duke of Cadore to me at the same time, and by the uniform conduct of the French government since, been reconciled. with the repeal of these Decrees, so far as they concerned the U. States. Had the French Decrees originally afforded an adequate foundation for the British Orders in Council, and been continued after these reports, in full force, and extent, surely, during a period in which above a hundred American vessels and their cargoes have fallen a prey to these Orders, some one solitary instance of capture and confiscation must have happened under those Decrees. That no such instance has happened incontrovertibly proves, either that those Decrees are of themselves harmless, or that they have been repealed; and in either case they can afford no rightful plea or pretext for G. Britain, for these measures of pretended retaliation, whose sole effect is to lay waste the neutral commerce of America. With the remnant of those Decrees, which is still in force, and which consists of municipal regulations, confined in their operation within the proper and undeniable jurisdiction of the States where they are executed, the U. States have no concern; nor do they acknowledge themselves to be under any political obligation, either to examine into the ends proposed to be attained by this surviving portion of the continental system, or to oppose their accomplishment. Whatever may be intended to be done in regard to other nations by this system, cannot be imputed to the U. States, nor are they to be made responsible, while they religiously observe the obligations of their neutrality for the mode in which belligerent nations may choose to exercise their power, for the injury of each other. When, however, these nations exceed the just limits of their power by the invasion of the rights of peaceful states on the ocean which is subject to the common and equal jurisdiction of all nations, the U. States cannot remain indifferent, and by quietly consenting to yield up their share of this jurisdiction, abandon their maritime rights.-France has respected these rights by the discontinuance of her Edicts on the high seas, leaving no part of these Edicts in operation to the injury of the U. States; and of course, no part in which they can be supposed to acquiesce, or against which they can be required to contend. They ask G. Britain, by a like respect 1 for their rights, to exempt them from the operation of her Orders in Council. Should such exemption involve the total practical extinction of these Orders, it will only prove that they were exclusively applied to the commerce of the U. States, and that they had not a single feature of resemblance to the Decrees, against waich they are professed to retaliate. It is with patience and confidence that the United States have expected this exemption, and to which they believed themselves entitled, by all those considerations of right and promise, which I have freely stated to your lordship. With what disappointment, therefore, must they learn that G. Britain, in professing to do away their disaffection, explicitly avows her intention to persevere in her Orders in Council, until some authentic act hereafter to be promulgated by the French government, shall declare the Berlin and Milan Decrees are expressly and unconditionally repealed. To obtain such an act, can the United States interfere? Would such an interference be compatible either with a sense of justice, or with what is due to their own dignity? Can they be expected to falsify their repeated declarations of their satisfaction with the act of the 5th of August, 1810, confirmed by abundant evidence of its subsequent observance, and by now affecting to doubt of the sufficiency of that act, to demand another, which in its form, its mode of publication, and its import, shall accord with the requisitions of G. Britain? And can it be supposed that the French government would listen to such a proposal made under such circumstances, and with such a view? While, therefore, I can perceive no reason, in the report of the French minister, of the 10th of March, to believe that the U. States erroneously assumed the repeal of the French Decrees, to be complete in relation to them; while aware that the condition of which the Orders in Council is now distinctly made to depend, is the total repeal of both the Berlin and Milan Decrees, instead as formerly of the Berlin Decree only; and while I feel that to ask the performance of this condition from others, inconsistent with the honor of the U. States, and to perform it themselves beyond their power; your lordship will permit me frankly to avow that I cannot accompany the communication to my government, of the declaration and Order in Council of the 21st of this month, with any felicitation on the prospect which this measure presents of an accelerated return of amity and mutual confidence between the two states. It is with real pain that I make to your lordship this avowal, and I will seek still to confide in the spirit which your lordship in your note, and in the conversation of this morning, has been pleased to say actuates the councils of his royal highness in relation to America, and still to cherish a hope that the spirit will lead, upon a review of the whole ground, to measures of a nature better calculated to attain this object, and that this object will no longer be made to depend on the conduct of a third power, or contingencies over which the U. States have no controul, but alone upon the rights of the U. States, the justice of G. Britain, and the common interests of both. I have the honor to be, &c. JONATHAN RUSSELL. Previous to the Declaration of War, Gen. Hull, with about two thousand men, was ordered to proceed to Detroit. The army arrived at the head of Lake Erie, about the time war was declared; and several officers, and ladies, with the baggage of the General Officers, proceeded down the Lake for Detroit, in a gun vessel. The British received the news of the war before Gen. Hull, and sent a brig in pursuit of his baggage, which succeeded in capturing the vessel, and carried her into Malden.