507 
LON 
450 men. The engagement was {harp, but of fhort dura¬ 
tion ; for, the Guerriere being totally difmafted, and roll¬ 
ing fo deep as to render her guns ufelefs, while the enemy 
was enabled to rake her at pleafure, it became abfolutely 
neceflary, in order to prevent a further lofs of lives for 
no purpofe, to (trike her colours. Of the crew, 15 had been 
killed, and 63 u’ounded 5 and the injury fuftained by the 
fliip was fo great, that, after the men were all taken out, 
the captors let her on fire. Not the leaft imputation fell 
on the conduct of Capt. Dacres or his fhip’s company 
during the aftion, who yielded only to irrefiftible fupe- 
riority of phyfical ftrength. It is pleafing to add, that 
they received the molt honourable and humane treatment 
from the American commander. The triumphant arrival 
of the Conftitution at Bolton, whence file had been fitted 
out, doubtlefs rendered the warlefs unpopular than it had 
originally been in that town, and ftimulated the fpirit of 
marine enterprife. 
The difalter which befel Gen. Hull had difconcerted 
the plan for the invafion of Canada $ but the defign was 
by no means renounced. A conliderable force was affem- 
bled in the neighbourhood of Niagara, and on October 13, 
the American general Wadfworth, with 13 or 1400 men, 
made an attack on the Britifii pofition of Queenftown, on 
the Niagara river. On receiving the intelligence, major- 
general Brock hafiened to the fpot, and led on a few troops 
for its defence. He had previoufly fent orders to brigade- 
major E-vans, w ho commanded at Fort George, to batter the 
oppofite American fort Niagara, which was done fo effec¬ 
tually, that the garrifon was forced to abandon it- Ge¬ 
neral Brock was unfortunately killed while cheering on his 
men ; and the pofition was for a time taken by the enemy. 
Reinforcements, however, being brought up by major- 
general Sheaffe, the next in command, the Americans 
were attacked ; and, after a fhort but fharp conflict, in 
which they fuftained a confiderable lofs in killed and 
wounded, general Wadfworth furrendered himfelf pri- 
foner on the field, with upwards of 900 men and many 
officers, the troops to which they yielded being about the 
fame number. The lofs on the part of the Britifh was 
fimall, with the exception of general Brock, in whom his 
country was deprived of an officer of diftinguifbed cou¬ 
rage and ability. Major-general Sheaffe, who fucceeded 
him in the command, was created a baronet by the prince- 
regent, as foon as the news arrived. See the article He¬ 
raldry, vol. ix. Plate XCVI. 
The balance of fuccefs in the naval war continued to 
preponderate on the fide of the Americans. Befides the 
numerous captures made by their privateers, aftions took 
place between (hips of war which tended to augment their 
confidence. On the 18th of Oftober, his majefty’s armed 
brig Frolic, convoying the homeward-bound trade from 
the bay of Honduras, while in the aft of repairing damages 
to her mafts and fails received in a violent gale on the 
preceding night, defcried a vetted which gave chafe to the 
convoy. She proved to be the United States floop-of-war 
Wafp, which theFrolic gallantly brought to action, though 
in her crippled ftate, in order to fave her convoy. She 
foon, however, became fo unmanageable, that the Wafp 
was enabled to take a raking-pofition, uhilft the Frolic 
could not get a gun to bear. The reltilt was, that, every 
individual officer being wounded, and not more than 
twenty of the crew remaining unhurt, the enemy boarded, 
and made prize of the brig. On the fame afternoon, how¬ 
ever, his majefty’s firip Poiftiers recaptured the Frolic, 
and took the Wafp. The refpeftive force of the two vef- 
fels is not mentioned ; but Capt. Whinyates of theFrolic 
reprefents his fire as fuperior in the beginning, and attri¬ 
butes his misfortune foiely to the injury done to his vef- 
fel by the ftornu 
A fecond action between frigates of the two nations 
was of much more ferious confequence.—The Macedo¬ 
nian frigate, Capt. Carden, being in lat. 29. N. Ion. 29. 
