pro between 1787 and 1820. Many facts have been collected from the ceedings of Congress, legislatures, and learned institutions; also from law books, reports of judicial tribunals, and from the various official publications issued in different parts of the country. In regard to the wars with Great Britain, France, Tripoli, and Mexico, I have endeavoured to be courteous and impartial in writing the descriptions of those events. The accounts of the many Indian wars that have taken place since the settlement of Jamestown, in 1607, to the close of the Seminole war in 1842, may appear too full as to detail; but they are, in reality, brief (the importance of those sanguinary conflicts being borne in mind), and restricted to only a few of the most noted incidents that took place during the struggles with the savage hordes. Unwilling to rely solely upon my own efforts in the collection of data employed in this history, and with the view of avoiding any important omission, I engaged the services of several literary gentlemen, who have rendered me most essential aid, particularly with reference to the Indian wars. I am also much indebted to the managers of the respective libraries, and especially of the British Museum, who have accorded to me every desired facility in making researches. The time and convenience of the reader have been observed, by adopting a divisional arrangement of matter, so as to place all the details respecting any particular subject in immediate connection. As, for example, the history of slavery is given at the periods when it became of national importance-in 1808, 1820, and 1850. The early history of Louisiana, and of the respective States, will be found as connected narratives, each complete in itself; at least, as much so as the nature of things has permitted. The Maps accompanying this Work have been compiled from the most reliable authorities, Some of them illustrate important events never before published; and these, in part, were copied from manuscript drawings found by me in the closets of persons who had no appreciation of their historic value. The political history of the United States for the past half century has not been fully considered, on account of my having been familiar with many of those who have taken an active part in public affairs; and the time has not yet arrived when their proceedings can be impartially criticised. The most important epoch of the nation's history has occurred since 1844, as it was then that the slavery question became portentous. It was supposed that the compromise of 1850 would set at rest that exciting issue. Providence, however, denied the boon. From time to time, the politicians, North and South, have, with an unbridled sectional zeal, fanned the flames of discord between the people of different parts of the country; and when, in 1860, the anti-slavery parties of the North succeeded in electing a President totally antagonistic to the extension of involuntary servitude into the territories, under the provisions of the constitution, as defined by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Dred Scott, the Southern people severed their connection with the Federal Union, and preferred an arbitrament of the issue on the battle-field. The incidental cause of the civil war now so furiously waging between the Northern and Southern States, was slavery; but a degeneracy in the administration of public affairs has been the real cause of the conflict. Washington and his co-patriots, who founded the government, were pure statesmen: succeeding them, a generation of ambitious men attained power, and exercised it for party aggrandisement, regardless of the national weal. Following the epoch of this second class, came the sectional politicians, who continue to maintain their influence. When the government was founded in 1789, only a few of the Federal and State officials were elected by the people: but within the past quarter of a century the suffrage system has been greatly extended; so that, at the present time, nearly all the officials of the governments, from the President down to a constable, are either directly or indirectly chosen by ballot: and, in this manner, the affairs of state have been subjected to continual change by a capricious multitude. The glory of the Americans has been achieved through their inventive genius; and their greatness as a nation, in every branch of human industry, has been acknowledged by the civilised inhabitants of every clime. The majority of them have been content to follow in the steady prosecution of the useful arts, trade, commerce, and agriculture-thus promoting their own happiness, and advancing their country's wealth. Being disinclined to engage in public pursuits, they have, from time to time, confided the management of the governments to others, who, unfortunately for the permanency of the Republic, have not been, in many cases, pure in heart : they reposed confidence in men who were more ambitious than patriotic; and under their guidance, for upwards of a quarter of a century, the greatest Republic, and the noblest political structure conceived by man, has been on the decline. In 1861 occurred a mighty outburst of sectional antagonism. The result of the sanguinary conflict is still in suspense ; and I close this Work while thousands of my countrymen's bones lie, unburied, side by side with fragments of shot and shell! TAL. P. SHAFFNER. LONDON, July 4th, 1863. THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. THE election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of the United States, on the 6th of November, 1860, was looked upon by the southern states, represented by the conservative parties of the country, as a declaration of war. It was known that he entirely owed the accident of his election to the faction diametrically opposed to southern interests; and the conclusion was natural that he must, perforce, select his counsellors from amongst the prominent men of that faction, and consult their prejudices and views in his administration of the power placed in his hands. The feeling of dissatisfaction created by this state of affairs, at length found vent in threats of resistance; and the southern states hastened to go out of a Union which could no longer offer a guarantee for the protection of their rights, or any permanent sense of security. They felt