[CRUiKSHANK] ADMINISTRATION OF SIR JAMES CRAIG 71 



at his disposal upon the fortifications of Quebec, and he deemed it use- 

 less to establish posts which ho had not troops to garrison. Outside of 

 that city, with the exception of a few field guns, there was not a, single 

 ])ieee of artillery mounted or dismounted anywhere in Ijower Cianada as 

 Colonel Brock, who was in command before Craig arrived, had brought 

 in for safety all the guns that had been distributed at the various mili- 

 tary posts. 'Although several new roads had been recently opened to the 

 American frontier, by which small parties of troops might enter the 

 province, the principal army of invasion must still advance by the main 

 route from Lake Champlain by way of St. Johns. The smallest regular 

 force with which Craig considered that the two provinces might be suc- 

 cessfully defended, was twelve tliousand men, — ^of whom he proposed to 

 etation two thousand, in Upper Canada, two thousand as garrisons at Que^ 

 hec, and other posts in Ijower Canada, leaving eight thousand available 

 for operations in the field. A considerable body of militia had offered 

 their services in the summer of 1807, and about one thousand of these in 

 the cities of ]\rontrea.l and Quebec, had already been armed and equipped 

 and had provided themselves with uniforms at their own expense. 



" My confidence in the service to bel derived from the militia is, I 

 confess, not very great,"' Craig reported. " Yet at the same time, I am 

 bound to do tliem the justice of obseiwing that they express every good 

 disposition that can be desired, at least such is the substance of all the 

 reports I have on the subject; but however this may turn out, I hold it 

 is a certainty that the benefit to be derived from ^them can only bei in 

 })roportion to the support they may have from regular troops."^ 



Craig's illness prevented him from giving any instructions to Lieut.- 

 Govemor Grore, of Upper Canada, until December 6th, 1807, when he 

 despatched a letter to him by a special messenger, directing him to put 

 that province into an immediate state of defence as far as his means 

 would permit, but at the same time expressing the opinion that if the 

 Anierioans attempted to invade Lower Canada as he expected they \vould, 

 that undertaking would absorb all their forces and prevent them from a 

 simultaneous attack elsewhere. With the small regular force then at his 

 disposal, he could not hope to do more than dela.y the invaders' advance 

 and must eventually retire into Quebec and defend that place to the last 

 extremity. In that event he wished a force from Upper Canada to oper- 

 ate in rear of the besieging army by breaking up their communications 

 and cutting off convoys. If the Indians were not employed by the British 

 he entertained no doubt they would be employed against them and tlie 

 ♦valuablle fur trade Avith the western nations would be lost, but great 



' Craig to CastlereE^h, Canadian Archives, Q., 109, p. 10. 



