Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/33

 but a feeble resistance, — the Americans could not, without much additional difficulty, have built and equipped the fleets, which subsequently gave them the naval ascendency on those waters. But unhap- pily for the interests of his country and for the credit of his own fame, Sir George Prevost, whose civil administration was as able as his military one in Canada was inefficient, disapproved of the contem- plated enterprise, and commanded Major-General Brock to remain on the Niagara frontier. We seek not to impugn his motives, as they doubtless originated in a sense of duty, however mistaken, and evidently from an impression that to attack the Americans again on their own territory would be to render the contest more popular among them.* Forbearance in war, when success is probable, is a positive evil that a very doubtful good may ensue, — it is seldom properly appreciated ; and the governor-general appears to have seen his error when too late, as in the following year he was himself somewhat ignobly foiled in an attack on Sackett's Harbour. At the same time it is due to the memory of this unfortunate officer to add, that although his conduct on two or three occasions was the subject of much and just animadversion in England, yet he acquired the attachment of the French Canadians, who speak highly of him to this day. Certain it is, on the other hand, that Major-General Brock, thus frustrated in his intention and restricted to defensive warfare, felt the disappointment most acutely ; and subsequent events too truly proved that had he been permitted to pursue that course which his zeal and foresight dictated, his valuable life might have been spared, and a very different series of inci-


 * Appendix A, Section 1, No. 2.

�� �