fore knew that war would be declared, whilst by Great Britain, five days aftert Congress Great Britain, the other belligerent, said to had signed and sealed the warrant for the be impartially treated, never suspected such unnatural strife. a thing, even at the moment of repealing her Orders in Council: for, although it evinced strange insensibility to the lowering portents of the future, that the possibility of a war with the United States, arising from those Orders, was never once alluded to by those members of the British Parliament who spoke against them in the debate of June, 1812; still, that very insensibility to transatlantic presages shows, in the strongest manner, how little the catastrophe of war* with the United States was anticipated June 16th, brought the matter for final decision before the House of Commons. He began his speech with observing, that the question, though of unexampled interest, was one of little intricacy. Its points were few in number, and involved in no obscurity or doubt. At a distance, indeed, there appeared a great mass of details, and the eight or nine hundred folios of evidence, together with the papers and petitions with which the table was covered, might cause the subjects to appear vast and complicated; yet he did not doubt in a short time to convince his hearers that there has seldom been one of a public nature brought before that house through which the path was shorter, or led to a more re-obvious decision. French government, in case it shall then be quired.' It seems it had not then BEEN requir ed by France. The hon. gentleman then took a general survey of the severe distress which was now pressing upon so many thousands of our industrious fellow-subjects, proved not only by their petitions, but by the numerous schemes and devices which had been resorted to as a remedy for the evils caused by the suppression of their He reaccustomed sources of employment. "That this was a concerted thing is apparent, from another clause of the same letter, in which Mr. Smith says, that "should Great Britain not withdraw all her previous partial blockades, it is probable that France will draw Great Britain and the United States to issue on the legality of such blockades (that is, all partial blockades) by acceding to the act in Con-minded the house of the general outline of the gress, on condition that the repeal of the blockade shall accompany that of the Orders in Council. inquiry. Above a hundred witnesses had been examined from more than thirty of the great manufacturing and commercial districts. Among "Within one month after these despatches all these there was only one single witness who arrived in France, Buonaparte did bring us to hesitated in admitting the dreadful amount of issue with Great Britain on this very point; and the present distresses; Birmingham, Sheffield, yet Mr. Madison was no prophet, because it was the clothing trade of Yorkshire, the districts of he who first suggested the thought to Arm- the cotton trade, all deeply participated in them. strong, and Armstrong to the ingenious cabinet He then adverted to the proofs by which this of St. Cloud. "In conformity to your sugges-evidence was met on the other side of the house; tions, in your letter of December 1st, 1809," and took into consideration the entries in the (says General Armstrong to Mr. Smith,) Custom-house books, and the substitutes and demanded whether, if Great Britain revoked new channels of commerce said to compensate her decrees of a date anterior to the Berlin for those that are closed. He next touched decree, his Majesty would consent to revoke that decree." 66 I After this clear exposition, we think that no reasonable being can entertain any doubts of Mr. Madison's intrigues with France. *The following quotations from the debates in the House of Commons, will show the good feeling towards the United States which at that time prevailed in England: upon the topic so often resorted to by the defenders of the Orders in Council, that of the dignity and honour of the nation, and the necessity of asserting our maritime rights; and he maintained that every right may safely be waved or abandoned for reasons of expediency, to be resumed when those reasons cease. He lastly, dwelt upon the great importance of the American market to the goods produced in this country, and the danger of accustoming the Americans to rely on their own resources, and manufacture for themselves. After a long and eloquent harangue on these and other connected subjects, Mr. B. concluded with the following motion : :- Whilst this political ferment was agitating the different parties of candidates for ministerial power, the examinations in reference to the effects of the Orders in Council upon the commercial and manufacturing interests in the kingdom The debate in Parliament took place on were going on with little interruption in both houses of parliament. A vast mass of evidence the 23rd June; the Declaration of War passed being at length collected, Mr. Brougham, on on the 18th. QUEENSTON SUSPENSION-BRIDGE Ir is a melancholy reflection, that before the onward march of the civilizer, the savage disappears like snow before the summer sun, that, they are so antagonistic, instead of mutually leading vigour and intelligence, the animal sinks before the mental, and that, not by its direct operation, but by the extraneous force it imparts to the same animal development in others, it gives it for the time the mastery, to be displaced in its turn by that from which it received its power. Thus the white man in teaching the redskin the wants of civilization, opened also a market for its luxuries, and, with the introduction of artificial wants, engrafted civilization and its fruits on nature, whilst having engrossed the profits of Indian labor, the descendant of the squatter and emigrant occupy that soil which should have yielded its produce to the aboriginal, and thus oppressed by the arts, not of war, but of peace, the Indian sinks overwhelmed in the flood. Yet is this reflection modified and softened not only by general but also by particular effects as well for, though the nations which had reigned undisturbed lords over the land are disappearing, the scarce perceived amalgamation of their races has frequently resulted in the advancement of the descendant of the aborigines, and many occupy places of honor and trust among the abodes of civilization, whose fathers dwelt under the canopy of heaven. This is a source of consolation when memory recalls the extinct races of the eastern shores of America, the glory of her forests and wastes, when in traditionary recollections, we hear again the sweet dove like sounds which floated softly round the council fires of the chivalric Delawares. The mill and the factory of the white man may be less picturesque than the deer skin lodge of the red: the smoky steamer, as, parting she cleaves our lakes or rivers, less in harmony with their features, than the undulations of the buoyant canoe: the clearing less grateful to the eye than the woodland glades: the whirl of the iron road, than the forest trail; but the perfection to which they lead, the bright