Whatever motive may have influenced the British government, it is certain, that a very sudden change of tone was produced on their part. The consequence was, that a treaty of peace, between Great Britain and the United States, was signed at Ghent, the 24th December, 1814, by Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams, as commissioners on the part of England; and by John Quincy Adams, J. A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin, as commissioners on the part of the United States; ratified at London the 28th of the same month, and ratified at the city of Washington, on the 17th February, 1815. The terms of the treaty being considered honourable to the country, and satisfactory to the citizens, their ratification was followed by the most general and enthusiastic joy, accompanied by illuminations, &c. &c. in every part of the union. Measures, early as possible, were taken to bring home, and restore to their country and friends, a great number of American prisoners, confined in the depots in England. Among these were many, who, having been impressed, and forced to serve the British government for many years before the war, had, on that occasion, refused to fight against their country and friends; and were, in consequence, treated as prisoners of war, although not taken in time of war, or in arms. An unfortunate event prevented many of the unhappy prisoners from revisiting their country; or sent them to it, with marks of British barbarity, which will remain on them for life. On the 6th April, 1815, Capt. T. G. Shortland, keeper of the prison of Dartmoor, having discovered a small hole in one of the inner walls of the prison, made it a pretext for drawing out the army against the prisoners. The alarm bell, instead of causing the prisoners to retreat to their prisons, induced many of them to press forward to discover the cause: this was certainly more a proof of innocence, than of any premeditated attempt to escape from a place, whence they must have been soon released, without the risk of life. The measures taken, by order of Shortland, previous to the massacre, were calculated to prevent the return of the prisoners who were thus left the more exposed to the fire of the soldiery. While thus embarrassed, they were charged by the soldiery; and while running in great confusion to discover the few doors left open for their escape into the prison, they were fired on by the centinels on the walls. In this manner, 7 were killed, and 60 wounded. A committee of the prisoners investigated this transaction, and gave in their report, all the appearance of a foul and premeditated murder. The British government in order to lessen this stigma on its officers, agreed to have an investigation made by two persons, one to be appointed by the British minister, the other by the American. F. S. Larpent was appointed by the former, and Charles King by the latter. The report of these commissioners certainly softened the apparent culpability of Shortland, but the correctness of the report has been denied by the prisoners, not by any wilful representation of the commissioners, but from a want of sufficient information or inquiry. The subject of Dartmoor is referred to, for the purpose of directing the readers to the peri od of the massacre, but without the intention of entering into a detail, which the present limits will not allow. Although a ratified treaty of peace had been exchanged, at Washington, on the 17th February, yet by its articles, captures made in distant seas were allowed, until certain periods after the date of ratification. The events produced during this time, proved both honourable and advantageous to the Americans. At half past 10, A. M. the 23d March, 1815, Captain Biddle, commanding the United States' sloop Hornet, being off the north end of the island of Tristan d'Acunha, discovered a sail to the southward and eastward. He immediately made sail for her. At 1, 40, P. M. an action commenced. After a well fought engagement, of 22 minutes, the enemy cried for quarters, and was taken possession of by the victorious Ameriean. She proved to be his Britannic majesty's brig Penguin, mounting 16 32-pound carronades, 2 long twelves, a 12-pound carronade on the topgallant forecastle, with swivels on the capstern in the tops: she had a spare port forward, so as to fight both her long guns of a side. The enemy had a complement of 132 men, 12 of whom were supernumerary marines, from the Medway, 74. After the prisoners were removed, and some provisions and stores taken from the Penguin, she was, by order of Captain Biddle, scuttled and sunk, her crippled and riddled state rendering it unadvisable to attempt sending her to the United States. "This ship, (said Captain Biddle, in his official report,) did not receive a single shot in her hull, nor any material wound in her spars; the rigging and sails were very much cut; but having bent a new set of sails, and knotted and secured our rigging, we are now completely ready, in all respects, for any service. We were eight men short of complement, and had nine upon the sick list, the morning of the action." The enemy acknowledged a loss of fourteen killed, and twenty-eight wounded; but Mr. Mayo, who was in charge of the prize, said that the number was certainly greater. Capt. Dickenson, the commander of the Penguin, was killed, and the boatswain, second lieutenaut, purser, and two midshipmen, wounded. Each of the midshipmen lost a leg. The officers of the Penguin relate, that, dur ing the action with the Hornet, a thirty-two pound shot came in at the after-port of the Penguin, on the larboard side-carried away six legs, killed the powder boy of the division, capsised the opposite gun on the starboard side, passed through the port, and sunk in sullen silence to the bottom." The war between the United States and Great Britain, left a favourable opportunity for the pirates of Africa, to prey on the persons and property of the Americans. The Algerines declared war, and fitted out a fleet accordingly. Having given in pages 21 and 22, the list of the American Navy, as it stood at the commencement of the war with Great-Britain, it may be considered interesting to know how the Lilliputian navy stood at the end of the war, which was to blow it out of the water." The following is the naval list of shipping, in April, 1816. Those vessels, whose names are marked (*) are such as remain of the naval force before the war. Those marked (§) are building. Those marked in Italic are such as were captured from the British, during the war. The rest have been built or purchased during the war. Those that are, blank have no armament at present. Constitution* C. Stewart 44 Plattsburgh 44 Superior 36 Constellation* C. Gordon Sacket's Harbor New-Orleans At sea Erie, Penn. Savannah Sacket's Harber New-York J. B. Nicholson Do. G. W.Rodgers Do. Do. Erie, Pena, Prometheus A. S. Wadsworth Boston 7 |