o. -».r.« .0'' V**^'' ^^* 4 ,H°<. -ov*^ ; ^' V» s • • * .^^ ^^. ^0 ,•10^ "^ov* Jp-n*. > ^ ^^^^ O » A M Cf 4q 4^ t -^.-^^ .^^f « • '^^<>'^' THE PRIDE OF BRITANNIA HUMBLED; OR, THE QUEEN OF THE OCEAN UNQUEEN'D, BY 'THE AMERICAN COCK BOATS," AND *' THE FIR BUILT THINGS, WITH BITS OF STRIPED BUNTING AT THEIR MAST HEADS." (As the Rt. H. Mr. Canning, in the British parliament, called our Frigates.) ILLUSTRATED AND DEMONSTRATED BY FOUR LETTERS ADDRESSED TO LORD LIVERPOOL, ON THE LATE AMERICAN WAR. BY WILLIAM COBBETT, ESQ. To which is added, A GLIMPSE OF THE AMERICAN VICTORIES, On Land, on the Lakes, and on the Ocean. WITH A PERSUASIVE TO POLITICAL MODERATION. Most respectfully addressed to the persons composing- the two great parties in the United States, in g-enerfil, and to the politicians of Connecticut and Mas- sachusetts, in particular. PUBLISHED BY T. BOYLE, OF NEW-YORK; WM REYNOLDS, OF PHILADELPHIA; AND J. CAMPBELL, OF BALTIMORE. 1815. T^l ADVERTISEMENT. THE following letters are worthy to be written in golden capitals, and should be presented to the American youth by their parents and guardians, for their serious investigation, as they exhibit in the clearest manner, the bravery of the American population, and the exjellency of our political in- stitutions, as well as the economy of our Federal govern- ment, especially when contrasted with the enormous expen- ditures of the monarchical governments of Europe. This interesting contrast has a direct tendency to convince even the Anglo-x\merican of the intrinsic value of civil liberty. But all true republicans, whether in the democratic or fede- ral party, will surely read with the greatest pleasure, let- ters (although written by an Englishman in England) which with the strictest truth, pass the highest encomiums on. the American arms and institutions, and which will be read with a pleasurable interest, even by the principal politicians of Europe. This small volume generally, is also calculated to promote the prosperity of these rising states, and to ward off the prelude of their annihilation; namely, party rancour political intolerance, as " United we stand, but divided we fcdl.^^ And it is particularly intended to inspire the Ame- rican youth with an ardent love of virtue, liberty, and inde- pendence, and detestation of monarchy and aristocracy; and to incline the hearts of all parties with sincere gratitude to our legitimate sovereign, the Supreme Being, for his pa- ternal care of the Republic, when danger was so near : and for the restoration of an honourable peace when our politi- cal horizon seemed impregnated with impending storms. LETTER I. TO THE EAUL OF LIVERPOOL, ON THE AMERICAN WAR, Botleij.JS'^uv. 24, 1814. My Lord — From the report of your speech on vhe 8th inst. it appears very clearly that your Lord- ship is, by the reporter, made to entertain an opin- ion, that the divisions amongst the American people are already such, that we may rationally hope, by a continuation of the war, to produce a compliance with any co?iditions, or an overthrow of the union, in which union alone consists the strength and prospect of future greatness in that rising and fast growing republic. — The words, as given in the report of your speech, were these : '' He, (the earl of Liverpool) had seen much stronger justifications of the conduct of our forces at Washington, which had been published in America, than any that had been published even in this country. Not only were they not more hostile to us, but the reverse was the case. In places even where tlie British arms had been successful, the people had shown themselves^in our flivor, and had seemed well dis- posed to put themselves under our protection." — Your lordship is not singular in your opinion, if it , be your opinion. It is the general opinion in this country. How that opinion had been created and kept alive, 1 will not now inquire. The yneans made jise of for this purpose, the *' most thinking peo- ( 4 ) pie" know nothing of. They have opinions fur- nished them by others as regularly as soldiers or sai- lors are served with rations. The lower class are, from their poverty, wholly without the pale of infor- mation, true or false, and appear to know and care as little about the acts of the government, and the state of public affairs, as the earth, or any other sub- stance, on which they expend their time and their physical force. The middle class are so incessant- ly employed in pursuit of the means of keeping themselves from the horrors of pauperism, that they have no time for discussion or inquiry. Many per- sons, in this class of life, have asked me, whether the Americans could speak English, Few men in the higher ranks of life know any thing worth spea- king of, with regard to the American republic, a na- tion nearly equal in population to Great Britain, and inhabited, as we now feel, by men full as enterpri- zing and as brave as our own soldiers and sailors. Even the writers who have fanned the flame of this bloody war, know nothing at all about the real state of America ; for, though they have no desire to promulgate truth ; though it is their trade to de- ceive and cheat the people, they show, by their statements, that they are ignorant of facts, which, if they knew them, would make them able to deceive with less exposure to detection. This being the case, it is no wonder that the whole nation is in a state of error, as to this matter of primary importance. On the day when the news reached the country, re- lative to the capture of the city of Washington, I happened to call, on my way homewards from Sus- sex, at the house of a gentleman, who was as likely to be as well informed as any other gentleman in the country, as to this or any other political matter. The following was the dialogue, wherein I shall exhibit ( 5 ) the gentleman and his good wife under the name of Friend. Mrs. Friend, Well, Mr. Cobbett, we shall soon get rid of the income tax, [for so it is called in the country] noxv. Mr. Cobbett, Shall we, Madam ? I am very glad to hear it. It will enable me to get a better horse for my gig. — [_She had just been laughing at my scurvy equipage.'] — But, whyiiow, Madam? What has happened to excite such a cheering hope ? Mrs. Friend, Why, have you not heard the 7iews ? Mr. Cobbett. No. Mr. Friend, We have taken the capital of Ame- rica. Mrs. Friend. And the cowardly dogs, to the amount of 9,000 men, ran away before 1,500 of our soldiers. Mr. Friend. President and all ran away ! — No- body knows where they went to, and the people were ready to submit to us all over the country. Mrs. Friend. Cowardly dogs ! Not stand to fight a moment for their capital. They are a pretty na- tion to go to war with England ! Mr. Friend. They ran away like a great flock of South Down sheep before a pack of hounds. Mrs. Friend. The cowardly creatures will never dare show their faces again. What can you say for these Americans now ? Mr. Cobbett, Why, I say, that ^you appear to know no more about them than about the people said to be in the moon. Let me look at the paper. \_It lays before her on the table,] Mrs. Friend, No; we must tell it you. It is too long for you to sit and read to yourself. Mr. Cobbett, Well ; now mind, I tell you, that, A 2 ( 6 ) instead of putting an end to the war, this event will tend to prolong it ; and, mind, I tell you, that un- less xve give tip what we contend for, the war will be of many years duration, and will be as expensive and more bloody tlian the war in Europe has been. Mr. Friend. We give up to such cowards as the Americans ! Mr. Cohhett. I do not mean to give up either ter- ritory or honour, I mean give up the point in dis- pute ; ov^ raih^v, o\xx present apparent object. The Americans, like other people, cannot meet discipli- ned armies, until they have time to organize and dis- cipline themselves. But, the Americans are not cowards. Madam. Their seamen have proved that ; and, what I fear is, that a continuance of the war will make the proof clearer and clearer every day, by land as well as by sea ; and, I am noxv more than ever afraid of a long continuation of the war ; be- cause, if such people as you seriously think that we are able to conquer America, I can have no reason to hope than any part of the nation remains unde- ceived. Mr. Friend. But, do you not think that the states will divide ? Mr. Cohhett. Certainly not. Mr. Friend. No ! Mr. Cohhett. No. And I should be glad to know tvhat are yt)ur reasons for believing that they will divide. If you will give me any reasons for your belief, I will give you mine for a contrary belief. Do you think, madam, that the people of America are weary of living for thirty years widiout an in- come tax ? Mr. Friend. I have no reasons of my own about the matter. We see, in all our papers^ that the Americans are a very divided people. They say i}:iat they cannot long hold together. ( ^ } Mr. Cobbett. And do you really believe what these corrupted vagabonds put into their columns ? You believe, then, of course, that '' the American navy would be swept from the face of the ocean in a month ;'^ for so they told you. — ^Yet, how differ- ent has been the events ! No, no : the Americans are not coxvards, madam. Mrs. Friend, Have you had such heaps of le- mons this year as you used to have ? Such was, as nearly as I can recollect, the dia- logue on this occasion ; and, as I am sure, that the war is continued in the hope, on the part of the na- tmi^ at least, of deriving success from a breaking tip of the union in America, which I am thorough- ly persuaded we shall not effect, or see take place, I will endeavour to shew, that this, my persuasion, rests on good grounds ; and, if I succeed in this endeavour, I shall not yet abandon the liope, to which my heart clings, of seeing peace speedily res- tored between the two countries, upon terms not injurious to the interest or character of either. In turning back, now, to the reported speech of your lordship I perceive, and I perceive it with regret, that you are, by the reporter, made to found your opinionof the Americans' disaffection to their govern- ment, and of their attachment to our king, in part, upon their having treated our officers, prisoners of war, with great liberality and kindness. I noticed this in my last number. I challenged any one to shew the instance, in which they had ever behaved cruell}^ to prisoners of war. I cited the memorable case of Mr. (now Sir Charles) Asgyll^ and I appeal- ed to their uniform conduct, during the present war, including the instances of commodores Bain- bridge and Perry, But as the conduct of the for- mer, in this respect, has been most basely slandered ( 8 ) in some of our public prints, I will be somewhat more particular as to both instances, adding that of capt. Lcavreiice, Commodore Bainbridge captured the Java, off St. Salvadore, on the 29th*of December, 1812. — His frigate, the Constitution, carried 44 guns, and ours 49 guns, according to the American accounts. Ours, he says, had upwards of 400 men on board. The repubhcans killed 60 and wounded 170 of our officers and men, and had themselves 9 killed and 25 wounded. After the battle, at their pressing re- quest, commodore Bainbridge paroled them alL The Java had on board lieutenant general Hislop and his staff, together with several supernumerary offi- cers and men. The following letter of general Hislop to commodore Bainbridge will best speak for the latter : *' Dear Sir — I am justly penetrated with the full- est sense of your very handsome and kind treat- ment, ever since the fate of war placed me in your power, and I beg once more to renew to you my sincerest acknowledo-ments for the same. Your acquiescence with my request in granting me my pa- role, with the officers of my staff, added to the ob- ligation I had previous experienced, claims from me this additional tribute of my thanks. May I now finally flatter myself, that in the further exten- sion of your generous and humane feelings, in the alleviation of the misfortunes of war, that you will have the goodness to fulfil the only wish and re- quest I am now most anxious to see completed, by enlarging on their parole (on the same conditions you have acceded to wuth respect to myself) all the officers of the Java, still on board your ship — a fa- vour I never shall cease duly to appreciate by your acquiescence thereto — ( 9 ) " I have the honour to subscribe myself, dear sir, your much obliged and very humble servant." The request was instantly complied with. — Men and all were released upon parole. In the case of com. Perry, the battle was fought on Lake Erie, on the 10th Sept. 1813. With vessels, carrying alto- gether 54 guns, he not only defeated, but captured the whole of our fleet, six vessels, carrying 65 guns as he stated in his ofticial report ; which report, by the bye, fully justifies our admiralty as to Lake Erie. I take the following paragraph from his report to his government upon this occasion : " I also beg your instructions respecting the wounded. I am satisfied. Sir, that whatever steps I might take^ governed by humanity^ would meet your approbation. Under this impression, I have taken upon myself to promise capt. Barclay, who is very dangerously wounded, that he shall be landed as near Lake Ontario as possible, and I had no doubt youvvouid allow me to parole him. He is under the impression that nothing but leaving this part of the country will save his life. There are also a number of Canadians among the prisoners, many %vho have families, ' ' Capt. Lawrence, in the brig Hornet, attacked and sunk, in fifteen minutes, our brig, the Peacock, killing between thirty and forty of our men, while the Hornet had only one man killed and two wound- ed, — Thus says the American report. Ours I have not at hand. Then comes the following letter : New-York, 21th March, 1813. ^ *' Sir — We, the surviving officers of his Britan- nic Majesty's late brig Peacock, beg leave to return you our grateful acknowledgments for the kind at- tention and hospitality we experienced during the time we remained on board the United States' sloop ( 10 ) Hornet. So much was done to alleviate the dis- tressing and uncomfortable situation in which we were placed, when received on board the sloop you command, that we cannot better express our feel- ings than by saying, *^ JVe ceased to consider our- selves prisoners ;^^ and every thing that friendship could dictate was adopted by you, and the officers of the Hornet, to remedy the inconvenience we would otherwise have experienced from the una- voidable loss of the whole of our property and clothes by the sudden sinking of the Peacock, Per- mit us, then, sir, impressed, as we are, with a grate- ful sense of your kindness, for ourselves and the other officers and ship's company, to return you and the officers of the Hornet our sincere thanks, Avhich we shall feel obliged if you will communi- cate to them in our name ; and believe us to remam, with a high sense of the kind offices you have ren- dered us, your humble servants — F A. Wright, 1st lieutenant ; C. Lambert, 2d lieutenant ; Ed- ward Lott, master; J. Whitaker, surgeon; F. Donnithrone Unwin, purser. James Lawrence, esq. commarider U» S. sloop Hornet, ^^ The American papers added, upon this occasion, the following: — " It is a fact worthy of note, and in the highest degree honourable to our brave tars, that on the day succeeding the destruction of his Britannic Majesty's brig Peacock, the crew of the Hornet made a subscription and supplied the pri- soners (who had lost almost every thing) with two shirts, a bluejacket and trowsers, each." Now, my lord, without going into more particu- lars, let me ask you, whether you think that this conduct towards our officers was the effect of dis- affiction towards their own government, of disap- probation of its conduct, of a hatred of the war, and C 11 ) of " a disposition to put themselves under our pro- tection ?" And, if you answer in the negative, as you must, I suppose, why do you think, that the humane treatment of our officers elsewhere indi- cates such a disposition ? Does your lordship see no possible danger in drawing such an inference ? Do you think, that it is wholly out of all belief, that your being reported to have drawn such an inference may render the treatment of our officers, prisoners of war, less humane and kind in future ? — Seeing that a disposition in an American citizen to put himself under the protection of our king is a disposition to commit treason^ in the eye of the laws of his country, would it be so very surprising if, in future, the Americans should be very cautious how they exposed themselves to the merit of such a compliment ? I must, however, do your lordship the justice to observe here, that what the proprietors of our newspapers have published as your speech^ might never have been uttered by you. — I would fain hope, that they have, in this case, put forth, under your name, the suggestions of their own mind. I, therefore, comment on the thing as theirs and not as yours. In order to show that there is no foundation for the hope entertained by people here, and so often expressed by our newspapers, of dividing the repub- lic of America^ I must go into a history of the par- ties which exist in that republic ; give an account of their origin and progress, and describe their present temper and relative force. — The population are di- vided into two parties ; the republicans and fe- deralists. The latter also claim the title oi re- publicans^ but it is, and I think we shall find, with justice, denied to them by the former. These two parties have, in fact, existed ever since the close of the revolutionary war, though their an- ( 12 ) imosities have never appeared to be so great, nor to threaten such serious consequences as since the commencement of the French revolution, especially since the first presidency of Mr. Jefferson, whose exaltation to the chair, was the proof of decided tri- umph on the part of the republicans, and plunged their opponents into a state of desperation. "Yht federalists took their name from the general government, which htmg federative^ was called j^- deral. Some of the people, as well as some of the members of the convention who formed the constitu- tion, were for the new general government, and some w^ere against it. Those who were against it, and who were for a government of a still more democratical form, were called, at first, antifederalists — but, of late, they have been called republicans, in opposition to the federalists, who were for a government of an aristocratical, if not of nearly a kingly form, and who proposed, in the convention, a president and senate for life. There was at this time a great struggle be- tween the parties — the opposition of the republicans spoiled the projects of the federalists ; and the go- vernment was, at last, of a form and nature, which was wholly pleasing to neither, but did not on the other hand greatly displease either. The federalists, however, took the whole credit to themselves of having formed the government ; and, as general Washington, who had been presi- dent of the convention, and was decidedly for a fe- derative general government, was elected the presi- dent under the new constitution, the federalists at once assumed, that they were the only persons who had any right or title to have any thing to do with that government, treating their o]3ponents as persons necessarily hostile to, and, of course, unfit to be en- trusted with, the carrying on of tlie federal govern- ment. ( 13 ) When the first congress met, under the new con- stitution, it was clear, that the federaHsts endeavored to do, by degrees, that which they had not been able to accomplish, all at once, in the convention. They proposed to address the president by the title of his serene highness, and to introduce other forms and trappings of royalty, or, at least, of a high aristocra- cy. Their intention was defeated to their inexpres- sible mortification. The people were shocked at these attempts ; and, from that moment, the oppo- site party seem to have gained ground in the confi- dence of the people, who abhorred the idea of any thing that bore a resemblance to kingly government or that seemed to make the slightest approach to- wards hereditary ov family rule. When the French revolution broke out ; when that great nation declared itself a republic, and went even further than America had gone in the road of democracy, the two parties took their different sides. Heats and animosities were revived. While gene- ral Washington remained president, however, he ac- ted widi so much caution and moderation, that it was difficult for any one openly to censure him. He was blamed by both parties. One wished him to take part with France, the other with England. He did neither, and upon the whole he left no party any good reason to complain of him. But when Mr. Adams, who was a native of Massachusetts, where the federal party was in great force, became presi- dent, be certainly did, yielding to the counsels of weak and violent men, push things very nearly to an offensive and defensive alliance with us. The vio- lent and unjust proceedings of the French govern- ment furnished a pretext for raising an army^ which was, for some time, kept on foot in time of peace ^ in the very teeth of the constitution. A sedition bill B C 14 ) was passed, with power of sending aliens out of the country ; and many other things were done, in the heat of the moment, which Mr. Adams, had he not been surrounded by the Massachusetts federahsts, never would have thought of, being a republican at heart, and a real friend to the liberties of his coun- try. Mr. Adams's presidency ended in March, 1800. He was proposed to be re-elected ; but he lost his election, and the choice fell upon Mr. Jefferson, who had always been deemed the head of the republican party. The truth is, that the people were republi- cans. Every thing had been tried ; threats, alarms, religion, all sorts of schemes ; but they took alarm at nothing but the attempts upon their liberty, and they hurled down the party who had made those at- tempts. Since that time, the government has been in the hands of the republicans. Mr. Jefferson was president for eight years, Mr. Madison for four years, and is now going on for the second four Years. Your lordship knows, as well as any man upon earth, how fond people are of place ^nd power ; and that no part of any opposition is so bitter and trou- blesome as that part, which consists of men, whose ambitious hopes may have been blasted by their be- ing tur?ied out of place. It now happened, very na- turally, but rather oddly, that the federalists became the opposition to the federal government ; but they still retained, and do retain their title ; though^ real- ly^ they ought to be called, the aristocrats, or roy- alists* This opposition is now, however, chiefly confin- ed to the state of Massachusetts, the state govern- ment of which has even talked dhoxxi separating Jrom the union. Your lordship has heard of a Mr. ( 15 ) Henry, who was, it seems in close consultation and correspondence with the persons holding die reins of government in Massachusetts upon the subject of separation, and who pretended that he was employ- ed by sir James Craig, governor of Canada, for that purpose. Your lordship, I believe, disclaimed \\in\ and his intrigues, and, therefore, I must believe, of course, that he was not employed by our governor. But the people of America have been led to believe, that there must have been something in his story. This state of Massachusetts contains a great number of men of talents ; many rich men, become so chiefly by the purchasing, at a very low rate, of the certificates of soldiers who served in the late war, and by procuring ads of congress to cau^e the sums to be paid in fidl, which, indeed, was thought and openly said, to be their main object in pressing for a federal government with large powers. These men, now disappointed in all their ambitious hopes ; seeing no chance of becoming petty noblemen ; seeing the offices and power of the country pass into other hands, without the smallest probability of their return to themselves, unless they be content to abandon all their high notions of family distinction ; these men have become desperate ; and if I am to judge from their proceedings, would plunge their country into a civil war, rather than }'ield quiet obedience to that very government, which they had been so long in the practice of censuring others for not sufficiently admiring. But, my lord, though there is a majority of voices in Massachusetts o?t OUR side; for on our side they really ARE, there is a thumping minority on the other side : and what is of great importance in the esti- mate, that minority consists of the nerves, the bones, and sinews of the population of the state ; { 16 ) SO that the sum total of our ground of reliaiicCj as to a separation of the states, is the good will of the most numerous but most feeble and inefficient part of the people of the state of Massachusetts ; and even these, I am fully persuaded, are, by this day, awed into silence by the determined attitude of the rest, of the country. The same charges, which our vile newspapers have been preferring against Mr. Madison, have been preferred against him by their serene high- 7iesses of Massachusetts. They have accused him of a devotion to Franee ; they have, in our newspa- per style, called him the " tool of Napoleon ;" they too have dared to assert, that he, made v/ar upon us, without the slightest prdvocation, for the pur- pose of aiding Napoleon in destroying England, '' the hiihvark of their religion.''^ They have held public feasts and rejoicings at the entrance of the Cossacks into France, and at the restoration of the ancient order of things. You will bear in mind, that these people are staunch Presbyterians ; and it ■would amuse your lordship to read the orations, preachings^ and prayers of these people ; to witness their gratitude to Heaven for restoring the Pope, whom they used to call the scarlet whore, the whore of Babylon ; for the re-establishment of the Jesuits ; and for the re- opening of the dungeons, the re^ sharpening of the hooks, and the re -kindling of the flames of the inquisition, — Their opponents, the re- publicans, say, we never were the friends of Napo- leon, as a despot, nor even as an emperor; we ne- ver approved of any of his acts of oppression, either in France or out of France ; we always complained of his acts of injustice towards ourselves ; but he was less hurtful to our country than other powers ; and J as to mankind in general, though we regretted ^ ( 1^ ) to see him with so much power, we feared that that power would be succeeded by something worse ; and we cannot now rejoice, that the pope is restor- ed, that the Jesuits are re-estabHshed, the inquisition re-invigorated ; that monkery is again overspread- ing the face of Europe ; and that the very hope of freedom there seems to be about to be extinguish- ed for ever. And this, your lordship may be assu red, is the language of nineteen-twentieths of the people of America. There are, it is to be observed, federalists in alt the states, which you will easily believe, when you consider how natural it is for men, or at least, how- prone men are, to wish to erect themselves into su- perior classes. As soon as a man has got a great deal of money, he aims at something beyond that. He thirsts for distinctions and tides. His next ob- ject is to hand them down to his family. It will require great watchfulness and great resolution in the Americans to defeat this propensity. You have not leisure for it, or it would amuse you to trace the workings of this would-he nobility in America. They are very shame-faced about it; but they let it peep out through the crannies of their hypocrisy,--- Being defeated, and totally put to the rout in the open field by the general good sense of the people, they have resorted to the most contemptible devi- ces for effecting, by degrees, that which they were unable to carry at a push. They have established what they call ''Benevolent Societies,'^' to which they have prefixed, by way of epithet, or character- istic, the name of Washington. The professed ob- ject of these societies, who have their periodical orations, preachings, prayings, and toastings, was to afford relief to any persons who might be in dis- tress, — The HEAL OBJECT appears to have been B 2 ( i8 ) to enlist idlers and needy persons under their political banners. These little coteries of hypocrites appear to have assembled, as it were, by an unanimous senti- ment, or, rather by instinct, to celebrate the fall of Napoleon, and the restoration of the pope, the Jesuits, and the inquisition. But unfortunately for this af- filiation of hypocrites, they have little or no mate- rials to work upon in America, where a man caft earn a week's subsistence in less time than he can go to apply for and obtain it without work ; and, accordingly, the affiliation seems destined to share the fate of the serene highnesses propositions of 25 years ago. The fall of Napoleon, so far from weakening, will tend to strengthen the general government, in the hands of the republicans. It has deprived its ene- mies of the grand topic of censure ; the main ground of attack. The *' Cossacks y'*'' as they are now some- times called, of Massachusetts, can no longer charge the president with being the " tool of Napoleon''^ — they no longer stand in need of England as " the bulwark of religion y'^'' seeing that they have the pope, the Jesuits, the Benedictines, the Franciscans, the Carthusians, the Dominicans, and above all, the in- ^uisitiony to supply her place in the performance of that godly office. They will no longer, they can no longer, reproach the president for his attachment to France ; for France has now a king^ a legitimate sovereign^ who regularly hears mass. They are now, therefore, put in this dilemma ; they must de- clare openly for England against their country, or, by petty cavilling, must make their opposition con- temptible. The former they dare not do ; and, they are too full of spite not to do the latter. So that their doom, I imagine, is sealed ; and their fall n?ill not be much less complete than that of Napo- ( 19 ) icon himself, with this great difference, however, that his name and the fame of his deeds will des- cend to the latest posterity, while their projects of ennobling themselves at the expense of their coun- try's freedom and happiness, will be forgotten and forgiven before one half of them are eaten by worms. This is my view of the matter. Your lordship will probably think it erroneous ; but, if it prove correct, how long and how bitterly shall we have to deplore the existence of this bloody contest. I am, &c. Wm. COBBETT. [Letter II. has not yet come to hand] LETTER III. TO THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL, ON THE AMERICAN WAR, My Lord — In the American newspapers I have seen an article entitled " British botheration,'^^ in which article are noticed in a most ludicrous, but most provoking manner, all the wise observations made in England as to the cause of our ships being beaten by those of America. — At the close of the article, the writer states what he regards as the real cause, but which statement I will, for my health's sake, refrain from repeating to your lordship. But if this saucy republican gave the title of botheration to our former puzzlings upon this head, what will he say now, when the question is become ten thou- sand times more embroiled than ever? The speech- es attributed to the opposition^ upon this subject, pre- sent matter worthy of public observation. Mr. Hor- ner lays the blame of the failure on the Lakes Erie and Champlain ; he attributes those memorable vic- tories of the Americans, to the ininistry. He com- plains that you and your colleagues left our naval commanders to contend with a vast superiority of force* The American official account in both ca- ses, makes the superiority of the force on our side ; and, as to Lake Champlain, sir George Prevost himself gives us a superiority of seven guns. I am, for my part, at a loss to discover the policy of as- cribing every disgrace to the ministersj and every ( 21 ) success to the commanders. Of its flagrant injus- tice there can be no doubt ; and, it appears to me, that its folly is not much more questionable. Wel- lington was made a duke for his success ; but, ac- cording to the present way of thinking, or of talking, the secretary of the war department should have been made a duke, and Wellington remained what he was ; and the lords of the admiralty should have had all the ribbons, stars, and titles that have been bestowed on naval commanders. If to the com- manders belong the praises of victories : to them also belong upon the face of the matter, the blame of defeat. Much reliance appears to be placed by the oppo- sition, on the circumstance of captain Barclay hav- ing been honourably acquitted by a court martial. For, say they, if he was provided with a force equal to that of the Americans, he must have been guilty ; and if he was not, the ministers are to blame. They take the sentence of the court martial, therefore, as a proof of the guilt of the ministers. But is it not very evident that this conclusion is false ? Captain Barclay might be as brave a man as ever existed : he might have acted with wisdom equal to his bra- very ; he might have had a superiority of guns and men ; he might have been defeated ; yet he might be perfectly free from any blame, and might, on the contrary, merit honours and rewards, still the admi- ralty might deserve no censure whatever. The Americans might have abler seamen ; they might, from their superior bodily strength and agility, be able to fire quicker than we ; they might fight with an unheard degree of resolution and eagerness ; they might be animated by feelings unknown to the bosoms of their adversaries. What ! is it to be- come a maxim, that whenever one of our comman- ( 2^ ) ders is defeated, there must be a cn;;26> either in him or in the ministry ? Must he be punished or they condemned ? Must he be their accuser, or they be his accusers? This would soon introduce a very amicable sort of connection between the comman- ders and the ministry. The truth is, my lord, that there is a degree of mortification and of shame at- tached to these naval victories of the Americans, that drives men, and particularly naval men, who have all the mass of the people with them, to all sorts of follies and inconsistencies. They do not know what to say or to do, in order to get rid of this insupportable mortification. Sometimes John- ny Bull says to Jonathan, ** you have got some Eng- lish sailors in your ships" — " May be so," says Jo- nathan, " but you have got all English sailors in your ships" — *' Aye," replies John, ^' but you have got the best of our sailors," " may be so," says Jo- nathan, " but then how comes the best of your sai- lors to desert from your service to come into mine?" ** No, no!" rejoins John hastily, " 1 don't mean the best men ; I mean they fight more desperately than those we have on board, because the rascals know that if they are taken they will be hanged^'' — " Oh fie ! Johnny," rejoins Jonathan, " do you think that Englishmen will fight better from a dread of the gallows, than from a love of their king and glorious constitution ?" '' No," says John, *' I said no such thing. You have got heavier shot, and stronger powder, and more gu7js, and more men^ — " Indeed Johnny," says Jonathan, *' why I am sure yon pay enough for your ships, shot, guns, men, and pow- der. Your navy and ordnance, last year, cost you twenty-five millions sterling, which is more than twenty times as much as ours is to cost us ?iext year^ though we are building fleets and forming ( 23 ) dock-yards, besides defending, lakes and all, three thousand miles of sea coast." — ** Well," says John, ready to burst with anger, '' what is that to you, what I pay ? I will pay it, if I like to pay it" — *' Oh dear!