known habits of warfare. This pretence aggravated, rather than excused their high offence against humanity, in employing the ruthless savages as auxiliaries, in war, against a Christian people. It could not have been unknown to the British officers, that, at the commencement of the war, the government of the United States rejected the proffered assistance of the Indians, and used every argument to induce them to remain neutral in the contest. After this deference to the principles of humanity on one side, to employ them on the other, and permit them to indulge their demoniac thirst of blood, and to practice their ferocious barbarities upon the persons of women and children, and on those of wounded and captive officers and men, has impressed a stain upon the character of the British empire, that no renown in arms, nor high pretensions to civilization and religion can efface. The savage policy of indulging those ferocious warriors, in their licentious passions, to secure their friendship and alliance in war, cannot be extenuated, much less justified, upon any principle known to humanity, honour, or chivalry.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Proposition for an armistice from the American Government; One from the British, by Admiral Warren; Second session of the twelfth Congress; Operations on Lake Ontario; Defence of Fort Meigs; Capture of the Java and Peacock, &c.

WITH a view to abridge the evils, inseparable from a state of warfare, the president, early after the adjournment of congress in July, 1812, conveyed, to the British government, the terms on which the progress of the war might be arrested, without the delays of formal and final ratification; and the American chargé d'affaires, at London, was, at the same time, authorised to agree to an armistice founded upon them.

These terms required, that the orders in council should be repealed, as they affected the United States, without the revival of blockades, violating acknowledged rules; that there should be an immediate discharge of American seamen from British, and a stop to impressment from American ships, with an understanding, that an exclusion of the seamen of each nation, from the ships of the other, should be stipulated; and that the armistice should be improved into a definitive and comprehensive adjustment of depending controversies.

Although a repeal of the orders, susceptible of explanations meeting the views of the American government, had previously taken place, this pacific advance was declined by the British government, being an avowed refusal of a suspension of the practice of impressment during the armistice, and without any intimation, that the arrangement proposed, with respect to seamen, would be accepted.

The British government, through admiral sir John B. Warren, who arrived on the American coast in September, as commander of the British fleet, communicated a proposition for an armistice, of the following tenor: that the govern

ment of the United States should instantly recall their letters of marque and reprisal against British ships, together with all orders and instructions for any acts of hostility, whatever, against the territories of his majesty, or the persons or property of his subjects, with the understanding, that, immediately on receiving an official assurance to that effect, he would instruct all the officers under his command, to desist from war-measures against the United States. This proposition was expressly founded on the alleged repeal of the orders in council.

The proposition through admiral sir J. B. Warren was not accepted, for the same reasons, which influenced the president to reject the armistice, proposed through sir George Prevost.

The president, having communicated to congress the issue of the several attempts, which had been made in their recess, to restore the relations of peace with Great Britain; fully detailed the state of the domestic affairs of the country; and recommended the adoption of such laws as would tend to the relief, defence, and protection of its widely extended frontiers. After a faithful recital of the military events, of the first campaign of the war, and presenting an exhibit of our relations with foreign nations, he thus concluded:

"The situation of our country, fellow-citizens, is not without its difficulties; though it abounds in animating considerations, of which the state of our pecuniary resources is an example. With more than one nation, we have serious and unsettled controversies; and with one, powerful in its means and habits of war, we are at war. The spirit and strength of the nation are nevertheless equal to the support of all its rights, and to carry it through all its trials. They can be met in that confidence. Above all, we have the inestimable consolation of knowing, that the war, in which we are actually engaged, is a war neither of ambition nor of vain glory; that it is waged not in violation of the rights of others, but in the maintenance of our own; that it was preceded by a patience without example, under wrongs ac

cumulating without end; and that it was finally not declared, until every hope of averting it was extinguished, by the transfer of the British sceptre into new hands, clinging to former councils, and until declarations were reiterated to the last hour, through the British envoy here, that the hostile edicts, against our commercial rights, and our maritime independence, would not be revoked; nay, that they could not be revoked, without violating the obligations of Great Britain to other powers, as well as to her own interests. To have shrunk, under such circumstances, from manly resistance, would have been a degradation, blasting our best and proudest hopes. It would have struck us from the high rank, where the virtuous struggles of our forefathers had placed us, and have betrayed the magnificent legacy which we hold in trust for future generations. It would have acknowledged, that on the element, which forms three-fourths of the globe we inhabit, and where all independent nations have equal and common rights, the American people were not an independent people; but colonists and vassals. It was at this moment, and with such an alternative, that war was chosen. The nation felt the necessity of it, and called for it. The appeal was accordingly made, in a just cause, to the just and all-powerful Being, who holds in his hands the chain of events, and the destiny of nations. It remains only, that, faithful to ourselves, entangled in no connection with the views of other powers, and ever ready to accept peace from the hand of justice, we prosecute the war with united counsels, and with the ample faculties of the nation, until peace be so obtained, and as the only means, under the Divine blessing, of speedily obtaining it."

In pursuance of the recommendation of the president, the twelfth congress passed acts, to encourage a speedy completion of the army, by increasing the pay of its non-commissioned officers, musicians, privates, and others; to increase the navy of the United States, by building four seventyfours, and six frigates, to rate forty-four guns each; authorising twenty regiments of infantry, to be enlisted for the term of one year; and the appointment of six additional ma

jor, and six brigadier-generals in the army; also, acts authorising the president to borrow on the credit of the United States, any sum not less than sixteen millions of dollars, for defraying the extraordinary expenses of the war; and to issue treasury notes, for the service of the year 1813, not exceeding $5,000,000; to raise ten additional companies of rangers, for the protection of the frontiers of the United States; to encourage the destruction of the enemy's ships of war, by torpedoes, submarine instruments, or any other destructive machinery; creating a superintendant-general of military supplies; regulating and organizing the staff of the army; directing six additional sloops of war to be built, and armed vessels to be constructed, manned, and equipped for the public service on the lakes; and making appropriations for the support of the navy and army during the year 1813.

In addition to the foregoing important measures, an act was passed, for the regulation of seamen, on board the public and private vessels of the United States. This act was designed to narrow the controversy between the United States and Great Britain, on the subject of impressment; and enacted, that, from and after the termination of the war with Great Britain, it should not be lawful to employ, on board the public or private vessels of the United States, any persons, except citizens, or persons of colour, natives of the United States; that no person, arriving in the United States, after the operation of the act commenced, should be capable of becoming a citizen, who had not, for the continued term of five years, next preceding his admission, resided within the United States, and been, at no time during the said five years, out of their territory; and that no seaman or other seafaring man, not being a citizen of the United States, should be admitted or received, as a passenger, on board of any public or private vessel of the United States, in a foreign port, without permission, in writing, from the proper officers of the nation, of which he may be a subject or citizen. It was also provided by this act, that its principles should not be applied to the citizens or subjects of nations that would not reciprocate them.