USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 26
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In the spring of 1811, Commodore John Rodgers, the senior officer of the navy afloat, whose pennant was then flying from the President, Captain Charles Ludlow, which lay at anchor in Annapolis Bay, was
1 The portrait of Ebenezer Hazard, an accom- plished author, postmaster of New-York, and later postmaster-general of the United States, is from a
pastel by Duvivier, now in the possession of his son-in-law, the venerable Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Vermilye of New-York. EDITOR.
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NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN
informed that a man had been impressed from an American brig close to Sandy Hook, by an English frigate supposed to be the Guerrière, of thirty-eight guns, Captain James R. Dacres. The commodore at once went on board his own vessel and passed the capes soon after May 1, to inquire into this now unusual procedure. On the 10th, a man-of-war was sighted about six leagues from land, to the south ward of New-York. On nearing each other, shots were exchanged; a broadside followed from the stranger, which did little damage, and was answered by a broadside from the President with fatal results. Satisfied with disabling his enemy, Commodore Rodgers did not push his conquest. The next morning the vessel was found to be his Bri- tannic majesty's ship Little Belt, of eighteen guns. There was, as usual when the British were the sufferers, a dispute as to the ag- gressor in firing the first shot. A formal court of inquiry justified Commodore Rodgers in his course.
Before the close of the year 1811 the demand for vigorous measures grew into a clamor for war with England. The young spirits in Con- gress, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, were eager and impatient. Clay represented the assertive, independent, aggressive element. The control of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth did not satisfy their ambitious ideas; nothing less than the invasion and con- quest of Canada was in their minds, and this they supposed they could achieve by their own militia. The delay of Great Britain in the surrender of the western ports, and her constant intrigues with the Indian tribes on the frontier and covert support of their schemes, were a natural and constant source of irritation. Their military ardor and confidence had been heightened by the signal defeat of the Wabash tribe at Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811, by General William Henry Harrison, with a party of regulars and Kentucky militia. Thus, while the seaboard communities dreaded an open war with England, the whole interior population were eager, even anxious, for a struggle which they believed would end in the final establishment of the rule of the United States over the entire terri- tory of North America. The germ of the conflict of opinion between the New England States, nearly all maritime, and the West, whose only maritime interest was for the freedom of the lakes, which came to the surface in this session of Congress, grew with formidable rapidity, and later nearly rent the Union in twain.
President Madison, in his message of November 5, 1811, announced his reasons for calling Congress together (by proclamation of July 24, 1811) before the usual date of assemblage to be "the posture of foreign affairs," and "the probability of further developments of the policy of the belligerent powers towards this country which might the more unite the national councils in the measures to be pursued."
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NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN
dragged since 1807. Lord Erskine's agreement to settle the affair in 1810 had been repudiated by his chief, Mr. George Canning, the Eng- lish secretary for foreign affairs, and Francis James Jackson, who had been sent out to take his place, had been rejected as a persona non grata by Madison. The act of the Leopard was now disavowed by the British government.1
In the debate on the military bill which ensued on the message, Mr. William B. Giles, senator from Virginia, declared that New-York and New Orleans would be the points attacked by Great Britain, and called on the Senate to defend New-York with all the judgment and skill at their command, fill the fortifications with the full complement of troops amply provided, call on the local militia, "and yet he should not be surprised if the British should get possession of that city." In the course of his remarks he said that the English had in Canada seven to ten thousand regular troops, and twelve to fifteen thousand well-appointed, well-furnished militia, drawn from a popu- lation of nearly three hundred thousand souls, a force which it would need twenty thousand men to subdue." He pointed out that in 1776 we had 46,691 regulars in the field, exclusive of militia.
On December 3, the committee on foreign relations reporting to the House of Representatives that there were but three alternatives left to the United States by the belligerents,-viz., "embargo, submission, or war,"-it was resolved, by a vote of 128 to 62, " that the United States cannot, without a sacrifice of their rights, honor and independence, submit to the late Edicts of Great Britain and France." On the 2d, the Senate resolved "to interdict commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain and France and their dependencies," which carried letters of marque and reprisal. The affirmative vote, in which the senators from New-York joined, was 21 to 12. The same bill was passed in the House by a vote of 74 to 33, Nicholas, Calhoun, and Clay voting against the letters of marque. In the course of the debate Giles charged that Jefferson had intended and Madison did in- tend to allow the English to take New Orleans, and trusted to the West to defend it.
