WHAT WE SAW IN NEW YORK BAY. 187
"Law! international law! What law?" sneered Allyn.
" This," replied Mercer, drawing a large pistol from his pocket. " Lead and gunpowder, which, as I truly said, constitute the greatest principle in all international law, recognised hy all civilized nations." .
" And this," said Courtenay, as he also produced a pistol, "is another principle which Lord Coke and all the famous lawyers accept as a necessary corollary of the first."
" And here," said the captain, as he blew a whistle and his men rushed upon the deck, cutlass in hand, " are a whole group of citations and illustrations. Now, damn you again, Mr. Lieutenant Allyn, of the Guerriere; if you try to take anybody from my vessel you'll be the first man killed. Your frigate there can blow us to pieces, but you and your men here will be dead before we sink."
It was the old Maine seadog who spoke, the man who afterward became one of the most 'daring and dangerous privateers, the captain who swept the English Channel for months at a time, and his manner left no doubt of his intentions. Around him swarmed the same crew that was with him when he harried the narrow seas be tween Britain and France. I saw that Allyn had a task that I did not envy him, and no words were needed from me. Still I could not refrain from saying:
" I think it would be better to postpone the question of my nationality."
He looked at us and he looked at his ship, and then he departed without any threat in words, though his eyes were full of them. Whether he expected to keep me, in good truth, a sailor on board the Guerriere, I do not know, but he was wild with hate of me, and must have been willing to do any mad thing, knowing, moreover, that John Pechell, then captain on board the Guerriere, was ready for any act of audacity or barbarity.
188 A HERALD OF THE WEST.
While the boat was returning to the Guerriere Cap tain Crowell sailed on, being anxious to escape from under the guns of the Guerriere, as he feared that the frigate might give him a broadside when Allyn went on board and told his tale.
" I thank you, friends," I said to Mercer and Courte- nay, "for the splendid briefs you filed in my case, and you, too, captain, for the illustrations and citations which you presented in most timely fashion."
When I looked at Mercer I remembered his saying once that I was a fortunate man. Truly I was fortunate in my friends, and he was not the least among them, when perhaps I had no right to expect it.
We were still standing on the deck, and the captain was looking back at the Guerriere.
" I hope the case is concluded," he replied, " but I'm afraid it isn't. No, by heavens, it's not! The Guerriere is following us! "
The white and gold prow of the frigate was turned toward us, and she was following in our wake into the bay, as if she would catch us before we could reach the peaceful town which lay beyond. There was much ship ping about, and directly ahead of us sailed a sightly Yankee brig, on which I read the name Spitfire.
" A Portland craft," said Crowell; " I know her, her captain and every man aboard her; I've raced with her many a time."
But he gave the Spitfire only a single glance, keeping his eyes afterward on the Guerriere, the trouble in his face growing.
" Surely she can not mean to bring us to with a broadside in the bay itself," he said. " I don't see how we could escape a war after that. But the war would be cheap at the price. The John Hancock could stand more than one broadside even from a thirty-eight."
His fierce old face lighted up with joy. Like many another, he wished so much for war that he was ready
WHAT WE SAW IN NEW YORK BAY. 189
to pay a heavy penalty himself if we could only have it.
We were inside the bay now, bearing toward the Nar rows, and the Guerriere entering also was in closed waters, wholly American. She seemed bound to have us, be the consequences what they might, but suddenly she shifted her course and bore up to the Portland brig, the Spitfire.
" We're not her game; it's the Spitfire," said Crow- ell, noting the change. " What new mischief is the Guerriere after? We'll shift our course too and see/'
The Guerriere had ordered the Spitfire to lay to, and the brig had no choice but to obey. A boat's crew were sent aboard her as in our case, and the crew were mus tered on deck, while the officer, not Allyn this time, ques tioned them. We could see it all plainly, we lay so close, and we watched with eager interest, for the harbour had been safe, at least for a long time. Other ships and boats drew near, attracted as we were, and they hung in a circle around the frigate and her prey. Captain Crowell stood at the rail looking through a pair of strong glasses. It was evident that the captain of the Spitfire was of a different stock from the captain of the John Hancock, since we could see no signs of resistance or even of ener getic protest on board the brig.
