In the spring of 1802 the United States came into possession, by act of Georgia, of one hundred thousand square miles of territory, now constituting the State of Alabama. It was inhabited by the Creek and Cherokee Indians toward the east, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes toward the west. With those philanthropic impulses which marked the character of Jefferson, he recommended measures for the well-being of those tribes, and for securing to them equal and exact justice.

But these political organizations on soil within the domains of the United States, and over which a civilized population was rapidly spreading, were of small account when compared with the importance of a great acquisition of territory and political power which speedily followed. Louisiana, which once comprehended the vast and undefinable region of the Valley of the Mississippi and the domain watered by its tributaries, from the Gulf of Mexico to the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and westward to the Pacific Ocean, or "South Sea," as it was then called, was a possession of France by right of discovery by secular and religious explorers, and was named in honor of the Gallic king Louis.

In 1763 France ceded to England the whole of that region east of the Mississippi except Florida, and to Spain all west of that river. By these cessions and the surrender of others, effected by compulsion at the end of a seven years’ war, France abdicated territorial dominion in North America.

While the negotiations of the Treaty of Amiens were in progress, a rumor went abroad that Spain, by secret treaty, had retroceded, or would retrocede, to France all of Louisiana in her possession, and possibly the domain along the Gulf of Mexico known as East and West Florida, thus giving to that now rising, ambitious, and aggressive power the entire control of the navigation of the Mississippi, and a position to exercise an influence over the political affairs of the United States more potent and permanent than had ever been attempted. This gave the government and people much uneasiness, and the American ministers in London, Paris, and Madrid were immediately instructed to endeavor to defeat the measure. It was too late. The act of cession was accomplished, and the fact was made known to the President early in 1802.

Monroe arrived at Paris on the 12th of April, 1803. The negotiations immediately commenced. The intercourse between the three commissioners was very pleasant. Livingston and Marbois had known each other intimately more than twenty years before. Every thing went on smoothly; and in less than a fortnight a treaty was signed by which the United States came into the possession of a vast and, to some extent, undefined domain, containing a mixed free population of eighty-five thousand souls and forty thousand negro slaves, for the sum of $15,000,000. "We have lived long," said Mr. Livingston to Marbois, as he arose from his seat after signing the treaty, "but this is the noblest work of our whole lives. The treaty which we have just signed has not been obtained by art or force; equally advantageous to the two contracting parties, it will change vast solitudes into flourishing districts. From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank; the English lose all exclusive influence in the affairs of America."

The acquisition of Louisiana by the United States was distasteful to the Spaniards. It brought the restless and enterprising Americans too near the Spanish provinces in Mexico to promise quietude to the latter. Yrugo, the Spanish minister at Washington, therefore entered a solemn protest against the entire treaty. Questions concerning the true boundary of Louisiana were speedily raised, and serious complications were threatened. The Spaniards were disposed to cling to all the territory east of the Mississippi included in West Florida, and thus hold possession of New Orleans, This disposition opened afresh the animosity of the inhabitants of the West against the occupants of the Lower Mississippi, and the United States contemplated the necessity of taking possession of New Orleans by the force of arms. Troops under General James Wilkinson, consisting of a few regulars, several companies of Mississippi volunteers, and a considerable number of Tennessee militia, marched from Nashville to Natchez.

But a peaceful transfer of the territory took place. Lausat, the commissioner of France to receive Louisiana from the Spaniards under the cession treaty, performed that duty, and a few days afterward he formally delivered the island and city of New Orleans to General Wilkinson and William C. C. Claiborne, the commissioners appointed for the purpose by the United States. The Spaniards were left in possession of the country along the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, known as The Floridas, lying south of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and east of a line nearly corresponding with the present boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana on the Pearl River.

Upon the soil thus acquired, and which was an important step in the direction of absolute independence of Great Britain on the part of the United States, some of the most stirring events of the War of 1812 occurred, and thereon was fought the last and most decisive battle of the Second War for Independence.

In the summer of 1806 Burr was again in the West, engaged in his grand scheme, into the inner secrets of which he had not allowed any man to penetrate. Blennerhassett’s home was his head-quarters, and a military organization was his work. A flotilla was formed at Marietta, on the Ohio, laden with provisions and military stores; and large numbers of leading men in the West, ignorant of the real designs of Burr, but believing the great central plan to be the construction of a magnificent Anglo-Saxon empire in Mexico, in whose glories they all might share, joined in the enterprise. Wilkinson was made the arch-conspirator’s willing tool. Having been engaged in intrigues with the Spaniards in a scheme that would have dismembered the Union, he was now a fitting instrument for Burr’s disloyal designs.