The country now began to pronounce itself. North Carolina .was the first to speak. On December 31, 1811, the general assembly passed resolutions approving the sentiment contained in the message of the president, and unanimously pledging cooperation in the effec- tual enforcement of such "measures as may be devised and calculated to protect the interests and secure the union, liberty, and independence
1 The president also communicated a memorial of Gouverneur Morris and other commissioners on the opening of canal navigation between the great lakes and the Hudson River, a project of which he expressed approval because "some of the
advantages have an intimate connection with ar- rangements and exertions for the general secu- rity."
2 The population of the United States was, by the census of 1810, 7,239,903.
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HISTORY OF. NEW-YORK
of the United States." The general assembly of Virginia adopted resolutions on January 25, which referred only to the wrongs com- mitted by Great Britain under the orders in council. They de- clared "that however we value the blessings of peace and however we deprecate the evils of war, the period has now arrived when peace as we now have it is disgraceful and war is honorable."
The months of January and February, 1812, passed by, and Madi- son was still in doubt, hesitating as to the course to pursue. He gradually yielded to the pressure of the war party, and, fortified by the declaration of his own State, on April 1 he sent to Congress a brief message recommending the immediate passage of an act to impose "a general embargo on all vessels now in port or FORTS FISH AND CLINTON, 1814. hereafter for the period of sixty days." The measure, passed in secret session, was soon known, and many vessels got to sea before it was officially promulgated. It was intended as a note of preparation for war, was so acknowledged to be, and was so understood. The period was extended to ninety days. The first congressional district of Pennsylvania adopted resolutions in May, " approbating the measures of the Government in the preparation for war." The citizens of Arundel County, Maryland, on June 9, 1812, adopted resolutions recommending "the adoption of such measures as may place our country in a state of maritime defence and procure a redress of wrongs from the belligerent nations."
There was a different feeling in New-York and the New England States. On June 9, Mr. Abraham Smith of New-York presented a pe- tition of the most important merchants of the city, praying for a " continuation of the embargo and non-importation acts as a substi- tute for war with Great Britain."1 On June 12 a memorial was 1 Memorial of New- York Merchants, June 9, 1812.
The Memorial of the subscribing Merchants and others inhabitants of the City of New-York re- spectfully showeth.
That your memorialists feel in common with the rest of their fellow-citizens an anxious solicitude for the honor and interest of their country and an equal determination to assert and maintain them.
That your memorialists believe that a continua- tion of restrictive measures now in operation will produce all the benefits while it prevents the calam- ities of war.
That when the British ministry become con- vinced that a trade with the United States cannot
be renewed, but by the repeal of the Orders in Council, the distress of their merchants and man- ufacturers, &c., their inability to support their armies in Spain and Portugal, will probably compel them to that measure. Your memorialists beg leave to remark that such effects are even now visible, and it may be reasonably hoped that a continuance of the embargo and non-importation laws a few months beyond the fourth day of July next will effect a complete and bloodless triumph of our rights.
Your memorialists, therefore, respectfully soli- cit of your honorable body the passage of a law continuing the embargo and giving to the Presi- dent of the United States power to discontinue
235
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN
presented, together with a resolution of the commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, which also deprecated war, reading as follows: "Resolved, As the opinion of this House, that an offensive war against Great Britain under the present circumstances of this country would be in the highest degree impolitic, unnecessary, and ruinous; that the great body of the people of this Commonwealth are decidedly opposed to this measure, which they do not believe to be demanded by the honor or interests of our nation."
