%230.  Our Sailors impressed.%—­All this was bad enough and excited the people against our old enemy, who made matters a thousand times worse by a course of action to which we could not possibly submit.  She claimed the right to stop any of our ships on the sea, send an officer on board, force the captain to muster the crew on the deck, and then search for British subjects.  If one was found, he was seized and carried away.  If none were found, and the British ships wanted men, native-born Americans were taken off under the pretext that one could not tell an American from an English sailor.  Our fathers could stand a great deal, but this was too much, and a cry for war went up from all parts of the country.

But Washington did not want war, and took two measures to prevent it.  He persuaded Congress to lay an embargo for thirty days, that is, forbid all ships to leave our ports, and induced the Senate to let him send John Jay, the Chief Justice, to London to make a treaty of amity and commerce with Great Britain.

%231.  Jay’s Treaty, 1794.%—­In this mission Jay succeeded; and though the treaty was far from what Washington wanted, it was the best that could be had, and he approved it.[1] At this the Republicans grew furious.  They burned copies of the treaty at mass meetings and hung Jay in effigy.  Yet the treaty had some good features.  By it the King agreed to withdraw his troops from Oswego and Detroit and Mackinaw, which really belonged to us but were still occupied by the English.  By it our merchants were allowed for the first time to trade with the British West Indies, and some compensation was made for the damage done by the capture of ships in the West Indies.

[Footnote 1:  The Senate ratified this treaty in the summer of 1795.]

%232.  Treaty with Spain.%—­About the same time (October, 1795) we made our first treaty with Spain, and induced her to accept the thirty-first degree of latitude as the south boundary of our country, and to consent to open the Mississippi to trade.  As Spain owned both banks at the mouth of the river, she claimed that American ships had no right to go in or out without her consent, and so prevented the people of Kentucky and Tennessee from trading in foreign markets.  She now agreed that they might float their produce to New Orleans and pay a small duty, and then ship it wherever they pleased.

%233.  The Election of Adams and Jefferson, 1796%.—­Washington had been reelected President in 1792, but he was now tired of office, and in September, 1796, issued his “Farewell Address,” in which he declined to be the candidate for a third presidential term.  In those days there were no national conventions to nominate candidates, yet it was well understood that John Adams, the Vice President, was the candidate of the Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson, of the Republicans.  When the votes were counted in Congress, it was found that Adams had 71 electoral votes, and Jefferson 68; so they became President and Vice President.