History of the American Privateers, and Letters-of-marque during our war with England in the years 1812, '13 and '14 ... Illustrated

Front matter

BATTLE between the CONSTIT UTI ON, and. the G U E R R I E R E on the 19 -Oy „f August 1812 . AWeing&rtner's Lithtf-N-Y HISTORY or THE AMERICAN PRIVATEERS, AND LETTERS-OF-MARQUE, DURING OUR WAR WITH ENGLAND IN THE YEARS 1811, '1? AND *14. INTERSPERSE!. WITH SEVERAL NAVAL BATTLES BETWEEN AMERICAN AND BRITISH SHIPS-OF-WAR. B*** GEORGE COGGESHALL, AUTHOR OF " VOYAGES lo VARIOUS PARTS OF TOE WORLD." IN ONE VOLUME, ILLUSTRATED. NEW YOEK: PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE AUTHOR. C. T. EVANS, AGENT. 321 BROADWAY 1856. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by GEORGE COGGESHALL, In the Clerk's office of the District Court ot tne United States, for the Southern District of New York. EDWARD 0. JENKINS, PRINTER AND STEREOTYl'EK, •At, Frankfort St., N.Y. Iff i\t §raijt %mx'mu WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY IN PRIVATEERS AND LETTERS-OF-MARQUE IN THE WAR WITH ENGLAND, IN THE YEARS 1812, '13, AND '14.

THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PEEFACE. Although far advanced on the voyage of life, and sensible of the magnitude of the work he has un dertaken, yet the author of this volume felt that his duty was unperformed while the History of the Amer ican Privateers and Letters-of-Marque remained un written. High places in the temple of fame have been justly awarded to very many, who, in the national employment, have achieved exploits not more brilliant, displayed courage not more daring, seamanship not more mas terly, coolness in danger not more remarkable than abound in the records of the private armed service. But the brave and patriotic men who adorned that service, instead of being awarded a proud niche in that temple, have encountered neglect, and even obloquy.

No testimonials of national gratitude have rewarded their blood-bought victories, and their invaluable ser vices in crippling the resources of the common enemy. But their motives have been assailed, and cupidity and a desire for booty imputed to them as the impulses which led to their bold achievements. It has been the object of the author to vindicate their characters, as well as to record their triumphs. If (5.

Preface

. VI he fails to prove that their purposes were elevated and patriotic, and that they were most efficient in weaken ing the arm of our powerful and inveterate adversary, he has failed to do justice to his theme, and to the truth of history. He could have wished that the subject had fallen into abler hands ; but he can, at least, bring to it fidelity of statement, and knowledge derived from his personal intimacy and frequent communication, both at home and abroad, with many of the commanders of Privateers and Letters-of-Marque, during the war, and since. He has been aided much in his collection of facts by information received from the Captains and Officers of the United States Navy, especially from Commodores Hull and Stewart, as well as from other intelligent gentlemen who bore an active part in the great conflict be tween the two nations.

He has also found in many of the newspapers and other periodicals of 1812, 1813, and 1814, valuable official and statistical documents, especially in the excellent and accurate Register of Mr. Mies, published at Baltimore. Many of the facts re corded in these pages will also be found verified b}r Cooper's History of the United States Navy. The author, himself, commanded, during the war, two Letters-of-Marque, the Schooners "David Porter" and " Leo," and at this late day, recollects almost all the im portant incidents of the war as distinctly as though they had occurred within the last two years. It has been the author's aim to give the name of every Privateer and Letter-of-Marque which sailed from

PREFACE.

. VII our ports during the war, and he believes that he has done so, though a few may have been employed of which he finds no record. He has also endeavored to give the names of the com manders of each vessel, but probably has not succeeded in every instance, as the Captains were sometimes changed during cruises, or were killed in action, and succeeded by others, and in many instances promoted to other vessels. Many prizes were destroyed at sea, and many a gallant " brush" with an enemy of superior force occurred, of which no official record was made ; but which, had it been in the national service, would have entitled those who conducted it to promotion and fame. The author has also endeavored, in his introduction, to show the justice of the war on our part, and to prove that it was waged purely in obedience to the great law of nations, as well as nature — self-de fence.

