Feeling in Great Britain. Government as to be dismissed. In 1809 the area over which the blockade held good was greatly restricted, and in 1810 it seemed as though the tension would be relieved, Napoleon undertaking to revoke the Berlin and Milan decrees if the Orders in Council were withdrawn. Meanwhile, however, in the United States the feeling against Great Britain was gathering strength. It is true that the people of New England were generally of opinion that a war with Great Britain would be both unnecessary and unjust, and that a powerful minority in most of the States were in favour of peace. But it cannot be denied that the conduct of Great Britain was high-handed and galling to a proud and sensitive people, and that the claim to impress British subjects in American ships was one which, though probably necessary, was certain to lead to trouble. It seems clear that the announcement of the French revocation was purposely delayed so as to drive the Americans into war. The moment was Critical assuredly a critical one for Great Britain. Napoleon's Russian situation of expedition was on the point of starting, the event of which would probably decide the fate of the world. The issue of the Peninsular War was still in doubt, and British statesmen may well have argued that, if things went wrong in Europe, a little more or less disaster would hardly count in the general downfall; while, if Napoleon were conquered, it would be no difficult matter to recover ground lost in America. Whatever be the reason, at the time of the breaking out of the war, the regular troops in Canada consisted of some four thousand five hundred men, of whom only fifteen hundred were stationed above Montreal. As some compensation, the unpopularity of the war with great sections of the people paralysed the arm of the United States. Party divisions renewed themselves in the councils of generals and amongst the common soldiers. Massachusetts refused to furnish its militia, and many of the men who came from other States refused to cross into Canada, and deserted the ranks. Brock himself bore witness, in a letter to his brother (dated September 18, 1812), that his attempts at defence would be unavailing if the Americans were of one mind. With justice he hoped that their divisions would be the safety of Upper Canada. Declara tion of war. War was declared by the United States on June 18, 1812, and the news arrived in both Lower and Upper Canada on the 24th. In Lower Canada, Prevost, by obtaining the assent. of the Legislature to the issuing of army bills payable in Government bills of exchange on London, greatly relieved the financial situation. The Assembly cheerfully granted the sum of fifteen thousand pounds annually for five years to pay the interest on these bills, which were authorized to the extent of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Had Upper Canada waited for the official announcement of the war, the news would have come in the shape of actual invasion, but an agent of the North-West Company brought the tidings. Early in July an army of about two thousand men under the American general, Hull, marched to Detroit. A detachment Invasion crossed the Canadian frontier and occupied Sandwich on of Canada. July 12, the British retreating to Amherstburg on the Detroit river at the north-west end of Lake Erie. In a magniloquent Proclamation Hull denounced the employment of Indians, and posed as the rescuer of the Upper Canadians from British tyranny. In this attitude Hull was no doubt perfectly honest. The knowledge that Upper Canada contained many Americans, and the strong prejudice which then prevailed in the United States against monarchical institutions, caused the Americans to regard themselves in the light of deliverers. They resembled the French republicans who marched ready to embrace subject peoples, and shoot down such as would not be embraced. We know from Brock's letters how serious he thought the situation throughout July. In his bitterness he wrote that the population was essentially bad. Legislators, magistrates, and military officers were all possessed by a feeling of Canada. Situation sluggish despair. He complained that the Assembly thwarted in Upper his measures and wasted time in idle controversy. He reported to the Council that insubordination had broken out among the militia, and that some had shown a treasonable spirit of neutrality or disaffection. He found himself compelled to prorogue the Assembly and to proclaim martial law. Fortunately, at this critical moment Brock's genius grasped the fact that only by a bold offensive movement could the British forces make good their inferiority in numbers. Political considerations forbade offensive action on a large scale, but the American Fort Michillimackinac was surprised on July 17; and a little later Hull's communications by land and water were interrupted and he was for the time isolated at Detroit. Desperate measures necessitating desperate remedies, Brock determined at once. to attack Detroit. With about 700 troops and 600 Indians, Brock, 'without the sacrifice of a drop of British