CHAPTER XIII.

CESSION OF FLORIDA.

Commercial Treaty with England. Re-establishment of a National Bank. Indiana. Mississippi. Illinois. Alabama. Maine. Missouri. Florida ceded by Spain. Progress of the Arts and of Literature; of Population and Emancipation.

THE amicable relations with Great Britain, which had been restored by the treaty of Ghent, were soon afterwards drawn closer by a treaty of commerce. This convention, negotiated at London by Messrs. Adams, Clay, and Gallatin, and concluded by them on the third of July, stipulates, that the duties charged on merchandise and tonnage shall be reciprocally the same, in both nations; whether the vessels entering their respective ports be of Great Britain or the United States; and, that the vessels of the latter shall be allowed, under certain limitations, to trade with the principal British settlements in the East Indies. But, a similar privilege was not extended by England with regard to her colonies in the West Indies and on the continent of North America. Her navigation laws, made in the reign of Charles the second, were, in respect to these, with the exception of Bermuda, Halifax, and St. John's, most rigorously maintained; and, consequently, the United States, judging it expedient to enact a countervailing regulation, afterwards excluded from their ports all vessels sailing from the American colonies of England.

war.

But those pacific conventions did not lessen the 1816 propriety of augmenting the national defence. Peace is the most advantageous time for preparing the means of Congress resolved that the navy should be still farther increased; and, for this purpose, voted an annual appropriation of one million of dollars, during eight years, and authorized the president to have built, independent of vessels of a smaller size, nine ships of the line, twelve frigates, and three floating batteries; the latter to be propelled by steam.

The return of peace had not yet restored the currency of metallic coin. The banks continued to inundate the cour.try with paper money. Except in Massachusetts, all these

institutions had now ceased to pay their notes in gold or silver. Speculators were still lavishly supplied by new issues, and no termination appeared of the vexatious embarrassments arising from these fertile sources of national evil. In the absence of an adequate amount of specie, to meet the public claims, and create a respectable circulation, as well as a test of their solidity, the re-establishment of a national bank, which had ceased, by the expiration of its charter, in 1810, was thought to be the most speedy care. It was, therefore, enacted, after a most strenuous opposition, that a bank should be organized, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars, to continue twenty-one years from the first of July. Its labours to attain these ends, were, in the beginning, highly beneficial. A day was fixed, on which should be resumed a simultaneous payment of notes, in coin. All banking companies, that did not, accordingly, redeem their promises, were known to be insolvent; a salutary check was thus placed on the immoderate circulation of their notes, and commercial adventure confined by the prudent employment of only a sufficient capital. But, the general management of this great monied corporation was most reprehensible. Its first salutary influence was counterbalanced by its succeeding conduct. Extravagant sums were advanced, in the way of discounts, on the security of its own hypothecated stock; shares of which, originally ob tained for a hundred dollars, were thus inflated to a hundred and sixty, but afterwards, on the exposure of this immoral scheme, they declined to eighty. Several millions were, in consequence, lost by the institution, and many individuals were rendered pennyless. Congress was not inattentive to this perversion, which, instead of relief, had diffused ruin, throughout the country. Its president was removed, and in his place was appointed Mr. Cheves, formerly speaker of the house of representatives, and, more recently, one of the judges of South Carolina; under whose able and impartial direction, the capital of the bank having been gradually restored, its stock has again risen above par.

In

The next subject that engrossed the attention of congress, was a revision of the duties on goods imported. forming the new tariff, a judicious attention was given to protect domestic manufactures, without, at the same time, injuring the national revenue, or lessening, by over-indulgence, the industry and economy requisite to their full suc

The double war imposts were, with few exceptions,

reduced; but, a large increase was made to the duties on some fabrics, particularly cotton cloths, of a coarse desciption, especially when imported from the East Indies; where, these articles are manufactured by persons contented with daily wages not exceeding a few cents, and from a inaterial not grown in the United States.

Mr. Madison having filled the office of president 1817 a second period of four years, and, in conformity with the example of his several predecessors, not having, a third time, offered himself as a candidate for that honourable station, was succeeded by James Monroe; the vice pres. idential chair being assigned to Daniel D. Tompkins of New York.

Mr. Monroe, who enjoys the rare happiness of promoting the esteem, and combining in his favour the suffrages, of all parties, is, as were all the presidents, except Mr. Adams, a native of Virginia. At the carly age of seventeen, he was dangerously wounded in the battle of Trenton, was soon af terwards appointed aid-de-camp to lord Stirling, and subsequently colonel of a regiment. In 1782, he was intrust ed with a seat in the legislature of his native state, in the following year he was a representative in congress, and in 1790 a senator of the United States. Soon after the forination of the French republic, he was deputed, by general Washington, as an ambassador to Paris; and, at another time, by Mr. Jefferson, to negotiate, with the consulate of France, the purchase of Louisiana. In 1803, he was appointed minister to London, and, two years afterwards, was sent on a special mission to Madrid. On his return, he was elected governor of Virginia; in the following year, was appointed secretary of state; and, after the capture of the city of Washington, he consented to undertake the arduous ducies of secretary of war.

