8962. WAR OF 1812, Provocation.—
Nothing but the total prostration of all moral
principle could have produced the enormities
which have forced us at length into the war.
On one hand, a ruthless tyrant, drenching Europe
in blood to obtain through future time the
character of the destroyer of mankind; on the
other, a nation of buccaneers, urged by sordid
avarice, and embarked in the flagitious enterprise
of seizing to itself the maritime resources
and rights of all other nations, have left no
means of peace to reason and moderation. And
yet there are beings among us who think we
ought still to have acquiesced. As if while
full war was waging on one side, we could
lose by making some reprisal on the other.—
To Henry Middleton. Washington ed. vi, 91.
(M.
Jan. 1813)
