The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2Headley, Joel Tyler
History
The Second War with England, Vol. 1 of 2
Headley, Joel Tyler
United States -- History -- War of 1812
The clause extending the term of enlistment, and authorizing the
raising of new regiments, making the money bounty $124--fifty of it to
be paid on an enrollment, fifty on mustering, and the remainder at the
close of the war, if living, and if not to go to his heirs, was
assailed with vehement opposition. [Sidenote: Jan. 3, 1814.] Mr.
Webster, who had been cut short in an attack on the administration by
the Speaker, on the ground that no question was before the house, now
rose to speak. Carefully avoiding the asperity which distinguished
his colleagues, he levelled all his force against the embargo act, and
the conquest of Canada. [Sidenote: Jan. 10.] The former he denounced
unjust and unequal in its bearing, and ruinous in its consequences. He
called on the administration to remove it at once, as the first step
towards the acquirement of a just position. He then denounced the
Canadian war, to prosecute which this extraordinary bill was
introduced, whose provisions if carried out would swell the regular
army to sixty-six thousand troops, to say nothing of the power
conferred on the President for calling out the militia for six months
instead of three. Let us, he said, have only force enough on our
frontier to protect it from invasion--let the slaughter of our
yeomanry cease, and the fires along our northern boundary be
extinguished. Already the war had cost nearly half as much as the
entire struggle for independence; and said he, in conclusion, if war
must be, "apply your revenue to the augmentation of your navy. That
navy, in turn, may protect your commerce. Let it no longer be said
that not one ship of force built by your hands since the war, floats
on the ocean. Turn the current of your efforts into the channel which
national sentiment has already worn broad and deep to receive it. A
naval force competent to defend your coast against considerable
armaments, to convoy your trade, and perhaps raise the blockade of
your rivers, is not a chimera. It may be realized. If, then, the war
must continue, go to the ocean. If you are seriously contending for
maritime rights, go to the theatre where alone those rights can be
defended. Thither every indication of your fortune points you. There
the united wishes and exertions of the nation will go with you. Even
our party divisions, acrimonious as they are, cease at the water's
edge. They are lost in attachment to national character, on that
element where that character is made respectable. In protecting naval
interests by naval means, you will arm yourselves with the whole power
of national sentiment, and may command the whole abundance of national
resources. In time you may enable yourselves to redress injuries in
the place where they may be offered, and if need be, to accompany your
own flag throughout the world with the protection of your own cannon."
This speech produced a marked impression on the house. Succeeding as
it did, the resolutions of the Legislature of Massachusetts, refusing
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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