FRONTIERSMAN AND SOLDIER 247 



two years, and in spite of our glorious naval victories, 

 the American arms upon land had made but little 

 headway as against the British. For constructive 

 statesmanship Mr. Madison's abilities were of the high- 

 est order, but as President he had shown himself un- 

 equal to the task of conducting a war. At the outset 

 the Americans had entertained hopes of conquering 

 Canada, but we had begun with serious defeats and 

 losses, and at length, after several brilliant victories, had 

 done little more than to ward off invasion at the two 

 gateways of Niagara and Lake Champlain. In New 

 England the British had seized and held the wilder- 

 ness east of the Penobscot, creating quite a panic 

 throughout that part of the country. The leaders of 

 the old Federalist party in New England were factious 

 and disloyal, and in this very month of December, 1814, 

 there was assembled at Hartford a convention which 

 adopted measures looking toward a possible dissolution 

 of the Union. The national finances were in a state 

 of collapse, and nearly all the banks in the Middle and 

 Southern states had suspended specie payments. The 

 British government assumed a tone of more than ordi- 

 nary arrogance. It was going to demand a high price 

 for peace : the eastern half of Maine, at any rate, and 

 the Michigan territory, and perhaps yet more of the 

 Northwest; and the Americans must promise not to 

 keep anymore armed vessels upon the lakes, which 

 must have sounded queer to Perry and Macdonough. 

 Then, with the western bank of the Mississippi secured, 

 Great Britain could hem in the United States, as 

 France had once hemmed in the colonies ; Canada and 

 Louisiana could be made to join hands again. In 

 order to effect all this, it seemed necessary to inflict 



