ned "Essay on the Rights of Neutral Nations," in
which he took a position at variance on a single point with that which
he held when vindicating Jay's Treaty a few years before. In that treaty
Great Britain had stipulated that naval stores should be prohibited as
contraband of war, and Webster, in common with others, assumed with
reluctance that such prohibition was in accordance with the general law
of nations, although admitting that this was the most vulnerable article
of the treaty. Further investigation satisfied him of his error, and he
frankly avowed it in the later essay, where he says: "For the honor of
my country, and the essential interests of her commerce, I regret that
the administration, in the very commencement of the national government,
has consented to abandon ground which the nations of Europe had, for
more than a century, been struggling to obtain and to fortify. I have no
hesitation in declaring that no considerations of public danger can
justify a commercial nation in consenting to enlarge the field of
contraband; nor can there be an apology for the renewal of the clause in
the compact, by which our true interests and essential rights have been
surrendered." Following the maxim that "Free ships make free goods," he
establishes himself on the proposition that "neutrals have a better
right to trade than nations have to fight and plunder." Webster argued
strenuously in maintenance of rights which were in jeopardy, and the
disregard of which by Great Britain had much to do with the War of
1812-1814. He was writing at the beginning of Jefferson's first
administration, with all the distrust which the federalist party felt of
the President's foreign policy, but it cannot be said that his
examination of the subject is other than fair and impartial.

How bitterly he could write as a partisan is shown by the long "Address
to the President of the United States on the subject of his Address,"
published in 1802, and called out by Jefferson's inaugural, then six
months old. The principles laid down in that address, in the midst of
much fine rhetoric, had begun to be shown in practice, and Webster
employs argument and invective to lay bare the falseness of Jefferson's
professions. His longest and sharpest attack is upon the policy pursued
by the President in rewarding his followers with office,--a policy in
accord with the principles laid down in the inaugural. We are
accustomed nowadays to strong statements of th