The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Part 4

Sir George Prevost evidently threw out some hints to the Legislative Council, which could not have been particularly palatable.

In Sir George's speech there was an allusion to peace not being at hand. Sir George made that reference doubtless in connection with the fact that Russia had offered to mediate between the contending powers, with reference to an amicable settlement of their differences. Indeed commissioners were appointed to negotiate, by the United States. Messrs. Gallatin, Adams, and Bayard were named. But Great Britain declined the proposal, though the Prince Regent offered a direct negotiation either at London or Gottenburg. The offer was accepted, and Messrs. Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin, were added to the commissioners already in Europe, and sailed soon after for Gottenburg. Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams were appointed on the part of the Court of St. James, to meet them. The place of meeting was subsequently changed to Ghent, in Flanders, and the conference met in August. But while the conference sat the war was carried on.

The first fight of moment in 1814, occurred on the Pacific Coast. The American Commodore Porter had been cruising in the frigate Ess.e.x, for some time, in the Pacific, with wonderful success. He had with him as a consort, a captured whaleship, which he had armed with twenty guns, and named the Ess.e.x, junior. Captain Hillyard, in the British frigate Phbe, accompanied by the sloop of war Cherub, had been sent in search of the successful cruiser, and on the 9th of February, gained intelligence to the effect that with two of her prizes she had put into Valparaiso. The American was no match, even with the aid of the whale ship, for two such vessels, and kept in port, the British vessels keeping up a strict blockade for six weeks.[23] At length, on the 28th of March, tired of the blockade, Porter attempted to escape, when Captain Hillyard succeeded in bringing her to action, in the roads of Valparaiso, before she could get back, and without the aid of her lesser consort. The American ship, in the hurry to escape, had spread every st.i.tch of canvas, to run past the Phbe, and as she was doubling the point a squall struck her, carrying away the main topmast. Both ships immediately gave chase, and being unable to escape in his crippled state, Porter attempted to regain the harbor. Finding this to be impracticable, he ran into a small bay and anch.o.r.ed within pistol shot of the sh.o.r.e. The contest, which was a most unequal one, now commenced. Both the attacking vessels at first got into raking positions, and did great execution. Nevertheless, Captain Porter fought gallantly. Hillyard's ship having sustained serious damage in her rigging, and having become almost unmanageable, on that account, hauled off to repair damages, leaving the Cherub to continue the action. Hillyard manuvred deliberately and warily. He knew that his antagonist was in his power, and his only concern was to succeed with as little loss to himself as possible. Hillyard again attacked, and the Ess.e.x hoisting her foresail and lifting her anchor, managed] to run alongside of the Phbe. The firing was now tremendous, and the Ess.e.x's decks were strewed with dead. Both attacking ships then edged off, and fired into the Ess.e.x, at convenient range, until she struck. The Cherub raked the Ess.e.x, while the Phbe exchanged broadsides with her. The Ess.e.x had twice taken fire during the action. The loss on board the Ess.e.x was fifty-eight killed, thirty-nine wounded severely, twenty-seven slightly, and thirty-one missing. On board both British vessels only five were killed and ten wounded. It is said that there were nearly a hundred sailors on board the Ess.e.x, when the engagement commenced, who jumped overboard, when it was likely she would be taken; that of these forty reached the sh.o.r.e, while thirty-one were drowned, and sixteen picked up when on the point of drowning, by the British. On the other hand it is alleged that when the Ess.e.x took fire aft, a quant.i.ty of powder exploded, and word was given that the fire was near her magazine. It was then that Captain Porter advised as many as could swim to make for the sh.o.r.e, which they did, or tried to do, while those who could not swim exerted themselves to extinguish the flames, which having done, the action was renewed, until fighting was impossible. When Porter summoned a consultation of his officers, only one appeared-Acting Lieutenant McNight.

Early in February, the American sloop of war Frolic, of 22 guns, was captured by the British frigate Orpheus, after two shots had been fired. But by way of compensation, the British brig Epervier, of 18 guns, towards the close of April, surrendered to the American sloop of war Peac.o.c.k, of 22 guns, and on the 28th of June, a most desperate encounter took place between the British sloop of war Reindeer,[24] of 18 guns, and the American sloop, Wasp. The preponderance of force was here, in a most extraordinary degree, in favor of the Americans, but, notwithstanding this advantage, Captain Manners, of the Reindeer, one of the bravest officers who ever trod a quarter deck, the moment he got sight of the American vessel gave chase, and as soon as it was evident to the American captain that he was pursued by the Reindeer alone, he hove to and the action commenced. Never were vessels more gallantly commanded and fought on both sides. The engagement lasted, yard arm to yard arm, for half an hour, at the end of which time the Reindeer was so disabled, that she fell with her bow against the larboard quarter of the Wasp. The latter instantly raked her with dreadful effect; and the American rifles, from the tops, picked off almost all the officers and men on the British deck. But Captain Manners then showed himself indeed a hero. Early in the action the calves of his legs had been shot away, but he still kept the deck; at this time a grape shot pa.s.sed through his thighs, but though brought for a moment on his knees, he instantly sprang up, and though bleeding profusely, not only refused to quit the deck, but exclaiming, "Follow me, my boys; we must board!" sprang into the rigging of the Reindeer, intending to leap into that of the Wasp. At this moment two b.a.l.l.s from the American tops pierced his skull, and came out below his chin. With dying hand he waved his sword above his head, and exclaiming, "Oh G.o.d!" fell lifeless on the deck. The Americans immediately after carried the British vessel by boarding, where hardly an unwounded man remained, and so shattered was she in her hull, that she was immediately after burned by the captors. Never, says Alison, will the British empire be endangered while the spirit of Captain Manners survives in its defenders.

There was some correspondence in the early part of 1814, relative to the prisoners captured at Queenston, supposed to be British subjects, and therefore sent to England to be tried for treason. The American government confined an equal number of British prisoners, who were to be retaliated upon, unless the British government consented to exchange them the same as other prisoners, and the Canadian government confined General Winder and a number of other officers and men, as hostages for the forthcoming of the British prisoners, and in retaliation for their confinement. The whole matter ended in smoke. The traitors were not made examples of, and negotiations and retaliations ceased. During the winter, stores of every kind were forwarded to Kingston, from Quebec and Montreal. In February, the 8th regiment, and two hundred and twenty seamen, arrived overland from Fredericton, New Brunswick. The Indians, Ottawas, Chippewas, Shawnees, Delawares, Mohawks, Saiks, Foxes, Kickapoos, and Winebagoes, came to Quebec to inform the Governor General that they were poor and needed arms, but would fight to the last drop of blood for the British against the Americans, who had taken away their lands, General Prevost was, of course, exceedingly glad to hear it, and having expressed his regret for the death of Tec.u.mseh, he loaded them with presents, entertained them for two days, and then sent them off to prepare for the campaign.

