States had been mutually reproaching each other for having violated its
conditions. The former complained that the royalists were prevented from
recovering possession of their estates, and British subjects from
recovering their debts. The Americans, on the other hand, complained
that the British had carried away negroes at the close of the war, and
that they still obstinately retained those military posts in the
north-west, of which such frequent mention has been made. The excitement
against Great Britain received, however, at this moment a great
accession by two orders in council just issued, and by which all British
cruisers were directed to stop and seize all ships laden with provisions
bound for any French port, and to bring them for adjudication into the
British courts of admiralty. These orders, which in fact went to destroy
all neutral trade with the French colonies, produced the utmost
excitement in Philadelphia, and for the moment nothing but war with
Great Britain was talked of. Congress assembled, and a bill was passed
laying an embargo for thirty days, which was again extended to a second
thirty; and it was further debated whether all commercial intercourse
with Great Britain and her subjects, as far as regarded all articles of
British growth or manufacture, should not be discontinued, until she had
acceded to their reasonable demands.
Washington foresaw in these violent measures no other issue than war
with the mother-country, which he desired under every circumstance to
avoid; and believing that the existing differences between the two
countries might be brought to an amicable adjustment, resolved to make
the experiment. Accordingly, Chief-Justice Jay being appointed to this
important mission, embarked on May 13th, being attended to the shore by
a great concourse of people, whom at parting he assured of his
determination to leave no means untried for the security of the
blessings of peace.
This measure being taken for pacific arrangements, congress passed acts
for putting the country in a state of defence. The principal harbours
were to be fortified, as we have before said, and 80,000 militia to be
held in readiness for immediate service; the importation of arms was
permitted free of duty, and additional taxes were levied.
About this time, the afterwards celebrated John Quincy Adams, son to the
vice-president, received his first public appointment as minister at the
Hague, he having already distinguished himself by certain articles in a
Boston paper on Genet’s proceedings, which attracted Washington’s
attention.
Hamilton, at the commencement of this year, resigned his office of
Secretary of the Treasury, and was succeeded by Oliver Wolcot; and at
the close of this session, General Knox having resigned, Timothy
Pickering of Massachusetts was appointed Secretary of War.
Jay was successful in his mission, and early in the following year a
treaty was laid before the Senate for ratification. This treaty provided
that the posts which the British had retained should be given up to the
Americans, and compensation made for illegal captures of American
property; and the United States were to secure to the British creditor
the proper means of collecting debts which had been contracted before
the peace of 1783. It did not, however, prohibit the right of searching
merchant vessels, and thus violated the favourite maxim of the
Americans, that “free ships make free goods.” The treaty was not all
that Washington himself desired; but as no better terms were to be had,
he wisely resolved that, if the Senate approved of it, he would not
withhold his signature.
The country was in a state of angry excitement, and ready to reject
rather than accept it, even before they knew the exact terms of the
treaty, while the Senate, with closed doors, were discussing it and
coming gradually to the decision that it should be ratified. At this
moment an imperfect copy appeared in a newspaper, and Washington then
ordered it to be published.
This was like throwing a lighted brand among combustibles. The partisans
of France assailed it with the utmost violence; an outcry was raised
against it from one end of the Union to the other, as “a pusillanimous
surrender of American rights, and a shameful breach of obligations to
France.” City after city protested against it, and the popular feeling
was expressing itself in acts of outrage and violence, when Washington,
with the prompt decision of a wise governor, after protesting and
remonstrating against such clauses of the treaty as he considered
injurious to the American interests, settled the question by attaching
his signature to the treaty. “As regards this treaty,” says Jared
Sparkes in his Life of Washington, “time disappointed its enemies and
more than satisfied its friends. It saved the country from a war,
improved its commerce, and served in no small degree to lay the
foundation of its durable prosperity. The great points which were said
to be sacrificed or neglected—the impressment of seamen, neutral rights
and colonial trade—have never yet been settled, and are never likely to
be settled while England maintains the ascendancy she now holds on the
ocean.”
Two other treaties were negotiated about the same time; one with
Algiers, by which the commerce of the Mediterranean was opened, and the
prisoners who had been in bondage for many years released; but for this
was paid the large sum of 763,000 dollars, with an annual tribute in
stores of 24,000 dollars, a black-mail which was paid likewise by
various European nations, to secure them from the piracies of the Dey.
The other treaty was with Spain. Spain had long acted towards the United
States in an unfriendly manner. She was fearful lest the principles of
liberty and independence which they had so successfully asserted should
find their way into her contiguous provinces. She had always endeavoured
that the western boundary of this so dangerous neighbour should be fixed
at 300 miles east of the Mississippi, and she denied to the inhabitants
west of the Alleganies access to the ocean by that great river, the
mouth of which was in her province of Louisiana. At length, however,
when at home she became involved in a war with France, and in America
alarmed by the unauthorised preparations making in Kentucky, under the
influence of Genet, to invade Louisiana, she intimated her willingness
to adjust her differences with the United States by treaty. An envoy
extraordinary was therefore immediately despatched to Madrid, and in
October a treaty was signed, by which the western boundary of the
American republic was fixed according to their own claims, the
navigation of the Mississippi made free to both nations, and the
American citizens allowed the privilege of landing and depositing
cargoes at New Orleans.
During the recess of congress, and while the president was busied with
filling up vacancies in his cabinet, the treaty with Great Britain was
agitating the country, and petitions got up against it and numerously
signed were presented to the House of Representatives when the fourth
sitting of congress commenced. By this time, however, the offensive
treaty had been ratified by his Britannic Majesty, and no other means of
opposition now remained to the democratic or French party in the House
of Representatives but to demand from the president the instructions by
which Jay had entered into this negotiation. Washington refused to
comply with this demand, asserting that the power to make treaties was
vested by the Constitution solely in the president, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, and that the House of Representatives had
hitherto acquiesced in this mode of procedure. The malcontents were not
prepared for this refusal, and the debate which it led to was carried on
for many days with great eloquence as well as warmth. But even though
Washington hazarded much in opposing the popular branch of the
legislature, his was not a mind to be swayed by any lesser consideration
from that which he knew to be the true line of duty. He believed that to
yield in this instance would be to introduce a dangerous principle into
the diplomatic transactions of the nation, and he was firm in his
refusal.
The resolution moved in the house, to make the necessary appropriations
to carry the treaty into effect, again called forth violent opposition.
The people themselves now took up the subject also; meetings were held,
and the strength of the two parties fully tried, until at length it was
evident that the majority were in favour of the treaty. Petitions in its
favour were presented to congress; and lastly, Fisher Ames, of
Massachusetts, at that time just risen from his sick-bed, appeared in
the house, pale, feeble, and scarcely able to stand, and spoke with such
irresistible power on behalf of the treaty, that further opposition was
vain. The eloquence of the sick man conquered; and the necessary laws
were passed for the fulfilment of this agitated treaty.
The number of 60,000 inhabitants being required to constitute a state
government, and Tennessee having attained to a still higher population,
was admitted into the Union this year; and Sevier, who had distinguished
himself in the extinct state of Frankland, was elected governor. This
new State was peopled principally from North Carolina. The first
newspaper established at Knoxville was in 1793.
The troubles regarding Jay’s treaty with Great Britain were not yet at
an end. The French government and its partisans in America, who had,
spite of the neutral position assumed by the United States, always
calculated upon substantial aid and service being rendered to France,
were consequently greatly disappointed and annoyed by the line of
conduct which Washington had adopted, and which had tended to knit up,
rather than to dissever, the old relationships between the two kindred
countries. Washington and the federalists were pronounced to be hostile
to the cause of France; to be traitors to their own principles, enemies
to the rights of man, and meanly subservient to Great Britain.
Morris, the successor of Jefferson as American representative in France,
a man of great sagacity and cool judgment, who having taken an active
part in the revolution of his own country, could not yet regard with
satisfaction the means adopted to establish a republic in France, was
looked upon with suspicion by whatever party for the time being held the
reins of government. Accordingly, when the Committee of Public Safety,
under Robespierre and his associates, sent letters of recall to Genet,
they requested also that another ambassador might be sent to supply the
place of Morris. Mr. Monroe, an ardent friend of republican liberty and
the rights of man, was sent over. The fall of Robespierre had taken
place when Monroe arrived in Paris, and the Thermodorians, who were then
in power, received him with considerable coolness, as questioning the
loyalty of the nation which he represented to their great goddess of
liberty.
The new ambassador by his instructions was empowered to contradict the
report circulated in France of the unfriendly feelings of the president
and his party towards the cause of that country. Monroe made the most of
this permission; and Merlin de Douay and he embraced in public, that the
French people might be edified by the spectacle which was to “complete
the annihilation of an impious coalition of tyrants;” and the convention
passed a decree that the “flags of the two republics should be
entertwined and suspended in their hall, in testimony of eternal union
and friendship.” In return, the French colours were sent to America for
the same purpose, by M. Adet, who superseded Fauchet, he being removed
at the fall of the Robespierre faction. These colours were duly
presented on New-year’s-day, 1796, with an address, and the president
replying, the colours were ordered to be deposited with the archives of
the nation.
These theatrical flatteries were, however, but tricks and cajoleries to
induce America to take part in the wars of France; and Monroe, caught in
the snare that was laid, was not long before he wrote to urge the policy
of a loan to France, adding “that the Americans in that case might at
once seize the western posts, and the territory on the Lower
Mississippi, occupied by the Spaniards, and trust to French aid to see
them out of the war—if war should follow, which he did not conceive
likely, either on the part of Britain or Spain, considering the success
of the French arms.”
The schemes of the infatuated Monroe did not meet with that
encouragement in America which he had led the French government to
expect; and Jay’s treaty being about this time ratified, the French
cruisers were ordered to capture, in certain cases, the vessels of the
United States, and several hundred vessels laden with valuable cargoes
were in consequence seized and confiscated.
Monroe, highly unfit for his office, not only displeased the government
at home by his attempt to compromise them, but fell into disgrace at
Paris, because he had failed to bring about that close alliance between
the United States and France which he had promised. He was recalled; and
Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, appointed in his stead, he being
furnished with instructions to use every effort, compatible with
national honour, to restore the amicable relations which had formerly
existed between the two countries.
But events were tending more and more to separate them. The British, at
this time, were endeavouring to complete the conquest of the French
portion of St. Domingo, the defence of which, for the republic, was left
almost entirely in the hands of the black general, Touissaint.
