influence on the seas led to harsh commercial acts, which worked mostly against us, because we carried so much of the merchandise of the western world. When the pressure of the war with France began to be felt she set up the claim that she had a right to search our vessels for British seamen, many of whom deserted because of the severe treatment given sailors and also because of the better pay offered by American captains. The right of expatriation claimed by the United States was denied, and once an Englishman, always an Englishman, was asserted in its most brutal form, impressment of men undoubtedly deserters from English ships leading easily to impressment of genuinely American born sailors. Thousands of men were thus taken from our vessels, the humiliation of the right of search coupled with that of impressment being almost too much to be borne. Then Napoleon took a hand. If the British government issued a proclamation affecting American interests, Napoleon issued a counter one. If the British declared the ports of the continent blockaded against neutral vessels of the United States, Napoleon made the same declaration about the English coast. If American vessels were searched by the English, Napoleon declared any such vessels subject to confiscation by him. If the English stole property as contraband or seized it to control trade, Napoleon met their act with another equally injurious. It was hard to decide which was the greater aggressor. If we thought of France as our old time ally and friend, her action seemed the most grievous. There was just as good reason for war with France as with England, and when the long continued menaces of the two governments were balanced, it was six of one against half a dozen of the other. But there was a personal element in the impressment of American seamen, and that undoubtedly was a controlling factor in the final determination to fight England. The bitterness was specially keen in the west, because there the Indian problem complicated matters. It was the west and the south that decided matters, the young leaders of the new democracy, Clay, Calhoun and Crawford, being the controlling forces. President Madison had followed Jefferson's pacific policy. It was a taunt of the federalist leader that the nation couldn't be kicked into a war, this being aimed at the republi

can party, which under Jefferson and Madison had stood all sorts of abuses and insults from France and England, with no more positive objections than those made by the passage of embargo and nonintercourse acts, keeping our ships at home, shutting off our trade with England and France, and as many of the opponents of these measures declared, cutting off our own nose to spite our face. When the young republicans mentioned above took a hand in the fight, they told Mr. Madison, so the story goes, that he must declare war or be defeated for renomination for the presidency in 1812, and as he was exceedingly anxious to serve two terms in the executive office he accepted their ultimatum and made his declaration of war, his war message going to congress June 1, 1812, congress passing the act for war on the 18th of the same month. President Madison stated the three principal grievances of the United States to be, (1) The impressment of American seamen, (2) The British Orders in Council affecting the rights of neutral nations on the seas, and establishing sham blockades, under which our commerce had been plundered in every sea, and (3) The sinister influence of the British over the northwestern Indians by which they were encouraged to outbreak against the citizens of the United States.

At once the cry was, On to Canada, the feeling being strong that a show of American strength in that country would result in an immediate uprising in favor of the United States, so that peace would soon be dictated at Quebec or Halifax. There was some talk of the possibility of doing damage through the navy, but the greatest reliance was placed in the Canada movement. New England being hostile to the war, the line of campaign was planned west of the Green mountains. The triple movement which has characterized most wars between the country south of the St. Lawrence and that north of it was adopted, and it was proposed to send expeditions by the Lake Champlain route in the east, across Niagara river in the center and across the river at Detroit in the west. Canada west would be speedily captured, and then by more effort Canada east likewise would come into our possession.

The campaign began in the western division, General William Hull, an old revolutionary officer, being in command

at Detroit. He crossed over into Canada, issued a high sounding proclamation to the Canadians, who took no interest in it, had a few skirmishes with the Indians, and then fell back to Detroit. He was far from his base of supplies. The government did not help him any, partly because it did not have any money, men or equipment, and partly because, even if it had, the means of communication with Detroit were too primitive for military purposes. The result was, that when the British forces under General Brock came to Detroit, although Hull was behind the fortifications, he disgraced himself eternally and humiliated the western people shamefully, by hauling down his flag without consulting his fellow officers or firing a gun. That finished the invasion of Canada from the extreme west, for, although some fresh troops were sent to regain Detroit, they were surprised in an engagement at Frenchtown on the river Raisin not far from Detroit, most of them were taken prisoners, and many of these were massacred by the Indian allies of England. Some time later another expedition tried to invade Canada, but it was driven back and the offensive war in the west was ended for at least a year.

