long after the alleged repeal of the French decrees-all these acts of violence on the part of France produce from the government of the United States only such complaints as end in acquiescence and submission, or are accompanied by suggestions for enabling France to give the semblance of a legal form to her usurpations, by converting them into municipal regulations.

This disposition of the government of the United States, this complete subserviency to the ruler of France, this hostile temper towards Great Britain, are evident in almost every page of the official correspondence of the American with the French government. Against this course of conduct, the real cause of the present war, the prince regent solemnly protests. Whilst contending against France, in defence not only of the liberties of Great Britain, but of the world, his royal highness was entitled to look for a far different result. From their common origin-from their common interests-from their professed principles of freedom and independence, the United States were the last power, in which Great Britain could have expected to find a willing instrument and abettor of French tyranny. Disappointed in this his just expectation, the prince regent will still pursue the policy, which the British government has so long and invariably maintained, in repelling injustice, and in supporting the general rights of nations; and, under the favour of Providence, relying on the justice of his cause, and the tried loyalty and firmness of the British nation, his royal highness confidently looks forward to a successful issue to the contest, in which he has thus been compelled most reluctantly to engage. Westminster, January 9, 1813.

AMERICAN AND BRITISH PROCLAMATIONS ON THE
INVASION OF CANADA.

By William Hull, Brigadier-General and Commander of the North-Western Army of the United States,

A PROCLAMATION.

Inhabitants of Canada! After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the United States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the insults and indignities of Great Britain have once more left them no alternative but manly resistance or unconditional submission. The army under my command has invaded your country, and the standard of the ·

Union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable unoffending inhabitant it brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make them. I come to protect, not to injure you.

Separated by an immense ocean and an extensive wilderness from Great Britain, you have no participation in her councils, no interest in her conduct--you have felt her tyranny, you have seen her injustice; but I do not ask you to avenge the one or to redress the other. The United States are sufficiently powerful to afford every security consistent with their rights and your expectations. I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty, and their necessary result, individual and general prosperity. -That liberty which gave decision to our councils, and energy to our conduct in a struggle for independence, and which conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy period of the revolution. That liberty which has raised us to an elevated rank among the nations of the world; and which afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever fell to the lot of any people.

In the name of my country, and by the authority of government, I promise you protection to your persons, property, and rights; remain at your homes; pursue your peaceful and customary avocations; raise not your hands against your brethren.-Many of your fathers fought for the freedom and independence we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of the same family with us, and heirs to the same heritage, the arrival of an army of friends, must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. You will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression, and restored to the dignified station of freemen. Had I any doubt of eventual success, I might ask your assistance, but I do not. I come prepared for every contingency-I have a force that will look down all opposition, and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater? If, contrary to your own interests and the just expectations

my country, you should take part in the approaching contest, you will be considered and treated as enemies, and the horrors and calamities of war will stalk before you. If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savages are let loose to murder our citizens, and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk-the first attempt with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by

the side of an Indian will be taken prisoner: instant destruction will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice, and humanity, cannot prevent the employment of a force which respects no rights, and knows no wrong, it will be prevented by a severe and relentless system of retaliation. I doubt not your courage and firmness-I will not doubt your attachment to liberty. If you tender your services voluntarily, they will be accepted readily.-The United States offer you peace, liberty, and security-your choice lies between these and warslavery and destruction. Choose then, but choose wisely; and may He who knows the justice of our cause, and who holds in his hand the fate of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible with your rights and interests, your peace and happiness.

WILLIAM HULL.

Head quarters, Sandwich, July 12, 1812. By the general,

A. P. HULL, capt. of the 13th U. S. regt. of infantry and aid-de-camp.

PROCLAMATION.

