Sept. 11.
At length, on Sunday morning, just as the sun rose over the eastern mountains, the American guard boat, on the watch, was seen rowing swiftly into the harbor. It reported the enemy in sight. The drums immediately beat to quarters, and every vessel was cleared for action. The preparations being completed, young Macdonough summoned his officers around him, and there, on the deck of the Saratoga, read the prayers of the ritual before entering into battle, and that voice, which soon after rung like a clarion amid the carnage, sent heavenward, in earnest tones, "Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us, for thou givest not always the battle to the strong, but canst save by many or byfew." It was a solemn and thrilling spectacle, and one never before witnessed on a vessel of war cleared for action. A young commander who had the courage thus to brave the derision and sneers which such an act was sure to provoke, would fight his vessel while there was a plank left to stand on. Of the deeds of daring done on that day of great achievements, none evinced so bold and firm a heart as this act of religious worship.
At eight o'clock the crews of the different vessels could see, over the tongue of land that divided the bay from the lake, the topsails of the enemy moving steadily down. These had also been seen from shore, and every eminence around was covered with anxious spectators. The house of God was deserted, and the light of that bright Sabbath morning, with its early stillness, flooded a scene at once picturesque and terrible. On one side was the hostile squadron, coming down to the sound of music—on the other, stood the armies on shore in order of battle, with their banners flying—between, lay Macdonough's silent little fleet at anchor, while the hills around were black with spectators, gazing on the strange and fearful panorama.
As the British approached, Macdonough showed his signal, "Impressed seamen call on every man to do his duty." As vessel after vessel traced the letters, loud cheers rent the air.
The English vessels, under easy sail, swept oneafter another round Cumberland Head, and hauling up in the wind, waited the approach of the galleys.
BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.Position of the two squadrons.
BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
Position of the two squadrons.
As Macdonough lay anchored with his vessels in line north and south—his galleys on their sweeps forming a second line in rear—the English fleet, as it doubled the head, was compelled to approach with bows on. The Eagle was farthest up the bay, the Saratoga second, Ticonderoga third, and Preble fourth. The impressive silence which rested on the American fleet was at last broken by the Eagle, which opened her broadsides. Startled by the sound, a cock on board the Saratoga, which had escaped from the coop, flew upon a gun slide and crowed. A loud laugh and three hearty cheers acknowledged the favorable omen, and spread confidence through the ship. Macdonough, seeing the enemy were at too great distance to be reached by his guns, reserved his fire, and watched the Confiance standing boldly on till she came within range. He then sighted a long twenty-four himself and fired her. The heavy shot passed the entire length of the deck of the Confiance, killing many of her men and shivering her wheel into fragments. This was the signal for every vessel to open its fire, and in a moment that quiet bay was in an uproar. The Confiance, however, though suffering severely, did not return a shot, but kept on till she got within a quarter of a mile, when she let go her anchors and swung broadsideto the Saratoga. Sixteen long twenty-fours then opened at once with a terrific crash. The Saratoga shook from kelson to cross trees under the tremendous discharge. Nearly half of her crew were knocked down by it, while fifty men were either killed or wounded, and among them Lieutenant Gamble. He was in the act of sighting a gun, when a shot entered the port and struck him dead. The effect of this first broadside was awful, and the Saratoga was for a moment completely stunned. The next, however, she opened her fire with a precision and accuracy that told fatally on the English ship. But the latter soon commenced pouring in her broadsides so rapidly that she seemed enveloped in flame. The Eagle could not withstand it, and changed her position, falling in nearer shore, leaving the Saratoga to sustain almost alone the whole weight of the unequal contest. She gave broadside for broadside, but the weight of metal was against her, and she was fast becoming a wreck. Her deck soon presented a scene of the most frightful carnage. The living could hardly tumble the wounded down the hatchway as fast as they fell. At length, as a full broadside burst on the staggering ship, a cry of despair rang from stem to stern, "the Commodore is killed!—the Commodore is killed!" and there he lay on the blood-stained deck amid the dead, senseless, and apparently lifeless. A spar, cut in two by a cannonshot, had fallen on his back and stunned him. But after two or three minutes he recovered, and cheering on his men, took his place again beside his favorite gun that he had sighted from the commencement of the action. As the men saw him once more at his post, they took new courage.
But a few minutes after, the cry of "the Commodore is killed," again passed through the ship. Every eye was instantly turned to a group of officers gathered around Macdonough, who lay in the scuppers, between two guns, covered with blood. He had been knocked clean across the ship, with a force sufficient to have killed him. Again he revived, and limping to a gun, was soon coolly hulling his antagonist. Maimed and suffering, he fought on, showing an example that always makes heroes of subordinates.
