of some prominent federalists, among them two distinguished revolutionary officers, General Lingan and General Harry Lee, the latter famous for the eulogy on Washington, pronounced before Congress, in which occurred the words, "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." A mob having attacked Hanson's office by night, these gentlemen with a small party conducted a desperate defence, which was only relinquished upon the assurance of the Mayor that they should be given a legal trial for the deaths which had occurred, with full protection meanwhile. Having surrendered upon this promise, the defenders were subjected to the most cowardly indignities while on their way to prison. The night following, the prison was broken open by armed men; General Lingan was beaten to death; General Lee was crippled for life; and their comrades were subjected to abuse and torture of the most monstrous character. The very spirit of hell was manifested by the ruffians, who worked their mischief under the eye of the Mayor and the commander of the city militia. At last, upon the mob threatening to break open the United States post-office, in order to seize the copies of the offending publications which had been deposited in the mails, the authorities actively intervened; and the riot was quelled. But the prosecutions instituted against the perpetrators of these crimes completely failed through the culpable delinquency of the Attorney-General, who openly expressed his regret that every person concerned in the defence of Hanson's house had not been killed, and refused to demand a change of venue; while the city council, after a professed investigation of the affair, laid the whole blame upon Hanson, who had presumed to publish a paper not agreeable to the rioters, and upon his friends who had defended him from murder and arson. There is little doubt that the

Baltimore riot was welcomed by many hot-headed partisans of the war in other sections of the country, as likely to exert a wholesome effect in deterring federalists from the public expression of their views. To the honor of the people of Maryland, it should be mentioned that this dastardly outrage worked a complete political revolution in the State, which at the next election went federalist by a large majority, Hanson himself being sent to Congress, where, it may be added, he did not distinguish himself by patriotism or good sense. "Martyrs" of that sort rarely do.

CHAPTER XII

THE WAR OF 1812-15

Our Remarkable Success on the Ocean-The Privateers-Ignominious Failure on Land-Our Naval Victories Accounted for-Comparative Strength of the Belligerents-The Invasion of Canada Collapses-Perry's Victory on Lake Erie-Further Disasters on the Canada Line-Creditable Actions under Brown and Scott -McDonough's Victory on Lake Champlain-Burning of Washington-Successful Defence of Baltimore - Jackson's Victories at the South-Battle of New Orleans-The Treaty of Peace The Objects of the War not Mentioned-Opposition to the War-Mr. Jefferson Believed to be Hostile to Commercial Interests-His Remarkable Political Economy-Alleged Treasonable Acts in New Englaud-Refusal of the Governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut to Allow the Militia to MarchThe Hartford Convention: Its Personnel; Popular Denunciation of the Convention: The Actual Work of the Convention: Suggested Amendments to the Constitution; Nullifying Measures Proposed; Constitutional Objections to any such Gathering-The Terms of Peace: The Fisheries: The General Neutrality Law-Coercion of the Barbary States-The Indian Allies of Great Britain.

If those are in the right who charge that the administration of Mr. Madison provoked war, not to redress our wrongs upon the ocean, but to gain glory and territory by the conquest of Canada,* then the general results of the war would seem to show the most remarkable discrimination upon the part of Providence in apportioning honor and shame, success and failure, according to the direction in which our efforts were put forth. Upon

"The cession of Canada, the fulcrum for these Machiavellian levers, must be a sine qua non at a treaty of peace" (Jeff., vi., 70, cf. 78).

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on the water.

the ocean, our little navy of eight or ten frigates and as many sloops and brigs, was, in anything like equal combat, almost uniformly victorious. The nation which had learned to think itself invincible on the ocean, "mistress of the seas,' was astonished to find its vessels of war beaten and captured by hastily built and rudely equipped ships, manned by sailors taken from the fishing fleets of New Bedford, Marblehead, and Gloucester. Again and again the flag of England went down before the fire of our extemporized gunners, commanded by such heroes as Hull, Jones, Porter, Bainbridge, and Decatur. It is true these brilliant successes did not give us the command even of our own waters; Our remarkand that, when the British squadrons finally able success closed in, our few frigates were driven under cover of the guns of the forts, or fell into the hands of the enemy through an overwhelming superiority of force, while our coast was ravaged from Maine to Virginia. Not the less did these gallant exploits raise the fame of the American nation all over the world, and go far to redeem the failures and disgraces of the war. Twice, upon the Lakes, hastily built squadrons, under Perry and McDonough, defeated superior forces of the enemy, and compelled the retreat of formidable armies. Remarkable as were the achievements of our national vessels, these were equalled, if not surpassed, by the enterprise, audacity, and resourcefulness of the private armed vessels which, under cover of "letters of marque,' poured forth from all the seaports of the Atlantic, from Machias to Baltimore, and swiftly and terribly avenged the wrongs to which the merchantmen of the United States had been helplessly subjected during The priva twenty years. American "privateers," free lances on the ocean, commanded by men of the utmost daring, manned by powerful crews of expert and

teers.

hardy seamen, largely fishermen from Newfoundland and the banks of St. George, worked havoc with the commerce of England, and did not hesitate upon occasion to match themselves against the royal cruisers. It is stated that during the three years of the war seventeen hundred British ships were captured. The culmination of the achievements of the privateers was when the brig General Armstrong, lying at Fayal, beat off, with terrible slaughter, the boats of three British warvessels.

On the other hand, our ambitious enterprises against Canada were in the main characterized by blundering Ignominious incompetence on the part of our generals, failure on land. and too often by misconduct and seeming cowardice on the part of the troops engaged. Altogether our efforts in that direction were not only futile, but humiliated us at home and disgraced us abroad. So it came about that many persons who doubted the good faith of the administration in going to war, were much disposed to see, in the distribution of success and failure, as between the sea, where we had undoubtedly suffered wrong, and the land, where these persons deemed us the aggressors, something in the nature of divine retribution.

More strictly natural causes may, however, be assigned for our differing fortunes by land and by sea. If there

Our naval

counted for.

is any work or knowledge or device under the victories ac- sun in which the single quality of " gumption" tells, it is in working and fighting a ship; and if there ever was a people who pre-eminently possessed that quality, it was the northern half of the American people, in the time of which we are speaking. Our ships were worked by volunteers, all good seamen, hot for fight and eager for prizes; all of them natural mechanics, quick to spread or take in sail, quick to cut