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The Last Oracle
A Σ Sigma Force Novel
James Rollins
 To Shay and Bryce,
because you both rock
 Contents

Map
From the Historical Record
Prologue
First
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Second
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Third
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Epilogue
Author’s Note to Readers: Truth or Fiction

Acknowledgments
About the Author
Other Books by James Rollins
Copyright
About the Publisher
Map
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FROM THE HISTORICAL RECORD

The greatest blessings granted to mankind come by way of

madness, which is a divine gift.
—SOCRATES, ON THE
ORACLE OF DELPHI

Ancient Greeks, with their pantheon of gods, held an abiding belief

in the powers of prophecy. They revered those who could read the
portents in the entrails of goats, who saw the future in the rising
smoke of a sacrificial fire, who predicted events based on the
auguries of tossed bones. But one individual was held in the highest
esteem: the mystical Oracle of Delphi.
For almost two thousand years, a succession of closely guarded
women resided within the temple to Apollo on the slopes of Mount
Parnassus. Each generation, a single woman ascended to the seat of
prophecy and took the name Pythia. While under a vapor-induced
trance, she answered questions about the future—from the mundane
to the profound.
Her admirers included leading figures of Greek and Roman
history: Plato, Sophocles, Aristotle, Plutarch, Ovid. Even early
Christians revered her. Michelangelo painted her prominently on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, foretelling the coming of Christ.
But was she a charlatan, duping the masses with cryptic
answers? No matter the truth, one fact is beyond dispute. Revered
by kings and conquerors across the ancient world, Pythia’s
prophecies changed the course of human history.
And while much about her remains shrouded in mystery and
mythology, one truth has emerged. In 2001, archaeologists and
geologists discovered a strange alignment of tectonic plates under
Mount Parnassus that has been shown to vent hydrocarbon gases,
including ethylene, which is capable of inducing a trancelike
euphoria and hallucinations, the very vapors described in the
historical record.
So while science has discovered one of Pythia’s secrets, the
ultimate truth remains unknown:
Did the Oracle truly foresee the future? Or was it divine
madness?
Man, know thyself, and thou wilt know the universe and
the gods.
—INSCRIPTION AT THE TEMPLE OF DELPHI
PROLOGUE

A.D.398
Mount Parnassus
Greece

They had come to slay her.

The woman stood at the temple’s portico. She shivered in her
thin garment, a simple shift of white linen belted at the waist, but it
was not the cold of predawn that iced her bones.
Below, a torchlight procession flowed up the slopes of Mount
Parnassus like a river of fire. It followed the stone-paved road of the
Sacred Way, climbing in switchbacks up toward the temple of
Apollo. The beat of sword on shield accompanied their progress, a
full cohort of the Roman legion, five hundred strong. The road
wound through broken monuments and long-ransacked treasuries.
Whatever could burn had been set to torch.
As the firelight danced over the ruins, the flames cast a
shimmering illusion of better times, a fiery restoration of former
glory: treasuries overflowing with gold and jewels, legions of statues
carved by the finest artisans, milling crowds gathered to hear the
prophetic words of the Oracle.
But no more.
Over the past century, Delphi had been brought low by invading
Gauls, by plundering Thracians, but most of all, by neglect. Few
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now came to seek the words of the Oracle: a goat herder questioning
a wife’s fidelity, or a sailor seeking good omens for a voyage across
the Gulf of Corinth.
It was the end of times, the end of the Oracle of Delphi. After
prophesying for thirty years, she would be the last to bear the name
Pythia.
The last Oracle of Delphi.
But with this burden came one final challenge.
Pythia turned toward the east, where the sky had begun to
lighten.
Oh, that rosy Eos, goddess of dawn, would hurry Apollo to tether his
four horses to his Sun chariot.
One of Pythia’s sisters, a young acolyte, stepped out of the
temple behind her. “Mistress, come away with us,” the younger
woman begged. “It is not too late. We can still escape with the
others to the high caves.”
Pythia placed a reassuring hand on the woman’s shoulder. Over
the past night, the other women had fled to the rugged heights
where the caves of Dionysus would keep them safe. But Pythia had a
final duty here.
“Mistress, surely there is no time to perform this last prophecy.”
“I must.”
“Then do it now. Before it is too late.”
Pythia turned away. “We must wait for dawn of the seventh day.
That is our way.”
As the sun had set last night, Pythia had begun her preparations.
She had bathed in Castilia’s silver spring, drank from the Kassotis
spring, and burned bay leaves on an altar of black marble outside
the temple. She had followed the ritual precisely, the same as the
first Pythia thousands of years ago.
Only this time, the Oracle had not been alone in her
purifications.
At her side had been a girl, barely past her twelfth summer.
Such a small creature and of such strange manner.
The child had simply stood naked in the spring waters while the
older woman had washed and anointed her. She’d said not a word,
merely stood with an arm out, opening and closing her fingers, as if
grasping for something only she could see. What god so suffered the
child, yet blessed her just the same? Surely not even Apollo. Yet the
child’s words thirty days ago could come only from the gods. Words
that had plainly spread and stoked the fires that now climbed
toward Delphi.
Oh, that the child had never been brought here.
Pythia had been content to allow Delphi to fade into obscurity.
She remembered the words spoken by one of her predecessors, long
dead for centuries, an ominous portent.
Emperor Augustus had asked of her dead sister, “Why has the
Oracle grown so silent?”
Her sister had responded, “A Hebrew boy, a god who rules
among the blessed, bids me leave this house…”
Those words proved to be a true prophecy. The cult of Christ
rose to consume the empire and destroyed any hope for a return to
the old ways.
