and found amongst the party, a Major Angus M'Donald from West Chester,
a Doctor Woods from same place, and a party as they said of one hundred
and fifty men. We then asked the news. They informed us that some of the
party who had been taken up, and improving lands near the Big Kanhawa
river, had seen another party of white men, who informed them that they
and some others had fell in with a party of Shawanese, who had been
hunting on the South West side of the Ohio, that they had killed the whole
of the Indian party, and that the others had gone across the country to
Cheat river with the horses and plunder, the consequence of which they
apprehended would be an Indian war, and that they were flying away. On
making inquiry of them when this murder should have happened, we found
that it must have been some considerable time before we left the Indian
towns, and that there was not the smallest foundation for the report,
as there was not a single man of the Shawanese, but what returned from
hunting long before this should have happened.
We then informed them that if they would agree to remain at the place
we then were, one of us would go to Hock Hocking river with some of
their party, where we should find some of our people making canoes, and
that if we did not find them there, we might conclude that everything
was not right. Doctor Wood and another person then proposed going with
me; the rest of the party seemed to agree, but said they would send and
consult Captain Cresap, who was about two miles from that place. They
sent off for him, and during the greatest part of the night they behaved
in the most disorderly manner, threatening to kill us, and saying the
damned traders were worse than the Indians and ought to be killed. In
the morning Captain Michael Cresap came to the camp. I then gave him
the information as above related. They then met in council, and after an
hour or more Captain Cresap returned to me, and informed that he could
not prevail on them to adopt the proposal I had made to them, that as he
had a great regard for Captain R. Callender, a brother-in-law of mine
with whom I was connected in trade, he advised me by no means to think
of proceeding any further, as he was convinced the present party would
fall on and kill every Indian they met on the river, that for his part
he should not continue with them, but go right across the country to
Red-Stone to avoid the consequences. That we then proceeded to Hocking
and went up the same to the canoe place where we found our people at
work, and after some days we proceeded to the towns on Siota by land.
On our arrival there, we heard of the different murders committed by
the party on their way up the Ohio.
This Deponent further saith that in the year 1774, he accompanied Lord
Dunmore on the expedition against the Shawanese and other Indians on the
Siota, that on their arrival within fifteen miles of the towns, they were
met by a flag, and a white man of the name of Elliot, who informed Lord
Dunmore that the Chiefs of the Shawanese had sent to request his Lordship
to halt his army and send in some person, who understood their language;
that this Deponent, at the request of Lord Dunmore and the whole of the
officers with him, went in; that on his arrival at the towns, Logan, the
Indian, came to where the deponent was sitting with the Corn-Stalk, and
the other chiefs of the Shawanese, and asked him to walk out with him;
that they went into a copse of wood, where they sat down, when Logan,
after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech, nearly
as related by Mr. Jefferson in his notes on the State of Virginia; that
he the deponent told him that it was not Col. Cresap who had murdered
his relations, and that although his son Captain Michael Cresap was with
the party who killed a Shawanese chief and other Indians, yet he was
not present when his relations were killed at Baker's, near the mouth
of Yellow Creek on the Ohio; that this Deponent on his return to camp
delivered the speech to Lord Dunmore; and that the murders perpetrated
as above were considered as ultimately the cause of the war of 1774,
commonly called Cresap's war.
JOHN GIBSON.
Sworn and subscribed the 4th April, 1800, at Pittsburg, before
me,
JER. BARKER.
* * * * *
_Extract of a letter from Col. Ebenezer Zane, to the honorable
John Brown, one of the senators in Congress from Kentucky;
dated Wheeling, Feb. 4th, 1800._
[Sidenote: 1]
I was myself, with many others, in the practice of making improvements
on lands upon the Ohio, for the purpose of acquiring rights to the same.
Being on the Ohio at the mouth of Sandy Creek, in company with many
others, news circulated that the Indians had robbed some of the Land
jobbers. This news induced the people generally to ascend the Ohio. I
was among the number. On our arrival at the Wheeling, being informed
that there were two Indians with some traders near and above Wheeling,
a proposition was made by the then Captain Michael Cresap to waylay
and kill the Indians upon the river. This measure I opposed with much
violence, alleging that the killing of those Indians might involve the
country in a war. But the opposite party prevailed, and proceeded up
the Ohio with Captain Cresap at their head.
In a short time the party returned, and also the traders, in a canoe;
but there were no Indians in the company. I inquired what had become of
the Indians, and was informed by the traders and Cresap's party that they
had fallen overboard. I examined the canoe, and saw much fresh blood and
some bullet holes in the canoe. This fully convinced me that the party
had killed the two Indians, and thrown them into the river.
[Sidenote: 2]
On the afternoon of the day this action happened, a report prevailed that
there was a camp, or party of Indians on the Ohio below and near the
Wheeling. In consequence of this information, Captain Cresap with his
party, joined by a number of recruits, proceeded immediately down the
Ohio for the purpose, as was then generally understood, of destroying
the Indians above mentioned. On the succeeding day, Captain Cresap and
his party returned to Wheeling, and it was generally reported by the
party that they had killed a number of Indians. Of the truth of this
report I had no doubt, as one of Cresap's party was badly wounded, and
the party had a fresh scalp, and a quantity of property, which they
called Indian plunder. At the time of the last-mentioned transaction,
it was generally reported that the party of Indians down the Ohio were
Logan and his family; but I have reason to believe that this report was
unfounded.
[Sidenote: 3]
Within a few days after the transaction above mentioned, a party of
Indians were killed at Yellow Creek. But I must do the memory of Captain
Cresap the justice to say that I do not believe that he was present at
the killing of the Indians at Yellow Creek. But there is not the least
doubt in my mind, that the massacre at Yellow Creek was brought on by
the two transactions first stated.
All the transactions, which I have related happened in the latter end of
April 1774; and there can scarcely be a doubt that they were the cause
of the war which immediately followed, commonly called Dunmore's War.
I am with much esteem, yours, &c,
EBENEZER ZANE.
* * * * *
_The certificate of William Huston of Washington county, in
the State of Pennsylvania, communicated by David Riddick,
Esquire, Prothonotary of Washington county, Pennsylvania; who
in the letter enclosing it says "Mr. William Huston is a man
of established reputation in point of integrity."_
I William Huston of Washington county, in the State of Pennsylvania, do
hereby certify to whom it may concern, that in the year 1774, I resided
at Catfishes camp, on the main path from Wheeling to Redstone; that
Michael Cresap, who resided on or near the Potomac river, on his way up
from the river Ohio, at the head of a party of armed men, lay some time
at my cabin.
[Sidenote: 2]
I had previously heard the report of Mr. Cresap having killed some
Indians, said to be the relations of "Logan" an Indian Chief. In a
variety of conversations with several of Cresap's party, they boasted
of the deed; and that in the presence of their chief. They acknowledged
they had fired first on the Indians. They had with them one man on a
litter, who was in the skirmish.
[Sidenote: 3]
I do further certify that, from what I learned from the party themselves,
I then formed the opinion, and have not had any reason to change the
opinion since, that the killing, on the part of the whites, was what I
deem the grossest murder. I further certify that some of the party, who
afterwards killed some women and other Indians at Baker's bottom, also
lay at my cabin, on their march to the interior part of the country;
they had with them a little girl, whose life had been spared by the
interference of some more humane than the rest. If necessary I will make
affidavit to the above to be true. Certified at Washington, this 18th
day of April, Anno Domini, 1798.
WILLIAM HUSTON.
* * * * *
_The certificate of Jacob Newland, of Shelby County, Kentucky,
communicated by the Honorable Judge Innes, of Kentucky._
[Sidenote: 2]
[Sidenote: 3]
In the year 1774, I lived on the waters of Short Creek, a branch of the
Ohio, twelve miles above Wheeling. Some time in June or in July of that
year, Capt. Michael Cresap raised a party of men, and came out under
Col. M'Daniel, of Hampshire County, Virginia, who commanded a detachment
against the Wappotommaka towns on the Muskinghum. I met with Capt. Cresap,
at Redstone fort, and entered his company. Being very well acquainted with
him, we conversed freely; and he, among other conversations, informed me
several times of falling in with some Indians on the Ohio some distance
below the mouth of Yellow Creek, and killed two or three of them; and that
this murder was before that of the Indians by Great-house and others, at
Yellow Creek. I do not recollect the reason which Capt. Cresap assigned
for committing the act, but never understood that the Indians gave any
offence. Certified under my hand this 15th day of November, 1799, being
an inhabitant of Shelby county, and State of Kentucky.
JACOB NEWLAND.
* * * * *
_The Certificate of John Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg,
Virginia; communicated by Mann Page, Esquire, of Mansfield,
near Fredericksburg, who in the letter accompanying it, says,
"Mr. John Anderson has for many years past been settled
in Fredericksburg, in the mercantile line. I have known
him in prosperous and adverse situations. He has always
shown the greatest degree of Equanimity, his honesty and
veracity are unimpeachable. These things can be attested
by all the respectable part of the town and neighborhood of
Fredericksburg."_
[Sidenote: 1]
[Sidenote: 3]
Mr. John Anderson, a merchant in Fredericksburg, says, that in the
year 1774, being a trader in the Indian country, he was at Pittsburg,
to which place he had a cargo brought up the river in a boat navigated
by a Delaware Indian and a white man. That on their return down the
river, with a cargo, belonging to Messrs. Butler, Michael Cresap fired
on the boat, and killed the Indian, after which two men of the name of
Gatewood, and others of the name of Tumblestone,[72] who lived on the
opposite side of the river from the Indians, with whom they were on the
most friendly terms, invited a party of them to come over and drink with
them; and that, when the Indians were drunk, they murdered them to the
number of six, among whom was Logan's mother.
[Sidenote: 4]
That five other Indians uneasy at the absence of their friends, came
over the river to inquire after them; when they were fired upon, and
two were killed, and the others wounded. This was the origin of the war.
I certify the above to be true to the best of my recollection.
Attest DAVID BLAIR, 30th June, 1798. JOHN ANDERSON.
* * * * *
_The Deposition of James Chambers, communicated by David
Riddick, Esquire, Prothonotary of Washington county,
Pennsylvania, who, in the letter enclosing it, shows that he
entertains the most perfect confidence in the truth of Mr.
Chambers._
WASHINGTON COUNTY, ss.
[Sidenote: 2]
[Sidenote: 3]
[Sidenote: 4]
[Sidenote: 2]
[Sidenote: 2]
Personally came before me Samuel Shannon, Esquire, one of the
Commonwealth Justices for the County of Washington in the State of
Pennsylvania, James Chambers, who, being sworn according to law, deposeth
and saith that in the spring of the year 1774, he resided on the frontier
near Baker's bottom on the Ohio; that he had an intimate companion, with
whom he sometimes lived, named Edward King; that a report reached them
that Michael Cresap had killed some Indians near Grave Creek, friends
to an Indian, known by the name of "Logan;" that other of his friends,
following down the river, having received intelligence, and fearing to
proceed, lest Cresap might fall in with them, encamped near the mouth
of Yellow Creek, opposite Baker's bottom; that Daniel Great-house had
determined to kill them; had made the secret known to the deponent's
companion, King; that the deponent was earnestly solicited to be of the
party, and, as an inducement, was told that they would get a great deal
of plunder; and further, that the Indians would be made drunk by Baker,
and that little danger would follow the expedition. The deponent refused
having any hand in killing unoffending people. His companion, King, went
with Great-house, with divers others, some of whom had been collected
at a considerable distance under an idea that Joshua Baker's family was
in danger from the Indians, as war had been commenced between Cresap
and them already; that Edward King, as well as others of the party,
did not conceal from the deponent the most minute circumstances of this
affair; they informed him that Great-house, concealing his people, went
over to the Indian encampments and counted their number, and found that
they were too large a party to attack with his strength; that he then
requested Joshua Baker, when any of them came to his house, (which they
had been in the habit of,) to give them what rum they could drink, and
to let him know when they were in a proper train, and that he would
then fall on them; that accordingly they found several men and women at
Baker's house; that one of these women had cautioned Great-house, when
over in the Indian camp, that he had better return home, as the Indian
men were drinking, and that having heard of Cresap's attack on their
relations down the river, they were angry, and, in a friendly manner,
told him to go home. Great-house, with his party, fell on them, and
killed all except a little girl, which the deponent saw with the party
after the slaughter; that the Indians in the camp hearing the firing,
manned two canoes, supposing their friends at Baker's to be attacked, as
was supposed; the party under Great-house prevented their landing by a
well-directed fire, which did execution in the canoes; that Edward King
showed the deponent one of the scalps. The deponent further saith, that
the settlements near the river broke up, and he the deponent immediately
repaired to Catfish's camp, and lived some time with Mr. William Huston;
that not long after his arrival, Cresap, with his party, returning from
the Ohio, came to Mr. Huston's and tarried some time; that in various
conversations with the party, and in particular with a Mr. Smith, who
had one arm only, he was told that the Indians were acknowledged and
known to be Logan's friends which they had killed, and that he heard
the party say, that Logan would probably avenge their deaths.
[Sidenote: 2]
[Sidenote: 3]
They acknowledged that the Indians passed Cresap's encampment on the bank
of the river in a peaceable manner, and encamped below him; that they
went down and fired on the Indians and killed several; that the survivors
flew to their arms and fired on Cresap, and wounded one man, whom the
deponent saw carried on a litter by the party; that the Indians killed
by Cresap were not only Logan's relations, but of the women killed at
Baker's one was said and generally believed to be Logan's sister. The
deponent further saith, that on the relation of the attack by Cresap
on the unoffending Indians, he exclaimed in their hearing, that it was
an atrocious murder; on which Mr. Smith threatened the deponent with
the tomahawk; so that he was obliged to be cautious, fearing an injury,
as the party appeared to have lost, in a great degree, sentiments of
humanity as well as the effects of civilization. Sworn and subscribed
at Washington, the 20th day of April, Anno Domini 1798.
Before SAMUEL SHANNON. JAMES CHAMBERS.
* * * * *
Washington County, ss.
[Sidenote: SEAL.]
I, David Reddick, prothonotary of the court of common pleas, for the
county of Washington in the State of Pennsylvania, do certify that Samuel
Shannon, Esq., before whom the within affidavit was made, was, at the
time thereof, and still is, a justice of the peace in and for the county
of Washington aforesaid; and that full credit is due to all his judicial
acts as such as well in courts of justice as thereout.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal
of my office at Washington, the 26th day of April, Anno Dom. 1798.
DAVID REDDICK.
* * * * *
_The certificate of Charles Polke, of Shelby County, in
Kentucky, communicated by the Hon. Judge Innes, of Kentucky,
who in the letter enclosing it, together with Newland's
certificate, and his own declaration of the information given
him by Baker, says, "I am well acquainted with John Newland,
he is a man of integrity. Charles Polke and Joshua Baker both
support respectable characters."_
[Sidenote: 3]
[Sidenote: 2]
About the latter end of April or beginning of May 1774, I lived on the
waters of Cross creek, about sixteen miles from Joshua Baker, who lived
on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. A number of persons
collected at my house, and proceeded to the said Baker's and murdered
several Indians, among whom was a woman said to be the sister of the
Indian chief, Logan. The principal leader of the party was Daniel
Great-house. To the best of my recollection the cause which gave rise
to the murder was a general idea that the Indians were meditating an
attack on the frontiers. Capt. Michael Cresap was not of the party; but
I recollect that some time before the perpetration of the above fact it
was currently reported that Capt. Cresap had murdered some Indians on
the Ohio, one or two, some distance below Wheeling.
Certified by me, an inhabitant of Shelby county and State of Kentucky,
this 25th day of November, 1799.
CHARLES POLKE.
* * * * *
_The Declaration of the Hon. Judge Innes, of Frankfort, in
Kentucky._
[Sidenote: 3]
[Sidenote: 1]
On the 14th of November, 1799, I accidentally met upon the road Joshua
Baker, the person referred to in the certificate signed by Polke, who
informed me that the murder of the Indians in 1774, opposite the mouth
of Yellow Creek, was perpetrated at his house by thirty-two men, led on
by Daniel Great-house; that twelve were killed and six or eight wounded;
among the slain was a sister and other relations of the Indian chief,
Logan. Baker says, Captain Michael Cresap was not of the party; that some
days preceding the murder at his house two Indians left him and were on
their way home; that they fell in with Capt. Cresap and a party of land
improvers on the Ohio, and were murdered, if not by Cresap himself, with
his approbation; he being the leader of the party, and that he had this
information from Cresap.
HARRY INNES.
* * * * *
_The Declaration of William Robinson._
William Robinson, of Clarksburg, in the county of Harrison, and State of
Virginia, subscriber to these presents, declares that he was, in the year
1774, a resident on the west fork of Monongahela river, in the county
then called West Augusta, and being in his field on the 12th of July,
with two other men, they were surprised by a party of eight Indians,
who shot down one of the others and made himself and the remaining one
prisoners; this subscriber's wife and four children having been previously
conveyed by him for safety to a fort about twenty-four miles off; that
the principal Indian of the party which took them was Captain Logan; that
Logan spoke English well, and very soon manifested a friendly disposition
to this subscriber, and told him to be of good heart, that he would not
be killed, but must go with him to his town, where he would probably be
adopted in some of their families; but above all things, that he must
not attempt to run away; that in the course of the journey to the Indian
town he generally endeavored to keep close to Logan, who had a great
deal of conversation with him, always encouraging him to be cheerful and
without fear; for that he would not be killed, but should become one of
them; and constantly impressing on him not to attempt to run away; that
in these conversations he always charged Capt. Michael Cresap with the
murder of his family; that on his arrival in the town, which was on the
18th of July, he was tied to a stake and a great debate arose whether he
should not be burnt; Logan insisted on having him adopted, while others
contended to burn him; that at length Logan prevailed, tied a belt of
wampum round him as the mark of adoption, loosed him from the post and
carried him to the cabin of an old squaw, where Logan pointed out a person
who he said was this subscriber's cousin; and he afterwards understood
that the old woman was his aunt, and two others his brothers, and that
he now stood in the place of a warrior of the family who had been killed
at Yellow Creek; that about three days after this Logan brought him a
piece of paper, and told him he must write a letter for him, which he
meant to carry and leave in some house where he should kill somebody;
that he made ink with gun powder, and the subscriber proceeded to write
the letter by his direction, addressing Captain Michael Cresap in it,
and that the purport of it was, to ask "why he had killed his people?
That some time before they had killed his people at some place, (the
name of which the subscriber forgets,) which he had forgiven; but since
that he had killed his people again at Yellow Creek, and taken his
cousin, a little girl, prisoner; that therefore he must war against the
whites; but that he would exchange the subscriber for his cousin." And
signed it with Logan's name, which letter Logan took and set out again
to war; and the contents of this letter, as recited by the subscriber,
calling to mind that stated by Judge Innes to have been left, tied to
a war club, in a house where a family was murdered, and that being read
to the subscriber, he recognizes it, and declares he verily believes it
to have been the identical letter which he wrote, and supposes he was
mistaken in stating as he has done before from memory, that the offer
of exchange was proposed in the letter; that it is probable that it was
only promised him by Logan, but not put in the letter; while he was with
the old woman, she repeatedly endeavored to make him sensible that she
had been of the party at Yellow Creek, and, by signs, showed him how
they decoyed her friends over the river to drink, and when they were
reeling and tumbling about, tomahawked them all, and that whenever she
entered on this subject she was thrown into the most violent agitations,
and that he afterwards understood that, amongst the Indians killed at
Yellow Creek, was a sister of Logan, very big with child, whom they
ripped open, and stuck on a pole; that he continued with the Indians
till the month of November, when he was released in consequence of the
peace made by them with Lord Dunmore; that, while he remained with them,
the Indians in general were very kind to him; and especially those who
were his adopted relations; but above all, the old woman and family in
which he lived, who served him with everything in their power, and never
asked, or even suffered him to do any labor, seeming in truth to consider
and respect him as the friend they had lost. All which several matters
and things, so far as they are stated to be of his own knowledge, this
subscriber solemnly declares to be true, and so far as they are stated on
information from others, he believes them to be true. Given and declared
under his hand at Philadelphia, this 28th day of February, 1800.
WILLIAM ROBINSON.
* * * * *
_The deposition of Colonel William M'Kee, of Lincoln County,
Kentucky, communicated by the Hon. John Brown, one of the
Senators in Congress from Kentucky._
Colonel William M'Kee of Lincoln county, declareth, that in autumn,
1774, he commanded as a captain in the Bottetourt Regiment under Colonel
Andrew Lewis, afterwards General Lewis; and fought in the battle at the
mouth of Kanhaway, on the 10th of October in that year. That after the
battle, Colonel Lewis marched the militia across the Ohio, and proceeded
towards the Shawnee towns on Sciota; but before they reached the towns,
Lord Dunmore, who was Commander-in-Chief of the army, and had, with a
large part thereof, been up the Ohio about Hockhockin, when the battle
was fought, overtook the militia, and informed them of his having since
the battle concluded a treaty with the Indians; upon which the whole
army returned.
And the said William declareth that, on the evening of that day on
which the junction of the troops took place, he was in company with Lord
Dunmore and several of his officers, and also conversed with several who
had been with Lord Dunmore at the treaty; said William, on that evening,
heard repeated conversations concerning an extraordinary speech at the
treaty, or sent there by a chieftain of the Indians named Logan, and
heard several attempts at a rehearsal of it. The speech as rehearsed
excited the particular attention of said William, and the most striking
members of it were impressed on his memory.
And he declares that when Thomas Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia" were
published, and he came to peruse the same, he was struck with the
speech of Logan as there set forth, as being substantially the same,
and accordant with the speech he heard rehearsed in the camp as aforesaid.
Signed, WILLIAM M'KEE.
DANVILLE, December 18th, 1799.
We certify that Colonel William M'Kee this day signed the original
certificate, of which the foregoing is a true copy, in our presence.
JAMES SPEED, Junior.
J. H. DEWEES.
* * * * *
_The Certificate of the Honorable Stevens Thompson Mason, one
of the Senators in Congress from the State of Virginia._
"Logan's Speech, delivered at the Treaty, after the battle in which
Colonel Lewis was killed in 1774."
[Here follows a copy of the speech agreeing verbatim with that printed
in Dixon and Hunter's Virginia Gazette of February 4, 1775, under the
Williamsburg head. At the foot is this certificate.]
"The foregoing is a copy taken by me, when a boy, at school, in the year
1775, or at farthest in 1776, and lately found in an old pocket-book,
containing papers and manuscripts of that period.
STEVENS THOMPSON MASON.
"January 20th, 1798."
* * * * *
_A copy of Logan's speech, given by the late General Mercer,
who fell in the battle of Trenton, January 1776, to Lewis
Willis, Esquire, of Fredericksburg, in Virginia, upwards of
twenty years ago, (from the date of February 1798,) communicated
through Mann Page, Esquire._
"The speech of Logan, a Shawanese chief, to Lord Dunmore."
[Here follows a copy of the speech, agreeing verbatim with that in the
Notes on Virginia.]
A copy of Logan's speech from the Notes on Virginia having been sent
to Captain Andrew Rodgers, of Kentucky, he subjoined the following
certificate.
In the year 1774 I was out with the Virginia Volunteers, and was in the
battle at the mouth of Canhawee, and afterwards proceeded over the Ohio
to the Indian towns. I did not hear Logan make the above speech; but
from the unanimous accounts of those in camp, I have reason to think
that said speech was delivered to Dunmore. I remember to have heard the
very things contained in the above speech, related by some of our people
in camp at that time.
ANDREW RODGERS.
* * * * *
_The declaration of Mr. John Heckewelder, for several years
a missionary from the society of Moravians, among the western
Indians._
In the spring of the year 1774, at a time when the interior part of
the Indian country all seemed peace and tranquil, the villagers on the
Muskingum were suddenly alarmed by two runners (Indians), who reported
"that the Big Knife (Virginians) had attacked the Mingo settlement,
on the Ohio, and butchered even the women with their children in their
arms, and that Logan's family were among the slain." A day or two after
this several Mingoes made their appearance; among whom were one or two
wounded, who had in this manner effected their escape. Exasperated to a
high degree, after relating the particulars of this transaction, (which
for humanity's sake I forbear to mention,) after resting some time on
the treachery of the Big Knives, of their barbarity to those who are
their friends, they gave a figurative description of the perpetrators;
named Cresap as having been at the head of this murderous act. They made
mention of nine being killed, and two wounded; and were prone to take
revenge on any person of a white color; for which reason the missionaries
had to shut themselves up during their stay. From this time terror daily
increased. The exasperated friends and relations of these murdered women
and children, with the nations to whom they belonged, passed and repassed
through the villages of the quiet Delaware towns, in search of white
people, making use of the most abusive language to these (the Delawares),
since they would not join in taking revenge. Traders had either to hide
themselves, or try to get out of the country the best way they could. And
even at this time, they yet found such true friends among the Indians,
who, at the risk of their own lives, conducted them, with the best part
of their property, to Pittsburg; although, (shameful to relate!) these
benefactors were, on their return from this mission, waylaid, and fired
upon by whites, while crossing Big Beaver in a canoe, and had one man, a
Shawanese, named Silverheels, (a man of note in his nation,) wounded in
the body. This exasperated the Shawanese so much, that they, or at least
a great part of them, immediately took an active part in the cause; and
the Mingoes, (nearest connected with the former,) became unbounded in
their rage. A Mr. Jones, son to a respectable family of this neighborhood
(Bethlehem), who was then on his passage up Muskinghum, with two other
men, was fortunately espied by a friendly Indian woman, at the falls
of Muskinghum; who through motives of humanity alone, informed Jones
of the nature of the times, and that he was running right in the hands
of the enraged; and put him on the way, where he might perhaps escape
the vengeance of the strolling parties. One of Jones's men, fatigued by
travelling in the woods, declared he would rather die than remain longer
in this situation; and hitting accidentally on a path, he determined to
follow the same. A few hundred yards decided his fate. He was met by a
party of about fifteen Mingoes, (and as it happened, almost within sight
of White Eyes town,) murdered, and cut to pieces; and his limbs and flesh
stuck up on the bushes. White Eyes, on hearing the scalp halloo, ran
immediately out with his men, to see what the matter was; and finding
the mangled body in this condition, gathered the whole and buried it.
But next day when some of the above party found on their return the body
interred, they instantly tore up the ground, and endeavored to destroy
or scatter about, the parts at a greater distance. White Eyes, with the
Delawares, watching their motions, gathered and interred the same a second
time. The war party finding this out, ran furiously into the Delaware
village, exclaiming against the conduct of these people, setting forth
the cruelty of Cresap towards women and children, and declaring at the
same time, that they would, in consequence of this cruelty, serve every
white man they should meet with in the same manner. Times grew worse
and worse, war parties went out and took scalps and prisoners, and the
latter, in hopes it might be of service in saving their lives, exclaimed
against the barbarous act which gave rise to these troubles and against
the perpetrators. The name of Great-house was mentioned as having been
accomplice to Cresap. So detestable became the latter name among the
Indians, that I have frequently heard them apply it to the worst of
things; also in quieting or stilling their children, I have heard them
say, hush! Cresap will fetch you; whereas otherwise, they name the Owl.
The warriors having afterwards bent their course more toward the Ohio,
and down the same, peace seemed with us already on the return; and this
became the case soon after the decided battle fought on the Kanhaway.
Traders, returning now into the Indian country again, related the story
of the above-mentioned massacre, _after the same manner, and with the
same words_, we have heard it related hitherto. So the report remained,
and was believed by all who resided in the Indian country. So it was
represented numbers of times, in the peaceable Delaware towns, by the
enemy. So the christian Indians were continually told they would one day
be served. With this impression, a petty chief hurried all the way from
Wabash in 1779, to take his relations (who were living with the peaceable
Delawares near Coshachking) out of the reach of the Big Knives, in whose
friendship he never more would place any confidence. And when this man
found that his numerous relations would not break friendship with the
Americans, nor be removed, he took two of his relations (women) off by
force, saying, "The whole crop should not be destroyed; I will have seed
out of it for a new crop;" alluding to, and repeatedly reminding those
of the family of Logan, who he said had been real friends to the whites,
and yet were cruelly murdered by them.
In Detroit, where I arrived the same Spring, the report respecting the
murder of the Indians on the Ohio (amongst whom was Logan's family) was
the same as related above; and on my return to the United States in the
fall of 1786, and from that time, whenever and wherever in my presence,
this subject was the topic of conversation, I found the report still the
same; viz. that a person, bearing the name of Cresap, was the author,
or perpetrator of this deed.
Logan was the second son of Shikellemus, a celebrated chief of the
Cayuga nation. This chief, on account of his attachment to the English
government, was of great service to the country, having the confidence of
all the Six Nations, as well as that of the English, he was very useful
in settling disputes, &c., &c. He was highly esteemed by Conrad Weisser,
Esq., (an officer for government in the Indian department), with whom
he acted conjunctly, and was faithful unto his death. His residence was
at Shamokin, where he took great delight in acts of hospitality to such
of the white people whose business led them that way.[73] His name and
fame were so high on record, that Count Zinzendorf, when in this country
in 1742, became desirous of seeing him, and actually visited him at his
house in Shamokin.[74] About the year 1772, Logan was introduced to me
by an Indian friend, as son to the late reputable chief Shikellemus,
and as a friend to the white people. In the course of conversation
I thought him a man of superior talents than Indians generally were.
The subject turning on vice and immorality, he confessed his too great
share of this, especially his fondness for liquor. He exclaimed against
the white people for imposing liquors upon the Indians; he otherwise
admired their ingenuity; spoke of gentlemen, but observed the Indians
unfortunately had but few of these as their neighbors, &c. He spoke of
his friendship to the white people, wished always to be a neighbor to
them, intended to settle on the Ohio, below Big Beaver; was (to the best
of my recollection) then encamped at the mouth of this river, (Beaver,)
urged me to pay him a visit, &c. Note. I was then living at the Moravian
town on this river, in the neighborhood of Cuskuskee. In April 1773,
while on my passage down the Ohio for Muskinghum, I called at Logan's
settlement; where I received every civility I could expect from such of
the family as were at home.
Indian reports concerning Logan, after the death of his family, ran
to this; that he exerted himself during the Shawanese war, (then so
called,) to take all the revenge he could, declaring he had lost all
confidence in the white people. At the time of negotiation, he declared
his reluctance in laying down the hatchet, not having (in his opinion)
yet taken ample satisfaction; yet, for the sake of the nation, he would
do it. His expressions, from time to time, denoted a deep melancholy. Life
(said he) had become a torment to him: he knew no more what pleasure was:
he thought it had been better if he had never existed, &c., &c. Report
further states, that he became in some measure delirious, declared he
would kill himself, went to Detroit, drank very freely, and did not seem
to care what he did, and what became of himself. In this condition he
left Detroit, and on his way between that place and Miami was murdered.
In October, 1781, (while as prisoner on my way to Detroit,) I was shown
the spot where this should have happened. Having had an opportunity
since last June of seeing the Rev. David Zeisberger, senior, missionary
to the Delaware nation of Indians, who had resided among the same on
Muskinghum, at the time when the murder was committed on the family of
Logan, I put the following questions to him; first, who he had understood
it was that had committed the murder on Logan's family? and secondly,
whether he had any knowledge of a speech sent to Lord Dunmore by Logan,
in consequence of this affair, &c. To which Mr. Zeisberger's answer
was: That he had, from that time when this murder was committed to the
present day, firmly believed the common report (which he had never heard
contradicted) viz., that one Cresap was the author of the massacre; or
that it was committed by his orders; and that he had known Logan as a boy,
had frequently seen him from that time, and doubted not in the least,
that Logan had sent such a speech to Lord Dunmore on this occasion,
as he understood from me had been published; that expressions of that
kind from Indians were familiar to him; that Logan in particular was a
man of quick comprehension, good judgment and talents. Mr. Zeisberger
has been a missionary upwards of fifty years; his age is about eighty;
speaks both the language of the Onondagoes and the Delawares; resides at
present on the Muskinghum, with his Indian congregation; and is beloved
and respected by all who are acquainted with him.
JOHN HECKEWELDER.
* * * * *
_From this testimony the following historical statement
results:_
In April or May, 1774, a number of people being engaged in looking out
for settlements on the Ohio, information was spread among them, that the
Indians had robbed some of the land-jobbers, as those adventurers were
called. Alarmed for their safety, they collected together at Wheeling
Creek. [75]Hearing there that there were two Indians and some traders a
little above Wheeling, Captain Michael Cresap, one of the party, proposed
to waylay and kill them. The proposition, though opposed, was adopted.
A party went up the river, with Cresap at their head, and killed the
two Indians.
[76]The same afternoon it was reported that there was a party of Indians
on the Ohio, a little below Wheeling. Cresap and his party immediately
proceeded down the river, and encamped on the bank. The Indians passed
him peaceably, and encamped at the mouth of Grave Creek, a little below.
Cresap and his party attacked them, and killed several. The Indians
returned the fire, and wounded one of Cresap's party. Among the slain of
the Indians were some of Logan's family. Colonel Zane indeed expresses a
doubt of it; but it is affirmed by Huston and Chambers. Smith, one of the
murderers, said they were known and acknowledged to be Logan's friends,
and the party themselves generally said so; boasted of it in presence
of Cresap; pretended no provocation; and expressed their expectations
that Logan would probably avenge their deaths.
Pursuing these examples, [77]Daniel Great-house, and one Tomlinson,
who lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, and were
in habits of friendship with them, collected, at the house of Polke,
on Cross Creek, about 16 miles from Baker's Bottom, a party of 32 men.
Their object was to attack a hunting encampment of Indians, consisting
of men, women, and children, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, some distance
above Wheeling. They proceeded, and when arrived near Baker's Bottom,
they concealed themselves, and Great-house crossed the river to the
Indian camp. Being among them as a friend, he counted them, and found
them too strong for an open attack with his force. While here, he was
cautioned by one of the women not to stay, for that the Indian men were
drinking, and having heard of Cresap's murder of _their relations_ at
Grave Creek, were angry, and she pressed him in a friendly manner, to go
home; whereupon, after inviting them to come over and drink, he returned
to Baker's, which was a tavern, and desired that when any of them should
come to his house he would give them as much rum as they would drink.
When his plot was ripe, and a sufficient number of them were collected
at Baker's, and intoxicated, he and his party fell on them and massacred
the whole, except a little girl, whom they preserved as a prisoner.
Among these was the very woman who had saved his life, by pressing him to
retire from the drunken wrath of her friends, when he was spying their
camp at Yellow Creek. Either she herself, or some other of the murdered
women, was the sister of Logan, very big with child, and inhumanly and
indecently butchered; and there were others of his relations who fell
here.
The party on the other side of the river,[78] alarmed for their friends
at Baker's, on hearing the report of the guns, manned two canoes and
sent them over. They were received, as they approached the shore, by a
well-directed fire from Great-house's party, which killed some, wounded
others, and obliged the rest to put back. Baker tells us there were
twelve killed, and six or eight wounded.
This commenced the war, of which Logan's war-club and note left in the
house of a murdered family, was the notification. In the course of it,
during the ensuing summer, a great number of innocent men, women, and
children, fell victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Indians,
till it was arrested in the autumn following by the battle at Point
Pleasant, and the pacification with Lord Dunmore, at which the speech
of Logan was delivered.
Of the genuineness of that speech nothing need be said. It was known to
the camp where it was delivered; it was given out by Lord Dunmore and his
officers; it ran through the public papers of these States; was rehearsed
as an exercise at schools; published in the papers and periodical works
of Europe; and all this, a dozen years before it was copied into the
Notes on Virginia. In fine, General Gibson concludes the question for
ever, by declaring that he received it from Logan's hand, delivered it
to Lord Dunmore, translated it for him, and that the copy in the Notes
on Virginia is a faithful copy.
The popular account of these transactions, as stated in the Notes
on Virginia, appears, on collecting exact information, imperfect and
erroneous in its details. It was the belief of the day; but how far
its errors were to the prejudice of Cresap, the reader will now judge.
That he, and those under him, murdered two Indians above Wheeling; that
they murdered a large number at Grave Creek, among whom were a part of
the family and relations of Logan, cannot be questioned; and as little
that this led to the massacre of the rest of the family at Yellow Creek.
Logan imputed the whole to Cresap, in his war-note and peace-speech: the
Indians generally imputed it to Cresap: Lord Dunmore and his officers
imputed it to Cresap: the country, with one accord, imputed it to him:
and whether he were innocent, let the universal verdict now declare.
