clare whether the constitution, laws and treaties of the general government-or the laws and constitution of the states, are supreme, in case of clashing powers." Livingston's resolution was carried by a large majority. Washington declined to give the papers on the ground that the power of making treaties is vested exclusively in the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and that it was the duty of the House of Representatives to make all necessary provisions for carrying them into effect. A few days later (April 7), the House passed a resolution by a vote of fifty-seven to thirty-five declaring that it claimed no agency in making treaties, but that it claimed the right to deliberate upon the expediency of carrying into effect a treaty which contained regulations on the subjects which the constitution had committed to their care. The fight All this was preliminary skirmishing. began in earnest (April 15), when the Federalists offered a resolution declaring that provision ought to be made for carrying the treaty into effect. It was Fisher Ameɛ' speech. in this debate that Fisher Ames made the great speech of his life. So feeble that he was hardly able to stand, he disregarded the advice of his physician, and determined to make an effort in behalf of what he regarded as the salvation of his country. He declared that the question which the house was debating was," Shall we break the treaty, shall we violate a solemn engagement into which the nation has en tered? With solemn emphasis he urged that a government wantonly refusing to fulfill its engagements, corrupts its citizens. "Will the laws continue to prevail in the hearts of the people, when the respect that gives them efficacy is withdrawn from the legislators. To weaken government and to corrupt morals are effects of a breach of public faith not to be prevented." But it was when he portrayed the horrors that would be sure to follow a rejection of the treaty, that he moved his audience to tears. To reject the treaty was to reject the forts, and to reject the forts, was to involve the frontiers in all the horrors of an Indian war. "We light the savage fires, we bind the victims. This day, we undertake to render account to the widows and orphans, whom our decision will make-to the wretches that will be roasted at the stake." But war with the Indians was not the only or the worst result which seemed to Fisher Ames an inevitable result of rejecting the treaty. War with England, anarchy and confusion at home, would be, he believed, its inevitable results. "Even the minutes I have spent in expostulating," he said, in closing, "have their value, because they protract the crisis, and the short period in which alone we may resolve to escape it. Yet I have, perhaps, as little personal interest in the event as anyone here. There is, I believe, no member who will not think his chance to be a witness of the consequences greater than mine. If, however, the vote should pass to reject, and a spirit should rise, as it will, with the public disorders to make confusion worse confounded, even I, slender and almost broken as my hold on life is, may outlive the government and constitution of my country." When he sat down, there was scarcely a dry eye in the House. John Adams sat weeping in the gallery and ejaculating, "My God! how great he is." His speech, backed by the letters and petitions, which were pouring into the House, decided the question, and the resolution to carry the treaty into effect passed by a vote of fifty-one to forty-eight. Appropriations were made in this session of Congresss for carrying into effect treaties made with Spain. and Algiers in 1795. The treaty with Spain was negotiated by Thomas Pinckney. It provided for Treaties with a free navigation of the Mississippi to both parties throughout its entire extent. It also gave to the Americans a right of deposit at New Orleans for three years, at the end of which time, the right was either to be continued at the same place or at some other convenient point on the bank of the river. By the treaty with Algiers, the United States agreed to pay $763,000, besides a yearly tribute in slaves of the nominal value of $24,000, in consideration of the release of the American captives and of peace for the future. The impatience of the Dey of Algiers at not receiving his money soon enough, seemed to make it desirable to pacify him with the promise of a frigate, which made the treaty cost another hundred thousand dollars. QUESTIONS. 1. State the object of Jay's Mission. 2. Mention the important points of the treaty and point out its defects. 3. State the British defense of impressment. 4. Describe the opposition to the treaty. 5. Why did the Republicans wish the House of Representatives to refuse appropriations to the treaty? 6. Why was the Senate more obnoxious to the Republicans than to the Federalists? 7. What was Livingston's resolution? 8. State Gallatin's view of the relation of the House of Representatives to treaties. 9. Upon what point did Fisher Ames lay most stress? 10. What were the important provisions of the treatics with Spain and Algiers ? 11. Why was the right to navigate the Mississippi such an important matter to the people of the West and South? WE CHAPTER XIZ THE WHISKY INSURRECTION. E HAVE seen that Hamilton's financial policy aimed to increase the stability and strengthen the authority of the Union, as well as restore its credit and provide it with a revenue. With these ends in view, as we have seen, he recommended an excise on distilled spirits as a means of providing the extra revenue rendered necessary by the assumption of state debts. Prejudice against an excise. Of all forms of taxation, probably none was then so unpopular among English and Americans as an excise. Dr. Johnson's famous definition, "a hateful tax, levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but by wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid," well described the general feeling of the people in this country as well as in England. The Continental Congress in its address of 1774 to the people of Canada, laid special stress on the fact that in being subject to England, they were subjected "to the imposition of excises, the horror of all free states." In addition to this an excise laid on the people of the states by the general government seemed like a tax imposed by a foreign government. The Congress of the Confederation, as we know, had no power to lay taxes on |