188 HISTORY OF OHIO. 



in June 1812, war was actually declared, by congress, against 

 Great Britain. In order to harrass the enemy, wo suppose, 

 on the land, to punish him for plundering us, on the ocean; 

 Mr. Madison's administration took steps to raise an army, dur- 

 ing the session of congress commencing in December 1811 and 

 continued until the summer of 1812. During that protracted 

 session, congress authorised the increase of the regular army to 

 thirty-five thousand troops, and they authorised the raising of a 

 large force of volunteers, for twelve months. Early in the spring 

 of 1812, Governor William Hull, of Michigan, was ordered into 

 Ohio, to raise troops, with whom it would seem, he intended 

 to cross over into Canada, opposite Detroit, and march down- 

 wards towards Quebec. 



Canada, Upper and Lower, consists of a vast country, lying 

 northwest of the United States, bounded by either lakes or 

 their outlets, which separate those provinces from us. The 

 settlements along these waters are narrow, and their popula- 

 tion thin. These settlements extend fifteen hundred miles, in 

 length, from the sea to Lake Superior. Had the war, on our 

 part been conducted with the ability, that any common man, in 

 private life, of the requisite geographical knowledge would 

 have conducted it, we should have siezed, at once, on Kings- 

 ton and Montreal. All the country above these points, in that 

 case, would have fallen into our hands, as a matter of course. 

 But so it was. General Hull was sent into Ohio to raise troops 

 wherewith to attack, the weak settlements along lake Erie, on 

 the Canadian side of it, and march, downwards in the direction 

 of Fort Niagara. We propose to be brief indeed, on the 

 war of 1812, for more reasons than we need give. 



But little of that war, comparatively speaking, was car- 

 ried on in Ohio, and its events are so recent, and so well known- 

 that we must be brief. That it was badly conducted by the 

 then administration, is certain, for two reasons; the men at the 

 helm, in Washington, were ignorant of the geographical situa- 

 tion of the country; and they knew little of the art of war. 

 There were, at that time, two parties east of the mountains, ia 

 the nation; one party accused the other, of appointing iaeffi- 



