USA > Vermont > Early history of Vermont, Vol. III > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
177
OF VERMONT.
many injuries we have sustained and which our patience and friendly forbearance has suffered too long, injuries committed in a manner unusually barbarous and calculated to fix an indelible stigma." The Assembly also passed a resolve commending the course of the President in the trying occasion and expressed confidence in his wisdom, integrity and ability, and transmitted a copy of them to the President, Thomas Jefferson.
A state of war existed between England and France and they treated all neutral powers as enemies if they continued commercial relations with the nation with which they were at war; consequently these two powers which were at war with each other subjected the carrying vessels and their cargoes of the neutral nations, continuing their friendly and commercial relations with the other nation with which they were at war, to seiz- ure and confiscation contrary to the enlightened law of nations. This position placed the American nation between the " devil and the deep sea." Evi- dently the time was hastening when the United States must either declare war against England or France or both, or continue to submit to the seizure of their vessels and cargoes and destruction of their navy and the cruel and barbarous treat- ment of two arrogant nations. The latter course the United States could not do without losing its honor and self respect.
On Dec. 17, 1807, Bonaparte, by his "Milan Decree" subjected American commercial vessels to seizure, and on April 17, 1SOS, he ordered the seizure and confiscation of all American vessels in
12
178
EARLY HISTORY
France, or that should afterwards arrive there. The policy of England against America continued to be enforced with rigor, and a great number of American vessels, with valuable cargoes, fell into the hands of English cruisers. Nine hundred and seventeen American vessels had been, before 1810, taken by the English since 1803.
On March 23, 1810 Bonaparte ordered the sale and confiscation of one hundred and thirty-two American vessels, (detained in France by previous decree) and their cargoes of the value of $8,000, 000. The French nation had seized, confiscated and destroyed five hundred and fifty-eight vessels. Before the war of 1812 was declared upwards of six thousand cases of impressment were recorded in the American department of State, and in all these the American flag had been violated by England. The French nation laid the blame for these extra- ordinary proceedings at the doors of the English government; that the French justified their course, to retaliate on England for her course and policy against the French nation. The English course and policy was to constrain all neutrals, compris- ing almost every maritime nation of Europe, to pay tribute, if they traded with France or her allies. This was immediately succeeded by the said Milan Decree, declaring that every neutral ves- sel which submitted to the British restrictions, should be confiscated if they were afterwards found in their ports, or taken by the French cruis- ers. This state of affairs existed at the time the American embargo proclamation was issued, This was designed to coerce the belligerent powers
179
OF VERMONT.
to return to the observance of the laws of nations, by witholding from them the advantages of the American trade. In March 1809, a non-inter- course act, prohibiting all intercourse with France or Great Britain during one year, was substituted by Congress for the embargo. This non-inter- course law expired in May 1810, and the national government made proposals to both France and England, that if either would revoke its hostile edicts this law should only be revived and enforced against other nations. It had ever been the Ameri- can policy to observe a perfect impartiality toward each belligerent. The authorities of France in- formed the American officer that the Berlin and Milan decrees were revoked, to take effect the first day of November 1810. England was called upon to revoke her orders of confiscation, but she refused and established a kind of blockading system, through the principal harbors of the United States, so that vessels departing or returning, were boarded and searched, and some of them sent to British ports as legal prizes, and American commerce nearly destroyed, and that of France badly crippled by the powerful British Navy.
