SECRETARY OF STATE.--THE ASHBURTON TREATY.
There is one feature in the history, or rather in the historic scenery of
this period, which we are apt to overlook. The political questions, the
debates, the eloquence of that day, give us no idea of the city in which
the history was made, or of the life led by the men who figured in that
history. Their speeches might have been delivered in any great centre of
civilization, and in the midst of a brilliant and luxurious society. But
the Washington of 1841, when Mr. Webster took the post which is officially
the first in the society of the capital and of the country, was a very odd
sort of place, and widely different from what it is to-day. It was not a
village, neither was it a city. It had not grown, but had been created for
a special purpose. A site had been arbitrarily selected, and a city laid
out on the most magnificent scale. But there was no independent life, for
the city was wholly official in its purposes and its existence. There were
a few great public buildings, a few large private houses, a few hotels and
boarding houses, and a large number of negro shanties. The general effect
was of attempted splendor, which had resulted in slovenliness and
straggling confusion. The streets were unpaved, dusty in summer, and deep
with mud in winter, so that the mere difficulty of getting from place to
place was a serious obstacle to general society. Cattle fed in the streets,
and were milked by their owners on the sidewalk. There was a grotesque
contrast between the stately capitol where momentous questions were
eloquently discussed and such queerly primitive and rude surroundings. Few
persons were able to entertain because few persons had suitable houses.
Members of Congress usually clubbed together and took possession of a
house, and these "messes," as they were called,--although without doubt
very agreeable to their members,--did not offer a mode of life which was
easily compatible with the demands of general society. Social enjoyments,
therefore, were pursued under difficulties; and the city, although
improving, was dreary enough.
Society, too, was in a bad condition. The old forms and ceremonies of the
men of 1789 and the manners and breeding of our earliest generation of
statesmen had passed away, and the new democracy had not as yet a system of
its own. It was a period of transition. The old customs had gone, the new
ones had not crystallized. The civilization was crude and raw, and in
Washington had no background whatever,--such as was to be found in the old
cities and towns of the original thirteen States. The tone of the men in
public life had deteriorated and was growing worse, approaching rapidly its
lowest point, which it reached during the Polk administration. This was due
partly to the Jacksonian democracy, which had rejected training and
education as necessary to statesmanship, and had loudly proclaimed the
great truths of rotation in office, and the spoils to the victors, and
partly to the slavery agitation which was then beginning to make itself
felt. The rise of the irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery
made the South overbearing and truculent; it produced that class of
politicians known as "Northern men with Southern principles," or, in the
slang of the day, as "doughfaces;" and it had not yet built up a strong,
vigorous, and aggressive party in the North. The lack of proper social
opportunities, and this deterioration among men in public life, led to an
increasing violence and roughness in debate, and to a good deal of coarse
dissipation in private. There was undoubtedly a brighter side, but it was
limited, and the surroundings of the distinguished men who led our
political parties in 1841 at the national capital, do not present a very
cheerful or attractive picture.
When the new President appeared upon the scene he was followed by a general
rush of hungry office-seekers, who had been starving for places for many
years. General Harrison was a brave, honest soldier and pioneer, simple in
heart and manners, unspoiled and untaught by politics of which he had had a
good share. He was not a great man, but he was honorable and well
intentioned. He wished to have about him the best and ablest men of his
party, and to trust to their guidance for a successful administration. But
although he had no desire to invent a policy, or to draft state papers, he
was determined to be the author of his own inaugural speech, and he came to
Washington with a carefully-prepared manuscript in his pocket. When Mr.
Webster read this document he found it full of gratitude to the people, and
abounding in allusions to Roman history. With his strong sense of humor,
and of the unities and proprieties as well, he was a good deal alarmed at
the proposed speech; and after much labor, and the expenditure of a good
deal of tact, he succeeded in effecting some important changes and
additions. When he came home in the evening, Mrs. Seaton, at whose house he
was staying, remarked that he looked worried and fatigued, and asked if
anything had happened. Mr. Webster replied, "You would think that something
had happened if you knew what I have done. I have killed seventeen Roman
proconsuls." It was a terrible slaughter for poor Harrison, for the
proconsuls were probably very dear to his heart. His youth had been passed
in the time when the pseudo classicism of the French Republic and Empire
was rampant, and now that, in his old age, he had been raised to the
presidency, his head was probably full of the republics of antiquity, and
of Cincinnatus called from the plough, to take the helm of state.
