r defences around
the fort at Detroit.

You will have the goodness to state the expedients you possess
to enable us to replace, as far as possible, the heavy loss we
have sustained in the Detroit. Should I hear of reinforcements
coming up, you may rely upon receiving your due proportion.
Nothing new at Montreal on the 25th ult. Lord Wellington has
totally defeated Marmont, near Salamanca. I consider the game
nearly up in Spain. May every possible success attend you.

[The preceding letter is transcribed from a rough copy in the general's
handwriting, and, not being dated, may not have been transmitted, as it
was written only a day or two before his death.]

_Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost._

October 12, 1812.

The vast number of troops which have been this day added to
the strong force previously collected on the opposite side,
convinces me, with other indications, that an attack is not
far distant. I have in consequence directed every exertion to
be made to complete the militia to 2,000 men, but fear that I
shall not be able to effect my object with willing,
well-disposed characters. Were it not for the numbers of
Americans in our ranks, we might defy all their efforts
against this part of the province.

[The above letter is also from a copy written hurriedly by Sir Isaac
Brock only a few hours before his death, and it may not have been
forwarded.]

* * * * *

A day or two prior to the battle of Queenstown, Major-General Brock
wrote copious instructions for the guidance of the officers commanding
at the different posts on the Niagara river, in the event of their being
attacked, and he explained the probable points which he thought the
enemy would select for accomplishing his descent. He evidently
entertained a high opinion of the discipline and prowess of the British
soldier, as in these instructions he observed: "If we weigh well the
character of our enemy, we shall find him more disposed to brave the
impediments of nature, when they afford him a probability of
accomplishing his end by surprise, in preference to the certainty of
encountering British troops ready formed for his reception." The
original draft of these instructions in the general's writing, contains
scarcely an erasure or correction.

On the 4th of October, an American spy was sent to the British side, and
returned with information