9th ultimo was received at
the same time with those I have last acknowledged. Colonel
Lethbridge I have directed to return to Montreal.

The issue of army bills has taken place at Quebec, and I hope
to be able shortly to send you a supply of them.

* * * * *

We have previously alluded (page 206) to that part of the preceding
letter which relates to the capture of Michilimakinack. This capture
appears to have been effected _contrary_ to Sir George Prevost's orders,
as Fort St. Joseph being nearly 350 miles from Detroit and Sandwich, and
as the expedition left the fort only four days after Hull's invasion, it
was scarcely possible that Captain Roberts was then aware of that
circumstance. Neither in his letter to the adjutant-general, announcing
the capture, does he excuse himself by stating that he had heard of the
invasion. In his dispatch to Earl Bathurst, written exactly a fortnight
after the preceding letter, and dated Montreal, August 26, Sir George
Prevost, in communicating the surrender of Detroit, expressed himself in
very altered language, as he said:

"In these measures he[60] was most opportunely aided by the
fortunate surrender of Fort Michilimakinack, which, giving
spirit and confidence to the Indian tribes in its
neighbourhood, part of whom assisted in its capture,
determined them to advance upon the rear and flanks of the
American army, as soon as they heard that it had entered the
province."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 58: This order strikes us as an unmilitary interference on the
part of Sir George Prevost with Major-General Brock's authority, Captain
Roberts being under the immediate command of the latter general.]

[Footnote 59: See Captain Roberts' Dispatch, Appendix A, Sec. 1, No. 2.]

[Footnote 60: Major-General Brock.]

CHAPTER XI.

Whilst Major-General Brock impatiently lingered on the Niagara frontier,
so as to give time to the legislature to assemble at York, he dispatched
Colonel Proctor, of the 41st regiment, with such reinforcements as could
be spared, to assume the command at Amherstburg. General Hull, after
crossing to Sandwich, remained for some time inactive, under pretext of
making preparations for the reduction of Amherstburg, or Malden, as the
Americans called it, which lay but eighteen miles below him, and was not
in a condition to withstand a regular siege. During the delay, three
detachments of his