THANKSGIVINGS--THE FRIGATE PRESIDENT CAPTURED.

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few days was confirmed the rumor of the total defeat of CHAP. the British before New Orleans.

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The Senate unanimously ratified the treaty within 1815. thirty hours after it was laid before them. The President speedily issued a proclamation, announcing the fact, that once more peace reigned throughout the land. A day for Feb. thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessing, was observed by the nation.

The treaty provided for the mutual restoration of all places taken during the war; also for determining the northern boundary, and other matters of minor importance were amicably arranged. But not a word was said on the impressment question, for the settlement of which the war had ostensibly been continued after the first two months. Both parties seem to have been heartily tired of fighting; though Great Britain wished to restrain what she thought an alarming grasping spirit in the New Republic, as evidenced in the acquisition of Louisiana and the attempts on Canada.

A few days after the ratification of the treaty, the President recommended to Congress the passage of a law to guard against incidents which, during the periods of war in Europe, might tend to interrupt peace, enjoining that “American vessels be navigated exclusively by American seamen, either natives or such as are already naturalized," thus endeavoring to gain by legislation what could not be obtained by war. Yet one object had been secured—we hear no more of the impressment of American seamen.

18.

15.

Previous to the announcement of peace, the commanders of some of the national vessels determined to evade the blockading enemy and escape to sea. Commodore De- Jan. catur, on board the frigate President, commanding the sloops Hornet and Peacock to follow, attempted to evade the blockade of the port of New York. Passing out in the night, after being unfortunately aground for some

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CHAP. hours, in the morning he fell in with the British squadron, by whom he was chased. One of the enemy, the frigate 1815. Endymion, commenced an engagement, but after a running fight, she was effectually disabled, and fain to haul off. The President unfortunately was also crippled, and the other British vessels coming up, Decatur was compelled to strike his colors.

A few days after, the Hornet and Peacock avoided the blockade, and proceeded to their rendezvous, off the Cape of Good Hope. On her way the Hornet, Captain Biddle, Mar. fell in with and captured the British brig Penguin. The latter was made a complete wreck, and as such was set on fire. The Peacock joined her consort, and in company they sailed to the Indian Ocean. The Hornet was soon after chased by a British seventy-four, and in order to escape, she was compelled to throw her guns and nearly all her armament overboard, in which condition she returned to New York. The Peacock, Captain WarringJune ton, continued on to the East Indies, where she captured the cruiser Nautilus.

30.

The Constitution, Captain Stewart, also evaded the blockade off Boston harbor. On a moonlight night she fell in with two war vessels off the port of Lisbon. They prepared to engage, but the Constitution manœuvred to keep the wind at about an equal distance from her anFeb. tagonists. Captain Stewart, seizing a favorable oppor20. tunity, directed all his force upon the vessel nearest,

which almost immediately struck; then he captured the other in a similar manner. The prizes proved to be the British sloops-of-war Cyane and Levant. These captures were all made after the articles of peace were signed.

Soon after the commencement of the war with Britain, the Dey of Algiers, thinking the Americans would have no means of punishing him, renewed his old practice of piracy. Pretending to be dissatisfied with the presents he had received from the American government, he dis

COMMODORE DECATUR HUMBLES THE DEY OF ALGIERS. 641

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missed Lear, the consul, threatening to reduce him and CHAP. his family, and all the Americans in Algiers, to slavery, a fate which Lear escaped by paying a large ransom. Some 1815. American vessels were afterward seized by the pirates, and their crews reduced to slavery.

