To the assertion, positive in proportion to its want of proof, that the Protestant Bishop and his clergy, and the loyal members of both Houses, were treated with insult, it will be merely necessary to answer, that Sir George Prevost was incapable of treating any person, much less those of a sacred character and profession, with indignity or insult--and a confident appeal is made to the Protestant clergy of Canada, and to the loyal members of both Houses, against an insinuation as base as it is groundless.
To the critic's charge of general mismanagement in the affairs of the Colony, a reply, if any were wanting, will, it is trusted, be found, in the foregoing pages; in the approbation of His Majesty's Government of the very policy which this writer so acrimoniously condemns, and in the highly flattering testimonials to the merits of Sir George Prevost's civil administration, which he received not only from the Canadians, but from the most respectable of the English inhabitants.
It is evident that the writer of the article in the British Critic has blindly adopted the prejudices and feelings of the Quarterly Reviewer towards Sir George Prevost, and as he appears to dwell with particular complacency upon the exposure which he imagines to have been made of that officer's military character, he is justly entitled to share in the disgrace which must attend his coadjutor's failure, and in the odium which will always attach to the anonymous traducer of departed merit.
_Extract from Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, vol._ iv. _p._ 518-529.
Upon the first alarm of the enemy being on the coast, General Prevost exerted himself to the utmost, to increase and strengthen the fortifications of the town of Savannah; and was most ably seconded in his operations, by Captain James Moncrieffe of the engineers, and Captain Henry of the navy. Orders were sent to the Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel Maitland, who was posted with a considerable detachment of troops at Beaufort, and to Captain Christian, of his Majesty's ship Vigilant, to repair as soon as possible to Savannah, with the troops, ships, and galleys, then at Port Royal island. Unfortunately, the express with these orders was intercepted by some of the rebel patrols; and, previous to the arrival of a second messenger, the enemy had time to seize on the principal communications between the two places. This rendered the junction of that detachment with the garrison, upon which alone any hope of defending Savannah could be reasonably founded, a matter extremely precarious, difficult, and dangerous. Happily, however, the abilities of Colonel Maitland, and the zeal of the troops under his command, powerfully aided by the professional skill of Lieutenant Goldesborough, of the navy, who was thoroughly acquainted with the various creeks, inlets, and cuts, with which the interior navigation of this country abounds, overcame every obstacle in their way. The battery at Tybee was destroyed; the leading marks for the bar were cut down; and the little naval force there was held in readiness to run up the river Savannah, as soon as the French fleet were seen making for the mouth of it.