1812.

BOOK XI. the territories thereof, and bring the same to judgment in any of the courts of admiralty within CHAP. V. his majesty's dominions; and to that end his majesty's advocate-general, with the advocate of the admiralty, are forthwith to prepare the draught of a commission, and present the same to his royal highness the prince-regent, at this board, authorising the commissioners for executing the office of lord-high-admiral, or any person or persons by them empowered and appointed, to issue forth and grant letters of marque and reprisals to any of his majesty's subjects, or others whom the said commissioners shall deem fitly qualified in that behalf, for the apprehending, seizing, and taking the ships, vessels, and goods belonging to the government of the United States of America, or the citizens thereof, or others inhabiting within the countries, territories, or dominions thereof (except as aforesaid); and that such powers and clauses be inserted in the said commission as have been usual, and are according to former precedents; and his majesty's advocate-general, with the advocate of the admiralty, are also forthwith to prepare the draught of a commission, and present the same to his royal highness the princeregent, at this board, authorising the said commissioners, for executing the office of lord-highadmiral, to will and require the high court of admiralty of Great Britain, and the lieutenant and judge of the said court, his surrogate or surrogates, as also the several courts of admiralty within his majesty's dominions, to take cognizance of, and judicially proceed upon, all and all manner of captures, seizures, prizes, and reprisals of all ships and goods that are or shall be taken, and to hear and determine the same; and according to the course of admiralty, and the laws of nations, to adjudge and condemn all such ships, vessels, and goods, as shall belong to the government of the United States of America, or the citizens thereof, or to others inhabiting within the countries, territories, and dominions thereof (except as aforesaid); and that such powers and clauses be inserted in the said commission as have been usual, and are according to former precedents; and they are likewise to prepare and lay before his royal highness the prince-regent, at this board, a draught of such instructions as may proper to be sent to the courts of admiralty, in his majesty's foreign governments and plantations, for their guidance herein; as also another draught of instructions, for such ships as shall be commissioned for the purpose above-mentioned.

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"His royal highness the prince-regent is nevertheless pleased hereby to declare, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, that nothing in this order contained shall be understood to recal or affect the declaration which his majesty's naval commander on the American station has been

authorised to make to the government of the United States of America-namely, that his royal highness, animated by a sincere desire to arrest the calamities of war, has authorised the said commander to sign a convention, recalling and annulling, from a day to be named, all hostile orders issued by the respective governments, with a view of restoring, without delay, the relations of amity and commerce between his majesty and the United States of America. "From the court at Carlton-house, the 13th of October, 1812.

The American government having fitted out a fleet, with all possible dispatch, hostilities were commenced by an action with the Belvidera English frigate, which little vessel gallantly resisted an American squadron. The following account of this engagement was written by an officer on-board his majesty's ship Belvidera, dated Halifax, June 27.

"You will perceive by reports, which doubtless have reached England, that our little vessel can do something for her country. The event has been fortunate, and a source of joy and happiness to us. On the 23d, at day-light, five sail were seen in chase of a merchantman, all standing before the wind. We chased, and discovered them to be men-of-war. The tables were soon turned, by our being chased: at twelve o'clock, the headmost ship, the President, was within gun-shot and an balf; the United States within two gun-shots; and the Essex about three gun-shots. At halfpast twelve, the President topped his spritsail-yard to windward. We then expected a shot, but all remained quiet; piped to dinner. The President was at some distance till three o'clock, when she began to draw on us, having got the wind first; the whole of us being before the wind: at about ten minutes before four, she then being three cables' length from us, she gave us a shot right through the rudder coat, which damaged the rudder; two more shots were fired, the second of which killed one man, and wounded several others. This shot being of a bad quality, it split into about fifty pieces. One of these men, who died twenty-four hours after of his wounds, had his arms amputated high up, and would have lived, had not two of his ribs been fractured, and driven into his lungs; notwithstanding which, after his wounds were dressed, he wanted to go on deck to have another shot at the cowards (so he termed them.) The rest of the wounded have merely flesh-wounds, except one, who has a large splinter in the knee, but will not lose the limb. Our captain, officers, and men, were cool and determined. The fine

fellows asked the captain, if they should give it them.

"Poor Captain Byron has received a violent contusion in the upper and inside part of the thigh, which by the surgeon's account will turn to an abscess, and will be well in about a fortnight. The President's commander is a coward he might have been alongside of us had he chosen it. He gave us seven or eight broadsides, independent of his bow guns; we tickled him with four, and only four stern-chasers, which were well applied to his bows; they were thrown into confusion, and I doubt not that many of the yankeys have left off messing. Our stern is cut much with their grape, but that did not kill any men. Six shots struck our counter; one went through our main-top-mast, and another through our cross-jack yard, from their trying to disable us in our rigging, and we to hull them. The annexed is a statement of our weight of metal, as compared with that of our American antagonists: -Belvidera, twenty-six eighteen-pounders, two nine-pounders, fourteen thirty-two-pounders, forty-two guns.-President frigate, mounting sixty-four guns, twelve and twenty-four-pounders; Constitution, fifty-four guns; United States, fifty-four guns; Essex, not certain; Argus, twenty guns."

His majesty's ship Acasta captured the American privateer brig Curlew, pierced for twenty guns, but having only sixteen on-board, with a complement of one hundred and seventy-two men. The sloop Colibri captured the American ship privateer Catherine, from Boston, out eight days, a beautiful and well-equipped ship, pierced for sixteen guns, mounting fourteen long six-poupders, and a complement of eighty-eight men, commanded by Francis A. Burnham; she had one man killed, and one wounded; her men ran below, which accounts for their suffering so small a loss. The sloop Emulous captured the American privateer brig Gossamer, of fourteen carriage-guns, with one hundred men; she left Boston on the 24th of August, had made one capture, the ship Mary Anne of Greenock, from Jamaica bound to Quebec.

On the other hand, his majesty's ship Alert was captured by the American frigate Essex, (Aug. 13.) The captain of the Essex ingeniously employed the Alert as a cartel, by which expedient, she was secure from re-capture; otherwise she would probably have been re-taken before she had reached the American port St. John's, Newfoundland.

The British armed ship Queen Charlotte, who bad been lying at Fort Erie, left her moorings soon after the declaration of war was received, and proceeded up the lake; and afterwards lay at Fort Malden, the great depôt of Indian supphies. His majesty's sloop of war Hunter went up the straits of Mackina, passed into Lake Mi

chigau, and captured an American merchant- BOOK XI. vessel.

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General Brock, president of the parliament of Car. V. Upper Canada, acting governor of the province and commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in Upper Canada, was early in July at Newark, superintending the various defences on the river. This able and experienced officer came from Little York soon after hearing the declaration of war, and it was believed, with a serious intention of attacking Fort Niagara; but, contrary to what had been reported, he made no demand of a surrender.

Expecting a descent from the American army, the Canadians had, for several days, been removing their families and effects from the river into the interior. At Newark, Queenston, and other villages on the river, there were no inhabitants left, except a few civil officers and soldiers. An immense quantity of specie, plate, &c. from various parts of the province, had also been boxed up, and destined for Quebec.

The British had about six or seven hundred regular troops stationed between the lakes, from Fort George to Fort Erie. These men were generally those who had seen service in various parts of the world. The militia of the province were ordered out en masse.

The British had more than one hundred pieces of flying, field, and garrison artillery, in the different defences on the Niagara river. Fort Erie had been strengthened considerably. There was also a small battery on the point below Chippawa, mounted with two pieces of heavy artillery, calculated to play upon the store-house and mills of Schlosser. Below the falls there was a small stone battery, near the bank of the river, where the lower ladder formerly stood. A rifleman who had deserted from the other side, and crossed the river immediately below the falls, on a pine log, stated, that but a little way from the battery up the river, a field-piece was stationed in the bushes in order to fire into Schlosser village. On the hill about half a mile from the stone battery, were placed two eighteen-pounders. The ladders on both sides of the river were taken up. During a thick foggy morning, four British soldiers, who stood as sentinels on the river, near Fort St. George, swam over to the American shore: three of them brought over their arms.

