Volume 2 / Part 2 — CHAPTER LVIII.

Last Invasions and Last Battles of the War.

PART I.

GENERAL BROWN TAKES FORT ERIE—DEFEATS GENERAL RIALL ON THE PLAINS OF CHIPPEWA—ADVANCES TO FORT GEORGE—HIS OFFICERS AND ARMY PLUNDER THE INHABITANTS—RETREATS BACK TO CHIPPEWA—BURNS THE VILLAGE OF ST. DAVID'S ON THE WAY.

On the Niagara frontier, the American army commanded by General Brown, and consisting of about 7,000 men, began early in the summer to concentrate at Buffalo, Black Rock, and other points, and on the 3rd of July invaded Canada in two brigades, under the command of Brigadier-Generals Scott and Ripley. They embarked in boats and batteaux, and effected a landing on the Canada side of the river without opposition—one brigade landing about a mile above, and the other brigade a mile below Fort Erie. The fort was under the command of Major Buck, of the 8th Regiment, with about seventy men of his regiment; it had been put in a state of defence by that officer, with a view of causing a temporary check to an invading force, rather than for the purpose of defending it against a regular siege. But Major Buck was so careful of himself and his men as to abandon the fort without firing a shot—an error fatal to the British—for although Fort Erie could not have been held for any length of time against the overwhelming strength of the enemy, still a few hours' defence would have enabled General Riall to concentrate his forces and attack the Americans before they were firmly established on Canadian soil. The able dispositions which General Riall had made of the forces under his command along the Niagara line by the direction of General Drummond, who had anticipated an invasion at that point where it commenced, were such, that the least impediment to the progress of the invaders would have enabled General Riall to have concentrated his troops, and to have fallen upon and dispersed the enemy before they could have time to be prepared for an effectual resistance. As it was, the Americans were permitted to occupy this important post without resistance, and transfer, unmolested, to the Canadian side all the troops they pleased.

On the following day, General Brown advanced with his whole force, of over 4,000 men, down the river to the plains of Chippewa, with the intention of taking possession of the British post at the mouth of the Chippewa or Welland river. General Riall, having collected what forces he could, consisting of five companies of the Royal Scots, a part of the 8th or King's Regiment, a part of the 100th Regiment, and the 2nd Lincoln Militia, amounting in all to about 1,500 men, determined to check him, until further assistance should arrive. A series of manœuvres ensued on both sides, and the most furious battle hitherto occurring during the war, followed, when General Riall, finding himself no longer able to sustain the fight against a force so unequal in universal strength, gave orders to abandon the field—his troops retiring in the rear of the works at Chippewa and destroying the bridge across the river, which they had previously repaired.

The loss on both sides is said to have been nearly equal—amounting to between 400 and 500 on each side.

"The 2nd Lincoln Militia, under Major David Secord, distinguished themselves in this action by feats of genuine bravery and heroism, animated by the example of their gallant leader, which are seldom surpassed even by the most experienced veterans. Their loss was proportionate with that of the regular army.

"Three or four days subsequent to this sanguinary battle on the plains of Chippewa were mostly employed in burying their own dead, and in burning those of the British, after which several ineffectual efforts were made by General Brown to cross the Chippewa river, contemplating an advance on Fort George; but at each of his attempts he was promptly met by picket guards of the British, posted along the margin of the river for that purpose."

General Riall, however, in a few days gave orders that the remnant of his army should retire under the shelter of Fort George and Mississagua until reinforcements could be collected to place him on more equal ground with the enemy; after which General Brown moved his army towards those posts within a mile and a half of the British—his army forming a crescent; his right resting on Niagara river, his left on Lake Ontario.

The American army had no sooner taken up a position in front of Fort George than their foraging parties, or rather marauders, commenced a systematic course of plunder upon the defenceless inhabitants within the vicinity of their camp, most of whom, at the time, consisted of women and children. Even amongst general officers were acts of pillage perpetrated, that, had such occurred with private soldiers in the British army, would have stamped on the character of the British, in the eyes of America, for which no course of conduct which they could ever after have pursued, would have sufficiently atoned.

During the interval in which General Riall was receiving reinforcements from York and other military posts on that side of Lake Ontario, General Brown also received a strong reinforcement under General Izard, after which he made a few ineffectual assaults on Fort George; but, finding all his efforts to carry that fort fruitless, and the British army receiving fresh acquisitions of strength, all seemed to conspire to render the case of General Brown hopeless; who, now perceiving the situation in which he was placed—the forts in his front to him completely impregnable, and an army in his rear in full flow of spirits, and every day gathering new strength (though by no means equal to his as regarded numbers), a Canadian Militia, and unexpectedly to him, fervent beyond a parallel in the cause of their King and country—began now to think of a safe retreat, in pursuance of which, on the morning of the 25th of July, he commenced his retrograde movement; he retreated towards Chippewa, after burning the village of St. David's. Riall pushed on in pursuit, when the Americans halted at Lundy's Lane (called Bridgewater by the Americans), where took place the most stubborn fight of the war—known as the Battle of Lundy's Lane—which may be regarded as terminating the American invasions of Canada, and the last field battle of the war.

We will here give a brief account of this celebrated battle, from Thompson's History of the War of 1812, and the events which followed at Fort Erie, and afterwards we will review the transactions of this battle, together with the true principles of loyalty, the causes and character of the war, and the reciprocal relations between Great Britain, Canada and the United States.

PART II.

BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE—PRELIMINARIES.

"The British army, at the time General Brown commenced his retreat from Fort George and Queenston to Chippewa, was scattered in small cantonments over twenty or thirty miles of country; but like a well-ordered and systematic machine, every part was in a moment simultaneously in motion, to concentrate their united strength at a point where they would be likely to intercept the enemy.

