ciples which it has ever held sacred, to disavow, as justly chargeable to it, any such wanton, cruel, and unjustifiable warfare. Whatever unauthorised irregularities may have been committed by any of its troops, it would have been ready, acting upon these principles of sacred and eternal obligation, to disavow, and, as far as practicable, to repair. But in the plan of desolating warfare which your letter so explicitly makes known, and which is attempted to be excused on a plea so utterly groundless, the president perceives a spirit of deep-rooted hostility, which, without the evidence of such facts, he could not have believed existed, or would have been carried to such an extremity. For the reparation of injuries of whatever nature they may be, not sanctioned by the law of nations, which the military or naval force of either power may have committed against the other, this government will always 'be ready to enter into reciprocal arrangements. It is presumed that your government will neither expect nor propose any which are not reciprocal. Should your government adhere to a system of desolation, so contrary to the views and practice of the United States, so revolting to humanity, and repugnant to the sentiment and usages of the civilized world, whilst it will be seen with the deepest regret, it must and will be met with a determination and constancy becoming a free people, contending in a just cause for their essential rights, and their dearest interests. I have the honour to be, with great consideration, sir, your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) JAMES MONROE. Vice-Admiral sir Alexander Cochrane, commander in chief of H.B. M. ships and vessels, &c. W Vice-Admiral Cochrane to the Secretary of State. His Britannic Majesty's Ship Tonnant, in the Sir, Chesapeake, September 19, 1814. · I had the honour to receive your letter of the 6th instant, in reply to one which I addressed you from the Patuxent. As I have no authority from my government to enter upon any kind of discussion relative to the points contained in your letter, I have only to regret that there does not appear to be any hope that I shall be authorised to recal my general order; which has been further sanctioned by a subsequent request from lieutenant-general sir George Prevost. A copy of your letter will this day be forwarded by me to England, and until I receive instructions from my government the measures which I have adopted must be persisted in; unless remuneration be made to the inhabitants of the Canadas for the injuries they have sustained from the out. rages committed by the troops of the United States. I have the honour to be, &c. ALEX. COCHRANE, Vice-Admiral and Commander in Chief, &c. Honourable James Monroe, Secretary of State. By the President of the United States of America. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas the enemy by a sudden incursion have succeeded in invading the capital of the nation, defended by troops at the moment less numerous than their own, and almost entirely of the militia: during their possession of which, though for a single day only, they wantonly destroyed the public edifices having no relation in their structure to operations of war, nor used at the time for military annoyance; some of these edifices being also costly monuments of taste and of the arts, and others depositories of the public archives, not only precious to the nation as the memorials of its origin and its early transactions, but interesting to all nations, as contributions to the general stock of historical instruction and political science: And whereas advantage has been taken of the loss of a fort, more immediately guarding the neighbouring town of Alexandria, to place the town within the range of a naval force, too long and too much in the habit of abusing its superiority wherever it can be applied, to require, as the alternative of a general conflagration, an undisturbed plunder of private property, which has been executed in a manner peculiarly distressing to the inhabitants, who had inconsiderately cast themselves upon the justice and generosity of the victor. And whereas it now appears, by a direct communication from the British commander on the American station, to be • his avowed purpose to employ the force under his direction “in destroying and laying waste such towns and districts upon the coast as may be assailable;" adding to this declaration the insulting pretext that it is in retaliation for a wanton destruction committed by the United States in Upper Canada, when it is notorious that no destruction has been committed, which, notwithstanding the multiplied outrages previously VOL. IV. [A a] a committed by the enemy, was not unauthorised, and promptly shown to be so; and that the United States have been as constant in their endeavours to reclaim the enemy from such outrages, by the contrast of their own example, as they have been ready to terminate, on reasonable conditions, the war itself: And whereas these proceedings and declared purposes, which exhibit a deliberate disregard of the principles of humanity, and the rules of civilized warfare, and which must give to the existing war a character of extended devastation and barbarism, at the very moment of negociations for peace, invited by the enemy himself, leave no prospect of safety to any thing within the reach of his predatory and incendiary operations, but in a manly and universal determination to chastise and expel the invader: Now, therefore, I, James Madison, president of the United States, do issue this my proclamation, exhorting all the good people thereof, to unite their hearts and hands in giving effect to the ample means possessed for that purpose. I enjoin it on all officers, civil and military, to exert themselves in executing the duties with which they are respectively charged. And, more especially, I require the officers commanding the respective military districts, to be vigilant and alert in providing for the defence thereof; for the more effectual accomplishment of which, they are authorised to call to the defence of exposed and threatened places portions of the militia most convenient thereto, whether they be or be not parts of the quotas detached for the service of the United States under requisitions of the general government. On an occasion which appeals so forcibly to the proud feelings and patriotic devotion of the American people, none will forget what they owe to themselves; what they owe to their country, and the high destinies which await it; what to the glory acquired by their fathers, in establishing the independence which is now to be maintained by their sons, with the augmented strength and resources with which time and Heaven have blessed them. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents. Done at the city of Washington, the first day of Sep tember, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and of the independence of the United States the thirty-ninth. JAMES MADISON. By the President, JAMES MONROE, Secretary of State. AMERICAN AND BRITISH ACCOUNTS OF THE ATTACK UPON BALTIMORE. the Copies of letters from Major-General Samuel Smith, to the act ing Secretary of War, dated Head- Quarters, Baltimore, 15th September, 1814. Sir, I have been so incessantly occupied, that it has been impossible for me to convey to you the information respecting enemy, which it would have been proper for to have received from me. A detailed statement will be forwarded as soon as it can be made out; in the mean time, I have the pleasure to inform you, that the enemy embarked their rearguard about one o'clock; and that their ships, a few excepted, are out of the river; their destination unknown. I have the honour to be, your obedient servant, SAMUEL SMITH, Major-general, commanding. Colonel James Monroe, acting Secretary at War. Head-Quarters, Baltimore, September 19, 1814. Sir, In compliance with the promise contained in my letter of the 15th instant; I have now the honour of stating, that the enemy landed between seven and 8,000 men on Monday the twelfth instant, at North Point, fourteen miles distant from this town. Anticipating this debarkation, general Stricker had been detached on Sunday evening with a portion of his bri. gade on the North Point road. Major Randal, of the Baltimore county militia, having under his command a light corps of riflemen and musketry taken from general Stansbury's brigade, and the Pennsylvania volunteers, was detached to the mouth of Bear Creek, with orders to co-operate with general Stricker, and to check any landing which the enemy might attempt in that quarter. On Monday, brigadier-general Stricker took a good position at the junction of the two roads leading from this place to North Point, having his right flanked by Bear Creek, and his left by a marsh. He here awaited the approach of the enemy, having sent on an advanced corps under the command of major Heath of tho fifth regiment. This advance was met by that of the enemy, and after some skirmishing it returned to the line, the main body of the enemy being at a short distance in the rear of their advance. Between two and three o'clock the enemy's whole force came up and commenced the battle by some discharges of rockets, which were succeeded by the cannon from both sides, and soon after the action became general along the line. General Stricker gallantly maintained his ground against a great superiority of numbers during the space of an hour and twenty minutes, when the regiment on his left (the 51st) giving way, he was under the necessity of retiring to the ground in his rear, where he had stationed one regiment as a reserve. He here formed his brigade; but the enemy pot thinking it advisable to pursue, he, in compliance with previous arrangements, fell back and took post on the left of my entrenchments, and a half mile in advance of them. In this affair the citizen soldiers of Baltimore, with the exception of the 51st regiment, have maintained the reputation they so deservedly acquired at Bladensburg, and their brave and skilful leader has confirmed the confidence which 'We had all so justly placed in him. I take the liberty of referring you to his letter for the more particular mention of the individuals who, new to warfare, have shown the coolness and valour of veterans; and who, by their conduct on this occasion, have given their country and their city an assurance of what may be expected from them when their services are again required. I cannot dismiss the subject without expressing the heart-felt satisfaction I experience in thus bearing testimony to the good conduct of my fellow townsmen. About the time general Stricker had taken the ground just mentioned, he was joined by brigadier-general Winder, who had been stationed on the west side of the city, but was now ordered to march with general Douglass's brigade of Virginia militia, and the United States dragoons under captain Bird, and take post on the left of general Stricker. Dur. ing these movements, the brigades of generals Stansbury and Foreman, the seamen and marines under commodore Rod. gers, the Pennsylvania volunteers under colonels Cobean and Findley; the Baltimore artillery under colonel Harris, and the marine artillery under captain Stiles, manned the trenches and the batteries all prepared to receive the enemy. We remained in this situation during the night. On Tuesday the enemy appeared in front of my entrenchments at the distance of two miles, on the Philadelphia road, from whence he had a full view of our position. He manæuvred during the morning towards our left, as if with the intention of making a circuitous march and coming down on the Harford or York roads. Generals Winder and Stricker were ordered to adapt their movements to those of the enemy, so as to baffle this supposed intention. They ex |