day of peace and love, of which they are the harbingers-though but faintly discernible in the long perspective of years to come, is too pregnant with the happiness of the human race, and the glory of VOL. II-I the Deity, to leave any serious pain upon the mind which looks forward to it. No where, perhaps, has the white man produced more striking changes than along the precipitous shores (we may not call them banks) of the mighty Niagara, and should the reader but in imagination transport himself to where the great northern "Father of the Floods" rolls his waves along, some such picture as the following will doubtless rise in fancy's glass. His mind has reverted to the time ere the sylvan abode of the aboriginal had been disturbed by the foot of his white brother, when opposing tribes contended with each other for the possession of hunting-grounds, presenting advantages superior to those they already occupied; and after one of these encounters he sees a vanquished chief, Man-na-qua, bound and led by his captors to their encampment, not far from the gigantic leap of the mighty stream. It was ever a great and honorable feat to take captive a chief, for nobility with the Indian is strength of arm and fearlessness of danger, and the chief of a tribe was ever foremost in the field and in the chase. Manna-qua, then, the terror of all his foes, the pride of all his friends, a captive, and fettered, is doomed to die a painful and lingering death, his enemies treat him with that respect that the prestige of a renowned name always commands, but securely is he bound and closely is he watched, lest the tribe should be disgraced by his escape. It is but seldom that an Indian acts traitorously towards his friends, but they always seek to return a kindness. So it was with the boy, Po-wen-a-go. The brave Man-na-qua had generously spared his life in their last engagement, for he warred not he thought with women or boys, but he told not Po-wen-a-go why he spared him, and happily for him it was that he did not so, for already had Po-wen-a-go devised a scheme for his escape, waiting only for darkness to put it into execution. Night came on, and dark masses of cloud hung about the heavens striving to obscure the beams of the moon, (fortunately for Po-wen-a-go's plans, in her last quarter) and shrouding her gradually sinking orb in their dusky mantle, as if in league with the envious stars, the watchers of earth. Now it was that Po-men-a-go released Man-na-qua, and pointing in the direction of a brilliant star in the east, bade him, in a whisper, follow it, for it would lead him to the Niagara.* Swiftly Man-na-qua parted from the boy, and guided by the star, sought the river the passage of which would place him once more, a free man, amongst his tribe. He knew that his escape would soon be discovered, and that his enemies, with all the instinct of the sleuth hound, would perseveringly and untiringly follow him till retaken, did he not quickly place that swift-flowing stream between himself and danger. Wearied and exhausted at length, and with difficulty drawing his unwilling limbs along, yet he paused not, exerting to the utmost his fast declining strength, and at daylight the rising spray and sullen roar of the great fall indicated its position. Diverging slightly to the north with renewed hope and energy, he continued his flight: another hour brought him to the whirlpool; here he descended the steep, rocky and craggy bank till he reached the edge of the boiling and tossing waters. Still he dared not rest, but followed the course of the rapid stream in hopes that he might, a few miles farther down, meet with some friendly canoe, or arrive at some less swift part of the river, which would enable him to gain the opposite shore. Breathless, his hands wounded, his leggins torn, his feet bare and bleeding, and almost sinking from fatigue he yet toiled on another hour; in his exhausted state he could not dare to swim the river, no canoe was there to lend its friendly aid, and at length in despair, he sank to the earth, almost wishing for death. Lulled by the murmuring flow of water, and overcome by exertion, tired nature could no longer resist and he fell into a deep slumber. Who envies not the happy, grateful feeling that refreshing sleep communicates to that spirit and body-worn man. Man-na-qua's sleep was deep indeed, the whole muscular system lay in repose, not a twitching of a muscle, nor a restless movement of the limbs could be detected, but calmly as an infant he rested. His brain, however, that active member, unduly excited by the events of the past few hours still teemed with the impressions left on it by his captivity and flight,and he dreamed :He thought he saw the Great Spirit, in the garb of a mighty hunter, descend to the shore • Literally "falling water." on which he lay, and rousing him, bid him arise, for his pursuers were approaching, and then he thought the spirit took him by the hand and led him to the waters, which he now passed, over a structure reared as by magic, whilst he saw his enemies, after a fruitless search retire. Then the Great Spirit speaking to him foretold that the time would arrive when such a bridge would span that flood, but that it would not be for man to escape from man. Man-na-qua! said the spirit, in a little time a new race will spring up, before whom your race will vanish, as the fog is dissipated by the rays of the sun, they will overspread this whole continent, taking from you your hunting grounds, nay your very identity, and driving you to seek other scenes, but, to follow and wrest them from you also. Then it is that they, even as a spider shoots its tiny and fragile thread from branch to branch, will bridge this swift rolling flood with threads spun from the iron, and will produce a structure airy as the gossamer work, the insect weaves to ensnare its prey. Then will be extended from bank to bank, almost floating in æther, a way, woven from a strong and tough metal, binding them together, and connecting them, till at length the bridge be made and two mighty nations socially united. Man-na-qua, in astonishment demanded how so great a marvel could be wrought, and desired to see the wonderful work of the new race. The spirit suddenly ascending with him, high into the air, tells him to look around, and lo! the forests, which had covered the whole face of the country, disappeared; numerous towns and villages dotted the space, connected by bands of iron over which iron coursers breathing fire and smoke were rapidly impelled. The busy hum of man and his work-shops reached his ear and spanning the river the wondrous structure met his astonished gaze. Curiously he regarded it, but his astonishment turned to fear, when, in the distance he saw approaching rapidly, one of the flame-breathing monsters, in an instant it crossed the river, and was lost to sight in the distance. length he murmured, it is surely a magical work which thus bears the evil one, and terrified at what he saw, Man-na-qua released his hold of the spirit and fell tremblingly earthward. In the effort to save himself from being dashed to pieces he started and awoke; At |