that the domination of the daily increasing hostile feeling of the north, would eventually, and in detail, destroy their institutions, confiscate their property, and imperil the lives of their people. The state of South Carolina was the first to take action in this matter; and, without wasting time in useless argument, and with little preparation for war, it determined, by the free exercise of its authority as a sovereign state, to separate itself from the Union. A convention was accordingly summoned; and on the 20th of December, 1860, an ordinance of secession, dissolving the compact between the state of South Carolina and the other states united with it under the constitution of the United States of America, was resolved upon by an unanimous vote, and recorded in the following words :— "An Ordinance to Dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina, and other States united with her under the compact entitled The Constitution of the United States of America. "We, the people of the state of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinance adopted by us in convention on the 23rd day of May, in the year of our Lord, 1788, whereby the constitution of the United States of America was ratified; and also all acts, and parts of acts, of the general assembly of this state, ratifying the amendments of the said constitution, are hereby South Carolina and other states, under the name of repealed; and that the union now subsisting between the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." The secession ordinance was immediately followed by a declaration of the causes which had provoked it. In this document, it was alleged that the people of South Carolina, in convention assembled, had, on the 2nd of April, 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the constitution of the United States by the federal government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the states, fully justified South Carolina in its withdrawal from the federal union; but, in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding states, it forbore, at that time, to exercise such right. That, since that time, such encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance had ceased to be a virtue. Numerous grounds for dissatisfaction were then enumerated; and it proceeded thus:-"A geographical line has been drawn across the Union; and all the states north of that line, have united in the election of a man to the high office of president of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common government, because he has declared that the government cannot endure, permanently, half slave, half free;' and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction." Pursuing this deprecatory tone, the declaration concludes by saying, that "sectional interest and animosity will deepen the irritation; and all hope of remedy is rendered vain by the fact, that the public opinion at the north has invested a great political error with the sanction of a more erroneous religious belief. We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by our delegates in convention assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, have solemnly declared that the union hitherto existing between this state and the other states of North America, is dissolved; and that the state of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the world as a separate and independent state, with full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do." In pursuance of this declaration, the representatives of South Carolina, in congress, on the 24th of the same month, addressed the following communication to the speaker of the house of representatives: "Sir,-We avail ourselves of the earliest opportunity, since the official communication of the intelligence, of making known to your honourable body, that the people of the state of South Carolina, in their sovereign capacity, have resumed the powers heretofore delegated by them to the federal govern. ment of the United States, and have thereby dissolved our connection with the house of representatives. In taking leave of those with whom we have been associated in a common agency, we, as well as the people of our commonwealth, desire to do so with a feeling of mutual regard and respect for each other-cherishing the hope that, in our future relations, we may better enjoy the peace and harmony essential to the happiness of a free and enlightened people. "JOHN MQUEEN. "M. L. BONHAM. "Dec. 24th. W. W. BOYCE. J. 1). ASHMORE. "To the Speaker of the House of Representatives." On the 19th of the month, the secession leaders at Charleston had issued orders that no more federal soldiers should be permitted to enter the forts in that harbour; and as the position of the garrison at Fort Moultrie, under the command of Major Anderson, would have been extremely hazardous in the event of any hostile demonstration by the secessionists, that officer determined on removing his troops, stores, and munitions to Fort Sumter, where he would be better able to defend himself from an attempt to dislodge him. It was accordingly reported in the fort, that an attack was meditated by the people of Charleston, and that the removal of the women and children to a place of safety was desirable. In furtherance of this idea, three schooners were engaged, and loaded with what was supposed to be the bedding and household effects of the families belong ing to the garrison. It was reported that the people and goods were to be landed at Fort Johnson, or James Island, in the direction of which they affected to sail. freight being well under weigh, the whole of the garrison, with the exception of some half-dozen men, left for an ulterior purpose, embarked in boats, and rowed to Fort Sumter, which thus received a considerable addition to the force already stationed there. Here they found the individuals sent forward by the schooners, with a large quantity of warlike stores which they had contrived to bring from Fort Moultrie. The object of Major Anderson being so far successfully accomplished, he considered his position sufficiently tenable to hold out until he could receive instructions or reinforcements from the federal government. Meantime, the men left at Fort Moultrie, as soon as the last boat had left the fortifications, began to spike the guns, to cut down the flag-staff, to