USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the commonwealth period. 1775-1820 v. III > Part 39
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" The Senate will not assert that there exists a party - in the two grand divisions in which parties are generally divided in the United States, and on which the Senate are reluctantly compelled to animadvert - which gives countenance to such
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381 .
APPEAL OF THE SENATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
nefarious projects. The great body of the people are Ameri- CHAP. cans. It is the enemies of republics of whom we speak, - mon- IX. archists in principle and by profession, - who disguise not 1812. their enmity to our happy government, and do not conceal their intention to embrace the opportunity of popular disaffec- tion and commotion to attempt a revolution. Deeply impressed with the solemnity of the crisis, and with the dangers attendant on our beloved country, as well from our declared enemy as from our intestine foes, the Senate have contemplated the duties which, as members of the social compact, each individual owes to his country ; and they declare them to be, a firm support of the government of their choice. The rightful authority has decreed. Opposition must cease. He that is not for his coun- try is against it. The precedents on record will serve for your guide. When engaged with this same enemy, our fathers obeyed the calls of their country, expressed through the author- ity of their edicts. In imitation of their example, let the laws . every where be obeyed with the most prompt alacrity ; let the constituted authorities be aided by the patriotic efforts of individuals ; let the friends of the government rally, under committees of public safety, in each town, district, and plan- tation ; let a common centre be formed by a committee in each county, that seasonable information may be given of the move- ments of the enemy ; let our young men who compose the militia be ready to march at a moment's warning to any part of our shores, in defence of our coast. These precautions are rendered necessary against our external foe, and the internal machinations she may again attempt. These measures are sanctified by the example of our fathers in our revolutionary struggle. And, relying on the patriotism of the whole people, let us commit our cause to the God of battles, and implore his aid and success in the preservation of our dearest rights and privileges." 1
. 1 Address of the Senate, 26-28; Niles's Reg. ii. 308, 309.
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382
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE.
CHAP.
1812.
Jun. 26.
IX. The address of the House was couched in different terms. " You are now," it said, "involved in war. The event forms a new era to our national history. It is an event awful, unex- pected, hostile to your interests, menacing to your liberties, and revolting to your feelings. It destroys your confidence in the protection which the constitution intended to afford against all wars repugnant to the interest and will of the people, and proves that your Congress is in greater subjection to executive influence, and to the passions of the few, than to the ascend- ency of dispassionate counsels. But your duties are great in proportion to the magnitude of the exigency, and the trial imposed upon your fortitude and patriotism.
" You are the citizens of one country, and bound to support all constitutional laws, until by a peaceable change of men, you can effect the repeal of such as are obnoxious. You must also defend your country against invasion by any foreign ene- my, without weighing the justice or necessity of the war. We pray you to discourage all attempts to obtain redress of griev- ances by any acts of violence or combinations to oppose the laws. Your habits of obedience to the dictates of duty, your just and temperate views of your social and political obliga- tions, your firm attachment to the constitution, are pledges for the correctness of your conduct. When a great people find themselves oppressed by the measures of their government, - when their just rights are neglected, their interests overlooked, their opinions disregarded, and their respectful petitions re- ceived with supercilious contempt, - it is impossible for them to submit in silence. In other countries, such occurrences pro- duce tumults, rebellion, and civil war. But in our country, a peaceable remedy may be found for these evils in the constitu- tion. Situated, however, as you now are, every man must be quick to discern, and active to supply, this remedy. It must be evident to you that a president who has made this war is not qualified to make peace ; and that the men who have con- curred in this act of desperation are pledged to persevere in
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383
ADDRESS OF THE FEDERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
this course, regardless of all consequences. Display, then, the CHAP. majesty of the people in the exercise of your rights, and, sac- IX. rificing all party feelings at the altar of your country's good, 1812. resolve to displace those who have abused their power and betrayed their trust. Organize a peace party throughout your country, and let all other party distinctions vanish. Keep a steadfast eye upon the presidential election, and remember that if he whose fatal policy has plunged you into this unexampled calamity is again raised to the chair, and if the abettors of war are to be intrusted with conducting it, you will have noth- ing to expect, for years to come, but ' the sword of the warrior, and garments rolled in blood ;' and that if you should, by your aid, accelerate the fall of Great Britain, you would merely deliver over your exhausted country and enslaved pos- terity to the dominion of a tyrant, whose want of power alone restrains him from the exercise of unlimited despotism on the ocean, and the same tyranny in the new world which he has imposed upon the old." 1
The address of the federal members of Congress was equally temperate. "The momentous question of war with Great Britain," it said, "is decided. On this topic, so vital to your interests, the right of public debate, in the face of the world, and especially of their constituents, has been denied to your representatives. They have been called into secret session, on this most interesting of all your public relations, although the circumstances of the time and of the nation afforded no one reason for secrecy, unless it be found in the apprehension of the effect of public debate on public opinion, or of public opinion on the result of the vote.