An American force having crossed the river under General Hull, hostilities commenced on the borders of Canada. At this time war was an employment so new to the people of the United States, that the humble operations of General Hull and his army were given with the most minute detail; and the driving in of a few advanced-posts actually delivered in a tone of triumph not unworthy a German campaign. The American force, composed entirely of the neighbouring militia,

1812.

BOOK XI. passed the river on the night of the 11th of July, at the town of Sandwich, two miles below Detroit; CHAP. V. the British out-posts having been withdrawn the night before. On the 13th, the standard of the United States was erected in Canada, and a proclamation published, inviting the Canadian militia to retire to their homes, and promising peaceable and friendly treatment to the inhabitants on condition of neutrality. Considerable fear seemed to have been entertained of the junction of the Indians with the British; and the proclamation declared, that if they were once brought forward, no quarter was to be given. The next operation was to be an attack on Fort Malden, a work represented as of considerable strength. The passage of the river gave rise to an affair between the advance of the Americans, amounting to 300, and the British and Indians. On the first sight of their enemy, the Indians fled into a wood, and the British followed them, with the loss of one or two killed: but down to the 22d, no movement appeared to have been made; and General Hull, by building block-houses, and forming entrenched camps, seemed to be labouring under some apprehensions for his own security.

Great riots were now occasioned by the publication of a journal called the "Federal Republican." A mob was excited to assassinate the publisher and editors. About nine o'clock at night, an attempt was made to destroy Mr. Hanson's house in South Charles-street.

The editors having anticipated the attack, had removed all the furniture, and had collected a number of their friends from the federal counties, among whom were Generals Lee and Lingan, of Virginia and Georgetown. The mob could make no impression on the house, only breaking the windows with stones. Every time they attacked they were fired upon, and two were killed, and a number wounded. Towards morning, about forty infantry, and twenty horsemen, assembled and lined the street in front of the house, at which time the greatest part of the noble defenders of the house issued out in the rear, while those more immediately concerned remained, and told General Striker and the mayor, that they were willing to deliver themselves up to the civil authority, provided their safety was guaranteed by the general and the mayor. This was done; and the troops being formed into a hollow square, they opened the door, and were marched to jail. The following gentlemen went to prison:-Wm. Schroeder, John Thompson, General Harry Lee (of Virginia), W. B. Bend, Otho Sprigg, Henry Kennedy, Charles Kigore, Henry Nelson, John E. Hall, George Winchester, Peregrine Warfield, Alexander C. Hanson (editor), George Richards, Edward Gwynn, David Hoffman, Horatio Biglow, Ephraim Gaither, Wm. Gaither, Jacob Schley, Mark U. Pringle, Daniel Murray, Richard S. Crabb, James

Lingan. About the time the troops assembled, the mob had procured a 4-pounder to fire on the house, but were prevented from using it by the military. The troops had been ordered out for the protection of the prison, and to keep the peace of the city; but, to their disgrace, they refused. The next day the mob forced the jail, and fell with the fury of cannibals on twenty-six unarmed prisoners, and beat them with clubs until no signs of life remained, when they left them, thinking they had fully completed the bloody deed: providentially they all, in a short time, showed signs of life, ex-cept General Lingan, who never recovered: he was a man of great influence in his county, having been formerly collector of the customs at Georgetown, to which office he had been appointed by General Washington, of whom he was a favorite, and who used frequently to visit him. He was about seventy years of age when his skullwas split open.

Mr. Thompson was reserved for a public spectacle. After beating him, they put him into a cart, and rolled him in tar and feathers, set the feathers in a blaze, and at last lodged him in the watchhouse. They still kept him confined, with his tar and feathers on him. The mayor and other influential characters of the party endeavoured to get him from them, but without effect. General Harry Lee died, and little hopes were entertained of the lives of others. Mr. Hanson, with three or four others, jumped amongst the mob, in the lobby of the prison, and escaped.

A general and unbounded indignation at the inhuman murder of General Lingan pervaded Montgomery and other parts of the state. The mangled corpse of this general had been thrown out of prison on the earth, where it lay exposed till the middle of the next day, when it was obtained and buried by a relative. Many of the citizens put on mourning for him, declaring they would not lay it aside until his death was properly avenged.

