The reasons for wishing to obtain his defection were, first, the pride, and perhaps, affection of his connections in England. Lord North, himself, was one of these, and his cousin, Zachariah Hood was _persona gratia_ at the Court of St. James. Also, the affiliations and connections of his family in Maryland made his defection greatly to be desired. One of his sisters had married Thomas Plater, the son of Governor George Plater of Sotterley, and he was also related to the prominent Carroll family. At the conclusion of the war, General Lingan returned to George Town and farmed two estates he owned, both named after battles in which he had participated--Harlem and Middlebrook. He also was appointed collector of the port by General Washington himself. He was one of the original members of the Order of the Cincinnati. In later years he moved over to the city, his house then being in the neighborhood of Nineteenth, M and N Streets. He had a wife and children, many friends, and all was going well with him until the election year of 1812. General Lingan was a Federalist in politics. The party organ was _The Federal Republican_, published in Baltimore and edited by Alexander Contee Hanson, whose wife was a near relative of Nicholas Lingan, the brother of James. War with England was declared on Friday, the 19th of June, 1812, and next day an editorial appeared in _The Federal Republican_, which was like a match set to a powder train. On Sunday, public meetings were held advocating the suppression of the paper, and on Monday, three or four hundred men and boys assembled at the office of the paper at Gay and Second Streets, in Baltimore, and destroyed the furniture and the house.