FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[171]But the Indians were friendly to white settlers, as they have always been. Almost the entire Mohawk tribe, with other loyalist Indians, under their chief, Joseph Brant, followed the fortunes of their white loyalist brethren, and settled on their reservation on the Grand River. Brant had been educated in a Christian school in Philadelphia; had a comfortable home, and lived respectably on the Mohawk river before the American revolution; had entertained missionaries, and had assisted one of them in translating a part of the New Testament and Prayer Book into the Mohawk language. Colonel Stone, in his "Life of Brant" and the "History of the Border Wars of the American Revolution," has nobly vindicated the character of Brant, and of his brethren of the Six Nations, from the misrepresentations and calumnies of American historians. Brant was a member of the Church of England, and built a church in his settlement in 1786, in which was placed the first church bell ever heard in Upper Canada.[172]"During Colonel Simcoe's administration he had been exceedingly careful with regard to the distribution of lands; but immediately on his departure, irregularities began to creep into the Crown Land Department, just as it had in Lower Canada, and great injustice was done to the actual settlers. Large tracts of the most eligible sites were seized upon by Government officials and speculators, and the actual settlers found themselves in many instances thrust into out-of-the-way corners, and cut off from intercourse with any near neighbours for want of roads." (Tuttle's History of the Dominion of Canada, Chap. lxxxiii., p. 387.)"On the removal of Governor Simcoe,[173]of his wise schemes fell through. Land designed for settlements was seized by speculators, especially in the vicinity of Toronto, and the general development of the country was greatly retarded." (Withrow's History of Canada, Chap, xvi., p. 293.)Scarcely any—if any—of these early land speculators had served asUnited Empire Loyalistsduring the revolutionary war; and their descendants, if existing, are as little known as if their fathers had never lived.[173]Lord Dorchester did not endorse Governor Simcoe's policy, as the latter had not concurred with the former in giving German names to the four first districts of Upper Canada, and in the selection of the seat of government. The American Government represented Governor Simcoe as exciting the Iroquois or Mohawks, both in Canada and Western New York, against it—representations in which there was not a shadow of truth, though Americans were endeavouring to excite disaffection to the British Government and sympathy with republican France against England in both Upper and Lower Canada, especially in the latter province. But by these representations, and those of disappointed local speculators, the Home Government removed Governor Simcoe, the father of constitutional, pure, and progressive government in Upper Canada.[174]"In Upper as well as Lower Canada the first sixteen years' experience of the new Constitution had been very encouraging. All concerned in working it out during that period kept as clear as possible from causes of discord. The consequence was that harmony and good progress marked the early career of the province." (Miles' School History of Canada, Part III., Chap. i., pp. 193, 194.)[175]"Meanwhile the country had steadily prospered, undisturbed in its forest isolation by the great European war, which was deluging with blood a hundred battle fields and desolating thousands of homes. By the year 1809, the population had increased to about 70,000. Taxes were exceedingly light. The Customs revenue, derived principally from the imports of groceries—for clothing was chiefly home-spun—amounted to £7,000." (Withrow's History of Canada, Chap. xxi., p. 296.)

[171]But the Indians were friendly to white settlers, as they have always been. Almost the entire Mohawk tribe, with other loyalist Indians, under their chief, Joseph Brant, followed the fortunes of their white loyalist brethren, and settled on their reservation on the Grand River. Brant had been educated in a Christian school in Philadelphia; had a comfortable home, and lived respectably on the Mohawk river before the American revolution; had entertained missionaries, and had assisted one of them in translating a part of the New Testament and Prayer Book into the Mohawk language. Colonel Stone, in his "Life of Brant" and the "History of the Border Wars of the American Revolution," has nobly vindicated the character of Brant, and of his brethren of the Six Nations, from the misrepresentations and calumnies of American historians. Brant was a member of the Church of England, and built a church in his settlement in 1786, in which was placed the first church bell ever heard in Upper Canada.

[172]"During Colonel Simcoe's administration he had been exceedingly careful with regard to the distribution of lands; but immediately on his departure, irregularities began to creep into the Crown Land Department, just as it had in Lower Canada, and great injustice was done to the actual settlers. Large tracts of the most eligible sites were seized upon by Government officials and speculators, and the actual settlers found themselves in many instances thrust into out-of-the-way corners, and cut off from intercourse with any near neighbours for want of roads." (Tuttle's History of the Dominion of Canada, Chap. lxxxiii., p. 387.)"On the removal of Governor Simcoe,[173]of his wise schemes fell through. Land designed for settlements was seized by speculators, especially in the vicinity of Toronto, and the general development of the country was greatly retarded." (Withrow's History of Canada, Chap, xvi., p. 293.)Scarcely any—if any—of these early land speculators had served asUnited Empire Loyalistsduring the revolutionary war; and their descendants, if existing, are as little known as if their fathers had never lived.

"On the removal of Governor Simcoe,[173]of his wise schemes fell through. Land designed for settlements was seized by speculators, especially in the vicinity of Toronto, and the general development of the country was greatly retarded." (Withrow's History of Canada, Chap, xvi., p. 293.)

Scarcely any—if any—of these early land speculators had served asUnited Empire Loyalistsduring the revolutionary war; and their descendants, if existing, are as little known as if their fathers had never lived.

[173]Lord Dorchester did not endorse Governor Simcoe's policy, as the latter had not concurred with the former in giving German names to the four first districts of Upper Canada, and in the selection of the seat of government. The American Government represented Governor Simcoe as exciting the Iroquois or Mohawks, both in Canada and Western New York, against it—representations in which there was not a shadow of truth, though Americans were endeavouring to excite disaffection to the British Government and sympathy with republican France against England in both Upper and Lower Canada, especially in the latter province. But by these representations, and those of disappointed local speculators, the Home Government removed Governor Simcoe, the father of constitutional, pure, and progressive government in Upper Canada.

