GENERAL HISTORY. 



[201 



the respective governments, with 

 a view ol" restoring tlie accustomed 

 relations of amity and commerce. 



Allhough the war declared by 

 America against Great Britain 

 might eventually operate in favour 

 of France, and was undoubtedly 

 suitable to the politics of that 

 power, yet no proof has appeared 

 of the existence of a proper French 

 party in the United States ; even 

 the violent proceedings at Balti- 

 more seemed to have no other 

 causes than the rancour of opposite 

 domestic factions, and considera- 

 tions of local interest. But the 

 existence of an Ancigallican spirit 

 was obvious and avowed, and de- 

 testation of the politics of the 

 ruler of France was expressed with 

 as little reserve in America as in 

 England. Of this, a remarkable 

 example was given in a memorial 

 addressed to the president from the 

 county of Rockingham in New 

 Hampshire. After stating many 

 arguments against the necessity 

 and policy of war with England, it 

 thus concludes : " On the subject 

 of any French connexion, either 

 close or more remote, we have 

 made up our minds. We wdl, in 

 no event, assist in uniting the re- 

 public of America with the mili- 

 tary despotism of France. We 

 will have no connexion with her 

 principles or her power. If her 

 armed troops, under whatever 

 name or character, should come 

 here, we shall regard them as 

 enemies." This remonstrance, 

 amounting almost to a detiance of 

 the supreme authority, was signed 

 by 1,500 inhabitants. A similar 

 spirit, though somewhat more 

 guarded, was displayed in the reso- 

 lutions of a body of more weight 

 and consequence, being a conven- 



tion of delegates from 34 cities and 

 counties of the state of New York, 

 held at Albany oii the 17th and 

 18th of September. The resolu- 

 tions chiefly go to an assertion of 

 the right of citizens to inquire 

 into the justice and expediency of 

 a war, even after it is declared, 

 and to a condemnation of the 

 grounds of that entered into with 

 England ; though at the same time 

 they acknowledge the obligation 

 of paying full obedience in the 

 capacity of magistrates, soldiers, 

 and citizens, to all constitutional 

 requisitions of the proper autho- 

 rities. They proceed to state, that 

 the subscribers shall be constrained 

 to consider the determination to 

 persist in the war, after official 

 notice of the revocation of the 

 British orders in council, as a proof 

 that it has been undertaken on 

 motives entirely distinct from those 

 hitherto avowed ; and " that they 

 contemplate with abhorrence even 

 the possibility of an alliance with 

 the present emperor of France, 

 every action of whose life has de- 

 monstrated, that the attainment, 

 by any means, of universal empire, 

 and the consequent extinction of 

 every vestige of freedom, are the 

 sole objects of his incessant, un- 

 boimded, and remorseless ambi- 

 tion." If this temper be generally 

 prevalent in the northern states, an 

 alliance offensive or defensive be- 

 tween France and the United States 

 can scarcely be effected without a 

 dissolution of the union, unless, 

 in the progress of the war, the 

 animosity against Great Britain, 

 and the dread of her power, shall 

 rise to a much higher pitch. 



The disaster which befel Gen. 

 Hull had disconcerted the plan for 

 the invasion of Canada, but the 



design 



