beginning of 1813, demands on the public treasury were far greater than had been anticipated; the principal part of which was unavoidable, in the state the country had been placed by the declaration of war; but a portion of the expenses had been incurred under unfavorable circumstances, owing to the improvident and injudicious conduct of the administration relating to the war, for several months after it was declared. When the militia were called out, as they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, in large numbers, they were not sufficiently armed; and extraordinary expenses were incurred to equip them.

There was also a great deficiency of blankets and other necessary clothing for the soldiers, during the fall and winter of 1812-13; as the non-importation laws had been then sometime in operation; and the manufacture of woollens was also then comparatively very limited in the United States.

When Mr. Madison took the oath of office, on his re-election as President of the United States, 4th of March, 1813, he spoke of the war, "as stamped so strongly with the features of Justice, as to invite the smiles of Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful termination." And in justification of this strong language, he said, "The war was not declared by Congress, until it had been long made on them, in reality, though not in name," and till it was indispensably necessary for the welfare, the interests, the honor, and rights of the nation. It was solely or chiefly resorted to, he said, in support of the rights of the seamen, who were often impressed into the British service, and for resisting new principles, and injurious practice concerning neutral commerce, which deeply affected the United States. There was no such expression of the public opinion on the subject, as to afford proof, that the majority of the people fully responded to these sentiments of the President. It might be reasonable to conclude, from the then recent elections, that they approved of the measures of the executive. But there was a strong demonstration, by the people in various parts of the Union, that they considered the war unnecessary, if not unjust; and that they were anxious for its termination, on such terms as the British government had proposed.

The success of the navy was a cheering consideration to such as cherished the feelings of national pride; and there were repeated instances of the gallantry of naval officers in the course of six months after the war began. This was the more gratifying to the citizens of the United States, as it was unexpected, in the small number of American armed ships, compared to the naval power of Great Britain; and the

victories on the ocean furnished a redeeming consideration for the patriotic citizens, under the various disasters which the army suffered; although a few, who viewed the war as unjust, could not join in the general exultations even for any success attending the American arms.

The war served to show the strength of the government and the patriotism of the people. The preparations and expenses for placing the country in a proper state of defence, in 1798, when war was expected with France, were borne with due submission by those who did not fully approve of warlike measures. And, in 1812, though a bare majority of the people justified the war with England, and probably the majority was desirous of closing it in six months, after the offers of the British government for further negotiations, and the great disasters suffered by the army on the borders of Canada-still the administration was supported, or certainly not opposed by any disorderly or violent acts. The people, in various parts of the nation, complained of the measures of the federal government, and censured its war policy, like independent freemen, zealous of their rights, and fearless in scrutinizing the conduct of their rulers; and many declined to assist in prosecuting the war, by voluntary loans, or by any acts besides those which the laws imposed, or by such efforts as were necessary for defence when the coasts were actually invaded. But no plans of insurrection, or forcible opposition to the authority of the government, or attempts to sever the Union, were proposed at this period of pressure and calamity. The power of the federal government proved adequate to the crisis; but the consideration is not to be forgotten, that, in the third year of the war, the people became more dissatisfied and louder in their complaints: and that no formidable opposition appeared, must be attributed to the patriotic feelings of the citizens, and to their convictions of the necessity of order and of obedience to all constitutional authority. With a population of a different character from that of the great majority of the people in the United States, and with the freedom they possessed, it would have been difficult to maintain a war, when so great a portion of the nation disapproved of it.

The administration did not appear consistent in the causes assigned, at different periods, for declaring or continuing the war. The subject of the impressment of American seamen, by the British ships of war, was indeed the great cause of complaint and irritation, and was often declared to be the principal reason for the war. And this

was offered as the only reason for continuing the war, in the summer of 1812, after the British revoked their orders in council, and proposed a cessation of hostilities; and yet, before the declaration, and before the British orders were repealed, even in May, 1811, when the Envoy from Great Britain to the United States gave assurance that the orders of 1807 would be withdrawn, on authentic and official notice of a revocation of the French edicts of a previous date, and that the blockade declared in May, 1810, would also thereupon cease; the American Secretary of State wrote the Envoy in reply, "That the President had received the information with great satisfaction, as it had been a material obstacle to an accommodation; and that such repeal of the British orders would be immediately followed by a repeal of the act for the non-importation of goods from England, then in force." So material was this obstacle in the way of adjusting the controversy between Great Britain and the United States, at that time, that had it been removed six weeks sooner than it was, and before the declaration of war, it appears highly probable, that this calamity might have been avoided. The sole difficulty of impressment would not have been thought to justify a war, even by the warmest friends of the administration. For though all the precise terms proposed by the American executive on that subject, were not agreeable to the British administration, it was disposed to make an arrangement, favorable practically to the security of bona fide American seamen. And the American Envoys, in 1808, had formed an article relating to impressments, in the treaty they signed at that time with Great Britain, by which, in their opinion, the rights of American seamen would be substantially secured.

