The attack on Fort M'Henry meanwhile had been commenced. About sunrise, on the 13th, the British had brought sixteen ships within two miles and a half of the fort, and the assault was begun by five bomb-vessels, which had anchored at the distance of two miles. These, being out of the range of the guns of the fort, maintained an incessant bombardment; yet, despite the bombs and rockets every moment falling in and about the fort, the garrison wavered not; every man stood to his post without shrinking. Some of the enemy's vessels approaching nearer, a tremendous fire was opened upon them, and they hastily retired. During the night, whilst the enemy on land was retreating, and whilst the bombardment was the most severe, two or three rocketvessels and barges succeeded in getting up the Ferry Branch; but they were soon compelled to retire, by the guns of Fort Covington and the City Battery. These forts also destroyed one of the barges, with all on board.* At At seven o'clock the next morning, the bombardment was given over, fifteen

* It is an interesting circumstance, worthy of men

tion in connection with the bombardment of Fort

M'Henry, that Francis S. Key, having gone on board to the admiral's ship for the purpose of obtaining the

release of some friends, was detained there, and was compelled to be a spectator of the fierce assault on the

fort. Mr. Key watched his country's flag with patriotic anxiety, as it waved through the day, until the night shut it out from his view; and during the long

hours that followed, he sought, by the glare of the

hundred shells having been thrown, but with comparatively little injury to the fort and its defenders. Only four were killed and twenty-four wounded in this assault on Fort M'Henry.

Admiral Cochrane and Colonel Brooke agreed that the enterprise could not be prosecuted to advantage. Accordingly, the army commenced its retreat in the night, and, favored by the extreme darkness and steady rain, were enabled to get beyond pursuit before the day dawned. The British fleet, on the 15th, made its way down the bay, and Admiral Cochrane, soon after, retired, with all his forces, to the West Indies.

1814.

Mr. Madison, who had suffered no little humiliation, and even insult, because of the capture of Washington, returned to the city directly after the British had retreated. The emergency in public affairs required immediate attention, and the president accordingly issued his proclamation for the assem bling of Congress on the 19th of September. The next day, the message was sent in and read to both Houses. Moderate in length, but firm, almost defiant in tone, the message reviewed succinctly the existing state of things, and the measures which seemed to be required under the circumstances. The various successes of our arms on land and sea were dilated upon, and the disgraceful mode of warfare which the British had recently adopted, was vig

ard was yet in its place. At early dawn, he exultingly beheld it still floating proudly in the breeze; and under the impulse of poetic fervor, he composed the wellknown song, "The Star Spangled Banner." See Ingersoll's "History of the Second War," vol. ii., p. 214.

filling the ranks of the regular army was adverted to, as more economical than employing the militia to any great extent, the president at the same time,

CH. XII.]

strongly urging that the militia be classed and disciplined for more efficient service. The financial statement of the three quarters of a year that had elapsed since the last preceding account, showed $32,000,000 received, all from loans except about $11,000,000, and $34,000,000 disbursed, leaving nearly $5,000,000 in the treasury. But it was added, that "large sums" would be required to meet the demands already authorized by Congress, and those arising from "the extension of the ations of the war."

oper

The president did not attempt to disguise the fact, that the situation of the country called for the most earnest efforts on the part of Congress

1814.

and of the people. The power and means at command of the enemy were vast, and well calculated to enable him to effect his object; but, says Mr. Madison, "the American people will face hostility with the undaunted spirit which in their Revolutionary struggle defeated the adversary's unrighteous projects. His threats and his barbarities, instead of dismay, will kindle in every bosom an indignation not to be extinguished but in the disaster and expulsion of such cruel invaders. In providing the means necessary, the national legislature will not distrust the heroic and enlightened patriotism of its constituents. They will cheerfully and proudly bear every burden of every kind, which the safety and honor of the nation demand. We have seen them every where paying their taxes, direct and indirect, with the greatest promptness and alacrity. We see them rushing with enthusiasm

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to the scenes where danger and duty call. In offering their blood, they give the surest pledge that no other tribute will be withheld." In conclusion, the president forcibly said; "having manifested, on every occasion, and in every proper mode, a sincere desire to arrest the effusion of blood, and meet our enemy on the ground of justice and reconciliation, our beloved country, in still opposing to his persevering hostility all its energies, with an undiminished disposition toward peace and friendship on honorable terms, must carry with it the good wishes of the impartial world, and the best hopes of support from an omnipotent and kind Providence."

Under a keen sense of national disgrace, a resolution was unanimously adopted, appointing a committee to inquire into the causes which led to the capture of Washington. Two days af terwards, the question came up for consideration respecting the place where Congress was to hold its session, and the government of the country be carried on. The patent office, (which was then under the post office roof,) and a few other buildings, saved at the conflagration, had been temporarily prepared for the accommodation of the members and the officers of the gov ernment. Happily for our country, we think, the proposal to return to Philadelphia, which at first equally divided the House, was rejected, on the 18th of October, by a vote of eighty-three to seventy-four; and the president himself was understood to be unfavorable to it, and determined to put his veto upon any bill for removing the seat of

government from where Washington and Congress had fixed it.

One treasure destroyed by the British was the library. On the 10th of October, the offer of Mr. Jefferson, through a private letter,* to sell Congress his library, as the nucleus of a new one, was accepted by the Senate, and a bill for the purchase of it read three times, and sent to the House, read twice, and referred to a committee of the whole. For two days 1814. this purchase was debated in committee, and very instructive and even melancholy were the signs of unquenchable party hatred given by the opponents of the ex-president, in opposition to this measure. It was probably It was probably well for Congress and the country alike, that in this instance, the more numerous party could reply to their arguments by their votes; yet the bill passed after all by a majority of fourteen only, in a house of a hundred and eighteen. New changes in the cabinet occurred at this date. General Armstrong, as we have noted, (p. 255) threw up his office in disgust at the censure which was freely poured out upon him. Mr. Monroe, on the 27th of September, took charge of the department of war,† and his office of secretary of state being soon

* See the letter of Mr. Jefferson, in Ingersoll, vol. ii., p. 266, second series. In connection with this topic, the author has some pertinent remarks on the subject of pensions, gratuities, etc., to those who have served the country in high and responsible stations.

† John Quincy Adams, in his "Life of James Monroe," asserts, as his conviction, that had he been appointed to this responsible post six months before, the heaviest and most disgraceful disaster of the war (the

capture of Washington) would have been spared as a blotted page in the annals of our Union.

afterwards offered to, but not accepted by, Daniel D. Tompkins, Clinton's suc cessful rival for the governorship of New York, he held both posts till March, 1815. Campbell soon gave up the treasury, and was succeeded, on the 7th of October, by Alexander J. Dallas of Pennsylvania. And Benjamin W. Crowninshield became secretary of the navy, December 19th, William Jones having resigned.

In our estimate of the measures of this session, we must not only remember that it was the last of the thirteenth or war Congress, but also that active efforts were in progress for the negotiation of peace, the American commissioners being at Ghent awaiting the arrival of the envoys from England. And further, it deserves to be noted, that at this period the disaffection of the eastern states attained its highest pitch, and the "Hartford Convention," of which we shall speak further on, was the sign, or the menace, of something terrible in the future; possibly even a dissolution of the Union, with its portentous consequences.

1814

The finances claim our first notice. The report presented at the beginning of the session was deplorable; the loan had failed utterly; of $6,000,000 advertised for in the preceding month, only some $2,500,000 could be obtained, and that at a loss of twenty per cent. Mr. Campbell "faintly suggested" increased taxation, and then retired from office. Mr. Dallas was appointed at once, and entered and entered upon its duties with a vigor and skill little expected from his former occupation, for he had been a lawyer only, or from his powdered hair and

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Dallas did not waste time in suggesting additional taxation, but carried it. The amount of the direct tax was doubled forthwith. The excise duties, the license duties, the assessed taxes, all were raised. New internal duties were devised and imposed. The charge for postage was increased fifty per cent. And beside all this, he strongly recommended a national bank with a capital of $50,000,000, partly subscribed by the government, and placed under its control, under the obligation to advance to the government a loan of $30,000,000, as "the only efficient remedy for the disordered condition of our circulating medium, safe depository for the public treasure, and constant auxiliary to the public credit."

1814.

Mr. Eppes, with his committee of ways and means, was quite outdone by the new secretary of the treasury. Dallas's scheme of taxation drove his out of the field. For eleven days the bank scheme was debated in the House. Mr. Webster, disdaining the vituperative language of Mr. Cyrus King and other federalists, nevertheless dealt powerful blows against the policy of the administration. "He would not give his vote for the measures proposed, either by way of expressing his approbation of the past, or his expectations for the future. On the past he looked with mixed emotions of indignation and grief; on the future, with fearful forebodings and apprehensions, relieved only by the hope that the immediate adoption of better counsels might lead to better times." Mr. Calhoun exerted

strictures on the administration, and in endeavoring to arouse a spirit of patriotic devotion to our country's best interests. In spite of the opposition of the federalist members, the taxes were increased, but the bank proposal failed in the secretary's hands, as similar proposals had failed in Calhoun's and Grundy's before.

Another national bank scheme was brought before the House in December, which was discussed, referred, reported on, amended, sent back to the Senate, where it had originated, and finally adopted, on the 7th of January, 1815. On the 21st of the same month, it was sent to the president, who returned the bill on the 30th, with his objections, which did not extend to the constitutionality of a bank of the United States, but to the inefficiency of the one proposed, for reviving the public credit. New debates ensued, and references, and reports, until, amid the glow of the triumph at New Orleans, and the rejoicings at the peace, the bill was postponed by a single vote, on the ground of want of time, and as not requiring attention at this particular moment. One reason for the utter failure of the bank project just now, was the difference between Mr. Dallas and Mr. Calhoun respecting the obligation to pay in specie, which the former would not make imperative, and even provided for the suspension of; whilst the latter regarded it as indispensable. The federalists, by joining with each leader against the other, helped to defeat both.

In the country at large, especially in New England, much greater excitement

was occasioned by a project of Mr. Monroe for augmenting the rank and file of the regular army,-by drafts of a certain number from every hundred of the free male population between the ages of eighteen and forty-five,-to one hundred thousand men; which was the force he estimated as needful for the country in the next campaign. This was loudly denounced as a scheme of conscription, more daring than Napoleon, in the plenitude of his power, would have ventured to propose. And it caused the more stir probably, because in the rear of it the secretary of the navy intended to propose the introduction of a similar scheme for the increase of the navy.

Mr. Monroe, who was already understood to be a prominent candidate for the presidency, certainly deserved credit for proposing a plan so little likely to meet with favor from the mass of the people. His plan was rejected; and a

bill authorizing the president to call out the militia of any state, if the governor refused to do so, after being carried through the House with great exertions, was lost in the Senate by one vote.

Elbridge Gerry, the vice-president, died suddenly on the 23d of November, 1814, at Washington; and John Gailliard, of South Carolina, was chosen as president of the Senate for the remainder of the session. Gerry died, we are told, honorably poor, and Congress gave him a costly interment at public expense, but refused any allowance to his distressed widow and children, when his salary would have saved them from the humiliation of want.

The further proceedings of Congress during the present session, we shall narrate in our next chapter; in which also. we shall conclude the story of the second war with England, and tell of the welcome return of peace.

THE BRITISH ACCOUNT OF THE INVASION OF WASHINGTON.

MR. GLEIG states, that the British troops under Ross and Cockburn numbered four thousand five hundred; they were without artillery; advanced with extreme care into the interior; were excessively fatigued with the heat and oppressive weather; and reached Bladensburg on the 24th of August. The author's narrative of what followed the battle, and of the blunders of the Americans, we give in his own words.

This battle, by which the fate of the American capital was decided, began about one o'clock in

the afternoon, and lasted till four. The loss on the part of the English was severe, since, out of two-thirds of the army, which were engaged, upwards of five hundred men were killed and wounded; and what rendered it doubly severe was, that among these were numbered several officers of rank and distinction. Colonel Thornton, who commanded the light brigade, Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, commanding the eighty-fifth regiment, and Major Brown, who led the advanced guard, were all severely wounded; and General Ross himself had a horse shot under him. On the side of the Americans the slaughter was not so great. Being in possession of a strong