" They are all in line like so many sheep," said Crow- ell in a voice permeated with disgust.
"What are the British doing?" I asked, though I could see.
" Calling the roll, I suppose, and asking them ques tions which they have no right to ask, and no American any right to answer."
" Are they taking any of the sailors? "
" No, but they are taking that man who stands to one side, a passenger, too, by God! and I know him John Deguyo, of my own town of Portland, who is not and never was a sailor. They've begun to impress landsmen
190 A HERALD OP THE WEST.
now; they'll take the President himself if they get a chance."
I was witnessing a historic scene of violence and out rage, a piece of unpardonable effrontery, but save for the deck of the Spitfire the day was as peaceful and benevo lent as a brilliant May day should be. Before us were the wooded hills of Staten Island, the smoke rising in lazy coils from the chimneys of the farm houses. Some times their windows caught the sunlight, and they shone as if made of beaten gold. The waters of the bay rippled before a gentle breeze, and off toward the low Jersey shore it was a shimmering sea of blue and silver and green.
The man, Deguyo, struggled a little, but two of the men-o'-warsmen seized him, and he ceased to resist, going quietly with his captors to the boat, and thence to the Guerriere. Then the frigate changed her course again, and passed out of the harbour with her victim.
" If the American Government stands this," said Courtenay, " I shall become a citizen of Turkey, or some other barbaric country where they are not too good to fight."
" I hope it will not be necessary for us to lose you," I said.
Mercer was silent.
We landed, and, with Captain Crowell, spread the news, which was known already in a vague way, but we gave the facts, and it was a joy to me to see the flame rise among the sailors and the longshoremen and the day workers, who, having no property at stake and no blind belief in the virtue of manners, had a truer sense of the
f 7
honour and dignity of their country than those who lived in the fine houses on Canal Street.
Leaving the fire to feed itself and to spread, which it was sure to do, I hastened to Fraunce's Tavern, where I hoped that Marian and her father were still staying.
CHAPTER XVI.
BEFORE THE PRESIDENT AGAIN.
A VAGUE plan had taken me in such a hurry to Fraunce's Tavern, and on my way I tried to think out its details, though I could not make them fit into each other quite to my satisfaction. I suppose that some peo ple were surprised at the appearance of a large young man striding so rapidly through the streets, and I brushed roughly against two or three, but I had time to spare only for a hasty apology and no explanations. When I asked at the tavern if Cyrus Pendleton and his daughter, Miss Pendleton, were still there I was informed that they were, and, to my joy, that Miss Pendleton at that moment was in the house.
I sent to Marian a request that I might see her, and she came down at once to the tavern parlour, tall and beautiful, ruddy with strength and health.
"Why, Philip!" she exclaimed. "Have the Puri tans driven you out of Boston so soon? "
Then she notice
d the excitement in my face and added:
" What has happened? What have you seen? "
I told her as quickly and as succinctly as I could of the scene that I had witnessed in the harbour, passing lightly over the attack upon myself and describing the anger and excitement it was creating in the city. Her face became pale.
" It seems to me to be just cause for war," I said, "and if we don't fight for this we'll have to fight for
191
192 A HERALD OF THE WEST.
something worse later on. I wish to go to Washington at once and carry the first news of it to the President and his Cabinet; all I want is a good excuse for going."
"And tell them everything, Philip," she cried, her eyes flashing and a flush replacing the pallor of her face. " Tell them if we do not fight we are cowards and worse, and do not deserve to be a nation! Tell them if we don't fight we won't be one much longer! Tell them if the men won't fight, the women will! "
She had risen up and stood before me, the red of ex citement and indignation dyeing her cheeks and even her brow, her eyes flashing with a spirit which the women of our country will never lose. I had never seen her look more glorious, so full was she of fire and passion, but I was hardly qualified for the role which in her excitement she called upon me to play.