The campaign in the center lacked the disgraceful features of the surrender of an army to complete its story of failure, but no progress was made toward Canadian possessions. Here also the general in charge was a revolutionary officer, Henry Dearborn, a man past sixty years, slow and sleepy. His duty was plain to make a lively movement against Canada from Niagara so as to detach troops otherwise available against Hull in the west. He fooled his chance away, granted an armistice during precious days when Hull was being hard pressed, and finally gave way to General Stephen Van Renssalaer, who found the army in bad shape. There was neither discipline nor equipment. Some of the men had no shoes, there was not ten rounds of powder to a man, nor a single pound of lead, nor more than one heavy gun, and that had no one to man it. He drilled his men patiently, tried to keep them from a forward movement until they were ready, and when at last he was forced to lead an expedition across the river, pressed by the charge that he was a federalist and opposed to the war, it was badly mismanaged, there was plenty

of sheer cowardice, and although Van Renssalaer was four times wounded, his personal bravery availed nothing. Six hundred of his men were forced to surrender to the British, who captured also three hundred skulkers and cowards on the outskirts. Van Renssalaer escaped, and sent in his resignation, which was accepted by his superior, Dearborn, who denounced him to the secretary of war as an ignorant militia officer who was jealous of the regulars. Then a regular was put in command, General Alexander Smyth, who immediately issued a high-sounding, boastful proclamation telling what he intended to do, closing with the war cry, "The cannon lost at Detroit or death." The story is a sad one. A new army was gathered, an expedition was planned. The impatient soldiers were making good progress and success seemed certain, when, to the astonishment of all, the general declared the plan abandoned. Furious with rage the soldiers forced him to a second attack, and again the order came to give up the movement. Then the general asked leave to visit his family in Virginia, and sneaked away through unfrequented ways, not however until he had fought a duel with his inferior in command, who branded him as a coward. The seconds in the duel were careful, however, to withdraw the bullets from the pistols, so that no one was hurt. Such was the character of the fighting around Niagara. During the war there were a number of engagements in the vicinity, in one of which York, now Toronto, was captured and its public buildings burnt in an unauthorized manner. In another during July, 1814, at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane the American troops drove the British from the field and came near winning a victory, but they were unable to hold the ground gained and so technically lost credit for a victory. Some have claimed Lundy's Lane to be the only land victory won by Americans during the war. The movement in the center thus failed as hopelessly as that in the west, and there was no success in the Champlain country either. The plan to acquire Canada through war was a dismal failure.

Now the tide turned. The British began to encroach upon the dominion of Massachusetts in Maine. Islands were seized and the main land threatened. The northeastern boundary was an unsettled one, the dispute holding over from the Revolu

Vol. 9-3

tion. It was not finally settled until the Webster-Ashburton treaty of 1842. The war afforded England a good chance to seize some of the disputed country and make good the mistake of her representatives in 1782, when they outlined a boundary with the United States which cut them off from the eastern possessions and made New Brunswick less accessible to Quebec. Late in the autumn of 1814 five thousand men landed on the shores of Chesapeake bay and started for Washington. There was tremendous confusion, mismanagement, stupidity, cowardice, and general incapacity. Six thousand men were gathered to meet and resist the enemy, General Winder being in command. They made their stand at Bladensburg within sight of the capital. Almost at sight of the red-coats, the soldiers turned and ran, taking part in what was facetiously called the Bladensburg races. The British took Washington on August 24, 1814, destroyed the public buildings in revenge for the act against York, and then shortly moved on Baltimore. It was during the defence of this city that Francis Scott Key had the inspiration which resulted in the Star Spangled Banner. The close of the campaign of 1814 showed the condition of the United States deplorable indeed. The capitol had been taken and burned. Many of the public archives had been destroyed. The army was demoralized. The antagonism to the war was increasingly active. Everyone was ready to hear that the envoys already in Europe considering peace had been successful in securing it without dishonor. The war had been a conspicuous failure, so far as the movements of the army were concerned. The war for conquest had become a war for preservation of what we already owned. Fortunate it was for us that the English people, too, were tired of war and were ready for peace with us.

But the war was not without glory, for the navy towards which some eyes had been hopefully directed, startled the world by its achievements and kept up the drooping spirits of those Americans who lost heart because of the disasters on land. Congress had not been generous to the navy. There were more officers than ships for them to command, and more eager sailors and marines than there were ships to hold them. The wonderfully animating spectacle was witnessed of men taking