The Real America in Romance, Volume 10

Sustained honor, by John R.
Musick,

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Title: Sustained honor The Age of Liberty Established
Author: John R. Musick,
Release Date: December 2, 2003 [EBook #10370]
Language: English
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THE REAL AMERICA IN ROMANCE
Volume X

SUSTAINED HONOR
The Age of Liberty Established
By
JOHN R. MUSICK
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
FREELAND A. CARTER
1909

PREFACE.
Written history is generally too scholastic to interest the great mass of
readers. Dignified and formal, it deals mainly with great events, and
often imperfectly with these, because, not pausing to present clear
impression by the associations of individual life, it conveys a stiff and
unnatural opinion of the past. Historians ignore the details which go to
make up the grand sum total of history, and from the very best histories
one can get but a meagre idea of the life and times of the people of
bygone ages. It is these minor details of past events which lend to
fiction its greatest charm, and attract the multitude, by appearing more
like truth. Although untrue in the particular combinations, scenes and
plots delineated, yet well written fiction is drawn from nature and
experience, and these facts in life, as with chessmen, are only arranged
in new but natural positions. History should include everything in the
nature, character, customs and incidents, both general and individual,
that contribute to originate what is peculiar in a people, or what causes
their advancement or decline. So broad is its scope, that nothing is too
mighty for its grasp--so searching, scarce anything is too minute. Were
written history a clear transcript of valuable incidents, it would be more
enticing than the most fascinating fiction.
It is the purpose of this volume to deal with some of the remote and

direct causes of the second war with England, by endeavoring, as
nearly as our ability will permit, to transport the reader back to the
scenes of eighty or ninety years ago, and give views of the incidents
which clustered around the events of that time.
The war of 1812 has been properly termed by some historians the
second war for independence; for, in truth, the independence of the
United States of America was not established until after that event.
Great Britain across the ocean and the horde of Tories still in America
had not abandoned all hope of yet making the United States a
dependency of the country from which she had fought seven long years
to free herself. The war of 1812 was never fought to a finish. In some
respects it was a drawn fight. Its results were not satisfactory to the
patriotic American, and certainly were not to Great Britain. The
contemptible "Peace Faction" continually crippled the administration
all through the contest of nearly three years.
After studying the patriotism of New England through the War of the
Revolution, one is surprised at the unpatriotic actions of that section of
the United States in 1812. One can hardly believe that it was party
fealty and political hatred of the democratic party alone which made
these formerly patriotic colonies and States hot-beds of sedition and
treason. It looks as if those States, having built up a flourishing trade
with Great Britain, cared little about the impressment of sailors, or the
enslaving of their countrymen, so long as they filled their own pockets.
The men seized were usually poor, and their happiness, liberty and life
were lightly regarded in comparison with the prosperity of the "Peace
Party" merchant. If patriotism were dormant in the East, however, in
the growing West, and the generous South it was strong. From those
sections came the hardy sons of liberty, who taught Johnny Bull anew
to respect the rights of the common people. Though the treaty of peace
was not satisfactory in many particulars, it more clearly defined the
lines between the United States and British possessions in America,
leaving the fishery question and the right to search and impressment in
an unsettled condition, giving the "Peace Party" an opportunity to say,
"I told you so."

An attempt is made in this story to cover the whole period of the war
and the causes leading up to it, treating it from the standpoint of an
individual of the time. The pioneers of seventy-five years ago were a
hardy race, long since disappeared. We hope that