"Detachments of the Royal Scots and 41st Regiments, and a small body of Indians, amounting in all to about 500 men, under the command of Colonel Tucker (supported on the river by a party of seamen and marines under the direction of Captain Dobbs, of the Royal Navy), passed over to the American side of the River Niagara, with a view to disperse or capture a body of the enemy stationed at Lewiston. The object of this movement being accomplished, the troops were again withdrawn at Queenston. The 41st and 100th Regiments, under Colonel Tucker, were sent back to garrison Fort George, Mississagua, and Niagara; General Drummond moving on towards the falls, with a force of about 800 strong, consisting of detachments of the Royal Scots, 89th, and King's, with the light company of the 41st Regiment, to join General Riall's division of the army as soon as it could arrive from the several bivouacs at which it had been stationed.

"As soon as the column of the British army under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison had arrived at the rising ground near the end of Lundy's Lane, on the main road leading from Queenston to Chippewa, the enemy was just taking possession of that position. Without a moment's delay, the troops which had arrived on the ground were formed in line on the north-east side of the height, their left resting on the Queenston road.

"The troops from the Twelve and Twenty Mile Creeks, together with a detachment of the King's Regiment, as they arrived, were formed on each side of Lundy's Lane. This line was supported in front by two twenty-four-pounders [field-guns], which were covered by a small squadron of the 19th Light Dragoons and a detachment of the infantry.

"The battle itself.—The troops of the line being thus disposed, notwithstanding the superior strength of the enemy, in about ten minutes dislodged him from the position he had first taken, at the point of the bayonet.

"The sun was now fast descending towards the western horizon; and detachments of the 1st and 2nd Lincoln Militia continued to arrive from the different outposts they had been occupying, who joined in maintaining the summit of the hill until the whole of General Riall's division should come up.

"General Drummond, after dislodging the enemy from the partial possession he had gained on the hill, again formed his line with as much despatch as existing circumstances would admit, placing his artillery, which consisted of two twenty-pounders, two six-pounders [brass field-pieces], and a rocket party, in front of the centre of his position, near the right side of Lundy's Lane, leading down the hill to the Queenston road, supported by the 2nd battalion of the 89th Regiment, under Colonel Morrison. Scarcely had this arrangement been completed before the position was furiously assailed by General Winfield Scott's brigade at the point of the bayonet; but the enemy was repulsed with great slaughter. A tremendous fire was then commenced on the crest of the British position, by the first brigade of the enemy, stationed near the copse between Lundy's Lane and the Falls of Niagara, and the 9th and 22nd Regiments and Captain Lawson's brigade of artillery, stationed on the Queenston road.

"During this stage of the engagement, the Light Company of Royal Scots arrived on the ground from the Twenty Mile Creek; and a courier was despatched to countermand the route of the 103rd Regiment, and the detachment of the King's and 104th Regiments, who had, in a mistake, taken the road to Queenston from the Beach Woods, and to hasten their movement to the field of action.

"On the brow of the hill, at the east end of Lundy's Lane, for the possession of which the armies hitherto had principally contended, General Drummond had now planted his artillery, as it appeared to form the key to the position. On this quarter, therefore, the enemy for a length of time directed his whole efforts; and notwithstanding the carnage was truly appalling, no visible impression had yet been made. Still on this part of the field did the whirlwind of the conflict rage with awful and destructive fury; columns of the enemy, not unlike the undulating surge of the adjacent cataract, rushed to the charge in close and impetuous succession.

"In this fearful and tremendous stage of the contest, the British forces, both regulars and militia, finding themselves pressed by an overwhelming force, simultaneously closed round the guns, apparently determined to contest their possession with the last drop of British blood on the ground, fully assured of their importance to a favourable termination of the engagement—in short both armies appeared to be roused to a state of desperation for victory.

"The enemy at length succeeded to make a slight turn on the left of the British position; at which period, General Riall, who commanded that division of the army, was severely wounded in the arm, and having passed to the rear for the purpose of having his wound dressed, on his return to resume the command, was intercepted by a column of the enemy and made prisoner of war.

"It was long before this crisis of the engagement that the curtain of night had enveloped the scene; but instead of this circumstance abating the fury of war, which had now completely drenched the field with the blood of the combatants, the rage of battle appeared only to increase as the night advanced. Still did the enemy continue to direct his strongest force against the crest of the British position; but his repeated charges were as often received and repelled by the regular, fencible, and militia forces engaged, with that intrepid gallantry for which the British army was ever characterized. Charges were made in such rapid succession and with such determined vigour that often were the British artillerymen assailed in the very act of springing and charging their guns; and often were the muzzles of the guns of the contending armies hauled up and levelled within a few yards of each other. The havoc of lives on both sides, under such circumstances, may be better conceived than described.

"The battle having raged with almost unprecedented fury for upwards of three hours, both sides appeared for a time mutually to suspend hostilities; during which the British troops were supplied with fresh ammunition, and the enemy employed himself actively in bringing up his reserve columns; after which, the fire was recommenced from the Queenston road, on the left of the British column; however, it was discovered that this was only a diversion to mask the intention of a large body of the enemy's fresh troops, which was actually moving on the right of the British position, to outflank it. General Drummond commenced immediately to draw his strength towards this flank of the army, forming a line in a field of grain, upon which the enemy were seen to advance in slow and silent pace. The British line formed to repel this new attack was directed to kneel sufficiently low to prevent being perceived by the enemy; but scarcely had General Drummond completed this order of arrangement, before the enemy's column made its appearance and advanced within a few yards of the British line, when the signal was made to fire a volley and charge. The effect of that single fire upon the enemy's ranks was awful in the extreme—those of the enemy who were able made a precipitate retreat.

