Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/90

78 stood Henry Clay; then John C. Calhoun, William Lowndes, Felix Grundy, Langdon Cheves, and others. They believed that, if the American Republic was to maintain anything like the dignity of an independent power, and to preserve, or rather regain, the respect of mankind in any degree, — ay, its self-respect, — it must cease to submit to humiliation and contemptuous treatment; it must fight, — fight somebody who had wronged or insulted it.

The Republicans, having always a tender side for France, and the fiction of French concessions being accepted, the theory of the war party was that, of the two belligerents, England had more insolently maltreated the United States. Rumors were spread that an Indian war then going on, and resulting in the battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811, was owing to English intrigues. Adding this to the old Revolutionary reminiscences of British oppression, it was not unnatural that the national wrath should generally turn against Great Britain.

Madison was all his life, even in his youth, somewhat like a timid old man. He did not desire war; neither did he venture to resist the warlike current. He was quite willing to have Congress make a policy for him, and to follow its lead. In this respect he could not have found a man more willing to urge, or drive, or lead him, than Henry Clay, who at once so composed the important committees of the House as to put them under the control of the war party. Then early in the session