[174]"In Upper as well as Lower Canada the first sixteen years' experience of the new Constitution had been very encouraging. All concerned in working it out during that period kept as clear as possible from causes of discord. The consequence was that harmony and good progress marked the early career of the province." (Miles' School History of Canada, Part III., Chap. i., pp. 193, 194.)

[175]"Meanwhile the country had steadily prospered, undisturbed in its forest isolation by the great European war, which was deluging with blood a hundred battle fields and desolating thousands of homes. By the year 1809, the population had increased to about 70,000. Taxes were exceedingly light. The Customs revenue, derived principally from the imports of groceries—for clothing was chiefly home-spun—amounted to £7,000." (Withrow's History of Canada, Chap. xxi., p. 296.)

War by the United States against Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815—Introductory and General Remarks.

The war between Great Britain and the United States, from 1812 to 1815, furnishes the strongest example of the present century, or of any age or country, of the attachment of a people to their mother country, and of their determination, at whatever sacrifice and against whatever disparity, to maintain the national life of their connection with it. The true spirit ofthe Loyalists of Americawas never exhibited with greater force and brilliancy than during the war of 1812-1815.

England was engaged in a death struggle for the independence of the continental nations of Europe and the rights of mankind. At the darkest hour of that eventful contest, when the continent was drenched with the blood of nations, and the Tyrant had his feet upon their neck, and England alone stood erect, taxing her resources to the utmost and shedding her best blood for human freedom, the Democratic party in the United States—the ever anti-British party—the pro-slavery party—the party in the United States least subordinate to law and most inimical to liberty—at such a crisis such a party declared war against Britain, and forthwith invaded Canada, before the declaration of war was known in England.

At that time the population of Lower Canada was 225,000 souls—200,000 of whom were French; the population of Upper Canada was 75,000; the population of the United States was upwards of 8,000,000: so that the population of thetwo Canadaswas to that of the United States as one to twenty-seven; and the population ofUpper Canadawas to that of the United States as one to one hundred and six.

Yet the Canadas, with a frontier of more than 1,000 miles, and aided by a few regiments of regular soldiers, sent as a mere guard for the principal cities, from Halifax to Amherstburg, resisted the whole military power of the United States for two years, at the end of which not an inch of Canadian ground was in possession of the invaders; and within six months after England had given freedom and peace to Europe—chaining its Tyrant to the island rock of Elba, sweeping with its fleet the coasts of the United States, and sending 16,000 veteran soldiers to aid the struggling Canadas—the boasting Madison and his Government sued for peace, without even mentioning the original pretexts of war, which Great Britain generously granted.

It does not come within our purpose to write a history of this war; we present only such phases and events of it as will illustrate the Loyalist spirit and courage of the Canadians, French as well as English, and even true Americans; for the American settlers in Canada were, with few exceptions, as loyal subjects and as bold defenders of their adopted country as the U.E. Loyalists themselves; and even the most virtuous and intelligent part of the citizens of the United States protested against the alliance of the Democratic rulers at Washington with the tyrant and scourge of Europe.

We shall notice, in the first place, the alleged and real causes of the war; secondly, the preparations for it made by the Governments and Legislatures of the two Canadas; thirdly, the invasions of each province, each year, separately, and the battles fought. There were no less than eleven invasions of the Canadas by the American armies during the three years of the war, besides naval engagements, and various incursions of marauding and plundering parties.

Alleged and Real Causes of the War.

From the first—from the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States in 1783—there was a large party in the United States bitterly and actively hostile to England and its colonies; that party had persecuted and driven the Loyalists from the United States, and compelled them to seek homes in the Canadian wilderness, and had even followed them with its enmities in their new abodes; that party had sympathized with the revolutionists of France, who crimsoned the streets of Paris with the blood of their Sovereign and fellow-citizens, and who sent emissaries to Canada to subvert legal authority, and excite the strife of anarchy and bloodshed. The base of the operations of all the emissaries of French revolutionists in Canada was for twenty years the United States, aided directly and indirectly by American sympathizers; that same party sympathized and even leagued with Napoleon against England while she was defending the liberties of Europe and of mankind; it was the same party that in subsequent years aided the rebel Mackenzie and the rabble Fenians to invade Canada, allowing the United States to be the base of their organizations, and opening to them the American arsenals of arms and ammunition; it was the same party that, in conspiracy with the Tyrant of France and the enemy of human freedom, declared war against Great Britain in 1812, in order to wrest Canada from her possession, and make it an appendage of France and the United States.[176]

The American Government alleged two reasons as the ground of its declaration of war against Britain: the one was, that the British Government had issued Orders in Council which injured the American commerce with other countries; the other was, that the British Government had infringed the rights of the United States by authorizing the boarding of American vessels in search of deserters from the English army and navy, and seizing them.

