I

In his annual message to Congress on 4 November 1812, Madison put the best interpretation he could on the events of the previous five months, notably by drawing attention “to the providential favors which our Country has experienced, in the unusual degree of health dispensed to its inhabitants, and in the rich abundance with which the Earth has rewarded the labors bestowed on it.” As he did so, he admitted that the loss of Detroit had been “painful” and that the outcome of Van Rensselaer's Niagara campaign was “deeply to be lamented.” Naturally enough, the president could be more positive in praising his naval officers for giving the American flag “an auspicious triumph” in their encounters with the enemy's frigates; and for the enemy he had only harsh words of condemnation, both for Great Britain's failure to offer a negotiated settlement to the war and for using the Indians – “that wretched portion of the human race” – as allies. For the future Madison promised a “vigorous prosecution” of the war, including filling the ranks of the military establishments, reforming their staff departments, raising the pay of enlisted men, establishing “auxiliary” forces for frontier defense, and enlarging the navy, both on the Great Lakes and on the high seas.