"In your letter of
June 18, you direct me to adopt measures for the security of the
country, and to await further orders. I regret that I have not larger
latitude."[444] Now he received it, and his invasion of Canada was the
result. It is vain to deny his liberty of action, under such
instructions, but it is equally vain to deny the responsibility of a
superior who thus authorizes action, and not obscurely intimates a
wish, under general military conditions perfectly well known, such as
existed with reference to Hull's communications. Hull's attempt to
justify his movement on the ground of pressure from subordinates, moral
effect upon his troops, is admissible only if his decision were
consistently followed by the one course that gave a chance of success.
As a military enterprise the attempt was hopeless, unless by a rapid
advance upon Malden he could carry the works by instant storm. In that
event the enemy's army and navy, losing their local base of operations,
would have to seek one new and distant, one hundred and fifty miles to
the eastward, at Long Point; whence attempts against the American
positions could be only by water, with transportation inadequate to
carrying large bodies of men. The American general thus might feel
secure against attacks on his communications with Ohio, the critical
condition of which constituted the great danger of the situation,
whether at Detroit or Sandwich. Hull himself, ten days after crossing,
wrote, "It is in the power of this army to take Malden by storm, but it
would be attended, in my opinion, with too great a sacrifice under the
present circumstances."[445]

Instead of prompt action, two days were allowed to pass. Then, July
14, a council of war decided that immediate attack was inexpedient,
and delay advisable. This conclusion, if correct, condemned the
invasion, and should have been reached before it was attempted. The
military situation was this: Hull's line of supplies and
re-enforcements was reasonably secure from hostile interference
between southern Ohio and the Maumee; at which river proper
fortification would permit the establishment of an advanced depot.
Thence to Detroit was seventy-two miles, through much of which the
road passed near the lake shore. It was consequently liable to attack
from the water, so long as that was controlled by the enemy; while by
its greater distance from the centre of American population in the
West, it was also more exposed to Indian h