Provisions and horses, purchased in America, had been forwarded in
American vessels chartered for that purpose, for the supply of the
British troops. Adet complained of this, and very soon after had to
communicate the decree of July 14, which empowered the seizure of
American vessels in the West India seas. In November a proclamation was
issued by Adet, commanding, in the name of the French Directory, all
Frenchmen in America to assume the tri-coloured cockade. And this
cockade was at once mounted, not only by Frenchmen, but by the American
partisans of the French Republic. Adet was commencing the career of
Genet.
With the close of 1796, which was now at hand, the time for the election
of a new president was come. Washington, weary of the anxieties and
contentions of public life, had already, in September, published a
farewell address to his countrymen, which bore strongly upon the present
state of public feeling; he emphatically urged the maintenance of Union,
as the palladium of political prosperity and safety; of the Federal
constitution, and of the public credit; he solemnly adjured them to
avoid sectional jealousies and heartburnings, the baleful effect of
party-spirit, and of permanent inveterate antipathies against particular
nations or passionate attachments for others. He dwelt at length on the
policy of an impartial neutrality and of a disconnexion with the nations
of Europe, so far as existing treaties would permit, together with the
dangers of foreign influence.
The address bore directly upon the present position of America with
regard to France, and was, in fact, so important in this respect, that
Adet followed it up with a manifesto which, like the address, was
circulated through the newspapers and intended to counteract its effect.
Washington, as president, met the national legislature for the last time
in December, and his last words in that character were a fervent desire
“that the virtue and happiness of the people might be preserved, and
that the government which they had instituted for the protection of
their liberties might be perpetual.”
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.
Had Washington been willing to accept the presidentship yet a third
time, the wishes of the nation would gladly have retained him in that
office; but this not being the case, the two great political parties
were each anxious to see its leader at the head of the administration.
The federalists claiming to be the sole adherents of the measures
adopted by Washington, and dreading the influence of French sentiments
and principles, made the most active efforts to elect John Adams; while
the republicans, declaring themselves to be the only true friends of
liberty, and accusing their opponents of a dangerous tendency to Great
Britain and her institutions, were no less strenuous to elect Thomas
Jefferson. The result of the election was that Adams was president, and
Jefferson vice-president.
The new president was inaugurated on the 4th of March, Washington being
present as a spectator, and well pleased to see his place filled by one
whom he considered worthy of so high a trust.
Scarcely had the president assumed his authority, when intelligence
reached him that the Directory of Paris had refused to receive Pinckney,
announcing to him “their determination not to receive another
minister-plenipotentiary from the United States, until after the redress
of grievances demanded of the American government, and which the French
Republic had a right to expect from it;” and immediately afterwards he
was compelled, by a written mandate, to quit the territories of the
French Republic.
Congress was immediately called, and met on the 15th of June, when this
extraordinary aspect of affairs was submitted by the president to their
consideration. Wishing still to preserve peace and friendship with all
nations, so far as was compatible with the honour and interests of the
United States, the president proposed to institute a fresh attempt at
negotiation; but earnestly recommended it to congress to provide in the
meantime effectual measures of defence.
As a last effort, therefore, to effect a negotiation, three
envoys-extraordinary were appointed, at the head of whom was Pinckney,
then at Amsterdam. Their instructions were to establish peace and
reconciliation by all means compatible with the honour and the faith of
the United States; but to impair no national engagements; nor to permit
any innovations upon those internal regulations for the preservation of
peace which had been deliberately and uprightly established; nor yet to
surrender any rights of the government. These ambassadors, also, the
Directory refused to receive. Proposals however were made to them, which
proceeded verbally from Talleyrand, the French minister for foreign
affairs, through inofficial persons. A large sum of money was in the
first place demanded, preparatory to any negotiation being entered into.
To this insulting proposal no other reply than an indignant negative
could be returned; and when the demand was persistently urged, the
envoys broke off any further communication; on which two of them, who
were federalists, were ordered to leave France, while the third, who was
an acknowledged republican, was permitted to remain.
When these events were known in the United States, they excited
universal indignation. For the moment party animosity seemed to be at an
end, and one universal sentiment prevailed, “millions for defence, not a
cent for tribute.” The treaty with France was declared by congress to be
void, and authority was given for seizing French armed vessels.
Provision was made for raising a small standing army, the command of
which was offered to General Washington, who accepted it with
reluctance, though entirely approving of these measures. General
Hamilton was appointed second in command, and a naval armament decided
upon.
[Illustration: TOMB OF WASHINGTON.]
The French had already commenced depredations on the American commerce,
and reprisals soon followed. In February, 1798, the French frigate
L’Insurgent, of forty guns, which had captured the American schooner
Retaliation and carried her into Guadaloupe, was compelled to strike her
colours to the American frigate Constellation, after a close engagement
of an hour and a half, her loss being much the greater. This victory on
the side of the United States soon produced overtures from the Directory
at Paris, on which Adams immediately appointed Oliver Ellsworth,
chief-justice of the United States, Patrick Henry, late governor of
Virginia, and William Van Murray, minister at the Hague, to conclude an
honourable peace. On their arrival in Paris, they found the Directory
overthrown, and Napoleon Bonaparte at the head of the government, with
whom a treaty of peace was satisfactorily concluded on September the
30th, 1800; after which the provisional army was disbanded by order of
Congress.
Washington, though he took the supreme command of the army, never
believed that the French would actually invade the United States. He was
not, however, permitted to witness the re-establishment of peace. On the
14th of December, 1799, he calmly and peacefully expired, after an
illness of twenty-four hours, at Mount Vernon, his beloved residence, in
the sixty-seventh year of his age. The whole nation mourned his loss.
Congress was in session at Philadelphia when the news of this melancholy
event reached that city, and both houses immediately adjourned for the
remainder of the day. On assembling the next morning, the House of
Representatives resolved that the chair of the speaker should be
shrouded in black; that the members should wear mourning during the
remainder of the session; and that a committee of both houses should be
appointed “to consider on the most suitable manner of paying honour to
the memory of the man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his fellow-citizens.”
The Senate testified their respect in a similar manner, and the joint
committee of the two houses appointed—that a marble monument should be
erected to commemorate the great events in the military and political
life of Washington; that an oration suitable to the occasion should be
pronounced in presence of both houses of congress; and that the people
of the United States should wear crape on their left arms for thirty
days.
“No formal act of the national legislature was, however, required,” says
Jared Sparkes, “to stir up the hearts of the people or to remind them of
the loss which they had sustained in the death of a man whom they had so
long been accustomed to love and revere, and the remembrance of whose
deeds and virtues was so closely connected with that of their former
perils, and of the causes of their present prosperity and happiness. The
mourning was universal. It was manifested by every token which could
indicate the public sentiment and feeling. Orators, divines,
journalists, and writers of every class, responded to the general voice
in all parts of the country, and employed their talents to solemnise the
event, and to honour the memory of him who, more than any other man, of
ancient or modern renown, may claim to be called THE FATHER OF HIS
COUNTRY.”
Both in France and England also was a tribute of respect paid to the
memory of this truly great man. On the 9th of February, soon after the
news of Washington’s death reached France, Napoleon Bonaparte, then
first consul, issued the following order of the day to his army:
“Washington is dead! This great man fought against tyranny; he
established the liberty of his country. His memory will always be dear
to the French people, as it will be so to all freemen of the two worlds;
and especially to French soldiers, who, like him and the American
soldiers, have combated for liberty and equality.” It was likewise
ordered that for ten days black crape should be suspended from all the
flags and standards throughout the Republic. A funeral oration in honour
of Washington was also pronounced in the Hôtel des Invalides, then
called the temple of Mars, the first consul and all the civil and
military authorities being present. The news of Washington’s death
arrived in England at the time when the British fleet, which had chased
the French fleet into the harbour of Brest, was lying at Torbay, and
consisted of nearly sixty ships of the line. Lord Bridport, who had the
command, on hearing the intelligence, ordered his flag half-mast high,
which example was followed by the whole fleet.
During the summer of 1800 the seat of government was removed to the city
of Washington, in the District of Columbia, of which we have already
spoken. During the same year the territory between the western boundary
of Georgia and the Mississippi river, and a portion of the north-west
territory called Indiana, were erected into a distinct government,
called the Mississippi Territory.
As the time approached for the election of a new president, the two
parties made again the most strenuous efforts each to acquire the
direction of government. Adams had been elected by the predominance of
federal principles, but several things had occurred in his
administration which had not only weakened his personal influence, but
rendered the party to which he was attached unpopular with the majority.
The acts by which the army and navy had been strengthened, and which had
placed 80,000 militia at his command, were regarded by the democratic as
indications of a wish to subvert the spirit of republican government;
while the Alien and Sedition Laws, to which he had given his sanction,
completed his unpopularity, and fomented party animosity to an extent
which had never been equalled, and tended greatly to the overthrow of
the federal party.
The federalists supported for the approaching election Adams and General
Pinckney, the democratic party Thomas Jefferson and Colonel Aaron Burr.
The two latter were found to have a small majority, the whole of the
republican party having voted for them, with the intention of Jefferson
being president and Burr vice-president. On counting the votes, however,
it was discovered that both were equal; the selection, therefore, of the
president devolved upon the house of representatives, who, voting by
states, according to the constitution, should decide between the two.
Again and again and yet again the balloting was repeated in the house,
and the result always the same; nor was it until the thirty-sixth
balloting that one altered vote turned the scale in Jefferson’s favour.
He became president, and Aaron Burr vice-president. To guard against the
recurrence of such a difficulty, Article XII. was added to the
Constitution.
Tucker, in his life of Jefferson, thus describes the scene which the
house of representatives presented on this extraordinary occasion: “The
business of the house being confined to balloting, and the result always
showing an adherence by every member to his first purpose, some of the
members conducted themselves in one way and some in another, according
to their various characters and tempers; a portion of the republican
party, gloomy, suspicious, and resentful, auguring the worst
consequences and preparing their minds for the most desperate results;
others, more sanguine, looking forward to a happy termination of the
conquest, which they laboured to bring about by the arts of blandishment
and conciliation. A few, quietly and steadily doing their duty,
determined neither to frustrate the wishes of the people, by changing
their votes, nor to submit to any unconstitutional expedient which a
majority of both houses might venture to resort to. The federal party,
conscious of not having the approbation of the people, exhibited less
variety of emotion; they justified themselves by the exercise of a
constitutional right, and thought it prudent and decent to conceal their
secret satisfaction of vexing and embarrassing their adversaries.”
On the election of Jefferson, all the principal offices of the
government were transferred to the republican party; Madison was
appointed to the department of state; the system of internal duties was
abolished, together with several unpopular laws which were enacted
during the last administration.
