The National Register.
London, England, 1814-10-30 00:00:00

NATION.M.IIF,GT§I'EII

OCT. 30.

Tht accounts received this. week from Canada ate in no
degree calculated to diminish the unfavourable impression
produced by tie first information of the disastrous 'occur-
re: ces on Lake Champlain, and before Plartsburg. it is
said that Sir G. Prevost had, in the expedition against Platts-
burgh, 14,000 men under his command, that he had opened
batteries on the works
,when [the defeat of our flotilla ren-
dered, in his opinion, the retreat of the land forces neces-
sary. The private communications throw much censure on
this resolution, and assert, that General' Power begged
the. order might be recalled, as General Brisbane wou!d
carry the fort in a few minutes by storm, but that Sir
George Prevost would not change his mind, declaring that
his orders must he obeyed. The general retreat took
place immediately. They a'so report, that the loss of our
fleet was ascribable to the fort's not being stormed, and that
such division of opinion ensued, that General Robinson had
been put under arrest ; and that Generals Brisbane and
Power had tendered their swords to Sir George Prevost, who,
it was said, was going again to Kingston, with a view to an
atria on Sackett's Harbour. (.)n the authority ~f the Ame-
rican Lieutenant Crew, on parole at Quebec, the garrison
of I'latt.burth was only 1400 men, under Genera! MiComh ;
that officer e..; stated to have informed Captain Piing, of tlto
Linnet, that eve: v thing was prepared at Fort Moreau, to
surrender, at the time of George Prevost's retreat.

Tlr.! American papers contain a correspondence between
Ad!Hiral Cochrane and Mr. Secretary Monroe, in which the
former briefly declares his determination to destroy and lay
waste such towns and districts upon the American coast as
may he found assailable, in retaliation for the wanton de-
struction committed by the A metican army in Upper Ca-,
nada : but regrets being °bilged to resort to such severities,
which he acknowledges are contrary to the usages of civil
warfare ; and the Admiral expresses, "that he will be equal:y
gratified if the Unita(' States will audio, ise his staying such
proceedityy, by making reparation to the suffering inhabit-
ants of Upper Canada."
Mr. Monroe, in reply, says, " that no sooner were the
United States compelled to resort to war against Great Bri-
tain, d'art they resolved to wage it in a wanner most con-
sonant !o the principles. of humanity, and to those ft iendly
relations •ahich it was desirable to preserve between the two
nations, after the restoration of peace. They perceived,
however, with the deepest regret, that a spirit alike just and
humane %vas neither cherished nor acted on by your Govern-
ment. Without dwelling on the deplorable cruelties com-
mitted by the savages in the British ranks, and in British pay,
on American prisoners at the river Raisin, which to this day
have never been disavowed of atoned, I refer as more imme-
diately connected with the subject of your letter to IL vic-
dc-Clace. and at George Town, early in the spring 1813.
These villages were but lit and ravaged by the naval forces of
Great Britain, to the ruin of their unarmed inhabitants, who
saw with astonishment that they derived no protection to
their pioperty from the laws of war. During the same sea-
son, scenes of invasion and pillage were witnessed all along
the waters of the Chesapeake, to an extent inflicting the
• most setious private distress. The late destruction of the
houses of Government in the City of Washington, is another
act which comes necessarily into view. In the wars of modern
Europe, no example of the kind, even among nations most
hostile to each other, can be traced. Although these acts of
desolation invited, if they did not impose on the Govern-.
went, the necessity of retaliation, vet in no instance has
it been authorised. The binning of the village of Newa:k,
in Upper Canada. posterior to the early outrages above enti
inciated, was clot executed ou that principle, but was justi-.