as most beneficial, and contributed greatly to unite and
encourage the people to face the struggle impending over them. There was
no inflated boasting--no undervaluing of danger and sacrifice, but a
plain statement of facts, and a heartfelt appeal to loyalty, patriotism,
and manly courage.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 189: "A war with Great Britain had been long contemplated by
the rulers in America, and a seasonable moment only was sought for, to
grasp the provinces which they had fallaciously been induced to believe
were ripe for revolt, and would therefore fall a willing conquest to
America. The Peninsular war had engrossed the attention and resources of
the mother country, and the Canadas were necessarily the less provided
with means to encounter the struggle in which they were likely soon to
be engaged. The coffers were exhausted, nor were hopes entertained of
their being speedily replenished from home; the regular forces were too
thin to preserve an extensive frontier of some hundred miles against the
pressure of an enemy which, if united, must become irresistible; and the
Canadians, though naturally brave and hardy, and attached to their
Constitution, might from recent occurrences be fairly presumed to have
been so far disgusted as to leave doubt of their hearty co-operation and
zeal in the cause." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. iii.,
p. 48.)]

[Footnote 190: Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap, iii., pp.
49-53.

"The Governor, by a General Order of the 28th of May, 1812, organized
four battalions of embodied militia, in virtue of the late Act. The
first battalion rendezvoused at Point-aux-Trembles, near Quebec, under
the command of Colonel De Salaberry; the second at Laprairie, near
Montreal, commanded by Colonel De Rouville; the third at Berthier, in
the district of Montreal, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Cuthbert; and
the fourth at St. Thomas, near Quebec, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Taschereau. The alacrity with which they were filled, and the
cheerfulness with which the young men submitted to the restraints of
discipline, reflected credit upon the military character of the
Canadians. This proof of the zeal and the loyalty of the people inspired
Government with hopes of successful resistance against the approaching
war, and a reciprocal confidence between the Governor and the people
seems to have resulted, as much from the danger of the moment as from
any studied policy on the part