captain com be his duty to conduct the frigate and the two 1812. vessels in her company to Port-Royal, Jamaica, that Feb. the british commander in chief on the station might Haydetermine upon the validity of M. Borgellat's claim; tian and he gave the captain of the Améthyste five refuses minutes to consider the message. A lieutenant of to acthe Southampton accompanied the lieutenant of pany the Améthyste back to his ship, in order to wait the Southtime; but, before three minutes had elapsed, captain to PortGaspard acquainted the former, that he would rather Royal. sink than comply with the demand: he requested, however, that, if the british captain really meant to enforce his demand, he would fire a gun ahead of the frigate. ampton ampton сар As the boat of the Southampton pulled round her Southstern towards the opposite gangway, the unsuccesful attacks result of the mission was communicated. Off went and the bow gun; and in another instant, then just 6 h. tures 30 m. A. M., the second and remaining guns upon her. the Southampton's broadside followed in rapid succession. The fire was returned; the action proceeded; and, aware of what was the chief arm of her strength, the Améthyste made several efforts to board; but the Southampton, by her superiority in manoeuvring, frustrated every attempt. It had always been an essential point in sir James Yeo's system of discipline, to practise his men at gunnery; and they now gave unequivocal proofs of the proficiency to which they had attained. Before the cannonade had lasted half an hour, the main and mizen masts of the Améthyste had fallen; and her hull soon became riddled from stem to stern. Still the desperate crew continued a feeble and irregular fire. The two consorts of the Améthyste, in the mean time, had made sail, and were running for shelter under the batteries. of Maraguana. At 7 h. 45 m. A. M., desirous to put an end to what now could hardly be called a contest, sir James Yeo hailed to know if the Améthyste, whose colours had long been shot away, had surrendered. Some one on board replied in the affirmative; and 1812. the Southampton ceased her fire. Scarcely had she done so, ere the foremast and bowsprit ofthe Améthyste each went by the board. Loss on A proof of the inexperience of the crew of the side. latter, and of the confusion into which they had been thrown by the smart and destructive fire of their antagonist, may be seen in the Southampton's loss; which, out of a crew of 212 men and boys, amounted to only one seaman killed, and a midshipman and nine seamen and marines wounded. On the other hand, the Améthyste, out of a crew of 700 men, (Frenchmen, Americans, Haytians, a motley group of almost every nation,) had 105 killed and 120 wounded, including among the latter her captain, M. Gaspard. The whole of the surviving crew, except about 20 men, were landed at Maraguana, PetiteGoäve, and Port-au-Prince; and the frigate, under jury-masts, fitted to her while she lay in Port-auPrince, proceeded, in company with the Southampton, to Port-Royal, Jamaica. On a subsequent day the Améthyste was restored to Christophe; and the conduct of sir James Yeo, in all he had done, was approved by his commander in chief. America the France and land. When the belligerents of Europe, opposed to Carrier England, had their commerce swept from the ocean of by the armed ships of the latter; when there was every probability that Buonaparte would soon be Hol- compelled to curb his ambitious temper and restore to Europe the blessings of peace, neutral America stepped forward, and hired herself to be the carrier between the colony and the parent-state. The consequence in a little time was, that, although not a single merchant vessel belonging to France or to Holland crossed the Atlantic or doubled the Cape of Good Hope, the products of the western and the eastern world sold cheaper in their markets than they did in those of England, who sent her ships wheresoever she pleased. Thus relieved, France pushed on the war with vigour, and neutral America prospered by fanning the flames. This moral and religious people A actually grew rich and great, commercially great at 1812. least, out of that which depopulated Europe, which robbed the wife of her husband, and the child of its father. raliz of the trade. Every citizen of every town in the United-States, Demoto which a creek leads that can float a canoe, becomes ing henceforward a "merchant;" and the grower of effects wheat or tobacco sends his son to the counting-house, carrythat he may be initiated in the profitable art of ing falsifying ships' papers and covering belligerent property. Here the young American learns to bolt custom-house oaths by the dozen, and to condemn a lie, only when clumsily told, or when timorously or inadequately applied. After a few years of probation, he is sent on board a vessel as mate or supercargo; and, in due time, besides fabricating fraudulent papers and swearing to their genuineness, he learns (using a homely phrase) to humbug british officers, and to decoy, and make american citizens of, british seamen. The merchant's hope of gain, in these trips to and from the port of one belligerent, resting