1814. delegates was merely to devise and recommend to the states, measures for their security and defence, and such measures as were "not repugnant to their federal obligations as members of the Union." The proposition was readily assented to, and the delegates appointed in pursuance of it met at Hartford on the 15th of December following.

Recommendations.

The Convention recommended, 1. That the States they represent take measures to protect their citizens from "forcible draughts, conscriptions or impressments, not authorized by the constitution of the United States." 2. That an earnest application be made to the Government of the United States requesting their consent to some arrangement, whereby the States separately, or in concert, may assume upon themselves the defence of their territory against the enemy, and that a reasonable portion of the taxes collected within the States be appropriated to this object. 3. That the several governors be authorized by law to employ the military force under their command in assisting any state requesting it, to repel the invasions of the public enemy. 4. That several amendments of the Constitution of the United States, calculated in their view to prevent a recurrence of the evils of which they complain, be proposed by the States they represent for adoption either by the State Legislatures, or by a Convention chosen by the people of each State. Lastly, That if the application of these States to the Government of the United States should be unsuccessful, and peace should not be concluded, and the defence of these States be still neglected, it would in their opinion be expedient for the Legislatures of the several States to appoint delegates to another Convention, to meet at Boston in June, with such powers and instructions as the exigency of a crisis so momentous may require.

The effect upon the public mind, in the aggrieved states, was alike seasonable and salutary. The very proposal to call a convention, and the confidence reposed in the men delegated to that trust, served greatly to allay the passions, and to inspire confidence and hope. Nor was the influence of this body upon the national councils less perceptible. Within three weeks after the adjournment of the convention and the publication of their report, an act passed both houses of the national legislature, and received the signature of the president, authorizing and requiring him to "receive into the service of the United States any corps of troops which may have been or may be raised, organized, and officered under the authority of any of the States," to be "employed in the State raising the same, or an adjoining State, and not elsewhere except with the consent of the executive of the State raising the same." Before the commissioners who were sent to confer with the government could reach Washing

ton, a bill passed the senate, providing for the payment of the 1814. troops and militia already called into service under the authority of the States. The arrival of the Treaty of peace at this juncture, arrested all farther proceedings.1

clamation.

Governor Clayborne of Louisiana, receiving information that Gov. Claya number of individuals within the limits and jurisdiction of that borne's prostate were engaged in raising troops and preparing the means for an hostile incursion into the Spanish province of Texas, with a view of aiding in the overthrow of the government of Spain in and over that province, issued a proclamation, on the 25th of March, cautioning the people of Louisiana against being concerned in any such unauthorized expedition, or in any manner giving aid or countenance to it, repugnant to the views of the general government, and contrary to law.

At a general court martial, ordered by the president of the Trial of United States, holden at Albany, major general William Hull gen. Hull. was tried on several charges, and sentenced to be shot to death; but, in consideration of his revolutionary services, and his advanced age, the court earnestly recommended him to the mercy

1 The convention was considered as the committees of three state legislatures, appointed to confer upon a question deeply affecting their common interest, and report their opinion and advice. The only exception to a state appointment was the attendance of three delegates from the counties of Cheshire and Grafton in New Hampshire, and the county of Windham in Vermont. It is not to be concealed, that dissatisfaction with the war was extensively felt. The minority in the house of representatives in congress entered a protest against the declaration of war. Mr. Randolph and other independent members pronounced the war to be as inexpedient as it was unjust; denied that any reasonable hopes of attaining by arms the alleged object of the war, could be entertained; and represented the exhausted state of the treasury as an additional reason for the preservation of peace. As early as the 5th of June, 1812, the house of representatives of Massachusetts adopted a memorial to congress against the impending war. Governor Smith, in his speech to the legislature in October, 1812, said: "The sentiments of the people of Connecticut upon this momentous subject cannot be misunderstood. Their disapprobation of the war was publicly declared through the proper organ, shortly after hostilities commenced, accompanied with an assurance that the obligations imposed by the constitution should nevertheless be strictly fulfilled. If no event has occurred to vary their opinion, the highest evidence is furnished of fidelity to their engagements. They have pursued that honourable course which regards equally the legitimate claims of the confederacy, and the rights and dignity of their own government." In June, 1813, the legislature of Massachusetts adopted a Remonstrance against the war. Governor Chittenden of Vermont, in his speech to the legislature 12 October, 1813, observed, that a great proportion of the people considered the war at least doubtful "as to its expedience, or justice, especially its present continuance;" and on the 10th of November, ordered home the militia that were doing service out of the state. In January, 1814, the house of delegates of the state of Maryland, " representing the interests and feelings of the state," sent an address to the president and congress "on the awful condition of national affairs, and the exposed and defenceless situation in which the state of Maryland has been hitherto left by the general government, under the impending calamities of war." Proceedings of the Convention. Journals of Congress. Official communications of the Governors of several States. Otis' Letters [written as "an historical memoir"] in defence of the Convention. MS. Letter of governor Smith.