*' ,says Jonathan, " don't be angry old friend, I have not the least objection to your pay- ing : only, I hope I shall not hear any more about the property tax^^ — " You are a saucy scoundrel," says John, foaming with rage ; " you deserve a good drubbing, you Yankee dog, and you will get it yet — and, at any rate, if I pay taxes, I'll make you pay taxes too. If I am miserable myself, I'll make you unhappy, if I can." It is to this mortification my lord, that you have to ascribe the attacks of the newspapers on the na- val administration, which really appears to me to have done rnore in Canada than could have been expected at their hands. You see that the opposition here are supported by the country, who will blame you, blame sir George Prevost, blame our powder, shot, ship, gun-locks ; blame any person or thing ; blame and execrate all the world, rather than acknow- ledge that the republicans are, gun to gun and man to man, our masters upon the sea. Far be it from me to censure a reluctance to come to such an acknow- ledgment. The reluctance arises from a love of one of the best professions of one's country, name- ly, its fame in deeds of arms. — But, then, it is ma- nifest, that this patriotic feeling, if not subjected to reason and enlightened views, may be productive of great injustice towards commanders, or ministers, or both ; and may expose the nation to great and lasting misery. The opposition are feeding this feeling — -They ascribe every failure to you and your colleagues ; and they studiously keep out of sight the real cause of those flulures — They justify ( 24 ) the war on our part ; they fan the flame j they ex- cite false hopes of future success ; thc}^ say to the people, we have failed hitherto from the fault of the ministry ; and thereby, they cause it to be believed, that better may be done for the future, without any radical change in our political and naval systems ; and, in doing so, they do, in my opinion, as great an injury as they can possibly do the country. Next to the ministry comes sir George Prevost. Mr. Horner did not know which was to blame, the ministry or the colonial governor. — The fleet had been beat and captured, and Mr. Horner was sure that it must have been owing to something other than the fleet itself, or at least its commrnders. It never could be their fault. Men who fought two hours and twenty minutes within a few yards of the mouths of the opposing cannon, and whose vessels had not a mast or any thing standing to which a sail could be fastened. Such men could not be m fault. They fought most bravely. They were overpow- ered. They lost their fleet, but ungrateful is the country, and base the man, who insinuates that they ought to have done more. They could do no more. If they had continued to fight, they must have been all blown to pieces, without the power of resistance. No : it was not the fault of the offi- cers of our fleet ; it was the fault of the Yankees^ for being so strong in body, so agile, so dexterous, and so determined. Mr Horner should have made a motion against them. Suppose he were, next time, to make a motion for prosecuting them ? If we could get at them in that way, it would soon be- numb their fiicuhies. " Aye," say^the people about Portsmouth and Gosport, '* it is time an inquiry was made ! it is a shame that sir George Prtvost is not brought home and punished^ I assure your ( 25 ) lordship that this is their language ; and they will be quite outrageous when they find that he is not to be punished ; but, on the contrary, is to remain where he is. There is no one hereabouts who does not think that sir James Yeo's letter to the lords of the admiralty is 2^ finisher for sir George. To such a pitch of folly has the nation been push- ed by their notions of the invincibility of the navy, that a captain in that service is looked upon as the absolute arbiter of the fate of a lieutenant general oi the army, and the governor of a province^ under whose command he is sei'ving. Sensible men were disgusted at the arrogance of sir James Yeo's letter ; but it was well suited to the capacities and tastes of those who sing, or listen to Dibdin's nauseous trash about the fleet and sailors. Upon the heads of those who demand these inquiries and exposures^ be the consequences. These consequences will be clear proof, that our naval officers had a sufficiency of force upon both the occasions alluded' to, and that they were to blame, if any body was, for their defeats. Sir George Prevost will never suffer him- self to be regarded as the cause of these calamities and disgraces ; and I am very sure that the minis- try, having the power, will not neglect the means of justifying themselves. So that ail this stir will on- ly tend to make the mortification of the navy great- er than it now is ; the prejudices of the nation will only receive the greater shock ; and the world will only have completer proof of those very facts which we are so anxious to di^^uise or disfigure. It was observed during die debate that though our ships of war w^ere quite sufficiently provided with the means of *' combatting an ordinary foe, they ought to have been fitted out in an extraordinary way to combat such a foe as the Americaiis /'' But sup- - c ( 26 ) pose t!ie admiralty not to have fitted them out in this extraordinary way ? Were they to blame for that ? Was there a man in the country who did not despise the American navy ? Was there a pub- lic writer besides myself, who did not doom that navy to destruction in a month ? Did not all par- ties exceedingly relish the description given in a very august assembly, of '*half a dozen o^ fir fri- gates, with bits of striped bunting at their mast- heads?" Did not the Guerriere sail up and down the American coast, with her name written on her flag, challenging those fir frigates ? Did not the whole nation, with one voice, exclaim at the affair of the Little Belt — " Only let Rodgerseome with- in reach of one of oiu\ frigates .^" If, then, such was the opinion of the whole na- tion, of all men of all parties ; with what justice is the board of admiralty blamed for not thinking otherwise ; for not sending out the means of com- batting an extraordinar'y sort of foe ; for not issu- ing a privilege to our frigates to run away from one of those fir built things with a bit of striped bunting at its mast head? It has always been the misfor- tune of England that her rulers and her people have spoken and have thought contemptuously of the Americans. Your lordship and I were boys, and indeed not born, or at least I was not, when our king first was involved in a quarrel with the Ame- ricans — but almost as long as I can remember any thing, I can remember that this contempt was ex- pressed in the songs and sayings of the clodhop- pers amongst whom I was born and bred ; in doing which we conducted, down to the earth that we delved, the sentiments of the squires and lords. — The result of the former war, while it enlightened nobody, added to the vindictiveness of hundreds of ( 2r ) thousands; so that we have entered into this war with all our old stock of contempt c\n^ a vastly in- creased stock of rancour. To think that the Ame- rican republic is to be 2^ great pcyiver is insupporta- ble. Some men, in order to keep her down, in their language, and at the same time, not to use harsh expressions, observe that she is only another part of ourselves. They wish her to be thought, if not dependent upon us, still to be a sort of younger child of our family, coming in after Ireland^ Jamai- ca, &c. I met a worthy Scots gentleman, a month or two ago, who wished tb.at some man of ability would propose a sclieme that he had, and without which, he said, xve xvould never have peace again, '* Well sir (said I) and pray what is your scheme ?" "Why (said he) it is very simple — It is to form an Union with the American states." It was raining, and I v/anted to g:et on ; so that I had not time to ascer- tain what sort of union he meant. This gentleman, however, was remarkably moderate in his views. The far greater part of the nation expect absolute colonial submission ; and if our fleets and armies should not finally succeed in bringing a property tax from America into his majesty's exchequer, the far greater part of the people will be most grievously disappointed. So that this contempt of the Yan- kees has given your lordship and your colleagues a good deal to do in order to satisfy the hopes and ex- pectations which have been excited, and which, I assure you, are confidently entertained. Of the ef- fect of this contempt I know nobody, however, who have so much reason to repent as the officers of his majesty's navy. If they had triumphed, it w^ould only have been over half a dozen of fir frigates, with bits of bunting at their mast heads. They were sure to gain no reputation in the contest ; and if ( 28 ) they were defeated, what was their lot ? The worst of it is, they themselves did, in some measure, con- tribute to their own ill fate : for of all men living, none spoke of " poor Jonathan" with so much con- tempt. To read thtir letters, or the letters which our newspaper people pretend to have received from them at the onset of the war, one would have thought that they would hardly have condescended to return a shot from a bunting ship. And now to see that bit of bunting Jiying so often over the J^ri- tishfag I Oh ! it is stinging beyond expression. The people in the country cannot think how it is. — There are some people who are for taking the Ame- rican commodores at their word, ascribing their vic- tories to the immedicite intervention of Providence. Both Perry and M'Donough begin their despatches by saying — " Almighty God has given us a victo- ry," Some of their clergy upon this ground alone, call them Christian heroes, and compare them to Joshua, who, by the bye, was a Jew. I observe that when any of them get beaten, they say nothing about supernatural agency ; yet there is still a vic- tory on one side or the other ; and if they ascribe their victories to such agency, why not ascribe our victories, and, of course their own defeats, to this same overruling cause? If Mr. Madison had told the congress that " Almighty God had been plea- sed to enable the enemy to burn their capital," how they would have stared at him ! Yet, surely, he might have said that with as much reason as com- modore M*Donough ascribed his victory to such interposition. If commodore Perry, who captured our fleet on Lake Erie, had been met at New York with looks of perfect indiftbrence, instead of being feasted and toasted as he was, and had been told that the cause of this, was, that he had gained no victo- ry, even according to his own official account — how t 29 ) silly he would have looked ! And yet he could have no reason to complain. I perceive also many other instances of this aping propensity in the Americans. It is the " honour- able William Jones, secretary of the navy ;" the '* honourable the mayor of New- York ;" '■'• his hon- our the chief justice;*" and even the members of congress call one another " honourable ^Qwii^mf^n^'' and their " honourable friends." — 1 was not till of late aware, that this sickly taste was become so pre- valent in America. This is indeed contemptible and England will have, in a few years, a much bet- ter ground of reliance for success, in this change of national character in America, than in the force of our arms. When once the hankering after titles becomes general in that country ; when once rich- es will have produced that effect, the country will become an easy prey to an old, compact, and easily wielded government like ours. When men find that they cannot obtain titles under the form of go- vernment now existing, they will as soon as they have the opportunity, sell the country itself to any sovereign, who will gratify their base ambition. This is i\\t_slow poison that is at work on the Ame- rican constitution. It will proceed, unless speedily checked, to the utter destruction of that which it has assailed. Our best way is to make peace with them now, and leave this poison to work. By the time they get to '' right honourable,'' we shaft be ready to receive their allegiance. Wlien the bit of bunting comes to be exchanged for some sort of armorial thing, the fellows who now '' fight like blood-thirs- ty savages," as our papers say, will become as tame and as timid as sheep. [Letter IV. has not yet come to hand." c 2 LETTER V. TO THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL, ON THE AMERICAN WAR, My Lord — The nation begin to suspect, at last, that this American war may prove an unfortunate thing. If your lordsliip recollects, I taunted John- ny Bull, flouted him and gibed, when, at the out- set of this war, he crowed and cock-cock-caw'd, at the idea of giving the Yankees a good drubbing. — If your lordship recollects that I flouted wise John, and told him, that, at any rate, I hoped, if he was resolved to enjoy this sport, he would never let me hear him say a word about the property/ tax^ or, what he vulgarly calls the income tax, I knew, from the beginning, that I should see him galled here. I knew that I should have him upon his hip : and here I have him, for he is now crying out against the tax^ as loud as a pig under the knife of a butcher, though he, at the same time, seems to have no objection to the work of slaughtering go- ing on. In short, so that he is safe himself, and pays nothing, his delight is in seeing the war deso- late the rest of the world. But he does not like to pay. Rather than pay, he would give the world a chance of being at peace, and of ceasing to bleed. That so amiable a personage should meet with any rubs or crosses in life must, of course, be mat- ter of regret with his friends, and must remind them of the maxim, that, as virtue alone is not, in all ( SI ) cases, sufficient to inspire happiness in this world, the virtuous afflicted ought chiefly to rely on the world to come. This sort of reHance is very suit- able to Johnny, at this time ; for he has not given the Yankees a drubbing ; and yet the income tax sticks to him like bird lime. The Times newspa- per cheers him, indeed, by telling him, that he is causi?ig the Yankees to pay taxes ; that, though he so sorely feels himself, he does not suffer in vain ; for that he is -makifig others suffer too. To be sure, this is a consoling reflection ; but still it is not quite sufficient to reconcile him to the contin- uation of the income tax, seeing that, when called on for the money, he sometimes forgets the delight of seeing others suffer, which he has enjoyed for his money. But now, my lord, leaving wise Johnny, amiable and honest Johnny, to his taxes and his hopes of giving the Yankees a drubbing, permit me to re- mind your lordship, briefly, of the origin of this war ; for, if I have life to the end of it, this origin shall not be forgotten. It is necessary, at every stage, to keep it steadily in view : for, unless we do this, we shall be wholly '' bothered'' out of it at last, as we were in the case of the French war. The war against France was a war against priji- ciples at first ; it then became a war of conquest ; and it ended in being a war for deliverance. We set out with accusing our enemy with being dan- gerous, as disorganizers of ancient governments ; and we ended with accusing them of being danger- ous, as despots. The French were too free for us at the beginning, and too much enslaved for us at the end ; and it was so contrived as to make more than half the world believe that the Cossacks were the great champions of civil and political liberty. ( 32 ) So, that, when we came to the close, leaving the French nearly as we found them, not seeing tythes, monks, game-laws, gabelles, corvess, bastiles, seig- neurial courts re-established, we had spent more than a thousand millions oj" pounds in a war, of the, first object of which we had wholly lost sight. We will not have it thus, my lord, with regard to the American war. We will not suffer its first object to be lost sight of. Nobody, as to this point, shall be able to " bother^'* any historian who is disposed to speak the truth. The war with America arose thus-^We were at war with France, America was neutral. We not only exercised our known right of stopping \me- rican merchant ships at sea, to search them for enemy'' s goods, for troops in the enemy'' s service, and for goods contraband of war, which species of search, and of seizure in case of detection, Mr. Madison did not oppose either by word or deed. This is a maritime right, sometimes disputed by Russia, Holland, Deimiark, and Sweden ; but never given up by us, except for a while, at a time of great danger. This right was never disputed by Mr. Madison during the French war. The exercise of it he submitted to without compliiint. This was our '' right of search ;" and this right was enjoyed by us, without any complaint on his part ; and this is the right which many people think he opposed, and upon that ground they have approved the war. But the war had nothing to do with this right, any more than it had to do with our right of bring- ing coals from Newcastle to London. The war was declared by Mr. Madison against us, because we stopped American merchant ships upon the high seas, and impressed people out of them. We said, tliat we did this in order to recover &ur own ( 23 ) seamen, who were frequently found serving in these American ships ; but it was notorious, the fact was never denied, and never can be denied, that we im- pressed thus, great numbers of native Americans^ forced them on board of our ships of war, and cotn- pelled them to submit to our discipline, and to risk their lives in fighting for us. These are facts which can never be denied. Mr. Madison, for 3^ears, cal- led upon us to cease this practice. We did not cease. He repeatedly threatened war if we perse- vered. We did persevere ; and, after years of re- monstrance, he, or rather the two houses of con- gress, the real representatives of the people of Ame- rica, declared war against us. Here then, is the cause of the war ; the sole cause of the war ; war, long threatened, and, at last, frank- ly declared, previous to any hostile act or move- ment on the part of Mr. Madison, or rather the con- gress. For, my lord, though Johnny Bull, though wise Johnny, whose generosity w^ouid put all other nations into his own happy state ; though wise and generous John talks about Mr. Madison's hostil- ity, it is, in fact, the hostility of the congress ; that is to say, the hostility of the people : because the congress are the real and not the sham representa- tives of the people ; and because the congress, who declared, and who now support the war, have been chosen during the war, and just before it. The mem- bers of the congress do not purchase their seats ; no seats can be bought or sold ; none of the members can get any thing for themselves or families for their votes. So that when they decide, it is, in reality, a majority of the people who decide ; and, the peo- ple did decide, that they would resist, hy force of arms^ the impressment of their seamen. ( 34 ) The people here generally believe what the infa- mous print, the Tfwd'^ newspaper tell them, that the people of America never complained of such im- pressments ; but the truth is, that long before, ijears before, the war was declared, complaints, and most bitter complaints, had rung through the country, against these impressments. Letters from the im- pressed persons were published without end. Affi- davits proving the fact. Representations enough to make a nation mad with resentment ; enough to drive even quakers to arms. None of these have our newspapers ever copied. None of these have they ever made known to their readers. They have published the harangues of Goodloe Harper, H. G. Otis, poor Timothy Pickering, and other would-be noblesse. They have given us every thing from the free press of America, at all calculated to cause it to be believed, that the war is unpopular there ; but not a word on the other side ; not a word to let us see what were the real sentiments of the majori- ty of the republic. I will now lay before your lordship some of the complaints of the impressed Americans, as published in the American newspa- pers ; for, I am convinced, that even you are not acquainted fully of the nature and tone of those complaints, and, at any rate, the publications should, if possible, be rebutted on our part, see- ing, that they must produce such a hatred of us in the minds of the people of America, as will, if not by some means mollified, lead to a never ceasing hostility. Your lordship will perceive, that these statements are sent forth with all the forms of judi- cial acts ; that they consist of statements made on oath ; that these statements are certified by legal magistrates, whose names are affixed to them ; and that, of course, they are calculated to have great • ( 35 ) weight with the public. It is not a bad way t ©bserves, " that when an American gentleman of splendid attainments^ some years ago, composed his celebrated review of the conscription code of that monster Bonaparte^ he could not possibly foresee, that his own country would so soon be subjected to the same barbarous humiliation,^^ This gentle- man of " splendid attainments^^"* was a Mr. Walsh, of Philadelphia, who, having been in France, came over to England, where, under the patronage of the friends of bribery and corruption, he wrote and pub- lished a pamphlet, calculated to aid their views. . This pamphlet clearly shewed that the author was one of those Americans, who, by the vain splendor that they here behold, and by the hope of sharing in it, have been induced to apostatise from the prin- ciples of their own republican government. This young man, whose work was really a very poor per- formance, abounding with inconsistencies, and, in- deed, with downright falsehoods, had his head turn- ed by the flatteries of the hireling writers and re- viewers here : and I should not wonder if his work acquired him the unspeakable felicity of hearing, that even his name was mentioned in a conversation between two lords. The great recommendation of the work was, that it was 7iot the work of an Eiig- lishman. No ; it was said, the work of an American^ who, of course^ was a friend of the French, and not at all disposed to exaggerate in describing their mi- scry. This was the fraudulent color under which the work got into circulation. Mr. Walsh was a tool in the hands of crafty men, who dazzled him with praises. But now as to the resemblance between Mr, Monroe's measure and the conscription of Napo- leon : ( 50 ) 1st. The French conscription was decreed by an arbitrary despot, assisted by an assembly whom the people had not chosen. The levy in America is or- dered by a law, passed by the congress, who are the real and not the sham representatives of the people ; who have recently been freely chosen by the peo- ple ; and who, if they desire to be re-elected, must act so as to please the people, the time of their re- election being near at hand. 2d. The French conscript was called out to fight for the support and aggrandizement o{ a particular famihf, and for the support also of nobles in the pos- ^session of their titles and estates. It was the honor of the crown that the Frenchman was called on to fio-ht for, and that, too, in distant lands. The Ame- rican citizen is called out to defend no sovereign family, no crown, no nobles, to give no security and to ^am no renown for them, or any of them ; but to fie-ht for the safety, liberty, and honor of a country Where there are no distinctions of rank, and where, ot course, every individual lights, when he does fight, in his oivn cause as much as in the cause of the president himself. ^ „ , ^ 7 3d. The French conscription compelled /^^T^owff/ service The American levy contains no such com- pulsion. Every twenty-five men, between the ages oi 18 and 45, are to fiirnish one man. It no one ot the twenty-five will serve in person, the whole twen- ty-five together, are, according to their property, to pay a certain sum of money. 4th The French conscript, while he left, per- haps, an aged father or mother at home living in penury, was fighting for an emperor, whose wife carried about her person, at the nation sexpence decorations, which cost as much as vvould have fed thousands of families for a year. The American le- { 51 ) vyman knows, that his government, all taken to- ti;ether, president, congress, judges, secretaries, clerks, and all, elo not cost so much in a year, as is swallowed by an imperial family in one single day. 5di. YrducQ was noi invaded. This is a very mr- terial point, America was, and is invaded. Her vil- lagcs, towns, and cities, have been plundered and burnt. A continuation of this mode of warfare has been distinctly declared by our admiral to have been resolved upon. It is invasion, it is devastation, it is fire, it is the sword, it is plunder at their very doors, and in their very dwellings on the coast, that the American levy are called forth to repel, to punish or to prevent. It is no possible, no imaginary, no dis- tant danger that has called forth this measure from the congress ; it is actual invasion ; it is an enemy ia the country, there laying waste, plundering, and kill- ing ; lawfully, if you ]:)lease ; but that is no matter. If Napoleon had landed an anny here, he would have been justified in so doing by the laws of war ; but, when we expected him even to make the at- tempt^ at invasion, did ive confine ourselves to mea- sures like this of Mr. Monroe ? Did we not call upon the whole of the people to be ready to come out under martial law P But I am here anticipating another part of the subject of my letter. So much, then, for the resemblance between the French conscription and the American levy ; and, I am sure, that your lordship will allow, that they no more resemble one another than this Register resembles the Times newspaper. What, then, be- comes of Mr. Walter's bombastical trash about sanguinary despots and chained conscripts ? Yet, he \viU find dupes ! He has found dupes for many years, and he will continue to find them upon this subject, I fear, 'till we shall see an American feet ■ ( 52 ) on the coast of Ireland, an occurrence more proba- ble than, at one time, was thought the capture of -an English frigate by a republican thing with a bit of striped bimting at its mast head, as Mr. Canning thought proper to describe the American frigates. But, my lord, it is not widi the French conscrip- tion alone that I mean to compare the republican levy. Let us see (for that will bring the thing home to us) what is the nature of this measure of Mr. JMonroe compared with our Militias. We have two or three militias ; but there are tvto clearly distinguished from each other: One is called the militia^ and the other the local militia. The for- mer consists of men called out by ballot, with- out ANY REGARD TO THE AMOUNT OF THEIR PROPERTY. Each man, so called on, must serve in person, or must, out of his own pocket, find a man to serve in his stead ; and, service is, in all respects, except that of being sent over sea, the same as that of the regular soldiers ; seeing that the man may be m^arched to any part of the kingdom, may l)e quartered in camp, in barracks, and is subjected to all military pains and penalties, the price of sub- stitutes has long been so high, that no laborer or journeyman has, out of his own pocket, been able to procure a substitute. Now, you see, there is a ^ wide difference here. For the man of small means in America has twenty-four others to assist him in .paying the money necessary to engage a substitute. Twenty-five men are put into a class. If one of them goes to serve, the others are able to make him a handsome compensation. If none of them choose to serve, the money in lieu of the service of one man is to be collected from twenty-five m.en. And, which is the beauty of this admirable scheme, when it comes to the payment of money, each person is to pay, not the same sum, but a sum in proportion to ( 53 ) /lis means. In England the names oi all of certain ages, in each parish, are put into a box, out of which the number wanted are drawn. It happens of course, that, of four, one is a rich merchant ano'ther a armer, another a journeyman taylor, and another a laborer. Lach is to serve in person or to find a substitute. 1 he price of the substitute is as hi^h tor the poor as for the rich. TJie two latter, there- nr tL' "'^"° !""«P«'y to defend, must serve, tl^e J "^"^^"'^e together the means of paying fo^ volve f"" ° *'^'=.P'-'?F'-t.V of the rich, and thu!in- ,7 hL '" '" ^'''^ '''"^' expose their families, 11 they have any, to misery. But vou see Mr Monroe s scheme most effectually provides aga „s Ind aI ^T "^\ *' '"''"'" population, betweel, 18 casst'J °/^''"''' °^ tvventy.five men. Each class IS to send one man. If they aeree amongst mv J\^ m °'' '° ^'*' !'^'" *^ twenty.five are to fn/ce-Z ■ """""^ ' ^"* ''"-' *^y ^'^ "Ot to pay alike the journeyman taylor and the laborer are not of S twe n-T"'-"^' ''^"'^ ^'^^ f^™- = --- -an ISr/, "5r '1 *° I?"^u'" /^'•''/^'•''«« to his property and thus does the burden of defence f;,il wid^amhmetical correctness on the thing to be de And this my lord, is what Mr. Walter calls a conscnptionr this he calls a measure of ''"«/ harous humihation^^ to the people of America • for pr^osing this measure he emails Mr. MadL, a sangicmarij despot:" this is the measure which he says wil never be submitted to by the republicans. 