of the court of the Empress; and that delay had cost the lives of 8,000 men. Even on the 13th, Soult would not trust the news so far as to give up his preparations for another struggle. Faithful to his Emperor to the last moment, he would not yield till desired to do so by due official notification. Suchet put on the white cockade almost before he was asked. Elsewhere, the news did not spread fast enough; and blood was shed at Barcelona, Bayonne, and other places, before it was known that the Peninsular War was at an end.

The Portuguese and Spanish troops returned home. The British infantry took ship at Bordeaux, some for home, and some for America, where our war with the United States was now going on. The cavalry marched through France, and embarked from Boulogne. Wellington appeared in Paris among the allied Potentates, being appointed ambassador from England. It was a stage on his way home at the close of the struggle on which he had entered, amidst the despair of many of his countrymen, when he landed at Lisbon on the 22nd of April, 1809.

CHAPTER VII.

Relations with the United States-Difficulty about a Government in England-Repeal of the Orders in Council-Declaration of War— First Blow struck-Employment of Indians-British Successes on Land-Losses at Sea-Extensive Blockade-Russian InterventionProposals of Peace-Capture of Washington-Commission at Ghent -Mississippi Expedition-Battle of New Orleans-Retreat of the British-Capture of Fort Mobile-Treaty of Ghent.—[1812–15.] Ir was, as has been observed, no easy task to govern the country, on the death of Mr. Perceval, in May 1812; and it was also found no easy matter to induce any set of men to undertake it, except those who were not judged by the country to be competent. At this time, the Luddites were a sufficiently formidable enemy at home: and the manufacturers were demanding, more and more vehemently, the repeal of the Orders in Council-strong as

was the apprehension that the repeal would come too late to prevent a war with America. Napoleon had hardly yet begun to fail in any of his schemes on the side of Germany, nor Wellington to succeed in the Peninsula. Under such circumstances, there was delay and difficulty in settling the Administration, while our quarrel with America required instant attention, and all the wisdom of the wisest Cabinet, to avert the danger of war. The attention ·was not given; there was no wise Cabinet to manage the affair; and so we went to war with America-plunged into a contest as purposeless, as foolish, as unnecessary, as it was ill-managed, useless, and, merely as war, discreditable to us. During its progress, we find recorded incessant arguings as to what the war was about: whether about the Orders in Council or the Right of Search; and again, what about either: and the war ended without the settlement of any question that had been proposed. It was no great wonder if our arms won no new glory in that war: for what war cry could be devised in such a case? Europe, there was always the true and strong plea to be urged upon every man that the liberties of Europe were in danger from the aggressions of a military despot. In America, there was really nothing to be said to the soldier of any rank, to warm his heart and rouse his spirit. The warfare, naturally, never rose higher than the mere doing as much mischief as possible on both sides.

In

During the former American war, the manufacture of woollens had been set up, on the small scale then suitable to the population, in the United States. After the peace, there had been very large importations from England, and the domestic manufacture had not expanded. It was, in fact, only that making of home-spun fabrics in rural districts which was not, at that time, wholly obsolete in our own country. After the operation of our Orders in Council began to be felt, the inhabitants of the New England States devised means for rendering their country independent of us in regard to the clothing of their navy, and other classes to whom it was not convenient to spin at home. Several companies were formed, in Massachusetts particularly, for the manufacture of woollen cloths; to which the manufacture of cotton was afterwards added.

Since the embargo of 1807 (which was repealed, without perceptible advantage, in 1809), and the interruption of commercial relations with Europe, the manufacture had largely increased, especially in Massachusetts; and at the time of the peace in 1815, we find that twenty-four companies were incorporated in that state alone. The dread of war entertained by the parties concerned in this branch of industry was extreme. They had no belief that any war that could be carried on between England and themselves could throw open the commerce of Europe, and extinguish their manufacture. It was not that that they dreaded; but the interruption of business at home. They did not see why the European powers should not be left to manage their own quarrels, while the United States quietly cultivated their own resources and raised up an inter-state trade; the Southern States exchanging their agricultural products for the manufactures of the north. There was a standing charge against Jefferson of favouring the French, in hatred of England; and the charge was extended to Madison, now President. He was described in the northern newspapers, and even in northern legislatures, as the tool of Napoleon in his designs against England. The war was declared useless, uncalled for, and detrimental to everybody's interests: and it was clear from the beginning that there would be no concert between the general Government and the governments of the New England States about the defence of the coast, the calling out of the militia, and the appropriation of United States' troops. There would be the burden of war-taxes, without any adequate defence to the commercial States. The men would be called away from the mill and the loom; and the factory would be stopped as certainly as the tillage on the farms; and at the same time, the fishermen on the granite shore would not be allowed to put out to sea, nor the small coasters to carry produce from port to port. And so it turned out. townsmen had to pay heavily while their earnings were stopped. The villagers dared hardly go to their fields in the day, or lose themselves in sleep at night, for fear of the prowling and howling Indians, with their tomahawks and scalping knives-the detestable allies of the British.

