, their people suffer.

From many quarters urgent demands were now pressed upon the Government.
From the interior there were clamours for troops to be massed on the
Northern frontier, and from the seaboard cities there came a cry for
ships that were worthy to be called men-of-war,--ships to defend the
harbours and bays, ships to repel an invasion by sea. Suggestions were
innumerable. There was no time to build, it was urged; the Government
could call upon friendly nations. But wise men smiled sadly at these
suggestions; it was difficult to find a nation desirous of a war with
England.

In the midst of the enthusiasms, the fears, and the suggestions, came
reports of the capture of American merchantmen by fast British
cruisers. These reports made the American people more furious, the
American Government more anxious.

Almost from the beginning of this period of national turmoil, a party
of gentlemen met daily in one of the large rooms in a hotel in New
York. At first there were eleven of these men, all from the great
Atlantic cities, but their number increased by arrivals from other
parts of the country, until at last they, numbered twenty-three. These
gentlemen were all great capitalists, and accustomed to occupying
themselves with great enterprises. By day and by night they met
together with closed doors, until they had matured the scheme which
they had been considering. As soon as this work was done, a committee
was sent to Washington, to submit a plan to the Government.

These twenty-three men had formed themselves into a Syndicate, with the
object of taking entire charge of the war between the United States and
Great Britain.

This proposition was an astounding one, but the Government was obliged
to treat it with respectful consideration. The men who offered it were
a power in the land,--a power which no government could afford to
disregard.

The plan of the Syndicate was comprehensive, direct, and simple. It
offered to assume the entire control and expense of the war, and to
effect a satisfactory peace within one year. As a guarantee that this
contract would be properly performed, an immense sum of money would be
deposited in the Treasury at Washington. Should the Syndicate be
unsuccessful, this sum would be forfeited, and it would receive no pay
for anything it had done.

The sum to be paid by the Government to the Syndicate, should it bring
the war to a satisfactory conclusion, would depend up