1 he foolish man will soon have to announce his as- tomshiitent at the complete success of the measure • If he has not, I will acknowledge myself to be as ereat a fnn ns if '^ ■' "^ ''? great a fool as he. r. 2 ( 54 ) Bat, to proceed, our local ?nilitia were to serve only within their several counties ^ but their service has now been extended ; though, except in cases of nrgency, they are to be called out only a month in the year. Here no man must get the means of hiring a substitute from an}- insurance or club. He must make no bargain with his master to work out the amount of the penalty. He must siuear that the fen pounds conies out of his own present means, or he ?jiust serve in person. In this case, however, we approach a little nearer to Mr. Monroe's excellent scheme ; for in this militia, we proportion the fine, in some measure, to the property of him who refu- ses to serve ; though a rich farmer still pays only about tiventy poinids^ whilst the poorest of his labo- rers must pay teri poiindsy though certainly the pro- perty of the former may be estimated at two or three thousand times greater than the property of the lat- ter. Now, according to Mr. Monroe's scheme, a couple of farmers would find themselves classed with twenty-three journeymen blacksmiths, collar- makers, wheelwrights, Sec. &c. And, of course, tlie two farmers would pay 24-25ths of the penalty ; or, which would be the natural result, one man out of the twenty-five, with a handsome reward from the rest, would cheerfully take up the musket instead of the dung-fork or the sledge-hammer. But the most important distinction still remains to be noticed : that is to say, that we have, for twen- ty years, had a militia on foot, under martial lau\ under officers commissioned by the Icings under the regular discipline^ lodged in camps or barracks^ marched to every corner ^of the kingdom ^ \\\^k\o\\t any actual invasion of the country. These regiments have been kept up, the ballotting has been going on, and no invaders have come to burn our villages, ( 55 ) towns, and cities — or, to plunder them, or to lay them under contribution. While, in America, we are invading and laying waste ; we are taking per^ 7na?i€tit possession of one district ; we are compell- ing the people to swear allegiance to our king ; we have one army afloat here, another there, more are going out ; and this Mr. Walter is calling till he is hoarse for more troops to be sent to divide and de- vastate the country, io overturn the republican go- vernment, and reduce the people to unconditional submission ; all this he is doing, while he is, at the same time, crying out against the " barbarous" scheme of calling upon the people of property to defend their country, either in their persons, or with their piirses. — Aye, my lord ! fool as Mr. Walter is, he perceiyes that Mr. Monroe's is an infallible scheme for raising an army in a short time, and for keeping that army complete. He, fool as he is, smells powder in every line of this scheme. But it is his business to misrepresent, to disfigure, to induce his well-dressed rabble of readers, and you too, if possible, to believe that the scheme willfail^ and that, therefore^ we ought to carry on the w ar with all imaginable energy. 1 trust, that you will see the danger which this wise and equitable plan presents to us. I trust that you will at once abandon all hopes of extorting any concession from a country which has now shewn, that difficulties and dangers, as they press upon her, only tend to increase her energy, to raise her spirit, and make her more formidable. I have respect enough for the understanding of your lordship to believe that you have read Mr. Mon- roe^s letter to the chairman of the military commit- tee with great attention, and not without some de- gree of alarm. But the conclusion of it is so very ( 60 ) important, that I cannot refrain from again calling your attention to it. *' I should," says he, " insult the understanding, and wound the feelings of the committee, if I touch- ed on the calamities incident to defeat. Dangers which are remote, and can never be realized, excite no alarm with a gallant and generous people. But the advantages of success have a fair claim to their deliberate consideration. The effort we have alrea- dy made has attracted the attention and extorted the praise of other nations. Already have most of the absurd theories and idle speculations on our system of government been refuted and put doxvn. We are now felt and respected as a power, and it is the dread which the enemy enPei'tain of our resources and growing importance^ that had induced him to press the war against us after its professed objects had ceased. Success by discomfiture of his schemes^ and the attainment of an honorable peace, will place the United States on higher ground, in the opinion of the world, than they have held at any former period. In future wars, their commerce, xvill be permitted to take its lawful range unmolested. Their remon- strances to foreign governments will not again be put aside, unheeded. Few will be presented, be- cause there will seldom be occasion for them. Our union, founded on internal affection, will have ac- quired new strength by the proof it will have afford- ed of the important advantages attending it. Res- pected abroad, and happy at home, the United States will have accomplished the great objects for which they have so long contended. As a nation they will have little to dread, as a people little to desire." I beseech your lordship's serious attention to these important words. I allow, that peace now made on the basis of the status quo would be success Xo Ame- ( 57 ) fica. I have often said this before. To defend her- self against us, single handed, will be a most glori- ous triumph to her, and will elevate her in the eyes of all the world. But, then, my lord, to repeat once more what I have so often said, what will be the conaequence of her success at the ^^a^i of a ten year's or a five year's v/ar ? How much greater would then be her triumph ? How much greater her weight in the Avorld ? How much more proud her defiance of us ? How much more powerful her navy ? How much more exasperated her people against us ? I confess, that, after all that has been said here about Mr. Madison ; after all the threats of our press to depose him : after all the '* Viars^ traitors^ hypo- crites,'^'' &c. that the press has called him ; after all the expectations of seeing a viceroy sent out to Washington city, it would sink the heart of John Bull down into his shoes to see a peace made with this same Mr. Madison, without extorting some- thing from him. But you and your colleagues ought to despise this national folly, created by the venal men, who live by misrepresentation and falsehood ; whose tables are furnishe,d with the fruits of flatter- ing popular prejudices. 1 confess, too, that the friends of captain Henry; that the would-be noUesse of Massachusetts ; that the federalists in general, would be put down for- ever by a peace with Mr. Madison, on terms hon- orable to America, made at this time, and which peace would clearly have been obtained by the wis- dom of his measures and the bravery of those whom he has employed. But hang these scurvy nobles, my lord ! They are poor creatures. They cannot assist us. The population of America is essentially republican, from one end to the other. Tiiese poor things ha\'e tried their utmost, and they have failed. { 58 ) As long as they are stimulated with the hope of forcing open the offices of government by the mis- fortunes of their country, they will talk big about a separation of the union — but the moment that that- hope dies within them, you will see them as quiet as mice. And, really, I do not know of any thing more likely to kill that hope than the scheme of Mr. Monroe, which will not only bring forth an efficient army now^ but which will hold an efficient army al- •ways in readiness at a week's notice, while at the same time, it will obviate the necessity of a stand- ing army and of a gvt^X permanent expense, and will prevent the executive government from acquiring a patronage inconsistent with the principles of repub- lican government, and dangerous to political and civil liberty. I confess, moreover, that there is another class of men, whom you would mortally offend by making a peace that should be honorable to America : I mean, the haters of freedom. 1 do not mean ^' * ^^^^T^^*****^ This mo- ment has arrived the Courier newspaper with news of PEACE. I do not know how to express the plea- sure I feel at this news, or the gratitude, which^yc^r this act, I, in common with my countrymen, ov/e to your lordship and your colleagues. Far be it from me to rejoice at what the Times calls the dis- grace of the navy of England and the humiliation of the crown; but being fully convinced, the lon- ger the war had continued, the more disgraceful and dangerous would have been the result, I do most sincerely rejoice at this auspicious event, and cer- tainly not the less on account of its being calculated to baffle the views of that hypocritical faction, who have still the impudence to call themselves whigs. I am, &c. &c. Wm, COBBETT. Botley, 2Sth Dec, 1814. [I at first proposed only to introduce four of Mr. Cob- bett'vS letters to Lord Liverpool, but some of his other poli- tical pieces on the late American war, are so extremely interesting and pleasurable to me (which in fact was the primary cause of my republishing them in this form, with the subsequent appendages) that I have concluded to intro- duce the most important of all his writings on the present topic, as they vindicate the American character from the foul and false aspersions of tory calumniators, both in Eu- rope and America, in the most masterly manner ; and, as they, in themselves, give an honourable glimpse of the Ame- rican Victories, os land, on the lakes, and on the OCEAN. Indeed Mr. Cobbett deserves a statue of gold and the gratitude of every true American, for boldly vindi- cating, (though surrounded with tyrants and traitors, syc- ophants and slaves) the just cause of our injured and insul- ted republic, the only one the ravages of monarchy and epis- copacy has left in the world. For my part, though I abhorred his principal writings and politics, A. D. 1798, 1 cannot find language to express the pleasure I received on perusing the subjoined letters, and the gratitude and vene- ration 1 feel for their author for the same, A. D. 1815. The pleasure I participate I wish to communicate to my fellow citizens, and glailly would I exhibit to them in particular, and the population of Europe in general, the usurpation and imposition of monarchy, was my power equal to ray will.] TO THE COSSACK PRIESTHOOD OF THE STATE OF MAS- SACHUSETTS. Botley, J>rov, 29, 1814. Gentlemen — I perceive, that there were held, in your state, and at your instigation, and under your guidance and ministry, solem?i Jasts and thanksgiv- ings on account of the entrance of the Cossacks in- C 60 ) to Paris, and of the fall of Napoleon. Hence, I perceive that you are called the Chaplains of the Cossacks ; arid sometimes, the Cossack Priesthood, That you, who used to be regarded as some of the best men in your republic, and the purity of whose religious motives were never even doubted, should have exposed yourselves to the application of such titles, I extremely regret to hear. But it is not my business to give way to private feelings upon such an occasion. It is for me, as far as I am able, and as I dare, to make truth known to the world ; and, as you, in this case, appear to me to have shewn a more decided hostility to truth, than any other set of men of whom I have heard, not excepting the editors of the London newspapers, it is natural for me to address myself to you upon the subject. The religion, of which you profess to be teach- ers, is the Presbyterian, I believe there are three or four sorts of Presbyterian Christians. To which of these sorts you belong, or whether some of you are of one sort, and some of each of the others, I know not. Nor is it material ; it being well known, that, substantially, all these sorts are the same, and that the religion you professed, has existed, and has been the generally prevailing religion in the four eas- tern states of the republic, where there has been born and reared an industrious, sober, humane, brave, and free people, distinguished above all others for their good understanding of the — [7/2 the number from •which we copy, two or three lines are obliterated.']— Whether they would have been as good, better, or worse, without the religion diaty on have taught; whe- ther, discarding, as is the manner of some men, all mysteries, andbelievingin nothing, the truth of which cannot be substantiated by undeniable facts, or by incontrovertible argument, they w^ould have been ( Gl ) as good, better, or worse, than they are, is a ques- tion, which I will not meddle v/ith. But you will excuse me, if I observe, that while this can possibly be made a question amongst ratjanal men, you, who receive pay for your teaching of religion, ought to be verv careful to excite no doubt in the minds of mankind as to the purity of your views, or the sin- cerity of your faith. Your recent conduct does, however, appear to have excited such doubts in the minds of your countrymen. In my mind it has done more. It has convinced me that your motives are any thing rather than pure, and that your professions are a inere pretence ; a trick to enable you to live -with- out labour upon the earnings of those who do labour^ just as are the tricks of monks and friars, and of all other im posers on popular credulity, from the gol- den-palmed showman of the Lady of Loretto down to the lousy-cowled consecrators of halfpenny strings of beads, and the itinerant protestant bawlers, whose harangues are wholly incomprehensible, until they come round with their hat to collect the means of recruiting the belly. All the zeal of impostors of ^very kind ; all their calumnies of others ; all their innumerable persecutions of those who have en- deavoured to withdraw tlie people from their degra- ding influence, have had this great eiid in view : to extract and secure to themselves the means of living well, without labour, out of the earnings of those who do labour. I am very sorry to as- cribe such a motive to you, whose forefathers fled to a wilderness rather than violate the dictates of their conscience ; but truth compels me to say, that you appear to have no claim to an exemption from the general charge. Yet, I am not so unjust as to suppose, much less to hold forth to the world, ( 62 ) that all the priests of Massachusetts are of this des- cription ; but, as I find no account of any protest, on the part of any of tlie priests, against the odious and detestable celebrations and fasts before men- tioned, I shall stand fully justified for not making any particular exceptions. If any of the priests of Massachusetts feel sore under the appellation which I have given them, they ought to direct their resent- ment against those whose conduct has brought it upon them, and not against me, unless they are able to shew that I charge them unjustly. Had you, indeed, confined your thanksgivings to the release of certain countries of Europe from the arms of an invader^ a conqueror^ an oppressor, an ambitious despot, who, instead of giving liberty, ad- ded to the civil sufierings of some of the nations, whom he over-ran, having first extinguished Re- publican Government, and along with it political li- berty, in France, where the people had put power into his hands to be used in the cause of freedom ; had you held solemn thanksgivings on account of the triumphs of the Cossacks, and their associates, in the cause of the civil and political independence of nations, you would net have excited indignation in the breast of any rational man ; for though some men would have differed with you in opiinon upon that point ; though some men would have said as some men thought, that the conquerer could not long have held under his sway so extensive an em- pire as he was grasping ; that in a few years, the several countries of which it was composed, begining with France, would in all human probability, throw off" his yoke, and form themselves into independent states, freed from all his as well as all former shac- kless ; and that thus he would in the end, be found to have been instrumental in establishing liberty, ( 63, ) civil as well as religious, in every part of Europe where it did not before exist ; though some men would have said this and would of course not have joined you in your thanksgivings for the victories of the Cossacks, no just and considerate man could helve censured you so long as you confined your thanksgivings to the aforementioned objects. But when, in your prayers and sermons, you called the Cossacks and others engaged on the same side, '* the bulwark of your religion;'' when with the JRever- end Mr. PARISH at your head, you called Napo-- leon Anti-Christ, and bawled out'songs of praise to the Cossacks and their associates for pulling him down; and especially when you maliciously "threw on your political opponents the charge of being the abettors of Anti-Christ ; then you excited the in- dignation of all those who did not turn with disgust from your horrid ejaculations and harangues. If there was one trait above all others, by which your sermons and prayers, until of late years, were characterized, it was by your zealous, vour violent, not to say foul-mouthed, attacks on 'the Romisll Pontiff, faith and worship ; vou had no scruple to represent the Pope as an Anti- Christ and as the Scarlet Whore of Old Babylon, covered with abo^ mmations. How clearly did you prove that he was the beast of the Revelations ; that he had made the jvorld drunk Avith the fornications ; that his seven heads were his seven hills on which Rome is situ- ated ; his ten horns the ten principal catholic sove- reigns of Europe ; and that his colour was scarlet because it was dyed in the blood of the Saints ? Was tb.ere a sermon, was there a praver that issued from your hps, in which you did not call on the Lord for vengeance on this " Alan of Si?i,'' and in which you did not describe the Catholic Religion as idolatrous, (.64 ) hlasphcmoiin, diabolical., and as evidently tending to the eternal damnation of millions and millions of pre- cious souls '^ Every one who shall read what I am now writing, must acknowledge that this description of your con- duct, in regard to the Romish churchy is far short of the mark. What then have you now to say, in jus- tification of your recent conduct ? Where is your justification for your violent attacks on Napoleon and his family, to say nothinf^ at present of your thanksgivings for the restoration of the ancient order of things, or in your own language '* the ancient and venerable institutions .^" Where is your justification for your attacks on Bonaparte? Others^ indeed, Txiight consistently attack them. Such as thought that the church of Rome and lier power ^vere good things ; or such as regarded one religion as good as another, might consistently attack Bonaparte. But vou^ you who professed the opinions above describ- ed ; how \_Here also a fexv lines are obliterated'] power commenced, existing in Europe a system of religion, or, as you called it, irreligion, having at the head of it a Sovereign Pontifl^' with innumerable car- dinals, bishops, vicars, general aV)bots, priors, monks, friars, secular priests, &c. &c. under him. To this body you ascribed false doctrines, tricks, frauds and cruelties, without end. You charged them with the propagation of idolatry and blasphemy, ^vith keep- ing the people in ignorance; with nourishing su- perstition ; with blowing the flames of persecution ; with daily murdering in the most horrid manner, the martyrs to the true faith. The Sovereign Pontiff himself, the corner stone of the whole body, you constantly called Anti-Christ , the Scarlet Whore, the beast, and the Man of Sin, and you prayed most vehemently for his overthrow, insisting that the sys- ( 65 ) tern of which he was the foundation manifestly tend- ed to the eternal damnation of the souls of the far greater part of the people of Europe. Well, Napoleon arose. He hurled down the Pope, he overthrew the Anti- Christ, the Scarlet Whore, the Beast, the Man of Sin ; and with him all the long list of persecutors of the Saints. Napoleon and his associates did, in three years, what your prayers and preachings had not been able to effect in three centuries. The Pope was stripped of all temporal power ; the cardinals and bishops were reduced to mere cyphers ; the monks were driven from their dens of laziness and debauchery ; the tricks and frauds were exposed ; the adored images were tun> ed into fire wood ; the holy relics were laughed at ; the light of truth was suffered freely to beam upon the minds of the people ; religious persecution was j)ut an end to ; and all men were not only permitt- ed^ but also encouraged^ openly to profess, pursue and enjoy, whatever species of religious faith and W'orship they chose. — Every man became eligible to offices, trusts and honours ; and throughout the domains of Italy and PVance, where a Presbyterian would have been tied to a stake and roasted rather than be suffered to fill an office of trust, or to preach to a congregation, religious liberty, was under Na- poleon, made as perfect as in Pennsylvania, and more perfect than in your State of Massachusetts. These are facts, which none of you, not even Mr. Parish, will dare openly to deny. They are as no- torious as they will be and ought to be memorable. Ought you not, therefore, to have rejoiced at this wonderful change in favour of religious liberty? How could you see 50 millions of souls set free without feeling it impossible to suppress an expression of your pleasure ? How could you see the fall oi Ariti- t 2 ( C6 ) Christ without putting up thanksgiving to that God, whom you had so long been worrying with your importunities lor the accomplishment of that object ? Was not this an event calculated to call forth your gratitude to heaven ? Ought it not to have been ex- pected from you, that you should speak very cauti- ously in disapprobation of Napoleon and the French republicans, who had effected what you had so long been praying for apparently in vain ? Ought you not, if you had spoken at all of the sins of his ambition : if you had blamed him as an invader, a conqueror, a destroyer of republican freedom, to have touched him with a tender hand, considering the immense benefits which religious liberty had received in con- sequence of his invasions and conquests ? Ought he not to have found in you above all men living, if not impartial judges, at least, mild and moderate censors ? If this was what might naturally and justly have been expected from you, what must have been the surprise and indignation of those who saw you amongst the very fiercest of Napoleon's foes ; a- mongst the foulest of his calumniators; amongst the first and loudest of those who rejoiced at his fall ; who saiw you holding solemn fasts and thanks- givings for his overthrow ; who heard }0U hail with holy rapture the return of *' the ancient order of things," and the re-establishment of the *' venerable institutions'''' of Europe ; who heard you joining in the hosannas of the monks, styling the Cossacks and their associators *' Bulwarks of J^eligion,^^ ^^ Deliverers'^ and " Saviours;^' who heard you in the words of Mr. Parish, shifting from the pope to Na- poleon himself the imputation of being ^?iti- Christ, and charging your political opponents with being the abettors of that *' Scarlet Whore," that " Man ( Gr ) of Sin!"— What must have been the surprise and indignation of those who were the witnesses ofyour conduct upon this memorable occasion ? How you may stand at this time, in the estimation of your flocks, It IS impossible for me to know ; but if you still preserve your former weight and consequence, I must say that you exhibit an instance of success' of which, in an enlightened countrv, no former set of impostors ever had to boast. JFhat was that ''ancient order of things," the return of which you hailed with such rapture^? IFhatxverethos^ " venerable institutions," of which you thanked the Lord for the approaching re-estab- lishment ? The Holy See of Rome was one, and the Inqmsition was another. Thousands of subal- tern "venerable institutions" naturally followed in the tram of these ; such as the Virgin Mary's house at Loretto, the shrine of Saint Antony, the Holy Cross, the exhibition of St. Catharine's Wheel, the Holy Thorn that penetrated Christ's cheek, of the Breeches of St. Polomo, so efficacious with barren nvives, especially by a lusty monk. Hundreds and thousands of thousands of these '' venerable'' X\\mz% naturally followed the overthrow of him who had overthrown them. All the persecutions of the Pro- testants ; all the frauds, insolence and cruelty of the Romish priests, must have been in your view. You are not ignorant men. On the contrary, you are some of the most cumiing even of priests. " You knew to a moral certainty that the pope, whom vou had formerly led your flocks to believe was Anti- Christ, would be restored. You knew that, instead of a milder sway, he would naturally be more rigid than ever in the exercise of the power. All this you knew. You knew that the toleration of all Protestant sects, the encouragement of them, the ( 68 ) free use of reason on religious subjects, and the free circulation of religious opinions, which were so complete under Napoleon, would be instantly des- troyed in the far greater part of Europe. And yet you held a solemn thanksgiving to God that Napo- leon had been overthrown, and you had the impious hypocrisy to call his enemies " the bulwalks of re- ligion ;" you, aye, you, whose fathers fled to a wil- derness across the sea, rather than live where they were not permitted openly to renounce as damnable the remnants which the church of England had preserved of that very religion; of which the ene- mies of Napoleon were the bulwark, and which you now thanked God for the prospect of seeing resto- red ! The holy father whom you had formerly called the "Scarlet Whore," dyed in the blood of the saints. The " beast, "^^ as you used to call him, whose " mouth was full of blasphemies," remount^ = ed his chair even before ** the inost christian king" got upon his throne. One of his first acts was to restore the Jesuits, that " ancient and venerable in- stitution,'* which had become so odious on account of its wicked acts that it had been abolished by all the princes of PLurope, and even by a former pope himself. The next remarkable step was, the re- establishment of the Inquisition in Spain, where it had been abolished by Napoleon on the day that he took possession of the government of that coun- try ; and, what is worthy of particular notice, though perfectly natural, " Ferdinand the beloved,'^^ in his ordinance, dated 23d July last, for the re-es- lishment of that horrid tribunal, makes use of al- most your very language in reproaching Napoleon with its abolition, as you will see by the ordinance itself, annexed to this letter. ( 69 ) You yourselves well know wliat that tribunal was ; but as soiiie of the good people whom you have deceived, may not know the precise nature of that *' venerable institution," which Napoleon abol- ished, and which h.is been restored in consequence of the success of your " bulwark of religion^'''' I ^vill here insert an account of it from the last edi- tion of Encijclopedi^ Britannica, referrini^ your flocks to Mr. Dobson's greatly improved Philadel- phia edition, that they may verify the correctness of the extract, which they will find under the words ** Inquisition'^ and " act offaith,^'' as follows : '' INQUISITION.— In the church of Rome, a tribunal in several Roman Catholic countries, erec- ted by the popes for the examination and punish- ment of heretics. — This court was founded in the 12th century by Father Dominic and his followers, ^vho were sent by Pope Innocent III. with orders to excite the Catholic princes and people to extir- pate heretics, to searcli into their number and adul- tery, and to transmit a faithful account thereof to Rome. Hence they were called Inquisitors ; and this gave birth to the formidable tribunal of the In- quisition, which was received in all Italy and the dominions of Spain, except the kingdom of Naples and the Low Countries. This diabolical tribunal takes cognizance of Heresy, Judaism, Mahometan- ism, Sodomy and Polygamy ; and the people stand so much in fear of it that parents deliver their chil- dren, husbands their wives, and masters their ser- vants, to its officers, without daring in the least to murmur. The prisoners are kept for a long time, till they themselves turn their own accusers, and declare the cause of their imprisonment; for they are neither told their crime nor confronted with witnesses. As soon as they are imprisoned, their ( -0 ) friends go into mourning, and speak of them as dead, not daring to solicit their pardon, lest they should be brought in as accomplices. When there is no shadovT of proof against the pretended crimi- nal he is discharged, after suffering the most cruel tortures, a tedious and dreadful imprisonment, and the loss of the greatest part of his effects. — The sentence against prisoners is pronounced publicly and with the greatest solemnity. In Portugal they erect a theatre capable of holding 3000 persons, in which they place a rich altar, and raise seats on each side in the form of an amphitheatre. There the prisoners are placed ; and over against them is a high chair, whither they are called one by one to hear their doom from one of the inquisitors. — These unhappy people know what they are to suffer by the clothes they wear that day. — Those who ap- pear in their own clothes are discharged upon pay- ment of a fine ; those who have a sa7ito benito^ or strait yellow coat without sleeves, charged St. An- drew's cross, have their lives, but forfeit all their effects ; those who have the resemblance of flames made of red serge sewed upon their santo henito^ without any cross, are pardoned, but threatened to be burned if ever they relapse ; but those who be- sides these flames have on their santo benito their own picture, surrounded with figures of devils, are condemned to expire in the flames. The inquisi- tors, who are ecclesiastics, do not pronounce the sentence of death, but form and read an act, in which they say, that the criminal being convicted of such a crime by his own confession, is, with much reluctance, delivered to the secular pow- er, to be punished according to his demerits ; and this writing they give to the seven judges who at- tend at the right side of the altar, who immediately pass sentence." ( 71 ) . - ACT OF FAITH-In the Romish Church IS a solemn day held by the inquisition for the pun- ishment of heretics and the absolution of the inno cent accused. They usually contrive the Auto to fall on some great festival, that the execution may pass with more awe and regard ; at least it is always on a Sunday. The Auto da Fe, or Act of Faith may be called the last act of the inquisitorial trage- dy ; It is a kind of gaol delivery, appointed as often as a competent number of prisoners, in the inquisi- tion, are convicted of heresy, either by their own voluntary or extorted confession or on the evidence ot certain witnesses.