" Except the message of the president of the United States, which is now before the public, nothing confidential was com- municated. That message contained no fact not previously
1 Address of House, in Columbian Centinel for July 1, 1812; Niles's Reg. ii. 417.
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384
ADDRESS OF THE FEDERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
CHAP. known. No one reason for war was intimated but such as IX. was of a nature public and notorious. The intention to wage 1812. war, and invade Canada, had been long since openly avowed. The object of hostile menace had been ostentatiously an- nounced. The inadequacy of both our army and navy for successful invasion, and the insufficiency of the fortifications for the security of our seaboard, were every where known. They have carefully been kept in ignorance of the progress of measures until the purposes of administration were consum- mated, and the fate of the country sealed. Inta situation so extraordinary, the undersigned have deemed it their duty by no act of theirs to sanction a proceeding so novel and arbi- trary. On the contrary, they made every attempt in their power to attain publicity for their proceedings. All such attempts were vain. When this momentous subject was stated as for debate, they demanded that the doors should be opened.
" It has always been the opinion of the undersigned that a system of peace was the policy which most comported with the character, condition, and prospects of the United States ; that their remoteness from the theatre of contest in Europe was their peculiar felicity ; and that nothing but a necessity abso- lutely imperious should induce them to enter as parties into wars in which every consideration of virtue and policy seems to be forgotten under the overbearing sway of rapacity and ambition. There is a new era in human affairs ; the European world is convulsed. The advantages of our situation are peculiar. 'Why quit our own, to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice ?' 1
" In addition to the many moral and prudential considera- tions which should deter thoughtful men from hastening into the perils of such a war, there are some peculiar to the United
1 Washington.
TOL
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385
ADDRESS OF THE FEDERAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
States, resulting from the texture of the government and the CHAP. political relations of the people. A form of government in no IX. small degree experimental, composed of powerful and inde- 1812. pendent sovereignties, associated in relations some of which are critical as well as novel, should not be hastily precipitated into situations calculated to put to trial the strength of the moral bond by which they are united. Of all states, that of war is most likely to call into activity the passions which are hostile and dangerous to such a form of government. Time is yet important to our country to settle and mature its recent institutions. Above all, it appeared, from signs not to be mistaken, that, if we entered upon this war, we did it as a divided people - not only from a sense of the inadequacy of our means to success, but from moral and political objections of great weight and very general influence.
. " A nation like the United States, happy in its great local relations ; removed from the bloody theatre of Europe ; with a maritime border opening vast fields for enterprise ; with ter- ritorial possessions exceeding every real want ; its firesides safe ; its altars undefiled ; from invasion nothing to fear ; from acquisition nothing to hope, - how shall such a nation look to Heaven for its smiles, while throwing away, as though they were worthless, all the blessings and joys which peace and such a distinguished lot include ? With what prayers can it address the Most High, when it prepares to pour forth its youthful rage upon a neighboring people, from whose strength it has nothing to dread, and from whose devastation it has nothing to gain ?
" It is said that war is demanded by honor. Is national honor a principle which thirsts after vengeance, and is ap- peased only by blood ? - which, trampling on the hopes of man, and spurning the law of God, untaught by what is past and careless of what is to come, precipitates itself into any folly or madness, to gratify a selfish vanity or satiate some unhallowed rage ? If honor demands a war with England, VOL. III. 25
386
STATE OF FEELING AT THE SOUTH.
