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CHAPTER XI.

AMERICAN CURRENCY AND COMMERCE THE WEST INDIA TRADE-GENERAL REMARKS.

HISTORIANS and nearly all other writers on America have with one accord based their arguments upon the foregone conclusion that the States were indebted to the Constitution for all those advantages, material and political, that until lately they enjoyed as members of the Federal Union. This fallacy originated in the fact that, while the colonies flourished by unrestricted intercourse with the other possessions of Great Britain, a marked decline was visible in their prosperity after their establishment as States, by reason of their exclusion from trade with the islands. This decline, however, was attributed to want of strength' in the Articles of Confederation. Surely, when under those Articles, the States succeeded in bringing the revolutionary war to a successful issue in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties, they might, if fairly tested and amended, have been made to answer the purposes of a peace establishment. In truth, the conflict with the parent country had been carried on for six years by the Continental Congress, composed of delegates from the thirteen colonies. It was not until March 2, 1781, less than eight months previous to the decisive event at Yorktown (October 19, 1781), that the Confederation' was formed. The merits of the Union' then, as since under the Constitution, have been unreasonably over-estimated. The United 'States' have never had a 'name,' and there was no occasion even to give the Confederacy a local habitation.' It was a false step to dedicate any particular spot for the capital of a league of States; it would have been far better to have preserved the archives and held the sessions of Congress in some old-established city. Great trouble arose in reference to the 'location' at the very outset of the operation of the Constitution, and recent events prove very clearly that the possession of neutral territory alone

gives strength and force to the Lincoln Administration. Let the Confederates once seize the capital and destroy the vipers' nest, and the backbone of tyranny in America will be broken. Washington politics and Washington society have been degenerating for years, under the influence of Northern spoilsmen, who have gone thither to attain their own selfish ends. The hotels have been crowded with lobby men' from New York and New England; it became one of the most disreputable cities in the world, with a population that gambled away the prosperity of the sovereign States and the very life of the Government. The conservative influences of commerce, the arts, sciences, and manufactures, were much needed to give a tone of sobriety and responsibility to the place. It certainly was a great mistake to make the Federal seat of Government of so much importance. Why should a league of States have jurisdiction anywhere, except on the ocean- the highway of nations? The laws of the respective States protect life and property. And how unjust it has been that in a Republic the citizens of the District of Columbia were deprived of a representation in Congress, or a voice in the selection of President. A resident of Washington, no matter how great his qualifications, could not be a senator or member of the House of Representatives, or President or Vice-President, as persons

During the sitting of the Congress of the Confederation at Philadelphia in 1783, that body was insulted by some riotous troops who had not been paid. The authorities of Pennsylvania were so timid that they failed to repress the outbreak, when the representatives of the States removed to Princeton, New Jersey. While at that place, the question of a permanent residence with jurisdiction for the 'Government' was raised, and excited a good deal of local feeling; one party was in favour of the Delaware, another the Potomac; Maryland offered to cede Annapolis; New York volunteered Kingston on the Hudson. The Philadelphians apologised for their dereliction of duty, and invited Congress back to their city. It was finally agreed that two Federal capitals should be erected, at which the sessions of Congress should be alternately held, one near the Falls of the Delaware, the other near the Falls of the Potomac. In the following year commissioners were appointed to lay out a Federal city near the Falls of the Delaware, and $100,000 was voted for the purpose of erecting public buildings. A resolution was passed that it was inexpedient to build more than one capital city at that time. Nothing, however, was done in the matter until after the adoption of the Constitution.

holding those offices must by law be domiciled in the States. There has been something radically wrong in the arrangement from the beginning to the end. It evoked an overestimate of the importance that should be attached to the Union, and there is no doubt that the moral effect produced thereby has caused the people of the North to enter upon that career of madness and cruelty that brings down on them the condemnation of the civilised world. The following graphic and truthful description of the course of affairs at Washington was given some time ago by the Times':

