Nothing can be more deplorable than his description; yet the United States government accuse Great Britain of instigating that people to war.

Is not the true cause to be found in the state of desperation to which they are reduced by the unfriendly and unjust measures of that government towards them?
* * * * * On the 27th of July, Major-General Brock returned to York from Fort George, on which day, accompanied by a numerous suite, he opened the extra session of the legislature, and delivered the following speeches.
Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, The urgency of the present crisis is the only consideration which could have induced me to call you together at a time when public, as well as private duties elsewhere, demand your care and attention.
But, gentlemen, when invaded by an enemy whose avowed object is the entire conquest of the province, the voice of loyalty, as well as of interest, calls aloud to every person in the sphere in which he is placed to defend his country.
Our militia have heard that voice, and have obeyed it; they have evinced, by the promptitude and loyalty of their conduct, that they are worthy of the king whom they serve, and of the constitution which they enjoy; and it affords me particular satisfaction, that while I address you as legislators, I speak to men who, in the day of danger, will be ready to assist, not only with their counsel, but with their arms.
We look, gentlemen, to our militia, as well as to the regular forces, for our protection; but I should be wanting to that important trust committed to my care, if I attempted to conceal (what experience, the great instructor of mankind, and especially of legislators, has discovered,) that amendment is necessary in our militia laws to render them efficient.
It is for you to consider what further improvements they still may require.
Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, From the history and experience of our mother country, we learn that in times of actual invasion or internal commotion, the ordinary course of criminal law has been found inadequate to secure his majesty's government from private treachery as well as from open disaffection; and that at such times its legislature has found it expedient to enact laws restraining for a limited period the liberty of individuals, in many cases where it would be dangerous to expose the particulars of the charge; and although the actual invasion of the province might justify me in the exercise of the full powers reposed in me on such an emergency, yet it will be more agreeable to me to receive the sanction of the two houses.
A few traitors have already joined the enemy, have been suffered to come into the country with impunity, and have been harboured and concealed in the interior; yet the general spirit of loyalty which appears to pervade the inhabitants of this province, is such as to authorize a just expectation that their efforts to mislead and deceive will be unavailing.

The disaffected, I am convinced, are few--to protect and defend the loyal inhabitants from their machinations, is an object worthy of your most serious deliberation.
Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, I have directed the public accounts of the province to be laid before you, in as complete a state as this unusual period will admit; they will afford you the means of ascertaining to what extent you can aid in providing for the extraordinary demands occasioned by the employment of the militia, and I doubt not but to that extent you will cheerfully contribute.
Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly, We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest.

By unanimity and dispatch in our councils, and by vigour in our operations, we may teach the enemy this lesson, that a country defended by _free men_ enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their king and constitution, can never be conquered! The invasion of the western district by Brigadier-General Hull, and the artful and threatening language of his proclamation, were productive at the outset of very unfavourable effects among a large portion of the inhabitants of Upper Canada; and so general was the despondency, that the Norfolk militia, consisting, we believe, chiefly of settlers of American origin, peremptorily refused to march.

The majority of the members of the house of assembly were impressed with the same gloomy forebodings, and that body appeared by its proceedings rather to court the favor of the enemy than fearlessly to perform its duty.