CHAPTER XXIII. CONTENTS. 66 ter, for 1814, and that our readers may judge Attack on Alexandria. Sir Peter Parker's of the comments for themselves, we give the death. Captain Gordon's terms.-Ingersol extract, taking it, not from Ingersol, but the on Madison and Armstrong.-Demonstration Register itself. against Baltimore. General Smith's deBy the capture of Washington, the spatch.-Opinions of the American writers American Government not only sustained a on the descent on Baltimore.-Plattsburgh. severe loss in property, but incurred much Unfortunately, Mr. Madison's proclama- reproach from the nation, especially from tion given in our last chapter has been in the party adverse to the war, as having vested with an appearance of justice by the been the occasion of a disgrace which it had articles which appeared in the Annual Regis- taken no effectual measures to prevent. A ter, and by other passages, subsequently, in vulnerable part of the Republic was now exMr. Macaulay's works. We confess we can- posed, and men's minds were impressed not regard this affair in the same light, with a sense of imminent danger, where beand can only look on the proclamation as an fore it had been regarded only as a remote attempt by Mr. Madison to cover his own deficiencies. In the first place, he terms an expedition, which he had been warned, two months previously, would be undertaken, a sudden incursion, and then endeavours to prove the ruthlessness of Sir George Cockburn in carrying out his plans, by the assertion that "buildings having no relation to war were destroyed." possibility. On the other hand, it cannot be concealed, that the extent of devastation practised by the victors, brought a heavy in America, but on the continent of Europe. censure upon the British character, not only It is acknowledged, that strict discipline was observed, while the troops were in possession of Washington, and private property was anxiously protected: but the destruction not only of every establishment connected with war, but of edifices consecrated to the purposes of civil government, and affording specimens of the advance of the fine arts among a rising people, was thought an indulgence of animosity more suitable to the times of barbarism, than to an age and nation in which hostility is softened by sentiments of generosity and civilised policy." When General Ross was fired at from the Capitol, did not that act render this building an object for legitimate attack? And, in the destruction of the houses of Representatives, and the Treasury, was a worse act committed than when Colonel Campbell, of the United States army, destroyed the dwelling-house and other buildings of a Canadian, and justified the act, as according to the usages of war, because a troop of British dragoons It will be seen, in this extract, that the had just fled from them? writer distinctly says, not that the attack on Ingersol has made great capital out of an Washington really was an act suited to bararticle which appeared in the Annual Regis-barous ages, but only that it was thought so. Mr. Ingersol, however, has not failed to The enemy were, however, very strongly quote this passage, and even so late as 1848, posted, and after a sharp struggle the British hints at a retaliation, to be accomplished by fell back, in consequence of the death of their the burning of London, and the destruction leader, Sir Peter Parker. It must not be of the capital of the nation that taught Ame- omitted that the retreat of the British seamen rica her vulnerability, by the devastation of did not commence until they had seen their Washington. opponents in full retreat before them. A great deal too has been made of the fact On the 3rd of September the British troops, that Admiral Cochrane made prizes in the under Captain Gordon, began a retrograde Nominy River of a large quantity of tobacco, march from Alexandria, and by the 9th, albesides rescuing from slavery one hundred though many difficulties presented themselves and thirty five slaves, and taking on board a by a combination of skill, diligence, and number of cattle, to relieve his stores already good fortune, the British Commander was overtaxed by the necessity of finding food enabled to withdraw and anchor his whole for so many addditional mouths. squadron in perfect safety. Mr. O'Connor designates all this plundered Ingersol seems determined always to find property; but Mr. O'Connor should have re- some excuse for his countrymen, and, in the collected that he did not term the seizure of present instance, although none was required, the North West Company's goods plunder, he is prepared to assign a reason for the nonbut held the capture as good prize by the defence of Alexandria. In the first place the maritime law of nations. We should wish, Captain commanding was guilty of misconthen, some American casuist to define the duct and was cashiered. Secondly, the Comdifferences between the two cases. mon Council were inimical to Mr. Madison's Attack on Alexandria. Two other expeditions were undertaken