About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed by a second call
to
the station in which my country heretofore placed me, I find in the presence of
this respectable assembly an opportunity of publicly repeating my profound sense of
so distinguished a confidence and of the responsibility united with it. The impressions
on me are strengthened by such an evidence that my faithful endeavors to discharge
my arduous duties have been favorably estimated, and by a consideration of the
momentous period at which the trust has been renewed.
From the weight and magnitude now belonging to it I should be
compelled to shrink if I had less reliance on the support of an enlightened and
generous people, and felt less deeply a conviction that the war with a powerful
nation, which forms so prominent a feature in our situation, is stamped with that
justice which invites the smiles of Heaven on the means of
conducting it to a successful termination.
May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when we reflect on the characters
by
which this war is distinguished?
It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had been long made on
them,in reality though not in name; until arguments and postulations had been
exhausted; until a positive declaration had been received that the wrongs provoking
it
would not be discontinued; nor until this last appeal could no longer be delayed without
breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying all confidence in itself and in
its
political institutions, and either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or
regaining by more costly sacrifices and more severe struggles our lost rank and respect
among independent powers.
On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the high seas and
the security of an important class of citizens, whose occupations give the proper
value
to those of every other class. Not to contend for such a stake is to surrender our
equality with other powers on the element common to all and to violate the sacred
title
which every member of the society has to its protection. I need not call into view
the unlawfulness of the practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of
every cruising officer from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor paint the
outrages inseparable from it. The proofs are in the records of each successive
Administration of our Government, and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the
American people have found their way to every bosom not dead to the sympathies of
human
nature.
As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its objects, we can
reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it on no principle of justice or
honor, no usage of civilized nations, no precept of courtesy or humanity, have been
infringed. The war has been waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all these
obligations, and in a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed.
How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of the enemy!
They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the United States not liable to
be
so considered under the usages of war.
They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and threatened to punish as
traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without restraint to the United States,
incorporated by naturalization into our political family, and fighting under the
authority of their adopted country in open and honorable war for the maintenance of
its
rights and safety.Such is the avowed purpose of a Government which is in the practice
of
naturalizing by thousands citizens of other countries, and not only of permitting
but
compelling them to fight its battles against their native country.
They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the hatchet and the knife,
devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let loose the savages armed with
these
cruel instruments; have allured them into their service, and carried them to battle
by
their sides, eager to glut their savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to
finish the work of torture and death on maimed and defenseless captives. And, what was
never before seen, British commanders have extorted victory over the unconquerable valor
of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of their chief captives awaiting massacre
from their savage associates. And now we find them, in further contempt of the modes
of honorable warfare, supplying the place of a conquering force by attempts to
disorganize our political society, to dismember our confederated Republic. Happily, like
others,these will recoil on the authors; but they mark the degenerate counsels from
which they emanate, and if they did not belong to a sense of unexampled inconsistencies
might excite the greater wonder as proceeding from a Government which founded the
very
war in which it has been so long engaged on a charge against the disorganizing
and insurrectional policy of its adversary.
To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, the reluctance
to commence it was followed by the earliest and strongest manifestations of a
disposition to arrest its progress. The sword was scarcely out of the scabbard before
the
enemy was apprised of the reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed. Still
more
precise advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit forbidding every
reliance not placed on the military resources of the nation.
These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an honorable issue. Our nation
is
in number more than half that of the British Isles. It is composed of a brave, a free, a
virtuous, and an intelligent people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts,
and the comforts of life. A general prosperity is visible in the public countenance.
The
means employed by the British cabinet to undermine it have recoiled on themselves;
have
given to our national faculties a more rapid development, and, draining or diverting
the
precious metals from British circulation and British vaults, have poured them into
those
of the United States. It is a propitious consideration that an unavoidable war should
have found this seasonable facility for the contributions required to support it.
When
the public voice called for war, all knew, and still know,that without them it could
not
be carried on through the period which it might last, and the patriotism, the good
sense,
and the manly spirit of our fellow-citizens are pledges for the cheerfulness with
which
they will bear each his share of the common burden. To render the war short and its
success sure, animated and systematic exertions alone are necessary, and the success
of
our arms now may long preserve our country from the necessity of another resort to
them.
Already have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world our inherent
capacity to maintain our rights on one element.If the reputation of our arms has been
thrown under clouds on the other, presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us
that
nothing is wanting to correspondent triumphs there also but the discipline and habits
which are in daily progress.