[Illustration: Map]
* * * * *
_The declaration of John Sappington, received after the
publication of the preceding Appendix._
I, JOHN SAPPINGTON, declare myself to be intimately acquainted with all
the circumstances respecting the destruction of Logan's family, and do
give in the following narrative, a true statement of that affair:
"Logan's family (if it was his family) was not killed by Cresap, nor
with his knowledge, nor by his consent, but by the Great-houses and
their associates. They were killed 30 miles above Wheeling, near the
mouth of Yellow Creek. Logan's camp was on one side of the river Ohio,
and the house, where the murder was committed, opposite to it on the
other side. They had encamped there only four or five days, and during
that time had lived peaceably and neighbourly with the whites on the
opposite side, until the very day the affair happened. A little before
the period alluded to, letters had been received by the inhabitants from
a man of great influence in that country, and who was then, I believe,
at Capteener, informing them that war was at hand, and desiring them
to be on their guard. In consequence of those letters and other rumors
of the same import, almost all the inhabitants fled for safety into the
settlements. It was at the house of one Baker the murder was committed.
Baker was a man who sold rum, and the Indians had made frequent visits
at his house, induced, probably, by their fondness for that liquor. He
had been particularly desired by Cresap to remove and take away his rum,
and he was actually preparing to move at the time of the murder. The
evening before, a squaw came over to Baker's house, and by her crying
seemed to be in great distress. The cause of her uneasiness being asked,
she refused to tell; but getting Baker's wife alone, she told her that
the Indians were going to kill her and all her family the next day, that
she loved her, did not wish her to be killed, and therefore told her
what was intended, that she might save herself. In consequence of this
information, Baker got a number of men, to the amount of twenty-one, to
come to his house, and they were all there before morning. A council
was held, and it was determined that the men should lie concealed in
the back apartment; that if the Indians did come, and behaved themselves
peaceably, they should not be molested; but if not, the men were to show
themselves, and act accordingly. Early in the morning, seven Indians,
four men and three squaws, came over. Logan's brother was one of them.
They immediately got rum, and all, except Logan's brother, became very
much intoxicated. At this time all the men were concealed, except the
man of the house, Baker, and two others who staid out with him. Those
Indians came unarmed. After some time Logan's brother took down a coat
and hat, belonging to Baker's brother-in-law, who lived with him, and
put them on, and setting his arms a-kimbo, began to strut about, till at
length coming up to one of the men, he attempted to strike him, saying,
"White man, son of a bitch." The white man, whom he treated thus, kept
out of his way for some time; but growing irritated, he jumped to his
gun, and shot the Indian as he was making to the door with the coat
and hat on him. The men who lay concealed then rushed out, and killed
the whole of them, excepting one child, which I believe is alive yet.
But before this happened, one with two, the other with five Indians,
all naked, painted, and armed completely for war, were discovered to
start from the shore on which Logan's camp was. Had it not been for this
circumstance, the white men would not have acted as they did; but this
confirmed what the squaw had told before. The white men, having killed,
as aforesaid, the Indians in the house, ranged themselves along the bank
of the river, to receive the canoes. The canoe with the two Indians came
near, being the foremost. Our men fired upon them and killed them both.
The other canoe then went back. After this, two other canoes started,
the one containing eleven, the other seven, Indians, painted and armed
as the first. They attempted to land below our men, but were fired upon;
had one killed, and retreated, at the same time firing back. To the best
of my recollection there were three of the Great-houses engaged in this
business. This is a true representation of the affair from beginning to
end. I was intimately acquainted with Cresap, and know he had no hand
in that transaction. He told me himself afterwards, at Redstone Old
Fort, that the day before Logan's people were killed, he, with a small
party, had an engagement with a party of Indians on Capteener, about
forty-four miles lower down. Logan's people were killed at the mouth of
Yellow Creek, on the 24th of May, 1774; and the 23d, the day before,
Cresap was engaged as already stated. I know, likewise, that he was
generally blamed for it, and believed by all who were not acquainted
with the circumstances to have been the perpetrator of it. I know that
he despised and hated the Great-houses ever afterwards on account of it.
I was intimately acquainted with General Gibson, and served under him
during the late war, and I have a discharge from him now lying in the
land-office at Richmond, to which I refer any person for my character,
who might be disposed to scruple my veracity. I was likewise at the
treaty held by Lord Dunmore with the Indians, at Chelicothe. As for the
speech said to have been delivered by Logan on that occasion, it might
have been, or might not, for anything I know, as I never heard of it till
long afterwards. I do not believe that Logan had any relations killed,
except his brother. Neither of the squaws who were killed was his wife.
Two of them were old women, and the third, with her child, which was
saved, I have the best reason in the world to believe was the wife and
child of General Gibson. I know he educated the child, and took care of
it, as if it had been his own. Whether Logan had a wife or not, I can't
say; but it is probable that as he was a chief, he considered them all
as his people. All this I am ready to be qualified to at any time.
JOHN SAPPINGTON.
Attest, SAMUEL M'KEE, Junr.
* * * * *
Madison County, Feb. 13th, 1800.
I do certify further, that the above-named John Sappington told me, at
the same time and place at which he gave me the above narrative, that
he himself was the man who shot the brother of Logan in the house, as
above-related, and that he likewise killed one of the Indians in one of
the canoes, which came over from the opposite shore.
He likewise told me, that Cresap never said an angry word to him about
the matter, although he was frequently in company with Cresap, and indeed
had been, and continued to be, in habits of intimacy with that gentleman,
and was always befriended by him on every occasion. He further told me,
that after they had perpetrated the murder, and were flying into the
settlement, he met with Cresap (if I recollect right, at Redstone Old
Fort); and gave him a scalp, a very large fine one, as he expressed it,
and adorned with silver. This scalp, I think he told me, was the scalp
of Logan's brother; though as to this I am not absolutely certain.
Certified by
SAMUEL M'KEE, Junr.
FOOTNOTES:
[71] In connection with this appendix see letter to Governor
Henry, printed as Note in p. 309.
[72] The popular pronunciation of Tomlinson, which was the real
name.
[73] The preceding account of Shikellemus, (Logan's father,)
is copied from manuscripts of the Rev. C. Pyrlæus, written
between the years 1741 and 1748.
[74] See G. H. Loskiel's history of the Mission of the United
Brethren, &c. Part II. Chap. 11, Page 31.
[75] First murder of the two Indians by Cresap.
[76] Second murder on Grave Creek.
[77] Massacre at Baker's Bottom, opposite Yellow Creek, by
Great-house.
[78] Fourth murder, by Great-house.
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF PEYTON RANDOLPH.
Peyton Randolph was the eldest son of Sir John Randolph,
of Virginia, a barrister at law, and an eminent practitioner at the
bar of the General Court. Peyton was educated at the College
of William and Mary in Williamsburg, and thence went to England,
and studied law at the Temple. At his return he intermarried
with Elizabeth Harrison, sister of the afterwards Governor
Harrison, entered into practice in the General Court, was afterwards
appointed the king's Attorney General for the colony, and
became a representative in the House of Burgesses (then so
called) for the city of Williamsburg.
Governor Dinwiddie having, about this period, introduced the
exaction of a new fee on his signature of grants for lands, without
the sanction of any law, the House of Burgesses remonstrated
against it, and sent Peyton Randolph to England, as their
agent to oppose it before the king and council. The interest of
the governor, as usual, prevailed against that of the colony, and
his new exaction was confirmed by the king.
After Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela, in 1755, the incursions
of the Indians on our frontiers spread panic and dismay
through the whole country, insomuch that it was scarcely possible
to procure men, either as regulars or militia, to go against
them. To counteract this terror and to set good example, a number
of the wealthiest individuals of the colony, and the highest standing
in it, in public as well as in their private relations, associated
under obligations to furnish each of them two able-bodied men,
at their own expense, to form themselves into a regiment under
the denomination of the Virginia Blues, to join the colonial force
on the frontier, and place themselves under its commander,
George Washington, then a colonel. They appointed William
Byrd, a member of the council, colonel of the regiment, and
Peyton Randolph, I think, had also some command. But the
original associators had more the will than the power of becoming
effective soldiers. Born and bred in the lap of wealth, all the
habits of their lives were of ease, indolence and indulgence.
Such men were little fitted to sleep under tents, and often without
them, to be exposed to all the intemperances of the seasons, to
swim rivers, range the woods, climb mountains, wade morasses,
to skulk behind trees, and contend as sharp shooters with the
savages of the wilderness, who in all the scenes and exercises
would be in their natural element. Accordingly, the commander
was more embarrassed with their care, than reinforced by their
service. They had the good fortune to see no enemy, and to
return at the end of the campaign rewarded by the favor of the
public for this proof of their generous patriotism and good will.
When afterwards, in 1764, on the proposal of the Stamp Act,
the House of Burgesses determined to send an address against it
to the king, and memorials to the Houses of Lord and Commons,
Peyton Randolph, George Wythe, and (I think) Robert C. Nicholas,
were appointed to draw these papers. That to the king was
by Peyton Randolph, and the memorial to the Commons was by
George Wythe. It was on the ground of these papers that those
gentlemen opposed the famous resolutions of Mr. Henry in 1765,
to wit, that the principles of these resolutions had been asserted
and maintained in the address and memorials of the year before,
to which an answer was yet to be expected.
On the death of the speaker, Robinson, in 1766, Peyton Randolph
was elected speaker. He resigned his office of Attorney
General, in which he was succeeded by his brother Randolph,
father of the late Edmund Randolph, and retired from the bar.
He now devoted himself solely to his duties as a legislator, and
although sound in his principles, and going steadily with us in
opposition to the British usurpations, he, with the other older
members, yielded the lead to the younger, only tempering their
ardor, and so far moderating their pace as to prevent their going
too far in advance of the public sentiment.
On the establishment of a committee by the legislature, to
correspond with the other colonies, he was named their chairman,
and their first proposition to the other colonies was to appoint
similar committees, who might consider the expediency of
calling a general Congress of deputies in order to procure a harmony
of procedure among the whole. This produced the call
of the first Congress, to which he was chosen a delegate, by the
House of Burgesses, and of which he was appointed, by that
Congress, its president.
On the receipt of what was called Lord North's conciliatory
proposition, in 1775, Lord Dunmore called the General Assembly
and laid it before them. Peyton Randolph quitted the chair of
Congress, in which he was succeeded by Mr. Hancock, and repaired
to that of the House which had deputed him. Anxious
about the tone and spirit of the answer which should be given
(because being the first it might have effect on those of the
other colonies), and supposing that a younger pen would be more
likely to come up to the feelings of the body he had left, he requested
me to draw the answer, and steadily supported and carried
it through the House, with a few softenings only from the
more timid members.
After the adjournment of the House of Burgesses he returned
to Congress, and died there of an apoplexy, on the 22d of October
following, aged, as I should conjecture, about fifty years.
He was indeed a most excellent man; and none was ever
more beloved and respected by his friends. Somewhat cold and
coy towards strangers, but of the sweetest affability when ripened
into acquaintance. Of attic pleasantry in conversation, always
good humored and conciliatory. With a sound and logical head,
he was well read in the law; and his opinions when consulted,
were highly regarded, presenting always a learned and sound
view of the subject, but generally, too, a listlessness to go into its
thorough development; for being heavy and inert in body, he
was rather too indolent and careless for business, which occasioned
him to get a smaller proportion of it at the bar than his
abilities would otherwise have commanded. Indeed, after his
appointment as Attorney General, he did not seem to court, nor
scarcely to welcome business. In that office he considered himself
equally charged with the rights of the colony as with those
of the crown; and in criminal prosecutions exaggerating nothing,
he aimed at a candid and just state of the transaction, believing
it more a duty to save an innocent than to convict a
guilty man. Although not eloquent, his matter was so substantial
that no man commanded more attention, which, joined with
a sense of his great worth, gave him a weight in the House of
Burgesses which few ever attained. He was liberal in his expenses,
but correct also, so as not to be involved in pecuniary
embarrassments; and with a heart always open to the amiable
sensibilities of our nature, he did as many good acts as could
have been done with his fortune, without injuriously impairing
his means of continuing them. He left no issue, and gave his
fortune to his widow and nephew, the late Edmund Randolph.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MERIWETHER LEWIS.[79]
Meriwether Lewis, late Governor of Louisiana, was born on
the 18th of August, 1774, near the town of Charlottesville, in
the county of Albemarle, in Virginia, of one of the distinguished
families of that State. John Lewis, one of his father's uncles,
was a member of the King's Council before the revolution; another
of them, Fielding Lewis, married a sister of General Washington.
His father, William Lewis, was the youngest of five
sons of Colonel Robert Lewis of Albemarle, the fourth of whom,
Charles, was one of the early patriots who stepped forward in the
commencement of the revolution, and commanded one of the
regiments first raised in Virginia, and placed on continental establishment.
Happily situated at home with a wife and young
family, and a fortune placing him at ease, he left all to aid in
the liberation of his country from foreign usurpations, then first
unmasking their ultimate end and aim. His good sense, integrity,
bravery, enterprise and remarkable bodily powers, marked
him an officer of great promise; but he unfortunately died early
in the revolution. Nicholas Lewis, the second of his father's
brothers, commanded a regiment of militia in the successful expedition
of 1776, against the Cherokee Indians, who, seduced
by the agents of the British government to take up the hatchet
against us, had committed great havoc on our southern frontier,
by murdering and scalping helpless women and children according
to their cruel and cowardly principles of warfare. The chastisement
they then received closed the history of their wars, prepared
them for receiving the elements of civilization, which,
zealously inculcated by the present government of the United
States, have rendered them an industrious, peaceable and happy
people. This member of the family of Lewises, whose bravery
was so usefully proved on this occasion, was endeared to all who
knew him by his inflexible probity, courteous disposition, benevolent
heart, and engaging modesty and manners. He was the
umpire of all the private differences of his county, selected always
by both parties. He was also the guardian of Meriwether
Lewis, of whom we are now to speak, and who had lost his
father at an early age. He continued some years under the
fostering care of a tender mother, of the respectable family of
Meriwethers of the same county, and was remarkable even in
his infancy for enterprise, boldness and discretion. When only
eight years of age, he habitually went out, in the dead of the
night, alone with his dogs, into the forest to hunt the raccoon and
opossum, which, seeking their food in the night, can then only
be taken. In this exercise no season or circumstance could obstruct
his purpose, plunging through the winter's snows and
frozen streams in pursuit of his object. At thirteen, he was put
to the Latin school, and continued at that until eighteen, when
he returned to his mother, and entered on the cares of his farm,
having, as well as a younger brother, been left by his father
with a competency for all the correct and comfortable purposes
of temperate life. His talent for observation, which had led
him to an accurate knowledge of the plants and animals of his
own county, would have distinguished him as a farmer; but at
the age of twenty, yielding to the ardor of youth, and a passion
for more dazzling pursuits, he engaged as a volunteer in the
body of militia which were called out by General Washington,
on occasion of the discontents produced by the excise taxes in
the western parts of the United States; and from that situation
he was removed to the regular service as a lieutenant in the line.
At twenty-three he was promoted to a captaincy; and always
attracting the first attention where punctuality and fidelity were
requisite, he was appointed paymaster to his regiment. About
this time a circumstance occurred which, leading to the transaction
which is the subject of this book, will justify a recurrence
to its original idea. While I resided in Paris, John Ledyard of
Connecticut arrived there, well known in the United States for
energy of body and mind. He had accompanied Captain Cook
in his voyage to the Pacific ocean, and distinguished himself on
that voyage by his intrepidity. Being of a roaming disposition,
he was now panting for some new enterprise. His immediate
object at Paris was to engage a mercantile company in the fur
trade of the western coast of America, in which, however, he
failed. I then proposed to him to go by land to Kamschatka,
cross in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka Sound, fall down
into the latitude of the Missouri, and penetrate to and through
that to the United States. He eagerly seized the idea, and only
asked to be assured of the permission of the Russian government.
I interested in obtaining that M. de Simoulin, M. P. of the
Empress at Paris, but more especially the Baron de Grimm, M.
P. of Saxe-Gotha, her more special agent and correspondent
there, in matters not immediately diplomatic. Her permission
was obtained, and an assurance of protection while the course
of the voyage should be through her territories. Ledyard set
out from Paris and arrived at St. Petersburg after the Empress
had left that place to pass the winter (I think) at Moscow. His
finances not permitting him to make unnecessary stay at St.
Petersburg, he left it with a passport from one of the ministers,
and at two hundred miles from Kamschatka, was obliged to take
up his winter quarters. He was preparing in the spring to resume
his journey, when he was arrested by an officer of the
Empress, who, by this time, had changed her mind, and forbidden
his proceeding. He was put into a close carriage and conveyed
day and night, without ever stopping, till they reached
Poland, where he was set down and left to himself. The fatigue
of this journey broke down his constitution, and when he
returned to Paris, his bodily strength was much impaired. His
mind, however, remained firm; and after this he undertook the
journey to Egypt. I received a letter from him, full of sanguine
hopes, dated at Cairo, the 15th of November, 1788, the day before
he was to set out for the head of the Nile, on which day; however,
he ended his career and life; and thus failed the first attempt
to explore the western part of our northern continent.
In 1792 I proposed to the A. P. S., that we should set on
foot a subscription to engage some competent person to explore
that region in the opposite direction, that is, by ascending
the Missouri, crossing the Stony mountains, and descending the
nearest river to the Pacific. Captain Lewis being then stationed
at Charlottesville on the recruiting service, warmly solicited me
to obtain for him the execution of that object. I told him it
was proposed that the person engaged should be attended by a
single companion only, to avoid exciting alarm among the Indians.
This did not deter him. But Mr. André Michaux, a
professed botanist, author of the "_Flora Boreali-Americana_,"
and of the "_Histoire des chenes d'Amerique_," offering his services,
they were accepted. He received his instructions, and
when he had reached Kentucky in the prosecution of his journey,
he was overtaken by an order from the minister of France
then at Philadelphia, to relinquish the expedition, and to pursue
elsewhere the Botanical inquiries on which he was employed by
that government; and thus failed the second attempt for exploring
that region.
In 1803, the act for establishing trading houses with the Indian
tribes being about to expire, some modifications of it were
recommended to Congress by a confidential message of January
18th, and an extension of its views to the Indians on the Missouri.
In order to prepare the way, the message proposed the
sending an exploring party to trace the Missouri to its source, to
cross the highlands and follow the best water communication
which offered itself from thence to the Pacific ocean. Congress
approved the proposition, and voted a sum of money for carrying
it into execution. Captain Lewis, who had then been near two
years with me as private secretary, immediately renewed his solicitations
to have the direction of the party. I had now had
opportunities of knowing him intimately. Of courage undaunted,
possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing
but impossibilities could divert from its direction, careful as a
father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance
of order and discipline, intimate with the Indian character,
customs and principles. Habituated to the hunting life,
guarded by exact observation of the vegetables and animals of
his own country, against losing time in the description of objects
already possessed, honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding,
and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he
should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with
all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in
one body, for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in
confiding the enterprise to him. To fill up the measure desired,
he wanted nothing but a greater familiarity with the technical
language of the natural sciences, and readiness in the astronomical
observations necessary for the geography of his route.
To acquire these he repaired immediately to Philadelphia, and
placed himself under the tutorage of the distinguished professors
of that place, who, with a zeal and emulation, enkindled by an
ardent devotion to science, communicated to him freely the information
requisite for the purposes of the journey. While attending
to at Lancaster, the fabrication of the arms with which
he chose that his men should be provided, he had the benefit of
daily communication with Mr. Andrew Ellicott, whose experience
in astronomical observation and practice of it in the woods, enabled
him to apprize Captain Lewis of the wants and difficulties
he would encounter, and of the substitutes and resources offered
by a woodland and uninhabited country. Deeming it necessary
he should have some person with him of known competence to
the direction of the enterprise, and to whom he might confide
it, in the event of accident to himself, he proposed William
Clarke, brother of General George Rogers Clarke, who was approved,
and with that view received a commission of captain.
In April, 1803, a draught of his instructions was sent to Captain
Lewis, and on the 20th of June they were signed in the following
form:
"To Meriwether Lewis, Esquire, Captain of the 1st regiment
of infantry of the United States of America:
"Your situation as Secretary of the President of the United
States has made you acquainted with the objects of my confidential
message of January 18th, 1803, to the legislature; you
have seen the act they passed, which, though expressed in general
terms, was meant to sanction those objects, and you are appointed
to carry them into execution.
"Instruments for ascertaining by celestial observations, the
geography of the country through which you will pass, have
been already provided. Light articles for barter and presents
among the Indians, arms for your attendants, say for from ten
to twelve men, boats, tents and other travelling apparatus, with
ammunition, medicine, surgical instruments and provisions, you
will have prepared with such aids as the Secretary at War can
yield in his departments; and from him also you will receive authority
to engage among our troops, by voluntary agreement, the
number of attendants above mentioned, over whom you, as their
commanding officer, are invested with all the powers the laws
give in such a case.
"As your movements while within the limits of the United
States will be better directed by occasional communications,
adapted to circumstances as they arise, they will not be noticed
here. What follows will respect your proceedings after your
departure from the United States.
"Your mission has been communicated to the ministers here
from France, Spain and Great Britain, and through them to their
governments; and such assurances given them as to its objects,
as we trust will satisfy them. The country of Louisiana having
been ceded by Spain to France, the passport you have from
the minister of France, the representative of the present sovereign
of that country, will be a protection with all its subjects;
and that from the minister of England will entitle you to the
friendly aid of any traders of that allegiance with whom you
may happen to meet.
"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river,
and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication
with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia,
Oregon, Colorado, or any other river, may offer the most direct
and practicable water communication across the continent
for the purposes of commerce.
"Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations
of latitude and longitude at all remarkable points on the
river, and especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands,
and other places and objects distinguished by such natural marks
and characters of a durable kind as that they may with certainty
be recognized hereafter. The courses of the river between these
points of observation may be supplied by the compass, the log-line
and by time, corrected by the observations themselves. The
variations of the compass too, in different places, should be
noticed.
"The interesting points of the portage between the heads of
the Missouri, and of the water offering the best communication
with the Pacific ocean, should also be fixed by observation, and
the course of that water to the ocean, in the same manner as
that of the Missouri.
"Your observations are to be taken with great pains and accuracy,
to be entered distinctly and intelligibly for others as well
as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the
aid of the usual tables, to fix the latitude and longitude of the
places at which they were taken, and are to be rendered to the
war office, for the purpose of having the calculations made concurrently
by proper persons within the United States. Several
copies of these as well as of your other notes should be made at
leisure times, and put into the care of the most trust-worthy of
your attendants, to guard, by multiplying them, against the accidental
losses to which they will be exposed. A further guard
would be that one of these copies be on the paper of the birch,
as less liable to injury from damp than common paper.
"The commerce which may be carried on with the people inhabiting
the line you will pursue, renders a knowledge of those
people important. You will, therefore, endeavor to make yourself
acquainted, as far as a diligent pursuit of your journey shall
admit, with the names of the nations and their numbers; the
extent of their possessions; their relations with other tribes or
nations; their language, traditions, monuments; their ordinary
occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts, and the
implements for these; their food, clothing and domestic accommodations;
the diseases prevalent among them, and the remedies
they use; moral and physical circumstances which distinguish
them from the tribes we know; peculiarities in their laws, customs
and dispositions; and articles of commerce they may need
or furnish, and to what extent; and, considering the interest
which every nation has in extending and strengthening the authority
of reason and justice among the people around them, it
will be useful to acquire what knowledge you can of the state
of morality, religion, and information among them, as it may
better enable those who may endeavor to civilize and instruct
them, to adopt their measures to the existing notions and practices
of those on whom they are to operate.
"Other objects worthy of notice will be, the soil and face of
the country, its growth and vegetable productions, especially
those not of the United States, the animals of the country generally,
and especially those not known in the United States; the
remains and accounts of any which may be deemed rare or extinct;
the mineral productions of every kind, but particularly
metals, lime-stone, pit-coal and salt-petre; salines and mineral
waters, noting the temperature of the last, and such circumstances
as may indicate their character; volcanic appearances; climate,
as characterized by the thermometer, by the proportion of
rainy, cloudy, and clear days, by lightning, hail, snow, ice, by
the access and recess of frost, by the winds prevailing at different
seasons, the dates at which particular plants put forth or
lose their flower or leaf, times of appearance of particular birds,
reptiles or insects.
"Although your route will be along the channel of the Missouri,
yet you will endeavor to inform yourself, by inquiry, of the
character and extent of the country watered by its branches, and
especially on its southern side. The north river, or Rio Bravo,
which runs into the Gulf of Mexico, and the north river, or Rio
Colorado, which runs into the Gulf of California, are understood
to be the principal streams heading opposite to the waters of
the Missouri, and running southwardly. Whether the dividing
grounds between the Missouri and them are mountains or flat
lands, what are their distance from the Missouri, the character of
the intermediate country, and the people inhabiting it, are
worthy of particular inquiry. The northern waters of the Missouri
are less to be inquired after, because they have been ascertained
to a considerable degree, and are still in a course of ascertainment
by English traders and travellers. But if you can
learn anything certain of the most northern source of the Mississippi,
and of its position relatively to the lake of the woods,
it will be interesting to us. Some account, too, of the path of
the Canadian traders from the Mississippi, at the mouth of the
Ouisconsing to where it strikes the Missouri, and of the soil and
rivers in its course, is desirable.
"In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most
friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will
admit; allay all jealousies as to the object of your journey, satisfy
them of its innocence; make them acquainted with the position,
extent, character, peaceable and commercial dispositions of the
United States, of our wish to be neighborly, friendly and useful
to them, and of our dispositions to a commercial intercourse with
them; confer with them on the points most convenient as mutual
emporiums, and the articles of most desirable interchange
for them and us. If a few of their influential chiefs within practicable
distance, wish to visit us, arrange such a visit with them,
and furnish them with authority to call on our officers, on their
entering the United States, to have them conveyed to this place
at the public expense. If any of them should wish to have some
of their young people brought up with us, and taught such arts
as may be useful to them, we will receive, instruct, and take care
of them. Such a mission, whether of influential chiefs or of
young people, would give some security to your own party.
Carry with you some matter of the kine pox; inform those of
them with whom you may be, of its efficacy as a preservative
from the small pox; and instruct and encourage them in the use
of it. This may be especially done wherever you winter.
"As it is impossible for us to foresee in what manner you will
be received by those people, whether with hospitality or hostility,
so is it impossible to prescribe the exact degree of perseverance
with which you are to pursue your journey. We value
too much the lives of citizens to offer them to probable destruction.
Your numbers will be sufficient to secure you against the
unauthorized opposition of individuals or of small parties; but if
a superior force, authorized or not authorized by a nation, should
be arrayed against your further passage, and inflexibly determined,
to arrest it, you must decline its farther pursuit, and return. In
the loss of yourselves, we should lose also the information you
will have acquired. By returning safely with that, you may enable
us to renew the essay with better calculated means. To
your own discretion, therefore, must be left the degree of danger
you may risk, and the point at which you should decline, only
saying we wish you to err on the side of your safety, and to
bring us back your party safe, even if it be with less information.
"Should you reach the Pacific ocean, inform yourself of the circumstances
which may decide whether the furs of those parts
may not be collected as advantageously at the head of the Missouri
(convenient as is supposed to the waters of the Colorado
and Oregon or Columbia), as at Nootka Sound, or any other point
of that coast; and that trade be consequently conducted through
the Missouri and United States more beneficially than by the
circumnavigation now practised.
"As far up the Missouri as the white settlements extend, an intercourse
will probably be found to exist between them and the
Spanish posts of St. Louis opposite Cahokia, or St. Genevieve
opposite Kaskaskia. From still further up the river, the traders
may furnish a conveyance for letters. Beyond that, you may
perhaps be able to engage Indians to bring letters for the government
to Cahokia or Kaskaskia, on promising that they shall
there receive such special compensation as you shall have stipulated
with them. Avail yourself of these means to communicate
to us, at seasonable intervals, a copy of your journal, notes, and
observations, of every kind, putting into cypher whatever might
do injury if betrayed.
"On your arrival on that coast, endeavor to learn if there be any
post within your reach frequented by the sea vessels of any nation,
and to send two of your trusty people back by sea, in such
way as shall appear practicable, with a copy of your notes; and
should you be of opinion that the return of your party by the
way they went will be imminently dangerous, then ship the whole,
and return by sea, by the way either of Cape Horn or the Cape
of Good Hope, as you shall be able. As you will be without
money, clothes, or provisions, you must endeavor to use the
credit of the United States to obtain them, for which purpose
open letters of credit shall be furnished you, authorizing you to
draw on the executive of the United States, or any of its officers,
in any part of the world, on which draughts can be disposed of,
and to apply with our recommendations to the consuls, agents,
merchants, or citizens of any nation with which we have intercourse,
assuring them in our name, that any aids they may furnish
you, shall be honorably repaid, and on demand. Our consuls,
Thomas Hewes at Batavia in Java, William Buchanan in
the Isles of France and Bourbon, and John Elmslie at the Cape
of Good Hope, will be able to supply your necessities by draughts
on us.
"Should you find it safe to return by the way you go, after
sending two of your party round by sea, or with your whole
party, if no conveyance by sea can be found, do so; making
such observations on your return, as may serve to supply, correct,
or confirm those made on your outward journey.
"On re-entering the United States and reaching a place of safety,
discharge any of your attendants who may desire and deserve
it, procuring for them immediate payment of all arrears of pay
and clothing which may have incurred since their departure, and
assure them that they shall be recommended to the liberality of
the legislature for the grant of a soldier's portion of land each,
as proposed in my message to Congress; and repair yourself with
your papers to the seat of government.
"To provide in the accident of your death, against anarchy,
dispersion and the consequent danger to your party, and total
failure of the enterprise, you are hereby authorized, by any instrument
signed and written in your own hand, to name the person
among them who shall succeed to the command on your
decease, and by like instruments to change the nomination from
time to time as further experience of the characters accompanying
you shall point out superior fitness; and all the powers and
authorities given to yourself are, in the event of your death, transferred
to, and vested in the successor so named, with further
power to him, and his successors in like manner, to name each
his successor, who, on the death of his predecessor, shall be invested
with all the powers and authorities given to yourself.
"Given under my hand at the city of Washington, this 20th
day of June, 1803.
"THOMAS JEFFERSON, President of the U. States of America."
* * * * *
While these things were going on here, the country of Louisiana,
lately ceded by Spain to France, had been the subject of
negotiation between us and this last power; and had actually
been transferred to us by treaties executed at Paris on the 30th
of April. This information, received about the 1st day of July,
increased infinitely the interest we felt in the expedition, and
lessened the apprehensions of interruption from other powers.
Everything in this quarter being now prepared, Captain Lewis
left Washington on the 5th of July, 1803, and proceeded to
Pittsburg, where other articles had been ordered to be provided
for him. The men, too, were to be selected from the military
stations on the Ohio. Delays of preparation, difficulties of navigation
down the Ohio, and other untoward obstructions, retarded
his arrival at Cahokia until the season was so far advanced as to
render it prudent to suspend his entering the Missouri before the
ice should break up in the succeeding spring. From this time
his journal, now published, will give the history of his journey
to and from the Pacific ocean, until his return to St. Louis on
the 23d of September, 1806. Never did a similar event excite
more joy through the United States.
The humblest of its citizens had taken a lively interest in the
issue of this journey, and looked forward with impatience for
the information it would furnish. Their anxieties, too, for the
safety of the corps had been kept in a state of excitement by
lugubrious rumors, circulated from time to time on uncertain authorities,
and uncontradicted by letters or other direct information
from the time they had left the Mandan towns on their ascent
up the river in April of the preceding year, 1805, until their
actual return to St. Louis.
It was the middle of Feb. 1807, before Capt. Lewis with his
companion Clarke reached the city of Washington, where Congress
was then in session. That body granted to the two chiefs
and their followers, the donation of lands which they had been
encouraged to expect in reward of their toils and dangers. Capt.
Lewis was soon after appointed Governor of Louisiana, and Capt.
Clarke a General of its militia, and agent of the United States
for Indian affairs in that department.
A considerable time intervened before the Governor's arrival
at St. Louis. He found the territory distracted by feuds and
contentions among the officers of the government, and the people
themselves divided by these into factions and parties. He
determined at once to take no sides with either, but to use every
endeavor to conciliate and harmonize them. The even-handed
justice he administered to all soon established a respect for his
person and authority, and perseverance and time wore down
animosities, and reunited the citizens again into one family.
Governor Lewis had from early life been subject to hypochondriac
affections. It was a constitutional disposition in all the
nearer branches of the family of his name, and was more immediately
inherited by him from his father. They had not, however,
been so strong as to give uneasiness to his family. While
he lived with me in Washington, I observed at times sensible
depressions of mind, but knowing their constitutional source, I
estimated their course by what I had seen in the family. During
his western expedition, the constant exertion which that required
of all the faculties of body and mind, suspended these
distressing affections; but after his establishment at St. Louis in
sedentary occupations, they returned upon him with redoubled
vigor, and began seriously to alarm his friends. He was in a
paroxysm of one of these when his affairs rendered it necessary
for him to go to Washington. He proceeded to the Chickasaw
bluffs, where he arrived on the 15th of September, 1809, with a
view of continuing his journey thence by water. Mr. Neely,
agent of the United States with the Chickasaw Indians, arriving
there two days after, found him extremely indisposed, and betraying
at times some symptoms of a derangement of mind.
The rumors of a war with England, and apprehensions that he
might lose the papers he was bringing on, among which were
the vouchers of his public accounts, and the journals and papers
of his western expedition, induced him here to change his mind,
and to take his course by land through the Chickasaw country.
Although he appeared somewhat relieved, Mr. Neely kindly determined
to accompany and watch over him. Unfortunately, at
their encampment, after having passed the Tennessee one day's
journey, they lost two horses, which obliging Mr. Neely to halt
for their recovery, the Governor proceeded under a promise to
wait for him at the house of the first white inhabitant on his
road. He stopped at the house of a Mr. Grinder, who, not being
at home, his wife, alarmed at the symptoms of derangement she
discovered, gave him up the house, and retired to rest herself in
an out-house; the Governor's and Neely's servants lodging in
another. About 3 o'clock in the night he did the deed which
plunged his friends into affliction, and deprived his country of one
of her most valued citizens, whose valor and intelligence would
have been now employed in avenging the wrongs of his country,
and in emulating by land the splendid deeds which have
honored her arms on the ocean. It lost, too, to the nation the
benefit of receiving from his own hand the narrative now offered
them of his sufferings and successes in endeavoring to extend
for them the boundaries of science, and to present to their knowledge
that vast and fertile country which their sons are destined
to fill with arts, with science, with freedom and happiness.
To this melancholy close of the life of one whom posterity
will declare not to have lived in vain, I have only to add that
all the facts I have stated, are either known to myself, or communicated
by his family or others, for whose truth I have no
hesitation to make myself responsible; and I conclude with tendering
you the assurances of my respect and consideration.
FOOTNOTE:
[79] TO MR. PAUL ALLEN, PHILADELPHIA.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1813.
SIR,--In compliance with the request conveyed in your letter
of May 25th, I have endeavored to obtain from the relations
and friends of the late Governor Lewis, information of such
incidents of his life as might be not unacceptable to those
who may read the narrative of his western discoveries.
The ordinary occurrences of a private life, and those
also while acting in a subordinate sphere in the army, in
a time of peace, are not deemed sufficiently interesting
to occupy the public attention; but a general account of
his parentage, with such smaller incidents as marked early
character, are briefly noted, and to these are added, as
being peculiarly within my own knowledge, whatever related
to the public mission, of which an account is not to be
published. The result of my inquiries and recollections
shall now be offered, to be enlarged or abridged as you
may think best, or otherwise to be used with the materials
you may have collected from other sources.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL KOSCIUSKO.
1. _Circumstances relating to General Kosciusko previously
to his joining the American Army._ Kosciusko was born in
the Grand Duchy of Silliciania in the year 1752. His family
was noble, and his patrimony considerable; circumstances
which he justly appreciated, for as belonging to himself they
were never matters of boasting, and rarely subjects of notice,
and as the property of others only regarded as advantages
when accompanied by good sense and good morals.
The workings of his mind on the subject of civil liberty were
early and vigorous; before he was twenty the vassalage of his
serfs filled him with abhorrence, and the first act of his manhood
was to break their fetters.
