its inhabitants, and they anticipated confidently that, weak and divided, it would fall an easy prey to the invaders ; but they were soon undeceived. Having reached the village of Sandwich, Brigadier -General Hull issued on the 12th of July an ably written proclamation to the Canadians, from which the fol- lowing extract deserves to be recorded here. "Had I," he observed, " any doubt of eventual success, I might ask your assistance ; but I do not. I come prepared for every contingency. I have a force which will look down all opposition, and that force is but the vanguard of a much greater. If, contrary to your interest and the just expectation of my country, you should take part in the approaching contest, you will be considered and treated as enemies, and the horrors and calamities of war will stalk before you. If the barbarous and savage policy of Great Britain be pursued, and the savages be let loose to murder our citizens and butcher our women and children, this war will be a war of extermination. The first stroke of the tomahawk, the first attempt with the scalping knife, will be the signal of one indiscriminate scene of desolation. No white man found fighting by the side of an Indian will be taken prisoner, — instant destruction will be his lot. If the dictates of reason, duty, justice, and humanity, cannot prevent the em- ployment of a force which respects no rights and knows no wrong, it will be prevented by a severe and relentless system of retaliation." Major-General Brock, in a counter proclamation, assured the inha- bitants " that Great Britain would consider the execu- tion of this inhuman threat as deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending power must make expiation ;" and, alluding to the Indians, added :
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