Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/62



the second session of the twenty-third Congress opened, in December, 1834, the United States found themselves in danger of a war with France. It was a curious entanglement. The United States had many and heavy claims against France for damages on account of the depredations committed upon American shipping by the French during the Napoleonic wars. Ever since 1815 these claims had been the subject of fruitless negotiation. In 1829 President Jackson caused them to be pressed with vigor, and in his first annual message he said that, if they were not satisfied, they would “continue to furnish a subject of unpleasant discussion and possible collision.” The French government, Charles X. still being king, considered this “menacing” language, and, as such, a sufficient reason for doing nothing. But Louis Philippe, seated on the French throne by the Revolution of 1830, chose not to remember the menace; and on July 4, 1831, a treaty was concluded in Paris, by which France promised to pay the United States $5,000,000 in six installments, to begin one year after the ratification of the