Northwest boundary of the United States; Oregon question
The primary causes of the disastrous results of the campaign of 1812,
were the want of a naval force on the Lakes, and that of a sufficient
regular force. Government had obtained a correct statement of the
regular force of the British in Canada, with the exception of the
garrison of Quebec. This last was estimated at about three thousand men,
and could not be lessened without great inconvenience and some danger.
The regular force at Montreal, St. John's, and Three Rivers, amounted to
1130 men; that in the whole of Upper Canada, to 720. The act to raise an
additional military force of 25,000 men was passed on the 11th of
January, 1812. The selection of the officers was not completed before
the termination of that year; the recruiting service was not organized
in time; the enlistments for the regular army fell short of the most
moderate calculation; and the total number recruited was so small, as to
render it impossible to strike a decisive blow on any one of the most
important points from Montreal upwards, insignificant as was the force
by which they were defended. The volunteer act was also extremely
unproductive. At that time the treasury was amply supplied; and the want
was not that of money, but of a regular force.
Such force cannot be raised without money; and yet it will be admitted
that it would be extremely difficult to induce Congress to lay internal
taxes or duties before war was declared or certain. In order to provide
means for having an additional regular force ready to act as soon as
actual war takes place, a loan and Treasury notes must be resorted to.
But it is deemed absolutely necessary, that the internal taxes should be
imposed simultaneously with the declaration of war, and that provision
should be made for their immediate collection. With the exception of the
act for doubling the duties on importations, Congress did not pass any
law for imposing any new taxes or duties, till more than one year after
the declaration of the last war; nor did it even lay a second direct tax
in the year 1814. It was not till after public credit was ruined, after
Treasury notes which were had due remained unpaid, and after Mr. Dallas
had been placed at the head of the Treasury, that at last the laws for
imposing a double direct tax, for increasing the rate of the existing
internal duties, and for laying new ones, were enacted. The peace was
ratified immediately after; and in point of fact, no more than 3,877,000
dollars were paid in the Treasury before the end of the war, on account
of the direct tax and all other internal taxes or duties. There were
received from the same sources 20,654,000 dollars in the years 1815,
1816 and 1817.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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