Not known

SIR GEORGE PREVOST TO EARL BATHURST.

[No. 81.]

MY LORD,

HEAD QUARTERS, KINGSTON, UPPER CANADA, 1st August 1813.

I have the honor to inform Your Lordship that the Enemy continue to occupy the position of Fort George & its immediate vicinity, within which they are still more closely circumscribed than when I had the honor of addressing you on the 18th Ult, the Head Quarters of Major General De Rottenburg having since been removed to St David's about seven miles distant from that Fort & our advanced Posts being within four miles of it.

The Enemy's Fleet consisting of two ships, one Brig & eleven Schooners, in all fourteen sailed from Sacket harbour on the 23d ulto & were seen off Niagara on the 27th & off York on the 28th & 29th, and yesterday our Squadron power, fully armed, well equipped, completely manned, & ably commanded as Your Lordship will see by the comparative statement I have the honor here with of transmitting, left Kingston harbor in search of it. It is scarcely possible that a decisive naval action can be avoided, & I therefore humbly hope that His Royal Highness the Prince Regent will approve of its being courted by us, as a necessary measure for the preservation of the advanced positions of this Army, which I have determined to maintain, until the naval ascendancy on Lake Ontario is decided, convinced that a retrograde movement would eventually endanger the safety of a large proportion of the Troops in Upper Canada, & convert the heart of the Province into the seat of war. The operations lately carried on in the Chesapeake not having hitherto corresponded with the just expectations of His Majesty's Government by creating a diversion in my favor, & the pressure of the war continuing upon Upper Canada, I have thought it expedient to endeavour to call off the Enemy's attention from this Province to the defence of their own Settlements on Lake Champlain, by employing Captn. Everard & the officers and Seamen of His Majesty's Sloop of War Wasp, lately arrived from Halifax, to

our Gun boats & the captured American Vessels at Isle aux Noix, for the purpose of joining with a body of eight hundred picked men in making a movement on that Lake, to arrest the progress of the reinforcements moving towards the American Armies at Sacket Harbor under Major Genl. Lewis & at Niagara under

Major General Dearborn-I have selected an officer of merit & enterprize for this service & he has received my Instructions to destroy the Vessels & boats of every description along the shore & such public buildings as are used for Military purposes―

He is also to bring away or destroy provisions & warlike stores of every kind which may fall into his possession, but all private property & the persons of the unarmed and inoffensive Inhabitants are to be respected and every care and precaution are to be taken to preserve both inviolate. The arrival of Mr. Dickson from the Missouri with 2000 Indian Warriors has enabled me to resume offensive operations with the left division of the Upper Canada Army under the command of Brigr. Genl. Procter. Major Genl. Harrison having shewn some of his Cavalry & Riflemen in the Michigan Territory, a forward movement has been made by the Indian warriors supported by a few companies of the 41st Regt upon Sandusky, from whence they will unite with Tecumseth's band of Warriors employed in investing Fort Meigs.

The occupation by the Enemy of our Frontier Territory on the Niagara River having interrupted our usual mode of communicating with Lake Erie, I have had great difficulties to contend with in supplying the posts at Amherstburg & Michilimackinac, those diffi. culties have however by great exertions been in some measure surmounted, and I have, although at a considerable expence been able to transport by a circuitous route by the Grand River to General Procter, a small supply of Indian arms & ammunition which were indispensable, & part of which I have been under the necessity of purchasing, the presents comprizing the requisition of the last year not having yet arrived, the inconvenience of which to the public service is severely felt.

The Naval & Military operations which I have above stated to Your Lordship as going on in three distinct parts of my command, will evince how strong the confidence is in the means tho' comparatively small which Your Lordship has placed at my disposal for the defence of these Provinces, and notwithstanding Mr. Madison's boastful claim to the naval ascendancy on the Lakes, I have the satisfaction of reporting to Your Lordship for the gracious consideration of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, that His Majesty's Flag waves on Lakes Erie, Ontario & Champlain, & with the Blessing of the Almighty I hope soon to be enabled to add that it

waves triumphantly the terror of its arrogant and unprincipled Enemies.

I have the honor to be
My Lord

Your Lordship's

Most obedient

humble Servant

GEORGE PREVOST.

The Right Honorable Earl Bathurst.

[ Q122, p 116 ]

[No. 82.]

MY LORD,

SIR GEORGE PREVOST TO EARL BATHURST.

HEAD QUARTERS, KINGSTON, UPPER CANADA, 1st August 1813.

I do myself the honor to report to Your Lordship that in consequence of the great accumulation of Prisoners of War in the Canadas since the commencement of the Campaign this season, the serious inconvenience attending the occupation of so large a Force for their Security, and for want of a regular Establishment for the care and custody of Prisoners of War, It has become expedient that a transfer should immediately be made of a proportion of them to the Depôt in Nova Scotia ;

I have therefore requested Captain Tailour of His Majesty's Ship Regulus to receive on board two of the three Troop Ships under his orders which brought the Regiment De Meuron from the Mediterranean, and in their way to England, to land at Halifax, one half of the American Prisoners of War now at Quebec, the probable number for embarkation being about Thirty officers and five Hundred

Such British Subjects as may be found amongst the Prisoners will be embarked in these Vessels, but I have directed that they should be sent on to England, to be delivered over to the orders of the Admiral or Senior officer of His Majesty's Ships in the first port they may arrive at, to be detained until the pleasure of His Majesty's Government is signified respecting the ulterior disposal of them.

I have represented to Captain Tailour that it is of importance to His Majesty's Service that the third Troop Ship, should be detained at Quebec until further orders, that I may have the means of transporting to England the remainder of the American Prisoners, if such a measure should be deemed, prudent to be resorted to; In the mean time I shall endeavour to avail myself of the employment of its Crew, and have requested Captain Tailour to forward to Kingston immediately for a temporary naval service of a few weeks, two thirds or three fourths of the officers and Seamen belonging to the remaining Ship.

I annex for Your Lordship's Information the Copy of a Letter I have thought it necessary to address to Major General Dearborn Commander in Chief of the United States Forces upon the subject of Prisoners, apprizing him of the determination I have entered into, called forth from the want of attention on the part of the American Government to the communications I have made to it, as stated to Your Lordship in my Dispatch No. 71 of 24th June last, which I hope will meet His Royal Highness the Prince Regent's approbation.

I have the honour to be
My Lord

Your Lordship's

most obedient

humble Servant

GEORGE PREVOST.

The Right Honorable Earl Bathurst.

[Q 122, p 125 ]

SIR,

SIR GEORGE PREVOST TO MAJ. GEN. H. DEARBORN.

HEAD QUARTERS, KINGSTON, 1st August 1813.

A period of three months has elapsed since my last communication through Your Excelly to the Government of the United States, upon the subject of the exchange it had undertaken to make without my assent thereto, of Brig. General Hull, & other officers of the American Army, Prisoners of War on their parole, several of whom are now serving in violation of it. As during that period a great accumulation of American Prisoners has taken place in the