"'The enemy's efforts to carry the hill,' says General Drummond, in his official report, 'were continued until midnight, when he had suffered so severely from the superior steadiness and discipline of his Majesty's troops, that he gave up the contest and retreated with great precipitation to his camp beyond the Chippewa, burning, as he passed the (Street) flour mills at Bridgewater. On the following day he abandoned his camp, threw the greatest part of his baggage, camp equipage, and provisions into the rapids above the falls; and destroying the bridge at Chippewa, he continued his retreat in great disorder towards Fort Erie.

"'The loss sustained by the enemy,' adds General Drummond, 'in this severe action, cannot be estimated at less than 1,500 men, including several prisoners left in our hands. Generals Brown and Scott were among the wounded. His whole force, which was never rated at less than 5,000 men, were all engaged.'

"In General Drummond's report of this action, the total number of killed, wounded, and missing of the British army was 878.

"By the regimental returns of the British army, including those of the militia, both before and after this engagement, the whole British force consisted of 2,800; but before the arrival of the troops under Colonel Scott, of the 103rd Regiment, it did not exceed 1,600.

"Of all the battles (says a writer on this subject) fought in America, the action of Lundy's Lane was unquestionably the best sustained and by far the most sanguinary. The rapid charges and real contest with the bayonet were themselves sufficient to render this engagement conspicuous. Traits of real bravery and heroic devotion were that night displayed by those engaged, which would not suffer in comparison with those exhibited at the storming of St. Sebastian, or the conflict of Quatre Bras.

"Both the belligerent armies have offered their claims for victory in this engagement. Upon what grounds the American general could propose such a claim are best known to himself—General Brown not only abandoned the plans of operations which he had formed previous to the action at Lundy's Lane [of advancing to Queenston, Fort George, and Burlington Heights], but 'retreated in great disorder towards Fort Erie,' where his egress from the territory might be more easy; and in his way destroyed the bridge at Chippewa, in order to retard the advance of the British light troops in his rear."[221]

PART III.

AMERICAN ARMY RETREATS TO FORT ERIE, PURSUED BY GENERAL DRUMMOND, WHO INVESTS THE FORT—UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO STORM IT—SORTIE OF THE WHOLE AMERICAN FORCE, TWICE THAT OF GENERAL DRUMMOND, BUT DEFEATED—RAIN COMPELS THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE—GENERAL BROWN EVACUATES THE FORT AND CROSSES THE RIVER TO THE AMERICAN SIDE, AND THIS ENDS THE THREE YEARS' INVASIONS OF CANADA, WITHOUT ACQUIRING AN INCH OF ITS TERRITORY.

On the American army reaching Fort Erie, they entrenched and strengthened the fortifications of the fort. Thither General Drummond pursued, and immediately invested the fort, although his army was not half the strength of the American army. General Drummond having reconnoitred the enemy's position, determined to storm his entrenchments. On the 13th of August, General Drummond, having completed his batteries, commenced a brisk cannonade on the position of the enemy, which, with few interruptions, was continued for two days with great effect; after which he was determined to carry the fort and outworks by nocturnal assault. In pursuance of this purpose, he formed his troops into three divisions: the first, under Lieutenant-Colonel Fischer, of De Watteville's, consisting of the King's Regiment, the regiment of De Watteville, and flank companies of the 89th and 100th Regiments, directed against the enemy's entrenchments at and near Snake Hill; the second, under Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond, of the 104th Regiment, consisting of the 41st and 104th Regiments, and a body of seamen and marines under the direction of Captain Dobbs, of the Royal Navy, against the fort; and the third, under Colonel Scott, consisting of his own regiment, supported by two companies of the Royals, against the entrenchments adjoining the fort.

About two o'clock on the morning of the 15th, the several divisions of the British army moved towards the enemy's entrenchments; but as soon as the column against Snake Hill had emerged from the woods, it came in contact with an abatis within twelve or fifteen yards of the enemy's entrenchments, defended by a heavy column of infantry, under the command of Major Wood, and the artillery under Captain Towson. This for a time completely checked his advance.

However, it was soon announced by a tremendous fire from the guns in the fort, and from the columns of infantry defending the entrenchments near the shore of the lake, that the other two columns, under Lieutenant-Colonels Scott and Drummond, had commenced an assault upon the enemy's works.

At the first outset of the two last columns, the enemy succeeded in turning the column on the left, under Colonel Scott; but that under Colonel Drummond penetrated the enemy's works and charged through his ranks with such irresistible impetuosity that nothing seemed sufficiently impregnable to arrest its progress. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott in the meantime rallied his column, which had been partially turned on one flank, and the fort was assailed in almost every quarter by the besiegers; an escalade was effected, the enemy driven from the ramparts at the point of the bayonet, and the guns of the fort turned upon the garrison; all of which preludes to victory had actually been gained a few minutes after the first alarm.

The battle raged with a fury seldom equalled. The British troops, in pursuance of an order to that effect, having previously divested their muskets of the flints, every foot of ground was contested at the point of the bayonet, which rendered the carnage more dreadful and appalling.

Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond (brother of General Drummond), during the conflict within the fort, performed extraordinary acts of valour. In the hottest of the battle he presented himself, encouraging his men, both by example and precept. But at the very moment when victory was declaring in favour of the British arms, some ammunition which had been placed under the platform ignited, and a dreadful explosion was the result, by which the greater part of the British forces, which had entered the fort, were literally blown into the air.[222] All exertions of the few British troops who survived the explosion were found ineffectual to maintain their ground, in the panic of the moment, against such an unequal force as the enemy was enabled to bring up against them, and the British forces were compelled to retire.

In this assault the loss of the British was severe. Colonels Scott and Drummond fell, while storming the works, at the head of their respective columns. General Drummond reported the killed, wounded, and missing, officers and men, as 904. The missing were reported at nine officers and 530 men—afterwards ascertained to have been principally killed. The American statement of their own loss made it 84 in killed, wounded, and missing.