England had virtually warred on our commerce for six or eight years, without our being able to obtain redress. Negotiation and remonstrance were finally ex hausted, and we were compelled to resort to war as the last alternative of civilized nations. The reader will pardon the assurance that whatever other deficiencies may be found in this volume, there has been no lack of a sincere intention to adhere to the strictest truth in its statements, and rather to incur the charge of scanty than exaggerated description of the ex ploits of our private armed service. CO_N"TE3SrTS FAOK Dedication lij Preface, y Message or the President x v Report of Committee on Foreign Relations xxiv Proclamation of War by the President xxxix Mr. Adams Opinion of the War xl Restoration of Seamen taken from the Chesapeake xlii Introduction xliii

Chapter I

.•reparation for war — dispatch pilot boat to oottenburg — COMMENCE with SMALL PRIVATEERS - SEVERAL PRIVATEERS SAIL FROM NEW YORK — PRIVATEERS FITTING OUT FROM THE EASTERN STATES — TABLE OF PRIVATEERS BELONGING TO NEW YORK AN EMBARGO BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT — TABLE OF PRI- VATEERS BELONGING TO BALTIMORE — PRIVATEERS FROM RHODE ISLAND AND SOUTH CAROLINA — CONSTITUTION, CAPTAIN HULL, OFF NEW YORK — CONSTITUTION CHASED BY A BRITISH FLEET— CHASE CONTINUED FOR THREE DAYS — THREE SHIPS SAIL FROM LISBON, VIZ., AMERICA, ELIZA GRAC1E, AND ORONOKO — TWO OF THEM CAPTURED — CAPTAIN HULL ARRIVES AT BOSTON — HIS KIND RECEPTION AT THAT PLACE — REFITS FOR ANOTHER CRUISE — SAILS FROM BOSTON ON THE 2nD OF AUGUST — CRUISE OFF THE COAST OF NOVA SCOTIA — JOURNAL OF HIS CRUISE — ANXIETY OF THE PEOPLB OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE FATE OF THE CONSTITUTION — CAPTAIN HULL MEETS WITH THE GUETIRIERE ON THE 19TH OF AUGUST — DEFEAT OF THE GUERRIERE — REMARKS ON THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE TWO SHIPS — CAPTAIN HULL RETURNS TO BOSTON — HIS RECEPTION AT THAT PLACE X CONTENTS.

Chapter II. List Of Frigates Fit For Sea

— FIRST BRITISH SHIP CAPTURED AND SENT INTO NORFOLK CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT SCHOONER WHITING COMBAT BETWEEN THE LETTER-OF-MARQUE-SCHOONER FALCON AND THE BRITISH CUTTER HERO — SIXTY-FIVE PRIVATEERS AND LETTERS-OF-MARQUE AT SEA ON THE 16TH OF JULY, 1812 — FOUR PRIVATEERS LEAVE THE CAPES OF THE DELAWARE ON THE 20TH OF JULY — PRIZES ARRIVING ALMOST DALLY IN THE ATLANTIC PORTS — SUCCESSFUL CRUISE OF THE PRIVA- TEER-SCHOONER FAME, OF SALEM — CAPTURE OF A BRITISH TRANSPORT BRIG, SENT INTO GLOUCESTER — ESCAPE OF THE PRIVATEER SLOOP POLLY FROM THE ENGLISH SLOOP-OF- WAR INDIAN — CAPTURE OF THE SHIP MARGARET BY THE PRIVATEER TEAZER — EXTRACT FROM A LONDON NEWSPAPER — BRITISH BRIG LEONIDAS SENT INTO SAVANNAH BY THE MARS — CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH SHIP S. CLARK BY THE GLOBE, SENT INTO NORFOLK — PRIVATEER JOHN RETURNS TO SALEM, AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CRUISE— COMMODORE BAP.NEY ARRIVES AT NEWPORT IN THE ROSSIE, ON THE 30TH OF AUGUST, AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CRUISE — A SEVERE FIGHT BETWEEN THE PRIVATEER SHADOW AND BRITISH SHIP MARY — BRITISH SHIP QUEBEC CAPTURED BY THE SARATOGA — CHASE OF THE PRIVATEER JACK'S FAVORITE BY HIS MAJESTY'S SCHOONER SUBTLE, AND THE LOSS OF THE LATTER.. . 35