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CHAP. what opiate lulls that honor to sleep over the wrongs done IX. us by France ? On land, robberies, seizures, imprisonments, 1812. by French authority ; at sea, pillage, sinkings, burnings, under French orders. These are notorious. Are they unfelt because they are French ? Is any alleviation to be found in the correspondence and humiliations of the present minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the French court ? In his communications to our government, as before the public, where is the cause for now selecting France as the friend of our country, and England as the enemy ?
" At a crisis of the world such as the present, and under impressions such as these, the undersigned could not consider the war, in which the United States have in secret been pre- cipitated, as necessary, or required by any moral duty or political expediency." 1
Thus reasoned the two parties for and against the war. Nor should it be forgotten here that the party which favored the war, out of New England especially, was not only stimu- lated to assume a defiant position by the encroachments of Great Britain, and the diffusion through its body of political exiles from England and Ireland, but by the growing spirit of adventure, and the thirst for distinction on the field of battle, which twenty years of foreign disturbance had natu- rally generated. At the south these feelings were more prev- alent than at the north ; for there was a large number of enterprising young men, left in idleness by the institution of slavery, who, as they read of the battles of Europe, sighed for swords and for military glory.2 But the people of Massachu-
1 Address of the House of Reps., passim. Comp. Niles's Reg. ii. 309- 316 ; Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 320-323. The name of Josiah Quin- cy, of Massachusetts, stands at the head of the list of subscribers to this address, and the document was draughted by him, and revised by his associates.
2 Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 318. " If there was a probability of a war with France instead of England," said the republicans, "it would lose all its horrors with the federal party. The Centinel would not then pub lish labored extracts from sermons preached in England, describing the miseries and devastations of war ; no
387
REQUISITIONS UPON MASSACHUSETTS.
setts, who were principally engaged in commercial pursuits, CHAP. and whose spirit of thrift was greater than their thirst for IX. military renown, were inclined to peace- not from cowardice, 1812. nor from a willingness to sacrifice the interests of their coun- try, but from a profound conviction that peace was the policy of the nation, and would subserve its interests better than war. Nor is there reason to question the sincerity of this conviction, whatever may be thought of the correctness of their position.1
The requisition upon Massachusetts for a detachment of militia, which immediately followed the declaration of war, Jun. 22. led to a correspondence between General Dearborn and Gov- ernor Strong, in which the state of public feeling was palpably manifested. General Dearborn had been recently appointed to command the United States troops then stationed in Mas- sachusetts, and, by the authority of the president, wrote to the governor for a detachment of forty-one companies of artillery and infantry, eight of which were to be marched to. Rhode Island, and the rest to be stationed within the limits of Mas- sachusetts. To this requisition the governor made no reply, his objection being that he was in doubt whether the exigency had occurred which the constitution contemplated to justify the president in calling the militia into actual service. The
would there be any combinations among the pretended disciples of Washington for obstructing the na- tional loan. On the contrary, we should be called upon to 'unfurl the American banner against France ;' we should be reminded of the intrepid deeds of Americans during the revo- lution, and of all the ‘pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war.' We should be told that war opened a vast field for the display of enterprise and genius, and afforded high-spirited young men an opportunity of signal- izing themselves. Our choice spirits would all be called upon to spurn the dull pursuits of civil life, and 'use
their action in the tented field.'" Indep. Chronicle for May 14, 1812.
1 The Congregational clergy of Massachusetts very generally depre- cated the war, and a large number of their sermons were printed and cir- culated in the community. Many of these are in the possession of the author, and a still larger number may be found in the Collection of Tracts of the Mass. Hist. Soc., and of the Am. Ant. Soc. Mr. Ingersoll, in his Hist. of the War, i. 52 et seq., con- demns the course of this class of our citizens, and "the eastern pulpit ful- minations against the war."
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388
COURSE OF GOVERNOR STRONG.
