talents of the Commander of the forces. The enemy, notwithstanding their
superior resources, were foiled in every attempt which they made to invade
the Provinces, with the loss in one instance of the whole of their army,
together with the Commander; while, in the other, their troops suffered a
total defeat, attended with the capture of a General Officer, and upwards
of 700 men.
But while thus engaged in his military duties, Sir George Prevost was not
unmindful of the importance of our naval superiority upon the Lakes, though
in this as in every other part of his conduct, he has fallen under the
indiscriminate censure of the Quarterly Reviewer,[34] who has accused him
of neglecting to preserve the naval ascendancy which we enjoyed on Lakes
Erie and Ontario, at the commencement of the contest.
As early as the month of December, 1811, as appears from a letter addressed
by Sir George Prevost to General Brock, he had directed his attention
towards our marine on Lake Erie, and had given directions for the building
of a schooner at Amherstburg. Our force on the Lake, at that period,
consisted of the ship Queen Charlotte, and Hunter schooner, both of which
were armed and actually employed. The Americans possessed at the same
period a brig, the Detroit, and a sloop, the former a very fine vessel, and
in readiness for any service, although then laid up at Presque Isle. During
the whole of the campaign of 1812, our vessels navigated the Lake without
any attempt on the part of the enemy to interrupt them, and materially
contributed to the success of our arms in that quarter, by the countenance
and protection afforded by them to the garrison at Amherstburg, and by the
transportation from Fort Erie of such stores, provisions, and supplies as
were indispensable for the security of the former post. In direct variance
with the Reviewer's assertion,[35] that "_not one effort_ was made by Sir
George Prevost to increase our marine at that period;" it is a remarkable
fact that the schooner, Lady Prevost, which he had ordered to be built in
_December_, 1811, was launched and fitted out, and was actually employed on
the Lake within a month after the declaration of war, and essentially
assisted in the transport of the arms, provisions, &c. before mentioned,
during nearly the whole of the first campaign. Of the force which the enemy
then possessed on this Lake, consisting of the Detroit and a schooner, the
former fell into our possession upon the surrender of General Hull with his
army; and, although she was recaptured in the October following, under
circumstances which, considering the superiority of the enemy, reflected no
discredit upon the officer commanding her, and the men under him, she made
no accession to their strength, as she was burnt the day afterwards by our
troops, and the Caledonia, a private vessel, captured with her, was
rendered a mere wreck by the fire from our fort and batteries. On Lake
Erie, therefore, during the whole of the campaign of 1812, our naval
ascendancy was decisive; to strengthen and preserve which, the efforts of
Sir George Prevost materially contributed. On Lake Ontario, our
superiority, as well at the commencement of hostilities, as long prior and
subsequent to that period, was still more apparent and efficient. In March,
1812, our force on that Lake consisted of the Royal George ship of 24 guns,
the brig Moira of 16 guns, and two schooners; whilst that of the enemy was
composed of a single brig laid up at Sackett's Harbour. But the importance
of maintaining this great superiority over the enemy was not lost sight of
by Sir George Prevost. As early as January, 1812, Captain Gray, an able
officer of the Quarter-Master-General's department, under which the marine
was placed, was despatched to York for the purpose, amongst other services,
of consulting with Major-General Brock, upon the best means of preserving
the ascendancy which we possessed upon Lake Ontario. In consequence of
Captain Gray's suggestion, the building of a very fine schooner, called the
Prince Regent, was commenced at York in the following March, which was
launched, equipped, and employed upon the Lake in conveying supplies of
great importance on the 3d July, immediately after notice of the
declaration of war had been received in Upper Canada. This fact furnishes a
full contradiction to the assertion of the Reviewer,[36] that "after
slumbering away the summer and autumn without one effort to increase our
marine in amount or efficiency, Sir George Prevost suddenly awoke, in the
depth of winter, to a sense of the condition to which his supineness had
reduced the British cause, and the building of two frigates commenced with
convulsive activity." That Sir George Prevost, with so decided a naval
ascendancy on both lakes at the commencement of the war, should not have
thought himself justified in any extraordinary exertions to increase that
ascendancy, is not to be wondered, at when it is considered, that for every
purpose of the defensive system which he had adopted, the British force
upon the Lakes was amply sufficient, and that Government would not have
approved, in the then state of affairs, of the expense which such a measure
must unavoidably have occasioned. Aware, however, as Sir George Prevost was
of the important advantages which the dominion of the Lakes afforded for
the preservation of the Canadas, he had, both long before, and immediately
after the commencement of the war, called the attention of His Majesty's