-The British commander sent the ladies over to Detroit, in a flag of truce, which was the first intelligence they had received of the war. Gen. Hull, after concentrating his forces, at Detroit, crossed over the river to Sandwich, and issued the following singular and extraordinary Proclamation. BY WILLIAM HULL, Brigadier General and Commander of the North Western INHABITANTS OF CANADA! After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the U. States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the insults and indignities of G. Britain have once more left them no alternative but manly resistance, or unconditional submission. The army under my command has invaded your country; the standard of the Union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable unoffending in habitant, it brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make them. I come to protect, not to injure you. Separated by an immense ocean and an extensive wilderness from G. Britain, you have no participation in her councils; no interest in her conduct. You have felt her tyranny; you have seen her injustice. But I do not ask you to avenge the one, or to redress the other. The U. States are sufficiently powerful to afford every security, consistent with their rights and your expectations. 1 tender you the invaluable blessing of civil, political, and religious liberty, and their necessary result, individual and general prosperity; that liberty which gave decision to our councils, and energy to our conduct in a struggle for independence, which conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy period of the revolution-that liberty which has raised us to an elevated rank among the nations of the world; and which afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever fell to the lot of any people. In the name of my country, and the authority of government, I promise you protection to your persons, property, and rights; remain at your homes; pursue your peaceful and customary avocations; raise not your hands against your brethren. Many of your fathers fought for the freedom and independence we now enjoy. Being children therefore of the same family with us, and heirs to the same heritage, the arrival of an army of friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. -You will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression, and restored to the dignified station of freedom. Had I any doubt of eventual success, I might ask your assistance, but I do not. I come prepared for every contingency-I have a forec which will break down all opposition, and that force is but the van-guard of a much greater.-If, contrary to your own interest and the just expectations of my country, you should take part in the approaching contest, you will be considered and treated as enemies, and the horrors and calamities of war will stalk before you. If the barbarous and savage policy of G. Britain be pursued, and the savages are let loo e to murder our citizens and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk-the-first attempt with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the side of an Indian will be taken prisoner-instant death will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice, and humanity, cannot prevent the employment of a force which respects no rights, and knows no wrong, it will be prevented by a severe and relentless system of retaliation. I doubt not your courage and firmness-I will not doubt your attachment to liberty. If you tender your services voluntarily, they will be accepted readily. The U. States offer you peace, liberty, and security. Your choice lies between these and war, slavery and destruction.-Choose then; but choose wisely; and may He who knows the justice of our cause, and who holds in his hand the fate of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible with your rights and interests, your peace and happiness. By the General, A. P. HULL, Captain of the 13th United States' regiment of Infantry, and Aid-de-camp. Head-quarters, Sandwich, July 12, 1812. WILLIAM HULL, On the 10th of July, Colonels Cass and Miller, attemptéd to surprise a British post, 300 strong, at a bridge about five miles from Malden.-They were discovered by the British, and after a slight skirmish, the enemy retreated, leaving eleven men killed and wounded, on the field; our troops returned to head-quarters, at Sandwich, and the British re-posted themselves again, at the bridge. On the 19th and 24th there was considerable skirmishing, with trifling success, on either side-our loss was six men killed and wounded-the British and Indians, lost sixteen killed, and several wounded. Soon after General Hull had crossed from Detroit, into Canada, and had issued his Proclamation, the greater part of the militia of the neighboring country gave themselves |