A day or two after this assault, General Drummond was reinforced by the arrival of the 6th and 82nd Regiments from Lower Canada; but this reinforcement was barely sufficient to supply recent losses. He deemed it unadvisable to attempt a second storming of the fort against a force twice as numerous as his own; but by continuing the investment, he cut off all communication of the enemy with the surrounding country, cooped him up in the fort, compelled him to draw his provisions and other resources from his own country, and thus rendered his occupation of that fort for the remainder of the campaign of no service to the invaders.

At about the expiration of a month, General Brown, having recovered of his wounds, again resumed command of the army on the Niagara frontier, and brought with him a strong reinforcement, resolving to attempt the destruction of the British batteries in front of Fort Erie. Pursuant to this determination, General Brown, on the 17th of September, at about noon, ordered a sortie of the whole American force, including both regulars and militia, in three divisions, under Generals Porter, Miller, and Ripley; and before the ready and reserved columns of the British could be brought from the camp (about a mile in the rear), the enemy had succeeded in penetrating the batteries, destroying the works with one magazine of ammunition, and spiking the guns. But ere he could effect his retreat, the ready and reserve columns arrived, and immediately commenced a determined attack upon his columns, and after about half an hour's desperate fighting, notwithstanding his great superiority of numbers, he retired before the bayonets of the British line, in great precipitation, under the cover of his works, after losing nearly 600 of his force.

The incessant rains which had fallen that season rendered it impossible for General Drummond to repair his batteries, or, indeed, to keep the field, on account of the exposure and increased sickness of the troops; he therefore, on the 21st of September, raised the siege and retired into winter quarters, in rear of his works at the mouth of the Chippewa.

General Brown affected some inclination to follow on the rear of the British army; yet, notwithstanding all the efforts which could possibly be exercised by a general were called into contribution by General Drummond to bring General Brown into action, it all proved unavailing. The American general, "as soon as the coast was clear," having blown up the works, evacuated Fort Erie, and retreated across the river into his own country.

Thus terminated the campaign of 1814 on the Niagara frontier; and whatever might have been the object of the American Government when they sent that last army to invade Canada, it is certain that nothing was acquired, if we except a fresh proof (if such had been now necessary) of the loyalty of the Canadian people to their Sovereign, and their unshaken zeal to defend their country from the grip of its enemy, at whatever time he might think proper to invade it.[223]

PART IV.

REVIEW.

The author cannot better present a summary review of the true principles of loyalty, the origin, causes, characteristics, and results of the war of 1812-15, together with the conduct of the inhabitants of Canada in respect to it, than in the words of an address which he delivered to the York Pioneers at Queenston, in July, 1875, on the occasion of the anniversary celebration of the battle of Lundy's Lane. The address (which was entirely extemporaneous in the delivery) is here reproduced, as reported in the newspapers at the time:

"CAUSES OF THE WAR DECLARED BY THE UNITED STATES AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN, JUNE 18, 1812—CANADIAN DEFENCE—BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE, FOUGHT JULY 25, 1814.

"Address delivered by the Rev. Dr. Ryerson before the York Pioneers and other Associations assembled on Queenston Heights, near Brock's Monument, met at a pic-nic on Monday, July 26th, 1875, to celebrate the battle of Lundy's Lane.

"The Chairman, Colonel R. Denison, called upon Dr. Ryerson, who was warmly received.

"After a few preliminary observations, he said that he felt it a great privilege to be called on to address a number of those Canadians who had laid the foundation of our country, who had given Canada a name that was honoured throughout the world, and whose hearts beat responsive to those noble principles that made England the glory of all nations, and British institutions the honour of mankind. (Loud applause.) He thought the York Pioneers might well be called the Canadian Pioneers—the pioneers of Canadian industry enterprise, freedom, and civilization. The object of the Society in giving an intelligent intensity to those principles that constituted the loyalty of the people of Canada, in preserving the traditions of the country, and in uniting in one centre the various elements of scattered light which were connected with the earliest rays of its opening history, were works well worthy of the defenders of the liberties of this country. The very foundation of the York Pioneers was a spirit of loyalty. What was that loyalty itself? It was no other than an attachment to the institutions and laws of the land in which we live, and to the history of the nation to which we belong. It was not merely a sentiment of respect of the country to an individual, or even to the Sovereign. If it gathered round the person of the Sovereign, it was because that Sovereign represented the institutions of the people, the overshadowing laws of the people, the real and essential freedom, and the noblest development of the spirit of the people. Loyalty in its true essence and meaning was the principle of respect to our Sovereign, the freedom of our institutions, and the excellencies of our civilization, and it was therefore a feeling worthy to be perpetuated by the people. Shakespeare—that great apostle of human nature—has said:

"'Though loyalty, well held, to fools does make Our faith mere folly; yet he that can endure To follow with allegiance a fallen lord, Does conquer him that did his master conquer.'

"Loyalty is, therefore, faithful to its own principles, whether the personal object of it is in prosperity or adversity.

"'Loyalty is still the same, Whether it win or lose the game; True as the dial to the sun, Though it be not shone upon.'

"Hence, says Lord Clarendon, of a statesman of his time, 'He had no veneration for the Court, but only such loyalty to the King as the law required.' True loyalty is, therefore, fidelity to the Constitution, laws, and institutions of the land, and, of course, to the sovereign power representing them.

"Thus was it with our Loyalist forefathers. There was no class of inhabitants of the old British-American Colonies more decided and earnest than they in claiming the rights of British subjects when invaded; yet when, instead of maintaining the rights of British subjects, it was proposed to renounce the allegiance of British subjects and destroy the unity of the empire, or 'the life of the nation' (as our American neighbours expressed it, in their recent civil war to maintain the unity of their republic), then were our forefathers true to their loyalty, and adhered to the unity of the empire at the sacrifice of property and home, and often of life itself. Of them might be said, what Milton says of Abdiel, amid the revolting hosts:

"'Abdiel, faithful found; Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty he kept.'