The invasion of Canada was renewed in the spring of 1813: Twenty five hundred troops, under Major General Dearborn, embarked at Sacket's harbor, in eight armed vessels, commanded by Commodore Chauncey; and crossing the lake, attacked Little York in the province of Upper Canada, on the 27th of April. The American troops had been some time collecting and preparing for this object; and had a better prospect of success than the detachments which entered Canada the year before. The British force at York and vicinity was comparatively small, though aided by several hundred Indians. After some severe fighting, the town was taken by the Americans, but the British General, commanding there, escaped with a great part of the regular troops. More than two hundred British and Canadians were killed; and a large number made

prisoners, with two hundred Indians. The loss of the United States troops was also great; many being killed or mortally wounded by the explosion of the British military magazine in the town. There were valuable and extensive military stores taken at Little York; which had been collected there, to be forwarded to Niagara river, and to Detroit. These were immediately transported to Sacket's Harbor; and in a few days after, another expedition against Canada was projected, with a large force. On the 27th of May, General Dearborn, with about seven thousand troops, landed at Newark; when the small British force there retreated about thirty miles to join a larger body of Canadians, at a place called Forty-Mile Creek, after destroying a great part of the stores. The first of June, a force was ordered, under command of a Brigadier General, of two thousand men, to proceed to Forty-Mile Creek where the British and Canadians were collected and three days. later, a second Brigadier General, with more American troops, was ordered to proceed for his support. The British retired several miles, on the approach of the American troops, and then prepared to defend themselves if attacked.

General Winder, who commanded the first body of the United States troops, proceeded within about ten miles of the enemy; and the other detachment, under Brigadier General Chandler, followed soon after. Early the following morning, before daylight, and when quite unprepared * they were attacked by the enemy, the two Brigadier Generals were taken, besides a number of the men, and many were killed and wounded. The British troops soon retired; for they were not so numerous as the Americans; and Generals Lewis and Boyd hastened the following day to support them, from the distance of thirty miles.

In this expedition nearly one thousand of the United States troops were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. Lewis and Boyd behaved with great spirit and bravery; and when a British naval force appeared near the FortyMile Creek, where the former was in command, and summoned him to surrender, he refused in the spirit of a brave officer. Soon after, however, he judged it expedient to return to Fort George-and thence, when American vessels could be provided, to return to Sacket's Harbor--a portion of the army remained some time at Fort George, under

In one account it was stated, that the commanding officers of the United States expected the attack.

General Boyd, with a view to be a check on the enemy, and to prevent a concentration of their forces; which it was believed they contemplated previous to an attack on the United States side of the lake. The naval force of the United States on lake Ontario was increased at this period, and able to act with effect in preventing, for sometime, an invasion of the United States territory. The army under Governor Harrison, in the west, was able to accomplish little more than to defend the frontiers from the British and Indians in that quarter. No attempt was made by him for invading Canada at this time; and it would have been highly imprudent in the existing state of the army.

The village of Havre-de-Grace, situated near the mouth of the Susquehanna river, consisting of nearly one hundred dwelling houses, was attacked by the British, in boats and barges, from ships of war near the coast, and burnt in May, 1813. There was no military force in the vicinity to defend it. The towns on the Atlantic coast in most places were not sufficiently protected: It appeared to be the great object to have a sufficient force to invade and conquer the British provinces in Canada.

The United States troops at and near the southwest part of lake Ontario at Fort Niagara, Lewistown, including those at Sacket's harbor, at the northeast, and those at Fort George on the Canadian borders, were about ten thousand; about seven thousand of which were on and near Niagara river. General Boyd, who retained possession of Fort George for some time, had frequent skirmishes with the British; and on two occasions the contests were very serious and extensive, and great numbers of the American troops were killed or taken. One of these was at a place called Beaver-dam, by a detachment under command of a Colonel; and the other by a still larger force, under General Boyd. During all this period, no progress was made in the conquest of Canada: but defeat and disaster were the consequences of the invasion; and yet on several occasions the officers behaved with great promptitude and bravery. The British followed up their successes, and invaded the territory of the United States. They took possession of Fort Niagara, and remained there several weeks; and at that time the naval force of the enemy on the lake was superior to the American squadron. Several boats belonging to the United States fell into the hands of the British. The loss was sustained by the United States troops, including the surrender of General Hull at Detroit, in August, 1812, and in the battles of Little York, Queenstown,