Certainly the embargo exercised a most injurious effect on the trade and commerce of America, depreciating property and paralysing industry, especially in New England, where a war with England and a French connection were equally deprecated, and where the feeling, stirred up by the embargo, . excited one of the earliest poetic efforts of Lowell, then a boy of thirteen. But there was, undoubtedly, among a large section of the American people, a strong hatred of England and desire to humiliate, especially, her maritime power; and succeeding events indicated, clearly enough, that with many the real object was-in the words of Alison-"to wrest from Britain the Canadas, and, in conjunction with Napoleon, extinguish its maritime and colonial empire." In the meantime the situation was sad enough; on the one side, the artisan population of Great Britain starving for lack of the corn of which their American brethren had such a superabundance, while, on the other side, American planters were half ruined, and American industry crippled, by the refusal to admit British manufactures and merchandise, or permit the exportation of the cotton which was glutting the home market.

In 1809, Jefferson was succeeded by Madison, who repealed the embargo, substituting a non-intercourse Act with England and France. An attempt at negotiating the existing difficulties failed, owing to diplomatic complications; and President Madison, far from inaugurating a more pacific policy, proceeded to keep up and exasperate the warlike sentiments of the people; and, by his treating with Bonaparte, and other actions, showed an evident desire to distinguish his presidency by the conquest of Canada.

In May, 1811, existing ill-feeling was aggravated by another maritime encounter, in

Canadians to conclude that the U. S. Government, while avoiding the declaration of war, were desirous of bringing it on by provocation.

which Britain was certainly not the aggressor. The American 44-gun frigate President, in defiance of the avowed principle that vessels of war were not liable to right of search, provoked an encounter with the Little Belt, a small sloop of 18 guns, and shot the latter to pieces. The American captain was tried by court-martial and acquitted amid national exultation; but Great Britain at once forbearingly accepted the official disavowal of hostile instructions.

Notwithstanding this forbearance, however, President Madison, in November, 1811, appealed to the nation for the "sinews of war," and they responded by large votes of money and men, warlike armaments being prepared during the winter. The people were full of sanguine hopes of an easy conquest of Canada. It was presumed that political troubles and transient dissatisfaction, caused by grievances connected with the Executive, had so far weakened Canadian loyalty that the colonists would interpose but a slight resistance, if they did not even welcome the idea of American connection. And England, her hands full, and her attention engrossed by the affairs of Europe, where Wellington was engaged in the struggle with Spain, and Napoleon was pressing on to Moscow at the head of his gigantic army, would, it was believed, have neither leisure nor power effectually to defend her distant colony. Succeeding events showed how far these calculations were correct.

As a preparation for war the American Government imposed a close blockade of all their ports, allowing no vessels whatever to enter or leave. Their aim was to cut off all communication with England, and attack at an advantage the homeward-bound West India fleet, which was accordingly done by Commodore Rogers, the hero of the Little Belt encounter. The frigate Belvidere, however, single-handed, defended the merchantmen against a pursuing squadron of three frigates and two sloops, and brought her charge safely home.

their being led to refuse the bribe of a personal ease and security purchased by the sacrifice of their sense of right and duty-of their loyalty to the country whose noble traditions they claimed as their own-to the flag which, notwithstanding the occasional shortcomings of its standard-bearers, they still regarded as the time-honoured defender of "civil, political, and religious liberty."

From Fort George General Brock issued a counter-proclamation to the Canadians, in| which he reminded them of the prosperity which the colony had attained under British rule, assured them of the determination of the mother country to defend Canada to the utmost, impressed upon them the sacred duty of keeping inviolate their deliberate and voluntary oaths of allegiance to the British Government, exposed the inconsistency of the American professions with their alliance with tyrannical France, and pointed out the injustice of their threat of refusing quarter in battle should Indians be permitted to fight, side by side with their British allies, in defence of their rights and their lands against those who had, on almost every occasion, overreached and oppressed them. The feeling of depression and hopelessness which had been caused, to some extent, by the invasion and the proclamation, he set himself to eradicate by every means in his power. On July 27th he opened the extra Session of the Legislature, which he had convened at York, by an address in which he adverted with pleasure to the promptitude and loyalty with which the militia had answered the call of danger, and closed his spirited and earnest appeal with the assurance, amply justified by the event, that "by unanimity and despatch in our Councils, and by vigour in our operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended by freemen enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their King and Constitution, can never be conquered!" The Legislature sustained him in its replies and in its address to the country, and thus, cheered and rallied

by its leaders, and inspired by its own brave heart, the country went gallantly on to a defence which, considering the fearful odds against which it was maintained, may well excite surprise and admiration, and remain as a bright example to future generations of Canadians.

