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CHAPTER II.

DECLARATION OF WAR-STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

The Twelfth Congress continued in session long beyond the usual time of adjournment, in consequence of the crisis which was thought to be approaching. On the fifth of June, President Madison laid before Congress, the correspondence of our Charge d'Affair in London, with the British government, which put an end to all hope of the repeal of the orders in council. Every attempt to arrange the matter of impressment had also failed. In the opinion of the President there appeared to be no possible measure left for us to pursue, but a declaration of war.

This being referred to the committee of foreign relations, they drew up an able report in which a full view was taken of all our causes of complaint against Great Britain, and they concurred fully in the opinion of the President, that nothing was left to us, but an appeal to

arms.

They said, that the British cruisers were in the continual habit of violating the American flag, and seizing and carrying away without distinction, all persons sailing under it.

That they had been in the practice of harrassing the entering and departing commerce on our coast, and violating the sanctuary of our harbors.

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That they were aiming to lay waste our neutral trade and entirely destroy our commerce, that they might supplant us.

That they plundered our vessels on the high seas, upder a pretence of blockades, and that by the sweeping system of Orders in Council, our commerce, unless through the special licence of Great Britain, was at an end.

That a secret agent had been employed to sow disserrtion between the states, and if possible, bring about a separation.

That the war renewed on the frontiers with the savages, was without a doubt instigated by the British.

That in fine, on the side of Great Britain, there was a state of war towards the United States, and on the side of the United States, a state of peace towards Great Britain.

After sitting several days with closed doors, the important appeal was announced on the eighteenth of June, and the next day war was formally proclaimed.

For thirty years our favoured and happy country, had smiled beneath the blessings of peace and prosperity.

It

ith the exception indeed, of the distant Algerine war, and the occasional hostilities on the remote frontier. was our first national war since the declaration of independence, and with the nation from whom our independence had been won. We considered the appeal to arms inevitable; we confided to the justice of our cause, and trusted to heaven for the issue.

The means provided for carrying on a contest with one of the most powerful nations on the globe were extremely slender. Our army did not exceed five thousand men, and these distributed over a surface of several

thousand miles. A law had been passed for the purpose of enlarging it to twenty-five thousand men ; but little or no progress had been made in enlistment. Our navy consisted of a few frigates, and smaller vessels of war, not more than thirty in number; while that of the enemy, exceeded a thousand ships. Our great commercial towns were not yet completely fortified,, although for some years, considerable pains had been taken to fortify them. We had no overflowing treasury to furnish the abundant means of creating the necessary force and supplies; the American people had been burthened with no taxes.

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Great Britain had laughed at the idea of our going to war; our confederation, which she called a rope of sand, in her opinion would crumble at the sound of the war trumpet. Our navy was the standing butt of her ridicule, and our "fir built frigates," the subjects of her continued jests; "the bits of striped bunting," as she called our glorious flag, now resplendent with the stars of freedom, would soon disappear from the ocean. But Providence has decreed, that the keenest disappointments shall ever attend the boastful and vain glorious.

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The Americans looked to Canada as the vulnerable part of Great Britain. Whatever intrinsic value this province might be to her, pride at least, would render it an object worth contending for. To us, it could be only of advantage as the means of compelling her to a speedy peace, and securing our frontiers against the murderous Indian. Far from being actuated by the mere ambition of conquest, had Canada been emancipated by England, all wish on our part of possessing it, would at once have been at an end.

We were, already at war with the North Western Indians, such troops as we could spare had been ordered

to the frontier, with the double view of putting an end to those hostilities, and to be in the best situation for striking a blow at Canada. It was well known that there were no great preparations on the side of the British and it was natural to suppose, that by a prompt and vigor. ous attack on the unprotected provinces, we should be. master of the whole country from Niagara upwards. This would effectually cut off all hope of aid to the British from the Indians, and would enable us to concentrate our forces on Lake Ontario, by which means, with the aid of the regular troops in that quarter, and the militia of New-York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, Upper Canada would fall in the course of a few months, and in the spring we might successfully advance against Quebee.

CHAPTER IIL

NVASION OF CANADA BY GENERAL HULL-BATTLES OF BROWNSTOWN AND MAGUAGA-HULL EVACUATES CANADA-BRITISH INVASION AND SURRENDER OF HULL.

HULL, the governor of the Michigan territory, who had been a distinguished officer during the revolutionary war, having been appointed a brigadier in the service of the United States, was on his march to Detroit the capital of the territory, at the moment of the declaration of war. His force consisted of about two thousand men, nearly one half regulars, the remainder volunteers from the state of Ohio, and well supplied with the necessary munitions of war. On reaching the Rapids of the Miami, he freighted a schooner with the principal part of his baggage, that his march might be lightened: but to his astonishment, the capture of the vessel which soon after followed, gave him the first intimation of the existing state of hostilities, and it was not until shortly before he reached Detroit, that he received the official intelligence of the formal declaration. The British in consequence of their settlements along the Lake, and the employment of swift couriers, had been able to convey the information several days before it reached the • American posts. From the nature of our government, there is no possibility of knowing with certainty, the ex

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