CHAP. state was not invaded, nor was it in immediate danger of IX. invasion, whatever the future movements of the enemy might
1812. be.1 There was no intention on his part to resist the laws of the federal government, or oppose their enforcement within constitutional bounds. It was his sincere desire to fulfil as well his duties as the chief magistrate of an independent com- monwealth as to obey the laws of the general government. His situation was peculiar, and in some respects novel. His motives were open to suspicion, should the rancor of party spirit see fit to impeach them ; and there might be a difference of opinion as to the propriety of his course. But he had no alternative save to follow his own convictions, guided by the
1 Speech of Gov. Strong, of Aug. 14, 1812, in Mass. Resolves; Niles's Reg. ii. 286, iii. 116; Bradford, iii. 132, 133. Major General Henry Dearborn, the commander-in-chief of the northern army, and father of Gen- eral H. A. S. Dearborn, was distin- guished as an officer in the war of the revolution, in which he served with credit to himself and his country. Soon after the peace, he moved into the District of Maine, where he was engaged for several years in agricul- tural pursuits. He was also appointed major general of the militia, and elected to represent the district of Kennebunk in the Congress of the United States. On the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency, he was appointed secretary of war; and during a long and arduous discharge of the important duties of his office, even his political enemies gave him credit for the economy, despatch, and punctuality which he introduced into the department. His papers, which are valuable, are in the possession of his grandson, Wm. I. Dearborn, Esq., and are in an excellent state of preservation. His son, General H. A. S. Dearborn, was distinguished for his devotion to the interests of science, and his advocacy of internal improve- ments. He was commissioner on the survey for a canal from Boston to the
Hudson River, in 1825; was chosen first president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in 1829; was one of the proprietors of Mount Au- burn, and laid out the grounds in 1831; was chairman of the building committee of the Bunker Hill Monu- ment Association; wrote upon and advocated the Western Railroad, in 1838; was an advocate of internal improvements in Maine, and visited that state in 1833 and 1850; was a commissioner for establishing the boundary line of Boston Harbor, in 1839; and projected, designed, and laid out the grounds of the Forest Hill Cemetery, in Roxbury, in 1848. MS. notes, furnished by W. L. Dear- born, Esq. See also Niles's Weekly Reg. ii. 177; Indep. Chronicle for May 7, 1812. Of the forty-one com- panies referred to in the text, five were for Passamaquoddy ; one for Machias ; three for Castine ; two for Damariscotta and Wiscasset ; one for Kennebunk ; five for Port- land; four for Marblehead, Salem, Cape Ann, and Newburyport; twelve for Boston; and eight for Rhode Island. MS. Letter of Gen. Dear- born. Letters similar to that sent to Governor Strong were forwarded to Governors Plumer, of New Hamp- shire, Griswold, of Connecticut, and Jones, of Vermont.
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389
CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL DEARBORN.
best light it was in his power to obtain. And that he endeav- CHAP. ored to obtain such light is evident from his applying for IX. advice to his Council, and to gentlemen who were eminent for 1812. their legal abilities.1
Upon the renewal of General Dearborn's call, the governor Jun. 26. again declined calling out the militia. Yet, under his author- ity as commander-in-chief, he issued a general order requiring July 3. them to be in preparation .to march at the shortest notice to any place of danger, for the defence of the inhabitants, agreea- bly to the directions of their immediate officers. Orders were also issued for completing the detachments required in April, and for making the returns without delay to the adjutant gen- eral. Three major generals were likewise designated to take the command of the militia when called into service.2
At this stage of affairs, a letter was received by the gov- July 27. ernor from the secretary of war, urging him to order out the militia, in accordance with the request of General Dearborn ; but the governor declined; and General Dearborn left the seaboard,3 with most of the troops in the forts, and marched July 22.
1 Bradford, iii. 133, 134, and Hist. Fed. Gov't. 185-187, 224, note. Comp. Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 372-374.
2 Bradford, iii. 134, 135, 293-296. Governor Strong was not only cen- sured, at the time, by the friends of the administration, but, subsequently, by some of his own party, for declining to order the militia into the service of the United States, as he was re- quested. But the position assumed by him has often been avowed since, and the same doctrine was asserted by the State of Virginia, and by the government of Connecticut. Comp. Bradford, iii. 140, 142, note, and Hist. Fed. Gov't. 224-227, 246, notes ; Niles's Reg. iii. 4, 5, 22-25. In the schedule of the apportionment of the militia, by virtue of a resolve of Con- gress of April 10, 1812, the quotas are given as follows : -
New Hampshire,
3,500
Massachusetts, .