At this time Johnson, the Mayor of Baltimore, issued a proclamation in the Bonapartean style, threatening, "summarily to punish the riotous. and ill-disposed." The following interesting extract of a letter from A. C. Hanson, dated near Baltimore, August 3, will best convey to the reader's conception the then distracted state of affairs:

"Next to the death of General Lingan, whose exit was noble and truly characteristic, the panic prevailing among the federalists, in and near Baltimore, has smitten my heart more severely than all the wrongs and sufferings inflicted by the blind and ferocious agents of malignant, cowardly, blood-thirsty enemies, sheltering themselves for a time behind an irresponsible banditti. - My wounds, it is true, are numerous and severe, but they reach not my mind, nor give a moment's un-

easiness or grief, but the gloom and despondency pervading the body of federalists within the sphere of Baltimore influence, inflame my very brain, and are as a thousand daggers aimed at my heart. The late scenes in the emporium of Maryland, originating demonstrably at Washington, and made by many a party question, I consider merely the commencement of a long series of struggles, to terminate happily or unfortunately for the country, as men of respectability, property, and talents, perform the parts assigned them by patriotism. If they look ou quietly, or rather fly their posts, and permit a hundredth part of the population of any given place, and that too composed of pickpockets, footpads, foreign vagabonds, and privateermen, to usurp the government, they may blame themselves when their property, persons, and families, are disposed of by the same rules of' summary adjudication.'

“Of my friends and fellow-martyrs, when I say they would vie with the picked men of Leonidas, facts will attest the truth of the assertion. Although they had not slept for thirty-six hours, to the last moment, they were cheerful, conversible, and sometimes gay. Not even when the forcing of the jail-door was announced by the savage yell of the mob, nor when they came to the door of the apartment in which we were confined, was there a look, a whisper, or motion of the body, expressive of any thing but cool, collected courage, and contempt of death. A different conduct was not to be expected of men, who had embarked in such a cause, with a perfect knowledge of all the consequences, though they never could have anticipated being delivered over to the executioner, through the inhuman treachery of the civil authorities..

1812.

The liberty of the press, the security of property BOOK XI. and person, the rights, civil and political, belonging to the meanest citizen, the very principles and CHAP. V. privileges, for the assertion and defence of which the war of independence was declared, we had pledged ourselves to maintain, and at the risk of our lives, and at every extremity not forbidden by the laws. With the mob and civil authority united against us, the contest was indeed unequal.However, my situation allows me to add but little.

"All my partners in persecution and suffering, whom I have seen or heard from since the massacre, agree in ascribing their injuries to the same men. The names of the mayor, General Stricker, and John Montgomery, are first on the catalogue of the perfidious, barbarous monsters; and it will appear, that the advice of the latter, dictated by cowardice, produced the catastrophe.

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My writing to you is more of an experiment than otherwise, and I cannot dictate, as no one will be my amanuensis, the doctors and nurses all uniting in their vows, that I shall not write or talk, and I can do neither without danger.

"I have six wounds on the head, either of which are sufficiently severe to induce an inflammation of the brain, without great care. Both collarbones are hurt. The extremity of the spinal bone injured, and excessively painful. The breast bruised, and now painful. The fore-finger of the right hand broken, and the whole hand injured, having been twice stabbed, once through, with a pen-knife; and the nose broken.-These are the injuries I have received, but they do not give me half the pain that the despondency of my political friends inflicts."

ABOUT 1,500 of the inhabitants of the county of Rockingham, in New Hampshire, addressed a memorial to the President of the United States on the 5th of August, from which the following are extracts:

"We have witnessed, with sincere and deep regret, a system of policy pursued by the general government, from the embargo of 1807 to the

present time, tending most obviously, in our view, to the destruction of the commerce of these states.

"The alarm excited in our minds by the favorite and long-continued "Restrictive System," is raised still higher by the late declaration of war against Great Britain; an event which, we believe, in the present defenceless circumstances

BOOK XI. of the country, will be productive of evils of incalculable magnitude.