The people of the country became very restive under the embargo act of Dec. 22, 1807, and Ver- monters especially under the act of March 12, 18OS, commonly called the "land embargo," which was promulgated simultaneously with the opening. of navigation on Lake Champlain. Under the first named act the attention of Vermont people turned to Canada for a market for their timber, and pot and pearl ashes which were then their chief articles
180
EARLY HISTORY
of export. This market was interfered with by the "land embargo" and the distress of the people, and the zeal of the Federal politicians who made the most of their opportunities, excited great dis- satisfaction with the national government. Smug- gling became a regular business with many and had the sympathy of many citizens. Jabez Penniman the collector of the Vermont District, received the embargo law on April 1, 1808, and he, through the advice of Asa Aldis and C. P. Van- Ness, addressed a letter to Mr. Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, stating it was impossible to exe- cute, the land embargo law, without a military torce. The enforcement of this law brought on the serious affair of the "Black Snake" which has al- ready been referred to in Chapter VI. President Jefferson was fully determined to put an end to the smuggling, and enforced the embargo Acts of Con- gress, and to furnish Collector Penniman with suf- ficient authority and force to enable him to enforce the law in his district. This determination is clearly shown by his letter to the Secretary of the Treasury of April 19, 1808, which is as follows:
"We have concluded as follows: 1st. That a letter from your department to the Collector on Lake Champlain, shall instruct him to equip and arm what vessels he can and may think necessary, and engage as many persons on board them as may be necessary, and as can be engaged voluntar- ially, by force of arms, or otherwise, to enforce the law.
"2d. The Secretary of State writes to the Mar- shall, if the opposition to the law is too powerful
181
OF VERMONT ..
for the collector, to raise his posse, (which, as a peace officer, he is fully authorized to do on any forcible breach of the peace,) and to aid in suppress- ing the insurrection or combinations.
"3d. The Secretary of War desires the Gover- nor, if the posse is inadequate, to publish a proc- lamation with which he is furnished, and to call on the militia. He is further, by a private letter, requested to repair to the place, and lend the aid of his counsel and authority according to exigen- cies.
"We have further determined to build two gun- boats at Skenesborough, [Whitehall, N. Y.]"
The proclamation referred to is as follows:
" By the President of the United States,
A PROCLAMATION.
"Whereas information has been received that sundry persons are combined or combining and confederating together on Lake Champlain and the country thereto adjacent, for the purposes of forming insurrections against the authority of the laws of the United States, for opposing the same and obstructing their execution; and that such combinations are too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals, by the laws of the United States :
"Now therefore, to the end that the authority of the laws may be maintained, and that those concerned, directly or indirectly, in any insurrec- tion against the same may be duly warned-I have issued this my PROCLAMATION, hereby command- ing such insurgents, and all concerned in such com-
182
EARLY HISTORY
binations, instantly and without delay to disperse themselves and retire peaceably to their respective abodes: And do hereby further require and com- mand all officers having authority, civil or military, and others, civil or military who shall be found within the vicinage of such insurrec- tions, to be aiding and assisting by all the means in their power, by force of arms or other- wise, to quell and subdue such insurrection or com- binations, to seize upon all those therein concerned, who shall not, instantly and without delay, dis- perse and retire to their respective abodes; and to deliver them over to the civil authority of the place, to be proceeded against according to law.
"In testimony whereof, I have caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Given at the city of Washington, the 10th of April 1808, and in the sovereignty and independence of the United States the thirty-second." TH: JEFFERSON.
The military power was invoked. On May 5, 1808, by order of Governor Israel Smith, Gen. Levi House ordered out a detachment from the first regiment of his brigade in Franklin County who were stationed at Windmill Point. The spe- cial purpose was to prevent several rafts from passing into Canada. People had been accustomed to take advantage of darkness and a strong favor- able wind and escape into Canada, and this too, af- ter the Franklin County detachment had been called into service to prevent; this called in ques- tion the efficiency of the Franklin County militia. and therefore one hundred and fifty militia on May
1
183
OF VERMONT.
31, 180S, were marched from Rutland County for that service, and were reinforced by a detachment of U. S. Artillery, and all but seventy-five of the Franklin County men were discharged to their great indignation. Later in October of that year all of the Vermont militia were withdrawn and their places supplied by United States troops.
This resort to force by the government served to increase the fervor of the Federal party and gave them the victory at the then ensuing election of State officers.
