ork parties, and its destruction
greatly increased the indignation against Canada; but Governor Marcy
did not hesitate to call upon the people to refrain from unlawful acts
within the territory of the United States; and, to enforce his
proclamation, supplied General Scott, now in command of the Canadian
frontier, with a force of militia. The American troops quickly forced
the abandonment of Navy Island, scattered the insurgents and their
allies to secret retreats, and broke up the guerrilla warfare. The
loss of life among the patriots, due to their audacity and incompetent
leadership, was considerable, and the treatment of prisoners harsh and
in some instances inhuman. Many young men of intelligence and
character were banished for life to Van Dieman's Land, McKenzie was
thrown into a Canadian dungeon, and, among others, Van Schoulty, a
brave young officer and refugee from Poland, who led an unsuccessful
attack upon Prescott, was executed. Small as was the uprising, it
created an intense dislike of Marcy among the friends of those who
participated in it.

Still another political splinter was festering in Marcy's side.
Several leading Democrats, who had sustained Jackson in his war upon
the United States Bank, and in his removal of the deposits, refused to
adopt Van Buren's sub-treasury scheme, proposed to the extra session
of Congress, convened in September, 1837. This measure meant the
disuse of banks as fiscal agents of the government, and the
collection, safekeeping, and disbursement of public moneys by treasury
officials. The banks, of course, opposed it; and thousands who had
shouted, "Down with the United States Bank," changed their cry to
"Down with Van Buren and the sub-treasury scheme." Among those
opposing it, in New York, Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, a Democratic United
States senator, took the lead, calling a state convention to meet at
Syracuse. This convention immediately burned its bridges. It
denounced Van Buren, it opposed Marcy, and it indorsed Seward. Behind
it were bank officers and stockholders who were to lose the privilege
of loaning the money of the United States for their own benefit, and
the harder it struck them the more liberally they paid for fireworks
and for shouters.

If trouble confronted the Democrats, discouragement oppressed the
Whigs. Under the direction of Gerrit Smith the Abolitionists were on
the war-path, questioning Seward as to the propriety of granting
fugitive slaves a fair tria