M. de Bacourt, the French minister at this period, a rather shallow and
illiberal man who disliked Mr. Webster, gives, in his recently published
correspondence, the following amusing account of the presentation of the
diplomatic corps to President Harrison,--a little bit of contemporary
gossip which carries us back to those days better than anything else could
possibly do. The diplomatic corps assembled at the house of Mr. Fox, the
British minister, who was to read a speech in behalf of the whole body, and
thence proceeded to the White House where
"the new Secretary of State, Mr. Webster, who is much embarrassed
by his new functions, came to make his arrangements with Mr. Fox.
This done, we were ranged along the wall in order of seniority, and
after too long a delay for a country where the chief magistrate has
no right to keep people waiting, the old General came in, followed
by all the members of his Cabinet, who walked in single file, and
so kept behind him. He then advanced toward Mr. Fox, whom Mr.
Webster presented to him. Mr. Fox read to him his address. Then the
President took out his spectacles and read his reply. Then, after
having shaken hands with the English minister, he walked from one
end of our line to the other, Mr. Webster presenting each of us by
name, and he shaking hands with each one without saying a word.
This ceremony finished he returned to the room whence he had come,
and reappeared with Mrs. Harrison--the widow of his eldest
son--upon his arm, whom he presented to the diplomatic corps _en
masse_. Mr. Webster, who followed, then presented to us Mrs.
Finley, the mother of this Mrs. Harrison, in the following terms:
'Gentlemen, I introduce to you Mrs. Finley, the lady who attends
Mrs. Harrison;' and observe that this good lady who attends the
others--takes care of them--is blind. Then all at once, a crowd of
people rushed into the room. They were the wives, sisters,
daughters, cousins, and lady friends of the President and of all
his ministers, who were presented to us, and _vice versa_, in the
midst of an inconceivable confusion."
Fond, however, as Mr. Webster was of society, and punctilious as he was in
matters of etiquette and propriety, M. de Bacourt to the contrary
notwithstanding, he had far more important duties to perform than those of
playing host and receiving foreign ministers. Our relations with England
when he entered the cabinet were such as to make war seem almost
inevitable. The northeastern boundary, undetermined by the treaty of 1783,
had been the subject of continual and fruitless negotiation ever since that
time, and was still unsettled and more complicated than ever. It was agreed
that there should be a new survey and a new arbitration, but no agreement
could be reached as to who should arbitrate or what questions should be
submitted to the arbitrators, and the temporary arrangements for the
possession of the territory in dispute were unsatisfactory and precarious.
Much more exciting and perilous than this old difficulty was a new one and
its consequences growing out of the Canadian rebellion in 1837. Certain of
the rebels fled to the United States, and there, in conjunction with
American citizens, prepared to make incursions into Canada. For this
purpose they fitted out an American steamboat, the Caroline. An expedition
from Canada crossed the Niagara River to the American shore, set fire to
the Caroline, and let her drift over the Falls. In the fray which occurred,
an American named Durfree was killed. The British government avowed this
invasion to be a public act and a necessary measure of self-defence; but it
was a question when Mr. Van Buren went out of office whether this avowal
had been made in an authentic manner. There was another incident, however,
also growing out of this affair, even more irritating and threatening than
the invasion itself. In November, 1840, one Alexander McLeod came from
Canada to New York, where he boasted that he was the slayer of Durfree, and
thereupon was at once arrested on a charge of murder and thrown into
prison. This aroused great anger in England, and the conviction of McLeod
was all that was needed to cause immediate war. In addition to these
complications was the question of the right of search for the impressment
of British seamen and for the suppression of the slave-trade. Our
government was, of course, greatly hampered in action by the rights of
Maine and Massachusetts on the northeastern boundary, and by the fact that
McLeod was within the jurisdiction and in the power of the New York courts,
and wholly out of reach of those of the United States. The character of the
national representatives on both sides in London tended, moreover, to
aggravate the growing irritation between the two countries. Lord Palmerston
was sharp and domineering, and Mr. Stevenson, our minister, was by no means
mild or conciliatory. Between them they did what they could to render
accommodation impossible.