— The process is thus -—In the morning they are brought into a great hall, where they have certain habits put on, v,^hich they are to wear m the procession. The procession is led up by Dommican friars ; after which come the peni- tents, some with san benitoes and some without ac- cording to the nature of the crimes ; being all in biacK coats without sleeves and barefooted, with a wax candle in their hands. These are followed by the penitents who have narrowly escaped bein^ burnt, who, over their black coats,"have flames pain- ted witn their points turned downwards, fue^o re^ volto. iNext come the negative and relapsed, who are to be burnt, having flames on their habits poin- ting upwards. After these come such as profess doctrines contrary to the faith of Rome, who, besides tlames pointing upwards, have their picture painted on their breast, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all open mouthed about it. Each prisoner is attended with a familiar of the inquisition ; and those to be burnt have also a Jesuit on each hand, who is con- tinually preaching to them to abjure. After the prisoners, come a troop of familiars on horseback, and, after them, the inquisitors and other oflicers of { n ) the court, on mules ; last of all, the inquisitor gene- ral, on a white horse, led by two men with black hats and green hat bands. A scaffold is erec- ted in the Tertero de Pacsy big enough for Two or three thousand people ; at one end of which are the prisoners — at the other, the inquisitors. After a sermon, made up of encomiums of the inquisition and invectives against heretics, a priest ascends a desk near the middle of the scaffold, and, having ta- ken the abjuration of the penitents, recites the final sentence of those who are to be put to death, and de- livers them to the secular arm, earnestly beseeching, at the same time, the secular powers not to touch their blood or put their lives in danger. The priso- ners being thus in the hands of the civil magistrates, are presently loaded with chains and carried first to the secular gaol, and from thence, in an hour or two, brought before the civil judge, who, after asking in what religion they intend to die, pronounces sen- tence on such as declare they die in the communion of Rome, that they shall be first strangled and then burnt to ashes ; on such as die in any other faith, that they be burnt alive. Both are immediately carried to the Ribera, the place of execution ; where there are as many stages set up as there are priso- ners to be burnt, with a quantity of dry furs about them. The stakes of the professed, that is, such as persist in their heresy, are about four yards high, having a small board towards the top for the priso- ner to be seated on, The negative and relapsed be- ing first strangled and burnt, the professed mount their stakes by a ladder, and the Jesuits, after seve- ral repeated exhortations to be reconciled to the Church, part with them, telling them they leave them to the Devil who is standing at their elbow to re-:^ ceive their souls and carrv them with him into the i ( ^3 ) flames of hell. On this a great shout is raised, and the cry is, Let the dogs^ beards be made — ^vhich is done by thrusting flaming furzes fastened to long poles against their faces till their faces are burnt to a coal, which is accompanied with the loudest ac- clamations of joy. At last fire is set to the furze at the bottom of the stake over which the professed are chained so high that the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the board they sit on ; so thac ' they rather seem roasted than burnt. There can- not be a more lamentable spectacle ; the suflferers «» continually cry out while they are able, Miseri- cordia per amor de Dios. ** Pity for the love of God !" yet it is beheld by all sexes and ages with transports of joy and satisfaction." People of Massachusetts ! Sons of Englishmen who fled to a wilderness, who sacrificed their dear- est connexions to religious liberty ! Merciful, hu- mane, gentle, kind, and brave people of Massachus- etts, though your Cossack priests can view with dry eyes and unmoved muscles this horrid spectacle, does it not chill the blood in your veins ? Though they, with holy impudence, can put up thanksgiv- ing for the fall of him by whom this " venerable institution*^ had been overthrown, and at whose fall its revival was a natural, if not certain consequence ; do not your hearts revolt at the impiousness, the baseness, the cruelty of the sentiment ? People of Massachusetts (for to your hardened priests will I no longer address myself) what could have been the real cause of this conduct on the part of your priests ? In the people of England it is very natural and reasonable to rejoice at the fall of Najjar* leon. He had immense power ; he had threatened to invade their country ; he had made preparations for so doing. It was therefore natural for them to ( ^4 ) rejoice at his fall ; but even here, with the excep- tion of a few hypocrites, despised by persons of sense of all parties, people did not rejoice at his fall as an enemy of religion. Had your priests not put up thanksgiving for the deliverance of religion, their conduct might have been passed over ; but, when they made that the ground of their gratitude to the Cossacks and to Heaven, they invited the lash of censure ; they called aloud for the detestation of mankind. While, indeed, the French nation seems to have thrown aside all religion whatever ; while they were setting aside all the memorials and marks of the Christian era, while they were apparently all Athe- ists, there was some reason for your priests to wish their overthrow. Even in that case, however, they would have shewn more confidence in Christianity if they had been less bitter against the French. — Some men thought that their extreme asperity against such writers as Paine seemed not to say that they possessed ability to defeat him in the field of argument ; and, indeed, seemed to argue that they did not feel a sufficient degree of confi- dence in the goodness of their cause itself; for if they had been thoroughly convinced, as they ought to have been, that the Christian religion was built upon a rock, and that the gates of hell would never prevail against it, Paine would have been an object of their pity rather than of their persecution. Their anger against him was madness, unless they appre- hended danger from his attempts ; and if they did apprehend danger from those attempts they shewed a want of sufficient confidence in their cause itself, which want of confidence should have taught them moderation in their attacks on the adversary. There was a great outcry about Atheism in France ; but { ^5 ) what was it after all but letting the human mind loose to range at pleasure ? When every man was a: liberty to say what he liked, who need have been afraid of the cause of truth? — He who was an in- sincere Christian ; he who doubted of the truth ol Christianity ; he who thought it false, but who pro- fesssed it from interested motives, had reason to rail against the innovators : but he who was a real believer, and whose belief was founded on the con- clusions of reason, could not possibly have any ground for alarm, seeing that freedom of discussion is and eternally must be favourable to truths and of course hostile to error and falsehood. Those, therefore, who are opposed to freedom of discus- sion on any subject^ and who make use of clamors, slanders^ or force to prevent it, may, in all cases, and acting under whatever pretence, be safely con- sidered as wishing to sustain error or falsehood. But these observations do not apply to the case of the emperor Napoleon. However just the ha- tred of your priests against the Atheists of France, there was no portion of that hatred due to him who re -opened the churches, who invited the perfor- mance of religious w^orship, who encouraged the people to make provision for the maintenance of the parochial clergy, who went very regularly to hear mass himself; but who, at the same time, ef- fectually prevented all religious persecution, who countenanced and encouraged all religious sects, who put them all upon a footing of civil and politi- cal equality, and who, throughout his vast domin- ions, was speedily introducing such a system as to religion as must in a few years have inevitably root- ed out every fibre of superstition, and have put an end for ever to that spirit of persecution, which had so long been filling Europe with misery and crimes. ( 76 ) Be he, therefore, what he might, in other res- pects, he had been, and he was a friend and protec- tor of religious freedom. This quaUty, one would have thought, was that which above all others, ought to have pleaded in his behalf with other priests ; yet they rejoiced at his fall ; they hailed his enemies as the " bulwarks of religion ;" they put up thanksgivings for the restoration of the *' ve- nerable institutions" which he had pulled down ; and they even called him " Anti Christ," the appel- lation which they had formerly given to the poj>e. Let your priests say what they will of the French republicans and of Napoleon, the world are witnes- ses to the fact, that, even though a counter revolu- tion has taken place in France, that countr}' has de- rived immense advantages from the revolution ; that she is now freed from numerous oppressions before endured ; that her agriculture has made astonishing progress; that she has got rid of her feudal tyran- nies^ her monks, her tythes; that her farmers are now able to undersell ours in our own markets ; that her manufactures are greatly increased ; and that, as yet, her king has not ventured to overthrow Napo- leon's laws, securing to all men perfect religious lu berty and an equality as to all matters connected with religious worship and the public capacities of the professors of different religions. Nothing could be a greater compliment to Napoleon, than the stipu- lation with the king, that NAPOLEON'S CODE, civil and religious, should remain untouched. What ground, then, could your priests have for their implacable hatred of Napoleon ? Why did they putupthanksgivingforhisoverthrow? Why did they call the Cossacks and their associates the ** bulwarks of religion !" Why did theyc?i\\ him the oppressor of Spain, who abolished the Inquisition, and had driven the monks from their convents and their lux- ( '^7 ) ury ? What could have been the cause of their be- ing amongst his calumniators ? How came they to join in the prayers and thanksgivings of the Jesuits and Dominicans? The truth is, they were actuated bv self-interest. — They were alarmed at the conse- quences to which freedom of discussion might lead. The sudden overthrow of the old establishments of Europe ; the great shock which the French revolu- tion gave to long received opinions ; the burst of light which had come into the human mind ; these alarmed them. They began to fear, that, if reli- gion become out of fashion in Europe, it might be- come out of fashion in Massachusetts, and lea\*e them in a situation like that of the buckle makers when shoe strings came in vogue. — They now be- gan to perceive that the fall of the pope and of the Romish superstition and persecutions, would be to them a vast injury. They saw that the French and Napoleon were snatching the very bread ^nd meat off their plates. This was the true cause of their hostility against him ; this was the true cause of their thanksgivings for the victories of the Cossacks and their associates, as the "bulwarks of reiigion ;^* that is to say, the bulwarks o{ xh^'ir bread and meat ; the bulwark of their living well, without labour, on the earnings of you, who pay them, and who do la- bour. The same motive would, of course, have induced them to abuse the pullers down of Maho- met. Nor must they be surprised if the world should suspect, that, in a similar cause, they would have made, if they could, a solemn league andconvenant with the devil himself, and have called him the " bulwark of religion,^'' If this conclusion against the Cossack Priests of Massachusetts were not obviously deducible from their above-described conduct, unsupported by G 2 C 78 ) any fact ; if any other proof were wanted, you have that proof in their electioneering tricks of hiSt year, when, amongst their objections to the electing of a Repubhcan, or as they termed it, Democratic Le- gislature, they complained of a former Democratic Legislature in these memorable words : — " They " impaired the q.o\\^'(\\.\xX\o\\2\ provision for the sup- ^^ port of public worship, by releasing the disaftected *' from contributing to the support of permanent " teachers of piety, religion, and morality." — That is to say, they complained of the " Democrats'** for having endeavoured to make Massachusetts, in point of religious liberty, what William Penn made Pennsylvania, and what Napoleon had made, as nearly as he possibly could, France and Italy, and all the counties which he had conquered. Here we see the REAL ground of the hostility of your Priests to the French Republicans, to Napoleon, and the Republican party in America. They had long enjoyed the benefices of a sort of established and dominant church ; they had long been receiving compulsory payments for their support ; they had long felt agreeable effects of this '* venerable institu- tion." The example of France, and the practical effect thereof in America, had shaken their hold of valuable possessions ; and hence, and hence alone, their abuse of the French and Napoleon ; their dread of the continuance of his power ; their exul- tation at his overthrow ; and their thanksgivings for the restoration of those ** venerable institutions" in Europe ; those ecclesiastical powers and profits of which the French and Napoleon had been the de- termined enemies. No more need be said. You, the people of Mas- sachusetts, who possess so much good sense, who have so often exercised that good sense as to other ( r9 ) persons and things, cannot long remain the dupes of these hypocrites, who, while they have the de- sire of your welfare in the next world, constantly on their lips, are manifestly intent upon securing to themselves, in this world, ease and plenty at the public expense. POSTSCRIPT Tt .Wm.COBBETT. l^Ubl SCRIPT.— 1 he following is the decree ot the king of Spain, re-establishing the inquisition, published 111 a supplement to the Madrid Gazette, 23d of July, 1814. ' 1 "rT!^^ ^'"S °"'' ^^^^ has been pleased to enact the follovving decree. The glorious title of Catho- I'c, by which the kings of Spain are distinguished among the other Christian princes, because 'they do not tolerate in their kingdom any one xvho professes another religion than the Catholic Apostolic and Ro- man, has powerfully excited my heart to employ all the means which God has placed in my hands, in or- der to make myself worthy of it. The past troubles and war which afflicted all the provinces of the kingdom during the space of six \ ears ; the resi- dence therein, during that time, oi foreign troobs of different sects, almost all infected with ahhorrenoi and hatred to the Catholic religion ; and the disor- der that these evils always bring with them, toe-e- ther with the little care which was taken for some time m providing for what concerned the thines of religion, gave to the wicked unlimited licensee to lye after their free will, and to introduce in this kingdom, and fix in many persons, pernicious opin- ions, by the same means with which they had been propagated m other countries. Desiring, therefore to provide a remedy against so great an evil/ and preserve in my dominions the holy religion of Jesus Christ, which my people love, and in which they ( 80 ) have lived and do live happily, both by the duty which the fundamental laws of the kingdom impose on the prince which shall reign over it, and I have to observe and fulfil, as likewise being the most proper means to preserve my subjects from intes- tine dissentions, and maintain them in peace and tranquillity, I have thought it would be very conve- nient in the present circumstances that the tribunal of the holy office should return to the exercise of its jurisdiction. Upon which subject wise and virtu- ous prelates and many corporations and serious per- sons, both ecclesiastical and secular, have represen- ted to me that it was owing to this tribunal that Spain was not contaminated in the lOth century, with the errors that caused so much affliction in other kingdoms, the nation flourishing at that time in all kinds of literature, in great men, in holiness and virtue. And that one of the principal means employed by the oppressor of Europe^ in order to sow corruption and discord, from which he derived so many advantages, was to destroy it under pre- tence that the light of the age could not bear its con- tijiuance any longer ; and which afterwards the self-styled general Cortes with the same pretence^ and that of the constitution, which they had tumul- tuously framed, annulled, to the great sorrow of the nation. Wherefore they have ardently requested me to re-establish that tribunal ; and, according to their requests and the wishes of the people, who, from love to the religion of their fathers, have resto- red, of their own accord, some of the subaltern tri- bunals to their functions, I have resolved that the , council of the inquisition, and the other tribunals of the holy office, should be restored, and continued in the exercise of their jurisdiction, both ecclesiasti- cal^ which, at the request of my august predeces- ( 81 ) sors, the pontiffs gave to it, and tlie royals which the kings granted to it, observing, in the exercise of both, the ordinances by which they were governed in 1808, and the laws and processions, which, to avoid certain abuses, and moderate some privileges, it was mete to take at different times. As besides these provisions it may perhaps be suitable to adopt others ; and my intention being to improve this es- tablishment that the greatest utility may arise to my subjects from it, I wish that as soon as the council of the inquisition shall meet, two of its members, with two others of my royal council, both of which I shall nominate, should examine the form and mode of proceeding in the causes appertaining to the ho- ly office, Mnd the method established for the censure and prohibition of books ; and if there should be found any thing in it contrary to the good of my subjects, and the upright administration of justice, or that ought to be altered, it shall be proposed to me, that I may determine what shall be proper. This communicated for your information, and of whom it may concern. *' Palace, '2 1st July, 1814. *' THE KING. ** To Don Pedro de Macanaz." FROM COBBETT'S WEEKLY REGISTER, OF SEPT. 24. American War, — The following account of a battle, and of a victory^ on our part, gained over the Americans, is, perhaps, the most curious of any that ever was published, even in this enlightened Lancaster- school country. Before I insert it, let me observe, that the scene of action lies in the heart of Canada^ though, from the accounts that we have had, any one, not armed against the system of de- ception that prevails here, must have supposed, that there was not a single American remaining in Canada. The victory in question is said to have been gained near the famous falls of Niagara ; and we shall now see what sort of victory it was, accor- ding to the account of the commander himself, and which account will become a subject of remark, after I have inserted it. [Here he inserts the British official account of the battle of the £5th July, in which they admit a loss of killed 84 — wounded 559 — missing 193 — prisoners 42. Total 878.] Was I not right, reader, in calling this a curious account? Did you ever before hear, except from the mouths or pens of some of our own comman- ders, of a victory of this sort before ? It is a fault which I have always to point out in our histories of battles, that we never begin as the historians of all other countries do, by stating the strength of the armies on both sides. We are left here to guess at the force in the field. We are not told what wci' { 83 ) even our own strength on the occasion. If Ave had been furnished with this information, we should have been able to judge pretty correctlv of the na- ture of the combat, and of the merits' of the two armies. When we find that there has been a total loss of 878 men, including a vast proportion of o^^- cers, we must conclude that the ** drubbh^'' has been on the Ainericans only ; for the army under gen. Drummond did not, in all probability, amount to more than three or four thousand men ! There appears to have been only four battalions of regu- lars engaged, which would hardly surpass 2000 men. What the militia might have amounted to I cannot tell ; but as far as I am able to judge from the account, I should suppose that we have lost, on this occasion, 07ie man out of every five; so that this IS a sort of victory that is very cosdy, at any rate. But, except in victories of this kind, whoev- er heard before of such numbers o^ missing and prisoners on the part of the vietors ? When armies are dereated, they have, generally pretty lon^ lists of missing and prisoners; but when they |ain a victory, and, of course, remain masters of the spot on which the batde has ^aken place, how odd it is to hear that they have so many people taken and lo^^ the latter of whom they can give no account ot . And especially, how odd it is, that so many .ot these taken and lost persons should be omcers and officers of very high rank too ! Never, furelv' was there before, a victory attended with circum- stances so much resembling the usual circumstan- ces of a defeat The commander severely wound- ed; the second m command severely wounded and made prisoner into the bargain : the aid-de-camp to the commander m^^^ prisoner ; several colonels and lieutenant colonels wounded ; a great number ( 84 ) of officers and men missing and made prisoners. It such be the marks of a victori/ gained oyer the Americans, I wonder what will be the marks ot a defeat, if, unhappily, we should chance to experi- ence a defeat? At any rate, taking the matterin the most favourable light, what a bioodT/ battle this must have been ! To be sure that is a considera- tion of little weight with the enemies of freedom, who would gladly see half England put to death, il they could thereby have their desire of extermina- m4 freedom in America gratified. But this is not all The battle has not merely been bloody, but it has afforded a proof of the determined courage of the American army, and leads us to believe, that it , we persevere, the contest will be long as vvell as bloody ; and it is the length of the contest that we . have to fear.— The malignant wise man, who writes | in the Times newspaper, expresses great sorrow ^ that the - heroes of Toulouse" were not arrived in Canada previous to the late victory. But what could they have done more than to render the - success of our arms complete r And this, we are told, was the case without their assistance. The same writer, in t^.- same paper, complains of the sovereign of Holland for sending an ambas- sador to Mr. Madison ; and observes, that, it he had waited a/et(^ months, he might have been spar- ed the humiliation of sending an embassy to Mr. Madison and his set. Hence it would appear that this wise man gives our fleets and armies but a few months'' to conquer America. It was thus that the same sort of men talked in the memorable times of Burgoyne and Cornwalhs. But, m those times, America had not a population ot two millions; she had no government ; the greater part of her sea-ports were in our hands ; we had a tourtii ( 85 ) part of the people for us ; and the rest were with- out money, and almost without clothing and arms. I shall not deny that we may, by the expenditure of two or three hundred millions of money, do the Americans a great deal of mischief. I dare say that we shall burn some of their towns, and drive some thousands of women and children back from the coast. But, in the mean while, America will be building and sending out ships; she will be gaining experience in the art and practice of war ; she will be pushing on her domestic trade and ma- nufactures ; she will be harrassing our commerce to death ; and our taxes will he increasing, and an- nual loans must still be made. It is provoking, to be sure, but it really is so ; that we must leave the Americans in the enjoyment of their real liberty ; in the enjoyment of freedom, which is no sham ; must be content to see their country the asylum of all those in Europe who will not brook oppression ; we must be content to see America an example to every people, who are impatient under despotism, or or (dreadful alternative!) we must be content to pay all our present taxes, and to have new ones added to them ! Nay, after having, for several years, made these new sacrifices in the cause of " regular government, social order, and our holy religion;' it may, possibly, happen, at last, that x\merica, will remain unhurt; that, having been compelled to learn the art of w\ir, she may be- come more formidable than ever; and that, in the end, \\tv Jleets, in the space of t^vi years, may dis- pute with ours that trident, which we now claim as our exclusive property. Already do we hear per- sonsj-who were so eager for giving the "- yankees a hearty dridjbing ;' ask why this is not* done? They are already impatient for the conclusion, be- H ( 86 ) fore the beginning has well taken place. They ask whij the heroes of Toulouse were not at the late victory ? How unreasonable this is ! Just as if the government could convey them in a balloon ! Besides, were those heroes to have no time for re- pose ? Were they to be set on the moment they had been taken off? The government, to do it justice, have lost no time. They have sent out men as fast as they could get them ready. But it requires time to transport men, and guns, and hor- ses, and oats, and ha}^ and straw, to America ; to say nothing about bread, and beef, and pork, and butter, and peas, and rice. Nay, we see that they had to send out the timbers for ships to Canada, where, one would have supposed, there was wood enough, at any rate. If we were to get possession of New- York I should not be at all surprised to hear that the ministers were sending fuel thither for the cooking of the men's victuals. This is very differ- ent from what was seen in Portugal, Spain, and France. We shall find no partizans in America ; and especially shall we find nobody to take up arms in our cause. All must gojrom this country. It is a war of enormous expense ; and we must expect to pay that expense. If it comes to a close in seven years^ I shall think that we have very good luck. The troops who are going out now, and who have been held in readiness to go out for so long a time, will hardly be able to pull a trigger before 7iext June, By that time the Americans will have half a milHon of men, and free pien too, in arms, and who is to subdue half a million of men, armed for the defence of their freedom and their homes ? how did the people of France as long as the sound of freedom cheered their hearts, drive back, hunt, and lash their invaders. And, have ( 87 ) the Americans less courage, or less activity, than the French ? How silly is it, then, to expect to conquer America in "a few months !" — It is a lit- tle strange that the government have published no extraordinary gazette^ giving an account of the great '-^ victory ^^'' of which Vv^e have been speaking. They are not, in general, backward in doing jus- tice to our winners of victories. But it is useless to say much about it. Time will unfold the truth ; and, according to all appearance, we shall have time enough to learn ail about the events, as well as the effects, of the war against the republicans of Ame- rica. It is strange, that we have no account of the exact numbers of the prisoners that we ourselves have made. If any officers had been taken by uSy would they not have been named? And if we have taken no officers, while the Americans have taken so many of ours, what manner of victory is this? FliOM COBBETT'S REGISTER OF OCTOBER 29, 1814. , American War. — I have, from the first, expres- sed my apprehensions as to the end of this war. I used .the utmost of my endeavours to prevent it. While shut up in a prison, out of which, at die end of two long years, I went, with the paying of a thou- sand pounds TO THE KING, for having had the in- discretion to write about the Hogging of EngHsh lo- cal militiamen, at the town of Ely, in England, and about the presence of Hanoverian troops upon that occasion; while so shut up, the greatest object of my efforts was to prevent this ill-fated war, the seeds of wliich I saw sown, and the maturity of which I saw^ pushed on by those malignant and foul WTCtches, the writers of the Times and Courier newspapers. This was the way in which 1 employed my daj^s and years of imprison mt nt — My efibrts were all in vain. In vain did I show the falsehood of the statements and the doctrines on which the war whoopers proceeded, in vain did I appeal to the reason, and justice, and even to the interest of a people, deluded into a sort of furor against America. At last, the war took place, and the disgrace which we suffered at sea^ completed the madness of the nation, who seemed to have no other feeling than that of mortification and revenge. What ! should the people be suffer- ed to live ? Should they be suffered to exist in the ( 89 ) vrorld, who had defeated and captured a British fri- gate ? Should those, who had caused the British Hag to be hauled down, not be exterminated ? Dis- appointment ; astonishment ; fury ! The nation was mad. " Bide Britaimia,'^^ the constant call of the boasting rabble at places of public resort, was no longer called for with such eagerness, and was heard with less rapture. The heroes in blue and bufFcar- ried their heads less lofty. Their voices seemed to become more faint, and their port less majestic. They seemed to feel, as men of honour would, up- on such an occasion. In short, we all felt, that a new era had taken place in the naval annals of the world. Still, however, the dread of the power of Napo- leon restrained many from a wish to see us embar- ked in a war for the conquest of America. But, he was scarcely subdued by the combined efforts of all Europe, when this whole nation cried aloud for war, a war of punishment, against the American states. And, it was openly declared in the most popular of our newspapers, that we ought never to sheath the sword, till we had subjugated the states, or, at least, subverted their form of government. The pernicious example of the existence of a republic, founded on 2<' revolution, ^vas openly declared to be inconsistent with the safety of our government. It was, besides, distinctly alledged, that now, now, noxv, or 7iever was the time to prevent America from ever having a navy. The necessity of destroying her means of having a navy has since been repeatedly urged. It lias been stated and restated, that our naval power must soon come to an end unless we now destroy this republic, root and branch. The defeat and cap- ture of our fleet, and the defeat of our army on and near Lake Champlain, (of which I shall speak more ' H 2 ( 90 ) particularly hereafter) have not at all softened the language of the public prints. The Times newspa- per, of the 9th inst. calls it *'a lamentable evil to the CIVILIZED world;" by which appellation these writers always mean KINGLY governments. The writer then adds: *' Next to the annihilation of " the late military despotism in Europe, the sub- ** version of that system of fraud and malignity, which constitutes the whole policy of the Jeffer- sonian school, was an event to be devoutly wish- ed by every man in either hemisphere, who re- gards rational liberty, or the honourable inter- " course of nations. It was an event, to which we •* should have bent, and yet must bend all ourener- " gies. The American government must be dis- " placed^ or it will, sooner or later , plant its poisoned *' dagger in the heart of the parent state.