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*r de information I now you, is derived from officer* of my confidence, who for k aChvc parts in this > ’onniCi ; for though I was to order the attack, it was my hard fortune not to be able to lead the troops I commanded The dif ea/c with which I waseffiil ed cn the 2nd September, c n my joui.ney to Ft, George hav?ng with a few short in tervals of cc nvalefcencc, preyed on me ever since, & et the moment of this atiion I was confined to my bed and emaciated almoii to aj skeleton, unable to fit on \ dv hoif'e or ro move ter. ■, paces without afiiftance. J mull, however, he par doned for frefprifling on your time a few remarks in rela tion to -theuflair. The ob jfft of the Bntiih anti Ame rican commanders we c pie. rifely opposed—the la ft -be- ! ing bound by the inftru£i- ! on> of h:s government and | the meft foie (ii ti obligations j oi duty, io precipitate his !. dclcent of the St. Lawre'ncc by every practicable means —because, tins being effec ted, unc us the greate it dif ficulties oppoled to the A irscrican arms would be fur- \ mounted ; agd the fit ft by duties cquaiiv imperious,* to retard ami it pufhblc to pre vent such d'.iccnr. He is to be accounted victorious uho eircCted his purpoie. Inc biiufii commander ha- • ving 1 led to gain cither of jiis objects, can lay no claim to the honor of the honr of the day. The battle flucLu s>cd ami triumph teemed at eh den times, inc lined to the contending corps. The Hunt of the enemy were at li. I fore; d back more than a : i ff>% u Liougn they ne ver icganei the ground trey lo;l, their Hand was: pennant’ut ami their charges resolute. Amidst these charges and near tire dole! o' tiie contelf, we foil a IF-Id piece by the fall of t!,c offi cer a*ho was terming it with i tiie ft me coolnefi- as if he : h i*l been at parade or review. Tnis was Lieutenant Smith c i the Light Artillery, who in point of merit, hood ar the head oi his grade. The enemy bavi- g halted and our troops being again for. m y., in ba n? Iff mi front to tionr, and the firing hiving ceafevi on both H ie-, vve re fumed our pditffn o ,i the bm'c of the liver, and the try be mg being fatigued toe w hole were re-imbarkedi and j> I'ccednd down the ri ver without {further annoy ance from the cnemv or their g in ffuts, while the dra goons with five pieces of light artillery, marched rio.n toe Canada lhore without forttier moicitatiou. It is due to his rank, to his \\ urn and his fiervices, that [ /ho ii j make particu lar nsruivoii ol Brigadier Griitral Covington vvno re- ; ceived a mortal wound di |iccily through the body, i while animating his men & leading them to the charge, --l ie fell, where; he fought at the head of his men, and survived but two days Ihe next morning the ! flotilla palled through the 'Sauf, and joined that ex cellent officer Brig, General Brown, at Barnhart’s near Cornwall, where he had been iiiftrudted to take pod and wait rnv arrival, and where I confidently expect ed to hear of Major General j Hampton $ arrival on the l op polite ih.ue. But imme diately alter i ha ted, Col. Atkinson, sh ’ inlpedtor gea. cral of the division under Mij r General “lamp ton, waited oo me with a iet.er, fro.’.; that '«ocer, m which, to my nnlpetkablo mortifi cation and furprffe, he de cii.ned tiie juivction ordeied, and .informed me he was marching towaids Lake i Champlain byway of co- i operating in the proposed attack on Montreal. ‘This letter, together with a copy of that to which it 'is an swer, were ii n m ediatc! y funmiitted to a council of war, composed of my gen cral officers and Col. com manding the Elite, the chief Engineer and the Adjutant General, who unanimoudy gave it as their opinion, that • the atpick on Montreal should he abandoned for the! prelent season and he army * near Cornwall should be im-, mediately crofied-to the A mcrican ihore for taking up winter quarters, and that this place afforded an eligi ble position for such quar ters.