The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, K.B Part 13

The manner of the flank companies of militia turning out must have been very satisfactory to you. I hope your supplies of ordnance and ordnance stores, on their way from Kingston, have arrived safe.

I have caused arms, accoutrements and ammunition, to be forwarded for the use of the Cornwall, Stormont, and Dundas battalions of militia. Camp equipage for 500 men shall be sent to you as soon as possible, together with muskets.

We are on the eve of subst.i.tuting paper for bullion. I am aware of the Canadian prejudice against such a circulating medium, but it must give way to the imperious necessity of the times.

It is highly proper you should secure the services of the Indians; but restrain and control them as much as you can.

Whatever appointments you deem indispensably necessary you are authorized to make, as well as the sacrifice of some money to gain them over. It is proper we should maintain our ascendancy over the Indians, and feed with proper food their predeliction for us.

Colonel Lethbridge, an inspecting field officer, is under orders for Kingston, and there to wait your commands.

_Colonel Baynes to Major-General Brock_.

MONTREAL, July 8, 1812.

I was highly gratified yesterday in receiving your letters of the 3d July, for we have felt extremely anxious about you ever since we have learnt the unexpected declaration of war, which had been so long threatened that no one believed it would ever seriously take place; and even now it is the prevailing opinion that, from the opposition testified by the eastern states, offensive measures are not likely to be speedily adopted against this country. Sir George is inclined to let these sentiments take their course, and as little advantage would accrue by more active measures on our part, our present plans are all defensive. General de Rottenburg is arrived, and the flank companies embodied are on their way: this corps, with the embodied militia, will form a chain from La Prairie to St. John's, with a light corps advanced in their front. We have reports of the 103d regiment being in the river, and, it is added, recruits for the 100th regiment.

Sir George has had applications from so many quarters for militia below Kingston, that to insure a general arrangement and to adopt the best system that circ.u.mstances will admit, he has directed Colonel Lethbridge, the inspecting field officer here, to proceed through the line of settlements to see the several colonels and corps of militia so as to fix their quotas, and afterwards to proceed to Kingston and a.s.sume the command of that post, if necessary: he will be placed under your orders, but you will perhaps not wish to bring him in contact with the 41st regiment, as he is senior to Colonel Proctor.

Sir George desires me to say, that he does not attempt to prescribe specific rules for your guidance--they must be directed by your discretion and the circ.u.mstances of the time: the present order of the day with him is forbearance, until hostilities are more decidedly marked.

_Sir George Prevost to Major-General Brock_.

MONTREAL, July 10, 1812.

Colonel Lethbridge's departure for Kingston affords me an opportunity of replying more fully and confidentially to your letter of the 3d instant, than I could venture to have done the day before, yesterday by an uncertain conveyance. That officer has been desired to transmit to you, together with this dispatch, a copy of the instructions given to him for his guidance until the exigencies of the service make it necessary in your estimation to subst.i.tute others, or to employ the colonel in any other situation of command. In them you will find expressed my sentiments respecting the mode of conducting the war on our part, suited to the existing circ.u.mstances; and as they change, so must we vary our line of conduct, adapting it to our means of preserving entire the king's provinces.

Our numbers would not justify offensive operations being undertaken, unless they were solely calculated to strengthen a defensive att.i.tude. I consider it prudent and politic to avoid any measure which can in its effect have a tendency to unite the people in the American States. Whilst disunion prevails among them, their attempts on these provinces will be feeble; it is, therefore, our duty carefully to avoid committing any act which may, even by construction, tend to unite the eastern and southern states, unless, by its perpetration, we are to derive a considerable and important advantage. But the government of the United States, resting on public opinion for all its measures, is liable to sudden and violent changes; it becomes an essential part of our duty to watch the effect of parties on its measures, and to adapt ours to the impulse given by those possessed of influence over the public mind in America.

Notwithstanding these observations, I have to a.s.sure you of my perfect confidence in your measures for the preservation of Upper Canada. All your wants shall be supplied as fast as possible, except money, of which I have so little, as to be obliged to have recourse to a paper currency.

The adjutant-general has reported to you the aid we have afforded, in arms and ammunition, to your militia at Cornwall, Glengary, Dundas, and Stormont.

To prevent an interruption to the communication between the two provinces, it is fit a system of convoy should be established between Montreal and Kingston; and as Major-General de Rottenburg is to remain here in command of a cordon of troops, consisting of regulars and militia, (established in this neighbourhood to prevent an irruption for the plunder of Montreal,) whilst I attend to parliamentary duties at Quebec, on that subject you may communicate direct with the major-general, as he has my instructions to co-operate with you on preserving this important object.

_Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost_.

FORT GEORGE, July 12, 1812.

With the exception of occasional firing from the opposite sh.o.r.e, (the unauthorized act of an undisciplined militia,) nothing of a hostile nature has occurred on this communication since I last had the honor of addressing your excellency.

The enemy is busy constructing batteries at different points in the river, but he does not appear to have yet received cannon to place in them. We are doing all we can on this side to counteract his views, and the arrival this morning of the Royal George and the vessels under her convoy, bringing various pieces of ordnance, will give us in this respect a decided superiority.

The militia, which a.s.sembled here immediately on the account being received of war being declared by the United States, have been improving daily in discipline; but the men evince a degree of impatience under their present restraint, that is far from inspiring confidence. So great was the clamour to return and attend to their farms, that I found myself in some measure compelled to sanction the departure of a large proportion; and I am not without my apprehensions that the remainder will, in defiance of the law, which can only impose a fine of 20, leave the service the moment the harvest commences. There can be no doubt that a large portion of the population in this neighbourhood are sincere in their professions to defend the country; but it appears likewise evident to me that the greater part are either indifferent to what is pa.s.sing, or so completely American as to rejoice in the prospect of a change of government. Many who now consider our means inadequate, would readily take an active part were the regular troops increased. These cool calculators are numerous in all societies.

The alacrity and good temper with which the militia, in the first instance, marched to the frontiers, have tended to infuse in the mind of the enemy a very different sentiment of the disposition of the inhabitants, who, he was led to believe would, upon the first summons, declare themselves an American state. The display for several days of a large force was made, I have every reason to believe, in that expectation.

Nearly the whole of the arms at my disposal have been issued.

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 Washington. 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.