A second census of the United States was taken in 1801, giving a
population of 5,319,762, presenting an increase of 1,400,000 in ten
years. During the same time the exports had increased from nineteen to
ninety-four millions of dollars, and the revenue from 4,771,000 to
12,945,000. A wonderful increase, which has scarcely a parallel in the
history of the progress of nations, excepting it may be in some
extraordinary cases, like those of California and Australia under the
gold impulse, but which as regards the United States must be attributed
only to sound laws and political institutions, as well as to the
enterprising and industrious habits of the people.
In 1802 the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, and the following
year the first states convention met. Within thirty years from the time
when its first settlement of forty-seven individuals was made at
Marietta the number of its inhabitants exceeded half a million, and from
this extensive and important tract slavery was entirely excluded.
The right of depositing merchandise at New Orleans, which had been
granted to the citizens of the United States by the Spanish governor of
Louisiana, in a late treaty, and which was absolutely necessary to the
people of the western states, was withdrawn this year, and caused a
general agitation. A proposal was made in congress to take forcible
possession of the whole province of Louisiana; but milder measures were
adopted, and the right of deposit was restored. In the year 1800,
Louisiana had been secretly ceded to France, and Jefferson, in 1802,
opened a private correspondence with Livingston, in Paris, on the
subject of this cession. The United States had hitherto, he said,
considered France as their natural friend, but the moment she became
possessed of New Orleans, through which three-eighths of the produce of
the Americans must pass, she would become their natural enemy. The case
was different with a feeble and pacific power like Spain; but it would
be impossible that France and the United States could continue friends
when they met in so irritating a position. That the moment France took
possession of New Orleans, the United States must ally themselves with
Great Britain; and, he asked, was it worth while for such a short-lived
possession of New Orleans for France to transfer such a weight into the
scale of her enemy? He then artfully suggested the cession of New
Orleans and the Floridas; but adds, and even _that_ they would consider
as no equivalent while she possessed Louisiana.
In January, 1803, agents were sent over to negotiate the purchase of
Florida; but instead of the purchase merely of New Orleans and the
Floridas, as had been planned, they were able to effect that of all
Louisiana, equal in extent to the whole previous territory of the United
States. They owed their good fortune to the war which was so suddenly
renewed between France and England, when the government of France,
convinced that the possession of Louisiana would soon be wrested from
her by the superior naval power of England, readily consented to make
sale of it to a third power, and the rather, as the money was very
acceptable at that time.[70]
For the trifling sum of 15,000,000 dollars the United States became
possessed of that vast extent of country embracing the present State of
Louisiana, which was called “the Territory of Orleans,” as well as of
“the District of Louisiana,” embracing a large tract of country
extending westward to Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The treaty was
concluded at Paris in 1803. The area of the country thus ceded was
upwards of 1,000,000 square miles, but all, excepting a small
proportion, occupied by the Indians, its natural proprietors. Its
inhabitants, chiefly French, or the descendants of the French, with a
few Spanish creoles, Americans, English and Germans, amounted to between
80,000 and 90,000, including about 40,000 slaves.
About the same time the United States acquired another considerable
extent of territory. The Kaskaskia Indians, occupying the country which
extended along the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Illinois to the
Ohio, and which is considered the most fertile in the Union, finding
themselves so reduced by wars and other causes as to be unable to defend
themselves from the neighbouring tribes, transferred their country to
the United States, reserving only for agricultural purposes sufficient
to sustain the remnant of the nation. For this valuable acquisition the
United States engaged to extend to them protection, and give them annual
aid in money, implements of agriculture, and other articles of their
choice.
In 1803 an appropriation was made by congress for defraying the expenses
of an exploring party across the continent to the Pacific. This was a
scheme which the president had much at heart, and under his auspices it
was carried out; Captain Meriwether Lewis being at the head of the
expedition, while second in command was Captain Jonathan Clarke, brother
of George Rogers Clarke, and under them twenty-eight well-selected
individuals, with an escort of Mandan Indians. The expedition set out on
May 14th, 1804.
Since 1801 war had existed between the United States and Tripoli.
Without going into minute details of this war, we will follow the
abstract given of it by Willson. “In 1803 Commodore Preble was sent into
the Mediterranean, and after humbling the emperor of Morocco, he
appeared before Tripoli with most of his squadron. The frigate
Philadelphia, under Captain Bainbridge, being sent into the harbour to
reconnoitre, struck upon a rock, and was obliged to surrender to the
Tripolitans. The officers were considered prisoners of war, but the crew
were treated as slaves. This capture caused great exultation to the
enemy; but the daring exploit of Lieutenant, afterwards Commodore
Decatur, humbled the pride which they felt in this accession to their
navy.
Early in February of the following year, Lieutenant Decatur, under the
cover of evening, entered the harbour of Tripoli, in a small schooner,
having on board but seventy-six men, with the design of destroying the
Philadelphia, which was then moored near the castle, with a strong
Tripolitan crew. By the aid of his pilot, who understood the Tripolitan
language, Decatur succeeded in bringing his vessel in contact with the
Philadelphia, when he and his followers leapt on board, and in a few
minutes killed twenty of the Tripolitans and drove the rest into the
sea.
“Under a heavy cannonade from the surrounding vessels and batteries, the
Philadelphia was set on fire, and not abandoned until thoroughly wrapt
in flames; when Decatur and his gallant crew succeeded in getting out of
the harbour without the loss of a single man. During the month of
August, Tripoli was repeatedly bombarded by the American squadron, under
Commodore Preble, and a severe action occurred with the Tripolitan
gunboats, which resulted in the capture of several, with little loss to
the Americans.
“At the time of Commodore Preble’s expedition to the Mediterranean,
Hamet, the legitimate sovereign of Tripoli, was an exile, having been
deprived of his government by the usurpation of a younger brother. Mr.
Eaton, the American consul at Tunis, concocted with Hamet an expedition
against the reigning sovereign, and obtained from the government of the
United States permission to undertake it.
“With about seventy men from the American squadron, together with the
followers of Hamet and some Egyptian troops, Eaton and Hamet set out
from Alexandria towards Tripoli, a distance of 1,000 miles across a
desert country. After great fatigue and suffering they reached Derne, a
Tripolitan city on the Mediterranean, which was taken by assault. After
two successful engagements had occurred with the Tripolitan army, the
reigning bashaw offered terms of peace, which being considered much more
favourable than had before been offered, were accepted by Mr. Lear, the
authorised agent of government.”
Sixty thousand dollars were given as a ransom for the unfortunate
American prisoners, together with an agreement to withdraw all support
from Hamet.
In July, 1804, General Hamilton, the present head of the federalist
party, fell in a duel fought with the vice-president, Aaron Burr, who
having lost the confidence of the republicans, and despairing of
re-election either as president or vice-president, had offered himself
as candidate for the office of governor of New York. He was not elected,
and attributing his unsuccess to the influence of Hamilton with his
party, sent him a challenge, and Hamilton’s death was the result.
This autumn closed Jefferson’s first presidential term, and the general
prosperity which prevailed gained for him the national favour. Summing
up in short the events of his administration, we find that, by a steady
course of economy, although he had considerably reduced the taxes, the
public debt was lessened 12,000,000 of dollars; the area of the United
States about doubled, and the danger of war with both France and Spain
averted; the Tripolitans chastised, and a large and valuable tract of
Indian land acquired.[71]
Jefferson was re-elected president, and George Clinton, late governor of
New York, vice-president.
The wars which raged in Europe in consequence of the French revolution
began now to be seriously felt even in America. Napoleon was emperor of
France, triumphant and powerful, with most of the European nations under
his feet, while England, alone remaining untouched and undaunted,
carried on the war against him with more determined resolution than
ever. America, profiting by the destruction of the commerce of other
nations, entered with her neutral ships into every port, thus
maintaining her commercial relations with every country, however hostile
to each other. English and American ships were at this time almost the
only ones on the ocean.
Already, early in the war, American ships conveying the produce of the
French colonies to Europe, were seized and condemned by British
cruisers; and now still greater difficulties and impediments were thrown
in the way of the neutral trader. In May, 1806, England declared every
European port under the control of France, from Brest to the Elbe, in a
state of blockade, and every American vessel attempting to enter any of
them was captured and condemned. In return, Napoleon declared the
British Islands in a state of blockade, by which means the neutral
American vessels, trading to any of the British ports, were liable to be
seized and condemned by the French. These measures so detrimental to the
commerce of the United States, caused loud complaints from the
merchants, who demanded from the government redress and protection.
But this was only a portion of the grievance to which this great
European war gave birth in America. England assumed “the right of
search,” which had long been offensive to the Americans, and by this
means citizens of the United States, on the plea of their being British
subjects, that is, born Britons though naturalised Americans, were
seized under the barbarous law of impressment, dragged from their
friends, and compelled to serve as British marines, and fight against
nations at peace with their own. The three presidents had, each in his
turn, remonstrated against this iniquitous law, but in vain; every year
added to its enormity; and at length, in June 1807, an event occurred
which brimmed the cup of popular indignation against Great Britain. The
frigate Chesapeake being ordered on a cruise to the Mediterranean, when
at only a few leagues’ distance from the Virginia coast, was come up
with by the Leopard, a British ship of war, commanded by Vice-Admiral
Berkeley; and an officer came on board with an order to search her for
four deserters from the Melampus, and supposed to be serving among her
crew. Commodore Barron, who commanded the Chesapeake, politely replied
that he was not aware of such persons being in his crew; that he wished
to preserve harmony with the British commander, but that he never
allowed the crew of any ship under his command to be mustered by any
officers but his own.
The Leopard, on this manly reply, ranged alongside of the Chesapeake,
and commenced firing upon her. The Chesapeake was unprepared for action,
and lost three of her men, and eighteen more being wounded, Commodore
Barron ordered his colours to be struck. The commander of the Leopard
sent an officer on board, mustered the crew, found the men whom he
wanted, and then abandoned the ship.
The Chesapeake returned immediately to Hampton Roads, whence she had
sailed, and carried with her intelligence which set the whole United
States in a flame, more especially as it was proved that three of the
men thus seized were American citizens, who had been impressed for the
British service and afterwards escaped. The president, on this
information, interdicted by proclamation the entrance of any armed
British vessel within the harbours or waters of the United States; and
an envoy was sent to London to demand satisfaction for this outrage, and
security against any further aggression. Vice-Admiral Berkeley was in
consequence recalled; two of the men who had been taken as deserters
were sent back to America, and a proclamation issued forbidding any
further search in national ships of neutral nations for deserters. But
this did little, as the celebrated orders in council were published by
the British government in November, which prohibited neutrals, except on
humiliating terms, from trading with France or her allies; which, in
fact, was equivalent to excluding them from almost every port in Europe.
