[BOURINOT] DUNDURN AND BURLINGTON HEIGHTS 21 
SIR JOHN HARVEY, K.C.B. 
Note 11, page 7. 
I give from Kingsford (vol. VIII., p. 283) the following references to 
Colonel Harvey. 
“ Harvey, ‘whose name is mentioned in prominence in this narrative, 
became preéminently distinguished in the annals of that date. He was born 
in 1778 and entered the army so young that in 1794 he carried the regimental 
colours in action and served throughout the campaign of that and the follow- 
ing year. In 1796 he was present at the Cape of Good Hope, and from 1797 
to 1800 at Ceylon. In 1801 he was in Egypt under Sir David Baird. In 1803 
he took part in the Marratta war. In 1807 he returned to England, his health 
broken, and was appointed on the staff with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. 
In 1812 he was appointed Deputy Adjutant-General in Canada. He did not 
arrive at Halifax until late in the season in December. As the navigation 
was closed, he made his way to Fredericton and thence passed by the rough 
route overland traced through the woods to Canada. Harvey was the bearer 
of a letter to Sir George Prevost written, we are told by the direction of the 
Prince Regent, introducing him as an officer who had seen much service. 
Prevost received him with much distinction. It is said, producing a map and 
pointing out the great extent of frontier with the small force available for 
its defence, he asked Harvey his opinion as to the best mode of protecting 
it. Harvey is said to have unhesitatingly replied, ‘First by the accurate 
intelligence of the designs and movements of the enemy, to be procured at 
any price ; secondly, by a series of bold offensive operations, by which the 
enemy, however superior in numbers, would himself be thrown on the defen- 
sive.’ It was this principle on which Harvey acted during his memorable 
career in Canada. 
‘“ At the close of the war he returned to England and served on the staff 
of the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. 
‘“ In 1836 he was Governor of Prince Edward Island. From 1837 to 1841 
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, whence he proceeded to Newfound- 
land in 1846, as Governor and Commander-in-Chief. In that year he became 
Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, where he died on the 22nd of March, 
1852, in his seventy-fourth year. 
“The principle laid down by Harvey to Prevost was that which dictated 
the attack of Stoney Creek. It was an occasion when a policy was demanded. 
the danger of which could not be calculated. Had Vincent waited to be 
attacked, the probabilities seem that want of supplies and ammunition would 
have made his surrender unavoidable. His camp moreover would have been 
subjected to a bombardment to make it untenable. The success of this bold 
and energetic attack was a turning point in the war. It gave confidence to 
the British soldier, and to the militia who went forward to the battle-field 
by his side. Toronto had been taken, its public buildings burned, its private 
dwellings plundered. Fort George had fallen, and there was much to lead 
to depression and for hope to sink to nothingness, but the defeat of the force 
more than five-fold that which attacked it, by which it was driven back to 
seek refuge in Fort George, awoke confidence, determination, and self-reliance 
which were never lost. The character of the war changed from that day. 
It will be seen that the British even became the attacking party, and on the 