Meanwhile the government had become alarmed. The whole West, and indeed the whole country, was agitated by Burr’s operations; and the magnitude of his preparations, the persons involved in his toils, and the known disposition of unscrupulous politicians west of the mountains to set up for independency, caused the President to take measures to arrest what seemed to be treason, in the bud. Jefferson did not choose to give it that complexion, and, in a proclamation for the arrest of Burr’s designs, whatever they might be, he warned all persons against participating in a scheme for "invading the Spanish dominions."

While the people of the United States were violently agitated by these events in the West the war in Europe was progressing, and France and England had commenced their desperate game for supremacy at the expense of the commercial prosperity of the world.

First the envious British merchants complained; then the privateersmen and navy officers, who declared that, as there were no more prizes to take, their occupation was greatly interfered with. The enemies of Great Britain, having full use of neutral merchant vessels, had none of their own on the ocean. Armed ships, protected by the neutral flag, performed all the duties of practical commerce, and the trade of the maritime foes of England was but little interrupted by existing War. The "rule of 1756," it was alleged, was wholly evaded.

The memorials from the merchants were generally drawn with great ability; and it is a notable fact that these men, who, as a class, naturally deprecate war because it is destructive to commerce, and are willing to make great concessions to avoid it, called earnestly upon the government to put forth the strong powers of the army and navy, if necessary, in defense of the rights of neutrals and the protection of American interests.

There were memorials from Boston, Salem, Newburyport, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and all called loudly for redress, under the evident expectation that to insist upon it would cause war.

The Boston merchants said that they fully relied that "such measures would be promptly adopted as would tend to disembarrass commerce, assert our rights, and support the dignity of the United States."

The merchants of Salem said, "If, however, conciliation can not effect the purpose, and an appeal to arms be the last and necessary protection of honor, they feel no disposition to decline the common danger or shrink from the common contribution. Relying on the wisdom and firmness of the general government on this behalf; they feel no hesitation to pledge their lives and properties in the support of the measures which may be adopted to vindicate the public rights and redress the public wrongs."

The merchants of Newburyport relied "with confidence on the firmness and justice of the government to obtain for them compensation and protection;" and those of New Haven called upon that government "firmly to resist every encroachment upon the rights of neutral nations." They tendered "assurances of their disposition to give aid and support to every measure calculated to accomplish this important object."

The merchants of Philadelphia suggested that when every peaceable means consistent with honor had been tried to recover redress, and failed, that a resort to arms might be necessary. "If such measures should prove ineffectual," they said, "whatever may be the sacrifice on their part, it would be met with submission."

"We consider a neutral flag on the high seas as a safeguard to those sailing under it. Great Britain, on the contrary, asserts a right to search for and seize her own subjects; and under that cover, as can not but happen, are often seized and taken off citizens of the United States, and citizens or subjects of other neutral countries navigating the high seas under the protection of the American flag."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Great Britain has the less to say on the subject, as it is in direct contradiction to the principles on which she proceeds in other cases. While she claims and seizes on the high seas her own subjects voluntarily serving in American vessels, she has constantly given, when she could give, as a reason for not discharging from her service American citizens, that they had voluntarily engaged in it. Nay, more; while she impresses her own subjects from the American service, although they have been settled, and married, and naturalized in the United States, she constantly refuses to release from hers American seamen pressed into it whenever she can give for a reason that they are either settled or married within her dominions. Thus, when the voluntary consent of the individual favors her pretensions, she pleads the validity of that consent. When the voluntary consent of the individual stands in the way of her pretensions, it goes for nothing. When marriage or residence can be pleaded in her favor, she avails herself of the plea. When marriage, residence, and naturalization are against her, no respect whatever is paid to either. She takes by force her own subjects voluntarily serving in our vessels. She keeps by force American citizens involuntarily serving in hers. More flagrant inconsistencies can not be imagined."

No arguments, no remonstrances, no appeals to justice or the demands of international comity, could induce the British government at that time, when waging war with all its powers, to relinquish so great an advantage.