Then a moon ago, the strange girl had been brought to her steps.
Pythia glanced away from the flames and toward the adytum,
the inner sanctum of Apollo’s temple. The girl waited inside.
She was an orphan from the distant township of Chios. Over the
ages, many had hauled such children here, seeking to abandon such
burdens upon the sisterhood. Most were turned away. Only the most
ideal girls were allowed to stay: straight of limb, clear of eye, and
unspoiled. Apollo would never accept a vessel of lesser quality for
his prophetic spirit.
So when this willow branch of a girl had been presented naked
to the steps of Apollo’s temple, Pythia had given her hardly a
glance. The child was unkempt, her dark hair knotted and tangled,
her skin marked with pox scars. But deeper, Pythia had sensed
something wrong with the child. The way she rocked back and forth.
Even her eyes stared without truly seeing.
Her patrons had claimed the child was touched by the gods. That
she could tell the number of olives in a tree with merely a glance,
that she could declare when a sheep would lamb with but a touch of
her hand.
 Upon hearing such stories, Pythia’s interest had stirred. She
called the girl to join her at the entrance to the temple. The child
obeyed, but she moved as if disconnected, as if the winds
themselves propelled her upward. Pythia had to draw her by hand
to sit on the top step.
“Can you tell me your name?” she asked the thin child.
“Her name is Anthea,” one of her patrons declared from below.
Pythia kept her gaze focused on the child. “Anthea, do you know
why you’ve been brought here?”
“Your house is empty,” the child finally mumbled to the floor.
So at least she can speak. Pythia glanced to the temple’s interior.
The hearth fire burned in the center of the main hall. It was indeed
empty at the moment, but the child’s words seemed to whisper at
something more.
Maybe it was her manner. So strange, so distant, as if she stood
with one leg in this world and the other beyond this realm.
The child glanced up with those clear blue eyes, so full of
innocence, so in contrast with what spilled next from her lips.
“You are old. You will die soon.”
From below, her patron attempted to scold her, but Pythia kept
her words soft. “We all die eventually, Anthea. It is the order of the
world.”
She shook her head. “Not the Hebrew boy.”
Those strange eyes bored into her. The hairs along Pythia’s arms
shivered. Plainly the girl had been taught the catechism of the cult
of Christ and his bloody cross. But her words again. Such strange
cadence.
The Hebrew boy…
It reminded her of her ancestor’s prophecy of doom.
“But another will come,” the girl continued. “Another boy.”
“Another boy?” Pythia leaned closer. “Who? From where?”
“From my dreams.” The girl rubbed the heel of one hand at her
ear.
Sensing there were depths to the girl that remained untapped,
Pythia plumbed them. “This boy?” she asked. “Who is he?”
 What the child said next drew a gasp from the gathered crowd—
even they recognized blasphemy when they heard it.
“He is the brother of the Hebrew boy.” The child then clasped
tight to the hem of Pythia’s skirt. “He burns in my dreams…and he
will burn everything. Nothing will last. Not even Rome.”
For the past month, Pythia had attempted to learn more of this
doom, even taking the girl into the sisterhood’s fold. But the child
had seemed only to retreat into herself, going mute. Still, there was
one way to learn more.
If the girl were truly blessed, the power of Apollo’s breath—his
prophetic vapors—might burn free what was locked within the girl’s
strangeness.
But was there enough time?
A touch to her elbow interrupted her reverie and drew her back
to the present. “Mistress, the sun…,” her younger sister urged.
Pythia focused to the east. The eastern skies blazed, heralding
the coming sunrise. Below, shouts rose from the Roman legion.
Word of the girl had spread. Prophecies of doom had traveled far…
even to the ears of the emperor. An Imperial courier had demanded
the child be delivered to Rome, declaring her demon-plagued.
Pythia had refused. The gods had sent this child to her threshold,
to Apollo’s temple. Pythia would not relinquish the girl without first
testing her, putting her to the question.
To the east, the first rays of the sun etched the morning skies.
The seventh day of the seventh month dawned.
They had waited long enough.
Pythia turned her back on the fiery legion. “Come. We must
hurry.”
She swept into the temple’s interior. Flames greeted her here,
too, but they were the welcoming warmth from the temple’s sacred
hearth. Two of her elder sisters still tended the flames, too old to
make the harsh climb up to the caves.
She nodded her gratitude to each in turn, then hurried past the
hearth.
At the back of the temple, stairs led down toward the private
sanctum. Only those who served the Oracle were allowed to enter
the subterranean adytum. As she descended, marble turned to raw
limestone. The stairs emptied into a small cavern. The cave had
been discovered ages ago by a goat herder, who upon nearing the
cavern opening, fell under the sway of Apollo’s sweet-smelling
vapors and succumbed to strange visions.
Would that such gifts last one more sunrise.
Pythia found the child waiting inside the cave. The girl was
dressed in an alb too large for her and sat cross-legged beside the
bronze tripod that supported the sacred omphalos, a waist-high
domed rock that represented the navel of the world, the center of
the universe.
The only other decoration in the cave was a single raised seat,
resting on three legs. It stood over a natural crack in the floor.
Pythia, long accustomed to Apollo’s vapor, was still struck by the
scent rising from below, smelling of almond blossoms.
The god’s pneuma, his prophetic exhalation.
“It is time,” she said to the younger sister, who had followed her
down. “Bring the child to me.”
Pythia crossed to the tripod and mounted the seat. Positioned
over the crack in the floor, the rising vapors bathed her in Apollo’s
breath. “Hurry.”
