) were
subject to capture. Here was a rich field for cruising; and
the two officers, for themselves and brothers, boldly
proposed to enter it.

"Mr. Madison had seen the efficiency of cruising and
privateering, even against Great Britain, and in our then
infantile condition, during the war of the Revolution; and
besides was a man of sense, and amenable to judgment and
reason. He listened to the two experienced and valiant
officers; and without consulting Congress, which perhaps
would have been a fatal consultation (for multitude of
counsellors is not the counsel for _bold_ decision),
reversed the policy which had been resolved upon; and, in
his supreme character of constitutional commander of the
army and navy, ordered every ship that could cruise to get
to sea as soon as possible. This I had from Mr. Monroe."

This is a curious example of the blinding effect of partisan strife,
and of the absolute need of an Opposition. It was the hereditary
prejudice of the Republicans against the navy, as an "aristocratic"
institution, and the hereditary love of the navy cherished by the
Federalists as being something stable and British, that enlivened the
debates of the war. The Federalists had their way, but failed to win a
partisan advantage from the fact, through their factious opposition to
the military measures of the administration. Because the first attempt
at the seizure of Canada had failed through the incompetency of
General Hull, which no wisdom of man could have foreseen, Daniel
Webster called upon the government to discontinue all further attempts
on the land, and fight the war out on the sea. "Give up your futile
projects of invasion," said he in 1814.

"Extinguish the fires that blaze on your inland borders."
"Unclench the iron grasp of your embargo." "With all the war
of the enemy on your commerce, if you would cease to make
war upon it yourselves, you would still have some commerce.
That commerce would give you some revenue. Apply that
revenue to the augmentation of your navy. That navy, in
turn, will protect your commerce."

In war time, however, there are _two_ powers that have to do with the
course of events; and very soon the enemy, by his own great scheme of
invasion, decided the policy of the United States. Every port was
blockaded so effectively that a pilot-boat could not safely go out of
sigh