heir prime; and the Government fell into
that most facile of mistakes, the choice of old men, because when
youths they had worn an epaulette, without regarding the experience
they had had under it, or since it was laid aside.

Among the men thus selected were Henry Dearborn, for senior major
general, to command the northern division of the country, from Niagara
to Boston Bay and New York; and William Hull, a brigadier, for the
Northwestern frontier, centring round Detroit. The latter, who was
uncle to Captain Hull of the "Constitution," seems to have been chosen
because already civil Governor of Michigan Territory. President
Madison thus reversed the practice of Great Britain, which commonly
was to choose a military man for civil governor of exposed provinces.
Hull accepted with reluctance, and under pressure. He set out for his
new duties, expecting that he would receive in his distant and
perilous charge that measure of support which results from active
operations at some other point of the enemy's line, presumably at
Niagara. In this he was disappointed. Dearborn was now sixty-one, Hull
fifty-nine. Both had served with credit during the War of
Independence, but in subordinate positions; and Dearborn had been
Secretary of War throughout Jefferson's two terms.

Opposed to these was the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Isaac
Brock, a major-general in the British army. A soldier from boyhood, he
had commanded a regiment in active campaign at twenty-eight. He was
now forty-two, and for the last ten years had served in North America;
first with his regiment, and later as a general officer in command of
the troops. In October, 1811, he was appointed to the civil government
of the province. He was thoroughly familiar with the political and
military conditions surrounding him, and his mind had long been
actively engaged in considering probable contingencies, in case war,
threatening since 1807, should become actual. In formulated purpose
and resolve, he was perfectly prepared for immediate action, as is
shown by his letters, foreshadowing his course, to his superior, Sir
George Prevost, Governor General of Canada. He predicted that the
pressure of the Indians upon the western frontier of the United States
would compel that country to keep there a considerable force, the
presence of which would naturally tend to more than mere defensive
measures. With the numerical inferiority of the British, the
co-operation of the Indi