Napoleon retaliated, of course, by his Milan decree, which rendered
every vessel trading with Britain, or submitting to search by her,
liable to confiscation if found near his ports or by his cruisers. Thus
were the neutral ships of America still endangered by both belligerent
powers.
In return for these vexatious measures, congress, in December, passed a
bill laying an embargo; “so that all American vessels were prohibited
from sailing to foreign ports, all foreign vessels from taking out
cargoes, and all coasting vessels were required to give bond to land
their cargoes in the United States. This embargo was strongly opposed by
the federalist party, and great were the complaints of a total stop
being thus put to foreign commerce. All, however, hoped for a favourable
result from a measure which, if it were seriously felt by the United
States, would, it was believed, be still more seriously felt by their
enemies.”[72]
This embargo failed to obtain any concession from France and England,
and being in itself so injurious to the commercial interests of the
United States, was repealed in 1809, at which time, however, congress
interdicted all commercial intercourse with France and England.
Such was the situation of the country when Jefferson, having been eight
years in office, and following the example of Washington, refused to
accept of re-election, prepared to retire from the administration. But
before we speak of this event, we must briefly return to a cause of
anxiety and agitation, originating in the designs of the late
vice-president, Aaron Burr.
Burr, while in office, offended both prevailing parties. The federalists
by his fatal encounter with Hamilton, who was the idol of that party;
and the republicans by his supposed intrigues against Jefferson. Under
these circumstances, finding himself everywhere unpopular, he retired as
a private citizen to the newer western states. Here, restless, scheming
and ambitious, he engaged in an enterprise the full scope and intention
of which seems never to have been completely fathomed. With the
ostensible design of forming a large agricultural settlement on the
banks of the Washita in Louisiana, he put himself at the head of a great
number of people, who were armed and organised, and for whose use boats
were purchased and built on the Ohio. The nature of his preparations,
which had a warlike rather than a peaceful character, and the
disclosures of some of his associates, led to the supposition that his
real object was of a very different character—was, in fact, no less than
to separate the western states from the Union, to add Mexico to them,
and place himself at their head. “Nothing,” says the President
Jefferson, writing on this subject to La Fayette, “has more strongly
proved the innate force of our form of government than this conspiracy.
Burr had probably engaged 1,000 men to follow his fortunes, without
letting them know his projects, otherwise than by assuring them that the
government approved of them. The moment a proclamation was issued,
undeceiving them, he found himself left with about thirty desperadoes
only. The people rose in a mass wherever he went, and by their own
energy the thing was crushed in an instant, without its having been
necessary to employ the military excepting to take care of their
respective stations. His first enterprise would have been to seize New
Orleans, which he supposed would powerfully bridle the upper country,
and place him at the door of Mexico.”
“Burr was arrested in the Mississippi territory, in January 1807, and
brought before the highest court in the territory. Here making a
favourable impression on the grand jury, he moved to be discharged, but
this being refused, he made his escape with a single companion, and was
again taken on his way to Florida. Carried now to Richmond, in Virginia,
for trial, the whole United States waited with intense interest for the
result. The former character and station of the accused, the novelty and
boldness of his enterprise, the air of mystery in which it was involved,
all contributed to the excitement. Nor was party-spirit inactive, the
federalists, spite of his offences against them, wishing to prove him
innocent, for the sake of thwarting the executive and proving the
president vindictive and tyrannical.”[73]
The trial commenced in May, and on the 23rd of June the grand jury found
him and several of his associates guilty of treason. He was then
committed to prison, but on the plea of such close confinement being
likely to affect his health, he was removed to a publichouse with a
guard over him. On the 3rd of August, the court having adjourned so
long, he was put on his trial, and on the last day of that month was
discharged, on the plea that there was not sufficient evidence to prove
his guilt. The republican party attributed this result to the interest
of the faction which chose to support him for political purposes, and
the case probably might not have ended here, had not the public mind
been at that very time diverted by subjects of yet greater interest.
These were the British interference with American commerce and shipping,
and the affair of the Chesapeake, which electrified the nation to its
remotest extremities, and fused all party animosities for the moment
into one general indignation; and Burr, taking advantage of this removal
of public attention from himself, sailed for England, where he was
afterwards suspected of being an agent of mischief to the United
States.[74]
CHAPTER XIX.
ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON—WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
On March 4th, 1809, James Madison was elected president, and George
Clinton re-elected vice-president. The embargo, as we have said, was
repealed, though commercial intercourse with France and England was
still prohibited. It was, however, provided that if either nation
revoked her hostile edicts, the prohibition should cease by proclamation
from the president to that effect. Soon after the accession of the new
president, therefore, Mr. Erskine, the British minister plenipotentiary
to the United States, having informed him that the British orders in
council should be repealed by the 10th of June, the renewal of
commercial intercourse with Britain was proclaimed for the same day. But
the British government disavowed the acts of its representative; the
orders in council remained unrepealed, and non-intercourse was again
proclaimed.
In March, 1810, Napoleon retaliated the act of congress forbidding the
vessels of the United States to enter the ports either of France or her
allies, by the decree of Berlin, which ordered all American vessels and
cargoes arriving in any of the ports of France, or the countries
occupied by French troops, to be seized and condemned. In November,
however, of the same year, these hostile decrees were revoked by France,
and commercial intercourse was renewed with that country.
But England would revoke nothing, and the feeling between the two
countries grew daily more and more hostile, although the ultra-Whigs in
England, as the federalists in America, used their utmost to bring about
amicable relationships between the two countries. In March, 1811,
Pinckney, the American minister, was suddenly recalled from London; and
British ships being stationed before the principal harbours of the
United States for the purpose of enforcing the British authority, open
acts of hostility took place in May of the same year. The British
frigate Guerrière, exercising the assumed right of search, carried off
three or four natives of the States from some American vessels,
whereupon orders came down from Washington to Commodore Rodgers to
pursue the British ship and demand their own men. Rodgers sailed from
the Chesapeake on the 12th of May, in the President frigate, and not
meeting with the offending Guerrière, fell in with a smaller vessel, the
Little Belt, towards evening of the 16th of May. The President was a
large ship, the Little Belt a small one; the President hailed, and in
return, the Americans declared, a shot was fired. The British, on the
other hand, declared that the President fired first; however that might
be, a severe engagement took place, the guns of the little Belt were
silenced, and thirty-two of her men killed and wounded. Through the
night the two ships lay at a little distance from each other to repair
their damages, the British ship being almost disabled.
This was the muttering of the thunder before the storm; an earnest of
that which was approaching. But before we proceed to the actual breaking
out of the war, we must turn for a moment to the West, where a hostile
confederacy and formidable preparations were discovered among the
Indians, fomented by the British in Canada. At the head of this alarming
confederacy was the great Shawanese chief, Tecumseh, and his twin
brother, Laulewasikaw, who, in order to give to their undertaking a
solemn and mysterious character, had assumed the name of the Prophet,
and who, pretending to direct communication with the Great Spirit,
acquired a powerful influence over the awestruck Indians, who implicitly
obeyed his commands.
Tecumseh, who had been always hostile to the whites, and active in the
later efforts against them, was a man of powerful mind, and possessed of
all those stoic qualities which give a grandeur even to the most savage
nature. He was in the battles of the confederated tribes in the late
war, and one of those who, in opposition to the advice of the Little
Turtle, rejected peace; and when finally peace was made at Greenville,
he retired with the Prophet to the Pottawattamies, Wyandots, and other
tribes, over whom the two, and especially the latter, gained a powerful
ascendency, even to the extent of causing to be put to death some of the
oldest and most powerful chiefs of various tribes. Tecumseh and his
brother, as we have said, were enemies of the white intruders, and the
object of all their endeavours was to be rid of these troublesome
guests. For several years, therefore, the frontier inhabitants in the
vicinity of the sources of the Mississippi had suffered grievously. At
length, in the autumn of 1811, Indian hostilities having assumed an
alarming and frightful character, Governor Harrison, of the Indiana
territory, was directed by congress to march towards the residence of
the prophet on the Wabash, and put a stop to their barbarities. On the
7th of November, having reached the vicinity of the prophet’s town, he
was met by a deputation of chiefs, who, in the name of the prophet,
offered peace and submission, requesting him to encamp for the night.
Suspecting treachery, General Harrison ordered his men to sleep on their
arms, and long before dawn the faithless Indians made their attack. A
bloody battle ensued, but the Indians were routed; and after totally
destroying the prophet’s town, and establishing a strong fort, the
American general retired to Vincennes. Tecumseh was not in this fight,
but at that time engaged in inciting the more distant tribes. This
victory produced peace for a season.
Erskine, the British minister, was replaced by Mr. Foster, who was
empowered to make restoration for the damage done to the Chesapeake, to
restore the men forcibly taken from her, and offer pecuniary
compensation to the families of those seamen who had fallen in the
action. Admiral Berkeley had been deprived of command in consequence of
his majesty’s displeasure; and, in fact, every possible concession was
made, excepting that which America required, viz. to give up the
impressment, and to revoke the orders in council. America had just
reason to complain; for these orders, now that a free commerce was
restored with France, were enforced with greater rigour than ever, and a
great number of richly-laden American ships destined for the ports of
France had fallen into the hands of British cruisers.
In November, the president recommended that the United States should be
put in an attitude of defence, and congress agreeing thereto, provision
was made for the increase of the regular army to 35,000, and also for
the enlargement of the navy. The president was empowered to borrow
eleven millions of dollars; the duties on imported goods were doubled,
and taxes laid on domestic manufactures and nearly all descriptions of
property. Early in April, 1812, congress passed an act laying an embargo
of ninety days on all ships and vessels of the United States. This was
intended to lessen the number of trading vessels that would otherwise be
at the mercy of England when war was declared, and which, in fact, were
comparatively useless in any case, for commercial intercourse had now
been so long suspended or intercepted that grass grew on the deserted
wharfs of New York and Philadelphia. By the end of May, most of the
fast-sailing ships, brigs, and schooners of their merchant service, were
fitted out as privateers or men of war. On the 4th of June a bill passed
the house of representatives declaring war against Great Britain, and on
the 17th the senate, and two days afterwards the president, issued a
proclamation of war. This decisive act did not, however, meet with
universal approbation. The federalist party, occupying generally the
northern and eastern states, and strongly attached to Britain, put forth
their solemn protest against the war; and when the news reached Boston,
many citizens appeared in mourning, and the church bells were tolled.