^^ Sooner or later you see ! The gentleman looks into futii- rity. He does not even hint at any terms of peace. He plainly says, that we must displace the govern- ment of America ; that is to say, change \tsf0r7n and nature; subjugate the country, re-colonize it, re-pos- sess it. Now mind, the opposition prints do not find fciult with this. They do not deprecate such an object of the war. — They surpass even their adversaries in exulting at the burnings and plunderings. — They iind fault, that more mischief has not been done. Thus, then, we see what the nation regards as the object of the war. I say the nation, because the Morning Chronicle, which is the organ Qi\k\^ oppo- sition, is just as bitter against America, as are the Times and the Courier. — The truth is, that the only opposition, as to the war, will arise out of our fai- lures. The opposition will only blame the minis- ters for not having burnt more ships, plundered raore towns, and done more mischief. There is, ( 91 ) indeed, a sort of dread of the le?igth of the war. — People are a little disappointed^ that Mr. Madison is not yet deposed ; that the states have not yet sepa- rated ; that our sons of noble families are not yet wanted to go out as governours and captains gene- ral to Pennsylvania, New-York, Massachusetts, Virginia, &c. Sec. that it will require another cam- paign to bring the deluded Americans to their sen- ses ; that (and here is the pinch) the income tax will be wanted another year, and that another loan must be made. But, '* what is 07ie ;;26>r^ year of expense at the end of 22 years of war ? And then it will give us such lasting peace and security." Thus is fear hushed ; and when, in addition, the thought of our defeated and captured frigates come athwart the mind, the income tax is forgotten, and vengeance, war, and blood, is the cry. I now proceed to notice more particularly the events, which have reached our knowledge since the date of my last article upon the subject. — The phindering of Alexandria appears to have been the most successful of our enterprises. The American papers give our people great credit for their talent at the emptying of shops, and the embarkation of their contents, at which, to do our army and navy [especially the latter] but bare justice, we seem to have been uncommonly adroit. It seems, however, that the squadron, which had the plunder aboard, had but a narrow escape in descending the Chesa- peake ; but, plunder there was, and a good deal of it ; and there can be little doubt, that the success and profit of the enterprise will act as great encour- agement to future undertakings of a similar des- cription ; the only danger being, that the zeal of our commanders may push them on faster, than a due regard to their safety might otherwise dictate. — In ( 9£ ) an attempt against Baltimore we failed. That is to say, we met with a defeat. Not in iht field ; but that is nothing to the purpose. VVe marched and sailed against the town with all our forces, by sea and land, and we were compelled to retreat without doing any thing against that town. The town is safe; and, if the war end as this expedition has en- ded, all the world will agree, that America has de^ feated us. We may be sure of this ; and, there- fore, we must carry on the war, till we have subdu- ed America; or, we must make up our minds to the reputation of having been defeated by that re- public. A pretty serious alternative ; but it is one which must and will exist, and of this we shall be- come more and more sensible every day, and parti- cularly if we attend to what foreigners say upon the subject. The expedition of our troops and fleet ag;ainst Passamaquoddy and the Penobscot is of a nature so trifling as hardl}^ to be worthy of notice. — That territory is no more important in America, than the isle of Sky is in Great Britain. It is a conquest, and so would the isle of Sky be by an American privateer. What a figure does this conquest make in the Gazette ! What a grand afilnr it appears to be ! But, did a thousandth part of the people of England ever hear of Passamaquoddy or Penob- scot before? It is Baltimore, Charleston, Wil- mington, Norfolk, Philadelphia, New-York, Bos- ton, that they have heard of. They have been led to believe, that the city of Washington is to iVme- rica what London is to England, or what Fans is to France. Nothing can be more fallacious. There are, perhaps, two hundred towns in America, each of which is more populous and rich than Wash- ington was, or than it was likely ever to be. Be- ( 93 ) sides, we did not keep possession of Washington, as the Germans and Russians did of Paris. We did not remain there to erect a new government. — We only set fire to a few buildings and then re. treated. If an American privateer were to set fire to a few fishing huts on the coast of Wales, should wc look upon it as a very brilliant afiliir ? Yet this Washington enterprise was, by the Morning Chro- nicle, deemed the most gallant dash of the war ! In the " demonstration," as admiral Cochrane calls it, against Baltimore, gen. Ross was killed ; and some of our papers call this foul play ! '' The fel- low,'' says one of them, " took aim at the gallant Ross from behind some brush rvood.'' Well, and what then ? Do not our troops shoot from behind parapets, and walls, and works of all sorts ? And do we suppose, that the Americans will not make use of a bush when it comes in their way ? — If this cri/ing tone be to be indulged in, we shall, I fear, cry our eyes out before the war be over. We have sent our bombs, and rockets, and rifles, and all sorts of means of destruction ; our writers blame our ministers for not sending the means of knocking down towns fast enough, and shall we abuse poor Jonathan if he avail himself of a bush, and of his skill at hitting a mark ? Gen. Ross hurnt their president's house, and a yankee shot gen. Ross. These are things which naturally oc- cur ; and, however, we may lament the death of any officer, we must reflect that an invaded people will shoot at their invaders, unless the former are ready to receive the latter as friends. Before 1 proceed to notice the late affair on and near Lake Champlain, there are some remarks to be bestoued on certain characteristic facts which have leaked out, and on certain paragraphs in our news- ( 94 ) papers. The Americans are accused of cowardice for having retreated before inferior numbers and ta^ ken shelter in Baltimore. Why was this cowar. dice ? The main object was to defend that great and! rich city. The second was to annihilate our army; and naval force. To make a long stand in the open country, with raw troops, against disciplined soldi^ ers, was not the way to eifect either of these pur-i poses. The main object was effected, and our re-| treat only, probably, prevented the effecting of the| latter. The Times newspaper, a few days ago, re-- marking on the coxvardice of the Americans, con. trasted with the bravery of our army and navy, ob-j served that the cause was, that they had no feelings^ of patriotism ; that they cared nothing about their^ country. Now, what is the ground of this war ? — Why, we complained that the Americans harbourec^ deserters from our navy ; and they complained that| \wt forced native Americajis into our service. This fact is notorious to all the world. This fact is re- corded in our own official documents. This fad makes a part of unquestionable history. Anothei fact has just been recorded by this same Times newspaper ; namely, that two of our seamen were hanged^ on board the fleet in the Chesa})eake, foi attempting to desert to the enemy. It is also stated, in the same paper (24th Oct.) that about 150 of oui soldiers deserted on the retreat from Plattsburg. — • Now, let this empty boaster produce instances lik€ these, on the side of the Americans, if he can — ai>d if he cannot, let him acknowledge himself to be either a deluded fool or a deluded knave. But haj Jonathan shewn no zeal for his country ? What was that act of self-devotion which induced a man tc expose his property to certain, and himself to pro- bable destruction, by shooting at general Ross and ( 95 ) cilling his horse under him, in the city of Wash- ngton, after the town was in possession of our roops ? By what feeling was the man actuated who l^xposed his life for the sake of killing general Ross, ind who must have been almost alone, since he was Hidden behind some brushwood ? To what are we o impute the capture of 200 young men of the '* best families in Baltimore," found in the fore Ground defence of their city ? Was greater courage, nore desperate devotion to country, ever witnessed han at the battle of Chippewa and at Fort Erie ? iow comes it, that during the last campaign, we iave lost more officers and men, out of twenty housand employed, than we ever lost in the Euro- Wan war out of one hundred thousand. From what eeling was it that Mr, Madison called, as we are jold he has, Mr. Rufus King to his counsels, and mm what feeling is it that Mr. King has accepted if the call? " The Morning Chronicle, that camelion of this yar, now boasts that it foretold union against us. >t never foretold it. It always urged on the war. t called, and it was the first to call the burnings of Washington a most gallant dash. — However, it is 'low clear that we have completely united the whole country. The bombarding of Stoningt on in Massa- chusetts, and Xh^ plundering of Alexandria^ in Vir- ginia, have done what all the workings of good sense .nd public spirit were not able to effect. Mr. Rufus png, whom we regarded as the rival and the impla- cable enemy of Mr. Madison, has taken a post under ii?n for the defence of his country ; and we shall iow see that, amongst those whom we thought our riends, we shall find the most resolute enemies, ^tonington and Alexandria will be constantly before fvery American's eyes. I always was opposed to ( 96 ) the war, and to this mode of warfare especially. II knew it would produce that which it has produced.] I knew it would render trie breach too wide ever to be healed again. I knew that It would produce: either the total subjugation of Anierica, which It tliought impossible, or our final defeat in the eyes of I the world, with the ulterior consequence of seeing; America a most formidable naval power, which the recent events on the borders of Canada seem but too manifesdy-to portend. It is quite surprising to whatl an extent this nation has been, and still is deluded,, with regard to America, and to the nature and effect t of this war. It is only fifteen days ago that the Courier newspaper contained the following para-> graph : " There were reports last night of our having at- tacked and taken New London, and destroyed ihe citv of Baltimore. Both these events cvre probable y but there are no arrivals from America later than the last despatches from Admiral Cochrane, dated on the 3d of last month. But as the wind has been fair for some days Ave hourly expect a fresh arrival. It must bring news of the greatest importance — intellis^ence from Canada — another attack upon Fort Erie — another conflict with gen. Brown — per- haps a battle with the American gen. Izard — the further operations of admiral Cochrane and general Ross — the result of the expedition under general 'Sherbroke — the operations of the Creek Indians who had already made their appearance upon the frontiers of South Carolina — and '* last not least,'V the effect of our late attack upon the minds of the\ American people — the steps taken by Mr. Madison,, if he ijet remains president, and the measures adopA ted by these states that were in a ferment against\ the government^ even before the disaster, and wercs not indisposed to a separation fiom the otiier states* No arrival from America was ever expected with more impatience." Well, the arrival has taken place. The impati- ently expected arrival has taken place. New Lon- don has not been attacked. The attack on Baltimore h^^ failed. General Ross is /n//e- rican navy in a {^\^ weeks. The merchants and underwriters are now petitioning the lords of the ad- miralty and the prince regent to protect therii more effectually against this '' conte?nptib/e American na- vy," which, it seems, has already destroyed their property to the amount of millions, and some of the ships of which are said to blockade, in some sort, part of our harbors in England and Ireland, and are capturing our ships within the sight of land. These gentlemen should have petitioned against the xvar. So far from that, many of them were eager for the war ; and, do they think that they are to en- joy the gratification of seeing the American towns knocked down without paying some little matter for it ? That the admiralty are employing a great many ships and sailors in this war our next year's taxes and loans will fully convince us ; but nume- rous as their ships and sailors are, they are not, and cannot be, sufficient to cover all the ocean. ( 140 ) The farmers and landholders, and fund holders, are sighing for the repeal of taxes: but how are they justified in this wish, when it is well known that to carry on the war, taxes are absolutely neces- sary ; and when it is also well known, that those persons were, in general, anxious for the war ? Some of them want war to prevent their produce from falling in price ; others liked peace with France well enough ; but, then, they wished *' to give the Yankees a drubbing,^* Therefore, if to keep up the price of produce, and to give the Yankees a drubbing, taxes are wanted, with what decency can'^ these persons expect that taxes will be taken off?"^ Do we obtain any thing that we Want without pay- ing for it, in some way or other ? If we want food, or raiment, or houses, or pleasure, do we not ex- pect to pay for them ? Can we go to see a play or a puppet show without money? Why, then, are we to expect to see the greater pleasure of seeing the Yankees drubbed without paying for that too ? The public seem very impatient to see the drub- bing begin. The Times and the Courier have been endeavouring to entertain them for a long while, and until they, as well as the audience, appear ex- hausted. Bat is it not reasonable that the public should, in this case, as well as in all others, put down their money previously to the drawing up of the cur- tain ? In a year or two, perhaps, we slTall see the drama commence in good earnest. But, it is not enough to be amused with a little dancing and tum- bling on the outside before we have paid our mo- ney ? — " Send ! Send away," says the eager editor of the Times y " send away a force to erush them at once !" But not a word does he say about the taxes necessary to pay for the sending and keeping up of sucli a force. ( 141 ) Our government is composed of wonderfully clever men ; but they are not clever enough to make soldiers walk upon the waters over the Atlantic, nor to enact, at a word, loaves and fishes to sustain them after their arrival. To be able to send that ** overwhelming force" of which the Times speaks, the government must have money ; and, as in all other cases, they must have the money ^r^^. In short, it is unreasonable in the extreme to expect the war in America to be attended with any very signal result, until we have liberally paid two or three years of taxes. The assertion is again made, that the American ships are manned principally with English^ Irish and Scotch, I find this assertion in the Morning Chronicle of the 6th instant. If this were true, as I hope it is not, what a pleasant and honourable fact this war would have brought to light ? — No other than this : that many of our sea- men, our '* gallant tars," the " undaunted sons of Neptune," not only have no dislike to the Americans, but actually have run the risk of being hanged, drawn and quartered, for the sake of fighting in the American service against their own country ! If the world believe these accounts, what must the world think of us ? During the long war in which France was engaged, no Frenchmen were ever found in arms against their king and country. Some of them, indeed, embodied themselves under foreign banners to fight, as they pretended, at least, for their country, and against those whom they cal- led the usurpers of its government. But, if these accounts be true, our countymen have voluntarily gone into the American service to fight against their country, that country being under the legiti- mate sway of the glorious and beloved house of Brunswick ! the origin of these accounts, so dis- graceful to the country, is, probably, the reluctance ( 142 ) which our naval officers have to confess defeat at the hands of those yankees^ whom we were so de- sirous to see drubbed. To avoid this painful ac- knowledgment, it has been asserted, that we have not been beaten, by the yankees, but by our own brave countrymen. — But, here again, a difficulty arises ; for how comes it to pass, that our own brave countrymen have more success on board yan- kee ships than on board of our own heart of oak ? How comes it to pass, that the men on both sides, being precisely of the same race and education, those in the yankee ships should beat those in '' the woo- den walls of Old England ?'' It has been observed, that they fight more desperately, knowing that they fight with a halter about their necks* What an as- persion on " the sons of Neptune !" As if the sons of Neptune, the gallant jack tars of Old England wanted a halter round their necks, and the gallows and executioner's knife before their eyes, to make them do more in battle than they are ready to do for tlie sake of their king and country, and from a sentiment of honour ! This is, really, giving a cru- el stab to the character of our sailors ; but such is the sorry malignity of those who publish these ac- counts of treasonable practices, that they entirely overlook these obvious inferences, in their anxiety to get rid of the supposition that any thing praise worthy belongs to the character of the enemy. If these accounts be true, as I hope they are not, whv are not the traitors ^nW and executed? Why are they suffered to remain in the American ser- vice ? Why are they suffered to go on thus, shou- ting at, boarding, and taking our ships, insulting our gallant officers, and putting our men in irons '? Why are they not, 1 ask again, tried and hanged? Why are not their warm bowels ripped out and ( 143 > thrown in their traitorous faces ? Why are their bo- dies not cut into quarters, and those quarters placed at the king's disposal ?— But, I had forgotten, that before these things can be done, we must capture the ships in which they sail ! Is there no other way of coming at them? It were well if those, whose business it is to enforce the law against state crim- inals, would fall upon some scheme to reach them. Cannot the parliam^ent, which has been called om- nipotent, find out some meaiis of coming at them ? In short, these accounts are a deep disgrace to the country ; and I do hope, that the lords of the admi- ralty, who published that eloquent paper, stimula- ting the sailors to fight against the Americans, will fall speedily upon some means of putting an end to so great a scandal. I have not time, at' present, to enter so fully into the subject of the American war as I shall in my next ; but, to the loose observations that I have made, I cannot refrain from adding a word or two on the rupture of the,, negociations at Ghent, which is said to have taken place. Who, in his senses, expected any other result ? It was manifest, from the moment that Napoleon was re- moved from France, that the war with America was destined to become a serious contest. There were all sorts of feelings at work in favour of such a war. There was not a single voice (mine only excepted) raised against it. Was it to be supposed, then, that peace would be the work of a few months? Yet this rupture of the negociations appears to have excited a good deal of surprise, not wholly divested of a small portion of alarm. It was expected that the yankee commissioners would jump at peace on any terms. There were thousands of persons, and well dressed persons too, who said that the yankees would not hesitate a moment to depose Mr, Madi- ( 144 ) son, and send him to some little uninhabited island. About a fortnight ago some rifle soldiers were pas- sing my house, in their way from Sussex to Ply- mouth, to join their corps, bound to America. A sergeant, who was at a little distance behind the party, stopped at my door and asked for some beer. While the beer was drawing, I observed to him, that Jonathan must take care now what he was about. " No," said the sergeant, " I do not think it will come to any head ; for we learned the day before yesterday, that Madison haH run away,'''' I asked him, if they had been informed -whither he had run to. He replied, that he had run " out of the country,'''' He further told me, that we were to have an army of 50,000 men for the conquest of America; and that, if they were not enough, Rus- sia had 60,000 men ready to send to our assis- tance. From this the Americans will judge of the opinions of the people here ; for I dare say, that this sergeant was no more than the mere repeater of what he heard in almost all the public houses, re- sorted to by politicians of the most numerous class — but the people are not to be blamed for this de- lusion. They had it given them, in the report of a speech of one of the lords of the admiralty, not long ago, that w^e were about to undertake the deposing of Mr. Madison ; and who can blame them, if they believe that this deposition has taken place ? My friend, the sergeant, on whom I bestowed my be- nediction, will, however, I am afraid, find, that this work of deposing Mr. Madison will give more trouble than he appeared to expect ; my reasons for which I shall state in my next. A OLIMPSE, ^c. It is a duty the people of the United States, both individually and collectively, owe their legiti- mate sovereign Lord and King the Great Jehovah, to remember with sentiments of unfeigned grati- tude and thankfulness our recent desperate con- flict and pacification with Great Britain. I at first purposed merely to compile some of the most distinguished of the American victories as an appendix to the prefixed letters of Mr. Cobbett, but I cannot let the present opportunity slip, with- out reminding the American population, of the pa- ternal kindness of their father and their king in their late time of trial; that it may stimulate us all lo render unto him the grateful tribute of thanks- giving for his unspeakable goodness; and those who refuse so to do, especially after reading these re- marks are guilty of the basest and blackest ingra- titude, than which a greater crime men cannot commit, nationally or individually. May every American heart palpitate with ardent love to our glorious King, and every eye glisten with tears of gratitude, while reading a concise recapitula- tion of his loving kindness to these rising states in the time of our greatest extremity. If one hundred, or even one reader is stimulated by these remarks to love and praise God for the national blessing we have received, I will consider myself sufficiently rewarded. Perhaps it would be pro- N ( 146 ) per in this place, to point out concisely the causes as well as the consequences of the late war. The impressment of American seamen by the British naval commanders, appears to be the chief cause thereof. Even president Washington remonstra- ted and reprobated this unlawful practice in the strongest terms. Also, the restrictions on our commerce was a just cause of complaint. '< On the 25th of March 1807, an act of parlia- ment passed, the object of which was to permit the United States to trade to France and her dependen- cies, on condition that our vessels should first enter some British port, pay a transit duty, and take out a license! A compliance with this unprece- dented regulation would have subjected a single cargo of flour to the payment of more than eight thousand dollars, and an ordinary cargo of cotton to more than fifty thousand dollars. On the arti- cle of tobacco alone Great Britain would have extorted from us the annual tribute ot two mil- lions, three hundred, and thirty-eight thousand dollars. The payment of these duties on all our articles of exportation would have drawn from us a yearly sum more than sufiicient to pay the in- terest on our national debt. Under the orders in council more American vessels and cargoes were seized and condemned than have been captured by the enemy since the declaration of war. Such, is a short, and impartial glimpse of the acts of aggression and rapacity which led to the war. Were we disposed to add to the colour- ing of the picture we might call to recollection the outrages on our territorial jurisdiction by the blockade of the mouths of our harbours and rivers, the murder of our citizens within our >J ( 147 ) own waters, the attack on the Chesapeake, the disavowal of Erskine's arrangement, the excite- ment of the savages to hostilities on our frontier inhabitants and the authorised mission of John Henry, for the purpose of producing civil war and a severance of the union." The almost miraculous transactions which hap- pened on the theatre of war in Europe soon after the declaration of war against England by the American government, might be considered big with portentous events to this country. I would ask any man who believes in the divine agency, and that a sparrow does not fall to the ground without the notice of God, if he cannot clearly see the finger of heaven raised, or if you please, the special interposition of Providence exerted in our behalf in the recent sanguinary contest. After enduring with proverbial patience a thou- sand indignities, the loss of nearly one thousand sail of our ships, and impressment of thousands of our citizens, we declared war against the invader of our rights, when eight of the European nations combined with France against England. Soon after this eventful period France fails in her mili- tary enterprises. All Europe arms against her, and the coalition triumphs at the gates of Paris. France being humbled, England turns her milita- ry and maritime vengeance upon us, while w^e had only one arm to raise against her accumulating fu- ry, the other nervous and powerful arm being tied down by the spirit of faction and political rancor- Thus with one hand the United States found themselves engaged with the greatest power on earth. The " bits of striped bunting" float alone against the crimson banner of the queen of the ocean. All the friends of liberty trembled for ( 148 ) our fate; and the only free country on earth would have fallen a victim to the spirit of despotism, had not God been our defender. After the sub- jugation of France the arms of the United States were more victorious than they were ever before. Many and sanguinary were the conflicts on land and water in which victory crowned our just cause. In New- England the enemy gained a partial pre- ponderance, because of the disaffection of its big men to our just cause: and in Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, they were permit- ted by a similar spirit in the little men to burn the capital. In the first instance the state-rulers would not lead on the brave Bostonians to repel and chastise the invading foe, and in the last the peo- ple would not support their rulers while repelling their enemies. I recollect about two years ago I saw in Georgetown hand- bills posted up, where- in the inhabitants were notified that a meeting ^ was appointed, also, a day of thanksgiving, rejoic- ing and feasting for the recent Russian victories, ^ and of course English victories over the French. • An oration was delivered at the English church, and te deum was sung. When I saw these things j I exclaimed in the language of astonishment ** is it possible that toryism is thus permitted to flour- j ish in the center of the republic." The people ^ who thus rejoiced at the victories of our enemy, , I queried if they would defend their own capital i if invaded; the sequel proved that my fears were not without foundation. I had also proposed to disseminate a number of the fourth edition of my *' Charms of Benevolence, and Patriotic Mentor, or the Rights and Privileges of Republicanists \ contrasted with the Wrongs and Usurpations of Monarchy," with this motto: ( 1« ) Freedom's the pearl of life, the poor man*s store, But life is death when Freedom is no more. But I was informed by a patriotic plebeian, that I would meet with no encouragement for a work of that description. Hence I directed my agent to disseminate them in other parts of Maryland and Virginia, and for my part I did not sell one my- self in the above three towns. The reader is humbly intreated to pardon this digression which does not properly belong to the subject, but to which we now return by boldly asserting that no victory during the war so effectually aided our just cause as this cowardly catastrophe, because it first united the hearts of all republicans in sup- port of their general government, and at the same time disgusted all civilized nations at the barba- rous mode of warfare carried on by England against the arts as well as the arsenals of the Uni- ted States. After this mortifying but most for- tunate event the American arms were triumphant and an honourable peace was the fruit thereof. In this short but sanguinary conflict, w^e have taken the following public vessels from the enemy. Oil the Ocean. i Guerriere, - - 33 11 Levant, - - - - 18 2 Macedonian, - 38 12 Alert, - - - - 16 3 Java, - - - - 38 13 Boxer, - - - - 16 4 Cyane, - - - 34 1 4 St. Lawrence, •• - 12 5 Hermes, - - - - 28 15 Highflyer, - - - 11 6 Frolic, - - - 18 16 Dominica, - - - 12 7 Peacock, _ 18 17 Ballahoo, - - 8 8 Epervier - - 18 18 Whiting, - - 4 9 Avon, - - - 18 19 Landraille, - - 4 10 Reindeer, - 18 N 2 ( 15 ^ ) On the Lakes. 20 Confiance, - - - 39 27 Hunter, - - - . 10 21 (Burnt at York,) - 38 28 Berresford, - - - 14 22 Detroit, - - - - 20 29 Duke of Gloucester, 12 25 Lady Prevost, - - 16 30 Chippewa, - - 24 Linnet, - - - , 16 31 Nancy, - _ . - 2 25 (On L. Champlain,) 1 1 32 Little' Belt, - - - 4U 26 (Ditto) ... - 11 Of packets, which are king's vessels, generally first rate vessels, from 200 to 400 tons burthen, armed with 10 guns, we have captured the follow- ing, viz. 1 Ann. 2 Carteret. 3 Duke of Montrose. 4 Express. 5 Fox. 6 Francis Freeling. 7 Lapwing. S Mary Ann. 9 IVIanchester. 10 Morgiana. 1 1 Nocton. 12 Prince Adolphus. 1 3 Princess Amelia. 14 Princess Elizabeth. 15 Princess Elizabeth. 16 Swallow 17 Townsend. 1 8 Lady Mary Pelhairi. 19 Windsor Castle. The preceding are public vessels; of private i \essels, Niles' last list is 1551, which have been ^ brought safe into port or destroyed. Including the recaptures, it may be safely stated that we liave taken at least 3000 vessels from the enemy. Before I proceed to give a more particular glimpse of our military and maritime victories I will take the liberty to introduce my " Persuasive to . political moderations^'' as it is in my view the most i important part of our compilation and lies nearest mv heart. ( I5i ) A Persuasive to Political Moderation, ^c. It is most assuredly the duty of every rational being to do all possible good to his fellow crea- tures not only with a disinterested view of profiting them, but also of pleasing our common Creator. And in order to do good to men, we must accommodate our admonitions to their pas- sions, their prejudices, and their local preposses- sions. To cause the sons of error to see its fa- tality; docility, mildness, and moderation must be used. The grand work I desire to accomplish herein,! s no less than a union of all republicans in the United States for the prosperity of the re- public. Was my power equal to my will, there should be but two parties in the United States; namely, whig and tory; the friend and the enemy of kingcraft. And though I would not advise my compatriots when they feel the hour of their dis- solution approaching, like the father of Hannibal to take their children to the altar, and swear them to eternal hostility against the invaders of their country's liberty and independence; yet would I stimulate by the most reasonable argumentation the votaries of republicanism, to inspire their chil- dren with a just detestation of monarchy by pre- senting them with this, and similar publications for their serious investigation. The present attempt, although romantic, is surely excusable. To break down party prejudice, to allay the impetuosity of political intolerance, requires a more powerful pen than mine. The late war has given all parties and politicians in our country clearly to see the deletereous and gigantic evils which are most likely to be produced in oiiir ( 152 ) solitary republic by political animosity and party strife. Our representative republic and federal government was in danger from this cause, which will again and again produce the same effect, if not remedied or removed, and it is the duty of every friend to his country to use his individual endeavours to contribute his aid, in order to ac- complish this great and important object. If there are worshippers of royalty in the federal ranks, I verily believe there are also domestic tyrants and intolerant politicians in the democratic ranks. I abhor the spirit of intolerance, both political and religious; appear in what party it may it is most destructive to the public weal, and should be ex- ploded as the bane of the republic. Surely the strong should always be ready to extend the hand of charity to the weak! There are many, no doubt^ true republicans in the federal ranks, and not a few fought, conquered, and died, in defence of the republic in the late war. These things should not be forgot by the powerful party. To each surviving hero, as wxll as those who are sleeping on a foreign shore, every tribute that is due to virtue and valour should be paid. Surely the wor- shippers of kings, dukes, mai'quises, earls, lords, and the Lord knows only what, are justly despi- sed and execrated by all true republicans, in the federal as well as the democratic ranks. The ser- vile worshippers of what they call 'legitimate mo- narchs" in monarchical countries, I pity from my heart, because they are hood-winked from youth to age by their tory scholastic and eclesiastic teach- ers, so that they live and die the victims of po- litical delusion; but men who were bred and born in the United States, and with the best political information practical as well as theoretical, and ( 153 ) who, notwithstanding, long for, sigh for, pray for, preach for, write for, and act for a royal govern- ment; such men, if such men exist in the United States, I have far less charity for than for the high- way robber: and I do verily believe they are as hateful in the sight of Heaven as they are in my sight, and equally an enemy of God and man. I feel nothing but* love and charity to all mankind, my bitterest enemies included, and could circle them all in one kind embrace — these miscreants only excepted, if there be any such in the United States. Even the royalists who have slaughtered tens of thousands of the population of Spanish America, because, forsooth, they willed to be free, and fought for independence, I feel charity for, because they are blindly led on against their fellow citizens by the prejudice of education, and think they are fighting for and supporting a just cause; but not so with the American royalist. Who, I ask, can read the following recent intel- ligence from Spanish America, and not feel pity for the one party and detestation for the other; Barhadoes^ March 20. INTERESTING DETAIL OF RECENT OCCURRENCES ON THE SPANISH MAIN. " We published on the 6th ult. important in- formation received by the way of Curracoa, res- pecting the operations of the belligerent republi- cans and royalists, in the provinces of Venezuela and the Carraccas. The army of the royalist party, under Bovis, had taken Barcelona and Cumana, and w'as then marching on towards Maturin, near which place a battle had been fought, in which the republicans, under Bolivar, had sustained con- siderable loss. ( 154. ) A continuation of this intelligence is furnished by the Jamaica papers brought up by H. M. ship Niemen, which arrived at this place on the 14th inst. and has since sailed for England. The royalist general Morales, having laid siege to the town of Maturin, sent them the following summons: '' Inhabitants of Maturin. — The rapidity with | which the arms of the Spanish monarchy have subdued the several provinces of Venezuela, is a clear proof that Divine Providence favours a just cause. You are the last that oppose to us resist- ance, which must prove fruitless. I do now offer to you an honourable capitulation — Lay down j your arms, and any one among you who do not ' wish to live under the royal government, shall have a passport to any colonial he may choose. The others, who consent to remain, shall have their rights and property respected. Thomas Mor ales, General in chief. '*'* \ To which summons the following answer was re- turned by the commander-in-chief of the town of j Maturin, Don Jose Francisco Bermudez: ^ '* Since Maturin has raised the standard of li- berty, the valour of its inhabitants has been con- spicuous more than once; they have sworn to bury themselves under the ashes of their town, rather than submit again to the despotic govern- ment that has forages oppressed them: — that oath they now renew. You boast of your precarious advantages and of the large force under your command, which you say is more than adequate to compel us to surrender; you may, general, put them in motion; we are ready and disposed to face it, and if you conquer us, it shall be on ashes ( 155 ) and dead bodies that your victory shall be cele- brated; by consent of all those under my orders. Jose Francisco Bermudez." Finding that the city of Maturin was determin- ed to make manly resistance, general Morales made the requisite preparations, and immediately stormed the works of the republicans, and took possession of the place. In this sanguinary con- flict the royalists are said to have lost about three thousand men, and the republicans upwards of four thousand. Morales, who is the successor of the brutal Broves, who put all the inhabitants of Cumana to death (with the exception of eight families) caused himself to be proclaimed by the army which de- stroyed Maturin, '' Commander-in-chief," and all eastward from the capital, mclusive, is considered under his government; whilst Valencia, Puerto, Cabello, and the territory to the westward, ac- knowledged general Cagigal as their chief." Yet these royalists are angels compared to those in the United States, who, were it not for the in- terposition of our mighty and merciful sovereign, would have produced the same reverse, the same desolation, the same degradation in the United States, as was experienced by the republicans of Maturin. OI reader, pause a moment and reflect upon their anguish, and your recent narrow es- cape from similar wretchedness, and love, and thank, and praise your good king who delivered you therefrom. The population of Massachusetts, although they have through their legislature opposed the general government, in the late sanguinarv conflict, are " essentially republican:" they have been led astray from the path in which their fathers trod ( 156 ) by the wrong association of ideas exhibited be- fore their intellectual eyes, by men who pant for power in the republic, and not as many suppose, royalty. I do not, I cannot believe that even the American born leaders of the federalists of New- England would erect a monarchical government on the ruins of our republic, if it was in their power. There may be some indeed, who are base and abominable enough to act thus, but I believe they are very few, and are chiefly foreigners; but I do contend that all federal republicans are bound to cashire such men when recognised in their ranks, or they should at least come out from among the eulogists of monarchy, who have the consummate effrontery to advocate directly or indirectly the "Divine right of kings,'' and the laws of primo- genitureship in this free country. Let them rally under the standard of their country, that their children may participate the precious liberty their own fathers died to purchase for posterity. The Almighty has most indubitably a predilection for the U. States as he had for his Israelitish the-* ocracy, and the fact is clearly demonstrated in the late war; and it requires no spirit of divination to foresee that what the British navy is now, the American navy, though at present in its infancy, will be in following years. 