European powers appropriated this vast continent to their exclusive use, and sought to extend their monopoly through a long series of ages. The continent, and the aboriginal inhabitants belonged to them, in virtue of the spiritual excellence of the monarchs of Europe, and of their duty to bestow the blessings of christianity upon these benighted regions; and the European colonists, and their descendants, were subject to their authority, because their allegiance to the crown could not be shaken off. "Not all the water in the wide rough sea, "Can wash the balm from an anointed king." The supremacy which was thus established, was not an empty claim of authority. It drew after it a right to regulate the trade of the colonists, and generally a paramount legislation over them, which was exercised with a single eye to the interests of the mother country. To enumerate all the various provisions, by which the interests of America were sacrificed, to benefit the maritime powers of Europe, under this system, would exceed the limits of this chapter. Its general maxims consisted in each power's prohibiting all foreign trade with the colonies, and all intercourse between the colonial possessions of different nations. Their supplies were to be drawn from the mother country, and in order to protect home industry, colonial manufactures were forbidden, and the raw material produced in the colony, was to be sent to her European ports, to be thence distributed to other nations, or to be wrought into fabrics, and often for the use of the colonists themselves. In this manner, the whole continent was rendered a mere dependency of Europe. Those communities which were established here, were not only deprived of all trade with the trans-atlantic states, but of all intercourse with those contiguous countries, so much more necessary to their comfort and prosperity. They were not only prevented from directing their industry to those employments, which would best repay their labor, and from trading with those countries, which furnished the cheapest supplies and afforded the best markets; but by a simultaneous application of the system to the whole continent, they were shut out of the pale of improvement, and doomed to labor in an insulated colony, for the prosperity of a thankless mother, who rewarded their industry by monopolizing its profits, and repaid their unbought allegiance, by retarding their progress to civilization and wealth. Each colonial community was thus kept distinct and dependent. Deprived of the stimulous, which a rival spirit among contiguous com munities imparts in the pursuit of wealth and knowledge, they languished for nearly two centuries, ignorant alike of their rights, their resources, and their own strength. The dissolution of the colonial connection between the United States and Great Britain, gave the first blow to this system. A power independent of Europe, and at liberty to adopt such measures as might advance its interests and enforce its rights, arose on this side of the Atlantic. It had succeeded, after an obstinate struggle, in extorting from England a relinquishment of its claims to sovereignty over its territory; and after a long negotiation, in the course of which, its rights were betrayed by its ally, France, and resisted by Great Britain, had prevailed in maintaining its right to fish on the banks of Newfoundland, beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any power, and to dry their fish, as its seamen had been accustomed to do, on the unoccupied adjacent shores: a right which would have scarcely been questioned in any European power, similarly circumstanced with regard to these fisheries; but which was opposed, as an unwarrantable pretension, in one just emerged from a state of colonial toleration. The statesmen of Europe could not at once bring themselves to regard an American state as entirely independent, and of equal rank with their own kingdoms. Their pretensions and principles with regard to the dependency of the western world, had become a part of their law of nations. The exclusive enjoyment of the Newfoundland fisheries, was the right of Europeans. The unoccupied shores of the American continent were subject to European colonization, and the inhabitants of the neighboring countries might, at any moment, be shut out from all intercourse with them, by the will of a trans-atlantic power. The vast wilderness, which extended from the back settlements on the Atlantic shores to the Pacific ocean, belonging to Europe, by virtue of that right, which was sometimes derived from the spiritual authority of its monarchs, and sometimes from the inestimable privilege of some wandering adventurers having first sailed by a jutting promontory, or entered the mouth of a navigable river. The United States, even after the acknowledgment of their independence by Great Britain, found themselves surrounded by the restrictions of the colonial system. Their North Western posts were still held by England, and the St. Lawrence, the great outlet for the commerce of the inland lakes, was shut by the jealousy of that power. On the other hand, the Mississippi, the great channel of the trade of the west, was closed by Spain, and an indefinite claim was advanced by her to the fertile valley watered by that stream. monious and well balanced government, adopted a system of policy, well designed to complete the emancipation of their country from All commerce with the neigh- all its colonial burdens. boring countries, a commerce which is the natural right of mankind in all regions, subject only to such modifications as the inhabitants of the respective countries may impose, was prohibited by the European powers, and the trade of the United States was coerced into the ports of Europe, as it had been before the revolution confined to the ports of England. The colonial system excluded us from all trade with America, and rendered our commerce the monopoly of Europe, instead of the monopoly of Great Britain. Even when in war, the colonial ports of any power were opened to our vessels, the other belligerent claimed the right to prohibit that trade, on account of its being a departure from the colonial system, and the rule of 1756, was invented and applied with increased rigor to the commerce of the United States, to retard the progress of America in the career of prosperity and independence. To