STANFORD LIBRARY SELECT BRITISH DOCUMENTS G 1812 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I PREPARATION GENERAL, NAVAL, AND MILITARY ENERAL.-Even at the very beginning of the nineteenth century the United States and Canada were watching each other with suspicious eyes. Vague rumours were floating about. They came from no knew where, gathered strength as they came, and increased suspicion when they arrived. They were sometimes unfounded. But their persistence told, and their impalpability no less. The "Green Mountain Boys" were supposed to be harbouring designs like those which had been harboured by Ethan Allen, the raider of Ticonderoga, at the time of the Revolution. Secret committees were said to be sitting, on both sides of the line, for the encouragement of " Jacobins and the upsetting of all things British in America. The general commanding at Halifax in 1804 warned his brother officer at York (Toronto) that the Indians were off for no good purpose, that French emissaries were active across the border, and that all the anti-British elements were being VOL. I. A CHAP. X. OPERATIONS ON THE FRONTIERS: LA COLLE, XI. BRITISH COUNTER-INVASION OF THE UNITED XII. THE END OF THE WAR. 1814-15 PACE 97 115 130 I. Niagara Frontier: YORK and FORT GEORGE in July and 3. Detroit Frontier: BROWNSTOWN, August 5, 1812; MAGUAGA, August 9, 1812; DETROIT, August 16, 1812 4. Niagara Frontier: QUEENSTON, October 13, 1812 347 455 580 5. Niagara Frontier: FRENCHMAN'S CREEK, November 28, 1812 6. Montreal Frontier: ST. REGIS, October 23 and November 23, 1812; LA COLLE, November 20, 1812 639 667 7. MISCELLANEOUS, 1812 677 Frontispiece To face p. I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. PORTRAIT OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC · From the water-colour in the possession of Miss 2. PORTRAIT OF SIR GEORGE PREVOST, GOVERNOR-GENERAL AND COMMANDER IN-CHIEF From a mezzotint by F. W. Reynolds. 3. ARMY BILL FOR TWO DOLLARS From original in the possession of Sir Edmund Walker, ARMY BILL FOR THREE DOLLARS From original in the possession of Lieut.-Colonel 4. A FOUR-DOLLAR ARMY BILL FORM. From original in the possession of Sir Edmund Walker, 5. COMMISSION FROM BROCK TO WILLIAM From original in the possession of the estate of the 6. PORTRAIT OF SIR ISAAC BROCK From the miniature by J. Hudson in 1806 in the 7. SILHOUETTES OF SIR ISAAC BROCK AND From originals in the possession of Æmilius Jarvis, prepared to rally round a French invading army, in which, however, he hardly believed. In 1807 the question was often debated in the Governor's Council at Quebec; and the name of Brock, then commanding there, began to be mentioned in connection with schemes of defence. "His Honor therefore observed to the Board, that, in their present Deliberations, they must in a great degree be guided by Colonel Brock's opinion of the necessity for having immediate recourse to the Extraordinary Measures proposed in his Letter of the 17th Instant for the Defence of Quebec, and that He thought it advisable Colonel Brock should be apprized of the Means of Assistance within the reach or at the disposal of the Executive Government, as well as of the Difficulties that may impede the Executive. The Militia when embodied are by Law entitled to receive the same pay and allowance as the King's Troops. No funds for this purpose are at the disposal of the Civil Government, but they have hitherto been invariably provided by the Commander in Chief of the Forces. . . . After Deliberation it was ordered, that the Clerk of the Council transmit a Copy of the present Minute to Colonel Brock, and inform him that the Council will meet again at Twelve o'clock for the purpose of taking into consideration any Representation in writing which he may judge it proper to make in consequence of this communication, and also that, if it is convenient to Colonel Brock, the Council request his personal attendance at the above hour." This is the entry for the 22nd of July 1807, the year in which the American war party ought to have struck, and struck hard, if they intended to strike at all. The next year Castlereagh was writing "Secret-andConfidentials" out to Sir James Craig, the Governor-General, saying that Napoleon's refusal to soften his blockade in favour of the United States " diminished the Probability of any Rupture." But "at the same time it is not considered of such a Nature as to warrant the suspension or Discontinuance of those Measures of Precaution which you have been instructed to take." Disputed boundaries of course came into unusual prominence at such a time; and both sides happened to be greatly exercised over Moose Island in Passamaquoddy Bay, on the coast of Maine, and Carleton Island, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, between Kingston and Sackett's Harbour. The Governor-General enjoined the greatest caution on his subordinates, particularly specifying that military officers were to be very careful not to give the Americans the slightest ground of complaint by any appearance of high-handed action. The years 1809 and 1810 were a little quieter, but rather from the fact that mutual suspicions had become habitual than from the removal of the causes which had originally led to them. In 1811 Sir George Prevost became Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, a dual office which then implied the exercise of very real power. Prevost was purely Swiss by blood, though his father had been a British officer of some note in minor positions of civil and military trust. He was already familiar with conditions in the BritishAmerican colonies. In 1805 he had been made a baronet for defending Dominica. Afterwards, when LieutenantGovernor of Nova Scotia, he had taken part in a successful attack on Martinique. His promotion to Quebec was consequently expected to prove a good stroke of policy. At first it seemed to be so. He was comparatively young, only forty-four. His manners were suavely diplomatic, in marked contrast to those of his immediate predecessor, the abrupt, determined Craig. His mother-tongue was French. French ways were thoroughly familiar to him and he was well fitted to understand French-Canadian aspirations. But there his public virtues ended. He lacked effective initiative himself and he was afraid of encouraging it in others. He had none |