THE SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND.
THE CONSTITUTION AND JAVA.
THE SECOND WAR
WITH
ENGLAND.
BY J. T. HEADLEY,
AUTHOR OF "NAPOLEON AND HIS MARSHALS," "WASHINGTON AND HIS GENERALS," "THE OLD GUARD," "SCOTT AND JACKSON," ETC. ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER, 145 NASSAU STREET.
1853.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
C. W. BENEDICT,
Stereotyper and Printer,
12 Spruce Street, N. Y.
(p. v) PREFACE.
More books, probably, have been written on the War of 1812 than on anyother portion of our history. The great political leaders of that timewere so vindictive in their animosities, and took such strong anddecided ground on all political questions, that the success of one orthe other afterwards in public life depended very much on his conductduring the war. Hence, much detached and personal history has beenwritten in order to clear up or illustrate some particular event. Acandidate for public office was often chosen for his services in thewar; hence, every portion of it in which he took part was thoroughlyinvestigated by both friends and foes. So if one had failed in thattrying period of the country, the world was sure to hear of it when hecame up for the suffrages of the people. The war proved veryunfortunate for some of the leaders, and court martials and disgraceclosed the career of many which had hitherto been bright andprosperous. These men have written long pamphlets and books inself-defence, or they have been written (p. vi) by their descendants,so that if hearing both sides would aid the reader in coming to acorrect conclusion, he was pretty sure to reach it. When so manyquarrels are to be settled the public will not fail to be informed allabout the origin of them. Another class of works have been written,designed only to furnish a synopsis of the war, and scarcely reach tothe value of histories. Others have been confined solely to themilitary and naval movements—others still are devoted almostexclusively to political matters of that period; so thatnotwithstanding the large supply of works on the War of 1812, I knowof none in which all these different topics are even attempted to becombined in proper proportions. The present work is an effort toaccomplish that end without being too voluminous on the one hand, ortoo general on the other. I have endeavored to give impressions aswell as facts—to trace the current and depict the phases of publicfeeling, rather than inflict on the reader long documents and longerdebates, in which everything that gave them life and interest wascarefully excluded by the reporter.
The effects of the fierce conflict waged between the Federalists andDemocrats during the war have not yet passed away, and many of theactors in it are still living, who retain their old prejudices andhatred. Their near descendants and relatives, though so many of themare found in the ranks of democracy, still defend the memory of thosewhose names they bear, and endeavor to throw discredit on the writerwho would rob them of reputation, and c