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satisfies them, overwhelmed with favours that do not propitiate, and taunted with concessions which are as grateful to a proud colony, as alms-bread is to a proud man, Louisiana has sprung up at once into an affectionate, congenial member of the confederacy. The sum of fifteen millions of dollars was the price paid for this acquisition; and on the twentieth of December, 1803, it was formally surrendered to the United States by the commissioner of France.

The period for a new election was now approaching, and so much had Mr. Jefferson's popularity increased during his administration, that he was elevated a second time to the Presidency, by a majority which had risen from eight votes to one hundred and forty-eight. The venerable George Clinton of the state of New York was, at the same time, chosen Vice President; and both, according to custom, were sworn into office on the fourth of March, 1805.

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Mr. Jefferson entered upon the arduous duties of his lofty station, deeply impressed with the confidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens; and he asserted his determination, as he believed it to be his duty, to be guided solely by those principles which had thus been sanctioned by the unequivocal approbation of his country. I do not fear," he said, "that any motives of interest may lead me astray; I am sensible of no passion which would seduce me knowingly from the path of justice; but the weaknesses of human nature, and the limits of my own understanding, will produce erzours of judgement, 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 favour 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."

Almost immediately after the election of Mr. Jefferson, the conduct of Colonel Burr began to attract the vigilant eye of the chief magistrate. This gentleman, notwithstanding his former services, and his undoubted talents, had subjected himself to merited obloquy. He had long been discarded by the republicans, and a duel with General Hamilton, which terminated fatally to the latter, had rendered him an object of abhorrence to the federalists, and degraded him in the eyes of the Union. Thus situated, soured by disappointments, and denied the confidence of his fellow citizens, he had retired into the western states, a stricken, and, as he conceived, an injured man. In the autumn of 1806, his mysterious movements attracted the attention of government. He had purchased and was building boats on the Ohio, and engaging men to descend that river. His declared purpose was to form a settlement on the banks of the Wachita, in Louisiana; but the character of the man, the nature of his preparations, and the incautious disclosures of his associates, led to the suspicion that his true object was either to gain possession of New Orleans, and erect into a separate government the country watered by the Mississippi and its branches, or to invade, from the territories of the United States, the rich Spanish province of Mexico.

But whatever may have been the ultimate object of his plans, no sooner had Mr. Jefferson received information that a number of private individuals were combining together, arming and organizing themselves contrary to law, with the avowed object of carrying on some military expedition against the territories of Spain, than he took immediate measures to arrest and bring to justice its authors and abettors. Colonel Burr, finding his scheme thus discovered and defeated, and hearing, at the same time, that several persons suspected of being his accomplices had been arrested, fled in disguise from Natchez, and was apprehended on the Tombigbee. Two indictments were found against him, one charging him with treason against the United States, the other with preparing and commencing an expedition against the dominions of Spain. He was bound over to take his trial on the last charge alone, the Chief Justice thinking there was not sufficient evidence of an overt act in the former. On the 17th of August, 1807, he was brought to trial before Judge Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States. assemblage of individuals was fully proved; but there was not sufficient legal evidence to establish the presence of Colonel Burr, or the use of any force against the authority of the United States, and the consequence was, an acquittal by the jury. The people, however. believed him guilty, and in this opinion the President largely shared.

The

The wars produced by the French revolution still continued to agitate and convulse the whole of Europe. While, on the one hand, the kings of the earth were repelled from the soil of France, and forced, by

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the genius of one man, to summon every resource, and exert every skill, for the preservation of their own dominions; on the other, the navy of England traversed the ocean unrestrained, and rode triumphant on every sea. In the fierce animosity of these two great belligerents, the rights of the unoffending neutral were but little respected. And few ships were found on the ocean except those of the United States and Great Britain. "The latter," says a clear, comprehensive, and classical writer, "having always found it impossible to man her numerous fleets by volunteer enlistments, had been accustomed to resort to impressment, or seizing by force her subjects, and compelling them to serve as sailors on board her ships of war. Soon after the peace of 1783, she claimed a right to search for and seize them, even on board of neutral vessels while traversing the ocean. In the exercise of this pretended right, citizens of the United States, sometimes by mistake and sometimes by design, were seized, dragged from their friends, transported to distant parts of the world, compelled to perform the degrading duty of British sailors, and to fight with nations at peace with their own. Against this outrage upon personal liberty, and the rights of American citizens, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had remonstrated in vain. The abuse continued, and every year added to its enormity, until a feeling of resentment was aroused worthy the best period of the Roman republick. But not in this mode only were the rights of the United States invaded and their interest sacrificed on the ocean. The carrying trade afforded a harvest too rich and too tempting to British cupidity to be long enjoyed unmolested.

American ships carrying to Europe the produce of French colonies, were, in an early stage of the war, captured by British cruisers, and condemned by their courts as lawful prize. Several European ports under the control of France were declared by British orders in council, dated in May, 1806, to be in a state of blockade, although not invested with a British fleet, and American vessels attempting to enter those ports, were also captured and condemned. France and her allies suffered, as well as the United States, from these transgressions against the laws of nations. And her vengeance fell, not so much upon the belligerent inflicting the injury, as upon the neutral enduring without resenting and repelling it. By a decree issued at Berlin, in November, 1806, the French Emperour declared the British islands in a state of blockade, and of course authorized the capture of all neutral vessels attempting to trade with those islands. From these measures of both nations, the commerce of the United States suffered severely, and their merchants loudly demanded redress and protection.

"Bonaparte having declared his purpose of enforcing with rigour the Berlin decree, and the British government having solemnly asserted the right of search and impressment, and having intimated their intention to adopt measures in retaliation of the French decree, Mr. Jefferson recommended to Congress that the seamen, ships and merchandise should be detained in port to preserve them from the dangers which threatened them on the ocean. A law laying an indefinite embargo was in consequence enacted. A hope to coerce the belligerent powers to return to the observance of the

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