Note 189 — Chapter L

"A war with Great Britain had been long contemplated by the rulers in America, and a seasonable moment only was sought for, to grasp the provinces which they had fallaciously been induced to believe were ripe for revolt, and would therefore fall a willing conquest to America. The Peninsular war had engrossed the attention and resources of the mother country, and the Canadas were necessarily the less provided with means to encounter the struggle in which they were likely soon to be engaged. The coffers were exhausted, nor were hopes entertained of their being speedily replenished from home; the regular forces were too thin to preserve an extensive frontier of some hundred miles against the pressure of an enemy which, if united, must become irresistible; and the Canadians, though naturally brave and hardy, and attached to their Constitution, might from recent occurrences be fairly presumed to have been so far disgusted as to leave doubt of their hearty co-operation and zeal in the cause." (Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap. iii., p. 48.)