Government to that subject. He had also in his communication with General
Brock, and particularly by the Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master-General,
invited his consideration of the same matter. It certainly affords a strong
proof of the conviction of that gallant and able officer, that our force on
those waters needed no extraordinary exertion at that time to increase it
beyond what had been already made; that, excepting in his letter before
referred to, of 2d December, 1811, he never once mentioned the subject of
our marine in his various different communications with Sir George Prevost,
respecting the means of defending the Upper Province, until in his despatch
of the 11th October, 1812, he acquainted the Commander of the forces with
the recapture of the brig Detroit by the enemy. Previous, however, to this
period, and as soon as Sir George Prevost had reason to suppose from the
refusal of the American Government to accede to the Armistice, or to
consider the revocation of the Orders in Council a sufficient ground for
pacification, that the war would be continued, and that renewed efforts
would be made for the invasion of the Canadas, he had strongly represented
to His Majesty's Government the absolute necessity of experienced officers
and able seamen being sent to him, to enable him to preserve the ascendancy
which our marine then enjoyed. In a letter addressed to General Brock, on
the 19th October, 1812, he authorized that officer to take whatever
measures he might deem necessary for the accomplishment of the same object,
without further reference to himself. It was not ascertained, until towards
the end of October, that any extraordinary exertions were making by the
enemy to equip and fit out a squadron at Sackett's Harbour. The arrival of
Commodore Chauncey, with a number of shipwrights and seamen, making their
intentions evident, Captain Gray, of the Quarter-Master-General's
department, was sent to Kingston, to direct the laying down of the keels of
two frigates, the one at that place, and the other at York; and in the
month of December, more than 120 shipwrights, together with 30 seamen,
engaged at Quebec, arrived in the Upper Province, and the building of the
two frigates immediately commenced. In the same month, directions were
given for the building of a ship, of the dimensions and tonnage of the
Queen Charlotte, together with several gun-boats at Amherstburg, on Lake
Erie. During the whole of the summer after the declaration of war, the
superiority of our fleet on Lake Ontario, had enabled us uninterruptedly to
transport from Kingston to York and Fort George, all the supplies of
stores, provisions, and reinforcements of men, necessary for the defence of
Upper Canada; nor was it until the month of November, when those services
had been completed, and our vessels were on the point of being laid up for
the winter, that with all the great advantages which they derived from the
immediate vicinity of their resources, particularly of officers and men,
seconded by the strenuous exertions which they made, the Americans were
able to do more than to fit out the Oneida, a vessel perfectly ready for
any service at the commencement of the war, and six small schooners,
carrying one or two heavy guns each. With this force they ventured out for
the first time on the Lake in the beginning of November, under the command
of Commodore Chauncey; and availing themselves of the absence of the Moira
brig, and our three schooners, at the head of the Lake, to make on the 11th
an ineffectual attack upon the Royal George, under the batteries of
Kingston, they retired to Sackett's Harbour, without attempting to
interrupt our vessels on their return to Kingston; nor did they again shew
themselves upon the Lake until the following year. Up to the month of
November, therefore, which may be called the conclusion of the first
campaign, as far as respected our means of defending the Province, our
ascendancy on Lake Ontario had been preserved. To this object, the measures
adopted by Sir George Prevost, by the building of the Prince Regent, and
the supply of officers and men furnished to our marine after the
commencement of the war, essentially contributed. The superior advantages
enjoyed by the enemy, in being able to obtain shipwrights and seamen to an
unlimited amount, together with the proximity of all their means for the
building and equipment of vessels, had enabled them to launch a frigate at
Sackett's Harbour, before the end of the year 1812, and to fit out a
squadron, which at the commencement of 1813, gave them a temporary
ascendancy on Lake Ontario, before officers and seamen could be sent to
Canada from England. This ascendancy on their part was, however, of short
duration, for we shall find in pursuing this subject, that the measures
planned by Sir George Prevost during the summer of 1812, and carried into
effect during the autumn and winter, were such as in their consequence
secured to us a full equality, and occasionally the superiority on that
Lake, during the two remaining campaigns. Of the nature and extent of the
exertions thus made by Sir George Prevost to increase our marine on Lake
Ontario, the Reviewer has himself furnished the most abundant proof.
"Such," he says, "were the zeal and exertions of Sir James Yeo and his
followers on their arrival at Kingston, that before the end of May they
were prepared to take the Lake with the British fleet,[37] now composed of
two ships of 24 and 22 guns, a brig of 14, and two schooners of 12 and 10
guns."
