SS2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



however, remain long in their possession. On the night of the 3d of 

 February, 1804, the ketch Intrepid, commanded by lieutenant Deca- 

 tur, entered the harbour, retook the Philadelphia, where she lay un- 

 der the guns of the battery, set fire to her, and returned without 

 losing a man. The bashaw still manifesting no desire of accommo- 

 dation, commodore Preble resolved to storm the town. Four different 

 attacks were made on the 3d, 7th, and 23d of August, and 3d of 

 September, in which a number of the Tripolitan vessels were cap- 

 tured and destroyed, and considerable injury done to the fortifica- 

 tions. On the 9th of September, the fleet was joined by commodore 

 Barron with a reinforcement of four frigates. Barron took the com- 

 mand of the whole. 



These successive attacks not having had the effect of humbling 

 the Tripolitans, it was necessary to resort to still more efficient mea- 

 sures. The reigning bashaw had an elder brother who had formerly 

 possessed the government. A successful rebellion had driven him 

 from his seat, and he was now an exile at Alexandria. To him the 

 Americans applied. He gladly embraced their offered assistance, 

 and placed all the troops he could muster under the command 

 of the American general Eaton. This army immediately com- 

 menced its march towards Tripoli. They arrived before Derne on 

 the 25th of April, 1805, and carried it by storm on the 27th. Here 

 they were obliged to remain some time on account of the superior 

 numbers of the Tripolitan army, which was now in the neighbour- 

 hood. On the 18th of June, the bashaw made an attack upon Derne, 

 in which he was repulsed, and his army completely overthrown. 

 The Americans were now in possession of the capital of the largest 

 province of the bashaw's dominions, and Tripoli itself would have 

 been an easy conquest. In this state of affairs a treaty was conclu- 

 ded at Tripoli, by which the United States agreed to abandon the 

 ex-bashaw, to restore the conquered province, and to pay the reign- 

 ing bashaw the sum of 60,000 dollars. As an equivalent to all these 

 concessions, the American prisoners at Tripoli were to be liberated, 

 an event which must necessarily have taken place upon the capture 

 of that city. 



In 1805, Mr. Jefferson was re-elected to the office of president by 

 an increased majority. To this station the ambition of colonel Burr 

 had aspired when the democratic party first came into power. The 

 votes of the electors were equal, but congress decided in favour of 

 Mr. Jefferson, and awarded to colonel Burr the second office in the 

 administration. The hopes of better success at a future election, in- 

 duced him to smother his disappointment, and he quietly entered 

 into the duties of his station. His chagrin and mortification at the 

 result of the election of 1805 were excessive. His talents were far 

 from despicable, and his ambition was unabated. As power was not 

 to be had under the government of the United States, he resolved to 

 form an empire to himself. His view appears to have been, to have 

 placed himself at the head of a rebellion in the western states, and 

 to have annexed to them by conquest the Spanish province of Mexico. 

 His conduct, however, excited the suspicions of the government. He 

 was apprehended and tried for treason. There was not, however, 

 proof sufficient for his conviction, and the court was obliged to ac- 

 quit him. 



The two great belligerent nations of Europe, France and England, 

 «n their protracted and sanguinary warfare, paid but little regard to 



