CHAPTER IV.

Still may the soaring eagle's quenchless eye, Watch o'er our favour'd country, brave and free, Where the bright stars and stripes in honour wave, The sacred emblems of our liberty.

Many disagreeable circumstances now combined to disturb the happy tranquillity of the American government. "A war had for some time existed between France and England. America had endeavoured to maintain a neutrality, and peacefully to continue a commerce with both nations. Jealousies, however, arose between the contending powers with respect to the conduct of America, and events occurred calculated to injure her commerce and disturb her peace.

"Decrees were first issued by the French government preventing the American flag from trading with the enemy; these were followed by the British orders in council, no less extensive than the former in design, and equally repugnant to the laws of nations. In addition to these circumstances, a cause of irritation existed sometime between the United States and Great Britain. This was the right of search claimed by Great Britain as one of her prerogatives. To take her native subjects, wherever found, for her navy, and to search American vessels for that purpose. Notwithstanding the remonstrances of the American government, the officers of the British navy were not unfrequently seen seizing native British subjects who had voluntarily enlisted on board our vessels, and had also impressed into the British service some thousands of American seamen.

"In consequence of the British and French decrees, a general capture of all American property on the seas seemed almost inevitable. Congress, therefore, on the recommendation of the president, laid an embargo on all vessels within the jurisdiction of the United States.

"In a moment, the commerce of the American republic, from being, in point of extent, the second in the world, was reduced to a coasting trade between the individual states. The opposition to the act in several of the states was so great that they unanimously declared against it, and individuals throughout the whole seized every opportunity of infringement; therefore Congress thought proper to repeal the embargo law, and substituted a non-intercourse with France and England."

It was now generally expected that the session in Congress, with the decision of the president, would eventually terminate in actual hostilities. The difficulties the chief executive had to encounter were many and perplexing, being fully convinced, under existing circumstances, that the Americans must engage in combat after all. He therefore knew it to be necessary to rouse the feelings of the American people, to realize, more clearly than they did, the true situation of their country, that they might be prepared for the approaching crisis that he believed unavoidable.

This period was full of anxiety and danger. A war was deprecated by all the leading patriots of the day; they were fully persuaded that it must take place; they therefore unitedly determined to prepare for the storm in the best manner they were able. All material business was in a manner suspended in New-York; the face of things wore a dismal aspect, and the greater part of the community were in dismay. A heavy gloom hung over the inhabitants generally, while all their affairs appeared in a declining state, discouraging to the industry and best prospects of the people.

Alida's father was no friend to political controversy, yet he passed much of his time in conversing with his friends on the present affairs of America. He knew that party spirit and animosity existed more or less at this time, and that he must consequently often meet with those of opposite opinions; yet his honest and patriotic zeal for the good of his country still remained the same. He was attached to liberty from principle; he had talents to discriminate and see into the justice of the measures of government; his retirement gave him full opportunity to reflect on them seriously, and solve them in his own mind, and see their absolute necessity, in order to maintain the honour, freedom, and independence of the American nation. Would the same wisdom in the government continue that had so nobly preserved us since our independence? But he had no reason at present to suppose otherwise, and that he who now guided the helm of affairs, was one of steady and uncorrupt principles, of stable character, altogether uninfluenced by any sinister views, and was willing to sacrifice his individual repose for the noble purpose, and with the hope of settling it again on the nation, with a firmer basis, at some future period, when the expected contest should be decided.

What feelings of commotion and deep anxiety must agitate the bosom of the magnanimous hero who is labouring truly for the interest of his country, and is actuated alternately by the claims of justice and humanity, and on whom a whole community must depend for council in cases of severe emergency, when his chief satisfaction consists in promoting the interest and welfare of that community. When the hour of exigency arrives, his mind, endued with the light of piety, feels its own littleness, his weighty thoughts are big with the impending danger that no human arm may be able to arrest. Impressed with religious awe, and feeling conscious of his dependence for aid on the all-wise Disposer of events, he bends in humble supplication to implore the favour of that great and beneficent Being whose power alone can save, and in whose mighty arm alone is victory.

The father of Alida received regular intelligence by the daily papers respecting the political excitement in New-York; besides, he made frequent visits to the city to see his several children, as one of his daughters had resided there since her marriage. There was every kind of conveyance at the neighbouring village suited to the accommodation of travellers, both summer and winter, and the rapid improvement of the town had long been a current topic of the inhabitants as well as visiters, while they praised the proprietor of the new pavilion, in his manner of conducting it, and his excellent accommodations; and it was the general opinion that in the course of a few years this would become a place of no small consideration.