Early in 1809, after the passage of the new embargo act of Jan. 9, the following circular was sent to Governor Tichenor, prepared by Thomas Jefferson himself for the Governors, viz :
"Sir,-The pressure of the embargo, although sensibly felt by every description of our fellow citi- zens, has yet been cheerfully borne by most of them, under the conviction that it was a temporary evil, and a necessary one to save us from greater and more permanent evils,-the loss of property and surrender of rights. But it would have been more cheerfully borne, but for the knowledge that, while honest men were religiously observing it, the un- principled along our sea-coast and frontiers were fraudulently evading it; and that in some parts they had even dared to break through it openly, by an armed force too powerful to be opposed by the collector and his as- sistants. To put an end to this scandalous insub- ordination to the laws, the Legislature has authorized the President to empower proper per- sons to employ militia, for preventing or suppress-
184
EARLY HISTORY
ing armed or riotous assemblages of persons resist- ing the custom-house officers in the exercise of their duties, or opposing or violating the embargo laws. He sincerely hopes that, during the short time these restrictions are expected to continue, no other instances will take place of a crime of so deep a die. But it is made his duty to take the measure necessary to meet it. He therefore re- quests you, as commanding officer of the militia of your State to appoint some officer of the militia, of known respect for the laws, in or near to each port of entry within your State, with orders, when applied to by the collector of the district, to assemble immediately a sufficient force of his mili- tia, and to employ them efficaciously to maintain the authority of the laws respecting the embargo, and that you notify each collector the officer to whom, by your appointment, he is so to apply for aid when necessary. He has referred this appoint- ment to your Excellency, because your knowledge of characters, or means of obtaining it, will enable you to select one who can be most confided in to exercise so serious a power, with all the discretion, the forbearance, the kindness even, which the en- forcement of the law will possibly admit-ever to bear in mind that the life of a citizen is never to be endangered but as the last melancholy effort for the maintenance of order and obedience to the laws."
In February 1809, meetings were held at St. Albans adopting resolutions strongly condemning the course of the national administration. At this period Gov. Tichenor visited Northern Vermont
185
OF VERMONT.
and it was understood, advised political opposi- tion to the national administration, instead of resistance to the laws by force.
Fresh causes of complaint against England by America multiplied; their unjustifiable intrigue and war-like conduct continued. Great Britain was seeking to dismember the American Union; she sought the renewal of the policy adopted by her as to Vermont from 1779 to 1783, as shown in the Haldimand correspondence.
To bring before the reader the nature of the in- trigue referred to, it will be necessary to present two characters that took leading parts in the in- trigue, James Henry Craig and John Henry. Craig was born in Gibralter in 1749, commissioned as Ensign in the British Army in 1763, and served in America in various positions from 1774 until 1781. He was in the Battle of Lex- ington, Bunker Hill, Hubbardton, and at Free- man's Farm and was severely wounded in the three last. He was made Lieut .- General in 1801, and appointed Commander-in-chief of Canada in August 1807. He proved unfit for a civil station.
John Henry was a native of Ireland and came to Philadelphia about 1794; he possessed consid- erable literary ability. He became naturalized and was appointed Captain in the United States Army in 1798, and commanded at Fort Jay near New York City and at Newport, R. I. He quit the service and settled upon a farm in Vermont, stud- ied law and wrote some violent articles against the Jeffersonian administration. He went to Can- ada in 1808. His strictures in the public print
E
186
EARLY HISTORY
against Republican government attracted the at- tention of the British government and Craig became desirous of his acquaintance and invited him to Quebec. He went to Montreal where he said, "everything I had to fear, and all I had to hope, was disclosed to me." He was sent on a mission to New England and his services there were com- plimented but not rewarded by the British govern- ment; and indignant at this injustice, he revealed the correspondence to President Madison, and re- ceived therefor fifty thousand dollars. The object of England was to concert measures to detach New England and effect a political connection with Great Britain.