The feeling in the New England States generally was opposed to a declaration of open war, and certainly the administration of Mr. Madison took no pains to change its current.1 A memorial of five hundred and thirty-five merchants of Boston, praying for the re- peal or such modification of the non-importation act as would enable "them to receive their property now in Great Britain or her de- pendencies," was rejected by the Senate by a vote of 13 to 6, the legislation asked being judged inexpedient. Rhode Island was more plain-spoken, and on June 9 instructed her senators "to oppose all measures which may be brought forward to involve the country in war."
It would be difficult at this distance of time to understand this in- difference of the maritime section of the country to measures in de- fense of their own dearest rights, did we not take into account the violence of political feeling at this period. The overthrow of the great Federalist party-the party of Washington, and Adams, and Hamilton -still rankled in the minds of their followers. This resentment was aggravated by the radical political opinions held by the con- verts to the new doctrines of equality formulated in France in the declaration of the rights of man in 1789. These were heartily
the whole of the restrictive system on the rescind- ing of the British Orders in Council.
The conduct of France in burning our ships, in sequestrating our property, entering her ports, expecting protection in consequence of the prom- ised repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees, and the delay in completing a treaty with the Amer- ican minister, has excited great sensation and we hope and trust will call forth from your honorable body such retaliatory measures as may be best calculated to procure justice.
John Jacob Astor, Samuel Bell,
Samuel Adams, John F. Delaplaine,
Howland & Grinnell, Peter Stagg,
Edward Slosson, David Taylor,
Israel Gibbs, William Adee,
Isaac Clason,
John T. Lawrence,
John Slidell,
John K. Townsend,
Andrew Ogden & Co., Thomas Storm, Amos Butler,
Ebenezer Burrill,
Isaac Heyer,
Ralph Bulkley,
Stephen A. Rich,
Abraham Smith,
Joshua Jones,
Thomas H. Smith, Jr.,
Frederick Giraud, Jr.,
Andrew Foster,
Robert Roberts,
John Crookes,
Hugh McCormick,
William Edgar, Jr.,
John Depeyster,
Samuel Stillwell, Gilbert Haight,
Jacob P. Giraud,
James Lovett,
John Hone, Leffert Lefferts,
John Kane, Augustus Wynkoop,
Amasa Jackson, John W. Gale,
William J. Robinson, Thomas Rich,
Joseph Strong, Samuel Marshall,
Abraham S. Hallett,
Elbert Herring.
Joseph W. Totten, Isaac Schermerhorn, Alexander Ruden, Joseph Otis. Lewis Hartman. Garret Storm, George Bement,
Jacob Barker, William Lovett,
1 Tyler, in his "Parties and Patronage in the United States" (New-York, 1891), remarks : "Some idea of the national demoralization oc- casioned by the acts of the Federalists may be gained from the fact that the capture and impris- onment by the English of six thousand of our citi- zens cost the New England States (among the first to resist the tyranny of the British in 1775) not one half the concern that the restrictions of the embargo did for a single year." EDITOR.
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While the two extratoities of the Union were thus ranging them- advice under the Imnors of pax and of war, the great controlling minila Stala ammunition of New-York and Pennsylvania were as yet Insulating, watchful, and expectant. New-York was divided in sen- timent, Nowhere were the political lines as strictly drawn as in New- York city, 'The divisions were not recent. The adoption of the consti- tution had only been carried by the persistence of Jay, the magnetism of Hamilton, and the personal appeals of Washington himself. The roks of the federalists had been since recruited from those who med the constitution, and for the logical reason that they repre- souled the established order. The landed proprietors were almost to a man Federalists until the house of Livingston, for some personal affront, went over with its host of followers to the Republicans. Able as Hamilton was as a loader, he found in Governor George Clinton, Washington's malustay in council as in war, an opponent of towering atrongth, tonnotous and independent, as was natural to the Scotch-Irish alook from which he sprung. The autonomy of the State he had failed 1 209is in the popular yearning for a nation; its independence he held that to, The marriage of his daughter with Genet, the French minister, had toought to his banner the entire French party. He had no love For Now Coupland, laxwump of her encroachments on what was claimed Now-Vind foritory in the Hampshire grants-a bone of contention which was a kyway of the colonial period. To him must be ascribed the state of the British plan to separate New England from the rest " the l'une by the establishment of a live of military posts along the Windows and the walrus if Lakes trange and Champlain. While the that thefire in preparation for ingenting war were sounding, George I hinaus who but tus virparaklat of the l'aired States in Jeferson's Bur nun Nan thử ĐÔNG I Mantova thương while vvo in cưve, at his house in I'm on line th Ist. His wrath was reported to the Senate
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 237
George Clinton had been Madison's most formidable competitor for the presidency in 1808. At his death the scepter of his controlling influence passed to his nephew, De Witt Clinton, who was at the time mayor of the city. That gentleman's leanings were, however, toward the Federal opinions, though, in reviewing his independent career, it is difficult to assign him to any single party ex- cept that which in the fluctu- ating politics of New-York city he himself founded. He also became a candidate for the presidential succession; so was James Monroe, secretary of state at this period. Both of these aspiring men were eager for war, and it has been said that their rivalry forced Madison's hand in the de- claration of war. In the in- terim between April 1, when he transmitted his message recommending an embargo, Jacob Morton and June 1, when he sent in the message for war, Madison received his second nomination from the congressional caucus of the Republican party. The period of elec- tion fell in the autumn of the year 1812.
