s) heart went far beyond anything that his
tongue could express, and the language of his heart that day was, might
loyalty ever be the characteristic trait of the people of Canada, might
freedom ever be our possession, and might we ever have cause and heart
to say 'God save the Queen!'" (Loud cheering.)

_Note_ by the Author.--The Administration of President Madison, and his
Declaration of War against Great Britain, are dark spots in the
brilliant history of the United States of America, and the American
narratives of the war are rather fiction than history--compiled largely
from letters of officers and soldiers, who, in writing to their friends,
sought to magnify their own heroism, even when suffering disgraceful
defeats, and sometimes claiming victory when they were driven from the
field. The usual tales on these occasions were that the Canadian forces
were vastly superior in numbers and equipments, when it was known that
the American armies were ten to one in numbers to those of Canada, and
their invading forces were declared, by themselves, to be irresistible
in strength and equipments.

The American account of the battle of Lundy's Lane is an example, and is
repeated with exaggerations in the latest and most popular history of
the war, namely, Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, page
1084. Lossing says:

"The number of troops engaged in the battle of Niagara Falls was little
over 7,000, the British having about 4,500, and the Americans a little
less than 2,600." (p. 824.)

The very reverse of this was the fact, as quoted in the foregoing
extract from the official report of General Drummond. When the American
invading army consisted of 10,000 men, it is absurd to suppose that all
but 2,600 would remain on the American side of the river, and the
American historian states that every available soldier on the British
side of the river was engaged in the battle.

Lossing likewise claims the battle for the Americans "because they drove
the enemy from the field and captured his cannon" (p. 824). It is not
true that the British were driven from the field at all; they were once
pushed back for a few minutes, and their cannon were for a few moments
in the hands of the Americans, who, however, were forthwith driven back,
the cannon retaken, with two pieces left by the Americans. And how could
there possibly be any American victory, when Lossing himself admits that
the American army retired from the field du