Lafitte and his Band of Outlaws

The haughty position assumed by Great Britain during the negotiations at Ghent, in demanding terms of peace humiliating to the Americans, caused our government to prosecute the war with more vigor than ever before, in the autumn of 1814. To do this it was necessary to raise a considerable force by conscription. This measure brought matters to crisis in New England, where the Peace-Faction was all-powerful. The conduct of that faction had made the President suspicious of the loyalty of the New Englanders; and in making military arrangements, he had discriminated unfavorably toward that section of the country of which he showed his distrust. In some of the other States, the matter of local defences had been left almost wholly to the discretion of the respective governors; in New England, the President insisted upon his having exclusive control of all military movements there. The Massachusetts government had refused to place its militia under the control of General Dearborn, of the national army, and the national government therefore refused to pay the expenses of defending Massachusetts from the common enemy. Similar action had occurred in the case of Connecticut, and a clamor was instantly raised that New England was abandoned to the enemy by the national government. In a report, the Massachusetts Legislature made a covert threat of independent action on the part of the people of that section, by appropriating their home resources for home defence. A conference of sympathizing States, to consider the proposition and to consult upon a radical reform in the National Constitution, was proposed. That proposition was acceded to, and on the morning of the 15th of December, 1814, a convention, composed of twenty-six delegates representing New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont, assembled at Hartford, Connecticut, and held their sessions in secret. George Cabot of Boston was chosen president of the convention, and Theodore Dwight, secretary. The sessions of that convention continued three weeks, during which time some propositions were made by indiscreet members, which, if carried out, might have been dangerous to the integrity of the Union. A series of topics for discussion, prepared by a committee, all having relation to the best interests of the republic, occupied the greater portion of the time. Late in December the convention adopted the report of a committee, that it would be expedient for that body to prepare a general statement of the unconstitutional attempts of the executive government of the United States to infringe upon the rights of individual States, in regard to the military, etc.; and to recommend to the legislature of the States the adoption of the most effective and decisive measures to protect the militia and the States from the usurpations contained in these proceedings--the drafting of men. Also the prepare a statement concerning the general subject of State defences, and a recommendation that an application be made to the national government for an arrangement with the States by which they could be allowed to retain a portion of the taxes levied by Congress, to be devoted to the expense of self-defence. They also proposed amendments to the National Constitution, to obtain the following results: The restriction of the power of Congress to declare and make war; a restraint of the exercise of unlimited power by Congress to make new States and admit them into the Union; a restraint of the power of Congress in laying embargoes and restrictions upon commerce; a stipulation that a President of the United States shall not be elected from the same State two consecutive terms; that the same person shall not be elected President a second term, and that alterations be made concerning slave representation and taxation.

The Hartford convention, undoubtedly composed of as wise, loyal and patriotic men as any in the Union, and who represented the conservative sentiment of discontented New England during a season of great trial, adjourned on the 6th of January, 1815, with an impression that circumstances might compel it to reassemble; therefore the seal of secrecy was not removed. This gave wide scope for conjecture, and the wildest stories of their seditious doings were circulated and believed; and for twenty years the political cry of "a Hartford Convention Federalist!" cast a degree of public odium on the man so denounced.

With the advent of peace very important duties were presented to the national administration, in the adjustment of public affairs in accordance with the new order of things. Plans were considered for the maintenance of the public credit and the extinguishment of the national debt, then amounting to over $120,000,000. Appropriations were made for rebuilding the public edifices destroyed by the British. The army was reduced to a peace establishment of ten thousand men; and the various acts necessary for the public good during a state of war were repealed. The naval establishment was fully kept up, for the necessity of a force in the Mediterranean to protect American commerce from the depredations of Algerian corsairs was apparent. The total cost of the war to the United States government was about $100,000,000, and the loss of human life by battle and by other casualties incident to war was estimated at thirty thousand. The cost of blood and treasure to the British nation was much greater. The Americans captured during the conflict on the ocean and on the lakes fifty-six British vessels-of-war, mounting eight hundred and eight-six cannon, and two thousand three hundred and sixty merchant-vessels, mounting eight thousand guns. There were also lost on the American coast, during the war, by wreck or otherwise, twenty-nine British ships-of-war, mounting eight hundred guns; while the Americans lost only twenty-five vessels-of-war, and a much less number of merchant-ships than the British.