engaged in the wars of the whites. Tecumseh was the beau-ideal of an Indian warrior. Grand in person, gifted with great strength and marvellous penetration, he gave himself up to the acquisition of glory. He cared nothing for wealth; victory was his passion; and his rule was neither to give nor accept quarter. He fell in an engagement not far from Detroit. The Americans did not, for a long time, avail themselves of the services of the Indian tribes, as they deprecated the policy of employing a people whose system of warfare was so utterly barbarous and cruel; but when they found that the neutrality of those people could not in any way be secured, and that there was no choice but to accept their aid, or see them swell the ranks of their foes, they adopted the former alternative.

In

At first, as we have said, the theatre of war was confined to the territories of the English in the west, and of the Americans on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario; and a great deal of damage appears to have been done by each of the contending parties. Mr. Thompson, an American editor, in summing up the losses and gains of the United States in the year 1813, reports the American armies as attaining a high degree of reputation, but to have acquired no advantage that could compensate for the blood and treasure which had been exhausted. the course of the summer, he writes that the American army possessed every position between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, on both sides of the Atlantic. In the winter of the same year, after having gradually lost their possessions on the British side of that stream, they were deprived of those on their own. Whatever satisfaction the American public might derive from the triumphs, in some instances, achieved by their countrymen, the expense and evils of the war were severely felt.

In 1814, preparations were made in England to carry on the American war with more spirit. General Ross was placed in command of the reinforcements; and a strong naval force, under Admiral Cockburn, accompanied him, to lay waste and destroy such towns and districts on the American coast as might be found assailable. The Americans hastily increased their levies to meet this formidable force; but they were unable to prevent the capture of Washington, and the destruction of "the monuments of taste and literature with which the young republic had embellished her chosen seat. The Capitol, the library, the archives, were wantonly destroyed." An attempt was then made on Baltimore, where General Ross fell, mortally wounded. The English, in their turn, had now become the assailants. Sir George Prevost, at the head of a considerable body of soldiers who had gained their experience under Wellington in the Spanish Peninsular war, invaded the New York state, and met the Americans at Plattsburg. He was supported by a fleet, which had entered the harbour just as he had formed his army, consisting of 14,000 men, in two columns, for an assault upon the town. The American squadron in the harbour gave battle to the fleet, and defeated it. Prevost then retreated, leaving behind him large quantities of stores and ammunition.

Encouraged by these successes, the Americans made prodigious efforts to carry on the war. Their expenditure had been very great; their credit was low; their finances disordered; they were in debt: besides, there was a large party anxious for the restoration of peace. Nothing, however, daunted the war spirit of Congress and the president. New loans were made; new taxes raised; and every preparation was taken for prosecuting the war with increased confidence and vigour. It was at this juncture that the legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont, assembled by delegates at Hartford; and after charging the national government with pursuing measures hostile to the interests of New England, proposed certain amendments of the federal constitution. Nothing came of the Hartford convention-as it has ever since been called-as peace was proclaimed before its resolutions could be formally placed before the government.

England, in 1814, sent out a large force, under ham, to attack Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana. eneral Andrew Jackson.

Generals Keane and Paken

Their defence devolved on

Andrew Jackson is one of the American heroes. He was a daring, energetic, and skilful man; and, for many years, had been engaged in Tennessee in subduing the Creek Indians, a warlike tribe, who had risen against the whites at the instance of Tecumseh. His first measure was to capture the city and port of Pensacola, which the Spanish government had permitted the English to occupy. His next step was to place New Orleans in a state of defence. The heterogeneous population of the city, which had but recently, as it were, become part of the territory of the state, was not, of course, very enthusiastic in its desire that the American cause should triumph; but Jackson, by his vigour, compelled all classes of peopleFrenchmen and negroes alike to assist in the common purpose; and having some 6,000 or 7,000 trusty soldiers at his command, he speedily raised batteries. and parapets, in which cotton bales played a conspicuous part, and bade defiance to the British.