1 will take the liberty to particularize a thought that this moment stitick my mind, which will appear, no doubt, both chimerical and romantic — it is this: that the nations of Europe, who will not suffer the light of political knowledge to shine upon their minds, and will, forsooth, worship their wicked kings, . popes, bishops, and priests, lords, dukes, earls, 1 and marquises, will be left to dwindle into their primeval insignificance, and take a countermarch C i5r ; back to their original barbarian ignorance, while our gracious sovereign will reserve these Uni- ted States to be the assylum for all the individuals of Europe who wish to be free, and refuse to kiss the royal foot that kicks them, and support the episcopal hand that loads them with chains, and immures them in an inquisition. Thus, by im- portation, as well as by propagation, will our free, enlightened, and independent population be ex- tended to South America on the one part, and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Although at present the people of Spanish America are permitted by Heav£n to be unfortunate, and are forced to serve their oppressors, in order, when they are delivered therefrom, they may duly appreciate the intrinsic value of civil and religious liberty. Yet I firmly believe the day is not far distant when they vvill rise superior to their present tyrants, and become a sister republic, adopting our institutions and government. Thus, in my opinion, will all Ameri- ca be revolutionized, north and south, from the frigid to the torrid zone, awd from the Adantic to the Pacific Oceans. Tho^e who feel disposed to laugh at this (as they will think) premature hy- pothesis, vvill please to remember what the Euro- pean nations were when the Roman common- wealth was in the full tide of its glory, and now contrast the one with the other: — so great will be the dissimilarity between the European and American states in following years. The Ameri- can nation will not only be the most potent and enlightened, but also the most singular nation that is or ever was on earth; while the European villas will become j unguis for wild beasts — the Ameri- can wilderness will blossom like the rose — flou- rishing cities will be erected on the shores of the o ( 158 ) Pacific as on the Atlantic Ocean, and an inland passage established of three thousand miles be- | tvveen them: — the natives thereof will be instruct- ed, not by the votaries of bigotry and supersti- | tion, and the slaves of priest and king-craft, as the J aborigines of Europe originally were, but by the 1 free-born, the liberal, the enlightened sons of li- berty and Columbia: and as our ships now plough the Atlantic, so will they in following years plough the Pacific Ocean.— Our land will extend to all climates, and our '' bits of striped bunting'' wave wherever the billows roll or winds can wave them: then will England be, at least in a naval point of view, what Carthage is now, and America what England is now. However, let this hypothesis be as it may, I devoutly pray that the light of reli- gious and political knowledge may shine upon all men who wish to be free and independent, and who feel disposed to worship no king but the King of Heaven, and pay homage to no priest but our blessed Redeemer, the high priest of our holy religion. But to return: — I would beseech both of the great political parties in the United States, to leaVn from the forbearance of God to them to bear with one another: let the demo's of the south, when they are about dealing politi- cal anathemas to their brethren of the east, let them remember Bunkers-hill, and be mild and mo- derate in their animadversions, and not punish or wish to punish the innocent with the guilty: and I even the subsequent vice of a delinquent should! not totally obliterate his antecedent virtue. Mildl words and kind expostulations will metanaorphoze an enemy to a friend, and vice vresa, with bitter words of reproach and calumny. ( 159 ) A word to the federalists of Massachusetts.'-r— Perhaps no state in the union contributed more largely and invincibly to establish the liberty and independence of the United States than your state. Then let not the imperfection of the men in pow- er cause you to oppose the government your fa- thers died to establish; use alfconstitutional means to correct abuses, but no violent means. He who is not willing to submit to a government esta- blished and supported by the majority, it not a true republican, profess what he may; and should not the federalists in power in Massachusetts use political moderation themselves, while they de- claim against the intolerance of the democrats in power in the district of Columbia? Surely they should. A contrary line of conduct will have a direct tendency to hurl them from office, or other- wise cause their enterprising and valuable oppo- nents to emigrate to other states more congenial to their principles, and favourable to their talents. This they have done and are still doing: — I mean emigrating from the eastern to the western states; and this is a very serious evil, and pregnant with the most fatal consequences to the eastern states, which I tremble to think of, much more to express. From such fatal consequences good Lord deliver us. The federalists now in pov/er in Massachusetts by acting intolerant, will give the lie in form to the assertions of all the federalists in the union, and be a burlesque on their collective pretentions. It will cause all people who have common sense to dread and despise them, because every body knows that if all the state legislatures, opposed the general government as that of Massachusetts unhappily have done during the late war; the re- publicans of the United States, would be this day ( 160 ) in the same lamentable state, those of Spanish America now are in, and the bloody standard of despotism would now surmount the ^''bits of strips ed bunting^'* throughout the United States, and the last remains of civil and religious freedom would be exterminated from the face of the earth. A word to the population of Massachusetts in ge- neral. Your wealth, }our numbers, your talents, your private virtues; but above all, the distin- guishtd, the honourable, the successful part you acted in the revolution, entitle you to a large share of influence in the national legislature. This influence you have totally lost; investi- gate and remove the cause that has produced this unpleasant and mortifying effect. You say the con- stitution of the United States. is defective. If so, the proper mode of amendment is at hand, and ready provided; let these defects be exhibited in a constitutional manner, and let the majority cor- rect them if real, and if only supposed, let the minority submit to the decision of the majority as thev are in duty bound, agreeable to the fun- damental principles of republicanism. To the People of New England Collec- tively — I would intreat to remember the va- lour of their departed parents, and the guardian care of their heavenly Parent in '* the times that tried nien's souls," and show their gratitude by properly appreciating and protecting the liberty they purchased with their blood. A vaunt then, all party prejudices, and let the sons of the north join their brethren of the south in returning the grateful tribute of thanksgiving to our Almighty Sovereign for the recent restoration of an honour- ( 161 ) able peace. Let us all rejoice in the happy result of the contest in which we were engaged. The rights and honour of the republic, have been main- tained under peculiar disadvantages. The world has seen what we have done with one hand, and they know what we could do v/ith both. The energies, the public spirit, the lyiexampled valour of the sons of liberty at a time of arduous trial, have been unfolded, and will, no doubt, in future guard us from the insult and injury which previ- ously were heaped upon us by the belligerents till the cup of our patient endurance was full and run- ning over. Let us all, now peace is restored, prove faithful to the federal union, reverence the laws, and look down local prejudice and political intolerance, seeing *' we are all republicans, all fe- deralists." Let all tories, monarchists and aristo- crats in this free country, be considered as snakes m the grass, or like the dog in the manger. If they will not enjoy the blessings of civil liberty themselves, let them not at their peril attempt to rob their neighbours of this sacred blessing. And if they wish for royalty, let them cross the Atlan- tic, and there enjoy it in superabundance, and there worship their kings and priests as much as they choose. Oh! people of the United States, let us all with one accord recapitulate the mercies of our gracious King, that our hearts may be enflam- ed with supreme gratitude to him. I hear, or me- thinks^ I hear, the true American repeating the following soliloquy or acknowledgment of the divine bounty to these United States, with senti- ments of unfeigned gratitude. * Yes, I humbly acknowledge that no people on earth ought to feel greater obligations to cele- brate the goodness of the great disposer of events 2 ■ y ( 162 ) liiicl of the destiny of nations, than the people of the United States. His kind Providence origi- nally conducted them to one of the best portions of the dwelling place, allowed for the great fami- ly of the human race. He protected and cherish- ed them, under all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed in their early days. Un- der his fostering care, their habits, their senti- mentSj and their pursuits, prepared them for a transition in due time, for a state of independ- ence and of self government. In the arduous struggle by which it was attained, they were dis- tinguished by multiplied tokens of his benign hi- terposition. During the interval which succeed- ed, he reared them into the strength, and endow- ed them with the resources, which have enabled them to assert their national rights, and to enhance their national character, in another arduous con- flict, which is now happily terminated, by a peace and reconciliation with those who have been our enemies. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift, we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favoured land. ** If there is a country on earth, since the days of the ancient Jews, that may be styled happy ^ it is the territory occupied and inhabited by the people of the United States of America. It is a country (including Louisana) of great extent, em- bracing every desirable degree of climate, and containing all the varieties of soil. It produces in abundance all kinds of nourishing grain, vege- tables, fruits, and mineral substances. Animals of every tribe flourish and luxuriate in its exten-. sive pastures. Man (by divine bounty) the Lord ( 163 ) of the inferior creation here rears his head with becoming dignity. Unawed by the arbitrary mandate of a master, uncramped by the imperious will and command of a tyrant, he can call himself and his possessions his own. The operations of his mind are free; he can reason upon the subjects of religion and civil government and publish his sentiments without control; and choose his own religion and his own legislator; without being compelled to support a sect or profession he cannot with a good con- science embrace, or to obey a law that he has not by his representatives given his consent to. Other nations may be mentioned, who possess a fine climate, a rich soil, valuable produce of every kind; but devested of the civil and religious rights of man, The poor inhabitant Sighs, in the midst of nature's bounties curst^ And in the gen'rous vineyard dies for thirst! Where is the country (America excepted) that possesses a free representative government. Where is the country, that is not more or less encumber- ed with a civil establishment in religion. It is the peculiar excellence of the American Constitution, that it not only possesses a general representative government, but that every particular state has its own distinct legislature within itself. This pre- serves a proper equilibrium, answers every pur- pose of security, protection and defence, and seems to promise stability and long duration. — Ameri- ca has set an instructive example to the world, that religion may exist, may prosper and flourish, without the aid of a civil establishment. How man^ churches have been erected and are sup- ( i64 ) ported in this eity, and elsewhere, by the volunta- ry donations and contributions of individuals* How pleasing, how exceedingly gratifying is it to a generous and philanthropic mind to behold them all on an equal footing — to think that the richest and most numerous sects enjoy no legal privile^ ges or prerogatives above the smallest and the ^ least opulent, that none are guarded by test or cor- poration acts, that none e^cist only by connivance or permission, that all are equally under the pro- tection of the laws of the state, and that toleration and intoleratioriy are equally unknown in this /lap- py country, " It was God who preserved and protected the first settlers in this country, when they were com- paratively few, and struggling almost under un- surmountable difficulties. Under his guardian and fostering hand they grew up and flourished, and converted woods and deserts into fruitful lands. It was God who carried our countrymen honour- ably and successfully through the hard and diffi- cult trials and conflicts of the revolutionary war. He saved\k\tvci with a mighty salvation. He was the shield of their help and the sroord of their excel- lency. It was God who inspired and directed their wise men to form good and estimable Con- stitutions, and establish a system of civil and re- ligious liberty w^hich may justly challenge the ad- miration of the world. It was the same almighty and merciful Being who saved us in the late war, who covered the heads of our dear countrymen in the day of battle, infused courage, skill and acti- vity into the minds of our warriors by sea and land, and granted us so many splendid victories over our enemies. This salvation appears still the more illustrious when we take into conside- (^ 166 J ration, that by a strange and unexpected revolu- tion in the aftairs of Europe, the most warlike and best disciplined troops of a powerlul nation, high- ly exasperated, were sent against us, and yet were foiled and defeated in repeated actions, by men lately raised and little accustomed to martial ope- rations." These are only a few^ of the many mercies and favours conferred upon our country by a kind Providence, for which may we ever prove grateful. As our limits will not permit us to enlarge, we will briefly exhibit a glimpse or specimen of the American victories on land, on the lakes, and on the ocean: particularly the gallant defence of New- Orleans, of the frigate President, and the victory on Lake Erie. It would take a folio volume to con- tain a detailed account of all the distinguished victories that crowned the American arms in the late war; but as they are fresh in the memories of my readers in general, and as a volume is now publishing with a detailed account thereof, it will be superfluous for me to particularise more than a k\v, as a specimen of the valour and patriotism of the American people. BAT! LE QF NEW OllLE ANS. COPY OF A LETTER PROM MAJOR GENERAL JACKSON, TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, DATED Camp, i miles heloiv Orleans, 9lh Jannanjy 1815- Sir — During the days of the 6th and 7th, the enemy had been actively employed in making pre- parations for an attack on my' lines. With infi- nite labour they had succeeded on the ni^ht of the ( ^66 ) 4 7th in getting their boats across from the lake to the river, by widening and deepening the canal on which they had eifected their disembarkation. It had not been in my power to impede these ope- rations by a general attack; added to other rea- sons, the natvire of the troops imder m}^ com- ^mand, mostly militia, rendered it too hazardous to attempt extensive offensive movements in an open country, against a numerous and well disci- plined army. Although my forces, as to num- ber, had been increased by the arrival of the Ken- tucky division, my strength had received very little addition; a small portion only of that de- tachment being provided with arms. Compelled thus to wait the attack of the eneniy, I took every measure to repel it when it should be made, and to defeat the object he had in view. General Mor- gan, with the Orleans contingent, the Louisiana militia, and a strong detachment of the Kentucky troops, occupied an entrenched camp on the op- posite side of the river, protected by strong bat- teries on the bank, erected and superintended by commodore Patterson. In 7ny encampment every thing was ready for action, when, early on the morning of the 8th, the enemy, after throwing a heavy shower of bombs and Congreve rockets, advanced their columns on my right and left, to storm my entrenchments. I cannot speak sufficiently in praise of the firmness and deliberation with which my whole line re- ceived their approach — more could not have been J expected from veterans inured to war. — For an hour, the fire of the small arms was as incessant and severe as can be imagined. The artillery, too, directed by officers who displayed equal skill and courage, did great execution. Yet the columns I of the enemy continued to advance with a firm- ness which reflects upon them the greatest credit. Twice the column which approached me on my left was repulsed by the troops of general Carroll, those of general Coffee, and a division of Kentucky militia, and twice they formed again and renewed the assault. At length, however, cut to pieces, they fled in confusion from the field, leaving it covered with their dead and wounded. The loss which the enemy sustained on this occasion, can- not be estimated at less than 1500 in killed, wounded and prisoners. Upwards of 300 have already been delivered over for burial; and my men are still engaged in picking them up within my lines and carrying them to the point where the enemy are to receive them — I'his is in addi- tion to the dead and wounded whom, the enemy have been enabled to carry from the field, during and since the action, and to those who have since died of the wounds they received. We have ta- ken about 500 prisoners, upwards of three hun- dred of whom are wounded, and a great part of them mortally. My loss has not exceeded, and I believe has not amounted to ten killed, and as many wounded. The entire destruction of the enemy's arniy was now inevitable, had it not been for an unfortunate occurrence ^^'hich at this mo- ment took place on the other side of the river. Simultaneously with his advance upon my lines, he had thrown over in his boats a considerable force to the other side of the river. These hav- ing landed, were hardy enough to advance against the works of general Morgan; and, what is strange and diflicult to account for, at the very moment when their entire discomfiture was looked for with a confidence approaching to certainty, the ( 168 ) Kentucky reinforcements, in whom so much re- liance had been placed, ingloriously fled, drawing after them, by their example, the remainder of the forces; and thus yielding to the enemy that most important position. The batteries which had rendered me, for many days, the most im- portant service, though bravely defended, were of course now abandoned; not however until the guns had been spiked. This unfortunate rout had totally changed the aspect of affairs. The enemy now occupied a position from which they might annoy us with- out hazard, and by means of which they might have been enabled to defeat, in a great measure, the efforts of our success on this side of the river. It became, therefore, an object of the first conse- quence to dislodge him as soon as possible. For this object, all the means in my power, which I could with any safety use, were immediately put in preparation. Perhaps, however, it was owing somewhat to another cause that I succeeded even beyond my expectations. In negociatmg the terms of a temporary suspension of hostilities to enable the enemy to bury their dead and provide for their wounded, I had required certain propo- sitions to be acceded to as a basis, among which this was one — that although hostilities should cease on this side of the river until 12 o'clock of this day, yet it was not to be understood that they should cease on the other side; but that no rein- forcements should be sent across by either army until the expiration of that day. His excellency major general Lambert begged time to consider of those propositions until 10 o'clock of to-day, . and in the mean time re-crossed his troops. I need ^ not tell you with how much eagerness 1 immedi- ( 169 ) dtely regained possession of the position he had thus hastily quitted. The enemy having concentered his forces may again attempt to drive me from my position by storm. ^ Whenever he does, I have no doubt my men will act with their usual firmness, and sus- tain a character now become dear to them. I have the honour to be, with great respect. Your obedient servant, ANDREW JACKSON, Major General Commajiding. Head qtiavters, left bank of the Mississippi, Fivemiles heloiv^ew Orleans, January 10, 1815, Sir — I have the honour to make the followino- report of the killed, wounded and prisoners taken at the battle of Laron's plantation, on the left bank of the Mississippi, on the night of the third December, 1814, 7 miles below N. Orleans. Killed, left on the field of battle, - lOO Wounded, left on tJie field of battle, - 280 Prisoners taken— 1 major, 2 lieuten- ants, 1 midshipman, 66 non-comissioned officers and p.ivates, making a grand total of 400. I have the honour to be, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant, "^ ' If ' r a . r^*,^- HAYNE, Insp. Gen. ^naj, {jcn, Jlndrexv Jackson, commanding the Jlrmy of the Mississippi, ( 1^0 ) FURTHER PARTICULARS. COPY OF A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN IN NEW-ORLEANS, TO A MEMBER OF CONGRESS. tXaV' Orleans, ±3th Jan. 1515. Dear Sir — Knowing the interest you must feel in the movements of the enemy in this quar- ter, I will now continue my account up to this date. In my last I mentioned a reinforcement daily expected by the enemy, which I now un- derstand was at that time actually received by them at Cat Island, having arrived in a fleet of twenty- one sail, said to be from Portsmouth. — This force is said to consist of 3000 men, and to^ be commanded by general Lambert, and proba- ' ^ly forms the first brigade of their present army. - — On the 6th these troops were disembarked at the Bayou Benvenu. The enemy had now re- mained quiet for three or four days, keeping us in a state of uneasy suspense and fearful uncer- ; tainty. During this ominous interval, part of their forces was empoyed in preparing scaling ladders, and collecting fascines (made of sugar canes) for their intended assault upon our lines, while others were digging; a canal, communicating with that through which they enteied, and extended to the levee, which, on the evening of the 7th, was cut through to admit the river. Through this canal they floated or dragged 24 of their smaller boats, supposed to contain 25 men each, and thus trans- ported about 6P0 men to the opposite side of the river, some distance below the spot where we had constructed our batteries. These troops, under the command of colonel Thornton, were intend- ( 171 } ed to make a dash at our batteries, and create a diversion on that side of the river, while the main attack was carried on ihis side. Accordingly, before day-light on the morning of the 8th, they silently drew out a large force to stormour lines, their columns advancing unpercei- ved in the obscurity of the morning, to within about half a mile of our camp, where they met and drove in our piquet guard. About day -break they advanced with great vivacity to the entrench- ments, led gallantly on by their officers up to the very muzzles of our guns. Some of their men penetrated into our lines, where they were im- mediately killed or taken prisoners; many fell mounting the breast works; others upon the works themselves, and the ditch in front, was, in many places, literally filled with dead and wound- ed. The roar of artillery from our lines was in- cessant, while an unremitted rolling fire was kept up from our muskets. The atmosphere was fil^ led with sheets of fire, and volumes of smoke. For an hour and a quarter the enemy obstinately continued the assault; fresh men constantly ar- riving to fill up their lines, thinned by our fire. Their determined perseverance and steady valor, were worthy a better cause; nor did their troops faulter, until almost all the officers who led them on had fallen. They then retreated, leaving from 1500 to 2000 in killed, wounded and prisoners — in this number are included thirty-nine officers- On our side the loss was confined to about 20 men, 7 only of whom were killed. Though our extreme right was attacked with great vivacity, yet the principal assault was made on our left, where general (,offee's brigade of riflemen were stationed, and the carnage there was prodigious. ( 172 ) Our men, covered by their breastworks, took steady and deliberate aim, and almost every shot told. The enemy drew out eight regiments to the attack, animated by the presence of their com- mander in chief, Packenham, and led on by gene- rals Gibbs and Kean. AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE NAVAL CONFLICT ON LAKE ERIE. Commodore Perry arrived at Erie in June, Avith live small vessels, from Black Rock. — The Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost, were cruis- ing off Long Point to intercept him — he passed them in the night unperceived. The Lawrence ^ and Niagara were then on the stocks — every ex- ertion was made to exj)edite their building and equipment, and early in August they were ready to sail. But it was necessary to pass the bar at the entrance of the harbour, over which there was but six feet water, and the brigs drew nine. The British fleet appeared off the harbour, for the pur- pose of preventing our's from going to the lake! — The means employed by our officers to take the brigs over the bar, were ingenious and de- serve mention. Two large scows, fifty feet long, ten feet wide, and eight feet deep, were prepared — they were first filled with water and then float- ed along side one of the vessels in a parallel di- rection; they were then secured by means of large pieces of hewn timber placed athwart ship, with both ends projecting from the port holes across the scows; the space between the timbers and the boat, being secured by other pieces properly ar- ( 173 ) ranged; the water was then bailed from the scows, thereby giving them an astonishing lifting power. It was thus that the bar was passed, before the enemy had taken the proper steps to oppose it. One obstacle was surmounted, but the fleet was not in a condition to seek the enemy at Maiden. There was not at this time more than half sailors enough to man the fleet. However, a number of Pennsylvania militia having volunteered their ser- vices, the commodore made a short cruise off* Long Point, more perhaps, for the purpose of ex- ercising his men than seeking an enemy. About the last of August commodore Perry left Erie, to co-operate with general Harrison in the reduction of Maiden. He anchored off" the mouth of Sandusky river, and had an interview with general Harrison, who furnished him widi about seventy volunteers, principally Kentucki- ans, to serve as marines on board the fleet. Capt. Dobbin, in the Ohio, was ordered to return to Erie for provisions. The Amelia had been left there for want of men to man her. Exclusive of these he had nine sail, mounting in all fifty-four guns. The British fleet at Maiden, consisted of six sail, and mounted sixty-six guns. Commodore Perry appeared before Maiden, offered battle, reconnoitered the enemy and retir- ed to Put-in-Bay, thirty-five miles distant from his antagonist. Both parties remained a few days inactive; but their repose was that of the lion. On the^morningof the 10th September, at sun- rise, the enemy were discovered bearing down from Maiden for the evident purpose of attackinjr our squadron, then at anchor in Put-in-Bay^ Not a moment was to be lost. Our squadron immediately got under way, and stood out to p2 ( 174 ) meet the British fleet, which at this time had the weather gage. At 10 A, M. the wind shifted from S. W. to S. E. which brought our squadron to windward. The wind was Hght, the day beauti- ful — not a cloud obscured the horizon. The line was formed at 11, and commodore Perry caused an elegant flag, which he had privately pre- pared, to be hoisted at the mast head of the Law- rence; on this flag was painted, in characters legi- ble to the whole fleet, the dying words of the im- mortal Lawrence: — " Don't give up the ship.'' "^ Its efl'ect is not to be described — every heart was electrified — the crews cheered — the exhilarating can was passed. Both fleets appeared eager for the conflict, on the result of which so much de- pended. At 15 minutes before 12, the Detroit, the head-most ship of the enemy, opened upon the Lawrence, which for ten minutes, was obliged to sustain a well directed and heavy fire from the enemy's two large ships, without being able to re- turn it with carronades; at five minutes before twelve the Lawrence opened upon the enemy — the other vessels was ordered to support her, but the wind was at this time too light to enable them to come up. Every brace and bowline of the Lawrence being soon shot away, she became un- manageable, and in this situation she sustained the action upwards of two hours, within canister distance, until every gun was rendered useless, and but a small part of her crew left unhurt upon deck. At half past two the wind increased and enabled the Niagara to come into close action — the gun- boats took a nearer position. Commodore Per- ry left his ship in charge of Lt. Yarnel, and went on board the Niagara. Just as he reached that C ^75 ) vessel, the flag of the Lawrence came down; the crisis had arrived. Capt. ElHott at this moment anticipated the wishes of the commodore, by vo- lunteering his services to bring the schooners in- to close action. At forty-five minutes past two the signal was made for close action. The Niagara being very little injured, and her crew fresh, the commodore determined to pass through the enemy's line; he accordingly bore up and passed ahead of the De- troit, Queen Charlotte, and Lady Prevost, pour- ing a terrible raking fire into fhem from the star- board guns, and on the Chippeway and Little Belt, from the larboard side, at half pistol shot distance. The small vessels at this time having got within grape and canister distance, kept up a well directed and destructive fire. The action now raged with the greatest fury — the Queen Charlotte having lost her commander and several of her principal officers, in a moment of confu- sion got foul of the Detroit — in this situation