"Our United Empire Loyalist forefathers 'kept their loyalty unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,' during seven long years of conflicts and sufferings; and that loyalty, with a courage and enterprise, and under privations and toils unsurpassed in human history, sought a refuge and a home in the wilderness of Canada, felled the forests of our country, and laid the foundation of its institutions, freedom, and prosperity. (Loud applause.)

"Canadian loyalty is the perpetuation of that British national life which has constituted the strength and glory of Great Britain since the morning of the Protestant Reformation, and placed her at the head of the freedom and civilization of mankind. This loyalty maintains the characteristic traditions of the nation—the mysterious links of connection between grandfather and grandson—traditions of strength and glory for a people, and the violations of which are a source of weakness and disorganization. Canadian loyalty, therefore, is not a mere sentiment, or mere affection for the representative or person of the Sovereign; it is a reverence for, and attachment to, the laws, order, institutions and freedom of the country. As Christianity is not a mere attachment to a bishop, or ecclesiastic, or form of church polity, but a deep love of divine truth; so Canadian loyalty is a firm attachment to that British Constitution and those British laws, adopted or enacted by ourselves, which best secure life, liberty, and prosperity, and which prompt us to Christian and patriotic deeds by linking us with all that is grand and noble in the traditions of our national history.

"In the war of 1812 to 1815—one of the last and hardest-fought battles was that of Lundy's Lane, which we meet this day, on this historic ground, to celebrate—both the loyalty and courage of the Canadian people were put to the severest test, and both came out of the fiery ordeal as refined gold. Nothing could be more disgraceful and unprincipled than the Madison (I will not say American) declaration of war against Great Britain, which was at that moment employing her utmost strength and resources in defence of European nations and the liberties of mankind. That scourge of modern Europe—the heartless tyrant, but great soldier, Napoleon—had laid prostrate at his feet all the Governments of Western and Central Europe, England alone excepted. To destroy British power, he issued decrees first at Berlin, in 1806, and afterwards at Milan, excluding all British merchandize from French ports, and prohibiting the use of British commodities throughout France and her dependencies, under severe penalties; searching neutral vessels for British goods, and confiscating them when found, with the vessels carrying them; interdicting all neutral vessels from trading with any British port; declaring all the ports of Great Britain and of her dependencies to be in a state of blockade, though at the very moment the English fleet commanded the seas. These Napoleon decrees violated the laws of nations, and affected the national rights and independence of the United States, as well as of the European nations; and had not President Madison and his war faction been in league with Napoleon, they would have resented it, instead of silently submitting, and thus becoming a party to it. In self-defence and retaliation upon the tyrant Napoleon, Great Britain, in January, 1807, issued Decrees of Council, declaring all French ports in a state of blockade, and declaring all vessels of neutrals liable to seizure which should engage in trade with France; and as the Napoleon decrees had declared all vessels of any nation liable to seizure which had touched at any British port, the English Orders of Council, to counteract this decree, declared, on the other hand, that only such ships as had touched at a British port should be permitted to sail for a port of France. The American President, Madison, being in league with the French usurper against Great Britain, made no remonstrance against the Napoleon decrees of Berlin and Milan, but raised a great outcry against the counter English Orders in Council, and made them a pretext for declaring war against Great Britain. But President Madison not only thus leagued with Napoleon to destroy British commerce, but also to weaken the British army and navy by seducing some 10,000 British sailors and soldiers to desert on board of American vessels, where they were claimed as American citizen sailors.

"England had always claimed the right to search and claim her deserting sailors on board foreign vessels, and that right had never been disputed by the United States, until now, under the teachings of Napoleon. But though there was no occasion for the exercise of such a right in a time of general peace, the exercise of it then was a matter vital to the existence and strength of the British navy; but, under the promptings of Napoleon, President Madison made it not only a subject of loud complaint, but also an additional pretext for war. Yet, to keep up some appearance of fairness, but in secret intrigue with Napoleon, the Madison Administration issued a declaration to open commercial relations with either of the belligerent powers that should first rescind the prohibitory decrees or orders. In May, 1812, Napoleon rescinded the Berlin and Milan decrees so far as concerned the United States, but had the unparalleled meanness to antedate them thirteen months, and even apply them to 1810, dating them April, 1811, in order to play into the hands of his American confederates. Within a month after Napoleon had rescinded the Berlin and Milan decrees—June 23rd, 1812—the British Government cancelled the Orders in Council so far as related to the United States; but five days before that, the 18th of June, President Madison declared war against Britain, and then when, six weeks afterwards, he was duly informed of the cancelling of these Orders in Council, on which he had professed to declare war, he refused to ratify an armistice agreed upon between Sir George Prevost and General Dearborn, until the British and American Governments could confer with a view to prevent any further prosecution of the war. Madison and his faction of British haters and war adventurers naturally supposed, that as Upper Canada consisted of 70,000 inhabitants, and as the British troops were all engaged in the deadly war with France, except guards of regular soldiers in the Canadian garrisons, our country would fall an easy prey to his ambition; Great Britain would be humbled at the feet of Napoleon, and France and the United States would then divide the power and commerce of Europe and America. But British and Canadian loyalty, patriotism, and courage defeated their dark designs against the liberties of mankind. Even the patriotic and intellectual part of the American people denounced this unholy intrigue between their own President and the bloody ursurper of Europe, and this causeless war against Great Britain. The Legislative Assemblies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Maryland condemned the war policy of President Madison, and some of them declared it to be but a party proceeding of the President and his minions to keep themselves in power and subsidize their hungry partizans. Only a small majority of Congress approved the declaration of war. A convention of the great State of New York, held at Albany, September, 1812, consisting of delegates from the several counties of the State, embodied, in elaborate resolutions, the intelligent American sentiment on the subject of the war. That convention declared: 'That, without insisting on the injustice of the present war, taking solely into consideration the time and circumstances of its declaration, the condition of the country, and the state of the public mind, we are constrained to consider and feel it our duty to pronounce it a most rash, unwise and inexpedient measure, the adoption of which ought forever to deprive its authors of the esteem and confidence of an enlightened people; because, as the injuries we have received from France are at least equal in amount to those we have sustained from England, and have been attended with circumstances of still greater insult and aggravation; if war were necessary to vindicate the honour of the country, consistency and impartiality required that both nations should have been included in the declaration; because, if it were deemed expedient to exercise our right of selecting our adversary, prudence and common sense dictated the choice of an enemy from whose hostility we had nothing to dread. A war with France would equally have satisfied our insulted honour, and, at the same time, instead of annihilating, would have revived and extended our commerce; and even the evils of such a contest would have been mitigated by the sublime consolation, that by our efforts we were contributing to arrest the progress of despotism in Europe, and effectually serving the great interests of freedom and humanity throughout the world.' 'That we contemplate with abhorrence, even the probability of an alliance with the present Emperor of France, every action of whose life has demonstrated, that the attainment, by any means, of universal empire, and the consequent extinction of every vestige of freedom, are the sole objects of his incessant, unbounded and remorseless ambition.' 'Whereas the late revocation of the British Orders in Council has removed the great and ostensible cause of the present war, and prepared the way for an immediate accommodation of all existing differences, inasmuch as, by the confession of the present Secretary of State, satisfactory and honourable arrangements might easily be made, by which the abuse resulting from the impressment of our seamen might, in future, be effectually prevented.'

