XXIX. CHAPTER Vived. The Constitution of the United States, under the administration of those now in power, had failed, so 1814. this report stated, to secure to Massachusetts, and to New England generally, those equal rights and benefits, the great objects of its formation, and which could not be relinquished without ruin. The method provided for in the Constitution itself, of procuring amendments, the probable necessity for which had been foreseen, was too slow of operation for the present crisis. The safety of the people—the supreme law-would well justify, in the present emergency, the holding of a new convention to modify or amend it. Nor was the expectation presumptuous that a spirit of equity and justice, enlightened by experience, would enable such a convention to reconcile conflicting interests, and, by obviating the principal cause of those dissensions, which unfitted the government alike for a state of peace and of war, to give vigor and duration to the Union. But as such a proposition, coming from a single state, might be disregarded, and as present dangers admitted of no delay, the committee recommended, in the first instance, the inviting of "a conference between these states, the affinity of whose interests is closest, and whose habits of intercourse, from local and other causes, are most frequent, to the end that, by a comparison of their sentiments and views, some mode of defense suited to the circumstances and exigencies of those states, and measures for accelerating the return of public prosperity, may be devised; and also to enable the delegates from those states, should they deem it expedient, to lay the foundation of a radi cal reform in the national compact by inviting to a fu ture convention a deputation from all the states in the Union." The amendment of the Constitution principally insist HARTFORD CONVENTION PROPOSED. 533 XXIX. ed upon was a new basis of representation. The pres- CHAPTER ent basis, counting three-fifths of the slaves, had been adopted, it was said, under the idea that the slave states 1814. were more wealthy than the free states, and ought, on that account, to have a greater representation in proportion to the number of citizens. This supposition of superior wealth was, however, a mistake in fact. Had representation been based either upon property, or number of free inhabitants, or upon any uniform combination of both, this war, forced by the poor slaveholding agricultural states upon the rich, free, commercial states, would never have been declared. This report was warmly opposed by the Democracts, headed by Levi Lincoln, Jr., who, according to a course of descent by no means uncommon in America, had now succeeded to his father's political leadership. The Democrats insisted that, however disguised, the obvious tendency, if not the real design of the proposed convention, was to prepare the way for a separation of the Union. In strange contrast to the times of '98, they quoted with unction Washington's Farewell Address, and eulogized the Federal Constitution as altogether beyond the reach of amendments-"the most perfect system of republican government which human wisdom could invent." Notwithstanding these objections, and in spite of formal protests by the minority, the report of the committee was adopted by a vote of three to one; and twelve dele- Oct. 18. gates were appointed to the proposed convention, all men of high character, with Cabot and Otis at their head. A circular letter to the other New England states Oct. 17. suggested as the first and most pressing object of the proposed convention, "to deliberate upon the danger to which the eastern section of the Union is exposed by the course of the war, and which, there is too much rea XXIX. CHAPTER son to believe, will thicken round them in its progress, and to devise, if practicable, means of security and de1814. fense which may be consistent with the preservation of their resources from total ruin, and adapted to their local situation, and mutual relations and habits, and not repugnant to their obligations as members of the Union" -an object, it may be observed, for which, during the Revolutionary war, no less than four or five similar New England conventions had been held. It was suggested, as a secondary object, to inquire whether the interests of the New England States did not demand persevering efforts to procure such amendments of the Federal Constitution as might secure them "equal advantages;" and if it should seem impracticable to obtain such under the existing provisions for amendment, whether "it might not be beneficial to endeavor to obtain a convention from all the states of the Union, or of such as might approve the measure, with a view to obtain such amendments." "It can not be necessary," the circular added, "to anticipate objections to this measure which may arise from jealousy or fear. The Legislature is content, for its jus tification, to repose on the purity of its own motives, and upon the known attachment of its constituents to the national Union, and to the rights and independence of their country." Oct. 14. The Legislature of Connecticut denounced the conscription system proposed by Monroe for filling the ranks of the regular army as unconstitutional, and intolerably barbarous and oppressive. Should such a law pass, they authorized the governor to call a special session of the Legislature to provide for the protection of the rights of the citizens.. Of a House of 200, only 39 voted against this resolve. A committee, to which the Massachusetts circular was referred, laid down the doctrine, in a very DELEGATES TO THE HARTFORD CONVENTION. 535 XXIX. able report, that the securing of protection was the great CHAPTER end and object of every social compact. However, in a purely defensive war, the want of means might excuse, 1814. yet, "when a government hastily declares war without providing the indispensable means of conducting it, want of means is no apology for refusing protection. In such a case, the very declaration of war is of itself a breach of a sacred obligation, inasmuch as the loss of protection is the immediate and inevitable consequence of the measure. When the war annihilates the only revenue of the nation, the violation of the original contract is still more palpable. If waged for foreign conquest, and with the wasté of the national treasures devoted to a fruitless invasion of the enemy's territory, the character of the act is more criminal, but not more clear." In accordance with the recommendation of this committee, the proposal of Massachusetts was acceded to, and seven delegates were appointed-the two late senators, Goodrich and Hillhouse, heading the list-to meet the delegates of the other New England states at Hartford, on the 15th of December, to deliberate on the subjects proposed, and any others that might come before them, "for the purpose of devising and recommending such measures for the safety and welfare of these states as may consist with our obligations as members of the national Union"-thus repeating the limitation expressed in the Massachusetts circular. In the same tone was the report of a committee of the Nov. 5. Rhode Island Assembly, whose former proposal of mutual aid by each other's militia had lately been accepted by Massachusetts and Connecticut. A resolution, though violently opposed, was carried, nearly two to one, to appoint four delegates to the proposed convention. These proceedings in New England had occasioned CHAPTER great alarm at Washington, the more so, as Massachu XXIX. setts had appropriated a million of dollars toward the 1814. support of a state army of 10,000 men, to relieve the militia in service, and to be, like them, under exclusive state control. Jefferson had long lived in terror, and Madison seems to have shared in his alarms, of some treasonable secret plot. First it was a plot of Hamilton's to make the Federal Constitution a stepping-stone to the establishment of a monarchy. Next, a plot of the Federal members of Congress, when it appeared that Jefferson and Burr had an equal number of votes, to prevent any decision between them, and to make Chief-justice Marshall president by act. Then came Burr's alleged conspiracy, in which Jefferson believed the Federalists to be deeply implicated, and to punish which he had been disposed to stretch the law of treason to very dangerous limits. Next followed John Quincy Adams's disclosures of an alleged project for separating New England from the Union-a story confirmed, as it was thought, by Henry's dearly-purchased revelations. This alarm had been renewed by the organization, among the Federalists, since the commencement of the war, of "Washington Benevolent Societies," nominally for charitable purposes, but believed to have some secret political aim. The State Department had a mysterious correspondent, a pretended representative of the royal family of the Stuarts, and, as such, having certain claims to the soil of New York. Alleging himself to be in the confidence of Allen, late British consul at Boston, who had been ordered into a sort of parole confinement at Worcester, he pretended to have learned from him, or by access to his pa pers, the existence of a committee of New England Roy alists, formed at Boston, with intent to establish the king. dom of New England, with the Duke of Kent, the Brit |