As to the first of these reasons, namely, the English Orders in Council, the facts are as follow: "After the annihilation of the naval power of France atTrafalgarin 1805, by Lord Nelson, the principal transactions of France at sea were the fitting out and arming of privateers to prey upon the English merchant vessels and commerce. To accomplish his purpose more effectually, Napoleon promulgated the following year after the destruction of his fleet what is called the Berlin Decree."[177]

"No nation was allowed to trade with any other country in any articles the growth, produce, or manufactures of any of theBritish dominions, all of which, as well as the island of Great Britain itself, were declared to be in a state of blockade. He appointed residents in every trading country, and no ship was to be admitted into any of his ports without acertification of origin; that is, of the nature of the goods they carried, and that no part of these was English. In consequence of these Decrees, the English commerce, during the months of August, September, and October, 1807—that part of the year in which the Berlin Decree of November, 1806, was carried into full effect—was not only greatly cramped, but lay prostrated on the ground, and motionless, before a protecting and self-defensive system was adopted by our Orders in Council."[178]

The British Orders in Council were dated January 7th, 1807, and were a measure of retaliation for the protection of British commerce in response to Napoleon's Berlin Decree of the 21st of November, 1806. By these Orders in Council, "all trade to France or her dependencies was strictly prohibited; all vessels, of whatever nation, which ventured to engage in this trade were declared liable to seizure, and France and her dependencies were thus reduced to that state of blockade with which she had vainly threatened the British islands. The Orders in Council admitted but of one exception to this general blockade of the French empire. The French had declared all vessels liable to seizure which had touched at a British port; the Orders in Council, to counteract this provision, declared, on the other hand, that only such ships as were in that situation should be permitted to sail for France. Thus did the utter extinction of the foreign trade of France result as a natural consequence of the very measures of her own Government; measures which no despotism, how ignorant soever, would have ventured to adopt, had it not trusted to a power which effectually silenced all popular opinion."[179]

As France was the aggressor upon the rights of neutrals bythe Berlin Decree, and as the Orders in Council were a defensive retaliation upon France for her attempt to destroy English commerce, the American Government should have first remonstrated with France and demanded reparation; but this was not the case; the outcry of the Madison partizans was against England alone. It is true some grumbling words were uttered by some parties against the policy and acts of the French Government; but mere words to save appearances, not followed up by any acts; for by a collusion between Napoleon and Madison, it was understood that the Articles of the Berlin Decree were not intended to apply to ships of the United States—would not be executed against them—and were intended to destroy the commerce of Great Britain. An American writer (Lossing) remarks, "With a partiality towards the Americans that was practical friendship, the French cruisers did not, for a whole year, interfere with American vessels trading with Great Britain;" and Mr. Alex. Baring, M.P. (afterwards Lord Ashburton), in hisInquiry into the Causes and Consequences of the Orders in Council, said that"no condemnation of an American vessel had ever taken place under it".

By this collusion between the Tyrant of Europe and the President of the United States, the necessities of France were supplied, and the shipping interests of the United States largely promoted, at the expense of the commerce and shipping interests of England.

But the collusion, or conspiracy, between Napoleon and Madison were carried on to weaken the English navy by the desertion of its sailors, as well as to injure English commerce by connivance in behalf of American trading vessels. The seduction of deserters from the British navy, and even army, was carried on successfully on a large scale. The safety of England consisted chiefly in her navy, which she was increasing and strengthening by every possible means. Therefore every skilled sailor was of importance to England, while every practicable scheme was resorted to by her enemies to induce and facilitate the desertion of her seamen and soldiers—especially of her seamen, several thousands of whom were detected and seized on board of American vessels—constituting as they did the best sailors on board American merchant vessels, and the vital strength of the French privateers. To stop this depleting ofher naval resources, England put in exercise her right of boarding vessels of neutral powers in search of deserters from her navy. The only neutral power in Europe was Sardinia; so that the United States was the only neutral power that had vessels upon the ocean; and the President of the United States was conniving against England with the usurper and oppressor of Europe.

The right of a belligerent power to search the vessels of neutral powers in search of deserters had never been denied, though the modification of its exercise had frequently been sought; but under the teachings of Napoleon, his American pupils now began to exclaim against it as an infringement of national dignity and rights. The English Government had directed the exercise of this right with the greatest caution and courtesy, and only in regard to vessels on board of which, from specific information, there was reason to believe there were English deserters. These deserters, on getting smuggled on board of American vessels, would forthwith take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and be recognized and claimed as American citizens.[180]

An event now occurred which enabled President Madison to excite his partizans throughout the United States to a flame ofindignation against England. Information had been received that there were English deserters on board the American shipChesapeake; the British warshipLeopardsought their restoration, and on being refused fired into theChesapeake, and recovered the four deserters claimed. The attendant circumstances being omitted, the simple fact announced by the President to Congress, that the English warshipLeopardhad fired into the American shipChesapeake, and in American waters, killing several persons, and had seized and carried off four American citizens, produced the excitement he was anxious to create against England, preparatory to the war on which he was then determined—in the zenith of Napoleon's success and power, and in the extremity of England's struggle for her own existence and the liberties of mankind. The statement of the American President as to the affair of the shipsLeopardandChesapeakehas been repeated to this day by American historians, and is used in American school books to illustrate England's arrogance and cruelty; whereas all the facts of the case prove directly the reverse. We give the account of the affair from one American writer, who, though partial, was too honest to omit essential facts, much less to pervert them; we refer to Dr. Holmes, author ofAmerican Annals, and quote at length his account of the affair. He says:

"The frigateChesapeake, being ordered to cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, under the command of Commodore Barron, sailing from Hampton Roads, was come up with by the British ship-of-warLeopard, one of a squadron then at anchor within the limits of the United States. An officer was sent from theLeopardto theChesapeakewith a note from the captain respecting some deserters from his Britannic Majesty's ships, supposed to be serving as part of the crew of theChesapeakeand enclosing a copy of an order from Vice-Admiral Berkeley requiring and directing the commanders of ships and vessels under his command, in case of meeting with the American frigate at sea, and without the limits of the United States, to show the order to her captain, and to require to search his ship for the deserters from certain ships therein named, and to proceed and search for them; and if a similar demand should be made by the American, he was permitted to search for deserters from their service, according to the custom and usage of civilized nations on terms of amity with each other. Commodore Barron gave an answer that he knew of no such men as were described; that the recruiting officers for theChesapeakehad been particularly instructed by the Government, through him, not to enter any deserters from his Britannic Majesty's ships; that he knew of none such being in her; that he was instructed never to permit the crew of any ship under his command to be mustered by any officers but her own; that he was disposed to preserve harmony, and hoped his answer would prove satisfactory. TheLeopard, shortly after this answer was received by her commander, ranged alongside of theChesapeake, and commenced a heavy fire upon her. TheChesapeake, unprepared for action, made no resistance, but remained under the fire of theLeopardfrom twenty to thirty minutes; when, having suffered much damage, and lost three men killed and eighteen wounded, Commodore Barron ordered his colours to be struck, and sent a lieutenant on board theLeopardto inform her commander that he considered theChesapeakeher prize. The commander of theLeopardsent an officer on board, who took possession of theChesapeake, mustered her crew, and, carrying off four of her men, abandoned the ship. Commodore Barron, after a communication, by writing, with the commander of theLeopard, finding that theChesapeakewas very much injured, returned, with the advice of his officers, to Hampton Roads." (American State Papers, 1806-08.)

"On receiving information of this outrage, the President, byproclamation, interdicted the harbours and waters of the United States to all armed British vessels, forbade all intercourse with them, and ordered a sufficient force for the protection of Norfolk, and such other preparations as the occasion appeared to require. An armed vessel of the United States was dispatched with instructions to the American Minister at London to call on the British Government for the satisfaction and security which the outrage required." (American State Papers, 1806-08, pp. 183, 184, 248-252.)[181]

Such is the American State Paper account of this affair, published some years afterwards; and from this it will be seen that what was asked by the captain of theLeopardwas what had been granted by all neutral nations to belligerents—to seek for and take their own deserters on board of neutral vessels, in order to prevent neutrals from being, or suspected of being, in collusion with either belligerent party. The American Government being in sympathy with the French Government during the whole of its twenty years' war with England, sought to change and evade this hitherto undisputed usage of mutually friendly nations in regard to belligerents. TheChesapeakeseems to have been selected to make up a cause of war with Great Britain, by the warlike proceedings of the President before communicating with the British Government on the subject. The American people had nothing but a complete perversion of the facts of the case until years afterwards.

It is plain from the true version of the affair that the captain of theLeopardacted courteously and fairly, though in excess of the authority granted by the British Government; that heoffered the same facilities to the captain of theChesapeake, in regard to examination for deserters, that he asked himself; that the commander of theChesapeakestated what he knew to be untrue when he asserted that there were no deserters on board theChesapeake, which he knew would be detected on examination of his crew.

In all the American accounts and discussions on the question, they ignore the usage or customary law of civilized nations as to neutral or mutually friendly nations in respect to belligerent powers, and are silent as to France and England being at war with each other, and that in encouraging desertions from the English ships, and then claiming them as American citizens, they were playing into the hands of Bonaparte against England.

It appears that President Madison, without awaiting or asking satisfaction or explanation on this affair of theLeopardandChesapeake, forthwith prohibited the anchoring of British war ships in American waters, and then sent a special messenger and communication to the American Minister in London to demand satisfaction of the British Government for the alleged "outrage" upon theChesapeake. But did the British Government show the passion and violence of the President of the United States? Let the American author above quoted be our witness again on this point. Dr. Holmes says:

"Reparation was made by the British for the attack on theChesapeake. Augustus J. Foster, the British envoy, informed the Secretary of the United States that he was instructed to repeat to the American Government the prompt disavowal made by his Majesty, on being apprised of the unauthorized act of the officer in command of his naval forces on the coast of America, whose recall from a highly important and honourable command immediately ensued, as a mark of his Majesty's disapprobation; that he was authorized to offer, in addition to that disavowal on the part of his Majesty, to order the immediate restoration, as far as circumstances would admit, of the men who [though deserters], in consequence of Admiral Berkeley's orders, were forcibly taken out of theChesapeake, to the vessel from which they were taken; or, if that ship were no longer in commission, to such seaport of the United States as the American Government may name for the purpose; and that he was authorized to offer to the American Government a suitable pecuniary provision for the sufferers in consequence of the attack on theChesapeake, including the families of those seamen who fell in the action, and of the wounded survivors. The President acceded to these propositions; and the officer commanding theChesapeake, then lying in the harbour of Boston, was instructed to receive the men, who were to be restored to that ship."—Ib., p. 443.

It might be supposed that such a spontaneous, courteous, and just proceeding on the part of England would have satisfied even the bellicose President Madison; but he was bent on joining the Tyrant of Europe in war against England; the American public were kept in ignorance of the instigating circumstances, and the just and generous conduct of the British Government in regard to the affair of theLeopardand theChesapeake, and availed himself of every occurrence or incident to excite and increase the war feeling in the United States against England.

