To have shrunk under such circumstances
from manly resistance would have been a degradation blasting our best
and proudest hopes; it would have struck us from the high rank where the
virtuous struggles of our fathers had placed us, and have betrayed the
magnificent legacy which we hold in trust for future generations. It
would have acknowledged that on the element which forms three-fourths of
the globe we inhabit, and where all independent nations have equal and
common rights, the American people were not an independent people,
but colonists and vassals. It was at this moment and with such an
alternative that war was chosen. The nation felt the necessity of it,
and called for it. The appeal was accordingly made, in a just cause,
to the Just and All-powerful Being who holds in His hand the chain of
events and the destiny of nations. It remains only that, faithful to
ourselves, entangled in no connections with the views of other powers,
and ever ready to accept peace from the hand of justice, we prosecute
the war with united counsels and with the ample faculties of the nation
until peace be so obtained and as the only means under the Divine
blessing of speedily obtaining it.
JAMES MADISON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
NOVEMBER, 12, 1812.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
For the further information of Congress relative to the pacific advances
made on the part of this Government to that of Great Britain, and the
manner in which they have been met by the latter, I transmit the sequel
of the communications on that subject received from the late charge
d'affaires at London.
Pages:
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115