How Mathew Carey Found Fault with Madison’s Administration

Faults on Both Sides Part I (continued)

7.  The Erskine Arrangement

The Federalists accused Jefferson and Madison of being under the influence of the French.  This accusation was disturbing.  The atrocities of the French Revolution were a recent memory.  Carey pointed out that when David Erskine, the British minister to the United States, negotiated with President Madison, they reached an agreement.  The Federalists praised Madison and wined and dined him in Washington. Unfortunately Erskine ignored instructions from his superiors.  The British recalled him, and rejected his agreement with Madison.  If the Democratic-Republicans were under the influence of the French, Carey argued, Madison’s cabinet would have objected to Erskine’s arrangement.[1]

8.  War with England

Carey thought the War of 1812 was justified. The British repealed their Orders in Council on June 16, 1812.  News of the repeal, which had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, did not reach Washington in time.  Congress declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812.   With that repeal, the British offered an armistice.  Carey argued that Madison should have accepted it.  The United States could have negotiated for better terms for  its grievances.  Jefferson and Madison had not prepared the country for war.  If it had been, the United States would have been able to make a decisive attack on the British.[2]

9.  Loans

Congress used loans to finance the war.  Carey argued that Congress, in a bid for popularity, deferred taxes necessary for sound public credit.  Loans, he wrote, were made at a loss, and public credit was damaged.[3]

10.  Appointment of Mr. Gallatin

Madison sent Albert Gallatin, the treasury secretary with exceptional ability, to London, as the minister from the United States.  Carey criticized Madison for making the appointment and Gallatin for accepting it.  He argued that Gallatin’s talents were desperately needed at the Department of the Treasury.[4]

11.  Negotiation at Gothenburg

Madison was given the choice of London or Gothenburg, Sweden, as the place for negotiation.  Carey argued the United States needed to end negotiations swiftly.  The British, in contrast, needed to drag  negotiations out.  Messages sent from London to Gothenburg, he wrote, would be delayed due to wind and weather.  “…the fate of hundreds, perhaps thousands of our most valuable citizens might depend upon the delay of a single day.”[5]

12.  Recent neglect of due preparation

A coalition of European powers captured Paris in March, 1814.  Napoleon wanted to recapture Paris, but his generals mutinied.  Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on the island of Elba. Carey wrote the first edition of the Olive Branch on November 8, 1814.  Napoleon did not return from exile until February 6, 1815.  The British defeated Napoleon, Carey argued, and their forces would be deployed to the United States.  Many Americans thought the war with Napoleon had ended, and the British would stop fighting in North America.  Our country was, Carey wrote, lulled into apathy.  On August 24, 1814, the British invaded Washington burning public buildings.  Carey thought that Madison’s administration should have prepared cities in the United States for invasion.  The government had the “best information” on the subject, yet the administration made no official communication to the people.[6]

Next:  Faults on both sides, Part II:  Errors of the Federalists

Look for it Monday, March 25.