In the domestic quarrel between the king and the dissidents
in 1761, he was too young to take a part, but the partition of
Poland in 1772 (of which this quarrel was one of the pretences),
engaged him in the defence of his country, and soon made him
sensible of the value of military education, which he afterwards
sought in the schools of Paris. It was there and while prosecuting
this object, that he first became acquainted with the name
of America, and the nature of the war in which the British colonies
were then engaged with the mother country. In the summer
of 1776 he embarked for this country, and in October of
that year was appointed by Congress a Colonel of Engineers.
2. _Services of the General during the war._ In the spring of
1777 he joined the northern army, and in July following the
writer of this notice left him on Lake Champlain engaged in
strengthening our works at Ticonderoga and Mount Independence.
The unfortunate character of the early part of this campaign
is sufficiently known. In the retreat of the American
army Kosciusko was distinguished for activity and courage, and
upon him devolved the choice of camps and posts and everything
connected with fortifications. The last frontier taken by
the army while commanded by Gen. Schuyler was on an island
in the Hudson near the mouth of the Mohawk river, and within
a few miles of Albany. Here Gates, who had superseded
Schuyler, found the army on the ---- day of August. Public
feeling and opinion were strikingly affected by the arrival of
this officer, who gave it a full and lasting impression by ordering
the army to advance upon the enemy. The state of things at
that moment are well and faithfully expressed by that distinguished
officer, Col. Udney Hay, in a letter to a friend. "Fortune,"
says he, "as if tired of persecuting us, had began to
change, and Burgoyne had suffered materially on both his flanks.
But these things were not of our doing; the main army, as it
was called, was hunted from post to pillar, and dared not to
measure its strength with the enemy; much was wanting to reinspire
it with confidence in itself, with that self-respect without
which an army is but a flock of sheep, a proof of which is
found in the fact, that we have thanked in general orders a detachment
double the force of that of the enemy, for having
dared to return their fire. From this miserable state of despondency
and terror, Gates' arrival raised us, as if by magic. We
began to hope and then to act. Our first step was to Stillwater,
and we are now on the heights called Bhemus', looking the
enemy boldly in the face. Kosciusko has selected this ground,
and has covered its weak point (its right) with redoubts from the
hill to the river." In front of this camp thus fortified two battles
were fought, which eventuated in the retreat of the enemy
and his surrender at Saratoga!
The value of Colonel Kosciusko's services during this campaign,
and that of 1778, will be found in the following extract
from a letter of General Gates written in the spring of 1780:
"My dear friend: After parting with you at Yorktown, I got
safely to my own fireside, and without inconvenience of any
kind, excepting sometimes cold toes and cold fingers. Of this
sort of punishment, however, I am, it seems, to have no more,
as I am destined by the Congress to command in the South. In
entering on this new and (as Lee says) most difficult theatre of
the war, my first thoughts have been turned to the selections of
an Engineer, an Adjutant-General and a Quarter-Master-General,
Kosciusko, Hay and yourself, if I can prevail upon you all,
are to fill these offices, and will fill them well. The
_excellent qualities_ of the Pole, which no one knows better
than yourself, are now acknowledged at head-quarters, and may
induce others to prevent his joining us. But his promise once
given, we are sure of him."
The ---- of Gates, for which the preceding extract had prepared
us, was given and accepted, and though no time was lost
by Kosciusko, his arrival was not early enough to enable him to
give his assistance to his old friend and General. But to Greene
(his successor) he rendered the most important services to the
last moment of the war, and which were such as drew from that
officer the most lively, ardent, repeated acknowledgments, which
induced Congress, in October, 1783, to bestow upon him the
brevet of Brigadier General, and to pass a vote declaratory _of their
high sense of his faithful and meritorious conduct_.
The war having ended, he now contemplated returning to
Poland, and was determined in this measure by a letter from
Prince Joseph Poniatowski, nephew of the king and generalissimo
of the army. It was, however, ten years after this period (1783)
before Kosciusko drew the sword on the frontiers of Cracovia.
3. _Conduct of Kosciusko in France._ When Bonaparte created
the Duchy of Warsaw and bestowed it on the King of Saxony,
great pains were taken to induce Kosciusko to lend himself to the
frontier and support of that policy. Having withstood both the
smiles and the frowns of the minister of police, a last attempt
was made through the General's countrywoman and friend, the
Princess Sassiche. The argument she used was founded on the
condition of Poland, which, she said, no change could make worse,
and that of the General which even a small change might make
better. "But on this head I have a _carte blanche_, Princess," answered
the General (taking her hand and leading her to her carriage),
"it is the first time in my life I have wished to shorten
your visit; but you shall not make me think less respectfully of
you than I now do."
When these attempts had failed, a manifesto in the name of
Kosciusko, dated at Warsaw and addressed to the Poles, was
fabricated and published at Paris. When he complained of this
abuse of his name, &c., the minister of Police advised him to go
to Fontainebleau.
ANECDOTES OF DOCTOR FRANKLIN.[80]
Our revolutionary process, as is well known, commenced by petitions,
memorials, remonstrances, &c., from the old Congress.
These were followed by a non-importation agreement, as a pacific
instrument of coercion. While that was before us, and
sundry exceptions, as of arms, ammunition, &c., were moved
from different quarters of the house, I was sitting by Dr. Franklin
and observed to him that I thought we should except books;
that we ought not to exclude science, even coming from an enemy.
He thought so too, and I proposed the exception, which
was agreed to. Soon after it occurred that medicine should be
excepted, and I suggested that also to the Doctor. "As to that,"
said he, "I will tell you a story. When I was in London, in
such a year, there was a weekly club of physicians, of which
Sir John Pringle was President, and I was invited by my friend
Dr. Fothergill to attend when convenient. Their rule was to
propose a thesis one week and discuss it the next. I happened
there when the question to be considered was whether physicians
had, on the whole, done most good or harm? The young members,
particularly, having discussed it very learnedly and eloquently
till the subject was exhausted, one of them observed to
Sir John Pringle, that although it was not usual for the President
to take part in a debate, yet they were desirous to know his
opinion on the question. He said they must first tell him whether,
under the appellation of physicians, they meant to include
_old women_, if they did he thought they had done more good
than harm, otherwise more harm than good."
The confederation of the States, while on the carpet before
the old Congress, was strenuously opposed by the smaller States,
under apprehensions that they would be swallowed up by the
larger ones. We were long engaged in the discussion; it produced
great heats, much ill humor, and intemperate declarations
from some members. Dr. Franklin at length brought the debate
to a close with one of his little apologues. He observed that
"at the time of the union of England and Scotland, the Duke
of Argyle was most violently opposed to that measure, and
among other things predicted that, as the whale had swallowed
Jonas, so Scotland would be swallowed by England. However,"
said the Doctor, "when Lord Bute came into the government,
he soon brought into its administration so many of his
countrymen, that it was found in event that Jonas swallowed the
whale." This little story produced a _general_ laugh, and restored
good humor, and the article of difficulty was passed.
When Dr. Franklin went to France, on his revolutionary
mission, his eminence as a philosopher, his venerable appearance,
and the cause on which he was sent, rendered him extremely
popular. For all ranks and conditions of men there, entered
warmly into the American interest. He was, therefore, feasted
and invited to all the court parties. At these he sometimes met
the old Duchess of Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about
his force, they very generally played together. Happening once
to put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. "Ah," says she,
"we do not take kings so." "We do in America," said the Doctor.
At one of these parties the emperor Joseph II. then at Paris,
incog., under the title of Count Falkenstein, was overlooking the
game in silence, while the company was engaged in animated
conversations on the American question. "How happens it M. le
Comte," said the Duchess, "that while we all feel so much interest
in the cause of the Americans, you say nothing for them?"
"I am a king by trade," said he.
When the Declaration of Independence was under the consideration
of Congress, there were two or three unlucky expressions
in it which gave offence to some members. The words
"Scotch and other foreign auxiliaries" excited the ire of a gentleman
or two of that country. Severe strictures on the conduct
of the British king, in negotiating our repeated repeals of the
law which permitted the importation of slaves, were disapproved
by some Southern gentlemen, whose reflections were not yet
matured to the full abhorrence of that traffic. Although the offensive
expressions were immediately yielded, these gentlemen
continued their depredations on other parts of the instrument. I
was sitting by Dr. Franklin, who perceived that I was not insensible
to these mutilations. "I have made it a rule," said he,
"whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman of
papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from
an incident which I will relate to you. When I was a journeyman
printer, one of my companions, an apprentice hatter, having
served out his time, was about to open shop for himself. His
first concern was to have a handsome sign-board, with a proper
inscription. He composed it in these words, 'John Thompson,
_Hatter_, _makes_ and _sells hats_ for ready money,' with a figure of
a hat subjoined; but he thought he would submit it to his friends
for their amendments. The first he showed it to thought the
word '_Hatter_' tautologous, because followed by the words
'makes hats,' which show he was a hatter. It was struck out.
The next observed that the word '_makes_' might as well be
omitted, because his customers would not care who made the
hats. If good and to their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever
made. He struck it out. A third said he thought the words
'_for ready money_' were useless, as it was not the custom of the
place to sell on credit. Every one who purchased expected to
pay. They were parted with, and the inscription now stood,
'John Thompson sells hats.' '_Sells hats_' says his next friend!
Why nobody will expect you to give them away, what then is
the use of that word? It was stricken out, and '_hats_' followed
it, the rather as there was one painted on the board. So the inscription
was reduced ultimately to 'John Thompson' with the
figure of a hat subjoined."
The Doctor told me at Paris the two following anecdotes of
the Abbé Raynal. He had a party to dine with him one day
at Passy, of whom one half were Americans, the other half
French, and among the last was the Abbé. During the dinner
he got on his favorite theory of the degeneracy of animals, and
even of man, in America, and urged it with his usual eloquence.
The Doctor at length noticing the accidental stature and position
of his guests, at table, "Come," says he, "M. l'Abbé, let us try
this question by the fact before us. We are here one half Americans,
and one half French, and it happens that the Americans
have placed themselves on one side of the table, and our French
friends are on the other. Let both parties rise, and we will see
on which side nature has degenerated." It happened that his
American guests were Carmichael, Harmer, Humphreys, and
others of the finest stature and form; while those of the other
side were remarkably diminutive, and the Abbé himself particularly,
was a mere shrimp. He parried the appeal, however,
by a complimentary admission of exceptions, among which the
Doctor himself was a conspicuous one.
The Doctor and Silas Deane were in conversation one day at
Passy, on the numerous errors in the Abbé's "_Histoire des deux
Indes_," when he happened to step in. After the usual salutations,
Silas Deane said to him, "The Doctor and myself, Abbé,
were just speaking of the errors of fact into which you have been
led in your history." "Oh, no, Sir," said the Abbé, "that is impossible.
I took the greatest care not to insert a single fact, for
which I had not the most unquestionable authority." "Why,"
says Deane, "there is the story of Polly Baker, and the eloquent
apology you have put into her mouth, when brought before a
court of Massachusetts to suffer punishment under a law which
you cite, for having had a bastard. I know there never was
such a law in Massachusetts." "Be assured," said the Abbé,
"you are mistaken, and that that is a true story. I do not immediately
recollect indeed the particular information on which I
quote it; but I am certain that I had for it unquestionable authority."
Doctor Franklin, who had been for some time shaking
with unrestrained laughter at the Abbé's confidence in his
authority for that tale, said, "I will tell you, Abbé, the origin
of that story. When I was a printer and editor of a newspaper,
we were sometimes slack of news, and, to amuse our customers,
I used to fill up our vacant columns with anecdotes and fables,
and fancies of my own, and this of Polly Baker is a story of my
making, on one of these occasions." The Abbé, without the
least disconcert, exclaimed with a laugh, "Oh, very well, Doctor,
I had rather relate your stories than other men's truths."
FOOTNOTE:
[80] TO ROBERT WALSH, ESQ.
MONTICELLO, December 4, 1818.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of November 8th has been some time
received; but it is in my power to give little satisfaction
as to its inquiries. Dr. Franklin had many political
enemies, as every character must which, with decision
enough to have opinions, has energy and talent to give them
effect on the feelings of the adversary opinion. These
enmities were chiefly in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts:
in the former they were merely of the proprietary party;
in the latter they did not commence till the revolution,
and then sprung chiefly from personal animosities, which
spreading by little and little, became at length of some
extent. Dr. Lee was his principal calumniator, a man of much
malignity, who, besides enlisting his whole family in the
same hostility, was enabled, as the agent of Massachusetts
with the British government, to infuse it into that State
with considerable effect. Mr. Izard, the Doctor's enemy
also, but from a pecuniary transaction, never countenanced
these charges against him. Mr. Jay, Silas Deane, Mr.
Laurens, his colleagues also, ever maintained towards him
unlimited confidence and respect. That he would have waived
the formal recognition of our Independence I never heard on
any authority worthy notice. As to the fisheries, England
was urgent to retain them exclusively, France neutral;
and I believe that had they been ultimately made a _sine
quâ non_, our commissioners (Mr. Adams excepted) would have
relinquished them rather than have broken off the treaty.
To Mr. Adams' perseverance alone on that point I have
always understood we were indebted for their reservation.
As to the charge of subservience to France, besides the
evidence of his friendly colleagues before named, two
years of my own service with him at Paris, daily visits,
and the most friendly and confidential conversations,
convince me it had not a shadow of foundation. He possessed
the confidence of that government in the highest degree,
insomuch that it may truly be said that they were more
under his influence than he under theirs. The fact is that
his temper was so amiable and conciliatory, his conduct
so rational, never urging impossibilities, or even things
unreasonably inconvenient to them, in short so moderate and
attentive to their difficulties as well as our own, that
what his enemies called subserviency, I saw was only that
reasonable disposition, which, sensible that advantages
are not all to be on one side, yielding what is just
and liberal, is the more certain of obtaining liberality
and justice. Mutual confidence produces of course mutual
influence, and this was all which subsisted between Dr.
Franklin and the government of France.
I state a few anecdotes of Dr. Franklin, within my own
knowledge, too much in detail for the scale of Delaplaine's
work, but which may find _a cadre_ in some of the more
particular views you contemplate. My health is in a
great measure restored, and our family joins with me in
affectionate recollections and assurances of respect.
THE PROCEEDINGS
OF THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES
IN MAINTAINING THE PUBLIC RIGHT TO THE BEACH OF THE
MISSISSIPPI, ADJACENT TO NEW ORLEANS, AGAINST THE
INTRUSION OF EDWARD LIVINGSTON.
PREPARED FOR THE USE OF COUNSEL,
BY THOMAS JEFFERSON.
CONTENTS.[81]
Page
Title of the Jesuits, 5
Term 'face au fleuve,' 5
Confiscation, 5
Title of B. Gravier, 5
Establishment into a fauxbourg, 5
Gravier's sale, 6
Streets, 8
Beach or batture, 9
Purchase by Inventory, 9
Livingston's arrival, 11
Parisien, 11
De la Bigarre, 13
Decision of Court, 14
Alarm occasioned, 14
Servitude of maintaining road, 14
United States no party to the decision, 16
Livingston's Intrusion, 17
Appeal to government of U. States, 18
Livingston's works, 19
Deliberation of the Cabinet, 21
What law to decide, 21
Proclamation of O'Reilly, 21
French code, 22
Roman law, 23
Alluvion, 26
Edict of Louis XIV 33
Napoleon Code, 34
Portalis, 34
M. Moreau de Lislet, 36
Note.--M. Thierry, 38
Rural and Urban possessions, 39
Principal and accessory, 41
The Beach or Batture not Alluvion, 42
The bed, beach, bank of a river, 44
Missisipi, 49
Nile, 50
Property of the bed and bank, 52
Limitations of the rights of property, 54
Surety, 58
Levées and Police of Missisipi, 61
Suspension of Livingston's works,
and the authorities by which, 62
Nature of those works, 63
Remedies, to wit, Abatement of
Nuisance, 64
Forcible entry, recaption, 65
Roman law de vi bonorum raptorum, 66
Squatters, 68
Jurisdiction over public property,
in whom, 68
When it results to the courts, 68
Act of Congress, 1807, c. 91, 68
Remitter, 69
Recapitulation, 70
Opinions and Orders of the Government, 72
Proceedings under them, 72
Chancery injunction from the court, 73
Proceedings of the legislature of
Orleans, 76
Message to Congress, 76
Removal of the case before them, 77
Responsibility of a public functionary, 78
FOOTNOTE:
[81] The figures in this table refer to the pages of the original
edition of Mr. Jefferson's pamphlet, which in this edition
are marked with an asterisk, and placed in the margin.
PREFACE.
Edward Livingston, of the territory of Orleans, having taken possession
of the beach of the river Missisipi adjacent to the city of New-Orleans,
in defiance of the general right of the nation to the property and use
of the beaches and beds of their rivers, it became my duty, as charged
with the preservation of the public property, to remove the intrusion,
and to maintain the citizens of the United States in their right to a
common use of that beach. Instead of viewing this as a public act, and
having recourse to those proceedings which are regularly provided for
conflicting claims between the public and an individual, he chose to
consider it as a private trespass committed on his freehold, by myself
personally, and instituted against me, after my retirement from office,
an action of trespass, in the circuit court of the United States for
the district of Virginia.
Being requested by my Counsel to furnish them with a statement of the
facts of the case, as well as of my own ideas of the questions of right,
I proceeded to make such a statement, fully as to facts, but briefly
and generally as to the questions of right. In the progress of the
work, however, I found myself drawn insensibly into details, and finally
concluded to meet the questions generally which the case would present,
and to expose the weakness of the plaintiff's pretensions, in addition
to the strength of the public right. These questions were of course
to arise under the laws of the territory of Orleans, composed of the
Roman, the French, and Spanish codes, and written in those languages.
The books containing them are so rare in this country as scarcely to be
found in the best-furnished libraries. Having more time than my Counsel,
consistently with their duties to others, could bestow on researches so
much out of the ordinary line, I thought myself bound to facilitate their
labors, and furnish them with such materials as I could collect. I did
it by full extracts from the several authorities, and in the languages in
which they were originally written, that they might judge for themselves
whether I misinterpreted them. These materials and topics, expressed in
the technical style of the law, familiar to them, they were of course to
use or not to use, according to the dictates of their better judgment. If
used, it would be with the benefit of being delivered in a form better
suited to the public ear. I passed over the question of jurisdiction,
because that was one of ordinary occurrence, and its limitations well
ascertained. On this, in event, the case was dismissed; the court being
of opinion they could not decide a question of title to lands not within
their district. My wish had rather been for a full investigation of
the merits at the bar, that the public might learn, in that way, that
their servants had done nothing but what the laws had authorized and
required them to do. Precluded now from this mode of justification, I
adopt that of publishing what was meant originally for the private eye
of counsel. The apology for its general complexion, more formal than
popular, must be found as well in the character of the question, as in
the views with which its discussion had been prepared. The necessity,
indeed, of continuing the elaborate quotations, is strengthened in the
case of ordinary readers, who are supposed to have still less opportunity
of turning to the authorities from which these are taken.
The questions arising, being many and independent of each other, admitted
not a methodical and luminous arrangement. Proceeding, therefore, in a
course of narrative, I have met and discussed the points of law in the
order in which events presented them; thus securing, as we go along, the
ground we pass over, and leaving nothing adversary or doubtful behind.
Hence the mixture of fact and law which will be observed through the
whole.
Vouchers for the facts are regularly referred to. These are principally,
1. Affidavits taken and published on the part of the plaintiff, and of
the city of New-Orleans, very deeply interested in this question. 2.
Printed statements, by the counsel on each side, uncontradicted by the
other, of facts under their joint observation and knowledge. 3. Records.
4. Notarial acts, and 5. Letters and reports of public functionaries
filed in the office of the department of state.
_Feb. 25, 1812._
PART III.
THE BATTURE AT NEW-ORLEANS.
[Sidenote: Title of the Jesuits.]
[Sidenote: Fronting river.]
[Sidenote: Confiscation.]
[Sidenote: Gravier's title.]
[Sidenote: Fauxbourg.]
[Sidenote: 6*]
Not long after the establishment of the city of New-Orleans,
and while the religious society of Jesuits retained
their standing in France, they obtained from Louis
XIV. a grant of lands adjacent to the city, bearing date the 11th
of April, 1726. The original of this grant having been destroyed
in the fire which consumed a great part of the city in 1794,
and no copy of it as yet produced, the extent and character of
the grant is known from no authentic document. Its other
limits are unimportant, but that next the river and above the city
is understood to have been of 20 arpents, or acres,
[of 180 French feet, or 64 yards of our measure
each,] 'face au fleuve,' the ambiguity of which expression
is preserved by translating it, 'fronting the river.'
Whether this authorized them to go to the water line of the
river, or only to the road and levee, is a question of some difficulty,
and not of importance enough to arrest our present attention.
To these they had added 12 arpents more by purchase
from individuals. In 1763 the order of Jesuits was
suppressed in France, and their property confiscated.
The 32 arpents, before mentioned, were divided into 6
parcels, described each as 'faisant face au fleuve,' and the one
next to the city of 7 arpents in breadth, and 50 in
depth, was sold to Pradel; but how these 7 arpents,
like Falstaff's men in buckram, became 12 in the
sale of the widow Pradel to Renard, [Report 7.] 13 in Gravier's
inventory, and nearly 17, as is said Derb. viii. ix. in the
extent of his fauxbourg, the plaintiff is called on to show, and
to deduce titles from the crown, regularly down to
himself. In 1788, Gravier, in right of his wife the
widow of Renard, laid off the whole extent of his
front on the river, whatever it was, into 4 ranges of lots, and
in '96 he added 3 ranges more, establishing them as a Fauxbourg,
or Suburb to the city. That this could not be done without
permission from the government may be true; and no formal
and written permission has been produced. Whether such an
one was given and lost in the fire, or was only verbal, is
not known. *But that permission was given must be
believed, 1. From Gravier's declaration to Charles Trudeau
the surveyor, which must operate as an Estoppel [Report
45.] against all contrary pretensions in those claiming under him.
2. From Carondelet's order to Trudeau, first to deposit a copy
of the plan in the public archives, and afterwards an order
for a second one to be delivered to himself, which implied necessarily
that he had consented to the establishment; but more
especially when B. Gravier relying on this establishment as
freeing him from the repairs of the bank, the Governor declared
'it was true and that Gravier was right.' 3. From the records
of the Cabildo, or town council, with whom the Governor sat
in person, showing that at their sessions on the 1st day of
January annually, for regulating the police of the city, a Commissary
of police for the new quarter was regularly appointed
from the year 1796, till the United States took possession. The
actual settlement of the ranges next the river, and the addition
of the new ranges, now probably rendered that necessary. 4.
From the conviction expressed by the Surveyor that, from his
knowledge of the laws and customs of the Spanish colonies, no
one would have dared to establish a city, bourg, village or fauxbourg
without authorization, verbal at least, from the Governor.
5. From the act of the local legislature incorporating the city of
New Orleans. [Thierry 32.] That no formal written act of
authorization can be produced is not singular, as that is known
to be the condition of a great proportion of their titles from the
government: and the extraordinary negligence in these titles
was what rendered it necessary for Congress to establish, in the
several territories of Orleans, Mississippi, Louisiana, Indiana and
Michigan, boards of Commissioners, to ascertain and commit
them to record. To this we may add that the principle which
shall take from the inhabitants of the Suburb St. Mary the validity
of their establishment, will annul a great portion of the
land rights of those several territories. Finally, whatever act of
the government may be considered as amounting to evidence of
its ratification of the establishment of the fauxbourg, is retrospective,
and will amount to an original authorization under the
maxim, 'omnis ratihabitio retrotrahitur, et mandato æquiparatur.'
[Sidenote: Gravier's sale.]
[Sidenote: 7*]
Bertrand Gravier proceeded to sell the lots of his new Fauxbourg,
and particularly he sold the whole range next
the river. Such deeds for these lots as have been
produced, describe them as 'haciendo frente al rio,'
'fronting the river.' And it is affirmed, [Examen 13. Poydras
7. and 18. Thierry 39.] that almost all, if not all the deeds, used
the same expression. [See notarial copies of the deeds of B.
Gravier to Nicholas Gravier, and of Nicholas Gravier to
Escot, Girod, *Wiltz.] Bertrand Gravier himself, on all
occasions, [Pieces Probantes 9. 21. 28. 30. Livingston
59. Monile's deposition, MS.] declared that he had sold his lots
'faisant face au fleuve,' and had passed to the purchasers his
right to the _devanture_, meaning every thing in front of his lots.
Whatever extent then towards the river, passed to the Jesuits
by the term 'face au fleuve,' or from the king to the purchasers
of the Jesuit's property, under whom B. Gravier claimed, the
same extent was, by the same expression,'face au fleuve,' or
'frente al rio,' passed by Bertrand Gravier to the purchasers of
the front lots. If the words 'face au fleuve,' gave him only to
the road and levee, he by the same words gave them no farther;
if to the water edge, then he sold to the water edge also, and
having parted with all his right as riparian possessor, could
transmit none to those claiming under him by subsequent title,
as the plaintiff does. In a note added to the end of the printed
Report of this case, whether by the reporter or the plaintiff does
not appear, it is said that this objection was answered by showing,
_from the deeds_, that each lot had a clear front boundary,
by referring to the '_plan which in no instance crossed the
road_.' And that this brings it within the rule of law which says,
'in agris limitatis jus alluvionis locum non habere constat.'
Dig. 41. 1. 16. This process of deduction, if not clear, is compendious
at least, and better placed in a note, than in the text,
where explanation would have been expected. Let us spread it
open and examine it. What says the deed to Nicholas Gravier
for 58 lots?
[Sidenote: 8*]
Yo Don Beltran Gravier vendo a Don Nicholas Gravier cinquenta
y ocha terrenos situados en esta dicha ciudad, extramuros de
la puerta de Chapitulas, à saver, _trece haciendo frente al
rio_, Missisipi, y lindando por el lado de abaxo, que es de
esta dicha ciudad, con terreno de Don R. Jons, y por el de
arriba con otros de Don J. B. Sarpy, &c. Y los _quarenta y
cinco terrenos restantes_ completa a los cinquenta y ocho,
que quedan indicados, comenzan sobre el limite de la primera
calle, formande una linea directa à empezar por el terreno que
se halla detras del de Don J. Poydras, todo conforme al plano
que, delineado por Don C. L. Trudeau, hé entregado al comprador
para su inteligencia* y resguardo: però con la condicion de
que me reservo el derecho de tomar la tierra que necessitaré
para mi fabrica de ladrillos, extension de los nominados tres
terrenos que hacen frente al dicho rio.
I Don Beltran Gravier sell to Don Nicholas Gravier 58 lots
situated in this said city without the gate of Chapitulas, to
wit, _13 fronting the river_ Missisipi, and bordering on the
lower side, which is that of this said city, with the lot of
Don R. Jones, and on the upper side with others of Don J. B.
Sarpy, &c. And _the 45 lots remaining_, the complement of the
58 before mentioned, commence above [or beyond] the limit of
the first street, forming a right line, beginning at the lot
which is behind that of Don J. Poydras, in conformity with
the plan which having been delineated by Don C. L. Trudeau,
I have delivered to the purchaser for his information and
ascertainment: Nevertheless, with the condition that I reserve
to myself the right to take the earth which I shall need for
my manufacture of bricks on the beach or batture which is in
the extension of the said 13 lots which front the river.
[Sidenote: Streets.]
[Sidenote: 9*]
The first part of this description is of the 13 lots, to wit, that
they front the river. The second part relates wholly to the remaining
45 lots, which begin beyond or above the first street in
a straight line from the lot behind Poydras', and refers to the
plan to show their position more particularly as back lots, behind
the front range. It is to be noted that the public way in
front of the fauxbourg is not a street: it is the same chemin
royale, royal road, which has existed from early times, and has
never been merged in the character of a street. Nothing can
prove more clearly, that this reference to the plan was not to
give a front line to the 13 lots, than that the same deed reserves
the right of digging earth on the batture beyond that line. Now
if nothing was meant to be conveyed _beyond_ the front line marked
in the plan, why reserve a right to dig earth on the batture,
which is _beyond_ that line? And that Nicholas Gravier, Escot,
Girod and Wiltz did not consider this line as the limit of their
rights, appears from their deeds conveying the _batture_ expressly
by that name, with the lots themselves. On the whole, we see
here a curious specimen of tergiversation in reasoning. When
urged that the grant to the Jesuits, and to Bertrand Gravier,
though expressed to be 'face au fleuve,' must still have stopped
at this line or edge of the royal road, it is answered that those
terms convey to the water edge, and make it an 'ager arcifinius,'
to which the right of alluvion appertains. But when Bertrand
Gravier conveys to his purchasers 'face au fleuve,' they turn
about and say that the same identical words 'face au fleuve,'
convey now only to this same line or edge of the royal road,
which they overleaped before, and make the grounds conveyed
an 'ager limitatus,' to which the right of alluvion does not appertain.
It is perfectly equal which of the meanings is ascribed
to these words. Only give them the same in both instances,
and say which. If these words make the road your boundary,
you never had a right to the batture beyond it. If they extend
to the river what was conveyed to _you_, they extend to the
river also what was conveyed _from you_. Will it be
pretended that, after establishing his town, Bertrand
Gravier could then have sold the streets to others? and
yet he might, a fortiori, having not included them in any deed.
But does not common sense and common honesty
*proclaim that the establishment of his town, and sale
of the lots, implied a relinquishment to the inhabitants
of the communications of streets and shores adjacent, as a common,
which are the necessary and constant appendages of every
town? The express conveyance then of his riparian rights, and
the implication as to them and the streets, are believed to be
conclusive to show that the plaintiff having had no right, can
have sustained no wrong.
[Sidenote: Beach or Batture.]
In 1797, Bertrand Gravier died intestate; and at this epoch
we must introduce what constitutes the sole object of the existing
contest. Opposite to the habitation or plantation
of B. Gravier, now the Fauxbourg Ste. Marie,
the beach of the river, called in that country Batture,
of ordinary breadth within memory, has sensibly increased, by
deposits of earth, during the annual floods of the river, [Derb.
xix.] till in the year 1806, it was found to extend in breadth, at
low tide, from 122 to 247 yards of our measure, from the water
edge into the river: and from about 7 f. height, where it abuts
against the bank, declining to the water edge. See Pelletier's
plan annexed. Thiery xvii. While uncovered, which is from
August to January inclusive, it has served as a Quai for lading
and unlading goods, stowing away lumber and firewood, and
has furnished all the earth for building the city, and raising its
streets and courts, essential in that oozy soil. Derb. ii. While
covered, which is during the other six months of the year, from
February to July inclusive, [Liv. 58. Poydras 20. 21. 23.] it is
the port for all the small craft of the river, and especially for
the boats of the upper country, which, in the season of high
water, can land or lie no where else in the neighborhood of the
city. During this period, they anchor on its bottom, or moor to
its bank. It is then, like every other beach, the bed of the river
one half the year, and a Quai the other half, distinguished from
those of tide waters, by being subject to an annual, instead of a
semidiurnal ebb and flood. In this beach or shoal, with the bank
to which it is adjacent, if Bertrand Gravier claimed any right,
as riparian proprietor of the habitation, he had certainly meant
to convey that right to the purchasers of the front lots, by the
term 'frente al rio,' 'fronting the river,' reserving expressly, as
we have seen, from one purchaser of 58 lots, a right to take
earth, from the beach, for his brickkilns. As he died without
children, the inheritance belonged to John Gravier, and other
brothers and sisters whom he had left in France, or their representatives,
as co-heirs.
[Sidenote: Purchase by Inventory.]
[Sidenote: 10*]
[Sidenote: 11*]
[Sidenote: Livingston's arrival.]
[Sidenote: Parisien.]
[Sidenote: 12*]
By the civil law, if an heir accepts the inheritance,
he is considered, not merely as the representative, but
as continuing the person of the ancestor himself, is answerable
for all his debts, and out of all his property, as well his
own, as* what he had newly acquired by the inheritance.
Time, therefore, was allowed him to inform himself of
the condition of the estate and debts, during which it was considered
as an hæreditas jacens, vested in nobody. If he declined
taking the inheritance simply as heir, he was allowed to take it
as purchaser, or in their language, as heir with the benefit of
inventory: whereupon an inventory and appraisement of it took
place, and he had the preëmption at the appraised value. He
was then liable to no more debts than the amount of the appraisement;
and if there was a surplus of the appraised value
over and above the debts it was his, if a single heir, or partitioned
among the co-heirs, as parceners, if there were more than
one. Brown. civ. law, I. 218. 302. Kaim's law tracts, 389.
Gibbon's c. 44. 153. Bertrand Gravier is understood to have
left France indebted and insolvent: and John Gravier, therefore,
either knowing, or ignorant of the amount of the debts,
chose on behalf, or perhaps in defraud, of the co-heirs, to decline
the inheritance, and to take the estate as a purchaser by inventory
and appraisement. It was inventoried and appraised.
In the inventory is placed a single article of lands, in these
words, 'are placed in the inventory the lands of this habitation,
whose extent cannot be calculated immediately, on account of
his having sold many lots; but Mr. N. Gravier informs us that
its bounds go to the forks of the bayou, according to the titles.'
And in the appraisement also there is but this same single article
of lands, thus described, 'about thirteen arpents of land, of
which the habitation is estimated, including the garden, of
which the most useful part is taken off in front, the residue
consisting of the lowest part, [to wit, that descending back to
the bayou,] the side being sold to Navarro, one Percy, and the
negro Zambo, a portion of which, &c. estimated at 190 D. the
front acre, with all the depth, which makes 2470 D.' Then follows
the adjudication, which adjudges to John Gravier 'the
effects, real estate, moveables and slaves _which have been inventoried_
as belonging to the estate of his deceased brother Bertrand
Gravier, &c. Report 9. 10. We see, then, that no lands
were inventoried but the thirteen arpents in front, composing
the inhabitation. And it is impossible that that term should be
meant to include the beach of the river, cut off from it by the
intervention of the whole Fauxbourg of seven ranges of squares;
or that they should not have used a more obvious expression, if
the idea of the beach had been in their minds. Nobody could
consider these two parcels, distant and disjointed as they were,
as being one parcel only, one habitation. No man having two
farms, or two tracts of land, separated by the lands of others,
would expect that by devising or conveying one, the
other would *pass also. In fact, at that time, neither
John Gravier nor any one else, considered the beach as
any part of Bertrand Gravier's estate: and in the appraisement,
they estimate the front arpents, (that is, fronting on the fauxbourg,)
with all their depth to the bayou, at 190 dollars, the
front arpent; contemplating clearly only what was between the
fauxbourg and bayou. Accordingly Fernandez, acting for the
Depositor General, the legal officer in those cases, swears that
he took charge and possession of all the estate according to the
inventory which had been made from the 28th of June to the
4th of July, 1797; that, in that inventory, the batture never was
mentioned, or heard of, as property of Gravier, nor in charge
of the Depositor, and that, on delivering the estate to John Gravier,
the batture never was spoken of. It is equally certain that
had there been an idea that they were smuggling the batture
away, through these proceedings, the citizens of New-Orleans
would not have been so silent, nor the Governor, the Cabildo
and other Spanish authorities so passive, when so active on all
former occasions respecting the batture: and that had the batture
been under the view of the appraisers, instead of estimating
it at 2470 dollars, conjointly with other thirteen arpents, a very
different sum must have been named. The batture alone is now
estimated at half a million of dollars. But the truth is, that
neither John Gravier, nor any one else, at that day, considered
it but as public property. And for six years ensuing, he never
manifested one symptom of ownership; until Mr.
Livingston's arrival there from New-York, with the
wharves and slips of that place fresh in his recollection.
The flesh-pots of Egypt could not suddenly be forgotten,
even in this new land of Canaan. Then John Gravier received
his inspiration that the beach was his; and is tempted, by one
kind of bargain after another, to try his fortune with it. It was
only to lend his name, and receive a round sum if anything
could be made of it. To get over the palpable
omission of it in the inventory and appraisement, they
find a man whose recollection is exactly à propos; a Henry
Parisien, a comedian by profession, and a joiner by trade. He
had been one of the appraisers, 10 years before, and recollected,
and so swore that he had '_walked on the batture_, before the
closing of the appraisement to ascertain its extent, and be the
better able to judge of its value, and that it was through forgetfulness
that _it had not been taken into the estimate_.' Piecès Prob.
33. It happens that nature bears witness against him. From
the 20th of June to the 4th of July is within the period of high
waters; and it is proved that, at the very time of the appraisement,
the river was still overflowing, and the batture covered
with water: *the journals of the sawmills further attest
that they did not cease to work till the 25th of August
of that year; and when the waters of the river are sufficiently
low to stop the mills, all the battures are still covered with water.
