240 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN 



obtain the control of the militia, and especially of that of 

 New England and New York, with particular reference to 

 the invasion of Canada. With this view the experiment was 

 made, first upon Governor Trumbull, whose courtesy of 

 manners and kindness of temper might have induced them 

 to believe that he would not oppose the wishes of the admin 

 istration. General Dearborn was then Secretary of War, 

 and Mr. Madison, President. In the spring of 1809, I hap 

 pened to be at Lebanon, when the letter of the Secretary 

 was received. He appeared to be aware that he was tread 

 ing on delicate ground, and therefore his letter was written 

 in the most deferential terms. The object in view was to 

 obtain the Governor's approbation to the placing of the 

 militia under the command of military officers of the United 

 States, in which case they might be marched out of the 

 State into Canada or anywhere else. It was requested by 

 the Secretary that in communicating the order to the mili 

 tia and in the selection for service the utmost kindness and 

 even delicacy might be used. The administration had mis 

 taken their man. Governor Trumbull did not hesitate to 

 refuse compliance ; and in firm but respectful terms, in 

 formed the administration that he did not discover either 

 in the Constitution of the United States, or in the laws of 

 his own State, any power to surrender the command of the 

 militia, which were reserved for local defence and to repel 

 actual invasion. He communicated the correspondence to 

 me and requested me to criticize his reply with severity, 

 adding that the step he was taking would make a great 

 deal of noise and be trumpeted as incipient rebellion. So it 

 proved, but the decision was warmly welcomed by the op 

 posite party and by the Governor's personal friends. I was 

 present at an evening's conversation at Dr. Dana's, when 

 Judge Daggett, alluding to this decision, said that Governor 

 Trumbull had not a weak nerve in him, and Samuel W. 

 Dana, Dr. Dana's brilliant son, said that if the hot men of 

 the South should come, as they threatened, to fight Con- 