To evolve a satisfactory and permanent peace from these conditions was the
task which confronted Mr. Webster, and he was hardly in office before he
received a demand from Mr. Fox for the release of McLeod, in which full
avowal was made that the burning of the Caroline was a public act. Mr.
Webster determined that the proper method of settling the boundary
question, when that subject should be reached, was to agree upon a
conventional and arbitrary line, and that in the mean time the only way to
dispose of McLeod was to get him out of prison, separate him,
diplomatically speaking, from the affair of the Caroline, and then take
that up as a distinct matter for negotiation with the British government.
The difficulty in regard to McLeod was the most pressing, and so to that he
gave his immediate attention. His first step was to instruct the
Attorney-General to proceed to Lockport, where McLeod was imprisoned, and
communicate with the counsel for the defence, furnishing them with
authentic information that the destruction of the Caroline was a public
act, and that therefore McLeod could not be held responsible. He then
replied to the British minister that McLeod could, of course, be released
only by judicial process, but he also informed Mr. Fox of the steps which
had been taken by the administration to assure the prisoner a complete
defence based on the avowal of the British government that the attack on
the Caroline was a public act. This threw the responsibility for McLeod,
and for consequent peace or war, where it belonged, on the New York
authorities, who seemed, however, but little inclined to assist the general
government. McLeod came before the Supreme Court of New York in July, on a
writ of _habeas corpus_, but they refused to release him on the grounds set
forth in Mr. Webster's instructions to the Attorney-General, and he was
remanded for trial in October, which was highly embarrassing to our
government, as it kept this dangerous affair open.
But this and all other embarrassments to the Secretary of State sank into
insignificance beside those caused him by the troubles in his own political
party. Between the time of the instructions to the Attorney-General and
that of the letter to Mr. Fox, President Harrison died, after only a month
of office. Mr. Tyler, of whose views but little was known, at once
succeeded, and made no change in the cabinet of his predecessor. On the
last day of May, Congress, called in extra session by President Harrison,
convened. A bill establishing a bank was passed, and Mr. Tyler vetoed it on
account of constitutional objections to some of its features. The
triumphant Whigs were filled with wrath at this unlooked-for check. Mr.
Clay reflected on the President with great severity in the Senate, the
members of the party in the House were very violent in their expressions of
disapproval, and another measure, known as the "Fiscal Corporation Act,"
was at once prepared. Mr. Webster regarded this state of affairs with great
anxiety and alarm. He said that such a contest, if persisted in, would ruin
the party and deprive them of the fruits of their victory, besides
imperilling the important foreign policy then just initiated. He strove to
allay the excitement, and resisted the passage of any new bank measure,
much as he wished the establishment of such an institution, advising
postponement and delay for the sake of procuring harmony if possible. But
the party in Congress would not be quieted. They were determined to force
Mr. Tyler's hand at all hazards, and while the new bill was pending, Mr.
Clay, stung by the taunts of Mr. Buchanan, made a savage attack upon the
President. As a natural consequence, the "Fiscal Corporation" scheme shared
the fate of its predecessor. The breach between the President and his party
was opened irreparably, and four members of the cabinet at once resigned.
Mr. Webster was averse to becoming a party to an obvious combination
between the Senate and the cabinet to harass the President, and he was
determined not to sacrifice the success of his foreign negotiations to a
political quarrel. He therefore resolved to remain in the cabinet for the
present, at least, and, after consulting the Massachusetts delegation in
Congress, who fully approved his course, he announced his decision to the
public in a letter to the "National Intelligencer." His action soon became
the subject of much adverse criticism from the Whigs, but at this day no
one would question that he was entirely right. It was not such an easy
thing to do, however, as it now appears, for the excitement was running
high among the Whigs, and there was great bitterness of feeling toward the
President. Mr. Webster behaved in an independent and patriotic manner,
showing a liberality of spirit, a breadth of view, and a courage of opinion
which entitle him to the greatest credit.
