in command of Lieutenant-General Drummond. Those forces consisted in all of 5,454 men, made up of 3,783 regular troops, 1,226 Fencibles, and 445 artillerymen. After an interregnum of nearly three months, Sir James was succeeded by Sir George Provost, who had for several years previously been Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. On the 9th of October, in consequence of Lieutenaut-Governor Gore having returned to England on leave, Major-General Brock who was already in command of the troops, was appointed President and Administrator of the Government in the Upper Province. The Legislature met at York on the 4th of February,l8l2. The session was opened by an address from President Brock, in which the existing state of affairs in the Province was explained, and assurance was given of support from England in the event of war with the United States.
During the previous month of December, Brock had received is a letter from an official at the Horse Guards, Whitehall, dated October l7th, in which was signified the Duke of York's willingness to accede to Brock's oft-repeated request for active employment in Europe. The Governor-General was authorized to instal some other competent officer in his place, and Major-General Sheaffe was suggested as a proper successor. A message of President Madison to Congress about this time, however, made it evident that war with the United States could not much longer be averted, and Brock had no disposition to go to Europe to find that employment which would soon be ready for him in Canada. Ever since his arrival in the Upper Province, he had been making such preparations for a crisis as circumstances admitted of, and his vigorous measures were not diminished after the contents of this proclamation became known to him. He placed the Province in as complete a state of defence as the limited means at his disposal rendered possible; but his regular force in all did not exceed 1,500 men, and with such a force he was soon to be called upon to defend a frontier 1,300 miles in length, without a single well-appointed fortress from one end of it to the other.
At last, on the l8th of June, war was declared, and high military authorities emphatically declared their opinion that there was no possibility of maintaining the country. Brock, who was at York when news of the declaration reached him, was himself compelled to regard the issue as extremely doubtful, but he was hopeful of securing the co-operation of the people, and determined at all events to oppose a bold front to the enemy. He had long de-
