Title

Chapter 1

Identifier

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/show.asp?b=1&ref=oo&id=298153

page

16-19

Bibliographic Citation

1812; the war and its moral : a Canadian chronicle / William Foster Coffin.

10167813

1812; the war and its moral : a Canadian chronicle / William Foster Coffin.

Type

Text

extracted text

xvi

CONTENTS.

APPENDIX.
PAGE
Letter to Thomas Jefferson, ex•President of the United States of America, ................... 273
Bataille de Chateauguay, ......................................................................................................... 286

12
THE WAR AD ITS MORAL.
CHAPTER I.
Preamble.

iS12—like the characters on the labarum of Constantine*—is
a sign of solemn import to the people of Canada. It carries with
it the virtue of an incantation. Like the magic numerals of the
Arabian sage, these words, in their utterance, quicken the pulse,
and vibrate through the frame, summoning, from the pregnant past,
memories of suffering and endurance and of honorable exertion.
They are inscribed on the banner and stamped on the hearts of the
Canadian people—a watchword, rather than a war-cry. With
these words upon his lips, the loyal Canadian, as a vigilant sentinel, looks forth into the gloom, ready with his challenge, hopeful
for a friendly response, but prepared for any other.
The people of Canada are proud of the men, and of the deeds,
and of the recollections of those days. They feel that the war of
1812 is an episode in the story of a young people, glorious in
itself and full of promise. They believe that the infant which,
in its very cradle, could strangle invasion, struggle, and endure,
bravely and without repining—is capable of a nobler development,
if God wills further trial.
• Vide Gibbon, Vol. II, pp. 259, 260.

19

CHRONICLE OF THE WAR.

OBJECT AND AIM OF THE CHRONICLE.

It is impossible for this people to ignore the portents of the time.
The blast of war hurtles around them ; Its sights are in their eyes,
and the sounds in their ears. They feel that they are within the
edge of the fatal circle, and await the stroke of the cyclone. It is
natural that, at such a time, the popular mind should revert to the
experience of the past, and that the war of 1812 should be constantly invoked as an example and as a warning.
Thus, the story of the war has suddenly become a subject of
interest which it is difficult to satisfy. Fifty years have come and
gone, and of the thousands who survived the contest, how few
remain to tell the tale or point the moral ! Within the last few
months, three honoured men, heroes of 1812, and who emphatically deserve the title,—Sir Allan MacNab, Sir John Beverley
Robinson, and Major-General Evans,—have gone to their lest, full
of years and well-earned distinction. The voices of those who could
animate by eloquent experience, and guide by their counsels,
become daily, fewer, fainter, and more indistinct ; and we turn with
sorrowful respect from the living witnesses of the time, to those
who bear record to the gallantry of their deeds and the nobleness
of their motives.
The story of the war has been told by eminent writers on both
sides of the Atlantic. We have British and American histories ;
we have biography ; and the pages of periodical literature have
been, in turn, alike devoted to the events of an epoch when the
world was a-glow with arms, and war seemed to be the main vocation of mankind ; but the works of the general historian are
voluminous and inaccessible to the masses, and the part yielded to
Canada is unavoidably small, on an arena occupied by the embattled nations of the earth. The Canadian authorities, faithful and
reliable guides so far as they go, are, mostly, out of print and
scarce ; and they have been succeeded, and their places usurped
at our own firesides, by a flood of American publications, sensa-

tional as they are termed, written for show, designed for sale, and,
to this end, pandering to the worst passions of a morbid nationality. Writers of this class run, frantically, full tilt at Britain,

18

.

her institutions and her colonies, with death's-head and marrowbones for device ; and the bones are broiled, devilled, and seasoned
to suit a literary taste prurient and craving as the appetite of the
hungry ogre in the nursery tale, who snuffs the wind and mutters—
Fe, fi, fo, fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman:
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

The present is therefore deemed to be an opportune moment to
place the following pages before the Canadian public. A new
book on an old subject may offer the attraction of novelty, and, in
the present instance, will possess the advantage of an anxious
desire for truth. One great object will have been obtained, if it
provides an antidote to the American literature of the day ; if it
counteracts its influence, while it eschews its example. Nothing
will be extenuated for the solace of British pride or to palliate
British shortcomings ; and most assuredly nothing shall be maliciously charged to their adversaries. It will be the endeavor of
this narration to invest the story told, as far as possible, with a
Canadian character ; to present the war in Canada in a Canadian
point of view ; and, while giving all honor to those to whom honor
is justly due, still to impart, as far as can be rightly done, a Canadian individuality to this Canadian Chronicle of the War. •
This design has been greatly aided by the kindness of some few
of the survivors of the warlike scenes of " fifty years since,"
who have embellished by the light of their reminiscences a work
which has no other claim to originality. In justice to these venerable contributors, their names will be given in proper time and
place, in gentle violation of the reluctant modesty inseparable from