mainly on a quick passage and a careful avoidance of the cruisers belonging to the other, the american vessel is constructed and fitted in the best manner for sailing; and, having no convoying ship of war to show him the way, the american master becomes, of necessity, a practical navigator of the first order. tries to course Ame When England, at length, began her attempts Engto check this intercourse between her enemy and land neutral America, neutral America grumbled, and, check resorting to new subterfuges, went on. Other restric- intertions followed. Then came loud complaints, mixed bewith threats. Napoléon, next, began to feel the twee effects of England's restrictive system. Her pro- rica clamation, issued on the 16th of May, 1806, declaring France the ports of France from the Elbe to Brest in a state of blockade, provoked the french emperor, on the Buona21st of the succeeding November, to fulminate from Pe Berlin his sweeping decree; declaring the british his islands in a state of blockade; ordering all british decree. letters, subjects, and property to be seized; pro and issues Berlin 1812. hibiting all trade in british produce and manufactures; and pronouncing all neutral vessels, that had touched in England or in any of her colonies, liable to confiscation. British orders in council This was, at once, an extinguisher upon all neutral nations: it was tantamount to a declaration of war against neutral America; but neutral America blamed, not her dear France, but England. There can be no doubt that, in retaliation for such a violation of all public law, England would have been justified in laying waste the french coast with fire and sword; but she contented herself with issuing, on the 7th of January, 1807, an order in council, directing that no vessel should be permitted to trade from one port to another, in the possession of France or her allies. Finding that this order did not produce the expected effect, England, on the 11th of November in the same year, issued another; in which, imitating France in her extravagant tone, she declared all the ports of her enemies, both in Europe and the colonies, in a state Buona of blockade. This was followed by the Milan decree Milan of December 17, 1807; by which every vessel that decree. should have submitted to be searched by an english parte's ca re to war ship, or paid any tax to the english government, was declared to be denationalized, and to have become british property, and therefore lawful prize; and every ship sailing from England or her colonies, or from any country occupied by her troops, was also to be made lawful prize; but, says the arch framer, "these measures shall cease to have any effect, with respect to all nations, who shall have the firmness to compel the english government to respect their flag." Ameri The object of this proviso was too palpable to be solves misunderstood. Accordingly, after a few years to go of growling and snarling; when, owing to the vigour with of the british arms by sea and land, not a colony Eng remained to France or her allies in either hemisphere; when, the neutral trade being extinct, american ships were rotting at their moorings, and the untrodden wharfs of New-York and Philadelphia, land. becoming choked with grass and weeds, America 1812. boldly cast off her neutral disguise, and resolved, in April. the language of the noble race she had displaced, to "take up the hatchet" and go to war. With whom, was the next point to be considered. This, like every thing else in the United States, was to be settled by a calculation of profit and loss. France had numerous allies; England scarcely any. France had no contiguous territory; England had the Canadas ready to be marched into at a moment's notice. France had no commerce; England had richly-laden merchantmen traversing every sea. England, therefore, it was, against whom the deadly blows of America were to be levelled. clares On the 14th of April, at a secret sitting of con- Degress, an act passed, laying an embargo on all ships war. and vessels of the United States, during the space of 90 days; for the purpose, no doubt, of lessening the number of vessels that would be at the mercy of England when war was formally declared. By the end of May most of the fastest sailing ships, brigs, and schooners in the american merchant service were fitted or fitting as privateers; and many lay ready to sail forth, the instant the tocsin of war should be sounded. They had not to wait long. The president's message to congress of the 1st of June was the preparative; and an act of congress, which passed on the 18th, declaring the "actual existence of war between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America," struck the blow. dore gers Although New-York is 240 miles from Wash-Comington, the american seat of government, commodore mo Rodgers received his instructions in sufficient time Rodto get under way from the harbour of the first- sails named city on the morning of the 21st, with the from President and United-States frigates, the latter york. commanded by commodore Stephen Decatur, the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Congress, captain John New |