The Americans had not by any means been idle during the winter. They too had been making preparations, and when General Macomb crossed Lake Champlain on the ice, with his division, from Plattsburgh, about the end of March, serious doubts began to be entertained in Canada, with regard to the probability of another invasion. The general soon removed all doubts. He crossed to St. Armand and remained there unmolested, while General Wilkinson prepared to a.s.sault Odelltown and Lacolle Mills. As soon as Wilkinson was fully prepared for the a.s.sault, Macomb joined him, and the Americans, numbering about five thousand men, entered Odelltown. Despatches were immediately sent off by the officer in command of the stone mills at Lacolle, to Isle-aux-Noix for aid, and Captain Broke with a picquet of the 13th regiment, was sent to him. Major Handc.o.c.k set about making such preparations as he could for the defence of his temporary block-house, or rather stone tower, at Lacolle. Wilkinson did not immediately advance, but halted to reconnoitre. He made a feint too, upon Burtonville, which he suffered a few grenadiers and some light infantry to check. He wanted possession of Lacolle town, and accordingly, early in the afternoon, he determined upon taking it by a.s.sault. The Americans got into the woods with the view of surrounding the blockhouse and of simultaneously a.s.saulting it on all sides. Lacolle opened fire, but the Americans only replied by a cheer, and continued to advance. But the cheering was not of long duration, as the effect of Major Handc.o.c.k's fire was not by any means elevating to the Americans. It was so heavy and so hot, and so well directed that the effect was most depressing, and the enemy retreated, in some confusion, back to the woods, from which they had emerged. Thus repulsed the gallant Americans thought of battering a breach in the tower of Lacolle, with the aid of a naked 12-pounder, or battering gun, unprotected by an earthwork. The result was that the artillerymen being within musket range, were picked off with great facility, and with such marvellous rapidity, that it was no easy matter for the enemy to load and fire. The cannonading was, nevertheless, kept up for two hours and a half, but as little attention was paid to aim, under the exciting circ.u.mstances, only four round shot struck the mill, doing no harm at all. It would have been prudent for the gallant Handc.o.c.k to have kept the enemy for some time longer, in the snow and cold, keeping up so harmless a fire of artillery. But it occurred to him that the gun might be spiked, and he ordered the flank companies of the 13th regiment to charge the enemy, in front. The trees stood still, and the Americans retired a little, pouring a deadly fire upon the 13th, as they advanced in line through deep snow, as well as they could, which was not by any means very well. As the Americans still pertinaciously kept in the woods, the 13th could not, by any possibility, charge. They might have pursued the enemy individually, and the dodging and twining and twirling of the combatants would have been something extraordinary. But the 13th thought better of it and wisely retired, in good order, upon the mill. At this moment, however, the grenadiers of the Fencibles and a company of the Voltigeurs, arrived from Burtonville, and were ordered by Major Handc.o.c.k to support the retiring 13th, and charge again. The whole now advanced in columns of sections upon the gun, which the Americans had spiked during the first charge, and on which the Americans in the woods were ready to concentrate their fire. The enemy did not pull a trigger until the 13th, Voltigeurs, and Fencibles were within twenty-five yards of their centre, when the further advance of the sortie was checked by the fire of musketry so hotly poured in upon them on all sides. They were instantly recalled. But the Americans being by this time wearied, cold, and hungry, and now deficient in artillery, while they were as unable to carry the mill by storm, as the British were to charge in the woods, retreated about five in the afternoon, unmolested, and afterwards fell back upon Champlain and Plattsburgh. The Americans lost in this attempt to carry a stone tower, bravely defended, 13 in killed, 123 in wounded, and in missing 30. The British lost 10 killed, 4 missing, and 2 officers and 44 men wounded.

The Americans, while they were near Cornwall, under Generals Brown and Boyd, in the autumn previously to re-crossing the river, plundered some merchants of all their goods, wares, and merchandise, found en route for Upper Canada. But the American government had stipulated for their rest.i.tution with Colonel Morrison, of the 89th, and Captain Mulcaster, of the Royal Navy. Whether the repeated checks that they had lately received from the British, in consideration of their unwelcome, but not looked for, visits, had soured the authorities, south of 45., or no, it was now intended to sell the plunder for the benefit of the government of the United States, as British goods being rare in the American market, high prices would undoubtedly have been obtained. To prevent a consummation, not in the least devoutly wished for by the British merchants, Captain Sherwood, of the Quarter Master General's Department, suggested the idea of plundering them back again. Accordingly, Captain Kerr, with a subaltern, twenty rank and file of the marines, and ten militiamen, crossed the ice on the 6th of February, during the night, from Cornwall to Madrid, on Gra.s.s River, with horses and sleighs innumerable. The merchandise, or a great part of it, was secured, packed in the sleighs, and carried off. Indeed the inhabitants of Madrid made no opposition to Captain Kerr, but on the contrary, looking upon the expedition as rather smart, were considerably tickled, and positively helped the British to load their sleighs and be gone. Jonathan, fully alive to the ludicrous, chuckled as he thought upon the astonished countenances of the United States' officers, who were charged with the sale of the goods, when they should have ascertained their unlooked for disappearance. The inhabitants were, of course, not molested, and indeed living but a few hundred yards from the British sh.o.r.e, were only very moderate Americans.

There was also, during the winter, a skirmish at Longwood, in which the British, who were the a.s.sailants, retired with a loss of two officers and twelve men killed.

The campaign opened with the opening of the navigation, in May. Sir James Yeo, with the co-operation of that talented, skilful, and excellent officer, General Drummond, planned an attack upon Oswego, with the view of destroying the naval stores, sent by way of that town for the equipment of the American fleet in Sackett's Harbour. The British fleet having been strengthened by two additional ships, the Prince Regent and the Princess Charlotte, General Drummond sent on board of it six companies of DeWatteville's regiment, the light companies of the Glengary militia, and the second battalion of the Royal Marines, with a detachment of Royal Artillery, and two field pieces, a detachment of a rocket company, and some sappers and miners. This expedition left Kingston on the 4th of May, and arrived off Oswego about noon on the day following. It was then however, blowing a gale of wind, from the northwest, and it was considered expedient to keep off and on the port, until the weather calmed. It was the morning of the 6th, before a landing could be effected, when about one hundred and forty men, under Colonel Fischer, and two hundred seamen, under Captain Mulcaster, Royal Navy, were sent ash.o.r.e, in the face of a heavy fire of grape and round shot from the enemies' batteries, and of musketry from a detachment of the American army, posted on the brow of a hill and partially sheltered by an adjoining wood. The British, nevertheless, charged the battery and captured it, the enemy leaving about sixty wounded men behind them, in their hurried retreat. The stores in the fort were taken possession of, the fort itself dismantled, and the barracks were destroyed. In this successful a.s.sault, Captain Holtaway, of the Marines, was killed, Captain Mulcaster was severely and dangerously wounded in the head, and Captain Popham was wounded severely, two officers of the line and two other naval officers were wounded. Eighteen rank and file of the army and marines were killed, and sixty wounded, and three sailors were killed and seven wounded. The naval stores, however, were not captured, as they had been deposited at the Falls of the Onondago, some miles above Oswego. The troops were re-embarked and the fleet sailed for Kingston on the 7th of May.

