This address was followed by a second one from General Brock, on the 22nd July, 1812, in which he reviewed an address which had been issued by the American General, who had invited the Canadians to seek voluntarily, the protection of his government; also the threat to show no quarter if the Indians appeared in the ranks; Brock eloquently defended their right to defend their homes against an invading foe.
General Brock having prorogued Parliament, pushed on to the scene of Hull’s invasion, where he had issued a proclamation to the Canadians characterised by absurdity, falsehood, and Yankee brag. Indeed, it seems quite impossible for any American General to indite, an address or proclamation, without exposing himself to ridicule. Having already collected an army at Detroit, General Hull, the commanding officer, crossed over to Sandwich on the Canadian side, and issued the following modest address to the
“Inhabitants of Canada.”—“After thirty years of peace and prosperity, the United States have been driven to arms. The injuries and aggressions, the insults and indignities of Great Britain, have once more left them no alternative but namely, resistance or unconditional submission. The army under my command has invaded your country, and the standard of Union now waves over the territory of Canada. To the peaceable and unoffending inhabitants it brings neither danger nor difficulty. I come to find enemies, not to make them. I come to protect, not to injure you. Separated by an immense ocean, and an extensive wilderness, from Great Britain, you have no participation in her councils, nor interest in her conduct. You have felt the tyranny, you have seen her injustice, but I do not ask you to avenge the one or redress the other. The United States are sufficiently powerful to afford you every security consistent with their rights, and your expectations. I tender you the invaluable blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty, and their necessary result, individual and general prosperity; that liberty which gave decision to our councils, and energy to our conduct, in our struggle for independence, and which conducted us safely and triumphantly through the stormy period of the Revolution. That liberty which has raised us to an elevated rank among nations of the world, and which has afforded us a greater measure of peace and security, of wealth and improvement, than ever fell to the lot of any people. In the name of my country, and by the authority of my country, and by the authority of my government, I promise protection to your persons, property, and rights. Remain at your homes, pursue your peaceful and customary avocations; raise not your hands against your brethren; many of your fathers fought for the freedom and independence we now enjoy. Being children, therefore, of the same family with us, and heirs of the same heritage, the arrival of my army of friends must be hailed by you with a cordial welcome. You will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression, and restored to the dignified station of free men. Had I any doubt of eventual success, I might ask your assistance, but I do not. I come prepared for every contingency, I have a force which will look down all opposition—and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater. If contrary to your own interests, and the just expectation of my country, you will be considered and treated as enemies, the horrors and calamities of war will stalk before you. If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savages are let loose to murder our citizens, and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the side of an Indian, will be taken prisoner; instant destruction will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice, and humanity, cannot prevent the employment of a force which respects no right, and knows no wrongs, it will be prevented by a severe and relentless system of retaliation. I doubt not your courage and firmness; I will not doubt your attachment to liberty. If you tender your services voluntarily, they will be accepted readily. The United States offer you peace, liberty, and security. Your choice lies between these and war, slavery, and destruction. Choose then, but choose wisely; and may he who knows the justice of our cause, and who holds in his hands the fate of nations, guide you to a result the most compatible with your rights and interests, your peace and prosperity.”
But it was not long till the same Gen. Hull was a prisoner among them, and in his journey from Detroit to Quebec he had abundant opportunity of seeing not only the loyalty of the Canadians, but that they knew how to treat a conquered foe with consideration—that without crying it out they could grant every “protection” to their ancient foe, notwithstanding the cruel treatment they had sustained when made exiles.
On the 18th July, with the intrepidity characteristic of the British officer, Brock crossed the Detroit, advanced upon the town with his brave militia and handful of regular troops, and demanded of Gen. Hull the surrender of the place, following up the demand with preparations to assault; but soon the white flag appeared, and Gen. Hull, so brave in writing proclamations, with the whole American army, became prisoners of war. They were conveyed to Quebec in parties, some going by vessels of war from York to Kingston, some in small boats along the shore and across the Carrying Place, by the Bay of Quinté. Most of them were confined in hulks in the St. Lawrence, at Quebec, where they remained until exchanged. Gen. Brock after this brilliant conquest of Detroit, which included the whole of Michigan, lost no time in hastening to the Niagara frontier, where another army was threatening to invade.
