l placed the whole force under the command of Lieut.-Gen.
Sir John Michel, and added:

In former times the Commander-in-Chief has had occasion to call for
the active services of the volunteer force to maintain international
obligations, and as a precaution against threatened action. These
threats have now ripened into actual fact. The soil of Canada has been
invaded, not in the practice of legitimate warfare, but by a lawless and
piratical band in defiance of all moral right, and in utter disregard
of all the obligations which civilization enforces on mankind. Upon
the people of Canada this state of things imposes the duty of defending
their altars, their homes and their property from desecration, pillage
and spoilation. The Commander-in-Chief relies on the courage and loyalty
of the volunteer force and looks with confidence for the blessings of
Providence on their performance of the sacred duty which circumstances
have cast upon them.

MAJOR-GEN. NAPIER'S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.

As the Niagara district was chosen by the Fenians to be the theatre of
their first operations, Gen. Napier quickly made preparations to occupy
the salient points of this important territory. The Welland Canal,
connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario, runs from Port Colborne on the
former lake to Port Dalhousie on the latter (a distance of 26 miles),
and lies at an average distance of about 13 miles inland from the
Niagara River. The Welland Railway also connected these two points,
running nearly parallel with the canal. To protect these two arteries of
commerce from destruction was a desideratum to the General commanding,
and his plan of campaign was framed on these lines. Port Colborne lies
about 19 miles west of Fort Erie, and Gen. Napier decided to mobilize a
force at that point and another at St. Catharines, 10 miles west of
the Niagara River. These were two very strategic points at which to
concentrate troops for the defence of the Niagara frontier, as they
possessed excellent advantages as bases of supply for the sustenance
of columns operating in any quarter of the district. On account of the
favorable rail communication with each of those places, troops could be
moved rapidly by trains from the interior, and would always be within
easy striking distance of an invading force on any portion of the
Niagara frontier. Therefore orders were issued to commanding officers to
assemble their corps immediately at their respective local headquarters,