Some changes had in the meantime taken place in the British
administration. On the 11th of May, 1812, the premier, Mr. Perceval,
was shot in the lobby of the House of Commons, by a man named
Bellingham, whom some private losses had rendered insane. Lords
Liverpool and Castlereagh then became the ministerial leaders in the
two Houses of Parliament, but were quickly voted down by a majority of
four, upon a motion made by Mr. Stuart Wortley, afterwards Lord
Wharncliffe. The ministry was finally rendered satisfactory to
Parliament by the admission of Earl Harrowby as president of the
council, Mr. Vansittart as chancellor of the exchequer, and Lord
Sidmouth (formerly premier while Mr. Addington) as secretary for the
home department; Lord Liverpool continuing as premier, and Lord
Castlereagh as foreign and war secretary.
Notwithstanding the successes which were at this period brightening
the prospects of Britain, the regent and his ministers did not enjoy
much popularity. The regent himself did not possess those domestic
virtues which are esteemed by the British people, and he had excited
much disapprobation by the steps which he took for fixing a criminal
charge upon his consort. The general discontents were increased by the
effects of the orders in council, for prohibiting the commerce of
neutral states. Vast multitudes of working people were thrown idle by
the stagnation of manufactures, and manifested their feelings in
commotion and riot. The middle classes expressed their dissatisfaction
by clamors for parliamentary reform.
At this unhappy crisis, provoked by the orders in council, as well as
by a right assumed by British war-vessels to search for and impress
English sailors on board the commercial shipping of the United States,
that country (June 1812) declared war against Britain. Before the news
had reached London, the orders had been revoked by the influence of
Lord Liverpool; but the Americans, nevertheless, were too much
incensed to retrace their steps. During the summer and autumn, several
encounters took place between single American and British ships, in
which the former were successful. It was not till June 1, 1813, when
the Shannon and Chesapeake met on equal terms, that the British
experienced any naval triumph in this war with a kindred people. On
land, the Americans endeavored to annoy the British by assaults upon
Canada, but met with no decisive success. The British landed several
expeditions on the coast of the States; and were successful at
Washington, Alexandria, and at one or two other points, but
experienced a bloody and disastrous repulse at New Orleans. The war
ended, December 1814, without settling any of the principles for which
the Americans had taken up arms. But while thus simply useless to
America, it was seriously calamitous to Britain. The commerce with the
States, which amounted in 1807, to twelve millions, was interrupted
and nearly ruined by the orders in council, and the hostilities which
they occasioned: henceforth America endeavored to render herself
commercially independent of Britain, by the encouragement of native
manufactures――a policy not immediately advantageous perhaps to
herself, and decidedly injurious to Great Britain. The fatal effects
of the Berlin and Milan decrees to Napoleon, and of the orders in
council to the interests of Britain, show how extremely dangerous it
is for any government to interfere violently with the large commercial
systems upon which the immediate interests of their subjects depend.