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Septem. Commodore Rodgers-Cruise in the North Sea,...

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General Harrison to General Vincent, in reply to Proctor,...
General Vincent's Reply to General Harrison,...
General Wilkinson from Grenadier Island,.

252

260

247-8

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General Jackson to Colonel William Cocke,........
Commodore Rodgers-Cruise of the President,.....

March. Surgeon Evans of the Constitution-British veracity,..

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Gen. Jackson-Battle of the Horse-Shoe and Address to his Army
to Governor Blount,.......

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General Cocke's Conduct, from Reid's Life of Jackson,.............
General Wilkinson-Battle of La Cole,..........

April. Colonel William Cocke to General Jackson,......................

General Jackson to Governor Blount,..

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July.

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General Brown-Battle of Chippewa and General Order,....368 & 374

Sailing Master Shead-loss of the Alligator,.....................

373

Captain Hull-Capture of a British Tender,....................

General Brown-skirmishing at Fort George,................

complains of the Fleet not co-operating,.
Battle of Niagara or Bridgewater,..

Names of Officers killed and wounded in ditto,......................................................
August. Major Morgan-Battle at Conjocta Creek,..........

General Gaines assumes the command at Fort Erie,.............
Comodore Chauncey-denies agreeing to meet General Brown,
complains of public murmurs about his Fleet,

General Gaines-Death of Major Morgan,......

Defeat of the British at Fort Erie,.............................389 & 394

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Commodore Macdonough-battle on Lake Champlain,...... 410,413
Captain Blakely-Avon sunk by the Wasp,.......
General Macomb-Battle of Plattsburg,.....
General Smith and General Stricker--Attack on Baltimore,..
Colonel Armistead-Defence of Fort Mc. Henry,.........
General Jackson and Maj. Lawrence-defence of Fort Bowyer,
General Brown on General Drummond's Conduct,........................

424,426
..430

Fage

Octob. Captain Reid-Privateer General Armstrong...

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Governor Wright-Brutality of the enemy at Chaptico.............................
General Izard-Affair at Lyons Creek,.....

Novem. General Jackson-Pensacola taken.......

General Jackson-Battle below New Orleans,

1815.

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Rev. W. Dubourg to General Jackson and his reply,........

March. C. K. Blanchard-Traitors in New Orleans,.......
General Jackson's farewell to his Army..

Captain Massias-affair at point Petre,..

General Jackson's Address and General Orders,

January.Commodore Decatur-Capture of the President,..

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May. Captain Stewart-Capture of the Cyane and Levant,.......
June. Captain Biddle's escape from a Ship of the line,...........................................
Extract from the journal of an officer of the Hornet,.
Lt. Nicholson--Cruelty of the enemy,.......

Treaty of Peace with Great Britain...

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

June 1, 1812.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.

I COMMUNICATE to Congress certain documents, being a continuation of those heretofore laid before them, on the subject of our affairs with Great Britain.

Without going back beyond the renewal, in 1803, of the war in which Great Britain is engaged, and omitting unrepaired wrongs of inferior magnitude, the conduct of her government presents a series of acts hostile to the United States as an independent and neutral nation.

British cruisers have been in the continued practice of violating the American flag on the great highway of nations, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under it; not in the exercise of a belligerant right founded on the law of nations against an enemy, but of a municipal prerogative over British subjects. British jurisdiction is thus extended to neutral vessels in a situation where no laws can operate but the law of nations and the laws of the country to which the vessels belong; and a self-redress is assumed, which, if British subjects were wrongfully detained and alone concerned, is that substitution of force, for a resort to the responsible sovereign, which falls within the definition of war. Could the seizure of British subjects in such cases be regarded as within the exercise of a belligerant right, the acknowledged laws of war, which forbid an article of captured property to be adjudged without a regular investigation before a competent tribunal, would imperiously demand the fairest trial, where the sacred rights of persons were at issue. In place of such a trial, these rights are subject to the will of every petty commander.

The practice, hence, is so far from affecting British subjects alone, that under the pretext of searching for these, thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of public law, and of their national flag, have been torn from their country and from every thing dear to them; have been dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation, and exposed, under the severities of their discipline, to be exiled to the most distant and deadly climes, to risk their lives in the battles of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy instruments of taking away those of their own brethren. Against this crying enormity which Great Britain would be so prompt to avenge if committed against herself, the United States have in vain exhausted remonstrances and expostulations. And that no proof might be wanting of their conciliatory dispositions, and no pretext left for a continuance of the practice, the British government was formally assured of the readiness of the United States to enter into arrangements, such as could not be rejected, if the recovery of British subjects was the real and the sole object. The communication passed without effect.

British cruisers have been in the practice also of violating the rights, and the peace of our coasts. They hover over and harass our departing commerce. To the most insulting pretensions they have added the most lawless proceedings in our very harbors; and have wantonly spilt American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial jurisdiction. The principles and rules enforced by that nation, when a neutral nation, against armed vessels or belligerants hovering near her coasts, and disturbing her commerce, are well known. When called on, nevertheless, by the United States, to punish the greater offences committed by her own vessels, her government has bestowed on their commander additional marks of honour and confidence.

Under pretended blockades, without the presence of an adequate force, and sometimes without the practicability of applying one, our commerce has been plundered in every sea; the great staples of our country have been cut off from their legitimate markets; and a destructive blow aimed at our agricultural and maritime interests. In aggravation of these predatory measures, they have been considered as in force from the dates of their notification; a retrospective effect being thus added, as has been done in other important cases, to the unlawfulness of the course pursued. And to render the outrage the more signal, these mock blockades have been reiterated and enforced in the face of official communications from the British government, declaring as the true definition of a legal blockade, "That particular ports must be actually invested, and previous warning given to vessels bound to them not to enter."

Not content with these occasional expedients for laying waste our neutral trade, the cabinet of Great Britain resorted, at length, to the sweeping system of blockades, under the name of orders in council, which has been moulded and managed, as might best suit

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