An incident soon occurred answerable to President Madison's purpose. A renegade by the name ofHenry, who had in youth emigrated from Ireland, and who had, by the interest of friends, got appointed captain of militia; but not succeeding in the United States to the extent of his ambition, emigrated to Montreal, where, by some talents and address, and professed love of British institutions, he ingratiated himself in the good graces of the principal persons at Montreal, and commenced his studies at law there, with a view of qualifying himself for a seat on the judicial bench ofUpper Canada, to which he was vain and ambitious enough to aspire. He at length got access to the Governor-General, Sir James Craig, into whose confidence he so wormed himself as to obtain a letter of recognition and recommendation to visit Massachusetts and other eastern States to ascertain and report upon the state of feeling there in regard to the sympathy of those States with England in case of war with England; but neither the British Government nor even Sir James Craig's Canadian Executive Council had the slightestknowledge of this confidential epistolary intrigue between his Excellency and the renegade American militia captain, who professed to be familiar with the politics and parties of the New England States, where there was vehement opposition to the democratic and war government of President Madison, and supposed to cherish a strong leaning to England. While this unprincipled "Captain Henry" was sauntering in the public-houses and brothels of Boston, he wrote from time to time letters to Sir James Craig and other principal persons in Quebec; but the Governor and others who received his ostentatious and pretentious letters—though amused by them—derived no more information from his epistles than from the public newspapers of the day. Henry, however, estimated his own worthless services of the greatest importance; and failing to get from Sir James Craig the amount of his demands, he appealed for compensation to the Government in England. He addressed a memorial to the Earl of Liverpool, Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, stating his services, and suggesting that the appointment of Judge Advocate General of Lower Canada, with the salary of £500 per annum, or a consulate in the United States,sine cura, would be considered by him as a fair discharge of the obligation of the Government to him for his services. Lord Liverpool was not disposed to prostitute such favours upon a mercenary and intriguing vagrant, and referred him to the Government of Lower Canada, then in charge of Sir George Prevost, who had succeeded Sir James Craig. Henry knew the little estimate that was placed upon his services in Canada; he therefore betook himself back to the United States, and offered his traitorous letters to the American Government for $50,000, which he obtained, paid out of the United States Secret Service Fund.[182]President Madison,instead of laying the correspondence before the British Government for explanation and satisfaction, communicated it to Congress, as a discovery and illustration of a conspiracy by the British Government to subvert the Constitution and Government of the United States, and by his message inflamed the Congress to the highest pitch of excitement, in the climax of which he got a vote in favour of a declaration of war against Great Britain. The President, in his message to Congress, referring to the Henry documents said: "They prove that at a recent period, while the United States, notwithstanding the wrongs sustained by them, ceased not to observe the laws of neutrality towards Great Britain, and in the midst of amicable professions and negotiations on the part of the British Government through its public Minister here [Mr. Erskine], asecret agent of that Governmentwas employed in certain States—more especially at the seat of government in Massachusetts—in fomenting disaffection to the constituted authorities of the nation, and in intrigues with the disaffected, for the purpose of bringing about resistance to the laws, and eventually, in concert with a British force, of destroying the Union, and forming the eastern part thereof into a political connection with England."

Two days before the transmission of President Madison's message of accusation against England, the British Minister at Washington declared in the public prints his entire ignorance of any transaction of the kind, and asked the United States Government to consider the character of the individual who had made these disclosures,[183]and to "suspend any furtherjudgment on its merits until the circumstances shall have been made known to his Majesty's Government." But such fairness to England did not answer President Madison's purpose to get himself re-elected President, by exciting hostility and declaring war against England.

