Nor was this all.  The British Navy harried the coast in every convenient quarter and made effective the work of two most important joint attacks, one on Maine, the other on Washington itself.  The attack on Maine covered two months, altogether, from July 11 to September 11.  It began with the taking of Moose Island by Sir Thomas Hardy, Nelson’s old flag-captain at Trafalgar, and ended with the surrender, at Machias, of ’about 100 miles of sea-coast,’ together with ’that intermediate tract of country which separates the province of New Brunswick from Lower Canada.’  On September 21 Sir John Sherbrooke proclaimed at Halifax the formal annexation of ’all the eastern side of the Penobscot river and all the country lying between the same river and the boundary of New Brunswick.’

The attack on Maine was meant, in one sense at least, to create a partial counterpoise to the American preponderance on Lake Erie.  The attack on Washington was made in retaliation for the burning of the old and new capitals of Upper Canada, Newark and York.

The naval defence of Washington had been committed to Commodore Barney, a most expert and gallant veteran of the Revolution, who handled his wholly inadequate little force with consummate skill and daring, both afloat and ashore.  He was not, strictly speaking, a naval officer, but a privateersman who had made the unique record of taking eleven prizes in ten consecutive days with his famous Baltimore schooner Rossie.  The military defence was committed to General Winder, one of the two generals captured by Harvey’s ‘704 firelocks’ at Stoney Creek the year before.  Winder was a good soldier and did his best in the seven weeks at his disposal.  But the American government, which had now enjoyed continuous party power for no less than thirteen years, gave him no more than four hundred regulars, backed by Barney’s four hundred excellent seamen and the usual array of militia, with whom to defend the capital in the third campaign of a war they had themselves declared.  There were 93,500 militiamen within the threatened area.  But only fifteen thousand were got under arms; and only five thousand were brought into action.

In the middle of August the British fleet under Admirals Cochrane and Cockburn sailed into Chesapeake Bay with a detachment of four thousand troops commanded by General Ross.  Barney had no choice but to retire before this overwhelming force.  As the British advanced up the narrowing waters all chance of escape disappeared; so Barney burnt his boats and little vessels and marched his seamen in to join Winder’s army.  On August 24 Winder’s whole six thousand drew up in an exceedingly strong position at Bladensburg, just north of Washington; and the President rode out with his Cabinet to see a battle which is best described by its derisive title of the Bladensburg Races.  Ross’s four thousand came on and were received by an accurate checking fire from the regular artillery