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70 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
democracy. Toryism and cowardice are charged to those men who repair to the field
and do everything their limited means can do; Charles County at this moment has in the
service almost every man capable of bearing arms. St. Mary's has also out a great many.
" We are told of those thirteen democratic gentlemen, who, in 1808, by an address to the
President, urged the national government to a declaration of war, and pledged them their
lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, in support of any measures which he might
adopt. No one of them, save Major Matthews, has ever done one hour's service !! This
for Charles. Very different is the case in St. Mary's. There they have redeemed their
pledge; that is, a great many of them. Nothing but a very speedy peace can save this
peninsula from irretrievable ruin. Their government has abandoned them for their heresies, they are not deemed worthy of a shilling's expenditure; but still they are called on
to assist in a war to the prevention of which they used every constitutional means. Let
them call county meetings, and take the sense of the inhabitants as to the course which
their perilous situation calls for. While the youth of their counties, under their gallant
and beloved general, are doing everything enjoined by patriotism, let the old men convene, and do what it is practicable to avert our impending ruin.":
Admiral Cockburn's experiences in the Chesapeake and its affluents, seem
to have confirmed him in the idea that the Americans could not offer any
effectual resistance to his movements; and he planned a bolder stroke. As
early as July, 1813, he had approached so near to Washington as to see that a
sudden attack would place it at his mercy. When the Ml of Napoleon left
England in a position to increase her forces in America with heavy reinforcements, the English press began to foreshadow movements against Washington,
Baltimore and New Orleans. It was intended to supply what had been lacking the previous year—a powerful land force. The British government, for
this purpose, in the summer of 1814, sent Admiral Cochrane to Bermuda, to
superintend the embarkation of the reinforcements expected there for Canada,,
for Louisiana and the Chesapeake.
On the 3d of August, the British naval commander-in-chief sailed from
Bermuda for the Chesapeake, on board the eighty-gun ship Tonnant—a
French prize—convoying over three thousand troops, newly arrived from
France, under the command of Major General Robert Ross. The fleet entered
the Chesapeake on the 15th of August, and was joined by Cockburn, with
three ships of the line, several frigates, sloops-of-war and gunboats.
Desirous, wherever it Can be done, of illustrating events by official documents, we quote from the dispatch of Admiral Cochrane to the British
Board of Admiralty dated on board the Tonnant, on the Patuxent, September
2d, 1814, the following account of the plan agreed upon for the capture
and invasion of Washington:
" My letter of the 11th August will have acquainted their lordships of my waiting in
the Chesapeake for the arrival of Rear-Admiral Malcolm, with the expediton from
Bermuda.
" The Rear-Admiral jo'ined me on the 17th, and as I had information from Rear-
Admiral Cockburn, whom I found in the Potomac, that Commodore Barney, with the
Baltimore flotilla, had taken shelter at the head of the Patuxent, this afforded a pretext
1 July 26th, 1814.
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000095 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 70 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. democracy. Toryism and cowardice are charged to those men who repair to the field and do everything their limited means can do; Charles County at this moment has in the service almost every man capable of bearing arms. St. Mary's has also out a great many. " We are told of those thirteen democratic gentlemen, who, in 1808, by an address to the President, urged the national government to a declaration of war, and pledged them their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, in support of any measures which he might adopt. No one of them, save Major Matthews, has ever done one hour's service !! This for Charles. Very different is the case in St. Mary's. There they have redeemed their pledge; that is, a great many of them. Nothing but a very speedy peace can save this peninsula from irretrievable ruin. Their government has abandoned them for their heresies, they are not deemed worthy of a shilling's expenditure; but still they are called on to assist in a war to the prevention of which they used every constitutional means. Let them call county meetings, and take the sense of the inhabitants as to the course which their perilous situation calls for. While the youth of their counties, under their gallant and beloved general, are doing everything enjoined by patriotism, let the old men convene, and do what it is practicable to avert our impending ruin.": Admiral Cockburn's experiences in the Chesapeake and its affluents, seem to have confirmed him in the idea that the Americans could not offer any effectual resistance to his movements; and he planned a bolder stroke. As early as July, 1813, he had approached so near to Washington as to see that a sudden attack would place it at his mercy. When the Ml of Napoleon left England in a position to increase her forces in America with heavy reinforcements, the English press began to foreshadow movements against Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans. It was intended to supply what had been lacking the previous year—a powerful land force. The British government, for this purpose, in the summer of 1814, sent Admiral Cochrane to Bermuda, to superintend the embarkation of the reinforcements expected there for Canada,, for Louisiana and the Chesapeake. On the 3d of August, the British naval commander-in-chief sailed from Bermuda for the Chesapeake, on board the eighty-gun ship Tonnant—a French prize—convoying over three thousand troops, newly arrived from France, under the command of Major General Robert Ross. The fleet entered the Chesapeake on the 15th of August, and was joined by Cockburn, with three ships of the line, several frigates, sloops-of-war and gunboats. Desirous, wherever it Can be done, of illustrating events by official documents, we quote from the dispatch of Admiral Cochrane to the British Board of Admiralty dated on board the Tonnant, on the Patuxent, September 2d, 1814, the following account of the plan agreed upon for the capture and invasion of Washington: " My letter of the 11th August will have acquainted their lordships of my waiting in the Chesapeake for the arrival of Rear-Admiral Malcolm, with the expediton from Bermuda. " The Rear-Admiral jo'ined me on the 17th, and as I had information from Rear- Admiral Cockburn, whom I found in the Potomac, that Commodore Barney, with the Baltimore flotilla, had taken shelter at the head of the Patuxent, this afforded a pretext 1 July 26th, 1814. |