FOOTNOTES:[176]"The war party in the United States was not very strong, numerically speaking, and it was not composed of the most respectable portions of the community; but what it lacked in these two requisites it made up in loud and demonstrative clamour, and the more serious-minded and important portions of the people were being forced, against their better judgment, into a position hostile to Great Britain, by the continued cry of a few demagogues, who were more anxious to give vent to their old feeling of spite against Great Britain than to consult the best interests of their country." (Tuttle's History of the Dominion of Canada, Chap. lxxii., p. 349.)[177]This Decree is dated "Imperial Camp, Berlin, November 21st, 1806." Its principal Articles are as follow:"Art. 1. The British islands are in a state of blockade."Art. 2.All commerce and correspondence with them is prohibited; consequently, all letters or packets writteninEngland, ortoan Englishman,written in the English language, shall not be dispatched from the post-offices, and shall be seized."Art. 3. Every individual, a subject of Great Britain, of whatever rank or condition, who is found in countries occupied by our troops or those of our allies, shall be made prisoner of war."Art. 4. Every warehouse, all merchandise or property whatsoever, belonging to an Englishman, are declared god-prize."Art. 6. No vessel coming directly from England or her colonies, or having been there since the publication of this Decree, shall be admitted into any port."Art. 7. Every vessel that by a false declaration contravenes the foregoing disposition, shall be seized, and the ship and cargo confiscated as English property."Art. 10. Our Ministers of Foreign Relations, etc., are charged with the execution of the present Decree."[178]British Annual Register, 1807, Vol. XLII., Chap, xii., p. 227.[179]Thompson's History of the War of 1812, between Great Britain and the United States, Chap. III., pp. 23, 24.[180]The justice of the proceedings and demands of the British Government, the fairness of its proposals, and the injustice and unreasonableness of the conduct of the Madison U.S. Government, are forcibly presented in the following preamble to resolutions adopted by the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts, as late as the 5th of February, 1813:"Whereas the President, in his message to Congress, has made known to the people of the United States that the British Orders in Council have been repealed 'in such manner as to be capable of explanations meeting the views of the Government' of the United States; and therefore none of the alleged causes of war with Great Britain now remain except the claim of the right to take British subjects from the merchant ships of the United States:"And whereas, during the administration of General Washington and President Adams, this claim of Great Britain was not considered a reasonable cause of war; and under the administration of President Jefferson, the Government of Great Britain did offer to make an arrangement with the United States, which in the opinion of Messrs. Montrose and Pinkey, their Ministers, placed this subject on a ground that was both honourable and advantageous to the United States, and highly favourable to their interests, and was, at the same time, a concession which had never before been made; and it is highly probable that the Government of Great Britain would still be willing to make an arrangement on this subject which should be alike honourable and advantageous to the United States:"And whereas, under the administration of President Madison, when the arrangement of matters in controversy between the United States and Great Britain was made with his Britannic Majesty's Minister, David Montague Erskine, Esq., the impressment of seamen was not considered of sufficient importance to make it a condition of that arrangement:"And whereasthe European powers, as well as the United States, recognize the principle that their subjects have no right to expatriate themselves, and that the nation has a right to the services of all its citizens, especially in time of war; and none of those powers respect the neutralization laws of others so far as to admit their operation in contravention of that principle—and it is manifestly unjust for a neutral power to make war upon one nation in order to compel it to relinquish a principle which is maintained by the others, etc."[181]Holmes' American Annals, Vol. II., pp. 434, 435.The manner in which this affair was presented to the public by the President and American writers may be inferred from the following:"This vessel (theChesapeake) was suddenly attacked within our waters in the time of profound peace, compelled to surrender, and several seamen, alleged to be British, were then forcibly taken from her. The burst of indignation which followed was even more violent than that which was produced by the Orders in Council in 1793 [1807]. Party animosity was suspended; meetings were assembled in every village; the newspapers were filled with formal addresses; volunteer companies were everywhere set on foot; and, in the first frenzy of the moment, the universal cry was for immediate war. Although hostilities were not declared, the feelings of America were from that day at war with England." (Breckenridge's History of the War of 1812.)This state of feeling was precisely what President Madison wished to create, preparatory to his meditated war with England, in connection with the French usurper.[182]"Indignant at this neglectful treatment, Henry returned to Boston, and obtained a letter of introduction from Governor Gerry to Madison, to whom he offered to divulge the whole conspiracy,of which he had been the head and soul, for a certain sum of money. Madison gave him $50,000, and the swindler embarked for France. There is but little doubt that Henry made a fool of the Governor of Canada, and completely overreached the President. The publication of the correspondence, however, increased the hatred both against the Federalists and the English nation." [The object President Madison had in view.] (Headley's History of the War of 1812-1815 with England, p. 49.)[183]"TheHenry Plot(as it was denominated) was clamoured through America as a crime of the deepest dye on the part of Great Britain, tending to disorganize the Government, to dismember the Union, and to destroy the independence of the States. The fictitious and exaggerated importance which the American Government affected to attach to this trivial matter had, however, some influence in confirming the spirit of hostility towards Great Britain which at that time pervaded America, and shortly after broke out in open war. This self-sufficient miscreant having, as he fancied, taken ample vengeance upon the Government of his native country, could not, with any degree of decency, remain in the States, from whence he sailed for France in an American sloop-of-war, carrying with him the reward of his treason and the universal contempt of mankind." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, p. 55.)Yet, at this very time, there were American and French emissaries in both the Canadas (as the proclamations of the Governors show), with a view of exciting disaffection to the British Canadian Government, in order to wrest the Canadas from England and subject them to France and the United States."The Americans had been declaring, for several years, that they would take the provinces. They had even boasted of the ease with which the intended conquest could be made by them whenever they pleased. They believed, or pretended to believe, that the majority of the people, owing to dissensions and a desire to be free from the mother country, would not take part against them in this contest with Great Britain." (Dr. Miles' History of Canada, Part III., Chap. iii., p. 201.)

[176]"The war party in the United States was not very strong, numerically speaking, and it was not composed of the most respectable portions of the community; but what it lacked in these two requisites it made up in loud and demonstrative clamour, and the more serious-minded and important portions of the people were being forced, against their better judgment, into a position hostile to Great Britain, by the continued cry of a few demagogues, who were more anxious to give vent to their old feeling of spite against Great Britain than to consult the best interests of their country." (Tuttle's History of the Dominion of Canada, Chap. lxxii., p. 349.)

[177]This Decree is dated "Imperial Camp, Berlin, November 21st, 1806." Its principal Articles are as follow:"Art. 1. The British islands are in a state of blockade."Art. 2.All commerce and correspondence with them is prohibited; consequently, all letters or packets writteninEngland, ortoan Englishman,written in the English language, shall not be dispatched from the post-offices, and shall be seized."Art. 3. Every individual, a subject of Great Britain, of whatever rank or condition, who is found in countries occupied by our troops or those of our allies, shall be made prisoner of war."Art. 4. Every warehouse, all merchandise or property whatsoever, belonging to an Englishman, are declared god-prize."Art. 6. No vessel coming directly from England or her colonies, or having been there since the publication of this Decree, shall be admitted into any port."Art. 7. Every vessel that by a false declaration contravenes the foregoing disposition, shall be seized, and the ship and cargo confiscated as English property."Art. 10. Our Ministers of Foreign Relations, etc., are charged with the execution of the present Decree."

[177]This Decree is dated "Imperial Camp, Berlin, November 21st, 1806." Its principal Articles are as follow:

"Art. 1. The British islands are in a state of blockade.

"Art. 2.All commerce and correspondence with them is prohibited; consequently, all letters or packets writteninEngland, ortoan Englishman,written in the English language, shall not be dispatched from the post-offices, and shall be seized.

"Art. 3. Every individual, a subject of Great Britain, of whatever rank or condition, who is found in countries occupied by our troops or those of our allies, shall be made prisoner of war.

"Art. 4. Every warehouse, all merchandise or property whatsoever, belonging to an Englishman, are declared god-prize.

"Art. 6. No vessel coming directly from England or her colonies, or having been there since the publication of this Decree, shall be admitted into any port.

"Art. 7. Every vessel that by a false declaration contravenes the foregoing disposition, shall be seized, and the ship and cargo confiscated as English property.

"Art. 10. Our Ministers of Foreign Relations, etc., are charged with the execution of the present Decree."

[178]British Annual Register, 1807, Vol. XLII., Chap, xii., p. 227.

[179]Thompson's History of the War of 1812, between Great Britain and the United States, Chap. III., pp. 23, 24.

