"meridian they were under full sail, with "an easy and favourable breeze, standing "directly for the Fort, and at 4 p. m. we "opened our battery, which they returned "from two ships and two brigs, as they "approached. The action became general "6 at about 20 minutes past 4, and was "continued without intermission on either "side until 7, when one ship and two brigs 66 66 are disappointed. The continuance of the Property Tax pinchics. But would they have the luxury of war without paying for it? No, no. Pay they must; or they must put up with what they have gotten, and see the Stars and Stripes waving in every sea.-They would have war. War was their cry. They have it, and they must and will PAY for it. LETTER I. TO THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL, were compelled to retire. The leading "ship, supposed to be the Commodore, "mounting twenty-two 22-pounders,having "anchored nearest our battery, was so "much disabled, her cable being cut by our shot, that she drifted on shore, withBotley, Nov. 24, 1814. in six hundred yards of the battery, and MY LORD,-From the report of your "the other vessels having got out of our speech, on the 8th inst. it appears very "reach, we kept such a tremendous fire clearly, that your Lordship is, by the reupon her, that she was set on fire and porter, made to entertain an opinion, that "abandoned by the few of the crew who the DIVISIONS amongst the American "survived. At ten p. m. we had the plea- people are already such, that we may ra"sure of witnessing the explosion of her tionally hope, by a continuation of the war, magazine. The loss of lives must have to produce either a compliance with any "been immense, as no boats left her ex- conditions, or an overthrow of the Union, in cept three, which had previously gone which Union alone consists the strength to her assistance, and one of these and the prospect of future greatness in "I believe was sunk; one of her boats that rising and fast-growing Republic. έσ was burned alongside of her. The The words, as given in the report of your brig that followed her was much da- speech, were these :-" He (the Farl of 66 maged in hull and rigging. The other" Liverpool) had seen much stronger justiέσ two did not approach near enough to be "fications of the conduct of our forces at "so much injured, but I am confident did" Washington, which had been published in "not escape, as a well-directed fire was "America, than any that had been published kept on them the whole time. Ten "even in this country. Not only were they "minutes past p.m. the whole enemy's "not more hostile to us, but the reverse was "fleet are standing to sea."- -I extract" the case. In places even where the Bri these articles from the Times newspaper; "tish arms had been successful the people and yet, in the face of these facts, in defi-"had shewn themselves in our favour, and ance of these red-hot balls, the consum-" had seemed well disposed to put themselves mate ass would make no peace, except at under our protection."-Your Lordship New-York or Philadelphia, they being is not singular in your opinion, if it be first the head-quarters of a Picton or a your opinion. It is the general opinion in Hill! This is as good a lift as this writer this country. How that opinion has been could have given to Mr. Madison, created and kept alive, I will not now and as hard a blow as he could have inquire. The means made use of for this -given to the Noblesse of Massachus- purpose, the "most thinking people" know setts, on whom he and the rest of our nothing of. They have opinions furnished war tribe had built, and do still build, their them by others as regularly as soldiers or hopes of ultimate success.Let him sailors are served with rations. The lower look at the attitude of New-York and of class are, from their poverty, wholly withPhiladelphia. I do not say, that it is im- out the pale of information true or false, possible to get at either of those cities with and appear to know and care as little about bomb-shells or rockets; but am quite the acts of the Government, and the state. satisfied, that it would require a very large of public affairs, as the carth, or any rmy to set foot in either of them, even for other substance, on which they expend the purpose of burning and then quitting their time and their physical force. The them in safety.I will now make an middle class are so incessantly employed in observation or two with regard to public pursuit of the means of keeping themselves Opinion as to the American war. People from the horrors of pauperism, that they 66 great flock of South Down, sheep before a pack of hounds. now? Mr. Cobbett. Why, I say, that you appear to know no more about them than about the people said to be in the moon. Let me look at the paper. [It lay before her on the table.] Mrs. Friend. No: we must tell it you. It is too long for you to sit and read to yourself. have no time for discussion or inquiry, Many persons, in this class of life, have asked me, whether the Americans could Mrs. Friend. The cowardly creatures speak English. Few men in the higher will never dare shew their faces again. ranks of life know any thing worth speak-What can you say for these Americans ing of, with regard to the American Republic, a nation nearly equal in population to Great Britain, and inhabited, as we now feel, by men full as enterprising and as brave as our own soldiers and sailors. Even the writers, who have fanned the flame of this bloody war, appear to know nothing at all about the real