THE TOWN OF SCARSDALE. 235 



but the latter still remains. So early as 181 1, we find him raising his voice 

 in favor of the encouragement of manufactures. In 1S1 2, he prorogued 

 the Senate and Assembly of the State. In this brief sketch, it is not to 

 be expected that even all the most prominent measures of Gov. Tomp- 

 kins' administration can be noticed."* 



We come now (continues his biographer), to the part which he bore 

 in our late war with Great Britain, which embraces a most interesting 

 period of his life. Whenever the history of that war shall be written for 

 posterity, his name will fill an ample space. 



As Governor of the State of New York, he had the direction of all 

 her energies, and many and arduous were the duties which he was or- 

 dered upon to perform ; but those who were conversant with the scenes 

 of that period, will recollect the universal confidence which he inspired 

 in every lover of his country. The following letter, dated a few days 

 after the declaration of war, will show the perilous situation of the State 

 of New York at that time, the condition of the army, and the respon- 

 sibility he assumed to meet the exigency : — 



Albany, June 28, 1812. 

 To Major General Dearborn : 



Sir : — Your letter of the 22 inst. has been received. I had anticipated your 

 request by ordering the detachments from Washington, Essex, Clinton and 

 Franklin counties into service, and have fixed the days and places of their ren- 

 dezvous. Upon application to the Quartermaster General, I find there are but 

 139 tents and 60 camp kettles at this place ; and even those I take by a kind of 

 stealth, the Deputy Quartermaster General declines giving an order for their de- 

 livery, until he shall have a written order from the Quartermaster General ; and 

 the latter is willing I shall take them, but will not give the deputy a written or- 

 des for that purpose, under such circumstances. I shall avail myself of the rule 

 of possession; and by virtue of the eleven points of the law, send them off to-mor- 

 row morning without a written order from any one. You may remember, that 

 when you were Secretary of the War Department, I invited you to forward and 

 deposit in our frontier arsenals, arms, ammunition and camp equippage, for self- 

 defence— to be ready for defence in case of war— and the same invitation to the 

 War Department has been repeated four times since. The United States have 

 now from five to six hundred regular troops at Plattsburgh, Rome, Canandaigua, 

 &c. And yet those recruits are now and must be for weeks to come, unarmed, 

 and in every respect unequipped, although within musket shot of arsenals. The 

 recruits at Plattsburgh, are within fifty miles of two tribes of Canadian Indians. 

 In case of an attack upon the frontiers, that portion of the United States army 

 would be as inefficient and as unable to defend the inhabitants or themselves 

 even, as so many women. As to cannon, muskets, and ammunition, I can find 

 no one here who will exercise any authority over them, or deliver a single article 



a Herring's Nat. Portrait Gallery, vol. ii. 



