Part 12

(signed) Th. Jefferson.

Gallatin detected an odor of intrigue in the situation because Wingchong requested permission to make the trip to China in the Beaver, a “full-bottomed ship of 427 tons with a capacity for 1,100 tons of cargo,” and the Beaver had been constructed especially for John Jacob Astor. Gallatin was well aware of the fact that scarcely a month had passed since Astor had been denied permission for a Canton voyage. But Jefferson had issued his instructions and Gallatin was a loyal lieutenant.

On August 3, 1808, Gallatin wrote to David Gelston, Collector of Customs in New York City, ordering him to make an exception and lift the embargo. His letter said in part:

Sir,

Punqua Wingchong, a respectable Chinese, who had with the leave of his government come to the United States for the purpose of collecting debts due to his father’s estate, having obtained the special permission of the President of the United States to engage a vessel to carry himself together with his attendants and property to his native country, and having made arrangements for that purpose with the owner of the ship Beaver of 427 tons or thereabouts; you would be pleased to permit that vessel to depart for Canton on the following terms and instructions....

The conditions, previously outlined by Jefferson, were that the vessel could sail with equipment and provisions for crew and passengers. Punqua Wingchong was to be permitted to be accompanied by his “attendants” along with their baggage and personal effects and also about $45,000 ... “either in specie or in furs, cochineal, ginsang, or any other specie of merchandise of his choice.”

After giving these instructions to Gelston, Gallatin wrote a cautious letter to Jefferson saying that he had carried out his orders and Wingchong “has engaged Astor’s vessel to which we had on general grounds refused permission.” Then he added: “Had I had any discretion as to the application itself I would have hesitated; for I apprehend that there is some speculation at bottom; and every deviation from general rules is considered a favoritism and excites dissatisfaction.”

He also warned Jefferson that to lift the embargo for one vessel would open the way for others to make direct appeals to the President for special treatment. Jefferson did not agree with his Secretary. He insisted that important diplomatic and commercial benefits might accrue from the courtesies shown Wingchong and they were “likely to bring lasting advantage to our merchants.”

Gallatin was right. The uproar came when Collector Gelston authorized the voyage and workmen began swarming over the Beaver to prepare her for the long sea voyage. With other vessels standing idle and deserted, such a burst of activity could hardly be kept secret along the waterfront. In all the United States, this lone ship was the only one being prepared for a voyage.

The first protest came from a group of Philadelphia merchants who wrote to Secretary Gallatin on August 10 suggesting that “avarice and perjury” were being used to obtain the special dispensation for the voyage of the Beaver. As for Punqua Wingchong, the merchants said they were satisfied he was an impostor “and an insignificant instrument in the hands of others.” He was unknown to Philadelphia traders who had been stationed in Canton as agents for years. At best he was only a petty shopkeeper without credit and not a wealthy member of the mandarin class, they insisted. It was pointed out to the President that the mandarins of China never left their own country.

New York newspapers, getting wind of the Beaver’s voyage, described Wingchong as “a Chinaman picked up in the port,” “a common Chinese dock loafer,” “a Lascar sailor,” and even as “an Indian who had been dressed up in Astor’s China silks and coached to play his role in the affair.”

The New York Commercial Advertiser on August 13 said in a page-one story:

A first rate merchants’ ship, which will be navigated by about 30 seamen, is preparing for sea, and is expected to proceed on a voyage to Canton, in a few days, under special permission from the President of the United States.

The ostensible object of this voyage is to carry home a person who is said to be a Mandarin of China.

It is, however, well known that the person for whom permission has been obtained, is no Mandarin; is not even a licensed or security merchant;--that his departure from China was contrary to the laws of that country; that if he arrives in China he will be put on shore privately, and that the obscurity of his condition in life affords him the only chance he has of avoiding punishment.

It is also believed that the owner of the ship would not accept all the property of all the Chinese in this country as a compensation for the voyage, and it is known that he has offered to contract for bringing home goods or freight....

Neither Gallatin nor the President retreated before this barrage. Gallatin wrote the Philadelphia merchants that their plea had come too late and besides he had no authority to detain the Beaver. He delayed his reply until September 17--the same day on which the Beaver sailed.

