MEANS FOR PROSECUTING THE WAR. 307 XXIV. to bear an interest of six per cent., and receivable for all CHAPTER treasury dues, on the credit of which the secretary was authorized to obtain temporary loans, or to pay out the 1812. notes themselves to such public creditors as might be willing to receive them at par. It was, indeed, poor encouragement for new subscriptions to the loan, and a striking evidence of the ignorant infatuation of the war majority, that no provision was made to meet the payment of the interest, nor even any sufficient provision for the expected deficit of the ordinary revenue. The import duties were indeed doubled, with ten per cent. additional on imports in foreign vessels; but the direct and internal taxes were postponed, the party leaders not daring to subject the popular disposition to so severe a test. An effort to repeal the Non-importation Act, thus opening the door, to essential supplies of blankets and clothing, and relieving the treasury also, while drawing into the country means which otherwise would remain locked up abroad, though favored by Gallatin, was defeated by a very close vote; a result accomplished by the joint efforts of the domestic manufacturers, who began now to be a political interest, and of those old embargo Republicans who still insisted on the vast efficacy of commercial restrictions. So far, indeed, from relaxing any thing on this point, the Non-importation Act was reenforced by another, subjecting to heavy penalties the transporting by land, to any of the neighboring British colonies, of any naval or military stores, arms, munitions, or provisions; requiring all vessels to give bonds not to trade with the enemy, which, if done under British license, was made punishable by fine and imprisonment; and, to prevent the change of British into neutral ships, prohibiting the entry of any neutral vessels, except those which were such at the commencement of the var, or, if built since, neutral built. CHAPTER XXIV. Under an act consolidating the old army and the new levies, the regular force was to consist of twenty-five 1812. regiments of foot, four of artillery, two of dragoons, and June 26. one of riflemen; on paper, with the engineers and artificers, a total of 36,700 men. The actual force under arms consisted, however, at the declaration of war, of 10,000 men only, of whom about half were raw recruits. As the militia could only be called out for terms of three months at the utmost, they could hardly be relied upon except for garrison duty, and coast and frontier defense. To give greater efficiency to the volunteers, who seemed likely to become the chief resource for active operations, a new act authorized the president, with the consent, however, of the volunteers themselves, to organize them on the model of the regular army, and to appoint their officers. Another act was carried through, though not without great opposition from some who seemed to think the speedy conquest of Canada quite certain enough already, for the appointment of two more brigadiers and some additional staff-officers. The place of first major general, with the command of Jan. 27. the Northern department, had been given to that petted favorite, Henry Dearborn, late Secretary of War, and, since Madison's accession, collector of the port of Boston, a lucrative post, kept in the family by his son's appointment to it. Thomas Pinkney, of South Carolina, formerly an active Federalist and candidate for the vice-presidency, and still maintaining the general views of that party, had been appointed to the second major generalMarch 26 ship, with the command of the Southern department. Wilkinson, the senior brigadier, just acquitted by courtmartial of the long-pending charges against him, had been April 9. sent to New Orleans to relieve Hampton, whose command there had been one constant scene of collision and turmoil OFFICERS OF THE ARMY. 309 XXIV. 1812. April 8. with his officers. Commissions as brigadiers, under the CHAPTER late acts, had been given to Bloomfield, governor of New Jersey, to James Winchester, of Tennessee, and to Hull, governor of the Michigan Territory. One had been offered to William Polk, a North Carolina Federalist, but, as he declined to accept it, his place was presently supplied by Thomas Flourney, of Georgia. Arm- June 18. strong, late embassador to France, also received a commission as brigadier in place of the deceased Gansevoort. July 4. The appointment of John Chandler, of Maine, soon followed. Morgan Lewis, the quarter-master general, and July 6. Alexander Smythe, of Virginia, late colonel of the rifles, appointed inspector general, had also the rank of brig adiers. The adjutant generalship, refused by North, of New York, another Federalist, adjutant general of the army of '98, was given to Cushing, colonel of the second regiment. Most or all of these officers, taken pretty equally from the North and the South, had seen service during the Revolution, some of them as commanders of regiments, but, with the exception of Wilkinson, and Cushing, and for the last four years of Hampton and Smythe, they had all been civilians for more than thirty years, and were indebted for their present appointments rather to political than to military considerations. Of the inferior officers of the old army, presently distinguished, Alexander Macomb, of the engineers, was now made a colonel, and Winfield Scott and Edmund Gaines lieutenant colonels. A lieutenant colonelcy in one of the new regiments had been given to Eleazur W. Ripley, a young Democrat from Maine, who had succeeded Story as speaker of the late Democratic Massachusetts House of Representatives. Ripley's subsequent conduct justified this appointment; but the colonel of that same regiment was afterwards cashiered for peculation; and XXIV. CHAPTER as few of the new regimental officers had any military knowledge, so numbers of them were quite destitute of 1812. those qualities, without which even that knowledge would have been of little avail. The only other acts deemed necessary for the furJune 26. therance of the war were, one for regulating privateers, July 5, 6. and others appropriating an additional $500,000 for coast defense, $900,000 for naval repairs and equipments, and $100,000 for expenses attending the custody and exchange of prisoners. The Constitution of the new State of LOUISIANA, alApril 8. ready admitted, by an act for that purpose, into the Union, gave the right of suffrage to all adult white taxpaying male citizens residents for one year. State representatives were to be chosen for two years, and senators for four years; and, in order to preserve an equality of representation, there was to be, at the end of every fourth year, a re-arrangement of the districts. The governor was also to be chosen for four years, but by a peculiar method, which attempted to combine a choice by the Legislature, as existing in some states, with a choice by the people, as adopted in others. Out of the two highest candidates nominated by a popular election, the Legislature was to select one. That choice fell, in the first instance, on Claiborne, territorial governor since 1804. April 14. By a separate act, that part of Florida recently taken possession of, as far east as Pearl River, was annexed to the new state. The remaining territory, as far as the Perdido, though Mobile still remained in the hands of the May 14. Spaniards, was annexed, by another act, to the Mississippi Territory. The renewed application of that territory for permission to constitute itself into a new state, was postponed, to abide the action of Georgia on a joint INVASION OF EAST FLORIDA. 311 XXIV. resolution of Congress asking her consent to a division CHAPTER of the Mississippi Territory into two states. As the late Territory of Orleans had, in its new character, reassumed 1812. the name of Louisiana, the territory north of it received now the new title of MISSOURI. June 4. Pending the session of Congress, an insurrection had broken out in East Florida, stirred up by General Matthews, of Georgia, who had been appointed a commissioner, under the secret act of the late session, for receiv ing the surrender of that territory, if the authorities should choose to make it. He had even gone so far as to lend the aid of a small body of troops under his command, by whom, in co-operation with the insurgents, the Spanish governor was beseiged in St. Augustine. These proceedings, however, had been disavowed at Washington, and Mitchell, governor of Georgia, had been appointed to su- April 10. persede Matthews. But, relying probably on a congressional sanction, Mitchell persevered in the same policy, and refused to withdraw the American troops. The House, in fact, passed a bill in secret session, authorizing June 21. the president to take possession of East Florida; but this bill was rejected by the Senate, as was also a secret resolution of the House, authorizing a proclamation by the president to assure the inhabitants of British America, should those provinces be conquered, of security in their lives, liberty, property, and religion. The Senate could have had no objection to grant those terms to any conquered people; but, as they did not think it judicious to run the risk of incurring new enemies at this critical moment by the seizure of Florida, so they very fortu nately, as the discussions at Ghent afterward showed, were unwilling to commence the war by openly proclaiming that it had acquisition of territory in view. According to a document sent to Congress just before July 6. |