Madison's war message of June 1 was at the same time an insult and a defiance to the New England Federalists. Among the causes for an appeal to arms he included the charge of "a cooperation be- tween the Eastern Tenth and the British Cabinet." He intimated that an agent had been sent by the British government to Massachusetts to intrigue "with the disaffected for the purpose of bringing about resistance to the laws and eventually, in concert with a British force, of destroying the Union and adding the Eastern States to her Canada provinces." The Federal party had complete control in the five States of New England. New-York and New Jersey were rapidly drifting in the same direction. Under the sharp stimulus of Clay's oratory, the war measures were hurried through Congress, and on June 19 Madi- son issued his formal proclamation of war against Great Britain.
The news of the declaration of war reached New-York at nine o'clock on the morning of Saturday, June 20, 1812. A private letter of the 17th brought news that the question had been decided in the Senate of the United States by a vote of 19 to 12. The same mail
Imagina ci of the " National Intelligenceer." published at Wash- ingen in the afinwax of the lich, with the announcement, and an *** arrives at the time with oficial notice to General dimagph balansfield, wasmander of the troops and defenses in and what the hartwer of New-York, whose headquarters were at the fort of this Battery, At half-past nine this officer issued his general ardern, with the announcement to the troops. Messengers passed through the city about ten o'clock for the northern frontier and the anat, General Bloomfield, General Ebenezer Stevens, Colonel Jona- than Williams, Colonel Peter P. Schuyler, and other military offi- cara want on board the President, Commodore Rodgers's flag-ship, at wenn, and the Argus was at once put under way.
"The Columbian" ((lited by Charles Holt), issued that after- moon, expressed the general regret that Congress had procrasti- natoll the declaration until the New-York legislature, which was sit- ting at Albany, should have adjourned, and the express which went out in the morning could hardly reach the State capital in time to prevent its dispersion. Their time expired on July 1. "The Colum- blan," in the same issue, made answer to the slurs cast on New-York for " want of public spirit and ardor in the general defence": "The Minta of Now-York, wo venture to declare, has expended more money on fortifications, cannon, arms, ammunition, and military stores than all the other States in the Union in their individual capacities since the adoption of the federal constitution; and can furnish more of the Implements of war of her own property at an hour's notice than all the other States together." The frigates Congress and United States, from Hampton Roads, and the United States brig Argus, from the Delaware, under orders from the government, arrived the day pre- Flour, The British frigate Belvidere and sloop of war Tartarus, which Here orudding on the Fishing Banks, stood off on their appearance.
