on the ocean, and of France on the land, as destructive of the prosperity and happiness of the world, and wish both to be reduced only to the necessity of observing moral duties. We believe no more in Buonaparte's fighting merely for the liberty of the seas, than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties of mankind. The object of both is the same, to draw to themselves the power, the wealth, and the resources of other nations."

An incredible number of American vessels had been seized by both the belligerent powers; and by the English every seaman found in those ships and not born in America, had been pressed into their naval service. Remonstrances against the unrestrained exercise of despotic power of every kind, had no effect either in London or in Paris; to throw the American power into the scale of one or the other party, by making war, seemed unreasonable; and to quarrel with both of them together, would certainly have been still more senseless. The decrees of Berlin and Milan, as also the English orders in council, rendered the trade of neutrals henceforth impossible; and in this extremity of grievance, Congress resolved by a large majority, on the 22d of December, 1807, to lay an embargo on all ships, and thus put a temporary stop to trade. This measure, it is true, inflicted great injury on the belligerent powers; but they were not restrained by it from carrying out their vindictive plans. The stoppage of trade during the revolutionary war was indeed a similar measure; but the extent of the intercourse, as well as the wants and circumstances of the country, had since become changed, and what was then regarded and performed as a noble sacrifice, was now looked upon by many as an abortive expedient, and created an opposition that compelled Jefferson's successor, Madison, to adopt other measures.

With the same cheerfulness and gladness as Washington, Jefferson, after the expiration of his second presidential term, retired into private life, and confuted all who had complained of and dreaded his unbounded, indomitable ambition. With respect to this he writes: "Never did a prisoner released from his chains feel such a relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions. I thank God for the oppor*Writings, iv. 173.

↑ Barbé-Marbois says (p. 397) that 2500 vessels were lost by the Americans in eight years!

"France declared that we suffered the robberies of England with more patience than her own, and England that she alone had a right to plunder us." Brackenridge's History of the Late War, p. xix.

tunity of retiring from them without censure, and carrying with me the most consoling proofs of public approbation. I leave every thing in the hands of men so able to take care of them, that if we are destined to meet misfortunes, it will be because no human wisdom could avert them."*

"I have given up my newspapers," writes Jefferson another time to his predecessor Adams, "in exchange for Tacitus and Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid; and I find myself much the happier." But he by no means so withdrew himself from public affairs as no longer to take an interest in them. The foundation in particular of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, was the object of his most zealous exertions.

The difference in political opinions which had separated him for a time from Adams lost its keenness; their ancient friendship returned, and the correspondence between these two noble and venerable men is equally instructive and affecting.

Jefferson had also dismissed his former misgivings respecting Washington's leaning towards England and English aristocracy since he himself had gained the day on contrary principles, and had proved his superior confidence in the people.† Far from cherishing an overweening self-esteem, Jefferson says of Washington: "His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever seen; no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man."‡

With these men was associated Jefferson's faithful friend of fifty years' standing, the wise Madison, the fourth president of the young and blooming republic. They cordially reciprocated each other's sentiments; and the difference in their political views, which in less generous natures would have led to a destructive, selfish enmity, had here a salutary influence in promoting the prosperity of their country and countrymen in manifold ways.

With his friends and relations Jefferson lived in cheerful social intercourse on his estate of Monticello. To one of the latter he communicated, between jest and earnest, the following ten rules of practical life:

1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

3. Never spend your money before you have it.

4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

*Writings, iv. 126, 169.

t Writings, iii. 328, 358. iv. 185, 493. Sparks's Washington, i. 545.

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.

6. We never repent of having eaten too little.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

8. How much pain have cost us the evils that have never happened!

9. Take things always by their smooth handle.

10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.

Until the eighty-third year of his age, Jefferson_enjoyed uncommon health and strength of mind and body. But now they evidently declined, and the physicians foretold his speedy dissolution. When he expressed the wish that he might survive till the 4th of July, 1826, they declared that it would be impossible. But his ardent desire and his force of will wonderfully sustained him; so that he lived till one o'clock on the 4th of July, 1826,—the same day and the same hour in which, fifty years before, he had signed in Congress the Declaration of Independence of the United States, drawn up by himself. On the same day, a few hours later, died, in his ninetieth year, John Adams, his companion in labors, dignity, and age. On the same day, in the year 1830, died James Monroe, a third president of the United States, and fifth in the order of succession.