The younger sister gathered up the child and placed the girl into
her lap. Pythia cradled her gently, like a mother with a babe, but
the child did not respond to such affection.
Pythia already felt the effect of the pneuma rising from the earth
below her. A familiar tingle ran along her limbs. Her throat burned
warmly as Apollo entered her. Her vision began to close.
But the child was smaller, more susceptible to the pneuma.
The girl’s head rolled back; her eyelids drooped. Surely she
would not survive Apollo’s penetration for long. Still, if there was to
be any hope, the girl had to be put to the question.
“Child,” Pythia rang out, “tell us more of this boy and the doom
he whispered to you. Where will he rise?”
The small lips moved in a whisper. “From me. From my dreams.”
Small fingers found Pythia’s hand and squeezed.
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 CHAPTER IV.
President Jefferson’s decision, in October, 1805, to retrace
his steps and reverse a policy which had been publicly and
repeatedly proclaimed, was the turning-point of his second
Administration. No one can say what might have happened if in
August, 1805, Jefferson had ordered his troops to cross the Sabine
and occupy Texas to the Rio Bravo, as Armstrong and Monroe
advised. Such an act would probably have been supported, as the
purchase of Louisiana had been approved, by the whole country,
without regard to Constitutional theories; and indeed if Jefferson
succeeded to the rights of Napoleon in Louisiana, such a step
required no defence. Spain might then have declared war; but had
Godoy taken this extreme measure, he could have had no other
motive than to embarrass Napoleon by dragging France into a war
with the United States, and had this policy succeeded, President
Jefferson’s difficulties would have vanished in an instant. He might
then have seized Florida; his controversies with England about
neutral trade, blockade, and impressment would have fallen to the
ground; and had war with France continued two years, until Spain
threw off the yoke of Napoleon and once more raised in Europe the
standard of popular liberty, Jefferson might perhaps have effected
some agreement with the Spanish patriots, and would then have
stood at the head of the coming popular movement throughout the
world,—the movement which he and his party were destined to
resist. Godoy, Napoleon, Pitt, Monroe, Armstrong, John Randolph,
and even the New England Federalists seemed combined to drag or
drive him into this path. Its advantages were so plain, even at that
early moment, as to overmaster for a whole summer his instinctive
repugnance to acts of force.
After long hesitation, Jefferson shrank from the step, and fell
back upon his old policy of conquering by peace; but such
vacillations were costly. To Gallatin the decision was easy, for he had
ever held that on the whole the nation could better afford a loss of
dignity than a war; but even he allowed that loss of dignity would
cost something, and he could not foretell what equivalent he must
pay for escape from a Franco-Spanish war. Neither Jefferson nor
Gallatin could expect to be wholly spared; but Madison’s position
was worse than theirs, for he had still to reckon with his personal
enemies,—John Randolph, Yrujo, and Merry,—and to overawe a
quasi friend more dangerous than an enemy,—the military diplomat,
Turreau.
Turreau during this summer kept his eye fixed on the Secretary of
State, and repeatedly hinted, in a manner extremely frank, that he
meant to tolerate no evasions. He wrote to Talleyrand in a tone of
cool confidence. July 9 he said that the Emperor’s measures for the
protection of Florida were sufficient:
“The intervention of France in the negotiations with Spain has
stopped everything. They have been affected by it here, but have not
shown to me any discontent at it. ‘Well,’ said Mr. Jefferson to me
lately, ‘since the Emperor wishes it, the arrangement shall be
adjourned to a more favorable time.’”
That Jefferson made this remark could be believed only by his
enemies, for it contradicted the tenor of his letters to Madison; but
although Turreau doubtless overstated the force of the words, he
certainly gave to Talleyrand the impression that the President was
reduced to obedience. The impression was enough; correct or not, it
strengthened Napoleon’s natural taste for command.
A few weeks afterward, Turreau wrote to Madison a note in
regard to General Moreau’s reception in the United States. In a tone
excessively military he said:[71]—
“General Moreau ought not (ne doit point) to be, in a foreign
country, the object of honors which the consideration of his services
would formerly have drawn upon him; and it is proper (il convient) that
his arrival and his residence in the United States should be marked by
no demonstration which passes the bounds of hospitality.”
Madison was indignant at this interference, and proposed to
resent it. The President encouraged him to do so, on the express
ground that they had not ventured to resent the conduct of France in
regard to Monroe’s negotiation:[72]—
 “The style of that government in the Spanish business was
calculated to excite indignation; but it was a case in which that might
have done injury. But the present is a case which would justify some
notice in order to let them understand we are not of those Powers who
will receive and execute mandates.”
Meanwhile General Smith, who had not resented the repudiation
of his niece by the Emperor, and to whom Madison showed the
offensive letter, undertook to soothe the irritation. “He says,” wrote
Madison in his next letter to the President,[73] “that Turreau speaks
with the greatest respect, and even affection, toward the
Administration; and such are the dispositions which it is certain he
has uniformly manifested to me.” Upon these assurances Madison
toned down the severity he had intended.
Turreau had resided hardly six months in the United States
before he announced to Talleyrand the conviction of all American
politicians that any war would end in driving from office the party
which made it:[74]—
“To such an extent is the actual Administration convinced of this
fact, that it allows itself to be outraged every day by the English, and
accepts all the humiliations they care to impose; and notwithstanding
the contempt generally felt here for Spain, against whom a war was
last year quite openly provoked, the members of the United States
government have not dared to undertake it, although sure of
beginning it with public opinion in their favor. And no one need think
that this indisposition to war depends only on the personal character
and the philanthropic principles of Mr. Jefferson, for it is shared by all
the party leaders, even by those who have most pretensions and well-
founded hopes to succeed the actual President,—such as Mr.