burn the gun-carriages, and to damage the fortifications in such points as might render them no longer defensible. The conduct of Major Anderson was subjected to severe criticism. On the one side it was looked upon as a masterpiece of strategy; on the other, as totally unwarranted, and provocative of hostilities. Of the latter opinion was the secretary at war of the federal government, who, in consequence of what he looked upon as a violation of good faith, tendered the resignation of his office; and it was accepted by the then president of the United States, James Buchanan. On the 29th of the same month, commissioners from South Carolina transmitted to the president of the United States, a notification of their powers to treat with the federal government for the delivery of the forts, magazines, lighthouses, and other real estate, with their appurtenances, within the limits of South Carolina, and also for an apportionment of the public debt, and for a division of all other property held by the government of the United States as agent of the confederated states, of which South Carolina was recently a member; and, generally, to negotiate as to all other measures and arrangements proper to be made and adopted in the existing relation of the parties, and for the continuance of peace and amity between that commonwealth and the government at Washington. The commissioners then proceeded to state, that, in the execution of the trust furnish the president with an official copy of the ordinance of secession, by which the state of South Carolina had resumed the powers she delegated to the government of the United States, and had declared her perfect sovereignty and independence. the three forts; but an attack on, or attempt to take possession of either of them, will be regarded command into either of them which you may deem as an act of hostility, and you may then put your most proper to increase its power of resistance. You are also authorised to take similar steps whenever you have tangible evidence of a design to proceed to a hostile act." They further stated, that they had been prepared to enter upon the negotiation with. "These," wrote the president, "were the the earnest desire to avoid all unnecessary last instructions transmitted to Major Anand hostile collision, and so to inaugurate derson, before his removal to Fort Sumter; the new relations, as to secure mutual and, under the circumstances, it is clear respect, general advantage, and a future of that Major Anderson acted upon his own good-will and harmony beneficial to all the responsibility, and without authority-unparties concerned. "But," continued the less, indeed, he had 'tangible evidence of a document, "the events of the last twenty- design to proceed to a hostile act' on the four hours render such an assurance im- part of South Carolina, which has not yet possible. We came here the representatives been alleged." of an authority which could, at any time within the past sixty days, have taken possession of the forts in Charleston harbour; but which, upon pledges given in a manner that we cannot doubt, determined to trust to your honour rather than to its own power. Since our arrival here, an officer of the United States, acting, as we are assured, not only without, but against your orders, has dismantled one fort and occupied another; thus altering, to a most important extent, the condition of affairs under which we came." The commissioners then state, that until such circumstances are satisfactorily explained, they must suspend all discussion upon arrangements for the adjustment of mutual interests: and, in conclusion, they urged the immediate withdrawal of the troops from the harbour of Charleston; which, under existing circumstances, were a standing menace that rendered negotiation impossible, and threatened speedily to bring to a bloody issue, questions which ought to be settled with temperance and judgment. The reply of Mr. Buchanan to this communication, after recapitulating the statements and arguments adduced, unequivocally deprecated the event which had produced the difficulty, and referred to a memorandum of instructions given to Major Anderson for his guidance at Fort Moultrie; in which it was observed— The first impression upon the mind of the president, upon learning that Anderson had left Fort Moultrie, and taken possession of Fort Sumter, was to command him to return to his former position, and await there the contingencies referred to in his instructions; but, before any step could be taken to that end, intelligence reached the federal government, that the authorities of South Carolina, without waiting for explanations, had assumed a hostile aspect-that the Palmetto flag floated out to the breeze at Castle Pinckney; and that a large military force of the states had also taken possession of Fort Moultrie, covering the two federal forts with the flag of South Carolina, instead of that of the United States. "At this gloomy period of our history,' observes the president, "startling events succeeded each other rapidly. On the very day (the 27th of December) that possession of these two forts was taken, the Palmetto flag was raised over the federal customhouse and post-office in Charleston; and on the same day, every officer of the customs-collector, naval officer, surveyor, and appraiser-resigned their offices. In the harbour of Charleston we now find three forts confronting each other, over all of which the federal flag floated only four days ago; but now, over two of them, this flag has been supplanted, and the Palmetto flag has been substituted in its stead. It is under all these circumstances that I am urged immediately to withdraw the troops from the harbour of Charleston; and am informed that, without this, negotiation is impossible. This I cannot do this I will not do." "You are carefully to avoid every act which would needlessly tend to provoke aggression; and for that reason you are not, without necessity, to take up any position which could be construed into the assumption of a hostile attitude; but you are to hold possession of the forts in the harbour, and, if attacked, you are to defend yourself to the last extremity. The smallness of your force will not He then states, that, while writing, he permit you, perhaps, to occupy more than one of had received information from Captain |