the confederacy, definite as they are in time and amount, would be not less dishonourable to the understandings of those who entertain such confidence, than it would be dangerous to the welfare and peace of the union." Under public embarrassments which were daily increasing, it had become it was said, the duty of congress to declare most explicitly that the crisis had arrived, when the people of the United States, by whose will, and for whose benefit, the federal government was instituted, must decide whether they will support their rank as a nation, by maintaining the public faith at home and abroad, or whether, for want of a timely exertion in establishing a general revenue, and thereby giving strength to the confederacy, they will hazard not only the existence of the union, but of those great and invaluable privileges for which they have so arduously and so honourably contended."

The revenue system of the 18th of April 1783, was again solemnly recommended to the consideration of the several states, and their unanimous and early accession to it was declared to be the only measure which could enable congress to preserve the public faith, and to avoid the fatal evils which will inevitably flow from "a violation of those principles of justice which are the only solid basis of the honour and prosperity of nations."

In framing this system, a revenue adequate to the funding of the whole national debt had been contemplated, and no part of it was to go into operation until the whole should be adopted. By suspending partial relief to the pressing necessities

of the government, it was believed that complete relief would be the more certainly secured.

To the enlightened and virtuous statesmen with whom that measure originated, it appeared impossible that their countrymen would be so unmindful of the obligations of honour and of justice, or could so misjudge their real interests, as to withhold their assent from the entire plan, if convinced that no partial compliance with it would be received. In the progress of the business however, there was reason to believe that the impost might be conceded, but that the application for the internal taxes would encounter difficulties not easily to be surmounted. In the impoverished state of the federal treasury, an incompetent revenue was preferred to no revenue; and it was deemed more adviseable to accept a partial compliance with the recommendations of congress, than, by inflexibly adhering to the integrity of the system, to lose the whole. The states therefore, were requested to enable congress, "to carry into effect that part which related to impost so soon as it should be acceded to." In the course of the year 1786, every state in the union had acted upon the recommendation, and, with the exception of New York, had granted the impost duty which had been required. New York had passed an act upon the subject; but, influenced by its jealousy of the federal government, had not vested in congress the power of collecting the duties detailed in the resolutions of that body, but had reserved to itself the sole power of levying the duties according to its own laws. Neither did the act

permit the collectors to be made accountable to congress. To the state only were they amenable. In addition to these deviations from the plan recommended, New York had emitted bills of credit, which were liable to depreciation, and in them the duties were payable. As the failure on the part of this single state, suspended the operation of the grants made by all the others, the executive thereof was requested again to convene the legislature, in order to lay the subject once more before them. To a similar resolution governor Clinton had already replied, that "he had not power to convene the legislature before the time fixed by law for their stated meeting, except on extraordinary occasions, and as the present business proposed for their consideration had already been repeatedly laid before them, and so recently as at their last session had received their determination, it could not come within that description. This second resolution was not more successful than that which preceded it, and thus was finally defeated the laborious and persevering effort made by the federal government to obtain from the states the means of preserving in whole or in part, the faith of the nation. The private letters of that period, abound with passages showing the solicitude with which general Washington watched the progress of this recommendation, and the chagrin with which he viewed the obstacles to its adoption; in a letter of October 1785, he said, "the war as you have very justly observed, has terminated most advantageously for America, and a fair field is presented to our view; but I confess to you freely my dear sir, that I do not think we

possess wisdom or justice enough to cultivate it properly. Illiberality, jealousy, and local policy, mix too much in all our public councils, for the good government of the union. In a word, the confederation appears to me to be little more than a shadow without the substance; and congress a nugatory body, their ordinances being little attended to. To me, it is a solecism in politics:... indeed it is one of the most extraordinary things in nature, that we should confederate as a nation, and yet be afraid to give the rulers of that nation, who are the creatures of our own making, appointed for a limited and short duration, and who are amenable for every action, recallable at any moment, and subject to all the evils which they may be instrumental in producing,...sufficient powers to order and direct the affairs of the same. By such policy as this, the wheels of government are clogged, and our brightest prospects, and that high expectation which was entertained of us by the wondering world, are turned into astonishment; and from the high ground on which we stood, we are descending into the vale of confusion and darkness.

"That we have it in our power to become one of the most respectable nations upon earth, admits, in my humble opinion, of no doubt, if we would but pursue a wise, just and liberal policy towards one another, and would keep good faith with the rest of the world:...that our resources are ample and increasing, none can deny; but while they are grudgingly applied, or not applied at all, we give a vital stab to public faith, and will sink in the eyes of Europe, into contempt."

CHAPTER II.

Misunderstandings between Great Britain and the United States....Mr. Adams appointed to negotiate with the British cabinet....Discontents of the Americans against the commercial regulations of Britain....Rise of parties in the United States... The convention at Annapolis....Virginia appoints deputies to meet those of the other states at Philadelphia for the purpose of revising the federal system.... G. Washington chosen one of them....Insurrection in Massachussetts....Convention at Philadelphia....A form of government for the United States is submitted to the respective states, which is ratified by eleven of them....Letters from Gen. Washington respecting the chief magistracy of the new government....He is unanimously elected president.... meeting of the first congress.

WHILE the friends of the national government were making these unavailing efforts to invest it with a revenue which might enable it to preserve the national faith, many other causes concurred to prepare the public mind for some great and radical change in the political system of America.

Scarcely had the war of the revolution terminated, when the United States and Great Britain reciprocally charged each other with having violated the treaty of peace. On the construction of that part of the seventh article which stipulates against the "destruction or carrying away of any negroes, or other property of the American inhabitants," a serious difference of opinion prevailed, and the misunderstanding occasioned by that dif ference could not be easily accommodated. As men seldom allow much weight to the reasoning of an adversary, the construction put upon that