Jefferson died poor. Some unmerited misfortunes and a hospitality moderate in its character, but frequently claimed by adınirers and friends, had consumed his property.* Greater than the consuls of Rome, who despised riches only while the republic was poor, Jefferson (like many a noble American of the same stamp) showed himself at the head of the greatest of all republics, according to Thucydides' expression used by Pericles, stronger than all possessions, and superior to wealth. When the government of Louisiana, a state to whose prosperity he had given a powerful impulse, heard of the circumstances just related, they passed the following act: "Thomas Jefferson, after a life devoted to the service of his country and of human nature, has died, leaving to his children, as their only inheritance, the example of his virtues and the gratitude of the people whose independence he has proclaimed to the universe. The legislature of Louisiana, a state acquired for the Union by his wisdom and foresight, owes to him her political and civil liberty; and, to perpetuate the remembrance of her profound respect for the talents and virtues of this illustrious benefactor, it is enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of Louisiana, in general assembly convened, that ten thousand dollars be transmitted to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, for the benefit of the family of

* Register, 1827, p. 166. Tucker, ii. 488.

Thomas Jefferson."*

A like resolution was passed by the legis

lature of South Carolina.

The entire progress of mankind is never committed to the hands of an individual; but hardly ever has one man ventured and performed as much in this way as Thomas Jefferson. The veneration felt for the experience and institutions of Europe, the natural inclination towards what is customary and known, and the dread of what is unknown and unheard of, would perhaps have caused America (notwithstanding the essential difference in her circumstances) to permit herself to be forced or talked into adopting the worn out institutions of old Europe. The opposition raised by Jefferson and his friends excluded this possibility for ever, and put an end to the strife. Then, and not till then, was a new world for the historian and statesman really created; and Jefferson remains the greatest, most active, and most peaceful republican of all that history has recorded.

CHAPTER XII.

THE RACES OF MANKIND AND SLAVERY.

Slavery in general-Justification of Slavery-Aristotle-Hobbes-Races of MenNegroes, Mulattoes, Quadroons-Mind and Morals of Negroes-History of Slavery-Arguments for and against Slavery-Condition of the Slaves-Madison's and Jefferson's Slaves-Ills of Slavery-Backward condition of the Slave States-Liberia--St. Domingo-Abolitionists-Channing-Laws of the StatesAbolitionists-Emancipation, Indemnification-Jefferson's views-Partial Emancipation-Defence of the Colored Men-Antilles-Arguments in favor of the Slave States-Congress-Missouri and Columbia-Internal Slave Trade-Manumissions-Labor of Whites and Blacks—Ascription to the Soil-Subjection to Tribute-Dangers and Prospects.

WERE it my intention to write a history of the United States, I should be obliged still to confine myself to the order of time. Their development however has not been, like that of so many other states, chiefly in an external direction and for the most part impeding and destructive, but has been, on the contrary, an internal, promotive, and truly progressive one-in a word, one which, with slight interruptions, has proved essentially peaceful. Hence,

Barbé-Marbois, Louisiana, p. 474. It is so much the more to be lamented that Jefferson's simple monument at Monticello should be in such a neglected and even ruinous condition.

after having described the liberation and founding of the United States, the further account of them may be more suitably arranged . according to subjects than by years or the changes of presidents. It is only after our survey has been more widely extended, and when the state of things both material and spiritual has become better known, that the dramatis personæ will also appear to us in their true light and be more easily understood.

No question is taken up by the friends of the United States with more anxious concern, or by their enemies with more reproving wrath, than that of slavery; and now, after so much has presented itself to us in a brilliant light, it is necessary to examine into this dark or rather black side of American affairs, to explain its origin, ascertain its present condition, and contemplate its future prospects, before we can prudently and safely proceed further onward. It will not answer either to condemn slavery unqualifiedly beforehand and demand its unconditional abolition, or to look upon the fact as one which is natural and unalterable. On the contrary, the fact that slavery extends throughout the history of the world, compels us not to confine our observation to North America alone, but to set out from general principles, and to ask ourselves whether and in what manner that which is local and temporal can be regulated and judged thereby.

Differences in mental vigor, moral dignity, and outward possessions, found and justify dominion and dependence among men. But since these differences never destroy personality, and convert a man into a mere thing,-and since every one is entitled and bound to social relations, and is not excluded therefrom like the brutes, it follows that no man should have unlimited disposal over another, or, in other words, that slavery is unnatural and rests on force alone. It is a relation in which all reciprocity is wanting; where the rights are all on one side, and the compulsory obligations on the other; and where no means of dissolving this obligation is afforded or indicated by the law.

This view is said to be contradicted by: 1st, history; 2dly, the teachers of law; and 3dly, many of the most esteemed philosophers. We reply:

To objection 1st. From the mere historical existence of slavery, it by no means follows that it is either natural or just; otherwise all the follies, crimes, and sinful practices that have crept into society, might be justified in a like manner. History shows us rather, that cruelty and wrong ever meet sooner or later with their just punishment. The revolts of slaves are more natural than slavery itself.

To objection 2d. The Roman law seeks to establish and justify slavery in three ways:

a. By the jus gentium. According to the law of nations, pri