administration. Would it not have sufficed almost simultaneously with the attack on for Mr. Ingersol to state that the Sea Horse Washington-one on Alexandria, the other and Euryalus frigates with some other smaller directed against a party of militia assembled vessels lay off the town, and that there could at Waltham farm. be no hesitation on the part of the defenceless The first of these was attended with con- inhabitants, the fighting portion of which siderable success, as twenty did not exceed one hundred militia men, in one merchant vessels, laden chosing between security and total ruin. with sixteen thousand barrels of flour, a American writers have exhausted the vothousand hogsheads of tobacco, besides a cabulary of abuse in finding epithets to launch considerable quantity of cotton and other against Captain Gordon's acts, but to show articles were captured. The town of Alex- how undeserved were their attacks it is but andria and its inhabitants, with all their necessary to transcribe the conditions imposed property remained unmolested, as they had on the citizens of Alexandria. signified their readiness to submit without The town of Alexandria (with the exception of public works) shall not be destroyed, unless hostilities are resistance to the invading party. Sir Peter Parker's death. The second expedition ended more disas-Gordon's terms. trously, and resulted in commenced on the part of the Americans, the death of a very gallant nor shall the inhabitants be molested in any officer, Sir Peter Parker. This officer, while manner whatsoever, or their dwelling houses his ship was at anchor at Moor's fields, re-entered, if the following articles are complied ceived information that two hundred Ameri- with :— can riflemen were encamped behind a wood, about a mile from the beach, and deter- Article 1. All naval and ordnance stores mined if possible to carry the American must be immediately given up. camp by a night attack, and, on the evening Article 2. Possession will be immediately of the 29th August, he made, at the head of taken of all the shipping, and their furniture nearly one hundred and forty men, a most must be sent on board by the owners without gallant attack on the American position. delay. Article 3. Merchandise of every description of the several states, when called into actual must be instantly delivered up, and to prevent service, forces then afoot exceeding one hunany irregularities that might be committed dred and fifty thousand men, drank the bitin its embarkation the merchants have it in ter lees of public disgrace, and suffered many their option to load the vessels generally em- of the pains and penalties inflicted on power ployed for that purpose, when they will be degraded: encompassed by crowds of his towed off by us. countrymen, flying from their desolated Article 4. Refreshments of every descrip- dwellings, many of them in arms, crying aloud for his downfall, begrudging even his wife the sanctuary of a common inn: both the reviled and revilers pursued by resistless tion to be supplied to the ships, and paid for at the market price by bills on the British Govern ment. Article 5, Officers will be appointed to see that these articles are strictly complied with, and any deviation or non-compliance on the part of the inhabitants of Alexandria will render this treaty null and void. foes, bent on the indiscriminate destruction of all alike. The night following came some compensation for such punishment-the last night of Madison's exile, and eve of his restoration to almost universal favor. It was spent in the family of Quaker hosts, stranAmerican historians when descanting on gers to him, and conscientious adversaries of these terms are but too apt to dwell on Arti- all war, who, with primitive hospitality, cle No. 3, but we should recommend to their welcomed friend Madison, entertaining him especial notice also No. 4, paticularly as this and his outcast comrades in misfortune with Article was strictly complied with, and not the kindest and most touching attentions. an article of food was taken on board the Refreshed by sweet repose under the Quaker vessels without full and prompt payment. roof, they returned next day to Washington; Even the Government organs at Baltimore, and on the way were joined by General when indulging in every species of vitupera- Armstrong. After his suggestion to fortify tion did not dare to deny this. and defend the Capitol was, with his own Ingersol is silent on the subject and mere- acquiescence, overruled by General Winder ly contents himself with designating the and Colonel Monroe, the Secretary of War prizes made as spoil, we should however like rode to his lodgings in the city, provided Mr. Ingersol to say what difference existed himself with a change of clothes and one of between the West Indiamen or South Sea Scott's novels, with which he withdrew to a whalers captured at sea by the Americans farm-house in Maryland, where he was found and merchant vessels captured in an enemy's next morning, quietly