P. Pr. 34. However even this Henry Parisien swears, '_that
the batture was not in the estimate_, and that it was through forgetfulness
that it was not.' Examin 19. Rep. 21. Pi. Prob. 33.
No matter through what cause, it is enough that it was _not in
the inventory or estimate_, and of course not sold to J. Gravier.
This corroborates the testimony of the Depositor, that he neither
had it in his charge, nor included it in the estate sold and delivered.
J. Gravier must therefore, as to this part of his brother's
estate, if his it were, recommence his work, by having a new
inventory, appraisement and adjudication. But to repel the
present proceeding, it suffices that having made his election to
take, not as heir, but purchaser, this beach is not yet his; it is
still an hæreditas jacens, and before he can convey it to Mr.
Livingston, he must get it by a new process, and make a third
bargain.
[Sidenote: 13*]
[Sidenote: Bigarre.]
[Sidenote: 14*]
[Sidenote: Decision of Court.]
[Sidenote: Alarm occasioned.]
[Sidenote: Servitude of road.]
[Sidenote: 15*]
[Sidenote: 16*]
[Sidenote: U. States no party.]
We will proceed further to trace the history of this acquisition
of the batture, by the plaintiff, who writes a letter of lamentations
to some member of the government, on the 27th of June, 1809.
That 'Congress will probably adjourn without coming to any
decision on the subject of my removal by the late president of
the United States from my estate at New-Orleans.' A most ungrateful
complaint; for had he not been removed, he must, at
the time of writing this letter, have been, as his estate was, some
10 or 12 feet under water; the river being then at its greatest
height. And when was this notable discovery made, that the
beach of the river was the separate and exclusive property of
J. Gravier, clear of all public right to its use? Let us hear the
Governor, in answer to this question. In a letter to the Secretary
of State of October 13, 1807, he says, 'early after the arrival
of Mr. Livingston in this territory, he became concerned
in the purchase of a parcel of ground fronting the fauxbourg of
this city, commonly called the batture, a property which had
been occupied as a common by the city for many years previous,
and the title to which, in the opinion of the inhabitants was
unquestionable.' The day[82] of the arrival of Mr. Livingston in
New-Orleans I do not know; but I recollect he was one of
the earliest emigrants to that country, which was ceded to the
United States on the 30th of October, 1803. We are told, [Rep.
11. Thierry 5.] it was proved by some oral testimony that J.
Gravier _began_ an inclosure of 500 feet square in that
year, and completed it in the next. The day *of beginning
is not stated; but we may safely presume it was not
while the French Governor thought the country belonged to his
master, and most probably not till after 'the early arrival of Mr.
Livingston.' This enclosure was demolished by an order of
the Cabildo of Feb. 22, 1804.[83] The next step was to make an
ostensible deed, to an ostensible purchaser,[84] a Peter
de la Bigarre, a brother emigrant of Mr. Livingston's
from New York, some old acquaintance. This was dated
March 27, 1804, is expressed to be in consideration of 10,000
dollars, and conveys two undivided thirds of all that part or
parcel of land, situate on the bank [sur la rive] of the river
Missisipi, between the public road and the current of the said
river, &c. with a warranty. I call the purchases ostensible, because
notwithstanding his pretended purchase, J. Gravier, on
the 20th of October, 1805, [Rep. 1.] commenced a suit against
the city, as proprietor of the whole, and the court adjudged him
proprietor of the whole; and because the same J. Gravier,
[Poydr. 3.] by a deed to the same P. de la Bigarre, in which no
mention was made of the former, or reference to it, conveys to
him on the 14th Dec. 1806, the batture Ste. Marie, along the
whole limits of this land, between the road and river, on condition
that he shall pay all expenses of the suit depending, with
50,000 dollars in addition; that the property shall remain unsold
and hypothecated for the purchase money till paid, and that if
the law-suit fails, the sale is void, and Bigarre to pretend to no
damages for non-execution. It is observable here that neither
buyer or seller risked anything. It was a mere speculation on
the chance of a law-suit, in which they were to divide the spoils
if successful, and to lose nothing if they failed.[85] It was by our
law a criminal purchase of a pretense title, 32. H. 8. 9. and
equally criminal by the law of that territory, where I presume
the provision of the Roman law is in force, 'qui improbè coeunt
in alienam litem, ut quidquid ex condemnatione in rem ipsius
redactum fuerit, inter eos commnnicaretur, lege Juliâ, de vi privatâ,
tenentur.' Dig. 47. 8. 6. 4 Blackst. 135. 'Whosoever
shall take part in the suit of another, so that whatever shall be
recovered by the judgment is to be divided between them, shall
be subject to the Julian law, de vi privata.' By which law, ib.
tit. 7. § 1. they were to lose one third of their goods, and be
rendered infamous. The deed was not only criminal on its
face, but was void by an express law of the territory, [a law of
Governor Unzaga. Poydras 6. Rep. 25.] and so pronounced
to be on the floor of Congress *by their representative,
because not executed before either witnesses
or notaries. It was kept secret from its date, till the day before
judgment was pronounced, when the parties becoming apprised
of the decision which was to be given, (for this was known
at least on the 20th of May,) [Governor Claiborne's letter May
20, '07,] produced it, for the first time, to the
Notary to be recorded. And the day after its publication,
the court, by the opinion of two members
against one, [Examen 3.] adjudged the property wholly to the
very man, who, if he had ever had any right, had conveyed away
two thirds of it, before he brought his action, and
the whole while it was pending. The alarm which
this adjudication produced was immediate and great.
The fact was notorious that, from the earliest to the latest extension
of the beach, the public had had a free use of it, as
their Quai in low water, and in high water their port; and
never before had their right been doubted by themselves, or
questioned by their riparian possessors. If any fact was ever
proved by human testimony, this is. Turn to the Pieces Probantes,
and out of 29 affidavits of the oldest and most respectable
persons in the territory, men who had, most of them, borne
offices under their former government, 21 of them uniformly
declare that the public had ever been considered as having a
right to the beach, as their port and Quai, that, as such, the
Governors and Cabildo had the constant care and control of it,
had demolished buildings and enclosures erected on it, had, by
public Ban, prohibited all erections or obstructions to its use, had
themselves erected a rampart, to inclose within it a chamber accessible
for earth at high water for rebuilding the city after the
fire, and exercised uninterruptedly every other act of authority
derived from the public rights; and 11 of them prove, as far as
a negative can be proved, that the Graviers, till the change of
government, and new views by Edward Livingston, had never
pretended to more than the right of Common in it, and never
had questioned that of the public, or the authority of the
Governor and Cabildo over it. While they held
the adjacent plantation indeed, they maintained the
road and bank, as all rural proprietors are obliged
by[86] law to do: for here it is proper to observe, that pursuing the
spirit of the Roman law, which prescribed that every one should
maintain the public road along his own dwelling, 'construat vias
publicas unusquisque secundum propriam domum.' Dig 43.
10. 3. The lands in Louisiana were granted generally
on a condition, (called in those days *_servitude_,) of furnishing
ground for a public road, and of opening and
maintaining that road. From which condition, however, they
were released as to any portion of the ground which should
afterwards become a town; the expense of roads or streets of
that portion devolving then on the town itself. Accordingly
B. Gravier, after establishing the front of his plantation into a
suburb, and thus cutting off the residue from the road and
river, being[87] called on to repair the road by an order from
Governor Carondelet, who seems at the moment not to have
adverted to the change, Bertrand Gravier answered, that having
sold the lots _faisant face au fleuve_, fronting the river, he had
abandoned the batture to the town, and that the road and levee
could not be at his expense, the Governor correcting himself at
once, says, 'Gravier is right, all this is true,' and immediately,
and ever after had the repairs made by the public. And the
Graviers from that time stood discharged from these burthens
on the same principle which had freed the original owners of
the site of the city from maintaining the banks of the city.
This is declared by an host of witnesses in the Pieces Probantes,
and probably could have been declared by every ancient
inhabitant of the place. We are told indeed by Laroche and
Segur, in their affidavit, [Livingston 66.] of Carondelet, and
some other Governor asking leave of Gravier in 1795 and
1798, to deposit masts on the beach. If this be true, which Mr.
Thierry, [p. 42.] who knew the witnesses, treats as ridiculous
and absurd, it shows that they were forgetful, or inconsistent,
or over complaisant; but not that Gravier required, or expected
to be asked; and much less could it divest a public right, acknowledged
from the earliest times, and essential to the commerce
and existence of the city. An accurate discrimination
indeed between the measure of right in the riparian proprietor
while he held the adjacent farm, in the individuals of the nation
as usufructuaries, and in the sovereign as their representative
and trustee, as respectively apportioned to them by the law,
seems not to have been attended to either by the citizens at
large, or the adjacent proprietors. The riparian possessor appears
to have been sensible he had some rights, without distinctly
understanding what they were: but, whatever they were,
he knew he had parted with them by the deeds establishing his
fauxbourg. The citizens, in the daily habit of using without
control the port and Quai, imagined themselves exclusive proprietors
of its soil, and came forward in that capacity, claiming,
sometimes under some vague title which they did not define,
and sometimes under the abandonment of right by Bertrand
Gravier; *the Sovereign, formerly their kings, but
now the United States the legal holder of the public
rights in the beds, beaches and banks of all navigable waters,
seems not to have been thought of at all in the contest.
The United States were no party to the suit;
nor could they be, having made themselves _amenable_
to no tribunal. Their property can never be questioned in any
court, but in special cases in which, by some particular law, they
delegate a special power, as to the boards of Commissioners, and
in some small fiscal cases. But a general jurisdiction over the
national demenses, being more than half the territory of the
United States, has never been by them, and never ought to be,
subjected to any tribunal. Not adverting to this circumstance,
however, the consternation in New-Orleans, on this decision, was
like that of Boston, on the occlusion of their port by the Boston
port bill. If we have not forgotten that feeling, we may judge
what the citizens of New-Orleans felt on this decree of the court.
The governor instantly writes, [letter of May 20, '07.] 'I
understand that this morning an important cause has been determined,
in which Edward Livingston was the _real_ plaintiff,
and the city defendant, as to the right of property to some lands
in front of the fauxbourg, made by the river, and over which the
city has heretofore exercised a right of ownership. My impression
is that the United States are the legal claimants to it.' On
the 21st of August, 1807, Mr. Derbigny's opinion was published,
[Thierry 5.] and first brought into view the right of the United
States, and that the sentence of the court must of course, as to
them, be a mere nullity, 'res inter alios acta, quæque aliis non
potest præjudicium facere.' A thing passing between others,
and which to no others can do prejudice. Codex. 7. 60. And
coming, with respect to the United States, under the provisions
of the same code.
Tit. 56. 'Si neque mandasti fratri tuo defensionem rei tuæ,
neque quod gestum est ratum habuisti, præscriptio rei judicatæ
tibi non oberit: et ideò non prohiberis causam tuam agere,
sine præjudicio rerum judicatarum.'
'If you have not committed to your brother the defence of
your right, nor sanctioned what has been done, the plea _rei
judicata_ shall not bar you: and therefore you shall not be
precluded from conducting your own cause, without exception
from a former decision.'
[Sidenote: 17*]
Certainly the city council did not appear, or pretend to appear,
under authorization from the government of the United
States, nor as the advocates of their rights. They were called
there as defendants of their own claim. The court did not undertake
to decide on the right of the United States, which
was *neither before them, nor within their competence;
and the injunction they issued could only be addressed
to the parties between whom they had adjudged, and not to
suspend the rights of others whom they had never heard, much
less of the United States, who could not be heard before them.
Sec 2 Dallas 408. 3 Dallas 412. 414. 415.
[Sidenote: Livingston's Intrusion.]
[Sidenote: 18*]
[Sidenote: Appeal to government of the United States.]
[Sidenote: 19*]
[Sidenote: Livingston's works.]
[Sidenote: 20*]
Presuming, however, that the coast was now clear, and the
question finally settled, the ostensible actors withdrew,
and their principal comes forward, is put into
possession by the Sheriff, and begins his works. The
Governor, in his letter of Sept. 3, 1807, says, 'a few days since,
[Aug. 24.] Mr. Livingston employed a number of negroes to
commence digging a canal which he projected to take in a part
of the land called the batture. But the citizens assembled in
considerable force and drove them off. On the day following
he went in person, but was again opposed by the citizens. The
minds of the people were much agitated. The opposition is so
general that I must resort to measures the most conciliatory, as
the only means of avoiding still greater tumult, and _perhaps
much bloodshed_. I have not issued a proclamation because it
might make an impression in the United States that the people
are disposed for insurrection, which is not true. My opinion is
that the title is in the United States. If the batture be reclaimed,
it is feared the current of the Missisipi will in some
measure change its course, which will not only prove injurious
to the navigation, but may occasion degradation in the levees
of the city, or those in its vicinity.' To abridge our narration
by giving the substance of the communications. The people
assembled the next day about the same hour, and for several days
successively, by beat of drum. [Livingston's letter of Sept. 15.
'07.] On Monday the 31st of August, Mr. Livingston recommenced
his work, after having given notice that he should do so.
He began about 10 o'clock, A. M. and about 4 or 5 o'clock in
the afternoon the people assembled again and drove off his labourers.
On the 14th of September he again attempted to
work, getting two constables to attend his labourers. The people
drove them off, and the constables having noted on a list some
of those present, they seized them, took the list and tore it to
pieces. [Sheriff's letter.] On the next day he writes to the
Governor that he shall set his labourers to work again that day
at 12 o'clock, and 'he shall not be surprised to see the people
change the insolence of riot into the crime of murder.' At noon
he accordingly placed 10 or 12 white labourers there. In the
afternoon the people re-assembled to the number of several
hundreds. The governor repaired there and spoke to
them. He was heard with respectful attention:*and
one of them, speaking for the whole, expressed the
serious uneasiness which the decision of the court had excited,
the long and undisturbed possession of the batture by the city,
as well under the French as the Spanish government, and the
great injury which would result to the inhabitants
if the land should be built upon and improved. And
another declaring that they wished the decision of
Congress, and in the mean time, no work to be done on the batture,
there was a general exclamation from the crowd, 'that is
the general wish,' followed by a request that they might nominate
an agent to bear to the President of the United States, a
statement of their grievances, and that the Governor would recommend
the agent to the government. He said he would do
so, and they nominated Col. Macarty, by general and repeated
acclamations. They then withdrew in peace to their respective
homes, and on the 16th the Governor expresses the hope that
this unpleasant affair is at an end, that everything is then quiet,
and the public mind much composed: that some of his hot-headed
countrymen censured the mild course which was pursued,
and would have been better pleased if the _military_ had
been called upon to disperse the assemblage. But I feel, says
he, that the policy adopted was wise and humane, and that a
contrary conduct would have increased the discontents, and
_occasioned the effusion of much innocent blood_. The Louisianians,
he adds, are an amiable, virtuous people, but sensibly feel
any wrongs which may be offered them. Mr. Livingston is
alike feared and hated by most of the ancient inhabitants. They
dread his talents as a lawyer, and hate his views of speculation,
which in the case of the batture was esteemed very generally by
the Louisianians no less iniquitous, than ruinous to the welfare
of the city.' The governor says in another letter of October
5, to the Secretary of state, that in a progress he made a few
days afterwards through several parishes of the territory, he
perceived but one sentiment with respect to the decision of the
court. The long and uninterrupted use of the batture by the
city, the sanction given by the Spanish authorities to the public
claim, and the heavy public expenditures in maintaining the
levee which fronts it, seem to have given rise to a very general
opinion that the court has been in error in deciding the batture
to be private property. On the 13th of November he again
writes, 'I should be wanting in duty did I not earnestly recommend
the subject of the batture to the attention of the
government. There is no doubt but the agents of Spain considered
it as a public property, and did appropriate the same to
the use of the city, as a common. I should presume that, under
the treaty, the United States may justly claim the batture,
and if any *means can be devised to arrest the
judgment of the territorial court, or to carry this case
before another tribunal, the earlier they are resorted to, the better;
for Mr. Edward Livingston is now in possession of the property,
and _making improvements thereon_.' And the
next day, Nov. 14, a grand jury of the most respectable
characters of the place gave in a presentment
to the court in which they say, 'We present as a subject of the
most serious complaint the present operations on the batture
by Edward Livingston and others connected with him: that
this is from 4 to 6 months of every year a part of the bed of the
river, and an important part of the port of New-Orleans: that
these operations of Edward Livingston are calculated to obstruct
the free navigation of the river, to change the course of
its waters, to deprive our western brethren, whose only market
for the produce of their extensive territory, is to be found in this
city, of the deposit which has hitherto remained free to them,
and not only of incalculable importance, but of absolute necessity.
Whether it be private or public property, is immaterial,
so long as the laws do not permit such use of it as to injure
and obstruct the navigation: and we present it as our opinion
that all such measures should be taken as are consistent with
law to arrest these operations which are injurious for the present,
and, in changing the course of the river, are hazardous in
the extreme.' We find Mr. Livingston then, instead of awaiting
the decision of Congress, the only constitutional tribunal,
resuming his works boldly, and the people, whom he represented
as like 'to change the insolence of riot into the crime of
murder,' appealing peaceably, by presentment, to the laws of
their territory until the National government should decide. In
the latter end of the same year, [Surveyor's Rep. to Mayor,
Dec. 28, '08.] he opens a canal from the bank directly through
the beach into the river [88]276 feet long, 64 feet wide, and 4 feet
2 inches deep at low water, and with the earth excavated he
forms a bank or quai, on each side, 19 feet 6 inches wide, from
4 to 6 feet high above the level of the batture, and faced with
palisades. Within one year after this, what had been anticipated
by the Governor, the grand jury and others, had already
manifested itself. In Dec. of the ensuing year, 1808, [See Surveyor's
rep. Dec. 28, '08.] a bar had already formed across the
mouth of the canal, which was dry at low water, the course of
the waters had been changed during the intervening flood, and
the places where dry ground first showed itself, on the decrease
of the river, were such as had, the year before, been navigable
at low water. [Mayor's *answer to Governor,
Nov. 18, '08.] The port in front of the town had been
impaired by a new batture begun to be formed opposite the
Custom house, which could not fail to increase by the change
of the current. The beach or batture of St. Mary had, in that
single tide extended from 75 to 80 feet further into the river,
and risen from 2 to 5 feet 10 inches generally, and more in
places, as a saw scaffold which, at the preceding low tide, was
7 feet high, was now buried to its top; and Tanesse, the Surveyor,
[See his affidavit, MS.] in his affidavit says he does not
doubt that these works have produced the last year's augmentation
of the batture, at the expense of the bed of the river,
have occasioned the carrying away a great part of the platin or
batture of the lower suburbs, and breaking the levee of M.
Blanque next below, and that the main port of the city being a
cove, immediately below Livingston's works, would, if they
were continued, be filled up in time; and it is the opinion of
Piedesclaux also, [See his 3d affidavit, MS.] that they would
produce changes in the banks of the river, on both sides, prejudicial
to the city, and riparian proprietors, by directing the
efforts of the river against parts not heretofore exposed to it.
And Mr. Poydras tells us, [p. 20 of one of his speeches,] that
when the river is at its height, the boats which drift down it
can only land in the eddies below the points, as they would be
dashed to pieces in attempting to land in the strong current.
That, at the town, they cannot land for want of room, there being
always there two or three tier of vessels in close contact;
nor at the lower suburbs of Marigny, which being at the lower
part of the cove, are too much exposed both to winds and current.
Indeed no evidence is necessary to prove that in a river
of only 1200 yards wide, having an annual tide of 12 to 14 feet
rise, which brings the water generally to within 8 or 10 inches,
and sometimes 2 or 3 inches, of the top of the levee, insomuch
that it splashes over with the wind, [See Peltier's, and Tanesse's
affidavits, MS. and also the maps,] were the channel narrowed
250 yards, as Mr. Livingston intends, that is to say, a fourth or
fifth of its whole breadth, the waters must rise higher in nearly
the same proportion, that is to say, 3 feet at least, and would
sweep away the whole levee, the city it now protects, and inundate
all the lower country.
[Sidenote: 21*]
[Sidenote: Cabinet deliberation.]
Thus urged by the continued calls of the Governor, who declared
he could not be responsible for the peace or preservation
of the place, by the tumult and confusion in which the city was
held by the bold aggressions of the intruders on the public rights,
by the daily progress of works which were to interrupt the commerce
of the whole western country, threatened to sweep
away a *great city and its inhabitants, and lay the adjacent
country under water, I listened to the calls of
duty, imperious calls, which had I shrunk from, I should have
been justly responsible for the calamities which would have followed.
On the 28th of October, '07, the Attorney General had
given his opinion, and on the 27th of November,
I asked the attendance of the heads of the departments,
to whom the papers received had been previously
communicated for their consideration. We had the
benefit of the presence of the Attorney General, and of the
lights which it was his office to throw on the subject. We took
of the whole case such views as the state of our information at
that time presented. I shall now develope them in all the fulness
of the facts then known, and of those which have since
corroborated them.
[Sidenote: What law?]
[Sidenote: Proclamation of O'Reilly.]
[Sidenote: French code.]
[Sidenote: 22*]
[Sidenote: 23*]
[Sidenote: Roman.]
[Sidenote: 24*]
The first question occurring was, what system of law was to
be applied to them? On this there could be but one
opinion. The laws which had governed Louisiana
from its first colonization, that is to say, the laws of France with
some local modifications, were still in force when this question
was generated by the sale of the Jesuits' property to B. Gravier
and others. France had indeed, about the end of the preceding
year 1762, by a secret convention, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to
be delivered whenever Spain should be in readiness to receive it.
But this was not announced to the inhabitants till the 21st of
April, 1764, nor did Spain receive possession till the 17th of August,
1769. [9 Raynal, 222. 235.] In the mean time the French
government and laws continued, the Jesuits' property was sold,
and purchased under the faith of the existing laws; and according
to these laws must the rights acquired by the purchaser, or
left in the crown, be decided. Indeed in no case are the laws of
a nation changed, of natural right, by their passage from one to
another denomination. The soil, the inhabitants, their property,
and the laws by which they are protected go together. Their
laws are subject to be changed only in the case, and extent which
their new legislature shall will. The changes introduced by
Spain, after 1769, were chiefly in the organization of their government,
and but little in the principles of their jurisprudence.
The instrument which some have understood as suppressing
the French and introducing the Spanish
code, is the proclamation of O'Reilly of November
25, 1769, two months after the actual delivery of the colony.
[See appendix to documents communicated to Congress by the
President, with his message of October 17, 1803.] The transfer
of the country, however, had been announced to the people five
years before. Now surely, during these five years
the *French laws must have continued entire, and
of course after them, so far as not altered. And
that this proclamation made specific only, and not
general alterations, a brief examination of its tenor
will evince. It begins by charging the late council with a participation
in the insurrection which had taken place, and by
declaring it indispensable to abolish that, and to establish the
_form_ of politic government and administration of justice prescribed
by the wise laws of Spain. But a _form_ of government
may surely be changed, and the mass of the laws remain the
same, as took place in our revolution. He proceeds then to establish
that _form of government_, _dependence_ and _subordination_,
which should accord with the good of the service, and happiness
of the colony. For this purpose he substitutes a Cabildo,
in place of the ancient council, and instead of former analogous
officers, he says there shall be Alferes, Alcades, Alguazils, Depositors,
Regidors, a Scrivener, Procurator, Mayordomo, &c.;
adopting thus the Spanish instead of the French organization
of officers, for the administration of the laws. He changes the
manner of proceedings in judicial trials, and of pronouncing judgments,
according to a digest made by Unestia and Rey, by his
order, _until_ a general knowledge of the Spanish language and
more extensive information on the statutes themselves might be
acquired; prescribes rules for instituting actions by parties, of
different denominations, the names and substance of the pleadings,
rules for appearances, answers, replications, rejoinders, depositions,
witnesses, exceptions, trials, judgments, appeals, executions,
testaments, probates, advancements, and distributions: not
changing the great outlines of the law, or the ratio decidendi
generally; but merely the organization of officers, and forms of
their proceeding. He states also the criminal law, what it is in
sundry cases of irreligion, treason, murder, theft, rape, adultery,
and trespass, proclaiming mostly what was already law; lastly,
he establishes the fees of officers, and with that closes the proclamation,
without a word said about abolishing the French, and
substituting the Spanish code of laws generally. As far then as this
instrument makes any special changes, its authority is acknowledged.
But the very act of making special changes is a manifestation
that a general one was not then intended. He did not
mean by this instrument to change 'all and some.' One may
indeed conjecture, from loose expressions in the instruments, that
a more extensive change was in contemplation for some future
time, when the inhabitants, as it says, should have acquired a
general knowledge of the Spanish language. But _until_ then
expressly, and in the interim, the innovations it specifies are
the only ones introduced. The great system of law which
*regulates property, which prescribes the rights of persons and
things, and sanctions to every one the enjoyment of those
rights, is left untouched, in full force and authority. If such
a radical change were really meditated, it was never carried
into execution; nor seems at any after time to have occupied
seriously the attention of government. In the following year
1770, O'Reilly issued an additional ordinance respecting grants
of lands; and Carondelet, in 1795, (26 years after the possession
of the colony, and a year only before its transfer to us,) passed
an ordinance of police, concerning bridges, roads, levees, slaves,
coasters, travellers, arms, estrays, fishing and hunting; and these
three acts seem to constitute the whole of the changes made in
the established system of laws during the Spanish occupation of
the country. Probably the Spanish authorities found, in the
progress of their administration, that the difference between the
French and Spanish codes, taken both from the same Roman
original, would not justify disturbing the public mind, by a formal
suppression of the one, and substitution of the other. Probably
the officers themselves, not adepts in either, and partly French,
and partly Spanish individuals, confounded them in practice as
they found convenient; and hence the ill-defined ideas of what
their laws were. But certainly when we appeal, as in the present
case, to exact right, the French code is the only one sanctioned
by regular authority; and the special changes before mentioned,
of organization and police, having no relation to the beds
and increments of rivers, that code is to give us the law of the
present case. That code, like all those of middle and southern
Europe, was originally feudal, [Encyclop. Method. Jurisprudence.
Coutume. 400.] with some variations in the different provinces,
formerly independent, of which the kingdom of France had
been made up. But as circumstances changed, and civilization
and commerce advanced, abundance of new cases and questions
arose, for which the simple and unwritten laws of
feudalism had made no provision. At the same
time, they had at hand the legal system of a nation highly civilized,
a system carried to a degree of conformity with natural
reason attained by no other. The study of this system too was
become the favorite of the age, and, offering ready and reasonable
solutions of all the new cases presenting themselves, was
recurred to by a common consent and practice; not indeed as
laws, formally established by the legislator of the country, but as
a RATIO SCRIPTA, the dictate, in all cases, of that sound reason
which should constitute the law of every country.[89] Over
both of these systems, however, the occasional* edicts of
the monarch are paramount, and amend and control their
provisions whenever he deems amendment necessary; on the
general principle that 'leges posteriores priores abrogant.'[90] Subsequent
laws abrogate those which were prior. This composition
of the French code is affirmed by all their authorities.
One only of them shall be particularly cited, to wit, Ferriere
Dict. de droit. Ordonnance.
'Les Ordonnances sont les vraies lois du royaume. Elles
font la partie la plus générale et la plus certaine de notre
droit Français, attendu qu'elles sont soutenues de l'autorité
aussi bien que de la raison; au lieu que les loix Romaines ne
subsistent que par leur équité, elles n'ont par elles-mêmes
aucune autorité, qu'autant qu'elles sont considérées comme
une raison écrite, du moins en pays coutumier; et à l'égard du
pays de droit écrit, les loix Romaines n'y ont force de loi,
que parceque nos rois ont bien voulu y consentir.'
The Ordinances are the true laws of the kingdom. They constitute
the most general and certain part of our French law, inasmuch
as they are supported by authority as well as reason; whereas
the Roman laws stand on their equity alone, having of themselves
no authority, but as they are considered as _written reason_,
at least in the provinces of Customary law. And as to those
of written law, the Roman laws are in force only because our
kings have thought proper to consent to it.
[Sidenote: 25*]
[Sidenote: 26*]
This system of law was transferred to Louisiana, as is evinced
by the [91]charter of Louis XIV. to Crozat, bearing date
the *14th of Sept. 1712. The VIIth article of that is in
these words. 'Our edicts, ordinances and customs, and
the usages of the Mayorality and Shreevalty of Paris, shall be
observed for laws and customs in the said country of Louisiana.'
The customary law of Paris seems to have been selected, because
considered as the best digest, and that to which it was proposed
to reduce the customary law of all the provinces. Enc.
Meth. Jurispr. Coutume. 405. This is the first charter we know
of which established the boundaries and laws of Louisiana. It
says nothing of the Roman law; but that, having become incorporated,
by usage, with the customs of Paris, and constituting, as
a supplement, one system with them, seems to have been considered
as of their body, and transferred with them to Louisiana.[92]
In 1717, Crozat transferred his rights to the Compagnie d'Occident,
at the head of which was the famous Law, 8. Raynal.
166. [edit. 1780.] which again in 1720, by union with others,
became the Compagnie des Indes, who in 1731, surrendered the
colony back to the king. 1. Valin, 20. But these various transfers
from company to company, of the monopoly of their commerce,
for that was the sum of what was granted them, and their
final surrender to the king, could not affect the rights of the
people, nor change the laws by which they were governed. When
they returned to the immediate government of the king, their
laws passed with them, and remained in full force until, and so
far only as, subsequently altered by their legislator. That
this was the sense of their *government may be inferred
from a clause in the edict creating the Compagnie des
Indes Occidentales, art. 34.
'Seront les juges établis en tous les dits lieux tenus de juger
suivant les lois et ordonnances du royaume, et les officiers de
suivre et se conformer à la coutume de la Prevôté et vicomté
de Paris, suivant laquelle les habitans pourront contracter,
sans que l'on y puisse introduire aucune autre coutume, pour
éviter la diversité. 1. Moreau de St. Mery, 100.
'The judges established in all the said places shall be held to
adjudge according to the laws and ordinances of the kingdom, and
the officers to follow and conform themselves to the customs
of the Prevôté and vicomté of Paris, according to which the
inhabitants may contract, without that any other custom may
be introduced, to avoid diversity.' 1. Moreau de St. Mery, 100.
[Sidenote: Alluvion.]
This then is the system of law by which the legal character
of the facts of the case is now to be tested: and the
plaintiff and his counsel having imagined that, in the
Roman branch of it, they had found a niche in which they could
place the batture to great advantage, have availed themselves of
it with no little dexterity, and by calling it habitually an alluvion,
have given a general currency to the idea that it is really an alluvion:
insomuch that even those who deny their inferences,
have still suffered themselves carelessly to speak of it under that
term. Were we, for a moment to indulge them in this misnomer,
and to look at their claim as if really an alluvion one, the
false would be found to avail them as little as the true name.
The Roman law indeed says, 'quod per alluvionem agro tuo
flumen adjecit, jure gentium, tibi adquiritur.' 'What the river
adds to your field by alluvion, becomes yours by the law of nations.
Institute. L. 1. tit. 1. §. 20. Dig. L. 41. tit. 1. §. 7. The
same law, in like manner, gave to the adjacent proprietors, the
sand bars, shoals, islands rising in the river, and even the bed of
the river itself, as far as it was contracted or deserted. Inst. 2. 1.
22. and 2. 1. 23. But the established laws of France differed in
all these cases.
[Sidenote: 27*]
'Par notre droit Français, dit Pothier, les alluvions qui
se font sur le bord des fleuves, et des rivières navigables,
appartiennent au roi. Les propriétaires riverains n'y peuvent
rien prétendre, à moins qu'ils n'ayant des titres de la
concession que le roi leur aurait faite du droit d'alluvion.'
1. Pothier. Traité de la propriété. *1 Part. c. 2. §. 3. art.
2. No. 159.
'By our French law, says Pothier, one of their most respected
authorities, the alluvions formed on the borders of navigable
streams and rivers belong to the king. The proprietors of
riparian heritages can have no claim to them, unless they have
evidences of the grant made to them by the king, of the right
of alluvion along their heritages.' Pothier, Part 1. c. 2. §.
3. art. 2. No. 159. cited Derbigny, xviii.
And Guyot, in the Répertoire Universel de Jurisprudence, a
work also of authority and cited with approbation by the plaintiff
and his counsel, [Liv. 21. Du Ponceau, 14.] under the word
'île,' says,
'Nous n'admettons pas comme les Romains, les alluvions, et
les accroissemens, au profit des propriétaires riverains,
soit par les changemens qui peuvent survenir dans le lit des
rivières, soit relativement aux îles, et îlots qui peuvent s'y
former. Chez eux le lit, et les bords des fleuves et rivières
étaient censés faire partie des héritages riverains; et par une
suite de ces maximes, le terrain qu'un fleuve ajoutait à ces
héritages, appartenait à ceux qui en étaient propriétaires.
Ils réunissaient de même à leurs possessions le lit que le
fleuve abandonnait; et lorsqu'il se formait une île dans le
milieu de son lit, les riverains y avaient un droit égal,
et en partageaient la propriété. Suivant nos principes, les
rivières navigables, leur lit, rives, et tous les terrains
qui peuvent s'y former, appartiennent au roi, à raison de sa
souveraineté. C'est la disposition précise de l'article 41.
du tit. 37 de l'Ordonnance des eaux et forêts de 1669, qui
a dissipé tous les doutes que l'on cherchait à faire naître
dans plusieurs provinces, sur les fondemens des énonciations
qui se rencontraient dans les anciennes concessions.
'We do not admit, as the Romans, alluvions and accumulations
to go to the riparian proprietors, either by changes which
may happen in the bed of rivers, or relating to isles, and
islets which may there be formed. With them the bed and borders
of rivers and streams were considered as making part of the
riparian inheritances; and as a consequence of these maxims, the
earth which a river added to these inheritances, belonged to
those who were the proprietors of them. They reunited in like
manner to their possessions the bed which a river abandoned,
and when an isle was formed in the middle of its bed, the
riparians had an equal right to it, and divided the property.
According to our principles, navigable streams, their bed,
banks, and all the grounds which may be formed there, belong
to the king, in right of his sovereignty. It is the precise
provision of art. 41. tit. 37. of the Ordonnance des eaux et
forêts, which has dissipated all the doubts which they had
endeavored to raise in several provinces, on the grounds of
the enunciations which were found in the ancient concessions.'
Cited Derbigny 23.
Again, after laying down the Roman law of alluvion, and of
islands formed in the beds of rivers, Le Rasle, in the law Dictionary,
forming a part of the Encyclopédie Méthodique. Jurisprud.
accession. 94, says,
[Sidenote: 28*]
'Nous n'avons pas suivi dans notre droit Français les
*dispositions Romaines à cet égard; toutes les isles ou autres
attérissemens qui se forment dans les rivières appartiennent
au roi, et font partie du domaine. Les terres ajoutées par
alluvion aux héritages baignés par le fleuve et les rivières
navigables, n'appartiennent aux riverains, que lorsqu'ils out
un titre de concession qui leur permet de se les approprier.'
'We have not in our French law followed the Roman provisions
in this respect; all islands or other accumulations which are
formed in rivers, belong to the king, and constitute a part of
the domain. Lands added by alluvion to inheritances washed by
rivers and navigable streams, do not belong to the riparians
but when they have a deed of concession which permits them to
appropriate them to themselves.'
And Ferriere, quoted also by the plaintiff, says,
'Pour ce qui regarde l'augmentation arrivée à un héritage
subitement et tout d'un coup, la décision que les loix Romaines
ont faites à cet égard n'est point observée dans le royaume.
Cette augmentation appartient au roi, dans les rivières
navigables.' And Denizert agrees, 'que les attérissements
formés subitement dans le mer, ou dans les fleuves ou rivières
navigables, appartiennent au roi, par le seul titre de sa
souveraineté.'
'As to augmentations happening suddenly and all at once, the
decision of the Roman laws in this respect, is not observed
in the kingdom. These augmentations belong to the king in
navigable rivers.' And Denizert agrees, 'that atterrissements
formed suddenly in the sea, or the navigable rivers or streams,
belong to the king in the sole right of his sovereignty.'
And he refers to the edicts of 1683. 1693. and 1710.