On March 9, 1812, James Madison laid before Congress the following message, viz :
"I lay before Congress copies of certain docu- ments which remain in the Department of State. They prove that at a recent period, whilst the United States, notwithstanding the wrongs sus- tained by them, ceased not to observe the laws of peace and neutrality toward Great Britain, and in the midst of amicable profession and negotiations on the part of the British government, through its public minister here, a secret agent of that govern- ment, was employed in certain states, more especi- ally at the seat of government in Massachusetts, in fomenting disaffection to the constituted authori- ties of the nation, an in intrigues with the disaf- fected, for the purpose of bringing about resistance to the laws, and, eventually, in concert with a British force, of destroying the Union and forming the eastern part thereof into a political connection with Great Britain.
:
187
OF VERMONT.
"In addition to the effect which the discovery of such a procedure ought to have on the public councils, it will not fail to render more dear to the hearts of all good citizens, that happy union of these states, which, under Divine Providence, is the guaranty of their liberties, their safety, their tranquility, and their prosperity."
Herman W. Ryland, Secretary to Sir James Craig, Governor General of Canada, on Jan. 26, 1809, addressed a letter to Henry, marked, "Most secret and coufidential," in which he asked Henry to acquaint him for his Excellency's information, whether he could make it convenient to engage in a mission, as indicated above. It seems that Henry accepted the mission and service for Gor- ernor General Craig speaks in his letter to Henry of Feb. 6, 1809, of Henry having "readily un- dertaken the service" and requested him to re- pair to Boston and endeavor to obtain informa- tion of the true state affairs in that part of the Union, and cautioned him as to the true mode of proceeding with his mission; to assertain public opinion, both in regerd to their internal politics and the probability of a war with England; the comparative strength of the two great parties. and their views and designs. In which letter the Governor General stated:
"It has been supposed that if the federalists of the eastern states should be successful in obtaining that decided influence, which may enable them to direct public opinion, it is not improbable that rather than submit to a continuance of the diffi- culties and distress to which they are now subject,
188
EARLY HISTORY
they will exert that influence to bring about a separation from the general union. The earliest information on this subject may be of great con- sequence to our government, as it may also be, that it should be informed, how far in such an event they would look up to England for assistance or be disposed to enter into a connection with us."
He further stated in the letter, "In pass- ing through the State of Vermont, you will of course exert your endeavors to procure all the in- formation that the short stay you will probably make there will admit of," and gave him directions not to address all his letters for him to one per- son but to different persons named. Craig gave Henry the following credentials under his hand and seal: "Sir,-The bearer Mr. John Henry is employed by me, and full confidence may be placed in him for any communication which any person may wish to make to me in the business committed to him." Henry by his letter to the Gov .- General bearing date at Montreal Feb. 10, 1809, acknowl- edged the receipt of the letter of instruction, the let- ter of credence, and the cypher for carrying on the correspondence, and said he had "bestowed much pains on the cypher," and said, "Should it, how- ever, be necessary at anytime, I take leave to sug- gest that the index alone furnishes a very safe and simple mode. In it there is a number for every let- ter in the alphabet, and particular numbers for particular phrases; so that when I do find in the index the particular word I want I can spell it with the figures which stand opposite the letters." Henry on his way to Boston stopped two days at
REPETY!
189
OF VERMONT.