Exertions were immediately made to enlist 25,000 men; to raise 50,000
volunteers, and to call out 100,000 militia for the defence of the
sea-coast and frontiers. Henry Dearborn, one of the few surviving
officers of the revolutionary war, was appointed major-general and
commander-in-chief, and his head-quarters were at Greenbush, near
Albany, on the Hudson.
At the time of the declaration of war, General Hull, governor of
Michigan, was at the head of 2,500 men, well supplied with artillery and
ready to march, but waiting then at Detroit, the capital of Michigan,
for orders; the intention being to invade Canada. The English were,
however, on the alert; and Major-General Brocke, knowing of the
gathering of Hull’s forces at Detroit, and believing that war was
inevitable, sent discretionary orders to the British officer in charge
of Fort St. Joseph to act against the enemy as should appear advisable.
Hull, also, had received discretionary orders to invade Canada, “if
consistent with the Safety of his own posts.” On the 12th of July,
therefore, he crossed the river Detroit and encamped at Sandwich,
intending to march upon the British post at Maldon, or Amherstburgh, a
stronghold of the British and their Indian allies. From Sandwich, Hull
issued a bold proclamation inviting the _oppressed_ citizens of Canada
to throw off their allegiance to the British and become citizens of the
Republic. Brocke also began to move, and on the 27th of July surprised
the American post at Mackinaw, which Hull had left singularly unaware of
present circumstances, and the commandant of which received the first
knowledge of the declaration of war by being summoned to surrender to a
combined British and Indian force, and who not being prepared to defend
the place, having but fifty-seven men, surrendered, thinking himself
fortunate to obtain for his little band the honours of war. Thus was one
of the strongest positions in the United States placed at once in the
hands of the British. Nor was this all; Major van Horne, who had been
sent by Hull to convey a party bringing up provisions to his camp, was
attacked by a united force of British and Indians, headed by Tecumseh,
and defeated.
Hull lay inactive for a month in Canada, Amherstburgh in the meantime
being reinforced, and then suddenly re-crossed the Detroit on the night
of the 7th of August, to the bitter vexation and disappointment of his
troops, and encamped under the walls of Detroit. Colonel Procter was
despatched after him by Major-General Brocke, and advanced to Sandwich,
where batteries were raised, and where he was presently joined by Brocke
with reinforcements. On the very day after Hull reached Detroit, having
sent 600 of his best troops again to convey provisions, they were
attacked in the woods by a British and Indian force, again under the
terrible Tecumseh, and a severe fight took place upon the very ground
where Van Horne had before been defeated.
On the 16th of August, Major-General Brocke crossed the river a few
miles above Detroit without interruption, and immediately marched
against the American works with about 700 British troops and 600
Indians. The American troops, advantageously posted and outnumbering the
enemy, anxiously awaited the order to fire, when, to their unspeakable
astonishment and indignation, they were suddenly ordered to retire
within the fort, on the walls of which they beheld a white flag in token
of submission. The indignation of the army was so great, that, crowding
into the fort without any orders, many it is said wept; others, in
stacking their arms, dashed them violently on the ground.
Not only the army at Detroit, but the whole territory, with all its
forts and garrisons, were surrendered to the British. The British were
as much astonished at this surrender as the Americans themselves.
General Hull, being exchanged for thirty British prisoners, was
arraigned before a court-martial. He was acquitted of treason, but
convicted of cowardice and unsoldierlike conduct, and sentenced to
death, but was afterwards pardoned by the president in consideration of
his revolutionary services. His name, however, was struck from the rolls
of the army.
Leaving Colonel Proctor to hold possession of the Detroit frontier,
Brocke moved off rapidly along the Niagara frontier, from which quarter,
also, arrangements had been made, during the summer, for the invasion of
Canada, and where a body of troops was collected, under command of
Stephen van Rensselaer. Early in the morning of Oct. 13th, a detachment,
under Colonel Solomon van Rensselaer, crossed the river and gained
possession of the heights of Queenstown, on which was a small battery.
At the moment of success the enemy received a reinforcement, under
General Brocke, and a long and obstinate engagement ensued, in which the
gallant Brocke was killed; and spite of all the exertions General van
Rensselaer could make the republicans retired with great loss. A
singular circumstance occurred on this disastrous day. General van
Rensselaer commanded the militia of New York, in the ranks of which
federalist principles were very prevalent; when, therefore, they were
needed to support their failing brethren on the other side of the river,
they refused to embark, on the plea that they had scruples of conscience
against carrying offensive war into the British territories.
Soon after the battle of Queenstown, General van Rensselaer retired from
the service, and General Alexander Smyth, of Virginia, assumed the
command; and issuing an address, announcing that he would retrieve the
honour of his country by another attack on Canada, he invited the young
men of the country to share in the glory of the enterprise. Between
4,000 and 5,000 responded to his call; but after storming a battery on
Black Rock and thus opening a way for the much-vaunted undertaking, it
was suddenly abandoned; the troops, to their great astonishment, were
recalled, and sent into winter-quarters.
In the meantime, Ohio and Kentucky had collected forces for the support
of Hull, which were on their march to Detroit when the news of the
surrender of that post met them. Harrison, governor of the Indiana
territory, who possessed the entire confidence of the West, and
brigadier-general in the army, was appointed by congress to the command
of these forces, amounting to nearly 10,000. With these he marched to
the north-western parts of Ohio, to protect the country against the
incursions of the Indians, which were becoming more and more terrible
every day.
On the 2nd October, 2,000 mounted volunteers from the territories of
Indiana and Illinois assembled at Vincennes, under the command of
General Hopkins, and on the 10th, set out on an expedition against the
Kickapoo and Peoria towns. On the fourth day, alarming masses of smoke
and flame, advancing with the wind, were seen in the distance, by which
they perceived that the Indians had set fire to the long thick grass of
the prairie over which they had to pass. The troops became mutinous, and
demanded to return. Hopkins called a council of his officers, and agreed
to take the sense of the army. The majority were for returning. The
general, mortified at this result, commanded the army to follow him
onward; but they turned their horses’ heads and rode off almost to a
man. Hopkins could do no less than follow. With better success, the same
officer, in the month of November, marched from Fort Harrison against
the Prophet’s town and a Kickapoo village, which were both destroyed.
Nor were the achievements of the republican forces under Dearborn
calculated to retrieve the honour of the American arms. A detachment
marched from Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain, a short distance into
Canada, where they surprised a small body of combined British and
Indians, and destroyed a considerable quantity of stores. That was the
extent of their operations. After the misfortunes of Detroit and
Niagara, the army in all its branches seemed paralysed.
While defeat and disgrace, however, attended the arms of the republic by
land, the most brilliant success crowned their efforts on sea.
On August 19th, Captain Isaac Hull, commanding the Constitution of
forty-four guns, engaged the British frigate Guerrière of thirty-eight
guns, that very frigate which had been the great cause of quarrel about
the English deserters, and after an action of half an hour, nearly every
mast and spar being shot away, Captain Dacres, who commanded the
Guerrière, struck his flag. One-third of the crew were either killed or
wounded, while the American vessel lost only seven, and eight men
wounded. The Guerrière was so shattered that it was impossible to get
her into port, and she was burned. Again, on the 18th of October, the
American sloop Wasp, of eighteen guns, commanded by Captain Jacob Jones,
had an encounter with the British frigate Frolic, of twenty-two guns,
which after a bloody fight of three-quarters of an hour, was boarded by
the Americans, when only three officers and one seaman were found on the
forecastle, while the decks, slippery with blood, were covered with the
dead and dying. The Frolic lost eighty men, the Wasp only ten. The Wasp,
with her prize, was captured the same day by a British seventy-four. A
few days after, the frigate United States, commanded by Captain Decatur,
engaged the British frigate Macedonian. The action lasted nearly two
hours, when the Macedonian struck her colours, being nearly disabled,
and her loss amounting to upwards of 100 men, while the Americans lost
but five, and eight wounded. This engagement took place near the Canary
Islands, and the prize was brought safely into New York harbour.
Finally, in December, the Constitution, now commanded by Commodore
Bainbridge, achieved a second victory, after a most desperate encounter
with the Java, of forty-nine guns and four hundred men. The combat took
place off the coast of Brazil; nor did the Java strike her flag until
she was a mere wreck, with 161 killed and wounded. Like the Guerrière,
she was burned. These naval victories were peculiarly gratifying to the
Americans, especially as being gained on an element where the American
citizens had suffered so much. Many British merchantmen were also
captured by American privateers, which now issued from every port. Above
300 prizes was taken in the first seven months of the war.
As regards this extraordinary series of naval successes, the English
naval historian records, that “the Java, for instance, was perhaps the
worst-manned ship that we ever had afloat. Our Admiralty, obliged to
keep at sea in all parts of the world such an immense number of men of
war, straitened in their finances, and finding it difficult to obtain at
short notice crews for all their ships, had certainly sent to sea a
great many vessels exceedingly ill-manned. The Java had been patched up
and commissioned only on the 17th of August of the present year. The
greatest difficulty was to provide her with any crew; sixty-nine
Irishmen were on board who had never been to sea before. She appears to
have had but eight tried and excellent seamen; and including officers,
not fifty on board had ever been in action before. The Constitution, on
the other hand, had a crew consisting entirely of able-bodied and
practised sailors, there being the usual proportion of deserters from
English ships, and of other subjects of Great Britain, _whose treason
and dread of the gallows disposed them to fight desperately_.” Such was
the consolation which England took to herself in this hour of
mortification.
Very soon after declaration of war, the United States communicated to
Great Britain her willingness to pacificate on condition that the orders
in council should be repealed, the impressment of American seamen
discontinued, and those already impressed restored. These conditions,
however, were rejected by Lord Castlereagh, then Secretary of Foreign
Affairs, although negotiation was entered upon and an armistice
proposed. The arbitrary conduct of the British government towards
America met with strong opposition even in England. On June 16th, Mr.
(now Lord) Brougham, who had always strenuously advocated the revocation
of these orders in council, moved an address to the Prince Regent,
beseeching him to recall or suspend the orders, and to adopt such other
measures as might tend to conciliate neutral powers. Lord Castlereagh
opposed the motion, but stated that government intended to make a
conciliatory proposition to the United States; and accordingly on the
23rd of June the orders in council were revoked as far as regarded
America. Great Britain still, however, reserved to herself the right of
impressment, and the United States, rejecting negotiation on these
terms, prepared to prosecute the war.
