The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-06 00:00:00

campaign.
On Lake Champlain, during the winter, a 16-gun brig had
been built at the Isle-aux-noix, and as soon as the navigation
opened, our little flotilla, thus reinforced, proceeded up the lake
to examine the enemy's naval preparations. They had already
launched a large ship and a brig, but were yet unprovided with
stores and guns for their equipment, and were so unprepared
for resistance, that their dock-yard and new vessels at Vergen-
nes might with ease- have been destroyed, had Captain Pring,
our naval commander, enjoyed the co-operation of a land force
of but 1,000 men. 'We had a strong body of troops concen-
trated at the Isle-aux-noix, and Captain Pring had solicited
the Commander-in-Chief to suffer a part of it to accompany him,
but his request was met by a refusal. When he returned and
reported the state of insecurity in which he had found the Ame-
rican depot, such assistance was indeed offered ; but the op-
portunity was past, the enemy had taken, alarm, and Sir George.
Prevost had subsequently full cause to lament an act of inde-
cision, by which he eventually lost • the naval command of a
second great lake. So little had he profited by the events of
the preceding year on Lake Erie
But his infatuation seems altogether to have increased as he
approached the termination-of his career. The greater the re.
sources whiCh the
_government placed at his disposal, the more
indAtrious does he appear to have been in neutralizing their
efficacy. In the middle of April, Lower Canada had nothing
to dread, Sackett's Harbour was weakly garrisoned, our fleet an
Ontario was nearly ready for sea, and the enemy were evidently
bent upon directing their main efforts to the Niagara. Yet,
tho Ugh reinforcements were daily arriving or expected in the
St. Lawrence, from Great Britain and the V Indies, Six
George Prevost detained a force of three squadron of dragoons,
nine regular regiments of infantry,* six strong battalions of em.
bodied militia, and a numerous division of artillery, all in the
lower province; he made no attempt against Sackett's liar-
hour, and dispatched not a man to strengthen the inadequate
force-on the Niagara, until the middle of July. It would be
incredible, if it were not in the recollection of thousands, that
the whole of the powerful army which we have enumerated
were crowed together in activity at Chambly in Lower Canada,
at 'what was termed a camp of instruction, behind a strong fron-
tier and withoat an enernyito oppose them,:while less than 3,000
of their companions in arms were sustaining the whole brunt of
the war en the Niagara. Sir James Yeo was prepared for
any operation
.on the Ist of May, and Chauncey could not meet
him ; one half, then, of the force which the Commander-in
Chief was employing in the mimicry of war at Chambly, would
have sufficed to capture Sackett's Harbour, and the fleet which
it protected. But, since he had failed to possess himself of that
place, he regarded it with a species of horror, which would nei-
ther suffer him to attack it in person, nor to,pezmit any of his
subordinate Officers to attempt the enterprize.
From the middle of April to June, reinforcements had con-
tinually been arriving on the Niagara for General Brown, but
the month of July had commenced before he opened the cam-
paign, by crossing that strait with 5,000 men. From this pe-
riod to the end of October, the Canadian Rank of the Niagara
became the theatre of a quick succession of obstinate and sari-
guinary conflicts, but the struggle finally closed by leaving the
two armies precisely in the same positions as they had occupied
in the preceding spring. -Although therefore the details of the
operations of 1814 in this quarter are highly interesting, we must
be content, with our narrow limits, to refer the reader to Mr.
James's volumes for the account of them. Through the sum-
mer Brown's disposable force was never less than 5,000 men,,
and generally much exceeded that number; before the termi-
nation of the campaign, it amounted to 9,000. General
Drummond, on the other hand, until the end of August, had
never more than 3,000 men ; and yet with this small corps he
maintained the unequal . contest, while the Commander-in-
Chief was condemning three times that force to total inaction.
It was not until the lives of many brave Officers and men
had been lamentably sacrificed in the attempt to contend
against overwhelming numbers, that Sir George Prevost
could be persuaded to detach- a man fiom the lower pro-
vince; and, at length, when, by his unaccountable neglect
of General Drumniond's situation, above a third of that Offi-
cer's division had been slain or disabled, two of the Penin-
sular Regiments were the only reinforcements which he reluc-
tantly yielded. In the progress of the operations of 1814 on
the Niagara,it was evident that the American military had very
much improved in character since the commencement of the
war. They certainly fought with considerable resolution ; and
as their numbers were so superior, and they were commanded
by an Officer of undoubted capacity, it was higly creditable
both to the talents of General Drummond, and the discipline
and gallantry of his -troop's, that the enemy sustained more
than one defeat, and were never suffered to gain a material
ascendancy.
The whole of the summer of 1814 passed without any en-
counter between the rival fleets on Lake Ontario. Sir James
Yeo blockaded Sackett's Harbour until Chauncey had prepar-
ed two new frigates for sea, and the American squadron being
then far superior in strength, our commodore' returned to
Kingston to await the equipment of the St. Lawrence, a three
decker of 102 guns, then building at our dock-yard: Chaun-
cey meanwhile held the lake during the months of August and
September, but profited little by' his superiority, and retired
into port early in October, just before Sir James Yeo was
ready to sail from Kingston with the new three decker and lila
sqUadron,
Having thus arrived at the termination of the arduous struggle
in Upper Canada, we have ,now but to notice the last operation
of the war on the-frontier of the lower province. Of the in-
glorious expedition to Plattsburg, we could wish, hi common
with every man who feels for the national honour, that it were
possible to have hurried the remembrance with the individual
whose gross deficiency in vigour and judgment entailed such a
stain upon the British arms. But since that occurrence cannot
be erased from the page of our history, we shall dwell on it no
longer than is requisite to expose.the real causes of a failure,
which has been converted by American gasconade into a
souace of unmerited triumph.
In June and July 1014, a numerous fleet arrived in the St.
Lawrence from Bourdeaux, with the flower of that army which,
under the Duke of Wellington, had exalted the military reputa-
tion of this country to the highest pitch of renown ; with them
also came some distinguished general Officers of the Peninsular
school. These troops were no sooner landed, than it was evi-

* These were the 2d Battalion Bth, 13th, 16th, 49th, 70th,
De Meuronts, Canallian Fencibles, Voltigenrs, and Battalion
of Marines.