the enemy in their turn had to sustain a tremendous fire without the power of returning it with much effect; the carnage was horrible — the flags of the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and Lady Pevost, were struck in rapid succession. The brig Hunter, and schooner Chippeway, were soon compelled to follow the example. The Little Beh attempt- ed to escape to Maiden, but she was pursued by two of the gun-boats and surrendered about three miles distant from the scene of action. The writer of this account, in company with five others, arrived at the head of Put-in-Bay island, on the evenmg of the 9th, and had a view of the action, at the distance of only ten miles. The spectacle was truly grand and awful. The ( 176 ) firing was incessant for the space of three hours, and continued at short intervals forty-five minutes longer. In less than one hour after the battle be- gan, most of the vessels of both fleets were enve- loped in a cloud of smoke, which rendered the issue of the action uncertain, till the next morn- ing, when we visited the fleet in the harbour on the opposite side of the island. The reader will easily judge of our solicitude to learn the result. There is no sentiment more painful than suspence, when it is excited by the uncertain issue of an event like this. If the wind had continued at S. W. it was the intention of Admiral Barclay to have boarded our squadron; for this purpose he had taken on board his fleet about two hundred of the famous 41st regiment; they acted as marines and fought brave- ly, but nearly two-thirds of them were either kil- led or wounded. The carnage on board the prizes was prodigi- ous — they must have lost two hundred in killed besides wounded. The sides of the Detroit and Queen Charlotte were shattered from bow to stern; there was scarcely room to place one's hand on their larboard sides without touching the im- pression of a shot — a great many balls, canister and grape, were found lodged in their bulwarks, which were too thick to be penetrated by our car- ronades unless within pistol shot -listance. Their masts were so much shattered that they fell over- board soon after they got into the bay. The loss of the Americans was severe, particu- larly on board the Lawrence. When her flag was struck she had but nine men fit for duty remain- ing on deck. Her sides were completely riddled by the shot from the long guns of the British ships. Her deck, the morning after the conllict, when I first went on board, exhibited a scene that defies description for it was litercilly covered with blood, which still adhered to the plank in clots — brains, hair and fragments of bones were still sticking to the rigging and sides. The surgeons were still busy with the wounded — enough! hor- ror appalled my senses. Among the wounded were several brave fel- lows, each of whom had lost a leg or an arm — they appeared cheerful and expressed a hope that they had done their duty. Rome and Sparta would have been proud of these heroes. It would be iivvidious to particularize instan- ces of individual merit, where every one so nobly performed his part. Of the nine seamen remain- ing unhurt at the time the Lawrence struck her flag, five were immediately promoted for their un- shaken firmness in such a trying situation. The most of these had been in the actions with the Gurriere and Java. Every ofiicer of the Lawrence, except the com- modore and his little brother, a promising youth, 13 years old, were either killed or wounded. The efficacy of the gun- boats was fully proved in this action, and the sterns of all the prizes bear ample testimony of the fact. They took raking positions and galled the enemy severely. The Lady Prevost lost twelve men before either of the brigs fired on her. Their fire was quick and pre- cise. Let us hear the enemy. The general or- der of adjutant general Baynes, contains the fol- lowing words: '' His (Perry's) numerous gun boats, (four) which had proved the greatest an- noyance during the action, were all uninjured." ( 1^8 ) The undaunted bravery of Admiral Barclay en^ titled him to a better fate; to the loss of the day was superadded grievous and dangerous wounds. He had before lost an arm; it was now his hard fortune to lose the use of the other, by a shot which carried away the blade of the right shoul- der; a canister shot made a violent contusion in his hip; his wounds were for some days consider- ed mortal. Every possible attention was paid to his situation. When com. Perry sailed for Buf- faloe, he was so far recovered that he took pas- sage on board our fleet. The fleet touched at Erie. The citizens saw the affecting spectacle of Harri- son and Perry leading the wounded British hero, still unable to walk without help, from the beach to their lodgings. On board of the Detroit, twenty-four hours af- ter her surrender, were found snugly stowed away in the hold, two Indian Chiefs, who had the cou- rage to go on board at Maiden, for the purpose of acting as sharp shooters to kill our ofliicers. One had the courage to ascend into the round top and dis- charged his piece, but the whizzing of shot, splin- ters, and bits of rigging, soon made the place too warm for him — he descended faster than he went up; at the moment he reached the deck, the frag- ments of a seaman's head struck his comrade's face, and covered it with blood and brains. He vociferated the savage interjection " qiiothP'* and both sought safety below. The British officers had domesticated a hear at Maiden. Bruin accompanied his comrades to battle — was on the deck of the Detroit during the engagement, and escaped unhurt. The killed of both fleets were thrown overboard as fast as they fell. Several were washed ashore C 179 ) upon the island and the main during the gales that succeeded the action. Com. Perry treated the prisoners with humanity and indulgence; several Canadians having wives at Maiden, were permitted to visit their families on parole. The British were superior in the length and number of their guns, as well as in the number of men. The American fleet was manned with a motly set of beings, Europeans, Africans, Ame- ricans from every part of the United States. Full one fourth were blacks. I saw one Russian, who could not speak a word of English. Thev 4vere brave — and who could be otherwise under the command of Perry? STATEAIENT OF THE FORCE OF THE BRITISH SQUADRON. Ship Detroit ' 19 guns 1 on pivot, and 2 r\ /Ml howitzers. Queen Charlotte 17 do. 1 do. Schr. Lady Prevost 1 3 do. I do. Brig Hunter 10 do. Sloop Little Belt 3 do. Schr. Chippevvay 1 do. and 2 swivels. 63 guns STATEMENT OF THE FORCE OF THE UNITED STATES'' SQUADRON. Brig Lawrence 20 guns Niagara 20 do. Caladonia 3 do. Schr. Ariel 4 do. ( I burst early in the action) Scorpion 2 do. ^ Somers 2 do. and 2 swivels Sloop Trippe 1 do. Schr. Tigress I do. Porcupine 1 do. 54 guns. ( 180 ) VICT our BY LJirB JLXB WATEU, DEFF.AT OF THE BRITISH ARMY AT PLATTSBURG. copy OF A LETTER FROM GEN. MACOMB TO HIS FATHER IN ALBANY, DATED FortMoreau, September 12. Mt dear FATHER — -The British army under Sir George Prevost, consisting of four brigades, each commanded by a major general of experience ■ — a light corps and squadron of dragoons, and an imnaense train of artillery, invested us for six days, during which period our troops in small parties skirmished with them and took prisoners and killed many. Yesterday they opened their batteries on us with bombs, 24 prs. howitzers and rockets, but we oilenced the whole by six in the evening. I'heir fleet attacked ours at the same time, and af- ter an engagement of two hours their large vessels all struck to our gallant commodore. The gallies ran off. The British commodore was slain, and the killed and wounded is numerous Our loss is one lieutenant, and 15 killed, and one lieuten- ant and 30 men wounded. The Britibh army raised the siege last night or ra- ther this morning, at 2 o'clock; and are now in full retreat, leaving on the field their wounded and sick. Sir George has requested me to treat them with liumanity and kindness. Our whole force does not exceed 1500 effectives. I have sent the militia and my light troops in pursuit — they are constantly taking prisoners and sending in deserters — I am in hopes of destroying at least one third of the British army. I am in ( 181 ) perfect health. My poor troops are the remnant of Gen. Izard's army, invalids and convalescents, ex- cept about 600 men. lam in haste ^ &c. Alexander Macomb. EXTRACT TO THE EDITOR OF THE AURORA, DATED Burlington, Sept, i'Zf 1814. " Yesterday, after an action of 2 hours, 5 mi- nutes, Macdonough beat and captured the British fleet of much superior force — and this morning-, at 2 o'clock, sir George Prevost raised the siege and abandoned the field, leaving his dead and wounded." CAPTURE OF THE FRIGATE PRESIDENT. Of all our conflicts on the ocean in the late war, I consider that in which this frigate was taken as the most heroic on the part of commodore Decatur. Ahhough the lying English journals boldly and un- blushingly assert that the President was captured by the Endymion; and the merchants of Bermu- da presented captain Hope of the alcove ii ig-ate witii a service of silver plate for so doing, which he had the meanness to accept. Notwithstanding these mental and vocal lies, it is a stubborn fact that the Endymion was silenced, dismantled, and fairly beaten by the President. " With the exception of the alien enemies amongst us, who have been naturalized in order to be spies, all persons heard of the event with mingled emotions of pride and regret — pride that ( 182 ) the honour of our flag was gloriously sustained, and that the flag was not levelled to an equal foe — regret that such skill and courage had such fearful odds to contend against, and that so many brave fellows fell in such an unequal conflict. This is the third frigate that the enemy have ta- ken from us — the Chesapeake by a vessel of su- perior force; the Essex by two vessels carrying twice as many guns as she did; and the President by three frigates and a 74 — all of them after long and bloody actions. We, on the other hand, have captured three frigates, not with squadrons^ but with single ships^ of nearly, if not quite equal force; the Giierriere in a few minutes, and the Macedonian in a few minutes, and the Java after an action comparative- ly short when contrasted with those in which the enemy succeeded. The honour of our flag, and our naval superi- ority, ship to ship, far from being sullied or doubt- ed, are in this last instance exalted and confessed; Europe will hear with astonishment, that a single ^ frigate, just out of port, silenced one frigate, and was in the act of silencing the second when the broadsides of another frigate and a 74 were found necessary in order to capture her. It would have been expecting too much, if one ^ of the frigates, the largest, had claimed and taken the honour of single combat — but if it had done so, and had triumphed, the victory would have been a proud one; but very different is the event, it is such a triumph as brutal force may at any ^ time enjoy over a comparatively weak and unpre- pared antagonist." ( 183 ) OFFICIAL. €opy of a letter from Com, Decatur, to the secre- tary of the navy, dated, H. B, M. skill Endymion, at sea, Jan. 18, 1815. Sir, — The painful duty of detailing to you the particular causes which preceded and led to the capture of the late U. States' frigate President, by a squadron of his B. Majesty's ship"^, (as per mar- gin) has devolved upon me. In my communis cation of the 14th I made known to you my in- tention of proceeding to sea on that evening. Ovying to some mistake of the pilots, the ship in going out grounded on the bar, where she con- tinued to strike heavily for an hour an a half; al- though she had broken several of her ruder-bra- ces, and had received such other material injury as to render her return into port desirable, I was unable to do so from the strong westerly wind which was then blowing. It being now high wa- ter, it became necessary to force her over the bar before the tide fell, in this we succeeded by ten o'clock, when we shaped our course along the shore of Long-Island for 50 miles, and then steer- ed S. E. by E. At 5 o'clock, three ships were discovered ahead; we immediately hauled up the ship and passed two miles to the northward of them. At day-light we discovered four ships in chase, one on each quarter, and two astern, the leading ship of the enemy a razee — he commenc- ed a fire upon us, but without effect. At meri- dian the wind became light and baffling, we had increased our distance from the razee, but the next ship astern, which was also a large ship, had gain- ed and continued to gain upon us considerably; ( 184 ) we immediately occupied all hands to lighten ship, by starting water, cutting away the anchors, throw- ing overboard provisions, cables, spars; boats, and every article that could be got at, keeping the sails wet from the royals down. At 3 we had the wind quite light; the enemy who had now been joined by a brig, had a strong breeze and were coming up with us rapidly. The Endymion (mounting iii'ty guns, twenty-four pounders on the main deck) had now approached us within gun-shot, and had commenced a fire with her bj\v guns, which we returned from our stern. At 5 o'clock she had obtained a position on our starboard quar- ter, within half point. blank shot, on which neith- er our stern nor quarter guns would bear; we were now steering E. by N. the wind N. W. I remained with her in this position for half an hour, in the hope that she would close with us on our broadside, in which case I had prepared my crew to board, but from his continuing to yaw his ship to maintain his position, it became evident that to close was not his intention. — Every fire now cut some of our sails or rigging. To have con- tinued our course under these circumstances, would have been placing it in his power to crip- ple us, without being subject to injury himself, and to have hauled up more to the northward to bring our stern guns to bear, would have exposed us to his raking fire. It was now dusk, when I determined to alter my course south, for the pur- pose of bringing the enemy abeam, and although their ships astern were drawing up fast, 1 felt sa- tisfied I should be enabled to throw him out of the combat before they could come up, and was not without hopes if the night proved dark, (of ( 183 ) which there was every appearance) that I might still be enabled to effect my escape. Our oppo- nent kept off at the same instant we did, and our fire commenced at the same time. — We continu- ed engaged, steering south with steering sails set, two hours and a half, when we completely suc- ceeded in dismanding htr. Previously to her dropping entirely out of the action, there were in- tervals of miimtes when the ships wxre broadside and broadside, in which she did not fire a gun. At this period (half past 8 o'clock) although dark, the other ships of the squadron were in sight, and almost within gun-shot. We were of course compelled to abandon her. In resuming our for- mer course for the purpose of avoiding the squad- ron, we were compelled to present our stern to our antagonist, but such was his state, though we were thus exposed and within range of his guns for half an hour, that he did not avail himself of this favourable opportunity of raking us. We contmued this course until eleven o'clock, when two fresh ships of the enemy (the Pomona and Tenedos) had come up. The Pomona had open- ed her fire on the larboard bow, within musket- shot; the other about two cables length astern, ta- kmg a raking position on our quarter; and 'the rest, (with the exception of the Endvmion) with- in gun shot. Thus situated, with about one fifth of my crew killed and wounded, mv ship crippled, and a more than fourfold force opposed to me' without a chance of escape left, I deemed it my duty to surrender. It IS with emotions of pride I bear testimony of the gallantry and steadiness of everv officer and man 1 had the honour to command on this occa- sion, and 1 feel satisfied that the fact of their hav- ^2 ( 186 ) ing beaten a force equal to themselves, in the pre- sence and almost under the guns of so vastly a superior force, when too, it was almost self-evi- dent, that whatever their exertions might be, they must ultimately be captured, will be taken as evi- dence of what they would have performed, had the force opposed to them been in any degree equal. It is with extreme pain I have to inform you that lieutenants Babbit, Hamilton, and Howell fell in the action. They have left no officers of su- perior merit behind them. If, sir, the issue of this affair had been fortunate, I should have felt it my duty to have recommend- ed to your attention lieutenants Shubrick and Gal- lagher. They maintained throughout the day the reputation they had acquired in former actions. Lieut. Twiggs, of the marines, displayed great zeal, his men were well supplied and their fire incomparable, so long as the enemy continued within musket range. Midshipman Randolph, who had charge of the forecastle division, managed it to my entire satis- faction. From Mr. Robinson who was serving as a vol- unteer, I received essential aid, particularly after I was deprived of the services of the master, and the severe loss I had sustained in my officers on the quarter-deck. Of our loss in killed and wounded, I am unable at present to give you a correct statement; the at- tention of the surgeon being so entirely occupied with the wounded, that he was unable to make out a correct retmni when I left the President, nor shall I be able to make it until our arrival in port w^e having parted company with the squadron yes- terday. The enclosed list, with the exception I ( 187 ) fear of its being short of the number will be fotind correct. For twenty -four hours after the action it was nearly calm, and the squadron were occupied in repairing the crippled ships. Such of the crew of the President as were not badly wounded, were put on board the different ships: myself and a part of my crew were put on board this ship. On the 17th we had a gale from the eastv ard, when this ship lost her bosprit, fore and mainmasts, and mizen top-mast, all of which were badly wound- ed, and was in consequence of her disabled con- dition, obliged to throw overboard all of her up- per deck guns; her loss in killed and wounded must have been very great. I have not been able to ascertain the extent. Ten were buried after I came on board, {36 hours after the action;) the badly wounded, such as are obliged to keep their cots, occupy the starboard side of the gun-deck, from the cabin bulk head to the mainmast. From the crippled state of the President's spars, I feel satisfied she could not have saved her masts, and I feel serious apprehensions for the safety of our wounded left on board. It is due to captain Hope to state, that every at- tention has been paid by him to myself and offi- cers that have been placed on board his ship, that delicacy and humanity could dictate. I have the honour to be, with much respect, sir, your obedient servant, STEPHEN DECATUR. The hon. Benjamin W. Croivninshield, Secretary of the Aavy. British squadron referred to in the letter. Majestic, razee; Endymion, Pomone, Tenedos, Dispatch brig. ( 188 ) Copy of a letter from Com. Alexander Murray, presi- dent of a court of inquiry, lately held at New-YorK, to in- vestigate the causes of the capture of the United States' frigate President, to the secretary of the navy, dated, jYciv- York^ April 17,1815. " Sir, — I herewith transmit to you the result of J the court of inquiry, respecting the capture of the frigate President, with the opinion of the court. " We have been more minute in our investiga- tion than might at first view have been deemed necessary; but as there has been a diversity of j opinions prevailing among the British command- *' JVote by the compiler . I feel inclined to give a particular account of the above conflict, as the foul and false tory journals of England pub- lish to the world that the President was fairly captured by the Eudymion, than which a more impudent falshood can- not be propagated. I have copies of our other most dis- tinguished naval engagements, but postpone publishing them to make room for Mr. Cobbett's excellent letters. I feel a peculiar predilection for this gentleman (to whom I presented for publication the first piece I ever wrote for the press, seventeen years ago) because I know of no other journalist in all Europe who is either able or willing to vin- dicate injured innocence, and advocate the rights of man. Surely the wig citizens of London should collect among themselves and refund to this injured patriot the one thou- sand pounds he paid the king for declaring the truth. Who can view with his intellectual eyes the debased and degraded state of the population of all Europe, without political, so- cial, or even intellectual lil)erty or rights, and not venerate the man who endeavours to ameliorate the condition of per- ishing old age and starving infancy with the halter dang- ling before his eyes, held by the spirit of despotism in one hand, while in the other glitters the sword of vengeance, with the word treason written thereon. Many of our republi- can champions in the United States would lie dormant in En- gland under similar discouragements. Indeed both England and America have cause to tiiank Mr. Cobbett who under \ God was one primary means of bringing the late war to a spee- dy conclusion. Mr. Cobbett cleaily sees the wretched slavery of the Etiropeans, while the knot of imperial, royal, right hon- ( 189 ) ers, concerned in her capture, it was desirable in our view, to lay before the world in the most cor- rect manner, every circumstance that led to that event, which has afforded another high proof of American heroism, and so highly honourable to her commander, officers and crew, that every American citizen must feel a pride in knowing, that our flag has been so nobly defended." ourable villains at the Vienna congress are pratini^ about the liberty of Europe, and the same moment are sharing the plunder thereof, and dividing the people among them like a herd of swine. And there are tory villains in the United States will reverberate the golden lies of these royal wretch- es. Their tyranny and duplicity is enough to force a curse from holiness itself. I have seen with my own eyes the hu- man species in Prussia Russia, Ireland, and Spain, degra- ded almost as much as in Africa or the West-Indies, and this Mr. Cobbett is not afraid to testify. " The spirit of rapacity and plunder which prevailed in the dark ages of barbarism in the 1 1th century, is as much the spirit of the governments of the coalesced powers at this day. " We have seen it in the repeated plunder and partition of Poland — in the war maintained for 25 years against France — and recently soberly debated at Vienna. " The Germans, whether it be under the dominion of Aus- tria or Prussia, are as much slaves as the Portuguese, or Spaniards, or the negroes of Damahoy or Mozambique; or as the negroes on the English plantations of Jamaica and Barbadoes. " The Russians have literally no^eo/ile^ihe men and wo- men are like the oxen and hogs of the plantation, a part of the live stock; for example, when the empress Catharine rewarded the service of her male /irostitutes, it was by gifts of large estates; thus five brothers of the name of Orlqff\ received as present* seventeen millions of roubles in money (a rouble is about half a dollar) and 45,000 fiea^ sants^ that is, cerfs^ slaves^ white negroes. Another man- whore of the name of Vassilitchikoff^ for 22 months servi- ces, received 7000 Russians, nvhite negroes. ( 190 ) The minutes of the court having been read and approved, the court was cleared, and, after due deliberation, resolved to express the sentiments and opinions of the members, on the matters sub- mitted to them as follows: In execution of the orders of the honourable the secretary of the navy, we have (with the ex- ception of two very young midshipmen) exam- ined every officer belonging to the President, with- in the> reach of the court, who survived the late glorious contest between the frigate President and a squadron of his Britannic Majesty. We are of opinion that the primary cause of the loss of the President, was her running on the bar as she was leaving this port. The violence and continuance of the shocks she received for an hour and a half or more, considering that she was laden with stores and provisions for a very long cruize, could not but have injured her great- ly, and must have impeded her sailing. Her hog- ged and twisted appearance after she arrived at Bermuda, must have been the effects of this un- fortunate accident. — We are convinced that it was owing to this that the enemy were able to overtake her. The striking of the President on the bar can- not be imputed to the fault of any officer who was attached to her; on the contrary, we think every possible precaution was taken, and the ut- most exertions were used by her commander and officers, to ensure her safe passage over the bar, and to relieve her after she had struck. The ac- cident was occasioned by some mistake in placing the boats, which were to serve as beacons for the President, through a channel always dangerous ^ ( 191 ) for a vessel of her draught, but particularlv so at such a time as she was obliged to select for pas- sing it when the land marks could not be distin- guished. From the time that the superiority of the ene- my s lorce was ascertained, and it became the du- ty ol the President to evade it, we are convinced tnat the most proper measures were pursued, and that she made every possible effort to escape. No means, m our opinion, were so likely to be attend- ed with success, as those which were adoijted bv commodore Decatur. Any suggestions that diffei - ent measures would have been more proper or more likel)' to accomplish the object, we think are without foundation, and may be the result of Ignorance, or the dictates of a culpable ambition or of envy. ' We consider the management of the President trom the time the chase commenced till her sur- render, as the highest evidence of the experience ski 1, and resources of her commander, and of the ability and seamanship of her officers and crew. VVe fear that we cannot ex]>ress in a manner that AviU do justice to our feelings, our admiration of the conduct of commodore Decatur, and his offi- cers and crew, while engaged with the enemy, threatened with a force so superior, possessing advantages which must have appeared to render all opposition unavailing, otherwise than as it might affect the honour of our navy, and the cha- racter of our seamen. They fought with a spirit which no prospect of success could have height- ened and. It victory had met its common reward, the J^^ndymion's name would have been added to our lists of naval conquests. In this unequal con- ( 192 ) flict the enemy gained a ship, but the victory was ours. When the President v/as obliged to leave the Endymion to avoid die other ships, which were fast coming up, the Endymion was subdued; and if her friends had not been at hand to rescue her, she was so entirely disabled that she soon must have struck her flag. A proof of this is, that she made no attempt to pursue the President or to annoy her by a single shot while the Presi- dent was within her reach, wdien, with the hope of escape from the oyerwhelming force which was nearly upon her, the President presented her stern to the Endymion's broadside. A further proof that the Endymion was conquered is, the shatter- ed condition in which she appeared, while the President in the contest with her had sustained but little injury; and the fact that the Endymion did not join the squadron till many hours after the President had been surrounded by the other four enemy's ships, and hid surrendered to them, is strong corroborative evidence of the disabled state in which the President left the Endymion. We thmk it due to commodore Decatur and his heroic officers and crew, to notice the propo- sition he made to board the Endymion, when he found she was coming up, and the manner in which this proposition wasVeceived by his gallant crew. Such a design, at such a time, could only have been conceived by a soul wi hout fear, and appro- ved with enthusiastic cheerings by men regardless of danger. Had not the enemy perceived the at- tempt, and availed himself of the power he had in the early pjirt of the action to shun the approach of the Prejddent, the American stars might now be shining on the Kndymion. In the subsequent part of the engagement the enemy's squadron was ( 193 ) too near to permit the execution of this clesiq:n, and the disabled state of the Endymion would have frustrated the principal object which commodore Decatur had in making so bold an attempt, which w^as to avail himself of the Endymion's superior sailing to escape with his crew from his pursuers. We conclude by expressing our opinion that commodore Decatur, as well during the chase as through his contest with the enemy, evinced great judgment and skill, perfect coolness, the most de- termined resolution and heroic courage. That his conduct, and the conduct of his officers and crew, is highly honorable to them, and to the American na- vy, and deserves the warmest gratitude of their country. That they did not give up their ship till she was surrounded and overpowered by a force so superior that further resistance w^ould have been un- justifiable and a useless sacrifice of the lives of brave men. The order of the secretary of the navy requires us to express an opinion as to the conduct of the offi- cers and crew of the President after the capture. The testimony of all the witnesses concurs in ena- bling us to give it our decided approbation. Iji/ the Courts ALEX. MURRAY, PresH, True copy from the original. Cadwalader D. Colde>7, Jud^e Advocate, havy Department y April20^ 1815. APPROVED — B, W. CROWNINSHIELD. R OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS bF A FEW OF THE AMERICAN riCTORIES, ON THE OCEAN, DURING THE LATE WAR. United States* Irrigate Constitution^ off Boston Light, JiigHst 30, IS12, Sir, I have the honor to inform you that on the 19th instant, at 2, P. M. being in latitude 41 deg» 41 rain, and longitude 55 dt^, 48 min. with the Constitution under my command, a sail was discov- ered from the mast-head, bearing E. by S. or E. S. E. but at such a distance we could not tell what she was. All sail was instantly made in chase, and boon found we came up with her. At 3. P. M. could -plainly see that she was a ship on the star- board tack under easy sail, close on a wind — at half pasts, P. M. made her out to be a frigate — contin- ued the chase until we were within about three miles, when I ordered the light sails taken in, the courses hauled up, and the ship cleared for action. At this time the chase had backed her main-top- sail, waiting for us to come down. As soon as the Constitution was ready for action, I bore down with an intention to bring him to close action immediate- ly ; but on our coming within gun shot, she gave us a broadside, and filled away and wore, giving us a broadside on the other tack, but without effect, her shot falling short. She continued wearing and •flianceuvring for about three quarters of an hour, to ( 195 ) get a raking position — but finding she could not, she bore up and run under her top -sails and jib, with the wind on the quarter. I immediately made sail to bring the ship up with her, and at five minutes be- fore 6, P. M. being along side within half pistol shot, we commenced a heavy fire from all our guns, double -shotted with round and grape, and so well directed were they, and so warmly kept up, that in 16 minutes her mizen-mast went by the board, and his main-yard in the slings, and the hull, rigging, and sails, very much torn to pieces. The fire was kept up with equal warmth for 15 minutes longer, when his mxain-mast and fore-mast went, taking with them every spar, excepting the bowsprit ; on seeing this we ceased firing ; so that in thirty minutes after we got fairly along side of the enemy, she surrendered, and had not a spar standing, and her hull below and above water so shattered, that a few more broadsides must have carried her down. After informing that so fine a ship as the Guer- riere, commanded by an able and experienced officer, had been totally dismasted and otherwise cut to pie- ces, so as to make her not worth towing into port, in the short space of 30 minutes, you can have no doubt of the gallantry and good conduct of the officers and ship's company I have the honor to command. It only remains, therefore, for me to assure you, that they all fought with great bravery ; and it gives me great pleasure to say, that from the smallest boy in the ship, to the oldest seaman, not a look of fear was seen. Thev all went into action q-ivins; three cheers, and requesting to be laid close alongside the enemy. Enclosed I have the honor to send you a list of the killed and wounded on board the Constitution, and a report of the damages she sustained — also a list of ( 195 ) killed and wounded on board the enemy, with Inii quarter bill, &c. I have the honor to be, with verv great resDect, sir, your obedient servant, ISAAC HULL. T/ie Hon. Paul Hamilton^ '^c, '^c. Copy of a letter from Captain Jones^ late of the United States' Sloop of Jf^ar the Wasp, to the Secretary of the A^avy^ dated Js:eiv-YorJc, M)t^. 