Sir James Yeo being still very anxious about the naval stores which the enemy were so industriously collecting at Sackett's Harbour, determined to try if possession of at least a part of them could not be obtained. Accordingly, he blockaded Sackett's Harbour, and on the morning of the 29th of May, a boat belonging to the enemy, laden with a cable large enough for a ship of war, and with two twenty-four pounders, forming one of a flotilla of sixteen boats from Oswego, containing naval and military stores, was intercepted and captured. Captains Popham and Spilsbury, having with them two gun-boats and five barges, were immediately sent in search of the other boats. They soon learned where the missing boats were. Fearing capture, the Americans had taken shelter in Sandy Creek. It was resolved to root them out, if possible, and accordingly the British gun-boats and barges entered the Creek. Captains Popham and Spilsbury immediately looked about them, and found the enterprise to be rather hazardous. The creek was narrow and winding. An attack was, nevertheless, determined upon. For about half a mile the a.s.sailants proceeded cautiously up the creek, when, as they turned its elbow, the enemy's boats were in full view. The troops immediately landed on both banks and were advancing when the sixty-eight pounder carronade in the foremost boat was disabled, and it was necessary to bring the twenty-four pounder in the stern of the boat to bear upon the enemy. But no sooner had an effort been made to get the boat round than the enemy took it into their heads that the attacking party designed to make off, and advancing hastily in considerable numbers, rifles, militia, cavalry, regular infantry, and Indians, the British, unable to retreat, were overpowered, the captured being with difficulty rescued by their humane American enemies, from the tomahawks and scalping knives of the Indians.

On Lake Champlain an attempt was made on the 14th of May, to capture or destroy two new American vessels building at Vergennes, by Captain Pring, of the Royal Navy, but finding the enemy prepared to receive him more warmly than courteously, Captain Pring desisted and returned to Isle-aux-Noix.

About the end of June, the Americans concentrated at Buffalo, Black Rock, and other places, on the Niagara frontier, for the invasion of Upper Canada, only waited for the co-operation of the fleet, which had not, as yet, come out of Sackett's Harbour. The army was commanded by General Brown, however, an officer, of considerable judgment, and now not by any means inexperienced in the art of war, who could not remain long inactive. On the 3rd of July, he despatched Brigadiers Scott and Ripley, with their two strong brigades, to effect a landing on the Canada sh.o.r.e. They landed from boats and batteaux, at two different points. One brigadier landed above Fort Erie, and the other below it, the brigades being two miles apart, and the fort in the centre. Captain Buck, of the 8th regiment, was in command of Fort Erie, and, oddly enough, although he had put it in a tolerably good state for defence, he at once surrendered it, and his garrison of seventy men, to the enemy. Scott and Ripley now marched on Chippewa, and were making preparations to carry that post when they were met by General Riall, with fifteen hundred regular troops, and a thousand Indians and militia, and offered battle. The offer was no sooner made than accepted, and at five in the afternoon, a battle was commenced, which proved disastrous to Riall. The enemy were overwhelmingly numerous. Riall's militia and Indians attacked the American light troops vigorously, but they were unable to cope with Kentucky riflemen, sheltered behind trees. Death came with every rifle flash, and the militia and Indians must have given way, had not the light companies of the Royal Scotts and 100th regiments come to their relief. Now came the main and, on the part of Riall, ill-judged attack. He concentrated his whole force, while the Americans stretched out in line. He approached in column, attempting to deploy under a most galling fire, and the result was, as might have been antic.i.p.ated, fearfully disastrous. With 151 men killed and 320 wounded, among whom was Lieutenant-Colonel, the Marquis of Tweedale, the British were compelled to retire. Riall's object in retiring was to gain his intrenched camp, but General Brown, who now commanded the Americans, discovered a cross road, and Riall, abandoning Queenston, fell back to Twenty Mile Creek. The loss of the Americans was 70 killed and 9 officers and 240 men wounded. This was the most sanguinary of any battle that had been fought during the war, and the enemy, gaining courage, advanced gradually, and made demonstrations upon Forts George and Mississaga. On the 25th of July, Brown, not considering it expedient to advance and, unsafe to stand still, retreated upon Chippewa, the village of St. David's having been previously set on fire, by a Lieutenant-Colonel Stone, whom Brown compelled to retire from the army for his barbarity. General Riall now again advanced, when the enemy wheeled about and endeavoured to cut him off from his expected reinforcement. But he failed in doing so, General Drummond having come up with about three thousand men, of whom eighteen hundred were regulars. The enemy was five thousand strong, but General Drummond seized a commanding eminence which swept the whole field of battle. Nothing daunted, however, by this superiority of position, the Americans resolutely advanced to the charge, and the action, which commenced about six in the evening, soon became general along the whole line, the brunt of the battle falling, nevertheless, upon the British centre and left. General Riall, who commanded the left division of the army was forced back with his division, wounded, and made prisoner. The centre firmly maintained their ground. It was composed of the 89th, the Royals, and the King's regiment, well supported by the artillery, whose guns, worked with prodigious activity, carried great havoc in the enemy's ranks. Brown soon perceived that unless the guns were captured, the battle was lost; and he consequently bent all his energies to the accomplishment of that object. He ordered General Millar to charge up the hill and take the guns. The order was vigorously obeyed and five guns fell into the hands of the Americans, the British artillerymen being positively bayoneted in the act of loading, while the muzzles of the American guns were within a few yards of the English battery. It was now night and extremely dark. During the darkness some extraordinary incidents occurred. The British having, for a moment, been thrust back, some of the British guns remained for a few minutes in the enemy's hands. They were, however, not only quickly recovered, but the two pieces, a six pounder and a five and a half inch howitzer, which the enemy had brought up, were captured by the British, together with several tumbrils; and in limbering up the British guns, at one period, one of the enemy's six-pounders was put, by mistake, upon a British limber, and one of the British six-pounders was limbered on one of the enemy's. So that although American guns had been captured, yet as the Americans had captured one of the British guns, the British only gained, by the dark transaction, one gun. It was now 9 o'clock, and there was a short intermission of firing. Apparently the combatants sank to rest from pure exhaustion. It was a terrible repose. The din of battle had ceased, to be succeeded by the monotonous roar of the Great Falls. The moon had risen and at intervals glanced out of the angry blackish looking clouds, to reveal the pale faces of the dead, with still unrelaxed features, and some even yet, as it were, in an att.i.tude of defiance. The field of strife was one sea of blood, and the groans of the wounded and the dying sent a shudder through the boldest. Occasionally the flash of a gun or a few bright flashes of musketry revealed more strikingly than even the moon's pale rays, the living, the dying, and the dead. Short as was the respite, the enemy was not idle while it lasted. Brown was busily employed in bringing up the whole of his remaining force, and he afterwards renewed the attack with fresh troops, to be everywhere repulsed, with equal gallantry and success. Drummond had not neglected to bring up Riall's wing which had been previously ordered to retire. He placed them in a second line, with the exception of the Royal Scots, with which he prolonged his front line, on the right, where he was apprehensive of being outflanked by the enemy. The enemy's efforts to carry the hill were continued until about midnight, when he had suffered so severely from the superior steadiness and discipline of the British that he gave up the contest and retreated with great precipitation to his camp, beyond the Chippewa, which he abandoned on the following day, throwing the greatest part of his baggage, camp equipage, and provisions, into the rapids. He then set fire to Street's Mills, destroyed the bridge at Chippewa, and, in great disorder, continued his retreat towards Fort Erie. General Drummond detached his light troops, cavalry, and Indians, in pursuit, to hara.s.s his rear.