Madison.”
Turreau’s sketch of American character and ambition was long
and interesting, and suggested the vulnerable point where France
should throw her strength against this new people. Neither as a
military nor as a naval power did he think the United States
formidable. Their government made no concealment of its
weakness:—
“They especially lack trained officers. The Americans are to-day
the boldest and the most ignorant navigators in the universe. In brief,
 it seems to me that, considering the weakness of the military
constitution, the Federal government, which makes no concealment of
this weakness, will avoid every serious difference which might lead to
aggression, and will constantly show itself an enemy to war. But does
the system of encroachment which prevails here agree with a temper
so pacific? Certainly not, at first sight; and yet unless circumstances
change, the United States will succeed in reconciling the
contradiction. To conquer without war is the first fact in their politics
(Conquérir sans guerre, voilà les premiers faits politiques.)”
These reflections were written early in July, 1805, before the
President and his Cabinet had begun to discuss Monroe’s failure and
the policy of a Spanish war, and more than three months before the
President wholly abandoned the thought of warlike measures.
Turreau’s vision was keen, but he had no excuse for short-
sightedness. Madison made little effort to disguise his objects or
methods.
“I took occasion to express to Mr. Madison,” wrote Turreau in the
same despatch, “my astonishment that the schemes of
aggrandizement which the United States government appeared to
have, should be always directed toward the south, while there were
still in the north important and convenient territories, such as Canada,
Nova Scotia, etc. ‘Doubtless!’ replied the secretary, ‘but the moment
has not yet come! When the pear is ripe it will fall of itself.’”
Had Turreau asked why, then, Madison gave so violent a shaking
to the Florida pear-tree, Madison must have answered, with the
same candor, that he did so because he supposed the Florida pear
to be ripe. The phrase was an admission and an invitation,—an
admission that Florida would have been left alone if Spain had been
as strong as England; and an invitation to Turreau to interpose with
safety the sword of France. Turreau could not doubt the effect of his
own blunt interference. So confident had the new French minister
already become, in July, 1805, that he not only told Madison to stop
these petty larcenies of Spanish property, but also urged Napoleon
to take the Floridas and Cuba into his own hand solely to check
American aggression. “I believe that France alone can arrest these
American enterprises and baffle (déjouer) their plan.”
 Had Turreau’s discipline stopped there, much might have been
said in his favor; but in regard to still another matter he used
expressions and made demands such as Madison never yet had
heard from a diplomatic agent, although the secretary’s experience
was already considerable. Neither Yrujo nor Merry had succeeded in
giving to their remonstrances or requests the abruptness of
Napoleon’s style.
The Federalist newspapers during Jefferson’s first term had
found so little reason for charging him with subservience to France,
that this old and stale reproach had nearly lost its weight. Neither the
New England merchants whom France had plundered, and whose
claims Jefferson consented to withdraw, nor the British government
or British newspapers had thought it worth their while to press the
charge that Jefferson was led astray by love or fear of Napoleon or
the Empire. Not until the winter of 1805–1806 did the doctrine of
French influence recover a certain share of strength; but as John
Randolph and his friends, who detested Madison, were outraged by
the conduct of France in Spanish affairs, so Timothy Pickering and
the whole body of Federalists, who hated the South and the power
which rested on the dumb vote of slaves, were exasperated by the
conduct of France in regard to their trade with St. Domingo. In both
cases Madison was the victim.
St. Domingo was still in name and in international law a colony of
France. Although Rochambeau surrendered himself and his few
remaining troops as prisoners of war to the English in November,
1803; although the negroes in January, 1804, proclaimed their
independence, and held undisputed control of the whole French
colony, while their ports were open, and not an armed vessel bearing
the flag of France pretended to maintain a blockade,—yet Napoleon
claimed that the island belonged to him. General Ferrand still held
points in the Spanish colony for France, and defeated an invasion
attempted by Dessalines; nor did any government betray a
disposition to recognize the black empire, or to establish relations
with Dessalines or Christophe, or with a negro republic. On the other
hand, the trade of Hayti, being profitable, was encouraged by every
government in turn; but because it was, even more than other West
Indian trade, unprotected by law, the vessels which carried it were
usually armed, and sailed in company. In the winter of 1804–1805,
soon after General Turreau’s arrival at Washington, a flotilla armed
with eighty cannon and carrying crews to the number of seven
hundred men, set sail from New York with cargoes which included
contraband of war of all kinds. Turreau remonstrated with Madison,
who assured him that a law would soon be reported for correcting
this abuse.
A Bill was accordingly reported; but it prohibited only the armed
commerce and put the trade under heavy bonds for good behavior.
To answer Turreau’s object the trade must be prohibited altogether.
Dr. Logan, one of the senators from Pennsylvania, who led the
Northern democrats, with the “Aurora’s” support, in hostility to the
Haytian negroes, moved an amendment to the Bill when it came
before the Senate. He proposed to prohibit every kind of commerce
with St. Domingo; and the Senate was so closely divided as to
require the casting vote of the Vice-President. Burr gave his voice
against Dr. Logan’s amendment, and the Bill accordingly passed,
March 3, 1805, leaving the unarmed trade still open.
