s' Register, vol ii. p. 42.

[482] Ibid., p. 119.

[483] Ibid., p. 303.

[484] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxviii. p. 248.

[485] Quoted from Steele's List (British) by Niles' Register, vol. ii.
p. 356.

[486] Croker to Warren, Nov. 18, 1812, and March 20, 1813. British
Admiralty MSS. Out-Letters.

[487] Niles' Register, vol. iii. p. 111. Quoted from a publication of
1759.

[488] The Prince Regent. George III. was incapacitated at this time.

[489] Admiralty Out-Letters, British Records Office.

[490] Rodgers to the Secretary, April 29, 1812. Decatur, June 16,
1812. Captains' Letters.

CHAPTER VIII

OCEAN WARFARE AGAINST COMMERCE--PRIVATEERING--BRITISH
LICENSES--NAVAL ACTIONS: "WASP" AND "FROLIC"; "UNITED STATES"
AND "MACEDONIAN"

In anticipation of war the British Admiralty took the military measure
of consolidating their transatlantic stations, with the exception of
Newfoundland. The Jamaica, Leeward Islands, and Halifax squadrons,
while retaining their present local organizations, were subordinated
to a single chief; for which position was designated Admiral Sir John
Borlase Warren, an officer of good fighting record, but from his
previous career esteemed less a seaman than a gallant man. This was
apparently his first extensive command, although he was now
approaching sixty; but it was foreseen that the British minister might
have left Washington in consequence of a rupture of relations, and
that there might thus devolve upon the naval commander-in-chief
certain diplomatic overtures, which the Government had determined to
make before definitely accepting war as an irreversible issue. Warren,
a man of courtly manners, had some slight diplomatic antecedents,
having represented Great Britain at St. Petersburg on one occasion.
There were also other negotiations anticipated, dependent upon
political conditions within the Union; where bitter oppositions of
opinion, sectional in character, were known to exist concerning the
course of the Administration in resorting to hostilities. Warren was
instructed on these several points.

It was not until July 25, 1812, that a despatch vessel from Halifax
brought word to England of the attack upon the "Belvidera" by Rodgers'
squadron on June 24. By the same mail Admiral Sawyer wrote that he had
sent a flag of truce to New York to ask an explanation, and besides
had directed all his cruisers to assemble at Halifax.[491] The
Government recognized the gravity of the