beginning to subside. It was, indeed, too efficacious for this purpose; for it is said, that when the documents were read, a burst of indignation proceeded from all parts of the house. A thousand copies were ordered to be printed for dispersion throughout the Union. In the beginning of April, at a secret sitting of Congress, an act was passed for laying an embargo on all the ships and vessels of the United States, for the term of 90 days from the date thereof; the purpose of which was doubtless to expedite the manning of the American ships of war, and to prevent any more pledges from remaining in the power of an enemy on the commencement of hostilities. This act was followed by another, prehibiting the exportation of specie, and of any goods or merchandize, foreign or domestic, either by land or water, during the continuance of the embargo. As a further progress towards hostilities, a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives about the end of April, for the protection, recovery, and indemnification of American seamen," the first clause of which declares that every person who, under pretence of a commission from a foreign power, shall impress upon the high seas a native seaman of the United States, shall be adjudged a pirate and a felon, and upon conviction, shall suffer death Another article gives to every such seaman impressed under the British flag, the right of attaching in the hands of any British subject, or in the hands of any debtor of any British subject, a sum equal to 30 dollars per month for the whole time of his detention.

This violent bill passed to a third reading in the House of Representatives, such were the feelings which at that time governed the American republic! An attempt was made by the moderate party to adjourn the two houses, in order to give time for a cooler discussion of these topics, but it failed of effect. The mercantile interest in the eastern states also petitioned for some relaxation of the embargo; and a motion was made for the repeal of the non-importation act, upon the ground of the necessity of bringing home property belonging to the citizens of the United States, previously to engaging in a war; but the government would not yield in either of these points. At the same time, while hostilities were impending with one of the belligerent powers, the relations with the other were by no means satisfactory; and on May 26th, a correspondence was laid before Congress by the President, between Mr. Barlow, the American minister at Paris, and the secretary of state, in which the former states the inattention of the French government to his complaints and claims for redress, and announces that he is obliged, after long waiting, to send away his dispatches without the treaty which he expected to have concluded.

The temper of the House of Representatives with respect to a war with England, was rendered manifest by the result of a motion by Mr. Randolph, on May 29th. That gentleman, after a long speech concerning the present relations of the United States with Great Britain and France, submitt d to the House the following re[02]

solution :

solution: "That under the present circumstances it is inexpedient to resort to a war with Great Britain." The question being then put, that the House do proceed to the consideration of the said resolution, it was negatived by 62 votes against 37. All hopes of pacific measures now therefore rested upon the determination of the se nate. On June 4th, the President laid before Congress copies of a correspondence which had lately taken place between Mr. Foster and Mr. Monroe. It chiefly consisted of a long argumentative letter from the former relative to the old subject of the orders in council, and the French decrees, of which it is sufficient to remark, that not the least expectation is held forth of any further relaxation on the part of Great Britain. On the contrary, Mr. F. says expressly, America, as the case now stands, has not a pretence for claiming from Great Britain a repeal of her orders in council." Previously, however, to this communication, the President had sent a long message to both Houses, dated June 1st, in which he set forth all the injuries, and hostile measures (as he considered them) practised by the government of Great Britain, and still persisted in, towards the United States, and recommended the subject to their early deliberations. (See State Papers.) In consequence, discussions, with closed doors, took place in the two houses, the final result of which was an act passed on June 18th, declaring the actual existence of war between the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the United States of America.

A list has been published of the votes in the House of Representa tives on this momentous occasion, by which it appears that the majority for declaring war was 79 against 49. The supporters of war were chiefly the southern and western states, to Pennsylvania inclusive: the votes for peace were chiefly in the eastern and northern states, New York taking the lead. As commercial grievances constituted a great part of the complaints against Great Britain, adduced to justify the resort to arms, it is highly probable, that if the orders in council had been repealed early enough for intelligence of the event to have reached America before the final decision, the advocates for peace would have acquired so much additional strength as, at least, to have deferred the declaration of hostilities till time had been given for negociating on the other points in dispute. In deed, little doubt seemed to be entertained on this side the Atlantic, that the rews of the repeal, protracted as it was, would arrive time enough to prevent actual war. But the first recoil from a resolution full of hazard and mischief having passed, men were brought to regard it as a thing decided, and to consider what public "or private advantage could be made of the new state of affairs. Subsequent events, too, render it highly probable that the Ametican government had anticipated credit from the commencement of the war, especially from the conquest of Canada, which seems to have been regarded as an easy task.

The first act of hostility be

tween

tween the two powers occurred almost immediately after the declation of war. Commodore Rodgers, of the President frigate, leaving New York with a squadron of ships of war, having received in telligence that a British convoy had sailed about a month before from Jamaica, made course to the southward; and on June 23d fell in with the Belvidere English frigate, Capt. Byron, to which he gave chace. The President alone got near enough for action, and a running fight ensued for three hours, after which the Belvidere kept on her way for Halifax unmolested, having undergone some damage, and had some men killed and wounded. The President also incurred some loss of men, chiefly from the bursting of one of her own guns. Capt. Byron, concluding from this attack that war was declared, captured three American merchant vessels before he arrived in port, which were released by Admiral Sawyer, commander on the Halifax station.