Turreau duly reported these matters to his Government.[75] The
facts were public, and were given needless notoriety by the
merchants themselves. On the return of the Haytian flotilla to New
York, they celebrated the event in a public dinner, and the company
drank a health to the government of Hayti. Another expedition was
reported to be preparing. General Ferrand issued severe
proclamations against the trade,[76] and Madison remonstrated
strongly against Ferrand. One armed American vessel, which had
carried three cargoes of powder to the Haytians, was taken by a
British cruiser, sent into Halifax, and there condemned by the British
court as good prize for carrying on an unlawful trade.
Early in August, 1805, after Monroe’s return to London, and while
Jefferson and Madison were discussing the problem of protecting
themselves from French designs, the Emperor Napoleon, who had
returned from Italy and gone to the camp at Boulogne, received
Turreau’s despatch, and immediately wrote in his own emphatic style
to Talleyrand:[77]—
“The despatch from Washington has fixed my attention. I request
you to send a note to the American minister accredited to me. You will
join to it a copy of the judgment [at Halifax]; and you will declare to
him that it is time for this thing to stop (que cela finisse); that it is
shameful (indigne) in the Americans to provide supplies for brigands
and to take part in a commerce so scandalous; that I will declare good
prize everything which shall enter or leave the ports of St. Domingo;
and that I can no longer see with indifference the armaments evidently
directed against France which the American government allows to be
made in its ports.”
In this outburst of temper Napoleon’s ideas of law became
confused. The American government did not dispute his right to
seize American vessels trading with Hayti: the difficulty was that he
did not or could not do so, and for this reason he made the demand
that the American government should help him in doing what he was
powerless to effect without its aid. Talleyrand immediately wrote to
Armstrong a letter in which he tried to put the Emperor’s commands
into a shape more diplomatic, by treating the Haytians as enemies of
the human race, against whom it was right that the United States
should interpose with measures of hostility:[78]—
“As the seriousness of the facts which occasion this complaint
obliges his Majesty to consider as good prize everything which shall
enter into the part of St. Domingo occupied by the rebels, and
everything coming out, he persuades himself that the government of
the United States will take on its part, against this commerce at once
illicit and contrary to all the principles of the law of nations, all the
repressive and authoritative measures proper to put an end to it. This
system of impunity and tolerance must last no longer (ne pourrait
durer davantage).”
For the third time within six months Talleyrand used the word
“must” to the President of the United States. Once the President had
been told that he must abandon his Spanish claims; then that he
must show no public respect for Moreau; finally he was told still more
authoritatively that he must stop a trade which France was unable to
stop, and which would continue in British hands if Congress should
obey Napoleon’s order. Talleyrand directed Turreau to repeat at
Washington the Emperor’s remonstrance, and Turreau accordingly
echoed in Madison’s ear the identical words, “must last no
longer.”[79] His letter, to his indignation, received no answer or
notice.
Thus at the moment when Congress was to meet, Dec. 2, 1805,
serious problems awaited it. The conduct of Spain was hostile. At
sea Spanish cruisers captured American property without regard to
treaty-rights; on land Spanish armed forces made incursions from
Florida and Texas at will.[80] The conduct of France was equally
menacing, for Napoleon not only sustained Spain, but also pressed
abrupt demands of his own such as Jefferson could not hear without
indignation. As though Congress had not enough difficulty in dealing
with these two Powers, Great Britain also took an attitude which
could be properly met by no resistance short of a declaration of war.
During the whole year the conduct of England changed steadily
for the worse. The blockade of New York by the two frigates
“Cambrian” and “Leander” became intolerable, exasperating even
the mercantile class, who were naturally friendly to England, and
who had most to dread from a quarrel. On board the “Leander” was
a young midshipman named Basil Hall, who in later years described
the mode of life he led in this service, and whose account of the
blockade, coming from a British source, was less liable than any
American authority to the charge of exaggeration.
“Every morning at daybreak,” according to his story,[81] “we set
about arresting the progress of all the vessels we saw, firing off guns
to the right and left to make every ship that was running in heave to,
or wait until we had leisure to send a boat on board ‘to see,’ in our
lingo, ‘what she was made of.’ I have frequently known a dozen, and
sometimes a couple of dozen, ships lying a league or two off the port,
losing their fair wind, their tide, and worse than all their market, for
many hours, sometimes the whole day, before our search was
completed.”
An informality in papers, a suspicion of French ownership, a
chance expression in some private letter found and opened in the
search, insured seizure, a voyage to Halifax, detention for months,
heavy costs, indefinite damage to vessel and cargo, and at best
release, with no small chance of re-seizure and condemnation under
some new rule before the ship could reach port.
Such vexations were incident to a state of war. If the merchants
of New York disliked them, the merchants might always ask
Government to resent them; but in truth commerce found its interest
in submission. These vexations secured neutral profits; and on the
whole the British frigates and admiralty courts created comparatively
little scandal by injustice, while they served as a protection from the
piratical privateers of Spain and France. Madison, Gallatin, and the
newspapers grumbled and complained; but the profits of neutrality
soothed the offended merchant, and the blockade of New York was
already a fixed practice. Had the British commanders been satisfied
with a moderate exercise of their power, the United States would
probably have allowed the habit of neutral blockade to grow into a
belligerent right by prescription. Neither the mercantile class nor the
government would have risked profit or popularity on such a stake;
but fortunately the British officers steadily became more severe, and
meanwhile in their practice of impressment roused extreme
bitterness among the seafaring classes, who had nothing to gain by
submission. In Basil Hall’s words, the British officers took out of
American vessels every seaman “whom they had reason, or
supposed or said they had reason, to consider” a British subject, “or
whose country they guessed from dialect or appearance.” By these
impressments American vessels were often left short-handed, and
were sometimes cast away or foundered. In such cases the owners
were greatly irritated; but commonly the exasperation was most
deeply felt by the laboring class and among the families of seafaring
men. The severity with which impressment was enforced in 1805
excited hatred toward England among people who had at best no
reason to love her. More than twenty years afterward, when Basil
Hall revisited New York, he was not surprised to find the name of his
old ship, the “Leander,” still held in detestation. Not only were the
duties harsh, but, as he frankly admitted, they were harshly
performed.