* L acquiefccd in ihefe o pinibns, not from the short ness of the hock of provi- i firms (which lud been redo- i ecu by the adt of God) be-‘ caule that of our meat had been increiled 5 days, and > our Oread had been reduced only two days, and because w e could in case of extre mitv, have lived on the en emy—bat because the loss of the division under Major Gag. Hampton wckened u.v fi>rce too fie jtr'ffy to j jollify the attempt. In all j my mealures &c movements 1 ot moment, I ha/e taken the opinion of my gene-ai 1 officers, which have been i» accord with my own. I rein lined on the Canada shore until the next day, Without feeing or hearing from the * powerful force' of the enemy in our neigh, boihood, and the lame day j reached this pofffion with the artillery and infantiy. i.ne 'Dragoons have been or- 1 (lered to Utica and its victo ry, and I expert are 50 or L >• miles on tne march. iou hive under cover a luminary abhract of iha kil-! led and wounded in the as- * i tjir of «he 2i to ind. which uiiil (oufl followed by a par- | ticulir return, in which a just regard will be paid to i individual merits. The dead rest in honor, and the wounded bled lor their coun try and deserve its gratitude. With per fed refpedk &c. (Signed) JAMIES WILKINSON. lion, J oh n /Irmjirong . Secretary of War, Return of the killed and woun ded.of a detach:neat of the Armv of the United States , defeenatng the t. Lawrence river , unaer the command of Major General James IVil kmfont m an atlion fought at Wiltiamjhur'T, in Upper Canada , on the i ith of No- I vember, 1813. i KILLED, j Subilters 3, 7, | corporals 3, muftc!ans # i, privates 83 t otal 102. WOUNDED. Brigadier General 1, affif (an.t adjutant-general 1, aid- I de-camp, i, colonel 1, mi jor 1, captains 5, subalterns ;6, lergeant , 9, corporals •3, mulicians, 1, privates, 1 /S —tord 237. I otai Killed & wounded, 339- MIRRO R. —AUGUSTA— Saturday Night, Dec. 18. | Washington City, Dec. 7. ! rT "“ | This day at twelve o'clock , the Ptejilmt of the U. S rates tranfmitte l the Jdlowing MB SSA G& to both Houf - es of Congress, by Mr, Soles his Secretary : ' t 7 el!ow-Cit'*en» of the Senate, and of the House of Representative*, In meeting you at the ore. Tent intereftmg conjuncture, l it would have been highly ! fat is factory if l couid have communicated a favosable refuit to thi Miflion charged j with negdeiations for resto ring peace. It was a just expectation from the rcfpeCt I to the diftinguifhcd vereign who had ivite i them i by iiis offer of mediation, from the rcadinefs with i wni .p the invitation was 1 | accepted on the part of the j United States, andfrom the ! pledge to be found in an aft of their Legillature for the liberality* vvh,ich their Plenipotentiaries would car ry into the negociations, that no time would bo loft by the Britim Government in cm ! bracing the experiment for | battening a stop to the effu i (ion ot blood. A prompt j and cordial acceptance of ths Mediation on that tide was t Bie lc 1•> to be doubted as it was of a nature not to sub ; irnt rights or pretenftons on cither jibe to the dicifion of ,an uuipne, but to afford I j merely an opportunity, ho • no ruble and deli ruble m both jfor di feu ding, audit poffi hie adjusting them, for the inteicft ul both. j The BririiL G.i* incr, ei ther mistaking our dcfiie of peace for la dread cf a dread of Britifb power, or milled by other fallacious calcula tions, has dilappointed this reasonable anticipation. No communication from our Envoys having reached us, no information has been received from that source. But it is known that the mediation was declined in the tirft jnftance, & there is no evidence, notwithllan ding the lapki of time, thata change of difpefition in the Britifti Councils ha? taken place, or is to be expected. Under (uch circumstances a nation proud of its rights, and conlcicus ot its ftrengt’n, ha> no choice buta.nexertion of the one in fuppc,rt of the other. To this determination, the heft encouragement is derived for the fuccefa with j which it has pleased the Almighty to bids our a.rtns, both on the land and on the water. Whilst proofs have been continued of the enterprise and skill of our cruize!s, public and private, on the ocean, and a new trophy gained in the capture of a British by an American vessel of war, alter an action giv tug celebrity to the nameoT she victorious commander; the great inland wateirs, on which the enemy, were also to be encountered, have presented atchievements ol our naval arms, as brillianr in their character as they have been important in their j conlequences. 