Volume II Part 33 (1/2)
”Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the commander of the enemy's forces, to refuse quarter should an Indian appear in the ranks.
”The brave bands of aborigines which inhabit this colony were, like his Majesty's other subjects, punished for their zeal and fidelity by the loss of their possessions in the late colonies, and rewarded by his Majesty with lands of superior value in this Province.
”The faith of the British Government has never been violated. The Indians feel that the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity protected from the base arts so frequently devised to overreach their simplicity.
”By what principle are they to be prohibited from defending their property? If their warfare, from being different to that of other people, be more terrific to the enemy, let him retrace his steps; they seek him not--and cannot expect to find women and children in an invading army.
”But they are men, and have equal rights with all other men to defend themselves and their property when invaded, more especially when they find in the enemy's camp a ferocious and mortal enemy, using the same warfare which the American commander affects to reprobate.
”This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing quarter, for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother sufferer, in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain a.s.surance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations of war in this part of the King's dominions, but in every quarter of the globe; for the national character of Britain is not less distinguished for humanity than strict retributive justice, which will consider the execution of this inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending power must make expiation.
(Signed) ”ISAAC BROCK, ”_Major-General and President_.
”HEADQUARTERS, ”Fort George, July 22nd, 1812.”
”By order of his Honour the President, (Signed) ”J.B. GLEGG, A.D.C., _General_.”
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 194: The following is General Hull's Proclamation:
”PROCLAMATION.
”Headquarters, Sandwich, 12th July, 1812.
”_Inhabitants of Canada_,--
”After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the United States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the insults and indignities of Great Britain have once more left them no alternative but manly resistance or unconditional submission. The army under my command has invaded your country. The standard of the Union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable, unoffending inhabitants it brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make them; I come to protect, not to injure you.
”Separated by an immense ocean and an extensive wilderness from Great Britain, you have no partic.i.p.ation in her councils, nor interest in her conduct. You have felt her tyranny; you have seen her injustice; but I do not ask you to avenge the one, or to redress the other. The United States are sufficiently powerful to afford every security consistent with their and your expectations. I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, religious, and political liberty, and their necessary result--individual and general prosperity; that liberty which gave decision to our councils and energy to our conduct, in a struggle for independence--which conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy period of the revolution--the liberty which has raised us to our elevated rank among the nations of the world, and which afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever fell to the lot of any people.
”In the name of my country and the authority of Government, I promise you protection to your persons, property, and rights. Remain at your homes; pursue your peaceful and customary avocations; raise not your hands against your brethren. Many of your fathers fought for the freedom and independence we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of the same family with us, and heirs of the same heritage, the arrival of an army of friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. You will be emanc.i.p.ated from tyranny and oppression, and restored to the dignified status of freemen.
”Had I any doubt of eventual success, I might ask your a.s.sistance; but I do not. I come prepared for every contingency--I have a force which will break down all opposition, and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater. If, contrary to your own interest, and the just expectations of my country, you should take part in the approaching contest, you will be considered and treated as enemies, and the horrors and calamities of war will stalk before you.
”If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savages are let loose to murder our citizens, and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the side of an Indian will be taken prisoner--instant death will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice, and humanity, cannot prevent the employment of a force which respects no rights, and knows no wrongs, it will be prevented by a severe and relentless system of retaliation.
”I doubt not your courage and firmness. I will not doubt your attachment to liberty. If you tender your services voluntarily, they will be accepted readily. The United States offer you peace, liberty, and security. Your chance lies between these and war, slavery, and destruction. Choose, then, but choose wisely; and may He who knows the justice of our cause, and who holds in His hands the fate of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible with your rights and interests, your peace and happiness.
”By the General, A.P. HULL.”
_Note._--It is a curious commentary on the above proclamation, that within six weeks of its being so pompously put forth, General Hull himself, with all his army, was a prisoner in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, to whom was surrendered nearly 3,000 prisoners, Fort Detroit, an immense quant.i.ty of arms and munitions of war, together with the whole territory of Michigan, and the secured alliance of the numerous Indian tribes to the west and north.]
CHAPTER LII.
GENERAL BROCK PREPARES FOR AN ATTACK ON DETROIT, AND WITH A SMALL FORCE TAKES GENERAL HULL AND HIS ARMY PRISONERS, AND ACQUIRES POSSESSION OF DETROIT AND THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN--INCIDENTS PRECEDING AND ATTENDING THE TAKING OF DETROIT--GENERAL BROCK'S PROCLAMATION TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE MICHIGAN TERRITORY--HIS COUNCIL WITH THE INDIANS, AND CONVERSATION WITH THE GREAT CHIEF TEc.u.mSEH, AND ESTIMATE OF HIM--GENERAL BROCK RETURNS TO YORK (TORONTO)--WHAT HE DID IN NINETEEN DAYS.
General Brock did not content himself in replying to General Hull on paper, in defence of the British Government and the people of Canada; he answered him in a more substantial way on the battle-field. General Brock lost no time in collecting the few soldiers in Upper Canada, and the militia volunteers, and proceeding by boats, vessels, and by land, from Niagara to Detroit, to meet face to face the boasting commander of the Grand Army of the West, and, in less than four weeks of his manly reply to Hull's inflated proclamation, he made Hull and all his army prisoners of war, with the surrender of the whole Michigan territory. It was an achievement worthy of perpetual remembrance, that General Brock, with forces hastily collected, ”consisting of thirty of the Royal Artillery with three six-pounders, under the command of Lieutenant Troughton, two hundred and fifty of the 41st Regiment, fifty of the Newfoundland Fencibles, and four hundred Canadian militia--in all amounting to seven hundred and thirty, to whom six hundred Indians attached themselves--making an aggregate of one thousand three hundred and thirty;” we say, it is an achievement worthy of all remembrance and honour, that General Brock should, with such motley and slender forces, cross the Detroit river, and, by the skilful arrangement of his handful of soldiers, take, without shedding a drop of blood, a fort strongly protected by--_iron_ ordnance, nine twenty-four-pounders, eight twelve-pounders, five nine-pounders, three six-pounders; _bra.s.s_ ordnance, three six-pounders, two four-pounders, one three-pounder, one eight-inch howitzer, one five and a-half inch howitzer--in all thirty-three pieces of ordnance; and defended by upwards of 2,500 regular soldiers and militia.
But there was this essential difference between the two armies: the little Canadian army had homes, families, and liberties to defend, connection with the mother country to maintain, and the consciousness of right; the great American army, with its fortifications, had the consciousness of long-continued and wide-spread wrongs in depredations against their western Indian neighbours, bloated avarice for conquest, and inveterate hatred of Great Britain.