And to put aside all further question as to the law of France on this
subject. Louis XIV. by an edict of December 15, 1693, says,
[Sidenote: 29*]
'Louis, &c. salut. Le droit de propriété que nous avons sur
tous les fleuves et rivières navigables de notre royaume,
et conséquemment de toutes les isles, moulins, bacs, &c.
attérissemens et accroissemens formés pas les dites fleuves
et rivières, étant incontestablement établi par les lois de
l'état, comme une suite et une dépendence nécessaire de notre
souveraineté, les rois nos prédecesseurs et nous, avons de
tems en tems, ordonné des recherches des isles et crémens qui
s'y sont formés, &c. A ces causes, de l'avis de notre conseil
et de notre certaine science, pleine puissance et autorité
royale, nous avons par ces *présentes, signées de notre main,
dit, statué et ordonné, disons, statuons et ordonnons, voulons
et nous plait, que tous les détenteurs, propriétaires, ou
possesseurs des îles, îlots, attérissemens, accroissemens,
_alluvions_, droits de pêche, péages, ponts, moulins, bacs,
coches, bateaux, édifices et droits sur les rivières navigables
de notre royaume, qui rapporteront des titres de propriété ou
de possession, avant le 1er Avril, 1566, y soient maintenus
et conservés dans leurs possessions, en payant au fise une
année, et ceux sans titre, ni possession antérieurs au 1er
Avril, 1566, en payant deux années de revenu.'
'Louis, &c., Greeting. The right of property which we have
in all rivers and navigable streams of our kingdom, and
consequently in all the isles, mills, ferries, &c. accumulations
and increments formed by the said rivers and navigable streams,
being incontestably established by the laws of the state, as
a necessary consequence and dependence of our sovereignty,
the kings, our predecessors, and ourselves, have from time
to time ordered inquiries as to isles and increments therein
formed, &c. For these causes, with the advice of our council,
and of our certain knowledge, full power and royal authority,
we have by these presents, signed with our hand, declared,
enacted and ordained, and we do declare, enact and ordain, we
will, and it is our pleasure that all the holders, proprietors,
or possessors, of isles, islets, accumulations, increments,
_alluvions_, rights of fishery, tolls, bridges, mills, ferriers,
packets, bateaux, edifices and imposts on the navigable rivers
of our kingdom which shall produce titles of property or of
possession before the 1st of April, 1566, shall be therein
maintained and secured in their possessions, on paying to the
treasury one year's revenue, and those without title papers,
or possession prior to the 1st of April, 1566, on payment of
two years' revenue.'
Having no copy of this Ordinance, I quote it from Mr. Derbigny,
p. 20. Duponçeau, p. 10. and l'Examen de la Sentence,
p. 8, by putting together the parts they cite, for neither gives
the whole of what I have cited. Other respectable authorities
might be produced, to the same effect, were it necessary to multiply
them: and it is also admitted that authorities of weight, and
of a different aspect exist, among these is Dumoulin, as respectable
as Pothier, Guyot, or any other who has been cited. Were
it absolutely incumbent on me, more than on those who rely on
the contrary authorities, to assign reasons for a difference of
opinion among lawyers, on any point, it might be ascribed in this
case to a difference of impression from views on the same subject,
diversified as were the customs of the various provinces of
France, on this very point. Dumoulin wrote a century and a
half before the Ordinance of Louis XIV. In that course of time
printing had become more diffused, books greatly multiplied,
and a more correct collation of these customs could be made.
So that had Dumoulin written in the days of Pothier and Guyot,
and with their advantages, he would probably have concurred in
the preceding observation, that, 'if there were any doubts, this
Ordinance has dissipated them.' Be this as it may, Louis XIV.
and his council have decided between these two opinions, and if
it were not law before, his decision made it so. By this edict he
declares the law of France, 'incontestably,' to be that '_Alluvions_
belong to the king in all navigable rivers.' But with a spirit*
of indulgence, meriting more respect than he has found
in the language of the adverse party who dislike the truths
he has declared, he confirmed all anterior usurpations,
on payment of certain compositions and future rents, re-establishing,
by the example, the authority of the laws, and rights of
the crown against these usurpations. This Ordinance was passed
19 years before the charter to Louisiana, and consequently was
comprehended among the edicts and ordinances originally established
as the law of the Province.
[Sidenote: 30*]
[Sidenote: 31*]
Mr. Livingston and his advocates have asserted that the right
to the beds and increments of rivers, is a gift of the feudal system
to the sovereign, that is, to the nation, and is a peculiarity
of that system: and further, that that system was never introduced
into Louisiana. That the latter assertion is palpably erroneous,
could be readily shown, were not the question altogether
unnecessary. With respect to the former, surely it is putting the
cart before the horse to say, that the authority of the nation flows
from the Feudal system, instead of the Feudal system flowing
from the authority of the nation. That the lands within the
limits assumed by a nation belong to the nation as a body, has
probably been the law of every people on earth at some period
of their history. A right of property in moveable things is admitted
before the establishment of government. A separate
property in lands not till after that establishment. The right to
moveables is acknowledged by all the hordes of Indians surrounding
us. Yet by no one of them has a separate property in lands
been yielded to individuals. He who plants a field keeps possession
till he has gathered the produce, after which one has as
good a right as another to occupy it. Government must be established
and laws provided, before lands can be separately appropriated,
and their owner protected in his possession. Till then
the property is in the body of the nation, and they, or their
chief as their trustee, must grant them to individuals, and determine
the conditions of the grant. In certain countries, they have
granted them on a system of conditions and principles which
have acquired the appellation of Feudal. Surely then it is the
sovereign which has created the Feudal principles, and not these
principles which have created the rights of the sovereign. The
Edinburgh Reviewers, [No. 30. 339. Jan. 1810.] who in the progress
of their work have deservedly attained a high standing in
the public estimation, reviewing the condition of land-tenures
among the Hindoos, say, 'the territory of the nation, belonging
in common to the nation, belongs, in this general sense, to the
king, as the head and representative of the nation. As far accordingly
as we have sufficient documents respecting rude
nations*, we find their kings, _without perhaps a single
exception_, recognized as the sole proprietors of the soil.'
And they quote as their authorities,
In Europe.
For Wales, Leges Walliæ. c. 337.
Great Britain. The Bretons while they held the whole island,
Turner's Anglo Saxons, c. 3.
Gaul and Germany. Cæsar, 4. 1. To which add Spain, Portugal,
Italy, and all feudal states.
In Asia.
For China. Barrow. 397.
India. Montesq. Sp. L. 14. 6. Scott's Ferishta, vol. 2. 148-495.
2. Bernier, 189.
Persia. 3. Chardin, 340. Syria and the Turkish dominions. 2.
Volney, 402.
In Africa.
For Egypt. Herodot. 2. 109. Volney passim.
Other parts of Africa. 4. Hist. gen. des voyages 13. v. do.
7. 5. 17. Mod. Univ. Hist. 322. Parke, 260.
In America.
For the Spanish part. Acosta 6. 15. and 18. Garcilaso, 1. 5.
1. Carli. letter 15.
For the United States and the Indian hordes of our continent,
we cite our own knowledge.
[Sidenote: 32*]
It seems then to be a principle of universal law that the lands
of a country belong to its sovereign as trustee for the nation. In
granting appropriations, some sovereigns have given away the
increments of rivers to a greater, some to a lesser extent, and
some not at all. Rome, which was not feudal, and Spain and
England which were, have granted them largely; France, a
feudal country, has not granted them at all on navigable rivers.
Louis XIV. therefore was strictly correct when in his edict of
1693, he declared that the increments of rivers were incontestably
his, _as a necessary consequence of the sovereignty_. That is
to say, that where no special grant of them to an individual could
be produced, they remained in him, as a portion of the original
lands of the nation, or as new-created lands, never yet granted
to any individual. They are unquestionably a regalian, or national
right, paramount, and pre-existent to the establishment of
the feudal system. That system has no fixed principle on the
subject, as is evident from the opposite practices of different
feudal nations. The position, therefore, is entirely unfounded,
that the right to them is derived from the feudal law; and it is
consequently unnecessary to go into the proof of what
the grants in that country *exhibit palpably enough, that
infeudations were partially at least, if not generally, introduced
into Louisiana.
It ought here to be observed however that, so far as respects
the beds and navigation of rivers, the right vested in the sovereign
is a mere trust, not alienable. It is not like lands, imposts,
taxes, an article of public property constituting the revenues of
the state, but like roads, canals, public buildings, reserved for
the use of the individuals of the nation. See an explanation of
this subject, Vattel 1. 235. 239.
[Sidenote: M. Thierry.]
[Sidenote: 33*]
I have now to advert, and I do it with extreme regret, to a
passage in the very able Memoire of M. Thierry, a
Memoire conspicuous for its learning and sound reasoning,
and to which I acknowledge myself peculiarly indebted
for information on the points he has discussed. He says, p. 30.
'To the ancestors of John Gravier the right of alluvion belonged,
not only by virtue of the Coutumes de Paris, which for two centuries
back acknowledged the principle of the Roman law, and
against which, for that reason, the Ordinances of the kings of
France could with no manner of success be pleaded, inasmuch
as a royal ordinance specially made that Coutume the civil law
of this colony; but also by virtue of the Spanish laws, which
from 1769, have been constantly in force in Louisiana.' 1. That
the Roman principle of Alluvion was acknowledged by the Coutumes
de Paris has not been proved. The adverse counsel,
[Dupon. p. 9.] has said indeed, that those Customs were silent on
this subject. But I have considered Pothier, Guyot, and Le
Rasle as better authority. 2. Mr. Thierry supposes that a Royal
Ordinance having specially made that Coutume the civil law of
Louisiana, the Ordinances of the kings of France were excluded
from the system, and could not control what was Coutume.
He had not, I presume, seen the charter of 1712, which makes
the edicts and _ordinances_, with the Coutume de Paris, the law
of that province; nor sufficiently considered that had the Coutumes
been alone established by one ordinance, another might
change them. 3. He supposes the Spanish laws have given Alluvions
to the riparian proprietor. But the laws of the province,
established by their charter, were not annulled by the change of
one king for another, as their legislator. The latter might change
them. But has he done so? If he has, his edict must be produced,
that we may weigh its words, and judge of its effects
for ourselves. And we must guard against admitting that the
example of a Spanish Governor, if such example has occurred,
occasionally and incorrectly acting on the laws of Spain, amounted
to a repeal of the whole system then existing, and a formal
establishment of a different one. No such intention on
his part, *to make so momentous a change, should be so
slightly inferred; and no power of his could effect it,
even if intended. Nothing less than an Ordinance of the Sovereign
himself, signed with his own hand, and sanctioned by all
the solemnities attending their enactment and promulgation, was
competent to reverse at once the legal condition of a whole
people, and the laws under which their lives and properties were
held. Again, even such an ordinance could not change the law
as to past rights; and those now in question were vested before
the Spanish government took place, and could not be annulled
by a subsequent law. These gratuitous admissions, therefore, of
Mr. Thierry, not at all necessary to his argument, and therefore
probably not well considered, and in opposition to the opinions
and demonstrations of an able brother counsellor (Mr. Derbigny),
must be disavowed, and the authority of the Ordinance
of 1693 insisted on with undiminished confidence. Mr. Thierry
himself will perhaps the more readily abandon them, when he
sees with what avidity his eagle-eyed adversary has pounced
upon them in a letter to some member of the government, in
which he considers them as giving up all ground of opposition
to his claims.
[Sidenote: Edict of Louis XIV.]
[Sidenote: 34*]
To that edict then I shall now recur; and to the cavils raised
against it by the advocates of the claims it annihilates.
It is idle for them to call it bursal, fiscal, and
the act of a tyrant, &c. [Duponc. 10.] as if the
authority of laws was to be graduated by the character of the existing
legislator; and as if we were to be the judges, for other
nations, of the character and obligation of their laws. It is vain
to pretend that because the word 'Alluvion,' inserted in the enacting
clause of the edict, is not in the preamble, therefore it has no
force in the body of the law: as if the preface, giving the general
reason and views of the law, was alone to be the law, and its
actual enactments a mere nullity. Although the preamble of a
statute is considered as a key to open the mind of the makers as
to the mischiefs in their view, yet in general it is no more than
a recital of some inconveniences, which does not exclude any
other for which the enacting clauses provide; nor must the
general words of an enacting clause be restrained by the particular
words of the preamble. 6. Bac. Abr. Statute. I. 2. and the
authorities there stated. So says our law; so says reason; and
so must say the Roman law, if it be ratio scripta. But it is
further to be observed that the words 'attérrissements and accroissements,'
accumulations and increments, used in this preamble
are generic terms, of which 'Alluvion' is a species, and
therefore strictly comprehended by it. This is proved
by the Roman definition, 'Alluvio est _incrementum_*
latens,' 'alluvion est un accroissement ou crement imperceptible,'
by the Napoleon code cited by Mr. Livingston:
[Sidenote: Napoleon Code.]
'Les attérissements et accroissements qui se forment
successivement et imperceptiblement aux fonds riverains d'un
fleuve, ou d'une rivière, s'appellent Alluvion.' §. 556
'The accumulations and increments which form themselves
successively and imperceptibly against the riparian lands of
a river or stream are called Alluvion.' Sect. 556.
[Sidenote: Portalis.]
And by the edicts of 1686 and 1689, both of which have the
expression '_crémens_ qui s'y sont formés, soit par _alluvion_,
ou par industrie, &c.' And here Portalis's
rhetorical flourish, on presenting this law, is cited, [Duponc. 17.
Liv. 22.] with triumph, as declaring that this law terminates
the great question of Alluvion, and decides it conformably to
the Roman law. It is very true indeed that it has terminated
the question as to future cases, by changing the law, by transferring
the right of Alluvion from the sovereign to the riparian proprietor,
by giving the abandoned bed of a river, as an indemnification
to him on whose land it has opened a new passage, and
making this the future law of all the provinces. And had Louisiana
then been subject to France, the law would have been
changed _thenceforward_, for Louisiana also. I find no fault with
Napoleon for this Roman predilection. I believe the change is
for the better, so far as concerns rural possessions. A decision
too of the parliament of Bordeaux is quoted by Mr. Duponceau
19. to prove that the law giving Alluvion to the adjacent possessor
has been acknowledged in France by the decision of the parliament
of Bordeaux, confirmed, _as he has heard_, on appeal by
the parliament of Paris. This proves only that the Roman law
of alluvion was the law of the Generality of Bordeaux, not that
it was then the law of all France. In the country called the
Bordelois, Customary laws prevail. But
'Lorsque la coutume de Bordeaux ne s'est pas expliquée sur
certains points de droit, ce n'est ni à la coutume de Paris,
ni à d'autres coutumes qu'on a recours pour les faire décider,
mais au droit écrit.' Enc. Meth. Jurisp. Bordeaux.'
'When the Custom of Bordeaux has not sufficiently explained
itself on certain points of law, it is neither to the Customs of
Paris, nor to other customs that recourse is had for decision,
but to the written law,' that is, the Roman law.
The inference then is, either that the Coutume de Bordeaux was
the same on this point as the Roman law, or, that being silent,
the Roman law was referred to.[93]
[Sidenote: 35*]
*Surely never was the urgency of squeezing argument
out of everything so apparent, as in the emphasis with
which the adverse party presses and comments, [Liv. 32.] on the
answers of the several tribunals, to which the Napoleon Code
was referred for consideration and amendment. A dozen tribunals
are named, with an &c. for more, who are acknowledged to have
said nothing about alluvion: and this is produced as proof that it
had belonged before to the riparian proprietor. But it proves
more probably that these tribunals were contented with the
change proposed, and had no amendment of it to offer. But, in
truth, it proves nothing either the one way or the other. The
tribunal of Paris is then quoted, with an acknowledgment that
they do not make a single observation on the subject. Then long
extracts from that of Rouen, proposing that _islands_, rising in the
rivers, shall be given to the riparian proprietors: and recommendations
to the same effect from those of Toulouse and Lyons.
Now it is remarkable that neither the word 'Alluvion,' nor the
idea of the thing, is either expressed or referred to in any one of
these quotations. And yet Mr. Livingston says, 'we find all
these learned men either passing over these articles, as merely
declaratory of the old law, or else _expressly acknowledging them_
as such;' and again after the citation from Rouen, 'here we have
the positive declaration of a learned tribunal, &c. deciding that
the edicts did not extend to alluvions, but only to islands in navigable
rivers.' And yet I repeat that neither the word nor the
idea is to be found in any one of the quotations; for it is of
these only I can speak, not possessing the book, but I presume
Mr. Livingston's quotations are of the strongest passages. It is
impossible to characterize such reasoning respectfully. I shall
therefore leave it to the reflection of others. And I think myself
authorized to conclude on the whole, that had the Batture
been really an Alluvion, its ownership was to be decided by the
laws of France; and that Louis XIV. with the advice of his
council, certainly knew when they declared what the law of their
country 'incontestably' was; and if we, with our scanty reading
on the subject, at this day and distance, know better than they
did, yet the enacting clause of the edict made it the law _thenceforward_;
that it came over as law for Louisiana, made the batture,
if an alluvion, the property of the sovereign; and certainly the
whole tenor of the conduct of the Spanish government proved
that they did not mean to relinquish it.
[Sidenote: 36*]
Before we quit this branch of the discussion, it is not amiss to
*observe that the eloquent declamations of these learned
men of Rouen, so much eulogized by Mr. Livingston,
were not at all heeded. The Napoleon code, §. 560.
retained the _islands_ rising in the beds of navigable or floatable
rivers, and (changing the French law only as to alluvions) declares,
§. 538. in opposition to the Roman law, that
'Les fleuves et rivières navigable ou flottables, les rivages,
lais et relais de la mer, les ports, les havres, les rades,
&c. sont considérés comme le dépendances du domaine public.'
'Rivers and navigable or floatable streams, shores, increments
and decrements of the sea, ports, harbors, roads, &c. are
considered as dependances of the public domain.'
So that notwithstanding the 'persuasive and conclusive arguments
of these first lawyers of the country,' Liv. 31. the French
law as it stands at this day, and stood before, would have given
the batture to the public, being unquestionably the [94]rivage or
shore of the river.[95]
[Sidenote: 37*]
[Sidenote: 38*]
[Sidenote: 39*]
*I will now proceed further and say, that had the batture
been an alluvion, and to be decided by the Roman,
instead of the French law, the conversion of the plantation
of Gravier into a *suburb, made it public property. And
here I rejoin with pleasure the standard of M. Thierry,
and avail myself of his luminous discussion of this point.
Were I fully to go into it, I could *but repeat his matter. I shall
therefore give but a summary view of it, and rest on his
argument for its more detailed support.
[Sidenote: Rural and Urban.]
[Sidenote: 40*]
[Sidenote: 41*]
The position laid down is that the Roman law gave alluvion only to the
rural proprietor of the bank; urban possessions being considered as
prædia limitata, limited possessions. The law which gives this right is
expressed in the Institutes in these words, 'quod per alluvionem _agro_
tuo flumen adjecit, jure gentium tibi adquiritur.' Inst. 2. 1. 20. 'What
the river has added, _agro tuo_, becomes yours by the laws of nations.'
And the Digest 41. 1. 7. 1. in almost the same words says, 'quod per
alluvionem _agro_ nostro flumen adjecit, jure gentium nobis adquiritur.'
In both instances it is to the possessor _agri_ only that it is given. It
becomes material therefore to understand rigorously the import of the
word _ager_, in the Roman laws; and it happens that its definition is given
critically by the same authority which uses it. 'Locus sine ædificio, in
urbe _area_, *rure autem _ager_ appellatur idemque _ager_, cum ædificio,
_fundus_ dicitur.' Dig. 50. 16. 211. 'Quæstio est, fundus a possessione,
vel agro, vel prædio quid distet?' Ib. 115 _in notis_, 'fundus est ipsum
solum: eo si utimur, prædium dicitur. _Ager_ esse potest sine villâ.'
'Ground, without a building, in a city is called _area_, but in the
country _ager_.' Pliny 1. 6. affirms that _ager_ is derived from the Greek
ἀγρὸς of the same import. And in the Greek Pragmatics of Attaliata tit.
45. the law of alluvion uses 'ἀγρὸς' for _ager_. 'Τὸ ἀνεπαισθήτως διὰ
τοῦ ποταμοῦ προστεθὲν τῷ ἀγρῷ μου πρόσχωσις ἐστὶν, ἤτοι πρόσκλυσις, καὶ
ἐμοὶ ἁρμόζει.' 'Quod insensibiliter τῷ ἀγρῷ μου per flumen adjectum est,
alluvionis est, et mihi competit. 'What is insensibly added by the river
_agro meo_ is alluvion [_adundatio, adaggeratio_] and belongs to me.' In
the same title 'ὅπερ ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ σοῦ σπείρω σόν ἐστιν.' 'What I sow ἀγρῷ
σου agro tuo, in your _field_, is yours.' And Stephens, in his Thesaur.
ling. Gr. voce 'Ἀγρὸς' translates it 'rus, ager,' 'ἐν ἀγρῷ' in agro,
ruri. Ἐξ ἀγρου, ex agro, rure. 'Εἰς ἀγρον, in agrum, rus.' And he cites
examples: 'Νηῦς δέ μοι ἥδ' ἕστηκεν ἐπ' ἀγροῦ, νόσφι πόληος'. Hom. Od. 1.
185. 'My vessel is stationed in the _country_, apart from the city.' 'Διὰ
τὸ μὴ μεγάλας εἶναι τότε τὰς ΠΟΛΕΙΣ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῶν ΑΓΡΩΝ οἰκεῖν τὸν δῆμον
ἄσχολον ὄντα.' Aristo. Polit. 5. 'Because, the _cities_ not being then
large, the people were occupied in the _country_, where ἀγρὸς is proved
to be pointedly the contradiction to πόλις, to wit, the _country_ to
the _city_. From these definitions it appears that the word ager, in the
law, constantly means a field, or farm, in the country, and that a city
lot is called _area_. In towns, the whole bank and beach being necessary
for public use, the private right of alluvion would be inadmissible;
and the adverse counsel have been challenged [Thierry, 33.] to produce
a single instance, under the Roman law, of a claim of Alluvion allowed
in a city. To this might be added a similar challenge as to the laws of
England. These give alluvion on rivers, as the civil law does, to the
riparian proprietor. Bracton L. 2. c. 2. § 1. Fleta. L. 3. c. 2. Can
they from the volumes of English law, with which they are so much more
familiar, produce one single instance of the private right of alluvion
allowed in a city? In England, I mean, and not in America, where special
circumstances have prevented attention to the law on this subject, or
the breach of it. And this must be from the reason of the thing alone,
because the common law never having been, like the civil law, reduced
to a text, no verbal criticisms on a text can have co-operated against
the claim.[96] Repeating, *therefore, my reference to the reasoning and
authorities of M. Thierry on this point, and my own conviction of their
soundness, I consider it as established that, were this question to be
decided by the Roman law, the conversion of the farm into a fauxbourg
of the city passed to the public all the riparian rights attached to it
while a rural possession, and among these the right of alluvion.
[Sidenote: Principal and accessory]
[Sidenote: 42*]
And, if the right of alluvion is not given to urban proprietors,
much less would it to a mere holder of the bed of a
road. But did any one ever hear of a *man's holding
the bed of a road, and nothing else? Is it possible
to believe that Bertrand Gravier, in selling his
lots _face au fleuve_, really meant to retain the bed of
the road and levee? That a man, having a road on the margin
of his land, which is its boundary, should mean to sell his land
to the road, and to retain that by itself? a thing of no possible
_use_ to him, because the _use_ being in the public, he could never
employ it in agriculture or otherwise. Were all this possible,
yet this bed of a road, this "labrum amnis" would be no _ager_,
no field to which the right of alluvion could attach. That right
is but an accessory, or, in the language of our law, an appendage
or appurtenance, and an accessory, not to a mere line, but to
something of which it can become a part. Had the law, therefore,
ever given alluvion to any but the holder of an _ager_, of a
field, yet the general doctrines of principal and accessory, would
not have carried the benefit to Bertrand Gravier in this case.
'Accessorium sequitur naturam sui principalis. Et in accessoriis,
præstanda sunt quæ in principali. Accessorium non tenet sine
principali. Sublato principali, tollitur et accessorium.' These
are maxims of the civil law. Calvini lexicon jurid. 'An accessory
follows the nature of its principal.' If the accession then
be to a field, it becomes part of the field; if to a town, it would
become part of the town; if to a road, the use of which belongs
to the public, it would be to the road, and to the public. It
must follow the nature of its principal, and become a part of that,
subject to the same rights, uses and servitudes with that: and
Bertrand Gravier had no right of use in the principal, that is, of
the road and levee.
The equity on which the right of alluvion is founded is, that
as the owner of the field is exposed to the danger of loss, he
ought, as an equivalent, to have the chance of gain. But what
equitable reason could there be, in the present case, for giving
to Gravier the benefit of alluvion, when he could lose nothing
by alluvion? If the levee and bank were washed away, they
would not go to his plantation, back of the suburb, for a new
one. The public would have to purchase a new bed for a road
from the adjacent lot holders. Then 'qui sentit onus, sentire
debet et commodum.'
[Sidenote: Beach or Batture not Alluvion.]
But I do deny to the Batture every characteristic
of Alluvion.
The French and Roman law constituting that of
the place, let us seek from them the definition of Alluvion. The
Institute 2. 1. 20. gives it in these words, and the Digest. 41. 1.
7. §. 1. in almost verbatim the same.
'Quod per alluvionem agro tuo flumen adjecit, jure gentium
tibi adquiritur. Est autem alluvio incrementum latens. Per
alluvionem autem id videtur adjici, quod ita paulatim adjicitur,
ut intelligi non possit quantum quoquo temporis momento
adjiciatur.'
'What the river adds by alluvion to your field becomes yours by
the law of nature. Alluvion is a latent increase. That seems
to be added by alluvion, which is so added by degrees, that
you cannot conceive how much in each moment of time is added.'
And in the Greek version of Theophilus, the words, 'Alluvio
est incrementum latens' are rendered 'ἀλουβιων ἐστιν ἠ πρόσκλυσις ἢ
πρόσχωσις,' translated by Curtius 'Alluvio est adundatio vel adaggeratio.'
Retaining only the words of this paragraph which
are definition it will stand thus.
'Alluvio est incrementum [_adundatio_, _adaggeratio_] agro
tuo flumine adjectum, ita latens et paulatim, ut intelligi
non possit quantum quoquo temporis momento adjiciatur.'
'Alluvion is an increment [_adundation_, _ad-aggeration_]
added by the river to your field, so latent and gradual, that
the quantity added in every moment of time cannot be known.'
This is the Roman definition.
In the Law Dictionary of the Encyclop. Method, _voce_ 'Alluvion'
by Le Rasle, the definition is:
'Alluvion, un accroissement de terrein qui se fait peu-a-peu
sur les bords de la mer, des fleuves, et des rivières, par
les terres que l'eau y apporte, et qui se consolident pour ne
faire qu'un tout avec la terre voisine.'
'Alluvion, an increment of ground which is made by little and
little on the border of the sea, rivers or streams, by earth
which the water brings, and which is consolidated so as to
make but one whole with the neighboring ground.'
To reduce the essential members of the Roman and French
definitions to a single one, according with our own common
sense, for certainly we all understand what alluvion is, I should
consider the following definition as comprehending the essential
characteristics of both.
1. 'Alluvion is an extension which the waters add insensibly.
2. By apposition of particles of earth.
3. Against the adjacent field.
4. And consolidate with it so as to make a part of it.
'Incrementum flumine adjectum latens et paulatim.
{ πρόσχωσις, adaggeratio.
{ πρόσκλυσις, adundatio.
_Agro_.
Qui se consolide pour ne faire qu'un tout avec la terre
voisine.'
I take this to be rigorously conformable with the French and
Roman definitions, as cited from the authorities before mentioned,
and that it contains not one word which is not within
their unquestionable meaning. Now let us try the batture by
this test.
[Sidenote: 44*]
1. 'Alluvion is an extension which the waters add insensibly.'
But the increment of the batture has by no means been
_insensible_. Every swell of six months is said [Derb xix.] to deposit
usually nearly a foot of mud on the whole surface
of the batture, so that, *when the waters retire, the increment
is visible to every eye. And we have seen that,
aided by Mr. Livingston's works, a single tide extended the batture
from 75 to 80 feet further into the river, and deposited on it
from 2 to 7 feet of mud, insomuch that a saw-scaffold, 7 feet
high when the waters rose on it, was, on their retiring, buried
to its top. This increment is, surely, not insensible. See the
Mayor's answer to the Governor, Nov. 18, '08. MS.
2. 'By _apposition_ of particles of earth,' or, by their _adhesion_.
But the addition to the batture is by _deposition_ of particles of
earth on its face, not by their _apposition_ or _adhesion_ to the bank.
It is not pretended that the bank has extended by apposition of
particles to its side, one inch towards the river. It remains now
the same as when the levée was erected on it. The deposition
of earth on the bottom of a river, can be no more said to be an
apposition to its sides, than the coating the floor of a room can
be said to be plastering its walls.
3. 'Against the adjacent field,' la terre voisine. Not a particle
has been added to the adjacent field. That remains as it
was, bounded by the identical line, _crepido_, or _ora terræ_, which
has ever bounded it.
4. 'And consolidated with the field so as to make part of it.'
Un tout avec la terre voisine. Even supposing the continuity
of the adjacent field not to be broken by the intervention of the
levée and road, nothing is consolidated with it, not even with the
_margo riparum_, or chemin de hallage, if there be any, between
the levée and brim of the bank. No extension of its surface has
taken place so as to form one with the former surface, so as to
be a continuation of that surface, so as to be arable like that.
The highest part of the batture, even where it abuts against the
bank, is still materially below the level of the adjacent field.
A terrass of some feet height still separates the field from the
deposition called the batture. It is now as distinguishable from
the adjacent field as it ever was, being covered with water
periodically 6 months in the year, while that is dry. Alluvion
is identified with the farmer's field, because of identity of character,
fitness for the same use: but the batture is not fitted for
ploughing or sowing. It is clear then that the batture has not
a single feature of Alluvion; and divesting it of this misnomer,
the whole claim of the plaintiff falls to the ground: for he has
not pretended that it could be his under any other title than that
of Alluvion.
We will now proceed to shew what it is, which will further
demonstrate what it is not.
[Sidenote: Bed, Beach, Bank.]
[Sidenote: 45*]
In the channel, or hollow, containing a river, the Roman law
has distinguished the _alveus_, or bed of the river, and
the _ripa_, or bank, the river itself being _aqua_, water.
'Tribus constant flumina, alveo, aqua, et ripis'. Dig.
43. 12. *not. 1. All above high water mark they
considered as _ripa_, bank, and all below as _alveus_, or
bed. The same terms have the same extent in the language of
our law likewise. But we distinguish, by an additional name,
that band, or margin of the bed of the river, which lies between
the high and the low water marks. We call it the _beach_. Other
modern nations distinguish it also. In Spanish it is _playa_, Ital.
_piaggia_, in French _plage_, in the local terms of Orleans it is _batture_,
and sometimes _platin_.[97] In Latin I know of no terms which
applies exactly to _the beach of a river_. _Litus_ is restrained to
_the shore of the sea_, and there comprehends the beach, going to
the water edge, whether at high or low tide. '_Litus_ est maris,
_ripa_ fluminis,' says Vinnius in his Commentary on the Inst. 2.
1. 4. and he confirms this difference of extent towards the water,
ibid. where he says,
'Neque verò idem est _ripa in flumine_, quod _litus in mari_.
Ripa flumini non subjicitur, ut litora subjiciuntur mari, et
quotidianis accessibus ab eo occupantur.'
'Nor is the bank of a river, and the shore of the sea, the same
thing. The bank is not subjacent to the river as the shores
are to the sea, which are occupied by it in its daily accesses.'
In our rivers, as far as the tide flows, the beach is the actual,
as well as the nominal bed of the river, during the half of every
day. Above the flow of tide, it is covered half the year at a
time, instead of half of every day. The tide there being annual
only, or one regular tide in a year. This, in the State where I
am, begins about the first of November, is at its full tide during
the months of January and February, and retires to its minimum
by the end of April. In other States from North to South, this
progression may vary a little. Hence we call them the Summer
and Winter tides, as the Romans did theirs, _hibernus et æstivus_.
The Mississippi resembles our fresh water rivers in having only
one regular swell or tide a year. It differs from them in not
being subject to occasional swells. The regions it waters are so
vast that accidental rains and droughts in one part are countervailed
by contrary accidents in other parts, so as never
to become *sensible in the river. It is only when all the
countries it occupies become subject to the general influence
of summer or winter, that a regular and steady flood or ebb
takes place. It differs too in the seasons of its tides, which are
about three months later than in our rivers. Its swell begins
with February, is at its greatest height in May, June, and July,
and the waters retire by the end of August. Its high tide, therefore,
is in summer, and the low water in winter. Being regular
in its tides, it is regular also in the period of its inundations.
Whereas in ours, although the natural banks rarely escape being
overflowed at some time of the season, yet the precise time varies
with the accident of the fall of rains. But it is not the name of
the season but the fact of the rise and fall which determine the
law of the case.
[Sidenote: 46*]
Now the batture St. Mary is precisely within this band, or margin,
between the high and low water mark of the Missisipi called
the beach. It extended from the bank into the river from 122
to 247 yards, before Mr. Livingston began his works, and these
have added in one year, from 75 to 80 feet to its breadth. This
river abounds with similar beaches, but this one alone, from its
position and importance to the city, has called for a legal investigation
of its character. Every country furnishes examples of
this kind, great or small; but the most extensive are in Northern
climates. The beach of the Forth, for example, adjacent to
Edinburgh, is a mile wide, and is covered by every tide with 20
feet water. Abundance of examples of more extensive beaches
might be produced; many doubtless from New-Hampshire and
Maine, where the tide rises 40 feet. This therefore of St. Mary
is not extraordinary but for the cupidity which its importance to
the city of New-Orleans has inspired.
I shall proceed to state the authorities on which this division
between the bank and bed of the river is established, and which
makes the margin or beach a part of the bed of the river.
'Ripa est pars extima alvei, quò naturaliter flumen excurrit.'
Grotius de Jour. B. et P. 2. 8. 9.
'Ripa ea putatur esse quæ _plenissimum_ flumen continet.' Dig.
43. 12. 3. And Vinnius's commentary on this passage is 'ut
significet, partem ripæ non esse, spatium illud, ripæ proximum,
quod aliquando flumine, caloribus minuto æstivo tempore non
occupatur.'
[Sidenote: 47*]
'Ripa autem ita rectè definietur, id quod flumen continet
naturalem* rigorem[98] cursus sui tenons. Cæterùm si quando vel
imbribus, vel mari, vel quâ alia ratione, ad tempus excrevit,
ripas non mutat. Nemo denique dixit Nilum, qui incremento
suo Ægyptum operit, ripas suas mutare, vel ampliare. Nam cum
ad perpetuam sui mensuram redierit, ripæ alvei ejus muniendæ
sunt.' Dig. 43. 12. §. 5.
'Alveus flumine tegitur.' Grot. de jur. B. ac P. 2. 8. 9.
'Alveus est spatium illud flumini subjectum per quod fluit.'
Vinnii Partitiones jur. Civil. 1. 17.
'The bank is the outermost part of the bed in which the river
naturally flows.'
'That is considered to be bank, which contains the river when
_fullest_,' and Vinnius's commentary on this passage is 'this
signifies that the space next to the bank, which is sometimes
not occupied by the river, when reduced by heats in the summer
season, is not a part of the bank.'
'The bank may be thus rightly defined, that which contains the
river holding the natural direction of its course. But, if at
any time, either from rains, the sea, or any other cause, it
has overflowed a time, it does not change its banks. Nobody
has said that the Nile, which by its increase covers Egypt,
changes or enlarges its banks. For when it has returned to
its usual height, the banks of its bed are to be secured.'
'The bed is covered by the river.'
'The bed is the space, subjacent to the river, through which
it flows.'
Littus, in the Roman law, being the beach or shore of the sea,
'rivage,' definitions of that will corroborate the division between
the _ripa_ and _alveus_, _bed_ and _bank_ of a river. In both cases
what is covered by the highest tide belongs to the public, all
above it is private property.
'Litus est quousque maximus fluctus à mari pervenit. Idque
Marcum Tullium aiunt, cum arbiter esset. primum constituisse.'
Dig. 50. 16. 96.
'Est autem litus maris quatenùs hibernus fluctus maximus
excurrit.' Inst. 2. 1. 3. the paraphrase of Theophilus adds,
'undè et æstate, usque ad ea loca litus definimus,' and his
Scholiast subjoins 'non ut mediis caloribus solet, sed hibernus;
quoniam hieme protissimum mare turbatur, mare est undabundum.'
'The shore is as far as the greatest wave of the sea reaches;
and it is said that Marcus Tullius first established that when
he was an Arbiter.'
