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CHAP. that view, a bill was drawn up declaring war against Great Britain. It was passed by a strictly party vote:-1812. in the House 79 to 49, in the Senate 19 to 13.

June

18.

The people were far from being unanimous in their approbation of the declaration of war. The minority of the Lower House of Congress published an address to their constituents, in which the views of those opposed to the war found expression. After a review of the controversy between the United States and the belligerents, they contend there was equal cause for hostilities against both England and France; that it was unreasonable to expect the full recognition of neutrals' rights while the desperate conflict in Europe was in progress; that conflict would soon end, and then the cause for war on our part would be removed. The Address says, "The effect of the British orders of blockade, is to deprive us of the commerce of France and her dependencies, while they leave open to us the commerce of all the rest of the world; the former worth yearly about six millions and a half, and the latter worth thirty-eight millions. Shall the latter be sacrificed for the former? A nation like the United States, happy in its great local relations; removed from that bloody theatre of Europe, with a maritime border opening vast fields of enterprise; with territorial possessions exceeding every real want; its firesides safe; its altars undefiled; from invasion nothing to fear; from acquisition nothing to hope, how shall such a nation look to Heaven for its smiles, while throwing away as though they were worthless, all the blessings and joys which peace and such a distinguished lot include ? But how will war upon the land protect commerce? How are our mariners to be benefited by a war which exposes those who are free, without promising release to those who are impressed? But it is said that war is demanded by honor. If honor demands a war with England, what opiate lulls that honor to sleep over the wrongs done us by France ?"

THE EMBARRASSMENTS OF CONGRESS.

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Such was the diversity of opinion as to the expediency CHAP. of engaging in war, especially when the country, in every respect, was so unprepared. The opponents of the measure 1812. were assailed as unpatriotic, which they retorted by charging the advocates of war with subserviency to the policy of France.

It was easier for Congress to declare war, than to obtain the means to prosecute it. The treasury was almost. empty, the non-importation acts, and embargoes, had nearly ruined the revenue; the army was very limited in number, and very deficient in officers of experience; while the navy was wanting in ships and munitions. Congress passed a bill to enlist twenty-five thousand men as regulars, and authorized the President to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers.

In appointing officers for the army, recourse was had, almost exclusively, to those who had served in the Revolution; but the most prominent of these had passed away, and the remainder, with but one or two exceptions, had been engaged in civil affairs for thirty years; and men competent to drill the recruits were not to be found. To remedy this want, Congress, now for the first time, made provision for the constant and liberal instruction of two hundred and fifty cadets in the military art, by establishing professorships in the Academy at West Point. Here was another instance of the foresight of Washington. He had, during his administration, urged upon Congress to establish and maintain a school in which military tactics should be taught to officers, who in turn could easily drill the militia. The wise policy of the measure was amply shown in the rapidity with which the American volunteers were drilled and made efficient soldiers in the late Mexican war. But for the present the nation suffered 1846. severely from false economy in not founding the Academy when first proposed.

The first exhibition of the war spirit and the party

XLII.

22.

CHAP. feeling which existed was an attempt to stifle the freedom of the press. The editor of a paper in Baltimore, Alexander 1812. Hanson, a grandson of a president of the continental congress, had spoken in moderate terms in condemnation of the June declaration of war. A few days after, the mob, headed by a Frenchman, destroyed his press and compelled him to fly for his life. Receiving no protection in his rights, as the magistrates connived at the outrage, Hanson and some twenty others thought it their duty to vindicate the liberty of the press. Among this number was General Henry Lee, the chivalric Light Horse Harry of the Revolution,—the intimate friend of Washington, his eulogist by appointment of Congress, afterward Governor of Virginia, and General Lingan, also a worthy officer of the Revolution. They determined to defend the office of the paper. The mob appeared and stoned the house; the magistrates meanwhile made no effort to quell the riot. Thus the rabble raged during the night; in their attempts to force their way into the house, one of the ringleaders was shot. General Lingan was killed outright, and some of the other defenders of the office were most shamefully mangled and abused. General Lee was maimed for life. The leaders of the riot were never punished, though afterwards brought to trial,-a mere farce,--the district attorney even expressing his regret that all the defenders of the office had not been killed.

General William Hull, who had served with some distinction in the Revolution, and now Governor of Michigan Territory, was appointed commander of the forces in that region. The Territory contained about five thousand inhabitants, mostly of French origin. He received orders to invade Canada, the ardent friends of the war complacently thinking the inhabitants of that British province would cheerfully put themselves under the protection of the stars and stripes. Hull, however, found himself in a short time surrounded by a superior force of British and In

GENERAL HULL SURRENDERS HIS ARMY.

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dians; the enemy also held possession of Lake Erie, and CHAP. had easy communication with the rest of Canada, while between Hull's army and the settlements, intervened a 1812. vast and unbroken forest of two hundred miles. He urged upon the government to secure the command of the Lake before any attempt should be made at invasion, and also to furnish him not less than three thousand well provisioned troops. But he was told that he must content himself with two thousand men, while nothing could be done to secure the control of the Lake.

9.

When Hull arrived at DETROIT, then a village of some July eight hundred inhabitants, he had but eighteen hundred men, of whom the greater part were militia; there he received orders to invade Canada immediately. But by a strange blunder, the intelligence of the declaration of war, designed for Hull, and franked by the Secretary of the Treasury, fell into the hands of the British. They availed themselves of the information, and immediately seized Mackinaw; the first intimation the garrison of that distant post received of the declaration of war.

In a short time Hull himself was surrounded, and his communications cut off. The British general Proctor came up the Lake with reinforcements, whilst the British Fur Company enlisted their employees and excited the Indians. To open a road and obtain supplies, Hull sent out a detachment, but it fell into an ambuscade and was defeated. He now fortified himself, and to open communications to the river Raisin, sent another detachment under Colonels McArthur and Cass; they became bewildered in a swamp, and were forced Aug. to find their way back to the camp.

Presently General Brock, governor of Lower Canada, arrived at Malden with more reinforcements. He passed over the river and summoned Hull to surrender, who refused, and an attack was made upon his position, both from the British vessels and batteries. Brock landed and approached with seven hundred and fifty regulars, and as

14.

CHAP. many Indians. Hull had but eight hundred men, and, XLII. threatened with destruction, as he imagined, by an over1812. whelming force, he surrendered his army and all Michigan Aug. at the same time.

16.

The

Great indignation was expressed at this failure. difficulties of Hull's position were very great, and perhaps, while no one doubted his personal courage, he may have wanted that sternness of soul so necessary to a successful commander. Those in authority screened themselves, by making the unfortunate general the scape-goat for their blunders, in sending him with a force and means so inadequate. When brought to trial, two years afterward, he urged in defence, that all the inhabitants of the territory would have been exposed to certain massacre had he attempted further resistance. The court, however, found him guilty of cowardice, and sentenced him to be shot but in consideration of his revolutionary services, the President granted him a pardon. His papers, since published, have revealed the insurmountable difficulties that surrounded him.

;

It is remarkable that one of the causes of the war, was removed within four days after its declaration. France unconditionally repealed the Berlin and Milan decrees, then Great Britain repealed her Orders in Council, which had been based on the French decrees. The impressment question still remained unsettled. Nearly six thousand cases of alleged impressment were on record in the State Department at Washington. It was admitted on the floor of the House of Commons, that there were probably sixteen hundred native-born Americans held in bondage in the British navy. Of these several hundred had already been liberated, and a willingness was expressed to discharge the remainder, as soon as their nationality was fully known. But the British naval officers complained that the plea of American citizenship was very much abused; by forged documents, or by certificates, originally