Events, which had seemed thus far to go steadily against him in his
negotiations, and which had been supplemented by the attacks of the
opposition in Congress for his alleged interference with the course of
justice in New York, now began to turn in his favor. The news of the
refusal of the New York court to release McLeod on a _habeas corpus_ had
hardly reached England when the Melbourne ministry was beaten in the House
of Commons, and Sir Robert Peel came in, bringing with him Lord Aberdeen as
the successor of Lord Palmerston in the department of foreign affairs. The
new ministry was disposed to be much more peaceful than their predecessors
had been, and the negotiations at once began to move more smoothly. Great
care was still necessary to prevent outbreaks on the border, but in October
McLeod proved an _alibi_ and was acquitted, and thus the most dangerous
element in our relations with England was removed. Matters were still
further improved by the retirement of Mr. Stevenson, whose successor in
London was Mr. Everett, eminently conciliatory in disposition and in full
sympathy with the Secretary of State.
Mr. Webster was now able to turn his undivided attention to the
long-standing boundary question. His proposition to agree upon a
conventional line had been made known by Mr. Fox to his government, and
soon afterwards Mr. Everett was informed that Lord Ashburton would be sent
to Washington on a special mission. The selection of an envoy well known
for his friendly feeling toward the United States, which was also
traditional with the great banking-house of his family, was in itself a
pledge of conciliation and good will. Lord Ashburton reached Washington in
April, 1842, and the negotiation at once began.
It is impossible and needless to give here a detailed account of that
negotiation. We can only glance briefly at the steps taken by Mr. Webster
and at the results achieved by him. There were many difficulties to be
overcome, and in the winter of 1841-42 the case of the Creole added a fresh
and dangerous complication. The Creole was a slave-ship, on which the
negroes had risen, and, taking possession, had carried her into an English
port in the West Indies, where assistance was refused to the crew, and
where the slaves were allowed to go free. This was an act of very doubtful
legality, it touched both England and the Southern States in a very
sensitive point, and it required all Mr. Webster's tact and judgment to
keep it out of the negotiation until the main issue had been settled.
The principal obstacle in the arrangement of the boundary dispute arose
from the interests and the attitude of Massachusetts and Maine. Mr. Webster
obtained with sufficient ease the appointment of commissioners from the
former State, and, through the agency of Mr. Sparks, who was sent to
Augusta for the purpose, commissioners were also appointed in Maine; but
these last were instructed to adhere to the line of 1783 as claimed by the
United States. Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster readily agreed that a treaty
must come from mutual conciliation and compromise; but, after a good deal
of correspondence, it became apparent that the Maine commissioners and the
English envoy could not be brought to an agreement. A dead-lock and
consequent loss of the treaty were imminent. Mr. Webster then had a long
interview with Lord Ashburton. By a process of give and take they agreed on
a conventional line and on the concession of certain rights, which made a
fair bargain, but unluckily the loss was suffered by Maine and
Massachusetts, while the benefits received by the United States accrued to
New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. This brought the negotiators to the
point at which they had already been forced to halt so many times before.
Mr. Webster now cut the knot by proposing that the United States should
indemnify Maine and Massachusetts in money for the loss they were to suffer
in territory, and by his dexterous management the commissioners of the two
States were persuaded to assent to this arrangement, while Lord Ashburton
was induced to admit the agreement into a clause of the treaty. This
disposed of the chief question in dispute, but two other subjects were
included in the treaty besides the boundary. The first related to the
right of search claimed by England for the suppression of the slave-trade.
This was met by what was called the "Cruising Convention," a clause which
stipulated that each nation should keep its own squadron on the coast of
Africa, to enforce separately its own laws against the slave-trade, but in
mutual coöperation. The other subject of agreement grew out of the Creole
case. England supposed that we sought the return of the negroes because
they were slaves, but Mr. Webster argued that they were demanded as
mutineers and murderers. The result was an article which, while it
carefully avoided even the appearance of an attempt to bind England to
return fugitive slaves, provided amply for the extradition of criminals.
The case of the Caroline was disposed of by a formal admission of the
inviolability of national territory and by an apology for the burning of
the steamboat. As to the action in regard to the slaves on the Creole, Mr.
Webster could only obtain the assurance that there should be "no officious
interference with American vessels driven by accident or violence into
British ports," and with this he was content to let the matter drop. On the
subject of impressment, the old _casus belli_ of 1812, Mr. Webster wrote a
forcible letter to Lord Ashburton. In it he said that, in future, "in every
regularly-documented American merchant vessel, the crew who navigate it
will find their protection in the flag which is over them." In other words,
if you take sailors out of our vessels, we shall fight; and this simple
statement of fact ended the whole matter and was quite as binding on
England as any treaty could have been.
