The British cabinet, either mistaking our desire
of peace for a dread of British power or misled by other fallacious
calculations, has disappointed this reasonable anticipation. No
communications from our envoys having reached us, no information
on the subject has been received from that source; but it is known
that the mediation was declined in the first instance, and there
is no evidence, notwithstanding the lapse of time, that a change
of disposition in the British councils has taken place or is to
be expected.
Under such circumstances a nation proud of its
rights and conscious of its strength has no choice but an exertion
of the one in support of the other.
To this determination the best encouragement
is derived from the success with which it has pleased the Almighty
to bless our arms both on the land and on the water.
Whilst proofs have been continued of the enterprise
and skill of our cruisers, public and private, on the ocean, and
a trophy gained in the capture of a British by an American vessel
of war, after an action giving celebrity to the name of the victorious
commander, the great inland waters on which the enemy were also
to be encountered have presented achievements of our naval arms
as brilliant in their character as they have been important in
their consequences.
On Lake Erie, the squadron under command of Captain
Perry having met the British squadron of superior force, a sanguinary
conflict ended in the capture of the whole. The conduct of that
officer, adroit as it was daring, and which was so well seconded
by his comrades, justly entitles them to the admiration and gratitude
of their country, and will fill an early page in its naval annals
with a victory never surpassed in luster, however much it may
have been in magnitude.
On Lake Ontario the caution of the British commander,
favored by contingencies, frustrated the efforts of the American
commander to bring on a decisive action. Captain Chauncey was
able, however, to establish an ascendancy on that important theater,
and to prove by the manner in which he effected everything possible
that opportunities only were wanted for a more shining display
of his own talents and the gallantry of those under his command.
The success on Lake Erie having opened a passage
to the territory of the enemy, the officer commanding the Northwestern
army transferred the war thither, and rapidly pursuing the hostile
troops, fleeing with their savage associates, forced a general
action, which quickly terminated in the capture of the British
and dispersion of the savage force.
This result is signally honorable to Major-General
Harrison, by whose military talents it was prepared; to Colonel
Johnson and his mounted volunteers, whose impetuous onset gave
a decisive blow to the ranks of the enemy, and to the spirit of
the volunteer militia, equally brave and patriotic, who bore an
interesting part in the scene; more especially to the chief magistrate
of Kentucky, at the head of them, whose heroism signalized in
the war which established the independence of his country, sought
at an advanced age a share in hardships and battles for maintaining
its rights and its safely.
The effect of these successes has been to rescue
the inhabitants of Michigan from their oppressions, aggravated
by gross infractions of the capitulation which subjected them
to a foreign power; to alienate the savages of numerous tribes
from the enemy, by whom they were disappointed and abandoned,
and to relieve an extensive region of country from a merciless
warfare which desolated its frontiers and imposed on its citizens
the most harassing services.
In consequences of our naval superiority on Lake
Ontario and the opportunity afforded by it for concentrating our
forces by water, operations which had been provisionally planned
were set on foot against the possessions of the enemy on the St.
Lawrence. Such, however, was the delay produced in the 1st instance
by adverse weather of unusual violence and continuance and such
the circumstances attending the final movements of the army, that
the prospect, at one time so favorable, was not realized.
The cruelty of the enemy in enlisting the savages
into a war with a nation desirous of mutual emulation in mitigating
its calamities has not been confined to any one quarter. Wherever
they could be turned against us no exertions to effect it have
been spared. On our southwestern border the Creek tribes, who,
yielding to our persevering endeavors, were gradually acquiring
more civilized habits, became the unfortunate victims of seduction.
A war in that quarter has been the consequence, infuriated by
a bloody fanaticism recently propagated among them. It was necessary
to crush such a war before it could spread among the contiguous
tribes and before it could favor enterprises of the enemy into
that vicinity. With this view a force was called into the service
of the United States from the States of Georgia and Tennessee,
which, with the nearest regular troops and other corps from the
Southwest Territory, might not only chastise the savages into
present peace but make a lasting impression on their fears.
The progress of the expedition, as far as is
yet known, corresponds with the martial zeal with which it was
espoused, and the best hopes of a satisfactory issue are authorized
by the complete success with which a well-planned enterprise was
executed against a body of hostile savages by a detachment of
the volunteer militia of Tennesse, under the gallant command of
General Coffee, and by a still more important victory over a larger
body of them, gained under the immediate command of Major-General
Jackson, an officer equally distinguished for his patriotism and
his military talents.