Chapter III. Battle Between The United States Frigate United States And The

BRITISH FRIGATE MACEDONIAN — REMARKS ON ADMIRAL WARREN'S BLOCKADING THE AMERICAN PORTS BRITISH SHIP JOHN CAPTURED BY THE COMET — A VALUABLE BRITISH SHIP SENT INTO PORT LAND BT THE DECATUR — EXTRACT FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF THE ATLAS, CAPTAIN MAF- FET, AND HIS ACCOUNT OF AN ACTION WITH TWO BRITISH SHIPS, WHICH HE CAPTURES — BETWEEN APRIL AND AUGUST, 1812, TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX AMERICAN MER- CHANT VESSELS ARRIVE AT NEW YORK — ON THE 18TH OF JUNE, THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK PRESENT CAPTAIN ISAAC HULL WITH THE FREEDOM OF THEIR CITY IN A GOLD BOX — COMMODORE BARNEY RETURNS TO BALTIMORE, ON THE 10TH OF NOVEMBER, FROM A SECOND SUCCESSFUL CRUISE — EXTRACT FROM HIS LOG-BOOK ON THAT CRUISE — A GALLANT, BUT UNSUCCESSFUL CONFLICT BETWEEN THE PRIVATEER NONSUCH AND AN ENGLISH SHIP, OFF MARTINIQUE — A MEMORIAL FROM THE MERCHANTS OF NEW YORK TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES — BRITISH SHIP JOHN HAMILTON SENT INTO BALTIMORE BY THE DOLPHIN PRIVATEER — A BRITISH SHIP OF 22 GUNS DRIVEN ON SHORE NEAR DEMARARA, BY THE GENERAL ARMSTRONG BRITISH SHIP QUEEN, 16 GUNS AND 10 MEN, CAPTURED BY THE GENERAL ARMSTRONG, ETC 72

Chapter IV. Desperate Battle Between The Privateer General Armstrong

CAPTAIN CHAMP- LIN. AND A BRITISH FRIGATE — A CRUISE IN THE PRIVATEER BRIO YANKEE — BRIO ANN, A PRIZE TO THE SNAP-DRAGON — SEVERAL PRIZES BY THE SAUCY JACK. OF CHARLESTON — HOW PRIVATEERS MANAGE TO TAKE MERCHANT VESSELS OUT OF A CONTENTS. XI FLEET — A COUP-DE-MAIN — EXPLOSION OF A PRIVATEER — PRIVATEER WASP CAPTURED, AFTER A RUNNING FIGHT OF NINE HOURS — A VALUABLE PRIZE BY THE PRIVATEER SNAP-DRAGON— BRAVE DEFENCE OF THE SCHOONER LOTTERY— A GALLANT ACTION BY THE PRIVATEER DOLPHIN, CAPTAIN STAFFORD, OFF CAPE ST. VINCENT, WITH AN ENGLISH SHIP AND A BRIG — HE CAPTURES THEM BOTH — PATRIOTISM OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE — INTERESTING CRUISE OF THE FAMOUS CAPTAIN BOYLE, ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL AND AMONG THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS 105