Thus the negotiation closed. The only serious objection to its results was
that the interests of Maine were sacrificed perhaps unduly,--as a recent
discussion of that point seems to show. But such a sacrifice was fully
justified by what was achieved. A war was averted, a long standing and
menacing dispute was settled, and a treaty was concluded which was
creditable and honorable to all concerned. By his successful introduction
of the extradition clause, Mr. Webster rendered a great service to
civilization and to the suppression and punishment of crime. Mr. Webster
was greatly aided throughout--both in his arguments, and in the
construction of the treaty itself--by the learned and valuable assistance
freely given by Judge Story. But he conducted the whole negotiation with
great ability and in the spirit of a liberal and enlightened statesman. He
displayed the highest tact and dexterity in reconciling so many clashing
interests, and avoiding so many perilous side issues, until he had brought
the main problem to a solution. In all that he did and said he showed a
dignity and an entire sufficiency, which make this negotiation one of the
most creditable--so far as its conduct was concerned--in which the United
States was ever engaged.
While the negotiation was in progress there was a constant murmur among the
Whigs about Mr. Webster's remaining in the cabinet, and as soon as the
treaty was actually signed a loud clamor began--both among the politicians
and in the newspapers--for his resignation. In the midst of this outcry the
Senate met and ratified the treaty by a vote of thirty-nine to nine,--a
great triumph for its author. But the debate disclosed a vigorous
opposition, Benton and Buchanan both assailing Mr. Webster for neglecting
and sacrificing American, and particularly Southern, interests. At the same
time the controversy which Mr. Webster called "the battle of the maps," and
which was made a great deal of in England, began to show itself. A map of
1783, which Mr. Webster obtained, had been discovered in Paris, sustaining
the English view, while another was afterwards found in London, supporting
the American claim. Neither was of the least consequence, as the new line
was conventional and arbitrary; but the discoveries caused a great deal of
unreasonable excitement. Mr. Webster saw very plainly that the treaty was
not yet secure. It was exposed to attacks both at home and abroad, and had
still to pass Parliament. Until it was entirely safe, Mr. Webster
determined to remain at his post. The clamor continued about his
resignation, and rose round him at his home in Marshfield, whither he had
gone for rest. At the same time the Whig convention of Massachusetts
declared formally a complete separation from the President. In the language
of to-day, they "read Mr. Tyler out of the party." There was a variety of
motives for this action. One was to force Mr. Webster out of the cabinet,
another to advance the fortunes of Mr. Clay, in favor of whose presidential
candidacy movements had begun in Massachusetts, even among Mr. Webster's
personal friends, as well as elsewhere. Mr. Webster had just declined a
public dinner, but he now decided to meet his friends in Faneuil Hall. An
immense audience gathered to hear him, many of them strongly disapproving
his course, but after he had spoken a few moments, he had them completely
under control. He reviewed the negotiation; he discussed fully the
differences in the party; he deplored, and he did not hesitate strongly to
condemn these quarrels, because by them the fruits of victory were lost,
and Whig policy abandoned. With boldness and dignity he denied the right of
the convention to declare a separation from the President, and the implied
attempt to coerce himself and others. "I am, gentlemen, a little hard to
coax," he said, "but as to being driven, that is out of the question. If I
choose to remain in the President's councils, do these gentlemen mean to
say that I cease to be a Massachusetts Whig? I am quite ready to put that
question to the people of Massachusetts." He was well aware that he was
losing party strength by his action; he knew that behind all these
resolutions was the intention to raise his great rival to the presidency;
but he did not shrink from avowing his independence and his intention of
doing what he believed to be right, and what posterity admits to have been
so. Mr. Webster never appeared to better advantage, and he never made a
more manly speech than on this occasion, when, without any bravado, he
quietly set the influence and the threats of his party at defiance.
