The effect of this manly and animated address to the people of Upper Canada was most beneficial, and contributed greatly to unite and encourage the people to face the struggle impending over them. There was no inflated boasting—no undervaluing of danger and sacrifice, but a plain statement of facts, and a heartfelt appeal to loyalty, patriotism, and manly courage.
FOOTNOTES:
[189] "A war with Great Britain had been long contemplated by the rulers in America, and a seasonable moment only was sought for, to grasp the provinces which they had fallaciously been induced to believe were ripe for revolt, and would therefore fall a willing conquest to America. The Peninsular war had engrossed the attention and resources of the mother country, and the Canadas were necessarily the less provided with means to encounter the struggle in which they were likely soon to be engaged. The coffers were exhausted, nor were hopes entertained of their being speedily replenished from home; the regular forces were too thin to preserve an extensive frontier of some hundred miles against the pressure of an enemy which, if united, must become irresistible; and the Canadians, though naturally brave and hardy, and attached to their Constitution, might from recent occurrences be fairly presumed to have been so far disgusted as to leave doubt of their hearty co-operation and zeal in the cause." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. iii., p. 48.)
[190] Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap, iii., pp. 49-53.
"The Governor, by a General Order of the 28th of May, 1812, organized four battalions of embodied militia, in virtue of the late Act. The first battalion rendezvoused at Point-aux-Trembles, near Quebec, under the command of Colonel De Salaberry; the second at Laprairie, near Montreal, commanded by Colonel De Rouville; the third at Berthier, in the district of Montreal, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Cuthbert; and the fourth at St. Thomas, near Quebec, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Taschereau. The alacrity with which they were filled, and the cheerfulness with which the young men submitted to the restraints of discipline, reflected credit upon the military character of the Canadians. This proof of the zeal and the loyalty of the people inspired Government with hopes of successful resistance against the approaching war, and a reciprocal confidence between the Governor and the people seems to have resulted, as much from the danger of the moment as from any studied policy on the part of the present Administration. They who had incurred the displeasure of the late Government were treated with confidence, and gradually appointed to situations of trust.
"A regiment of Canadian Voltigeurs was recruited, and placed under the command of Major De Salaberry, of the 60th Regiment of Foot, which in the course of the war became eminent for discipline and its steadiness in action, as well as for the fatiguing duties on which it was unremittingly employed."—Ib., pp. 55, 56.
[191] Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. iii., pp. 36, 37.
[192] Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. iii., pp. 57-60.
[193] Colonel Clarke remarks that "the moderation of the different Acts which were then passed, for the preservation and defence of the province, is an additional proof that internal treachery was not one of the causes which were found."