g distress from the stoppage of all commerce; not only was the
Federal government sorely pinched from loss of tariff revenue, but the
New England towns suffered from starvation prices for food products,
while in the middle and southern States grain was used to feed the
cattle or allowed to rot.

For the season of 1814, it was necessary again to try to build up
armies; and now the time was growing short during which the United
States could hope to draw advantage from the preoccupation of England
in the European struggle. During the winter of 1814, the final
crushing of Napoleon took place, ending with his abdication and the
restoration of the Bourbons. Simultaneously, the British campaign in
Spain was carried to its triumphant conclusion, and after April British
armies had no further European occupation. Unless peace were made, or
unless the United States gained such advantages in Canada as to render
the British ready to treat, it was practically certain that the {228}
summer would find the full power of the British army, as well as the
navy, in a position to be directed against the American frontier and
the American sea-coast.

Congress, however, did nothing new. It authorized a loan, raised the
bounty for enlistments, voted a further increase of the army, and
adjourned. Armstrong, the Secretary of War, succeeded in replacing the
worn-out veterans who had mismanaged the campaigns of 1812-1813 with
fighting generals, younger men, such as Jacob Brown, Scott, Ripley, and
Jackson, the Indian fighter; but he could not induce men to enlist any
more freely, nor did he show any ability in planning operations. So
events dragged on much as before.

On Lake Ontario, Chauncey and Yeo continued their cautious policy,
building vessels continually and never venturing out of port unless for
the moment in overwhelming force. The result was that first one then
the other controlled the lake; but they never met. The only serious
fighting took place near Niagara, where General Brown, with a little
force of 2,600 men, tried to invade Canada, and was met first by
General Riall, and later by General Drummond, with practically equal
forces. Here the Americans actually fought, and fought hard, winning a
slight success at Chippawa on July 5, and engaging {229} in a drawn
battle at Lundy's Lane on July 25. Later forced to take refuge in Fort
Erie, Brown made a successful defence against Drummond, and obliged him
to abandon an effort a