"Such were the sentiments of the most intelligent and patriotic American citizens in regard to the war of 1812-15; they had no more sympathy with the Madison-Napoleon war than with the recent Fenian invasion of our shores. And when the war was declared, our fathers knew their duty, and knew the worthlessness of the pompous proclamations and promises of President Madison's generals and agents. The blood of our United Empire Loyalist forefathers warmed again in their own bosoms, and pulsated in the hearts of their sons and grandsons, and in the hearts of hundreds of others who had adopted Canada, under the flag of British law and liberty, as their home. Our Legislative Assembly—specially called together by General Brock, on the declaration of war—struck the keynote for Canadian loyalty, sacrifice and action, in a calm, expository and earnest address to the people of Upper Canada, and truly represented the already roused spirit of the country. Some of the words of that noble address are as follows:

"'This war, on the part of the United States, includes an alliance with the French usurper, whose dreadful policy has destroyed all that is great and grand, venerable and holy, on the continent of Europe. The government of this bloody tyrant penetrates into everything—it crushes individuals as well as nations, fetters thoughts as well as motives, and delights in destroying forever all that is fair and just in opinion and sentiment. It is evidently this tyrant who now directs the rulers of America, and they show themselves worthy disciples of such a master.'

"After noting the juncture selected for declaring war, the address proceeds: 'It is certainly not the least wonderful among the occurrences of this astonishing age, that we should find a nation descended from Englishmen, connected still by the same language and laws, by consanguinity and many similar habits, not merely eulogizing the implacable enemy of their parent state, but joining him in the war; while pretending to nourish the purest principles of liberty, bowing the knee before the foe of all just and rational freedom, and supplicating his acceptance of tribute and adulation.' After sketching the origin and sustained loyalty of the first inhabitants of the country, the Assembly said: 'Already have we the joy to remark, that the spirit of loyalty has burst forth in all its ancient splendour. The militia in all parts of the Province have volunteered their services with acclamation, and displayed a degree of energy worthy of the British name. When men are called upon to defend everything they hold precious, their wives and children, their friends and possessions, they ought to be inspired with the noblest resolutions, and they will not be easily frightened by menaces, or conquered by force. And beholding, as we do, the flame of patriotism burning from end to end of the Canadas, we cannot but entertain the most pleasing anticipations. Our enemies have indeed said, that they can subdue this country by a proclamation; but it is our part to prove that they are sadly mistaken.' 'If the real foundations of true liberty, and consequently of solid happiness, consist in being amenable only to such laws as we or our representatives ordain, then are we in possession of that liberty and that happiness, for this principle was fully recognized in our excellent constitution.' 'It is not necessary for us to examine the causes alleged by our enemies for this unjust and unnatural war, because an address from the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, the most respectable in the Union, proves in the most satisfactory manner, that it is wanton and unprovoked, and is the climax of the various outrages previously committed against Great Britain. In this statement they have been joined by the minority in Congress, whose expositions of the secret reasons of the war, and the falsehood of those alleged by the President and his friends, is unanswerable, and must hand down the promoters of this diabolical measure to the execration of posterity.' 'Your representatives finished their labours with placing in the hands of His Honour the President (Sir Isaac Brock), all the public money they could collect, in order to contribute as much as possible to the extraordinary expenses which the war renders necessary, and they have the fullest confidence that it will be most faithfully applied. Having thus endeavoured, to the best of their abilities, to provide for the welfare and safety of the Province, your representatives take the liberty of reminding you that the best laws are useless without the zealous co-operation of the people. Unless you are prepared to endure the greatest privations and to make the severest sacrifices, all that your representatives have done will be of no avail. Be ready, then, at all times to rally round the Royal Standard, and let those who are not called into the service assist the families of those who are called into the field.' 'Remember, when you go forth to the combat, that you fight not for yourselves alone, but for the whole world. You are defeating the most formidable conspiracy against the civilization of man that ever was contrived; a conspiracy threatening a greater barbarism and misery than followed the downfall of the Roman Empire—that now you have an opportunity of proving your attachment to the parent State which contends for the relief of the oppressed nations—the last pillar of true liberty, and the last refuge of oppressed humanity.'