The unprovoked declaration of war, by the United States of America, against the united kingdom of Great Britain, and Ireland and its dependencies, has been followed by the actual invasion of this province in a remote frontier of the western district, by a detachment of the armed force of the United States. The officer commanding that detachment has thought proper to invite his majesty's subjects not merely to a quiet and unresisting submission, but insults them with a call to seek voluntarily the protection of his government. Without condescending to repeat the illiberal epithets bestowed, in this appeal of the American commander to the people of Upper Canada, on the administration of his majesty, every inhabitant of the province is desired to seek the confutation of such indecent slander in the review of his own particular circumstances. Where is the Canadian subject who can truly affirm to himself that he has been injured by the góvernment in his person, his liberty, or his property? Where is to be found, in any part of the world, a growth so rapid in wealth and prosperity as this colony exhibits? Settled, not thirty years, by a band of veterans exiled from their former possessions on account of their loyalty, not a descendant of these brave people is to be found, who, under the fostering liberality of their sovereign, has not acquired a property and VOL. II. A À

means of enjoyment superior to what were possessed by their

ancestors.

This unequalled prosperity could not have been attained by the utmost liberality of the government or the persevering industry of the people, had not the maritime power of the mother country secured to its colonies a safe access to every market where the produce of their labour was in demand.

The unavoidable and immediate consequence of a separation from Great Britain must be the loss of this inestimable advantage; and what is offered you in exchange-to become a territory of the United States, and share with them that seclusion from the ocean, which the policy of their present government enforces-you are not even flattered with a participation of their boasted independence, and it is but too obvious that, once exchanged from the powerful protection of the United Kingdom, you must be re-annexed to the dominion of France, from which the provinces of Canada were wrested by the arms of Great Britain, at a vast expense of blood and treasure, from no other motive but to relieve her ungrateful children from the oppression of a cruel neighbour

this restitution of Canada to the empire of France was the stipulated reward for the aid afforded to the revolted colonies, now the United States-the debt is still due, and there can be no doubt but the pledge has been renewed as a consideration for commercial advantages, or rather for an expected relaxation in the tyranny of France over the commercial world. Are you prepared, inhabitants of Upper Canada, to become willing subjects or rather slaves to the despot who rules the nations of Europe with a rod of iron? If not, arise in a body, exert your energies, co-operate cordially with the king's regular forces, to repel the invader, and do not give cause to your children, when groaning under the oppression of a foreign master, to reproach you with having too easily parted with the richest inheritance of this earth-a participation in the name, character, and freedom of Britons.

The same spirit of justice, which will make every reasonable allowance for the unsuccessful efforts of zeal and loyalty, will not fail to punish the defalcation of principle; every Canadian freeholder is by deliberate choice bound by the most solemn oaths to defend the monarchy as well as his own property; to shrink from that engagement is a treason not to be forgiven; let no man suppose that if in this unexpected struggle his majesty's arms should be compelled to yield to an overwhelming force, the province will be eventually abandoned; the endeared relation of its first settlers, the

intrinsic value of its commerce, and the pretensions of its powerful rival to repossess the Canadas, are pledges that no peace will be established by the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, of which the restoration of these provinces does not make the most prominent condition.

Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the commander of the enemy's forces, to refuse quarter should an Indian appear in the ranks. The brave band of natives which inhabit this colony were, like his majesty's subjects, punished for their zeal and fidelity by the loss of their possessions in the late colonies, and rewarded by his majesty with lands of superior value in this province: the faith of the British government has never yet been violated; they feel that the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity protected from the base arts so frequently devised to overreach their simplicity. By what new principles are they to be prevented from defending their property? If their warfare, from being different to that of the white people, is more terrific to the enemy, let him retrace his steps-they seek him not—and cannot expect to find women and children in an invading army; but they are men, and have equal rights with other men to defend themselves and their property when invaded, more especially when they find in the enemy's camp, a ferocious and mortal foe using the same warfare which the American commander affects to reprobate.

This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing quarter for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother sufferer in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations of war in this part of the king's dominions, but in every quarter of the globe: for the national character of Britain is not less distinguished for humanity than strict retributive justice, which will consider the execution of this inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending power must make expiation.

ISAAC BROCK, Maj. Gen. and Pres. Head Quarters, Fort George, 22d July, 1812. By order of his honour the president.

J. B. GLEGG, Capt. A. D. C.

GOD SAVE THE KING.