'What, may we ask, did Congress meet for at Washington? Did these senators and representatives do anything for the 'people who sent them to the Federal capital? Did they im'prove the laws of the States? Did they make railroads or 'canals, or perform any of the usual duties of legislation? No; 'they merely took their seats to listen to, to join in, acrimonious 'disputes on the everlasting subject of slavery. To talk about slavery, to abuse each other, defy each other, bludgeon each 'other about slavery, was the whole occupation of the Federal 'Congress. To this one question every other was made subser'vient. Whether a duty was imposed, or a new State admitted, 'the interests of the two rival sections were pitted against each 'other as if they had been hostile States making a treaty of 'peace instead of component parts of the same nation. How, 'then, can it be said by Mr. Seward that society on the Ame'rican continent could encounter no reverse so disastrous as the 'division of the American Union? To us, on the contrary, it seems that the Union has been long ago divided, that the pro'phecy of Jefferson has been fulfilled, and that the coincidence of a geographical line with a division of interests and institu'tions have long since made North and South two nations. The 'withdrawal from the same Confederacy is only the formal re'cognition of this diversity. What, indeed, does it amount to? 'Merely that the two sections of the Union will not commit to 'the same authority the management of their post-office, their 'mint, and their national defences. In every other respect they 'will remain the same. As each State legislated for itself be'fore, so it will now. As each determined for itself the question 'of freedom or slavery within its borders, so it will now. Why

'should Virginia go to war with New York, or South Carolina 'with Massachusetts, simply because they do not send delegates 'to quarrel in the same dreary capital? Under a Constitution 'which had become an anachronism, and which could never be 'modified, the situation of the Federal States had become in'tolerable. A mischievous Union has bred the war now raging. The best hope of permanent peace is a final separation.'

The Americans did not wish at first a separation from England. They merely desired to resist taxation sought to be imposed upon them by an assembly in which they were unrepresented, and to withstand an assumption of authority on the part of King and Parliament that they held to be antagonistic to the first principles of British freedom. They had repelled by moral force the encroachments upon their liberties in the matter of the Stamp Act in 1765, and had hoped for equal success in obtaining a repeal of the indirect taxes that were subsequently attempted to be levied upon them by duties on importations; they were even content to abstain from luxuries-to do without tea, in order to avoid a difficulty with the parent country: but they could not have it forced down their throats,' and thus the rebellion' was inaugurated at Boston on December 14, 1773. Coercion' was commenced at the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, although the other colonies had, prior to that time, agreed to come to the rescue of Massachusetts-the Virginians declaring that an attack upon one colony was an attack upon all.' Even after this the American subjects of the English king had little wish to make themselves independent citizens.'

In the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, Franklin, on July 12, 1775, presented a plan for Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union,' which was the groundwork for those finally adopted on March 1, 1781. Article 13 said:

13th. Any and every colony from Great Britain upon the 'continent of North America not at present engaged in our 'association, may, upon application and joining the said associa'tion, be received into the Confederation - viz. Quebec, St. John's, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, and the East and West Floridas, and shall thereupon be entitled to all the advantages ' of our Union, mutual assistance, and commerce.

These Articles shall be proposed to the several provincial 'conventions or assemblies, to be by them considered; and if 'approved, they are advised to empower their delegates to agree and ratify the same in the ensuing Congress; after which the 'Union thereby established is to continue firm till the terms of reconciliation proposed in the petition of the last Congress to 'the King are agreed to; till the acts since made, restraining 'the American colonies and fisheries, are repealed; till repa'ration is made for the injury done to Boston by shutting up 'its port; for burning Charleston; and for the expense of this unjust war; and till all the British troops are withdrawn 'from America. On the arrival of these events, the colonies are to return to their former connection and friendship with "Great Britain; but on failure thereof, this Confederation is 'to be perpetual.'

It was not until nearly a year afterwards, July 4, 1776, that the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress, and promulgated to the world.

The revolution terminated by the Treaty of Peace, 1783,* although politically successful, inflicted a great blow upon the commercial prosperity, internal and external, of the American people, especially as regarded the Northern States, which enjoyed but a limited outlet for their surplus produce, after being deprived of what had previously formed a great source of profitthat business which had enabled them to meet their balances in Europe their unobstructed trade with the British West Indies. The loss was of course felt by the agricultural and other classes as well as the mercantile interests, who, in order to protect' themselves, inaugurated a system of tariffs and tonnage dues, which in turn embarrassed their relations equally with the Southern States and foreign countries, and, consequently, prejudiced themselves in a corresponding degree. Nor was there any direct intercourse with the Spanish- and Portuguese

* On March 4, 1782, the House of Commons passed a resolution in favour of peace. Provisional articles were signed by the British and American Ambassadors at Paris on November 30, 1782. The armistice declaring a cessation of hostilities was dated at Versailles, January 20, 1783. Peace was proclaimed by Congress on April 11, 1783. The definite treaty was signed at Paris on September 3, 1783.