The Americans lost, in this fiercely contested struggle, at least 1,500 men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners: among the wounded were the two generals commanding, Brown and Scott. There were 5,000 Americans engaged, and only 2,800 British. General Drummond received a musket ball in the neck, but, concealing the circ.u.mstance from his troops, he remained on the ground until the close of the action. Lieutenant-Colonel Morrison, of the 89th regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, Captain Robinson, of the King's regiment, in command of the militia, and several other officers were severely wounded. The British loss, in all, was eight hundred and seventy men, including forty-two made prisoners, among whom were General Riall and his staff.

The Americans, now under the command of General Ripley, retreated upon Fort Erie, and intrenched themselves in its neighborhood. Gen'l. Gaines then a.s.sumed the command at Fort Erie, having come from Sackett's Harbour, in the fleet which was to have co-operated with the army, now cooped up in Fort Erie and altogether indifferent to such co-operation. The fleet went back again.

Still following up his successes, General Drummond laid siege to Fort Erie and the intrenched camp near it, and while he was doing so, three armed schooners, anch.o.r.ed off the fort, were captured by a body of marines, who pushed off in boats during the night, under Captain Dobbs, of the Royal Navy. General Drummond did not simply sit down before Fort Erie and the entrenchment, he did his best to effect a breach, and with that view kept up a constant fire from the two 24-pounder field guns which had proved more than ordinarily useful at the battle of Chippewa. It was not long indeed before he considered an a.s.sault practicable. He made the necessary preparations, and on the fourteenth, three columns, one under Colonel Fischer, consisting of the 8th and DeWatteville's regiment, and the flank companies of the 89th and 100th regiments, with a detachment of artillery, a second under Colonel Drummond, of the 104th regiment, made up of the flank companies of the 41st and 104th regiments, with a few seamen and marines, in charge of Captain Dobbs, and the other under Colonel Scott, consisting of his own regiment, the 103rd, and two companies of the royals. Colonel Fischer's column gained possession of the enemy's batteries at the point a.s.signed for its attack, two hours before daylight, but the other columns were behind time, having got entangled by marching too near the lake, between the rocks and the water, and the enemy being now on the alert, opened a heavy fire upon the leading column of the second division which threw it into confusion. Fischer's column had in the meanwhile almost succeeded in capturing the fort. They had actually crept into the main fort through the embrasures, in spite of every effort to prevent them. Nay, they turned the guns of the fort upon its defenders, who took refuge in a stone building, in the interior, and continued to resist. This desperate work continued for nearly an hour, when a magazine blew up, mangling most horribly nearly all the a.s.sailants within the fort. Of course there was a panic. The living, surrounded by the dying and the dead, the victims of accident, believed that they stood upon an infernal machine, to which the match had only to be placed. No effort could rally men impressed with such an idea. There was a rush, as it were, from inevitable death. Persuasion fell on the ears of men who could not hear. Persuasion fell upon the senses of men transfixed with one idea. Persuasion would have been as effectual in moving yonder blackened corpse into healthy life, as in moving to a sense of duty to themselves, men who could see nothing but the deadness around them, and whose minds saw only, under all, the blackness of immediate destruction. Those who were victors, until now, literally rushed from the fort. The reinforcements of the British soon arrived, but the explosion had again given the defenders heart, and they too, having received reinforcements, after some additional straggling, for the mastery, the British withdrew. The British loss amounted to 157 killed, 308 wounded, and 186 prisoners, among the killed being Colonels Scott and Drummond. The American loss was 84 in killed, wounded and missing.

A reinforcement was shortly afterwards obtained from Lower Canada. The 6th and the 82nd regiments came in time to compensate for previous losses, but General Drummond did not consider it expedient to make another attack. His purpose was equally well, and perhaps better obtained by keeping the whole American army of invasion prisoners in a prison selected by themselves, on British territory, and from which it was impossible to escape.

While these things were transpiring in Upper Canada, public attention was irresistibly drawn in another direction. About the middle of August, between fifty and sixty sail of British vessels of war arrived in the Chesapeake, with troops destined for the attack on Washington, the capital of the United States, Britain having now come to the determination of more vigorously prosecuting the war. Three regiments of Wellington's army, the 4th, 44th and 85th, were embarked at Bordeaux on the 2nd of June, on board the Royal Oak seventy-four, and Dictator and Diadem, of sixty-four guns each, and, having arrived at Bermuda on the 24th, they were there joined by the fusiliers, and by three regiments, from the Mediterranean, in six frigates, forming altogether a force of three thousand five hundred men. General Ross commanded the troops; Admiral c.o.c.kburn the fleet. Tangier's Island was first taken possession of, fortifications being erected, structures built, and the British flag hoisted. The negroes on the plantations adjoining were promised emanc.i.p.ation if they revolted, and fifteen hundred did revolt, were drilled, and formed into a regiment. They were useful but exceedingly costly, for on the conclusion of peace the proprietors of the negroes were indemnified, and His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia, than whom no one better knew the value of a serf, being the referee, awarded the enormous sum of 250,000, or nearly 150 for each negro that had gained his freedom, as the compensation adequate to the injury which the urgency of war made it necessary to inflict upon the cultivators of human farm stock.