At length every gun on the side of his vessel towards the enemy was silenced, but one, and this, on firing it again, bounded from its fastenings, and tumbled down the hatchway. Not a gun was left with which to continue the contest, while the ship was on fire. A surrender, therefore, seemed inevitable. Macdonough, however, resolved to wind his ship, so as to get the other broadside to bear. Failing in the first attempt, the sailing-master, Brum, bethought him of an expedient, which proved successful, and the crippled vessel slowly swung her stern around, until the uninjured guns bore. The Confiance, seeing the manœuvre, imitatedit, but she could not succeed, and lay with her crippled side exposed to the fire of the Saratoga.
In a short time not a gun could be brought to bear. Further resistance was therefore useless, and she surrendered. She had been hulled ahundred and five times, while half of her men were killed and wounded. Captain Downie had fallen some time before, and hence was spared the mortification of seeing her flag lowered.
The Eagle, commanded by Capt. Henley, behaved gallantly in the engagement, while the Ticonderoga, under Lieutenant Cassin, was handled in a manner that astonished those who beheld her. This fearless officer walked backward and forward over his deck, encouraging his men, and directing the fire, apparently unconscious of the balls that smote and crashed around him. His broadsides were so incessant, that several times the vessel was thought to be on fire.
The surrender of the Confiance virtually terminated the contest, which had lasted two hours and a quarter; and as flag after flag struck the galleys took to their sweeps and escaped.
In the midst of this tremendous cannonade, came, at intervals, the explosions on shore. The first gun in the bay, was the signal for Prevost on land, and as the thunder of his heavy batteries mingled in with the incessant broadsides of the contending squadrons, the very shores trembled, and far over the lake, amid the quiet farm-houses of Vermont, theechoes rolled away, carrying anxiety and fear into hundreds of families. Its shore was lined with men, gazing intently in the direction of Plattsburgh, as though from the smoke that rolled heavenward, some tidings might be got of how the battle was going.
To the spectators on the commanding heights around Plattsburgh, the scene was indescribably fearful and thrilling. It was as if two volcanoes were raging below—turning that quiet Sabbath morning into a scene wild and awful as the strife of fiends. But when the firing in the bay ceased, and the American flag was seen still flying, and the Union Jack down, there went up a shout that shook the hills. From the water to the shore, and back again, the deafening huzzas echoed and re-echoed. The American army took up the shout, and sending it high and clear over the thunder of cannon, spread dismay and astonishment into the heart of the enemy's camp.
The American loss in killed and wounded, was one hundred and ten, of whom all but twenty fell on board the Saratoga and Eagle—that of the English was never fully known, though it was supposed to be nearly double.
The force of Macomb was so inferior, and the most of the volunteers were so recently arrived, that from the first he was advised to retreat, a course that Wilkinson and Dearborn and Izard would doubtless havetaken, and defended it by rules laid down in books on military tactics. But Macomb had resolved to fight where he stood. The two forts of Brown and Scott, which he had erected and named, he designed should be symbolical of the defence he would make, and the battle he would fight.
After the British batteries had been in fierce operation for some time, throwing shells, hot shot and rockets in a perfect shower upon the American ranks, three columns of attack were formed—two pressing straight for the bridges, the planks of which had been taken up, and the third for a ford farther up the river. The last was repulsed by the volunteers and militia. The other two steadily approached the bridges, but the artillery rained such a tempest of grape shot on the uncovered ranks of one, and the pickets and rifles so scourged the other, that they were driven back to their intrenchments for shelter. After Macdonough's victory, their fire slackened, not only from discouragement, but from the destructive effect of the American gunnery on their batteries, and at nightfall ceased entirely. As soon as it became dark, Prevost ordered a retreat. So rapidly and silently was it conducted, that the army had advanced eight miles before Macomb knew of it. He immediately ordered a pursuit, but this day of strife had ended in a storm of wind and rain, and it was soon abandoned.
Prevost lost two hundred and fifty in killed and wounded, many of whom were left on the ground, drenched and beat upon by the storm. These he commended to the humanity of Macomb, and continued his rapid flight to the St. Lawrence. That British fleet, shattered and torn, lying at anchor under the guns of Macdonough, in the bay, and the army of twelve thousand men streaming through the gloom and rain, panic stricken, lest the feeble force behind should overtake it, present a striking contrast to their prospects in the morning, and show how changeful is fortune. Downie heard not the shout of victory, for he lay stiff and cold in the vessel he had carried so gallantly into action, and Prevost did not long survive his defeat.
