The War with the United States | Page 9

shipbuilding was such an unwelcome truth to the British people
that they would not believe it till the American frigates drove it home
with shattering broadsides. But it was a very old truth, for all that.

Nelson's captains, and those of still earlier wars, had always competed
eagerly for the command of the better built French prizes, which they
managed to take only because the superiority of their crews was great
enough to overcome the inferiority of their ships. There was a different
tale to tell when inferior British vessels with 'run-down' crews met
superior American vessels with first-rate crews. In those days training
and discipline were better in the American mercantile marine than in
the British; and the American Navy, of course, shared in the national
efficiency at sea. Thus, with cheap materials, good designs, and
excellent seamen, the Americans started with great advantages over the
British for single-ship actions; and it was some time before their small
collection of ships succumbed to the grinding pressure of the regularly
organized British fleet.
The Provincial Marine. Canada had a little local navy on the Lakes
called the Provincial Marine. It dated from the Conquest, and had done
good service again during the Revolution, especially in Carleton's
victory over Arnold on Lake Champlain in 1776. It had not, however,
been kept up as a proper naval force, but had been placed under the
quartermaster-general's department of the Army, where it had been
mostly degraded into a mere branch of the transport service. At one
time the effective force had been reduced to 132 men; though many
more were hurriedly added just before the war. Most of its senior
officers were too old; and none of the juniors had enjoyed any real
training for combatant duties. Still, many of the ships and men did well
in the war, though they never formed a single properly organized
squadron.
British Privateers. Privateering was not a flourishing business in the
mother country in 1812. Prime seamen were scarce, owing to the great
number needed in the Navy and in the mercantile marine. Many, too,
had deserted to get the higher wages paid in 'Yankees'--'dollars for
shillings,' as the saying went. Besides, there was little foreign trade left
to prey on. Canadian privateers did better. They were nearly all
'Bluenoses;' that is, they hailed from the Maritime Provinces. During
the three campaigns the Court of Vice-Admiralty at Halifax issued
letters of marque to forty-four privateers, which employed, including

replacements, about three thousand men and reported over two hundred
prizes.
British Commissariat and Transport. Transport, of course, went chiefly
by water. Reinforcements and supplies from the mother country came
out under convoy, mostly in summer, to Quebec, where bulk was
broken, and whence both men and goods were sent to the front. There
were plenty of experts in Canada to move goods west in ordinary times.
The best of all were the French-Canadian voyageurs who manned the
boats of the Hudson's Bay and North-West Companies. But there were
not enough of them to carry on the work of peace and war together.
Great and skilful efforts, however, were made. Schooners, bateaux,
boats, and canoes were all turned to good account. But the inland line
of communications was desperately long and difficult to work. It was
more than twelve hundred miles from Quebec to Amherstburg on the
river Detroit, even by the shortest route.
The British Army. The British Army, like the Navy, had to maintain an
exacting world-wide service, besides large contingents in the field, on
resources which had been severely strained by twenty years of war. It
was represented in Canada by only a little over four thousand effective
men when the war began. Reinforcements at first came slowly and in
small numbers. In 1813 some foreign corps in British pay, like the
Watteville and the Meuron regiments, came out. But in 1814 more than
sixteen thousand men, mostly Peninsular veterans, arrived. Altogether,
including every man present in any part of Canada during the whole
war, there were over twenty-five thousand British regulars. In addition
to these there were the troops invading the United States at Washington
and Baltimore, with the reinforcements that joined them for the attack
on New Orleans--in all, nearly nine thousand men. The grand total
within the theatre of war was therefore about thirty-four thousand.
The Canadian Regulars. The Canadian regulars were about four
thousand strong. Another two thousand took the place of men who
were lost to the service, making the total six thousand, from first to last.
There were six corps raised for permanent service: the Royal
Newfoundland Regiment, the New Brunswick Regiment, the Canadian

Fencibles, the Royal Veterans, the Canadian Voltigeurs, and the
Glengarry Light Infantry. The Glengarries were mostly Highland
Roman Catholics who had settled Glengarry county on the Ottawa,
where