d passed, the President sent to Congress a message which
asked for the passage of an act authorizing reprisals on French shipping
or other property. Such a warlike proposition, with the explanation
which accompanied it, aroused the country. In commercial centers there
was great excitement, and insurance companies changed their contracts
in expectation of war.

Once more the President was opposed and denounced in the Senate as a
reckless Executive who would rush headlong into war. But the treaty with
France authorized just such procedure as had been suggested, and only
recently France had taken the same course with other countries. It soon
became so clear that Jackson was within his rights and that the country
was behind him, that resolutions were suffered to pass the Senate
virtually approving this part of the message. In the House the vote
indorsing the Executive was unanimous, though it was not thought
advisable to do more than this until there had been ample time for
reconsideration of the subject in France.

The strong language of the President aroused a storm of criticism in
France, and for a time war was threatened. The French Minister in
Washington was recalled, and of course the diplomatic representative of
the United States in Paris was withdrawn. The conservative press of
Europe made this another occasion for ridiculing the Yankee Republic,
whose money-making propensities should be curtailed and whose gaudy
wares and vulgar rocking-chairs should be tabooed everywhere. "Let the
French navy sweep the Atlantic Ocean of their ships and again take
possession of Louisiana" was the unfriendly advice of certain English
journals. Before the summer of 1835 closed, all relations between France
and the United States had ceased, though actual war was not expected.
When Congress met, Jackson reviewed the situation in a calm manner and
gave every opportunity for the reopening of negotiations, though warlike
preparations were recommended to meet those of France. But England
tendered her friendly offices, and the difficulty was promptly brought
to a satisfactory conclusion by the payment of the indemnity so long
due.

More interesting and more important to the West and South was the stern
and persistent policy of Jackson in removing the Indians from their
fertile lands. From Michigan the natives were pushed into Wisconsin and
Illinois, where they rested a few short years, only to be driven in 1833
beyond the Mississippi to