The westward movement : the colonies and the republic west of the Alleghanies, 1763-1798 with full cartographical illustrations from contemporary sources, Part 41

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897. cn
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Boston ; New York : Houghton, Mifflin and Co.
Number of Pages: 622


USA > Mississippi > The westward movement : the colonies and the republic west of the Alleghanies, 1763-1798 with full cartographical illustrations from contemporary sources > Part 41


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51


471


THE TREATY MAPS.


Grenville insisted upon an opposite view, and, to get his de- sired boundary, proposed running a line from Lake Superior in one of two ways, so that the upper waters of the river should traverse British territory. These alternative proposi- tions were, in the one in- WOOD BACK ROAD LAG SO stance, to run a due west BANC B. LAND HEIGHT OF THÉ line from West Bay, on Lake Superior, to the east- ern branch of the Mississip- pi, as some of the British EASTERN R. ST. CROIX maps had already drawn it ; and, in the other, to run a -WING BOUNDARY line from the mouth of the SAUTST ANTOINE St. Croix River, at the Mis- FORT POND 0 sissippi, due north till it ST PETERS struck the boundary be- POND'S MAP. tween the Lake of the [This map is reproduced from E. D. Neill's " In- accurate Knowledge of the Sources of the Missis- sippi at the Close of the Last Century," one of the Manchester College Contributions, 3d series, No. 1. It is taken from Peter Pond's "Map of the Hudson's Bay Country, 1785," in the State De- partment at Washington, and Neill calls it "the first map after 1783 to show that the Mississippi did not reach any point west of the Lake of the Woods."] Woods and Lake Superior. Jay replied that he could only consent to close the gap between the source of the Mississippi and latitude 49° by the most direct line.


The map which Grenville brought forward to illustrate his views was Faden's map of 1793. In this map the Mississippi was drawn as known only to about a degree above the Falls of St. Anthony. North of this point there were three branches, one of which must probably be the true Mississippi. One of these flowed from a marshy lake in 45°. A second flowed from White Bear Lake near 46°. Each of these were marked " Mis- sissippi by conjecture." The third branch issued from Red Lake in 47°, and was called " Lahontan's Mississippi." Jay objected to the acceptance of any tentative geography, and pro- posed a survey to gain precise knowledge. He contended that, as the American commissioners in 1782 had offered an alterna- tive of the 45° and 49°, and the latter had been accepted, the decision must stand, and the Mississippi must either be shown to cross that parallel, or must be connected with it by the short- est line.


472


JAY'S TREATY.


Jay persistently clung to his view, and Grenville yielded, con- senting to a survey from one degree below the Falls of St. Anthony northward, leaving the definite connecting line for future consideration.


While the commissioners intending to make this survey were preparing for their work, they learned that the belief among the traders as to the upper waters of the Mississippi was of this sort : Following the river up beyond the Falls of St. An- thony a hundred leagnes, you reached Crow Wing River on the left. Another hundred carried you to Sandy River on the right, up which those wishing to reach Lake Superior usually went. Still a hundred leagues more, and Leech Lake was reached, which was held to be the true source of the Missis- sippi, and it was fifty leagues southeast of the Lake of the Woods. These northwestern bounds, as described in the Que- bee Bill in 1774, and repeated in Carleton's commission in 1775, had been uncertain, in that a due north line from the mouth of the Ohio was prescribed, without defining it as follow- ing the curves of the Mississippi, till it reached the southern bounds of the Hudson Bay Company.


How true, now, this trader's geography may have been was soon to be decided by a survey, which the North West Company ordered David Thompson to make, so as to determine how many of their posts were south of 49°, and consequently in American territory. In March, 1798, that surveyor started west on the 49th parallel. He first found two of the company's houses on the Red River south of that boundary. In April, he reached a four-mile carry, by which he entered upon a river which conducted him, thirty-two miles away, to Red Lake, where the North West Company had temporary trading-posts, at a spot found to be in 47º 58' 15". There he found a portage of six miles, and, four days later, passing through a level conn- try spotted with ponds and luxuriant with wild rice, he entered upon Turtle Lake, an expanse of water four miles square, but having lateral bays, which gave its outline a resemblance to that animal. This was then recognized as the source of the Mississippi. and in 1782 it had been supposed to lie farther north than the Lake of the Woods. This error has been ac- counted for by supposing that the fur traders, in ascending these upper waters of the Mississippi, reckoned as a league (three


473


THE USE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


miles) the time it took to smoke a pipe, while in reality only two miles were passed over in that time. Thompson found the north end of the lake to be in 47º 38' 20", or one hundred and twenty-eight miles south of the point where the map-makers in 1782 had supposed it. There was another post of his company on Red Cedar Lake near by. In May, Thompson passed down the Mississippi, two hundred miles by the winding of the stream, to Sand Lake River, up which he turned towards Lake Supe- rior, and in this neighborhood he found two other stations of the North West Company.


Thompson's wanderings had shown how many posts must be abandoned, as in American territory, and had also shown to the satisfaction of the waiting commissioners that Turtle Lake, a's the source of the Mississippi, was something short of two de- grees south of the 49° boundary. The acceptance of Thomp- son's observations then, and the acquisition of Louisiana a few years later, took from the extreme northwest line all interna- tional importance.


Hamilton, in May, 1794, had urged Jay to try to get England to help in the matter of forcing Spain to open the lower Missis- sippi " by giving her a participation in that navigation ; but," he added, " with negotiations going on with Spain it must be man- aged carefully." Jay did not forget Hamilton's injunetions, and he conceded to England by the treaty her right to navigate the Mississippi, as it had stood in that of 1782, with the additional provision that all ports on the eastern side of the river, whether belonging to one party or the other, should be open to British traders in the same way that the seaboard ports were. While some held that this concession to England was a shrewd one, to gain her adhesion in treating with Spain for the opening of the river, it was looked upon by others as affording the British an opportunity of monopolizing the trade of the river under the cover of their gunboats.


This agreement of Jay and Grenville as to the joint use of the Mississippi gave great offense to Spain, and in her protests she was supported by the French Directory. Spain claimed that the right of navigation which England acquired by the treaty of Paris, in 1763, was surrendered when she gave up west Florida to Spain in 1782, a position which both England and the United States denied. "The Spaniards are feverish


-


474


JAY'S TREATY.


with respect to the Mississippi article," wrote Wolcott to Ham- ilton in July, 1795.


The treaty offered another point of attack to its opponents, in that there was no specific agreement on the part of Grenville that English agents would in the future abstain from inciting the Indians to hostilities. Jay's instructions had directed him to require that, " in case of an Indian war, none but the usual supplies in peace should be furnished " by the English to their Indians and their allies. A contrary conduct had long been the subject of complaint by the American government. "The British government," the instructions further said, " having denied their abetting of the Indians, we must of course acquit them. But we have satisfactory proofs that British agents are guilty of stirring up and assisting with arms and ammunition the different tribes of Indians against us." To such com- plaints Grenville had given as emphatic a denial of complicity on the part of the government as ever Hammond had done, and he authorized Jay to assure the President that " no instruc- tions to stimulate or promote hostilities by the Indians have been sent to the king's officers in Canada."


The negotiations for the giving up of the posts seem to have gone on without impediment, except as to the date for the final surrender. The victory of Wayne had, before the negotia- tions closed, rendered the question of a barrier territory nuga- tory. The actions of Simcoe, aimed at the accomplishment of such a reservation, had of late increased in daring. At the end of August, Washington had had occasion to bring a rash deed of that British agent to the attention of Jay.


During the summer, Colonel Williamson, who, as trustee of Sir William Pulteney, managed a large landed property in New York, which had been bought of Robert Morris in April, 1792, on the borders of Lake Ontario, had begun a settlement at Sodus Bay, forty miles west of Oswego. On August 16, Lieutenant Sheaffe, sent by Simcoe's orders, had appeared in the harbor and demanded the abandonment of the place. The party, on retiring, is said to have carried off some flour, and


NOTE. - The opposite map of the Genessee country and the Niagara road is from Samuel Lewis's "'Stale of New York," in Carey's American Atlas, Philadelphia, 1795.


HOSWE


Fing Bay


ils Nose


ddocks.Bry


Segut


AF NIAGARA


Fanding


Sodis


Cato


xF. Schlofser


Niagara Road


Rx Galen


Camillus


Bratju's


G


E


N


E


S


E


E


Canandarque


Junius


Ferry ware


Skancatetos


H ..


Ontariose


Conesus L.


Hemlock L.


Long L.


Peter's


"Williamsburgh


Ovid


Locke


...


ien


1


each


Tall


Dr


Hector


esee


Canaseraaa (.


7


U


N


T


R


€ .


Karawageres Village


Canondargya


Geneva


Capaluga


Romulus


Sempronius


Scipio


Wadsworth


ToneyyoeL.


Canandarqua I.


Flint R.


F.Erien


Buffaloc


Hartford


Scarpate


Marcellus


Tonewanto C.


Mud


ERO


Lysander Seneca #


Oswego R.


fiball


Sodus


Crocked


Cajuga


ohta


476


JAY'S TREATY.


Williamson made preparations to resist in case of further demands.


The ground assumed by Simcoe was that, while the negotia- tors in London were at work, the Americans should not have advanced their occupancy. When Washington heard of Sim- coe's movement, he looked upon it as the first denial by the British of American rights to their own territory beyond the jurisdiction of the posts, and wrote to Jay that he considered it " the most open and daring act of the British agents in Amer- ica." This served to bring Jay to this part of the negotiation with more nerve, perhaps, than he assumed on any other point, though his crities later blamed him for not pressing a claim of indemnity for the twelve years of the posts' detention. Jay doubtless saw the difficulty in this last particular, as Hamilton did in defending him, for it would have inevitably opened the question of the first infraction of the treaty of 1782, and in- duced a course of mutual crimination, a procedure surely to be avoided if an amicable ending was to be reached. Jay had stood for June 1, 1795, as the date of surrender; but Gren- ville could not be brought to any nearer date than on or before June 1, 1796. The interval was certainly not long, if the mer- chants were to be allowed time to close up their business and withdraw their merchandise, widely scattered, and we have seen what a number of stations the North West Company had planted in the American territory. It was certainly not too long a time if there was any justice in the claim, which the fac- ' tors at Montreal had always made, that five years were neces- sary to bring their business to an end. There were political considerations, also, in giving the Indians an interval to get familiar with the prospect of a change, as conducing to an easier transfer when the time came.


The delay, however, afforded a text for other animadversions of the opponents of the treaty. It was said that the interval was sufficient for England to get loose from continental compli- cations, and, these over, she would be in no better mood to give the posts up than she was in 1783. The posts not being dis- tinetly named was another point of complaint, nor was there any definite explanation of what territorial jurisdiction the posts carried with them, and in case of further complications the whole barrier question might again arise. But these were con-


477


WASHINGTON AND THE TREATY.


tingencies like any other likely to arise with treaties negotiated in bad faith, and hardly to be guarded against. The grants about Detroit, which the British had made, Jay had agreed to recognize ; but he demanded and gained from Grenville the absolute freedom for the Americans to occupy in the interim any lands not clearly within the survey of the post, and that, in effect, no such interference as that of Simcoe at Sodus Bay should again happen. There was also a provision for allowing residents in and about the posts to transfer their allegiance to the United States, if they desired to become, in this way, American citizens. This did not escape cavil, and it was pointed out that the Constitution provided for an " uniform rule of naturalization."


The sections of the treaty, which have now been examined, related closely to western interests and the possible application of them in the near future. They were but part of the consid- erations now brought under the attention of Washington, while he was determining his course of approval or disapproval. He soon became the centre of observation. From all sides remon- strances and petitions to affect his decision came in upon him. He told his friends that he had never before encountered so trying a crisis, nor one in which there was "more to be appre- hended."


While his decision was pending, Washington retired for an interval of calin to Mount Vernon. Here he was followed by the insatiable correspondent. In a letter which he wrote at Mount Vernon, he gives an index of his feelings, showing that while there was that in the treaty to question, intemperate judg- ments found too much to criticise.


Meanwhile, in Boston, the merchants were fuming with pas- sion at the thought of such a treaty ; but it was not long before it became known that Gore and Cabot were making headway in producing a revulsion of sentiment. It was reported that Jay had been hung in effigy in Philadelphia. In Virginia there was almost a revolution, and there was talk of taking the treaty-making power from the Senate and giving it to the people. Leading Virginians were accountable for such incen- diarism. Monroe could speak of the pusillanimity of Jay. Madison could assert that the " dearest interests of our com-


478


JAY'S TREATY.


merce and the most sacred dictates of national honor " had been sacrificed to an English connection. Jefferson believed that if the treaty became a law, it was a British triumph, and it could be endured only by a people impressed by the personal merits of the President. The legislature of Kentucky pro- nouneed it unconstitutional. In South Carolina, Rutledge re- peated the wild elamor.


The fact was, that the way in which the treaty was regarded had for the moment become the supreme test of party steadi- ness. The republicans gathered in opposition to it every ele- ment of dislike for England, and every faction of admirers of the French. The debtor class, looking to relief in a war with England, naturally swung to their side, and they gave a vio- lence, cohesion, and stubbornness to their cause in the South which it did not have in the North.


Jefferson, in a letter to Ebeling of Göttingen, intended to affeet that author's judgment in his intended book on the United States, sought to show that the republicans were not only the great mass of the people, and landholders and laborers to a man, but that their aggregated wealth surpassed that of the federalists. Thomas Cooper, a new sojourner in the coun- try, wrote to a friend in England: "The conduet of your court has certainly given strength to the anti-federal party, among whom may now be ranked the majority of the people and the majority of the House of Representatives," and he probably reflected the belief of ardent republicans. ,


Jefferson, as the leader of the opponents of the treaty, feared more than anything else the ability and influence of Hamilton, and urged Madison to enter the lists against him. Hamilton, as the recognized champion of the treaty, made, perhaps, the most effective of his appeals for the treaty under the name of " Ca- millns." Wherever his arguments found lodgment, the belief grew and was strengthened that the rejecting of the treaty meant drifting into a war with England and a delay in set- tling the national account with Spain, since she was likely, in that event, to seek an alliance with Great Britain. At a later day, Hamilton spoke less temperately, and not so publiely, when he called the opposition " the mere ebullition of ignorance, of prejudice, and of faction," and he might well have said so of the aspersions of Callender, which, there was indeed much reason


479


THE TREATY APPROVED.


to believe, were prompted, if not by the solicitation, at least by the countenance of Jefferson and Madison. Indeed, the country was in a bellicose mood, and there was little prospect of calmer councils. " The exasperation against England is great," said Rochefoucault-Liancourt, who was looking on; "it spreads through all ranks in society. In my opinion, Jay's negotiation will hardly be able to smother the glowing spark." William Priest, another traveler, said, "A war with England at this time would be very popular."


These were the burning feelings that prevailed when Wash- ington, on August 11, returned to Philadelphia, and three days later discussed with his advisers the course to be taken. It had, perhaps, become more difficult now to reach a prudent determination than it had been at an earlier stage. There were two developments that urged action in different directions. One was an order of the British government to capture all nen- tral vessels carrying provisions to France. The other was the British interception of a dispatch from Fauchet, which had been transmitted to the American government. By this, which was for a while kept from Randolph's knowledge, it looked as if that secretary, who was the only one of the cabinet attached to the French interests, had been making applications of at least a questionable character to the French envoy for loans to certain debtors to England, so as to affect their conduct. It was the discovery of this seemingly treacherous conduct of one of his advisers that largely influenced the President to a prompt adhesion to the treaty. On August 14, the cabinet advised him to approve the treaty, and on the 18th, Washing- ton signed it, and secured the counter-signature of Randolph, as secretary of state, before the latter was confronted with the evidence of his dealings with the French envoy. The signing of the treaty and the exposure of Randolph were charged by Jefferson, and have been assigned by later vindicators of Ran- dolph to an impulse of servility in the President's mind, as well as to the strengthening of his prejudices by the intrigues of Pickering and Wolcott, who were making the most of palpa- ble indiscretions of Randolph. On August 26, instructions were sent to John Quincy Adams, then at the Hague, to pro- ceed to London and exchange ratifications, if the British would accept - as they did - the Senate's amendment. He was to


480


JAY'S TREATY.


insist, also, on the withdrawal of the offensive provision order, but was not to push his objections to a degree that would en- danger the treaty. Everything went well, and on October 28 the ratifieations were exchanged, and on February 29, 1796, proclamation was made of the treaty's binding force.


Two days later, Washington notified Congress, and it was left to the House of Representatives to make the necessary appropriations of money to carry the treaty into effect. The President was congratulating himself that there had been a great change in public sentiment in favor of the treaty during the last two months, when suddenly an opposition on the part of a faction in the House, threatening to become a majority, devel- oped itself, not altogether unexpectedly, however. It assumed the ground that, as coordinate with the President and Senate in making treaties, through its constitutional power to withhold appropriations at its pleasure, the House had a right to block a treaty by inaction when it disapproved its provisions. There was clearly an occasion in this seeming confliet in the constitu- tion for a precedent, and the House seemed for a while likely to establish one, to have the force of a judicial decision, if that were possible. Jefferson had before this given his support to this recalcitrant party. To bring the matter to an issue, the House voted to request the President to transmit to it all the papers relating to the treaty. The President, advising with his cabi- net, resolved to sustain his prerogative and refused the request. While Washington had the vote of the House under considera- tion, Pickering, on March 25, as secretary of war, and through the military committee of the House, submitted a plan for pro- viding a force to occupy the posts equal to that of the British garrisons then holding them, in order that the Indians might not take any advantage of the transfer. The temper of the House seemed likely to render any such provision unnecessary, and before long it was known that Dorchester had ceased his preparations for evacuating, pending the nneertain fate of the treaty.


The House accordingly became the centre of interest, and here, at last, the question of peace or war was to be decided. The friends of the treaty set seriously to work, and felt the bur- den which was upon them. They had a good deal to help them in the obvious and close connection between Jay's treaty and that


481


FISHER AMES.


which had been made with Spain for the opening of the Mis- sissippi, later to be considered. The two treaties must stand or fall together. This feeling began to show itself beyond the mountains. Gallatin, whose connection with the whiskey rebellion in western Pennsylvania had been equivocal, to say the least, now, as representing the regenerated western spirit, showed a moderation which did much to restore confidence and place him in the forefront of his party. The great triumph, however, was won by Fisher Ames, a Massachusetts federalist, in a speech before the House on April 28, whose effect is kept alive even to-day among the grandchildren and great-grand- children of those who heard it, and witnessed its effect through- out the land. Rochefoucault-Liancourt, who saw the contem- porary influence of the speech, said : " It is, by men of his party from one end of the continent to the other, extolled as a piece of eloquence, which Demosthenes or Cicero would have found it difficult to equal," in taking a " dexterous advantage " of the attending circumstances.


When Ames took the floor, he felt with others that the oppo- nents of the treaty were sure to carry their measure by a major- ity of two or three certainly, and perhaps by one of four or five. How he turned defeat into a victory, some extracts from his speech will show, but they will of course lack his impassioned voice, his finished elocution, and the tenderness which came of his palpable feebleness, nerving itself to a duty, at the risk of his life. It will be remembered that as an eastern man he had been thought to share that indifference towards the west which was often charged upon New England.


" Will it be whispered that the treaty has made me a new champion for the protection of the frontiers? It is known that my voice, as well as my vote, has been uniformly given for the ideas I have expressed. Protection is the right of the frontiers ; it is our duty to give it. . .. The western inhabitants are not a silent and uncomplaining sacrifice. The voice of humanity issues from the shades of the wilderness. It exclaims that while one hand is held up to reject the treaty, the other grasps a tomahawk. . .. I retort especially to the convictions of the western gentlemen, whether, supposing no posts and no treaty, the settlers will remain in security. . .. No, sir, it will not be peace, but a sword; it will be no better than a lure to draw


482


JAY'S TREATY.


victims within the reach of the tomahawk. . . . If I could find words for my emotions, I would swell my voice to such a note of remonstranee, it should reach every log house beyond the mountains. . . . Wake from your false security. You are a father, -the blood of your sons shall fatten your cornfields. You are a mother, - the warwhoop shall waken the sleep of the cradle."


" The refusal of the posts, inevitable if you reject the treaty, is a measure too decisive in its nature to be neutral in its con- sequences. From great causes we are to look for great effects. The price of western lands will fall. Settlers will not choose their habitations on a field of battle. . . . Vast tracts of wild lands will almost cease to be property. This loss will fall upon a fund expressly devoted to sink the national debt."




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.