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ter, and you and I shall sink to rest, without having been actors or spectators of another civil war. ... We have not timed these things well together, or we might have begun a realliance between Massachusetts and the Old Dominion, faithful companions in the War of Independence, peculiarly tallied in interests, by each wanting exactly what the other has to spare; and estranged to each other, in later times, only by the practices of a third nation, the common enemy of both."

The Rev. Mr. Osgood, of Massachusetts, said, in a published sermon: "If, at the present moment, no symptoms of civil war appear, they certainly will soon, unless the courage of the war party should fail them. A civil war becomes as certain as the events that happen according to the known laws and established course of Nature."

Much more of this evidence might be collected; but these extracts are sufficient to show the drift of the anti-Democracy in favor of disunion. But the attempt to embody the intentions of the party and secure action in conformity with the designs of its leaders, remains to be given under another head.

46.-THE HARTFORD CONVENTION OF 1814.

This ever-memorable assemblage, though after its utter failure, assuming not to be disloyal to the Constitution, and almost claiming to be patriotic, was preceded by announcements by its friends, which leave little doubt of its disunion intentions, and was broad ly sustained by many of the Federal party. We extract liberally from what preceded its meeting.

The Boston Gazette: "Is there a patriot in America who conceives it his duty to shed his blood for Bonaparte, for Madison, for Jefferson, and that host of ruffians in Congress who have set their face against us for years, and spirited up the brutal part of the populace to destroy us? Not one."

Another Boston journal said: "To the cry of disunion the plain answer is, that the States are already separated; the band of union is broken by President Madison. As we are going on, we certainly shall be brought to irretrievable ruin. The convention cannot do a more popular act, not only in New England but

throughout the Atlantic States, than to make a peace for the good of the whole. The convention must report to their constituents on the subject of peace or war. If they find it is to continue, it is to be hoped they will recommend, and that the States will adopt the recommendation, that no men or money shall be permitted to go out of New England until the militia expenses, already incurred, are reimbursed, nor until the most ample provision is made for the defence of the New-England States during the war."

The Baltimore Federal Republican (November 17, 1814) said: "On or before the 4th of July, if James Madison is not out of office, a new form of government will be in operation in the Eastern section of the Union. Instantly after, the contest in many - States will be, whether to adhere to the old or join the new Government."

The New-York Commercial Advertiser said: "Old Massachusetts is as terrible to the American now as she was to the British Cabinet in 1775; for America, too, has her Butes and her Norths. Let then the commercial States breast themselves to the shock, and know that to themselves they must look for safety.”

E. Parish, a clergyman at Byfield, published a sermon in which he said: “The Israelites became very weary of yielding the fruit of their labors to pamper their splendid tyrants. They left their political woes. They separated. Where is our Moses? Where is the rod of his miracles? Where is our Aaron? Alas! no voice from the burning bush has directed them here. . . . Such is the temper of the American republicans, so called. A new language must be invented before we attempt to express the baseness of their conduct or describe the rottenness of their hearts. . . . New England, if invaded, would have to defend herself. Do you not owe it to your children, and owe it to your God, to make peace for yourselves? . . . The full phials of despotism are poured in on your heads, and yet you may challenge the plodding Israelite, the stupid African, the feeble Chinese, the drowsy Turk, or the frozen exile of Siberia, to equal you in tame submission to the powers that be. Here we must trample on the mandates of despotism, or here we must remain slaves forever.... How

will the supporters of this anti-Christian warfare endure their sentence endure their own reflections-endure the fire that forever burns-the worm that never dies-the hosannas of heavenwhile the smoke of their torments ascends forever and ever!"

Luther Martin, a distinguished Marylander, was appointed in 1814 Chief Justice of the Oyer and Terminer Court in Baltimore, and, not to be behind others in his denunciations, went out of his way in charging the Grand Jury, and thus addressed them:

"The horrid atrocities of France are proofs that fallen man, for whose restraints governments were created, is a more deformed and debased monster than the beasts of the earth. Wriggling themselves into peace, republicans become demagogues; and republicanism is by no means inseparable from virtue. False philosophy, conceived in hell and nursed by the devil, propagated in Europe all their wretchedness, too extensively introduced into the United States. The American Revolution was completed by men of virtue, morality, and religion; but the sun does not shine on a people who have, since then, so deteriorated in virtue, morality, and religion; their depreciation began with that of paper money, and for twenty years Europe has been spewing on this devoted country an almost unremitting torrent of her filthiest feculency, tainting a mass, become still more rotten. Vainly do we attribute our evils to a violation of sailors' rights or to a weak Government. Providence punishes us for our sins with war, the worst of curses, worse than famine and pestilence. No guilt can be more inexpiable than that of him who, without just cause, plunges a nation into war. In the sight of Heaven such a man will be viewed as the wilful, deliberate murderer of every individual who loses his life in its prosecution, and his soul is stained of every drop of blood thereby. They who add sin to sin with greediness in prosecuting the war with which we are afflicted by an avenging God, are those truly guilty of moral treason. I hold it, gentlemen, as a sound, incontrovertible truth, a truth of which I cannot doubt, that no citizen can more righteously divest himself of his allegiance to his Government, without its consent, than his Government can, without his consent, deprive him of its pro

tection. This truth is formed in the very nature of civil society. The contrary doctrine is the spawn of folly and knavery, whatever wiseacres of modern growth may tell us."

After calling to mind such specimens of instruction from legislative bodies, the bench, and the pulpit, we are prepared for the next step toward practical disunion. The public mind had become measurably prepared for it. The approach was by cautious advances at first, and became more open and bold as it progressed. It would not do to startle the public mind, and arouse it to resistance by a bold and frank avowal of those in high public positions. Their acts and professions were subject to public scrutiny and the calm reflections of men of sober judgment. Clergymen, as they professed a high sanctity and spoke in the name of Heaven, were not subject to such severe and searching criticisms. There was no bar of stern-judging men to whom they were accountable, although the result of their teaching might be equally effective, and more difficult to be counteracted. The younger, and especially the female portion of their auditors -who, when once aroused, are the most uncompromising politicians, with unlimited influence-never hear the other side, or learn the ground upon which it stands. Hence the effect of political preaching. Old politicians learn how to present thoughts that are scarcely seen in their language. They arouse the passions by language of equivocal meaning, often interpreted by look and gesture. Hence, the peculiar language of those calling the Hartford Convention. It is apparent they meant that the majority should yield to the minority, and permit them to rule, or they would secure the means of doing so by defying the Government, and making peace for themselves. When the Massachusetts Legislature convened in the fall of 1814, Governor Strong delivered a message full of violent expressions, denouncing the war and its management. In the Senate it was referred to a committee, of which Harrison Gray Otis was chairman, who made a long report full of philippics against the Democracy, and those representing it in the national Government. The following is an extract:

"It is, therefore, with great concern that your committee are

obliged to declare their conviction that the Constitution of the United States, under the administration of the persons in power, has failed to secure to this Commonwealth, and, as they believe, to the Eastern section of the Union, those equal rights and benefits, which were the objects of its formation, and which they cannot relinquish without ruin to themselves and posterity. These griev ances justify, and require vigorous, persevering, and peaceable exertions to unite those who realize the sufferings and foresee the dangers of the country in some system of measures to obtain relief, for which the ordinary mode of procuring amendments to the Constitution affords no reasonable expectation, in season to prevent the completion of its ruin. The people, however, possess the means of certain redress; and when their safety, which is the supreme law, is in question, these means should be promptly applied. The framers of the Constitution made provision to amend defects which were known to be incident to every human institution; and the provision itself was not less liable to be found defective upon experiment than other parts of the instrument. When this deficiency becomes apparent, no reason can preclude the right of the whole people, who were parties to it, to adopt another; and it is not a presumptuous expectation that a spirit of equity and justice, enlightened by experience, would be able to reconcile conflicting interests, and obviate the principal cause of those dissensions which unfit Government for a state of peace or war, and so amend the Constitution as to give vigor and duration to the union of the States. But, as a proposition for such a convention from a single State would probably be unsuccessful, and our danger admits of no delay, it is recommended by the committee that, in the first instance, a conference should be invited between those States, the affinity of whose interests is closest, and whose habits of intercourse, from their local situation and other causes, are most frequent; to the end that by a comparison of their sentiments and views, some mode of defence, 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 for a radical reform in the national

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