"Such were the views and spirit with which the 70,000 people of Upper Canada, and their score of parliamentary representatives, engaged in the unequal struggle against myriads of invaders—relying simply upon their principles, their duty, and their God; and, in three months after the declaration of war, they had, with the aid of a few hundred regular soldiers and noble officers, driven back three invading armies, capturing Hull and the territory of Michigan, driving the invaders commanded by General Van Rensellaer down Queenston Heights, taking hundreds of prisoners, driving 'proclamation' General Smyth, with his 8,000, from the Canadian side of the Niagara river, near Fort Erie, so that he had to run away and retire from the army to escape popular indignation and disgrace. It is not for me to dwell upon the incidents and progress of the war; raids were made into our country, many battles were fought, and much property destroyed and much suffering inflicted; but those raids were severely retaliated, and at the end of three years not a foot of Canadian territory was in possession of the invader, while the key of the North-west, Fort Mackinaw, was in the hands of the British.

"Of all the battles fought during the war, the most sanguinary and obstinate was that of Lundy's Lane—the battle, the anniversary of which we are this day assembled to commemorate—the battle fought the last few months of the war, the 25th of July, 1814. It was the most formidable and final effort of the American General Brown to get permanent footing in Canada. The smallest number of American soldiers engaged in the battle, according to General Brown's report, was upwards of 5,000; and the largest number of British soldiers and Canadian militia engaged, according to the British General Drummond's report, was 2,800, although the greater part of the battle was fought with a force not exceeding 1,600. I shall not attempt to describe the order, or narrate the incidents of the battle; I will only say, that the high ground, near the east end of Lundy's Lane, was the centre of interest, and the position contended for by both parties in deadly strife for several hours. In no battle during the war did the Americans fight with such heroism and obstinacy; and in no battle was the courage, steadiness and perseverance of the British soldiers and Canadian volunteers put to so severe a test. The enemy was drawn up in order of battle within 600 yards of the coveted eminence, when General Drummond arrived on the ground, and he had barely time to plant his artillery on the brow of the hill, when the enemy concentrated all his power and efforts to obtain the key of the battle-field. An eye-witness says: 'Columns of the enemy, not unlike the surge of the adjacent cataract, rushed to the charge in close and impetuous succession.' The curtain of night soon enveloped the scene, now drenched with blood; but the darkness seemed to intensify the fury of the combatants, and the rage of the battle increased as the night advanced. An eye-witness truly observes, that 'nothing could have been more awful than this midnight contest. The desperate charges of the enemy were succeeded by a dead silence, interrupted only by the groans of the dying, and the dull sounds of the stupendous Falls of Niagara, while the adverse lines were now and then dimly discerned through the moonlight, by the dismal gleam of their arms. These anxious pauses were succeeded by a blaze of musketry along the lines, and by a repetition of the most desperate charges from the enemy, which the British received with the most unshaken firmness.' General Drummond, in his official report of the battle, says:—'In so determined a manner were these attacks directed against our guns, that our artillerymen were bayoneted by the enemy in the act of loading, and the muzzles of the enemy's guns were advanced within a few yards of ours. The darkness of the night, during this extraordinary conflict, occasioned several uncommon incidents; our troops having, for a moment, been pushed back, some of our guns remained for a few minutes in the enemy's hands; they were, however, not only quickly recovered, but the two pieces, a six-pounder and a five-and-a-half-inch howitzer, which the enemy had brought up, were captured by us, together with several tumbrils. About nine o'clock (the action having commenced at six) there was a short intermission of firing, during which it appears the enemy was employed in bringing up the whole of his remaining force; and he shortly afterwards renewed the attack with fresh troops, but was everywhere repelled with equal gallantry and success. The enemy's efforts to carry the hill were continued until about midnight, when he had suffered so severely from the superior steadiness and discipline of his Majesty's troops, that he gave up the contest, and retreated with great precipitation to his camp beyond the Chippewa. On the following day he abandoned his camp, threw the greatest part of his baggage, camp equipage and provisions into the Rapids; and having set fire to Street's Mills, and destroyed the bridge at Chippewa, he continued his retreat in great disorder towards Fort Erie.'

"In this bloody battle, the Canadian militia fought side by side with the regular soldiers; and General Drummond said, 'the bravery of the militia on this occasion could not have been excelled by the most resolute veterans.'

"Such was the loyalty of our grandfathers and fathers, and such their self-devotion and courage in the darkest hour of our country's dangers and sufferings, and though few in number in comparison of their invaders, they had

"'Hearts resolved and hands prepared The blessings they enjoyed to guard.'

"There was doubtless as much true courage among the descendants of Great Britain and Ireland in the United States as in Canada; but the former fought for the oppressor of Europe, the latter fought for the freedom of Europe; the former fought to prostrate Great Britain in her death struggle for the liberties of mankind, and to build up the United States upon her ruin, the latter fought in the glorious cause of the mother country, and to maintain our own unity with her; the former fought for the conquest of Canada, the latter fought in her defence; the fire that kindled the military ardour of the former was the blown-up embers of old enmities against Great Britain, the gross misrepresentations of President Madison, the ambition of adventure, and the lust of booty—the fire that burned in the hearts of the latter, and animated them to deeds of death or freedom, was the sacred love of hearth and home, the patriotic love of liberty, and that hallowed principle of loyalty to truth, and law, and liberty combined, which have constituted the life, and development, and traditions, and strength, and unity, and glory of British institutions, and of the British nation, from the resurrection morn of the Protestant Reformation to the present day. A great writer has truly observed: 'The most inviolable attachment to the laws of our country is everywhere acknowledged a capital virtue;' and that virtue has been nobly illustrated in the history of our United Empire Loyalist forefathers, and of their descendants in Canada, and it grows with the growth and increases with the strength of our country.