The next day it was known that the legislature of the State had myjourney on the Friday preceding, June 19, the very day of the presi- dont's proclamation. The "closing point of the negotiations" was stated in the newspapers to be the positive and official declaration at Ur Mator' the British minister, that "Great Britain will not withdown for orders in council until France sball release the whole
On June 2 General Stevens of the militia, communicated to the
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repeat of the French dverves, as you have a right I want it in your character of a neutral nation. and thực tà be dinvegerei from any question con- werving var maritime rights, we shall be ready to www run with a nuderacion of the Orders in Council Prvvivant to your producing such an theterumtunt whrok I am surry tu me you appear
239
NEW-YORK IN THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN
common council General Bloomfield's general order, and added: "I shall be happy in cooperating with the honorable corporation in any measures which appear advisable for the more complete protec- tion of the city." On Monday, the 22d, the common council en- larged their committee of defense by adding the recorder, Messrs. Augustine H. Lawrence, Elisha W. King, and George Wilson, and Alderman George Buckmaster. The original committee of defense, appointed December 2, 1811, consisted of Aldermen Nicholas Fish, John Morse, Peter Mesier, and Thomas Carpenter, and Assistant Alder- men Samuel Jones, Jr., Peter Hawes, and John Drake. Their term of service was that of the body from which they were drawn,-viz., for three years,- and expired in Decem- ber, 1814. There was a strong mili- tary party in New-York. The So- ciety of the Cincinnati had about fifty members of the New-York State branch resident in the city. Its officers were Colonel Richard Varick, president, and Colonel Ebe- nezer Stevens, of the 2d New-York Continental Artillery (who now com- manded the artillery of the State with the commission of major-gen- eral), vice-president. Among the members were Colonel Aaron Burr; KISSING BRIDGE.1 Matthew Clarkson, major and aide- de-camp; General Benjamin Lincoln; Philip Van Cortlandt, the colo- nel of the 2d New-York Continentals; Major Nicholas Fish, of the Light Infantry; Colonel Morgan Lewis; Lieutenant-Colonel Brock- holst Livingston; Lieutenant-Colonel Marinus Willett; and on the rolls the well-known New-York names of Bleecker, Burrall, Codwise, Duns- combe, Fowler, Giles, Graham, Hammond, Hutton, Leggett, Pendleton, Platt, Popham, Steddiford, Stewart, Swartwout, Troup, and Van Dyck.
The feeling in New-York had been general in opposition to the declaration of war. The newspapers voiced that opinion, but the die once cast, their determination to support the administration in- creased. The Republican general committee, Jonathan Thompson, chairman, and John L. Broome, secretary, issued a call for a general meeting in the park. The Federalists in the city, who outnumbered
1 The Kissing Bridge was situated at Fiftieth street and Second Avenue, crossing a small creek or brook. The old Boston Post Road passed over
it. In 1860 it finally disappeared from among the old landmarks. Drake and Halleck celebrated it in verse. EDITOR.
240
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
the Republicans, naturally held aloof, while there were dissensions in the Republican ranks, the Clintonian branch being larger than the Madisonian. The meeting, by design or inadvertence, was only partially advertised in the newspapers. The gathering, variously estimated from seven to fifteen hundred, was small when the gravity of the situation is considered. It was held in the park at noon on Wednesday, June 24. Colonel Henry Rutgers was called to the chair, and Colonel Marinus Willett was named secretary. The act of Con- gress and the president's proclamation were read, and a preamble and resolutions, which are said to have been drawn by Colonel Rutgers, were submitted and unanimously adopted. These declared the neces- sity and justice of the war, approved the course of the government, and pledged in support "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." They read as follows :
In one of those awful and interesting moments with which it has pleased heaven that States and Kingdoms should at times be visited, we consider ourselves now convoked to express ouf calm, decided, and animated opinion on the conduct of our government.
Pence has ever been considered one of the greatest blessings that an all bountiful Creator has vouchsafed to man upon earth, while war has ever been designated as the scourge of nations ; but the same All wise Providence has likewise permitted that in the events of time such circumstances should accrue to nations as would render it not only necessary, but an absolute duty to abandon the comforts and delights of peace in order that by a solemn appeal to arms they may be enabled to secure to themselves equally important blessings; that by encountering for a time the disasters and vicis- situdes of war they may secure to themselves and transmit to their posterity those in- valuable advantages to which by the laws of nature, of nations and of God they as independent governments are justly entitled.
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