He was not mistaken in thinking that the treaty was not yet in smooth
water. It was again attacked in the Senate, and it had a still more severe
ordeal to go through in Parliament. The opposition, headed by Lord
Palmerston, assailed the treaty and Lord Ashburton himself, with the
greatest virulence, denouncing the one as a capitulation, and the other as
a grossly unfit appointment. Moreover, the language of the President's
message led England to believe that we claimed that the right of search had
been abandoned. After much correspondence, this misunderstanding drew forth
an able letter from Mr. Webster, stating that the right of search had not
been included in the treaty, but that the "cruising convention" had
rendered the question unimportant. Finally, all complications were
dispersed, and the treaty ratified; and then came an attack from an
unexpected quarter. General Cass--our minister at Paris--undertook to
protest against the treaty, denounce it, and leave his post on account of
it. This wholly gratuitous assault led to a public correspondence, in which
General Cass, on his own confession, was completely overthrown and broken
down by the Secretary of State. This was the last difficulty, and the work
was finally accepted and complete.
During this important and absorbing negotiation, other matters of less
moment, but still of considerable consequence, had been met by Mr. Webster,
and successfully disposed of. He made a treaty with Portugal, respecting
duties on wines; he carried on a long correspondence with our minister to
Mexico in relation to certain American prisoners; he vindicated the course
of the United States in regard to the independence of Texas, teaching M. de
Bocanegra, the Mexican Secretary of State, a lesson as to the duties of
neutrality, and administering a severe reproof to that gentleman for
imputing bad faith to the United States; he conducted the correspondence,
and directed the policy of the government in regard to the troubles in
Rhode Island; he made an effort to settle the Oregon boundary; and,
finally, he set on foot the Chinese mission, which, after being offered to
Mr. Everett, was accepted by Mr. Cushing with the best results. But his
real work came to an end with the correspondence with General Cass at the
close of 1842, and in May of the following year he resigned the
secretaryship. In the two years during which he had been at the head of the
cabinet, he had done much. His work added to his fame by the ability which
it exhibited in a new field, and has stood the test of time. In a period of
difficulty, and even danger, he proved himself singularly well adapted for
the conduct of foreign affairs,--a department which is most peculiarly and
traditionally the employment and test of a highly-trained statesman. It may
be fairly said that no one, with the exception of John Quincy Adams, has
ever shown higher qualities, or attained greater success in the
administration of the State Department, than Mr. Webster did while in Mr.
Tyler's cabinet.
On his resignation, he returned at once to private life, and passed the
next summer on his farm at Marshfield,--now grown into a large
estate,--which was a source of constant interest and delight, and where he
was able to have beneath his eyes his beloved sea. His private affairs were
in disorder, and required his immediate attention. He threw himself into
his profession, and his practice at once became active, lucrative, and
absorbing. To this period of retirement belong the second Bunker Hill
oration and the Girard argument, which made so much noise in its day. He
kept himself aloof from politics, but could not wholly withdraw from them.
The feeling against him, on account of his continuance in the cabinet, had
subsided, and there was a feeble and somewhat fitful movement to drop Clay,
and present Mr. Webster as a candidate for the presidency. Mr. Webster,
however, made a speech at Andover, defending his course and advocating Whig
principles, and declared that he was not a candidate for office. He also
refused to allow New Hampshire to mar party harmony by bringing his name
forward. When Mr. Clay was nominated, in May, 1844, Mr. Webster, who had
beheld with anxiety the rise of the Liberty party and prophesied the
annexation of Texas, decided, although he was dissatisfied with the silence
of the Whigs on this subject, to sustain their candidate. This was
undoubtedly the wisest course; and, having once enlisted, he gave Mr. Clay
a hearty and vigorous support, making a series of powerful speeches,
chiefly on the tariff, and second in variety and ability only to those
which he had delivered in the Harrison campaign. Mr. Clay was defeated
largely by the action of the Liberty party, and the silence of the Whigs
about Texas and slavery cost them the election. At the beginning of the
year Mr. Webster had declined a reëlection to the Senate, but it was
impossible for him to remain out of politics, and the pressure to return
soon became too strong to be resisted. When Mr. Choate resigned in the
winter of 1844-45, Mr. Webster was reëlected senator, from Massachusetts.
On the first of March the intrigue, to perfect which Mr. Calhoun had
accepted the State Department, culminated, and the resolutions for the
annexation of Texas passed both branches of Congress. Four days later Mr.
Polk's administration, pledged to the support and continuance of the
annexation policy, was in power, and Mr. Webster had taken his seat in the
Senate for his last term.