Chapter V. Captain Shaler's Escape In The Privateer Governor Tompkins From

A BRITISH FRIGATE — THE PRIVATEERS YANKEE AND BLOCKADE SAIL FROM NEWPORT ON THE 1ST OF JUNE, 1813 — BRITISH POLICY OF TAKING NEW ORLEANS — SCHOONER FLYING- FISH TAKEN BY THE SAUCY JACK — BRITISH SHIP INDUSTRY SENT INTOBERGEN, NORWAY, BY THE TRUE-BLOODED YANKEE — BRITISH SHIP LONDON PACKET CAPTURED BY THE ARGUS AND SENT INTO BOSTON — BRITISH PACKET MORGIANNA, CAPTURED BY BOARDING, BY TnE SARATOGA — FIFTEEN BRITISH VESSELS CAPTURED OFF JAMAICA, BY THE LOVELY CORDELIA, OF CHARLESTON— THE YANKEE PRIVATEER RETURNS TO RHODE ISLAND AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CRUISE — TABLE OF PRIVATEERS BELONGING TO SALEM — CAPTAIN STAF- FORD'S FAMOUS DEFENCE OF THE PRIVATEER DOLPHIN — ARRIVAL OF THE PRIVATEER GRAMPUS AT NEW YORK — NARROW ESCAPE OF THIS VESSEL, WHILE CRUISING AMONG THE CANARY ISLANDS — EULOGY ON CAPTAIN JOHN MURPHY — DESPERATE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE PRIVATEER GLOBE, CAPTAIN RICHARD MOON, WITH TWO ENGLISH BRIGS, OFF MADEIRA — BRITISH SHIP NEREID CAPTURED OFF MADEIRA BY THE GOVERNOR TOMPKINS — INTERESTING CRUISE OF THE FAMOUS CAPTAIN BOYLE IN THE SCHOONER COMET 140

Chapter VI. Desperate Battle

FOUGHT BETWEEN THE AMERICAN PRIVATEER-SCHOONER DECATUR, OF CHARLESTON, CAPTAIN DIRON, AND HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S SCHOONER DOMINICA, ON THE 5TH AUGUST, 1813 — SAFE ARRIVAL OF THE DECATUR AND HER PRIZE AT CHARLESTON — REMARKS ON THE BATTLE — THE DECATUR STARTS ON A FRESH CRUISE FROM CHAR- LESTON, ON THE 26TH NOVEMBER • — VOYAGE TO FRANCE IN LETTER-OF-MARQUE SCHOONER, DAVID PORTER, GEORGE COGGESHALL, COMMANDER — LOADS AT PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND — SAILS FROM NEWPORT — CHASED OFF CHARLESTON — ARRIVES AT THAT PORT — SAILS FROM CHARLESTON FOR FRANCE — LOSS OF FIRST PRIZE — TERRIBLE GALE IN THE BAY OF BISCAY — THE SCHOONER THROWN ON HER BEAM-ENDS — ARRIVES AT LA TESTE — SHORT CRUISE IN THE BAY OF BISCAY — MAKES SEVERAL CAPTURES — ARRIVES AT L'lLE DIEU — REMARKS ON THAT ISLAND — DIFFICULTIES AT BORDEAUX — HURRIES AWAY FROM LA TESTE — VISIT TOLA ROCHELLE— BRIG IDA'S ESCAPE FROM LA ROCHELLE ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH SHIP MARY BY THE RATTLESNAKE — VISIT TO BORDEAUX AND PARIS 1 ' - CONTENTS.

Chapter VII. Cruises Of The Scourge And Rattlesnake

— THEY TAKE NUMEROUS PRIZES — FRI- GATE PRESIDENT, COMMODORE RODGERS, CRUISING OFF THE NORTH CAPE — DRONTHEIM, IN NORWAY — THE RATTLESNAKE ARRIVES AT LA ROCHELLE THE SAUCY JACK CAP- TURES THE SHIP PELHAM, AND TAKES HER TO CHARLESTON — THE GRAND TURK CAPTURES THE INDIAN LASS, AND SENDS HER TO SALEM — CRUISE OF THE PRIVATEER PERRY, OF BALTIMORE — DESPERATE BATTLE BETWEEN THE NEUFCHATEL PRIVATEER AND THE BOATS OF A BRITISH MAN-OF-WAR OFF NANTUCKET — THE PRIVATEER HARPY, OF BALTIMORE, CAPTURES THE BRITISH PACKET PRINCESS ELIZABETH — THE PRIVATEER SABINE, OF BALTIMORE, CAPTURES THE BRITISH SHIP COUNTESS OF HABCOURT — CAPTURE OF THE NEW FREDERICK BY THE PRIVATEER KEMP — NARROW ESCAPE OF THE PRIVATEER FOX FROM A BRITISH SHIP-OF-WAR — THE PRIVATEER CAROLINE, OF BALTIMORE, CAPTURES THE BRITISH BRIG ELIZABETH, AND SENDS HER TO CHARLESTON — CAPTURE OF A SCHOONER BY THE KEMP OF BALTIMORE THE SCHOONER'S ARRIVAL AT CAPE FRANCOIS 219