The troops under General Ross were landed at Benedict, on the Pawtuxet river, forty-seven miles from Washington. On the 21st they moved towards Nottingham, and on the following day they reached Marlborough. A flotilla of launches and barges, commanded by Admiral c.o.c.kburn, ascended the river at the same time, keeping on the right flank of the army. There are two rivers by which Washington may be approached-the Potomac, which discharges itself into the upper extremity of the bay of Chesapeake, and the Pawtuxet. The object which the British military and naval commanders had in view when the Pawtuxet was decided on for the route by which a dash was to be made on the capital city of the American republic, was greater facility of access, and the destruction of Commodore Barney's powerful flotilla of gun-boats, which had taken refuge in its creeks. This flotilla, snugly moored in a situation only twelve miles from Washington, was fallen in with by Admiral c.o.c.kburn, on the 23rd. The Americans then seeing that it must be captured set fire to it and fled. Out of sixteen fine gun-boats, fifteen were totally consumed, but one gun-boat missed destruction and it, with thirteen merchant schooners, was made a prize of. The troops now marched rapidly forward. There were about 3,500 men, with 200 sailors to drag the guns, to oppose General Winder, who, with 16,600 men, had, on the faith of a hint received from Ghent, taken measures to protect the capital. When the British approached, however, General Winder had only 6,500 infantry, 300 cavalry, and 600 sailors to work the guns, which were twenty-six in number, while the British had only two. He took up a position at Bladensburg, six miles from Washington, so as to command the only bridge over the little Potomac, by which it could be crossed, and the highway to Washington being directly through his centre. He directed all his artillery upon the bridge. But the men now opposed to the Americans knew well how to carry bridges. General Ross, having formed his troops into two columns, the one under Colonel Thornton, and the other under Colonel Brooke, ordered the bridge to be crossed. Hardly was the order given, when in spite of artillery and musketry, Thornton's column had dashed across, carried a fortified house at the opposite side, and being quickly followed by the other division, had spread out sharpshooters on either flank. The militia of the United States soon got into confusion, and soon after fled. Indeed Commodore Barney and his sailors made the most gallant resistance, but he was soon overpowered, wounded, and with a great part of the seamen under him fell into the hands of the British. Ten guns were taken, the whole army was totally routed; and the enemy were fleeing past Washington, to the heights of Georgetown, horse and foot, as fast as fear could carry them. The day was oppressively hot, and the British army uninfluenced by fear were not able to continue their advance until the cool of the evening. They had not "suffered" at all. The entire loss was only 61 killed and 185 wounded. By eight at night they were within a mile of Washington, and the main body halted. With only seven hundred men General Ross and Admiral c.o.c.kburn were in the capital of a republic numbering eight millions of inhabitants, and proud of having in arms the inconsiderable number of eight hundred thousand men, to do with it as Commodore Chantey and General Dearborn had done to York, the capital of a territory containing ninety-five thousand inhabitants, man, woman, and child! half an hour afterwards, or pay a ransom. The ransom was refused and the torch was applied to a.r.s.enals, store-houses, senate house, house of representatives, dockyard, treasury, war office, president's palace, rope walk, and the great bridge across the Potomac. In the a.r.s.enal 20,000 stand of arms were consumed. A frigate and a sloop of war, afloat, were burnt, 206 cannon and 100,000 rounds of ball cartridge were taken and destroyed, and General Ross and Admiral c.o.c.kburn went back at their leisure to Benedict. In connection with this most extraordinarily successful enterprise reflecting the highest credit on General Ross, there had been some outcry about extending the ravages of war to pacific public buildings. Indeed the barbarity of destroying the legislative buildings, the White House and the public libraries of Washington has been harped upon most sentimentally and injudiciously. The destruction of some books, sc.r.a.ped together by a new country and, therefore, of no very great intrinsic value, is looked upon by the literati of this and of a past age, as a crime, and one of greater magnitude than the destruction of a village in Canada, on the 20th of December, with the thermometer at zero, and the snow two feet in depth upon the ground, women and children even being left to gather food and gather warmth where best they might. It is not considered that a palace or even a church or parliament building may be converted into a barrack or that, in some cases, even the destruction of a city may be necessary. The Americans had burglariously entered upon a war with the view of stealing Canada from its lawful owner, and being caught and stayed in the act, were fined, but refusing to pay, were distressed by the loss of public goods. The Americans, who were the sufferers, very naturally represented an act, which had so humiliated them, as barbarous, but how any other person could object to such a proceeding on the score that it was only worthy of a Goth, is difficult of conjecture. It is certainly a pity that fine edifices should be destroyed, and it is no less a pity that thousands of young men should be destroyed or mutilated, and that hundreds of thousands of their relatives should mourn because of war; but so long as war is possible, and possible it ever will be, until the amalgamation of the different species of the different nations, of the different tribes, and of the different tongues who inhabit the earth takes place, at the millennium; soon after which this great globe itself is to be dissolved with fervent heat, and all its magnificent palaces, gorgeous temples, and stupendous towers are to pa.s.s away for ever, will there be a waste and destruction of life and property at which extreme civilisation shudders. Educated men will doubtless mourn the loss of fine libraries and of grand cathedrals. English taste doubtless regrets that churches, the remains of which are yet so striking, should have been destroyed by indiscriminating fanaticism, but the man of sense will recollect the idolatry that has pa.s.sed away with them, as with the Parthenon, and he will weigh the gain to a people with the loss sustained by merely men of taste. And, beyond question, men of peace can paint the horrors of war vividly, and deny its necessity, but the man of ordinary understanding will not scruple to say that as war in the elements is sometimes necessary for a healthy atmosphere, so war among men is needful for the preservation of even a shadow of liberty to the individual, and that injury to public buildings, to trade and commerce, must result from it, for a time.

Immediately after the capture of Washington, Captain Gordon, in the frigate Seahorse, accompanied by the brig Euryalus, and several bomb-vessels, entered the Potomac. Without much difficulty he overcame the intricacies of the pa.s.sage leading by that river to the metropolis, and on the evening of the 27th, the expedition arrived abreast of Fort Washington. The Fort which had been constructed so as to command the river was immediately bombarded, and the powder magazine having exploded, the place was abandoned, and with all its guns, taken possession of by the British. Proceeding next to Alexandria, the bomb-vessels a.s.sumed a position which effectually commanded the shipping in the port, and the enemy were compelled to capitulate, when two and twenty vessels, including several armed schooners, fell into the hands of the British, and were brought away in triumph. There was some difficulty, however, in bringing off the prizes. To cut off the retreat of the British squadron, several batteries had been erected by the Americans, and these, now manned by the crews of the Baltimore flotilla, opened fire upon Captain Gordon and his prizes. The expeditionary and the captured vessels were, nevertheless, so skilfully navigated, and the fire from the bomb-vessels was so well directed that not a single ship took the ground, and the Americans were driven from their guns, the whole squadron being thus permitted to emerge from the Potomac, with its prizes, in safety.