Upon the 12th October the Americans were preparing to cross from Lewiston to Queenston. Gen. Brock was at Fort George, Niagara, and hearing the cannon’s sound, hurried to the field of battle. He placed himself at the head of the troops, and triumphantly led them up the heights of Queenston, against the enemy, who had obtained a footing there; but with the deep river between them and safety, the enemy rallied for a time in a struggle for life, and Brock’s men, inferior in number, retired, until his reinforcements had come, for which he would not previously wait. Then again he essayed to lead them on, but his hour had come, and while his cheering voice was ringing out “Push on York Volunteers,” a musket ball struck him down. But the spirit of the brave General was infused into every Canadian. As soon as Gen. Sheaffe had arrived they advanced to conquer the polluters of Canadian soil. Again the whole American army became prisoners of war, and had the privilege of marching the length of the Province to Quebec, and Gen. Scott among the rest, who was favored with a passage down the Bay of Quinté.
Gen. Brock’s Aide-de-Camp, McDonnell also fell, mortally wounded. Brock was buried in a bastion of Fort George, but subsequently his remains found a resting place upon the heights where he fell, and where now rises the monument to his memory. This illustrious Chief was much beloved by the Canadians, and he was held in great veneration. To him—to the energetic and heroic Brock is due to a great extent the subsequent success by which the enemy, ever boasting, was kept at bay, so that when peace was sought by the United States, after three years of war, because England, no longer at war at home, was about to deal heavy blows, there was not a foot of Canadian territory in the enemy’s possession.
Of Gen. Brock the Hon. William H. Merrit, in 1853, speaks as follows:
“It will be in the recollection of many now present, that in the commencement of the war of 1812, only one regiment of British troops, the 48th, was left to defend Upper Canada, from Kingston to Michilimackinac, a distance of one thousand miles, and during the whole campaign, only two companies of the 48th could be spared on this frontier. Although this fact is one of the most striking events connected with that war, it has never yet been brought prominently before the public; yet it clearly proves that the defence of Canada, then rested with its inhabitants. We find that though they consisted principally of the old U. E. Loyalists and their descendants, the native Indians who had been dispossessed of their possessions in the United States, and their descendants, together with residents from the United States—emigration from the Mother Country not having been commenced to any extent,—a population thus composed, not exceeding in Upper Canada, at most 90,000, without troops, without munitions of war, without resources, and without the least expectation of any timely aid from the mother country, with a few troops, unable to contend against a powerful nation, numbering about 8,000,000, with munitions of war, and resources without limit, within a comparative short distance from maritime cities, also numerous forces at command, of which they were not slow of apprising us, in the proclamations circulated from time to time,—it was under those circumstances that the character and ability of Sir Isaac Brock were brought to light. Well knowing on whom he had to depend for the defence of the country, he directed his personal attention to the clothing, arms, equipment, mess, and personal comfort of the militia, and took every opportunity of gaining the good will of the Indians.”
The estimation in which General Brock was held by the people of the Province, was duly evinced by Parliament in passing an act, 14th March, 1815, “to provide for the erection of a monument to the memory of the late president, Major General Sir Isaac Brock.” The value of his wisdom, his councils, his energy, his wise plans, as well as his bravery, and the effects thereof, are fully set forth in the preamble. It was resolved to grant £1,000 for the purpose referred to, and erect the monument at Queenston Heights. Thomas Dickson, Thomas Clark, and Robert Nichol, Esquires, were appointed commissioners to carry out the act. In January, 1826, an act was passed granting £600 more “to complete the monument on a scale which appears to the commissioners worthy of the object.”