For Honour's Sake Read Free

for a negotiated peace, neither man would have still been in thecapital. Instead they would have sought the refuge of their respective Virginian country estates, and the business of government would have languished until the cooler fall temperatures rendered the city again habitable. Monroe’s desire to end the war almost matched that of his master, but he counselled a firm stance. Ultimately, no matter the just causes that had driven them to the declaration, the war was of America’s making. To come away at the end with nothing gained would spell political ruin for both men, be disastrous for the Republican Party, and dishonour the nation. There was no reason, Monroe insisted, that although America could not prevail on the battlefield it could not win an honourable peace through negotiation. The dream of annexing British North America might even still be achieved if the British could be persuaded that it was in their ultimate interest to be rid of this costly-to-maintain colony. Madison thought Monroe’s optimism misplaced, but he recognized how an honourable peace—one that yielded America a secure base for future westward expansion—was essential. The five men in Ghent must win this.
    Accordingly, on August 11, Monroe penned detailed instructions to the negotiators. “If Great Britain, does not terminate the war on the conditions you are authorized to adopt,” the war must continue. “The conflict may be severe, but it will be borne with firmness, and as we confidently believe, be attended with success.” After setting out several minor compromises that he was willing to offer the British, Monroe declared: “This government can go no farther, because it will make no sacrifice of the rights or honour of the nation.” 2

Part One

CLAY’S WAR

TWO

Insult to the Flag
JUNE 1811
    W hen Henry Clay rose in the United States Senate on February 22, 1810, to denounce the depredations visited upon America by Britain, it was not the orders-in-council that fired his righteous indignation into hot fury.
    While conceding that France and Britain were each guilty “of mercantile spoliations, inflicted and menaced” that provided “just cause of war with both,” Clay believed that if “we are forced into a selection of our enemy, then am I for war with Britain; because I believe her prior in aggression, and her injuries and insults to us were atrocious in character.
    â€œBritain,” he declared, “stands pre-eminent, in her outrage on us, by her violation of the sacred personal rights of American freemen, in the arbitrary and lawless impressment of our seamen.” 1
    The Royal Navy’s impressment practice had been authorized during every war fought over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Despite her mastery of the seas, when not at war Britain mothballed most of her fleet and discharged the bulk of her sailors. This saved vast sums of money, but also ensured that with each new war Britain must scramble to refloat the powerful navy vital to defence of an island nation dependent on a global empire. First, a bounty was offered for volunteers. Naval service being a grim duty frequented by death, maiming, or debilitating sickness, the volunteer call inevitably fell short of requirement. The Admiralty then authorized a “hot press.” Press gangs comprising trusted naval ratings roamed port-town streets to round up merchant sailors and fishermen as they stumbled out of bars or appearedon the quays and docks to rejoin their vessels. Without recourse to formal protest or complaint, the men suddenly found themselves serving before the mast—a fate that had likely befallen many during earlier wars. Land-based press gangs were common, but the majority operated from boats that lurked off the entrances to the empire’s harbours to scoop crews off merchant and fishing vessels entering port. 2
    Although hugely unpopular with those Britons