PART III.

ENGLAND, FREE FROM THE EUROPEAN WAR, DETERMINES TO PUNISH THE UNITED STATES FOR THEIR JUNCTION WITH NAPOLEON AND INVASION OF CANADA--SWEEPS THE AMERICAN COASTS WITH HER FLEET, AND SENDS REINFORCEMENTS OF 16,000 MEN TO CANADA--FAILURE OF SIR GEORGE PREVOST'S ATTACK ON PLATTSBURG--HIS RECALL, AND SUMMONED TO BE TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL--DIES BEFORE THE APPOINTED DAY OF TRIAL--ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER.

Hitherto, for more than two years, the colonies had been thrown almost entirely upon their own prowess and resources, with the assistance of a few British soldiers, for their own defence against an invading enemy fifty times more populous than themselves. Up to this time England had been struggling against Napoleon for the liberties of Europe; but now the Corsican tiger was chained up in Elba; peace once more reigned in Europe, and England was now free to throw the whole weight of her victorious armies and unconquerable navy against the United States, whose treasury was bankrupt, whose people were disheartened at the reverses inflicted on their armies by handfuls of British and Canadians opposed to them, and whose loudest cry now was for peace; but the United States had refused peace when she could have had it, and Great Britain was now determined to punish her for her attacks on a peaceful colony, when the mother country was so thoroughly engaged elsewhere as to be almost forced to leave it to its own resources. Of the vigorous blockade of the American seaports, of the capture of Washington and burning of the capitol, etc., it is not necessary to speak in this place; we have only to do at present with the operations which took place in Canada during the summer of 1814.

During the summer about 16,000 British troops arrived at Quebec; but only 4,000 were sent to Upper Canada, under the command of General Kempt; and the Governor-General, Prevost, concentrated nearly the whole of the remainder of the reinforcements in the Richelieu district, with a view to a descent on the State of New York by way of Lake Champlain, at Plattsburg. In order to do this, the co-operation of the flotilla on the lake was considered necessary, and orders were given to put it in an efficient condition; but the flotilla was defeated and its vessels taken by the enemy; and the land forces, though they could have easily taken Plattsburg, did nothing, and were ordered to retreat within the British lines. The conduct of Sir George Prevost in this affair--undertaken for his own ambition, and without any public necessity--lost him all his military prestige; both officers and men felt the disgrace of retreating before an inferior force of militia; the valiant Colonel Murray and other officers protested against the retreat, and some of them indignantly broke their swords, declaring that they would never serve under him again. He was recalled to England, and under charges by Commodore Sir James Yeo, was arraigned before a court-martial, but died a week before the day appointed for his trial. Though Sir George Prevost was unsuccessful as a military commander--having disgracefully failed in the only two expeditions which he planned and personally superintended--the one against Sackett's Harbour and the other against Plattsburg--he was an excellent civil governor for Lower Canada, and an amiable and upright man.

It is alleged, however, that the Duke of Wellington and other high authorities approved of his conduct, and the Prince Regent showed marks of kindness to his family after his death. His health, which was never strong, suffered much, not only from mortification and mental anxiety in regard to his approaching trial (which he demanded at the earliest possible period), but by a winter's journey across the open country between the St. Lawrence and St. John, on his way home, that he died on the 5th of January, 1816, just one week before the court-martial appointed to examine into his conduct was to have been convened.

Mr. Christie, who was an English member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and the author of an elaborate History of Canada, in six volumes, beside his excellent "History of the War of 1812," gives the following estimate of the character and Administration of Sir George Prevost:

"A warm and unswerving friend of the Canadian population, of French origin, he confided in and liberally patronized them from the commencement to the close of his administration; and they, it must be acknowledged, as generously responded to his confidence in them. No country or people ever exhibited greater unanimity or patriotism than did the people of Lower Canada of both origins, in the war of 1812 by the United States against Great Britain--a stand the more to be remembered by her Government, as these colonies, almost destitute of troops, wholly so of money, and scarcely possessing even a sufficiency of arms and other munitions of defence, owing to the more imperious calls from other quarters upon the Home Government, were, at the outset of the war, in a manner left to their own action and resources, and which they nobly exemplified, single-handed, as it were, throughout the first two campaigns. The principles of loyalty and duty, no doubt, were deeply implanted in the bosom of the people; but he it was who exalted them into enthusiasm and inspired the mass with a confidence in their own exertions and a reliance upon his wisdom, fitting them for the emergency, and that bore them successfully through the contest. Whatever may be the opinion now established of his talents, by the military world, the impression which the inhabitants of French origin in Lower Canada universally retain of him, is that of a conciliatory, wise, and able civil governor, and in all the relations of private life, an amiable and estimable man."