STATE PAPER S. 



447 



consequences most afflicting to 

 humanity. 



A standing law of Great Britain 

 naturalizes, as is well known, all 

 aliens complying with conditions 

 limited to a shorter period than 

 those required by the United States : 

 and naturalised subjects are, in 

 war, employed by her government 

 in common with native subjects. 

 In a contiguous British province, 

 regulations promulgated since the 

 commencement of the war, com- 

 pel citizens of the United States, 

 being there under certain circum- 

 stances, to bear arms; whilst of tlie 

 native emigrants from the United 

 States, who compose much of the 

 population of the province, a num- 

 ber have actually borne arms against 

 the United States within their 

 limits; some of whom, after hav- 

 ing done so, have become prisoners 

 of war, and are now in our posses- 

 sion. The British commander in 

 that province, nevertheless, with 

 the sanction, as appears, of his 

 government, thought proper to 

 select from American prisoners of 

 war, and send to Great Britain for 

 trial as criminals, a number of indi- 

 viduals who had emigrated from 

 the British dominions long prior to 

 the state of war between the two 

 nations, who ' had incorporated 

 themselves into our political so- 

 ciety, in the modes recognised by 

 the law and the practice of Great 

 Britain, and who were made pri- 

 soners of war, under the banners 

 of their adopted country, fighting 

 for its rights and its safety. 



The protection due to these ci- 

 tizens requiring an effectual inter- 

 position in their behalf, a like num- 

 ber of British prisoners of war 

 were put into confinement, with a 

 notification that they would ex- 



perience whatever violence might 

 be committed on the American 

 prisoners of war sent to Great 

 Britain. 



It was hoped that this necessary 

 consequence of the step unadvised- 

 ly taken on the part of Great Bri- 

 tain, would have led her govern- 

 ment to reflect on the inconsisten- 

 cies of its conduct, and that a sym- 

 pathy with the British, if not with 

 the American sufferers, would have 

 arrested the cruel career opened by 

 its example. 



This was unhappily not the case. 

 In violation both of consistency 

 and of humanity, American officers 

 and non-commissioned officers, in 

 double the number of the British 

 soldiers confined here, were order- 

 ed into close confinement, with 

 formal notice, that in the event of 

 a retaliation for the death which 

 might be inflicted on the prisoners 

 of war sent to great Britain for 

 trial, the officers so confined would 

 be put to death also. It was noti- 

 fied at the time, that the com- 

 manders of the British fleets and 

 armies on our coasts are instructed, 

 in the same event, to proceed with 

 a destructive severity against our 

 towns and their inhabitants. 



That no doubt might be left 

 with the enemy of our adherence 

 to the retaliating resort imposed on 

 us, a correspondent number of 

 British officers, prisoners of war in 

 our hands, were immediately put 

 into close confinement, to abide 

 the fate of those confined by the 

 enemy ; and the British govern- 

 ment has been apprized of the de- 

 termination of this government, to 

 retaliate any other proceeding 

 against us, contrary to the legiti- 

 mate modes of warfare. 



It is as fortunate for tlie United 



