Walter R. Nursey

“ A more flagrant violation of the principles she professed is difficult to imagine. She insisted that this officer was still a citizen of the United States, for he could not become a citizen of another country without the consent of the government of his native country. So, when it suited her purpose, and in direct defiance of her own proclamation, she did not hesitate to accept England's contention and adopt the "obnoxious doctrine"—thus practising the identical principle against which she had declared war. ”

“ Despite opposition from many states, which declared their detestation of an alliance with Bonaparte, after a stormy debate behind closed doors at Washington, Congress voted for war against England, with Canada as the point of attack. The United States placed itself on record as approving of "forcible invasion of a neighbouring peaceful country and its rights, and of taking property on which it had no shadow of claim." ”

“ The contents of this decided Brock, though he had no idea Hull's army was so strong, to attempt the reduction of Fort Detroit without a moment's delay.
The very hour he knew that war was declared he had notified the officer at St. Joseph. Our hero, whose root idea of a soldier's craft was "secrecy in conception and vigour in execution," had no taste for Prevost's mad doctrine that the aggressed had to await the convenience of the aggressor. Brock had been taught to regard tolerance in war as an "evil of the first magnitude," and so had already instructed the commander at St. ”