On

In the meantime, hostilities had actually commenced. The preceding May, General Brock had sent a detachment of the 41st Regiment to Amherstburg or Fort Malden, some eighteen miles from Sandwich, to be in readiness to defend that frontier. hearing of the landing of General Hull, he despatched Colonel Proctor thither with a further reinforcement of the 41st. It was time to take energetic measures, for the fact that the enemy had been able to establish a footing in the country had excited alarm and gloom, and endangered the adherence of the Indians of that region. Even General Brock could hardly resist the feeling that without speedy reinforcements, and unless the enemy could be speedily driven from Sandwich, the ruin of the country was imminent. Indeed had Hull pressed on at once, it is impossible to say what the result might have been. Happily for Canada, however, he delayed his advance till there were troops enough on the spot to embarrass him, with the assistance of the militia and Indians, until Brock himself could arrive.

The tidings of the capture of the American trading-post of Michilimacinac, with its garrison, stores and furs, by Captain Roberts, with some thirty regular soldiers and a band of French voyageurs and Indians, came as a gleam of brightness to relieve the gloom. Then came the gallant encounter at Tarontee in the westtern marshes, where a small British force held a strong American one at bay, and two privates of the 41st "kept the bridge" with a valour and tenacity worthy of the "brave days of old." At the same time, the capture of a provision convoy of Hull's, by the

Shawnee chief Tecumseh, with his Indians, seriously embarrassing the American General, (who had to draw his supplies from distant Ohio, over roads which were no roads,) induced him to "change his base of operations," and, recrossing the river, to retire to Detroit. Proctor followed him up, and endeavoured to intercept another convoy escorted by a stronger force, but this attempt was unsuccessful, and in an action at Brownstown the Americans were the victors. But Brock was at hand. On the 13th of August he arrived at Amherstburg at the head of a small force of regulars and militia,-about 700 in all; of these, 400 were militia-men disguised in red-coats. The journey had been a most fatiguing one,-a toilsome march through the wilderness from Burlington Heights to Long Point, and then four days and nights of hard rowing along the dangerous coast of Lake Erie, through rainy and tempestuous weather, in such clumsy open boats as the neighbouring farmers could supply. To the cheerfulness and endurance of the troops during the trying journey, Brock bore most honourable testimony. Their mettle deserved the suc cess they so honourably achieved.

Arrived at Amherstburg, General Brock met Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief already referred to,—one of the heroes of the war. Quickly recognising in Brock the characteristics of a brave and noble leader, Tecumseh and his Indians were at his service at once, and together they concerted plans against Hull and Fort Detroit. By a happy inspiration, General Brock saw that promptitude and resolution were the qualities to gain the day, and General Hull was startled, first by a summons for the immediate surrender of Fort Detroit, and next by the crossing of the British force-General Brock, erect in his canoe, leading the way to battle." Tecumseh and his Indians were disposed in readiness to attack in flank and rear, while the British force first drove the Americans from a favourable position back

on the fort, and then prepared to assault it. To their surprise, however, a flag of truce anticipated the attack, and the garrison capitulated, surrendering to the British the Michigan territory, Fort Detroit, 33 pieces of cannon, a vessel of war, the military chest, a very large quantity of stores, and about 2,500 troops with their arms, which latter were a much appreciated boon for arming the Canadian militia. General Brock was himself surprised at the ease of this brilliant success, which, at one stroke, revived the drooping spirits of the Canadians, rallied the hesitating, fixed the adhesion of wavering Indian tribes, encouraged the militia, who had now tried their strength in action, and made Brock deservedly the idol of the people. On his return to York he was greeted with the warmest acclamations, as befitted a leader who in such trying circumstances, had organized the military protection of the Province, met and advised with the Legislature, accomplished a trying journey of 300 miles in pursuit of a force more than double his own-had gone, had seen, and had conquered!

