under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel St George. The surrounding country was difficult to traverse, and the River Canard, flowing a little distance behind the village, and falling into the Detroit River some three miles above it, offered a favourable position for checking the advance of an enemy. Off the mouth of the Canard lay the British sloop of war Queen Charlotte, eighteen guns, which effectually prevented the advance of an armament by

water.

On the 17th, Hull pushed forward a detachment towards Amherstburg to reconnoitre, which was speedily driven back by the few troops and Indians St George had ambushed at the Canard. Next day the Americans, in greater numbers, attempted to force a passage, with no better success; and on the 20th they were a third time repulsed. On this occasion two hundred of their army, attempting to ford the river higher up, were put to inglorious flight by twenty-two Indians; many, in their hurry to escape, throwing away their arms and accoutrements. Hull now began to be encumbered with wounded, and the vessel in which were the hospital stores of his army having been captured, his difficulties increased. In his rear Mackinaw had fallen, while Colonel Proctor, who had been sent on by Brock with a small reinforcement, pushed a force across the river opposite Amherstburg, on the 5th of August, which routed two hundred and sixty of the enemy, captured a convoy of provisions, and effectually interrupted his communication with Ohio. Had Hull pushed forward at once after crossing the river, with resolution and skill, Amherstburg must have fallen. But the right time for action had been allowed to pass: the Indians were arriving in considerable numbers to aid the British, the militia also began to muster; and, worst of all, Brock was advancing from Toronto. On the 7th and 8th, Hull recrossed the river with the whole of his army, except a garrison of two hundred and fifty men left in a small fort he had erected at Sandwich, and established himself at Detroit. From thence he despatched a body of seven hundred men to re-open his communications with Ohio,-a duty effected with heavy loss to themselves, while the British and their Indian allies, although compelled to retreat, suffered very little. On the other hand, Lieutenant Rochelle, with the boats of the Queen Charlotte and Hunter, attacked and captured a boat-convoy of the Americans. After a fatiguing journey by land and water, Brock arrived at Amherstburg on the night of the 13th, and met the Indians in council on the following morning. Among the chiefs present was Tecumseh, destined to appear so prominently in Canadian history. His general

appearance was prepossessing. Of average stature, his figure was light, graceful, and finely proportioned; while his hazel eye, and sharp penetrating glance, showed him to be a man of energy and decision.

In one of the recent skirmishes Hull's despatches to his Government had been captured. These breathed so desponding a tone, and painted his position in such unfavourable colours,* that Brock determined to attack him before he received succour, a course most amply justified by the result. By the 15th a battery was constructed on the bank of the river, opposite Detroit, and three guns and two howitzers placed in position, when Brock summoned Hull to surrender. He refused to comply, when the battery opened fire. Next morning the British, numbering in all seven hundred regulars and militia and six hundred Indians, crossed the river three miles below the town. Forming his men in column, and throwing out the Indians to cover his flanks, General Brock advanced steadily towards the fort. When at the distance of a mile he halted to reconnoitre, and observing that little or no precautions for defence had been taken at the land side, resolved on an immediate assault. But Hull prevented this movement by capitulating; the garrison with troops encamped in the vicinity, amounting altogether to two thousand five hundred men, surrendering to little more than half their number. With Detroit a large quantity of military stores and provisions were given up, and the territory of Michigan also surrendered on the simple condition that life and property should be respected. The American militia were permitted to return to their homes, while the regular troops and officers, over one thousand in number,† were sent down to Quebec.

Thus disgracefully, on the part of the Americans, ended the first attempt to conquer Upper Canada. Within the short space of five weeks Mackinaw had fallen, Detroit had been captured, and the chief part of their army of invasion compelled to surrender; while their whole north-western frontier was left exposed to hostile incursions. The successes of British regular troops and militia, against a force so much their superior in numbers, had a most excellent effect in raising the spirits of the Canadian people, and securing the fidelity of the Indians. Had Hull been a man of energy and decision, matters must have been very different. Yet, in any event, with the force at his disposal, he could scarcely have established himself permanently in a hostile country difficult to traverse, and which, as at the River Canard, presented many favourable positions + Auchinleck, p. 59.

Christie, vol. ii. p. 28.

to check the progress of an invading force. But, aside from every consideration, his surrender was one of the most cowardly and humiliating occurrences which had ever taken place in North America. Hull's timid and vacillating conduct appears in strange contrast with the foresight, energy, and decision of the gallant Brock. The rapid movement on Mackinaw; the expeditious advance to Amherstburg, after he had dismissed the Legislature; and the passage of the Detroit River in the face of a superior force, when he had learned the timidity of its leader, unquestionably stamp the latter as a man of superior genius, and remind one of the most fortunate days of the gallant Montcalm. The statement that Brock committed a grave military error in assuming the aggressive at Amherstburg, is simply nonsense. There was no rashness about the movement. He understood his antagonist, acted as any gallant man would, or should, have acted in the premises, and was accordingly successful. The great error would have been, in not availing himself of so favourable an opportunity to strike the important blow he did.