state of America; for, though they have no desire to promulgate truth; though it is their trade to deceive and cheat the people, they shew by their statements, that they are ignorant of facts, which, if they knew them, would make them able to deceive with less exposure to detection. This being the case, it is no wonder that the whole nation is in a state of error as to this matter of primary importance. On the day when the news reached the country, relative to the cap-cowards as the Americans! ture of the City of Washington, I happened to call, on my way homewards from Sussex, at the house of a gentleman, who was likely to be as well informed as any other gentleman in the country, as to this or any other political matter. The following was the dialogue, wherein I shall exhibit the gentleman and his good wife under the name of Friend. Mrs. Friend. Well, Mr. Cobbett, we shall soon get rid of the Income Tax [for so it is always called in the country] now. Mr. Cobbett. Shall we, Madam? I am very glad to hear it. It will enable me to get a better horse for my gig.-[She had just been laughing at my scurvy equipage.] -But, why now, Madam? What has happened to excite such a cheering hope? Mrs. Friend. Why, have you not heard the news? Mr. Cobbett. No. Mr. Friend. We have taken the Capital of America. Mrs. Friend. And the cowardly dogs, to the amount of 9,000 men, ran away before 1,500 of our soldiers. Mr. Friend. President and all ran away! Nobody knows where they went to, and the people were ready to submit to us all over the country. Mrs. Friend. Cowardly dogs! Not stand to fight a moment for their Capital. They are a pretty nation to go to war with England! Mr. Friend. They ran away like a Mr. Cobbett. Well; now, mind, I tell you, that, instead of putting an end to the war, this event will tend to prolong it; and, mind, I tell you, that, unless we give up what we contend for, the war will be of many years duration, and will be as expensive and more bloody than the war in Europe has been. Mrs. Friend. WE give up to such Mr. Cobbett. I do not mean to give up either territory or honour. I mean give up the point in dispute; or, rather, our present apparent object. The Americans, like other people, cannot meet disciplined armies, until they have had time to orga. nise and discipline themselves. But, the Americans are not cowards, Madam. Their seamen have proved that; and, what I fear is, that a continuation of the war will make the proof clearer and clearer every day, by land as well as by sea; and, I am now more than ever afraid of a long continuation of the war; because, if such people as you seriously think that we are able to conquer America, I can have no reason to hope that any part of the nation remains undeceived. Mr. Friend. But, do you not think that the States will divide? Mr. Cobbett. Certainly not. Mr. Cobbett. No. And, I should be Mr. Friend. I have no reasons of my own about the matter. We see, in all our papers, that the Americans are a very divided people. They say that they cannot long hold together. Mr. Cobbett And do you really believe what these corrupted vagabonds put into their columos? You believe, then, of course, that the American navy would "be swept from the face of the ocean in a "month" for so they told you. Yet, how different has been the event! No, no : the Americans are not cowards, Madam. 66 66 ral Hislop and his staff, together with several supernumerary officers and men. The following letter of General Hislop to Commodore Bainbridge will best speak for the latter: -" Dear Sir,-I am justly pe- . "netrated with the fullest sense of your 66 very handsome and kind treatment, ever "since the fate of war placed me in your power, and I beg once more to renew to you my sincerest acknowledgments for the same. Your acquiescence with my request in granting me my parole, with "the officers of my staff, added to the ob"ligation I had previously experienced, "claims from me this additional tribute of my thanks. May I now finally flatter myself, that in the further extension of your generous and humane feelings, in "the alleviations of the misfortunes of war, "that you will have the goodness to fulfil "the only wish and request I am now most anxious to see completed, by enlarging on their parole (on the same conditions you have acceded to with respect to myself) all the officers of the Java still on "board your ship-a favour I shall never "cease duly to appreciate by your acquiescence thereto. I have the honour to "subscribe myself, dear Sir, your much obliged and very obedient Servant.” 66 Mrs. Friend. Have you had such heaps of melons this year as you used to have. Such was, as nearly as I can recollect," the dialogue upon this occasion; and, as I am sure, that the war is continued in the hope, on the part of the nation, at least, of deriving success from a breaking up of the Union in America, which I am thoroughly" persuaded we shall not effect, or see take place, I will endeavour to shew, that this my persuasion rests on good grounds; and, if I succeed in this endeavour, I shall not yet abandon the hope, to which my heart clings, of seeing peace speedily restored" between the two countries, upon terms not injurious to the interest or character of either. you In turning back, now, to the reported speech of your Lordship, I perceive, and I perceive it with great regret, that are, by the reporter, made to found your opinion of Americans' disaffection to their Government, and of their attachment to our King, in part, upon the