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.
[Sidenote: 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 that the 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 Treasury notes 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
barbarities at 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_.
[Sidenote: 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 and a
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 all Ghent--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, "_you_ may be, but we are not."
[Sidenote: 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 a _sine 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 overthrow of
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 a _sine 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 what they 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.
[Sidenote: 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 listened to 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. Stripped of 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, that
since 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.
[Sidenote: 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 and that 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.
[Sidenote: Dec. 15.]
New tax bills were soon after passed--laying taxes on carriages
according to their value; 20 cts. per gallon on distilled spirits;
increasing a hundred per cent. the tax on auction duties, and 50 per
cent. on postage. Heavy duties were also placed on most goods of
domestic manufacture, with the exception of cotton, and a direct tax
of six millions was levied on the nation.
As time passed on, and no farther tidings was received from Ghent,
Congress again took up and finally passed the bill for the enlistment
of minors. The Legislatures of Connecticut and Massachusetts
immediately passed acts requiring the judges of these respective
states to discharge on habeas corpus all enlistments made under the
provisions of the bill, and to punish with fine and imprisonment all
who engaged in it, and removed minors out of the state to prevent
their discharge.
These acts of Congress, however, did not avail to help the government
out of the troubles that were once more gathering thick about it.
Everything was at a stand still for lack of funds--even the recruiting
service got on slowly. In the mean time, negotiations for peace did
not wear a very encouraging aspect, while the gain of the Federalists
in some of the states, in the recent elections, and the Hartford
Convention, helped to swell the evils under which the administration
labored.
The conscription scheme would not work in many of the states, and
resort was had to the old system of raising 40,000 volunteers for
twelve months, and the acceptance of as many more for local defence.
[Illustration: Painful March of Volunteers.]
The administration then turned its attention to the navy, the pride
and glory of the country, and a bill was passed Congress authorizing
the equipment of twenty small cruisers. Under its provisions two small
squadrons of five vessels each, one to be commanded by Porter and the
other by Perry, had been set on foot, whose object was to inflict on
the British West Indies the havoc and destruction with which the enemy
had visited our coast. But it was difficult to obtain seamen, as most
of those who had enlisted during the last year had been sent to the
northern lakes to serve on fresh water--a duty always unpalatable to a
sailor. Our vessels of war being blockaded, we had no occasion for
seamen on the coast, and could find employment for them on the lakes
alone. Crowningshield, who had succeeded Jones as Secretary of the
Navy, actually recommended a conscription of seamen.
In the mean time, Great Britain had concentrated in Canada a larger
force than she had ever before assembled there, ready to march on
the states, while Cockburn, in possession of Cumberland island,
threatened the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina with the same
ravages that marked his course in the Chesapeake. Added to all this,
a heavy force was known to be on its way to New Orleans, which the
government had neglected to defend, and hence expected to see fall
into the hands of the enemy. The prospect was black as night around
the administration--not a ray of light visited it from any quarter
of the heavens. Funds and troops and ships had never been so scarce,
while overpowering fleets and armies were assembling on our coasts
and frontiers. [Sidenote: Jan. 17, 1815.] In the midst of all this,
as if on purpose to drive the government to despair, Dallas came out
with a new report on the state of the Treasury, in which he informed
it that the year had closed with $19,000,000 of unpaid debts, to
meet which there was less than $2,000,000 on hand, and $4,500,000
of taxes not yet collected. The revenue was estimated at
$11,000,000, of which only one million was from imports, the rest
from taxes. While he thus exhibited the beggared condition of the
Treasury, he informed the administration that fifty millions would
be needed to meet the expenditures of the coming year, and gravely
asked where it all was to come from. The government looked on in
dismay, and to what measures it would have been compelled to resort
for relief it is impossible to say; but in reviewing that period one
shudders to contemplate the probable results of another year of war,
and another Hartford Convention. But like the sun suddenly bursting
through a dark and ominous thundercloud, just before he sinks
beneath the horizon, came at length the news of the great victory at
New Orleans, and the conclusion of peace at Ghent. Never before was
an administration so loudly called upon to ask that public thanks
might be offered for deliverance from great perils.