RESIDENT MADISON had long supported the measures of the party of which Mr. Jefferson was the acknowledged head. He was known to possess extraordinary abilities, and great legal and political information. As a diplomatist and a legislator, and as secretary of state, he had been distinguished beyond the majority of his contemporaries, and his integrity of purpose was undoubted.

On the 1st of March, the embargo, which had called forth so much complaint and opposition, was repealed; but Congress passed an act, interdicting all trade with France and England. On the 23d of April, Mr. Erskine, minister plenipotentiary from England, pledged his court to repeal the anti-neutral decrees by the 10th of June, and, in consequence of an arrangement now made with the British. minister, the president proclaimed that commercial intercourse would be renewed on that day. But this arrangement was disavowed by the British government. Mr. Erskine was recalled in October, and was succeeded by Mr. Jackson, who soon giving offence to the American government, all farther intercourse with him was refused, and he was recalled.

On the 23d of March, 1810, the Rambouillet decree, alleged to be designed to retaliate the act of Congress which forbade French vessels to enter the ports of the United States, was issued by Napoleon. By this decree, all American vessels and cargoes arriving in any of the ports of France, or of countries occupied by French troops, were ordered to be seized and condemned.

The non-intercourse act expiring in this year, Madison again summoned the two European powers to remove their restrictions. To this Napoleon replied by an amicable advance, intimating, through his minister, that his decrees should be suspended. An appeal was now made to the English ministry, to follow the example of France. They hesitated, and feeling that the demand was accompanied with menace, refused to accede, more from pride than policy. In vain did the American envoy offer proof that Napoleon was sincere in his declaration to consider his decrees no longer in force. Reply was evaded, and, at length, Mr. Pinckney demanded his audience of leave, determined to put an end to a mission that was hopeless.

In this doubtful connexion between the United States and England, an event occurred tending to inflame and widen the existing differences. An English sloop-of-war, the Little Belt, commanded by Captain Bingham, fell in with the American frigate President, under Captain Rogers. The President bore down upon the sloop-of-war, and both commanders hailed about the same time. Without waiting for a reply, a gun was fired from the Little Belt, and broadsides were then given and returned. The Little Belt had 11 killed and 21 wounded. The President had only one man wounded.

In the spring of 1811, Mr. A. J. Foster, the British envoy, arrived in

the United States, and made another attempt to negotiate. Reparation was made for the attack on the Chesapeake, and the men who had been taken from that vessel as deserters were restored to the American service. Mr. Foster had no power for stipulating the repeal of the orders in council, and his mission was not, therefore, productive of much good.

The message of the President to Congress indicating an apprehension of hostilities with Great Britain, the committee of foreign relations in the House reported resolutions, for filling up the ranks of the army; for raising an additional force of 10,000 men; for authorizing the President to accept the services of 50,000 volunteers, and for ordering out the militia when he should judge it necessary; for repairing the navy; and for authorizing the arming of merchantmen in self-defence. These resolutions, were, in the main, sanctioned. A bill from the Senate for raising 25,000 men, after much discussion, was agreed to by the House.

A new spirit of hostility had begun to display itself among the northwestern tribes of Indians. The leaders of many powerful tribes had banded together, and, it is asserted, were stimulated to commence hostilities by British agents. The celebrated Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, made use of every means of persuasion to induce the Indians to unite, and wage war against the invaders of their lands. They turned the superstition of the red men to account, and induced them to believe that the Prophet had been specially commissioned by the Great Spirit to restore the dominion of the Indian, and exterminate the white race.

By various acts, the designs of Tecumseh became more and more evident; but in August, he having visited Vincennes, to see Governor Harrison, a council was held at which the real state of affairs was clearly ascertained. Tecumseh furiously denounced the whites of the "Seventeen Fires" for cheating the red men, and but for a display of firmness and decision by Harrison the council might have had a bloody termination.

Governor Harrison had made arrangements for holding the council on the portico of his own house, which had been fitted up with seats for the occasion. Here, on the morning of the fifteenth, he awaited the arrival of the chief, being attended by the judges of the Supreme Court, some officers of the army, a sergeant and twelve men, from Fort Knox, and a large number of citizens. At the appointed hour, Tecumseh, supported by forty of his principal warriors, made his appearance, the remainder