t and dignified. Hull's invitation to
Canadians to seek protection from Britain under the flag of the United
States was, he said, "an insult." He cited the advantages of British
connection, and warned the colonists that secession meant the
restitution of Canada to the Empire of France. This was the price to be
paid by America for the aid given by France to the revolting States
during the War of Independence. He reminded them of the constancy of
their fathers. "Are you prepared to become slaves to this despot
Napoleon, who rules Europe with a rod of iron? If not, arise, repel the
invader and give your children no cause to reproach you with sacrificing
the richest inheritance of earth, participation in the name, character
and freedom of Britons."

He told them not to be dismayed by the enemy's threat to "refuse them
quarter should an Indian appear in their ranks." "Why," he continued,
"should the brave bands of Indians which now inhabit this colony be
prevented from defending their new homes?" These poor people, he
reminded them, had actually been punished for their former fidelity to
the United States, by the Government of that country taking from them
their old homes in Ohio. The King of England had granted them a refuge
and given them superior lands in Canada. Why were they to be denied the
right to defend their hearths "from invasion by ferocious foes," who,
while utilizing Indians themselves, had condemned the practice in
others? The threat to refuse quarter to these defenders of invaded
rights would, he said, bring about inevitable reprisal, for "the
national character of Britain was not less distinguished for humanity
than retributive justice."

The obstacles surrounding Brock would have driven an ordinary man to
distraction. It is not possible to recite a fraction of them. The Grand
River Indians, having received a specious letter from Hull, refused to
join the relief expedition for Moraviantown, on the Thames, on which
some of Hull's freebooters were marching. Some of the militia declined
to leave their homes, suspicious, they said, of Indian treachery. Some,
with blood relations in the States, refused point blank to take up arms.
Others were busy harvesting, while not a few came out openly as traitors
and joined the ranks of Hull. Brock had no reinforcements of regular
troops, and small chance of getting any, and, what was far worse, he
received little moral support even from the Legislature, and none from
oth