erican army of invasion prisoners in a
prison selected by themselves, on British territory, and from which it
was impossible to escape.

While these things were transpiring in Upper Canada, public attention
was irresistibly drawn in another direction. About the middle of
August, between fifty and sixty sail of British vessels of war arrived
in the Chesapeake, with troops destined for the attack on Washington,
the capital of the United States, Britain having now come to the
determination of more vigorously prosecuting the war. Three regiments
of Wellington's army, the 4th, 44th and 85th, were embarked at Bordeaux
on the 2nd of June, on board the _Royal Oak_ seventy-four, and
_Dictator_ and _Diadem_, of sixty-four guns each, and, having arrived
at Bermuda on the 24th, they were there joined by the fusiliers, and by
three regiments, from the Mediterranean, in six frigates, forming
altogether a force of three thousand five hundred men. General Ross
commanded the troops; Admiral Cockburn the fleet. Tangier's Island was
first taken possession of, fortifications being erected, structures
built, and the British flag hoisted. The negroes on the plantations
adjoining were promised emancipation if they revolted, and fifteen
hundred did revolt, were drilled, and formed into a regiment. They were
useful but exceedingly costly, for on the conclusion of peace the
proprietors of the negroes were indemnified, and His Imperial Majesty
the Emperor of Russia, than whom no one better knew the value of a
serf, being the referee, awarded the enormous sum of L250,000, or
nearly L150 for each negro that had gained his freedom, as the
compensation adequate to the injury which the urgency of war made it
necessary to inflict upon the cultivators of human farm stock.

The troops under General Ross were landed at Benedict, on the Pawtuxet
river, forty-seven miles from Washington. On the 21st they moved
towards Nottingham, and on the following day they reached Marlborough.
A flotilla of launches and barges, commanded by Admiral Cockburn,
ascended the river at the same time, keeping on the right flank of the
army. There are two rivers by which Washington may be approached--the
Potomac, which discharges itself into the upper extremity of the bay of
Chesapeake, and the Pawtuxet. The object which the British military and
naval commanders had in view when the Pawtuxet was decided on for the
route by which a dash was to be made on the capital city of the