Chapter VIII

A SHORT CRUISE IN THE LETTER-OF-MARQUE-SCHOONER LEO, GEORGE COGGESHALL, COM- MANDER, FROM L'ORIENT TO CHARLESTON, AND HER CAPTURE IN THE YEARS 1814 AND 1815 — PREPARE AND FIT OUT THE LEO AT l' ORIENT — DISARMED BY ORDER OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT SAIL FROM L'ORIENT PROCEED TO THE ENGLISH CHANNEL CAPTURE SEVERAL PRIZES — COMPELLED TO LEAVE THE CHANNEL AND STEER TO THE SOUTHWARD, ON ACCOUNT OF BEING BADLY ARMED, AND VERY DEFICIENT IN SAILS AND RIGGING — ARRIVE OFF LISBON — DISMASTED WHILE IN CHASE OF A BRITISH PACKET — TAKEN EY THE GRANICUS FRIGATE, AND TOWED ROUND TO GIBRALTAR — PROCEED IN THE GRANICUS TO TETUAN BAY, MOROCCO — RETURN TO GIBRALTAR — REFUSAL OF THE GOVERNOR OF THAT PLACE TO PAROLE CAPTAIN AND OFFICERS — EX- AMINATION AT THE ADMIRALTY OFFICE — ESCAPE FROM THE GARRISON — GO ON BOARD A NORWEGIAN GALLIOT — HUBBUB AND CONFUSION IN GIBRALTAR TO FIND THE CAP- TAIN OF THE LEO — TAKE PASSAGE TO ALGECIRAS WITH A GANG OF SMUGGLERS — RE- SIDE WITH THE FAMILY OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE GANG AIDED AND PROTECTED BY THE AMERICAN CONSUL, HORATIO SPRAGUE, ESQ. — LEAVE ALGECIRAS, IN DISGUISE, FOR CADIZ — REMARKS ON THAT REGION OF COUNTRY — ARRIVE AT CADIZ — KIND RE- CEPTION AT THAT PLACE BT HIS OLD FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN — RESIDENCE AT CADIZ — THEATRES AND BULL-FIGHTS — SAIL FROM CADIZ FOR LISBON IN A PORTU- GUESE vessel 253

Chapter IX. The Privateer York, Of Baltimore

RETURNS TO THAT PLACE AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CRUISE ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL, AND AMONG THE ISLANDS IN THE WEST INDIES — THE PRIVATEER PORTSMOUTH CAPTURES THE SHIP JAMES, OF LONDON — THE JAMES AH- CONTENTS. XIII RIVES AT PORTSMOUTH, N. H.— REMARKS ON PRIVATEERS IN NOVEMBER, 1814— A GREAT MEETING OF MERCHANTS OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND. ON THE 9TH OF SEP TEMBER, TO PETITION THEIR GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT THEM AGAINST AMERICAN PRIVATEERS — THE TRUE-BLOODED YANKEE, PRIVATEER, SAILS FROM EREST, ON THE 24TH OF NOVEMBER, 1814, ON A CRUISE IN THE BRITISH CHANNEL— ANECDOTE TO SHOW THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES— ANECDOTE ABOUT AN AMERICAN AND A BRITISH OFFICER — CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH SHIP ANN DOROTHEA, SENT INTO BOSTON BY THE SARATOGA — CAPTURE OF THE BRIG HIRAM BY THE DAVID PORTER, OF BOSTON — ARRIVAL OF THE GRAND TURK AT SALEM, AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CRUISE — SEVERE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SAUCY JACK AND TWO BRITISH LETTER-OF-MARQUE SHIPS, OFF ST. DOMINGO — HARD FIGHT, AND CAPTURE OF SEVERAL BRITISH MERCHANTMEN, BT THE KEMP, PRIVATEER OF BALTIMORE — CAPTURE OF THE EAST INDIA SHIP GENERAL WILLOUGHBY BY THE YANKEE, ORDERED FOR CHARLESTON — CRUISE OF THE PRI VATEER HARPY — HER CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH SHIP GARLAND — CAPTURE OF THE ENGLISH EAST INDIA SHIP STAR, BY THE SURPRISE 293

