Thoughts of not-exactly-two-centuries ago:
One of the benefits of showing a newcomer around town is reminding myself of what I have come to overlook. In New York, the obvious places that locals never go include the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. In Boston, Faneuil Hall is pretty high up on that list, but we were able to break at least one of my old habits by sneaking in to visit for a few minutes near closing time.
I had definitely forgotten, if I’d ever noticed, how difficult it is to comprehend the Great Hall’s size. While shorter front-to-back than Boston’s Symphony Hall, it is nearly square and thus holds a deceptively large number of people. Especially when combined with its intimate dimensions, this seating capacity would have contributed in no small degree to the boisterousness of the town meeting that rattled Gallison’s nerves in August, 1812.
That meeting was held to discuss a convention as a possible response to the Baltimore Riots, in which a Republican mob had attacked a Federalist newspaper after the declaration of war against Britain. The rioters assaulted and nearly killed, among others, “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, the Revolutionary War hero and father of young Robert Edward.
While the meeting approved selection of delegates by an overwhelming majority—Gallison’s was one of only six votes against—not much came out of it until two years later at the end of 1814, when the Hartford Convention met. By that time, Gallison was less worried about the potential outcome. His patriotism and enthusiasm for national union hadn’t changed, but he had a better sense of who the delegates might be and what would be on their agenda. In spite of a lot of wild talk in the radical Federalist press, moderates were calling the shots, and their final report was tame to the point of anti-climax.
Gallison’s report of the 1812 meeting is quite consistent with newspaper accounts. Still, it offers scraps of conversation not printed in the papers, and uses a pleasingly vivid style of writing, epitomized by a quote from Walter Scott toward the end. Taken in all at once, it leaves a searing impression of one man’s emotions as he contemplated the potential dissolution of union, led by the party that had only a short time before been most in favor of a strong national government.