Sir James Yeo did not arrive at Quebec with his seamen, until the 5th May,
and it was not until after the 16th that he reached Kingston; to which
place Sir George Prevost had accompanied him from Montreal. The state of
forwardness in which he then found the fleet was such, that he was enabled
to complete its equipment, and actually to set sail on the 27th of the same
month, within little more than a week after his arrival at Kingston. The
previous exertion requisite to accomplish the building of the Wolfe, a ship
carrying 24 guns, the altering and refitting the brig Moira, and the making
of the various repairs and alterations in the other vessels, while at the
same time a ship of a large class had been built at York, and was nearly
ready to be launched in April, and a ship and several gun-boats were in a
state of great forwardness at Amherstburg, may be easily conjectured;
particularly, when it is considered that the stores and supplies of almost
every description, necessary for the armament and equipment of these
vessels, had been transported to the Upper Province from Quebec and
Montreal, the greater part of them during the winter, and through roads
before deemed impassable for many of the heavy articles required. These
difficulties were, however, soon surmounted by the energetic measures of
Sir George Prevost; and he had the satisfaction to find on his arrival at
Kingston, that the important object of having a fleet ready to take the
Lake as early as it was probable that officers and seamen could be sent
from England to command and man it, had been accomplished. Upon Sir James
Yeo's arrival, as already mentioned, not more than ten days were requisite
to put the squadron into a complete state of equipment, and from the period
of its appearance on the Lake, the enemy ceased to enjoy the temporary
ascendancy which their superior resources of men and supplies had enabled
them, during the preceding month, to acquire. The Reviewer has confidently
asserted, that these exertions to increase our marine ought to have been
earlier made; and that had they been so made, our ascendancy on the Lake
would have been retained, and York, together with the ship which was there
building, might have been saved. The answer to this has already been partly
given. Any extraordinary exertions to increase a marine so decidedly
superior to that of the enemy, before the probable continuation of the war
was clearly ascertained, and before any steps were taken by the Americans
to rival us in that respect, would not have been justified, by the
circumstances in which Sir George Prevost was then placed. It was not until
the beginning of September, that the termination of the armistice
manifested the intention of the American Government to continue the war;
nor were any effectual steps taken by them for a material increase of their
naval forces at Sackett's Harbour, until the month of October following,
when Commodore Chauncey and his seamen arrived at that place. It is
evident, therefore, that except in the construction of new vessels, and the
forwarding of the supplies necessary for their equipment, nothing further
could have been done at that period, to enable us to keep pace with the
exertions of the enemy; and that without officers and men, who could not be
expected before the spring, any number or description of vessels must have
been useless.
Sir George Prevost, soon after the declaration of war, had called the
attention of Government, as well as that of the Admiral on the Halifax
station, to this subject. He had, therefore, every reason to expect that
either from England or from Halifax, he should early in the year receive
officers and seamen sufficient to fit out and man a fleet equal at least,
if not superior, to any that the enemy might at that time be able to
prepare. In this expectation Sir George Prevost was not disappointed; and
although the Admiral on the Halifax station had only been able to afford to
his strong solicitations on this head, Lieutenants Barclay and Fennis, to
act as captains, and four petty officers for lieutenants, who arrived over
land from New Brunswick at the end of April, this small supply of able and
spirited officers being immediately despatched to Kingston, materially
contributed, by their active services, to put the Fleet into the forward
condition in which it was found by Sir James Yeo on his arrival.
Notwithstanding the active measures which were thus taken by Sir George
Prevost to maintain our ascendancy upon the Lakes, the Quarterly Reviewer
has thought proper to observe, that it is perfectly inconceivable how any
man, in Sir George Prevost's situation, could have been so infatuated, as
to disregard the importance of maintaining his superiority. The gross
injustice of this charge will be best proved by citing the words of Sir
George Prevost himself, in a letter of the 3rd February, 1813, addressed to
General Sheaffe. "The extreme anxiety I experienced respecting the naval
force to be employed on Lake Ontario, in the spring of this year, has
rendered the proceedings in the dock-yards at Kingston and York, subjects
highly interesting to me. You may therefore suppose I shall expect to find
the exertions at both these places to have fully corresponded with the
magnitude of the object and the difficulties surmounted in forwarding from
hence the numerous supplies required for that service."