So large a hostile force had never before crossed the Canada line, while no such sudden and terrible reverse of fortune had befallen the feeblest expedition. Two such victories on one day, were enough to intoxicate the nation. The news spread like wildfire, and shouts and salvos of artillery, and bonfires, hailed the messengers, as they sped the glad tidings on. The campaign was closing gloriously. Instead of the defeats and failures of the last year, there were Chippewa and Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie, crowned by the victories of Baltimore and Plattsburgh. The news of the two last, approaching from different directions, set the land in a glow of transport, andlifted it from despondency and gloom to confidence and bright expectations.
The Thursday following the battle of Champlain was devoted to the burial of the officers killed in the naval action. As the procession of boats left the Confiance, minute guns were fired from the vessels in the harbor. The artillery and infantry on shore received the dead and bore them to the place of burial, while the cannon of the forts responded to those from the fleet, blending their mournful echoes over the fallen in their prime and manhood. The clouds hung low and gloomy over lake and land, and the rain fell in a gentle shower, imparting still greater loneliness to the scene. On this very day, while friends and foes were thus paying the last tribute of respect to the fallen, Baltimore was shaking to the huzzas of the inhabitants, at the news that the British fleet was sailing down the bay, baffled and disappointed.
Sept 1.
Simultaneous with these two invasions of our territory, a British force was sent against Machias. The misfortune which befel the Adams, sloop-of-war, compelling her to take refuge at Hampden, in the Penobscot river, caused a change in the movements of the expedition, and it did not stop to take Machias, but seized Castine and Belfast, on the Penobscot bay, then pushed on with a sloop of war and small craft carrying in all 700 men,to capture this vessel.Sept 9.Machias was then seized, and all the country east of Penobscot taken possession of.July 14.The islands in Passamaquoddy bay had been seized and occupied two months previous.
Our whole maritime coast was still threatened, and every seaport of any magnitude, was fortifying itself when Congress assembled again.
The only other military movement of note during this fall, was an expedition which set out from Detroit, under the command of General McArthur. It consisted of 700 mounted men, seventy of whom were Indians, and for secresy, daring and skill was not surpassed during the war. Its object was to prevent the enemy from molesting Michigan during the winter, and if successful in its operations, eventually attack Burlington Heights, and form a junction with Generals Brown and Izard. This body of seven hundred bold and well-mounted borderers, left Detroit the 22d of October, and plunged at once into the wilderness.Oct 22.The long and straggling column would now be seen wading along the shallow shores of the lake, and then be lost in the primeval forest, to reappear on the bank of deep rivers, from whose farther shore the wilderness again spread away. The bivouac by night in the autumnal woods, or on the bank of a stream, presented a fine subject for a painter. Their seven hundred horses tied to thetrees around, only half relieved by the ruddy fire that strove in vain to pierce the limitless gloom—the lofty trunks of trees receding away like the columns in some old dimly-lighted cathedral—the hardy and rough-looking frontiersmen, stretched with the half-clad savages around the fire—the sentinels scarcely discernible in the distance, all combined to form a picture which has a charm even for the most civilized and refined.
It was, however, no holiday march—expedition was necessary to success, and the horses were kept to the top of their endurance. Straining up acclivities, floundering through swamps, struggling with the rapid currents of rivers, this detachment succeeded in penetrating more than two hundred miles into the enemy's country, and to within twenty-five miles of Burlington Heights. It marched more than four hundred miles, one hundred and eighty of it through an unbroken wilderness, defeated five hundred militia strongly posted, killed and wounded twenty-seven men, and took a hundred and eleven prisoners, and returned with the loss of but one man.Oct 17.In the discipline he maintained, the health of the troops, and their safe return, McArthur showed himself a skillful and able commander, while his subordinates deserve the highest commendation.
The Navy in 1814 — Cruise of Captain Morris in the Adams — Narrow escapes — The Wasp and Reindeer — Cruise of the Wasp — Sinks the Avon — Mysterious fate of the Wasp — The Peacock captures the Epervier — Lieutenant Nicholson.
