For the benefit of the distant reader, it might not be improper to close the account of this campaign with a geographical description of the theatre of military operations, that a more correct idea may be formed of the manoeuvring of the armies, and of the strength of the positions for which they had to contend.

Queenston is a neat little town about seven miles below the Falls of Niagara, at the head of the navigable waters of that strait. It is overlooked by a steep hill, called Queenston Heights, probably more than three hundred feet above the level of the river-the position for which the conflict with General Wadsworth's division was maintained. Queenston is the place of depot for all public stores and merchandise which are brought to that place from Kingston and Lower Canada. Public stores for forts Erie and Malden, and merchandize for all the country above, as well as the returns of furs and produce by that route downwards, are all stored for a time at Queenston. They are transported over the carrying place by wagons, a distance of nine miles, to and from Chippawa above the falls. Queenston is an excellent harbor-deep water and good anchorage-the banks on both sides are elevated, and the landscape probably amongst the most splendid and sublime in the world.

Newark is on the same side of the the river with Queenston, close to where the Niagara river empties into Lake Ontario. Upon the evacuation of the western posts by the British, Fort Niagara, on the opposite side of the river to Newark, was surrendered to the United States. The site for this fort was selected in 1751, by the French, and was considered as the key to the inland country. In its best state it was, however, only a ram part of earth, scarped with a stockade, and a spacious barrack within the works. The encroachment of the waters threatens to undermine it; but a work has been

+Now Niagara.

erected, of the same materials with Niagara, called Fort George, on the British side of the river, on a position which seems, by being more elevated, to command the position of Fort Niagara; but the works on both sides have been suffered to fall into a state of dilapidation, especially that of Fort George. The point blanc distance of the two works is very little over a mile; and about three quarters of a mile, of a beautiful plain, separates Fort George and Newark.

The war, by this time, had become very unpopular throughout the United States; and the people, becoming every day more and more discouraged from the frequent disasters which befel their armies, and which every day's report was sounding in their ears, seemed to betray a strong anxiety that matters should be adjusted between the British government and that country, upon any sort of reasonable terms; but this Mr. Madison and his satellites prevented by offering the most ridiculous and absurd terms of arrangement, on the least approaches to na amicable understanding that would show itself upon either side.

The President proposed an armistice, on condition that the Orders in Council should be immediately rescinded and that the system of blockade shouid not be revived and that all American seamen, on board of British shipping, should be forthwith discharged, without any condition or limitation as to how they might have become American citizens-and that a stop should be put to searching American vessels for British seamen. Thus did the American ruler demand that all advantages should preponderate on his side. The unconditional repeal of the Orders in Council did he require-the immediate discharge of every man, in the British navy, who had ever obtained a certificate of American citizenship, (and the most scrupulous honesty was not at all times observed either in giving or receiving those certificates,) and that the system of blockade should not be

revived. And what was to be the return for which the British government should make all these concessions ? Verily Mr. Madison would suspend, for a time, (that is, during his sovereign pleasure,) the operations of his mighty means of warfare against Great Britain. To concede to such propositions was not consistent with the honor of a great and mighty nation like Great Britain: they were therefore rejected. The President, in a subsequent message to Congress, complained loudly of the conduct of the British government, in rejecting every proposal for a pacific arrangement which had yet been offered; and he even indulged in a series of the grossest misrepresentations. He reiterated his old assertion, that the Indians in the service of the British government had been guilty of the most unheard-of atrocities towards such of the American people as had fallen into their hands as prisoners of war; and contrasted the conduct of the British with the pacific disposition evinced by the people of the United States, who, he stated, were only anxious to promote civilization among the Indian tribes. But probably the best evidence, as regards the humanity of the British and Indians in this respect, may be found in the despatches of General Brock to Sir George Prevost, dated Head Quarters, Detroit, 17th August, 1812. "Many of the Indian nations," says he, "when this contest commenced, were engaged in active warfare with the United States, notwithstanding the constant endeavors of this government to dissuade them from it. Some of the principal chiefs happened to be at Amherstburg, trying to procure a supply of arms and ammunition, which for years had been withheld, agreeably to the instructions received from Sir James Craig, and since repeated by your Excellency.

"From that moment they took a most active part, and appeared foremost on every occasion. They were led yesterday by Colonel Elliot and Captain Mc. Kee, and nothing could exceed their order and steadiness. A few prisoners were taken by them during the advance, whom they treated with every humanity; and it affords me much pleasure in assuring your Excellency, that such was their forbearance and attention to what was required of them, that the enemy sustained no other loss in men than what was occasioned by the fire of our batteries."

M

CHAPTER XVII.

Engagement between the Gurrier and Constitution---Attempts made to board the Constitution-The Guerriere rendered completely unmanageable-She surrenders

Remarks.

A PERIOD, most of the events of which have just passed in review, must now be returned to. An ardent anxiety had been for some time expressed, both in Great Britain and America, that the British and American navy should have an encounter-of the result of which, no doubt, on either side, appeared to be entertained. The day, however, arrived.

On the 19th of August, in latitude 40 degrees 20 minutes north and longitude 55 degrees west, off the coast of Labrador-the Guerriere, (British frigate,) Captain Dacres, and the Constitution, (American frigate,) Captain Hull, met-the former of which rated thirty-eight guns but mounted forty-nine and mustered at quarters, at the commencement of the action, two hundred and forty-four men and nineteen boyst: the latter rated forty-four guns but mounted fifty-six, of uncommonly heavy metal, and mustered at quarters, at the commencement of the action, four hundred and seventy-six men, almost double the number of the Guerriere.

+It is probably not unworthy of remark, that on board of the Guerriere at the time of this engagement, there were ten American seamen who had for a number of years belonged to her; but as the declaration of wår by the United States, was not known at the time of her sailing, no opportunity of course had since that period offered itself for discharging them. The gallant and generous Dacres, however, conceiving it to be unjust, in the extreme, to compel them to fight against their countrymen, ordered them to quit their quarters and go below.