Part 13 (2/2)

They are barely sufficient to arm the militia immediately required to guard the frontier. Were I furnished with the means of distributing arms among the people, in whom confidence can be placed, they would not only overawe the disaffected, but prove of essential use in the event of invasion. The militia a.s.sembled in a wretched state in regard to clothing; many were without shoes, an article which can scarcely be provided in the country.

After the cannon, which have arrived this morning, are mounted, I shall consider my front perfectly secure. I do not imagine the enemy will hazard a water excursion with a view to turn my flanks. He probably will wait until winter, when the ice will enable him to cross with the utmost facility to any part between Fort Erie and as far as Long Point. My situation will then depend upon the force the enemy may bring to invade the province. Should the troops have to move, the want of tents will be severely felt.

A person who left Sandwich yesterday week, pretends that the enemy was then in the act of cannonading the place. I have not heard from Lieut.-Colonel St. George since my last letter to your excellency.

An officer is so absolutely necessary to command in the eastern district, that I have consented to Major-General Shaw proceeding thither in that capacity. I have full confidence in his judgment, and his conduct in the field is undoubted. He of course will a.s.sume the command in virtue of his militia rank, and will be liable to be superseded by any lieutenant-colonel your excellency may be pleased to appoint.

The expense of defending this province will unquestionably be great; upon a rough calculation, and supposing that 4,000 militia be constantly embodied, it cannot be estimated at less than 140,000 per annum. However great the sum, it will be applied to very considerable advantage, provided your excellency be enabled to send reinforcements, as without them it is scarcely possible that the government of the United States will be so inactive or supine as to permit the present limited force to remain in possession of the country. Whatever can be done to preserve it, or to delay its fall, your excellency may rest a.s.sured will be exerted.

Having been suddenly called away from York, I had not time to close my dispatch, giving your excellency an account of my proceedings during my stay at Amherstburg. I now have the honor to forward two doc.u.ments, detailing the steps taken by the Indian department to prevail on that unfortunate people to accommodate their differences with the American government.

_Extract from an American Newspaper_.

BUFFALO, July 14, 1812.

Major-General Brock is at present at Newark, superintending the various defences on the river. He is stated to be an able and experienced officer, with undoubted courage. He came from Little York soon after hearing the declaration of war, and, it was believed, with a serious intention of attacking Fort Niagara, but, contrary to what has been reported, he made no demand of a surrender.

Expecting a descent from the American army, the Canadians have, for ten days past, been removing their families and effects from the river into the interior. At Newark, Queenston, and other villages on the river, there are no inhabitants except a few civilians and officers and soldiers.

It is even said, that an immense quant.i.ty of specie, plate, &c, from various parts of the province, have been boxed up, and destined for Quebec.

The British are understood to have about six or seven hundred regular troops stationed between the lakes, from Fort George to Fort Erie. These men are generally those who have ”seen service” in various parts of the world. The militia of the province are ordered out _en ma.s.se_.

It is stated by gentlemen of intelligence at Lewistown, that the government of Canada have in their employment, under pay, about 250 Indians, armed complete: a part of them are mounted.

Brigadier-General William Wadsworth, from Genesee, commands the troops on our frontiers. His aids are Major Adam Hoops and Major W. H. Spencer. His head quarters are now at Lewistown.

It is impossible to state the precise number of troops under his command, because the militia ordered on the lines are returning, and the companies composing the regiments under his command have not all arrived; but from what we learn, there are in regular troops, volunteers, and detached militia, above 4,000 stationed at Rock, Lewistown, Youngstown, and Fort Niagara. The troops are in excellent health, in good spirits, and well supplied. They appear quite impatient for want of employment. There has been some firing from the sentries on both sides of the river.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 54: At this time, the British regular force in the Canadas consisted of the 8th, 41st, 49th, and 100th regiments, a small detachment of artillery, the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, and the Canadian, Newfoundland, and Glengary Fencibles; amounting, in the whole, to 4,450 men. These were distributed along the different posts from the telegraph station, about 250 miles below Quebec, to St. Joseph's, but so unequally divided, that, in the Upper Province, whose front extends to nearly 1,300, out of the 1,700 miles, there were but 1,450 men.--_James'

Military Occurrences_.]

[Footnote 55: In answer to Major-General Brock's suggestions on the subject, see page 127.]

CHAPTER IX.

The American government, in antic.i.p.ation of its declaration of war, had detached from the state of Ohio to the Michigan territory an army of about 2,500 men, under the command of Brigadier-General Hull, who, said President Madison in his message to congress, ”possessing discretionary authority to act offensively, pa.s.sed into Canada with a prospect of easy and victorious progress.” The enemy evidently confided in the very limited defensive means of the Upper Province, and in the impossibility of its receiving early a.s.sistance from the mother country. They relied also on the supposed disaffection of many of its inhabitants, and they expected confidently that, weak and divided, it would fall an easy prey to the invaders; but they were soon undeceived. Having crossed over to the Canadian village of Sandwich on the 12th July, Brigadier-General Hull issued on that day the following insidious but able proclamation, which was doubtless written at Was.h.i.+ngton. It will be seen that the American general was made to say, that he did not ask the a.s.sistance of the Canadians, as he had no doubt of eventual success, because he came prepared for every contingency with a force which would look down all opposition, and that that force was but the vanguard of a much greater!

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, and the standard of union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable, unoffending inhabitant, 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, no 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 redress the other. The United States are sufficiently powerful to afford you every security, consistent with their rights and your expectations. I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty, and their necessary result, individual and general prosperity--that liberty which gave decision to our councils and energy to our conduct in our struggle for independence, and which conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy period of the revolution--that liberty which has raised us to an elevated rank among the nations of the world, and which has afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever yet fell to the lot of any people.

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