Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/98

88 The President of the Union, is the commander in chief of the army, and of the whole armed force, with the rank of Lieutenant General; but he, in general, knows nothing of the military art, having pursued an entirely different career, that of diplomacy, or of jurisprudence and literature.

When the English, during the late war, entered the Chesapeake Bay, and prepared to ascend the Potomack, for the purpose of falling upon Washington, President Madison was in that capital, and not knowing what to do, precipitately mounted his horse, and fled to Virginia, leaving no orders whatever to repel the enemy. The English entered, without the slightest opposition, into the Capital of these States; and having burned various publick buildings, directed their march towards the City of Baltimore. The terrour and dismay had operated as far as Philadelphia, which is 120 miles distant from that city, and measures were already taken there to capitulate with the