an truly affirm to himself that he has been
injured by the government in his person, his property, or his liberty?
Where is to be found, in any part of the world, a growth so rapid in
prosperity and wealth as this colony exhibits?" These people, to whom
this special appeal was made at this national crisis, responded with a
heartiness which showed that gratitude and affection lay deep in their
hearts. Even the women worked in the field that their husbands, brothers
and sons might drive the invaders from Canadian soil. The 104th
Regiment, which accomplished a remarkable march of thirteen days in the
depth of winter, from Fredericton to Quebec--a distance of three hundred
and fifty miles--and lost only one man by illness, was composed of
descendants of the loyal founders of New Brunswick. This march was
accomplished practically without loss, while more than three hundred
men were lost by Benedict Arnold in his expedition of 1777 against
Quebec by the way of Kennebec--a journey not more dangerous or arduous
than that so successfully accomplished by the New Brunswick Loyalists.
In 1814 considerable numbers of seamen for service in the upper lakes
passed through New Brunswick to Quebec, and were soon followed by
several companies of the 8th or King's Regiment. The patriotism of the
Loyalists of New Brunswick was shown by grants of public money and every
other means in their power, while these expeditions were on their way to
the seat of war in the upper provinces.

Historians and poets have often dwelt on the heroism of Laura Secord,
daughter and wife of Loyalists, who made a perilous journey in 1814
through the Niagara district, and succeeded in warning Lieutenant
Fitzgibbon of the approach of the enemy, thus enabling him with a few
soldiers and Indians to surprise Colonel Boerstler near Beaver Dams and
force him by clever strategy to surrender with nearly 600 men and
several cannon. Even boys fled from home and were found fighting in the
field. The Prince Regent, at the close of the war, expressly thanked the
Canadian militia, who had "mainly contributed to the immediate
preservation of the province and its future security." The Loyalists,
who could not save the old colonies to England, did their full share in
maintaining her supremacy in the country she still owned in the valley
of the St. Lawrence and on the shores of the Atlantic.

As Bishop Plessis stimulated a patriotic sentiment among the French
Canadians, so Vicar-G