AMERICAN CAMPAIGN.
In the midst of the important affairs on the continent, the events of the war with the United States scarcely attracted public attention. These events were various, though unimportant. In the month of January the Americans collected a large force in the back settlements, and again approached Detroit, when Colonel Proctor routed their advanced guard, and captured five hundred men, with their commander, General Winchester. In April, the American general, Dearborn, took possession of York, at the head of the Lake Ontario, from whence General Sheaffe and the garrison was compelled to retire. About the same time, also, General Vincent was obliged by superiority of numbers to vacate Fort St. George, on the Niagara frontier, and on the 5th of June he compelled the enemy to fall back again on Niagara; but soon after Colonel Proctor was attacked by the American General, Harrison, with 10,000 men, who captured nearly the whole of his force, he himself escaping with a few attendants. Towards the end of October three American armies, each amounting to 10,000 men, marched from different points upon Lower Canada: but this great effort was frustrated by the vigilance of Sir George Prévost. During the autumn a squadron of six British vessels was captured by a superior American squadron, on Lake Erie, but on the whole the campaign was honourable to the British arms. When defeated, it was only by dint of overwhelming numbers. Between the “Shannon” and the “Chesapeak,” ships of superior force, there was a fierce battle in Boston Bay, which resulted in the capture of the American vessel, the “Chesapeak,” although she had in number and weight of guns, as well as in the number of its crew, a considerable superiority over the “Shannon.” After a fierce conflict of fifteen minutes’ duration, the “Chesapeak” was on its way with the conqueror, Captain Broke, to Halifax. In St. George’s Channel, also, an American sloop of war was captured by the British sloop, “Pelican.”