one could tell whither these things were | Again, the commercial States had yielded leading, and they could at least protest. to the general government the right of The protest will always be remarkable receiving customs duties and of national from the skill with which it turned against defense on the express ground of receivJefferson and Madison the dangerous ing protection in return. Madison had States-rights doctrines of their own in- pledged himself-as he was reminded in jurious Virginia and Kentucky resolu- the once famous "Rockingham County tions. The Federalist and Democratic [New Hampshire] address," penned by parties had completely shifted ground; young Daniel Webster-to give the nation and we can now see that the Hartford a navy; and it had resulted in Mr. JefferConvention really strengthened the tradi- son's hundred and fifty little gun-boats, and tions of the Union by showing that the some twenty larger vessels. As for the implied threat of secession was a game at army, it consisted at this time of about which two could play. three thousand men all told. The ablest It must be remembered, too, in esti- men in the President's cabinet-Gallatin mating the provocation which led to this and Pickering-were originally opposed famous convention, that during all this to the war. The only member of that time the commercial States were most un- body who had any personal knowledge of reasonably treated. In the opinion of military matters was Colonel James MonJudge Story, himself a moderate Repub-roe, Secretary of State; and it was subselican and a member of Congress, "New quently thought that he knew just enough England was expected, so far as the Re- to be in the way. Nevertheless, the war publicans were concerned, to do every- was declared, June 18, 1812-declared rething and to have nothing. They were luctantly, hesitatingly, but at last couto obey, but not to be trusted." Their rageously. Five days after the declaracommerce, which had furnished so largely tion the British "Orders in Council," the supplies for the nation, was viewed by which had partly caused it, were revoked; a great many not merely with indifference, but the war went on. In the same aubut with real dislike. Jefferson, whose tumn Madison was re-elected President, reviews had more influence than those of ceiving 128 electoral votes against 89 for any ten other men, still held to his nar- De Witt Clinton; Elbridge Gerry, of Masrow Virginia-planter opinion that a na-sachusetts, being chosen Vice-President. tional commerce must somehow be an evil; and it was hard for those whose commerce his embargo had ruined to be patient while he rubbed his hands and assured them that they would be much better off without any ships. When the war of 1812 was declared, the merchants of Boston and Salem had-as it was estimated by Mr. Isaac P. Davis, in the memoirs of Mrs. Quincy-twenty million dollars' worth of property on the sea and in British ports. The war sacrificed nearly all of it, and they were expected to be grateful. In a letter to the Legislature of New Hampshire, four years before (August, 1808), Jefferson had calmly recommended to the people of that region to retire from the seas and "to provide for themselves [ourselves] those comforts and conveniences of life for which it would be unwise ever to recur to other countries." Moreover, it was argued, the commercial States were almost exclusively the sufferers by the British intrusions upon American vessels, and if they did not think it a case for war, why should it be taken up by the States which were not hurt by it?

A sufficient popular verdict was thus given, and the war was continued.

In its early period much went wrong. British and Indians ravaged the Northwestern frontier; General Hull invaded Canada in vain, and finally surrendered Detroit (August 15, 1812) in a way long considered pusillanimous, but now in some degree pardoned by public sentiment.

He was condemned by courtmartial, and sentenced to be shot, but was pardoned because of his Revolutionary services, and much has since been written in his vindication. To the surprise of every one, it was upon the sea, not the land, that the United States proved eminently successful, and the victory of the Constitution over the Guerrière was the first of a long line of triumphs. The number of British war vessels captured during the three years of the war was fifty-six, with 880 cannon; the number of American war vessels, twenty-five, with 350 guns; and there were, besides these, thousands of merchant vessels taken on both sides by privateers. But these mere statistics tell nothing of the excite

ment of those picturesque victories which | losses might have been frightful; but to so long thrilled the heart of every Ameri- risk a pitched battle was to leave themcan school-boy with the conviction that selves helpless when defeated. The utter this nation was the peer of the proudest rout of the Americans at Bladensburg upon the seas. Yet the worst predictions left Washington to fall like a ripe apple of the Federalists did not exaggerate the into the hands of General Ross. The acinjury done by the war to American com- counts are still somewhat confused, but merce; and the highest expectations of the British statement is that, before enterthe other party did no more than justice ing the city, General Ross sent in a flag to the national prestige gained by tne suc- of truce, meaning to levy a contribution, cesses of the American navy. It is fairly as from a conquered town; and the flag to be remembered to the credit of the Fed- of truce being fired upon, the destruction eralists, however, that but for their ur- of the town followed. Washington had gent appeals there would have been no then less than a thousand houses; the navy, and that it was created only by set- British troops set fire to the unfinished ting aside all Mr. Jefferson's pet theories Capitol with the Library of Congress, to of sea defense. The Federalists could the Treasury Buildings, the Arsenal, and justly urge, also, that the merchant serv- a few private dwellings. At the Presiice was the only nursery of seamen, and dent's house-according to their own story, that with its destruction the race of Amer- since doubted-they found dinner ready, ican sailors would die out-a prediction devoured it, and then set the house on fire. which the present day has almost seen Mr. Madison sent a messenger to his wife fulfilled. to bid her flee. She wrote to her sister, ere going, "Our kind friend Mr. Carroll has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting till the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall." She finally secured it, and went off in her carriage with her sister, Mrs. Cutts, bearing the original parchment of the Declaration of Independence, which also owes its safety to her. The Federalist papers made plenty of fun of her retreat, and Mr. Lossing has preserved a fragment of one of their ballads in which she says to the President, in the style of John Gilpin,

But, for the time being, the glory of the American navy was secure; and even the sea-fights hardly equalled the fame of Perry's victory on Lake Erie, immortalized by two phrases, Lawrence's "Don't give up the ship," ," which Perry bore upon his flag, and Perry's own brief dispatch, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Side by side with this came Harrison's land victories over the Indians and English in the Northwest. Tecumseh, who held the rank of brigadier-general in the British army, had, with the aid of his brother, "the Prophet," united all the Indian tribes in a league. His power was broken by Harrison in the battle of Tippecanoe (November 7, 1811), and finally destroyed in that of the Thames, in Canada (October 5, 1813), where Tecumseh fell.

"Sister Cutts and Cutts and I,

And Cutts's children three,
Shall in the coach, and you shall ride
On horseback after we."

But, on the whole, the lady of the Presi-
dential "palace" carried off more laurels
from Washington than most American

men.

But the war, from the first, yielded few glories to either side by land. The Americans were still a nation of woodsmen and sharp-shooters, but they had lost the art of war, and they had against them the The news of the burning of Washington veterans of Wellington, and men who was variously received in England: the boasted-to Mrs. Peter, of Washington-British Annual Register called it "a rethat they had not slept under a roof for seven years. Even with such men, the raid on the city of Washington by General Ross was a bold thing-to march with four thousand men sixty miles into an enemy's country, burn its Capitol, and re-association is on the eve of dissolution, treat. Had the Americans renewed the tactics of Concord and Lexington, and fought from behind trees and under cover of brick walls, the British commander's

turn to the times of barbarism," and the London Times saw in it, on the contrary, the disappearance of the American republic, which it called by the withering name of an "association." "That ill-organized

and the world is speedily to be delivered of the mischievous example of the existence of a government founded on democratic rebellion." But the burning had,

those of many who opposed the war. The outrageous impressment of American seamen touched a point of national pride, and justly; while the United States submitted to this it certainly could not be called an

on the contrary, just the opposite effect | principles were not really so high as were from this. After Washington had fallen, Baltimore seemed an easy prey; but there was a great rising of the people; the British army was beaten off-the affair turning largely on the gallant defense of Fort McHenry by Colonel George Armistead-independent nation; and the abuse was and General Ross was killed. It was at this time that Key's lyric "The Starspangled Banner" was written, the author being detained on board the British ship Minden during the bombardment. Before this there had been various depredations and skirmishes along the coast of Maine, and a courageous repulse of the British at Stonington, Connecticut. Aft-ing attitude of England than from the reerward came the well-fought battle of Lundy's Lane, and the closing victory of New Orleans, fought after the treaty of peace had been actually signed, and un-eralists did their duty in action; the comexpectedly leaving the final laurels of the war in the hands of the Americans.

practically ended by the war, even though the treaty of peace was silent. On the other side, the dread entertained of Napoleon by the Federalists was perfectly legitimate; and this, too, time has confirmed. But this peril was really far less pressing than the other: the United States needed more to be liberated from the domineer

moter tyranny of Napoleon, and it was therefore necessary to reckon with England first. As a matter of fact, the Fed

monwealth of Massachusetts furnished during those three years more soldiers than any other; and the New England States, which opposed the war, sent more men into the field than the Southern States, which brought on the contest. Unfortunately the world remembers words better than actions-litera scripta manet -and the few questionable phrases of the Hartford Convention are now better remembered than the 14,000 men which Massachusetts raised in 1814, or the two millions of dollars she paid for bounties.

After this battle an English officer visiting the field saw within a few hundred yards "nearly a thousand bodies, all arrayed in British uniforms," and heard from the American officer in command the statement that the American loss had consisted only of eight men killed and fourteen wounded. The loss of the English was nearly twenty-one hundred in killed and wounded, including two general officers. A triumph so overwhelming restored some feeling of military selfrespect, sorely needed after the disasters at Washington. "There were," says the Federalist William Sullivan, "splendid processions, bonfires, and illuminations, as though the independence of the country had been a second time achieved." Such, indeed, was the feeling, and with due reason. Franklin's war for independence was at an end. The battle took place January 8, 1815, but the treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent on the day be-nually, of the national debt of one hunfore Christmas. The terms agreed upon said not one word about the impressment of British seamen, but the question had been practically settled by the naval successes of the United States; and so great were the rejoicings on the return of peace that even this astounding omission seemed of secondary importance.

The verdict of posterity upon the war of 1812 may be said to be this: that there was ample ground for it, and that it completed the work of the Revolution; and yet that it was the immediate product of a few ambitious men, whose aims and

VOL. LXVIII.-No. 407.-47

The rest of Mr. Madison's administration was a career of peace. Louisiana had long since (April 30, 1812) become a State of the Union, and Indiana was also admitted (December 11, 1816). It was for the first time provided that organized Territories of the United States should send delegates to Congress. An act was passed, under the leadership of Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, providing for the payment, in installments of $10,000,000 an

dred and twenty millions. Taxes were reduced, the tariff was slightly increased, and in April, 1816, a national bank was chartered for a term of twenty years. Here, as in some other matters, at least one of the parties proved to have changed ground, and the Democratic Republican newspapers began eagerly to reprint Hamilton's arguments for a bank-arguments which they had formerly denounced and derided. To the Federalists the passage of the bank act was a complete triumph, and while their own party disappeared, they could feel that some of its principles

survived. A national bank was their pol- | portant. Be this as it may, Mr. Madison's icy, not that of Jefferson; and Jefferson administration closed in peace, partly the and Madison had, moreover, lived to take peace of good-nature, partly of fatigue. up those theories of a strong national gov- The usual nominations were made for the ernment which they had formerly called Presidency by the Congressional caucuses, monarchical and despotic. The Federal- but when it came to the voting it was alists had indeed come quite as near to em- most all one way. The only States choosbracing the extreme State-rights doctrines ing Federalist electors were Massachusetts, which these their opponents had laid Connecticut, and Delaware. James Mondown; but the laws of physical perspec- roe-Josiah Quincy's "James the Second" tive seem to be reversed in moral perspec--had 183 electoral votes, against 34 for tive, so that our own change of position seems to us insignificant, while precisely the same movements taking place on the other side become conspicuous and im

Rufus King, and four years more of milder and milder Jeffersonianism were secured. The era of bitterness had passed, and the "era of good feeling" was close at hand.

IT

MODERN SANITARY ENGINEERING.

T is only within a very few years that we have become accustomed, in this country, to hear frequently used the terms "sanitary science" and "sanitary engineering." Although many important public works which may be classed as belonging to sanitary engineering have been executed from time to time in almost all civilized countries during the last halfcentury, yet a dozen years ago there was not an engineer in this country who could have been called, either from his practice or acquirements, a sanitary engineer. The construction of water-works and sewers under the care of civil engineers has been going on for a long period, but their true relations to public health, arising from the rapid advances which have taken place in our knowledge of the various influences which promote health or prevent disease, and in connection also with the specific causes of many of the most prevalent diseases, have been only recently appreciated. These primary engineering works have been found, moreover, to constitute only parts of a sanitary system, of which other parts are equally essential when considered in the light of truths and principles which modern science has revealed. It is, in fact, only through modern investigations and experiences in connection with hygienic science that a proper knowledge of the details of construction of nearly all sanitary works has been supplied, and that many of these works have risen from insignificant to primary importance. The rapid growth of cities and towns during the last twenty or thirty years, through the development of the railway system and the increase of com

merce and manufactures, has doubtless had an important influence in promoting investigations, because the necessity for sanitary safeguards increases in proportion to the density of a population.

Active public interest in all these important matters received its first impulse in the establishment of the Sanitary Commission of the British army in the Crimean war. The Sanitary Commission of our own army during the late war gave the first real impetus to sanitary science in this country-a movement which was soon followed by the establishment of "boards of health" in various cities, and which still goes on increasing and accumulating. The School of Mines of Columbia College was the first institution of learning in this country to introduce into its curriculum the study of sanitary engineering as a special branch of instruction, and it is understood that the trustees have had under consideration the establishment of a degree of Sanitary Engineer, to be conferred upon students who shall have pursued satisfactorily a prescribed course of study. The inevitable tendency of modern engineering is toward specialties in professional practice, and the growing need of men who will devote their lives to this special branch is becoming daily more evident. It is a profession in its very infancy. Even the literature of the subject consists of publications on special subjects, scattered essays, magazine articles, and public reports. The only author of prominence who has published a complete work entitled Sanitary Engineering fails to notice, even by a passing remark, some of the most important subjects which

6. The warming and ventilation of ing beds or galleries, the available quantibuildings.

ty of water afforded by the streams from Sanitary science may be said to be which the supply is sought, the selection founded upon the following axioms:

1. That the normal condition of life is tion of dams and conduits, cost, etc.—are a condition of health.