Much has been said by the Reviewer upon the incompetency of the person
commanding, and of the other officers belonging to our Provincial marine on
Lake Ontario.[38] Whatever might have been the want of energy and
enterprise on the part of Earle, in the instance to which the critic has
alluded, and the circumstances of which he has greatly exaggerated, Sir
George Prevost did not think it incumbent upon him, on that account, to
deprive himself of the services of that officer, who was acknowledged to be
a tried and skilful navigator of the Lake, at a period when those services
were particularly required for the transport of the various supplies
destined for the upper parts of the Province. He was, therefore, retained
in the command, not only as being highly useful for the purposes for which
he was wanted, but because no person could then be found adequate to supply
his place. That the captain of the Tartarus sloop of war, then at Quebec,
needed but a hint from Sir George Prevost[39] to proceed with his crew to
Lake Ontario, and supersede Earle and his feeble followers, may well be
doubted, when we consider the state of the squadron to which he belonged,
and the services required from it at the commencement of the war. Whether
such a plan was beyond Sir George's _capacity_,[40] may be left for the
reader to determine. Had he, however, adopted it, he would certainly have
evinced a great want of consistency and judgment. He was, at that period,
in the act of negociating with General Dearborn for the armistice, which
afterwards took place, with the reasonable expectation that the revocation
of the Orders in Council would lead to a return of peace between Great
Britain and America. Our force at that time on Lake Ontario was so
decidedly superior, not only to what the enemy possessed on those waters,
but to any which they could hope for several months to fit out, that an
addition, either to its amount or efficiency, seemed to be uncalled for and
unnecessary. Offensive operations of any description, on our part, were not
in contemplation; and to every purpose of defensive warfare our means on
the Lake were amply competent. To have deprived the Admiral, on the Halifax
station, of the services of the Tartarus, when every ship was required by
him for the protection of our trade from the numerous cruizers of the
enemy, without any adequate object in view, would have been altogether
unjustifiable on the part of Sir George Prevost. Whether, if the captain
and seamen of the Tartarus had been sent to Lake Ontario, the enemy's
flotilla, preparing at Sackett's Harbour,[41] could have been destroyed;
or whether, if ship-carpenters had, at the commencement of the war, been
sent to Kingston, we could have built as rapidly as the enemy, cannot be
proved, as neither course was attempted: nor is it material to the present
discussion that it should be proved; the only question being, whether Sir
George Prevost, in the then state of affairs, ought to have adopted either
measure. From the preceding statement, it appears that he would not have
been warranted in so doing. The observation of the Reviewer,[42] that the
common-place attempt to hire, at Quebec, sailors for the Lake at one-half
the wages which merchants were giving at the same moment, was the only
exertion used to strengthen our flotilla, would not merit notice, if it
were not for the purpose of exposing the writer's disingenuousness and want
of candour. He must have known, when he made the assertion, that the
merchants at Quebec hire their sailors for what is called the run-home (to
England), and that for this purpose double and triple the amount of the
common wages is frequently given; one-half, therefore, of that amount for a
permanency, and on the Lake establishment, which held out many advantages
to the men, was, as it proved, a sufficient inducement for them to enter
into that service, and as many of the description required as could be
found at Quebec, were procured by active and intelligent officers sent for
that purpose. To these were added some valuable and experienced seamen from
two transports then in the river St. Lawrence; and this supply of seamen,
together with an additional number of shipwrights and other workmen, was
during the winter forwarded to Kingston and York.
The situation of York for the building of one of the frigates laid down in
December, as before stated, has been censured by the Reviewer,[43] as
holding out to the enemy an invitation to destroy it, from the defenceless
state of that fort. Long before the first certain intelligence had been
received by Sir George Prevost, of the building of a new ship at Sackett's
Harbour, or of the fitting out of their flotilla there, Captain Gray, as
already mentioned, one of the most intelligent officers of the
Quarter-Master-General's department, had been sent to the Upper Province,
to ascertain the fittest situation for the construction of new vessels,
whenever such a measure should become necessary. It was in consequence of
the communication which that officer had with Major-General Brock, who had
the highest confidence in his abilities, that it was decided that one ship
should be built at York and the other at Kingston. Both places were alike
exposed to attack from their unfortified state. York was certainly the
weakest, although General Brock had recommended that place as the fittest
and most secure, if strengthened, for a naval dock-yard on Lake Ontario. In
determining to build at both places, it was thought most prudent not to run
the hazard of losing both vessels from the possibility of a successful
attempt of the enemy to destroy them, should they both be constructed at
either of those places. The most effectual measures, on the part of Sir
George Prevost and of those acting under him in the Upper Province, were
taken to strengthen and fortify both York and Kingston, and it was expected
that the enemy would be repelled in any attack upon either. It was not
doubted, but that if York should be attacked and taken, the ship which was
building there, might be, as she in fact was, destroyed, and thus be
prevented from increasing the strength of the enemy, whilst Kingston might
in the mean time be made too strong to occasion any fear for the safety of
the fleet in that port. The result shewed the wisdom of this determination,
and the capture of York, which considering the overwhelming force of the
enemy, was not to be prevented, evidently preserved Kingston.