Burlington, to make himself acquainted with the opinion of the leading people. He wrote the Gov .- General from Burlington Feb. 14, 1809, that "on the subject of the embargo laws, there seems to be but one opinion : namely, "that they are unneces- sary, oppressive, and unconstitutional," and that the execution of them is so invidious, as to attract towards the officers of government, the enmity of the people;" he said the Governor of the State was then visiting the Northern part of the State, and that he "makes no secret of his determina- tion, as Commander-in-chief of the militia, to re- fuse obedience to any command from the general government," and he said, "It is farther intimated that in case of war, he will use his influence to pre- serve this State neutral and resist, with all the force he can command, any attempt to make it a party. I need not add, that, if these resolutions are carried into effect, the State of Vermont may be considered as an ally of Great Britain." He could not say what the sentiment was in the east- ern part of the State, but he claimed the leading men of the federal party acted in concert, and therefore inferred that a common sentiment per- vaded the whole body throughout New England, but he had learned there was a very formidable majority in Congress on the side of the adminis- tration. He said there was every reason to hope that the Northern States in their distinct capacity will unite and resist by force, a war with Great Britain. He closed his letter to the Gov .- General by saving, " and everything tends to encourage the belief, that the dissolution of the Confederacy will
190
EARLY HISTORY
be accelerated by the spirit which now actuates both political parties." There was another side of the question that Henry did not care to, or, at least, did not take into consideration. The feeling against Jeffersons administration on account of the enforcement of the embargo laws were much stronger in Northern Vermont than in other parts of the Union, and stronger even than in Eastern and Southern Vermont as the embargo and non- intercourse laws deprived the people in the northern part of the State of their market; and the American people still remembered the cruel and barbarous treatment they received from the British during the Revolution, and that the hardships now they were called upon to endure by reason of the embargo and non-intercourse laws were brought on by the course pursuedby the English nation.
On Feb. 19, 1809, he wrote again from Windsor. He did not find the sentiment so strong against the government. He said, the Democrats assert that in case of war with Great Britain "the people will be nearly divided in equal numbers. This dif- ference of opinion is not to be wholly ascribed to the prejudices of party. The people in the eastern section of Vermont, are not operated upon by the same hopes and fears as those on the borders of the British Colony. They are not dependent on Montreal for the sale of their produce, nor supply of foreign commodeties. They are not apprehen- sive of any serious danger or inconvenience from a state of war." Still he thought that Vermont would in all probability unite with other neighbor- ing States in resistance to a war. Henry next
191
OF VERMONT.
wrote from Amherst, New Hampshire, Feb. 23, 1809, and said he had not had sufficient time nor evidence to enable him to form any opinion of the lengths to which the Federal party will carry their opposition to the National government, in the event of war, but he was not apprehensive of immediate war. He thought means would be taken to excite England to commit some act of hostility so as to place the responsibility on that country. While at Boston, Henry wrote a series of letters from March 5, 1809 to June 25, 1809. In several of his letters he cast a slur upon American political institutions; he said, "there is nothing perminent in its political institutions, nor are the populace under any circumstances to be relied on, when measures come inconvenient and burden- some." Under the date of March 7, he said Con- gress in May would begin by "abrogating the offensive laws." He closes his letter of March 13, by saying, "Although the non-intercourse law affords but a very partial relief to the people of this country, from the evils of that entire suspen- sion of commerce to which they have reluctantly submitted for some time past, I lament the repeal of the embargo, because it was calculated to accel- erate the progress of these States towards a revo- lution that would have put an end to the only re- public that remains to prove, that a government founded on political equality, can exist in a season of trial and difficulty, or is calculated to ensure either security or happiness to a people." He closes his letter of March 29, by saying, "It should be the peculiar care of Great Britain to foster
192
EARLY HISTORY
divisions between the North and South; and by succeeding in this, she may carry into effect her own projects in Europe, with a total disregard of the resentments of the Democrats of this country." In his letter of May 5, he says, "Although the re- cent changes that have occurred quiet all apprehen- sion of war, and consequently lessen all hope of separation of the States; and speaking of Presi- dent Madison, hesays " Whatever his motives may be, I am very certain his party will not support him in any manly and generous policy.
"Weak men are sure to temporize when great events call upon them for decision, and are slug- gish and inert at the moment when the worst of evils is inaction. This is the character of Demo- crats in the Northern States." These expressions show great ignorance on the part of the writer of them or an evil and pusillanimous spirit, and was in fact near the close of a discreditable under- taking; his mission was an utter failure; it did not appear that he succeeded in corrupting the fidelity of any individual and much less in separat- ing any State from the Union.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.