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
colonized by other foreign powers, nearly the whole line of lakes and
the territory west of Lake Erie would have presented an impenetrable
barrier to our growth in the north-west. Not succeeding in this
policy, she determined that the Indians should retain possession of
the land as her allies. This is evident from the constant disturbance
kept up on our north-western frontiers--from Lord Dorchester's
speeches instigating the Indians to war, and from the fact that an
English fort was erected within the territory of the republic. So
resolved was the British Government on this course that it for a long
time refused to carry out the stipulations of the treaty of 1783, and
still retained American posts captured by its forces during the
revolutionary war. The defeat of General Harmar, in 1790, and of St.
Clair, in 1791, were not wholly owing to our inefficiency or to Indian
prowess, but to British interference and encouragement.
The victory of Wayne, which followed these disastrous expeditions,
proved this true. Canadian militia and volunteers were found in the
Indian armies, while the battle that completed their overthrow ended
under the walls of a British fort standing on American ground. These
violations of a sacred treaty, and undisguised encroachments upon our
territory on the frontier, were afterwards surpassed by still greater
outrages at sea.
The French revolution exploding like a volcano in the heart of Europe,
followed by a republic whose foundation stones were laid in the
proudest blood of France--the extinction of the Bourbon dynasty, and
the loud declaration of rights which startled every despot from the
Archangel to the Mediterranean like a peal of thunder, had covered the
continent with hostile armies. The European powers who rejoiced in the
success of the revolutionary struggle on these distant shores, because
it inflicted a blow on their proud rival, saw with consternation the
principle that sustained it at work in their midst. Like the first
crusade against the infidels, which at once healed all the animosities
of the princes of Europe, a second crusade, harmonizing powers
hitherto at variance, was formed against this principle of human
rights, and the allied armies moved down upon the infant republic of
France. The devastating flood of feudalism would soon have swept
everything under but for the appearance of that strange embodiment of
power, Napoleon Bonaparte. Rolling it back from the French borders, he
commenced that long and fearful struggle which ended only at Waterloo.
England rashly formed a coalition with the continental powers,
anticipating an easy overthrow to the plebeian warrior, but soon found
herself almost alone in the conflict; and instead of treading down her
ancient rival, began to tremble for her own safety. The long and
deadly strife that followed exhausted her resources and crippled her
strength. Her war ships stretched from Copenhagen to the Nile, and to
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