1814. of the president of the United States. The sentence of the court was approved by the president, and the execution of it remitted.1

Indian treaty at Greenville.

Bibles taken in a prize.

A treaty was held with a number of Indian tribes at Greenville on the 22d of July. They bound themselves to assist the United States in prosecuting the war against Great Britain and the hostile Indians, and to make no peace with either without the consent of the United States.2

Among the goods of the prize brig Falcon, sent into Bath, in Maine, by the America of Salem, there were about 900 Bibles

1 Niles' Register, vi. 154-162, where the entire Trial is inserted. General Hull's Defence, addressed to the Citizens of the United States. Ib. 345–347. Memoirs of the Campaign of the North Western Army of the United States, A. D. 1812, by William Hull, late Governor of the Territory of Michigan, and Brigadier General in the service of the United States, published in 1824. The recital of a few facts from the Memoirs of this veteran officer, who gave the most decisive proofs of his valour and patriotism in the war of the revolution, seems due to his character and memory, as well as to the fidelity of history. From the message of the president to congress, after the termination of the campaign, it appears, says general Hull, there were four objects for which the forces were sent to Detroit under my command. 1. With a general view to the security of the Michigan Territory. 2. In the event of war, to make such operations in uppermost Canada, as would intercept the hostile influence of Great Britain over the savages. 3. To obtain the command of the lake, on which that part of Canada borders. 4. To cooperate with other forces in that quarter. General Hull was, at that time, governor of the Michigan Territory. In the event of war, it was, he says, perfectly understood to be his opinion, "that the command of the lakes was not only essential to a successful invasion of the enemy's country, but for the very existence of the army" which he commanded. "When war was declared, Great Britain had four or five vessels of war on this lake, some of them carrying 20 cannon, besides a number of gunboats, all completely armed and manned. The United States had not a single armed vessel, not even a gun-boat or canoe." The general" did not receive information of the war until fourteen days after it was declared; the British garrison had official knowledge of it four or five days sooner." In repeated "official communications made to the administration," he "stated, that if war was declared, without the command of the lake, Detroit, Michillimackinack, and Chicago, must, in the nature of things, fall into the hands of the enemy." An "armistice or cessation of hostilities was agreed to by general Dearborn, the senior officer of the army, the beginning of August." This enabled the enemy to withdraw his forces from the stations on the Niagara river, and concentrate them, and his other troops against the army which Hull commanded.—“ The waters and the wilderness," says the general, "were enemies, which, in the nature of things, could not be controlled by any means in my power. I had no communication with my country, excepting through one or the other of them. The first was obstructed by the enemy's navy, the other by his savage allies. Thus it appears, my communication was entirely cut off, and distant about 300 miles from every part of the country on which I could depend for re-enforcements, or necessary supplies."-Having adduced examples of celebrated commanders in similar situations, he cited them, he says, "for no other purpose than to illustrate the principle, that, when an army is deprived of its communication with its magazines, on which it depends for its necessary supplies, and cannot open that communication, so as to obtain them, its fate is inevitable, and it becomes the duty of its commander, to accept the best terms from the enemy, which can be obtained."

2 Niles' Reg. vi. 389. The children and squaws were to remain at Greenville, at the expense of the United States.

in the English and Dutch languages, designed by the British and 1814. Foreign Bible Society for gratuitous distribution at the Cape of Good Hope. The Bible Society of Massachusetts purchased the Bibles and offered to return them to the British Society, but was requested by that Society to distribute them at discretion.

pointed.

On the 16th of November, the president, by recommendation Fast apof congress appointed the 15th day of January, for a day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer, on account of public calamities and war; which day was observed accordingly.

A treaty of peace and amity between his Britannic majesty Treaty of and the United States of America was signed at Ghent, by the respective plenipotentiaries, on the 24th of December.

The Medical Institution of Yale College was opened.1

The American Tract Society, and the Massachusetts Baptist Education Society, were instituted.

The Charter and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay were published by order of the general

court.

Elbridge Gerry, vice president of the United States, died at Deaths. Washington, aged 70 years; Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) died in France;3 Robert Treat Paine died at Boston,

1 The number of students was 37. A valuable building, styled the Medical College, together with land intended for a Botanic Garden, has been purchased for it by the state.