[180]The justice of the proceedings and demands of the British Government, the fairness of its proposals, and the injustice and unreasonableness of the conduct of the Madison U.S. Government, are forcibly presented in the following preamble to resolutions adopted by the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts, as late as the 5th of February, 1813:"Whereas the President, in his message to Congress, has made known to the people of the United States that the British Orders in Council have been repealed 'in such manner as to be capable of explanations meeting the views of the Government' of the United States; and therefore none of the alleged causes of war with Great Britain now remain except the claim of the right to take British subjects from the merchant ships of the United States:"And whereas, during the administration of General Washington and President Adams, this claim of Great Britain was not considered a reasonable cause of war; and under the administration of President Jefferson, the Government of Great Britain did offer to make an arrangement with the United States, which in the opinion of Messrs. Montrose and Pinkey, their Ministers, placed this subject on a ground that was both honourable and advantageous to the United States, and highly favourable to their interests, and was, at the same time, a concession which had never before been made; and it is highly probable that the Government of Great Britain would still be willing to make an arrangement on this subject which should be alike honourable and advantageous to the United States:"And whereas, under the administration of President Madison, when the arrangement of matters in controversy between the United States and Great Britain was made with his Britannic Majesty's Minister, David Montague Erskine, Esq., the impressment of seamen was not considered of sufficient importance to make it a condition of that arrangement:"And whereasthe European powers, as well as the United States, recognize the principle that their subjects have no right to expatriate themselves, and that the nation has a right to the services of all its citizens, especially in time of war; and none of those powers respect the neutralization laws of others so far as to admit their operation in contravention of that principle—and it is manifestly unjust for a neutral power to make war upon one nation in order to compel it to relinquish a principle which is maintained by the others, etc."

"Whereas the President, in his message to Congress, has made known to the people of the United States that the British Orders in Council have been repealed 'in such manner as to be capable of explanations meeting the views of the Government' of the United States; and therefore none of the alleged causes of war with Great Britain now remain except the claim of the right to take British subjects from the merchant ships of the United States:

"And whereas, during the administration of General Washington and President Adams, this claim of Great Britain was not considered a reasonable cause of war; and under the administration of President Jefferson, the Government of Great Britain did offer to make an arrangement with the United States, which in the opinion of Messrs. Montrose and Pinkey, their Ministers, placed this subject on a ground that was both honourable and advantageous to the United States, and highly favourable to their interests, and was, at the same time, a concession which had never before been made; and it is highly probable that the Government of Great Britain would still be willing to make an arrangement on this subject which should be alike honourable and advantageous to the United States:

"And whereas, under the administration of President Madison, when the arrangement of matters in controversy between the United States and Great Britain was made with his Britannic Majesty's Minister, David Montague Erskine, Esq., the impressment of seamen was not considered of sufficient importance to make it a condition of that arrangement:

"And whereasthe European powers, as well as the United States, recognize the principle that their subjects have no right to expatriate themselves, and that the nation has a right to the services of all its citizens, especially in time of war; and none of those powers respect the neutralization laws of others so far as to admit their operation in contravention of that principle—and it is manifestly unjust for a neutral power to make war upon one nation in order to compel it to relinquish a principle which is maintained by the others, etc."

[181]Holmes' American Annals, Vol. II., pp. 434, 435.The manner in which this affair was presented to the public by the President and American writers may be inferred from the following:"This vessel (theChesapeake) was suddenly attacked within our waters in the time of profound peace, compelled to surrender, and several seamen, alleged to be British, were then forcibly taken from her. The burst of indignation which followed was even more violent than that which was produced by the Orders in Council in 1793 [1807]. Party animosity was suspended; meetings were assembled in every village; the newspapers were filled with formal addresses; volunteer companies were everywhere set on foot; and, in the first frenzy of the moment, the universal cry was for immediate war. Although hostilities were not declared, the feelings of America were from that day at war with England." (Breckenridge's History of the War of 1812.)This state of feeling was precisely what President Madison wished to create, preparatory to his meditated war with England, in connection with the French usurper.

[181]Holmes' American Annals, Vol. II., pp. 434, 435.

The manner in which this affair was presented to the public by the President and American writers may be inferred from the following:

"This vessel (theChesapeake) was suddenly attacked within our waters in the time of profound peace, compelled to surrender, and several seamen, alleged to be British, were then forcibly taken from her. The burst of indignation which followed was even more violent than that which was produced by the Orders in Council in 1793 [1807]. Party animosity was suspended; meetings were assembled in every village; the newspapers were filled with formal addresses; volunteer companies were everywhere set on foot; and, in the first frenzy of the moment, the universal cry was for immediate war. Although hostilities were not declared, the feelings of America were from that day at war with England." (Breckenridge's History of the War of 1812.)

This state of feeling was precisely what President Madison wished to create, preparatory to his meditated war with England, in connection with the French usurper.

[182]"Indignant at this neglectful treatment, Henry returned to Boston, and obtained a letter of introduction from Governor Gerry to Madison, to whom he offered to divulge the whole conspiracy,of which he had been the head and soul, for a certain sum of money. Madison gave him $50,000, and the swindler embarked for France. There is but little doubt that Henry made a fool of the Governor of Canada, and completely overreached the President. The publication of the correspondence, however, increased the hatred both against the Federalists and the English nation." [The object President Madison had in view.] (Headley's History of the War of 1812-1815 with England, p. 49.)

