io READJUSTMENT AFTER WAR 



In the presence of such a prospect it was not 

 to be expected that the petty affair of American 

 relations should excite any interest. Then fol 

 lowed the Hundred Days, Waterloo, and Saint 

 Helena. These furnished engrossing material 

 for British reflection, both popular and official, 

 and all things American faded from view and 

 from memory. 



No such oblivion enveloped the recent events 

 in that group of loyal Britons who dwelt in 

 the provinces north of the United States. Of 

 the half-million inhabitants of these provinces 

 some fifty per cent were English-speaking, and 

 of this fifty per cent the most influential ele 

 ment consisted of the families who had been 

 driven from the United States by the result of 

 the Revolution. New Brunswick and Upper 

 Canada were peopled almost exclusively by these 

 exiles. In them the memories and traditions 

 of the civil strife that had caused them such 

 hardships nourished undying bitterness toward 

 the Americans. Toward the thriving democ 

 racy to the south the attitude of the British 

 Canadian was that of the English Tory. When 

 war broke out in 1812, with the loudly pro 

 claimed purpose of Henry Clay and other san 

 guine spirits to sweep over Canada and dictate 



