XII. face which blackened his eye, closed with him, threw CHAPTER him, fell upon him, and still continued to pommel him over the head, till the discomfited Democrat was finally 1798. relieved by some of his political friends, who seized Griswold by the legs and dragged him off; after which the speaker, who had looked calmly on all the while, assumed his seat and called the House to order. Just as that was done, Lyon, having been provided with a cane, approached Griswold, whose cane had slipped from his hand when he was dragged off of Lyon, and who at this moment was unarmed. Lyon made a feeble blow, which Griswold avoided by drawing back, when the call to order put an end to this discreditable scene. That portion of the opposition who had voted for expelling Lyon now called loudly for the expulsion both of Lyon and Griswold, and a resolution to that effect was offered and referred to the Committee on Privileges, notwithstanding the opposition of some of the Federalists, who remarked, with some malice, that it seemed very hard to include Lyon in this motion, since he had only been guilty of very quietly taking a severe beating. The Committee of Privileges reported against the reso- Feb. 23. lution, and their report was sustained, seventy-three to twenty-one. An attempt was then made to obtain a vote of censure, but this was also lost by a small majority. Pending this affair, the president had attempted to stimulate Congress to some measures for the protection of commerce, in a message covering certain documents Feb. 8. transmitted by Charles Pinckney, now governor of South Carolina, in reference to the violation of the neutrality of the United States by a French privateer, which had captured and burned a British vessel within the waters of Charleston harbor. The privilege affair having been disposed of, the House having resumed the discussion CHAPTER of the Foreign Intercourse Bill, the president sent an XII. other message giving information of the arrival of the 1798. first dispatches from the envoys in France. Except the March 5. last, dated January 8th, which gave notice of the impending decree for the forfeiture of all vessels having English merchandise on board, they were all in cipher, and it would take some time to get at their contents. This dispatch, in referring to the dispatches in cipher, briefly mentioned that no hope existed of the reception of the envoys by the French government, or of their being able, in any way, to accomplish the object of their mission statements so important that the president judged it expedient to lay them at once before the House. As soon as the other dispatches were decipherMarch 19. ed, the president sent another message, informing Congress of the result to which he had arrived from a careful consideration of their contents. Though nothing seemed to have been wanting, either in the instructions to the envoys or in their efforts, he could see no ground of expectation that the objects of the mission could be accomplished on terms compatible with the safety, honor, and essential interests of the United States; or that any thing further in the way of negotiation could be attempted consistently with the principles for which the country had contended at every hazard, and which constituted the basis of our national sovereignty. He therefore reiterated his former recommendations of measures for the protection of "our seafaring and commercial citizens," "the defense of any exposed portion of our territory," "replenishing our arsenals, and establishing founderies and military manufactories," and the provision of an efficient supply for any deficiency of revenue which might be occasioned by depredations on our commerce. He had himself already taken one step toward defense by XIL withdrawing the circular instruction to the collectors not CHAPTER to grant clearances to armed private vessels. This message, as might naturally be expected, pro- 1798. duced a great excitement. It was the policy of the opposition, as developed in Jefferson's private correspondence, by keeping the country unarmed, to compel the acceptance of such terms as France might choose to dictate. To any humiliation on that score, the opposition leaders seemed perfectly insensible. Such humiliation would fall, according to their view, not on them who had always opposed the policy of the Federal government toward France, nor on the country, but only on the administration; and the more the administration was humbled and mortified, the more surely would the road to power be opened to the opposition. Jefferson, in a confidential March 21 letter to Madison, denounced the president's message as identical with war, in favor of which he could find no reason, "resulting from views either of interest or honor, plausible enough to impose even on the weakest mind." He could only explain "so extraordinary a degree of impetuosity" by reference to "the views so well known to have been entertained at Annapolis, and afterward at the grand Convention by a particular set of men"meaning, doubtless, the establishment of a monarchy"or, perhaps, instead of what was then in contemplation, a separation of the states, which has been so much the topic of late at the eastward"-a reference to a recent series of articles in the Hartford Courant newspaper, under the signature of "Pelham." The president's former message respecting protection to commerce he had described as "inflammatory;" the present message he denounced as "insane." While thus suspicious and denunciatory as to the measures and intentions of his own government, Jefferson seems to have relied with a XII. CHAPTER child-like confidence, equal to that of Monroe himself, on the good faith and fair intentions of Talleyrand and the 1798. Directory. He proposed to meet the withdrawal of the executive prohibition of the arming of private vessels by enacting a legislative one; and "as to do nothing and to gain time was every thing," that Congress should adjourn and go home to consult their constituents. "Besides gaining time enough by this to allow the descent upon England to have its effect here as well as there" --this was Bonaparte's famous descent, threatened, but never made" it will be a means of exciting the whole body of the people from the state of inattention in which they are; it will require every member to call for the sense of his district either by petition or instruction; it will show the people with which side of the House their safety as well as their rights rest, by showing them which is for war and which for peace, and their representatives will return here invigorated by the avowed support of the American people." Jefferson had complained in a former letter that Dayton, the speaker, had gone completely over to the Federal side, enticed, as he said, by hopes of being appointed Secretary of War. The wavering conduct of "other changelings and apostates," as he called them, was also very unsatisfactory. But, with his nat urally sanguine temperament, he still hoped that the opposition might continue to command in the House a majority of at least one or two over "the war-hawks." The Federalists, conscious of their weakness in the House, had hitherto.kept very quiet. Indeed, the larger part had continued to flatter themselves that the extraordinary envoys might yet succeed in bringing about a satisfactory arrangement. The news of the proposed decree authorizing the capture of all vessels of whatever nation having goods of British origin on board-a decree XII. totally inconsistent with neutral rights, and the simul- CHAPTER taneous news from the West Indies of the fitting out of French privateers to cruise against all American vessels 1798. whatever, had excited their indignation, but without adding to their strength; for the opposition members, representing a constituency which owned very little shipping, seemed to regard these threatened depredations with great unconcern. But the president's message, communicating the total failure of the mission and his recommendations to arm, struck upon the ear of the House like the note of a war-trumpet. Jefferson acknowledged that its effect was great; "exultation upon the one side and certainty of victory, while the other is petrified with astonishment." An attempt was immediately made in the Pennsylvania Legislature, then in session at Philadelphia, to oper- March 20. ate on Congress by the introduction of resolutions deprecating any defensive measures. But these resolutions Another were voted down, thirty-eight to thirty-three. better success. The House already had under discussion, previously to the delivery of the president's message, a bill appropriating means for the equipment of the three national frigates authorized at the late session. This bill was passed at once, and also another continuing in force the prohibition of the export of arms. The Senate committee to which the president's message was referred presently reported a bill, which passed immediately with only three votes against it, to enable the president to purchase or lease one or more cannon founderies. The three opposers were the two senators from Tennessee, one of whom was Andrew Jackson, and Tazewell of Virginia, |