brig, and two sloops of war of the enemy. I have the honor to be very respectfully, sir, your very obedient servant. "T. MACDONOUGH, Com. "HON. WM. JONES, Secretary of the Navy." Duncan McArthur with a few hundred mounted men made a successful raid into Canada from Detroit; and, indeed, not excepting the burning of the Capital, there was little occurred this year which did not strengthen the American cause. The battle of Fort Bowyer in Mobile Bay, the capture of Pensacola, and other movements of General Jackson preceding the wonderful battle of New Orleans, may be found in some degree of detail in another volume of this work. Naval operations this year, under the strict English blockade, were necessarily limited. Yet some brilliant cruises were made, especially by the Peacock and Wasp, that of the latter being one of the most daring on record, and her unknown and sad fate greatly increased the interest attached to it. In the month of May the Wasp got out of harbor at Portsmouth, and sailed for the English Channel. On the 28th of the following month she attacked the British war brig, Reindeer, of equal power, and after a desperate fight captured and burned her. Captain Manners of the Reindeer was, perhaps, as brave a man as ever commanded a ship. When he saw that the Yankee was his superior in seamanship and in the handling of his guns, he ran his vessel into the Wasp with a view of boarding; but in this, too, he was unsuccessful. After being several times wounded, and having the calves of both of his legs shot away, he still fought on; and at last, in a final effort to board the American, he fell dead on the deck of his own vessel. The purpose of Blakely, the commander of the Wasp, in leaving the dangerous American coast, was to prey upon unprotected British merchantmen on the coast of England. Of these he had already captured quite a number. His vessel was an extraordinarily fast sailor, and one of his daring feats was running into fleets of these vessels escorted by heavy war ships, and cutting out and carrying off one of them without injury to himself. On the night of the 1st of September, he ran upon the Avon, an 18 gun sloop, with which he had a severe conflict, and when in the act of taking possession of her, discovered two men-ofwar within easy gunshot bearing down upon him. He abandoned his prize, and at once filling his sails glided out of danger. He subsequently captured the Atlanta, of 8 guns, and several other merchantmen. On the 22d of September, the Wasp and her brave commander and crew were heard of for the last time forever. Many stories were told about the fate of this noble little sloop. But all that appears certain about it is that she and the daring spirits who manned her, suddenly disappeared from the face of the stormy deep. It was, perhaps, safely conjectured that she was capsized and sunk when flying for life. The Peacock, commanded by Captain Harrington, made a successful cruize this year; and on the 29th of April, fell in with a fleet conducted by the war brig, Epervier, of equal strength, and captured her. The sloop, Adams, commanded by Captain Morris, made an important cruise, but finally being hard pressed ran into Penobscot Bay, where she was burned. CHAPTER XXV. WAR OF 1812-SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE-NEW ORLEANS- A CCORDING to a special call of the President, Congress assembled on the 19th of September, 1814, in the patent office at Washington, and continued in session until the 3d of March, 1815. On the next day, Tuesday, 20th, by his private secretary, Edward Coles, the President delivered to a quorum of both Houses, the following, SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE. "FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE and House of REPRESENTATIVES: "Notwithstanding the early day which had been fixed for your session of the present year, I was induced to call you together still sooner, as well that any inadequacy in the existing provisions for the wants of the treasury might be supplied, as that no delay foot with Great Britain, whether it should require arrangements might happen in providing for the result of the negotiations on adapted to a return of peace, or further and more effective pro visions for prosecuting the war. "That result is not yet known. If, on the one hand, the re peal of the order in council and the general pacification in Europe, which withdrew the occasion on which impressments from Ameri can vessels were practiced, suggest expectations that peace and amity may be re-established, we are compelled, on the other hand, by the refusal of the British Government to accept the offered mediation of the emperor of Russia, by the delays in giving effect to its own proposal of a direct negotiation, and, above all, by the on, to infer that a spirit of hostility is indulged, more violent than ever, against the rights and prosperity of this country. "This increased violence is best explained by the two important circumstances, that the great contest in Europe for an equilibrium guaranteeing all its states against the ambition of any, has been closed without any check on the overbearing power of Great Britain on the ocean; and that it has left in her hands disposable armaments, with which, forgetting the difficulties of a remote war with a free people, and yielding to the intoxication of success, with the example of a great victim to it before her eyes, she cherishes hopes of still further aggrandizing a power already formidable in its abuses to the tranquillity of the civilized and commercial world. "But whatever may have inspired the enemy with these more violent purposes, the public councils of a nation more able to maintain than it was to acquire its independence, and with a devotion to it rendered more ardent by the experience of its blessings, can never deliberate but on the means most effectual for defeating the extravagant views or unwarrantable passions with which alone the war can now be pursued against us. "In the events of the present campaign, the enemy with all his augmented means and wanton use of them has little ground for exultation, unless he can feel it in the success of his recent enterprises against this metropolis and the neighboring town of Alexandria, from both of which his retreats were as precipitate as his attempts were bold and fortunate. In his other incursions on our Atlantic frontier, his progress, often checked and chastised by the martial spirit of the neighboring citizens, has had more effect in distressing individuals and in dishonoring his arms than in promoting any object of legitimate warfare. And in the two instances mentioned, however deeply to be regretted on our part, he will find in his transient success, which interrupted for a moment only the ordinary public business at the seat of Government, no compensation for the loss of character with the world, by his violations of private property and by his destruction of public edifices protected as monuments of the arts by the laws of civilized warfare. "On our side we can appeal to a series of achievements which have given new luster to the American arms. Besides the brilliant incidents in the minor operations of the campaign, the splendid victories gained on the Canadian side of the Niagara by the American forces under Major-General Brown and Brigadiers Scott and Gaines, have gained for these heroes, and their emulating companions, the most unfading laurels, and having triumphantly tested the progressive discipline of the American soldiery, have taught the enemy that the longer he protracts his hostile efforts the more certain and decisive will be his final discomfiture. "On our southern border victory has continued also to follow the American standard. The bold and skillful operations of Major-General Jackson, conducting troops drawn from the militia of the States least distant, particularly of Tennessee, have subdued the principal tribes of hostile savages, and by establishing a peace with them preceded by recent and exemplary chastisement, has best guarded against the mischief of their co-operation with the British enterprises which may be planned against that quarter of our country. Important tribes of Indians on our north-western frontier have also acceded to stipulations which bind them to the interests of the United States, and to consider our enemy as theirs also. "In the recent attempt of the enemy on the city of Baltimore, defended by militia and volunteers, aided by a small body of regulars and seamen, he was received with a spirit which produced a rapid retreat to his ships, while a concurrent attack by a large fleet was successfully resisted by the steady and well-directed fire from the fort and batteries opposed to it. "In another recent attack by a powerful force on our troops at Plattsburg, of which regulars made a part only, the enemy, after a perseverance for many hours, was finally compelled to seek safety in a hasty retreat, with our gallant bands pressing upon them. "On the lakes, so much contested throughout the war, the great exertions for the command made on our part have been well repaid. On Lake Ontario our squadron is now, and has been for some time, in a condition to confine that of the enemy to his own port, and to favor the operations of our land forces on that frontier. "A part of the squadron on Lake Erie has been extended into Lake Huron, and has produced the advantage of displaying our command on that lake also. One object of the expedition was the reduction of Mackinaw, which failed with the loss of a few brave men, among whom was an officer justly distinguished for his gallant exploits. The expedition, ably conducted by both the land and the naval commanders, was otherwise highly valuable in its effects. "On Lake Champlain, where our superiority had for some |