The systematic perseverance of the enemy in courting
the aid of the savages in all quarters had the natural effect
of kindling their ordinary propensity to war into a passion, which,
even among those best disposed toward the United States, was ready,
if not employed on our side, to be turned against us. A departure
from our protracted forbearance to accept the services tendered
by them has thus been forced upon us. But in yielding to it the
retaliation has been mitigated as much as possible, both in its
extent and in its character, stopping far short of the example
of the enemy, who owe the advantages they have occasionally gained
in battle chiefly to the number of their savage associates, and
who have not controlled them either from their usual practice
of indiscriminate massacre on defenseless inhabitants or from
scenes of carnage without a parallel on prisoners to the British
arms, guarded by all the laws of humanity and of honorable war.
For these enormities the enemy are equally responsible, whether
with the power to prevent them they want the will or with the
knowledge of a want of power they still avail themselves of such
instruments.
In other respects the enemy are pursuing a course
which threatens consequences most afflicting to humanity.
A standing law of Great Britain naturalizes,
as is well known, all aliens complying with conditions limited
to a shorter period than those required by the United States,
and naturalized subjects are in war employed by her Government
in common with native subjects. In a contiguous British Province
regulations promulgated since the commencement of the war compel
citizens of the United States being there under certain circumstances
to bear arms, whilst of the native emigrants from the United States,
who compose much of the population of the Province, a number have
actually borne arms against the United States within their limits,
some of whom, after having done so, have become prisoners of war,
and are now in our possession. The British commander in that Province,
nevertheless, with the sanction, as appears, of his Government,
thought proper to select from American prisoners of war and send
to Great Britain for trial as criminals a number of individuals
who had emigrated from the British dominions long prior to the
state of war between the two nations, who had incorporated themselves
into our political society in the modes recognized by the law
and the practice of Great Britain, and who were made prisoners
of war under the banners of their adopted country, fighting for
its rights and its safety.
The protection due to these citizens requiring
an effectual interposition in their behalf, a like number of British
prisoners of war were put into confinement, with a notification
that they would experience whatever violence might be committed
on the American prisoners of war sent to Great Britain.
It was hoped that this necessary consequence
of the step unadvisedly taken on the part of Great Britain would
have led her Government to reflect on the inconsistencies of its
conduct, and that a sympathy with the British, if not with the
American, sufferers would have arrested the cruel career opened
by its example.
This was unhappily not the case. In violation
both of consistency and of humanity, American officers and non-commissioned
officers in double the number of the British soldiers confined
here were ordered into close confinement, with formal notice that
in the event of a retaliation for the death which might be inflicted
on the prisoners of war sent to Great Britain for trial the officers
so confined would be put to death also. It was notified at the
same time that the commanders of the British fleets and armies
on our coasts are instructed in the same event to proceed with
a destructive severity against our towns and their inhabitants.
That no doubt might be left with the enemy of
our adherence to the retaliatory resort imposed on us, a correspondent
number of British officers, prisoners of war in our hands, were
immediately put into close confinement to abide the fate of those
confined by the enemy, and the British Government has been apprised
of the determination of this Government to retaliate any other
proceedings against us contrary to the legitimate modes of warfare.
It is as fortunate for the United States that
they have it in their power to meet the enemy in this deplorable
contest as it is honorable to them that they do not join in it
but under the most imperious obligations, and with the humane
purpose of effectuating a return to the established usages of
war.
The views of the French Government on the subjects
which have been so long committed to negotiation have received
no elucidation since the close of your late session. The minister
plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris had not been enabled
by proper opportunities to press the objects of his mission as
prescribed by his instructions.
The militia being always to be regarded as the
great bulwark of defense and security for free states, and the
Constitution having wisely committed to the national authority
a use of that force as the best provision against an unsafe military
establishment, as well as a resource peculiarly adapted to a country
having the extent and the exposure of the United States, I recommend
to Congress a revision of the militia laws for the purpose of
securing more effectually the services of all detachments called
into the employment and placed under the Government of the United
States.
It will deserve the consideration of Congress
also whether among other improvements in the militia laws justice
does not require a regulation, under due precautions, for defraying
the expense incident to the 1st assembling as well as the subsequent
movements of detachments called into the national service.
To give to our vessels of war, public and private,
the requisite advantage in their cruises, it is of much importance
that they should have, both for themselves and their prizes, the
use of the ports and markets of friendly powers. With this view,
I recommend to Congress the expediency of such legal provisions
as may supply the defects or remove the doubts of the Executive
authority, to allow to the cruisers of other powers at war with
enemies of the United States such use of the American ports as
may correspond with the privileges allowed by such powers to American
cruisers.
During the year ending on the 30th of September
last the receipts into the Treasury have exceeded $37,500,000,
of which near $24,000,000 were the produce of loans. After meeting
all demands for the public service there remained in the Treasury
on that day near $7,000,000. Under the authority contained in
the act of the 2nd of August last for borrowing $7,500,000, that
sum has been obtained on terms more favorable to the United States
than those of the preceding loans made during the present year.