In the winter of this year, the country was de1819 prived of the services of commodore Perry; who fell a victim to the climate of Trinidad; and, in the following spring, Decatur was killed in a duel, near Washington, by commodore Barron.

Since the termination of the war, by the peace of Ghent, the foreign and domestic trade of the United States, continued to be variable and unprofitable. Merchandise and shipping, as well as landed estates, which, in the first two years of peace, had risen to an almost unprecedented degice, did not long maintain their value. The channels of

consumption in America, became gradually supplied and overfilled. The use of her grain, in Europe, had almost ceased. The universal peace allowed the ships of everv nation to be its own carriers, and its own citizens to be again its merchants. The flag of the United States, (as it had been before their rupture with England) was no longer the agent in trading between the various belligerants, nor were their sea-ports the general entrepots of the world The terms of freight rapidly declined, vessels rotted in the American ports, ware-houses groaned under the stagnant pressure of accumulating merchandise. Internal traffic

was not sufficient to employ the numerous individuals, com pelled to seek, at home, a field of enterprise, now closed to them abroad. Competition, throughout the Union, be came excessive. Houses and lands were advanced to double, and in many places, to treble, their former prices. Bank-loans had created a superabundance of paper-money, and furnished unlimited means of speculation and of sumptuous living. But the crisis at length arrived. After the re-establishment of the national bank, the redemption of that easily acquired money was no longer optional, but compulsory. Loans were, henceforth, given with caution, payment was demanded of those already issued, property was hurried into the market to answer this sudden call, and estate of all kinds declined to its former price. This, is a brief exhibition of the disasters produced by the transition from a warlike to a pacific condition, and which may be expected in changing also from peace to war. Let us, however, pray fervently for peace; and seek comfort by the slow but faithful aid of industry and economy, rather than splendour by the rapid career of deceitful speculation.

The public revenue could not escape being impaired by these multifarious embarrassments. It became inadequate to the expenditure, lately increased by a support given to the revolutionary soldiers. By an act of congress, in 1818, a yearly pension, sufficient for their decent maintenance, having been granted to those officers and privates who had served three successive years, more than thirty thousand of that venerable army made application for relief. Several millions were annually required to satisfy their claims. Money was, in consequence, obtained by loans, and other public expenses were curtailed. The military was reduced in number, and the building of ships of war, in some degree, suspended. The army now consists of six

1821

thousand men; the navy, fit for service, of eight vessels of the line, seven frigates, seven sloops or corvettes, and ten brigs and schooners.

Since the admission of Louisiana, in 1812, six other states have been received into the Union,-Indiana, Mississippi. Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri. The original members of the federal government were thirteen: they are now twenty-four. Indiana was admitted in 1816, Mississippi in 1817, and Illinois in 1818; Alabama in 1819, Maine and Missouri* (the latter conditionally) in 1820. Indiana and Illinois are sections of the same territory from which Ohio was made a state: Mississippi and Alabama belonged to Georgia; Maine was separated from Massachu setts, and Missouri from the vast tract ceded by the French, under the name of Louisiana. Slavery is forbidden, by a law of congress, to exist in Indiana and Illinois, and had long ceased in Maine, as a district of Massachusetts.

A negotiation, commenced with Spain, for the remainder of that portion of her territory, named Florida, which had been interrupted by the temporary overthrow of the old Spanish dynasty by Napoleon, was, on the return of Ferdinand the seventh to Madrid, renewed. That region was, at length, assigned to the United States. A treaty was concluded at Washington, on the twenty-second of February, 1819; which, after many vexatious delays on the part of Spain, was ratified by Ferdinand on the twenty-fourth of October, in the succeeding year, approved by the senate of the United States on the nineteenth, and by the president, on the twenty-second of February, 1821. Five millions of dollars were named as the price of Florida. This sum is not, however, to be paid to Spain. It is to be apportioned amongst those American citizens, whose property was illegally seized in Spanish ports, when under the uncontrollable influence of France. Florida, though desirable as an extensive field of profitable agriculture, is more important, as placing the southern boundary of the United States on the Gulf of Mexico; and, consequently, removing the disagreeable jealousies, which had frequently irritated the feelings of the two nations, caused by the occupation of Amelia Island and other places, by disorderly troops,

* The legislature of Missouri, having signified its concurrence with the act of congress, restricting it from preventing the residence of free persons of colour, it was formally declared a state, by a proclamation of the pres ident, on the tenth of August, 1821.