The

During the next autumn, when the purple seas were lapsing among the amethyst islands, in the bays of Massachusetts, under the most golden atmosphere in the world, the fishermen lay idle among the barberry bushes, seeing their boats laid up on the rocks, and the silvery shoals of fish floating by-because of the interdict to leave the shore on any pretence whatever, lest the British cruizers should profit by the capture of their cargoes. There was little promise of successful warfare where all the citizens deprecated the war. The war was, in fact, supported by the animus of the Southern States, where the war spirit is always kept up by the institution of slavery, and there was no commerce to be put to hazard, no Canada at hand to pour down British soldiery upon undefended districts, and no Indian foes to exercise at once the cunning of men and the ferocity of wild beasts. The successive Presidents were Virginians, and the Southern States had the preponderance in Congress; and war was popular there. In April, a Secret Committee organized preparations for war: and on the 29th of May, while England was aghast at the murder of her Prime Minister, a vote was taken in Congress on the expediency of a war with England, which showed that conflict was inevitable, unless England should immediately repeal the Orders in Council.

In England, however, there was at that time, in fact, no government. Five several attempts to form a government, in consequence of the death of Mr. Perceval, failed, after the loss of precious days in negotiation. Lord Wellesley and Mr. Canning were more than ever the only two strong men. They were asked to join the Perceval Čabinet. As there was to be no change on the Catholic question, and as Lord Castlereagh was to remain Foreign Secretary, this was, of course, impossible. Then, Lord Wellesley and Mr. Canning were requested to form a government. They invited Lords Grenville and Grey, announcing that the two great objects were to be Catholic Emancipation and the vigorous prosecution of the Peninsular War. But Lords Grenville and Grey were pledged against the prosecution of the Peninsular war. The Regent seized on this as a failure, and desired an attempt in another direction. Two more mixed measures were found to be impracticable:

when a fifth negotiation seemed likely to succeed. Lords Grenville and Grey were desired to undertake the business on their own terms; and everybody supposed there was to be a Grenville Ministry, when a difference arose between the two Lords and Lord Moira about the appointment to Household offices. The arrangements were once more broken off. By this time, it was the middle of June. On the 17th, Sheridan was to explain in the House of Commons the affair of the Household appointments; but he was taken ill and stopped. On the 19th, he told his story; but, on the 18th, the American Government had made its 1812

Declaration of War. In the House and in the streets it was whispered, meanwhile, that the Ministry were quite undecided about the Orders in Council, and that their repeal might take place any day. The Duke of Norfolk had been told so by the Regent. On the 16th, Mr. Brougham brought forward his motion for the entire repeal of the Orders; and to the amazement of everybody, the Ministers gave them up, shabbily and awkwardly, but without any attempt at real opposition. The pretence was a French decree which everybody knew to be a forgery. At a meeting at Lord Castlereagh's, when it was urged that the decree was a forgery, Lord Castlereagh's answer was, Ay, but one does not like to own that we are forced to give way to our manufacturers.” Thus was the policy of England managed in 1812.

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The

Under the same management it continued for ten years from this time, without any change in the principal offices of the government. Lord Liverpool now became Prime Minister; and he filled that post for fifteen years. country was now to witness a long pause in that troublesome part of political business the formation of a Cabinet. It was in June, 1812, that Lord Liverpool became Premier; and it was in February, 1827, that he was struck down by fatal illness. Here, then, we take leave of the troublesome subject of Cabinet-making for a long course of years.

As for the Orders in Council, there was still hope among our suffering manufacturers that when the news of the repeal reached America, the project of war might be relinquished: but by that time, men's minds were