 After Pitt’s return to power impressments increased until they
averaged about a thousand a year. Among them were cases of
intolerable outrage; but neither President, Congress, nor people, nor
even the victims themselves, cared as a body to fight in defence of
their rights and liberties. Where an American-born citizen had been
seized who could prove his birth, Madison on receiving the
documents sent them to Monroe, who transmitted them to the British
Admiralty, which ordered an inquiry; and if the man had not been
killed in action or died of disease and hard usage, he was likely, after
a year or two of service, to obtain a release. The American-born
citizen was admitted to be no subject for impressment, and the
number of such persons actually taken was never so large as the
number of British-born sailors who were daily impressed; but both
the mercantile and the national marine of the United States were
largely manned by British seamen, and could not dispense with
them. According to Gallatin’s calculation,[82] American tonnage
increased after 1803 at the rate of about seventy thousand tons a
year; and of the four thousand two hundred men required to supply
this annual increase, about two thousand five hundred were British.
If the British marine lost two thousand five hundred men annually by
desertion or engagement in the American service, even after
recovering one thousand seamen a year by impressment, the British
navy made good only a fraction of the loss. On the other hand, if the
United States government went to war to protect British seamen,
America would lose all her mercantile marine; and these same
seamen for whom she was fighting must for the most part
necessarily return to their old flag, because they would then have no
other employer. The immediate result of war must strengthen the
British marine by sending back to it ten thousand seamen whom
America could no longer employ.
Nations rarely submit to injury without a motive. If Jefferson and
the Republican party, if Timothy Pickering and George Cabot, the
merchants of Boston and New York, and even the seamen
themselves, rejected the idea of war, it was because they found a
greater interest in maintaining peace. This interest consisted, as
regarded England, in the large profits realized in neutral freights. So
long as the British navy protected this source of American wealth,
Americans said but little about impressments; but in the summer of
1805 Pitt thought proper to obstruct this source, and suddenly the
whole American seaboard, from Machias to Norfolk, burst into
excitement, and demanded that the President should do something,
—they knew not what, but at moments they seemed to ask for war.
The news of Sir William Scott’s decision in the case of the
“Essex” reached America in the month of September, while the
President and Madison were discussing an alliance with England to
protect themselves against France and Spain. The announcement
that Great Britain had suddenly begun to seize American ships by
scores at the moment when Jefferson counted most confidently on
her willingness to oblige, was a blow to the Administration so severe
that a long time elapsed before either Jefferson or Madison realized
its violence. Their minds were intent on the Spanish problem; and
with the question of war pressing upon them from the south, they did
not at once perceive that another war was actually declared against
their commerce from the north. Jefferson disliked commercial
disputes, and gladly shut his eyes to their meaning; Madison felt
their importance, but was never quick to meet an emergency.
Merry was near Philadelphia during the autumn, when Mrs.
Madison’s illness obliged the secretary to remain in that city. Early in
September Merry wrote to his Government that the complete failure
of Monroe’s Spanish mission was no secret, and that Madison
expected some collision with Spain in West Florida, but would wait
for the meeting of Congress before taking action. “Such a
determination on the part of the President,” continued Merry,[83] “is
so consonant with his usual caution and temporizing system (to
which the opposition here give the character of timidity and
irresolution), that I cannot but be disposed to give entire credit to the
information.” Shortly after the date of this despatch, news arrived
that the British government had altered its rules in regard to the
neutral carrying-trade, and that British cruisers were everywhere
seizing American ships. Merry, who had not been forewarned by
Lord Mulgrave, and who had no wish to see his own position made
more uncomfortable than it already was, became uneasy. “The
sensation and clamor,” he wrote,[84] “excited by this news from
England (which has already caused the insurance on such cargoes
to be raised to four times the usual premium) is rendered the greater
by such events having been totally unexpected, and by the
merchants here having, on the contrary, considered themselves as
perfectly secured against them.” Merry saw that his Government had
in the midst of peace taken a measure which Madison could hardly
fail to denounce as an act of war. Dreading a violent explosion, the
British minister waited anxiously; but, to his surprise, nothing
happened. “Although I have seen Mr. Madison twice since the
attention of the public has been so much engaged with this object,
he has not thought proper to mention it to me.”[85] At first Merry
could not account for this silence; only by degrees was he taught to
connect it with the Spanish quarrel, and to understand that Madison
hoped to conciliate England in order to overawe France. In this play
of cross-purposes Merry’s account of Madison’s conversation was
not calculated to alarm the British government:[86]—
“Before I quitted the vicinity of Philadelphia to return to this place
[Washington], I had an interview with Mr. Madison, who having then
received accounts from Mr. Monroe respecting the detention by his
Majesty’s ships of several American vessels in consequence of their
being loaded with the produce of the enemy’s colonies, brought
forward that subject to me,—speaking upon it, however, with much
more moderation than from his natural irritability, and the sensation
which it had produced throughout this country, I could have expected
on his part. It is unnecessary for me to trouble your Lordship by
detailing to you the several observations which he made to me to
endeavor to prove the impropriety of the principle upon which the
detention of those vessels has taken place.... As I had the honor to
observe in the former part of this letter, the American Secretary of
State delivered his sentiments on this subject with great temper, and
concluded by expressing only a wish that Mr. Monroe’s remonstrances
upon it might prove so far efficacious as at least to procure the
liberation of the vessels and cargoes which were already detained, as
well as of those which might be stopped before the new system
adopted by his Majesty’s government in regard to the trade in
question should be generally known. Our conversation afterward
turned upon some circumstances, the accounts of which had just
been received, of the recent conduct of Spain toward this country,
 when Mr. Madison was much less reserved in expressing his
sentiments than on former occasions, and gave me the detail of the
perfidious and insolent proceedings of some of the Spanish officers
who still remain at New Orleans, and of others who command in the
disputed territory,—which, combined with information he had received
of the departure of four hundred troops with a quantity of military
stores from the Havana, supposed to be destined to reinforce the
garrisons in East and West Florida, and with a report which prevailed
at New Orleans of a considerable force advancing from Mexico toward
Louisiana, could not, he observed, fail to render the differences
subsisting between the two governments still more difficult of
accommodation.”
