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Presidents 1,210 words
Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of
office in the Hall of the House of Representatives. The United States
was at war with Great Britain at the time of James Madison's second
inauguration. Most of the battles had occurred at sea, and the
physical reminders of war seemed remote to the group assembled at the
Capitol. In little more than a year, however, both the Capitol and
Executive Mansion would be burned by an invading British garrison,
and the city thrown into a panic.
About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations
imposed by a second call to the station in which my country
heretofore placed me, I find in the presence of this
respectable assembly an opportunity of publicly repeating my
profound sense of so distinguished a confidence and of the
responsibility united with it. The impressions on me are
strengthened by such an evidence that my faithful endeavors
to discharge my arduous duties have been favorably
estimated, and by a consideration of the momentous period at
which the trust has been renewed. From the weight and
magnitude now belonging to it I should be compelled to
shrink if I had less reliance on the support of an
enlightened and generous people, and felt less deeply a
conviction that the war with a powerful nation, which forms
so prominent a feature in our situation, is stamped with
that justice which invites the smiles of Heaven on the means
of conducting it to a successful termination. May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption
when we reflect on the characters by which this war is
distinguished? It was not declared on the part of the United States
until it had been long made on them, in reality though not
in name; until arguments and postulations had been
exhausted; until a positive declaration had been received
that the wrongs provoking it would not be discontinued; nor
until this last appeal could no longer be delayed without
breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying all
confidence in itself and in its political institutions, and
either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or
regaining by more costly sacrifices and more severe
struggles our lost rank and respect among independent
powers. On the issue of the war are staked our national
sovereignty on the high seas and the security of an
important class of citizens, whose occupations give the
proper value to those of every other class. Not to contend
for such a stake is to surrender our equality with other
powers on the element common to all and to violate the
sacred title which every member of the society has to its
protection. I need not call into view the unlawfulness of
the practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of
every cruising officer from their own vessels into foreign
ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable from it. The proofs
are in the records of each successive Administration of our
Government, and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the
American people have found their way to every bosom not dead
to the sympathies of human nature. As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble
in its objects, we can seflect with a proud satisfaction
that in carrying it on no principle of justice or honor, no
usage of civilized nations, no precept of courtesy or
humanity, have been infringed. The war has been waged on our
part with scrupulous regard to all these obligations, and in
a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed. How little has been the effect of this example on the
conduct of the enemy! They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the
United States not liable to be so considered under the
usages of war. They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and
threatened to punish as traitors and deserters, persons
emigrating without restraint to the United States,
incorporated by naturalization into our political family,
and fighting under the authority of their adopted country in
open and honorable war for the maintenance of its rights and
safety. Such is the avowed purpose of a Government which is
in the practice of naturalizing by thousands citizens of
other countries, and not only of permitting but compelling
them to fight its battles against their native country. They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the
hatchet and the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre,
but they have let loose the savages armed with these cruel
instruments; have allured them into their service, and
carried them to battle by their sides, eager to glut their
savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to finish
the work of torture and death on maimed and defenseless
captives. And, what was never before seen, British
commanders have extorted victory over the unconquerable
valor of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of their
chief captives awaiting massacre from their savage
associates. And now we find them, in further contempt of the
modes of honorable warfare, supplying the place of a
conquering force by attempts to disorganize our political
society, to dismember our confederated Republic. Happily,
like others, these will recoil on the authors; but they mark
the degenerate counsels from which they emanate, and if they
did not belong to a sense of unexampled inconsistencies
might excite the greater wonder as proceeding from a
Government which founded the very war in which it has been
so long engaged on a charge against the disorganizing and
insurrectional policy of its adversary. To render the justice of the war on our part the more
conspicuous, the reluctance to commence it was followed by
the earliest and strongest manifestations of a disposition
to arrest its progress. The sword was scarcely out of the
scabbard before the enemy was apprised of the reasonable
terms on which it would be resheathed. Still more precise
advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit
forbidding every reliance not placed on the military
resources of the nation. These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to
an honorable issue. Our nation is in number more than half
that of the British Isles. It is composed of a brave, a
free, a virtuous, and an intelligent people. Our country
abounds in the necessaries, the arts, and the comforts of
life. A general prosperity is visible in the public
countenance. The means employed by the British cabinet to
undermine it have recoiled on themselves; have given to our
national faculties a more rapid development, and, draining
or diverting the precious metals from British circulation
and British vaults, have poured them into those of the
United States. It is a propitious consideration that an
unavoidable war should have found this seasonable facility
for the contributions required to support it. When the
public voice called for war, all knew, and still know, that
without them it could not be carried on through the period
which it might last, and the patriotism, the good sense, and
the manly spirit of our fellow-citizens are pledges for the
cheerfulness with which they will bear each his share of the
common burden. To render the war short and its success sure,
animated and systematic exertions alone are necessary, and
the success of our arms now may long preserve our country
from the necessity of another resort to them. Already have
the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world
our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element.
If the reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds
on the other, presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure
us that nothing is wanting to correspondent triumphs there
also but the discipline and habits which are in daily
progress.
March 4, 1813