Carey became alarmed the civil war was imminent. He read everything he could on the history of civil war and began to promote national unity.
“I had devoured… nearly all the Histories of Civil Wars to be found in the Library – Divilla’s of France – Guichardini and Machivel’s of Italy, Clarendon’s of England, & various others. I say, on what is the Same thing in its results, I fancied I saw a Strong family likeness between the embrio of the Civil Wars by which the fairest portions of the earth have been ravaged. I found the same dull indifference or willful blindness that characterised the mass of our citizens and our rulers, pourtrayed in those countries, where they were on the verge of an explosion. I shuddered at the dire infatuation that So universally prevailed, and which I could not help regarding as the harbinger of impending destruction.”[1]
Mathew Carey
Carey estimated he wrote at least a dozen letters to President Madison urging him to do something to quell the crisis. Carey thought only a few radicals advocated secession. He thought most New Englanders wanted to remain in the Union. He suggested that Madison write a pamphlet countering the arguments of the radical Federalists in Boston. He offered to print and deliver it using his own funds. Next he proposed forming a Washington Union Society, and bringing Federalists into Madison’s administration. Madison stubbornly resisted any of Carey’s suggestions.[2]
Next: More on Napoleon and His Economic Sanctions
Look for it Monday, April 28