In the beginning of December, Admiral Cochrane's squadron arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi, with a considerable body of troops, commanded by Major-General Keane. The first object was to reduce a flotilla of gun-boats on Lake Borgne; which was gallantly performed on the 14th, by Captain Locker and the boats of the squadron. On the 23rd, the first division of troops, amounting to 2,400 men, was landed within six miles of the city; and in the night they were attacked by the Americans; but, after sustaining some loss, maintained their position. On the 25th, Major-General Sir E. Pakenham (an officer of distinguished merit, who had served in the Peninsular war, and was, besides, the brother of the Duke of Wellington) arrived, and took the command. He found the British posted on a piece of flat ground, with the Mississippi on one side, and on the right a thick wood. The enemy was stationed behind an intrenchment, extending from the river on the right, to the wood on the left-a distance of about a thousand yards. This line was strengthened with flank works, and had a canal in front, four feet deep. On the further bank of the Mississippi, the Americans had a battery of twelve guns, which enfiladed the whole of their position. The disposition for the attack by night was formidable; but unexpected difficulties, increased by the falling of the river, occasioned considerable delay to the entrance of the armed boats; and it did not take place till the columns were discernible from the enemy's line at more than 200 yards' distance. The troops on each side were nearly 10,000; and since the breaking out of the war, no engagement had, perhaps, been fought with so much bravery-none, certainly, with so disastrous a result. The loss of the British in killed, wounded, and prisoners, amounted to 2,040, including in the former the commander-in-chief, who fell Thile bravely encouraging his men on the edge of the glacis; and among the wounded, Generals Gibbs and Keane, the former of whom expired on the following day. The loss of the enemy, according to the official account, was almost incredibly small. It certainly did not exceed seventy-one: we have seen it estimated at less. The defence of New Orleans immortalised Andrew Jackson.

General Lambert, on whom the command of the troops now devolved, after holding a consultation with Admiral Cochrane, determined to re-embark his men, and abandon the enterprise. The concluding operation of the war was the capture of Fort Bowyer, on Mobile Point, in the Gulf of Mexico; which, being wholly unable to resist the British force, capitulated on the 11th of February, 1815.

Another gleam of success cheered the British. The President, one of the largest frigates yet sent to sea by the United States, commanded by Captain Decatur, accompanied by the Macedonian armed brig, laden with provisions, sailed from New York during one of those gales in which the blockading squadron was driven out to sea. After a long chase, the Endymion, Captain Hope, came up with the former, when a severe action ensued, in which the President, having crippled her adversary in the rigging, was unable to go a-head. The British frigate Pomona now coming up, the President surrendered, after exchanging a few broadsides.

In the middle of February, news arrived in America that peace had been settled on terms which left matters exactly where they were; and thus we cannot but pronounce the war as wicked as it was futile. The treaty (which was negotiated, on the part of the Americans, by Adams, Bayard, Clay, Russell, and Gallatin; and, on the part of Great Britain, by Lord Gambier, Goulbourn, and Adams) was silent on the grand cause of the war, and primary object of disputethe right of search; but America abandoned her claim for compensation for the captures made under the British orders in council, and omitted any mention of her original pretensions. All conquests on either side were to be restored, Britain retaining her islands on Passamaquoddy Bay-islands which were her's by the treaty of 1783; and the boundaries of the Canadian frontier were defined. Both parties agreed to use their utmost exertions to promote the abolition of the slavetrade. In England, in some quarters, disappointment was manifested in consequence of the peace being concluded just as we were becoming able to put more strength into the contest; but the wise and good, and, indeed, the public in general, felt that it was better to make peace than to make war with the Americans after all, our own flesh and blood. In America, angry discontent had been provoked, in several of the states, by the prolongation of the contest, the malcontents threatening to refuse payment of the taxes, and even contemplating a secession from the federal union. The bearer of the ratification of the treaty was honoured by the Americans with a most joyous welcome, and carried through the principal streets of New York in peaceful triumph. It was a pity that, while the diplomatists were at work, the treaty did not settle, but only postpone questions. It was left to another generation to discuss the boundary of Maine; but a clause was inserted, to which Mr. Cobden was accustomed to refer in defence of his peace doctrines that neither nation should keep an armed ship on those inland seas which lie between their respective territories.

