PREFACE

In preparing this first of a series of Historical Narratives for the use of Schools in Canada, the Author has been influenced by considerations, which he conceives will, more or less, govern the minds of those to whom the Education of the youth of the country is entrusted.

It is a humiliating, yet undeniable fact, that there are few young men of the present generation who are at all aware, except by vague and inaccurate report, of the brilliant feats of arms, and sterling loyalty displayed by their immediate progenitors, during the stern but brief struggle with the neighboring Republic, wherein numbers were fearfully against them, but in which, supported by true courage, and the consciousness of a good cause, they rode triumphant over every obstacle, and came forth unconquered from the strife. Or, if they have read of these matters, their information has been derived through the corrupt channel of American party publications bearing on the subject, all which have a tendency to pervert facts, and to instil into the youthful mind that diffidence and mistrust which operate as a check upon the generous aspirings, and weaken the energies of the national character.

Recovering as this country is, at this moment, from the severe shock which, although but of temporary duration, has deeply tested its general attachment and fealty to the British throne, and lapsing into that state of tranquillity

from which it never should have departed, it will without difficulty be conceded that no compilation could, with greater propriety or consistency, be placed in the hands of Canadian students, than that which records the gallant deeds performed by their Fathers, fighting side by side, with the troops of England in defence of their invaded firesides when, actuated by a devoted spirit of loyalty, and a generosity of emulation never exceeded, they won golden opinions from their Sovereign, and stood boldly forth in the hour of the country's greatest need-nor, although the youth of Western Canada have the greatest reason to feel pride in this fact, should it fail to be a source of satisfaction to the French Canadian pupil, whose Sire was, at the epoch treated of in the following narrative, ever forward in the demonstration of his attachment to British Institutions, and unwavering in his resolution to defend them with his life. These were, indeed, happy and well-remembered days, when but one sentiment actuated the French and English races, who were knit together in one common bond of good fellowship, and knew rivalry only in their desire to tender to the parent, who had cherished and nursed them, the grateful evidence of their love. This is no over-charged picture of the feeling which then existed in the Canadas, and on the direction given to the minds of its youth of the present day, French and English, must depend its utter extinction or revival.

In adopting the familiar style of the narrative, the Author has had two distinct inducements in view-firstly, because that species of composition relieves history of the dryness which is so great a barrier to interest with the student; and secondly, because, in identifying himself with his subject, the reader is necessarily led to do the same. There are few Canadian youths who will fail to be inspired by a generous spirit of emulation, as they bear vividly before them the fact that the Author whom they are perusing, and who has written for their instruction and infor

mation, was even himself a student' when summoned by the trumpet of War, from a perusal of the military exploits of the most renowned warriors of by-gone days, to range himself in the next hour under the victorious banner of a modern Chief not less daring, and scarcely less celebrated than any of those and to defend, with his feeble yet willing arm, the soil which gave him birth, and the Standard to which he owed allegiance.

That the lot which was the Author's may be that of the Reader, is a reflection which can never be lost sight of by the generous of character whose rallying cry, whenever domestic rebellion or foreign invasion stalk throughout the land their Sires have consecrated to England with their blood, will assuredly ever be "Aut vincere aut mori." The past has pledged, the future will redeem

the bond.

II had first breathed the breath of life near the then almost isolated Falls of Niagara-the loud roaring of whose cataract had, perhaps, been the earnest of the storms-and they have been manywhich were to assail my after life. My subsequent boyhood, up to the moment, when at fifteen years of age, I became a soldier, had been passed in a small town (Amherstburg), one of the most remote, while, at the same time, one of the most beautifully situated in Canada. I had always detested school, and the days that were passed in it were to me days of suffering, such as the boy alone can understand. With the reputation for some little capacity, I had been oftener flogged than the greatest dunce in it, perhaps as much from the caprice of my tutor as from any actual wrong in myself-and this had so seared my heart-given me such a disgust for Virgil, Horace, and Euclid, that I often meditated running away, and certainly should have gratified the very laudable inclination, had I not apprehended a severity from my father -a stern, unbending man, that would have left me no room for exultation at my escape from my tutor. It was, therefore, a day of rejoicing to me when the commencement of hostilities on the part of the United States, and the unexpected appearance of a large body of their troops, proved the signal of the "break up" of the school, or college, (for by the latter classical name was known the long, low, narrow, stone building, with two apologies for wings springing at right angles from the body), and my exchange of Cæsar's Commentaries for the King's Regulations and Dundas. The transition was indeed glorious, and in my joy at the change which had been wrought in my position, I felt disposed to bless the Americans for the bold step they had taken.

Eight Years in Canada, by Major Richardson, p. 87.