was fully justified, under the existing circumstances, in bringing the enemy to action; that the judgment and gallantry of Captain Barclay in taking his squadron into battle, and during the contest, were highly conspicuous, and entitled him to the highest praise; and that the whole of the officers and men of His Majesty’s late squadron conducted themselves in the most gallant manner; and did adjudge the said Captain Robert Heriot Barclay, his surviving officers, and men, to be most fully and honorably acquitted.”
After this investigation, the Canada merchants in London voted an increase of 400 guineas to the sum already subscribed by the inhabitants of Quebec, for the purchase of plate to be presented to Captain Barclay. On one of the largest pieces, the following inscription is engraved:
“Presented to Captain Robert H. Barclay, of His Majesty’s royal navy, by the inhabitants of Quebec, in testimony of the sense they justly entertain of the exalted courage and heroic valour displayed by him, and by the officers, seamen, and soldiers, of the flotilla under his command, in an action with a greatly superior force of the enemy, upon Lake Erie, on the 10th day of September, 1813; when the presence of a few additional seamen was only wanting to have effected the total discomfiture of the hostile squadron. Of Captain Barclay it may most truly be said, that although he could not command victory, he did more – he nobly deserved it!”
On another large piece, an inscription is likewise engraved, expressive of the sentiments of the Canada merchants in London, whose spontaneous mark of their sense of Captain Barclay’s zeal in the execution of his duty, could not but be most highly gratifying to him – because, in his defeat their interest was most deeply involved.
It is believed, that a discussion on the Lake Erie affair, in both Houses of Parliament, together with the pending trial of Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, if not of Commodore Sir James L. Yeo also, prevented Captain Barclay’s promotion to post rank at the close of the war with America. He consequently remained a commander ten years longer, and was employed only four or five months during the whole of that period. His last appointment was April 12th, 1824, to the Infernal bomb, fitting out for the Mediterranean station, from whence he returned in the ensuing autumn, on the amicable termination of the war against Algiers. His commission as captain bears date Oct. 14th, 1824.