10,000
Connecticut, .
3,000
Rhode Island,
1,500
Vermont,
3,000
New York,
13,500
New Jersey,
5,000
Pennsylvania,
14,000
Delaware,
1,000
Maryland,
6,000
Virginia, .
12,000
North Carolina,
7,000
South Carolina,
5,000
Georgia, .
3,500
Kentucky,
5,500
Ohio,
5,000
Tennessee,
2,500
100,000
See Niles's Reg. ii. 286.
3 General Dearborn was ordered to Albany June 26, in a letter from Eustis, the secretary of war, to which
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390
THE GOVERNOR'S DEFENCE.
CHAP. to Canada.1 In a subsequent message to the legislature, the IX. governor defended his course on the ground that he "pre- 1812. Oct. sumed, if this state was in danger, the regular troops would not have been ordered to the north-west frontiers ; and if they were so ordered, the militia were not liable to be called into service, and stationed in the forts of the United States to do garrison duty, when no danger of invasion appeared." "I have been fully disposed," he added, "to comply with the re- quirements of the constitution of the United States, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, and sincerely regret that a request should have been made by an officer of the national government with which I could not constitutionally comply. But it appeared to me that this requisition was of that char- acter ; and I was under the same obligation to maintain the rights of the state as to support the constitution of the United States." 2
But whatever may have been the views of the governor or of the people of the policy or expediency of the war with Great Britain, as war was declared by the proper authorities, it was the duty of all to sustain the government.3 Nor were
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he replied July 1, informing that offi- cer of the state of affairs in Massa- chusetts, and at the east generally ; and July 22 he left for Greenbush. Dearborn MSS.
1 Dearborn MSS .; Niles's Reg. ii. 358; Bradford, iii. 135, 136. The letter of Governor Strong, in reply to that of the secretary of war, dated August 5, 1812, is given in Bradford, iii. 136-139. The opinion of the judges with whom he consulted is also given in ibid. 137, note. For the opinions of Lloyd and Otis on this matter, see ibid. 140, 141, note. In the newspapers of the day, this sub- ject was also discussed at length.
2 Speech of Gov. Strong, in Mass. Resolves for 1812; Bradford, iii. 139, 149-152. The correspondence be- tween Governor Strong and General Dearborn has been preserved, and is
in the possession of W. L. Dearborn, Esq. Though not very voluminous, it is quite interesting, not only for the light it sheds upon the views of the parties, but upon the character of the gentlemen who conducted the dis- cussion. Both, it would seem, were sincere in their opinions, and acted from deliberate convictions of duty. The brave old general stood his ground with becoming dignity, and defended his side of the question with ability ; and the letters of Governor Strong were equally able and equally cour- teous. Whatever may be our opin- ions, therefore, of the merits of this controversy, it would be unjust to reflect upon either of the gentlemen concerned in it.
3 " Let me urge upon you," said Dr. Channing, in one of his sermons, " the important duty of cherishing
391
RECEPTION OF THE WAR NEWS IN ENGLAND.
the citizens of Massachusetts chargeable, in this respect, with CHAP. a culpable indifference. For when, in the following month, IX. Captain Isaac Hull, the commander of the frigate Constitution, 1812. attacked and captured the English frigate Guerriere, on his re- Aug.19. turn to Boston he was received by all classes with enthusiastic Aug.30. greetings. A federal salute was fired on the occasion ; three times three cheers were given by the crowd ; and the public dinner was attended by a large number of respectable mer- chants of the town, and by officers of the state and of the nation. The victory was celebrated as an honor to the nation ; party distinctions were for the moment forgotten ; and the rejoicing of the people was for the success of their arms.1
The proclamation of the president declaring war with Eng- land reached that country in July, and was received with surprise.2 On the part of Great Britain, for a time at least,
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