This conversation took place about the middle of October, before
the President had decided to acquiesce in the acts of Spain and
France. As a result of the high tone taken toward England in the
winter of 1803–1804, the secretary’s mildness might well surprise a
British minister, who was not quick of comprehension, and required
to be told in plain language the meaning of Madison’s manœuvres.
No sooner had Merry returned to Washington than “a confidential
person” was sent to him to explain the mystery:[87]—
“On this subject it has been remarked to me by a person in a
confidential situation here that the detention of the American vessels
by his Majesty’s ships has happened very unseasonably to divert the
attention of the people of the United States and of the Government
from a proper consideration of the grievances and injuries which they
have experienced from Spain, and which the Government were
disposed and had actually taken the measures to resent; and he
conceived that when the state of the relations between the United
States and other Powers should be laid by the President before
Congress at their approaching meeting, the circumstance
abovementioned, of what is considered to be so unfriendly a
proceeding on the part of Great Britain, will have the same effect upon
the resolutions of that body by blunting the feelings which would
otherwise have been excited by the conduct of Spain, supported by
France, against this country.”
The “confidential person” usually employed by Jefferson and
Madison on such errands was either Robert or Samuel Smith; partly
because both these gentlemen were a little inclined to officiousness,
partly because they were men of the world, or what Pichon called
“hommes fort polis.” In this instance the agent was probably the
Secretary of the Navy. In telling the British minister that the President
had already taken measures to resist the conduct of Spain, this
agent was unwise, not so much because the assertion was incorrect,
as because Merry knew better. In the same despatch, written Nov. 3,
1805, Merry informed his Government of the President’s hopes of an
agreement with Spain, founded on the war in Europe,—hopes which
had been entertained only ten days, since October 23. He had the
best reason to be well informed on this subject, for he drew his
information directly from Jefferson himself.
That Merry should have been exceedingly perplexed was no
wonder. Two years had elapsed since his first arrival in Washington,
when he had been harshly treated without sufficient reason, by
President, Cabinet, and Congress; and on returning to the same
place in this autumn of 1805, immediately after his Government had
made war on United States commerce, he found himself received
with surprising cordiality. Immediately on his return, about October
20, he called at the White House. Instead of finding the President in
a passion, denouncing Pitt and the British nation, as he might
reasonably have expected, Merry was delighted to find Jefferson in
his most genial humor. Not a word was said about British outrages;
his conversation assumed the existence of a close concert and
alliance between England and the United States:[88]—
“Upon my seeing the President on my return to this place a
fortnight ago, he spoke to me with great frankness respecting the
state of affairs between this country and Spain; saying that it was
possible that the accumulation of the injuries which they had
sustained might produce a resolution on the part of the Congress to
resent them. With a view to the hostile situation of affairs, he lamented
that unfortunately [notwithstanding] the superiority of his Majesty’s
naval force and the vigilance of his officers, it had not been possible to
prevent the enemy’s fleet from crossing the Atlantic. He said that this
experience would render it necessary for the United States to proceed
with great caution and to gain time, in order to put their principal
seaports in a state of defence, for which he had already given
directions. In the event of hostilities he considered that East and West
Florida, and successively the Island of Cuba, the possession of which
was necessary for the defence of Louisiana and Florida, as being the
 key to the Gulf of Mexico, would, in the manner in which that island
might and would be attacked, be an easy conquest to them. He,
however, expressed that his individual voice would constantly be for
the preservation of peace with every Power, till it could no longer be
kept without absolute dishonor.”
Such speculations were not so practical as to affect Merry’s
antipathy to the American government, but he reported them to Lord
Mulgrave without comment, as intended to express the President’s
plan in case of a Spanish war. Meanwhile the Secretary of State was
engaged in composing a pamphlet, or book, to prove that the new
rule adopted by Great Britain was an act of bad faith, in violation of
international law. The task was not difficult.
Such was the diplomatic situation at Washington, Nov. 12, 1805,
when the Cabinet adopted Jefferson’s plan of reopening negotiations
for the purchase of Florida on the line so persistently recommended
by the irresponsible creatures of Talleyrand, and so steadily rejected
to that moment by Madison and Monroe. Congress was to meet in
three weeks, and within that time the diplomatic chaos must be
reduced to order.
 CHAPTER V.