" I don't think I'll say those things, however true they may be, to President Madison and his Cabinet, at least not in that way, Marian," I said. " I guess I'd better be polite to the President."
She laughed and coloured a little, and protested that she did not mean exactly that, and asked me to tell it all over again, which I did without diminishing in any way the sinister brutality of the details, and while we were yet talking Cyrus Pendleton came in raging, his Indian-like face making me think of what a great chief's ought to be in the fury of a desperate battle. In his wrath he had forgotten his dislike of seeing me with Marian.
"Have you heard of this, Phil?" he asked in a loud angry voice, never saying what the " this " was.
" Yes, I brought the news of it," I replied, knowing well what he meant, his excitement soothing and calming my own.
" Phil, we can't stand this! "
" No, we can't stand it! "
" The Government must fight."
BEFORE THE PRESIDENT AGAIN. 193
" I want to carry the news, while it's hot, to Wash ington."
He looked at me with approval.
" Then you are the right man come at the right time," he said. " Lieutenant-Governor Clinton is here. He and the mayor are talking about this outrage, and they are agreed that the national Government should be informed at once. Come with me, and you shall be their messenger."
Bidding Marian a hasty adieu, I hurried with him to the City Hall, and on the way noticed that the public uproar and excitement were increasing. The populace, always ready to resent a national affront, would not stand this latest outrage, and was crying for retaliation. British officers on shore had fled to their ships for safety, and it is only just to say that some of them were ashamed of their country's overbearing insolence and reckless guilt, qualities which Great Britain seemed then to have concentrated against us.
I was introduced to the mayor and Mr. Clinton by Mr. Pendleton, whose word carried weight, and as I could show, moreover, that I had been employed in Mr. Gallatin's office it was no trouble for me to secure the transmission of the despatches. In truth, I seemed, as Mr. Pendleton said, to be the right man come at the right time. The letters were made ready at once, in trusted to me in a sealed package directed to the Presi dent, and I departed, with their injunction to hasten to Washington and beware of mischances.
In the streets again I found that the excitement had not been allayed; on the contrary, the tumult was in creasing, and a crowd of men shaking sticks were singing patriotic songs and shouting, " Down with Britain! " If the men in the street had possessed the power the Guerriere would have been blown into splinters with in the next five minutes. Some of the merchants were closing their stores, and the people in carriages
194: A HERALD OP THE WEST.
were hastening away as if they would escape from a mob.
At Fraunce's Tavern I found Mercer and Courtenay, and I told them of my mission, which both envied me.
" You have sealed despatches telling all about it, have you not? " asked Mercer.
" Yes."
" Give your own account too; make it strong, it's not illegal."
Clearly it was not " illegal " for me to tell a few words if I were asked, and I promised Mercer if I had the chance to do my best. I was just leaving them when I ran into Bidwell, laced, powdered, and perfumed in the extremest New York style, as if he were that little exotic Van Steenkerk himself.
"Why such a hurry, Ten Broeck? " he asked. "What is the matter ? "
" Don't you hear them out there in the street, Bid- well, crying for war? I'm going to Washington as fast as I can to declare it for them. Good-bye."
I left him staring at me.
I had plenty of money and I hired one of the best horses I could find, riding him to Philadelphia, where I changed him for another as good, and thus changing horses at suitable intervals I continued my swift journey southward. I was in the full glory of spring now, not in its beginning. It was all around me, it breathed in the balmy breezes from the south. The old world, burst ing into bloom, was turning into a mass of pink and green pink on the buds, green on the leaves and grass and the sunshine was full of basking warmth. Spring and summer pay little heed to war or peace, thought I, as I galloped on.