СНАР. ѴІ.

1812.

"The impressment of our seamen, which forms the most plausible and popular of the alleged causes of war, we believe to have been the subject of great misrepresentation. The number of these cases has been extravagantly exaggerated. Every inquiry on the subject strengthens our conviction, that the reputed number bear little relation to the true number. We are among those to whom instances of impressment, if they did actually exist to any considerable extent, must be known; yet we cannot find them out. Some of the members of this meeting have been constantly employed in commercial pursuits, and have had ships on the ocean from the peace of 1783, until the ocean became unnavigable, as to us, by the embargo of 1807; and yet, during all that time, have never suffered the loss of one native American seaman by impressment. Other members of this meeting have, as masters of vessels, long inhabited, as it were, on the seas, and have been visited hundreds of times by British ships of war, and never had an American seaman taken from them by impressment.

"If so many of our seafaring fellow-citizens were actually in bondage, they must have been taken from the inhabitants of the Atlantic coast. They would be from among our brethren, sons, relations, and friends.

"It is well worthy of notice, that the greatest apparent feeling on this subject of impressments, and the greatest disposition to wage war on that account, are entertained by the representatives of those states which have no seamen at all of their own; while those sections of the community, in which more than three-fourths of the mariners of the United States have their homes, are, by great majorities, against that war, among the professed objects of which, the release of impressed seamen forms so principal a figure.

"It is well known that England pretends to no right of impressing our seainen. She insists only that she has a right to the service of her own subjects, in time of war, even though found serving on-board the merchant-ships of other nations. This claim we suppose to be neither unfounded nor novel. It is recognized by the public law of Europe, and of the civilized world. Writers of the bighest authority maintain, that the right belongs to all nations. For the same reason, say they, that the father of a family in⚫y demand the aid of his children to defend himself and his house, a nation may call home her subjects to her defence and protection in time of war.

"But if this were not so, is our nation to plunge into a ruinous war, in order to settle a question of relative right between the government of a foreign nation and the subjects of that government? Are we to fight the battles of British seamen?

Nay more are we to espouse their cause, in opposition to the cause of our native mariners? "Fatal, indeed, would it be to the important interests of the navigating states, if the consequence of this war should be, that the American flag shall give the American character to all who sail under it, and thus invite thousands of foreign seamen to enter into our service, and thrust aside our own native citizens.

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England has always professed a willingness to adjust this subject by amicable arrangement. She has repeatedly called on us to do our part towards effecting such adjustment. She has reminded us of the facility, we may say the falsity, with which American protections are obtained; of the frequent instances in which Irishmen, and even men that cannot speak a word of our language, are found with American protections in their pockets. She has expressly and officially offered to prohibit, by severe laws, all impressment from American vessels, if the American government would enact laws prohibiting American officers from granting protections or certificates of citizenship to British subjects. She has, also, through her minister, offered to restore every native seamen that our government could name, as being under impressment. For years preceding the declaration of war, our government has been, in a manner, silent on this subject. When the arrangement was made with Mr. Erskine, the present administration themselves did not consider any existing difficulties on the subject of impressment as insuperable obstacles to peace.

"The blockade, and orders in council,-the other causes of war, bear no better examination than the subject of impressment. The blockade, now so grievous to be endured, we know was regarded, at the time it was laid, as a measure favourable to our interest. We know this, upon the express declaration of Mr. Monroe, then our minister in England. We have his own words, that it would be regarded" in a favorable light," and that it "promised to be highly satisfactory to our commercial interests."

"By what train of reasoning this favor is now turned into an injury of such magnitude as to justify war, we are utterly at a loss to comprehend.

"We are equally unsatisfied with the arguments used, to prove that the decrees of France were repealed in November, 1810. Against such supposed repeal of the French decrees, we have the express declaration of the French government itself, as late as March, 1812, alleging that those decrees did then exist. We have also had daily evidence of their operation, in the destruction of our property; and some members of this meeting have convictions of the existence and operation of those decrees, down to the very moment of our declaration of war; which convictions being produced by great and repeated personal losses, in