1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 15 



our neighbours thought it prudent therefore to suspend operations. 

 Their movements during the summer of 1813 were very slack, as 

 the situation of Napoleon continued to be precarious; but as soon 

 as it became known that he had won three or four battles in Ger- 

 many, they advanced in force on Upper and Lower Canada. 

 This was in the autumn of the same year. Then followed the battle 

 of the Thames in Upper Canada where the invaders were victorious, 

 the battle of Chateauguay where they met a sharp and decisive 

 defeat, and the affair at Chrysler's Farm, where they were also 

 worsted, with the result of checking their advance on Montreal. 

 The defeat of Napoleon at Leipsic made the outlook somewhat 

 gloomy for them; and during the winter of 1813-14 their operations 

 were at a standstill. On the opening of navigation fourteen 

 British regiments arrived at Quebec, and with them came the 

 news that Napoleon had been sent to the island of Elba. The 

 summer passed pretty quietly. 



The hostilities carried on during the year 1814 were on the 

 whole unfavorable to the Americans. The most disastrous effects 

 of the war were felt in the manufacturing states of New England, 

 and there the peace party was loudly clamoring for the cessation 

 of the fruitless war. Trade, navigation and commerce were 

 ruined. The public treasury, whose revenue was mostly from 

 customs duties until 1812, was empty and a loan of twenty million 

 dollars had to be made. Two-thirds of the merchants had become 

 insolvent. 



Happily for both countries the news reached Canada in 

 March, 1815, that peace had been concluded between Great 

 Britain and the United States by the Treaty of Ghent (Dec. 24, 

 1814). By this treaty all captured territory was restored and 

 the boundaries of Canada remained undisturbed. Had the war 

 on our frontier been prolonged the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo 

 (June 18, 1815) would have released a vast body of British troops 

 and given a very different complexion to the struggle. 



The reader can now see how closely this war of ours was 

 linked with what was going- on in Europe, and judging by the 

 attitude of the Americans after the arrival of reinforcements in 

 1814, it is reasonable to conclude that no hostilities would have 

 been attempted on the Canadian frontier if peace had reigned in 

 Europe. 

 ' It is quite true that if the war had been begun without any 



