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War should be declared
Editorial from the Washington National Intelligencer on April 14,
1812
The public attention has been drawn to the approaching arrival of the
Hornet, as a period when the measures of our government would take a
decisive character, or rather their final cast. We are among those who
have attached to this event a high degree of importance, and have
therefore looked to it with the utmost solicitude.
But if the reports which we now hear are true, that with England all
hope of honorable accommodation is at an end, and that with France our
negotiations are in a forwardness encouraging expectations of a
favorable result, where is the motive for longer delay? The final step
ought to be taken, and that step is WAR. By what course of measures
we have reached the present crisis, is not now a question for patriots
and freemen to discuss. It exists: and it is by open and manly war only
that we can get through it with honor and advantage to the country.
Our wrongs have been great; our cause is just; and if we are decided
and firm, success is inevitable.
Let war therefore be forthwith proclaimed against England. With her
there can be no motive for delay. Any further discussion, any new
attempt at negotiation, would be as fruitless as it would be
hishonorable. With France we shall be at liberty to pursue the course
which circumstances may require. The advance she has already made by
a repeal of her decrees; the manner of its reception by the government,
and the prospect which exists of an amicable accommodation, entitle her
to this preference. If she acquits herself to the just claims of the United
States, we shall have good cause to applaud our conduct in it, and if she
fails we shall always be in time to place her on the ground of her
adversary.
But is is said that we are not prepared for war, and ought therefore not
to declare it. This is an idle objection, which can have weight with the
timid and pusillanimous only. The fact is otherwise. Our preparations are
adequate to every essential object. Do we apprehend danger to
ourselves? From what quarter will it assial us? From England, and by
invasion? The idea is too absurd to merit a moment's consideration.
Where are her troops? But lately she dreaded an invasion of her own
dominions from her powerful and menacing neighbor. That danger, it is
true, has diminished, but it has not entirely and forever disappeared.
The war in the Peninsula, which lingers, requires strong armies to
support it. She maintains an army in Sicily; another in India; and a
strong force in Ireland, and along her own coast, and in the West Indies.
Can anyone believe that, under such circumstances, the British
government could be so infatuated as to send troops here for the
purpose of invasion? The experience and the fortune of our Revolution,
when we were comparatively in an infant state, have doubtless taught
her a useful lesson that she cannot have forgotten. Since that period
our population has increased threefold, whilst hers has remained almost
stationary.
The condition of the civilized world, too, has changed. Although Great
Britain has nothing to fear as to her independence, and her military
operations are extensive and distant, the contest is evidently
maintained by her rather for safety than for conquest. Have we cause to
dread an attack from her neighboring provinces? That apprehension is
still more groundless. Seven or eight millions of people have nothing to
dread from 300,000. From the moment that war is declared, the British
colonies will be put on the defensive, and soon after we get in motion
must sink under the pressure.
Editorial from the Washington National Intelligencer on April 14,
1812
The public attention has been drawn to the approaching arrival of the
Hornet, as a period when the measures of our government would take a
decisive character, or rather their final cast. We are among those who
have attached to this event a high degree of importance, and have
therefore looked to it with the utmost solicitude.
But if the reports which we now hear are true, that with England all
hope of honorable accommodation is at an end, and that with France our
negotiations are in a forwardness encouraging expectations of a
favorable result, where is the motive for longer delay? The final step
ought to be taken, and that step is WAR. By what course of measures
we have reached the present crisis, is not now a question for patriots
and freemen to discuss. It exists: and it is by open and manly war only
that we can get through it with honor and advantage to the country.
Our wrongs have been great; our cause is just; and if we are decided
and firm, success is inevitable.
Let war therefore be forthwith proclaimed against England. With her
there can be no motive for delay. Any further discussion, any new
attempt at negotiation, would be as fruitless as it would be
hishonorable. With France we shall be at liberty to pursue the course
which circumstances may require. The advance she has already made by
a repeal of her decrees; the manner of its reception by the government,
and the prospect which exists of an amicable accommodation, entitle her
to this preference. If she acquits herself to the just claims of the United
States, we shall have good cause to applaud our conduct in it, and if she
fails we shall always be in time to place her on the ground of her
adversary.
But is is said that we are not prepared for war, and ought therefore not
to declare it. This is an idle objection, which can have weight with the
timid and pusillanimous only. The fact is otherwise. Our preparations are
adequate to every essential object. Do we apprehend danger to
ourselves? From what quarter will it assial us? From England, and by
invasion? The idea is too absurd to merit a moment's consideration.
Where are her troops? But lately she dreaded an invasion of her own
dominions from her powerful and menacing neighbor. That danger, it is
true, has diminished, but it has not entirely and forever disappeared.
The war in the Peninsula, which lingers, requires strong armies to
support it. She maintains an army in Sicily; another in India; and a
strong force in Ireland, and along her own coast, and in the West Indies.
Can anyone believe that, under such circumstances, the British
government could be so infatuated as to send troops here for the
purpose of invasion? The experience and the fortune of our Revolution,
when we were comparatively in an infant state, have doubtless taught
her a useful lesson that she cannot have forgotten. Since that period
our population has increased threefold, whilst hers has remained almost
stationary.
The condition of the civilized world, too, has changed. Although Great
Britain has nothing to fear as to her independence, and her military
operations are extensive and distant, the contest is evidently
maintained by her rather for safety than for conquest. Have we cause to
dread an attack from her neighboring provinces? That apprehension is
still more groundless. Seven or eight millions of people have nothing to
dread from 300,000. From the moment that war is declared, the British
colonies will be put on the defensive, and soon after we get in motion
must sink under the pressure.