Two months after the conclusion of peace, an Ameri

can squadron, under Decatur, consisting of three large frigates and seven other vessels of war, sailed for the Mediterranean. Six weeks later, Bainbridge followed May. with the Independence, the new seventy-four, accompanied by other war vessels; on the way he was also joined by the Congress frigate. But before his arrival in the Mediterranean, the energetic Decatur had brought the Dey to terms. On the second day after passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, he fell in with the largest frigate of the Dey under his high Admiral, on a cruise for American merchantmen. After a fight of less than thirty minutes the Algerine was captured; two days after another cruiser shared a similar fate. When the squadron appeared before Algiers, the intelligence of these disasters, by which he had lost his best ship, and six hundred men, had greatly humbled the Dey. To escape a worse punishment, he gladly submitted to the indignity of signing, on Decatur's quarter-deck, a humiliating treaty. He June bound himself to make indemnities for his extortions; to surrender all his prisoners without ransom, and to renounce all claim for tribute from the American government, as well as his barbarous practice of piracy and reducing prisoners to slavery.

Decatur proceeded immediately to Tunis and Tripoli, where he demanded and received indemnity for some American vessels, at whose captures, in their harbors, by the English, they had connived. Thus, in a few weeks, these barbarians were taught a lesson which they have not yet forgotten. When Bainbridge arrived, he found all the difficulties arranged. The united navy, consisting of

30.

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CHAP. fourteen vessels, visited the principal ports of the Mediterranean. Their victories over the mistress of the ocean, 1815. secured them treatment manifesting high respect.

The autumn following the close of the war, a great council of the North-western Indian tribes was held, at which they made peace with each other. Afterward they all made peace with the United States. Thus apprehenSept. sions of future Indian hostilities were removed.

Mar.

4.

The war left the finances of the country in a very confused state. The banks in existence, except those in New England, were unable to redeem their notes in specie, and confidence in their promises to pay was wanting. The national debt, in consequence of the war, was known to be, more than one hundred millions of dollars. In order to remove some of the burdens resting upon the people, the Secretary of the Treasury, A. J. Dallas, proposed to remit some of the internal taxes, which had been levied during the last few years. Instead of which he advised the imposition of duties on imports, not merely to secure a revenue, but also to protect the manufactures which had sprung into existence during the war. The President likewise, in

his annual message, urged the adoption of such a policy.

To aid in rectifying the financial disorders in the 1817. country, Congress chartered, for twenty years, a National Bank, with a capital of thirty-five millions of dollars. It commenced operations at Philadelphia, and, in connection with its branches in other States, afforded the people a uniform currency redeemable at all times with gold and silver.

A bill designed to compel the local banks to pay specie was passed, ordering that all dues to the government should be paid in gold and silver, or "in treasury notes, notes of the Bank of the United States, or in notes of banks payable and paid on demand in specie."

The Territory of Indiana having adopted a constituSept. tion, presented herself for admission into the Union, and was received.

FITCH FULTON-THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.

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John Fitch, an uneducated watchmaker of Philadel- CHAP. phia, conceived the design of propelling boats by steam. He applied to Congress for assistance, but, unfortunately, 1785. was refused; then, with a similar result, he applied to the Spanish authorities of Louisiana. Some years later he found means to construct a boat, and to make a trial trip on the Delaware. The boat went at the rate of eight miles an hour, but unfortunately the boiler exploded. One disaster followed another, and poor John Fitch died, the victim of disappointment, but full of faith that others would yet perfect his invention: he desired to be buried on the banks of the Ohio, that boats propelled by steam might pass near his last resting place. In less than twenty years after his death the steamer Clermont passed up the Hudson from New York to Albany.

The Clermont was the work of Robert Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, once a pupil of West, the painter. He had a decided turn for mechanics, and had studied the subject many years in Europe, where he received pecuniary aid and encouragement from Robert R. Livingston, then American minister at Paris.

1807.

To American enterprise is due the honor of launching the first steamboat and the first Ocean steamer-the Savannah-that crossed the Atlantic. She left New York, 1818. went to Savannah, and thence to Europe, where she was an object of great interest. Twenty years later the April British steamer Great Western came to New York in fourteen days.

Madison's Administration, so full of important events, drew to a close. James Monroe, also from Virginia, had been elected his successor, and Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, Vice-President. The latter had been Governor of that State, and in that capacity been most efficient in aiding the country in the war just closed. At one time he sustained the garrison of the city by his credit.

own private

1838.