fluence upon the enemy of the
victories at Detroit and Queenston was almost nullified. Had Brock
survived Queenston, or even had his fixed, militant policy been allowed
to prevail from the first, it is safe to say there would have been no
armistice, no placating of a clever, intriguing foe, and no two years'
prolongation of the war. Had the capitulation of Detroit, the crushing
defeat at Queenston, and the wholesale desertion of Wadsworth's cowardly
legions at Lewiston, been followed up by the British with relentless
assault "all along the line"--before the enemy had time to recover his
grip--then our hero's feasible plan, which he had pleaded with Prevost
to permit, namely, to sweep the Niagara frontier and destroy Sackett's
Harbor--the key to American naval supremacy of the lakes--could, there
is no good reason to doubt, have been carried out. The purpose of this
little book is not, however, to deal in surmises.

The story of Sir Isaac Brock's life should convey to the youth of Canada
a significance similar to that which the bugle-call of the trumpeter,
sounding the advance, conveys to the soldier in the ranks. Reiteration
of Brock's deeds should help to develop a better appreciation of his
work, a truer conception of his heroism, a wiser understanding of his
sacrifice.

Many a famous man owes a debt of inspiration to some other great life
that went before him. Not until every boy in Canada is thoroughly
familiar with "Master Isaac's" achievements will he be qualified to
exclaim with the Indian warrior, Tecumseh,

"THIS IS A MAN."

W. R. N.

Toronto, October, 1908.

NOTE.--Of the hundred and more books and documents consulted in a
search for facts I would register my special obligations to Tupper's
"Life of Brock"; Auchinleck's "History of the War of 1812-14";
Cruikshank's "Documentary History," and Richardson's "War of 1812"
(edited by Casselman).

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. OUR HERO'S HOME--GUERNSEY 11

II. SCHOOL AND PASTIMES 16

III. FROM ENSIGN TO COLONEL 21

IV. EGMONT-OP-ZEE AND COPENHAGEN 27

V. BROCK IN CANADA 36

VI. BRIDLE-ROAD, BATTEAU AND CANOE