In the debate upon the Non-importation Act in Congress, and in its discussion among the people, the old party lines, which, to some extent, had appeared faint when great national questions were fairly discussed, became perfectly distinct.. The measure was regarded by the jealous opponents of Jefferson and his Cabinet as a display of that hostility to Great Britain because of love for France, which the President and his Secretary had so frequently manifested during the administrations of Washington and Adams. It was regarded as a measure calculated to lead the country into a war with Great Britain. The administration party, on the contrary, charged the Federalists, because they were unwilling to support the measure, with being friendly to their country’s oppressor. The old political war-cries were sounded, and "French party" and "British party" became familiar words again on the lips of partisans. The Federalists affected to regard Great Britain in her wars with France, and especially in the current one with Napoleon, as the champion of the liberties of the world against an audacious aspirant for universal empire; while the Democrats affected to consider the Emperor of the French as a great regenerator, who was destined to benefit the world by prostrating tottering thrones, effacing corrupt dynasties, purifying the political atmosphere of Europe, and giving new life and vigor to the people. Such were the antagonistic ideas then distinctly developed. The Non-importation Act was passed by a strictly party vote – ninety-three Democrats, against thirty-two Federalists and "Quids," as John Randolph and his six secessionists were called. The heat of that debate in the first session of the Ninth Congress developed the germ of the War and Anti-war parties, so strong and implacable just previous to and during the WAR OF 1812.

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ENDNOTES.

2 Letter to Robert R. Livingston, April 18, 1802.

3 France had no really peaceful and friendly feelings toward the United States at that time. Among the dreams of glory which filled the mind of Bonaparte was the re-establishment of the ancient colonial Empire of France. His first essay was in St. Domingo; his next was to be in Louisiana. What would have been his instrumentalities there in extending his sway over the country west of the Alleghanies, may be inferred from the following extract of a memorial whose inspiration was supposed to be the First Consul, and Talleyrand the writer. This document was published in pamphlet form in Philadelphia in 1803, but was suppressed because of negotiations then pending for the purchase of Louisiana from France. It vindicates the wisdom and sagacity of Jefferson exhibited in the above letter to Mr. Livingston. On the forty-fifth page of the pamphlet it is observed:

"There is still another mean, however, by which the fury of THE STATES may be held at pleasure – by an enemy placed on their Western frontiers. The only aliens and enemies within their borders are not the blacks. They, indeed, are the most inveterate in their enmity; but the INDIANS are, in many respects, more dangerous inmates. Their savage ignorance, their undisciplined passions, their restless and warlike habits, their notions of ancient rights, make them the fittest tools imaginable for disturbing THE STATES. In the territory adjacent to the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri there are more than thirty thousand men whose trade is hunting, and whose delight is war. These men lie at the mercy of any civilized nation who live near them. Such a neighbor can gain their friendship or provoke their enmity with equal ease. He can make them inactive, or he can rouse them to fury; he can direct their movement in any way he pleases, and make it mischievous or harmless, by supplying their fury with arms and with leaders, or by withholding that supply.

"The pliant and addressful spirit of the French has always given them an absolute control over these savages. The office which the laziness or the insolence of the British found impracticable was easily performed by us, and will be still easier hereafter, since we shall enter on the scene with more advantages than formerly.

"We shall detach within, a sufficient force to maintain possession against all the efforts of THE STATES, should they, contrary to all their interests, proceed to war with or without provocation. We shall find in the Indian tribes an army permanently cantoned in the most convenient stations, endowed with skill and temper best adapted to the nature and the scene of the war, and armed and impelled with far less trouble and expense than an equal number of our own troops. We shall find a terrible militia, infinitely more destructive while scattered through the hostile settlements than an equal force of our own. We shall find in the bowels of THE STATES a mischief that only wants the touch of a well-directed spark to involve in its explosion the utter ruin of half their nation. Such will be the power we shall derive from a military station and a growing colony on the Mississippi. These will be certain and immediate effects, whatever distance and doubt there may be in the remoter benefits to France on which I have so warmly expatiated. As a curb on a nation whose future conduct in peace and war will be of great importance to us, this province will be cheaply purchased at ten times the cost to which it will subject us."

The writer made Bonaparte say: "My designs on the Mississippi will never be officially announced till they are executed. Meanwhile the world, if it pleases, may fear and suspect, but nobody will be wise enough to go to war to prevent them. I shall trust to the folly of England and America to let me go my way in my own time."

When the war between the United States and Great Britain broke out in 1812, British writers urged the government to employ the savages, with all their known blood-thirstiness and cruelty, as allies. One writer soundly berated the government for its apparent apathy toward their "Indian friends," and cited the above atrocious suggestions of the French minister as the true programme of action for the British to pursue in the war with the Americans! – See the New Quarterly Review and British Colonial Register, No. 4: J. M. Richardson, Cornhill, London.

4 There had been for some time indications of speedy hostilities between the United States and Spain, growing out of the territorial relations of the two countries on the Gulf of Mexico. By a treaty with Spain in 1795 that government had granted to the United States the right of deposit at New Orleans for three years, after which the privilege was either to be continued, or an equivalent place assigned on another part of the banks of the Mississippi. The Spaniards considered themselves masters of the province while it was unoccupied by the French, even after the cession was consummated. The privilege of deposit at New Orleans had been continued; but suddenly, in October, 1802, the Spanish Intendant or governor declared by proclamation that the right of deposit at New Orleans no longer existed. This produced great excitement in the Western country, and the Americans, when certified of the treaty of cession, did not doubt that the Spanish Intendant acted under orders from the French government.

5 Marbois was secretary to the French embassy to the United States during a portion of the American Revolution, and was now at the head of the French Treasury Department.

6 Toussaint L’Ouverture, an able and courageous negro, seized the Spanish part of St. Domingo, and made it a colony of France, in January, 1801. He was declared President for life. This example was speedily followed by the black and colored population of Guadaloupe. They seized the governor sent out by Bonaparte, and established a provisional government in October, 1801. Meanwhile an insurrection had broken out in St. Domingo, and Bonaparte sent his brother-in-law, Le Clerc, to quell it. Toussaint regarded the army as an instrument for the enslavement of himself and his people. A new civil war ensued, while the French army was completely decimated by fever and sword. Twenty thousand soldiers perished, and sixty thousand white people of the island were massacred by the infuriated negroes. A momentary peace ensued. Toussaint, who deprecated these acts, was treacherously seized on the false charge of intention to excite another insurrection, taken to France, and died in prison there. By direct act of Bonaparte slavery was established in Guadaloupe (where his army was more successful), and the slave-trade was opened.

7 "I require a great deal of money," the First Consul said to Marbois, "to carry on this war, and I would not like to commence with new contributions. If I should regulate my terms according to the value of those vast regions to the United States, the indemnity would have no limits. I will be moderate, in consideration of the necessity in which I am placed of making a sale. But keep this to yourself."

8 The invasion of England and the prostration of her maritime superiority was then Bonaparte’s favorite project.

9 Jefferson, who was a strict constructionist of the Constitution, was a little embarrassed by this treaty. The acquisition of territory he thought unconstitutional, and he proposed an amendment of that instrument so as to sanction this important act. But nothing of the kind was done. All parties coincided in the measure, and on the 20th of October, 1803, the Senate ratified the treaty by a vote of twenty-four to seven. The purchase of Louisiana became a precedent, and its accession was one of the glories of Mr. Jefferson’s administration.

10 The political intrigues and social immoralities of Burr had become so generally known in 1804 that his future success in any political schemes was extremely doubtful. He offered himself as an independent candidate for Governor of the State of New York in the spring of 1804, and was defeated, as he believed, through the powerful influence of Alexander Hamilton, who was convinced that he was unfit for any important place of honor or profit. That failure imbittered him. This feeling was intensified by the consciousness that he was suspected and distrusted every where. Hamilton, whom he regarded as his arch-enemy, was at the same time honored and trusted. His integrity was not doubted by his most uncompromising political enemies. This contrast was like glowing embers upon the head of Burr, and he was resolved to destroy his antagonist. A pretext for action to that end was not long wanting. A zealous partisan of Burr’s competitor in the late election, in his zeal during the canvass, declared in print that Hamilton had said that the Vice-President was a "dangerous man, who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government." Again he wrote, "I could detail you a more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Burr."

