Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,
We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest. By unanimity and dispatch in our councils, and by vigour in our operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended by free men enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their king and constitution, can never be conquered!
The invasion of the western district by Brigadier-General Hull, and the artful and threatening language of his proclamation, were productive at the outset of very unfavourable effects among a large portion of the inhabitants of Upper Canada; and so general was the despondency, that the Norfolk militia, consisting, we believe, chiefly of settlers of American origin, peremptorily refused to march. The majority of the members of the house of assembly were impressed with the same gloomy forebodings, and that body appeared by its proceedings rather to court the favor of the enemy than fearlessly to perform its duty. It was therefore prorogued upon passing the money bills, as no advantage could result from its remaining longer in session. The state of the province required the most prompt and decisive measures for its preservation, and Major-General Brock considered its situation at this moment as extremely critical. With the concurrence of his council, to whom he represented his many difficulties, he is said to have resolved on exercising martial law whenever he should find it necessary, although the house of assembly had rejected its enactment, even in a modified form. Not only among the militia was a disposition evinced to submit tamely, but five hundred in the western district sought the protection of the enemy. It is true that the people then were far removed from the seat of government, and the more subject to hostile influence, as they were principally composed of French Canadians and of the natives of the United States, or their immediate descendants; but even the Indians, who were located on the Grand River, in the heart of the province, positively refused, with a few exceptions, to take up arms; and they announced their intention, after the return of some of their chiefs from General Hull, to remain neutral, as if they wished the authorities to believe that they would remain in peace in the midst of war. Major-General Brock had not long administered the government of the province, but where he was individually known, and where his personal influence extended, a better feeling prevailed; and his counter-proclamation served not only to animate the well disposed, but to counteract the machinations of the disaffected. The confident tone of his address to the provincial parliament was also productive of the best effects, whatever inward misgivings he might feel; and those who were dastardly enough to join the invaders of their native or adopted country, were quickly taught to repent of their baseness and treason.
FOOTNOTES:
[56] Christie's Memoirs, already cited at page [90].
[57] General Sir Thomas Saumarez, now in his 85th year, and brother of the late Admiral Lord de Saumarez.
CHAPTER X.
We have mentioned that Major-General Brock had in the spring provided for the protection of Fort St. Joseph, a small British post, distant by water nearly 700 hundred miles from York, and situate about 40 miles, also by water, to the north-east of the American island and fort of Michilimakinack, or Makinack, which island is in latitude 45° 35' north, and longitude 84° 30' west; and one of his first cares, on hearing of the declaration of the war, was to send, on the 26th of June, a notification of it to Captain Roberts, who was stationed at St. Joseph with a detachment of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, accompanied by orders to make an immediate attack upon Michilimakinack, if practicable; or, in the event of an attack by the Americans upon St. Joseph, to defend it to the utmost. Captain Roberts received at the same time another letter from Major-General Brock, dated the 27th June, suspending the orders for the attack from the uncertainty he was under of the declaration of war. In a third letter, dated Fort George, the 28th June, Major-General Brock, being sufficiently informed of such a declaration, directed Captain Roberts to adopt the most prompt and effectual measures to possess himself of Michilimakinack, and for this purpose to summon to his assistance the Indians within his influence, as well as the gentlemen and dependants of the British fur companies near his post. On the day that Captain Roberts received this letter, another reached him from Sir George Prevost, dated Quebec, 25th of June, by which he was directed to take every precaution to secure his post against any attempt by the enemy, and, in case of necessity, to effect his retreat.[58] This contrariety of instructions from the two general officers did not fail to perplex Captain Roberts, who, however, with great promptitude and decision made preparations for the attack. By another dispatch of the 4th of July, from Major-General Brock, Captain Roberts was left at his own discretion to adopt either offensive or defensive measures, as circumstances might dictate. On the 16th July, he accordingly set out with a flotilla of boats and canoes, in which were embarked 45 officers and men of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion, about 180 Canadians, and nearly 400 Indians, the whole convoyed by the Caledonia brig, belonging to the North-West company; and on the ensuing morning, the British force effected a landing before Michilimakinack,[59] the garrison of which, consisting only of 61 officers and men, immediately surrendered by capitulation. A quantity of military stores and seven hundred packs of furs were found in the fort, and its surrender had a very favorable effect upon the Indians, a large number of whom now joined in open hostility against the Americans. It will be found by a letter of the 12th August, from Sir George Prevost, who appears to have seen no safety but in defensive measures, that he would not have approved of the attack on Michilimakinack if it had occurred prior to Hull's invasion! And yet that officer, in his official dispatch relative to the capture of his army and the surrender of Detroit, attributed his disasters partly to the fall of Michilimakinack, which he said opened the northern hive of Indians against him!
Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost.