Page:Brock centenary 2nd ed. 1913.djvu/22

 This prepossession is fatal to every exertion. Legislators, magistrates, militia officers, all have imbibed the idea, and are so sluggish and indifferent in their respective offices that the artful and active scoundrel is allowed to parade the country without interruption and commit all imaginable mischief. . . Most of the people have lost all confidence. I, however, speak loud and look big."

On the same day, moreover, he reported: "The militia stationed here (at York) volunteered their services to any part of the Province without the least hesitation."

Day after day his Legislature wasted their time. For eight days they discussed a mere party question of changing a clause in the School Bill. Brock prorogued Parliament and took the reins in his own hands. He declared martial law, and soon after three members of the Legialature, Willcocks, Markle, and Mallory, deserted and joined the United states forces.

At once he set out on his expedition to Detroit. Through the wilds of Upper Canada, by lake and field, he led his small band of men two hundred miles. In nineteen days he was back again in his capital. He had annihilated the left wing of the enemy's army; he had captured two thousand five hundred men, thirty seven cannon and immense military stores. The state of Michigan practically remained in our possession till the close of the war.

A hundred years ago Brock spent the last week in August and the first part of October in strengthening the defences on the Niagara frontier. He needed one thousand more regulars, but Sir George Prevost could not spare another man. He mounted new batteries with the Detroit cannon. He established a system of communication and the use of beacon lights from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, with a spur line inland to Pelham Heights. He refitted his men from the Stores Captured at Detroit. Ceaseless activity and eternal vigilance were the very