During the season of almost uninterrupted success on land and on our inland waters, we had but few vessels at sea, the greater part being blockaded, but those few nobly sustained the reputation won by the navy in the two previous years. The Guerriere 44, the Independence 74, and the Java 44, were launched during the summer, but remained in their docks till the close of the war. In the January previous Captain Morris, commanding the Adams, which had been cut down to a sloop of war, got to sea and took a few prizes. In the spring he captured an East Indiaman, but while taking possession of her an English fleet hove in sight, which compelled him to abandon the prize and crowd all sail to escape. Succeeding in throwing off his pursuers he gave chase to theJamaica fleet which had passed him in the night, but failed in every attempt to cut out a vessel.July 3.Continuing eastward he at length made the Irish coast, but was soon after chased by an English frigate and pressed so closely that he found it necessary to throw overboard his anchors and two guns. This sacrifice, however, did not increase materially the distance between him and his adversary, and after dark, it falling a dead calm, Capt. Morris and his first Lieutenant Wadsworth, both of whom were on board the Constitution when first chased by the English fleet, got out their boats and by towing all night, succeeded in gaining two leagues by daylight. As soon as the commander of the English frigate discovered the trick that had been played him, he crowded all sail and kept in the wake of the Adams till ten at night, when the latter altering her course, escaped.
But the ocean being filled with the enemy's cruisers, this persecuted solitary vessel was soon chased again by two frigates, for twenty-four hours, and only got off at last by the aid of a friendly fog. In August, however, she went ashore off the coast of Maine, while attempting to run the English blockade, as mentioned in the preceding chapter, and was so injured that Morris run her into the Penobscot River, where he was compelled to burn her to prevent her capture by the British.
The Wasp put to sea, from Portsmouth, the first of May, and giving her canvass to the wind steered boldly for the English Channel. Leaving the British fleet blockading our ships at home, her commander, Captain Blakely, sought the English coast, resolved to strike at the enemy's commerce assembling there from every sea. It required constant watchfulness and great prudence to cruise on such dangerous ground as this, and had not all suspicion of an enemy in that quarter been removed, she would doubtless have been captured. The unexampled daring of the act alone saved her.
On the 28th of June Blakely gave chase to a sail, which proved to be the English brig of war Reindeer, commanded by Captain Manners. The latter, though inferior in strength, showed no disinclination to close, and came down in gallant style. As they approached, the Reindeer by using a shifting twelve-pound carronade, was able to fire it five times before Blakely could get a gun to bear. At first within sixty, and afterwards within thirty yards, the crew stood for twelve minutes this galling fire without flinching. But when at length a favorable position was obtained, the broadsides of the American was delivered with such awful effect, that Captain Manners saw at once his vessel would be a wreck unless he run her aboard; and setting his sails he drove full on the Wasp. As the vessels fell foul hecalled to his men to follow him, and endeavored to leap on the deck of his antagonist. But coolly, as on a parade, the crew of the latter steadily repulsed every attempt to board.
Captain Manners had been wounded early in the action, but still kept his feet, and just before boarding was struck by a shot which carried away the calves of both his legs. In this mangled condition he gave the orders to board, and leaping into the rigging of his own vessel in order to swing himself on that of his adversary, he was struck by two musket balls which entered the top of his head and passed out through his chin. Waving his sword above his head he exclaimed, "Oh, God!" and fell lifeless on the deck.
After the enemy had been repulsed three times, the Wasp boarded in turn, and in one minute the conflict was over. The English vessel was literally a wreck, and had lost in killed and wounded sixty-seven out of one hundred and fifteen, constituting her crew, or more than half of her entire number. The Wasp had but five men killed and twenty-two wounded.July 8.Captain Blakely took his prize into L'Orient, where he burned her to prevent recapture. Up to this time he had taken eight merchantmen.Aug. 27.Remaining here till the latter part of August, he again set sail, and on the 1st of September cut out a vessel loaded with guns and militarystores from a fleet of ten sail, convoyed by a seventy-four. Endeavoring to repeat the saucy experiment he was chased away by a man-of-war. The same evening, however, making four sail, he in turn gave chase to one, which immediately threw up rockets and fired signal guns to attract the attention of the other vessels. But Captain Blakely held steadily on, crashing along under a ten knot breeze, and as he approached the stranger fired a gun and hailed. His fire being returned he poured in a destructive broadside. Notwithstanding the swell was heavy and the night dark, his fire was terribly effective. For a night action it was remarkably short, and in forty minutes the enemy struck. But as the boat was about being lowered to take possession of her, Blakely saw beneath the lifting smoke a brig of war within musket-shot, and two more vessels rapidly closing. Ordering the boat to be run up again quickly, and the men to hasten to their posts, he filled away and catching the wind dead astern was soon out of sight.Sept. 1.The enemy gave him one broadside and then turned to the captured vessel, whose guns of distress were echoing loudly over the sea. She soon sunk. This vessel was afterwards ascertained to be the Avon, of eighteen guns.
Continuing his cruise, Blakely took three more vessels, among them a valuable prize, the Atalanta,of eight guns, which was immediately dispatched to the states.
Sept. 22.
This was the last direct tidings ever received from the gallant Wasp. Various rumors were afloat concerning her fate, but nothing certain of her after cruise, or the manner in which she was lost, was ever known. One report stated that an English frigate had put into Cadiz badly cut up by an American corvette, which had sunk in the night time, and so suddenly, that her name could not be ascertained. This was thought at first to be the Wasp, but no confirmation of this report being received, it was discredited. The spirited conduct of this little vessel had made her a great favorite with the nation, and a deep sympathy was universally felt for her mysterious fate.[8]Years passed by, when an incident occurred which awakened a fresh interest in her. Two officers on board the Essex, when she was captured at Valparaiso, had gone to Rio Janeiro, but were never after heard from. Inquiries were made by friends in every direction, but in vain. At last it was ascertained that they had taken passage in a Swedish brig for England, from which they had been transferred to the Wasp. The commander stated that on the 9th of October he was chased by astrange sail, which fired several guns, when he hove to and was boarded. The boarding officer, ascertaining there were two American officers on board, took them with him to his own ship. On their return, they told the Swedish captain that the strange sail was the Wasp, and they had determined to accept a passage in her. They did so, and nothing more was ever heard of them.
This was sixteen days after the prize left her, and, according to the Swedish brig's reckoning, she was at the time nearly a thousand miles farther south, and where she very naturally might be. Added to this was another rumor, which seemed to throw still more light on her fate. Soon after her rencontre with the Swedish vessel, it was said that two English frigates chased off the southern coast an American sloop-of-war, and while in pursuit were struck with a heavy squall. After the squall was over, the sloop was no where to be seen. If the rumor be true, that vessel was no doubt the Wasp, for we had no other sloop-of-war in those seas at that time. Besides, when met by the Swedish brig, she was evidently bound in that direction, and should have arrived off the coast about the time mentioned in the rumor. Nothing is more probable than that she capsized and went down, while carrying a press of sail to escape her pursuers.
At all events, whatever was her fate, the sea neverrolled over a more gallant commander and crew. Watchful, full of resources, indefatigable and fearless, Captain Blakely was the model of a naval commander, and had he lived would no doubt have reached the highest rank in his profession.
March, 1814.
The Peacock, Captain Harrington, also started on a cruise in the spring, steering southward. On the 29th of April she made three sail, which proved to be merchantmen under convoy of the Epervier, a large brig-of-war. The former took to flight, while the latter bore up to engage. At the first fire the forward sails of the American were so cut up that they became nearly useless. There was, consequently, but little manœuvering; the vessels moved off together, and a steady discharge of broadsides settled the contest. The force and weight of metal in this case were nearly equal, but the superior gunnery of the American was soon manifest, for in forty-two minutes the Epervier was so riddled that she had five feet of water in the hold. In this condition she struck, and with great difficulty was kept from sinking. Twenty-two of her crew were killed and wounded, while not a man in the Peacock was killed, and only two wounded. A hundred and eighteen thousand dollars in specie were found on board of her.
Lieutenant Nicholson was sent home with the prize. He reached the American sea board insafety, but while running along the coast, steering for Savannah, was chased by an English frigate, and escaped capture only by one of those artifices so common among Yankee sailors. The wind being light, he crept close along shore, and kept in shoal water where the frigate dared not approach. The commander of the latter observing this, manned his boats and sent them forward in pursuit. The prize had but seventeen officers and men all told, and hence could make no serious resistance if boarded. As the boats came steadily on under sweeps, the fate of the Epervier appeared to be sealed, but Nicholson, putting the best face on the matter, took down his trumpet and thundered out his orders to yaw and pour in a broadside. The boats hesitated on hearing this dangerous command, and finally withdrew, leaving the prize a safe passage to the Savannah.
May 1.
Three days after, the Peacock also came in. The latter, however, remained in port but a short time, and again set sail, sweeping the seas to the bay of Biscay.
Her cruise was conducted with great prudence and sagacity, and she returned in October, having captured fourteen merchantmen.
Third Session of the XIIIth Congress — State of the Treasury — The President's Message — Dallas appointed Secretary of the Treasury — His scheme and that of Eppes for the relief of the country — Our Commissioners at Ghent — Progress of the negotiations — English protocol — Its effect on Congress and the nation — Effect of its publication on the English Parliament.
Sept. 19.
During the agitation and excitement preceding the bombardment of Fort McHenry, and the battles of Champlain and Plattsburg, the members of Congress were slowly gathering to the ruined Capital, and two days after Brown's gallant sortie from Fort Erie, assembled in the Patent Office, the only public building left standing by the enemy.
Notwithstanding the glorious victories that had marked the summer campaign, a gloom rested on Congress. The Government, indeed, presented a melancholy spectacle, sitting amid the ashes of the Capital, while the fact could not be disguised thatthe Commissioners at Ghent gave no hope of peace. The war seemed far as ever from a termination, while England, released from the drains on her troops, navy and treasury, by the Continental war, was evidently making preparations for grander and more terrible exhibitions of her power. Her forces were gathering and her fleets accumulating upon our coast for the avowed purpose of demolishing our seaports, burning up our shipping, destroying our cities, and carrying a wide-spread desolation along our shores. To meet the expenses required to resist these attacks, a vast accession of funds was necessary, and yet the Treasury was worse than empty. The effort to borrow, in August, the paltry sum of six millions, a part of the $25,000,000 voted, had proved unsuccessful, not half the amount being taken and that at less than 80 per cent. In May previous over nine millions and a half had been obtained at from 85 to 88 per cent, and yet while victories were illustrating our arms, not $3,000,000 would now be taken, and the offers for that all below 80 per cent.
As the Treasury accounts stood at the close of the second quarter of the year 1814, Mr. Campbell, the Secretary, estimated that nearly twenty-five millions of dollars would be necessary to meet the expenditures of the remaining two quarters. The public revenue during that time would be nearly five millions, which the two loans and four millions of Treasurynotes would swell to a little over thirteen millions, leaving about eleven millions to be obtained by some process or other. A foreign loan of six millions was recommended.
Added to this the currency was thoroughly deranged. New banks had set a vast amount of paper afloat, while the specie was all drained off to pay for British goods, which surreptitiously got into the country. The banks of the District of Columbia suspended payment with the British invasion, and the panic spreading northward, there commenced a run upon the banks which in turn stopped payment, until out of New England, a large bank could scarcely be found that had not suspended.
The expense of maintaining such a vast army of militia as was kept on foot, called for enormous disbursements, and many saw national bankruptcy in the future should the war continue.
The burning of Washington furnished the President, in his message, an excellent occasion for making an appeal to the people. He was not constrained to fall back on the justice of the war, and persuade the nation that the invasion of Canada was both right and politic. The war had become defensive—men must now fight, not for maritime rights, not march to distant and questionable ground, but standing on their own hearth-stones, strike for their firesides and their homes. The Indian barbaritiesat the west, which inflamed to such a pitch of rage the Kentuckians, had been repeated by a civilized nation, and in speaking of them and the enemy, the President said: "He has avowed his purpose of trampling on the usages of civilized warfare, and given earnest of it in the plunder and wanton destruction of private property. *** His barbarous policy has not even spared those monuments of the arts and models of taste with which our country had enriched and embellished its infant metropolis. From such an adversary, hostility in its greatest force and worst forms may be looked for. The American people will face it with the undaunted spirit, which in our Revolutionary struggle, defeated his unrighteous projects. His threats and barbarities instead of dismay, will kindle in every bosom an indignation not to be extinguished but in the disaster and expulsion of such cruel invaders."
The ardor and indignation of the people were easily roused, but these did not bring what just then was most needed,money.
Sept.
Campbell having resigned his place as Secretary of the Treasury, immediately after sending in his report, Alexander Dallas was appointed in his place, who brought forward a scheme for relieving the Government. Eppes, from the Committee of Ways and Means, also offered a project. He proposed to lay new taxes to the amount of eleven anda half millions, and make a new issue of Treasury Notes, redeemable after six months. Dallas agreed with him in the amount of taxes, but recommended also the creation of a National Bank with a capital of fifty millions, five of it in specie and the residue in government stock. This would regulate the currency by furnishing a circulating medium, and constitute a basis on which loans could be obtained.
Bills were also brought in regulating the army.
In the mean time unfavorable news arrived from our embassy at Ghent. They had been compelled to wait some time for the English Commissioners, spending the interval in a round of amusements and entertainments furnished by the people of Ghent and General Lyons, commanding the British troops in that place. At length, on the 7th of August, the Secretary of the English legation called at the American hotel, to arrange the place and day for commencing negotiations. No one but Mr. Bayard was in at the time, and he seeing no breach of diplomatic etiquette in the proposal of the English Secretary to meet next day at the hotel of the English legation, assented. But the other members when they returned and were told of the arrangements that had been made, were indignant. "What!" said Mr. Adams, "meet the English Ministers who have kept us here so long waiting the condescension of their coming, in the face of allGhent—meet them at their bidding at their own hotel, to be the laughing stock of the city, of London, and of Europe?" "Never!" added Mr. Gallatin, "never!" Mr. Bayard replied, that the promise had been made, and they stood pledged. "No," said Mr. Adams, "youmay be, but we are not."
Aug. 8.
Another place was therefore agreed upon, and the negotiations commenced. The city was filled with men, watching their progress, not only statesmen, but speculators eager to take advantage of the change in the price of stocks, which rose and fell with the wavering character of the proceedings.
After expressing the pacific feelings of their government, the English ministers stated the three points which would probably arise, and on which they were instructed:
1. The right of search to obtain seamen, and the claim of his Britannic Majesty to the perpetual allegiance of his subjects, whether naturalized in America or not.
2. The Indian allies were to have a definite boundary fixed for their territory.
3. There must be a revision of the boundary line between the United States and the adjacent British colonies.
The question of the fisheries, it was intimated, would also come up.
The American legation replied, that they had instructions upon the first and third propositions, but not on the second, nor on the subject of the fisheries. They also were instructed to obtain a definition of blockade, and to consider claims for indemnity in certain cases of seizure. After some discussion, the American embassy inquired if the pacification and settlement of a boundary for the Indians was asine qua non. The reply was, yes. It was then asked if it was intended to preclude the United States from purchasing lands of the Indians, whose possessions clearly lay within the limits of their territory. An affirmative answer was given. The native tribes were to be kept simply as a barrier between the possessions of the two countries. On being told that no instructions had been given on this point, the English embassy expressed great surprise, and declared that they could do nothing until farther advices from their government. A messenger was therefore despatched to England that night, and the two embassies, after meeting next day to arrange a protocol, adjourned till the decision of the English cabinet could be received.
Nine days after, Lord Castlereagh, elated with his success as English minister to the headquarters of the allied armies, on their way to Paris,—exulting over the downfall of Napoleon, and representing in himself the intoxication of the English people at the overthrowof their rival—haughty, unscrupulous, and overbearing, swept into Ghent with a train of twenty carriages, on his way to the great Congress of Vienna, where European diplomacy, in all its monstrous deformity and rottenness, was to be exhibited to the world.
The next day the embassies met, and the reply of the English government was rendered. In the first place, the Indian boundary question was declared asine qua non. The question then arose, what would become of the hundreds of American citizens residing at that time within the limits thus to be drawn. The reply was, they must shift for themselves.
In the second place, the entire jurisdiction of the northern lakes, extending from Lake Ontario to Lake Superior, where our squadrons were riding victorious, must be surrendered to the British government, the United States not being permitted to erect even a military post on the southern shore, on their own soil, nor keep those already established there. As a backer to this insolent demand, the legation affirmed that the United States ought to consider it moderate, since England might justly have claimed a cession of territory within the States. Beyond Lake Superior, the question of boundary was open to discussion. Another item in this protocol required the surrender of that part of Maine over which a direct route from Halifax to Canada would necessarily pass. When asked whatthey proposed to do with those islands in the Passamaquoddy Bay, recently captured by the English, they replied, these were not subjects of discussion, belonging, of course, to Great Britain. They farther informed the American Legation that this extraordinary and magnanimous offer, on the part of his majesty, was not to remain open for any length of time—that if delay was demanded till instructions could be received from across the ocean on the one single question of Indian boundary, it would be considered withdrawn, and the English government feel itself at liberty to make other and less generous demands, as circumstances might indicate.
To such arrogant claims but one answer could be given, and Gallatin, in sending them home, wrote that all negotiations might be considered at an end, and that no course was left for the United States but "in union and a vigorous prosecution of the war." Mr. Clay accepted an invitation to visit Paris, and Mr. Adams prepared to return to St. Petersburgh.
While this news was slowly traversing the Atlantic in the cartel John Adams, the victories of Brown, Macomb, and Macdonough, were electrifying the nation.
Oct. 10.