meet this state of things, the sagacious men, who established the American confederacy, and reconciled the discordant interests of its different members under one har They felt that its independence was but partially achieved, until this object was accomplished. They had, indeed, gained political freedom, but their commercial dependence still existed, and their intercourse with the world was hampered by the arbitrary and oppressive rules which had been applied to American commerce. The fundamental principle of this system was reciprocity-Free trade with those powers which would agree to abolish all restrictions and countervailing restrictions, to meet those imposed by 'other nations. The adoption of this maxim, at once enlisted the inhabitants of the American colonies in their cause, and they became interested in the triumph of the policy of the United States. So long as American vessels were excluded from their ports, and their own vessels from the colonies were excluded from the United States, they were prevented from supplying themselves with those staple productions, which are so necessary to their prosperity. The prohibition of this intercourse bore severely upon the West India colonists in particular, and they warmly advocated, and partially effected a relaxation of the ancient colonial restrictions, in behalf of the United States. The North Western posts, upon the possession of which, in a great measure, depended the fur and peltry trade, were yielded to the energetic remonstrances of Washington, who also obtained from Spain an admission of our right to descend to the ocean by the Mississippi. This right was afterwards placed beyond all question, by the acquisition of Louisiana, under the administration of Jefferson. The right to the Newfoundland fisheries, was secured by the energy and skill of the American negociators, who concluded the treaty of '83, and was afterwards successfully maintained at Ghent, and may be justly considered as one of those privileges, which being founded in the nature of things, will, in no event, be yielded by the people of the United States. The guaranty which had been given by this republic, during the revolutionary war, to France, for the protection of her colonies, was invalidated by the breaking out of hostilities between the two countries, and was formally relinquished for an equivalent by the convention of 1800. The principles which had been adopted by the colonial powers of Europe, with the view of perpetuating their monopoly of American commerce, and circumscribing our trade, were resisted by the government of the United States, and the enforcing of these principles, connected with some other causes of irritation, led to hostilities at different periods with France and Great Britain. An unexampled revolution in the affairs of Europe, by removing the causes of the war, brought that, with the latter power, to a conclusion, without any formal adjustment of those principles, and they still remain subjects of future controversy. The discussion of all these questions was forced upon the American goverment by the peculiar position of the country, and could not have been avoided, without virtually surrendering its claims to national independence. There were, however, other questions that grew out of the changes which the states of this continent underwent, as they gradually assumed the rank of independent powers. The great alteration in the condition of America, occasioned by the erection of the Portuguese and Spanish colonies, into eight separate free communities, presented several questions between the conflicting interests of the new and the old world.. On all these occasions, the United States, as the oldest of the western nations, have been the first to assert the rights of the powers of this continent, and to enforce them whenever their own interests required it. In 1823, the threatening aspect of the Holy Alliance,presented a proper motive and justification for the people of the United States to express their sentiments in respect to the contest then existing between Spain and her former colonies. Through their executive, they accordingly declared their determination not to interfere in that dispute themselves, and not to permit the interference of any other power on the part of Spain. This declaration was based upon two grounds-our interests prescribed, that we should not permit any extraneous aid to Spain, in her efforts to re-establish her colonial dominion, and our security required, that the principles of the Holy Alliance should not be introduced into this hemisphere. It was only under one of these pretences, that any interference could be attempted, and our true policy was consulted in proclaiming the determination of the country not to submit to it, either under the pretence of the permanent obligation of colonial allegiance, or the divine right of legitimacy. At the same time, a declaration was made in behalf of the United States, that this continent was no longer to be considered subject to future colonization. This declaration was founded upon the right which its inhabitants have to a free intercourse with the different portions of it. It did not interfere with colonies already established, but merely entered a protest against the establishment of new ones. Independent, therefore, of the superior validity of the American claim to free intercourse over the European claim to monopoly, this declaration merely regarded in the light of a claim to unoccupied territories, would be equal in degree, and prior in time, to any step on the part of the European powers to appropriate them as colonies. Being, then, in common with the rest of the world, possessed of the right to visit these regions, and to bring away their productions, we then declared our determination not to submit to any diminution of that right, by the imposition of new disabilities and burdens upon this continent. The emancipation of so great a part of America as the success of the Spanish colonies had then effected, made that the proper moment to issue that declaration. By it a limit was put to the pretensions of the colonial powers, and the continent, with the exception of the Guyana's, from the northern boundary of the United States to its southern extremity, was declared free as the bounty of Providence had created it, to the commerce and enterprise of the human race. |