[183]"TheHenry Plot(as it was denominated) was clamoured through America as a crime of the deepest dye on the part of Great Britain, tending to disorganize the Government, to dismember the Union, and to destroy the independence of the States. The fictitious and exaggerated importance which the American Government affected to attach to this trivial matter had, however, some influence in confirming the spirit of hostility towards Great Britain which at that time pervaded America, and shortly after broke out in open war. This self-sufficient miscreant having, as he fancied, taken ample vengeance upon the Government of his native country, could not, with any degree of decency, remain in the States, from whence he sailed for France in an American sloop-of-war, carrying with him the reward of his treason and the universal contempt of mankind." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, p. 55.)Yet, at this very time, there were American and French emissaries in both the Canadas (as the proclamations of the Governors show), with a view of exciting disaffection to the British Canadian Government, in order to wrest the Canadas from England and subject them to France and the United States."The Americans had been declaring, for several years, that they would take the provinces. They had even boasted of the ease with which the intended conquest could be made by them whenever they pleased. They believed, or pretended to believe, that the majority of the people, owing to dissensions and a desire to be free from the mother country, would not take part against them in this contest with Great Britain." (Dr. Miles' History of Canada, Part III., Chap. iii., p. 201.)

Yet, at this very time, there were American and French emissaries in both the Canadas (as the proclamations of the Governors show), with a view of exciting disaffection to the British Canadian Government, in order to wrest the Canadas from England and subject them to France and the United States.

"The Americans had been declaring, for several years, that they would take the provinces. They had even boasted of the ease with which the intended conquest could be made by them whenever they pleased. They believed, or pretended to believe, that the majority of the people, owing to dissensions and a desire to be free from the mother country, would not take part against them in this contest with Great Britain." (Dr. Miles' History of Canada, Part III., Chap. iii., p. 201.)

Declaration of War by the United States against Great Britain, and Preparations for the Invasion of Canada.

The Bill for declaring war against Britain passed the Congress June 18th, 1812, after protracted discussions: by the House of Congress, by a majority of forty—seventy-nine to thirty-nine—by the Senate, by a majority of six.[184]The votefor the declaration of war was a purely party vote; the war itself was a purely partizan war—the carrying out of intrigue between the American Democratic President and the French despoiler of Europe—a war against the intelligence and patriotism of the American people, as well as against the independence and liberties of nations; a war in which the very selection of generals and officers were, as a general rule, partizan appointments.[185]

The war party consisted largely of the mob or refuse of the nation—of those who had nothing to lose and everything to gain by such a war—facts which will go far to account, with three or four exceptions, for the inferior character of the American generals and officers in the war; men appointed to offices for which they had no qualifications, and to situations in which they could, without stint, rob their country of its money, if not of its reputation.

In New York, a Convention of delegates from several counties of the State was held at Albany, on the 17th and 18th days of September, 1812, in which the war was denounced as unjustifiable, unprincipled, and unpatriotic, and as subservient, simply subservient to the cause of the French Emperor against England.[186]

The address of the House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts presented in a still stronger light and with unanswerable argument the causes of this unjust and cruel war, as wanton and unprovoked, and the climax of the various outrages committed against Great Britain.

Yet even the English Orders in Council—made the pretext for the war by President Madison and his partizans—impolitic as those Orders were on the part of England, being founded not on sound national policy, but dictated by revenge on Napoleon on account of his Berlin and Milan decrees for the destruction of British commerce—even these British Orders in Council were actually a source of profit to American merchantsfrom the indulgent way in which they were administered by the British authorities. The American historian, Hildreth, says:

"The comparative indulgence of the British, their willingness to allow to Americans a certain margin of profitable employment, contrasted very favourably in the minds of ship-owners with the totally anti-commercial system of France. Forgetting their late pretensions to a neutral trade, perfectly unshackled, and the loud outcry they had raised against British invasions of it, they were now ready, with characteristic commercial prudence, to accept as much of the views of British Ministers and merchants still left within their reach. A trade still profitable, however shackled and curtailed, they regarded as decidedly preferable to no trade at all. In fact, by the calculations of eminent merchants, fully confirmed by subsequent experience, the trade still allowed under the British Orders, while far more profitable, was also quite as extensive as there could be any reasonable expectation of enjoying after the restoration of general peace.

"The merchants and ship-owners had, however, but a limited influence over public opinion. Their vast profits of late years had made them objects of envy. Though their accumulations were but an index of the general enrichment of the nation, there were multitudes who more or less openly rejoiced over their present distress [arising from the American embargo.] Unfortunately, too, they were divided among themselves. Some even of the wealthiest of their number were among those who applauded the embargo, of which conduct this not very charitable explanation was given: that it would enable those whowere able to wait for the revival of trade to buy up at a great discount the ships and produce of their poorer neighbours."[188]

President Madison having declared a professedly defensive war against Great Britain for the purpose of defending maritime rights on the Atlantic Ocean, commenced by invading Canada in three "Grand Armies." The one was the Grand Army of the West, consisting of 5,000 men, under General Hull, and the base of whose operations was Detroit; the second was the Grand Army of the Centre, under the command of General Van Rensellaer, consisting of 5,000, which was to operate against Canada from Lewiston; and the third, but first in command, was the Grand Army of the North, under General Dearborn, consisting of 10,000 men, to operate from Lake Champlain against Montreal and the rest of Lower Canada.

Such, then, was the declaration of war against England by President Madison and his democratic faction; such were the false pretensions for the war; such was the confederacy between the democratic President of the United States and the Tyrant of Europe against the liberties of mankind, under pretence of war with England; such was the noble opposition of the States of New York and New England to that unholy coalition between the American President and the oppressor of Europe against human liberty—States which had been the head and the sinews and the backbone of American resistance to Great Britain during the struggle for American independence, and which, having achieved that independence, abhorred being buccaneers against the independence of Canada, and the acquisition of the Indian territories of the West and North of the United States.

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