enjoying his romance. port. Coldly accosted by every one of the PresiIngersol is very bitter on both Mr. Madi- dent's party, except Mr. Madison, whose beson and Gene- haviour was as usual, the war secretary felt Ingersol on Madison and Armstrong. ral Armstrong, the first symptoms of that nearly universal on the one for his poltroonery, and on the aversion which marked his return to Washlatter for his contemptuous indifference of ington, and protested against his continuance what was going on around him. He says, in the war department. Never well liked "Emerging from his hiding-place, and by Madison, who yielded to the political, soon informed of the enemy's precipitate de- local, and critical inducements which took parture, the President likewise turned his General Armstrong, from commanding the steps towards deserted Washington, where garrison and important station of the city of his presence was the signal of universal re- New York, into the cabinet, his contempt cuperation-his own, the capital, and the for all but regular troops, and for party, if country-risen like Antaeus from his fall. not popularity, his military and aristocratic Such are war's vicissitudes and compensa- democracy, supine and sarcastic deportment tions. At Georgetown, at the tavern, in the and conversation, habitual disparagement of apple orchard, and at the hovel in the woods, the wilderness capital, the negligence imthe commander-in-chief of the army and puted to him of its defences, and his opinion navy of the United States, and of the militia frequently expressed, that it was too insig * * * * * * * * A few days after the Washington Expedition, it was determined that a Demonstration against Baltimore. nificant to be in danger, fomenting the de- tary mob he defied, without forfeiting the sire men have of a sacrifice, filled Washing- independence he maintained. Retiring, thereton with his enemies, then fevered to animosity fore, after his interview with the President, by its destruction, and festered to rancorous and by his advice, to Baltimore, on the 3rd hate. Men require victims, and it was na- September, 1814, in the federal journal of tural to make them of Armstrong and Win- that city, he published an indignant resigder, as alone guilty of what all the rest were nation of a place, which, throughout his into blame for, and, which were in fact, infirmi- cumbency, was one of continual quarrels ties of republican institutions. The fall of with the generals he superintended, and of Washington endangered the removal of the their disastrous miscarriages of the camseat of government from a place which both paigns he projected. At his residence on east and west began to disparage. Leading the North River be survived till more than men there, Charles Carroll, of Bellevue, whose eighty years old. Having bravely served in hospitable villa stood on the picturesque the army of the Revolution, been the organ heights of Georgetown; John Mason, with of its almost rebellious complaints by the his elegant residence on Analostan island, Newberg letters which he wrote, appointed on the Potomac, at their feet; John Van to high public trusts at home and abroad by Ness, a large landlord in the heart of the Presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Macity, with many more whose property was dison, he closed his life, by military annals threatened with sudden and ruinous depre- of the war of 1812, remarkable for accurate ciation, intimates and supporters of Madison, narrative, polished diction, and manly tone." to personal, party, and patriotic attachments, joined solicitude for their homesteads, instinctive and irrepressible beyond all reason. The district militia swore that they would break their swords rather than wield them, demonstration should be made against Baltidirected by such a Secretary of War; and more, and that, if there appeared to be any Georgetown sent a deputation to the Presi- reasonable prospect of success, the demondent to tell him so, consisting of three re- stration should become a real expedition. monstrants, one of whom was Hanson, editor the policy of this demonstration was apparent, of the newspaper most abusive of his admin- when we consider that the Java frigate and istration; and another, McKenny, then con- several sloops and smaller vessels of war were triving to promote Munroe's election as lying there, and that an immense quantity Madison's successor. Refusing to receive of naval stores were deposited in the arsenal, such envoys, too wise and just to give way the loss of which could not but inflict a heavy to local clamor, but too mild and forbearing blow on the American Government. to spurn or rebuke it, the President com- Influenced by these considerations Sir promised with what Armstrong stigmatised Alexander Cochrane, Admiral Cockburn, and as a village mob, by advising him to with- General Ross began to make the necessary draw temporarily from its vengeance, if he arrangements, and from the 1st to the 11th did not even intimate a wish that the Secre- all was