19G] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



solution: "That under the pre- 

 sent circumstances it is inexpedient 

 to resort to a war with Great Bri- 

 tain." The question being then 

 put, that the house do proceed to 

 the consideration of the said reso- 

 lution, it was nes;atived by 62 

 votes against 37. All hopes of pa- 

 cific measures now therefore rested 

 upon the determination of thef se- 

 nate. On June 4lh, the President 

 laid before Congress copies of a 

 correspondence which had lately 

 taken place between Mr. Foster 

 and Mr. Monroe. It chiefly con- 

 sisted of a long argumentative let- 

 ter from the former relative to 

 the old subject of the orders in 

 council, and the French decrees, 

 of which it is sufficient to remark, 

 that not the least expectation is 

 held forth of any further relaxation 

 on the part of Great Britain. On 

 the contrary, Mr. F. says express- 

 ly, " America, as the case now 

 stands, has not a pretence for 

 claiming frona Great Britain a re- 

 peal of her orders in council." Pre- 

 viously, however, to this commu- 

 nication, the President had sent a 

 loiig message to both houses, da- 

 ted June 1st, in which he set 

 forth all the injuries, and hostile 

 measures (as he considered them) 

 practised by the government of 

 Great Britain, and still persisted 

 in, towards the United States, and 

 recommended the subject to their 

 early deliberations. (See State Pa- 

 pers.) In consequence, discussions, 

 with closed doors, took place in 

 the two houses, the final result of 

 which was an act passed on June 

 18th, declaring the actual existence 

 of war between the united king- 

 dom of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 andHhe United States of America. 



A list has been published of the 

 votes in the House of Representa- 

 tives on this momentous occasion, 

 by which it appears that the ma- 

 jority for declaring war was 79 

 against 49. The supporters of war 

 were chiefly the southern and 

 western states, to Pennsylvania in- 

 clusive: the votes for peace were 

 chiefly in the eastern and northern 

 states. New York taking the lead. 

 As commercial grievances consti- 

 tuted a great part of the complaints 

 against Great Britain, adduced to 

 justify the resort to arras, it is 

 highly probable, that if the orders 

 in council had been repealed early 

 enough for ititelligence of the 

 event to have reached America 

 before the final decision, the ad- 

 vocates for peace would have ac- 

 quired so much additional strength 

 as, at least, to have deferred the 

 declaration of hostilities till time 

 had been given for negociating 

 on the other points in dispute. In- 

 deed, little doubt seemed to be 

 entertained on this side the At- 

 lantic, that the news of the repeal, 

 protracted as it was, would arrive 

 time enough to prevent actual war. 

 But the first recoil from a resolu- 

 tion full of hazard and mischief 

 having passed, men were brought 

 to regard it as a thing decided, 

 and to consider what public or 

 private advantage could be made 

 of the new state of affairs. Sub- 

 sequent events, too, render it 

 highly probable that the Ameri- 

 can government had anticipated 

 credit from the commencement 

 of the war, especially from the 

 conquest of Canada, which seems 

 to have been regarded as an easy 

 task. 



The first act of hostility be- 

 tween 