2 The biography of this early and distinguished patriot has been recently given to the public in "The Life of Elbridge Gerry, with contemporary Letters, to the close of the American Revolution," by James T. Austin. Boston, 1828. 3 Benjamin Thompson was born in Woburn, in Massachusetts, in 1753, of respectable parents. His father died when he was only 2 or 3 years of age. "Such was his intense application, in whatever business he engaged, whether rural diversions, or scholastic exercises, that he devoted his whole soul, and never lett any thing unfinished or incomplete." Having obtained a common school education, he eagerly commenced the study of arithmetic and mathematics. At about the age of 16, his guardian placed him at a store in Salem. In 1769 or 1770, when the Lectures in Experimental Philosophy commenced at Cambridge, hearing that his friend, the late colonel Baldwin of Woburn, had obtained liberty to attend them, he requested and obtained the same favour. At this time he made many experiments in mechanics, and some successful attempts to gain a practical knowledge of the explosive power of gunpowder. These experiments may have occurred to him in making those upon the same subject, which he afterward laid before the Royal Society of London. About the year 1773 he taught a school at Concord, in New Hampshire, where he became acquainted with the widow of colonel Rolfe, whom he afterward married. In an excursion to Portsmouth, he attracted the particular attention of governor Wentworth, who soon after gave him the offer of a major's commission. Suspicions of his attachment to the British interest induced him to retire to Woburn in 1774. At the commencement of hostilities between the King's troops and the Americans in April, 1775, he accompanied his patriotic friend colonel Baldwin to Cambridge, where, safe from surmises about his own patriotism, he observed the martial movements of the army, and studied military tactics and the art of fortification. Not expecting promotion in a cause, his attachment to which had been suspected, he in 1775 went to Newport in Rhode Island, where he embarked for Boston harbour, and in January following left America for England.

1814. aged 83 years;1 William Heath, at Roxbury, aged 77; and Ira Allen, at Philadelphia, aged 62 years.3

Here his patron and assistant was lord George Sackille Germaine, who had the year before been appointed secretary of the war department. Toward the close of the American war, he was appointed colonel of a regiment of the queen's royal American dragoons, and came to New York for the purpose of raising and forming his regiment; but the termination of hostilities preventing the execu tion of his commission, he returned to England. He remained in England until 1784, pursuing his favourite studies; and here he began a course of philosophical experiments on such subjects as concern the economy of life. He introduced a revision of the military exercise, and effected a very important reformation in the military department. He was knighted by the king of England in 1784, before he left that country to make the tour of Europe. In this tour he passed through Flanders into Germany, and was introduced to the Elector of Bavaria, who soon after made him chamberlain. About the same time he was admitted a member of the Academies of Science of Munich and Manheim. In 1786 the king of Poland conferred upon him the order of St. Stanislaus; and the year following he was elected a member of the Academy of Berlin. In 1788 he was appointed major general of cavalry, and privy counsellor of state. Directed by the Elector to adopt the necessary means for executing his various plans for improving the condition of the army and of the poor, he, in 1789, established the house of Industry at Manheim, the admirable influence of which is well known in Europe and America. In 1790 the Military Academy was established under his direction, and the celebrated English Garden was begun in the environs of Munich. In 1791 he was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire; and after receiving this title, he chose to bear the name of Rumford, which was the original name of Concord, where he married, and where his estate was situated. In 1796, after an absence of more than 11 years, he returned to England, where he afterward published his Essays. The next great work in which count Rumford engaged was the "Royal Institution of Great Britain," under the immediate patronage of the king. He afterwards went to France, and died there at his country seat of Auteuil. He made liberal bequests to different institutions in his native country, particularly to Harvard College, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. See 1816. An eloquent eulogy on his character was read before the Institute of France by M. Chavier 3 January, 1815. The first American, from the third London edition of his " Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical," was printed at Boston in 2 volumes, 1798.-Original Memoirs of Benjamin Count of Rumford, in the Literary Miscellany, printed at Cambridge, 1805; and a Biographical Sketch, in Farmer and Moore's Collections, 1824.

1 Robert T. Paine, LL.D. was born in Boston in 1731, and was educated at Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1749. About the year 1759 he settled in the practice of law at Taunton. During the period of the revolution he was a firm and powerful supporter of the rights of his country. In 1774 he was chosen a delegate to congress; and he was one of the signers of the declaration of independence in 1776. He was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and one of the committee that prepared a daught of it. He was attorney general of the commonwealth under this constitution until 1790, when he was appointed a judge of the supreme court, and held the office until 1803. The remainder of his life he spent in retirement. He possessed an original and independent mind, and was celebrated for his wit. He was a profound lawyer, and eminently upright.

2 The military character and services of this early patriot appear in the history of the war of the Revolution, and in "Memoirs of Major General Heath, written by himself," Boston, 1798. His character in private life was respectable and estimable.

3 Mr. Allen was born at Cornwall in Connecticut, but removed early to Vermont. He was the first secretary of that state, and had a share in all the tumults of the revolutionary war, and in forming the State Constitution. In adjusting the claims of the neighbouring states he was one of the commissioners