On the same day on which Detroit surrendered, General Brock issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Michigan, confirming them in the full enjoyment of their properties; and stating, that the existing laws would continue in force until the pleasure of the Crown should be known. Having made such other arrangements as he deemed necessary, he returned to Toronto, where, on the 17th, he was received by the heartfelt acclamations of a grateful people. He would have followed up his successes by an immediate attempt on Fort Niagara, but was prevented by his instructions from Sir George Prevost.

The Home Government hitherto had been inclined to pursue a policy of forbearance towards America, under the supposition that the Orders in Council having been repealed, the quarrel would soon be arranged. Aggressive measures, it was thought, would only tend to exasperate the Americans, widen the breach, and hinder the establishment of peace. In pursuance of this line of policy, Prevost had proposed, in the latter part of July, an armistice to the Commander-in-Chief of the United States' army, Major-General Dearborn, in the hope that existing differences might be speedily arranged. The latter agreed to this measure, excepting, however, Hull's army; but the American Secretary of War, General Armstrong, refused to ratify the armistice, presuming it originated in a sense of weakness and danger on the part of the British General.

The recent invasion of Canada had been based on the same

principle of combined movement pursued by Amherst. Hull was to enter this country at Detroit, and Van Ransallaer at the Niagara River, while Dearborn assailed it by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu. In addition to the troops assembled at these points, the Americans had established military posts at various favourable positions along the frontier, whence harrassing incursions were frequently made across the border, which inflicted serious injury on the inhabitants. At Gananoque a party of one hundred and fifty, led by Captain Forsythe, landed, defeated a small body of militia, took possession of some public stores, and retired after ill-treating the defenceless people of the neighbourhood. At Ogdensburg a considerable force was stationed, under Brigadier Brown, which seriously interrupted the communication between Kingston and Montreal. Lieutenant-Colonel Lethbridge, commanding at Prescott, formed the design of capturing this position, and advanced across the river, on the 4th of October, under cover of the guns of his own fort. When about mid-channel the enemy opened a warm and well-directed fire upon the boats, which speedily compelled him to retreat, with a loss of three men killed and four wounded. On the 9th an affair of more importance occurred at Fort Erie. An armed brig, as well as another vessel laden with prisoners and furs, had arrived the preceding day, and were cut out just before dawn by a strong party of Americans. Both vessels drifted down the current of the Niagara River, and grounded near the opposite shore, where the crews after a sharp contest were made prisoners. During a fog a party of British from Fort Erie succeeded in boarding and dismantling the armed brig. A few lives were lost during these occurrences.

Owing to the infatuation of the Home Government, who still confidently looked for the establishment of peace, and had no idea that the conquest of Canada was really desired by the Americans, the 103d regiment and a weak battalion of the 1st, or Royal Scots, with a few recruits, were the only assistance despatched to Sir George Prevost up to this period. Matters had in the meantime assumed a more threatening appearance along the American frontier. Irritated rather than discouraged by the surrender of Hull, preparations by land and water were energetically pushed forward for the conquest of Upper Canada before the winter set in. General Harrison had collected a large army at the west to revenge the fall of Detroit, while Dearborn instructed Van Ransallaer to penetrate Brock's line of defence on the Niagara at Queenston, and establish himself permanently in the province. For this operation the force at his

disposal was amply sufficient, the British regulars and militia collected for the defence of this entire frontier of thirty-six miles being under two thousand men. But owing to the exertions of Brock, who saw clearly the approaching storm, these troops were in the best possible state of efficiency, and thoroughly on the alert.

During the 12th Van Ransallaer completed his preparations for attacking Queenston. The following morning was cold and stormy, but nevertheless his troops embarked in boats at an early hour, and everything made ready to push across the river with the first blush of dawn. These movements were soon discovered by the British sentries, who gave the alarm. Captain Dennis of the 49th, who commanded at Queenston, immediately collected two companies of his regiment and about one hundred of the militia at the landingplace to oppose the enemy, whom he held in check for a considerable time, aided by the fire of an eighteen-pounder in position on the heights above, and a masked gun about a mile lower down. A portion of the Americans, however, landed higher up, and ascending by an unguarded path, turned the British flank, captured the eighteenpounder, and speedily compelled Dennis to retreat, after having sustained considerable loss, to the north end of the village. Here he was met by General Brock, who had heard the cannonade at Niagara, and pushed forward in company with his aides-de-camp, Major Glegg and Colonel M'Donnell, to ascertain its cause. Having learned how matters stood, he dismounted from his horse, and resolving to carry the heights now fully in possession of the Americans, placed himself at the head of a company of the 49th, and, waving his sword, led them to the charge in double-quick time, under a heavy fire from the enemy's riflemen. Ere long one of these singled out the General, took deliberate aim, fired, and the gallant Brock, without a word, sank down to rise no more. The 49th now raised a shout to "revenge the General!" when regulars and militia madly rushed forward, and drove the enemy, despite their superior numbers, from the summit of the hill.

By this time the Americans had been strongly reinforced, and the British, who had never exceeded three hundred altogether, finding themselves nearly surrounded, were compelled to retire, having sustained a loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of about one hundred men, including several officers. They reformed in front of the one-gun battery, already stated as being a mile below Queenston, to await the arrival of assistance. Van Ransallaer had, therefore, made a solid lodgement on Canadian soil with nearly a thousand men, and after giving orders to form an intrenched camp, recrossed