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1794.]

CONDITIONAL RATIFICATION.

575

procity, the advantage was greatly on the side of Great Britain, from the different circumstances of the two countries. Thus, the provisions which allowed aliens to hold lands, and prohibited the sequestration of debts due to resident merchants, and also reprisals, might benefit twenty or even fifty British subjects for one American citizen. Even in the fur trade, by means of the exception in favor of the Hudson Bay Company, the principal profit from it was secured to British subjects.'

In addition to the intrinsic objections to the treaty, and to the weight of the opposition to it, General Washington had a further inducement to hesitate in giving it his sanction, in consequence of a rumor that the British order in council of the fifth of June was again put in force, and he finally decided, if that was the case, to ratify it conditionally, to take effect on the revocation of that order. From this temporising course he was diverted by an occurrence in his own Cabinet.

A recent despatch of the French Minister, Fauchet, to his own Government having been intercepted by a British cruiser, had been transmitted by Lord Grenville to Hammond, the British Minister. In it, Fauchet had given a view of the state of parties in the United States, and an

1 After an interval of near twenty years, I see no reason to change the views formerly expressed:

"Mr. Jay left the United States under the firm belief, generally entertained by his party, that peace with England, the prevention of a closer fraternity with the French, and the continued ascendency of the Federalists, all depended on his making a treaty. Every thing, then, which could interest either his patriotic or party feelings (and neither were lukewarm) was hazarded on this single step. The moral necessity under which he acted was as well known to the British Ministry as it was felt by himself, and they naturally profited by it to insist on every thing which he could venture to give, and to concede nothing which they could decently refuse."-I. Life of Jefferson, page 507.

576

RANDOLPH RESIGNS.

[CHAP. VIII. account of his conferences with the American Secretary of State, in the course of which details he indulged in comments injurious to the character of the United States, and yet more to that of the Secretary of State. It being understood that Randolph was opposed to the ratification of the treaty, Hammond imputed the President's hesitation to Randolph's influence, and he communicated Fauchet's despatches to Wolcott as a proof of Randolph's intrigues. The other members of the Cabinet, on consultation, decided on summoning the President forthwith to Philadelphia, and laying these despatches before him.

On the President's return to the city, he submitted the question of ratification to his Cabinet, when all but the Secretary of State advised its unconditional ratification, accompanied, however, with a strong memorial against the late order in council. The drafting of this memorial having been previously determined on, it had been done by Mr. Randolph while the President was in Virginia, and as soon as it was completed, the President laid before the Secretary, Fauchet's despatches. Randolph offered explanations of such passages as exposed him to suspicions, and positively denied all application to Fauchet for money for himself or any one else. He proposed to submit further explanations in writing, but added that he could no longer hold his office, and sent in his resig nation the same day. He requested, however, that the affair should not be published until he could see Mr. Fauchet, then in Rhode Island, and about to embark for France.

The request was granted. Mr. Randolph had an interview with Fauchet, and obtained from him a long explanatory letter, in which he admitted that he had probably been mistaken in the purport of the propositions attributed by him to Mr. Randolph. This gentleman defended

1795.]

CHANGES IN THE CABINET.

577

himself in a formal vindication addressed to the public, which, while it had little or no effect on his political opponents, was sufficient to acquit him with his friends of the injurious imputations caused by Fauchet, and even to excite the lively indignation of some.

Mr. Randolph was succeeded by Mr. Pickering as Secretary of State; James M'Henry, of Maryland, was appointed Secretary of War; and Charles Henry Lee, of Virginia, Attorney-General. All those offices had been tendered to others and refused, in most instances probably from the known inadequacy of the salaries attached to them.

A treaty was made this summer by General Wayne with some twelve or more tribes of Indians, who were the more ready to terminate hostilities with the United States, now that they found the western posts were about to be delivered up by the British. By this treaty a body of land equal to twenty-five thousand miles square, was ceded to the United States. The Indians received presents to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, and the United States agreed to pay them, in addition, an annuity of nine thousand five hundred dollars.

At this general pacification, many of the whites, long in a state of captivity and exile, were restored to their families; but some of them refused to leave their savage hosts, whose treatment of their prisoners, when they do not put them to death, is often mild, and even kind. Occasionally, they are adopted in the place of the children whom the Indians have lost.

A treaty was also concluded with Algiers, according to the terms of which the American prisoners were to be released, and the Dey was to receive seven hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars in hand, and an annuity of twenty-four thousand dollars in military stores. There VOL. I. -37

578

TREATY WITH SPAIN.

[CHAP. VIII. having been some unexpected delay in the payment of this tribute, to prevent him from renewing his threatened hostilities, the American Consul deemed it prudent to propitiate him by engaging to furnish him with a frigate which cost one hundred thousand dollars.

A treaty was also at last effected with Spain, by which the boundary between Florida and the United States was settled: the navigation of the Mississippi, throughout its whole extent, was to be free to both countries: the Americans were to have the right of deposit at New Orleans for three years, after which time either the privilege was to be continued, or some other equally convenient place of deposit on the Mississippi was to be assigned to them: neither nation was to make alliances with Indians living within the limits of the other nation, nor to allow its Indians to carry on hostilities against the other.

The articles concerning commerce and navigation were liberal and reciprocal; provisions and naval stores were declared not to be contraband, and free ships were to make free goods. A mixed commission was provided to ascertain the losses sustained by illegal Spanish captures, which were to be paid for by the Spanish Government.

Congress assembled on the seventh of December, and was addressed by the President the next day, who informed them of the treaties made with the Indians of the North-west, with Algiers, and with Spain; and of the ratification by the United States of the British treaty, except as to the article respecting the West India trade. As soon as the result was known, it should be communicated. He again urged the organization of the militia, and a remodelling of the military establishment. He recommended the protection of the Indians against the lawless aggression of the whites on the frontier; and he

1796.7

PRESENTATION OF THE FRENCH FLAG.

579

suggested the civilization of those people as a probable result of the benignant efforts of the Government.

The answer of the Senate, which passed an eulogy on the President's foreign policy, was opposed, but was finally passed by fourteen votes to eight.

In the House of Representatives, Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, was chosen Speaker. A member from Virginia (Parker), moved to lay aside the practice of a written reply to the speech, and to substitute a message stating that the several subjects submitted by the President should be taken into consideration. The motion, however, was rejected by a large majority, and the usual committee of three was appointed to draft a reply.

The proposed answer, which spoke of the undiminished confidence of his fellow-citizens in the President, met with some modifications in the House, but they still declared their affectionate attachment to his character.

On the fourth of January, 1796, the President sent a message1 to Congress, informing them that the French Minister had, by order of his Government, presented to the United States the colors of France; together with an address from the Committee of Public Safety to the Representatives in Congress, in the name of the French people.

The address contained the following passage:

"You were the first defenders of the rights of man in another hemisphere. Strengthened by your example, and endowed with an invincible energy, the French people have vanquished that tyranny, which, during so many centuries of ignorance, superstition, and baseness, had enchained a generous nation.

"Soon did the people of the United States perceive that every victory of ours strengthened their independence

1 II. State Papers, page 97.

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