§ 406]

THE JAY TREATY OF 1794

1

339

to contraband and neutral ships; but she agreed to vacate the Northwest posts, to open to American trade her West India ports under certain restrictions, and to pay American citizens for recent seizures of ships and goods. The American government dropped the claim for compensation for the deported Negroes, and promised to pay the British creditors who had not been able to collect pre-Revolutionary debts.

It took all Washington's influence to get the treaty ratified in the Senate. Among the people, excitement and opposition were intense. Jay was burned in effigy. Hamilton was stoned from a public platform where he advocated ratification. Washington himself once more was heaped with vituperation. The Virginia legislature voted down a résolution expressing trust in her greatest son, and the national House of Representatives struck out the customary words" undiminished confidence" from an address to him.

405. The treaty certainly left much to be desired; but at worst it was well worth while. America secured undisputed possession of her full territory and satisfaction for commercial injuries. For other matters, we gained what we needed most - time. To our new and unprepared nation, war at that moment would have been ruin. The treaty permitted an honorable escape. Moreover, one feature of the treaty was a distinct step onward for civilization. It provided for the first instance of international arbitration in the modern sense (§ 406).

406. The treaty of 1783 had named the St. Croix River as the boundary of Maine from the sea to the highlands. But

1 England offered to open the West India ports to American trade, but only to small coasting vessels, and upon condition that America promise for twelve years not to export to any part of the world molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or cotton. The English intention, probably, was simply to maintain her navigation system with regard to other countries, by making sure that American vessels, admitted to the Island ports, should not carry the products of those colonies to other parts of the world as well as to the United States, and that such products, after being brought to the United States, should not be reëxported. Jay seems to have been ignorant that these restrictions would hamper American commerce. The twelfth article of the treaty, containing this trade provision, was cut out by the Senate before ratification.

name.

that unexplored region contained several rivers bearing that The treaty-map, with its red-ink drawings, had been lost. And several thousand square miles of territory had fallen into honest dispute.

The treaty of 1794 submitted the matter to adjudication by a commission (two men chosen by each power, they to have authority to choose a fifth). Each nation pledged itself in advance to abide by the award. The commission was to act as an international court, with somewhat of judicial procedure. It was not to be merely a meeting of diplomats, to make a bargain or to seek out a compromise. It was to examine evidence and hear argument, and was sworn to do justice according to the real merits of the case, as an ordinary court decides title to property between private claimants.

This rational agreement called forth violent outcry. In England, the ministry were assailed for "basely sacrificing British honor"; and, on this side the water, there was much senseless clamor about "not surrendering American soil without first fighting to the last drop of our blood." To such silly, question-begging pretense of patriotism, Hamilton's reply was unanswerable: "It would be a horrid and destructive principle that nations could not terminate a dispute about a parcel of territory by peaceful arbitration, but only by war."

III. RELATIONS WITH SPAIN

407. Spanish troubles have been treated in earlier chapters. In 1795, after vigorous negotiation, backed at last by threats of war, the Pinckney Treaty secured what seemed on paper a fairly satisfactory adjustment. Spain (1) recognized the thirtyfirst parallel as the northern boundary of Florida (§ 290); (2) bound herself to restrain Indian hostilities; (3) promised the "right of deposit" at New Orleans (§ 305); and (4) agreed to pay for previous seizures there. In practice, it is true, Spanish officials continued the old abuses against American trade.

§ 409]

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

341

IV. RENEWED TROUBLES WITH FRANCE

408. France had confidently expected our troubles with England to lead to war. She was bitterly angered, therefore, at the Jay Treaty. Her government, in a violent protest, charged the United States with weakness and bad faith, and insultingly refused to receive Pinckney, who had been appointed our minister at Paris. Soon France withdrew her minister from America, and, to the full extent of her power began aggressions upon our commerce.

409. The administration of John Adams (1797-1801) found things at this pass; and it was occupied almost wholly by these troubles and by the

new

disputes at home growing out of them. The President sent Gerry, Pinckney, and John Marshall to France to negotiate a settlement. The French government (the Directory) first ignored these gentlemen, and then, through secret agents, tried to intimidate them and to demand tribute in money for their own private pockets.

The publication of this infamous "X. Y. Z." 1 mat

ter silenced the friends of JOHN ADAMS. From the portrait by Stuart,

France in America and

fanned popular indigna

now in the collections of the New York Historical Society.

tion to white heat. Pinckney's famous phrase, "Millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute," became the grim byword

1 The American ministers, in their dispatches home, mentioned the French negotiators by these initials only.

of the hour. Even the Southern States elected Federalist congressmen; and, in 1798, the Federalists once more gained possession for a moment of all branches of the government.

410. In the summer of 1798, preparations for war were hastened. Warships were built, and the army was reorganized, with Washington as commander in chief and Hamilton as his second in command. War was not formally declared, but it did exist in fact. Scores of ships were commissioned as privateers, to prey upon French merchantmen; and the United States frigate Constellation fought and captured the French Vengeance.

411. At this moment, in a roundabout way, the French government hinted that it would be glad to renew negotiations. Adams had won great applause by a declaration, “I will never send another minister to France without assurance that he will be received, respected, and honored as becomes the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." now the patriotic President threw away his popularity and the chance predominance of his party, in order to save the country from war. Without even the knowledge of his Cabinet, he appointed another embassy; and the treaty of 1800 secured our trade, for the time, from further French aggression.

Adams' courage in this matter is perhaps his highest claim to grateful remembrance. He himself proposed for his epitaph, "Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility for the peace with France, in 1800."

EXERCISE. - The troubles of this period were soon to break forth again, with the renewal of war in Europe, and to grow in intensity until the War of 1812. Many of the questions gained new interest from the great European war of 1914. The teacher should see that the class can use intelligently such terms as treaty, alliance, neutrality, blockade, contraband, search, “minister," ambassador (distinguishing between the last two and consuls).

Walker's Making of the Nation has an admirable brief treatment of our foreign relations in this period. All the larger histories give much space to the topic. C. R. Fish's American Diplomacy is about the only special treatise that high-school students can use for this period.

CHAPTER XXXVII

DOMESTIC TROUBLES, 1797-1800

412. The preparation for war, at the opening of Adams' administration, made more revenue necessary. Congress raised the tariff rates, passed a Stamp Act, and apportioned a "direct tax" of $2,000,000 among the States.

This last measure resulted in Fries' Rebellion. In assessing the new tax, houses were valued according to their size and the number of their windows. Officers were frequently resisted in their attempts to measure houses, and slops were sometimes poured upon their heads from the windows. In Pennsylvania a number of the rioters were arrested. They were promptly rescued by armed men led by a certain Fries. Adams thought it necessary to call out an army to repress the "insurrection.” Fries was condemned to be hung for treason, but was pardoned by the President to the indignation of leading Federalists, who clamored for an "example."1

Re

413. Political controversy had grown excessively bitter. publican editors poured forth upon the President and his administration abuse which in our better-mannered era would be regarded as blackguardism. The Federalists retorted with language equally foul, and tried to gag their opponents with the notorious "alien and sedition" laws, - repressive, tyrannical, dangerous to the spirit of free institutions.

Aliens had been required to live in the United States five years before they could be naturalized: a new Naturalization Act raised this period to fourteen years. An Alien law

1 Adams himself had blamed Washington severely for pardoning the leaders of the Whisky Rebellion. On the question of whether Fries' conduct really constituted "treason," cf. Walker's Making of the Nation, 147.