GENERAL HISTORY 



[179 



George Pievost, he detached a 

 paity lo press upon their rear- 

 guard, whicli took possession of a 

 quantity of provisions and stores, 

 and completed tlie destruction of 

 their block-houses, barracks, and 

 boats. The American general re- 

 mained quiet in his new position 

 till March 3ftth, when collecting a 

 large force from Plattsbnrg and 

 Burlington lie attacked at an early 

 lii'ur, the outposts of the commu- 

 nication leading from Odell-tovvn 

 to Burtonville, and La Cole mill, 

 the chief attack being directed on 

 the latter post, which was under 

 the command of Major Hancock. 

 The enemy brought a battery to 

 bear upon it, whicli occasioned 

 two attempts to take the guns, but 

 both were unsuccessful. The re- 

 sistance by the British commander, 

 however, was so judicious and 

 spirited, that after the enemy had 

 persevered in the attack til! night- 

 fall, he withdrew his guns and re- 

 treated without attaining his ob- 

 ject, after sustaining severe loss. 

 That of the defenders, British and 

 Canadian, amounted in killed, 

 wounded, and missing to Gl. 



A message from the President to 

 Congress, dated March 31st, re- 

 commends to the consideration of 

 that asseinbljf the expediency of 

 authorizing after a certain day, 

 exportations (specie excepted) from 

 tfie United States in vessels of 

 their own, and of powers in 

 amity with them, and a repeal of 

 the laws prohibiting the importa- 

 tion of articles, not the property 

 of enemies. This proposed re- 

 laxation of the acts restrictive of 

 commercial intercourse evidently 

 |>roceeded from a sense of the dis- 

 contents they had excited, and 

 their fflect u|)on tlie publn; reve- 



nue. 



The message was imme- 



diately followed by the introduc- 

 tion of a bill for the repeal of the 

 embargo and non-importation acts, 

 and for other purposes, whicii 

 passed by a great majority, and 

 seems to have excited in the more 

 commercial states sanguine ex- 

 pectations of the revival of trade, 

 and the renewal of pacific rela- 

 tions. A proclamation, however, 

 by Admiral Cochrane, from Ber- 

 muda on April '23tli, was calcu- 

 lated to overtlnow these hopes. 

 The blockade of the American 

 ports, which before extended i'rom 

 the southern limits of the States 

 to Long-island Sound, and the 

 opposite ports of New York, was 

 now made to comprehend all the 

 remaining coast northwards to the 

 boundary of the British province 

 of New Brunswick. The rea^on 

 alleged for this extension was that 

 numerous vessels of war had beeu 

 fitted out from the ports left open, 

 and others were now in prepara- 

 tion, for the prosecution of the 

 war against Great Britain, and 

 frustrating the object of the block- 

 ade. 



An expedition under the com- 

 mand of Geu. Drummond, and 

 Commodore Sir James Yeo, against 

 the American fort Oswego on Lake 

 Ontario, was undertaken in tlie 

 beginning of May. After a re- 

 con noisance of the defences of the 

 place on the 5th of the month, 

 the attack was made on the 6tli, 

 by a select detachment of troops 

 and the squadron of armed vessels 

 on the lake. The landing of the 

 troops was effected under a heavy 

 fire from the fort, and the enemy 

 posted on the brow of a hill, and 

 in the woods, but nothing coul4 

 letard the advance of the assail- 



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