employed in the Mediterranean for a while and was finally disposed of in 1803.1

A squadron consisting of the President, Philadelphia, Essex, and Enterprise was soon sent to the Mediterranean, under the command of Commodore Dale. Tripoli had just declared war against the United States, and in chastising this piratical state there were employed within the next five years all the vessels retained in the service except the United States and the General Greene.

Meanwhile the vessels not needed for service in the spring of 1801 were laid up in different ports. The United States, Congress, and New York were ordered to Washington. The Congress sailed from Boston and "was delayed by head winds, so that we did not reach Washington till late in May. We passed the frigate United States in the lower part of the Potomac. About 10 o'clock in the morning of a beautifully serene day we passed Mount Vernon. Every one was on deck to look upon the dwelling where Washington had made his home. Mrs. Washington and others of the family could be distinguished in the portico which fronts the river. When opposite to the house, by order of Captain Sever, the sails were lowered, the colors displayed half-masted, and a mourning salute of thirteen guns was fired as a mark of respect to the memory of Washington, whose life had so recently been closed and whose tomb was in our view. The

1 Emmons, pp. 6-8.

general silence on board the ship and around us, except when broken by the cannon's sound, the echo and reëcho of that sound from the near and distant hills, as it died away in the distance, the whole ship's company uncovered and motionless, and the associations connected with the ceremony, seemed to make a deep impression upon all, as they certainly did upon me. When the salute was finished, the sails were again set, the colors hoisted, and we proceeded up the river." 1

1 Morris, pp. 15, 16.

CHAPTER XI

SPOLIATIONS AFTER 1801

AFTER the short respite afforded by the peace of Amiens in 1802, the European war again broke out with a fury which increased in proportion to the growing power of Napoleon; and in spite of treaties the belligerents renewed their aggressive measures towards neutrals. Through a series of English orders in council and French decrees, American commerce again suffered spoliation.

In 1802 Toussaint L'Ouverture was overthrown by an expedition sent out to Haiti by Napoleon, and was taken a prisoner to France; but the blacks again revolted under Dessalines. The following year the French were driven out and withdrew to the eastern part of the island, where they occupied the city of San Domingo and one or two other ports. The supremacy of the blacks was complete and permanent.1 The island soon attracted neutral trade, which was resented by the French, who did not acknowledge the independence of the Haitians. American armed merchantmen were employed in this traffic, whereupon President Jefferson declared that their action in forcing commerce into ports where it was forbidden "cannot be permitted in

1 Narr. and Crit. Hist. vol. viii, pp. 285-287.

a well-ordered society." Several of them were captured by French cruisers, and in 1805 General Ferrand, the French commander at San Domingo, issued decrees declaring the Haitians to be pirates, and that all persons taken on board any vessel whatever trading with them should suffer death.1

Besides the difficulties and dangers of traffic with the Haitian insurgents, American commerce in the West Indies suffered severely at the hands of privateers during the early years of the nineteenth century. At this time the Spanish islands were available to French vessels as bases of operations, the two nations being allies. The privateers of both France and Spain, cruising so far from their home governments, were under very little restraint, and there was a tendency to excesses not authorized by their commissions. They extended their ravages as far as the southern Atlantic coast of the United States, which led the President, in 1805, to fit out a naval force for protection. The numberless secluded harbors in the West Indies encouraged this sort of warfare, and in many cases privateering degenerated into piracy. The West India pirates whose exploits became famous and whose nests were finally broken up some years later, chiefly by the American navy, doubtless counted among their number some of these old French and Spanish privateers.2

1 St. Pap. vol. v, pp. 26, 34–42, 153–159, 321–330, vol. vii, p. 168. For the case of a suspected filibuster, see Claims, pp. 450, 475, 601.

2 St. Pap. vol. v, pp. 56, 71-94, 203-210, 243-250, 282-286,

Privateers and freebooters, sailing under the flags of France, Spain, and England, infested the mouth of the Mississippi and the neighboring waters. The difficulties connected with establishing a government and maintaining order in the recently acquired Louisiana territory were complicated by the lawlessness and excesses of these buccaneers when on shore and their depredations on commerce and general piratical behavior when afloat. They seized and plundered not only their enemies' vessels, but American shipping as well. A naval station with a force of about twenty gunboats and four hundred men was established at New Orleans, and in 1808 Master-commandant David Porter was put in command. Porter soon undertook the suppression of the system of virtual piracy which he found on his arrival. Descending the river with a force of gunboats, he captured three of the most troublesome French privateers. His proceedings were legal under acts of Congress which authorized the employment of national forces in such cases and the confiscation of foreign vessels interfering with commerce within the waters of the United States. Under great difficulties Porter succeeded in procuring the condemnation of his prizes. These firm measures brought about a cessation of the obnoxious conditions which had prevailed in Louisiana waters.1

293-296; For. Rel. vol. ii, pp. 670, 770-772; Jefferson, vol. i, p. 307; Mahan, vol. ii, pp. 211-214.

1 Porter, pp. 74-81; Nav. Chron. p. 335.