'The shore of the sea is as far as the greatest winter wave
reaches.' The paraphrase of Theophilus adds, 'wherefore, in
summer also, we bound the shore by the same limits, and his
Scholiast subjoins, 'not the wave of midsummer, but of winter;
because the sea is most agitated, and most swelled.'
'By _shore_, the Institutes mean up to the high-water mark, or
(where little or no tides, as in the Mediterranean) as high as the
highest winter wave washes. 1. Brown's Civil and Admiralty
law. B. 2. c. 1.
[Sidenote: 48*]
We must not, however, with Mr. Livingston, pa. 61. seize on
the single word 'hibernus,' in the last quotations, and
sacrifice *to that both the fact, and the reason of the law.
The substance of the _fact_ on which the law goes, is that
there is a margin of the bed of the river, covered at high water,
uncovered at low. The season when this happens is a matter
of circumstance only, and of immaterial circumstance. In the
rivers familiar to the Romans the _maximus fluctus_, or highest
wave, was in the winter; in the Missisipi it is in summer. Circumstance
must always yield to substance. The _object_ of the
law is to reserve that margin to the public. But to reduce, with
Mr. Livingston, the public right to the Summer water-line would
relinquish that object. The explanations quoted from Vinnius,
from Theophilus and his Scholiast, prove from the reason of the
law, that the law of the winter tide for the Po, and the Tyber,
must be that of the Summer tide of the Missisipi. The Spanish
law therefore, is expressed in more correct terms; and we have
the authority of Mr. Livingston [ibidem] for saying that the Justinian
code is the common law of Spain.
'La ribera del rio se entiende todo lo que cubre el agua de
el, quando mas crece, en qualquiera tiempo del año, sin salir
de su yema y madre.' Curia Philipica. 2. 3. 1. cited Derb. 46.
'The bank of a river is understood to be the whole of what
contains its waters, when most swelled, in whatsoever time of
the year, without leaving its bed or channel.'
This is the law correctly for all rivers, leaving to every one its
own season of flood or ebb.
To these authorities from the Roman and Spanish law, I will
add that of the French Ordinance of 1681. § 43. Art. 1. on the
same subject.
'Sera réputé bord et rivage de la mer, tout ce qu'elle couvre
et découvre [precisely the beach or batture] pendant les
nouvelles et pleines lunes, et jusqu'où le grand flot de mer
cesse de s'y faire sentir. Il est facile de connoître jusqu'où
s'étend ordinairement le grand flot de Mars, par le gravier
qui y est déposé; ainsi il ne faut pas confondre cette partie
avec l'espace où parvient quelque fois l'eau de la mer par
les ouragans, et par les tempêtes. Ainsi jugé à Aix le 11.
Mai 1742.' Boucher, Institut au droit Maritime 2713. Nouveau
Commentaire sur l'Ordonnance de la Marine de 1681. tit. 7.
Art. 1.
'The border and shore of the sea shall be reputed to be the
whole which it covers and uncovers [precisely the beach or
batture] during the new and full moons, and as far as to where
the full tide of the sea ceases to be perceived. It is easy
to know how far ordinarily the full tide of March extends;
by the gravel which is deposited there; therefore we must not
confound that part with the space where the waters of the sea
come sometimes in hurricanes and storms.' So adjudged at Aix,
May 11, 1742.
[Sidenote: 49*]
Let us now embody those authorities, by bringing together
the separate members, making them paraphrase one another,
and form a *single description. The Digest 43. 12.
3. with Vinnius's comment will stand thus. 'The bank
ends at the line to which the water rises at its full tide; and although
the space next below it is sometimes uncovered by the
river, when reduced by heats in the Summer season, yet that
space is not a part of the bank.' Now, substituting for 'the heats
of the summer season' which is circumstance, and immaterial,
the term 'low water,' which is the substance of the case, nothing
can more perfectly describe the beach or batture, nor collated
with the other authorities, make a more consistent and rational
provision. 'The bank ends at that line on the levée to which
the river rises at its full tide: and altho' the batture or beach
next below that line is uncovered by the river, when reduced to
its low tide, yet that batture or beach does not therefore become
a part of the bank, but remains a part of the bed of the river,'
for says Theophilus 'even in low water [et æstate] we bound
the bank at the line of high water.' Inst. 2. 1. 3. 'The bank
being the _extima alvei_, the _border of the bed_, within which bed
the river flows when in its fullest state _naturally_, that is to say,
not when 'imbribus, vel quâ aliâ ratione, ad tempus, excrevit,'
not when 'temporarily overflowed by extraordinary rains, &c.'
Dig. 43. 12. 5. but 'quando mas crece, sin salir de su madre, en
qualquiera tiempo del año,' 'when in its full height, without
leaving its bed, to whatsoever season of the year the period
of full height may belong.' This is unquestionably the meaning
of all the authorities taken together, and explaining one
another.
From these authorities, then, the conclusion is most rigorously
exact, that all is river, or river's _bed_, which is contained between
the two banks, and the high water line on them; and all is _bank_
which embraces the waters in their ordinary full tide.
Agreeably to this has been the constant practice and extent
of grants of lands on the Missisipi. Charles Trudeau swears
[Liv. 57.] that 'during 28 years that he has performed the functions
of Surveyor General of this province, it has always been in
his _knowledge_, that the grants of lands on the borders of the
Missisipi, have their fronts on the _edge_ of the river itself, and
when its waters are _at their greatest height_.' And Laveau
Trudeau [Liv. 58.] that 'the concession to the Jesuits, he believes,
was like all the others, that is, from the river at its greatest
height.'
Thus we see what the law is; that it has been perfectly understood
in the territory, and has been constantly practiced on,
and consequently that neither the grant to the Jesuits, nor to
Bertrand Gravier, could have included the beach or batture.
[Sidenote: Missisipi.]
[Sidenote: 50*]
[Sidenote: Nile.]
[Sidenote: 51*]
It will perhaps be objected that, establishing the commencement
of the bank at high water mark, leaves in fact
no bank at all, as the high water regularly overflows
the natural* bank or brim of the channel. And will
it be a new phenomenon to see a river without banks
sufficient to contain its waters at their full tide? The Missisipi
is certainly a river of a character marked by strong features. It
will be very practicable, by exaggerating these, to draw a line
of separation between this and the mass of the rivers of our
country, to consider it as _sui generis_, not subject to the laws
which govern other rivers, but needing a system of law for itself.
And until this system can be prepared it may be abandoned to
speculations of death and devastation like the present. But will
this be the object of the sound judge or legislator? it is certainly
for the good of the whole nation to assimilate as much as possible
all its parts, to strengthen their analogies, obliterate the traits
of difference, and to deal law and justice to all by the same rule
and same measure. The _bayous_ of all that territory and of the
country thence to Florida Point are without banks to contain
their full tides. The Missisipi is in the like state as far as Bâton
Rouge, where competent banks first rise out of the waters, and
continue with intervals of depression to its upper parts. Many
of the rivers of our maritime states are under circumstances resembling
these. The channel which nature has hallowed for
them is not yet deep enough, or the depositions of earth on the
adjacent grounds not yet sufficiently accumulated, to raise them
entirely clear of the flood tides. Extensive bodies of lands, still
marshy therefore, are covered by them at every tide. In some
of these cases, the hand of man, regulated by laws which restrain
obstructions to navigation and injury to others, has aided and
expedited the operations of nature, by raising the bank which
she had begun, and redeeming the lands from the dominion of
the waters. The same thing has been done on the Missisipi.
An artificial bank of 3, 4, or 5 feet has been raised on the natural
one, has made that sufficient to contain its full waters, and
to protect a fertile and extensive country from its ravages. These
are become the real banks of the river, on which the
laws operate as if the whole was natural. The Nile,
like the Missisipi, has natural banks, not competent in every part
to the conveyance of its waters. In these parts artificial banks
are, in like manner, raised, through which and the natural bayous
and artificial canals the inundation, when at a given[99] height, is
admitted; this being indispensable to fertilize the lands in a
country where it never rains. And these banks of the Nile, natural
and artificial, are recognized as such by the Roman
law, as appears in *a passage of the Digest before cited,
declaring that its banks, tho' inundated periodically, are
not thereby changed. Nor are those of our rivers when temporarily
overflowed by rains, or other causes. Wherever therefore
the banks of the Missisipi have no high water line, the
objection is of no consequence, because the lands there are not
as yet reclaimed or inhabited; and wherever they are reclaimed,
the objection is not true; for there a high water line exists to
separate the private from public right.[100]
1. The Upper Missisipi, like the Upper Nile, has competent natural banks
through probably three fourths of its whole course. There then the Roman
law is applicable in its very letter. 2. For about 400 miles more, the
natural banks have been aided by artificial ones, on both sides, so as
to contain all the waters of the flumen plenissimum: and the inhabitants
there have no occasion as those of the Nile, to open their banks for the
purpose either of fertilizing, or irrigating the lands. Here then there
is still less reason, than in the case of the Nile, to say that 'the
Missisipi has changed its bank.' 3. On the lower parts of the Missisipi
and some of its middle portion, especially on the Western side, artificial
banks have not yet been made, and the country is regularly inundated,
as it is on those parts of our Atlantic rivers not yet embanked. But
our increasing population will continue to extend these banks of our
Atlantic rivers; and, for this purpose, our governments grant the lands
to individuals. And the same, we know, is done on the Missisipi. The
_Cypriores_ adjacent to New-Orleans, for example, though covered with the
refluent water from the lake, we know have been granted to individuals,
and will, with the rest of the drowned lands, be reclaimed in time, as
all lower Egypt has been.
Thus then we find the laws of the Tyber and Nile transferred and applied
to the Missisipi with perfect accordance, and that all rivers may be
governed by the same laws. Other rivers are subject to accidental floods,
which are declared however not to disturb the law of the _plenissimum
flumen_. The Nile and Missisipi, not being subject to accidental floods,
the _flumen plenissimum_ with them is steady and undisturbed, and needs not
the benefit of the exception. Nor will the reason of the law be changed,
whether the cause of the inundation be the saturation of the earth and
fountains, or rains, or melted snows, or the reflux of the ocean. The
principle remains universally the same, that the land mark, when once
established by a competent bank, is not changed by the inundation, or
by any cause or circumstance of its high waters.
[Sidenote: 52*]
[Sidenote: Property in bed and bank.]
*Having ascertained what the batture is not, and what it is,
and established the high water mark as the line of
partition between the bed and bank of the river, we
will proceed to examine to whom belongs ground on
either side of that line?
[Sidenote: 53*]
And 1. As to the bed of the river, there can be no question
but that it belongs purely and simply to the sovereign, as the
representative and trustee of the nation. If a navigable river
indeed deserts its bed, the Roman law gave it to the adjacent
proprietors;* the former law of France to the
sovereign; and the new Code gives it as an indemnity to those
through whose lands the new course is opened. But, while it is
occupied by the river, all laws, I believe, agree in giving it
to the sovereign; not as his personal property, to become an object
of revenue, or of alienation, but to be kept open for the free
use of all the individuals of the nation.
'Flumina omnia, et portus, publica sunt.' Inst. 2. 1. 2.
'Impossibile est ut alveus fluminis publici non sit publicus.'
Dig. 43. 12. 7.
'Litus publicum est eatenùs qua maximus fluctus exæstuat.'
Dig. 50. 16. 96. 112.
'All rivers and ports are public.'
'It is impossible that the bed of a public river should not
be public.'
'The seashore is public as far as the greatest wave surges.'
And 'littus' we have seen is the beach or shore of the sea.
'As to navigable streams and rivers, on which boats can ply,
the property of them is in the king, as an incontestable right,
naturally attached to the sovereignty; and since public things
belonged to the people in the Roman republic, amongst us [in
France] they must belong to our Sovereigns.' Julien, cited by
Thierry 10. And Prevost de la Jannès, in his Principles of
French Jurisprudence, after having said that the property of public
things belongs to the king adds 'subject to the use thereof
that is due to the people.' Thierry, ib.
In like manner, by the Common law of England, the property,
_tam aquæ quam soli_, of every river, having flux or reflux, or
susceptible of any navigation, is in the king; who cannot grant
it to a subject, because it is a highway, except for purposes which
will increase the convenience of navigation. 'The king has a
right of property to the sea shore, and the _maritima incrementa_.
The _shore_ is the land lying between high water and low water
mark in ordinary tides, and this land belongeth to the king
_de jure communi_, both in the shore of the sea, and shore of
the arms of the sea. And that is called an arm of the sea
where the tide flows and reflows, and so far only as the tide
flows and reflows.' Hale de jure maris. c. 4. cited in Bac. Abr.
Prærog. B. 3.
So that I presume no question is to be made but that the bed
of the Missisipi belongs to the sovereign, that is, to the Nation.
2. In the bank, from the high water line inland, it is admitted
that the property or ownership, is in the Riparian proprietor of
the adjacent field or farm: but the use is in the public, for the
purposes of navigation and other necessary uses.
[Sidenote: 54*]
'Riparum quoque usus publicus est jure gentium [i. e. gentis
humanæ] sicut ipsius fluminis: itaque naves ad eas appellere,
funes arboribus ibi natis religare, onus aliquod in his
reponere, cuilibet liberum est, sicut per ipsum flumen navigare.
Sed proprietas earum, illorum est, quorum prædiis hærent: quâ
de causâ arbores quoque in eisdem natæ corundem sunt.' Inst.
2. 1. 4. And Vinnius adds 'non ut litora maris, ita ripas,
conditionem fluminis sequi.'
'Publica sunt flumina, portus, alveus fluminis quamdiu à flumine
occupatus, ripæ. Harum rerum omnium, proprietas nullius, si
ripas exciperis, quarum proprietas eorum est qui propè ripam
prædia possidunt.' Vinnii Part. jur. L. 1. c. 17.
'The use of the bank is public by the law of nations [i. e.
of nature] as to navigate the river itself. Therefore it is
free for every *one to bring his ships to at them, to make
fast ropes to the trees growing there, to discharge any load
on them. But the property of them is in those to whose farms
they adhere; for which reason the trees likewise growing on
them, belong to the same.' And Vinnius adds 'the banks do not,
like the shores of the sea, follow the condition of the river.'
'Rivers, harbors, the beds of rivers as long as occupied by
the river, and the banks are public. The property of all these
is in no one, if you will except the banks, the property of
which is in those who possess the farms on the bank.'
'Rivers, streams, high roads belong to all men in common;
and although the soil of the banks of the rivers be an accession
to the property of the owners of the contiguous land, yet all men
may make use of them so far as to make fast their vessels to the
trees which grow there, to repair them, and spread their sails on
the banks; and they may there discharge their goods. Fishermen
have also a right to dry their nets there, to expose their fish
for sale on the banks, and in general to use them for every purpose
of their art, or the occupation by which they live.' 3 Part
id. 28. 6. cited Thierry 9.
'The same usefulness of the navigation of rivers demands the
free use of their banks, so that in the breadth and length necessary
for the passage and track of the horses which draw the boats,
there be neither tree planted nor any other obstacle in the way.'
Domat, Pub. law. 1. 8. 2. 9. To moor their vessels, spread their
sails, unlade, sell their fish, &c. are here mentioned for example
only, and not as a full enumeration of the variety of uses which,
flowing from the public rights, may be exercised by them. In
England it is said to have been decided that the public have no
_common-law_ right to tow upon the banks of navigable rivers. 3
Term. Rep. 253. cited Bac. Abr. highways A.
These authorities are so clear that they need no explanation.
The text is as plain as any commentary can make it.
[Sidenote: Limitations of the rights of property.]
[Sidenote: 55*]
But there is an important limitation to these rights. Every
individual is so to use them as not to obstruct others
in their equal enjoyment. The space every one occupies
on the bank or bed, as in a highway, a market,
a theatre, is his for reasonable temporary purposes,
but not to be held *permanently. The
adjacent landholder may repair or fortify his bank to
protect his land from inundation, but under the control of the
magistrate, that his neighbors be not injured. He cannot divert
the course of the stream, or even draw off water from it, to the
injury of the navigation; nor erect any work which shall incommode
the harbor or quai.
'Ne quid in flumine publico, ripâve ejus, facias, ne quid
in flumine publico, neve in ripa ejus immittas, quo statio,
iterve navigio deterior sit. Dig. L. 43. t. 12. 1. 1. Stationem
dicimus a statuendo: is igitur locus demonstratur, ubicunque
naves tutò stare possunt. ib. §. 13.
'Deterior statio, itemque iter navigio fieri videtur, si usus
ejus corrumpatur, vel difficilior fiat, aut minor, vel rarior,
aut si in totum auferatur. Proinde, sive derivatur aqua, ut
exiguior facta minus sit navigabilis, vel si dilatetur, aut
diffusa, brevem aquam faciat; vel contra sic coangustetur,
et rapidius flumen faciat; vel si quid aliud fiat, quod
navigationem incommodet, difficiliorem faciat, vel prorsus
impediat, interdicto locus erit.' Dig. 43. 12. 15.
'Molino, nin canal, nin casa, nin torre, nin cabaña, nin otro
edificio ninguno, non puede ninguno home facer nuevamente
en los rios por los quales los homes andan con sus navios,
nin en las riveras dellos, porque se embarrasse el uso comun
dellos. E si alguno lo ficiesse y de nuevo, ó fuesse fecho
antiguamente, de que viniesse daño al uso comunal, _debe
ser deribado_. Ca non seria cosa guisada que el pro de todos
los omes communalmente se estorbasse por la pro de algunos.'
Partidas. 3. 28. 8. cited Derb. 48. Poydras 12.
'You are not to do any thing in a public river, or on its
banks, you are not to cast any thing into a public river, or
on its banks, which may render the station, or course of a
ship worse. It is called a _station_, from statuere, to place:
that place is intended where ships may safely stay.
'The station and course of a ship seems to be rendered worse,
if its use be destroyed, or made more difficult, or less, or
scantier, or if it be wholly taken away. Moreover, if water
be drawn off, so that, being scantier, it is less navigable,
or if it be dilated, or spread out, so as to make the water
shallow, or if on the other hand it be so narrowed as to
make the river more rapid; or if any thing else be done which
incommodes the navigation, makes it worse, or wholly impedes
it, there is ground for Interdict.'
'Mill, nor canal, nor house, nor tower, nor cabin, nor other
building whatsoever, may any man make newly in the rivers
along which men go with their vessels, nor on their banks, by
which their common use may be embarrassed. And if any one does
it anew, or were it anciently done, so that injury is done
to the common use, it ought _to be destroyed_. For it would
not be meet that the benefit of all men in common should be
disturbed for the benefit of some.'
The owner of lands on the bank of a river may, however,
make or repair a bank to protect them from the river.
[Sidenote: 56*]
*'Quamvis fluminis naturalem cursum, opere manu facto alio,
non liceat avertere, tamen ripam suam adversus rapidi amnis
impetum, munire prohibitum, non est.' Codex L. 7. t. 41. §.
1.
'Although it is not allowed to turn the natural course of a
river by another made by hand, yet it is not prohibited to
guard one's bank against the force of a rapid river.'
But he is not permitted to do even this if it will affect the public
right, or injure the neighboring inhabitants.
'In flumine publico, inve ripâ ejus facere, aut in id flumen
ripamve immittere, quo _aliter_ aqua fluat quam priore æstate
fluxit, veto.'
'I forbid any thing to be done in a public river, or on its
bank, or to be cast into the river or on its bank, by which the
water may be Dig. L. 43. tit. 13. §. 1. made to flow otherwise
than it flowed in the last season.'
'Quod autem ait, _aliter_ fluat non ad quantitatem aquæ fluentis
pertinet, sed ad modum, et ad rigorem cursûs aquæ referendum
est. Et si quod aliud vitii aecolæ ex facto ejus qui convenitur
sentient, interdicto locus erit.' Ib. §. 3.
'When he says, _to flow otherwise_, it relates, not to the
quantity of water, but to the manner and direction of the course
of the water. And if the neighbors experience any other evil
from the act of him who is convened, there will be ground for
interdict.'
'Sunt qui putent excipiendum hoc interdicto "quod ejus ripæ
muniendæ causa non flet," seilicet ut si quid fiat quo aliter
aqua fluat, si tamen muniendæ ripæ causâ fiat, interdicto
locus non sit. Sed ne hoc quibusdam placet; neque enim ripæ,
cum incommodo accolentium, muniendæ sunt.' Ib. §. 6.
'Some think liable to this interdict only "what is not done
for the purpose of strengthening the bank," to wit, that if
any thing be done by which the water may otherwise flow, if
nevertheless it was to secure the bank, there is no ground for
interdict. But this is not approved by others, for that banks
are not to be secured to the inconvenience of the inhabitants.'
More particularly full and explicit as to the inhibitions of the
law against obstructing the bed, beach or bank of a sea or river,
is Noodt, Probabil. Juris civilis. 4. 1. 1. After declaring that as
to a house, or other such thing, built in a public river, the law is
the same as obtains as to the sea and sea shore, he proposes to
state, 1. The law respecting the sea and its shore, and 2. As it
respects a river and its bank; and says,
'Ait Celsus maris communem usum esse, ut aëris; jactasque in
id pilas fieri ejus qui jecit: sed id concedendum non esse,
si deterior litoris marisve usus eo modo futurus sit. Adeo hoc
quod in mari exstructum est, facientis est. Ut tamen exstruere
liceat, et _decreto opus est_, et _ut innoxia ædificatio
sit_. Porrò ut usus maris, ita usus litoris, sive communis,
sive publicus est jure gentium; et ideò licet unicuique
in litore ædificare, litusque ædificatione suum facere. Si
tamen, ut in mari, ita in litore, _impetravit_: præterea si
non eo modo deterior futurus sit usus litoris; vel nisi usus
publicus _impedietur_. Hoc in mari litoribus jus est. Idem in
fluminibus publicis, Ulpiano teste, Dig. 39. 2. 24. cum sic
ait, 'fluminium publicorum communis est usus, sicut viarum
publicarum et litorum. In his igitur _publicè_ licet cuilibet
ædificare, et distruere, dum tamen hoc sine incommodo cujusquam
fiat.' Vult tamen Ulpianus, ut ædificari possit, ædificari
_publicè_ et _sine cujusquam incommodo_; pariter ut in mari et
litore definitum: _publicè_ inquam, seu _publicâ auctoritate_;
id enim hoc verbum, _publicè_ indigitat.' And (§. 2.) citing
Dig. 43. 12. 4. he says, 'quæsitum est, an is, qui in utrâque
ripâ fluminis publici domus habeat, pontem privati juris [vel
privato jure] facere potest; respondit non posse. Et si facit,
interdicto teneri. Causa responsi est quod, cum pontem facit,
usum fluminis publici facit deteriorem.' So far Noodt.
[Sidenote: 57*]
'Celsus says that the use of the sea is common, as is that of
the air: and that stones laid in it were his who laid them,
but that it was not to be admitted if the use of the shore or
sea would be *the worse. So what is constructed in the sea is
his who constructs it. But to make it lawful to construct, a
decree is necessary, and that the construction be innocent.
Moreover, as the use of the sea, so that of the shore, is
either common or public, by the law of nations. And therefore
it is lawful for any one to build on the shore, and to make the
shore his by the building; if however, as in the sea, so on
the shore, he has obtained permission: and provided besides,
the use of the shore will not thereby be rendered worse, nor
the public use be impeded. This is the law as to the sea and
its shores. It is the same as to public rivers, according to
Ulpian, Dig. 39. 2. 24. where he says, 'the use of public rivers
is common, as of highways and shores. In these, therefore,
any one may build up, or pull down, _publicly_, provided it
be done without _inconvenience to any one_.' That you may
build, however, Ulpian requires that you build _publicly_,
and _without inconvenience_ to any one; in like manner as is
prescribed as to the sea, and its shore: _publicly_, I say, or
_by public authority_; for that is what the word _publicly_,
indicates. And §. 2. citing Dig. 43. 12. 4. he says, 'it is
asked whether he who has houses on both banks of the river,
may build a bridge, of his own private authority. He answers,
he cannot; and if he does, he is bound by the interdict. The
reason of the answer is, that by building a bridge he injures
the use of a public river.' So far Noodt.
[Sidenote: 58*]
* The same is the law as to highways and public places.
Dig. 43. 8. 2. 16.
'Si quis à principe simpliciter impetraverit ut in publico
loco ædificet, non est credendus sic ædificare ut cum incommodo
alicujus id fiat.'
'If any one obtains leave, simply, from the prince, to build
in a public place, it is not to be understood he is so to
build as to incommode another.'
We see then that the Roman law not only forbade every species
of construction or work on the bed, beach or bank of a sea
or river, without regular permission from the proper officer, but
even annuls the permission after it is given, if, in event, the work
proves injurious; not abandoning the lives and properties of its
citizens to the ignorance, the facility, or the corruption, of any
officer. Indeed, without all this appeal to such learned authorities,
does not common sense, the foundation of all authorities, of the
laws themselves, and of their construction, declare it impossible
that Mr. Livingston, a single individual, should have a lawful
right to drown the city of New-Orleans, or to injure, or change,
of his own authority, the course or current of a river which is to
give outlet to the productions of two-thirds of the whole area of
the United States?
Such, then, are the laws of Louisiana, declaratory of the public
rights in navigable rivers, their beds and banks. For we
must ever bear in mind that the Roman law, from which these
extracts are made, so far as it is not controlled by the Customs
of Paris, the Ordinances of France, or the Spanish regulations,
is the law of Louisiana. Nor does this law deal in precept only,
or trust the public rights to the dead letter of law merely: it
provides also for enforcement. The Digest. L. 43. tit. 15. de
ripâ muniendâ; provides
§. 1. 'Ripas fluminum publicorum reficere, munire, utilissimum
est,--_dùm ne ob id navigatio deterior fiat_: illa enim sola
refectio toleranda est, quæ navigationi non est impedimento.'
§. 1. 'To repair and strengthen the banks of public rivers,
is most useful: provided the navigation be not by that
deteriorated; for those repairs alone are to be permitted
which do not impede the navigation.'
[Sidenote: Surety.]
[Sidenote: 59*]
§. 3. 'Is autem qui ripam vult munire, de damno futuro debet
vel cavere, vel satisdare, secundum qualitatem personæ. Et hoc
interdicto expressum est, ut damni infecti, in annos decem,
viri boni arbitratu, vel caveatur, vel satisdetur.'
§. 3. But he who would strengthen his bank, should give either
an engagement, or security against future injury, according
to the quality of the person. And this *interdict establishes
that the engagement, or security, against future injury, shall
be for ten years, by the opinion of a good man.'
§. 4. 'Dabitur autem satis vicinis; sed et his qui trans flumen
possidebunt.
§. 4. 'Security shall be given to the neighbors, and also to
possessors on the other side of the river.'
'Ne quid in loco publico facias, inve cum locum immittas, quâ
ex re quid illi damni detur. Dig. 43. 8. 2. Ad ea loca hoc
interdictum pertinet, quæ publico usui destinata noceret, Prætor
intercederet interdicto suo. §. 5. Adversus eum qui molem in
mare projecit, interdictum utile competit ei, cui forte hæc
res nocitura sit: si autem nemo damnum sentit, tuendus est is,
qui in litore ædificat vel molem in mare jacit. §. 8.--Damnum
autem pati videtur, qui commodum amittit, quod ex publico
consequebatur, qualequale sit. §. 11.--Si tamen nullum opus
factum fuerit, officio judicis continetur, ut caveatur non
fieri.' §. 18.
'You are to do nothing in any public place, nor to cast any
thing into that place, from which any damage may follow. This
interdict respects those places, which are destined for public
use: and that if anything be there done, which may injure an
individual, the Prætor may interpose by his interdict.--Against
him who projects a mole into the sea, the _interdictum utile_
lies for him to whom this may possibly do injury, but if
nobody sustains damage, he is to be protected who builds on
the sea shore, or projects a mole into the sea.--And he seems
to suffer injury who loses any convenience, which he derived
from the public, whatsoever it may be.--But if no work is
done, he should be constrained by the authority of the judge
to engage that none shall be done.'
'Seeing the use of rivers belongs to the public, nobody can
make any change in them that may be of prejudice to the said
use. Thus one cannot do any thing to make the current of the
water slower, or more rapid, should this change be any way prejudicial
to the public, or to particular persons. Thus although
one may divert the water of a brook, or a river, to water his
meadows or other grounds, or for mills and other uses; yet,
every one ought to use this liberty so as not to do any prejudice,
either to the navigation of the river, whose waters he should
turn aside, or the navigation of another river which the said water
should render navigable by discharging itself into it, or to any
other public use, or to neighbors who should have a like want,
and an equal right.' Dom. Pub. law. 1. 8. 2. 11.
[Sidenote: 60*]
*The same laws make it peculiarly incumbent on the government
and its officers to watch over the public property
and rights, and to see that they are not injured or intruded
on by private individuals. In order to preserve the
navigation of rivers, it is proper for the government to prohibit
and punish all attempts which might hinder it, or render it inconvenient,
whether it be any buildings, fisheries, stakes, floodgates
and other hindrances, or by diverting the water from the
course of the rivers, or otherwise. And it is likewise forbidden
to throw into the rivers any filth, dirt or other things, which
might be of prejudice to the navigation, or cause other inconveniences.'
Dom. Pub. L. 1. 8. 2. 8.
'Quoique la mer et ses bords soient, suivant les principes du
droit naturel, des choses publiques et communes à tous, avec
faculté à chacun d'en user selon sa destination, neanmoins
il ne doit pas étre permis aux uns d'en jouir au préjudice
des autres. Ainsi pour prévenir les inconveniens qui seroient
résultés de la liberté d'user de la chose commune, il a fallu
que cette liberté fut limitée par la puissance publique, ainsi
que s'en explique Domat, &c. Nouv. Comment. sur l'orden. de
1681. tit. 7. art. 2. Note.
'Although the sea and its shores, according to the principles
of natural law, are things public and common to all, with
liberty to every one to use them according to their destination,
nevertheless it ought not to be permitted to some to enjoy
them to the prejudice of others. Therefore to prevent the
inconveniences which would result from the liberty of using
the public property, it is necessary that that liberty be
limited by the public authority, as explained by Domat,' &c.
'It is likewise agreeable to the law of nature, that this liberty,
which is common to all, being a continual occasion of quarrels,
and of many bad consequences, should be regulated in some
manner or other; and there could be no regulation more equitable,
nor more natural, than leaving it to the sovereign to provide
against the said inconveniences. For as he is charged
with the care of the public peace and tranquillity, as it is to him
the care of the order and government of the society belongs, and
it is only in his person that the right to the things which may
belong in common to the public, of which he is the head, can
reside; he therefore as head of the commonwealth, ought to
have the dispensation and exercise of this right, that he may
render it useful to the public. And it is on this foundation that
the Ordinances of France have regulated the use of navigation,
and of fishing, in the sea and in rivers.' Dom. P. L. 1. 8. 2. 1.
note. Observe that the work of Domat was published
in 1689, and he died in 1696. *Dict. hist. par une société.
_verbo_ Domat. We know then from him the state
of the laws of France, at a period a little anterior only to the establishment
of the colony of Louisiana, and the transfer of the
laws of France to that colony by its charter of 1712.
[Sidenote: 61*]
[Sidenote: Levées and Police of Missisipi.]
To the provisions which have been thus made by the Roman
and French laws and transferred to Louisiana, no particular additions,
by either the French or Spanish government, have been
produced on the present occasion. We know the fact, and thence
infer the law, that from a very early period, the governors of
that province were attentive especially to whatever respected the
harbor of New-Orleans, which included the grounds now in
question. We see them forbidding inclosures, or buildings on
them, pulling down those built, publishing bans against future
erections, forbidding earth for buildings and streets to be taken
from the shore adjacent to the city, and assigning the beach Ste.
Marie for that purpose, protecting all individuals in the equal
use of it as a Quai, in which cares and superintendence the Cabildo
or City Council, participated; and on the change of government
we see that council pass an Ordinance declaratory of the
limits of the port of N. Orleans, and come forward in defence
of the public rights, in the first moment of J. Gravier's intrusion,
by pulling down his inclosure, and when that intrusion under
the enterprise of Mr. Livingston, assumed a more serious aspect,
they, as municipal guardians of the interests of the city, made
an immediate appeal to the Judiciary, the Executive, and Legislative
authorities. In addition, too, to the French
laws for the protection of the bed and bank of the
river, the territorial legislature, on the 15th of Feb.
1808, passed an Act, reciting that inasmuch as 'the common
safety of the inhabitants of the shores of the river Missisipi depends
not only on the good condition of the levées or embankments,
which contain the waters of the said river; but also on
the strict observance of the laws concerning the police of rivers
and their banks, _which are in force in this territory_, and by
which it is forbidden to make on the shores of the rivers, any
work tending to alter the course of the waters, or increase their
rapidity, or to make their navigation less convenient, or the anchorage
less sure, [almost in the words of the Roman law, 'ne
quid in flumine publico'] they therefore enact that no levée shall
be made in front of those which exist at present, but on an inquisition
by 12 inhabitants, proprietors of plantations situate on
the banks of the river, convoked for that purpose, by the Parish
judge; that no such levée, which at the present time of passing
this act shall happen to be commenced in front of others already
existing, shall be continued or finished without a
like authorization;* that those who act in contravention
shall be fined 100 dols. for every offence in contravention,
and pay the expenses of removing the nuisance, and costs
of suit; and prohibiting the receiving compensation for the use
of the shores under a penalty of 500 dols. A law of wonderful,
not to say imprudent and dangerous tenderness to the riparian
proprietors, who are thus made the sole judges in cases where
their own personal interests may be in direct opposition to the
interests, and even the safety of the city, to which it gives no
participation or control over the power which may devote it to
destruction.
[Sidenote: 62*]
This act is partly declaratory of the existing law, and partly
additional. Application to the Prætor was under the Roman
law (Dig. 43. 13. 6.) for permission to fortify a bank for the
protection of a farm. He might refuse permission if injurious;
but if he thought it would not be injurious, the party was to
give security to make good all damages which should accrue
within ten years; and this security was for the protection, not
only of immediate neighbors, but of those also on the opposite
bank 'trans flumen possidentibus.' The Governor and Cabildo
seem to have held this Prætorian power in Louisiana, as well as
that of demolishing what was unlawfully erected. This act of
the Legislature, without taking the power from the Governor
and City Council, gave a concurrent power to the parish judge,
and a jury of 12 riparians: and without dispensing with the
security required by the existing law, adds penalties against contraveners.
And surely it is the territorial legislature, which not only has
the power, but is under the urgent duty, of providing regulations
for the government of this river and its inhabitants, regulations
adapted to their present political regulations, as well as to the
peculiar character and circumstances of the river, and the adjacent
country. Their power is amply given in the act of Congress
of 1804. c. 38. §. 11. 'The laws in force in the said
territory at the commencement of this act, and not inconsistent
with the provisions thereof, shall continue in force, until altered,
modified, or repealed by the legislature. §. 4. The Governor,
by and with advice and consent of the said legislative council,
or of a majority of them, shall have power to alter, modify, and
repeal the laws which may be in force at the commencement of
this act. Their legislative powers shall extend to all the rightful
subjects of legislation;' with special exceptions, none of which
take away the authority to legislate for the police of the river.
And if ever there was a rightful subject of legislation, it is that
of restraining greedy individuals from destroying the country by
inundation.
[Sidenote: Suspension of Liv.'s works, by whom?]
[Sidenote: 63*]
And here it must be noted that Mr. Livingston's works were
arrested by the Marshal and posse comitatus, by an
order from the Secretary of State on the *25th of
January 1808, and on the 15th of the ensuing
month, the legislature took the business into the
hands of their own government, by passing this act.
From this moment it was in Mr. Livingston's power to resume
his works, by obtaining permission from the legal authority.
The suspension of his works therefore by the general government
was only during these 21 days.
[Sidenote: Their nature.]