An expedition was next fitted out against Baltimore, and the fleet moved in that direction, reaching the mouth of the Patapsco on the 11th September. The troops were landed on the day following the arrival of the fleet, and, while the ships moved up the river, marched upon Baltimore. For the first six miles no opposition was offered, but as Baltimore was approached a detachment of light troops were noticed occupying a thick wood through which the road pa.s.sed. Impelled by the daring for which he was distinguished, General Ross immediately advanced with the skirmishers to the front, and it was not long before the general received a wound, which so soon proved fatal that he had barely time to recommend his wife and family to the protection of his king and country before he breathed his last. The command, on the death of this energetic officer, devolved upon Colonel Brooke. The British light troops continued to come up and the enemy fell back, still skirmishing from behind the trees, to a fortified position stretching across a narrow neck of land, which separated the Patapsco and the Back Rivers. Here, six thousand infantry, four hundred horse, and six guns were drawn up in line, across the road, with either flank placed in a thick wood, and a strong wooden paling covering their front. The British, however, immediately attacked and with such vigour that in less than fifteen minutes the enemy were routed, and fled in every direction, leaving six hundred killed and wounded on the field of battle, besides three hundred prisoners, and two guns, in the hands of the British. On the following morning, the British were within a mile and a half of Baltimore. There he found fifteen thousand Americans, with a large train of artillery, manned by the crews of the frigates lying at Baltimore, strongly posted on a series of fortified heights which encircle the town. To charge a force of such magnitude with three thousand men would have been extremely hazardous, and Colonel Brooke determined upon a night attack; but, as the night fell, and Brooke was arranging his men for the contemplated a.s.sault, he received a letter from Admiral c.o.c.kburn, informing him that the enemy, by sinking twenty vessels in the river, (a mode of defence since adopted by Russia,) had prevented all further access to the ships, and rendered naval co-operation impossible. Under such circ.u.mstances, Brooke withdrew, without molestation, to his ships.

To the British, the operations on the seaboard, so far, had been as eminently successful as the operations in Upper Canada had been. In the northwest, there was one post which did not fall, and the fall of which was looked upon with indifference by the Americans when Michigan was recovered, after the defeat of the British fleet on Lake Erie. Contrary to the expectation of the enemy, that post, which was at Michillimackinac, had been reinforced early in the spring. Colonel McDonell, with a detachment of troops, arrived there on the 18th of May, with provisions and stores for the relief of the garrison. He did not remain idle when his chief errand was accomplished. In July he sent off Colonel McKay, of the Indian Department, with 650 men, Michigan Fencibles, Canadian Volunteers, Officers of the Indian Department, and Indians, to reduce Prairie-du-Chien, on the Mississippi. On the 17th of July, McKay arrived there. The enemy were in possession of a small fort, and two block-houses, armed with six guns, while in front of the fort, in the middle of the river, there was a gun-boat of considerable size, in which there were no less than fourteen pieces of ordnance. McKay was superlatively polite. He sent a message to the commander of the fort, recommending an immediate surrender. But, as McKay had only one gun, the American promptly refused, and was not a little ironical in his refusal. McKay, highlander as he was, could stand anything but irony, and he opened fire with his solitary gun upon the gunboat, by way of returning the compliment. With this only iron in the fire, he soon gave such proof of metal that the gun-boat cut her cable and ran down stream. McKay now threw up a mud battery, and on the evening of the 19th, he was prepared with his one gun to bombard the fort. The enemy seeing the earthworks doubtless imagined that McKay's park of artillery was more considerable than it was, and without waiting for a single round he hoisted a white flag in token of submission, when McKay took possession of the fort. It contained only three officers and seventy-one men, but the exploit was a gallant one, nevertheless, and of essential service in securing British influence over the Indian tribes.

The Americans on being informed that Michillimackinac had been reinforced, and perhaps antic.i.p.ating that further mischief to them might ensue, sent Colonel Croghan without loss of time to capture it. Croghan dispatched Major Holmes upon Ste. Marie to plunder the North West Company of their stores. The miscreant was only too successful. Not content with plunder only, he set fire to the buildings and reduced them to ashes. He gave further proof of the possession of a cruel and barbarous disposition, by enjoying the unavailing efforts of a poor horse to extricate itself from a burning building to which it had been inhumanly attached, to be burnt to death, after having been employed the greater part of the day in carrying off the plunder from the stores. This wretch, accompanied by nine hundred men, of a stamp similar to himself, effected a landing near Michillimackinac, on the 4th of August. But the reception given to him was of such a nature that he speedily re-embarked, leaving seventeen dead men, besides his own inanimate remains, to be buried by the people in the fort. Michillimackinac was not yet, however, quite safe. There were on the lake two American armed vessels, the Tigress and Scorpion, each carrying a long twenty-four pounder gun, on a pivot, and manned by thirty-two men, which intercepted the supplies intended for the garrison. It was most necessary to destroy or get hold of them, and this not unimportant business was entrusted to Lieutenant Worsley, of the Royal Navy, and Lieutenant Bulger, of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. These two gallant officers proceeded to the despatch of business with praiseworthy alacrity. On the evening of the 3rd of September, one vessel was boarded and captured, and on the morning of the 5th the other craft was captured. Michillimackinac was now sufficiently safe.