It was now his ardent desire to proceed, amid the prestige of victory and in the first flush of success, to sweep the Niagara frontier of the last vestige of the invading enemy. It seems most probable that he could have done so, and thus might, at this early stage of the war, have nipped the invasion in the bud, and saved both countries a protracted and harassing struggle. But his hands were, at this critical moment, fatally tied by an armistice, agreed to by the GovernorGeneral, Sir George Prevost, probably in the hope that the revocation of the British "Orders in Council," which took place almost simultaneously with the American declaration of war, would evoke a more pacific spirit. This was not the case, however; things had gone too far; the people were too eager for conquest to be easily persuaded to recede. The sole effect of this most ill-timed armistice was to give the

The day had been won, indeed, and won gallantly, but the sacrifice of Brock's valuable life took away all the exultation from the victory, and turned gratulation into mourning. It was a blow which the enemy might well consider almost a fatal one to the Canadian people, and which gave some colour of truth to the American representation of the battle of Queenston Heights as a success! Three days after the engagement the deceased General was interred-temporarily, at Fort George-in a bastion just finished under his own superintendence, amid the tears of his soldiers, the mourning of the nation, while the minute-guns of the American Fort Niagara fired shot for shot with those of Fort George, 66 as a mark of respect due to a brave enemy." He died SIR Isaac Brock, though he knew it not, having been knighted in England for his brilliant services at Detroit. But he had a higher tribute in the love and mourning of the Canadian people, who have gratefully preserved and done honour to his memory as one of the heroes of its history. Queenston Heights, where his death occurred, and where his memorial column stands, is, no less than the Plains of Abraham, one of Canada's sacred places, where memories akin to those of Thermopyla and Marathon may well move every Canadian who has a heart to feel them.

After the battle of Queenston Heights it seemed that General Sheaffe might have effectually followed up the advantage he had gained, as General Brock would assuredly have done if he had survived, by crossing the Niagara and driving back the American forces from the frontier. Fort Niagara was abandoned by the enemy, and would have been an easy prey, while the American army, discouraged and demoralized by their recent repulse, would have been dispersed with the greatest ease. There were, however, great risks to be considered. Opposed to his total available force of 1,500, was an American force of 6,000, and a defeat would

have been a fatal misfortune, placing the frontier at the enemy's mercy and enabling them to attack Proctor in the rear. Brock would have risked it, and would not have been defeated, so far as human calculations can go; but perhaps Sheaffe was right to hesitate. But more unfortunate than this hesitation was the armistice to which Sheaffe agreed, disapproved even by Sir George Prevost, though it met with more favour at home. This armistice, liable to be broken off at thirty hours' notice, gave no real repose to the country and the harassed and suffering militia, while it gave the enemy time to recruit and reorganize, as well as to collect a large flotilla at the lower end of Lake Erie. General Sheaffe must have been influenced by hopes of a more pacific turn of affairs; but recent naval successes over Britain had excited the national vanity of the Americans to the highest degree, and filled the people with greater ardour for conquest and unbounded hopes of success.

The American navy had been so wonderfully improved during the last few years that, though still, of course, vastly smaller than the British, its first-class men-of-war were individually much better equipped. In the naval engagements of 1812 this was speedily seen. The British frigates Guerriere and Macedonian, and the sloop-of-war Frolic, were successively attacked and taken by the American Constitution, United States, and Wasp, of equal nominal, but much greater actual strength. Then the guns of the Constitution took a second prize in the Java, a fine frigate commanded by a promising young officer, Captain Lambert, who fell, with all her crew. And, as the final disaster of the year, the "American Hornet,” as Col. Coffin has it, "stung to death the British Peacock." The tide was not turned till the following June, when Captain Broke, of the Shannon, took a splendid prize in the Chesapeake, of unfortunate memory.

In the meantime, of course, these successes kept up the warlike spirit of the Americans;