As regarded pacification with Great Britain, the Emperor Alexander of
Russia offered himself as mediator between the two countries; and the
United States sent over three commissioners, one of whom was John Quincy
Adams, empowered to negotiate with deputies clothed with similar
authority on the part of Great Britain; they were also authorised to
conclude a treaty of commerce with Russia, and to strengthen the
amicable relationships between the two countries.
On the 4th of March, 1813, James Madison was re-elected president, and
Elbridge Gerry was elected vice-president.
In June, bills passed congress authorising the construction of four
ships, carrying each seventy-four guns, and six frigates each of
forty-four guns. The military service was also to be increased; a loan
of 16,000,000 of dollars for the present was also authorised, with the
issue of treasury notes to the amount of 5,000,000 more.
The scene of military operations in 1813 comprehended the extensive
northern frontier. At the opening of the campaign, the army of the west,
under General Harrison, lay near the head of Lake Erie; the army of the
centre, under General Dearborn, between lakes Erie and Ontario; and that
of the north, under General Hampton, occupied the shores of Lake
Champlain. The invasion of Canada was still the object of the American
armies.
Sir George Prevost, governor of Canada, and commander-in-chief, could
not bring any great force into the field, but his numbers were
formidably increased by a vast number of Indian auxiliaries. The defence
of Upper Canada was committed to Colonels Proctor and Vincent, and that
of Lower Canada to General Sheafe.
The head-quarters of Harrison were Franklinton, in Ohio, and thence
Brigadier-General Winchester, an old revolutionary officer, marched in
advance to attack a party of the British stationed at Frenchtown,
twenty-six miles from Detroit. The British were routed, and Winchester
encamped in the open field outside the town; and here on the morning of
the 22nd of January, they were suddenly attacked by Colonel Proctor,
who, with about 500 British and an equal number of Indians, had marched
from Amherstburgh. The surprise was complete; and though the Americans
rallied and made a desperate defence, their generals, Lewis and old
Winchester, were taken prisoners; the latter by Round-head, a famous
Indian chief, who, before surrendering his prisoner to the British
colonel, stripped him of his hat and uniform, which he himself assumed.
A more disastrous fight, or one characterised by more horrible detail,
never occurred. It is said that Proctor assured his prisoner Winchester
that if his men would surrender they should be preserved from the savage
barbarities of the Indians, on which he ordered his men to give up their
arms. Proctor, however, did not keep faith, and the promised protection
was not afforded. The town was burned, and the savages held a carnival
of blood and horror. Five hundred were killed, and the same number made
prisoners. The victory and the account of spoils obtained at Frenchtown
brought down the warlike tribes from the Wabash, and even the
Mississippi, to join the British arms, whose honour was tarnished by
suffering these savage barbarities to be enacted under their banner. In
July the Six Nations declared war against the Canadas, and the United
States, following the example of the British, accepted the services of
the Indians. General Harrison was so dismayed at the fate of Winchester,
that leaving Franklinton he erected Fort Meigs, near the rapids of the
Miama River, which falls into Lake Erie; and here, on the 1st of May, he
was besieged by Colonel Proctor, with a force of 1,000 British and 1,200
Indians. On the 5th of May, General Clay advanced with 1,200 Kentuckians
to his relief, and although with considerable loss, attacked and
dispersed the besiegers, on which a great number of the British Indian
allies, notwithstanding the entreaties of Tecumseh, who was faithful to
the cause he espoused, deserted; and the Canadian militia-men, greatly
to the disgust of Colonel Proctor, retired to their farms, after which
he returned with but few followers to Amherstburgh.
Pursuant to the law passed by congress, efforts were made to build and
equip fleets upon the lakes. The preceding year the Americans possessed
but one brig of sixteen guns on Lake Ontario; but by April of the
present year, Commodore Channing, the naval commander on that station,
had built and equipped a squadron sufficiently powerful to contend with
that of the British. On the 25th of April, 17,000 troops were conveyed
in the new flotilla across the lake, from Sackett’s Harbour, for the
attack on York, the capital of Upper Canada, the depository of British
military stores. On the 27th the troops landed, headed by General Pike,
and, though opposed by a strong force of British and Indians, who were
soon driven back to the garrison, a mile and a half, carried one battery
by assault, and were still advancing, when the powder-magazine blew up,
hurling immense quantities of stone and timber upon the advancing
troops, and killed many. Pike received a mortal wound; but his troops,
after a moment’s halt, pressed forward, and soon gained possession of
the town. Sir George Prevost, who seems to have been a man of great
indecision, if not of cowardice, is blamed severely by the British
historians for having ordered a retreat before their own case was
hopeless. York being gained, the squadron and troops returned to
Sackett’s Harbour, after which they attacked Fort George, situated at
the head of the lake, which, after a warm engagement, was abandoned by
the British, who, headed by General Vincent, retreated to a good
position on Burlington Bay.
While the American army was thus employed, Sir George Prevost having
learned that General Dearborn had left Sackett’s Harbour with but a
small garrison, despatched Commodore Yeo, commander of the British fleet
on Lake Ontario, to gain possession. On the morning of the 29th, about
1000 British troops landed, but were repulsed by General Brown, and
re-embarked so hastily, as to leave their wounded behind.
In the latter part of July, about 4,000 British and Indians, the former
under General Proctor, the latter under Tecumseh, again appeared before
Fort Meigs, now commanded by General Clay. After waiting a few days, and
not succeeding in drawing out the garrison as he hoped, Proctor withdrew
his forces and proceeded to Fort Stephenson, at Sandusky, which was
garrison by 120 men, under Major Coghan, a young man of one-and-twenty.
The defence of this place was one of the bravest on record. The British
were repulsed with great loss, and fled so precipitately that they left
behind them a quantity of clothes and military stores.
While all this was going forward on land and on the inland seas, the
coast was harassed by predatory warfare carried on by large detachments
from the British navy. One squadron stationed in Delaware Bay captured
and burned every merchant ship they could seize, while another burned
the farms and houses along the Chesapeake Bay; several towns also were
burned. Various naval actions took place. On the 23rd of February,
Captain Lawrence, in the Hornet sloop-of-war, encountered the Peacock
sloop-of-war, which was, after an engagement of fifteen minutes, so much
damaged that she sank, and spite of every effort of the captors to save
the lives of those whom they had just attacked, she went down with
thirteen men on board. On his return to shore, Captain Lawrence was
appointed to the command of the Chesapeake frigate, then in harbour at
Boston. For several weeks the British frigate Shannon, of equal force,
commanded by Captain Broke, had been cruising before the port,
challenging to combat any American frigate. It had already been
triumphantly sung in England,
And as the war they did provoke,
We’ll pay them with our cannon
The first to do it will be Broke,
In the gallant ship, the Shannon.
This challenge was accepted by Captain Lawrence, and on the 1st of June,
the Chesapeake sailed to meet her rival. Towards evening of the same day
they met, and instantly engaged with unexampled fury. In a very few
minutes the challenge was decided against the Chesapeake; every officer
capable of taking command was killed or wounded; Captain Lawrence
received a mortal wound, and the rigging was so cut to pieces, that she
fell on board the Shannon. Lawrence received a second wound and was
carried below. At the moment when Broke boarded her, Lawrence was asked
if her colours should be struck. “No,” replied he, “they shall wave
while I live!” But her colours were struck already, and the gallant and
brave young man, delirious with suffering, cried continually for four
days while life lasted, “Don’t give up the ship!” an expression which
became consecrated to his countrymen. The Shannon carried her prize into
Halifax, and there poor Lawrence died, and was buried, his pall being
borne by the oldest captains in the British navy, who mourned for him
with generous sympathy. War makes such men enemies, and their _duty_ it
is to kill each other!
The next encounter at sea was disastrous likewise to the Americans, the
sloop Argus being taken in St. George’s Channel by the British sloop
Pelican. The commander of the Argus was mortally wounded, and was buried
with honour in England; and soon after the brig Enterprise, commanded by
Lieutenant Burrows, captured the British brig Boxer, commanded by
Captain Blyth. Both commanders were killed in the action, which took
place off the coast of Maine, and were interred side by side with
military honours at Portland, their bodies being rowed to land by
masters of vessels, with the funeral stroke of the oar, while
minute-guns were fired by the vessels in harbour.
From sea-fights we now pass on to an encounter between the British and
American squadrons on Lake Erie. The American squadron was commanded by
Commodore Perry, a young inexperienced man, that of the British by
Captain Barclay, a veteran who had lost, like Nelson, one arm while
serving under that commander. On the 10th of September, the British
commander not having a single barrel of flour left, and no alternative
but attempting to clear the lake or starvation, accepted the offer of
battle. The wind changed immediately after he had sailed, giving the
Americans the advantage. Perry, forming his line of battle, hoisted his
flag, and the words of the dying Lawrence, “Don’t give up the ship,” met
the eyes of all and were hailed with universal acclamations. Since that
day they have become the motto of the American navy. The firing
commenced about noon, and being directed principally against the
Lawrence, the flag-ship, she soon became unmanageable, having all her
crew, with the exception of four or five, killed or wounded. Commodore
Perry then left her in an open boat, and transferred his flag to the
Niagara, which, passing through the British, poured broadsides into five
of the vessels at half pistol-shot. Towards four o’clock every vessel
had surrendered. The day, however, was not lost to the British until the
first or second in every vessel had been killed or dangerously wounded.
Poor Barclay’s one arm was shattered before he left the deck. Commodore
Perry gave intelligence of the victory to General Harrison thus
laconically: “We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two
brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.”
This defeat rendered the rapid retreat of General Proctor and the Indian
chiefs who were with him inevitable. They therefore began to dismantle
the forts, and to abandon all the positions on the Detroit, thus leaving
the Michigan territory again in the possession of the Americans. But
they could no longer retreat without fighting. General Harrison passed
over between 5,000 and 6,000 men, and interposed between Proctor and the
country to which he was directing his steps. On the 5th of October, a
severe battle was fought at the river Thames, when the British army was
taken by the Americans. On this day the famous Tecumseh was slain,
bravely fighting in the thick of the battle. Six hundred of the British
were made prisoners. Proctor escaped with 200 cavalry. Among the
trophies of the victory were six brass field-pieces, which had been
given up by Hull, on two of which were inscribed the words, “Surrendered
by Burgoyne at Saratoga.”
