GENERAL HISTORY. 



i\95 



was laid before the military com- 

 mitlee of the house of re|jreseiita- 

 tives, from the set-retary at war, 

 dated October 17th, introduced by 

 some prefatory observations rela- 

 tive to the nature and importance 

 of the war in which they were en- 

 gaged. The letter itself contained 

 a report of what was deemed ne- 

 cessary to place the war estab- 

 lishment upon a proper footing, 

 two articles of which were, that 

 the present military establishment, 

 amounting to 62,448 men, should 

 be preserved and rendered com- 

 plete ; and that an additional per- 

 manent force of at least 40,000 

 men should be raised for the de- 

 fence of the cities and frontiers, 

 under an engagement that such 

 corps should be employed within 

 certain specified limits. For car- 

 rying into execution the plan of 

 augmenting the army, a bill was 

 introduced, wliich provided that 

 ,the white male inhabitants of the 

 United States, between the ages 

 of 18 and 45, should be distribut- 

 eil into classes of 25 in each, every 

 class to furnish one able-bodied 

 man to serve during the war ; 

 that assessors should determine the 

 territorial precincts of each class, 

 so that the property in each divi- 

 sion should be as nearly equal as 



thus agi- 



possible ; that in case of failure, a 

 penalty should be levied on each 

 class, to be divided among thera 

 in ])roportion to the property of 

 individuals ; and that every five 

 male inhabitants liable to military 

 duty, who should join to furnish 

 one soldier during the war, should 

 be exempt from service. 

 Whilst measures were 

 tating, which seemed to portend 

 a renewal of hostilities in the 

 coming year on a scale proportion- 

 ed to the force of the two con- 

 tending powers, the commissioners 

 at Ghent, laudably zealous for 

 restoring the blessings of peace to 

 the two countries, compromised 

 their differences, and on Decem- 

 ber 24th signed a treaty of peace 

 and amity between Great Britain 

 and the United States. The ar- 

 ticles cannot be made publicly 

 known till a ratification of the 

 treaty has been received from the 

 American government ; but it is 

 generally understood that the 

 terms proposed by the Englisli 

 commissioners, which proved so 

 repugnant to the feelings of the 

 adverse party, were no longer in- 

 sisted upon ; and that the two na- 

 tions would be left nearly in the 

 relative position towards each other 

 that subsisted before the war. 



LO 21 



