[1] One of the first statutes was an act to prevent gun powder drawn in ships and other vessels into the harbour of Montreal and to guard against the careless transportation of the same into the powder magazines.
[2] He landed at Quebec in August, 1791, and left Canada in 1794. On the 13th of September, in passing through Montreal, he received a complimentary address. He went up country probably as far as Niagara, returning through Montreal in September of 1792. On December 6, 1793, Chief Justice Smith died at Quebec. His remains were interred on December 8th, and were attended to the grave by H.R.H. Prince Edward.--(Quebec Gazette, Thursday, December 12, 1793.)
THE CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812--THE CHESAPEAKE--JOHN HENRY--HOW THE NEWS OF INVASION WAS RECEIVED IN MONTREAL--THE MOBILIZATION--GENERAL HULL--THE MONTREAL MILITIA--FRENCH AND ENGLISH ENLIST--MONTREAL THE OBJECTIVE--OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF CHATEAUGUAY--COLONEL DE SALABERRY--RETURN OF WOUNDED--THE EXPLANATION OF THE FEW BRITISH KILLED.
The loyalty of the British and French Canadians was again to be tested during the American war of 1812, which involved Canada in war as a dependency of England.
Its causes were as follows: In 1806, on November 1st, Napoleon issued his “Berlin decree” declaring a blockade on the entire British coast, and let loose French privateers against her shipping and that of neutral nations trading with her. Great Britain retaliated by the celebrated “orders in council which declared all traffic with France contraband and the vessels prosecuting it with their cargoes, liable to seizure.”[1] By both of these the United States was injured in its carrying trade. Congress, therefore, in the following year superceded President Jefferson’s contra-embargo on all shipping, domestic and foreign, in the harbours of the United States, by a “non-intercourse act” prohibiting all commerce with either belligerent till the “obnoxious decree” or “orders” were removed.
Another cause conspired to fan the war feeling to a flame. Great Britain, pressed by the difficulty of manning her immense fleets, asserted the “right of search” of American vessels for deserters from her navy. The United States frigate “Chesapeake” resisted this right, sanctioned by international law, but was compelled by a broadside from H.M. Ship Leopard (June, 1807) to submit. The British government disavowed the violence of this act and offered reparation. But the democratic party was clamorous for war and eager to seduce from their allegiance and annex to the United States, the provinces of British North America.