24, 1812. Sir, I here avail myself of the first opportunity of informinp; vou of the eceurrences of our cruize, -11- •^\iiich tei niinated in tlie caP/tiu^e of the Wasr; on the 18th of October, by the Poictiers of seventy -four i^^un^^ wfiile a wreck from the damages received in LU engagement w4th the British sloop of Vv'ar Frolic of twenty-two guns ; sixteen of them thirty -two pound carronades, and four txvelve pounders on the inain-deck, and two twelve pounders, carronades, on the tep-gallant-fore-castle, making her superior to us by four tw^ehe pounders. Tlie Frolic had struck to us, and was taken possession of, about two hours before our surrendering to the Poic- tiers. We I^ad left the Delaware on the 13th. The 1 6th had a heavy gale, in which we lost our jib-boom and two men. Half past eleven on tlie night of the 17th, in the latitude of 37 degrees N. and longitude 65 degrees W. we saw several sail, two of them ap- pearing very large ; we stood from them for some time, then shortened sail and steered the remainder of the night the course we had perceived them on. At day light on Sunday, the 18th, \ve saw them ( 197 ) wiprf^. head—gave chase, and soon discovered thcni to be a convoy of six sail, under tlic protection of a sloop of war, four of them large ships, mounting from six- teen to eighteen guns. At thirty-two minutes i^ast eleven, A. M. we engaged the sloop of war, having first received her fire, at the distance of fifty or sixty yards, which space we gi^adually lessened un^ tiL we laid her on board, after a well 'supported fire oi forty-tnree minutes ; and although so near, while loading the last broadside, that our rammers were shoved agamst the side of the enemy, our men ex- hibited the same alacrity which they had done dur- ing the Mdiole of the action. They immediately surrendered upon our gaining their forecastle, so that no loss was sustained on either side after board insr. Our mam-top-mast was shot away between four and fi^^e minutes from the commencement of the linng ; and falling, together with the main-top-sail yard, across the larboard fore and fore-top-sail bra-- ces, rendered our head-yards unmanageable the re- mamder of the action. At eight minutes the -aft and mizen-top-gallant-mast came down, and^ at twent}- mmutes from the commencement of the ac- tion every brace and most of the rigging was shot away. A few minutes after separating from th^ Irohc both her masts fell upon the deck, the main-" ,mast going close by the deck, and the fore-m^'^t 12 or 15 feet above it. j The courage and exertions of the officers and ^rew fully answered my expectations c^nd wi-he- Lieutenant Biddle's active conduct contributed much to our success, by the exact attention paid to every department during the engagement, and the animatmg example he aflbrded the crew by his in^ trepidity. Lieutenants Rodgers, Booth, and Mr, .1 2 ( 198 ) Rapp, shewed by the incessant fire from their divi- sions, that they were not to be surpassed in resolu- tion or skill. Mr. Knight and every other officer, acted with a courage and promptitude highly honor- able, and I trust have given assurance that they may be relied on whenever their services may be requir- ed. I could not ascertain the exact loss of the enemy, as many of the dead lay buried under the mast and spars that had fallen upon deck, which two hours' exertion had not sufficiently removed. Mr. Bid- die, who had charge of the Frolic, states, that from what he saw, and from information from the officers, the number of killed must have been about thirty, and that of the wounded about forty or fifty — of the killed is her first lieutenant and sailing master, of the wounded captain Whinyates and the second lieu- tenant. We have five killed and five wounded, as per j list; the wounded are recovering. Lieutenant Clexton, who was confined by sickness, left his bed a little previous to the engagement, and though too weak to be at his division, remained upon deck, and shewed liy his composed manner of noting its inci- dent^, that we had lost by his illness the services of ;a brave officer. I afn, respectfully, yours, JACOB JONES, The Hon. Paul Hamilton., Secretary of the A''avz/. ( 199 ) Letter from Commodore Decatur to the Secretary of the Navy, U. States Ship United States, at Sea, Oct. 30, 1812. Sir, I have the honor to inform you that on the 25th instant, being in the latitude 29 deg. N. lon- gitude 29 deg. 30 min. W. we fell in with, and af- ter an action of an hour and a half, captured his Britannic majesty's ship Macedonian, commanded by captain John Garden, and mounting 49 carriage guns (the odd gun shifting. ) She is a frigate of the largest class, two years old, four months out of dock, and reputed one of the best sailers in the Bri- tish service. The enemy being to windward had the advantage of engaging us at his own distance, which was so great, that for the first half hour we did not use our carronades, and at no moment was he within the complete effect of our musquetry or grape — to this circumstance and a heavy swell, which was on at the time, I ascribe the unusual length of the action. The enthusiasm of every officer, seaman, and ma- rine, on board this ship, on discovering the enemy —■their steady conduct in battle, and precision of their fire, could not be surpassed. Where all met my fullest expectations, it would be unjust in me to discriminate. Permit me, however, to recom- mend to your particular notice my first lieutenant, William H. Allen, He has served with me up- wards of five years, and to his unremitted exertions in disciplining the crew, is to be imputed the obvi- ous superiority of our gunnery exhibited in the re- ijult of this contest. Subjoined is a list of the killed and wounded on both sides, Oui' loss, compared with that of the ( 200 ) er.emy, will appear small. Amongst our womided, you will observe the name of lieutenant Funk, who died a few hours after the action — he was an officer of great gallantry and promise, and the service has sustained a severe loss in his death. The Macedonian lost her mizen-mast, fore and main-top-masts and main yard, and was much cut up in her hull. The damage sustained by this ship was not so much as to render her return into port necessary, and had I not deemed it important that we should see our prize in, should have continued our cruize. With the highest consideration and respect, I am, sir, your obedient humble servant, (Signed) STEPHEN DECATUR. Hon, Paul Hamilton^ ^c. Letter from Commodore Bainbrklge to the Secreta- rij of the Navy, United States Frigate Constitution, St. Salvador e^ Jan. 3,1^12. Sir, I have the honor to inform you, that on the 29th ult. at 2, P. M. in south latitude 13 deg. 6 min. and west longitude 38 deg. about ten leagues distance from the coast of Brazil, I fell in with and captured his Britannic majesty's frigate Java, of 49 guns and upwards of 400 men, commanded by cap- tain Lambert, a very distinguished officer. The ac- tion lasted one hour B5 minutes, in which time the enemy was completely dismasted, not having a spar of any kind standing. The loss on board the Con- stitution was nine killed and 25 wounded. Tlite jenemy had "60 killed and 101 wounded certainly ( 201 ) ,. (cimongthe latter captain Lambert mortally ;) but by the enclosed letter ^vritten on board this ship (by one of the officers of the Java,) and accidentally found, it is evident that the enemy's wounded must have been nuich greater than as above stated, and who must have died of their wounds previously to their being removed. The letter states 60 killed and 170 wounded. 1 or further details of the action, I beg leave to fe- fer you to the enclosed extracts from my journal. The Jav.i had, in addition to her ovv'n cre^v', upwards of 100 supernumerary officers and seamiCn to join the British ships of war in the East Indies; also I lieutenant-general Hislop, a.ppointed to the com- mand of Bombay, major Walker and cnptain Wood of Iiis staff, and captain Marshall, master and com- ! mander in the British na\y, going to the East Indies to take command of a sloop of war there. Should I attempt to do justice by representation \ to the brave and good conduct of all mv officers and ' crew,^ during the action I should fail in the attempt ; thercibre, suffice it to say, that the whole of their ! conduct was such as to merit n\v highest encomi* urns. I beg leave to recommend' the officers parti- L cularly to the notice of government, as also the un- fortunate seamen ^vho were wounded, and the fami- lies of those brave men wlio fell in the action. The great distance from our own coast, and* the perfect Wreck we made the enejuy's frigate, forbad e\'ery idea of attempting to take her to the United States, I had, therefore, no alternative but burning per, which I did on the 51st ult. after receiving all the prisoners and their baggage, which was verV te- dious work, only having one boat left (out of eight,) and not oneleft on board the Java. On blowing up the frigate Java, I proceeded to ( 202 ) this place, where I have landed all the prisoners on their parole, to return to England and there remain until regularly exchanged, and not to serve in their professional capacities in any place or in any manner whatever against the U. States of x\merica, until their exchange shall be eifected. I have the honor to be, sir, with the gi-eatest res- pect, (Signed) W. BAINBRIDGE. Letter from captain Lawrence to the Secretary of the Navy* U. States Ship Hornet, Holmes'^ Hok% March 19, 18 IS. Sir, I have the lionor to inform you of the arrival at this port of the tlnited States ship Hornet, under my command, from a cruise of 145 days ; and to state to you, that after commodore Bainbridge left the coast of Brazil, January 6th, I continued off the harbor of St. Salvadore, blockading the Bonne Ci- toyenne, until the 24th, when the Montague, 74, hove in sight and chased me into the harbor ; but night coming on, I wore and stood out to the south- ward. Knowing that she had left Rio Janeiro for the express purpose of relieving the Bonne Citoyen- ne and the packet (which I had also blockaded for 14 days, and obliged her to send her mail to Rio, in a Portuguese smack,) I judged it most prudent to sliift my cruising ground, and hauled by the wind to the eastward, with the view of cruising off Per- nambuco, and on the 4th of February, captured the English br?g Resolution, of 10 guns, from Rio Ja- neiro, bound to Moranham, with coffee, jerked beef, ( ^03 ). ilour, fustic, and butter, and about 23,000 dollars in specie. As she sailed dull, and I could not spare liands to man her, I took out the money and set her on fire. I then ran down the coast of Moranham, and cruised therc a short time ; from thence ran off burinam. After cruising off that coast from the 15th to the 22d of February, without meeting a vessel I stood for Demarara, with an intention, should I not be fortunate on that station, to run through the West Indies, on my way to the United states. But on the 24th, in the moVning, I disco- vered a l^rig to leeward, to which I gave chase-^ran into quarter less four, and not having a pilot was obliged to haul off— the fort at the entrance of De- marara river at this time bearing S. W. distant two an^ a half leagues. Previous to giving up the ch?§e 1 discovered a vessel at anchor without the bar, with J^nghsh colors flying, apparently a brig of war. In beating around Carobana bank, in order to get at her at half past 3, P. M. I discovered another sail on my weather quarter, edging down for us. At 20 inmutes past 4, she hoisted English colors, at which tune we discoveredher to be a lai'ge man of war brio- —beat to quarters, and cleared ship for action, and kept close to the wind, in order, if possible, to get the weather guage. At 10 minutes past 5, finding 1 could weather the enemy, I hoisted American co- lours, and tacked. At 25 minutes past 5, in passino- each other exchanged broadsides within half pistol shot. Observing the enemy in the act of wearing, 1 bore up, received his starbori.rd broadside, ran him close on board on the stai'bocird quaiter, and kept up such a heavy and well-directed fire, that in less than 15 minutes he surrendered f being litcraily cut to pie- ces,) and hoisted an ensign, union down, from his f(u'e-rigging, as a signal of distress, f^liortly after { ii04 ];er main-mast went by the board. Despatched lieutenant Shiibrick on board, who soon returned with her first Heutenant, who reported her to be his Britannic majesty's late brig Peacock, commanded by captain William Peake, who fell in the . latter part of the action — that a number of her crew were killed and wounded, and that she was sinking fast, having then six feet water in her hold. Despatched the boats immediately for the wounded, and brought both vessels to anchor. Such shot holes as could be got at, were then plugged ; her guns throvv^n overboard, and every possible exertion used to keep her afloat, until the prisoners could be remov- ed, by pumping and bailing, but v^ithout effect, as she unfortunately sunk in five and a half fathoms water, carrying down 13 of her crew, and three of my brave fellows, viz. John Hart, Joseph Williams, and Hannibal Boyd. — -Lieutenant Conner, midship- man Cooper, and the remainder of my men, em- ployed in rem^oving the prisoners, with difficulty saved themselves, by jumping into a boat that was lying on her booms, as she went down. Four men, of the 13 mentioned, were so fortu- nate as to gain the fore-top, and vrcre afterwards ta- ken off by the boats. Previous to her going down, four of her men took to her stern boat, that had , been much damaged during the action, who, I sin^ • cerely hope, reached the shore in safety ; but from the heavy sea running at that time, the shattered state of the boat, and the difficulty of landing on thej coast, I am fearful they were lost. I have not been ■ able to ascertain from her ofiicers the exact number killed. Captain Peake and four men were found , dead on board. The master, one midshipman, | carpenter, and captain's clerk, and 29 seamen were.j wounded; most of them Ycry severely, three of; ( 205 ) whom died of their wounds after being removed, and nine drowned. Our loss was trifling in com- panson John Place killed, Samuel Coulsan, and John Dalrymple, slightly wounded ; George Coffin and Lewis fodd severely burnt by the explosion of a cartridge. Todd survived onlv a few days. Uur rigging and sails were much cut. One shot through the foremast : and the bowsprit slightly in- jared. Our hull received little or no damage. At the time I brought the Peacock to action, thi L'Es- piegle (the brig mentioned as being at anchor^, mounting 16 tw^-and-thirty-pound caiTonades and t«o long nines, lay about six miles in shore of me and could plainly see the whole of the action. An - prehensive that she would beat out to the assistance ot hei consort, such exertions were made by my of- licers and crew in repairing damages, &c. (hat by 9 o dock my boats were stowed away, a new set of ^2 a"'iu""' '!"' '\"P ^°'"Pletely ready for action, f^.i u ^ . ""^'^'' "'-''>"' ^"'l stood by the wind to the northward and westward, under easy sail. linnrilH "T"^ next morning, found we had two n" thf seventy-seven souls on board (includ- ing the crew of the American brig Hunter ofPort- and, taken a few days before by tL Peacock ) X we had been on two-thirds allowance of provisiolS board, I reduced the allowance to three pints a man fineTf'iTnfr ^l^^^'-y^'^ly styled one of the nnest ■vessels of her class m the British iiavv 1 should judge her to be about the tonnage of ' the Hornet. Her beam was greater by five inches b„t her extreme length not soVeat by four feet ' She mounted sixteen 24-pou.fd canies So lonj ( 206 ) nines, one twelve-pound caiTonade on her top- gal- lant forecastle as a shifting gun, and one four or six- pounder, and two swivels mounted aft. I find by her quarter bills, that her crew consisted of 134 men, four of whom were absent in a prize. The cool and determined conduct of mv officers and crew during the action, and their almost unex- ampled exertions afterwards, entitle them to my warmest acknowledgments, and I beg leave most earnestly to recommend them to the notice of go- vernment. By the indisposition of lieutenant Stewart, I was deprived of the services of an excellent officer. — Had he been able to stand the deck, I am confident his exertions w^ould not have been surpassed by any one on board. I should be doing injustice to the merits of lieutenant Shubrick, and acting-lieutenants Conner and Newton, were I not to recommend them particularly to your notice. Lieutenant Shu- brick was in the actions with the Guerriere and Ja- va. Captain Hull and commodore Bainbridge can bear testimony to his coolness and good conduct on both occasions. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient sei*- vant, (Signed) JAMES LAWRENCE. Hon, Wm, JoTWs^ Secretary of the Navy, P. S. At the commencement of the action, my sailing master and seven men were absent in a prize: and lieutenant Stewart and six men on the sick list. As there is every prospect of the ^vind being to the eastward, in the morning I shall make the best of my way to New York . ( 2or ) Copy of a letter from capt. Hull to the Secretary of the Navy. Portland, Sept, 7, 1813. I had the honor last evening to forward you bv express, through the hands of commodore Bain-^ bridge, a letter 1 rceeived from Samuel Sforer, esq. navy agent at this place, detailing an account of the capture of the British brig Boxer by the U. States brig Enterprise. ^ I have now to inform you that I left Portsmouth tnis morning, and have this moment arrived, and, as the m^ail is closing, I have only time to enclose you the report of lieutenant IM'Call of the Enter- pnze, and to assure you that a statement of the si- tuation of the two vessels as to the damage they have received, &c. shall be forwarded as soon as sur- veys can be made. The Boxer has received much damage in her hull, masts, and sails, indeed it was with difficulty she could be kept afloat to get her in. ihe Enterprize is only injured in her masts and sails. I have the honor to be, &c. TJ TT rr r c ISAAC HULL. Ihe Hon, IV m, Jones, Sec'ry of the Navy. United States' Brig Enterinize, Portland, Sept, 7, 1813. OIR, Inconsequence of the unfortunate death of lieutenant commandant William Burrows late commander of this vessel, it devolves on me to ac- quaint you with the result of our cruize. After sail - ing from Portsmouth on the 1st instant, we steered ( 208 io the eastward; and on the morning of the 3d, oft Wood Island, discovered a schooner, which we chased into this harbor, where we anchored. On the morning of the 4th, weighed anchor and swept out, and continued our course to the eastward. Having received information of several privateers beir.g off Manhagan, we stood for that place ; and on the following morning, in the bay near Penguin Point, discovered a brig getting under way, which appeared to be a vessel of war, and to which we im- niediately gave chase. She fired several guns and stood for us, having four ensigns hoisted. After reconnoitring and discovering her force and the na- tion to ^vhich she belonged, v/e hauled upon a wind to stand out of the bay, and at 3 o'clock shortened sail, tacked and run down with an intention to bring hcT to close action. At twenty minutes after three, P. M. when within half pistol shot, the firing com- iucnced from both, and after being Avarmly kept up, and with some manoeuvring, the enemy hailed, and said they had surrendered, about 4, P. M. their colours being nailed to the masts, could not be haul- ed dov.n. She proved to be his Britannic majesty's brig Boxer, of 14 guns, Samuel Blythe, esq. com- mander, who fell in the early part of the engagement, having received a cannon shot through the body. And I am sorry to add that lieutenant Burrows, who had gallantly led us to action, fell also about the same time by a musket ball, which terminated his existence in eight hours. The Enterprize suffered much in spars and rig- ging, and the Boxer both in spars, rigging, and hull, having many shots between wind and water. It would be doing injustice to the merit of Mr. Tillinghast, second lieutenant, were I not to men- tion the able assistance I received from him during ( 209 ) the remainder of the engagement, by his strict atten- tion to his own division and other departments. And the officers and crew generally, I am happy to add, their cool and determined conduct have my warmest approbation and applause. As no muster roll that can be fully relied on has come into my possession, I cannot exactly state the number killed on board the Boxer, but from infor- mation received from the officers of that vessel, it appears there were between twenty and twenty -five killed, and fourteen wounded. Enclosed is a list of the killed and wounded on board the Enter- prize. I have the honor to be, &c. EDWARD R. M'CALL, S 671107' Officer^, Isaac Hull, Esq. command'm^ Naval Officer^ on the Eastern Station. Copy of a letter from Isaac Hull, Esq. commanding Naval Officer on the station east of Portsmouth, Nexv Hampshire. United States N'avy Yard, Portsmouth, Sept. 14, 1813. I have the honor to forward you by the mail, the flags of the late British brig Boxer, which were nailed to her mast-heads at the time she was captur- ed by the United States brig, Enterprize. Great as the pleasure is that I derive from per- forming this part of my duty, I need not tell you how^ different my feelings would have been could the gallant Burrows have had this honour. He went into action most gallantly, and the dif- s 2 ( 210 ) ference of injury done the two vessels proves how nobly he fought. I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your obedient servant, ISAAC HULL. Hon, Wm* Jones ^ Sec'ry of the Navij, CONCLUSlOlSr. I cannot resist the inclination I feel to make room for an extract from another of Mr. Gobbet's excel- lent letters to lord Castlereagh, on the late revolu- tion in France, hoping the reader may enjoy the same delight on viewing a true statement of Euro- pean affairs as I have myself. In a country crouded with lying journalists, I cannot sufficiently admire one who exhibits the naked truth, although he has already suffered for so doing, two years imprison- ment and the forfeiture of a thousand pounds to the king of England. PEACE! PEACE! TO LORD CASTLEREAGH, My Lord, The grand €vent which has just taken place in France, and which is so well calculated to convince all mankind of the folly as well as the in- justice, of using foreign force for the purpose of dic- tating to a great nation who they shall have for their rulers, or what shall be the form of government; this grand event, instead of procuring such conviction in the minds of those persons connected with the London newspapers, magazines and reviews, who -wre called Cossac JFritcrs ; so far from procuring ( 211 ) such conviction in their minds, this erand event seems to have made them more eager than ever for interference in the domestic affairs of France ; and while the cries of our countrymen at Nexu Orleans are yet vibrating in our ears, these men are endea vormg to urge you and your colleagues on to the sendnig of thousands upon thousands more of our men, and to expend hundreds of millions more of our money, m order to overset a government which the 1^ rench nation love, and to compel them to sub mit to one which they hate, or at least, despise, from the bottom of their hearts, and with unanimity ab solutely unparelelled. My Lord, if my advice had been followed, we should have had no American war; the 20 or 30,000 men, and the 50 or 60 millions of money which that unfortunate war has cost us ; and which have only, as it turns out, created an American na- vy, and exalted the republic among the nations of the world, would all have been saved. The litera- ry Cossacs of London, were, I verily believe, the chief cause of war. They urged you and vour ^Srn^^' nA^lrJ^'^r'''^''' 'f'^' American } ORxM OF GOVERNMENT. Napoleon be- ing, as they thought, down, never to rise a^ain, they urged yon to make war, till you had put down James Madison, and -delivered the world oi the existence of tliat EXAMPLE of the sue cess of DEMOCRATIC REBELLION '' 'J^^ peace with Madison,'' was their cry. Kill ' kill ' keep killing, till he is put down ! This was their incessant cry And, in a short time after Nano- leon was exiled to the isle of Elba, these liteniry Cossacs published a paragraph, which they inserted m the report of the debates in the house of com- mons, as the report of the speech of sir Joseph ( 212 ) Yorke, then and now one of the lords of the admi- ralty, in the following words : to wit — '' Sir Jo- seph Yorke observed, that although one great ene- my of this country, Bonaparte, had been deposed, there was another gentleman whoseDEPOSITION was only necessary to our interest ; he meant Mr. President Madison ; and with a view to that de- position, a considerable naval force must be kept up, especially in the Atlantic. But as to his hon- orable friend's opinion respecting the reduction of the navy, he wished it to be considered that a num- ber of shipping were employed in conveying French prisoners to France, and 'bringing home our own countrymen. So much for the occupation of na- vy on the home station. But from the Mediterra- nean, for instance, several three deckers were or- dered home, and he could aver that no practical exertion would be remitted to reduce the expense of our naval department." With what shame ! — with what sorrow, would these writers, if they had not lost all sense of shame, and all feeling for their country, now look back on their conduct, at the time to which I am referring ! Instead of feeling shame for that conduct, they are now acting the same part over again ; they are now reviving all their old calumnies against the empe- ror Napoleon ; they are abusing the French army and the French people ; they are bestowing on them appellations almost too infamous to be repeated ; and they are calling upon you and your colleagues to make a war of extermination upon that people, unless they will receive and adopt the ruler and the government appointed, or pointed out by England. These men called Mr. Madison a TRAITOR and a REBEL ; and they are now calling Napoleon a TRAITOR and a REBEL. They called the A^ ( '-^13 ) iiiericans slaves, villains, thieves ; and with these appellations with many others, not excepting cow- ards^ they are nov/ bestowing on the French people \ — They now see you and your colleagues have found it necessary to make a treaty of peace and amity with Mr. Madison, whom they called a trai- tor and a rebel ; but, these men are of that descrip- tion of fools to whom experience cannot teach wis- dom, and they are now repeating their cry ?io peace xvith Napoleon; no peace till the Bourbons are again on the throne of France : wT^r with the French until they adopt a ruler in whom xve have conii- dence. [_Afte7' this introduction the xvriter^ with his usu- al acumen^ expostidates xvith Lord Castlereagh on the subject of a new French war.'] But, my lord, long as this address to you already is, there is one view of this impending danger to which I must yet beg leave to call your serious at- tention. It is said that "war will, as hitherto, favor our shipping and commercial interests, wliile our navy secures us the sovereignty of the seas.^"* And af- terwards it is said that our ''manufactures will prosper with the continent of Europe and Amei^ica open.*' Does not the very name of America, coupled with that of war in Europe, give rise to a thousand thoughts in the mind of yoiu' lordship? Do you not see the rising navy in the mouths of the Sus- quehanna and Hudson? In short, what English- man can look that way without alarm? It is well known that our commerce and shipping, during the late war, ^vere supported by the restrictions which our navy enabled us to impose on the com merce and navigation of neutrals, and especially on ( 214 ) those of America. It is well known that, had we not claimed the sea as our own, and exercised our power accordingly, our commerce and navigation must have dwindled into a very small compass, and those of AmxCrica would have swelled to an en- ormous size, while France, open to the shipping and commerce of America, would have experienced little injury from the power of our navy. Well, then, is it to be believed, v/hen we look at the progress and conclusion of the American war, that we shall again attempt those restrictions on her commerce and navigation? This is not to be be- lieved; and if we Vv^ere to attempt them, is it to be believed that we should not find America a party in the war against us? — The late event in France will excite in America joy unbounded, and especi- ally amongst those against whom the malicious shafts of the editors of our newspapers were level- led. When they hear these men describe Napole- on as a '' traitor ?j\d ?L rebcl^^^ they will recollect that the very same men described the President, their constitutional chief magistrate, as :i ^'traitor and rebeP^ and that they called upon his fellow- ci- tizens, who had freely chosen him, to depose him and /rzY/him. The Americans, my lord, are not to be made to believe that Napoleon has forced him- self upon the French nation ; they are not to be made to believe that he has none but the army on his side ; they are not to be made to believe that he is merely at the head of 'V/ ba?id of Janissaries ;^^ they are not to be rqade to believe that, with a mere handful of soldiers, he could have marched from Cannes to Paris, unless he had been the man of the people; they are not to be made to believe that the Bourbons would have fled from a throne and from a sovereignty over thirty millions of people, unless ( 215 ) *j-^ 'i^d been convinced that the /.d'o/-/e were on the side of Napoleon ; they are not to made to believe all or any ot these things, but thev will see in this event a proof of the fact, of which fact some of them before doubted, that Napoleon reigns in virtue of the love and the choice of the French nation. Ihe American government will, for a while at least be disposed to remain at peace ^vith us; but we may be well assured that it will never again submit to any restrictions on its commerce and navigation not ^wanted by the well known and universally ac' knowledged laws of nations ;— and it would not be at ah surprising, if it should lean very stronHy to- ward France, if we were to make war upon the lat- ter for the purpose of dictating a government to her dared °' °^'P°'^''°" *° ''^'' '^'"'' "°^^ so clearly de- tn ^lVY^°'u'-'' 1 ^'^^""^'y ^^'^"='1 ^^-^i^ad not to contend with ,n the last war—These prizes which this writer holds out as a bait to our naval of-' hcers and their connections, would not be so nu- h^^^'^u ^"^'"^ '^'^y ^^'°"^'l ^' ^'^'7 few in num. ex ;nt^i^''°"'"!"''' °?^'"'"^^ ^^^^l'^' to a great extent, be carried on ,n American ships.— America would be the carrier for both nations. The incre se of her navigation, ,vould signify nothing to France- ndced France would rejoice atk, because it ,vS be tremendously dangerous to us. Let np flatterer persuade your lordship, that the Americans are to be either wheedled or coiupted I hey love peace; but thev are a wise peonle rd war. The astyear has taught them that thev must depend solely on their arms. Thev will renumber heflamesofFrenchtown.StoningtonandS^^^^ ton. 1 hey will remember tlieir sufferings from the { 216 ) hand of our Indian allies. They Aviii remembei our considering their naturalized citizens as trai- tors* CONCLUDING NOTE OF THE COMPILER. From the gliinpse we have g-'iven of the religious and political de- lusion, and consequent misery, and degradation of the European po- pulation ; the free, enlightened, and independent American reader, may be incUned to pity, and des])ise the people who thus suffer them- selves fo be degraded to beasts of burthen, by their Royal, Kight Honorable, and Right Reverend Tyrants. They should hideed be pi- tied, but not despised. I'ears of compassion for them, and tears of gratitude to God, should flow spontaneously from the eyes of every free born American, when he beholds the deleterious clouds of er- i-or, which the genius of smiling Liberty has for ever exterminated from his independent mind, but which she is prohibited, by the frown- kig spirit of despotim, from even attempting' to exterminate, from the debased minds of the wondering, cheated, king ridden, and priest rid- den population of Europe. While I pity from my heart's core, those wretched and degraded millions, my breast swells with affection, gra- titude and veneration for such men as Wm. Cobbett and sir Francis l^urdett, who have used their best and boldest endeavours to attenuate the miserable degradation, under which they crouch and have mag- nanimously endured the lash of despotism therefor, but that lash has iiot inflicted so bitter a pang, as the recollection that their patriotic labours and sufferings have all proved abortive. Rut let them be en- couraged. The ray of political light, they have displayed, will soor become a mighty flame — then, and not till then will a bold and val- iant people break their ephemeral bonds and rise in all the majesty of tlieir strength. Then will they think and wonder at the thought, that thev were chained by local and longstanding prejudices, as the giant Gulliver by the Tilliputlans, v/hose bonds were as imperceptible as his enemies were diminutive. FINIS. u f^> >^ "^ ^!*ww*^*