Mr. Ward Beecher, the popular (and deservedly popular) clergyman of New York, bitterly complained of "the meanness" of England in taking advantage of the civil war in America, to assume an angry and threatening attitude towards that country with reference to the affair of the Trent. Had he consulted the records of his own native land, he would have felt that, as an American, he should have been the last to urge such a complaint. Engaged in a war with the colossal power of Napoleon when the American declaration of war reached us, our fleets and armies had enough to do. Peace was to us Peace was to us a matter of vital importance. But, in America, there was a party unceasingly hostile to Great Britain; and that party triumphed, and continued to triumph, till the supreme power of the republic was placed in the unsullied hands of Abraham Lincoln. They retaliated on our orders in council in a very suicidal fashion, by a Non-intercourse Act, laying an embargo on all vessels of the British: and then, thinking that they could, with very little trouble, win Canada from us, and refusing to listen to overtures of peace, they went to war. Americans had made up their minds to show the world what they could do. Undoubtedly, Englishmen underrated their strength and importance. The former had been at peace for thirty years; they had kept up no military establishment; and their navy, comparatively speaking, was small. The pride of England was to be abased; she was to be taught to do honour to the stars and stripes; and, in the trial of strength which ensued, we suffered more from the navy of America, than we had, in the course of long years of hostility, from that of France. Nevertheless, when there was peace in Europe, it was wise in America to retire from the contest with dignity. To have fought England single-handed, not only might, but must have involved an awful sacrifice of blood and treasure. And it was magnanimous on the part of the English ministry, when they had no longer an enemy in Europe, to decline to carry on the war.

Some writers intimate, that so unequal were the Americans to the task which they had undertaken, that had we prolonged the contest, we might have gained

better terms. "So low," writes Mr. Macfarlane, "was the state of public credit, that no loan could be negotiated. A system of taxation was resorted to, which added fuel to the fire. In none of the New England states would war-taxes ever have been paid. Six months of sternness and perseverance on the part of Great Britain, would have taught the Americans a salutary lesson: twelve months' perseverance and energy in carrying out our blockade, and without any more expeditions by land, or any other risks or expenses, the feeble ties which kept the northern and southern states together, would have been snapped like a scorched thread." It can only be said, in reply, that the Americans had won their freedom in spite of our utmost efforts to retain them as colonists; that in the war just concluded we had won no laurels; that America and England, speaking the same tongue, owning a common origin, inspired by the same grand literature, are bound, by the duties they owe to themselves and the world, to remain at peace.

CHAPTER XIV.

AFFAIRS IN INDIA.

THE time has now arrived for us to resume the story of our Indian rule. Sir Arthur Wellesley had come and conquered. But in India, at that time, war was a stern necessity of our existence. Insurrection, defeated in one quarter, was sure to reappear in another. In 1806, the mutiny at Vellore-when the sepoys rose and massacred many English officers and men-took place; and instructions had been sent out to the officers to mix more with the natives, and to adopt a more conciliatory treatment of their troops.

In 1807, Lord Minto was called upon to interfere in the affairs of Travancore. In 1809 we were fighting with the Pindarees. They were brigands in the worst sense of the term, making war in the most rapacious, bloody, and perfidious manner. Murder, torture, and violence distinguished their incursions upon the possessions of the principal communities of Central India. Even the hill fortresses of Rajpootana afforded little protection against their daring attacks. They were accustomed to form themselves into distinct bodies, having separate leaders, but all combining when necessity required. Mounted on fleet horses, they would perform the most extraordinary marches; and have been known to travel 120 miles in ten hours. Dr. Hutchinson, an Anglo-Indian, thus describes the Pindaree :

"The steed paws the ground with a snort and a neigh;
The Pindaree has mounted, and hied him away;

He has braced on his shield and his sword by his side,
And forth he has gone on a foray to ride.

