Page:Canadian notabilities 2.djvu/88

 can be no doubt that he was guilty of a grave error of judgment, but a good deal has been written in extenuation of his conduct, and he has probably been made answerable for faults which were more attributable to the Administration than to himself.

The capture of Detroit relieved Canadians from all present fears of a western invasion. General Brock having issued a pacific proclamation to the people of Michigan, left the captured fort in charge of Colonel Proctor, and started for the east, where an invasion might at any time be expected. When en route he learned, much to his mortification, that an armistice had been concluded between Sir George Prevost and General Dearborn, the American Commander-in-Chief. This armistice, which caused a delay of nearly a fortnight, prevented General Brock from carrying out a project which he had formed for an immediate attack upon the American naval arsenal at Sackett's Harbour. There is fair reason for believing that such an attack at that time would have been completely successful, as the Americans were ill-prepared for such a contingency, and were badly discouraged by the fall of Detroit. Regret, however, was useless, and Brock pushed on to Fort George, and from thence to York, where he arrived on the 27th. The people received him with great enthusiasm, and hailed him as the saviour of Canada. The Americans themselves did justice to his vigilance and valour. To quote from one of their historians:—"In the short space of nineteen days he had met the Legislature, arranged the public affairs of the Province, travelled about three hundred miles to confront the invaders, and returned the possessor of that invader's whole army and a vast territory about equal in area to Upper Canada." During the succeeding six weeks, which were the last of his life, he received letters of congratulation from persons in various parts of the world, some of whom he had never seen. All expressed warm admiration of his achievements. His despatches containing particulars as to the fall of Detroit reached London on the 6th of October. Four days afterwards Earl Bathurst wrote to Sir George Prevost requesting the latter to acquaint Major-General Brock that His Royal Highness had been pleased to appoint him an extra Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. The intelligence never reached him. Long before the letter containing it had arrived in Canada he had gone where knighthoods and honourable dignities are not, and where the integrity and purity of a man's life are of more avail than any Order which it is the privilege of Royal Highnesses to confer.