a scene of busy preparation. On the tary of War would relinquish his official 12th the troops landed at North Point, at superintendence of the District of Columbia, the entrance of the River Patapsco, while the promising shortly to restore him to all his frigates, bomb vessels, and flotilla worked up faculties. General Armstrong could not re- the Patapsco, as well as the shoal water permain, under such disadvantages, a member mitted, in order to co-operate with the army of his administration. The averted counte- by an attack on Fort McHenry, and the other nances of all the President's associates, batteries about two miles from the City. when first met after the defeat, all cold, and The Americans had so long sustained along one of them, Mr. Carroll, insulting, told the the banks of the Chesapeake a series of secretary that he could not stay, even though humiliations, that it would almost appear as his life had not been threatened by the mili- if, in relating the descent on Baltimore, their historians had determined to wipe away the Having laid before the reader this statedisgrace which had been incurred, by making ment of numbers we proceed to the expedithe most of that affair. Accordingly we tion itself, and begin with an extract from find from Ingersol to Smith, not even ex- Col. Brooke's letter, adding to it Sir Alexancepting Armstrong, that the British force der Cochrane's and Admiral Cockburn's was magnified in the same ratio that their despatches, giving in our notes also an extract own was diminished. We must, however, from General Smith's despatch* to the Secredo Armstrong the justice to observe that he tary at War. was the most moderate, and only made the British as six to three. 66 About two miles beyond this point† our advance became engaged; the country was We are fortunately in possession of the here closely wooded, and the enemy's rifleexact number of troops that were landed at men were enabled to conceal themselves.North Point, and we will proceed to examine At this moment, the gallant General Ross how much truth exists in the various Ameri- received a wound in his breast which proved can statements. mortal. He only survived to recommend a "Thus fell, at an early age, one of the The troops which landed under the command of General Ross consisted of detachments of Royal and Marine Artillery, the remnants of the 1st battalions of the 4th, 21st, and brightest ornaments of his profession; one 44th regiments, and the 85th regiment, the 1st and 2nd battalions of Marines from the ships, and a body of six hundred seamen, under Captain Edward Crofton; the whole numbering thirty-two hundred and seventy rank and file. who, whether at the head of a regiment, a brigade, or corps, had alike displayed the talents of command; who was not less beloved in his private than enthusiastically admired in his public character; and whose only fault if it may be deemed so, was an excess of gallantry, enterprise, and devotion lament those who fall in battle, we may "If ever it were permitted to a soldier to indeed, in this instance, claim that melancholy privilege. Here we have the official return of num-to the service. bers, yet American writers, pretending to be historians, have not scrupled to swell the British numbers to eight, nine, and ten thousand. We look in vain in General Smith's dispatch for some clue as to the American numbers. We are, however, luckily, able "Thus it is, that the honour of addressing from various admissions made by the diffe- your Lordship, and the command of this rent writers, to approximate somewhat closely army, have devolved upon me; duties which to the real state of the case. For instance, under any other circumstances, might have we gather from Mr. Thompson that General been embraced as the most enviable gifts of Stricker's brigade, besides several companies fortune; and here I venture to solicit, of Pennsylvania militia, amounted to three through your lordship, his royal Highness. thousand one hundred and eighty-five men. the Prince Regent's consideration to the This was exclusive of the men stationed at the forts and batteries, who mustered one thousand strong, and when we add to these numbers the men stationed along the whole line of breast works, estimated, by the prisoners taken, at four thousand, we find that, instead of being numerically inferior to the British, the Americans more than doubled their sailants, and considerably exceeded eight thousand men.* * Sketches of the War, p. 340. as *Extract from Major-General Smith's Despatch. About the time General Stricker had taken the ground just mentioned, he was joined by stationed on the west side of the city, but was Brigadier-General Winder, who had been now ordered to march with General Douglas's brigade of Virginia militia, and the United States' Dragoons, under Captain Bird, and take post on the left of General Stricker. these movements, the brigades of Generals During Stransbury and Foreman, the seamen and marines under Commodore Rodgers, the Penn †Two miles from North Point. |