ed; but the verdict of impartial
history condemns it as unwise and unwarrantable, to say the least. He
died at his residence in Greenbush, opposite Albany, in July, 1834.

Another subject now violently agitated the American people. The news of
the British orders in council concerning the French colonial trade had
produced great excitement in commercial circles at Philadelphia and New
York. It was considered a flagrant act of injustice toward neutrals, and
both parties vehemently condemned the British government. In Congress a
resolution was offered for the raising of fifteen thousand men to serve
two years, and for other preparations for war; and it was at this
juncture that Madison's commercial resolutions, as we have observed,
were called up, debated, and indefinitely postponed. While the debates
on these resolutions were pending, the feeling against Great Britain was
further stimulated by the publication, in New York, of a reputed speech
of Lord Dorchester (Carleton), governor of Canada, to a deputation of
Indians of Lower Canada, who had attended a great council of savage
tribes, in the Ohio country, in 1793. In this speech, Dorchester, it was
alleged, openly avowed his opinion that war between the United States
and Great Britain would be commenced that year, and that "a new line
between the two nations must be drawn by the sword." This document was
pronounced a forgery. But it had its intended effect in increasing the
hatred of Great Britain in the hearts of a very large portion of the
American people. Congress, under the excitement of the moment, passed a
joint resolution, laying an embargo for thirty days, and afterward for
thirty days longer, for the purpose of preventing British supply-ships
carrying provisions to their fleet in the West Indies. It was also
proposed to enroll an army of eighty thousand minute-men, to man forts
and be ready for action; also an additional standing army of twenty
thousand men.

War with Great Britain now seemed inevitable. To avert it, was
Washington's most anxious solicitude; and, firm in his purpose of
preserving for his country neutrality and peace, he resolved to make an
experiment for the maintenance of both, by sending an envoy
extraordinary to England to open negotiations anew. It required great
heroism to attempt such a course; for the popular excitement was
intense, and the idea of holding any further intercourse with England
was scouted as pusillanimous. The tri-colored