198] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



America, and for other restrictive 

 purposes. Authority was given to 

 the President to grant passports 

 for the transportation of ships or 

 property belonging to British sub- 

 jects from the limits of the United 

 States, but the citizens of these 

 states wrere prohibited from taking 

 licences for trading from the Bri- 

 tish government. From this day, 

 the Congressadjourned till the 2nd 

 of November. 



Parties are the inseparable con- 

 comitants of ftee governments, and 

 the republic of the United States 

 has always had its full share of 

 the dissentions springing from this 

 source. A war so differently af- 

 fecting the different parts of the 

 union, could not but be received 

 with great diversity of feeling. At 

 Boston, on the day of its declara- 

 tion, all the ships in the port dis^ 

 played flags half mast high, the 

 usual token of mourning ; and a 

 town meeting was held in that 

 city, in which a number of reso- 

 lutions were i)assed, stigmatizing 

 the war as unneqcessary and ruin- 

 ous, and leading to a connexion 

 ■with France destructive to Ameri- 

 can liberty and independence. 



Very different were the popular 

 sentiments in the southern states, 

 where swarms of privateers were 

 preparing to reap the expected 

 harvest of prizes among the West 

 India islands. Of the towns in 

 this interest, Baltimore stood fore- 

 most in violence and outrage. A 

 newspaper published there, enti- 

 tled " The Federal Republican," 

 had rendered itself obnoxious by 

 its opposition to the measures of 

 the war-party, and menaces had 

 repeatedly been thrown out against 

 the conductors. Or the night of 



July 27th, a mob assembled be- 

 fore the house of the editor, for 

 the purpose of destroying it. In 

 expectation of this attack, he had 

 collected a number of friends with 

 fire arms to defend it from the 

 inside, among whom were Gene- 

 rals Lee and Lingan. A furious 

 affray arose, in which the mob 

 were several times repulsed with 

 loss. At length a party of mili- 

 tary were brought to the spot by 

 the mayor and General Strieker, 

 to whom those of the defenders 

 who were left in the house, 26 

 in number, surrendered them- 

 selves upon assurance of their 

 safety, and were conducted to 

 prison. On the next day, at the 

 shameful instigation of a public 

 journal, the mob re-assembled 

 before the jail, with the inten- 

 tion of taking their revenge; and 

 having broken open the doors, 

 after sonie of the prisoners had 

 rushed through and made their 

 escape, they fell upon the rest 

 with clubs, and beat them till 

 scarcely any signs of life remained. 

 General Ligan, a man of 70, 

 and formerly a friend of Washing- 

 ton, was killed on the spot. Gie- 

 neral Lee, a distinguished parti- 

 san in the revolutionary war, had 

 his skull fractured ; and many 

 others were severely injured. The 

 militia refused to turn out while 

 this massacre was perpetrating, 

 and the mayor is said to have ab- 

 sented himself. It must be added, 

 that this atrocity was regarded 

 with horror and indignation in 

 all the other parts of the United 

 States. 



The campaign against Canada 

 commenced early in July. On 

 the 11th of that month. General 



Hull 