The war, which was no longer, on the part of the British, a merely defensive one, was now being offensively prosecuted with vigour in several quarters, almost simultaneously. Washington had been taken and Baltimore a.s.sailed on one side; and Fort Erie, containing the American army of the West, was closely invested. It was now determined to prosecute hostilities from Nova Scotia, which then included New Brunswick, upon the northeastern States of the American Union. With this view, Sir John Sherbrooke sent Colonel Pilkington in the Ramilies, commanded by Sir Thomas Hardy, to take possession of Moose Island, the chief town of which is Eastport, commanded by a strongly situated fort, on an overhanging hill, called Fort Sullivan. The fort was, however, only occupied by Major Putnam, six other officers, and eighty men, and was taken possession of on the 11th of July, without resistance, the garrison being made prisoners of war. As soon as the news of this successful enterprise reached the ears of Sherbrooke, he determined upon personally undertaking another expedition. On the 26th of August, he, accordingly, embarked, at Halifax, the whole of the troops at his disposal, in ten transports, and in company with the squadron, commanded by Admiral Griffiths, sailed for the river Pen.o.bscot, on the 1st of September, when the fort at Castine, commanding the entrance to the river, was evacuated and blown up. The American frigate John Adams, was in the river and, on the approach of the fleet, she was run up the river as high as Hampden. The better to protect her from capture her guns were taken out and, at some distance below Hampden, batteries or earthworks were erected, in which all the guns of the frigate were placed. The capture or destruction of the John Adams was, however, determined upon, and Captain Barrie, of the Dragon, with a party of seamen, accompanied by Colonel John, at the head of six hundred of the 60th regiment, was sent off to effect it. For a short time the batteries resisted, but the attack being well managed the Americans gave way, and, having set fire to the frigate, fled in all directions. The expedition pushed on to Bangor, which surrendered without resistance; and from thence they went to Machias, which surrendered by capitulation, the whole militia of the county of Washington being put on their parole not to serve again during the war. The whole country between the Pen.o.bscot and the frontier of that part of Nova Scotia, which is now New Brunswick, was then formally taken possession of, and a provisional government established, to rule it while the war continued.

About this time, the army in Canada was re-inforced by the arrival of several generals and officers who had acquired distinction in Spain, and by the successive arrival of frigates from the army which had been so successfully commanded by the ill.u.s.trious Wellington, and with which he had invaded France. In August, Sir George Prevost had been re-inforced with sixteen thousand men from the Garonne. There were, consequently, great antic.i.p.ations. Even General Sir George Prevost dreamed of doing something worthy of immortality. And such expectations were natural. With a mere handful of troops, General Drummond had proved how much an intelligent and decided commander can do, and Sir George Prevost, with some of the best troops in the world, was about to prove, to all the nations in it, how good blood may be spilled, and material and treasure wasted by a commander inadequate to the task either of leading men to victory or of securing their retreat until victory be afterwards obtained. Sir George Prevost determined upon the invasion of the State of New York, and as if naval co-operation was absolutely necessary to transport his troops to Plattsburgh, Sir George Prevost urged upon Commodore Sir James Yeo to equip the Lake Champlain fleet with the greatest expedition. The commodore replied that the squadron was completely equipped and had more than ninety men over the number required to man it. And under the supposition that Captain Fischer, who had prepared the flotilla for active service, had not acted with prompt.i.tude in giving the Commander-in-Chief such information as he desired, Sir James sent Captain Downie to supersede him. Sir George, who seemed to have some misgivings about this fleet, and was still most anxious to bring it into active service, finding Sir James Yeo, who knew His Excellency well, quite impracticable, applied to Admiral Otway, who, with the Ajax and Warspite, was then in the port of Quebec, for a re-inforcement of sailors from these vessels for the Lake Champlain flotilla. Admiral Otway did as he was requested to do. A large re-inforcement of sailors were immediately sent off to Lake Champlain, and Sir George having sent Major-General Sir James Kempt to Upper Canada, to make an attack upon Sackett's Harbour, if practicable, concentrated his own army, under the immediate command of General DeRottenburg, between Laprairie and Chambly. He then moved forward, towards the United States frontier, with about 11,000 men to oppose 1,500 American regulars and as many militia, under General Macomb, whose force had been weakened by 4,000 men, sent off under General Izzard, from Sackett's Harbour, to re-inforce the troops at Fort Erie. Prevost, who had with him Generals Power, Robinson, and Brisbane, in command of divisions, men inured to fighting, and well accustomed to command, met with so inconsiderable an opposition from the Americans, that General Macomb admits that the invaders "did not deign to fire upon them." His powerful army was before Plattsburgh, only defended by three redoubts and two block-houses; he had been permitted, for three days, to bring up his heavy artillery; he had a force with him ten times greater than that which, under Colonel Murray, took possession of it, in 1813; and yet Sir George Prevost hesitated to attack Plattsburgh, until he could obtain the co-operation of Commodore Downie, commanding the Confiance, of 36 guns, the Linnet, of 18 guns, the Chubb, of 10 guns, the Finch, of 10 guns, and 12 gun-boats, containing 16 guns! because the enemy had a squadron consisting of the ship Saratoga, of 26 guns, the brig Eagle, of 20 guns, the schooner Ticonderoga, of 17 guns, and the cutter Preble, of 7 guns. The British Commodore Downie was not quite ready for sea. His largest vessel, the Confiance, had been recently launched, and was not finished. He could not perceive either the necessity for such excessive haste. He would have taken time and gone coolly into action, but he had received a letter from the Commander of the Forces which made the blood tingle in his cheeks. Sir George Prevost had been in readiness for Commodore Downie's expected arrival all morning, and he hoped that the wind only had delayed the approach of the squadron. The anchors of the Confiance were immediately raised, and with the carpenters still on board, Commodore Downie made all sail. Nay, he seemed to have forgotten that he had a fleet of brigs and boats to manage, so terribly was he excited by Sir George's unfortunate expression in connection with the wind. The Confiance announced her approach on rounding c.u.mberland Head, by discharging all her guns one after the other. The other vessels were hardly visible in her wake, and still Captain Downie bore down upon the enemy's line, to within two cable's length, without firing a shot, when the Confiance came to anchor, and opened fire upon the enemy. General Prevost had promised to attack the fort as soon as the fleet appeared, but instead of doing so, Sir George very deliberately ordered the army to cook their breakfasts. The troops cooked away while Downie fought desperately with a fleet which, as a whole, was superior in strength to his, and which was rendered eminently superior by the shameful defection of the gun-boats manned by Canadian militia and soldiers of the 39th regiment. Downie kept up a terrific fire, with only his own frigate, a brig and sloop, wholly surrounded as he was, by the American fleet. The brig Finch had taken the ground out of range, and the whole of the gun-boats, except three and one cutter, had deserted him. He was, nevertheless, on the very point of breaking the enemy's line, when the wind failed. As before stated, he cast anchor, and with his first broadside had laid half the crew of the Saratoga low. The Chubb was soon, however, crippled and became unmanageable. She drifted within the enemy's lines and was compelled to surrender. The whole fire of the enemy was now concentrated upon the Confiance, and still the latter fired broadside after broadside with much precision and so rapidly that every gun on board of the Saratoga on one side was disabled and silenced, although she lay at such a distance that she could not be taken possession of. But Captain Downie had fallen. The Confiance was now commanded by Lieutenant Robertson, who was entirely surrounded and raked by the brigs and gun-boats of the enemy, while the Saratoga, out of range, had cut her cable and wound round so as to bring a new broadside, as it were, to bear upon the Confiance. It was in vain that the Confiance attempted to do as the Saratoga had done. Three officers and thirty-eight of her men had been killed, and one officer and thirty-nine men had been wounded. Lieutenant Robertson was at last compelled to strike his colours, and Captain Pring, of the Linnet, was reluctantly obliged to follow the example. In all one hundred and twenty men had fallen, and the cheering of the enemy informed the British army that the fleet for the co-operation of which Sir George Prevost had so unnecessarily waited, was annihilated. "You owe it, Sir, to the shameful conduct of your gun-boats and cutters, said the magnanimous American Commodore, McDonough, to Lieutenant Robertson, when that officer was in the act of presenting his sword to him, that you arc performing this office to me; for, had they done their duty, you must have perceived from the situation of the Saratoga that I could hold out no longer; and, indeed, nothing induced me to keep up her colours but my seeing, from the united fire of all the rest of my squadron on the Confiance, and her unsupported situation, that she must ultimately surrender." Sir George Prevost had by this time swallowed his breakfast. He had directed the guns of the batteries to open on the American squadron, but ineffectually, as they were too far off. Orders were at length given to attack the fort. General Robinson advanced with the view of fording the Saranac, and attacking the works in front, and General Brisbane had made a circuit for the purpose of attacking the enemy in the rear. Robinson's troops, led astray by the guides, were delayed, and had but reached the point of attack when the shouts from the American works intimated the surrender of the fleet. To have carried the fort would have been a work of easy accomplishment, but the signal for retreat was given; Robinson was ordered to return with his column; and Prevost soon afterwards commenced a retrograde movement, which admits barely of excuse and could not be justified. So indignant indeed was the gallant General Robinson that it is a.s.serted he broke his sword, declaring that he could never serve again. The army indeed went leisurely away in mournful submission to the orders of a superior on whom they could but look with feelings akin to shame. Four hundred men, ashamed to be known at home, in connection with a retreat so unlooked for and so degrading, deserted to the enemy. And it is little to be wondered at, that murmurs in connection with the name of Prevost and Plattsburgh, were long, loud, and deep. Sir George felt the weight of public opinion and was crushed under it. He resigned the government of Canada and demanded a Court Martial, but he had a judge within himself, from whom he could not escape, and whose judgment weighed upon "a mind diseased," in the broad noonday and at the midnight hour, with such overpowering weight that the nervous system became relaxed, and death at last relieved a man, who, only that he wanted decision of purpose, was amiable, kind, well intentioned, and honest, of a load of grief, before even the sentence of a Court Martial could intervene to ameliorate his sorrows. It is extremely to be regretted indeed that so excellent a Civil Governor should have been so indifferent a military commander. But, entirely different qualifications are required in the civilian and in the soldier. It is indeed on record that the Great Duke, who was the idol of the British people as a soldier, was the reverse of being popular as a statesman. He was ever clear-headed and sensible; but his will would never bend to that of the many. Desirous of human applause, he could not court it, though he was yet vain of his celebrity, and studied to be celebrated, knowing the value that attaches to position and to fame. Sir George Prevost was a man of exactly an opposite disposition to that of the Great Duke. To be great, he flattered little prejudices and weak conceits. He never forced any measure or any opinion down another person's throat. He was content to retain his own opinion and ever doubted its correctness. Personally, he was brave, but he was ever apprehensive.

