The Second War with England, Vol. 2 of 2

by Joel Tyler Headley

PAINFUL MARCH OF VOLUNTEERS.

The administration then turned its attention to the navy, the pride and glory of the country, and a bill was passed Congress authorizing the equipment of twenty small cruisers. Under its provisions two small squadrons of five vessels each, one to be commanded by Porter and the other by Perry, had been set on foot, whose object was to inflict on the British West Indies the havoc and destruction with which the enemy had visited our coast. But it was difficult to obtain seamen, as most of those who had enlisted during the last year had been sent to the northern lakes to serve on fresh water—a duty always unpalatable to a sailor. Our vessels of war being blockaded, we had no occasion for seamen on the coast, and could find employment for them on the lakes alone. Crowningshield, who had succeeded Jones as Secretary of the Navy, actually recommended a conscription of seamen.

In the mean time, Great Britain had concentrated in Canada a larger force than she had ever before assembled there, ready to march on the states, while Cockburn, in possession of Cumberland island, threatened the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina with the same ravages that marked his course in the Chesapeake. Added to all this, a heavy force was known to be on its way to New Orleans, which the government had neglected to defend, and hence expected to see fall into the hands of the enemy. The prospect was black as night around the administration—not a ray of light visited it from any quarter of the heavens. Funds and troops and ships had never been so scarce, while overpowering fleets and armies were assembling on our coasts and frontiers. Jan. 17, 1815. In the midst of all this, as if on purpose to drive the government to despair, Dallas came out with a new report on the state of the Treasury, in which he informed it that the year had closed with $19,000,000 of unpaid debts, to meet which there was less than $2,000,000 on hand, and $4,500,000 of taxes not yet collected. The revenue was estimated at $11,000,000, of which only one million was from imports, the rest from taxes. While he thus exhibited the beggared condition of the Treasury, he informed the administration that fifty millions would be needed to meet the expenditures of the coming year, and gravely asked where it all was to come from. The government looked on in dismay, and to what measures it would have been compelled to resort for relief it is impossible to say; but in reviewing that period one shudders to contemplate the probable results of another year of war, and another Hartford Convention. But like the sun suddenly bursting through a dark and ominous thundercloud, just before he sinks beneath the horizon, came at length the news of the great victory at New Orleans, and the conclusion of peace at Ghent. Never before was an administration so loudly called upon to ask that public thanks might be offered for deliverance from great perils.

CHAPTER X.
HARTFORD CONVENTION.
1814.

Attitude of New England — Governor Strong — Views and purposes of the Federalists — Anxiety of Madison — Prudence of Colonel Jesup — Result of the Convention — Fears of the people — Fate of the Federalists.

While Government was thus struggling to avert the perils that every day grew darker around it, and the negotiations at Ghent were drawing to a conclusion, serious events were occurring in the New England States.

Although the ravages of the enemy along our coast during the summer, and our victories at the north in autumn, together with the insulting demands of England, had seriously weakened the Federalist power, and brought it into still greater disrepute with the mass of the people, and passing events admonished delay, still they resolved to carry out a favorite plan of calling a Convention of the disaffected States, to consult on the best mode of defending themselves, and of forcing the administration into the adoption of their measures, and to take steps towards amending the Constitution. New England had all along denied the right of the General Government to call out the militia, except for the defence of the States in which they resided, and demanded the control of her own troops, and consequently of a large portion of her own revenue. Heavy complaints were also made against the direct taxes levied, and many refused to ride in coaches, or use those things taxed, thus placing themselves beside the revolutionary patriots, and making the General Government resemble England in its oppression.

Massachusetts, with Governor Strong as its Executive head, took the lead in all movements designed to carry out these projects. Resolutions had passed the Legislature, raising an army of ten thousand men, and a million of money to support it. This army was to be officered by Governor Strong, and its movements directed by Federalist councils. Such a large force, raised not to aid the administration to carry on the war, but for selfish ends, naturally awakened the gravest fears, and the President saw in it the first step towards armed opposition. All this may be defensible, but the gallant sons of Kentucky, with their gray-haired but chivalrous Governor at their head, streaming through the northern forests, to drive back from the feeble settlements of Ohio the savage hordes that were laying them waste, and Governor Strong, bidding the militia of his State stay at home and take care of themselves, present a contrast so widely different, that no sophistry can make them appear equally patriotic and unselfish.

Oct. 18.

In order to bring the whole eastern section into similar measures, and to give union to the opposition, a resolution was passed calling a Convention of the New England States, to meet at Hartford, December 15th, to deliberate on the best method of defence against the enemy, and to take measures for procuring amendments to the Constitution, which the Federalists had ascertained, since the war began, to be a most worthless instrument. The letter accompanying this resolution being laid before the Connecticut Legislature, seven delegates were appointed to the Convention, to meet the twelve sent from Massachusetts; Rhode Island sent four, making in all twenty-three, to which three County delegates from New Hampshire were added. Vermont refused to have any thing to do with the matter. These resolutions did not pass without violent opposition in each of the Legislatures. Holmes, of Massachusetts, openly declared his suspicions that Massachusetts designed to head a combination for the dissolution of the Union. The raising of an army of ten thousand men, not subject to the orders of the General Government, confirmed his fears, and gave a practical character to opinions hostile to the confederacy.