[Sidenote: 64*]
That Mr. Livingston's works were clearly within the interdict
of the Roman, the French, and the Spanish laws, which forbid
the extending a mole into the water, constructing in it mills,
floodgates, canals, towers, houses, cabins, fisheries, stakes or other
things which may obstruct or embarrass the use, will
result from a brief recapitulation of their character
and effects, drawn from the statement before given. For it is
not to establish a mill, which, though an intrusion would be but
a partial one: it is not to erect a temporary cabin or fisherman's
hut, which would be a minor obstacle: but it is to take from the
city and the nation what is their port in high water, and at low
tide their Quai; to leave them not a spot where the upper craft
can land or lie in safety; to turn the current of the river on the
lower suburbs and plantations; to embank the whole of this extensive
beach; to take off a fourth from the breadth of the river,
and add equivalently to the rise of its waters; to demolish thus
the whole levée, and sweep away the town and country in undistinguished
ruin. And this not as a matter of theory alone,
but of experience: the fact being known that since the embankment
of the river on both sides through a space of three or four
hundred miles the floods are two or three feet higher than before
that embankment. In fine, should they have time to save themselves
from inundation by doubling the height and breadth of
their levée, it is that they may fall victims to the pestilential diseases
which, under their fervid sun, will be generated by the
putrefying mass with which he is to raise up the foundation between
the old and new embankments. But, has he entitled himself
to attain these humane achievements by fulfilling the preliminary
requisites of the law? Has he obtained the Prætorian,
or Pro-Prætorian license, that of the governor and city council,
to erect this embankment? Has he given security for all the
damages which shall be occasioned by his works for ten years?
Has he even carried his case before a jury of 12 brother riparians?
Or does he fear to trust it even to those having similar interests
with himself? lest the virtuous feelings of compunction for the
fate of their fellow citizens should scout his proposition with
honest indignation? And yet, until this permission, every spadeful
of earth he moved was an outrage on the law, and on the
public peace and safety, which called for immediate suppression*.
What was to be done with such an aggressor? Shall we answer
in the words of the Imperial edict, on a similar occasion,
that of breaking the banks of the Nile? Cod. 9. 38. 'Flammis
eo loco consumatur, in quo vetustatis reverentiam,
et propemodum ipsius imperii appetierit securitatem; consciis et
consortibus ejus deportatione constringendis; sic ut nunquam supplicandi,
eis, vel recipiendi civitatem vel dignitatem, vel substantiam,
licentia tribuatur.' 'Let him be consumed by the flames
in that spot in which he violated the reverence of antiquity, and
the safety of the empire, let his accessories and accomplices be
cut off by deportation from the possibility of supplicating forgiveness,
or of being restored to country, dignity and possessions.'
Our horror is not the less because our laws are more
lenient.
[Sidenote: Remedies.]
Such, then, were the facts, and such the state of the law, on
which we were called, and repeatedly and urgently
called to decide: not indeed in all the fulness in
which they have since appeared, but sufficiently manifested to
show that an atrocious enterprise was in a course of execution,
which if not promptly arrested, would end in a desolation for
which we could never answer. The question before us was,
What is to be done? What remedy can we apply, authorized
by the laws, and prompt enough to arrest the mischief?
[Sidenote: Abatement of Nuisance.]
[Sidenote: 65*]
1. Were the case within the jurisdiction of our own laws, its
character and remedy would be obvious enough. A
navigable river is a high way, along which all are
free to pass. And as the obstructing a highway on
the land, by ditches or hedges, or logs across it, or erecting a
gate across it, is a common nuisance, so to weaken injuriously
the current of a river, by drawing off a part of its water, to obstruct
it by moles, dykes, weirs, piles, or otherwise, is a common
nuisance; and all authorities agree, that every one is allowed to
remove or destroy a common nuisance. Hawkins, P. C. 1. 75.
12. The Marshal and posse, instead of pleading the order from
the Secretary of State, have a right to say 'we did this as citizens,
and the law is our authority:' and it would really be singular
if, what every man may, or may not do, at his pleasure, the
magistrate who is sworn to see the law executed, and is charged
with the care of the public property and rights, is alone prohibited
from doing; or if his order should vitiate an act which
without it would have been lawful, or which he might have
executed in person. It would be equally singular, and equally
absurd, that the law should punish the magistrate for hindering
Mr. Livingston from doing what itself had forbidden and would
punish, and reward him with damages for having been
restrained *from what they had forbidden him to do.
The law makes it a duty in a bystander to lay hands on
a man who is beating another in the street, and to take him off.
And yet it is proposed that the same law shall punish him for
taking off one who was engaged, not in beating a single individual,
but in drowning a whole city and country. This is not
our law; it is not the law of reason; and I am persuaded it is no
part of a system emphatically called _ratio scripta_. If it is, let
the law be produced. Until it is, we hold every man authorized
to stay a wrongdoer, in the commission of a wrong, in which
himself and all others are interested.
[Sidenote: Forcible entry.]
2. By nature's law, every man has a right to seize and retake
by force, his own property, taken from him by another,
by force or fraud. Nor is this natural right
among the first which is taken into the hands of regular government,
after it is instituted. It was long retained by our ancestors.
It was a part of their Common law, laid down in their
books, recognised by all the authorities, and regulated as to certain
circumstances of practice. Lambard, in his Eirenarcha. B.
2. e. 4. says, 'it seemeth that (before the troublesome raigne of
king Richard the second,) the Common law permitted any person
(which had good right or title to enter into any land,) to win
the possession by force, if otherwise he could not have obtained
it. For a man may see, (in Britton fo. 115.) that a certain respite
of time was given to the disseisee, (according to his distance
and absence,) in which it was lawful for him to gather force,
armes, and his friends, and to throw the disseisor out of his
wrongful possession.' Hawkins in his Pleas of the crown, and
all the Abridgements and Digests of the law say the same: but,
not to take it at second hand, we will recur to the earliest authorities,
written while it was yet the law of the land. Fleta in the
time of E. 1. writes,
'Si facta fuerit diseissina, primum et principale competit
remedium quod ille qui ita disseisitus est, per se, si possit,
vel sumptis viribus, vel resumptis (dum tamen sine aliquo
intervallo, flagrante disseisinâ et maleficio) rejiciat
spoliantem. Quem si nullo modo expellere possit, ad superioris
auxilium erit recurrendum. Si autem verus possessor absens
fuerit, tunc locorum distantia distinguere oportebit, secundem
quod fuerit propè vel longè, quo tempore viz. scire potuit
disseisinam esse factam, ut sic, allocatis ei rationabilibus
dilationibus, primo die cum venerit, statim suum dejiciat
disseisitorem; qui, si primo die, non possit, in crastino, vel
die tertio vel ulterius, dum tamen sine fictitiâ, hoc facere
poterit, vires sibi resumendo, arma colligendo, auxiliumque
amicorum convocando.' Fleta L. 4. c. 2. And Bracton L. 4. c.
6. in almost totidem verbis; and Britton 'le premer remedie
pour disseisine est al disseisi de recollier amys et force et
sauns delay faire (après ceo que il le purra saver) egetter
les disseisours.' Britton c. 44.
[Sidenote: 66*]
'If a disseisin has been committed, a first and principal
remedy lies, that he who has been so disseised, by himself, if
he can, or taking force, and retaking, (provided it be without
any interval, the disseisin and wrong being yet flagrant,)
may eject the spoliator. Whom, if he can by no means expel,
resort is to be had to the assistance of a superior. But if
the rightful possessor were absent, then, regard must *be had
to the distance of the places, according as it was near or far
off, at what time, for instance, he could know that a disseisin
had been committed, that so, reasonable delays being allowed
him, on the first day when he comes, he may immediately eject
the disseisor, which if he cannot do on the first day, he may
on the morrow, or third day, or later, provided however he
do it without false pretences, by taking to himself force,
collecting arms, and calling in the aid of his friends.' And
Bracton L. 4. c. 6. almost in the same words; and Britton
says, 'The first remedy for disseisin is for the disseisee to
collect his friends and force, and without delay, (after he
may know of it,) to eject the disseisors.'
This right, as to real property, was first restrained in England
by a statute of the 5. R. 2. c. 7. which forbade entry into lands
with strong hand; and another of the same reign, 15. R. 2. c. 2.
authorized immediate restitution to the wrong doer, put out by
forcible entry. And even at this day, in an _action_ of trespass,
for an entry, _vi et armis_, if the defendant makes good title, he
is maintained in his possession, and the plaintiff recovers no
damages for the force. Lambard 2. 4. Hawk. P. C. 1. 64. 3.
And in like manner, the natural right of recaption by force still
exists, as to personal goods, and the validity of their recaption.
Hawk. 1. 64. 1. Kelway 92. is express. Blackstone, indeed, 3.
1. 2. limits the right of recaption to a peaceable one, not amounting
to a breach of the peace; meaning, I presume, that the recaptor
by force may be punished for the breach of the peace.
So may the defendant in trespass for an entry _vi et armis_. Yet
in an _action_ of detinue for the personal thing retaken by force,
the first wrong doer cannot recover it, nor damages for the recaption,
any more than in the case of trespass for lands. So that
to this day the law supports the right of recaption, as between
the parties, although it will punish the public offence of a breach
of the peace.
[Sidenote: Roman law.]
[Sidenote: 67*]
When this natural right was first restrained among the Romans,
I am not versed enough in their laws to say.
It was not by the laws of the XII tables, which continued
*long their only laws. From the expression
of the Institute, '_divalibus constitutionibus_,' I should
infer it was first restrained by some of the Emperors, predecessors
of Justinian. L. 4. t. 2. §. 2.
'Divalibus constitutionibus prospectum est, ut nemini liceat
vi rapere vel rem mobilem, vel se moventem, licet suam eandem
rem existimat. Quod non solum in mobilibus rebus, quæ rapi
possunt, constitutiones obtinere censuerunt, sed etiam in
invasionibus, quæ circa res soli fiunt.'
'By the Imperial constitutions it is provided that no one shall
take by force a thing either moveable, or moving, although he
considers it as his own. Which the constitutions have ordained
to take place, not only in moveable things, which may be taken,
but also in intrusions which are made into lands.'
But I believe that no nation has ever yet restrained itself in
the exercise of this natural right of reseising its own possessions,
or bound up its own hands in the manacles and cavils of litigation.
It takes possession of its own at short hand, and gives to
the private claimant a specified mode of preferring his claim.
There are cases, of particular circumstance, where the sovereign,
as by the English law, must institute a previous inquest: but in
general cases as the present, he enters at once on what belongs
to his nation. This is the law of England. 'Whenever the
king's [i.e. the nation's] title appears of record, or a possession
in law be called upon him by descent, escheat, &c., he may
enter without an office found: for if his title appear any way of
record, it is as good as if it were found by office: and if any one
enter on him, even before his entry made, he is an intruder; he
cannot gain any freehold in the land, nor does he put the king
to an assize or ejectment, or take away his right of entry: for
he cannot be disseised but by record. Stamford. Prærogativa
regis. 56. 57. Com. Dig. Prærog. D. 71. the substance of the
authorities cited.
[Sidenote: Squatters.]
[Sidenote: 68*]
[Sidenote: Jurisdiction in whom.]
[Sidenote: When it results to Courts.]
What are the prescriptions of the Roman law in this case, I do
not know; nor are they material but inasmuch as they may be
the law of the case in Louisiana. A Spanish law before cited,
p. 55. forbidding erections on the beds, or on the banks of rivers,
says expressly, 'si alguno lo ficiese debe ser deribado.' 'If any
one does it, it is to be destroyed.' And the constant practice of
the Governors of demolishing such erections was the best evidence
of the law we could obtain. Not skilled in their laws
ourselves, we had certainly a right to consider the Governor and
Cabildo as competent expositors of them, and as acting under
their justification and prescription. We might reasonably
think ourselves safe *in their opinions of their own law.
In fact, if the immediate entry was permitted by the English
law, and our own, we thought we might, _à fortiori_, conclude
it permitted by those of the province. We had before
us too the example of many of the states, and of
the general government itself, which have never hesitated to remove
by force the Squatters and intruders on the public lands.[101]
Indeed if the nation were put to action against every Squatter,
for the recovery of their lands, we should only have lawsuits,
not lands for sale. While troops are on parade, should intruders
take possession of their barracks, and shut the doors, are they to
remain in the open air till an action, or even a writ of forcible
entry replace them in their quarters? if in the interval of a daily
adjournment, intruders take possession of the capitol, may not
Congress take their seats again till an inquisition and posse shall
reintroduce them? let him who can, draw a line between
these cases. The correct doctrine is that so
long as the nation holds lands in its own possession,
so long they are under the jurisdiction of no court, but by special
provision. The United States cannot be sued. The nation, by
its immediate representatives, administers justice itself to all who
have claims upon the public property. Hence the numerous petitions
which occupy so much of every session of Congress in
cases which have not been confided to the courts. But when
once they have granted the lands to individuals,
then the jurisdiction of the courts over them commences.
They fall then into the common mass of
matter justiciable before the courts. If the public has granted
lands to B. which were the legal property of A., A. may bring
his action against B. and the courts are competent to do him
justice. The moment B. attempts to take possession of A.'s
lands, the writ of forcible entry, the action of trespass or ejectment,
and the Chancery process, furnish him a choice of remedies.
The holders of property therefore are safe against individuals
by the law; and they are safe against the Nation by its
own justice: and all the alarm which some have endeavored to
excite on this subject has been merely _ad captandum populum_.
As if the people would not be safe in their own hands, or in
those of their representatives; or safer in the hands of irresponsible
judges, than of persons elected by themselves annually or
biannually. The truth is, no injury can be done to any man
by another acting either in his own or a public character, which
may not be redressed by application to the proper organ to
which that portion of the administration of justice has been assigned.
[Sidenote: Act of Congress.]
[Sidenote: 69*]
[Sidenote: Remitter.]
[Sidenote: 70*]
3. Our third and conclusive remedy was that prescribed by
the act of Congress of 1807. c. 91. to prevent *settlements
on lands ceded to the U. S. The Executive
had been indulgent, perhaps remiss, in not removing
Squatters from the public lands, under the general
principles of law before explained and habitually acted on. This
act therefore was a recent call on them to a more vigilant performance
of their duty, in the special district of country lately
ceded to them by France, with some modifications of its exercise
on previous settlers. The act has two distinct classes of
Intruders in view. 1. Those who, _before the passing of the act_,
had possessed themselves of the lands, and were actually resident
on them at the passing it: and 2. Those who should take possession
_after the passage of the act_. 1. With respect to the class
of Intruders _before_ the passage of the act, the 2d section provides
that, on renouncing all claim, they may obtain from the register
or recorder, permission to remain on the lands, extending their
occupation to 320 acres, §. 8. which permissions are to be recorded:
but, §. 4. those not obtaining permission are, on three
months' notice, to be removed by the marshal. But Mr. Livingston
was much too wise to qualify himself for the benefit of these
sections, by an actual residence on the batture. _His_ part of the
act therefore is the first section which enacts that 'if any person
shall take possession of any lands ceded to the U. S. by treaty,
he shall forfeit all right to them if any he hath; and it shall be
lawful for the President of the U. S. to direct the Marshal, or
the military, to remove him from the lands. Providing however
that this removal shall not affect his claim until the Commissioners
shall have made their reports, and Congress decided thereon.'
The tribunal to which the legislature had specially delegated a
power to take cognizance of the claims on the public lands in
Orleans, and to inform them what lands were clear of claim, and
free to be granted to our citizens, was a board of Commissioners:
and the plain words and scope of the law were, to keep all
claims and prior possessions _in statu quo_, until they could be
investigated by these Commissioners, reported, and decided on by
Congress. And this act indulgently provides that the right of a
person removed by the Executive for irregularly taking possession
of lands which he thought his own, should not be affected
by this removal, but that he might still lay his claim before the
Commissioners, and Congress would decide on it. Mr. Livingston's
claim was clearly within the purview of the law. It was
of lands 'ceded to the U. S. by treaty,' and he had 'taken possession
of them _after the passage of the act_.' For the decree
of the court was not till May 23, '07, and his possession was
subsequent to that. If he should say, as his counsel
seems to intimate, Opinions LXVII. that this
was a _remitter_ to him of the ancient possession* of
Bertrand Gravier, I answer that it was no remitter
against any one, because the case was _coram non judice_, as will
be shown, and still less against the U. S. who were no parties to
the suit: and if it had been a remitter, then I should have observed
that the order has been executed on a person not comprehended
in it; for it was expressly restrained to possessions taken
after the 3d of March '07, in that case the Marshal must justify
himself, not under the order, but his personal right to remove a
nuisance. But investigations, reports, and decisions of Congress
were dangerous. It was safer to be his own judge, to seize
boldly, and put the public on the defensive. He seizes the
ground he claims, and refers his title to no competent tribunal.
When ousted, according to the injunctions of the statute, and
repossession taken on behalf of the U. S. he passes by the preparatory
tribunal of the Commissioners, and endeavors to obtain
a decision on his case by Congress, in the first instance: in this
too he has been disappointed. Congress have maintained the
ground taken under the statute; and Mr. Livingston now demands
the value of the lands from the magistrate on whom devolved
the duty of executing the statute.
[Sidenote: Recapitulation.]
Taking now a brief review of the whole ground we have
gone over, we may judge of the correctness of the
decision of the Cabinet, as to their duty in this case.
I trust it will appear to every candid and unbiassed mind, that
they were not mistaken in believing
That the Customs of Paris, the Ordinances of the French
government, the Roman law as a supplement to both, with the
special acts of the Spanish and American legislatures, composed
that system of law which was to govern their proceedings.
That, were this a case of Alluvion, the French law gives it to
the Sovereign in all cases; and the Roman law to the private
holder of _rural_ possessions only.
That Bertrand Gravier had converted his plantations into a
fauxbourg, and appendage of the city of New-Orleans; with the
_previous_ sanction of the Spanish government, according to
his own declarations, by which those claiming under him are
as much bound, as if made by themselves; and certainly by its
_subsequent_ formal recognitions, and confirmations, which
acted retrospectively; and the character of the ground being
thus changed from a Rural to an Urban possession, the Roman
law of Alluvion does not act on it. Recapitulation.
[Sidenote: 71*]
That even had his ground retained its _rural_ character, and
admitting that the grant to him '_face au fleuve_' conveyed
the lands to the water's edge, his sales, '_face au fleuve_'
conveyed to his* purchasers the same right which the same terms
had brought to him, and they, and not the plaintiff, now hold
the rights of B. Gravier, whatever they were.
That John Gravier having elected to take the estate as a
purchaser by inventory and appraisement, the Batture, if
Bertrand's, was not in that inventory, nor consequently
purchased by John Gravier.
That the deed from him to De la Bigarre was fraudulent and void,
as well by the _lex loci_, as on the face of the transaction.
That the decision of the court in his favor could in no wise
concern the United States, who were neither parties to the
suit, nor amenable to the jurisdiction.
And, consequently, that under all these views of the French
law: the Roman law, the conveyances '_face au fleuve_,' the
purchase by inventory, and the fraudulency of the deed to
Bigarre, the plaintiff's claim is totally unfounded. And, if
void by any one of them, it is as good as if void by every one.
But it has appeared further that the batture had not a single
characteristic of alluvion:
That the _bank_ of a river is only what is above the high
water mark:
That all below that mark is _bed_, or alveus, of which the
batture is that portion between the high and low water mark,
which we call the _beach_:
That it serves, as other beaches do, for a port while covered,
and Quai uncovered: and it is the only port in the vicinity
of the city which river craft can use.
That, as a part of the _bed_ of the river, it is purely public
property.
That it is not lawful for an individual to erect, on either
the bed or bank of a river, any works which may affect the
convenience of navigation, of the harbor or Quai, or endanger
adjacent proprietors on either side of the river.
That though it is permissible to guard our own grounds against
the current of the river, yet, so only, as to be consistent
with the convenience and safety of others.
That of this the legal magistrates are to be judges in the first
instance; but even _their_ errors are to be guarded against
by an indemnification for all damages which shall actually
accrue to individuals within a given time.
[Sidenote: 72*]
That Mr. Livingston's works, in a single flood, had given
alarming extent, both in breadth and height, to the batture:
had turned the efforts of the river against the lower suburbs,
and habitations, not before exposed to them; that they would
deprive the public of what was their Quai in low water, and
harbor* in times of flood: that, by narrowing the river one
fourth, it must raise it in an equivalent proportion, to
discharge its waters: that this would sweep away the levée,
city, and country, or quadruple the bulk of the levée, and
the increased danger to which that would expose it: and,
even then, would infect the city, by the putridity of the new
congestions, with pestilential diseases, to which its climate
is already too much predisposed.
That Mr. Livingston was doing all this, of his own authority,
without asking permission from the public magistrate, or giving
any security for the indemnity of injured citizens:
That under the pressure of these dangers, the Executive of
the nation was called on to do his duty, and to extend the
protection of the law to those against whose safety these
outrages were directed:
And that the authorities given by the laws, 1. For preventing
obstructions in the beds, or banks of rivers, 2. For re-seizing
public property intruded on; and 3. For removing intruders
from it by force, were adequate to the object, if promptly
interposed.
[Sidenote: Orders of the Government.]
[Sidenote: Proceedings under them.]
[Sidenote: 73*]
On duly weighing the information before us, which though
not as ample as has since been received, was abundantly
sufficient to satisfy us of the facts, and has
been confirmed by all subsequent testimony, we were
all unanimously of opinion, that we were authorized, and in duty
bound, without delay, to arrest the aggressions of Mr. Livingston
on the public rights, and on the peace and safety of the city
of New-Orleans, and that orders should be immediately dispatched
for that purpose, restrained to intruders since the passage
of the act of March 3. The Secretary of State accordingly
wrote the letter of Nov. 30, to the Governor, covering instructions
for the Marshal to remove immediately, by the civil power,
any persons from the batture Ste. Marie, who had taken possession
since the 3d of March, and authorising the Governor, if
necessary, to use military force; for which purpose a letter of the
same date was written by the Secretary at war to the commanding
officer at New-Orleans. This force however was not called
on. The instructions to the Marshal were delivered to him
about 9 o'clock in the morning of the 25th of Jan. 1808. [Dorgenoy's
letter to the Governor] He immediately went to the
beach, and ordered off Mr. Livingston's laborers.
They obeyed, but soon after returned. On being
ordered off a second time, the principal person told
him that he was commanded by Mr. Livingston not to give up
the batture until an adequate armed force should compel him.
And, in the mean time, Mr. Livingston had procured,
from a single judge of the superior court of the territory,*
an order, purporting to be an injunction, forbidding the
marshal to disturb Edward Livingston in his possession of the
batture, under pain of a contempt of court. The marshal, placed
between contradictory orders, of the national government as to
the property of the nation, and a territorial judge without jurisdiction
over it, obeyed the former; collected a posse comitatus,
ordered off the laborers again, who peaceably retired; and no
further attempts were afterwards made to recommence the work.
[Sidenote: Chancery Jurisdiction.]
[Sidenote: 74*]
I have said that the marshal received an order, purporting to
be an injunction. An authoritative injunction it
could not be; because that is a Chancery process,
and no Chancery jurisdiction has been given by any
law to the superior court of that territory. Its judges were first
established by the act of Congress of 1804. c. 38. with commissions
for four years, and certain specified powers, which it is
unnecessary to state, because an act of March 2, of the next
year, c. 83. established, in that territory, 'a government in all
respects similar to that exercised in the Missisipi territory,' which
government had been established by an act of 1798. c. 5. 'in
all respects similar to that in the territory North-west of the
Ohio.' So that we are to find all their powers in the Ordinance
of 1787, for the North-Western territory, in which are the following
words. 'There shall be appointed a court to consist of
three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have
_a common law jurisdiction_, and their commissions shall continue
in force during good behavior.' And again 'The inhabitants of
the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the
writ of _Habeas corpus_, and of the trial by jury.' New commissions
were accordingly given to the judges appointed under
the first law, and, instead of their former powers, they were now
to have _a common law jurisdiction_. By these words certainly
no _chancery jurisdiction_ was given them. Every one knows
that common law jurisdiction is a technical term, used in contradistinction
to a chancery jurisdiction, and exclusive of that, the
common law ending where the chancery begins. The one authority
is here given, and therefore they have it; the other is not
given, and therefore they have it not. For they have no authority
but that which is given by the legislature. If they have not
chancery powers, then, by this law, there remains but one other
source from which they can legally derive it. The act of 1804
before mentioned § 11, says, 'the laws in force in the said territory,
at the commencement of this act, and not inconsistent
with the provisions thereof, shall continue in force until altered,
modified, or repealed by the legislature.' We have seen that
the laws in force were the French and Roman, with perhaps
some occasional Spanish regulations. It being perfectly understood
that these were not meant to be included in the
*change, it follows that the term _common law_, when
applied to this territory, must be equivalent to the common
law of that land, or the law of the land. Was then the
establishment of the French and Roman laws an establishment
of the chancery system of law? Will it be said that the Roman
and Chancery laws, for instance, are the same? That the _civil
law_, and the _chancery_ are synonymous terms, both meaning the
same system? Nobody will say that. The system of chancery
law is partly concurrent, but chiefly supplementary and corrective
of that of the common law. It sometimes corrects the
harshness of the letter, where that includes what was not intended.
It gives remedies in certain cases where that gave
none, and more perfect remedies in other cases. It is adapted
to the common law as one part of an indenture is to its counterpart.
It is formed to tally with that in all its prominences and
recesses, its asperities and defects, and with no other body of
law on earth. It consists of a set of rules and maxims, modified
by the English Chancellors thro' a course of several centuries,
derived from no foreign model, but contrived to reduce specifically
the principles of common law to those of justice. The
Roman law has something similar in its _Jus Prætorium_, where
the discretion of the Prætor was permitted to mollify and correct
the harshness of the _leges scriptæ_. But to apply the _Jus Prætorium_
to our common law, or our chancery to the _leges scriptæ_
of the Romans, would be to apply to one thing the tally of another,
or to mismatch the parts of different machines, so as to
render them inconsistent and impracticable. Our chancery system
is as different from the civil, as from the common law. All
systems of law indeed profess to be founded on the principles of
justice. But the superstructures erected are totally distinct.
The chancery then being a system clearly distinct from that of
the French and Roman laws, it cannot be said that the legislature
of the U. S. by establishing the French and Roman laws
in Orleans, established there the chancery system. It will not
be pretended that the process of _subpœna_, used in the present
case, and the sole and peculiar original process of chancery, is a
civil law process. It is known to have been the invention of
Waltham, Chancellor of Richard II. founded on the statute of
Westminster the 2d c. 24. giving writs _in consimili casu_.
[Sidenote: 75*]
[Sidenote: 76*]
Might it be urged (for I am really at a loss to conjecture on
what grounds this power has been assumed) that possessing
under the act of '04, the powers of the chancery combined with
those of the French and Roman laws, the subsequent act which
gave them a common law jurisdiction, did not take away the
others? _In totidem verbis_ it did not, but in effect it did completely,
by changing the government into one in all respects
similar to that in the Missisipi territory, where there was no
chancery jurisdiction. Moreover, there is not a word in the act
of '04, which gives them *chancery jurisdiction. It says, 'they
shall have jurisdiction in all criminal cases, and original
and appellate jurisdiction in all civil cases of the value of
100 dollars, and the laws in force at the commencement
of this act shall continue in force.' Here then is their jurisdiction,
and the particular system of law according to which they
are to exercise it, and the chancery made no part of that system.
This argument too would suppose that to the French, the Roman,
the Spanish, and the Chancery laws, the common law was
also added. This would be an extraordinary spectacle, indeed,
and the imputation of such an intention would be an insult to
the legislature. Their laws have always some rational object
in view; and are so to be construed, as to produce order and
justice. But this construction, establishing so many systems,
and these inconsistent and contradictory, would produce anarchy
and chaos, and a dissolution of all law, of all rights of person or
property. And what would be the consequences of carrying on
a system of chancery concurrent with the French and Roman
laws? A case is brought, for instance, into their court of chancery.
I ask the honorable judges, is the law of chancery in this
case, the same as the civil law? If the same, what need of calling
in the system of chancery? If different, will you decide
against the law established by the legislature? If you carry on
two systems, the one of which, in any case, gives a right to A.
and the other to B. the suitor who covets his neighbor's property
needs only to chuse that court, the rules of which will give it to
him. Thus all rights will be set afloat between two opposite
systems. The wisdom of the legislature therefore has been as
sound in not giving a chancery jurisdiction concurrently with
the civil law, as the judges have been ill-advised in usurping it.
And have they adverted to the national feelings, when they have
ventured, on their own authority, to abolish the trial by jury
pledged by the Ordinance to the inhabitants forever? Whoever
wishes to take from his opponent the benefit of this trial,
has only to bring his suit in the court of chancery. In this very
case, on which the well-being of a great city is suspended, no
jury was called in. The judges took upon themselves to decide
both fact and law; aware, at the same time, that a jury could not
have been found in Orleans, which would not have given a contrary
decision. I shall not ascribe either favoritism, or intentional
wrong to them: but they ought not to be surprised, if those
do whose interests and safety are so much jeopardised by this
shuffle of the judges into the place of the jury. It is much regretted
that these respectable judges have set such an example
of acting against law. It will be more regretted if they do not,
by the spontaneous exertion of their own good sense and self-denial,
tread back their steps, and perceive that there is
more honor and magnanimity in correcting, than *persevering
in an error. They had before them too the example
of their neighbors, of the Missisipi territory, whose government
was expressly made the model of theirs. Their judges,
like themselves, entitled to common law jurisdiction only, and
sensible it needed the mollifying hand of the chancery, did not
think the assumption of it within their competence. The territorial
legislature therefore invested them with the jurisdiction.
The Judiciary power of the Indian territory modelled by the
same Ordinance, was enlarged in like manner by the local legislature.
And yet the Orleans territory, least of all needed the aid
of a Chancery, as possessing already a corresponding corrective,
well adapted to the body of their law, to which the system of
Chancery was entirely inapplicable.
Although I had before noted, pages 16, 68. that the decree of
this court was a nullity as to the United States, 1. Because
they were not a party, nor amenable to their tribunal; 2. Because
also it was on a subject over which they had no jurisdiction,
I have thought it useful to prove it a nullity; 3dly. Because
the result of a process, and a course of pleading and trial belonging
to a court whose powers they do not possess by law, in
which course of action the law considers them as mere private
persons, is entitled to the obedience of no one. I have done this
the rather because it has been seized as a ground of censure on
the Executive, as violating the sanctuary of the judicial department,
and of inculpating the Marshal, who, placed between two
conflicting authorities, had to decide which was legitimate, and
decided correctly, as I trust appears, in obeying that which ordered
him to remove the plaintiff from an usurped possession.
[Sidenote: Act of territorial Legislature.]
The territorial legislature, three weeks after, took up the subject,
and passed an act prescribing in what manner
riparian proprietors should proceed, who wished to
make new embankments in advance of those existing.
This gave to Mr. Livingston an easy mode of applying
for permission to resume his enterprise; and had he obtained a
regular permission, certainly it would have been duly respected
by the National Executive. On the 1st of March I received
from Governor Claiborne a letter of Jan. 29. informing me of the
execution of our orders, and covering a vote of thanks from the
legislative council and House of Representatives of Orleans, for
our interposition: and on the 7th of the same month, I laid the
case before Congress by the following message.
[Sidenote: Message to Congress.]
[Sidenote: 77*]
'To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States. In the city of New-Orleans and adjacent to
it are sundry parcels of ground, some of them with
buildings and other improvements on them, which
it is my duty to present to the attention of the legislature.
The title to *these grounds appears to have
been retained in the former sovereigns of the province
of Louisiana, as public fiduciaries, and for the purposes of the
province. Some of them were used for the residence of the
Governor, for public offices, hospitals, barracks, magazines, fortifications,
levées, &c. others for the town house, schools, markets,
landings, and other purposes of the city of N. Orleans. Some
were held by religious corporations, or persons; others seem to
have been reserved for future disposition.
To these must be added a parcel called the batture, which requires
more particular description. It is understood to have
been a shoal, or elevation of the bottom of the river, adjacent
to the bank of the suburb St. Mary, produced by the successive
depositions of mud during the annual inundations of the river,
and covered with water only during those inundations. At all
other seasons it has been used by the city, immemorially, to furnish
earth for raising their streets, and court yards, for mortar
and other necessary purposes, and as a landing or Quai for unlading
firewood, lumber, and other articles brought by water.
This having lately been claimed by a private individual, the
city opposed the claim on a supposed legal title in itself: but it
has been adjudged that the legal title was not in the city. It is
however alleged that that title, originally in the former sovereigns,
was never parted with by them, but was retained by
them for the uses of the city and province, and consequently has
now passed over to the U. S. Until this question can be decided
under legislative authority, measures have been taken
according to law, to prevent any change in the state of things,
and to keep the grounds clear of intruders. The settlement of
this title, the appropriation of the grounds and improvements
formerly occupied for provincial purposes to the same, or such
other objects as may be better suited to present circumstances;
the confirmation of the uses in other parcels to such bodies corporate,
or private, as may of right, or on other reasonable considerations,
expect them, are matters now submitted to the
determination of the legislature. The paper and plans now
transmitted, will give them such information on the subjects as I
possess, and, being mostly originals, I must request that they
may be communicated from the one to the other house, to answer
the purposes of both. TH: JEFFERSON. _March 7, 1808._'
[Sidenote: Removal of the case before them.]
[Sidenote: 78*]
This removal of the case before Congress closed the official
duties of the Executive, and his interference respecting
these grounds: except that the attorney of the
United States for the district of Orleans having given
written permission to the inhabitants to use the batture as before,
this, on the application of Mr. Livingston, was directed to be
withdrawn by a letter from the Secretary of State, of
Oct. 5. '09. This was correct. It placed the inhabitants
exactly *on their former footing, without either permission
or prohibition on the part of the National government.
The _possession_, the only charge of the Executive, was now
cleared from intrusion, and restored to its former condition: and
the question of title committed to the Legislature, the only
authority competent to its decision. If they considered the
ground taken by the Executive as incorrect, their vote, or their
reference of the case to Commissioners, would correct it: and
as to damages, if any could justly be claimed, they were due, as
in other cases, not from the judge who decides, but the party
which, without right, receives the intermediate profits. If, on
the other hand, Congress should deem the public right too palpable,
(as to me it clearly appears,) and the claim of the plaintiff
too frivolous, to occupy their time, they would of course pass it
by. And certainly they might as properly be urged to waste
their time in questioning whether the beds of the Potomak, the
Delaware, or the Hudson, were public or private property, as
that of the Missisipi. Their refusing to act on this claim therefore
for five successive sessions, though constantly solicited, and
their holding so long the ground taken by the Executive, is an
expression of their sense that the measure has been correct.
[Sidenote: Responsibility of a public functionary.]
[Sidenote: 79*]
[Sidenote: 80*]
I have gone with some detail into the question of the plaintiff's
right, because, however confident of indulgence,
in the case of an honest error, I believed it would be
more satisfactory to show, that in the exercise of the
discretionary power entrusted to me by Congress, a
sound discretion had been used, no act of oppression had been
exercised, no error committed, and consequently no wrong done
to the plaintiff. I have no pretensions to exemption from error.
In a long course of public duties, I must have committed many.
And I have reason to be thankful that, passing over these, an act
of duty has been selected as a subject of complaint, which the
delusions of self interest alone could have classed among them,
and in which, were there error, it has been hallowed by the
benedictions of an entire province, an interesting member of our
national family, threatened with destruction by the bold enterprise
of one individual. If this has been defeated, and they
rescued, good will have been done, and with good intentions.
Our constitution has wisely distributed the administration of the
government into three distinct, and independent departments.
To each of these it belongs to administer law within its separate
jurisdiction. The judiciary in cases of _meum_ and _tuum_, and
of public crimes; the Executive, as to laws executive in their
nature; the legislature in various cases which belong to itself,
and in the important function of amending and adding to the
system. Perfection in wisdom, as well as in integrity, is
neither required, nor expected in these *agents. It belongs
not to man. Were the judge who, deluded by
sophistry, takes the life of an innocent man, to repay it with his
own; were he to replace, with his own fortune, that which his
judgment has taken from another, under the beguilement of false
deductions; were the Executive, in the vast mass of concerns of
first magnitude, which he must direct, to place his whole fortune
on the hazard of every opinion; were the members of the legislature
to make good from their private substance every law productive
of public or private injury; in short were every man
engaged in rendering service to the public, bound in his body
and goods to indemnification for all his errors, we must commit
our public affairs to the paupers of the nation, to the sweepings
of hospitals and poor-houses, who, having nothing to lose, would
have nothing to risk. The wise know their weakness too well
to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best
how little he knows. The vine and the fig-tree must withdraw,
and the briar and bramble assume their places. But this is not
the spirit of our law. It expects not impossibilities. It has consecrated
the principle that its servants are not answerable for
honest error of judgment. 1. Ro. Abr. 92. 2 Jones 13. 1 Salk.
397. He who has done this duty honestly, and according to his
best skill and judgment, stands acquitted before God and man.