In defence of the retreat of Sir George Prevost, the opinion expressed by Lord Wellington to Lord Bathurst, in 1813, is quoted. Wellington advised the pursuance of a defensive policy, knowing that there were not then men sufficient in Canada for offensive warfare, and because by pursuing a defensive system, the difficulties and risk of offensive operations would be thrown upon the enemy, who would most probably be foiled. This opinion was verified to the letter. On the other hand, the authority of Wellington, who says to Sir George Murray, that after the destruction of the fleet on Lake Champlain, Prevost must have returned to Kingston, sooner or later, is valueless, inasmuch as His Grace in naming Kingston, had evidently mistaken the locality of the disaster, and must have fancied that Plattsburgh was Sackett's Harbour. He says that a naval superiority on the Canadian lakes is a sine qua non in war on the frontier of Canada, even should it be defensive. But Lake Champlain is not one of the Canadian lakes, and, therefore, this justification of a military mistake is somewhat far-fetched. Sir George Prevost failed because he feared to meet the fate of Burgoyne, and he incurred deep and lasting censure because, when it was in his power, he did nothing to retrieve it. Historic truth, says the historian of Europe, compels the expression of an opinion that though proceeding from a laudable motive-the desire of preventing a needless effusion of human blood-the measures of Sir George Prevost were ill-judged and calamitous.

Sir James Yeo accused Sir George Prevost of having unduly hurried the squadron on the lake into action, at a time when the Confiance was unprepared for it; and when the combat did begin, of having neglected to storm the batteries, as had been agreed on, so as to have occasioned the destruction of the flotilla and caused the failure of the expedition.

The result of the Plattsburgh expedition was exhilarating to the Americans. It seemed to be compensation for the misfortunes and disasters of Hull, of Hampton, and of Wilkinson. In the interior of Fort Erie even a kind of contempt was entertained for the British. In their joy at the discomfiture of Downie and the catastrophe of Prevost, they began to look with contempt even upon General Drummond, who had cooped them up where they were. Hardly had the news reached these unfortunate besieged people than a sortie was determined upon, and such is the effect of good fortune that it infuses new spirit, and generally insures further success. In the onset the Americans gained some advantages. During a thick mist and heavy rain, they succeeded in turning the right of the British picquets, and made themselves masters of the batteries, doing great damage to the British works. But no sooner was the alarm given than re-inforcements were obtained, and the besiegers drove the besieged back again into their works, with great slaughter. The loss on each side was about equal. The Americans lost 509 men in killed, wounded, and missing, including 11 officers killed and 23 wounded, while the British loss was 3 officers and 112 men killed, 17 officers and 161 men wounded, and 13 officers and 303 men missing. On the 21st of September, General Drummond, finding the low situation in which his troops were engaged very unhealthy, by reason of continued rain, shifted his quarters to the neighborhood of Chippewa, after in vain endeavoring to provoke the American General to battle. General Izzard had, meanwhile, arrived from Sackett's Harbour with 4,000 troops from Plattsburgh, but General Brown, having heard that Sir James Yeo had completed a new ship, the St. Lawrence, of 100 guns, and had sailed from Kingston for the head of the lake, with a re-inforcement of troops and supplies for the army, Commodore Chauncey having previously retired to Sackett's Harbour, instead of prosecuting the advantages which the addition of 4,000 men promised, blew up Fort Erie and withdrew with his whole troops into American territory, realizing the prediction of General Izzard, that his expedition would terminate in disappointment and disgrace.

It indeed seems quite evident that the supremacy, which Sir James Yeo, an officer at once brave, prudent, and per