Note M-29 — MEMOIR OF ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE. BY ELLIOTT COUES. (continued 2)

The statement that General Sheaffe's retreat was so precipitate that he lost his papers is confirmed by General Dearborn in a letter to the Secretary of War, dated Niagara, May 3d, 1813 (Niles' Register, ibid.): "York was a magazine for Niagara, Detroit, etc., and notwithstanding the immense amount which was destroyed by them, we found more than we could bring off. Gen. Sheaffe's baggage and papers fell into my hands; the papers are a valuable acquisition. A scalp was found in the executive and legislative council chamber, suspended near the speaker's chair in company with the mace, etc."

This "scalp incident," as it came to be known, and as I may remark in passing, became the probably groundless pretext for a storm of abuse of British methods of warfare. In the feverish state of public opinion which the startling climax of the battle of York excited almost to frenzy, it was regarded as adding insult to injury, and furthermore taken as a proof that our dead and wounded would be handed over by the British to their Indian allies, to be dealt with according to the customs of savage warfare. Thus, the usually temperate and judicious editor of the Register could permit himself to say: "The 'mace' is the emblem of authority, and the scalp's position near it is truly symbolical of the British power in Canada. Horrible and infamous wretches! But the reign of the murderers is nearly at an end," p. 190. And again, p. 259, with "scalp" in large capitals, and various other typographical methods of relieving his state of mind: "British humanity. When major-general Dearborn stated that a SCALP had been found in the government-house of Upper Canada, suspended near the mace, the emblem of power, many persons affected to doubt the fact; but most men believed, not only because General Dearborn had stated the circumstance, but because it was strictly characteristic of the British government, which is as base and deliberately wicked as any other in the civilized world. But the horrible fact is further and conclusively established by commodore Chauncey, whose testimony will not be disputed, openly, by those who pretended to disbelieve gen. Dearborn. Let us hear no more of 'British humanity and religion'—nor permit these great attributes to be lavished upon murderous villains. It is fact, horrible fact, that the legislature of 'unoffending Canada' did sanction (by hanging up in their hall, in evidence of their authority, a human scalp) the murders of our people by the savages. Great Heaven!" This senseless outburst concludes with the following letter: