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The surrender
of Hull at Detroit
Editorial from the New York Evening Post on Aug. 31, 1812 — "We
did not expect so deep a stain upon our country's character
On the disgraceful and deplorable results of our first military efforts in
Canada, we are not in a temper to say much. How much soever we
deprecated this ruinous war at the outset; however satisfied we were
that the whole plan of the campaign was miserably imbecile and must be
utterly inefficient-yet such a catastrophe as is just announced was
beyond our most gloomy apprehensions. Mr. Madison, Mr. Gallatin, Dr.
Eustis, and Dr. Hamilton, it was evident, must be utterly unequal to cope
with the experienced veteran British officers in Canada. And when,
besides this disheartening fact, we beheld how small a force was relied
upon, what could reasonable men feel but despair? With inferior
numbers and inferior skill, the odds were fearful indeed.
Yet we did not expect so deep a stain upon our country's character. A
nation, counting eight millions of souls, deliberating and planning for a
whole winter and spring and part of a summer, the invasion and
conquest of a neighboring province; at length making that invasion; and
in one month its army retiring-captured-and captured almost without
firing a gun! Miserably deficient in practical talent must that
Administration be which formed the plan of that invasion; or the army
which has thus surrendered must be a gang of more cowardly poltroons
than ever disgraced a country. A parallel to this melancholy defeat is not
to be found in all history. But we do not, we cannot brand our
countrymen in General Hull's army with cowardice. We shall not till we
are compelled. For when were Americans known to shrink from danger?-
when have they not been heroes? But the folly, the weakness, the utter
incapacity of our Administration to conduct affairs of difficulty to a
successful issue, has not only been the tedious theme of many an
appeal to our fellow-citizens, but is felt in the privations and distresses
of almost every man, woman, and child in this once happy and
prosperous country. And he who can longer doubt that incapacity, would
not believe though one should rise from the dead.
What! March an army into a country where there were not more than
seven or eight hundred soldiers to oppose them, and not make the army
large enough! March them from a country which is the granary of the
world, and let them famish on the very frontiers for want of provisions!
Issue a gasconading proclamation threatening to exterminate the
enemy, and surrender your whole army to them! If there be judgment in
this people, they will see the utter unfitness of our rulers for anything
beyond management, intrigue, and electioneering. They have talents
enough to inflame a misguided populace against their best friends; but
they cannot protect the nation from insult and disgrace. They have
talents enough to persecute the pupils and disciples of Washington, but
not to meet the enemies whom they have called into the field. "Woe to
the people whose King is a child!"
of Hull at Detroit
Editorial from the New York Evening Post on Aug. 31, 1812 — "We
did not expect so deep a stain upon our country's character
On the disgraceful and deplorable results of our first military efforts in
Canada, we are not in a temper to say much. How much soever we
deprecated this ruinous war at the outset; however satisfied we were
that the whole plan of the campaign was miserably imbecile and must be
utterly inefficient-yet such a catastrophe as is just announced was
beyond our most gloomy apprehensions. Mr. Madison, Mr. Gallatin, Dr.
Eustis, and Dr. Hamilton, it was evident, must be utterly unequal to cope
with the experienced veteran British officers in Canada. And when,
besides this disheartening fact, we beheld how small a force was relied
upon, what could reasonable men feel but despair? With inferior
numbers and inferior skill, the odds were fearful indeed.
Yet we did not expect so deep a stain upon our country's character. A
nation, counting eight millions of souls, deliberating and planning for a
whole winter and spring and part of a summer, the invasion and
conquest of a neighboring province; at length making that invasion; and
in one month its army retiring-captured-and captured almost without
firing a gun! Miserably deficient in practical talent must that
Administration be which formed the plan of that invasion; or the army
which has thus surrendered must be a gang of more cowardly poltroons
than ever disgraced a country. A parallel to this melancholy defeat is not
to be found in all history. But we do not, we cannot brand our
countrymen in General Hull's army with cowardice. We shall not till we
are compelled. For when were Americans known to shrink from danger?-
when have they not been heroes? But the folly, the weakness, the utter
incapacity of our Administration to conduct affairs of difficulty to a
successful issue, has not only been the tedious theme of many an
appeal to our fellow-citizens, but is felt in the privations and distresses
of almost every man, woman, and child in this once happy and
prosperous country. And he who can longer doubt that incapacity, would
not believe though one should rise from the dead.
What! March an army into a country where there were not more than
seven or eight hundred soldiers to oppose them, and not make the army
large enough! March them from a country which is the granary of the
world, and let them famish on the very frontiers for want of provisions!
Issue a gasconading proclamation threatening to exterminate the
enemy, and surrender your whole army to them! If there be judgment in
this people, they will see the utter unfitness of our rulers for anything
beyond management, intrigue, and electioneering. They have talents
enough to inflame a misguided populace against their best friends; but
they cannot protect the nation from insult and disgrace. They have
talents enough to persecute the pupils and disciples of Washington, but
not to meet the enemies whom they have called into the field. "Woe to
the people whose King is a child!"