Further sums to a considerable amount will be necessary to be
obtained in the same way during the ensuing year, and from the
increased capital of the country, from the fidelity with which
the public engagements have been kept and the public credit maintained,
it may be expected on good grounds that the necessary pecuniary
supplies will not be wanting.
The expenses of the current year, from the multiplied
operations falling within it, have necessarily been extensive;
but on a just estimate of the campaign in which the mass of them
has been incurred the cost will not be found disproportionate
to the advantages which have been gained. The campaign has, indeed,
in its latter stages in one quarter been less favorable than was
expected, but in addition to the importance of our naval success
the progress of the campaign has been filled with incidents highly
honorable to the American arms.
The attacks of the enemy on Craney Island, on
Fort Meigs, on Sacketts Harbor, and on Sandusky have been vigorously
and successfully repulsed; nor have they in any case succeeded
on either frontier excepting when directed against the peaceable
dwellings of individuals or villages unprepared or undefended.
On the other hand, the movements of the American
Army have been followed by the reduction of York, and of Forts
George, Erie, and Malden; by the recovery of Detroit and the extinction
of the Indian war in the West, and by the occupancy or command
of a large portion of Upper Canada. Battles have also been fought
on the borders of the St. Lawrence, which, though not accomplishing
their entire objects, reflect honor on the discipline and prowess
of our soldiery, the best auguries of eventual victory. In the
same scale are to be placed the late successes in the South over
one of the most powerful, which had become one of the most hostile
also, of the Indian tribes.
It would be improper to close this communication
without expressing a thankfulness in which all ought to unite
for the numerous blessings with which our beloved country continues
to be favored; for the abundance which overspreads our land, and
for the prevailing health of its inhabitants; for the preservation
of our internal tranquillity, and the stability of our free institutions,
and, above all, for the light of divine truth and the protection
of every man's conscience in the enjoyment of it. And although
among our blessings we can not number an exemption from the evils
of war, yet these will never be regarded as the greatest of evils
by the friends of liberty and of the rights of nations. Our country
has before preferred them to the degraded condition which was
the alternative when the sword was drawn in the cause which gave
birth to our national independence, and none who contemplate the
magnitude and feel the value of that glorious event will shrink
from a struggle to maintain the high and happy ground on which
it placed the American people.
With all good citizens the justice and necessity
of resisting wrongs and usurpations no longer to be borne will
sufficiently outweigh the privations and sacrifices inseparable
from a state of war. But it is a reflection, moreover, peculiarly
consoling, that, whilst wars are generally aggravated by their
baneful effects on the internal improvements and permanent prosperity
of the nations engaged in them, such is the favored situation
of the United States that the calamities of the contest into which
they have been compelled to enter are mitigated by improvements
and advantages of which the contest itself is the source.
If the war has increased the interruptions of
our commerce, it has at the same time cherished and multiplied
our manufactures so as to make us independent of all other countries
for the more essential branches for which we ought to be dependent
on none, and is even rapidly giving them an extent which will
create additional staples in our future intercourse with foreign
markets.
If much treasure has been expended, no inconsiderable
portion of it has been applied to objects durable in their value
and necessary to our permanent safety.
If the war has exposed us to increased spoliations
on the ocean and to predatory incursions on the land, it has developed
the national means of retaliating the former and of providing
protection against the latter, demonstrating to all that every
blow aimed at our maritime independence is an impulse accelerating
the growth of our maritime power.
By diffusing through the mass of the nation the
elements of military discipline and instruction; by augmenting
and distributing warlike preparations applicable to future use;
by evincing the zeal and valor with which they will be employed
and the cheerfulness with which every necessary burden will be
borne, a greater respect for our rights and a longer duration
of our future peace are promised than could be expected without
these proofs of the national character and resources.
The war has proved moreover that our free Government,
like other free governments, though slow in its early movements,
acquires in its progress a force proportioned to its freedom,
and that the union of these States, the guardian of the freedom
and safety of all and of each, is strengthened by every occasion
that puts it to the test.
In fine, the war, with all its vicissitudes,
is illustrating the capacity and the destiny of the United States
to be a great, a flourishing, and a powerful nation, worthy of
the friendship which it is disposed to cultivate with all others,
and authorized by its own example to require from all an observance
of the laws of justice and reciprocity. Beyond these their claims
have never extended, and in contending for these we behold a subject
for our congratulations in the daily testimonies of increasing
harmony throughout the nation, and may humbly repose our trust
in the smiles of Heaven on so righteous a cause.
