like
devils! The Americans pour shot into the forest. The bugle calls
multiply till the woods seem filled with an advancing army and the
yells split the sky. Also McDonnell has ordered his men to fire
kneeling, so that few of the American shots take effect. The advancing
host became demoralized. At 2.30 they sounded retreat, and it may
truly be said that the battle of Chateauguay was won by De Salaberry's
bugle boy, held to the sticking point, not because he was brave, but
because he could not run away. It is said that Hampton simply would
not believe the truth when told of the numbers by whom he had been
defeated. It is also said that immediately after the victory De
Salaberry fell ill from a bad attack of nerves, brought on by lack of
sleep. However that may be, the Canadian governor, Prevost, did not
suffer from an attack of conscience, for in his report to the English
government he ascribed the victory to his own management and presence
on the field.

The year of 1813 closes darkly for both sides. Before withdrawing from
Niagara region the invaders ravage the country and set fire to the
village of Newark, driving four hundred women and children roofless to
December snows. Sir Gordon Drummond, who has just come to command in
Ontario, retaliates swiftly and without mercy. He crosses the Niagara
by night; the fort is carried at bayonet point, three hundred men
captured and three thousand arms taken. Next, Lewiston is burned, then
Black Rock, and on the last day of the year, Buffalo. Down {370} on
the Atlantic Coast both fleets win victories, but the English work the
greater hurt, for they blockade the entire coast south of New York. On
the English squadron are European mercenaries who have been given the
name of Canadian battalions, because their work is to harry the
American coast in order to draw off the American army from Canada.
European mercenaries have been the same the world over,--riffraff
blackguards, guilty of infamous outrages the moment they are out from
under the officers' eye. These were the troops misnamed "Canadians,"
whose infamous conduct left a heritage of hate long after the war; but
this is a story of the navy rather than of Canada.

The contest has now lasted for almost two years, and both sides are as
far from decisive victory as when war was declared in June of 1812.
Long since the embargo laws of France and England against neutral
nations have been rescinded, and the Ameri