These alleged expressions were made the basis of a challenge, on the part of Burr, to mortal combat. Hamilton perceived at the beginning that Burr was determined to force him to fight, against his own convictions of the wrongfulness of dueling and the necessities of the case. He took honorable means to avoid a meeting. His malignant enemy could not be appeased. At length, compelled by the wretched custom of society then prevailing, called "the code of honor," he accepted the challenge, met Burr on the western shore of the Hudson near Weehawken early on the morning of the 11th of July, 1804, and received a mortal wound. He declared his intention not to fire at Burr, and adhered to his resolution, while the murderer took deliberate aim, and accomplished his errand to the field of blood. Hamilton was conveyed across the river to the house of a friend, where he died after suffering for twenty-four hours. The coroner returned a verdict of willful murder. A bill of indictment for that crime was found against him in New Jersey, within the jurisdiction of which the duel was fought, and the Grand Jury of New York found bills against him and his seconds for being concerned in a duel, the punishment for which, by a recent act of that state, was disfranchisement and incapacity to hold office for twenty years. Burr fled to Philadelphia, and from thence to Georgia.

11 Parton’s Life of Aaron Burr, page 372.

12 The same.

13 The same, page 373. Senator Plumer wrote in November, 1804, "Mr. Jefferson has shown him more attention, and invited him oftener to his house within the last three months, than he ever did for the same time before. Mr. Gallatin [Secretary of the Treasury] has waited upon him oftener at his lodgings, and one day was closeted with him more than two hours. Mr. Madison, formerly the intimate friend of Hamilton, has taken his murderer into his carriage, and accompanied him on a visit to the French minister. . . . The Democrats of both houses are remarkably attentive to Burr. What office they can give him is uncertain. Mr. Wright, of Maryland, said in debate, ‘The first duel I ever read of was that of David killing Goliath. Our little David of the Republicans has killed the Goliath of Federalism, and for this I am willing to reward him.’ " – See Life of William Plumer, by his son, page 328.

BLENNERHASSETT’S RESIDENCE.

14 Blennerhassett’s was indeed a beautiful and happy home. It was the creation of wealth, taste, and love. The mansion was elegant. The gardens were laid out and planted with care. Conservatories were rich in exotics. Science, music, painting, farm culture, and social pleasures made up a great portion of the sum of daily life in that elegant retreat. It became the resort of the best minds west of the mountains. The lately rude island smiled with perpetual beauty. To the simple settlers upon the neighboring shore the house seemed like a palace, and the way of living there like that of a prince. Into that paradise the wily serpent crept, and polluted it with its slime.

Harman Blennerhassett was a descendant of an ancient Irish family, whose seat was Castle Conway, in Kerry. His education was thoroughly given at Trinity College, in Dublin, and he graduated at the same time with his friend and kinsman, Thomas Addis Emmett. He loved and studied science. On the death of his father in 1798 he inherited a large fortune. Having become involved in political troubles, he sold his estate, went to England, and married the beautiful and accomplished Miss Agnew, granddaughter of one of the British generals killed at the battle at Germantown, near Philadelphia. They came to America, journeyed to the West, purchased the island in the Ohio which still bears his name, made their home there, and for five years before Burr’s appearance they had enjoyed perfect happiness and repose. A fine library, pictures, scientific apparatus gave them implements for mental culture, and they improved the opportunity. When Burr’s mad schemes failed Blennerhassett’s paradise was laid waste. He became a cotton-planter in Mississippi, but finally lost his fortune. He and his wife finally returned to England, where he died at the age of sixty-one years. His widow came to America to seek from Congress some remuneration for his losses. While the matter was pending she sickened and died in poverty in New York, in August, 1842, and was buried by the Sisters of Charity.

15 "He said if he could gain over the marine corps, and secure the naval commanders Truxtun, Preble, Decatur, and others, he would turn Congress neck and heels out of doors, assassinate the President, seize on the treasury and navy, and declare himself the protector of an energetic government." – Deposition of General William Eaton. See Life of Eaton, page 396-400, inclusive.