blood,' obtained the surrender of a town held by 2,500 men with 25 pieces of ordnance. Diplomacy But while in the west the war was begun with success to of Prevost. British arms, diplomacy was strengthening the hands of the United States. The position of Prevost was difficult. He deplored the infatuation' of ministers upon American affairs, and complained that he was left entirely to his own resources. Accordingly he considered it necessary to restrict, as far as possible, the area of operations. His eye was fixed upon the situation in the United States, and he carefully refrained from any act which might make the northern States hostile to Great Britain. The Orders in Council had been the avowed cause of the war. When, therefore, the news of their suspension reached Canada in August, it seemed reasonable to propose an armistice, pending peace. None the less, the armistice worked in favour of the United States by giving the Americans time to regain confidence, and to organize a naval force upon the lakes. lakes. ton. It had been recognized on both sides that the key of the Naval situation in Upper Canada lay in obtaining ascendancy upon- power on the Lakes Ontario and Erie; but neither Power had as yet taken the necessary measures. The interval of the armistice was employed by the Americans in pushing up stores and troops to Niagara, and converting their boats at Sackett's Harbour on Lake Ontario into ships of war. The armistice came to an end on September 8, and on October 13 a determined attack was made by the United States forces upon Queenston, situated on the Niagara river some eight miles from Lake Ontario. The news of the intended attack had leaked out, and the British were prepared. The enemy Attack on Queenslanded about daybreak, and were successfully resisted, but, on the troops who had been stationed on the hilltop descending to prevent the Americans from landing, the heights were occupied by an American force, which may have landed while it was dark and remained hidden behind the rocks. It was in endeavouring to dislodge these that Brock lost his life. The small British forces were hard pressed, but the arrival of reinforcements under Major-General Sheaffe, the second in command, decided the issue of the battle. Many of the American militia refused to cross the river in support, so that the American troops were obliged to surrender. But the victory was dearly purchased by the loss of the leader; whose presence was worth many battalions. After another armistice, a third invasion of Canada by a new general proved as abortive as its predecessors. The year 1813 opened auspiciously to the British. In Operations by Procter. January an American division, advancing from the river. Raisin upon Sandwich, was attacked by Colonel Procter at Frenchtown, and compelled to surrender. Procter attempted to pursue his advantage by attacking General Harrison, who was entrenched at Fort Meigs on the Maumee, about twelve miles from its mouth. The attempt ended in failure, and Procter withdrew to Amherstburg in May. In the preceding February a daring attack by the British upon Ogdensburg, across the frozen St. Lawrence, met with complete success. But with the opening of navigation the naval preparations made by the American Commodore, Isaac Chauncey, soon altered the complexion of affairs. It had been intended to attack Kingston, the main British dépôt, and, though this was abandoned, an expedition sailed in April against York, which was practically unfortified. General Sheaffe retired in Capture of hot haste, and York was surrendered. The massing of some 7,000 American troops at Niagara compelled the abandonment of Fort George and Fort Erie, and secured to the Americans the mastery of the Niagara border from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. York. Prevost had repeatedly called the attention of the home authorities to the necessity of holding the supremacy on the lakes, and a very able officer, Commodore James Yeo, arrived in the spring to command the British forces. He found the Americans, already superior, gaining in strength, so he determined to risk a battle. Before, however, he could act, the joint naval and military operations of the Americans had necessitated the abandonment of the British Failure of forts. An attack upon Sackett's Harbour in the absence of attack upon the American fleet only just failed (May 28), partly owing Sackett's Harbour. to ill luck and partly, as was alleged, to the want of vigour on the part of Sir George Prevost, who was in command. In the beginning of June an American force left Niagara to drive the British from their encampment at Burlington Heights, on the south-west of Lake Ontario, whither they had retreated from Fort George. The gallant Colonel Harvey, who afterwards proved himself, in the Maritime Provinces, one of the wisest of colonial Governors, recognized that now should be put in practice his advice to Prevost, that only by a series of bold, offensive operations could inferiority of numbers be made good. He obtained from the General in command consent to a night attack on the enemy at |