fact of their having treated our officers, prisoners of war, with great liberality and kindness. I noticed this in my last Number. I challenged any one to shew the instance, in which they had ever behaved cruelly to prisoners of war. I cited the memorable case of Mr. (now Sir Charles) Asgyll, and I appealed to their uniform conduct, during the present war, including the instances of Commodores Bainbridge and Perry. But as the conduct of the former, in this respect, has been most basely slandered in some of our public prints, I will be somewhat more particular as to both instances, adding that of Captain Lawrence. " 66 66 66 66 The request was instantly complied with. Men and all were released upon parole.In the case of Commodore Perry, the battle was fought on Lake Erie on the 10th of September, 1813. With vessels, carrying altogether 54 guns, he not only defeated, but captured, the whole of our fleet, six vessels, carrying 65 guns, as he stated in his official report; which report, by-the-bye, fully justifies our Admiralty as to Lake Erie. I take the following paragraph from his report to his Government upon this occasion:" I also beg your in"structions respecting the wounded. I am "satisfied, Sir, that whatever steps I "mighi take governed by humanity would "meet your approbation. Under this imCommodore Bainbridge captured the 66 pression, I have taken upon myself to Java, off St. Salvadore, on the 29th of" promise Captain Barclay, who is very December, 1812. His frigate, the ConHis frigate, the Con- " dangerously wounded, that he shall be stitution, carried 44 guns, and ours 49 "landed as near Lake Ontario as possible, guns, according to the American accounts. " and I had no doubt you would allow me Ours, he says, had upwards of 400 men "to parole him. He is under the impres on board. The Republicans killed 60 and "sion that nothing but leaving this part of wounded 170 of our officers and men, and "the country will save his life. There is had themselves 9 killed and 25 wounded. "also a number of Canadians among the After the battle, at their pressing request," prisoners, many who have families." Commodore Bainbridge paroled them all. Captain Lawrence, in the brig Hornet, The Java had on board Lieutenant Gene-attacked and sunk, in fifteen minutes, our 66 66 brig, the Peacock, killing between 30 and 40 of her men, while the Hornet lost but one man killed and two wounded. Thus says the American report. Ours I have not at hand. Then comes the following letter:- -New York, 27th March, 1813. "SIR-We, the surviving officers of "his Britannic Majesty's late brig Pea"cock, beg leave to return you our grate "ful acknowledgments for the kind atten"tion and hospitality we experienced daring the time we remained on board "the United States sloop Hornet. So "much was done to alleviate the distress❝ing and uncomfortable situation in which we were placed, when received on board "the sloop you command, that we cannot "better express our feelings than by say"ing, We ceased to consider ourselves "prisoners and every thing that friendship could dictate was adopted by you, "and the officers of the Hornet, to remedy "the inconvenience we would otherwise "have experienced from the unavoidable loss of the whole of our property and clothes by "the sudden sinking of the Peacock. Permit "us then, Sir, impressed as we are with a grateful sense of your kindness, for our"selves and the other officers and ship's company, to return you and the officers "of the Hornet our sincere thanks, which shall feel obliged if you will commu"nicate to them in our name; and believe "us to remain, with a high sense of the "kind offices you have rendered us, your "humble servants,-F. A. Wright, 1st "Lieutenant; C. Lambert, 2d Lieutenant; "Edward Lott, Master; J. Whittaker, "Surgeon; F. Donnithrone Unwin, Purser; James Lawrence, Esq. Commander "U. S. sloop Hornet."- -The American papers added, upon this occasion, the following:-"It is a fact worthy of note, and "in the highest degree honourable to our "brave tars, that on the day succeeding "the destruction of his Britannic Ma"jesty's brig Peacock, the crew of the "Hornet made a subscription and supplied "the prisoners (who had lost almost every "thing) with two shirts, a blue jacket and "trowsers each." 66 66 ve 66 Now, my Lord, without going into more particulars, let me ask you, whether you think that this conduct towards our officers was the effect of disaffection towards their own Government, of disapprobation of its conduct, of a hatred of the war, and of "a disposition to put themselves under ← our protection ?" And, if you answer in the negative, as you must, I suppose, why do you think, that the humane treatment of our officers elsewhere indicates such a disposition? Does your Lordship see no possible danger in drawing such an inference? Do you think, that it is wholly out of all belief, that your being reported to have drawn such an inference may render the treatment of our officers, prisoners of war, less humane and kind in future ?