"Whereas the President, in his message to Congress, has made known to the people of the United States that the British Orders in Council have been repealed 'in such manner as to be capable of explanations meeting the views of the Government' of the United States; and therefore none of the alleged causes of war with Great Britain now remain except the claim of the right to take British subjects from the merchant ships of the United States:
"And whereas, during the administration of General Washington and President Adams, this claim of Great Britain was not considered a reasonable cause of war; and under the administration of President Jefferson, the Government of Great Britain did offer to make an arrangement with the United States, which in the opinion of Messrs. Montrose and Pinkey, their Ministers, placed this subject on a ground that was both honourable and advantageous to the United States, and highly favourable to their interests, and was, at the same time, a concession which had never before been made; and it is highly probable that the Government of Great Britain would still be willing to make an arrangement on this subject which should be alike honourable and advantageous to the United States:
"And whereas, under the administration of President Madison, when the arrangement of matters in controversy between the United States and Great Britain was made with his Britannic Majesty's Minister, David Montague Erskine, Esq., the impressment of seamen was not considered of sufficient importance to make it a condition of that arrangement:
"And whereas the European powers, as well as the United States, recognize the principle that their subjects have no right to expatriate themselves, and that the nation has a right to the services of all its citizens, especially in time of war; and none of those powers respect the neutralization laws of others so far as to admit their operation in contravention of that principle—and it is manifestly unjust for a neutral power to make war upon one nation in order to compel it to relinquish a principle which is maintained by the others, etc."
[181] Holmes' American Annals, Vol. II., pp. 434, 435.
The manner in which this affair was presented to the public by the President and American writers may be inferred from the following:
"This vessel (the Chesapeake) was suddenly attacked within our waters in the time of profound peace, compelled to surrender, and several seamen, alleged to be British, were then forcibly taken from her. The burst of indignation which followed was even more violent than that which was produced by the Orders in Council in 1793 [1807]. Party animosity was suspended; meetings were assembled in every village; the newspapers were filled with formal addresses; volunteer companies were everywhere set on foot; and, in the first frenzy of the moment, the universal cry was for immediate war. Although hostilities were not declared, the feelings of America were from that day at war with England." (Breckenridge's History of the War of 1812.)
This state of feeling was precisely what President Madison wished to create, preparatory to his meditated war with England, in connection with the French usurper.
[182] "Indignant at this neglectful treatment, Henry returned to Boston, and obtained a letter of introduction from Governor Gerry to Madison, to whom he offered to divulge the whole conspiracy, of which he had been the head and soul, for a certain sum of money. Madison gave him $50,000, and the swindler embarked for France. There is but little doubt that Henry made a fool of the Governor of Canada, and completely overreached the President. The publication of the correspondence, however, increased the hatred both against the Federalists and the English nation." [The object President Madison had in view.] (Headley's History of the War of 1812-1815 with England, p. 49.)
[183] "The Henry Plot (as it was denominated) was clamoured through America as a crime of the deepest dye on the part of Great Britain, tending to disorganize the Government, to dismember the Union, and to destroy the independence of the States. The fictitious and exaggerated importance which the American Government affected to attach to this trivial matter had, however, some influence in confirming the spirit of hostility towards Great Britain which at that time pervaded America, and shortly after broke out in open war. This self-sufficient miscreant having, as he fancied, taken ample vengeance upon the Government of his native country, could not, with any degree of decency, remain in the States, from whence he sailed for France in an American sloop-of-war, carrying with him the reward of his treason and the universal contempt of mankind." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, p. 55.)