Washington, D. C.,
March 4, 1813.
About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations
imposed by a second call to the station in which my country heretofore placed
me, I find in the presence of this respectable assembly an opportunity of
publicly repeating my profound sense of so distinguished a confidence and of
the responsibility united with it. The impressions on me are strengthened by
such an evidence that my faithful endeavors to discharge my arduous duties have
been favorably estimated, and by a consideration of the momentous period at
which the trust has been renewed. From the weight and magnitude now belonging
to it I should be compelled to shrink if I had less reliance on the support of
an enlightened and generous people, and felt less deeply a conviction that the
war with a powerful nation, which forms so prominent a feature in our
situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles of Heaven on
the means of conducting it to a successful termination.
May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when
we reflect on the characters by which this war is distinguished?
It was not declared on the part of the United States until
it had been long made on them, in reality though not in name; until arguments
and expostulations had been exhausted; until a positive declaration had been
received that the wrongs provoking it would not be discontinued; nor until this
last appeal could no longer be delayed without breaking down the spirit of the
nation, destroying all confidence in itself and in its political institutions,
and either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or regaining by more
costly sacrifices and more severe struggles our lost rank and respect among
independent powers.
On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty
on the high seas and the security of an important class of citizens, whose
occupations give the proper value to those of every other class. Not to contend
for such a stake is to surrender our equality with other powers on the element
common to all and to violate the sacred title which every member of the society
has to its protection. I need not call into view the unlawfulness of the
practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of every cruising officer
from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable
from it. The proofs are in the records of each successive Administration of our
Government, and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the American people
have found their way to every bosom not dead to the sympathies of human nature.
As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in
its objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it on no
principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no precept of
courtesy or humanity, have been infringed. The war has been waged on our part
with scrupulous regard to all these obligations, and in a spirit of liberality
which was never surpassed.
How little has been the effect of this example on the
conduct of the enemy!
They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the
United States not liable to be so considered under the usages of war.
They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and
threatened to punish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without
restraint to the United States, incorporated by naturalization into our
political family, and fighting under the authority of their adopted country in
open and honorable war for the maintenance of its rights and safety. Such is
the avowed purpose of a Government which is in the practice of naturalizing by
thousands citizens of other countries, and not only of permitting but
compelling them to fight its battles against their native country.
They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the
hatchet and the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let
loose the savages armed with these cruel instruments; have allured them into
their service, and carried them to battle by their sides, eager to glut their
savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to finish the work of
torture and death on maimed and defenseless captives. And, what was never
before seen, British commanders have extorted victory over the unconquerable
valor of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of their chief captives
awaiting massacre from their savage associates.
And now we find them, in further contempt of the modes of
honorable warfare, supplying the place of a conquering force, by attempts to
disorganize our political society, to dismember our confederated Republic.
Happily, like others, these will recoil on the authors; but they mark the
degenerate counsels from which they emanate: and if they did not belong to a
series of unexampled inconsistencies, might excite the greater wonder, as
proceeding from a Government which founded the very war in which it has been so
long engaged, on a charge against the disorganizing and insurrectional policy
of its adversary.
To render the justice of the war on our part the more
conspicuous, the reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and
strongest manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. The sword was
scarcely out of the scabbard, before the enemy was apprized of the reasonable
terms on which it would be resheathed. Still more precise advances were
repeated, and have been received in a spirit forbidding every reliance not
placed on the military resources of the nation.
These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an
honorable issue. Our nation is, in number, more than half that of the British
isles. It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an intelligent
people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts, and the comforts of
life. A general prosperity is visible in the public countenance. The means
employed by the British Cabinet to undermine it, have recoiled on themselves;
have given to our national faculties a more rapid development; and draining or diverting
the precious metals from British circulation and British vaults, have poured
them into those of the United States. It is a propitious consideration, that an
unavoidable war should have found this seasonable facility for the
contributions required to support it. When the public voice called for war, all
knew and still know, that without them it could not be carried on through the
period which it might last; and the patriotism, the good sense, and the manly
spirit of our fellow-citizens, are pledges for the cheerfulness with which they
will bear each his share of the common burden. To render the war short, and its
success sure, animated, and systematic exertions alone are necessary; and the
success of our arms now may long preserve our country from the necessity of
another resort to them. Already have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes
proved to the world our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one
element. If the reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on the
other, presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that nothing is wanting
to correspondent triumphs there also, but the discipline and habits which are
in daily progress.
SOURCE: Gaillard Hunt, Editor, The Writings of James
Madison, Vol. 8: 1808-1819, p. 235-9
No comments:
Post a Comment