By this victory was broken up the great Indian confederacy, in which,
though 3,000 warriors still remained, the bond of union was gone with
Tecumseh. The Ottawas, Chippewas, Miamis, and Pottawattamies, now sent
deputies to General Harrison and made treaties of alliance with the
Americans.
But before this confederacy was broken, in the month of August, the
Creeks and Seminoles, who had been visited by Tecumseh, and into whom he
had breathed his hatred of the whites, had commenced a cruel war against
the frontier inhabitants of Georgia, in which nearly 300 white
inhabitants had been fearfully massacred. On this, General Jackson, at
the head of 2,500 volunteers of Tennessee, marched into the Creek
country, while Georgia and Mississippi sent upwards of 1,000 more.
Battles were fought at divers places with their wild sonorous Indian
names—Tallushatchea, Talladega, Autosse, Emuefau, and others—in all of
which the Indians were defeated. The last stand of the Creeks was at the
great bend of the Tallapoosa, called by the Indians Tohopeka, and by the
whites Horse-shoe-bend. Here about 1,000 of their warriors had assembled
in a strong fort, which was soon compassed by a detachment under General
Coffee to prevent escape. The main body advanced under General Jackson;
the outworks were carried, and the Indians seeing no chance of escape,
and scorning to surrender, fought till nearly all were slain. Only two
or three Indian warriors were taken. This was the last effort of the
Creeks; their power was broken, and the few remaining chiefs gave in
their submission.[75]
CHAPTER XX.
EVENTS OF 1814, AND CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.
During the year 1814 the Americans again prepared for the invasion of
Canada, but no ground was gained. Without going into minute details, we
will content ourselves with giving the principal warlike events of the
year, whether in the North or the South.
Early in the season, General Brown was detached from the army of General
Wilkinson at Sackett’s Harbour, where he had been assiduously
disciplining his army, to the Niagara frontier. At the beginning of July
he crossed the Niagara, took Fort Erie, and advanced into Canada. When
he reached the British lines of Chippawa, he found General Riall
strongly entrenched there. A sanguinary conflict took place, the
advantage remaining on the side of the Americans. Riall retreated to a
better position at Fort Niagara, where he was reinforced by General
Drummond, with part of Wellington’s veterans; for the pressure of the
war having abated in Europe, the British army in America was reinforced
by these able soldiers.
The Americans encamped near the Falls of Niagara, on the morning of the
25th of July, and towards four o’clock in the afternoon the British army
appeared in sight. The two armies engaged in what was called Lundy’s
Lane, at a short distance from the Falls, and here was fought one of the
most obstinate battles that took place during the war. They fought till
midnight, close to the great cataract, the roar and din of which was
silenced by the firing of twenty-four pieces of ordnance and 8,000
muskets, and which was heard distinctly lifting up its eternal voice
amid the momentary pauses of the battle. Wonderful bravery was displayed
on both sides, and the loss of life was about equal. The Indians fled
early in the battle. General Drummond was wounded on the British side;
Generals Brown and Scott on the American, the command devolving now on
General Ripley, who remained in quiet possession of the field, and who,
after collecting his wounded, retired to Fort Erie, whither he was
pursued by Drummond, at the head of 5,000 men, and who, having made an
assault upon the fort, was repulsed with the loss of 1,000. Two days
later, Brown having again resumed command, a successful sortie was made
from the fort, and the besiegers were driven back with great loss. There
was great loss of life on both sides, and though reinforced from
Plattsburgh, Fort Erie was abandoned and destroyed; and the American
army, recrossing the Niagara, went into winter-quarters.
No sooner had the detachment left Plattsburgh, than Sir George Prevost,
now so well supplied with Wellington’s veterans, thought it a good
opportunity to destroy the American flotilla on Lake Champlain and
advance into New York. On the 6th of September he reached Plattsburgh,
which is situated on Lake Champlain, on the northern bank of the little
river Saranac. No movement of the British during the war had roused in
an equal degree the American patriotism, and volunteers poured in from
the northern parts of New York and the Green Mountains of Vermont. For
four days the American troops opposed every attempt of the British to
force the passage of the stream. About eight o’clock on the morning of
the 11th, the British fleet, under Captain Downie, bore down and engaged
that of Commodore Mac Donough, which lay at anchor prepared for battle,
and the most desperate encounter ensued which had taken place on any of
the lakes. During the conflict on water, the British on land began a
heavy cannonade upon the American lines, and attempted again and again
to cross the Saranac, but only to be driven back by the American
militia. The utmost blame attaches to Sir George Prevost for his
inefficient command and his many blunders on this occasion;
nevertheless, great valour was shown by the British, but to little
effect; and in the afternoon the British fleet was captured, Captain
Downie having been killed soon after the contest began; and towards
evening the British commenced a precipitate retreat, leaving behind them
immense quantities of stores, ammunition, and provisions; about 200 were
slain, and strange to say, 800 deserted to the American side.
On the 15th of August, the very day on which the British general,
Drummond, was repulsed from Fort Erie, ruin was approaching the city of
Washington, the federal capital of the United States. The British, on
the return of spring, had renewed their predatory inroads on the banks
of the Chesapeake, in pursuance of governmental orders to destroy and
lay waste such towns and districts of the coast as might be found
assailable; and now, about the middle of August, Admiral Sir Alexander
Cockburn, having on board the land troops of Major-General Ross, another
Peninsula hero, entered the Potomac, on which river Washington stands,
and which empties itself into the Chesapeake. The British general landed
his forces, 5,000 in number, and commenced his march to Washington,
distant twenty-seven miles; Admiral Cockburn proceeding at the same time
up the river in a flotilla of launches and armed boats. Washington was
not defenceless, although her defenders, neither by land nor water,
appear to have been very efficient. On the 22nd, the expedition reached
Pig Point, and descried the flag of the American flotilla. It was
naturally supposed that it was the intention of Barney, the American
commodore, to dispute the passage of the river; but, to the surprise of
the British, the shipping was found to be on fire. Sixteen out of
seventeen vessels were blown up to prevent their falling into the hands
of the British. On the 20th, General Winder, who commanded the land
forces, being joined by the marines of Commodore Barney, marched out to
meet the advancing enemy, and encamped at Marlborough, where they were
inspected by the president, by General Armstrong, secretary of war, and
by various heads of other departments, who, appearing to despair at the
first glance, at once dispersed. On the 24th, General Ross and his
troops reached Bladensberg, a village five miles from the capital, where
a stand was made, principally by seamen and marines, the commodore being
wounded and taken prisoner. The example of President Madison had been
followed; the American army retreated across the Potomac. Nothing was
easier than the task which Ross had undertaken. At the head of 1,600
men, after a skirmish which did not last half an hour, he took
possession of Washington. The work of destruction began immediately. The
capitol, or senate-house, the president’s house and public offices, the
arsenal, the navy yard, and the bridge over the Potomac, all were
destroyed. On the following night a leisurely retreat was commenced, and
the British troops, meeting with no resistence on their return,
re-embarked on the 30th.
Little as had been the spirit shown in the defence of Washington, the
ruthless destruction of its public buildings and records aroused a
spirit of indignation which more than anything else during the war
united the Republic in one general sentiment of hostility against the
invaders.
In the meantime, another portion of the British fleet had ascended the
Potomac, and on the 29th appeared before the town of Alexandria, which
fearing pillage and destruction, surrendered all its merchandise and
shipping. Elated with this success, the British admiral, on the 11th of
September, made his appearance at the mouth of the Patapsco, fourteen
miles from Baltimore, which was strongly fortified. On the 12th the
British landed at North Point, and commenced their march towards the
city, when they were met by a large force, who resisted them bravely.
Although the Americans were obliged to retreat, this enterprise cost the
life of General Ross and a great number of others. The day following,
the British abandoned the attempt and retired to their shipping.
On the ocean the fortune of the combatants was about equal. The Essex,
commanded by Captain Porter, struck to a British frigate and
sloop-of-war. The American sloop Peacock captured the Epervier. The
sloop Wasp, commanded by Captain Blakeley, captured the English brig
Reindeer in St. George’s Channel, and afterwards, in the same cruise,
sank the Avon. She made several other prizes, but never returned into
port, and was supposed to have foundered at sea.
The last great land action of the American war was at the city of New
Orleans. Not contented with ruining the trade of all the towns on the
Mississippi, by blockading that river, the British commanders resolved
upon attacking New Orleans. The operations of the British in Louisiana
commenced by a small expedition, which, being aided by the Spaniards,
took possession of Pensacola, in the middle of August. The British
commander, Colonel Nicholls, brought with him a great quantity of arms,
which were intended for the Indians, who were invited to flock to the
British banner. But they refused the invitation, as did also Lafitte,
the chief of the pirates of Barataria, though he received liberal offers
to enlist in their cause. Lafitte and his followers had been outlawed by
the American government; but such was the patriotism of these otherwise
lawless men, that while they deluded the British commander with the hope
of joining him, it was merely to gain a knowledge of his intended
movements, which were communicated to Claiborne, governor of Louisiana,
who in return pardoned the whole band, and invited them to come forward
in defence of their country. They did so, and rendered essential
service.
General Jackson, who after the peace with the Creeks had taken up his
quarters at Mobile, the capital of the Alabama territory, as commander
in the South, remonstrated with the Spanish governor of Pensacola on
affording shelter to the enemies of the United States. But no regard
being paid to his remonstrances, he marched against the place, stormed
the town, and compelled the British to evacuate Florida. Returning to
Mobile, he learnt that preparations were making for the invasion of
Louisiana, and accordingly hastened to New Orleans, which he found in
great alarm and confusion. By his exertions order and confidence were
restored, the militia organised, and fortifications erected. His command
was supreme, and his energy unabating. Every man who could carry a
musket or wield a spade was set to work on the fortifications or drilled
as a soldier.
New Orleans stands upon the eastern bank of the Mississippi, at about
110 miles from the sea. It is built upon a narrow tract of land,
confined on one side by the river, and on the other by almost impassable
morasses. Even though unfortified, it presented the greatest obstacles
to an invader. Below the town, however, were some strong forts which
commanded the navigation of the river, so that the approach to the town
either by land or water was equally difficult.