1 On Lake Erie, the squad. ron under comm ind of capt. Perry having met the Britilli > Lpuadron, of luperior force, 1 'a sanguinary conflict ended I in the capture of the whole. The cohduCt of that officer, adroit as it was dariog, and which was so well fcconded by his comrades, jnftly entitles them to the admira tion and gratitude of their country; and will fill an early page in its navd annais with a victory never fed in liaftre, however much , it may have been ia magni. tude. On Lake Ontario, the 1 caution of the British com mander, favored by contin gencies, fruftrated the ef forts of the American com- , mauder to bring on a deci- ’ five aCtion. Capt. Chaun ccy was able hawever, to cftablilh an afeendency om the important theatre ; and to prove, by the manner in which he effected every thing pollible, that opportunities only were wanted, for a j more tliining display ot his own talents and of the gal lantry of those under his i command* | The tuccefs on Lake E- i rie having opened a passage to the territory of the ene my, the officer command ing the North Weftern Ar- ■r.y transferred .he War . IheVin ra P id! y P^rfuing ,rOO P s fleeing with their savage aflociate/ lorred a general adtior.whic!,’ quickly lersr,timed i n t j capture of the Britih Jnj fdre erfi0 ° the This result is figna!v( 10 norabie to Major l.arrilon, by whose noilita ry talents it was nr,» aitd » Col- John&.Vi tj mounted volunteers, \vh c f! impetuous onset ?av ( a H.'" ciiive blow to the r „ ks /, the enemy, and to l (£ m of the volunteer ijilj t j a equally brave and pariotic* win boic an intereftiLpart . in l ‘ ,c feene; mo.e L ci ady to the Chid M £ iift IBte oi Kentucky at the lL d 0 f them, whose heroij*, fir, nahled in the war wi[ch es. tabJilbcd the independence ,of his country, fo/ght, a t an advanced age, afnareh hardships and bates, f or maintaining its rigits and its fafety. The cffedl of thfe fUC cehes has been to rccue the inhabitants of Michijantrom their oppreftions, ggrava ted by gross iterations of the capitulation whch fuh jeCicd them to < foreign power: to alineate.he lava ges of numerous trbes from the enemy, by whim they were difappoiated aid aban doned ; and to rdieve an j extensive region o country from a merciless/ warfare which desolated itjfrontier* and irnpoled on its citizens | the mod harraflina services: In conlequence >f our na val superiority on lake On tario, and the opportunity \ afforded by it for ancentra* ( I tracing our forces by water, | operations, w hich had been previonlly plapnrd, were let on foot, againit the pal* feihons of the eneny on the St. Lawrence. Sich, how ever was the delay produced I in the fir ft instance, by ai- I verse weather of unusual I violence and continuance, I and iuch the cirtfum fiances I attenoing the final move- 1 ments of the army, that the 1 profpeCt, at one lime lo fa- 1 vorable was not realized. I The cruelty of the enemy I in enlisting the savages into I a war with a nation desirous I of mutual emulation in mit* I igating its dreadful calami. I ties, has not been confined I to any one quaiter. When?- I ver tdey couid be turned a- * gainft u% no editions ta 1 elfedt it haye been spared. I Our South KVcften border, 1 the Creek tribes, whoyi«l ,# I ing to our persevering cn- I deavors* were gradually I quring more civilized hah 4 | its habits, became the lli)i I fortunate vidtims of I tion. 'TV war in that q uar * 1 tA has been the conlcquencf ■ infuriated by a bloody taati* I icifm, recently propag*«® I among them. . I It was neceft i r y *° c,iJ I