09 BALTIMORE. 11

To these causes must we date that sudden change in the
tide of events which led on to our fortune. Our proximity
to the revolted Islands—the fleetness of our vessels, the enter-
prise of our merchants, the skill of our mechanics, ail com-
bined to throw the entire trade of supplying both France and
them, into our possession. The shipwright, the blacksmith,
the rope maker, the sail maker, and every other trade con-
nected with the construction and fitting out of vessels, were
put under immediate contribution, and the busy hum and bus-
tle of active industry was to he seen and heard in every direc-
tion. Vessels of all sizes—houses of all descriptions, as with a
magic wand, were created. Commerce, with its invigorating
effects, was pouring in upon us from every quarter, and with it
came an influx to our population, which put to blush all former
calculations upon the ratios of increase. Thus enjoying these
enviable advantages, our town rapidly advanced in wealth
kind population, in despite of the dreadful visitations from the
yellow fever in 1794, 7. 9 and 1800, '19 and '20. During the
revolution of France and the insurrection of her colonies, we
received many valuable emigrants from each; for the peace-
loving citizen of the cue, as well as the exile of the other,
Bought an asylum here from the turmoil and blood, -which
rendered their remaining in either insecure.
But these halcyon days of commercial prosperity were not
to be enjoyed without jeoparding the future peace of the
country. Collisions between us and England arose out of
our commerce with France, She assumed pretensions, and
asserted rights, not justified by the laws of nations, nor sanc-
tioned by that spirit of liberty so cherished by our people.
Those collisions led to the war of 1812, which, however, was
not resorted to until the cup of forbearance was drained to
the very dregs; and unfortunately for the country, not until
the national coffers were empty. But freemen who know
their rights, never calculate the cost when their national
honor is insulted, and we entered into that conflict with little
else than a good cause and brave hearts to carry us through.
And Baltimore, whose uncompromising hostility to the enemy,
whose gallant privateers had met and conquered British
merchantmen in every sea, excited the hatred of the govern-
ment to that degree that our city was marked as an object of
vengeance. Our bay infested with a large and well appointed
fleet, conveying a well disciplined army; our government is

applied to for succor: hut Baltimore is told there is no means
in the possession of government, and thus she was thrown
upon her own resources for defence. The occasion was full

of danger and of peril—but our citizens proved themselves

equal to it. The means were raised and the city successfully

defended, and that enemy, who, bending beneath the laurels
gained on European fields, was forced to retire before our
works, defended almost exclusively by militia.
The war having been ended by the treaty of December,
1814, and the intercourse between the two countries resumed
in February 1815, a too unguarded enterprise succeeded, and
commercial speculation and during was carried so far that in