“It will be no trouble for me to give my dear little girl as much information as she may crave about it,” he answered, patting her cheek affectionately. “But if you think the other children will care to hear what I tell you, you may call them here before I begin.”
“Oh, yes, papa, I will,” she answered joyously, and hastened away in search of them.
Her summons was obeyed by one and all, as if in expectation of a great treat. They gathered about the captain and he began.
“We are now at peace with England; the two nations good friends, as I hope and trust they may be always. But between the wars of the Revolution and of 1812 this country was badly treated by that in more ways than one. To tell you all about it would make much too long a story for to-night. Lossing says of England in 1810 that she had seized and confiscated the commercial property of American citizens to an incalculable amount. She had contemptuously disregarded the neutrality of the American territory, and the jurisdiction of the American laws within the waters and harbors of the United States. She had at that time impressed from the crews of American merchant vessels peaceably navigating the high seas not less than six thousand mariners who claimed to be citizens of the United States, and who were denied all opportunity to verify their claims. I think it was in February, 1811, that a richly laden American vessel bound for France was captured by a British cruiser within thirty miles of New York City; and early in May a British frigate stopped an American brig only eighteen miles from New York and a young man, known to be a native of Maine, was taken from her and impressed into the British service. Other such instances had occurred, and often the men thus shamefully robbed of their freedom were most cruelly treated.”
“How, papa?” asked Ned. “What did they do to them?”
“For refusing to work for their captors, especially after hearing of the declaration of war in 1812; some American sailors were most cruelly used; three who had been impressed on board the British vessel Peacock refused to fight against their country and demanded to be treated as prisoners of war. They were ordered to the quarter-deck, put in irons for twenty-four hours, then taken to the gangway, stripped naked, tied and whipped, each one dozen and a half, and put to duty.
“When the Peacock went into action with the Hornet, they asked the captain to be sent below, that they might not fight against their countrymen. The captain called a midshipman and told him to do his duty, which was to hold a pistol to the head of Thompson and threaten to blow his brains out if he and his companions did not do service.”
“How glad they must have been when the Hornet took the Peacock!” exclaimed Eric.
“Yes, indeed! For they had certainly been very cruelly used by those who had stolen them from American vessels,” said the captain. “And there were others who received still more cruel treatment from them, the robbers of the American seamen. It was no wonder that America was roused to attempt a second war with Great Britain in order to stop these dreadful outrages upon her people.”
“The navy did a great deal in that war, didn’t it, uncle?” asked Edward.