On the 10th of October the President transmitted a message to Congress, with the despatches received from Ghent, and the protocol of the English legation. Their reading was listenedto with breathless silence, and as the extraordinary claims set forth by England became one after another clearly revealed, the astonishment of the members exceeded all bounds, and they gazed at each other incredulously. The Federalists were paralyzed with disappointment. The party had never received such a blow since the commencement of the war. Their arguments were prostrated. They had always represented England as desirous of peace, fighting only because she was forced to by a reckless, unprincipled administration and party. Towards the nation at large she cherished no hostile feelings, and entertained no ultimate sinister designs. But the mask was now snatched away, and she stood revealed in all her arrogance and injustice. If any thing more than the ravages on our coast was needed to bind the nation together in one determined effort, it was furnished in these despatches. As the news spread on every side, the passions of men were kindled into rage. What, burn up our victorious war-ships on those great mediterraneans, the command of which had been gained by such vast expenditures and such heroic conduct—abandon forts standing on our own soil, around which such valiant blood had been shed? "Never, never," responded from every lip.
Scarcely less excitement was produced by the discussion of the Indian boundary question. Strippedof its false pretences, it looked solely to the prevention of all settlement on our part, of the North-western territory, and designed to bar us forever from acquiring possessions in that quarter. To give some show of fairness to the transaction, it was proposed that both countries should be restricted from purchasing the land of the Indians, but leave the market open to the whole world beside. In short, that vast territory, including a large portion of Ohio, all of Michigan, Illinois and Indiana, must not only be surrendered by us, but placed under the complete control of the British government, whose ships of war were alone to sail the waters that washed its northern limits, and whose fortifications were to awe the inhabitants that occupied it. Never before had the cry of war rung so loudly over the land, and the nation began to prepare for the approaching conflict with an earnestness and determination that promised results worthy of itself and the cause for which it struggled. The Federalist journals came at last to the rescue, declaring that the terms offered were too humiliating and degrading to be entertained for a moment. Only one paper in Boston was besotted enough to assert that they were honorable and ought to be accepted.
Congress, after the reception of this protocol and the accompanying despatches, took a different tone, and when the question of ways and means for the coming year was taken up, a spirit was exhibited, thatsince the declaration of war, had never been witnessed in its deliberations. The fear and hesitation which were weighing it down, vanished, and it began to assume the character and exhibit the qualities belonging to it, but which the spirit of faction had kept in abeyance. The Legislatures of the different states responded to the sentiments of the commissioners—declaring that the terms proposed were insulting and disgraceful, and called for a vigorous prosecution of the war. New York voted a local force of 12,000 men, and Virginia followed her example.
It was a grand stroke of policy, on the part of the administration, to fling those despatches at once into Congress and thus before the nation. Their sudden publication took the British Ministry by surprise, for it exposed their extraordinary demands to the whole realm, and they remonstrated against such undiplomatic conduct.
Before the Convention of Ghent the English press ridiculed concessions, declaring that punishment must be inflicted on the Americans, and they be chastised into humility and supplication. The war with us was a Lilliputian affair compared to the struggles out of which England had come victorious, and the Convention was not looked upon so much as the meeting of Commissioners to adjust things amicably, as furnishing the opportunity for the American government to make a request to have hostilities cease.But the disasters to Drummond, at Fort Erie, to Prevost at Plattsburgh, and the utter demolition of the British fleet on Champlain, together with the repulse from Baltimore, acted as a condenser on much of this vapor.Nov. 4.The vast expenditures wasted on the Canadian frontier were now all to be renewed, newer and stronger armies were to be transported to our shores, and when the Prince Regent opened Parliament he plainly hinted that it would be well to avoid all this, if possible. The arrival of the despatches which the President had laid before Congress, containing the protocol of the English Embassy, created a deep sensation in both houses of Parliament. The claims set up by the English government were loudly denounced by many of the members, and it was soon apparent that if the war was pressed to make them good, a large opposition party would be formed, not only in Parliament but in the country. Sixty manufacturing towns sent in petitions for peace. Cobbett, who had all along defended the conduct of the United States, was unsparing in his flagellations of the British government, and of those papers that advocated the war.
While the war question was passing through these phases in England, and on the continent, Congress was preparing to call out the whole resources of the country. But a second despatch received from Ghent, stating that negotiations were resumed andthat the British government had receded from the Indian boundary question, awakened lively hopes that peace would be secured.
But the energy with which Congress had entered on the question of ways and means, began to expend itself in party strife. Monroe's plan for raising a standing force of 80,000 men to serve for two years; a bill authorizing the enlistment of minors; and Dallas' National Bank scheme, to relieve the finances of the country, after fierce discussions and many modifications, one after another fell to the ground. In the mean time, the treasury was compelled to subsist on the issue of Treasury notes, which as business paper were worth only 78 per cent.