26 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



as the enemy's troops need and be furnished with some fictitious or 

 real but unimportant information to communicate to the commanding 

 officers of their armies by 'which means their intercourse with the 

 officers of the troops would be more frequent and intimate and the 

 Customs being thrown off their guard, would render the exchange of 

 information as well as commodities more safe and frequent." 1 



In other words they asked and eventually obtained permission 

 to smuggle goods and act as spies for both belligerents. 



Proposals were also received from several persons in the States 

 of New York and Vermont who were willing to enter into contracts 

 to furnish considerable quantities of the most necessary supplies. 

 Inhabitants of the township of Alburg, in the latter state, in particular, 

 offered to supply two thousand fat hogs and two thousand bushels 

 of wheat. 2 



Yet at the same time, the most stringent precautions were deemed 

 necessary to prevent the enemy from securing information by similar 

 means. Lieut. Colonel Pearson, commanding at Prescott, reported 

 that he was sending down to Montreal as a prisoner a man who had 

 been clearly convicted of conducting clandestine correspondence with 

 the Americans, and added: — "Indeed from this to Gananoque, I 

 have but too many whose characters excite much suspicion and whose 

 movements occasion me as much anxiety as those of the enemy." 3 



Having satisfied himself that there was little danger of an in- 

 vasion of the province for several months at least, Prévost returned 

 to Quebec where he arrived on December 7. Major General de Rotten- 

 burg was placed in command of the Montreal District and the impor- 

 tant line of communication with Upper Canada as far as Prescott 

 with instructions to forward all available military and naval stores 

 destined for that province as soon as the winter roads became pass- 

 able by a sufficient fall of snow. Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren 

 had written just before leaving Halifax to take up his winter head- 

 quarters at Bermuda, that he would send forward to Quebec guns, 

 sails, and cordage sufficient to arm and equip one of the ships which 

 it was proposed to build on Lake Ontario, and that he would endeav- 

 our "to scrape together officers to take charge of her early in the 

 spring." As, however, it seemed more than likely that these officers 

 and stores might arrive so late in the season as to be of little service, 

 urgent demands were addressed to the Secretary for War for guns 

 to arm all vessels under constr uction and for arms and clothing for 



1 Leon Lalanne to John McGill, Dec. 18, 1812; Edward Doyle to Neil McLean, 

 Nov. 26. 



2 De Rottenburg to Prévost, Dec. 14; Lt. Col. Neil McLean to 



unaddressed and undated but probably written in December, 1812. 



3 Pearson to Baynes, Dec. 2. 



