Isaac Brock

“ They must have recourse to loans at a time when they have only six frigates in commission, and about five thousand men embodied. To what a state of poverty and wretchedness would the accumulated expenses of war reduce them! But they look to the success of their privateers for a supply, and contemplate the sweeping away of all foreign debts as the means of reducing the calls upon their treasury. Whatever steps England may adopt, I think she cannot, in prudence, avoid sending a strong military force to these provinces, as they are now become of infinite importance to her. ”

“ Whence can England be supplied with these essential articles but from the Canadas? Bonaparte, it is known, has expressed a strong desire to be in possession of the colonies formerly belonging to France, and now that they are become so valuable to England, his anxiety to wrest them from us will naturally increase. A small French force, 4 or 5,000 men, with plenty of muskets, would most assuredly conquer this province. The Canadians would join them almost to a man—at least, the exceptions would be so few as to be of little avail. ”

“ It may appear surprising that men, petted as they have been and indulged in every thing they could desire, should wish for a change. But so it is—and I am apt to think that were Englishmen placed in the same situation, they would shew even more impatience to escape from French rule. How essentially different are the feelings of the people from when I first knew them. The idea prevails generally among them, that Napoleon must succeed, and ultimately get possession of these provinces. The bold and violent are becoming every day more audacious ”