The British expedition ascended the river as high as possible, and then
landed about eight miles below the city. This was on the 23rd of
December, and on the following evening General Jackson made a sudden and
furious attack on their camp; but though the loss of life was
considerable, this was merely a check. On Christmas-day, Sir Edward
Pakenham, the chief in command, took up a strong position about six
miles from the city, between which and himself the American army was
drawn up. Fighting went on day after day, the utmost bravery being shown
by both parties, and the English advanced still nearer to the city,
finding it necessary with every advance to assault and take the
formidable field-works which the indefatigable republicans had thrown
up, as though they had been regular fortifications. “At length,” says
the writer of “Knight’s Pictorial History of England,” “on the night of
the 31st of December, having procured the material, one-half of the
English army was ordered out to throw up a chain of works; the men
halted at about 300 yards from the enemy’s line, and here, the greater
part of them laying down their muskets, applied themselves vigorously to
their task, while the rest stood armed in case of an attack. The night
was dark; the English maintained a profound silence, and the Americans
kept a bad watch, for it was the last night of the year, and
conviviality abounded in the republican camp. In this manner six
batteries were completed before the dawn of New-year’s-day, and thirty
pieces of heavy cannon mounted. There had not been much digging and
trenching, for every storehouse and barn in the country was filled with
hogsheads of sugar and molasses, and these being rolled to the front
were placed upright to serve as parapets to the batteries. The morning
of New-year’s-day, 1815, was very dark and foggy amid those swamps and
bogs of New Orleans, and the day was considerably advanced before the
Americans discovered how near the British had approached to them, or the
novel use they had made of their molasses and sugar-hogsheads.”
The Americans made several vigorous but unsuccessful attacks, seeming to
produce no other effect than to knock in pieces the hogsheads and
scatter their contents. Several days went on, and both parties received
strong reinforcements. Sir Edward Pakenham resolved now on a combined
attack on both sides of the river, for which purpose he caused a canal
to be dug across the entire neck of land, so as to convey his troops to
the other side. It was a most arduous undertaking, and for two nights
consecutively not a man in the British army closed an eye. On the 8th of
January the great attack was to take place. The British forces amounted
to upwards of 10,000, the attacking columns being provided with ladders
and facines.
Behind their breastworks of cotton-bales, which no balls could
penetrate, 6,000 Americans, mostly militia, all good marksmen, and
principally from Tennessee and Kentucky, silently waited the attack. As
the advancing columns came within reach of the batteries, they were met
by an incessant and destructive cannonade; but closing their ranks as
fast as they were opened, they continued steadily to advance, until
within reach of the American musketry and rifles. The extended American
line now presented one vivid stream of fire, throwing the enemy into
confusion and covering the plain with the wounded and the dead. In an
attempt to rally his troops, Sir Edward Pakenham was killed; General
Gibbs, the second in command, was mortally wounded, and General Keane
severely so. The British now fled in dismay from the certain death which
seemed to await them; General Lambert, on whom the command had devolved,
being unable to check their flight. Seven hundred dead were left on the
field, and upwards of 1,000 wounded.[76] The loss of the Americans was
seven killed and six wounded.
The Americans on the west side of the river did not, however, behave
with much bravery; they fled on the first onset, and were closely
pursued by the British, until the latter, receiving intelligence of the
total discomfiture of the main army, re-crossed the river and returned
to their intrenchments.
No further attempt was made; and on the 18th, Lambert, with his wounded
and stores, was on his way to the fleet. Nothing was abandoned but ten
pieces of artillery. The success of General Jackson, afterwards
president of the United States, caused him to be regarded with great
honour by his countrymen, and won for him the appellation of “the
conqueror of the conquerors of Napoleon;” whence probably comes the
Yankee boast, “the Britishers licked all the world, and we licked the
Britishers.”
From New Orleans General Lambert sailed to Mobile, and on the 7th of
February invested that place, which surrendered to him on the 11th.
On the 17th of February, whilst New Orleans was yet rejoicing over her
victory, a special messenger arrived from Europe, bringing a treaty of
peace, which had been signed at Ghent, in the month of December, before
the terrible battle was fought at New Orleans. This treaty, which was
immediately ratified by the president and the Senate, stipulated for the
restoration of all places taken during the war, and for the revision of
the boundary of the American and British dominions; it engaged that each
nation should put an end to all subsisting hostilities between them and
the Indian tribes, and both parties likewise covenanted to continue
their efforts for the total abolition of the slave-trade. The whole
northern and eastern states, to whom the war had been very
unsatisfactory, and who were continually and violently opposed to all
measures of the administration regarding it, rejoiced extremely in this
peace. The Englishman who took out the ratification of the treaty was
carried by the citizens and people through the streets of New York in
triumph and jubilee.[77]
America, however, had not even yet quite done with war. From the treaty
of 1795 peace had been preserved with Algiers by the annual payment of a
tribute. In July of 1812, the Dey, believing America, then engaged in
war with England, would not be able to defend her shipping, extorted a
large sum of money from the American consul at Algiers, to purchase the
freedom of himself and other citizens of the United States, and
commenced a piratical warfare against every American vessel that came in
the way of his cruisers, and many American citizens were in this manner
condemned to slavery.
Two squadrons were therefore fitted out, under Commodores Decatur and
Bainbridge. The former sailed from New York in May, 1815, and proceeding
up the Mediterranean, captured, in June, two Algerine brigs; after
which, sailing to Algiers, the Dey was so much alarmed, that he
cheerfully signed a treaty very advantageous to the Americans.
Proceeding then to Tunis and Tripoli, Decatur also obtained satisfaction
for various aggressions, after which he joined Bainbridge at Gibraltar,
and resigning to him the command, the latter visited the three piratical
cities, whose submission was complete.
In order to secure the tranquillity of the western and north-western
frontiers, measures were taken to form treaties of peace with all the
various tribes which had lately been in hostility with the United
States. A congress of chiefs met for this purpose at Detroit, in the
month of September, when alliances of friendship were made, by means of
which extensive portions of territory were ceded, and the tribes
acknowledged to be under the protection of the republic.
The charter of the former National Bank having expired since 1811, a
second National Bank, called the Bank of the United States, was
incorporated by charter for twenty-four years, with a capital of
35,000,000 dollars.
In December, the territory of Indiana was admitted into the Union as a
state, and the territory of Mississippi divided, and the western portion
admitted into the Union as the State of Mississippi, while the eastern
portion became the territory of Alabama. During the same month two
piratical establishments—the refuge also of runaway negroes, the one on
Amelia Island, on the coast of Florida, the other at Galveston, on the
coast of Texas—were broken up.
The time for the election of president being now come, James Monroe was
chosen, and Daniel D. Tomkins vice-president.
About the year 1790, establishments for the home manufacture of coarse
cotton fabrics were commenced in the state of Rhode Island. The
embarrassments to which commerce was subjected increased the demand for
these goods, and large capitals were invested in manufacturing
establishments. At the close of the war, however, when British goods
were again imported, it was found that, owing to the great improvements
in machinery, merchants were able to afford their goods at a much lower
price than the American manufacturer. In order, therefore, to enable the
manufacturer to withstand this formidable competition, a new tariff was
formed in 1816, by which the double imposts which had been laid during
the war were removed, and an increased duty imposed on various
manufactured goods. The return of peace, however, though it embarrassed
the mercantile interests, gave a stimulus to agriculture, and thousands
of citizens who found themselves impoverished, removed westward, where
lands were cheaper and more fertile than in the eastern states.
Emigration from England also set in like a spring-tide, and so great was
the increase of an active and valuable population, that within two years
of the establishment of peace, six new states had sprung up in the
recent wilderness.[78]
The African Colonisation Society for Free Blacks originated in this
year, not under the auspices of government, but that of private
individuals. It is questionable, however, whether this scheme is one of
pure benevolence, although much is said of Africa being civilised and
christianised by this means; and the slave born in America, perhaps of
the second or third generation, is expatriated when shipped over to
Africa. Is not the true benevolence and the true Christianity rather to
gradually, wisely and justly abolish slavery—to prepare the black man to
be a good and useful citizen of a great and free country, and more
productive to his master as a servant than as a slave?
Madison’s second term of office expiring, he declined, as his
predecessors had done, a third re-election; and on March 4th, 1817,
James Monroe was elected president, and Daniel D. Tomkins re-elected
vice-president.
Peace and prosperity go hand-in-hand, and with prosperity a wise nation
seeks to promote by every possible means the improvement and comfort of
the people. Hence great public works were now undertaken by the American
States governments; roads and canals were constructed in every part of
the Union, the wealthy and enterprising state of New York, at the head
of which was De Witt Clinton, taking the lead. The great western canal,
connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson, and the northern canal, connecting
that river with the waters of Lake Champlain, were completed. A great
road was also constructed by order of congress, which, passing through
the seat of government, connected the eastern with the western states.
Military posts were established for the security of the frontiers at the
mouth of St. Peter’s on the Mississippi, and at the mouth of the Yellow
Stone River on the Missouri, above 1,800 miles above its junction with
the Mississippi. Thus was the influence of civilisation radiating like
light into the far wilderness.
Towards the close of 1817, the Seminole Indians and the remnant of the
Creeks commenced depredations on the frontiers of Georgia and Alabama.
The hostile spirit of the Indians was further incited by another Indian
prophet and two English traders, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who had taken
up their residence among the Indians. General Gaines was sent against
them, but his force being insufficient for the purpose, General Jackson
was ordered to take the field and to demand aid from the governors of
the adjacent states. Jackson knew where he was most likely to find the
aid he needed; and inviting volunteers from Western Tennessee, soon saw
himself at the head of 1,000 men. With these he marched into the Indian
territory, which he presently overran, meeting with no opposition from
the Seminoles, who had fled into Florida. Once in Florida, Jackson
seemed to think it as well, in the words of a homely proverb, to kill
two birds with one stone; accordingly he attacked and took possession of
St. Mark’s, a feeble Spanish post, and removed, in a very summary
manner, the Spanish authorities to Pensacola; where meeting with
Arbuthnot and Ambrister, had them tried by court-martial and executed,
after which he took possession of Pensacola and shipped off the
authorities to Havanna.
There was a bold energy in this unprincipled proceeding which won for it
public approbation, although it called down much animadversion, and
congress discussed it for two years, endeavouring to pass a vote of
censure, which the majority would not allow. In February, 1819, however,
a treaty was negotiated at Washington, by which Spain ceded to the
United States Florida and the adjacent islands. The king of Spain was
dissatisfied with the treaty, and endeavoured to set it aside, but the
United States, like General Jackson, had their way, and in 1820 the
treaty was ratified.
In 1819 the southern portion of Missouri territory was formed into a
territorial government, under the name of Arkansas, and in December of
the same year, Alabama was admitted as a state into the Union. Early in
1820 also the province of Maine, which since 1652 had been attached to
Massachusetts, was separated from it and became an independent state.