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Graeme Decarie, Canadian Historian
Further Reading |
Sir George Prevost's strategyHe was a Swiss born man who entered into British service. That sort of thing wasn't unusual. He served the British King as an administrator, a soldier, and a diplomat. He had all of those powers. He was the governor. His base was Quebec, but he was responsible for British North America. His powers were virtually those of a King in this area. He had civil power, he had military power He was the ultimate authority and if the war was lost, it was going to be his fault.People are critical of him because he wasn't aggressive enough in the kind of war he fought. I think they're wrong. I think Prevost fought exactly the kind of war he should have fought. Prevost - unlike the Americans - had a very clear sense of what his responsibility was. His first responsibility was to defend North America, the essential British North America, which really was Lower Canada. He didn't have to worry about the Maritimes: the British navy could control them. He had to save Lower Canada, and the key to Lower Canada was Quebec. That was his prime concern. If possible, he also had to defend Upper Canada and the Great Lakes region. That was a secondary concern. He was also a man who could not possibly win the war. He didn't have the resources, he didn't have the troops, and he was fighting against a country that was huge, that was heavily populated, that was well armed. He couldn't possibly carry on an offensive war and defeat the United States. All he could do was hold on until Britain was freed up in Europe. And that's what he did. And he did it with a very small army, aware all the time that those people who wanted to push him on the offensive forgot that if he launched an offensive, and if he lost his troops, he couldn't replace them. Here was a man who, in a single decision, could not win the war, but he could lose it. He erred on the side of caution and I think that was the side to err on. At the end of the war, Prevost, I think, was the person who won it. And the Americans were the ones who lost, because they didn't achieve any of their objectives. He achieved his. That didn't save him from criticism and in fact, he was going to be taken before a court of inquiry in Britain, and he died before the inquiry could be held. I think history has been unfair to Prevost. |