August 27, 1805, President Jefferson, writing to Madison from
Monticello, said:[89] “Considering the character of Bonaparte, I think
it material at once to let him see that we are not of the Powers who
will receive his orders.” In Europe, on the same day, the Emperor
broke up the camp at Boulogne and set his army in motion toward
Ulm and Austerlitz. September 4 he was at Paris, busy with the
thousand details of imminent war: his armies were in motion, his vast
diplomatic and military plans were taking shape.
The United States minister at Paris had little to do except to
watch the course of events, when during the Emperor’s absence at
Boulogne he received a visit from a gentleman who had no official
position, but who brought with him a memorandum, written in
Talleyrand’s hand, sketching the outlines of an arrangement between
the United States and Spain. The United States, said this paper,
should send another note to the Government at Madrid, written in a
tone and manner that would awaken Spain from her indifference. In
this note the Prince of Peace should be warned of the consequences
that would follow a persistence in his course, and should be
encouraged to join with the United States in referring to Napoleon
the matters in dispute. In case Spain would not unite in asking the
good offices of France, a copy of the note must be sent by
Armstrong to Talleyrand, with a request for the good offices of
Napoleon. “The more you refer to the decision of the Emperor, the
more sure and easy will be the settlement.” If Spain, on the
Emperor’s representations, should consent to part with the Floridas,
as she no doubt would do, France would propose the following
terms: Commercial privileges in Florida as in Louisiana; the Rio
Colorado and a line northwestwardly, including the headwaters of all
those rivers which fall into the Mississippi, as the western boundary
of Louisiana, with thirty leagues on each side to remain unoccupied
forever; the claims against Spain, excluding the French spoliations,
to be paid by bills on the Spanish colonies; and, finally, ten million
dollars to be paid by the United States to Spain.
 Armstrong rejected the conditions on the spot. They sacrificed,
he said, the whole country between the Colorado and the Rio Bravo;
abandoned the claim to West Florida, the claim to damages from the
violation of entrepôt at New Orleans, and the claim, estimated at six
millions, for French spoliations. They gave to Spain an
accommodation for her payments beyond what she herself required;
and they exacted the enormous sum of ten million dollars for a
barren and expensive province.
September 4, the day of Napoleon’s return to Paris, a long
conversation followed. On both sides vigorous argument was
pressed; but the Frenchman closed by saying: “I see where the shoe
pinches. It is ‘the enormous sum of ten million dollars;’ but say
seven! Your undisputed claims on Spain amount to two and a half or
three millions. The arrangement as thus altered would leave four for
Spain. Is not this sum within the limits of moderation?” Armstrong
replied that he had nothing to say on the money transaction, but
would immediately transmit Talleyrand’s memorandum to the
President. His despatch on the subject was accordingly sent, Sept.
10, 1805.[90]
Armstrong had little acquaintance with the person who brought
the memorandum for his sole credential, and knew him only as a
political agent of the government, who rested his claim to credit not
on any authority from the Emperor, but on an unsigned document in
Talleyrand’s handwriting. “This form of communication he said had
been preferred on account of greater security; it was a proof of the
minister’s habitual circumspection, and of nothing else.” To most
Frenchmen it might have seemed rather an example of Talleyrand’s
supposed taste for jobbery, and the United States government had
reason to know what was likely to be the outcome of such overtures;
but Armstrong was not unused to intrigue, and did not affect virtue
above the comprehension of the society in which he lived.
A fortnight afterward the Emperor left Paris for his campaign in
Germany. While Armstrong’s despatch was still on its way to
Washington, Napoleon captured Ulm, and November 13 entered
Vienna. On the same day the despatch reached the United States.
 Jefferson’s Cabinet council of November 12 had barely come to
its long-disputed conclusion, and decided to reopen the Florida
negotiation as a French bargain, when Talleyrand’s memorandum
arrived, fixing definitely his terms. Naturally, the President supposed
that Florida might thenceforward be looked upon as his own. At the
next Cabinet he laid Armstrong’s letter before the four secretaries;
and the result of their deliberation was recorded in his own hand:[91]
—
“November 19. Present the same.—Since our last meeting we
have received a letter from General Armstrong containing Talleyrand’s
propositions, which are equivalent to ours nearly, except as to the
sum, he requiring seven million dollars. He advises that we alarm the
fears of Spain by a vigorous language and conduct, in order to induce
her to join us in appealing to the interference of the Emperor. We now
agree to modify our propositions, so as to accommodate them to his
as much as possible. We agree to pay five million dollars for the
Floridas as soon as the treaty is ratified by Spain, a vote of credit
obtained from Congress, and orders delivered us for the surrender of
the country. We agree to his proposition that the Colorado shall be our
western boundary, and a belt of thirty leagues on each side of it to be
kept unsettled. We agree that joint commissioners shall settle all
spoliations, and to take payment from Spain by bills on her colonies.
We agree to say nothing about the French spoliations in Spanish ports
which broke off the former convention. We propose to pay the five
millions after a simple vote of credit, by stock redeemable in three
years, within which time we can pay it. We agree to order to the
commanding officer at Natchitoches to patrol the country on this side
the Sabine and all the Red River as being in our possession, except
the settlement of Bayou Pierre, which he is not to disturb unless they
aggress; he is to protect our citizens and repel all invasions of the
preceding country by Spanish soldiers; to take all offenders without
shedding blood, unless his orders cannot otherwise be executed.”
At last, after more than six months of hesitation, a Spanish policy
was fixed; and since it conceded every point which had been
required by France, the President might reasonably hope that his
difficulties were at an end. He did not venture to send instructions to
Armstrong at once, because the authority of Congress was needed
before pledging the government to pay so large a sum of money; but
Congress was to meet within a few weeks, and Jefferson could