f fourpence per day for every hundred
pounds). They were made current in the revenue, were to have the effect
of a legal tender, and were redeemable at the Army Bill Office, either
in cash or Government bills of exchange on London, at the option of the
commander of the forces. Small bills of four dollars were at all times
payable in cash at the Army Bill Office. On the 1st day of August, 1812,
this Bill received the royal sanction, and the Governor prorogued the
Parliament, with acknowledgments for the liberal aid they had granted
him to meet the exigencies of the public service."[192]

Such were the provisions made spontaneously, and with wonderful
unanimity, in Lower Canada for the defence of the province against the
impending American invasion. These provisions were prior to
corresponding provisions made in Upper Canada, and the statement of
which has been made in so much detail that the English reading public
might be reminded, or informed, of what has been too little known--the
loyalty, liberality, and courage of the French as well as of the English
inhabitants of Lower Canada, from the very beginning of the contest, and
followed by deeds of heroism and fortitude (to be noticed hereafter),
which successfully repelled successive American invasions, and prevented
the American armies, ten times as numerous as the Voltigeurs and all
other Canadian volunteers, from gaining a single foothold in Lower
Canada.

2. UPPER CANADA.

Upper Canada was not second to Lower Canada. Sir Francis Gore left for
England in 1811, and was succeeded by General Brock as President of
Upper Canada, and commander of the forces, who called the Legislature
together as early as possible after the declaration of war. Colonel John
Clarke, Adjutant-General of Militia, in his manuscripts (with the use of
which I have been favoured by the learned and excellent librarian of the
Dominion at Ottawa, entitled "U.E. Papers"), says:

"Whilst the Americans were busily preparing for the campaign, we were
not idle in Canada. On the 27th of July, 1812, General Brock proceeded
to York and called a meeting of the Legislature, to which he delivered
an animated and spirited address, concluding with the following
remarkable words:

"'We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest.

"'By unanimity and dispatch in our councils, and by vigour in our
operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended
by FREE MEN, enthusiastically devoted t