Chapter X. Desperate Battle Between The United States Ship Hornet, Captain Biddle

AND THE BRITISH SLOOP-OF-WAR PENGUIN — REMARKS ON THE BATTLE — CAPTURE OF THE BRIG LADY TROWBRIDGE BY THE PRIVATEER INO, OF BOSTON — LOSS OF THE INO OFF CHARLESTON BAR — CAPTURE OF THE SHIP MARY AND SUSAN, BY THE CHASSEUR — CAP- TURE OF THE SHIP ADVENTURE BY THE SAME VESSEL — SENT INTO CHARLESTON — EXTRACT FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF THE PRIVATEER MC. DONOUGH — INTERESTING CRUISE OF THE PRIVATEER YOUNG WASP — CAPTURE OF THE BRITISH SHIP ARABELLA, OF CALCUTTA, BY THE SHIP RAMBLER OF BOSTON — CAPTURE OF THE PACKET-SHIP ELIZABETH, AFTER A SHORT BATTLE, BY THE LETTER-OF-MARQUE JACOB JONES, OF BOSTON — CAP- TURE. OF THE TRIVATEER HYDER-ALI, IN THE EAST INDIES, BY THE BRITISH FRIGATE OWEN GLENDOWER — CAPTAIN BOYLE'S CRUISE IN THE BRITISH CHANNEL, IN THE PRIVATEER CHASSEUR — A LIST OF PRIZES MADE BY CAPTAIN BOYLE — CAPTAIN BOYLE'S BURLESQUE BLOCKADE — CAPTURE OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S SCHOONER ST. LAWRENCE, BY CAPTAIN BOYLE, IN THE CHASSEUR — ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN BOYLE AT BALTIMORE IN THE PRIVATEER CHASSEUR, AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CRUISE IN THE WEST INDIES — THE AUTHOR'S ADMIRATION OF CAPTAIN BOYLE AND HIS GALLANT EX- PLOITS 331

Chapter XI. Captain Reid's Cruise

— ARRIVAL AT FAYAL — ACCOUNT OF HIS GALLANT DEFENCE — COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE AJIERICAN CONSUL AT FAYAL TO TOE SECRETARY OF STATE AT WASHINGTON — CAPTAIN REID'S ARRIVAL AT SAVANNAH — HIS RECEPTION AT THAT PLACE — PUBLIC DINNER GIVEN HIM AT RICHMOND, VA. — TOASTS, ETC. — CONTINUATION OF PRIZES AFTER THE CONCLUSION OF PEACE— ESCAPE OF THE PHI- CONTENTS. VATEER-BRIG WARRIOR FROM A BRITISH FRIGATE AND A " SEVENTY-FOUR' ' — SHE ARRIVES AT NEW YORK — BRIG TAGCS, FROM SMYRNA, CAPTURED BY THE LETTER-OF MARQUE BRUTUS, OF BOSTON — BRITISH PACKET WINDSOR CASTLE, FROM FALMOUTH, ENG LAND, FOR HALIFAX, CAPTURED BY THE ROGER AND SENT INTO NORFOLK — TRANSPORT SHIP MOSELY, CAPTURED BY THE LETTER-OF-MARQUE RAMBLER, AND SENT TO BOSTON — BRITISH BRIG BOURWAN, FROM PENANG, WITH A VALUABLE CARGO, CAPTURED BY THE JACOB JONES, AND SENT TO BOSTON — EXTRACT FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE PRIVATEER MC DONOUGH, AT MORLAIX, FRANCE — PRIVATEERS PREPARING FOR SEA, WHEN THE news of peace arrives in the dnited states 370 Concluding Remakes, &c 394 Treaty of Peace 401 Appendix _ 415 Tni)ex ..\\\'...\". ."_..' .'_".'...'.'..

MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER EXTRA. 4 o'clock p.m., June 18, 1812. The injunction of secrecy was about an hour ago removed from the following message, report or manifesto, and act. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States : I communicate to Congress certain documents, being a continuation of those heretofore laid before them, on the subject of our affairs with Great Britain. Without going back beyond the renewal in 1803, of the war in which Great Britain is engaged, and omitting unrepaired wrongs of inferior magnitude, the conduct of her government presents a series of acts hostile to the United States as an independent and neutral nation. British cruisers have been in the continued practice of violating the American flag on the great high way of nations, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under it ; not in the exercise of a belligerent right, founded on the law of nations against an enemy, but of a municipal prerogative over British subjects.