Six days later, Jefferson admitted that he had no means of judging whether the charges by the Philadelphia merchants were true or false. He said he acted as he did because of “the application having come to me grounded on his character as a settled fact.” He added “nor are the jeers of the Federalists any proof of the contrary.” Then he made the rather lame statement that if the Beaver had not yet sailed perhaps “she should be detained till the facts ... are inquired into.”

But the Beaver was gone. She was to return a year later with a cargo of teas, silks, and other valuable merchandise which allegedly brought Astor a net profit of $200,000.

* * * * *

The December embargo on shipping had been followed in March by the Land Embargo, which became effective just before Lake Champlain was free of ice and open for normal navigation. The Land Embargo came as a shock for the people of northern and northeastern Vermont. Over the years they had developed a brisk trade with Canada, shipping timber, potash, coal ashes, and other exports into Canada in return for Canadian merchandise. The embargo had the effect of shutting off this lucrative trade for the Vermonters.

The Act was not popular with the citizens or with most Customs officials along the border and as a result there was lax enforcement. Smuggling operations reached such proportions that Customs Collector Jabez Penniman wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin, complaining that he could not enforce the law unless the Federal government supplied troops.

Penniman’s communication spread alarm in Washington. Gallatin personally carried the letter to the White House to discuss emergency steps with the President. Jefferson called in Senator Robinson and Congressman Witherell of Vermont to obtain their advice. The Vermonters told him that the smuggling could not last for long, probably no longer than early May. Then the Richelieu river would subside from its spring flood stage and would not be navigable for the big rafts used to carry smuggled timber and other products.

Despite the assurances from Robinson and Witherell, Jefferson was convinced that strong Federal action had to be taken immediately, to set a precedent if for no other reason. The President directed Gallatin to authorize Collector Penniman to equip and arm “such vessels as might be necessary” to put down the smuggling. Penniman also was authorized to engage crews for these vessels “voluntarily, by force of arms, or otherwise, to enforce the law.” Then if further aid were necessary, the Secretary of State was to authorize the United States Marshal to form a posse to “aid in suppressing the insurrection or combination.”

These measures would seem sufficient to discourage any normal smuggler. But, apparently caught up in the enthusiasm of stamping out the evasion of the Embargo and the payment of Customs duties, the President went even further. He declared that in case the armed vessels and the posses should not be able to do the job, then the Secretary of War was to move Federal armed forces to the scene. The Secretary himself was asked to go to Vermont “and lend the aid of his counsel and authority.” Also the aroused President informed Secretary Gallatin that he was going to have two gunboats built at Skenesborough (Whitehall), New York, to halt the flow of illegal traffic between Vermont and northern New York and Canada.

Many Vermonters were surprised and indignant at the President’s use of the word “insurrection” to describe the situation. But in May, 1808, the good citizens of Vermont (and those not so good) were thrown into further uproar by a Presidential proclamation which appeared without warning in Spooner’s Vermont Journal. It said information had been received by the White House that “sundry persons are combined or are combining and confederating together on Lake Champlain and the country thereto adjacent, for the purpose of forming insurrections against the authority of the laws of the United States, for opposing the same and obstructing their execution.” The President sternly warned against any person engaging directly or indirectly “in any insurrection” and he ordered “such insurgents and all concerned in such combinations, instantly and without delay to disperse themselves and retire peaceably to their respective abodes.”

The citizens of St. Albans for some reason must have felt that the President was aiming his shafts at them. At any rate, a town meeting was held in St. Albans at which it was “positively and unequivocally” the consensus that the conduct of the citizens of the district had never given President Jefferson cause to issue such a proclamation. It was the sense of the assembly that the President’s proclamation “must have been issued in consequence of erroneous and unfounded representations, made and transmitted to the executive department of the United States by some evil minded person or persons.” Then the citizens let their personal sympathies leak into the matter when they added that even if individuals “finding themselves and their families on the verge of ruin and wretchedness” had tried successfully to evade the embargo, nevertheless this did not justify the President in proclaiming to the world that the district was guilty of insurrection and rebellion.

People living along the Canadian border, whose livelihood depended on the trade with Canada, did not regard this trade as being the evil which Jefferson declared it to be. For them it was a matter of economic survival. Soon after the Land Embargo became a law, smuggling rings had begun operations along the border. Dress goods and other merchandise were carried to the border on the Canadian side, where it was picked up by men and transported through the woods into the United States. The contraband was hidden until such time as it could be taken by wagons or boats to the merchandising centers.