362 MISSION OF HENRY. VIII. Feb. CHAP. made a great handle of by the friends of the administration, the proof of such a conspiracy was principally conjectural.1 1899. The mission of Mr. Henry, also, who was sent hither, from Canada, to act as a spy upon the movements of the federalists, was entirely fruitless. Without doubt, it would have been pleasing to England to have effected a separation of the states, under distinct and independent governments; and this might have been brought about "by a series of acts and long-continued policy tending to irritate the southern, and conciliate the northern, people." But this object could be attained only by "a slow and circumspect progression," and required forits consummation "more attention to the affairs which agitate and excite parties in this country than Great Britain had yet bestowed upon it.” 2 Fortunately for the nation, President Jefferson was not uninfluenced by prudential considerations in yielding to the Jan. 9. pressure of public opinion.3 The recent act of Congress to had been the main object of his de- 1 "No body of men," says Brad- unity, the peace, and honor of their own country." 2 Bradford, iii. 106, note; Carey's Olive Branch, 144 et seq.; Am. State Papers, 1811-1815; Niles's Weekly Register, ii. 19-28; Boston Centinel for March 18, 21, and 28, 1812, and Boston Resolutions, in ibid. for March 25, 1812; Boston Chronicle for March 23, 1812; Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 284-287. The documents relating to Henry's mission were printed at Salem, in March, 1812, in a pamphlet of thirty-six pages, under the title of "The Essex Junto and the British Spy, or Treason Detected." On the English side of this question, see European Mag. for 1812; Niles's Weekly Reg. ii. 257, 289. 3 For Tucker's estimate of Jefferson's administration, see his Life of Jefferson, ii. 287-293. "This administration," he observes, “vilified as it has been by those whose power it superseded, and whose views it thwarted, has been appealed to by the unbiased portion of the succeeding OVERTURES OF ERSKINE. 363 VIII. enforce the embargo, under the plea that evasions had taken CHAP. place, and that vessels, cleared only as coasters, had carried cargoes to Europe, was so vehemently opposed, and the reso- 189. lutions of Massachusetts were so decided, that, joined to the Feb. 2 prospective election of Mr. Gore, the candidate of the federalists, the concurrent remonstrances of the other New England States, and the defection in the ranks of the democrats themselves, there was no longer room to doubt the necessity of attempting to pacify the people, and to allay the tumult, which threatened to become serious. A repeal was therefore urged upon Congress a repeal of the obnoxious embargo law; and an act was passed effecting its repeal after the Feb. 27 fifteenth of March, so far as related to all countries except France and Great Britain, and as to them also after the end of the next session of Congress.2 The overtures of Erskine, on the part of the English gov- Apr. 17. ernment, for an adjustment of the controversy between Great Britain and the United States, led to an arrangement, which was approved by Madison; and a thousand vessels were cleared Apr. 19. for foreign ports.3 An act was also passed dropping the em- June. bargo provisions, and the exclusion of foreign armed vessels, but continuing the non-importation system, with a proviso legalizing the trade with Great Britain under the president's proclamation. But the hopes which were thus raised were speedily dashed. Erskine's arrangement was disowned by the English government, and his proceedings were criticised with generation as the one in which the country, through the greater part of its course, experienced more public prosperity, and, through the whole of it, was administered more according to the republican principles of the constitution, than any other." Mr. Gore was elected governor this year, by a majority of nearly 3000 in 93,000 votes. 2 Tucker's Life of Jefferson, ii. 286, 287 Carey's Olive Branch, 158; Hil dreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 136, 137. Am. State Papers for 1809; Hil- 36-1 MR. GERRY CHOSEN GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS. VIII. CHAP. no little severity. This brought upon the administration a storm of abuse; and it was found difficult to retrieve the step 1809. which had been taken. Party spirit increased in rancor; even democrats were restive, and the clamors of the federalists were louder than ever. 1810. May. Shortly after these occurrences, a new election took place in Massachusetts; and Mr. Gore, who had "the most elevated ideas of public and private duty," and whose " conduct was always in perfect conformity with his principles," was succeedJune 2. ed by Elbridge Gerry, who entered upon the duties of his office in the following month.3 Thus the democratic party was once more triumphant in the state; and the result of the election was considered as an indorsement of the policy of Madison. An Appeal to the People, &c., N. York, 1810; the Diplomatic Policy of Mr. Madison Unveiled, 8-23; Robert Smith's Address to the People of the U. S. ? Mem. of Gore, in 3 M. H. Coll. iii. 191-204; Austin's Life of Gerry, ii. 314, 315. Mr. Gore was a lawyer by profession, and politics had long been his study. He was attorney for the district of Massachusetts, by the appointment of Washington, in 1790; was a commissioner to England, under the treaty of 1795; and for several years was a senator in the state legislature from the county of Suffolk. 3 Austin's Life of Gerry, ii. 315. CHAPTER IX. THE WAR OF 1812. HARTFORD CONVENTION. PEACE DECLARED. IX. THE accession of Mr. Gerry to the chief magistracy of CHAP. Massachusetts occurred at a critical period in our local and national affairs. The general government had been compelled 1810. to submit to a relaxation in the measure of non-intercourse, and in its restrictions on commercial pursuits; but intelligent statesmen still demurred at its policy, and a war with England was confidently predicted. That such an event was deprecated by a majority of the citizens of Massachusetts may well be supposed; and it was believed by many that, under the guidance of a prudent and magnanimous spirit, the difficulties between the two governments might have been amicably adjusted. In both branches of the General Court, the majorities were democratic, and there was a harmony of purpose between the governor and the legislature. His excellency, in all his public communications, approved the course of the national administration, and confined his favors, by the advice of his friends, to such as were its supporters. The system of proscription adopted by Jefferson was followed; and many were removed from office who had long and faithfully served their country, and whose principal fault was that they were not of the dominant party.' But however "patriotic" were the motives which prompted to this step, it was ill calculated to conciliate the opposite party-though, possibly, under like 1 Message of Governor Gerry of June 20, 1811, in Mass. Resolves, 217, 218; Bradford, iii. 114. 1811. Jun. 20. 366 REMOVALS FROM OFFICE. CHAP. circumstances, they might have done the same; and when IX. "veterans of the revolution," equally with others, were sub1811. jected to privations and treated with neglect, it was suspected that "meritorious services" were not so highly esteemed even by republicans as might have been inferred from the letter of his excellency written twenty years before, the contents of which he had possibly forgotten.1 The lines, however, were closely drawn; and, in the hour of triumph, those who in former days had condemned others for exclusiveness "sinned after the similitude of the same transgression." The inferior or County Courts were organized Jun. 21. anew, to give an opportunity for changes in that quarter; the Jun. 18. appointment of clerks of the judicial courts was vested in the governor, instead of in the judges; and registers of proJun. 25. bate and sheriffs were superseded by his excellency's political friends. Whether such proceedings were in all respects just, it must be left to the good sense of the reader to decide. "It has been asserted in England," says Matthew Carey,3 "that a tory in place becomes a whig when out of place, and that a whig when provided with a place becomes a tory." And it was, perhaps, by a similar process of reasoning that the policy of political proscription was justified. It was certainly a convenient way of adjusting responsibilities and balancing benefits. The scale turns not ever to the side of the ins; and when it happens to sway to the side of the outs, it is too much, perhaps, to expect of them that they should fail to practise that "disinterested benevolence" for which they once pleaded ― meaning, of course, benevolence to themselves and gratuities to their friends.4 1 See p. 313. 2 Mass. Laws for June, 1811, chaps. viii., xxxiii., lxxi., lxxxi.; Bradford, iii. 116; Hildreth's U. S., 2d series, iii. 250. After the election of Mr. Strong, a number of the officers thus removed were, by the advice of the council, restored to the offices which they had held at the beginning of the former political year. Bradford, iii. 129. 3 Olive Branch, 84, ed. 1817. 4 It was for this proscription that Jefferson applauded Governor Gerry, especially "for the rasping with which |