If indeed a judge goes against law so grossly, so palpably as no
imputable degree of folly can account for, and nothing but corruption,
malice or wilful wrong can explain, and especially if
circumstances prove such motives, he may be punished for the
corruption, the malice, the wilful wrong; but not for the error:
nor is he liable to action by the party grieved. And our form
of government constituting its respective functionaries judges of
the law which is to guide their decisions, places all within the
same reason, under the safeguard of the same rule. That in deciding
and acting under the law in the present case, the plaintiff,
who may think there was error, does not himself believe there
was corruption or malice, I am confident. What? was it my
malice or corruption which prompted the Governors and Cabildoes
to keep these grounds clear of intrusion? Did my malice
and corruption excite the people to rise, and stay the parricide
hand uplifted to destroy their city, or the grand jury to present
this violator of their laws? Was it my malice and corruption
which penned the opinion of the Attorney General, and drew
from him a confirmation, after two years of further consideration,
and when I was retired from all public office? Was it my
malice or corruption which dictated the unanimous advice of the
heads of departments, when officially called on for consultation
and advice? Was it my malice and corruption which procured
the immediate thanks of the two houses of legislature of the
territory of Orleans, and a renewal of the same thanks
*for the same interference, in their late vote of February
last? Has it been my malice and corruption which has
induced the national legislature, through five successive sessions,
to be deaf to the doleful Jeremiads of the plaintiff on his removal
_from his estate_ at New Orleans? Have all these opinions then
been honest, and mine alone malicious and corrupt? Or has
there been a general combination of all the public functionaries
Spanish, French, and American, to oppress Mr. Livingston? No.
They have done their duties, and his Declaration is a libel on
all these functionaries. His counsel, indeed, has discovered
[Opinions LXXIV] that we should have had legal inquests taken,
writs of enquiry formed, prosecutions for penalties, with all the
_et cæteras_ of the law. That is that we should be playing push-pin
with judges and lawyers, while Livingston was working
double tides to drown the city. If a functionary of the highest
trust, acting under every sanction which the constitution has
provided for his aid and guide, and with the approbation, expressed
or implied, of its highest councils, still acts on his own
peril, the honors and offices of his country would be but snares
to ruin him. It is not for me to enquire into the motives of the
plaintiff in this action. I know that his understanding is of an
order much too high to let him believe that he is to recover the
value of the batture from me. To what indirect object he may
squint with one eye, while the other looks at me, I do not pretend
to say. But I do say, that if human reason is not mere
illusion, and law a labyrinth without a clue, no error has been
committed: and recurring to the tenor of a long life of public
service, against the charge of malice and corruption I stand conscious
and erect.
TH: JEFFERSON.
MONTICELLO, July 31, 1810.
For Mr. Livingston's Answer, see Hall's American Law Journal,
Vol. 5, p. 113, of the Baltimore edition of 1814.
FOOTNOTES:
[82] He says, February, 1804. See address.
[83] Thierry.
[84] Notar. copy, Gravier to Bigarre.
[85] Lafon, in his map of New Orleans, says expressly that the
Missisipi, at the city, is uniformly of the breadth of
300 toises only.--_MS. Note._
[86] Rep. 19.
[87] Monile's affidavit, MS.
[88] These are French measures: add a fifteenth to make them
ours.
[89] The following instances will give some idea of the steps
by which the Roman gained on the Feudal laws. A law of
Burgundy provided that 'Si quis post hoc barbarus vel
testari voluerit, vel donare, aut Romanam consuetudinem,
aut barbaricam, esse servandam, sciat.' 'If any barbarian
subject hereafter shall desire to dispose by legacy or
donation, let him know that either the Roman or barbarian
law is to be observed.' And one of Lotharius II. of Germany,
going still further, gives to every one an election of the
system under which he chose to live. 'Volumus ut cunctus
populus Romanus interrogatur quali lege vult vivere: ut
tali lege, quali professi sunt vivere vivant: illisque
denuntiatur, ut hoc unusquisque, tam judices, quam duces,
vel reliquus populus sciat, quod si offensionem contra
eandem legem fecerint, eidem legi, quâ profitentur vivere,
subjaceant.' 'We will that all the Roman people shall be
asked by what law they wish to live: that they may live
under such law as they profess to live by: and that it be
published, that every one, judges, as well as generals,
or the rest of the people, may know that if they commit
offence against the said law, they shall be subject to the
same law by which they profess to live.' Encyc. Method.
Jurisprudence, Coutume. 399. Presenting the uncommon
spectacle of a jurisdiction attached to persons, instead
of places. Thus favored, the Roman became an acknowledged
supplement to the feudal or customary law: but still, not
under any act of the legislature, but as 'raison écrite,'
written reason: and the cases to which it is applicable,
becoming much the most numerous, it constitutes in fact
the mass of their law.
[90] Since this publication, Gen. Armstrong, our late Minister
at Paris, has sent me a printed copy of Crozat's Charter in
French, which he says he obtained directly, and in person
from the depôt of laws in Paris, but which he had no means
of comparing with the original. This printed copy, with
Gen. Armstrong's letter, I have deposited in the office
of the Secretary of State at Washington. _MS. Note._
[91] The only copy of this Charter I have ever met with is in
Joutel's Journal of La Salle's last voyage. An application
was made by the government of the United States, through
their minister at Paris, to the government of France, for
permission to have the original of this charter sought
for in their Archives, and an authentic copy obtained. The
application was unsuccessful. We must resort, therefore,
to this publication, made in 1714, two years after the
date of the patent, under the rule of law which requires
only the best evidence the nature of the case will admit.
For although we may not appeal to books of history for
documents of a nature merely private, yet we may for those
of a public character, e. g. treaties, &c., and especially
when those documents are not under our control, as when
they are in foreign countries, or even in our own country,
when they are not patent in their nature, nor demandable
of common right.
[92] If it be objected that the incorporation of the Roman law
with the customs of Paris, and their joint transfer to
Louisiana does not appear, I answer, 1. At the date of
Crozat's charter, the Roman law had for many centuries
been amalgamated with the customary law of Paris, made
one body with it, and its principal part. By the customs
of Paris were doubtless meant the laws of Paris, of which
the Roman then made an important part, and might well be
understood to be transferred with them. It was hardly
intended that the new colonists were to unravel this
web, and to take out for their own use only the fibres of
Parisian customs, the least applicable part of the system
to their novel situation. 2. If the term, coutumes de Paris
in the charter be rigorously restrained to its literal
import, yet the judges of Louisiana would have the same
authority for appealing to the Roman as a supplementary
code, which the judges of Paris and of all France had had;
and even greater, as being sanctioned by so general an
example. 3. The practice of considering the Roman law as
a part of the law of the land in Louisiana, is evidence
of a general opinion of those who composed that state,
that it was transferred, and of an opinion much better
informed, and more authoritative than ours can be. Or it
may be considered as an adoption, by universal, though
tacit consent, of those who had a right to adopt, either
formally, or informally, as they pleased, as the laws of
England were originally adopted in most of these states,
and still stand on no other ground.
[93] M. Moreau de Lislet assures us that he was in Paris at
the time of the decision of this appeal from Bordeaux,
that the decision of Bordeaux was reversed by the king
and council, then referred to the Parliament of Paris, and
the reversal confirmed by that body. See his Memoire, 50.
[94] 'Rivage, is most commonly used for the shore of the _sea_,
but correctly also for the shore of a river.
'Chaque fleuve, chaque ruisseau
A partout franchi son rivage.' Regnier.
Dict. de Richelet. Rivage.
'Le Tybre écumeux et bruyant
De sa course fougueuse étonne son rivage.'
St. Evremont.
It is particularly so used in Law. 'Sous le nom de _rivage_ est
compris le chemin qui doit être entretenu le long des côtes
et rivières navigables, pour le hallage des bateaux.' And
again, 'droit de rivage, qui est dû sur les marchandises
qui abordent au rivage de la ville de Paris.' Dict. de
Trévoux, Rivage. 'Sur le rivage de la Seine.' Dict. de
l'Académie.
[95] Little versed in French jurisprudence, possessing few of
the authors teaching it, and, of some of those quoted by
the adverse party, so much only as they have thought to
their advantage to quote, I had apprehended it possible
(pa. 29.) that there might be among those authors, that
conflict of opinions on the law of alluvions, which these
quotations indicate. But I have lately had an opportunity
of reading in MS. a Memoire on the subject of the Batture,
written by M. Moreau de Lislet of New Orleans, a French
lawyer of regular education in the profession, who has
treated the subject, generally with great learning and
abilities, and especially that branch of it which relates
to the laws of France in cases of Alluvion. He has proved
that the doctrines of these great authorities are not
contradictory, and that a proper attention to the different
questions under contemplation in the passages quoted, will
show that all are right, and all in perfect harmony. To
elucidate this he explains certain principles of French
law, which mingling themselves with this subject, have
occasioned the misunderstanding with which we have been
perplexed. 1. The laws of France leave to the king a
right to _navigable_ rivers only, and their increments.
On rivers _not navigable_, the rights of the riparian
proprietor prevail as under the Roman law. See Pothier
ante. pa. 26. Very early however these rights were drawn
into question by the Feudal Superiors, who, looking to
the example of the king in the case of navigable rivers
in his kingdom, claimed similar rights on those _not
navigable_ within their Seignories. But repeated decisions
have condemned their claims, and confirmed the rights
of the riparian tenant. 2. By the laws of France, as by
those of England, lands received by inheritance, descend,
on the death of the tenant, to the heirs of that branch,
paternal or maternal, from which they came to him. But
those he acquires by purchase (acquets) pass to that line
of heirs of which himself is the root. When therefore,
to a maternal inheritance an acquisition happened to
be made by means of Alluvion, a question would arise,
between heirs of different lines, to which of them the
Alluvion would descend; whether to the direct heirs of the
decedent, as being an acquisition first vesting in him, or
to the maternal heir as an accessory to his inheritance.
The decisions were that it united with the inheritance,
became a part of that, and passed with it. 'Incrementum
alluvionis nobis adquiritur, jure quo ager augmentatus
primum ad nos pertinebat; nec istud merementum censetur
novus ager sed pars primi.' 'The increment of Alluvion is
acquired to us in the right in which the field augmented
first belonged to us.' Nor is the increment considered as
a new field, but a part of the first, Renusson. It follows
that questions of Alluvion would often arise in cases
wherein the king's rights were not at all concerned. They
would arise between Lord and vassal, and between individual
heirs of different lines. These explanations premised, M.
Moreau takes a review of the passages quoted from Henrys,
Bourjon, Dumoulin, Ferriere, Pothier, Le Rasle, Renusson,
Dargentré, Denisart, and Guyot, and shews that in every
instance where the question concerned a _navigable_ river,
there was no division of opinions as to the validity of
the king's right; and that in every instance where the
riparian right is asserted, the question has been between
private individuals, or concerning rivers _not navigable_.
Recurring then to the edicts and Ordinances placing this
right of the king beyond cavil, he observes that a practice
had prevailed from early times among riparian proprietors
of usurping on the rights of the crown to the increments
adjacent to them, and a necessary reaction of the crown,
by reclamations and resumptions, to preserve its own. And
he gives a detail of the edicts on this subject, proving
that that of 1693, instead of being the singular act
of a particular prince, whom the adverse party delights
to revile, was one only of a long series preceding and
following it.
1554. An edict was issued requiring the proper officers to
be vigilant in watching over the king's rights in islands,
attérissements, et _alluvions_, comme ils l'ont accoutumés
faire d'ancienneté.' So that it was even then a law and
practice d'ancienneté, and expressly including _alluvions_.
1664. An Ordinance for making enquiries concerning islands,
accroissements, &c.
1668. Apr. An Edict quieting possessions of these objects
of 100 years continuance, on paying a vingtiéme annually.
1669. The Ordinance des eaux et forêts, 'qui accorde au
roi la propriété de toutes _les rivières navigables_, de
leur lit, _rives_, et de tous les terreins qui peuvents
s'y former.' Guyot, ante. pa. 27. 'granting to the king
the property in _all navigable rivers_, their bed, _banks_,
and the grounds forming there.'
1683. Apr. A declaration, reciting that as the rivers
belong to the king 'tout ce qui se trouve renfermé dans
leur lit, comme les isles, accroissemens et attérissements
lui appartient aussi,' confirms _title_ anterior to
1566 without condition, possessions anterior to 1566 on
conditions, and reunites all others to the crown.
1686. Apr.} Two edicts for Languedoc and Bretagne,
1689. Aug.} confirming possessors in the said islands,
'ensemble des crémens qui s'y sont formés, et de ceux
qui pourraient s'y former à l'avenir, soit par _alluvion_,
ou par industrie.'
1693. An edict general for the kingdom 'le droit de
propriété que nous avons _sur tous les fleuves et rivières
navigables_ étant incontestable, &c. Ordonnons que les
détenteurs des isles, islots, attérissemens, aceroissemens,
alluvions, &c. _sur_ les _rivières navigables_, &c. as
more at large, pa. 28.
1710. Feb. An edict confirming possession of islands, &c.
of the sea on specified terms, copied almost verbally from
that of 1693, using the word _alluvions_ as that does,
and referring to the provisions of that edict.
1722. Sep. An Arret resuming isles, attérissemens, &c.
formed since the edict of 1693. And those of anterior
formation where the possessor has not made the payments
provided by the edict of 1693.
But this whole branch of the argument of M. Moreau must
be read with attention. Its matter cannot be abridged,
nor otherwise expressed, but for the worse.
Having thus luminously reconciled the authorities which
had been so illy understood, and victoriously established
the public right to alluvions on _navigable rivers_, M.
Moreau, with too much facility, gives back to his adversary
one half the ground he has conquered, by a gratuitous
admission, which those interested in the event of the
cause are not ready to confirm. Led away, as it seems,
by an expression in the edict of 1683, 'tout ce qui se
trouve renfermé _dans leur lit_ nous appartient,' and
which is to be found in no other, and yielding to a single
decision of the Parliament of Paris of 1765, found in a
law dictionary, which adjudged that the Ordinances giving
to the king the isles which are formed _'dans le lit_,'
des fleuves et rivières navigables, ne lui donnent pas les
attérissements et _alluvions_ qui peuvent se former _hors_
le lit de ces mêmes fleuves,' &c. He admits that though
alluvions _within_ the bed of a river belong to the king,
those _without_ the bed do not belong to him. M. Moreau
is too reasonable to consider as a compliment to himself
the adoption of an opinion on his authority alone, by
any one not convinced by his reasonings. Certainly I do
not feel myself competent to enter the lists with him, on
any question of difficulty in the French law. Yet after
maturely considering the authorities appealed to in this
case, and which he has rendered so strong by reconciling
and forming them into one mass, I cannot yield, as he
does, so imposing a mass to a single decision of the single
Parliament of Paris. I still must consider all alluvions
on _navigable rivers_ as belonging to the nation, and will
briefly assign my reasons.
1. It is of the essence of _Alluvion_ that it be, not in the
bed of the river, but _out_ of it; that is, adjacent to the
bank. So say expressly the Roman and French definitions.
'Alluvio est incrementum _agro_ tuo flumine adjectum.'
l'Alluvion est un accroissement de terrein qui se fait
_sur les bords_ des fleuves, par les terres que l'eau y
apporte, et qui se consolident pour ne faire _qu'un tout
avec la terre voisine_.' Ante. pa. 26. Increments _within_
the bed of a river, though sometimes carelessly spoken of
under the term _alluvion_, are never so in correct language,
never in the well weighed diction of ordinances and
statutes. They are termed accroissements, attérissements,
assablissements, isles, islots, javeaux, in French, and
in our language shoals, shallows, flats, bars, islands.
_Without_ the bed of the river, they add to the beach, or
to the adjacent field, according to their elevation, and
in this last case only, constitute _Alluvion, within_ the
bed of the river they lose that name.
2. 'Les alluvions qui se forment _dans_ le lit des fleuves'
is not the language of the edicts cited by Moreau himself,
not even of that single one on which this opinion is
founded. That has indeed the expression 'dans les lits,' but
applied, not to alluvions, but to isles, accroissements,
attérissements, to which it is applicable with truth
and correctness. These are the kinds of increments it
enumerates, and describes as being 'dans le lit.' If they
are enumerated _exempli gratiâ_ only as the word _comme_ seems
to imply, and alluvions, though not named, were within the
purview, as they are within the reason of the law, then,
if the thing itself is to be understood, as if expressed
in the text, its true description also is to be understood
as if expressed, that is to say, its adjacence to the
bank. The edicts of 1686 and 1689 mention 'les isles des
rivières navigables, ensemble les crémens qui _s'y_ sont
formés.' That of 1693 says, in like manner, 'le droit,
&c., _sur_ tout les fleuves, et les isles et crémens qui
_s'y_ sont formes,' and again, 'isles et alluvions _sur_
les rivières navigables,' not '_dans leurs lits_.' That of
1710 says 'possession des isles et _alluvion sur_ les dites
rivières.' Thus we see that wherever the edicts mention
_alluvions_, they describe them _sur_ le fleuve, not _dans
le lit_ du fleuve. When they speak of those increments
which are _dans le lit_ des fleuves, they name them as
accroissemens, attérissemens, &c., but not as _alluvions_.
3. This distinction is founded on a single decision of
a single parliament, and on the authority of a king's
advocate, Bacquet, and the dictum of Salvaing there cited,
all perhaps influenced by the same and single expression
in the edict of 1683. It is cited too from a Dictionary by
Prost de Royer, where it is doubtless stated in abridgment
only, and possibly with the omission of circumstances,
arguments, and expressions which, were they before us,
would change the aspect of the case, as M. Moreau himself
has shown to be so possible in his review of the mutilated
authorities produced by the adversary. And are we, for
this, to give up the doctrines of Pothier, Denisart,
Ferriere, and the host of other great authorities, and all
the definitions of the Roman and French laws, all of which
when speaking of _alluvions_, place them exclusively on
the borders, and not in the beds of rivers? I cannot do it.
4. This distinction is new in this cause, having never
been claimed by the plaintiff or his counsel, or suggested
by any other who has treated the question. This naturally
begets a suspicion that it is peculiar; though doubtless
the adversary will adopt it with avidity. And is he
entitled to this gratuitous aid? Is it the equity of his
cause, or even its honesty, or its utility, which gives
him this claim on our tenderness? I cannot consent to a
concession which gives the Batture from the public in the
contingency of its being considered as a real alluvion,
consolidated with, and making part of, the adjacent field.
On the contrary I insist on the public right in this case
also, under the laws of France, as hitherto understood,
and as declared by her highest authorities.
5. I adhere to this ground the more firmly, because I
observe, from another part of his Memoire, pa. 99. that
M. Moreau himself seems not very decided in this new
opinion. After stating the mischief of Mr. Livingston's
works, he says, 'it is to prevent a like abuse that the
Roman and Spanish laws of haute police, which I have
cited, are opposed to every species of works undertaken
on the banks of rivers and navigable streams, the effect
of which might be to extend the limits of riparian fields,
compromising the public safety, and injuring the facility
of navigation. It was with this view, and not to create
fiscal resources for himself that Louis XIV. renewed the
Ordinances which ascribed to the sovereign the property in
rivers and navigable streams, and of whatever is contained
in their bed. For if it be advantageous to navigation that
the king should be proprietor of the islands which form
themselves in navigable rivers, the same interest requires
still more that he should be proprietor of the _alluvions_
and increments formed _along the shore itself_, since any
ownership of these objects, except that of the sovereign,
might oppose obstacles to the free landing on the shore,
which every one ought to have, and to the use of it which
the law gives to the public.'
Considering this admission then, as doubted by M. Moreau
himself on a second and sounder view of it, I conclude
that the law is accurately laid down by Pothier [ante. pa.
26.] 'By our French law, alluvions formed on the borders
of _navigable_ streams and rivers belong to the king. The
proprietors of riparian heritages can have no claim to
them, unless they have documents of the grant made them by
the king, of the right of alluvion along their heritages.
With respect to alluvions formed along the borders of a
river _not navigable_, the property of which belongs to the
proprietors of the neighboring heritage, the dispositions
of the Roman law are to be followed.'
[96] Since this was written, I have seen the case of Smart v.
the magistrates, town council and community of Dundee,
reported in 8 Brown's Reports of Appeals in parl. 119. This
was an appeal from the court of Session in Scotland, to
the H. of Lords. The crown of Scotland had in very ancient
times, granted to the Corporation of Dundee, on the river
Tay, the borough, with all the lands and pertinents, the
privileges, profits, customs, ports, and liberties of
the river on both sides, as freely in all respects as is
possessed by the borough of Edinburgh over that of Leith,
and in a word, as it seems, every right, power and trust
which the crown could grant.--Smart, the proprietor of a
lot bounded on one side per fluxum maris, or the sea flood,
admitting that the sovereign, as trustee for the public,
has a right to prevent all such appropriation of the sea
shore, or the banks of navigable rivers as would impede
navigation, render it dangerous or hurt the interests of
commerce, either inland or foreign, and that all private
persons or corporations, having a grant of a port and
harbor, possess, to a certain extent, the same privileges
as derived from the sovereign within a defined space,
still he insisted on the right of the adjacent proprietor
to ground gained from the sea by its recess, or by his own
industry in embanking, or by any other opus manu factum,
_not prejudicial to navigation or the established rights
of others_. On the other hand the corporation claimed
by their grant, a right to the seashore adjacent to the
town, _in trust for the benefit of the community_, to
make harbors, basons, and works for securing them, market
places, wharves, wood yards, and other repositories for the
accommodation of the trade, and, for these different works,
to take in scites from the water by embankment, in short,
as standing in place of the crown, that they succeeded to
all the cares and powers of the crown, in the territory
and its waters, for the public good; and, for that object,
were now engaged in making an embankment adjacent to the
Appellant's lot, for the benefit of navigation and commerce.
They admit the general doctrine of the riparian right to
the soil which may be acquired from a sea or river, by its
receding naturally, or by industry: but that this does not
apply to the site of a _tenement within a burgh_, where
the corporation is entitled to all the soil not expressly
granted away: that the words, 'per fluxum maris' are but
words of description, which were accurate too at the date
of the grant, but have since become otherwise by a change
of character in the boundary, not in the area granted. They
are a limitation of the subject of the grant in the same way
as a road would be, which, if removed farther off, would
not carry the granted subject with it; or as the tenement
of another would be; and make it an _ager limitatus_, not an
_ager arcifinius_; the particular boundaries being named,
not to limit the coterminous property, but the property
granted. The Appeal was accordingly dismissed by the House
of Lords. No arguments of counsel, other than the written
pleadings, nor reasons of the Lords, are reported: but,
from this case, (crowded as it is with circumstances, many
of which are irrelevant to the merits of the question,
and of those relevant not the words but the condensed
substance is here given,) the book says, that the general
principle to be gathered is that 'where the sea flood is
stated as the boundary of premises granted on the shore of
_a sea-port being an incorporated borough_, this does not
give the grantee a right to follow the sea, or to the land
acquired from it, or left by it where it has receded, in
prejudice of the _corporation_ having, by their charter,
a right vested in them to the whole territory of the
burgh.' And consequently, in prejudice of the _king_, or
_public_, where no such grant has substituted others in
their place: and it authorizes a strong inference that
the English, like the Roman law, restrains the right of
alluvion to the _prædium rusticum__$1_, not admitting it on the
shores bordering the city.
[97] Etymologies often help us to the true meaning of words;
and where they agree in several languages, they shew the
common sense of mankind as to the meaning of the word. In
French _Batture_ is derived from _Battre_, to beat, being
the margin on which the surges beat. In English _Beach_, is
from the Anglo-Saxon verb Beo[~c]ian, Bea[~c]ian, beatian,
to beat: pronounced beachian, as christian, fustian,
question, are pronounced chrischian, fuschian, queschion,
&c.
In Spanish _Playa_, }
Italian _Piaggia_, } are from πλαγὰ, πληγεὶς.
French _Plage_, }
_Platin_ from πλήττειν, percuture. Perhaps from
_Plat_, F. flat.
Greek, αἰγειαλὸς, ἀκτὴ, from ἄγειν, agere.
θὶν, θινὸς, à θείνω, ferio, quia littus fluctibus
feritur. Clav. Homer. A. 34.
Ῥηγμὶν, à ῥήσσω, frango, quia in litore fluctus
frangitur. Ib. v. 437.
[98] Rigor, à rectitudine dieitur, et est cursus aquæ rectum
profluentis tenorem significans. Sic vigor stillicidii
rectus ejus fluxus est. Calvini Lexicon juridicum, _rigor_.
I have therefore translated it 'direction.'
[99] Justum incrementum [Nili] est eubitorum XVI; in XII.
eubitis famem sentit: in XIII etiamnum esurit: XIV eubita
hilaritatem afferunt: XV securitatem: XVI delicias: maximum
incrementum, ad hoc ævi, fuit eubitorum XVIII. eum stetêre
aquæ, apertis molibus admittuntur. Plin. hist. nat. 5. 9.
[100] This part of our subject merits fuller development.
That the periodical overflowings of some rivers do not
differ from the accidental overflowings of others, in
any circumstance which should affect the law of the high
water line, in the one more than in the other, will be
rendered more evident by taking a comparative view of them.
To begin with ordinary rivers. 1. These have along their
greater part, and some of them through their whole course,
natural banks adequate to the confinement of their waters,
in the high water season, except in cases of accidental
inundation. Here, then, the Roman authorities tell us the
inundation does not change the bank, nor the landmark on
it. 2. Along other parts, where the natural bank was not
high enough to contain the river in its season of steady
high water, the hand of man has raised an artificial bank
on the natural one, which effects this purpose, with the
exception, as before, of accidental inundations, where such
happen. This artificial bank performs all the functions
of the natural, and is placed under the same law. 3.
In other parts of them, the natural banks are still not
high enough to contain the high tides, nor have they yet
been made so by the hand of man. Here then the law cannot
operate, because the local peculiarities, as yet, exclude
the case from its provisions. The ground so covered by
inundation, has been, or may yet be, public property. But
the legislator, instead of holding it as the bed of the
river, grants it to individuals as far as to the natural
or incipient bank, that they, by completing the bank, may
reclaim the land, for their own and the public benefit,
and, this done, the law comes into action on it. Much of
this reclaimed, and unreclaimed land exists in all these
states.
I proceed next to rivers of particular character. Of which
among those analogous to the Missisipi, the Nile is best
known to us, and shall be described. That river entering
Upper Egypt at its Cataracts, flows through a valley of
20 or 30 miles wide, and of 450 miles in length, bounded
on both sides by a continued ridge of mountains. Through
most of this course, its natural banks are sufficient to
contain its waters in time of flood, till they rise to that
height, at which, by their law, they are to be drawn off.
In low parts, where the natural banks are not sufficient,
they have been raised by hand to the necessary height. In
addition also to the natural _bayous_, like those of the
Missisipi, they have opened numerous canals, leading off
at right angles from the river towards the mountains, and
sufficient to draw off the greatest part of the current
passing down the river. These, in ordinary times, are
closed by artificial banks raised to the level of the
natural ones. When the flood is at a height sufficient
for irrigating and fertilizing the fields, which by the
Nilometer is at 16 cubits above the bed of the river,
these artificial banks are cut, and the waters let in. The
plain declining gently from the banks of the river, (which,
like those of the Missisipi, are the highest ground,)
towards the mountains, the waters are there stopped, as
by a dam, and continue to rise, and diffuse themselves
till they reflow nearly to the bank of the river. If
the rise ceases there, the waters remain stagnant, and
deposit a fertilizing mud, over the whole surface. But if
uncommon rains above occasion a continuance of the rise
till all the waters meet over the summits of the banks,
then the motion of that in the river is communicated to
the stagnant water on the plains, a general current takes
place, and instead of a depositum left, the former soil
is swept away to the ocean, and famine ensues that year.
This, the traveller Bruce informs us, had happened three
times within the 30 years preceding his being in that
country. When the waters have withdrawn, and the river is
returned into its natural bed, the banks are repaired in
readiness to restrain the floods of the ensuing year. Such
is the case in Upper Egypt. When the river enters Lower
Egypt, it parts into two principal branches, the Pelusian
and Canopic, which diverge and reach the Mediterranean at
about 200 miles apart, including between them the triangle
called the Delta. Besides these, there are, within the
Delta, three natural _Bayous_, and two canals, dry at low
water, which make up the famed seven mouths of the Nile.
The mountains diverge so as do the main branches of the
river, the eastern going off to the isthmus of Suez, and
the Western to the sea near Alexandria. The waters lessened
by depletion, and spreading over a widening plain are
reduced, by the time they reach the base of the triangle
at the sea, to one or two cubits depth. Banks, therefore,
of 3 to 4 feet high, are sufficient to protect the country
until here also they open the _bayous_ and canals which
intersect the triangle. Here then the case recurs of a
river whose natural banks are partly competent to contain
its high waters in common floods, and are partly made so
by the hand of man; so as to furnish an ordinary high
water line. In extraordinary floods it overflows these
banks, and in ordinary ones is let through them. Yet these
inundations as the Digest declares, do not change the
banks. 'Nemo dixit Nilum ripas suas mutare,' &c. But when
the river retires within its natural bed, the banks are
again repaired: 'cum ad perpetuam sui mensuram redierit,
ripæ alvei ejus muniendæ sunt,' ib. [See 2. Herodot. 6-19.
Strabo 788. 1 Univ. Hist. 391-413. 1 Maillet Description
de l'Egypte 14-121. 1 De la Croix 338. Encyclop. Meth.
Geographie. Nil. 1 Savary 3-14. 2 Savary 185-275. 1 Volney
34-18. 4 Bruce 364-407.
[101] Squatters or Intruders on the public or Indian lands were
repeatedly removed by the state of Virginia, before its
cession to Congress, by the old Congress, (see Journ. 15
June 1785,) by the present government at various times,
and, as is believed, by other individual states on the
ground of natural right only. _MS. Note._
INDEX TO VOL. VIII.
ALBINOS--Description of, 318.
AMERICA--Whether animals and man degenerate in, 312.
ARMY--We should not maintain a standing army, 11.
BARBARY STATES--Our relations with, 8, 30, 31, 33, 35, 51, 65, 96,
97.
War with Tripoli, 7, 17.
Peace with, restored, 50.
Case of Hamet Caramalli ex-Bashaw of Tripoli, 54.
Difficulties with Tunis, 61.
BERLIN AND MILAN DECREES--Character of, 100.
BURR, AARON--His conspiracy, 71, 78, 87.
CARRYING TRADE--Condition of, 16.
CENSUS OF 1800, 8.
CHESAPEAKE, THE--Case of, 83, 102, 106, 120.
CLASSICS--Study of, should not be neglected, 389.
DEBT, PUBLIC--Reduction of, 19, 26, 39, 52, 67, 109.
DELUGE--Reasons against a general Deluge, 275.
ENGLAND--Negotiations with, 70.
EMBARGO--Preferable to war--127, 134, 135, 140, 141, 143, 144,
163, 164, 165, 169, 170.
FEVER, YELLOW--Its ravages, 46.
FINANCES--Prosperous condition of, 18, 26.
FOREIGN RELATIONS--40, 47, 62, 85, 102, 106.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN--Anecdotes of, 497.
GOVERNMENT--Principles of, as set forth in Jefferson's Inaugural
Address, 1.
Is progressive, 42.
Benefits of Republican, 148.
GUN-BOATS--The use of, recommended, 79.
HENRICK, THE--Case of, 22.
IMPRESSMENT--Our remonstrances against, 58.
IMPROVEMENT, INTERNAL--The Cumberland road, 78, 97.
INDIANS--Their improvement, 7, 51, 118, 185, 191, 210, 214, 219,
226, 229.
Our Indian relations--17, 21, 25, 31, 37, 42, 66, 85, 106, 172,
184, 186.
Acquisitions of Territory from, 25, 52, 93, 94, 108, 190, 192,
199, 206, 219, 237, 239.
Relations with, during revolutionary war, 172, 177.
Our policy towards, 186, 188, 192, 193, 196, 201, 203, 207, 211,
217, 241.
Prohibition of sale of spirituous liquors to, 187, 191, 233.
Commerce with, 196.
Warned against uniting with English in war of 1812, 212, 215,
217, 233, 236.
Virginia Indians, 336.
Burial places of, 341.
Language of, 345.
Origin of, 344.
Catalogue of tribes of, 346.
Logan's speech, 308.
The character of the races of, 304.
The capacity of, 305.
Efforts to preserve peace between, 221, 223, 228, 236.
Removal of, West, 231.
Government of, 435.
Tribes of sea board, 434, 437.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS--Declines being a candidate a third time, 121,
123, 126.
JUDICIARY--Re-organization of, 13.
KOSCIUSKO, GEN.--Biographical sketch of, 480.
LEWIS, MERIWETHER--Biographical sketch of, 480.
LEWIS AND CLARKE--Their expedition, 59, 66.
LOGAN'S SPEECH--Account of, 308.
LOOMING--The phenomenon of, 327.
LOUISIANA--The acquisition of, 23, 29.
Organization of government of, 36.
Reduction of, into possession, 32.
Benefits of acquisition, 41.
MAMMOTH, THE--An account of, 286.
MANUFACTURES--Rise of, during Embargo, 109.
MASSACHUSETTS--Extension of Republican principles in, 116.
MILITIA--Organization of, 49, 108.
NATURALIZATION--Revision of laws of, 14.
NAVY--Necessity of a small navy, 12, 20.
NEGROES--Races of, compared with the whites, 381, 384.
NEUTRALITY--Our true policy, 28.
Violations of our neutral territory, 47, 57.
Right of neutrals to trade with Belligerents, 57.
Berlin and Milan decrees inconsistent with, 100, 103.
Violations of our Neutrality, 103, 128, 129, 130, 132, 149, 151.
OFFICES--Principles on which distributed, 114.
ORLEANS, NEW--Title to the Batture at, 99.
PRESS, THE--The licentiousness of, how far to be tolerated, 43.
RANDOLPH, PEYTON--Biographical sketch of, 477.
RELIGION--Should be free, 113, 137, 138.
RETRENCHMENT--Necessity of, 9.
REVENUE, SURPLUS--How should be disposed of, 68.
SLAVERY--Roman and American slavery compared, 384.
Its effects on manners, 403.
Its evils, 404.
SLAVES--Emancipation of, 380.
Compared with whites, 381.
SLAVE TRADE--Suppression of, 67, 334.
SPAIN--Relations with, 34, 38, 85.
Difficulties with, 48, 60, 62.
TAXATION--Direct taxes should be abolished, 9, 40.
UNITED STATES--Treasonable combinations against, 90, 95.
VIRGINIA--Boundaries of, 249.
VIRGINIA--Rivers of, 250.
Mountains of, 263.
Their height, 265.
Scenery at Harper's Ferry, 264, 429.
Cascades and caverns of, 266.
Natural bridge, 269.
Mines, minerals, trees, and plants, 270.
Mineral Springs of, 279.
Mammoth of, 286.
Whether animals degenerate in America, 290, 297, 300, 431, 432.
Whether man degenerates in America, 303, 313.
The fish of, 319.
Climate of, 320.
Winds of, 323.
Changes in climate, 327.
Population of, 328.
Immigration not desirable, 330.
Militia and regular troops of, 334.
Marine of, 336.
Indians in, 336, 434.
Logan's Speech, 309, 457.
Indian burial places, 341, 440.
Counties, cities, townships, and villages of, 350.
Charters of, 352.
Oppressions of George III, 358.
First constitution of, 359.
Convention of 1776, not authorized to make a constitution, 363.
Proposition to appoint a dictator, 368.
Judicial system of, 372.
The laws of, 374.
Land laws, 378.
Negro slavery in, 380.
Bill proportioning crimes and punishments, 387.
School System of, 386.
Colleges, public establishments, roads &c., 391.
Public buildings of, 394.
Architecture of, 394,
Dwelling houses of, 395.
Property of Tories and English, how far respected during
revolution, 397.
Religious sects of, 398.
Heresy punished, 399.
Free inquiry, 400.
Religious tolerance, 401.
Manners, customs, &c., of Virginians, 403.
Commerce and manufactures of, 404.
Exports and Imports of, 406.
Wheat and tobacco culture compared, 407.
Horses of, 408.
Copy of a constitution for, submitted in 1783, 409.
Weights, coins, and measures of, 409.
Public income and expenses, 410.
Means of defence, 413.
Histories of, 415.
WAR--Preparations for, 86.
Defensive works, 111.
Our only alternative, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158,
159, 160, 161, 162.
WESTERN COUNTRY--Exploration of, 66.
WEST POINT ACADEMY--Its enlargement proposed, 101.
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE--History of, 391.
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