"His turban is twisted and wreathed round his brow;
Its colour is red, as his blood is its glow;
From his shoulder behind him his carbine is slung,
And light o'er his saddle his long spear is hung."

The sequel is not quite so flattering. The poet adds:

"The river is forded, the frontier is passed,

And they reach the lone village by midnight at last.
Would you gather its fate? In the darkness of night
The forests around it are red in its light.

"Its dwellers have fled, in the wild woods to roam;
All roofless and black is the place of their home;
And their daughters, dishonoured, are weeping in vain,
Nor will boast of their pride and their scorning again.'

Another subject settled at this time was that of Dacoitee, or gang-robbery—a crime peculiar, in the systematic manner of its pursuit, to India. It is one of the features of caste, that the trade or profession of the father is followed by the son. The members of some castes cannot depart from the custom of their ancestors without a sacrifice of all family ties, and an apostasy from their religion. Thus the Dacoits of the present day plead prescriptive usage. "I have always followed the trade of my ancestors-Dacoitee. My ancestors held this profession before me, and we train boys in the same manner. In my caste, if there were any persons not robbers, they would be turned out," said an informer, on one occasion: and the same tale has been said a hundred times. The Dacoits are associated with Zemindars, and other persons of social respectability; and in consequence of their numbers, and their connections with the police, the greater part of their robberies are committed with impunity. As their object is simply plunder, they avoid the commission of murder.-Well, to crush this terrible evil Lord Minto made every preparation. The police was in a very inefficient state-corrupt, illpaid, and feeble: instead of its being a protection, it was a curse to the villages. At one time its duties were entirely performed under the surveillance of the Zemindars; but this had ceased to be the case. New plans, comprising a complete reform, were devised. But the magnitude of the evil was so great, that, under Lord Minto, it was found impossible to do all that was desirable. He was obliged to be content with the partial suppression of Dacoitee: and to this hour it is rife in Lower Bengal; and the authorities in vain attempt wholly and effectually to put it down.

The leader of these fierce mounted robbers was, in 1809, the far-famed Ameer Khan, whose exploits formed, for many years, in Upper India, the theme for eulogistic verse. This Ameer Khan, not contented with having seized part of the territories of Holkar, threatened the dominions of our ally, the Rajah of Berar; and Lord Minto began to fear that Ameer would gradually approach the Nizam's territories, and form a scheme with that fickle prince to restore Mahommedanism, and to destroy the British power. In order that this might be frustrated, he proffered British aid to the Rajah of Berar, and Ameer Khan felt himself bound to retire beyond the frontier after a single action.

Lord Minto had also to contend, even in that distant quarter of the globe, with the intrigues of Napoleon, who had never relinquished his design of invading India, and driving out the British. He was obliged to despatch a mission to Persia, to counteract the efforts which the French were making to establish relations with the Shah, inimical to our interests. With the same view he likewise sent an ambassador to Cabul.

In 1809, we find Lord Minto engaged in measures for the capture of the Mauritius, which then went by the name of the Isle of France. From that quarter, in spite of the presence of a powerful naval armament in the Indian Ocean, hostile attacks were being constantly made by armed vessels upon our maritime commerce. "Occasionally" (we quote Wilson's continuation of Mill's History), "they fell victims to their audacity, and were made to feel the superiority of British skill and prowess; but although they swept the seas from Madagascar to Java, and sometimes carried their depredations to the immediate vicinity of the British harbours, they were, for the most part, singularly fortunate in avoiding the track of English frigates and men-of-war. Their principal spoil arose from the capture of the merchant ships employed in the trade of the eastern seas, whose cargoes, often of considerable value, they carried for sale to the ports from whence they had sailed; but they also inflicted serious damage upon the Company's commerce; and, from time to time, valuable Indiamen fell into their hands. In six weeks, the losses by capture, to the port of Calcutta alone, exceeded £300,000. The number of vessels captured from the Company, during eighteen years of the revolutionary war, amounted to thirty, whose united cargoes were valued at nearly a million of money." Lord Minto trusted, by taking possession of those places where the French ships