An occurrence near Montreal, about this time, doubtless animated the hopes of the Americans with respect to the meditated expedition against Canada. By a late militia law, a draft of 2000 men was to be made from the militia of the province, for three months, in order to be trained and disciplined. Some of those who were to be drafted from the parish of St. Claire, having refused to march to La Prairie to join the division stationed there, an officer was sent to apprehend the refractory persons as deserters. Four of these were taken and carried off, but were followed by a mob who res

cued one, and threatened to come the next day to La Prairie, and liberate all the young men of their parish who were kept there. Accordingly, a large body assembled at La Chine to execute this purpose, when they were met by a police magistrate, with a detachment of regular troops. A parley ensued, in which the insur gents pleaded that they did not consider the militia act as fully passed, and that it had not been properly promulgated among them. They declared their readiness to concur in the defence of their country, but persisted in their determination relative to the object they had in view. The riot act was then read, and on their refusal to disperse, shots were fired by the troops, which were returned by the insurgents; the latter were however soon dispersed with a trifling loss. On the next day a larger force was marched to the spot, who made a considerable number of prisoners, and brought them to Montreal. The governor acted with prudent lenity on the occasion, and discharged them upon a promise to deliver up the instigators of the insurrection, and the deserters. It is said that two attorneys, members of the house of assembly, were the chief promoters of this act of resistance, which at such a crisis was certainly of dangerous import.

On July 6th, an act passed the Congress to prohibit American vessels from proceeding to, or trading with, the enemies of the United States, and also to forbid the transport of articles of munition of war, or provision, to the British settlements in North

America,

Parties are the inseparable concomitants of free governments, and the republic of the United States has always had its full share of the dissentions springing from this source. A war so differently affecting the different parts of the union, could not but be received with great diversity of feeling. At Boston, on the day of its declaration, all the ships in the port displayed flags half mast high, the usual token of mourning; and a town meeting was held in that city, in which a number of resolutions were passed, stigmatizing the war as unnecessary and ruinous, and leading to a connexion with France destructive to American liberty and independence.

Very different were the popular sentiments in the southern states, where swarms of privateers were preparing to reap the expected harvest of prizes among the West India islands. Of the towns in this interest, Baltimore stood foremost in violence and outrage. A newspaper published there, entitled "The Federal Republican," had rendered itself obnoxious by its opposition to the measures of the war-party, and menaces had repeatedly been thrown out against the conductors. On the night of

July 27th, a mob assembled be fore the house of the editor, for the purpose of destroying it. In expectation of this attack, he had collected a number of friends with fire-arms to defend it from the inside, among whom were Generais Lee and Lingan. A furious affray arose, in which the mob were several times repulsed with loss. At length a party of milltary were brought to the spot by the mayor and General Stricker, to whom those of the d-fenders who were left in the house, 26 in number, surrendered them selves upon assurance of their safety, and were conducted to prison On the next day, at the shameful instigation of a public journal, the mob re-assembled before the jail, with the inten, tion of taking their revenge; and having broken open the doors, after some of the prisoners had rushed through and made their escape, they fell upon the rest with clubs, and beat them till scarcely any signs of life remained. General Lingan, a man of 70, and formerly a friend of Washington, was killed on the spot. Ge'neral Lee, a distinguished parti san in the revolutionary war, bad his skull fractured; and many others were severely injured. The militia refused to turn out while this massacre was perpetrating, and the mayor is said to have absented himself. It must be added, that this atrocity was regarded with horror and indignation in all the other parts of the United States.

The campaign against Canada commenced early in July. On the 11th of that month, General

Hall

Hull with a body of 2300 men, regulars and inilitia, crossed the river above Detroit and marched to Sandwich in the province of Upper Canada. He, there issued a proclamation to the Canadians in a style expressing great confidence of success, and threatening a war of extermination in case of the employment of savages, which ap-peared to be an object of his peculiar dread. The Indians were, however, already engaged in hostilities with the subjects of the United States on their border; and intelligence was soon after received of the capture of Fort Michilimachinack, July 17, by a combined force of English, Canadians, and Savages, the latter of whom were hitherto kept in perfect order. General Hull's next operations I were directed against Fort Malden, or Amherstburg; and after having driven in the militia who opposed him, he arrived with part of his forces at the river Canard, which he thrice attempted to cross, but was foiled with considerable loss. Major-General Brock, in the British service, had in the meantime been active in collecting succours for the relief of Fort Amherstburg, and on August 12, he entered that place with a reinforcement, having : met with no obstacle, on account of the superiority of the British naval force on the lakes. The Americans bad, now become dispirited, and had given up their hopes of taking the fort with their present means. They retreated to their own fort of Detroit, and the British in their turn became assailants. Fatteries were constructed opposite to that post, and a party crossed the river, and took a position to the west of it. Gen. Brock

now resolved upon an assault, though his united force consisted of no more than about 700 men, including militia, and 600 auxiliary Indians. This extremity was, however, prevented by a proposal of capitulation from General Hull. The terms were soon settled, and the important fort of Detroit. was surrendered, on August 16, with 2500 men and 33 pieces of ordnance. (See London Gazette). This was doubtless a severe mortification to the Americans, as it gave a decisive proof of the inferiority of their military prowess or skill to those of the enemy they had provoked, and damped their hopes of the conquest of Canada. That these had been sanguine, may be inferred from the refusal of the president of the United States to continue an armistice which had been temporarily agreed upon between General Prevost, the governor-general of Canada, and Gen. Dearborn, commander-in chief of the American forces in the northern states. This measure had been proposed by the governor, in the hope that the repeal of the orders in council, of which intelligence had reached America, would have led to an amicable adjustment of the subsisting differences; bút the government of the United States, determined, it should seem, to pursue a favourite object, would not consent to a suspension of its operations.

The loss and disgrace incurred by the surrender of Gen. Hull were, however, in some degree balanced to the Americans by their success on the element which had long been the theatre of triumph to their adversaries. The strength of the navy of the United States

consisted