DIFFERENCES WITH FRANCE.

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War of Independence; had seconded the motion for drawing up a Declaration of Independence; had proceeded as commissioner to Paris, as ambassador to Holland, as first ambassador from the United States. to Great Britain, had remained in England from 1785 to 1787, and had published during this period “A Defence of the Constitution and Government of the United States," in 3 vols. 8vo. It would be tedious to dwell on the events of his presidentship in detail. For the most part they do but continue those of his predecessor's term of office. Its history is chiefly filled with a quarrel with the French "Directoire." Presuming on the past services of the French monarchy to the United States, the French republic assumed the most arrogant airs towards the former. The American Minister, Pinckney, was expelled; American vessels were captured. To avoid a rupture, new envoys were sent; they were not acknowledged, and the needy traffickers of the "Directoire" went so far as to demand money as a preliminary to negotiations (1798). The pride of the Americans was roused by this proceeding: "Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute," was the common sentiment. Corps of Artillery and Engineers were added to the permanent establishment; additional troops were raised, and above all, a vigorous impulse was given to the navy, so that a French frigate was taken by an American one (1797). The rulers of the French republic now became more civil; new American envoys were respectfully received, and finally a convention was concluded

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INCREASE OF THE NAVY.

(30th September, 1800), which restored friendly relations between the two countries. The additional military forces were disbanded, but the navy remained, and the work of fortifying the coasts and harbours was entered upon; both navy and fortifications, be it observed, being no less necessary against the Americans themselves, than against foreigners, for in his address of 1797 (May 16), Mr. Adams had to record the discreditable fact that the greater part of the cruisers which harassed the American trade, were built, and some equipped, in the United States, while American citizens abroad had equally fitted out or commanded privateers.

The administration of John Adams was marked, like that of Washington, by some resistance to taxation. In Pennsylvania, that old focus of discontent, the valuations and surveys, required for a direct tax laid on in 1798, were opposed, and a military force had to be employed. But order was restored this time without bloodshed; the offenders were brought to trial, and some of them convicted. No new States were admitted during Mr. Adams's term of office, but the territories of Mississippi and Indiana were organised into governments. Population and prosperity still followed their onward course. The second census showed a population of 5,305,482. The shipping of America, which in 1792 had been somewhat over 800,000 tons, had risen to 939,000 in 1800; whilst the war navy numbered forty-two vessels, mounting 950 guns.

But the one event which overshadows Adams's ad

DEATH OF WASHINGTON.

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ministration is the death of Washington, which took place on the 14th December, 1799, he being then sixty-seven years old. A man perhaps unique in history, who seems to have been moulded by God for the express purpose of showing how one can be great without genius, by the mere might of pure purpose, coupled with common sense and resolute will. Our own great Duke resembles him in many points, but with more promptness and vigour on the one hand, and more narrowness and obstinacy on the other. Each fills his own allotted place in history; the one as the ruler of his nation, the other as the greatest of servants in his own. We probably all of us remember how the whole English people mourned for Wellington. For Washington the American people mourned thirty days. But his place was never more to be filled by one "like-minded."

He did not live to see what, in his last annual address, Mr. Adams was able to record, when he congratulated "the people of the United States on the assembling of Congress at the permanent seat of their Government"-Congress having sat hitherto at Philadelphia, and removing now to the Capitol, at Washington, and Congress itself "on the prospect of a residence not to be changed." He called upon them to consider the question of the exercise of their powers over the district of Columbia, viewing Washington "as the capital of a great nation." Such words sound strange in our ears just now, when the first great point at stake under Mr. Lincoln's presi

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JEFFERSON'S ELECTION

dency has been the defence of Washington against Southern aggression.

John Adams held the President's chair for a single term of office. Many of his measures,-those for direct taxation and internal duties,-an alien bill,the increase of the regular army,-the protraction of the Indian war, &c., had made him unpopular. His former competitor, Jefferson, was elected by a majority of one over him (1800)—owing, in fact, his election, for want of a sufficient majority, to the House of Representatives, and elected even thus only at the thirtysixth ballot. A man, who, perhaps more than any other, has contributed to mould the American mind. Born to an independent fortune, well-educated, he was also quick-minded, impetuous, rhetorical; kind of heart, yet sharp in language; prone to the heats of partizanship, yet capable of retaining the friendship of his political enemies; full of noble impulses and generous theories, yet incapable of carrying out either to their logical and practical conclusions; a slave-owner, professing to abhor slavery, yet who left slaves behind him, even, it is said, of his own blood,-he was unquestionably the most brilliant of American statesmen. He was quicker, however, and more effective with his pen than he was in speech, and except the " Inaugural” (which has always remained customary), he substituted the form of the message for that of address, in all his subsequent communications with Congress,—a practice which has been followed ever since. The Vice-President, during Jefferson's first term of office, was Aaron

AND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

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Burr, a somewhat singular personage, of whom we shall presently hear more.

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Jefferson's Inaugural Address (4th of March, 1801), whilst it exhibits fully the temper of the man, should also supply many a lesson to his Southern admirers of the present day. During the contest of opinion through which we have passed," he said, "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 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. If there would be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its representative 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." After saying that he believed the American government to be "the strongest government on earth," 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," he went on to enumerate, among the objects of American