"Kingston, March 7, 1813."
Address from the Inhabitants of the Eastern District of Upper Canada to Sir George Prevost.
"To his Excellency Sir George Prevost, Knight and Baronet, Captain General, &c. &c. &c. The loyal address of the Inhabitants of the Eastern District.
"We, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, inhabitants of the Eastern District of Upper Canada, beg leave to present to your Excellency our unfeigned, and heartfelt congratulations on your safe return from your long and fatiguing journey to the upper parts of this Province, which your ardent zeal for the service of your king and country, and paternal solicitude for the security of this portion of his Majesty's dominions only could induce you to undertake.
"We thank heaven for having preserved your Excellency's person from all the dangers to which you have been exposed, not only from the enemy in the long line of frontiers through which you had to pass, but from the contagious diseases, which rage through many parts of these Provinces, and other dangers incidental to a journey of upwards of a thousand miles in a country like this, still destitute of inns, and proper accommodations for travellers, and at the most inclement season of the year.
"So illustrious an example of despising danger and sacrificing personal ease and comfort, exhibited by the representative of our beloved sovereign, both chears and animates us to bear with resignation our individual privations in the glorious cause in which we have to struggle. We now experience the truth which we have so often heard with wonder from others, that your Excellency's prudence carries with it an irresistible attraction and confidence among all classes of people, wherever you go. We should consider it criminal to complain of the hardships to which the present state of warfare has subjected us, in common with all our fellow-subjects in this Province; perfectly convinced, as we are, of your Excellency's earnest wish and readiness to alleviate our sufferings as much as lies in your power.
"The auspicious event which, in the late brilliant success of His Majesty's arms at Ogdensburg, so closely followed the arrival of your Excellency in Upper Canada, flatters us with the hope that this will be but one of the happy consequences of your visit. We cannot express to your Excellency in terms sufficiently strong, our satisfaction in thus having an opportunity of teaching the enemy that their repeated insults, and wanton attacks upon our shores, are not to be borne with impunity.
"To your Excellency's active and fertile mind we look up with much confidence for the vigorous and energetic measures, to prosecute a war, into which the insidious policy of a faithless and inveterate enemy has involved our country and ourselves, and in which are feared every thing which can render life desirable at stake.
"We are determined to stand or fall by the parent country, and to defend the crown and dignity of our revered sovereign, our families and our properties, with the last drop of our blood. We know that justice is on our side, and we trust that the God of battles will continue to favour our cause as he has hitherto done. Indeed we do not allow ourselves to entertain the smallest doubt of a glorious termination of the contest under your Excellency's government and Heaven's protection.