178J ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



main body of the Americans under 

 brigadier-general Smyth was re- 

 pulsed with loss in an attempt to 

 force the Niagara frontier between 

 Chippawa and Fort Erie, by a 

 small division of British under 

 lieut.-coK Bishopp, took place on 

 November 28th. 



It was mentioned in the history 

 of the last year, that the Ameri- 

 can general Dearborn, had advan- 

 ced to Champlain, near the Canada 

 line, for the purpose of crossing 

 the frontier, and penetrating to 

 Montreal. His troops made seve- 

 ral reconnoissancesbeyond theline ; 

 but the vigorous preparations of 

 general Prevost to receive them, 

 disconcerted their plans; and on 

 November 22nd, general Dearborn 

 commenced a retreat with his 

 whole army, which he conducted 

 upon Plattsburgh, Burlington, and 

 Albany, where he took up his 

 winter quarters. 



A report from the Committee 

 of foreign relations, laid before the 

 House of Representatives in Con- 

 gress, on January 29th, merits at- 

 tention, as stating the grounds of 

 the existing war with Great Bri- 

 tain, and the causes which pro- 

 duced the failure of the attempts 

 for its extinction. Having noticed 

 the refusal of the president to con- 

 cur in the proposal for an armistice 

 made by admiral Warren, because 

 nothing was said in it on the sub- 

 ject of impressment, the commit- 

 tee express their entire approbation 

 of his conduct, observing, that " to 

 appeal to arms in defence of a 

 right, and to lay them down with- 

 out securing it, would be consi- 

 dered in no other light than a re- 

 linquishment of it." They then 

 proceed to consider the precise na- 

 ture of that cause which has hi- 



therto prevented an accommoda- 

 tion. Great Britain, they say, claims 

 a right to impress her own sea- 

 men, and to exercise it in Ameri- 

 can vessels. It insists that every 

 American seaman should carry 

 with him the evidence of his citi- 

 zenship, and that all those who are 

 unprovided with such evidence 

 should be impressed. Not to ob- 

 ject that such a document may be 

 lost or destroyed, on what princi- 

 ple does the British government 

 require from the United States 

 such a degradation ? Ought the 

 free citizens of an independent 

 power to carry an evidence of their 

 freedom on the main ocean, and 

 in their own vessels ? and are all to 

 be considered as British subjects 

 who do not bear with them that 

 badge ? Would Great Britain her- 

 self submit to such an usurpation 

 of authority? After some more 

 observations on this point, they go 

 on to say, " Let it be distinctly 

 understood, in case of an arrange- 

 ment between the two nations, 

 whereby each should exclude from 

 its service the citizens and subjects 

 of the other, that this House will 

 be prepared, so far as depends on 

 it, to give it effect ; and for that 

 purpose to enact laws, with such 

 regulations and penalties as will be 

 adequate.'* They consider it as the 

 duty of the House to declare, in 

 the most decisive terms, that should 

 the British government dechne 

 such an arrangement, and persist 

 in the practice of impressment 

 from American vessels, the United 

 States will resist it unceasingly 

 with all their force. The report 

 dwells with a good deal of prolixity 

 on this topic, touching upon no 

 other point of difference between 

 the two nations ; and it concludes 



