Canada, as soon as he was informed of the repeal of the obnoxious orders in council assigned by the American government as the chief cause ot their declaration of war, dispatched his Adjutant-General, Colonel Baynes, to General Dearborn, commander of the United States forces in the state of New York, who had his headquarters at Green Bush, near Albany, to propose a cessation of hostilities till the decision of the cabinet could be ascertained. He found Dearborn in a favorable humor. He had indeed been vaguely instructed to make a diversion in favor of General Hull upon the Niagara, but was in no position to assume the offensive there or elsewhere at that moment. Most of the American merchant vessels on Lake Ontario were blockaded at Ogdensburg. Sackett’s Harbor, his principal naval station on that lake, was nearly defenceless, and had been threatened with an attack; the forces assembled on the Niagara were unprovided with artillery and necessary munitions of war. He readily assented to Baynes, proposals as far as the forces under his immediate command were concerned, as he could still continue his preparations for defence and invasion with entire freedom. But Hull was believed to be in full tide of success. It was confidently reported that he had taken Malden and was marching up the Thames. Dearborn therefore warily declined to extend the armistice to his operations.
General Van Rensselaer, who commanded the American forces on the Niagara, received the news with feelings of relief and satisfaction. Although refugees from Canada had assured him nearly a week before, that all the regular troops had been withdrawn from the posts opposite to meet General Hull, he still remained incredulous and apprehensive of an attack. Yet his force already exceeded two thousand men, of whom one-half were regulars. He perceived in an instant what an immense advantage might be derived from the cessation of hostilities, if the terms could be construed in such a way as to enable him to bring up troops and stores from Oswego and Sacketts Harbor, by water instead of by the tedious overland route. Unless this concession were secured the armistice would be of little immediate benefit to him. The agreement was so loosely worded as to leave this matter in doubt. His Adjutant-General was at once sent to Fort George with directions to insist on this interpretation,
Colonel Christopher Myers had been left in command there by General Brock. To garrison all the posts, he had less than three hundred men of the 41st regiment. The absentees of the flank companies of the Lincoln militia were called in and increased the number of militia in service to about four hundred. The remainder of the inhabitants were busily engaged in the harvest fields, but an additional draft of five hundred men were warned to hold themselves in readiness to march to his support. The two armed vessels, Prince Regent and Earl Moiza, were moored in the mouth of the river to protect his left flank, while the new schooner, Lady Prevost, was anchored off Fort Erie to assist in the defence of that post. Efforts to strengthen the fortifications along the entire line were contioued as far as his means would permit. A day or two before the armistice was announced, Colonel Roger Sheaffe of the 49th, arrived and assumed command. Letters recently received from Prevost insisted on the policy of conciliating the enemy by every means in his power, and Sheaffe finally consented that both parties should enjoy the unrestricted navigation of Lake Ontario as long as the armistice continued, although an express from Detroit had informed him a few minutes before of the capitulation of the entire American army there.
All the advantages secured so far by the superiority of the British squadron on Lake Ontario were thrown away by a stroke of the pen. The blockaded vessels at Ogdensburg were removed to Sackett’s Harbor to be armed, and troops and stores of all kinds hurried torward to Fort Niagara. Tidings of Brock’s almost incredible success had preceded him, and as he rode down to Niayara he was met midway by many of the magistrates and principal inhabitants on horseback, who presented him with a congratulatory address, to which he replied with his characteristic readiness and tact, quietly disclaiming any personal credit, and ascribing his triumph to the fidelity and alacrity with which he had been supported by the people of the province and the steadiness of the troops under his command. The volunteers that had accompanied him were filled with natural exultation, and their easy victory had inspired them with a certain amount of contempt for their enemies, which was rapidly communicated to their friends and acquaintances. The arrival of the American general and the regulars of his army, a few days later, became the signal for a frantic outburst of enthusiasm, and aged loyalists who still nourished bitter memories of the Revolution, proclaimed that Saratoga had been at last avenged.
Quite as profound was the dismay occasioned in the minds of even the most san-