30. W. on Oftober 25, defcried a fliip which proved to 
be a large frigate under American colours. He did not 
D O N. 
liefitate to clofe with her as foon as poffible, and the ac¬ 
tion began at nine A. M. After an hour’s firing, on¬ 
coming to clofe quarters, he found his antagonift’s force 
fo much fuperior, that he had no chance of fuccefs, ex¬ 
cept from fome fortunate accident. He bravely continued 
the aftion to two hours and ten minutes ; when, the in¬ 
juries his fliip fuftained from the enemy’s fire having ren¬ 
dered her 3 perfeft wreck, lying like a log upon the water, 
wliilft his opponent was (till in good condition, and a 
heavy lofs being incurred in killed and wounded, he fub- 
mitted, however unwillingly, to furrender rather than 
make ftiil greater facrifices. On being taken on-board 
the enemy’s ffiip, the United States’, commodore Decatur, 
he ceafed to wonder at the event of the battle. She was 
of the fcantling of a 74-gun (hip, mounted thirty 24- 
pounders on her main-deck, twenty-two carronades 42- 
pounders, two 24-pounders on her quarter-deck and fore- 
caftle, and had a complement of 478 picked men. Of 
captain Carden’s crew there were 104 killed and wounded. 
On the 4th of November, congrefs affembled after its 
adjournment, when a meflage from the prefident was 
communicated to both houfes. Its leading topic was the 
ftate of the war in which the country was engaged, and 
a fummary of its principal occurrences. In adverting t© 
the failure of the attempts upon Canada, heavy complaints 
were made of the employment of favage auxiliaries by the 
Britifii government, and inciting them to hoftilities; for 
which, it was faid, no pretext had been given by the ex¬ 
ample of the American government. The effeft, how¬ 
ever, was ftated to have been that of roufing to arms the 
citizens on the frontier, of whom an ample force, with 
the addition of a few regulars, was proceeding towards 
the Michigan territory. A complaint was then made of 
a refufal on the part of the governors of Maffachufetts 
and Connecticut to furnifh the required detachments of 
militia towards the defence of the maritime frontier, in 
confequence of a novel expofition of the provifions of the 
conftitution relative to the militia ; and the bad effefts of 
fuch a want of concurrence was pointed out. With re- 
fpeft to the overtures for an amicable termination of the 
differences with Great Britain, the prefident informed con¬ 
grefs of the terms on which their charge d’affaires at Lon¬ 
don was authorifed to agree to an armiltice. Thefe were, 
that the orders in council ffiould be repealed as they af- 
fefted the United States, without a revival of the blockades 
violating acknowledged rules ; that there fiiould be an 
immediate difeharge of American feamen from Britifh 
ffiips, and a ftop to impreffinents from American (hips, 
with an underftanding that an exclulion of the feamen of 
each nation from the lliips of the other ffiould be ftipu- 
lated ; and that the armiftice ftiould be improved into a 
final adjuftmentof all depending controverfies. This ad¬ 
vance, the prefident fays, was declined by the Englifc, 
from an avowed repugnance to fufpending the praftice of 
impreffing during the armiftice, and without any intima¬ 
tion that the arrangement propofed refpefting feamen 
would be accepted.—The correfpondence between lord 
Caftlereagh and Mr. Ruffell, and between admiral Warren; 
and Mr. Monroe, refpefting. an armiftice and negotiation, 
was laid before congrefs,, and afterwards printed in the 
American papers. 
A third Britifh frigate was loft to our navy at the clofe 
of the year.—The account from New York ftates, that 
“ On the 29th of December, about ten leagues from the 
coaft of Brafil, the United-States frigate Conftitution fell 
in with and captured his Britannic majefty’s frigate java,, 
of 49 guns, and manned with upwards of 400 men. The 
aftion continued an hour and fifty-five minutes—in which.' 
time the Java was made a complete wreck, having her 
bowfprit and every matt: and fpar (hot out of her. The 
Conftitution had 9 killed, and 25 wounded $ the Java, 6 a 
killed, (our Gazette-account fays 22 only,) and iot. 
wounded. Among the latter was her commander, cap¬ 
tain Lambert, a very diftinguifbed officer, mortally.—The- 
Java was rated at 38 guns s but mounted 49. She wa» 
juit 
