der, he sounded a careful war note in his annual message to
congress at the beginning of November, 1811. The young and ardent
members of the house of representatives, who had elected Henry Clay,
then thirty-four years of age, speaker, determined that indecision
should no longer mark the councils of the nation. The committee on
foreign relations, of which Peter B. Porter was chairman, intensified
that feeling by an energetic report submitted on the 29th of November,
in which, in glowing sentences, the British government was arraigned on
charges of injustice, cruelty, and wrong. They said:

"To sum up, in a word, the great cause of complaint against Great
Britain, your committee need only say, that the United States, as a
sovereign and independent power, claims the right to use the ocean,
which is the common and acknowledged highway of nations, for the
purposes of transporting, in their own vessels, the products of their
own soils and the acquisition of their own industry to any market in the
ports of friendly nations, and to bring home, in return, such articles
as their necessities or convenience may require, always regarding the
rights of belligerents as defined by the established laws of nations.
Great Britain, in defiance of this incontestable right, captures every
American vessel bound to or returning from a port where her commerce is
not favored; enslaves our seamen, and, in spite of our remonstrances,
perseveres in these aggressions. To wrongs so daring in character and so
disgraceful in their execution, it is impossible that the people of the
United States should remain indifferent. We must now tamely and quietly
submit, or we must resist by those means which God has placed within our
reach.... The sovereignty and independence of these States, purchased
and sanctified by the blood of our fathers, from whom we received them,
not for ourselves only, but as the inheritance of our posterity, are
deliberately and systematically violated. And the period has arrived
when, in the opinion of your committee, it is the sacred duty of
congress to call forth the patriotism and the resources of the country.
By the aid of these and with the blessing of God, we confidently trust
we shall be able to procure that redress which has been sought for by
justice, by remonstrance and forbearance, in vain."

The report went over the land as fast as the mails in that day of stage
coaches could carry it, and made a profound impression on th