— Seeing that a disposition in an American citizen to put himself under the protection of our King is a disposition to commit treason, in the eye of the laws of his country, would it be so very surprising, if, in future, the Americans should be very cautious how they exposed themselves to the merit of such a compliment? I must, ́ however, do your Lordship the justice to observe here, that what the proprietors of our newspapers have published as your speech, might never have been uttered by you. I would fain hope, that they have, in this case, put forth, under your name, the suggestions of their own minds. I, therefore, comment on the thing as theirs and not as yours. In order to shew, that there is no good foundation for the hope, entertained by people here, and so often expressed by our newspapers, of dividing the Republic of Anierica, I must go into a history of the partics, which exist in that Republic; give an account of their origin and progress, and describe their present temper and relative force. The population is divided into two parties; the REPUBLI CANS and the FEDERALISTS. The latter also claim the title of Republicans, but it is, and, I think, we shall find, with justice, denied to them by the former. These two parties have, in fact, existed ever since the close of the Revolutionary war, though their animosities have never appeared to be so great, nor to threaten such serious consequences as since the commencement of the French Revolution, and especially since the first Presidency of Mr. Jefferson, whose exaltation to the Chair was the proof of decided triumph on the part of the Republicans, and plunged their opponents into a state of desperation. The Federalists took their name from the General Government, which, being federative, was called Federal. Some of the people, as well as some of the Member of the Convention, who formed the Constitution, were for the new General Government, and some were against it. Those who were against it, and who were for a He was blamed by both parties. The Federalists, however, took the whole credit to themselves of having formed the Government; and, as General Washington, who had been President of the Convention, and was decidedly for a Federative General overnment, was elected the President under the new Constitution, the Federalists, at once, assumed, that they were the only persons, who had any right or title to have any thing to do with that Government, treating their opponents as persons necessarily hostile to, and, of course, unfit to be entrusted with, the carrying on of the Federal Government. When the first Congress met, under the new Constitution, it was clear, that the Federalists endeavoured to do, by degrees, that which they had not been able to accomplish all at once in the Convention. They proposed to address the President by the title of IIIS SERENE HIGHNESS, and to introduce other forms and trappings of royalty, or, at least, of high aristocracy. Their intention was defeated, to their inexpressible mortification. The people were shocked at these attempts; and, from that moment, the opposite party seem to have gained ground in the confidence of the people, who abhorred the idea of any thing that bore a resemblance of Kingly Government, or that seemed to make the slightest approach towards hereditary or family rule. One wished him to take part with France, the other with England. He did neither, and, upon the whole, he left no party any good reason to complain of him. But when Mr. Adams, who was a native of Massachusetts, where the Federal party was in great force, became President, he certainly did, yielding to the counsels of weak and violent men, push things very nearly to an offensive and defensive alliance with us. The violent and unjust proceedings of the French Government furnished a pretext for raising an army, which was, for some time, kept on foot in time of peace, in the very teeth of the Constitution. A Sedition Bill was passed, with power of sending aliens out of the country; and many other things were done, in the heat of the moment, which Mr. Adams, had he not been surrounded by the Massachusetts Federalists, never would have thought of, being a Republican at heart, and a real friend to the liberties of his country. Mr. Adams's Presidency ended in March, 1801. He was proposed to be re-clected; but he lost his election, and the choice fell upon Mr. Jefferson, who had always been deemed the head of the Republican party. The truth is, that the people were Republicans at heart. Every thing had been tried; threats, alarms, religion, all sorts of schemes; but they took alarm at nothing but the attempts upon their liberty, and they hurled down the party who bad made those attempts. Since that time, the Goverument has been in the hands of the Republicans. Mr. Jefferson was President for eight years, Mr. Madison for four years, and is now going on for the second four years. Your Lordship knows, as well as any man upon earth, how fond people are of place and power; and that no part of any opposition is so bitter and troublesome as that part, which consists of men, whose ambitious hopes have been blasted by their being turned out of place. It now happened, very naturally, but rather oddly, that the When the French Revolution broke out; Federalists became the opposition to the when that great nation declared itself a Federal Government; but they still reRepublic, and went even further than Ame-tained, and do retain, their title; though, rica had gone in the road of democracy, the two parties took their different sides.Heats and animosities were revived. While General Washington remained President, however, he acted with so much caution and moderation, that it was difficult for any one openly to censure him. really, they ought to be called, the Aristocrats, or Royalists. This opposition is now, however, chiefly confined to the State of Massachusetts, the State Government of which has even talked about separating from the Union. Your Lordship has heard of a Mr. Henry, whe |