16 The same, page 401.

"It is now distinctly understood, and has been repeatedly so decided by the High Court of Appeals, that the produce of the colonies of the enemy may be imported by a neutral into his own country, and may be exported from thence, even to the mother country of such colony; and, in like manner, the produce and manufactures of the mother country may, in this circuitous mode, legally find their way to the colonies. The direct trade, however, between the mother country and its colonies has not, I apprehend, been recognized as legal, either by his majesty’s government or by his tribunals." He then explained what rule should govern the carrying of goods to cause them to avoid a fair definition of "direct trade" and be in conformity to the modification of the "rule of 1756," above mentioned, by saying, "that landing the goods and paying the duties in the neutral country breaks the continuity of the voyage, and is such an importation as legalizes the trade, although the goods be reshipped in the same vessel, and on account of the same neutral proprietors, and be forwarded for sale to the mother country or the colonies."

On the 30th of March the Duke of Portland (the principal Secretary of State) sent the above extracts from the report of the advocate to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with a letter in which he said, "I have the honor to signify to your lordships the king’s pleasure that a communication of the doctrine laid down in the said report should be immediately made by your lordships to the several judges presiding in them, setting forth what is held to be the law upon the subject by the superior tribunals for their future guidance and direction." – Letters from Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney to Lord Howick, August 20, 1806.

* Montesquieu, writing ten years before the English "rule of 1756" in regard to the rights of neutrals was promulgated, said, concerning the spirit of that people, "Supremely jealous with respect to trade, they bind themselves but little by treaties, and depend only on their own laws. Other nations have made the interests of commerce yield to those of politics; the English, on the contrary, have ever made their political interests give way to those of commerce." – See The Spirit of Laws, ii., 8.

19 Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen. These are all that remain of the ancient Hanseatic League, a commercial union of a number of German port-towns in support of each other against the piracies of the Swedes and Danes, formed in 1164, and formally signed in 1241. At one time the league comprised sixty-six cities, and possessed great political power. They were reduced by various causes to their present number more than two hundred years ago. The Congress at Vienna in 1815 guaranteed the freedom of these cities.

20 The following table exhibits the export trade of the United States for four years:

23 This assumption was characteristic. England, on her own motion, promulgated the "rule of 1756" as a "law of nations;" and having the power to enforce it for half a century in the face of the most vehement protests of every respectable maritime nation – even armed protests – her statesmen and publicists agreed that those nations had "assented to it;" as if a wrong unresented on account of the weakness of the sufferers became a right! It was never assented to. The "Armed Neutrality" of 1780 and 1800 were marked protests against it, and the American principle and policy always opposed the assumption. From the first protest against it in 1793 until the close of 1861, when Secretary Seward, in a letter to Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, in the case of the San Jacinto and Trent, reiterated the American doctrine concerning the protecting powers of a neutral flag, the Americans have opposed the "rule of 1756." For a full account of the case of the San Jacinto and Trent, see Lossing’s Pictorial History of the Civil War.

24 Madison.

25 The eminent English merchant, Alexander Baring (afterward Lord Ashburton, and at that time a member of Parliament), put forth a pamphlet in February, 1808, entitled An Inquiry into the Causes and Consequences of the Orders in Council, etc. It was published in February, 1808, and contains a most searching exposure of the mischievous exaggerations and sophisms of this essay. It is not extravagant to say that that essay, in its injurious influence, was one of the most potent causes of the war between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, because it justified in a semi-official manner the outrages of the British government, through its navy, on the commerce of the United States, under the sanction of orders in council, and deluded the English mind with a semblance of justice. Speaking of some of the statements of the author of War in Disguise, Mr. Baring said, "He appears ignorant of every thing relative to American trade to a degree incredible."

War in Disguise was followed by other pamphlets of lesser note on the same side. Among the most noted of these was one entitled The Present Claims and Complaints of America Briefly and Fairly Considered. It was an echo of War in Disguise, and was published in London at the close of May, 1806. On the back of the title-page of the copy in my possession is the following memorandum in manuscript by Brooke Watson, who was an eminent Canadian merchant when the Revolution broke out in 1775, and was a violent partisan of the crown:

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"June 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, 1806. Read this pamphlet with all the attention in my power to give it, and under all the consideration of my capacity, accompanied with as much disinterestedness as the nature of the subject will permit to exercise. I am of opinion that, should this country give way to the solicitations of the American States, and much less to their hostile threats, they will, by so doing, that is, by allowing the Americans to be the carriers of the produce of the French colonies to the mother country, sacrifice the deepest interest of this nation to the views of France and the growing insolence of the Americans. – East Sheen, 8th June, 1806.

BROOKE WATSON.

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"Read ‘War in Disguise,’ Lord Sheffield, etc."