As for the unfinished works at Plattsburg, had not Sir George Prevost halted the troops, led by experienced and often before distinguished generals, rapidly advancing against them, they must, with their commander and all his troops, have been, I have no hesitation in saying, in twenty minutes more in our possession; but as for the idea which was foolishly entertained by some at the time, of our being able, if successful in the assault of the works, to re-capture our lost ship and vessels, it was too absurd to merit a moment's consideration. The following official document will, I expect, be read with interest, as it certainly removes much of the blame from Sir George Prevost for the attack having been made upon the American fleet by ours in an unprepared state; at least our Commodore (whether he was injudiciously urged to go forward or not I cannot tell) acted with a perfect knowledge of what he was about to attempt, and it would have been produced had the former been brought to a court-martial as intended. But the question should have been, why was the fine army, confided to Sir George Prevost, pushed forward at all into the United States, especially in the month of September, before our superiority on Lake Champlain had been established? Extract from a communication to Major-General De Rottenburg, dated Friday evening, 10 o'clock, P.M.:-- "I have this moment received from Captain Downie intelligence of his intention to weigh and proceed with the squadron, from its anchorage off Chazy, about midnight, with the expectation of rounding into the Bay of Plattsburg about the dawn of day, and with the intention of commencing an immediate attack on the enemy's ship, vessels, and gun-boats, if the anchorage they are in affords any chance of success; in consequence you are to hold the left division in readiness to execute the contemplated service at six o'clock to-morrow morning. "The batteries directed to be completed and armed in the course of the night, are to open on the enemy's position the instant the naval action has commenced. You will cause the necessary preparations to be made for the rocket service of each battery. (Signed), "G. Prevost, "_Commander of the Forces_." I shall pass this over without any remark, leaving it to the reader to judge for himself; but we had far too many commanders, for they were actually in each other's way. Here was Sir George Prevost himself, Baron De Rottenburg and his staff, a brilliant head-quarter staff, consisting of Adjutant and Quarter-master-general, assistants to both; Military Secretary, Aides-de-Camp, Chiefs of Engineers, Artillery, &c. &c., in short, enough to have caused confusion in an army three times our numbers, and much more so amongst the three brigades, whose experienced generals and staff wanted no help.