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 conference 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 invited 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, which 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 soconsidered 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 apprised 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 it s 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.