"I have said that loyalty, like Christianity itself, is an attachment to principles and duties emanating from them, irrespective of rulers or teachers; but if the qualities of our chief rulers were necessary to give intensity to Canadian loyalty, those qualities we have in the highest degree in our Sovereign and in her representative in Canada; for never was a British Sovereign more worthy of our highest respect and warmest affection than our glorious Queen Victoria—(loud cheers)—and never was a British Sovereign more nobly represented in Canada than by the patriotic, the learned, and the eloquent Lord Dufferin. (Loud cheers.) And at no period were we more free or prosperous than now. The feelings of his (the speaker's) heart went far beyond anything that his tongue could express, and the language of his heart that day was, might loyalty ever be the characteristic trait of the people of Canada, might freedom ever be our possession, and might we ever have cause and heart to say 'God save the Queen!'" (Loud cheering.)

Note by the Author.—The Administration of President Madison, and his Declaration of War against Great Britain, are dark spots in the brilliant history of the United States of America, and the American narratives of the war are rather fiction than history—compiled largely from letters of officers and soldiers, who, in writing to their friends, sought to magnify their own heroism, even when suffering disgraceful defeats, and sometimes claiming victory when they were driven from the field. The usual tales on these occasions were that the Canadian forces were vastly superior in numbers and equipments, when it was known that the American armies were ten to one in numbers to those of Canada, and their invading forces were declared, by themselves, to be irresistible in strength and equipments.

The American account of the battle of Lundy's Lane is an example, and is repeated with exaggerations in the latest and most popular history of the war, namely, Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, page 1084. Lossing says:

"The number of troops engaged in the battle of Niagara Falls was little over 7,000, the British having about 4,500, and the Americans a little less than 2,600." (p. 824.)

The very reverse of this was the fact, as quoted in the foregoing extract from the official report of General Drummond. When the American invading army consisted of 10,000 men, it is absurd to suppose that all but 2,600 would remain on the American side of the river, and the American historian states that every available soldier on the British side of the river was engaged in the battle.

Lossing likewise claims the battle for the Americans "because they drove the enemy from the field and captured his cannon" (p. 824). It is not true that the British were driven from the field at all; they were once pushed back for a few minutes, and their cannon were for a few moments in the hands of the Americans, who, however, were forthwith driven back, the cannon retaken, with two pieces left by the Americans. And how could there possibly be any American victory, when Lossing himself admits that the American army retired from the field during the night to Chippewa (p. 823), with the intention of returning next morning to bring off the cannon and other booty. Is it the characteristic of a victorious army to leave the conquered field and retire two miles from it? Lossing also admits that the Americans did not return to the battle-field next morning, but burnt the bridge which separated the British army from them, and retreated up the Niagara river. Is this the conduct of a conquering army, to flee from the enemy whom he pretends to have conquered? Mr. Lossing's admissions of details contradict the pretence of American victory at Lundy's Lane, and prove American defeat.

It is by such fictions of victories where there were defeats, interspersed with fictitious incidents of individual heroism, that American vanity is fed, and American children taught in the schools what is purely apocryphal for history in regard to Great Britain and Canada.

But it is gratifying to observe a greatly improved feeling in the educated American mind towards Great Britain, and even the causes of the American Revolution, which were magnified in the American Declaration of Independence, and which have been exaggerated in every possible way in American histories and Fourth of July orations, are very much modified in the productions of well-instructed and candid American writers and public speakers. We observe on a late occasion in England, at the Wesleyan Conference, Bishop Simpson, the Massillon of American pulpit orators, said, "The triumph of America was England's triumph. Their object was the same, and they were engaged in the same work. There were more Englishmen who would go to America, than Americans who would come to England (laughter), and while they in England had the wealth, the power, and the elements of usefulness, they were bound to use it in the interests of religion."

On the same occasion, the Rev. Dr. Curry, editor of the New York Christian Advocate, the most widely circulated religious paper in America, uttered the following noble sentiments:

"He was proud," he said, "of England (as the Fatherland of his), and, as he had now gone up and down through that island, and had witnessed its signs of substantial wealth, and of social order, he felt that both the public institutions of the Government and the private virtues of the people were of the most valuable. He did not wonder that Englishmen were warmly attached to their own country, and he would say that were he not an American he should wish to be an Englishman. He rejoiced, too, that there now exists the most cordial good feeling between the two countries, and trusted that this would never be interrupted. They had very many interests in common, and should stand together in support of them."

On the last Fourth of July, the Rev. Dr. Newman, pastor of President Grant, who has finished a tour of the world, having been appointed to examine and report upon all the American Consulships of the globe, delivered a remarkable discourse on the progress of the nation, and also of the enlightened ideas and liberal institutions in Europe. In an allusion to the American Revolution, Dr. Newman says:

"Our forefathers were not slaves; they were English subjects—English freemen, and we misrepresent them and the struggle through which they fought, if we look upon them as bound with manacles. They had an appreciation of what belonged to an English subject. And because the mother country refused representation where she imposed taxation, therefore those forefathers arose in their English manhood, protested against the abuse of governmental power, and asserted that where there is taxation, there should be representation; and had Patrick Henry been admitted into the British Parliament to represent her American colonies, the United States of America to-day would have been the grandest portion of the empire of Great Britain."

In the same discourse the orator said:

"Behold England of to-day, in her rule at home, as well as in her policy towards her colonies, pressing upon her colonial possessions practical independence. She demands that they shall be so far free as to legislate for themselves, and pay their own expenses. England is now gathering together her representatives from Africa, and proposes under her benign sway to form a republican government for long-despised and down-trodden Africa. Whatever may be said of the Old East India Company under British protection, let me say, from personal observation, that from the eternal snows of the Himalayas to the spicy groves of Ceylon, India of to-day has a wise and paternal government given her by Christian England."

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