Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/218

186 of territorial expansion so actively pressed by the South, and which New England now regarded with so much aversion, would result in establishing the political control of the North, and would drive the Southern section to the state of political helplessness, then so keenly felt by New England. Yet, New England had, even at that time, no just cause for resentment, except so far as loss of political power and the hardships which war and commercial restrictions entailed upon the country, may be considered to justify her course. The nation was governed by other sections, but it was governed justly. The commercial sections were subjected to evils peculiar to their situation, yet no right of the States was trampled on. The people of New England, however, thought otherwise. They considered the war, declared against their will, the culmination of a series of wrongs. They made a very common mistake. They mistook their will for their conscience, and viewed the infraction of their wishes as a violation of their rights. They assailed Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and all &quot;the Virginia school. The Constitution had been violated. The administration was incompetent, entertained indefinite ulterior purposes, was weak in avoiding war, was tyrannical in declaring war, the embargo was wrong, non-in tercourse was wrong. The administration ought to have saved the country from foreign aggression by some undefined means, avoiding war, commercial restrictions or submission. The administration ought to have prepared the country for war, in spite of their own obstructions. It ought to have created armies, navies, military stores, and converted a peaceful nation all of a sudden into a warlike power whose whole territory was an armed camp, bristling with battalions and covered with fortifications. All this ought to be done without using coercive measures, or levying taxes, or disturbing the agricultural or commercial pursuits. The minority in Congress issued an address (Annals of Congress, 1811-1812, part