7749. SECESSION, New England and.—[continued].
Should the determination
of England, now formally expressed, to
take possession of the ocean, and to suffer no
commerce on it but through her ports, force
a war upon us, I foresee a possibility of a separate
treaty between her and your Essex men,
on the principles of neutrality and commerce.
Pickering here, and his nephew Williams
there, can easily negotiate this. Such a lure
to the quietists in our ranks with you, might
recruit theirs to a majority. Yet, excluded
as they would be from intercourse with the
rest of the Union and of Europe, I scarcely
see the gain they would propose to themselves,
even for the moment. The defection
would certainly disconcert the other States, but
it could not ultimately endanger their safety.
They are adequate, in all points, to a defensive
war. However, I hope your majority, with the
aid it is entitled to, will save us from this
trial, to which I think it possible we are advancing.—
To Henry Dearborn. Washington ed. v, 607.
(P.F.,,
Aug. 1811)
See Embargo, Federalists, Hartford Convention and Monarchy.