British jurisdiction is thus extended to neutral vessels in a situation where -no laws can operate but the law of nations and the laws of the country to which the vessels belong ; and a self-redress is assumed which, if British subjects were wrong fully detained and alone concerned, is that substitution of force, for a resort to the responsible sovereign, which falls within the MESSAGE. definition of war. Could the seizure of British subjects in such cases be regarded as within the exercise of a belligerent right, the acknowledged laws of war, which forbid an article of cap tured property to be adjudged without a regular investigation before a competent tribunal, would imperiously demand the fair est trial where the sacred rights of persons were at issue. In place of such a trial, these rights are subjected to the will of every petty commander.

The practice, hence, is so far from affecting British subjects alone, that, under the pretext of searching for these, thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of public law, and of their national flag, have been torn from their country and from everything dear to them ; have been dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation, and exposed, under the severities of their discipline, to be exiled to the most distant and deadly climes, to risk their lives in the battles of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy instruments of taking away those of their own brethren. Against this crying enormity, which Great Britain would be so prompt to avenge if committed against herself, the United States have in vain exhausted remonstrances and expostula tions. And that no proof might be wanting of their concilia tory dispositions, and no pretext left for a continuance of the practice, the British government was formally assured of the readiness of the United States to enter into arrangements, such as could not be rejected, if the recovery of British subjects were the real and sole object.

The communication passed without effect. British cruisers have been in the practice also of violating the rights and the peace of our coasts. They hover over and ha rass our entering and departing commerce. To the most insulting pretensions, they have added the most lawless proceedings in our very harbors ; and have wantonly spilt American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial jurisdiction. The princi- MESSAGE. XVII pies and rules enforced by that nation, when a neutral nation, against armed vessels of belligerents hovering near her coasts, and disturbing her commerce, are well known. "When called on, nevertheless, by the United States to punish the greater offences committed by her own vessels, her government has be stowed on their commanders additional marks of honor and con fidence.

Under pretended blockades, without the presence of an ade quate force, and sometimes without the practicability of applying one, our commerce has been plundered in every sea ; the great staples of our country have been cut off from their legitimate markets ; and a destructive blow aimed at our agricultural and maritime interests. In aggravation of these predatory measures, they have been considered as in force from the dates of their no tification ; a retrospective effect being thus added, as has been done in other important cases, to the unlawfulness of the course pursued. And to render the outrage the more signal, these mock blockades have been reiterated and enforced in the face of official communications from the British government, declaring, as the true definition of a legal blockade "that particular ports must be actually invested, and previous warning given to vessels bound to them, not to enter."

Not content with these occasional expedients for laying waste our neutral trade, the cabinet of Great Britain resorted, at length, to the sweeping system of blockades, under the name of orders in council, which has been moulded and managed as might best suit its political views, its commercial jealousies, or the avidity of British cruisers. To our remonstrances against the complicated and transcend ent injustice of this innovation, the first reply was, that the or ders were reluctantly adopted by Great Britain as a necessary retaliation on decrees of her enemy proclaiming a general block ade of the British Isles, at a time when the naval force of that enemy dared not to issue from his own ports. She was re* MESSAGE. minded, without effect, that her own prior blockades, unsup ported by an adequate naval force, actually applied and contin ued, were a bar to this plea ; that executed edicts against millions of our property could not be retaliation on edicts, confes sedly impossible to be executed ; that retaliation, to be just, should fall on the party setting the guilty example, not on an in nocent party, which was not even chargeable with an acquies cence in it.

When deprived of this flimsy veil for a prohibition of our trade with her enemy, by the repeal of his prohibition of our trade with Great Britain, her cabinet, instead of a corresponding repeal, or a practical discontinuance of its orders, formally avowed a determination to persist in them against the United States, until the markets of her enemy should be laid open to British products; thus asserting an obligation on a neutral power to require one belligerent to encourage, by its internal regulations, the trade of another belligerent ; contradicting her own practice towards all nations, in peace as well as in war ; and betraying the insincerity of those professions which in culcated a belief that having resorted to her orders with regret, she was anxious to find an occasion for putting an end to them.