After a ride of three days and a half, or on the morn ing of the fourth day, I reached Washington. I saw afar the white walls of the Capitol, the sunlight blazing upon them, and the lazy little town snuggling in the
BEFORE THE PRESIDENT AGAIN. 195
green of the wilderness. The silver ribbon of the Po tomac gleamed as of old, and there again was a line of wild ducks flying northward, painted against the blue sky like a long black arrow. A negro, sitting sideways on his mule, was riding slowly to his plowing, a boatman floated sleepily with the current of the river, and the town, like the plowman and the boatman, seemed asleep and dreaming.
I rode to my old boarding house, ate a hasty lunch eon, not explaining to my astonished landlady why I had returned so much sooner than she expected me, and then walked over to the Treasury building. I entered as one who knew the way and had the right, and beheld the back of Mr. Gallatin's head shining at me like a sun. He was bending over his desk, and the heaps of papers surged around him. My tread, as I approached, did not arouse him, and I was forced to put my hand upon his shoulder and say:
"Mr. Gallatin!"
He looked up with the customary start of one who is aroused from absorption.
" Mr. Ten Broeck," he said, " I thought I had sent you to the North! "
" So you did, Mr. Gallatin. And 1 went; I did the work you sent me to do, and I return in haste with news."
He looked at me with curiosity and some apprehen sion too, as my manner undoubtedly showed excitement. It is a fact that in the years just before 1812 no Ameri can statesman expected any news but bad news.
" I have this package, addressed to the President," I said, producing it, " and it is from the mayor of the city of New York. I give it to you for him."
" But you know very well what it contains," he said, taking the package, but still looking at me closely. " Your face shows that. Tell me what it is, if it is not wrong to do so."
There was certainly nothing wrong in my telling, and
196 A HERALD OF THE WEST.
I told, setting forth the incidents with all the descriptive power at my command. He sighed, and the look of trouble on his face grew, digging great seams about his mouth and eyes and doubling the wrinkles.
" I suppose they'll come into the inner harbour of New York next and bombard the town because we don't like them," he said. " They did worse at Copenhagen. I suppose we'll have to fight after all. This thing of founding a nation is a d
ifficult task, Philip, my son. But you have done well to come with your budget. I shall show this to the President at his house to-night, and it may be that we will want you there, as you were an eye witness of the facts. If so, I will send word to you at your room in the afternoon."
Then he questioned me long and carefully about the direct object of my visit to the Northern and Eastern cities, and when I left his office I felt that glow which comes to one who has received the approval of his elders and betters.
I hastened back to my room, and lying down on the bed slept soundly until a messenger arrived with a sum mons for me to come to the White House. It was evi dent that both Mr. Gallatin and the President were im pressed, as the former had not waited until night to de liver the despatches, and the latter, with equal prompti tude, had called a Cabinet meeting in the afternoon. I found myself in the presence of the entire Cabinet for the second time in my life, and was asked to tell my story again, which I did, arraying my facts in what I thought to be the most impressive sequence. They asked me over and over about certain details, but I had fixed them in my mind, and was ready always with the an swer. Then they let me go, thanking me and telling me that I would be notified if they wished to obtain from me further information on those points.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE FIKST MESSAGE FROM THE WEST.
I WAITED for a day or two and heard nothing that is, nothing that I wanted to hear, thinking that the time had come now when the Government must take the risks of war, however great they might be but I learned that the new British minister, Mr. Foster, a man of amiable temper, from whom an effort to make us some reparation for old wrongs was expected, would be due in a few days in Washington, and on such account the Government regarded the impressment of Deguyo as most untoward. The news of the affair was soon known all over Washington, and while the Government waited the population was in a rage, and the French minister, profiting by the opportunity, egged them on, and wished to know, whenever he met Americans, whether they in tended to become the servile subjects of England. I confess that I assisted somewhat in the egging process, and, moreover, I received a letter from Cyrus Pendleton, trusting that I had arrived in safety and that the truth had lost none of its bitterness in my telling.
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