Abandoning still more all respect for the neutral rights of the United States, and for its own consistency, the British government now demands, as pre-requisites to a repeal of its orders as they relate to the United States, that a formality should be ob served in the repeal of the French decrees, nowise necessary to their termination, nor exemplified by British usage ; and that the French repeal, besides including that portion of the decrees which operates within a territorial jurisdiction, as well as that which operates on the high seas against the commerce of the United States, should not be a single special repeal in relation to the United States, but should be extended to whatever other neutral nations unconnected with them, may be affected by MESSAGE. XIX those decrees. And, as an additional insult, they are called on for a formal disavowal of conditions and pretensions advanced by the French government, for which the United States are so far from having made themselves responsible, that, in official ex planations, which have been published to the world, and in a correspondence of the American minister at London with the Brit ish minister for foreign affairs, such a responsibility was ex plicitly and emphatically disclaimed.

It has become, indeed, sufficiently certain that the commerce of the United States is to be sacrificed, not as interfering witn the belligerent rights of Great Britain, not as supplying the wants of her enemies, which she herself supplies, but as in terfering with the monopoly which she covets for her own commerce and navigation. She carries on a war against the lawful commerce of a friend, that she may the better carry on a commerce polluted by the forgeries and perjuries which are, for the most part, the only passports by which it can suc ceed. Anxious to make every experiment short of the last resort of injured nations, the United States have withheld from Great Britain, under successive modifications, the benefits of a free in tercourse with their market, the loss of which could not but out weigh the profits accruing from her restrictions of our commerce with other nations.

And to entitle these experiments to the more favorable consideration, they were so framed as to enable her to place her adversary under the exclusive operation of them. To these appeals her government has been equally in flexible, as if willing to make sacrifices of every sort, rather than yield to the claims of justice, or renounce the errors of a false pride. Nay, so far were the attempts carried, to overcome the attachment of the British cabinet to its unjust edicts, that it received every encouragement within the competency of the ex ecutive branch of our government, to expect that a repeal of them would be followed by a war between the United States XX MESSAGE. and France, unless the French edicts should also be re pealed. Even this communication, although silencing forever the plea of a disposition in the United States to acquiesce in those edicts, originally the sole plea for them, received no at tention.

If no other proof existed of a predetermination of the British government against a repeal of its orders, it might be found on the correspondence of the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at London, and the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 1810, on the question whether the blockade of May, 1806, was considered as in force or as not in force. It had been ascertained that the French government, which urged this blockade as the ground of its Berlin decree, was willing, in the event of its removal, to repeal that decree ; which, being followed by alternate repeals of the other offensive edicts, might abolish the whole system on both sides. This inviting opportunity for accomplishing an object so important to the United States, and professed so often to be the desire of both the belligerents, was made known to the British government.

As that government admits that an actual application of an adequate force is necessary to the existence of a legal blockade, and it was notorious, that if such a force had ever been applied, its long discontinu ance had annulled the blockade in question, there could be no sufficient objection on the part of Great Britain to a formal re vocation of it; and no imaginable objection, to a declaration of the fact, that the blockade did not exist. The declaration would have been consistent with her avowed principles of blockade, and would have enabled the United States to demand from France the pledged repeal of her decrees ; either with success, in which case the way would have been opened for a general repeal of the belligerent edicts ; or, Avithout success, in which case the United States would have been justified in turning their measures exclusively against France.

The British government would, however, neither rescind the blockade nor declare its MESSAGE. XXI non-existence ; nor permit its non-existence to be inferred and affirmed by the American Plenipotentiary. On the contrary, by representing the blockade to be comprehended in the orders in council, the United States were compelled so to regard it in their subsequent proceedings. There was a period when a favorable change in the policy of the British cabinet was justly considered as established. The Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty here proposed an adjustment of the differences more immediately endangering the harmony of the two countries. The proposition was accepted with a promptitude and cordiality corresponding with the inva riable professions of this government. A foundation appeared to be laid for a sincere and lasting reconciliation.